Loki discreetly followed Angel into an unused room. There was a tub full of warm water, animal-friendly soap...and her beloved pet owl Hedwig.
Loki's eyebrow raised up when he realized why Angel had slipped away from her 'minders'.
She was cleaning Hedwig. Owls were clean creatures by nature, but Angel enjoyed lavishing attention on her owl's feathers and Hedwig loved having her feathers cleaned.
She seemed to notice him once he closed the door.
"You can watch if you like," she said with a shrug. This was her private time, and unlike Hermione or Ron she had the distinct feeling he wouldn't try to ask why she was doing this or bother her about studying.
She worked with a deft hand, as she had become quite good when it came to removing the unwanted dirt and grime from Hedwig's feathers.
It was fascinating to watch as the water slowly became dirty from the muck she was cleaning out. He idly wondered how she would react to his wings, and if she was as good at cleaning angel feathers as she was an owls. He hadn't released his wings in years. They were probably gray from all the crap in them.
"You seem unusually fascinated by my little hobby of cleaning feathers," said Angel amused.
A few other owls joined Hedwig, as her owl had been quite vocal about her human being so thorough. Loki seemed very amused by the fact that the Headmaster's pet phoenix had even shown up. She soon had quite the production line going, cleaning the feathers in a soothing motion. Loki had noticed that the room had a warming charm around them, despite being the middle of October.
All the 'cleaned' owls were perching on spots that had appeared a few minutes after she started. When the last bird had perched itself to dry, she cleared out the water which had become rather grungy looking. She had to refill the tub five times in order to insure that the birds were properly cleaned.
"They sure seem to like you," he said.
"I like birds. They're freer than any human, though flying a broom comes very close. If I could, I would fly all the time and never land," said Angel, looking wistful.
Loki looked at her and considered something for a moment. On one hand, she might react rather badly to his true nature. He could always remove the knowledge. On the other, she might react favorably.
Angel was busy checking on the birds when she heard the sound of wings. They were louder and more powerful than she was used to, and she turned around wondering what it was.
Imagine her shock to find Loki still sitting nearby with his hands on the reversed chair, laying his head on them while his back was exposed. Only instead of there being a cloak on his back, there were now six pairs of magnificent wings. They almost looked pure white in color, except they were quite dirty. They hadn't been cleaned in years. Her hands twitched as her habit of cleaning feathers felt like it was about to kick in full force. She hated dirty feathers.
Loki seemed amused at her reaction.
"You're not a god at all, are you?" she said finally, having repressed the urge to clean his wings.
"Nope. I just go by Loki to avoid my brothers," he said amused.
"You are the Loki though, aren't you?"
"Yup."
"Do you have another name, or do you prefer Loki?" she asked. She had a suspicion what his real name was, he wasn't exactly trying to hide it and six pairs of wings was a dead giveaway.
"Loki is fine."
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"How long had it been since you cleaned your wings? I can see the dirt from here," she said in annoyance.
Loki chuckled. He could see she itched to clean them, and he was honestly tempted to let her. She knew what she was doing if the number of birds in the room was any indication, and the fact that a bonded phoenix of all things was in here. The only way she could have gotten one of those to come for a cleaning was if she was very, very good at what she did.
The problem was that touching an angel's wings, particularly an arch angel, was extremely personal. It was about the same as inviting a lover to your bed. The thing was that Angel was too young for him to even consider such a thing, perhaps in a year or so.
Loki considered letting her touch them. Angel wasn't like most girls. In fact he had the distinct feeling that even if she had known how important an angel's wings were, she would honestly care less.
Eventually he decided to toss it all.
"It's been years since I've even let them out," he admitted.
That was all she needed to hear, as she brought out a tub of clean warm water. He shivered when she touched the first feather and she said nothing, systematically cleaning each feather individually.
He practically purred as she finished one wing and went to the next. No wonder she had managed to get a bonded phoenix as one of her 'customers'...she was good. He could sense her amusement at the fact he was like an oversized cat. It was when she started to lightly sing a song that his eyes started to droop.
"Wake up to a sunny day
Not a cloud up in the sky
And then it starts to rain
My defenses hit the ground
And they shatter all around
So open and exposed
But I found strength in the struggle
Face to face with my trouble
When you're broken
In a million little pieces
And you're trying
But you can't hold on anymore
Every tear
Falls down for a reason
Don't you stop believing in yourself
When you're broken
Little girl, don't be so blue
I know what you're going through
Don't let it beat you up
Hittin' walls and gettin' scars
Only makes you who you are
Only makes you who you are
No matter how much your heart is aching
There is beauty in the breaking
When you're broken
In a million little pieces
And you're tryin'
But you can't hold on anymore
Every tear falls down for a reason
Don't you stop believin' in yourself
When you're broken
Better days
Are gonna find you once again
Every piece will find its place
When you're broken
When you're broken
When you're broken
In a million little pieces
And you're tryin'
But you can't hold on anymore
Every tear falls down for a reason
Don't you stop believing in yourself
When you're broken
Oh, when you're broken
When you're broken
When you're broken..."
(Broken, by Lindsey Haun from the Broken Bridges Soundtrack.)
Loki vaguely noticed that the birds all seemed to add to song, even Fawkes, adding to the music. It was so peaceful that he didn't wake up until long after she was done cleaning his wings. Had he seen how dirty the water was, he would have been shocked.
He woke up to the sound of her humming, and most of the birds had left back to the Owlry. Fawkes had returned to his post, not that Dumbledore had known he was missing.
"How long was I out?" he asked, surprised.
"About two hours at least. You need to take better care of your wings...Gabriel," she said without looking up.
Loki blinked, before he chuckled. He wasn't exactly being discreet about his real self around her. Something about the girl went through all of his defenses. He had no idea why, but he relaxed around her more than he ever had, even with his brothers.
"What's that song you're humming?"
She looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"It's a song by a singer who goes by Train, and it's called 'Calling All Angels'," she said.
Loki grinned. Her original personality which had been hidden behind her miserable and goth-like appearance seemed to come out more around him. It was quite amusing how much of a prankster she really was. It was really too bad that it was so well hidden.
Angel was about to take a bite from her eggs when her sense of danger went off.
She leaned to the right, and a spell went flying past her ear. Turning around, she found Draco glaring at her for reasons she had no idea about. Aside from general dislike between them anyway.
She looked at him with a bland expression.
"Why did you just try to curse me Malfoy?" she asked calmly.
"I bet you think you're better than us, don't you? Filthy half breed bitch," sneered Malfoy.
Angel didn't bother to react. Reacting would only make things worse, as she had learned the hard way. However she could still make a snappy comeback.
"And what does that say about you? Your very name tells the world that your word cannot be trusted," she said calmly. She hexed Ron and Hermione silent. They would only ruin her fun.
"What did you say you whore?" snarled Draco.
"Malfoy, a French family whose very name means 'Bad Faith'. By that very definition the word of your or your father cannot be held as good without certain...collateral...put into place. You claim to be superior to us Brits, yet you're nothing more than a little worm who had to flee France because of the fact that someone of superior breeding had chased you out, all because your ancestor had no honor to hold his end of a bargain. Fluer Delacour was very talkative about where the name Malfoy came from Draco...who knew that your ancestors were just as spineless and full of shit as you are now?" she said coldly.
The entire hall was silent at those words. Angel had just challenged Draco's honor, and the honor of his entire line. If Draco left that go unchallenged, then he would be in trouble with his own house. On the other hand, Angel had definitely scored major pureblood brownie points by countering his accusations and trouncing her 'rival' and his honor to the ground.
"Honor Duel, tomorrow at dinner!" snarled Draco.
"I accept, bad faith," she said coldly.
And with that, the school was abuzz with this new development.
"Angel, how could you do that?" hissed Hermione, who had finally broken the charm to keep her quiet.
"I've had it up to here with Malfoy and his gang. In case you haven't noticed Hermione, Draco practically has this entire school wrapped around his finger because Dumbledore is too much of a damn pacifist to actually do anything to antagonize someone he might be able to redeem later," spat Angel.
Ron had finally given up on trying to break the charm. Angel wasn't interested in hearing his offer to be her second or his attempts to dissuade her. She had goaded Draco with the intent to insure that he actually came to this duel, unlike the first time which Ron had so idiotically gotten her into.
She had read up on duels after that incident, and she had been furious that Ron had accepted it for her when it wasn't his decision to make. It was just good luck that Draco was too much of a coward to challenge her directly and had backed out.
Angel had to keep herself from hexing Hermione again to get her to shut up. Why couldn't she understand that she had enough of Malfoy's attitude? Didn't she notice that not one teacher had stood up to punish the ass for trying to curse her in the middle of the damn Great Hall? Not even McGonagall had raised her voice about it.
"So sister of ours," said Fred.
"Who's going to be your second?" asked George.
Honor duels allowed for a second in the event of death, and there was little doubt who Draco would chose. Judging by the look on Snape's face, he was hoping for the chance to hurt her.
"Oi Gabe, you want in?" she called down the table.
Loki sauntered over with a smirk.
The Weasly twins grinned evilly. Who better to put Malfoy and Snape in their place than the god noted for putting arrogant tossers in their place?
"So you want me as your second?"
"Hell yes! Do you have any idea how long I've waited to put Malfoy in his place? Best of all Dumbledore can't exactly trick you into trying to convince me to forget about this nonsense. As my Second you would be the only one able to talk to me once the duel starts."
Loki clapped his hands in glee. He was so going to have fun with this.
On another continent...
He smiled. It seemed that allowing those twins to find the spell to summon his favorite had done exactly what he had hoped it would. Gabriel might like to play the Trickster and summon those fake girls, but he knew his son better than most. His youngest needed someone to keep him in line, and he really felt guilty for allowing the magicals to find out how to create those damn soul containers. Boy had Death been pissed when he found out that they could make them by sacrificing an innocent and thus make his job even harder than it needed to be.
Angel Potter was in need of saving, and Gabriel needed someone to trust. He had been alone for far too long, and it was almost time for things to come to a head between Lucifer and Micheal. Gabriel would need her help in order to stay alive long enough to see this through.
And Gabriel was her reward. Angel had been put through so much, her soul and sanity nearly ready to break under the pressure. She needed someone who saw her for herself and didn't expect anything from her. Her habit of cleaning feathers had been a bonus he had cultivated once he had made Hedwig dirty enough for the by-now ingrained OCD to kick in. Once she realized how soothing it was to keep her pet clean, her nature took care of the rest.
Seeing her able to put Gabriel at ease enough to let her clean all six of his wings and put him to sleep only made slipping the bond much easier. It would be entertaining once they found that out.