Chapter 45

Despite Draco and Ron's rather loud complaining, all eight of the second years made it out to the duelling club organized by Professor's Snape and Lockhart that evening. They were a bit surprised that it was taking place in the great hall but as their rather obtuse Defense Against the Dark Arts professor claimed:

"It has the biggest space in the entire castle which will allow us full usage of a variety of spells."

Either that or it affords him a better chance of getting noticed, Hermione thought grimly to herself as they clustered around the long tables with the rest of their classmates.

Lockhart had truly gone all out for the occasion in grey trousers and silvery blue waist coat and vest with none other than a blue velvet cape thrown over one shoulder and secured across his chest with a silver cord.

He bore the swagger of someone who knew he was the center of attention and was relishing in every moment of it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Draco's lower lip curl into a sneer.

There was the distinct sound of gagging somewhere to her right but she wasn't sure if the emitter had been Ron or Draco. Those two really were more alike than they seemed to think.

"Gather round everyone!" the blonde professor called out in a loud voice. "Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?"

That's never been a problem professor.

"Excellent!" Lockhart called out when he heard the murmurs of assent. He paused at the far end of the table and then turned back with a flourish, cape swinging around him, something which had no doubt been his intention, and gave them all his patented smile. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all up, in case you ever need to defend yourselves."

"From dark creatures or from you?" Ron muttered at her elbow and Hermione smirked.

"Shh!" Susan hissed.

"I myself have had to do so on countless occasions," Lockhart continued his tirade as he marched down the center of the table. "For full details, see my published works."

He offered them once more a charming grin before yanking on the cord across his chest and pulling the cape free. He paused in the middle of the table so that he would be able to toss it into a small group of upper classmen girls who all gasped prettily when it flew towards them.

Hermione grimaced. Would that Uncle Reg or Sirius were here to teach this class instead! They would wipe the floor with this fool!

"That Lockhart is something isn't he?" one of the boys in front of Hermione muttered. She vaguely recalled as being a second year Hufflepuff by the name of Justin Finch Fletchly. "Awfully brave chap."

"Let me introduce my assistant," Lockhart said gesturing to the right end of the table. "Professor Snape."
Almost as one, the students craned their necks to peer down the room just in time to see the dour potions master glide silently onto the table. The expression on his face was one of intense boredom combined with cutting scorn as he gazed at Lockhart, who as always, seemed completely oblivious.

"He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. And now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your potions master when I'm through with him."

Now Hermione was the one who wanted to gag.

A moment later, she was laughing however when her Head of House sent a disarming charm at Lockhart the moment the countdown to three had ended, succeeding in sending the man flying and knocking the wand from his hand.

Harry had to slap Draco on the back as he was laughing so hard. Lockhart seemed to recover as quickly as he could and immediately took the spotlight off his rather embarrassing disarming by calling for volunteers.

That was where things began to get interesting.

"Granger, Parkinson, let's see what you make of this," he called out, immediately quieting the room.

"Sweet Merlin, really?" the strawberry blonde muttered. She turned in the direction of the brunette who was all but licking her lips in anticipation of what she hoped might be some revenge.

Hermione knew Pansy still hadn't forgotten her embarrassment at the beginning of the year. Draco must have too because he sniggered a little when the brunette went past him.

"Take her down Mione," Harry whispered as she left their inner circle and his best friend shot him a smile.

The two girls mounted either end of the table and walked to the center where they stood facing each other. Both Snape and Lockhart had cleared the area in the meantime.

"Make ready!" the latter called from his place on the floor.

"I hope you're ready for this Granger," Pansy hissed but Hermione just raised an eyebrow.

"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart called and Hermione whipped hers to the front of her face. She could already feel her own innate magic humming in her veins and a corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

They both whirled about and slowly took the appropriate amount of paces away.

"On the count of three," Lockhart called. "You may cast your charms to disarm your opponent and only to disarm! We don't want any accidents here."

From the nearly crazed look in Pansy's eyes, Hermione gathered that an accident was just what the girl would want to cause.

"One!" Lockhart began. "Two –"

"Everte Statum!" Pansy shrieked and burst of yellow light shot from the tip of her wand.

Hermione, who had been expecting the tactic, neatly sidestepped the spell and allowed it crash harmlessly into the wall behind her. Taking advantage of the shock of her opponent that her tactic hadn't worked, she flicked her own wand lazily towards the girl. "Expelliarmus."

The wand responded immediately to her call, flying out of the brunette's hand and landing in her own.

There was a moment of surprised silence throughout the hall and Hermione casually twirled her wand between her fingers. Though her mother had taught her that arrogance did not have its place in the world of espionage since she had begun training her, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little of her father's influence take over when she smiled at the disarmed and fuming witch. She turned to Lockhart before the smile became a smirk. "I believe that was what you wanted yes?"

The blonde blinked for a moment before rewarding her with his own smile. "Ah, well done Miss Granger, you do your house credit. Now, shall we have another volunteer?"

With a flick of her fingers, Hermione sent Pansy's wand flying back to her and waited for the other girl to pick it up. She may have disliked the girl, but that certainly didn't mean that she was going to kick her when she was down.

She had just turned to leave the table as Lockhart had already selected another pair when there was a hissing enunciation from behind her and Hermione was alerted to the problem when Luna gasped somewhere off to her right.

"Serpensortia!"

That was all the warning that the little blonde had that an unfriendly spell was coming. Hastily she threw up one of the shields that her father had taught her that he sometimes used in combat. The energy barrier that jumped into place was weak but it did its part.

Hermione whirled around just as the effects of the spell made contact with her shield which then shattered immediately.

There was a shocked gasp throughout the hall and even the professor's appeared to be startled, from Lockhart's dropped jaw to Snape's raised eyebrows.

Hermione locked eyes with Pansy across the table, whose face seemed to be caught in a strange dichotomy of shock and rage.

And then she glanced down at her feet, noting with some disconnect, the mid size green snake that had landed about a foot from her atop the table.

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, given that Pansy's reputation but the fact that the girl would try something so blatantly obvious as casting an unfriendly spell when her back was turned, and one that was so laughably obtuse, somehow shocked even her.

Her snort echoed through the quiet of the hall. "Really?"

A moment later however, a quiet hissing sound overrode the impact of her question and all eyes turned towards another small blonde on the right side of the table who had pushed forward, eyes only on the snake.

Hermione's eyes widened, amused surprise turning to unadulterated shock as her cousin all but leaned against the table, eyes focused on the long green serpent with a razor focus, curious hissing sounds coming from her mouth.

And then, to the shock of all gathered, the serpent seemed to hiss in response when Luna fell silent and then began to slither slowly towards her. No one moved a muscle as the snake continued its trek towards the small blonde as she called to it and it wasn't until it was in front of her, slithering onto her outstretched arm as if it were the most natural thing in the world that sound burst forth once more.

"Oi!" someone shouted from across the room, a voice and a face that Hermione couldn't see. "What are you playing at?"

Murmurs broke around the room and Hermione glanced back at a startled Pansy who looked more than a little pale.

In the back of her head, she grimaced, wondering about the perspectives of the other students in the room, having seen what both she and Luna had just done. The spell she had cast to protect herself, clearly wasn't the one called Protego as it was bright blue as opposed to red and Luna had just revealed a strange and uncommon ability to talk to snakes.

No doubt it was something that she had learned from Uncle Loki but when Hermione glanced at Dudley's hanging open mouth, Draco's unnaturally pale face and Neville's wide eyes, she had a feeling that all of her friends were going to require a much more detailed explanation.

Harry however was looking at the snake that was wrapped around Luna's wrist, still hissing as if his communique had not ended. The little blonde had not taken her eyes off the creature for a moment and her head was tilted slightly to one side as if she were listening attentively to whatever it was telling her. Her expression didn't change from one of dreamy effervescence but Hermione did glimpse her cousin's eyes narrow slightly as if she had just heard something interesting.

"Order!" Snape called out, effectively silencing some of the din. "I will have order!"

Hermione hurried off the table and pushed through the crowd towards her friend, her eyes focused on her cousin. By the time that she reached them, most of the noise had died down, but the people who had been standing around Luna, save for those who were in their little group, had shied away from her like she had some communicable disease.

Hermione knew she would probably roll her eyes when she thought about it later, but at the moment, she was too busy watching her cousin in communication with a serpent.

"Did you know she could do that?" Susan asked as they watched the blonde wide eyed.

Hermione shook her head grimly. "But I'm beginning to realize that we all have more to learn about Luna than we thought."

Personally she was certain that her cousin had a very firm objective in conversing with a snake if her expressions when summoning it were any indication. For as odd as others found her, the other blonde was certain that her cousin wouldn't just summon a spelled snake jus to be completely obtuse.

No, there was a purpose here, and as she watched Luna communicate the reptile, she planned a time when she could corner the other girl and demand to know what they were talking about.

Because despite the calm look on her cousin's face, Hermione had a sinking feeling that the mystery surrounding the school, themselves and possibly the search for Jormungandr had just deepened.

Ω

It was in silence that the trio trudged back to Little Whinging that night.

For all of her faith filled declarations, Natasha couldn't help but feel that this was somehow her fault. She had promised her husband that they would find some way to contact his brother but when hours had gone by and the only answer was silence as a result of Pandora's summoning, hope had begun to fade.

That of course only added worry to Thor's impatience, worry for his brother and whatever it was that could be keeping him from answering.

Natasha had only to look at his tense face as they bid farewell to a tired Regulus and made for their separate houses to know how he was really feeling.

The pair crunched through the snow in silence as they walked up the driveway to the house and Natasha absently wondered how long they had been gone because it hadn't been snowing when they had left.

She grimaced when she remembered that Christmas was coming up and Hermione would soon be coming home with no idea that her father was here. they were almost out of time.

Right now however, she was more worried about her husband's brother.

She knew how close Thor and Loki were. He had told her so many stories over the years about the trouble they had each gotten up to when they were growing and many times she had been able to do nothing but sit back in shock at how they had managed to come through all their battles in one piece.

She also knew that her stubbornly beloved husband had long ago sworn an oath to protect his brother, come what may. The fact that he was human now didn't seem to negate that oath and the manner with which he had been sent from Asgard only added an air of unease to the fact that Loki wasn't answering.

So when she had managed to pull Thor inside of their house, lock the door and generally keep herself busy for a moment, she had led him to the couch, sat him down and then folded herself next to him in silence.

"Is it possible to assume that he is not on Asgard?" she asked gently after a moment and her only answer was a quiet snort.

"It can be the only explanation," Thor said in a low rumble. His fingers were steepled underneath his chin and his blue eyes were unreadable. "But I can think of no explanation for Loki to leave Asgard, especially at this time. I suspected before the Seer gave her prediction that the Odin sleep would soon be upon my father but now I am beginning to wonder if it happened after I was banished. Removing my power would take considerable effort."

"Well then that would mean that he would have become king in Odin's place correct?" Natasha asked, searching for the bright side. "So its entirely possible that he did hear our attempts to contact him but could not due to his duties."

Thor nodded, but didn't look any less worried about any of the possible fates that might have befallen his little brother.

Seeing that acquiring his attention would require a more tactile response, Natasha reached out, grasped one of his hands and pressed it to her lips in a tender kiss.

Finally he turned to face her and the anguish in his blue eyes physically hurt. "Is there no one that I can protect anymore?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

Natasha gripped his hand tighter. "Enough of that. Now isn't the time to wallow in self pity. Not when there are still options."

"What options are there Natasha?" Thor asked rubbing his free hand over his face. He looked tired and the red head felt a pang. All the worry and concern must have exhausted his new human body in a way that he wouldn't have been used to.

"Well I can think of at least one," she thought hoping to distract him. "Tomorrow, Regulus and I will go back to New Mexico and we'll be able to take a look at Mjolnir where its buried in stone. And we'll consult the history books. There may be a way to remove the spell your father placed upon it."

Her attempt at diversion partially worked for the blonde was able to fix her with a tired smile. "Somehow I doubt that's possible Natasha. The All Father was the one who deliberately spelled Mjolnir, only he can be the one to remove the enchantment."

"I find that hard to believe, given the wording of the spell claims an attachment to worthiness," Natasha said. "You saved further knowledge of Hermione and I from being released in an act of self sacrifice. If this were truly about worthiness then you would still be able to carry the hammer. So I am certain that some other spell is holding it in place. We just need to find what that is."

Thor's smile widened and he gently extracted his hand from her so that he might cup the side of her face. "Such confidence beloved. I wish that I could share it."

Natasha smirked at him in relief, glad once more to see the smile that she loved on his face, even though he was fighting off worry and anger. "Well I have enough confidence for the both of us. I always have and until you can have more optimism, you can rely on mine. I find that being a wife and mother has somehow made me perpetually optimistic."

His smile grew and whatever she might have said next was interrupted when he leaned over to kiss her.

Early the following morning saw Natasha communing in her backyard with Regulus and Petunia who had come to say goodbye. The red head and the youngest Black brother gave brief waves to their blonde significant others before Natasha grasped her friend's arm so they could apparate together.

It wasn't until they had reappeared back in the Natasha's hotel room that had been set aside for her during her stay in New Mexico that they were able to speak.

"I certainly hope what we're about to try doesn't get us both fired," Regulus muttered as he set his bag down on the desk and slumped into a desk chair.

Natasha walked to the window and glanced out into the small town that was still asleep. It was just after six in the morning so they still had just under an hour before they were supposed to report to the crash site.

"Somehow with both of our magic working in tandem Reg, I don't think that we'll need to worry," she murmured. "No one knows of your abilities or mine so that increases our chances of this being a simpler extraction."

"Forgive me if I remain a bit skeptical about our ability to remove an ancient and spelled hammer once belonging to an immortal being without anyone else being the wiser," the youngest Black said, running a hand through his hair. "It's going to require no small amount of skill in transfiguration to add a stand in.

What if we can't even lift it in the first place. Your husband did tell us that Mjolnir is not simply heavy, its stubborn."

"It's strange that its almost sentient," Natasha said, still gazing out the window. "It seems to be a weapon that chooses its bearer more than the bearer chooses it. And even if we don't have a way of extracting it safely and without anyone noticing, at the very least we'll be able to study it for its magical properties and figure out what sort of spell was placed on it. There's always something to do Reg."

He sagged a bit as her words sunk in and then pushed himself to his feet. "Alright then, I had better get back to my own room in case someone comes looking for us. I'll see you in an hour."

Natasha nodded and waited until the door to her room clicked shut before turning her attention to the activity that she could see was still taking place out in the desert. No doubt Barton would be by soon and she needed to find some way of distracting him so Reg could examine Mjolnir and discern how best to remove it.

She was under no illusions about how difficult this was going to be. A god had placed a spell on Mjolnir after all, but spells could be formed and they could be broken. Whatever warding Odin had placed on the hammer, Natasha was certain it couldn't have been as strong or as stubborn as simply being worthy.

Not for the first time did she want to see her father in law so that she might slap the back side of his head.

As she stood there, her thoughts began to turn to Loki and where her wayward brother had taken himself off to. Despite the fact that she had only met him once at Hogwarts the following year, it was plain to see how much he and Thor loved each other.

Thor had told her once that it hadn't always been that way, but then something had occurred in the break down of their relationship to make them rely on and trust each other once more. He hadn't told her as he had claimed it wasn't his story to share but whatever it was must have allowed them to emerge stronger than before.

Not for the first time was she glad to have another ally on the inside for her husband.

Now if they could just figure out where said ally was, that would be great.

A few hours later, Natasha and Regulus found themselves standing in a tight circle with Barton and Coulson, around the stone projection that Mjolnir was secured to.

All of them had donned the appropriate hazmat suits even though Natasha was certain they would all be fine. She had spent enough time around Mjolnir to know that it was harmless when it was unconnected to the one person who could wield it.

Though she had seen the hammer plenty of times before, to see it so still was odd to Natasha. The weapon was an extension of Thor and she had never seen him without it. It seemed foreign to her now to look at it in this environment, devoid of any life she had seen emanating from the one who carried it.

The red head had to suppress a shiver.

"Not going to lie," Barton muttered after they had spent an adequate amount of time looking at it. "I'm glad this landed here rather than anywhere closer to the town. It's bad enough that we have all types of quacks and alien hunters coming close to the perimeter on a daily basis. Can you imagine if this thing had landed in the town?"

Regulus snorted. "Have there been any other leads about where its owner has gone to?"

Coulson shook his head and even though his expression didn't change, Natasha saw the slight furrow between his eyebrows which indicated that he was frustrated.

Good, no one had suspected anything.

"Has anyone tried removing the stone itself from the ground so that we can take it back to Washington and study it?" she asked.

"Not yet," Coulson replied. "And I'm not sure if that's such a great idea, the radiation levels on this thing are too high."
"They're less when it first landed though," Regulus murmured. "Perhaps that's because its separated from the source that was giving it that energy."
Way to state the obvious there Reg.

"I'll have the scientists take another look at it," Coulson said evenly. "There's got to be a way we can get this thing to Washington. But I'm beginning to wonder whether its of any use at this point. This hammer can't answer our questions as well as our mysterious guest would have been able to."

Natasha glanced up at him, though her next words were completely for Regulus. "Well then we're just going to have to do our best."

Ω

Needless to say, very few people had the ability to concentrate after Luna's demonstration with the snake and upon realizing this, Lockhart and Snape dismissed all the students for the night, promising them all that they would schedule another time to meet and practice duelling.

Upon hearing this, Hermione seized her cousin by the arm and all but hauled her through the doors before their other friends were aware of what was happening. It wasn't as if she wanted to leave them behind, but she had a feeling that whatever the other girl had learned from the snake would not be something that the rest of them could hear at the moment.

For this reason and this reason alone, did she ignore Susan's calls as the second years filed out of the room back down the hall behind them.

"We'll talk to you all later!" she shouted as she and Luna dashed up the stairs to the second level, heading towards Ravenclaw tower.

"Is the snake still with you?" she asked as soon as they were out of the range of hearing of the other students.

Luna nodded, but she didn't say anything else until they had reached one of the large windows outside of Ravenclaw tower and seated themselves on the window seat so that they might look down onto the grounds beyond that were cloaked in darkness.

"What was that?" Hermione demanded the moment they had caught their breath. "Uncle Loki taught you how to do that didn't he?"

Luna nodded. "I can't change my form to animals like Daddy can but he's ensured that I can talk to as many as I want. It's very helpful when trying to negotiate with the Nargles living in the rafters of my house."

Hermione blinked and quickly brushed the thought aside. "Well that's one question answered. What did you ask it?"

"I wondered if it had seen Jormungandr around anywhere," Luna said, her cheery tone dimming somewhat. "The spell that Pansy used doesn't create a snake, it just transfers the nearest one from the surrounding area and bring it to the use of the caster. That's why I wondered."

Hermione nodded. Though she had never seen the spell put to use before because its result was so specific, it made sense that it wouldn't create an animal because that was too advanced magic for a second year to wield.

"What did he say?" she asked.

Luna's face became unreadable. "There wasn't much he could say. He's spent most of his time in the Forbidden Forest, but he did tell me that a lot of spiders have been entering the forest lately, heading right to its center as if they're being called there. I don't know what that means other than some of the animals have been running. That doesn't sound like a good thing."

Hermione shook her head. "Do you think you could contact Uncle Loki to ask. I'm wondering if I should tell Mom what's going on because this certainly isn't a prank anymore. I'm still remembering what happened last year."

Luna's face twisted a bit. "I've been trying to contact Daddy by use of my bracelet but he hasn't been answering."

And that was somehow more sinister than the two of them hearing voices all around them. A moment of heavy silence passed between the cousins as they contemplated what to do next.

"I'll try and contact Dad," Hermione promised. "Maybe Uncle Loki's been sent off of Asgard for some reason that's why he hasn't gotten back to you."

Luna nodded but she still looked nervous for some reason. After a moment, she lowered her hand to the window sill and allowed the small green serpent to slide out of her sleeve and onto the rough wooden landing. The reptile seemed to orient itself after the long ride in her robe, but then turned to Luna and made its peculiar hissing noises again.

The little blonde responded with several inarticulate sounds of her own and then the snake turned and slithered through a small hole in the bottom corner of the window, no doubt heading back to the forest and what was its nest.

Neither of the girl's said another word until it would out of sight.

"So what now?" Hermione asked. "The search for Jormungandr has stalled. We have no new leads and we're both hearing a mysterious voice in the halls that no one else can hear. Plus I haven't heard from my Mum in weeks and I'm beginning to get worried."

"She hasn't called you?" Luna asked with narrowed eyes. "That's odd for her isn't it."

"It is if I don't know what she's doing," Hermione allowed. "Last year I didn't hear from her all that much because she was trailing Tony Stark around in California and then there was the whole mess with Ivan Vanko in New York so I was okay with not hearing from her because she had a lot on her plate. But now….I don't know what she's doing. I get the feeling that there's something that she's not telling me."

And then, for the second time that night….a scream rang out in the silent halls. There was a moment of deathly quiet following it, and then another scream much louder and more terrible joined the first.

Both girls shot to their feet, eyes wide and staring out into the darkness of the corridors.

"Sweet Merlin, what now?" Hermione muttered to herself but didn't hesitate before dashing off in the direction of the voices. The screams continued nearly all the way down onto the main floor of the school not far from the great hall.

It was there that the cousins ran into a crowd of students who all seemed to have been roused by the noise.

"What's going on?" Hermione demanded of no on in particular as she and Luna shoved their way through the dark robes.

It was only when they had reached the front and caught sight of their pale friends that Hermione began to understand the gravity of the situation.

If Draco's face had been pale in the duelling room when Luna had started conversing with the snake, it was absolutely bloodless now. Susan's eyes were as wide as dinner plates in her face and Ron and Dudley were trembling slightly.

Almost mechanically, Hermione turned to where they were staring and caught sight of a crumpled form in black robes lying against the door near the bathrooms.

It was only then that she noticed the water on the floor that the figure was lying in and which was slowly soaking his clothes. He was on his back, arms crumpled around him, mouth open in a soundless scream of terror and eyes wide.

That dark head was very familiar.

"Is that Finch Fletchly?" someone asked from behind her in a hushed whisper. "Merlin what happened?"

"She did it!" a girl in a Hufflepuff tie standing across from Hermione's group of friends shrieked, pointing at Luna. "You all saw her talking to the snake. She's the air of Slytherin! Who else could have done this?"

Hermione felt the blood rush to her face and she was just about to speak up in her cousin's defense when another voice rang out.

"Don't be absurd Hannah," Susan said calmly. She stepped up next to Luna and placed a hand on her shoulder. Though the blonde's expression didn't change,

Hermione sensed that her cousin was grateful for the support. "What motive would Luna have for wanting to hurt Justin. They've never even spoken."

The other girl glared at them and appeared ready to spit out something particularly nasty when footsteps could be heard from behind the group.
When all of them turned, it was to the sight of Professor Dumbledore, Madam Pomphrey and Professors McGonagall and Snape all hurrying down the hall towards them.

"Prefects!" Dumbledore said and the dull rumbling roar of his voice shocked Hermione. He sounded genuinely angry. "Please escort all students in your houses to your common rooms immediately and do not leave for the remainder of the night. Each professor will be sealing the doors so any of you inclined to mischief will not be tempted to break the rules."

He paused here and glanced around at them all while Madam Pomphrey hurried forward to deal with the fallen Finch Fletchly. "And I would suggest packing your things before you go to bed. You are all being sent home early for the holidays."

A stunned silence greeted this announcement, though Hermione privately agreed that it was a good idea. Dumbledore was obvious taking preventative measures against any sort of near disaster.

"Will Fletchly be alright?" Hannah demanded, still casting a wary eye at Luna.

"Not to worry all," Pomphrey assured them as she loaded the comatose student onto a charmed stretcher. "He is still breathing and will be receiving treatment tonight in the hospital room.

"What's wrong with him then?" another student shouted out.

Dumbledore banged his staff against the floor of the hall, effectively silencing everyone's questions. "You will all follow your prefects back to your common rooms. If this hall is not cleared of students in the next ten seconds, I will be docking one hundred points from each house for every student that remains!"

No one needed any further convincing after that and there was a mad scramble from the hall as students jostled behind prefects, heading to safety.

Hermione only had about three seconds to look each of her friends in the eye before they were all hustled away.

A very sick looking Ron somehow managed to get the last word in. "Happy Christmas everyone."

Ω

I literally have nothing but writer's block as an excuse for my lateness. Sometimes I forget how big and dense this story is and how many players are involved that it all becomes a bit intimidating. In the next chapter, Natasha and Regulus find a way around the magics with Mjolnir, we get back to Loki and Hermione comes home for Christmas to a very shocking surprise. Don't forget to review!