Teeth

by hathanhate

Harry messes up the animagus process and begins a new journey. New friends and old share his discovery of life. What is in store for The-Boy-Who-Lived? What dangers will he face? Find out inside! WARNINGS: Begins entirely in HP world, crossover starts later. Harry is bisexual. Rated M to be safe.

57. Part Six, Chapter Six

THANK YOU TO ALL MY LOVELY READERS, AND EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!

Beta: Zerubel (You are amazing. If you weren't already married and didn't live in a different state I would whisk you away bc you freakin' rock, friend.)

Ha! You guys didn't have to wait months and months for an update this time! *pumps fist* I can't promise it will always be like that, but this time! This time you didn't have to wait!

Lots of world-building going on right now. It's a lot of fun fleshing out the cultures and history of the various races and realms. I really like doing it tbh. It's really interesting watching my plots come together.

Not much to comment on atm.

Oh! I SEEK ASSISTENCE FROM SOMEONE KNOWLEDGABLE ABOUT SPACE AND SCIENCE.

I have done SO MUCH research for this fic at one point or another, but the fact of the matter is there's only so much I can find out on my own, and there are things I NEED to know. For REASONS. So if anyone can help! PLEASE!

Ok that's all.

Enjoy.

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Each of the other temples were much smaller than the main one, but they ranged in size from as big as an auditorium to as small as your average classroom. They were set up relatively similarly in overall design, with the differences between them marking their individual purposes.

They reached them by going through a doorway that was hidden against the wall to the right. It mostly blended in with the ice wall. The corridor beyond it looked much the same as the one they'd entered the main temple through, but with the addition of a ceiling of stalactites above their heads. The hall turned occasionally and sloped gently downwards, leading them underground again.

The largest two of the six smaller temples were more or less the same size, and were set up almost exactly the same way, with rows of indents for seating, and stage-like structures at the front of them, same as the main temple. The first had an altar at the front made of the same white material as the pillars; it was really just a large rectangular block with pictures carved into it. This temple was for weddings. The other had no altar, but had a table similar to the one in the main temple in it, and was for funerals (the table in this case being meant to hold the bodies of the dead).

There was a much smaller temple of nearly the same design, with the addition of a statue of a pregnant Jotun woman at the front that Knut told him was for all the marking ceremonies beyond the one at infancy. It wasn't very big, because all additional markings were considered very private events, and only the priest/priestess overseeing it, the one to be marked, and their immediate families were meant to be present.

There was another temple, not particularly unique compared to the rest that was for paying homage to, or seeking guidance from, one's ancestors. Another that looked rather a lot like a classroom, and was, really, since it was for teaching the children about the Norns and markings, and Ymir and their various other beliefs. And then there was the last.

It was the smallest of the lot, and except for a small square altar with three small statues on it, and a bowl, it didn't look like a place of worship at all. It looked, in fact, much like Skadi's office.

There was a short table in the center of the room that served as a desk, with three indentations on the side of it nearest the door, and one on the opposite side. The room itself was circular in shape, the only one of the temples to be like that, and the walls rounded upwards into the ceiling, so that the only seams were the ones near the floor. The walls were lines from the floor up with curved shelves that were broken up only by the little altar, and a small bench on the opposite side of the room. The bench had a fur laying across it, and Harry wondered if it wasn't actually more like a cot.

All the shelves were filled to the brim with rows and stacks of thin stone tablets, every available crevice between them stuffed with ancient-looking leather scrolls.

"This is a temple?"

"It is a place for those who need it to come and seek guidance from their priest or priestess, and also a place of private worship for whoever serves as such. I spent many nights here, in life. More, at times, than I spent in my own home." Knut had a melancholy look on his face. He shook his head. "There." The spirit pointed to one shelf in particular, across the room and behind the desk, and Harry approached it, to find that that particular shelf had stone tablets of a slightly different color than the rest. More tan than grey. He pulled one down, and studied it.

It was about as large, in terms of length and width, as some of the bigger Hogwart's textbooks, but was only as thick as your average paperback. The stone had a texture to it that reminded him of shale, but it was too hard and strong for that. On the front there was a simple carving of a jotun's face. Minimalistic but done skillfully enough for there to be a semi-realistic shape to the jaw and eyes. The Jotun on the tablet had a strangely bare face, excepting one single marking that ran as a smooth straight line across his temples, with the center bit in the middle of his forehead abruptly going down in a triangular spike that ended between his brows. The rest of the tablet was covered in writing Harry didn't recognize. It wasn't the runic alphabet the Aesir favored, but something more blocky, with lots of square and triangular shapes. He bit his lip, looking from the single tablet, to the many dozens still on the shelf.

Then he sighed, pulled some rolls of parchment from his bracers, and used a spell to copy the lines of the picture on the tablet to the page in smaller form. Then he pulled out a quill and inkwell, and looked up at Knut.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to read this aloud to me?" The dead giant looked rather amused at the request, and came to look over his shoulder, reading the tablet with a tone that suggested he was familiar with the contents; like someone rereading a book they'd read many times before.

"The valley line resembles the far horizon, with the valley dipping into the center as a pointed spike. It represents humility and the occupation of ice-walkers, who first explored and mapped our world following the break from the Home-world in ancient days, and who continue to track the changes in the ice through every passing year. It stands for their quiet strength and hard work and in recent years it has come to be favored as a symbol of longevity, and is chosen most often by Dams who wish for their child to live a long life. It is also-"

Harry wrote quickly while he spoke, well practiced in fast note-taking from his school years. There were an awful lot of the tablets though, and he knew it would take a while, and that his wrist would be hurting by the end of it. If Loki didn't appreciate this properly later he'd skin him.

The trickster owed him a drink. Hell, he owed him a bottle!

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It was a long time before he left the office/temple. Once the task was done he found himself with several long rolls of parchment covered in small drawings and messy writing. He was thinking of fixing it all up into a proper book later. Maybe he could give it to Loki as a present or something. He even considered making a copy for Asgard's library for a moment before casting the thought aside. Markings were very important to the frost giants, and he didn't think it was the sort of information they would want the Asgardians to have.

He and the priest made their way silently through the temple tunnels. It was a comfortable quiet. He wondered to himself when he had become so at ease with the dead.

At Hogwarts the ghosts had been fascinating, but also disconcerting. He'd enjoyed his few talks with Nearly-Headless-Nick, and the spirit had always been friendly and relatively interesting. But there had been a shadow over it all, and over every interaction he'd had with the school's resident dead. The dark knowledge that these people were trapped in the world of the living, holding themselves back from whatever paradise or horror awaited them in the beyond. Nick's barely attached head may have been a source of amusement for many of the students, himself included (and Nick himself would joke about it!), but it had also been a strong reminder of the gruesome way in which the man had died. It was something he'd never really been able to forget; that all the ghosts had once been people, living, breathing people, with real lives, and now they were ephemeral beings without bodies or families, without the ability to eat or touch others or do magic-

There was something about all of it that had always made him somewhat uncomfortable. It might have had something to do with reading horror stories about the dead as a child, or eavesdropping on Piers and Dudley telling each other ghost stories.

But he felt fully at ease beside Priest Knut; as though the Jotun was still alive.

He held his tongue until they entered the main temple again, and then went over to the railing, looking out at the world beyond. From here he could see some of the very sheets of ice and snow he'd travelled over to get to the city, and the mountains in the distance, and far on the horizon to his right was what could have been a frozen sea. A world of white and grey and light blue. It was beautiful, in its own way. The spirit came up beside him, looking out at it all with a sort of painful longing. Ghosts, Harry knew, tended to attach themselves to a single location, becoming bound to it. They couldn't leave except to move on.

"Thank you, for the tour and all your help with the tablets." Knut looked away from the view, the ache falling away from his face.

"It was an honor." The animagus hesitated, and then asked the question he'd been wanting to ask from the start.

"Why don't the people worship here anymore? What happened here?" Knut looked away from him, his expression hardening, but not, Harry didn't think, because he didn't want to answer the question.

He didn't think the spirit really wanted to talk about it either, though.

"A horror." His voice rang through the room, the anger and pain in his words echoing off the pillars and walls. He was silent for a long time, and Harry waited, watching memories flicker over his pale eyes. "Our King did something foolish. We cannot stand the heat, that much is true, but we flourish much more in milder winters than Jotunheim usually sees. The Northern and Southernmost lands of Midgard, cold but with snow and ice not half as fierce as we see here- to our reckoning, such a land sounds like a paradise." He paused. "Our numbers were growing larger. We could have expanded. We could have used the Casket of Ancient Winters to tame the land well enough to build our cities farther outwards- made them larger- made our root gardens larger- expanded our hunting grounds and domesticated more of the ice-beasts and snow-crawlers. We could have managed, but it would have taken time, with the casket, to ready the land for such a venture." He sighed heavily.

"King Laufey was always an impatient man. He didn't want to wait through the years it would take, didn't want to put in the hard work that would be needed. Midgard is not so wild a realm. It bends far more easily to the Casket's power, and the humans were easier to kill than ice-beasts. He used the Casket like a weapon, wielding it to call up storms that made the land inhospitable for the humans but calm where he wanted it to be. He and the warriors that served him then killed many many humans, until the land was free and clear." He looked down, and there was a sort of shame about him, as though he carried King Laufey's sins on his own shoulders.

"It should not have been done, but it was. If that had been all, if we had claimed only that small part of Midgard for ourselves, the other realms might have stood by. The Eldjotnar had warned us that it should not be done. King Surtur tried to appeal to him, tried to show him his own foolishness, his own cruelty. I was there. I heard him speak. 'You are a thief.' He said. 'Stealing land and lives that do not belong to you.' Laufey would have none of it. Still, we might have gone through without real war, but then he became greedy." He bared his teeth, angry.

"He thought that Midgard, with its easily tamed lands, made a finer home, as a whole, than Jotunheim. He thought he could use the Casket to cover all of the realm in ice, turn it into a copy of our home, but one we could colonize more freely. He planned to take it all from the humans, and that, Asgard could not abide." He said the word like a curse. "They were right to fight us. To go to war over it. That much I can forgive. It was not right, what our King was attempting. But-" He took a shuddering breath.

"But they took it too far! Odin, coward that he was, sought to distract Laufey. To strike a blow so hard and cruel that he would be able to take the Casket from us entirely and with little resistance. While the King and his warriors fought against humans and Asgardian soldiers on Midgard, the rest of us were here. The children, the dams and new sires, the younger warriors, the old. Those of us who were not fighters at our cores. We stayed here, where it was safe. And then Odin came, with his most trusted and most skilled guard. The young warriors went to meet them in battle, and the rest of us came here, to the temples, to where we thought we would be safe." Harry was looking up at him with a sort of dull horror blooming in his mind. He saw where the tale was going- didn't need Knut to continue to know what had happened, to know his suspicions were true- but the spirit did anyways.

"The warriors we had here were all too inexperienced. Most of them were still just training, not even full-fledged fighters. Against Odin and his men they fell easily. And then the warriors came here to the temple." He stilled. "They killed all the new sires, and any of the dams and old who fought. Myself as well." He clenched his fits. "I tried to fight, though I was not suited for it. I tried to save some of the others and failed... They didn't kill any of the children, thank the Norns. They even let some of them run. I'd thought it mercy then, but he was merely allowing them to send the message to Laufey about what had been done. At the end Odin took a newly-marked babe, Laufey's own son- and left. His mother was unconscious. The birth had been hard and she was ill. I remember when she woke, I was like this then." He gestured at himself. "She woke and when they told her her son was taken she wailed like she was dying. It was a horrible sound." He stopped talking for a few seconds, and then continued.

"When the news came to Laufey, he and many of the warriors returned. They left the Casket under a hidden guard in Midgard, thinking Odin was still here and not wishing to take the risk. But he wasn't. He'd already returned to Midgard, and somehow he and his men knew where the Casket was being kept. They overwhelmed them, took the Casket, and by the time Laufey realized it was a trap it was too late. He tried to return, tried to fight, and was cut down for his trouble." Harry frowned, confused. The dead priest made it sound like Laufey had been killed, but- Knut saw his look and smiled bitterly.

"It's a secret, one I should not be telling you, but you are more my King now these days than he was, and I feel no call to protect his secrets. Not any longer. Most know the truth now, anyways... He had a brother. A twin. He kept him hidden then. Few knew he existed. Laufey was the older, and so he took the throne. His brother stayed hidden, just in case... When Laufey was wounded they took him away. He died, but in secret. Then his brother went out, in his place, bandaged. He took Laufey's name, claimed his children, even his bride. The story was told that Odin had failed to kill him; that Laufey was too great and Odin too weak. It was meant to give the people more faith in him."

"He was a better King. Wiser. Laufey would have marched against Asgard, struck out for revenge. His brother saw the blows that had been dealt to us. All who had been killed, and the Casket lost. He knew we wouldn't stand a chance against Odin and his men. So he asked for peace. An agreement was made, fragile though it was, and he did his best to lead our people, to guide them through the harsh times we faced with the Casket gone." He sighed again. "And now he's gone too. The Queen, at least, is a good replacement. Young, naive, but good. She'll make a fine ruler, with time." He fell silent after that. Harry thought hard about everything he'd been told.

He'd been right then. Odin hadn't just found Loki abandoned in the temple. He'd taken him. Taken him by force and killed many Jotuns in the process of doing so. Innocents. The very thought made his blood boil, made him want to stand up for the frost giants in outrage. But there was no clear-cut villain here. Laufey, he imagined, would not have spared the civilians and children of the human villages he destroyed. And he had tried to take over all of the Earth. He would have turned it into a world of ice and snow. Ordinary humans would never have been able to survive that. Wizards and Witches could maybe have found a way, with their magic, but-

"War is a terrible thing." Knut told him softly. "There is no good that comes of it. There are no good men in a war. Only monsters fighting for what they believe is right, doing what they think is necessary and only ever managing to spread horror in their wake." Harry looked up at him, met his gaze, and then swallowed and looked away. They were silent for a long time, just looking out at the temple's view of Jotunheim's lands. Harry imagined things in his head. Imagined human men and women frozen in ice and Jotun fathers cut down with blades while their children watched.

He hated Odin just then. Hated him and Laufey so fiercely he thought his blood might catch on fire and the pit in his gut would swallow him whole. When he spoke his voice was so calm it almost frightened him.

"I need to go. Unnur is waiting for me. She's probably wondering what's taking so long."

"Just so." Knut looked down on him, and his grim face softened into something more gentle and at ease. "Come again, if you are able. Perhaps in the future we can have conversations about much lighter subjects." Harry nodded up at him.

"I'd like that." They shared a brief smile, and then Harry started to walk towards the corridor, the spirit remaining at the railing. But then after a few feet he paused, one last question coming to mind. "Knut?" The dead giant looked over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Laufey's brother. What was his name?"

"Ah. It was Nal." He nodded, and turned to walk away, mind occupied with everything he'd learned, and the many ramifications of that knowledge. At the entrance to the corridor he spied Unnur several paces away, sitting on the ground with her back against the wall. She had her knees up and her arms crossed atop them, her head resting on them. Soft snores echoed through the hall and he grinned. She looked kind of adorable like that, although he did feel a little bad for having kept her waiting so long.

And then the expression froze on his face, steps faltering, as he remembered something important about her and several things clicked into place for him all at once.

Her name was Unnur.

Unnur Naldottir.

'He took Laufey's name, claimed his children, even his bride.'

Farbauti.

'There's nothing I wouldn't do for my family. For my children, especially.' Red eyes studying him carefully. 'I wonder, little King, if Loki is one who you call family.'

Fucking hell.

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His sleep that night had been troubled and broken. For what little time he'd managed to fall unconscious his dreams had been filled with young, face-less Jotun warriors covered in blood, sometimes their own and sometimes not- mothers, human and frost giant alike, screaming for their fallen husbands and children- and an image of Odin killing Laufey, and Loki killing Nal, superimposing themselves on top of one another until he couldn't tell which image was which.

It was rare for his dreams to be so vivid when he slept as a beast.

It put him in a bad mood, and when Unnur came to bring him breakfast and eat with him he found he wasn't much interested in conversation. She had apparently reached a point of being comfortable with him (something he wouldn't have expected after her reaction to Priest Knut and his ability to see him the previous day) and she babbled to him while she ate. He listened to her talk of early-morning warrior training and a fellow trainee who annoyed her with half an ear, thankful that she seemed content to do most of the talking.

When she finally fell silent, it took him a moment to notice, and he looked at her with a guilty hope that she hadn't just asked him a question. She was looking down at her hands though. The young warrior had finished eating her portion of the food, and she seemed... hesitant, about something. She sighed, and then looked up at him.

"I have something I have to go do." Something about that statement didn't ring truthful to him, but he only blinked at her. She looked a little nervous again. "It won't take long, so I should be back by the time you finish eating." She bit her lip. "Her majesty has recovered." He sat up a little straighter. "She would like to meet with you."

"You're taking me to her after breakfast?" Unnur nodded. His thoughts flickered to the last time he'd laid eyes on the Queen, a couple days previous, when she'd been on the ground and in pain. Something unpleasant curled in his stomach. "Alright." She smiled kindly at him, and he thought she might be somewhat aware of his discomfort at the thought of seeing Skadi again.

She left after that, and he forced himself to transform and swallow down his food. He switched back quickly enough, not wanting to still be a Mishipeshu when Unnur returned. He still didn't know what it was about his animagus form that seemed to set the Jotuns so on edge, but there was no point in making people uncomfortable if he could avoid it. Particularly when it came to someone as skittish as Unnur.

He wondered absently if there were any creatures on Jotunheim that were similar to the water panther.

He paced while he waited for her. He had a thousand different things he wanted to know, a thousand questions he did and didn't want to ask, and no idea where to begin or even if he should. Priest Knut had confirmed his horrible suspicion, explaining what he'd already suspected well enough that knew the lay of things now. He didn't want to tell Loki.

He didn't think the trickster had any love or loyalty to his birth race. Not enough, at any rate, to feel the same burning venom in his blood that Harry did over thoughts of what Odin had done. Of what Laufey had done too, for that matter. But he couldn't see the taller male reacting well to the knowledge that he hadn't been abandoned and saved by Odin, but kidnapped during the course of a bloody and brutal attack. Not least because it would mean that the Allfather had lied to him.

There was also Farbauti to consider in the equation. She and her other children. Harry was still somewhat iffy on what the woman had been trying to convey to him when they'd spoken, but he thought he understood. Loki was her son, and she was obviously aware of that fact.

And she still cared about his well-being.

Loki was not an abandoned runt. He was a stolen child with a mother who still loved him. A mother and siblings. There was Unnur, who was both his half-sister and his cousin if Harry's understanding of the situation was correct, but he also had two older brothers. The wizard didn't think that Unnur was aware that she and Loki were siblings. Farbauti's dancing around of the subject suggested that it was something of a secret. But he didn't know how old her other sons had been when the temple was attacked. If they had were old enough to remember the event, then they would be old enough to know that their mother had been pregnant, had had a baby and that that baby had been stolen.

Did they know who their little brother was? Did they love him? Miss him?

There was a very big difference between having been cast away unwanted, and having been taken from a family that had cared for you, that might still care.

Harry didn't know how the Liesmith was likely to react to the situation if he knew the truth. He didn't want to tell him.

He couldn't tell him.

He had to tell him.

Unnur's return interrupted his whirling thoughts, and he was forced to put it aside. For the moment.

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The young warrior brought him to Skadi's personal rooms. There were two male (or seemingly male) guards standing at either side of the doorway into it, and Unnur propped herself against the wall across from it, motioning for him to enter alone.

The room itself wasn't altogether very different from his guest room. The basic structure and simple furniture was mostly the same, with the addition of a smaller desk and bookshelf filled with tablets. There were a few furs and weapons, and a basin of purplish liquid on the table. Just enough to make it feel as though someone lived there, but not half as homey as the squat little square building Farbauti lived in. He'd expected more opulence, given her royal status, but he supposed he should have known better. Neither Skadi nor the Jotuns as a whole seemed to care all too much for luxury. It could be, of course, that they were too focused on survival to think much of anything more, but he didn't think that was the case.

Skadi herself was on the bed, some thick furs rolled up behind her shoulders like pillows to prop her up. She looked tired, but no longer in pain, and she smiled at him when he came in.

"King Black. Welcome." She motioned him over, and then gestured for him to sit. He did so hesitantly, just on the very edge of the bed. He was careful not to touch her.

"Queen Skadi." He looked her over. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Tired mostly. The healers haven't left me alone enough for me to sleep much, but I'm well." He looked away, chest tightening. There were several moments of silence before he looked back at her face; he found her watching him, careful and considering. "I would like to formally announce to you Jotunheim's intention to go ahead with this peace treaty." He grit his teeth. It was a good thing, really, but it didn't feel like a victory. "We would like to agree to it under the condition that the Casket of Ancient Winters be returned to us, as I told you before... But I believe we will agree regardless." He felt a little like he'd bullied her into this, nevermind that their duel had been entirely consensual, and only concerned Loki's fate. But he had told her he would see the Casket returned no matter what, and he had meant that.

If Odin had a problem with it, then he could just go fuck himself.

"I'm honored to accept Jotunheim's cooperation." He responded formally. It felt right, for the way she'd said it. She smiled at him, and small amount of the tension bled out of him.

"I would also like to thank you, personally." He frowned, confused.

"Thank me?"

"For sparing my life." His blood ran cold.

"I-"

"I'm no fool, Home-Ruler." Her words were firm, but kind. "I've been in many battles, and I can tell, easily enough, when an opponent is holding back. You spent a good deal of our fight doing just that. And then the moment you stopped, it was over." She was watching him gently. "Our battle would have been over much more quickly, if you had not spent the bulk of it trying to determine a way to bring me down without killing me. You were merciful." He was anything but merciful. But the rest was true enough. If he'd just aimed to kill her, right from the start, then the fight would have finished much more quickly. He looked away from her again, feeling sick. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod, as though his silence had confirmed it. "I would be honored, Home-Ruler, if you would return to Jotunheim again in the future, hopefully under much more pleasant circumstances." He looked at her carefully, not really understanding how she could be so comfortable with someone who had nearly killed her. Her offer was genuine.

"I would like that." She grinned.

"Then I look forward to it."

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Harry's time in the realm of ice came to a rather abrupt end after that.

Skadi gave him a stone tablet that detailed what Jotunheim wanted included in the treaty and conditions they wanted to place on the others (there wasn't much written there), he told her about the chart for times to use the bifrost and promised to get another copy from Odin for her, she asked him if he had left any of his belongings in his room (he hadn't), and then she called one of her guards in and asked him to lead the animagus to the surface and then the city limits. When he was brought out of her rooms, Unnur was nowhere in sight. His tail had flicked nervously. Her scent lingered in the hall, and he would have liked a chance to say goodbye. The nervous youth had grown on him.

Then he was following the Jotun warrior through the tunnels, transforming to go up stairs (and unlike his brethren, this particular guard appeared entirely unfazed by his form), until suddenly he found himself on the edge of the city. His guide nodded to him respectfully, and then left him there without a word. It was disconcerting. His visit had dragged on, and so the sudden end left him feeling a little like the rug had been pulled out from under him.

But in the end the fact of the matter was that he had come to Jotunheim for a purpose, and with that purpose now fulfilled, he had no real reason to linger, at least not just then. And besides, Skadi had given him an open invitation to return, so when things settled he could very easily come back, and see Unnur and her mother (Loki's mother) and the temple spirit all again.

There was the matter of Fenris, as well. That alone was more than enough reason to return.

So with little fanfare, he shifted, and ran on all fours. He didn't need to get as far from the city as he had when he came to it, but he put a respectful distance between them, and then called for Heimdall.

Light and magic and suddenly he was back.

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He wanted to see his family. He wanted to check on Moo to make sure he hadn't pissed anyone off unduly and was still in one piece and he wanted the twins to give him one of their dual-hugs where he wound up squished between two bodies with four arms around him because it was amazing and made him feel like he was as safe as he could ever be. He wanted to go back to Midgard and talk to Bruce face-to-face instead of through a phone. He even wanted to see the other Weasley kids. Check on Ron because he was family even though they weren't friends, talk shop with Bill, and have Ginny sling an arm over his shoulder and say something snarky to make him laugh. He wanted to see everyone else too. He wanted to have tea with his father and wine with Lucius and dinner with Narcissa, Draco, Daphne and Scorpius. He wanted to go play with Teddy and see Tonks turn her nose into a pig's snout and let Remus know that he was okay.

It was a sudden urge that slammed into him like a sledgehammer for no reason he could see and nearly left him breathless. It didn't matter that he'd seen most of them a month and a half ago. He wanted them. He wanted his family.

Instead, the very first thing he did after returning to Asgard was go to see Odin.

There was a terrible anger boiling inside of him, and he pushed it down until it was like lava in his blood; still there and still strong, but slow and sluggish enough to keep at bay. When the Allfather came to meet with him he wanted very dearly, for several reasons, to attack the Aesir and rip him apart. He knew, logically, that it was not a fight he would win, but he burned to slice his claws through the ancient being's flesh. There was a moment when the man first entered the room where his vision twisted and he saw a monster more than a person.

And then the world righted itself, his vision settled, and Odin was just a very old man who had made many many horrible mistakes. He'd chatted with this man, gotten to know him a little. The Allfather was not a monster. He thought back to Knut's words about there being no good men in war, and his anger settled.

What did you fight for, in a war? You fought for everything, right? Everything you loved?

There were a lot of things he disliked this particular Aesir for. A lot of things this man had done that he felt had no excuse. But-

Well. He wasn't human, but he was human-like enough to be just as flawed. And besides. If Harry understood his character well enough, then he knew that Odin probably believed that most of what he'd done had been for the good of his people. For the good of himself and his family. It didn't exactly make him a good person, didn't absolve him of his sins or excuse him of his crimes, but, well... Harry himself occasionally contemplated the terrifying lack of lines he wouldn't cross for the people he loved. Odin, he could guess, was the same.

Neither of them were monsters, but they both had the horrible potential to be, if the situation demanded it.

Part of him hated how easy it was to understand the Aesir King's likely motivations, but it was what it was. And if it would help keep him from attacking the god and creating even more trouble than what he was already dealing with, then even better.

So he sat in the familiar little meeting room, and Odin came in alone and sat across from him, a frown on his face and wariness in his eyes.

"Were there problems?" Harry supposed that demanding to speak with the Allfather the second he stepped foot off the bifrost had probably given the impression that there had been.

"Nothing I wasn't able to handle." He handed Odin the tablet from Skadi. "Jotunheim has agreed to the treaty." The Allfather looked surprised. "However, the Casket of Ancient Winters is to be returned to them." The god frowned, face growing stormy..

"The casket-" It was probably very rude, and somewhat dangerous, to cut off the King of Asgard in the middle of speaking, but Harry didn't have the patience to let him finish that sentence, not when he had a good idea of what the ancient man was going to say.

"I know very well what the casket is. I know very well what King Laufey used it for, on Midgard. I'm not saying that it should be returned without conditions. The treaty can include a stipulation that it may not be used as a weapon for any purpose but defense of their realm against an imminent threat, and that it may not be moved from their realm to another." His tail twitched wildly back and forth. "Without the Casket to control the wild nature of their realm, Jotunheim is slowly killing its own inhabitants. They cannot grow enough food," He hadn't seen any food being grown, but there had been a mention at some point of roots being grown, and the plants used in Farbauti's cold tea had to have come from somewhere. "and cannot hunt easily, and they are slowly starving to death. Their numbers have dwindled considerably." He paused.

"My understanding, Allfather, is that you have, twice now, prevented the destruction of the frost giants, first at the hand of Thor, and the second time at the hand of Loki. Keeping the casket from them is as much a genocide as it would have been if you had stood by and let your sons do as they willed. It may be a slow destruction, but it is still a destruction." The god was watching him, carefully. Harry had kept his anger out of his voice, but he thought Odin was now aware of it, all the same. A thought came to him.

'Tom, does Niflheim have an army?' There was silence, and then an air of caution when the former dark lord responded.

'I wouldn't call it an army.' He paused. 'Niflheim has a small force of dead made up of some of the most skilled warriors or soldiers of their times. There's only a couple hundred of them, I believe, but as they are all dead and cannot be killed a second time-'

'There doesn't need to be a lot of them.'

'... Yes. Harry-'

'Don't worry about it.'

"I suppose you are correct." Odin looked thoughtful. "And they have made this a condition of their agreement?"

"No." Technically, it wasn't a lie. Skadi had said at the end that Jotunheim would agree regardless, but- "It's not a condition of their involvement. It's a condition of mine." He looked startled at that, and then he schooled his expression into something unreadable.

"I see..." He didn't continue at first. He and Harry stared each other down in silence. "Very well." His tone was careful. "The Casket was a gift to the Jotuns from the Norns themselves. I took it from them because they had misused it, but- perhaps it is high time it was returned. I will see it given back to them after the treaty has been signed, not before, but it will be done." Harry searched his face, not sure what to make of what he found there, but certain the man was being honest.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me-" He gestured to the door, making his desire to leave known. Odin nodded at him, and then began reading the tablet, looking distracted.

Harry was more than happy to leave him there.

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Muhammad was reading when he entered their common room. He was curled up on the window seat with one of the founder's books in hand and an expression on his face that was somewhere between irritated and concentrating. The twins were nowhere in sight, but that wasn't particularly unusual. They liked to play their tricks and to explore. Harry had too much on his plate to do much of either himself, but there was a certain wonder that came with being on another planet, and he didn't begrudge them acting on it.

He entered the room quietly enough that Moo didn't look up, didn't notice him right away. In a few quick strides he was across the room and had snatched the book out of the Arab's hands. He jumped, and then looked panicked for half a second, reaching for the book-

Harry tossed it to the floor and wrapped his arms around the older wizard, plopping down on the seat next to him close enough that he'd have to climb in his lap to get any closer. Moo only hesitated a moment before hugging him back.

"Harry?" He didn't answer him, just squeezed a little tighter, his tail coming up to curl around Moo's back, fin winding up splayed across his thigh. Muhammad held him tighter in response, rubbing a hand along his back. "Idiot." His tone was affectionate enough, and Harry smiled a little against his shoulder.

It had taken him quite a bit of time to learn that it was okay, normal even, to sometimes just desperately want a hug. It had taken him even longer to understand that he could have one if he wanted one. Moo and his father and Bruce never shied away from him when he reached for them, and even after these past three, almost three and a half, years since the battle of Hogwarts, physical affection was still a novelty to him.

And one that it had taken a long time for him to be able to admit he needed. Even now, he still found himself toeing at the lines, trying to find the right balance between independence and dependence. He was so used to doing things on his own, and wanted, so badly sometimes, to be able to do everything without any help at all. But he didn't have to, shouldn't have to. He needed his family. Needed people to lean on. Sometimes he forgot that. Sometimes he remembered and then felt like he was being childish. He wasn't a little kid. He should be able to stand on his own.

But real life didn't work like that. You didn't stop needing to depend on others and rely on others just because you were old enough to handle some things on your own.

It was a lesson he was still learning.

He pulled back a little, sighing. Moo watched him for a long moment, and then pulled out his cigarettes. He lit two and handed one to Harry without a word, and the animagus grinned at him.

"Thanks." He nodded.

"Whatever you need." He said the words casually, but they had a much deeper meaning than sharing cancer sticks or offering hugs. They still sat close to each other, legs pressed together, and even though his arms weren't wrapped around the darker-skinned male, his tail still was. Moo didn't draw any attention to any of it, and he was grateful for that. They didn't speak, for a long while. At one point, Muhammad blew a smoke ring, and Harry manipulated his smoke into a bird shape and had it fly through the ring. He smiled and Moo rolled his eyes.

"Jotunheim agreed to the treaty."

"That's good."

"I met Loki's real mother." Moo looked at him, tilting his head. "She- she's odd, but nice. He has a younger sister too. I mistook her for a boy at first." The other wizard smirked. "Shut up."

"Didn't say anything."

"You were gonna." He snickered, and Harry waited a second after he'd stopped to continue. "He has two brothers too, but I didn't see them." He hesitated. "Odin told him before that he'd taken him from the temple. That Loki had been abandoned there because he was a runt..."

"I'm guessing the old fuck lied."

"Yea. I don't... I don't know if I should tell Loki. It isn't- I don't think he'll take it well, and he's only just now starting to get along with Thor and even talk to Odin again, and I-"

"That's not your call." His voice was hard, and Harry stopped short, looking at him. "It's his family." He said, an edge to his tone, as though that explained everything, and... It kind of did. "It's not your place to keep that from him, consequences be damned, Harry."

Harry was worried about how Loki would react. How upset or angry the knowledge would make him. He worried about fucking up all the progress that had been made in repairing the Liesmith's family ties. But... Well. Moo was right. Even if it fucked everything up (and Mitera but he prayed it didn't), he had a right to know the truth in this case.

"... Yea..." The Arab eyed him carefully for a minute, and then nodded sharply. They didn't speak again, just finished their cigarettes in silence. When they were done he hugged him again, quickly, and then moved to go to his room. He paused, eying the book on the floor. Then he picked it up and set it next to the other wizard without opening it. Muhammad watched him go without a word, a small frown on his face.

He found the twins once he got to his room, napping on his bed, and he kicked off his boots and took off his cloak, and then crawled and wiggled, pushed and pulled and maneuvered himself until he was squished up between them. They grunted a little. Fred opened his eyes blearily once and then threw an arm over him. It was warm, and comfortable, and he felt himself relax in the middle of them, soft furs beneath him.

For a little while, he locked everything away inside his mind, and let himself be at peace.

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That seemed like a good place to end this. I was nice and didn't leave you guys with a cliff-hanger this time, like I'm wont to do. I also didn't keep anyone waiting long about Farbauti and Harry realizing who she was and all that.

Interesting thing about the Laufey/Nal bit. In canon Norse mythology, firstly the genders of Loki's parents are switched. So Laufey is his mother and Farbauti is his father. I think we ended up with the switch in Marvel bc even many scholars got a little confused. Whereas most gods (and Norse of the time) carry their fathers' names, Loki often went by his mother's, being referred to as Laufeyson. This often led to the misconception that Laufey was his father rather than his mother. Besides that, Nal was another name for Laufey, and was used interchangeably when referring to her.

So I came up with the twin idea from that, almost scrapped it, but ended up loving it too much and so, here we are.

I've actually got a decent amount written already for the next chapter, so you can likely expect an update in 2 or 3 weeks or so. Idk about the chapter after that, but we'll see.

Questions? Concerns? Review please! I love reading through what you guys have to say!

Sincerely,

Mr. Hate