THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Chapter 16: ...so I won't be able to do magic?
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners.
-TRNT-
"Well..." Ranulph started, eyes boring into Harry's. "What have you got to say for yourself."
Harry shrugged, staring back without flinching. "What do you want me to say?"
"How about explaining to me why you took my daughter to a battle?" He snapped. "Seconds after I had just asked you to look out for her no less."
"First of all, I had not agreed to any of your proposals. And secondly, I had no idea I was going to end up in a fight when I decided to visit my relatives." Harry replied, shrugging once again. "Besides, if you think that I could have stopped her if she tries following me, then you clearly don't know Shevaun at all."
The two stared at each other for a tense minute before Ranulph sighed and leaned back in his seat.
"I know my daughter well enough, Harry, way more than you seem to believe." He said. "She is a headstrong girl that took her mother's unruliness and multiplied it tenfold. She has only been tempered of late and I believe it might have something to do with you." He paused and looked at him. "One of the reasons I asked you to look after her."
"You're saying that I know a cooled down version?" Harry asked in amusement.
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Ranulph said, a smile tugging at his lips. "Unfortunately, I haven't done much about it which has probably given her the impression that I don't love her."
Harry didn't want to get any more involved with their private matters than he already was, so he changed the subject.
"In any case, she is fine and didn't even take part in the battle so no harm done." He said. "She atleast got to witness a real fight, maybe she'll take your training more seriously after today."
"Well, don't expect me to thank you for it." Ranulph snorted.
"Maybe not, but I'd like to ask you something." The man gestured for him to go ahead. "When you checked on me as a baby, was there something unusual about my soul?"
Ranulph frowned. "How do you mean?"
"Was there anything different about it, something that made it different from others?" Harry asked.
"Well, I was checking whether there was a soul there, not the nature of it or any such specifics." Ranulph replied in amusement. "What is it you're trying to ask?"
"I recently learned that there is a possibility that a piece of Voldemort's soul may be attached to mine."
"Like a horcrux?" Ranulph asked with a peculiar glint in his eye. "I don't think anyone is stupid enough to make a living person as a horcrux. Given enough time and the right circumstances, the two souls could merge together making the whole point of a soul anchor mute. Then again, the idea of leaving a part of one's soul lying about..."He shook his head shuddering slightly. "So, what makes you think you're Voldemort's horcrux?"
"Dumbledore seemed pretty sure of it." Harry replied. "He believed that my death was supposed to be used to create another hor_"
"Wait, another?" Ranulph asked. "You mean there might be more than just you?"
"Yeah, I actually have one with me here." Harry said and retrieved Tom Riddle's diary and handed it over. The man took it with shaky hands, a mad glint in his eye.
"An honest to God horcrux." He breathed, caressing the cover. "The things I could do with this..."
He trailed off, an honestly disturbing grin on his face before he shook his head and turned to Harry.
"A lot of things could be done to someone using their blood, things that one would have a hard time defending themselves against." Ranulph said seriously. "Those things would be multiplied a hundred fold with a piece of a soul. One of the major reasons why this kind of immortality_if it could even be called that_ is not very popular."
"Isn't it because it requires cold blooded murder?"
Ranulph scoffed. "As if something as simple as killing would stop wizards and witches from pursuing this psuedo-immortality." He looked at the diary once again. "The only reason this method isn't very popular is the risk of one's soul falling in the wrong hands, with the right knowledge, the owner of the soul would be completely at the mercy of the other. And now this Voldemort fellow will be learning this first hand."
The disturbing smile was back as he stared at Harry. "For this gift you have given me, young Harry, whatever I had promised to teach you, you will now get it all for free."
Harry looked at him suspiciously.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." Ranulph grinned. "Besides, you're close enough with Shevaun already so I don't have to worry about you not looking out for her." He paused. "I'm gonna have to look at you and see if there really is a piece of him in there. Seeing that it would be the latest, then finding the others if there are more will be much easier."
"Okay." Harry said, still disturbed with the other man. "So when can we do it?"
"No better time like the present!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and led the way towards a wall. Harry felt a slight flare of magic before part of the wall shifted to reveal some kind of dark tunnel. Without saying anything, Ranulph entered the tunnel leaving Harry behind. The young wizard was still debating on whether to follow when the mage's voice called back at him. "You're coming, or not?"
Harry sighed and entered the tunnel. His eyes adjusted to the darkness in a matter of seconds and he followed the other man. They walked that way for about five minutes, going downwards according to the slanting of the floor they were walking on. There trail came to a dead end with a stone wall standing in their way. Ranulph tapped a pattern on the wall and then there was a grinding sound as the wall blocking their path sunk into the ground. Once it was done, Ranulph entered the room beyond with Harry following behind.
Torches flared to life on the walls and Harry got a good look at the room. It was round with a very high ceiling. There was a slab of stone that was large enough for two full grown adults to lie on side by side, while infront of that was a stone table with a number of knives that glinted in the light from the torches and alot of things Harry didn't even know. The air was thick and yet easily breathable and there was a lingering presence of magic that seemed to evade Harry's senses whenever he tried to concentrate on it.
"What is this place?"
"This is a ritual chamber lying in the path of a major ley line." Ranulph explained as he went over to the table and picked a piece of chalk and started writing things on the stone slab. "Any intent based magic done inside this room is multiplied a hundred fold. Now please lie on the platform."
Harry stared at the man suspiciously without moving and he sighed.
"Look, the soul is a very delicate piece of creation and tampering with one is a sure way of getting the owner killed. If there has indeed been a part of Voldemort's soul attached to yours all this time, a simple soul detection spell will not find it as it would have burrowed into yours already and has probably started manipulating it from the inside." He paused to make sure he was following. "To find it, let alone detach it from yours, I'm going to have to dive into your very soul and these symbols are to act as an anchor for your soul so it doesn't move on in the process."
Harry sighed, he had come this far, he might as well just get it over with. With one last suspicious glare, Harry got on the slab and laid down while facing the ceiling. Ranulph placed a stone figurine next to Harry's head before he placed his hands on either side of his head.
"Now this will feel a little intrusive at first so please try not to fight me." Ranulph warned. "Oh, and the process will be very painful so you better brace yourself."
"Have you done this before?"
"Don't ask me questions you don't want answered."
The man started chanting something and Harry closed his eyes. He felt something probing his skull, like ghostly fingers moving around his head in search of something and he forced himself to relax and not lash out. Slowly an itch started right above his scar and he resisted the urge to scratch it, but within seconds, the itch transformed into prickling, like a needle was being used to stab slowly around his scar. The needle became two, and then five and more seemed to appear as they repeatedly stabbed at his scar. Soon it was just his scar as the pain started spreading across his skull, the needles seemed to have been replaced by a hot knife.
A searing pain suddenly lashed through his entire body and Harry grunted as he saw a flash of white even with his eyes closed. It was only then that he realized that he couldn't moved a single part of his body. The pain ran through his body again and this time it took a bit longer before it disappeared once again. A beat later, it lashed at him and this time it didn't go away. All he could do was grunt as tears flowed down his cheeks. He couldn't fight, he couldn't move and then he couldn't think, the pain was just too much.
And so he laid there, unable to do anything as waves and waves of pain wracked his body, from head to toe. He didn't know how long he stayed there, or when he passed out, but when he came to, he was still lying on the table and Ranulph was watching him.
"Oh, you're awake." There was clear relief on the man's face. "For a second there I thought I had lobotomized you."
Harry gave the man a half-lidded stare.
"What happened?" He asked as he sat up. Somehow, despite all the pain he had just been through, his body didn't have any signs of it.
"I have good news and not so good news." He started. "The good news is that there was indeed a piece of Voldemort in you. Thankfully, your unique soul managed to keep it at bay and stopped it from tampering with it so it was pretty easy to remove it and stash it here."
He showed him the humanoid figurine that he had placed next to Harry at the start.
"And the bad news?"
"Your soul is changing." Ranulph said. "It is changing from that of a wizard to what I suspect to be an Asgardian's."
"...Okay." Harry said slowly. "So what does that mean for me?"
"A person's soul is what allows someone to do magic. For a normal person or a muggle as you lot call them, their souls are different from those of wizards and witches. A wizard's soul is made in a way that allows that person to manipulate it and produce magic. When we made the deal with our master, he transformed our souls in a way that they were similar to those of wizards which allowed us to be able to use magic. The ability thankfully was given to Shevaun as well without the cost of owing her soul to the devil."
He paused to ensure that Harry was following.
"Your situation was unique in that your soul was an amalgamation of wizard and Asgardian and I'm sure your magic reflected that as it was slightly different from that of your peers, right?" Harry nodded and he continued. "All this time, you had been using your wizard part of your soul whole feeding from the Asgardian part, however, recently you tapped directly from the Asgardian side of your soul which gave it dominance, probably on Christmas eve during our fight. And with it being superior, it has slowly been absorbing the wizard part."
"So...I will no longer be able to do wizard magic?"
"You'll still be able to do it as the wizard part will still be part of you even though it has been absorbed completely."
"Well then, what is the problem?"
"The problem, is that a soul needs to grow and for it to grow it needs to be nurtured." He explained. "A wizard or witch's soul is nurtured by simply being on earth as that is the source of their magic, and an Asgardian needs to be_"
"On Asgard." Harry finished for him with a frown. "But if I can do magic just fine, then I don't need to go there."
"You can do magic yes but if a person's magic is not allowed to grow, then the results are usually not very pretty." Ranulph warned. "For a wizard, they usually turn into an Obscurus, I imagine you know what that is?"
Harry nodded. He had read about them while at Hogwarts, the manifestation of the repressed energy of a young wizard or witch. An Obscurus was created when the wizard child in question consciously attempted to repress their magical abilities or were forced to do so through physical or psychological abuse, something Harry suspected would have likely happened to him at the Dursleys had he been just a normal wizard and had known about his magic.
"If you know how dangerous a wizard Obscurus is, then I don't have to tell you how dangerous an Asgardian one could be, especially one as powerful as you."
Harry groaned, after all his efforts, it seemed his path would be taking him to Asgard after all. Was this Loki's plan all along, to manipulate events so he would end up having no option but to go to Asgard? Surely the other man couldn't have predicted all this, could he? Harry thought back on Loki's actions, bullying him in the warehouse so they would fight, maybe he was hoping Harry to trigger his Asgardian heritage then, and when he escaped, he arranged things so Harry would fight against overwhelming odds which would have forced him to use his powers.
Either way, Harry would become a ticking bomb and he would have no other option but to ask Loki to take him to Asgard. And seeing as Loki was the only Asgardian Harry had been in contact with, he would have been with no other options, he probably hadn't counted on Harry summoning Thor.
"Anyway, you should have at the very least a month before your magic starts acting up." Ranulph spoke up, pulling Harry from his thoughts. "Enough time for you to decide on what you want."
"What of your plans for me?"
"Personally I wouldn't mind you turning into an Obscurus, because if anything can kick my master's ass, it would be an Asgardian Obscurus." He laughed even though Harry didn't. "Come on, while you were napping, I managed to find the location of the other horcruxes, and now is as good a time as any to retrieve them."
-TRNT-
A few hours later, the two were back in the ritual chamber. Before them were all of Voldemort's horcruxes, Ravenclaw's Diadem, Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's Locket, the Gaunt Ring, Riddle's Diary and the humanoid figurine. Using the horcrux in the figurine, Ranulph had managed to scry for the location of the other horcruxes, Slytherin's locket had been at Sirius Black's place, the Cup was in Gringotts, the Diadem at Hogwarts while the ring was at some heavily warded shack.
Acquiring all of them had apparently been a walk in the park for Ranulph, and now except for the main soul that was roaming around in Albania, all of the other pieces of Voldemort's soul were before them.
"Now what?" Harry asked.
"Now it is time to demonstrate why leaving chunks of your soul out in the wild was a bad idea." Ranulph grinned as he rubbed his palms together.
On the slab of stone where Harry had been lying not long ago, a ritual circle was inscribed around a hexagon, one horcrux sitting on each point. Arcane script ran across the circle, specifying what was to happen. And in the exact middle of the circle stood…a voodoo doll.
Ranulph picked a knife and sliced a thin line in his palm. He held it over the voodoo doll as the blood started dripping on it. The ritual begun as Ranulph started chanting something as the inscriptions lit up with green light and the inside of the circle howled with hate and pain as the soul fragments were torn out of the horcruxes and drawn into the doll. The magic with in the circle was wild, dark and vile but it didn't escape the edge of the circle. The pieces of souls screamed as they were slowly pushed in the doll and then the screaming suddenly stopped.
The doll stood still and quiet on the stone, but its eyes were no longer beady blank and lifeless. Instead, they were now red and filled with helpless fury, fear and horror as they glared at a satisfied Ranulph.
"You may speak." The mage allowed.
"What have you done to me?!" The doll_ Dollmort?_ immediately demanded. "Who are you?!"
"You may call me Master." He gave the doll a cruel smile. "As for what I just did… you left all those piece of your soul lying around for anyone to claim, so I did. Then I bound them to that doll you now inhabit."
"Nobody owns Lord Voldemort!" The doll squeaked in outrage.
Ranulph's cruel smile widened. "Suffer."
The doll shrieked in pain and convulsed on the ground while Ranulph just kept grinning at it.
"Cease." He ordered and it immediately stopped. "I trust that establishes the power dynamic between us? From now on, you will be addressing me as 'Master', clear?"
There was no sound from the doll as it just kept glaring.
"Suffer." Ranulph glanced at Harry with a wide smile. "This one is going to take some conditioning. But be rest assured that you won't have to worry about Voldemort ever again."
"What about the prophecy?"
"Oh, I think he is pretty vanquished, don't you think?" He asked as he glanced at the thrashing doll. "But if that is not enough for you, once I've had my fun, I'll get him in a body, destroy the doll and have you cut off his head. That good enough for you?"
Harry sighed. "Yeah. But I need your word that you will not use it to attack innocent people."
Harry told him seriously and the man nodded.
"I swear on my daughter's life."
"Okay then." He said. "I need to think, I'll let myself out."
-TRNT-
"Wow." Shevaun said from where she was leaned against him. "You never get a break, do you?"
"Looks like I'm not allowed to." Harry laughed.
It had been almost a full week since Ranulph's discovery about Harry's soul and the changes it was going through. He had spent most of that time in the Mansion's library trying to read up on Obscurus and souls as much as he could. However, he had found nothing that even hinted at a solution and it looked like his only options were either going to Asgard or becoming a weapon of mass destruction.
After waiting for him to come out of his research for four days, Shevaun had finally lost her patience and had dragged him out of the library earlier that day and demanded to know what was going on. And so he had told her and she had suggested that they go to Paris and unwind.
After spending the day on the beach, eating all sorts of food and shopping everything Shevaun could think of, the two tired teens had returned back home before she had asked to be teleported on top of the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset, and here they were.
"So, have you decided?"
"I have decided that I'll only go to Asgard when I'm entirely out of options and on my own terms as well." Harry replied. "As it stands, I have two to three weeks to look for a solution, if I fail to find one, and the conditions for me to go to Asgard are unacceptable, then I'll just become a monk or something."
Shevaun snorted. "Oh, all those broken hearts when you resort to celibacy."
"Wait, monks don't have sex?"
"I think to them its the root of evil?"
"I'm sure they'll make an exception for me." Harry laughed together with her. "But in all seriousness, if I can just avoid triggering certain emotions, then I would not transform into an Obscurus."
"Either way, we shall go through it together." Shevaun said from where her head was leaning on his shoulder. "Be it going to Asgard or becoming monks, I'll be right by your side."
"Somehow I don't see your father agreeing to either of those."
"Dad can go bugger himself." She sniffed. "Besides he doesn't have to know untill we've left."
"If you say so."
"I do say so." She retaliated. "I can't have some Asgardian skunk steal you away from me while you're there by yourself."
"I wasn't aware I belonged to you."
"There is a lot you don't know, young Harry." She told him sagely.
Harry just laughed. Shevaun didn't know how true her statement rang. All this time, Harry had deluded himself that he was free, that his actions and his decisions were his own yet he just been led around by the nose. He had thought that Dumbledore manipulating him before was something, but if this had indeed been Loki's doing, then the god was on an entirely different level.
"Are you up for visiting an Ancient Sorcerer tomorrow?" Harry suddenly asked remembering something.
"One of dad's friends?"
"No, I doubt they'd get along if they knew about each other." Harry shook his head. "She seems to know a bit too much for her own good and if anyone can help me make a decision, then it would be her."
"And you trust her?"
"Hardly." Harry scoffed. "But I trust her not to hurt me, I'm apparently a very important piece in her games."
-TRNT-
"You said she wouldn't hurt us!" Shevaun yelled as she hid behind a boulder next to Harry.
"Yes well, that is what I thought." Harry peaked behind the boulder at their attacker only to duck as a dangerous looking crescent light passed over. Following its direction, he saw that it had gouged a good part from the wall behind them. "Maybe she is possessed?"
Finding the place on the address the Ancient one had left him had been easy and Harry had teleported both of them just outside of the building. When they reached the door, it had opened for them before they could even knock only to shut behind them and plunging them in darkness. When light came back, it looked like they had been taken to an entirely different location and the Ancient one was standing across them.
Then she started attacking.
"Going by the power behind those blasts, this boulder won't survive another!" Shevaun helpfully observed. "We need to do something!"
A round almost invisible shield appeared around Harry's left hand while a white wand appeared in his right. On seeing it, Shevaun frowned.
"I thought your wand_"
"Never mind that." Harry cut her off. "I'm going to catch her attention and keep her busy while you try to find a way of knocking her out. But you need to move fast, I'm not sure how long I can last as she is pretty powerful. Alright?"
"Or you could try teleporting out first before you try to rush over and die."
Harry blinked and he winced, clearly he hadn't thought of that. Two seconds later, the boulder was obliterated but behind it were just wisps of golden smoke.
Back in Harry's room at the mansion, the two appeared and Harry dismissed the wand and magic shield. "I'm glad that actually worked."
"Right?" Shevaun sighed as she sat down on his bed. "Did you piss her off or something."
"Not that I can remember." He shook his head. "If anything, I should be the one who is pissed as our last meeting she was the one who kidnapped me."
"She kidnapped you?"
"She stole my astral form from my body while I was sleeping in here."
"You mean like your soul?" Shevaun asked with wide eyes. "She can do that?!"
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "She can't come physically though, the words would probably strike her down the moment she stepped foot in the house."
"Uh, you're sure about that?!" Shevaun barked, jumping from the bed and getting in a fighting stance while facing the door. Harry spun around as the white wand appeared in his hand and he saw a round portal with flaming edges just behind him and on the other side, staring at them with her ominous eyes was the Ancient One.
"Harry Potter." She greeted from the other side, not attempting to step through the portal. "I apologize for what you and your friend walked into, it was not my intention to scare you."
"You mean kill us?" Shevaun snarked and the woman turned her haunting eyes on her.
"I would never harm the Dark Angel, not unless the situation called for it."
"The Dark what, now?" Shevaun frowned. "What the buggering hell are you going on about?"
The woman didn't answer but instead turned her eyes on Harry.
"You wanted to see me, Harry Potter." She said. "If you step through the portal, we can talk about whatever you wanted."
"So you can try to kill me again?" Harry shot back with narrowed eyes.
"When you entered the Sanctum, I had just finished fighting an immortal demon who had taken on your form." The woman said giving him a look as if she was trying to communicate something. "When you entered, I mistook you for it especially after feeling the conflict in your magic and for that I apologize."
"Why would a demon be taking my form?" Harry asked, not buying her story. "And how would a demon know about me?"
He hadn't interacted with one before.
"Because it knew I was expecting you, and took on the disguise so I would allow it to enter through the wards of the Sanctum." She replied. "If you're not willing to trust me and come through, then I will answer what you had wished to ask me. One of the visions I showed you, the one with a giant fire humanoid destroying a city, was a likely future of Asgard during what they call Ragnarok. And it happens that way if you're not there."
"And you expect me to go there to prevent this?"
"That, Harry Potter, is a decision you must make on your own." She spun on her heal and turned her back on them just as the portal closed and disappeared only to reveal Ranulph leaning on the door.
"What dealings do you have with the Sorcerer Supreme, Harry?"
"Nothing much, just seeking some advice."
"If you're hoping that she will help you with your magic, you're wasting your time." He told him. "She is quite good at sitting on her arse when the situation doesn't directly involve her."
"Trust me, I'm aware." Harry snorted.
"Its not like you've done much to help him either." Shevaun huffed at her father.
"There is nothing that can be done for Harry that I haven't already told him." He shook his head. "However, something can be done about your newly acquired friend in one of the guest bedrooms."
"Neville?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, him." He turned around and the two followed. "I've been speaking with our resident Dark Lord and he assured me that unlike his parents who were physically tortured to insanity, young Neville's state was caused by a specific spell and all that is needed is someone going into the boy's mind and dragging his consciousness from wherever it has locked itself."
"I can do that." Harry offered.
"No, you wouldn't be able to." Ranulph shook his head. "According to Tom, the spell that was used on him tortured him with people he knew and loved as they hunted him and tortured untill he cocooned himself so deep in his mind that he can't find his way back." He paused. "That means that if he sees you, Harry, he will just burrow even deeper thinking that you're back to torture him."
"So what do we do?" Shevaun.
"We, as in me and you will be the ones to enter Neville's mind." He answered. "And I think it's about time I started teaching you mind magic."
"Really?!" Shevaun couldn't hide her excitement. It had been some time since her father had directly taught her anything ever since he had introduced her to the basics of magic. He he was always ther to give her pointers and direct her to where she could go to read, he barely participated.
"Yeah." Ranulph smiled. "Times are changing, fast. And Harry entering our lives just increased the pace, so once he leaves for Asgard, I'll personally take charge of your studies. Magical and mundane both."
"Oh, okay then." She replied even as she exchanged a look with Harry. She had planned on leaving with Harry if he wound up leaving for Asgard that is, and now her father was giving her another proposition.
"Here we are." He said as he led them into the guest bedroom. Neville was lying on the bed, unresponsive. "As you have no experience with mind magic, I'll be dragging you with me and you'll barely have any control untill we fully in his mind. Just remember that feeling of transition as it will be important in your training."
Taking her hand, Ranulph positioned himself infront of the bed and directly next to Neville's head. He placed two fingers on the boy's temple.
"How long is this going to take?" Harry asked wondering if they planned on standing the entire time.
"For us, it could take a day, a week or even a year to locate his conciousness." Ranulph said and the kids looked at him with wide eyes as he continued. "For you and the rest of the world, it will be no more than a minute."
"Oh, okay." Harry sighed. "He loves herbology, just so you know."
Nodding to him, Ranulph turned to his daughter and gave a nod of her own before closing his eyes as Shevaun did the same. The man muttered something under his breath and then there was a sharp intake of breath from the duo before they stilled. Harry watched them as they stood motionless, no movement from them except for their closed eyes as it seemed the eyeballs were moving behind the kids. And sure enough, just as it was about to reach a minute, the two suddenly gasped and stumbled.
Harry managed to catch Shevaun but her father wasn't so lucky and he fell down. Both were breathing heavily like they had just run a marathon.
"You guys okay?"
Ranulph nodded silently as he stumbled to his feet and staggered his way out of the room. Shevaun was asleep in Harry's arms and was even snoring lightly. Sighing, Harry lifted her bridal style and took her to her bedroom. He gently placed her on the bed and went back to Neville room.
"Harry?" The boy was seated on the bed looking around in confusion. "Where...what...how are you here_wait this is not Hogwarts."
Harry looked at the boy, taking in his haggard frame. Gone was the chubby boy he remembered while they had been together at Hogwarts, of the only two people he had really been close to. He walked over and sat down next to him, his emotional range had grown alot since he met Shevaun though not enough for him to engulf the other boy in a hug.
"No, you're not at Hogwarts." He told him softly. "You're in California actually, at my friend's place. She and her father helped bring you out."
"I remember two people who said they were friends of yours. A mage and his daughter?" He asked and Harry nodded. "They told me about Hogwarts and how you saved us. I always knew you would come."
The other boy was smiling at him and Harry found himself smiling back.
"I would have come earlier had I known what was going on." He replied. "I'm just glad you're okay. It may take you some time to go back to your normal self but what matters is that you're okay."
After that, he took Neville to the dinning room and got him something to eat. Despite his warnings the other boy started wolfing down the food and fruits and Harry didn't have it in him to stop him. He had clearly been starved, and some color was returning to his skin by the minute and so he let him. They would deal with the consequences later.
As he ate, Harry filled him in on what had been happening outside of Hogwarts while it was under Tom's control. He told him of Voldemort taking over the ministry, the Order of the Phoenix and where his recovering parents were. He told him about the battle of Hogwarts and the death of Dumbledore. Neville wasn't that affected by Dumbledore's death as he just shrugged and said that he deserved it for what happened to the school.
"Dumbledore should have done something and not let the school be taken over by that psycho. It was his responsibility and he let everyone down." Neville had said.
It was safe to say that his torture had changed Neville, not that Harry had expected anything less. Whether it was for the better or worse remained to be seen.
-TRNT-
"I'll be taking Neville to England later today." Harry announced during breakfast the next morning.
Neville had already expressed his thanks to the two Haldanes for what they had done for him and they had waved it off. A friend of Harry's was apparently a friend of theirs, or so Shevaun had said. Ranulph had just waved it off like it was nothing.
"Leaving already?" Ranulph asked, looking at Neville.
"I wish to see my parents." Neville said quietly. "Last time I saw them, they were recovering well thanks to Harry and I wish to see what state they are in."
"I can come with you, if you want." Shevaun offered but Ranulph interrupted.
"No, we're going on a trip, you and I."
"Trip?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "There is something I need to retrieve from Egypt and I was hoping you would like to come?"
"Egypt?" Shevaun asked. "Will we be visiting the pyramids?"
"As it so happens, the artifact I'm going after is in one of the pyramids." Ranulph said. "So, will you come?"
"Of course I'll come." She grinned. "You know how much I've wanted to visit those things."
"So it's settled then." Ranulph said. "You two can go to England and we shall go to Egypt, if any of us finds anything the other would be intrested in, then we can compare notes, deal?"
"Alright." Harry agreed, getting the message.
The father and daughter duo left immediately after breakfast while Harry and Neville left at around 9 which would make it 5pm in England. Taking Neville's hand, Harry teleported to their destination and arrived just infront of the door. He had covered them in a bubble of magic just incase someone was watching.
After he had made sure that no one was paying them any attention, he dropped the magic and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a woman opened.
"Hello." She greeted them. "Can I help you?"
"Is this the Granger residence?" Harry asked even though he knew that this was the place where he had dropped Hermione.
"Yes, may I help you?"
"We are Hermione's friends and we wanted to check on her." It was Neville who spoke up next to Harry. "I'm Neville Longbottom and this is Harry Potter."
The woman looked at them suspiciously before she frowned at Harry. "Aren't you all supposed to be the same age?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You don't look like it." She told him looking him up and down.
Compared to Neville who was standing next to him, Harry certainly looked way older than any thirteen year old should be given his height and build.
"My situation is a bit unique." It was all he told her and after giving the both of them another look, she led them inside. "Is everything alright, ma'am?"
Gesturing for them to follow, she led them upstairs.
"No, whatever happened in that school destroyed my little girl." She said. "She doesn't sleep for more than a minute without waking up screaming."
She opened a door and led them to a bedroom. Hermione was sleeping in a bed, her hair was fuzzier than either boys had ever seen it and she was muttering denials as she shook her head.
"Harry...please...help me, please." They could barely make out the words but Harry's sensitive ears heard her all the same.
"Most of the time she is crying for help from you." The woman said, looking at Harry.
Slowly walking towards the bed, Harry sat down and touched her cheek. The ggirl immediately stilled and her eyes opened slowly.
"Harry?"
"Hey Hermione." He greeted her softly.
"You came." She smiled despite how tired she looked. "I prayed to you and you came." Tears were flowing freely from her eyes."Please don't leave me again, Harry."
"I'm not going anywhere." He told her. "You need to rest, and when you wake up, I'll be right here."
"Promise?"
She looked so vulnerable, more vulnerable than anyone Harry had ever seen before. He simply nodded and with a grateful smile, she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep, only this time there was no worry written on her face, she even looked content.
Withdrawing his hand, Harry stepped back from the bed as Mrs. Granger stepped closer. "I haven't seen her this...relaxed since she came back."
"Yeah, Harry has that effect on people." Neville smiled.
"She has PTSD, I just wish I knew how to help her." The woman said as she stared at her daughter.
"I uh, think that so long as she is near me, she will recover." Harry spoke up getting the woman's attention. "Both physically and mentally."
"You can help her with magic?" She asked hopefully. "I had been hoping that someone would come and check on her but she told us that nearly all adults are dead in your world."
"It's true, I haven't been to the magical world since that day but I doubt they have the time or resources to help." Harry nodded. "In any case, it won't be my magic that will heal her...it will be her faith in me."
The two looked at him in confusion. And honestly, he was quite confused himself at what he was saying even though he somehow knew it to be true. He couldn't even explain how he knew but but deep down in his very being, he could tell that that it was infact true.
"I don't understand."
Harry rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
"I don't want to sound presumptuous or anything but I uh..." He cleared his throat, and Neville blinked at the blush on the other boy's face, something he had thought Harry was incapable of. "Due to mysterious circumstances that I'm still trying to understand, I am kind of a...god."
...
"What?" The two chorused with identical looks of confusion and Harry once again cleared his throat, feeling heat rising to his cheeks.
"I am still trying to understand it as well, but it turns out that I might be a god, similar to those from the Norse mythology." He explained, and while Neville had probably never heard of them, Mrs. Granger clearly had if the crinkling of her brow was any indication. "I've only started growing into my...divinity, but I can tell that my divine side has a connection with Hermione and it is through it that she will be healed."
There was a moment of silence as Neville and Hermione's mother stared at him.
"So when she said that she prayed to you..." she trailed off, probably thinking of how ridiculous she was sounding.
"At Hogwarts, I heard her calling to me even though I was on the other side of the castle, and I followed that call to her side and saved her from being eaten by a basilisk." Harry said.
Another moment of silence.
"So, my girl is your what? Disciple?"
Harry shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out what it all means so I'm not sure myself."
Another beat of awkward silence and then Neville spoke up for the first time and summed up all their thoughts quite nicely.
"Bloody hell!"
-TRNT-
AN: Loki is the god of Mischief and his domain is trickery. He is over 1500 years old, tricking a simple twelve-year-old is child's play. And if he can have fun at the expense of humans that no one even cares about, then that is exactly what he will do. There was never a question on if Loki can get Harry to Asgard, the question was what condition he would be in and the circumstances. Loki therefore had a plan, and it went swimmingly. Or did it?
Another thing, Ranulph is no expert on Asgard or its residents. His knowledge is pretty limited and derived from reading books.
Also, as you can see, I am not dead.