Title: A Touch of Witchcraft
Author: Vashka
Disclaimer: In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to Marvel, Disney, JK Rowling, et cetera, this work of fiction is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. To the extent permissible by law, I retain the rights to my language/text/story.
Summary: After a spike in Chaos magic, Unspeakable Jane Foster goes on a mission to investigate. She meets a mysterious dark stranger. Who is this wizard and what are his plans? HP/Avengers crossover
000
Jane Foster enjoyed her work as an Unspeakable. Graduating first in her class from Ilvermorny and attaining 3 different masteries by the tender age of twenty-two, she was considered one of the most brilliant witches of her age.
Being a brilliant but practical witch, Jane considered the many career offerings available to her carefully. Stark's potion making, HYDRA spell design or Nick Fury's cursebreaking department all had undeniable allure, but research had always been Jane's passion. The most secret, most cutting edge research was done in the Unspeakable Department, of course. The American Ministry tried to woo her to their Unspeakable program, but Erik Selvig had been a friend of her father's, and an invaluable mentor to Jane, until his recruitment by the British Ministry's Unspeakable Department. While he was forbidden to tell her the details of his work, he was able to tell her that she wouldn't regret the decision to join his department. So she did, and she never looked back.
The Cosmos Room of the British Ministry of Magic was a whirling hub of controlled disorder on the best of days - today it was actively breaking into pieces. It was a large room, stuffed to the brim with books, parchment, strange machines and large containers of highly dangerous exotic matter. Huge ancient statues were placed haphazardly around the room, contrasting strangely with the whirring technology. And above it all, a whirling map of the Milky Way galaxy twinkled on the ceiling.
"Erik?!" Jane shouted into the room. The room was never quiet, but today the machines were so loud she wasn't sure that anything besides a bullhorn could be heard by anybody.
"Erik, Erik where are you?" Jane magically amplified her voice in an attempt to be heard as she scanned the bedlam. "Darcy flooed a panic - something about Chaos factors making the machines go out of alignment? How is that even possible? Erik?!"
"Jane? Oh, thank Merlin, I'm over here!" Erik's voice drifted over to Jane from the edge of the Chamber.
Running to the back of the Room, behind three gargantuan swirling tubs of sparkling star matter, she found him underneath the matter flux transformer, covered in sweat and swearing.
Jane threw her bag onto a teetering pile of books and ran to Erik. The older wizard was struggling with the transformer as it sparked and sputtered, setting parchments ablaze. Quickly taking out her wand and performing a quick Aguamenti, Jane set to putting out the fires. "What the heck happened? Last night everything was in perfect order!"
Erik gave one large shove on the lever on the bottom of the machine, and the transformer stopped sparking and set to making a contented purring noise. Running a weary hand over the thing, Erik sighed. "I know. It all started about two hours ago."
"You should have notified me immediately!"
Erik raised his eyebrows. "You just left five hours ago. I'm not sure you could have done anything with three hours of sleep."
Jane made a gesture with her wand at the smoldering lab. "This is handling things?"
"Point taken," Erik grimaced as he shuffled over to the Cosmic Cube, usually a tranquil blue color, today sparked and sputtered, its brightness almost blinding. "Darcy is over on the other side of the Chamber trying to get the last of the fires under control. I'll have her fetch us some tea while we figure out what is causing this shift in the balance of the Cosmos."
Jane raised one delicate brow as she rolled up the sleeves of her standard issue violet Unspeakable robes.
Erik chuckled. "Alright, we will order that undrinkable swill as well. I refuse to call it coffee."
Jane smiled, eyes alight. "Let's get to work!"
000
Twelve hours later, and somehow, Jane was even more confused than when she started. Taking a big swig of her eighth cup of coffee, she started pacing around the room, avoiding piles of parchments and books, magical artifacts, equipment, even at one point stepping over a sleeping Darcy.
"I don't understand this," Jane said, running a hand through her already wild hair, "if I'm looking these readings from the Cosmic Cube right, and I am, there should be a large anomaly causing an unprecedented amount of Chaos energy somewhere within 500 miles of this location. But looking at the spectral sneakoscope, it looks like one individual is generating this energy."
Jane stopped pacing and looked at Erik with a mixture of fear and disbelief. "One person, Erik."
"I agree, Jane." Erik grimaced. Eyes shadowed with strain, he ran his finger along their calculations on the parchment one more time. "We've gone over these calculations multiple times, and we've both come up with the same answer independently."
Jane swallowed. Hard. "How can any one individual cause this much Chaos?"
Erik looked at her, his hands running through his hair. "We need to tell the Aurors."
"Tell them what? We don't know anything yet!"
"What if the Dark Lord has risen again? Or someone just as bad?"
Jane threw herself into the squishy armchair alongside Erik and took his hand. "Then we will alert them. But what if it's something completely different? Like the reemergence of the Fae? Or the Druids? The Aurors will just bungle it."
Erik frowned but tightened his grip on Jane's hand. "You aren't suggesting we explore first? Jane, that's not our role."
"But…"
"Jane."
"Alright," Jane sighed and stood up. "Let's tell them. But after we have more data."
000
Jane was on a mission.
After an embarrassing incident with the Ministry of Transportation, that slobbering idiot Cormac McLaggen, and too much overly obvious, disgusting flirting, Jane obtained the last magical item she needed to investigate the ultimate cause of this Chaotic energy.
A portkey.
Scrambling back down to her lab, quickly glancing at the corner where Erik was napping, she practically sprinted to her desk. Throwing on a pair of cursebreaking grade magic-cancelling goggles, she set to work with her wand and the portkey, attempting to modify the unmodifiable.
"That's not what I think it is, is it boss-lady? Because if you get caught you're going to get into so much trouble. Like Tony Stark level trouble."
Jane looked up, goggles still in place, to see Darcy casually sipping her coffee, staring at the golden box of chocolates she was currently slaving over. "Um. You wouldn't believe that this is a gift for my mom would you?"
Darcy snorted. "What's the sentence in Azkaban for portkey tampering? Ten years, twelve? I forget."
Jane scoffed as she took off her goggles. "As if those idiots could detect my modifications. McLaggen's brain is so awash with hormones I'm surprised it still functions."
Jane gave one last swish and flick and the box briefly glowed green before settling to its normal golden sheen. "There. Done."
Swiftly, she set about gathering things in the lab that she might need. She eyes the Cube. She needed it to discover the source of this wild magic. But she was forbidden from taking it from the Cosmos Chamber. She weighed the options in her mind and sighed. I'm going to go to Azkaban if I get caught anyway. What are a few more years? Just as she was stuffing the Cosmic Cube into her bag, she noted Darcy grabbing her outer robes out of the corner of her eye.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Jane said as she adjusted her robes.
"Uh, going with you. Obviously."
Jane placed her hands on Darcy's shoulders and squeezed them, smiling. "I appreciate it. Really. But this could land me in serious trouble, and I don't want that to fall onto your shoulders. Besides, someone has to cover for me to the bosses, right?"
Darcy reluctantly nodded and sat down onto a plush ottoman with a huff. "Fine. Don't have too much fun without me."
Jane suppressed a grin as she activated the portkey. "I won't."
000
When the spinning sensation abruptly stopped, Jane quickly took stock of her surroundings. Busy street - oh, no- oh, wizards, thank goodness. Foreign language - French… Paris! Jane had visited wizarding Paris once for a conference, and this was definitely the Magical Quarter. Breathing a sigh of relief that her plan wasn't trashed by the immediate violation of the Statue of Secrecy, she made her way out of the busy street to a tucked away corner in front of a small cafe.
Peeking into her bag, she glanced at the Cosmic Cube. In the lab, its brightness was blinding. Here in wizarding Paris, it was incandescent. Quickly shutting her bag, she blinked quickly to shake the bright spots from her vision.
"Now that's something you don't see everyday."
Jane's back stiffened instinctively at the low, cultured voice. Turning around slowly, she spotted a man staring at her with a sly grin, sipping a drink at the cafe. He was tall, almost dwarfing the small cafe chair with his large frame. Dressed sublimely in exquisitely tailored black robes, he reeked of old world wealth, an image not helped by accessorizing the outfit with a strange golden walking stick topped with a gem probably worth more than her entire department. He was the picture of pureblood indolence, and Jane should have hated him on sight. But unlike some purebloods that stared at her like she was a bug underneath their show, this man seemed… mesmerized.
It didn't help that he was sinfully handsome.
Jane had always thought her type was blond and burly, but this man seriously made her reconsider her preferences. The essence of tall dark and handsome, he looked like he stepped off a fashion magazine shoot. His eyes were painfully green and painfully intelligent, studying her just as intently as she studied him.
Putting down his cup, he leaned forward in his chair. "Do you have a sunspot in the bag, Miss? That was quite a lightshow."
His low voice seemed pitched just perfectly to resonate with her core. Shivering slightly, she straightened to her full height. "No, not that it's any of your business, sir."
The man chuckled and unfolded his huge frame from the chair. Throwing a handful of galleons onto the table he slowly sauntered to her nook.
Trying her best not to show her inner turmoil, Jane kept a firm hand on her wand and her chin up, meeting his intense eyes as best she could. He stopped close, too close for polite company, close enough for Jane to smell his outrageously delicious cologne. As he took her other hand into his slightly cool one, Jane had a spell on the tip of her tongue.
Bringing her small hand to his mouth, he gently turned it and pressed a lingering kiss to her fluttering pulse.
"Until we meet again," he murmured.
And then, with a lingering look, he was gone.
Jane drew an unsteady breath, relaxing slightly. Her wrist tingled from the feel of his soft lips, but otherwise, she had survived the strange man unscathed and uncursed. Taking a quick peek into her shoulder bag, she froze.
The Cosmic Cube was glowing red.
"No way," Jane breathed. Narrowing her eyes at the tall man, she darted after him as he weaved his way through the witches and wizards of Paris, his walking stick sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.
000
Jane followed the tall wizard as he went about his business in Paris. He spent an inordinate amount of time in the bookshop, browsing in the History of Magic section, of all things. He visited an apothecary, an expensive boutique, and a bakery, never buying anything, and always with an amused smirk on his face, as if laughing at a joke known only to him.
After he exited a small jewelry store, he headed down a nearby alley. Jane followed, disillusionment spell fixed on her person, a silencing spell on her feet.
In a flash, he was gone. Internally panicking, Jane whipped out her wand.
"You're rubbish at spying, you know."
Whirling around, her nose slammed into her target's rather firm pectorals and Jane felt her disillusionment melt from her body. Looking up, up, up at the dark haired man's infuriatingly smug, pointy face she internally groaned.
"I wasn't following you at all. I just happened to be going to the… um…" Jane looked around the deserted alley and bit her lip in consternation.
The wizard smiled, amused, tapping his walking stick on the ground. "To?"
Jane glared. "You've made your point."
The cocky arsehole just smiled. "Yes, but you haven't made yours. Do you have business to discuss or am I just nectar to a honeybee like yourself?"
It took Jane a moment to process that statement. The innuendo hit her at the same moment she realized she was still plastered against his long, admittedly fit body. He shifted slightly closer to her with a wicked smirk and Jane instantly leapt backwards, flushing from her hairline to her toes, sputtering apologies.
The man chuckled and waved them off with an elegant wave of a ring-clad hand. He smiled, almost gently. "Loki Laufeyson."
"Who?"
"Me – it's my name, not that you asked." His smile remained the same, but his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Oh," Jane hesitated, off-balance, reluctant to give her name to this strange man, "Jane Foster."
"So… Jane Foster," the man purred, "What business do you have for me?"
Well, in for a penny, Jane thought as she steeled herself, discreetly fingering her wand in her robes. "I'm looking for a source of Chaos magic,"
"Chaos?" The man chuckled; smile widening, and then he threw his head back and let loose a peal of laughter that echoed eerily in the cramped space.
"Oh, my dear, clever little Jane. You are closer than you realize."
Raising her wand, to a dueling position, Jane snarled, "Ok, now you're seriously creeping me out."
Loki, still grinning and still holding that damned walking stick, raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender, but took a large step forward.
That's it! With a quick swish and flick of her wand, Jane let out a string of rapid-fire curses. Loki, despite his close proximity and large frame somehow dodged them all, moving almost too fast for her eyes to follow.
He must be using magic somehow, but I don't see a wand! Jane thought, panicked.The scepter he always carried started to glow. I wonder…
"Accio scepter!"
She caught the golden staff in her non dominant hand and staggered at the sheer amount of power flowing through the object.
"What the…" she breathed as she stared at the brilliant blue stone. She met Loki's sparkling green eyes. "What is this?"
Loki waved his hand in a complex motion, and Jane found that her body was frozen, completely and utterly.
He stepped closer to her, making a tutting sound. "Taking someone else's things is not very nice, my dear." He deftly took the scepter from her frozen grip. "I'll take that." He glanced at Jane's leather pouch and with a large grin at her fury; he grabbed the Cosmic Cube, which burned with energy at his touch. "And I'll take this as well."
He gently touched the scepter to her chest, his expression darkly handsome with wicked delight. Jane felt a push on her mind, and strengthened her Occlumency shields, pushing back with all of her might. Thanking Merlin for her mandatory Unspeakable training, she struggled to keep the presence from invading her mind until she thought she might crack from the pressure of it. Suddenly, just as it seemed she could hold out no longer, the presence was gone.
Jane panted a little, and then sniffed. Finding she could speak, but not move, she said, "Was that supposed to do something?" The man's face went from smug to shock in a heartbeat, "I think I may sneeze. Was it supposed to give me a head cold?"
Loki's green eyes quickly became calculating, and he smiled again, this time wider, and Jane detected a touch of madness in that smile that sent a frisson of fear down her spine.
"Midgard has become such a fascinating place since I last visited. Such amusing trinkets," the Cosmic Cube danced in his fingers and then disappeared, "and such amusing people. Such brilliant assets to rule."
Rule? Jane thought in a panic, still struggling against invisible bonds made of steel. What the heck is he talking about?
He drifted towards Jane with the grace predatory panther, a smile dancing in his green eyes. He cupped her cheek gently, belying the strength with which he gripped her waist. Dragging a thumb over her full bottom lip, he breathed, "Oh, little mortal, we are going to have such fun."
000
A/N: Sorry this was so late! A combination of illness for myself and my children, and a super intense season at work kicked me in the butt the past few weeks. I hope you like this dristi5683! Your original prompt was great, and the secondary prompt of a Hunger Games AU was super interesting but I don't know much about the series, unfortunately. I did have a tournament AU started, but I was three chapters in and no where near the tournament part so I figured I should restart something I could actually finish, haha. Here's a little taste of an Avengers/HP crossover I cooked up where the wizarding world found cube instead of the muggles. If anyone wants a continuation, let me know! Also forgive me for my errors, I'm out of practice. It's been an insane few years with little time for writing. Hope you like it! *crosses fingers*