Hospital Wing – Hogwarts – Midwinter
The windows were sealed against the chill, but Lillian felt frozen from the inside out.
His skin burned. His breath came shallow and wrong.
Something inside him—a second self, hidden for years—was clawing up from the deep.
"It's the suppression potions," Madam Pomfrey said in a low whisper to Dumbledore, just beyond the privacy curtain. "They've failed. His secondary gender is surfacing—too fast. Too violently."
On the bed, Lillian gritted his teeth, clutching the blanket so hard his knuckles went white.
Don't howl. Don't beg. Don't be weak.
He wasn't supposed to be like this.He wasn't supposed to feel this.
But his scent was changing. Magic coiling, lashing. Something inside him shattered—soft, brutal, ancient.
He was becoming.
And someone—someone smelled it.
The doors burst open.
Hospital Wing Corridor – Seconds Later
James Potter stood outside the curtain, chest heaving, pupils blown wide.
He knew. He could feel it.
"Let me in," he barked.
Pomfrey stepped in front of him, arms crossed. "No."
"I'm an Alpha. He needs—"
"He doesn't need you."
But James wasn't listening. He shoved past her, yanking back the curtain—and froze.
Lillian lay there, face twisted in agony, the bedsheets damp with sweat.
Eyes glossy. Skin glowing.
Scent—like something wild and broken.
"You're not safe alone right now," he said, voice tight. "I can help."
Lillian shook his head, trembling.
"No."
James stepped closer.
"No one else will take care of you."
Lillian met his eyes—and for a split second, he looked terrified.
And then—
The walls rattled with a hex so sharp, it split the curtain rail in two.
"Expelliarmus!"
Entrance to the Wing – Severus
He stood there, robes soaked from the rain, wand smoking in his fist.
Voice low.
Deadly.
"Get. Away. From him."
James turned slowly.
"Oh. Look who showed up for once."
Severus stepped between them, shielding Lillian with his whole body.
"You think you're an Alpha just because you reek like dominance and Quidditch?"
James laughed coldly. "You're a Beta. You're a mistake."
Severus didn't flinch.
"Funny," he said. "You're an Alpha. And still a disappointment."
The hex came fast—James aimed straight at Severus's throat.
But Lillian moved first.
He threw up a barrier charm with a cry that echoed with raw instinct—Omega magic, unfiltered and ancient.
It shattered the glass windows.Snapped every torch off the walls.Left James on the ground, stunned and smoking.
The silence afterward rang like a church bell.
Severus turned to Lillian.
"You could've let me die."
"You think I'd let him take you from me?"
The Dungeons – Later That Night
It was quiet in the Slytherin dormitory. Too quiet.
Lillian curled on Severus's bed, still trembling with the aftershocks of his curse breaking.
"I was supposed to be stronger than this," he whispered.
"You are."
"I hate him."
Severus sat beside him, fingers brushing his wrist.
"You don't hate him," he said. "You hate what he reminds you of."
"What's that?"
"Being out of control."
A pause.
Then, gently:
"You're allowed to fall apart."
Lillian didn't reply.
But he leaned into him, just a little.
And Severus stayed.
The Forbidden Forest – Same Night
In the shadows, Lucius Malfoy met a hooded figure by the dead willow tree.
"You did as ordered?" the voice hissed.
Lucius handed over a blood-soaked handkerchief.
"He's triggering. It's starting. The bond will fray."
The hooded figure chuckled.
"Then Potter will lose his mind."
Lucius's lips curled.
"Let him."