An Earthborn Asgardian
This is a Harry Potter, The Avengers Crossover by Kefalion aka. Frida. This is a story with focus on Harry Potter and Loki, but also on the relation between the wizards of earth and the Asgardians. This is Loki/Harry.
As you very well know I don't own the plot or the characters that you recognize.
Part 6: The Range
Words: 3 794
"Loki's… What?" Pepper stammered, looking to the other people in the room for confirmation to what Tony just had said, it was such a strange notion that she wasn't certain if she was to believe him.
"'tis true, Lady Pepper," said Thor, "this man and my brother are romantically engaged."
"Eh," Harry said, bringing back attention to himself, he was blushing a little bit, at the same time he looked determined. "I… I actually came here for a reason. And you Mr. Stark have kept me from giving my proper respects long enough." He walked around Tony and approached Thor. As he walked his clothing transformed, the magical glow making the Avengers tense as it brought their thoughts back to Loki and battle.
Harry's clothes shifted seamlessly until the red hoodie and faded jeans had been replaced with light armour of Asgardian type, consisting of dark brown leather and ornaments in a silvery metal with a slight golden tint to it, over his shoulders hung a deep blue cloak. He bent knee before the blond god and lowered his head in respect.
"I Harry son of James, present myself to the Heir Apparent to the throne of Asgard, the Great Warrior Thor Odinson and humbly requests permission to enter the realm of my forefathers and where I wish to go through the rights of passage to earn my place among the people I wish to call my own."
His words were met with silence. The onlookers were too stunned to say anything. They had unconsciously prepared for a fight at the sight of magic and then they had been faced with something different. It was like watching something from out of a film or straight out of history, nothing in their experience would have prepared them for a modern man to suddenly kneel before one of their comrades. Their gazes turned to the tall blond man, and what they saw there was a solemn expression with a hint of a smile.
"I see that my brother have taught you well, Jameson."
"He has been training me, teaching me about your customs, your way of life. It was always his intention to have me join him in Asgard, though it was not to be for some time yet. However circumstances have changed and my existence had to be revealed, leaving us where we are now," the kneeling man answered without lifting his face, remaining in a position of respect and deference.
"You may rise, friend. I see no need for a fellow warrior to kneel before me. Though I and Loki have had our differences, I could see, in the time of a brief conversation that you are very important to him and if things go the way I hope, I know that I will one day come to think of you as family. I welcome you to come with us to Asgard when I and my brother return."
Harry rose back to his feet, standing tall and proud, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "I thank you. I am sure all of you have many questions," he said next looking at the rest of the people in the room, "and I would be willing to answer most of them, but I believe your departure was imminent and there are some things I need to do before I can come with you as I realize that I will be gone for a long time and I have responsibilities here that I need to see to. The sooner it is done, the sooner you will be able to return to your schedule."
"Understandable," Thor said, "your existence is being uprooted and you need time to prepare. I cannot offer you much time however, we need to depart as soon as possible; it is not wise to keep my father waiting."
"Give me one day, I shall need no more."
"That is acceptable. Return here within a day and we shall leave for Asgard."
Harry nodded. "If there is nothing else that is pressing that you need of me I shall take my leave."
Thor said nothing. The other Avengers and Pepper looked a bit hesitant. It was strange to see the way both Thor and Harry were behaving, speaking in different, more solemn tones than any of them were used to. Tony was of course the first one to recover.
"Just one thing," he started, making the wizard a bit wary, he'd already been victim of Tony's intense personality and knew not to underestimate the man. "Can you do some more magic? I want more data to analyze and I'll be terribly frustrated if I don't have anything to work with."
Harry snorted, hiding his relief at the simple request. "Sure," he said and with a light glimmer his armour and cloak melted away, leaving him in the same comfortable clothing he'd been wearing when he first arrived at the Tower.
"Jarvis?" Tony said, telling his AI that he wanted a report.
"These readings are very similar to the readings I was able to get off of Loki, though there is still an insufficient amount of data to tell if the magic used by Asgardians is the same as the magic Mr. Potter used in his capacity as wizard with a wand."
"Hmm. You heard him, can we get a bit of wand waving, Merlin?"
This time Harry rolled his eyes, but he still pulled out his wand. "You wanted a rabbit to come out of a hat, wasn't it?"
"Why not?" Tony said shrugging. "Sticking with the clichés can have its charms."
Harry grimaced as Tony said charms, looking much too smug for it to be a coincidence. "Please tell me that pun wasn't intended?"
The billionaire grinned. "No can do."
Harry shook his head. "Might as well make a whole show out of it then," he muttered and began to cast a spell, levitating a small bowl that was standing on one of the side tables by the couches, waving his wand in an intricate pattern, causing the ceramic piece to morph into a shiny, black top hat. It soared through the air, into the wizard's waiting hands. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said mockingly, taking a small bow. "It is my great honour to be performing for you this day. The magic you are about to see is no trick or illusion, it is true magic." Harry walked over to Bruce holding out the hat for him to take. "Sir, if you would please have a look at the hat, can you tell everyone in the audience that there is no hidden compartment here? That it is just an ordinary, black top hat?"
Smiling a small crocked smile, Bruce accepted the hat and pushed his hand inside, feeling around. He turned it over and rapped his knuckles against the top, listening to the sound. "It's a completely normal hat," he declared, playing along, however he also added: "except that it was created from a peanut bowl."
Harry grinned and took the hat back. "As the good sir here have been able to tell you; this hat does not hold a hidden compartment where a bunny could be hidden and yet…" he held the hat in one hand and pointed his wand at the opening with the other, sometime during his speech the wand had transformed to look like a wand from the magical set's kids can get; black with white ends. "Hocus-pocus," he said dramatically and moved the wand in a circle, next he reached inside the hat and pulled out a small, white bunny. His audience was suitably impressed, their expressions raging from smiles filled with wonder, to frowns.
The Captain, Bruce and Pepper were the ones who were most open with their admiration, having been filled with childlike wonder at the piece of magic. The two agents were more restrained with their expressions, though if you knew them well you would be able to see that they too were moved by the magic. Both of them had known of magic's existence on Earth before hand, but neither had ever been confronted with it as the wizarding world was amazingly successful at keeping their existence hidden. Tony was looking at the animal as if he wanted to dissect it to see what made it tick and Thor mainly seemed to be confused, not understanding that what Harry had done was a parody of a stereotypical magician.
"Would anyone like to pet the bunny?" Harry asked with a broad smile, still fully playing the part of performing magician. The smile was dim-witted and bright enough that it would have pleased Gilderoy Lockhart, all of it a part of the role he was playing. He looked over the Avengers and settled on putting the small animal in Steve's hands.
The super soldier seemed a bit startled at being handed the bunny so abruptly, but he quickly cradled it in his hands, where it looked very small, and he couldn't help smiling as its wet nose pressed against his thumb. Pepper walked up to him and had a closer look at the rabbit too, stroking the soft fur on top of its head, she had been appearing to take it all with stride, being a woman used to strange though it was usually of a different kind.
"Are you satisfied now, Mr. Stark?" the wizard asked
"I'm good," Tony replied, his eyes still on the rabbit. "I should be able to start looking into what drives these powers of yours, and if I could build something utilizing the same principles, as it apparently is supposed to be technology we can't understand yet. Though I hope this isn't everything you people can do, it would be awfully lame and kind of useless."
Harry snorted once more, and threw the hat into the air. With a bit of sparkling light the top hat turned back into a small, blue, ceramic bowl, which he caught as it fell back down. "This was just a trick, we can indeed do more," he walked back over to Tony and pressed the bowl into his hands, "a lot more, or have you already forgotten about the," he halted, clearing his throat, uncertain if it was wise to point out that he had stunned one of the avengers, holding a weapon to her neck, "about what I did when I got here?"
"No, I have not," the other man said in answer, looking Harry straight in the eyes now. "I do hope what I dug up on you turns out to be the truth, savoir-boy, I wouldn't want you for an enemy."
The green eyed man inclined his head with a small smile. "I would not desire to make you an enemy either," he said. "The world would much more benefit from the people in this room working together as you did to stop Loki and perhaps one day I will be joining you, because the world will produce individuals who will pose a threat to a peaceful existence and it is up to the strong to defend the freedom of those who are unable to stand up and fight against the great forces of this universe."
"You might have to change your slogan a bit," Tony said dryly, "we already have someone who is overly idealistic in our group and we're not replacing him."
Harry chuckled and Steve who understood that the taunt was directed at him frowned, though he was also glad that Tony wouldn't want to replace him and that some of their differences were beginning to dissolve as they got to know each other, something that he hadn't been sure would happen as their history through Tony's father wasn't the best.
"I wouldn't dream of it," the wizard said. "Here's to hoping that they day when we will need to join forces in battle is far away in the future." As he said this he raised his hand and a glass appeared in it, at the same time glasses popped into existence all around the room, one for each person.
Tony grinned. "That is a trick I can get behind."
.:oOo:.
The Gryffindor Common Room was filled with students, hanging around playing games and doing their homework. Outside the windows the sky was growing dark, still bright though as it was a spring evening. The second year boys had grabbed some seats by the fire, having a game of exploding snap going on, though one of the boys, a thirteen year old with electric blue hair was sprawled out on the floor reading a book, choosing to spend his time much the same way that his father would have when he went to the school thirty years earlier, escaping from the world and all it's problem within fiction and learning.
"Lupin!" An older student had walked in through the portrait hole and the blue-haired boy looked up.
"What is it, Langley?" he asked across the room. Langley was one of the sixth year prefects and she hurriedly walked over to the fire.
"You are to report to the office of the Headmistress, the password is silverweed."
"Oh." The boy got to his feet. Contrary to what would be normal he didn't look worried that he was in trouble, instead there was a different kind of anxiety shining in his eyes. "Where you told why?"
"No," Langley answered reassuringly, "as far as I could tell though, it wasn't anything distinctly bad." It was no secret that Teddy Lupin's guardian was the famous Harry Potter, nor was it a secret that the wizarding hero regularly put himself in dangerous situations and a call to the Headmistress' office could be because of bad news and the prefect didn't want to worry the younger student unnecessarily.
"Thanks," Teddy said. "I'll see you guys later," he told his friends who nodded sympathetically.
"You'll see that everything's okay," one of them said.
"He'll have pulled through this time as well, he always does, and I'm not saying that just because of his name, you've said it yourself enough times."
"Yeah," Teddy muttered, "yeah, I have. Thanks guys."
"You got it. Now get going, Ted."
Teddy nodded and walked over to the portrait hole and sat a course towards Professor McGonagall's office.
His friends didn't know everything, but they had been able to tell that he had been going through something over the past month. They knew that he had been unable to contact his godfather and that the news reported by the daily prophet regarding what was going on in New York had affected him more than most, what they didn't know was the why part and things had to stay that way, at least for the time being.
It was a secret that Harry and in extension the people closest to him knew Loki. Teddy hadn't been able to understand what was going on with seeing the man who, though he was not exactly close to him, had been around a lot through his childhood. He knew the man to be funny and incredibly intelligent and that he and Harry were close because circumstances had brought them together and had allowed their relationship to happen. The young wizard himself could not claim to be close to the god who most of the time was standoffish, superior and cold towards anyone except for Harry and even he could be forced to endure such behaviour from time to time.
His godfather had tried to explain why Loki was like that and for the most part Teddy could understand the reason he was given. Loki didn't want to get hurt and was protecting himself by not getting close to people who from his point of view would be gone in a few heart beats. At least that was what Harry would tell him. The young wizard knew that there was more to it, one part of it being that the god saw them as inferior and not worthy of his time. That Harry hadn't brought that point up was also understandable.
But when it all came down to it he hadn't taken Loki for being the sort of person as to go to such lengths to do something as radical as trying to take over a planet to rule over it, bringing in an army to slaughter the resistance, acting ruthless and uncaring. It might fit with some parts of his personality, and at the same time it seemed farfetched and unbelievable. It wasn't refined or subtle enough and from what he had been able to gather he wouldn't want to risk what he and Harry had, for all this to have happened something must have changed and it couldn't be good.
He would have thought that Harry would confront Loki as soon as he heard what was going on and Teddy had worried that the next thing reported in the news would be some awful battle between them, where one or both of them would get injured or worse. He'd experienced several sleepless nights over such imagined scenarios. Then days passed where Harry had not shown up, staying suspiciously absent while other people managed to take down Loki and put an end to his schemes.
Teddy got to the gargoyle guarding the entrance to Professor McGonagall's office, said the password and rode up on the stairs, thoughts rushing through his head, wondering if there had finally been some word from Harry, if he would be heading to St Mungo's where his godfather would lay bloody in a bed or if it was perhaps something completely different going on and Harry was as absent as he had been for the last month. The last time he had heard from the man was on his thirteenth birthday and that seemed like it had been ages ago. He knocked on the door, which opened for him.
"Harry!" he exclaimed upon seeing the man standing there. His godfather looked a bit harried, but appeared to be otherwise unharmed.
"Hey, Ted," he said and opened his arms, prompting the boy to run to him and accept a tight embrace.
"Why haven't you responded to my owls? Why weren't you in New York? Things have been crazy and I was so worried, I…"
Someone cleared their throat, cutting off the young wizard's rambling questions. "I will leave you two to it. Feel free to make use of my office for as long as you need," said Minerva McGonagall. The witch hadn't changed much since Harry's school days, being as straight-backed as ever and having her dark hair pulled back in just as tight a knot under the pointy witch's hat. The war might have added a fair number of wrinkles to her face, however nothing about her would give away that she was seventy-five years old. She was still a force to be reckoned with and would be so for many years to come.
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, without letting go of Teddy.
"You are welcome, Mr. Potter." She gave them a rare smile and left.
"I hear that you've been keeping up with the news," Harry stated.
"Yes. And aunt Hermione's been sending me clips from Muggle Papers too and..." he hesitated.
"What is it?"
"I've been sneaking off the grounds so that I could get my phone to work so that I could watch the news."
"Edward," Harry said sternly, "you know you shouldn't do that, it could be dangerous to go off the grounds."
Teddy snorted angrily. "It's what you would have done." Those words earned him no favours and he kept going, trying his best not to be bothered by his godfather's firm expression. "I needed to know what was going on! Things were crazy and I didn't know if I could trust the Prophet to tell the truth about the muggle world. I've seen some clips from the battle of New York. Things were really bad. Those aliens, Loki…"
"I know, I've seen some of it too and I just wish I could have done something."
"What happened with you? What happened in Borneo? Why would Loki do this? Have you been to see him? Did you fight? Did you meet the other Avengers?"
"Slow down, one question at a time."
Teddy shut his mouth and his hair turned an apologetic, mousy brown. Harry loosened his grip on the boy, and placed his hands on his shoulders, sighing before he began to speak. "Life's been stranger than usual as of late. I wish I had the time to answer all your questions, but I don't. I've been rushing around today…" He cleared his throat. "You will be staying with your grandmother this summer."
"You are saying good bye," the younger wizard said emotionlessly, understanding what was going on and not liking it.
"Yes, I am," Harry admitted, swallowing down a lump that was forming in his throat as he saw the child's dejected look.
"Where are you going?"
"Things have turned into a mess and I have to go to Asgard with Loki. I don't know everything that's happened, but since he last visited he's been through hell, which is why he's done this. I have to be there for him if anything is ever to be the same again and I want them to be. I will fight for the chance that thing can turn okay again."
"So he did kill all those people. He wanted to?"
"It's complicated, Teddy. I don't like it a bit more than you do, but I have to try and understand, I owe him and myself that much. Now his brother also knows of my existence and I can't keep hiding."
Teddy nodded. He did understand, not that it made things easier. "You'll be back though, won't you?"
"Of course." Harry didn't sound all that convincing saying it. Teddy could see that he was slightly afraid. Of what he didn't know. He knew too little of Asgard and its people. He had to trust that Harry was telling the truth though and that he would come back.
"I'll miss you," he said, initiating another hug, feeling secure with familiar and strong arms around him. It wasn't that he was a little boy anymore, but his godfather that he loved as a father was always putting himself in dangerous situation, before though he had gone in with the odds in his favour, being stronger and more durable than most anything found on Earth, now though he would be leaving for another dimension and he would face people that were stronger and more experienced than him.
"I'll miss you too, son. I love you. And I promise you that I'll be back, nothing will be able to keep me away. I promise."
AN 4th November 2013:
Sorry about the wait. I was stuck a few sentences into this chapter, not knowing how to continue, luckily inspiration came along the other day in the form of a film. Let me exclaim (yes, it's meant to be exclaim not explain):
Oh merciful gods of my ancestors', who have been artfully modified for our entertainment and played by talented actors: I love you!
Yep, I've been to see Thor: The Dark World and I have bought another ticket, meaning that I will see it for a second time in less than a day. If you can't already tell I thought that the movie was great. I really liked it. It felt grand. To me it was epic in a way similar to LotR just because Asgard is absolutely beautiful and this time around we get to see it. The world just feels so expansive.
Also Thor is a lot more dynamic and likable than he was in the first movie, same goes for Jane Foster and then there is the character who steals the show like the mischief maker he is. Loki. I didn't think I could get more onto the bandwagon of his, but I was wrong. He is the best. I don't think I've spoiled anything, so here comes a spoiler, that isn't a spoiler, just because I can't tell you the spoiler I would like to shout to the heavens: Sea bass, sea bass, sea bass, sea bass. Yeah, you'll get it once you've seen the movie, and you'll think that I'm lame.
Anyway, I think I will follow Thor 2 partially in this story, but by the time that becomes an issue I think most of you will have seen the film. I will of course have to do things differently, as it is for every fanfiction writer when more cannon content comes out. I can also add that my estimation of how many chapters this story was going to be was so very wrong with 5-9 parts. Nah, we'll have to double it at least the way I see it now.
I would also like to say thank you to everyone who's reading the story, I'm amazed that there are so many of you. I'm glad that I've been able to write a story that you like and I hope that you'll continue to do so.
Let me know what you thought of the chapter!