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Chapter 18

Back at the jet, Pepper was waiting anxiously for the return of the team. Her arms were wrapped around herself as she waited, worried for the safety of her daughter. She wanted her back, safe and sound. She was one step away from walking off the jet, and heading for the location that Jade was being kept at and helping in any way possible. She felt useless right now. And she didn't like feeling useless when it came to her daughter's safety.

The sound of engines reached her ears and she looked up, and met the eyes of Agent Coulson. She stood, and hurried to the door of the quinjet. It was opened just in time for her to see the cars pulling up, and the Avengers that were able to fly, landing. Tony hovered by the steps.

"Tony, how is she?"

"Hank's seeing her. When I left her, she was unconscious, but alive. She's going to be fine, Pep. And you'll never guess who helped out."

"Go take the suit off." Pepper said, before hurrying down the steps to the others. She quickly located Steve and Hank. Steve was carrying Jade, and Hank was beside him, he seemed to be finished checking her over.

"How is she?" She asked them, rushing to them, and placing a hand on Jade's forehead, feeling the heat of Jade's skin surprised her.

"She used up a lot of energy. What should be a simple cold is worse because of it, but I don't see why she shouldn't be fine in the end. It's lucky she didn't use her mutant abilities until there was someone there to get her out, or we may have lost her." Hank said. It was true. Had Jade resorted to her mutation earlier, then, yes, she may have taken out a fair few of the Death Eaters, but there would be others still at hand to complete the ritual, and she wouldn't have been able to do anything to get herself out of that situation and away to safety like she had actually done.

Pepper held her arms out, and Steve handed Jade to her. She was surprised that she was still able to carry Jade. But yet again, she'd never fully recovered from the Dursley's and hence, was still quite small. The addition of another person to the group however, surprised her.

"When did Loki show up?"

"In the battle." Steve said.

"More like in the slaughter." Hawkeye said, joining them. "Of the group that were there, most are now dead or severely incapacitated."

"He helped with getting Jade out of there." Steve said.

Pepper started up the steps, just as Tony reappeared at the top, once more in a suit shirt and trousers. He met her halfway, and took Jade from her. Hank, Steve and Clint followed them onto the jet, while the others remained, trying to get the Hulk to calm down. He looked like he wanted to go back and make sure the Death Eaters were all pounded into the ground.

"Hulk, we need you to calm down!" Susan called. "We have to get Jade home, we can't do that if you don't calm down."

It took several similar attempts to calm him, as well as the several times Hulk almost hit several of them flying in anger.

"Jade is safe now! She's fine! She just needs rest!" Fury called. "Please just calm down!"

Slowly, the Hulk started to shrink, until eventually, he was Bruce, once again. When Bruce was back to normal, Fury turned towards Loki.

"Now what I want to know, is why you decided to help out for once. And how you knew what was happening."

"You really didn't think that Jade managed to get such good control over her dream walking abilities, without a tutor, did you?" Loki asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"You taught her?" Thor asked his brother, surprised.

"I did. And over the years, I grew rather fond of her. I wasn't about to ignore when she called out for help."

"She called you? When?" Fury asked.

"I believe just after she'd been tortured." Loki said. "I dealt with the Death Eater appropriately."

The way he said it left them confident that the death eater had died a slow and painful death, but none of them wanted to ask exactly what had happened to him. In reality, it was similar to what Loki had done to the others, except he'd placed a spell on the mortal to keep him alive longer. He'd be in that state for a couple of years with no reprieve until the spell wore off and allowed his heart to give out. And no one else could kill him and put him out of his misery either.

Loki was allowed on the jet with the others, but until the jet was coasting, no one asked him any further questions. He'd sat himself opposite Pepper and Tony, the latter of which was still holding an unconscious Jade. Thor was beside him.

"So, how long have you been in contact with my daughter?" Tony finally asked.

"Since she was seven. I was very surprised when I saw a mortal child in the middle of Jotenheim. I believe it was the first place she'd ever dream walked to."

"So, you've been teaching her?"

Loki nodded. "I have. Not just about her dream walking, but some magic as well."

Tony and Pepper exchanged a glance. "Thor I think I know how she changed your hair and beard pink!" Tony said, laughing.

Loki grinned. "Pink? That must have suited you, Thor."

Thor muttered something about bad influences and looked like he was one word away from punching Loki, but he refrained.

"What I want to know, is how she ended up in that situation in the first place." Loki said.

"She was taken from her school when she went flying. She was near the perimeter of the school, but hadn't flown over the boundaries. We believe someone lowered the wards for some reason or another."

"She went to Hogwarts then?" Loki frowned. "That in itself was a bad idea. People claim it is the safest place to be, but it is in fact, one of the most dangerous. Especially with who's in charge."

"You knew it was dangerous for her?" Tony asked, eyes narrowing.

"Jade never told me where she was going to school. I assumed it was to Salem, or perhaps home schooling." Loki said. "Do not let her return."

"We aren't planning on it." Pepper said.

"You said you've been teaching her magic- what sort?" Tony asked.

"I managed to convince her it was the wandless version of what she'd learn at Hogwarts. What it really is was some Asguardian Mysticism, which is more subtle. I believe, that that is what she is always doing. She seems to be able to perform the magic the same way a mortal wizard would, but it is simply her magic responding to her will to be like that, at least, I think it is. Somewhere along the line, probably her mother's side of the family, she probably has a demi-god ancestor. I would be surprised if she did not. But if she does, her ancestor would have to be so far back, that no one would be able to sense her connection to the gods."

"Wouldn't something like that have come up on the test Nargol had her take?" Pepper asked Tony.

"That only showed her parents. No one further along the line." Tony shook his head.

"You'll have to find out who her ancestor is then. The chances are, that the full god or goddess that is her ancestor won't take much of an interest in her, but, we may be able to aid her with her powers to a better extent if we know who it was that allowed her this power in the first place." Thor said.

"Looks like we'll be heading for Salem Alley again sometime soon to see the goblins then." Tony said.

"Is it safe to take her back into the Wizarding world?" Pepper asked.

"What else do you suggest?" Tony asked.

"I have an idea." Fury said. "How about Jade uses her abilities to change her appearance, and then someone else escorts her to the area? All the while, we'll have people stationed around, in case something goes wrong."

Tony and Pepper looked at each other, and nodded. Tony met Fury's eye, and his eyes flicked to Loki, and then to the briefing room at the back of the jet. Fury nodded. He looked at Loki.

"There's something that might interest you."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Well, considering it holds information on the death of just about everyone on this jet, including you, I'd have thought you would want to see it."

"Now you've caught my interest." Loki said, standing.

Fury led him to the briefing room to show him the recording and Tony looked down at Jade. "She is so grounded when she's recovered."

None of them knew that the results of the tests would be shocking.

Dumbledore surveyed the area regretfully. So many lives lost. And they could have been saved, had the Order simply gotten there first. Something had to be done about this. He had to stop the ones who did this, and get Jade back under his control so the light would not lose this war. It was all for the Greater Good, after all.

"Albus, we have him."

Dumbledore looked round to see Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt approaching him, a weak looking Sirius Black between them.

"Ah, Sirius! It's good to see you. Such a shame what happened!" Dumbledore said. "I am terribly sorry about this miscarriage of justice. An old man's folly, you understand."

"Dumbledore." Sirius replied curtly. "Where's Jade?"

"We aren't entirely sure. She went missing from Hogwarts on Halloween. We tracked her to here, and found this massacre. We are confident though, that whoever has her now has not killed her, yet."

"More Death Eaters?"

"We believe not. We think that this was the work of muggle's with powers that we had no knowledge they could possess. We do not know why they are interested in Jade, but we will find out."

"You had better find her soon, Dumbledore. Or I'll search for her myself." Sirius said, his eyes narrowed, distrusting. But Dumbledore was confident he could soon earn Sirius' trust once again.

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