Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this version of the Mask belongs to New Line Cinemas; I'm just using them for this story.
Feedback: I'd appreciate it, believe me
Kaladelia Undomiel (1): Unfortunately, there isn't going to be much, if any, treachery; just because LOKI was evil doesn't mean that anyone wearing the MASK will be evil as well
Darklight: Thanks for that; here you are
XyBulmaXy: Ask and ye shall receive
Shinigami: It's more a case of it lets out the part of him that LIKES the attention he gets, but at the same time wants to get it for being HIMSELF, hence the alias 'Mark Tiller'. Oh, and trust me, not only will certain Ministry members get a little taste of the Mask, but Snape is going to have one VERY bizarre meeting with that guy…
Sean Malloy-1: Well, sorry, but he won't be going after either of those guys unless he has to; Mark's priorities are simply to destroy the Horcruxes and then take out Voldemort (With maybe a couple of little fun moments thrown in for good measure
Dumbledork: It's just be the movie version; for one thing, I know it a lot better than the comics
Nightwing 509: Thanks for that; I was worried that my portrayal of Harry's inner self wouldn't be believable
Kaladelia Undomiel (2): It doesn't say it in the first movie, but the Mask's origins are explored more thoroughly in 'Son of the Mask'. Regarding the invisibility cloak… good point; it's been corrected now
Harry Potter and the Mask of Loki
A few minutes later, Harry found himself standing in the main entrance hall of Hogwarts, staring at the Mask in his hands, wondering what he should do next.
A mask that gave him the power of a God…
If that didn't give him the edge over Voldemort in a fight, what would?
Then his face fell as he remembered that, when he'd tried it on this morning, nothing had happened. Maybe the Mask was a strictly one-use-only artefact- you used it once and then couldn't use it again- and he'd already wasted his use of it last night…
Then he frowned as a though occurred to him. He hadn't paid attention to every little detail of Binns' speech- he'd been more focusing on the points about what the Mask actually did rather than how it had been made- but hadn't Binns mentioned something about Loki being a Norse night god? Maybe the Mask only worked at night…
It makes as much sense as anything, Harry thought to himself, as he looked down at the Mask in his hands as he leaned back against a nearby wall to give himself a more comfortable position to think.
The question was, what would he do now? After all, with the power of a god, the task of destroying the remaining Horcruxes would probably be an easy one, but how should he actually use it?
Should he tell the others about it…?
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, however, than Harry was shaking it off; it was too risky for anyone else to know about this Mask right now. If Voldemort discovered what it could do, he'd only be even more determined to target the others and use them to try and take the Mask for himself.
Besides, how would he explain having not told them who he really was at the party last night?
No, his best bet was to use the Mask in secret…
He sighed, as the next thought crossed his mind.
And that means going it alone.
He'd been prepared for that all along, of course- it had been what he'd been originally planning, after all- but still… to have to leave the closest thing to a real family he'd ever had, even if only for a time…
It was still a bit of a blow. After all, he may have insisted they not join him at the Dursleys' for the month or so after Hogwarts had finished, but that was only because he didn't want them to have to put up with his relatives unless absolutely necessary; he'd still been planning to search for the Horcruxes with them when it was needed…
But, with this new change in the situation, secrecy was ever more paramount.
He couldn't risk it.
He smiled slightly as he looked down at the Mask in his hands; at least, with this, he probably wouldn't need any help in tracking the Horcruxes down. After all, the power of a god against the power of a mere wizard? Not much of a contest, was it?
Then the smile faded, and he slipped the Mask back into his robes. Before he did anything, he just had one or two last bits of business to attend to…
"'Arry?" Hagrid said, as he saw his friend standing in the Great Hall, as though thinking about something. He'd finished giving Dumbledore's tomb its daily clean- he knew it was excessive, but Hagrid felt he owed that much to his old friend- and had come back just to see how Harry was getting on. "You alrigh'?"
"Mmm?" Harry said, looking over at Hagrid briefly before nodding. "Oh… yeah… yeah, I'm fine."
Then a thought occurred to him, and he looked at Hagrid curiously again. "Can I ask you something about your schooldays?"
Hagrid blinked in surprise.
He hadn't been expecting that. Apart from the incidents in their second and fourth years, with the Chamber of Secrets and Rita Skeeter's article, Harry and the others had never really expressed an interest in his past. Of course, he'd generally assumed that it was just because they could tell that it wasn't something he wanted to discuss a great deal, and hadn't really worried much about it, but to have Harry asking now…
"Uh… sure," he said, looking at his young friend curiously. "What d' ye want ter know?"
Harry looked over at Hagrid, a slight edge of apprehension in his eyes.
"I'll understand if you don't know or don't want to tell me…" he said, and then swallowed again. "But I need to know if you the location of the orphanage where Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up."
Hagrid froze.
"Tom… Tom Riddle?" he said, looking at Harry in surprise and more than a slight degree of confusion. "'Arry, why'd yer want ter know that? Don't yer know…"
"What he became?" Harry asked, looking back at Hagrid quizzically. When Hagrid nodded, he continued. "Yeah, I know he went on to become Voldemort; that's part of the reason I want to know. You see…"
He sighed, weighing up the consequences of his next words, before deciding he might as well say what he had to say; after all, Hagrid had a right to know the truth.
"Voldemort made some Horcruxes before he tried to kill me, and I think one of them might be hidden there," he said.
Harry had done quite a bit of thinking over his time at the Dursleys, and had come to the conclusion that Voldemort must have hidden his other two Horcruxes (The locket having been moved and Nagini staying with him on a permanent basis) somewhere related to his childhood.
After all, the ring had been hidden away in the house where Voldemort's mother had lived, and, before it had been moved by R.A.B., whoever he was, the locket had been kept in a cave where Voldemort had trapped some children when he was younger. Why should he have broken from tradition with his last two Horcruxes? If nothing else, concealing them in locations 'important' to him when he was younger would make it hard for anyone to find them unless they knew something about his past, and how many people even knew Voldemort's real name?
"Hor… Horcruxes?" Hagrid said, staring at Harry in horror. "But… but they're…"
"I know," Harry said, swallowing slightly at the memory; even after over a month, it was still hard to forget the memories of that terrible night. "That's what Dumbledore and I were doing the night he died; we were trying to track one of them down."
He looked Hagrid in the eye again. "Can you tell me where the orphanage was? It's the only place I can think of where he might have hidden another horcrux."
Hagrid swallowed nervously, and then nodded.
Ron opened his eyes, sat sharply up, and then instantly collapsed to the ground as blinding pain tore briefly through his skull.
"Damn…" he muttered to himself, as he sat up again, this time a bit slower. "I have got to watch how much I drink…"
He looked over at Harry's bed…
And instantly sat up at the sight before him.
The bed was empty. It bore signs of having been slept in, true, but the person who had been sleeping in it was now conspicuous by his absence; even the trunk beside it had vanished!
"What the…?" Ron said, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and getting up to look at it better, trying desperately to ignore his already-receding headache. "What the hell…?"
Then his eyes fell on an envelope lying in the centre of the bed, with just three names on it.
Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.
Ron picked it up and headed for the door; the girls had to see this.
"Wait a minute; Harry's gone?" Ginny said, staring at her brother incredulously. "What do you mean, he's gone?"
"I mean he isn't in his room, his stuff's been taken away, there's no sign of a struggle, and he left this note for us," Ron said, indicating the envelope in his hands as he tried not to focus on the sight of Hermione in a dressing-gown; as nice as it was, they had more immediate things to focus on.
Taking the note from Ron, Ginny stared at it for a moment or two, and then indicated her bed.
"Shall we read it?" she asked, raising an enquiring eyebrow.
The other two nodded, and Ginny sat down on the bed and tore the letter open. As the other two sat down beside her, she began to read.
Dear Ginny, Ron, and Hermione,
If you're reading this, then you'll probably be wondering where I am. I'd like to say that I'll be fine, but, in all honesty, I can't guarantee that I will be.
I'm going after the horcruxes on my own. Ginny, I'm sorry I never told you about them; I just didn't want to ruin any moments that I shared with you by talking about something like them. Ask Ron and Hermione; they'll tell you what I mean.
To Ron and Hermione, I know I agreed to go after them with you, but I can't ask any of you to risk your lives for my sake; I've already lost my parents, my godfather, and the closest thing I've ever had to a grandfather because they were trying to protect me.
I can't lose you three as well.
Ron, Hermione, I want you both to know that, to me, you shall always be the sister and brother I never had when I was growing up. You were there for me in a way that nobody was when I was a child, and I'm grateful for that.
And Ginny…
What can I say that would be adequate? You were the only girl I have ever loved; regardless of what people such as Rita Skeeter may say about me, I inherited my father's taste for red-haired woman, and I fell for the most incredible one I have ever met.
Those few weeks I spent with you were the happiest of my life, and, if I come back, I just hope you'll be prepared to accept me back…
But, in the meantime, do one thing for me; live your life. Have fun. Don't spend your time pining for a man who may not make it.
I'll come and see you all, if I can, but right now, I'm going after the first horcrux; if all goes well, I'll find some way to let you know.
If you don't hear from me within a week, then it's up to you three to destroy them once and for all.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter.
Ginny stared over at Ron and Hermione, tears in the corner of her eyes as she looked at them.
"He… he didn't tell me something?" she asked, looking at her brother and her friend as though seeking a denial.
When none came, she collapsed back onto the bed, rolled over onto her stomach, and began to cry.
"Um… Ginny?" Ron said, turning to look at his sister, placing a hand on her shoulder as he spoke. "What's… er… wrong?"
"What do you think?" Ginny said, her voice slightly muffled by the bedsheets as she continued to cry. "He didn't tell me something, but he told you two? I was his bloody girlfriend, for crying out loud; couldn't he have been honest with me if something was bothering him!"
"Ginny…" Hermione said, placing her own hand on Ginny's other shoulder. "He didn't want to keep a secret from you; it was just that… well, he knew you still got uncomfortable talking about the diary incident directly… and this kind of relates to that…"
"Yeah, exactly," Ron said, nodding at Hermione's words as he looked down at his sister, her sobs becoming less loud as she began to calm down. "I mean, look, if you were him, you were dating someone, and you'd learned about something relating to the guy who's been trying to kill ever since you met him, but you didn't think it would have any affect on you and the person you were dating… would you have told them?"
He tightened his grip on Ginny's shoulder as he spoke, trying to make sure she understood what he was telling her.
"He did trust you, Gin," he said to her. "He just didn't want to spoil your time together by talking about… about V-Voldemort."
A few more moments passed in silence; Ron wasn't quite able to believe he'd just said Voldemort's name, Hermione was surprised that Ron had said the name, and Ginny was just gradually trying to get her sobs under control.
Eventually, Ginny turned around to look back at Ron, and smiled.
"You got over it, then?" she said, smiling slightly even though her eyes were still wet with tears.
Ron shrugged.
"Yeah, well… with you three saying it, I was beginning to feel like the odd one out," he said casually. Then he looked back at Ginny, and smiled slightly. "So, you OK about Harry's little omission?"
Ginny smiled back, and gave Ron a brief hug.
"I think I'll let him off," she said, smiling slightly.
If he's there at the end of this mess… she thought briefly, but shook it off; this wasn't the time for thoughts like that.
Outside the hotel, the sunlight already starting to sink from the sky, Harry stood on the opposite side of the road, now dressed in a more inconspicuous outfit of blue jeans and a blue-and-cream checked shirt, his trunk shrunk down to a size that it could fit into his pocket, his wand in a 'holster' on his leg, and the Mask clutched in his right hand.
A part of him was tempted to go in and see how everyone was, but he was worried that, if he tried that, he'd never be able to leave, Voldemort and the fate of the world be damned…
No; the letter would have to suffice for now.
Right now, he had an orphanage to visit.
Taking a deep breath, his grip tightening on the Mask, Harry Disapparated…