Preface
Of lightning bolts and green eyesPosted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/20460722.
Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category:
F/M, M/M
Fandom:
Harry Potter - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Relationship:
Loki/Thor (Marvel), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Harry Potter & Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Avengers Team, Harry Potter & Original Character(s)
Character:
Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle Voldemort, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Horcrux (Harry Potter), Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Loki (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark, Avengers Team (MCU), Loki's Children (Marvel), Sleipnir (Marvel), Jormungand (Marvel), Fenrir (Marvel)
Additional Tags:
Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Triggers, Master of Death Harry Potter, not in the way you think, Protective Avengers, Protective Thor, Protective Loki, Protective Siblings, Animagus, Creature Harry Potter, Bad Albus Dumbledore, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Not Canon Compliant, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Superfamily (Marvel), hella gay, Parselmouth Harry Potter, Parseltongue, Thorki - Freeform, Blood and Violence, Aftermath of Violence, Magical Creatures, Good Slytherins, Sane Tom Riddle, Kinda, Circus, Magical Circus, Circus life, Maledictus, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Parent Thor (Marvel), Parent Loki (Marvel), MCU feels, Good Goblins, Slow To Update, Albus Dumbledore created Voldemort
Stats:
Published: 2019-08-31 Updated: 2020-09-30 Chapters: 11/? Words: 23268
Of lightning bolts and green eyes
by LittleBlackDeath03
Summary
After getting kicked out of his relatives' house after his fourth year of school, Harry Potter decides to get a room at the Leaky Cauldron, where he meets a strange man. Following the advice of strangers has never been a good thing but Harry decides to do so, receiving a shocking revelation. Who knew that a simple test would change his life forever?
This fanfiction is crossposted on Wattpad under the name Miss Macabre
Notes
See the end of the work for notes
Prologue
The room they were in was really big, adorned with gold and emerald greens. The king sized bed was as soft as a feather, covered with silky sheets and comfy pillows. The massive windows had opened green curtains lined with golden threads that intertwined to create intricate patterns. Right in front of the bed, a massive oak desk was scattered with sheets of paper and a few baby toys. Then, on the left of the bed, opposite the window, there was a little crib made of pure gold. There laid a few different plushies: a horse, a black snake, a green snake and a wolf. A little toy hammer laid there as well, wrapped tightly in the arms of a black haired child.
Said child was a true beauty. Pale skin, black hair, soft pouty lips and a round, soft baby face. He was sleeping soundly after a long, long day, his face peaceful and his body relaxed. If the boy wasn't sleeping, tho, you would have been able to see what made him one of the most beautiful child in the entire reign: two bright, emerald green eyes that completed his angelic look perfectly.
The only flaw, if you could even call it that, was the little lightning bolt scar that the boy had on the forehead. It didn't matter too much tho, because what once was a bleeding cut was now just a pale, almost silvery, mark that made the baby look even more angelic.
Two men were seated on the bed, back against the headboard, and were talking and watching the baby boy sleep peacefully.
They seemed to be total opposites, like the moon and the sun. One had blond hair and electric blue eyes, the other had black hair and emerald green eyes; one was broad and tall, the other shorter and lean; one had a big smile playing on his lips, the other wore a neutral expression, ruined just by the soft eyes that watched the sleeping baby.
Even though they were opposites, tho, the shorter man had his head leaning on the blond's shoulder, an arm intertwined with the muscled one of the other.
"It has been a very long day, my love. No wonder he's sleeping so soundly." said the black haired male to his companion. "Mother and Father came to celebrate after the party, after all, and we know very well how they can be when excited." a smirk appeared on his thin, rosy lips. He was right, however, because that day had been the boy's first birthday and, as the now youngest member of the royal family, he had to make his first appearance in public, not an easy thing for the small, peaceful child.
The blond chuckled in a deep voice and replied, "You are right, my Moon, but seeing how he is usually, I just thought that Hadrian would have resisted a bit more before falling asleep." a tender smile playing on his lips.
Hadrian. This was the name of the little one. Hadrian Thorson. Fourth son of Thor Odinson and Loki Laufeyson. Brother to Jormungandr, Fenrir and Sleipnir. Future God of death and ruler of Hel itself. One of the most powerful children Asgard had ever seen, with nothing to evny his elder brothers for.
Just at the age of four months, the child, who his Sire had forgot to fed, hungry and upset, had been able to conjure a lightning bolt in front of himself, scaring the life out of Thor (who had been later scolded by Loki and Frigga for forgetting to feed the newborn) and acquiring his now famous lightning bolt scar.
Loki chuckled and turned his gaze towards his son once more. Getting up from the confortable embrace of his now husband, Loki reached out with a hand and, with a softness that only a Mother could show her son, caressed the head of his baby boy. The child's nose scrunched up in a cute way before relaxing again, accepting the touch of his Mother. Loki's stare softened again and he sent his sleeping son an adorning smile.
Just as Thor got up from the bed to go join his husband next to their son's crib, the double door on the right of the bed opened, revealing three boys of different ages.
The oldest of the three was around sixteen years old, with messy black hair and amber eyes. He was tall and lean, but with a touch of muscles that made him look powerful and strong. He had a blank look on his face, ruined, however, by the warm look he was giving to the three already in the room. He was holding another boy's hand and had a kid in his arms. The one that looked like the middle brother was smaller than the 16-year-old who he had by his side. He looked around ten, had long black hair, dark brown eyes and a handful of freckles that covered his nose and cheeks. His face was rounder than that of his brother and he had a small smile on his face. The younger boy was laying his head on the amber eyed boy's shoulder. He was small and looked around four years old. He had spiky brown hair and blue eyes that had a mischievous glint in them. He looked comfy in his brother's arms and had a big and happy smile that stretched his plump lips.
Thor and Loki, hearing the door open, turned their gaze from the baby lying in the crib to the opposite direction. They smiled adoringly once they saw the three boys that were looking in their direction.
"Fenrir, Sleipnir, Jormungandr. What brings you here, my sons? Is it not time for you to be asleep already?" Thor asked them, trying and failing to sound reprimandive. "I thought your Mother told you to go wash yourselves and then go to sleep." he scolded half heartedly.
Loki looked at his husband with a light glare in his eyes. Of course, he did tell the boys to go to sleep, but it was obvious they wanted to say goodnight to them before that. "What your Father wants to say," he glared harder at Thor when he tried to say something "is that after saying goodnight to us and your baby brother you'll have to go to sleep, sweethearts. It's late already, and tomorrow you'll have to go to your lessons again." he turned his gaze to the three at the door, that now were walking towards them.
The older boys said goodnight to their parents, giving them a brief hug and kissing they're brother's forehead before going to their room to sleep.
Loki turned to Thor, who was smiling adoringly at his youngest son, "We should really go to sleep too. Tomorrow will be a long day and I'm sure that Mother and Father will want to talk to us about today." he said softly. Thor looked up to him and, smiling, nodded his head briefly.
After getting changed in their night clothes and kissing their son's cheek, they went to bed.
"Goodnight, my Thunder" said Loki, smiling at Thor and cuddling against him, using his chest as a pillow. Thor wrapped his arm around him and positioned the other under his own head.
"Goodnight, my Moon" he replied kissing his husband's head. Soon enough, they drifted to sleep, relieved by the fact that their sons were safe. All four of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A loud cry ripped through the chilling night air, waking up the royal family and attracting the attention of most of the guards. It was coming from the luxurious bedroom where Thor, Loki and little Hadrian were sleeping.
Thor, having been asleep while his husband was checking on their son, woke up suddenly, recognizing the voice of his husband.
He found Loki on the floor near the crib where their baby boy slept. Hurrying to him, he looked in the crib.
His blood chilled in his veins, making him go still as he looked at the little crib in horror. He just stood there, Loki near him on the floor, crying.
The crib was empty .
The door opened behind the two, but neither of them had the strength to turn around. Footsteps approached and their three kids came into view. Fenrir stood with Jormungandr in his arms, while Sleipnir was at his side. They all looked scared and confused.
"What is happening here, Father? Why is Mother crying?" asked the oldest of the three. He was trying to comfort the crying child in his arms, but with little success. Sleipnir watched confused as his Mother cried, kneeling on the floor, and his Father just stood there, a blank look on his face and his fists tight.
Thor whispered something under his breath that no one heard, apart from Loki, whose breath hitched as he started sobbing.
"What?" asked again Fenrir, and when his Father spoke again, he heard him.
"Someone took him." said Thor in a tight voice, his fists tightening impossibly. "Someone took my son!" he repeated, this time almost snarling while he spoke. He laid a hand on his husband's shoulder and squeezed it a bit, showing his support.
Loki looked up from the crib for the first time, meeting blazing blue eyes which seemed to have lightning stuck into them. Thor looked furious. Angrier than he'd ever seen him. Loki, seeing this, laid his hand on his husband's, who held it tight. "They will pay." he said through gritted teeth, "The people who dared take our son from us, will pay dearly!" Loki all but growled.
The air around the room suddenly chilled as the kids understood what their parents meant and the three felt their blood freeze in their veins.
Theri expression changed completely.
Fenrir, who was old enough to understand completely what was happening, almost felt his expression harden. His lips set in a scowl, his fists tightening around his youngest brother's clothes and his eyes pratically glowing with power and anger.
Sleipnir was angry. Having studied the history of the Aesir, which included wars and kidnapping, from a really young age, he understood what their parents were saying, at least to some extent, and was pissed to know that something like that had happened to his baby brother. And his expression showed this perfectly. His eyes showed all his anger and, even if it was bearly visible, his fear for what could be happening to his little brother.
Joru, who was too young to understand what was happening, just clung to his oldest brother and hid his face in his shoulder, sobbing silently because he felt that the atmosphere wasn't as light as before.
The entire family, minus Joru, was furious. Someone had taken their youngest and they were going to pay dearly for this.
Their eyes glowed in the night as they looked at the empty crib, and everyone who saw them in that moment would have been able to understand what their expression promised to anyone who took their Hadrian.
Excruciating pain .
Pain
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
It was da rk and he couldn't m ove . It was frightening , he didn't want to be there . He felt fear crawl his way inside of him , up and up and u p until it was right in his throat , a barely contained scream.
Suddenly it wasn't so dark anymore . Well , or at least he thought so. He saw a figure approach and felt relief build inside of him , not quite overpowering the fear , but still making him feel better .' Please . Please save me.' he thought . The figure kept approaching and... he felt his fear come back stronger than before .
White skin, thin , bearly visible lips , two holes where the nose should have been . The Dark Lord stood in front of him in all his f rightening glory .
" Kill the spare ." was all he said , looking directly into his eyes . A bearly audible whisper that he remembered all too well . ' Please , no. No!' he tried to say, tried shouting , but the only sound that came out was a strangled noise , similar to a pained moan .
A green light shone and illuminated the space he was in, and what he saw scared him even more.
He was in the graveyard . Again . The first thing he saw clearly was the last he ever wante d to see a second time .
Cedric was there , a scared expression on his face . The green light of the Killing Curse hitting him right in the middle of the chest . The fear freezing on his face , the lifeless eyes staring right back at him .
"I can touch you now ." said the chilling voice of the snake- like wizard, who was lifting a hand and moving it towards his forehead . 'No. Nononono ! Please !' he tried to say. It was too late .
Pain shot through his body, making his entire being ache .
He screamed .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry woke up with a start, sitting up abruptly and breathing heavily. He looked around to see that he was in his room at the Dursleys, sitting on his hard mattress. He wiped a hand on his face, finding it sweaty and cold because of the chilly air of the night.
Realization suddenly came to him and he almost could feel himself pale. He was in his aunt and uncle's home. They were two doors down the corridor. They could hear everything he did.
He hoped with all he had that they hadn't been able to hear him scream. Hoped that his uncle's sleep had been deep enough.
He held his breath and listened, careful not to make even the slightest of sounds.
He remained like this for about a full minute and when he didn't hear anything he dared to release his breath. Fate, however, wasn't on his side.
His bedroom's door slammed open and in came his uncle, purple faced and angry beyond belief.
"What did we tell you boy!? You don't have to make a sound! You woke up Duddy and you know he needs his sleep!" he yelled making his way to the bed where the 14-year-old had been sleeping.
Harry tried to say something, anything, but he was too scared to even make a sound. He knew that he wouldn't like what was to come and his uncle's face showed how right he was in his assumption. He tried again, making an effort and opening his mouth to apologize, to say that he didn't do it on purpose, but it was all a waste of time. Suddenly he felt a seering pain on his left cheek and he realized what happened only a second too late. His uncle's hand collided with his cheek once again and he fell on the bed, head spinning because of the pain.
"Now you did it, boy! You knew the rules and you dared to break them!" the whale-like man bellowed again. He approached the bed and smacked Harry again. And again. And again. Than came the punches. In the face, stomach and chest. He threw the boy on the floor and started kicking him in the stomach, making all the air leave Harry's lungs, resulting in violent caughs.
Harry tried his best not to cry out in pain every time his uncle's foot collided with a different part of his body, praying to whatever God he could think about that this torture would end soon.
After almost ten whole minutes of beatings Vernon Dursley took a hold of his nephew's shirt collar and dragged him, bloody and broken, down the stairs, not caring in the slightest when the boy's back and head hit the steps, one by one. "I'm sick and tired of your disrespect, boy! I won't be having this no more!" he half screamed.
He opened the front door and threw the boy covered in blood on the driveway in front of his house, going inside again and returning after a second with the boy's trunk and a cage, inside of which Hedwig, the snowy howl, was screeching. He threw the trunk near the boy and, annoyed by the sounds she was making, flung the cage, with the howl inside, as far away as he could, making it land in the middle of the street.
"Don't ever return to this house again, freak! You'll regret it!" he shouted to Harry before closing the front door, making the world fall silent around the broken boy, who was struggling to breath.
The 14-year-old laid there for what seemed an eternity. Curled on himself, clutching his chest protectively, covered in blood and bruises. He found what little strength he had left and crawled his way to his trunk, not even bothering to try and get to the cage where he knew Hedwig was, knowing that she had hit the hard concrete too hard to still be breathing.
"Open"he hissed, having difficulty with breathing still but having found the necessary strength to speak that parseltounge word. The trunk made a soft clicking noise, signifying the opening of the lock.
Lifting a hand, and moaning in pain at the motion, he tried to open the lid of the trunk, failing a couple of times before finally succeeding.
There, right on top of his school robes, laid his holly wand. He grabbed it, not stopping even when it became obvious that moving only caused him more pain, and lifted it.
He pointed it towards the street and waited just a few seconds before the dark outline of the Knight Bus became visible.
"Hello! Thank you for choosing our services in this beautiful evening. Where do you want to go?" Stanley Shunpike's cheerful voice rang in his ears and he couldn't help but let a sob of relief escape his lips.
Stanley, who had been waiting for a reply, looked up from his pocket watch after hearing that sound and was horrified at what he saw.
There, not far from the street, laid the boy that not even a year before had called the Bus to the Leaky Cauldron. This time around tho, he painted a pitiful picture. He was lying on his stomach and had the upper half of his body positioned on his trunk. He was covered in blood and, even if it was dark, Stanley could see the dark bruises that covered his face.
Harry had never been more relieved to see someone in his life. He was sobbing uncontrollably by now, not caring if the men saw him and thought he was pitiful or weak.
"H-hey! Are you alright? What happened?" Stanley asked in a hurry, making his way to the boy who laid on the driveway. He crouched beside the body and saw that he was crying and was having a hard time breathing. He helped him sit, paying attention and trying to cause as little pain as possible, witching slightly when a whimper escaped the boy's full lips.
"Can you stand?" he asked again. Harry did all his best to answer with words, even a simple 'yes' or 'no', but all that came out of his mouth was a pain filled moan. Resigning to the fact that he was in too much pain to even talk he shook his head ever so slightly, signaling that no, he couldn't stand on his own.
Stanley, having seen, or more like felt, the shake of the boy's head, licked his lips and tried to think fast. "Alright. I'm going to pick you up now, we're going to get you on the Bus, okay?". He felt the boy nod his head. He picked up the boy and felt his body go limp in his arms, thin and bruised arms making their way around his neck.
Stanley did his best to move as fast as he could without causing him too much pain, getting the two of them into the Bus and laying the boy on one of the beds they had for those who had to stay the night. "I'm going to go and get your trunk, alright. After that you can tell me where you want to go." he told the boy before making his way out again and gathering the trunk and the wand, which had fallen from the weak grasp of the boy while he was carrying him.
He returned in the Bus and went to put the trunk beside the bed where he laid the boy. "Okay, here we go. Now, can you talk?" he asked carefully. The boy seemed to be thinking about it for a second before answering. "Yeah." he said with the weakest voice Stanley had ever heard.
The Bus conductor smiled slightly. "Alright, kid. Where do you want us to get you?" he asked gently, mindful of the fact that the boy, now illuminated by the light inside the Bus, looked tired and a bit scared.
"L-leaky Cauldron." Harry replied. He knew that the Knight Bus would get him wherever he wanted, and now, after what happened, he needed a place to stay for a while. Stanley smiled again and went off, probably to inform the driver on the location they were heading to.
Harry tried to keep his eyes open for a bit longer, not wanting to sleep, but all he could do was keeping them open for a few seconds, before sleep came to him.
Stanley returned to find the boy sleeping, exhausted and pained. He watched as the chest rose and fell with difficulty, never finding a steady rhythm. He had never seen something like that, and in front of a muggle house not else! He was truly disgusted to see what those people had done to the poor boy that laid on the bed in front of him but he still didn't know exactly what happened, and he probably never would.
Stanley shook his head, cleaning the thoughts that were sure to keep him awake that night, and made his way to the front of the Knight Bus. "C'mon Ernie. We're going to the Leaky Cauldron this time." he told the old driver.
At the end of the sentence he stole another glance at the unconscious form of the boy covered in dried blood. "And do try to go a bit slower this time." he added in the end.
A couple of seconds later the Knight Bus vanished, leaving only a small cloud of smoke behind, and Private Drive fell into silence and dark once again.
Chapter End Notes
Hi, my beautiful dark angels! This is the second chapter of my original story. I'm not ashamed to say I felt bad writing this whole chapter and that in the later stages of the story there will be more fucked up shit. I still hope you liked it tho. Also, remember that this is being crossposted so when I finish the chapters that I already posted on Wattpad the updates will slow down considerably.
Healing
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The ride to the Leacky Cauldron was quick and unusually quiet. Even the Dre Head didn't scream its comments like it always did.
When the Bus stopped in front of the pub, Stanley got out and called Tom, the owner, who he found behind the counter, cleaning some glasses.
"Oh, hey Stanley. It's good to see you here. Do you want the usual?" the bartender said with a smile as soon as he saw the man at the door.
"No, no. You have to come outside. Quick. I need your help." Stanley said as calmly as possible, trying not to draw attention for the remaining costumers inside the pub.
Tom rose an eyebrow at the man but, slowly, he followed him outside. The Knight Bus was parked just outside his pub, directly on the other side of the street. Getting there wasn't difficult, seeing as no one was outside their houses at the time, so it took just a handful of seconds and they were on the Bus.
"Come on!" now that they were alone Stanley was visibly shaken and spoke with obvious urgency. Tom frowned but followed him anyway until they were in front of the beds. Stanley went up to one and crouched down, seeming to talk to someone.
Tom, intrigued by what he saw, decided to walk further ahead to get a better look at the bed. He took another couple of steps and...
What he saw made a shiver run down his spine.
There, on one of the beds on the Knight Bus, laid the Boy-Who-Lived, obviously beaten and in a lot of pain, if what he saw was right. He was visibly unconscious but Stanley was talking to him anyway.
"Hey, kid. It's okay. I asked Tom to come and help, we're gonna get you inside and in a room where you can rest, yeah? Everything is going to be fine." the man was saying in hushed tones. It was like the boy understood him, despite his lack of consciousness, because he rotated his head in the direction where Stanley's voice came and, probably because of the pain, whined softly.
Tom, too stunned to even move a muscle, didn't notice Stanley getting up and coming to stand in front of him. "We have to get him inside. He doesn't have much, just his trunk, but we have to get him cleaned up and into a bed, a decent one." the brown-haired man said and Tom suddenly understood his urgency and quickly nodded his head.
"We can't let the costumers see him, they'll recognize him almost immediately." he mused quietly. After thinking for a couple of seconds he took out his wand and cast a quick disillusionment charm on the boy.
Stanley picked up the boy and, after casting another charm on it, Tom took the trunk.
They made their way inside the Leacky Cauldron and swiftly went up the stairs and into a room that Tom was sure wasn't occupied. Stanley laid the boy on the bed and picked up his wand to cast a Finite on both the teen and his trunk, before going back to the Bus and returning quickly with a first aid kit.
"We can't heal him here, Stanley! I don't even know how to cast a proper healing charm on a cut, how can you expect me to heal broken bones?" Tom said hurriedly. He wasn't sure the kid even had broken bones but from what he saw that was very much possible.
Stanley, who was kneeling beside the bed near the Savior, looked up breafly and than turned back to work. "Well, you can thank any God you can think of, because I had to take an apprenticeship with a healer to get my job on the Knight." the man said as he took his wand and casted a cleaning spell on the boy.
This made the damage all the more visible.
He had dark bruises all over his face, a split lip and what looked like a cut on his cheek. There were bruises around the neck that suggested that whoever did this tried to strangle him.
Seeing the damage Stanley stated "We have to get him out of his clothes. Who knows how many more bruises he'll have under those.".
Tom, who was staring, stunned by what he was seeing, nodded faintly, blinking at the sight of the boy.
He approached the bed and helped Stanley undressing the boy, discovering more and more bruises and, to their horror, an insane amount of scars.
"Oh God." one of them said, neither was sure if they even had the strength to speak at that moment.
Minutes passed and, even tho they seemed to last hours, both men slowly recovered from their shock. Stanley started to apply healing paste on the bruises, which would, that way, disappear in no longer than a few hours.
Tom took a better look at the scars, seeing that some of them seemed to spell words that weren't... very nice, in the man's opinion.
"We'll have to re-open the cuts to make them heal properly." Stanley, who was also looking at the scars, said quietly, having finishes applying the paste.
Healing the boy's body took a long time.
By the end of it the mattress was dirty with blood and sweat, both the boy's and the men's. They had to re-open a lot of cuts and, even with all their hard work, the boy still had a good amount of scars in his body.
When they were sure the teen was sleeping soundly Stanley got up to his feet and dusted off his trousers.
"I have to go now. The Knight Bus has been here for too long, time to go pick up some folks."
Tom nodded, knowing that the Knight Bus had places to be, and the men exited the room, leaving the boy sleeping on the bed Stanley had just cleaned with a flick of his wand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He didn't know where he was . It was a strange place but ... it felt oddly familiar .
There were a lot of people watching him with expression of both awe and respect . He was standing above them , seemingly on a platform of sorts .
He tried to look around and found that he couldn't move his head very much but , with the little movements he could make , he saw that he was outside . The city he was in was the most stunning sight he'd ever seen .
It seemed to be made of solid gold. Everything his sight could reach had at least a bit of gold in it.
The people were now whispering among themselves , seeming excited about something .
It was than that he felt a pair of arms surround him and holding him , almost in a motherly way .
He looked up and found a beautiful man watching ahead of him , his face impassive and almost regal . He had black curly hair that reached past his shoulders , high cheekbones and thin lips that completed the look.
Almost sensing that someone was w atching him , the man looked down and his gaze met Harry's . His eyes looked a lot like his : emerald green, but with some golden specks in them .
The man's gaze seemed to soften upon laying his eyes on Harry, looking at him with such love and adoration that the younger one could feel his chest tighten .
The man laid a hand on his stomach , as if he could send his sudden mood change , and Harry realized that he was laying on his back in the man's arms .
Almost like someone would hold an infant .
The black- haired man turned his head and said something that Harry couldn't grasp , but by what he could see of his face he seemed worried .
A couple of seconds later another man came into view . He was a most the opposite of the first one, with slightly tanned skin and blood hair . His eyes were a n i ntense blue and they were kind and soothing to look at.
The two spoke again and this time Harry was able to hear what they said .
" W hat happened , love?" the blond said , his eyes trailed on Harry for a second before looking at the other again .
"I do not know , my Thunder . He was calm all day and than his magic just changed . He seems sad and I am worried about it." the black- haired man said , his voice showing his worry.
Both of them looked down at him with matching expressions and the blond - haired one reached to touch his cheek , his hand felt huge and warm .
"Yes, I do get what you mean , my Moon. But you shan't worry so. I am sure it will fade eventually . Hadrian i s probably just overwhelmed by all the people standing before us . It is his first appearance in public, you must understand ." the blond one said .
Hadrian ? Who was Hadrian ? Surely the couldn't be talking about him , could they ?
" Maybe ..." the other said uncertainty . He looked at Harry a bit more before his expression changed in one of love and happiness , even if only slightly visible . " Y ou were right . His magic is not so restless now . Maybe having both of us near helped some . Thank you , Thor." he turned to l ook at the blond , Thor, and smiled genuinely .
Thor beamed at the dark- haired man and a grain stretched his lips . "I told you , brother, it was just a little worry about the people." he said soothingly .
The black- haired one nodded and leaned a bit to the side, laying his head on Thor's shoulder as he kept looking down at Harry.
The youngest one was slightly stunned . He couldn't believe his ears . Thor? As in "Thor the God of Thunder " ?
If so, the other one had to be Loki. Thor even called him " brother".
Both man turned to look at each other and, stunning Harry even more, leaned in for a kiss . It was sweet and Harry felt like he was seeing something too private to be witnessed .
" Mother ! Father ! Can you at least wait until you are back in your chambers and not in front of the whole people?" a new voice asked .
Loki and Thor separated and turned in the direction opposite of him . " Apologies , Sleipnir . We will wait ." Loki said smiling lightly .
" G ood . Our baby brother shouldn't have to see t hose things at such a young age." the voice , Sleipnir , said again .
Baby brother?
Thor laughed a throaty laugh and the two men turned to look at him once more. "Do not worry so, my love. He will have all the time in the world to witness something like our kiss again ." Loki said with a light smirk .
A b ooming voice rang from behind them and both men turned to look at the crowd once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry woke with a start, wondering about the dream he just had. Asking himself why it seemed so... real.
Chapter End Notes
Hello my little creatures of the night! I'm finally here with the third chapter of this beautiful story. I had a lot of fun writing this one, even if it hurts me deeply to write about Harry's injuries, but I like thinking about what to write next. I hope you liked the little sneak peak in Harry's life with his real family! I hope you liked this chapter, stay tuned for the next one.
Waking Up
Chapter Notes
Please reade the notes at the end of the chapter
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Harry sat up on the bed for a couple of minutes, wandering about that strange dream, before the memories of what had happened the day before came back, filling his mind like water filled an overflowing river.
He remembered it all: the nightmare; HISlaughter; uncle Vernon coming into his room, his face turning an ugly shade of purple because of the anger; the beating; being thrown out of the house... Hedwig, laying in the middle of the street, just waiting for a car to run over her cage.
The urge to cry overcame Harry when he thought about his beloved friend. The first he'd ever had. The creature he loved the most.
The teen put both his hands on his face, not even noticing the slight pain that lingered in his body, crying and wetting his skin with his tears.
He cried and cried and cried, loosing track of time and just sitting on that bed that was, obviously, too confortable to be his own.
Not that he had noticed yet.
He didn't know how much time had gone by. He didn't care. He couldn't stop crying, trying and failing to regain his breathing and calm down.
He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard the door creak open, revealing Tom, the bartender, whom he remembered as the owner of the Leacky Cauldron from his first time in Diagon Alley.
The man entered the room, not noticing that his 'patient' had woken up.
Tom made his way towards the table that stood opposite the bed and put down the shrinked trunk he carried with him, waving his wand and muttering a spell under his breath, watching as the trunk grew back to its original size.
Harry saw him open the trunk and take out a couple of glass vials: one of them was a vibrant red, the other was a creamy yellow.
The man turned around to face the bed, seeming determined to walk towards him, but stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed that the boy was awake.
"Oh, Mister Potter! It's good to see you're awake." the man said, coming out of his stupor. He didn't comment on the fact that his cheeks were tear stained; didn't say anything about his eyes, which were probably red and puffy. He just resumed walking and sat on the edge of his bed.
Harry was very grateful for all that.
Tom gave him the vibrant red potion and Harry took it without even wincing, swallowing the next one as fast as possible, so he didn't have to taste it.
He had stopped crying, probably because of the startle the entrance of the man gave him, and, feeling his tears drying on his cheeks, he grimaced and asked for the bathroom.
The man sitting next to him pointed to the door that was opposite the bed, next to the table, asking him to return as soon as possible and, if he was confortable with it, letting him take a look at how his scars were doing.
It took him just a couple minutes to wash his face and relieve his bladder.
He went back into the bedroom and found that Tom was back to looking into the trunk - which Harry supposed was like a first-aid kit for Muggles.
The teen decided to sit on the edge of the bed and wait for the man to finish with what he was doing.
He didn't have to wait too long.
Tom turned around and Harry noticed that he held a jar in his hands, filled with what seemed like butter. He came up to the bed and kneeled in front of the boy.
"I'll have to ask you to take your shirt off, Mister Potter." the bartender said gently, speaking to Harry as if he thought he would scare him away if the spoke too loudly.
Which, in truth, would probably have happened.
Harry looked down and, for the first time, notice that he was wearing one of Dudley's oversized shirts.
He didn't even have the strength to feel embarrassed about the fact that the man had seen him in a shirt that was obviously used, judging by the rips on it. He took the edge of the shirt in his hands and pulled it over his head, twitching a bit at the pain the action produced.
Tom started by looking at his torso, nodding to himself pleased when he noticed that the scar tissue was much less than before. He opened the jar and started applying the paste where the scars were most visible. When he was finished with the front, he asked the teen to turn around and repeated the process, being careful where he knew the skin to be more tender.
When he was finished the brown haired man got up from his position on the floor and told the boy to turn around once more. When Harry faced him, his face broke into a gentle smile. "Your scars are healing nicely. Some of them have disappeared, some are just fading, but they will be a lot less noticeable when they heal completely." he announced happily.
Harry looked at him with a tired face, obviously slightly out of it. He was trying to pay attention with all his strength. Problem was: that strength was almost non-existent at this point.
Tom, having noticed the obvious exhaustion, looked at him with sympathy. "You better return to sleep, Mister Potter, it's still too early for both of us to be up and about." saying this he turned his back at the teen and went to pack his trunk again. When he was finished putting everything in, he shut the trung and shrinked it to be slightly larger than a jewelry box. He made his way to the door and opened it, stopping just before exiting. "I'd recommend taking a trip to Diagon Alley, when you wake up. The Leacky Cauldron will probably be closed already but there are some pubs that close a lot later than mine does." with that, the door closed behind the man.
Harry, who was a lot more tired than he had expected, rearranged himself on the bed to lie down confortably and, no more than a few seconds later, he was out cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Harry woke for the second time he felt much better than before. It had been, admittedly, the best sleep he'd had all summer, even if it could better be classified like a pain-induced comatose state.
Sitting up, he took a couple of minutes to, finally, take a look at the room he had been put into.
The room was, if he had to be honest, pretty plain. But that was to be expected, the Leacky Cauldron being a simple tavern.
There was a bed side table on each side of the bed. A wooden table stood opposite the bed, next to the door he knew led to the bathroom. His trunk, which was left open and with a t-shirt clearly hanging out of it, was under the table. There was a door on the wall to his right, a door that, he supposed, led to the corridor and, consequently, to the ground floor of the Leacky. On the left side of the room there was a window that looked over the streets of London.
It took the boy a few seconds to see that it was clearly night-time.
He went to take his wand but, when he didn't find it next to him, looked around the room once more.
He found his wand on the bed side table on his right, the one that was closer to him, and a quick Tempus let him know that it was a little past 11pm.
His once-over of the room was interrupted when his stomach growled loudly, making his hunger known.
He stood from the bed slowly, to make sure his head wouldn't start spinning, making him fall on the hard floor, and went to his trunk, picking up a pair of pants and a shirt, which he made sure didn't look like he stole it from a homeless man.
He quickly changed his clothes, taking the sachet of money he had inside his trunk as an afterthought, before making sure his trunk was closed and leaving the room.
Harry quietly make his way downstairs, so as to not wake the other people sleeping, and went to the back of the tavern, tapping the bricks on the wall and opening the passage to Diagon Alley.
He was impressed to see that the street was alight with life. Sure, there weren't as many paople as when he first entered the Magical World, but there was quite a good amount of people seeing as it was almost midnight.
The teen walked down the street, glancing at some of the shop windows as he went, and stopped in front of what seemed to be a pub, judging by the laughter and smeel of food that came from inside.
He debated whether or not to enter, seeing as the pub was a bit too close to Nocturn for his comfort, but the smell of food was too inviting to dismiss, and his hunger took over.
He entered the pub, seeing quite the crowd of people eating, talking and laughing. Making his way to one of the only available tables was fairly easy, everyone being too drunk to properly recognize him, so he sat down.
He only had to wait a couple of minutes for a waiter to come and ask what he wanted to eat and drink.
Ordering food and a cup of butterbeer, Harry contemplated his next move.
He couldn't go back at the Dursleys' and he didn't think he had enough money to stay at the Leacky Cauldron all summer. That was the best option though, so he would have to wait for the next day and go into Gringrots to withdraw some money to pay for his stay.
The teen was startled out of his thoughts when the waiter from before appeared and placed a plate of food in front of him.
Deciding that it was the best option, Harry tucked in, making all thoughts about his summer disappear from his mind as hunger took over.
Chapter End Notes
Long time no see, my little night creatures! I know it's been far too long since I posted but unfortunately I didn't have as much time to concentrate on writing my stories. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you enjoyed the others and I pray that I'll be able to update soon enough. Thank you for reading, my loves!
Ps: Even if this story has barely started I knew from the beginning that there was going to be a sequel. This story was, thus, supposed to be purely focused on the parent-son relationship between Thor, Loki and Harry, without a Harry x (someone) love story. As much as it will continue this way, I thought about something. I'm a sucker for crossovers and I've recently been reading some Harry Potter x Tony Stark fanfics, so my question is: would you like to see some Harry x Tony action in the sequel? I know it's early but, if so, I'll use this story to build up their relationship a bit. Please answer with a comment.
A new friend
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Harry ate all the food he had on his plate, going so far as to eat every last crumb. He had gone hungry for too long and he hated wasting food, even if it was just the littlest bit.
When he finished he stood up to go pay, thanking all the Gods that he always kept some money in his trunk, be it wizarding or muggle. He walked up to the counter, paying for his order, before exiting the pub.
The decided to take a walk down Diagon Alley, taking a look at the shop windows that were lit up. Almost without noticing he came to the end on Diagon Alley, going into Nocturn for the second time in his life.
You could easily see the differences between the two magical streets. If in Diagon the shop windows were lit up, in Nocturn almost all the shops had black windows that didn't let you see what was inside; whereas Diagon Alley was, even this hour, was crouded by people chattering and laughing, Nocturn Alley only had some street whores and a couple of sporadic black cats.
Harry didn't know why but he felt a connection to that place. He was walking around in what was communly seen as a dangerous street, but all he could feel was excitement and curiosity, stopping in front of every window to admire what to everyone else only looked like dark glass.
He could feel the power of every single artifact on display inside those shops, and some of them were so powerful that he felt like he had to stop in front of a shop and try to get a better feel of it. He could also feel the heavy wards that were set all around the Alley and that, even if a bit disorienting, was perhaps the most fascinating thing about the whole street.
Contrary to popular belief, Hermione was not the only one who knew how to read: he could read books as well. It was how he came to know that sensing magic was highly uncommon, even in the Wizarding World and that, along with the fact that he didn't want to be a freak even among his first friends, was what made him take the decision to keep that little fact to himself.
In the month between his birthday and the start of the school year, Harry had taken his time to read as many books as he could find. He had wanted to be as prepared as possible for his new subjects and did his very best to read ahead. Once at Hogwarts, however, under the guidance or professor Dumbledore and with his best friends' influence, he had thought it best to follow the role that the others had put him in.
The boy's thoughts were interrupted when he felt something softly pulling at his magical core. A soft tugging that was just meant to catch his attention and lead him towards a specific shop; like a child getting excited in front of the window of a toys' shop and tugging in his mother's shirt to be noticed.
Harry froze mid step at the feeling, stopping just for a few seconds before deciding to follow the pull towards a shop located a bit further down the road.
The shop window was, like most of the others, dark, with no name to identify it with. The teen could see many different magical cores and that intrigued him even more. They looked like little lights dancing and moving slowly inside the room.
Harry walked up to the door and pushed it open, feeling the cold wave of magic from the wards as soon as he stepped foot into the room.
Shivering, he looked around, realizing that he had entered in some kind of pet shop. Looking at the animals on display, tho, the shop wasn't anything like the Managerie in Diagon Alley. The pet shop in Diagon sold owls, cats and dogs; the one in Nocturn sold ravens, eagles and snakes.
Looking past the first few cages he could see animals that, he knew, were very rare. He saw a baby hippogriff and he could clearly hear the screaching of a thunderbird coming from the back of the shop.
Following the small tug once again, Harry came to stand in front of a big tank. At first glance it seemed pretty much empty, with nothing but plants on the inside, but when the boy looked more closely he saw something that made his breath catch.
Right in the corner of said tank, hiding under one of the biggest bushes, he could see one of the most beautiful snakes he'd ever set eyes on. It was majestic, not for it's size but for the color of it's scales. The snake was the color of obsidian, it's scales shiny and bright like the most beautiful gem.
Harry, wanting to get a better look at the reptile, walked forward and placed one of his hands on the tank, too awed to notice the faint jolt of magic that went through him. The snake, having felt the magic itself, turned around and looked at Harry with eyes that were the exact same shade of his. Emerald green met emerald green and, just like that, a bond deeper than any other was born.
The teen could feel it to his very core; that snake would come to mean more to him than any other creature, even more than his beloved Hedwig.
"And who might you be, young one?" came the now recognizable hiss of Parseltoungue.
Harry, who had been broken from his daze by the soft hissing, looked at the snake once more and replied. "My name is Harry, Harry Potter." the boy said. The snake froze for a second, looking as shocked as a snake could look, though the teen didn't know if it was for his name or for the fact that he had spoken Parseltongue. The creature slithered closer to the glass where Harry's hand rested, curious to know more about the boy. "You are beautiful." said the teen in an almost breathy voice. He could see the snake better in the faint light of the shop and, looking closely, he notice the midnight blue hue that covered the creature's entire body.
"You flatter me, young hatchling. What takes you here in this shop?" the snake, which Harry could now say was male, asked again. He seemed interested enough to come stand right behind the glass, close enough that, if there hadn't been a barrier between them, Harry could have easily stretched his arm to pet his scaly head.
"I felt a pull at my magical core. It took me inside this shop, and to your tank." Harry explained. He had the strange urge to open the tank's cover and take the beautiful snake in his hands.
The snake looked as if he was about to reply, but a voice from beind the teen stopped their conversation. "It's unusual to have costumbers in my shop at this hour." said the person behind him. The voice was gruff and low, almost like the person speaking hadn't talked in a long time.
Harry turned around sharply, looking at the man that stood behing him with this arms crossed. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, had long red hair gathered in a ponytail that reached, from what the boy could see, the middle of his back, and piercing baby blue eyes that stared right back at him. He didn't look angry or annoyed, just surprised to see someone at that hour, which, Harry could guess, was pretty late into the night.
The boy froze at the sight of the man, before taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, nerves that were still on edge because of the new unnamed bond with the snake in the tank. "I uhm... I felt, like, a pull at my magical core and it took me here. To the snake, I mean." Harry stuttered slightly pointing at said creature. The man's eyes widened just a fraction and, before Harry could say anything more, he took the boy by his shoulders, spun him around to face the snake once more and pulled open the tank's cover.
"Take him." was all the man said.
"Uhm... sorry, what?" asked Harry confused. He looked at the snake again, seeing that he was looking back blankly, flicking his tongue out once every few seconds in an almost lazy motion.
"Take him out of the tank. Pick him up." the man said again, giving the boy a little push towards the said tank.
Reluctantly, Harry closed the distance between him and the snake, lifting him from inside the tank and letting him curl his body around his neck, basking in the warm feeling of the new connection between the two of them.
Letting out a content hiss, the snake spoke once more. "You're warm, hatchling. And confortable." the creature closed his eyes, flicking his tongue against Harry's cheek to taste his scent.
The teen chuckled at the ticklish feeling and, without much thought, replied to his new friend. "Thank you, beautiful" Harry hissed back quietly, stroking the snake's triangular head.
Hearing a soft gasp from the man behind him, Harry realized that speaking in Parseltongue in front of someone he didn't know hadn't been such a good idea, considering the stigma of said language. The boy turned around, still stroking the snake, and was met with the man's wide eyes.
"It's you. But... how? You're too young, too inexperienced. You can't be. But then again... you can pick him up, you're not affected like everyone else." the man began rambling, almost as if he had forgotten that Harry was inside the shop. "You... who are you?" he suddenly said, looking the boy in the eyes.
Harry, not having expected the question, stuttered slightly. "I-I'm Harry Potter." he said quietly, half expecting the man to shoot a stunner at him and take him directly to the Dark Lord.
The man's eyes widened even more. "That explains something at least." he said slowly, bringing a hand to his face and running it trough his red hair. "Well, I guess you'd like to bring him home with you, right? Free of charge, of course; you'll only have to pay for the supplies. You'd need a tank. But then again, I suppose you'd like to let him roam free..." Harry watched, stunned, as the man began rambling again, walking around the shop and picking up supplies from the shelves.
"Uhm... sorry, sir. But... why did you say that he's free of charge? Don't I have to pay something for him, at least?" Harry asked in a small voice, afraid of angering or annoying the man.
Said man stopped in his tracks, turning around and looking at the teen with a raised eyebrow. "Why did you say you came into my shop?" he asked slowly, as if talking to a baby.
Harry, confused by the question but also slightly angered by the tone of voice, replied with confidence. "I felt a tug at my core and it took me here."
"Well, that's your answer." the man said, turning around again and continuing with what he was doing before.
Harry, now frustrated, followed him around, the black snake still on his shoulders. "Yeah, but what did the tugging mean?!"
This time, the man completely froze. "You don't know?" he asked after some time, still facing the other way from Harry.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you! What did it mean and why are you giving me the snake without asking for money?" the teen cried out loudly, sure that, if it hadn't been for the wards, the entire alley would have been able to hear him.
The man brought both hands to his head, massaging his temples as if trying to keep a massive headache at bay. "Did no one ever tell you about wizarding culture, lad? It's something you should have been taught by your magical guardian." he sounded frustrated while he said this.
The teen tilted his head to the side, trying not to hurt his new friend. "What's a magical guardian? Do I have one?"
At this, the man whirled around so fast Harry almost thought he was about to lose his balance. "What?!" he almost shouted, making the teen winch at the loud voice. "Do you even know what I'm talking about? Did no one teach you about lordships? Heirships? Something about wizarding culture? Nothing at all?" the questions came so fast one after the other that Harry almost lost track of them.
"Uhm... no..?" he answered hesitantly, not really knowing what the man was talking about. He had never heard of any of that, at all.
The man pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something about bloody mudbloods polluting their culture. "Alright, listen to me kid. I'm going to explain why I'm not making you pay money for that snake but I can't stay up all night explaining the rest." when Harry opened his mouth to speak, the man lifted his hand to stop him. "We're going to take care of the things that concern my shop. But. You have to promise me that the first thing you'll do tomorrow morning will be going to Gringrotts and requesting an inheritance test. The Goblins will explain the rest." he finished, looking at the teen expectantly. When Harry nodded he made a sound of approval, before starting his explanation.
"The reason why I'm saying that the snake is free of charge is the pull you felt towards him, as well as some other things. The first thing you have to know is that every magical being, creature or wizard, has a magical core that varies from person to person; some people have a larger magical core, others have smaller ones. People with a large magical core are more subjected to accidental magic when they're young and have a more unstable magic when they grow up. These people need someone or something to help them stabilize their magic, to help them keep in under control so that they don't hurt themselves or others. Do you follow me so far?" he asked.
Harry nodded his head, slightly dazed from all the information he was receiving, and gestured the man to keep going.
"That's why people have Familiars. Those are animals, mostly magical, that help a witch or wizard stabilize his or her magic. They will remain with their human, or being, for all their lives, living as long as their bonded will. That's what you felt. You felt your core pulling you towards your own Familiar, towards the creature that will help you stabilize your magical core in the best way possible. You may find other Familiars as you grow up, seeing as you are young and your magical core is not fully developed yet." the man finished with a thoughtful look on his face.
Harry, meanwhile, didn't know what to think anymore. Why didn't they teach this at Hogwarts? And why hadn't he heard anyone talking about it? Surely there were people who had Familiars in the school. Some of the professors maybe.
"And this is one reason, we don't make people pay if they find their Familiar. The second reason is that the snake you're currently holding has killed more people than I could ever count." at Harry's incredulous look, the man explained. "You see, his scales are venomous. His whole body is, in fact. Everyone who has ever tried to touch him has died almost instantly and always because of poisoning. So I've been wanting to get rid of him for a while. Not that I don't like him, he's extremely well behaved, but he's bringing a bad reputation to my shop." the redhead said with amusement before resuming with collecting supplies for Harry to buy.
The following half an hour passed in a blur for Harry, his mind still trying to process all the information the man had given him.
He walked to the Leaky Cauldron in a daze, not noticing the curious glances some of the people in Diagon Alley gave him as soon as they noticed the snake lying across his shoulders.
The last thing he heard before falling asleep was a hissed "Goodnight, hatchling." coming from the snake who was now curled on his pillow beside his head.
Chapter End Notes
Woooooo! Hello, my little dark creatures! I'm so, so sorry for not being able to update sooner but school has been crazy and I haven't really had the time to fo much apart from studying. Apart from that: LONGEST CHAPTER YET! I'm so very proud of this chapter. It took me a lot of work to finish because I hadn't had the inspiration to continue for a while but it's finally here! I'm so excited to see what you thought of this. I really am. So, without further ado, I'm gonna start the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update sooner this time.
Kisses - Miss Macabre
The Morning after
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Harry could feel his body lying on something soft and all he could see in his line of vision was a ceiling, which seemed to be made of gold, and some sort of carillon that, from his perspective, seemed to be floating above him. He could also see that there was light coming from his right hand side which made the gold on the ceiling and on the carillon shine. Taking note of the darkness of the room, he presumed the soft light was coming from the moon.
The boy tried to move his body to sit up, failing and only managing to lift his arms and legs. Looking at the short, chubby limbs, Harry couldn't help but remember the dream he had had the night before and realized he was, once again, in the body of an infant.
Mentally, Harry sighed.
He had no idea why he was making these strange dreams but they seemed so, so real. It was almost frightening.
Deciding to try and take a look around, the green eyed boy moved his head to the left, coming face to face with golden bars that, obviously, belonged to the baby's cot. Looking past them Harry could see a large king sized bed with dark green sheets.
On top of it he could see, thanks to the moonlight, two people cuddled together under the sheets. He could only guess who they were but, if the dream he'd had the night before was to be believed, he could be pretty sure they were his parents: Thor, the northern God of Lightning, and Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies.
Harry still couldn't believe he was experiencing this dreams from the perspective of the child of two Gods.
Suddenly Harry, or rather the baby, felt a strong pain in the stomach, which caused him to start crying. Tears swam down his puffy cheeks and the boy could do nothing but wait for something to happen as he tried to endure the pain. It was worse than what he had experienced at the Dursleys, which was strange as he had experienced much worse than just stomach pains, and Harry didn't even know what had caused it.
From his peripheral vision the boy saw one of the bodys on the bed move, probably woken up by the loud crying of the small child.
The man sat up and now Harry could see that it was the child's Mother, Loki. He wore a black top and a pair of trousers of the same color.
Yawning, Loki got up from the bed and made his way to the golden cot, glancing down at Harry for a second before the boy was picked up and put on the man's chest, his ear right above Loki's heart. The child seemed to calm down a bit at the feeling of his Mother's heartbeat and Harry had to sigh in relief.
The stomach ache wasn't gone, tho, and soon the child was hiccuping again.
"My poor, poor baby boy." he heard Loki whisper in his ear, "You're hungry, are you not?". Well, that certainly explained why his stomach hurt so bad. Harry felt himself being removed from Loki's chest for a moment before he was laid in the man's arms.
The man walked to the door on the left of the king sized bed and opened it, revealing a corridor right outside the room.
"Guard!" Loki said with a strong voice. For a few seconds there was silence, than a man in a golden armor was swiftly making his way towards them. Harry looked curiously as the man bowed deeply and replied with "What can I do for you, my Prince?"
"Hadrian is hungry. Go to the kitchens and tell someone to prepare a baby bottle for him, please."
"Of course, Prince Loki." with that the man turned around and walked down the corridor, probably towards the kitchens.
Loki entered the room once again and, sitting on the soft bed, started rocking his son to try and make him calm down. "Now, now. Your milk will be ready soon, my little gem, do not cry so." he started, "We do not want to wake your Father up, do we? He needs to sleep if he wants to remain big and strong." at this Loki couldn't help the chuckle that came out of his mouth.
This went on for what, to Harry, seemed an eternity but was probably twenty minutes tops. A soft knock came from the door and Loki, with Hadrian still in his arms, went to open it. Behind it stood the guard from before with a baby bottle in his hands.
"Here, my Prince. The handmaid checked the temperature and said it's ready for Prince Hadrian to drink right away." the man said. Loki took the bottle from him, thanking the man and closing the door once he had dismissed him.
"There you go, my love." he said after sitting on the bed once again. He lifted the bottle up to the baby's mouth and Harry latched on immediately.
The boy began to suck and felt happy when the warm milk came out from the bottle. The child drank for about five minutes before his eyelids started to drop, lulled into sleep by his Mother's rocking and the milk in his mouth.
The last thing Harry's brain registered before he fell into Morpheus' arms was a warm chuckle from his Mother and a whispered "Good night, my little Prince."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry woke up feeling well rested, more so than what he had in a long, long time. Looking up at the ceiling for a couple of minutes the boy began to think about the dream he'd had that night.
Like the one he had had the night before, the dream felt more like a distant memory than something his mind had made up. He could recall certain details that, were it really a dream, he wouldn't have been able to remember. Thinking about what had happened in the supposed dream he could almost feel the taste of the warm milk he had been given by his Mother.
It was... kind of odd for him to be calling the God of Mischief 'mum' even tho he knew that he was the child's Mother, but it somehow felt right. He didn't know what to think of it, his mind still reeling and trying to process all the information he had received in just a couple of days, but maybe he'd find something out when he went to-
Harry froze for a second when he felt something brushing against his right leg under the covers, unconsciously tensing up and preparing to get out of the bed as fast as humanly possible.
Than the events of the evening before resurfaced, allowing him to calm down and, carefully as to not squish his new friend, sit up against the headboard. He lifted the covers to find the beautiful black snake slythering towards him, climbing up his torso to settle on his shoulders.
"Hello, hatchling. Did you sleep well?" his new companion asked calmly, his tongue coming out to flick against his cheek.
Harry gave a little giggle, feeling the tickly sensation, and replied with a soft smile on his face. "I did, thank you, beautiful. Did you sleep at all?" the teen asks back, wanting to know if his new companion had had a good night.
"I did, young one. This nest is very confortable and your body heat kept me warm. You did move around some while you were sleeping, but it was nothing major." came the softly hissed reply.
Harry reached over his shoulder to stroke the scaly rectangular head. "I'm sorry about that. " he replied sincerely.
They stayed silent for a couple of minutes, which Harry used to plan their day. He knew that he had to go to Gringrotts, not only because of the promise he had made to the shopkeeper (and let it be said that Harry Potter doesn't break a promise), but also because he really needed to withdraw some money from his vault.
After having reached a decision the teen turned his head to look at his new friend, who seemed to be dozing, probably because of the warmth radiating from Harry' s skin. "We'll have to go out soon enough, beautiful." the green eyed teen hissed quietly, not wanting to disturb the black snake.
Said creature stirred slightly, blinking sluggishly and flicking his tongue, "May I come too, young one?"
"Of course, beautiful. And please you don't have to always call me hatchling, call me Harry if you like." the teen said, still strocking the serpent.
The snake seemed to be quietly thinking about it for some time before speaking again, "I will if you prefer, Harry. Still, you're an hatchling so I will call you like that for now." Harry's new friend said as a matter of fact. This made the boy chuckle, he felt that the snake would continue to call him like that for a long time.
Suddenly a thought stuck Harry, making him pause for a second until his new companion nudged his hand, as if to tell him to keep strocking him. "What were you thinking about just now, hatchling?" the snake asked softly. The teen smiled softly, lightly scratching the serpent's chin.
"I was thinking that I didn't even ask you if you had a name, beautiful." the green eyed boy replied, a slightly sorrowful look in his eyes.
The creature, seeing the look in his keeper's eyes, flicked his tongue against his cheek trying to cheer Harry up. "You don't have to worry about it, hatchling. You were in shock last night and at the time it wasn't important" he hissed calmly. He slythered down the boy's torso and into his lap, looking up at him with obsidian eyes. "The shopkeeper tou met yesterday gave me a name after the second time someone died after touching me." the snake told him after a few seconds, "He called me Asmodeus; he said it was the name of a demon but he also told me he had always personally liked the name." the creature finished.
"Asmodeus." Harry said in English, trying the name out loud in his native language, "I like it." he finally decided, smiling brightly at his new friend.
Asmodeus seemed to preen under the praise, startling Harry a little. "Can you understand human language, beautiful?" he asked softly, smiling again when the snake nodded his head.
"Yes, hatchling. Most snakes can understand human language but humans don't seem to realize it." he said, sounding truthfully amused by this.
Harry was about to speak again when three knocks came from the door. "Harry, are you awake? Can I come in?" Tom's voice said from out of the room, calm and without sounding overly loud.
The boy looked down at the snake in his lap for a few seconds, the man outside the door waiting patiently for the teen to reply, before deciding that hiding Asmodeus wouldn't make that much of a difference and responding with a slightly loud "Come in."
The door opened and the innkeeper walked into the room, smiling when he saw Harry sitting against the headboard of the bed, not even trying to hide the slight surprise at the sight of the black snake but not commenting either. "I came here to see how your scars were doing. I hope it won't be too much of a bother; if so, I'm sorry but I have to make sure that they're healing well." the dark haired man said with a smirk, not sounding sorry in the least.
The teen grimaced slightly, having remembered for the first time that day that he also had other issues to take care of aside from going to the wizarding bank.
"I'm sorry, beautiful, I'll have to put you on the bed for a couple of minutes." Harry hissed to Asmodeus, looking sorry but knowing that he didn't have much choice in the matter. The snake nodded his triangular head, coiling under the covers as soon as the boy put him on said bed. After making sure that his companion was safely under the sheets Harry took off his shirt, facing Tom and waiting for him to look at the scars and re-apply the salve.
The man made fast work of checking the teen's torso and back, applying the salve quickly and efficiently. After he was finished the brunette looked at Harry and nodded in approval, "They're healing nicely, another couple of applications and the majority of the scars will have disappeared." he told the boy with a big smile.
"Thanks, Tom." the teen said truthfully, happy that someone cared enough to check on him daily.
After the innkeeper took his leave, Harry started to get dressed, deciding that it would be better for him and Asmodeus to go to Gringrotts as soon as possible. He dressed quickly and, after draping the black snake around his shoulders, exited the room to make his way towards the entrance to Diagon Alley.
When he entered the alley, still slightly afteid of what the other people would think seeing him with a large poisonous snake around his shoulders, he took notice ok the fact that it was relatively early. Some of the shops weren't even open yet, while, in the ones that were, the shopkeepers were still running around inside, placing things on the shelves and making sure the shops were clean.
Gringrotts was, from what he could see in the distance, one of the few facilities that were already open.
Taking a deep breath to try and still his nerves Harry started to walk towards the white marbled building, making sure to avoid looking at anyone in the eyes, trying not to be recognized.
As soon as he was inside the bank, the warning carved in gold caught his eye.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware,
Of finding more than treasure there.
The warning seemed to light something up inside of him and his eyes suddenly turned cold.
He was almost sure that someone had tried to mislead him and almost certainly stolen from him as well. If what the shopkeeper had told him last night was true... than that thief should better be prepared for the storm that was about to rage over the Wizarding World.
Chapter End Notes
ANOTHER CHAPTER IS HERE!! I wanted to finish this before Christmas and I did it, boys and girls! I really love writing this story and I hope with all my heart that you all do as well (or that you at least like it), because this is about to really begin I really have too many ideas for this and it's starting to fuck with my head but I'll make sure to write as much and as well as I can. What did you think of the chapter, my little night creatures? What do you think will happen when Harry discovers his true self? Let me know in the comments!
Byr for now.
Time For discoveries
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Quickly recovering from his thoughts the boy swiftly made his way to the main desk in the hall. There didn't seem to be many people around, probably because of the early hour, and he was really grateful for it.
Reaching the desk, he patiently waited for the Head Goblin to finish writing on the parchment and, after what seemed like a few minutes, was finally acknowledged.
"Yes?" the Goblin asked in a quiet voice, a permanent sneer on his face as he addressed the green eyed teen.
Harry felt a surge of anger at being treated like that and was about to reply harshly but, before he could even utter a single word, his mouth was covered by his companion's tail. "Don't let your anger overcome you, hatchling. I can feel it in you, bubbling slowly like a potion ready to explode." Asmodeus hissed in his ear, trying not to get noticed by the few witches and wizards inside the bank. "Treat them like you want to be treated: with respect, and don't look at them like they're lesser than you, they do manage your money, young Harry." the snake finished with a quiet snicker.
The teen listened attently to his new friend, taking a deep breath to calm down before raising a hand and gently removing the shiny black tail from against his mouth, trying to recall what he had read on one of the books about magical costumes. "Greetings, Master Goblin." he began in a respectful tone, slightly startling the magical creature behind the desk, "In recent days I've come to face with many interesting revelations, which I found pretty worrying. You see, I've recently found my Familiar and the shopkeeper who owned him told me many things I didn't know. He also advised me to take an inheritance test." he finished quickly, not wanting to waste any time.
Harry heard a quite snicker coming from beside his right ear, probably due to the overly polite tone he had used to address the Goblin at the main desk.
The Head Goblin looked at him for a second before addressing him again. "And who might you be, youngling?" he asked, less harshly than before but still with a hint of disdain.
Instead of answering, Harry did exactly what he did on his first day on the Hogwarts Express: he lifted his firinge slightly, still mindful of the other people around, and let the creature see his scar.
The Goblin, seemingly unfazed by the sight of the reminder of the dark curse, hummed softly, an almost inaudible sound that came from deep withing his throat, and started scribbling on a piece of parchment. When he was finished he just held the piece of paper on his hands and blew on it, making it turn into an paper airplane and fly trough the doors that were guarded by two Goblins in golden armor.
Not even a minute later, another Gobling waddled trough said doors, coming to a stop in front of him and talking to him directly. "Come with me, Mister Potter. I'll take you to your account manager." he said. Without even waiting for an answer, he was making his way towards the long corridor, leaving a slightly confused Harry to follow him as best as he could.
The Goblin lead Harry and his Familiar through the guarded doors and into a corridor that was very different from the one he saw when he was eleven. While the one that lead to the carts and the vaults was bare and made of simple stone, this one was ornate with gold and white, almost like the entrance of the Bank.
The teen was lead before another pair of ornate doors, which the Goblin quickly told him to go through, and into a room that resembled an office.
The desk opposite the set of doors was large and seemingly made of a mixture of gold and polished wood. The chair behind it seemed more confortable than his bed at Hogwarts, which was the most confortable bed Harry had ever slept on, even more confortable than the one at the Leaky Cauldron. On that chair Harry could see a Goblin writing on parchment.
The chairs where guest were supposed to sit seemed confortable as well, but they were less ornate, with red velvet covers and a wooden frame opposed to the gold one of the chair behind the desk.
Harry felt Asmodeus move closer to his ear for the second time that morning. "Don't sit down, hatchling, they see it as disrespectful when someone does that before being given permission to do so." his friend said in a quiet hiss.
The boy thought about that for a second, he could agree with that. It would be impolite to sit down on the chair before being addressed. He waited just a couple of second before the Goblin sitting on the chair behind the desk lifted his head to lock eyes with the young wizard.
The creature looked at the boy from head to toes, a poorly hidden half sneer on his face. "Sit down, Mister Potter." he said with a slightly commanding tone, "I am Larlig, the newly appointed Potter Account Manager. I assume you didn't come here for pleasantries. I must ask, however, the reason why you didn't reply to our letters." his tone turned vaguely angry at the end.
Harry, sitting down on one of the plush chairs in front of the desk, frowned at hearing the last sentence. Asmodeus lifted his head from his shoulder, probably feeling his confusion through the bond they shared.
"I'm sorry, Master Larlig, I don't think I understand what you're talking about. I didn't receive any letters from Gringrotts." the teen said confused, starting to pet Asmodeus' head. He had a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling.
The Goblin frowned at his reply, probably realizing that the boy really didn't have a clue about what he was talking about.
He quickly regained his blank expression, however, and went on with the discussion. "Well, we'll return to this later on. Now, I was told that you requested an inheritance test, is that correct?" Larlig asked, already knowing the answer and reaching for the papers inside his drawer.
Harry quickly nodded at the topic change, he assumed that before anything else the Goblin wanted to discuss what he had come here for. "Yes, that's correct. You see, I recently found out some shocking news that, apparently, I was supposed to know of already. When I went for a walk in Nocturn I felt an odd feeling tugging at my core and following it I found my Familiar, Asmodeus." he gently took the snake off his shoulders to put him in his lap, allowing him to curl and rest confortably, "The problem with all this was, I didn't know what a Familiar was at the time. The owner of the pet shop had to quickly tell me what they were and why they existed."
The Goblin looked interested at the mention of Asmodeus being his Familiar, looking at the snake with curiosity in his eyes. When Harry explained that he hadn't known about Familiar, however, his expression started slowly turning angrier.
"He also told me that my Magical Guardian was the one who should have explained this to me while I was growing up. When I told him that I didn't know I had one, the man looked horrified." the teen scrunched up his face, looking as if he had just ate a very sour lemon. He didn't like the fact that so many secrets were being kept from him and he wanted whoever was responsable to pay for that.
Larlig's expression, by this point, had turned thunderous. The creature couldn't fantom why the Heir to one of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses hadn't been educated in wizarding customs. The boy should have been brought up knowing about Familiar and much more but, from what he was hearing, the young Potter might not even know about his Heriship.
"Let's start with this then." the creature said. He opened the drawer again and took out another piece of parchmen, having just realized that, in his anger, he had ripped the other apart. Larlig put the paper on the desk, facing Harry. "Three drops of blood will be required for this procedure." saying this he handed the boy a decorated knife.
Harry took the knife from the handle and, to the surprise of the Goblin, sliced the palm of his hand, letting three drops of blood hit the parchment. The wound quickly closed itself before the boy could lose more blood and the teen locked the remains from his palm.
The teen looked in interest when the drops of his blood spread out to create words and numbers. He felt Asmodeus slyther from his lap and raise his head, he could likely feel his curiosity through their bond.
When the words stopped appearing Harry looked at the Goblin for a second and, when Larlig gave him a nod, the boy took the papers in hand and started reading.
Name: Hadrian Thorson
Status: Godling
Age: 503 years old
Birth: 1508 AD
Parents:
Thor Odinson (biological father);
Loki Laufyson (biological mother)
James Charlus Potter (adoptive father; deceased)
Lilian Potter nee Evans (adoptive mother; deceased)
Grandparents:
Odin Borson (father)
Frigga (father)
Farbauti (mother)
Laufey (mother)
Fleamont Potter (adoptive father; deceased)
Euphemia Potter (adoptive father; deceased)
Henry Evans (adoptive mother; deceased)
Rose Evans (adoptive mother; deceased)
Other relatives:
Fenrir Thorson (older brother)
Sleipnir Thorson (older brother)
Jormungandr Thorson (older brother)
Petunia Dursley nee Evans (adoptive aunt)
Vernon Dursley (adoptive uncle)
Dudley Dursley (adoptive cousin)
Godparents:
Sirius Orion Black (blood adoption)
Remus Lupin
Frank Longbottom
Alice Longbottom
Magical Guardian:
Albus Percival Wolfrig Brian Dumbledore (self appointed; illegal)
Titles:
Master of Death
God of Hel
Lord Potter
Lord Black
Vaults:
Potter Family Vault
Potter Trust Vault
Evans Trust Vault
Black Family Vault
Black Trust Vault
Abilities:
Parseltongue
Longevity
Immunity to illiness
Inhuman strength and speed
Immunity to natural death
Use of Magic
Shape-shifting
Spells and blocks:
Glamour (by Albust Dumbledore)
Deaging spell (by Albus Dumbledore)
Humanizing spell (by Albus Dumbledore)
Block on magical core (by Albus Dumbledore; 34% broken)
Block on Familiar bond (by Albus Dumbledore; broken)
As soon as Harry finished reading the paper, a massive wave of magic almost destroyed the office he was in. The boy's eyes were glowing with power and his hand was clutching the parchment so tightly that, if not for the protective spells on the paper, it would have been ripped by now.
Asmodeus, who had read the paper from his bonded's shoulder, was hissing in anger and disgust, not wanting to think about what had happened to his master.
Larlig, who had not yet read the papers in the teen's hand, had to crouck behind his desk, fearing that the magical wave would have knocked him back and across the room. He didn't know what was written in those papers, but it must have been bad if the Potter Hair had reacted this way.
Harry didn't know how to feel. He knew he was angry, furious, to say the least, but he also felt kind of numb. Everything he had been told had been a lie. For one, he wasn't Harry Potter... his parents weren't James and Lily Potter; he wasn't even from the world, if what he had read about Norse Mythology was to be believed.
Right after the massive magical wave disappeared Harry, who had been clutching the piece of parchment in his hand, felt tears starting to fall from his eyes. "I want all of the blocks and spells gone. And I want Albus Dumbledore to pay for what he did to me and my family." the teen almost hissed, still furious about what he had learnt.
Larlig came out from his hiding spot, weary of the boy and with a frown on his face. "Could I see the papers first?" he asked as politely as he could.
Harry passed the papers to the Goblin who, after reading them, looked as angry as Harry himself felt.
"The blocks will be removed immediately, for a fee of course." he added after a second, "We'll have to do the procedure in the ritual room. We will discuss the price after the ritual is completed." Larlig finished.
The Goblin stood from his chair and started to walk towards the door. When it was open the creature looked over his shoulder at Harry. "Follow me, Heir Potter." Larlig almost ordered.
Harry stood up and followed like he was told, the tears had stopped falling down his cheeks and his eyes now glowed with power.
Unnoticed my the three in the room, the writing on the parchment changed slightly.
Block on magical core (by Albus Dumbledore; 70% broken)
Chapter End Notes
Hello my little darklings!! I'm so happy that this part is finished and that I can show it to you all. Thus was fun to write, especially for the interactions between the Goblins and Harry, even if there weren't that many. I really hope that this story still intrigues you and that, even if I'm slow to post updates because of school, you'll still read it. I love you all, little creatures of the night!
Kisses - Miss Macabre
One's True Potential
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Master Larlig lead Harry into what looked like a healing chamber. The walls were completely made out of stone, almost as if the whole room had been dug straight into a mountain.
Looking curiously around the boy could see tiny runes carved all around the room, into the walls, the floor and even the ceiling. In the middle of the room there was a big stone with a flat top, it was about two meters long and a meter high, big enough that a person would be able to lay there comfortably enough.
There were at least five other Goblins in the room with Harry, Larlig and Asmodeus, who was flicking his tongue to pick up as many smells as he could.
One of the Goblins walked up to Harry and Larlig, talking swiftly in Gobbledegook and then motioning for Harry to follow him. The boy was told to get out of his clothes, which he did with reluctance due to the bandages covering his body, and to wear a plain white tunic, which seemed to be made of some type of silk.
When he was ready, the teen walked up to Master Larlig, waiting for instructions on what to do next. He didn't have to wait for long.
"Go lay on the stone, Heir Potter. You can decide weather you want to keep your Familiar with you or not, the ritual will affect the both of you anyway. We'll begin as soon as the ingredients are prepared." the Goblin said in a calm tone.
Harry took a couple of seconds to thing, scratching the snake's chin . "Do you want to stay here or come with me, beautiful? I'll leave the decision up to you." the teen hissed quietly.
"I would prefer to stay with you, hatchling. It would be better for the both of us to stay together during a ritual that is supposed to release your power." Asmodeus replied, flicking his tongue at Harry's hand in something that was supposed to resemble a kiss.
Harry smiled at his friend, turning to face Larlig and telling him that he would take Asmodeus with him. With that, he went to lay on the stone, his snake curled next to his head.
It only took a couple of minutes for the chanting to start and, with that, came a burning hot pain that traveled all through his body.
Harry thought he heard a scream, but he couldn't understand if it was him or not. His eyesight started to blurr, tears falling from his eyes and onto the stone he was laying on, as the boy felt like fire waa flowing through his veins.
It didn't take much time for him to lose consciousness.
Thor was feeling anxious. He himself didn't have a clue as to why that was, he just felt like something really big was about to happen.
He had been this way since a couple of days before, when he and the other Avengers had returned with his brother in custody.
He didn't know why Loki had caused so much distruction on Midgard. His Moon had never seemed hostile towards midgardians; he had always been content with caring about their children and looking after his family. Than again... after their youngest had been taken away he had not been the same.
The God of Thunder felt his heart tighten when the thought crossed his mind. He remembered those months after the night Harrison had been kidnapped: his sons not smiling as much as they did, the empty crib right next to their bed, how his beloved would wake up in the middle of the night and just stare into the darkness for hours on end.
It had hurt him deeply. It still did.
"So, Point Break, what are we thinking about?"
Thor's thoughts were interrupted by Tony, who was just now entering the tower's living room with Burton and Rogers. "Still trying to find out why your brother went all crazy in the head and tried to start an alien invasion?" the mechanic asked with a slight smirk.
The God opened his mouth to start talking but all that came out was a strangled gasp as the blond fell to his knees. He brought a hand to his chest, right where his heart was, and dug his nails into the armor.
He felt a painful surge of power and, suddenly, his eyes began to glow and lightning cracked all around his body, as if he had found himself in the middle of a raising storm.
He could hear voices screaming all around him and, although he couldn't be sure, he thought that some of them were screaming his name. Maybe someone was screaming for help? He really didn't know.
At one point, the pain became bearable and he took notice of something that left him stunned and overjoyed.
Hadrian had come to inherit his full power.
He felt tears gather in his eyes and fall down his cheeks, even when his friends were staring at him in shock. "I... I have to talk to my brother. Bring me to Loki, please." he almost pleaded. He woul have done anything to see his Moon at that point and if that meant he had to beg, he would.
Tony watched the scene in shock and fear. Fear for his friend, who had lightning running up and down his body, and fear for himself, who, as strong as he was, wasn't immune to being electrocuted, damn it!
When Thor spoke, he was the first to regain his composure. He didn't know why the God suddenly wanted to see his crazy ass brother but, when Thor had stared to almost beg, he had decided that he didn't really give one. "Come on, Point Break, let's get you to Raindeer Games." he told the blond.
Steve looked at him, shocked of the fact that the mechanic had agreed. "Tony, are you insane? Why would you let him see Loki after all he's done!" he shouted in a panicked voice.
The brunette turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. "Do you see him, Capsticle? He's literally down on his knees, begging to see his brother." Tony gestured at Thor with one hand, "I'm not going to be the one to tell him no." he finished.
Suddenly, the loud sound of thunder boomed through the room and, when the two superheroes looked at the God of Thunder, they saw that the lightning around his body had increased. "Please..." his voice was barely audible now.
Tony decided then and there that Thor was more important than any bitch fit the Capitan wanted to start. "Yes, yes. Come with me. I'm not gonna touch you with all that shit around you so try to get up, yeah?" he said with the calmest and most gentle voice he could muster.
At hearing this, Thor got to his feet at lightning speed (pun intended) and, before anyone could say anything, he was the one dragging Tony and Steve from the penthouse's living room into Loki's cell.
They stopped just outside the glass cell where the black haired man was staying and watched for a couple of seconds.
Thor looked at his husband and brother, taking in his form. He was kneeling on the floor, like he himself had been just a couple of minutes ago, and his eyes, which had returned to their beautiful emerald green, were brimming with tears as he looked up.
"Thor..." the man said in a strangled voice, reaching out with the hand that wasn't gripping his shirt.
"Open the cell." the God of Thunder demanded in a deep voice.
Tony looked up at him and, in a matter of seconds, was ready to tell Jarvis to open the cell when Cap's voice stopped him.
"What?! Are you crazy, Thor?" the ex soldier said in a shrill voice, which admittedly grated on Tony's nerves. The God turned slowly towards him, his posture and hight meant to intimidate.
"I said: open the fucking cell." he repeated slowly, as if he was talking to a little kid. Steve was stunned into silence as Tony finally commanded the AI to open the cell. It was the first time he had heard the other blond swear and he had never imagined that he would have been so scary.
As soon as the doors opened Thor was at Loki's side, hugging him to his chest and whispering soothingly in his ear.
"I felt it too, my Moon. It was magical." the Asgardian said in a low voice as he caressed Loki's hair, his eyes filling with tears once more.
"I... It was him, right? You felt it too, right? It was my Little Prince. He is alive." the black haired man continued his ramblings, clinging to his husband's armor and crying his eyes out.
Steve and Tony were stunned, looking at the scene with mixed emotions. They had never seen Loki cry and, while they didn't know what the two Gods were talking about, they could see that he was crying in happiness.
Thor continued trying to sooth his Moon while he cried, happy that his baby boy was alive and, seemingly, well ehough that he had come into his inheritance.
When Loki's sobs had subsided enough for him to talk out loud he distanced himself from Thor's chest, Loking at him with a blinding smile on his face. "Our little one is alive, my love." he said with a voice that expressed all the happiness and love he was feeling at that moment.
The God of Thunder beamed down at him, bringing him into another crushing hug. "Our son has always been strong, my Moon. We are going to find him and we will finally be reunited." he told him softly.
A loud cough ruined the moment and, after a moment of hesitation, the couple looked up at the two other superheroes in the room.
Steve had a shocked look on his face, like he wasn't sure as to how to react to the situation at hand. Tony just looked contemplative.
"Jarvis," the mechanic said in a slightly loud voice, "call the others and tell them to come to the living room. We have a lot to discuss and I feel this is gonna take some time." he finished, still looking at the two man hugging each other.
Harry woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. He had to think for a moment before the events of... however long had passed... ago to return and, as he remembered the ritual, he tilted his head to look for his companion.
Asmodeus was laying on the stone next to his head, seemingly sleeping. He looked a bit bigger than he had been before the ritual and the boy questioned if it had anything to do with his magical core being unbound.
He was about to try and sit up when a little calloused hand stopped him by landing on his chest. The green eyed teen looked up to see a Goblin, not Larlig, watching over him with stern eyes.
"Don't get up just yet, Heir Potter, your body hasn't fully recovered from the ritual yet. You will be feeling a little disoriented for some time so I suggest either thinking about something that will require a lot of scheming or just going back to sleep." the, maybe, nurse told him firmly.
Harry thought about it for a couple of seconds before choosing the latter. He did have many thing to think about, but maybe that was better done when he felt like his head wasn't about to explode if he so much as thought too much.
Closing his eyes, the godling fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter End Notes
There you go, my little darklings! A new chapter all for y'all. We finally have a little insight into Thor's and Loki's lives and I hope it wasn't too confusing. If you're wondering about the time line, don't worry, I'll explain it better in later chapters. I'm also happy to announce that you won't have to wait too long for the fatidic family reunion, maybe two or three chapters, nothing too bad. I really hope that you're still enjoying this story even if I don't update as often as I would like to. As always, tell me if you find grammar errors and I'll try to correct them. Also. Stay safe and stay home, my little ones, I don't want anything bad to happen to you in these recent times.
Explanations (pt 1)
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Tony, Steve, Thor and, after a lot of bitching from a certain Captain, Loki were making their way towards the living room of Tony's penthouse. The God of Thunder was still clinging to his husband and the Liesmith didn't seem too keen on letting the blond out of his grasp either.
As they reached the 79th floor of Stark Tower, Tony spoke again. "So," he said looking at Thor and Loki, "I'm not sure what's going on but we're gonna wait for the others before the big reveal." he tried to sound as playful as possible but, still, there was an underlying seriousness to his tone. He than looked at Steve. "We're going to let them talk. Than, and only than, we'll decide what to do. I know you're worried Capsticle, but I don't really care at this point." just as he finished speaking Jarvis' voice sounded through the room. "Sir, Mr. Burton, Mr. Banner and Miss. Romanof are about to arrive." the AI said calmly. A couple of seconds of waiting and the elevator's doors opened to revel Hawkeye, Widow and Bruce.
"What is it, Stark? Why did you call..." Clint started to say, only to shut his mouth when he saw the man clinging to Thor's arm. The archer suddenly stood in an offensive pose, his bow and arrow pointed directly at the God of Mischief. "What the fuck is HE doing out of his cell, Stark?!" the superhero shouted. Seeing his friend on edge caused Natasha to stand beside him, both of them ready to fight.
Bruce just stood there with confusion written all over his face. He didn't trust Loki, not at all, but he knew that there must have been a good reason if Steve had agreed to let him out of the cell.
Tony was about to replie, his hands held up in the universal 'I surrender' sign, when someone beside him let out a furious growl and thunder roared above them. He turned to his right to see what was going on with Thor. Now, Tony Stark prided himself for not being easily scared, especially after what he had to endure at the hands of the Ten Rings, but what he saw positively terrified him.
Thor stood in front of Loki, Mjolnir held tightly in his hands and his eyes glowing an otherworldly electric blue. He had lightning running up and down his arms and his hammer was held in front of him in a threatening manner. The God of Mischief stood behind him, still tightly clinging to the other God's arm, a calm look on his face.
The others were stunned when God of Thunder spoke, his voice deep and intimidating. "You better be considering your next actions carefully, Clint Burton, for I will not hesitate to protect my husband if you try to harm him."
Clint spluttered, stunned by the fact that Thor had gotten so furious, never having seen the God like that. He, however, didn't seem to notice the detail in the sentence, something that couldn't be said about Bruce.
"Wait, did you just say 'husband'? What do you mean by that?" the scientist asked with a look of confusion on his face.
Tony gladly took the opportunity to try and explain without there being a murder in his house. "That's why I've asked Jarvis to call everyone. Something really strange happened, like, half an hour ago and the supposed couple here -he gestured at Thor and Loki next to him- have a lot of explaining to do." he said. When Clint tried to speak again Steve, who had been silent till that moment, replied with a stern voice. "I know you're not happy about this, Clint, trust me. But we'll let them explain."
The archer shut his mouth with an audible sound, his lips pulling into a scowl when Tony directed them to sit wherever they liked. After a bit of coaxing from the mechanic, the newly found couple sat on Tony's couch, Thor still with a weary look on his face and Loki still clinging to his arm like it was his very lifeline.
The other Avengers were soon seated all around them: the mechanic, who seemed to be the one the two Gods were most confortable around for some reason, sat next to Loki on the couch; Steve sat in the armchair opposite the couch, still weary of the God of Mischief, Bruce sitting beside him on a similar armchair; Clint and Natasha, who didn't want to take their eyes off of the couple, stood leaning on the doorframe that lead to the kitchen, weapons in their hands.
An awkward silence settled on the group for some time before the Captain cleared his throat and started talking. "So... I guess you should start from the beginning...?" the super human asked, a slight shaky tone coming from him.
The others looked at the couple with varying degrees of weariness and curiosity, waiting for a reply.
Surprisingly, it was Loki who started speaking. "I guess this has been a... sudden change for all of you." he cleared his throat, sounding just as awkward as everyone else in the room, "I know you do not trust me, I would not trust me either." he looked at Thor, not really sure how to begin.
The God of Thunder looked at his husband and brother, sighing when he saw the helpless look in his green eyes. He leant closer and pressed a kiss to the other God's lips, ignoring the gasp that Steve, Clint and Natasha let out. After a couple of seconds he turned to the rest of the team, who was watching them with wide eyes, and started talking. "The first thing you all need to know, is that Loki and I are married." he stated, clearly wanting to get straight to the point.
Seeing the incredulous looks on the others' faces, Tony began to laugh quietly. Oh, this is going to be priceless. He thought gleefully. His eyes quickly went to the Captain when he cleared his throat once again.
"That much... we could clearly imagine." he said, pointedly looking where Loki's hand was gripping Thor's bicep, "What I want to know is, what happened before, when the two of you fell to your knees like someone had stolen your breath?" he asked, curious to know what had caused the Gods to react so strongly.
Bruce tilted his head to one side, slightly resembling an intrigued puppy. He didn't know what all this was about but he sure wanted to find out. He had always been too curious for his own good and that had resulted in his... green problem.
Natasha was the one who broke the silence this time, her eyes narrowed and her mouth pressed in a thin line. "What are you talking about? When did they do that?" she asked slowly.
Thor's eyes hardened when the subject was brought up again. He quickly glanced at the Liesmith and, seeing him looking pointedly at his lap, the God of Thunder quickly took his arm out of his grasp and pulled him closer, pushing the other God's forehead into the croock of his neck. "It is alright, my love. We do not have to talk about it now." he said quietly, for his husband's ears only.
Loki sighed, snuggling closer to his brother and whispering. "Your friends deserve an explanation, my Thunder. They worry for you and, no doubt, they do not trust me enough to let this go." he sighed once again, "I can do this. I want to. But it is still hard to talk about it, especially when I... our babies..." he trailed off, his eyes getting shiny with tears.
Thor's arm around him tightened slightly. "We do not own them anything, my Moon, we can always explain later. You have to be tired and you should sleep before we..." he was interrupted when one of Loki's delicate fingers touched his lips, clearly telling him to stay silent.
"I said I want to explain. And I can rest later, it is been far too long since I saw the others." Loki said, his voice was strong but still with a slight tremor to it. He sucked in a deep breath, drying his tears and looking at the four heroes who were in front of him, trying to regain his composure.
Tony, who was sitting right next to the newly found couple, watched their interaction with curiosity. Loki didn't seem like he was about to try and kill them all again, at all. His eyes were still moist and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
He than looked at the other four people in the room, trying to guess what each of them was thinking.
Bruce's expression was mostly just confused, but the mechanic could see the overwhelming curiosity in his eyes as well; Natasha seemed to be cautious, which was to be expected, really, but curious as well; Capsticle looked mostly blown away by the fact that two men could be together, if Tony was guessing correctly, but the hard expression in his eyes showed that he didn't trust Loki, again, expected.
The one person who worried Tony was Clint. He didn't hold curiosity in his eyes, didn't seem to be confused. The mechanic could only see hatred in his eyes, pure and unhinged anger. He was still clutching his bow and arrow, seemingly ready to shoot at any given time.
Tony narrowed his eyes, watching the archer closely. He might not trust Loki a hundred percent but he wanted an explanation, and if he had to protect the God to have one, he wouldn't hesitate.
His thoughts were interrupted when Thor moved his hand, putting it in Loki's hair and stroking gently. That seemed to calm the other God, who sighed and seemed to steel his nerves for the explanation that was to come.
"So," he started suddenly, "I guess the first thing you should know, again, is that me and Thor are married, and have been for over a thousand years now." the reactions he got were far less impressive than they were before. "Another important thing is that, as a Jotun and a shapeshifter, I can present as both male and female at will. And that gives me the chance to become pregnant." this seemed to shock everyone except for Thor. He didn't really look at their expressions, too caught up in what he was about to tell the Avengers to care. "In our years together I have become pregnant four times. All my children were birthed by me and they all grew up so quickly." he smiled softly, remembering how they all used to play in the palace's garden, "Four beautiful boys."
The team was staring at Loki with open mouths, while Thor watched his husband with a smile on his lips. He knew that it would hurt his Moon to talk about what had happened, but he was happy that he could still remember their children fondly.
"Fenrir was the first to come into the world. He should be about about 1000 years old now. He inherited my taste for learning and magic, he is a really bright young man." he said, still smiling.
The others were looking at him with wide eyes, but the God of Mischief didn't mind them, continuing his story.
"Than there was Sleipnir, the second born. He is about 900 if I am not mistaken. He took after his Father, a real fighter. He is what, here on Midgard, you would call a hot-headed boy." Loki smirked and looked at Thor, who was smiling proudly at the reminder that one of their children had inherited his traits. "Than came Jormungandr, the second youngest. He was too young for me to remember clearly, but I recall he was a quiet baby. I think he should be about 700 now." his smile turned bitter, knowing that he had missed not one, but two of his children growing up.
The God of Thunder caressed his Husband's hair, trying to confort him as much as he could. "He takes from his Mother as well. He is always in the Palace's library with his older brother, looking at books and wanting to hear new stories about the realms." the blond explained. Loki looked at him and nodded slightly in thanks, taking the other's free hand in his and squeezing.
"Our youngest is... Hadrian." the black-haired God said, pausing just before saying his baby's name, "He was just a year old when we last saw him. It- it had been his b-birthday and..." he tried to continue but the tears started to fall from his eyes and he was able to speak just a few words before the sobs came too.
The rest of the Avengers were stunned, never having thought about seeing the Liesmith cry for something. Tony, on the other hand, felt his heart clench seeing the God in such a state. He didn't understand why, but seeing him like this made him want to cry as well. So he did the only thing he could think about in that moment.
He reached forward and put his hand on Loki's, covering both Gods' hands.
The two looked at him in surprise and the only thing the mechanic could do was smile gently at the couple, trying to show his support as much as he could without his usual flamboyance.
Thor took his eyes off of Tony, mentally thanking him for what he was doing, and continued from where his Husband had left. "We have many customs on Asgard and a lot of them are used by the royal family. One of those customs says that, when a baby is born in the royal family, they will have to make their first appearance in public on the day of their first birthday. It is a grand event and almost everyone in the kingdom comes to the palace to celebrate the new member's birthday." he explained calmly, still clinging to Loki. "It was-" he started again, only to be cut off by Barton.
"Steve asked you what happened when you, apparently, fell on your knees. He didn't ask you to tell us your whole damn life story." he said with a hard tone of voice, still glaring at the couple and, now, at Tony.
Chapter End Notes
Hey my beautiful darklings!! I'm sorry it took me so long to update but I have been busy with the last few days of school and have been hit by a terrible writer's block. So, you all probably have noticed the "pt 1" in the title and yes, there will be a part 2 coming real soon. The reason for that is that I had to split this chapter into half. There is just so much to work with and I can't wait to post that one too. I hope you liked this chapter (or half a chapter, I suppose) as much as you liked the others. As always, comment any and all errors you find to help me improve the story. I love you all.
Kisses - Miss Macabre
Explanations (pt 2)
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Thor clenched his fist tightly, making sure not to hurt the other God, and lightning started making his way up his arms, causing Tony to yelp and remove his hand from where it was still sitting over the Gods'. "I would think carefully before speaking, if I were you, Agent Barton. If you could not tell, this is a difficult topic for both me and my husband and if you interrupt one more time I swear to the All Father that my wrath will strike you harder than lightning." the God said, with a sort of cold fury that frightened everyone except from Loki.
The Liesmith, once again, put a hand on his husband's arm and Thor, while still glaring at Clint, seemed to calm down a bit. He cleared his throat and continued on.
"As I was saying. To understand what happened before, first of all you have to understand what happened all those years ago. It was Hadrian's first birthday and, as it is custom, we introduced him as the newest Prince of our kingdom. The whole people came to celebrate and, at the end of the day, me, Loki and our little one were all exhausted." he paused for a second, a small smile gracing his face while he remembered all those happy memories. "It was a night like every other one, so we did not think much about our actions: we just bid goodnight to our kids and, after making sure that Hadrian had gone to sleep, we went to bed as usual." Thor paused again, tightening his hold on the Liesmith, knowing that what he was about to say would bring up bad memories for the both of them.
"That night... I awoke hearing Loki scream. It was a scream of pure rage and dispair, I do not think I have ever heard something similar. I woke up and, obviously, went to see what had happened. Loki was kneeling in front of Hadrian's crib and he was crying. When I got up to see what had happened... I found that the crib was empty." Thor's eyes had started glowing again but, this time, there were also tears streaming down his cheeks. Loki had hidden his face in his Husband's shoulder, his own shaking as he tried to repress his sobs.
Tony, Bruce and, oddly enough, Natasha all wore the same horrified expression. They couldn't believe that someone, no matter who they might be, would kidnap a year-old baby from his parents' room.
"Since that night we have not seen, heard of, or even felt our baby. Our little Hadrian was gone and we could not do anything, not even Heimdal was able to see him." the God of Mischief said with a strangled voice, his face still pressed against the other God's shoulder.
No one noticed Clint's eyes widening just a fraction, too engaged in the story that the Gods were telling. He might hate Loki and he might not have approved of him having children, but kidnapping a child... it didn't sit well with him. Not at all. He still remembers how he felt when his children had been born, and he could sympathize with the God of Lies, even if irked him to admit it.
Steve nodded, trying to understand the pain both Gods were still going through, but he needed his answers. He knew that there was more to it than it seemed. "That still doesn't explain what happened today." he said quietly, trying to sound understanding.
Bruce, Tony and Natasha glared at the Captain from their respective places in the room, wanting him to give the couple some time to compose themselves.
The mechanic put his hand back in Loki's arm, wanting to give some comfort to the still grieving... Mother, he supposed. Just to make sure, he glared at Steve again, wanting him to understand that sometimes getting answers quickly wasn't the right thing to do.
"That..." Thor started to say, making it so that every set of eyes in the room was focused on the pair of God's once again, "That is not so easy to explain: Loki is the one who uses Seidr between the two of us, so he knows more about this than I." he told the group, looking down where his Husband was hiding his face on his shoulder.
The Liesmith turned his face towards them, but otherwise didn't raise his head. "When a Seidr user reaches his full magical potential they go through a power boost and inheritance of sorts, and if the boost is powerful enough than the ones closest to them will be able to feel it too." his eyes had a glazed look to them while he continued, and a bittersweet smile bloomed on his face, "Our little one is so strong that he literally sent both his parents down on their knees." he let out a small, chocked laugh.
The room was silent for a couple of seconds before Natasha spoke, startling the rest of the group, who hadn't expected her to do much more that stand still and watch the situation. "By what you just said, it's possible that your... other children might have felt the same power shift, is that right?" she asked slowly, trying to understand the situation better.
Thor's eyes widened in understanding and, before anyone else could say much more, he was up on his feet and running to the big glass door that lead to the balcony, Loki was just a step behind him, having obviously cought on what his Husband wanted to do.
"Heimdal!" Thor's voice bellowed through the air, thunderous and powerful, "Send someone to fetch my Stars, something has happened! I want the three of them on Midgard as soon as possible!" he shouted towards the sky, knowing that the Guardian would hear him and do as he had ordered.
The rest of the Avengers looked at him stunned, not having expected such a reaction from the blond God.
They just had to wait a few minutes for the bridge to open, watching as three young men appeared seemingly out of nowhere and landed on Tony's balcony.
They all seemed to be in their early twenties but the differences between the three of them were plainly visible to all of the Avengers.
One of them, the one standing in the middle, had messy black hair and eyes that looked almost gold in the light. His eyes stared at the crowd before him with a cold look that he had, obviously, taken from his Mother. The boy seemed ready to strike at any moment, weary of his surroundings. His body had a strong build, not to the same degree as Thor's, but the group could clearly see the muscle that spoke of countless won battles.
The boy on his right wore a tunic similar to the one Loki had been wearing and his body was lean and tall. He had long black hair tied in a high ponytail and dark brown eyes. On his face the others could see the freckles that stood out against his pale complexion. He still looked weary, just like his brother, but his eyes didn't hold the same cold look as the amber ones.
Lastly, the boy on the left seemed to be the youngest of the three. He had long brown hair tied in a bun and baby-blue eyes that sparkled with a mischievous glint. If the brother in the middle looked ready to murder anyone who so much as moved a muscle, he seemed to be the one who would not only make the poor soul's life a living hell, but also enjoy it immensely. He was slightly smaller that his brothers but no less powerful.
It took the three of them a couple of seconds to survey their surroundings, making sure that there were no immediate threats, but, as soon as they seemed happy with what they saw, their eyes zeroed in on their parents. When they saw Loki, their expressions held various degrees of surprise: from an almost imperceptible widening of eyes to mouths dropping open in disbelief.
The Liesmith, who seemed too tired to even think about disguising his emotions, looked at the three and smiled widely, even if his eyes still held a sad glint to them. He took a couple of steps forward, but stopped a few feet away from who the Avengers could guess were his children. The group watched with bated breath, and a bit of weariness in someone's case, as the God opened up his arms and waited.
The first to move after a couple of seconds was the blue-eyed boy, who stepper right into his Mother's arms without much hesitation, holding on tightly to the God's mantle.
Loki looked ready to burst into tears one again, as he closed his arms around the boy and closed his eyes tightly. They held onto each other for quite a while but, as soon as they released on another, the God of Mischief took the other's face in his hands, putting them on his son's cheeks and looking thoughtfully at his face, still smiling. "You have grown up to be a beautiful man, my Star." he said quietly. The boy smiled widely as he put his hand on his Mother's, "Thank you, Mother." he replied quietly.
With that, the other two boys walked up to the couple, circling their arms around them in a group hug that made even the cold-hearted Natasha melt. They were all on the verge of crying as they embraced each other, talking quietly between themselves.
Thor looked at the scene with a smile on his lips, happy that his family was finally beginning to get back together.
As the three young men detached themselves from their Mother, Thor opened his arms as well, giving each of them a big bear hug and a kiss on the head. "I missed you so, my Stars. I am so happy to see you again." he said in his usual loud voice, but it didn't make it any less emotional for any of them.
A couple of minutes passed and a deliberately loud cough reached everyone's ears.
They all looked in Steve's direction with steely and confused eyes, the amber-eyed man looking weary and ready to defend his family at the possibility of an attack.
"I get the fact that you all haven't seen each other in a long time, but we still have much to figure out." he said pointedly. Natasha and, surprisingly, Clint looked at him with slight anger and disbelief; Bruce looked almost ready to burst a blood vessel at this point, knowing how it felt to finally be able to see a loved one after long without contact; Tony, on the other hand, just wanted to give the family a few seconds, or hours, to reconcile.
A sigh cought the attention of everyone in the room and suddenly all eyes were on the mechanic. "I know that you want to get this over with Capsicle, but really, give the family a few minutes together, will you?" he looked at Loki after talking to Steve, "Go to Thor's floor, you'll be able to take a few hours alone, we can continue this discussion after dinner tonight." he told them softly.
Steve looked ready to reply with something, and everyone could see the angry frown on his face, but Bruce was quicker, putting a hand on his arm and squeezing just enough to get the point of "don't you dare" across.
The family of five went to the elevator after a second of hesitation, Tony just waiting for the doors to close before starting to argue with his supposed leader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sparkling green eyes opened and did their best to take in the room the boy was in. He recognized it as the same ritual room the Goblins had performed the cleansing in.
Hadrian blinked a few times, trying to recall the previous events. He was almost sure to have woke up a couple of times, just to be told to go back to sleep by the female Goblin who had been assigned as his nurse. It was the first time the boy had been coherent enough to sit up, albeit a bit shakily, and look around.
He wasn't surprised when, not even a minute after, his nurse walked into the room with Master Larlig following close behind.
"I'm pleased to see that you're feeling better, Heir Potter." the nurse told him with her usual stern voice.
The boy inclined his head, showing his respect and gratitude, before replying, "Thank you for your concern, Healer." he said with a soft voice, startling slightly when it came out lower pitched than it was before. The Goblins, probably having caught on his reaction, nodded knowingly.
"Would you like to see your new appearance before we start talking about business, Heir Potter?" Master Larlig asked. When Hadrian nodded, he snapped his fingers and a mirror appeared in his hand. He passed it to the gree-eyed boy, who accepted gratefully, before looking into it.
His breath stopped for a second.
It wasn't like he didn't recognize himself, he still had the same eyes and his face was still, all in all, his face, but the changes were prominent nonetheless.
His eyes had become more brilliant, shining like jewels, and had changed to a darker shade green than they were before. His face was more slender and his jaw sharp; he had lost most of his baby-fat and looked more like an adult. His hair had lengthened and now seemed to come down to the middle of his back, straighter and tamer than before. His skin had become more pale, not sickly so, just paler than he was used to seeing. The thing that shocked him the most, though, even if for other people might have been an almost invisible change, was his lightning bolt scar. It was still there, but, instead of its usual ugly red coloring, it looked like an actual faded scar, almost silvery and more delicate than how it looked before.
He studied his reflection for a couple of minutes, before nodding his thanks and giving back the mirror, which disappeared again with another snap of the Goblin's fingers.
He was left alone to get dressed a couple of minutes later, after the nurse had completed various spells and had deemed him fit to get up and walk by himself.
He was about to get up and get dressed when he noticed Asmodeus still sleeping on the rock he had been lying on. He chuckled slightly, picking up his companion and speaking softly. "Wake up, beautiful." he said, stocking the snake's head with a knuckle.
It only took a few seconds for his friend to blink his eyes open, still obviously tired. "Hatchling, you woke up. I waited a long time." he hissed softly, flicking his tongue out against Hadrian's palm.
"I know, beautiful, but it had to be done. I'm better now." he replied, still stocking the snake's head. Asmodeus nodded his head before slithering up the boy's arm to his shoulders, where he draped himself and promptly fell back asleep after a softly hissed "You're warm." .
The teen chuckled softly, strocking the snake's back and making sure not to move around too much as he got dressed. When he was ready he got up and exited the ritual room, finding Master Larlig just outside the door waiting for him. He nodded his head again and they started to walk towards the Goblin' s office.
As he mentally prepared himself for the talk that was to come, he couldn't keep a cold smile from appearing on his face. He was ready to make the people who had betrayed him pay. And he wasn't going to stop until he knew that they had been ruined for the rest of their lives.
With this thought he entered Master Larlig's office, ready to deal with any and all issues that might come up.
Chapter End Notes
Hi, my little Datlkings! I know that it took me a shit ton of time to finish this chapter, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I really hope that you enjoyed reading this as well and I hope that you'll be here to read the rest of the story too. This said, I have a proposition: about a month or so ago I received a comment from the lovely @allikate2.
Now, I know I already asked you if you'd like to see Harry ending up with Tony in this fic, but this comment got me thinking. I always loved the Tony x Bucky ship, and, really I love Bucky in general, so my proposition is this: what if I made this into a Tony x Harry x Bucky story? Would you like that or would you prefer just Harry x Tony? Please tell me in the comments what you think about it and, again, a big that you to @allikate2 for giving me this idea! I love you all and I hope we'll see each other soon. Stay tuned fot the next chapters.
Kisses - Miss Macabre
Finally free
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Hadrian continued stroking Asmodeus even as he entered Master Larlig's offece and the Goblin told him to sit down.
"Now that the main problem has been taken care of, we can finally address the other matter on hand. What did you mean when you said that you hadn't received any letters from Gringrotts, Heir Potter?" Master Larlig started to say, a frown permanently etched on his face.
"I meant exactly that, Master Larlig. In my four years of knowing about the Wizarding World, I've never received a single letter from this Bank." the green-eyed teen said with an honest tone. He really didn't know what the Goblin had been talking about, and that worried him more than anything else.
Larlig's frown deepened after that sentence. "Heir Potter, Gringrotts has been sending you letters since after the night Lord and Lady Potter died at the hands of the Dark Lord. We never received a reply, not from you nor from your Magical Guardian, and the letters were never returned to us. We always assumed that they were simply being ignored."
The teen's expression darkened at hearing those words and Asmodeus, who up to this point had been laying on Harry's shoulders with his eyes closed, suddenly pulled himself up and hissed loudly, ready to defend his young master from any imminent threat. "What... does that mean, exactly?" Hadrian growled lowly, trying to keep his Magic under control. He could feel it pushing, like an entity trapped under his skin that was trying to get out.
The Goblin looked at the boy, quietly impressed by the sheer amount of power that he could feel coming from him. Before the Cleanse, Larlig had known Hadrian was a powerful being but he couldn't have imagined how powerful the boy really would become.
"It means that you will have to learn a lot more than you expected." the teen didn't seem all that fazed by this, and Larlig knew that he was waiting for him to continue, "We will have to review every transaction made from your accounts since the death of Lord and Lady Potter to this day, assuming that you had no idea of any of this." he finished calmly, even if his eyes betrayed the anger that he was feeling.
The teen took a deep breath and put his hand on his friend's head, stroking slightly with his fingers to try and calm down the both of them. Asmodeus, seeing that Harry was in no danger, returned to his previous position, "You should calm down hatchling. It's not good for you to become this angry."
Hadrian smiled lightly at hearing his companion, "I know, beautiful, but it's hard not to get angry after you discover you've been lied to most of your life." he said, a sad tone in his voice.
The snake nodded his head before closing his eyes again and basking in the attention Harry was giving him.
The teen moved his eyes on the Goblin, who had been watching the scene without speaking. "I would like a full review of my accounts, please. I can assure you that I knew nothing of this and that all that happened was done without my consent, Master Larlig." he said softly, trying to keep his voice level. The Goblin nodded his head before retrieving a piece of parchment from his desk drawer.
"This states that you had no idea of what was happening and you allow the Goblins to review you accounts fully. You can decide if you want to ask for compensation from the people who stole from you, sue them or let them be subjected to Goblin law, which will get them executed on the counts of theft. I will need you to sign this at the bottom of the page, Heir Potter." he slid the piece of paper closer to the teen and let him read it by himself. He than put a blood red quill next to the parchment, "This, Heir Potter, is a Blood Quill. It will draw blood from your hand and use it as ink. You need to use this to sign the paper once you've read it." Larlig finished, sitting back and waiting tor the young Lord to read.
When Hadrian was done reading he took the Blood Quill and signed where Master Larlig had told him to. Handing back the piece of parchment, the teen looked at the Goblin behind the wooden desk, a determined look etched in his features. "I would like everyone involved to be subjected to Goblin law." he said strongly.
Larlig let a toothy grin spread on his lips, "It will be my pleasure to see that done, Heir Potter." he replied swiftly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Hadrian got out of Gringrotts, he decided to take a walk around London, not caring about the stares and whispers that followed him and his friend, who was, once again, resting on his shoulders.
He had never really walked around London so seeing it was like being there for the first time. He was surprised to see so many people around: children, adults and elderly. It was a chaotic but beautiful city and Harry was actually glad that he had decided not to return to the Leacky Cauldron as soon as he had finished at Gringrotts.
It was fun for a couple of hours: walking in between people, seeing couples out for a date, watching children run around together and hearing them laugh and call each other. The atmosphere was happy despite the grey sky above them but, at some point, it became too much for Hadrian.
"How about we get out of here and find somewhere a bit more quiet?" the teen asked in a quiet whisper. He had already discovered that Asmodeus could understand English, so he didn't see the point in getting stared at more by talking in Parseltongue. Looking at the snake for a second, he saw him nod his head and, scratching his companion's back, the boy decided to head to St. James Park. He remembered that, when he was younger, his aunt and... Petunia and Vernon had taken Dudley there and the child had complained about it being boring. He assumed it would be his definition of 'quiet'.
Getting to the park was fairly easy once he stopped to ask for directions. The couple he stopped tried not to look to scared of Asmodeus who, feeling his friend approach new people, lifted his head from Harry's shoulder and started tasting the air. The snake preened under the attention of the couple's son who, at some point, asked the teen if he could pet his snake. Asmodeus looked happy to be receiving more attention, even muttering a small "This hatchling smells sweet, Harry." that made the teen laugh under his breath.
Harry walked down the path in St. James Park for a while, marveling at the beauty of the place. He could almost feel how nature had prospered, feel the trees breathing and the birds chirping. He soon found himself sitting on a bench near the lake, his eyes closed to really appreciate the calm atmosphere of the place. He took a deep breath, enjoying the sun on his face and the smell of grass.
After some time, he felt Asmodeus move and raise his head. "What, beautiful? Did you hear something?" the boy asked his companion, not even bothering to open his eyes.
"I smell something, hatchling. It smells sweet, just like the child from before did." Asmodeus replied, sounding intrigued. Hadrian chuckled at his friend's curiosity, finally opening his eyes and turning towards him, starting to stroke his head. "Maybe we could go see where it comes from. What do you think?" seeing his companion nod, the green-eyed boy stood up, asking Asmodeus to direct him in the right direction.
Walking deeper inside the park, not following the park, he came across what looked like a big tent. He could hear music coming from the inside and now he could smell candy and popcorn. He only knew those smells because he could remember Dudley eating a lot of those once when the Dursleys took him to the circus. He was curious to see if that big tent was a circus as well.
He approached the colorful tent and, finding the place where the plastic overlapped, took a peak inside.
There were clothing and objects littered around on the floor, which consisted in a red plastic sheet. It seemed he was in a sort of backstage area, so the boy continued on, looking around to see if someone was there. There was a curtain ahead of him and he was almost certain that that led to the stage area of the circus. The music was loud now and Hadrian could hear voices coming from behind the curtain as well.
When he looked behind it he saw what looked like 15 people talking and exercising. He could see they were doing different things. Someone was hanging from a loop on the ceiling; a couple was dancing to a music only they could hear; a girl, probably not much older than him, was laying on something he couldn't really describe, spinning pieces of cloth on both hands and feet; a man was apparently practicing how to fall.
He was intrigued by what he saw, so much so that, if he hadn't felt Asmodeus move and heard him hiss a threatening "Who is that?!" he wouldn't have been able to spin around fast enough to see that a tall man was entering the curtain from the same crack he had come through.
His hand immediately went to Asmodeus' head, trying to reassure himself and calm his companion. The boy didn't move when the man entered, but he tensed up when he raised his head, looking at him with a confused frown on his face. "And who might you be?"
Chapter End Notes
Hello, my beautiful darklings, how are you today? Doing alright? I know you waited a long time for this chapter and I really hope you like this as much as I do️ So, I wanted to suggest something, a way to interact if you will. I'm quickly approaching 50k total reads (and I want to tank you all for it, really. I never imagined achieving something like this!) on my story on Wattpad and I thought: what if we did something a little special? So, if you want to know anything about me, ask away! I'll write a separate chapter on both Wattpad and AO3 replying to your questionsI know it's not much but it's the best I can offer, soI hope many of you comment so that I can answer your question. Thank you again for reading, until next time️
Kisses - Miss Macabre
Afterword
End Notes
Hey, my little dark angels! I'm finally back with a new story, and this one is a story that I wanted to write for so long, but I never had the right inspiration. Now, tho, I'm back and I'm here to stay! Don't forget to hit the little star at the end of the chapter!
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