"If I have to wear a bloody collar to keep this planet safe, it's going to have a little dignity." He bared his teeth at Harry and Sirius. The leather was held out to Kingsley. "I don't trust them, right now. You do it." Fury told the other black man.
Harry looked up as Hedwig deposited a letter on his desk.
"Hello, Hedwig." He said, lifting a hand to run a finger down her wing. "Where did you go? Who needed you for a delivery, huh?" He picked up the envelope and stared at it. The writing was familiar but he couldn't place who it belonged to. After opening the letter, knowing that it held no malicious magics, he spread the single page out and read it.
Hey Harry.
This is strange. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not but I wouldn't be a Gryffindor if I didn't forge ahead, blindly, now, would I?
I know this was supposed to be permanent but something seems to have gone wrong. I remember. Everything. Even the stuff that I really don't want to. And while I thought about just getting mum or Da to obliviate me again, I don't want to lose you and Mione, again.
I don't know if asking you to meet with me, is good or bad but I'm just selfish to want it, anyway.
Can we meet somewhere? You choose, you need to take security in account, more than I do, anyway.
Ron.
"Oh, Lord…" Harry's eyes widened as he read.
"Something important, love?" Hermione asked, entering the room.
Harry didn't answer, just handed the letter to his wife.
"Oh, my…" She whispered, before looking up. "What do you want to do?"
"Expecto patronum…" Harry whispered and waited until a familiar stag filled the room.
"Long time since I've seen Prongs." Hermione commented.
"Message to Ron." The stag shuddered and opened its mouth. "Hey. Go to the twins' shop. Tell them I sent you." He nodded and the stag leapt through the nearest wall. "Ron wouldn't know Ares, so I felt Prongs was best to send." He answered Hermione's question. "Expecto patronum…" Ares emerged from his wand in a burst of sparks. "Message to Gred and Forge." The eagle opened its beak. "Ron's on his way to the shop, bring him to the cottage, please." He nodded and Ares swooped away.
"You know the twins are going to freak out at that?" Hermione laughed.
"Serves them right." Harry grinned. "Giving Peony and Sage that darkness powder to take to school? Not on."
"I think McGonagall's chewing out made that clear." Hermione laughed before sobering. "He's going to be younger. So much younger than us…"
Harry did some rough math in his head. "Twenty-two. He's just twenty-two."
Two hours later, Harry held his wife as they watched Ron vanish in the green flames of floo powder.
"That went well." She said.
"Yeah…" Harry nodded. "It was good to see him." He paused. "Not just see him… but see him… If you get what I mean?"
"I do, love." Hermione answered. "Ron not Donnie."
"Yeah."
"Dad…?" A young voice called. "Uncle Bucky's here, says it's important."
"Oh, what now…? Harry sighed but went looking for the owner of the voice and Bucky. "Hey, what trouble are you up to, now?" He asked his honorary godfather.
"No trouble. Not me." Bucky said. "We've had a message from Asgard, they want a meeting, I thought I'd pass it along and bring Castor over, he and Sage can compare notes on which broom they're allowed to have, in second year, and which quidditch position its best for."
"Madam Hooch banning professional brooms still causing a fuss?" Harry asked.
"Yep." Bucky grinned.
"What time is the Asgard meeting?" Hermione asked.
"Four o'clock." Bucky answered.
"Four? You leaving Castor here for the night, too?"
"If you don't mind?" Bucky grinned. "Halley and Celeste are staying over with Josie and Mandy, Remus said they'd have the girls this weekend and we get them next weekend."
"And Regulus?" Harry asked.
"He and Daniel moved into their flat, yesterday." Bucky answered. "So far, so good."
"So, you want to have a child-free night?" Hermione nodded, answering her own question.
"Please…?" Bucky tried the puppy eyes, knowing that they wouldn't have any effect on Hermione.
Harry sat with Phil, Kingsley, Peggy, Steve, Sirius and Bucky, all of them watching the massively enlarged mirror, waiting for either Odin or Frigga to activate a mirror at their end. A few seconds past two o'clock, the mirror went dark before lighting up with colour that bled into an image of Odin and Frigga sitting on a lush sofa, in front of a large window.
"Greetings, my friends." Odin nodded to them regally.
"Greetings, Odin, King of Asgard." Phil smiled. "And Lady Frigga, Queen of the Golden Realm."
"Director." Frigga smiled at Phil. "You look well recovered."
"My thanks to you, for allowing Lady Eir to render assistance in my healing." Phil replied.
"I shall pass your appreciation along." Frigga said. "I know that it will be well received."
"How are our sons?" Odin asked.
"Haven't they contacted you lately?" Harry frowned. "I gave them both mirrors, so they could."
"They have." Odin answered. "But they tell tales of their friends and the goings on around them, not of how they fare."
"And we would welcome an outsider's opinion." Frigga asked.
"Oh, okay." Harry nodded in understanding. "Both are doing well, settling in. We've been working mostly on natural disaster recovery. The storm season in the southern hemisphere was bad this year, so we're lending a hand to repair infrastructure and for emergency recovery."
"They're getting along well with their teammates, so far no real personality conflicts." Sirius added. "Loki did have a bit of an issue, as far as magic is concerned. He's very much used to being the strongest magic user and that's not the case, here. It came as a bit of a shock."
"And Thor had to be reminded that a visiting dignitary, which he essentially is, should abide by the traditions and customs of the place he finds himself in." Phil added.
"Not to mention, he's a good deal stronger, physically, than our people." Peggy said. "If he wanted a wrestling or sparring partner, it would be best for him to stick to Steve and Bucky. No-one else is sturdy enough to not get injured. But he's listening, which is more than I can say for many trainees."
"He always listened." Frigga nodded. "Didn't always hear, but he listened."
"We noticed." Harry laughed. "Hermione and Jane have pulled him up a few times and forced him to listen and actually hear them."
"That is good hear." Odin nodded, his smile small but genuine. "We also have news."
The Earth-bound watchers sat forward and focused on the king of Asgard.
"We let it be known that the Mind Stone and the Space Stone are beyond the grasp of mortal beings." Odin said. "We implied that Earth and the Initiative destroyed the sceptre, not knowing what it was you destroyed. Not knowing about the Mind Stone. And that the Space Stone had been damaged while on Earth and that it had not survived the return journey to Asgard. We waited for a week before letting a lesser guard 'slip' and say that we had destroyed the Reality Stone, which has been stored here, in a semi-liquid form, for many centuries. We consulted with the norns and created an illusion of the Aether, as the liquid Stone was called. Then it was simply a case of altering the illusion to have the liquid boiled into nothing, by casting it into a star."
"It was a little more involved than that." Frigga chided. "But that's what the guard told people."
"And the Warriors Three have been sprouting tales of the Master of Death having been spotted in on the branches of Yggdrasil." Odin said. "Heimdall has told of the Master's displeasure at his servant being forced into giving up their free time to attend to all the untimely and unscheduled deaths."
"We have had a visit from the Collector's assistant who, after many drinks, admitted that these rumours had reached the Nowhere Installation." Frigga added. "It spread like wildfire from there. Reported sightings of the Master of Death have exploded across the galaxy. Those that have near-death experiences, tell of meeting the Master. They describe you quite badly, Harry. Most tell of a tall pale man, with eyes the colour of fire or ice, some have the Master being pale haired, others say the colour of blood. All agree that the Master is not happy that Death is being over-whelmed with additional unscheduled work. Some even say that Death itself has complained to the Master, that they have no free time to spare the newly arrived souls. Which is why so many are being returned to life."
"Whoa…" Harry whispered.
"We have heard, via means and people that I prefer not to acknowledge in polite company," Odin nodded politely to Peggy, "that these tales have reached even Thanos on Titan. He is reputed to have slaughtered hundreds of beings before having heard that even Death had complained. At which point he stopped and locked himself away for days on end, studying the tales and rumours. Our… informant was able to verify to Thanos that the rumours of the Stones' destruction had come directly from the palace, here on Asgard. Thanos went to the norns and demanded to know if it was true, if the Stones had been destroyed. The norns, for some reason, known only to themselves, told him that the Stones were beyond their sight."
"In a way that is true." Harry said. "They can't really see them, locked away as they are."
"Exactly." Odin nodded. "Thanos took that as confirmation of the Stones' destruction. He then went on a rant about the universe population outstripping the available resources. The norns chided him and said that the universe is a part of a plan and what will happen is the will of the Great Designer. It would be many millions of eons before the Designer's plan would come to fruition. Thanos is reputed to have questioned them for hours on the Designer's plan, eventually, he got the information he wanted and left."
"Is he going to be a problem?" Phil asked.
"No." Odin answered. "He returned to Titan and ordered his army disbanded. The chitauri were sent back to their home world and forbidden to leave the planet without Thanos' permission. His daughters were released to travel the universe wherever they would, to learn of the peoples and worlds they encountered. And to send back all tales of the Master of Death and his servant. Thanos plans to be the greatest expert on the Master. He plans to ensure that the Master is content with his servant's duties. Something the norns implied, could affect the length and success of the Designer's plan."
"Oh, dear Lord…" Harry whispered.
"Our informant attended many meetings with Thanos." Odin went on. "The impression she came away with was that Thanos would work diligently to see that nothing disrupted the Designer's plan for the universe. The norns and whatever information they gave, changed Thanos' plans completely."
"Well, that's good for us." Peggy said.
"Indeed, it is." Odin nodded. "No more will he hang over us. No longer do we need fear him acquiring the Infinity Stones. No longer do we need fear the Stones being used."
"We are free to enjoy the Designer's plan for the universe unfolding as the Designer planned." Frigga added.
"So… All we have to worry about are our home-bred dark lords…" Harry sighed in pleasure.
"Oh, there is still the possibility of off-world attacks." Frigga said. "But nothing at the level of Thanos."
"Many will take Thanos' lead and turn their attentions to other amusements." Odin said. "But yes, there will always be those that strive to conquer. But few of them are as… resolute… as Thanos."
"No-one's quite the big bad that he is, huh?" Sirius asked.
"No." Odin shook his head.
"With no Thanos hunting for the Stones, we can get on with the job of protecting the people of Earth." Kingsley said. "Our people can concentrate on helping here. That's not to say that we won't still pay attention to what's happening off-world, we will and we'll keep our training as up-to-date as we can, just in case."
"Yes." Odin nodded. "Midgard is a much safer place, now that Thanos believes the Stones destroyed."
"Well, in that case…?" Harry grinned. "I have a house full of kids, not all of them are mine, and I think that I'd like to spend some time with them."
"Ah, I do miss having children around." Frigga said.
"You're always welcome to come down for a visit." Harry said. "We're a bit basic, by Asgardian standards, but you wouldn't be sleeping on the ground."
"Something to think about, my dear." Odin nodded to Frigga.
"Not now, dear." Frigga said. "Let our sons settle a little longer. Perhaps for Yule?"
"Dad?" Harry's son flopped down onto the seat beside him.
"What's up, Sage?" Harry glanced up from his report and seeing the serious expression on his son's face, laid down his pen.
"Um…? We… um…" Sage looked down at his lap.
"Sage?" Harry turned from his desk.
"We had visits from Gringotts as well as Barclays, just before term ended." The first-year student said. "As we were leaving, the goblin asked me to speak to you about the Potter Lordship, something about vaults being dormant."
"Ah." Harry grunted. "I keep forgetting to go in and ask about it." He glanced up at the clock. "Two o'clock. Plenty of time before dinner. What's say we go and speak to the goblins now and find out what I need to do claim the Lordship, properly?"
"I though you had." Sage asked. "Everyone at the Ministry call 'Lord Potter'?"
"No." Harry shook his head. "I never got around to it. And the Ministry people are idiots, for the most part. They know that only Lady Magic can bestow a Lordship on someone, but they still open their mouths and make idiots of themselves."
"Oh…"
"So, let's go, now." Harry stood up. "My report can wait until tomorrow, it's not that important."
"And a Lordship is?" Sage knew that Harry and Hermione didn't put a lot of importance on rankings.
"Not really." Harry shrugged. "But it's never good to ignore the goblins. If they spoke to you and raised the subject, it's time to do something about it."
"Oh, okay." Sage stood up and leant against Harry.
"And we should see about a split investment vault for you, too." Harry said. "I'm not keen on you using your trust vault for investments, if you're going to play the stockmarket with Tony."
"Ooh, yes please, dad." Sage's face brightened.
The goblin looked at Harry and nodded.
"Please allow me a few minutes to locate the Potter Charter." It was not a question but an order phrased as a request.
The goblin vanished through a door, leaving Harry and Sage blinking at each other.
"Is that… normal, dad?"
"He was a little more… adamant… than I expected, but otherwise? Yeah, pretty much." Harry answered. "Goblins don't mess around, son, they like to get down to business pretty quick. Time wasted is worse than gold, badly managed."
"Right." Sage made a mental note to never waste a goblin's time.
The goblin returned carrying a simple wooden box, bearing the rearing lion that the Potter line shared with the Gryffindor family.
"Mr Harrington James Potter." The goblin laid the box on the table in front of Harry. "Place your hand on the lion and state your name and intent to claim the Potter Lordship."
"Err… I had intended to just ask what was involved in claiming the Lordship, not actually doing the claiming, today." Harry said in confusion.
"As I said." The goblin huffed. "Place your hand on the lion and state your intent to claim the Potter Lordship."
"That's it? I thought there was a lot more to it than that?"
"Lady Magic decides what each Lord must do." The goblin said. "Beside your name is written the directive I have passed to you."
"Well…" Harry glanced at his son. "It seems as though Lady Magic is pleased with us Potters." Sage grinned at his dad. "Let's hope it stays that way. Huh, son?"
"Yes, dad."