Lily's Horcrux

Tyene: I swear this place is infested - (blasts aside a huge number of plot bunnies)

Wanda: I...can't deny that. Anyway, this was born from an idea given to me by garaa king of the sand, in that Lily creates a horcrux in her son/daughter. (in this case daughter). Once that sank into my mind, the other pieces just fell into place...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Prologue

Lily Evans-Potter had always completely personified the legend of the firey redhead. She was passionate, she was strong in spirit, she let absolutely nothing frighten her, and she might have been absolutely crazy (depending on who you asked – Lily always agreed when the question came up). She was brilliant and talented, thanks in part to being willing to learn any sort of magic possible – including the Dark magic, which was usually forbidden. She loved her friends and family and showed her opponents no quarter. She would offer a hand in friendship or possible redemption, but she would only offer it once. Reject it or betray her, and she would obliterate you.

Lily was one of the few students at Hogwarts who took Divination seriously. Thus, she was the first person to come across the Prophecy about the child who would be the equal in power to the Great Lord Voldemort, Dark Lord of their era, and would strike him down.

Oh? That was Trawley's prophecy? Well, contrary to what the Esteemed Albus Dumbledore believed, Lily knew about the prophecy before he 'broke the news' to her through magic of questionable legality, thanks to the help of her best friend Bellatrix Black.

Yes, a Black happily – and willingly – befriended a muggleborn.

Bellatrix became intrigued with Lily Potter after Rabastian, her betrothed's brother, insulted a supposedly easy target only to find himself challenged to a duel. Lily stood for her own honour – something unheard of in pure blood high society – and utterly humiliated the proud man in front of the Great Hall while only in her fourth year.

After that, Bellatrix reached out to her. Lily was guarded, at first; Bellatrix slowly gained her trust through restricted books and practice duels. The two girls realized they had a lot in common, and soon enough Orion and Cyngus Black were frothing at the mouth at the news that Bellatrix, their pride and heir, was openly associating with a muggleborn.

The two girls were fast friends after that, to Severus Snape's incredulity and James Potter's flummoxed, Slytherin-hating rage.

Lily was constantly aggravated by Potter's unwanted advances in their teenage years; as far as she was concerned he was nothing more than a foul bully little better than the Lestranges or their friends. She also wasn't blind to his attempts to separate her from her best friend in his hopes to get her in the sack.

Sure, thanks to political tensions Severus and Lily didn't act as friends out in the open, but Lily kept in contact with him. Severus had always been a troubled child, and Lily was the one who kept him anchored...and he was the one who made sure she didn't go too crazy. Which became a good deal harder when Bellatrix, who had enough crazy to terrify Bugs Bunny, grew so close to Lily that the pair might as well have been siblings.

Regulus, meanwhile, was the group's baby, who always insisted the ladies were insane but went along with it out of loyalty to his cousin. That, and he had a crush on Lily, to the fury of his mother Walburga.

Lily and Bellatrix, while burrowed in the Black family library on a day when the leaders of the family were out, and it was there that they discovered the full disclosure of the Horcruxes.

Tom Riddle had made a mistake, back when he was a student. The text he read regarding the creation of Horcruxes was incomplete. The way to create a full Horcrux was not to split your soul with murder, but to willingly sacrifice and sever your mortal coil in order to take on the form of a living spirit. Both Lily and Bellatrix liked and were curious about the idea, and stole the book away from under the noses of Orion and Cygnus.

Anyway. Back to the Prophecy.

Lily loathed Voldemort and his toadies. She had fought the man on three separate occasions after her seventh year finished, making her one of the few candidates for the parents. The others were Alice and Frank Longbottom, already married...and James Potter.

After some deliberation, Lily decided that a marriage to James to bring about the prophecy child was a worthy cause. She knew that Dumbledore had been pushing for her to date the man ever since their fourth year (he wasn't exactly subtle, with that damnable twinkle in his eye and everything), but she would do it on her own terms.

Besides, with James so busy, she could have love on her own terms...it was easy to run into Regulus when a war was going on. He was born to a 'dark' family after all...

Though at first she would have to be careful, after all only James could give her the prophecy child.

Eventually Lily became pregnant, to her joy. Despite going into this with a relatively pragmatic mindset – someone had to defeat Voldemort – she instantly fell in love with her child, before the birth even happened.

**~Line Break~**

Lily knew that the deck was being stacked against her.

Bellatrix fought her family's hatred of her best friend and by extension her engagement ever since her friendship with Lily was discovered, and eventually Cygnus took drastic measures. He placed blood runes on her before presenting her to Voldemort, who used them to turn Bellatrix into his insane female counterpart.

Knowing that something was in store for her, Bellatrix made a blood pact with Lily that made the two adoptive siblings. It allowed Lily to place a charm on her sister's mind that would allow either herself, or her child should worse come to worse, to destroy even the most powerful of magics placed on Bellatrix's mind and return her to her original self.

Regulus was pressed into Voldemort's army by Walburga. He acted as Lily's private spy, and he told her about Voldemort's horcruxes when he discovered it. Eventually he went to the cave where Riddle had taken one of his immortality anchours, and managed to retrieve it before being set upon by an army of Inferni.

Luckily for him, he had a modified time turner on his person. In his panic, he activated it, and vanished from the present time.

Severus was also a Death Eater, being Dumbledore's spy in the army for Lily's sake. While they stayed in touch, the war made it increasingly difficult.

Eventually, Lily gave birth to her daughter, Iris Dahlia Potter. She was a beautiful child, with red hair and vibrant green eyes, born as 'the seventh month dies' as was predicted. Power surged through St Mugos during her birth, pure magic, it had all the Healers talking.

Lily adored her child. She showered her with love and affection, even when they were hiding away under the Fieldus Charm at Dumbledore's insistence. It was worth putting up with James, who was still as immature as his school days, and the knowledge that she was working alongside Dumbledore's plan, at least at the beginning. Between Lily, Sirius (Lily helped him reconnect with Regulus during the war...) and Remus, Iris should never have known a moment of sadness, unfortunately there were more forces at work in her life...

It was thanks to Sev that Lily knew Pettigrew had betrayed her and James. He had seen the spy during a meeting among Voldemort's inner circle, and he had gotten in contact with her via their secret Floo connection. They had to seal Bellatrix's entrance for now that she was crazy; thanks to the Fieldus Lily didn't have the chance to go out and activate the fail safe spell...Dumbledore had never approved of their friendship, he thought Bellatrix was 'too dark'...Regulus's had also been closed since he had gone missing, though he had at least managed to hand the Horcrux to his house elf before vanishing...

Lily knew that now she had to take drastic measures, so while James was at a meeting with Dumbledore she took out the tome she had discovered with Trixie and began to read from it. Her own life for her daughter's safety...it made sense to her.

The protection she could offer her daughter with her own life was stronger than anything else. The sacrifice ward and the horcrux magic were carefully woven together by the most brilliant charms master this century as Lily prepared for the worst...she bound her life force to her beloved child, making her most precious treasure her anchor in the living world.

Voldemort did come to her doorstep eventually. James was killed in a quick fight on the floor while Lily waited, steeling her nerve...Voldemort couldn't comprehend how she was willing to give up her own life for her child, so he didn't see the trap she had laid for him.

So that night, Lily 'died', Voldemort's hold was broken, and Iris Potter became the 'Girl Who Lived'. Dumbledore, after sealing Lily's personal Will in Gringotts, sent Hagrid to deliver the young girl to the family explicitly forbidden from housing her child because of a family estrangement.

The Dursleys.

**~Privet Drive, 2004~**

"Oh my baby, what have they done to you?"

Three year old Iris Potter was lying unconscious in the cupboard under the stairwell in the prison called Number 4, Privet Drive. She had been slammed against the wall by her uncle, who was angry about being passed up for a promotion, injuring her severely but not killing her thanks to her magic.

Now deep in dreams, Iris felt someone embrace her. Blinking lethargically, she saw a beautiful ghostly figure. She was an older woman, glowing white except for her red hair and gleaming green eyes which were dripping tears. "Who are you?" Iris wondered, feeling a rush of love directed at her.

"Sweetie, I'm your mother." The ghost said softly.

"...Mommy?" Iris asked, a single tear dripping down her cheek. "Auntie said you died. Auntie said you left me."

The ghost trembled with rage, but maintained her calm in front of her daughter. "No, my jewel, I never abandoned you. I died because I was fighting a bad man. I used some magic so I could stay with you no matter what happened."

"Oh...I'm so happy..." Iris murmured. "Dud says no one loves me..."

"That's a foul lie, little flower. I love you. I always have, and I always will." Lily's ghost promised, brushing her fingers against Iris's eyes. "My magic is surrounding you. Always."

"But...auntie and uncle...they say magic isn't real."

"Auntie and uncle are very bad people. They've hurt you, and lied to you." The ghost responded gently but firmly. "Magic is very real. You can use it to protect yourself. Do you hurt any? Where do you hurt, little flower?"

"My head..."

"Okay..." Iris squeaked when she felt herself enveloped in warmth, like she'd been given Dudley's fluffy winter blanket. "Think very hard on it, my love. Think hard about where you feel the pain and how you want it to go away."

Iris didn't understand at first, but she did what her mother said. She let out a small cry of surprise when the horrible pain suddenly lessened until it disappeared entirely. "wow!" she gasped. "Is that magic, mommy? I can do magic!"

"Of course you can, little flower. You are a witch, and some day you will be one of the most powerful people who ever lived."

"You really think so, mommy?"

"I really do, my love." Ghost Lily cooed gently. "Now get some rest...rest and recover. Know that you are loved, cherished, and protected."

Iris nodded slowly, and fell into a more comfortable sleep with a small smile on her face.

End Chapter

I like the idea that Lily was a borderline crazy genius. Rated for some later content (and I mean it this time - Cult Potter's early dark content has been moved over to here by brain bunnies). I love this version of Lily, and little Iris Potter.

Edit as of 10/07/2016: Yes, the timeline has been altered slightly so Lily's 'death' happened at year 2000, and Iris's school years would/will be 2010-2017. I'm just more comfortable in that time zone, plus it helps the theme parallel in the next chapters.

Read and Review please!