This is being cross-posted from Ao3. It was originally posted on 1 October 2019.
Beta love goes to GaeilgeRua for reading this over and allowing me to use her Grammarly subscription. I also have to thank her for the wonderful art because I wrote this last minute due to personal issues. If it wasn't for her, there wouldn't be any art at all. Thank you so much! Any other mistakes you find are my own and I'll deal with them whenever. Much love, xxDustNight!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic and Marvel belongs to Disney. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this creation.
Prompt: Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson/Loki + "Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well." - Vincent van Gogh
+ MMFBingo19 Square B1 Post-Endgame
The dawn rose quietly, and with it, so did Hermione. She stretched out her toes and enjoyed the quiet warmth that the early morning provided. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, so there was still a gentle darkness coating the room. It would be easy to slip back into a peaceful slumber, but now that she was awake, Hermione was fully aware of the sensuous cocoon in which she was enveloped.
Smiling softly, Hermione gently turned her head to glance at the sleeping form of Pansy. The dark-haired witch was fast asleep; her plump lips kiss swollen and twitching slightly as she dreamt onward still. Hermione was reminded of a baby, but she would never share that observation aloud. Pansy was ever so sensitive about matters of age and the fact that she was not a child to be taken care of in any regard.
Not that Hermione tried to do so with the Slytherin witch. Pansy was a force to be reckoned with, and if not for her, Hermione wouldn't be lying here in this bed right now. Ever so carefully, Hermione reached out and tucked a piece of silken sable hair behind her lover's ear. Pansy had come to her in a time when Hermione had all but given up on love. The day was seared in her memory...
"Granger."
Her name was spoken. Not asked.
Startled out of her book, Hermione glanced up and was surprised to see a familiar face. Her brow furrowed as she tried to come up with a name to accompany the sapphire eyes and dark, chin-length hair. She quickly tried to recall a time long since past when she'd traipsed the halls of Hogwarts laden with weighty tomes and avoided the Slytherins at all costs.
Obviously, Hermione took too long to come up with a name because the witch huffed, her fringe fluffing up slightly. "Pansy Parkinson. Slytherin. We went to school together," she stated. They were in a Muggle cafe so she couldn't blurt out the said name of the school.
Raking her eyes over the witch's features, Hermione finally recognized Pansy for who she was. It was a gentle upturn of her nose that gave her away. While it was a far cry from the "pug-nose" that the rest of the Gryffindors teased her about, it was still evident in the way she held her face.
"Hello, Pansy" Hermione tentatively greeted. "Can I help you with something?"
"Is this seat taken?" Pansy asked, indicating the empty chair at Hermione's window table.
Confused, Hermione glanced around at the reasonably empty coffee shop. Figuring Pansy had a good reason for wanting to sit with her, she shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."
Pansy promptly sat down in the chair and got comfortable. Hermione watched her get settled and then asked, "Do you come here often? I've not seen you before today."
"I'm here often enough to know that you spend more time here with your nose stuck in a book than in the Magical world like the rest of our friends," Pansy noted, a smirk briefly gracing her red-painted lips.
Hermione blushed and cleared her throat. Pansy had a point; she did spend far more time here than anywhere else these days. "So, quite often then."
Running a hand through her hair as if realizing she'd said something wrong, Pansy carried on talking. "I just thought you'd have been married off to one of the Weasleys by now, or even Potter…"
Having just taken a sip of her cooling coffee, Hermione nearly choked at Pansy's statement. "I beg your pardon?"
Pansy appeared to take a deep breath and let it out slowly, her own pale cheeks slightly tinged with pink now. "Honestly, I'm just trying to ask you out to dinner, but I think I'm going about it the wrong way. I've never asked a witch out before now."
"What?" Hermione blinked once, then twice. "You want to have dinner? With me?" Hermione was utterly taken aback. Not only had it been years since she'd seen Pansy, but the Slytherin was asking her out to dinner on what she could only presume was a date.
"Yes, is that so hard to believe?" Pansy huffed again and scrunched up her face. "I want to show you that there's more to life and love than what's written in a book."
"Oh," Hermione quietly exclaimed, her mouth gently dropping open.
Glancing away as her cheeks flushed once more, Hermione realized Pansy had a point. She spent a lot of time sitting around reading books about love stories instead of living her own. How many times had Harry and Ron said the same damn thing? Hell, Ron had even tried to set her up with one of his cousin's just last month.
Swallowing, she met Pansy's eyes and felt cornish pixies burst to life in her stomach. The knowing smirk on Pansy's lips revealed that she already knew Hermione's answer. Instead of waiting for Hermione to reply, the witch stood from the table and offered a well-manicured hand.
"Come on, Granger," she said, a sincere smile lighting up those ocean-coloured eyes.
Hermione didn't waste any more time. She took the offered hand and let Pansy lead her into a life of love and accomplishment. They'd been together since and Hermione wouldn't have it any other way.
In her sleep, Pansy's nose crinkled and Hermione chuckled to herself. If not for Pansy's constant pushing, Hermione never would have fought so hard at the Ministry to become Minister. Her love had allowed her to accomplish dreams she'd never even thought of achieving. With Pansy's Pureblood knowledge, she was able to chip away at the primitive laws that had weighed down their society for so long.
With one last love-filled glance, Hermione turned slightly to look now to her right. There slept the more surprising of the two in the bed; although, it was hard to tell someone was there at all. The only bit that could be seen was a tuft of black hair peeking out from underneath the comforter. Loki, God of Mischief and Chaos, was a lover of kittens and cuddling under the blanket.
At that thought, Hermione had to bite her lip so as not to laugh aloud. Loki was the lightest sleeper of them all. Even now, he stirred slightly, shifting ever closer to Hermione. Sighing in contentment, Hermione thought about how Loki came to be with her and Pansy. It was just a couple years ago now, right after the world had pieced itself together following the defeat of Thanos.
"I promise you, Hermione," Sam Wilson said sternly as he pointed at a closed cell at the Raft. "This isn't one of your little Death Eaters. This guy brought an entire alien force to New York."
"Not to mention," Thor chimed in from the side of the room where he'd been standing quietly until now. "He likes to stab people. Me, mostly."
Rolling her eyes, Hermione placed both hands on her hips and gave the two Avengers a stern look. "You all brought me here for a reason. The MACUSA obviously felt I was capable of handling this situation, so you should trust me too."
"It's not that we don't trust you," Bucky Barnes said. He was standing next to one of Hermione's dear friends, who just so happened to be his wife.
"They don't trust you," Ginny teased which earned her a glare from Bucky.
"We do," Bucky insisted, playfully elbowing his wife. "We just wish Strange was here to back you up on this. He's dealt with Loki before."
At Loki's name, Hermione's eyes went wide and glanced again at the sealed door. This was a sensitive situation, after all. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Hermione turned back to her audience. "I was the head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department for many years, and now I'm the Minister of Magic. Hell, I saved Harry and Ron's arses enough times when we were kids and adults. I've got this."
To Ginny's laughter and Sam's continued warnings, Hermione typed in the passcode and entered the snake pit, so to speak. All sound was immediately cut off as Hermione sealed herself in the cell with Loki for the first time.
Loki sat motionless on the cot against the back wall. One long leg was stretched out while the other was bent. His head rested against the wall, and his eyes were closed. Hermione could tell that he was thin, or, at least, far thinner than he ought to be. A flicker of anger erupted in her chest at the thought that they were not caring for their prisoner's wellbeing.
"Hello," she said calmly, trying to gauge the situation. "My name is Hermione Granger, and I've been asked to-"
"You've been asked to come and ensure that I'm not about to go rogue and try and take over Midgard again," Loki said without opening his eyes. There was anger there underneath his words.
Frowning, Hermione hated that he was right in his assumptions. "Surely, you don't want to spend the rest of your days trapped within these four, tiny walls?" Hermione snapped back.
At her outburst, Loki's eyes blinked open and Hermione found the emerald of them startling. She was brought back to the moment many years back when she'd taken Pansy's hand in that coffee shop. Swallowing any reaction she may have had, Hermione held her gaze steady with Loki's as she waited for him to react.
"There is a fire within you," he stated, eyes narrowing as he examined her. Abruptly, he was up on his feet and striding for her.
Behind her, Hermione could sense the others, but she held up a hand to still their intrusion. "I have magic, like you," she stated simply, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her chest.
Now standing in front of her, Loki stared down into her face. "And you plan to use your magic to force me to abide by your rules?"
Hermione snorted, which caused Loki recoil slightly. "Hell no," she replied, shaking her head so that her trademark curls bounced. "I'm going to use my magic to bind us together. That way if you do something rash like, oh say trying to murder scores of humans, we'll both die."
Loki's lips peeled back from his teeth. "You're willing to die for this planet? You assume that your human life matters to me?"
"Maybe not, but I know that your life matters to you, at the very least," Hermione pointed out. There was something about Loki that made her say precisely what was on her mind. It was either that, or she was channelling her inner Pansy today. "And who knows, maybe someday you'll realize that there's strength in love and life."
Loki had peered seemingly into her soul at the remark and then nodded once in surrender. Relieved that it would not be a fight, Hermione bound them together with her magic, never knowing that she had bound their souls together as well. That discovery came months later when Hermione found herself falling further and further in love with the Frost Giant.
Coming back to reality, Hermione lifted the comforter so she could examine Loki's sleeping face more closely. He always rested so fitfully. His face appeared tense even now. Using the pad of her thumb, Hermione eased the lines from his forehead, knowing that he would either fall back into deep sleep or wake. As she did this, she recalled the day she told Pansy that Loki had become more than just a friend and she wanted him to be a part of their lives.
"He's hot," Pansy quipped with a single shrug of her shoulder. "I'd do him."
Hermione had watched open-mouthed as Pansy disappeared into their kitchen, and Loki laughed his head off at her remark. The three of them fell quickly into one another's lives, both Pansy and Loki content with the amount of affection they received from Hermione.
Eventually, though, it became clear that Pansy was right. The dark-haired witch and Frost Giant fell for one another too. Soon the three of them became inseparable as lovers and friends. They were soulmates whether they wanted to acknowledge it or not.
"My snakes," Hermione often mused as her two lovers quarrelled or teased one another.
That's what they were.
Her two snakes, and oh how she adored them both in different ways. Pansy who brought out her feminist side, and Loki who brought out her mischievous nature. They urged her to be better, and she did the same for them. They kept her on her toes, and with them at her sides, Hermione knew that whatever she tackled in her life, she would succeed.
Yawning, Hermione decided that there was time to sleep still. Curling up between her two snakes, she fell peacefully back to sleep. Sensing her movement, Pansy and Loki snuggled closer and enjoyed the comfort and warmth that Hermione provided as well.