Harry entered the Palace and headed for his room to clean himself after training and leave the gifts he got as they weren't the lightest ones and carrying them for his meeting with his grandfather would be impractical. He could feel his shadows, Freki and Geri follow him. They were following him wherever he went, causing people in the Citadel to look at him with even more respect than before as everybody knew whose wolves those were and how dangerous they were.
Leaving the gifts in his room, he walked through the corridors of the private chambers of the royal family until he found the study of his grandfather. He opened the doors and walked into it, his grandfather was sitting behind his desk sorting through papers.
"Good, you're here," Odin said as he saw Harry enter the room. "As you are aware, you are a Prince of Asgard, in direct line to the throne and as such you have duties, to yourself and to others." Harry nodded at those words as he heard them multiple times. "Normally, a Prince is introduced to the nobles when they celebrate their eighth birthday. But because of your past, we decided that you shall be introduced to them on Yuletide. Before that your father will take you with him on his various trips to other realms, so you can meet some of the nobles earlier as well as getting used to meeting them."
"Do I have to?" Harry pouted, causing Thor, who quietly entered the room, to chuckle.
"You remind me of a younger me," Thor said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It sounds terrible, but it isn't that bad. You'll get to meet new people, see new worlds and have fun. Being a prince isn't only a privilege. Many think that being a prince is a fun thing," he said after a moment. "It's also about responsibility; for your kingdom, for the people who trust you and for your decisions."
"I understand," Harry said in a resigned tone looking at his father, whose expression was sombre.
"Good," Thor smiled as he looked at Harry. "I managed to speak with Sif to give you a couple of lessons about swords and how to use them."
Harry only smiled at the words and hugged Thor, much to the latters surprise and amusement.
o-0-o
On the next day right after the breakfast, Harry found himself on the training grounds, dressed in leather training clothes and looking at the golden haired, blue-eyed Sif. She was going to be his teacher in the art of fencing, and general martial arts as she was one of two finest sword masters of Asgard, second being Freyr.
"Sword fighting is more of an art than a mindless brawl," She said as they sat near one of the smaller training grounds. It was one of the more secluded spots for training and honing one's skills, without drawing the attention of too many people. She gathered her thoughts on how to explain it to Harry before looked at him. "It is more a battle of technique than brute strength, while both are needed. Technique is more important than brute force and sheer strength. Generally, a person that is faster, who has better technique will win against an opponent who is stronger, but lacks technique. For example I could beat your father before he could lay a hit on me as I'm faster, more agile and have marginally better technique. With your uncle Loki, it would be an even match as we have similar speed, agility and technique. A lot also depends on weapon."
She took a breath and looked at Harry, as well as his blade that was laying nearby in its scabbard. "May I see the blade?" She asked indicating his sword.
Harry nodded and handed it to her, in its scabbard so she could take it out on her own.
"While what you did was okay. In the future give swords handle first. It is a sign of good will and lack of hostile intent as you can't wound with it," she explained and Harry nodded. "Now about the sword," she said taking it out of its scabbard, rays of morning sun hitting the blade, causing it to glow gold. "A very good blade. Not the best for your age, but it's a temporary issue that'll go away with time."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked looking at her with some interest.
"You will tire really quickly as it is a little too long and heavy for your size, " she explained looking at him. "But for training it won't matter that much as it will be maybe thirty minutes sparring and later another twenty minutes of explanation of what you did wrong and how." Harry was ready to grab his sword, when she looked at him and pinned his hand down. "Before that, we need to secure the weapon, I don't want to explain to your father why you're in pieces."
"How can we do that?" Harry asked, a little confused by her words.
"Magic, first imagine drawing two runes on your sword, harmless and protection. After that, imagine creating a small layer of magic around the blade that can protect you from it."
"I've never used my magic before," he said
"I guess it'll be a good start then," she said as she took out her own blade. Placing it on her lap, she drew two runes before touching her fingers to the tip of the sword and moving them along the edges. When she did the blade lit gold for a moment. "Try to do the same."
Harry nodded and focused on the blade of his sword. He tried to repeat the moves made by Sif and after a moment, it glowed blue.
"Not bad," she nodded after a moment. "Not the strongest one and not an ideal one, but pretty good for a first time and it should work."
She stood up and walked to the middle of the sandy arena. She looked at Harry in such a manner that told him to join her in the circle with his sword. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Harry moved to the centre of the arena, slightly away from Sif, his wolves laying nearby, watching them.
Without any warning, Sif lunged forward, aiming to hit Harry around his ribs. He saw the move as if it was in slow motion, and moved his sword to parry it. When Sif saw him move her eyes narrowed slightly and she moved a little faster, breaking contact and rolling out of the way of the sword coming towards her. Her sword flew through the air, drawing an arc and hitting Harry on the wrist. He yelped in pain as the sword hit him and force his own weapon out of his hand.
"Enough," she said looking at Harry "I intentionally attacked you far slower and weaker than normally, to see your reaction to it."
"Did I do anything wrong?" he asked worriedly, causing her to laugh at those words.
"On the contrary, you did very well for your age and experience," she said looking at him and making a smile appear on his face. He'd never been praised before, but now it was a common thing. "You'll be a fine swordsman one day."
"Seriously?" he asked
"Yes, little prince," she said, chuckling a bit. "I saw many warriors through the ages and I can tell you that such an ability with a blade or weapon shows maybe three or four times per generation. In yours so far it is you and Ulf, in mine it is myself and The Warriors Three."
"Wow," Harry managed to say. He had already heard tales about achievements of The Warriors Three and being compared to them was a little mind-boggling.
"Yes" Thor agreed as he joined them. "And I thought that Sif was sparse in her praise."
"I am," she admitted. "It's just that he is either really good or I've lost my touch."
"I would bet he's really good," Thor said, looking at Harry. "I watched your spar and it was good. Really good."
"Thanks, dad." Harry said in his direction and looked at Sif "Again?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Again." She nodded and started another duel. Closely watching how Harry moved, trying to see any mistakes in his footwork and moves. He seemed to have a natural grace and flair that was a sign of a fine swordsman, or swordsman-in-training.
o-0-o
"Lucky you," Ulf muttered as the two of them were eating during one of the breaks in their training. "Getting trained by the Goddess of War is a rare thing and many wouldn't mind being in your place, myself included."
"In retrospect, I don't think there is an honour in being trained by her." Said Harry and Ulf eyes widened.
"She is the best sword user in the last few hundred years," he said carefully.
"Maybe she is, but she is also a terrible slave driver. For the last few days, we were fixing one of my mistakes and I have more aches than after a brawl or two with you."
"You know that you're lazy, right?" Ulf asked with a wide grin.
"You're not the first one to tell me that," Harry chuckled. "And probably not the last one either."
"Who was first?"
"One of grandfather's ravens, they follow me wherever I go and sometimes they are a bit annoying," Harry sighed. "As much as I love my grandfather's wolves, I have almost the same hate towards his ravens."
"We heard that." Said someone from above them, when they glanced upwards they saw two ravens sitting on a tree branch. It was hard to read them, but they seemed a little angry or annoyed. "And we aren't happy, we thought about calling you Black Prince or Black Wolf, but Lazy Prince sounds better, much better in fact."
"The Prince of Asgard, insulted by ravens," Ulf laughed as he watched Harry's face turning red as his rage was building up. The House of Odin had an extremely short fuse. They could explode almost momentarily and it seemed that Harry had also inherited his family trademark rage.
"You insolent little birds," Harry yelled as he grabbed a stone that was laying nearby and hurled it at one of them. They screeched, moving out of the way of the projectile.
"I wouldn't do that," said one raven as he appeared above Harry "You really don't want to make us angry."
The second added "We're advisors to your grandfather and while our words might be harsh, they're true as well."
"So I think we should properly introduce ourselves," said the first one as he landed in front of Harry "I am Muminn."
"And I'm Huginn," Second added.
"Thought and memory." Harry mindlessly translated as his Norse was getting steadily better with every day. His dad was right about the much improved memory and he was learning far quicker than he had thought was even possible.
"Exactly," Muminn said. "We work for your grandfather. We hear, we watch and we report what we saw and heard."
"In truth we were and are impressed by how you've developed," Huginn said. "But we thought that a little more incentive wouldn't hurt to keep you motivated and far away from complacent."
"Then you thought wrong," Harry seethed as he looked at the birds that flew towards his shoulders, landing on them. He turned and looked at Ulf. "Do you have a knife handy?"
"What are you planning to do?" A little confused son of Ullr asked, until on his face appeared wide grin once he guessed what Harry planned. "I have one."
"You won't do anything, will you?" Huginn asked fearfully as he felt the hand closing around his body. It forced him to admit that the kid had a lot of spunk and was ready to defend himself.
"I won't if you agree to few things. No more spying on me when I can't see you, no insulting and be friendly," Harry said as he got the knife from Ulf and pointed it at Huginn.
"We'll agree to those terms," Huginn nodded as he saw in Harry's eyes something that scared him. Determination and stubbornness, probably even bigger than his father had. Which meant that Harry wasn't joking and those weren't idle threats.
"Good," Harry said as he released Huginn.
"You just threatened one of your grandfather's animals," Ulf said as realization finally hit him. "You'll be in trouble."
"They weren't the friendliest ones, they deserved it," Harry said as he returned to eating. "Besides, grandfather likes me. So he'll accept it and I won't get into trouble. Maybe I can get Uncle Loki to take the blame."
"You know you're scary, right?" Ulf asked, looking at Harry, who seemed to be growing like a weed since he was brought to Asgard. Yet that wasn't surprising as in next six to ten years he was supposed to grow between two and three feet, as well as bulk up significantly. "But it's a good kind of scary."
"Seriously?" Harry innocently asked. "I never thought that I would be described as scary."
"He's right." Huginn said. "You remind us of your father when he was your age and even the things you suffered on Midgard won't change it."
"What things he suffered on Midgard?" Ulf asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Things he shouldn't have suffered," Ullr grimly said as he joined them, their arrival startling them as they didn't hear him coming. "I watched his guardians for some time to be sure that he was one of us. I saw giants take better care of their offspring than they did."
"I was forced to work for them; they didn't give me much food and I was forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs," Harry quietly said, his voice strained with emotions.
"What?" Ulf asked, short growl escaping his lips.
"He's serious," Ullr said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm not your father, but I can swear that here you won't be met by any kind of harm from me, any members of my family or household."
"Thank you," Harry said as from the corners of his eyes trickled some tears. He felt something heavy move towards him. He smiled when he saw Freki nudge him with its nose and lick his face in a show of affection.
"Those wolves really like you," Ullr mused as he looked at Harry "Your grandfather knew what he was doing when he gave them to you. You don't realize just how loyal to you they are."
"Really?" Harry asked as Geri trotted forward and sat on the ground in front of him. Panting happily, its tail wagging lazily as it looked at Harry.
"They definitely like you," Ullr said "And you'll appreciate that when you have a run in with things that want to kill you. Those wolves don't look like very dangerous creatures, but I can assure you that they are deadly. I've seen them dealing with the bodyguards of Laufey without a problem."
"Okay," Harry muttered a little shocked by such words, one of his hands scratching one of the wolves behind its ears. "They seem harmless and friendly."
"Yes," Ullr said with a smile. "They're powerful, yet they don't show that very often." He looked into the sky and watched clouds for a moment gathering his thoughts. After some time he looked at Harry and Ulf, who were nearby. On his lips a small smile that would mean trouble for those two as he had a nice idea for their lesson.
o-0-o
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office as he sifted through hundreds of documents that kept this school running. He raised his head and saw a whirlwind of gold and green robes appearing in the room. When they were gone, in their place stood tall man, with a horned helmet on his head, a glaive in his hand and pieces of armor covering his arms and legs. On his face, he wore his usual smirk and not recognizing him was hard.
"Prince Loki, to what do I owe this visit?" Dumbledore asked when he recognized who had invited themselves into his office. He was used to weird people inviting themselves, but most of them used the Floo or the door to get inside and one time, the window. None used apparition to do that, at least not until now.
"I'm merely a messenger, on behalf of my father and brother. As well as my nephew," Loki said as he looked at Dumbledore, who was puzzled a bit.
"Thor was James in disguise, so Harry is his son." Dumbledore said and watched Loki's eyes widen in a mix of something that could be described as shock and surprise.
"How do you know that?" Loki asked, laid back attitude of him gone and replaced by steel and look that promised pain to one that wouldn't provide a satisfying answer to his questions. "No mortal should know about it."
"Genealogy of the Gods," Dumbledore said and summoned thick book that he handed to Loki.
Loki took the book, opened in and muttered several spells in various languages. "Yes, this book would tell you about him as it gets updated on its own and his name appeared in my family tree."
Dumbledore nodded and looked at Loki "Most likely, you would like him to attend Hogwarts, or at least Thor would like that."
"Yes," Loki agreed "And in a tad under six years, he will need to start Hogwarts. Now he is safe and sound. Making new friends, getting used to an idea of being a Prince, developing his powers as a young Æsir, those kind of things."
"I see." Dumbledore said softly and looked at Loki "So what should I expect?"
"He will be tall, strong and agile, above the level of other people from his year," Loki slowly said. "He will have extremely powerful, but wild magic. I'll try to help him with control, but wandless and wanded magic are two different disciplines. Even if I know the basic principles of wanded, I have no need to use it. He may have a bodyguard or two."
"That won't be a problem, Hogwarts is used to unusual beings as students, and have played host to various bodyguards in our past, so those are arrangements I can accept. I just need a warning ahead of the time to inform my staff."
"Perfect." Loki nodded, happy that those arrangements could be easily made.
"But I have two questions," Dumbledore said looking at that Æsir in front of him.
"Go on."
"First, what can you tell me about him?"
"He behaves a lot like his father, but there is a lot of Lily in him. He's stubborn, very stubborn. Sometimes I think it's easier to make a mountain to move out of the way. Courageous, but also kind and his temper is almost as bad as my brother's. When it flares everybody sees or hears of it. He's growing at great pace, both in terms of his mind, but body as well. He's friends with the son of Ullr, who is his main tutor, along with the Lady Sif and probably myself or Heimdall in few months."
"Sif as in the Goddess of War?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting Loki.
"The very same," Loki grinned "She trains him in the usage of swords as he has shown talent for it. Father's pets love him, mostly Freki and Geri, but the ravens behave in his vicinity. He reminds me a lot of a younger me. Always curious, but he's more Thor, than me."
"What about the Dursleys?"
"Their minds were wiped of his presence."
"I don't really approve of it, but understand and accept it. Now my second question, Hogwarts. We send letters by owl, but it might have issues with reaching Asgard or wherever he will be, so where should it be sent."
"Avengers tower," Loki replied "Thor or I are often there, so we'll pick it up or even Harry as Thor plans to introduce him to Avengers, sooner rather than later."
"It'll be done."
"Have a good day," Loki said as he disappeared in a vortex of green and gold. Leaving Dumbledore to his own musings and damned paperwork.
"So, a Prince of Asgard," he said looking through the window. "Certainly will be interesting, very interesting. Especially if what he said about him is true."
o-0-o
Harry looked curiously around as he followed Ulf through the maze of corridors and hallways that made up a bulk of Ullr's palace. He hadn't been in this part of it before and he was interested in where his friend was leading him.
"Dad asked me to show you some of our wrestling and martial arts. What we previously did was mainly for fun and without any form or style. Here I'll show you some of our true martial arts," Ulf said as he turned his head and looked at Harry. "He would've done it himself, but he's busy in the Capitol and asked me to do it."
"Sounds nice," Harry smiled as he followed Ulf into a room.
It was circular with a round space filled in sand in the middle of it, Harry looked around and in a way it reminded him of boxing rings he had seen when Uncle Vernon was watching his TV. He looked at Ulf and awaited some explanation.
"Undress and we'll start," Ulf said as he quickly stripped out of his clothes, putting them on a neat stack by the wall. He was only wearing his underwear and Harry looked at him as if he was insane for a moment, but then he nodded and also undressed.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Harry asked as he entered onto the sand, feeling its fine grains under his feet.
"Try to beat me and throw me onto the ground," Ulf said and smiled. "That's how I was taught it and I like it."
"Anything is allowed?" Harry asked as he flexed his hands and looked at Ulf.
"Yes," son of Ullr nodded with a smile. "Every strike is allowed and you can do everything you think will work."
Harry looked at Ulf and charged at him with a smile, sending his fist straight ahead of himself and into the head of Ulf, who only tilted it to the side, completely avoiding the strike and in the next moment, sent one that lightly slammed into Harry's chest and pushed him backwards. He stumbled trying to regain his balance before looking at Ulf.
"For the first time, not the worst, but against a trained person it won't work. Think more and do less."
Harry nodded and with a vicious smile grabbed a fistful of sand. He threw it at Ulf who was forced to shield his eyes from it and at the same time, Harry's fist shot forward and slammed into Ulf's chest, pushing him onto the ground.
"Better," Ulf said as he stood up and blinked few times to deal with sand and dust that got into his eyes. "I'll show you moves used in our martial art style and you'll repeat it and after that, some practice."
"Sounds nice," Harry said and smiled as he focused on the youngest son of Ullr.
o-0-o
Life on Asgard passed for Harry in a blur, hours changing into days, days into weeks and weeks into months as he spent them with his family and friends. Learning new things, having fun, causing mischief and generally being a young Prince of Asgard. His teachers were impressed by his thirst for knowledge, as well as how diligent he was given proper incentive or competition as it forced him to do well. As losing wasn't in his nature, currently he was walking across the Bifrost to join Heimdall in his Observatory so he could teach him about other civilizations, beings in space and how to use the Bifrost.
"The Bifrost is our main gate in and out of Asgard, as well as the first line of our defense," Heimdall said looking at Harry "There are other entrances into Asgard, but accessing them is far harder and not many know of them. Also they are much, much more dangerous."
"Are you one of those people?" Harry asked, mischievous smirk on his lips.
"No" Firmly said Heimdall as he recognized this smirk. He didn't want to be killed for telling this particular prince how to get out of Asgard without anybody's knowledge. Maybe when Harry was older he would learn, but not now. Especially with Thor's temper, it would be a little unhealthy for him. "Your uncle and grandfather know quite a lot of those entrances."
Harry pouted at those words as he knew those two would be tight-lipped about revealing anything to him.
"My Prince, it won't work on me," Heimdall said "I have seen more than one grumpy Prince that tried to do the same thing that you are trying to do. I don't need to answer your questions as I answer only to your grandfather and our king, Odin."
"Fine," Harry huffed.
"Now, onto your lesson," Heimdall said, getting the full attention of Harry. "The things that I will show you are beings that exist in space. The Great Civilizations that exist there as well as show you the placement of the Nine Realms as there is a rare event to be happening relatively soon. One that previously happened almost five thousand years ago."
"Dad mentioned something about an event that happened five thousand years ago. He also mentioned that grandfather took part in it along with his father, " Harry mused, thinking about one of history lessons.
"Indeed," Heimdall agreed. "The Convergence. The sole time when all of the nine worlds of Yggdrasil are in a straight line. A very rare and very dangerous occurrence. The only time when borders between realms fall apart. Destruction of one of them destroys all others as well. The event to which your father was referring is our war with the Dark Elves, one that completely obliterated their world. They tried to use the Aether to bring eternal darkness to the universe. Your great-grandfather attacked them and managed to beat them, but at a great cost." He allowed Harry to digest those information and nod in understanding. "Now onto your lesson. Touch my hand and it will allow me to show you the universe."
Harry touched Heimdall's hand and suddenly his vision expanded and sharpened. He could see everything in the Nine Realms and beyond. Galaxies being created, stars dying and nebulae being formed.
"Focus your mind on something or it'll overwhelm you. Let me guide you as you will get lost." He heard Heimdall, then his vision changed and he was looking at something that could be described as a giant ball made out of lava.
"That is Muspelheim, the realm of Surtur. One of the many uncountable enemies of your grandfather and part of Nine Realms. It's inhabited by Fire Giants and similar creatures. As opposed to their frost cousins, they are aggressive, cruel, ruthless and very, very dangerous. Frost giants are more intelligent than those, have powerful magic and have better customs," Heimdall explained and once again the vision changed.
This time they were looking at world completely frozen, covered in a thick shell made out of ice and snow. The whole world was white and seemed static, but Harry felt a sense of movement. The world had the aura of a glacier, imposing and deadly, should one wake it.
"Is that Jotunheim or Utgard?" Harry asked looking at Heimdall.
"It is Jotunheim, home of the Frost Giants and currently in a state of civil war as Laufey was killed by your uncle Loki and he didn't have other sons," Heimdall said as they looked at that world. "Frost giants are more peaceful than their fiery cousins, easier to deal with and more reasonable. They are powerful sorcerers, skilled craftsmen and dangerous foes when enraged. In the past they waged many wars against us over the control of Midgard."
Harry's vision once again changed and this time they saw Earth or Midgard.
"Midgard, Nexus world of Nine Realms," Heimdall spoke. "Home of humanity and one of the most important worlds in their galaxy. Multiple pantheons exist or existed or have their roots there. It is the middle world of Yggdrasil and the most important one as well. You shall become very familiar with this world above all, in time."
Harry's vision changed once again, this time showing a world similar to Earth, yet obviously not Earth. The shapes of continents were clearly different. There was far less sea and most of the world was covered in plains. On one of the islands was a city so massive that it was visible from where they were.
"Alfheim or Vanaheim?" Harry asked, awe visible in his voice.
"Vanaheim, Alfheim is different. While this one is heavily covered in plains as most trees were cut down to make place for fields. Alfheim is covered in various forests," Heimdall explained. "It's ruled by Lord Freyr and they're one of the vassals of your grandfather. Very powerful ones at that. In terms of warriors or amount of them, they look weak, but they have a gift for magic and shape-shifting. Wolf People led by the Wolf Prince Hrimhari also call it their home. They can switch their form from human to wolf or in between without any problem."
Harry nodded as he heard about those people before and multiple people held them in high regards. The vision yet again changed and this time they were seeing whole cosmic tree of Yggdrasil in its full majesty.
"That is Yggdrasil," Heimdall said as image fully became visible. "The cosmic cluster that connects Nine Realms into one. There are the nine realms. Three in the branches of it, three in the middle of it and two in the roots of it. Svartalfheim is devoid of life and barren world due to actions of Malekith. By many it is considered to be the biggest and most powerful empire in the universe."
"For good reason," Someone said from behind them, causing them to turn around and see Odin walking towards them. "We won every war for last five thousand years, we were asked to be mediators, arbiters. Our warriors are feared wherever they appeared and we can live in peace. Grandson, I see that Heimdall is showing you the universe."
"Yes," Harry said.
"Good, it's important knowledge to have as you don't know when you'll need it."
"Very true," Heimdall agreed. "Now watch." As he said those words; in front of them appeared a being that was completely silver and seemed to be flowing through the space.
"What's that?" Harry asked a little surprised and shocked by what he saw.
"My Prince, that is the Herald of Galactus. Galactus is a cosmic entity that devours entire worlds to feed himself, yet he is a necessity in the universe as he keeps it in order."
"What about people living on those worlds?"
"The purpose of those Heralds is to warn the worlds and allow them to evacuate before he will appear. Many have plans for such events and before you ask. Opposing him is a pointless and dangerous thing as he is a force of nature that cannot be killed or destroyed. It took the whole might of your grandfather to slow down Galactus to allow one of our worlds to be evacuated."
Harry nodded and focused on the next image and Heimdall's explanation of it.
o-0-o
"Is it me or is everything in various colors?" Harry asked as he stumbled into his chambers, his head spinning and mind trying to process what it was seeing and what it had seen.
"No," Thor chuckled when he saw Harry. "Heimdall causes that to everybody, especially after so long as your brain is trying to process the data."
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Harry asked once his eyes focused.
"Nothing, just seeing my son," Thor said as Freki and Geri trotted after Harry. They walked to the giant bear hide that was laying near fireplace and laid there. "Can't I do that?"
"You can," Harry laughed as he placed his sword on a weapon stand in the corner.
"You know your teachers are impressed by you?"
"Again?"
"Yes," Thor nodded and looked at that sword. "Sif says that in two or three years you will be rather good with the blade and her rather good means really good."
"Cool."
"Your grandmother mentioned something about teaching you the basics of runes and magic. She was the one that taught Loki magic and is probably the most powerful magic user on Asgard."
"So that's why you don't want to make her angry?" Harry asked looking at his father.
"Yes, while she doesn't show it, she is powerful," Thor winced. "And you shouldn't try making her angry."
"Oh?"
"Yes, she has patience and she likes you, but even she can lose it," Thor said looking at his son. "About Heimdall, you won't do much excluding letting it sink in, as your mind needs to process the data."
With a sigh, Harry crashed against his bed, while his mind tried to process what it had seen. As the throbbing faded, he noticed a weird pain around his spine area. It wasn't one that he felt after training when it was caused by aching muscles. It was more along the lines of something trying to grow.
o-0-o
Volstagg looked at Thor as he entered the inn where he and the rest of the Warriors Three were sitting and enjoying the time. His friend seemed to be brighter than he had been, but also spent less of his time getting drunk. He was becoming more and more responsible, which was a strange thing as nobody would name Thor reasonable or responsible.
"When was the last time you were here?" He asked as Thor joined them at their table.
"Too long ago," The Crown Prince said and sighed as he slowly drank his ale. "I missed this ale."
"As we missed your company," Hogun said. "Enjoying having a son?"
"Who does?" Volstagg laughed. "It's just a matter of perspective, not the matter of if you enjoy it or not."
"Thank you for your wisdom, we really needed it," Thor snorted and sighed. "It's tiring and the only good thing is that Sif needs to deal with him for most of the day."
"He knows what he's doing with a sword, at least for his age," Hogun said and all of them looked at him, making him shrug. "I'm not blind and I saw her teach him how to use a sword and he did quite well."
"Sword?" Volstagg arched an eyebrow, he expected son of Thor to follow his father in his footsteps and learn how to use a hammer or an axe.
"He chose or was chosen by Tyrfing," Thor explained. "It surprised me, but such is life."
"How old is he?" Volstagg asked
"He turned eight a few weeks ago."
"Hrolf is thirteen, while the rest of my children are older than him, excluding the youngest ones, " Volstagg loudly mused and looked at Thor "There is something more going on than you are saying as otherwise you'd have asked me to introduce them to him."
Thor tensed and at the same time above the inn rumbled a thunder. "There's more," He slowly said, almost spitting out every word.
Volstagg eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend, he never ever saw so much venom and hate in his voice, he was used to outbursts of his temper, but this one was on a completely new, more vicious level. Also if that thunder was anything to go by, Thor wasn't calm and the topic was a really sensitive one.
"What is it?" Volstagg quietly asked, with the corners of his eyes he could see other patrons inching away from them. He wasn't surprised by their behavior. An angry Thor was a bad thing to be close to. Last time it ended with flying tables and broken bones.
"The Dursley's." Thor growled.
"Who?" He asked as his brows furrowed as he tried to allocate that name to whatever or whoever he knew.
"My sons guardians when he was on Midgard," Thor growled, his electric blue eyes darkening.
Volstagg was silent as he thought over the little tidbits of information and hundreds of rumors that he had heard over last few days. A lot of them now made sense. At first he didn't take them seriously as they seemed incredible and prying data out of Thor wasn't an easy task. For any Æsir, mistreating of a child was something that wasn't even thought of.
"They mistreated him, didn't they?" Volstagg asked and steeled himself in preparations for the outburst of Thor's temper.
"Who would dare to mistreat a child?" Hogun growled as his previously friendly features disappeared. In their place appeared a mask that he wore when in combat. It was completely devoid of emotions and feelings; the only thing that could be seen on it were hard lines. "They shouldn't even be allowed to live."
"They were guardians of my son," Thor said, his voice full of enmity and anger.
Volstagg was silent for a moment as he thought over those words and why Thor was so protective of his son. Now it made perfect sense, at least to him. He looked at Thor and placed his hand on Thor's shoulder. "The past, was the past and let it stay there. You won't help your son or yourself for that matter with worrying about things that you can't change or influence."
Thor tried to crush him with sight, but he shrugged it off and ignored as if it was nothing. After a moment Thor nodded. "I guess you're right. I still want to murder them for what they did, but as you said, it's in the past and now we need to move on."
"I thought that I would need to beat it into your head with a hammer," Volstagg laughed and drank the remaining ale from his tankard. He placed it back on the table and looked at Thor. "So when you are going to introduce your son to my band of children?"
"Soon," Thor said and frowned "Maybe in few days or even sooner, he lived on Midgard, so some of our customs might be a shock or a surprise for him."
"He'll get used to them, sooner rather than later," Volstagg said and pushed towards Thor a fresh tankard full of ale. "Drink it."
Thor considered it for a moment, but than almost emptied it in one go. "I needed that," he said, slamming it onto the surface of the table.
"If my sources are correct, he is supposed to be tutored by Ullr," Hogun added.
"Yes" Thor nodded "He was the one that taught me and his son is around Harry's age."
"So he was an obvious choice." Volstagg finished with a small smile "You expect the two of them to become friends."
"Am I that easy to read?" Thor laughed.
"No," Volstagg said and paused, wondering how to explain it. "It's just that parents tend to think in similar ways, so it was an obvious one for me."
"Good. " Thor smiled. "It means that I'm not that hopeless at hiding things."
Volstagg nodded and motioned for the bartender to bring more ale and some meat. It was a time to eat and relax, not to worry about the past or the future. For that the time would be tomorrow.
o-0-o
Wanda Maximoff stepped out of a portal in the middle of Privet Drive, she looked around and walked towards the house occupied by the Dursley's. Her steps were even and purposeful, many would have thought that she was calm, but in fact inside she was furious.
She stepped onto the lawn in front of the Dursley's house and kneeled in the soft grass as she spotted a pattern that she didn't expect to find. It was a circular burned out pattern of runes, each and every one of them weakly pulsing with power.
"It's old magic," she whispered to herself as she picked up some of the ash and dirt, crushing it between her fingers. She could feel some warmth and power still in it. "It's an old, but a powerful one, probably on Stephen's level or maybe even above it."
She stood up, dusted off her dress and walked to the doors of the house. She rang the bell and waited a moment, while she waited through her mind ran hundreds of thoughts, theories of what happened and how it happened. Not many beings had power to cast such magic and even less were known for being reasonable and peaceful.
Her eyes lightly glowed scarlet when Petunia opened the door and looked at her. "Who are you?" Petunia asked, her voice full of fake politeness.
"Wanda Maximoff." she smiled. "I'm a godmother of your nephew."
"Nephew?" Petunia frowned and Wanda's eyes widened in shock. Someone wiped Petunia's mind and the moment she looked at Petunia, she realized how well it was done. There was not a single trace of those spells on her.
"Never mind, I must have found a wrong house," Wanda said and walked towards the street. The moment she heard the door close behind her, she started to mutter sentences in Latin. Each and every word full of power and magic. When she finished, from her erupted a wave of power that washed over everything in her vicinity.
She walked to the circle that she previously spotted and saw it was now glowing gold and silver. She could also see a faint outline of a hammer, surrounded by lightning bolts floating above it. "So Thor was here. Question is, where's Harry." She looked around and sighed.
"I won't find anything more on this street." She opened a portal in front of herself and stepped through it, vanishing as if she didn't appear on the street in the first place.
o-0-o
A/N – Updated on 17th April 2017, grammar and spelling corrections, fixing of inconsistencies.
Updated again in July of 2017 for similar reasons