Chapter 1

October 31, 1898

Dumbledore winced as the icy raindrops ran down his neck. Waving his wand, he insured that the circle of candles in front of him continued to burn. He turned to scowl at his friend.

"I still don't see why we have to do it tonight."

Gelert Grindelwald smirked. He brushed his blond hair out of his face. A manic gleam had entered his blue eyes. "We need knowledge that only the dead hold and this night is when the vail between the worlds is thinnest."

Raising his own wand, Grindelwald chanted a spell in a language Dumbledore didn't recognize. Lightning flew from the tip of his wand, forming an ankh in the circle floating above the candles. Thunder boomed overhead as if warning of impending disaster."

Unease filled Dumbledore's gut as if he'd swallowed a golf ball. For the first time, he wondered, was he doing the right thing? True he wanted to better the world for Muggle kind, but could he be doing so to advance his own station in life.

After all, right now he was no more than a poor man taking care of an illiterate brother and a mentally damaged sister. If he succeeded, he would no longer be bound by such constraints. He would be powerful, a ruler to be feared and respected, but was that what he wanted?

He jumped as he saw Grindelwald take a glass jar of what could only be blood from his cloak. "Where did you get that?"

I merely borrowed a little bit from your sister. I assure you I did her no harm."

Dumbledore's eyes blazed. "You did what?" he snarled.

"We needed virgin blood for the spell. I merely took a little bit and healed the wound. She was no worse for the experience, I assure you."

Dumbledore took a step towards Grindelwald. "She could not give her consent," he snapped.

"Exactly," Grindelwald said holding up a hand. "This makes the spell so much stronger. Albus, you know this type of magic. You know what it requires. I could've killed her, but I didn't. Remember, life's blood is what's best…" He stopped speaking. Dumbledore's wand was inches from his nose.

"You will not harm my sister."

Grindelwald held up a hand. "Come now Albus, I never said anything about harming her."

"You took some of her blood without her consent. What would you call that?"

"I would call it a necessary sacrifice," Grindelwald said. "I say again, she was not harmed. Nothing happened to her. She is fine, so what is the problem?"

Dumbledore stared at his friend. Could he have been wrong? Was this man truly incapable of seeing what he'd done?"

Seeing the look, Grindelwald placed a hand on Dumbledore's shoulder. "Don't look at me that way my friend. I promise, I will not do anything like that again unless you are there to supervise, but we needed this blood," he said passionately. We needed it to complete the ritual."

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "We'll discuss this later. Come on, let's get this over with."

Nodding, Grindelwald turned back to the circle. Unscrewing the jar, he poured the blood into the circle, making sure it formed a smaller circle around the candles.

"We call to you," he whispered. "Those that have gone before. We wish to speak to you."

A bolt of lightning flew down from the heavens and struck the circle directly in its center. The blood encircling the candles immediately turned to scarlet ash. The candles blazed up, forming a pillar of fire above the circle.

Dumbledore turned to Grindelwald. "Is this part of the spell?"

Grindelwald looked at Dumbledore, his face ashen. "Everything sense the lightning wasn't part of the plan."

A horrified Dumbledore turned back to the circle in time to see the pillar of fire split in two. Out of the fire, a figure stepped. Her semi-transparent form shimmered slightly as the rain struck her.

Grindelwald took a step forward. "Are you a spirit who has gone before?"

The figure raised its head, revealing a woman's face. She was not classically beautiful. Her nose was a little too long. Her mouth was a little too wide, but her pale skin glowed faintly and her strange orange eyes surveyed the two wizards, like a queen surveying to beggars. Long black hair fell in soft waves down her back and seemed to move and twist of its own accord.

"A spirit who has gone before," she said softly. Her voice was high and girlish belying her adult features. "Is that what that pitiful excuse of a spell was supposed to do?" She looked at the pillars of fire on either side of her. She inhaled sharply. The fire vanished into her mouth and nose. When the last flickering ember was gone, the woman stretched luxuriously. "That hit the spot," she said yawning widely. "I have been gone for so long. It will take time for me to regain my strength."

Grindelwald stumbled and nearly fell. Whatever the woman had done with the fire, it felt as if she'd taken all his energy with it. "W-who are you?" he croaked.

The woman chuckled. "I am not what you expected, I can tell you that. I am not a departed soul. I am not something you can command. I am the Mother of all those you fear."

"What?" Grindelwald said.

The woman ignored him, turning to face Dumbledore. "Surely you are not as clueless as your friend."

"Echidna," Dumbledore whispered.

The woman smiled. "That was one of my names, but not the one I was born with."

"Tiamat," Dumbledore said.

"Close, but still no. I was worshipped as her, but that is not my name."

"Lilith," Dumbledore said.

"Good boy," the woman said drifting closer to him. She sniffed deeply. "I smell ambition, greed, and hunger. A hunger for power."

Dumbledore shrank at her words. He swallowed thickly and took a step backwards. "Gelert," he called. "Break the circle,"

"Oh please," the woman said. She gestured with one transparent hand. The circle, candles, and blood vanished. "I told you," she said wagging a finger at Dumbledore. "Not a departed spirit. Now, it's been fun, but I have work to do."

Dumbledore flew through the air, hitting the ground flat on his back. As consciousness faded, he heard the woman's voice echoing in his ears. "I'll see you again."

**HPS**

One year later

Dumbledore stared down at the lifeless body of his sister. His mind raced. Had he been the one to fire the curse or had Gelert? More importantly, how could he have let this happen? Distantly, he could hear the sobbing of Abeforth, but he could do nothing to comfort him. He was a failure, he realized. He failed his Mother, his father, and now his sister.

A sudden silence made him look up. Lilith floated there, but she looked different. Her formerly black hair was a vibrant red. Her features were delicately formed, like those of a china doll. Her formerly too long nose was now small and just the right size for her face. Her orange eyes filled with tears as she looked down at Ariana.

"Poor child," she whispered. "May you find rest now."

"You?" Dumbledore hissed. "What do you want?"

Lilith pointed down at Ariana's corpse. "I'd hope you would break company with him before it was too late," she said softly.

"You knew this would happen?"

Lilith shook her head. "I am not strong enough to see into the future yet. I just recently remembered what I looked like. Remember, I drew some of his magic out of him. I got a taste of what kind of person he is. I'd hoped you would realize it, but alas you did not."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?"

Dumbledore was silent. "Why are you here."

"I am here to pay my respects to she whose blood brought me from the void. Now that I have done so, I shall leave."

"Wait," Dumbledore said. "Can you bring her back?"

"Even at the height of my power, I could not restore the dead once the soul had departed."

"So, what will you do now?"

"I shall be reborn into this world. I could possess someone I suppose, but I want my full power restored to me. In order to do that, I must have flesh of my own, not that which is stolen from someone else."

"And then," Dumbledore said, dreading the answer.

"Then I will aid my children. Too long have they been under the yoke of man. When I return, that will end."

"You can't," Dumbledore said. "They'll kill everyone, all the humans."

All the humans are not my concern," Lilith said. She smiled. "I'm sure we will meet again, someday."

Just like that, she was gone and Dumbledore could hear the sobbing of his brother once again. The weight of his sister's death returned to him, heavier than ever. He lowered his head, thinking hard. Whatever happened with Lilith didn't matter. He had his own problems to deal with.

**HPS**

January 30 1960.

Rose Evans cradled her newborn daughter, tears of happiness rolling down her face. "She's beautiful," she told her husband.

"Tom Evans smiled gazing at the infant. She looked back at him, her emerald green eyes seeming to possess knowledge and wisdom beyond her years. He jumped slightly as her green eyes turned from emerald green to a glowing orange for a split second.

"Tom?" Rose said. "Tom what is it?"

He sat back in his chair, his breathing slowly returning to normal. The babe's eyes were green again. Surely, surely it was just a trick of the light, wasn't it?"

"Nothing," he said. "Thought I saw a spider on her blankets is all."

Rose frantically looked the blankets over, but seeing nothing, she glared at her husband. "How awful. Don't scare me like that."

"Sorry," Tom Mumbled.

"Here," he said. "I'll take her. You need to get some sleep."

Rose reluctantly handed Lily over to him. Tom settled back in the chair as the baby snuggled into his chest. He smiled as he watched Rose's eyes close. 'I am lucky," he thought. 'This is my second daughter and I have a beautiful wife. How could things possibly be better?"

**HPS**

Lilith lay in her new Fathers arms, reveling in the warmth and life of her new body. It had taken so long to wait for the right child to be born, but she was glad she'd waited. True, she was weak and vulnerable at the moment, but she could wait for her strength to return to her. Rome wasn't built in a day as the saying went. There was time. Better yet, she would have time to build her identity as this Lily Evans.

She'd considered draining her new parents of their lives to hasten her return to full power, but something stopped her. These people were kind. There only crime was in wanting a daughter. She had a new life now. Did she really want to start it by committing murder? Her original childhood was so long ago she couldn't even remember it. What was a decade or two to a being that had eternity before her? She could wait. And in that time, she'd do everything she could to repay these people for giving her life once again."

**HPS**

July 31, 1980

"You're sure," James said staring at his headmaster.

Dumbledore leaned back in the hard hospital chair, wincing as it bit into his lower back. "As sure as I can be," he said brushing his long white hair out of his face. "I remember how she looked when she appeared the second time. She had red hair and her bone structure… It was the same as Lily's is now."

"So what? You think she's possessed or something?"

"I don't think so," Dumbledore said slowly. "Certain entities can tie themselves to a bloodline in order to be born into the world again. It takes time, and the entity must either be willing to grow up normally or kill their new parents, but…"

James interrupted. "Lily's parents died in a car accident. You don't think…"

Dumbledore shook his head. "From everything I've seen, I would have to say no. The car accident was just that, an accident. Besides that, Lily was distraught at their deaths. I do not believe that was an act."

"So why tell me. For Merlin's sake Albus, my son was just born."

Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, and your son isn't anymore human than she is."

"What are you talking about."

"Listen," Dumbledore said. "Legends abound about Lilith. The muggles believe she is a demon. Wizards tell stories of her being a vampire, ogre, faerie, or immortal sorceress. No one knows what she is now, let alone what she was. What is known is that she is the creator of werewolves, vampires, ghouls, and every other type of monster that preys on the flesh of man."

"Creator, so she's never given birth?"

"No," Dumbledore confirmed. Harry is her firstborn son and is heir to all her powers."

SO, what are you saying, Harry is some kind of monster savior or something?"

Before Dumbledore could respond, the hospital shook violently. Dust rained down from the ceiling and the hanging lamps swung violently on their chains.

"What's happening?" James yelled.

"We're under attack," Dumbledore said drawing his wand.

**HPS**

Tom Riddle AKA Voldemort strode down the hall his robes billowing behind him. Shadows twisted around him like serpents coiling ready to strike.

It'd been so long since he'd been out and about. Hearing that James and Lily Potter were expecting was the icing on the cake. Attacking ST. Mungos at the birth of their child was going to break the side of the light.

It was a shame to kill such prominent wizarding folk, but needs must when magic must be saved.

A healer stepped out, his wand in his hand. He was shaking so hard he nearly dropped it. Voldemort smiled at him, his red eyes glowing faintly.

"Stand aside," he said almost gently. "I don't wish to harm you, but I will if you force me."

The healer raised his wand and fired a burst of red light from the tip. Voldemort gestured with his hand, deflecting the spell harmlessly into the wall. The healer paled.

"Do not push me, little man," Voldemort hissed.

The healer lifted his wand again. "I won't let you harm the patients," he squeaked.

Voldemort sighed. "I will show that I'm no insane mass murderer like the prophet would have you believe. He swept his hand through the air, sending the healer crashing into the wall. Looking down at the dazed man, he placed his palm flat on his forehead. "So sorry, but I need to know where Lily Potter is."

The healer stiffened as Voldemort's hand glowed. A wet stain formed on the front of his pants as his bladder let go. After a few seconds, Voldemort stepped back allowing the unconscious healer to slump to the floor. Turning away from the fallen man, he made his way down the hall until he reached a specific room.

Pushing the door open, he froze as he saw Lily Potter sitting up in the bed. She smiled calmly, cradling a small bundle in her arms. "Hello Tom," she said as if they were just passing on the street. "I've been expecting you."