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

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Harry Potter and the Mask of Loki

Shit! Harry thought to himself, as he stared at the piece of wood Voldemort now held in one hand, his mind already taking in the full implications of what would happen now that Voldemort was the one who had the Mask in his possession, rather than one of the other dark wizards or witches in the Great Hall.

If it had been any of the other Death Eaters, Harry might have had a chance of taking it back during the inevitable fighting among the ranks that would have taken place. He strongly doubted that any other Death Eater, no matter how loyal they claimed to be, would have passed up the chance to possess something that could do what the Mask could do, and it would have inevitably caused a bit of a fight as the various Death Eaters tried to 'stake their claim' to the artefact in question.

But in the hands of Voldemort…

The chances of any of these guys acting directly against the 'Dark Lord' were slim to none, and Harry doubted he'd get his wand more than half-way up before he was taken down, so summoning it back was definitely not an option.

"Well well," Voldemort chuckled, as he studied the Mask before glancing up at Harry, a wicked-looking smile on his face. "So… it would appear that, as muggles say, the 'ball' is in my 'court', now, Harry."

Harry just shrugged, trying to sound more confident than he actually felt.

"Well, that's life, I guess," he said, indicating the Mask. "We can't always be sure how it'll turn out."

Even as he spoke, a small part of Harry's mind vaguely registered that there was no longer a battle going on behind him, but he refused to look around to check if his friends were all right; he wasn't going to back off from Voldemort at this moment. Besides, he could still hear the faint sounds of struggling, suggesting that the others were merely being held captive rather than killed.

Most likely Voldemort wanted to kill them in front of him to make it clear to Harry that he'd won their long conflict at last, but Harry didn't feel like thinking much about that; the only thing that mattered was that his friends stayed alive until he could come up with a way to get them all out of this.

"On the contrary, Harry," Voldemort replied, grinning slightly at the boy who had once been his downfall, "I always knew it would turn out this way. You are weak… pathetic… tainted by such pitiful traits as compassion and concern for those around you. How anyone thought you were meant to defeat me I will never understand; you could never have been ruthless enough to finish the job…"

Harry didn't bother to answer; he wasn't going to give Voldemort the satisfaction of knowing how much the so-called 'Dark Lord' was getting on his nerves with the current 'You're-nothing-more-than-an-insignificant-bug-to-me' speech, after all the times he'd stopped the bastard's plans already. He'd have his opportunity to strike back later- he was determined to achieve that much- but it wouldn't help him if he provoked Voldemort into a fight that he knew he couldn't win this time around.

Despite the severity of the situation now facing them, Harry allowed one corner of his mouth to quirk up in a smile as he reflected on that change in his personality since he'd acquired the Mask.

In the past, he might have responded to Voldemort's taunts anyway; he acknowledged that he was a bit… temperamental at times, no matter how much people sometimes seemed to depend on him to be a leader. But after his time in the Mask, when he'd seen what happened to people who lost their temper when they fought somebody else who had more power than them (Specifically, the fact that they always lost no matter what they tried), he was making more of an effort to stay silent.

He needed all of his remaining few allies- Ron, Hermione and Ginny- to be alive if they were going to pull this off and get out of whatever prison Voldemort intended to stick them in.

For a moment, the two old enemies just stood and stared at each other, each one looking reading and willing to attack the other at a moment's notice, the intensity in their gaze so great that even the most loyal Death Eaters took a few steps back at the sight before them…

Then Voldemort turned away, waving a hand at Harry and his friends.

"Take them to the dungeons," he said dismissively, as though he deemed Harry and his friends beneath his notice now. "I shall deal with them later."

As the Death Eaters began to forcibly march Harry towards the doors, he finally saw the others, and smiled in relief as he saw that all three of them seemed to be fine; Ron's nose was bleeding and Hermione had a cut on her forehead, but that aside the three of them seemed to be fine.

True, they were all glaring at him in a manner that suggested he was going to catch Hell from them for not telling them about the Mask, but Harry was fairly sure that he could live with that.

All that mattered right now was that his guess as to what Voldemort's actions would be at having him in his grasp were correct; evidently, Voldemort wanted to kill him in public, to make it 'clear' to the wizarding world that they'd been foolish to ever believe that Harry could defeat him.

From here on in, his objectives were threefold; help his friends to escape the dungeons (After, of course, answering any and all questions they had about his 'Mark' identity if he had the chance to do so without anybody overhearing him), take the Mask away from Voldemort, and then he'd make sure to deal with the bastard once and for all.

Everything after that…

Well, he'd deal with it when the time came.

As the four of them were forced down to the dungeons, Harry made every effort he could to memorise the path they were taking for when the four of them managed to get out. So far the Death Eaters hadn't bothered to search him for his wand- given his somewhat 'hot-headed' attitude before he got the Mask and managed to let off some steam, they evidently assumed he'd have tried to attack them already if he still had it- and the others had either already had their wands taken from them or they, like him, had concealed them. Harry hoped it was the former, but, given that a couple of the Death Eaters were holding wands he was fairly certain were Ron and Hermione's wands, he was betting it was the latter.

Great, he thought to himself, briefly making sure his wand was still safely tucked up his sleeve as he continued walking. What's the point in breaking out if I'm the only one who can do anything?

The thought had only just finished crossing his mind before two of the Death Eaters behind him grabbed his shoulders and shoved him into a nearby door. As he took a few extra steps into the room to avoid getting shoved by the others as they were shoved through the door, Harry noted, with no small degree of surprise at the irony of the situation, that they were in Snape's old classroom, although it was now totally empty of any of the potions equipment he was used to seeing. In some ways, he thought it an apt choice for a 'prison'; after all, it had pretty much been one back when it had been used by Snape.

"Might as well make yourselves comfortable, idiots!" one of the Death Eaters said, as Harry turned around to see Ron, Hermione and Ginny be shoved into the former classroom after him. "You should just be grateful that the Dark Lord has other matters to attend to than a bunch of idiotic students who actually thought that they could ever hope to defeat him on their own!"

Harry rolled his eyes; he wasn't sure whether this Death Eater was trying to disguise his own fear at how far they'd come, or actually believed all that crap he was sprouting, but if he thought they'd be intimidated by all that crap, he was going to be sadly disappointed. He briefly noted that Ron looked like he was going to say something to that, but fortunately Hermione grabbed his arm and shook her head slightly, prompting him to remain quiet for at least the moment.

"Pathetic!" another Death Eater yelled into the room, before the door was slammed shut. Harry vaguely heard someone continuing to speak as the even fainter sound of footsteps was heard (He was fairly sure he heard the words 'Mudblood-loving idiots' used, but couldn't be certain), but, before he could try and hear anything more, he heard the other three people moving around behind him, and knew that he had more immediate matters to be concerned with. He turned around, intending to start explaining as much as he could…

Only to be 'greeted' by a sharp slap in the face from Ginny, Ron and Hermione standing close behind her.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" Ginny yelled at him, tears of rage already on her cheeks as she glared at him. "YOU LIED TO ME! YOU SPENT ALL THAT TIME WITH ME AND LIED TO ME! HOW COULD YOU?!"

"Look, I know it looks bad, but-" Harry began, looking hopelessly at his friends.

"Looks bad?" Hermione interjected, staring critically at Harry. "Harry, you lied to us! You found something that could give you that much power, and you didn't even tell us! Do you even have any idea what it was when you were using it?"

"Actually, I did ask about what it was," Harry said, glaring at Hermione as he spoke, trying to ignore Ginny as she continued to look at him with an intensity that made him grateful wandless magic was limited to basic 'telekinesis'- as muggles would have described it as- at their age. If she'd been older, she might have hit him with her Bat Bogey Hex or worse, she seemed so angry with him.

Right now, however, he was pleased to see Hermione blink in surprise; it was good to know that he could still surprise her, even after all this time.

"Uh… how?" Ron said, deciding he might as well get a word in after a momentary silence settled over the room after Harry's last statement; Ginny still seemed to be fuming too much to trust herself to speak, and Hermione seemed to have been so shock at the idea of Harry doing independent research after all the trouble he had in school that she wasn't sure what to say.

"Well, I just apparated over to Hogwarts after the wedding and asked Professor Binns if he knew anything about something like the Mask," Harry explained, as he moved over to sit on a table, the better to be in a comfortable position as he continued talking. "He told me that it appeared to be the Mask of Loki, a magical artefact said to have been created by the Norse God of Mischief to spread chaos among mortals. When it's worn, it gives the user access to all of Loki's powers, but also releases… well, the parts of their personality that they don't normally show to the general public, as far as I could gather."

He paused for a moment, took a deep breath as he thought over what to say next, and then nodded as he came to a decision before looking back at the others. "I think it was that, more than anything else, that stopped me telling anyone; I just… well, wanted to enjoy the freedom the Mask gave me without anybody judging me."

"Judging you?" Hermione said, staring at Harry in confusion.

"OK, maybe that's not the right term to use; maybe I just… wanted to have something that nobody knew about for a change," Harry began to say, before he paused for a moment and then shook his head. "No, judging is definitely the right term."

"How?" Ron asked, his forehead furrowed as he tried to process what his best friend was talking about.

"Well…" Harry began, once again taking a deep breath, as though needing a moment to gather his thoughts, before he looked back at his friends. "It's like… well, everyone who meets me thinks of me as 'the Boy Who Lived' first, and they think of me as a boy second- and it's gotten even worse since the Daily Prophet started calling me the 'Chosen One'…"

"Oh…" Hermione said softly, her head nodding slightly as she took in what her friend had said. Ginny was still clearly fuming in rage at Harry for keeping something like this secret for so long, and Ron just looked as confused as he ever did, but Hermione was evidently pretty sure she could see where Harry was going with this.

"You're saying… when you were 'Mark', you didn't have to 'conform' to anybody's expectations?" she asked, looking uncertainly at Harry as she spoke.

"Exactly," Harry said, nodding in gratitude at his friend before turning to address Ron and Ginny as well. "I know you guys don't see me that way, but… well, it's still kind of how I feel at times. But Mark…"

He shrugged helplessly as he indicated himself with a broad gesture before looking back at his friends. "Nobody had any expectations of him; I could just be what I wanted to be."

"And you wanted to be a wild party animal?" Ginny said, speaking for the first time since Harry had started to explain, looking at him with a combination of uncertainty and surprise. "You've never shown any sign of that…"

Despite himself, Harry chuckled a little at that.

"Well, in all fairness, when would I have had the chance to show it?" he asked, looking at Ginny with a slight grin at the corners of his mouth. "I mean, in first year I was trying to adjust to this new world, second year there was the Chamber incident, dementors were all over the place in third year, the Triwizard Tournament took up all my time in fourth, and these last couple of years I've been more concerned with trying to cope with the war and schoolwork than actually allowing myself time to have fun. My time as Mark's been the first real opportunity I've had to just muck about, rather than worry about the fact that everybody- or, at least, some people; I know none of you would do something like that- are going to be 'judging me' for some crap or another…"

He shrugged slightly as he looked at the three of them. "Well, I just wanted to make the most of the opportunity to see how you reacted the that version of me."

For a moment, there was only silence in the room as the other three contemplated what Harry had told them, before Harry continued to speak again.

"I know that I lied to you all…" he said, looking apologetically around at his friends, "but… well, I guess I both thought it was safer keeping you in the dark about who he really was- if you just thought Mark was some guy with odd powers, nobody would try and attack you to get more information about him- and… and…"

"You wanted to continue enjoying the freedom Mark gave you to see how we'd react to him as Mark, rather than him as an aspect of you?" Hermione asked. Her expression, Harry was relieved to see, was neutral, rather than the out-and-out anger he'd expected her to show. Ron was in a similar state- although in his case it looked like he was still thinking over how he felt about the whole thing- and Ginny…

She was just looking at Harry silently, a thoughtful expression on her face, clearly trying to decide how she felt about everything that they had just learned.

Harry wasn't sure whether he should be concerned about that or not, but, right now, it was a relatively minor problem in the overall scheme of things; if they didn't get out soon, the odds were good that they'd be killed by Voldemort.

"Anyway," he said, clapping his hands together once as he looked around at the others, "we've got to get on with the important matters right now; we've got to get out of here and get the Mask away from Voldemort before he can do any damage with it. It might be possible for a group of wizards to defeat someone using it- it certainly was when I was wearing it- but I'd rather not take a chance that Voldemort will go down as fast as I did."

"And we're meant to get out of here, how?" Ron said, looking critically at his best friend. "They took our wands!"

"Correction," Harry said, smiling as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out his wand. "They took your wands; I hid mine away."

Ginny's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the wand Harry held in his hand.

"You… you hid your wand up your sleeve?" she said incredulously. "And nobody checked there?"

Harry shrugged.

"In a way, Mark's somewhat 'wild' influence actually had a positive effect on my temper without the Mask on; I'm not quite as… volatile… without it as I used to be," he said. Noting Hermione's slightly surprised expression as she looked at him, he shrugged. "What; you though I'd always be a hot-headed character who dives into the situation first and thinks later? People do change, Hermione."

"Uh… right…" Hermione said, looking at Harry in a manner that somehow managed to be both apologetic and sheepish. "I didn't mean to-"

"I was kidding," Harry said, smiling reassuringly at the girl he considered a sister before he turned back to the door of their 'cell' and raised his wand. "OK, as soon as I unlock that door, get ready to move; there's no way of knowing if there are guards outside the door or not…"

"Wait," Ron said, raising a hand as he stared at the door, walking forward slightly with one ear 'facing' the door as he walked.

"Something wrong?" Ginny asked, looking in concern at her brother.

"Maybe…" Ron muttered, as he looked back at his friends. "I might be wrong, but I think I just heard somebody fall down out there…"

"Fall down?" Hermione said, looking over at Ron in confusion. "Do you mean 'fall down' as in 'tripped'?"

"No… I'm pretty sure the guy wasn't walking when it happened…" Ron said, nodding slightly as though trying to encourage his memory of what he'd heard.

Now that Harry thought about it, he could hear the faintest sound of a fight going on out there himself; it wasn't all that audible through the thick door and walls, but, when you focused, you could definitely hear something going on out there.

Somebody was fighting with a guard out there.

"Shall we help out?" Ron asked, looking inquiringly back at Harry.

Harry looked at Ron with an expression that suggested he thought that his friend had practically grown an extra head.

"You have to ask?" he asked, indicating the door. "You know what they say, Ron; 'the enemy of my enemy of my friend'. Somebody out there's fighting with the Death Eaters; that's enough for me right now."

"Harry's right, Ron," Hermione said, looking over at Ron with a briefly critical gaze, as though frustrated at her new boyfriend's lack of knowledge about a basic thing like that, before she looked over at Harry. "Where do you want us?"

"All of you need to get behind me while I open the door," Harry said, jerking a thumb behind him as he raised his wand and began to move towards the door. "If there's something dangerous out there, I'm the one best suited to deal with the problem; you three aren't armed at the moment."

"Fair enough," Hermione said, as she moved to stand behind Harry, Ron and Ginny following her example. After a quick check over his shoulder to make sure they were all in position, Harry moved up the door, pointed his wand at the lock, and muttered "Alohamora!" under his breath. Instantly, the door was unlocked, and the four former prisoners dived out of their 'cell', ready and willing to help whoever it was that was currently fighting the Death Eaters…

Or, at least, they were willing to help up to the point when they saw who it was that was struggling with the Death Eater in question- specifically, a person who all of them knew and none of them particularly liked.

As the first one to see who they were dealing with, it almost automatically fell to Harry to voice the shock all four of them felt as they realised exactly who had apparently come to their 'rescue'.

"Wormtail?" Harry said, half to himself, as he stared at the small, rat-like human being who'd betrayed his parents and was currently rolling around on the ground, scratching and squeaking as the larger man he currently fought like the rat he'd spent twelve years as.

Whoever he'd been expecting to try and help him, he hadn't been expecting it to be that sucker.