A Legacy of Pain: Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 19: Reconciling with the Past

Last Time: Lizzy spent the morning in Hogsmeade with Natty, Constance and Anne on Sunday morning. The group spoke for a while before the topic of the Founders Festival naturally came up and it was revealed that everyone except for Anne had entered. When Lizzy looked uncomfortable about the topic; Anne worked to change the topic and help her, growing worried when she accidentally revealed too much information. Later that night the Opening feast of the festival was held and each of the Flagbearers for the various houses were announced. Unfortunately Elizabeth was picked just as she feared; and even worse her identity as a Grey was revealed by the enchantments. After the rules of the festival were explained to the flagbearers Elizabeth was left alone with Headmaster Black and Callista, who was acting like a grieved mother who had miraculously found the child he missed. The whole thing made Elizabeth feel sick, especially when she was told she would be forced to compete under the Grey name. After making her way to the common room and beating back her curious housemates the ravenclaw was able to finally speak with the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw and reveal that she was indeed one of her descendants. As it was one of the few thigs that made her proud to be a Grey, the two spoke for the better part of an hour before Elizabeth finally had to retire for bed.

***Trigger Warnings*** The beginning of consensual sexual activity between sixteen year olds.

The school had been abuzz with the news ever since the announcement of who the Flagbearers were who would be representing each house. It seemed like everywhere Elizabeth went; it was all that anyone was talking about. She could understand the excitement given that the Founders Festival was such a momentous occasion that hadn't occurred in centuries. What truly bothered her was not the chatter or exuberant musings of how the participants would perform during the events; but rather the hushed whispers and curious gazes which followed her personally. The auburn and purple haired witch had hoped that after being pestered with questions Sunday night in the common room that the curiosity would quickly die down. However; that had only been the beginning of it.

The announcement that she was the long lost daughter of the House of Grey had become a much larger topic of interest than she had even dreaded, especially among the pureblood students from older families. The fact that Callista had taken it upon herself to approach Elizabeth near daily since then hadn't helped in the slightest. The older woman seemingly doting on and expressing interest in the teen witch only seemed to draw more attention to her. It made the ravenclaw sick to the stomach every time the vile woman played the role of a loving mother who missed their lost child in front of others. Yet after how Headmaster Black had reacted when she simply implied she wished to compete using the Wilson name, Elizabeth had quickly come to the conclusion that openly resisting Callista's advances would do more harm than good. As such she had fallen into the habit of nearly continually keeping her well practised smile in place despite feeling as if she were breaking inside each time the older witch tormented her with false affection. The delight she could see in the raven haired woman's flickering eyes at her internal suffering just made the pain all the worse.

The week hadn't been all bad however. According to the portrait in her study Evelyn had been taking her medicine properly once more; which was wonderful news. It had greatly concerned Elizabeth when she had first discovered that her mother had missed multiple doses in a row. Such developments were dangerous for both the older redhead and the child she bore. The witch still had no idea why her mother had stopped with the tincture in the first place; yet had been reluctant to return home and ask her directly for the reasoning. As the daughter it just seemed wrong to her to second guess Evelyn like that when the older woman had always been so thoughtful of her in the past. Regardless; she knew that she would have to ask eventually in order to make certain it didn't happen again. She couldn't risk her mother's, or new sibling's, life just because she felt uncomfortable chiding the older woman.