Chapter Text
Mallory Elizabeth
Lily was also an animagus, but unlike James, her form did not match her patronus in being a doe, which was born out of her love for him. Instead, her form was that of a Snowy Owl. And because of the dangers that came with being in a war, and the benefits of not actively carrying a pregnancy, Lily and James decided that their child would be born wildenfolk, from an egg. And so, Lily remained in her owl form from the very day of conception, right through until she laid a singular egg.
It was a very very large egg, which they had anticipated, and they had various spells to help with the process. Once the egg was out, then it was just a matter of keeping it warm until it hatched and Lily no longer had to stay in her owl form.
7 months later, their baby girl hatched and was born. She was mostly human, apart from the two fluffy white wings on her back and the soft fawn ears and tail. It didn’t take very long for her to be changing forms as well, one morning waking both her parents with her incessant chirps for food. Another day her father was ecstatic to see her turn into a stumbling little fawn trying to follow him around the house.
No one else knew of just how special their daughter was.
When Lily and James heard about Voldemort targeting them for their daughter, they knew they didn’t have long to prepare. Lily created a talisman stone which, using a very tricky ritual, sunk it deep into her daughter’s body, just above her sacrum. It would only activate after the death of her one of her parents. They were going to use both of their deaths to charge it, but it only needed one.
The day of Halloween, He came. They heard him coming, James told Lily to take their daughter and run. But there was no escape. James was the first to die, and with his death, Lily felt the talisman activate.
Something that majority of people didn’t know, in fact very very few knew, if an animagus is hit with the killing curse as they shift to animal form, they don’t die. They just get stuck as their animal form without the ability to change back. Of course, the timing to achieve this is extremely difficult. But that’s what happened with Lily. She was one of those rare people who knew. And so as she saw the killing curse flying at her, she shifted right at that crucial moment. Her human body fell dead to the floor and she watched with green eyes wide with disbelief as the second killing curse, aimed at her daughter, seemed to rebound back on its caster, destroying him.
Later, she could only follow as her daughter was taken from their home and left on the doorstep of her sister’s house.
Lily wanted to peck Dumbledore‘s eyes out. And potentially give Sirius a few scratches as well.
But there was nothing she could do. And she could only watch as her beloved daughter was mistreated over the next 10 years as she grew up.
Mallory Elizabeth Potter.
Her name was Lorry. Like the truck. But the other kids called her Potty Lorry. She didn’t like that. And then at lunch Dudley’s friend Piers called her a Dump Truck. That became her new nickname. Until one of the teachers partially overheard and started calling her Trucker. Once Mr Henricks called her that, the name stuck. Soon even the Dursley’s were calling her Trucker, until it had been so long that barely anyone knew her name was originally Mallory. She even introduced herself as Trucker.
Then she got her Hogwarts letter, and it was addressed to Miss Mallory (Trucker) Elizabeth Potter. Hagrid took her to Diagon, and Lily made sure to stake her claim as her daughter’s owl as soon as they entered the Alley, flying down and perching resolutely on her shoulder and stubbornly refusing to move. Hagrid only chuckled and suggested that perhaps that was a sign of a strong potential familiar bond. Lily wasn’t sure if such a thing was even possible with her technically being a witch in Owl form.
Mallory was excited to go to Hogwarts, and she told her new Owl all about it, reading through all her books on magic as many times as she could before they left for the train. She settled on naming her owl Hedwig, after the patron Saint of orphans. Lily accepted the name, after all, who would believe that she was actually Lily Potter?
The next 2 years, Lily was absolutely terrified for her daughter. Firstly, Quirrell was possessed. She knew that immediately the first time she saw him at breakfast after the Welcoming Feast. And then Mallory, or Trucker as everyone was still calling her, decided that it was an excellent idea to stick her nose into the mystery of the extremely dangerous third floor.
Lily was sure her feathers were going to fall out from stress one of these days. And then because Lily was an owl, and thus couldn’t be with her daughter 24/7, she wasn’t there when the troll attacked, nor when she decided that it was the responsibility of three first years to protect the philosophers stone which shouldn’t have even been in the school in the first place!
Luckily, she had been there for the Quidditch match where Mallory’s broom was jinxed, even if she couldn’t do anything about it. She’d been there when the trio discovered Hagrid’s dragon, and also when they smuggled said dragon out of the castle. And then again in the resulting detention when they got caught.
She did manage to give Dumbledore a few good scratches on his arm when visiting Fawkes after that incident in the Forest.
Her therapy sessions with the Phoenix were probably the only reason she was still sane.
And then after they were back at the Dursley’s, they were both subjected to the worst summer yet. Trapped inside the second bedroom, with thick bars on the window and Hedwig locked inside her cage. They were barely fed, and rarely let out for more than a few minutes.
It was an excellent time for Mallory to tell her all about her adventure at the end of term, going deep into the bowels of the school and battling bloody Voldemort and killing her defense professor.
Lily almost fainted. What good was she when she was stuck as an owl and unable to help? How could she protect her daughter? But as the days dragged on, she began to understand one way that she could help that no one else could.
It took a lot of work, but she got the lock off the cage, and the next morning her daughter woke up to Hedwig gently carding her beak through her hair.
After that, she’d softly hoot her daughter to sleep each night, a soothing soundtrack that for some reason that Mallory couldn’t understand, made her feel safe and loved. The developing familiar bond was a surprise, but a welcome one. Perhaps it would be a way to communicate properly.
The house elf was a problem.
And Lily had never been happier to lead the way down the stairs when the Weasley boys came to rescue her daughter. Lily had never actually seen the cupboard, had only ever heard it described to her. She was even more furious to see just how tiny it was. And to smell the years of blood and tears on the tiny mattress. Perched on the banister of the stairs, she turned to stare unblinkingly at one of the twins, hoping they’d get the message and understand. Their mirroring looks of horror seemed like a good start.
In the car ride back, Mallory set her loose so she could fly alongside them. Lily used her smaller reserves of magic to help hide the car from curious muggles looking up.
At the Burrow was where she properly met ‘Scabbers’ for the first time. And despite her trying, she was never allowed to eat the despicable Rat. He didn’t know it was her, having never known she had done the ritual transformation.
That year was the Basilisk, and once again she was separated from her daughter during the battle. As soon as shed heard that her daughter was missing, she’d gone to Fawkes, and begged him to help. The Phoenix had taken the sorting hat, and told her afterwards of the fight against the basilisk. Of how brave her daughter was, and how she’d been given the honour of being Gryffindor’s heir when she’d claimed the sword.
The terror Fawkes had felt when he realised she’d been bitten by the giant snake, and the relief when his tears worked just in time and she stabbed to diary to kill the shade. He admitted that after so many years of talking with Lily, he’d started seeing her daughter as a child of his own, even if she had no wings.
Which then led Lily to explain about the talisman. The one in her daughters body to forcefully hid her animalistic features and prevented her from shifting. It had been a risk, but one she was glad they’d taken, considering where she’d ended up. Petunia would have left her on the street if she’d suddenly sprouted doe ears and a tail, never-mind the wings.
Why did they have to go back to the Dursleys? It was the summer break before Mallory’s third year, and despite it not being quite so bad as last year, it was still extremely unpleasant. Made worse when ‘Aunt Margie’ came to visit. She’d been out hunting when she felt Mallory’s location change extremely quickly. Guessing that she’d discovered the night bus, the only possible explanation, Lily made her way to the Leaky Cauldron, arriving just a few minutes before her daughter.
That was where she discovered what had happened to Sirius. Azkaban.
But he’d escaped. He was free, even if it wasn’t legal. But with all the protections around Mallory, none of which Lily trusted, there was no way that she’d leave to go find him. Luckily, Mallory had free reign of Diagon. And without Hagrid imposing a time limit, Hedwig manages to drag her into Gringotts, where she leads the way up to the main teller.
Lily perches on his desk and pecks at the inheritance papers filed clearly in sight. The goblin, with irritated understanding, holds out the blade for Lily to prick her foot on, drawing just enough blood for the test. Mallory, just barely catching up, is quickly ushered into a secure meeting room. Mallory is also made to take the inheritance test, which displays her eligibility for Headship of Houses Potter, Peverell and Black.
Lily supposes Sirius’ mental state is not stable enough for him to become head, especially after all those years in Azkaban and his disownment by his mother when he was younger, and even if his father never disowned him properly, he still refused to acknowledge him. Mallory takes up headship of all three houses. And then the Goblin manager, Gnorlack, can talk about Lily.
Once it is explained to Mallory that actually her Owl Familiar Hedwig is really her Mom who’s been stuck in her animagus form since the Halloween that supposedly killed her, Mallory can’t really do anything but stare in shock.
Lily is given a pot of ink and some parchment, and it takes a while, but she manages to write out a brief explanation of the talisman in her daughter’s body, and that it needs to be removed.
It doesn’t take long for the ritual room to be prepared, and then they’re both given a ritual cleansing before they begin.
Surprisingly, Lily can feel as the talisman is neutralised, she can feel it in her own magic as it’s removed. And once the ritual is completed, she has the peculiar feeling that she could try shifting. She almost doesn’t. But her daughter’s wonder as she examines her wings is compelling, and she does something she hasn’t done in 12 years. She shifts and stands on two legs as her feathers disappear and her human form appears.
Mallory turns at her gasp, and cannot contain herself when she sees her mother standing before her. She’s different from the photos, with white hair and a sharper face that contains echoes of her owl beak, but Mallory knows, that’s Lily Potter, her Mother. No one else would recognise her, so changed as she is after 12 years as an owl, but Mallory Knows.
It is peculiar for Lily, having spent so long as an owl with no human body, it shift feels almost as though her owl is her natural form, and it’s the human that’s the animagus. But it allows her to communicate with her daughter, so even if she prefers being an owl, and it allows her go unnoticed, she spends much of their time in Diagon as a human.
Their time is spent hidden away in Mallory’s room at the Leaky, with Lily telling her stories of her father, and when she was a baby. She helps with her homework, and encourages her to explore the different subjects. She tells her how proud she is. They spend time together flying over london, once Mallory relearns how to shift, and she also has to relearn how to walk on four legs as a deer.
It is the best few weeks of their lives. Lily shares knowledge of their House of Potter, and teaches her how to stand and act like a pureblood lady. She teaches the old rituals, and tells the old stories. Then lastly, once Mallory understands, she tells of their family’s dedication.
The oldest lines had long ago dedicated their families to the service of gods. Most of those lines had long since disappeared, but one remained. The line of Peverell.
Mallory was the joining of the three lines descended. Lily explained how the Potters had long been known as descendants of the youngest Peverell brother. But what wasn’t known, was that the Dumbledore line was of the second brother, and Grindelwald was of the eldest. Lily herself, was related to Dumbledore, through his sister who was her Great Grandmother, with Gellert Grindelwald being her Great Grandfather. Their daughter had been born in secret during the summer before Albus and Gellert’s fight that killed Arianna. Gellert had taken her and hidden her away in an orphanage, with the name Rosemary Forrest. She had been a ‘muggle born’ and attended Beauxbatons before marrying a muggle man by the name John Evans. Their son, Henry, was Lily’s father.
With the joining of the three lines of Peverell, and Mallory becoming Lady of the House, they came a few ancient obligations. One of which included an old castle hidden deep in the highlands and far into the earth. Peverell’s dedication was to Death. They guarded the Gate. And it had been without a proper guard for centuries. It took a few days, Mallory and Lily travelling on the Nightbus to Hogsmead and then hiking further north from there. But after almost a week, they arrived at the doors. It was in the middle of nowhere, just two stone doors carved into the rock of a small mountain.
Deep inside, they found a large cavern, and that’s where they met the Guides. See, Peverell’s were the Guards on the side of the Living, but the journey through the Gate was dangerous, and as such, one of the Fae lines had been charged with making the crossing, delivering the souls of the dead. They could not be seen by the living outside of the cavern, but within, they told the mother and daughter duo of their history and helped encourage their magic to form the Fae wings hidden within them both. They helped with the olde rituals, and shared their knowledge of their duties.
They also realised, that the magic that kept Mallory alive and killed Quirrel wasn’t ‘Love’ like Dumbledore had said, after all, what kind of love melts people’s faces? Instead, it had been the family magic of the House of Peverell kicking in to defend against an angry spirit. Supposedly quite normal, if a little aggressive.
Then they had to sort the whole House business. As a student, Mallory wouldn’t be able to do her duties in the Wizengamot. She’d need a proxy. She asked her Mom to do that. But obviously, Lily could not go as Lily Potter, who had been dead for 12 years with the only feature they shared being the same green eyes. So, a trip was made to Gringotts, and Lily renames herself Lillian Pevensie (she does so love the Narnia books), a cousin of Lily Evans. And their first act in politics is to call for a retrial of Sirius Black, who Lily assures Mallory is not the traitor he was painted as, and is truly innocent.
Then the Weasleys arrive back from their trip to Egypt, just in time to take Mallory and Hermione to the Quidditch World Cup, although Mallory stays in a different tent with Lily. When the screaming starts, they both shift into Owl form and take flight into the woods where they hide until Mallory spots Ron and Hermione. The reveal of the Elf with her wand is a shock, although she and Lily did note smelling another person hidden in the bushes.
The next day, Lily takes her to the Wizengamot, and she’s is introduced as Lady Peverell (as it is oldest of her Houses, the other two had been folded under the one name) before naming Lily her proxy. Cedric, the boy from the Cup is there with his Father, Lord Diggory.
The first thing Lily Pevensie does as Proxy to House Peverell over Houses Black and Potter, is the trial transcripts of Sirius Black. When those cannot be found, she demands to know if they truly mean that Siris Black had been imprisoned without trial for 12 years. This is the only possible conclusion at their lack of evidence. They hadn’t even examined his wand, which when it is retrieved and examined in front of the whole court, reveals to have cast only a mild sleeping charm (which Lily knew had been cast on her daughter) and a few tracking and revealing spells. Nothing that could have blown up a street. The kill-on-sight order is immediately retracted, and a message sent out to the wizarding world asking Sirius Black to present himself for trial. He does so the day before the train to Hogwarts leaves, and the full Wizengamot is summoned. Mallory comes along to sit in her seats even if it will be Lily who votes.
Lily brings along a stunned Scabbers, who is anonymously submitted as evidence. There is confusion at a stunned rat being supposed evidence, until Sirius explains about the animagus forms, and a curious auror cast the revealing charm at the rat. Which is then immediately forced back into human form and arrested to go straight into trial.
Peter Pettigrew is sent to Azkaban with shackles preventing him from shifting, and Sirius Black is cleared of all charges and given a large lump of money as apologies for stealing so much of his life. He is released into the care of the House of Black, which means Mallory and Lily, who drag him straight to St Mungoes to be treated for long term dementor exposure.
Lily stays with him at the hospital the next day when Mallory takes the train to school.
Ron and Hermione do ask a little about Hedwig being missing, but Mallory just tells them she’s with her cousin Lily. They’re very excited about her having found nice family, and ask if that means she doesn’t have to go back to the Dursley’s. Mallory’s pretty sure no one could force her even if they wanted, she’s an adult in the eyes of magic now, but she doesn’t tell them that, just that Lily’s looking after her.
She doesn’t get to spend as much time with her mom as she’d like that year, what with Lily trying to restore their Houses back to their former glory while also caring for Sirius, who really shouldn’t be left on his own for very long. And Remus was also a problem that she had to deal with. The werewolf had been pitiful since the revelation that Sirius was innocent. Both Siri and Lily agreed that he was not to meet Mallory, who he hadn’t thought of once in all those years. He hadn’t once sent her a letter or visited her or even acknowledged that she existed. And because of that, they didn’t want to acknowledge that he existed. He’d abandoned their child. There was no excuse. They told him this once, and then ignored him completely.
That year at Hogwarts, they were hosting the Triwizard tournament. But only students of age could put their names in. Mallory was very happy with that. Until her name is drawn and suddenly she’s enemy number one for 3/4 of the school for being a liar and a cheat. And then once it’s known she tried to back out of the tournament, the other Gryffindors, who had so far supported her, if only begrudgingly, called her a coward and cast her from the tower. Her things outside of her trunk were destroyed and the trunk itself thrown from the portrait. They cast a vote, and she was unhoused.
In that moment, as the magic settled and her robes were stripped of their color, the Sword of Godric Gryffindor appeared in her hand, declaring her Heir despite the actions of the house. And it was too late for them, the magic could not be undone.
Cedric Diggory see her 4 days later from afar as she disappears into a tunnel nearby the kitchens. Other than that no one sees her. She doesn’t attend classes, she’s not at meals, and the whole school knows that Gryffindor unhoused their Heir. But no one can find her.
Finally, she reappears for the Weighing of the Wands, but she does not speak to anyone. Standing in silence as Lily arrives at her side. They are withdrawing her from the school, she will be homeschooled permanently. Cedric is glad, the bullying she’d had to endure had been so unbelievably harsh, and despite him telling everyone that she hadn’t put her name in, that it was a plot to kill her, no one believed him. But she looked at him, and he knew that she knew. A slight softening in her eyes, the tiniest nod of respect, he was the only person she acknowledged outside of Lily and Mr Ollivander.
She leaves the castle that night and returns to Peverell Castle above the Gate. Sirius is staying in one of the old Black Cottages along the coast of North Ireland, so she spends most of her time with the Fae Guides. Lily is her main teacher, covering most of the subjects at Hogwarts, while Conall covers the more esoteric magics and Borda teaches her defensive magics. Her favourite teacher is Conall, but her favourite subject is Borra’s. He’s a very harsh teacher, but she quickly picks up flight battle, and how to use her wings to influence the environment around her. Then Conall teaches her how to use Fae magics and suddenly she is summoning being similar to earth golems, but they have souls of their own. They join the Fae and other various magical creatures in defence of the cavern.
It’s the day before the first task when they return to Hogwarts. They’ll spend the night at the castle and depending on how long the task is, they plan to fly back that night.
Flying over the forest, they spot the bright flames of the dragons, and a quick detour gets them enough information to figure out the task. They see the Beauxbatons headmistress walking nearby with Hagrid (clearly on a date) and headmaster Karkaroffe sulking through the trees nearby as well. Cedric will be the only one who doesn’t know. So that night at dinner, Mallory waltzes over and plonks herself down next to him. He is very surprised, even more so when she proceeds to completely ignore everyone around them and help herself to his plate. Then she gestures for the other two champions to join them, who’d been watching curiously from the other tables. Once they’re all seated together, she waves a hand, no wand in sight, and they each feel the weight of a privacy ward drop around them. The older champions exchange looks of guarded surprise. Then she surprises them even more by getting straight into topic talking about strategies to deal with dragons. They’re a few minutes into the conversation before Cedric realises it’s not theoretical and that both the other champions already knew. Lily just watches fondly from the head table, ignoring the teachers around her, knowing exactly what her daughter is doing. Once the talk of dragons is over, the subject mostly depleted with most options clearly laid out on the table, they switch to talking about the Yule Ball. Obviously, they have to open it. Immediately all 4 of them grimace at having to find a partner. Until Fleur points out that they have 2 girls and 2 boys between them, why don’t they just go together? They decide that is an absolutely excellent idea, and organise dancing practices so they don’t embarrass themselves or their schools. They don’t want to make it seem like they have couples between them, so they decide that they’ll all dance together, as a group of four, and then alternating couples until they’d each danced together.
It helps calm the nerves before the task tomorrow.
Fleur is first, and her sleeping charm works, and although her skirts catch fire, she is mostly unharmed. Then it’s Krum, and they’re all glad Mallory had overheard the keepers talk about the fake eggs after he accidentally causes the dragon to crush a few. Cedric barely retrieves his egg after the dragon decides to ignore his transfigured cow and he is the worst injured, covered in burns all along the left side of his body. Then it’s Mallory.
Dragons have an interesting history with Fae. And even moreso with Peverells. Some dragons had been family, quite literally, and others had hunted them until they were put down. This dragon would belong to the latter group. As soon as it catches her scent, the hunt is on and it breaks the chains keeping it grounded. Mallory can feel the change the instant she steps into the arena. She is both predator and prey, but Guarding is her purpose, bred into her blood, and coursing through her magic. And in that moment, she needs to guard the egg. High up in the stands, Lily can see the moment her daughter becomes more instinct than human. It will be an interesting show.
The dragon rushes out of nowhere with a blast of fire so hot that several stones melted in its path. When the flames clear, Mallory is gone. At first the audience is silent. Stunned at the sudden death of the youngest competitor. The other champions watching can only stare in horror.
Until the dragon cries out in what can only be described as a pained roar as what looks like a spear made of ice drives through one of its feet. The dragon takes to the skies, and through the constant flames, they can just make out a smaller figure darting around the dragon’s body as they strike blow after blow. Higher and higher the two climb, until the audience can only see a dark speck with the occasional light of dragon fire. Suddenly they’re diving back to earth, a sharp descent that’ll land them smack into the Black Lake. Cedric only just spots the girl clinging the the back of the dragon before they hit the water. Now dragons aren’t made for water, but neither are owls, and Mallory had never really learnt to swim. So they were both at a disadvantage. But, one thing that Mallory was excellent at, was elemental magic, even if water was not her best subject, coming in third after earth and air but before fire. But she’d been working with it at the rivers in the cavern, and it was these skills she employed. As the dragon approached the surface, she let it just barely breach, enough for them both to catch a breath, before she drags them back under. It’s a constant battle where she uses the water to tire out the dragon and steal its remaining strength. Finally they crest the water one last time as the exhausted dragon snaps tiredly at her on its neck. It has no fire left. The keepers are waiting at the edge of the lake, but the dragon just floats there, bobbing in the water, putting up no fight when she spreads her wings and flies back into the arena. Somehow, she is still under the hour time limit when she collects her egg. With the horn blaring to declare the end of the task, the keepers are free to levitate the exhausted dragon back to its cage with its real eggs.
Mallory is surrounded by students telling her how amazing that was and how they’d never doubted her for a second, and the Gryffindors were so unbelievably dumb for casting her out and obviously she hadn’t put her name in nor was she a coward and those people were such idiots for believing that weren’t they? Oh and when is she coming back to Hogwarts?
The other champions cut a path through the crowd to embrace her, grateful that’s she’s still alive and shocked at how aggressive the dragon had been. She explains, as the crowd grows silent, that her family from her mother’s side had long had a history with dragons, few of which had been kind, and most had hunted them as if for sport. A voice from the crowd says she lies, everyone knew Lily Potter was a muggleborn. And then the reveal, no, Lily Evans’ Father attended Beauxbatons as did his mother, and actually, they’re related to Arianna Dumbledore, the Headmaster’s sister did you know?
Later that night Dumbledore creates a magical family tree, and he sees that actually yes that’s true. Lily Evans was his sister’s great granddaughter, and if he had checked through magic for any other relatives, he would have known and would have raised Mallory himself. As it is, he invites her and Lillian Pevensie to tea in his office where he apologises for not knowing. He tells of how he thought they’d been no other option, and he had so desperately wanted to raise her, but he had not the time to visit her. He was in the process of stepping down from the ICW and was trying to organise to pass on the duty of Chief Warlock within the Wizengamot. He was old and had so barely little time that things were slipping. Fawkes had told Lily all of this, but seeing it herself, she finally realised it was true. So she told her Uncle everything. The truth about Lily Evans. And they cried together for the lost years. He asked they call him Grandfather, to which both agreed, and he started making enquiries about visiting Gellert in Numengard. Lily had visited once years ago when she’d first discovered her connection to the man, but that had been before her daughter was born. She was still in the process of becoming an animagus at that point, not even engaged yet!