A/N - Chapter number thirty, the longest story on my account and the most popular one. Another laid back chapter, not much of action or kicking things, mostly talking and orchestrating things to happen. As always read and review.
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Beta - eri1551
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Harry stepped out of the Bifrost and looked at the Institute, his gaze ran over its walls and he couldn't spot a single difference between the old one and the current one. However the change was huge between the one he remembered with parts of it collapsed and damaged, blood splattered over the walls and windows missing most of their glass.
Carrying their bags they walked into the Institute and as they looked around they saw that the decor was almost unchanged. It was still the same place they left, now it was just freshly painted and the spots that had suffered battle damage were repaired. He sniffed the air and thought that he could feel the faint coppery stench of blood in the air. One that didn't want to go away.
"Do you feel it?" He asked, looking at Rahne.
"Feel what?"
"Blood," he said and she looked weirdly at him.
"There is nothing in the air, you must be imagining things," she said and looked at him. "Don't think about it and it will go away."
He looked at her and nodded. He was about to say something when Sunspot dragged him by his arm. "Our stuff won't unpack by itself."
"You're right," Harry said and followed his friend to their room.
It hadn't changed, excluding the fact that the floor was different, but considering the fact that previously there was a lot of blood and body parts laying there, he didn't mind. They spent a few hours unpacking and making the room look like it was inhabited, books went onto shelves, posters onto the walls and their clothes into the drawers and wardrobes.
"It's good to be here," Bobby said once they finished unpacking. Harry arched an eyebrow and looked at his friend. "I mean, I like Asgard, but I much more prefer being here. It feels less obnoxiously rich and more down to earth."
"I know how you feel," Harry said as he plopped down onto his bed. "Here I can actually relax and rest, away from the nobles that want power or something else from me."
"What about the studying part of life here?"
"It's not that bad," he said and looked at the ceiling. "You saw how bad Sif can get and I'd rather be here and somewhat far away out of her reach."
"There's that approach," Bobby said and Harry nodded.
They spend next few hours chatting with each other and before they realized it, it was getting late and time to call it a day or risk getting onto Wolverine's bad side, which was a bad thing.
o-0-o
Warren was used to a lot of things, some of them creepy to the extreme, but one of them was definitely not an evening visit from Loki. "What do you want?" Warren asked as he turned around and looked at Loki.
"To help you with something and indirectly help Harry," Loki said with a shrug. "I would have done it myself, but I am tied by an agreement done by my father, while you have total freedom, not limited by a single agreement."
Warren frowned and looked at Loki, the younger Prince of Asgard was completely at ease, but Warren could tell that Loki was also serious. "And how can you tell me about it? I would have thought that an agreement wouldn't allow you to tell anyone about it."
Loki laughed, his laughter soft and melodic. "Normally that would be the case, but young Warren, I was the one that drafted the agreement and I made sure to leave myself some loopholes to use if need be. This is one of them, I can tell anybody that is connected to me by law, magic or blood and you are Harry's cousin."
"You just made me interested," Warren said and focused on Loki "How do you want to help my dear younger and really annoying cousin?"
"He needs to deal with his past and confront it," Loki said and shrugged. "He suppressed those memories and they need to go away or he will turn into something worse than Stryker."
"And how can I help?"
"Due to some agreements the most we could do to his relatives is to suppress their memories of him and create false memories to hide those we suppressed. However if there is a powerful enough psyker or sorcerer they are more than capable of digging those memories out and making them appear."
"So you want me to go with Jean to see them and unlock their memories so that they can tell everything they had done to my cousin, out of their free will, in front of, let's say my father."
"Indeed." Loki nodded and smirked. "Your father is more than capable of getting them a nice, long stay in prison for child abuse, probably some tinkering with his cousin's will and a few other things."
Warren was silent for a moment, then he finally nodded and looked at Loki. "I will speak with my father about this and he should like it, while we don't see eye to eye on a few things, our hatred for my dear cousin Petunia is a common trait."
"Good, tell Jean to tell you what she had seen in his mind. I know that she won't be willing to do it, but you should understand why I don't have a lot of love for them and if not for the agreements I need to follow, they would've been already dead." Loki's eyes glowed dangerously for a second. "When he was brought to Asgard he was starved, his development stunted and his bones were broken a couple of times."
"What?" Warren growled and walked towards Loki. "What did they do to him?"
"I would have to guess, but some sort of abuse, probably physical and mental. Mother was able to fix the physical aspect or at least as much of it that it wouldn't be an issue and he would be able to grow up as a normal Æsir would."
"How soon do you want them destroyed?" Warren asked, his voice cold and lacking any emotions. "I don't think my father or I will have a lot of patience for them."
"As soon as you want or can achieve it," Loki said with a shrug. "Just tell me when you are going to make your move."
"I will," Warren said and Loki nodded with a smirk.
"Then, I will leave you alone as I'm no longer needed, and trust that you will get it done." Warren nodded and Loki disappeared with a flourish out of the room, leaving Warren alone.
Warren walked to the bed, sat down and looked at the far wall. "What are you not telling me?" He asked nobody in particular, he slowly shook his head, sighed and stood up. He might as well get the data out of Jean, even if she was unwilling to tell him, she should.
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"No!" Jean said looking at Warren. "You know what the rules are for a telepath, everything learned by me in Harry's mind on purpose or by accident is not something that I'm allowed to talk about with anybody else than him."
Warren winced at those words, he knew it would be hard, but not that hard. "He won't tell me about this out of his own free will. Loki said that he was abused and I want to know about it."
She looked at him, as if she wanted to incinerate him. "Loki wasn't wrong, but as I said, even if I trust you and I love you, I won't tell you about this."
"What about the other thing he said?"
"Unlock their memories?" She asked and he nodded. "I might as well do it, I know what Loki is trying to achieve and it should help Harry to at least an extent, how much, is to be seen, but I can tell that even if he seems fine on the surface, he is suppressing those memories."
"And you won't tell me about what you have seen?"
"No, I won't tell you, at least not details," she said and Warren could see an inner battle in her bright green eyes. "When would you like to go to the UK?"
"Tomorrow I will speak with my father and maybe on the day after, as I would like to speak with the Professor first."
"So that he doesn't think we ran away?"
"Exactly," Warren nodded and, with a yawn, looked at his watch. "Goodnight Jean,"
"Goodnight," she said as he slipped out of her room and walked to his own.
o-0-o
Strange smiled when he saw on a large, almost destroyed wardrobe a bust of a woman. It was the bust of one Rovena Ravenclaw and on it was placed a certain trinket, a beautiful diadem adorned with hundreds of small gems and pearls. As he looked at it he could sense something vile about it, vile and dangerous.
"It is a horcrux, isn't it?" Wanda said as she joined him.
"I'm almost certain of it." he said and reached towards it with his magic, he easily felt a soul shard hidden inside. When he felt it, his face twisted in disgust and barely hidden rage. "Yes, it is."
It flew off the bust and into his hand with ease and she looked at it. "How are we going to destroy it?"
"We will do it once we get all of them." he said and looked at the chamber behind them. "First we need to get out of this maze."
She nodded, but he could tell that she was unhappy about something.
"What's on your mind?"
She looked around and sighed. "Hogwarts is Dumbledore's stronghold and everybody knows it, how is it that this thing was hidden here."
He looked at her and nodded. "Good question, but I fear the answer is far simpler than you would like it to be. This room is hidden and we stumbled on it by an accident, Dumbledore knows a lot and has plenty of experience, but he doesn't know everything and Hogwarts is a maze."
"Then how did he hide it here? Shouldn't the castle disallow him to bring the horcux here?"
He looked at her and later at the diadem flying in front of him. "Honestly, I have a good theory, but not something that I would have used. The castle learns how each and every of its students feel and allows them inside without a single issue, the Headmaster can ban someone from entering the grounds, but I fear that Dumbledore was blind and didn't see who he was allowing through."
She growled and shook her head in an attempt to calm down. "How can you not see a dangerous psychopath that is bent on destroying you and everything you hold precious?"
"Pretty easily," he said with a sad smile. "Especially if you know this person for a long time and treat them as a protégé and that was the case with Riddle, or Voldemort, and Albus, he didn't see him change."
He saw her look weirdly at him, but then slowly nodded. "I guess you are right." Her gaze darted to the chamber's doors. "Let's get out of here."
He nodded and the moment they stepped out he summoned a portal for them that took them to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
o-0-o
Sean Cassidy crouched behind a fallen tree and scanned the large plain in front of him, his eyes swiping over each and every piece of terrain, trying to see anything out of place that could be a trap or sensor that would inform the Headmaster of Durmstrang about any guests about to pay him a visit.
"There are traps behind those trees in front of us," one of the Rangers whispered, if Sean remembered correctly his name was Vidar.
Sean squinted his eyes and looked through the binoculars nodded as he saw placements of rocks that looked too unnatural to be a creation of nature. "Trou de loup?" He asked.
"Most likely, crude and primitive, but it gets the job done and they want to slow down and raise the alarm, not kill us."
Sean nodded and started to slowly move towards the edge of the forest, keeping in mind the traps' position. He gripped the gun tightly in his hand as his eyes scanned the forest, looking for anything he might have not seen.
They crossed the line of trees with ease and in front of them was only a swathe of open ground with the invisible, mystical border of Durmstrang somewhere ahead of them. Sean could feel magic in the air, he wasn't a full wizard, but he was able to see and feel such things.
He looked at his temporary companions and they walked forward, when they broke the line, in front of them appeared the Durmstrang Institute of Magic. It was a huge castle with spires and towers rising from its main body. Its looks reminded him in a way of Russian architecture, but there was more flair to it and the buildings were stacked on top of each other.
"Our target is most likely in the top tower," Vidar said, indicating the tallest tower. "He is supposed to be careful and such a place is the best for any hideout. Gives plenty of time to escape and warns you long before the enemy is knocking on your door."
Sean nodded and looked towards the tower, it looked like it's walls were perfectly flat which made climbing it a nightmare. He sighed and looked towards the gate leading into the castle, their sole entry point that wouldn't end in their death. He looked at the Rangers and asked. "How are we going to enter?"
"Through the main gate," one of them grinned. "In nine out of ten cases it is less defended than other entrances."
He nodded, slipped his gun into its holster and checked that he had everything he might need. It was the point of no return and once they entered the castle they would be away from any outside help.
The Rangers looked at him and they confidently walked to the gate, as if the place belonged to them. He saw two of then place something on the gate and part of it disappeared, revealing a long and dark hallway.
"Our way of getting an entrance," Vidar explained as they stepped into the hall. "Silent and not many are keen enough to spot this kind of magic. Also, we don't make a mess, which is even better."
Sean nodded and looked around the hall, it felt dark and cold. Everything was in bleak and dark colors, which with the darkness of the night created a scary combination. But he also could tell that there was more to the place, much more to this place than just this. "Is it just me or this place feels cold?"
"No," Vidar slowly shook his head. "That's the stench of necromancy and the other banned types of magic, it won't go away even after a really long time."
Sean only nodded grimly as they ran into the castle and up the stairs that appeared in their view, they always chose left corridors in any crossroads they saw. Even if they met a couple of dead-ends it allowed them to easily return to their starting point. With each step he made Sean could feel something following or watching him, he glanced at Vidar and saw that Ranger was also tense.
"We have tails, question is who they are and how many."
"Karkaroff is devious and knows that wizards aren't the best defense in some cases," Sean said as he glanced backwards, trying to spot where their tails were. "So he most likely got some sort of mercenaries."
"Then an ambush will work," Vidar said and glanced at the other Rangers. "Einar, Hilde hide and wait for our tails, when they pass your position eliminate them."
Sean saw two Rangers leave their group and slip into the shadows along the walls, even if he knew where they were he had trouble spotting them. The last thing he saw were their fingers placed on their weapons' triggers.
"The tails will pass their position and once the trap snaps on them, we will join." Vidar said as he took the safety off and prepared for a fight.
Sean nodded and wrapped his fingers around the handle of his pistol. Preparing for the what would happen.
Even with his knowledge about it he was surprised when it actually did happen, he felt projectiles flying behind him, followed by flashes of light. When he turned around he saw two Rangers kneeling on the ground and firing their guns. He saw in the past, the effects projectiles from those weapons had on the human body, but seeing them at work was something else.
Projectiles fired by them cleaved through human bodies as if they were paper, that was something which he was accustomed to, but he always associated firing a weapon with a noise. Here there was almost no noise following the shots.
Before he had the chance to fire a single shot from his pistol it was over and the ones that were following them were dead and in pieces. He walked to them and looked at the corpses, they were dressed in typical military uniform and armed with Russian weapons. "As I said, mercenaries."
"Sloppy mercenaries," Vidar added. "This tactic usually draws only half of our tails, not all of them."
Sean smiled grimly and looked at Vidar. "This is Earth and you are used to Asgard and its rules. Here assassinations are rarer and the most he expected were magical assassins. Against them, this" He indicated at the corpses on the ground. "Is more than enough, also, he assumes that they will be caught by the school's wards."
Vidar nodded and waived at the Rangers who formed around them into loose formations, ready to unleash the fiery fury of their guns on anybody that could be a threat. However it seemed that the group they had slain was the only real opposition on their path.
The trip up to the tower proved to be far less exciting and dangerous than it was up to this point. They didn't meet a single point of resistance excluding a reinforced door at its top. Sean looked at them and could tell that their target was on the other side of them.
"Magical enhancements," Vidar whispered. "Our previous method of gaining entrance won't work and most likely will notify him of our presence."
"Blow up?" Sean asked as he pulled out a thick spool of a white, thin and long wire, Vidar looked at the spool and then his gaze swept to Sean. "Large enough to blow up a lock or the hinges, but small enough not to cause a lot of noise and smoke."
"Not bad."
Sean agreed with a smile, unrolled it and placed it along the door frame, making sure that it was as close to it as possible. When he was done, he cut it, attached the detonator and moved away. He glanced at the Rangers and saw that they were at a safe distance, he hid behind a pillar and activated the detonator.
The explosion that followed was a subdued one and almost immediately followed by a whirlwind of flying pieces of wood and metal that flew into the chamber behind. Before the dust settled he ran into the room, followed by the Rangers.
It was a large rectangular chamber with walls lined with shelves full of books and in the middle of it all, on a raised dais was placed a desk behind which sat their target – Igor Karkaroff. He was a thin, tall man with black hair slowly turning white and skin too pale to be healthy. Sean smiled when he saw a large shard of wood embedded in Karkaroff's shoulder, it was not a fatal wound, but enough to slow someone down.
"Cassidy, I should have known you would come," Karkaroff said, his voice strained with pain. "After all you still want to get me killed, you're vengeful and nothing will stop you from achieving your goals."
"I'm not here on personal business," Sean said as he walked to Karkaroff and grabbed him by the shoulder. "SHIELD would like to have words with you and I was chosen to get you delivered to them.
Karkaroff paled and Sean smiled as the wizard tried to struggle against the iron grip holding his shoulder. "What does Fury want from me?"
"You will see," Sean said as he lifted Karkaroff from his seat and quickly tied him. "Now be a good wizard and don't even attempt to do something stupid," Sean whispered as he placed his gun against Karkaroff neck.
Karkaroff gulped and nodded as he felt the cold barrel of a gun touch his skin. Sean looked at the Rangers who formed around them and they started to slowly walk out of the castle, gun still touching Karkaroff's neck. As they were leaving Sean felt the hairs at the back of his neck prickle, as if something or someone was watching them from the shadows.
o-0-o
Warren looked out of the window of Gulfstream that belonged to Worthington Industries as it flew above Greenland and sighed. He knew that it needed to be done, but he never expected it to be so tough.
"You don't like your cousin?" Jean asked from her place to his side.
He looked at her and was silent for a moment. "I will put it that way, we don't see eye to eye on many things and the last time I saw her was three years ago and it was more than enough for me. While my father is somewhat positively neutral towards mutants, she is a total opposite of it and much worse. Calling her a bigot would be an insult for them."
Jean whistled quietly. "Wonderful family, no wonders that Harry had a hellish life with them."
"Yes," Warren winced and flexed his hand. "Petunia also knows that Lily was a witch and that Harry is a wizard, while now he has a fine control over his powers, I remember him changing the colour of things at random or doing other such things."
"Seems a lot like Kitty when she started to learn how to control her powers."
"Even more unpredictable," Warren said and she looked at him. "She was losing her control when she lost her focus, from what I know about wizards it is completely unpredictable and goes away as they grow up, but can show up when a wizard is scared or afraid of something."
Jean's eyes widened as if she realized something. "Now it makes sense, previously I didn't have any idea of how to explain it."
"What?"
"Some of his memories that I had seen felt weird, as if I was missing a key piece of a puzzle, one that you just told me."
"And I guess that you won't tell me about those memories?"
"Details? No, but I will tell you enough for you to know about his past," she said and looked into his eyes. He shuddered as their gaze met. "He was abused, mentally and physically, badly at that. I think that nobody on Asgard noticed it and didn't know how to deal with it."
"Loki mentioned that child abuse is so foreign to them that they don't know how to approach and deal with it."
She shook her head and slowly breathed out. "It's good and bad, good because it shows that they can think, bad because they don't know how to deal with such cases. So Loki wants to make Harry confront his past?"
"Yes and make them feel the consequences of their actions," Warren poured himself some water, sipped it and looked at her. "He said that Asgard's hands are tied and they can't do anything about them, while we don't have those restrictions placed on us and we can safely deal with them. Also it is a good time for you to meet the rest of my charming family, probably the best or the worst part of it."
"It should be a productive meeting," she said and yawned. "Wake me up when we land."
"Sure," he said and saw her curl in her seat.
He opened his laptop on his lap and started to read all files he had acquired about Grunnings and his family. Some of them were thanks to his father and the Worthington Industries, but most of them were from other sources.
o-0-o
Vernon Dursley looked at the newspaper he was holding and later at Petunia. "Did you hear that your cousin hangs out with freaks?"
"Which one?" she asked as her horse-like head turned towards him.
"Warren Worthington III, he was involved in some brawl in the USA where mutants were attacked."
"They deserved it, they only cause chaos and we, the ordinary and proper citizens need to pay for it," she said and sniffed. "I am the only normal out of the whole family, Lily met that freak and Warren has his freakish son."
"Good that Dudley is ordinary and growing up to be a proper citizen."
She nodded and went back to keeping the house clean, while he returned to his newspaper with a smile and thought about his work.
o-0-o
Warren looked around as he drove the car, he knew that his aunt was living somewhere here, but each house looked the same and it made finding his way in this maze a nightmare. As he was driving he noticed a lot of stares following the car.
"Did you need to choose the Rolls-Royce Wraith?" Jean asked, some amusement in her voice. "I can tell that everybody is looking at us."
"Exactly, my dear cousin dislikes attention and I want attention focused on her," Warren said with a smile. "Also I like this car, one of the better cars that father bought me as a birthday gift."
She slowly shook her head and looked around. "They want to be ordinary among ordinary people?"
"Yes," he said with a wince. "She is a housewife, while her husband is a middle level director in some drill producing company, from what father said about him, he is arrogant and stubborn, as well as has mind narrower than a nail."
"Unpleasant person," she said and he nodded.
They drove in silence for a moment. He didn't want to talk about his family and she didn't seem eager to ask about it.
"I want to get this done without violence," he finally said. "The last thing that I want is to have issues with law in the UK or in general."
"You know that it might be hard with them."
"I know, I don't like it, but I know." he said and kept looking for their target.
It took a moment, but he finally found Privet Drive and then it was a matter of finding the house occupied by the Dursley's. He pulled onto the driveway in front of the house and turned the engine off. "Let's go," he said stepping out of the car.
He corrected his coat and waited for Jean to join him before he walked to the doors. He looked around and saw that everything was as close to perfection as the Dursley's could get it. He saw Jean shake her head. "What's the problem?" He asked.
"Nothing," she said. "I just used my powers, and they are nasty people when you can take a look at them using telepathy."
"Let's get this done."
She nodded and both of them walked to the doors.
o-0-o
Petunia looked out of the window and tried not to blink when she saw a black Rolls-Royce stop in front of their house. She had trouble believing what she was seeing, but it was true and it stopped in front of her house, not anybody else's. She drew her attention away from the car and looked at Vernon. "Did you see what stopped in front of our house?"
"No," he said and she saw him drop the newspaper when he saw the car. "A real Rolls-Royce," he said with a smile. "It seems that the company got the attention of someone rich and he wants to negotiate with me."
"We will finally be rich!" she exclaimed and looked at him. "Dress into the best suit you have and Dudley and I will greet and entertain them."
He nodded and hurried upstairs into his bedroom to get dressed, while leaving her to greet the guests. She walked to the doors and when the bell rung she opened them. When her eyes landed on the people standing in front of her, they widened. There were two of them, one was a male with curly blond hair, striking blue eyes and dressed in the best suit she had ever seen. Over it he had a wide coat and as she looked at him she knew that she should have known him from somewhere.
As she looked at the woman that was with him, she felt a pang of jealously. Whoever she was, she was tall with wavy, fiery long hair, striking green eyes and her body looked perfect, too true to be a human. She wore an expensive looking dress and the single piece of jewellery she had was a necklace with a small, golden bird.
"Welcome," Petunia said as she put on her best smile. "How may I help you, Mr...?"
The man smiled and looked at her, after a moment he finally said. "Worthington."
Petunia's eyes widened in shock, she took a better look at the man and saw the familial traits of Worthington family. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"Visiting family that I haven't seen for ages," he said with a shrug.
Petunia forced a smile onto her face and allowed Warren inside.
o-0-o
Warren entered the house and mostly ignored Petunia, instead walking inside, he followed her and sat down on the couch in the living room. She brought a tray with coffee, tea and some cookies. He poured himself the coffee and sipped it, he winced when he felt its taste, it shouldn't be called coffee.
"I wonder why I came here," he sneered, his eyes sweeping over everything in the room. "It looks far worse than I expected it to look and the decor..."
He saw them flinch, but then Vernon put on a nice smile and looked at him, it seemed that Vernon looked the same way he looked in the past. There was also their son Dudley and Warren wondered how it was possible that Dudley was still not a pig, as he looked so much like one.
Warren felt telepathy touch his mind and he glanced at Jean. "Occupy their time and let me dig through their minds, I know for what and where to look, but I need them distracted."
He nodded and looked at the Dursley's that behaved as if they wanted to stay away from his line of sight. He smiled lightly and looked at them. "Don't you even wonder why I came here?"
It seemed to snap Vernon out of his stupor and he looked at Warren. "Could you enlighten us of what was that brought you here?"
Warren smiled and considered for a moment if he should take off the coat and reveal his wings, he decided not to and looked at Vernon, some amusement in his smile. "Unfinished family business, one that is long overdue. Normally it would be done by my father, but he is currently occupied and can't be here, so he sent me."
"What business?" Vernon asked as he leaned closer.
"Invitation to a small family meeting in the USA, in three weeks time in the family mansion in upstate New York." Warren controlled the urge to chuckle when he saw them open their mouths in shock. "I'm not joking about it, my father will be there as well as a couple of cousins and friends of the family, so it should be an enlightening experience."
"It will be an honor," Petunia said, she smiled, but Warren could tell it was a fake one. One forced by courtesy, not a genuine one.
"Here are tickets for you," he said and placed an envelope onto the table. "A driver will wait for you at the airport and will take you to the hotel and later to the mansion. My father wants to explain some things that should have been explained long ago, but due to a certain reason, they needed to be ignored."
Petunia snatched the envelope from the table, opened it to see the content and nodded. "We will be there," she glanced at Vernon. "Would it be possible for my husband's company to get some deals made?"
Warren tried not to look protectively and sipped his coffee, before looking at them. "Depends on who will be invited for this meeting, but there might be the possibility of some deals being made. Be aware that it is mostly a social, not a business, meeting, so don't expect a lot of people to be willing to make such deals."
Petunia nodded and then her eyes widened in shock and surprise. She slumped against the couch and the rest of her family did the same.
"It's done," Jean whispered as he placed her hand on his lap. He looked at her and saw her emerald eyes darken. "All of their memories are unlocked and now they need to get used to them. We better leave as they will be unhappy the moment they wake up and you don't want to be hit by it."
He nodded and they walked out of the room and quickly left the house, leaving the Dursley's alone to deal with their headaches and the influx of new memories.
o-0-o
Jane looked out of the window of her chambers on Asgard and towards the ocean that was visible in the distance. She was staring at it for a long time before her gaze moved away from it and switched to Loki. "What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice even and lacking emotions. "I like you, but you don't drop by unless you have a really good reason."
She saw him twirl the scepter and she understood he was gathering his thoughts. "Let's just say it's about Harry and his past, past as well as the future."
"What about his past?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes and started to call on her magic.
"Don't shoot me with magic and I will explain what I mean," Loki said, she looked at him and nodded. "Did you notice that Harry never mentioned the time he had spent with the Dursley's? And even if he mentioned it, he did so briefly and without details."
She looked at Loki and nodded, then she felt something cold twist her stomach. "You don't think it's that, do you?"
"Abuse?"
She nodded and Loki walked to her. She could tell that he was troubled by something.
"Yes,I am, while here it is something unheard of, on Earth it is a much common behavior and I'm almost certain that Harry was a victim of it. You should also remember how he first behaved when Sif raised her voice even a little."
Jane was silent for a moment, her eyes focused on Loki, trying to see if the God of Mischief and Lies was honest or not. "I also noticed it, at first I thought that he was simply afraid of her," she said and picked up a golden goblet filled with wine. She sipped it slowly, savoring the taste. "But as I look at it now, it was weird and he backed away from her. I'm not an expert on psychology, but children are usually more brash than he was."
"Not only that but he had several scars, broken bones and malnutrition, as well." Loki said and she growled. "Yes, when my mother healed him she was furious, true, most of our children would have the first two thanks to our way of life as we train as warriors from an early age, but the last one..."
"But the last one is because of lack of food," Jane finished. "And I think that we can guess what's the reason for this is."
"Yes," Loki said and winced. "If I could do it, they would be my daughter's new pets, but I can't do."
"What?!" she asked as she walked to him and pushed him, he flew backwards and slammed into the wall. "You are a Prince of Asgard and one of the most powerful sorcerers in existence! Why can you not punish two simple humans?"
Loki groaned as he got out of the hole in the wall. "Because of an agreement we were forced to make so that we avoided a war with almost everybody out there. But you can be sure that they won't have an easy life as Warren Worthington knows about those facts and knows how to get the evidence so that it can survive in your court."
She nodded and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "But evidence might be not enough and a testimony from Harry wouldn't be bad, would it?"
"No," Loki said and sighed. "Even if he trusts a lot of people, he is reserved and timid when it comes to some things. You are probably one of the few people that can reach out to him and make him open up about his past. There is also the fact that he respects you and won't lash out at you."
Jane sipped some more wine, looked at the content of the goblet and then at Loki. "I will do it, but it won't be easy or pleasant as he is stubborn and lacks the ability to think at times."
"He will be here in a few days," Loki said as he walked to the doors. "Worthington is playing his cards carefully and he will make his move in three weeks time, but I would like to have mine done before him."
"So that Harry is at ease with his past?"
"There's that, we don't need a mad king or at least an emotionally unstable one that might lash out at a whim."
She nodded and holding her goblet she walked to the window and looked at the hundreds of spires rising into the sky. She heard Loki slip out of the room, but she didn't pay any attention to him and instead focused her gaze on the sight in front of her. She needed to think over the things he had told her.
o-0-o
Loki smiled as he saw how uncomfortable Dumbledore was with the events unfolding in front of them, they were walking around the city with a small group of Hogwarts students and a detachment of guards that was supposed to keep him safe. They entered one of the smaller plazas and it seemed as if it was a day when conscription was carried out, he could see a lot of young and arrogant Æsir surround a group of warriors.
The warriors were reading names from a list they had and the mentioned Æsirs stepped forward out of the crowd. When Dumbledore saw it, he hissed. "Why would you force ones so young to serve in the military?"
Loki smiled and looked around. "Because we are a race forged in the crucible of war and most of us train for war since we are a few years of age. Even if it isn't as demanding as the one that the children of nobility receive, it's there and as I said the universe is a dangerous place."
"Don't you have a standing army?"
Loki fought the urge to sigh and looked at the Hogwarts students. "This might be a good lesson for you about the differences between Asgard and your world. Amongst wizards there are only small groups of trained wizards tasked with protection of the country and keeping order?"
Wizards nodded and he smiled.
"Here, everybody when he becomes twenty years of age is required to serve for ten years in the military and longer if he wishes to, but he is not required to." There was a bout of cries of outrage, but he ignored them. "What you are seeing behind me is conscription in progress and if you were born on Asgard you wouldn't have a chance to avoid it and any attempt to do so would bring shame onto you and your family."
"Why do you need such a large army?" Someone asked and Loki smiled when he saw that it was Charlie Weasley, he was seriously considering teaching the oldest Weasley that was at Hogwarts some of the magic known to Asgard.
"Finally an intelligent question. The reason is simple, we are a big realm and we have many enemies that are only waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. Also when we are forced to defend, we have a large group of people that know how to fight and don't need a lot of training. It is also one of the reasons that so much attention is payed to physical fitness and weapons handling at the Academy." Loki's gaze focused on Dumbledore for a moment, before sweeping over the students. "Also it is an opportunity for most of the young, brash and arrogant Æsir to release their pent up energy and learn a thing of two."
He turned around and resumed their trip as there was no point in lingering at one point for more than it was needed.
o-0-o
Jane stepped out of the Bifrost in Professor's X office and looked for a moment around before her gaze landed on the telepath sitting behind the desk. "I came here to talk with Harry about a few things concerning his future and his past."
Professor X smiled and nodded. "He should be somewhere around, as long as you ensure that he returns to the Institute alive and in one piece, you can take him for as long as you wish to and wherever you wish to."
"Perfect." She smiled. "I will take him with me to Asgard as the news might unsettle him and if he needs to have a tantrum I prefer to deal with it away from other people with temper issues. Also some things aren't for everybody to hear."
"You can take him with you," Professor said and with a bow of her head she walked out of the office. She knew that finding Harry was a challenge when he wanted to hide, but for most of the time he was like an extremely bright beacon of power.
o-0-o
Harry felt something or someone powerful approach him and when he turned around his eyes widened, he didn't expect to see his stepmother here of all places. "Mother," he said with a bow of his head. "What are you doing here?"
He could hear his friends snicker, but he ignored them and looked at her.
"To talk with you about some things," she said. "I'm taking you to Asgard for the talk as it is the best place for it to happen."
He nodded as he knew that any attempt at disagreeing with her would be futile, as he felt Bifrost latch onto him, he hoped that it was not going to be as bad as the last time he got a talk. When they arrived on Asgard he arched an eyebrow as she led him not into the palace, but towards the massive gardens spread behind it.
She sat down on one of benches inside of them and motioned for him to join her. He obediently did so and looked at her. "Did you hear that Petunia and Vernon will be put on trial?"
He narrowed his eyes as a thunder shook the sky above. "Why does it matter?"
"Don't you care about them because they were your guardians before you were brought here?"
"Guardians?!" He asked as pitch black clouds gathered above them and droplets of rain started to fall. "You know nothing about my time with them, so don't even mention them!"
Jane looked at him and Harry's eyes widened when in her eyes he saw something he didn't expect to see, compassion. "I know that I know nothing about your past, but you can't keep it suppressed."
"Maybe I want to?" He snarled as a thunder rumbled overhead.
"And what are you going to do?" she asked. "Lash out at me?"
He looked at her and paused, she was usually calmer and it surprised him. "I don't know what to do," he slowly said and looked at the sky. "It hurts to think about it and those times that feel as if they were a bad nightmare."
"You know that telling those things can make it easier for you?" she asked softly and Harry almost flinched as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Harry was silent for a long moment and finally looked at her. "I don't want to think about it, I want it to be gone."
"Than maybe speak about it and throw it out?"
He looked at her, into her brown warm eyes. "I don't know how to do it."
"Start from the beginning," she said. "I know that you don't like it, but you know that I won't judge you."
Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. "I will tell you about it, but please can you not mention it to anybody until I'm ready?"
"I will," she said, her voice soft and warm.
Harry nodded and started to talk about the past, at first slowly, but after a moment he picked up his pace, throwing those things out of his mind and body.
o-0-o
As Jane heard what Harry was saying she wanted to rip apart those humans, no, things, she corrected herself quickly. If they were humans, they would have even a slightest amount of humane instinct, but those seemed to lack it. Instead it was replaced by hatred and the desire to show Harry that he meant nothing.
She saw his eyes swell with tears as he finished telling her about everything they had done to him and she did the only human thing her mind suggested to her. She pulled and embraced him, letting him cry and deal with the emotions that were swarming in his heart.
o-0-o
Illyana groaned as she felt a dull blade slam into her abdomen, she looked at Idunn who did it and growling looked around the small sandy arena. One of the more secluded one used when someone wanted some resemblance of privacy and peace.
"How are you so good?" she asked, holding her own sabre in her right hand. "I thought that I deflected it."
"It was a feint," Idunn smirked. "We, that is the Alf, love deception and our style is based on such things. So don't expect what you see to be it, it will most likely be a distraction."
Illyana growled and swung her sabre at Idunn, who easily deflected the strike, as if she was swatting away an annoying fly. More of Illyana's strikes were deflected until Idunn found a way to knock her sabre out of her hand.
"Ouch!" Illyana yelped as she felt metal of Idunn's blade slam into her hand and force her to drop her sabre.
"Think more, attack less," Idunn said. "You started to make mistakes and during any serious duel they will be exploited without mercy. I offered to teach you some basics as I know you and I know that you don't have any experience when it comes to weapons handling. While here," She waved her hand around. "almost everybody knows how to use weapons."
"Oh," Illyana said as she picked up her sabre and fell into an opening stance.
"Remember what I told you."
Illyana nodded and gripped the sabre's handle, her knuckles turning white. "I know, it's just that I'm used to different things."
"You can learn." Idunn said. "It's a matter of practice and having a tiny sliver of a gift."
"Practice is something I won't enjoy," Illyana said as her sabre made an arc, starting yet another duel.
o-0-o
Jean slowly sipped her Coke for some time before she looked at Warren. "Do you think that they realized this invitation is a trap?"
"Honestly?" Warren asked and she nodded. "No, they were gullible ones and fell for even the easiest traps, so for them it is as if my father became generous."
"They do not look like the rest of your family," she said and looked at him. "When I looked into their minds, I felt as if I dived into a cesspool. While you or your father aren't saints, you at least have some code that you live by and have some achievements. Them? Abusing your cousin and other than that trying to be as normal as they can."
Warren sighed and slowly shook his head. "There always needs to be a black sheep in a family, but I have never thought that it can get as bad as it got with them."
She nodded and finishing her Coke she placed the empty glass on the table. "If I was being completely honest, I'm not really surprised into whom she has grown up."
"You're not?"
"No, I am not," she looked at him. "Your father had luck in his marriage and he is controlling Worthington International and Worthington Industries, her sister and Harry's mother also had luck in her marriage, she was a witch and Harry's dad is also well-off."
Warren's eyes widened and her words and she smiled lightly. "You mean that she felt jealous of their luck and because of it became who she is?"
"As much as it hurts me to tell you, yes, she became as such because of it. I don't think that she was that bad from the beginning of her life, but from what I have seen, she didn't have a lot of reasons to love your father or her own sister."
Warren growled, a short animalistic sound left his mouth. "I want to murder whoever was responsible for placing Harry with those things."
"Not only you," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "But leave it to your father, I have a pretty good idea that he knows exactly who was responsible for him landing there."
"Does he?"
She chuckled softly and made him look at her. "He is a member of the Hellfire Club and a powerful businessman with contacts in military circles, do you really think he doesn't have the means of getting such data?"
"No," he said and chuckled. "They don't have the slightest idea about what is going to hit them and how bad it will be."
"Yes," she said and looked out of the window, thinking about what she had learned from their minds and what she knew from Warren. She felt as if something was amiss.
o-0-o
"We need to talk after the classes are over," Warren said as Harry passed by.
"About what?" Harry asked, "You seem weirdly silent as of recent."
"Family business, meet me on the roof."
Harry nodded and as he sat in classes he couldn't stop thinking about what Warren wanted from him and the moment they ended he rushed to the roof. When Harry gracefully landed on the roof, he saw Warren waiting for him, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I spoke with my father about certain things and you should also know about them," Warren said without any introductions. "I also spoke with your uncle and he said that due to certain things, Asgard can't punish the Dursley's, so we decided to take it into our hands and fix it."
"Guessing by what my mother wanted from me, you have a role planned for me?" Harry asked, his keen green eyes focused on Warren. "A role that might be crucial to the whole thing and you want me to play by the script."
Warren looked at him and nodded. "You could say so, in two weeks time there is a family meeting and they are invited there, as well as some family associates and friends. My father plans to speak with them after the party and he wouldn't mind your presence there and later during their trial."
"I understand," Harry said, his eyes getting a hard glean to them. "I want to be done with them, for good this time."
"You will be done, that's as much as I can promise you," Warren said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "There is more to this thing than I or you know, if it was as simple as it looks to be, they would have been in prison long ago."
Harry nodded and opened his wings. "Can we fly for a bit? I want to forget about those things?"
"Sure," Warren said as his own metallic wings opened and he jumped into the air. Harry smiled and followed his cousin into the sky.
o-0-o
"Were you also invited to the party hosted by Warren II?" Fury asked as General Jackson joined him.
"Yes." Robby smiled. "I wonder what he wants from us."
"The usual, make some deals, show how powerful and influential he is," Fury said and paused. "But I think this time is something more, yes, there is. He is dealing with family business and needs certain people's confidence crushed."
"Who are they?"
"People that should be in jail," Fury said and shook his head. "I would have sent them there, but I couldn't do it. However, now all of the pieces are in their proper place and they will be doomed. Also Warren's cousin and the son of Thor will be there, one of few people that I'm watching for New Avengers Initiative."
"Along with my niece?"
"Indeed," Fury said and looked at Robby. "She is his granddaughter, even if her stupid father lacks the brains to admit it and we both know what is in her genes..."
"The super-soldier serum, one that should wake up in a few months or years," Robby finished and rubbed his forehead. "And I guess that you wouldn't mind the two of them meeting?"
"No," Fury said and smiled. "Warren II with his party just helped me with it, can you take her to that party? I didn't see a list of invited, but if I had to guess, there are going to be invited people she knows and she should be able to befriend Thorson."
Robby frowned and Fury could tell that his friend was deeply thinking. The silence lasted for a long moment, before Robby finally nodded. "Her family isn't the best and she wouldn't mind a party, so I will take her with me."
"Good," Fury said as the doors in front of them opened. "I will also be there and I will ensure that she meets Thorson."
"Do you need to manipulate everything?"
"That's my job," Fury said with a grim smile as he took one of the last two free seats. Even if the meeting was boring, he needed to be here, as it was the best place to learn what was going on in the world.
o-0-o
A/N:
I think it is obvious to whom Fury and Jackson are making references.
Two rants ahead:
Army of Asgard, you can base the core on volunteers, but it is only good when you have more volunteers than positions to fill, Asgard is an imperialistic realm and that means a constant or near constant warfare, which means that you need to have draft in place. Every skirmish causes dead and injured, their positions need to be filled by someone and with volunteers it would be hard to find enough people to keep it going. There are also two simpler reasons, every Æsir, no matter their social status receives basic of combat education alongside other subjects and all of them are full of energy and need to vent it off, so draft allows them to channel their destructive energy in safe and useful way. Maybe even more important reason is hard to spot, when someone's retires from the military he has all of the basic skills that make him a decent soldier, so when you need to make a full mobilization of the army you have trained troops that need only refreshing of their knowledge. Which means a lot as instead of training them for eight weeks, six or less weeks are enough and weeks during war mean a lot, a lot of wars was won by an ability to be somewhere faster than the enemy and two weeks for an influx of new soldiers is years in other departments.
With it is tied approach to orphans of those that died serving for the realm and don't have any close family, in any warrior focused state adopting one or more of such children would have been seen as a good deed and helping the society. Also nobles care for their image and such thing nicely strokes ego of them and make public look more favorably on them, not to mention that it doesn't cost them a lot as most of nobles have so much money and income that they can spend lavishly on such things.
Helicarriers of SHIELD, I should have done it sooner, but I remember about it now, in short, at the moment SHIELD has one operational and one that is being outfitted and two more in various stages of construction. I'm going with their movie look as it is an interesting one and allows for a lot of simple modifications that would increase its deadlines and usefulness. While I like the comics look of them, honestly speaking it is a bit impractical as there is a reason why carriers look the way they look. I forgot to get this rant out of the way earlier so here it is.
Reviews:
Otsutsuki no Yami - Information is an easy thing to get, however useful information is a much pricey thing that takes a lot of effort to gather and at the moment he has very basic informations about the book. He now needs to gather data that will allow him to get some information about the castle and how to storm it. As well as he needs to gather resource to attack.
Strange won't rush to see what tickled the line every time someone gets their hands on some data, data on its own is useless as you need to get resources and at the moment he doesn't have too many that will work and Hellfire Club is not going to help him, too openly at least. They are not insane and none of major players within it would love to see new one gaining power, so as much Emma Frost hates Harry and by extension Worthington's she will eagerly align herself with them the moment she thinks there is new player trying to gain something. Besides Lord Imperial has his own plans and has a very interesting ally that helps him if need be.
voice of the riders - wizards will wake up, at least those that saw Asgard, the Ministry is a classic example of I think that I am the best and nothing can change it. At the moment nobody is really interested in paying them a visit, they are destroying themselves and do it quite well, so nobody will waste resources on it. For Asgard it is the least of their worries, while SHIELD and MI-13 have better things to do.
Asgard didn't lose more than a couple of skirmishes for centuries, true they have many wars at the same time, but none of them is truly dangerous for them and they are on the fringes of their sphere of influence. They are arrogant, but they are top dogs and are feared by many and loved by even more. So they don't see a reason to change and in a monarchy unless monarch or someone close to him initiate a change, it won't happen.
TimothyB - it will move away and there is a really good reason for M rating of it, reason that is connected with the direction it will take. I wanted to make the Talk sound a bit funny, but I also wanted to explain things that would be hard to explain without it.
Jerm069 - who said that there will be one pairing, fidelity and Norse gods are as likely to combine as a cat is to befriend a dog. He will be more faithful than an average one, but he won't be a paragon of virtues.
WhiteEagle1985 - Norse monsters will show up, as well as Greek and several other kinds of them that will make people consider if they are sane and if they are in a good place.