Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 20:

A small figure roamed deftly in the shadows, listening to the vile conversation taking place, the crooning voice eliciting shivers of disgust to trickle down her spine.

"Jackson! Place the sweet torte back where she belongs," the crooning voice articulated with gleeful malice. Emerald green eyes glowed with hatred, resembling the lethal Avada Kedavra curse when she heard the pained whimper of a young girl being dragged roughly across the floor. A moment later, a metallic clang shut and the sound of bolts locked tight reverberated around her.

Peeking slightly from her hidey-hole under the shadows, Shadow Swan glared at the leader of the Infinity Gang, William Sunders. His hair was styled in a buzz cut, and his eyes were an onyx black filled with contempt and repugnance when they weren't covered behind shades, he was dressed smartly but still managed to array a shabby disposition with his grubby hands and yellowing, crooked teeth. As leader of the Infinity Gang in Britain, Sunders so happened to not only be a con man, but a lewd one too, with an immoral interest in pedophilia.

Shadow Swan became notorious not only among the citizens of New York, but in the United Kingdom too, as of two years ago, and usually, the emotionless assassin got contract deals in killing enemies and the such. It was a rare moment when Shadow Swan was asked to rescue a person from evil's clutches, but when it came to a young child from nefarious pedophiles, the rule book got thrown out of the window.

William Sunders made a wholly mistake when he decided to lead his gang with nefarious purposes in regards to children, because then, the Infinity Gang would have been free from the deft assassin's radar … not anymore. Capturing Leah Hart, an innocent nine year old girl, with the motive of being trained for prostitution vindicated the contagion effect of rendering the Infinity Gang's extinction.

A sardonically sinister grin appeared on Shadow Swan's lips as she emerged from the shadows; the Infinity Gang would die with the mortification of being murdered by a child, and for that reason, the young assassin didn't tap into her metamorphmagus ability. Let those bastards rot in hell under the hands of an eleven year old girl.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Shadow Swan serenaded in a spooky sing-song voice. Immediately, William and two of his goons whipped around, guns cocked and blazing toward her. Shadow Swan pouted, eyes widening in an adorable puppy-dog fashion, and involuntarily, the two goons dropped their guns, cooing at the adorable picture she presented.

"First mistake," Shadow Swan taunted. Quick as a flash, she grabbed two of her throwing daggers from her back pocket and threw them, angled at the idiotic bozos. Before they could even blink, the two daggers were embedded deep into their forehead and they dropped in unison onto the floor – dead.

William gaped, but wasted no time in firing his gun, all five bullets straight at her line of vision. Shadow Swan shadow travelled in record time and appeared behind the leader, striking him hard on his spinal cord with her elbow, causing him to collapse onto his knees, the empty gun flying a few meters away.

Thank god for the serum and its super strength.

"Accio," Shadow Swan drawled lackadaisically and the abandoned gun zoomed into her hand.

Grunting, William tried rising from the ground, but Shadow Swan flipped him around and stomped her foot onto his groin, his agonizing yell echoing around the room. Shadow Swan tsked loudly and mockingly, "This won't do. Dear Jackson would be arriving soon because of your incapability of handling pain."

"Who the hell are you, you little bitch? Do you know who I am?" William growled, his eyes watering with tears of pain.

Shadow Swan tilted her head to the side, and if she hadn't just murdered two highly trained gang members and unarmed a deft leader, all in the blink of an eye, one would call her adorable. "William Sunders, leader of the Infinity Gang for ten years running. Of course I know who you are," she replied with a sadistic grin.

"Then you should know, you just signed your death sentence, bitch!" William spat before groaning as Shadow Swan dug her foot harder into his groin.

A derisive laugh filled the air, unsuitable for a child of her caliber in William's eyes and his hair stuck up on end. Leaning forward so that she could be at same eye level as the disgusting scum, Shadow Swan's face twisted into a malevolent sneer. "Oh contrary, Sunders. Your mistake, was not knowing who I am. But of course, where are my manners," she said in an innocent histrionic manner, "I'm Shadow Swan."

William's eyes widened, cognizant fear the main emotion on his visage, and his lips began quivering as he was rendered speechless by her admission. Every crook, criminal, murderer and con artist knew that if they valued their lives, they were to stay out of the mysterious Shadow Swan's radar, and they knew that pedophilia made her tick most of all. But discovering the notorious Shadow Swan that made the most fearsome and ruthless criminals quake was a mere child, wounded his ego.

"Ah, good. You've heard of me. Puuurr-fect," Shadow Swan purred gleefully, "This will be much more fun then." Without releasing him from her hold and with impressive instinctual reflexes, Shadow Swan tugged one of her throwing knives from one of the goon's forehead with relaxed ease and hurled it toward the doorway without losing eye contact from the frightened onyx orbs. William heard a pained grunt and a loud thud as though a heavy object impacted with the ground.

A sarcastic tsk escaped Shadow Swan's lips, "Poor Jackson. The fool thought he could sneak up on me. Don't look so hopeful, Sunders," she suddenly said, her voice taking a gloating tone. "I always do my homework before assassinating scum like you from the earth. I stalked every member of your gang before I entered your disgusting lair. No one's coming," she sang tauntingly, "It's just you and me."

Desperate, William began babbling in a self-righteous tone, "I didn't do anything to you, you little bitch! What the fuck is your problem?!"

"The minute your Gang," she sneered in distaste, "Began targeting and kidnapping young girls for prosecution, it became my problem."

"An assassin with a conscience, how sweet," William spat in retort, yet disbelief shone through.

"No, no, no, not a conscience. You see, make no mistake, I am ruthless, and I kill without a care, but I draw the line when it comes to rape and pedophilia! The second you changed your Gang's outlook, you brought extinction amongst yourselves!"

Withdrawing her .45 Colt and twirling it around casually in her hand, she smirked, "A pity I have a feast to get to, otherwise we would have had sooo much fun. But, oh well," she shrugged and released her foot from his crotch. Leveling the gun onto his forehead, she ignored his useless pleas and said, "Happy Halloween, motherfucker," before firing, eliciting a loud bang and chunks to splatter like rain.

Staring at all the brain matter pooling onto the floor by her feet, she smirked savagely, carved her name on all the victims and walked down to the cellar without remorse or a second glance.

She had a young girl to reunite with her family and a hearty cheque to receive.

***THE FORGOTTEN POTTER***

"Odette where have you been all day? We looked everywhere for you after Daphne and Tracey said you weren't in your room," Draco hissed, brows furrowed in consternation.

Smirking in amusement, Odette plopped down on the empty spot saved for her between Daphne and Tracey at the Slytherin table and cooed, "Awhh, Drakey, were you worried about lil' ol' me?"

Aaron Lestrange, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini burst out into uproarious laughter and began clutching their sides as Draco's pale face tinged with red in mortification and he began spluttering indignantly, "N-No, of course not, Potter. Merely curious."

"Hmm, I'm sure," Odette retorted in mocking disbelief.

It had been a little over a month since Odette saved Draco from death at a broomstick, code name for the Boy-Who-Lived's murder attempt, and oddly enough, the young assassin found herself building allies, code name for friend, but she was in denial, stubbornly denying the fact that not only did she make friends in Hogwarts, but that she was actually growing fond of them.

Daphne and Tracey already had the upper hand since they were her roommates, and they were stubborn, never giving up in getting closer with the impassive redhead. Inwardly, Odette admitted to herself that in the past month, they were evolving from acquaintances to allies, A.K.A, friends. After rescuing Draco Malfoy and rejecting the Life-Debt owed, he began partnering with her in a few classes and sitting nearby in the common room, and in extension, his cousin, Aaron Lestrange who was majorly grateful that she saved his cousin slash best friend's life. The two boys began building a budding friendship with her at a steady yet slow pace and by the end of October; they were firmly under the 'friend' category.

Blaise Zabini turned out to be cousins of sort with both Draco and Aaron. His aunt married Aaron's uncle, Rabastan Lestrange, and by extension, was Draco's cousin, too. Theodore Nott was family friends with the Davis and Malfoy family, and so, he spent most of his time with Draco, Daphne and Tracey.

The whole cluster fuck brought the seven Slytherin first years together, and so, it wasn't odd to find Odette Potter, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Draco Malfoy, Aaron Lestrange, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott congregated around each other and spending most of their free time together.

After a dozen lectures and tongue-lashing by Lexi, Lee and Bree, Odette grudgingly agreed to give the six Slytherins a chance. Her argument of them being her weakness and discovering her secrets was refuted by the angry blonde vampire, and she was forced to open up a smidge, lest she faced the bubbly blonde's ire. Shadow Swan, dangerous, ruthless assassin extraordinaire she may be, but the female Potter respected and somewhat feared Lexi when she was on a furious tirade.

Secretly, Odette was immensely fond of the six Slytherins. Daphne with her sharp wit, unfathomable loyalty and sarcastic remarks, along with her icy demeanor endeared her to Odette; Tracey with her bubbly visage and foolish trusting capabilities reminded the redhead of Lexi, appealing to her conscious and making her want to protect the brunette from any harm; Draco was a complicated matter in its element, ever since she protected him at the age of four from her bullying brother, Odette had felt an uncanny siblinghood relation of sorts with him, and by extension, Aaron; both boys, although they may be proud and to a certain degree, arrogant, were kind, loyal and funny, despite their dark background and the rumors surrounding them; Theodore- 'call me Theo' was a shy boy who could mostly be found either in the library or the common room with his face buried in a book, his shy disposition and incapability to defend himself along with his loyalty to Tracey and Daphne around bigoted bullies appealed to the impassive redhead and she enjoyed their spontaneous battles of intellect vastly; and last, but not least, Blaise Zabini the Slytherin of Italian descent, for a first year, he was quite the Casanova with the mindless twits of Hogwarts, but his sarcasm and funny quips, along with his nonchalance demeanor and rivaling cunning had the redhead greatly enjoying his presence.

Grudgingly, Odette Potter knew in her heart, that no matter how hard she denied it, and even if she were to keep her distance from them, those six Slytherins were her friends and had easily wormed their way into her heart, and she would, unfortunately, do all she could to the best of her abilities in protecting them from danger.

And it all began with the catalyst: Saving Draco's life.

"Okay, you disappeared after lessons, bottom point, is everything okay?" Tracey asked hesitantly.

"Peachy keen," Odette vocalized in a saccharine tone. And just like that, the subject was dropped; bless the Slytherins, they didn't enjoy prying into other's life – unless the person wasn't a Slytherin, and the six first years knew by now, that if Odette wanted to share her secrets, she would in her own time, they just had to be patient.

The Halloween feast was going along swimmingly with the Gryffindor table being the boisterous bunch, celebrating with pride over the Boy-Who-Lived who sat arrogantly amidst the seas of red and gold, but halfway through the feast, Divus began screeching in urgent tones with their mental connection, Danger my Queen. Beware, a troll has been set loose in the castle! Shiva, being her familiar as well, understood Divus' words and coiled tighter around her wrist, ready to protect her mistress if the need arises.

Not even a second later, the blithering simpleton excuse of a Defense Professor barged into the Great Hall, silencing the mass and causing a hush to travel around, watching with barely concealed interest as Quirrell ran up to Dumbledore, his lurid turban askew, and shouted, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! Thought you ought to know," he whimpered, before turning limp, and he fainted, collapsing onto the ground.

"What. A. Coward," Odette scoffed in diatribe, staring at the unconscious professor with distaste and suspicion.

"He's a miserable sodding excuse of a Defense Professor. Father isn't pleased," Draco sneered, nodding in agreement to Odette's words.

It was quite hilarious how the seven Slytherin first years were causally debating Quirrell's efficiency as a professor while the whole hall erupted into panic mode as they shot up to their feet, yelling and screaming in pandemonium.

"QUIET!" Dumbledore bellowed, emitting purple firecrackers from his wand, prompting the hall to freeze and gape at him in silence. "Prefects," he rumbled upon gaining quiet from everyone, "Lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

His words caused an uproar among the Slytherin table, and Odette stood up on the table and yelled, "Excuse me, Headmaster Dumbledore, need you forget that the Slytherin common room's location is in the dungeons!?"

The Slytherins all began smirking, some staring at Odette in pride and awe, especially when Dumbledore backtracked and began spluttering in indignation. "Yes, yes, I do apologize. I forgot in the heat of the moment. Slytherins remain in the Great Hall; your Head of House will retrieve you once the threat has been eliminated."

"Bloody brilliant, Oddy," Blaise smirked, patting her on the back in a comrade fashion.

Pansy sneered at her, "Anyone could have spoken up and reminded Dumbledore."

"Then why didn't you, Parkinson? Cat caught your tongue? Or were you doing us all a favor and sparing us all from getting deafened by your annoyingly grating nasal pitch?" Odette retorted with a sneer. Most of the Slytherins began laughing as Pansy squawked in degradation. Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode and Lily Moon, the only Slytherin firsties that joined Pansy's disturbing gang began mollifying the pug-faced girl, but Odette's attention swayed toward Charlus and Ron who looked to be sneaking off without permission.

Creating a transparent privacy bubble around her, Odette quickly hissed at her snake, ordering Shiva to follow her nincompoop of a brother and his moron lackey without being seen and to relay to her what they were up to.

An hour later, the Slytherins were safely ensconced in their common room, where they were finishing up the remaining feast brought by the house-elves. Shiva had informed her of the two moronic Gryffindors saving the annoying bushy-haired beaver from the troll, and their suspicion of Snape trying to sneak into the forbidden corridor.

All things considered, Halloween seemed to have taken an interesting turn, especially when Fawkes flashed over as she was preparing herself for sleep, with another lemon drop from the Headmaster's secret stash.

According to Fawkes, the old codger kept a large amount of lemon drops separate from the offered ones and continuously sucked on them as though his life depended on it. Odette now had two lemon drops to dissect, and she was determined to discover the bastard who aided in her troubled childhood's secret before the year concluded.

***THE FORGOTTEN POTTER***

"May I help you, Miss Potter?" Snape drawled, unable to hide the curiosity from his onyx orbs as the redhead stayed behind after Potions class and approached him.

Sitting causally on the opposite seat, Odette smirked, "I thought it would be lovely to strike a conversation over the Boy-Who-Lived and his moronic sidekick's stupidity. Interested?"

Leaning forward, Snape's face morphed into a mixture of surprise and interest, "Hmm, very much so. You may proceed…"

"I thought you'd appreciate my informing you that Charlus and his cohorts which are now joined by the annoying know-it-all Granger, have their suspicions about you. Granger is proving hard to sway, but Charlus and Weasley believe you are after whatever is hidden in the forbidden corridor since they witnessed you trying to get through on Halloween, before they eliminated the troll," Odette confided matter-of-factly, her eyes plastered on her nails as she buffed it against her chest with total nonchalance.

"Insufferable Gryffindors, sticking their nose where it doesn't belon-"Snape paused in his ranter and glared at the redhead with ill-veiled suspicion, "And why, Miss Potter are you telling me this exactly?"

Waving her hands dramatically, Odette flashed him a grin, "Countless of reasons, Professor Snape. For one, Slytherins protect their own, am I incorrect? I already informed you that the Potters are no family of mine. Another reason," mischief flashed in her emerald orbs, giving Snape a feeling of dread, "Information."

Snape was startled, not having expected those words the least bit, "I'm sorry, what? Information?"

"And why not, Professor. Information in the Wizarding World is gold. Information is power. Information can lead to riches. I don't like being kept out of the loop. So yes, information," Odette's lips curved into a shark-like grin, and Snape found himself interested; this girl continued to prove him wrong on many occasions ever since she got sorted into his House.

"How very … Slytherin of you," Snape smirked.

"Why thank you," Odette's lips curved into an honest to god, genuine smile, making her face look softer. "So, back to business, Professor Snape, why did Quirrell set a troll loose into the castle and went after whatever is hidden in the third floor corridor?"

"I beg your pardon? What on earth makes you think Quirrell was the culprit?" Of course, Snape knew that the daft stuttering fool was after the Sorcerer's Stone, but he was curious to hear Odette Potter's interpretation and what brought her to the certain conclusion.

"Oh, please," Odette rolled her eyes, staring at Snape as though he were being an idiot on purpose, "During our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the stuttering simpleton boasted, quite vehemently, I might add, that he was an expert in trolls, but when he actually encounters a troll he doesn't try to capture or kill it instead he runs into the Great Hall announces that the troll is in the dungeons and faints dead away. How utterly ridiculous. And even if he isn't an expert in trolls, what kind of grown wizard teaching Defense, faints at the mere mention of a troll? Later on, it turns out however that the troll isn't in fact, in the dungeons but on the first floor and some distance away from any staircase big enough for it to fit through easily. And as I am conversing with the Slytherins in the Great Hall, I notice that Quirrell is already recovered from his 'supposed faint' and has disappeared completely in the opposite direction to where he announced the troll's location to be. So it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe Quirrell deliberately let the troll into the castle onto the First floor and merely said it was in the dungeons so that all the professors will run off half-cocked and start searching the dungeons up, thereby giving him time to go straight to the Third floor and try to get past the Cerberus – and don't ask how I knew, I have my ways," Odette grinned, sparing her flabbergasted Head of House with a wink – no need for him to know that Fawkes, Divus and Shiva informed her of the Cerberus. "Luckily the head of Slytherin House is clever enough to see that the troll is merely a diversion and goes to the Third Floor corridor himself to secure it which, unfortunately is when the Cerberus got a chunk out of him," here she glanced down at his injured leg, causing Snape to swiftly cover it with his black billowing robes. "Did I leave anything out, Professor?" she fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

There was silence in the classroom for a very long moment as Snape blinked a manifold amount of times, his finger absently stroking his lower lip. "You continue to surprise me, Miss Potter. If James Potter knew of your impressive deduction skills and sharp eyes, he would be boasting at the top of his lungs that you have the ability of following his footsteps and becoming a deft auror as your future profession."

"I'll take the compliment from you since you were the one to mention it," Odette smirked, causally batting away the mention of the sperm donor. "Now, how about an alliance of sorts? I feed you information and you satiate my curiosity. What say you? It could be very beneficial."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Snape leaned forward, all suspicion diminished; he found himself immensely enjoying the company of Lily's abandoned daughter.

"Quid pro quo, Professor. Quid pro quo." Lowering her voice into hushed tones, she leaned forward conspiratorially and said, "What is the Cerberus guarding in the Third Floor Corridor?"

***THE FORGOTTEN POTTER***

"The Sorcerer's Stone is real? Like actually real?!" Lexi gaped in awe, her chocolate eyes widening as she stared unblinkingly at her best friend.

Odette smirked, burrowing her head into the crook of Lee's neck and folding her legs neatly underneath her, "Oh, it's real alright. And get this, according to Snape, the old codger is risking Nicholas Flamel's most prized creation to test my fool of a brother."

"Blasphemy," Lee gasped mockingly, prompting both, Lexi and Odette to smack him lightly atop his head.

"No in all seriousness, to put it eloquently, 'what the fuck'? Is the old goat on crack?" Lexi shrieked, "The Sorcerer's Stone should be coveted and guarded fiercely, not used carelessly as a tool."

"Your guess is as good as mine. Not only is he risking a friendship between the notorious and powerful alchemist, but he's risking the Stone falling into the wrong hands," Odette huffed; the redhead respected power, and had an ambition of formulating powerful allies in her corner. Dumbledore was a fool to be risking both goals in one strike, for the measly reason of testing the WRONG Boy-Who-Lived.

"Uh-oh, we know that look. Spill, Dee," Lee grinned, tightening his hold on the young girl.

Grinning, Odette sat up straight and in a faux-innocent voice, said, "Snape, may have confided in me that the Headmaster – hypothetically speaking of course – will be placing the Stone in the forbidden corridor after Christmas."

Lexi gasped, shooting up to her feet and staring at Odette with incredulous eyes, "You're going to retrieve the Stone yourself, aren't you?"

"Hypothetically speaking, duhh," Odette smirked, "It wouldn't do for the Stone to fall into the wrong hands due to the codger's machinations in his desperate attempts to assess my foolhardy brother. I'm going to steal that Stone before anybody else does … meaning, Quirrell."

***THE FORGOTTEN POTTER***

Ever since Odette Potter was handed over by Ivan Vanko to the Petrovich brothers as though she were mere takeout, there had been many instants where the young redhead found it to be a blessing instead of a curse. Mainly due to her sharp skills and impeccable senses, but also due to the serum they had injected into her system, which had proved to be incredibly beneficial.

Under the strenuous and rigid training of the Red Room, and the injection of the serum, Odette easily spotted the stuttering simpleton muttering rapidly under his breath without a binocular, cursing Charlus' broom in the middle of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match. She also noticed Snape mumbling the counter-curse, and her failure of a mother and father yelling in rage for somebody to do something.

"Someone is jinxing his broom," Draco uselessly pointed out. Odette had to bite her lips, suppressing herself from sarcastically saying, 'No shit, Sherlock.'

"It must be a teacher. I don't think I'm comfortable living in Hogwarts with a murderer amongst us," Tracey said hysterically, clutching onto Blaise and Daphne with an iron grip and threatening to stop their blood circulation.

It was at that precise moment that Odette noticed the rat's nest Granger called hair, sneaking into the teacher's stand and stumbling onto Quirrell, halting the spell from procession; her emerald eyes narrowed when she discovered the stuttering fool wasn't her target, but Snape. How convenient that Severus Snape's robes caught on fire at that particular moment; the redhead smirked, she would definitely be using that as leverage. Little Miss Know-It-All, the Worshiper of all and any rules, deliberately created arson … blackmail was a wondrous thing.

Not long after, the match ended and Charlus was currently being suffocated by James and Lily while Odette's friends bemoaned their loss against the Gryffindorks. Noting Charlus and his cohorts sneak away into Hagrid's Hut, Odette decided to make her move.

"Dee, where are you going?" Draco asked curiously.

"I'm going to have a 'chat' with the Boy-Who-Lived. Got to keep up pretenses and enquire about his wellbeing. How about I meet you at the common room?" the others knew that Odette was subtly dismissing them, but stubborn-headed Daphne and Tracey indignantly flocked around her and the three girls ambled over to the sorry excuse of a house.

"What are you and your snakes doing here?" Charlus growled heatedly.

Rolling her eyes, Odette smirked, "I think the better question is, why are you getting medical treatment from the groundskeeper when we have a highly-trained professional mediwitch inside the castle. No offense Hagrid," she flashed the half-giant her best, most charming smile, inwardly smirking when Hagrid beamed back, putty in her hand. Charlus, Weasley and Granger gaped at her in shock upon noticing Hagrid's friendly demeanor toward her, and Odette smoothly carried on with her tirade, "Anywhoo, dear brother, my friends and I noticed that you seemed to have trouble controlling your broom, and we were curious to Granger's thoughts about the situation."

Daphne, bless the cunning Slytherin that she was with the many sarcastic remarks stored in her repertoire, tacked on to Odette's point and sneered, "Yes, Granger, we're practically burning with curiosity here."

Charlus blanched while Granger adamantly crossed her arms and huffed, sticking her nose snootily into the air.

Ronald Weasley, idiotic redhead extraordinaire and basically not the brightest crayon in the box, snarled, "Like you didn't know Snake! It was your greasy Head of House that tried to kill my best friend!"

Hagrid let out a loud exhale and blustered, "Here now, Ron, like I was sayin', Perfessor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher. Why would he wan' to harm Charlus?"

Tracey energetically bobbed her head, beaming at the half-giant, "Thank you, Hagrid. Professor Snape would never do such a thing."

"Of course a snake would defend the head snake," Charlus scoffed, glaring at the three girls maliciously, his face turning puce with anger.

Granger bristled and in her methodical haughty know-it-all voice, said, "He may be your Head of House, and you may have misconceived loyalty toward him, but I know what I saw! The whole time Charlus' broom was being jinxed, Snape-"

"That's Professor Snape, Granger," Odette corrected with a smirk, garnering a sneer from three sets of Gryffindors, before staring stupefied at Hagrid who was nodding in fervent agreement, sending Odette a look of approval.

"Anyways," Granger bristled, returning to the point in hand, "I saw him staring at Charlus without blinking, muttering to himself. I know these jinxes, and I've read all about them, you have to maintain eye contact and concentration, and Snape wasn't blinking!"

Suddenly, Hagrid – who seemed to have, much to the three Gryffindors' ire, taken a liking to the three Slytherin girls – offered them a platter filled to the brim with deformed rock cakes. Of course, Odette may have been invisible and ignored during childhood, but she nevertheless heard James and Sirius regale many stories of their Hogwarts days, and she relayed to her Slytherin friends about Hagrid's inedible cooking.

"You're very kind Hagrid," Odette smiled sweetly, "Unfortunately, dinner will start soon, and Daph, Trace and I don't want to spoil our appetites. You understand, right?"

"'Course, o' course girls," Hagrid beamed. The three Gryffindors gaped at the cunning displayed with such politeness and inwardly began cussing the Slytherin girls who were smirking winningly at their reproachful looks of indignation and malice.

"Back to the matter in hand," Daphne smoothly reminded them.

"Oh, yes," Odette's eyes gleamed in triumph, looping her arm with Daphne's, "Now where were we?"

Hermione glared at the gorgeous redhead that she was undeniably envious of, "If anyone at Hogwarts is capable of Dark Arts, it's probably Professor Snape. Mr. Potter said so himself."

"Of course! If Mr. Potter said it, then by all means, it must be true. After all, he is the all-knowing. Forgoing the fact that it may be the, oh, I don't know, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor? Who, by the way, was also maintaining unblinking eye contact and muttering the whole time Charlus' precious broom was bucking like a buckaroo, at least until you knocked him over en route to your little arson attempt," Odette grinned maleficently.

Granger's eyes widened; she was unable to lie to herself, but Odette Potter looked downright sinister at the moment, especially when she announced the way she broke the rules in such an abominable fashion. The bushy-haired bookworm only hoped that Charlus would be able to protect her from his devious, terrifying twin sister.

Hiding her fear behind her snootiness, Granger sniffed, "Honestly, it was just bluebell flames, you make me sound like some pyromaniac."

"Huh, so then, you wouldn't mind if we convey your actions to Professor Snape then? Since it was only bluebell flames," Tracey drawled a contemptible sneer visible on her face. Granger blanched, her rat's nest of a hair practically crackling with fear and Odette and Daphne traded triumphantly proud smiles; Tracey may be a bubbly, hyper, trusting and friendly Slytherin, but when push comes to shove, she was a Slytherin at heart and could be cunning to the core.

"Hang on," Charlus bellowed, eyes widening on his twin sister, "Forget the blasted bluebell for a sec. are you saying that it was Quirrell and not Snape who was trying to kill me?" he demanded.

"Charlus!" Weasley scolded his friend, staring at him in disbelief, "You're allowing the sneaky Slytherins to brainwash you. They're manipulating you. They're making it up to protect the greasy git!"

Daphne sneered at Weasley in disgust, "You are such a moron, I honestly wonder how in Merlin's name you got accepted into this prestigious school. It certainly baffles me." Weasley's face flamed a neon red color clashing horribly with his hair, either in mortification or rage.

"Believe whatever you want to believe. But when you end up in the hospital wing, or worse, dead, you'll be wishing you listened to me," Odette drawled uncaringly before whipping around to face Granger, "And by the way Granger, for your information Miss Know-It-All Bookworm, you might have wanted to flip the page a bit, maybe you would have seen that the counter-curse worked the same way, maintaining eye-contact without blinking. You were distracted by Professor Snape, but from my vantage point, I saw the whole thing. As soon as you knocked Quirrell over, Charlus' broom stopped shaking."

A glazed look appeared on Odette's face and she suddenly grinned, "Come to think of it, if you look back on it, it was very fortunate that the two professors were seated the way they were, otherwise it would have been …tragic if you got to Professor Snape without passing by Quirrell. You might have distracted him from casting the counter-curse and the poor Boy-Who-Lived would be a ghastly splatter of innards sprinkled all over the Quidditch field."

"Oohh, I didn't think of that, good job, Dee," Daphne laughed. The Gryffindors, however, didn't share their amusement, and even though they had doubts that Snape was trying to cast the counter-case, the fact still repulsed them and had them quaking in fear.

"Snape or Quirrell, what did they hope to gain? I mean, there's no point, if Charlus fell, any of the Professors would have easily cast the Levitation Charm and saved him," Hermione spat in a bossy tone.

Charlus and Weasley grinned, and intoned, "Exactly, Hermione." But the three Slytherins didn't look impressed.

"You Gryffindors are so bloody daft!" Tracey huffed.

"My sentiments exactly," Daphne sneered.

Odette smiled victoriously, "You Gryffindors think you're so smart, don't you? Think outside the box, or is that an affinity only Slytherins have the ability of doing?" Without waiting for them to interrupt in offense, Odette smoothly carried on, looping her free hand with Tracey, "Professor Quirrell, stuttering simpleton that he is, was actually quite clever in his assessment, but he didn't anticipate anybody trying to counter his jinx. His goal was most probably to direct control of your broom and then just have it crash onto the ground, splattering you all across the field like a sack of tomatoes. Everyone would have assumed you located the snitch and lost control of your broom at the last moment since you were going too fast."

"There is after all, a reason why first years aren't allowed on the Quidditch team," Daphne added in vengeance with a sneer, her sapphire eyes resembling a glacier.

"The Boy-Who-Lived, tragically dying in a friendly Quidditch match at Hogwarts, how … utterly sad," Tracey mock-pouted; the three Slytherins were definitely enjoying the varying shades of green decorated on the Gryffindors' faces.

"Of course, the prestige Headmaster would be blamed by the Magical Community for bending the rules and allowing the precious Boy-Who-Lived to play, and probably even be forced out of his esteemed position, thereby leaving whatever the Cerberus is guarding more vulnerable," Odette concluded, her eyes twinkling with glee. She had to give her two friends credit, they were smart enough not to question her about the Cerberus and instead stayed quiet, regarding the Gryffindors reaction; just like true Slytherins … and friends, a sneaky traitorous voice whispered in her head.

"How do you know about that?" The three Gryffindors exclaimed indignantly, and Odette spared them a pitying look – they should know better by now that Odette Potter knew everything. However, Hagrid simultaneously dropped his enormous tea cup and demanded, "How did yeh know abou' Fluffy?"

"FLUFFY?" every first year in the room yelled in panicky tones and various amounts of disbelief, staring at Hagrid as though he were certifiably insane.

"That thing has a name?" Granger spluttered in outrage.

"Hagrid, you named a vicious three-headed, man-eating dog …Fluffy?" Odette said in slow tones, unable to hide her shock behind her deft mask.

"Yeah, it was given to me by a Greek chappie I met down tha pub, and then I lent it to Headmaster Dumbledore, sir to guard the-"

"Yes?" Charlus pressed on, causing Hagrid to snap his mouth shut and begin mumbling, "I should'n have said tha'" repeatedly. Odette rolled her eyes at her brother's obvious display of idiocy – in order to get information, one should know when to keep their mouth shut. Fortunately for her, Odette already knew what 'Fluffy' was guarding.

"Well, we just wanted to point out that we witnessed your arson felony. Toodles," Odette smirked, eyes glinting evilly at a terrified Granger.

"Bye Hagrid," Tracey chirped.

"Goodbye, girls," Hagrid boomed out enthusiastically.

As the three Slytherins ambled into the castle, ignoring James and Lily Potter calling out for Odette, Daphne fixed the redhead with a solemn stare, "Now, tell us … What is this I hear about there being a bloody Cerberus in the school?"

A/N: Whew! This was a looooonggg chapter. I tried summarizing many points in this chapter.

Did you like the beginning? I decided to portray Shadow Swan in her element, and show Odette sneaking outside the school … all Hogwarts would be so boring, especially since Odette has a way of leaving the school.

Important factor of this chapter: the lemon drop that Fawkes gave her. Remember that!

Did you enjoy reading about Odette and the six Slytherin firsties? Odette is TRYING to be friends with them, but naturally she's scared and keeping her distance as it was ingrained in her since the Red Room and the death of Zelda.

Did you enjoy this chapter? The Snape/Odette bonding; the Odette/Firsty Slytherin bonding; and the Odette/Charlus confrontation? Oh, and let me know what you think of the six Slytherins I chose to befriend her! XD

R&R.