HP:per aspera

March 1995

It's been 13 days. Three-hundred and twelve hours. Eighteen-thousand-seven-hundred-and-twenty minutes since Fleur Delacour's words shook Hermione to her core. Lilith Farrow likes her. The Lilith Farrow whose mere presence made half of the school scared. The Lilith Farrow, the brilliant Ravenclaw prefect with perfect grades. The Lilith Farrow who gave her the perfect first kiss.

Between Sirius's words about Barty Crouch's life, and Rita Skeeter's articles, her mind was solely occupied by Lilith Farrow. She found it ironic how the whole wizarding world thought she was in a love triangle with Harry and Viktor when in fact she couldn't stop thinking about a girl who used to intimidate her. She used to think Lilith Farrow was just a regular selfish pureblood girl who somehow was on the top of Hogwarts' food chain. She hated being wrong, everybody who knew her knew how much she hated it. But she was wrong. Lilith was brilliant, compassionate, brave, and loyal. Did she like like Lilith? She found her intriguing, yes. And even before she kissed her, Hermione couldn't stop thinking about her. And she missed... Oh who was she kidding? She liked Lilith. The realisation hit her like a truck. She prided herself on being smart but she couldn't believe even Aveline Farrow knew before she did. She liked her, and she was royally screwed because thanks to Rita Skeeter, she was the scarlet woman of the wizarding world with bandaged hands and hate-mail deliveries on a daily basis. So she hid in her safe place. The library.

She tried to concentrate on her Transfiguration essay but thanks to Bubotuber Pus, she struggled to turn a page in a book and holding a quill was a punishment on its own. She didn't even notice a chair next to her move.

"Merlin, what happened to you?" she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the familiar voice. Aveline was in her standard uniform with the Ravenclaw tie loosened and hair tied back, looking curiously at Hermione's bandaged hands.

"Mail." she mumbled and winced slightly as she moved her quill.

"Skeeter?" Hermione nodded and noticed Aveline's frown.

"I tried to rise above it but... her readers are out for blood." she winced again when she moved the quill.

"Okay, stop it." Aveline snatched the quill from Hermione's hands and Hermione could only watch as she slid the parchment with the half-written essay in front of her, scanning it for a while before she started writing at the place where Hermione ended.

"What are you doing?" Aveline didn't look at her, instead, she continued writing with ease.

"Writing your essay." Hermione was still confused but she could feel the tips of her ears burning at the gesture.

"But why?" Aveline sighed, still not looking at her.

"Because I'm bored, you're injured and if my hands weren't tied, I'd kidnap Rita Skeeter and torture her with the worst curses I know. It's been on my bucket list for years." Hermione could see how Aveline's knuckles turned white.

"Because she's a bad person in general?"

"That too." Aveline hummed and Hermione's eyes widened when she saw how much Aveline had written in such a short time. And all from memory. "She went after my mother." Aveline sighed.

"What?" the Ravenclaw shrugged.

"She was the head of the magical law enforcement. Nobody dared to go against her... well, when she was alive at least. Right after she died, Skeeter dug up anything she found suspicious, twisted every word she could and dragged her name through the mud." Hermione's eyes widened at the information. The fire of hatred for Rita Skeeter burnt even stronger. She was a snake, a coward. "My father silenced her somehow but in the end, the damage was already done."

"How do you remember that? Weren't you a baby when your mother died?" Aveline's head snapped towards her.

"How do you know that?" Hermione shrugged.

"Lilith." Aveline rolled her eyes, mumbling a quiet of course with a small smirk before continuing the essay.

"It's true, I don't remember it, I read it. The twins and I found those articles a couple of years back. It wasn't a pretty read."

"I'm sorry."

"It's Skeeter who should be sorry, not you Granger." Hermione peaked to look at the essay Aveline was working on.

"How do you know my handwriting?" Aveline smirked at her.

"Oh please, almost four years with the twins. I'm an expert in falsifying anyone's handwriting."Hermione rolled her eyes but a smile tugged on her lips. It was still a nice gesture from

"So, when are you finally gonna tell my sister you like her?" Hermione groaned and her head hit the desk in front of her. The only thing she could hear was Aveline's quiet chuckles.

"Shut up."

"What? Can't I tease my future sister-in-law?" Hermione smacked Aveline's shoulder with a parchment nearby only to earn another chuckle.

"Why are you writing her essay?" both of them nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard the familiar crooked voice. Aveline quickly whipped around, glaring at her sister.

"Don't do that! Merlin, you sneak around like a ghost." Lilith only shrugged and looked over Aveline's shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Because she can't write." Aveline said simply.

"What?" Lilith looked at Hermione with a puzzled look. Hermione could feel blood running into her cheeks as she avoided Lilith's eyes.

"I had... an accident."

"Accident my arse." Aveline scoffed and looked at Lilith. "Skeeter's fault. That old hag's spreading lies and Hermione's getting dangerous hatemail for it." Lilith raised her eyebrow and eyed Hermione's bandaged hands with an unreadable expression.

"She is, huh?"

"Did you need something?" Aveline smirked at Lilith who finally tore her eyes from Hermione's hands.

"Actually no, I was just leaving." she looked over Aveline's shoulder again. "You have a mistake in the fifth paragraph." as Lilith turned on her heel and left, Aveline quickly scanned over the page and cringed.

"Ups, sorry, she's right." she mumbled and crossed out the incorrect sentence. Hermione's cheeks were still warm.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Although it wasn't noticeable, Lilith was fuming on the inside. She hadn't been reading Rita's articles for years, she only heard from her classmates about it. So seeing Hermione injured thanks to the reporter... that's set off a fuse. She didn't even look where she was going, she just needed to blow off some steam after receiving the news. But on the way towards the Astronomy Tower, she stopped. Draco Malfoy was standing by the window, his back turned towards her, with his hand suspiciously close to his lips. Smoking was forbidden at Hogwarts, and even though she herself was practically a chain smoker and therefore a hypocrite, she also had a pent-up rage she needed to get out. She silently sneaked up on the boy, gripping his shoulder and swiftly turning him around. Draco looked annoyed at first but as he saw who was standing in front of him, his pupils widdening, making him look like a deer caught in headlights.

"Smoking is against school rules, Malfoy." her tone was cold but quiet, she didn't like rising it.

"I-I wasn't..." Lilith grabbed his hand.

"Then what's this?" she asked and pried the hand open. She expected a burning cigarette but to her surprise, it was a beetle. A strange-looking beetle which she quickly caught and held closer to her face, inspecting it. Those markings.... She glared at Draco who was cemented on his spot.

"That's Skeeter, am I right?" her suspicion proved correct when Draco nodded hesitantly. "You're her informant." another hesitant nod. The fuse inside Lilith nearly exploded. If she could, she would use the worst curses she knew on the blond-haired wizard in front of her. Her hand closed around the beetle, securely holding it in her fist, making sure it couldn't escape.

"Fifty points from Slytherin for harbouring an outsider inside the castle." she glared at him. "Now scram." Draco immediately bolted from the scene, leaving Lilith alone with Rita Skeeter. She brought the hand which was holding the beetle to her lips.

"We're gonna have a little chat, Rita." she whispered and walked towards the closest empty classroom, closing the door behind her and putting the beetle on a chair.

"Turn, now!" a few moments passed before the beetle finally grew into the familiar woman, glaring at her through her infamous rhinestone-studded glasses.

"How dare you? I was in the middle of..."

"Silencio." when Rita's mouth was still moving with no sound coming out, Lilith waved her wand once more and ropes shot out of it, wrapping themselves around Rita, and tying her to the chair. Rita looked outraged, angry. Good Lilith thought and leaned against the teacher's desk at the front of the class.

"Hello, Rita. I don't think we've been formally introduced. My name is Lilith Farrow." she watched as Rita finally stopped fighting against the ropes, her eyes fixed on Lilith as colour slowly left her face. "Of course, I know all about you. I know everything." she watched as Rita nervously gulped at her stone-cold tone, and pushed herself from the desk, walking towards the tied woman.

"You know Rita, I have a problem with you. Multiple, actually. I wondered for a long time how I could deal with you. If I'd go the official route, I'd have you at trial by tomorrow morning." she hissed, smirking inwardly at Rita's flinch. "Entering school grounds without permission, invading the privacy of minors, putting minors in danger by default," she counted on her fingers. "and let's not forget, you're an unregistered animagus." Rita's pupils widened and Lilith smirked. "That's right, I know the Registry by heart, and your name is not in it. So according to Magical Law, along with the fact that you've been actively abusing the ability for years, you'd be on your way to Azkaban by tomorrow afternoon." seeing Rita shake like a leaf was a satisfying moment for Lilith but she wasn't done. She leaned on a desk in front of Rita, pointing her wand at her.

"But if I'd go the unofficial route," she paused."do you remember what my father did to you?" Rita head moved in a short nod. "Well," Lilith chuckled dryly, staring right into Rita's eyes. "I'm much worse." she watched as Rita's eyes widened in terror, enjoying the look, savouring it to her memory.

"But how would it look if you just disappeared into thin air, right? Now, let's have a little chat about your future, shall we?" she leaned back, standing in front of the desk, her wand still pointed at Rita.

"If I ever see another sentence written by you, scratched that, a word written by you, if I ever see you near school grounds, if I ever hear you talking about another Hogwarts student, I will find you, and whatever happens next, I'm sure nobody would question your disappearance." she narrowed her eyes at Rita, staring right into her little black soul. "I am the one with power here, Rita. You don't want to mess with me. Are we clear?" Rita started nodding furiously, clearly frightened by the girl in front of her. Lilith watched the reporter for a moment, her hand with the wand itching to just use curses instead of words but after agonizing silence, she finally made the ropes tying Rita disappear.

"Change back." opposite to Rita's first transformation, this one was quick as lightning. Instead of the blonde woman, a beetle was now on a chair. Lilith took the beetle, making sure to squeeze a bit on her way towards the open window. "Don't forget Rita because I certainly won't." with that she threw the beetle out of the window, watching it fall for a moment before it started flying away. She smirked, the image of terrified Rita Skeeter at the palm of her hand forever engraved in her mind.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Guess what?" Cedric squeezed into a spot next to her in the Great Hall, the Daily Prophet in his hands. Lilith looked up at him from her small breakfast with a raised eyebrow, still half-asleep. Cedric had a puzzled look on his face, turning the pages of the paper.

"Skeeter hasn't published anything for five days straight." this made Aveline look up from her cereal, leaning across Lilith, snatching the newspaper from Cedric, and flipping through it.

"You're joking." Cedric shook his head.

"No, nothing, radio silence."

"Oh really?" Lilith took her cup of coffee, a little smirk playing on her lips as she took a sip.

"She's never been silent for so long." Aveline put the paper down, shaking her head. "She's plotting something."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Lilith murmured quietly, gaining the attention of both Cedric and Aveline who finally noticed her tiny smirk, still half hidden behind the cup she held against her lips. They exchanged a quick look.

"What did you do?" Cedric whispered, leaning towards her.

"I didn't do anything." she bit her lip to prevent herself from a full smile.

"Lilith?" Aveline now looked at Cedric, slightly panicked.

"Let's just say, hypothetically of course, that I knew some information about a certain reporter, and in exchange the said reporter eagerly agreed not to publish anything in the foreseeable future." Lilith took another sip of her coffee, still smirking slightly. "Everybody knows information is power, no?"

Both Cedric and Aveline were silent for a few moments, letting the information sink in before both of them started laughing so loudly that they gained the attention of the students around them.

"You're a bloody genius!" Aveline got out in between laughs, hugging Lilith's arm.

"That's just brilliant!" Cedric almost yelled out, patting Lilith, who was now silently chuckling along with them, on the back.

The duo continued in their laughs and praises, unaware of the pair of brown eyes, watching them curiously. The Daily Prophet laid spread in front of her, Rita Skeeter's name strangely missing from the bylines.