A Lull Between…
By Loki
Chapter One
Nervousness and anxiety were soaked deep in the faces of the children who hurried along the British streets. Adults at their sides shared their worry. They made a rushed pace along the concrete walk, passing by house after house. English folk tended to be reclusive shut-ins, but the city block they were speedwalking down was quieter than usual.
London was far duller and far more silent than it had been eight months ago. Where had once been honking cars and bright lights were useless hunks of metal and dead bulbs. Summer was in its twilight, so it was warm enough for the enormous number of vagrants to emerge from their hidden places to bask in the still-warm August sun. Adult and child alike glanced at them out their peripherals and grasped at unseen objects in their robes; unseasonable for the time of year. The small army of black-robed children hurried past the street-crop while the adults pushed along with increased urgency.
A ratty-clothed figure leaning against a building reached out an arm. A green scaly hand emerged from the tattered jacket. It wiggled its fingers, and a wooden wand shot from the robe of the nearest child. The wand zipped into the creature's hand, and it reared the item back.
The nearest adult grabbed hold of the creature's arm and slammed it against the building wall. The creature let out a yelp and dropped the wand. A solid punch in the snout bounced its noggin off the wall and sent the creature to the pavement, revealing it to be a lizard-man. The reptile hissed softly as it went limp. The hurried group broke into a run, sprinting toward the train station that was coming into sight.
The train station was similarly quiet. Many of the massive iron horses lay motionless. There were no crowds clamoring for transport. The ticket booth lay empty. The group stopped and went silent, listening for any activity.
"Platform 9 ¾ this way!" A cockney voice echoed from somewhere inside. Looking about each other, the group started moving again, following the voice.
The group soon didn't have to look so hard, as a steady line of children in black robes were filing through a brick pillar that was not as solid as it appeared. With a sense of relief, the arriving people joined the line.
When their turn came, each child and adult stepped through the brick onto a platform the common populace never knew existed. A steam train that chugged and blew its horn rumbled on the track. The children hurriedly boarded the train, loading their possessions into their compartments. The last of the young passengers clung to the adults that had brought them, showing signs of fear. Their teary-eyed parents and guardians shared the sorrow, but pressed them onto the train, insisting it was the best thing.
The train pulled away from the platform. The passengers on board, normally wild and unruly, were silent, almost in shock as they looked around at the world outside, wondering what to expect of where they going.
A few hours later, after sunset, a menagerie of lights pierced the darkness. A castle loomed in the distance, standing as a glowing jewel in the inky night. Numerous towers reached into the sky, creating the first sensations of excitement the passengers on the train had felt that day.
By the time the train eased to a stop at the receiving platform, the children on board were bursting to exit. They exploded from the train, stopping only when they were met by a gigantic man with hair and beard so bushy his face couldn't be seen.
"'Ello, everyone! For those 'oo don't know me…and it looks like we 'ave a lot of new faces this year, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Professor of Care of Magical Creatures!" His voice was stank with the West Country speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
A cheer arose in the crowd unlike Hagrid had heard in all his years at the School of Wizardry. The hairy half-giant broke into a smile.
"There's that elation I wuz hopin' for! Gather yer bags! The new year awaits!"
A sudden rush struck the crowd. They rushed behind Hagrid, eager to board the carriages and boats that would bear them to their one familiar place in a new world.
When the crowd of Hogwarts students arrived at the entrance to the Great Hall, the students of previous years went inside. The first-years, who were numerous enough to stretch down the stairwell nearly out of sight, were stopped by an aging woman in a green cloak that smelled strongly of cat.
"Hello, everyone. I am Minerva McGonagall, headmaster of Hogwarts. I wish to welcome you all to our school of magic. I'm sorry to rush you all, but you are perhaps the largest class of first-years we have ever had in the history of the school. I will explain the reason for that to the entirety of the students momentarily, so if you would please follow me inside…"
The doors to the Great Hall swung open of their own accord. The streaming throng of new students poured into the room. The first thing they noticed were the four enormous tables that stretched from one end of the expansionous room to the other. Seated at them were already armies of previous students, each bearing tribal colors that bound them to their House brethren. Those that looked up saw an open night sky filled with swirling clouds, but no wind or precipitation fell from it.
Headmaster McGonagall stopped the troupe at the steps leading the professors' table. A stool with a pointed hat on it rested in front of them. McGonagall strode around to her seat at the center of the professors' table, but remained standing. Everyone in the hall went silent. McGonagall glanced momentarily at a new face that was sitting two seats down from her right. A tumble of long shiny black hair fell back from a pale face as it rose from looking downward at the table. A young face, younger than any that had been seen at the professors' table before, looked up at the headmaster. Blue eyes with a dull shine looked up at her coolly. McGonagall flustered slightly at meeting the man's gaze. Composing herself, she addressed the school at large.
"Welcome, all. Hogwarts is at the beginning of a new era. With the death of previous Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and the recent events in the world outside these walls, a number of great changes have been made inside these walls as well. To begin with, the faculty of this school, as well as the Ministry of Magic, has agreed that due to the state of affairs, we have widened our credentials for allowance to Hogwarts, as is evidenced by the size of our first-year class. With the increased presence and aggressiveness of the Dark Lord Voldemort and the events of last Yuletide…" McGonagall stole a worried glance back at the black-haired young man. "It has been decided that an education in the knowledge and use of magic would be best-suited if offered to as many as would undertake it."
Sounds of protest came from the Slytherin table. McGonagall fixed her stern eye on them.
"Also with the…departure of the previous head of Slytherin house, Severus Snape, the position has been given to our potions professor, Horace Slughorn!"
Obligatory applause moved through the crowd as a short, bald, rotund man with an enormous silver moustache labouredly rose from his seat and nodded to the students. He groaned as he sat back down.
"I now introduce the newest addition to the family of Hogwarts…" McGonagall looked once more at the black-haired man. "A man whose name has become well-known throughout the world, a renowned man of magic, and esteemed defeater of Dark Wizards…I introduce The Loki!"
Patches of applause went up through the room, but was domineered by stunned silence. The man rose from his seat and nodded thanks to McGonagall.
"Just Loki, please, Headmaster. Students of Hogwarts, I know my name has been attached to many things. Many of which have been deemed evil and monstrous by the greater population of the planet. What I did was necessary. People lament the loss of the world they knew; however, without my actions, the human race would be extinct. Truly, the magic folk like yourselves will only benefit from this. Things like…" Loki stopped his oration. "Those who have me in class can hear everything. That's all I have."
"Thank you, Professor Loki." McGonagall said. "Things are unfamiliar, and you are uneasy. Perhaps some expected routine will quell your discomfort. The sorting begins now!"
Hagrid stood beside the stool and raised the Sorting Hat. It began to speak.
"Darkness lies outside the walls, bringing you to me. The world is changed; frightening things you see.
You come here now to find your place, but darkness hides here beneath a pleasant face.
We shall teach the newfound the skill of spells, to ease their lot in what they see as hells.
See come you now to your new abode…and find what new tale will be told."
The first of the new students, looking quite a bit older than the standard age of eleven, came forward, looking nervous. Hagrid smiled reassuringly through his massive beard and placed the hat on the teenage boy's head.
"Hufflepuff." The hat announced.
"Is that good?" The boy asked though the cordial applause.
"It certainly is." Pomona Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house, asserted with a wink. "We need more of your kind these days." The residents of the Hufflepuff table rose to welcome their new brother. With a grin, the boy joined his Hogwarts family.
It took a long time to sort through the first-years, being so many. Eventually, the last of the newcome found a place at the Slytherin table. The Sorting Hat, for the first time ever, was looking tired. Hagrid was about to take the hat away when Loki stood up.
"One moment, Hagrid."
Every gaze turned toward him in surprise.
"Professor Loki, what are you doing?" McGonagall asked.
"I was never a student of this place, Headmaster. I'm curious to what I would be had I been. May I try the hat on?"
"If you wish." McGonagall allowed.
Loki remained standing while Hagrid placed the Sorting Hat on his noggin. The hat visibly jolted upon contact.
"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh…" The hat stammered, pulling back from Loki's skull. Finally, it steeled itself and gingerly rested on the black mane of hair. It seemed to be fighting to keep itself on top.
"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted with startling intensity.
Hesitant applause spread through the room, particularly from the Ravenclaw table. Loki nodded thanks to Hagrid and took his place at the professors' table.
With that, McGonagall commenced the feast. The first-years flinched when the culinary multitudes sprang into being from the empty trays.
From the Gryffindor table, two seventh -year students spoke at length.
"Have you heard of this Loki fellow? I've heard a lot of rumors." Ron Weasley whispered to Hermione Granger. "Some wizards call him a hero, while others call him a monster. What have you heard?"
Hermione didn't seem to hear him. She was fixated on the Professors' Table.
"Hermione!" Ron said somewhat loudly.
"Whu?" She spat out, startled.
"Did you hear me? I asked you about Loki."
At the mention, her attention drifted back to the Professors' Table.
"Loki?" She airily muttered.
"Yes, him…HERMIONE!"
She blinked hard. "Whu?"
"He's no Victor Krum. If he's Ravenclaw, then he has a brain in that raven-maned head of his. But he seems to share Krum's creepy personality." Ron said with increasing bile.
"We have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow. We'll see for ourselves."
Ron only grumbled into his chicken wings.
The next day, in a wide open room of the castle that was minimal in decoration, the first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts waited with apprehension for their new professor to arrive.
"So where is Professor Loki?" Ron sneered. "It's not for a new professor to be late to his first class."
"I'm not." A dark Irish voice echoed from all around the gaping chamber. "It certainly isn't for a student to speak ill of a professor he hasn't met yet on his first class, Ron Weasley."
Heads jerked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Several gasps were heard when a black-wrapped figure stepped into view from a shadowy corner of the room. A long black leather coat and long black hair had hidden the figure in the darkness that lurked in the recesses of the room.
Professor Loki settled into place in front of the class to begin the lesson.
"Already, some of you are wondering what kind of spell I used to go unnoticed that way. We'll get to that. To start with, a little bit about me. I could be equated with many of the magical folk in that I grew up outside the modern world. Magic was the norm for my clan, but we lived in awareness of the modern world outside our abode. I left them after a while, and lived the modern world. I kept my sorcery secret like most magic folk, but unlike a lot of purebloods, I embraced the modern world and nearly all its accoutrements. After a long time in what I thought was unique solitude, I starting finding there were others living like I was; many more than I would have wagered. I also found there was a huge conspiracy going down way beneath the surface of the world I thought I knew so well. Not unlike the wizarding folk in school, there were other magic folk that hiding themselves in plain sight of the masses. They called themselves Nocnistu. Folk like yourselves would have been on the tops of their hit lists, since they were non-human magic-wielding creatures that were primarily focused on committing genocide on magic-using humans so they could take the world as their own with a mystic fist. They pretty much had already succeeded at that part. If it hadn't been for all their internal conflict looking out for number one, they probably would have recovered from what was done to finish them off. Does anyone know what that was?"
The students looked nervously at each other. No one had the courage to answer.
Finally, a seventh-year Gryffindor boy raised his hand, trembling.
Loki pointed at him.
"Yes, you."
The boy gulped loudly.
"You destroyed the world?"
To everyone's shock, Loki applauded.
"That's daring, young one. Just the kind of answer I was hoping for. Yes, I did destroy the world AS IT WAS KNOWN. I set off a slew of Electromagnetic Pulses across the planet that fried everything electronic on Earth. It set mankind back centuries. It had to be done, or humanity would have gone extinct. Humankind was so spiritually dead and so dependent on technology to survive they were going to die out from sheer weakness. That was exactly what the Nocnistu had wanted. After the Muggles were tenderized into ineffectitude, the wizards would've been easy pickings since there were so few of them. I really did the world a favor, but few would agree with that. Humanity was going a direction it wasn't in control of, and the only way to give the world to the humans that were supposed to have it was to take that world away. It was like amputating a cancer, but this body can grow that limb back even better than it was before. I'm here to help with that. Those that are wondering why the class is so huge this year can blame me. I presented a case to the Ministry of Magic about opening Hogwarts' doors to anyone that wants to enroll."
Another hand rose, now that the intense ice was broken.
"Question?" Loki asked.
"What are the Muggles going here? They can't do magic." A girl of Slytherin asked.
Loki's face tensed for a moment, underlying his attractive young-looking visage with the potential explosion of a nuclear reactor. He glared at the crowd, and for a moment, his eyes turned completely black.
"What makes you think Muggles can't do magic?"
No answer.
A moment later, Loki relaxed.
"I'll be answering that question a lot for a while, so you'll all be first in on something everyone in this school's going to learn soon. There're very few who truly can't do magic. Most anyone can. What you call Muggles just have a harder time with it than the gifted folk. It comes more naturally to Purebloods and even Mudbloods, but that doesn't mean magic belongs only to you. Even someone without a lick of wizardry can take you down. Miss Slytherin, would you come forward, please?"
Many of the crowd of students took a step back, leaving the Slytherin seventh-year standing alone. She came forward, coming to a stop around five paces from Loki.
"There's just fine. Now, Miss?"
"Lexis."
"Miss Lexis, I give you my permission to attack me in any way you wish, right now."
Lexis' eyes drifted toward Loki's hands, which remained hanging at his sides.
"I don't have a wand, Miss Lexis. Attack."
Mentally shrugging, Lexis thrust her wand forward.
"ExpelliAAAHHH!!!"
The moment she had begun to incant, Loki lunged forward, knocked the wand aside with his fist, and blasted his other hand into her nose. The impact and shock sent Lexis crumpling to the floor with blood bursting from her broken schnoz.
"THAT…" Loki emphasized, pointing down at her. "…is what some Muggle without a lick of magic and half a brain can do to you." He knelt down next to Lexis and placed his hands on her broken nose.
"Episkey"
With a warm glow, Lexis' nose was mended. He helped her to her feet and returned her wand to her.
"Thank you." Loki said with sincerity. "The voice of dissent is the one that prevents decay. SO!" Loki addressed the class as a whole as Lexis returned to the crowd. "We're starting the new regime at Hogwarts with a completely mundane lesson. Because any fool with a .44 Magnum can pull a trigger before you can say Stupefy. Everyone find a partner, and we'll begin."
Ron grumbled to Hermione as they squared off.
"The whole idea of being at Hogwarts is to do MAGIC. What's the point of brawling like uncivilized apes?"
"He just made that point clear, Ron." Hermione said with a hint of steel. "It would be safe to assume that Voldemort is out there recruiting new Death Eaters from people trying to find a place in the world as it is. And I would also bet that he's teaching them these same principles. We need to be prepared."
"I liked it better in Dumbledore's Army with Harry. Any fool can swing their fist."
Hermione was already glued to the lesson. Loki was demonstrating a diagonal step that evaded a wand's blast from the outside flank of the attacker's body, but also brought the defender into striking range. He moved slowly, making each nuance apparent and understood. He retook his position and repeated the step, this time swatting the offending wand aside in mid-step.
Resetting once more, he repeated his simultaneous actions, and this time fired out his fist, stopping just short of the eye of the student he demonstrating on.
Once everyone got the gist of the technique, they selected who would wield the wand and who would fire the fist. Slowly crawling through the foreign movements, the students emulated what their professor showed them. Little by little, the awkward coordination gained fluidity, and the students were beginning to enjoy themselves.
Hermione was starting to smile as she glided in and out of range of Ron's wand as he leveled it at her.
"What's so funny?" Ron sneered, feeling stupid pointing a wand at her without saying so much as a magic syllable.
"I like this. It's shame we live in a boarding school. I wish I'd started this when I was younger. The Muggles had schools of martial arts all over."
"HAD is right. They also used to have post offices and airplanes before that Loki prat came along. My dad was fascinated by the Muggle world, and he destroyed it."
"You mean the Muggle world where we had to do everything in secret?" Hermione sneered in return.
"I mean the one where-"
POW!
In their mutual aggravation, both Ron and Hermione made their attacks with more gusto then required, and Ron face connected solidly with Hermione's fist. A flash of white light exploded in Ron's vision as he fell to the floor.
"Ow…" Hermione muttered, holding her aching knuckles. Ron clutched at his aching eye, which was already swelling closed.
"I hate that man…" He groaned.