Lilith Moon

Lilith lay in the hospital bed at St. Mungo's; her legs and arms covered in bandages, her face bruised and scratched. Seamus had left just a few minutes ago, and so she was alone in the room. According to Seamus, someone would be stopping by shortly to keep an eye on her, and she really hoped it'd be soon. She couldn't stop worrying that at any moment a Death Eater would slip inside and steal her away. If that happened, she was almost sure she'd never get out again.

After nearly two days of torture at the hands of the Carrows, Lilith had fallen into a silence. She felt as if almost all the fight had gone out of her and had nearly become resigned to the fact that she would never get rescued. Tired, in pain and starving, she finally broke down and burst into tears.

The Death Eaters seemed to take that as some sort of sign; for the Carrows left, and then returned just a few minutes later. With smirks on their faces, they untied Lilith from the chair, picked her up by her arms, and began dragging her down the hall to some unknown location. Lilith didn't even bother to fight. Occasionally she made an attempt to trudge along beside them, but mostly she just let her feet drag slowly down the hall.

Finally they came to two large double doors. At a wave of Alecto's wand, the doors flew open and Lilith was dragged into a large and mostly empty room. There were windows on the left wall, but they were hung with thick black curtains and Lilith couldn't see a thing through them. The room was lit by torches along the wall, but the one thing that really caught Lilith's attention was the throne in the center of the room. That, and the man sitting in it.

The bright red light of a curse flew towards Lilith. She twisted at just the right moment and it whizzed by her cheek in a flash of heat. Curving her arm up and under she shot a hex right back at the robed figure, hitting him in the knee and causing his whole leg to go numb. As he fell to the ground she turned and ran off in the other direction.

( ... )

"No, not again."

Lilith stared in disbelief at the painting right in front of her. It had taken almost two frenzied hours to paint and now all she could do was watch the vision replay over and over. The message was clear. The Death Eaters were coming to Hogwarts.

It was that thought sinking into her mind that finally allowed her to break free of the haze that held her. Grasping her wand tight, she silently cast the charm. Her pale silver patronus took form, taking her message and disappearing down the stairs to its intended recipients.

"Minerva, Kingsley. Come to the top of the North Tower, quick!"

Lilith hadn't been able to concentrate since the night at the Three Broomsticks. The idea that Theodore had been offended by what she said, that he was hurt by her words, stuck at her like a sore spot.

Finally, with a sigh, she slammed shut the book she was attempting to read and stood up. Her face was set with determination as she made her way out of her office and straight to Theodore's. Knocking carefully on the door she called out, "Theodore? This is Lilith. I really need to talk to you." After a pause she added, "I'm sorry."

Lilith said at her desk in her office, going through the neatly stacked papers on her desk and grading the most recent assignments her students had handed in. The assignment, a foot and a half on the different interpretations of a Major Arcana Tarot Card of the students choosing, had netted some interesting results. A few of the essays, such as a Ravenclaw girls rather interesting essay on the meanings associated with "The Magician", provided very interesting reads. A few others were interesting for more amusing reasons, such as a male Gryffindor's take on the "Devil" card.

She finished marking the last essay and sent the roll of parchment flying to the stack in the corner. Then, as she glanced up at the clock on the wall, she realised how late it had become. It was just about time for Adrian to stop by!

For days, Lilith had been trying to catch Theodore after class and finding him already gone, or planning to catch him after a meal and realising he hadn't shown up. He had been avoiding her for days now and she was tired of it. She understood how what he'd seen would upset him, but he hadn't seen the whole of the painting's story and she was determined to make sure he did.

Early that day, she'd overheard a student mention that he was supposed to meet Professor Nott in his office later in the evening to ask some questions about an assignment. So with that in mind, Lilith made her way over to Theodore's office at that same time and planted herself outside the door, just out of sight. It was time that Theodore discovered that Lilith could be very determined when she set her mind to it. The moment the student exited, Lilith made her move. She slipped into the office and closed the door behind her, crossing her arms as she leaned against it. "You've been avoiding me, Professor Nott."

Lilith had that feeling again. An itch, spreading up through her feelings, causing her hands to shake and her arms to tremble. The itch didn't seem to care that it was the middle of Lunch at Hogwarts. Immediately, she stood up from the head table and clutched at her robes in an attempt to hide her trembling hands. As quickly as she could without seeming rude, she made her excuses to the other professors and hurried out of the room, trying not to look at the curious students who were almost certainly watching her.

The moment she was free from watching eyes, she broke into a fast walk, practically running through the halls and to the North Tower. Three trapdoor ladders later and she was in her studio, rushing towards the easel. A flick of her wand and the half-painted canvas flew to the wall, a blank one rushing to replace it. Another flick and her palette had soared into her hand, brushes rushing to follow and aligning themselves on her easel. And then she painted.

Almost an hour without pause, furious stroke after furious stroke; her fingers nearly burning as she rushed to clean her brush and choose the right color as fast as she could. And then she was done, and the painting stood in front of her and revealed it's horrible message. "Oh Gods. Oh no..." Her knees began to tremble and she wasn't sure if she could make it down the ladder to where she needed to go. Instead she pulled her wand out of her pocket and summoned her Patronus. She could only pray that Kingsley was in his office and not still eating lunch in the hall, where the students would surely get a fright.

The bright and pale silver wolf flashed out of sight through the trapdoors and when it reached Kingsley it gave its message in Lilith's panicked voice. "Kingsley, it's Lilith. I've Seen something- something horrible. Come to the tower, as fast as you can! Please!"

It had been with a rather reluctant sigh that Lilith had pulled herself away from her tower, exchanged her painting robes for her teacher's robes, and headed out into the castle to do a sweep of the hallways for students. She'd been working on a particular lovely painting of her home in Ireland; which she was pleased with mainly because it didn't seem to be one of her Seer paintings and she'd chosen the subject of her own free will.

But, students will be students, and even with the threat of escaped Death Eaters on the loose, they were liable to be sneaking out and roaming the halls for Merlin knows what reasons. Her wand held aloft, and an easily casted lumos lighting her way, she strode through the hallways and checked to make sure everything was alright.

After stopping to send a mischievous pair of Gryffindor boys (who, to be honest, reminded her just a bit of the trouble-makers the Weasley twins had been back in her own day) back to their tower, Lilith headed over to the West Wing of the castle, scanning the hallways as she went.

As she swept her lighted wand from side to side she caught side of a darkened figure up ahead. It looks too tall to be a student, she thought to herself as she hurried forward. But just a few steps revealed the identity of the person to the light of her wand and she stopped a two paces away with a smile on her face. "Oh. Hello, Theodore." She was still quite unaccustomed to calling her fellow professors by their first names, but at least this one was from her own time at Hogwarts and not one of the professors that had taught many of her classes. Not that she knew Theodore very well, other than that he taught Ancient Runes and seemed to be very knowledgeable about the subject. "Out checking for students? I've already caught a pair of Gryffindor boys trying to sneak out of their common room."

The moment her class left, Lilith hurried up the trap-door ladder and to her rooms. It had been an agonizingly long hour because from the moment the class started, her fingers had been itching with the urge to paint. Now she moved as quick as she could into the small studio off her tower bedroom. The easel stood in front of the window, a blank canvas already on it. Without hesitation she picked up the palette and brushes that stood nearby, stood in front of the canvas and began to paint.

Most of the time when she painted, it was whatever she wanted to paint, be it a landscape or a person she knew and wanted to See more about. But sometimes the urge to paint just came over her and it was those moments that worried her the most, because the result wasn't usually a happy painting.

Luckily for her, all the students had lunch and then a break, so she had quite a bit of free time to paint without interruption. In a little more than an hour she was done, and as she stared at the painting in front of her, which slowly began to change and tell her its story, her palette and brush dropped out of her hand and feel to the floor with a clatter.

This was important, she could feel it. And there was only one person she could think to show it to. Not stopping to wonder if he was busy or not, she grasped either side of the painting with her hands and carried down the stairs and towards the office of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Lilith wasn't normally the type to go to bars; to be honest she found them rather loud at times and ale wasn't her favourite taste. Plus, she had not-so-fond memories of that one time she'd gone to a bar in Dublin and had her arse groped by some drunk bloke. Still, this was Seamus' bar, and she was willing to put up with uncomfortable surroundings to see a friend.

She stepped inside the bar and was pleased to find that it wasn't excessively loud. There were a good amount of people there, of course, but nothing overwelming. Lilith glanced around the large room and finally caught sight of her friend behind the bar. With a grin, she sidled up and slipped into a stool right in front of him. Her irish accent became more pronounced as she asked for a pint, "Pionta Guinness, le do thoil?"

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