Phantom Girl

Chapter Eight - Cheated Since Birth

Phantom Girl was not meant to be a student. Rella Dranlei, however, was. Even though I barely went to classes (due to duties of the Fate Changer), the Rella in me was enthralled. I had never been to school before and barely ever talked to people younger than thirty. I found myself struggling to fit in as I had decades worth of memories and knowledge stored in my head while the others only had eleven's worth.

We were in Potions now. Snape, our professor and Head of House, promised us, "I can teach you how to brew fame, bottle glory, and even how to bring a stop to death." Rella was interested immediately.

Sometimes my mind split into two different parts - Rella and Phantom Girl and sometimes we are the same. Maybe its because I have so many memories that I've just gone crazy. Rella was the human part of me - the one with all the emotions. Phantom Girl is the one with all the duties. She has no emotions and is immortal. There is very little Rella left. To be honest, the last person to see Rella was Tom Riddle, who almost freed me from my curse.

The first day, Snape had us brew a Cure Boil Solution. I didn't have any of the materials I needed to brew anything so Snape ordered me to walk around and help the "incompetent dunderheads". I immediately went over to Neville Longbottom.

Slytherins had potions with the Gryffindors, who Snape took great pleasure in picking on. Points were taken left, right, and center. Most of them were off poor, blundering Neville Longbottom.

Neville, for lack of a better phrase, sucked at potions. A toxic cloud was puffing from his cauldron and instead of a sky blue color, the potion was a sickly green. So I naturally went over to help him first. As soon  as I approached him, however, he shrank back in fear.

"Are you alright, Neville?" I asked, confused. It was no secret that Neville was already terrified of Professor Snape but he was on the other side of the room at the moment, criticizing Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnegan's potion (which was almost as poisonous as Neville's).

He trembled and muttered something about Slytherin and legend of Dranlei.

I rolled my eyes but didn't even try to argue with him. "I can't help you if you're terrified of me," I snapped, rolling my eyes. When he nodded finally and stopped cowering, I slid into the stool next to him.

I peered into the putrid basin in front of us. "Looks like you need to add a half of a horned slug and three and three-quarters porcupine quills," I stated matter-of-factly.

He began doing as I said and the Peculiar feeling too over me. It was overwhelming so I quickly raised my hand to be excused to the restroom.

"I suppose," Snape sneered. As soon as the words left his mouth, I was out the door.

I warped to somewhere vaguely familiar. Everything was grey. The walls, ceilings and tile floors were grey. There were no pictures on the walls like there would be in a doctor's office. Waiting chairs lines the walls with a receptionist desk at the front with a door to the right and another to the left. Besides this, the room was plain.

I recognized some of the people in the chairs. I saw Fabien and Gideon Prewett hovering over something and laughing. Across from them, Eileen Prince sat silently. A few others registered in my mind but I only had eyes for the door to the right of the desk. I was supposed to go through that way.

I walked through the lobby, stepping over a few toys that were being chased by four year old Charlotte Montgomery. I passed by everyone but no one looked up. Either they couldn't see or notice me, or they just didn't care. I approached the door, ignoring the receptionist and pushed through.

Death was a tall man with no face. Where eyes, a nose, and mouth were supposed to be, was completely blank. Black hair was slicked back and he was dressed in a tuxedo. He was on the phone, and hadn't changed a single bit (not even a hair was different) from when I saw him last.

"No, Hades. You can't expand the Underworld. Last time I let you do that, a World War started!" He growled impatiently. "Hold on, I'm getting another call." He switched lines and continued talking. He didn't acknowledge I was there so I sat down in front of his dull desk in a dull chair. I didn't take it personally. He was a busy guy.

"Hello? Yes, hello, Fate. What? No, dear." I bet if he had eyes he would have rolled him. Fate was his wife and the last time I talked to Death, he said that she called him all the time while he was at work. "Yes, she's here now. Alright, I will mention it. Don't worry. Yes, dear. Fate, dear, I'm on hold with Hades and Phantom is waiting for our meeting to begin. Yes, I love you too. See you at home."

After that he quickly finished his conversation with the god of the Underworld, hung up the phone, and turned to me. Finally, he spoke.

"Phantom,: he began. Death was a no-nonsense, straight to the point kind of being. "Times are changing, Phantom, which means the terms of your contract are changing."

I slid lower in my chair. This couldn't mean anything good. I hadn't spoken with Death since the end of World War II. Then, he had told me the exact same thing. He said that if I could get Hitler to change his ways, I would be free. Free from this curse. In the end, Hitler ended up killing himself to escape prosecution. I had failed my mission and the last time we had spoke, Death informed me of such. I was still bound by the contract.

"Now, now, don't look so glum, Phantom," Death chided. "Your contract is changing. You should be jumping for joy."

I crossed my arms moodily over my chest, sulkily glaring at Death's blank face. "That's what you said last time."

"Yes, well this time is different. The reward is still the same, however."

"Just tell me what the terms are, you old coot!"

If Death could glare, he totally would have then. "Fate has told me that awful things will happen unless we interfere. Thousands will die."

I shrugged. "It's happened before. What's so special about this time?"

"Harry Potter," he replied simply.

"What?"

"Yes, Fate feels bad. His parents were never supposed to be murdered, Dumbledore never should have placed him under his aunt and uncle's care, Sirius Black should have never gone to Azkaban prison..." Death said, listing all the misfortunes that Harry has suffered through. "The boy's been cheated since birth."

"Look, I care for Harry and everything- he's the son of my friends, how could I not? - I just don't understand what you want me to do about it," I said uncomfortably. "I have the powers of persuasion, not time travel. You know this."

"You need to change the future, Phantom. You need to prevent disaster. Save those who need to be saved. To do this, I am granting you the power to kill without consequence. I know you loved Tom Riddle, Rella, but you need to kill him. Kill him for Harry." These words weighed on me heavily and I did my best to ignore those last few statements about Tom.

Death leaned over the desk, pressing two fingers on each side of my temples. "This should be all of the information you need."

I don't quite remember how I got back to Hogwarts. I just woke up in the dormitory. The other girls were already in bed, sleeping. I didn't know any of their names, nor did I care to. I had missed the rest of my classes but I wasn't really concerned about that. I needed to sort through all of the information that Death had supplied me with. If Harry had continued on the Dumbledore-approved path, he would have been a Gryffindor, best friends with the youngest Weasley, miserable at home, and forced to battle Voldemort every year until Harry defeated him in his seventh year. When he was only seventeen years old. Everyone who Harry cared about would die.

By Harry being in Slytherin and knowing the truth about Dumbledore, the changes towards a better future have been made and are already set in motion. I just have to guide Harry; help him make the right choices and decisions until the defeat of Voldemort.

I gripped the bottle of werewolf blood that was in the pocket of my dress that I still hadn't changed out of. It was sort of like a worry stone for me. I just hoped that everything would work out this time.

A/N: This was exactly 1500 words! XD I'm quite frankly proud of myself for uploading so frequently. Vote and comment!