Chapter 6
After spending the rest of the day and most of the night reading through his newly purchased books, Harry had came to an unexpected revelation: wand magic was boring. There was no icy coldness rushing through his veins like with Jotun magic. There wasn't the flood of adrenaline that came with the magic of Asgard.
No, you just did a spell over and over again until it worked and that was it. No sensation. Hell, reading The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts had been more fun, even if only to read about the ridiculous conspiracy theories concerning where he had been sent to live. Apparently he was being trained by an insane old wizard named Dumbledore at Hogwarts to be the next Minister of Magic.
Loki had actually laughed when they had came across those names and Harry was only reaffirmed in his belief that wizards attempted to look as idiotic as possible. He supposed it helped with staying secret as well. Which muggle would believe that someone wearing a brightly-coloured bathrobe and waving a stick around was an elite wizard trained by the Supreme Mugwump at a place named Hogwarts?! Anyone who thought that to be the truth would probably already be in an asylum.
Whilst Harry didn't like wand magic, he did, however, like his new wand. It made both Asgardian and Jotun magic far easier, though Loki suspected that it limited his potential with mortal magic. Neither of them really cared about that though seeing as the magic of immortals tended to be much more powerful, not to mention more exciting.
The wand was also good for stabbing people which Loki thought would help greatly in close-quarters situations. Harry was now at an age where he could wield knives or daggers with slight efficiency, so Loki wanted to teach him how to use those. It would probably take Harry decades or even centuries to become as adept as Loki with illusions, so the god's usual method of stabbing them in the back wouldn't be able to work as often for him, thus his training with blades.
One problem had occurred with the wand, however. It was far too large to fit safetly in the pocket of any of Harry's clothing. Luckily it did appear to be enchanted so that the point of it wouldn't cut unless it was the user's intention, so Harry didn't have to worry about impaling himself on it when he eventually obtained a way to hold it.
Loki was certain that at least one wizarding shop would be logical enough to provide wand holsters. If not Harry would probably have to make one for himself.
So he set off towards Diagon Alley once again, now only concealing his scar. He looked more like Loki than he did his parents and if Harry Potter was famous for his scar, no one would know it was him.
This time he managed to get to the wall into the alley just after an elderly witch. It was revealed that you had to tap the bricks in a certain order to get through, though neither Loki or Harry had any idea why that was in the first place. No muggle would be able to get through the Leaky Cauldron, and any wizard could quite easily blow a hole in it anyway.
With a shrug Harry followed the witch through the gap and made his way to find a bank first. He didn't want to have to do telepathic illusions on fully-grown people with magic to defend their minds whilst simultaneously holding a light illusion.
Eventually he found it. A large marble building named Gringotts with what Loki said were goblins standing outside.
'Despicable creatures,' Loki muttered. 'The disgusting spawns of dark elves and humans. Do not trust them.'
Harry snorted as he walked towards the entrance, glancing at the words engraved above the door. 'You don't want me to trust anyone.'
'Do not trust anyone, but especially don't touch the goblins,' Loki reworded without any obvious trace of humour in his telepathic voice.
Ignoring the guards by the doors, Harry wandered into the bank. Fortunately it was still too early for there to be large queues and he moved straight up to the counter. The goblin looked up sharply as he walked up to him.
'Um, they can't sense you, can they?'
'Most likely not. Perhaps one of their Elders could, but a cashier could not be one. Hopefully not anyway.' Loki seemed cautious.
Harry pulled a few thousand pounds of stolen money from his pocket and waved it in front of the teller. "Could you convert this to wizarding currency for me please?"
The goblin snatched it from his hand, sniffing it before nodding tightly. He pulled open a draw and began to sort through it, withdrawing gold, silver, and bronze coins. "17 sickles in a galleon, 29 knuts in a sickle. One galleon for an expanded pouch to hold them," he explained swiftly as though he had said this a thousand times before.
Harry nodded and took the bag from the goblin, turning and walking from the band with only a glance backwards, already planning his route to his next destination.
As he came the entrance of Knockturn Alley he stepped into the shadows and made sure no one was watching before lifting his wand and beginning to weave an illusion around himself. Quick illusions were never as good as ones that took longer, but they had been all Harry needed for his scar. This, however, was very different.
Illusions focused upon oneself were far easier than ones that were not. Disguising yourself as far taller than you actually were for an extended amount of time was still very difficult, however. Harry modelled his illusion upon Loki, making him wear quite an ordinary black cloak. That meant he wouldn't have to focus on any details underneath, which was one of the harder aspects of illusion.
When doing an Asgardian illusion you had to subconsciously focus on the details of it at all times so that it remained unchanged. This was far easier for Asgardians with their vaster minds, but Harry was able to do it with a lot of help from Loki, who was possibly the best at it currently living. The god was able to form dozens of illusionary forms and once and sustain them for some time – more than long enough for him to sneak up behind his opponent as slip a knife between their ribs.
Eventually Harry completed the illusion, and when he stared into the mirror, a person who looked a lot like Loki stared back.
'Do not touch anyone,' Loki reminded him. 'We do not want to be forced to hold a telepathic and photokinetic illusion simultaneously.'
Harry nodded before making his way down the alley, making sure to take the longest steps he could and walk with confidence in his stride. Loki had taught him that no one would attack him or suspect him of anything if he looked as though he was meant to be here.
It seemed to work because with an arrogant sneer befitting of the real Loki on his illusionary face, no one dared question him, but that just might have been the nature of the kind of people that dwelled within this alley.
Harry seemed to pass all manner of shops, selling different versions of the things that were within Diagon Alley. He passed shops with pets, potions, and all manner of forbidden options. A quite non-discreet sign on the front of one seemed to imply it sold muggle slaves, something Loki thoroughly approved of.
A few bookshops seemed to litter the alley, but Loki immediately dismissed them as too blatant. It was not until they reached deep into the alley that he ordered Harry to stop.
'Wait' he murmured, directing Harry to look at a shop on his right. Its windows were dirty, affording them no view of the inside. Atop its door sat a sign, slightly tilted downwards. It read Haysmith's Books.
'Why this one?' Harry questioned.
'The man who just entered wore the clothes of a noble and walked confidently though was clearly alert. If that is not a competent wizard, I do not know what is,' Loki explained. 'Since we do not know what we are doing, we must take the advice of the locals, whether they know it or not.'
Harry made sure his illusion was still secure before striding forward and pushing the door open. Immediately the attention of the two other people in the room was upon him. There was the black-haired man who had just entered and a shopkeeper with greying blond hair. His illusionary form nodded at them before moving over to the corner where the books appeared to be kept.
Even with his back to the men, Harry could still sense that they were staring at him. He supposed that Haysmith didn't get many new customers. Harry focused on looking at a reflection in front of him to ensure that neither of the men made an attempt to attack him whilst Loki looked over the books through his eyes.
Finally Loki decided to only take a few for now, rationalising that they didn't want to be walking down Knockturn Alley without any hands free. After a moment, Loki chose three books, all relatively slim. Harry paused on his way to the counter, grabbing what appeared to be an ordinary wand holster. He also went to pick up an enchanted dagger but Loki insisted that one made by himself would be infinitely more reliable.
Less than a minute later, Harry had completed his transaction with the shopkeeper and was on his way out of the shop. As he walked back towards Diagon Alley, Loki noticed something out of the corner of Harry's eye. Two burly men appeared to be following him, each dressed in shabby clothing and already holding their wands.
Loki ran over the route that had brought them here, his near-perfect memory recalling an alley coming up on his right and telling Harry to go into it. If the men weren't following him they would walk past. If they were...well, they would be the first people Harry got to test his new wand on….
As the alley came up, Harry instantly ducked into it – and bumped into a third man, also wielding a wand. The sounds of footsteps dashing across the ground behind him registered upon Harry's ears and he ducked. A bolt of red light zipped over his head as a man yelled, "Stupefy," blasting through his illusionary form and splashing into the chest of the third man who Harry suspected to be working with the others.
Harry was spinning on his heel before the man's limp body hit the floor, his wand whipping forward as its runes glowed with blue light. The caster of the Stunning Spell was ironically too stunned by his spell seemingly moving through his opponent to react as an icicle burst from the tip of Harry's wand and stabbed into his chest.
"Protego!" yelled the final man just as Harry fired another icicle. At first nothing appeared to happen, but then blue light shimmered through the air as the ice shattered against a previously unseen shield.
Before Harry could react the man screamed, "Flippendo!"
The only sign of anything happening was a slight shimmering in the air before Harry leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding the kinetic force. Harry swept his wand at the wizard once again and the wizard cast another shield charm. Harry, however, had not been aiming at the wizard, who promptly slipped on the iced-over ground at his feet.
To Harry's annoyance he managed to keep his grip upon his wand and cast another shield as he sent yet another icicle at him. With a swear word, Harry span on his heel and ran, disappearing behind a bend in the alley. The man was soon after him, rage burning in his eyes at the thought of his dead friend – and then something stabbed into his left side as he rounded the corner, seven inches of freezing-cold metal slipping between his ribs.
As he fell to the floor and darkness began to envelop him, he looked up to see a boy staring down at him. Upon closer inspection, the child's eyes were red and he held the instrument of the man's murder in his hand, wiping the blood on his trousers as he grinned proudly. To the man, that grin wasn't proud, it was maniacal.
In the boy's eyes he saw nothing but ancient and alien power swirling as they returned to their natural green. A sharp pain in his side reminded him of his impending demise. No, he decided. This was no boy, it was a demon…. Perhaps not a demon, the man had led a sinful life, after all, robbing people in alleys – this was a harbinger of justice. Not an angel though, those eyes – almost the same shade as the feared Killing Curse – were far too terrifying to be angelic. This was a god. A fallen god.
A/N: Thanks for reading, tell me what you thought!
