"Today is the day." Brynjar said solemnly, as he stared off into space.
Asta was staring off into space as well, internally panicking about what to say to convince Hermione they really wanted to help bring down Voldemort. 'What if Brynjar and I come off as conniving from being so nervous?' Asta thought. 'What if she doesn't like the look of us? What if she finds Malfoy is being held hostage?' That won't exactly help the case they are trying to make.
"Yes." Asta replied, just as solemn. "Yes it is."
Malfoy looked between the two of them uncomfortably. The two of them looking as though they were telling their parents they were pregnant, was not a good sight to see. It made Malfoy nervous to see two of the most; strong, powerful, terrifying people he has ever me, look as though they were facing death.
"Are you two going to be alright?" Malfoy asked, glancing back and forth between the two.
They both nodded.
"So long as everything goes well, yes." Asta replied looking as though she was going to be sick.
Malfoy could see why Brynjar fancied this girl, she is beautiful! Especially when she has her hair up in a ponytail like she does today. She looks less like a crazy witch with her hair pulled up. Today she put on her best clothes, or so she told Malfoy she did when she saw him look at her with questioning look. 'If you would prefer blood stains I will change, otherwise these are the nicest clothes I got.' She had said to him.
He supposes what she is wearing isn't that bad, it apparently could be much worse. She was wearing a wine colored long sleeve v-neck shirt, dark denim shorts with her pouch strapped around her leg, and combat boots. Apparently she would manage to slip out into the muggle world for a little while to go clothes shopping for "easy to maneuver in" clothes, before she would start getting funny looks from people she assumed were magical. Then she would disappear again for a few months before trying again.
Malfoy felt bad for her, she couldn't even do something as innocent as shopping without getting weird looks. She really has it rough, in so many ways it's sad.
Brynjar was wearing a black cut off shirt, denim shorts, and combat boots. He kept running his hands over his arms, as though if he rubbed them enough the scars would go away. At least until Asta stepped up to him, pulled her hair down and asked him to check her head to see if there was a scar from where her head hit the stairs. Just to give him something to do instead of rub his arms to try and rub the scars away.
Brynjar did as she asked and smiled when he looked at the back of her head before turning her around and giving her good news.
"For the first time ever, you did not get a scar from that accident." Brynjar said smiling broadly, and looking surprised.
"Really?" Asta asked looking as though she had never heard good news before in her life.
"Yeah! There is no scar there!" Brynjar replied laughing at his friend.
"Woo! Holding strong at five!" Asta cheered as she high fived Brynjar.
"I'm sorry, five?" Malfoy asked looking at Asta confusedly.
Asta turned to look at Malfoy, smile faded, and shook her head.
"Yeah five. One above my right eye, another across my upper back, one under my right breast, one from my belly button to my left hip bone, and one…" Asta stopped talking and looked down at the hem of her shirt she had begun fiddling with.
Brynjar rubbed small circles on her back, with a sympathetic look on his face.
Asta sighed. "And one two inches above my lady bits." She finished looking defeated.
A small sad silence hung between them for a moment before Malfoy began to speak.
"What hell were you two raised in?" He asked, more harshly than he meant to. "You two are only seventeen! You shouldn't have this much near death experiences, and this many scars, and so many war stories! You're kids!"
"Our people are brought up different. We were never exactly liked, if you remember our peoples history correctly." Asta said flatly.
"Right, but even still-" Malfoy began but was cut off by the sound of the floo.
"You stay here."Asta ordered to Malfoy. "You move, you hit the floor. You understand?"
Malfoy nodded, not willing to test fate.
Asta and Brynjar split up; one going towards the corner of the wall where the kitchen met the sittingroom, and the other going towards the archway in the foyer that leads to the sittingroom.
As soon as Asta reached the corner and peered around it, she saw a nervous looking bushy haired witch mimicking her actions. Asta recognized who she was and immediately backed up, and called Brynjar to come back into the kitchen, slowly.
The bushy haired witch, who Asta recognized to be Hermione Granger, held her wand firmly on Asta. When Brynjar slowly made his way into her view, Hermione gasped and jumped back slightly, before training her wand on Brynjar.
"Mad-eye sent you a letter that I was coming." Hermione said flatly looking back and forth between Asta and Brynjar, completely ignoring Malfoy backed into a corner. "So why were you acting as though I was an intruder?"
"We were told no one could apparate in or use the floo to get in the house." Asta said evenly, raising her hands surrendering manner. "He never said in the letter that he would be opening up the floo for you."
Hermione nodded, and looked around them and saw Malfoy standing quietly in the far left corner of the kitchen.
"Malfoy." Hermione said in a flat civil tone.
"Granger." Malfoy said in a slightly nervous tone as he nodded towards her.
"Would you like to take this into the sittingroom?" Brynjar asked softly, as he gestured towards the other room.
Hermione nodded and turned to make her way back into the sittingroom with Brynjar, Asta, and Malfoy following in her wake. Hermione settled herself on a little stool next to the fireplace, Brynjar and Asta sat next to each other on the couch, and Malfoy took up the armchair next to the archway to the foyer.
Hermione eyed each one of them carefully, checking for any nervous ticks, potential traps, anything that may result in this ending badly. That's when she spotted Malfoy's cast.
"What happened to your arm Malfoy?" Hermione asked softly, brows furrowed in thought.
"It's so I can't use the mark to have my father or the others come get me." Draco explained in a bored tone.
"I see." Hermione said as she turned to Asta and Brynjar. "Very smart on your part."
"Thank you." Asta replied, feeling a little more confident.
"So Mad-eye-" Hermione began but was cut off by Brynjar.
"Who?" Brynjar asked looking confused.
"Mad-eye." Hermione said again, before realizing they probably don't know him by that name. "Sorry, Alastor said you wanted to talk to me about possibly helping Harry, Ron, and I along with the Order?"
"You call her cousin Mad-eye?" Brynjar questioned, still hung up on that name.
"Yes, because of his…. Wait, did you say HER cousin?" Hermione asked in utter shock at this revelation.
"Alastor… didn't tell you… did he?" Asta said slowly with wide eyes.
Brynjar patted her on the back as Asta buried her face in her hands, and groaned loudly.
"Well that certainly explains a lot about Mad-eye, don't you think Malfoy?" Hermione asked with a smirk.
Malfoy sneered. "If you recall!" Malfoy began with a snarky tone. "It wasn't actually Mad-eye who did that!"
"It was still funny." Hermione replied smiling broadly.
"I think we missed something." Brynjar said interrupting their reminiscing.
"In our fourth year at school Malfoy was being an obnoxious prick to Harry, so this guy, Barty Crouch Jr., who was pretending to be Mad-eye turned Malfoy into a ferret." Hermione explained, barely containing her laughter.
Brynjar and Asta burst into laughter at Malfoy's expense. The thought of Malfoy being turned into a ferret was too much for them.
"Glad you all find that incident so funny, but don't you have other matters to discuss?" Malfoy spat angrily.
The tension in the room returned as their laughter and smiles faded.
"Right." Asta said as her nervous expression returned to her face.
"To answer your earlier question, yes we do want to talk about you allowing us to help you and your friends bring down Snakeman." Brynjar said firmly, as he rubbed his right arm nervously.
"Snakeman?" Hermione asked Brynjar. She knew who he was talking about, but had never heard that name for him before.
"We don't like to show respect or fear by calling him by his created name, or that whole 'You-Know-Who' name." Brynjar explained, straightening himself slightly. "We call him Snakeman to show him and everyone else we are not afraid of him."
Hermione nodded, feeling she somehow disrespected them with her question.
"I understand." She replied. "Why exactly do you want to help us?"
Brynjar and Asta looked at each other, unsure of how to make it not sound as selfish as the reason actually is.
"Well, we want to get back in the magical world's good graces." Brynjar began, looking guilty for being selfish. "AND we want Snakeman dead."
"So you really only want to help because it will get you back in good standing with the magical community, how valiant." Hermione said with narrowed eyes.
"No." Asta said firmly, returning Hermione's glare. "We realize how selfish it sounds, and yes it is partially selfish. However, our community of Vikings don't believe in what Snakeman is doing, our people haven't since the year 1,100. We have changed, for the better, since Abraxus the firsts' grandchildren were 'relieved' of their leadership in 1,066."
"I was going to say, I thought I read you were defeated and banished from England in 1,066. How did you get back in the country undetected?" Hermione asked looking more intrigued than angered this time.
"Well, uh…. Our people sort of, never really left…. We uh, sent empty ships out to sea, and remained hidden here." Brynjar explained nervously, rubbing his right arm until Asta swatted his hand away.
"You need to stop doing that." She half scolded, half pleaded. "You can't rub them away."
"I know that, I can't help it." Brynjar replied, turning pink.
"How did you get all those scars?" Hermione asked, looking at both his arms with sympathetic eyes.
Asta stiffened again, and made and excuse to leave the room.
"I will go get us drinks." She growled through gritted teeth, as she rose to her feet and began to make her way from the room. "I'm sure we are all thirsty."
Hermione watched the Asta with wide, nervous eyes.
"Um is she alright?" Hermione asked in a nervous whisper.
Brynjar nodded, then waved his hand around the room.
"She just really hates this story." Brynjar explained before he began telling the story, for the second time, and the second day in a row.
Through the whole telling of the story, Hermione's jaw hung open. She couldn't believe that a mother could treat her own daughter so terribly, and her daughters friend too! What kind of sick person could be like that to a child? What kind of sick person could DO something so horrid to a child? Especially a child that wasn't their own! When Brynjar took his shirt off to reveal, what looked like, a thousand more scars, Hermione began to cry. This boy, man, whichever he is, took all those curses for her at the age of ten. That was such a kind, loving, and brave thing to do.
"You must have loved her just as much back then as you do now." Hermione managed to say through her tears.
Brynjar went red, and Malfoy snorted with laughter, earning him a dirty look from Brynjar.
"Keep you trap shut blondie! I'm warning you." Brynjar growled.
"What? What did I say that was wrong?" Hermione asked, afraid she overstepped or insulted Brynjar. Her eyes went wide with understanding as she realized why he would get upset. "Oh Merlin! She's your sister!" She proclaimed, waving her hands. "I'm sorry I didn't know! You two look nothing-"
"We're not brother and sister." Brynjar said flatly. "We aren't related at all. We have been best friends since we were born."
Hermione rested a hand on her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's just… it's a touchy subject…. Her and I…" Brynjar continued as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Hermione nodded, but said nothing more on the matter. Which was convenient because just as they dropped the subject, Asta came back into the sittingroom with drinks floating in front of her.
"I hope you like Firewhiskey, that seems to be all Alastor has." Asta said flatly, still sounding angry.
"Firewhiskey is-" Hermione began but was cut off by Brynjar.
"Why is there blood dripping from your arm?" He asked in a stern manner.
"There's no blood dripping from my arm." Asta replied trying to stop the blood from trickling down her arm
"Bullshit! Roll up your sleeve." Brynjar demanded as he grabbed hold of her upper arm.
Asta shrugged him off her arm, and slid further down the left half of the couch.
Hermione and Malfoy were watching the exchange happen with nervous, yet intrigued expressions.
"Roll up your sleeve then, if there's no blood!" Brynjar shouted as he jumped to his feet.
"No! There's no fucking need to, there's nothing there!" Asta shouted back, jumping to her feet as well.
The tension and anger in the room was so think, Hermione and Malfoy could barely breathe.
"Roll up your fucking sleeve, or I will cut your fucking shirt off, so I can tend to your arm!" Brynjar snarled through gritted teeth, and Hermione could have sworn she saw a literal fire in his eyes.
"You wouldn't dare." Asta growled in a low dangerous voice, her eyes narrowed.
"The hell I wouldn't!" Brynjar yelled as he swiped his hand up, cutting her shirt right up the middle.
"You ASSHOLE! There are people here and-" Asta began but was cut off by Brynjar, who flicked his hand a second time causing the right side of the severed shirt to fall off her arm.
"Damnit Asta!" Brynjar exclaimed as he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her onto the couch. "You said you had stopped doing this!"
Hermione and Malfoy looked at what Brynjar was so angry about and they both gasped. She had cut her arm really deep, and apparently in the same spot she had done it multiple times before. Now they understood his sudden change and his high temper.
Hermione snapped back to reality when she saw Brynjar grab Asta's chin very forcefully, and pull her face close to his. Hermione aimed her wand at Brynjar and coughed.
"Let her go." Hermione warned as she aimed her wand at Brynjar.
"I'm not going to hurt her." Brynjar said sternly as he turned to look at Hermione, who wasn't backing down. "I've always done this when she- FUCK!"
Brynjar removed his hand from Asta's chin and rubbed it with his other hand, as he looked at Asta.
"I have stopped using the carving curse on myself!" Asta spat angrily as she hastily covered herself back up. "But hearing that story twice two days in a row was too much for me to take. Alright!?"
With that Asta tore out of the sittingroom and ran upstairs, away from the three of them.
"How could you hear it the second time?" Brynjar called after her. "I put up a silencing charm!"
Brynjar's words were met with silence, and he sighed as he rose to his feet. Before he left the sittingroom to attempt to calm Asta down, and to apologize for what happened, he turned to Hermione and Malfoy.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that." Brynjar apologized, more to Hermione than Malfoy. "But she feels responsible for what her mum did to me, even though she shouldn't!" Brynjar shouted the last few words towards the stairs. "Her way of coping with the UNNECCESARY GUILT," He shouted towards the stairs again. "was to carve into her arm every time someone mentioned my scars."
Hermione felt guilty for causing this whole scene, if she hadn't asked about his scars this wouldn't have happened, and the girl offering her and her friends help wouldn't be bleeding right now.
"She started this when we were thirteen, I finally got her to stop two years ago, on my fifteenth birthday. She's done-" Brynjar was cut off by Hermione holding her hands up to stop him.
"Woah, woah, woah. You two are seventeen?" Hermione asked completely flabbergasted. "You two look like you're in your late twenties!"
"Yeah. Growing up a Viking child does that to ya'." Brynjar chuckled, and then made his way towards the stairs. "I'm going to go check on her. If I'm not back in ten minutes call her cousin will you?"
Hermione chuckled at what she thought was a joke, until she saw he was not smiling anymore.
"No, really, if you don't see me or her in ten minutes, call Alastor." Brynjar said in a completely serious manner. "Because neither of you will be able to handle her."
Hermione was watching him as he disappeared up the stairs, stuck on what he had said. She turned to Malfoy and saw that he was wearing the same expression on his face. Hermione let out a small nervous laugh that made Malfoy chuckle a little as well. Malfoy looked over at Hermione and the laughter died, but a small smile still played across his lips.
"What?" Hermione asked suspiciously. Knowing it was never a good thing for her when Malfoy smiled at her.
"It's just…. It's good to see you well and alive." Malfoy confessed, making as little eye contact as possible. "Everything's changed, for the worse no less, and… it's just good to see part of my old life still intact."
Hermione blinked at Malfoy, unsure that she heard him right, or that it was really Malfoy.
"I… Well, thank you I suppose." Hermione managed to say after fumbling with what to say in her head.
Malfoy nodded in response, slightly regretting admitting that he was happy to see her. The tension and silence was overwhelming.
"Asta?" Brynjar called from outside the bedroom door. "Asta please open the door so I can fix your arm."
His words were met with silence. He couldn't tell if she was just ignoring him, or if she cast a silencing charm around the outside of the door, so he tried a dangerous tactic.
"Asta if you don't open the door for me right now," Brynjar sighed, knowing he was going to get hell for this. "I will punch through whatever wards you have around the door."
Suddenly he heard scrambling on the other side of the door, making him chuckle. He knows that she knows he would actually do it, even if she would flay him for it later.
His smile faded as the door flew open to reveal a very dangerous looking Asta. He walked into the room slowly, waiting for her to blow up at him, and just as he leaned against the dresser she did just that.
"What the FUCK were you thinking, cutting open my shirt like that?! And in front of other people no less!" Asta screamed at him from arms distance away.
Brynjar heard every word Asta was shouting at him, but he was distracted by the fact that her shirt was still cut in half, and hanging open. He could see her black cotton bra that was almost too small for her, since she hadn't been able to get out to the shoppes in ages. He was mesmerized by her exposed torso, he had never seen this much of her before.
"You're just fucking lucky that I had a bra on today, or you would be a pile of ash on the fucking floor for exposing me like this!" Asta continued her rant, as she paced back and forth in front of Brynjar.
'I'd be luckier if you weren't wearing a bra actually.' He thought to himself as he watched the slight bounce of her breasts when she walked. But his admiration was cut short when she started waving her hands in his face.
"Hello!" She shouted as she tried to regain Brynjar's attention. "Are you even fucking listening to me?!"
"Wha- Yes I'm listening to you!" Brynjar shouted back, slightly pink in the face. "I've just never seen this much of you before!" He continued as he pushed her onto the bed and crouched down in front of her. "It's distracting."
Asta's breath caught, she didn't know how to respond to that. When she felt her right shirt sleeve being pulled off her shoulder, she pulled away giving Brynjar a shocked look.
"Relax." Brynjar said as he rolled his eyes smirking slightly. "I'm not going to have my way with you." His smirk faltered slightly and his eyes grew dark with lust as that thought played through his head. As quickly as that thought came into his mind, it left.
"Wouldn't be all worked up and you wouldn't be as distracted if you hadn't cut my shirt open." Asta grumbled as Brynjar summoned the jar of ointment and bandages out of her pouch strapped to her leg, and began working on her forearm.
"Not likely." Brynjar mumbled as he started cleaning the gouge in her arm.
"What was that?" Asta asked.
"Why did you go the long way, I said." Brynjar lied as he continued his work on her arm. "You're not supposed to go the long way when you do that… Stupid."
"I'm not steady with my left hand, and I stopped it from bleeding for the most part." Asta mumbled.
Brynjar rolled his eyes and continued to work on her arm. He became momentarily distracted when Asta stretched her back, causing her chest to pop out towards him, and his imagination ran wild with thoughts of other things he wished he could be doing to Asta right now.
If he could, he would kiss all around the gouge she carved in her arm, and then kiss the rest of the way up her arm. He would kiss her neck as he laid her down on the bed, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. He would listen to her moan with every kiss of her neck, and as she would arch her back he would kiss down her chest and her stomach. He would kiss every scar on her body, as though his kiss alone would make them disappear. He would run his hands all over her body, the way he has wanted to for three years. He would kiss her lips for every time he has wanted to but not been able to. He would worship her body the way it was meant to, and he would finally lose his virginity to the girl he loves.
As he was watching his fantasies play out in his head, Asta caught the hungry look in his eye. She shivered at the intensity of the look in his eyes, it was overwhelming.
'Maybe Malfoy is right.' She thought to herself as she watched Brynjar bite his bottom lip.
She decided to test Malfoy's theory. She shimmied off the other half of her shirt, and folded it so both sides matched up where they used to be connected. She was about to start the repairing spell on her shirt, when she noticed that Brynjar stopped working on her arm, and he was now starring at her with dark eyes. When he saw her looking at him, he looked away and began to clean up the ointment and bandages.
"Sorry." Asta said grabbing the blanket to cover herself up, assuming Malfoy was wrong and she offended Brynjar. "But I need to fix my shirt."
Brynjar did not trust any part of himself anymore, so he just nodded his head as he stood up. Asta finished repairing her shirt and went to put it back on, only to find her arm wouldn't bend.
"Why'd you wrap the bandages up so high Brynjar?" Asta asked as she looked at his work. "What, were you daydreaming?"
Brynjar looked at her, and had to hold back a groan of desire. Sweet Odin did he want her! She is absolutely beautiful, and perfect, and fierce, and he wanted nothing more than to make her scream his name in pleasure.
"Yeah sorry, lost in thought." Brynjar apologized as he made his way over to redo her bandages.
"Don't worry about it now. You can fiddle with it later." Asta said as she struggled to put her shirt on.
"Oh trust me I will be." Brynjar mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.
"What?" Asta asked as she got stuck in her shirt.
"Nothing." Brynjar said as he turned to look at her, and began laughing at the sight of her. "Do you need help?"
"Please." Asta said slumping in defeat.
"Alright stand up." Brynjar chuckled as he walked over to his struggling friend, and removed her shirt. As he did a wave of heat washed over him, and he was sure Asta felt it too.
"You, uh, were trying to stick your head in the sleeve." Brynjar said none to smoothly.
"Of course I was." Asta said rolling her eyes, trying to avoid the fluttering in her stomach from Brynjar removing her shirt.
Brynjar held her shirt up in front of her so she could slip her arms in the sleeves. As she did, their eyes met for a brief moment, and right as the intensity of the connection became too much for them, they both looked down.
As Asta stuck her head up through the shirt, Brynjar's eyes wandered to her breasts again, before resting on her hips. As soon as her head popped out of the neck hole, his eyes went straight back to hers. He was almost free of temptation, but when he pulled her shirt down, the back of his hands grazed over her bra covered breasts, and they both froze.
They looked at each other, both sure the other felt that same surge of energy between them. Brynjar's eyes were dark and hungry, Asta's were glossy and wide, and they slowly began to move closer to one another.
Their hearts were pounding in their chests, neither one of them dared to breath for fear of ruining the moment. Brynjar's hand slid from his hold of her shirt, to her waist so gently that Asta hadn't realized his hand moved until she felt it on her waist. Brynjar was slowly losing control of his blood flow, feeling her skin under his hand was weakening his willpower. Her skin is so soft, and his other hand was so close to her breasts, that his fantasies were starting to come to the surface.
They were mere inches from each other, when they heard a knock on the door that stopped them in their tracks. Brynjar groaned at the disruption, Asta sunk back down into the bed making her eyes perfectly level with Brynjar's erection, her eyes wide in awe.
"Is everything alright in there?" Hermione asked softly, as she prepared herself to burst into the room.
"Everything's fine." Brynjar's said huskily, as he attempted to hide his erection. "We will be down in a minute."
Hermione looked curiously at the door for a moment before turning and making her way downstairs. Malfoy followed in her wake smirking like a goofball the whole way downstairs.
"What is so funny?" Hermione asked, looking confused as to what could possibly be funny about 'be down in a minute'.
"I think you interrupted a long awaited moment back there." Malfoy replied, chuckling lightly.
"What makes you think that?" Hermione asked feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Didn't you hear the big guys tone? It was too husky of a response for there to be nothing going on in there." Malfoy explained as they made their way into the sittingroom, and took up their old seats.
Hermione looked at him like he had four heads, she had never heard of such a thing.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about? Husky response?" Hermione asked clearly annoyed with not being able to understand what Malfoy was talking about.
"Honestly Granger, you act like you've never heard an aroused man before." Malfoy said dismissively as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands in frustration. That is, until he noticed her silence and looked at her to see her red face, and realized she really hasn't. "Oh-ho! You haven't!" He exclaimed with a devious smirk. "Not really a surprise though, you're to goody-goody foe that I suppose."
As soon as the words flowed out of his mouth, he could tell he had overstepped. He felt bad for what he said, it was over the line, but he couldn't show it.
"Fuck you Malfoy." Hermione whispered as she rose from her seat, and made her way towards the kitchen, clearly wiping her eyes.
Malfoy sighed and leaned his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands. 'Why are you such a prick Malfoy.' He thought to himself as he pushed himself to his feet, and made his way into the kitchen after Hermione.
"Granger, look I didn't mean it as dickish as it came out." Malfoy started as he walked in to find Hermione drinking firewhiskey from the bottle.
"Oh of course you didn't Malfoy. You're always a fucking saint aren't you? Never meaning anything hurtful you say to people right?" Hermione spat sarcastically as she slammed the half empty bottle on the counter.
"Wow you can drink Granger!" Malfoy praised with a shocked look on his face.
"Don't change the topic Malfoy!" Hermione continued angrily as she took a step closer to him. "Just because I'm not one of the hundreds of bints you've shagged doesn't mean I'm-"
"It means you're better than them, because you didn't part your legs like the Red Sea for me, or any guy really!" Malfoy shouted back catching her off guard. "You have self respect, and morals. I didn't say it was a bad thing! Like I DID SAY, I didn't mean it to sound as dickish as it came out!"
Malfoy was breathing heavy and glaring at Hermione, praying she didn't continue to argue with him about it. He didn't mean it the way it came out, it just happens that everything that comes out of his mouth, comes out sounding like he's being a prick. He liked that she wasn't loose like all the other girls hes been with, it was refreshing.
"Well…. Thank you then, I suppose." Hermione finally replied looking as though she just got hit in the face by a bludger.
Just as Malfoy was about to respond to her, Asta came bounding down the hallway as though nothing dramatic happened today.
"I'm sorry about that little display earlier. That story just… It really hits me hard every time I hear it." Asta apologized looking truly embarrassed. "I hope this one didn't bother you too much in our absence." Asta said flatly, as she leveled Malfoy with a deadly look.
"No, not at all." Hermione replied seemingly sincere, to Malfoy's surprise.
"Wonderful!" Asta exclaimed as she motioned for Hermione to follow her into the sittingroom.
"Where's the big guy?" Malfoy asked as he settled in his recently vacated chair.
"Still upstairs." Asta replied in an oblivious manner. "Said he needed a minute, or something to that affect. Could you go check on him actually? She asked Malfoy looking slightly unnerved. "If he has punched anything with his almost healed hand, tell him to hide because I'll kill him."
Malfoy nodded, then left the room.
"You wouldn't really kill him would you?" Hermione asked slightly nervous.
Asta laughed, rather loudly, until she saw that Hermione was being serious.
"Oh sweet Odin no I would not really kill him!" Asta spat out quickly. "I was exaggerating because he has broke and then re-broke his right hand three times in three days."
"Oh! Ok." Hermione said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Right so, back to explaining why we want to help you get rid of Snakeman." Asta pressed on. "I know it sounds selfish but the other reason I want to help is because, after what my mother did to Brynjar and me, I get angry when any adult ruins a child's life. And that is exactly what Snakeman did to Harry by killing his parents. Harry was forced to live with miserable people who hated him and treated him like shit his whole life. For all that, I want to see the Snakeman be destroyed."
Hermione was taken aback by this, she'd never thought they might actually care about what happened to the rest of the world. She honestly just assumed they were blood thirsty after being in hiding for so long, that they jumped at the first opportunity to kill people.
"Look." Asta said abruptly, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. "Brynjar and I are willing to do whatever it takes to earn your trust and be able to help you and your friends. Veritaserum, Legilimency, and I would offer torture but Brynjar and I have been trained to withstand all dark curses since we were five, so they don't affect us anymore."
"You would have subjected yourselves to torture if I requested it, just to gain my trust?" Hermione asked in complete shock.
"Yes, whatever it takes for you to see that we aren't going to cross you, and that our offer to help you is sincere." Asta replied in the most serious manner Hermione had ever witnessed.
'These two are absolutely mental!' Hermione thought to herself as she tried to process all this. They would be willing to undergo torture, just to gain her trust! That alone says they are serious about wanting to help. She still can't be too careful. This is Harry's safety they are talking about, and Ron's as well.
"I would like you both to take veritaserum, even though your offer to withstand torture is more than enough for me, I can't be so easy to accept you guys with Harry and Ron's lives being on the line. I hope you understand." Hermione said flatly.
Meanwhile upstairs, Malfoy was trying to calm down an emotionally exhausted Brynjar.
"This fucking close!" Brynjar was shouting in the magically silenced room. "This fucking close! I had my hand on her bare skin, I was inches away from her lips!" Brynjar said as he raised his fist to hit the wardrobe next to him, before Malfoy grabbed his arm.
"Asta will kill you!" Malfoy shouted over Brynjar's angry shouts.
Brynjar lowered his fist, only to send his foot through the wardrobe door.
"I want her so bad, you have no idea." Brynjar said in defeat as he repaired the wardrobe. "I will wait for her, but I'm so tired of waiting." He removed the silencing charm around the room and began to walk out of the door.
Malfoy followed a little ways behind him, and he thought briefly of the girl he longed to hold in his arms but couldn't. He quickly cast that thought to the back of his mind, and painted his aristocratic façade back on his face.
"Believe me, I understand." He mumbled, causing Brynjar to look back at him with a still devastated, yet slightly interested look on his face. Malfoy just shook his head, and that was the end of the conversation.
They barely rounded the corner, and Asta was ushering for Brynjar to join her on the couch.
Malfoy was amazed at how she could so easily be friendly with him now, after what almost happened upstairs. It was as though she wasn't even phased by it at all.
"Brynjar! Brynjar! She's agreed to let us help! After we take veritaserum and answer her questions of course. But she's accepted our help!" Asta shouted gleefully, like a child that was just given their first racing broom.
"Are you serious?!" Brynjar exclaimed just as gleeful, seeming to completely forget his longing for his friend. "That's brilliant! I take it telling her about our gifts was a good idea then?"
Asta's smile fell at that question, making Brynjar realize she hadn't told Hermione about their gifts.
"Damnit I forgot to tell you about our 'gifts'." Asta admitted flatly as she turned to look at Hermione, whose face was impassive.
"What gifts? What are you talking about?" Hermione asked somewhat testily, as she eyed the two Vikings.
Brynjar and Asta exchanged looks with one another, before Asta began to speak.
"It's nothing that will cause problems for you and your friends, I swear to Odin on that." Asta began. "Brynjar has two gifts, or abilities, if you prefer that word better. He is extremely strong, and I know what you're thinking, 'Duh he's huge', but… I'll just have him show you. Brynjar?"
Brynjar sighed but got up and walked to the end of the couch, and bent down to pick up the end of it.
"Really? You can lift a couch, big deal, most men can- woah!" Malfoy's comment was cut short as Brynjar lifted the entire couch, and Asta, up off the floor with one hand, which happened to be his non-dominant hand.
Hermione's jaw hit the floor, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. This behemoth of a young man just lifted a couch and a fully grown girl with one hand! As if that wasn't enough, the man apologized for not lifting something heavier than the couch!
"Sorry it wasn't something heavier, there's nothing bigger in here and we can't go outside because of the wards. I'm also using my non-dominant hand because my dominant hand is incapacitated at the moment" Brynjar apologized turning red in the face from, what Hermione can only assume was, embarrassment.
"I….uhh… Don't… That was… Wow!" Was all Hermione could say. She was completely stunned at his strength, and became flustered.
Brynjar blushed at her attempt to make a sentence after watching his demonstration. He didn't know what it was, but something about making girls speechless with his strength made him feel good. Especially when an attractive girl like Hermione, becomes speechless and flustered, it makes his male instinct to show off kick in. As he took his seat next to Asta, who was donning a very McGonagall-like lip purse, on the couch; he pretended to stretch his back, and he folded his arms behind his head, flexing his muscles as he did so.
Hermione began to blush at the sight of Brynjar's bulging muscles, and smiled slightly at him until she caught the look on Asta's face. As soon as she saw the look Asta was giving Brynjar, Hermione shook herself from her trance, and broke eye contact with Brynjar. Conveniently, she missed the other angry stare from the other side of the room.
"Ahem.." Asta mock coughed at Brynjar, who snapped out of show off mode only to find Asta giving him a deadly look, making him blush even more. "Care to demonstrate your second ability, Mr. Muscles?"
Both Brynjar and Hermione turned beet red, and Brynjar fumbled his way over to the fireplace.
"Right." Brynjar said hurriedly as he fumbled his way to the fireplace which, un-luckily for Brynjar and Hermione, was where Hermione was sitting.
Hermione would have turned even redder if it was possible, when Brynjar came close to her. She lowered her head, so she was starring into her lap, when he squatted next to her and conjured a fire.
"I, uh… I don't know how useful this ability will be for… well whatever it is you're doing, but ummm… Well yeah, here it is." Brynjar said as he stuck his hand into the roaring flames.
Hermione screeched as she jumped out of her stool and tried to pull his hand out of the fire, until Brynjar grabbed her hands and pulled them off his arm.
"What the bloody hell are you trying to do?! Get your hand out of the fire!" Hermione continued to screech as she tried to grab hand again.
"Just look at his hand." Asta commanded.
"Wha- Are you mad?!" Hermione yelled at her, still trying to get him to remove his hand from the fire. "His skin has probably melted off by- what the bloody hell?" Hermione exclaimed as she looked into the flames and saw his hand completely intact. "What the… How did you… That can't be… How?"
By this time Brynjar had pulled his hand out of the flames and put out the fire. He stood up and looked at Hermione with a blank face, and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. I have just always been fireproof, for lack of a better word." Brynjar explained before making his way back to the couch, and taking his seat next to Asta.
"This isn't normal. No witch or wizard should be able to do that without a potion, but I watched you, and you didn't take a potion." Hermione began ranting more to herself than to anyone in specific. "There is no documentation of anyone having an ability like this, it doesn't make sense."
"You're forgetting something Granger." Malfoy called out, in quite a snippy tone, still quite pissed at Brynjar showing off for Hermione.
"And what is that, Malfoy?" Hermione said incredulously.
"As far as the Wizarding world knows, the Viking population went extinct sometime after 1066." Malfoy spat back snippily. "So naturally there would be no documentation on it."
Hermione felt like an idiot. Of course, that's why there is no documentation on anyone having this ability!
"Right. Of course." Hermione said, still going over this information in her head. Before she got too lost in thought she remembered Asta said she had abilities too. "Asta, you said you have abilities like Brynjar too?"
Asta nodded her head, and stood up and began walking towards Hermione.
"One of my gift's is something that has been seen throughout the generations of my family. My ancestor's took to calling it 'The Gift of Thor', if you don't mind holding out your index finger?" Asta asked, with a kind expression on her face.
Internally, Hermione sighed in relief that Asta wasn't angry at her for gawking at her friend. She nodded her head and obliged Asta's request, and held out her index finger.
"This won't hurt as bad as it normally hurts the people I use it on." Asta explained, then immediately touched her finger to Hermione's, leaving Hermione no time to ask for further explanation.
"Ow!" Hermione exclaimed louder than was necessary, it really wasn't that bad of a shock it just surprised her.
"Asta!" Brynjar scolded as he shot to his feet.
"No! No! Brynjar it's fine! It wasn't that painful at all, honestly! It just caught me off guard, that's all." Hermione explained with a slight chuckle in her voice. "How much voltage can you send through someone?" Hermione asked, highly intrigued by her gift.
"What is voltage?" Asta asked Hermione, as she turned to Brynjar to see if he knew what she was talking about. But Brynjar just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
"Right, sorry, you wouldn't know." Hermione apologized before she began to explain. "Voltage is a muggle term for how much electricity is running through a current." She looked around to see if any of them understood what she was saying, but they all seemed more lost than before. She sighed as she tried to find simpler words to use to ask her question. "How badly can you shock someone?"
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Asta said with a smile, finally understanding what Hermione was talking about. "I can stop their heart if I want to. It depends on how angry they make me, or if I am the underdog in a fight."
"Wow." Hermione said, very impressed and slightly afraid of Asta now.
"Yeah, it's not as cool as unlimited strength, but it's deadly and that's what I like." Asta said with a proud smile.
"I think it is a really cool ability, and a privileged ability." Brynjar said honestly. "How many people can say they are worthy of 'The Gift of Thor'?"
"I suppose." Asta replied, still annoyed with Brynjar for flaunting his muscles for Hermione. "It's better than the other gift I have."
"Why? What's your other gift?" Hermione asked very interested now.
"Something she refuses to practice on me." Brynjar complained, as he leaned back against the couch.
"I don't practice it on you because I don't want to turn into Alvilda." Asta replied with a cheeky grin on her face, as she looked at Brynjar who went pink.
"I told you! Alvilda pounced on me! I don't like her that way!" Brynjar growled through his teeth as he crossed his arms and pouted.
"Sure, sure, whatever you say." Asta replied.
"What do you mean turn into whats-her-name? What exactly is this ability?" Hermione asked, thoroughly intrigued now.
"My father calls it 'Athena's Gift', you know the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty?" Asta asked looking bashful, an attitude that didn't set right on her. "I can take on the appearance of the person you love, like it is said that Athena could do when you looked upon her."
Hermione and Malfoy were floored; one with intrigue and one with disbelief.
"How?" Hermione and Malfoy asked in unison, causing them to look at each other in surprise.
"I don't know." Asta said as she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm the first Viking to be recorded as having this ability."
"Wasn't your fathers mother a veela?" Brynjar asked.
"Yes." Asta replied flatly. "Do you think that is the reason I have this ability? My father says it's because I can't see love when it's right in front of my face, so Odin gave me a cheat."
Brynjar stiffened, while Asta slumped back into her seat next to Brynjar looking bummed.
"Bullshit!" Malfoy exclaimed, breaking the silence. "The only way you can change your appearance are through a series of spells and charms, and polyjuice potion. You can't just will yourself to change, not unless you are n animagus or a bogart." Malfoy paused at the last word. "Are you a bogart?"
Asta had become very defensive as soon as Malfoy called bullshit. She never lies, unless in a life or death situation, and she didn't like being called a liar.
"No, I'm not a fucking bogart!" Asta declared as she rose to her feet.
"Are you saying that she," Brynjar began as he gestured towards Asta, "is your biggest fear?"
Malfoy realized he walked himself into a corner, and internally cursed himself.
"No, I didn't mean-" Malfoy began but was cut off by Brynjar.
"Are you saying she looks terrifying?" Brynjar shouted, as he got to his feet as well.
"No! I didn't-" Malfoy tried to explain but was cut off again.
"Because I don't know about you, but she's far from fucking ugly, or scary looking to me! If you find half-veelas scary you're really fucked up in the head!" Brynjar yelled at Malfoy, getting closer and closer to him. Brynjar would have pummeled the blonde bastard, but Asta drew him out of his murderous state.
"Brnyjar." Asta called.
Nothing.
Brynjar!" Asta called again.
Nothing again.
"B!" Asta called one last time, deciding if this doesn't get his attention she is going to have to stun him. Luckily, when he heard her call him 'B' he whipped around, only to be met by Asta placing both her hands on either side of his face taking his attention completely.
As soon as he felt her hand, and looked into her eyes, he slowly started to calm down. He felt the anger slowly dissipate away, and it was being replaced with calm.
"Breathe, okay? Just breathe. You're getting all worked up over things he didn't say." Asta said in a delicate voice that didn't seem to fit her personality.
"But he-" Brynjar began but was silenced when Asta placed her thumb over his lips.
"He's a twat that's afraid of his own shadow, ignore him." Asta said in that same voice before she pulled her hands away from his face, and put them on his shoulders. "Just breathe, don't think about him. Think of something that calms you, eh?"
Brynjar sighed and nodded, before he settled on the couch, and began thinking of all the nights Asta and him shared a bed. All the nights he fell asleep smelling the lavender scent on her hair, and all the mornings he woke up smelling lavender, along with finding that she had cuddled up to him in the middle of the night. Just like that, he was calmed down and back to his normal self again.
"Wow, you have to teach me how to do that!" Hermione exclaimed, as she watched Brynjar go from murderous to completely calm.
Asta smiled at Hermione before turning and looking at a newly calmed Brynjar. She loved seeing him all angry and ready to fight, but sometimes he gets to dangerous really quick.
"We have been friends since we were in nappies. I know him like I know myself, it's a matter of knowing what works and what doesn't. I have to get close to him for him to calm down, it seems to be the only thing that works." Asta explained. "This time was strange, because normally he doesn't get up and yell he stays where he is sitting, and I have to crawl up on his lap and hold his face."
Malfoy flashed Brynjar a knowing smirk and Brynjar winked back at him. Brynjar got his contact with her in the ways he knew would work, Malfoy had to give him credit for that.
"I still don't believe you can take on the appearance of the person an enemy loves at will, there's just no way." Malfoy declared with finality.
"Fine." Asta snapped. "Stand up, I'll demonstrate on you."
"Fine." Malfoy stood up and spread his arms in an offensive manner. "Go ahead."
Asta moved slightly closer to Malfoy, and studied him for a minute or two, before a wicked grin spread across her face.
"Oh this is too good!" Asta exclaimed as she reached over and put Brynjar's hand on her forehead.
Brynjar burst out in laughter at what he saw when he looked into Asta's mind.
"This is going to be interesting." Brynjar said as he rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward in anticipation.
"You sure you want to do this?" Asta asked one final time before she began her demonstration.
"Yeah I'm sure, because it's not going to work." Malfoy said matter-o-factly.
"Have it your way then." Asta said still baring that wicked grin.
She closed her eyes, and willed herself to read the image inside his heart. She took a deep breath in, and when she let the breath out she heard gasps and laughter.
Malfoy couldn't believe it, he thought she was talking out of her ass, he didn't think she could actually DO that. He kept trying to blink away what he was seeing but it was to no avail. Standing before them all, was a duplicate of Hermione Granger.
Hermione looked from Asta, replicating her, and Malfoy in disbelief. There was no way, NO WAY that Draco Malfoy was in love with her, just no way. She looked at Malfoy hoping he would say she is just fucking with her, but the horrified look on Malfoy's face told her that it was true.
"What's the matter Malfoy?" Asta-Hermione teased as she walked towards Malfoy, who walked backwards into his chair. "This is what you asked for."
Brynjar was rolling on the couch, not at Hermione's embarrassment, but at Malfoys. The prick had it coming, calling Asta a liar and all that.
"Please, please change back." Malfoy begged looking from Asta-Hermione, to the actual Hermione who looked mortified. "You're making her uncomfortable."
Asta turned and saw Hermione was white as a ghost, and she quickly did what she needed to change back to herself.
"I'm sorry about all that." Asta said sincerely as she rushed over to Hermione, who was using her hand to try and find her stool. Asta helped her down onto her stool, and crouched down in front of her. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?"
Hermione couldn't think, she couldn't function, she could barely breath for Merlin's sake! The guy who bullied her for her whole school career is in love with her. The guy whose father raised him to think that all muggleborns don't deserve to live, is in love with him. In the matter of an instant her whole world has been turned upside down. She is lost.
"N.. no… I'm fine… I… I just think I should go…" Hermione stuttered, as she rose from her chair and stumbled towards the fireplace.
"Are you sure? Maybe you should wait until the shock wears off." Asta suggested, worried that she might end up in the wrong grate.
"No.. No.. I need to go… Mad-eye will be getting worried." Hermione replied mindlessly as she reached for the floo powder on the mantle. "I will tell Harry and Ron that you will be accompanying us on our travels. Um, is he still going to be with you when we set out?" Hermione asked gesturing towards Malfoy.
"Yes he will be, I'm sorry. But Brynjar and I will keep him under control, I promise." Asta replied nervously.
"Alright, I will see you Saturday. It was nice meeting you both, have a good afternoon." Hermione smiled half-heartedly, as she waved at Brynjar and Asta, before walking into the floo.
Asta and Brynjar looked at each other for a moment before Asta tore over to Brynjar who rose to his feet, and caught her in a hug as she squealed with joy.
"She accepted our help!" She squealed as Brynjar squeezed her in his arms. "We still have to take veritaserum, but she accepted our help! We are going to help Harry Potter!"