Chapter 4
Amara walked slowly, passing the big corridors of the church humming brightly and ignoring the other children.
She was going to meet with the most tolerable person in this City. Perhaps he was interesting, but only because Amara had not had the chance of meeting more.
Amara flopped down on the chair next to the desk in the backrooms. She smiled and thought about how things were finally changing for the better while waiting for the Priest Mark.
Mark was old, very, very old indeed. He must be a little bit over 72, though no one really knew if this was his real age, he certainly looked like 70, but he was still too sharp minded and strong willed for Amara to believe that that was his real age.
The girls at the Orphanage liked to joke over how he was an old man who liked to touch Amara, and she’d let him – given how much time the two spent talking over puzzles, talking over the stories Mark shared, given how much they’ve got to know each other.
Mark never gave others a surname, nor did he give them a name really, it had been the previous priest who had given Mark this name. Mark was a mystery Amara loved to engage herself in. Whenever she wanted a challenge, all she had to do was go to Mark.
She would question what his thoughts on religion was and they would debate casually their thoughts, she could question his time on the war and he would engage her with stories that left her feeling either numb at the thought of teenagers fighting for powerful men who hated each other or shock at the thought of how humans, if they had the will, could go through extreme things just to ensure superiority. His stories left her reeling from anger, sadness, grief and resentment to people who she never met and honestly hoped she never did. Their debates left her with a migraine but with a smile on her face, for those were the ones she mostly won against him.
But perhaps now she would have to thank him more for teaching him about powerful men and their dangers.
Mark himself was a powerful man, and he had admitted that while she was a child, almost every adult would be powerful compared to her. She hadn’t liked that talk but it was necessary and true. Amara didn’t have the same power an adult had. Her words, while good to hear, were nothing compared to an adults’. So she ought to work from the shadows and never let anything that hinted that she had been the one to do that. Nothing that she wasn’t accustomed with already but it was annoying to have this revelation towards her.
Mark had an air of mystery and wistfulness that made Amara want to shake his head or spend hours poking and pushing the right buttons so that everything was revealed to her.
Not that it would work with Mark. Mark was capable of being dangerous and he knew that.
At times it was he who would put her back to her place instead of her putting him and so many others into their own places. Amara could only aspire to be able to stand in her own ground and trust it not to break like he did so many times.
Mark knew exactly who he was and who he could be while Amara knew who she wanted to be but at times got confused over who she was. He didn’t abuse this power he had over her.
Still, there were times in her questions that he would have no answer.
After all, how could you explain the metallic smell of blood and the way your stomach churned in nervousness in fear of death and then explain the beauty of the bluest ocean she has never seen? How do you describe the sound of waves crashing?
How do you explain feelings, thoughts, smells, years into something comprehensible for a child?
How could he explain things that he never thought he would know to this child who demanded to live throughout his stories?
Impossible.
So when it is clear he has no answer to her questions, she lets him go and goes to perfect her gifts. Whether it be her magic or mind.
At times she would draw in her diary, the first present she ever had. One that Mark gave her.
It was a crumbled little thing Amara mostly used to draw, as she would rather not have many of her real thoughts on paper as proof of her real temperament or plans.
“Amara” was the not so surprised smooth and deep voice that emerged from the door, startling her from her thoughts and she spun in the chair to smile innocently at the old man.
“Mark” she greeted him and watched as he scanned the room, as always alarmed whenever he saw her alone.
He knew she shouldn’t be messed with, no matter if he was stronger and smarter, or sharper and wiser. Amara has always been proud to be a force to be reckoned with, even if people decided to call her strange and a freak, rather than to admit that she was dangerous and they didn’t like it.
“I got it” she breathed and saw as his eyes alighted with something.
Whether it was sadness, love or something else, she continued to stare at him while he stared at her back. It was perhaps sad the way she had come to care for him, after all, she knew that this day would come, she just didn’t know that her opportunities would be here earlier.
Mark smiled gently, the same way he always did no matter how many things she did towards him.
“That's great Amara.” he said quietly and walked towards her. Amara closed her eyes and basked in the sunlight as Mark approached and sat himself in the other chair.
“I'm going to a school in Scotland.Its a boarding school.” she whispered the last part.
“I.. am happy that you’ve got a chance at leaving this place,- Amara.” She could tell he wanted to call her something else, he always hesitated on calling her, Amara could tell he at times wanted to call her daughter.
But Amara.. She didn’t know how she would react to that, she didn’t know if she wouldn’t change her behaviour towards him, so she elected to ignore even the deepest parts of her that wanted him to be her Father. She would never say such– such weakness outloud.
But as she stared into those hopelessly deep brown eyes Amara knew that he knew how she felt, so it was alright. None of them were able to speak up, but they knew each other and that was enough for now.
“I’ll live.” she beamed.
Mark smiled big, even as his eyes shone with tears.
It was perhaps something that every parent would one day face. The departure of their child. The ache that you felt for everything to go back to the same, yet knowing that you could do nothing but watch as time catched before your eyes. The hope for a better future for your child, the hope that they live through the next day and the grief that you felt as their childhood was finally left.
The fear of the unknown should have been gripping the child more than the parent yet here they were, Mark with fear stilled into his bones and Amara with hope stilled into her flesh.
They continued to stare at each other, taking in everything they could, for it was a goodbye. Amara would rather cut her feet than place foot inside a church and an Orphanage again.
The only person worth it was Mark.
No matter how many debates they’ve had about this, Amara would always remain hating every single moment she was forced to pray for a god she didn’t believe in.
They could have stayed there, just looking at each other, for minutes, days or maybe years and they’ll never know.
Eventually the sun went down and Amara knew she would go. Mcgonagall didn’t go into too much detail, but she had explained Amara probably had properties that she could live in once she reached majority. Amara wouldn’t wait.
Amara smiled calmly and hugged Mark one last time before she walked towards the door..
She left her letter for him in his pocket, he would see it once he was better prepared and calmed down.
On the outside of the orphanage, she did not look back. Even as her chest threathened to kill her with the pain in it.
'Thats what you get for beign dependant.Goddamnit'
—-----------------------------------------------
She was actually only going to go into the Bank – Gringotts, if she remembered correctly to get the documents of her vaults stating all the money she had, all the transitions made by whoever was her magical guardian (an interesting concept considering she never even saw any wizard in her life much less one that explained anything to her) plus any heiress or Lady ships she might have and perhaps get some recommendations over books that she may take a look and buy.
She also needed to get in contact with a lawyer because apparently some people have been making books with her goddamn name and she didn’t in fact authorise those to be written.Which was pissing her off, but perhaps she could even make some money if she could get in contact and have a little bit of a polite conversation with them. It’s not like she wants them to lose their jobs or career or anything, you just can’t fault her for wanting to be protected right?
Perhaps she ought to get her hands on a few books on history too, and culture.Yes that might help, wouldn’t want to seem incompetent or ignorant, would we now?
Regardless of that, Amara made a list of things, sorted by priority:
- Gringotts — documents, any unpaid taxes, properties, heirlooms,(might add more) heiress and Lady ships.(Books?)
- Lawyer — unpaid taxes, any history of criminality in the family that might hold me back, possibly to draw a contract with others, (would they have a list of people the family was aligned with?) (?), (what do you talk about with a lawyer?Bloody fuck) (also books?)
- BOOKS — history, culture, last wizarding war, customs and norms, (etiquette?She was after all the heiress to an influential family was she not?) basic spells and potions everyone should know would help too. Defensive and offensive spells.
When she was almost done with the list and decided which music tape she wanted to buy next week, she found the so-called ‘Leaky Cauldron’.
Amara smiled and walked inside feeling less edgy than before as she felt what could only be described as magic from the back of the pub. Doing a quick job at getting at the back of the pub while going unnoticed she then came face to face with a wall, much to her disappointment.
Just her bloody Luck.
She stared at it blankly for some moments, before she heard a shuffle from behind the door to the pub and quickly hid. Later on she would deny that she gaped as the wizard drew his wand and tapped a very specific sequence — one that she learned as fast as she could — bricks to reveal the Diagon Alley District, but there was no one watching her anyway so she was free to gap.
Amara closed her mouth, steeled herself and walked slowly, feeling the magic that flooded the streets of Diagon Alley. She could tell that it was a very beautiful sighing in the day but now she couldn’t focus too much on the way the shadows moved as if sensing something wrong in those dark alleys, she was already paranoid enough, thank you. After all, given her luck,(even if now it seemed to start favouring her, she didn’t want to leave hr guard down) it was very probable that she gets attacked by some bastard here.
She reached Gringotts sooner than she would’ve expected and walked to a goblin.
“Excuse me Mr. Teller,” She approached him politely, knowing well that just her presence would be very suspicious given the current time “What is your name?” she asked with her innocent smile.
She could taste the confusion coming from the Goblin and chuckled internally, perhaps that ought to help her. Tho not so much as the Goblin’s face scrunched up in distaste
“If you plan on stealing from the bank or any other things you humans do, get out before I take immediate action.” Well that didn’t go as planned.
She didn’t even have to fake her confusion
“I was simply thinking that it was polite to ask someone their name to address them better.” She then scowled, not even having to fake it. “I apologise if that is a fault of my ignorance of your customs, it is my first time here and I was under the false impression that it was polite to do so here.”
Amara sighed then went straight to matters.
“I would like to talk to the Goblin responsible for my accounts, if you’d be able to call him, I’d be grateful, please.” She winced internally at how fake she sounded while being polite and innocent, even if it sounded normal to people who didn’t know her.
Saying words like please and thank you that, albeit polite, were never really needed during her time at the Orphanage was unorthodox, the girls never listened to those words and she never really got any interactions with the Matron or other Responsible adult other than Mark and her teachers (who all never needed to be told twice to get out of her way as they feared and admired her too much to do anything but kiss her heels) so really, she was good at faking, but it didn’t mean that it didn’t sound less fake to her.
Mark once had gagged the time she had to manipulate another adult in his presence. She pitied the man that time, he had been at a loss for words for how fast the other adult fell by her will.
The Goblin had stayed silent throughout the whole time, and Amara had to breathe deeply to not get angry at both, herself for the lack of knowledge and for the Goblins' disrespect regarding her apology. Hell she never even apologised that much. Seems like she was more nervous than she had initially thought. Should she have spent more time hunting? Perhaps. She felt like she got hit by a truck.
He cleared his throat and shook his head.
“My name is Anheint, Miss. State your name please.”
“Pleasure to meet you Anheint, my name is Amara Potter” She smiled as he blinked.
“Key?” he continued and she frowned, not remembering a key being given to her.
Ah, perhaps it was because the Professors had been hoping to go with her to Diagon Alley (something that obviously would not happen) and held her key. Unfortunate but perhaps there are other ways of getting access to her vault.
“I’m afraid I was not given my key.”
“No key.No vault.” He had a blank mask on his face, and even if he didn't have one, Amara wouldn’t be able to tell what he was thinking, only his most obvious reactions, as his face structure was rather.. New.. to her.
She nodded easily, already predicting this but still a bit annoyed at it.
“Is there any other way to access my vaults?”
“An inheritage test should be enough;” he grumbled while pulling out a parchment(?) and a dagger, showing them to her “seven drops of blood onto the parchment. No more, no less.Should you not be Amara Potter, since you didn’t even have access to the vaults, you’ll receive a fine and let go.If you don’t give up on impersonating Ms Potter, you’ll face the wizarding government.”
“What exactly will it show?” She asked and watched as the Goblin frowned at her disapprovingly, to which she scowled.
“Are you telling me Miss Potter, that you do not know?” He asked in disbelief. Amara let an eyebrow rise in her face before she put on a blank face even if she wanted to go and hunt to get rid of.. Emotions.
“I had thought I was clear in the fact that it is my first time here, Anheint.”
She refused to let him know that it was her first day inside the Wizarding world too. But if from the way he now noticed her clothes — Muggle clothes, are what Mcgonagall called them, different from Wizarding clothes and basically a target painted in each muggleborn begging to be victim of prejudice (if she listened to Snape’s spiteful comments correctly).
She was wearing her black shirt with a high collar, her black trousers, black hunting boots that she stole from a nearby shop (They hopefully didn’t smell like blood now), plus a black leather jacket and her backpack slung over her shoulders.
She was never really aware of how painfully big the target painted in her back was before now.
Amara sighed and shook her head slightly, as much as she loathed to admit that she didn’t know something, she needed as much help as she could get.
“Let us continue please.If I am not Amara Potter you have nothing to lose.”
The Goblin sighed too and mentioned her to continue.
She nodded and took the dagger, cutting her finger swiftly and pulling seven drops onto the parchment, she watched with fascination as the parchment glowed and letters started to form from the previously blank parchment
‘Mark.. if you knew just what I’m about to live.’ And she was going to make the best of it.
No matter if she wasn’t even Amara Potter. She was going to make the best of this chance.
Name:Hayden Amara Potter-Black
Age:10 years old
Parents by blood:
James Fleamont Potter
Lilian Potter neé Evans
Sirius Orion Black
Godparents by Magic:
Sirius Orion Black
Alice Longbottom neé Fortescue
Remus John Lupin
Magical Guardian:
Touch the name to see more information
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Core:
Grey
Magic heritages:
Touch the heritages to see more information
Necromancy (Potter)
Blood Arts (Evans)
Magic given things:
Touch the magic given ability to see more information
Parselmagic (Horcrux)
Natural Occlumency
Wandless and wordless magic
Horcrux of Tom Marvolo Riddle
Genetic heritages:
Touch the genetics to see more information
Addiction in alcohol (Fortescue+Lupin)
Schizophrenia (Fortescue)
Encephalitis (Potter)
Addiction in smoking (Black+Lupin)
Black family Madness (Black)
Magic given genetics:
Touch the genetic to see more information
Parselmouth (Including change in vocal chords, ears, tongue, teeth and other organs)
Slightly more aware five senses (sigh, smell, touch, taste, sound) (Lupin-Lycanthropy)
More aware senses regarding Nature (Fortescue)
Lady and Heiress ships:
Touch the Title to see more information
Lady to the Most Noble House of Potter (Through Father)
Lady to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Peverell
Heiress to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black
Fourth in line for the House of Fortescue (Through Godmother)
Second in line for the House of Lupin (Through Godfather)
Heiress to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin (Through Mother and Conquest)
Heiress to the Most Ancient House of Gaunt
Properties:
Touch the property to see more information
Potter:
Godrc’ Hollow
Potter Manor
Potter’s Sanctuary
Potter’s Zoo
Black:
Grimmauld Place
Black Manor
Black Castle
Toujours Pour (Pub)
Black’s House (Dancing club)
Schwarze Haus (wine factory)
Juodu saugi vieta
Cassino del Prata (cassino)
Peverell:
Peverell’s Castle
Peverell’s Manor
Mortem’s House
Cadmus’ Shack
Ignotus’ Manor
PP Park (Park in New York)
Fortescue:
None available
Lupin:
None available
Slytherin:
Slytherins Castle
Chamber of Secrets
Other properties unavailable for Heir
Gaunt:
Gaunt Shack
Gaunt House
Vaults:
Potter:
Total:923.392 galleons
Artefacts:1,543
Withdrawals:From:Hayden Potter’s trust Vault (previous quantity:2,000)
20 galleon out towards:Vernon Dursley
80 galleons towards: OP trust vault.
Done by Albus Dumbledore
Peverell:
Total: 5.594.599 galleons
Artefacts:4,593
Withdrawals:None
Black:
Total:3,234,954 galleons
Artefacts:3,577 artefacts
Withdrawals:None
Fortescue: Trust vaults addressed to Amara Potter:
Total:500 galleons
Artefacts: 20 artefacts
Withdrawals:None
Lupin:
Total: 700 galleons
Artefacts:12 artefacts
Withdrawals:None
Slytherin:
Total:7,345,456 galleons
Artefacts:3,456 artefacts
Withdrawals:None
Gaunt:
Total:1 knut
Artefacts:0 artefacts
Withdrawals:None
Compulsions/spells/potions:
None
“My first name is Hayden?” she blurted before stopping and paying much more attention to those galleons which meant money.
Oh this was fun, this was a lot of money, a lot of properties tied to her, a lot of power.Quite a lot of power indeed.
“Shall I see whether or not you are who you claim you are, Miss Potter?”
Here, Amara hesitated. She needed allies, needed to know who to trust, who to talk to.But she couldn’t afford mistakes now.
(Well she could afford something but not this way hehe. she had money)
She may have much power now, but she also had too much ignorance for it to be good. She would be seen as less and be robbed of everything and live in misery.
She looked at the Goblin. He was a Teller, not her accounts manager.
She looked at the parchment, then folded it so that it showed only her name, her parents' and godparents' names, plus the Magical Guardian and then showed him it.She held it firmly in her hands not wanting to lose it.
She did not miss the approval in the Goblins eyes and she mentally pat herself in the back for thinking right.
There was no need to scream to the world her power now, give it time.
She learned patience under Mark’s tutoring, it wasn’t now that he wasn’t here that she’d stop learning or forget everything.It may be a new world, but she would stick to what she knew and learn more than abandon everything.
Anheint nodded, then pushed a button and said something in a guttural language, unpleasant, which immediately sparked her interest.
“Now we wait till he arrives.”
“What is the language?” She asked, making sure to keep her voice calm albeit she was feeling like jumping from curiosity.
He raised an eyebrow and she thought about what was wrong, if her voice was too loud or if her hand was moving again but none were wrong.
“It is Gobbledegook, Miss Potter-Black. The language of the Goblins.”
“Is there any way to learn? What benefits would it entail in my adulthood?”
At that he looked half exasperated, half amused though there were hints of disbelief there too.
“I suppose there is a way to learn, though I doubt many Goblins would like a human speaking our language. It is incredibly important for our society, you see. As for what benefits would it give you,” he contemplated
“I suppose you could, should you choose to work as a curse breaker, have more benefits regarding your job as Gobbledegook is a creature’s language and therefore you’d be able to take it as an OWL test. If you pass with enough marks, the Goblin Nation could give you perhaps a job proposition or a title. I doubt we’d give you much thought, us Goblins we stay away from your kind’s things.”
Amara didn't know half of what he said but she nodded and added those words to the list of words she desperatelly needed to know;
Which reminded her.
“Anheint.” she called softly and saw as his attention was one again on her as they waited for the Goblin that would excort her to her account manager.
“I suppose you noticed how I wear Muggle clothes.” At his careful nod she continued “ I am unfortunate to admit that I am ignorant to most things regarding this new development of the World. I would appreciate it if you could perhaps recommend books for me to get started on knowing better.”
There, not too much but enough. If Anheint asked for a payment she could pay him, as long as they went by her strategy.
( “Never give the option of paying for something if you don’t absolutely have to;’ was what Mark usually said after she wanted something and immediately proposed to pay him for it.
“If it is easy to do and they can do it, you simply ask them.If they want money you give them very low, then go up as if relenting.”
Then he would smile sharply and demand the money to do it. )
Anheint analysed her as she stared at him before he sighed
“There are many books, entitled muggleborn introductory books, that would help you in knowing the basics of everything, these are the government approved.If you want any book that borders or passes the line of your Kind’s law, go to Knockturn Alley. I don’t recommend going there at night.”
Amara thanked him profuselly as another Goblin came in and told her to follow him.
“ Thank you for your help Anheint, I hope we meet again on a better time;”
Anheint analysed her once again before he nodded and said
“The proper way to greet a Goblin is to praise the victory of our enemies. We in turn shall wish you a good day in your vaults.
For departure, it is common to wish our gold to flow and get bigger and we, in turn, will wish you a good way to slaughter your enemies.”
Amara’s eyes shone and she smiled before she spoke softly
“May your gold never cease to flow, then.”
Anheint grinned sharply
“May your enemies fear your magic, Lady Potter.”