Hey guys, here's the chapter for this week. It's real long. Whoo!
BTW, Happy annual Get Over It Day! It's also national meatball day and annual Panic day but I Got Over It!
I would also like to welcome all the new people I have seen showing up on here! Aloha! Welcome to the Madhouse! I hope your enjoying things!
READ THIS PART BELOW IF NOTHING ELSE IN THE INTRO!
Even though she is in her phoenix form I will be referring to her as Harri instead of Glacia, this is because its purely Harriet who is talking, Glacia's instincts are saying to sleep until they are recovered. Don't be confused!
Here you go! Enjoy!
Disclaimer in Chapter One. Will add as needed.
The Marauders all stared intently at the pile of ashes before them. They were waiting. They had been waiting for twenty-four hours now. Waiting and watching. Watching and worrying. Worrying and waiting, in a vicious cycle. Hands were fidgeting, rolling wands and bunching bedcovers, a tanned hand reached toward the ashes only to be slapped away by a paler one.
"Moony!" James whined, holding his hand with a pout.
"Don't touch her." Remus growled irritably; the longer they were waiting the more Moony was pushing forward, demanding that they protect their little cub from everything.
"Why hasn't she hatched yet?" Sirius huffed, "It's been a day already!"
"It's only just now been a day." Remus said, but he moved closer to the pile of ashes.
James bit his lip, "Come on Harriet. Daddy's freaking out here." He muttered.
Sirius pushed away from the bed quickly and began to pace, "What if something went wrong? How would we know?" James' jaw locked and he reached toward the egg again only for Remus to slap it away once more and give him a light glare.
A slight tapping broke their squabbling and they all rushed over to the pile of ashes which had begun to shake slightly. On a particularly hard tap some of the ash shifted to reveal the egg once more, another tap had a hairline crack appearing along the edges of a black colored swirl. The Marauders watch in fascination and anticipation as the crack grew bigger and created more cracks that branched from it with every tap. After several minutes a piece finally broke away revealing a tiny tan beak which promptly opened and emitted a cheep.
"Aw." James and Sirius cooed, Remus just smiled and Moony settled for the moment. James grinned over at Sirius, "Get the camera!"
"Harriet will kill you two." Remus chuckled.
"Don't care!" Sirius sang, "This is going in her baby album!" he grabbed a camera from Harriet's desk and came back quickly to snap a picture. In fact, he snapped pictures every few seconds as the egg continued to be chipped away and more and more of the baby bird was revealed.
"Why are her eyes clouded over?" James asked worriedly as the little bird was slowly climbing her way out of the hole she had created in the egg.
"From what little I could find on Phoenixes it seems that they are born blind. Phoenixes eyes can see many things we can't as well as the already specialness of avian species eyes. To not overload her, she will be blind until she is recovered from her hatching. It's another thing that will lessen the more burns she goes through." Remus replied softly, his eyes gentle as he watched the tiny featherless hatchling tumble from the egg with a startled cheap.
Sirius snapped another picture before looking at Remus, "How will she know it's us then?"
Remus smiled, "She said she'd retain her mind so she should know but I assume she will know the feel of our magic."
James watched the featherless bird pinwheel her tiny limbs in an effort to turn over and bit his lip, "Can we touch her?"
Remus frowned, "I don't see why not, but she's supposed to be kept cold so if your hand gets too warm put her down."
In a flash James was leaned closer to the nest with his gaze locked on the hatchling, "Harriet?" he asked softly, the bird stopped its motion and cocked her head over toward him, "I'm going to help you up and back into your ashes okay?" he heard a soft rustling of Remus collecting her egg from the ashes to make room, Harriet cheeped an affirmative and James picked her up gently. James stared in awe as the little featherless bird snuggled into the curve of his hand and closed her eyes trustingly, "Padfoot! Moony! Look!" the two men drew closer and cooed over the little bird in his hand.
Sirius got a teary look in his eye and lowered his head to Harriet's eye level, "Hi there, I'm your Godfather." He cooed to the little bird. Remus snorted and James rolled his eyes, Harriet's eyes opened and she gave him the best amused look she could in her current state. Sirius ignored all of them and used one finger to stroke along her tiny bare wing.
James turned back to the nest and carefully set Harriet down into the indent left by the egg before smoothing more of the ash over her so only her head was peeking out. James smiled down at her, "Do you need anything right now?" Harriet cheeped again before opening her beak insistently, "Right." James said with a short nod, he snapped his fingers. Plimpy appeared in an instant, "Plimpy I need you to get me the chest I pulled from storage two days ago."
"Of course Master Prongs!" Plimpy replied, popping away.
Harriet closed her beak and cocked her head at her father curiously, James smiled, "Don't worry Princess. Daddy's here to take care of you!" he puffed out his chest and Harriet's featherless wing came up to cover her still cloudy eyes in a face palm. In the next second Plimpy appeared with a large chest, "Thank you Plimpy!" James said as he went to his knees by the trunk and opened it.
"I don't think this is what Harriet needs." Remus said as he looked down into an entire chest full of Harriet's baby stuff. It had her baby blanket, old onesies, the original small stuffed animals they had gotten her before they replaced them with bigger ones as she grew, old bottles, some cloth diapers, a photo album with Harriet's name on it, and a newer paper bag that was on top.
"This is exactly what she needs Remus." Sirius said as he bent down and picked up the small wolf, dog, and stag stuffed animals, sending a glare at the rat one. "She said she'd be basically a baby again."
Remus snorted, "I'd like to see either of you attempt to diaper a baby bird." An indignant cheep sounded from the nest, "See? I doubt she's going to allow that." Another series of cheeps confirmed that.
James rolled his eyes as he pulled a tiny rubber spoon from the chest and opened the bag to take out a small jar of baby food. "I wasn't going to try."
"Sure you weren't." Remus muttered as Sirius tucked the three stuffed animals into Harriet's nest with her.
James opened up the baby food as he walked back to Harriet, "Alright Princess. Open up!" the little bird opened her beak and raised her wings up to keep her balance. "Aw, who's daddy's adorable little girl." Remus and Sirius snickered, Harriet let out a harsh cheep before opening her mouth insistently again. "Alright alright." James chuckled; he fed her the fruity mush carefully, cooing each time a little bit of the food got away from her. Sirius and Remus took turns feeding her too, wanting to take care of their little girl as well. Harriet seemed to be humoring them, not that she had a choice not to, and turned to each one in turn when they took over the feeding. Once the feeding was done Harriet snuggled down into her ashes, her eyelids drooping. Remus renewed her personal flurry before the three men climbed onto the bed. Remus and James took the head of the bed and Sirius turned into Padfoot to curl against the bottom of the nest. They settled in to sleep with Harriet.
Loki sat on the floor of his new bedroom, Sleipnir was lying on his side in front of him with his great head in Loki's lap. Both had their eyes closed and Loki had a hand on Sleipnir's forehead as his magic pulsed around them gently. Loki was in the process of unlocking Sleipnir's shifting and it was proving to be difficult, it was tied up with threads of power from Odin that had been added to over the three hundred years of Sleipnir's life at several intervals. It was a tangled mess and Loki resisted the urge to sneer at the work, he took care with his spell crafting but Odin clearly did not. Loki had already picked free most of the strands but now he was working through the hardest of the bunch. He very gently pried apart a knot, freeing two threads that he'd already unwoven from the rest of the mess. An hour and a half later he had the last one free and he let out a steady breath before opening his eyes and looking down at his son.
"Try shifting Sleipnir." He said softly, running his fingers through his son's soft mane. "Focus on your secondary form, pull on your magic, and relax into it." Sleipnir let out a snorted breath and his entire body relaxed into the carpet beneath them, a second later Loki had a considerably smaller head in his lap. "Good job." Loki praised with a smile, taking in his son's human features for the first time. He had short but wavy gray-brown hair, a strong lined face that matched Loki's own, he had bright hazel eyes, and a small, slim frame that looked like a Midgardian preteen. As Loki peered closer he saw that his son's finger and toenails still shimmered like the rainbow bridge and had gold flecks within his eyes that reflected his strong magic.
Sleipnir opened his eyes and focused on Loki with a grin before jumping up and running over, quite naked, to Loki's wardrobe to use the mirror within. Loki stood and watched with amusement as his son inspected himself carefully, flexing his different muscles, twisting his new limbs. "This will take some getting used to." He commented before perking up, "I don't have to project my thoughts anymore!"
Loki chuckled, "No, you don't." he opened the second door of the wardrobe and pulled out one of the new pieces that Peri had gotten him, a robe, something she told him that wizards wore. "This will have to do before I can go explore and find you some clothes." He helped Sleipnir slide his arms into the long robe which hung off him almost comically, as it was meant for his much taller and broader mother. "Now, are you hungry? We've been at it for quite a while." Sleipnir nodded enthusiastically and Loki chuckled, "Very well. Peri?"
With a pop his elf, a tiny female wearing a uniform with a crest he was informed was the LeFay crest, appeared, "Master Loki be callin Peri?" she squeaked questioningly before looking around, hoping to anticipate her Master's request. Her eyes stopped on Sleipnir and she took in his robe, "Young Master Sleipnir!" she exclaimed, "You have shrunk!" she waddled toward him, tutting as she pulled at the robe he had on, "You should be callin' Peri sooner. Peri take your measures. Peri make sure you have good clothings."
Sleipnir went to his knees before the elf, "How did you know it was me?"
Peri clucked at him, "Young Master can't fool Peri, Peri can feel Young Master's magic. All house elves be knowin their charges magic signature."
Loki smiled down at his son and the little elf, "Peri, we didn't call you for clothes. We just spent several hours unlocking his shifting ability and we are quite famished."
Peri nodded, "Peri be bringing you food. Measures of Young Master afterward though."
"No, Peri you don't have…" Loki stopped as the elf disappeared and sighed, "I have a feeling that I won't be the one getting your clothes Sleipnir."
"Peri be getting them." The elf said, popping back up quicker than before with a large tray floating beside her, "Lady LeFay be sayin to getting her family all they need."
"She doesn't need to do that." Loki insisted, "If custom clothing here is anything like on Asgard then it's quite expensive. When learning about finances I saw how much we, as the Royal family, spent on fabrics and designers. It was quite a large amount." And he knew without a doubt that all the clothes that had shown up in his wardrobe were custom, they were all fitted perfectly to him and the magics that were woven into the wizarding wear felt brand new.
Peri snorted, a very strange sound coming from the tiny elf in front of them, "Lady LeFay is bein' the head of several wealthy pureblood lines were she be the only one around. Clothings for Young Master won't be makin' a noticeable bite from her vaults." She set the tray on the bed, "Peri be back when Masters finish to take Young Master's measures." With that she disappeared.
Loki sighed, "I should really talk to the phoenix."
Sleipnir climbed onto the bed and opened the tray to find two large bowls of hearty vegetable soup and a stack of warm, soft dinner rolls. Sleipnir made a happy sound in the back of his throat and dug in, "Mother, you told me she hatched when you came back last night. You could go talk to her now." Sleipnir said between bites.
"She is still a hatchling Sleipnir. I don't know if she'll be able speak with me. When I watched her hatching she was only able to cheep at her father and the other two." Loki said, climbing on the bed to eat his own soup. He hadn't been able to resist watching the phoenix hatch, he was just so curious; afterward he had gotten a good bit of amusement from the three men who couldn't seem to stop cooing at the bemused bird.
"Phoenixes are supposed to grow fast right? Maybe she'll be able to project her thoughts now, like I did."
Loki tossed the idea back and forth as he ate, even if she wasn't able to he might be able to get more information from the three that were taking care of her and she did say to visit. If she was able to project her thoughts, then he would be able to get more important answers and find out more about this different timeline where he had apparently earned his placed as her flock member. "I shall try." He said, Sleipnir beamed at him. Loki returned the smile and slid from the bed, he put a monitoring spell on Sleipnir who rolled his eyes but accepted it, then teleported straight to the young phoenixes room.
His eyebrows shot up when he found the three men passed out around the young phoenixes nest, he assumed they had slept last night after the young phoenix fell asleep and then woke again this morning. It was barely noon so he wasn't sure why they were sleeping. He stepped closer and peered into the nest over the sprawled form of James. The little phoenix had grown overnight and now had thick covering of down over her, she was perched on top of her mound of ashes now and had her eyes closed. Power was drifting out from her in calming waves before drawing back in and starting again.
Tentatively, Loki let his magic out of his tight hold to float around him. When the young phoenixes magic flowed outward this time, it mixed with his comfortably and it didn't draw back in, it stayed with his and tugged at it playfully.
*Loki?* came a soft voice in his mind, he looked up from where he was watching their magic interact to see the young phoenix looking at him with piercing black eyes. *Are you alright?*
Loki shook himself and pulled his magic back in abruptly as he straightened, "So you can project your thoughts. You didn't with these three yesterday." He said, gesturing to the three men passed out around her.
Harriet let out several short squeaks that sounded like laughter, *I had to get my amusement somehow. I'm stuck like this for another four or five days.*
Loki let out an involuntary chuckle before cutting it off, "Are you up for a conversation?"
The little bird tilted her head at him, *It would be better face to face.*
Loki raised an eyebrow, "If you truly knew me before then you know I don't take waiting well when the answer is within my reach."
Again she let out the laughing squeaks, *I wasn't suggesting that. Sit with me, look into my eyes, and I will pull you into my mind so we can talk and I can show you the proof I know you want to see.*
Loki hesitated for only a moment, he couldn't stop with the knowledge so close and he was sure that he could pull free if need be. He hefted James into his arms easily to move him over by Sirius who instantly clung to the man, "What did you do to them?" Loki huffed.
*They were getting overbearing and I needed to concentrate so I put them to sleep. The sleep spell is simple enough for me to do without my wand.* Harriet said as Loki climbed to sit cross legged on the bed with Harriet, he looked down into her eyes and she settled in, *Just relax. I won't hurt you.* she murmured as he felt something tug at his mind. Loki let out a huge breath and let his mind be dragged forward. Everything was black for several seconds before he found himself in a large room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking a large city. There were several couches set in the center of the room around a large flat box with a shiny front that looked like the one Harriet had in her room. On the back of the couch was perched a sleeping down covered hatchling like the one Loki had just left in the real world and below it was a lanky cat sprawled on its side, napping. Standing directly in front of him though was a girl with wild black hair and brilliant green eyes smiling at him openly, "Hello Loki. It's a pleasure to meet you again." She said holding out her hand.
Loki stepped forward and gripped her forearm, which she returned with no hesitation. "The pleasure is all mine."
Harriet laughed, "I'm sure." She released him and waved him after her as she headed over to the wall that had no windows. "We'll talk while we head down to your floor."
"My floor?" Loki questioned as he followed after her. She led him into a small room that only had the door they had come in, she turned around toward the door and pressed a button the had his symbol next to it. The doors closed and he jolted as the tiny room began to move.
"Yes, your floor. I organized my mind like the tower our family lived in. All the memories centered around you or information on things I associate with you are kept on your floor." Harriet explained, "It makes it easier for me to find." She looked over at him expectantly, "Now where would you like to start?"
Loki mulled over his options, "You know that I am not Æsir correct?"
Harriet laughed as the room came to a stop and the door opened on a completely different floor. It was the same as the one they had left except it didn't have the couches or the flat box on the wall. The walls that weren't windows were book shelves filled with books of all sizes and ages, along the window were pedestals with different things on them and in the center were three different full sized figurine Lokis. One was him in his full battle armor, another was him more relaxed in simple clothes and a soft smile, but the third was him in his full Jotun form wearing more traditional Jotun garb, his red eyes piercing but a smile still on his face thought this one was more hesitant. Harriet walked over to the blue figure, "No, I had no idea."
Loki frowned at her, "How can you stand to have a monster for a family member? A member of your flock?" he startled when she darted forward and flicked him on the forehead, he stepped backward, "What was that for?!" he spluttered.
"I don't have a monster for a family member. I have Jotun mage who was raised Æsir because of an old man's stupidity." Harriet corrected calmly.
Loki snorted, "Please, I'm a monster to both worlds. A monster to Asgard because I'm Jotun and a monster to Jotunheim because I'm a runt." Harriet reached up and flicked him on the forehead again, he glared at her and rubbed at her head, "Stop that."
Harriet raised an eyebrow, "Then stop saying stupid things." She crossed her arms over her chest, "You are the God of Lies. You can spin anything into a story Silvertongue. Look past what you have been told by the Allfather, someone whose credibility you personally know is shit, and look deeper. Think with your own mind." She stepped backward as Loki calmed, his mind whirling, and tilted her head toward the figure of his Jotun self, "Do you know why you are so small? Jotuns with high levels of magic are meant to be small. The others are giant to compensate for the magic they lack."
"They still abandoned me." Loki said weakly, looking into his own red eyes, "They left me at a temple."
"No they didn't." Harri said softly, "You were in that temple to be protected along with the Casket. The warriors protecting you were killed in the battle to claim the Casket and that's when Odin found you."
"How do you know all this?" Loki rasped.
"We went to Jotunheim last time to ensure that the Jotun's joined us or stayed neutral in our war against Dumbledore and the Mad Titan. Several lower ranked warriors attacked us even after we had agreed to a cease fire for the negotiations. You were less careful about being touched since you knew you were a Jotun and by the end of the fight you were completely changed. The current King, your brother Helblindi, recognized your kin lines and talked with us about it." Harriet explained, tapping on the lines on the figurines body when she talked of the kin lines. "They thought you had been killed."
All the information he had just received swirled around in his mind and all Loki could say was, "Oh." He frowned, "Wait, what does Thanos have to do with this?"
"He and Dumbledore were who we were fighting against at the end." Harri said, she bit her lip, "He is also the one who found you in the Void the first time."
Loki blanched, "The Mad Titan would have found me in the Void? I've heard stories, he's insane. He would have…."
"Tortured you." Harri said softly, Loki's eyes hardened. Harri looked torn before she took his hand gently and pulled him over to a door. She opened it and walked into another room, there was a large swirling bubble of color in the center of this room but Harriet ignored it. She took him over to another door which opened into a closet, this one also had a swirling bubble of color but it was much smaller than the other one. Harriet touched the bubble and it settled onto a picture of an enormous green lady holding a torch, Harriet stepped into the bubble, pulling Loki along behind.
In two steps they found themselves standing on a walkway in front of the enormous green lady who was stood on top of a platform. Around them people were screaming and things were exploding, Loki looked around, trying to find out what was going on. "Where are we? What is this?"
"A memory." Harriet said, she pointed a little way across the grass that was dotted with burning patches. Loki saw an older version of Harriet; this one was clearly grown up, with a curvy and lithe figure. On either side of her was a red head, all of them working to get the screaming people to safety. "This is the first time we met." Harri said, this time gesturing up toward the platform the green lady stood on. Another Loki stood up there in full battle armor, cackling, and shooting spells from a spear; even from here Loki could see that his eyes were glowing blue instead of his normal green.
It only took him a second to connect the dots, "He took over my mind." He whispered in horror.
Harriet heard him and nodded grimly, "You told me that you were in the Void for quite some time, long enough for you to begin to slip into insanity. Thanos found you and tortured you, trying to get you to talk of secrets. You didn't and managed to lock away the most important things but that and the torture broke you just enough for him to slip in and control you. You led an attack against Midgard under his control but were able to leave enough holes in your plan to allow the realm's protectors to stop you. Thor returned you to Asgard where you hoped that the distance and the beating you took from the Hulk would knock him from your head but it didn't. He retook control even at a distance and had you escape, you fought back for a long time but there were still times, like this…" she gestured again to where the blue eyed Loki was now destroying the green lady, ignoring Harriet and the red heads evacuating the humans to emergency boats. "That he took back control."
"I was stopped right?" Loki said, swallowing hard as he saw himself explode a chuck of the grand statue and the debris fly toward a woman covering a baby protectively. One of the red heads with Harriet ran over to the woman and lifted a hand, a magic shield bloomed in front of them just before the debris struck them.
"Of course." Harri soothed just as thunder and a high pitched whine filled the area. Loki and Harriet looked up at the same time as their memory counterparts did to see Thor and a red and gold armor flying toward them at high speed, a large aircraft behind them.
They all landed near Harriet and the two red heads, people piled from the aircraft as Thor boomed, "Brother! Stop this destruction now!" both Lokis snorted at the command and Harriet giggled even as her memory-self rolled her eyes.
"Thor, don't waste your time trying to negotiate with crazy cats!" came a voice from the red and gold armor, "It's never worked before so what makes you think it will this time?" the armor and Thor charged toward Loki and a shorter spiky haired blond started shooting arrows at him.
"Thor was never accused of being the God of Intelligence." The Loki watching this muttered, Harriet laughed.
At this point a man wearing a brightly colored suit was walking over to Harriet and the redheads, "We have been watching you three."
"Have you now?" Harriet asked, looking amused.
"You're bad at it." One of the red heads said.
"You couldn't even find our house." The other threw in without missing a beat.
"And you're really easy to evade." The first added.
"Worst Aurors ever." The second commented.
"Stop." Another man said, he had long brunette hair and a metal arm that gleamed from his dark leather armor. "You two are making me dizzy." The two grinned, "Just tell us if you're working for Loki."
The answer came from the Loki with the spear who laughed loudly just as he threw Thor and the armor away from him with a shockwave that destabilized the archers position, "Why would I employ three insignificant average mortals to keep me from damaging other mortals?" he snarked, his blue eyes flashed and the Loki watching the memory noted that the Harriet in the memory narrowed her eyes when it happened, not at the comment. The memory Loki's gaze landed on her and a lecherous grin spread across his face, "Though this one is rather pretty. I could use a servant here on Midgard." He aimed his spear at her and she was caught in a bubble of green magic that picked her up off the ground and brought her toward him. "Yes, you'll do nicely." He said as he leered at her.
The Loki who was watching was surprised as the two redheads who had flanked Harriet before glared at him but did nothing, "Who are they? Why aren't they doing anything? They don't look like they like what I said."
"They're my soulmates." Harriet said with a smile, "And they don't like what you said, but at this point I thought that you were under the Imperious curse. So I told them to stay back and only send me their magic through our connection. If things went badly they still would have been able to get to me through the bond."
Loki looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, "This is your memory, why aren't we hearing that conversation?"
Harri grinned at him, "If we were viewing it from my point of view we would but I thought you would like outside view so that's what I gave you." She turned back to the scene, "This is what you would see in a pensive. It takes the ambient magic in the world around you and connects to your magic to allow you a larger view of what happened."
"Interesting." Loki commented before also turning back to the scene in front of them.
The Harriet in the bubble was listening to Loki's monologuing with an amused expression, "Are you done?" she asked when he stopped for a breath, he glared at her and she rolled her eyes. Magic burst out from her, popping the bubble she was in and making her drop to the ground in front of him. Loki looked shocked briefly, his eyes turning green for an instant before they turned blue once more and he swung the spear at her, Harriet jumped over it and rolled back a few feet. She held out her hand and a silver sword with a ruby in the hilt appeared in her hand, she blocked the next two swings before Loki stepped back to circle her. Before he could hit her from behind Harriet drew her wand and a spell jumped from it to hit in him the chest, throwing him backward and making him lose his grip on the spear.
The Harriet watching the memory with Loki took his hand and in the next second they were closer to their counterparts. The memory Harriet scrambled over to Loki and cast another spell that had him tied up in ropes; she knelt at his side, set down her sword, and put a hand on either side of his face before locking eyes with him. Power pulsed from them in a wave that sent cracks up the already damaged statue and along the cement under them; Loki screamed, something made even more eerie by the fact that his eye remained opened, forced that way by the connection to Harriet. Blood started to trickle from Harriet's nose as the blue began to fade from Loki's eyes, it fought her but eventually it was banished and his true green eye color prevailed. Both sagged, their breathing heavy as they recovered.
"Brother!" came the boisterous voice of Thor, both sets of Harriet and Loki looked over to see Thor and the armor coming over the lip of the platform they were on, holding several of the others who had come from the aircraft. Harriet reached for her sword and gripped its hilt tight with one hand before letting the other grab Loki by the front of his armor. A pop announced the arrival of her soulmates, one grabbed Loki's spear quickly before they both put a hand on Harriet's shoulders. In the next instant they all four disappeared and the Harriet and Loki who had been watching were pushed out of the memory.
Harriet looked over to Loki who was silent as he took in all of what he had just saw, "After that we retreated to our home for a couple of days to allow you to recover then we went to explain things to them and their agency. Eventually we did the same on Asgard and you were pardoned for what happened after you dropped into the Void. Of course Odin still wanted to punish you for what happened before but Frigga managed to get him to lessen it due to what you were put through in the Void. You had to help the Avengers, the group of mortals with Thor, to protect Midgard. I and my soulmates, Fred and George, had been asked to be consultants for them and agreed after getting the go ahead from the American Ministry for Magic. You lived with us to learn Midgardian magic at first but eventually we all got comfortable enough with the others to move in with them at the tower." She gestured around her, "We became a family with them and a few others slowly but surely and we were together until the very end." Her face darkened and her eyes went far away, "You all died within twenty-four hours of each other, until it was just me. My phoenix, Glacia, forced our first burn day and used the extra power to bring us back in time and merge with our weakened self. Now, here we are." Her eyes cleared after several silent seconds and she smiled at him, "This is a lot to take in. Do you want to know anything else before we take a break for the day?"
Loki blinked slowly, "Can…can I see this…family of ours?"
Harri smiled, "Of course." She took his hand again and pulled him after her again, back through the room until they were back in the moving room. They went back up to the room he had appeared in and Harriet drew him to the empty spaces behind the couches. "Alright. There's me, you, and your brother who you already know of course." She concentrated and the current versions of Fred and George appeared before them grinning, "These are my soulmates, Fred and George Weasley, as they are right now. They are magical twins. They are also wizards like my fathers. Fred's specialty is potions and George's specialty is spell craft. They are well known pranksters." She waved and Mischief and Mayhem appeared in their places, "These are their animagus forms. In the last timeline you named them Mischief and Mayhem after they pulled off a prank on the Allfather. A memory I will show you later." She added when she saw him perk up in interest. "They are also fans of yours."
Loki looked to her with a raised eyebrow, "They didn't seem like it from the memory."
"You were being controlled and we were in the middle of a battle; unlike my fathers, my mates know when to rein it in." Harri laughed, "We also weren't sure if you were the Loki from the Norse Pantheon or someone just using your name." Loki nodded and Harriet waved her hand again, this time a dark haired man with facial hair and a smirk appeared, "This is Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Also known as the Iron Man. You remember the red and gold armor from the memory?" Loki nodded, looking the figure over, "That was him. He created that armor without magic, just Midgardian muggle science." Loki looked suitably impressed, "I have a hunch you'll be meeting him sooner than you might expect."
The figure changed again into the long hair brunette with the metal arm and dark armor, "This is James Buchanan Barnes but we usually call him Bucky. He's known as the Winter Solider when we're in the field. He's a super solider, he was injected with a special serum developed here on Midgard to make him faster and stronger and such. He's not actually from this time period. He's from seventy or so years ago. He was captured by the enemy and brainwashed, he is currently used by them as an assassin. Once I recover from my burn I will be rescuing him and breaking the mind control." Loki nodded in understanding, making sure to take in every detail he could.
The figure changed again, this time into a blond man in jeans and a plaid shirt with a soft smile on his face, "This is Steven Grant Rodgers or Steve. He is also known as Captain America. He is a super soldier as well. He is also from seventy some years in the past. He put a plane carrying bombs down into icy waters to protect innocents and the serum used to make him super strong and agile put him into stasis when the ice froze him and the plane. He's considered our leader most of the time but there are certain situations where he hands the reins to those with more experience with the situation."
The figure changed into a small unassuming man with dark curls and a square jaw, "This is Bruce Banner. He is a genius on par with Tony but while Tony is more of the technical sciences, Bruce is more geared to what Tony calls the mushy sciences or the human body, chemistry, and such." The figure grew and Loki stepped back with wide eyes as Banner turned green and huge, Harri grinned, "This is Bruce's other half. The Hulk. He's basically indestructible."
"He's the one who I thought would clear Thanos from my mind?" Loki rasped.
"According to the stories I was told, during the invasion the Hulk confronted you and slammed you around into marble floors multiple times, effectively putting you out of commission for the rest of the invasion and clearing your mind a little bit for a short period." Harri said looking up at Hulk with a smile before looking back to Loki. "When you meet him this time there won't be any history between you and he will accept you. You just have to accept him. Don't fear him. He is very protective of those he sees as his. If you can't then we'll have to work a little bit. I was told that Tony accepted him before he even met him and Hulk was fine with him but he accepted the others as they grew more comfortable with him. He's really a big teddy bear." Loki nodded shortly, his eyes roving over the Hulk curiously.
The figure shrunk drastically, this time it settled on the visage of the archer Loki had watched shoot at his mind controlled self. "This is Clint Barton. He's an expert archer with above average eye sight that gave him the name Hawkeye. He is also considered to be a master assassin. Currently he is working for Shield as an agent there. He's like a big kid. He likes to play video games and binge watch movies and TV shows. He is a movie nerd. He is also fond of high places and hiding in ventilation systems." Loki quirked an eyebrow at that and Harriet chuckled, "We all have our quirks."
The figure changed once more, this time to a curvy red head woman with a dangerous look in her eyes. She was wearing a skin tight body suit that Loki took one look at and knew it held a multitude of weapons, "This is Natasha Romanov also known as the Black Widow. She is an assassin of the highest caliber; she has never failed a mission. She is very slightly enhanced and is a master of most weapons and martial arts. She is, perhaps, the most guarded of all of us, however once you gain her hard won trust she is loyal to a fault. At this point in time she is attached like this only to Clint and an agent, her and Clint's handler, who I never got the chance to meet."
Harriet looked to Loki, "That's everyone who fought with us, everyone that you considered family last time. There are a few others that I consider family and you knew but weren't as close with so I won't go too far into them at this point. There is Pepper Potts, Tony's PA currently and CEO of his company in the future. She was like my sister, you talked with her sometimes but you weren't close. There is Luna Lovegood, my little sister in all but blood, you'll meet her before the week is up. And finally Lee Jordan, who is the twins best friend and a friend of mine as well, he ran the twins joke shop in Diagon Alley while we were over in America." The figure changed with each person and Loki had just enough time to give them a once over before it changed again, Harri smiled, "That's the family."
"And...they all accepted me as family?" Loki asked hesitantly.
Harri's face softened, "It was a bit hard for some of them at first because of what happened with the invasion but even then the longest any of them held out was a year and a half. We were a family after that and nothing could have changed that. Like I said, we were all together until death." She clasped her hands together, "Except for me, but I didn't intend to come back in time. I intended to die and join you all in the afterlife. That didn't happen but it gave me a chance to try and change things. I am working to make sure it won't happen like that this time."
Loki gave a slow nod, "You have given me…quite a bit to think about."
Harriet gave him an understanding look, "Take your time. I don't expect things to be instant. Come back and talk to me whenever." With that Loki felt a gentle push and suddenly he was in his body, sitting on the bed in front of Harriet's nest once more. She waved a downy wing at him and he smiled in response before disappearing back to his rooms.
Loki found Sleipnir napping on his bed, still in the oversized robe he had been in earlier but Loki figured it would take a little bit for his wardrobe to come in. He settled on the floor at the end of the bed to meditate, wanting to sort through all the information he had received over the last week or so and consider how to move forward. One thing was already clear in is mind though, he wanted to attempt this strange…accepting family Harriet had proposed to him. He wanted that more than anything he remembered wanting before.
The next morning an explosion jolted Loki and Sleipnir from their sleep and they were out of bed and at the ready in an instant. Another explosion sounded and this time they caught a direction, "Stay here." Loki ordered his son as he swept out of his rooms, his full armor appearing around him. When he stepped out into the hall he ran into the sight of James, Sirius, and Remus in a tangled pile on the floor and a pale blue feathered, finch sized phoenix hovering unsteadily in the air.
"Harriet get back here!" James demanded, "You're not ready to fly yet!"
Another boom sounded and Harriet cheeped angrily at them before flying off with a slight wobble in her flight pattern, she was beating her tiny wings furiously just to stay airborne. Loki followed after her without hesitation and the three other males followed him as quickly as possible. As they drew closer to the explosions, which they had quickly placed as coming from the foyer, they heard a voice shouting angrily. They only had a little way to go when the shouts became more clear, "Show yourselves fuckers! I know you have my sister here somewhere! Bring me Harriet Potter and I won't blow this place to smithereens!"
Harriet clacked her beak and alighted on the railing that overlooked the foyer shakily, *Really Tony? Smithereens? What are you? A fucking pirate?* Harriet called down to where the fully suited up Iron Man was blowing up pieces of furniture and putting smoking holes in various walls, there was a large hole in the ceiling as well.
"You've been able to communicate this entire time!" Sirius shouted indignantly from behind Loki, he was ignored.
Loki watched as Iron Man craned his neck upward and the mask flipped open to reveal Tony Stark's face, "Glacia? No, you spoke so, Harriet? You're okay?"
*I'm not a hundred percent but I'm okay Tony.* Harriet replied, *Why are you blowing up my house?*
Tony looked around sheepishly, "I…uh, thought you were in trouble. You weren't answering your phone." Instantly his mood switched to anger and he glared at her, "Why the hell weren't you answering your phone? Do you know how worried I was? What the hell Harriet?!" he blinked then and squinted at her, "Why are you tiny?"
Harriet ruffled her feathers and tipped off the side of the rail she was on to glide down to Tony who held out an arm to for her to land on. *I'm sorry Tony, I didn't mean to cut of communications. Everything got busy and I completely forgot to text you about my burn this week. And I didn't respond to any texts afterward because I locked away my phone so it wouldn't be pranked while I'm out of commission.*
Tony huffed, "What got you so busy that you forgot to shoot a quick text or open up your connection to Jarvis and give him the run down?"
Harriet wiggled her short tail feathers excitedly, *I was able to bring in another of our family!*
Tony's eyes widened a little and he looked up to see Loki descending from the balcony gracefully, his armor disappearing into more relaxed clothing as he went. Loki stepped closer hesitantly and cleared his throat, "Hello, I'm Loki, God of Mischief and Lies." He greeted softly, his hand held out.
Harriet took off momentarily as the suit peeled away from Tony before setting back on the arm and watching the scene before her. Tony grinned and took Loki's hand without missing a beat, "Pleased to finally meet someone from this mysterious family of ours! I'm Tony! Tony Stark! Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and Iron Man!" Tony babbled while pumping a surprised Loki's hand, "A God huh? That's awesome! Could you tell….."
Loki relaxed as the calming steady babble continued and a genuine smile spread across his face, he answered what he could when Tony stopped to take breaths and soon they settled into an easy conversation. Harriet looked on happily; her family, her flock, was finally beginning to come back together. She let out a quite happy trill from her spot on the armors arm; no matter how slow it was going, things were progressing.
I tried to make the hatching funnier but it seemed to bog things down too much. Apologies.
Yes, Loki had never seen Sleipnir's human form. He set him at Odin's feet when he was still a colt and the ability was bound before Loki could teach him to use it. He knew it was there but was resigned to never being able to see his son use it.
I figured if someone can sift through your mind you could welcome someone you trust into your mindscape and as a Occlumens she would have to have a proficient way to organize and protect her memories so I chose the Tower.
Things have a weird description to them because this is supposed to be mostly from Loki's view.
The figurines show the different ways Harriet sees the person in question. Like for Tony it would be the Iron Man suit, him in his lab clothes, and him in a business suit and sunglasses.
Loki may not care overly much about people outside his circle but he would never leave a child to be harmed.
In the memory Harriet can call Gryffindor's sword to her because she is Lady Gryffindor. Right now she is only the Heir so she wont be able to unless it comes directly from the hat or Fawkes.
This question has come up many times. "Why hasn't Harriet told Tony about the others?" Tony would want to go find them NOW and while his overbearing and babbling can be good sometimes, I think it would hinder a situation like this. They all have trust issues so they either need to be introduced to each other in a time of crisis where they are forced to rely on each other or very slowly by another trusted individual (coughHarrietcough).
Other questions that have come up recently:
Why no Natasha? She has probably the worst trust issues out of all of them so Harriet it working on Clint first and will introduce herself through him.
Why no Pepper? I have plans for that meeting and unfortunately that means we need to wait until the Hammer attack at the expo in several chapters.
When do we save Bucky? Two chapters from now.
When are the twins coming back? Two and a half to three chapters from now.
Will the twins really get the whole story? Yes, on her birthday, but I wont reiterate the whole shabang like I did in chapter 7 so all YOU GUYS will see is a few memories Harri shows them and then a paragraph about her talking to them over food or tucked in bed together for cuddling I haven't decided yet.
Question...ideas for Harriet and the twins superhero code names? We have a list but none of them seem right so we are taking suggestions!
Next Chapter: The letters arrive, Dumbledore discovers a curious lack of people at Privet Drive, Harriet's tail feathers are two feet long, and saving Bucky planning!
See you then!