1,193What if Lily was not muggleborn
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not making any profit by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, maybe Dumbledore bashing
Lily Evans was a Seer. She knew that James and her were going to die soon in order to protect Baby Harry.
In the morning of October 30, 1981, she settled down at her desk and composed her will, glad that Harry was spending the day with Alice and Baby Neville.
Uncertain if James would get around to make his own will on time, she went to Gringotts to leave hers with the goblins. 'Gringotts is probably the safest place nowadays,' she thought, letting out a deep sigh.
As she approached one of the goblins, he gave her a questioning look, asking, "Lady Potter, what can the goblins do for you?"
"I'd like to speak with Buckbean, our account manager," she replied in a firm voice, foregoing any other formalities, and was ushered into a small room, assured that Buckbean would be by in a moment.
"Buckbean," she greeted the goblin, somehow feeling relieved at his sight. In spite of the fact that goblins were said to dislike humans, their account manager had always been extremely polite towards her, even if she was muggleborn. "May your gold flow."
"Lady Potter, may your enemies cower in front of you," Buckbean replied, smirking, seeming impressed with her greeting. "Let us speak in my office."
Lily had been in Buckbean's office together with James before, however, more than at that time, it somehow felt like an honour to be taken into the office, which radiated the atmosphere of a high-ranking goblin.
"Lady Potter, what brings you to Gringotts today?" Buckbean enquired.
"Please just call me Lily," Lily replied, smiling. "I'm a Seer, and I know that my husband and I are going to be attacked by Voldemort soon. As we're both going to die in the attack and I took some precautions to ensure that my baby will survive it, provided that it'll work, I made a will and wish to place it into our vault." She handed a couple of parchments to the goblin, who accepted them wearing an expression of what seemed to be concern.
"May I read your will?" he asked and, seeing her nod in agreement, proceeded to engross himself in his lecture.
While she was waiting, Lily skimmed the goblin-crafted items that were impressively decorating the walls in amazement, before she was brought back to reality, when Buckbean let out a deep sigh.
"Lily," he then began to speak again, "I heard that you're a Charms mistress on top of being a Seer."
"Yes," Lily confirmed. "I just finished my Charms Mastery this summer," she added, asking herself, 'What does this have to do with our impending deaths?'
"Everything," Buckbean replied, making her realise that she had spoken aloud. "As I'm not a master of Charms, I can't be sure, however, I believe that there are ways to create illusions, copies or other forms even from human beings. You might wish to speak about the matter with your ancestor though. He's a master of concealment."
"My ancestor?" Lily asked in bewilderment. "I'm a mudblood as the dark wizards use to say. What would muggles know about the kind of supposedly dark magic you mentioned?"
Buckbean began to laugh aloud. Leaning forward to give her a sharp look, he queried, "Do you really believe being muggleborn?"
Lily gaped at the goblin. "Buckbean, if I was anything else than muggleborn, I certainly would be aware of the matter."
"The goblin chuckled. "Apparently not," he contradicted, "and it's not only that you're not muggleborn, you're the heiress of a noble and most ancient house," he informed her. "Would you be willing to give me one drop of your blood?" he enquired, placing a large parchment on the table in front of her.
"Of course," Lily replied, feeling slightly dazed at the revelation. 'That's not possible,' she thought, however, decided to indulge the goblin.
With a flick of the goblin's hand, one drop of her blood found itself at the top of the parchment, leaving a black dot. Lily observed with interest how her name showed up below the dot, before James' name appeared next to it, and the rest of the map was automatically filled with lines, dots and names. There were so many; she could not even count them, before the writing finally reached the top of the parchment.
"As you can see, while your husband James' line goes straight back to the Peverells and further to the Gryffindors, ending here with Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw, your line is interrupted, if you want me to express it this way, by Squibs. However, the Evans line goes straight back to the year 1213, when Violet Slytherin married Nicholas Evans."
Lily stared at the parchment, wide-eyed. "That makes me a descendant of…" She slowly trailed off, unable to believe the information that the parchment provided.
"Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff," Buckbean completed her sentence. "You're the heiress of the Slytherin family. You only have to claim the ladyship along with the ring to become the Lady Slytherin."
Lily looked at the goblin in shock. "Buckbean," she stammered, "would everyone know if I did so?"
"Everyone?" Buckbean enquired, smirking.
"Well, Dumbledore or Voldemort or whoever," Lily replied, admitting that she did not really trust Dumbledore to have their best interests in mind, considering her recent visions.
"As long as you don't openly display your ring or take your seat on the Wizengamot, no one will know," Buckbean reassured her. "I'd recommend that you take over your heritage. You will then be able to access the family's vault and also Slytherin Manor, even if I don't know in what condition it is. If you wish so, we could offer to asses the condition and do any necessary repairs if that's what you desire."
"Does the Slytherin vault contain any money to pay you without having to take gold out of the Potter vault?" Lily asked, uncertainly.
"Of course," Buckbean confirmed, smiling. "The vaults of the founders of Hogwarts are the oldest vaults at Gringotts, as it was Lord Gryffindor and the Head Goblin Fullbeak who founded Gringotts in the year 1000. I don't know why your husband never claimed the lordship for the Gryffindor family, however, I suggest that you inform your son about the matter and make him take up the lordship upon his eleventh birthday."
Lily nodded in confusion. 'How can I do that if I'm dead by that time?' she mused, before she became distracted, when Buckbean showed her a golden ring with a beautiful green diamond.
"This is the ring of the Lady of the noble and most ancient House of Slytherin," he informed her, smiling broadly. He placed a small parchment in front of her, giving her an encouraging nod.
Lily raised her wand. "I, Lily Potter, nee Evans, heiress of the noble and most ancient house of Slytherin, promise to hold up the family values of the Slytherin family, so mote it be," she read from the parchment.
As soon as she slid the ring over the ring finger of her left hand, a blindingly strong, silver light engulfed her body.
When she was able to properly see again, she cast a concealing charm at the ring that would make it invisible to everyone but herself. She stared at the ring in shock. 'Now I'm the Lady Slytherin,' she thought, incredulously. 'Shall I tell James about it? He deplores everything Slytherin. I wonder how Severus would react knowing that I'm not a mudblood?' she mused, remembering all too well how her former best friend had ended their friendship calling her that.
"Lady Potter-Slytherin," Buckbean called her back to attention, "would you like to see the Slytherin vault?"
"Yes please," Lily replied before instructing Buckbean, "please continue calling me Lily. I'd like to keep the Lady Slytherin thing a secret for now."
"Very well," Buckbean agreed, before he opened the door and strode ahead towards the carriages.
"Ready yourself," he warned her. "It's quite some travel to the oldest vaults."
HP
After a ride, which seemed to take an infinite time in spite of the enormous speed of the carriage, passing dragons and other magical creatures, which Lily could not recognise, the carriage came to a halt. Buckbean led her to a small corridor, which ended in front of two doors.
"The right door is the one leading to the vault of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family, vault 1; the left door leads to the vault of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff family, vault 2," Buckbean explained, and Lily was surprised to hear a slight hint of excitement in the goblin's voice. "Please put a finger here onto the Slytherin crest."
Lily carefully pressed her right front finger onto the crest of the Slytherin snake. She felt a small prick, before the door gave in and opened for her to enter the vault.
"Press this button, whenever you wish me to pick you up again," Buckbean instructed her, pointing to a green button in the corridor right outside the vault, before he vanished from the sight.
'So the goblins are able to apparate everywhere like the elves,' Lily realised. Somehow, she was not surprised, as she had always admired the elves at Hogwarts for their ability. She hesitantly entered the vault, letting her eyes wander around in curiosity, only to notice that it seemed to be almost as large as the Potter vault.
"It's about time," the voice of a man greeted her, turning her attention to a huge painting of the four founders of Hogwarts.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, as she slowly stepped in front of the painting.
"I've been waiting for my heirs to come and visit for almost a millennium," the man, whom she recognised as Salazar Slytherin informed her, sounding very grumpy.
"Nonsense Salazar," Rowena said from his right side, playfully slapping his arm. "It's only the year 1981; so, it's only about five hundred years since the last heirs visited."
"I'm sorry," Lily addressed her ancestor. "I've only just now heard that I'm your heiress. There were many Squibs among my ancestors, so maybe that's the reason."
"Lily Evans?" Rowena addressed her, questioningly. Seeing Lily nod, she continued, "Oh you poor thing. Please take Salazar with you in a small photo frame and let him help you survive this Halloween night together with your husband and baby."
"Why would I want to leave this place?" Salazar enquired, quirking an eyebrow at the witch with the dark black hair and green eyes in the painting.
"Oh Sal, just listen to Rowena and go," the lady on his other side spoke up, before she introduced herself as Helga Hufflepuff.
"No, I'm not going to go anywhere," Salazar replied, stubbornly.
"Please sir, if it's really going to happen on Halloween, I don't have much time. Today is the thirtieth of October," Lily spoke up, giving her great grandfather a pleading look.
"Go and visit your ancestor's home," Salazar instructed her, sounding slightly grumpy. "There's a large portrait of the four of us. You can talk to them."
tbc...? If there is interest in this?
