𝐕𝐈. 𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐄 ➵ 𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐱 𝐇𝐏

007.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

⟻ NEPENTHE ⟼

007.

the escape.

——— ☾𖤓 ———

IT HAD BEEN NUMBER FIFTY SEVEN, the number of the lives Lilith had gone through so far. She still had forty three lives to go. The most recent life she had to relive was one where she was an eight year old boy— one that had died to protect his little family. His mother, father and his little sister.

That life was particularly one of the saddest she had to go through. The little boy— which just happened to be her— had five siblings, and three of them perished by a group of robbers invading her house.

His two older twin brothers had died when they were awakened from the sound— coming down to check the sound— but they were beaten to death. Her eldest sister came down to grab a glass of water only to be greeted by her two twin brothers' lifeless bodies.

She followed them soon after she had let out a scream that awoke the entire family. When the remaining family of four gathered, they had caught sight of the robbers— and they ran to hide in the parents' bedroom.

The little boy knew that they had no chance of making it alive if they didn't do anything, so he sacrificed himself to let the rest of his family escape through the window. He had become the distraction— and no matter how much his parents begged him not to, or tried to stop him, they couldn't do so without making a sound.

So the little boy left the bedroom and made clattering noises throughout the other side of the house, catching the attention of the robbers. When he saw his family running to the neighbors out through the window, the little boy embraced death like an old friend with a smile on his face.

"What are you?" The familiar voice asked her for the hundredth time.

"I don't know. . ." Lilith answered honestly, this time not bothering with the pain in her head.

"You're making this much harder than it needs to be, Lilith." The voice sighed. "What are you?"

"I'm a daughter." Lilith answered after a few minutes of silence. "I'm a sister."

"That's right." The voice sounded for the first time— pleased. "That is not quite what we are going for, child. But it is a start. Let's go to your next one, shall we?"

Letting out a tired sigh, Lilith closed her eyes once more as the darkness washed her away.

On the living side of the world, Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm.

The plan was to introduce Harry as "Cousin Barny" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him. All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats.

A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree. Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.

Behind Harry, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden hairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles are entwined with white and gold flowers.

Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow.