Chapter 19: Hellos and Goodbyes
Thanks for all the reviews.
Sorry, guys, my doctor put me on new meds, and I'm all discombobulated. Everything is topsy-turvy. I'm sure I'll acclimate to them soon. This one is a short one, and I'll be taking a break until I can think straight.
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Loki went the next day to acquire his son from the depths of the sea. Sirius and Remus went with him. Since none of them could swim that far underwater, even with a bubblehead charm, Loki had Sirius conjure a scuba bell. He then enchanted it to carry them to the cave. Making sure there was a window for navigation, he used magic to get to where they were going.
The sea was teaming with life and the two wizards and one demigod were fascinated with the colorful view. It wasn't often that one got to see something so untouched by mankind, or even Asgardians. It was nature at its best, and it was just drifting along all on its own. The silence was almost overwhelming. Sirius started humming just to break it, and Remus was glad he did.
They made it to the opening of the cave, and had to duck under a lip to come under the opening. When they cleared it there was a pocket of air atop. They drifted to that pocket and were moving with the current to the center of the cave looking for the giant snake. Loki was looking forward to seeing the son he barely knew.
Jormungandr was lounging on a ledge of land that was jutting out of the cave. He saw the bell and wondered who was foolish enough to come to his domain. He rarely got to eat humans, so he followed the bell in anticipation of doing so now. There was an island like formation in the middle of the cave where Jormungandr liked to rest, which is where the bell was heading.
Once the bell landed, Loki had Sirius banish it, and the demigod faced his son. "Jormungandr, I have come to take you to a home," he said, like he had only left him at the sitters. There was some regret in that tone, and he was nervous standing in front of the child he had all but abandoned. Circumstances being what they had been he had had little choice, but it was still abandonment.
"Father?" the snake said in parseltongue. It had been many years since he had laid eyes on this man. He remembered the smell though. He was having mixed feelings. He knew it wasn't completely his father's fault that he was cast aside, but he still felt neglected. It was bad enough that he never met his mother, but to be torn from his father at such a young age and left to fend for himself… It had been trying.
"Yes," Loki answered back in English. He didn't want the two wizards to distrust him.
Sirius and Remus were impressed with the humongous snake. It had a purple/green sheen to its scales, like what petrol looked like in water. They only knew that from when Sirius would mess around with his Triumph. To say it was large was an understatement. From what they could see of the snake, it could fill the Great Hall of Hogwarts. If this was its' smaller size, then they could see it circling the world.
"Why have you come here?" was the bitter question in English this time. The words reverberated off the walls. Jormungandr decided he was not impressed with his father showing up after all this time. The man had done nothing to stop his banishment from Asgard. It had broken his heart, and it had taken years of reflection to get to where he didn't hate the man.
"I have seen that my past actions were not… kind, and I am endeavoring to change them," Loki said, moving forward to place his hand on his son's scales. "I have a place you can come to and enjoy the company of some very nice people. They will not scorn you for what you are, or from who you were born," he tried to persuade his child.
The giant snake thought for a while. Truth be told, he was bored out of his mind in his little cave. He had no one to talk to since every creature within a hundred miles of the cave was scared witless of him. He was upset over this since he still had the mind of a child.
"Are there children there?" the snake asked, shrinking down further as to better communicate with Loki. His voice no longer echoed around the cave. He was now three times the size of the largest boa constrictor. He could wrap himself around a man twice over.
"Yes," Loki said, conjuring up an image of Ivy. She was looking so cute in the image that everyone cooed, even Jormungandr. "She is anxious to meet you. She was the one to invite you to come along," he added, hoping that seeing Ivy would help make up his son's mind.
"She is very pretty," Jormungandr said, looking at the cute little girl about his age. There was something about her that just screamed 'cuddle me now'. He was unused to this feeling. He was the World Snake for goodness' sake. He was the devourer of worlds. He wasn't supposed to coo over little girls, even if they were cute. He was a big boy now; he had been taking care of himself for years. Though, it would be nice to have someone take care of him for a while.
"If you want, you can join her in her studies and go to school with her. You will have to start from the beginning and you will be around the Midgardians, but she will be there most of the day," Loki said, thinking it might do his son good to be around more children. If he made friends with the earthlings, then the predictions of Ragnarök would be less likely. Then Odin would get off his back, hopefully.
"I would have to stay in my Asgard form," the large snake whined. He liked his snake form. No one messed with him in this shape. Only Odin dared approach him in an aggressive manner when he was at his full size. Maybe Thor too, but he never did anything without Odin's permission, or orders.
"It would be easier to hide you that way," Loki said, resting his hand between Jormungandr's eyes.
"Okay, Father," the snake said, and shrunk down even further until a small child was standing in front of the three men. He stood around four feet tall, and had black hair and green eyes, like his father. He wasn't the spitting image of his father, but you could tell they were related. There was a snake-like quality about him. Not overly so, but around the edges. Like a roundness of his features. His tongue was forked, and he would have to hide that, but other than that he looked like a normal human child.
"I'll cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on him. Remus will anchor it. He's better at it than I am," Sirius said, readying his wand.
"Jormungandr, this is Sirius and Remus. They are Midgardian magic users. They are going to cast some spells on you, to keep Heimdall from finding you," the God of Mischief stated, waving to the two men.
"Can you not do it, Father?" Jormungandr asked, looking at Loki like he had spoken Chinese. He didn't understand why his father was relying on someone else to protect him.
"Heimdall knows my magic," was the explanation. So far all he had done was project the image of Ivy and that took so little magic that Heimdall would never detect it.
"Oh."
Sirius waited until the little boy looked his way and then cast the spell, and then nodded to Remus, who anchored it to the child's nose. It would obscure his face and make those looking for him not recognize who he was. Those that didn't know him, would not be able to describe him when he was not standing in front of them.
"There, now that that is done, let's get back to the surface. I know Ivy is waiting to meet you," Loki said, asking Remus to conjure some clothes for his son. "Sirius, another bell, if you please," he asked, once again not wanting Heimdall to track his magic.
Both wizards complied with his requests and soon they were underway. Jormungandr wanted to change to his snake form, but they talked him into staying in his Asgard shape so he could get used to it.
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Meanwhile, Tony was talking to Jennifer and Stephen. He had talked to Waters the day before, but the lawyer hadn't had any information for him. So, they were reconnecting today with Walters. It was a conference call that Stephen was still coming to grips with how to use. Tony told him not to touch any buttons and he would do fine.
"So, can we sue them?" Tony asked the British magical lawyer.
"No, they didn't name you specifically," Waters stated, adjusting his seated position. "I can keep an eye on them and the second they print your name, slap a libel suit on them," he added, then quickly said, "Pending what they write. If they tell the truth, then there is nothing I can do." He wanted to make sure that was clear. "As it is right now, they are just blowing hot air," he added, taking notes, from the sounds coming over the phone.
"Jennifer, what about this side of the pond?" Tony asked, hoping he would get better results.
"I've not seen anything in the papers here," she answered, busily typing away on her laptop. She was on video and was searching for any news on Tony or Ivy. "Like Waters, if they print anything that's libel, then I'll get someone to slap them with a suit, but it all depends on what's reported."
"Give me the name of a good firm that I can put on retainer," Tony said, hoping to take some of the load off her.
"Here in LA? There's Wolfram & Hart or Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, but they are both shady. They both deal with the unusual, metahumans, supernatural and the like, but like I said, they don't have the most stellar reputation," Jennifer said, thinking of the two most cutthroat firms in the city. "I know of a few that don't want your soul to work with you," she said with a laugh.
"Okay, I'll steer clear from those two, but I need someone who can take a case, sooner rather than later," Tony said, jotting down the two firms that he might take a closer look at later.
"Here's a good one in Malibu," she said, giving him the name of a firm that had the highest win rate in the county.
"Thanks," he said, then he looked to Waters. "I need you to find out just what the Daily Prophet and Dumbledore knows. I don't think Dumbledore knew who he was messing with when he showed up in New York. However, it's known in the normal world that I've adopted Ivy, so it will trickle down to you guys soon. Make sure we have all our ducks in a row," he ordered, coming off as demanding.
"I'll see that it's all taken care of on this end," the male lawyer sniffed. Sure, he was on retainer, but he was not a servant to be ordered about.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's been a trying week," Tony apologized. He had been having issues with some jerk calling him out in China. He had been ignoring it, but this guy was persistent. Now that his priorities had changed, he was not as likely to run off and kill the bad guys. That is what the military was for. He had already given the information to Rhodey. Let the War Machine take care of it.
"I'll get right on that," the British contingent said and then he pushed the button to disconnect.
"You know, getting snippy at the wrong people doesn't help your cause," Jennifer stated, looking at the harried man. "You need to deal with what's bothering you before you snap at the wrong person," she suggested, running a hand through her long black hair. She was wearing it down right now since she technically was off the clock.
"I know, I almost snapped at Ivy," Stark said, wishing he still had alcohol in the office. However, he had removed all of it when Ivy moved into the house. He was still limiting his drinking to dinner and nightmares.
"You would have regretted that," she said wisely. She still talked to the Girl-Who-Lived every now and then. She had given Ivy her number, and the little girl called her up on weekends to chat girl talk when the other females in the house were busy.
"Sir, the men have returned," Jarvis said, not naming names. "They have achieved their objective."
"Look, I've got to go. Family business. Thanks for the advice and recommendation. I'll call that firm first thing Monday morning," Tony said, making a note of it.
"No problem. If you need me for anything else, I'm just a phone call away," Jennifer said with a small wave. She then disconnected the call.
"Goodbye to you too," Tony grumbled as he moved to greet the newest member of the household. He had put the boy's room near Loki's and Thor's. They had a wing furthest away from his and Ivy's. Sirius and Remus, along with Pepper, were the only ones that were near Tony's and Ivy's.
Bruce and Steve had rooms on the wing next to them. Natasha and Clint were a wing across from them, making Thor and Loki the last wing. The floor plan was circular, but the wings were in a fan shape. The rest were labs and recreational. With the living space in the middle. The main lab, Tony's, was underground. Bruce had his above ground.
Pepper only lived with them part-time. She traveled a lot for business with Stark Industries. She had apartments in every major city. Well, he had them and she stayed in them. So, if she had a morning appointment in Los Angeles then she stayed in the LA apartment.
Natasha and Clint had similar arrangements. They had missions they had to attend to, so they spent most of their time on assignments.
Tony made his way up the stairs and was greeted by Ivy hugging the stuffing out of a boy that was around her height. He had a look on his face that was so confused, that Tony couldn't help but laugh.
"Ivy, let the boy breathe," he said, coming up to the two children. He ruffled Ivy's hair to show he was not being mean.
"But, Daddy, he's so cute," Ivy said, still hugging the boy but not as tightly. She then saw his face and let him go. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she said innocently. She never wanted to push herself on anyone.
"It's alright," Jormungandr said with a small smile. "I'm just not used to being touched." He liked the hug, but it was something new and he was unsure of how to handle it.
"I'll give you all the hugs you need," she said, her smile brightening the room. "Unless, you don't want hugs," she said, that smile dimming.
"I think I like hugs," the human snake said, looking to his father, who gave him an encouraging smile back.
Loki looked around and saw that Steve, Thor and Bruce were the only ones there, besides Tony and Ivy. Sirius and Remus had gone to freshen up.
"Everyone, this is my son, Jormungandr," he said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He glared at Thor, who looked uneasy around the boy. "Jormungandr, this is Steve, Bruce and your uncle, Thor," he told the child. "The man behind Ivy is her father, Tony," he added.
"Well met," the boy said, nodding his head to the four men. He was still near his father and Ivy. He felt safe around them. Not that he feared anything. All it took was for him to reform to his full size and he could lay waste to the whole world. Which is why his grandfather feared him so.
"Can we call you Jorm or Gandr?" Tony asked, hoping they could shorten the name.
"For what purpose?" the boy asked, not seeing the reason for the request.
"Your name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue," the billionaire stated, rolling his eyes.
"Daddy," Ivy said shocked, wondering what had gotten into her father. "He's right, for all he's being rude," she said to Jormungandr. "Can we call you Jor?" she asked, her big eyes sparkling with happiness.
"I see," Jormungandr said, then thought it over for a moment. He looked into those big green eyes and fell for the power of cuteness. "You can call me Gandr," he decided. He liked it better than the other two suggested.
"Yay," Ivy said, holding her arms open as an invitation to hug. Gandr nodded and she hugged him to her and then let him go. "Do you want to come and play with me?" she asked sweetly. "I have so many toys that we can explore." Not even she had been able to play with all the toys that her daddy had bought for her. She was thankful that she had him in her life, but he was spoiling her.
"I've never played with toys before," he confessed, though he did bat a few puffer fish around the ocean, he never really played anything.
"I'll be more than happy to teach you. I can show you some games that will teach you to read too. Then you can come to school with me," she offered, hoping he took her up on it. Then she would have one more friend at school. She started towards her rooms and playroom. She didn't take his hand. She didn't want to come off as pushy, but she hoped he'd follow.
"My father mentioned something about that," he said, following her. He was getting intrigued. "I think I'd like that," he added thoughtfully. The humans were fascinating.
"Yay," Ivy said, clapping her hands as she continued walking, though there was now a spring in her steps. Tony was surprised that flowers didn't spring forth from the floorboards. She just exuded happiness.
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"I think Sirius and I should visit England," Remus said that night at dinner. They were having Mediterranean that night. Which encompassed a great deal of different food, like Balkan, Greek, Turkish, Syrian, Lebanese, Israeli, Palestine, and Egyptian. The table was bursting with flavors and there would be many leftovers for the next few days.
"Why do you say that?" Tony asked, wondering where that came from. He would hear them out before he decided to voice his opinion.
"We want to know what Dumbledore is up to, and we can't find that out here," the werewolf said, spearing a Falafel and shoving it in his mouth. He loved it when they ordered from this restaurant.
"Why now?" Steve asked, grabbing some of the Greek salad.
"Ivy's in school, and Loki can handle her magical education for now. We're not needed until she gets a wand. Then we can come back and renew our Visas. Until then, we can spy on Dumbledore and let you know via the phone. That way you can plan accordingly," Remus said, taking more of the Falafel.
"But, Remus, I'll miss you," Ivy said plaintively, almost making the two men change their minds.
"I know, princess, but we need to know if the man is going to try and kidnap you or try some other way to take you from Tony," Remus said in an almost pleading tone.
"He's right, Ivy. We do need eyes in the UK," Pepper said, always the pragmatic one. "Tony will make sure they have all the equipment they need to video call you every day," she stated, giving Tony a pointed look.
"You'll call every day?" Ivy asked, turning sad wide eyes at the two British men.
"Every morning before you go to school," Sirius promised. The time difference would make that the optimal time.
"Okay," she said, though her tone was still sad.
"Make sure you coordinate with Stephen Waters," Stark said, making a note in his phone to get them the best phones his company produced. He had some that were due to go to market soon. He'd give them those. They were like his and could do hologram projections. It was going to be all the rage.
"Will do," Remus said, finishing off his meal. He was stuffed this time.
"If something comes up that we need to know, call Jarvis. He always knows how to get in touch with me," Tony said, still fiddling with his phone looking for everything he felt the two men would need in England. "Do you two want to use my apartment there?" he asked, knowing it would make life much easier for them.
"Can we?" Sirius asked, a lot of hope in his tone. "I only have Grimmuald Place and that place is a dump," he said, giving a full body shudder. He had only been there a day before he went to Tony's last time and that was plenty of time to know it was condemnable. He was going to have to do something about Kreacher. The elf had been alone all this time and he was quite barmy.
"I'll concur with that," Remus agreed, he too shaking his shoulders and head in disgust. "Maybe you can get the goblins to clean it out, and then sell it," he suggested to his friend.
"I'll think about it," Sirius said. "So, your flat?" he said to Tony.
"Sure, no problem. I'll ring ahead and let them know you guys can stay. Just don't trash the joint," Tony said, once more making a note to do just that.
"Okay, now that that is all settled, we'll leave at the end of the week," Sirius said, taking some gyros. He was going to eat the last of them, but that was okay, everyone else was done with their meal.
"We'll have a going away party," Ivy said, trying to cheer herself up. She was going to miss her godfather and sorta uncle.
"We can do that," Remus said kindly. He hated seeing her so sad, but it was for her safety that they were doing this. Dumbledore was not one to be underestimated.
With that, everyone finished eating and put their dishes away. The two children went and played, while the adults ironed out the travel arrangements. Sirius and Remus would go via portkey and stay until Ivy got her wand. If she decided to go to Ilvermorny, they would come during the summer. If she decided to homeschool, they would stay fulltime. Until then, they were going to spy on those that wished Ivy harm in Britain.