Okay, I promise. I WILL EXPLAIN THE NIGHTMARE THING...EVENTUALLY

I swear I meant to do it last chapter but this is the danger in writing author's notes before you write any of the actual story. But if I'm completely honest, we need some serious buildup before we get to that bit of the story, because it's a hell of a story and not something Fenris is going to tell to people he's known for less than a year.

"What did Professor Angelo want?" Lysander questioned when Fenris slipped into History of Magic late. He hadn't bothered asking for a note - Professor Binns probably hadn't even noticed he hadn't come in with everything else. The old ghost kept droning on at the front of the class.

"She just wanted to ask me something," Fenris lied, feeling guilty. "Just about the last homework assignment we had. I got it mixed up with something for another class."

"Oh." Lysander accepted it without question. "I think the older years know a spell for erasing ink."

"It's too late for that." Fenris scrambled to remember what their last homework assignment had been, but Lysander didn't ask anything else except,

"Do you think he ever stops putting people to sleep?"

It took Fenris a moment to realize he meant Professor Binns. "I don't think so," he said, and tried to pretend he was as tired as everyone else.

It wasn't that he liked lying. Fenris always felt a little guilty when he pretended to Lysander or Lillian that he was like them, subject to the same demands of humanity which he still didn't think he understood. But he had too, didn't he?

His dad had recommended the name change. His dad, who had been here before and gone through all this already. He'd only needed a few people who knew, and it wasn't much of a need. And besides, humans didn't like things or people-shaped beings who were Different.

Fenris had seen what happened to people who were Different, and he didn't think a few centuries had allowed humans to make much progress on that front.

Fenris went to Muriel, after spending almost a week wondering about it. How did you do it?

"Well," Muriel said, "first off, Godric was not the kind who might notice any slips I made."

Fenris tilted his head curiously. "As in Gryffindor?"

"Who else do I know named Godric?"

"I don't know. Maybe you met someone."

Muriel shrugged, and took a sip from the steaming teacup that had been placed next to the papers she was probably supposed to be grading. "Fair enough. But Godric was about as perceptive as a brick, when it came to some things, and by the time the other two showed up, I had gotten a better idea of how I was supposed to act."

"But I've met humans before," Fenris said, an edge of complaint in his voice.

"I was under the impression you stayed mostly with your family," Muriel said in a way that meant she wasn't just 'under the impression'. "Without being surrounded by humans pretty much twenty-four seven-"

"What?"

"Unless you're around humans all the time," Muriel simplified, "it's difficult to grasp some of their social behaviors. And they always end up changing things after a century or so. It can be frustrating."

Fenris had already figured out that he was behind on slang and most other casual things, so that wasn't anything new. "That's not really what I meant," he said, mostly to the desk instead of Muriel.

"Ah," Muriel said. "This is about the twins."

Muriel had not been very helpful in that department.

There's no good way to tell someone you're not human, Muriel had said. Father knows I never got around to it with those three. But it's a matter of choosing the right time.

'The right time' was being irritatingly elusive.

How would he even phrase it? There's something I haven't been telling you...no, that sounded too serious. They were only eleven, after all.

Fenris wasn't totally ignorant of humans. He'd known more than a few, had human playmates. But he'd moved around a lot, too, for as long as he could remember, and he never had very much time with any of them. The only permanent people in his life, really, had been Slepnir and Jor and Hel and Moðir and Dad.

But he had known humans. The way younger people acted couldn't have changed that much over seven centuries. It was human nature.

And Fenris knew them. That would help, that the three of them were friends, wouldn't it?

Fenris never quite got the courage to broach the subject.

Lysander and Lillian never really brought up the subject of Norse paganism - not around him, at least. The glances they occasionally exchanged when someone nearby mentioned it made him think it might have been because of him. He hadn't exactly been enthusiastic about it before, but...

Fenris wasn't sure if he was frustrated or kind of pleased that Lysander (most likely it had been him) had picked up on some cue that Fenris didn't like talking about those particular 'myths' much.

"Hey," Lillian said, one day at lunch long after people had stopped giving her weird looks for being a Slytherin at Hufflepuff table, "guess what I found?"

"What?" Lysander seemed only half-interested in the conversation, giving a perfunctory reply.

"Well, you know that map that mum gave us?"

That caught Lysander's attention a bit more. "What about it?"

"There's a sneaky way to Hogsmeade on it," Lillian said smugly.

Fenris had the feeling he was missing something. "...What's Hogsmeade?"

Lillian stared at him like he'd wounded her deeply. "What's Hogsmeade, he says!" She almost shouted it, and Fenris had to keep himself from flinching back. He must not have done a very good job, because Lysander sharply reached across the table and pushed at Lillian's shoulder.

"He's Muggleborn," Lysander said, a calm reminder, then turned to Fenris. "Hogsmeade's the village out near the school. It's an all-magical population, and it's got all these shops and such - I think Weasley's moved out there a few years back."

"They did," Lillian said. "Zonko's almost went out of business 'cause nobody was buying their stuff."

"Nevermind Zonko's," Lysander said. "Why were you looking for a path to Hogsmeade? No one's allowed to go but the upper years."

"Not if it's a secret way that nobody will see you coming out of," Lillian said.

Oh. Fenris perked up. Sneaking out and breaking rules, he could do.

"They're going to be wondering why first years are in the village," Lysander said.

"We'll say we're really short thirteen year olds," Lillian said. "Fabian can back us up, they'll believe him."

"They will?" Fenris asked, surprised.

"Sure," Lillian told him. "You always sound older than you look."

"What about the whole new bit of the village?" Lysander asked, arms crossed across his chest, as Fenris tried not to react too much to what Lillian had said. "They don't let anyone over thirteen go because of that. It's like Knocturn."

Lillian scoffed. "You're exaggerating. And that rule's always been a rule, since before the second war, mum said. Remember how she said she didn't go until third year?"

Lysander's arms stayed stubbornly crossed. "It's still bad."

"That's only one bit of the village," Lillian insisted. "No students go near there anyway, it's not like it'll be hard to avoid. Right?" She rounded on Fenris.

"Um-" Why was it always Lillian who put him on the spot? "If it's only part of the village..." He was really bored, anyway. Nothing interesting had happened all year. And a magical village sounded just as interesting as a magical school.

Lillian grinned wide. "The next Hogsmeade weekend isn't until after Friday," she said, "so we'll have to wait. I saw a sign."

Lysander sighed. "I guess," he said grudgingly. "Honeydukes is there anyway."

The three of them went up to the third floor the following weekend, and Lillian got the statue-witch's hump open easily.

"It's too dark," she muttered as Fenris slipped in and found his footing behind them.

"It's a secret passage," Lysander said. "Were you expecting fancy lights and a polished floor?"

Lillian made a face back at him. Fenris wasn't nearly as burdened by the dark, and managed to stop either of them from banging their heads on the low ceiling or tripping on anything as they progressed down the very, very long tunnel.

Lysander still managed to trip over the bottom of the staircase.

"Finally!" Lillian darted up it before any of them could say anything. The top of the staircase came up against a flat floor, but part of the ceiling easily moved, revealing itself to be a loose floor tile in a basement full of boxes and crates when they hauled themselves out.

"Honeydukes," Lysander said. "Awesome."

"I told you it would be alright," Lillian said.

Honeydukes was crowded enough that they slipped out after buying only a few things - Lysander had grabbed as many Chocolate Frogs as would fit into his pockets, insisting that he might as well since he'd brought pocket money.

Lillian had dragged both of them into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, since apparently anyone they knew who worked there was at the shop in Diagon Alley, but Fenris had to leave after only a few moments. It was too loud, too noisy, too crowded with people and someone kept setting off tiny fireworks that whizzed close over his head like they were designed to make him as uncomfortable as possible.

"Are you sure you're okay with waiting?" Even Lillian had lingered in the doorway when Fenris had said he'd wait outside.

"I don't mind," he said. "You can go and buy...stuff. As long as it doesn't get set off near me."

There was a bench outside the store, which was just as bright and colorful as the storefront and anything inside. Fenris decided not to sit on it in case it turned out to be booby-trapped. He wouldn't put it past these 'Weasleys'.

Lysander and Lillian didn't leave with anything from the store - Lysander had spent it all on chocolate. Lillian prodded and teased him for it right up until they got to the end of the street.

Up until the end of the street, because that was where they got yanked into the alley.

"Hey!" They were bigger than the three of them. People in black robes. Fenris wrenched his arm out of the witch's grip.

"Stop, stop it!" Lysander was wriggling in his captor's hold. Lillian had been caught by her hair. She was trying to get her wand out. One of them grabbed her by the wrist so hard it made her cry out.

"Leave them alone!" Fenris lunged at the wizard. Someone grabbed him from behind. Arms wrapped around his chest. A heavy weight pinned him in place.

Fenris panicked.

No no no nonoNONOnonoNO-

He writhed, trying to escape, but he wasn't big enough. Fenris slammed his head backwards, feeling it connect with a sharp chin. There was a pained exclamation. Fenris thrashed as wildly as possible. Grass crackled and frosted over underneath him.

Whoever was holding him suddenly threw him away from them. Fenris scrambled to his feet, seeing forearms blacked by frostbite. The man was shouting.

Panic blanked Fenris's mind out and made his breath come too fast. The man lunged at him. He threw his arms up in front of him defensively.

The man went flying backwards.

Fenris was flat against the wall and barely registered how the wizard hit the wall and slumped down.

He had to - he wasn't safe here, he needed someone to - Fenris didn't know what but he couldn't stay here-

The man's companions were gone. He couldn't hear Lysander and Lillian. The houses around him were decrepit and looked every inch the glimpse of Knockturn Fenris was gotten before he'd ever seen Hogwarts.

There was a Chocolate Frog packet gleaming on the ground.

Fenris took off running.

He nearly tripped over Lysander's wand after a few feet. Faint shouts - Fenris nearly blanked out again in relief for godly hearing - were around the end of the block. Fenris nearly flew over the dirt path.

The door slammed and locked in front of him. Fenris could hear desperate shouts from behind it.

The hinges frosted over and broke into shards of ice when he slammed against the door. It went crashing down the staircase. Several people had to duck out of the way. Fenris was a second behind it.

The first room he found was so full of pagan magic that it made him stumble when he crossed the threshold. People in robes, white table, something cut into the floor, Lysander and Lillian-

"Stop!" He shouted, forcefully enough that the wizard with the knife actually hesitated.

It gave Fenris exactly enough time to put himself in between the knife and the twins.

Fenris heard a badly muffled gasp behind him. He'd moved faster than any human could, barely slower than teleportation. The man whirled to face him.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

Fenris struggled to try and breathe evenly. He could tell what this room was meant for, and his anxious brain was providing plenty of images of what they'd intended to do to Lysander and Lillian. "Nobody."

"This is not your sacrifice," someone else snarled.

"I don't care." Fenris could hardly believe he wasn't stuttering. His arms were spread, barring the twins behind him. They were crowded up against the back wall, though, and there were at least ten people in between the three of them and the door.

"We'll get what we want anyway." The man gestured angrily with the knife. Fenris could tell it was a ritual athame, the way magic was pressed into it. There was an agreeable mutter around the circle of people, determined and scowling expressions.

Fenris couldn't read thoughts that clearly, but he could hear very well. They wanted chaos. He suddenly, terrifyingly, knew exactly who they were trying to call.

"He won't come," he said.

The man with the athame paused. "What?" He growled. He thought he was threatening. Fenris did, too, but he swallowed back the fear and remembered that his arms were spread, not chained together.

"Loki," he said. "He won't come. Not for this kind of sacrifice." He could stall. He knew how to do that.

This time, the murmur that went around was distinctly unpleasant. Fenris was thinking as hard as he could, projecting, Dad please-

"What would you know?" The man in front of him snarled, and brought down the knife.

A hand caught his wrist.

"I would really rethink that," Loki said.

Fenris could hear the man's wrist crack. The athame clattered as it hit the ground. He'd never been so relieved to see his dad in his life.

"You-" the man's words cut off in a strangled noise as Loki squeezed harder. Behind him, the door slammed shut in front of one of the black-robed figures who had been sneaking towards it. Loki's gaze didn't waver.

"Me," Loki agreed, teeth flashing in something that was not a smile. He pressed down inexorably, forcing the man to his knees. "You called. I don't ignore that kind of thing."

"I-" The man gasped out. The rest of the cultists - that was what they had to be, Muriel had warned him about this - looked frozen in place. They probably were, Fenris thought faintly. "We didn't - the ritual."

"Right," Loki said, and twisted. The man collapsed to the ground with a scream as his arm dislocated. Fenris felt one of the twins - he didn't know which - flinch behind him. "That ritual. The one where you grabbed a couple of kids."

Fenris had never seen his dad this angry.

Loki's foot dug into the cultist's back, his arm at an impossible and painful angle. "You presume," Loki hissed, "that I would take what you offered. That I would take this because you offered. That I would give you a favor. For a child's blood. For my son's."

Fenris did not look behind him to see Lysander and Lillian's expressions.

"Please," the man gasped.

Loki looked down at him, mouth twisting into something slightly closer to a smile. "You're begging?" He asked, amused. "Begging me?"

The man made a muffled noise into the ground. Loki seemed to notice the carved pattern he was pressing the other's face into. He flicked his fingers, and the man flinched as a gash cut itself into his face, bleeding onto the ground.

The magic in the room picked up, red sluggishly moving through the inset patterns.

"Plenty of time to find out what that does," Loki muttered, and then looked over to Fenris as if he'd just realized he was still there. Belatedly, Fenris lowered his arms.

"Are you alright?"

Fenris nodded. His dad's eyes flickered over him once, like he was checking, and then he turned towards the immobile gathering.

"Here's how it's gonna go," Loki said, voice low. "Those three are gonna walk out of here, and if any of you so much as look like you're thinking about trying to do anything to them...I'll kill you first."

No reaction. Then again, they couldn't react. Loki looked back at Fenris, tilting his head towards the door and flicking his hand so that all the black-robed figures slid away from it.

Lysander took off and was through the door in about three seconds. Lillian was right behind him. Neither of them so much as glanced back at Fenris.

Fenris lingered in the doorway. He didn't want to go up there and have to explain, about everything.

Loki gave him a steady look, and mouthed ten minutes. He gestured at the door, and it shut softly.

When Fenris got to the top of the stairs, the small path was deserted, and most of the shops looked closed. Lillian and Lysander were nowhere in sight.

Fenris wasn't sure if he was relieved or upset. His gut felt weird and twisted around itself either way.

Ten minutes later, Loki was there, looking remarkably unchanged, except for the fact that his collar was folded in on itself. "You sure you're okay?"

Fenris nodded. Loki gave him a careful look, like he was trying to find the lie. His hands were clasped behind his back. "You're sure."

Fenris looked up at his dad. "What if they don't like me?"

"What, the blond kids?" Loki questioned. "You're the only one who was in that room they've got no reason to dislike."

"But... they know."

"It's a magic school," Loki said. "Human-shaped things other than human aren't a brand-new thing."

Fenris didn't feel reassured, but he couldn't think of any way to counter that.

Loki let his hands fall to his side, wiped the bloody one on his shirt, and offered the other to Fenris. "C'mon," he said. "We'll go up to the school and get this figured out. Sound good?"

"...Okay."

So guess what turns out I'm ending the chapter here. Review, please?