On Punching Gods and Absentee Dads
Enigmaris
Chapter 21: Purple Flames
Summary:
Harry and Hermione both try to warm up before their training begins
Notes:
Hey ya'll! Thank you so much for the amazing comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed my Hermione! She's amazing! Here's the next update!
Chapter Text
Harry stood next to Hermione. His friend was wearing some exercise clothing that he'd never seen in his life. Granted for the most part he saw Hermione in her school uniform but still the purple stretchy fabric was new. He'd opened his mouth to ask about it and she gave him a look.
Right.
"You're the one who's wearing jeans."
"They work." Harry shrugged. "Besides when I train dad has me in armor."
"And you're not wearing that now because?"
Harry shrugged, suddenly embarrassed about how he looked in the Asgardian clothes.
"I'll put it on later."
"You should put it on now. Your dad and the others are going to be here soon." Hermione said. "Oh I can't believe my parents agreed to let me get some training. I never thought…"
Personally, Harry was of the opinion that her parents hadn't agreed so much as been forced but he wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud. For one, Harry didn't want to anger Hermione by pointing out how terrifying she could be. And for two? Well he didn't think her parents would appreciate that either. Granted her parents didn't seem to like him much at all. Her mother switched between appraising him as her daughter's friend and condemning him for being such a danger magnet. Her dad glared at him whenever he hugged Hermione.
He tried not to be offended. He knew deep down that they were right to not like him. Most adults didn't and besides, Hermione would be safe if she hadn't been his friend. She could safely read her books and she'd never have been in that fight in the Ministry. If Harry wasn't in Hermione's life she'd be safe. But that wasn't reality and now Hermione was going to be joining him for training every day.
Wearing tight purple exercise clothing that she looked less than comfortable in.
"Harry." Hermione said. "Why are you looking like that?"
"What? I'm not looking like anything."
"You are." She said. "You've got that…crease on your forehead you get when you're worried."
Harry reached up to rub at the wrinkle in his skin, the wrinkle he didn't even know was there.
"It's nothing." He said. Hermione gave him a look and he grimaced a little. "Can I teach you the sword moves I learnt in Asgard?"
"The ones you picked up from Tyr?" She asked eagerly. Both of them had come down to the gym early before the adults were meant to show up because Hermione wanted to 'warm-up'. She was eager and perhaps a bit nervous. Both of them had been training under the cover of night without any adults present. Who knew if they'd even been teaching themselves the right thing? Harry figured they were both pretty average at this sort of thing, they'd need as much training and help as they could get.
Harry didn't know when his dad and the others were going to come down. His dad had gone back to Asgard to pick up a few things. Books, Harry assumed, as his dad had worked through the majority that he'd first picked up. It was strange to think that his dad was going to Asgard for an hour two as an errand as if Asgard wasn't an entirely different planet.
"Yeah." He said motioning to the two training swords that his dad had brought back from Asgard. "Come on, grab the smaller one and I'll show you."
She rushed forward and grabbed the smaller sword. He asked to see if it felt okay in her hand and she nodded.
"Just show me already."
"Okay. So basically it's this block." Harry began. "You hold the sword like this."
He started showing Hermione exactly what he'd learnt in Asgard and she followed him. He corrected her stance, having her spread her feet out a bit wider so she was more stable, and then rearranged her hold on the sword handle. Once that was done, he had her repeat the movements he'd learnt with the other trainees. It took about fifteen minutes until she insisted they try it out on each other.
"Alright." Harry said. "Let's have a sword fight I guess. I'm gonna be as careful as I can. I think I've got my strength under control…I hope."
"It'll be fine." Hermione said sounding far more confident than Harry actually felt.
The two of them moved so that they were facing each other, about 4 feet apart. Harry counted down to three and once he reached one, his friend stepped forward with a swing. Harry lifted his sword and blocked the blow. It felt too light compared to what the trainees had done, and Harry immediately tempered his strength, trying to match his friend's. Hermione stepped back and began to circle him. Harry did the same to her.
Clang!
Crash!
Crack!
The two swords filled the room with a cacophony of noise as Hermione tried multiple different attacks with Harry merely defending against each of them. They continued to circle each other.
"Are you going to tell me what your problem is?" Hermione asked causing Harry to stumble a little. She took that opportunity to slash at him. Harry forced himself onto the ground and rolled out of the way. He jumped up, sword at the ready and Hermione swung at him again.
"There's no problem."
"Harry." She said sternly. Harry looked away and then sighed for a moment.
"Your parents don't like me."
"I think they're more upset with me than you." Hermione said blocking Harry's swing, her face grimacing at the force.
"Sorry. Too much?"
"Maybe just a bit." She admitted, they both stepped back and Hermione shook her right hand trying to get rid of the ringing pain. "Let's try it again."
Harry gave her a look and she pursed her lips. Right. She lifted her sword again and Harry swung down, trying to be as gentle as possible. Their swords clanged together and Hermione didn't even looked pained. That was good.
"So you're upset about my parents?"
"Well they're right to hate me, aren't they?" Harry asked. "I'm no good for you."
"What are you talking about? Harry you're my best friend." Hermione told him as she attempted to stab him right in the stomach.
"Yeah. Exactly." Harry said as he jumped out of the way and moved his sword almost perpendicular to the floor to push Hermione's sword away. "If it weren't for me you'd…"
"I'd what?" She interrupted then jumped forward and swung down towards his shoulder. Harry lifted up his sword and blocked, doing his best not to leave his side too open. "I'd be miserable and lonely?"
"You've got other friends." He argued.
"Yes but you were my first, without you I wouldn't have made any others."
"Yeah you would've." Harry told her. "You're great, it just took people a while to see it."
Hermione gave him a look as she blocked his counter blow and thrust out her sword again. Harry parried her thrust and continued the sword fight.
"Harry. What is this really about?" Hermione asked.
"You could die cause of me." Harry said as he dodged another one of Hermione's swings. His friend was starting to sweat and get frustrated. "If we weren't friends then you wouldn't be…you know fighting this war."
"Not everything is about you." She snapped swinging her sword extra hard. Harry blanched at her tone and blocked the swing again.
"Hermione. I'm serious."
"So am I. Do you really think that I wouldn't be fighting if it weren't for you? Do you honestly believe that everything I do is because of you?"
"Well I…" Harry knew based on the look in her eye that nothing he said would be the right answer. He jumped to the left and made a half hearted slash at Hermione's side. She blocked it.
"The Death Eaters want to kill my parents and enslave me." She said. "They'll probably kill me because I'm too smart to fit in with their beliefs of blood superiority. I am fighting because they are wrong. I want to defend the world just as much as you do Harry and it's got nothing to do with you."
She finished that with an angry slash at his neck that Harry barely dodged. He gulped feeling a little bit embarrassed at his friend's censure.
"I'm sorry." He said blocking Hermione's next swing. "I just…what if He comes after you because of me?"
"Then he chose to do that. You didn't make him." Hermione said stepping to the right and swinging at Harry's partially unguarded midsection. Harry yelped as the sword came close to cleaving him in two. Fear swamped his system and he stiffened. He closed his eyes, something sparked in his chest, and then he felt very suddenly as if he were being compressed into the size of a nail head. Then he felt himself falling flat on his back.
"Harry?" Hermione shouted, dropping her sword with a clatter.
Harry opened his eyes to see that he was on the other side of the room from Hemione, where he'd been standing there were now two spots of bright purple flame. His friend jumped over the flames and rushed over to him.
"Did I just…teleport?" He asked, his head spinning. Hermione knelt next to him looking for any injuries or missing limbs. "I didn't know I could do that."
"Harry, are you okay?"
"'M fine." He said. "Really. Why is there fire over there?"
"I don't know." She said. "You disappeared in a big plume of it right before I hit you with my sword. Oh I'm so sorry.
"No. I was too focused on not hitting you too hard. I should've been better at blocking. Besides. I didn't get hurt."
After a bit Hermione let Harry get up and go over to the slowly dwindling flames. The purple color was mesmerizing. Had this come from him? Carefully he placed his feet over the flames trying to stomp them out before the fire alarms went off. He kept his feet over the ground, it felt strange even through his shoes, once the flames were out and looked over at his friend.
"So. Apparently I light on fire sometimes now?"
"I don't think it's that." Hermione said. "Maybe it's some sort of Asgardian thing? Have you seen your dad do anything with fire?"
"Uhm. I think he's the god of fire actually."
"I thought he was the god of mischief?"
"He's the god of lots of things."
"Well, maybe you inherited some sort of elemental power from him then."
"But fire that makes me teleport?"
"Well I don't know!" She said. "One moment you were about to get cut in half and then you were on fire!"
"What's this about fire?" Thor asked.
Hermione and Harry both made little 'eeping' noises and turned around to see his dad, uncle, Remus, and Sirius standing in the doorway looking suspicious. His dad looked at the sword in Harry's hand and the one at Hermione's feet and frowned.
"What were you two doing?"
"I was just trying to show Hermione the sword move I learnt in Asgard." Harry said. "No one got hurt or anything."
"Yes. But then why were you talking about fire?"
"I almost hit Harry." She said. "And then he…teleported? But it didn't look at all like how I've seen other magic users do it. There was this fire…"
Hermione trailed off at the look of absolute devastation on his dad's face. Even Thor looked upset.
"Dad?"
"I missed it?" He asked.
"Missed what?"
"Did you do magic that caused some fire?" He asked.
"Uhm. Yes?"
"What's wrong Prongs?" Sirius asked.
"That's…it's his first flame! I missed his first flame! That's…It's one of the most important milestones for an Asgardian magic user and I didn't get to see it! It's like missing his first steps or…or not being there for his first day of school! I can't believe I missed it!" His dad whined stepping towards Harry. "I'm so sorry Starlight. I should've been here."
"It's…fine? I mean it was a little weird but I didn't get hurt or anything." Harry said trying to comfort his dad.
"Where is it?" Loki asked. "The flame? Don't tell me it's gone out yet! I couldn't have been gone that long."
"You mean the left-over flames?" Hermione asked looking down at where Harry's feet were. His dad followed the look and made an agonized sound.
"You stomped out your flame?"
"I…the ground was on fire! What was I supposed to do?" His dad made another pained noise and Harry wondered what he'd done wrong. Thor stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Loki's shoulder.
"Harry." He said. "When an Asgardian magic user uses their magic for the first time it creates a flame of a unique color. This flame, called the first flame, is considered a nearly sacred thing for the sorcerer. Traditionally your flame would have burned for hours on its own power while we feasted and celebrated in your honor. The longer the flame burns on its own the more powerful you are. Your father's own flame burnt for more than a week before sputtering out."
"You're not supposed to put it out." Loki said.
"Well I didn't know!"
"No. I know you didn't. I'm sorry I should have told you… explained…"
Harry stepped forward towards his dad, wondering how to comfort him over something that he still didn't quite understand. Behind him Hermione gasped and he turned a little to see that the two pools of flame had sputtered back to life now that his feet were no longer directly on top of them. His dad gave a cry of triumph and jumped forward so that he was kneeling right next to the flames.
"Oh Starlight. It's beautiful."
"It's nice." Sirius decided. "Don't you think Moony?"
"Why is it purple?" Harry asked while Remus started to nod along and compliment Harry on something none of the humans in the room actually understood.
"It's not just purple." His dad said as if Harry had said something insulting. "Look at it.",
Sure, enough when Harry looked at it again he noticed there were other colors that appeared on the flickering tongues of the fire. Carefully he knelt down next to his dad. Hermione fell next to him, her face open in wonder.
"Is this a manifestation of Harry's magical core?"
"Just so." His dad answered sounding pleased Hermione had spotted it.
"So that's…me?" Harry asked.
"It's your magic, a pure form of it." Hermione corrected. "I imagine that each color inside of it reflect a part of your personality or maybe what sort of magic you're best suited for."
His friend continued to talk about what she'd read about magical cores and color symbolism and Harry did his best to follow along. But most of his mind was focused on the two foot-print shaped pools of fire. It was primarily an attractive royal purple but there were twisting tips of greens, golds, and whites within it. Harry thought it was very pretty. Hermione clearly had much loftier ideas.
"You're correct of course." His dad said to Hermione. "Each color does have its own unique symbolism but this is Asgardian magic and I'm afraid that the human books you've read won't have covered the Asgardian meanings accurately."
"Well then what do they mean?" Remus asked.
"Every color corresponds to a branch of magic." His dad answered. "For instance, green which is my own main color is connected to transfigurations and shapeshifting. I'm quite good at all manner of transfigurations as you two well know."
Sirius and Remus both grinned. His dad continued.
"My magic also tends to have gold and blue colors within it. Gold is connected to charms and blue is more elemental type magic." His dad said.
"So, I've got green and gold too." Harry said. "What about the purple and white?"
"White is enchantment magic. You know the sort of magic that goes into that broom you're so fond of." His dad said grinning at him. "But it's the purple that's truly special."
"Well what is it?"
"The last time someone had purple as their main color was Indunn, goddess of life." Loki said. "This is soul magic."
"Isn't that…dark magic?" Hermione asked.
"Dark magic?"
"Like necromancy." She clarified making Harry blanch.
"It's not like that." His dad denied. "Or well it is, but there's more to it than that. Harry, Starlight, this is likely why you were able to survive the killing curse."
"What?"
"That spell is a form of soul magic. In essence the spell forcibly separates the soul from the body. The reason it's unblockable is that very few people in the universe have a magical ability to counter its power. I can't believe this didn't occur to me before." His dad said.
"So, I can do magic with souls? How is that not dark magic?"
"Harry." Sirius said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Think about it for a minute. If you can use magic to hurt then what else can you do with it?"
"But I…"
"You can heal. Hell kid, I bet you could stop Dementors." He said. "Remember? You already did it once."
Harry started to smile while his dad demanded to know when his son had faced dementors. Sirius and Remus both told him not to worry about it, which of course made him worry more. Harry decided to focus back on the flames.
"So, do were just leave this here?" Harry asked.
"No. We'll carefully move it to a sconce where we'll count down the days until it burns out." His dad said. "Don't think I've forgotten that apparently you've fought off dementors."
"Dad you saw me cast a patronous. Why do you think I know how to do that?"
"Extra Credit?"
Harry snorted at the very idea while Remus laughed and ruffled both his and his dad's hair.
"Nope. I was his professor that year and I can tell you with full confidence that Harry has never nor will he ever, do extra credit."
"It's true." Hermione confirmed.
"Well…Either way we should have a celebration."
Harry grimaced at the idea of a party being thrown in his honor. He didn't even like to go to the quidditch win parties if people made a big deal out of what he did for too long.
"I…well we don't have to." He started. "It's not that big of a deal and besides we were gonna train today."
His dad sighed and looked back down at the purple flame for a moment.
"Starlight. Your mother and I never had a proper wedding celebration because she kept putting it off in the name of the war effort. I regret every day not having made sure she was given the celebration she deserved. I do not want to allow Tom Riddle to take away any sort of happiness we can have."
"Harry." Hermione said seriously. "It'll be fine. We can start training tomorrow."
Harry swallowed a little as he thought about that and finally made a decision.
"We can't have a party without Ron."
"Then let's go get him!" Thor declared. "Come on brother. We've a party to plan and a guest to retrieve!"
Sirius whooped in excitement and even Remus grinned.
"You hear that pup? It's PARTY TIME!"