Notes: In which we skip ahead to Christmas holidays. I'm assuming here that parents ordinarily give their children lunches to eat on the trip to Hogwarts, and that the school provides lunches to the students on the trip back. I mean, Liquorice Wands and Chocolate Frogs off the trolley are a fun treat, but regardless of what Mitchell might tell you, they're hardly a meal.

Warnings: It is entirely possible that I have been replying to reader comments as if they were true, solely to avoid spoilers. The question is, which comments?

Chapter Fourteen

Annie kept her word: she and Loki really were still friends as Christmas approached and the term ended. He knew he didn't deserve such a loyalty, but he remembered how the Sorting Hat shouted "Hufflepuff!" the moment it touched her head. Annie probably couldn't help it.

It bothered him, that he hadn't told her the truth, or George and Mitchell either, when they found out what had happened. Mitchell seemed mostly disappointed that he'd missed a chance to peek at the forbidden books, but George was angry enough at Loki over the rule-breaking for himself and Mitchell both. Luckily it didn't last very long, and by the time they packed to go home for Christmas Loki could pretend that everything was just the way it had always been. Almost.

Except when he lay in bed at night, his lavender sachet clutched in the hand held next to his face, and tried to tell himself it was okay to keep lying to his friends about who his parents really were. But at least he was always able get to sleep now, and if he dreamed, at least he didn't make enough of a fuss to wake the rest of the dormitory again.

He didn't speak to Thor again after the incident at the first Quidditch match. Professor Sprout asked once if he wanted her to arrange something, but Loki couldn't imagine anything he would want to say to his brother right now. He said no before he thought to ask whether she was asking because Thor wanted to talk to him, but when he did ask Professor Sprout said she had just wanted to know, and was always there if Loki changed his mind. Loki was content with that: he knew he was going to have to talk to Thor when they were home for the holidays, but for now it was nice not to have to think about him very much.

It turned out he wasn't going to have to think about his brother for the first two days of the Christmas break, either: just before term ended, he got an owl from his mother, telling him Thor would be going to see Hogun's family instead of coming straight home. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that.

"Relieved," Mitchell suggested, as they sat on the rug in the corner of the common room, in a fog of lavender and peppermint. "You feel relieved already, don't you?" Loki ducked his head.

"Perhaps it's the lavender," George suggested, sniffing at the sachet he was making for his mother.

"Stop it, George, you'll have all the smell sniffed up," Mitchell scolded, smacking at his hand. George made a face at him, and Mitchell went back to his own sachets.

"We're going to have the calmest parents in London," Annie remarked happily, as she worked on her project. Loki nodded, wondering if he should make an extra for himself, to carry in his pocket all the time while the original stayed under his pillow.

Instead, he finished sewing up the end of the little bag of herbs and wrapped a ribbon around it. His bow came out lopsided and he had to do it again. As he was doing so, Annie went back to the subject of Thor:

"He isn't visiting Hogun to get away from you."

"And if he is, he deserves to sleep on a lumpy couch," George muttered.

"I hope it's good and lumpy," Mitchell spoke up.

"Hear, hear," Annie said cheerfully. "And in the meantime, you'll have your mum and dad all to yourself for a couple of days."

"Right," Loki agreed, rather feebly, and tried not to think about all the times he'd had his mum and dad "all to himself" while Thor was in school the last few years. Probably he should bring some of his schoolbooks home with him.

Annie glanced at him, but said nothing, and they all went back to making their Christmas presents.

~oOo~

The Hogwarts Express left Hogsmeade Station on the Saturday before Christmas. This time, Loki took his belongings to the back of the train, where there were porters waiting to load them into the baggage car. Not everyone was bringing their owls home with them, but Loki saw Bronwyn settled between a tawny and a long-ear before he ran up the train to join the other first years.

This time, none of them looked for a compartment to themselves, they just found the open carriage and crowded in together. Darcy, Jane, and Natasha were together already, which made Loki glance around to look for Clint. There was no sign of him.

"Where do you think Clint is sitting?" he finally wondered aloud, and his friends shrugged in confusion. Natasha overheard him and got up from her seat to come over.

"He and Barney are spending Christmas at the school," she explained, looking unhappy about it.

"They are?" Loki asked. He suddenly remembered the night before he came to Hogwarts, when he had been so sure his parents would decide to leave him at school over the holiday. They hadn't, of course, Mum had written to say how happy they would be to see him again. He was suddenly terribly sorry no one was looking forward to seeing Barney and Clint.

"Yes," Natasha said. "I wanted my parents to ask Clint to come stay with us, but they thought it would be wrong to separate brothers at Christmas, and- "

"- And they didn't want Barney," Loki completed the thought.

"No," Natasha agreed, looking really unhappy about it. "I have a very little sister- she hasn't even started school yet- and if Barney was to get angry at her…"

"Oh," Loki said. Natasha went back to join the other girls as the first-years settled into their seats.

The trip back to London seemed to take a lot less time than the journey to Hogwarts, but it was still late when the train got in. All the first-years were sleepy and, despite the lunches provided to them from the school kitchens, hungry.

Loki and his friends spilled onto the platform, looking around for their parents. The prefects had to wait until all the other children were accounted for before they could leave, but Becky waved her parents, when they arrived, over to where Annie stood with Loki, George, and Mitchell. There was a lot of hugging, Annie's mother also hugging George and Mitchell, who of course knew her well, and then she smiled at Loki and said she had heard a lot about him this term. Loki hoped it was mostly good things.

As they stood there, Mitchell's dad walked up. He looked even more like Mitchell in person than he had in the book, especially when he smiled.

"George, we're giving you a lift, all right?" Mr. Mitchell said. "I understand there's all sorts of cooking at a delicate stage at your house, so your parents are both chained to the stove- which must be extremely uncomfortable for them- and- "

"Dad, this is Loki Odinson," Mitchell interrupted, tugging at his father's arm.

Mr. Mitchell looked surprised, then turned to Loki with a big smile, like nobody could be more important. "Frigga Odinson's boy?" Loki nodded, a little alarmed to be the focus of attention like this. Mr. Mitchell went on, "I knew her years ago, when you lot were just babies. Very clever witch." He glanced around and added, "Why don't we just wait with you, until your parents arrive? Is that all right, boys?"

"Sure," George and Mitchell chorused, despite how tired they looked.

"You don't have to- there are lots of people around," Loki started to protest- and anyway, the prefects were supposed to make sure the younger students were all collected so he wouldn't be alone- but he fell silent quite willingly when Mr. Mitchell made a flapping gesture at him.

"Not the same thing," Mitchell's dad said firmly. Then he perked up and looked down the platform. His hand dropped onto Loki's shoulder as he said, "And anyway, I think that's your mother now." Loki turned, to see a golden-haired figure in a pearl-gray winter cloak sweeping toward him.

Afterward, he cringed a little in embarrassment when he remembered his reaction. At the time Loki didn't think at all, just cried, "Mummy!" and went pelting down the platform to throw his arms around her. His mother looked startled for a second but hugged him back, hard, and then let him take her hand and drag her over to the others.

"This is Annie, and George, and Mitchell, and Annie's mum and dad Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer, and Mitchell's dad Mr…. Mr. Mitchell," he blurted, bogging down a little at the end over the ridiculousness of Mitchell's dad being called Mr. Mitchell. He looked up at his mother, just in time to see her smile of greeting turn into one of startled pleasure as she extended her free hand to Mitchell's dad.

"Declan? How wonderful to- I had no idea the Mitchell Loki wrote us about is your son, I assumed that was his given name. It's been- "

"Ten years at least," Mr. Mitchell agreed, clasping her hand briefly. "Since we went to Ireland, anyway."

"I was so glad to know your family had gotten away safely," Mum said, smiling at Mitchell. "We had already sent our boys to France, with old friends, but I did worry about your son." Loki kept his expression carefully blank- he had heard all his life that he and Thor had been sent to safety in France during the last days of the war, but now he thought that couldn't possibly be true. Thor would have been too young to remember clearly whether he actually had a little brother at the time or not. And then he was distracted from the thought as Mum went on, "I hope the children can visit together during the holiday. I wonder if the twenty-seventh or -eighth would be a good day to plan for?"

The idea of having guests, his own guests, was so exciting to Loki that he forgot to wonder whether Mum was lying about him going to France with Thor. The Sawyers and Mr. Mitchell said December twenty-seventh would be a good day for a visit. The adults suggested Loki send Bronwyn with a more specific invitation to the Mitchell on Boxing Day, since wizarding owls could always locate a person they knew.

And then Becky joined them, her prefect duties all done, and everyone went to collect trunks and owls and wish each other a happy Christmas, and then split up to go home. Mum took charge of the trunk while Loki carried Bronwyn's cage in his arms, talking non-stop about practically everything that had happened all term he had been unable to fit in his letters.

"Happy Christmas, Loki!" a voice called, and Loki looked up to see Darcy and Jane about to leave the station with a woman who must have been one of their mothers.

"Happy Christmas, Jane and Darcy," Loki called back, waving as well as he could with an armful of owl. "Have a nice holiday!"

"Are Jane and Darcy in Hufflepuff as well?" Mum asked, watching the girls go.

"No, Jane's in Ravenclaw and Darcy's in Slytherin. Happy Christmas, Ian!" Loki interrupted himself to call, waving again. Ian waved back and Loki turned to his mother. "Ian's in Slytherin, too. We have a lot of classes together, they're really nice."

Mum smiled suddenly. "Are they, my little Hufflepuff?" she said, and leaned down to kiss him on top of the head. Loki didn't understand why she did it, but he didn't try to pull away- he was taken by surprise, and anyway it was all right when it was your mother. And besides, he had missed her.

He was still chattering as they reached the car- a plain Muggle car, because you weren't supposed to put enchantments on what Dad called Muggle artifacts in case they somehow ended up in non-magical hands. And anyway, Dad liked knowing how to operate a proper Muggle car, although Mum avoided driving it whenever possible. Still, it was a convenient way to get home from the train station, without waiting for the Floo to be available.

"... and we thought- George and Mitchell and I- that if we learned how to cook something we might do better in Potions, so- "

His mother interrupted him.

"Loki? Sweetheart, I need to ask you a favour." Loki nodded eagerly. His mother said gently, "I need for you to save your stories until we get home." Loki blinked and looked down, nodding without a word. He was bundling Bronwyn into the back seat when his mother caught him by the shoulder, turned him toward her, and then gently lifted his chin so that she could see his face. "Loki. I want to hear everything you have to tell me, but I get quite nervous when I drive with you or your brother in the car. I'm afraid that I'll bump into something and you or Bronwyn or some poor Muggle will be hurt. So I won't be able to listen to you properly until we get home. But when we get there, I'll want to hear all about everything, including why you think learning to cook will help you with Potions. All right?"

Loki bit his lip and nodded again, still embarrassed about having to be told to keep quiet, like a baby. He got into the back of the car beside his owl, shushing her whenever she let out one of her mewing remarks. Mum glanced at him once in the rearview mirror, but mostly kept her attention firmly on the road- which really was very busy and confusing, especially in the dark.

It really was very dark, the headlamps of all the cars dazzling as they reflected off wet pavement. Loki leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes for a moment.

The next thing he knew his mother was gently shaking his shoulder, and they were home. The car was already inside the garage, which was a detached building outside the wall of the back garden. Bronwyn was squeaking and fluttering in the travel cage, probably because she could hear the other family owls in the owl room upstairs.

"Wake up, darling," Mum said quietly. "Let's get Bronwyn settled and then we'll go inside and you can have something to eat, all right?"

"Okay," Loki muttered, pawing at his eyes, and crawled out of the car under his mother's guidance. She carried Bronwyn's cage upstairs to the owl room, which was enchanted to stay reasonably cozy even though the windows were open to allow the inhabitants to fly in and out at will. Wizarding owls weren't quarrelsome: old Archimedes tu-whooed softly from his favourite perch by one of the windows, and Euclid, the young tawny owl who now carried most of the family post, flapped his wings a little and then settled down. Mum opened the travel cage and Bronwyn flew to an available perch and carefully folded her long wings.

Mum gave all three owls a few pieces of meat, for Bronwyn's dinner and to make sure the others didn't get jealous. Then Loki wished Bronwyn goodnight and he followed his mother down the stairs to retrieve his trunk from the car. Using a hover charm to make the trunk easier to manage, Mum led the way through the gate and up the garden path to the house. They left the trunk in the entry hall, at the foot of the stairs, and went into the kitchen.

Bindi was there, and after hugs of greeting she ushered Loki to his usual place at the table- the boys often had meals in the kitchen, when Dad wasn't home- and brought him a poached egg on toast and some bacon. Mum and Bindi had a cup of tea while Loki ate, finding it progressively harder to talk because he was yawning uncontrollably. When he was finished, he agreed it was probably time he went to bed.

As Mum helped get his trunk upstairs, she explained, "Your father is in Romania, and will be back tomorrow in time for dinner. And then he says the Ministry can just do without him until after the New Year. Thor will be home sometime on Monday afternoon. So it's just you and me tomorrow. We'll talk about what we want to do with the day in the morning, all right?"

Loki nodded, a little dazedly, and went to brush his teeth and put on his pajamas. He was in bed and nearly asleep when his mother came back, tucked the covers more snugly around Loki and his floppy rhinoceros, and kissed him on the forehead. His "goodnight" came out in a mumble, and he was asleep before his mother got to the doorway.

~oOo~

By the time Loki woke, the sun was well up and his room filled with grayish winter light. His mother, or someone, had unpacked his trunk while he was sleeping and his clothes were all ready for him. Dad didn't like the family to slop around the house in their pajamas, so Loki washed up and got dressed before he went downstairs.

Mum was at the dining room table, with a cup of tea and a lot of rolls of parchment before her. She smiled at Loki and said "Good morning" as he pulled out a chair. Bindi appeared almost at once to give him a bowl of hot oatmeal with milk and brown sugar.

Ordinarily, Bindi would have stayed to talk, but she glanced at Mum and vanished back toward the kitchen as Loki picked up his spoon. Mum let Loki eat a few spoonfuls of his milky oatmeal, and then said,

"Darling, I've just had a message from the hospital. Two of our long-term patients have unexpectedly been given clearance to spend Christmas at home, so I've been asked to go in and write up care plans for their families." Loki nodded, keeping his expression as blank as he could manage. It was all right, he told himself. He could read, and later he would play with Bronwyn, and surely Mum would be home in time to have dinner with Dad, wouldn't she- ?

Mum went on, "It should take an hour or two at most, so I thought perhaps you could bring along a book or something to occupy yourself with while I'm working. I promise I'll be as quick as I can. And then, after, I'll need your help with something."

Loki was already surprised and pleased at the idea of accompanying his mother to the hospital. The notion of her needing his help with something gave him a happy little glow before he even asked what it was.

Mum glanced at the dining room door, then leaned forward conspiratorially. "Bindi tells me she's seen Muggle children, quite little ones, wearing knitted hats that look like animals' faces. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes," Loki said, remembering the youngest children at the Muggle school he had attended. "Sometimes they have mittens, too, to match them."

"Wonderful," Mum beamed. "That's what she wants for Christmas. Now, I know you learned all about Muggle money at school, didn't you?" Loki nodded. "Good, because I find it very confusing. I've already had a look in Diagon Alley and haven't found anything quite right. So I thought, after I finish at work, we could go round some Muggle shops and see what we can find. And then we can have lunch out together at a Muggle restaurant, because I haven't eaten at one of them since... well, since before your brother was born. Does that sound like fun?" Loki nodded vigorously. "Good. We'll set out as soon as you've finished your breakfast. Mind you don't choke yourself," she added hastily, as Loki applied himself to his oatmeal with a will.

~oOo~

There was a low, round table in one corner of Mum's office. Loki sat on the floor beside it with his coloured pencils and a book of paper, drawing, while he waited for his mother to finish her work. She was at her big desk consulting with other healers, and of course they had cast a muffling charm because Loki wasn't supposed to hear what they were saying about their patients.

Finally, though, Mum and her two colleagues finished writing on their rolls of parchment. Mum waved her wand to remove the charm, and then called Loki over.

"Loki, I would like to you meet Madame Miriam Strout and Mr. Hippocrates Smethwyck. Miriam, Hippocrates, this is my son Loki. He's just finished his first term at Hogwarts."

The witch, Madame Strout, who was about the same age as Loki's mother, smiled and shook hands with Loki. The wizard looked to be Dad's age, not as tall but much wider, with a grizzled beard. He looked at Loki with a scowl that seemed more thoughtful than disapproving, and barked,

"Hogwarts, eh? Suppose you're in Gryffindor, like your mother and father."

Loki felt his face getting painfully hot. At the same time, he felt a little rush of defensiveness. "Um, no, sir. I'm- "

"Loki is our younger son, Hippocrates," Mum interrupted in a mild tone. "I've told you- "

The gray-haired wizard brightened at her words. "Oh, you're the Hufflepuff, what?" Loki nodded, and Mr. Smethwyck went on, "My old house, Hufflepuff."

"A great many healers have come from Hufflepuff," Madame Strout remarked, smiling.

"Suppose Pomona Sprout's still head, is she?" said Mr. Smethwyck. "I was at school with her. Awfully pretty girl, Pomona. Dirtiest hands you've ever seen, of course." Loki was trying to imagine Professor Sprout as a girl- he was able to picture the dirty hands, if not the prettiness- when Mr. Smethwyck went on jovially, "And what did old Clarence have to say, about a boy of his Sorting into Hufflepuff?"

Loki actually felt the blood rush away from his face- he had quite successfully not thought about that question in months- and Mum spoke up quickly.

"What would you say, Hippocrates, if you knew a child of yours was in Pomona Sprout's care?"

"I'd call them lucky," Mr. Smethwyck replied stoutly.

"Exactly," Mum said firmly, and smiled at Loki. "We're finished here, so Loki's going to help me with some Christmas shopping. I'll see both of you at the Boxing Day gathering at our house, I hope?" Her colleagues agreed, and both of them shook Loki's hand again and said it had been very nice to meet him. Loki said he was glad to meet them, too, and then he and his mother left the hospital.

~oOo~

The Muggle shops were very busy, this being the last weekend before Christmas, and Mum's cloak didn't draw the kind of attention it might have if the streets hadn't been so crowded, or the other shoppers so intent on their own business. Loki, like a lot of underage wizards, wore Muggle-style clothing as a matter of habit- after so long at the Muggle school he felt most at home in those clothes, anyway- and so didn't attract any attention at all.

They tried several clothing stores, having no luck- there were hats, but only ordinary ones. Mum finally decided to ask advice of a friendly-looking girl who was tidying the shelves at the third of the stores.

"Excuse me," Mum addressed her, with a dazzling smile. "My son and I are looking for a present for him to give his little cousin. We've seen a kind of hat, knitted to look like an animal's face- "

"Oh yes," the girl said. "You mostly find those at specialty knitting shops. I expect there'll be some listed in the telephone directory- just give me a minute and I'll look for you."

"Thank you," Mum said warmly, and looked at the shelf the girl was standing in front of, which contained a lot of man-sized cardigans. "I think your father would like one of those, wouldn't he?" she addressed Loki. "In the dark grey, perhaps."

The girl was pleased to sell them the cardigan before she looked for the telephone directory. Loki helped his mother with the Muggle money, which she had had changed at Gringott's before Loki came home, when she paid. He noticed she wasn't quite as confused as she claimed, and it crossed his mind that the Muggle clothing he was wearing had to have come from somewhere.

Not long after, Loki and his mother were entering a shop filled with shelves of wool, rolled up in balls and skeins, with fancy knitted items on display. The woman who came forward was as round and gray and cheerful as Professor Sprout, and Loki's mother repeated the fiction of the little cousin who wanted an animal hat for Christmas.

This store had a whole section of such hats, which looked like all sorts of animals: Loki could see a monkey, a blue budgie, and several different-coloured cats. He and his mother pored over them for some minutes.

"Which one do you think Bindi would like best?" Mum finally asked. Loki chewed his lip as he studied the hats- he couldn't pick his favourite. And then he reminded himself that he was supposed to be choosing Bindi's favourite. He studied the hats carefully, wringing his hands together as he worried about making the right choice. Suppose he picked the one hat she didn't like at all- ?

Loki started as his mother touched his shoulder. "Loki, it's all right. Do something for me, will you?" He looked up at her, and Mum said calmly, "Look at each of the hats one more time." Loki obeyed. His mother said, "Now, quick- close your eyes and picture Bindi." Loki did. "Which hat was she wearing?"

"The budgie," Loki said at once.

"Oh, good," Mum said. "That one's my favourite."

It turned out there were mittens to go with the hat, knitted into a pattern that looked quite a lot like wingtips. Loki was completely charmed by them, and carried the bag as he and his mother left the store.

"I don't know about you," Mum said, "but I'm really hungry. It's closer to teatime than lunch, isn't it? Shall we find somewhere to eat?"

They were in an area with a lot of restaurants and cafes. After walking up and down for a few minutes, Loki and his mother decided on a cozy-looking little place that smelled delicious. They were soon settled at a table by the window so they could watch people walking by, and a waitress in a white shirt and black trousers came to fill their water goblets and give them menus. Before long Loki had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs before him, and his mother had chicken and vegetables with some sort of sauce. The waitress smiled when Loki said thank you, and said to Mum,

"That's a very polite young man you have there."

Mum smiled back. "His father and I are pretty proud of him." The waitress left them, and Loki and his mother concentrated on their meals for a few minutes.

Loki was very carefully cutting a large meatball into manageable pieces when his mother put her fork down and leaned forward.

"Loki," she said quietly, "I need to apologize to you." As he looked at her with wide eyes, Mum continued, "I'm so sorry about your owl. I was distracted when you asked and I forgot all about it. And it seems I also wasn't paying attention when you talked about her over the summer, because I had no idea you had a particular owl in mind, or that you were saving your money to buy her. I'm awfully sorry you had to wait so long to have her, and I'm even sorrier for not listening to you when you were talking about things that are important to you."

"That's all right," Loki said uncomfortably, after a pause. He ate a piece of his meatball and tried to think of something to say so his mother wouldn't look so sad.

She wasn't finished, though. "You seem to have made some very nice friends at school." Loki nodded, waiting for her to remind him that she had said he would. Instead, Mum went on, "And Professor Sprout says you always go around with the other children in your year." Loki nodded again, puzzled and beginning to wonder if he had done something wrong. His mother said, "That's made your dad and me realize we've also been wrong about some other things, too. We used to think you were happier playing by yourself than with other children. That was wrong, wasn't it?" Loki ate another piece of meatball, unable to meet his mother's eyes. After a moment he nodded. Mum sighed. "I wish you had said something."

"I... one time I said I wished I had someone to play with," Loki whispered, suddenly remembering an afternoon when it seemed all the kids from school were going to each other's houses while he went home alone. "You said I had Thor."

"Oh." Mum was silent for a moment. Loki continued to stare at his plate, pushing his food around. His mother reached across the table to him, and he found himself holding her hand. He looked up. Even blurry as she was, he could tell she looked very serious as she said, "Your dad and I have made a lot of mistakes that we're sorry for. I promise, Loki, that I'll pay better attention to you, and listen when you have things you want to say. I promise."

"Okay," Loki whispered, because he couldn't think of anything else to say. His mother squeezed his hand and released it.

"I think Bindi will really like that hat," she said after a moment, while Loki blinked and played with his fork. "And do you know, I think we have time to pay a visit to Diagon Alley before we go home. Would you like to stop in at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and find some gifts for your friends?" Loki looked up and nodded, the lump in his throat dissolving. "Good. They have the best Christmas crackers, too. I hope your dad gets one with a really funny hat in it."

Mum smiled at the thought, and Loki smiled back before returning his attention to his food. It was still warm, and it tasted wonderful.