Happy National Old Stuff Day! I've got my old people and that will have to be enough because there's no way I'm using any TV that's thicker than two inches! lol

Here is today's chapter. It was like pulling teeth trying to make this seem genuinely Loki and I'm still not sure I pulled it off!

Either way, hold on to your butts and lets get started!

Enjoy!

Loki wasn't sure what was happening. When he had released Gungnir and let himself drop into the Void he had been prepared to float and slowly lose his sanity. What he hadn't expected was to feel something grab at the back of his armor, lift him past the pull of the Void, and drop him onto the familiar form of his son Sleipnir, who was miraculously free of the bit and bridle that stopped his ability to speak and bound him to the Allfather's will respectively. Then flames that burned cold, cold enough to begin turning his skin blue, had surrounded them and they had appeared in a large foyer. Then the bird, an ice phoenix he had noted with surprise, had turned into a small black haired girl.

Now, just as he was demanding answers, Sleipnir grabbed the back of his armor in his teeth and pulled him backward just as the girl shoved the male away from her. In the next second the girl burst into blue flames; power came from her in a wave, moving people even further back as the ice allowed them to slide. A moment later the fire sucked in on itself and all that was left was a pile of ashes and a blue, green, and black swirled egg.

Loki blinked down at the egg and ashes, this girl who was not only a phoenix but a phoenix close to her burn date had rescued him even in such a state? How in the nine realms had she even known he'd need rescuing? He hadn't even had an inkling that everything would go this terribly until Thor had destroyed the bridge. Loki shot a glance at his son but Sleipnir was focused on the egg in front of them.

"Harriet!" someone exclaimed, Loki looked up just in time to see a male with wild dark hair and a strong jaw slide onto his knees next to the egg. 'Harriet,' he mentally corrected himself, 'The one who saved me from the insanity of the Void is called Harriet.' Loki watched as the wild haired male lifted the egg gently from the ashes to hold, tucking it carefully against his chest. Loki was about to demand answers again when the wild haired man looked back to the bearded man, "Gather the ashes, like she said, get them all." He looked to the sandy haired man, "Have the house elves get the ice packs ready."

Loki's eyebrows rose, 'House elves?' Loki thought, 'Where exactly am I? It's not Jotunheim. I felt the wards, maybe Vanaheim? Svartalheim?' Loki watched with a frown as the bearded man pulled a length of wood from his sleeve and waved it over the ashes; the frown turned into fascination as he saw lines of magic fall gracefully from the end of the piece of wood and swirl around the ashes, drawing them together into a clear containment bubble. "I have traveled the realms and have never seen magic like that." Loki muttered to his son who was watching with the same interest. "It was so quick. He didn't say any incantations or anything." Loki didn't let his eyes leave the magic bubble but he angled his head toward his son. "Sleipnir, can you feel where we are?"

*I'm sorry mother. I cannot. The wards are cutting off all of the outside world wherever we are.* Sleipnir whispered in his mind.

Loki patted his son's neck soothingly even as his eyes snapped over to the sandy haired man who had snapped his fingers, a small wrinkly figure appeared before the man with a pop, "Master Moony be needing Cherry?"

Loki watched as this 'Moony' person smiled at the little creature, who he assumed was a house elf, and nodded, "Yes Cherry, Harriet's burn has hit, we need the ice packs put in the nest please."

"Of course Master Moony." Cherry said, the creature bowed and disappeared with another pop.

Loki looked back over to the two darker haired men to find that the bearded one wasn't even focusing on his little bubble of magic, he was stroking the egg gently even as the wild haired man cooed it. "Come on, we have to get her to her nest." The man holding the egg said. Loki followed them curiously with Sleipnir walking along behind him, the halls being thankfully big enough for the large horse to navigate easily.

The trickster God knew that the three men wouldn't answer his questions until the egg was in its nest and settled in, so he just followed behind them. Taking in every detail he could and keeping one arm free to grab Sleipnir if he needed to make a quick exit. 'If I can get out.' Loki amended to himself as he brushed his magic against the wards curiously. They were like nothing he'd seen before. Some felt old, not as old as himself but still, old enough to have quite a lot of power packed into them from years of being reinforced by new magics. There were also brand new ones that he concluded came from the young ice phoenix as they felt cool and welcoming to him, but he knew instinctively they would feel unbearably cold to any trying to breach them from the outside. The wards were all tied into a specific blood, the blood of those in front of him he assumed, but they were also greeting him warmly, including him and Sleipnir in their protection without hesitation. However, as much as the wards were protecting them, there was one in particular that was keeping everybody in. It was another of the ice phoenixes wards so he wasn't sure if the three men ahead of him were even aware of it, but it was keeping them all contained. He had never met a phoenix, since the Allfather had managed to drive them from the land before he was born, but he knew they were powerful, especially if the Phoenix Laws were anything to go by; so he wasn't sure if he could force his way through that containment ward, let alone with Sleipnir in tow.

Loki focused back on the three men before him as they came to a stop in front of double doors that had a stylized phoenix with its wings arced overhead burned into each door. Moony pushed open the doors and Loki followed as far as the threshold to take in the diamond shaped suite before him. To the right was two rather large desks littered with parchment, stray quills, and various other materials. Just beyond the desks, set into a wall, was a half open door leading to a dark room that Loki guessed was a washroom. The rest of that wall was blank before leading to a circular indent in between the two sides of the room that held a grand round bed with a frame that came up farther on one side to form the headboard, the bedding was dark grey with black accents and the multitude of pillows were black and green. In the center of the bed was a hollowed out pile of emerald blankets that Loki knew were for the egg. The circular walls around the bed held four covered windows, two on each side. Moving to the final two walls there was a clear space and a small table at the final corner that held several devices that Loki had never seen before, one being a large flat box with a shiny face that was angled toward the bed.

With the new room investigated, Loki turned back to the men who were now perched on the bed, carefully burying the egg in the ashes the bearded one had brought to the room. "Make sure to get her completely covered Sirius." The wild haired male was saying, "She said to make sure she was in contact with the ashes all around."

"I am, James." Sirius grumbled halfheartedly, his eyes were locked on the tiny egg that was currently being cradled by all of them. "Calm down, freaking out won't help her."

"Who's freaking out?" James exclaimed, his voice rising in pitch. Both Moony and Sirius threw him an exasperated look and he deflated, "Fine, but I feel like when I was waiting for Lilly to go in labor. I want to see my baby girl now." He whined, rubbing at the egg gently with his thumb. Loki's eyebrow rose again, 'Is this man really her father or is he referring to someone else?'

"It's only a day James." Moony reassured, "Not another nine months."

"Like that makes it any better." James grumbled, Loki smirked a little at how petulant he sounded.

Loki watched closely as the men extracted their hands from the egg once it was covered, waiting for them to relax enough for him to remind them of his presence and demand answers. However, now was not the time, as Moony drew a length of wood similar to Sirius' and waved it over the nest while muttering a few words. Loki leaned forward a little as magic came from the end of the stick again and swirled into a ball before becoming a little fluffy cloud that promptly began to let loose cold air and snowflakes. "Her own personal flurry." James said, not sounding surprised, just fond. "Nice Remus."

Moony/Remus smirked, "Variation of our storm cloud spell."

"Classic prank." Sirius snickered. None of them had taken their eyes off the pile of ashes as if they believed that the phoenix would hatch at any time.

After several seconds of nothing Loki cleared his throat pointedly and the three men almost instantly had their sticks out to point at Loki who simply raised an eyebrow, "Now that your leader is taken care of, would one of you care to explain?"

The men all blinked, their eyes swept over him then Sleipnir before darting back to him where their eyes went wide and their mouths dropped open. "You're Loki!" James said breathily.

Loki frowned, "Yes, who were you expecting? Does your leader often go around collecting people?"

"You'd be surprised." Moony/Remus murmured, his own eyes wide where they were locked on Loki.

Sirius was starting to hyperventilate as he looked at Loki, "The God of Mischief and Chaos is standing in Harriet's bedroom." He rasped, his eyes almost fever bright.

Loki's eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to Sleipnir protectively, "If you have issue with me…."

"What?! No!" Remus shouted, standing so fast he almost stumbled.

Sirius also shot to his feet with his hands held up, "No its just… We're such big fans!"

Loki's eyes widened, "Fans?"

"Yes!" James exclaimed, he finally jumped up to stand by his friends. "Your biggest fans!"

Before they could go further they were interrupted by Sleipnir's whickering, amusement clear on his surprisingly expressive face, *You should see the look on your face mother!* Sleipnir projected to the entire room, *Completely poleaxed!*

"Mother?" Remus stuttered, all three's eyes immediately looked to Sleipnir who shifted uncertainly under their gazes, "You must be Sleipnir!"

"Dear Merlin, I have the God of Mischief and his first born standing in my manor!" James exclaimed, he reached over and shook Sirius, "Siri pinch me!" Sirius was looking torn between staring at Loki and staring at Sleipnir but his hand came up and pinched James anyway, "Ow!" James exclaimed before he gasped and threw his arms around Sirius, "It's real! Harriet said but I didn't truly believe it!"

Loki watched, bewildered, as the men fell apart at his mere presence here. He had had people that had admired him before and people enjoy his work but he had never had crazy fan people like Thor had. Loki shook himself slightly and straightened up, "Now that your leader is taken care of, would one of you care to explain?" he repeated, a little more loudly this time.

The three men froze and looked a bit sheepish, "Sorry," James mumbled, "Harriet said not to fangirl."

Loki blinked at the sudden change, "While unexpected there is no harm done. To make it up to me you can explain exactly what is going on here. Why your leader saved me. How she knew to save me. Where exactly am I. And what magic it is that you are using."

Sirius snorted, "Harriet's not our leader."

Loki raised an eyebrow at that, "Her position is clear."

James shook his head, "No, she's my daughter."

"She's kind of our leader." Remus mumbled, ignoring Sirius and James' looks.

Loki gave Remus a pointed look before moving to the next point, "You're her father?" he asked, looking at James, "Does that mean you are also a phoenix?"

James blinked several times before shaking his head vehemently, "No. I'm not a phoenix. Harriet is but she isn't." Loki opened his mouth to question that but James plowed on, "See, our magic allows us only two animal transformations after a series of steps. Harriet's second transformation is a phoenix; she wasn't born like that."

*The lítt stórmerki has a magical transformation?* Sleipnir asked, *She must be very powerful, especially since her magical transformation is that of a great fire bird.*

All three men puffed up proudly, "Our pup is very powerful." Sirius bragged, Remus nodded with a smile.

"The most powerful witch on Earth!" James continued, his eyes shining with pride.

"Earth?" Loki questioned.

"Sorry, Midgard." James corrected himself, "The most powerful witch on Midgard."

Loki snorted, "There are no magicals on Midgard. They died off some nine hundred of Midgard's years ago."

Remus looked amused, "I can assure you that we are very much alive, though thriving would be taking it too far."

Loki's face hardened, "Do not think to lie to me." He said, his voice low and dangerous, his magic flaring around the room, "Do not forget what else I'm the God of."

Sirius and Remus stepped back toward Harriet protectively but James simply stared Loki down, an action which surprised the God. James held up his wand, "I, James Charlus Potter, swear on my magic that I am a wizard born and trained here on Midgard by other Midgardian wizards and witches." His wand flashed to signal the acceptance of the vow before he flicked his wand and a light orb appeared from the tip.

Loki's magic settled but he remained tense, "How have you hidden yourselves from Asgard?" he asked stiffly, then a slight bit of vulnerability entered his tone as he asked, "Are we hidden now?"

"When the muggles began to burn us for practicing magic we created wards that hid us from them." Remus said softly, "Our whole society went into hiding under these strong wards. Apparently they also worked to hide us from Asgard."

"And yes, we are hidden now." James said soothingly, "We are under hundreds of years of family wards plus ones Harriet put up specifically against Asgard's eyes."

Loki relaxed a little, "And my other questions? Why has your lea… your daughter saved me? How did she know I needed saving?"

Sirius bit his lip, "That's a bit more complicated."

Loki's eyebrow rose again, "More complicated than an entire race hiding from the all-seeing eyes within Asgard?"

"Oh definitely." James said, he sighed and ran a hand through his wild hair, "Harriet is really the one who could explain this the best."

*Maybe you should just start at the beginning.* Sleipnir threw in helpfully.

Sirius gave a bit of a crazy sounding laugh, "Where exactly do you begin when talking about time travel?"

"And when half of the story doesn't exactly answer the question." Remus asked, drawing a hand over his face.

"Are you saying that she traveled back in time and because of that knew I would need rescuing?" Loki asked dryly.

"Yes!" Sirius said, perking up, "Woo, that wasn't so hard after all."

Loki's lips quirked up a little, "I would still like a little elaboration."

James nodded shortly, "Well, according to Harriet, in the future she had put together a family for herself. A family that you were a part of. When a war killed all of you, she accidentally traveled back in time with her first burn as a phoenix. Now she is trying to draw her family back together."

Loki blinked, he hadn't thought he would ever trust anyone enough to view as family after what he had discovered a few days ago. Not after he discovered he had been lied too. Sure he thought that his scheme to destroy the Jotunheim would earn him Odin's approval and prove that he had just as much right to be king as Thor but he knew in the back of his mind that he never would have truly trusted in any affection from his so called 'family' again. Now he was being told that he had someone who viewed him as family and cared enough to save him from insanity within the Void.

The trickster God turned to his son when he nudged him gently, *She called you flock, mother. That is why I trusted her enough to bring her to you.*

"Flock?" Loki breathed, he had never actually seen a phoenix in person before today, had only seen drawings of them around the palace, but he knew enough from the legends told in Asgard as well as the extensive laws in regards to the creatures that those seen as Flock were the most important beings to a phoenix; right behind the phoenixes mate. Somehow his future self had come through the betrayal he just had and had gained the position of flock to such a powerful creature. "How?" Loki rasped, "I'm a monster. Why would she want me as flock?"

Sleipnir let out a violent snort and the three men before him looked confused, "Why would you think you're a monster?" Remus asked.

Loki looked at him before turning away, he couldn't stand to see the adoration he rarely got turn to disgust, "I'm a frost giant. A monster. The stories mothers tell their children at night to get them to behave."

"So you're a frost giant. Why does that make you a monster?" came James' genuinely confused voice through Loki's little pity party. "From what Harriet told us they are their own society who just had a hate campaign lobbied against them by Asgard for a war that happened about a thousand years ago."

That stopped Loki's thoughts right in their tracks and he looked over to see all three looking at him with confusion but no less awe and excitement than before. Sirius' brow furrowed, "Also, wasn't Odin's mother a Frost Giant?"

"Frost Giantess." Remus corrected, not noticing how both Loki and Sleipnir had froze at the new topic. "And yes, at least in the legends Bestla was a Frost Giantess."

"Odin's running a fear campaign against his own mum, harsh." James said.

"Harriet did say he was a jackass." Sirius mused.

Loki cleared his throat once more, this time a bit hesitantly, and once again they all looked to him, "I will have to get more details once… Harriet is recovered. What exactly was she expecting me to do here?"

James gave him a soft smile, "She wasn't expecting you to do anything. She just wants you safe, happy, and healthy. Though she did say that it would best for you to stay in the manor for a little bit to throw off any trail Asgard may have picked up." Loki nodded a bit at the wisdom of those words. "Just two doors down the hall to the left is the rooms she had set up for you. You can call a house elf if you ever need anything and feel free to explore the manor, we have nothing to hide." He looked to Sleipnir and bit his lip, "I don't think she was expecting to bring Sleipnir along but the intensive wards do extend about half a mile out from the manor itself so there is plenty of room to run, though you can stay inside if you want."

Loki nodded slowly, "I will work on breaking the lock Odin put on Sleipnir's shifting so it will be easier for him to stay inside." He let out a shaky breath, "Thank you, for accepting us in your home."

James smiled brightly, "No problem! Any family of Harriet's is family of ours!"

Loki nodded once more, dazed, but left quickly with Sleipnir on his heels. He followed the directions James had given him and soon found himself in front of double doors similar to Harriet's, these ones however had his intertwined snake symbol burned into the doors. He pushed them open and found himself in a comfortable sitting room, it had a plush carpet of emerald green with gold swirled into it. The soft chairs and couch that were angled around a currently empty fire place were a dark grey color with green accent pillows, the side tables that were situated between them were stained cherry wood with gold inlays. Along the walls on either side of the fire place was half full shelves of books and along the mantle were little gold trinkets that each seemed to have meaning, though he could only guess some. Along the opposite wall was a simple door, when Loki passed through it he found a large plush bed with bedding done in his colors, a large carpeted area of free space, another door which led to a wash room, a currently empty wardrobe, a bed side table which held four small figurines that represented each of his children, and a large desk that was currently holding an eight-foot-long case of some sort and an envelope with his name on it in calligraphy.

*This place is very nice mother.* Sleipnir commented, walking carefully past him and nosing the figurine version of himself, *Look! She got my rainbow hooves right!*

Loki gave his son a soft laugh, "Yes, it very nice here." 'But how long will it last?' Loki thought to himself. Loki drew himself over to the bedside table with Sleipnir and looked at the figurines, "She has all of your siblings here." He said quietly, he picked up the tiny Hel. The little figurine of his daughter was accurate down to the very shape of her antlers.

By this time Sleipnir had moved over to explore the desk and sniffed at the envelope, *Mother, this letter smells of the lítt stórmerki!*

Loki turned with raised eyebrows and set the Hel figurine down before walking over to pick up the letter, he opened it carefully and pulled out the thick parchment paper folded within. He opened it and began to read;

Loki,

If you are reading this, then my burn hit before I was able to talk to you. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope my fathers didn't freak out too much.

I am Harriet Rose Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived, The-Woman-Who-Conquered, Savior of the Wizarding World, Lady of the Houses Slytherin, LeFay, and Ambrosius, Heir to Houses Potter, Gryffindor, and Black. I traveled back in time after a tragedy took all those I hold dear from me, one of those people being you. I hope I can recover quickly so that I can explain things to you in depth. For now, I will just be passing some knowledge to you.

First and foremost, you are NOT a prisoner here. I ask that you stay in the wards to throw Asgard off the trail but I will not force you to be here. You are part of my family, my flock, and I will see you both safe AND happy; something I know you will not be if you feel trapped. If you leave, the wards will welcome you back at any time, as they will any related to you by blood.

On that note, if you wish for your children to join you then I have no problem with that. The manor is plenty big enough for all of you and I wouldn't keep them from you even if it weren't. In the previous timeline we found Jörmungandr in the center of the Bermuda Triangle in a cave underneath the water. Hel, I know, has her own realm to look after but she is also welcome for a visit. I'm not sure how you would go about getting Sleipnir or Fenrir but they too are welcome to stay.

Also, as you can probably see, I have left you a gift. Sort of a 'welcome (back) to the family' sort of gift. You often wielded one like this in the other timeline so I thought you might like it. The gem is able to store magic of course, its goblin made so it's near indestructible, and it's about the same size as Gungnir so I'm sure you can make use of this.

Loki stopped reading long enough to pull the lid from the box and looked down at the heavy ornate spear that looked vaguely like Gungnir. It was gold with silver and onyx inlays along the shaft and at the top, set into the pointed head, lay a large marquise cut emerald that glowed when Loki sent power into the staff with a brush of his fingers. Loki picked up the spear and smiled faintly at the comfortable weight in his hands, he nodded and sent it to his dimensional pocket before going back to the letter.

Finally, I have assigned a house elf to attend to your needs while you're here. Her name is Peri and she knows to come when you call for her. I have given her instructions to take your measurements and collect you a full wardrobe of clothes that are more geared for the different Midgard cultures you may come into contact with. She also knows your food preferences as I last remembered them but don't be afraid to speak to her about them.

I hope that you are taking this well and wish to stay. I will be recovered fully within a week but feel free to visit after my hatching if you'd like!

Harriet R. Potter

Loki let the letter drop from his hands and backed up until he was sitting on the bed. *Mother? Are you alright?* Sleipnir questioned, coming around to stand close enough for Loki to stroke his forehead.

"Everything is…fine dearest." Loki said, "Fine but confusing." He looked into his son's eyes, "She may not have meant to take you with her but she plainly stated you were welcome here." Sleipnir's ears perked up at that. "She also extended the invitation to your siblings, going so far as to tell me the location of Jörmungandr."

Sleipnir chuffed out a soft breath, *Are you going to bring them here then?*

Loki frowned, "I'd like to but I need to observe more to make sure that there really is no danger here." Loki sighed and leaned forward to press his forehead to his son's, "I also need to sort myself out. I'm not the best parent for you guys right now."

*At your best or at your worst, you know we love you mother.* Sleipnir answered softly.

Loki let out a breath and pulled back to smile weakly at his son, "I know Sleipnir, but I can't help but want for my children to only see me at my best." He lay back flat on the bed, "I'll observe the people here for the week of the young phoenixes recovery, meditate, unblock your shifting ability so you can be in the manor more comfortably, converse with the young phoenix, and then collect your siblings if things go well. Alright?"

*Very well mother.* Sleipnir answered, bobbing his great head, *Now, did that letter happen to mention food? It's been quite a day.*

Loki chuckled and sat back up with a small smile as more of the tension drained from his shoulders, "It did. Peri?" he was answered by a prompt pop.

Chapter Notes:

Let's just get these comments started with what I'm sure would have been one of the first complaints/questions. "How is it that Sleipnir can get around the manor so easily, he's a huge horse." Well, Purebloods like to show off their wealth with big manors and the like so I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that their halls and doorways would most definitely big enough for a horse to fit through (you also can't tell me that James wouldn't have wondered around his home in his deer form just to mess with Dorea and Charlus).

I never found conclusive facts on which realms had magic so I just named a few. Sorry.

"I have traveled the realms and never seem magic like that." He means he's never seen it so quick and easy or 'lazily' done. Midgardian magic, since the people are mortal, has become all about what can bring about the results desired the quickest and with the least power. There are other differences we will explore when Harri and Loki get talking.

I know the 'wait and see' approach doesn't seem natural for the manic Loki that was shown at the end of the Thor movie but I would think that the shock of being rescued in such a manner would shock him back into his real personality even if only because the current situation could be dangerous to him and his child.

When Loki is feeling the wards he feels a containment ward but then in the letter Harriet says he's not trapped. That containment ward is keeping all magical signatures from leaking out that may be used to track them, an altered version of the regular containment ward. However, Loki has never felt a normal Midgard containment ward to feel the difference, he can only feel that it is keeping something inside.

I've always liked the style of circular beds so I had to put one in. Plus it adds to the whole 'nest' thing.

Okay, so the times for the 'dying off of the midgard magicals' may be a bit off but to be fair I never specified a date and I wanted some time for them to evolve into something Loki had absolutely no clue about.

YES, according to some Bestla (Odin's mom) was a Frost Giantess. Odin is a jackass one way or the other.

IDK if its cannon that Loki's children can shift but he is a shapeshifter so I'm going to give them varying levels of that skill. Sleipnir is his first born and so I will be giving him the ability to shift into a human. Odin of course locked this ability because of the last comment, he's a jackass.

I know technically Loki has six kids but I'm only going to put Sleipnir, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel in this story.

Harri doesn't like her titles, we all know this, however titles are important on Asgard and Harri knows that the first time she introduces herself she has to use at least some of them in her introduction to an Asgardian. It also tells a lot about a person so she tells Loki all of them so he can draw conclusions from them.

In case you don't want to look up marquise cut jewels its an oval shape with two pointed ends (for better magic storage and directing).

Strange ending but I didn't want to keep rambling on and I want most of the magic questions to be answered by Harri as a type of bonding. So that will be part of next chapter.

I'm sure a lot of you wanted to see more of the Marauders freaking out over the egg but there's not a lot they can do but wait. The craziness will happen more once she hatches (especially since we will be back to more of a third person POV).

Also I hope I did Loki justice. He is a harder character for me to write, especially at a time like this where his emotions are a little wonky.

See you next time!