Chapter 2

Diagon Ally

It was getting late and Harry couldn't wrap his head around it. It seemed he was five yeas old again and the moment he appeared, the boy who up to this point had been Harry Potter disappeared. He took is place, without anyone the wiser.

He had been quite amused to watch his aunt and cousin run around the park searching for him. Even asking himself if he had seen 'a boy with dark hair and glasses'. Even without the forced calm the sight of his horse-faced aunt running around like a chicken without a head would have greatly amused him. And so he watched as they started to panic and even neighbours helped searching for him. He could almost read Petunias thoughts. The fear of what the others in Privat Drive would think of her, after she lost her sisters son and worse. What Dumbledose would do after he found out.

After a while he decided to try and apperate to Diagon Ally. He knew how to do it. He had been able to do it as a child, running from Dudley and his gang, and he perfected this particular skill while hunting for Horcruxes. Thinking about Horcruxes Harry knew he needed a plan. He needed help. Someone he could trust, but first things first.

As Harry was now a girl he needed a new name. Should the name be similar to his original name? Or his Parents names?..

Maybe something to honour his mothers sacrifice? Something to show his appreciation for her protection as it is the reason he survived. Even if he got the niggling suspicion whatever his mother did had been very dark and very illegal. He wanted something that could show his change, because Harry has had done a lot of reckless shit in his school years. He didn't plan to continue like he did in his first round. He would be caught dead before acting like a self-sacrificing, idiotic and proud Gryffindor. He wanted to be strong, his own person and his name should reflect as much... After a while the name Lilith came to mind. In some translations Lilith had been Adams first woman. She had been created to be his equal, able to resist the temptation the devil brought. She had been able to convince god to impart her with the knowledge of his real name, which granted her immeasurable power. In other translation she had been a creature of darkness. A succubus, a being with wings and talons for feet, feeding on children.

Harry thought it oddly fitting. The name would be a reminder of his mother, the woman who had given her all to protect him, who had been kind and smart. Just as Lillith was. An equal. Harry would, as Lillith, ressist the temptation of the devil. He would fight Voldemort the immortal, and he would slay him. He would show his prowess, his skill and smarts to the Light, Dumbledore. And he would spite him too. Harry would be his own. But he would not be scared of the dark. There was no use fearing the darkness, as it has a part in each and every person. He would use it, be conscious of it, and he would find balance.

Lillith. He... should start referring to himself as she... She liked the name. It fit. With the new name she could start planning. First, get to the Goblins. And to get there she had to apperate.

She turned and disappeared.

Entering the Leaky Cauldron she tensed. It was packed and as Harry she had always garnered more attention than she liked. She asked Tom to open the entryway towards Diagon Alley, which he did without a question. He didn't ask what a small child was doing, running alone at dawn. Maybe he was too stressed with so many customers? He should get someone to help him out if that was the case.

Entering Diagon Alley was surreal. She remembered the destruction. The emptiness. Despite the hour the street was bustling. People standing in small crowds and talking while some were trying to get their purchases home or just basking in the lively atmosphere.

She made her way towards Gringotts, trepidation starting to spread inside her. The Goblins at the entrance gave her a short glance filled with warning, and she remembered the Goblet, the Dragon and the consequences of their break-in. She shivered and resolved to find another way to get that cursed thing. Never again.

She felt off, walking on these short legs. It was taking her longer to reach her destination as she was used to, and she noticed her coordination needed improvement. A lot of it. She was already missing her longer legs and arms...not to say she had ever been tall...

Harry had always wondered how it would feel like to be a girl. Memories of Hermione complaining about cramps put him off of it though. Harry had liked being a boy, but as his friends would attest, he had been a curious child. And that was what he had been. A child. Despite everything, Harry had been a child, made to go through the shit that had been his life. Not again. Never again. She remembered the Hat. It wanted to place Harry Potter with Slytherin. Would it have been different? Better? What would Sirius have said? She banished the thought of her Godfather.

She didn't notice she had been staring at a goblin for quite some time now, and he was starting to get impatient.

"Well?" It asked and she twitched. How should she go about this?

"Umm, I would like one of you to take a look at my scar? I have been told it seems to be cursed? Or something?" Idiot. She should have prepared something to say to the goblin. It had already narrowed his eyes at her.

"Follow me." She did as asked and followed him down numeral hallways, till they reached a door and entered the room it hid. The room held many shelves with quite a lot of instruments and books. At the far end, opposite the door stood a desk with another goblin sitting behind it. As they approached the first goblin started to talk in rapid Gobbledegook. The second answered and seemed to give instructions as the first left before she could wrap her head around what was happening. They worked fast.

The second goblin turned his attention on her.

"Name?" He asked. She felt nervous, tiered and spend. And so she uttered what had been on her mind since she registered her change in ender.

"Lillith." He raised a eyebrow at her, and she shuffled her feet a bit. Since the break-in goblins made her nervous. The goblin signed for her to approach the desk, which she did. Her eyes were the same high as the tabletop...

She stood on her tiptoes and looked at the goblin. He was glaring at her.

Well, they had never been nice folks. Didn't even introduce himself. He gave her a stone engraved with runes, which started to glow first in a brown, then black colour and caused the goblin to take a sharp breath. Peaking over the table he was switching his gaze between a parchment before him and the stone. What he saw seemed to sicken him. She had guessed they felt about Horcruxes as she had when Dumbledore had told her about them.

The goblin stood, rounded the table and took the stone from her. With both the parchment and stone in hand he left the room before returning shortly after.

"We are preparing a ritual to allow you to battle the magic tainting your soul and magic. The runes in the stone determined quite a lot of magic tainting both your mind and ensuring people around you would dismiss any harm done to you as deserved and right punishment, overlooking your suffering. Among other things. There are additional Owl-wards placed on you, as well as a large dose of loyalty potions keyed to one wizard. We will first determine your identity, as well as the galleons your vault holds in order to pay for the indigents needed for the ritual and removal of curses and potions." With those words he gave her a knife and parchment.

Knowing what she had to do, she took a deep breath. What was it with the magical world and its obsession with blood? She pricked her finger on the blade and smeared the blood across the parchment.

What appeared was not what she had expected (she didn't know what to expect, but was still surprised).

Name: Lillith Potter, former Harry Potter

Gender: female, former male

Birthdate: 31. July 1980

Title: Heiress Potter, Heiress Peverell, Heiress Black

Vault: 687 (trust vault), 704 (Potter family vault), 12 (Peverell family vault), 711 (Black family vault), 12088 (gift vault)

Property: See property books in family vaults

She started to panic and looked at the goblin who took the parchment out of her hands. Then, he hummed and she shivered. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute. Her hands shaking and knees weak. What was that? Where was the forced calm? How the frick could she have so many vaults and heir ships? Potter and Black were obvious, but Peverell? Sure, they were her ancestors, but they had integrated into the Potter family. And her heir ships. Why did she have them already? Harry had been told by Dumbledore she would not be able to access them before her 17th birthday... Her eyes darkened in anger. The puppeteer had kept her from her inheritance. Well. Not this time. Dark satisfaction curled in her body and she calmed down.

"Highly unusual heiress Potter... for magic to bring about such a change without prompting.. hmm.. It seems magic is expecting something from you and being female will aid in your endavor. With your change in Gender you seem to have been granted to carry the name Peverell as well as access to the vaults. These vaults, if my memory serves me right, had been set by one of your ancestors. He had inherited something of the Peverell line, after which he decided to open a vault for future females birthed to the Potter line. It mostly holds books and old artefacts. They are to 'compensate' for the Peverell heirloom, as it is given from father to eldest son. As you are the first female born to the Potter line since then, you find everything to be quite old. Every male member born to the Potter family has the duty to add to the vault after having reached maturity." The goblin looked at her with a glint in his eyes. "I will have you know, your ancestor, Iolanthe Peverell had been the last of her line. She brought with her everything left of her families. After her death the Potters kept everything save, before adding the left possessions into this vault. The exact contents of it are unknown to us." She was stunned. What? First female of the Potter line?

Just as she wanted to ask questions about aid vault a man entered.

POV change

Edmis Tallings had been working for Gringotts for about five decades now. He is the oldest cursebreaker employed at the bank and proud of his reputation with his employers. He ha seen all matter of nasty curses and spells, but looking at the one inflicted to the small child before him had him retching.

The girl was young. About five to seven years old. Short blond hair and stunning green eyes looked at him, seeming to be sympathetic to his reaction.

This was something that needed goblin-magic. All he could do about this abomination was to kill the girl together with it. Whoever this girl was, he was both repulsed by and scared for her.

He turned to goblin Swiftdraw and explained he would do his best to remove the assortment of magic waved about her magic, almost integrating into it. Only a year or two more, and he wouldn't have been able to remove them by such save means. He frowned.

A Horcrux.

Which sick Bastard thought of this idea?

He took out his wand, explaining what he was about to do and started a more in depth analysis of the potions and spells used on her, before slowly starting to unravel them.

POV change

I knew about the Horcrux and found the wizards' reaction funny. His reaction to whatever Dumbledore had one to me was just as amusing. He explained what he would to and went at it. I could feel as weight after weight was being lifted from me. It felt liberating. Without me knowing I closed my eyes and started to smile. I felt good. Light and drowsy., slowly falling asleep.

Hours late I woke up to goblins shuffling around me. I was in what looked like a cave, dark and wet. It reminded me oddly of the chamber of secrets. Slowly rightening myself I could see a large ritual circle drawn on the floor. She couldn't recognize even a single rune. After noticing her awakening the goblin from before approached me and explained to just what my scar held. He seemed unsettled by my lack of reaction but, well. Been there, done that. Additionaly he told me I had been asleep for about ten days, which stumped me. Seems my magic, soul and body needed time to recuperate and strengthen. Thinking on this I felt into me and was thrown for a loop as I felt how...pure my magic felt. Tears started rolling down my cheeks. Who knew the damage done to me had been so extensive it damaged my magic to an extent even death couldn't fix and I had to travel back to get rid of this...filth tainting me.

The goblin explained how the ritual worked. It would take me to my mind space, where I would have to first supress, then obliterate the foreign soul piece. It would hurt, and the soul would fight me.

He bid me to follow him and I did. We entered a chamber with a low ceiling, obviously made for goblins. There stood a group of goblins around a circle filled with runes. A ritual circle.

I was directed to take off my clothes, grab a ritual dagger and sit in the middle of the runes. The goblin looked into my eyes and introduced himself.

"My name is Swiftdraw child. You will reintroduce yourself after we finished." And they started chanting. After some time Swiftclaw indicated to me to cut my palm and as he had instructed me before I made a deep cut, making sure to bleed over all the runes. When the flow of my blood started to slow I cut into the wound again. I was staring to feel light-headed. The relief I felt after my blood started to spread over the complicated mesh of runes was short. Just as my palm as starting to stitch itself together the pain started. I tried to hold it off, with next to no success. Then, everything turned black.

This blackness seemed to be alive, to move around me, leeching away my strength and magic. A parasite. Just like Swiftdraw said. I pulled on my magic and felt its response. The gauntlet had been thrown, the challenge accepted and the fight started.