A/N - Hogwarts is soonish, this and two more chapters are mostly laid back and relaxed, excluding few minor improvements made to Grimmauld Place.
Harry hurried out of the Observatory and into the Citadel, he was eager to get back home, but he was also curious how big of a change happened to his rooms. He knew how it was supposed to look, but he was also thoroughly aware that schematics and blueprints rarely showed how well something looked. He finally calmed down when he stood in front of the doors leading into his rooms, he took deep breath and looked at Atalanta who smiled.
"It should look great," she said and gently pushed doors open. "So let's see how it looks."
He nodded and stepping inside he was a bit surprised, first thing that struck him was a wooden floor and walls covered in warm rose marble in which were carved scenes from the history of Asgard, surrounded by geometrical shapes. As they walked inside they quickly passed through this corridor and entered into a hexagonal room with three doorways visible from their entry point, one in front of them was a more official one, while those placed to the sides were almost flush with the walls and soon they discovered that beyond them were hidden stairs leading upwards.
"Looks like below is the boring, official part, while here is place to live and enjoy the time," he said as they climbed up the stairs. "I just suggested it, but I think they did it."
Arriving on top of stairs they were met by a wooden floor covered in thick rugs and pelts of various animals, walls too were made out of wood, or at least paneling was made out of it. He could recognize cherry, chestnut and many more kinds of wood. Paneling was covered in various tapestries and in some places carved, making it look more warm and welcoming than marble below.
"Not too shabby," he commented walking inside.
They passed through large lounge area, skylights placed in its roof, several sofas, armchairs and small tables scattered around the room, hunting trophies and tapestries on the walls. Beyond it were bedrooms and Harry smiled as he entered into one that he knew was his, not the master one, but his if he wanted to be alone.
It was quite big with a king sized bed placed by one wall, nightstands to its sides and several cupboards placed by the walls, a fireplace in the corner, a tapestry or two on the wall and two doors leading into more rooms, one revealed to lead into a large bathroom shared with one more bedroom and if he was right, Jean would claim the other bedroom the moment he was able to get here, while second led onto the balcony.
Next several minutes they spent roaming around his rooms and exploring them, including master bedroom which lived up to its name and was quite massive with a huge bed placed in the middle and several cupboards and wardrobes along the walls, on the floor were placed rugs and pelts of animals and in the corner by the fireplace was made a comfortable lair for his wolves who just looked at him and walked there before laying on the ground and curling into two large balls of fur.
"It seems that they love those rooms," Laura said with a small chuckle.
"They can sleep anywhere," Harry said. "It's just that they prefer something warm and comfortable."
"As we all," Atalanta pointed out. "So we can finish looking around and have some fun?"
"I like it," he said with a grin.
They finished looking around, quickly noticing second bathroom and french doors leading onto the balcony, stepping out onto it Harry could see a beautiful panoramic view of the city below and the massive form of the Academy in the distance. It was then when he noticed that his rooms actually had a large terrace on the level below, as well as an easier access to the gardens than he thought. Also a really nice and appreciated discovery were several large and old plants of ivy that were climbing the walls and providing some privacy and shadows that sometimes were a much needed escape from the scorching heat of sun.
He heard Laura walk onto the balcony and looked at her. "What do you think about those rooms?"
"They look good," she said and walked closer to him. "I never dreamed that I could have freedom, not even love and friends."
"Now you have," he said, gently wrapping his hand around her. "And I won't betray your trust."
"Thank you," she whispered. "You are one of my closest friends."
"And your lover," he added. "I won't leave you."
She smiled and they stood like that for a moment, enjoying the closeness and being with each other. He could tell that she wanted to be with him and Atalanta which promised a rather enjoyable holidays for all of them.
Several hours later, three times when his ribs almost were crushed by bear hugs from his friends and some time spent in taverns he was finally able to get into his bedroom and for some time with his lovers. He smiled as he dressed into loose shorts and slipped into the bed where he saw Laura waiting for him, while Atalanta was already deep asleep, tired by tavern hopping.
He moved to her side and looked into her eyes. "Since she is asleep, want to have some fun?"
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"Kiss, explore our bodies and talk," he said and she looked at him. "I know that you were doing it with Atalanta."
"I don't know," Laura softly said.
"Trust me and you will be fine," he said and lightly placed his hand on her side. "I won't cause you any harm and you should enjoy it."
She relented and lightly nodded, making Harry smile, he lightly reached towards her body and gently moved her even closer to him. She didn't oppose and soon their bodies were touching each other.
"You are a beautiful girl," he whispered as he gently kissed her. "One that deserves all of this and much more."
"Am I?" she asked.
"Yes, you are," he said and started next kiss, he could feel her melt on him, her mind and body not used to such pleasures.
When they finally went to sleep she was laying over him, both of them exhausted, yet happy and he could feel that she loved things they did, even if at first she wasn't so sure about it.
o-0-o
Fury watched as a rocket took off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, weather was perfect, no clouds, no rain and a pleasant wind blowing from the ocean. However the launch was not the reason he was here, he needed a quiet meeting spot, away from the noise of the Triskelion. He heard a faint sound of footsteps and nodded in direction of person that approached him.
"Mr Laufeyson," he said towards an ordinary man that approached him, only standing out thing were his eyes, fully red and full of intelligence. "Why did you request a meeting with me in this place of all?"
"I don't think that I need to answer this question," Laufeyson said and shrugged. "I have the data you wanted me and my contacts to gather, but it is far worse than we thought."
"Snake is all over the place?"
"Unfortunately, yes, they are even in the highest echelons of your group, we cannot speak here honestly as they have ears and eyes everywhere," Laufeyson said and at the same time Fury could feel something land in one of the pockets of his coat. "I hope that in the future we will be able to talk more freely, in the meanwhile I suggest you enjoy this fine weather as soon it will get a lot colder and snowy, so snowy that being outside will be a very unhealthy thing."
"Snow in the middle of May in Florida?" Fury asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Weirder things were happening and weather as of recent was a bit unpredictable, so snow in May would be a passable thing, especially considering what are the stakes of our game."
"I suppose you could be right, Mr Laufeyson," Fury said and focused on watching the rocket that carried one of many satellites SHIELD needed onto its orbit.
o-0-o
Natasha looked at the STRIKE team leader and pointed at the door, he looked at her, later at the door and nodded in understanding. For one last time she looked around, her eyes slipping over upper class houses, perfectly cut hedges and expensive cars parked in front of many houses and a general feeling of peace and calmness. Only their black SUVs and vans parked haphazardly were disturbing this image.
She gave the signal and door in front of them flew of its hinges, momentarily followed by a dozen or so of flashbang grenades, she didn't envy anybody who was inside as the noise and light would cause a lot of harm to their senses. When explosions happened Natasha leaped into the building, closely followed by the team of STRIKE agents, next few moments were a blur of activity as doors were kicked open and their target dragged out of his bed.
Even if Weapon X was officially gone for few months, it still had some cells that were alive and this was one of those cases, however the question was how this person managed to stay out of sight for so long. And out of all places in plain sight, as this was one of more exclusive places to live and not many had funds to afford a house here.
She smiled when she saw quite an old man being dragged out of one of bedrooms, she walked towards agents that carried him and took a good, careful look of him. "Doctor Abraham Cornelius, what a pleasant surprise," she said.
"Black Widow," he spat. "I don't know how did you find me, but I won't tell you a single thing."
"You won't need to," she said. "We have everything we need, we are just gathering loose strands." She glanced at the agents. "Take him and make sure that this time he stays with us."
Agents nodded and dragged their captive with them, while letting search through the house and look for any evidence they could need, not that it would change anything as they had whole servers of Weapon X and copies of files from Red Room as they hacked its servers, along with taking whole collection of files from GRU and former KGB. Data gathered from them proved to be extremely valuable, even with just under ten percents of them decrypted and translated to English, there were so many dirty secrets there that they were able to figure out the how nets of Russian agents worked and many of them were convinced to leave the USA and stay away from spying, while rest was dealt with in a more permanent manner.
o-0-o
Harry loudly yawned, stretching in bed, as first rays of the sun that got into the room woke him up, he felt something or someone move to his side and saw that Atalanta and Laura were also slowly waking up. He hated the fact that sleep for more than two or three hours after sunrise was a thing almost impossible to achieve for him, he looked towards the lair of Freki and Geri and saw that his pet wolves were still deep asleep.
"Morning," Atalanta muttered as she sat up, trying not to disturb Laura's whose limbs were all over her. "What do you plan to do today?"
"Relax," he said and looked at Laura, who slept peacefully between them. "Probably not much else, do the usual training and for the rest of the day do nothing."
"Nothing, that is kiss until you cannot breath and see what else can we do?"
He lightly blushed and looked at Atalanta. "Are you suggesting something?"
She chuckled lightly. "Harry, we both are Asgardian teens and we are both aware of how strong our urges and desires can get," she said, her eyes shining lightly in the sparse light of the morning. "So we both know what we will probably do."
"Fair enough," he said, trying to control his blush. "What about her?"
"What what about her?" Atalanta asked. "It's not like there aren't things we can do together, even when our bodies want attention."
"I guess so," Harry said and sighed quietly. "It will be so troublesome getting used to an idea of someone else to share time with."
"Says one who has one more lover," Atalanta pointed out with a smirk.
"Remind me to murder him."
"Why should I do it?" she asked. "It was you who dig yourself this hole, so deal with it on your own."
"Gee, thanks for your support."
"No problem," Atalanta said and smiled. "He is yours, so deal with it however you want, just remember about the order and we will be fine."
He nodded and looked at her, she possesed an ethereal beauty, but also was not shallow and behind pretty face had a sharp mind that first got his attention in her and now kept him attached to her. But in the morning light she looked even more beautiful with golden sunlight highlighting her charms, ebony hair, golden eyes and coppery skin. "I will remember about it," he said, finally snapping out of his stupor.
"Good boy," she said with a smile. "Now get done with your training, take a shower and we can have fun, maybe go to a city or do something else."
"Yes, Ma'am," he jokingly said.
He rolled of the bed, walked out of the room and across the hallway into a fully equipped gym that he discovered when they were exploring his rooms. The fact that he had it didn't surprise me as since the moment he started training in martial arts he was given a strict regime of other exercises to do every day and not doing them meant being talked to and other unpleasantries. So even if he disliked them, he needed to do them. However now they were just a habit that he subconsciously followed and a moment when he could think about whatever he wanted.
o-0-o
Lucius Malfoy entered into one of the vaults hidden inside of his mansion and quickly walked across, completely ignoring various trinkets and dark arts artifacts his family had gathered over the generations. Yet he ignored them and walked deeper into the room, looking for a very ordinary looking diary with a very dangerous content, content that could help tilt the scales in his favor.
It took him a moment before he finally found what he wanted, it was thrown into a corner and hidden beneath used invisibility cloak, he carefully threw the cloak away and reached for the weathered thin leather diary hidden below. He firmly grasped it and walked out of the room, thinking who should be given it, it needed to be someone from Light family and not experienced.
"Weasley twins start Hogwarts this year," he said with a thin smile. "It seems that fate favors me and wants to hurt those that are against me. Quite fortunate."
He locked stone door behind and slid over it a piece of a fake wall, once it was done he walked into his study and placed the diary on his desk, he needed a way to deliver it in a manner that would be hard to connect to him, yet would make sure that a proper person would get the diary. If not a proper, than someone close to it, as for him it didn't matter if it was the girl or the boy that were given this thing, it would work equally well and would get the same effect.
o-0-o
Loki appeared in the office of Dumbledore, conjured for himself a comfortable armchair and sat down before finally speaking. "I see that the Ministry has been dealt with, from what I have heard the Merlin and Strange ripped their plans to shreds and made sure they stayed that way."
"Indeed, they did it," Dumbledore said, looking over his half glasses. "A group has been set up by the ICW and will oversee preparations for the Tournament, as well as will ensure that those tasks are doable for champions taking part in the Tournament."
"That's good," Loki nodded and smiled. "Maybe it will teach them not to jump into the water headfirst, but to check with what they are swimming and how everybody else will react to such an idea. However, that's not why I'm here."
"Than what is it?"
"One final small improvement to Hogwarts from incoming year," Loki said with a smirk. "Your students seem to lack any abilities at self-defense and their physical conditioning is subpar, which worries me as any wizard that wants to survive a duel needs to be agile and fast."
"If I may ask, what do you suggest?"
"I was thinking about making a new addition, not an actual class, but more of an extracurricular activity that would be compulsory for every student and would take place during Saturdays or Sundays, depending on groups. They would get somewhat fit, but that would be for them to do on their own and on weekends they would train, I also managed to find two people that will happily teach them and are quite good at what they do," Loki said and smiled. "Both of them are capable combatants and one of them trained my nephew for most of the last year, which speaks volumes about their abilities and experience."
"I know that the world has been getting darker and still is, but is there a point in introducing such things to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore carefully asked. "For past hundred years it had not be attacked and I don't see a reason why it should be now."
"What about raid done by SHIELD?" Loki asked. "If my memory serves me correctly it was less than a year ago and they easily took the castle, not even getting a single injured one."
"They weren't wizards."
"So? Lines between those societies are getting blurry and will sooner or later disappear, so also non-magicals might pay it a visit and if they do, they will be taught to watch out for wands. Which will make a lot of your magic pointless," Loki said and Dumbledore glared at him. "While you and few other, not to mention the White Council don't need a focus for their magic, most of wizards either need it or is much better with them. So nine out of ten competent fighters will go for the wand and the least you need to learn is how not to get it knocked out of your hand, which doesn't require a lot of training, but the more the better and physical fitness doesn't hurt."
"I suppose," Dumbledore said. "Still, many will protest against such thing being added to the curriculum, it was always a school where we didn't teach about martial arts."
"So?" Loki asked. "Don't add it as a compulsory thing, just as I said, as an extracurricular activity, one where attendance isn't required, but lack of it is being punished by a detention or points being removed. Technically speaking they don't need to attend them, but..."
"If they don't, their own house will make sure they need to attend it, nobody wants to lose points for things they didn't do, so everybody will ensure that the rest is attending," Dumbledore finished.
"Indeed, a dirty tactic, but it works and should also keep away our toad from it as I have a feeling she will try to show that she is the best and that everybody needs to listen to her," Loki said and shook his head. "She doesn't understand that in this game you need to be patient, so she will go for the jugular and be a nuisance, one that looks for every single reason it can get to discredit or attack you or me."
"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"I hate playing this game, but I think that I will need to do it," Loki said and Dumbledore looked at him. "Use Harry as a bait and when she does anything that is a clear violation of school rules, she gives me a reason to pounce onto her or unleash mother onto her, yes that will work."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement and Loki could see the old goat agree with him, even if reluctantly.
"Didn't you think about splitting position of a Deputy Headmaster away from the Head of the House?" Loki asked, changing the topic. "For me position of the Head of House should be separate as it is supposed to be biased, while Deputy is supposed to be one who is impartial and doesn't favor any house."
"It has some merits, especially with Madam Umbridge lurking in the castle," Dumbledore said. "I would need to think about it, but perhaps it should be done."
Loki only smiled and with one last nod disappeared from the office, his job was done and there were many other duties and things which needed to be taken care of. While he had doubts about place where were loyalties of Dumbledore, that man was a capable one and could be trusted with some things, not many, but some.
o-0-o
Wanda smiled as she looked at Sirius, he was a completely different man than one they had freedom from Azkaban, gone was hated look from his eyes, his skin had a healthy tan to it as and he walked with a confidence of a free man, not a prisoner. "So goblins will take care of that cup?" she asked.
"Yes," he said and she saw his gaze dart to the diadem. "Rowena's diadem?"
"One and only," she said and grimaced. "He warped it, it was supposed to provide user with wisdom, but now thanks to the horcrux inside, it will slowly corrupt. We think that we can fix the enchantment, but first the horcrux needs to be gone."
"And you need it to triangulate position of other horcruxes," Sirius said and scratched his chin. "There might be something that I can do that will help you, my family home in London is a giant maze full of dark arts artifacts and lore, you could try digging there."
"One from which you had runaway?"
"The same one," he nodded. "Bloody maze that is so full of dangerous things that I don't want even get close to it, grimoires, books, artifacts, probably a human head or two, plenty of tools of torture, several summoning circles, an athame and many other things."
"Sounds charming and scary," she said and smiled. "Which is just a thing I want to explore, I want to get out of this mansion and do something more interesting than another tracking rituals, which are useful, but boring."
"Well," he said and looked at her. "Can you open a portal to Grimmauld Place? That's the location of it and that's the closest we can get using magic."
Wanda closed her eyes and focused on the name given to her, she pulled on her magic and soon in front of them was visible a swirling vortex of energy. "Ready," she said and walked to the portal. "Be careful as it isn't anchored to the ground."
Sirius nodded and together they stepped through the portal, once on the other side of it she took a moment to look around and she saw that they were standing in the most typical place in London or somewhere close to it and in front of them were old, stone buildings. "It looks normal," she finally said.
Sirius briefly smiled. "It is normal, because my family was paranoid and wanted to have some safety of their house," he explained and walked to a place between number 11 and 13. "So they used every single mean of hiding the house from both non-magicals and magicals, on top of that there are means of discouraging unwanted guests from exploring the house."
"How dangerous means?" she asked. "Things that will fry you or convince you to leave it?"
"What do you think would they choose?"
"Right," she sighed. "Things that will kill you in tens of different ways before you even know you are dead."
Sirius only nodded and waved his wand around, while muttering sentences in Latin, soon between the two houses appeared a third one. "Grimmauld Place 12, home of the most ancient and noble Black family," he said, opening doors and looking at her. "Be careful, there might or might not be a crazed house elf inside and my mother's portrait needs to be taken care of."
"Mother's portrait," she asked, stepping inside and almost knocking over a trolls leg.
"Don't ask," he said with a sigh. "If it screeches, blast it."
"That I can do," she said and summoned her staff.
"Since when did you use a staff?" Sirius asked. "From what I remember, you didn't use it during the war."
"Damage control and easier manipulation of magic," she explained. "I can do it without, but having it with me helps me not to blow up half of a house when I want to just remove a portrait with a wall behind it."
"Fair enough," he said and muttered a word, making a flicker of light appear at the tip of his wand. "Also there might be some supernatural predators and nasties hidden inside."
"How dangerous?"
"Nothing too extreme," he said and winced when they heard a loud rattling noise of a curtains from a portrait to the side, followed by a loud screech from a woman that was in the portrait, her appearance was hideous and that was the most pleasant adjective Wanda could come up with.
"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers."
"Lovely mother and her even sweeter voice," Sirius said and looked at Wanda. "Be kind and blast it."
She smiled, pointed her staff in the direction of the portrait, whispering a word, channeled magic through the weathered and carved oak wood of her staff and watched with some satisfaction as a lance of pure force rippled through the air and slammed into the portrait and the wall behind. Portrait was ripped to pieces and the wall behind it now sported a wide, gaping hole in the middle of what used to be occupied by the portrait.
"Not too shabby," he said and stepped over the rubble that spilled onto the floor. "Shall we get back to the tour and looking for things of interest?"
"We shall," she nodded, her scarlet eyes looking around. "If this search will be as good as your mother was welcoming I fear for what we will find."
"It shouldn't be that bad," he said and she nodded.
They spent next several hours carefully digging through the artifacts and memoirs left by his family, some of them creepy, some of them scary and even more outright dangerous, however the dominating trait was that all of them were dark in one way or another. Finally when they were checking the last room she managed to find a locket with a snake motif on the lid.
"What's that?" she asked, showing the locket to Sirius.
"Don't know," he shrugged. "Probably one of mother's ideas of showing how close to purity we are, she loved such useless trinket."
Wanda nodded and looked at the trinket, she had some ideas about what it could be, she found a similar one when she looked in that cave, this one looked really similar to one she had found and there was something evil within it. She reached out with her magic and almost instantly felt something trapped within it. "I think it is something more," she said and Sirius looked at her. "It is a trap for something, so I think we have our friend."
"How sure are you?"
"I would need to check it with those pieces that I have, but I think it is a part of him," she said and looked around. "Before I go, do you want my help with the rest of this mess?"
"Yeah," he said. "While I don't plan to live here permanently as I'm always welcomed on Asgard and I have a nice house in the US, it is still useful to have a base so close to Hogwarts."
She nodded and they returned back to work of cleansing this place from all of the dark arts and artifacts of it.
o-0-o
Thor looked at his oldest son and had troubles believing how strongly Harry had changed, he remembered when he was a scrawny child scared of almost everything, now Harry turned into a fine young man that made him proud. One that was a ferocious warrior, yet had a softer side for his family and friends, one that was shown at the moment by him willing to hold one of his baby siblings.
"You know that's your fourteenth birthday is close?" Thor asked and Harry looked at him.
"I know it, dad," Harry said, diverting his eyes from Erik. "Something like a month away, isn't it?"
"Yes," Thor said with a faint smile. "But it is also a very special birthday for every Æsir and it is one of kind."
"Hrolf mentioned it, but didn't say what it is," Harry said and sighed. "Which is weird, as he normally tells everything, not hiding a single thing, he told me about circumcision and a lot about other customs, but never about it."
"Because it is a tradition that you should learn about it few weeks before it, no earlier," Thor patiently explained. "It is done so that they can tease younger ones and so that there is some surprise for you."
"Surprise?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow. "What kind of it?"
"A good one," Thor said and Harry looked at him. "A party for you and selected few of the guest you want to invite and it is one of those rare moments when you are allowed to indulge in everything you want to. Drugs, alcohol, food, carnal pleasures, all is allowed and you can have as much fun as you want to have."
Harry's eyes shone at those words. "Dad, tell me that's not a joke."
"It is not a joke, while you can invite how many you wish or want, I suggest that you limit the number and choose them with care. Seven or so is the best number and the easiest to manage."
"I see," Harry mused quietly and finally looked at Thor. "How soon should I make a decision and can I invite X-Men that I like?"
"The sooner it is done, the better," Thor said and paused for a moment. "Normally list of guest is limited to Asgard, but you spent past two years on Midgard and that is a reason good enough to invite them. However you need to make sure that they understand what comes with ut ans that they are willing to take part in it."
"I understand."
"Good," Thor smiled.
o-0-o
Harry sat on the terrace of his chambers and looked at Atalanta and Laura who were with him here, he quickly explained the thing to come so that they could discuss possible people to be invited.
"I want all of you to be there," he said looking at them. "Which means five more spots to fill, Ulf will murder if I omit him, Hrolf and Jarl also want to be there, which limits it to two spots."
"Two X-Men?" Atalanta asked, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "At the moment we have two females and four males, if you want it symmetrical, you need two more females."
"I know," Harry said and sighed. "As much as I like Jean, she is a stickler for the rules, sure she breaks them when she needs to, but she will have issues with being a part of it."
"What about Rahne and Kitty?" Laura suggested and they looked at her. "Kitty is an open one and loves fun, while Rahne is more of a wild one that can change into a wolf and you were with her on a team for last two years."
"It has merits," Atalanta said. "Also they are probably the best choices," she said and looked at Harry. "Are you going to invite Jean to Asgard?"
"Yeah, he wanted to come here, but couldn't with us as he wanted to spend time with his family," Harry said and looked at them. "While dad said about eight people being the best number, nine or ten should also pass and Jean would want to be a part of it, not to mention Illyana is here and she is one of my closer friends."
"It should be an interesting time," she commented as she poured herself wine mixed with water and slowly drunk it. "He is a charming person, one that you cannot like and it's probably why I was so quick to accept him."
"Or because arguments with him would make me unhappy," Harry suggested with a smile. "Which isn't a thing you would like to do, wouldn't you."
"No, I wouldn't," Atalanta said after a moment. "Anyways, where do you want to have it? Here or in the Wolf Hall?"
"Drugs and alcohol? Definely not here, too much of an issue with some people, mother is going to be a problem with it," he said and sighed. "She is from Earth and while she accepted some things, some things are not accepted by her and with this I want to stay out of her way as much as possible."
"So Wolf Hall?"
"Yeah," Harry said and smiled. "It was built with being a summer palace, so it would suit it and there are some rooms where we could have all the privacy we want."
"Wolf Hall?" Laura asked.
"Summer palace that I have," Harry quickly explained. "Used when I or the family want privacy and relax without annoyances nearby, which means that it has everything you might dream of when it comes to pleasures and having a good time."
"Also it is in a nice location, so if you want to swim in a lake or a river instead of a pool you can, if you want to have fun in the forest, you can," Atalanta added. "So we could go there before the party, let's say a week or so and have some fun."
"We could do it," he said and looked at Laura. "How does it sound?"
"Quite well," she said after a moment. "So it might be a thing worth doing, I will do whatever you want to do. When with Weapon X I didn't have anything to say, now I can do waver I want and I'm not sure what to choose."
"Choose what you want and what you like," Harry said after a moment and she focused on him. "You're not the first one to be shocked that their opinion matters and that they can express themselves and their opinion."
"No?"
"No," Atalanta slowly said. "Harry had the same issue, his guardians weren't the best of people and because of whom he is, they abused him, I remember that when I met him for the first time he wasn't as sure of himself as he is now. He was more scared of his surroundings and withdrawn."
"I wasn't that bad," Harry said with a pout, making the two of them laugh. "What?" He asked, a bit confused.
"Nothing," Atalanta said. "You just look cute when you pout."
He smiled at those words and relaxed in his seat, thinking about the future and that party, as well as about his beautiful lovers, ones with whom he planned to spend most of his holidays.
o-0-o
Sound of wood slamming against wood echoed across the whole arena as a pair of fighters dueled with each other, staffs flashing in their hands as they tried to land a successful strike on their opponent. Their bodies were glistening from sweat and breathing was quickened from the effort they were putting in what they were doing, finally one of them found a hole in the defense of their opponent and a sharp crack of wood smashing into skin and bone was heard. Soon followed by a short cry of pain as the fighter was thrown onto the sand of the arena.
"You are getting better," Harry said as he got up from the floor and spat out blood from cut lip. "Better, faster and much, much more vicious."
Illyana smirked and walking closer to him offered him her hand to help him get up. "Someone needs to and that last spar made me train harder," she said and hauled him of the floor. "Also this year we had much more close combat training."
"Which doesn't make this defeat any less sour," Harry grumbled, but it quickly went away. "There is a reason why I wanted to talk with you and have this spar."
"Oh?" she asked as they walked into the armory to leave staffs inside. "What's that?"
"A party around my fourteenth birthday," he said and she looked at him. "Yes, I'm about to invite you for it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he said and ruffled her hair, getting an angry look from her. "You are one of few people that I trust and you deserve something from a person that caused you to land here."
"Is this party the kind of a party I'm thinking about?" she asked and he looked at her. "What? I'm fifteen and was living on Asgard for most of the year for last two years, it isn't hard to notice your customs or be invited by one of your friends for such thing."
"Right," he said. "I forgot that you could have been invited by one of your friends for it."
"I will be there," she finally said. "Just don't forget about it."
He rolled his eyes at her antics and walked into males' changing room to get dressed into his normal clothes, she was probably the most dangerous one out of the people he wanted to invite, but could be also a lot of fun during the party.
o-0-o
"Lucky bastard," Ulf muttered and Harry arched an eyebrow. "Don't arch an eyebrow at me, you have two lovers are on top of the list of the hottest people I have seen and you seen not to notice reaction everybody has."
"What can I do?" Harry asked. "They want to be with me and I love them, so I'm using the opportunity to its fullest, not like you would have any troubles with finding a lover if you wanted and Kitty got your attention when she was on Asgard."
Ulf growled and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Maybe I don't want to find any, at least at the moment," he said. "I'm happy to be a free person, with no need to care about attachments."
"And easy to anger," Harry said with a chuckle as he caught fist flying towards his head. "Aren't you frustrated and in need of finding a lover?"
"No," Ulf said and looked at Harry. "Release my fist."
"Once we finish this talk," Harry said and shrugged. "I don't want to block your attacks all the time, anyways how does sound a party on the day of my birthday?"
"Quite well."
"Well, then you are invited for it," Harry said and released Ulf's fist. "Just don't kill everybody during the party, it would be a bit unhealthy."
"I won't," Ulf promised and Harry smiled.
o-0-o
Fury nodded to Wisdom when he saw his old friend and trainee approach him. "Did you see my message?"
"Yes," Wisdom said and winced. "Wizards won't be happy if you release those news and probably they won't reach a lot of people as the Prophet is a giant propaganda machine for the Ministry."
"Wasn't Stark and Worthington supposed to do a small project that would undermine position of the Prophet and the Ministry in general?" Fury asked, his eye scanning their surroundings and looking for trouble.
"They are doing it," Wisdom nodded. "But it is a low priority project and since they decided to fund X-Men new building and other things, it got dumped to the bottom of their list of things to do."
"Which means that they will take ages before it is working," Fury said and smirked. "Is there any newspaper that would happily print it and is somewhat independent?"
"The Quibbler," Wisdom said with a wince. "It is an eccentric one, so not many read it, but it will print the truth, along with a whole lot of trash and rubbish, but the truth will be there."
"How much would cost getting it to print whole lot of things for me?"
"Not much. I know the owner and I will approach him in your name, I assume that you want articles about raids on Durmstrang, Hogwarts and whole story behind them."
"That much will work," Fury said and looked at Wisdom. "How will they react to those stories?"
"Hard to predict," Wisdom said and paused. "Some, especially those that follow what is happening in our world will understand that it is a warning and will be scared and terrified, those that don't care about our world, will think it is a giant steaming pile of lies."
"And the Ministry?"
"Officially, will condemn such behavior and treatment, while in reality, trying to plot and find a way to hurt us for showing that they look like fools and are unable to do anything substantial."
"So not much changes and I can still do what I want and how I want," Fury finished. "If they possessed a working brain, they would stop me, but it seems that they lack anything that is useful."
"I might have helped them as I poached most of useful aurors out of their ranks," Wisdom said with a smirk. "As well as most of Unspeakables, hefty pay, good and friendly workplace, no discrimination and they will work for you."
"How much do you pay for all of them?" Fury asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's not like your budget is infinite."
"After show funded by Russia and Weapon X I got small increase in my budget size, as every other agency and military."
"How small is small?"
"Twenty percents more for the official one and hundred percents for the black one," Wisdom said and looked at his watch. "In thirty minutes I have a meeting with the White Council, my own staff and few of our allies to discuss how to deal with Fomor."
"How bad is it?" Fury asked. "As in the US I'm forced to divert most of my wizards and sorcerers to fight them and support the Council."
"Ireland is the worst," Wisdom said. "It was their seat of power, so they come in droves, the rest is calmer, but tensions are in the air and we are discussing more forceful replies to their attacks."
"More forceful?"
"Assaults on their bases, alliance with the Courts, push in the Nevernever and few other things."
Fury nodded and ran his hand over his bald head. "I will discuss it with my staff and see what can we do to help you and Europe in general. Mediterranean is holding and the Council is pushing back, but they need time to catch their breath and rest."
Wisdom nodded and with a wave of his wand was gone, leaving Fury alone. He slowly walked to a car that was waiting for him and the moment he was inside he pulled out a phone and made few calls, arrangements needed to be made.
o-0-o
The rest of the time before his birthday passed in a one, large blur, so fast that Harry had troubles believing that it would be tomorrow and now he was with his friends and it was the time for the most important thing short of an actual party, that is gifts and presents. All of them were gathered on a small terrace outside of the Wolf's Hall and he looked at them with trepidation and curiosity, wondering what would they give him.
It was Jean who broke the silence and moved forward. "I think that since nobody is willing to be the brave one, I need to be the one," he said and in his hands manifested a large bundle wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a ribbon. "Something you should enjoy," he said, handing it to Harry and kissing him. "Happy birthday, chéri."
Harry blushed at those words and took the bundle from Jean, he weighted it in his hands and was a bit surprised when he discovered how light it was. He ripped the paper apart and on his face appeared a surprise when he discovered that it was a book, a thing he didn't expect to get. "A book?" he asked with a frown.
"More than just a book," Jean said with a chuckle. "Poetry that I wrote and some of your favorite ones."
"I like it, I really like it," Harry said with a smile.
"From us you will get a gift or two later," Atalanta said with a weird smile, her hand was on Laura's shoulder.
Hrolf chuckled at it and Harry arched an eyebrow in a question. "You will learn in due time, Your Highness," he said and produced a small, wooden box covered in runic writing. "A thing that you should enjoy, Harald," he said and Harry looked at him. "Open it," he grinned.
Harry nodded and taking the box from Hrolf carefully opened it, inside he found a lot of velvet and several things placed between it. It took him a while before his mind was able to make a connection. "Are those?" he asked, looking at Hrolf.
"Yes," his friend grinned. "The best sex toys you can get on Asgard."
Harry quickly closed the lid of the box and blushed furiously as he placed it on top of a book from Jean, which resulted in bouts of laughter from his friends that seemed to be amused by his behavior and reaction to such a gift. He looked at Hrolf as if he wanted to murder his friend.
"You will soon discover how useful they can be when you are in a bedchamber with your lovers," Hrolf said, not caring about the look sent by Harry. "So don't murder me and actually use them."
"Before you murder Hrolf," Ulf said and Harry looked at him. "Maybe you will focus on gifts."
Harry blushed a bit and looked at his friend.
"I have this for you," Ulf said, showing him a small box carved out of jade. "I know that you don't care about perfumes, but perhaps you should start caring. Here you have Pine Forest ones, oh, and Happy Birthday, Harry."
Harry took the box and carefully opened it, inside he found several vials, few carved from various kinds of quartz, several a few from jade and a couple from glass. "Thank you," Harry said with a small blush.
The rest of gifts was fun and amusing, from Rahne and Kitty he got a huge stack of books he loved from Midgard and an even bigger stack of sweets that he knew wouldn't last for an awful lot of time and finally from Jarl he got several large bottles of his favorite mead.
o-0-o
Laying in his bed with only Atalanta to the side, as Laura wanted to have some time alone, that in few hours he would be fourteen and in few more months he would be an adult.
"Excited about the party?" Atalanta asked, her body close to his. "Or more nervous about it?"
"Kind of both," he said and looked at her. "I'm more nervous that so soon I will be an adult with all of the responsibilities that come with it."
"You will be fine," she whispered, kissed him and they tumbled on the bed so that she was straddling him. "Harry," she whispered. "We both know that you are more than ready for most of the responsibilities of adulthood."
"I know," he said and sighed. "It's just that the past still haunts me from time to time and makes me question if I'm ready for all of those things."
She moved in his lap and smiled. "Maybe I should help you with some of your worries, as a birthday present?" she asked.
"What do you plan?" He asked, reaching to kiss her.
"You will see, love," she whispered, kissing him, their lips meeting for the briefest moment. "You have nothing to worry about and it will feel well, also it will help you forget about all of your worries and troubles."
He moved on the bed and looked at her, she looked beautiful with a perfectly proportional body, eyes that shined with life and joy, ebony hair that seemed to be as black the night could be and her soft coppery skin. She moved on him, placed herself between his legs and removed her clothes. As she did it his eyes widened, he saw her breasts naked when they were younger, but not now and they looked magnificent. Two round mounds of flesh that just asked to be touched, his gaze darted between her legs and he could see the most sacred part of her body, her womanhood a thin slit surrounded by a small patch of trimmed pubic hair.
As he looked at her and marveled her body, her hands managed to made their way to his belly and he could feel her fingers fumble around looking for the waistband of his shorts. She found it and slowly pulled them down, her fingers gently slipping over his skin.
He could see her eyes widen as she looked at his crotch and then she gently touched his manhood with her hands, touch of her soft fingers sending jolts of electricity all over his body and making him moan in pleasure at the feeling. It was strong, new and much better than one when he did it himself.
A soft moan escaped his lips as her fingers started to slowly stroke his manhood, he could tell that she didn't have an ounce of experience, but her enthusiasm and will to make him feel well were more than enough.
"How do you like this birthday present?" she asked him, her eyes shining with joy.
"I like it," he said, between moans. "I like it a lot."
She only smiled and leaned closer to his manhood, her lips left a peck on top of it before she opened her mouth and enveloped head of his hardness. When she did it, he almost lost control of himself, it felt so so good that it was almost impossible to believe that it was a real thing. Then she started to suck him, her tongue swirling around, exploring nook and crannies of his manhood, as she did it, he could see her breasts move in a hypnotising way.
He could feel his orgasm quickly approach, each move of her tongue and lips bringing him closer and closer to the edge and orgasm. His breathing was getting uneven and shallower, louder and louder moans and groans were leaving his mouth. "At, I'm close to cumming," he managed to say, she looked at him and nodded.
She released his manhood from her mouth and quickly finished the job with few quick strokes of her hand, for one last time he moaned and then his orgasm came, it came like a wave of pure emotions and pleasure, washing over his mind. When it was over his breathing and heartbeat returned to their proper paces and she looked at him. "Did you like your birthday gift?" she asked, cleaning her hands from his cum.
"Yes, it was awesome," he said and she smiled. "I have never ever had a better birthday gift."
"Thank you," she smiled and dragged a fur to cover both of them. "Sleep well, love," she whispered as she slipped beneath the fur and snuggled against him.
He smiled and wrapping one hand around her hot body he closed his eyes and they went to sleep, ahead of them was a busy day, one for which they would need a lot of energy.
o-0-o
A/N:
Sirius and ability to travel to Asgard as he pleases - it is a highly efficient monarchy and anything said by Odin and to an extent Thor is law, is sacred and should be obeyed without any questions. And Sirius was a friend of James Potter aka Thor and is godfather of Harry which makes it a rather valid reason for one of them ordering guards and Heimdall to let him come as he pleases.
Decadence and hedonism amongst nobility and aristocracy was a thing that was quite normal and here Harry simply has Thor's blessing to do what he wants and that also means that nobody will judge him for what he does. Also it is safer to do a lot of things in a controlled environment than let them happen on their own in the wild. There is this factor that if you let someone taste vices there's a good chance that they won't be doing insanely stupid things because of them as you won't trigger forbidden fruit reaction in our mind. If we cannot get something because of some ban we will do everything to get it, which implies, no ban, no troubles or at least lesser amount of them. Also it is safer as the things they will take will be more or less safe and won't cause any unplanned effects as it is officially acquired. Also state doesn't want its income to run away so it will monitor any place making those things.
Harry and Atalanta - they are almost of age and it was a small miracle it didn't happen when they were at the Institute. Also as long as he doesn't make any bastards nobody will inquire into his relationships, same for her.
If I forgot about something, beat me in the reviews and I shall fix it.
Reviews:
WhiteElfElder - Laura will get a lot of training for Sif, but it will take time before it is revealed to the world.
Laws of Magic and Malfoy, excluding second and sixth, everything else could be proven.