Shenanigans

"What Makes a Slytherin"

Year: 3rd

A/N: Ok, we all love to sort people into Hogwarts. Seriously. It's fun, we do it. This fic is kind of an excuse for me to sort the Avengers. And write about their various misadventures. The basic format for this is just going to be some loosely connected oneshots focused on different Avengers getting into different shenanigans. They're not going to be put in chronological order, and I might take prompts if you have any requests. My idea for this series is just for it to be nice and entertaining. No stress, just fun. Going from experience, most of these are going to end up being humor based, maybe with a little crack, with the occasional introspective chapter or even angsty bit shoved in. The "year" will always be by what the main Avengers are in, even if the focus is on Loki or Darcy for clarities sake. In this case, Natasha and Clint are in 3rd year and Loki is in 2nd. Also, I don't own what I don't own- you have been disclaimed. On with the fic!

The Odinsons were having a row again. Their father was the Minister of Magic, so this would have usually been paparazzi worthy except that it wasn't exactly a rare occasion. Ever since Loki had been sorted into Slytherin, Thor's rival house, the two had been pitted against each other. Sometimes they shrugged off house boundaries in favor of their blood but other times… It was a nasty business.

This time, Loki had went a little too far in pranking the house of the brave and Thor had taken offence. Loki, even a year below Thor, was better at magic then his brother and Thor was unable to remove the color changing curse on his hair. Most of the other Gryffindors had figured it out but Thor demanded that Loki himself take the spell off.

Loki, of course, didn't want to.

His fellow Slytherins had congratulated him and genuinely made him out to be some kind of hero. That was pretty rare since Loki didn't really have any friends. He hung out with his brother's but he didn't fit in with brash Gryffindors. Most of the Slytherins bored him and he spent most of his time in the library. Often, Loki wished he'd gotten into Ravenclaw like he'd wanted to initially. But no, the Hat just had to dangle greatness over him, and Loki wanted greatness. He wanted his father to see that he could take the family mantle in politics, to be interested in him. It hadn't really worked as Odin still referred to Thor as his successor, but Loki consoled himself by promising that he'd prove his worth someday.

Loki did wonder how long this rift would last. He was oddly starting to miss his brother. It'd be fine if Thor had kept getting after him but for the last few days he'd been getting the silent treatment. It was much more fun to snark and laugh at an opponent then to have him ghost away.

Now Darcy wanted to talk him into another prank- something strange that only a muggleborn could come up with. Loki found the girl… worrying. She was one of the rare muggleborn Slytherins and she sometimes seemed to be the only person in his year who would continually talk to him. She seemed to think they were friends but… it wasn't that Loki was really prejudiced but he barely understood what she talked about. She would jabber on, a mile a minute, and Loki would be forced to accept defeat. Muggle slang was not English, it just wasn't.

He was hiding from- erm, strategically avoiding- the girl in the Hogwart's courtyard, reading an advanced charms book wedged in-between the castle divider between the paved walkway and the grass. He was right in the middle of a particularly interesting variation on the tickling charm when he felt someone looking at him.

He looked up, expecting Thor or even Darcy, but instead found a rather intimidating red haired girl and a relaxed looking boy. They weren't wearing any house ties but Loki was almost positive that he'd seen the girl at the Gryffindor table.

"Are you ever going to take it off Thor?" The boy asked,

"No." Loki responded, slightly startled by the straightforwardness of the question.

"I see." The girl looked at the boy with a slight smirk, raising one of her eyebrows slightly.

"Let me guess, you want me to remove the curse from the oaf and if I don't you're going to make me regret it." Loki closed his book after a glimpse at the page number, 57.

The boy laughed, "Well Nat?"

"He's stereotyping too much. This is why I can't stand Slytherins and Gryffindors."

"Look kid," the boy leaned forward, "If we wanted Thor to have his beautiful golden locks unmarred by the ever changing rainbow, then it'd be done."

"Then why are you here?" Loki felt a little of kilter between these two. He knew that they were older than him- none of them were in his classes. Though, the "kid" comment still got under his skin. They'd have to be around Thor's age, and a year wasn't that much seniority for that kind of disrespect. By "Nat's" comment about Slytherin and Gryffindor he assumed that they weren't in either, even if he was sure he'd seen her around the courageous idiots.

"You sure weren't cunning about it all." The boy completely ignored the question, "You took credit immediately."

"I don't have to explain my actions to you!" Loki protested hotly,

"Ambition." The girl nodded to the boy,

"This doesn't mean you were right." He shot her a grin, "True cunning hides. Just because we don't find any-"

"I wouldn't say that." Loki narrowed his eyes, "Taking credit for a deed doesn't necessarily mean that there's no hidden motivation for doing so. Just because you are too dull to take things at more than face value-"

"Thank you for confirmation." Natasha interrupted with a smile, "I have no doubt that you have some ulterior motivation for your trick. As hilarious as it is, you aren't the kind of person who just decides to have a laugh. However, it isn't very cunning to defend your pride. Clint, I'm sure my point's been made."

"Ok, ok. I see why you didn't get into the snakey house."

"Good."

Without another word, the two walked off, their steps synchronized with one others'.

What had that been?

Loki stared after them until they disappeared out of sight. Cunning? Ambition? Why had they just randomly tested him? Loki could kind of put it together, he assumed that they were seeing which Slytherin traits he had- maybe they had done this to others in his house as well- but for… proving why Natasha wasn't in Slytherin? What?

Maybe she was in Ravenclaw. The two certainly couldn't be Hufflepuffs. She may have taken a logical fallacy- because what if he had intentionally behaved like he had to hide his cunning? He hadn't but he could have!- but she seemed intelligent. Strange though.

He still didn't get the purpose.

A/N: Why did I put Loki in Slytherin? The ambition. I know it's cliché to put villains in Slytherin but in Loki's case it's true. He wants power, he think he deserves to rule. He has a reputation for being cunning, although I think that he doesn't quite perfect it until Thor 2. In Thor and Avengers he wasn't so much of cunning as complicated in a way. So the way I figure, 2nd year Loki would still have some work on the whole silver-tongued front and major league scheming. I considered putting Loki in Ravenclaw but even though Loki likes knowledge, he doesn't value it like he does power.

Any you may have picked up that Natasha isn't a Slytherin. She's certainly cunning but in the end I decided that it's the ambition factor. She just has never shown any desire for power, she's a survivor not a wannabe leader. In this Shenanigan, she was proving to Clint that, at the moment at least, the Slytherin house in far more full of ambitious people rather than cunning to show him why she didn't go snake. Plus- she's cunning! She would intentionally try to get in a house where she wouldn't be suspected. Natasha likes to appear as something she isn't and use that to her advantage.

I did put Darcy in Slytherin because well... it fit. Political Science major, and well- She's Darcy. She's not for-the-science, for-the-friends, or really Gryffindorish. I think she's ambitious and can be cunning if she worked at it. If she found it entertaining.

Anyways, any comments? Agreements or arguments with my sorting? Do you feel sorry for poor 2nd year Loki having to put up with Clint and Natasha? Reviews are great by the way. Just had to mention that. Yep... Thanks for reading!