Turning tables

another graveyard

another graveyard

The October 5th fell on a Saturday, which Lilith was thankful for. She didn't think McGonagall would've let her leave the castle on a week day. Lilith heard Annabeth and Sydney wake up and quit the dorm loudly and then Sophie, doing the whole thing in a considering silence. The girl did check quickly if Lilith was awake but she just hid her face in a pillow. She hoped to get through the day with as little interaction as possible.

The Slytherin pushed the covers off her body and the effort seemed overwhelming. She opened the curtains around her bed and threw her legs on the side with laziness. Birds chirped happily outside. Lilith cursed and envied them at the same time, she wished she could be as carefree as them in this moment. It would make disappear the pit in her stomach. She sighted, hands covering her face. She had to get through breakfast, then she would be free to go. That was the deal she had made with the Headmistress, who had stared at her with a pity she hated as Lilith had asked for a special permission.

Hoping to avoid the most affluent time of the morning, Lilith went to the Great Hall just before lunch. She ate alone at the Slytherin table, throwing only a small smile at Ginny and Luna, who were snuggled up on a banc, as she entered the room. They were the only people there she knew enough to acknowledge.

She was staring into the great nothing when two loud voices pulled her back. Lilith glanced in their direction and winced. Malfoy and Zabini. She hoped for their well being they weren't going to talk to her.

But Malfoy seemed to have a death wish and strolled over to sit down graciously a few meters away from her. In the corner of her eyes, Lilith noticed Zabini hesitate a bit before following the action. Lilith was happy to constate her 'i will kill you if you get too close' look was still efficient at least on him if not on Ferret Boy.

"I am having such a great day," said Malfoy with exaggerated enthusiasm. Zabini glanced at him then at Lilith through his brows. "The sun is out, the food is good and I look rather charming!"

Lilith didn't react, eyes piercing holes in her pudding. She couldn't know what was Malfoy's goal there but she was sure he had one.

"It makes me incredibly sad to see people not appreciating the utter blessing that is today, Saturday the fifth. Their ugly, depressed face really ruin my moment, you know."

Your ugly face has been running my moments for years.

"Arstend, for exemple. Why aren't you smiling?" the blond boy asked, turning to her with a smile.

The skin all over her body tingled and she felt her face go red. The words 'don't react' drilled her brain, taking up every corner.

"Is it someone's funeral, or something?" Malfoy scoffed.

He was so obvious, so ignorant. He had no idea of the tsunami of emotions that poured inside Lilith at his words. He had just wanted a reaction, to annoy her, to make her snap back. But all he got was dark eyes meeting his and words she knew would hurt him as much as he did her.

"Isn't your mother's trial soon, Malfoy?"

Malfoy was good. He had years to practice a poker face. Years to learn how to cover up his emotions so that no one could read him, not even his own family. But Lilith had stabbed right where it hurt.

It was common knowledge that Narcissa Malfoy was one of, if not the most important thing to Draco Malfoy. Since the end of the war, the Slytherin had done everything to lessen his mother's sentence or the consequences that would eventually come for her actions. The papers had described avidly the big show that had been Lucius Malfoy's trial and followed the infamous Pureblood family maybe just as much as Lilith and her friends. But they also showed just how much the young Malfoy was ready to do for his mother. And it was a lot.

So bringing the upcoming trial under his nose was possibly the best move Lilith could've done.

Malfoy's face pinched like he had bit in a lemon before it went back to a cold and controlled expression. Lilith knew he'll be coming at her soon and decided it was her cue to go.

She should've felt bad, he hadn't known. But years of arguments and low blows had stripped away any guilt she could ever have regarding Draco Malfoy. She knew he felt the same. She knew he would've said the exact same thing if he had known. Undoubtedly worst.

So Lilith made for the door, ignoring Malfoy's audible anger behind her or the calming words of Zabini, who was clearly over their shit.

She walked all the way to Hogsmade, hiding in her pockets her hands from the cold. The village and the road to it were empty except for the few shoppers sometimes appearing in an alley. From there, she easily apparated away to her destination and her feet fell on the a carpet of red-orange leafs that cracked under her weight. Dizzy, Lilith looked around and took in the view.

A muggle graveyard ran from in front of her to the border of a small forest. It would be identical to a wizards' graveyard if it wasn't for the gravestones used by time and the little bits of them that had fallen through the years. Wizards repaired the stones of their loved ones as a part of the 'cleaning' ritual. It was a sign that the deceased would live on with as much dignity wherever they were going and that their family would take care of them even in death.

Lilith made her way into the yard, ignoring the water rising in her eyes as she approached an impressive gravestone. It didn't matter if she was alone; she wouldn't cry.

The gravestone was embarrassingly big and over the top. It was made of white marble that outshined all the others with engraved drawings of angles and roses. The bright flowers surrounding it's feet were slowly dying in the frisky temperature but they were still too tall, too big, too much. It was all a big show, down to the name written in a leaned calligraphy.

If Lilith had to chose, the less ugly thing on that gravestone was the name. The calligraphy was pretty, even though she knew it had costed a fortune, and the name of course was even prettier to her.

Ophelia Arstend,
beloved mother and wife

And just below was written the date of her death, five years earlier. It had been five long and eventful years since Lilith's mother had died.