CHAPTER 8:
COPING
He needed some air after that little revelation. He needed to get away from Dumbledore too, given his lingering anger towards the old bastard. Lily had also excused herself, deciding that she needed to vent her own feelings in private.
Which was why Harry was walking through a park Rossweisse took him to. It was her suggestion, and he was grateful for it. While he would rather have been by himself for this, Rossweisse was effectively looking after him, and he wasn't sure where he needed to go in Asgard.
As they sat down at a bench, Harry looked around. "You know," he said, voicing his thoughts out loud, "if it weren't for all the fantasy stuff, this could be a park in any city around the world."
Rossweisse nodded. "I come here myself at times when being at the library isn't enough to calm me. I'd ask how you're feeling, but I'm pretty sure it's not remotely good."
"…You can say that again," Harry said quietly. "…Rossweisse…answer me honestly…how bad is Loki?"
Rossweisse leaned back, looking at the sky, mulling over the answer for a time. "I genuinely don't know. To be fair, a lot of what you may have heard about him from myth and legend is true, and he disappeared before I was born. Not all of it, and he has helped Asgard before. But he has a bad reputation. That being said, Loki was a genius when it came to magic. Many of the books I have studied were written by him. And he is said to be a doting father to Lady Hel, the ruler of our underworld."
"And yet…if what Brynhildr thinks is true…then he effectively raped my mother, not to mention controlling Dumbledore, and then he abandoned me. I mean, he wouldn't have been killed by the Killing Curse, right?"
"I doubt it. It would affect me, yes, but it wouldn't kill me unless I was hit by it enough times," Rossweisse said. "Harry…I'm not sure what I can say that can comfort you. I'll be honest, I don't really have any friends my age, and the friends I have end up comforting me, not the other way around. But…while we've known each other for only a short time, like I told you before, I'm pretty certain you're a good person. You are not Loki, you are not James Potter. You are Harry Potter."
They could have been hollow platitudes. But Rossweisse was wrong. She was decent enough at comforting him, or at least she made a good effort.
Still, while she was making a good effort, it was pretty cold comfort. He'd gone through so much this past week, no, this past year. He was still trying to hold himself together.
For a brief moment, he wondered what Lily, or the one claiming to be her, was doing. He found himself opening a link to her by instinct. And promptly regretted it when he heard what had to be part of rather nightmarish musings.
…Will shove a shillelagh covered in tabasco where only colorectal surgeons dare to tread, sideways. And as for Day 11, well, for starters, I'm going to take a rusty pair of scissors, and use it to cut Loki's…
He hastily shut the link down. He didn't need his brain given any more nightmare fuel. Rossweisse must have noticed his startled look, so he said to her, "Don't ask."
"…Very well," she said, nonplussed. "I'll take your word for it." She looked up at the sky once more. "In many ways, your problems dwarf mine. I guess I needed to meet you to get that perspective. I mean, my family's not exactly well-off, I can't inherit the family magic, and I get bullied for wanting to study instead of trying to get a boyfriend. But…you've had it a lot worse. And yet, you keep on going. Well, if nothing else, you have your mother, at least."
Harry looked at his hand, currently bereft of the Sacred Gear. "Jury's still out on whether it's her, or even if that's a good thing if she is."
"If she did do that to protect you, it was a brave thing to do, if extremely reckless. Such soul magic is appallingly dangerous. In fact, the art of creating Sacred Gears was supposed to be the sole province of the God of the Bible, though as we have discussed before, Azazel, the leader of the Fallen Angels, is an expert in the area. That your mother managed it and survived is a miracle. Still…it was probably the only way she could protect you and get out from under Loki's thumb as well."
"Maybe," Harry conceded reluctantly.
Of course, the moment was spoiled when a certain sneering voice made itself known. "And what are you doing here?"
Rossweisse groaned softly. "It's none of your business, Sanngridr."
"I'm making it my business when the Spinster Valkyrie's emerging from her burrow," the blonde Valkyrie sneered, being accompanied by a pair of hangers-on. God, she really was like Malfoy, only instead of having a pair of vat-grown minions, she had a pair of bimbos.
"Stop calling her that," Harry said, his anger now having a somewhat righteous target.
"Or what? You're just some punk human wizard who's got some Jotunn blood in him. That doesn't mean you can stand up to a real Valkyrie," Sanngridr retorted.
"I dunno. The only real Valkyrie I see at the moment is the one I'm sitting next to."
"Ooh, snap," one of Sanngridr's hangers-on murmured with a wince.
Sanngridr scowled. She seemed about to attack, before forcibly calming herself. "You're wrong, of course. But what are you doing here?"
Harry didn't realise that his Sacred Gear had manifested until he heard Lily's voice say, "Isn't it obvious? They're on a date."
Harry and Rossweisse froze. Harry heard Lily's voice say into his mind, Play along, okay? Hopefully, this will get this trio of tarts off Rossweisse's back.
Harry hoped that Rossweisse would get with the program, so he said, "If you must know, she's right. We are on a date. And you three are being gooseberries." He held up a hand and began waving it in a dismissive gesture. "Shoo. Shoo."
There was a brief pause, before Sanngridr exploded, "BULLSHIT! There is no way in Hel that the Spinster Valkyrie would ever have any boy, or girl for that matter, interested in her!"
Rossweisse, to her credit, rallied, and gave Sanngridr a wonderfully condescending smirk, presumably giving the bitch a much-deserved taste of her own medicine. "You know, I've never seen your face turn that particular shade, Sanngridr. Are you sure you're in good health? I'd suggest seeing Lady Eir, just in case."
After a moment, Sanngridr snarled, "You think you're so clever, don't you?"
"I don't think, I know."
"Now, now, Rossweisse, don't enter into a battle of wits with her," Lily added. "It's not fair because she came woefully unarmed."
"And what the fuck are you?" Sanngridr demanded.
"Hi there, I'm Harry's Sacred Gear, Weregild Lilja," Lily said with faux-cheeriness. "And honestly, I thought that Asgard would be free from the likes of you. Colour me surprised. Now, bugger off and leave them alone. Shoo, shoo."
For a moment, Sanngridr's face was twisted into a paroxysm of fury, before she sneered, "You two are meant for each other. A part-Jotunn monster with a mouthy Sacred Gear, and a stuck-up prude of a Valkyrie who can't learn her family's magic. I guess freaks and failures flock together." And with that, she turned and stormed away, her hangers-on in tow.
After a moment, Rossweisse glared at Lily. "D-D-D-Date?!" she hissed incredulously.
"Well, for one, I hoped it would get that bitch off your backs," Lily said, giving the impression of shrugging. "For another, honestly, I know you've known each other for less than a week, but you look cute together. And…well, I know what it's like to be tormented just for being the smartest girl in the room," she added solemnly. "Honestly, if people like her are part of your Valkyries, it lowers the tone. God, she reminds me of what Narcissa Black was like when she wasn't married to Malfoy. I only saw her a couple of times at Hogwarts, she was five years above me, but still, mostly a bitch with a few redeeming features."
"I've probably made her a widow unless Malfoy was the one to get away," Harry mused.
"Yes, but…a d-d-date?" Rossweisse demanded. She was blushing intensely, and Harry had to admit, despite her embarrassment, she looked utterly adorable then.
"Hey, it'll make them jealous. Besides, you're a teenage boy and girl, sitting together in a park, that's one of the ways a date could be held. You two seem to be getting along well. Even if you don't go any further than that, well, you're pretty much friends already." Lily chuckled. "And to think my son has become friends with a Valkyrie, of all people. Anyway, I'd better stop being a gooseberry myself. Bye!"
As the Sacred Gear receded away, Harry grimaced. "Sorry about that."
"No, no, it's not your fault," Rossweisse said hastily, even as she continued to blush. "I just…I just need a moment."
"Okay. Take your time…"
How embarrassing! How very bloody embarrassing! Rossweisse couldn't believe the audacity of that Sacred Gear! Seriously, she wanted to be invisible right now, because her blush was a major giveaway to how embarrassed she was.
The sad thing was, she couldn't even be that angry. Lily, assuming that was her, had meant well in suggesting that to keep Sanngridr off her back, and she twigged to that. Honestly, she did it mostly to put one over Sanngridr and piss her off something fierce into the bargain.
But then, Lily decided to say all those insinuations. That was embarrassing. Though it paled in comparison to when she got caught by her classmates in a Max20 or variety store in Oslo when they had been shopping in the more expensive stores. Mortifying didn't even cover how she felt about that little episode. And they didn't care about the wonderful little things you could find cheaply at a Max20 store.
And true, she did actually want a boyfriend, and to go on dates. She just thought it wouldn't be compatible with her current lifestyle. Once she had finished her training and education, then she'd be able to find a boyfriend at her leisure, she hoped. Of course, Brynhildr was an example of a Valkyrie who hadn't managed to get a boyfriend, at least in the last few decades, but she was also an exemplar, one to emulate.
There was always the fear, in the end, that she would end up a spinster, just like her bullies liked to torment her with. And she certainly didn't want to die alone and unloved (by anyone outside her family, anyway). But she had her priorities, dammit! Finding a boyfriend could wait!
And yet, she thought to herself as she tried to calm herself down, it might not be so bad with Harry. True, she'd known him for less than a week, and that wasn't quite enough to base any substantial relationship on, even friendship. And yet, his kindness and understanding were something that was lacking outside of her family. The seeds of friendship had been sown, she hoped, and prayed that she wasn't merely deluding herself.
And would it develop into anything more? Rossweisse was not an idiot, and as much as her own family exhorted her to find a boyfriend at times, they also clarified that by pointing out that it wasn't so easy. After all, Asgard was a hedonistic culture where physical or magical power held a premium. Now, Harry was nowhere near her level of intelligence, but not only was he far from stupid, he didn't seem remotely intimidated by her intellect. Of course, having now met Hermione and gotten some measure of her, Rossweisse could see why. The girl had questioned her at great length when she had the opportunity to.
She was willing to at least see if they could be friends. The fact that she was already on good terms with him helped. From there, she would see where it went.
Eventually, she managed to get her embarrassment under control. "Sorry about that," Rossweisse said quietly.
"No, no, it's fine," Harry said. "So, what do you want to do next? Unless you want to stay here?"
After a moment, Rossweisse shook her head. "I need to vent a little. Let's go to the training hall nearby…"
The training hall looked closer to an indoor arena. Rossweisse was using magic circles to summon up a bunch of what looked like mannequins, scores of them. Then, afterwards, light enveloped her, and she was in her Valkyrie uniform. He tried not to stare at that lovely armoured leotard hugging her figure in all the right ways.
"Stay behind me," she said, her tone brooking no argument. Rossweisse then closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, before flinging her arms above her head and spreading them out. Suddenly, dozens of magic circles appeared in mid-air behind her in an array. And, with a snarl from Rossweisse, they began spitting out jets of energy of all colours. He realised with a start that the jets included bolts of flame, lightning, water and ice.
The mannequins were annihilated within seconds. If that had been an army of people, they would have been wiped out. Rossweisse exhaled, dismissing the magic circles. Harry just stared at the shattered remains of the mannequins. And this was the kind of magic power she could command? And those idiots teased her? "…Can all Valkyries do that?"
"Few my age can do that. And I was holding back considerably," Rossweisse said. Her tone was matter-of-fact, with no boasting or bragging in it. "I view this as therapy, as well as a test of my control over my runic circles while under emotional strain. I honestly need to do this more often than I should. So…one of these days, once you've distanced yourself from the events in the graveyard, we can come here to help you vent."
"What?"
Rossweisse turned to Harry. "I won't expect you to do so now, Harry. Aside from killing those Death Eaters, you just learned that the source of your powers is probably Loki, and also that he may have raped your mother. I…I cannot imagine what that feels like, Harry. But…when you're ready…we can come down here to help you practise your Jotunn abilities, to say nothing of that Sacred Gear."
Harry, after a moment, looked to the mannequins. Given his anger from earlier, to say nothing of nearly losing control over his Jotunn powers, he was tempted to ask Rossweisse to begin such training. But the slaughter he had caused still haunted him. It would probably haunt him for some time.
So, he said, "Thanks, Rossweisse. When the time comes, I hope you can help me with this."
"I'll be glad to help, Harry," the silver-haired Valkyrie said with a smile. "But would you like a further demonstration of my abilities?"
"Why not?" Harry asked. He knew that, despite his astonishment at her power, he was in for one hell of a show. If nothing else, it could prove interesting to watch…
CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:
So, we've come to the end of the first big arc in this story. We'll be doing a series of timeskips over the next few chapters, until we come to High School DxD canon.
Review-answering time! Guest and bahnannah: Exactly. Snape is a selfish, self-obsessed man whose love for Lily is a very self-centred one. True, he clearly held enough of a torch for her to try and save Harry and stop Voldemort, but this was very grudgingly, and while I can allow for more positive characterisations of Snape (one of my first firm favourites in fanfic was the late Arsinoe de Blassenville's The Best Revenge, which is the best Severitus fanfic, IMO, alongside Maybe I'm Amazed by Alethea27), I personally think he is an unrepentant bully who took great delight in hurting the son of his hated enemy and his former love interest-turned-fap material. Of course, Alan Rickman did a good job in humanising him, hence the proliferation of Severitus fics, so it's a complex issue to some degree.
No numbered annotations this time.
