Chapter 12

Face smoothed over and emotionless, Harry entered the room after Marco. Among the various staff and guards moving around the room were the rest of Marco's family: Lord Aurelius, Lady Aurelius, and their daughter, Maria Aurelius. Marco and Maria seemed to both take after their father, all sharing jet black hair, tanned skin, and bright blue eyes. Lady Aurelius on the other hand had blonde hair, and with her beauty, Harry wouldn't be surprised if one of her ancestors was a Veela.

With Marco leading, Harry walked up to them. Immediately three sets of eyes were scanning over him in a way he found slightly unnerving.

"So, this is him?" asked Lord Aurelius, to which Marco nodded. His expression grew pensive. "You trust him?"

"With my life," confirmed Marco, "and with Maria's." The girl rolled her eyes, though no others seemed to notice.

Marco's father nodded. "Very well, we'll leave you two to socialize," he said, looking to Harry and Maria before walking off with his wife, Marco trailing behind. Maria and Harry awkwardly sat down at a table, facing each other with the latter silently cursing Marco for putting him in this situation and ignoring Loki's reminders of him putting himself in it,

"So, you're Harry?"

"Yes, and you're Maria."

She looked over him. "What magic school do you go to? I'm in my third year at Beauxbatons."

Harry shook his head. "There's nothing useful I can learn there, so I don't go." Maria looked incredulous, so he added, "I do have a tutor however. I have no doubt that at the height of his power he would be able to beat almost any wizard in the world."

'Almost?' Loki questioned. 'Should I be offended, Harry?'

'Shut up. If I big you up any more, it's going to sound like my mentor is bloody Dumbledore.'

"And what's his name?" Maria asked.

He grinned. "I'm afraid that's highly confidential."

Maria reached over and placed a hand on his thigh. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me?"

'Um, Loki, is she trying to do some crappy wandless magic or something?'

The god snorted. 'Nope, just trying to manipulate you. She is absolutely terrible at it, but I suppose it usually doesn't take much to fool a hormonal teenager.'

'Hey! I'm not hormonal!'

'I live inside your head, and always see what you look at and what you do.' Harry made to speak, but Loki interrupted, 'Always.'

Harry was silent for a moment. 'Good point, but I'm twelve so I'm therefore not a hormonal teenager.' To that, Loki only snorted.

"I'm fine actually," Harry said, taking great joy from the brief disappointment that flashed across her face.

'If only you weren't under an illusion, we could have some fun with this,' Loki muttered.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, I need to teach you seduction at some point, and who better to practise with than a rich heiress with a lot of influence? This form is nothing special, but your true appearance is incredibly attractive, being modelled after me, of course.'

'Oh, Loki, teach me how to be as humble as you,' Harry mocked. 'Why are you such an expert at seduction anyway?'

'It all comes with the role of being a master of illusion. Seduction – whether by lust, power, or gold – can get you a lot of things, and let me tell you, it is truly a wonderful feeling to have people like putty in your hands. You can have them grovel at your feet, or you can spit on their affections and rip their emotions apart. To have such power over someone is a feeling of true domination that only few get to experience, and under my guidance, you will be one of them.'

For a moment, Harry was silent. 'Uh, Loki, that's kind of weird.'

He sensed the god give a mental shrug. 'I tend to get carried away when talking about world domination….'

'Or how stupid humans are,' Harry added. 'Or capes, or spears, or-'

'Yes, I understand what you're getting at, now you should probably talk to the mortal, you have both been silent for a few moments.'

Harry snapped back into reality and found that he had been staring at Maria, and that she had been staring at him. This evening was either going to be very boring, or someone would try to attack them. He wasn't really sure which one he preferred.

'It could be worse,' Loki reminded him. 'At least she's attractive – by mortal standards anyway. Befriend her now and reap the benefits when you're older.'

'I can't "befriend" her if you keep talking to me, can I?'

"Anyway," Harry began. "If anyone asks I'm an associate from Russia named Harry Kamisky." He wasn't very good at making up names,

"Can you do a Russian accent, or are you just going to look like an idiot?"

Harry winked, saying in his Russian accent, "Funny, your brother said exactly the same thing."

Maria raised an eyebrow. "That's actually quite good. So how do you know Marco?"

Harry's expression remained flat as he deadpanned, "Take a guess."

"The family business," she said, and Harry nodded in confirmation. She looked over Harry. "A little young, aren't you? I'm not sure that I need some pickpocket whose never been to a magic school and has an imaginary tutor protecting me."

He snorted. "If I was incapable, I wouldn't have been chosen to guard you. There's a reason I don't go to magic school. Like I already said, they have nothing useful to teach me. I have full confidence that there isn't a single person in any magical academy in the world that can beat me." Well, if he had the element of surprise, but it sounded better if he didn't say that.

"A bold claim," she said, "but can you prove it?"

"If you're suggesting that we duel, Miss Aurelius, I'm afraid we will have to wait until after the ball," Harry said with a smirk. "After all, I don't want to ruin your dress, or your face for that matter."

She matched his expression. "I think you'd find it to be the other way around, Harry."

"Sorry, but I'm not wearing a dress, though I'm flattered that you think my face is good enough to be ruined."

After a while more of talking, Harry was managing to chip further and further away at her cold exterior. He supposed it was understandable that she would be hostile when she was forced to be taken to the ball and guarded by someone younger than her who she didn't know, denying her the chance to have someone else as a date. Harry's illusionary form was completely average – not unattractive, not attractive, just average – for it was designed to blend in. Maria on the other hand, was attractive, and that might have been another factor in her annoyance. He didn't really care as long as he got paid.

Before long they moved into the mansion's ballroom where guests had already began to arrive. Harry hung back slightly as Maria mingled with the new arrivals, avoiding notice but ready to leap into action at the first glance of a wand.

Soon they moved over to tables to eat. Harry ended up next to Maria, though played dumb when anyone spoke to him, replying in a heavy accent with his Italian completely fractured.

This did, however, give him the opportunity to listen in upon Maria's school friends with them not knowing he was listening. There was a blonde girl and a brown-haired boy who was apparently her date. They both attended Beauxbatons with Maria, the boy was French and called Jean, whilst the girl was the daughter of one of Lord Aurelius' "friends" and was named Julia. Harry noted that she was attractive, though not as much as Maria.

'Making important observations, I see,' Loki commented.

'It isn't as though there is really much else I can do, and you'll tell me when you see any assassins.' Harry paused, and flashed a mental smirk in Loki's direction. 'Anyway, you can't blame me; I am, after all, a hormonal teenager.'

Loki groaned, and Harry refocused on reality as Maria turned to him for the first time in a few minutes. She got to her feet with a smirk and asked, "Would you like to dance?"

If this was her attempt at embarrassing him, it would fail. Allowing Loki's knowledge and supernatural grace to be channelled through his mind, Harry rose to his feet, accepting her hand with a matching smirk before leading her out onto the dance floor, into the twirling couples.

Harry found his movements not to be his own, unnaturally elegant and light as he moved flawlessly, leading Maria to the music with a hand on her hip and another holding her hand. Needless to say, if anyone was getting embarrassed, it was her.

When the song ended they moved back over to their table, Maria slightly gasping for breath and sweating whilst Harry looked as if he had taken a casual stroll. After seeing his performance, Julia had to ask him to dance as well. After a brief moment he grudgingly accepted upon Maria's insistence and promise that she would stay there. Who would be stupid enough to leave anyway?

Nonetheless, he kept his eyes on Maria. This was possibly a better position to observe from anyway; his turns allowed him to look in all directions for any possible assailants. As he turned once again, he swore; Maria was gone.

Loki was immediately on alert. 'Jean's eyes are on the exit on his left. Go!'

Releasing Julia, Harry dashed forward, keeping Loki's Asgardian agility as he wove through the crowd of dancers. He moved out of the door and caught sight of the tail of a black dress moving around the next corner. She was going of her own free will, then. That decreased the risk of the situation, but not to zero. She really was an imbecile.

As Harry moved forward, wand in hand, Loki spoke, 'Don't panic, but the sounds ahead of you have just halted.'

'Silencing ward?'

'That is the most likely situation, but I cannot be sure.'

Harry began to sprint again, cursing as he laid eyes upon the corridor. Blood was sprayed over the wall and two bodies were strewn on the floor, one slumped against the wall. The sound of yelling filled his ears, frequently interrupted by female screams, and then Maria's cries were muted. A window shattered and Harry swore once again. They were in the first door on his right.

A second later he had followed them in, already raising his wand. One man remained in the room but he was already halfway out of the window. His progress was increased dramatically as Harry's silent banishing curse collided with his backside and sent him flying forwards. He was already sprinting forward and leaping through as the man flew through the window at neck-breaking speeds.

Upon exiting, Harry was immediately scanning for there others. Three men were on the lawn, one of them levitating Maria as they moved for where Harry knew the ward line was. One of them had began to turn as his friend had impacted the floor, but he was not fast enough. "Hasglacus," hissed Harry, and a spear of ice burst from his wand before impaling the man through the chest.

The others span, one barking for the other to keep going as he created a shield that blocked a blasting curse from Harry.

"Gelventus," Harry incanted, sending forth an icy wind that surged around the edges of the spell and obscured his opponent's vision for a few seconds, but that was all he needed. He dashed forward, sliding to the ground and taking advantage of the slight gap under the man's shield as he uttered a curse that was almost certainly a death sentence: "Infrigum Sanguo!"

A bolt of blue light moved forward, slower than the average spell, but far more deadly. With his vision obscured, the spell was just another ice chip spinning through the man's vision. This, however, was far more deadly.

A scream ripped from the man's throat as it connected with his ankle, and his shield shattered as he dropped his wand so that he could grasp at his wounded limb. That would not save him. If he didn't amputate the foot, the curse would continue to spread through his body, turning his blood to ice. That, however, was not on Harry's mind as he dashed forward, not daring use a spell in fear of hitting Maria, who the man was now holding on his back as a form of human shield. She seemed to be knocked out, and hitting a victim of a stunning spell with any magic could possibly kill them or damage their brain if you weren't aware of the spell upon them.

As a test, Harry sent a spell veering wide of them. It hit an invisible wall a few dozen meters in front of them, turning it shimmering blue. The wards.

Magic poured into Harry legs and he surged forward even faster. If he allowed them to get to the wards, they would be gone. Luckily, the man was slowed down by carrying someone, and Harry had momentarily enhanced himself to superhuman speeds. Unluckily, that might not be fast enough.

Harry sent a blasting curse that didn't harm living beings at the ground under him and he was sent soaring through the air, flipping over the man. He barely had time to widen his eyes in horror – let alone raise his wand – before Harry slashed his own across his throat, spraying blood high into the air. Anyone hope of living was absolutely obliterated as Harry drove his blood-stained wand through the man's left eye.

Maria, still unconscious followed the man to the floor, and Harry ran a diagnostic charm, sighing in relief when he noticed that she was a victim of a simple stunning spell. "Enervate," he muttered.

The girl blinked as she awoke, her blue eyes widening as she took in her surroundings.

Harry grinned. "Hey-"

He was cut off as a man's voice bellowed, "Scorcus!"

Not having the time to create a shield, Harry could only throw himself backwards onto the ground. A flash of agony shot through him as the cutting curse bit through his robes and into the side of his neck even as he returned fire with an overpowered blasting charm into the man's throat. Blood, both his and his opponents, sprayed over him, and he hissed in pain, pressing a hand to his neck as Loki began to heal it.

Neither of them had noticed the final man approach from beyond the wards. He must have been waiting outside to make sure that nothing went wrong. Well, he hadn't been very good at that.

An icy coldness washed away the pain as Loki numbed it, and Harry turned back to Maria, who was laying on the floor a few feet from him and staring at him in shock. He grinned. "Incapable, eh?"

She still did not respond as Harry rose to his knees, checking his wound and seeing that the minor cut had already been healed. "I'm going to have to bloody carry you, am I?" he grumbled, seeing a brief flash of pain cross her face as she cast a glance down at her ankle. And then she was staring at his face once again. He sighed. He didn't know whether or not her apparent obsession with him was a good thing.

Nonetheless, he got to his feet and moved over, scooping her up so that she was essentially sitting on his left arm and had his right arm free to blast any other attackers. Maria still looked to be in shock, and he had began to wonder whether they had accidentally smashed her head on the window frame when they were kidnapping her. Or it might have been the corpses strewn over her lawn and the fact both of them were covered in blood.

With a sigh, Harry began to carry back towards the house. And then something even more unexpected than the final attack happened. "You're Harry Potter," she said, speaking for the first time.

A curse escaped Harry's mouth as he turned back to where they had been a few moments ago. Among the blood and grass lay his disguise necklace, the lace severed by the cutting curse. He groaned, walking back over and picking it up, still holding Maria. "So you're constantly staring at me now I'm famous, handsome, and have saved your life? That is like, so shallow!" he mocked, then suddenly turned serious. "Tell anyone about this and you die, okay?"

She nodded then hugged tighter into his side, causing Harry to glance at her as he repaired the necklace and put it back on.

'She's very subtle about showing her newly-found attraction to you,' Loki idly commented, his tone thick with sarcasm.

In his blood-soaked state, Harry decided it would be best if he didn't go back into the ballroom, instead going directly into the room they had been in before. He was greeted by the sight of the three other members of the Aurelius family and a few guards rushing about.

"I assume you already found the guards in the corridor. There are five corpses of the would-be kidnappers on the lawn. I didn't exactly have time to interrogate them," Harry said casually, drawing everyone's attention onto him. For a moment, the room was silent. "Is anyone going to take her from me, or shall I just stand here holding her?"

A/N: I guess that chapter was kinda long, so that's why it is being uploaded 5 minutes late. Anyway, tell me what you thought!