Hello, I know you guys wanted an earlier update but real life and my editor got in the way. It's really short I know but I was short on time recently so . . . yeah, that. A good thing, I'll probably be posting the new chapter soon. Not good enough huh? Hey at least it's something! THANKYOU for all your great reviews, seriously they're keeping me going. Also, since I don't wan't to bore anybody with long and tedious review answers, I'll just answer the questions.

Those that guessed correctly: ww1990ww, MegaKiraraLover

Paxloria: You'll see! There are plans in the works! ;)

Anisuke Kira: There won't be much romantically for a while. Harry's eleven right now, so none with him for a couple of years at the very least. Not seriously anyways. As for slash? There will be some, with who I won't/can't tell.

aspygirlredo: Maaaybeee. I'll think about it but there are so many choices!

It was official, Harry hated the Knight Bus. It was crowded and luggage and benches of people slid back and forth as the bus zipped through crowded streets. Harry clutched his new owl's cage to his chest. He cringed as she screeched when they rounded the next corner sharply, causing the seats to slide to one side of the bus. Honestly, at this point Harry was just glad he had managed to keep track of his new trunk, so much could not said for many of other passengers.

What Harry considered to be the more boring shopping they had taken care of after his wand. Basically, cauldrons, his new trunk and a few other things that all amounted to one thing in the end, dull and un-needed. He only did them to keep up appearances for Hagrid, cauldrons and trunks and all the other spectacularly uninteresting little tidbits they got could all be poofed up by Loki, better quality than he could get at the alley too.

Harry supposed all of his supplies could have been created by his trickster friend but really that was the problem, that his friend was a trickster. And having a trickster create your school supplies meant that half the words in his book would have been 'blah' or particularly lewd stories that read themselves aloud every time he opened them (don't ask) and quills nobody in their right mind would ever be seen with and inks laced with superglue and who knows what else done to the rest.

The bus skidded to a halt and Harry glanced outside, unimaginably grateful that it was his stop, Number 4 Privet Drive. Harry grabbed his trunk and waddled around the other passengers with fervor that most would have called mad. He collapsed out of the entrance and onto his trunk, barely paying any mind to the swoosh of wind that accompanied the bus's leaving.

A softly amused chuckle sounded from somewhere around his right. The sound spread a smile across Harry's face as he snapped his head up to glance in the direction the sound came from.

"Ki!" Harry cried, springing off his new trunk and onto his friend, knocking the cumbersome thing to the ground.

"Kiddo!" Loki grinned around the stick of a lollipop, squeezing his young friend.

"Glad to have you back. Did you have fun?" Harry peered up at the god, not yet relinquishing his iron clad grip around the man.

"With those prudes? Nahhhhh, they're too stuck in tradition to have a good time with. For the most part anyway." Loki shrugged, deciding to leave out the mass drunkenness "you gonna let go of me now?"

Harry grumbled and pouted but released his friend anyway.

"You ready?" Loki asked once the boy had taken a step or two back.

"YuUp" Harry popped his p as he bounded back on his heels, springing to the balls of his feel then back again.

"Well then" Loki drew an oddly shaped ceremonial dagger from the air. It was short and curved ever so slightly, heavily laden with runic marks from a variety of cultures and had a shallow but wide smoothly curved oasis stretching from the center of one side of the blade to but a breath behind its edges.

The trickster held out his hand and Harry placed his arm in it obligingly, tilted up at the elbow so as to make a v shape of his arm. Loki gently held the portion of the blade just above the hilt to the boy's skin an inch or so beneath his wrist and carefully slid the blade so a shallow cut formed. Harry let out a sibilant hiss that was half a swear in parseltounge and half an exclamation of pain. They both watched as a small puddle of blood formed in the dip of the blade before the god removed knife. The cut was healed the second the blade left Harry's skin, the only thing remaining was the slight overwarmth that he had come to know as the after effect of an odd kind of magic his friend used every once in a while but never in any great amount.

Loki gave him a kind smile and handed Harry the bloodied knife. The boy accepted with a matching smile. Harry twisted his arm so his forearm was directly in front of him and the blade was on the opposite side from the shoulder of the arm that was holding it. Harry began to mutter under his breath then tensed.

Speaking with clarity and strength, Harry announced "This house is no longer my Home." As he finished, he threw the arm in which he held the odd knife out, keeping a firm hold of the blade's handle as he swung his arm. The blood once pooled in the blade flew out of the instrument, not leaving a drop behind, spraying the Dursleys' home and front lawn with a long smear of his blood. As soon as the blood touched the house something in the air seemed to shatter.

"You ready to go home kiddo?" Loki asked, laying a hand on Harry's shoulders.

"Yeah" Harry grinned tiredly, breaking the wards had taken a bit out of him, before perking up "Oh. Oh! I've got so much to tell you!"

Loki laughed "I've got something to tell you first actually." He snapped his fingers and the two were now seated on a large, comforting burgundy couch in a warm living room filled with mismatched furniture and a crackling fire in the wide grey stone fireplace.

"What, did you get me a pony?" Harry remarked sarcastically, wide grin still painting his face.

"Erm, well . . ." Loki fiddled with a kitkat wrapper "I didn't exactly start out in the norse pantheon."

"What were you then?" Harry tilted his head to one side in a floppy motion, curious about this new development.

"I was known as Gabriel." Loki stated with a somewhat frustrated, somewhat regretful puff off air.

"Human?" Harry asked, wondering why that would be such a big deal that hid friend felt like making a point of sharing it with him.

Loki let out a weak chuckle "think a little more biblical than that. You ever wonder why I found you in a church that day?"

"Hmmmmmm . . ." Harry contemplated for a minute before his jaw slackened "you mean that you . . ."

"Yup" Loki-Gabriel sighed

"Oh" Harry stared for a second than shut his mouth with a click and a slow grin spread across his face "awesome"

Loki laughed, tossing his head back "of course you would think that was awesome."

"Do you want me to call you Gabriel?" Harry asked.

Loki-Gabriel flinched ever so slightly. Harry remembered how he used to feel about his name. Loki had once asked him if he had wanted to change it to something else. Harry, in one of the first times he had stuck up for himself around his now best friend, had shook his head no resolutely. His name was the only thing he had left of his parents. Even so, it had taken a while for him to get used to being called his name in a non-Dursley-ish way.

"I think I want to call you Gabriel." Harry said softly, firmly.

"You know, I think I'd like to be called Gabriel again." Loki, no Gabriel, smiled softly

"Wait, then how did you get to being a norse god if you were a, you know, archangel?" Harry asked, curiosity nearly drowning his voice.

"That's a bit of a long story" Gabriel sighed, running a hand through his hair then scrubbing at his face "you see . . ."

Indeed it was a long story, one that lasted long into the early hours of the morning and ended with stories of pranks and better days. Smiling down as his friend and self assigned charge, Gabriel slowly picked him up and carried him to the boy's bedroom, setting him down softly on his bed and tucking the covers around him.

The archangel heard a curious hoot from behind him and turned to gaze at the snowy owl that lay half asleep in its cage against the wall.

"Shhhhhh, go back to sleep." He whispered at the beautiful animal, slipping from the dark room towards his own room, shutting the door behind him as he left.

The night was a fine Ward Breaking Party, if he did say so himself. Even if it wasn't their normal sort of party.

~)0(~

The morning arose all too quickly for Harry. The scent of apple pie and pancakes that wafted from the kitchen however, was a delight. In fact it was the only thing that convinced his sleep addled mind that getting out of the warmth of his Cocoon Of Covers was indeed worth the effort. So, deliriously and stubbornly not fully awake yet, Harry blundered his way into the kitchen and collapsed into one of the two chairs around a small round dinner table made of a golden brown wood.

Blearily, Harry came to his senses as he watched his friend flip pancakes to the tune of Heat of The Moment. By the time tableware was snapped into existence, Harry was awake enough to function and very, very hungry. Harry nearly inhaled two large pancakes and a slice of apple pie, Gabriel ate the rest, drowning his pancakes in syrup.

"So" Gabriel began as Harry leaned back in his chair, letting out a belch "How was the alley?"

"It was great!" Harry smiled "actually, here" Harry handed his friend his wand, he hadn't let go of it since he had gotten it, watching him intently.

Gabriel took the wand with amusement. Studying it for a second, his eyes grew wide. Harry grinned wide enough too unnerve the devil, laughing at the incredulous expression on his friend's face. After a stunned pause, the archangel burst out laughing.

"Jor will have a good laugh over this." Gabriel wheezed on the tail end of his laughing fit.

"I'm sure he will. I got the wand from Baldur." Harry smiled, just as amused as his friend.

"The asshat?" Gabriel quirked an eyebrow

"Nope, the nice old man, the retired one?" Harry restrained a laugh at the (accurate) description of the puny god that had taken the title of Baldur in the other's absence.

"Ahhhhhhh" Gabriel leaned back in his chair, balancing precariously on the back two chair legs.

"I met a pair of twins too, they pranked a joke shop." Harry said as casually as he could manage, which wasn't very.

Gabriel laughed "I'll bet that they're a lot of fun."

"Probably" Harry smiled with manic enthusiasm "you should have seen they're expressions when I said I was THE Harry potter."

The trickster smirked "that's something I would have loved to see."

"Oh yeah, where's my owl?" Harry queried, head tilting to the side.

"I set her on an abandoned building full of rats, she'll be back eventually." Gabriel shrugged "have you decided on a name? Why'd you get her anyway? Not that I don't like her, just -"

Harry laughed "her name's Hedwig. Hagrid, the man who took me to the alley bought her for me as a birthday present. He was nice, big as a mountain too."

"Mmmmmm" Gabriel nodded in an overly scholarly manner, then shrieked like a little girl as he lost control of his chair's balance and toppled backwards.

Harry fell off his own chair laughing.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Gabriel grumbled, righting both himself and the chair

"Thanks I will." Harry giggled, however he climbed onto his chair as well and made an effort to calm his laughter.

"Anything else big happen?" the archangel grumbled, pouting at being laughed at.

"Wellllllll" Harry laughed nervously "you know how you told me to stay out of trouble?"

"Yes, I do . . ." Gabriel said cautiously then sighed "what, exactly, did you do?"

"I might have, maybe, stolen something." Harry twitched a smile.

"What did you steal?" Gabriel grinned widely.

"Uhhhh, I'll get it." Harry smiled, nicking his palm with his pocket knife, something he had learned to always keep on him, using a burst of magic to call the object to him.

It flew through the air towards the table, Harry snatching it out of the air as it flew past

"I never got a good look at it. Hagrid didn't tell me what it was, so I stole it." Harry shrugged and tossed the stone across the table to his friend.

"Let's see then" Gabriel pursed his lips as he examined the stone, then his eyes widened then he threw his head back and burst into peals of laughter.

"What?" Harry asked, glancing down and seeing nothing special about the orange crimson stone on the table, though he was glad that the garnet he traded out for it would be close enough to the real color of the stone.

"I don't know anyone who gets into as much unintentional trouble as you Harry." The trickster laughed out, it took a minute or so before he could talk again. Harry pouted.

Gabriel mimed wiping a tear away as he stopped laughing "let's see, the stone you pickpocketed was, in fact, the Philosopher's Stone."

"What's that?" Harry asked, baffled

"A very important and powerful stone." Gabriel chuckled, lip quirking.

"Ummmm" Harry intoned obviously not interested in the least

"You could trade Hecate for it." Gabriel smirked

"For what?" Harry's interest had been perked

"Chocolate" the ex-archangel grinned wide, because while the goddess' cooking was horrendous her chocolate was to die for.

"How much chocolate?" Harry's grin wasn't dissimilar to his friend's in its disquieting width.

"Enough to last the both of us a month." They both moaned simultaneously at the thought of the treat, it had been just over a year and a half since either had had any.

"Then let's start the negotiations." Harry said, voice filled with childish anticipation.

Gabriel snapped a tall, dark haired and plain looking woman shaped construct into existence. She bowed to the two of them then transported herself to Hecate's castle.

"Anything else happen?" Gabriel asked, still a little wistful.

"You might want to be a bit careful regarding the goblins for a while." Harry giggled.

"Oh you didn't" the archangel's expression fell into desperation "please tell me you didn't."

"I did" Harry fell into a fit of giggles as his friend swore.

"You really are a little brat huh?" Gabriel said with exasperated resignation.

"Certified and proud" Harry gave a mock salute and they both laughed.

"Well then what do you wanna do until we have to start the Fantastical Magic School of Magicalness?" Gabriel smiled, reminded of just how glad he was to have found family again after all these years.

"We?" Harry asked, voice sounding a little weaker than before but mostly just curious.

"Yeppers" Gabriel "I was thinking I'd go as a first year, just hang around your classes, get the worst grades I can, screw with idiots and dicks. You know, the usual."

"How's that gonna work? You'd have to be like eleven and you're really not." Harry asked skeptically

The ex-archangel shrugged "all angels have full control of their vessels, not many care enough to actually manipulate them, or see the point. See?" he shifted mid-sentence into what his vessel probably looked like as a kid.

"Cool" Harry smiled lopsidedly, he really did think it was awesome. All magic was, some of it less than others.

"You didn't answer my first question though, what do you wanna do?" Gabriel quirked his head to one side, showing exactly where Harry had learned that trait.

"You promised earlier this summer we could prank some American hunters, that's what sounds fun to me." Harry grinned, a matching expression soon painted his friend's face.

"Well then, let's go!" Gabriel hopped up and out of his chair, which looked as if it was about to fall over before slamming all its legs down onto the floor, no doubt a result of magic.

"Awesome" Harry smiled, happy to have his friend back.

Gabriel snapped his fingers and the two landed with the clap of shoes on concrete on top of a high school.

"Where are we?" Harry smirked "and don't say Nowhere, we've already been there."

Gabriel chuckled "some small town or another in the States."

"So . . . " harry grinned in a way that would have done a shark proud "what does the first one to find the town asshole get?"

"Toffee?" Gabriel shrugged

"Sounds good to me." Harry pursed his lips and concentrated, slicing a cut on his palm as he transfigured an old frisbee that had been lying unused on the roof into a new chrome and black scooter.

The Trickster wiggeled his eyebrows twice and smirked. The angel snapped his fingers and disappeared, a "good luck" echoing in the empty air.

"And . . . Go" Harry drawled sarcastically, pushing off into the air off the roof.

He landed with a clack and, with another push, he was off to beat his friend at their friendly competition.

~)0(~

"Redeemable?" Harry whispered grimly, already knowing the answer but asking anyway.

"No" Gabriel's voice was cold and hard.

They were loitering outside of a house where the father treated his young son as the Dursleys once treated Harry.

"Captain America" Harry queried

"What?" Gabriel snapped his head towards Harry, brow scrunched in question.

"Captain America" Harry said with sarcastic slowness "I was thinking beaten to death too." Harry shrugged "he's the kid's favorite superhero."

"How do you know?" The ex-archangel asked, eyebrow raised.

"Check his room, shoe box in the closet. It's filled with merch." Harry brushed the question off with a flick of his hand, not so much as twitching as his friend disappeared and reappeared again.

"I concede to your superior knowledge" Gabriel chanted as he reappeared, though the cold still lingered in his eyes.

It's not to say Harry wasn't angry either, he was just a bit more focused on coming up with the punishment than his friend.

Gabriel snapped his fingers. Two exact replicas of Captain America materialized in the living room, one began pummeling. The other scooped the kid up and disappeared, landing in the house of some couple praying for kids of their own. The two stayed and watched, shared a laugh and a chocolate bar or two. Then, when the Captain America disappeared, his job done, they too disappeared back home.

Harry yawned "I'll take my toffee in the morning. And Gabe?"

The ex-archangel turned to look at his friend "yeah?"

"Thanks"

"I know."