In the Minister's office Kingsley's secretary - new, thought Hermione - rose to greet them. "Prince Loki, Princess Hermione, welcome to the Ministry for Magic. The Minister sends his apologies, he is caught on an urgent Floo call with an international counterpart. Please take a seat, can I get you some tea – coffee?" Hermione accepted a cup of tea, Loki simply asked for a glass of water. He was strung out enough, he didn't need to add caffeine to the mix. Beside, his mouth was dry with nerves. He sat in Kingsley's waiting room, taking deep breaths and trying to keep himself calm and focussed. Understanding, Hermione took his hand comfortingly in hers, leaning her head momentarily against his shoulder.
"Are you alright?" She kept her voice low, unwilling to share her conversation with Kingsley's secretary.
He wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer. "I am now"
The big oak door opened, revealing Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Hermione, Prince Loki, I apologise for keeping you waiting. The French Minister for Magic..." He shook his head, leaving them in no doubt of his opinion of his French counterpart. Hermione and Loki rose from the sofa, but Kinsley waved for Hermione to finish her tea first. When they were finally ready, the small group proceeded to Gringotts via Kingsley's private floo.
Stepping out of the fireplace, Hermione was shocked to realise that they had arrived not in the great hall, but straight into the office of the Head Goblin, who had left his desk to greet them.
"Welcome to Gringotts Bank Minister, you are most welcome."
The Minister inclined his head slightly. "Good morning. May I introduce Loki, Prince of Asgard, and his wife Princess Hermione." The Head Goblin bowed very respectfully to Loki, but Hermione received only a nod of the head and a hard stare.
The Head Goblin turned slightly to acknowledge a second, slightly younger Goblin that stepped forward carrying a number of roles of parchment. "Ah, Grishak. Please place the parchments on the table and ensure that we are not disturbed.
The three visitors stood around the large table, while the Head Goblin carefully unrolled the parchments. "Please be very careful, some of these parchments are very fragile. It would be better if you didn't touch them more than necessary."
Kingsley stepped back, to give Loki and Hermione full access. A series of drawings showed a black metal casket, deep, rectangular, probably two feet by one foot by one foot. A twisted metal handle was set into both ends, and a complicated pattern of knotwork decorated the sides. On a separate parchment were details of each side of the casket, showing the engraving, and a small number of what were clearly runes, although not anything that Hermione recognised.
Beside her, Loki drew in his breath. "This isn't possible."
"Loki, can you read these runes?"
"The runes – no, they're probably nonsense designed to confuse people. But the engravings, yes."
"The engravings. But they're just knots and patterns"
Loki smiled, slightly smugly. "To you, maybe, to me they tell a very different story... Normally I would use an enlargement spell, but as the parchment is very fragile..." he turned back to the Head Goblin. "Do you have a magnifying glass by any chance?"
The Goblin disappeared out of the office, and returned a few moments later carrying a glass that looked absurdly large in his hands. He handed it to Loki with a small bow, before forgetting his dignity so far as to climb on one of the chairs to enable him to see better. Loki pored over the drawings with the glass muttering under his breath. Eventually he straightened and turned to Hermione.
"Can you duplicate these? It would probably be safer."
Kingsley looked puzzled. "Can't you do it?"
"I could, but using a wand means that Hermione can focus less power more precisely, which lessens the chance of causing any damage in the process. I've tried a wand, but it just doesn't work. I spent a whole afternoon in Olivander's once. Nothing. Not a single wand wanted anything to do with me." Without even looking up he added. "Hermione, whatever you're thinking, don't say it. Just reproduce... no scrap that... replicate. Please?"
With a smirk that was starting to look eerily familiar to Kingsley, Hermione took out her wand.
"Gemino!"
Once the scrolls had all been replicated, the originals were taken away by the assistant goblin and the copies were spread out over the table.
"Right," Loki's long fingers danced over the scrolls. "See this knot here, this is the symbol of the Royal House of Asgard. This to the right, with the twist, is the symbol of the King of Asgard, Bor Burison, my Grandfather, and this symbol here is for his Queen, Bestia, who was, I was interested to find out, a Frost Giant. If Odin hadn't been dead when I found this out, I think I would have killed him myself. Fucking Hypocrite...! Oh I beg your pardon gentlemen. It's a very long story, and you'd have to at least buy me a couple of drinks first. Ow!"
Hermione elbowed him sharply in the ribs "Focus Loki! We're on the clock with Thor remember"
"Slave driver." He was silent for a moment. "This knot here is the symbol of the king to be, in this case my affectionate and beloved foster father Odin."
So we have my grandparents, my father and Asgard, in a pattern which appears to be repeated on both sides. At each end is the traditional depiction of Yggdrasil, the tree of life. Do we have a picture of the lid?"
The Head Goblin rummaged in the piles of paper, finally producing a smaller scrap of parchment that had evaded their notice. Loki looked at it closely, his face paling, eyes suddenly intent.
"We need to go down to the vault now, then I must go straight back to Asgard." He turned back to the Head Goblin. "May I take these copies with me please?"
The Head Goblin bowed his assent, before ushering them out of his office, pausing only to shed the cloaks that had covered their muggle jumpers and jeans, Loki and Hermione followed him, with Kingsley bringing up the rear.
Loki had little trouble with the vaults initially. The terrifying, bone shaking ride into the bottom of the modern vault system was sufficient to thoroughly distract him with straightforward concerns for his and Hermione's survival. When they alighted from the cart however, he couldn't help looking around at the damp rocky walls, with trepidation. He tried to focus on the mystery, on the reassurance of Hermione's hand in his, but as if to compound the issue, he could hear a small trickle of water in the distance. The great weight of rock was pressing above him, and he was aware of a cold trickle of panic running down his back. When he realised that they were heading for a narrow niche in the rocks, leading to a tight twisting staircase his heart sank further.
To Loki, it seemed that the steep descent to the lowest levels took forever, and all the time he was fighting the conviction that the walls and ceiling were closing in on him. Finally, they reached the bottom. It was unpleasant down there, but not as bad as the staircase had been. Loki took a few grateful breaths.
Then he felt it.
He turned to Hermione, eyes wide, all fears forgotten. "Do you feel that?"
She frowned, focusing hard. "Possibly – maybe?" She turned to her right. "Down there somewhere. It's like – a tingle in my head, and it isn't pleasant. Whatever is down here is dark, really dark."
Casting lumos with her wand, she followed the small figure of the Head Goblin down the path, until he came to a plain unmarked rock face. He ran a long bony finger, down the door, his nails scraping against the rock in a way that made Hermione shudder.
When the rough rock door swung reluctantly open, it hit Loki like a runaway horse. The power of this thing. Dark, twisted, ancient beyond even the comprehension of the oldest Asgardian, more ancient even than the earth beneath their feet.
And powerful. Once upon a time Loki would have given everything he owned for such power. But not anymore. Now the idea of whatever had been in here in the hands of unscrupulous witches or wizards unknown, terrified him
What had his grandparents put here? What evil had they unwittingly unleashed on Midgard?