Chapter 4

Overnight, Harry slept in a dilapidated house, as he had the nights before, this time curled upon a blanket he had bought with some of the stolen cash. No matter how much money he had, most hotels didn't let an unaccompanied minor sleep in them, and a place that did probably wouldn't be very safe anyway.

To be honest, he didn't mind. He liked the winter coldness and it was quite frankly more comfortable than he had ever been at the Dursleys; here, he could actually stretch his legs.

Hunger still flared in his stomach, but at least here he could just go and buy some food–and it didn't even have to be healthy! While the teachers at school had gone on about eating a balanced diet, Loki could just speed up his metabolism and do other things to keep him as fit as possible.

Harry looked both ways before exiting the house's broken window, making sure that there were no people around, especially police officers. He had not yet run into the authorities and he didn't plan to any time soon. Whilst Loki could easily teach him how to escape a muggle prison cell, it would knock back their plans quite a bit.

McDonalds was that morning's destination of choice for breakfast. It was one of the many things Harry hadn't been allowed during his time with the Dursleys, and when he had first tried it, he had been hooked, to say the least.

He walked up to the counter, a fake smile plastered on his face as he stared up at the cashier. Loki was quite the actor and was trying to impart some of his knowledge upon his host. Apparently, appearing happy made people less suspicious of you, for whatever reason. A testament to this was the noticeable decrease in "where are your parents?" questions Harry had received with his false grin.

Now, most people who talked to him were women commenting on how cute he was. It was annoying, but it was better than questions. Loki also said that he wouldn't mind it so much when he was older, but Harry didn't really understand why.

After obtaining his breakfast burger, Harry went to the park for another day of practising magic. It was less risky than going back to the house from before, and he quite preferred to sit by the iced-over pond he had found.

"Okay," Loki began, appearing before Harry as he sat down on the ground. "Do you remember how I taught you to project your mind outwards?" He waited for Harry to nod. "Well, now you must project it inwards and stare upon the magic which flows through. A large majority of mortal wizards are unable to do this and especially at such a young age, but seeing as I am in your body, I can guide you."

Loki's illusion vanished and then Harry heard the god's voice echo through his mind. 'Are you ready?' he asked.

Harry nodded in affirmative.

'Very well. First of all, close your eyes. Now imagine instead of just blackness, there is a ball of light floating in the middle of a void. It is bright, and a familiar power seems to emanate from it. Once you can see it, imagine veins running from it, pumping that energy through your body. Sustaining and strengthening it.'

Harry felt a nudge at his mind, and then his imagination suddenly became reality. He had no body yet was floating in a void, somehow looking at the ball of energy in front of him from all sides at once. It was a truly majestic sight, a glowing mass of swirling blue, gold, and white that seemed to slowly rotate.

Loki hummed, breaking the serenity of the moment. 'It is as I thought,' he murmured. 'The white part is your mortal magic, and the golden part is your Asgardian magic.'

'And the blue?' asked Harry. He sensed Loki grimace.

'That is the source of your coldness related powers. That is the magic of the Jotuns.'

Harry frowned. 'Jotuns?'

'Frost giants, my child. Just as my biological parents were, and I am.'

For a moment, Harry was silent, and Loki felt as though he was a child once again, fearing the judgement of others. Would Harry hate him for potentially passing on this curse? That would be bad—getting things done with Harry was hard enough. It would be harder if he hated him.

'You're not very big for a giant, you know.'

Loki chuckled in return. 'Let us return to reality, child. We have seen what I needed to see.'

The sensation rushing air suddenly surrounded Harry, and then he was cast back into reality, his head spinning. He let out a groan. Doing that again would best be left for a few years.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at Loki who gazed back in amusement. "Shall we get on with magic now, or is your headache too bad?"

With that, Harry was immediately ready, excitement written all over his face.

"Good," began Loki, his illusionary form vanishing then reappearing beside Harry rather than opposite him. "Now reach within yourself, and grasp your magic. Focus on the blue, its coldness, its wild nature. Push it outwards,"

Harry followed the instructions, and immediately he felt weaker yet more comfortable as his energy chilled the air around him to the point where frost instantly formed on the floor.

"Now draw it in," spoke Loki, and Harry instinctively did so.

Freezing cold power was then running through his veins as the air warmed slightly again. Harry revelled in the heavenly sensation that momentarily drowned out Loki's voice.

"-ocus, Harry," was what he heard as he came around. "Channel that energy out through your hand, and imagine it forming a block of ice."

Harry gasped once again as the energy formed ice upon his palm, the rest falling back into him.

"Good job on your first piece of controlled magic, Harry," spoke Loki, sounding slightly proud. "We shall train on this for a while before moving onto illusions."

Finally gathering his breath, Harry asked, "Will some kinds of magic be easier for me than others?"

Loki gave a slight frown. "It is hard to explain, but probably not. As you saw, your magic is always moving, its power flowing from section to section. All your magic will come from all of the differently coloured parts." He paused. "Though I estimate that mortal magic will be slightly harder than the other two, seeing as with immortal magic your very body is powered by the energy, thus why immortals usually don't use foci for smaller tasks. Asgardian magic will be hard at a young age, but as you grow it shall become easier; it requires a lot of power to use.

"Midgardian magic, however, is not permanently within you. It flows through you from the magic in the air, largely uncontrollable without a focus."

Harry couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face. He might have had a long way to go, but he was actually learning magic!

There were two types of illusions, photokinetic and telepathic, with the former relying on manipulating light and vibrations to make something look and sound as though it was there, and the latter being controlling the target's to make them think that they saw something is there.

When operating upon a single victim, telepathy was generally the way to go unless you were up against a being with a fortified mind. Using telepathy on multiple targets, however, was generally not a good idea.

You would have to multi-task and control two or more minds simultaneously, all while ensuring that both were seeing exactly the same thing if you didn't wish for them to see through it. A minor mistake could cause you to be discovered.

With light, you couldn't go wrong unless you screwed up the illusion, although unlike with telepathy you couldn't simulate touching them or pain. Loki himself had managed to achieve a blend of the two, being the master of illusion he was. Light worked the best for appearance, and mixed with telepathy it could give a completely realistic representation to a crowd seeing as though it was not likely one would have to simulate to touch to multiple people at the same time.

Harry, being a beginner, had to use telepathic illusions since Loki's sheer mental force could help greatly when performing the potent Asgardian magic. He got the opportunity to test this as a teenager demanded his wallet a few weeks after he had first accessed his magical core. Loki could only laugh condescendingly as he stared upon the spotty teen through Harry's eyes.

"C-come on!" the teen said. He had already been nervous to begin with and this had only been worsened by Harry's apparent lack of fear.

'Go on,' urged Loki. 'Humiliate him. How much of an idiot do you have to be to not bring a weapon when mugging someone?'

With the full force of an Asgardian behind him, Harry projected his mind forward into the boy's. This was almost exactly the same thing as he had done to Dudley in the playground, but this time, a few things were added: sound and would-be mugger screamed as a mighty roar sounded beside him and a fully-grown lion seemingly burst from the wall beside him with a mighty roar. He didn't have time to register its slightly cartoonish features before it raked a massive claw across his face and pain overwhelmed him.

It was not the pain that an actual lion wound, merely what Harry had felt when he had accidentally cut his hand with a kitchen knife one time. He had merely moved it to his victim's face and multiplied it by three to simulate a lion.

Did lions have three claws? He wasn't really sure. The teenager didn't seem sure either, but he wasn't exactly thinking logically at that moment... It might have also had something to do with the massive amounts of illusionary blood Harry was creating from his face. He had accidentally let the illusion of the lion disperse, but that didn't really make a difference to the boy as he sprinted from the scene clutching at his face and screaming like a maniac.

What had he been thinking anyway? The average child didn't have amounts of money worth mugging–even if Harry did have a few hundred pounds in his pocket. Harry supposed that the boy had just been a bit of an idiot. Unfortunately, that meant he probably still needed a lot more training if his illusion on someone so dumb had still failed in some places.

That was a problem because he really wanted a wand and Loki wouldn't let him get one until he could form an illusion potent enough to fool a lot of people, so it would have to be a light illusion. He would also have to hold it for quite some time, which could prove difficult.

Loki estimated that it would take at least two years of magical training before he could do it, though Harry was determined to prove him wrong.

Harry frowned as the sound of drunken laughter reached his ears. With that he turned and began to jog back towards the abandoned house which would once again be his residence for the night; he didn't want to be out here when darkness fell.


What could have only been hours after he had fallen asleep, Harry awoke as something knocked against his mind.

'Don't make a sound,' murmured Loki. 'Do not panic, but I can hear someone outside the building.'

Harry let Loki's words echo through his mind for a moment before he forced himself to calm his breathing, staying as silent as possible. He too could hear something.

"I doubt the boy's still there anyway," said someone.

"Oh, come on. Afraid of a bit of a risk?" the other taunted. "A homeless kid will fetch a lot of money."

Harry let out a silent swear. Someone must have seen him enter. His hearing, though enhanced by Loki, couldn't quite pick out the rest as their voices quietened. Moving over to the window, Harry moved the planks covering it aside as quietly as he could. He had just heard them enter the front door, so he couldn't go out this way.

'Loki?' he asked tentatively. 'Are you sure you've done this right.'

Loki scoffed. 'Of course I've done it right–just be sure to roll just in case.'

Not allowing himself any time to hesitate as the stairs began to creak, Harry dropped from the window frame. For a very brief moment, wind rushed through his ears–and then he had hit the concrete feet-first, rolling in exactly the way Loki had taught him–and then he tripped over a rock.

He couldn't stop himself letting out a cry of pain as he cut his elbow on some broken glass.

'Run!' Loki urged, but it was already too late. Neither of them had noticed that one man had remained downstairs. Panic rose up inside Harry, but he ruthlessly batted it away as Loki barked out an order.

One moment the man was looming over him with a predatory grin upon his face, and the next a flash of coldness travelled through the air. The man froze as a blue power began to gather in Harry's palm, and he stayed that way, having no time to react as an icicle stabbed into his heart.

Allowing fatigue and emotion to have no effect upon him, Harry turned, all but the pupil of his eye flashing red as he fired another bolt of ice, striking the man who had just rounded the corner in his mid-section.

Breathing heavily, Harry stared with wide eyes down upon the two soon-to-be corpses. He had handled them with no problem. Perhaps he had underestimated himself. Emotion began to swell within him as he looked at the man he had just killed, but retreated as Loki appeared in front of him, blocking his view.

"Good job, Harry," he said proudly, pulling the boy into an illusionary hug with a smile. "Good job."