CHAPTER 3:

DREAD

"Is there nothing you can do, Lord Odin?" Rossweisse asked, just outside Harry's guest quarters. It pained her to leave him alone during this time, but she needed some answers before she could go back and try to comfort him. No mean feat for someone who was a complete stranger.

Odin sighed. "Theoretically, I could strongarm those dickheads into pardoning Harry, but that won't stop the survivors from targeting him. And knowing Fudge, the moment my back is turned, he'd immediately go back on any pardon or concession I force out of him. The best course is to weather the storm."

"Why is that?"

Brynhildr sighed. "From what I know, Fudge relied on a lot of political support from the Purebloods, especially the so-called ex-Death Eaters. He almost certainly pocketed bribe money. With a good swathe of his supporters gone, the balance of power in the British Wizengamot has changed considerably, and given his actions, he may be facing a No Confidence vote. And if Harry is lucky, then Fudge will be replaced by someone more willing to give him a fair hearing, in theory, anyway. In practise, the wizarding world is filled with a lot of nepotism and palm-greasing, and even if Fudge is replaced, his successor may not be any better. I can only name a few possible successors off the top of my head. Amelia Bones is a likely possibility, and Harry's best chance at a pardon, while her immediate underling, Rufus Scrimgeour, is a bit of a hidebound fool, but he's leagues above Fudge. But there are others who might be troublesome."

Rossweisse nodded, digesting this. "…What of his Sacred Gear? I know you told me not to discuss it yet, he's got enough on his plate, but…when can I bring it up?"

"Once he's calmed down a little," Odin said. "Considering what happened, you've done a damn good job keeping him calm…well, relatively speaking. But considering you aren't currently undergoing the dubious pleasures of icicle sodomy, I'd consider that a job well done so far."

Rossweisse grimaced. "Need you be so crude, Lord Odin?"

"See, this prudish attitude of yours is infecting your protégé, Brynhildr! She'll never get laid at this rate!" Brynhildr simply slapped Odin upside the head, even as Rossweisse recoiled from the insult. "Ow! Grow a sense of humour, would ya?!"

"How Rossweisse chooses to spend her time is her own business. At least she is spending it productively instead of making out with vacuous muscleheads," Brynhildr said frostily. "I do not expect my other rookies to follow her work ethic completely, but they could stand to learn by her example."

"Spoilsport," Odin grumbled, before returning his attention to Rossweisse. "I'll leave it to your judgement when to tell Harry about his Sacred Gear. I've never seen one like that in my life, so I'll probably have to call in a favour from Azazel to see if I can have it identified. It's not the Boosted Gear, though. No sense of anything draconic, so we can eliminate a whole swathe of them. We're working to bring his friends here as soon as possible, to help reassure them. We'll also need to find a way to track down and get rid of Voldemort's Horcruxes, otherwise, that snake-faced fucker is going to come back like the mutant offspring of a draugr(1) and a cockroach. Rossweisse, you can help formulate a ritual, inbetween babysitting Harry and your dissertation. I'll send over what books I have about Horcruxes and related soul magic."

"Very well, Lord Odin. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing that concerns you. Well, except for one thing." Odin's gaze became piercing, but solemn. "Keep him calm, and happy, as much as you can. Leaving aside what he did in that graveyard, he's still a kid, traumatised by killing. True, he killed douchebags, and he knows it, but what happened was a slaughter that Harry is normally not capable of. That sort of thing scars people. Befriend him if you can. Even if he's able to go home, he'll have made a friend out of it. Hell, you could do with one yourself."

Rossweisse grimaced at the reminder, though to be fair, most of her peers looked down upon her for her impoverished background, as well as her work ethic and intelligence. She couldn't really even be said to have any real friends. Family, yes, family that cared about her, but friends?


After Rossweisse had left with Odin and Brynhildr for now, Harry took the opportunity to have a shower. The hot water helped mitigate some of the anxiety and dread he felt, but it couldn't wash away the blood that stained his hands, metaphorically. As Odin had noted, it wasn't the fact that he had killed Death Eaters that bothered Harry. It was the sheer brutality of the mass slaughter. It was not like him to act like that. Yes, he'd gotten angry before, he had lost his temper before, but this was not like him.

It wasn't the first time he had killed someone. He remembered Quirrel's face burning and blistering beneath his grasp. And then, there was that diary of Voldemort's, the one Rossweisse claimed was a Horcrux. To think, Harry had killed a piece of Voldemort's soul. The thought brought a vicious smirk to his face briefly. And he remembered swearing to kill Sirius when he learned that the man had been the one to betray his parents, or so everyone had thought. And he would have done it too.

But this was different. He had lost control, and slaughtered the Death Eaters in a monstrous manner. Even the thought that they would have killed him otherwise was cold comfort. Self-defence didn't involve such a massacre.

He lingered under the hot water for too long, before leaving the shower. Some clothing had been left for him earlier, basic shirt and trousers, so he dressed in those. And then, he just sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands morosely.

But then, something occurred to him. When the Valkyries found him, he had a gauntlet over his right arm. Red and gold, with an emerald over the back of the hand. He stared at his right hand.

He barely noticed the door opening, until he heard Rossweisse speak. "How are you feeling?"

"…Not that great, though you knew that," Harry said to her. "Rossweisse…for some reason, I had some weird gauntlet thing over my hand. Did you guys take it off me?"

Rossweisse seemed to cringe, before she said, "No. That gauntlet, in all likelihood, is a part of you. I wasn't going to tell you about this until I was sure you felt better, but…if you want, I can tell you about what we think it is."

After a moment, Harry said, "Okay, hit me. It might help distract me from…well, what happened."

"…The gauntlet thing is probably something called a Sacred Gear," Rossweisse said. "Sacred Gears are artifacts bound to the soul of humans and those with human heritage, creations of the God of the Bible, in order to give humans an advantage against the supernatural. They are rare, but they grant extraordinary powers, and so, are coveted. The Biblical Factions in particular try to recruit the current bearers of the various Sacred Gears where possible. Superficially, your Sacred Gear resembled two of the more infamous Sacred Gears, those with draconic power: the Twice-Critical, which doubles the power of the wielder for a period of time…and the Boosted Gear."

"…The Boosted Gear?" Harry asked.

"Unlike a Twice-Critical, the Boosted Gear is considerably more versatile. It will double your strength every ten seconds until your physical limits are reached. Wielders have been known to project that energy as attacks, or share that energy to boost the power of their allies. They even can gain armour if they reach the Balance Breaker form of that Sacred Gear. According to history, the Boosted Gear and its cousin, the Divine Dividing, have the souls of the Heavenly Dragons, Ddraig and Albion, sealed within them. They were sealed during the Great War for causing more destruction than the war itself in their rivalry. The God of the Bible sealed them in those two Sacred Gears, and their bearers have been known as the Red Dragon Emperor and the White Dragon Emperor since."

"…But the way you spoke…this Sacred Gear thing I have isn't either of them?" Harry asked.

"No. Even a freshly-awoken Twice-Critical would reek of draconic energy. We detected nothing of the sort, and besides, I've seen a picture of the Boosted Gear once before. Your Sacred Gear looks different enough. Probably just as well. The Boosted Gear is one of the most coveted Sacred Gears, being a Longinus. I heard that the White Dragon Emperor is a member of the Grigori, the main group of the Fallen Angels. And the Red and White Dragon Emperors are supposedly destined to carry on the Heavenly Dragons' original feud, battling to the death."

Harry, after a moment's thought, decided that was a good thing. He'd just killed Voldemort, he didn't need another powerful archenemy out for his blood. But then, another thing occurred to him. "Longinus?"

"Certain Sacred Gears are powerful enough to be a threat to gods, and so are named Longinuses, after the Roman soldier whose spear was used to pierce Jesus Christ's body," Rossweisse explained.

Harry nodded, though he said, "I…I'm still coming to terms with the fact that gods exist. And is it me, or does Odin just look like an old pervert in robes?"

"…I…Look, while Lord Odin's power is very real, and his leadership of Asgard is without peer…" Rossweisse looked away. "…He is an old pervert. But enough about that. I understand that's a shock to you, that you've gone through a lot in the past day. But I do want to help you."

"And why is that? Your orders?"

"Not just my orders, and it's little to do with you being the Boy Who Lived, either." After a moment, Rossweisse met his gaze levelly. "I joined the Valkyries not just because it was a family tradition. I joined because I wanted to protect and help others. Actually, eventually, I want to become a teacher. I'm working towards qualifications that would stand me in good stead as an English teacher in most schools. Of course, when I first arrived at that graveyard, I was horrified, and wondered what could cause that, but when I saw you…Harry, no matter what you think, you're a decent person, a good person. Helping you is the right thing to do. I can't speak for Lord Odin or even Captain Brynhildr, but that's why I want to help you. It's as simple as that."

Harry wanted to believe her. But he remembered the times he had been burned by those he could trust. Quirrel and 'Moody' turned out to be minions of Voldemort, Lockhart was a fraud, Ron had turned his back on him for a time after Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire…so trust towards someone he had known for less than a day didn't come easily, even if she was so beautiful, she rivalled a Veela in terms of beauty.

Still, it didn't mean he wasn't going to give her the benefit of the doubt. But he had been burned too many times already not to look this gift horse in the mouth. Or any other, for that matter.

Then again, he hoped maybe they could become friends. He had too few. Plus, who could say they were friends with a Valkyrie?

So, he said, "Well…I want to do something other than mope in this room. What do you do for fun around here?"

Rossweisse actually looked a bit embarrassed. "Oh, umm…I usually don't do the sort of thing my peers do. Drinking, partying, dancing…I usually read in the library, either for study or for fun. I also train myself in physical and magical combat."

"Well…do you want to go to the library, then?"

Rossweisse looked gobsmacked, before she smiled. "Sure! Let's go!"

Definitely like Hermione, Harry thought in amusement as she all but dragged him out. And her excitement was very much that of the teenager she claimed to be. He hoped that, one day, they would meet…


"You're bloody kidding me."

"No, I'm not kidding you, Azazel," Odin said, speaking into a runic circle that acted like one of those newfangled telephone things as he sat in his office.

"So…let me get this straight…Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived…he not only has Jotunn ice-manipulation abilities, but he also has a Sacred Gear? I…I just need a moment to digest this." A brief pause on the other end. Eventually, Azazel's voice came back. "Okay, so…I literally have no idea what it could be. I can't think of any Sacred Gear that manifests as a gauntlet with cryokinesis that has the same colouration as you described, off the top of my head, anyway. God tended to stick to white, grey and blue for cryokinetic Sacred Gears. So I don't think they're related."

"Neither do I. Brynhildr and Rossweisse missed something, though. I can't blame them, I did some discreet scanning of my own while taking to the lad. It's hard to tell, given that it isn't manifested, but I'm almost certain that the Sacred Gear has a human soul in it. And not a Horcrux either. There's traces of one that used to be in Harry's scar, but it's gone now. But there is a whole human soul in that Sacred Gear, I think. And I think this very Sacred Gear was used to kill Voldemort. The cold didn't kill him. No, it was something else, like a powerful curse…or perhaps like how Holy Light burns Devils. His body was only stopped from rotting away completely because of the ice used on him."

An impressed whistle came up the phone line. "Damn. Still…while I am curious as to what this Sacred Gear is, I'll wait until later to come around. The poor kid's probably utterly at sea, so if I come around, asking to look at his Sacred Gear, he'd probably not be happy. Broach the subject to him, and gently. If he agrees, I'll come over. Still…how did the Boy Who Lived gain the powers of a Jotunn?"

"I suspect the answer to that is simple. I didn't tell Brynhildr or Rossweisse, and it's probably not the time to broach it to Harry…but when I sensed the magic at Little Hangleton…it felt a lot like someone I knew. Not identical, but the signature was similar. And he disappeared decades ago, and I've been wondering what mischief he has gotten up to since. And I think I know why now: Harry Potter is his child."

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear.

1. Draugr is a Norwegian term for an undead monster. Of course, people who have played God of War (the sequel game set in Scandinavia, not in Greece) will know this.