The Lady of (New) Avalon

This is a terrible idea.

De Mort ignored Aster, offering Evans his arm like the gentleman he definitely wasn't, ready to apparate them back to Hogsmeade because of course they'd hit it off.

The four of them ended up sitting around drinking and talking about nerdy academic projects for hours, from the floating island — or possibly underwater dome, there was some disagreement about the most realistic way to go about colonising the ocean, as though it was at all realistic in any way — to the arithmancy behind the basic concept of the Dark Mark — which was apparently a fucking soul brand, Aster refused to believe anyone other than Bella knew that when they were taking it, because that was literally selling your soul, enslaving yourself to fucking de Mort — to the technical difficulties of creating an artefact to facilitate controlled time travel — which was apparently a thing Bella was actually making progress on — and the fascinating possibilities for exploring alternate dimensions and planes that could be potential next steps when — when — they got the time travel thing down, to the direct runic augmentation project — which was apparently not nearly as impossible as people said, assuming you had a subject with enough power and control to activate or deactivate hundreds of runes in concert, and mad enough to break their own bones and tear their body apart thousands of times working it out through trial and error.

Aster would definitely deny it if anyone asked, because sitting around talking about theory with your cousin and her dorky, snake-obsessed boyfriend all afternoon like a massive nerd was deeply uncool — and also because no matter how brilliant and charismatic Bella and de Mort might be, they were also evil (Damn it! It really shouldn't be that hard to remember that!) — but she really did think a lot of the shite the Death Eaters were working on was absolutely fascinating. Especially extraplanar exploration, she'd always thought that was a neat idea, and there was something deeply appealing about the idea of being able to go toe-to-toe with a werewolf literally twice your size in a straight-up fist-fight...though not enough to make it seem worth it to repeatedly destroy herself learning to use the runic augmentation scheme they'd worked out.

But the pizzeria had eventually opened for dinner, letting in other patrons, and Aster and Evans were expected to go back to school for the Feast — though that was probably a terrible idea in and of itself, there was no way Evans was going to be able to pull off Prefect Evans at the moment and Aster had no intention of ruining her lovely pre-dinner buzz with Sober-Up, so trying to hide that she was slightly drunk was going to be fun — and Bella and de Mort had a couple of things they needed to take care of, and they did have plans later. Namely, whatever Evans was planning to do to co-opt the Samhain ritual for her own purposes, and making sure Jamie was there to witness the fact that his precious Lily-flower was as fake as her father's pretty, human face.

Plans which de Mort was just as curious about as Aster was.

He'd decided that they — he and Bella — were going to just drop in on the ritual to see what their newly-discovered daughter was up to. Aster was fairly certain that Dumbledore would notice they were on the grounds, which was going to be a pain in the arse all on its own, but on top of that she'd kind of gotten the impression that de Mort, who was weirdly enthusiastic about the idea of having a child, thought this was an excellent father-daughter bonding opportunity and was planning on inserting himself into the ritual itself somehow, so Aster was betting about half the school would know that Evans was de Mort's kid by morning.

And neither one of them seemed to give a single fuck about any of that.

Honestly, Aster, I don't see why you find it so odd that I appreciate my daughter's company. I know you find her decidedly entertaining yourself.

I find it odd that you appreciate human company in general, she thought back. She'd given up on insisting on audible conversations hours ago, somewhere around the end of the second bottle of wine.

...Bella is human, you know. She could feel the underlying amusement there, despite the 'dry' tone.

Only technically, really. She was a Black, and she was always at least a little mad, Aster thought, it was just hard to tell because her self-control was positively inhuman too — following through on the runic augmentation project, from what they'd told her about it today, was an entirely different level of insanity than anything else she'd ever heard of anyone doing, including getting a spontaneous sex-change. Between that and the shadow-walking, she was pretty sure Bella was about as close as you could get to being a vampire without doing the ritual, and it wasn't really a secret that she got on better with her werewolf subordinates than she did with most of the other lieutenants. Plus she'd been raised almost entirely by house elves and de Mort. Aster had met wilderfolk who acted more convincingly human than she did at times. (And that wasn't even counting when she did obscenely over-powered shite like reshaping entire training fields to create new dueling environments for her trainees, or mastering freeform flight, or casually channeling the Ever-loving Dark.)

Okay, I take your point, de Mort responded. But you have to admit, neither you nor Asphodel have been doing a great job of acting like normal, sane humans today, either.

She had to do no such thing, no matter how true it might be. Piss off.

He did, pulling Evans into the Shadows rather than apparating them, which made Aster's skin crawl just thinking about it. She'd been pulled under exactly once, and never would be again if she could help it. It was horribly, sickeningly disorienting, and impossible to navigate if you weren't already accustomed to using magic to sense the environment around you.

"Oh, I guess we should probably go, then," Bella said, holding out a hand. "Give them something to aim for."

Which made very little sense to Aster, but then she would willingly admit that she had no idea how shadow-walking worked. "I can apparate myself, you know." Given how tipsy she was at the moment, she'd probably throw up if Bella dragged her through side-along. "Assuming I know where we're going."

"The train station tends to be fairly abandoned for most of the year," she suggested.

"Fine." Aster closed her eyes, visualising the Hogsmeade platform — its carefully cultivated sense of quaintness, the long, low building painted violet with red and gold trim, the disembarkment area sheltered by a sturdy canopy, lit even this early in the evening, she suspected, by the imitation gas-lamps they'd put in to mimic the muggle styles that were popular when the station was established back in the mid-1800s (but enchanted to light and extinguish themselves based on the level of ambient light, because Bella was right, the station was entirely unmanned for most of the year) — and turned on her heel, slipping out of the universe, through the brief, crushing point that was the Space Between, and back in onto the deserted platform, in a single fluid motion (both physically and magically). She even made sure to go slowly enough that she wouldn't make a huge bloody thunder-clap on re-entry, but lost her balance slightly when she reappeared, because it was possible she was a little more tipsy than she'd thought before standing.

Bella steadied her, catching her right bicep almost bruisingly tightly. "Ah, thanks," she muttered, trying not to focus on the image that popped into her head of Bella holding her down, letting her fight, struggle like a trapped animal, but refusing to let her go until she was completely exhausted, and then— Damn it, Aster!

Bella smirked like she knew exactly what Aster was thinking, even though she definitely wasn't a legilimens. (Being the same kind of fucked in the head was just cheating.) "Very smooth. Right up to that last bit."

"Oh, shut up. How much of a pop did I make?"

She flicked her wand, making a sound like a single tiny muggle firecracker. Not bad. "I'm sure the evaluators will be impressed, assuming you remember to go get your license next month."

"Wha— Of course I'm going to get my bloody license!" Making sure to apparate only when and where there was no one around who cared that she wasn't technically old enough was an enormous pain in the arse.

"Hey, I'm just saying, I actually got a citation when I was nineteen because I'd been apparating since I was eleven and completely forgot I should actually officially take the test."

That probably wouldn't be nearly as funny if she wasn't kind of drunk. "Where did de Mort and Evans go?"

"Shadow-walking isn't as fast as apparation, and we weren't here for them to orient themselves when they left, so they'll probably be a couple more minutes," she said, sprawling bonelessly across one of the benches no one ever actually used to wait for a train.

"Right," Aster said, aimlessly wandering in a circle for a few seconds thinking that it would be awfully nice if she could pop into Padfoot's form and get Bella to scratch her ears while they waited. Okay, a distant, relatively unimportant part of her mind thought, you're definitely more drunk than you thought you were. Because Bella generally wasn't an ear-scratching sort of person. Just sit down, Aster, you're pissed. Right. Sitting. Was talking to herself in her own mind crazy person territory?

She should've asked McKinnon at their meeting yesterday. Would've given her something to talk about while she was awkwardly avoiding everything remotely important, like her family and getting kicked out of her room (which still stung a bit) and living with Evans now, and the fact that she'd just completely forgotten that she was supposed to be visiting the bloody mind-healer when she'd been off on her (honestly quite boring) muggle adventure with Evans and Snape last weekend. Not that she was complaining, talking to Evans's mum was much less awkward than talking to McKinnon. (For her. Probably not for Evans.) Though, he hadn't been too annoyed she'd stood him up, seemed to think it was good progress, her making new friends as a girl, as though being a fucking girl had anything to do with it. Well, she obviously wouldn't be sleeping in Evans's room if she weren't a girl, but she was sure if Evans had wanted to befriend her and demand a truce when she was a boy, this would have gone practically the same. Since Evans could apparently befriend anyone. Even people who weren't really people, but were actually snakes, and didn't have friends.

At least, she didn't think de Mort had friends. "Does de Mort have friends?" she found herself asking, before the distant, sober part of her mind could tell her that was a stupid question.

She could tell it was, because Bella gave her Auntie Dru's you're being ridiculous look. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Because that was weird, right? Like, he doesn't have family either, except you, with your weird incesty father-daughter-lovers thing, but suddenly he and Evans are hitting it off? Even though there's really nothing in it for either of them. It's just, I know neither of them are what you'd call sentimental, really, and they both also know this, and there's absolutely no reason to fake being into this whole surprise, daughter thing, and really, Evans has plenty of reasons to be fucking furious with you both, even if she does like existing. Like she said before he showed up, why should either of them even care?"

Bella cackled at her plaintive tone of confusion. "You didn't think being a mind mage actually makes you immune to other mind mages, did you? Especially when they're being subtle about it. They're both curious about each other, specifically because the idea of having family — or family you relate to — is foreign and therefore interesting, so they've both been trying to charm each other into opening up and portraying themselves as someone the other finds acceptable and interesting. Frankly, I think it's hilarious. I mean, I'm sure they are actually fairly similar in a number of ways, but if you've noticed, they just kind of focused in on a few topics of shared interest and they've been talking like they could be the exact same person for the last half an hour."

Aster had noticed, she thought it was creepy as hell, frankly. Though now Bella pointed out it was really just an effect of them trying to use their dirty mind mage tricks on each other, it was kind of funny.

"He did the exact same thing with Zee the first time they actually had a real conversation. If we didn't have to bring you back for the Feast I'm sure he would start leading Asphodel toward darker subjects, seeing how far she'd follow before she starts resisting the urge to mirror him, map out what is and is not acceptable to talk about with her. That does tend to be his modus operandi when he's playing at being diplomatic, I expect it's only easier if the other person is actively trying to meet you halfway."

"I'm...not sure she'd stop, though." Aster shuddered, remembering that dead, flat de Mort stare coming from her death-green eyes.

Bella laughed at her. "She would. Everyone has limits. She already balked at killing children — especially for fun — and the idea of practising torture curses on an innocent Auror when less extreme options were available. I'm sure she's not up for, say, vivisection, or murdering people while possessing them because you get off on it."

"Does de Mort actually do that?" Aster asked, horrified, and suddenly feeling far less comfortably floaty.

"Normally I torture them to death while he possesses them. I understand trying to essentially torture yourself is really very distracting." She said it with a straight face, but Aster really couldn't tell if Bella was fucking with her, because she got the distinct impression that Bella was enjoying making her uncomfortable.

Before she managed to figure it out, de Mort showed up, Evans clinging to his arm and looking like she'd just fallen out of a Gringotts minecart for the first time — both terrified and elated. "Fuck, that's a trip." Well, that was one way to put it. "Hi."

Bella sniggered. "Hi. If you liked that, I have half a dozen sensory deprivation charms for you to play with."

"I think it's even weirder when you flirt with Evans than when you flirt with me," Aster noted.

"That wasn't flirting, Aster, love. Flirting would be offering to show her how they work. And I'm hardly ever flirting with you, either, you're just that desperate. Which is weird, because I know there are at least a few kids in the Castle who like their fun and games a little sharp — do you want a fucking list?"

"No." Approximately all the blood in her body rushed to her face.

Liar.

"Maybe." Was it possible for someone to actually burst into flame from embarrassment?

I don't think so, but I'm sure we can find out if you like.

"I want a list." Because of course Evans would. "Is Violette Rosier on it? She seems like the type..."

"Mmm, maybe? I've never really spent much time with her, honestly. Evan is. Laeticia Selwyn. Ian Mulciber, obviously. Dierk Wilkes."

"Any who aren't baby Death Eaters?" Aster asked.

"...Asphodel?" That was not helpful. "Really, Aster, how many teenagers do you think I know who aren't potential recruits?"

Okay, fair. But she wasn't going to go around fucking baby Death Eaters or Evans, so, no, she didn't want or need said list. "Urgh, come on, Evans, we're going to miss the beginning of the Feast if we don't hurry."

"Er, right. We'll see you later, Bella, um... What should I call you, by the way?"

De Mort shrugged. "Thom? It does seem a bit pig-headed to insist on formality with one's child."

"I guess it does a bit. Thom, Bella, we'll see you later."

De Mort nodded gravely, hissed something which was entirely at odds with his solemnity — Aster was pretty sure it was impossible to look dignified while hissing at someone.

Evans rolled her eyes at whatever it was.

Bella giggled, so it was probably some stupid nickname. "Aster, Asphodel."

"Come on," Aster demanded, grabbing Evans's elbow and tugging her toward the castle. "Later," she called back over her shoulder, intentionally rudely, though she doubted either of them really cared, especially since there were no witnesses to see their authority being publicly undermined.

"She does know I don't really go by Asphodel, doesn't she?"

"She knows the daylight world calls you Lily," she said drily, pausing before she realised that didn't really explain that Bella was going to blatantly ignore that fact, probably forever. "Asphodel is the name you chose to use in their world — they barely exist in legitimate, upstanding society, the Death Eaters are pretty much part of the Underground, International Dark scene by definition — so she's going to call you Asphodel unless you tell her not to. And then she'll probably call you Delia or something just to be annoying."

"Oh. I mean, I don't mind, I just wanted to make sure." They walked in silence for a few minutes, headed not for the main gate but toward one of the secret passages that led from the Forest just outside the wards to a portrait of a bunch of wood elves near the Library. "So...legitimate, law-abiding society is the daylight world?"

Aster rolled her eyes, though she wasn't looking at Evans, so she probably didn't notice. "It's not funny if I have to explain the joke."

"It's also not funny if I don't have enough context to get it."

"Ugh, okay." At least it would be something to think about on the way back up to the school other than her sex life, or lack thereof. Or, lack of...potential play-torture partners? Was there a word for that sort of thing? Sex life kind of implied it was difficult to find people who just wanted to shag, which it really wasn't. Whatever, not important. Explaining what exactly the daylight world was. She could do that.

"So... The daylight world is a kind of disparaging term for human society in general, but especially the self-righteous Light arseholes who aren't just law-abiding, but write the laws, and think vampires and werewolves and all the other so-called dark creatures are evil. It's mostly used by the starlit world, the tiny shadow-society of vampires and werewolves — well, technically upyri and werewolves, mostly, ritual-made vampires are kind of considered abominations — and like...cat wilderfolk. The intelligent, urban, natural non-humans. Sometimes demons. And metamorphs who're disillusioned and/or bored with daylight society. Not goblins or veela, though, they have their own clans. And Fenrir's pack are dead set against the generally pacifistic attitudes of the werewolves who're allied with the upyri, so they were also Underground rather than starlit, even before they joined the Death Eaters.

"Starlight is pretty much law-abiding — or, well, they would be, if the laws weren't designed to starve them to death. They're not, you know, killers or rapists or even thieves. They're generally peaceful and kind of communal, keep to themselves and work together to eke out a living. Marginalised, but respectable, civilised people. They're just really, really poor. And a lot of them really, really resent the fact that it's daylighter humans that keep them down. Not enough to resort to violence to fight back, but generally speaking humans really aren't welcome in Starlight.

"Underground is kind of a catch-all for everyone who's not respectable and law-abiding, including anyone with ties to the International Dark or the Death Eaters, who may or may not pass for law-abiding daylighters, as well as petty criminals and less intelligent non-human beings whose existence is essentially outlawed because they prey on other beings, like hags and ritual vampires, and exiles from the starlit world, like Fenrir's pack. The starlit world has ties to the Underground through Anomos, because, well, he basically is the International Dark in Britain. And generally speaking, denizens of the Underground are more acceptable to the starlighters than daylighters, if only because they're also at odds with the daylight world. And they're cool with associating, sometimes, with representatives of the Dark Houses. Technically the Dark Houses are daylighters because we're human and part of mainstream society, but we tend to be sympathetic to the starlit community, working against legislation that would make their lives even harder and helping them get resources to educate their kids and ingredients for healing potions and such. I've heard us referred to as Twilight Houses because we're not really daylighters. Some starlighters think we're insufferably patronising, like Dumbledore can be with muggleborns, but they're not going to turn away help that's actually helpful.

"The Blacks in particular are generally recognised as being part of the Underground — and therefore really not daylighters despite technically being part of the ruling class — simply because everyone knows we're dark and don't give a flying fuck about the law, and we historically have strong ties to the International Dark community — Miskatonic and its affiliates. We support the starlit world politically, on principle. The House as a whole doesn't do charity, but we also have a history of individuals being sympathetic to Starlight, occasionally integrating into the community and bringing resources with them. Metamorphs especially, one of my great-aunts was starlit when I was little.

"Bella is human, by human definitions. She's not by pretty much anyone else's. They tend to be more like, if you act human, you're human. If you don't, you're not. Sometimes they're like, if you speak our language and know our culture, you're one of us. Bella cleans up well, and is pretty good at faking being a daylighter, or at least a twilighter, but any non-human who knows her would say she's not human, and therefore if she weren't pretty much the Dark Lady of the Underground, she'd belong in Starlight.

"And Bella likes being considered both more and less than human, I think. She's always had kind of this absurdly powerful dark sorceress thing going on, and she obviously has the Black Madness, and clearly doesn't really get humans in an instinctive, empathic sort of way. There aren't really fae anymore, but she acts kind of like they supposedly did, in the stories, you know — even dresses like them, all dramatic and provocative. And she definitely doesn't mind people comparing her to a vampire, if she did she wouldn't fight the way she does, with the runic augmentation and the shadow-walking. But she didn't actually turn herself into an abomination, or, well, humans might think so, but the upyri don't. And she managed to earn Greyback's respect, which goes a long way toward earning respect with the other werewolves and everyone who might still be inclined to consider her human, even if they don't like Greyback or want anything to do with him. See, Greyback hates humans, well, mages, anyway, and pretty much everything to do with the daylight world — he was a muggle before he was bitten, so he's only ever seen the way we treat non-humans, which is, to be clear, like shite. So a witch who manages to earn his respect obviously really, really earned it, or isn't as human as she looks.

"Aunt Cassie introduced Bella to Starlight when she was a little kid, so they know she was born human, but a lot of starlighters were born human, so that's not exactly disqualifying. She's one of the few people who can pass for human who's actually welcome among them." Aster, who'd made a habit of wandering around the edges of London and Charing as both Padfoot and Sirius over the summer, wasn't quite as widely accepted, but they were mostly willing to talk to her. The wilderfolk considered her non-human just because she was comfortable around them in a way humans — even animagi, apparently — tended not to be. She didn't know nearly enough about werewolf or upyri culture to fit in with them, but she did look (and act) a lot like Bella, even as Sirius, so they'd been more willing to give her a chance than they otherwise might have been. "She gives them as much respect as she gives anyone and doesn't go around rubbing it in that she has money, which she really doesn't, anyway — the House of Black is rich, but Arcturus holds the purse-strings, so she can't just give them money or buy a couple apartment buildings for them in Muggle London or something any more than I can.

"She can give standing orders to the Death Eater healers to treat any starlighters who come to them for help, which is probably the best thing to happen in the starlit world in thirty years." About half the starlighters Aster had met would swear to her as their Lady just for that, their quality of life had apparently improved dramatically over the past five years. "They're pretty fucking sure that if the Death Eaters win the war — or get their New Avalon, I guess — they'll be considered equals under her rule, like the specific non-human groups who've actually allied with the Death Eaters have explicitly been promised." And they were probably justified in thinking that, because Aster would bet anything Bella had given that order not because she was trying to earn their loyalty or affection, but just because she considered them part of the Cause by default and obviously they should have access to the resources at her command, because a House provides for all of its people. "Doesn't hurt that a lot of them suspect Lord Snakeface is some kind of demon with no particular loyalty to the humans over them, and of course they made a name for themselves killing all those vigilantes who targeted non-humans.

"Anyway, I'd be kind of surprised if she thinks of herself as human any more than de Mort does. I haven't actually heard her call human Britain the daylight world, but it's definitely the sort of thing it would be in character for her to say, and I'd be shocked if she doesn't kind of think of it like that. Basically, I was just putting words in her mouth implying that she's not human and insulting the law-abiding Light. Dumbledore's Britain. But that is why she's going to keep calling you Asphodel. Because it's your name in the Underground, and that's the world she lives in," Aster concluded, as they reached the spiral stair that led up from the tunnel through the grounds to the corridor behind the mirror inside the school.

"I thought you supported Dumbledore and the Light," Evans said, out of sight as she followed her up the stairs, but vague amusement clear on her voice. Which was really all Lily is your daylighter name deserved, it wasn't nearly funny enough to justify that much explanation. Though if Evans was going to be wandering around in the dark, she probably should know about the major factions beyond the daylight, anyway.

"Jamie supports Dumbledore and the Light. I don't support murdering children because the Aurors get extra angry when you do shite like that, and you're not really alive unless someone's trying to kill you. If it was all elevating the starlit world and exploring esoteric magics and building impossible islands and preparing to end the Statute, I'd be—"

"Wait, what? Are you serious? They're really going to kill the Statute?"

"What? Well, not any time soon, I'm sure. De Mort just said something earlier about the Queen being open to New Avalon in the same way the Americans are to Miskatonic, and that having something to do with the inevitable collapse of the Statute. Anyway, if the war and all the heinous shite they've done in the name of provoking the Ministry wasn't an issue, like all that was done with and it was a choice between living in their little Dark utopia and Dumbledore's Britain..." Well, she would be more comfortable in New Avalon, she suspected, but Jamie wouldn't go for it. Charlus had been one of Dumbledore's staunchest supporters for decades. James had been raised to follow his principles every bit as much as Aster had those of the Dark.

"What exactly do you see in Potter, again? He is the reason you're hesitating, right?"

She had better not be about to suggest that Aster just give up on Jamie. "I love him, Evans! I'm pretty sure it'd be easier for me to live in his world than for him to live in theirs." Pretty sure.

"Yeah, but, aside from that whole obsession thing, why? Because, I'm pretty sure any half-decent mind mage could fix that for you."

Aster stopped, spinning in place quickly enough that Evans, three stairs behind, almost ran into her. "Do not say shite like that, Evans. Love isn't something that needs to be fixed, it's— How would Snape take it, if I told him that any half-decent mind mage could probably fix his little obsession with you?"

"Yeah, okay, not well, I'll grant you that. But see, the difference is, I know Sev's mine. I don't do shite like treat him like a fucking stranger because he changed his hair or whatever."

Okay, while it was kind of nice that Evans recognised how little difference it made that Aster was now a girl, on the other hand, "Oh, that is such dragonshite! You refused to talk to him all summer because he called you a mudblood at the end of last term!" Also, if Snape did something different to his hair, it would probably be cause for celebration, his hair was terrible.

Evans's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You don't know me, Black. You don't know why I do anything. I've been taking care of Sev as best I can since we were six, sharing my lunch with him and standing up to the kids who had a problem with the poor, quiet, weirdo from the other side of town. I've been healing his bruises and broken fingers as long as I can remember — his father, you might've guessed, is the angry drunk he mentioned when we went home, he hates magic, thinks his wife betrayed him, never telling him about it before Sev turned out magical. She's a depressed drunk, can't care about herself, let alone Sev. When we were nine, he slept in my bed for an entire week before my father found out. His mother never noticed he was gone. I'd take his place in a heartbeat if I could, because Sev... Sev is far too good for that life. He's soft and kind and brilliant—" Soft and kind? Were they talking about the same Snape? "—and a much better person than I am — if I were a legilimens, his father would have walked in front of a lorry two years ago, as soon as I figure out how to give someone an aneurysm with a freeform spell he's fucking dead — and the world has done nothing but beat him down. That includes you, by the way, and Potter, and those would-be Death Eater twats. I've been helping him fight back against you all since our first fucking week here, if you recall.

"If I asked him what he sees in me, he'd say I'm the only person who's ever made him feel wanted, the only person he trusts and knows he can depend on to help him no matter what. I've earned that by being there for him, no matter what." Aster tried not to let her discomfort show at that, because even if it wasn't Jamie's fault, the last couple of months had definitely demonstrated that she couldn't really count on him the same way Snape could Evans. "I know because I did ask him when he forgave me for giving him the brush off all summer, and then fucking you, because I know that was a ridiculous overreaction from a normal person's perspective, and I also know how lucky I am that he can read my fucking mind and understands why I did it! Which is not because he called me a fucking mudblood! Get this through your fucking head right fucking now: I take care of what's mine. Sev knows that, he's known it since we were children. He knew that telling me he didn't want me to stand up for him anymore was basically saying he didn't want me in his life anymore.

"Which obviously he didn't actually want, he just thought he'd try to be a noble, self-sacrificing fucking arse and push me away to keep me out of the line of fire with those stupid fucking cunts who've been trying to recruit him — apparently they've been threatening me to pressure him — but that honestly never occurred to me, because really? I know they don't know me very well, but they know me better than the Gryffindors, they had to know that's a terrible plan, because I would fucking die before I'd let them take him against his will. It might have worked if Sev hadn't caved and told me why he did it — convincing Sev to push me away to 'protect' me and thereby making himself far more vulnerable to their pressure and persuasion has Reggie's name all over it—" Or Narcissa's, Aster thought. "—but Sev did tell me, and now I know Reggie doesn't actually have the pull to call for a raid on my parents or some fucking shite, he's going down. Hard."

"Don't kill him," Aster advised her, momentarily distracted. "I know they said if the baby Death Eaters can't handle one teenage witch with a vendetta against them, they aren't worthy of becoming Death Eaters, and if you're de Mort's daughter you can figure out how to make them lay off Snape yourself—" In much the same way Aster suspected Bella would tell her to deal with Walburga herself, they'd refused to intervene in the recruitment war over Snape. "—but don't kill Reggie. Bella wouldn't take it well."

"Yes, yes, I know, he's on the List of People Bella Doesn't Want Dead, Thom already warned me he wouldn't stop her from punishing me if I violated the List." Oh, good. That was just...not really reassuring at all, actually, that de Mort had also thought that was a legitimate warning that needed to be given. "Fixing Sev's 'obsession' with me would be like fixing your 'obsession' with Bellatrix, you fucking twat, not Potter." Wait, what? Why are we talking about me? "There is no analogy for fixing your relationship with Potter—" Oh, right. Her stupid conviction that Jamie doesn't deserve my love. "—because your relationship with Potter is— Actually, no, you and Potter are almost exactly like Marlene and you, last spring. You are hopelessly, obsessively devoted, and he doesn't give a single bloody shite. Sure, you're friends, but he's thinking casual fucking where you're thinking marriage vows. Except, that's fucking reasonable in comparison, because you're really thinking vows of fealty, and he's really thinking he doesn't even know you, because he doesn't!"

"That is so not true, you fucking bitch!" Aster snapped, seriously contemplating tackling her down the stairs for saying such a thing. No, don't, that would prove she's getting to you, and you're not drunk enough that it wouldn't hurt.

"Oh, it definitely is. And on top of that, I hate to break it to you, but no matter how much Potter may seem like the ideal Gryffindor — noble and honourable and worth following — he's not the sort of person who can command followers. He's just not. He's like Sev, the idea of responsibility scares him — except Sev's scared because he's never been allowed to make a major decision for himself in his entire life, and Potter's a sheltered fucking child, his head stuffed full of stories and ideals and pretty delusions that don't map to the real world, and he doesn't know what to do when no one's told him what to do in a situation like this. Why does he support Dumbledore? Does he even know? Or is it just because his father has, all his life, so clearly it's the right thing to do?"

"Well obviously it's the right thing to do, because de Mort and Bella are fucking evil! I know it's hard to remember when they're being charming fucking bastards, but they murder children, Evans! It's not all academics and pushing the boundaries of what's possible and maybe someday dismantling the Statute, it's little kids being butchered in a fucking primary school because it's fun."

"A reason to oppose the Death Eaters is not the same as a reason to support the Light. You told me the other day that the Dark houses don't like the Death Eaters either, they just don't have anyone to rally around to oppose them. Why fight for Dumbledore and the Ministry instead of trying to put together an effective force to stop them?"

"Well, that would just be playing their game, wouldn't it," Aster scoffed. "I'm sure they'd be thrilled if we added a third side to their war. Wouldn't get us any closer to peace, but it would be more entertaining in the meanwhile. There's no way it would ever work. We'd be starting from behind, and Bella's not going to give a fucking inch. Her troops are well-trained and battle-hardened, and we don't have enough battle-trained sorcerers to effectively oppose both her and de Mort," or enough battlemages to match the Death Eaters in general, "and if she has to soak every inch of this island in blood to get what she wants, she will. This is the woman who spent two and a half years tearing her own body apart just because she wanted to do something everyone else said was impossible, who's spent her entire life refusing to back down even in the face of superior force — she wasn't fucking exaggerating when she said the I.C.W. might be able to stop them, but she'd fight to the last fucking man."

"Then why fight for Dumbledore? Why become an Auror? If you don't think they can win, why not go into politics and try to reach a diplomatic solution?"

"Argh! Because I'm fucking shite at politics, Evans! I'm a fighter, I don't make rousing speeches or negotiate for anything, protecting people by cursing other people is pretty much as far as my ability to be a good person goes, okay?! Why are we even talking about this? People are going to notice we're not at the Feast. Aren't you supposed to be a prefect?"

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure the only reason McGee picked me is that I was already an outsider in the dorm, but that's not the point. We're talking about this because you hesitated to say that you'd live in a Dark utopia, if such a thing just existed and there wasn't a war over it or anything, over the Magical Britain we live in now, because Jamie fucking Potter would want to stay here. Even though you obviously agree with the Dark on pretty much everything other than the fact that Potter likes Dumbledore. For no fucking reason, as far as I can see. If you didn't want to talk about it, you shouldn't have brought it up!"

"I don't agree with them on everything — magical superiority is dumb, and pureblood supremacy is so stupid I have no words."

Evans sighed, leaning against the outer wall of the staircase. "You told my mother you thought muggles only existed in stories to scare children until you were six."

"I did." If werewolves didn't count (and they didn't), she hadn't actually met a non-magical human until she was...twelve, maybe? She'd first started sneaking out into Muggle London after coming home from school the first time. Or, well, Filch, she guessed. Eleven, then.

"I thought witch was a bad word until I was five, when Sev told me I was one. Do you really think it's so stupid for mages to think their way of life is better than muggles', or for muggles to be scared of magic? Because things people don't understand are fucking terrifying, and keeping us apart only makes us more foreign to each other. People who believe in magical superiority have probably never spoken to a muggle, let alone bothered to see how they live. And pureblood supremacy is a blatant, pathetic attempt to maintain the power of the Noble Houses in the face of the common houses demanding representation in the Wizengamot. At least loosening the Statute fixes the one, and abolishing or separating from the institution of the Wizengamot and accompanying concept of nobility in favour of more democratic government fixes the other."

"Oh, yes, because branding all of your followers with soul magic and essentially making yourself their king is so very democratic!"

"Well, on the one hand, I don't think it's a terrible idea to demand some assurance of absolute loyalty from your fucking military — they don't mark everyone, you know that — that soul-brand linking thing he did means, yeah, okay, he has a back-door into their minds from however far away, and can probably draw on their magic to anchor himself if he needs it. But I think it also means if enough of the Death Eaters decide they're done with Thom, they can pull on him, drain away his power, basically fucking eat him alive."

That was... That had to have occurred to de Mort. He wouldn't have done something like that on purpose, would he? But it also didn't seem like the kind of mistake he would make, overlooking that his soul-stealing power tap could be used against him. "Even if it does work like that, pretty much all of them would have to gang up on him before he realises what's happening, and how likely is that?"

"I don't think it would take all of them. Maybe...three quarters of them? I dunno, it'd probably depend how many mind-mages he's marked. And how much of what they told us today you can actually figure out analysing the mark without alerting him to what you're doing. But if you read the manifesto, I didn't get the impression he actually wants to be a king. Actually, talking to him today, I didn't get the impression he wants to be a leader of anything other than Project Atlantis, and it's not like he's some terrible despot crushing the Sunken Atlantis defectors. But my point was, just, you're basically telling me you'd choose James fucking Potter over even an imaginary utopia that you don't have any real objections to, just wondered if you had a reason for that that wasn't complete shite. You were the one who's all like I love him, I'm going to try to turn this around on you and Sev, let's argue about the fucking Death Eaters. And you're kind of blocking the stairs. That's why we're talking about this."

Aster had no words. "I hate you, Evans."

"I hear love and hate can be hard to tell apart sometimes," Evans quipped, with an absolutely infuriating smirk.

"I'm pretty sure if de Mort weren't a fucking Dark Lord, he'd still be a fucking serial killer," Aster snapped, which was the first thing that came to mind in response to the idea that de Mort didn't actually want to lead his New Avalon. She wasn't even going to dignify the love and hate comment with a response. She turned and stomped up the last few steps before Evans could come up with an answer to that one, and ignored her attempts to talk on the way back down to the Great Hall.

I think it's worth noting, here, that at the time I didn't know Evans had already decided that she probably wouldn't care if she found out her father was a serial killer. Yes, I know she meant her muggle father, but, the irony. Also, a lot of important things happened on Samhain of Seventy-Six, and none of them were much fun at all for me. I'm going to keep my notes to a minimum here, and just...try to get through this as quickly as possible.