A group of deities were bored stiff. They weren't really permitted to go to the mortal realm on a whim anymore (after Mars and Vulcan partied on Charcoal Tuesday, the Creator put his foot down), even immortal livers needed some downtime to recover from alcohol poisoning, and after a nasty lawsuit in which Odin, Zeus, The Lady and Murphy only just won (most suspected thanks to the Lady), they weren't allowed to play poker anymore.

A new source of entertainment had appeared. Up until now, they'd had fun watching a martial artist in Japan deal with umpity zillion curses and love interests, but that situation was starting to resolve itself.

This time, the source of fun was a Central Figure. A Prophecy had been spoken, and both the holy and demonic sides had vested interest. Ancient compacts meant that each side was only allowed one entity to directly touch the Central Figure's life.

"Ooooh, that has to hurt," Urd, Norn of the Past said. "His godfather being tortured. Does this kid ever get a break?"

Skuld of the Future shook her head. "If Loki doesn't pull finger, I'm going to go to Thor and get him to kick Loki's ass."

"Skuld! Where did you learn that kind of language!" Verthandi, Norn of the Present asked.

"Did I hear my name?" a familiar, if unwelcome voice asked.

"You did indeed," Athena said. "Loki, why are you letting Hell play with the child of prophecy so?"

"Prophecy?" Loki asked. "Oh, the Potter lad. No, he's not set to my sight. My mind is not full of his concern, and I don't feel the link of power that tells me whenever he so much as stumbles on the stairs."

"That's weird, I thought you were," Skuld said, with the bluntness borne of youth.

"Why is that?" Loki asked.

"Well," Urd began, "his mother was a magic using witch, but more importantly, his father..."

"... was a prankster of the highest order," Verthandi continued, "hated by half the people he knew and liked by the others, a shapeshifter, and also a powerful mage. Everyone thought their child would naturally be yours."

Loki rubbed his bare chin. "The boy has potential, I'll admit. I've heard whispering from some of my children about him."

"Really? What?" Venus asked.

"Hel tells me of one man Potter immolated, and how he has sent fragments of another man's soul to her," Loki said. "Fenris tells me of how Potter is friends with one of his own, who was in turn friends with Potter's father, who you so closely identify with me. What a compliment! And Jormundgandr has heard whispers from the lesser serpents of a speaker without the anger and hate of other serpent-speakers."

"Why do you speak so freely, brother?" Thor asked.

"This Potter... interests me," Loki admitted. "I think I will try and find out who has their hand on his soul."

A bolt of lightning struck the ground, leaving a message behind.

"It looks like you're going to get better than that," Athena said, looking at the message from the Creator that Loki was now the deific sponsor for Harry Potter.

A wide grin (with a dash of evil in it) bloomed on Loki's face.

"Potter is owed a lot of help, after fourteen years of demons with a free hand on his soul," Loki mused. "Enough that I can probably get away with this!"


A/N - late night idea that I couldn't think of anything more for during work.

The god stuff is a bastard cross between Marvel, Ah! My Goddess!, pop culture mythology, and Metroanime's stuff on the addventure. My visual imagery is more Skyrim and music videos for Amon Amarth (youtube them, great viking heavy metal) than Marvel.