To Bridge the Gaps
Author's Foreword:
I own nothing. All rights for recognizable characters from Harry Potter go to J. K. Rowling and all rights for recognizable characters from the Magnus Chase books go to Rick Riordan. I'm just playing in their sandboxes.
This story is a companion to my previous story, "Like a Phoenix from the Ashes", but you don't have to have read it to understand this one. They occur concurrently to one another. See the end for more notes.
Now, on with the story!
2 May, 1998, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland
"Avada Kedavra!" cried a Death Eater who somehow retained their mask, as I was shielding Demelza Robins from what I thought was a bone breaker curse sent by another of their lot and with a flash of green light I died. I felt nothing as my soul was magically propelled from my body.
I think I went into shock for a moment as I tried to deny the truth, but the evidence was right there in front of me. A crumpled heap with a head of wild, mousey hair. Demelza had just received reinforcements from Oliver Wood and Neville Longbottom, but my body lay there still on the ground.
"Hey kiddo, that was some showing!" said a voice behind me. I whipped around and there was a girl, maybe two years older than me, dressed in armour with long bushy red hair. She had green eyes and freckles across her cheeks and she was also four inches taller than me. What really blew my mind though, was not the fact that she was talking to me when I was clearly dead, but that from her back sprouted two huge wings of white feathers.
"Valkyrie, will you be claiming this one?" Asked a surprisingly kind male voice as another individual made themselves known, this one with honey gold skin, black hair that shimmered with blue and purple, and who wore bronze plate armour in the ancient Greek style. He also had great, black, feathered wings which he now tucked behind him.
The valkyrie performed a curtsy to the newcomer and said, "Lord Thanatos! It's an honor. This land was once soaked in Norse blood and so Odin has sent me and a few sisters to seek out warriors for Valhalla, pardon my asking Lord, but why has this mortal garnered the attention of Lord Pluto?"
"Colin Creevey here is a legacy of Hecate. Though the family's powers have not manifested in many a-generation. All that fight here, do so by the goddesses power over the Mist." Thanatos said. He was still smiling, patient in a way only the dead can be.
"Colin, I would offer you a choice then. Come with me and be reborn in Valhalla, or leave with Lord Thanatos to be judged and find rest in the Greek Underworld." said the Valkyrie.
I was bewildered and in shock. In spite of what some said of me, due in part to my hero worship of Harry Potter, I wasn't stupid. These two had made it plain that I had a choice of afterlives! My stepmother had taught me of the Norse Gods as a child when I had gone through a Viking phase, but she had always spoken of it as myth, to learn now that Odin wanted me for the Viking afterlife? This was either a very strange dream, or the best death I could imagine! Of course I was going to choose the Norse way, my Gryffindor pride would accept no other.
"Lord Thanatos," I said with some trepidation in my voice; I was, after all, talking to a god, "I thank you for the offer, but I'd like to respectfully decline." Then I lowered my head and with sorrow I said, "but if any of my kin are there, can you please tell them I love them?"
A hand gently cupped my chin and lifted my gaze to lock eyes with the god before me.
"I will. Be strong Colin, and fight hard." He then gave me a pat on the shoulder, and I got the impression that he was proud of me for some reason. He took a step back, nodded to the Valkyrie who I realized was blushing, and with a mighty sweep of his black wings rose into the air and was gone.
The Valkyrie seemed to need a moment, as I thought I saw her mouth "I just met Thanatos!" I realized she was fangirling over the Greek god we had just met. A moment later she shook it off. I looked around me briefly as soon as the God of death had gone. The fighting had stopped and the defenders were congregating within the castle. I felt a hand on my shoulder again, this time smaller and more feminine. "Time to go, Colin." said the white winged girl who wrapped an arm around my back under my shoulder and lifted me into the air.
"Goodbye... everyone." I whispered to the wind as we flew away, as a strange mix of pride in my accomplishments on behalf of the survivors, and sorrow at perhaps never seeing them again closed in on me like a warm blanket.
We flew up into the clouds as a misty fog rolled in all around us. The fatigue seemed to catch up with me and I closed my eyes as unconsciousness swallowed me whole.
When consciousness finally caught back up with me I awoke laying on the ground. The first thing that registered was that, unlike previous times when I had slept on the ground while camping with my dad and Dennis, I wasn't sore. In fact I felt fantastic! I rose to my feet and began a quick pat down to ensure I still had my things. I was delighted to find that while my clothes were the same as those I had worn during the battle at Hogwarts, they were not only brand new, but I also had my wand. I drew it and kept it ready like I had once seen Harry Potter do during DA meetings.
I started looking around at the ground and then gradually outward. I noticed that I was standing in the entry courtyard of an imposing eight-storey building. There was a limestone wall that rose four and a half metres high but no street exit, just the courtyard and an entrance ahead of me. The building was only slightly more modern looking than Hogwarts, built of imposing grey marble and white limestone. It had a large wooden double door, similar to some of the large side entrances at Hogwarts, but it was adorned with a large knocker in the shape of a wolf's head on each door.
In one corner of the courtyard there was a very large birch tree, or I believed it was birch except the leaves were a glittery gold. It made me wonder if it was a magical tree. For the first time in what would be many times that day I wished I had my camera. The beauty of the tree begged to be captured to film and photograph, but alas, I didn't have my camera, nor had I brought it to Hogwarts that day.
There was a plaque on the limestone wall by the tree with a message inscribed in both the Elder Futhark runes I had learned in the Study of Ancient Runes class and in English. It read:
Welcome to the Grove of Glasir.
No Soliciting. No loitering.
Hotel Deliveries: Please use the Niflheim Entrance.
Suddenly I heard a noise coming from the doorway. The doors themselves swung inward with almost no sound and a golden light spilled out across the entrance. In the doorway appeared a burly man dressed in a doorman's uniform: top hat, white gloves and a dark green jacket with tails and the interlocking letters HV embroidered on the lapel. His face was smeared with ashes, his beard looked to be trying to rival that of Professor Hagrid the Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures instructor and resident Half-Giant, his eyes looked bloodshot and at his belt hung a double-bladed axe. His name tag read: Hunding, Saxony, Valued Team Member since 749 C.E.
At the sound from the doorway I had swung myself around into a dueling stance and cast a protego charm. The doorman didn't seem impressed. He scowled and shuffled up to me. He smelled of burnt meat and acrid potion ingredients.
"New arrival then. Come along, I'll show you to registration." He said.
"Er, registration? Is this Valhalla sir?" I asked, confused as to why I would need to register for my afterlife.
"Aye, this is the Hotel Valhalla, you check in, and don't check out 'till Ragnarok." He declared. "Now follow me."
I followed him into the foyer. The space was enormous. The foyer alone was larger than the great hall at Hogwarts, and I realized that the doorway I had entered was either an illusion, or this hotel was under a monstrously large space expansion charm. The floor was covered in animal hides; I recognized a zebra, a lion and then got excited when I realized that they had skinned a dragon at some point! Against the right wall there was a fireplace large enough for seven people to floo without bumping elbows, with a fire crackling merrily within. In front of it were some Hogwarts aged folks in fluffy green housecoats lounging on leather couches that wouldn't have been out of place in the Gryffindor common room. Above the mantle was an enormous stuffed wolf's head. Columns of rough hewn logs held up the ceiling which had spears for rafters and the walls were adorned with shields. Light seemed to radiate from everywhere, a warm golden glow that immediately made me think that some magic was being used because otherwise you would need a forest of floating torches to light a space so big.
In the middle of the foyer there was a freestanding sign that declared a list of the day's activities; I was a little surprised and shocked that they all said "to the death!" including swim lessons and bowling!
Hunding asked if I had any luggage, but I indicated that I doubted I would be receiving the traditional Norse send off, but that it was possible some people would send a few things along on my pyre when they got around to it. I told him that when I died the battle had not yet been decided but that I was confident it would end with my side the victors. Hunding guffawed at my faith but otherwise didn't say anymore, only indicating that if luggage did show up it would be sent up to my room.
The next hour was a blur, I met the manager whose name was Helgi, got registered and was told I was being upgraded to a suite! I was then led to my room by Hunding. I was told that I was now one of the einherjar, pronounced in-HAIR-yar, an einherji, singular pronounced in-HAIR-yee, the chosen of Odin to fight alongside the gods at Ragnarok. We took an elevator and I noticed that the hallways seemed empty. I was told that the others on my floor, floor 17, were busy with full army combat to the death on floor 15 and that I would meet them at dinner.
When I was shown to my room with a plaque on the door that read "Colin Creevey" I once again felt the weight of all that had happened. I will admit that I didn't take in the details of my room as Hunding let me inside and showed me where the bed was. As soon as he had left, after warning me that my Valkyrie would be by to bring me to dinner, I crashed on my bed and slept like, well, like the dead.
When I awoke I was alone in a large bed in a strange room. I was lying atop the covers, dressed in the same clothes I had worn when I joined the battle. I had been in hiding from the magical world since September but when the call went out on the DA coins I knew I couldn't live with myself if I didn't fight to ensure that Dennis and I, along with all the other muggle-born witches and wizards had a place in the wizarding world. As a result I was dressed in a light blue polo shirt, beige jumper and blue jeans.
I looked around the room. I was laying atop a duvet covered, four-poster bed. The covers on which I lay were a deep burgundy with flaxen colored griffons darting about. The frame of the four poster bed looked like dark stained mahogany with curtains of deep crimson. The decor of the room reminded me of Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts, but at the same time was most definitely different. For one, everything looked new, from the bed to the massive chest of drawers and the wardrobe, to the carpet under foot. Nothing was in disrepair at Hogwarts per say, magic ensured that, but everything looked worn and well loved in the castle, this was decidedly different. Still, I found it to be a welcoming space and hoped I would get the chance to thank whoever had done this for me.
I got up and began to explore. My bedroom had two doors, one leading to a large bathroom that reminded me of a smaller version of the prefect's bath, and the other to a receiving/living room. There I found a massive fireplace, bookshelves, and a minibar, not to mention several squashy chairs that again looked like brand new versions of the seating in the common room of Gryffindor Tower. There were a few potted plants, one which I recalled as being a plant I had enjoyed caring for in my third year Herbology class, and then, to my delight I found everything I could want to continue my passion for photography, including a dark room with state-of-the-art cauldrons used to make the potions that brought wizarding photos to life.
On the mantle and in tastefully arranged spots on the walls were framed photographs I had taken over the years. My father and brother Denis, the giant squid of Hogwarts waving tentacles lazily through the air, a quidditch match where Harry Potter and the Gryffindor team beat the Slytherin team and won the Quidditch Cup.
Tears welled up in my eyes and my breath began to come in short gasps. I collapsed into a chair, curled up into a ball and cried for all that I had left behind. I may have been the one who died, but I needed to mourn the loss of all I had yet known that at the time I believed I would never see again.
I woke again to the sound of knocking. I realized that I had fallen asleep again while I had my good cry and had no idea how long I had been curled up in the chair. I rose to my feet and called out, "Coming, just a sec. Please!"
I got up and answered the door. As I opened it I was greeted by the same young woman who had met me on the battlefield.
"Hello Colin, may I come in?" she asked. I opened the door wide and gestured for her to do so. She walked in and began to immediately admire what she saw.
"The suites are decorated to fit each new einherji as they arrive. They're not necessarily unique, but they certainly become so as each individual leaves their mark on them." She told me. She then looked at the photography equipment and asked if I was any good. I told her that somehow the prints on the walls were ones I had taken over the years. She was in awe of the pictures from Hogwarts.
"There was a really strong illusion spell up so I didn't really get to see the castle the way you captured it in these photos, what was the significance of it anyways? Was it your home?" She asked me.
"No, not my home. It's a boarding school for wizards and witches. You must understand that the wizarding world lives in fear of the non-magical one, fear that if they are found out it could be a return to the witch trials of the eighteenth century. The illusion spell you sensed is there to protect the site from non-magicals." I decided to explain.
"Well, you're going to be presented to all the other einherjar at the meal tonight, not to mention the Thanes, are you ready or do you want to change first?" She asked.
I indicated that I hadn't any luggage as Hunding had said, but she suggested looking in the wardrobe regardless because just like the photos, some personal effects magically appear in the room over time. I took her advice and was glad I did. I don't know where it came from but there was a fine wizard's robe with dragonhide armor stitched on, and a wizard's hat. Both were burgundy with gold trim reminding me vaguely of the house quidditch team robes that Harry Potter had always worn at game time. She left me in my room while I changed, as I did I even discovered a wand holster that went on the wand arm! I dressed myself like the hit wizards from the ministry and then went back out into my suite's lounge as I was coming to think of it.
"Woah, that's cool! Why weren't you wearing that on the battlefield?" she asked.
"I never owned anything like this before. This is professional dark wizard hunting garb. I feel a little ridiculous, honestly." I told her with a timid voice.
"Now, none of that. You may not have looked like a warrior, but I saw how you fought! You belong here! My only concern is if the Thanes will make a fuss about you wielding a magic wand instead of a blade or club." she replied.
"Well, only one way to find out." and with that we set out.
We walked out into the hallway and I closed the door with "Colin Creevey" marked on a brass plate. She led me the way I had come earlier with Hunding. The ceiling on floor seventeen was six meters high, lined with spears for rafters. Torches burned in iron sconces that reminded me a little of Hogwarts, especially since they produced no smoke. There were wall displays of tapestries, shields and swords and the floor was covered in a rich, crimson carpet with tree-branch designs that swayed gently.
As we walked I learned that her name was Skye, that she was from Scotland, lived a normal mortal, non-magical life most of the time but when Odin called she took to the skies as his chosen handmaiden. I told her a little more about the battle she had witnessed, why it had taken place and for whom we had all been fighting.
I then had a thought, "Skye, do you know if Harry Potter died today?"
"I'm sorry Colin, I don't. I brought you, there may have been others that my sister Valkyries brought, and we'll hear about them at the feast, but remember that Thanatos was there too. There will be plenty who go on to the Greco-Roman afterlife." she told me.
Silently I prayed to whatever gods could hear me that my friends had lived, while a traitorous part of my mind insisted on thinking of how awesome it would be if I was not the only one here.
My hallmates seemed to be gathering at the elevator in order to go down as a group, we caught up with them and they all turned to look at us.
Skye then offered to do introductions. There were two young men and two young women.
All four looked to be about my age, and that was where the similarities ended. A scowling girl wearing a green dress with bushy brown hair that reminded me of Hermione Granger and green eyes like Harry Potter's was introduced first as Delma Mac Bradai. Next to her was a smiling lad as big as Greg Goyle had been with short golden hair and sky blue eyes wearing a bright blue tunic with a khaki colored, flak vest and combat boots named Gulbrand Koryson. Next to him was Todd Sawyer, a boy with red, curly hair, more freckles than a Weasley and a guarded look as he looked me up and down. He was wearing a World War 1 soldier's helmet and khaki uniform coat. Lastly I was introduced to Niyati Lal, a beautiful girl of obvious Hindi descent with straight, blue-black hair tied back in a ponytail and chocolate eyes. She was dressed in modern muggle clothes, blue jeans and a pink blouse, but at her belt were two daggers in open sheaths and she was wearing steel-toed boots.
Niyati tried to break the ice as we got on the elevator. "Colin, where are you from?" I was enchanted by her American accent.
"I'm from London, what about you?" I replied.
"Boston. My dad immigrated from India after studying at M.I.T. and my mom is American." She told me.
We made further small talk in which she asked me questions about my combat prowess, what kind of fighting experience I had, as well as what other forms of combat I might want to learn.
"The Hotel has resources to learn just about anything!" she enthused, "I've been here for three years now and I have since completed highschool and begun learning engineering like my dad. I'm also taking courses in military strategy."
I was about to speculate on whether or not I'd be able to complete the studies I had been doing for the last five or six years, but the elevator came to a smooth halt, dinged, and the doors opened.
We joined the others who were streaming into a huge stadium that I realized was where we would be eating tonight. It was massive, making me think of the concert hall my father took me to when I was younger. It had a hundred different doors with young warriors pouring from each. Curved tables were set on tiers around the hall. There was a roasting pit at one end and a table of honor at the other. In the middle was a truly massive tree, taller than Big Ben! The first branches were 30 meters up from the roots, and the tallest scraped the ceiling or escaped from a circular hole in the ceiling. There was water streaming from somewhere in its branches collecting in an olympic sized pool below.
My new hall mates sat at a table set with gold plates and jeweled goblets, but Skye motioned me forward and down towards the table of honor below situated where the home team keeper would be on a footie pitch. There was a table reserved to the left of the Table of Honor for newbies like me.
"Skye!" called a large girl who would have made Millicent Bulstrode nervous. She looked to be about Hermione Granger's age, eighteen or so, had snow-blond hair in braids down either shoulder and pale-blue eyes like the sky in winter. She wore a forest green dress and a bandolier of hammers with a hammer shaped pendant on a chain around her neck.
"Hello Gunilla! Any other newcomers tonight?" Skye replied.
"No, not among this age group at least. I haven't checked with our sisters who are serving the adults yet." She replied.
Skye motioned to me and made introductions. "Colin, this is Captain Gunilla of the Valkyries, my immediate superior and daughter of Thor. Gunilla, this newcomer is Colin Creevey, a Viking descendant, a legacy of the Greek goddess Hecate and fallen hero of the Battle of Hogwarts where he was defending his school from being overrun by dark wizards!"
Gunilla seemed both surprised and delighted. "A wand waver? And Hogwarts, did you say? My, my, we haven't had a student of Hogwarts join the einherji in a long time. Well met Colin." She said, offering her hand. I took it and she nearly broke it with her firm, but mercifully quick, handshake. I managed not to wince, and she smirked at me, with an evil glint of mischief in her eye.
We sat down and I realized that the table to our right had filled. Skye explained to me that the older einherji who sat there were the thanes, Odin's chosen commanders if you will, and in the throne sat a large scarred man with a military buzz cut wearing an eye-patch and a green polo shirt with the letters 'HV' on the breast. This man, I was told, was Odin himself.
Soon hundreds of Valkyrie were flying about the place serving food from the strange beast being roasted on the 'away side' of the hall or serving mead from a large vat that was bubbling away on a fire in that same direction.
The food was amazing. Sliced meat roasted to perfection and drizzled in gravy, potatoes on the side and thick, freshly-baked slices of bread with butter. The mead was brilliant as well, it seemed to warm me right up and I felt as if someone had hit me with a low powered cheering charm. Everyone was boisterously talking to their neighbors and I was suddenly hit with a pang of nostalgia for the feasts at Hogwarts. I took another long sip from the mead, no use getting weepy in front of this lot.
Soon we had eaten and the thanes began banging their cups on the table in unison. All around us the einherjar took up the rhythm with their own goblets until the Hall of the Slain sounded like the inside of an enormous drum. Helgi, the hotel manager, stood and after receiving a brief nod from Odin raised his cup in the air and the whole place fell to echoing silence.
"Warriors!" The manager's voice boomed as if he had cast a sonorus charm on himself. "We are joined by a new fallen this day, and we celebrate him. We will now hear his deeds proclaimed before Odin and this entire Hall. Let the presentation of the dead commence!"
Skye rose and walked in front of what I was beginning to think of as the head table. She stood before Odin and performed a military bow before turning and gesturing for me to join her.
"Colin Creevey!" Helgi bellowed to the crowd of nearly ten thousand warrior teens. Skye cleared her throat and began to speak and I once again wondered if it was being magically projected.
"This young man had been told to flee the site of an impending battle by his older classmates and teachers but he snuck back because his own sense of honor demanded that he stay and fight for his comrades!" the crowd roared its appreciation for that. "He is both a descendant of Vikings in Ireland and a legacy of the Greek goddess of magic, he is a wizard!" There were some surprised mutterings at this proclamation and I had the thought that it was weird knowing that I could practise magic freely here among these powerful muggle warriors without fear of the Statute of Secrecy or threat of death. Skye continued, "As such, he and his fellows were arrayed against an army of wizards, werewolves and several lesser Jotuns! The enemy wished to subjugate or exterminate wizards who were not of their older bloodlines, but born of new blood. Their leader was a madman who hated all but feared death above all and sought to make himself all powerful and immortal. This self proclaimed Dark Lord was dishonorable, ruling even his own forces through fear and hate. Should they have won Colin's family, friends and all those like him would have been as good as dead. In the heat of the battle I watched him fight against superior numbers, then shield a fellow warrior maiden preserving her life before being cut down by magic." Her voice then changed to one of awe, "I was first to him, but I was not the only force of death who came to claim him. Thanatos himself offered Colin a place in Elysium for his heroic death, but Colin could not deny his Viking blood! I swear to you all, Colin had the choice, and he chose Valhalla!" she screamed this last part and the crowd went berserk as they roared their approval of my choice.
The thanes behind me had a quick discussion, there seemed to be some issue at first but then I heard the god among them and suddenly they were all quieting down. Helgi straightened and said, "We find Colin Creevey worthy of Valhalla!" I released the breath I hadn't even realized I was holding, and immediately felt light headed with relief. They wouldn't send me back, but had I not been worthy...
Meanwhile the applause was deafening and Skye simply waved to the crowd, Gunilla was standing to the side nearby and when I glanced at her she gave me a nod and a smile.
When it at last died down, Helgi addressed me again, "Colin Creevey, do you know your parentage?"
Suddenly my father came to mind, and my step-mother. A secret I had never divulged to anyone at Hogwarts was that Dennis was actually my half-brother. I had never known my mother.
"I, er, I know my father to be Erik Creevey, but I have never known my mother." I admitted.
"That is not uncommon, we will seek wisdom from the runes unless the All-Father wishes to intercede?" Helgi said, and suddenly everyone was looking to the All-Father himself. Odin smiled at me but waved a gesture to Helgi to continue. Helgi then called for a vala.
Between the roots of the tree a giant bubble formed and quickly erupted. POOSH! Revealing in its place three women shrouded in white. The Hall was silent with amazement. I heard Skye gasp, look at me with alarm and whisper, "the Norns."
"Skye, who are the Norns?" I asked as the three figures seemed to glide towards us. "They are the goddesses who control fate." she replied quietly.
As they approached I was intimidated by how tall they were. They were each three meters tall, with beautiful but blank white faces under their white hoods. It was like someone had animated three beautiful statues, but everything about them screamed of alien power. They stopped about six or seven meters from us and turned their palms up. The skin of their arms and hands looked white as fresh skimmed cream.
Colin Creevey. I heard the voice, or thought I did, but couldn't tell which of the Norns had spoken. The voice seemed soft, but it was clear that it carried to everyone present. Seidrmann.
I suddenly realized I had my wand in hand, but I waited to see what would happen next. From above the hands of the middle one a mist seemed to coalesce and from it appeared a half dozen white runestones. She threw them into the air where they levitated and grew large enough that everyone in attendance could see the runes they held. The first five spelled a name, Idun.
The Norns began to speak.
Varangian, seidrmann and demigod,
A gap to bridge as yet untrod,
A cause to fight for a long lost friend,
Death to save, A life to end.
With that pronouncement they bowed as one in my direction and I didn't know if it was for me or for the All-Father. They and their runes then dissolved into mist.
You could have heard a pin drop, then a gruff voice behind me, Odin the All-Father, said, "Well, Colin Creevey, son of Idun, Rejoice! I think we can expect great things from you!" and the hall once again burst into applause.
14 years later
I walked into the lounge on floor seventeen to the sounds of an argument.
"I won't ask it of him and that's final Gulbrand!" screamed the petite form of Niyati Lal. She was flushed with rage as she stood in front of the burly Viking who was a head taller than her and looking cross.
"Why not? Floor nineteen have themselves a healer now, why can't we get Wizard to do healing spells for us too?" Gulbrand Koryson asked for what must have been the third time at least based on how angry my girlfriend looked.
I decided I needed to save Gulbrand before he got himself gutted. "Gulbrand, my healing is based primarily on potions that speed up the natural processes. My mother is a goddess who cultivates and distributes the Apples of Youth, she doesn't do the actual healing. Besides, why suffer through healing potions when I can just vaporize your head and you'll be good as new tomorrow?"
The others, that is, Todd Sawyer and Delma Mac Bradai, laughed at that statement.
Niyati turned to me, stepped into my arms and put her head on my shoulder. "See," she said, "It's not a matter of him not wanting to, it's just not what he's good for."
"And what am I good for?" I asked her playfully.
"Blowing things up of course!" Todd proclaimed with a laugh.
"And a whole lot more too." Niyati whispered as her hand, quickly and briefly, groped my rear.
"Oi, I saw that! Both of you, take that behavior back to your room, you two reprobates!" Delma said.
We were a team now. We had been fighting and dying in Hotel Valhalla for fourteen years as just the five of us. Every day we fought, bled and died, only to be restored healthy and whole in our beds.
I had been in Hotel Valhalla for twice as long as I had attended Hogwarts, I had spent the time when I was not dying, learning. I had completed my magical learning, having the equivalent of a NEWT in Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. I had also learned the Dark Arts, and Alchemy. The Dark Arts because they were very good at killing things, and Alchemy because it was a further branch of Potions and I had nothing better to do that year. I had also completed my mundane education, earning the equivalent of a degree in Applied Sciences. I had honed my photography skills, and this year I had begun attending Arts and Crafts... to the Death.
Most Einherji now called me Wizard. I regularly wore combat robes made from the leather of magical beasts, like dragons, basilisks or nundus. I was the only legacy of Hecate I had yet met or heard of who still practiced the mixed magical arts of the Wizarding World. What's that you're asking? What are the Mixed Magical Arts? Well, I knew more about the history of Magic now than even old Cuthbert Binns! The magic taught at Hogwarts was actually an amalgamation of arts passed on from the Ancient Egyptian Magicians, the Ancient Greek goddess Hecate and her progeny of demi-gods, and the runes and magic of Odin and Loki.
You see, up until only very recently the children of Hecate sired by mortals were not welcome among the other Greek demi-gods. They were left to fend for themselves while being hunted by the monsters of Ancient Greek legend. Those that survived learned to harness the powers to manipulate reality which was their birthright from their mother goddess. The magic they manipulated and the monsters they fought were naturally hidden from the mundane world by something called the Mist. It clouded the minds of mortals into seeing only what they would believe, rather than what was real. The Mist acted as a sort of natural Statute of Secrecy, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Children of demi-gods are known as legacies, and these will often inherit special powers from the demi-god parent. The so-called "pure-bloods" are families who inherited some of these traits and passed them down through the generations. The Muggleborn, such as myself, were still descendants of Hecate, but our gift had been lost until an influx of divine blood was added to the mix. Maybe they were demi-gods like myself, maybe it was two lost lines converging and reigniting the powers lying dormant in our genes, but in each case at least one parent was a descendant of a demi-god child of Hecate.
These legacies created the Wizarding World and learned magic wherever they found it. Ancient Egyptian Magicians were individuals chosen from the bloodlines of the Pharaohs who could not only wield magic but could also learn to host an Egyptian god. They wielded magic with wands made of ivory and when the Ptolemaic Dynasty took power, Greek legacies of Hecate learned that a wand could boost the magic in older, dying bloodlines, and so they adopted the practice for themselves. When the Romans came to the British Isles those legacies of Hecate were faced with Seidermen, magic wielders whose powers came from Odin or Loki, Giants who had settled in Midgard in spite of Thor's efforts and even the Ancient Elves of Alfheim. I learned that Metamorphmagi were descendants of Loki, Animagi had come from the native American tribes and the Ancient Egyptian Magicians, and that everything I had been taught about the origins of magic was wrong.
I had broken my fast for the morning before joining my hallmates. Today there would be wargames and we spent an hour discussing strategy. Well, that's wrong. We spent an hour having Niyati try to tell us her new plan while Gulbrand kept interjecting and then squabbling with Delma.
Suddenly the sound of a deep horn reverberated through the hall. That was the signal that the wargames would be commencing. We all gathered our favorite weapons, Gulbrand his bonesteel sword, Todd his Lewis .303 machine gun that I had magicked to have neverending ammunition, Delma her bow and bonesteel knife and Niyati her twin daggers.
Arriving on the correct floor we exited into the hotel's battlefield. This was a central courtyard that was big enough to fit a large city. It had rolling hills, wooded areas and even a few small villages of huts. This was the battlefield upon which we trained when fighting as a group. Hundreds of einherji were pouring from entrances all around the perimeter while more than twenty floors above us catapults fired down on us. I quickly transfigured several rocks into warhorses and we took off to the north-east. Niyati and I shared a horse, she held the reins while I cast spell after spell as cover fire, occasionally joined by the staccato sound of gunfire from Todd.
Suddenly a berserking Viking leapt into our midst, hacking at the forelegs of our steeds sending Niyati and I flying from our mount. The transfiguration became a rock again, tumbling across the uneven ground, while the Indian girl and I tumbled but quickly returned to a fighting stance. Fiery haired Delma was attempting to shank the berserker, while he was engaged with our golden haired son of Tyr, Gulbrand. Todd rushed to our position like the foxhole veteran he was as I fired off a hominem revelio spell to try and track this guy's hallmates.
There were four more heading in our direction. "Four incoming at seven o'clock Gulbrand!" I yelled as we turned to see the newcomers. One was a fiery haired Irish girl wielding twin daggers, one was a skinny looking guy wearing the most eye-watering combination of pink and green I think I'd seen since Albus Dumbledore's Easter Feast robes in my second year at Hogwarts, a dark skinned guy in some kind of old American soldier uniform carrying a bayonet and the last was a guy with shaggy blond hair and a sword. I immediately cursed, of course we'd meet up with Chase and his group from floor nineteen first, this was going to suck.
I immediately moved to engage the garrote-wielding, shapeshifting, child of Loki. Alex Fiero must have recognized me at the same time because they immediately transformed into something small and furry that disappeared into the grass. I knew what was coming. I only made the mistake of thinking the argr was trying to hide once previously and that time Alex had changed form right under my feet from a ferret to human before relieving my head from my shoulders. I took only a second to ensure my friends were either beside or behind me before flicking my wand to where I thought the ferret would be and screaming "Fiendfyre!"
Before the cursed flames reached their target a bat took off out of the way. My cursed flames had taken the form of a lindworm, and I drove its face into the ground before I forcibly ended the spell. Panting from the exertion I was nearly caught as the garrote swung around my neck, but I apparated out of the way and began casting spells in the direction of where I had just been. But spells were like colorful arrows to this lot and not one landed a hit.
"Come on Wizard, you know you're no match for me!" cackled the child of Loki.
"You're right, I'm nowhere near as much a loser as you!" I returned before casting a spell that conjured a flock of ravens to attack.
Alex Fiero was one of the few einherjar I struggled to kill. The argr was fast, constantly changing form, and utterly unpredictable. As the ravens flew through the space they had just been standing in, Alex took the form of a massive anaconda. I shrunk back immediately, flashing back to when I was eleven years old and had come across the basilisk at Hogwarts, if I hadn't tried to photograph it I would have died as the lens of the camera ensured that I was petrified instead. Suddenly the anaconda screeched as one of Niyeti's knives was suddenly lodged in its brain, followed by the despairing gasp of my girlfriend as she was likely impaled.
I whirled around to see Magnus Chase pulling his sword from my girlfriend's body with a shocked look on his face. I remembered that he was a terrible fighter, better at healing wounds than inflicting them without that flying, talking sword of his, but somehow he had gotten the better of our indian strategist. I was suddenly seeing red, and for the first time in this battle I believed I could cast the killing curse.
"Avada-" but I never finished, as at that exact moment, with a whistling sound, a massive, fiery boulder impacted between us, killing me instantly.
We made a point of sitting with Chase and his group at supper that night.
"So can anyone use magic like you do?" Alex asked.
"No, not just anyone. I can do magic because my dad is a distant descendant of a Greek goddess." I told him. I was expecting him to scoff at me but instead he nudged Magnus roughly and said, "Hey, Colin's got ties to the Greeks like your cousin Magnus!"
Magnus suddenly stared at me like I had grown a second head, "I thought you were a son of Idun?" He asked accusingly.
"I am, but me da' is a distant descendant of Hecate the Greek goddess of magic. Her legacies have created their own subculture they call the Wizarding World and work hard to keep themselves hidden. What's your cousin's connection?"
"Annabeth is a daughter of Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom. Of course I only found out after I died; all because we all seem to be hiding from mortals and each other." he said.
I then began explaining what I knew about what was out there, the Greeks, the Ancient Egyptians and the influences that the magicians and vala had on the magic I had been taught.
Suddenly a raven dropped a parchment scroll on my head. Before I could move Niyati, who was sitting on my other side from Alex and Magnus, swooped down and scooped it up. She handed it to me with a look that said that if I kept this a secret from her she would keep my boyfriend privileges from me. A battle hardened einherji I may be, but that look sent an uncomfortable shock to the bottom of my stomach. I examined the parchment. It was very soft, like vellum, and was sealed with Odin's rune. I cracked the wax seal and opened the missive, quickly taking in its contents.
"It's a summons. Odin says he needs to speak to me and that I'm to meet him immediately after the meal." I looked down at the table where Odin usually sat at meal times but he was absent. This wasn't the first time he'd seemingly disappeared, but it was the first time I'd ever been summoned to his office.
"Well, glad it's you and not me." Alex quipped with an unrepentant grin.
After the meal I cornered Hunding and asked for directions to Odin's office. He led me there himself and wished me good luck as I knocked on the door.
"Come in!" came Odin's gruff voice. I entered and stood at attention.
He looked up at me with his one good eye and studied me for a moment before breaking into a grim looking smile and saying, "At ease! Take a seat Colin Creevey."
I did as he said before he continued, "I was pulled away from my latest project by the Norns today. They gave a prophecy I think you should hear."
The All-Father pulled a bowl with a large laguz rune carved in it. He placed one finger on the rune and another to his temple. As he did so the bowl began to fill with a glittering, pearlescent liquid. After a few seconds, responding to some signal only he felt, the king of Asgard removed his hands from his head and from the bowl. He pushed it slightly closer to me along his desk and suddenly three miniature Norns began to rise from the surface of the liquid. I knew at once that what I was looking at was an original pensieve, and that this was a recording of Odin's own memory.
They stood side by side, exactly as they had the day I had arrived here fourteen years ago. Then they began to speak with that same otherworldly voice that seemed to reach right into my brain.
Three whose power sustains the world,
Whose blood has mixed since times untold,
Ignored these seeds from which now springs,
A seven-part soul's ultimate reckoning...
Having flown from death a second time,
It seeks to crown itself divine,
Three realms below to overthrow,
Three thrones in one to bring Dead woe.
To stop the shattering of the Pact,
No less than seven will have to act,
A god of death who walks the earth,
His magician consort since his rebirth,
A legacy of trickster and wolf,
A dead wizard who can bridge the gulf,
The King of Ghosts,
The Queen of Hearts,
Whose differences need not keep them apart, and
A daughter of the magic goddess
who looks upon her seed with kindness.
Each shall heed the ancient call,
Lest Death's forces once more stall,
A war resume like none since seen,
And not Death but Chaos reign Supreme.
And with that said the memory ended. Their voices had jogged the memory of their last prophecy concerning me and brought it to the fore:
Varangian, seidrmann and demigod,
A gap to bridge as yet untrod,
A cause to fight for a long lost friend,
Death to save, A life to end.
Varangian was the Viking name for the Ancient Greeks and seidrmann was the title given to male magic users. A wizard who bridges the gulf, a gap to bridge? Was I finally going to learn what this gap was? Todd had once claimed it was Ginungigap but I had disagreed, now I wondered if my task was to bring the seven together, after all, weren't we just discussing at supper how all the pantheons tended to keep segregated, but wasn't I proof that they were still mixing regardless?
Almost as if he could read my thoughts Odin said, "Yes Colin, you will be the bridge that allows the others to gather. Hel has gone missing, and she must be restored before Samhain or else the souls of the dishonored dead will begin to wander out into the other nine realms."
"Any idea who the others are?" I asked.
"I only know of one. A legacy of Loki on his mother's side and a member of your Wizarding World. His father was a lycanthrope who you once studied under." he replied.
"That would be Lupin then. Does that mean I can go back?" I asked.
"It means you must. Helgi and Hunding will get you what supplies you need, mortal money and whatnot, but I must warn you: if you die beyond Valhalla there is no coming back. Becoming an einherjar can only be bestowed once." He told me solemnly.
I was dismissed shortly after. I made my way back to my suite of rooms in a bit of a daze. I would be going back. I would be looking for the child of professor Lupin. And suddenly I was as giddy with excitement as my first day at Hogwarts as I realized: I was going to see Harry Potter!
Author's Notes:
And there you have it. This story introduces one of the seven I imagined in an epic cross-over between Rick Riordan's stories and the Harry Potter Wizarding World. If you enjoyed this, I'd love to hear from you. This is also un-beta'd so any mistakes are my own. I don't have a beta right now, but am open to working with others on this.