Chapter 39: Little Red Riding Hood
Zachariah was currently pacing his office in heaven furiously. Not only had that infuriating boy outwitted him, but also his vessel was destroyed because of it. How had that brat even managed to get into hell in the first place? He didn't want to think about how he had foolishly followed him like some amateur, heaven was that embarrassing. The only good thing about the entire ordeal was that no one had witnessed his idiocy except that cretin. He could only pray that he wouldn't have to share this with anyone, he would be everyone's laughing stock.
Then there was also Dumbledore who apparently suddenly decided that it was a good idea to cross him. Oh, how that foolish pest would rue the day he met him. That he thought that he was able to best him only because he had the gift of magic made Zachariah laugh. No, Dumbledore was no threat to him though to his plans he was.
He had counted on the man's want for power and that he would get him Riddle's soul in exchange but now it looked like he had no influence over either Dumbledore or the boy to get him the soul, which he needed desperately.
The thing was that his entire cooperation with those disgusting demons depended on the delivery of that blasted soul. Why they even needed it was beyond him, it was just one soul, but it was his only way to get them to cooperate.
It was infuriating. Ever since Raphael had set him on the task of getting Lucifer out and the Winchesters to cooperate everything had gone to hell. Before, he was the best man heaven ever had. The other angels respected him…even feared him, but now? Now they laughed at him. The fall of the high and mighty they called it, and they were right. Heaven, if he couldn't even convince that stupid child to play along, how was he supposed to convince the Winchesters?
In his frustration, he punched a large hole in the wall with a growl. He needed to get things back on track again, but for that, he needed a new vessel. Slowly he began to think that the entire thing was too much of a hassle, but he would never dare to go against his superiors.
Therefore, with a plan in mind, he set off to Earth to find himself a suitable vessel.
Loki and Harry were currently strolling through a mundane shopping mall in Japan, looking for some clothes. However, Loki could feel that something was still bothering Harry.
"I honestly don't know what to do with you," Loki suddenly said with a sigh, getting a confused look from Harry over the statement. "You draw in more trouble than anyone else I've ever met."
"This coming from a trickster god who is chaos and trouble incarnate," Harry snorted. "Hypocrite much, eh?"
Loki chuckled lowly. "True. Anyway, I hope that you know that if you want to talk with me about anything at all, anything, no matter how trivial it may seem that I'll always listen."
Harry looked at the floor obviously thinking about what to say when he took a deep breath, walked over to one of the benches that stood next to the escalator and sat down.
"I know, it is just…," he began before he took another deep breath. "All I ever wanted was to be Harry…just Harry, a normal boy like everybody else. I hoped that if I was just a normal boy that my relatives would finally acknowledge me and what I did for them. Then I received my Hogwarts letter, and I learned that I never would be…could be normal, that I would always be a freak. At the same time, I hoped that maybe this time I would be accepted, that I would be normal in the magical world at least...until I learned about what happened and that stupid moniker they gave me."
"There is nothing more boring than being normal," Loki shuddered at the prospect making Harry snicker lowly. "I mean…imagine me wearing a suit, going to work every day…having a wife and a small house with a garden and a car parked in front of it…no thank you!"
Harry's snicker grew to a peal of full-blown laughter when an idea hit him. He looked at Loki in contemplation with a broad grin that made the pagan wary when said pagan suddenly wore a black suit with a white shirt and a black bowtie.
"You're right you look like a waiter," he said with another snicker.
Loki looked at him in disbelief before he walked over to a mirror to look at himself. The moment he saw what he wore he groaned.
"Really? A bowtie?" he asked in disbelief, flicking his hand and changing his clothes into something that wouldn't have been too out of place on a Woodstock festival. "Much better!"
Harry leaned against him once Loki sat down again and in return Loki placed an arm over his shoulder.
"That is what I like so much about you, you're funny, unpredictable…chaotic," Harry told him with a smile.
"But?" Loki carefully asked this sounded as if a big but was following that statement.
"I think I'm beginning to realise just how dangerous this world really is. I mean before the only dangers I knew were either Dudley when he had one of his little Harry hunting sessions or in the worst case Vernon…then you came and showed me the fun side of life, and I thought that life would be better now and I'd be safe. Until Ruby," he sighed. "Now Zachariah and…what I fear is that I may lose myself in all this."
That surprised Loki, he had thought that it was the danger Harry feared but this? No that hadn't even been anywhere near what he thought. But how to reply to that? He looked at Harry and thought about it while stroking a strand of hair out of the boy's face.
"Who do you think you are?" he finally inquired.
"I don't know…not anymore," Harry answered fiddling with the hem of Loki's shirt.
"I'll tell you then. You are a strong boy who faces danger bravely but level-headedly all the same honouring your house with it. At the same time you're cunning and solve problems with a cleverness that would very well fit into the house of the snakes not to mention your sense of self-preservation and no, this is not something bad. Then there is also your loyalty to those you deem worthy of your loyalty, and you would go any length for your friends to help them. At last, you have an insatiable thirst for knowledge that is probably bigger than most of the Ravenclaws' with an intelligence to match. I don't doubt that the founders of Hogwarts would be extremely proud of you.
"However, all that doesn't even put all the other things about you into consideration. You are a brilliant baker that would give many professionals a run for their money. You have a wicked sense of humour and I would be lying if I were to tell you that I am anything but proud of you. You have friends and family who would follow you to hell and back."
"But they don't know what I've done…not all of them," Harry muttered.
"Do you really have so little faith in your friends? Do you really think they would leave you only because of a few bumps in the road? Zachariah should be glad if they never find out what he wanted to do to you."
"I doubt that they would do anything…they're not like that," Harry interrupted him.
"Then you don't know them at all," Loki softly said. "Do you know what the twins answer was when I told them that my favourite pranking targets – that's the Winchesters by the way – were more inclined to kill me? They demanded to know who it was so that they could give them a piece of their mind."
"Yeah but they adore you," Harry grumbled looking away.
"They may adore me, but they all but adopted you," Loki placed his free hand under Harry's chin and nudged him to look at him. "Harry, open your eyes…you are not alone, not anymore, and nothing you could do would change anything about that. I know how it is for someone to have everything around you change so drastically in such a short amount of time, to have your entire world turned on its axis and yes even I thought that I was alone when it happened to me, but you can trust me when I say that you're never alone. You only have to accept that there is always someone worrying about you even in the darkest of times. As for your fear of losing yourself in the changes…I have an idea," he continues now in a brighter mood. "Answer me a question and don't think about the answer, just tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. Right now, what do you want to do?"
Harry didn't even need to think about that question, there was only one thing that he would love to do right now.
"Prank someone," he answered not missing a beat and a broad grin spreading over his face.
"There you have it, nothing changed," Loki laughed. "I actually have the perfect target for that, I wanted to introduce you two anyway so why not now and with a good old prank. Ready?"
Harry nodded. After sending their purchases to their hotel, Loki grabbed Harry's shoulder, and they both vanished.
When they reappeared, they were in the garden of a large mansion built in what seemed to be quite an old style though it looked as if it was new. To their right next to a small pond a tanned woman with long dark brown hair was sitting cross-legged and evidently meditating though she seemed to have felt their appearance because she opened her eyes and looked their way. Loki who saw that placed a finger over his lips. The woman chuckled lowly and returned to her meditation.
Loki silently walked forward closely followed by Harry to take a look inside. Luckily he chose the right window because inside in which was apparently the living room, a young man with shoulder-long light brown hair wearing jeans and a band shirt was sitting on a couch and watching TV.
"See him?" Loki asked Harry in a low voice receiving a nod as an answer. "He's your target. Get creative!"
A broad grin spread over Harry's face that would have anyone else that didn't know him question his sanity before he turned around to search for a way inside. On his way he pulled out the invisibility cloak and threw it over himself, vanishing from sight.
"Oi! Not fair! That's cheating," Loki wined.
Not soon after Harry's departure, a roar echoed through the house, and a moment later a massive grey-brown wolf shot out of the house and into the garden sniffing around. It didn't take the wolf long to locate Loki and charge at him. Once it was in range, it jumped at the pagan though instead of attacking him the wolf began to lick him all over the face.
Loki, however, was barely able to react to any of that since he was laughing so hard because said wolf was wearing a pink nightgown and a nightcap both with frills around them.
What neither of them heard though was the nearly silent clicking of a smartphone camera.
It took the two a few minutes to calm down again during which Loki ruffled the fur of the wolf. Once they were somewhat calm again, the wolf shifted back into the young man they saw through the window earlier though he still wore both the nightgown and the nightcap.
"Father, next time you try to pull one over me at least hide better afterwards," the young man said sternly but with a broad grin though he looked surprised when he finally saw what his father was wearing, a white dress with a blood red cape over it.
Loki was just about to tell his son that he hadn't been behind the prank when he was distracted by Harry breaking out in heavy laughter letting the cloak slide from him to the ground making him visible again.
"Who are you?" the man asked confused.
"Someone with a nice video of you your Little Red Riding Hood performance," Harry answered waving his smartphone around where the video played as proof.
Loki when he saw that, let his head sink back to the ground while he closed his eyes with a groan.
"I don't know who that is, but I wholeheartedly approve," the young man said while standing up and brushing himself off. "Fenrir Lokison at your service," he greeted Harry, holding out his hand.
Harry took the hand and shook it firmly. "Harry Potter, your father's apprentice…or something like that."
"How long?"
"About a year now," Harry replied with a shrug.
"You're good, getting back at my father like that after only a year," Fenrir replied throwing an arm over Harry's shoulder. "Have you met Kali yet?"
"Thanks and no. Your father didn't introduce me yet."
"Yes, Loki's priorities don't really conform to the socially accepted ones," the woman who had been meditating told them, having walked up to them.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Loki asked suspiciously.
"That you think that pranking someone is an acceptable form of introduction," the woman replied.
"I don't see how there's anything wrong with that," Harry piped in with a wink towards the woman before Loki could say anything.
"And now you even infected the mind of that poor soul with your twisted values. You should be ashamed of yourself," she scolded Loki.
Harry began to laugh. "I love it when Loki gets scolded like an unruly child," he told the woman, ignoring Loki's muttered 'traitor'.
"Harry Potter, nice to meet you."
"Kali, my pleasure," she replied with a shake of his hand. "Where are my manners, can I offer you something, a drink maybe? Or are you hungry? You look far too thin for a boy your age. Has Loki not fed you right?" Kali asked with a glare towards Loki.
Harry blushed but shook his head. "It's not Loki's fault, and yeah I'm quite hungry."
"Come on then my dear, I'll see what our kitchen has to offer," she addressed Harry with a smile before she glanced at Loki. "For your sake, I hope you took care of that problem."
"Of course," Loki retorted as if he would have ever not taken care of such a problem.
Fenrir in the meantime dragged Harry after Kali. "You'll see she is a brilliant cook, but I should warn you…don't piss her off, she can be quite scary," he told him on their way to the kitchen.
"Good to know," Harry muttered.
"I wonder though, how did you know who Fenrir was?" Loki asked him, and even Fenrir looked interested in the answer.
"His aura told me that he is something akin to a werewolf but not really…I don't know," Harry shrugged. "And knowing that you have four children, it wasn't that far of a guess."
"How do you know?" Loki asked confusedly.
"You do realise that I did some extensive research on you when you got me that laptop? Hell, I'd probably have known earlier had I read that book like Hermione did."
Loki facepalmed upon hearing that earning himself a laugh from Fenrir.
"He got you there, father."
"Oh shut up you…."
"Or what, old man?" Fenrir teased him but quickly had to dive out of the way and run out of the kitchen because Loki had lunged at him and decided to give chase.
"To think that they are both adults," Kali said amused.
"Growing older is mandatory, growing up not," Harry replied.
"How true…."
With that Kali and Harry set to making something to eat while father and son were busy chasing each other throughout the house.
It was now a week and a half ago that Harry and Loki showed up and Michael was wondering what they were up to. A too long silence from either of them was suspicious, especially when his brother was involved though he hoped that they were only enjoying their holidays. Michael, however, was once again was shuffling through mountains of paperwork, when suddenly a pitch black fierce looking owl swooped in through the open window and landed in front of him after having dropped a letter on the one he was currently writing.
Michael frowned wondering who the letter was from since it wasn't written on that stupid thick parchment that was used by the magical population but on costly looking paper. After carefully examining the letter, he opened it and immediately scanned the bottom to see who it was from. To his surprise, it was from Crowley. Curiously he began to read.
In the end, he frowned deeply. The letter in essential said that Crowley came across important information and that they needed to meet as soon as possible.
Michael leaned back and thought about what to do, but in the end, there was no other way than meeting with the demon, so he wrote a short reply.
"Fawkes," he called out and with a low trill the Phoenix landed in front of him.
It had been a surprise when the Phoenix had decided to stay despite him not being Dumbledore anymore. Though it was a wonder that the bird stayed with Dumbledore in the first place because the man was definitely not light.
"Would you mind bringing this letter to Crowley and possibly bring him here if he agrees?" he politely asked the bird, phoenixes were highly intelligent and demanding things of them was never a wise thing to do.
Fawkes carefully picked up the letter and vanished in a burst of flames. Michael only had to wait about ten minutes before the bird returned together with Crowley.
"Hello, Crowley. You wanted to meet with me?" he greeted the demon gesturing for him to sit.
"Dumbledore, yes I indeed wished to speak to you. Some alarming news reached me lately," Crowley said while sitting down. "Lucifer is behaving oddly."
"Why do you think I care how Lucifer behaves?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because of the reason of his odd behaviour. You see until about a week and a half ago he was quite apathetic about the breaking seals and his impending freedom, but then it suddenly changed. He suddenly called demons to him and gave them tasks. At first, I didn't know why but what I learned recently…it seems that at the time when his behaviour changed a boy appeared in hell, dumped an angel in one of the hellfire lakes and vanished again," Crowley explained carefully examining Michael's reaction, who sucked in a sharp breath.
"While I have no proof to who the boy is, I can make a very educated guess, and your reaction confirms it. Lucifer knows that Harry showed up in hell and it's spiked his curiosity."
A/N: 'til next chapter!