Flow of the time on Asgard was almost unnoticeable for Harry and before he could see he was there for almost a year. During that period he grew up a lot, gone or mostly gone was that scrawny kid, almost afraid of his own shadow, all signs of malnourishment were gone and his body was playing catch up, trying to do the work it was unable to do for a few years. Now it had all the energy and nutrients it needed and the effects of it were visible with a bare eye. He was stronger, faster, more agile and his body almost removed any gap between him and his peers.
However one thing didn't change for him, he was training as much as he used to train, sometimes even more as his tutors were pushing more and more knowledge into him. But it didn't mean that he didn't have time to spend with the family and friends that he had made here.
o-0-o
"He has changed." Freyr said as he stood on the balcony overlooking the training ground.
"Indeed." Wanda Maximoff agreed as she joined him, she became an often guest here and not many looked weirdly at her when she was around. "He afraid of his own shadow at times and now he is more likely to walk into the cave and start poking the biggest lion he can get his hands on."
"Like his father and my own cousin." Freyr nodded with a smile
"There is also a lot of his mother in him."
"I didn't have an opportunity to meet Lady Lily, but from what His Highness said she was a formidable woman."
"She was." Wanda agreed, hint of sadness in her voice "But also a tragic one in the way, she lived and died during a war that she could have avoided if she only wished to do so. Her family was and is one of the most influential families on Midgard and if she wanted to disappear, she could..."
"But she decided to stay and fight." Freyr finished "Decision that not many can make and even fewer does it on their own."
"True." She agreed and her gaze flickered back to Harry "I wonder when he is going to show up a rather famous trait of his family, or at least of his mortal family."
Freyr looked at her and arched an eyebrow, only sign of his curiosity, she hated it in some of inhabitants of Asgard that they didn't show a lot of emotions and feelings. While the rest of them expressed them in an extremely visible manner.
"I mean wings." She said and paused, thinking how to explain it "They tended to appear in his mother family with an interval of a generation, she didn't have it and her siblings or cousins didn't have them. So he should have them and I know for sure that his cousin has them."
"It is certainly going to be an interesting thing." Freyr said and his brows furrowed "We tend to grow up a bit faster than you do, so he might do that during this year or the next one. But when, I won't guess."
"You can't or you don't want to?"
"I can't." He said, making her arch an eyebrow, making him sigh "If he was a normal Æsir or Vanir, as we are l almost the same thing, I could guess that with a good chance of calculating the week or month when he should get them. But he is a mix of a human and an Æsir."
"I was just merely curious." She explained "In humans powers tend to manifest around the age of eleven or more, I know exactly one case when it showed up when she was six."
"Trauma, powerful psychic trauma?" He asked
"Yes" She nodded "How did you know?"
"They are usually connected to a mind in one way or another, so a powerful psychic trauma can cause them to show up earlier." He said and looked at her. "Don't worry about him as he is going to be fine."
"I know." She said and sighed "It's just that he suffered so much during his life that I want him to have a somewhat normal life."
"He will have a normal life." Freyr said and his lips formed into a grin "Or at least as normal as a Prince can have, which for the next few years will be as normal as everybody else, than it gets a bit complicated."
"We will see." She smiled and turned her attention back to the training field. She winced when she saw Harry missing a blade that slammed into his side and threw him into the air.
o-0-o
"When I can finally see my godson?" Sirius asked as he looked at Strange.
"Soon enough." Strange smiled and took a look of Sirius, since the time he was freed he changed, there were still visible some signs of his previous imprisonment, but those would never be removed, but other than that he was a healthy man in his thirties. "I held you here so that you could heal, but also so that you could lose the chase sent after you."
Sirius was silent for a moment and Strange hid his smile when he saw Sirius actually think. "You are right, it's just that I didn't see him since the time of the war and I would like to meet him."
"I promise that you will see him." Strange said and added with a smile "It's the middle of July and I think that you can guess what it means."
Sirius blinked few times and laughed loudly "It means that his birthday is coming soon."
"Exactly." Strange nodded "I also held you back to see if you are fully healed as the time you had spent in Azkaban left you weakened and ill."
Sirius winced at the reminder of the time he had spent in Azkaban, it was an unpleasant one and he wanted to forget it as soon as possible. "So what can you tell me about Asgard and what is going on there?"
"Few things that you are going to need to be comfortable on it." Strange said and summoned for himself a chair, it was going to take him some time to explain to Sirius, Asgard and things that he would need to know about it. Even if Thor or the rest of the royal family and ones that had spent some time on Earth would be more understanding towards him, the rest of them would be far less understanding.
o-0-o
Thor smiled when he saw a portal open in front of him, out of it stepped out Strange, followed by Sirius. His smile widened into a grin, when he saw a look of shock and awe on appear on the face of Sirius.
"Good to see you back, Padfoot." He said
"Is that you, Prongs?" Sirius asked
"It is." Thor smiled as he changed shape to James Potter.
"How? What? When?"
"Didn't you tell him about me?" Thor asked as he looked at Strange
"I left that pleasure to you." Strange smirked
Thor sighed and looked at Sirius. "My father banished me to Earth or Midgard, as it is called here and my consciousness landed in the body of James Potter. I was supposed to learn humility and some wisdom as he put it." He winced and paused for a moment "The plan was that after some time my memories of who I truly was were to be unlocked and he would bring me back to Asgard with Lily and Harry."
"But Voldemort destroyed all of it." Sirius spat viciously "Or more properly that little rat, Wormtail."
"Yes, he destroyed all of it, Harry landed with the Dursley's, you landed in Azkaban, while I was put in coma and for a couple of years we were looking for Harry all over the world." Thor said and looked at Sirius "But that was the past and I want it to stay there."
Sirius was silent for a moment. "Good idea." He said and smiled "Can I see Harry?"
"Of course." Thor laughed "I will show you around and in try to track him down."
"He is getting elusive?" Sirius laughed "I didn't think that he would be already that good."
"He is getting there and he was always good." Thor smiled and patted Sirius's shoulder "Also my brother is teaching him some things, the same one that you used to pray when we were at Hogwarts."
"Loki?" Sirius sputtered out
"Same one." Thor grinned "You should like him."
Sirius was silent and follow Thor through the Citadel, Thor could see that he was a bit shocked by the events of the day, a bit wasn't enough, better would be stupefied. But than, that was kind of expected, he thought, not many have or had an opportunity to be so close to him.
o-0-o
Harry drew his bow and carefully aimed at the target placed at the end of the lane, it was more than three hundred yards and he previously never shot on such a long range. Normally he shoot on one hundred or two hundred yards long one, this was the biggest range he so far used.
"Afraid of the range?" Atalanta asked from her spot to his right.
"In your dreams." He snorted and launched the first arrow, he watched it fly and slam into the target at the far end of the range. However it didn't hit the bullseye or anywhere close to it.
"For the first time, not bad." She smirked and released an arrow from her own bow, it slammed into the target and scored a perfect bullseye. "But not a good enough to compete with me."
Harry growled and bit on his lower lip, drawing the string back and nothing another arrow, he hated being the worse one, especially when he was competing with his friends. Only place that he could happily accept was the first one.
He released the second arrow and his movements became mechanical, he was fully focused on the task at hand, releasing an arrow after an arrow. He released more than two dozens of them before he ran out of arrows.
He discovered it when his hand couldn't reach another arrow and he turned to look at his quiver, only to find it empty. "That was fast." He muttered to himself and looked at the wall of the range with a set of targets painted on it. He could see his arrow scattered all over the target that was in front of him, some of them even in the bullseye.
"For the first time, not bad." Ullr said from the side "But you still need to train as with your bow you should excel at longer ranges."
"What do you mean?" Harry frowned as he looked at his yew longbow, its grip was worn out from the constant use and he couldn't remember how many times he had changed the string of it, at least half a dozen of times.
"You have a longbow, it requires more strength to pull the string, but it also gives a better range than a composite bow like one used by Atalanta." Ullr explained walking forward "She has a smaller one and needs less force to pull the string, which is good when riding on a horse back, while you have one more suited for shooting when standing."
"Oh" Harry nodded when he understood what Ullr meant "My arrows will fly further and will carry a greater force with them."
"Exactly." Ullr nodded with a smile and threw at Harry a fresh quiver full of arrows "Fire this one and you can go as your godmother wants to see you."
Harry grabbed the quiver, attached it to his belt and looked at the target. Sighing he notched the first one and released, this time he was more considerate and slower in firing them, and he took a better aim.
"Much better." Ullr said and Harry looked at him. "You actually thought when firing arrows – he indicated the target and a lot of arrows in the bullseye or close to it – also most of them is in or around the bullseye, now few more hours of practice and you should get to the acceptable level."
"Acceptable?" Harry arched an eyebrow. "I thought that I was better than the last time."
"Good enough for my taste, or at least for a moment." Ullr smirked "You will know when you will get there, now go and find your godmother, she should be somewhere around."
Harry nodded, slung a bow over his shoulder, wiped sweat from his brow and walked out of the shooting range. He enjoyed being there, but after too long of a time there, everything was aching him. It seemed that even with the strength and gift for learning, that all Æsir had, it seemed that still there were some borders that could not be pushed.
o-0-o
Wanda walked through the corridors of the Citadel and towards the rooms occupied by Harry when she ran into a large midnight black dog. Her eyes narrowed when she saw it. "Sirius, what are you doing here?" She asked
"Trying to find Harry." He said as he changed back into a human and grinned at her "Good to see you, Wanda."
"I see that you still are as rash of a dog you used to be." She smiled and looked at him "Couldn't you ask Thor to point you in a right direction or even ask him to show you there and introduce you to him."
"What's the fun in doing so?" Sirius asked her
"You won't change, will you?" She sighed and looked at him, her next words were bitter "I have thought that your stay in Azkaban would make you think first and than do something, not the other way around."
Sirius winced at the mention of Azkaban, but she didn't care about it. Someone needed to beat some sense into his head before he would land once again behind the bars. He was too stupid for his own good and did a lot of decisions that he shouldn't even consider doing.
"I know that you do not like talking about Azkaban." She said as she pushed him against the wall "But you are also a stupid, pigheaded, rash fool, grow up and be more responsible than the behavior you showed on that night."
"Someone needed to chase down Pettigrew." Sirius protested and her eyes glowed scarlet as she looked at him.
"Are you stupid?!" She snarled at him "That was the exact decision that you shouldn't make, yes, he needed to be chased down, but not by you. You were the man the Ministry would be hunting and you were stupid enough to let them catch you."
"But-"
"No buts!" She shouted at him "Behave now or I will turn you into a some sort of an animal and personal feed you to Harry's wolves. Even Thor is more calm and willing to listen than he was when he was James, do you want to get killed right now?"
Sirius was silent, still pinned by her gaze and he seemed unable to move because of it, she could see his cheeks pale and his eyes widen in fear.
"Exactly." She nodded "Are you going to behave or not?"
"I'm." Sirius said and made her smile.
"Good, now let's find Harry as I was also going there and I don't think that he would mind me bringing his godfather with myself." She smiled and released him from her trap.
"So how is he?" Sirius asked as he got up and joined her
"Didn't Stephen tell you things about him?" She arched an eyebrow
"He did, but you know how it is..."
"You would like to know it from someone that spent quite a lot of time with him or close to him." She said and looked at Sirius "I saw him when he was with the Dursley's and I saw him now, he has changed a lot since the time he was with the Dursley's. I know that Stephen told you a thing or two about the time he had spent with them."
"Yes" Sirius growled in confirmation
"He is a small ball of energy." She said with a smile "Catching him if he doesn't want to be caught is a very annoying thing to do, also he is someone that managed to surprise me in a way that I wouldn't expect from him."
"Oh?" Sirius asked
"He likes and wants to learn, even if it means hours of meditation and trying to understand the laws governing the magic and its uses." She said and laughed "And at Hogwarts they fail to motivate people twice his age to learn them."
Sirius looked at her and blinked few times "That was a joke, wasn't it?"
She chuckled softly "That wasn't a joke, I was dead serious, you know that Lily loved to study and it seems that he took it from her. Also his Æsir side helps with it as Loki and several other Æsir told me that they are sharper than an average human is."
Sirius shook his head, she smiled when she saw his reaction, her own was very similar. "So he is a Prince of Asgard?"
"He is." She nodded "Although he doesn't show it that often and behaves more like somewhat normal kid."
"Normal kid that has more space than some families have in their whole house."
"There's that." She agreed and looked at Sirius "Although you had almost as much space as he had, Black family isn't known for being poor."
He was about to say something when they turned around the corner and she walked to the doors set at the end of the corridor, they opened on their own and she looked at Sirius.
"That's his room so behave as his pet wolves are around and they are a bit protective."
"Pet wolves?" Sirius asked as he paled when he saw two wolves emerge from the room and look at him, their fangs bared. "Are they dangerous?"
"No" She smiled as she petted one closest to her "Freki, Geri calm down." She said and they looked at her "He is a friend, so let him pass." She added and wolves took a last look at Sirius and disappeared back into the room.
"That was weird." Sirius shuddered
"They are intelligent and listen to some people, so as long as you don't do anything foolish they will ignore you." She smiled walking into the room, she liked the decor and the sheer size of it, at first rooms in the Citadel felt oppressive and gigantic, but after some time she got used to them.
"That's his room?" Sirius asked as he followed her
"What did you expect?" She arched an eyebrow as she looked around, trying to see Harry. She found him laying on his bed and reading something, while one of his wolves was curled behind him.
"He has changed." Sirius said quietly to her
"What did you expect?" She asked as she walked forward and Harry looked up from the book he was reading.
"Ullr mentioned that you want something from me." He said sitting up and he didn't miss a bit of discomfort that flickered across his face when he moved, he must have been training, she thought.
"He did, didn't he?" She chuckled and looked at him "I merely wanted to talk with you and show you some memories of your parents from the time they were on Earth, as well as introduce someone to you."
"Oh?" He asked, curiosity visible in his voice.
"That someone is your godfather." She explained and saw Harry's eyes widen in surprise. "I guess your dad didn't tell you that you have one."
"No, he didn't." Harry shook his head and looked at her and yelped in surprise when a massive black dog shot out from behind her and slammed into him, pushing him against his wolf who looked at other canine with some amusement in its eyes.
"Sirius, behave." She sighed when she saw what he did, he was amusing and certainly interesting, and it was one of those moments. It was going to be a long day and hopefully by the end of it, the room would be still intact, although she doubted that it would be unscathed, Sirius and Harry could be a bit too much for it.
o-0-o
"So you were one of dad friends when he was at Hogwarts?" Harry asked few hours later as his back was resting against the side of Freki and he looked at Sirius and Wanda.
"Yes" Sirius smirked "I, he, Remus Lupin and one more were called the Marauders and we caused a bit of mayhem."
"A bit of?" Wanda arched her eyebrow "I wouldn't call it a bit, unless you think that changing color of hairs of the whole school to red and gold is something normal."
"What?" Harry sputtered "You did what? Changed color of hairs of everybody to gold?"
"Indeed." Sirius smiled "And many more – Wanda glared at him and he gulped – but I don't think that now is a good time to talk about it."
"Why?" Harry pouted and glanced at Wanda "You dislike him?"
Wanda laughed at those words "Dislike, no. But I don't think that you want to hear about some of their craziest ideas, at least not yet. Maybe when you are older and get used to Sirius."
"Get used to me?" Sirius protested "That's impossible, I'm unique."
Harry laughed at those words and his eyes narrowed when he remembered Sirius change his shape. "How did you change your shape from a human to a dog and back to a human?"
"That's something called an animagus." Sirius said after a moment and a glance at Wanda "It allows you to change your shape into an animal that you have most common traits with, it can be anything or almost anything."
"Can you teach me how to do it?" Harry asked as he looked at them.
Sirius looked at Wanda, who nodded. "We could try as it isn't a thing that should be particularly difficult or dangerous to you and you should quickly pick up how to perform it."
"But you shouldn't practice how to change shape without your dad, uncle or one of us close by as it can be a bit dangerous when you get stuck in the animal form and its nothing too pleasant." Wanda added and looked at Harry "As Sirius said, it's an ability to change into an animal at will, this animal can be anything, but at all times you retain your human mind and ability to think."
"So where do we start?" Harry asked, he was excited as it was one of few things that he wanted to learn since he saw his uncle change shape, sometimes for other people amusement, but more often than not to do something more.
"Boring and long meditation." Wanda smirked and Harry's head slumped "It's not that bad and it's a step you can't ignore as during it you discover who you truly are and what is your animal."
"Fine." Harry huffed and moved on his bed to get a better position. "I'm ready." He said once he sat cross-legged in front of them.
"Focus on your mind and clear your mind from all of your stray thoughts, remove every single one out of it and look for a thing, trait, set of traits that connects you with an animal." Wanda said and sighed "I know that it sounds strange, even weird, but there is no better way for me to explain it as most of us did it based on pure instincts and their intuition."
He looked at them and after a nod from them he closed his eyes and focused in his mind, pushing stray thoughts out of it and looking for things that she had described to him.
o-0-o
Nicholas Fury was a man that many respected and even more feared, he survived the brutal espionage competition during the Cold War, he survived rise of Voldemort and his subsequent fall. He had dealt with probably every single enemy that could be plotting against the humanity, he saw amateurs, masters and idiots play the game. As he looked at the report he just received he was somewhat amused and intrigued by it.
"So he decided to make his first moves." He said to himself and looked at a panorama of Washington that was visible out of his office. He always assumed that Malfoy or whoever was this time was less idiotic, but it seemed that they wanted to prove that they were loud and stupid.
"Unless it is a distraction." He said few moments later and turned his attention to a large flat-screen display placed on his desk. "Question is what he wants to gain from his moves, as now he doesn't get much."
He pushed those thoughts aside and picked up a thin paper folder that landed on his desk this morning. He opened it and smiled "Wisdom is as good as he used to be." He said to himself when he saw what was inside, there was a perfect documentation of what had happened in Azkaban and what was the reaction of the Ministry. Including long term effects that right after the attack were impossible to predict or guess.
"Dementors around Hogwarts." He said with a thin smile "What a brilliant decision on Fudge's behalf, I wonder how long he is going to survive with such ideas."
"Longer than you would expect." Natasha Romanov said as she entered his office "He holds this post since the war with Voldemort ended and he always knew how to keep voters happy and voting the way he wanted them to vote."
"It's not that I don't know him, it's just that I thought that wizards had or have more common sense than that."
"They lack it." She said as she sat down in one of seats on the other side of his desk "I spent more than a year in the Ministry as a mole for him placed there by the Red Room and I know how they think. While I know that you were fighting in it, you were fighting alongside more brighter ones and a better chunk of them has the intelligence of a piece of stone."
"Why it doesn't surprise me?" He asked her and looked at her "Never mind that, how well do you know the community there?"
"Well enough to blend with it, but magic is beyond me."
"I don't need your magic." He said and smirked "I want your espionage and data gathering skills, since Fudge isn't going to get brighter on his own, I will have a mission for you. Sneak into the Ministry and look for any and all dirt you can find on him and his toadies."
She nodded "With pleasure, do you want me to do something else when I will be there?"
He shook head and than paused "If you could, get anything that you can find on Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy, Malfoy can wait, but Harry Potter is a must as he is someone more important than they even suspect."
"He a is son of Thor." She said with a smile and he looked sharply at her "Thor told us before we payed a visit to Azkaban to get Sirius Black out of it."
"Exactly, than you know why all data about him needs to be moved into our database and far out of Malfoy's or Stryker's reach."
"Yes" She nodded, stood up and slipped out of his office, leaving him to muse about the future and prepare for a new round of the game.
o-0-o
Harry sighed and opened his eyes, he felt drained and exhausted after this meditation, it wasn't that physically demanding, but it was more of a mental drain that took a lot out of him. He saw that Wanda and Sirius were looking at him, mild surprise and shock visible on their faces. "How did I do?" He finally decided to ask, breaking the silence that was in the room.
"Quite good." Wanda said and looked at him "What did you find?"
"Nothing." He said "I hoped for more."
She smiled reassuringly and he looked at her "Nothing during first couple rounds of meditation is kind of expected as it usually takes you a lot of time to guess what is your animal and even more it takes to be convinced of it." Her gaze switched to Sirius "How long did it take you and James to get it done?"
"We started during our second year." Sirius mused "While we finished it during the middle of our fourth year, so almost two years."
"And they were something like six years older than you are at the moment." She added "So you have nothing to really complain about as you are still learning and even people that are much more experienced it took a lot of time to get it done."
Harry nodded and looked at her "Is it possible for me to have more than just a one form?"
Theory says yes... but from what I know nobody during recent history managed to get it done, I'm not talking about your uncle as he is a special case." Wanda said "If you want we can some more on it tomorrow, but not now."
"But why?"
"You are tired and I don't think that you want to be all sleepy and tired during your tomorrow lessons." She smirked and Harry sighed, she looked at Sirius next "I know about a couple of places that you would like so come with me."
Harry smiled as he saw Wanda lead Sirius out of his room, he glanced outside the window and saw that it was getting dark. The fact that it was getting dark, made him realize how tired he truly was and with a massive yawn he slipped out of his clothes, found his pyjamas and slipped into the bed.