Chapter 43
"I don't know what's worse," Ron groaned as the Slytherins and Gryffindors filed out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom the following afternoon.
"The fact that the chamber of secrets has been opened or that we still have to take Lockhart's tests in spite of it."
"I definitely think it's the first one Ron," Hermione said wryly as they shuffled down the hallway with the rest of the second years, heading for Gryffindor tower and their transfiguration lesson. "Much as that might be difficult to believe."
"But what exactly is the Chamber of Secrets?" Dudley piped up and the purebloods amongst them exchanged glances.
Neville looked particularly nervous, Ron appeared a cross between anxious and bewildered, and Draco merely looked more sullen than usual.
Hermione exchanged a glance with Harry as they walked and the silence after Dudley's question thickened.
"Well?" her blonde friend demanded when the appropriate amount of time had passed. "Is someone going to tell me?"
"It's not that simple Dudley," Neville said finally with a sigh. "The Chamber of Secrets is something of a myth."
"Well so was the Sorcerer's Stone and that turned out to be real," Harry's cousin shot back, prompting the group to look around to make sure no one had heard him.
"Easy with the decibals there mate," Harry muttered out of the side of his mouth. "You don't know who might be listening."
"Maybe we should do some research in the library after class," Dudley suggested as they entered the transfiguration classroom and found their seats. "It's always helped us before."
Research, Hermione snorted as she sat down beside Draco at their shared desk. For once I'm getting a little tired of research. I've done research all summer and it seems as if we're no closer to finding Jormungandr than when school ended. And now this. To think that I wanted a quiet school year where I could focus on…you know…school!
"Quiet down everyone," Professor McGonagall declared as she swept into the classroom, long robes billowing behind her. For some reason she looked even more imperious than usual but Hermione remembered what Luna had told her earlier that morning about what she had heard.
If she didn't know any better, she would say that the head of House Gryffindor seemed rattled.
"I know that we are all a bit shaken from the events of the night before," the professor went on. "But I am certain that you were not all shaken enough to complete the day's assignment. However before we discuss the assignment, we are going to begin the day by transforming animals into water goblets."
It was then that they became aware of a rather large crow sitting on a perch beside her desk. It had a white beak and curious intelligent black eyes.
"Like so," McGonagall demonstrated and tapped her wand at the creature. "One….two….three…Vera Verto."
There was a moments pause before the limbs of the bird began to elongate and then shrink, finally transforming from its rather feathery original form to a tall silver water goblet, perfectly suitable for drinking.
There was a chorus of muttering about the class as pieces of parchment were shuffled and incredulous looks were exchanged.
"Now we will all try," the head of Gryffindor house began but before she could continue, she was interrupted.
"Professor?" Hermione asked raising her hand.
McGonagall turned almost mechanically to look at her. "Yes Miss Granger?"
Hermione could feel the eyes of the class on her. "Before we get started today, I wonder if you might answer a question for me."
The professor blinked. "Is it about the assignment Miss Granger?"
"No ma'am," Hermione answered. "I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets."
Instantly whatever dull murmurs that were still taking place throughout the classroom stopped instantly and the room itself became as quiet as a tomb.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Susan stiffen beside her and the class seemed to be collectively holding its breath.
McGonagall blinked several times at the young Slytherin as if she were a great horned owl and then finally managed to find words. "And why exactly, do you wish to know of that legend, Miss Granger?"
Hermione shrugged. "A lot of people saw the writing on the wall last night and unless some seventh year student did it as a prank to frighten the new first years, which by the way is a horrendous idea, worthy of expulsion, then I don't see how it couldn't be real."
All eyes turned back to the professor who appeared as if she were on the verge of snapping, or more surprisingly, shedding tears.
But there was little she could do with the class staring at her and Hermione had already made up her mind to do research herself if she didn't get the answers she was looking for here.
Finally however, she replied.
"Very well."
With those two words, a level of anticipation inched into the room. Students sat forward in their chairs and leaned toward the professor, books were hastily pushed aside.
McGonagall sighed deeply and folded her hands together as if she were gearing up to tell a deeply dark story.
Which Hermione was certain that it was.
"As you know," she began, "Hogwarts was founded by the four greatest witches and wizards to ever live, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin."
She paused her and gave them all a severe look as if to assess the nature of their attention. After a very pregnant pause, she tapped her pointer against her hand and continued strolling about the room.
"While three of the founders co-existed very harmoniously, one did not."
"Three guesses who," Ron muttered from somewhere behind them and Hermione felt Draco stiffen beside her.
She glanced at him with a frown and saw that his shoulders had tightened and his hand was gripping his quill just a bit too hard.
"Salazar Slytherin wished to be a bit more selective about the students that were admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all magic families," the professor went on. "In other words, purebloods."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at her professor. While she had heard about the nature of Salazar Slytherin's tendencies, there was a small part of her that wondered whether or not everything they had heard was fact. Salazar Slytherin had lived thousands of years before, in a time where magical children were being persecuted heavily by Muggles. It did make a bit of sense why he would be wary about those with non magical parents coming to Hogwarts, not right but it did make for a certain understanding.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could see looks being exchanged between certain groups of students from the different houses. From the back of the room Parkinson fixed her with a glare and it was all Hermione could do not to do something completely childish and stick her tongue out at the annoying brat.
"Unable to sway the others," McGonagall was saying. "Salazar decided to leave the school. Now according to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known only as the Chamber of Secrets. Though shortly before departing, he sealed it, until such a time as his own true heir could return to the school."
She had begun slowly walking down the center aisle of the classroom as she brought the story to its conclusion and finally turned back to face them all when she reached the front of the room.
"The heir alone, would be able to open the chamber and supposedly unleash the horror within. And by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view were unworthy to study magic."
"Muggleborns, you mean," Dudley said in a quiet voice and it was all Hermione could do to keep from flinching. She turned in her seat slightly and glanced at her best friend, only to see that his face had gone slightly pale.
She swallowed hard.
To her credit, or perhaps even more ominously, Professor McGonagall neither confirmed nor denied the response.
Instead, she turned back to the class and addressed them all. "Well, naturally the school has been searched many times, but no such chamber has been found."
She began to mount the steps at the platform at the front of the class as if the story was finished but Hermione suddenly had a question.
"Professor?" she asked raising her hand. "What exactly did legend tell us, lies within the chamber?"
McGonagall cocked her head at her like a bird assessing another animal it didn't recognize. "The chamber is said to be home to something that only the heir of Slytherin can control. More specifically, it is said the be the home….of a monster."
Almost collectively everyone in the room gulped and in the silence that followed those sinister words, there was a dull snapping sound that caused Hermione to flinch.
She turned to her seatmate and noticed with surprise in the seconds that followed that Draco had snapped his quill in half.
Ω
Draco was silent the entire rest of the day, all through meals and the rest of their classes, even Potions which was his favorite. He silently added the ingredients and watched tonelessly as Hermione stirred them clockwise then counter clockwise.
Even after they had bottled their potion and received a perfect grade from Snape, he still had nothing more to say.
"What's wrong with Draco?" Neville asked later that evening as they walked out to the Quidditch pitch for the game between Slytherin and Gryffindor.
The match had been all but the only thing talked about between the green and red houses all week. Despite the rather disturbing events that had taken place,
Hermione had to congratulate Hogwarts on its constancy. It and all of its occupants did not rattle easily.
She hadn't seen too much of Harry and Draco during that time as nearly every evening, they had been on the pitch practicing with the rest of the team, running drills, learning fly patterns and otherwise catching snitches and chasing quaffles.
Though Hermione didn't find the game to be all that exciting, the look of pure joy in Harry's eyes when he had come back from the pitch one evening with
Draco had been enough to convince her that Harry might have found what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
Draco too had seemed quite at ease.
At least that was until the writing on the wall had appeared.
Instead of walking with them, their blonde friend had left dinner early under the guise of wanting to get some individual practice time in before the match began.
Hermione shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. He didn't talk to me all day and he's been acting strange since McGonagall's lesson this morning.
Actually, he's been acting odd since we saw the writing on the wall last night."
Neville fidgeted a bit and Hermione cast a glance at her cousin who was walking beside them. She hadn't seen much of Luna that day either as the
Ravenclaws had a different schedule so the blonde had said she would come out to watch the practice with them.
"You don't think that – " he paused and cut himself off, looking increasingly uncomfortable.
Suddenly Hermione felt uneasy. "What don't I think?"
Neville glanced around them, making sure that the three of them were alone as they walked on the green down towards the pitch and the lake beyond. "You don't think that….that Draco might have had something to do with what happened last night do you?"
Hermione blinked, remembering the pale looks on the faces of nearly everyone around them, including that of her blonde friend when they had seen the writing on the wall and the petrified form of Mrs. Norris.
She remembered his curious tension today, even after writing Lockhart's ridiculous test, something he should have been sputtering with rage about and how he had been almost eerily calm upon leaving the room.
Thankfully however, before she was able to formulate a thought, Luna spoke up. "I don't know Neville. The Nargles haven't really been bothering Draco lately.
In fact they haven't really bothered him since we all met on the train last year."
"I know," the Gryffindor boy said, somehow understanding what the small blonde was talking about. "I guess I just wonder, he was so…set in his ways when we first met him and even after we agreed to tolerate each other for those first few months. There was always something that made him different from the rest of us. I don't know if that was his family or his name or his…other connections…."
He trailed off a bit here and Hermione shivered unconsciously at the uncomfortable truth. She certainly didn't think ill of Draco but his dark family and even darker past sometimes made him a figure of ambiguity.
Then she shook it off, wanting to berate herself for her own foolishness. Draco had gone down with them into the depths of the school last year when they had tried to go after the Sorcerer's Stone. If that wasn't the greatest display of loyalty she had seen from him than she didn't know what was.
"I think we're all just a little bit on edge," she said calmingly. "After everything that happened last year and that odd occurrence this week, its natural that we might be jumping to conclusions. But lets not make those conclusions without any facts."
"Agreed," said Luna. "And the Nargles are usually very good judges of character. They like to spend their time around people with particularly bad attitudes because it feeds them. Draco hasn't really had a bad attitude."
"No, you're right," Neville said twisting his hands together. "I'm probably just being paranoid."
"We're all being paranoid Nev," Hermione said gently. "But let's try to forget about what happened and have some fun tonight. You're going to have to explain what's happening to me as I know next to nothing about Quidditch."
The other boy smiled and nodded as the three of them made their way to their seats. House mingling was still seen as an oddity so they garnered a few strange looks when the trio forewent their house seats entirely and instead chose to sit among the Hufflepuffs next to Susan.
She looked up in surprise when they joined her and but then gave them a big grin. "There you are! Where's Ron and Dudley?"
"They should be here any moment," Hermione said looking around. "I think Ron had to go and see McGonagall about something before he came down."
"Here we are!" announced a voice that was somewhat out of breath and the foursome looked up to see both Dudley and Ron making their way towards them.
Dudley's blonde hair was windblown as if he had been running and Ron's cheeks were almost as red as his hair.
They made their way through the benches towards them, muttering half hearted apologies as they squeezed between indignant Hufflepuffs.
"What took so long?" Luna asked when they both fell into their seats beside her.
Ron muttered a word that probably would have earned him a slap upside the head from his mother had she heard him. "Bloody McGonagall, I forgot about the assignment I had to do for her so I had to miss dinner and redo it. I'm amazed I got down here before the game!"
Both Hermione and Susan rolled their eyes in tandem and turned back towards the pitch. Out of the corner of her eye though, Hermione caught Dudley's familiar smirk and smiled a bit as the crowd began to still.
The game was just about to begin.
Ω
"Alright Reg," Natasha said as they walked down the hallways of SHIELD. "You've been quiet for days, what's going on in that head of yours?"
Her friend and fellow agent blinked as if startled. "I'm sorry Tasha, I suppose I have been distracted."
The red head raised an eyebrow at him. "I would call being distracted a mild sentiment. I thought you were going to pass out when we told you."
"Yes, well, it isn't everyday one finds out they're sitting in the presence of a god."
The last words were spoken with great subtlety as he paused to look about the corridor to make sure no one was within hearing distance.
Natasha smirked at him. "Even Tuney took it better than you."
"I'm never going to live this down am I?"
"Never."
"Well then maybe it is time for questions," he said as they continued walking. "I've received way too much information in the last few days to remember absolutely everything. So for the sake of time and my brain, I am just going to recap, stop me if I forget anything.
"The first thing is that you met Hermione's father, also known as Thor, also known as the norse god of thunder and lightning twelve years ago at a diplomatic event when you were still in the Red Room."
"Correct."
"Under the guise of an alias, he assumed the position of your partner for reasons that I still don't quite understand and the two of you traveled to America for an assignment give you by your superiors."
"Also correct."
"While on this assignment, things happened that you weren't expecting and Hermione was conceived. You achieved your occupational goal and returned to Russia none the wiser."
"You're three for three Reg."
"Upon returning to Russia, Thor left and you resumed your normal duties until you realized something was wrong and were told that you had somehow become pregnant, which I thought for someone of your genetic makeup is impossible. After learning this, you fled from your employers to England where you lived next door to and befriended Petunia under a different name and then had Hermione in secret. Thor found out about it and came back in time for the birth whilst no one in his home realm was the wiser and you maintained this relationship in secret for the last twelve years until unfortunately he was found out and stripped of his powers before he was banished here to earth where you two found each other again."
He paused for breath and the red head was hard pressed to keep from smirking. "That about sums it up."
He blinked at her for a moment. "Do you realized how unbelievable all of this is?!"
Natasha cocked her head to one side as they continued their walk. "Reg in the last twelve years you have returned from the dead, cleared your convict brother of all murder charges and married a muggle and fathered a child, something I remember you telling me that when you were younger would have been inconceivable. It seems to me we've had our fair share of the unbelievable."
"Point taken, but I still don't understand how it is we're going to go about restoring Thor's power."
Natasha paused as they passed a briefing room that was half filled with people. "That's the tricky part. Thor's power is beyond mine or yours or anyone else's' in the human magical world. So it stands to reason that the only thing that might be able to give him back his power would be someone from his world."
"His brother perhaps?" Regulus offered remembering the mention of the trickster god Loki. He had heard tales of the norse god when he was younger and had especially liked them. He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that not only had Natasha met him, but that he was practically her brother in law.
Natasha pursed her lips as she mulled this over. Loki would be the best option that they had for getting Thor's powers back, but in order to get through him she had to speak to Pandora Lovegood, the mother of Luna, Hermione's best friend and cousin. And in order to get to Pandora, she would need to go through Hermione.
There was no possible way she could ask her daughter for Pandora's contact information without the blonde asking questions and once she began asking questions, it was only a matter of time before she learned that her father was back here on earth, sans powers.
The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to worry.
Telling her was inevitable but Natasha wanted to find some way of dealing with the loss of her husbands immortality before everyone was brought in.
Was that foolish?
Yes it was.
Was it unlikely to work?
Of course.
Could this possibly all blow up in her face?
Absolutely.
But she owed it to Thor to try.
So she turned to Regulus. "I may have a lead, however, that way concerns a person that I don't know. Would you happen to know Pandora Lovegood?"
Her friend blinked and then rolled his eyes up to the ceiling in a gesture of recollection. "Not very well, we were in different houses at school and she always was an odd one. Pretty but, sometimes too far into her own head. I remember she was very smart and scored near the top in nearly every year but as for knowing her personally, not really. Why?"
Natasha pursed her lips again, wondering how much she should divulge. She had asked Regulus about Pandora, knowing that there was no greater search engine to the magical world than the one standing right in front of her.
But there was no way in the nine realms that she was going to spill another god's secret too. "Apparently he along with Thor have made the trip to earth a few times and she is a human he's been in contact with. She's the best person I can think of for getting in touch with him, I just didn't know how to get to her."
Regulus expression turned thoughtful and she breathed an inward sigh of relief. "I believe she still lives near Ottery St. Catchpole. It's a small village in Devon England and its population is both muggle and magical. Other than the Lovegoods, I only know of three other families that live there; the Weasleys, the Fawcetts and the Diggorys."
Natasha's ears perked up at the mention of Hermione's friend Ron's family. She didn't know why knowing their location might be helpful but tucked the information away into her memory for the time being. "That's good to know, thanks Reg."
Her friend opened his mouth, no doubt to continue his line of questioning but Natasha was thankfully saved when a familiar voice interrupted them.
"There you are."
She turned around to see Barton striding towards them with his usual calm swagger. He nodded at Regulus once the three had pulled level with one another and it was returned.
"I'd been looking for you," he said, addressing Natasha. "Fury wants to see you."
"I'm beginning to think my title of shadow is becoming a little too accurate," Natasha muttered. "It seems all I do lately is follow the man around."
Barton smirked a bit and even Regulus gave a little bit of a smile. A moment later, he begged off to complete some paperwork and strode in the opposite direction.
"How's the family?" Natasha asked in a low voice as the pair strode off through the glass hallways to the director's office.
Clint smiled. "They're good. Laura keeps asking when you're going to come back around again. I think she's a bit lonely with just her and Nathan.
Natasha smiled in response but made no promises. "When was the last time you've been home? I'm sure Laura and Nathan would love to see you."
Clint's face twisted from his usual easy expressions to a mixture of guilt and fatigue. "I know. It seems as if everything happens at once with this job. There's months of things we can handle, things we're familiar with and then all of a sudden we're finding super soldiers frozen in ice along with men falling from the skies and then disappearing and mysterious weapons straight out of the Stone Age."
Natasha grimaced at that last reference to Thor. Someday Clint, someday hopefully I'll be able to tell you the truth. I just hope its doesn't get me fired.
"Has there been no word on our missing Martian Man?" she asked with her easy smile, all the while thinking about said man who was sitting in their house waiting for her.
"Nothing," Clint said grimly. "We're all flabbergasted and Fury is a little past annoyed at this point, although sometimes its hard to tell. It's as if he just…..vanished into thin air."
They parted ways at the long glass hallway that led to the director's office with barely more than a nod exchanged.
As Natasha strode down the long corridor in silence to the corner office at the very end, her eyes caught the sunlit Washington streets below but her mind took in none of it.
She was happy that she had secured a lead to enable Thor to possibly get in touch with his brother. But whether or not Loki had visited Pandora recently was something they had yet to learn of.
She also wasn't sure when she was going to be able to take the time off to go and visit Pandora with Thor. His "disappearance" from the hospital and thrown SHIELD into high alert at the possibility of a dangerous suspect on the loose and security had been tighter than ever.
Which is what her expressions and answers had to be in this meeting.
She wasn't incorrect when she had said she had been following Fury around fairly closely in the last few days.
It might have been a brief bout of paranoia but for some reason, Natasha felt that he knew she was hiding something. She didn't know how he knew that but the espionage part of her was warning her to be more careful than ever.
I need to get that hammer back, she thought to herself grimly as she paused outside of Fury's door and prepared herself to knock. I have a feeling that its going to be more important than ever.
Ω
"Granger would you stop pacing?" Draco asked, "you're going to wear a path through the floor."
Hermione fixed him with one of her patented glares, one that no doubt her mother would have been proud of as she made what she was certain was her fortieth turn of the floor. At the moment she was too flabbergasted and angry to address him.
"That fool," she seethed through her teeth. "That unbelievable, catastrophic, incompetent, fool!"
"He's going to be alright Mione," Dudley said quietly from his place beside Draco. "Madame Pomphrey will fix him up and he'll be right as rain."
"After weeks Dud!" Hermione snapped, whirling on her long time friend. "His bones in his arm will need to be regrown and its all that pompous windbag's fault!"
Both blonde's exchanged glances not really able to argue with that information.
The game had been going well. Slytherin was up on Gryffindor much to Ron's competitive consternation and even Hermione and Luna were engaged. It was hard not to be given how fast everything was and how long and intricately the Quaffle was used.
Hermione would privately admit that she had spent more time watching the Chasers as their ball she could actually see. Harry had spent most of the game whizzing about on the Nimbus that Sirius had given him for Christmas the year prior, looking about for any sign of the Golden Snitch.
It was about halfway through the game when his eyes had latched onto it, and from there, everything had gone to hell.
It slowly became apparent to the group of gathered friends that one particular bludger had separated itself from its twin and had taken a particular interest in
Harry, who was down near the pitch, scouting about for the Golden Snitch.
The Bludger took such a great interest in Harry that before long it became impossible to ignore it and he was forced to complete an elaborate set of tricks on his broom to elude it.
All of a sudden, that was when the Snitch had appeared and Harry had given chase. With the rogue bludger in pursuit, the odd company had raced about the pitch at a fever speed.
And then what happened next caused Hermione to question her best friend's sanity.
Luna was the one to have pointed out what her best friend was doing and Hermione still hadn't quite believed it when Harry had stood up on his broom to reach the Snitch just as the Bludger had pelted in and connected with his forearm. The moment his hand had closed around it, he had promptly lost his balance on the broom and tumbled head over heels to the pitch clutching his broken arm before the Bludger was swiftly disposed of.
And from there, Gilderoy Lockhart had decided to stick his big nose where it didn't belong.
It must take a certain amount of idiocy to be able to vanish all the bones in someone's arm, the strawberry blonde thought to herself. But I am beginning to realize that Lockhart is one of those characters where just when you think he's reached a new height of stupidity, he immediately climbs higher.
At the moment, Hermione, Dudley and Draco were sitting in the seats just outside the doors to the hospital wing where they were waiting to be let in to see
Harry. Due to some of the gruesome nature of the injury, all houses had been asked to return to their dorms but Hermione promised the others that she would give them an update once they heard anything.
"How that man hasn't had his license revoked from teaching is beyond me," the small witch continued muttering. "If it weren't against the law, I'd sic Mum on him and see how well he does in a fight against her!"
Dudley visibly cringed at the mention of his godmother and Draco just sighed before combing his fingers through his platinum hair for the umpteenth time.
He looked like there was something that he wanted to say when all of a sudden the door to the hospital wing opened to reveal Madame Pomphrey, looking as if steam were about to pour from her ears and Dudley and Draco jumped to their feet.
"Well?" Hermione demanded. "Can we see him?"
"Just for a few minutes," the medi witch groused, "then he needs his rest. I swear by Merlin's name I need to look at that professor's credentials. It's going to take me at least a week to regrow those bones!"
Hermione exchanged looks with the two blondes before they shuffled into the quiet hospital wing. Thankfully the other beds in the long high room were empty save the one at the very end by the window where a still rumpled Harry was sitting. He was still in his Quidditch gear but it was covered in grass stains and dirt marks and there was a large crack in his glasses. His arm was in a sling to keep it still and his hair was still windblown from the tumble he had taken.
He glanced up as he saw them come in and a tired smile crossed his face. "Hey guys."
"Sweet Merlin," Hermione muttered under her breath as they crossed the floor towards his bed. She whipped out her wand and pointed it at his face, prompting his eyes to widen in surprise. "Mione, what are you doing?"
"Oculus Reparo," the witch snapped and watched with some satisfaction as the glass between the frames knit itself back together.
Harry blinked and took off his glasses so he could examine the mend. Then he looked up and fixed the witch with a grin. "Thanks Mione."
"Never mind that," the strawberry blonde said as the three of them took up spots on either side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"
Harry chuckled, "about as bad as I look."
"Merlin mate," Dudley muttered as he looked his cousin over. "Lockhart sure did a number on you."
Harry glanced down at his arm in the sling and grimaced. "I'm going to be out of commission for a while. But hey, at least we won the game!"
Draco smirked a bit and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes because that is exactly what's important. An inept buffoon vanished all the bones in your arm but at the very least you won the Quidditch game!"
"There has to be some good news come out of this Mione," Dudley pointed out.
"Because if we focus on the bad news," Draco continued. "It means we'll be without our Seeker for a few weeks."
Instantly Harry's smile dropped from his face and the air became grim once more.
"Good," Hermione snapped, prompting all three boy to look at her in shock. "That means we can focus our energy on firing that useless son of a banshee!"
Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "Careful Granger, your hair might catch on fire."
Hermione ignored him. "It is beyond careless of the school board to have that rampaging idiot in the halls of the school! Suppose he permanently injures someone the next time he attempts one of his acts of "bravado?"
The quotes she placed around the word were like slashes in the air and Harry and Draco exchanged glances. Dudley just shook his head in a long suffering manner as if this was just classic Hermione.
"In the meantime," the Malfoy scion cut in. "Flint going to look for an interim Seeker and you're supposed to be on permanent bed rest for the next few weeks."
Harry groaned.
"I'll be sure to bring you your homework every day," Hermione promised. "If you need help with any of it, let me know."
"Merlin Granger, let's not overwhelm the poor bloke," Draco muttered. "He's going to be in enough pain as it is."
"Thanks Draco."
"You're welcome."
They left a singularly glum Harry in the hospital wing and walked down the corridor with Dudley muttering about getting a midnight snack before bed.
They had no sooner stepped off one of the moving staircases when an all too familiar and chilling voice plowed into her mind with the force of the Hogwarts Express.
"Kill…Kill…..Kill!
She came to a screeching halt nearly causing Dudley and Draco to crash into her, ice pouring through her veins.
"Bloody hell Granger, what's the matter?" Draco demanded.
Hermione swallowed hard and slowly turned around, flinching when the voice sounded in her minds again. "Did you hear that?"
Both blondes exchanged incredulous looks. "What are you talking about? Hear what?"
"Rip you…..Tear you…..Kill!"
"That voice," Hermione muttered pressing both her hands against her ears. "I don't know where its coming from but I hear it in my head."
Now both boys merely looked bewildered.
"Granger," Draco said slowly. "Do we need to send you to spend some time with Potter?"
Hermione glared at them. "Don't give me that, I haven't lost my mind. I'm telling you, I'm hearing something. I don't know where its coming from, but its not as if its an audible voice. I'm hearing it in here!"
She jabbed at her temple and if it were possible both of her classmates looked more confused than before.
"You're telling me," Dudley said slowly. "That you can hear a voice in your mind that no one else can hear?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying!"
"Well….what is it saying?"
"KILL!"
Hermione nearly jumped as the voice all but roared through her mind. She stared at her friends, her eyes wide. "You don't want to know. It's…It's evil. The voice is shouting to kill, to rip, to tear, it wants to feed."
All the blood drained from Dudley's face and Draco's naturally pale visage somehow looked even whiter.
"What is going on at this school?" the former muttered almost too himself. "First we have possessed teachers and evil magic stones and a real life dungeons and dragons below the school. Now we have students hearing things and the Chamber of Secrets being opened and a petrified cat and messages written on the walls in blood! What's next?"
Draco looked at her carefully. "Granger are you able to tell where the voice is coming from?"
Hermione shook her head in frustration. "Its happened a few times before this year. The first was night we all got back to school. At first I thought I was losing my mind but then Luna heard it too – "
"Lovegood?" Draco broke in. "Well I suppose that figures."
"Anyway," Hermione continued, leveling a look at him. "We were trying to figure out what's going on. For some reason, we're the only two that can hear the voice and no one else can. I don't understand how….."
All of a sudden, she trailed off, a horrible explanation coming to her but one that made chilling sense. "I need to go find Luna."
And then, without even giving her friends a chance to respond, Hermione tore off down the hall, racing as fast as she could for the Ravenclaw Tower.
She didn't stop running, robes billowing behind her, heart pounding in her chest and mind racing nearly three times as fast as she was.
It wasn't possible…..was it?
In no time at all, she was racing up the flights of stairs to Ravenclaw tower, taking the steps two at a time and her breath was coming gasps as she reached the top.
She proved to have perfect timing because the doors to the tower had just opened and out skipped a little blonde in blue robes and a bronze and blue tie.
She stopped to say something to the large statue of the raven, something that was just out of Hermione's ear shot but at the sound of the pounding footsteps, she turned towards them and her cornflower blue eyes widened when she saw her cousin. "Hermione, sweet Merlin whatever is the matter?"
Thor's daughter paused before answering, bent over at the knees and gasping for breath. The upward climb was proving to be far more difficult in hindsight but she closed her eyes and focused on just getting air into her lungs.
After several agonizing seconds she was able to straighten up and by then, Luna's usual dreamy gaze had sharpened exponentially. "What is it Mione? Is it
Harry? What did Madame Ponphrey say?"
"Not….Not Harry," the strawberry blonde gasped. "He's….going to be okay."
Instantly Luna's face cleared. "Oh that's good. I was afraid that Professor Lockhart's Nargles had affected him."
Hermione shook her head, frustrated that her lungs weren't taking in air as fast as she wanted them to. "Luna…I know….I know what the voice is."
The small blonde went as stiff as a board and her eyes narrowed at her cousin. "Who is it Mione? What do you think it is?"
"That voice," Hermione couldn't bring herself to raise her voice above a whisper. "You and I are the only ones that can hear it. What if…What if that's because of who we are? We're children of gods you and I. What if the reason that only we can hear the voice is because that voice belongs to something….something from Dad and Uncle Loki's realm?"
Luna's naturally pale face now looked like marble. She swallowed hard and somehow managed the next words. "What are you saying Mione?"
"I'm saying," Hermione continued, her mouth and throat suddenly very dry. "What if….What if that voice we're hearing isn't a what at all…but a who?"
She stared at her cousin with eyes that were suddenly too old for her face. "What if….What if he's here Luna? We've been looking for him but maybe he's been here the whole time. What if that voice we're hearing….is Jormungandr?"
Ω
It wasn't the cold that had awakened Loki, that had never bothered him, but the damp. Perhaps it was the throbbing pain in his head too but whatever it was, consciousness slowly came in agonizing, chilling waves.
And finally it carried with it…memory.
Odin….
Thor….
The banishment….
The Odin sleep…..
The mission…..
Siv…..
The Stones…
He sat up, back ramrod straight and immediately regretted it. The throbbing pain in his head doubled and he clutched his temple in an effort to focus. His hand came away sticky and he grimaced, both wondering who had struck him and cursing their existence at the same time.
And then further clarity returned and he grabbed for the pockets of a coat that was no longer there.
The knowledge that the tesseract was gone came slowly towards him in the same way that light is approached through a long tunnel, slowly and then all at once.
The stream of curses that tumbled from his mouth after the revelation of this knowledge was a sight to behold, curses at his own stupidity for letting Siv talk him into taking the Stone with him, curses at not being more aware of his surroundings and curses for not knowing where he was.
As he looked around, his realized grimly that he was lying atop a stone slab in a very cold but official looking cell. It appeared as if the bars themselves were made with ice and etched with runes, runes that seemed oddly familiar to him.
And then he was able to connect his knowledge and his head fell back onto the slab in dismay. Jottunheim, he was in Jottunheim's prison.
Somehow the frost giants had detected his presence, perhaps even the presence of the Tesseract and gone after him. Somehow they had managed to get the jump on him and the Stone had been confiscated while he had been laying out in a prison cell for gods knew how long!
The one piece of consolation that slowly filtered into his brain after that was the knowledge that at the very least he hadn't recovered the Sorcerer's Stone before he had been apprehended. The results of two Infinity Stones let alone one slipping through his hands would have been catastrophic.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, grimacing at the pain. Now his mission had become infinitely more complicated. First however, he would need to find a way out of here.
No sooner had the though crossed his mind however when the sound of heavy footfalls could be heard in the corridor outside of his cell.
The torches on the walls flickered as several long shadows were cast across the floor, shadows that were far taller than those that belonged to any human.
Loki immediately lay back down and tried to position himself in the manner of a man who had still been unconscious.
Unfortunately he had either been too late or the guard just didn't care.
"Up!" a deep guttural voice snapped. "Up or I will wake you myself."
Well that didn't sound too inviting.
His cover already blown Loki sat up and went to plan B. He eyed the door and slunk back into a mannerism of some disdain, something he was quite well known for. "About time. I was wondering when someone was going to come for me. I don't suppose I can inquire as to the reason I've been trussed up and tossed in here like a criminal?"
There was a moment of silence from whoever was just out of sight beyond the bars of the cell and then a slight susurration as the figure stepped into view.
Loki had seen Frost Giants before. He had fought quite a few in a war with them a decade earlier but seeing one in its own element remained a bit of a startling thing.
Its skin was a pale sickly color, almost white. It stood at least a head taller than he was and carried a long spear in its hand. It wore armor almost identical to its skin.
But its eyes that stood out from the deep grooves in its cheeks and chin were what drew Loki's attention the most. Amongst the cold they burned a deep shade of red like two coals in a slowly expiring hearth. Its head was completely bare only lending more alarming credence to its cadaverous appearance.
It looked at him and smiled. "You will learn that son of Odin. You will learn that from the king himself."
Ω
Don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube Channel guys, I very much appreciate any new subscribers. The Channel name is Kaetie Mac, thank you very much in advance :) Well, we end on yet another cliff hanger. I hope I didn't leave you guys wondering too much after the last chapter but things are starting to heat up at Hogwarts, Nat is searching for a way to get in contact with Loki and said god of mischief and lies is locked up in a prison on Jottunheim sans Tessaract. Its only going to go up from here. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!
