Quick Note: Gasp! She's updated! O.O

~ oOo ~

The Goddess of Death

Chapter Four: Ceremony

Calla

It had been just as she expected. And that went to show just how low her expectations had become, that they'd been matched was another saddening thought.

Joy had radiated from everyone at the party. Of course, the one's who's happiness was most obvious were the ones who hadn't lost much or done much of anything to contribute to the fight. The laid-back sheep who had locked themselves in their homes and put their heads in the sand waiting for it all to be over. The ones who'd shrugged off their own abilities and shouldered the weight of freedom onto a small girl. For only the Chosen One could fight, only she could stand against Voldemort's reign of terror.

The others could be seen by their sagging shoulders. From their healing wounds and the looks of relief on their faces when they spotted someone they knew. Tears leaked down their faces and hugs were tight.

Even their reactions to her differed. Gratitude was given by all, but she could already see the pedestal the sheep put her on. Ready to sing her praises but waiting for the change in tune that was sure to come when she didn't meet their expectations. As soon to raise her up and then to tear her down.

The others who she could recognise by their faces alone, who she'd seen in the last years when they'd been out there together, fighting side by side. They had a quieter air; their gratefulness was heartfelt but their mind crowded with grief. They were thankful that they'd be no more days like that for them. That they wouldn't have to worry about letting their guard down, they could try for ordinary, for routine. And they would look at her with pity and respect. She had saved them, but she had lost more than any of them. She would constantly be there, constantly reminded and held to others expectations, to solve their problems.

The air became claustrophobic, inhibitions lowed and her melancholy was disregarded.

Slipping away had been easier than she'd thought it would be. Even though she'd never visited Neville's home before, it was grand enough to be extensively large. After all it was not just the main line of Longbottom's that lived with its walls, but aunts, uncles and cousins having separate wings to themselves. So, despite the generous amount of guest celebrating the end of the war, she found it effortless to sneak away.

The one area which she was guaranteed some alone time was the expansive gardens that Neville had boasted about. Her fellow Gryffindor while shy in most areas in their years at Hogwarts could talk endlessly about Herbology and gardening. And his results showed, the grounds were beautiful.

The sounds of wildlife greeted her with only the faint sounds of the party within the manor's walls. She hurried her pace along the paths until she was sure she wouldn't be spotted from the windows.

She breathed out a sigh of relief, the music faint within the air. Finally, a moment to herself. Her eyes scanned the paths between the flower beds, mapping out where she would walk. She slowed her steps as she leisurely gazed around the mix of bushes and flowers. Some she recognised from her aunt's garden, others were the tamer plants from the Herbology greenhouses at Hogwarts. It was odd to see those two worlds side by side.

Her black gown with gold embroidery swished around her feet and glinted in the candle light of the sparse lamps the highlighted the pathways around the gardens. She kept a keen ear out for any wandering couples and stayed away from the hedge maze. She was still traumatised by the last one she'd ventured into.

Stone steps carried her further away from the house, her dress trailing behind her and her fingertips lightly trailing along, touching both stone and plants alike. Her thoughts wandered as they were prone to do when she was alone. Trailing into the deep dark deeps of her memories. Finding a pond with a bridge across it she leant against the wood and looked out of the wildlife around her. It was a pretty sight, one that she could now bask in without feeling some measure of guilt. Before now she'd always been expected to be focusing on the suffering of others that Death Eaters and Voldemort and even the Ministry had caused. Constant eyes were upon her, judging her every movement. Why should she have a happy moment when she should have been fighting. It had been exhausting, carrying so much expectation. That she was the Chosen One, and only she could end it.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked across the water. "I hope you've found peace, Hermione." She sniffed and pushed back a curl from her face. She fiddled with the flower she'd plucked on her walk, stroking the petals. "May you find the tranquillity in the never realm that you couldn't in life. May that harmony surround your endless days and the people who you are now joined with bring you eternal joy and happiness." The flower floated out of her hand and twirled through the air until it landed on the surface of the water. Its petals glinted with drops of water. "Know that I do not call upon you with the Resurrection Stone because I could not stand for you to suffer within the land of the living. That I would rather you only know the serenity of the never realm for the rest of time." Tears ran down her face and splashed onto the wood of the bridge, looking up she locked her gaze onto the full moon that hung in the sky. "May Hecate bless you. So mote it be."

She breathed out heavily and wiped away her tears. Stepping away from beam and off the bridge. Her heels clicking on the wooden planks. Walking mindless forwards and only following the path, she let her self be directed onwards until she came across towering bushes that separated the next section of the garden.

Colours exploded everywhere as she walked through an archway covered in vines. The variety was vibrant, even under the light of the moon. She let out a smile as her fingers grazed the petals. The soft texture soothed something within her as she felt her shoulders relax. Tucking a wayward curl behind her ear she closed her eyes and listened to the world around her.

It was peaceful.

Despite wanting to stay home with Dora and Teddy, she knew Padma had the right idea of getting her out of the house. She didn't want to spend all her time wallowing. She wanted to live her life and look at the endless possibilities the future now held.

Her eyes fluttered open as she felt a gaze on herself. She looked around using the edge of her vision to not let on. Too used to being paranoid to want to show whoever it was that she knew they were there. Nothing stood out, but Calla knew not to trust her eyesight alone. People could always use magic to hide from view, or to silence their footsteps. The person just appeared to be watching her though, they'd had ample enough time for a surprise attack.

Suddenly being back inside surrounded by people sounded much safer. At least then she knew someone would have her back if anything happened. Or maybe she should just make her excuses and leave. It was a tempting thought.

"Hey, there you are!" She jolted at the sudden voice and span around, her neck almost snapping at the speed of her body's movement.

"Padma?" Her friend stood in the archway, hands on her hips. Her blue gown sparkled with the sequins sewn into the top layer. Her heart thundering in her chest she couldn't help the relief that swarmed over her. The one friend who'd stuck with her throughout her years. Sure, they'd only become friends during the Chamber of Secret's attacks, Padma had been the one to inform her that the Potters weren't related to any Slytherin's and that being a Parselmouth was quite common in other parts of the world. In fact, in Scamander's book about magical creatures he'd mentioned that African wizards wrote down conversations they had with snakes. It was only in Britain that the ability was associated with Dark wizards, that went all the way back to Salazar Slytherin and Herpo the Foul. Though Voldemort also having the ability hadn't helped its reputation. Padma had been a godsend during the Goblet of Fire when Ron had left her and Hermione had been split between the two of them. Padma was the reason she was friends with people in other houses, she was the reason that her allies had grown and she kept her head above the water.

"I've been looking for you," Padma sighed and stepped out of the archway and towards her. Fingers ran down her dress, soothing any wrinkles. "People are beginning to realise you've disappeared."

She reached up and ran a hand down her face as Padma walked closer. "I can't handle it in there." Breathing out she looked away from Padma's emphatic expression. "So much happiness and praise. I feel as if the weight of the world is once again on my shoulders." She wrapped her arms around herself, holding tightly. "I thought killing Voldemort would bring an end to that."

Padma reached out a hand and grasped her upper arm in comfort. "I know." A forlorn frown settled over her brow. "All they see is the saviour. The one who finally put an end to the war." Padma's hand squeezed and they exchanged smiles that said more than words could. Padma understood how much pressure she'd been under ever since entering Hogwarts. She knew that the pressure would never fade, that the public would constantly expect things of her. "I understand that you want to escape from all that, just don't leave the ones who see you behind." With her free hand Padma gestured back in the direction of the manor.

Unwinding her arms, she ran and hand through her curls. "It's not just their thanking." The heaviness of their public's future expectations lowed her shoulders. "Mrs. Weasley approached me, asking me when I planned to get married." She let out a laugh and she saw Padma's face grow concerned. "She even suggested her own sons!" As if. The twins were like brothers, even though she had taken George to the Triwizard Yule Ball and had developed a crush on him after she'd dumped Cho. Ron she would never see that way, there were too many betrayals. Percy was too much of a stick in the mud, they would never see eye to eye. She had spent hardly any time with Charlie, but knew enough that he seemed to prefer the same sex. And Bill was married to Fleur. All in all, terrible choices. Especially factoring in Ginny, who had an obsessive hero crush on her for years.

"Yes." Padma brought her back to the present. "I saw Neville's eyes watching you earlier." Her amusement left her and she reached over to grasp hold of Padma's hands.

She bit her lip, searching for words of comfort. Needing to reassure her friend who had developed a crush on the boy during their seventh year. "It's frankly ridiculous how their views of me change at the tip of a sickle. Firewhisky seems to bring out the worst in them." She went for the path of humour, knowing that it would be better to make Padma laugh than to see her burst into tears. "I'm sorry Pad. I know you were starting to like him."

"It's not your fault." Padma let go of one of her hands and gave it a wave. "You're going to get marriage proposals coming at you left and right." Horror washed over her, making her eyes widen. "Probably some love potions as well. You're going to have to be careful of what you drink or eat." She shivered at the thought of it all. Her worries had been focused on the expectations of others. What job she would get, who she would marry. Now she had to worry about the people who would be more forceful, the ones who would take it into their own hands.

Calming herself, she smiled at her friend. "Thanks for the warning." She couldn't be more thankful to have someone as kind as Padma around. She just had to make her own plans, to ward her home to the high heavens and to never trust anything wizards said or did. Perhaps it was time she expanded her own horizons. Magical Britain was so limited and there was a whole world out there. She didn't need to settle down, she didn't have to resign herself to a job or only choose to enter a relationship with someone who only wanted to share in her fame. Maybe she would do as muggle graduates did and take a holiday. "I think I'm going to go back home, I've got lots of thinking to do."

Padma looked happier as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "That you do." She gestured over to the archway. "We'd better exit the wards then." Padma took the lead, curling their arms together as they strolled through the gardens. "Remember that you've got me, I'll always be there to stand by your side." She squeezed her friends arm in gratitude. She was reminded of when they'd greeted each other at the start of the party, how Padma had commented that she looked healthy. She no longer resembled a walking skeleton, it was as if killing Voldemort had righted her body to be in its prime. How she should have looked if the Dursleys hadn't starved her, kept her in a cupboard under the stairs. As if the weight of war and the stress it had caused and been swept away to reveal a woman underneath it all. She didn't correct the assumptions, she had seen the looks and knew most of the crowd had dismissed it to being magic. Better for them to think it was the work of potions, rather than anything else they could come up with.

A cheeky grin stretched her face and she gave her best friend a wink. "Right back atcha bestie."

~ oOo ~

She was in a dark hallway, the golden curtains shone brightly swinging in the breeze, but the path in front was covered in shadow. There was a firepit in front of a doorway which opened and a large shadow appeared in the corridor on the wall.

"Another!" A male voice shouted and something was thrown at the flames. Split liquid flew through the air and hit the flames causing them to grow. Broken parts of a goblet flung out of the fire pit. She narrowed her eyes on the man who walked around it with a confident smirk and a swagger in his walk. A red cape fluttered out behind him. What the hell was she watching?

Suddenly movement rustled one of the long curtains and a shadow with horns moved to the left of her. The man from before, it must have been him, even though his black hair was now covered by a horned helmet. His golden armour shone brightly and a cape that matched the other man's apart from the green colour, decorated his shoulders. Definitely different to what he'd been wearing before, that must have been casual wear compared to this.

A smile sprung across this man's face as he watched the blonde one walk towards him. The blonde continued walking without looking at the other man, a hammer swung in his hand as he stopped to look onwards. Her eyes flew between the two as they stood next to each other, gleaming in their strange clothes. Their eyes passed through her, though that wasn't hard with their tall forms. The man from before clasped his hands together in front of him before turning to look and the blonde with a grin.

"Nervous brother?" A rich accent rolled off his tongue. She looked between the two of them trying to find similarities. But apart from the blue eyes and tall height she could not detect any other. Perhaps they took after different parents.

The blonde let out a laugh. "Have you ever known me to be nervous?" His chuckles grew as he turned towards his brother.

"Oh…" His brother smirked in return. "Well there was that time in Normheim." Amusement lightened his blue-green eyes, which sparkled within the golden light.

"That was not nerves, brother." The blonde frowned. "That was the rage of battle."

"Ah, I see." His brother playfully agreed.

The blonde turned further, steadfast in his own defence. "How else can I have fought my way through a hundred warriors and pulled us out alive." A smug smile stretched underneath his trimmed beard.

"Uh…" A thoughtful looked crossed the other man's face, he looked as if he was about to argue against that statement. "As I recall, I was the who veiled us in smoke to ease our escape." She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips at the smoothness of his voice. Cheeks flushing at the warmth within her chest she looked down at the floor and away from the cheeky grin.

A booming laugh rang out. "Yes." The blonde agreed as a man in brown robes walked forwards with a goblet on a tray. A servant or some kind, the two men took no notice of him as he stood by the blonde. "Some do battle, others just do tricks." The servant snorted with amusement. Her head swung to look at him in disbelief. Why were they laughing at the expense of his brother who clearly was able to use his head and not just his brawn? Narrowed eyes locked onto the blonde and she saw the one that she was starting to connect with swing his gaze to look at the chuckling servant.

She watched as fingers turned in the direction of the servant and wisps of green magic fluttered around his fingers. The servants head looked down as three small snakes came out of the goblet. He dropped the tray and the goblet rattled and the clang rang out around them. The snakes ran across the floor and she bent down to get a closer look at them. "Hello there." She cocked her head as they all stopped and turned to look at her. She reached a hand out to stroke the scales as her ears caught the servants gasp. She couldn't believe the animals could see her, never mind hear her.

"Speaker?" They hissed in question, they were obviously excited as they wiggled around the floor looking up at her hopefully.

A chuckle brought her attention up, and she saw white teeth gleaming as a satisfied look crossed the dark-haired man's face. "Loki." The blonde scolded, though he looked happily down at the snakes. "Now that was just a waste of good wine." He pouted down at the goblet by his feet. Loki? Something about the name rang a bell.

"Oh…" Loki grinned, she couldn't help but make a comparison to Fred and George's mischievous ways. "It's just a bit of fun, right my friend." Loki stared hard at the servant, his smile disappearing from his face. A hand cut through the air and the snakes disappeared into sparks of green magic that danced within the air. Wandless magic, wow. Consider her impressed. Just who were these people?

Her lips twitched upwards at the display, mischief had always captured her attention. The blonde continued to laugh as the servant bent down and took the fallen goblet and tray, backing away and walking out of sight. The brothers laughed together before another man appeared with a silver helmet with wings, holding it out towards the blonde. The servant bowed as the blonde picked it out of his hands and looked down upon it. Red and silver and gold and green. Almost Hogwarts house colours. She couldn't help but make comparisons to Gryffindor and Slytherin in their own behaviours that she had seen thus far.

Loki stopped laughing to look over at his now silent brother. The blonde looked nervously forwards and then back down at his helmet, shaking it within his hand. No matter what he said, he was clearly nervous. She wondered what they were waiting for. Loki cocked his head and gave his brother a reassuring smile. "Oooh." He spoke with a gentle voice. "Nice feathers." His teasing brought a laugh out of the blonde.

"You don't really want to start this again do you cow?" The blonde laughed as he turned towards Loki.

"I was being sincere." Loki frowned.

"You are incapable of sincerity." She pressed her lips together at the blonde's tone, all too used to her own family being casually cruel to her.

"Am I?" Loki smirked and turned towards his brother, Loki at least seemed to let that comment roll off him.

"Yes."

Loki's smirk turned into a smile as he spoke with earnestness. "I've looked forward to this day as long as you have." They both exchanged smiles, which made her further curious about what was happening. "You are my brother and my friend." He spoke with candour, blue-green eyes shining with the sincerity the blonde said he lacked. "Sometimes I am envious, but never doubt I love you." The blonde reached out with one hand and clasped Loki's neck, in such a brotherly love moment that her heart squeezed in want. She wished she could have siblings, to have a relationship like these two. It was heart-warming to witness.

"Thank you." The blonde and Loki shared smiles for a moment. It was adorable seeing their close relationship.

"Now give us a kiss." Loki teased, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Stop it." His brother chucked, point a finger before they both turned towards her again. She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her, giggles shaking her body. Though out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Loki had tensed, his eyes narrowed somewhat as they looked around discretely. Had he heard her? Blue-green eyes looked down at his hands and fingers traced the back of his palm before looking around earnestly. Did he somehow know she was here? Where ever here was? She reached up and rubbed her eyes as the background began to get blurry.

Seeing it start to disappear, she decided to try a risky move. "Loki?" She whispered hesitantly, blue-green eyes cut in front of him and unnervingly almost caught her own. A bright grin tugged at his lips, elation lighting up his eyes as it did when the brothers had their moment together. Why was he happy to hear her? It was evident he was, something about hearing her had caused him jubilation. Though as her blinks grew heavier and a yawn rushed out of her mouth she saw Loki looking annoyed at the people around him. As if he now didn't want to be beside his brother. Questions swirled through her head, all would probably remain unanswered. Though as something seemed to drag her away she finally decided that she would start researching. She was going to seek out the answers to these strange dreams herself. Because she couldn't be making this stuff up, it had to somehow be real.

~ oOo ~

Author Note: Honestly gobsmacked with how many people have followed and favourited this story. I really appreciate every single one of you. I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to upload the next chapter. It started out being back before Thor Ragnarok came out and I wanted to wait and see what happened then in case it changed something I intended for this story. It did, I originally had Hela show up in the next chapter and I was going to incorporate all of Loki's children but the MCU changed that. (I've touched upon this in the last chapter which I updated upon). After that, I hit a depression period because of University. I spent a couple of years working in a coffee shop trying to get better and find out what I wanted to do next. I'm sort of back on track, I have good days and bad days. But the never-ending love for the story from all of you has constantly made me want to continue this story. Also, I've been heavily inspired by the Loki Series, which I have fallen in love with.

So, there is an actual outline for where this story is going, I've been working on it for about two months (the outline) and I am actually going to be updating it more than once a year (I know I was shocked when I realised the update schedule on this story O.O). So, now every month there's going to be one new chapter! So, look out because the next chapter will be coming in September.

The Goddess of Death has returned!