Ensorcelled (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter 3

Lilith listened closely to the sombre voice of Professor McGonagall as she taught them their very first lesson in Transfiguration. Her movements were swift yet elegant. Lilith couldn't help but become completely transfixed with her words.

"That is all for today," McGonagall eventually called out, bringing Lilith back to her senses. She shot out of her seat like a bolt, quietly apologising to Daphne who sat beside her.

"You were completely out of it!" Daphne giggled at her, the corners of her mouth twitching up as she did so. It looked involuntary. "What's got you worked up so much about Transfiguration?"

Lilith's shoulders curved upwards and fell back down to their standard position. She gave her friend a sweetened smile. Picking up her papers filled with carefully crafted scribbles and perfectly placed notes, she noticed Draco Malfoy wandering out of the class. Professor McGonagall was still standing patiently at the front of the classroom, waiting for all of the students to take their brisk evacuation. 

"Professor McGonagall," Lilith spoke out at last, once all the pupils had left. "Do you know anything of my family?"

Professor McGonagall smiled. She was old, and her wrinkles became more evident as her lips turned upwards, but there was something beautiful in her cheeriness. She told the brunette, "Why, yes, I suppose I do. The Lovells... Such a lovely family, from what I had heard. What is it you wish to know, Miss Lovell?"

"I wish to know my blood status."

The elder woman's grin faltered. All signs of joy had almost been sucked out of her expression, as though a dementor had entered the room. Nonetheless, the liveliness returned as her wise eyes rested on Lilith. She hoped, as hard as she could, that the girl would not be sucked into such fables of blood status and superiority. 

"Well, as I know of it, your parents were both of pure-blood status. It may be of more benefit to ask Professor Dumbledore such questions... but Lilith, I must ask what makes you inquire about such a thing," McGonagall told her, waiting eagerly for a response that didn't include the popular beliefs of Lilith's peers.

"I... I was just curious, I didn't know much of them. Goodbye, Professor!" Lilith cried out as she sped out of the classroom, leaving her teacher to let out a deep, exasperated sigh. 

Lilith ended up outside the gargoyle before Dumbledore's office. She gripped her hair, the earthy tones slipping between her fingers and shining in the dull light. Her knees caressed the floor and her back ached as it met the cold stone wall. 

Her stay did not last long, for soon the gargoyle beside her began to shift and spin. Footsteps echoed throughout the hall and Dumbledore's robes - a rich, reddish purple - came into Lilith's view. She peered up at him as he spoke, "What brings you here, Miss Lovell?"

"I have a few questions," Lilith confessed, her teeth digging into her inner cheek. She shifted from one foot to another nervously.

"Come," Dumbledore called out as he started to trek back up the staircase.

They reached his office and Lilith's eyes grew wide at the sight of it again. There was always new collections to see, different bits and bobs that Dumbledore had added or maybe taken away. 

"What is it you wish to know?"

Lilith peeked up at Dumbledore through her lashes. She decided to say it outright, "I asked Professor McGonagall, and she said she thinks my parents were pure-bloods, but she thinks you'll know for sure."

The headmaster's face softened, his wrinkles disappearing for a slight second. He pointed a hand towards the Pensieve.

"Professor, what is that?" Lilith queried as she stepped towards it, looking for her reflection in what she assumed was water, but she saw nothing.

"The Pensieve," Dumbledore began to explain, knowledge leaking out of his still voice, "One takes their memories and thoughts and pours them into here. From there, they almost become uncloaked; it becomes so much easier to spot the holes and links.

Of course, Lilith, I knew your parents. I do wonder if you'd like to see them, to see what they were like."

Lilith nodded vigorously. She inched closer to the old man's side, waiting for approval, as he spun his collection of memories and found that including her parents. Dumbledore's cracked fingers wrapped around the bottle and tipped it ever so slowly into the Pensieve, allowing the memory to sink in.

"Go ahead, Miss Lovell. You must put your head in."

Her caramel eyes lit up, horrified. However Lilith had not known a moment in her six years of knowing him where Dumbledore had deceived a single soul. Taking up his orders and standing on the tips of her toes, she dipped her head into the Pensieve, and thus was sucked into a merge of a black and blue smoke-like substance.

"What an honour it is, Professor Dumbledore!" A man with sparkling peepers much like Lilith's called out as a younger looking Dumbledore entered the room, his robes falling at his feet like a velvet curtain. 

"Why, we haven't seen you in years!" A woman Lilith could only assume was her mother continued. 

It was only then that Lilith realised she could move, but it was no use. She couldn't be heard, nor would anyone acknowledge her. 

"Hello, Edith, Mervyn," Dumbledore greeted the newly-wed couple. "I came to congratulate you on your marriage. It feels like only yesterday that you first walked into my classroom, already inseparable."

"Ah, yes!" Edith reminisced, moving to hold her husband's hand. 

"I do remember that, also. Hogwarts felt so much bigger back then," Mervyn added, recalling his memories as a young boy. Edith clutched his fingers and squeezed, indicating for him to continue speaking to their previous professor.

"That does remind me of some good old times," Dumbledore apprised Lilith's parents. He carried on his journey around their house, eyeing some old photographs in particular - in one of which the couple were stood beside an almost greasy black-haired boy that Albus had become so familiar with. 

"We have some more news, Dumbledore-"

"Albus, if you will, Mervyn. You should no longer need to be so formal with me," Albus chuckled, tucking a stray hair of his grey beard back. It was much shorter then, and a lot less white, Lilith observed.

"Well, Albus, we bring you an excellent announcement tonight!" Edith cheered, clapping her hands together. Her husband grinned from ear to ear, resting an arm on her petite shoulders. It was only then that Lilith realised the physical similarities between her and her parents - her father's eyes, her mother's physique, and a mix between her father's almost black locks and her mother's long, chestnut waves.

"We're having a child," Mervyn told the old man, whose face lit up similarly to the pair before him.

"Oh, what wonderful news!" Dumbledore chirped as gaily as Lilith had ever heard the man speak. He held a hand out to Lilith's dad, who gladly took it in a manly shake. "I do hope they will attend Hogwarts."

"Of course, I couldn't think of a place better," Edith reassured him.

Lilith suspired sharply before being torn away from the scene. She gasped as she retracted her head from the Pensieve and gaped at Dumbledore, who placed a hand on the child's shoulder as she began to sob, clear crystals slipping down her flushed cheeks.

"Yes, Miss Lovell, your parents were pure-bloods."