Loki awoke to light streaming in through the window. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust, then sat up and stared at his hands.
He still didn't remember anything. Nothing substantial, anyway; a few flashes of a man with long blond hair, another man with a patch over one eye, a woman with dark hair and a kind smile. Nothing about himself at all, nor about who these people were.
He reached over and picked up his wand, waving it and muttering a clock charm. Seven in the morning. Good. Not too early to find Hermione and tell her the results.
He headed out to the Great Hall. Hermione was seated at the teacher's table, nose in a book as she absently ate a piece of bacon. He raised a hand, and she caught sight of him and smiled.
"Good morning," she said as he sat next to her.
"Good morning. No improvements," he said in an undertone. "Very little happened last night."
"Oh. Oh well. Maybe a different one will help more."
"Hopefully."
They ate together in silence, then as one rose and left for Hermione's office.
Hermione had a class that morning, so Loki was left to watch over the memory potions. Some needed stirring and others ingredients added, but mostly they were left to simmer as he practiced basic spells from the Hogwarts third year textbooks.
"Lumos," he murmured as Hermione came in. The tip of his wand lit up yellow. "Nox. Hello, Hermione."
"So nothing changed at all? Nothing came back to you?"
Loki tilted his head in consideration. "Very little. Some images of people I must have known, but nothing about them. Nothing of myself, either."
"I see." She jotted something down in a journal, then snapped it shut. "Well, there's another two potions that should be ready today, one of which works immediately with no side effects, so maybe we should try them and see what happens."
"Indeed."
He watched as Hermione set about preparing the two potions, turning up the temperature on one to bring it to a boil, checking the colour of the other against a description in her book, this and that.
"When did you first become interested in potions?" he asked suddenly. "Not just interested. When did you decide you wanted to become a Potions Mistress?"
"Well, I've enjoyed potion-making since I first entered Hogwarts, despite our teacher," she said with a rather wistful look on her face. "Professor Snape was many things – a brilliant Potions Master among them – but he was... prickly." She made a face. "I shouldn't say that."
"But is it true?"
She laughed. "If anything, it's an understatement. Harry and Ron would say he was a right bastard. I would too, but..." She bit her lip. "It's rather rude to speak ill of the dead. Especially the dead who saved your friend's life."
Loki raised an eyebrow. "This sounds like a story I'd like to hear."
Hermione glanced down at the cauldron she was stirring. "A little later, perhaps. You probably know the story, you just forgot. Anyway, this one's ready." She conjured a cup and scooped up some of the potion.
Loki took the potion from her. "Any side effects I should know of?"
"Maybe a headache? Bringing back forgotten memories is a bit of an unpleasant process, apparently."
Loki shrugged and downed the potion. He shook his head with a grimace at the taste, pointing his wand at the cup and filling it with conjured water, which he immediately drank down.
Hermione grinned. Loki noticed, and raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're so... I don't know how to describe it. But usually, you seem so... haughty. Your reactions to things like this remind me that you're just human."
Something in that sentence struck a chord in Loki. A memory suddenly surfaced – looking down at his hand to see it turn blue. A feeling of cold, but not an unpleasant cold – like a long walk on a breezy day.
"I'm not," he murmured.
"What?"
"I'm not – I'm not human. I'm..." He stumbled back against the table, staring at his hands, one of which was slowly turning blue.
Hermione's eyes widened. "You're... What are you?"
"I don't know."
She hesitated for a moment, but in a flash she was by his side, taking his hand and examining it. The blue patch on his palm was spreading; his fingers were half blue.
"Can you control this? How are your hands turning blue? What do you remember?"
"I – I can't control it." Loki was breathing hard, not even realizing it – but Hermione noticed.
"Loki," she said gently, "you need to breathe slowly. Calm down – it's alright."
"My hand is blue."
"You're in shock. Sit down." She conjured a soft chair and helped the stunned Loki sit down. "Let me get you some water." She summoned the cup from a moment ago, filled it with water, and placed it in his hands. "Drink."
He obeyed. Slowly, as he stopped watching them, his hands returned to their normal colour. When he was done drinking, he took a deep, shuddering breath and looked at Hermione.
"Don't tell anyone. Please."
She bit her lip. "I..."
"You can't! I'm... you can't. Please."
"Loki... I have a friend that I think we should tell. She might be able to help find out what happened... why it happened."
A part of Loki accepted that that made sense, but the larger part of him was screaming at him to keep this hidden. "We can't. What if..." Monster. Freak. "People won't understand."
"Luna will. I promise."
He stood and paced around the room, thinking. One person couldn't hurt... But what if... if she tells others... I could be driven out... not knowing anything...
Hermione stood and took his hands in hers.
"It's all right, Loki. I can introduce you first. We don't have to tell her what happened unless you trust her."
He looked into Hermione's eyes, her beautiful, trusting eyes. "Why do you not think I'm a monster?"
She recoiled. "Is that what people called you in the past, when they learned about... this?"
"I... I think so."
"Well... it's strange, but... I'm a witch. I've seen stranger." She offered him a grin. "Like strange men appearing on the grounds with head injuries."
Loki couldn't help but chuckle at that. Sufficiently assuaged, he nodded. "I will meet your friend, then. But we won't tell her immediately."
"Of course."
Three days later, Hermione and Loki went to the castle gates to meet a blonde-haired, dreamy-eyed woman. When she caught sight of Loki, her eyes – already magnified behind odd-looking spectacles – widened dramatically.
"Hello, Hermione," she offered absently, still staring at Loki. "Is this..."
"Yes, this is Loki. Is there something wrong?"
"No." Luna shook her head and offered the two a smile. "Hello, I'm Luna Lovegood."
"Loki." He reached out and shook her hand. Her eyes widened again and she studied his face intently, then smiled again.
"Let's go into the castle, to my office where we can talk," Hermione offered.
"Good idea," Luna agreed.
When they were all seated in Hermione's office behind privacy charms that had been put up at Luna's insistence, Luna leaned forward in her seat. "So... you're Loki," she said.
"We've established that I am."
"And you can't remember anything?"
"Some few things," he offered. "A few faces, some feelings... Nothing beyond."
"I see." She sat back, still staring at him. "Well, you certainly look like Loki. And you feel like he should, though you're muted for some reason."
Loki raised an eyebrow.
"Luna's a Seer," Hermione explained. "And a powerful empath. She can feel other people's emotions and magical signatures by touching them."
"Or by being near them," Luna said agreeably. "And you have a very powerful signature." She looked at Hermione. "How long has he been here?"
"About two weeks. He appeared on the grounds one day... there was a loud noise, and he was suddenly standing by the lake."
Luna nodded. "And you've been trying to help him get his memories back?" Hermione nodded. "You're so kind."
"Thank you."
"Of course." Luna focused back on Loki. "So, you're wondering what happened that made your hands turn blue like that."
He leapt to his feet. "How did you -"
"It was on your mind. Don't worry, I won't tell." Luna laughed a little. "It's a bit funny. I can see what happened the first time your hands turned blue like that."
Loki stared at her, and sat heavily back in his chair. "Do tell."
"Your brother was scared of you. He didn't know what was going on. The only people he'd seen with blue skin like that were the Jotunn, and his first thought was that you must be one." She laughed again. "He was right, of course, but he didn't find that out until later."
Hermione and Loki were now staring at Luna, twin looks of utter confusion on their faces.
"Who are the Jotunn?" Hermione asked tentatively after a moment of silence.
"Frost Giants. They live on a different planet. They're rather horrible."
"And... I am one?"
"Yes, you are. But don't worry, you weren't raised as one. If you were, you wouldn't look the way you do now."
"Then why does he look like this, instead of like a Jotunn?"
"He was raised by the Aesir." She looked Loki straight in the eyes. "Your brother was Thor. He's looking for you."
"I don't know who he is," Loki muttered, looking away. But even as she said it, his mind's eye conjured the image of the man with blond hair.
Luna nodded. "That's Thor. Your brother. He's worried about you, you know."
"I don't even remember him," Loki said quietly. "How do you know all this?"
"I can feel it. He's on Earth trying to find you."
"So... we should find him," Hermione said. "If Loki's brother is looking for him, we should find him and tell him he's safe."
Luna and Hermione both looked at Loki, who had buried his face in his hands. He raised one to gesture vaguely. "We… perhaps we should. But how will he react when I don't recognize him?"
"Don't worry. I can get in touch with him." Luna stood and smiled at Hermione and Loki. "Thank you for letting me talk to you. It's been very enlightening."
"At least it was for one of us," Loki mumbled, eliciting a laugh from Luna.
Hermione walked her to the door, removing the privacy charms as she did so. "Thanks for coming, Luna. You've given us a lot to think about."
"I'm glad I could help." She leaned in towards Hermione. "You should tell him, you know."
She didn't, of course, lower her voice, meaning that Loki heard every word. When she was gone, he raised his head and looked at Hermione with a brow raised.
"What did she mean by that?"
Hermione blushed hotly, but didn't react otherwise. "No idea." She clapped her hands together. "In any case, the full moon is in six days. We've got a potion to get started."
