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Chapter 15:
It has been a month since Odette returned to Potter Manor, and she barely spent much of her time in that accursed place. In fact, Odette had made a routine that was suitable for her, managing to avoid James, Lily and Charlus.
She would wake up early, Daisy would bring her breakfast in bed, after she finished eating she would check up on baby Harry and then shadow travel out of the manor to New York where she would spend time with Lexi or spend time as Shadow Swan. Whenever she would tire out, she would travel back to Potter Manor and sleep, and then repeat the same routine the next day.
However, two weeks after her return, she had the 'pleasure' of witnessing James and Lily Potter arrange a birthday bash for their precious Boy-Who-Lived. She observed the British Wizarding Community fawn over Charlus who preened under all the attention, and watched how James and Lily courteously welcomed everyone into their home, ordering the house-elves to organize the mountainous presents for Charlus in the drawing room.
What angered Odette however, was when baby Harold bawled his little eyes out for Lily when he needed feeding, and she would huff at Harry for disrupting the party. When Charlus saw his one month old brother was taking the attention away from him, he orchestrated a huge hissy fit and yelled at the Potters to take Harry away, that it was his birthday and he was stealing all the attention meant for him.
After that event, Odette made sure to stop by Potter Manor every few hours to check in on Harry and make sure he had company. She promised that she would always take care of him and that he would never feel alone and unloved and Odette never broke her promises.
Two months later, Odette began obtaining clients in England for contract killing, and she reveled in the fear of muggle London when news spread out that Shadow Swan diversified from New York and was now wreaking havoc in England as well. When she saw the news clipping about her with the title: From America to England – Is Any Country Safe From Shadow Swan? … Let's just say Odette's mood peaked.
Odette wanted everyone to fear her and respect her.
One day, Odette was making her way to check on Harry before Shadow Traveling from the manor, when she heard someone call out her name. Turning around, she saw that a portrait of a man who looked like a carbon copy of James and a woman with black hair and grey eyes resembling Sirius' staring right at her.
"Can I help you?" Odette spoke in an icy tone and looked merely bored at the man and woman in the portrait.
Tears began leaking out from the female's eyes and she said, "Oh sweetie, we have been so worried about you. I'm Dorea and this is Charlus, we're your grandparents."
Raising an eyebrow, Odette drawled, "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"Young lady, don't you sass us. Show some respect," snapped Charlus, he was staring at his goddaughter in horror. She seemed so cold and uncaring, unlike the little four year old that held childish innocence.
"Yeah, sure. I cannot even look at you without seeing James Potter, so if you don't mind," Odette sneered, "I'm going to check up on the only member of the Potter family that I can actually stand and get out of this god-awful place."
"What happened to you? You're so … so cold, so mean. Where have you been for three years that changed you so?" whispered Dorea in horror.
Odette glared coldly at Dorea Potter, "Life happened." And with that she turned her back on her grandparents' portrait and went to see her brother. She didn't care for Charlus and Dorea Potter; where were they when she went through three years of hell being ignored and beaten by James and Lily? They were too late in Odette's opinion.
Little Harold was crying in Lily's arms when Odette walked in, and she stared in amusement as Lily tried calming her youngest son down, to no avail, "Oh god, please simmer down, stop crying for goodness sakes. JAMES!"
"What is it Lil-"James gaped at the sight of the daughter he hadn't seen in years standing in the doorway. "Odette?"
Odette stared at James with an impassive look; great, she really didn't want to run into any of the Potters, ever.
"Who are you talking –"It was Lily's turn to stare at their covert daughter in shock, and Odette huffed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever it's me," Odette went over to Lily and grabbed Harry from her arms, and the elder Potters were flabbergasted when their youngest son instantly stopped with his incessant bawling the second he was in Odette's arms.
"How-how? What? Where have you been? Finally done pouting away in hiding?" Lily yelled, her face was red from anger and shame at the fact that her son would only calm down in Odette's arms.
"You can call it that," Odette shrugged nonchalantly staring up at James and Lily with cold eyes.
James flinched slightly; there was something different about their daughter, her eyes seemed … off.
Having had enough with their staring, Odette placed a chaste kiss on Harry's cheek and set him down in his cot, and without another word, Odette left the nursery, leaving James and Lily Potter to gape at her back. Of course, Charlus began whining a few minutes later and they forgot all about bumping into Odette.
Another two months later, Odette had another purpose in mind. She wanted to visit Gringotts and emancipate herself. She didn't want James and Lily as her guardians anymore, she didn't want them to hold power over her; she knew that in over three years, her Hogwarts letter would arrive and they would try to control her, and no one controls Odette Arielle Potter.
If she couldn't succeed in emancipating herself, then she would prefer her guardians to be Lee and Lexi until it was possible, and so, when Odette wasn't with Lexi or out there being Shadow Swan, she would immerse herself once again in the Potter Library reading up about goblins and customs.
Odette knew that goblins were very formidable and would be great assets to her and powerful allies. Odette wanted to be surrounded by the best; she wanted connections. Two books drew her attention; Goblin History and Culture and Goblin Language and Magic.
Three months later, Odette was fluent in Gobbledegook; it was quite a challenge to learn it, and Lexi would laugh at her attempts, telling her that it was harsh, rasping and full of grunts, but Odette knew that learning the goblin language would hold her in great esteem to the goblin's eyes and she was adamant in becoming a goblin friend.
***THE FORGOTTEN POTTER***
Lexi and Odette went to Diagon Alley from the passageway through the Leaky Cauldron. Odette used her metamorphmagus ability to change her eyes brown and hair blonde to look like – according to a laughing Lexi: mini-Lexi; even though nobody knew of her existence, being in the Red Room for over a year, an assassin and Shadow Swan, taught her to always be vigilant.
They entered Gringotts and strode over to the front desk to speak with a goblin. Odette had already informed Lexi all about goblins, and even showed her a few pictures so that she wouldn't be shocked like the time at Mancini's when she found out about dragons, and also because goblins were easily insulted and it didn't take much to offend them.
"Hello, I would like to have an audience with Head Goblin, Ragnok, please," said Odette coolly, making sure to keep eye contact with the goblin.
"Only if Head Goblin Ragnok is free," the goblin sneered. Said goblin spoke to a goblin beside him in Gobbledegook, "What excuse should I tell the idiot child to make her go away? She is obviously a waste of our time."
"Tell Ragnok that this time-waster, idiot child would also like to form an official complaint on rude, obnoxious tellers wasting my time and possibly losing a very important client," Odette sneered at the goblin in Gobbledegook, her eyes flashing coldly at him.
The goblin jumped in his chair and every goblin nearby stared at the little girl and an amused Lexi in shock. The goblin that had offended Odette began bowing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll go speak with Head Goblin Ragnok immediately," before flashing away in fear.
It was a well-known fact that Gobbledegook wasn't an easy language to learn, and if a witch or wizard spoke their language fluently, that they were an important person and possibly powerful.
Five minutes later, the goblin returned and guided Lexi and Odette down a stoned corridor and stopped by the door at the end, "Head Goblin Ragnok is waiting for you in meeting room number two. Just knock twice and enter." And the goblin scurried off back to the front desk.
"You enjoyed scaring him didn't you, mini-me," Lexi laughed. Odette flashed her an amused look before knocking twice on the door and admitting herself and Lexi entry, her face impassive again.
Head Goblin Ragnok eyed the two newcomers warily; according to Blipaxe, the little girl spoke fluent Gobbledegook and had the cold face of a warrior. He was shocked when the little girl's features changed and didn't look like the daughter of the blonde lady anymore. She had ruby red hair and emerald green eyes and her face looked cold and deadly – a warrior indeed.
"May I ask who you are to request an audience with me?" asked Ragnok hesitantly; unlike some of the idiot goblin tellers, he knew not to insult new faces for the probability of adding profit to Gringotts bank.
"This is my friend, Lexi Branson. She is a vampire, heads up for now," Lexi beamed and gave a friendly wave at the gob smacked goblin. "And I am Odette Arielle Potter."
"The other Potter," Ragnok mused, staring the little girl down. He knew the Lord and Lady Potter well, and when Charlus and Odette Potter where merely a few months old, they came into the bank with their children. Ragnok remembered the infant girl, and predicted her to resemble her mother as the years went by; however, she looked nothing like the Lady Lily Potter. Her hair was ruby red, almost like blood, and her eyes had a dangerous quality to it … he wondered what changed the innocent little girl.
"The other Potter?" Lexi stared at an impassive Odette in amusement.
"Yes. I was wondering where she had disappeared to after Charlus Potter was named the Boy-Who-Lived. What can I do for you Ms. Potter?" asked Ragnok formally.
"Many things," said Odette vaguely. "I am about to make your career and add a lot of profit to Gringotts bank. However, there is a catch."
Ragnok's face remained unchanged, however he felt a spark of amusement; the girl was ballsy, she had fire. "Oh? And what might that be?"
"I would like us to become allies. Maybe later, even a goblin friend," Odette stated, her face unwavering and she kept eye contact with the Head Goblin.
"There hasn't been a goblin friend in over three centuries. What makes you think we would accept you?" asked Ragnok, his face hard and his teeth bared.
Odette ignored the question, not deeming it with an answer, instead she said, "I'd like to be emancipated."
Ragnok gaped at the child, "You are not even eight years of age. It is impossible; you need to at least reach the age majority or adulthood."
"I have always taken care of myself. When I was four, I had a huge burst of magic. I apparated myself from Potter Manor and found myself in the streets of Russia. My magic was depleted and I lived two years of hell being trained to be an assassin. I take it you are well-versed of the muggle world?"
Ragnok nodded, "Of course. Goblins must be. We make many profits from muggle businesses."
"So I take it you have heard of the Red Room?"
"Impossible!" Ragnok breathed out; Ragnok has never been this shocked before. "It is merely a myth; many have proven the organization does not exist."
"I assure you it does. I escaped nearly two years ago. It matters not whether you believe me or not. I have educated myself in wizard cultures and I know there is a test. Magic can emancipate me. I would like to take the test and an inheritance test. Also, I would like to open my own vault and place money inside," with that, Odette and Lexi began taking out twenty shrunken trunks from their pockets each and set it aside.
"What is this?" Ragnok gaped, gesturing at the forty shrunken trunks.
Odette flashed her teeth, and smiled sinisterly, "All my savings. They are all in American dollars however. Once unshrinking them, I would appreciate it if you can convert them into galleons."
"That would accumulate approximately into over a billion America dollars. How did a child of age seven get her hands on so much money?" Ragnok stared suspiciously at the girl.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce my alias name; Shadow Swan, at your service," Odette smirked, and Lexi couldn't help but chuckle at Ragnok's expression.
"You are the infamous and most feared Shadow Swan?" Ragnok looked disbelieving, but there was a hint of respect and pride in his voice. "Very well; we shall begin with the magical inheritance."
Ragnok took out a vial with red potion and a parchment before handing Odette a bronze ceremonial knife.
"This is a heritage discovery potion. Add ten drops of your blood into it, and then add them to this magically produced parchment. The paper will show us all of the Wizarding Families you are descended from or have inherited from."
Odette nodded and made a deep gash onto her thumb, not even flinching or feeling any pain whatsoever; she was immune to pain after the Red Room. She carefully placed her thumb over the vial and counted ten fat drops of blood. Once she had added ten drops, the potion changed to a silver color, and watched as her thumb instantly healed.
"Woah, how did that happen?" Lexi gasped in wonder.
"The knife has magically healing properties. It is ceremonial, so once used, the cut from said knife would heal instantly," Ragnok informed her.
Once the potion was applied onto the parchment, Ragnok began waving his hand and muttering in a low chant of Gobbledegook making the parchment glow. After ten seconds of waiting, back-inked spidery words began to form and many names appeared onto the parchment making Ragnok's eyes widen to the size of galleons.
"Holy shit, Dee! That's a lot of names," Lexi squealed, looking over at Odette's shoulder at the parchment.
Inheritance Test
Odette Arielle Potter
Unconfirmed Inherited Ladyships
Noble and most Ancient House of Potter
Noble and most Ancient House of Black
Noble and most Ancient House of Gryffindor
Confirmed Inherited Ladyships
Noble and most Ancient House of Slytherin – by Right of Conquest
Noble and most Ancient House of Ravenclaw
Noble and most Ancient House of Peverell
Noble and most Ancient House of Emrys – Magically inherited
Noble and most Ancient House of Le Fay – Magically inherited
Confirmed inherited family vaults
Slytherin vault
Ravenclaw vault
Peverell vault
Emrys vault
Le Fay vault
Abilities Test
Parseltongue
Wandless magic
Mind Magic – Legilimency and Occlumency
Metamorphmagus
Eidetic Memory
Parselmagic
Dark Magic/Dark Arts
Animagus – more than one form and magical form
Shadow Traveler
Dream Walker
Potions
Transfiguration
Charms
Ancient Runes
Arithmancy
Spell Creation/Rituals
Blood Magic
Curse Test
Horcrux
"Ms. Potter, you are the richest witch in Europe," Ragnok's eyes flashed at her. Now he understood why she wanted to be a goblin friend. She held so much power within her, she needed to surround herself with powerful and trustworthy allies.
"House of Emrys and Le Fay? What does this mean, magically inherited?" Odette cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Morgan Le Fay and Merlin Emrys have no living descendent. Their line has died out centuries ago, and their vaults and secrets within those vaults lay in Gringotts untouched until magic deemed someone worthy to inherit their name. It seems Odette Potter, that magic favors you," said Ragnok in awe.
"What about the unconfirmed ones?" Lexi inquired; it was the first time she had ever seen her little friend at a loss for words. Bree was right when she sensed power in little Dee.
"Lord Potter came by when Lady Potter was pregnant with their third child, and he named Charlus Potter the heir of Potter and their newborn son to be the heir of Gryffindor. Lord Black has children of his own, so they would inherit the Black title," said Ragnok. "What I find curious is the right of conquest to Slytherin."
Odette smirked evilly, "Oh, you'll like this Head Goblin Ragnok. You see, with my eidetic memory, I remember the night of Halloween when Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow. I was the one that stopped him; Charlus was sleeping in his cot the whole time."
"You mean to tell me, the wizarding world have been celebrating and praising the wrong child, when you are in fact the defeater of Voldemort?" Ragnok gaped; this was indeed a very fruitful meeting, one very much worthy of his time.
"He's not dead yet. I saw his soul leave the nursery. Can you tell me about Ravenclaw and Peverell? How did I inherit them?" Odette looked curiously at the parchment.
"Yes, well. Your mother is a descendent of Ravenclaw; it gets passed down only to females because Rowena Ravenclaw only had a daughter Helena Ravenclaw and deemed woman superior to men. Lady Potter never came for an inheritance test and so she lost all rights to it. Peverell on the other hand, is from the Potter's side of the family. What is odd is that magic seems to want you to inherit it as well," Ragnok looked slightly confused at this conundrum.
"So since magic favors me, let us get down to the emancipation potion. I want to be out of James and Lily's control," snapped Odette.
"If you don't mind my asking, Ms. Potter. Why do you hate your parents so?" Ragnok stared at the child in curiosity.
Lexi scoffed, "They don't deserve the title of parents."
"They think I am a squib. So they ignore my presence and abuse me," Odette spoke in a chilling tone.
"Squib? You are possibly the most powerful witch in existence," Ragnok shook his head. He took out a vial filled with gold liquid, "I must warn you Ms. Potter, if magic deems you unworthy of being emancipated, there could be a possible backlash and you could die."
Lexi looked horrified, but she knew there was no stopping her friend once she put her mind to something – she was too stubborn. Odette nodded vehemently and took the potion without a word, she uncapped it and chugged it all.
There was silence in the room as Ragnok and Lexi stared at Odette who had closed her eyes and was trembling slightly. Ten long minutes later, a golden glow spread all over Odette and she opened her eyes with a smile.
"Well, it seems magic does indeed favor you. Congratulations Lady Slytherin-Ravenclaw-Peverell-Le Fay-Emrys, you are as of now emancipated and you are the Lady of five Noble and Most Ancient Houses."
Ragnok proceeded to hand over four rings; apparently the Peverell ring was lost, but Ragnok promised he would have his goblins track it down. He gave her a list of all the manors she owned.
"You own ninety-seven manors, seventy-two apartments, and an island in the Caribbean. Wow," Lexi gaped.
"Yup, and if you and Lee are still planning on moving to England, you can pick any of the manors or apartments in London," Odette winked getting engulfed in a sudden hug by her vampire friend.
"Now Ms. Potter. Here are six Gringotts credit cards. Five of them are for each vault and one is the vault you have just opened from the money you acquired using your Shadow Swan persona," Ragnok handed over six credit cards to Odette, and she saw that each one had her name written in golden letter: Odette Arielle Potter, Odette Arielle Ravenclaw, Odette Arielle Slytherin, Odette Arielle Peverell, Odette Arielle Le Fay and Odette Arielle Emrys. "You can use them in the magical and muggle world, any currency would work."
"One last thing, I would like to remove the Horcrux. I always felt something dark residing in the back of my neck," Odette scowled.
"I have called Griphook to have Healer Snowclaw prepare for the ritual, he shall be here any moment," Ragnok stood up and bowed, "On behalf of Gringotts nation, I would like to call you Lady Odette Arielle Potter-Slytherin-Ravenclaw-Peverell-Le Fay-Emrys, a goblin friend."
"Then you should call me Odette," Odette respectfully bowed back.
"Ragnok," Ragnok grinned showing sharp pointy teeth. "Never hesitate to come over and check your vaults."
"Thank you Ragnok."
Lexi was led into the waiting room; Griphook explained that for the ritual to cleanse Odette of the Horcrux living within her she would need to be isolated.
Griphook guided Odette two floors down into a room where Healer Snowclaw was waiting for her; he escorted her over to a room where she would have to undress and sat down on the ground that was charmed with goblin magic. There was a crystal each north, south, east and west and Odette lay in the middle.
"Step one; we have to isolate the piece of foreign soul in your body, which means severing all attachment it could have made in your mind for the past six years. Step two; we will create a pocket dimension for the transfer use. In this dimension we will make a barrier for the soul piece to be transferred into the object and cannot return to you. Step three we will extract the soul piece and I must warn you that it will be very painful and it isn't possible to avoid. You will probably fall unconscious after the soul piece is extracted," Healer Snowclaw warned her.
Odette nodded and scoffed inwardly; she doesn't feel pain anymore. She wasn't worried at all; not even a lick.
Healer Snowclaw continued, "Step four is the transfer of the pocket dimension; last step is step five, putting the soul piece from the pocket dimension into the new Horcrux. This concludes the transfer. We have chosen a cheap box as the new Horcrux and it will be destroyed with Fiendfyre immediately so it can't do any harm ever again."
Healer Snowclaw and a few other healer goblins activated the barrier with sage and began chanting in Gobbledegook. The crystals began glowing blue as they continued chanting, and once the crystal turned white, Odette could feel the foul soul of Voldemort's fighting to remain within her.
Odette closed her eyes and drowned out all sound. She used the technique learnt from the Red Room and went into a meditative state. She could feel her neck was on fire, it was literally burning, but it was nothing compared to the time General Pyotr hammered screws into each of her ten fingernails … it was nothing compared to the two hundred lashes she received onto her back.
It could have been seconds, or minutes, or even hours later when Odette heard a high-pitched, hair-raising screech, and she opened her eyes to see a black cloud get forcefully ejected from her neck. She didn't feel the need to fall into a state of unconsciousness. In fact, she felt wonderful, like a huge weight got lifted from her shoulders and she watched with glee as the black cloud got sucked into the box that Healer Snowclaw informed her of.
Once they were done, one of the healers threw the box into a fireplace with contained Fiendfyre. Healer Snowclaw was staring at Odette in shock, an unreadable glint in his black, beady eyes.
Odette went over to put her clothes back on, and when she went out she saw that the Healer hadn't yet to take his eyes off of her. "Is something wrong?"
"You have a high pain threshold. Extraction of a soul piece causes excruciating pain," was all Healer Snowclaw said.
Odette shrugged and stared impassively back, "Pain means nothing to me. I barely feel anything. Thank you Healer Snowclaw." And with that, she went out of the ritual chamber and Griphook escorted her back to Lexi.
Lexi and Odette, disguised as mini-Lexi once again, shopped around Diagon Alley before entering Knockturn Alley. Odette wanted to buy many books on Dark Magic and Parselmagic from Borgin and Burkes; she ended up paying 300 galleons and left with seventeen books.
Lexi and Odette sat down in Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for some ice cream before they would shadow travel back to New York, and somehow the subject of Asgard came up.
"I don't understand. Why won't you see Loki? You told me that you are very close with him," Lexi sighed in exasperation; when Odette first told her that the Norse Gods exist, she shouted at Odette, saying that she was too young to start on crack. Of course, she ended up believing her, after all dragons and magic with wands exist, why not Norse Gods.
"Because I'm not the same Odette Arielle he knows. I am different. I'm cold and uncaring and a murderer. I love killing; I am not his Grænn gimsteinn anymore," Odette repeated for the thousandth time.
"Okay. So you go visit him and if he cannot accept the changed and newly-improved Odette Arielle, then don't ever visit him again. But if you don't, then you'll always wonder what if," Lexi shrugged.
Odette pondered her friend's words for a while before nodding, "I'll think about it."
A/N: I'm sorry for any of my readers that were excited for Loki. This was a filler chapter and Odette in Gringotts was very important to the story; so this chapter had to happen. Now, surprise for next chapter: Loki will definitely be in it AND another surprise … I won't tell you what it is but I'll give you a little hint: Marvel Universe.
R&R.