NOIR - [Fred Weasley]

03. A Day In The Life

✻ When Lizzie wakes up late

(Btw, remember when I said this story is mature?)

One thing Lizzie hates, is being late. Never in her seventeen years on this planet, has she ever overslept. She always viewed her punctuality and talent in organisation as two of the keys to her success.

But something had happened over the past few weeks, and locals had started to notice. When once her figure could always be spotted around 'The Lair' — either running from trouble as a child, or as the years went by, patrolling around with her trusted crew — the grey-eyed beauty now spent most of her days hidden in the shadows. Locals assumed she had traded patrolling with smuggling — nothing too unusual for the children growing up in 'The Lair' — but they still couldn't hide their smiles whenever they'd spot her at 'The Wicked Wench', pouring her heart out by playing the piano.

She was always an enigma; Elizabeth Levesque. Ever since her very pregnant mother showed up at Margaret Thibault's doorstep seventeen years ago, little Lizzie had constantly been the talk of the neighbourhood. As a child, she was always seen running around the neighbourhood, her best friend — Jonathan — right by her side. She'd jump around shops and walls like it was nothing, often disappearing at the rooftops above. She was smart and quick, and most of all; happy.

When Athena Levesque fell ill, little Lizzie's light started dimming. What was once a happy child turned into a sceptical soul. When her mother passed, the young girl was just seven years old. Her childhood over way too fast.

With no one to take care of her, Margaret Thibault stepped up. She had known her mother for many years, but had never really spoken to outsiders — let alone get close to anyone. Up until Athena's death, Maggie Thibault had always remained a silent protector of the neighbourhood; keeping the ministry and the trouble out of 'Hestia's Lair'. At least until she became an unlikely mother...

From that day on, little Lizzie grew up very fast. Training from the age of seven under one of the greatest witches alive, she learned many tricks — maybe more than a child should. Lizzie learned to embrace both the good and the bad in the world, seeing it as what it is; an endless supply of shades of grey. And when Albus Dumbledore came in to invite her to Hogwarts, Margaret Thibault reminded the locals why she is a force to be reckoned with. Not trusting either Dumbledore nor the Ministry, she sent the headmaster away, saying the girl would get the best education she could ask for, right there; by her adoptive mother's side. The wrath she had unleashed that day was but a mere example of the power she held. The incident had both scared and gladdened the residents of her precious lair — feeling safe under the witch's protection. That was the last day Margaret Thibault made a public appearance...

Ever since then, little Lizzie had become Maggie's voice around the place. With her adoptive mother's help, she had managed to bring a new age to the neighbourhood. Her team of trusted allies created what would be known by the locals as 'The Wolves'; a group of children raised in 'The Lair' whose purpose was to make sure their cover is never blown. Their home might be a place ready to welcome anyone that needed one, but muggles weren't ready for magic just yet...

And that's how little Lizzie turned into an integral part of 'Hestia's Lair'. Soon, everyone got used to the girls intimidating figure strutting around the streets. She was always polite, never causing a fight or raising her voice, a regalness surrounding her — as if she hadn't been raised in a tiny apartment, but a mansion as part of the sacred twenty-eight.

That period of peace didn't last long however. Soon, Lizzie became the talk of 'The Lair' once more. It was the day a little girl asked her a very simple question... 'What's your name?', the child had asked. And little Lizzie replied: Elizabeth. Elizabeth Black.