"Half Blood Harry Potter"

By Loki Palmer

Author's Note: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Percy Jackson and all related demigods (with the exception of Loki) belong to Rick Riordan.

To all my fans, a Happy New Year 2016! Ah, a new year, new possibilities … and there will be a new President to elect this November. God help us all if that xenophobic bigot Donald Chump – er, I mean Trump – wins the Presidency of the United States … [shudders] Even J.K. Rowling said that he is WORSE than Voldemort … doesn't that say something?

Okay, so I noted a number of guesses on Professor Snape's parentage, so I guess I will have to answer the question within this chapter. I'm glad everyone has been enjoying the story so far, so here we go!

Chapter 28

The Slytherins made their way into their common room, where Professor Snape was there to greet them. "Welcome, Slytherins, to another year at Hogwarts. Contrary to what many people may think, this is not the House of the Dark Wizards – as much as some wizards, past and present, may try to perpetuate that stereotype – but it is the House of the Cunning and Ambitious. The Sorting Hat saw those qualities within your minds, thus, it Sorted you here. I would encourage you all to use your cunning and ambition for the good of the world. For those of you who may have an … inclination … to use your cunning and ambition for other purposes, heed my warning: our newcomers, Loki and Thalia, will make you wish you had not chosen the wrong side, and, should they take the extreme measure of killing you, nobody will weep for you, least of all myself."

"If my Father was still alive," said Draco, "you know he would hear about this ..."

"Your Father, Draco, is dead and, at this moment, he is suffering a heavy punishment in the Underworld for his crimes against humanity along with his fellow Death Eaters," said Loki, "so why should I give a rat's ass about him or how he should react, Daddy's Boy? You will be next to die if you don't watch yourself."

Draco's face reddened. "How dare you spew lies about my Father! He was a fine upstanding citizen!"

"On his last night, my friends and I found him and a number of Death Eaters torturing Muggles for sport!"

"He claimed Imperius! How could he be a Death Eater when the Dark Lord forced him?"

Loki's eyebrows raised. "Do you believe that Gorgon excrement? Voldemort chooses his followers to follow him of their own free will –"

"– You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!" said Thalia.

Remembering Hermione's words from the previous year was enough to spike Draco's anger to a volcanic level. "How DARE you speak to me in that tone!"

"Why don't you come at me, you whiny little Ferret bitch?"

Draco charged at her, but yelled in pain as she swung her fist at his nose and broke it for the second time in his life.

She grinned at Loki. "Hermione was right – that does feel good."

Professor Snape cleared his throat. "Crabbe, Goyle, take Malfoy up to the Hospital Wing before he injures himself any further. Any questions?" No questions came. "I declare this House meeting adjourned. Have a nice sleep. Loki, Thalia, come with me into my office."

In Professor Snape's office, they could see a woman waiting for them. "Dearest Loki," she said, "it has been a long while since I have seen you in the Underworld."

"Good evening, Lady Persephone," he said as he smelled her aura of spring flowers. "You must be Professor Snape's Mother."

She nodded. "Not all demigods have had a happy life, Loki, and Severus Snape has had a sad life so far. Your Father was so cross with Me when I gave birth to Severus that He cursed Tobias Snape with nightmares. Over the course of time, Tobias Snape turned into an alcoholic, since it seemed to help soften the blow of these nightmares, yet alcohol was to be his cause of death a year before Severus came to Hogwarts. He fell in love with Lily Evans, who lived nearby, and while she thought of him as a close friend, she did not requite his love and their friendship broke apart, not just because of the turf war with James Potter – the Big Guy in a mortal disguise – but also because of the friends he had, like Malfoy, Mulciber, and Avery."

Loki could sense the sorrow within Professor Snape. "Professor Snape … the prophecy extract you delivered to Voldemort … it was not a real prophecy … the gods had to draw out Voldemort one way or another."

"The sorrow of Lily's death weighs on me, Loki. I may not have cast the Killing Curse at her, but I pointed Voldemort in her direction by giving him that prophecy extract. I went to the Headmaster, and he agreed to protect her and James, but the proposed protection failed … she died … I placed two Galleons upon her eyes, in accordance with the funeral rite, and I sensed her spirit crossing over the Styx. Loki, your Father later came to me with an offer, which was this: in payment for the Thunderer saving my life all those years ago from a raging Remus Lupin, I would do my best to protect His son when he arrived at Hogwarts. In exchange, the Lord of the Underworld would remove my Dark Mark. As painful as receiving the Dark Mark could be, it was more painful to remove it. To ensure that I could keep my promise, the gods commanded me to swear it on the Styx. So far, thank the gods, I have kept my promise."

Loki nodded. Rare indeed were the occasions when a person broke an oath on the Styx, but the consequences were too terrifying to imagine, much less to describe.

"What of Igor Karkaroff?"

"The least I know about him was that he exposed the identity of Barty Crouch Jr. as a Death Eater, much to the elder Crouch's shame. I do not know if your Father struck a deal with him also, but that would be his story to tell, not mine."

"I would rather not ask him and take your word for it, Professor Snape," said Thalia. "In spite of any such redemption, he seems sour and unpleasant."

"I agree," said Loki. "There is no need to bring up painful memories with him. Why did you seem so scared when Thalia and I joined Slytherin House?"

"I was scared for the future of Slytherin House … scared that if you two joined, it would become a flaming ash heap of corpses before the year was over."

Loki smirked. "A flaming ash heap of corpses? I may have slaughtered the Death Eater inmates of Azkaban before my Father reclaimed it for the Underworld, but you fear I may do the same to these students?"

Professor Snape did not bat an eyelash. "Yes. The gods alone know what terrors you could unleash upon your fellow Housemates, not to mention the rest of your schoolmates."

"Oh, we doubt whether we would kill them, but if they should cross either me or Thalia, we will ensure they will sleep with the night light on full blast, screaming for Mummy in their beds:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
Loki's wrath far away to keep;
If Loki the Terror should come to call,
I admit, it will be my fault ..."

Professor Snape said, "Quite. Now I shall show you to your bedchamber, and I wish you both a peaceful night." As he left them, he said, "Gods help us … gods help us all ..."

~HALF BLOOD HARRY POTTER~

Hermione was the first to see Loki and Thalia as they appeared in the Great Hall the next morning.

"Θεοι αθανατοι, what happened to the both of you? At least you are wearing robes, thank the gods, but it seems all too obvious to me that you wanted to christen your new Hogwarts bed as soon as possible, and you got yourselves stuck in that position. What happened, Thalia? Did he mistake the superglue for lube? No, wait; the Terrible Twins must have replaced the lube with superglue …"

Looking at Thalia's wide eyes, she said, "Living for three years around them in Gryffindor gives you an idea of how they work ..."

Loki fought to keep his cool. "Milady Hermione, though I am not one for butt spelunking, the rear end being a one way exit ..."

"Butt spelunking? Oh, that's nasty!" said Dean Thomas.

Loki grinned. "... thank you for that impressive imitation of Cleveland Brown, Dean … a little extra lube doesn't hurt, now, does it?"

"Well ..." she said, her face blushing, "I don't think it should … how about I show you where the Hospital Wing is? Madam Pomfrey should be able to fix that right up ..."

"By the way, where is Harry?"

"He is catching up on some sleep. That was a long journey from the United States, after all."

As they left, Percy wrote a letter,

"Dear Grover,

It looks like the Prank War between Loki and the Terrible Twins of Gryffindor has begun, and they hit him south of the belt line ..."

Author's Note: Another fun chapter! Read and review!

Smiles and laughter,

Loki Palmer