take all your chances while you can [odette]

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Jamie Greyback's deepest, darkest secret was not the fact that she was a werewolf. That hardly qualified as a secret for anyone who had two eyes and a brain between their ears. The name alone, Greyback, was a dead giveaway. No, that was not Jamie's darkest secret. Her darkest secret was the fact that she, unlike practically every other adolescent in the entire world, enjoyed having the hiccups. It was a quirk that not many people asked about; the majority of people probably didn't realize that she had the hiccups more than was probable. Of those who did realize, they probably thought it was either an unfortunate side effect of lycanthropy or just a quirk that made Jamie Greyback the unbelievably charming individual that she was.

She had run out of Hiccoughing Sweets, though, and intended to replenish her stock while she was in Hogsmeade. Zonko's, as usual, was busy as third years shovelled as many Dungbombs as they could into their pockets, hoping to smuggle them back into the castle. As if that would work. At least the sweets were innocent enough that she would be allowed back onto the grounds with a bag of them. Brightly wrapped taffies, they looked as if they could have just as easily come from Honeydukes, and everyone knew that confiscating anything from Honeydukes was sacrilegious. The only problem with Jamie's master plan, however, was that there was someone in between her and the shelf of sweets she so desired. Looking at the woman, Jamie couldn't help but feel as if she recognized her, some way, some how....Curioser and curiouser, she thought to herself, before finally mustering the courage to tap the woman on the shoulder.

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Odette was not big on crowds. The fact that she was even in Hogsmeade on a students' weekend was a mistake. It just happened to be her only off day that week and she was just dying for a drink so she thought she would pop in to the Hogs' Head. Only thing was, the pub was at the end of the long street of the village that was currently riddled with students. Odette tried to move her way through the thick crowds and was having much difficulty. In fact, the crowd was becoming so much of a pain and a hassle that she decided to just pop into the first shop she could find. Unfortunately for her, it just so happened to be Zonko's.

The brunette loathed joke shops. She had always found the students who frequented them to be on the more annoying side. Odette rolled her eyes at her own luck, considering turning right back around and exiting the shop but the crowds outside changed her mind. Regrettably, she walked further into the shop and glanced around. She hadn't been in there for a long time. In no time, however, did she happen to find one of her grandparents' favorite treats. While her grandparents were both muggles, they had always appreciated it when Odette sent them wizarding treats. So Odette thought she would surprise them with a few treats once again. It would be a pleasant little surprise.

Odette was just browsing the shelves when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Rolling her eyes, she turned around to face a blonde teenaged girl who was looking up at her. For some reason, the girl looked oddly familiar. But Odette had had so many run-ins with familiar looking people lately that she quickly wrote off the likeness. "Can I help you...?" She asked slowly, confused as to why this girl would be tapping her on the shoulder.

@jamie

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Jamie was not as good with strangers as she would’ve liked to be. Suddenly confronted with someone she didn’t know who didn’t seem all that pleased to be bothered, the girl became flustered. Words fumbled on her tongue, but none of them were right, and it wasn’t making her nerves any better that she couldn’t string together a coherent sentence. She was about to just give up and apologize for bothering the stranger for wasting her time when her bag, by some act of some deity, decided to explode everywhere. Spare pieces of parchment, including the one she had given to Aaron, with her name and number on it, were sprayed like confetti on the area surrounding her. Her coins, carefully tucked away in a leather pouch, were mercifully spared from being flung to the far reaches of the store, but it was only a small blessing.

Her cheeks flaming pink, Jamie knelt down and began to gather up her rogue materials. “All I wanted was some sweets.” She muttered, more to herself than to the stranger who had witnessed her spectacular failure at being a functioning human being. How she was going to survive in a world outside of the bubble that was Hogwarts, Jamie had no idea. Deciding to attempt diplomacy, Jamie peered at the stranger and managed to force out a leaden-tongued apology. “Sorry I’m a mess.” That was the best she was going to do today, but it was a start. Sort of.

@odette

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Odette stood there, an expectant eyebrow raised at the blonde girl as she awaited an answer out of her that never came. The girl's bag had suddenly exploded and all of her things scattered all over the store floor. Odette watched as the girl knelt down and began picking up her things. Odette wanted to leave her there to pick it all up herself; served her right for bothering her. But the better person in her told her otherwise. Rolling her eyes, Odette also knelt down to assist the girl in picking up her things. "You should be more caref -"

Picking up a piece of parchment, Odette couldn't help but read the writing on it. "Jamie Greyback." Greyback. Greyback. Odette's eyes widened as she zeroed in on that last name. Almost instantly she shot back up and was shoving the girl's belongings into her arms. "Who are you?" She asked the girl a bit too quickly, her anxiety actually getting the best of her for once. Odette was known for keeping herself very cool and collected, always calm. But she had never been so blindsided by something before. This girl in front of her had the same last name as she did. That couldn't be just a coincidence.

@jamie

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Jamie huffed a bit at the implication that she was not careful enough. She was plenty careful; it wasn’t her fault that her bag had exploded everywhere. If she had been swinging it around and bumping it into things and being reckless, she may have understood the criticism. Leave it to her to find the rudest person in the entire joke shop. Anyone else would have realized that she was just a tired student who was riding the downhill on an emotional rollercoaster. (She had a brother! One who actually wanted to talk to her!) But no, she had chosen the wrong time for her bag to explode and the wrong person for it to explode by.

All of a sudden she was having items shoved unceremoniously into her arms, and the stranger demanded to know who she was. All things considered, it was a miracle that Jamie thought of any sort of intelligent response at all. If that intelligent response wasn’t her actual name…Well, emotional rollercoaster and all. “I’m Jean Valjean.” She blurted. Before the words had even fully left her mouth, Jamie was turning bright pink. “No! No, I’m not!” She nearly shouted. “My name is Jamie. Jamie Greyback.” Mentally, she added a ‘what’s it to you?’. She had been spending way too much time with Gryffindors.

@odette

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Odette's eyes were wide and anxious as she awaited a response from the girl. Her heart was beating surprisingly fast for someone who pretended not to care about others. But she had seen her own last name on a piece of this girl's paper. That had to be grounds for being anxious.

When the girl blurted out a fictitious name, Odette's mouth immediately thinned and she was about to lose her temper but the girl quickly corrected herself and practically shouted her name; the exact name Odette had seen on the piece of parchment. Jamie Greyback. That couldn't be just a coincidence. There couldn't be other people in Britain, of all places, with that same last name unless... unless they knew him. Odette's biological father, the one she swore she was going to kill one day. She was hardly aware of her hands turning into fists at her sides as she stared at this girl.

"What do you mean Greyback?" Odette demanded of the girl. "You do know what that name entails, right?" Was this some kind of joke? It had to be. No one would willingly walk around with that last name... except for Odette, but she had a good reason. She wanted to bait Fenrir, and what better way than to use his last name?

@jamie

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Jamie was slowly drawing the conclusion that this stranger was crazy. First the woman manically demanded her name and now she was manically shouting because Jamie had (manically) given her the answer. There was too much mania, and honestly, Jamie was confused. There was no good way to answer the question that had been posed to her without giving away a lot of information she’d rather this insane lady not have. Still, if it got the stranger away from her, maybe it’d be worth it.

“Yeah, I know.” Jamie sighed. “It means my dad’s a psychopathic serial killer who screwed around with a lot of women.” It meant that she was left with the remnants of his curse. Poison flowed through her veins, not blood, but it was the best she had. “My mother doesn’t exist to most wizards. She’s just a Muggle that got knocked up as a teen.” Jamie tried to set her mouth into a hard line like the stranger was doing, but the corners of it turned down and her eyes stung like she was about to begin crying. “I am no one without this name. Given the choice between existing as a notch on Fenrir Greyback's bedpost and not existing at all, I actually prefer the first. And at least I don’t have to explain my condition to anyone. It’s just a part of the package.” She tried hard not to be bitter, but failed spectacularly. She just wanted to go back to the castle, or maybe back to the train station. Aaron would know what to do.

@odette

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Had this girl just said her dad? Odette took a moment to stand up straight, feeling momentarily as if she were going to faint. There was no way this was happening. As the girl continued to speak, Odette's ears listened carefully though her eyes were focused on the wall behind her so she could steady herself. When the girl mentioned her muggle mother was a "nobody," Odette could feel a snarl at the back of her throat that could convince anyone she was a Greyback descendant even if she wasn't a werewolf.

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood," Odette feigned sweetness as blinked and then met with the girl's eyes. "Are you saying that you would rather have the name of a killer, a man who killed hundreds, hell - maybe even thousands, of people -" A fake, sarcastic smile was on Odette's face. One would say she definitely looked insane now. "Than an innocent muggle name? All because your mother was a muggle and some people 'wouldn't approve'?" She used her fingers for air quotes. "I take great offense to that Jamie Greyback," she hissed the girl's name. "As my mother was a muggle, and I would take back her last name with pride and dignity." Her glare was intense now. But it softened only slightly as a real, genuine smirk appeared on her face now.

"Odette Greyback. Nice. To meet. You."

@jamie

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This day was really starting to suck. It had started out so wonderfully, too. Frustration was burbling in her stomach and she could feel her face flushing an even brighter pink. If it had been anyone else, Jamie might have walked away. She was used to being harassed for her name; she went to school with the children of war heroes, and she was the progeny of one of the most notorious villains. It wasn’t right, and it certainly wasn’t fair, but Jamie had come to terms with the fact that her life wasn’t fair a long time ago. The fact that this woman was abusing her for her choice made her heart actually physically hurt. She had so few choices, and the one she was most sure about was being ripped apart in front of her. And she was…Jamie’s sister. That was the reason why she was standing her ground, but it also made the insults hurt even more.

The stinging in her eyes worsened, and Jamie hid her face under the pretense of repairing her bag while she tried to shove the tears back down inside of her. It didn’t work. When she turned to face the woman – her sister – again, a single drop rolled down her cheek. She was a notch in Fenrir Greyback’s bedpost, but even worse, she was a monster because of him. “I am a wolf, and that is all I will ever be to all these people. My mother doesn’t deserve a wolf for a child.” Her mother didn’t deserve to be saddled with the responsibility of a child when she was barely more than one herself. Her mother didn’t deserve Fenrir Greyback. Another tear slid down her face. “I am so sorry that I refuse to let her be associated with a beast.” And she was sorry, because life wasn’t fair to her mother, either.

“If you have nothing else to say to me, Odette Greyback, I’ll be going.” Jamie tried to steady herself so no one would worry when she exited back onto the street, but her hands were shaking and the crying wouldn’t stop. At least now she knew her sister wouldn’t care.

@odette

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Odette could feel herself shaking. Maybe a small part of it was from anger, but about 90% of it was due to the fact that on top of two half brothers she never knew she had - she also had a sister. And here she had been, all her life, thinking she was alone. Believing she was the only child on this earth to have to bear the enigma that was 'Greyback.' Part of her felt bad for this girl, that he had obviously taken her life away from her. But Odette disagreed a great deal with the girl's reasoning.

So she was a wolf. Odette felt her breath catch a little in shock. This poor girl was a werewolf because of him. Odette wasn't against werewolves... she knew that most had no choice, were attacked by lesser beings... but she could not help but feel bad that this young girl, and that young boy Adrian, had to live like that for the rest of their lives. Odette's eyes just narrowed at the girl as she spoke, her head shaking slightly in disapproval. "The thing about being a mother is you love your child no matter what," she said so quietly to Jamie that she wasn't sure if Jamie would even hear as she began to keep picking up the remainder of her things. "But if you don't believe your mother would love you despite your affliction... then you don't deserve your mother." It was a harsh, mean thing to say but Odette took motherly things very seriously. Fenrir had killed hers, after all. And now she knew why. He had wanted to turn Odette into a werewolf. Like he had this girl.

"I have nothing else to say to you," Odette turned her head away from the girl so she wouldn't have to look at her anymore. Odette could feel her own heart breaking now. Not only because Fenrir had killed her mother, but because she had finally realized the reasoning behind it. And that she was not the only one he had fathered. She was the only one he had failed to turn. And maybe he was looking for her. But now Odette had even more of a reason to find and kill him. She was going to do it for Adrian and Aaron.

And for Jamie.

@jamie

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Jamie was done. There was no other way to put it. She had stayed so that no one would think her peculiar for crying on the street, but even that wouldn’t be as bad as the insults that were being thrown at her by her half-sibling. She had thought Adrian had been bad, but Jamie would much rather be ignored than abused. She could only put up with so much, but the comment about her not deserving her mother pushed her over the edge. The rest of her things were shoved into her bag with no particular order, and Jamie wished that she could just stop crying. They were angry tears now, resentful tears. Having a sister sucked. She didn’t know how anyone could deal with their siblings. Jamie had four, and only one of them seemed remotely interested in her. She had been stupid to want to find her family, stupid to hope that they would want to find her. She probably would have been better off if she had just been satisfied with knowing that she was a werewolf, and that was the way things were. She couldn’t change it, so why bother trying?

Jamie slung her bag over her shoulder and was relieved that it didn’t break again. She didn’t want to spend a single moment more in the presence of odious Odette. She could just get Hiccoughing Sweets the next time she came to Hogsmeade, hopefully without running into any siblings. She didn’t even think she could stand talking to Aaron right now because she was so angry, and so tired, and so finished with the conversation. Odette said she didn’t have anything left to say, and Jamie didn’t even bother to reply. It was better for both of them to avoid making even more of a scene than they already had. Clenching her once-broken fingers, Jamie did her best to remind herself that sometimes, a clean break was for the better.

@odette

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(I think we can end this here and get started on the next one. :])