AN: Ogremen:Well, sorry for taking so long people, we were wanting to let How Could One Will Cause So Much Chaos catch up to LF or Loki's Family in terms of chapter numbers, at least a bit, so we focused on that story for a bit, again, sorry about that :( Anyway, the next chapter Oracle will release will be the conclusion of first year for LF, after this one of course, lol
Oracle: Don't forget life! We also got caught up in our lives. I spent four days at a convention and thus was unable to do any work but at least we've finally got this long awaited chapter out for all of you to enjoy. Now, for those of you that remember we had just begun to send Harry and co after Quirrell, but they know nothing more than that a teacher has gone for something hidden in the school. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that things are going to go differently than they did in canon, mostly because the Headmistress actually put more effort into guarding the stone AND had no intention of any students ever getting to it. So prepare yourselves for a different set of trials as Harry and his Asgardian friends try to get to the end of the trials in time. What will await our heroes in these trials? Are they ready for them? Well you'll just have to read and find out lol.
Now then let's get on with the chapter! :D
~w~
~Midguard~ ~Song Start: Final Fantasy VIII - The Legendary Beast~
"Oh Norns," Harry breathed in shocked as the beast revealed it's fangs and, with a loud growl began to lunge at them.
Harry and his friends dodged just in time as the large beast ended up hitting wall behind them with a mighty and deafening thump. As the beast struggled to get its head out of the newly created hole in the wall, Harry turned to Runa and said, "Think you can kill it with one of your runes?" he asked hopefully.
"Not one powerful enough for three heads, Harry," Runa stated flatly.
Ari sighed, "Right now, we're dealing with one of Hade's guard dogs, and you're trying to figure out how to fight it?" Ari said as he then went and planted one of his short swords into the three headed dog's feet, immediately causing it to roar in pain. "Yeeah, that might have been wrong..." Ari said in realization.
"Nah, you think!" Runa said as she fired flame rune arrows into the three headed dog's hide, trying to set it on fire and meeting little success.
"Wait, this could be what Hagrid provided for the protections. We can't just kill this beast!" Godiva pointed out worriedly.
"If Hagrid treats a baby dragon like his son, then chances are this beast is most likely a pet, just like Fang is to him. We cannot risk killing it and hurting Hagrid because of it," Jarl agreed.
"Well then how do we get past this thing!?" Ari shouted in an exasperated tone.
"The teacher that went ahead of us must have known how to get past it. There must be a clue as to what they did around here somewhere!" Harry shouted to his four friends as he ducked down and conjured a Spartan shield to put between him and the head that was lunging at him.
Jarl, Runa, and Godiva split their time between blocking the beast's attacks, dodging the attacks, and looking around for something that clearly wouldn't have been in the room before the teacher they were pursuing passed through. Ari, however, just wanted to kill the beast and move on to the next thing that awaited them, never really having the time or patience to figure things out that aren't related to hunting.
It was Godiva that spotted the harp in the one corner of the room. She faintly remembered hearing a few notes being played on the harp as they had entered the room before it had fallen silent. "I know what they did!" She called before she raced over to the harp. Once there she began to pluck the strings of the harp to play a lullaby she had often heard mothers in Asgard singing to their babies when in the parks or other public spaces.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ari questioned in disbelief. Now was not the time to be playing a harp when there was a monster dog with three heads trying to kill them. However when the beast's three heads each let out loud yawns, as their six eyes began to droop Ari threw his hands up in the air in even more disbelief. "Is there nothing normal on this realm?" He shouted as the beast laid down and fell asleep.
Once the beast crashed to the ground as its strength gave out as sleep took over, Godiva looked at Harry pointedly, who nodded and cast a music spell Loki had taught him to amuse girls, that would let the instrument play itself, he didn't know it, but that spell would come in handy next year too.
"Thanks Harry," Godiva said as the spell took hold and the Harp continued to play itself, the melody it was playing was a simple one, but, it seemed to work to 'soothe the savage beast'.
Harry sighed, "Finally, alright, there's no doors in here, so there has to be something that allowed that teacher to exit the room some other wa-" Harry was saying before being cut off by Runa.
"Found it!" Runa said, reaching for something on the floor and then using her Asgardian strength to lift a solid metal trapdoor up so as to open the hatch. "Well," Runa said, "They certainly made it easy..." she grumbled sarcastically. Looking down into the pit of under the hatch, she grumbled about dark places full of cobwebs, causing Ari to chuckle, only to be smacked upside the head by Godiva and a glare from Jarl.
"Right, sorry guys," Ari mumbled apologetically.
Runa, glaring at Ari, sighed as she equipped one of her latest Rune creations, Light Arrows, and fired one into the whole, only for it to stop as it hit something about five meters down, what the light that then flooded the pit revealed cause Harry to react in shock, being the only herbologist amongst them.
"That's Venomous Tentacula!" Harry exclaimed in shock and a tad bit of fear, "Alright, Runa, Godiva, you two use fire arrows and flame spells, Jarl, Ari, you're with me and we'll use severing curses, Asgardian type," he said seriously, "Lets light the fucker up!" he said as he cast a over powered cutting curse, of a slightly darker type Loki had taught him at the plant based magical monster.
It took a good two minutes, but by the time they stopped their assault, the plant had been rendered useless, except as maybe fertilizer.
Once they were sure it was dead, Harry had Runa fire another Light Arrow into the pit to illuminate it, he was glad she did as underneath the initial plant monster were some retreating tentacles, a quick fire arrow and a fiend fire curse, and the Devils Snare that was obviously a backup plant plan, and they were clear to jump down.
"Well, I'm sure we can safely assume that was Sprout's protection," Harry said with a smirk.
Runa raised a brow at that. "Two deadly plants that hunt, trap, and kill…Sprout has a very scary side to her," she shuddered in fear.
"Between this and the poisonous plants in the green house, I think we would do well to avoid making her mad at us," Ari commented. "Who knows what kind of revenge streak she might be hiding behind that pleasant smile."
Jarl could agree with Ari on that. "Wonder how the teacher managed to get past both without a trace."
Godiva turned to Jarl, "We didn't exactly stop to look for signs of the teacher before we opened fired on the plants. Anyway, we should get going and see what the next trial is," Godiva said before jumping into the pit.
Once they were all down, they saw a door hidden behind the crumbling and charred remains of the Venomous Tentacula, and they opened and stepped through, only to stop when they saw that there was a set of runes on a pedestal.
Runa smirked, "This has to be Professor Bathsheda Babbling's trial, she is the teacher of runes for third year and up," she said. When everyone looked at her, she blushed and mumbled something.
Ari, being the dick he is from time to time, smirked, "And you would know this HOW, 'firsty'?" he asked teasingly using the word Fred and George used for first years.
Runa glared while Godiva snuck up behind Ari and gave him a smack upside the back of his head, saying "Behave!" as she did.
"Thank You Godiva," Runa said with a smirk, "Anyway, to answer your question, I am a rune mistress, right behind Lady Freya and Loki's rune master capabilities," she said proudly and, dare she admit it, smugly, "Naturally she was curious about some of the runes I used that she had never seen before, and through that we got to talking," she finished with an uncaring shrug of her shoulders.
Ari meanwhile was muttering about women and their need to stop smartasses from cracking jokes and having fun under his breath.
Runa on the other hand, quickly looked at the puzzle, and started shifting runes around until a door appeared opposite of where they entered from. When everyone looked at her for an explanation she sighed and gave one. "The runes here are a mix of Old Norse and Gaelic, along with some Druidic and Greek, good thing I picked up all those rune books on foreign runes," she said, "Anyway, together, they all mean exits in the respective languages, but you needed to order them by the dates that said cultures began disappear from main stream influence," she added, "And that's where that French runic history book I bought came in handy," she finished proudly.
"Someone's looking for brownie points…" Ari muttered, only to duck this time as Godiva's hand and armed swept over him, however, he failed to take in the fact of Jarl being right beside her and thus was unprepared for a leg sweep that caused Ari to be knocked on his ass.
Harry shook his head at his friends. "Let's keep moving. We have to catch up to the teacher before they can reach whatever it is the school is hiding," Harry said as he moved to the door.
When they stepped through, it was to come face to face with a massive giant and troll hybrid, as evidence by the clearly grey skin, but its size being that of a giant hybrid.
"Fuuu-" Ari said as he dodged with his friends, just as a truly massive club came down where they had been standing, smashing the floor to bits with a crater forming on impact.
Coming to a standing position after rolling and jumping away, Harry cursed, "Alright, spells will be next to useless, let's do the old Hack and Slash formations!" Harry shouted as he raced in, using his speed training to get in close and start hacking at some of the tendons only to jump back as the monster swung its club, and instead of hitting Harry, hit its own newly exposed muscle and tendons, causing it to roar in pain.
Just as the creature roared, Jarl raced in front of it and proceeded to pound his fists, with his gauntlets on, into the creature's reachable knee on its left leg. Again the creature roared in pain, this time however, it fell to its knees as its left kneecap shattered from Jarl's spiked gauntlets and his superior, and even frightening strength, even by Asgardian standards.
As the creature hit the ground with its knees, Runa took a moment to take aim before firing two arrows, one into each eye using a flame arrow so that it cauterized the wound and causing an intense stinging as they fizzled out the fires. Needless to say, as terrifying as the creature was, it was getting its ass handed to it on a silver platter due to it being all strength and almost no speed, or intelligence.
Godiva then took her two handed war hammer and proceeded to climb up onto the Troll/Giant hybrid's back, and proceeded to pound into its skull with the hammer. It took a minute, but, after that, it just slumped forward, dead.
"Well," Godiva said, wiping seat from her brow, "I highly doubt that was anything other than one of Professor Silvanus Kettleburn's creatures, after all, it looked like a hybrid."
"Maybe, but the guy still must've had a hand in bringing it in," Jarl noted, "Wonder how the teacher slipped past this one. After all this would be very difficult for one teacher on their own, no matter how skilled they are."
"Let's push forward then. Maybe one of the traps will have held whoever they are up enough for us to catch up to them," Harry ordered as he moved for the door.
"Right," Runa and Godiva said at the same time.
~Song End~
When they reached the next room, however, it was to see a trio mannequins dressed up as a combat wizards. As they all entered the room, the door behind them slammed shut and the trio of mannequins began to move as they began to fire spells at the group.
Harry immediately conjured a barrier made of metal that began to ring as the spells hit the one side. "I have a feeling this is Flitwick's work..." Harry stated flatly.
"What makes you say that Harry?" Runa asked curiously, while taking cover under the metal barrier.
"He was a dueling master, told me so when he saw me defeat Theodore Nott in that duel a month ago," he said, referring to the so called 'honor duel' that Nott had challenged him to when he had heard him telling everyone in the great hall that he hoped they caught all the Death Eaters after the war cause they were nothing but terrorists. Needless to say, he had somehow felt his honor had been slighted and challenged Harry, Harry had then quickly beaten him, making his defeat all the more humiliating for him considering it was well known his father was a supporter of Pureblood rights.
"Great…So what do we do about this?" Ari questioned as magic wasn't his nor Jarl's strength.
"Clearly we duel them," Runa answered. "Knowing Flitwick, he wouldn't set this up to be lethal given that they might have to come down to check that everything is working still. So, perhaps, we just have to knock them down to win the duel?" She offered.
"Doesn't sound too hard…" Ari smirked until Godiva pointed out that in a magical duel you can't physically attack your opponent. "I am really hating these trials..." Ari huffed.
"Yeah, well, who's the idiot who decided that magic only had limited use for him?" Runa scolded. "Maybe now you'll pay more attention in Lord Loki's classes."
Ari just waved her off, "Yeah, yeah, I need more magic."
"Ari and I shall stay behind cover while you three duel them," Jarl told Harry, trying to move things along since they had no idea how far ahead the teacher was or even how many trials awaited them.
Harry immediately began casting knock back curses, Godiva and Runa doing the same to each of their opponents, they each also conjured Spartan shields to deflect the spells that were being fired by the mannequins.
After a few minutes the mannequins were down, and the barrier was taken down soon after.
"Well, that was interesting," Harry said, smiling at Runa and Godiva, "Well, shall we see who's next?" he asked a tad 'too' cheerfully.
"I swear if it's another purely magic only trial, then I am going to have a long talk with McGonagall about how pointless it is to use things only magic can get past when the ones that are trying to break in are pure magic users!" Ari growled. "Also someone check Harry's head, clearly something's wrong if he's enjoying this."
Jarl gave Ari a shove towards the door. "Just because you do not enjoy this, doesn't mean other people can't. Besides, think of how angry Ron 'the Weasel' Weasley will be when he learns that we managed to do what he was too scared to do."
Ari did think about it, and then a huge grin broke out on his face. "Let's go everyone! I want to be able to rub this in his face before bed!"
"Typical Ari..." Runa sighed.
As they entered the next room, hoping it was the last, they saw that it was a bunch of potion bottles on a table, however, there seemed to be no catch.
Harry walked up to the table and saw that each of the bottles were labeled, one was marked, 'Experimental Shrinking Potion', while another was marked 'Go forward to go back', and yet another was labeled 'Drink me to go forward,' then he noticed a paper on the table and picked it up. "Sometimes the past is where you can find the future..." he read aloud.
"Not a magical solution!" Runa shouted to Ari before he could complain, "You can't whine about this because it's not a magic only trial."
Ari glared at her, "Yeah, yeah, ok, you got me there. But it's still way too easy! I mean the note clearly is saying that the 'go forward to go back' one is the answer," he huffed.
"I'm not so sure. After all, that would be too easy and since this is more than likely Slughorn's trial, he would not make it that easy out of a matter of pride," Jarl pointed out.
Godiva nodded at that. "I agree. You can see in his work as a teacher that he is a man of pride and even something like a trial for a hidden object would be something he would want to show off his talents in. Thus the answer must be something else."
Harry looked at all the potions, there were five in all, the last two were marked, 'Poison' and 'Cure'. Harry then thought back on the classes Slughorn had taught, as well as the many conversations he had with the man, however, one stood out in particular. It was a conversation about death, "Slughorn once told me about an incident he had with a student that later in his life would lead him to almost taking his own life," Harry said, "However, he stopped himself when he remembered the times he spent chatting with my mother," he added, "I think the answer is the Poison bottle," he said awkwardly, "And that the Cure is actual poison, along with the others, and if I am right, then Slughorn is a lot more deep then anyone realises."
"Harry if you are wrong then this could go horribly, horribly wrong and we have no means to get to anyone who can help you in time." Jarl warned. "Someone should drink it first to be certain that you are correct."
"What?" Ari asked. "Why would some mortal poison potion harm Harry?"
"Harry is half mortal Ari. We can't be certain what effect such a potion could have on him. Meanwhile the four of us are not mortal and can survive such a poison with only slight discomfort," Godiva reminded him.
Runa nodded, "Remember that one time some idiot tried to poison Harry during mealtime around October, and you had stolen his drink since it was honeyed mead Harry had brought with him?"
Ari had the decency to blush, as that particular time the drink had gone right through him, causing indigestion and then making him shit his pants, needless to say, considering the whole thing happened in about five minutes, it was embarrassing. "Fair enough," He then glanced at the others before looking at the potions. "So, which of us is going to drink the 'Poison' potion?" He really didn't want to have to as he was scared of a repeat of last time he'd drank poison. He would lay his life down for Harry, but he wasn't willing to let his dignity take another hit like that, even if only his friends would know about it.
Harry looked at the Poison bottle, it was only enough for one person, he sighed, and rushed forward, taking the potion and holding it, even as his friends began to protest, he knew he would be getting yelled at later by Loki for taking on the trials, so why not add this reason for being reckless too? Looking at them all he said, "Here goes..." and drank the potion even as he saw Jarl run towards him to stop him. Before Jarl could reach him though, there was a flash and he was gone.
Runa gasped while Godiva could only mutter, "Bugger..." as they couldn't see him and the only apparent way out was to go back the way they came. Jarl, who had been racing towards Harry to stop him stopped when he saw the Poison bottle sitting on the ground where Harry stood, apparently refilling itself too.
"There might be hope of finding him," he said, picking up the bottle. "Only question is who is going after him." Jarl said as he showed them the, once more, refilling bottle.
"Runa has a great deal of skills and attacks that could prove useful in battle, she also has magic and range on her side," Godiva started, "She should be the one to go in case the teacher Harry will be facing intends harm should anyone get in their way."
Ari sighed, "Much as I hate to admit it, Godiva has a point. Runa would be the best able to help Harry while the three of us head back and get help from the rest of the school staff in case something goes wrong down here."
Runa grabbed the bottle from Jarl. "Alright then. Time to go save our prince from himself," She smirked before drinking the potion.
With another flash, Runa was gone as well, again, the potion was on the ground, refilling itself.
Jarl looked at it, "I think it best if we wait here for McG," he said worriedly, "She's bound to have been notified by now," he added.
Godiva shook her head. "Ari told Runa we'd get help." She then turned to Ari. "You are the fastest, so you head back to the entrance and find some teachers, inform them of what's going on," She ordered. "If McG doesn't get here in time we may need the help."
Ari really didn't want to have to go back through all of that again, but he knew she was right to send him. "Alright then. Hope the way back is easier than it was forward." He then bolted for the door and disappeared to get help.
"And now we wait." Godiva sighed and took a seat on the ground.
~Song start: FF10-2 OST: Their Resting Place~
As the flash died down, Harry looked around to find himself in a chamber surrounded by fire. In the center of the room was a pedestal with a big, massive, oval of darkness floating above it, he recognised it right away, it was one of Hela's portals, well, trap portals anyway. It would lead those who were unworthy directly to her realm, body and soul. He knew about these trap portals because Loki had told him about them while talking about Harry's sister one afternoon in Asgard. As Harry got up, he was knocked out from behind and bound.
"REVIVE HIM SQUIRREL!" a raspy voice shouted angrily. Quirrell, who had grimaced at being called the name of an animal. He did however, comply and used Enervate spell on Harry, who slowly came too just as another Flash behind Quirrell went off, thankfully, he was so focused on Harry he never saw the light go off.
"Harry Potter, Grandson of Lord Loki," Quirrell said, "You were very hard to target this year you know?" Qurriell continued, "Wasn't easy getting that hybrid into the Trials, or letting in that Nundu in fact," he hissed, "And to think, they took the creature to Scamander, who then took it in and gave it to his 'pets'," Quirrell finished with obvious disgust.
Harry gave a small smirk. "Not my fault you are incompetent," He mocked, "Not to mention it's a wonder no one caught on to how fake you are, which by the way was beyond pathetic. My friends and I had you pegged from day one!" Harry knew he was taking a risk here, but after seeing Runa ducking behind cover he knew he had to keep all eyes on him and mocking someone was the best way to do just that. Not to mention he'd been dying for a chance to say that shit and more to Quirrell for a long time now. "So, what's your plan now? After all, I know that's Hela's doing over there," Harry nodded to the trap portal. "And there is no way you will ever be able to get past that one. Got to hand it to McG, we were starting to get worried she'd made all this too easy. But getting my aunt to help with the trials was brilliant."
"H-Hela's doing?" Quirrell stuttered, for real this time, "Your aunt Hela? As in queen of the Viking Underworld?" he asked fearfully.
"Yep," Harry said, making sure to pop the P at the end. "That portal right there will take anyone that messes with it right to her realm, most likely right to her feet. So if you even try anything with it, you'll be on a one way trip to meet my aunt and she will make sure to make you suffer when I eventually tell her what you were up to here," Harry taunted. He was kind of lying, the bit about the portal taking people to Hela's realm was true, but if it was something meant to guard something then chances were only the worthy could reach in and get the thing. But Quirrell didn't need to know that. "And if you try to get me to touch it, well, I'll most likely end up in my aunt's realm and she'll make quick work of getting us back here so she can deal with you herself. So to put it bluntly, you're fucked," Harry laughed.
Quirrell scoweled, "Damn you insufferable brat..." he muttered.
Suddenly a voice sounded from behind Quirrell, "LET ME SPEAK TO HIM SQUIRREL!" the voice said.
"Master you are not strong enoug-" Quirrell, began only to be cut off this time.
"LET ME SPEAK TO HIM RODENT!" the voice ordered again, this time more forcefully.
Quirrell winced and proceeded to unwrap his turban as he turned from Harry so his back was to him. As he unwrapped it, the smell of rotting garlic that always seemed to follow Quirrell intensified, it became almost choking when he finished unwrapping his turban, revealing a face on the back of his head with red pupiled and slitted eyes and a nose that looked like it came from a reptile.
Harry almost recoiled at the sight, before remembering his training and how wrong it is to show such a weakness. "Ugh! I didn't think you could get any uglier. No wonder you wear that tacky thing," Harry mocked. Harry hoped that Runa had been smart enough to move to a place that wasn't in the direction Quirrell was now facing. Otherwise any surprise attack she might be planning was going to fail.
"Ten years, it's been since we last saw one another Harry," the red eyed face said, "A long time since you and your blasted mother did this to me!" it seethed.
Harry frowned in confusion for a moment before realizing just what he was looking at. "Oh it's you!" The smirk was then back on his face. "Didn't recognize you since you weren't being blasted by your own spell," He taunted, "Wow, were you that ugly before as well? No wonder you went dark. With looks like those not even Dumbles would touch your arse."
Growling in anger, the face contorted in rage and yelled, "CRUCIO!" aiming at the bound Harry, who had no choice but to take a hit from the curse and caused him to begin screaming hoarsely from the pain of the torture curse.
Runa, having readied an arrow with a flash rune stepped into sight and let the arrow fly. The arrow was aimed to fly past Voldemort's face, but the rune was set to go off as soon as it was in front of his eyes. Harry only had to suffer a short moment of intense pain before Voldemort was blinded and Runa was able to run to Harry and drag him to cover, dispelling the bindings around him with little trouble. "You alright Harry?"
Harry panted, short on breath from screaming so hard, he also felt weak, but he nodded. "I'll be fine. But now we know why Quirrell actually wasted time with the act as well as why he's down here. Ugly there wants whatever is being guarded," Harry answered.
"So, what's the plan? Ari and the others should be getting help from the staff that's still in the school, and McG if she's returned, so hopefully we don't have to deal with this for long." Runa informed him.
Harry glanced at the portal. "Maybe we should try getting him to touch the portal, send his arse to Hela so she can get rid of them both for us," He suggested.
"Doubt we'll be able to, with the two of them working together," Runa sighed before smiling. "But Quirrellmort seems easy to piss off. Might be able to get him to make the mistake if we anger him enough to fall into a blind rage," She suggested.
"Any plan is better than no plan my dear Runa," Harry said, slowly raising himself up, he said, "I will distract him, you keep setting some trap runes, ok?"
Runa gave Harry a look of disbelief. "You see he's got two faces right? You'll have to do a damn shite job better than just distracting him for me to be able to set up traps runes," She reminded him. After all, how was she supposed to set trap runes with a two faced enemy that might spot her.
Harry smirked, "Did you notice if Quirrell closed his eyes when Voldemort spoke?" he asked, hoping that he was right about a guess he had.
"I was more focused on getting into position for a surprise attack and readying a rune," She growled before sighing. "Forget it, I'll use the 'insta-set' runes that I just need to throw and they'll be set upon hitting the ground. Just try not to trigger them yourself," She sighed, hearing Voldy searching for them now that his sight had returned.
"Damn it, the insufferable brat had a helper!" Voldemort scowled, "Come out now Potter, and take your punishment like a true wizard!" he ordered.
"Nah, I kinda like this game," Harry said before coming out of hiding and firing an impedimenta followed by a knockback jinx both of which he had learned from Fred and George.
Voldemort, who hadn't been expecting the rather simple combo tripped and then growled, "Accio Harry Potter!" he roared.
Runa meanwhile had come out of hiding and tossed a few runes along the floor. Some were small firework runes to annoy the two enemies, a few would release a burst of wind that would knock them down, and there were one or two that would set fire to any cloth that touched them. She was about to toss more when she heard the yell and turned to see what was happening with Harry.
Voldemort, waiting for Harry to come out in the open, smiled when he saw Harry zooming towards him, what he was unprepared for however was for Harry to turn around and bring out a vicious looking dagger aimed right for Quirrellmort's body!
When Harry realised what Voldemort did, he growled as he was pulled from hiding towards the dark wizard at fast speeds, as such, he twisted his body while pulling out a dagger in one motion. Harry could see the moment Voldemort realized what was about to happen but it was too little too late as Harry jabbed the dagger into Voldemort's arm just as he crashed into him. Using the years of training he'd had in Asgard, Harry was able to get to his feet and move away from Voldemort before the man could recover, catching sight of a fire rune landing just between him and Voldemort thanks to a well-placed toss from Runa.
Voldemort, angry, tried to stabilise himself, only to fall forward, and have his knees make contact with the Asgardian flame trap rune, igniting the front of his robe. He struggled to get it off before the flames grew.
Harry laughed at the sight. "What's wrong Voldy? Can't stand the heat? Then maybe you should surrender," He taunted, "I've been trained by one of Asgard's best warriors, not to mention magically trained by my grandfather, and Freya, the woman who taught him. You don't stand a chance against me!" Harry then laughed again as Voldemort, after getting the robe off made the mistake of stepping on one of the knockback runes and was sent flying further from Harry.
Runa, who was ducking by the pedestal, gave a small chuckle as well before calling out, "This is the dreaded Voldemort everyone is so scared of? What a letdown! Even babies back in Asgard wouldn't be scared of him."
Voldemort growled, 'I will not be made a fool of!' Voldemort thought as he began using up what little life energy Quirrell had left to cast killing Curses. One of which hit the place Runa was hiding behind, causing said cover to explode and reveal her form to Quirrellmort.
Runa rolled away from the pedestal and let one of her arrows fly towards Voldemort. "Harry, think it's time to wrap this up!" She called, reminding Harry of the plan to send both Voldemort and Quirrell through the portal to Hela.
Harry agreed. Their enemy was truly enraged now and he had the opening he needed. Harry charged at Voldemort, slamming his body into him to force him back into the portal.
Voldemort growled when Harry tackled him, at least until he realised what Harry was doing, and trying to stop the boy, he tried to find his wand so as to perform a banishing curse, only to swear mentally when he saw that it had fallen from his hands when Harry had slammed into him. With little choice left, Voldemort did the only thing he could do, save himself. Ripping himself from Quirrel's body his spirit fled the area, hoping the portal wouldn't try to drag him into it for being a soul without a body. As Quirrell watched he screamed, "Master!"
Quirrell, feeling his master abandoning him grabbed hold of Harry's arms in a desperate bid to avoid a fate worse than death. He reasoned that he could trade Harry's safety to Hela in exchange for his own life. It was the only thing he could think of that might help him. However, to his horror, as Quirrell was swallowed by the portal, Harry's arms seemed to vanish from his hold as his body was sent flying to Hela's realm.
Harry hadn't been scared of getting pulled through the portal, after all, Hela wouldn't harm him. She might even keep him for a few hours to talk or something before sending him home. But instead of getting dragged with Quirrel through the portal, Harry was surprised when Quirrell's grip on him vanished and something appeared in his right hand. Pulling his arms free of the portal Harry opened his right hand and found a small red gem like stone in his hand. "What's this?" He questioned.
~End Song~
Runa coming up beside Harry hugged him, "Never do that again you idiot!" she said, hugging Harry tightly.
Harry raised a brow at Runa. "How come when I try to hug you, I get threats of violence, but you get to hug me?" He asked, knowing he was pushing his luck with her. And sure enough there was the slap upside the head as Runa pulled away looking angry at him.
"Just shut up you idiot," She snapped, though Harry could see a small smile tugging at her lips before she turned away, blushing a bit, 'Why does my skin feel hot suddenly?' she thought to herself as she looked away from Harry.
Just as Harry was going to say something funny, there was a flash of light as the flames died down and a door appeared where only solid wall had been.
Sighing and getting ready for another fight, Harry let out a sigh of relief when he saw Minerva McGonagall appear through the door, alongside Filius Flitwick, Jarl, Ari, and Godiva.
"Hey, Runa, looks like the cavalry arrived late!" Harry said in a smart ass tone. Harry then waved the gem stone towards McGonagall. "Do you know what this thing is? Cause I don't have a clue." To which he saw her roll her eyes at him.
~w~
AN: Ogremen: Well, that was an exciting turn of events eh? lol Anyway, before anyone comments on why Flitwick's challenge was seeming easy for the Asgardians and Harry to beat, let's look at them for a moment. There was THREE mannequins, all were firing rapid fire and changing spells, he is also a caring teacher, and, I can personally see him predicting the Weasley Twins TRYING to get through the challenges, and just in case they made it to his challenge, I can see the trial being set up to adjust itself to those it faces so for Voldemort, it would be lethal, to Harry and his friends, while still lethal, it would not be firing truly lethal spells because of the fact that they are not magically recognised as adults.
Oracle: The trials were a very interesting part to go through. We knew we couldn't use the canon ones since McGonagall would NEVER have wanted Harry and his friends to go down there. She actually tried to keep the stone safe and not use it as a training tool for Harry cause let's face it. At the end of the day when you look at the canon ones it just screams 'I was made for first years to be able to get past'. The only challenge in the canon trials really, apart from the potion challenge as that was at least one that made you pause and think, was the mirror one. That was the only one that no one would've been able to solve unless they didn't want to use the stone. Everything else could easily be beaten. So we had to use some that would be a challenge for an adult witch or wizard to get past. And of course, since Harry and his friends weren't looking for information about what was being hidden in the school, they had no idea what it was that Quirrel had wanted, nor did they make the mistake of trying to guess who was trying to get at it in the first place. So Harry and them really went in blind on this one lol. Anyway, leave your thoughts and feelings about this chapter in the comments/review area. We hope you enjoyed the chapter and we look forward to bringing you more of this wonder story in the near future.
