My Wings Are Black

More flashes of light were causing Odette to swoop and duck around the already crumbling statues that lined the corridors of Hogwarts. Those Death-Eaters that had caught her red handed in the act of killing one of their own had finally seen the traitor she was and were intent on killing her, others that were with Harry Potter, still believed her the enemy. She was caught between the two, neither believing she was on their side. All were trying to kill her.

She ran with a speed she did not know she possessed, hissing when a slicing curse cut her cheek, she felt the wet blood spill across her cheek, and she tasted the iron liquid as it flew into her mouth as she ran. She ran till she found herself alone, this part of the castle was quiet. Most were either fallen or injured. Bigger battles raged in the Great Hall.

Something overcame Odette suddenly. Ice cold fear. She was being hunted on all sides when all she wanted in this world was to live for Fred. She stumbled along the passage-way, until finally she came upon a fallen gargoyle. It looked at her where it lay, and she continued up the staircase it had been guarding until blasted apart. The staircase was circular, making the already fatigued girl feel weak. Finally she stumbled into a large circular room, where thousands of small portraits lined the walls. They were all empty bar one.

Odette gasped as she walked towards the portrait of Severus Snape and he regarded her with his deep black eyes.

“Oh Severus, “she whispered, “he killed you.”

Snape nodded, “For the Elder Wand.”

Odette traced the mark at the back of her neck as she looked upon the face of a dead friend, trying to find the energy to feel a tear or a sob rise from her throat. She looked at him, wondering, “did it hurt?”

Snape smiled at her, “for a moment, yes. He used Nagini but then there was a simple peace, and fog and now here I am, talking to you.”

Odette smiled at Snape, and touched his portrait where his hand rested on the armchair he sat in, “I always respected you Severus, even if I did not show it. I’m sorry you are dead.”

She turned away before Snape could speak again, and wandered into another room behind the one that contained the Headmaster’s desk and the portraits. This one contained a bed, and seeking a moment of solace and peace, Odette lay down upon it and sleep immediately came to her even in the most troubled of times.
~

A noise made her wake up less than half an hour later. A noise from the room, she jumped up, wand in her hand and creeped towards the door. She could feel the dry blood on her cheek crack and crumble as she moved, and when she saw Harry Potter’s figure in the room, she did not bother to hide herself.

He noticed her presence in the corner of his eye and he jumped, whirling around, his wand out. He shouted a spell but with a flick of her wand, Odette deflected it.

“Don’t be stupid Harry, hasn’t anyone told you I’ve been fighting on your side the whole night.”

Harry stopped, briefly recalling Hermione telling him this information and the hatred he had previously harboured for the shadowed girl vanished slightly. He looked at her now, noticing the raised cut on her cheek, the shadows under her eyes, the troubled expression. She looked how he felt.

“You’re hurt,” he stated and summoning water, in a brief act of companionship, he washed the dried blood from her face. He trembled a moment, feeling her soft skin underneath his fingertips, feeling as most males felt in her presence. Despite his love for Ginny, Odette would always be desirous.

Odette looked towards the stair, she heard no noise. “The fighting has stopped?” she stated.

Harry nodded. “Yes, a ceasefire.”

Odette nodded, “I must go, find Fred, let him know I’m still here.”

She rose to go but Harry’s strong grip on her wrist stopped her. An unreadable expression was on his strong face and his forest green eyes examined her brighter ones. He suddenly realised why she was doing what she was doing. He remembered all those secret glances he had caught between Fred and Odette. They were in love. And now, he must be the one to tell her.

“Odette, Fred...he is, he’s,” and Harry’s voice faltered at the heartbroken look that came across Odette’s beautiful face, It creased in sudden pain, and she lost her balance so he had to hold her against his own body. She gripped his jumped by the shoulder, biting back the sob that was wanting to rip from her swan like throat.

“No,” she whispered.

“He’s dead.” Harry spoke the words, and he didn’t jump as the scream broke from Odette’s voice and he held her as the heartbreak tore her apart.

~

People didn’t glance at Odette when she entered the Great Hall. Most purposely looked away. She was here, that meant she wasn’t with him. But maybe she was still a spy, was she here, in the place for the dead? Who was she looking for? Her Draco? He certainly wasn’t here.

No, the beautiful figure walked proudly, her face dry from the tears she had previously shed in Harry’s arms. She had placed a ring back on her finger as she walked towards a cluster of red headed people. One hissed at her, Ron. But George and Hermione glared at him. The Weasleys watched in astonishment as George approached the Death Eater, and held her hands,

“Odette,” he said softly, “Odette, you don’t want to see.”

But Odette couldn’t look at him, for she could see the stiff body of Fred and she did not want to look into the all too alive face of his twin brother. She wanted to see her Fred’s brown eyes, not George’s.

She fell as she reached the body, and looked at him. His eyes were open and glassy and his face still held that laugh she could hear ringing in her ears. A pain, that Odette had never felt before was ripping her apart, her Fred. He was dead and she was all alone.

“He promised,” she whispered. “he promised he wouldn’t leave me. He wouldn’t leave us...Hope, oh Hope.”

And George who also felt that agonising pain, whose eyes were red and sore from tears, held the girl that had loved his brother as she whispered. He dragged her from his dead brother’s body. Tried to whisper that he would take care of Fred’s girls now. But no, Odette didn’t listen.

She pushed herself away from George who felt too like Fred. She pushed herself away from his family, his mother who wanted to comfort the girl her son had loved with all his heart. All Odette could comprehend was that Fred was gone.

She would never feel the heat of his breath tickling her bare skin. His warm body would never lie beside hers in bed again. She would never see those brown eyes twinkle in jest. His laugh, that laugh that bubbled from the very centre of his chest would never be heard again.

Odette would never feel his kiss again.

Her Fred was dead. And she ran.

~

She stumbled from the Great Hall, not seeing anyone. She didn’t notice she had lost her shoes; she walked with a purpose barefoot through the greens, through the forest until she looked upon the Dark Lord. A man she once feared. She was no longer afraid. She would never feel fear again.

And those words echoed from the clearing when they left her mouth, “Kill Me.”

She didn’t feel the eyes of Harry Potter who was waiting for his turn in the trees of the forest, he watched with a horrified interest in the girl that asked for Death.

“Kill you, my swan?” Voldemort asked mockingly and his eyes flashed with a cruelty that had never seen Odette before. “Why would I kill you when I have found against the men that you have been in union with for years? The men and women that follow your master, the master you have tricked and made to look foolish. But we have caught you out Odette, you stupid girl.”

He used his wand on her, the Cruaciatus Curse making her back snap back in pain, her eyes bulge but she did not scream. She fought control and when the curse stopped, she stared at the man she hated.

“You wonder why I did it?” she asked in Parseltongue so all but Voldemort and the hidden Harry could understand. “I did it for that which you cannot understand. Love. You are the weak one, the stupid one. You are the one that is alone. You are the one that shall die tonight.”

And she spoke plainly for all to hear, “And of course, you are the one that is the most wretched here. Your half blood body reeks with the stench of muggle normality. It poisons us who can claim pure-blood. You are just a liar and a fraud and most of all you are weak and pathetic.”

Harry closed his eyes for that moment, knowing she was goading not only Voldemort but the followers and it worked. Odette knew what would happen and she stopped a moment to compose herself and then the collision of flashes hit her. Harry watched as her slender body flew through the air, as not one but at least four killing curses hit her. Harry closed his eyes, in silent prayer for the now dead Odette. He praised her courage, her strength and most of all, her love for Fred.

~

After when it was all over, when Voldemort and Bellatrix lay dead and those who had lived rejoiced in victory, Harry Potter wandered back into the forest to find the body of the fallen girl. She had been flung back into the wilderness of the forest but she still seemed beautiful, her frozen body lit up by moonlight. Her brilliant eyes were closed, and her hair lay out around her. There was a serene smile on her face. She had welcomed Death lovingly before it hit her.

Harry smiled at her, his throat clogging up with the tragic beauty of it all. He picked up her body that felt like nothing in his arms, and he carried her back into the forest. Those who had worshipped Odette as their Queen in Hogwarts, cried out in horror as they spotted Harry walking with Odette in his arms. But Harry said nothing. Nothing until he reached the spot where Fred lay, surrounded by his family.

Hermione began to cry silently, and Ron wrapped his arm around her as Harry gently lay Odette down beside her love. The dead bodies still seemed to match perfectly, their hips just brushed each other, Odette’s pale frozen hand fell down between Fred’s open palm. The silver wedding bands glistened in the light. The smile that blessed Odette’s mouth seemed to be in answer to Fred’s frozen laugh. A secret joke that no-body would ever find out. A love that no-body could never understand.

~

And by the still waters of the lake, a shimmering spirit could be seen by none but one other. She walked towards him, her hair shimmering behind her and he turned and smiled. He lay out his hand and she placed hers in his.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he told her.

She smiled at him, “I promised that you’d never be alone.”

He looked at her, “And I promised that I’d never leave you. I’m sorry.”

Odette shook her head, and her hair shimmered in the rising sun, “You didn’t, not really. But here we are, together and that’s what mattered.”

Fred smiled, “And it’s time to go now. Can you feel it?”

They began to step forward but Odette turned back looking out towards Hogsmeade village and beyond. She searched for a little thrumming heartbeat and when she found it, a sad sigh left her. “She’ll be ok?”
Fred gripped her hand, “Of course, and we’ll always be with her, watching her.”

Odette turned back, knowing Fred was right and with one last kiss, they stepped out onto the lake and disappeared.

Together once again, as they always would be.