A/N - Mostly focused on Harry, though some other characters have quite a lot of screen time. One more chapter and Hogwarts shall begin, as always read and enjoy.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the room and nodded with a smile. Everything was prepared for a party as he could see trays of food so that they could sate their hunger, bottles of mead, beer and wine, ten goblets and the most important thing for the evening a stack of thin, long cylindrical shapes wrapped in delicate paper placed on low tables. They were allowed to indulge in whatever they wanted to indulge in and nobody would ask questions about what they had done during this night.

Decor of the room was also changed, gone were tables and chairs that normally dominated it. Instead on the floor were scattered pillows of various sizes and shapes, they formed a loose circle, place where they would sit for most of the night, in a hands reach from them were placed tables with things they would need or desire.

As he looked out of the window he could see sun slowly reaching the horizon and when it would reach it, it would be the time to start it. He heard footsteps and when he looked in their direction he saw Atalanta walk towards him, behind her was walking Laura and when he looked at them he felt his cheeks redden. They were both wearing tight tank tops that showed a good part of their belly and shorts which didn't leave a lot of room for imagination tightly wrapping around their legs. Finally into their hair were braided wires of gold and silver, Harry arched an eyebrow for a moment when he saw them in Laura's hair, but then Atalanta smiled knowingly and he nodded with a smile.

"You look beautiful as ever," he said in their direction.

"Thank you," Atalanta smiled. "You also look good."

He smiled at those words and nodded in agreement, he wore a tight short-sleeved shirt and a pair of loose shorts. Both of them a bit used up and not really precious to him. He had heard more than enough things about this rite to know that his clothes would need to be thrown out, so he chose ones that were the least precious to him and as plain as possible.

"Are you ready for the the party?"

"Who isn't," Atalanta said and left a peck on his cheek, making him blush and causing to remember last night. "We were born ready for it and it should be a great idea."

"It is," Hrolf said as he joined them. "At least my party was such, wild, loud and crazy and after it I spent most of the day getting over the effects of it."

"And you didn't invite me," Harry huffed

"I couldn't," Hrolf said apologetically and Harry looked at him. "There is a law that bans inviting anybody that is younger than fourteen and there is a really good reason for it."

"Drugs?" Harry asked, indicating a small stash laying between trays of food.

"Indeed, your body developed enough to deal with the long term effects of them, while younger no and the things that happen later aren't suitable for youngsters. So even if I wanted I couldn't do it."

Harry looked at Hrolf and could tell that his friend was sincere. "I guess that I need to accept it," he said and added with a roll of his eyes. "Even if I don't like it."

"You need," Hrolf said and smiled. "It is fun and you will enjoy it, by the way who else is also coming?"

"Ulf, Jarl, Illyana, Rahne, Jean-Paul and Kitty, I didn't want to invite more as I want it to be a smaller party and some are occupied on Midgard."

"This is a good approach," Hrolf said and Harry looked at him. "You will understand, but believe me a smaller amount of people is the best thing."

"And a smaller chance that someone will leak something," Atalanta added and he glanced at her. "We all trust everybody that will be here, but we can say something even with the voe we take and when we are careless."

"Among other things," Hrolf said. "I'm more curious how your friends will react to the vow we make at the beginning of it, I hope that you know the words of it."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Hrolf. "I know it, I, my name, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

"Does it work without me possessing magic?" Laura asked

"It does," Atalanta said and explained. "It links to your life force or however you want to call it, generally when you break it, you die in a very painful manner."

"And you don't want to see it," Harry said, correcting his hair. "Anyways, it is not a topic for today or tomorrow. I want to have fun, not brood about such things."

He saw her and with a smile looked towards the doors through which walked in Ulf, Jarl, Jean-Paul, Rahne, Kitty and Illyana. It seemed that everybody was finally here and it was a time to start a party. They sat down on the floor and waited until the red shield of the sun almost wholly crawled below the horizon and shadows casted by the very last rays of light were long and dark. They were reaching deep into the room and covering everything in various shades of darkness and mystery, making lines on their faces look mysterious and harder to read. As Harry waited for the sun to fully hide behind the horizon he felt his heartbeat quicken as he started to feel excitement, a lot of excitement. It was one of those few celebrations that announced his passage into adulthood. Not to mention that it was the most enjoyable out of all of them and one that allowed to relax and do crazy things normally he would be unwilling or unable to do.

"Nervous?" Hrolf teased him. "Or eager to get started?"

"Both," he said and looked out of the window to see sun reach the point where it was needed to start the thing. He took a deep breath and looked at them "I think it is the time."

At the moment he felt as if he knew it was a point of no return and once there he wouldn't be able to retreat, but he also was aware that it was probably going to be one of the best memories he was going to have.

"Yes," Hrolf said. "This is the last moment when you can retreat, but I don't think you want to and miss all of the fun that will follow it."

"We won't," Laura said after glances at Rahne, Kitty, Illyana and Jean-Paul. "We will stay."

"If so, than let's make an oath," Harry said and all of them looked at him. "So that everything done here, stays here and in our minds."

He brushed his finger against one of the innocuously looking runes set in the wall and saw a field of gold flicker in every entry point into the room. It disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, but the noise of the world was dulled and it gave them privacy, a lot of it. Nobody would be able to see or hear what was happening inside of the room.

Having done that he walked across the floor and sat down on one of pillows, he waited for them to sit down before looking over their faces and in most of them seeing expectation and in case of his mutant friends curiosity, a lot of it. Though in Illyana case he also could see that she was at a similar party and had most likely already did it. "I will make an oath and person to my right," he said and looked at Laura who sat there. "does the same, and we do it until it gets back to me." He took a deep breath and slowly said, "I, Harald James Thorson, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

When he finished saying words of an oath he felt a rush of warm wind pass past his ear. He glanced at Laura and saw her take a deep, calming breath. She was still dealing with her past, but it was a lot better than it used to be.

"I, Laura Howlett, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

He smiled reassuringly at her and looked at Illyana.

"I, Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

As each and every person said their oaths Harry could feel the temperature rise, along with the tensions and excitement, he looked to Ulf who sat to his left and saw him say the oath. "I, Ulf Ullrson, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

Harry nodded and quietly spoke. "As sworn by everybody, the knowledge of the event happening here, stays here, so mote be it."

There was heard by them a loud snapping noise and he saw Rahne, Kitty, Laura and Jean-Paul look at him. "Oath took effect," Illyana explained. "From now on we are unable to speak about it to anybody that wasn't in this room, so I think that Harry we may start."

"Thank you for your blessing," Harry smiled in her direction, for one last time before the beginning of the party his eyes swept over the faces of his friends.

Ulf looked as if he was excited and curious, eager to get things started, Kitty seemed happy because she just was here and was close to Ulf, Jean-Paul had an air of his usual confidence around, but it was underlined with curiosity. Rahne who was the next one seemed mostly curious and other than that she was hard to read. Atalanta was as unreadable as she usually was, maybe even more so, her face was a blank mask devoid of emotions. Hrolf seemed as at ease as he usually was, not a hint of other emotions, it made Harry realize that his friend probably saw a couple more of such parties and was used to them. Jarl was at ease and some happiness was visible on his face, he was hard to read and guessing what he felt was a gamble. Illyana seemed to be her usual self with a happy expression on her face, while Laura was unsure if she should be in the room.

He reached out to one of those thin sticks, he put the end of it in his mouth and lit it with a an extremely small bit of magic. He inhaled and felt a pleasant feeling spread over his body as the drug almost immediately started to take effect, he pulled the stick away and slowly exhaled the smoke that flew towards the ceiling, starting formation of a large cloud of it that would take few days to fully disperse. He passed the stick to Laura who did the same thing as he did, with a bit of coughing along the way and passed it further along the line. He was a bit surprised that she didn't question him and simply followed what he had done, Illyana took it with a wide smile and indulged herself in it.

"You can indulge yourself later," he chuckled looking at her. "This one is supposed to make a circle."

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile as she passed it to Jarl. "I forgot about this little fact."

"No problem," Harry said and looked at her. "That's just a tradition, that all of us are connected in a way and that it isn't poisoned. Tradition from the times when poison was common."

"Also it is a sign of unity," Atalanta added, he could see that her mask started to crack slowly as she inhaled the smoke. "And a sign of friendship and trust between us."

He smiled slightly and nodded in thanks to her, having done that he watched as it made a circle, each and every one of them smoked it and finally when it made a full round and came to Ulf it was a short stub, most of it already burned. Son of Ullr took a long draught and passed it to Harry who finished it and threw into a bowl in the middle where the remains burned out.

"What's the purpose of starting with this weed?" Illyana asked. "I was at Idunn's party and we did the same, but I'm curious why."

"Because it is the thing that compels us to speak truth and truth only," Atalanta said with a small smile. "My uncle first created it and from the realm of Olympus it came here and became popular, so everybody uses it during those parties, it's name is saying a lot about it and what it is, Herb of Aletheia."

"Herb of Truth," Harry mindlessly translated from Ancient Greek.

"Indeed," she nodded with a smile. "It works as advertised and adds some nice side-effects, as well as it can be mixed with alcohol and you will be fine or mostly fine."

"Those are probably only side-effects that I won't mind," Harry said as he lit another and started to slowly smoke it. He felt warmth and a sense of peace spread across his body.

"Try drinking mead," Hrolf suggested as he opened for himself a bottle and poured a goblet from it. "It will feel even better."

Harry looked at his friend, but nodded after a moment and placing his stick in a bowl. He reached out, opened the bottle poured some into a goblet and when he drunk the content of it, he felt even more at ease and even more confident. "Yes, it does, it feels a lot better than it used to."

"Yes," Hrolf nodded with a wide grin as he took a big draught and slowly released a long plume of smoke. "So don't shy away from doing so."

"I won't," Harry said and looked around, he saw that almost everybody was starting to indulge. He was curious how long the girls and Jean would survive as even if they spent a lot of time on Asgard they didn't get as used to alcohol as Æsir had gotten.

"Good," Hrolf smiled, hints of mischief and danger in it. "Since everybody is enjoying themselves, maybe we will start playing something."

"What would you suggest?" Ulf asked

"Truth or Dare?"

"I like it," son of Ullr smiled. "So what do you say?" All of them nodded in agreement and made Hrolf smirk.

"Since spinning the bottle would be boring, unpredictable and there would be a high chance of some people influencing where and when it stops." Harry felt gaze of the oldest teen swipe over him, Jarl, Ulf, Illyana and Atalanta. "So one that answered will choose who is the next one, so Your Highness be a good host and a friend and start the game."

Harry nodded to those words and with a smile looked over faces of each and every of his friend, thinking whom to ask. He knew that they wouldn't lie, but the drug didn't force them not to twist the words the way they wanted or liked. He looked over their faces and thought whom to choose. He smirked and turned to look at Illyana. "What do you choose? Truth or Dare?"

She didn't need to think for a long time and almost immediately said. "Truth."

He smiled and looked at her. "Since you are starting, you will get an easy one. What is your most prized possession?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking about the answer, then she smiled and looked at him. "A battle staff that you gave me."

"Not a bad choice," he said and she smiled. "Now it's your turn."

She gave him a curt nod and looked around, her eyes looking over their faces. Looking for her victim, one that would have a questionable pleasure of answering. Harry avoided her gaze and saw that everybody else was doing the same thing. Nobody wanted to be the one chosen to answer a rather embarrassing or annoying question.

She smirked and indicated Ulf. "What do you choose?"

"Dare," he firmly said. "I don't think you will come up with something nasty."

Harry whistled and looked at him. "You're sure? It might end badly."

"Nah, I will be fine," Ulf said as he emptied his goblet. "Besides, someone needs to be first."

"Don't tempt the fate," Hrolf quipped in. "It might end badly."

Ulf only laughed and Harry winced when he saw Illyana's eyes darken a bit, it never ended well. And if she was mad, it could range from mildly embarrassing to deadly.

"Well, if you are so brave and sure of himself," she slowly said, making sure that each word was perfectly pronounced. "I dare you to… I dare you to kiss Kitty."

Everybody laughed, while Kitty blushed and Ulf growled loudly. "What?"

"Yes, you need to kiss her," Illyana said, trying not to chuckle. "You are supposed to be brave, so what's your problem in doing it?"

Ulf shifted uncomfortably and Harry tried not to laugh at his friends reaction. Glare of the son of Ullr swept over them and then landed on Illyana. "I will kill you later for it," he muttered, looked at Kitty and leaned towards her.

She smiled and allowed him to kiss her, it was a short kiss, but enough to sate Illyana's demand.

"That's passable," Illyana said and made them laugh. "It also seems that we know who is his crush."

Ulf's face turned to beet red at those words, which made them laugh even more. He growled and emptying another goblet looked around, searching for a target of his revenge. Harry breathed out in relief when Ulf's gaze swept over him and kept going. It also gave him some precious time to get a better look of everybody else. Atalanta's mask was mostly cracked, it was cracking and she seemed less composed than she usually was, while everybody else was freely indulging in everything they could.

"Maybe it is a time for the oldest one to say something about himself," Ulf drawled and everybody looked at Hrolf. "So you are the oldest and the most daring one out of the whole room."

"Yes," Hrolf confirmed with a smirk. "So I doubt that you will find something too embarrassing for me."

"Than choose what do you want. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Hrolf said, confident smirk on his lips.

"Well, than who is the most desirable girl in this room?"

Harry looked at Ulf. "Are you sure?"

"Well, any kind of a question is allowed," Ulf said and looked at Hrolf. "What's your answer?"

Hrolf was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over everybody. "It's a hard choice, every girl in this room is exceptional in one way or another. If I was forced to name one that I think is the hottest, I would choose…," he paused and his eyes moved over them. "I would choose Atalanta."

Harry saw Atalanta blush, but she bowed her head in thanks. "Thank you, Hrolf."

There was a brief moment of silence as Hrolf considered his options and looking for a suitable target. Harry slowly smoked his stick and enjoyed the company, it definitely was turning out to be one of the best parties he ever seen.

Finally Hrolf cleared his throat and they looked at him. "Rahne, what do you choose?" He asked.

"Dare," she said and made Hrolf smirk.

"If you are sure that you want a dare I dare you to remove your shirt."

Rahne blushed at those words, but nodded and standing up slowly removed her shirt, revealing a toned body and a pair of breasts wrapped in a bra. "Is it good enough?" she asked.

"Good enough," Hrolf said with a bow of his head. "And now it is your turn."

She smiled and Harry gulped when he felt her eyes focus on him and narrow. "Harry, it seems that it is finally your turn. What do you choose?"

"Truth," he said and emptying his goblet looked at her. "I don't have anything to hide."

"Well," she smiled, her fangs appearing. "Than amuse us and tell us who is your crush."

He blushed and took a long draught before looking at them. "It is a hard question to answer, but if I have to answer I would say Laura," he said and felt an even bigger blush appear on his cheeks. "While I love her and Atalanta exactly the same, but if I'm forced to name just a single person, it's her."

There was a round of laughter and comments that soon died down and Rahne nodded towards him. "I accept the answer, choose who's the next one."

He looked around, trying to find an interesting person that should be a good candidate for an annoying or funny question. His eyes swept over their faces until they stopped on Jean-Paul. "Jean, you can have an honor of being the next one to be asked," Harry said with a smile.

"Of course, mon chéri," Jean said, bowing his head. "I will answer any question you will ask."

"So what do you choose? Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, only truth."

Harry nodded and thought for a moment, trying to find something that he could use on Jean, then he smiled and looked at his friend. "Who is the hottest person at the Institute?"

"Your cousin, chéri, you are right behind him, but he is a tiny, tiny bit better than you."

Harry sighed and looked at Jean. "I know that you are saying truth, but it is a sad thing."

"Sorry, but that's how harsh the life can be."

"Anyways, your turn now."

Jean nodded and his gaze swept over the room, before stopping at Hrolf. "Truth or Dare."

"Dare," Hrolf said. "Truth is only for cowards."

Jean smirked at those words and Harry could see that his friend had a devilish idea. "I saw all of those lovely muscles below your shirt, so could you be kind enough to remove it."

"That's all?" Hrolf asked, throwing his shirt to the side and revealing his ripped chest covered in a thick layer of muscles over which were dozens of tattoos. "You didn't need to use it as a dare, pretty lame one at that."

"The sight is more than enough of a reason for this dare," Jean said, licking his lips. "I have thought that Harry was a hulking mountain of muscles, but you are a completely different world, a better one."

"I'm here," Harry grumbled. "Don't ignore me."

"I'm not ignoring you," Jean said with a smile. "Just marveling a piece of art, one that looks magnifique."

"Thank you," Hrolf said and looked at Illyana. "Truth or Dare?"

"Since it is getting steamy and we all are probably a bit drunk, I will say truth."

Hrolf smiled and Harry focused on Illyana. "Are you a virgin?" Hrolf asked.

Harry looked at his friend as if he was crazy and then looked at Illyana, awaiting her answer, he saw her blush and even without his telepathy he could tell that she wasn't too surprised by this question.

"No," she said. "I've lost it few months ago."

"That's an answer I didn't expect to hear," Hrolf said and they looked at him. "You always looked prim and proper."

"Maybe because I want to project such an image?" Illyana asked, correcting her hair. "Or maybe you just see the outer layer."

"Probably," Hrolf said, emptied the goblet and looked at her. "Satisfactory answer, choose who should be next."

"I was going to say Jean," Illyana said and Harry followed her gaze. "But there is person that gathers attention, yet stays out of sight. Kitty what do you choose?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking deeply, before she looked at Illyana and nodded. "I will choose dare."

"It is just what I wanted to hear," Illyana said with a wide smile. "Make out with Ulf."

Kitty flushed and looked at Illyana. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, rules are rules and we need to accept them," Illyana said with a shrug. "So do it."

Harry looked at Ulf and could see that his friend was on one hand embarrassed, yet on the other seemed quite happy and wanted it to happen. Kitty leaned to Ulf and they kissed, allowing them to see that it was not a simple peck, but actual making out.

"It is acceptable," Illyana said and smiled. "Now it is your turn and you can have your revenge."

Kitty nodded and looked around, before she stopped on Laura. "Sorry, but now it is your turn, we avoided you, but it now ends," she said and looked at Laura. "Truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Well," Kitty mused. "All over the Institute there were rumors that you were seen kissing with Atalanta, yet nobody was able to confirm or deny them. So make out with Atalanta."

Harry loudly whistled at it, he saw them kiss few times, but he was curious how would they behave here and now. Laura looked around uncomfortably, but nodded and walked to Atalanta and sat down in front of her. Atalanta reached out to Laura and they slowly kissed in front of everybody, Harry licked his lips at the sight and couldn't wait to have a moment on his own with one of them.

"Good job," he whispered to Laura when she returned to her place, her face red from embarrassment.

She smiled in thanks and looked around. "Jean, what do you choose?"

"Truth, chère, I'm an honest person."

"Did you kiss Harry?" Laura asked, her cheeks red.

"I did," Jean smiled. "At the Institute and few times before it."

"That's not a thing I expected to happen," Ulf said, laughing loudly. "That's the thing I would have never expected from you, I know that we are supposed to be bisexual, but you behaved like a guy straight like an arrow."

"Thank you," Harry said with a huff. "I never knew you thought so low about me and who I am."

"Harsh words," Jean said, chuckling "Anyways since it is my turn, Atalanta, I don't know how it is that we had omitted you, but it should be solved. So what do you choose?"

"Truth," she said, throwing her hair backwards. "I'm in no mood for dares, especially after last few ones."

Jean pouted at those words, but quickly nodded. "Virginity is a boring question," he mused and then his eyes flashed. "Name the hottest guy in the room."

Atalanta snorted at the question and Harry could feel a lot of amusement in this gesture. "Harry," she finally said. "I have thought that it was an obvious thing."

"Maybe for you," Jean said with a smirk. "Not for everybody else."

Atalanta smiled and Harry felt a wave of cold creep up his body. "Ulf," she said after a moment, taking some time to lit another stick and finish content of her goblet. "What do you choose?"

"Dare," Ulf said and Harry could see Atalanta's smile turn into a dangerous smirk.

She grabbed a bottle of mead from a nearby table and threw it at Ulf who snatched it out of the air. "Drink it, whole in one go," she said, seeing his puzzled expression.

Ulf looked at her, then at the bottle and then once again at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said, smiling devilishly. "Dare is a dare, of course I can change it, but it will be a lot worse and I doubt that you want to be seen as a coward."

"No," he said, before opening the bottle. "Or they won't let me live," he added pointing with it at Harry, Hrolf and Jarl, next he started to drink out of the bottle, quickly and hungrily as if it was water or ale, not mead. "Done," he said few moments later when bottle was open and on his lips were visible some traces of mead. "Now time for Jarl," he said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Jarl said.

"Would you sleep with Atalanta?" Ulf asked and Harry's eyes widened as he looked at his friend.

"She is a very desirable girl with an extremely hot body," Jarl drawled. "So the answer is yes."

Harry could see Atalanta blush at those words and he leaned back, it was still early in the evening and it so far it was a lot of fun for all of them. At first he wasn't too sure about the party, but now it was the best thing he had done. He was brought out of his musings when Jarl cleared his throat to get his attention, he shook his head and looked at Jarl.

"Laura," Jarl said. "What do you choose?"

"Truth," she said.

"Who is your crush?"

Laura blushed at those words and looked around, before her eyes stopped at Harry, then swept to Atalanta and focused once again on him. "Harry," she said.

He smiled and fully relaxed, enjoying the evening and not even trying to think about how massive hangover would hit him in the morning. Now fun and enjoyment were more important and he didn't care about anything else as he poured himself another goblet of mead and slowly drank it.

Whole party lasted well beyond midnight and as he managed to made his way into his bedroom he could see moons hiding behind the horizon. He managed enough clarity of mind to get out of his clothes before he slipped under the furs covering his bed and fell asleep. On that night he slept like a baby, his mind in a haze induced by alcohol and drugs, two things that on their own would be quickly dealt with by his organism, combined took time, a lot of it.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and harsh sunlight slammed into them, he blinked few times, taking his time in getting over the harshness of light on his face. Finally he sat up and threw the furs away before getting out of the way and walking across the room and into the bathroom, everything throbbed him, there was a massive headache drilling through his head and he needed to piss.

Several minutes later he emerged out of the bathroom and finally he didn't have a very annoying headache drilling through his head and was able to think somewhat clearly. Out of the bag he brought with himself he grabbed some underwear and clothes, as he was putting them on into the room entered Atalanta who seemed weirdly happy.

"Where did you disappear?" He asked. "Right at the end of the party, you and Laura disappeared."

She blushed a bit and looked at him. "We were a bit... busy," she finally said.

"I see," he said, as realization dawned onto his mind. "I hope that you had fun being busy."

"We had," she said and sitting down on the bed, she whispered into his ear. "One night I will tell you more about it."

He blushed at it and looked at her. "I cannot wait for that moment to come," he said and sighed. "But I think it needs to wait, today we need to return to the Citadel as my uncle said that there is something important that cannot be moved in time, too much."

She pouted. "Does he need to be a spoilsport?"

"He is a God of Magic and the Trickster," Harry said with a smile. "He is supposed to be such."

She looked at him, but then she nodded and smirked. "So you will need to wait for it some longer, not much, but a bit longer."

"I guess I will need to do it," he said and sighed as he got up and everything in his body protested. "It hurts, it hurts badly."

"Well, overindulgence is a bad thing," she said and he nodded in agreement as they walked out of the room and towards the terrace where usually was served breakfast.

"It is," he said in agreement. "But sometimes it feels good and you don't want to stop."

"True enough," she said, faint blush on her cheeks.

o-0-o

Loki smiled when he saw Harry enter the room, then pause when his gaze landed on a thick, long wooden stick laying in front of Loki. "Yes, it is the time," he said, walking to Harry and throwing him the stick. "Carve runes into the surface of it, in the way I have taught you and once they are done and I'm happy with them and the way they were done you can do the same with a staff carved out of Yggdrasil."

"Why can't I do it on Yggdrasil now?" Harry asked.

"Because you can't use a lot of it and first attempt needs to be perfect and because there is not enough time for it at the moment. Your Hogwarts letter got to the Tower and I picked it up, so tomorrow you, your mother, Ulf and Atalanta go to the Diagon Alley to meet one of Hogwarts professors that are supposed to give you a tour. However once you are back from the trip, you can take all the time you need or want to carve it."

"Do we need to go?" Harry asked, looking at the piece of wood in his hands. "I know that I'm about to start Hogwarts, but what's the point of this shopping there, instead of using supplies from here?"

"So that you can see their world and it is a tradition," Loki said with a smile. "Besides, don't you want to be away from all of the etiquette of the court and with your mother and friends?"

"Uncle, you could have said it that way from the beginning. Now it seems as a thing I want to do," Harry said, making him smile. "So, uncle, what runes would you suggest that I should carve?"

"It's your choice," Loki shrugged. "I won't influence your choices as it is supposed to serve you well, not me, so choose ones you like or want to use."

"Fine," Harry said with a huff, before he walked out of the room, staff in his hands.

Loki followed his nephew with his eyes for a moment before he turned to look at Odin. "And what do you think, father?"

"He is much more mature than Thor was at his age and knows when to submit to someone's commands," Odin said. "Perhaps the idea that he should spend some time on Midgard is a good one, even with all of the attempts on his life, as well as that of his friends and lovers."

"I think that no more attempts will be made on his life," Loki said with a confident smirk. "Last attempt on his life and fallout of it scared many, so few will be able to think about doing anything against him and even few will have any means of doing it. So he is safe, or at least should be safe."

"You said that last year, before he was kidnapped by those creatures and subjected to things," Odin said with a growl.

"I made a mistake," Loki said with a shallow bow of his head. "Mistake that have been fixed and measures were taken to ensure that he is safe, as well as those that even think about it know what can happen to them and Fury will soon release a report about ones that kidnapped him, with all of the details of what had been happening because of them and what happened to them."

"I see," Odin said. "Clever plan that should work and spread fear amongst those things that want to harm my family."

"Indeed, that was its main goal, father. They need to once again remember that there are lines not to be crossed, that there are consequences to be felt for their actions and that there are names to be feared."

Odin nodded and was silent for a moment. "I will leave you to ensuring that he is safe and nothing happens to him."

Loki nodded, walked out of the chamber and headed for Bifrost, if someone was supposed to keep an eye on his nephew, measures needed to be taken.

o-0-o

Harry weighted the piece of wood he was holding and placed it on the table in lounge area of his chambers, he needed to start working on it now as it could take him a couple of hours to get all of the runes and sigils carved into the wood.

"What's that?" Jean asked, as he walked out of the bedroom, he was using and walked across the whole lounge, or better would be ran. "It looks like a staff, similar to what Gambit uses."

"Because it is a staff," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "Or at least piece of wood that can become a staff."

"So what's the difference between the two?"

"Staff has runes and sigils engraved into its surface, this is just a piece of wood," Harry said and rapped his knuckles against the wood. "Engraving should be done by one that is supposed to use it."

"So you should do it yourself?"

"Yes," Harry said and sighed. "I need to do all of it by hand and I have a deadline, tomorrow."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh," Harry agreed with a thin smile. "A lot of work and not much time to do it."

"Have fun," Jean said. "I will leave you alone if you want."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Harry said, getting up. "I will get my tools and start working on it, probably before someone murders my for all of the sawdust that will be in the air."

Jean smiled and leaving him alone Harry walked into his study and rummaged through things there looking for tools that were used to work in wood and to carve staffs. Having a good staff was a nice thing, carving it not so much as it meant several hours of work and ending covered in whole lot of sawdust.

Several hours, few large goblets of ale, a lot of snacks and even more sweat later he looked at the straight shaft of wood and nodded in approval, it was done and its surface was covered in dozens, if not hundreds of runes and sigils. He gently touched the wood and channeled a miniscule amount of magic, if he did something wrong the staff would turn into a whirlwind of splinters and chunks of wood that would rip him into pieces. However nothing like that happened, only sigils carved in wood started to glow faintly.

"Seems like you did it," Atalanta said, lowering shield that protected her, Laura and Jean. "No explosions of magic and wood, so it works, question is how good it will be once you do it with a branch of Yggdrasil."

"Pretty powerful," Harry said, grabbed the staff and walking away from them made few swings with it. "It should also sit well, this one is out of the same wood and I like the way it lays in my hand, so there should be no difference between the two of them and it means that finally I will be able to use some of the most powerful magic I was taught."

"Why now?" Laura asked. "Why didn't you use it earlier?"

"I could," he said and they looked at him. "Just staff or my sword make it easier to focus and channel it in a direction that I want, not all over the place."

"We use basic magic all the time as we don't need much concentration for them," Atalanta added. "It is a part of us and what we are, but anything more than it takes training and in case of the most powerful battle magic good focus point."

"Or we might fry ourselves," Harry finished. "Or if not, end up with painful burns that won't heal for a really long time."

"Why do I have a feeling that you ended with those burns?" Laura asked.

"Because he did," Atalanta said with a chuckle. "He tried to shock my during training with a bit of lightning magic, but it decided to attack him. It did nothing to me, while he had most of skin on his hand and arm burned."

"That must have been an amusing sight to see," Jean quipped.

"It was," she agreed. "Not that Harry will agree with us."

"I'm here and I hear all of that," he grumbled. "Also, At, my uncle told me that we are supposed to go shopping tomorrow. You, I, Ulf and my mother because of Hogwarts and stuff related to it."

"Tomorrow?" she asked. "We have almost a whole month before the beginning of September and start of it."

"Yes," he said with a sigh. "Tomorrow, murder my uncle if you want, not me."

She nodded, clearly unhappy that their careless holidays needed to be disrupted by something that could wait. Harry looked at her and nodded in agreement, for him shopping could wait as he wanted to relax and have fun.

o-0-o

Fury activated protections placed around his office and deactivated surveillance systems placed inside of it before he activated his laptop and pulled out a data stick dropped into his pocket by Laufeyson. For a moment he looked at the stick, looking for any suspicious things that could be hidden on it, finding none he inserted it into one of ports of his laptop and waited for decryption software to do the job.

When files were decrypted and accessible he arched an eyebrow looking at them, he suspected a lot of data, but not that much. If they were true, there were going to be changes happening in the world, probably few loud murders or arrests and a lot more dirty work behind the scenes. His lone eye scanned the list before it stopped on one line of text. "Slimy, clever bastard," he muttered. "You will be the first one to be removed when the time comes for it."

He spent next several minutes analyzing data and looking for any interesting pieces that should be forwarded to one of his hired assassins so that some cells could be removed before they could cause chaos. Finally he closed those files, made several copies of them and uploaded one onto server accessible only to him and sent second to the Rock, Maria Hill was clear and she had free reign in Europe, so she could remove some targets. Also it was the time to dust off some of his old and deadly contacts that could help in removal of all of those snakes.

o-0-o

Harry stepped out of Bifrost and looked around, it looked normal, excluding some trash cans in the corner of brick wall and a small man waiting for them. Man which was strangely familiar to him, Filius Flitwick was his name.

"Impressive," he said and Harry looked at him in confusion. "Bifrost, seeing it work is a completely different thing than using it."

"Indeed," Jane agreed as she joined them, Flitwick looked at her and arched one of his eyebrows in question. "I'm Harry's stepmother, his father and I thought it would be prudent for me to come with him, also his friends that will come to Hogwarts with him are here."

"As long as they behave I don't see a single issue why they shouldn't be with us," Flitwick said and Harry smiled at those words.

"Thank you, Professor," he said with a light tilt of his head.

"No problem," Flitwick said and walked to a brick wall. "Watch carefully where I will touch the wall."

Harry focused on Flitwick who pulled out his wand and walked to a wall, he counted bricks with his wand before finally touching one that was three up and two across from the bin placed in the corner. When Professor's wand connected with the brick, whole wall moved and revealed an alley, long and wide alley lined with hundreds of shops and swarming with people.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, center of wizarding life in Britain," Flitwick said, stepping through the hole in the wall. "Place where you can buy everything you will need for Hogwarts and studying magic."

They nodded and followed Flitwick through the hole and into the Alley, as they entered into the proper alley Harry could feel strong feeling of mystery and secrets wash over them. As they walked down the wide cobblestone alley Flitwick explained to them what they would need to buy and what things were those most important ones and what in his opinion could wait. After several long minutes of walk and retrieving small amount of money from Gringotts they finally stopped in front of a small, cozy building with several wands on display.

"Place where you can acquire your wands," he explained. "Ollivander's, in my opinion and of many other wizards and witches one of the best wandmakers in the world."

They followed Flitwick into the shop and as the door opened, small silver bell rung and before they had a good chance to look around they were met by a tall, thin man with a mane of silver hair and pale silvery eyes. "Filius," he said. "Twelve inches mahogany and a dragon heartstring, how does she serves you?"

"Quite well," Flitwick said. "But that's not why I'm here, those three need wands for Hogwarts."

Ollivander nodded and Harry could feel gaze of the elder man slip over him and his two friends. "I'm sure we will find something," Ollivander said and the his gaze flickered to Harry and focused on his forehead. "Boy-Who-Lived?!" Ollivander exclaimed.

"Yes," Flitwick said with a sigh. "Can you not mention that he was here, the less noise we have the better."

"Of course," Ollivander nodded and then once again looked at Harry and his friends. "Ladies first?"

"Why not," Atalanta said and walked forward.

"Which hand is dominant?" Ollivander asked.

"Left."

He nodded and mused quietly before reaching for one of many boxes which filled shelves that were in the room, he pulled out a wand out of it and rolled it between his fingers. "Peculiar combination that I usually avoid, but might work for you. Twelve inches, laurel and thunderbird feather from the USA."

The moment Atalanta's fingers wrapped around the wand, from the tip of it shot a long stream of multi-colored sparks and Harry noticed a light tremor pass through her arm. At the same Ollivander clapped and they looked at him.

"It is a very unusual for a wizard or a witch to find their wand on the first attempt," he explained. "Normally it takes few more attempts and in very rare case it can take hours before a proper wand is found."

"Also it should be a strong match that can be of great help when working with finer magic," Flitwick added. "So you will have a lot of use out of this wand and it will help you when you will be at Hogwarts."

"Indeed, indeed," Ollivander nodded and looked at Harry. "Now maybe it should be your turn?"

"Why not," Harry said.

"Which hand is the stronger one?"

"Right," he said.

Next few minutes were spent with Harry trying various wands, none of which seemed to fit him, which made Ollivander frustrated, yet he looked as if he was more annoyed than frustrated as he patiently dug through hundreds, if not thousands of wands that soon created a large pile on the ground.

"This one might work," Ollivander said, after almost an hour of unsuccessful attempts. "Eleven inches, holly and a phoenix feather."

Harry nodded and took the wand from Ollivander, when his fingers connected with the wood from the trip of the wand shot a large, long shower of sparks.

"Perfect," Ollivander said. "Finally she found a worthy owner and should serve you well. Her sister wand did great things, great, yet terrible things."

"Sister wand was his?" Flitwick asked.

"Yes," Ollivander said and seeing their confusion explained. "There are rare cases when a phoenix drops two feathers at the same time, for us wandmakers they are extremely precious as two wands made with them might share a bond. Second feather from this phoenix is in the wand that was used by You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?" Jane asked.

"One that murdered Harry's mother and injured Thor," Flitwick softly explained. "Even if he did terrible things, he was also a powerful wizard, some even call him a genius."

Jane nodded. "So how does it make Harry a powerful wizard?" she asked after a moment. "I can use magic and I learned that family connections usually don't matter when it comes to power of a wizard."

"It is because of a wand," Ollivander explained. "They are picky and finicky things that are hard to predict, however there is one pattern in them. When there is a pair of them, made with the core from the same piece of hair, feather or whatever else was used as a core, they will choose very similar people. Either in personality or power."

"So because he chose one pair of the two and was a genius and a powerful wizard, Harry is supposed to be a powerful wizard?" she asked.

"Exactly," Ollivander nodded. "However it isn't a thing set in stone, there were events when it didn't happen, but what I had said is true for most of the time and most of wizards. Anyways, can we find a matching wand for the last person?"

Jane nodded and they spent several more minutes, waiting patiently for Ulf to find a wand that would match him, he finally choose or more properly was chosen by a thirteen inches long ash wand with horned serpent horn as a core. They paid twenty-one galleons for their wands and left Ollivander's and entered back onto the Diagon Alley.

"Since wands are bought, next stop should be Flourish and Blotts," Flitwick said. "Textbooks and books that should help in the first year, they aren't required, but make clear several blurry things."

"Which means a lot of books," Jane commented and Flitwick looked at her. "I was once a student and I know how many books need to be bought."

"Normally there aren't so many, but this year they added several things to the list and some of them are thick," Flitwick said and added with disgust. "Also we have self-loving ponce as this year teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts and he assigned seven of his books as this year textbooks."

"This year?" Jane asked, arching an eyebrow.

"They usually don't survive a whole year and if this keeps going, we will run out of candidates to teach this subject. But I doubt that this one survives until the end of the year, more likely is him being fired or removed in the first month."

"That bad?" Jane asked.

"He is supposed to be an acclaimed dueler, but somehow he turned down an offer for an official duel with me," Flitwick said. "Dueling champion for almost ten seasons, achievement not many are able to get."

"Probably uncle will get interested in him," Harry said with a grin. "He will be lucky to survive an encounter with him."

"More than likely," Jane nodded. "Your uncle is a cruel and an vindictive person, yet one that expects some standards, so he will ensure that this ponce has either a very short stay or is good in what he does."

"I hope so," Flitwick said and sighed. "There is a new Head of Hufflepuff that has more than good qualifications to teach or even White Magic teacher, yet our ponce was hired."

"Hufflepuff?" Ulf asked.

"One of four houses into which students are sorted. Other three are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, each of them praises certain qualities and traits. Hufflepuff loyalty and hard work, Gryffindor courage and chivalry, Ravenclaw quick wit and intelligence, Slytherin cunning and devious mind," Flitwick explained and paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Many will tell you that one house is better than other houses, but it is a lie. Every single house has its quirks and desired traits, I am Head of Ravenclaw, yet I don't have a single problem in working with Gryffindor or Slytherin."

"So in which house were my parents, dad fell weirdly silent about Hogwarts once I met Sirius?" Harry asked. "And I didn't have time to get it out of Sirius or Wanda."

"Both of them were from Gryffindor," Flitwick said, some amusement in his eyes. "Your father, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were close friends and caused a lot of troubles. They get detentions, were losing points for their house, yet they did it, not to mention several owls to their parents."

"One owl about you causing troubles and we will talk," Jane said looking at Harry who gulped in fear.

"Of course, mother," he said with a bow of his head.

"Perhaps we should continue the trip?" Flitwick suggested. "You will have time to discuss personal matters later, now I would like to get done with shopping before the book signing event of our new DADA teacher."

For the next hour they finished their shopping and once done they were loaded with dozens of bags, things in some of them were peculiar or outright strange, while in some were ones that seemed interesting. Flitwick showed them out of the Diagon Alley and they used Bifrost to get back to Asgard so that they could enjoy their holidays, last few precious weeks of doing nothing and relaxing away from the world. It also made Harry kind of eager to go to Hogwarts, place where his parents spent several years studying and where they met each other and their friends.

o-0-o

A/N - Body modifications, a very common trait among warrior cultures, showed a lot of information about a warrior and their achievements.

Staff - it is also a handy weapon as six feet long piece of very hard wood can cause insane amounts of damage and can pass as a stick, not a weapon.

Ulf and Atalanta getting wands - yes, they use different kind of magic, but it is mostly amount of force they use and while they won't be able to use them as easily as wizards, they are useful thing and can be a weapon.

Reviews:

WhiteElfElder - He did strengthen them, but horcrucis(at least that's how Latin suggests it) are thing that's on Asgard is almost forgotten, so he didn't care about it that much. Mad Wizard is a bigger problem as he has a track record of wreaking havoc with his sheer presence.