• — • — •
Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike.
—OSCAR WILDE
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"Lia..."
Lia ground her teeth at the sound of that patronising, sing-song tone of voice calling her name.
" Lia... Oh there you are! You're coming with me."
Just as Alecto's brunette head peaked around the bookshelf, Lia slammed her book shut and shoved it indiscriminately back into a random spot between two books of vastly differing heights She glanced up, smiling, as though just noticing Alecto for the first time.
"Is there something the matter?" she asked, hoping the confusion in her voice masked the annoyance boiling beneath it. Usually, a person couldn't force Alecto into the library to save her life.
"Oh no!" Alecto waved a hand dismissively, brushing away the mere thought. "We just have things to discuss outside of present company,"
At the word "present", she looked pointedly at several of the braver Ravenclaw students who'd been driven to sit near where Lia had set herself up due to their own seat availability issues. Given that Lia was now treated as some sort of leper by most of the student body, it truly reflected their desperation to ace their upcoming O.W.L.'s.
"Meet us in the common room in, let's say, three hours? It should be cleared out by then," Alecto said after a moments thought.
"And if it isn't?" Lia asked tentatively.
"I'll send them to sleep the hard way."
Lia wasn't sure what exactly she meant by that, but sincerely hoped everyone would be safely in their beds by then, for their own sakes.
"Sure thing," Lia replied, not feeling sure at all.
Something about Alecto's assertiveness sent alarm bells blaring through Lia's head, but she'd been alone with them plenty of times after hours at this point and lived to tell the tale.
"See you then!" Alecto flashed one last cat-like smile, before doing an about-face and skipping off.
There were perhaps two people in this world that Lia feared more than Lord Voldemort, and that grinning, cackling witch earned a spot near the top of the list. Something about her set Lia's skin crawling. She gave off the distinct impression that she'd laugh in Lia's face while stabbing her in the back, but who was Lia to judge, anyway, when that was also her own plan for all of Voldemort's supporters, for Alecto and Amycus and Barty and everyone else?
She would kill them all.
Three hours later, after, at Lia's inquiry, a startled fifth year claimed it to be nearly nine, she grudgingly packed all her things and departed from the library. She rifled through each book in that area a dozen times over anyways. Not a single one on Horcruxes, even in the restricted section. While she commended Dumbledore for not keeping books on such Dark Magic laying around for impressionable students to happen upon, it was frustrating. She needed those for herself, damnit! This impressionable student was in dire need of that Dark Magic!
Lia resigned herself to the fact that she would need to leave the grounds to find anything useful, but with the way the Deputy Headmistress was breathing down her neck recently, it seemed risky. McGonagall already rewarded her with enough detentions to last until her great-grandchildren graduated Hogwarts and Lia had no desire to add more to that list.
Lia ducked through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, praising her good fortune that Sirius and his minions were nowhere to be seen. He'd been suspiciously absent these last few days, making her think he was up to something, but she had more pressing things to worry about than him. On the ever growing list of risks to her life, Sirius ranked in near the bottom, somewhere below butterflies.
Immediately after she passed the empty hearth, a furious orange cat darted out from under one of the overstuffed chairs and began winding herself like a coil between Lia's legs, nearly tripping her.
"Just the kitty I was looking for." She kneeled down, feeling guilty at how rarely she saw her cat nowadays. "Come here, Saber. Come on."
Lia glanced around the Gryffindor common room to find nearly a dozen other students pretending not to watch her out of the corner of their eyes while they attempted, to varying degrees of success, to study for their OWLS and NEWTS. Every time theier eyes accidentally caught on hers, their gazes quickly darted away, probably imagining themselves sly.
Merlin, couldn't they get a life? It was already December for goodness sake! They had had six months to get over whatever this novelty was about her family being killed.
Huffing, she scribbled a quick note for Remus and concealed it on the inside of Sabertooth's collar under the guise of adjusting it. Usually, she'd wait for Remus to come looking for her in the library at night, but she didn't have time for that this time, due to her prior engagement with Alecto. A letter would have to do in case things went awry.
She didn't worry about the note accidentally falling into the wrong hands, because, for some strange reason, Saber absolutely LOVED Remus and despised Sirius in equal measure. Lia chalked it up to an innate cat-dog rivalry.
Before leaving, she gave Saber a stern warning to stick to Remus like glue. She wasn't sure how much the cat understood, but Saber meowed the affirmative, and that was enough for Lia. With one last scratch behind her ears, she was gone.
• — • — •
The Slytherin Common Room was dark when Aeliana finally stepped inside. Whether everyone went to sleep willingly or had been felled by Alecto's nefarious means, Lia didn't want to know.
Severus, Regulus, Barty, Alecto, and Amycus were circled around the large stone fireplace, it's licking flames dancing shadows across their pensive faces.
Severus, who had been whispering something fierce to Alecto, looked up first at the sound of the door clicking shut.
Regulus turned next. He wasted no time leaping to his feet, his sweet smile putting Lia's buried worries to rest. Even if she was pretty certain Alecto could kill her without batting an eyelash, she was equally certain that Regulus could not.
"Sit here by me," he said, bouncing back on the balls of his feet, venting enough pent up energy to light a small village for a year.
Lia did as asked, letting herself be placed between him and Severus on the floor, her back blistering from the fire.
"So," Alecto began, leaning forward from her matriarchal spot on a high backed chair. All she needed, Lia mused, was to stroke a cat on her lap and she'd be the picture of pure villainy. "We've gotten to know you these last few months, and you have promise, but we really don't know you, understand?" She didn't wait for a response. "We've decided to ask you a few questions to see if you really belong around us and our other friends."
Lia felt her heart rate double when she said "other friends." If that wasn't synonymous with "Death Eaters," then she'd eat a hippogriff with a blunt spoon. Now was Lia's chance; she couldn't screw it up.
"To start, what do you think is our place in the world? Wizardkind, I mean." Alecto cocked her head like a cat examining a particularly tasty mouse.
Alright, Aeliana. Time to bullshit this out of the water. What would a bunch of over zealous pure-bloods want to hear?
She cleared her throat.
"It's only logical that we would be on top. We were given these special abilities to subjugate those weaker than us, to lead them, as they do to those weaker than them."
"And what of pure-bloods?"
"Well we can't have muggle borns in charge. They would be sympathetic to their weakling parents. What do they really know of the wizarding world, anyways?"
Each word tasted sour as it left her mouth, but the way Regulus squeezed her hand and the triumph brewing in Alecto's eyes made Lia confident she'd answered correctly.
"Naturally, pure bloods should lead us, because they have fewest fetters binding them to muggle weakness," she finished.
"Good..." Alecto purred. She looked around at the others. "I think she passed. Boys?" She didn't wait for either ascent or dissent before plowing forward. "Our master has expressed interest in you. If you pass the last test, you can help him make all of our dreams become reality!"
Her voice held such fervour that Lia was almost awed by the shear amount of singleminded devotion.
Lia looked to Regulus, the one among them she found most comforting, and asked, trying to hide her nerves, "What's... what's the last test?"
"It's easy. You don't have to do anything. All he does is look into your mind to see your loyalty to him and the cause." He shrugged carelessly. "Nothing to worry about, really."
Lia begged to differ on that one. It might be a bit of an issue when he looked into her mind and saw her burning desire to drop kick him into a volcano. Funny enough, Lia didn't voice that particular concern.
"He's been wanting to meet you for some time," Alecto shared, oblivious to the fact that this was in fact the second time she had done so. "With the holidays coming up, when we can leave the castle without raising suspicion, he decided that would be the best time."
"The holidays? But that's... Christmas break begins in two days!"
Lia had no time to plan anything, no time to get ready. Was that why they were only telling her now? To catch her off guard?
"You'll come home with me," Regulus explained, smiling. "I'm sure mum'll be pleased."
Unless she's been replaced with a ghoul, I highly doubt it. When has she ever been pleased?
"We'll send information on where we're going to be meeting to you there, when he decides to let you see him," Severus added blandly.
"Now that that's settled, I'm going to bed," Alecto exclaimed, standing up and stretching for emphasis. "Better start packing your bags."
With a last conspiratorial wink, she was gone.