Chapter 42
"I'm not certain that I like this idea."
Natasha closed her eyes briefly and smiled as she shut the door to their house.
Our house.
She glanced up at the door way and the window next to it, the simple white clapboard siding and the stone steps and porch with its single wooden chair and smiled. I like the sound of that. It's always been our house…but it feels more like a home now.
"They're going to find out that you're back sometime," she said to her husband who was standing just behind her. "Tuney and Reg are my closest friends. We've kept this secret for over a decade and now that you no longer have the thing that prevents its from being shared, well there's no need for secrets anymore."
He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. "A former Red Room Agent willing to throw away her secrets? Dear oh dear I wonder what your employers might think of that."
"Ex employers," Natasha said placing the barest amount of stress on the word. "And with any luck they're all dead so I don't have to wonder what they're thinking. This is a matter of necessity, nothing more. And I thought you were alright with the idea of telling them."
He plowed a hand through his blonde hair, suddenly looking vulnerable and Natasha frowned. "I am, but are you certain that you want to involve them?"
Natasha cocked her head to one side. "I have no idea how to free Mjolnir from the rock its sitting on and you've told me that usually its someone worthy."
"Not just worthy," Natasha," the blonde said in a low but urgent voice. "The person who is truly worthy to lift Mjolnir is someone who is pure of heart and of mind. Someone who isn't driven by greed or deceit pride or anger. It's someone who is sacrificial."
Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "Exactly. What is more sacrificial than a man who gives up everything to keep his daughter safe?"
He fixed her with blue eyes that were decidedly less electric, no more less intense. "I didn't do it just for Hermione you know."
She stepped toward him and placed a hand against his chest right where his heart was, feeling the steady thump of its beating next to her palm.
"I know," she whispered. "Which is why its stunning to me that you weren't able to lift it back in New Mexico. But it also tells me that the rules to lifting the hammer no longer apply."
He frowned at her in question.
"If lifting the hammer was only about being worthy," Natasha explained. "Than you would still be able to hold it. The fact that you can't tells me that Odin has done something different in removing your power. You're still worthy of Mjolnir, you just lack the power to do so. Has anyone to your knowledge been able to lift Mjolnir other than you?"
His eyes narrowed and he shook his head.
"Exactly, you alone had the power to hold the hammer and someone has taken that power away. We need to find a way of getting it back."
She turned and took several steps down the stone stairs from the porch away from him. She had only gone a few feet however before his next words stopped her.
"Are you sure you want to go down this path?"
She blinked and then turned around to face him. He was standing atop the stoop, looking at her intently, searching for any shreds of doubt.
"Why wouldn't I want to do this?" she asked. "You're my husband, I want to help you."
The blonde smiled at her but it was a sad smile, also a tired one. He slowly walked down the steps to meet her and placed both of his large hands at the side of her face. "I've made peace with this loss Natasha. If immortality and nearly infinite power is the price I must pay to remain with you and Hermione, to not have to watch you grow old and die….then I would pay it a thousand times."
Natasha swallowed hard. She hated the direction this conversation was taking. "No one is going to die. We don't know if Hermione is going to be mortal or immortal."
"No matter the outcome of that, you won't," he said softly. "Thus the solution to our problem has been solved for us. I never truly understood my own foolishness or arrogance until now. The resolution wasn't to make you or Hermione gods…it was to make me human. And so I am."
Natasha stepped away from him. She had had a horrific time sleeping the night before, despite the time spent in each other's arms and had awakened several times, gripped with old nightmares.
They had clawed their way out of some deep dark long buried abyss in her mind and even now, in the light of day, they were waiting in their shadowy corner to come out again.
She swallowed hard and forced them away. Where had her peace from the night before gone? Her husband had given her a beautiful impassioned speech about how he preferred the life they had now, to anything he might have had before.
There was a part of her that feared however, feared that as the years went by that he might begin to resent the human body that he had chosen, resent her.
It was a small insecure, almost insignificant part….but it existed.
She turned away refusing to address it now. "Maybe its foolish to believe that we can have it all. But in order to be with me and Hermione, you've given up your father, your mother, your home, your brother, your entire way of life. Maybe I feel a little guilty in a way. You've given up everything for us and there's nothing I can do in return. I don't deal well with helplessness."
She felt his hand press firmly against the side of her face, not rough or forceful, but gently insistent, and turn her back towards him.
There was a burning in those eyes of his that was near stubborn and persistent.
"How long have you known me Natasha?" he asked in a rough whisper. "This relationship is not exchanged transactions, not money changing hands. I am with you because I love you and for no lesser reason than that. I am not your banker."
To her never ending annoyance, the corners of her eyes began to burn and Natasha cursed inwardly. Before meeting Thor she hadn't cried in over a decade, there had been no reason to.
Marriage and motherhood. I wonder what my former employers would think of me now, the former assassin thought.
"I know," she said in a whisper that she hated it was so pathetic. "But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just accepted this. There has to be some way to return what you lost. Its very unlikely that we'll be able to find a solution here. But at the moment, all we have are our magical friends and any ideas or family history that they might have. You may not need to do this….but I do. And if we exhaust any options that we come across, I promise you I will stop searching for a way to help you."
He eyed her carefully for a moment. "Do I have your word on that?"
Her mouth was suddenly dry. Despite the fact that he was no longer a god, he still held all their principles, and the emphasis on promises was something that she knew he would hold her to.
But what else was there to say?
"Yes," she whispered feeling a sense of dread come over her. "If we can't find a solution, I won't search any longer."
"Good," he said with no hesitation. "Let's carry on then. I believe you need to leave soon."
"Reg and I need to reconvene back in New Mexico," Natasha said absently, her mind still preoccupied with her promise, a promise she wasn't sure she was going to be able to keep. "We were going to portkey back together."
"Then let's not waste anymore time," Thor said and led her by the hand across the lawn to the doorway of Number 4 Privet Drive.
Even though it only took the span of a few seconds to get over there, Natasha suddenly felt the driveway stretch out before her as she looked at the door to Number 4.
She had lived here for twelve years now and had called Petunia her friend for nearly the same amount of time and yet still, some secrets couldn't be shared.
Now….well now they were about to tell all.
Taking the lead, Thor rapped on the door when they drew close to it.
There was a moment of silence and then it was broken by a muffled susurration and the bolt on the door was drawn back.
Natasha swallowed hard.
The door was opened by Petunia and her eyes immediately focused on Dan first. Her jaw went slack and her expression became blank with shock for a moment as she registered Natasha's husband. "Dan! You're back!"
The blonde gave Tuney a winning smile which caused her blush red right to the roots of her hair and Natasha rolled her eyes. "I am, it's good to see you again Petunia."
He ducked his tall form under the doorframe and into the house before giving her a brief hug which clearly flustered Natasha's friend.
But it was only when he had let go that Petunia really focused on him and a small frown drew her mouth tighter. "Is everything alright? You two are so rarely together that whenever you are I always wonder if something is wrong."
Natasha smiled dryly. "No hostage situations to report this time Petunia, we just needed to talk to you about something. Is Reg here?"
Petunia blinked as she registered the question and then nodded. "He's upstairs taking a shower but he should be done any minute. Weren't the two of you going to portkey back to America together?"
"We were," Natasha replied. "But, there's been a situation that's been developing over the last few days with Dan…that we decided we should talk to you about."
Petunia's eyes darted between them as if she were looking at Harry and Dudley to assess how bad something was. "Is everything alright?"
Natasha opened her mouth but it was Thor who answered. "It depends. Perhaps we should wait until Regulus is present before we explain the situation. It's going to require a longer conversation."
Petunia's eyes narrowed even further as she took them in. After a second she nodded sharply and gestured to the living room. "I'll go call Regulus, why don't you sit down while I do that?"
"No need."
The three of them glanced up in time to see Petunia's husband at the top of the stairs. He was fully dressed but still toweling off his black hair.
He grinned at Natasha when he saw her but when he took in Thor his eyes widened. "Dan? You're here too?"
Thor smiled slightly and ran a hand through his hair while Natasha grimaced a bit next to him. "I am, and perhaps now is a good time to tell you that you don't have to call me that anymore."
There was a heavy silence that followed that statement and Petunia's eyes were darting back and forth between Natasha and her husband with the same consistency of a pair of windshield wipers.
"Why don't we sit down?" Natasha cut in to save any further confusion. "We need to explain something."
Ω
"I still don't see why we have to study for that ruddy test," Draco grumbled that night as they left the library. "There's no point."
"There has to be something worth listening to in the man's lectures," Harry, ever the optimist, said. "At least we'll know a bit more about the creatures that he's fought."
"Supposedly fought," Susan corrected him. "Remember those discrepancies we found in his timelines? There is no way that he could have fought a vampire in Romania and a werewolf in Siberia at the same time."
"Whether he did or not, we're going to need to remember those dates for tomorrow," Dudley grumbled. "I still don't understand what Dumbledore was thinking, hiring that hack."
"No one wants the position," Hermione provided. "I read somewhere that the headmaster was having trouble finding teachers for it long before we got here."
"Even still, anyone could be better than Lockhart," Ron grumbled.
There was a general muttering as all the second years concurred with that statement. The only one who had nothing to say was Neville and that was probably because he had his nose still stuck in his herbology textbook.
"It's only for one year everyone," he said finally. "I guarantee you the man is not going to be here come next year."
"How could you possibly know that Longbottom?" Draco demanded as the small group stopped on one of the moving staircases.
The Gryffindor rolled his eyes at his blonde friend. "No one, not one single Defence Against the Dark Arts professor has managed to last more than a year at the position in the last decade at least. Not since….since the war."
That shut everyone up and a grim silence settled over them as the staircase deposited them on the main floor.
That silence was quickly broken as a foreign, primordial and altogether vicious voice shattered through the random white noise and facts crowding in on
Hermione's mind.
Blood…..dirty blood…..so much blood….rip….kill….tear….
Her head shot up so fast that there was an uncomfortable spasm in her neck. Luna's eyes had gone wide as saucers and when the cousins locked gazes they both knew that the other had heard it as well.
Must rip…..must tear….kill….kill them all…..
As the ominous voice faded away, there was a slight susurration that followed it almost as if the creature that had uttered those chilling words was moving away from them. Moving through the halls.
I'm not going crazy, Hermione thought to herself. I'm not. Whatever that was….its here….its here in the school.
"Mione?" Harry asked poking her shoulder, nearly causing her to jump. "Are you alright? You've gone as pale as a ghost."
No sooner had he asked the question then the silence of the school was broken by the sound of a bloodcurdling scream.
It cut through the air of the halls like a knife and it brought all second years to a screeching halt. All eight of them exchanged glances of shock and disbelief.
"What in Merlin's name was that?" Neville asked in a shaky voice.
His only answer was yet another even worse scream that was somehow higher than the first. Its octave was cut off suddenly and chillingly.
"That way!" Hermione shouted pointing down the main hallway and without waiting for the others, she took off running.
The clattering behind her told her that her friends were close behind but she barely registered it.
All of a sudden there was a splashing sound beneath their feet and the group ground to a halt as they realized that they were standing ankle deep in freezing water.
"Bloody hell, someone's flooded the bathroom!" Ron burst out.
Hermione only registered her wet shoes and socks for a moment before she was off and running again.
As they ran down the hall, it became clear that a small crowd was gathering up ahead and it was a collection of students from all different years.
Hermione crashed into the crowd of robed students, each of whom bore similar expressions of horror and dread.
"What is it, what's happening?" she demanded.
Another second year Gryffindor by the name of Parvati Patil raised a shaking hand and pointed at the wall in front of them.
Her horror was a chilling and Hermione immediately jerked around to face the wall.
She would later wonder how she had missed it.
Directly in front of them, plastered across the stone wall was a large text written alarmingly in red. The words themselves, spelled out a chilling promise.
The chamber of secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir beware….
"Is that blood?" Dudley asked in a shaky voice.
"Enemies of the heir beware?" asked the nasally voice of Pansy Parkinson. She was standing with her gang several feet away and chose that moment to sneer at all those gathered. "That means you Mudbloods."
Dudley's face turned pale.
"Alright, alright, what's going on here?" asked the deep silky voice of the potions professor. He came striding towards them down the hall and cursed quietly when the water soaked through the hem of his robe.
"What's all this?" he demanded and then he caught sight of the writing on the wall and immediately fell silent, eyes narrowed.
He then whirled on them, dark eyes flashing. "Who is responsible for this bit of devilry? Speak up now!"
"Now then professor, there's no need to scare the children," said the whispery voice of professor Dumbledore.
All turned towards the headmaster in garish robes who was making his way down the hall towards them with Professors Lockhart and McGonagall in tow along with Argus Filch.
Just then there was another inhuman wail but it did not come from the students but rather the distraught janitor who was pointing at something hanging from the ceiling just above the words.
"My cat! What have you done to my cat!"
Everyone looked up to see a motionless Mrs. Norris hanging from the ceiling by her tail. Her eyes were still wide open and glassy but she was stiffer than a cadaver after a week in the freezer.
"Whose done it?!" Filch all but screeched, spittle flying everywhere as he turned a manic gaze on the group of students. "Whose done this to poor Mrs. Norris!?"
"She's been petrified Argus," Dumbledore said in a soothing voice. He turned to the dungeon bat. "Professor Snape, if you would please send for Madam Pomphrey and Professor Sprout and I will see to the unfortunate business of scrubbing this off the wall. In the meantime," he turned to the crowd of students that were still watching him with rapt attention. "Will the students please proceed to their dorms immediately for the night. No one is to leave their common rooms, is that understood."
There was a chorus of murmurs as most of the crowd turned away to do just that.
Hermione locked eyes with Luna though and she could see that the blonde had no intention of leaving until she had gotten a closer look at the writing. She held up her bracelet and Hermione nodded.
Knowing that leaving two of them behind would cause too much attention, Hermione turned to her Slytherin friends. "Well, I think that's enough excitement for one night, I'm ready to turn in."
"I don't think I'm going to be sleeping at all tonight after seeing that," Dudley said in a shaky voice. He was still pale and Harry put an arm around his brother as they turned to walk back to the dungeon.
Hermione locked eyes with Luna who was twisting the moonstones on her bracelet and both nodded.
Whatever information that the blonde learned, she would share in the morning.
"Bloody hell, things just keep getting weirder and weirder," Draco muttered when they had parted ways with Ron, Neville and Susan. "Can't we have one year of peace without something going wrong?"
"I'm beginning to realize that if school weren't dangerous than it wouldn't be very much fun," Hermione muttered under her breath.
"Do you think we should call Aunt Tasha?" Harry asked in a low voice as they began to make their descent into the dungeons. "She might know what to do."
"That's a good idea Harry," Hermione muttered. "And I haven't talked to her in a while. I'll try calling her when I get back in my room."
Little else was said with they arrived back in the Slytherin common room, though Hermione didn't like the gleeful expression Pansy's face as she eyed Dudley before going to her room.
"See you in the morning," she muttered to her friends and then hurried down the hall to her dorm.
Fortunately Daphne and Tracey weren't there but who knew when they would return so she hurriedly whipped out her device and made a quick call to her mother.
To her display the agent didn't pick up but that could have been for a number of reasons and so Hermione chose to let it go. If she didn't hear from her within the next few days, she would try calling Uncle Reg.
He would probably be the easiest to get in touch with, having a floo in his house and all.
After that, she readied herself for bed but it was a long time before she was able to completely fall asleep.
Ω
Luna crept down the hall carefully, following the professors as they hurried towards the hospital wing.
Not for the first time was she grateful for the bracelet her father had given her. Godly magic and trickery would always trump the human kind and she was confident that no one would be able to see her.
The bracelet was much more powerful than a disillusionment charm.
So far they had done nothing of interest except to fetch Filch's cat down from its hangings and set the old janitor to washing the blood off the walls.
However before he had done so, Luna had crept up to the writing and looked it over carefully before making a mental note to look into this Chamber of
Secrets and whoever this….heir was.
Whoever it was, it couldn't be nice.
"Could it be true Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked in a hushed tone. "Could the words be true?"
"The Chamber of Secrets has never been found Minerva," the headmaster said in a soothing voice.
"But the last time – "
"The last time it was opened was fifty years earlier," the headmaster said calmly. "And the proper protocols were not put in place. I shall contact Amelia Bones at the DMLE before I put head to pillow tonight to make her aware of the situation. Doubtless she will want to have a few aurors look the place over as she should but we must all remain alert and prepared."
"Prepared for what Albus?" the head of house Gryffindor asked, looking alarmed and Luna tensed from her spot behind them, waiting for his answer.
"For anything Minerva," the professor said in a very low voice. "Because the last time that the Chamber was supposedly opened….a muggleborn student died."
Ω
I'm not going to lie to you guys, the last two months have been incredibly difficult and I have not felt like writing. Unfortunately, I have been in two car accidents since November, one of which totalled my car and forced me to find another one and sent my insurance rates soaring. So between working to pay for it, trying to write my book and keep up with my Youtube channel, my stories have suffered and for that I'm sorry. In the meantime, I hope you guys like this brief chapter. I am beginning to realize I am running myself ragged trying to update all my stories and the frustration of doing that has made me not want to write at all so for the future, I am only going to be updating three of them until they are finished because so far, its just become too much. I hope you guys liked the chapter, don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube Channel (KaetieMac) and also review. I'll see you next time.