Lila Lokisdottir:

Chapter 1

I decided to skip to Lila's eleventh birthday, since that's when the story starts. I may add things about her childhood, but I'm not sure yet.

Lila Lokisdottir, formerly Lila Potter, got up with a smile. It was her eleventh birthday, and her family was planning a party. She took a shower and got dressed before going downstairs to the kitchen.

Lila had lived in Avengers Tower for most of her life. She knew she was adopted, since she had been told about her adoption and heritage as soon as she was old enough to understand. She was grateful that her dad and her godfather had told her early on.

When she turned six, her dad and godfather- who insisted she call him Uncle Padfoot- started teaching her how to use her magic. That was also when they started to explain her past. She understood why she couldn't go to England, and didn't really have any desire to go there, or attend a school that didn't teach anything useful. She was highly intelligent; able to keep up with her dad and her Uncle Tony, which was quite an accomplishment. Her magic studies went well too, although she hated making potions. Even though she loved cooking, potions smelled bad, so she couldn't really equate the two. Like her father, godfather, and her uncles Tony and Clint, she loved pranks. They got into lots of prank wars over the years, and had lots of fun.

Lila had been warned to avoid owls carrying letters, and she knew that now that she was eleven, the British wizards would most likely start looking for her. For now, though, she decided to enjoy her birthday.

Loki, Sirius, Pepper, and the Avengers looked up as Lila came in and chorused loudly, "Happy Birthday, Lila!"

"Thanks guys!" Lila said happily. She sat down next to Loki, and they started on the large breakfast Steve had cooked.

When they finished, Loki asked, "Lila, remember who's coming over today?"

"All my friends from the Institute!" Lila chirped. Because of her advanced intellect, Lila had trouble interacting with people her own age. This didn't apply to mutants, however, since they all had powers. So she often went to Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, which was a school for mutants. She became friends with the X-Men, and even, much to everyone's surprise, befriended Logan, codename Wolverine. The kids in the Institute liked her too, because she didn't treat them any differently from regular humans.

At around noon, JARVIS announced that their guests had arrived. Lila perked up and looked over at the elevator. The doors opened, and Rogue, Bobby, Ororo, Jean, Scott, and Logan came out. "Happy Birthday, Lila!" they chorused as she ran over and hugged them one by one.

"Thanks!" Lila said happily. "You guys managed to beat the pizza guy here; impressive."

Of course, then JARVIS piped up, saying, "The pizza just arrived."

Logan snorted and ruffled Lila's hair, causing her to squeak. "How're you doing, kid?" he asked.

"I'm happy," Lila said. "It's great to see all of you; how are you doing?"

"Pretty well," Jean said. The others nodded agreement as she said, "We've got a few new mutants at the Institute, maybe next time you come over you can meet them."

"Okay!" Lila chirped happily as Steve and Clint came in with ten large pizzas. Tony had also gotten them a few orders of garlic knots, much to Lila's delight.

The group gathered around the kitchen table and started eating, chatting about different things as they did so. Tony had ordered a large cake for the event, stating that there were too many people to bake for. It was a two-layer yellow cake with ganache icing and the words 'Happy Birthday, Lila' written on it in green icing. It was decorated with more green icing as well.

After cake, the group went to the living room to watch Lila open presents. She was opening what appeared to be a new laptop from Tony when a flash of flame appeared in the room, sending the Avengers- and everyone else, for that matter- on guard. A red and gold bird appeared out of the flames, and Loki's eyes narrowed. "That's a phoenix," he said. "What is it doing here?"

The bird landed on Lila's lap, and trilled at her. Lila looked confused, and said, "It wants me to go somewhere."

"That thing is roadkill if it takes you anywhere," Loki growled, to the others' surprise. He was sitting next to her, with Tony on her other side.

"What are you sensing?" Tony asked.

"The phoenix doesn't want to take Lila anywhere, but it's being forced to," Loki said grimly, and laid a hand on the phoenix's wing, saying, "I can undo the binding, but in return you must leave my daughter alone."

The phoenix nodded, and Loki muttered something, his hand still on its wing. After a minute, he took his hand away. The phoenix made a triumphant noise, and settled down on Lila's lap. Lila hesitantly petted it, and it trilled happily. "It appears to be a male phoenix," Loki said, examining the bird.

"What's his name?" Lila asked.

"Fawkes, apparently," Loki said. "He used to belong to that meddling old fool in England, but now apparently he wants to stay here with us."

"Can we keep him?" Lila asked hopefully. "He's pretty!"

Loki looked over at Tony, who said, "Yes, we can keep the bird. I'm kind of curious about it, actually."

"When are you NOT curious?" Steve asked, getting a round of laughter from everyone.

~XXXX~

At Hogwarts: Dumbledore was worried. He had learned a few years ago from Arabella Figg that Lila Potter wasn't at Privet Drive. When he went to investigate, he found that the wards were still there, but Lila was not, and the Dursleys had had their memories modified by someone extremely powerful. They now believed they didn't have a niece, and all Dumbledore's attempts to break the memory block failed. After years of searching, he finally decided to send Fawkes out to find the girl. And to make matters worse, the phoenix had gone missing! How was he supposed to control the Girl-Who-Lived and make sure she died while killing Voldemort if he couldn't find her? Not to mention McGonagall was giving him a headache with her remonstrations about leaving Lila with the Dursleys.

Finally he decided to check the book of students one more time; it was the only way he might find out Lila's address.

To his surprise, he found the address had changed to somewhere in New York City. Pleased, he decided to contact Remus Lupin, who had been a good friend of the Potters and was more comfortable in the muggle world than most.

~XXXX~

Remus sighed as he walked up to the address given to him a week after Dumbledore found Lila. He had been furious to find that Lila had been left with the ONE family Lily and James had specifically told everyone not to send her to, but seeing a chance to get out of England, he took it. As he told the odd British voice why he was there, he wondered if this was such a good idea after all.

A few minutes later, after being let in, he saw two men coming towards him. The taller one was the one who caught his eye, though; something about him radiated power, and Remus's inner wolf was actually acting submissive. Then Remus got a good look at the second man, and asked incredulously, "SIRIUS!? You're supposed to be dead!"

"If you're Moony, what incident in our fifth year nearly ruined our friendship?" Sirius asked.

"You tricked Snape into finding me on the full moon. If it wasn't for James, Snape would most likely be dead or worse," Remus said. "What happened the first time James tried to transform?"

"He ended up with antlers for a week," Sirius said. "Why are you here, Moony?"

"Dumbledore sent me; he just didn't notice I wasn't planning on returning," Remus said tiredly. "He left Lila with the DURSLEYS; there's no way in hell I'm trusting him after that stunt. But what happened the night James and Lily died, Sirius?"

"We switched the Secret Keeper to Peter to throw people off," Sirius said grimly. "We didn't realize he had already switched to Voldemort's side, and that rat told his new master everything. Hagrid took Lila away from me on Dumbledore's orders, and I basically went crazy, then went after the rat. Since I never got a trial, I don't blame you for thinking I was the one who betrayed James and Lily. I know it looked pretty bad. What happened on your end?"

"Dumbledore refused to even tell me where Lila was, and I fled the country until Dumbledore told me Lila was missing," Remus said. "How did she get here?"

"Her relatives abandoned her on the steps of a church two blocks from here," the man next to Sirius said. "I happened to be passing by, and took her in. I then went to the goblins for information, and faked Sirius's death, then brought him back here."

Remus noticed Sirius's smirk, and asked warily, "Do I even want to know who you are?"

"I'll give you a hint; remember all those rubber chickens I sacrificed?" Sirius asked gleefully.

Remus put two and two together- then fainted.

He woke up to Sirius's evil cackling and a girl's voice saying, "Really, Uncle Padfoot, did you have to?"

"Hey, it's not my fault he fainted!" Sirius said in between cackles. "He probably can't handle the fact that Loki, the god he worships, is actually here."

"He's awake," Loki said dryly. Remus quit faking unconsciousness and sat up, finding himself on a sofa with a group of muggles eyeing him warily- except for one, who looked eager. Looking at Sirius- who was still cackling- he took out his wand and hexed his hair pink. Sirius stopped cackling and glared at him. "Moony! I hate pink!" he whined.

"Now that you're awake, we have questions for you," Loki said, ignoring Sirius.

"I assume to make sure I'm not here to take Lila away?" Remus asked. "I have no problem with questions."

Loki nodded and asked, "Are you working for Dumbledore in any way?"

"No, he just thinks I am," Remus replied.

"Do you have a problem with Sirius and myself training Lila, rather than sending her to a magical school?"

"As long as she gets a good education, I don't really care where it comes from."

Loki nodded, pleased. "Would you be willing to live somewhere else?" he asked. "None of us have a problem with your 'condition'- but Tony is likely to try to find you on the full moon, so it's really better if you don't live somewhere Mr. Insanity is capable of getting to."

"I'm not that bad," Tony grumbled.

"Yes you are," everyone except Remus said.

"I don't have a problem living somewhere else; the last thing I want is to turn someone by accident," Remus said. "Did you have a suggestion?"

"There's an all-werewolf community in Upstate New York; you could visit us any time you wanted if you lived there, and I can help you get a place there," Sirius said.

"Alright," Remus said after a moment's hesitation.

"So I get another new uncle?" Lila asked hopefully.

"Yes, he just won't live with us like your other uncles," Loki said. He looked back at Remus and said, "I suggest spending the night here; we can take you to the werewolf community tomorrow."

"Thank you," Remus said. He turned Sirius's hair back to normal, and then looked startled as Fawkes flew in and landed on Lila's shoulder. "Isn't that Fawkes?" he asked.

"Dumbledore bound Fawkes to him using some kind of ritual; I took the binding off and he took a liking to Lila," Loki replied. "He's been here ever since." Fawkes trilled happily.

"I have a question; how exactly did you know where Lila was living?" Tony asked.

"Hogwarts has a self-updating book that lists all the children's addresses," Remus replied. "Since Lila was slated to go there by her parents, her address was in the book."

The others looked grim, and Loki said, "So we might have other people after her as well."

"Yes; once Dumbledore realizes I'm not coming back, he'll probably send someone else," Remus said. "My guess would be either Snape or Moody, since McGonagall is refusing to do anything for him since Lila's disappearance became known. The only reason she's still teaching there is so she can warn every student to come through her doors that Dumbledore is rotten."

"Well, at least we'll be prepared," Tony commented.

The others nodded.

Wow. The support I've gotten so far is UNREAL! You guys are awesome. I've got chapters one through five written already, and will probably post once a day while working on more. Thanks for being awesome!