'What are you here for? Money? Gratitude?' Black broke the suspenseful silence, taking a swig out of his bottle of Firewhisky. His voice, though rough and gravel as if he had gone without talking for a month, still echoed in the empty kitchen of the Black House, easily carrying all the way to the other end of the table where Loki was occupying. The man looked haggard with bags under his eyes, greasy matted hair and unshaven beard. Not haggard enough to stop him from glaring holes at Loki. The effect was swept away though, what with the way Black presented himself. A tattered brown sleeping robe to Loki's black with green lining silken coat; faded pinstriped pyjama to smart shirt and dress pants. Substandard proprietary for welcoming guest to one's house.
Turning back to the problem at hand, Loki stopped fiddling with his glass, scoffing deliberately noisily. Money he had aplenty courtesy of Lucius and Narcissa. Gratitude forced through gritted teeth? He would rather do without it. He came here for only one simple thing. 'Just your word that my involvement is left out will suffice. Remove my name from your testament. Pretend that I never found you in the Shrieking Shack on that Halloween evening.'
'Why?' Black squinted, or Loki thinks he squinted. 'Afraid Lucy dear will find out about your little mischief and disown you?'
'Part of it.' Loki offered a shrug. Lucius would probably grant him a cold shoulder for a month or two at most, maybe Narcissa would join in but Loki highly doubted it. The lady would definitely grace him with disapproving glance every now and then though, the kind of glance that had enough power to make him squirm in his seat. His life back in the Manor was going so smoothly that he could not risk anything that would put a dent into it.
Black narrowed his eyes at him, or that was what Loki thinks he did. Blast that human to the fiery pit of Hel and back. Must he sit at the other end of the table? Loki's eyesight, much to his chagrin, had deteriorated after much abuse. So being used to Asgardian perfect eyesight, he overlooked the flimsy one of a human. Wizardry had spells to deal with that but Loki, prideful as he was, would never seek help for such little trivia. Once he had this over and done with, he would pay the library in Diagon Alley a visit for optical condition books.
'If I say no?' The man asked challengingly.
'This rendezvous is for proprietary sake only, Black.' Loki divulged, twirling the content in his glass absently. Firewhisky as well. Does the man live on this thing? 'I can erase memory or forge new one without your consent. But memory is a fickle thing and I don't take unneeded risks.' He took a whiff of the drink. Spirituous as ever, though nowhere near Asgard mead. 'Besides, do you not think this is a right thing to do? After all, I did have a hand in giving you back your freedom.' He rested his cheek onto the left palm and arranged his face into a bored smile. 'An eye for an eye, so the idiom goes. It is time you returned the favour.'
Black stood up in rage, chair scraping back with a loud thump in the empty kitchen. 'Favour? FAVOUR?' Black roared, slamming his hands down on top the table, face red, with alcohol or anger, Loki had no idea. Perhaps a bit of both. 'You've done me no favour! That rat should be dead! It should be killed by my hands. Thirteen years and you ruined it all!' Black pointed a bony finger at his face. 'You sent that bastard to the Ministry, the same Ministry that put me in Azkaban without a trial. Whatever the fuck have those scumbags at the Ministry done right?' Black released a breathless, half-crazed laugh. 'They had Peter and lost him in under a day! An eye for an eye?' He barked. 'Bollocks! That rat killed James and Lily. It has to die as well!'
Loki covered up a yawn, not even trying to be discreet. That was an impressive display of wrath. However, to Loki, who had suffered centuries of Thor's fatuous temper tantrums, it was significantly inferior, in both volume and length. It did pave way for talking sense to Black though. 'First,' he raised a finger. 'It seems to me you broke out of Azkaban just for vengeance. Had Harry Potter ever crossed your mind when you came to Hogwarts to hunt for Pettigrew? Let me finish.' He raised a hand to halt Black's objection. 'Assume you had managed to find Pettigrew on your own and killed him, what then? You would still be wanted as a fugitive. Legally adoption of Potter would be a dream far out of reach.' Loki exaggerated his sigh. 'Think of the kid for a moment. Alone in this world with no relatives to speak of, Dursleys notwithstanding. Fathom how thrilled he was when he knew you were his godfather after thirteen years of being alone? You have enough brain cells to process my words, no? Then heed my advice. Play nice at the Ministry hearing the day after tomorrow and your house arrest will be over. Potter's adoption should be easy enough after that.' He concluded his first point, raising another finger. 'Second, letting on to jurists about me just for your immature need to spite me won't speed up your case.' That was all he had to say for the second part. It was enough to persuade Black though.
Black did not say anything for a full minute, glaring contemptuously at him. He finally sat back down, eyes glued on the purple band on his wrist with palpable hatred, a device from the Ministry to monitor his whereabouts.
'What if they use Legilimency?' He grumbled around his teeth.
Black made the manipulation game easy beyond belief.
'Not really. Madam Bones is just; she will not resort to Legilimency without your consent. You, at the very least, have knowledge and skill for Occlumency, Black family and all.' Loki shrugged his coat on, fixing the collar. His talk had reached the desiring end. 'Just so you know,' he stopped right in front of the wooden door. 'I placed a block on that particular memory on the day I happened on you in the Shrieking Shack. No one can access it except for me. Every attempt to speak of it on your part will be met with a silencing charm. Don't bother looking for a counter charm, only I can remove it. Now then, good day to you, Mr. Black.' He exited the kitchen and closed the door in one swift move, Black's puzzling, changing to raging, face the last thing he saw. Kreacher saw him off at the main entrance, a longing look upon his sagging face, no doubt commanded not to talk to him.
The rain was still pouring outside, pitter-pattering on the pavement.
'Dobby.' He called out to the cooling air in front of him.
Dobby appeared with a quiet 'pop', bowing so low his ears swept the wet ground.
'Little Master call for Dobby?'
'Empty Black's stash of alcoholic beverages for me, will you?' Loki said the first thing that popped into his mind.
'Yes, yes, Little Master sir.' Dobby agreed instantly, doing that jerky little motion Loki thought might be a salute.
Loki hummed, remembering what else he needed to ask Dobby. 'Another thing. Stock his kitchen cabinets with fresh food and vegetables. Some package of tea, too.' In case he had to pay the man another visit. 'If he can't seem to find his way around his own home kitchen cabinets, prepare the food and place it on the table. And if he can't seem to find his will to consume them, do whatever it takes to make him eat without letting him know of your presence. Keep him from physically abusing Kreacher as well.' Loki was asking a lot. Dobby was a free elf so he had no reasons to obey Loki anymore. He felt moderately bad for this but seeing the overjoyed look Dobby sent his way, he rethought the idea of apologising, instead kneeling down and readjusting his handkerchief kept pristine and dry around the elf's neck.
'Thank you Dobby, you are a great help to me.' He smiled warmly and Dobby nearly fainted on the spot.
'L-Little M-Master th-th-thank Dobby. Dobby are very much happy!' The elf squeaked, doing a happy little flap with his pointy ears, eyes brimming with tears of joy and small hand clutching tightly around the handkerchief.
Loki spared him one last glance before transfiguring an umbrella. 'Get going then.' He ordered gently. 'I will call for you whenever I need your help.'
Dobby did faint this time but he recovered in exactly two seconds to give Loki a parting bow before disappearing.
Loki stood there for a moment longer, contemplating what he just did in the last two minutes.
Why in Helheim pit is he playing carer for Black?
He shook out the umbrella and stepped into the rain. Now to Diagon Alley library for some much appreciated time alone.
Black's hearing made headline the following morning, along with the news of him being legal protector of Potter.
The wizarding world was divided. A faction rejected the idea of the Boy Who Lived being cared for by a prisoner even though he was wrongly convicted. Others rejoiced of having Potter right in the midst of wizarding community for them to worship. The minority, like Loki and the Malfoys, watched from the sideline with raised eyebrows at the sheeple.
Not once was there a mention that Pettigrew had escaped the Ministry's custody from right under their nose or the fact that Dumbledore was openly opposed to Black's adoption of Potter
Loki did not know the latter either, not until Lucius made a passing comment about it during afternoon tea, looking pleasantly pleased.
Dumbledore's opposition was most likely related to the dome of magic Loki had sensed when he came to Dursleys' home back in second year. It was an odd form of magic, but its intention was clear. Protect Harry Potter.
Black won in the end, as the Daily Prophet reported in its special edition at the end of July.
Talk about a perfect birthday present.
Potter must be ecstatic.
Not that he knew for sure, since he was not Potter's usual correspondent. He was not close enough to the boy for him to tell news about his life.
So it was a surprise when he found the duvet cover dipping into a messy 'Hi, Draco' that night.
Potter told him pretty much everything, ranging from 'Remus is a werewolf and he moves in', 'my father, Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew are the marauders!', 'Sirius is the Grim!' to 'I like living here in the Black Manor but Sirius is not very happy'.
Loki had to cut the boy off before he went on a tangent about all the antiques Lupin and Black were up to. It would take all night if he did not put a lid on Potter's excitement.
'Tell me more in person later Potter, your quillmanship is getting more and more atrocious.' Loki traced the word on a parchment he had dragged over to his lap. He should have had the foresight to infuse a standard writing font for instances like this. 'When will you be able to go to Diagon Alley alone?' He underlined the last word.
'I'm not sure'. The kid made an effort to slow down his writing. Commendable. 'Sirius probably won't let me go alone.'
That was to be expected.
'Are you going to the Quitditch World Cup?' Potter continued. 'Sirius said we would go there.'
Incidentally, Lucius mentioned all three of the Malfoys were invited by Fudge as honorary guests to the game mere hours ago. Well, it should be easy for Potter to sneak away from Black for half an hour and take a stroll out in the field with him.
'Yes. I suppose I will see you there then.' Loki agreed. 'Now shoo, I do not wish to fraternise with you any longer in this fine evening.' He sketched a fehu rune of fire right underneath the sentence. If he was correct, the rune would activate upon appearing on Potter's side, burning his parchment to crisp, thanks to the rune-imbedded black ring the kid must place somewhere on the surface for this whole conversation to be possible.
Potter would be in for a scare.
Loki sidestepped a tent pole some daft excuses of a wizard managed to grow two meters in height in the middle of the grassy path, stopping short of setting his foot down into a dying fire pit in the search for Potter.
It was no use.
There were too many people, too clustered, a hundred times as many as the number of students at Hogwarts. Pinpointing Potter while at Hogwarts was matter of paying close attention to tune into the boy's peculiar magic. Out here in this vast field with 100,000 wizards and witches, however, Loki could not even tell the magic of someone walking side by side with him apart. It was the same as telling a drop of water apart from the ocean, nigh impossible
So there was a condition to how his sense functioned. In an area with high density of wizards and witches, his sense was rendered useless. The uselessness was so profound he had to suffer a severe case of migraine for it. For now, he should assume that crowd the same size as Hogwarts's body was the maximum limit until proven otherwise. Loki harrumphed curtly and closed off his sense. With luck, he might find the kid. If not, then they could always talk to each other at Hogwarts, albeit with more caution.
With his goal unachieved, Loki took his time to double back to Malfoys' designated area, so he turned away from the main path, taking a detour.
It was a lovely day with his favourite kind of weather, crispy but not yet cold, mist hovered a fraction off the ground. Pale blue sky of the early morning with thin pale pink strands of clouds stretched across the colorful tent-filled valley like an artwork, golden threads of sunlight hanging over the east. Few humans was alive at this hour, so he was, in a sense, alone.
Wonderful for a stroll.
He heard rambunctious laughter and uneven stomping of footsteps falling on dew-dropped grass six tens over and made a sharp left to steer clear of the intoxicated bunch, whom just fell over themselves and landed in a messy heap judging by the consecutive thumps he heard. Loki grimaced. What is so good about alcohol that every culture has it? The only thing it was good for was tuning sensible mind into incoherent mud.
So focused on the flailing wizards, Loki failed to notice another set of footstep. A girl crashed into him as he suddenly appeared around the corner of a tent. He pivoted on his feet to absorb the impact and inadvertently sent her falling onto the side of a tent, eliciting shouts of surprise as it fell down on top of the occupiers.
So much for peace. Loki grumbled under his breath, taking the girl's slender hand and pulling her up. They needed to get away from the incensed tent owners first, and fast.
He pulled the girl along, who said nothing and obediently allowed him to lead the way. When they were a safe distance away, Loki turned to face her.
She was shorter than him by half a head, small and lithe, with fly away bundle of bleached blond hair. She had some of the oddest jewelry Loki had ever seen. A necklace made of Butterbeer corks, radish earrings and headband woven with clovers and pumpkin seeds. A canvas satchel seemed to contain feathers of all colours and sizes rested on her left shoulder.
'My apologies. Are you alright?' He scanned her for any visible injuries, nodding satisfactorily when finding none. His eyes lingered a second longer on her choice of socks; knee length, one red with yellow polka dots, the other checkered green and white, contrasting starkly against her pale blue dress.
The blonde said nothing, eyes glued on their joined hand. Loki felt his cheeks heat up.
'Sorry.' He fumbled, extracting his hand. 'I did not mean to do it without your permission.'
As soon as his hand left hers, she reached out to reclaim it, tracing circles on the back of his hand, looking inexplicably serene.
'You have cold hand.' She finally said dreamily, looking up at him with vacant silvery-blue-grey eyes, a tranquil smile on her face.
'I beg your pardon?' Loki asked, not knowing in which direction this conversation would go. And his hand was not cold; he had checked the other hand. It was clearly warm.
'Your eyes are pretty.' She commented vacantly, leaning in look straight into his eyes. Loki was about to offer an uncomfortable thank you when she added. 'Red as rose.'
His mind grounded to a halt.
A quick check confirmed that his skin was still the pale white of a human and his eyes the mismatched blue-and-green.
Did he lose control of his Jotun side for a moment there? No, impossible. He would have known immediately if that had happened.
So how did she-?
'I do not understand.' He cocked his head to the side, brows furrowing in feigned confusion.
She patted his hand comfortably. 'Don't worry.' She reassured him, not at all put off by his display of ignorance. 'I won't tell anyone, Noble Lie-smith Loki
Loki should maintain a puzzled expression but he couldn't help a laugh bubbling past his lips. Him? Noble? Odin's beard, someone needed to have their fact checked. He was many things but noble never was and never would be one of them. Loki cleared his throat, quelling the sarcastic smile tugging at his lips.
'I must apologise, I truly do not follow.' He said to the girl, deciding to stick to the act. Whoever this girl was, she had extraordinary keen intuition to tell Draco Malfoy was not entirely human. Loki did not feel any malice or devilry from her; in fact, he could not get a read on her. If he had to use a word to describe her, it would be dotty. Her very presence oozed of eccentricity and frivolity.
'I know.' She smiled serenely, taking a Butterbeer cork out of her dress pocket and placing it in his hand. 'This will keep the Nargles away.'
What? 'Nargles?' He had never heard of that creature before. What does Butterbeer cork have to do with this?
'Thieves, Nargles are. They stole my pencil.' She turned on the spot, eyes on the ground. 'I need to find it again. Goodbye, Lie-smith.' And just like that, she disappeared among the maze of tents.
'Um, bye?' he said rather belatedly, not knowing whether it reached her or not.
This could top Loki's list of strangest conversations if he had a list like that to begin with.
A short while later, the whole ordeal was fully forgotten, replaced by the worry of tonight's plan when he reached back to Malfoys' tent.
Loki did get to see Potter. Just not under the circumstances he desired.
It was pure Loki's luck that he was with both Lucius and Narcissa when they turned around that corner from their way back from Zabinis' tent and saw a family of distinct redheads coming from the opposite direction.
The Weasleys, along with Black, Potter and Granger, saw them as well and stopped chatting light-heartedly with each other. Black bristled like a rabid dog at the sight of Lucius, or Loki, he had no clue (he felt proud of himself to have ruffled the man that much). They were all sporting green pointed hats and green facial markings, signifying their support for Irish team. Weasley's scarlet scarf ruled him out as a fan of Hungarian team.
Of all the time he shut off his magic sense, it had to be now that this happened.
'Well, well — Arthur Weasley.' Lucius sniffed. 'Cousin-in-law.' He added as an afterthought, glancing over to Black, who was pushing Potter protectively behind him. The boy caught Loki's eyes with his own, question in his gaze.
'Lucius.' Arthur Weasley said coldly.
'What did you have to sell to get this many tickets?' Lucius said softly. 'Surely your house wouldn't have fetched that much?'
'I have my way, thank you for asking, Lucius.' Weasley patriarch replied through gritted teeth, hands balled on his sides, while his children were getting redder in the face.
The grimace behind Loki's indifferent facade deepened considerably. A headache was coming at him with a force of rivalling that of Mjonir impact. He did not have the mental capacity to deal with this, not with tonight's expedient occupying his mind.
'Oh? And here I thought Black has to defray the cost with his own, inadvertent affluence.' Lucius said, lips curling up in derision.
Black shoved Arthur Weasley back and got right into Lucius's personal space. Narcissa's grasp on Loki's shoulders was hard enough to leave bruises but she made no other moves.
'Get. Fucking. Lost.' Black grounded out, eyes gaining a feral look in them.
Lucius, for his part, was unfazed. 'Of course. We have no wish to spend an extended period of time here either, not with the company you keep.' His eyes slid over to Granger, who was masking her uncertainty well enough with a defiant stance. 'I thought you could sink no lower-'
Time froze in his mind. Loki moved before he was even aware that he had left his spot.
Time resumed. Black held his fist mid-swing, frozen in place, but his eyes were not on Lucius; they were rooted on the black dagger, its tip touching skin with enough force to cause pain.
'Back off.' Loki ordered frostily, a ruthless edge bleeding into his voice.
No one threatened Lucius and Narcissa. They were good, great, parents to him; but good people? They were not. Loki did not want to witness their fault, even though he was painfully aware of it. His behaviour now blatantly resembled that of a naive child, Loki smiled bitterly to himself. Children chose to see the good of their parents, overlook their wrong and defend them regardlessly. All for the sake of the perfect image of a happy family. He was going against his friends (wasn't it strange that he still had friends?), he knew, but given the choice, he would side with his family any other day.
Black slowly put his hand down, albeit with reluctance and loathing. Loki followed the movement while watching the others for any attempted wand-drawings from the corner of his eyes. His eyes slid over to Potter and he saw something not-quite-anger-but-close-enough on the boy's face. At least him, and Granger, allowed Loki the benefit of the doubt with the way they could not seem to decide which emotion they should settle on. Weasley was burning in animosity though.
No one said or did anything other than watch, so Loki deemed it safe to withdraw the dagger into the fold of his sleeve. He placed a hand on Lucius' arm to get the man attention.
'Father, we should make haste, lest our late arrival throws Macnair for the loop.'
Hurry up or he might think you exclude him from the plan.
'I know.' Lucius said, fixing the coat high collar. Turning his back towards the group, he motioned for Narcissa and Loki to follow.
Loki offered her his arm. She half-smiled bemusedly at him but courtly took it, and allowed Loki to guide her towards their destination.
He needed not to look to confirm the hostile and doubtful looks directed at his back. He was not looking forward to explanation time.
AN: I am so sorry for the late and short chapter. Not much happened here either, so basically this is kind of an update to say that 'I'm still alive and this story is definitely not dropped'. For the lateness, I have no excuse except for the fact that I just got into Shigeki no Kyojin fandom and my mind is literally filled with LEVI and Survey Corps and EREN FUCKING JÄGER'S NEW FUCKING LONG HAIR and the SEA and liiit Titan UFC fights and season 2! Ah my fangirling is showing itself, excuse me. Getting into a different fandom when you have an ongoing fanfic is a dangerous gamble. On a different note, if you want to fangirl with me over Levi's badassery or drop me an ask about Remodel, I'm available on tumblr under the same name, riotousorder. Sorry for the long AN. Thank you so much for your support. Please drop me a review on your way out.