Chapter 56: A Lost Son Returns

Everyone looked at Michael in shock and surprise. Well, Harry wasn't all that surprised since he knew about the angel, but that didn't stop the surprise, over him revealing it, from showing. Therefore it didn't come at a surprise that he looked at the angel in disbelieve.

The others, on the other hand, didn't know what to think or say about the sudden revelation.

"Seriously?" Harry asked him, couldn't he have come up with something less suspicious to shield them?

Michael looked at him and shrugged lightly, careful that his wings didn't shift too much and resulted in a hole in the protection they provided.

"Well, we have a slight problem. The snake is actually a female basilisk," he said as an explanation. "They can kill you by just looking you in the eyes."

"Ah," Harry replied while nodding in understanding.

"Not to mention that they are highly poisonous," Flitwick threw in. "How are we supposed to get past it?"

"~Stupid angel! I'm not a basilisk,~" the snake, clearly a male one, hissed at the same time indignantly. "~I'm not even female.~"

"~Er what?~" Harry asked confusedly while trying to shift the feathers that were protecting him a bit so that he was able to look at the snake, completely ignoring Michaels attempts at preventing him from it. In the end, Harry had enough and just teleported a few feet to the side.

"~Hi, I'm Harry,~" Harry told the snake with a wave of his hand and a broad smile.

"~Hello Harry, you can tell that feather duster over there that I won't harm anyone, especially not children,~" the snake huffed upon which Harry snickered.

"Oi, you can let them out. He said that he won't harm anyone," Harry called over to Michael who still shielded the others from the snake while glaring at him for going against him.

"And who says that he won't attack as soon as I let my wings down?" Michael questioned.

The snake though seemed to have another idea, and with a quick flick of his tail, he pulled Michael's legs from under him, sending the angel flying and heavily landing on his backside with an undignified and surprised squeal.

Harry who saw the archangel lying on the dirty floor with his wings sprawled around him, began to laugh and even the others couldn't help themselves.

"Too bad that Loki isn't here, he would have loved to see you brought down on your ass by a giant snake," Harry said amusedly while Michael shot him a withering look that didn't impress the boy in the slightest.

The snake however suddenly brought his sole focus on Harry.

"~You know Loki?~" he asked insistently.

"~Sure, we all do,~" Harry answered truthfully. "~He normally stays with us, but he's currently away punishing a few idiots. Why do you ask?~"

The question the serpent had presented him with confused Harry. Why would a snake that was locked away for nearly an entire millennium now want to know whether he knew Loki? Something was going on here of that Harry was sure, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was, not yet anyway.

"~Where is he?~" the snake asked now clearly desperate. "~Please tell me where he is! Can you call him? I need you to call him!~"

Harry, who didn't know what to think of the snake's antics, looked towards Michael but the archangel didn't even understand the snake, so it was a futile endeavour. Why would a snake so desperately want him to call Loki? That was when he remembered something, and he slowly looked back at the snake, whose head was hovering right in front of him. Something was nagging him about this. Not a Basilisk as Michael assumed at first and distinctly male. A male snake…Loki…a male snake connected to Loki…that was when it dawned upon him.

"You're Jǫrmungandr!" he exclaimed in English.

Upon that exclamation, Michael's head, who was currently cleaning his wings with the help of Flitwick, snapped towards Harry before he looked at the snake. The snake, on the other hand, nodded frantically while hissing again.

"Loki's lost son," Michael muttered. "But how did he end up here?"

"Jor…," Harry said in the meantime to get the worked-up snake's attention while placing a hand on the serpent's head. "Jǫrmungandr, please calm down. I'll call Loki, okay? But please calm down!"

"~Please…please, you'll have to…~" Jǫrmungandr hissed, still worked up but slightly less panicky.

"~Jor, I will call him, you'll just have to wait a few more minutes, alright? I have to concentrate on it to work, but he'll come. I promise you he'll come, and if I have to teleport to him and drag his sorry ass here, I'll do so,~" Harry told the calming snake. "~I'll have to meditate for a bit, okay?~"

"~But please hurry up.~"

By now the frantic need of the snake for Harry to call his father was replaced by excited anticipation and Harry could feel how he vibrated with excitement.

"Okay, I'll have to meditate for a bit, I'll call Loki," he said in English for the sake of the others before he walked to the side and sat down at the foot of one of the giant snakes and leaned against it.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on Loki to send a prayer to the pagan turned archangel, as he taught him. It would take a few minutes, but he was sure that it would work.

In the meantime, the two professors, who accompanied them, rounded on Michael.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," McGonagall demanded.

"I'm aware, and I'll do so as soon as we're back in my office. But first, let us reunite a lost son with his father," Michael replied.

"So he really is Jǫrmungandr?" Flitwick questioned. "The World-Serpent? I would have thought him larger."

"Yes, I can feel it now that I know, he is Loki's son. But some other magic is working on him though I have no idea what," Michael mused.

"I have a feeling that we'll soon find out," McGonagall added.

Harry, on the other hand, came up with a few problems. He was ready to send a prayer to Loki, but every time he wanted to tell him to come because he found his son Jǫrmungandr it was like he ran into a wall and he didn't get one word out. In the end, he decided to try and send out a small call for help instead.

"Loki, I need you!" he sent a bit more fearful than he originally wanted.

However, it did its job as Loki stood in front of him not even ten seconds later, his face contorted in worry.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? If I get my hands on Michael…he was…," he began to rant but didn't get any further because he was suddenly wrapped in the thick coils of Jǫrmungandr, covering him from head to toe, which wasn't that hard considering that Loki still looked like a child.

Loki instantly began to struggle and was about to let either a few well-placed curses off or something worse, when Harry decided that he needed to intervene or Loki would do something he would definitely regret.

"~Jor…Jor, please loosen you coils, or he'll hurt you,~" he told the snake, hoping that he would listen to him.

Jǫrmungandr minutely tightened his coils but in the end, feeling what Loki was about to do, he loosened them enough so that Loki at least was able to look at Harry.

"What in the name of…" he cursed, still struggling against the coils surrounding him not even attempting to assess who or what the threat was.

"Loki calm down!" Harry called out to him, but it seemed that Loki just saw the threat and together with his prayer it was the only thing he saw.

When Harry had enough and was sure that Loki didn't even listen to him, he shot a quick Aguamenti charm at him to get his attention. Loki spluttered when he was hit with the cold water but finally focused on Harry.

"Loki, are you finally paying attention or do I have to take more drastic measures?" Harry asked him sardonically.

Loki glowered at him but stopped struggling.

"Good, if you'd now pay a bit more attention to your surrounding you'd find that there is a perfect reason for why I called you and that there is no threat whatsoever," he continued.

At first, Loki looked a bit confused especially considering that he was still trapped, but he heeded the advice and paid more attention to the surrounding he found himself in, or more precisely to the snake, which was holding him tightly. That was when it dawned him, and his eyes went comically wide.

"Jǫrmungandr?" he asked with shock surprised and a great amount of relieve. "I-I…"

He fell silent and just wrapped his arms, which he got free with some difficulty, around the large head of the snake that hovered right next to him and openly began to cry.

"Oh Jor…I finally found you," he brought out between sobs. "I thought I'd never see you again."

They stayed like this for a long time and Harry, who wanted to give them some space, walked over to where Michael was standing with the other two professors and observed the entire thing when Harry realised that his friends had vanished.

"Uhm, where are the others?" he asked confusedly.

Michael looked around only to find that yes the children had vanished. He began to swear under his breath.

"Children…," he growled.

He had feared that they would have gotten in here without supervision because in between Draco's cunning, the twins' inventiveness, Hermione and Sam's knowledge and ability to research he didn't doubt that they'd find a way into this chamber even if they warded off any entrance they could find. Then there was also always Harry, who could obviously teleport around any ward. That was also the reason for why he allowed them to come with them in the first place, to be able to have an eye on them and prevent them from getting harmed. However, now they managed to vanish while he had been distracted by Loki and his son.

Michael looked around in the hope of finding the missing children when he heard excited chattering coming from the still open mouth of the statue. He walked over there, closely followed by Harry, and into the mouth only to be met with a short corridor, which opened into a large but cosy chamber.

When he looked around, he found a large fireplace to the left in front of which stood a group of armchairs around a small coffee table. To the right stood several bookshelves filled to the brim with ancient books. Straight ahead was for once a large cushioned area that was obviously meant for Jǫrmungandr to rest on, as well as two doors, one of which currently was open and the children's voices came echoing through it.

He walked over to the open door an looked in, to be greeted with a massive library. In between the high shelves, he found Draco, Hermione, Sam and surprisingly also Neville looking at the books in awe. Luna in the meantime stood to the side and watched them. The twins were nowhere to be seen.

Michael coughed lowly to get their attention.

"Didn't I tell you not to stray away from us?" he asked sternly.

"Sir," Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "These books here…they are amazing. So much knowledge is hidden away in here."

It seemed that this was Hermione's personal heaven and that it would be hard to get her out of here. Michael sighed.

"Nonetheless did you go against our agreement," he scolded her. "You couldn't have known what is in here, you could have been hurt. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you back to your common room."

Hermione's eyes widened minutely before she looked sheepishly at the floor as did the others who had joined her when they realised that Michael had come looking for them, except the twins. That was when Sam took the lead.

"We thought that we should give you some space, so we went to investigate the space behind the statue," he explained.

"But you couldn't have known that it was safe for you," Michael admonished.

"I went in first," Sam told him. "Do you really think that I'd risk them getting hurt? Of course, I made sure that they only came in after I told them that it was safe and they didn't touch anything."

"Hey guys, you won't believe what we found," suddenly the twins shouted from the room through the other door before running into theirs.

However, when they saw Michael standing in front of their friends, they stopped and looked shocked.

"And what, pray to tell, have you found?" Michael asked them while rising an eyebrow.

"Uhm Sir, we found a potions lab in the other room, fully furnished and with ingredients in stock…" they told him, shrinking under his gaze.

Right at that moment, Flitwick entered through the mouth of the statue.

"Sir, Loki is asking for you," he addressed Michael.

Michael looked at Flitwick before he looked back at the children. With a sigh, he made a decision. Releasing his grace, he scanned the rooms for anything dangerous, but it came back negative.

"Filius, would you please stay with the children? The rooms are clean, and nothing dangerous is in here, but I don't want them left alone," he first said to Flitwick before he turned to the children. "For you going against our agreement you'll have detention for one week. What you did was reckless and extremely dangerous. Yes, Mr Winchester, I know that you're normally an adult and used to dealing with dangerous artefacts, but nonetheless, you should have told us at least. This also goes for you Harry, teleporting out of the protection my wings provided was incredibly stupid. What if the snake was a real basilisk? You could be dead!"

The children all looked sheepishly at the floor but nodded and that included Sam. Harry though snorted.

"So what if I died? Do you really think that I'd stay dead for long? I mean who's supposed to keep me? Heaven? I already ported out of that one! Hell? Do I have to remind you that I teleport there regularly?" he retorted with a mischievous grin. "And even if either could keep me somehow…I have a feeling that they would throw me out within hours."

Michael had to admit that the boy had a point. He already proved that there was literally nothing that could keep him, not even Lucifer's cage. Teleporting into and out of hell was a weekly occurrence for him as it seemed and heaven…yeah look how that one turned out, he still had no idea how Harry managed to revive his parents without repercussion.

However, all that didn't stop Michael from sending Harry a glare that told him that he would still have to serve detention.

"Very well, you can stay here, but I warn you, don't behave yourself and a week worth of detention will be the least of your problems," he sternly said.

"Yes Sir," they chorused and with a nod towards Flitwick, Michael left to see what his brother wanted.

In the meantime

Loki still was wrapped in Jǫrmungandr's coils and hugged the serpent's head close though slowly, but surely his tears abated.

"I don't know how long I searched for you," Loki finally brought out. "When Odin abducted you, and I couldn't find you…."

"~It isn't your fault, dad. Odin cast something upon me that made it impossible for you to find me,~" Jor hissed back.

"What spells?" Loki now looked alarmed.

"~I don't know, but I can't turn back, and no one can talk about me,~" Jor whispered while letting his head hang.

Loki on the other hand carefully pushed some grace into his son to see what was wrong with him only to run into some potent spells. So powerful actually that he wasn't sure that he would be able to break them alone without severely harming his son. That was highly concerning because only very few beings were able to cast something strong enough to block him and Odin definitely didn't belong to them.

Sure, Odin was very powerful in his own regards, but he was nothing upon an archangel, who were in one of the top spots of the most powerful beings in this universe right after the primordial forces and those beasts in purgatory.

But maybe his brother had an idea what it was that kept Jor from turning back. So he leant back and looked to where he last saw his brother when he realised that he wasn't there anymore. Though Professor Flitwick was still there together with McGonagall and talking to her about the events of the last days.

"Professors," he called out. "Could one of you please get Dumbledore for me?"

The two professors looked at him and nodded.

"Of course, I'll get him," Flitwick replied before he turned around and left towards where he knew the man had vanished.

Loki in the meantime turned back to his son and stroked his head.

"Jor…I promise you that I'll do everything to free you. Then I'll pay Odin a visit and show him exactly how I feel about him hurting you," he whispered.

Jor though didn't reply but nuzzled his father and hissed in contentment. They stood that way for a few more minutes before Michael reached them.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yes, Odin cast some potent charms on Jor to keep him from turning back and one so that no one can talk about him or his whereabouts," Loki explained.

"That sounds like the Fidelius Charm," McGonagall, who came over now that Flitwick left, supplied.

Michael in the meantime stroked his beard. "She is right, but then again we wouldn't be able to see him if it really was the Fidelius Charm. I have to examine him to see what spells exactly are at work."

Loki nodded. "~Jor could you please let go of me for a moment? Your uncle needs to examine you to be able to help you,~" he explained his son.

"~But he's an angel,~" Jor replied fearfully, not letting go of his father.

"~I know that I never gave you a reason to trust any of them, but things changed, I trust him. He didn't give away that I'm hiding when he learned who I really am but kept it a secret. Please, this is the only way,~" he told him.

Jor looked at his father for a long moment before he shifted his coils and finally let go of him. Once Loki took a step away, he nodded towards his brother, who instantly began to examine the snake. It took him a few minutes before he was done.

"This is interesting, if you dig deep enough into the enchantments you'll find that they are backed up by an angel," Michael commented on his findings.

"An angel?" Loki, who by now was wrapped in Jor again, asked. "That is why I cannot break them on my own. But that would mean it has to be an archangel and since Lucifer is still in his cage and I highly doubt that you came down to earth only to help Odin, the only one left is Raphael."

"That indeed seems to be the case, which concerns me greatly," Michael replied. "However, I'm certain that together we'll be able to break the enchantments and free your son."

"Then let's do it," Loki said, not wanting the enchantments on his son for longer than necessary.

Loki convinced Jor to let go of him and curl up three feet away from them. Harry, who had come to see what was wrong, and McGonagall also stepped away from them to give them enough space to work.

Once everything was in place, both Michael and Loki began to chant an old Enochian spell that would get rid of any magic currently influencing Jor. Michael took the lead in this while Loki just lent his power to support his brother.

It took them over ten minutes, but in the end, the spells fell away one after another. When they were done, both were exhausted, but Loki was grinning like a madman because his son was shifting from being a sixty feet long snake to a small boy of about the age of six.

As soon as Jor had transformed back to a boy, he ran over to his father and clung to him as if his life depended on it.

Loki picked his son up without any effort even with him looking like a child himself. With him in his arms, he turned towards his brother.

"Thank you," he said with a tearful but nonetheless happy voice.

"Thank you, uncle Michael," Jor added, his voice rough due to not being used.

Michael smiled broadly at the boy and gently ruffled his hair.

"You're welcome."

At last, Jor looked around until his gaze fell upon Harry and he tried to reach out for him. Harry, who was unsure what Jor would want from him, walked over, only to be grabbed and embraced in a hug by the former snake, not to be released afterwards. He chuckled lowly upon the child antics but indulged him, he had been alone for far too long after all, and Harry knew how it was to be alone.

Right at that moment, Crowley suddenly appeared in the centre of the hall and looked around. When he saw the group standing to the side, he walked over, a small smile gracing his lips.

"So you finally found your son, I'm glad," he said, not greeting anyone.

"And you are?" McGonagall asked imperiously.

"Crowley," Loki growled before the demon could answer the professor's question. "What do you want?"

"I came to check on Harry and Jǫrmungandr…" he began but didn't get any further.

"How do you know?" Loki asked shocked when it dawned upon him. "You! You imprisoned him down here! To think that I trusted you!"

The only thing that kept Loki from attacking Crowley was for once his son in his arms and Harry, who was still held tightly too.

"I didn't imprison him down here you idiot, I saved him and gave him a sanctuary!" Crowley retorted.

This though left Loki dumbstruck.

"Say what?" he asked confused.

"I said I saved him. It was a few decades after we founded Hogwarts, that I went on a journey. Unfortunately, I was caught in a storm, and my ship got off course. I ended up on a small island at the coast of Spitzbergen. When I explored it to find food, and while waiting out the storm, I found a cave that was partly flooded. In the middle, on the only piece of land, I found Jǫrmungandr buried under tons of rock, only his head showing. At first, I didn't know who he was, but after a long conversation, he told me what happened," Crowley explained.

"I knew that I couldn't leave him there because he was starving, freezing and hurt. So I freed him and took him with me. He helped me repairing my ship and together we returned to Hogwarts. Obviously, Gryffindor was less than amused about me hosting a large snake. However, after I explained to him and the others the situation, they agreed, that we would have to protect him. So, together we created this chamber. A room where he can sleep, books to read, space to move and a massive forest to hunt in."

"But why didn't you tell me?" Loki asked, still hurt but the feeling of being betrayed by the demon slowly left him, hell, the demon took care of his son when he couldn't.

"I couldn't! I mean at first I didn't even know you and when I met you for the first time…the spell prevented me from saying anything about the whereabouts of your son," he deadpanned. "Before you say anything, would you really have answered a call or come with me if I asked you to without giving you the why?"

Loki looked at the floor sheepishly. He had to admit that Crowley had a point, he hadn't trusted the demon an inch until recently, and he seriously doubted that he would have gone with him, thinking that it was a trap.

That was when Jor leant back in his father's arms and looked at him and decided to intervene.

"Don't be mad at him, dad. Uncle Sal really cared for me," he told him with a smile before waving happily at Crowley.

Loki looked from his son to Crowley and back. Seeing how happy his son was, he couldn't help himself but smile too. If his son was alright with this, who was he to say differently?

"Thank you, Crowley, I really owe you one," he told the demon who looked shocked.

"Will you look at that, the great Loki indebted to me," the demon chuckled lowly.

Harry, who was still in Jor's firm grip, saw how tired and exhausted the boy was.

"Guys, not to cut your little byplay short but Jor's exhausted. I think we should get him to the tower and to sleep," he interrupted Crowley and Loki.

Loki instantly looked at his son and noticed that Harry was right, his son was exhausted and dearly needed a good night of sleep.

"Harry's right, I'll teleport us back to the tower. Uhm, there is something…I left Severus with Alastair and Dean…could one of you get him?" he sheepishly admitted, he hadn't thought about the professor anymore when he received Harry's prayer.

"Don't worry I'll take care of it," Michael said with a grandfatherly smile. "Get your son to bed and tomorrow I'll send Pomfrey around to check his health properly."

Michael knew enough about healing to ensure that someone didn't die when injured but making sure that someone was healthy wasn't his forte, so he gladly left that task to the resident healer.

Loki nodded and left together with his son and Harry, whom Jor didn't want to let go just yet. They reappeared in their dorm and Loki wanted to place Jor on his bed while Harry wanted to walk over to his own to grab a book when they ran into a problem. No matter what they told him, Jor didn't want to let either of them go.

Harry looked at Loki and shrugged not really caring if he stayed with them or not. In the end, Loki changed all their clothes with a snap and Harry summoned his book with a flick of his hand. Afterwards, they settled in Loki's bed, Loki lying behind Jor, who was wrapped around Harry.

Within minutes, Jor was asleep while Harry read and Loki just bathed in the feeling of having his son back.

A/N: 'til next chapter!