𝑨 𝑻𝑶𝑼𝑪𝑯 𝑶𝑭 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟔: 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬

DESPITE A CONVERSATION taking place in private, news travelled fast around Hogwarts.

'The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher has a kick for more than just dark arts.'

'Miss Arcane pushed a woman out of a window.'

'I heard that Miss Arcane has been to Azkaban.'

And Lilith's personal favourite, 'The Ministry of Magic is coming to Hogwarts to take Miss Arcane.'

Honestly, it was as though the students gave no single thought as to what was actually true. The only rumour that Lilith heard with the highest probability of happening was the last one. But Mira was a Death Eater and thus already tied to Voldemort and so the Ministry's involvement would be futile. Furthermore, with the state that Voldemort and the Ministry were in, they were in no predicament to overthrow or even try to obtain control of Hogwarts. The rumours in the minds of all these young students were creative and admittedly, part of Lilith wished that one of those rumours were true; preferably the one that involved a window.

She hadn't gone to the Great Hall for lunch or dinner after everything. It was hard to face things she was hearing about herself and so being locked in a room with them would most definitely send her into a frenzy. A frenzy... could she even use that term anymore without people thinking that she needed thorough evaluation? It felt as though she had to walk around with a PG label stuck to her forehead. To sit in the Great Hall and attempt to have a meal in comfort whilst the rest of the room spoke seemingly vicious, and for the sake of Lilith's reputation - untrue stories, it would be... let's just say it would be easy to down a bottle of veritaserum and have the whole school learn the truth.

It was difficult. How could you possibly sit and deny every single accusation that was being thrown at you? You couldn't. You couldn't just sit and take it without doing something along the lines that would only make you appear worse than what people already thought of you. Lilith knew the truth. The whole truth. That was all that mattered at this moment in time.

But the thought still entered her mind. If only they knew. If only they knew what she knew. If only they could see what she was seeing. And if only they could live, even just for a minute, if only they lived through what she was currently living.

Despite Lilith's refusal, Beatrice had offered to dine in Lilith's room claiming that 'little miss wood pecker was striving for more than plucked feathers.' Or better translated to 'Mira Wood would most definitely face the wrath of Beatrice the longer that she stayed.' Beatrice was beyond loyal, not once did she question or doubt Lilith. Everything was just complicated. But Beatrice knew what Lilith knew. Beatrice saw what Lilith saw. Beatrice had lived and was living the same life that Lilith was enduring. On the topic of Beatrice, the old woman had vacated the room to the Great Hall to pile her plate undoubtedly with food to last a week and slices of apple pie to last an eternity.

Lilith had let her hair down and rubbed at her scalp to sooth the ache that had accumulated in her mind. Thinking was just as much of a burden as it was a virtue. Thinking meant power. Thinking meant sacrifice. Thinking also meant losing your damn mind. Her efforts to sooth her headache had proved pointless when the door knocked, her head thumped with each emphasised knock. Honestly if Beatrice planned on making this room hers just as much as it was Lilith's, she needed to understand the concept that she could just let herself in.

"Beatrice I swear to- oh..."

"I found a stray along the way." Beatrice casually spoke as she handed Lilith a plate of food.

"I am not a stray." Minerva gasped, Lilith stood there in just as much shock.

Perhaps Beatrice was a tad too blunt.