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Chapter 13

"All these designs are beautiful," Ana said, looking over the many pieces of paper, her eyes lighting up at the stunning pieces of art laid out before her, ready for her to choose one. But that presented a definite problem for her. "I don't know how I'm going to choose."

"You do not have to choose one of these. They just show different options. If there are certain features about one dress you like, but are not fond of the rest of it, you can have it combined with other features of other dresses to make one specifically for you," Frigga told her, smiling fondly at her future daughter in law. Ana had calmed down since hearing these were ready, but had been shaking with excitement earlier. They were both looking over designs that the seamstress had given them for wedding dresses. The only problem was, they were all equally beautiful, and all of them had been designed with her in mind.

"I'm not sure if that makes it easier or harder," Ana said, smiling up at Frigga.

"Take your time. This is, after all, not a decision to be rushed. Your dress should be perfect." Frigga was determined that everything would be perfect for the wedding. She wanted to see both Loki and Anastasia happy with the day. This was something that needed some of the longest time to work on, however.

Ana nodded. She did want her dress to be something she was completely happy with, and had been assured that she would have a say in each step of making it. With that all in mind, she began looking at the designs again, for things that really stood out to her.

The swirling vortex touched down on the balcony of Stark Tower, before dissipating to reveal ten others, only one of whom the occupants of the penthouse were unfamiliar with. They headed inside, only for Jane to be quickly engulfed in a hug from Darcy.

"I was starting to wonder if you were ever coming back!" She said, exasperatedly.

Jane laughed. "Sorry for taking so long. A lot has happened," she said as Darcy detached and then hugged Ana. The last time she had seen her, Ana had looked like death warmed up- a state that had Darcy wracked with worry for the red head who had quickly become her friend prior to the kidnapping. She silently swore to herself that should she ever get the chance, the wizard who had taken Ana and Jane, and those who had tortured Ana, would be getting up close and personal with her fists and Taser.

"Yeah, we guessed. We had some wizards turn up. American ones. Demanding to know how to contact Asgard about an attack on the British Minister," Clint said.

"They seemed pretty pissed," Tony added. But not as pissed as he was. He was currently running simulations and equations through various programs to develop a shield that would prevent that from happening again. One that would also fry them like a bug zapper.

"They got our message then? Good," Loki nodded.

Ana rolled her eyes. She really should not be surprised that he counted sending back a dead minister for magic as a message. And she shouldn't be surprised that other ministries were also worried about it. Suddenly the sound of several apparitions surrounded them, before American Aurors turned up, wands drawn, but at their sides. They were obviously ready for an attack, but were hoping it would not come to that.

"You lot need to stop coming in here uninvited," Tony said, standing up. "How did you even know to turn up?"

"We had a spell on the building to detect magical energy that would indicate their arrival," a bald Auror answered, his face grim. He could see that everyone in the room was ready for an attack. If it came to it, he was sure he would lose some good people. It was now his job to see they got this sorted without bloodshed. "I am Jake Howell. We are looking into the murder of the British Minister for Magic, and declaration of war your people made against the British Magical Community. Our countries have been allies for years. We wish to sort this out without too much death and destruction."

"Were you informed them, Auror Howell, of why we declared war?" Loki asked.

"Albus Dumbledore, head of the ICW informed me that you kidnapped a daughter of a prominent family and that part of this was over her."

"He's told you half a lie then," Ana said, stepping forward. She would not allow people to believe that Loki was using her in any way, just so the Ministry and Dumbledore could seem like they were saints and free of any wrong doing. "My so called family, along with Fudge and Dumbledore, were trying to enslave me." She then held up her hand, displaying the rune, making the Aurors shift. "They broke a treaty that is far older than any your country holds with Britain. Do you really trust the current British Ministry not to stab you in the back if it furthers their own gains? That is how their elite seems to work on the most part, after all."

"Ana is right," Sirius said angrily. "I'm her godfather, Sirius Black. They were trying to enslave her. To use her as a weapon against Voldemort. She wasn't kidnapped, she was rescued. I'll even testify to that under vertaserum."

"Why would they do that to their own daughter?" Howell was obviously having a hard time understanding why anyone would do that, much less that it happened.

"Because I'm not human anymore. And it was far more important to them that they protect my twin brother." Her voice left no doubt. She was obviously, and understandably, bitter about the situation. Howell found himself admiring the girl for speaking about the situation, in order to defend her soul mate and his family and friends. It normally took his people at least hours to get a victim of any sort of violence to talk about it so they could deal with the perpetrator as the person was understandably hurting. But she had obviously had some help from people close to her- people who already knew the whole story.

"The British have broken the treaty several times. Should they surrender to reforms of our choosing, we will not use force against the country, only punishing those directly involved. We also have no intentions to involve any other country, magical or not. It is only the British magicals who we have declared war on. I suggest that you take that information back to your ministry. Should they remain out of our way, we will not drag them into this war. It is their choice," Thor said.

Howell nodded. This was obviously the best choice he had open to him and would report what had happened to his superiors. "Very well. But we may have further questions. Is there any way to contact any of your people?"

"I will inform my father of the situation. No doubt he will then send out an ambassador. They will answer any more questions and open up communications properly," Thor answered.

With that, the wizards had no choice but to leave. All of them, however had the distinct sense of having had a brush with death in there at that point. Had the matter not been handled as well as it was, they would have been sent back to the ministry just like Fudge had been sent back to Britain.

"Well, hopefully that will mean they won't keep teleporting in uninvited," Tony muttered, angrily.

"I could ward it so no one could unless they were given permission," Loki said. "With the war with Britain, this tower may just attract unwanted attention from British wizards looking to retaliate."

"I can't see them having any better ideas. It's not as if they have many options for retaliation," Hermione added.

"In that case, go for it. And if these wards can end up bouncing anyone trying to teleport in into the next state, all the better."

"More than that, they would be unconscious for a week," Loki added.

"Even better."

The dungeon was on the opposite side to the one used by the potions labs or the Slytherin dormitories, and it had not seen use in decades, with no one ever going down there. Dumbledore had warded it off specifically, to do two things. It would stop students and teachers wandering in, and keep those inside from getting out. He himself wore a pendant under his robes to allow himself to get in and out of the dungeon and he had one more, to allow a person in. It was two in the morning, and no one else in the castle he was returning to were awake. The figure that was being levitated beside of him was small for her age, only five foot, but the young squib came from a magically powerful family- thankfully one that wanted nothing to do with the eighteen year old and would not notice her missing from the small flat she rented above the apothecary as she tried to eke out a meagre living in their world. He placed the pendant around her neck as he took her down to the dungeon and chained the unconscious girl up with the other four. Three were muggles and one was a squib. The next two would need to be magical, and powerful too. He would have preferred them to be Anastasia Potter and Hermione Granger, but at the moment, they were out of his reach. He would have to be really careful now, in searching for a powerful young witch and wizard. When they went missing, it would be noticed. And, he could not risk them being students who went missing. Having people look too closely at the castle would be a disaster at this point. It would take time, but he would have the final two, and then he could perform the ritual that would see Hadrian's magic returned to him, so he could fight and defeat Voldemort.

"I'm sorry I left you. I thought your parents would look after you. I was sure they would. They loved you before that Halloween took place. At least, they seemed to," Sirius told Ana. "James was always coming up with more elaborate pranks to scare away any future boyfriends you might have and then Lily would scold him, reminding him you were too young anyway and that when you were older that it would be your choice to make. I should have known something was wrong when you were hardly pictured in the newspapers with them."

"It's fine Sirius, honestly. When you came back, you saw what was happening and wanted to help me. That's all that matters. For that, I'm grateful. And I'd really like the chance to get to know you without the shadow of what the Potters did to me hanging over us."

He smiled. "You're right of course. How about I take you out tonight. And you can catch your old godfather up on everything he's missed, eh?"

"I'd like that."

"You can bring that fiancée of yours too. As your godfather, I am obliged to get to know him as well." He was also sure Loki didn't entirely trust him yet, but wanted to put that worry to rest as soon as he could. This would help with that, he hoped. Not that he would tell Anastasia that.

"Well, we know the society is very… odd, to say the least. It is rife with bigotry- and I thought ours was bad. In some areas, slavery is still in effect. Women get very little say, unless somehow head of their family, with even fewer having high ranking ministerial positions. Anyone who is not pureblood has a very hard time of it too," Natasha said.

Tony pulled up a rough plan of a building that was clearly underground, and clearly had a lot of information missing. "This is what we know of the layout of the Ministry. Sirius has been trying to help fill in the gaps. What we have got detailed is the Wizengamot Chamber, the Auror Department and the court rooms. Other things are sadly lacking in detail, but Fury has Agents looking into it. Once we have proper information on the inside of the building, we will be ready for an attack on it."

"Plans are in place to target prominent members of the Wizengamot and Dumbledore himself. We believe he is up to something," Thor said. "He will be attempting to keep the loss of the Potter boys' magic quiet, while attempting to bring it back. We want to stop him before he succeeds."

"It may also be useful to hold politically valuable hostages against them. If we can get hold of any that is," Loki added.

"Wouldn't Dumbledore suffice? He is powerful by the looks of things," Bruce pointed out.

Loki shook his head. "For what he has done, I would not be able to let him live. But, another prominent pureblood family, or two, would make significant inroads to seeing the wizards yield."

A/N: What did you think?