1977
"Lavinia Cassiopeia Black!"
"Go on, then."
"It's your turn!"
Lavinia Black was lightly nudged by a group of students awaiting to be sorted into their houses. She slowly walked up the small steps of stairs in the Great Hall, taking a seat in the chair overlooking the students.
Her eyes scanned the room anxiously as she picked at her nails. She saw her older brother, Sirius Black, sitting with his friends at the Gryffindor table, waiting to see where she would be sorted. She then looked to the Slytherin table, finding her other older brother, Regulus Black, looking at her with an encouraging smile.
The hat was placed on her head, "Hmm, your mind is not what I have ever seen before. You might be madder than this hatter!" It exclaimed a few students giggled, "Ah, yes, another Black. But where to put you... it seems as if your mind fractures so easily, I see no definitive personality here." The hat said as she nervously looked at Headmaster Dumbledore, who seemed unfazed.
"Please, not Gryffindor. Not Slytherin." She quietly pleaded to herself.
"I see... but I cannot go off of what you want, because you don't seem to know what you want yourself. Hmm, I shall put you in... Slytherin!"
Lavinia's heart dropped as claps erupted from the Slytherin table. She stood up and looked at Sirius, who just clenched his jaw and looked away in anger as his best friend, James Potter, whispered something in his ear.
He's saying horrible things about me. Lavinia thought to herself as she meekly walked to the Slytherin table. She sat at the end, looking down in shame. She felt someone sit down beside her, "Hey, you alright?" Regulus asked.
Lavinia shook her head, "I didn't want to be sorted in here."
Regulus let out a quiet chuckle, "Hey, this isn't a bad lot. Since you're here, I'll be able to be around you more. It'll be alright, yeah?"
Things weren't easy. Lavinia received taunts and relentless bullying from her classmates, the majority of them being Gryffindors of all years. She dealt with frequent outbursts and meltdowns, and the only one that would calm her down was Regulus.
She didn't see much of Sirius. When she would pass him in the hall, he would often glance at her momentarily before brushing past her with his friends.
On a chilly and rainy evening, Lavinia was running across the courtyard to get to the Great Hall quicker. But she was quickly interrupted when she bumped into group of people just before she could escape the storm.
"Watch it, freak." A Gryffindor fifth year snapped as his group of friends laughed.
"S-Sorry." She meekly said.
"What was that? Speak up."
"I didn't mean to bump into you!" She said louder, "I just wanna go eat."
The boy scoffed, "What's with the tone? No reason for the hostility, is there now?" He questioned as he walked towards her.
Lavinia slowly backed up as one of his friends snatched her bag away. She opened it up, "Hm, let's see here." She said, throwing things out of her bag as she went through it.
"Give that back to me!" Lavinia yelled as she tried to take her bag back.
The boy held her back as the other girl went through her papers, "These marks aren't very good." She said with a laugh, "Good luck staying here, demented freak." She said, shoving her bag down into a puddle and muttering a hex as he let go of Lavinia.
The group walked off laughing as Lavinia ran to her things, but was burned when she tried to pick up her bag. She yelped, looking at her bright red hand that had words being carved into it.
Demented freak
Tears began to stream down her face, mixing with the rain falling down on her. She picked up her other papers, leaving her bag. Lavinia ran to an empty corridor, sitting down against the wall as she brought her knees into her chest as she began to cry harder.
She heard soft voices in the distant, and she quieted her weeping.
"I swear, sometimes I want to bloody punch the ego out of him. Why can't he just leave Snape alone?"
"You said it, Althena. His ego."
"Come on, guys. Quit acting like you guys aren't some of his best friends."
"We are, Lily, but that doesn't excuse his behavior. And besides, it's not like he doesn't talk shit about us behind our backs." Althena said, "Even Diana has said something about Sirius's annoyingly cocky attitude, isn't that right?"
"I commented on his recklessness." Diana said, "That was all. You guys know I don't take pleasure in talking about our friends behind their backs. Everything I told you guys, I said straight to his face."
"Diana is right." Lily said, "Marlene, Althena, let's drop the conversation."
"Merlin, I'm starving." Althena said, changing the topic in a mocking manner, "I wonder what they are serving tonight."
"Food, I hope." Marlene replied.
"I'll meet you guys there." Diana suddenly said.
Lavinia heard their footsteps still, "Are you feeling all right? Do we need to go get Sirius?" Lily worriedly asked.
"Don't be so serious, Lily. I just have to go to the loo." Diana said.
"That joke is incredibly overused, Diana." Marlene said, "Never stop using it."
Diana let out a soft and angelic chuckle, "Go on, I won't be long."
Moments later, Diana walked around the corner and saw Lavinia sitting on the ground with water dripping from her and her face red, stained with tears.
"What happened?" Diana softly asked, sitting down next to her.
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're family, and I care about you." Diana replied as she looked at the hand Lavinia was holding, "Can I see?" She asked. Lavinia nodded as Diana carefully took her hand, turning it over so she could look at her palm. She let out a light sigh, "Who did this?"
"I don't know. They-They were Gryffindors." Lavinia said as a new wave of tears formed, "I was just trying to get to supper! I swear I wasn't–"
"Hey, shh, I believe you." Diana said as her eyes trailed to the stack of wet papers beside Lavinia, "Where's your bag?"
"In the courtyard. They hexed it, when I tried to pick it up, this happened." Lavinia replied, nodding down to her hand.
Diana stood up, "I'll be back."
And she was, just minutes later. She muttered a spell, and her bag and papers were dry. Diana put everything back in its place, "Do you want me to go get your brothers?" She questioned. She shook her head, keeping it held down. Diana picked up her bag and held her hand up, "Let's go for a walk. I'll patch up your hand, as well."
The two walked outside, Diana used a spell that kept the water off of them. She walked Lavinia down the Black Lake, and took her to the tree that she enchanted.
"What is this place?" Lavinia asked as Diana waved her wand, causing a few iridescent flowers to bloom instantly.
"I've been enchanting this tree for quite a few years." Diana said as she picked a flower, "It's one of my most sacred places, only the ones that I trust completely have been here." She said as she pulled a small glass vial from her own bag, walking out of the tree.
Lavinia followed her, watching Diana bend down by the water, gathering some of it into the vial. They walked back in the tree, and Lavinia watched Diana put the flower into the water. She said a spell, and it mixed up quickly as golden specks formed.
When the mixing stopped, she gave the vial to Lavinia, "There you are."
Lavinia looked at the potion curiously, "Are you going to poison me?"
"Oh, darling, I would never do such a thing. Here, I'll have some as well." She said, taking a small sip of the potion. When Lavinia saw nothing happen, she drank all of it. The marking on her hand quickly cleared up, "How does it taste?" Diana asked.
"Sweet. And, my hand..." She said, looking down at it.
"Good as new."
The two made their way back to the castle, "Why does Sirius hate me?" Lavinia quietly asked as they walked down an empty hallway.
"He doesn't hate you, Lavinia. I believe that he thinks you don't need him, so he's kept his distance." She said, "But he watches after you, more than you realize. I reckon when he finds out about what that lot did to you, he'll have detention for the rest of his life."
And he did. Diana told him what happened, and it didn't take long for him to find out who it was. He only got 3 months worth of detention, but he swore up and down the punishment they got for what they did was tame compared to what he had in mind.
Lavinia never found out about it either, as she began to keep herself secluded from everyone else.
But on the day of her niece's birth, she joined the group in the infirmary after she was already born. She walked in on James and Remus arguing, "I want to hold her!"
"You just got to hold her, James. Let the rest of us have a go."
"Lavinia." Diana's soft and quiet voice quietly hushed the two boys. They all turned to her as Diana softly patted her bed, signaling Lavinia to walk over.
Diana scooted over slightly, and Lavinia crawled onto the bed, sitting next to her. Diana looked at Remus, and he gave Aurora back to her. Diana then placed her in Lavinia's arm, "Diana–"
She glanced up at Sirius, "Yes?"
He shook his head as he took a few steps back after Remus nudged him, "Nothing."
Diana put an arm around Lavinia and kept a hand on Aurora as she held her. Lavinia smiled as Aurora's big grey eyes beamed up at her with a small smile, "I think she likes you." Diana quietly said.
But the solitude was quickly ripped away when Aurora wrapped her small hand around Lavinia's finger. Lavinia let out a light scream as Aurora began to cry. If it weren't for Sirius and Althena being so close to the bed, Aurora would have fallen when Lavinia let go of her.
Althena held Aurora close as she began to cry even louder, "Oh, bloody hell, what's your deal with me?" She said as Lavinia got off of the bed, holding her head in her hands.
"Go get Dumbledore." Sirius said to James and Remus, the two speeding off.
Regulus walked into the room, taken aback by the panicked scene in front of them. Madame Pomfrey was by Althena's side, making sure there were was visible harm on Aurora. He walked to Lavinia, "What happened?"
"Aurora held her finger, and... I don't know." Diana worriedly said.
"Somebody take her. This child hates me." Althena spoke up, "Cried the first time I held her, and she's crying even harder now."
Regulus walked to her, taking Aurora out of her hands despite Sirius's protests, "Relax, Sirius, he's not going to do anything." Diana said, bringing her hand up to his.
He stopped and sat down at the edge of her bed with a frustrated sigh as Dumbledore walked in, "What's going on?"
"She got into my head. It-It was painful." Lavinia said.
Dumbledore looked slightly relieved. Regulus gave Aurora back to Diana and sat beside Lavinia on the bed by them. Dumbledore walked to the edge of the bed, "May I?"
Diana and Sirius nodded, and he softly put his hand on Aurora's forehead, "Ah, I see."
"See what? Is she alright?" Sirius questioned.
"Nothing bad, well, it depends on your definition of bad."
"What is it?" Diana asked.
"You have a legilimens on your hands." He said with a soft smile, "Poor Lavinia was her first victim. Nothing to be afraid of, it will get better with time."
A smile broke out on Sirius's face as he stood up, hugging his best friends, "My genes are impeccable!"
"Our genes." Diana corrected.
"Our father is a legilimens, in case you forgot." Althena spoke up, "She didn't get that from your side." She said with a scoff.
Dumbledore removed his hand with smalll hum, "I also felt some resistance from her. If my suspicions are true, she might also have occlumency. It's quite rare to be born with one, it's extraordinary that she might have both." He said before turning to Lavinia, "Nothing to fear, it was merely an accident."
"Once again, Diana's side." Remus said with a chuckle.
"You have an occlumens in your family?" Sirius asked Diana.
Diana gave him a quizzical look, "You're not serious, are you?"
"Of course I am, darling." He said with a shit eating grin, earning chuckles from his friends and an eye roll from Diana.
"Althena is an occlumens, Sirius. You didn't know that?" Diana asked.
He glanced at her, "I did not."
"You two really need to hang out more. I can't believe you didn't know that." Marlene spoke up.
Althena finally raised her eyes to meet his, but darted them away quickly. James spoke up, "I took a Legilimency potion last year to try and prank her... big mistake." He quietly said, "Had a headache for days after that."
The next year was no better for Lavinia. The bullying and taunts got no better, and she tried her best to avoid such conflict. However, sometimes she would snap.
She was washing her hands in the bathroom when a group of 6th years walked in, whispering to themselves about her as they giggled.
"What was that?" Lavinia said, fed up with how everyone spoke of her.
They shared a look before a smile crept up on their faces, "We didn't say anything, have you gone mad?" One girl asked.
"I'm not mad. You were saying something about me!"
The girls broke out into a fit of laugher, "Seriously Lavinia, you really are deranged. We haven't said anything about you."
Lavinia snapped. She smashed her hand against the mirror, "I'm not crazy!" She screamed.
Their smiles faded away quickly. One of the girls whispered something to the other, and they ran out of the bathroom as one of them muttered, "Get one drop of her blood and you've got yourself an Essence of Insanity potion."
Lavinia calmed her breaths, and slowly removed her hand from the mirror. She looked at it, watching the blood trickle down her hand and onto the floor.
Later that day, when she told Regulus what happened, he took her to a hidden part of the castle.
"The Room of Requirement. It only appears when one has great need for it." Regulus said as they stood in it, "I want to show you something."
Lavinia nodded, and he raised his wand. Black flames shot around them as runic symbols glowed below them, "Obscurum Incendio. This is a runic circle, when its cast, nobody can use their magic but the one who created the runes. When you learn to cast it, nobody can hurt you."
"You can hurt me right now, though." Lavinia quietly said, "I'm defenseless."
Regulus stepped to her, and he gave her his wand. She took it and he stepped back, "I'd never hurt you, Lavinia."
Regulus died just a month into Lavinia's third year. She did not handle the loss well. She received various letters from her now sister in law, Diana, but she didn't respond to any of them.
When she was being taught about Boggarts during her third year in Defense Against the Dark Arts, her boggart turned out to be herself in a much less stable mental state. It terrified her, even more so when she couldn't make it go away.
The next few years were bleak. Lavinia has made no friends, and had nobody in her corner.
On Hallowe'en in 1981, Lavinia's fifth year, she got the news of what happened to Lily and James Potter, Diana Vespertine-Black, and Sirius Black through Dumbledore.
"I thought it would be better for you to hear it from me, rather than the papers." He sadly said as she sat in his office.
"M-My brother killed Lily and James Potter?"
He nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"And the Dark Lord killed Diana."
He gave another stiff nod before bringing up a handkerchief to wipe a tear away, "I could never have foreseen something like this happening, to be truthful."
"Why would the Dark Lord go after Diana if Sirius was working with the Dark Lord? Something isn't adding up."
"I'm afraid we don't have all the answers right now."
"Yet you believe that my brother killed Lily and James, his best friends."
Dumbledore sighed, "We don't fully–"
"I think you need to take a step back and look closer. Why would Sirius do such a thing? Let me repeat myself, if he was working with the Dark Lord, why would he kill Diana?.
"Diana most likely found out and tried to stop it, Lavinia. I know it might be difficult to come to terms w–"
She abruptly stood up, "No. I don't believe it. Sirius was hardly a brother to me, but he's no murderer. Something isn't right!"
"I'm sorry, Lavinia. Unfortunately, this is our reality now."
"What about their daughter?"
He went quiet for a few passing moments, "I cannot disclose such information."
"She's my family, too. Who is she going to?"
"The Malfoys."
She let out a weak scoff, "Wow. Out of all the people, who trust them with her? Have you lost your mind?!"
"She will be safe there. No harm will come to her."
"I think, your definition of harm and my definition of harm are vastly different."
He carefully stood up, "You must trust me."
Lavinia's mother, Walburga, died just a year after she graduated from Hogwarts. She wasn't bothered by her death, as she knew nothing but abuse from her all her life. But she was now left alone, she was left out of the Black family will, and had to fend for herself.
It was on a cold winter night in 1986, she was approached by Gabriel Hemlock to join the Death Eaters in a bar.
"We want to bring the Dark Lord back, to restore order."
She downed the glass of whiskey that was placed in front of her, "I want no part in it. Leave me be, and I won't bother you."
He slipped a letter to her. She looked down at it, and carefully opened it.
Lavinia,
These people will help you, as they helped me. I am gone due to my own selfish mistakes, the Dark Lord and Death Eaters were kind enough to let me join their cause when I was around, and I foolishly took advantage of it. I urge you to join when you can, know that this is what I would want for you.
Regulus
Tears slipped down her face, "When did he write this?"
"Days before his death. He knows he made a mistake, he was selfish to have abandoned the very place that gave him a real home. He would speak all the time of how he would want you to be by his side, by our side."
She carefully put the paper down, "If Sirius worked with the Dark Lord, which lead to the death of James and Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Diana Vespertine-Black, and the cause of Aurora being in the hands of the Malfoys. What makes you believe that I would join you? What makes you believe that I would be this gullible, to believe Regulus wrote this letter?"
"What do you believe?" Gabriel asked with a small smirk.
"Sirius is innocent. Peter Pettigrew was the one to betray them, he's the biggest coward of them all, would do anything to keep himself alive. Regulus found out just how horrible you all are, and tried to expose it and weaken the Dark Lord, leading to his fate."
His smile faltered lightly. Gabriel brought his hand up, and she flinched at the sudden movement. He paused lightly, and then carefully tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, "Nobody ever told me just how smart you are, Lavinia." He softly said, "Tell me, how many people believe what you believe? And how many people have called you mad for it?"
She gave no response as her head began to spin lightly. She looked down at the empty glass of whiskey, "What was in that?" She weakly asked.
After a few passing moments of struggling with her mind, her breathing steadied. Gabriel tilted her chin up so that she was looking at him, "Tell me, do you believe Sirius Black is innocent?"
She shook her head as beads of sweat fell down her face, "No."
"And Regulus Black, how did he die?"
"He was never good at swimming. He drowned." She sadly said, "I miss him everyday."
He wiped a tear that slipped from her eye, "Poor thing, you are. Don't worry, you'll be taken care of."
Lavinia could never pinpoint what exactly happened, but after that night, she was never the same. It felt like she was stuck inside her own mind, trying to break free and figure out why her mind felt so scattered.
Two years later, in 1988, Lavinia attacked Natrix and Hesperia Cairo after she found out that they had turned against the Death Eaters. She attacked them in their home while Augustus was away at a friend's house.
It ended with a curse she shot bouncing off the walls and hitting their youngest son, Cecil Cairo. Natrix and Hesperia, out of sheer anger, hit her with two curses at once.
Obliviate was the one Lavinia remembered hearing, the other one, she couldn't make it out. But she was shot to the ground as she could physically feel her mind breaking apart, worse than the night when Gabriel approached her.
Her screams echoed throughout the house, pleading them to make it stop, only they couldn't.
Her screams were so loud, they were able to be heard across the trees and to the Malfoy Manor. That's when Lucius and Narcissa apparated to their home to figure out what happened.
Natrix and Hesperia lied about why Lavinia showed up to save their lives. They took Lavinia away, and it took hours for them to be able to get whatever was happening to stop. She disappeared days after, and when they found that it was safe, Natrix and Hesperia formerly left the Death Eaters, and told Narcissa what really happened when Lavinia attacked.
They did not protest, as they knew they were too weak to start a fight. Narcissa kept their secret. Lavinia had Crucio used on her by a dark wizard in Bulgaria for hours on end to try and fill in the blanks in her memory. It seemed that she couldn't remember a single time when she was truly happy and felt safe and protected. She could only remember the bad things, and the feeling of being around Regulus. She could remember the feeling of security being with him, but details were completely gone. She could hear lullabies he sung her echoing in her mind over and over, it seemed to never go away.
But Crucio turned out to make things worse. The wizard gave up, and Lavinia went back to the Hemlock Manor, where she planned to kill Natrix and Hesperia Cairo for what they did to her.
Gabriel encouraged it greatly. He got word that they were traveling to Russia for work, and Lavinia followed them. She killed them in their hotel room that night, their deaths being slow and painful.
2 months later, she found herself delighted to hear about the death of Cecil Cairo.
"Only one little Cairo left, what should I care to do with you?" She pondered as Gabriel watched her carefully.
"You know, I have met someone that will be of great value to us." He said as he stood up, "His name is Fenrir Greyback."
"Fenrir..." She trailed off, "What can he do?"
"If you really want Augustus to suffer, how about a life of lycanthropy before you finish him off for good?"
She beamed up at him, eyes wide with excitement, "Oui! That is brilliant!"
During the summer of 1994, they finally were able to go through with their plan. Fenrir attacked Augustus just outside of his home on a hot summer night under a full Moon, and was left to suffer all alone.
"How brilliant that was!" Lavinia exclaimed loudly as she took a sip of red wine, plopping down onto deep green velvet couches, "Oh, I loved the sound of his screams."
"Lorelei Malfoy is friends with him. I don't doubt..." Gabriel started before cutting off his words.
"Lorelei Malfoy." Lavinia whispered as she stared up at the ceiling, "I want to meet her."
"You cannot." Gabriel said.
"Why not? I've met Draco, though I don't think he likes me very much..."
He sat down at the end of the couch she was lying on, "Because Lorelei Malfoy is different."
"How so?"
"Don't worry your pretty little mind about that, yeah? Let me refill your glass."
He stood back up and took the wine from her hand, walking across the living room to a small tray. He filled it with more of the red substance, "You know, I've never met Lorelei, yet she seems so familiar to me." Lavinia whispered, "Like a memory that is on the brink of fading away, if I reached up to grasp the memory, it would evaporate." She said as she lifted her hand up in the air.
He put the glass of wine in her hand as she continued to gaze up at the ceiling, "Drink up." He said.
She quickly obliged, finishing the glass of wine in a few large gulps. She put the glass of wine on the floor harsher than intended, causing it to break.
He paid no attention to it, "Feel better?"
She nodded weakly, "I'm tired."
He stroked her forehead lightly as his son, Grayson Hemlock, walked into the living room.
"Father–" He stopped quickly, narrowing his eyes on Lavinia, who's eyes were drooping, "What happened to her?"
"I'm just reminding her to forget."