A/N - The end of holidays is here and the beginning of a school year and a cliff hanger at the end of the chapter. As always, read and review.
o-0-o
It was a usual day in the Scottish Highlands as Loki hovered in the air above Hogwarts, his palms spread in front of him. His body was completely at ease, kept in the air by magic, but it was obvious that whatever he was doing was straining him. A loud ripple was heard and Hogwarts changed, the tower that was flush with the rest of the castle was moved away from it and enlarged.
It was moved to a spot away from the rest of the building and its top changed, gone was the characteristic conical roof. Instead from the top grew four smaller towers that were connected to the main body below. It was a new dormitory tower for the castle, one of the most important changes promised by Prince Loki to the Headmaster.
Instead of the previous four common rooms, one for each house, there would be one, larger and more comfortable able to safely accommodate students from all the houses. Dormitories would be still separated by gender and house, but that would be the only common thing with the old times. If it was up to Loki, the houses would be weakened, but it was impossible to achieve that and, if he was going to be honest, pointless.
Looking at the castle he smiled, content that his job here was done. As he looked at his child he was surprised to see that it looked as good as it used to look when he had founded it with the four greatest magic users of that time.
For one last time he smiled and with a snap of his fingers he was gone from Earth.
o-0-o
Atalanta stood on the balcony of the Angel's Aerie and looked at Harry, they were there with Ulf who was busying himself with sharpening the edge of his axe and the monotonous sound of the whetstone scraping against metal filling the air. "Midgard isn't that bad of a place to be," she finally said.
"No, it is not," Harry nodded with a smile. "I came to like it and if my grandfather's agrees to it, you and Ulf could come with me for a lot longer during the next year."
"Huh?" Ulf asked as he diverted his attention from his axe.
"I mean that if you want, you can come with me for a lot longer during the next year, officially as bodyguards."
"But in reality?" Atalanta asked
"But in reality just friends," Harry said and smiled. "I can handle most things charging at me and there are also my wolves."
"Cocky are we?"
He laughed softly at those words. "No, I just know my capabilities really well and how much I can get done on my own."
"You know how to lie too, to not tell truth and hide what you don't like," she said and he chuckled.
"Well, I had a good teacher."
She smiled and placed her hand on one of his wings. "May I?"
"Just be careful with it," he said. "They are sensitive and don't pluck any feathers."
"Why?" she asked, her fingers moving through his wings. "They seem hard and tough."
"Because for most of the time they are such," he said and looked at her. "At least on the outside, underneath there is a softer layer and it can get destroyed by almost anything."
"Like down feathers?" she asked "To keep you warm?"
"Yes, they are a good protection when sleeping," he said with a wry smile. "I can wrap myself in them."
"I need to see it," she said, a mischievous glint to her eyes. "It must be an amusing sight to watch."
"It can be," Ulf said from the side. "He looks as if he was wrapped in a cocoon and is a pain to wake up."
"Why?" she asked, her gaze focused on Ulf.
"His wings can hit hard and throw you away," Ulf said and laughed. "I don't envy his future lovers."
"If you hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have kicked you away," Harry said and added more softly. "It is one of my reactions."
"Because of them?" Atalanta asked, her golden eyes focused on Harry's green ones. "Or something else?"
"Probably them," Harry said and she didn't miss it when Ulf's eyes focused on them.
"Does he know?" she asked as she moved closer to him.
"To an extend, I didn't have a reason to explain things to him, while you saw my mind and my memories,"
She growled and looked at Ulf. "You will need to tell him, you trust me and I trust you, but he might have doubts about your friendship."
"I don't want to," Harry quietly said. "I don't want to and I'm scared of his reaction."
She snorted and lightly punched him in the arm. "You are a fool, Harald James," she said and looked at Ulf. "Come with us."
She grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him, he tried to protest, but she ignored it. From the corner of her eye she saw Ulf looking confused, but following them. She entered into her own room, let Ulf through and slammed door shut behind them. She could feel Harry's attempts to free his hand, but she ignored them and with a glance shut the windows.
She sat down on her bed and looked at Harry. "I know that you don't like to talk Harry, but you need to open up," she softly said. "We are your friends and we trust you, so you should also trust us."
He growled at her, but stopped when her golden eyes focused on him, they were full of kindness and compassion, not the usual blank mask that was so hard to read and understand. Now they were like a bottomless abyss, full of kindness and warmth.
"Will you do it?" she asked and placed her hand on his cheek.
"I will," he finally said.
"What will he do?" Ulf asked. "So far I've only been getting more and more confused."
"About my past, before I was brought to Asgard," Harry said quietly and looked at them. "I won't force an oath out of you, but I want you to be considerate about who you speak this with."
"We will be," Ulf said and Harry smiled in thanks.
He spent the next several minutes telling them about his past and what had happened to him, he felt as if an acid had left his body and even if he had already talked about his past, this was different. He knew them for the longest amount of time and they were simply there, not asking and letting him to do it in his own way.
When he was done with his storytelling he heard Ulf growl, low and rumbling. "How is it possible that those things were allowed to take you in and are still alive?"
"I don't know," Harry said. "I want to simply wipe it clean and forget it."
"You can't do that, but you have your family and us now," Atalanta softly said and made him smile.
"Yes, I'm glad that I met you and all of my other friends," he said quietly. "I don't know whom I would be if not for you and your help and support."
"Most certainly not the person we like and know," Ulf said. "And we don't want to check into what or whom you could have changed."
"Exactly," Atalanta said and looked at Ulf. "Would you mind leaving us alone?"
Ulf smiled and with a nod left the room, leaving them alone and to their own devices.
"Are you calmer now?" Atalanta asked as she snuggled up against him. "Or are you still as worried as you used to?"
He looked at her as he felt her warm body touch him, the closeness and her comfortable weight pushing away his fears and worries. "It helped," he finally said. "Though you did a lot that helped as well."
"I'm glad that I could," she smiled. "You are a good person and I saw how badly you were being destroyed by it."
Harry sighed and looked at her. "I thought I was fine, but apparently I wasn't."
"No, you weren't," she said, her hand moving through the feathers of his wing. "So in a year's time you want me and Ulf to come with you?"
Harry was silent for a moment, his eyes focused on her and her distracting hand that was slowly moving through the feathers of one of his wings. "Yes," he slowly said. "I want people that I trust, like and know, who will happily help me, as well as won't be as stiff as any of the guards my uncle or grandfather would find."
"Good answer," she said and smiled. "So you want us to help you not get mad inside of Hogwarts?"
"Among other things," he said and placed his hand on her back. "May I?"
"Sure." she smiled. "So what are those other things?" she asked as her hand carefully moved through his feathers.
"Having fun and helping me to keep fit as I doubt anybody else would be able to keep up with me."
"And since we are as fast as you are, we would be able to help you," she said, snuggling closer to him. "Not to mention that you will have a few people you know with you."
"Exactly." He smiled as a comfortable silence fell onto the room. They sat there, simply enjoying each other's presence and closeness.
o-0-o
Warren smiled as he snuggled against Jean, it was one of the few moments before their return to the Institute where they could be together and alone. Their naked bodies embracing each other and keeping the heat between them. It was morning and the warm sunlight was pouring into the room, made their bodies glow gold.
"I will miss these moments," she whispered as she left a peck on his cheek. "Until Yule Break we won't have an opportunity to be together like this."
"No, we won't," he sadly nodded as he looked at her body laying to his side. "I love you, Jean," he whispered
She smiled and kissed him, her full lips mashing against his. "I love you too."
He smiled and ran his hand over her side. "You are so beautiful," he said, his fingers brushing against her soft flesh. "And I'm glad that you are mine."
She smiled at those words and looked into his blue eyes. "I'm as beautiful as you are," she finally said.
He chuckled, looked at her and glanced at the clock standing on his nightstand. "I would love to make love to you, but they will start looking for us."
"So?" she asked as she rolled onto him and straddled him. "They can wait."
He sighed and tried not to look at her round, perky breasts. "We can do it at night," he said. "Now we need to get dressed and take care of them or they will storm into the room and find us in this position."
He saw her blush and nod. "I'm disappointed in you," she pouted and flowed off him and the bed.
Warren openly gaped at her body as she walked to the bathroom, her completely naked body visible to him. Long, toned legs with muscle thanks to the constant exercises and running, her large shapely ass that made him drool each time he looked at it and her perfect, flawless back. Her fiery red hair moving in mesmerizing patterns and complementing her beautiful body.
He let her take a bath first and laid in his bed, looking out of the window and at the mountain peaks visible in the distance. This holiday had been wonderful and there were still a few days left.
o-0-o
Harry smiled and looked at Warren. "This was the best idea out of the whole year, at least on your part," he finally said. "I needed to relax away from the world and Asgard, as much as I love it, it can be tiring."
"Thanks," Warren smiled and laughed. "So you and Atalanta, is there anything going on between you?"
Harry blushed and growled. "No, she just helped me to understand a few things."
"So why are you blushing?" Warren teased him.
"I don't know," Harry said and looked around, trying to find a good way to get out of the trap. "Maybe it is just that it's warm?"
"Maybe, or maybe not."
Harry growled and looked at Warren, if looks could kill, Warren would be a smoking pile of ash. "Since when have you been allowed to poke my private life? Maybe we should talk about you and Jean?"
Warren was about to say something when a silver blur passed through the room, it made a circle around him and stopped in front of Harry. "I see that he got you cornered mon chéri," Jean said.
"Jean, maybe some help?" Harry asked.
Jean frowned and looked at him. "Why not." He finally nodded and grasped Harry's hand. "Hold tight," he said.
"What-" Harry asked before he was almost torn apart by the speed.
The next moment he remembered he was standing on the roof of the Angel's Aerie and Jean was standing by his side, a smirk visible on his face. "Do you like my speed?" Jean asked.
"It is nice, but distracting," Harry said, shaking his head to regain some focus. "Also seems to be tearing things."
"Or connecting them," Jean said with a smirk. "I don't know how you got caught by your hot cousin."
"I would also like to know that," Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "Thank you for your help."
"No need to thank me, mon chéri." Jean bowed his head. "I did it because you deserved to be saved or it would have ended up badly."
Harry arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean by it ending badly?"
"Your body combusting on its own," Jean shrugged. "Or another bad event that would rob the world of your beauty."
Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Remember, I am a demigod, it is harder to get me to die."
"Which is even better," Jean chuckled and looked at Harry. "So mon chéri, won't you thank me for being your savior?"
Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "How could I do that?"
"A kiss would be enough."
"Just a kiss?" Harry asked.
"Just a kiss." Jean smiled. "It's not much."
"No, it's not," Harry nodded and leaned towards Jean to kiss him.
Jean smiled and they kissed, it was a short, sloppy kiss.
"Did I bite you?" Jean asked.
"No," Harry said, blushing a bit. "Once again thank you for your help."
"No problem," Jean said and Harry nodded.
He turned to look at the nearby peaks of the Rocky Mountains as the sun lazily moved above their heads, on Asgard the weather in the mountains was more vicious and dangerous. Here it seemed like a paradise come true.
o-0-o
Fury smiled as he stood on the roof of the Triskelion and watched as the newest helicarrier exited her drydock, she was a much deadlier ship than the first one and should serve SHIELD faithfully. She was over four hundred meters long and ninety meters wide, she was the largest unit ever deployed by SHIELD and her name was Valiant.
"She looks good," Tony Stark said as he broke the silence. "It is obvious that without my touch she wouldn't be as good as she is now."
Fury nodded and glanced at Stark. "She is good, but a lot depends on her crew, without it, she won't work."
"I hope that you found someone good to be her commander."
"Yes, I have," Fury said and smirked.
Valiant left her drydock and slowly turned around, allowing them to look at her flight deck which was filled with a wide assortment of planes, starting from a heavily upgraded version of F/A-18 Super Hornet, from F-35 to Quinjets, used solely by SHIELD. However those weren't her only fangs, she also mounted several railguns placed in her belly that allowed firing at targets located below her. There were also several positions of anti-aircraft defenses evenly spread out around her hull to prevent planes and rockets from hitting her.
"Who?"
"Rhodes," Fury said and smiled as Stark's jaw dropped. "He is quite competent and I need someone reliable, and we know him. Sometimes that is needed more than everything else."
"Wasn't Hill slated to receive this ship?"
"No, she got a post in Europe and I need her there."
Stark nodded and Fury could tell that he was thinking about something. "Do you want me to design something else for you?"
Fury looked at him, his sole eyes boring into Stark's soul. "There is one project that could benefit from your help, I will send you data about it by tomorrow as I won't mind your help with designing the final product."
"How secret is it this time?"
"Technically I should hang myself for telling you about it, but first I should kill you," Fury said, his lips forming a smile. "It's as dark as it can get, nobody is supposed to know."
"Lovely," Stark snorted. "So what's its codename?"
"Malleus Maleficarum."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hammer on the Witches," Fury said and looked at Stark. "You mention that you work on it and your heart will be hanging on top of the biggest rocket I can find."
"Got it." Stark nodded.
"Good,"
Fury stood there watching as Valiant rose into the sky and then activated her main engines, there was a massive roar as they fired for the very first time. A set of two arc reactors buried deep within the hull providing just over ten gigawatts of power for a couple of pellets of palladium and not taking an obscene amount of room like nuclear plants tended to do.
She was the leading ship of her class and he couldn't wait to get his hands on more of them, two of them were under construction and contracts for construction of eight more, each worth over twenty-five billion dollars, were to be signed.
o-0-o
Harry sighed as he looked at the Rocky Mountains, two weeks here passed like a blur and the blissful holidays spent among their peaks in the Angel's Aerie ended. It was time to say goodbyes, for some to travel to Asgard and for some to return to the Institute. He smiled weakly as he looked at Atalanta, who stood by his side.
"I will miss you," he said and placed his hand on her back.
"I will, too," she said and smiled. "You can use Hábrók."
"I can and I will," he said and glanced in direction of Jarl and Carol. "But I doubt I will be the only one."
"Probably not," she said and snuggled against Harry. "I hope that you won't get killed."
"I won't At," he said and looked at her. "Kiss for goodbye?"
She only smiled and leaned towards him, their lips met and for Harry it felt as if he was in heaven, his lips melting on hers. He felt as his heart skipped a beat and his body temperature increased by a couple of degrees.
"I will miss you," she whispered as their kiss ended.
"So will I," he said and looked towards Ulf and Illyana. "They are waiting for you."
"They are," she said and slinging her bag over the shoulder she walked to their friends that would return to Asgard.
For one last time Harry looked in the direction of their friends and correcting his hair he walked to Warren who was waiting for him in front of one of the cars.
"Lucky you," Warren chuckled as Harry got into the car. "The Princess of the Amazons that likes you."
Harry blushed and didn't say a word, he knew that Warren would tease him even more so he decided to save some of his dignity and not answer.
"So you won't deny that you are in love with her?" Warren asked after a moment, making him growl. "Don't get so aggressive, I'm just playing with you."
"Then do so more subtly," Harry said and pulled out a book, trying to completely ignore his older cousin's antics.
o-0-o
Sean Cassidy looked around as he entered the control room of the Rock, it was buried deep within the Alps and was probably the most important base outside of Triskelion. He saw Maria Hill bent over the table showing a map of Europe and covered in notes, he walked to her and she looked up when he approached.
"What did you find?" she asked.
"Not much," he said and grimaced. "Karkaroff knows how to avoid giving a full answer and he is too precious to get more creative with getting data out of him. One thing he said was that they planned something big."
"Something big?" she frowned and her gaze darted to the map. "That probably means a move against one of the Omega level beings and there is a problem."
"What?" He asked as he looked at one of lists with names. "Two of them are missing?"
"Yes," she said. "We had subtle surveillance placed on them, undercover agents in their vicinity and they just disappeared as if they were whisked away by magic or something similar. Someone must have done it so that we didn't see him, or-"
"Or they used a wizard to help them," he finished and she looked up at him. "We know that while the White Council is focused on itself and several other things, the wizarding world is more than happy to meddle in our affairs. I'm almost certain that Dumbledore or another heavyweight isn't playing in this game, the rest is questionable."
She looked at him and later at the map. "One of them was snatched in the UK and other in the US, but the pattern was the same. So the same group did it."
"And the same group could be coming for the rest of our Omega," he said. "All of which are at Xavier's."
"Which is hard to penetrate, but it happened in the past and it's not like they stay inside of it all the time so someone might snatch them when we aren't watching," she said and sighed. "And we can't share it with them, even if we want since nobody will believe us."
"What about Demon?"
"He is laying low and trying to get as much data as possible," she said and glanced at her watch. "He should report in three days."
Sean nodded and looked at the map. "Can you get Lacrosse to take a look at Hogwarts and Durmstrang, just in case we need to pay them a visit?"
She looked at him, considering his words. "I will contact Director Fury and suggest the usage of Lacrosse, but he will need to know why we need to use them."
"Because a radar doesn't have the slightest issue with taking a look at things below wards," he said with a smirk. "MACUSA found how to upgrade their wards to hide from radars, but I doubt those two managed to do it, so we will have all the data we want."
She nodded and looked at him. "I have a mission for you, gather a strike team and check Alkali Lake, while there should be nobody present, there might be someone or some evidence."
"Understood, Director," he said and turning around walked out of the room.
o-0-o
Hawkeye crouched on the roof of a building in Kraków, his gaze sweeping over narrow streets between townhouses, looking for a target that should be somewhere here or at least the intelligence data suggested that he would be. His eyes narrowed when he saw a man walk down the street directly below him. The man fit the description he was given and by the looks of it he was the target. He wasn't tall, nor he was short, just an average male in his late thirties maybe, with light brown hair in a cheap suit, a briefcase in hand. He looked like an average person, nothing unusual or extraordinary.
Hawkeye looked around for any potential bodyguards that could be around and spotted only two. Carefully placing his bow on the roof and making sure that it wouldn't make a single sound or slip onto the ground, which would reveal his position, he picked up his SCAR-SSR rifle. He placed the scope in front of his right eye and aimed for the first goon's head.
He squeezed the trigger and a soft pop was heard as the bullet left the barrel and slammed into his target's head. It hit him right in the ear and he was killed before he had a chance to react. Before the second guard or the target could react Hawkeye aimed at the second guard and killed him.
Hawkeye dropped onto the ground and ran to his target, he slammed him into the wall and pulling a knife out of its scabbard pressed it against his throat. "Are you Doctor Hugh Bricksdale?"
His target gulped and looked at the knife pressed against his throat and then into Hawkeye's eyes. "Yes," he whimpered.
"Good," Hawkeye said and decreased amount of pressure on Bricksdale's throat. "What do you know about Weapon X programme?"
"Nothing."
Hawkeye looked at Hugh and later at his goons. "Then why did you have two bodyguards, both of them wanted criminals in at least ten countries and why do you sneak through the city like a petty thug?"
Hugh gulped and spat at Hawkeye. "I know nothing, swine."
He threw Hugh onto the ground and pressed his knee against his spine to keep him steady. Hawkeye pulled out a pair of handcuffs, cuffed and left his target on the street and went to collect his equipment. Dropping down back onto the street, Hawkeye lifted Hugh and looked at him. "We could have done it less painful for you, but since you are unwilling to work, you will have to have a date with Psylocke."
Hugh paled as Hawkeye dragged him through the street, they entered an alleyway and Hawkeye nodded to a pair of guards that stood in front of one of the buildings. They opened the door in front of them and pushing Hugh ahead, Hawkeye entered it. It was dim inside, but his eyes easily adapted to the darkness and he saw another pair of guards and Psylocke.
"Good job," she said and walked to them. "One doctor to interrogate and a briefcase full of data, you have outdone yourself."
"Sloppy guards that lacked imagination," Hawkeye said with a shrug. "He is all yours, have fun picking apart his mind."
"I will," Psylocke said as she took Hugh from him and walked to one of chairs. "Sit!"
Hugh looked at her, stubbornness visible in his eyes. She smiled and pushed him into the chair, completely ignoring his protests.
"Now we will talk," she said as she came to a stop behind him and placed her hands on his temples.
Hawkeye winced as he saw what she was about to do and silently slipped out of the room, interrogation never was his thing. Kill a goon or a dictator, yes, interrogate, no.
o-0-o
Hrimhari stood on top one of the trees just outside the fence of Malfoy Manor and whistled quietly. It was a fortress that would be problematic to attack. If he was right those hedges were a nasty subspecies of a strangler, a plant that was resistant to almost everything and would strangle everything that got close. Even if it wasn't enough, what was behind it would make almost every assassin run away in fear, a pair of Wadjet cobras, forty feet long with venom able to injure a god and a pair of manticores which made the task of getting inside a tough one.
"We might need more support," Vidar said. "The hedge is not a problem as we can use flamethrowers to burn it, but those things behind..."
"Those things behind would be a challenge for my uncle, Prince Thor," Hrimhari finished. "And we don't know where the civilians are," he added with grimace.
"So what do you suggest, Sir?"
He looked around and sniffed the air. "While I know that my grandfather, Prince Loki, wants Malfoy gone, I won't risk an attack on this thing. Especially with civilians inside as it can get nasty, we will wait for a moment when he will be alone and then we will strike," he said, his voice sullen and lacking any emotion. "Now we will look for easier targets."
"Understood, sir," Vidar said and Hrimhari nodded.
For one last time he looked at the mansion and then glanced at the sky, a beam of Bifrost descended onto them and whisked them away to Asgard. It was the first failure in this campaign, a failure without weapons being even used. A failure that hurt his honor and pride as a warrior.
o-0-o
Fury stood by the viewing slit, placed in a wall of the bunker, over a kilometer from the target area, he knew that he could get a recording of the test or a written report, but he wanted to see it on his own. The true power of Malleus Maleficarum.
The unmistakable sound of jet engines was heard through the air and when he looked upwards he could see the sleek, matte black hull of B-1B Lancer approach the target. It was diving towards the target and then from it a small, dart like object disconnected. The rocket engine placed at the end of the dart ignited and the projectile flew towards the target, followed by a fiery trail of exhaust gasses, there was a brief moment before it slammed into the wards.
There was a flash of light, followed by a deafening sound and a wave of dust and energy. He felt as if a few hundred kilos of rocks slammed into his body. When the dust settled and he was able to look towards the wards he saw nothing.
The weapon worked as advertised or maybe even better, but that would be decided once the full report was prepared and they would have an opportunity to inspect the readings from the hundreds of sensors scattered across the whole field.
o-0-o
Oliver looked around curiously, Hogwarts felt different and new, no, not new, fresh would be a better word. He walked to his usual seat at the Gryffindor table and joined his friends from the Quidditch team. "So the changes seem to be real," he said.
"Yes," Charlie said. "The dormitories and common rooms are completely different and according to what we were told, there will be a long list of announcements made by Dumbledore at the beginning of the feast."
"I wonder how similar to the Academy it will get," Katie said. "As it was awesome and I want some of it brought here."
"Who wouldn't?" Oliver asked. "I mean, they pushed us into the ground over and over again, but we had an opportunity to relax and have fun."
"It should be interesting," Charlie said and at the same time the doors leading into the hall creaked open. "Here it comes," he said when a long trail of first year students entered the room.
"So once it is over we will learn something interesting?" Fred Weasley asked. "Or did my ears stop working for a moment?"
"We will," Oliver said with a roll of his eyes. "Now we need to survive the sorting and hear him, but I hope that there will be a change."
They nodded and turned to watch the sorting, the queue of fourteen year old students quickly getting smaller as they were sorted to their houses. The ew students were somewhat evenly spread across all houses and once the ceremony ended everybody looked at Dumbledore who stood up and walked to a podium placed in front of the high table.
"Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said as the noise died down. "I want to welcome back the old students and greet the new students that will spend their next seven years inside of these hallowed walls. As many of you might have seen there have been made changes to the school, the first and most important one being that all of the houses now share a common room."
The reaction to those words could only be described as an explosion. A wave of outrageous shouts and cries washed over the room. It looked as if a storm appeared and shook everybody and everything. It was a change that not many expected and even less were prepared to see, yet it was pushed down their throats, not caring about their opinions.
Oliver was surprised by it, but he didn't protest as he knew that it wouldn't change a single thing since he was almost sure that Loki was behind it.
"Silence! Silence!" Dumbledore bellowed, his voice cutting through the noise and silencing them. "This is something that you won't change and you can protest as much as you wish, but it will remain in place." There was still some grumbling and general unhappiness, but it had turned from outright rage into a simmering one. "The next thing many of you will accept gladly, Professor Binns decided to resign and rest in peace, which means that from the start of this year until I find a suitable candidate I will be teaching History of Magic."
If the previous reaction was an outburst of hate, this one was an outburst of pure and primal joy. A wave of cheers and whooping washed over the whole hall, startling the ghosts and shocking the Professors who didn't expect it. It was a show of enthusiasm and joy not many had seen. The first year students looked at their older peers with shock and confusion, they couldn't understand why they were so happy.
Oliver didn't hide his happiness as he shouted with everybody else in joy. Binns was finally gone and Dumbledore had decided to take this position.
"Since the start of this year Runes and Logic as well as the basics of Arithmancy will be a compulsory subject for every student. They were as such in the past, but due to the mistakes done by the previous Headmasters they were removed and now it is a proper time to return them to their rightful places," Dumbledore said and Oliver could tell that the old Headmaster was unhappy. "Also those that won't get at at least an Exceed Expectations in Logic won't be allowed to study Arithmancy."
"Seems fair," Charlie muttered. "And maybe it will keep the amount of idiots in check."
"Huh?" Fred frowned.
"Nine out of ten lacks any understanding of Math," Oliver explained with a sigh. "And they didn't see what my cousin needs to study in Muggle school."
"Cousin?" Charlie asked. "You didn't mention that you have any."
"Second cousin," Oliver explained. "She is fourteen or so and lives in the USA, so we don't see each other too often, but we met during holidays and she mentioned that she harry met Harry."
"How and when?"
"At a party hosted by Worthington, around March or April."
"Cool," Charlie said and Oliver briefly smiled.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and fired several sparks from his wand, silencing them. "The last thing I want to announce is that it has been agreed with Prince Loki that twenty-eight students, four per year, will be allowed to study on Asgard. The first group will be chosen during the first term and will travel to Asgard before Christmas break," Dumbledore said and clasped his hands twice. "Tuck in," he said as food appeared out of nowhere on the tables.
o-0-o
The Lacrosse satellites were originally constructed for NRO, but now were a joint venture between NRO and SHIELD providing high-quality radar pictures of objects in which those agencies were interested. When Director Hill asked for radar pictures of Durmstrang and Hogwarts two satellites out of their constellation changed orbit, their engines firing to move them into one that would allow a flyover above their targets.
They were rarely used by SHIELD, but there was one exception to it, buildings hidden beneath wards able to hide what they protected from sight, yet failed to do the same for radars. Multiple flyovers would be performed, in each of them the powerful radars would collect immense amounts of data for processing and analysis. Once done it would reveal if there was anything of interest located in those two places.
o-0-o
A trio of Quinjets flew over the treetops towards Alkali Lake, their black sleek hulls almost impossible to spot in the darkness of the night. They made a loop above the lake and slowed down in front of a dam, where they engaged their vertical thrusters and gently landed on the ground.
Banshee checked his rifle for one last time and placed night vision goggles in front of his eyes as he exited the aircraft. He looked around and in the greenness of night vision was able to see the rest of the agents leave the Quinjets and form up teams.
He looked at the entrance into the complex and images flashed through his mind from the last time he was inside it, the time when he saw things he thought were possible only in the movies and books. Beings that were so mutilated and twisted that they no longer couldn't be named humans. He looked at the agent to his side who was grasping a Saiga-12 with a drum of flechettes and pointed at the entrance.
They entered the complex, guns pointing towards any hole from which something could jump out and attack them. He knew there was a good chance that they would run into something nasty willing to rip their throats open and eat them. He saw movement in front of himself and pointed his gun in its direction.
The thing turned out to be a male in his late thirties with an untidy mane of hair and the physique of a brawler. Banshee depressed the trigger and fired, yet the target brushed off the bullets as if they were nothing and kept running. It even ignored the withering hail of fire that came from a Saiga-12 shotgun, volley after a volley of flechettes was completely ignored by it.
"What was that?" One of agents asked as the thing passed them. "It was something unnatural."
"Sabertooth," Banshee said as he reloaded his rifle. "Suspected of working with Weapon X, now we know for sure."
Agent nodded and Banshee could tell that he was scared of the thing they just saw. Sean's gaze ran over the spent cases littering the floor and he motioned agents to move forward. They needed to check this place and if Sabertooth was their first guest, he could only wonder what would be next.
o-0-o
Harry sat in the front seat as Warren's car sped down the highway and had a really, really bad feeling about the time that was to come. He didn't know why, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Even the weather seemed to make him sad as there was a large front of rain clouds moving towards them.
"Stressed about something?" Warren asked as he changed the lane. "Or just a bad day?"
"Probably a bad day," Harry brushed off. "Really bad day."
Warren nodded, focused on driving and then it happened a truck slammed into them from the side and threw out of the highway. If that wasn't enough something exploded right behind it and threw it into a spinning motion, it rolled over and over again, thrashing everything that was inside. It was a miracle that they survived the accident.
Harry felt as if his whole body was being slammed into a wall over and over again. When the car came to stop it was in the middle of the field. He looked around he saw that Warren had a massive, ugly cut on the skin across his forehead and was unconscious or dead, yet the second possibility couldn't get into his mind. He wrestled himself out of the safety belts and the moment he was out of the car he felt as if a mountain slammed into his skull.
He landed in soft soil and before he lost his consciousness he felt something grasp him by his shoulders. "You will come with us." After that he felt something once again slam into his head and blackness took over his mind. To be continued…
o-0-o
A/N:
Loki is changing Hogwarts as even if he have issues with Dumbledore, he also knows that if he lets it boil and simmer, he will have another warlock/dark lord in maybe twenty or so years. Prevention is always cheaper than dealing with the fallout, so he does it as otherwise he would need to spend his precious time to chase down that wizard.
One common room is the least painful thing he could come up with and one that does the job just fine, they need to integrate as in the books until book five we had houses fighting with each other and while friendly competitions is appreciated and encouraged, this isn't the case as those wizards fight with each other and cannot stand each other.
Also curriculum, they use Latin for spells so it is safer to know Latin as a whole as a lot of texts and books written to thirteen or fourteen century will be in Latin only and while there are translations, they tend to miss subtleties of Latin and Math, they want to study Arithmancy and don't know Math. It's as wise as starting Chemistry from playing with uranium.
White Council, for those who don't know it is a ruling body of wizards in Dresdenverse, at the top of it is Senior Council, seven the most powerful and oldest wizards out of the whole council. Usually it is focused on itself, chasing warlocks and as of recent on a war that just ended leaving a huge power vacuum with hundreds of things trying to fill the void.
Lacrosse, codename of a constellation of satellites used by US government for radar reconnaissance, I went with an assumption that wards simply make us see things, which means that radar will see just fine, besides it is based on radio, which we know in the canon works around magic.
Sabertooth behavior, he is a brute, but he is also a predator and a fight against whole horde of agents backed up by two Quinjets is a thing even he wouldn't do. Each Quinjet has 20mm Gatling cannon with several thousand pieces of ammunition to it, ammunition designed to punch holes in armor, now imagine human body being greeted by such assault. He could ignore fléchettes and bullets as he was running and target charging at you is a hard one to hit, besides human limbs have some limits, while cannon on a Quinjet has computer targeting systems which aren't affected by stress or nervousness.