Chapter 25: Death and Moody Drop By

Thanks for all the reviews. They tickle my muse. Keep it up. Also remember this is crackish, so things can go faster than they would in real life.

It's a short one.

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Ivy got to read all the letters, and the Avengers and the Asgardians helped her. There were some good ones among them, as in they started out expounding the virtues of England then would end with things like… 'but it rains all the time.' or 'but, Mum, won't let us play quidditch.' or 'but, there are too many muggles.' or many things like that.

Ivy and the gang got a kick out of them. The kids had their hearts in the right place, but they were just kids, so complaining was in their nature. The hero worshipping was a bit much, and Ivy ignored it for the most part. She knew the story from Sirius and thought it was her mother who did the deed, and wrote that to her fans.

There were some from adults, but they were blatant propaganda, so Tony and Loki wrote them back and lambasted them for trying to persuade a young child into politics. They didn't mince words either.

Ivy did wind up with many pen pals, though she did answer each letter with a form letter, that Tony's PR company had drafted. There were some that she just connected with.

One girl named Luna Lovegood was just a sweet child that Ivy couldn't help but love her to pieces. There were descriptions of animals that Loki said were creatures on different realms. Ivy made sure to let her know that she would not find them in Midgard and that she would have to learn to travel the Yggdrasil. She didn't know if Luna, or her family, knew what that was, but it was information that she needed to know.

Loki added a postscript that said that when Luna was of age, he would be more than happy to help guide her. However, only if Ivy accompanied them. It would be a grand adventure for all of them, when they were out of school.

There was another child that Ivy loved, and that was a young boy by the name of Neville Longbottom. He was in a situation much like she had been. Only his gran loved him, and his family treated him like dirt. She wished that someone would rescue him, like Daddy had done her. She wrote him her tale, and told him why she loved it here in the States and why she was not coming back to the UK. She hoped he would be her friend anyway.

There were a few others, but those two were the ones that struck her heart strings.

She also took the time to write to her Uncle Vernon, even if he was only her uncle by marriage. Daddy had given her his address. She wrote about how he was a nice man, and how her life was going now and asked how he and Dudley were doing. She gave a Post Office Box address since Daddy didn't want anyone to have her current address.

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"Loki," Ivy said one day at breakfast, "where does Hel live?" Both Gandr and Fenrir had talked about their sister and brother and were hopeful in meeting them soon. They knew where their brother was, but not where their sister was. They knew she ruled the underworld, but not where it was located.

"She has her own realm," Loki explained as he cut his pancakes. "She lords over the realm of the dead, the sick and the elderly," he said, taking a bite after swiping some in syrup.

"Oh, what's it called?" Bruce wanted to know, having researched the realms.

"Helheim. It is beneath the roots of the Yggdrasil tree," Loki said, when he swallowed. "Odin banished her there in hopes to keep her busy," he added with a hint of disgust.

"Your daughter Hel, rules over a realm called Helheim?" Tony asked, laughing a bit. "Do they call it Hel, for short?"

"Yes," was the short answer.

"I was joking," Tony said laughing harder. "Hel of Hel," he snorted.

Everyone joined in, apart from the Asgardians, who didn't find it funny. Even Ivy giggled her tinkling giggle, which made them crack a smile.

"It is a bit funny," she said, giving them a megawatt smile.

"Okay, but we try not to laugh about it," Loki said trying to be serious.

"It is bad luck to laugh at the ruler of death," Thor said, with far more seriousness.

"Indeed," came a dry voice from the doorway. There stood a woman who was beautiful on one side and hideous on the other.

"Daughter," Loki said, going to her and hugging her. His sons soon joined him in a family hug.

"Father," Hel said, hugging him with her good arm.

Jormungandr and Fenrir were holding on to their sister with all their might. They had never met her; both having been cast aside before she was born. They had heard that Odin had taken one look at her deformation and cast her to the depths of Helheim and left her to rule there. Which was a better deal than either of them got. Still, they did not begrudge her for that.

"Sister," they both said, standing away and taking in her appearance, which did take a minute to wrap their minds around.

On her right side was a strikingly beautiful woman with long black hair that flowed like a river and porcelain skin that was smooth and perfect. On the left was a hideously ugly woman with grey straw-like hair that stuck up everywhere and warty skin that was pitted and lumpy. It was polar opposite. Like life and death met and clashed into one body. Even her clothes were sewn to match the body type. On one side was a lanky ballgown, while on the other side was a faded peasant dress. The beautiful side was tall and graceful, while the ugly side was hunched and fragile. How she walked with poise was a mystery.

Her voice came in two tones, that spoke at the same time. There was the clear as a bell tone, and the raspy one. It was disconcerting to hear. She didn't speak often.

"Hel, why are you here?" Loki asked, escorting her to the table, making Bruce grab a chair for her.

The humans of the household were of two minds of the woman before them. One, it was Loki's daughter, so they didn't want to insult her. Two, she was a strange sight to behold and hard to look upon.

"Brothers are here," the two-toned voice said succinctly. She sat in the chair and settled as best she could.

"I am glad you're here," Ivy said, not at all put off by her appearance. "I have wanted to meet you for ever so long," she said, getting up and giving the Goddess of Death a hug.

"Why?" Hel asked, tilting her head a bit, making the black hair fall to the other side, which turned it to straw when it touched. She righted her head, and it turned back.

"You're family," Ivy said like it was obvious, which to her it was.

"Not my family," Tony mumbled under his breath, and only Pepper and Fenrir heard him. They both ignored him, though the wolf-boy did cut him a look.

"Thank you," Hel said, meaning it. She took Ivy's hand in her good one and kissed the back of it between the thumb and the forefinger.

There were mixed reactions. One did not get kissed by death every day. Ivy just giggled, but Tony stood and went to pull his daughter away from the goddess. He wasn't sure he liked the implications.

"Worry not, Friend Tony, it is a blessing," Thor said, clapping the man on the back before he could get to Ivy. "She will be harder to kill now than before," he stated.

"Well, that's all fine and good, but she should have asked first," Tony said, grumbling about gods and goddesses taking liberties. He grabbed Ivy and dragged her gently away from Hel, letting the two-toned goddess visit her family.

"Daddy, you're being silly," Ivy chastised, though she was giggling. She loved it when her daddy got all protective.

"I know, but she should have asked," Tony said, looking at the spot that Hel had kissed as if there was a mark, and there was. It was a small set of lips. They were black in color and lopsided in shape. She was marked by Death. How could this be a good thing?

"Oh, pretty," Ivy said, running her finger over the lips.

"It looks like a cheap tattoo," Tony disagreed.

Pepper came up and looked too. "It's small enough that most won't even notice," she said, peering at the tiny mark. "It looks like a beauty mark," she added, thumbing the mark and feeling it like it was indeed a beauty mark.

"I guess," Tony conceded. He dropped the hand and kissed Ivy's forehead as if to kiss away the other woman's mark.

"I love you, Daddy," Ivy said for the first time.

"I love you too, little bug," Tony said, hugging her tight.

Hel didn't stay long; she had a realm to run. But she did say she would visit now and then for tea parties and to see her brothers. She did invite Ivy and Loki to come to Helheim to visit her. No one else would be able to. Unless they were dead, to which everyone agreed not to visit.

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Albus Dumbledore and Alastor Moody were casing the Malibu house again. The letter campaign did not work. The children had only gotten Ivy to write to them about how great the USA was. So unless they were going to hold Black hostage, which was still on the backburner, they needed a new approach.

"Why don't you just go to the front door and ask to see her?" Moody asked, not sure why all the cloak and dagger was needed. According to Albus, he was the girl's rightful guardian.

"I cannot," Albus moaned. "The man inside has everyone convince that he is her guardian," he stated like it was a lie. He had gone to great lengths to make the Order believe that Stark was lying. Sirius was undermining him at every turn.

Alastor had a pretty good bullshit detector, and he knew Albus was telling fibs. He was going to get to the bottom of this story one way or another. So, he got up and started stomping up the driveway.

"Alastor, what are you doing?" Albus hissed, not following but standing enough to be seen. At least from the streets, but not from the house.

"I'm going to find out what you're hiding," the man said, continuing to walk up the driveway. He got to the wards and since he was not meaning to cause harm, he walked right on through. He got to the gate and rattled it for a minute.

"Can I help you?" a voice said in the air.

"Yes, I need to speak to Ivy Potter's guardian," Alastor said, leaning on the gate. He was not the best at balancing for long. He had his staff, but he preferred to lean on walls.

"May I ask to what purpose?" the voice inquired.

"I'm being fed a bunch of stories and I want to know what's true and what's not, so I can act accordingly," the one-legged man stated, glaring at Albus. It was fucking hot in this state and he didn't want to be here. Sirius had told him that Ivy was fine with the Stark bloke and Albus said the opposite. He wanted the truth.

"Alastor, get back here," Albus said from his hiding place behind a bush.

"Sir, tell the man hiding that if he comes any closer, he will be fired upon. He is persona no grata here at the Stark residence," the tinny voice stated, a camera aiming in the direction of the headmaster's hiding place.

"Albus, you'd better clear out. They sound like they mean business," Alastor said a chuckle in his voice. No one ever told the Great Albus Dumbledore he wasn't wanted.

"Really," came the affronted response as Albus got out of his bush and started walking towards Alastor, only to be shot at with a hidden weapon. The bullets only sprayed a line in front of him, but they ricocheted off the pavement and bits of it went onto the old man's legs and he jumped back, twisted, and disappeared.

"I guess you showed him," Alastor said, warily. He wasn't sure of his receival now that Albus was shown the door, so to speak.

"Mr. Stark is unavailable. However, Mr. Laufeyson will receive you," the voice said and the gate opened on its own.

Moody looked around for what opened the gate, then shrugged and wandered to the house. "Thanks," he mumbled to the air.

Loki met him at the door. The children, including his sons, were in Ivy's room playing at his request. Fenrir was in charge of keeping Ivy safe. Goose was with them, so he wasn't too worried.

"Mr. Moody," Loki said, surprising Alastor, holding the door open. "Please, come in," he offered, standing aside, and letting the man come through.

Alastor came in and looked around with his magic eye and noted the magic that was coming off his host. It was different than his magic, much more powerful. Even more powerful than Albus', which is saying something. He followed the man, who moved to lead, and was soon in a living room. There were other people there. Three of them. One of them had magic too, though nowhere near as much as his host.

"This is my brother, Thor Odinson, God of Thunder. The man on the left is Bruce Banner. The woman sitting on the end is Natasha Romanoff," Loki introduced them. "I am Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief," he said with a flourish. "There are more to our little family, but they are all at work, or busy with other things."

"I just wanted to confirm that a man named Tony Stark adopted Ivy Potter," Alastor said, grumpily sitting on a footstool, which was the easiest with his peg leg. He lowered himself down with his staff, keeping an eye on everything and everyone.

"I'm sorry for being rude, but why with all the magic at your disposal do you have a peg leg?" Bruce wanted to know. "I mean, we muggles have better prosthetics than that," he added, taking out his phone and pulling up a website.

"What's a prosthetic?" Moody wanted to know. He waved away the rudeness. If they could do him better than a peg leg, he'd bloody well put up with more than a blunt question.

Bruce got up and joined him at the footstool and bent over and showed him the latest in fake legs and how they functioned. They were definitely better than a wooden stick.

"But electronics don't work around magic," Alastor said, wistfully.

"Bullshit," everyone, but Thor, said.

Then Bruce said, "None of these are electronic. They are all mechanical." He then proceeded to show him how they would work for him and how much they cost. The whole subject of Ivy got lost as he took Moody to his lab and started going over the logistics of getting him a leg that would function better.

"Well, so much for intimidating one of Dumbledore's men," Loki said, sipping a gin. He found it quite humorous.

"Indeed," Natasha said, getting up to go and train.

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That night at dinner there was a new person at the table that Tony didn't know. "Who's the new guy?" he asked Pepper, who was staring at the man's eye.

"Loki?" she asked the god.

"That's Dumbledore's right-hand man, Alastor Mad-eye Moody," Loki said smugly.

"What? Did you sic Ivy on him?" Tony asked, looking at his daughter, who looked just as confused as he was.

"No, this time it was Bruce and the wonderful world of prosthetics," Loki said, gesturing to the man's leg which was sticking out of his chair. He was showing it to Steve, who was talking about the men he knew from the war who had prosthetics and how their lives had improved with them.

"Ah," Tony said, nodding and gesturing for Tilly to serve dinner.

"House elves?" Alastor said, breaking his conversation with the two men. "When did you get house elves?" The last time he had looked at the house there were no elves. He hadn't taken a closer look today, not expecting anything different.

"Hello, Mr. Alastor," Ivy said, finally glad to be able to greet the man. "They are my elves," she answered. She smiled proudly at Tilly and the other elves that were snapping their fingers and putting dinner on the table.

"How did you know about them?" he asked, his voice gruff, but not harsh.

"Uncle Sirius told me," she said, giggling like it was obvious.

"Right, should have known that," he mumbled. He knew the man was in touch with her. "What else did your uncle tell you?" he asked, hoping for some inside scoop.

"Never you mind," Tony said, putting a stop to that line of questioning. "What brings Dumbledore's right-hand man to my doorstep?" he asked, picking up a serving spoon and dishing up a green bean casserole.

"I heard you adopted the little one, but Albus keeps saying it's a lie. I came to find out the truth," the man confessed. He looked around the room with his magical eye and noted that all the kids were magical, Ivy the greater user. Only the two gods were magical, but Steve was something else. So was Bruce. They were human, just more so. The Natasha woman was extra too.

"I adopted her legally in both worlds in both countries," Tony said, grabbing some buttered noodles. "I can show you the paperwork after dinner."

Then Goose walked into the room.

"What the fuck is that?" Moody asked, jumping up as fast as his leg would let him. There was something otherworldly about that cat. There was a large dimensional section in its stomach. That was no cat. Were those tentacles?

"That's Goose," Ivy said, innocently. She picked Goose up and set him on her lap. Then she started petting him, making him purr.

"That is no cat," Alastor said, seeing no one was alarmed, he sat back down. He gingerly reached for something safe, like the chicken. The non-cat glared at him, and he put a drumstick on his plate.

"He's my bodyguard," Ivy said, still petting Goose.

"He's a menace," Fenrir stated, his voice a growl, reminding Alastor of a werewolf.

"Did you know there's a werewolf that bears your name in England?" he asked the boy, leaving the subject of the non-cat alone for now. He knew the boy was the son of the god, so it might be of interest to him.

"Is there? Well, we might have to go and pay the man a visit," Loki said, wondering how that visit would go.

"He thinks because he bears that name, that he is the king of the weres," Alastor stated, waving his wand over the food that he had dished up. It all came back clean, so he started eating.

Fenrir growled at that. He was the king of the weres, and all dogs. Well, he would have been had he not been imprisoned. He was going to have to change that. He had heard of Ivy's Uncle Remus, and he wanted to meet the man to see his reaction.

"So, you're thinking of getting a prosthetic? Good for you," Tony said, looking at the one-eyed man. He was so glad that Fury didn't have that eye. The spy was bad enough without magical help. He hoped these two didn't meet, or if they did, they didn't get along.

"It might be a bit out of my price range," the older man lamented. He had a bit saved away, but muggle stuff was far more expensive.

"I can cut you a loan, if you leave Ivy alone. Tell that old man that she's happy here, which is not a lie, and I'll float you enough to get a new leg," Tony said, eating his noodles.

"You'd do that for someone you've just met?" Alastor asked, completely floored.

"I have more money than the whole of the wizarding world put together. I can afford it." Tony waved it away.

"He's not lying," Bruce said, nodding his head towards Tony. "He's rich by non-magical standards. He can afford to throw money away. I'd take him up on it. Pay him back when you can, and do him that favor. It's a small thing to him," he added.

"Please, Mr. Alastor," Ivy said, showing her big green eyes.

Moody folded. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Albus never offered anything like this, and it wasn't against any of his morals. "Done," he said, slamming his hand on the table.

"Great, we'll call around tomorrow and get you set up. You can stay in the guest wing until you're done," Tony said, thinking there was at least one room that no one was occupying. This house was getting quite full.

The next week was busy with doctor appointments and surgery schedules. There was some minor shaving to be done on his leg, but other than that it was just fitting a new leg on and some physical therapy. And soon enough, Alastor Moody was up and walking like a normal man in no time. He was back in the UK within the month and Albus was not happy with him.