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Lilith

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Chapter 1 – Ron's revelation

"You better hope Potter left you something his Will, Weasley! Maybe then you won't be so poor!"

That's how it had all started; a simple, yet deep-cutting taunt from Draco Malfoy had set in motion a series of events that would change everything. After Harry Potter had been entered into the Triwizard Tournament, Ron Weasley had been an angry, jealous prat. He had, at first, thought Harry had found a way to enter without telling him, and was lying about it, but then, when he had calmed down, he remembered how much Harry hated attention. The argument had been Ron's fault, however, and he had spent days trying to figure out how to fix his mistake; he just didn't know how. Making it all worse was the fact that his brother, Charlie, was at the school. Charlie was a Dragon Tamer working for the Romanian Dragon Reserve; there was only one reason for him being there, and, although he had promised not to say anything, Ron had become very worried. His promise to Charlie made it more difficult to approach Harry, whom would be very upset if the two made up, only for Harry to find out that Ron knew about the task the whole time and didn't warn him.

Then, Malfoy had taunted him, and the words had echoed in his head before it dawned on him that Harry might actually die. At that moment, everything else meant nothing; his friend could die if he didn't do something. So, he had found Harry and told him everything. This, of course, caused Harry to realize that he really should get his affairs in order. Despite Ron and Hermione's protests, Harry was adamant; he may not have much, but at least he could make sure the gold in his vault didn't go to waste. Therefore, after a bit of arguing back and forth, the trio snuck out of the castle, with some help from Fred and George, and secretly made their way to Gringotts Bank in London. There, their world had come crashing down. As per Standard Procedure, all three would have to go through a Purging Ritual to ensure they weren't under any Spell- or Potion Effects that could have any influence on the Will-making, and, as a result, the trio had been put into a Time Delay Chamber (AN 1) for special treatment.

The chamber was actually a series of rooms, in which time had been slowed down significantly while in use. To enter or exit the chamber while the Time-magic was active, you had to first enter a smaller room where time would be either slowed down or sped up until it lined up. It apparently felt somewhat like an elevator, according to Hermione. The two of them had left the chamber while it was still active because their treatment had been relatively quick and easy, but Harry was still in a coma. The horrors of what they had learned was still rattling their cores, however, and they would never look at their lives the same way. They had spent a few more hours at the bank before being released, and had agreed on a plan to make it seem like Harry was hiding somewhere in the castle. Hermione would show up for classes, taking three sets of notes, then disappear in the evening, while Ron would be going back and forth from the kitchen and Common Room to get food and books, as well as other equipment that one would expect to use when studying, or, as was expected in this case, preparing for a tournament.

In the meantime, they would also be coming to term with what they've learned from the Purge. Ron, especially, had a lot to digest. He'd known that certain things didn't quite make sense about his family, but he'd never paid it much attention because it was helping them, and he was grateful, because that help put food on the table, and paid for their education. Dumbledore paid his mother for being allowed to use the Prewett Seat in the Wizengamot, and they had a contract with him regarding the family's school-fees. Ron's oldest brother, Bill, had graduates as Head Boy and at the top of his class, having taken every single subject offered at Hogwarts. That achievement had rewarded the family with a hefty discount, and, combined with Charlie and Percy's achievements, it was now to the point where Ginny was getting a free ride, and both Ron and the twins had much of their tuition reduced. This was also why their mother was so hard on the twins, and Ron for that matter, because she was hoping to milk that deal for all it was worth.

Ron couldn't say to what extend his mother would go to achieve that, especially seeing as the twins were anything but focused on their studies, but Ron had a whole list of things she had done to him. He had spells on him to increase feelings of jealousy and greed; most likely an attempt to make him strive to be better than his brothers, and to make him want the rewards that came with doing so. Of course, his laziness had countered any strive he had to do well in class, which caused the jealousy-enhancer to kick in at the worst times, usually when Harry was involved, and had very nearly cost him their friendship. The greed-enhancer had, for some reason, attached itself to his appetite, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Hermione had suggested he was making up for a lack of food in childhood, which kind of made sense, though he had never been starving.

Those things he could forgive, if he'd wanted to; there was nothing wrong in wanting the best for your children, and this could make sure all seven children got an education, and ultimately good opportunities for work after graduating, even if the methods were borderline illegal. What Ron could not forgive, however, was the secret plans his mother had revolving around Harry. The plan had been Obliviated from Ron's mind several times, and he had been manipulated by spells which basically made him an accessory to several crimes. Frankly, he was lucky the plan hadn't gone very far yet, at least not as far as his family was involved anyway. Dumbledore, however, had been acting on this plan for over a decade, and Harry was now in a coma because of it, with no sign of waking up as of yet. Ron's mother, and, later, his sister, had been in on the plan from the start. Ron had been seven years old when he had first learned of the plan, but had refused because it was wrong and he didn't want to be a criminal. He was Obliviated, and the process had repeated when he had just turned 11, so his mother had taken to use spells on him instead, because he wouldn't cooperate. Ron suspected his father and brothers were victims as well, but there was no way he could prove it.

Then, on September 1st, in his first year, Ron was under the influence of a compulsion that basically told him to 'find Harry Potter and befriend him', and had him subconsciously ignore vacant seats on the train until he found the boy. After that, another compulsion made him act very possessively, chasing away anyone who wanted to be Harry's friend, so that his family could have him all to themselves. He blamed that spell for his attitude towards Hermione as well, and it had nearly gotten her killed in first year. He hadn't been nearly as big of a prick after the purge, though he still had to act like it, especially when their Housemates ask to see Harry, who, as far as they knew, was supposedly training in some secret room. Both he and Hermione had noted Dumbledore looking pleased, and they suspected the reason the teachers hadn't bothered them too much was because he had told the staff to let them be. Though some of the teacher had offered up some extra work for that same reason; they couldn't offer lessons, but wanted to help anyway.

Neville and the twins had also offered to help, and Ron had been talking a lot to Luna Lovegood, a childhood friend of his sister, supposedly, seeing as Ginny had basically abandoned the girl by now. Luna seemed to know things he couldn't possibly know about what was really going on, as Ron was learning rather quickly. He had been finding the girl's belongings all over the castle and was constantly looking for her to give the items back. Except the items kept getting re-stolen, and he had gone to talk to Flitwick, the Ravenclaw Head of House, to inform him of this. The half-goblin had been furious, but had thanked him for looking out for the girl, who had somehow wormed her way into the group. Neville and the twins had also been told the truth, and was helping them distract Dumbledore and other staff-members who were secretly looking for Harry.

The twins were also the only ones Ron had warned of an upcoming summons by Gringotts, as part of the Bank's investigation. Ron himself had been thoroughly interrogated, before being allowed to leave, and the rest of the Weasley Family would be summoned to the bank as well. He took a risk by telling them, but the way they behaved was so far from what their mother wanted that he felt they were trustworthy. It also helped that Luna had confirmed this, and, for some reason, he trusted the strange little blond. Hermione thought the girl was a seer, though the blond had neither denied nor confirmed that fact. Luna had also been under fire from Ginny as soon as the redhead learned how close the blond was to the group. Ginny would demand to see Harry, completely foregoing the 'shy crush'-approach she had previously used, but still making sure she appeared to just be a girl with a crush, and had even told Ron, straight to his face, that she wanted Harry to ask her to the Yule Ball, and didn't want to risk having him ask Luna instead. When asked why she assumed Harry would ask Luna instead of Hermione, Ginny had scoffed and told him, as if it was obvious, that Hermione was his girl, so why would Harry ask her?

Up until that point, Ron had still had some doubts of whether or not Ginny was willingly involved in their mother's plan, but that was a pretty big hint. Ron and Hermione had both had low-level Love Potions in their systems, keyed to each other, but weak enough to induce interest and other emotions that came with crushing on someone, and Ginny had basically just told them that she knew about the potions; and, if she knew about them, she'd definitely know about Harry being fed the same potion, keyed to her. Luckily, Ron had been able to subdue Ginny by pointing out that Harry wouldn't be going to the Ball at all if he died in the first task, and that all Luna was doing was bringing them material from the library. Ron didn't know how long that would work, but they still had a couple of weeks until the task. The only question was whether or not Harry would awaken before then.

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Four days passed until they finally heard from Gringotts. It was a Saturday, and the entire Weasley Family had been summoned to the bank for 'confirmation of records'. Due to the contract with Dumbledore, regarding their educational costs, the bank would often call in the family to make sure all papers were in order due to the discrepancy between their recorded income and calculated expenses, so this wasn't out of the ordinary, given the goblins strict precision. Standard Procedure was equally strict, which meant every single member of the family was basically interrogated. They had done this a few times, and, if there was no inconsistency in their stories, that would be it. This time would be different.

Ron, the twins, and Ginny were escorted to Diagon Alley by Professor McGonagall where they met their parents before heading to the bank. Then, the goblins led the Weasley's into a private waiting room where Bill and Charlie were already waiting. Ron could instantly tell they had already been interrogated, as their smiles were strained and they looked exhausted. Both blamed work when asked, however, especially Charlie, due to the tournament. When the goblins returned, their parents were then escorted into separate rooms, meanwhile Bill would accompany Ginny, seeing as she was a minor, and Charlie would accompany George, as Ron had already been interrogated the week before. Then, whoever finished first, would accompany Fred.

Fred and Ron had both expected either Bill or Charlie to return first, but, surprisingly, it was their father, who looked incredibly pale and in no shape to take another round of interrogation, even if he'd be sitting to the side. Bill returned, without Ginny, a few minutes later, and left the room with Fred, while Ron worked on comforting their father until Charlie and George returned. In the end, neither Ginny, nor their mother returned, and the rest of them were taken to see a Goblin Healer. Ron also learned that Harry was awake now and out of the Time-delay Chamber, and would be paying for their treatment, including Ron and Hermione's treatment from the previous stay. Luckily, McGonagall wasn't awaiting them back at the castle until Sunday evening, and they had been joined by Sirius, Remus, and Harry in the Hospital Ward. Which was when the remaining Weasley's learned a shocking fact; Lily Potter had given birth twins. The goblins hadn't been able to discover the fraud because they need specific permission to check Family Trees, but the truth was that the real Harry James had perished alongside his parents, and that the 'Harry' they knew, was, in fact, Lilith Rose, disguised as her brother.

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Author's Notes

1) The Idea of Gringotts having a Time-delay Chamber was borrowed from Summer of Independence by redfrog.