Last time...

Draco is furiously trying to wipe away his own tears, still slightly embarrassed that he's crying in front of them, just grumbles. "You'd better, Weasley. Can't exactly end a blood feud with a broken promise, now can we."

Chapter 39

Upon entering the Potions Master's office, Tony Stark took to walking around the room, rapidly inspecting everything as was his nervous habit. He never stayed in one place for longer than a few seconds, intent on seeing as much as he could as quickly as possible. It hadn't taken a genius to notice the looks the men gave each other when Hera had told them what had happened, that there was something they weren't telling him yet. He thought he'd handled everything well so far, but he couldn't understand how Hera was taking everything that had been thrown at her as well as she was, and wondered just how much the world was going to throw at her before it was enough. When the other men sat around a desk, and Snape was filling tumblers with a drink he hoped was alcoholic, Tony joined them.

"Okay, what don't I know yet?" Tony asked, after accepting the glass Snape set out for him. "You three got real shifty there at the end. What'd he do to her?"

"Do you know what a phylactery is?" Snape asked. Tony nodded, not yet sure what this had to do with anything; but having done a lot of reading over a wide range of things, he knew what a phylactery was. "Wizards used to use them in an effort to gain immortality. These attempts were largely unsuccessful, because in their efforts to make themselves invincible, they actually ended up making themselves even more vulnerable. Do you understand? If someone could find a wizard's phylactery, they could do anything from controlling them to killing them."

"A Horcrux is based on that idea, but twisted in an effort to negate the vulnerability by adding a level of cruelty in its creation." Sirius picked up the explanation. "You have to murder someone with the utmost malice, thereby splitting your own soul, and then placing that severed piece within a vessel. In being created this way, the vessel can defend itself, something a normal phylactery couldn't do. Something done to kill a person in defense of yourself or others just wouldn't be enough, you understand."

"Hera has a piece of his soul in her scar from the night her parents were killed." Tony realized, now seeing what they were saying. "What does this mean for her?"

"While Potter has it, she can use it against him; cut off his support, leave him no ground, no quarter in which to escape. I'm convinced she removed my Dark Mark with its aid." Snape answered grimly. "However, her words before are worrisome. The potion she was submerged in could not remove it, though it tore him from his newly constructed body. I fear an easy extraction will not be the case."

"The vessel of a Horcrux is always an inanimate object. To my knowledge, it has never been done to a living being, and it is clear that he didn't mean to create the one she has in her scar." Sirius continued to explain. "It is possible to get rid of them as it is with their counterparts, but all efforts end up with the object itself being destroyed, because the object itself will use any means of defense that it can."

"It'll kill her." Lupin concluded.

"It could," Snape confirmed, before placing a sheet of paper before the men. "but I believe this will pull things in her favor."

"Are you sure about this, Snape, sharing this?" Sirius asked carefully. "Hera might not want them to know, might not want me to know. I haven't even told Remus."

"You two are her father's closest friends. You would have raised her had things not been interfered with, I imagine, and Lupin would have no doubt been a constant visitor. Stark is her brother. I'm sure." Snape insisted, pushing the paper further towards them.

Tony picked it up, leaning over slightly so he and Lupin could share line of sight with it.

"What does this word mean?" He asked, looking at it. "godborn? Is it like Muggleborn?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes, but also no." Lupin murmured. "I never thought I'd see the day…Our little prongslet is a godborn."

"I know he might have thought highly of himself, but my father wasn't a god." Tony objected.

"It doesn't quite work like that." Sirius explained wryly, before taking on a more solemn tone once more. "Barring true divinity, I suppose, the term god is like a power level; which would explain part of the reason why Crouch Jr was able to trick the Goblet into accepting her. She has the power levels needed to be considered worthy by the Goblet of Fire; more than."

"This isn't something that's hereditary." Lupin interjected. "It's…Merlin, I still can't believe it."

"How familiar are you with mythology?" Snape asked him.

"Secretly one of my favorite subjects." Tony admitted, though his father had never approved. "Why?"

"You've heard of the Fates then. Imagine that they're real, for a moment, that they do what the legends say they do; watch the weave of Fate." Snape proposed.

"Okay, I can follow that."

"Now, there are things that interfere with fate, but not to a degree that it would destroy the weave or be in danger of doing so, and so the Fates do not intervene. The point is that they can and have had to step in, to either stop an interference from destroying the weave, or met out punishment for the interference done." Snape continued. "They can send someone either forwards or backwards in time to either learn their lesson, or perform some task. Hera appears to be one such individual. If that's truly the case, she might stand a chance. She's already beat the killing curse. It's possible she'll survive whatever it is that kills the horcrux she carries."

"That's an awful big risk to take, Snape." Sirius objected. "Are you willing to bank on that?"

"We have no choice-"

"Guys, I think I know who she used to be." Tony realized, as all the puzzle piece fit together in his mind so fast he wondered how he'd never seen it before now. "If I'm right, she's got more than just a chance at beating this."

"Alright then, who do you think she was?" Snape drawled. "Because I've been wracking my brain for months, and I've got no bloody idea."

Tony couldn't help the smirk that flitted across his face as he sat back in his chair, and dropped the bomb.

"Loki."

...

"How do you figure that?" Sirius asked, too shocked to do much of anything else.

"It doesn't matter. He's right." Snape groaned, slumping back into his own chair. "I don't know why I didn't see it before. It all fits. She's the epitome of a frost giant runt. There's nothing in James' background that covers that, and as far as Lily knew, her parents and grand parents were all non magical. Even if she'd been from a squib line, to produce a full blooded frost giant runt is…genetically improbable at best. There's been rumours that Potter can read or speak in every language she comes into contact with. Her wandless nonverbal magic is unparalleled. Mischief and Chaos follow her wherever she goes, and she can talk herself into trouble as well as out of it with an ease I haven't seen since our school days. She's friends with the Weasley Twins and encourages their pranks. If she only spoke to snakes, I would attribute her parseltongue ability to transference from the Dark Lord, but she can speak to snakes and dragons. Loki was known as the father of all serpents for his ability to converse with any he came across."

"No, Sirius has a point." Lupin countered. "Of the four of us, Tony, you have the least magical knowledge. How did you guess who she could have been so quickly?"

"Oh, I was stopped by the three youngest Weasley boys for a 'we want to make sure you'll be a good big brother' meeting, where they proceeded to tell me everything she's done, but in far greater detail than she had." Tony explained sheepishly. "One of the pranks she pulled, the one where it turned people into mimes, she told the twins she'd dreamt it up, explaining that it worked on 'Sif' easy enough. Also, when she got back earlier, she said she needed to eat enough food to feed three Volstaggs. Now, I might not have magic, but even I would recognize those names. Volstagg is one of the Warriors Three, that fights alongside Lady Sif, who all accompany Thor god of Thunder and Lightning. I think he's supposed to be a fertility god too, now that I think about it, but that's beside the point. None of those people have a penchant for mischief like Hera,…but Loki does."

"Nimue's knickers." Sirius swore. "Think she knows?"

"If she doesn't, she will." Snape revealed. "Someone would rather figure out how to fling their soul through the aether, across time and space, to find the answers she seeks, rather than ask me to see this little piece of paper. Something about 'Don't Ask Questions'."

"Back to the point of the conversation. Do you think this will be enough to pull her through whatever it is she's going to have to do to get rid of the tag along in her forehead?" Tony inquired. "Because if not, we need to start thinking options. She's going to have to plan for a war at some point, when that jackass comes back. I'd rather she be as armed as she can be either way. Don't you?"

The Slytherin Common Room was silent as she entered. She'd finally managed to talk her way out of the hospital wing, and it was the eve before they were to leave for home. She'd even managed to miss the leaving feast, but not a one of them moved. She fidgeted, unsure what they were waiting for. Everyone, especially the oldest of the pure blood families, stood as if waiting for her to say something. She didn't know what she could possibly say.

"They're waiting for you to tell them what really happened, Potter." Snape stated quietly. "Dumbledore did tell the school his best guess, since you wouldn't tell him the truth, but they'd rather hear it from you."

Both Hermione and Neville nodded in encouragement, the twins not far behind, with Draco and a few others looking on with nervousness.

"But I…" Hera objected, filled with uncertainty. "…I'm just a kid."

"This is the price of doing something when the leadership fails you." Professor Snape stated, gesturing to the students who now looked to her. "You become the leadership others seek."

"Really should have thought of that beforehand, I suppose." Hera sighs, feeling a little green.

"Bit late for second thoughts now, Potter." Draco teased, still nervous.

She could do this…She could do this…She could do this, right?

"He was able to return, but…well…You know me, and my crazy ideas. One bout of accidentally overpowered necromancy and a ritual reversal later, and the cauldron he'd remade himself in exploded with the two of us in it." She stated nervously, causing a snort or two among those who knew her best. "He talked a lot, before my crazy idea. One of the things I learned is that his real name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. His father was actually a muggle named Tom Riddle, that his mother was Merope Gaunt daughter of Marvolo Gaunt, which would make him the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. She'd actually drugged his father with a love potion for years, so as you can imagine the man was more than a little resentful when he eventually came out of it after she stopped. He abandoned his wife and son, and Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up in the orphanage his mother died giving birth to him in."

"You learned all this while you were off being kidnapped by the Dark Lord?" Draco asked, incredulously.

"He really talked a lot. Guess he missed having vocal cords. Plus, captive audience. I was literally tied to his father's gravestone." Hera shrugged. "That's not even the worst of it. Here, I'll show you."

She conjured up an image of him in the middle of the common room, earning gasps from some of the upper years.

"It's just an illusion of him, but I mean, really. Look at him. Works out how to bring himself back from the wraith that he'd been for the last ten years, no small feat that, and he can't even construct a body with a proper nose on it." She insisted, pointing to where the nose should have been. "I'm convinced it's because I stole it as a baby."

Pansy peered at the image, and then asked. "Where are his eyebrows?…or his hair?"

"Dunno, but it's not the only thing that was missing on him." Hera casually commented. "I saw what he looked like without robes. Pretty sure he went with the Ken doll option."

Hermione snorted, trying to hold it in, as she was one of the few in the room who knew what a Ken doll was.

"You can't…You can't be…really?" Hermione chortled, blushing all the while. "I'm never going to get that image out of my head now. You're a terrible person, Hera."

"Just doing my part." Hera replied with a grin.

"What does Ken doll option mean?" Cassius Warrington, a boy she'd never really spoken to much, asked.

Hera and Hermione started giggling, and Professor Snape looked distinctly pale…more so than usual, anyway.

"It means he didn't have…have a…" Hermione tried to explain, making a vague hand gesture towards Cassius, and instantly the entirety of Slytherin House was chortling at the fact that for the brief time Lord Voldemort had been a corporeal being, he hadn't been able to construct himself a dick.

"How did he think he was going to use the loo?" Neville asked, as soon as he managed to take a proper breath, sending everyone into further fits of giggling.

Hera dispelled the image, and asked. "In all seriousness, how was that honouring the Old Ways?"

It went suddenly silent again, as no one had any answers for her.

"He didn't just kill muggles and muggleborn. He went after anyone who opposed him, because they dared to oppose him at all. Entire bloodlines were wiped out. All those traditions…that culture…Gone." Hera continued. "How is that preserving the Old Ways?"

"What do you want us to do?" Theo asked, impatiently.

"When you go home, I want you to ask your parents one thing." Hera admitted. "There is an outdated Muggles Studies class, which really needs fixing, but we'll get to that later. Why is there no corresponding Wizarding Culture class? You taught me, taught Hermione. Why can't it be taught to everyone else?"

"Think it will work, that speech of yours?" Hermione wondered, as soon as the two were piled into their train car.

"I have no idea. I feel like I'm gonna throw up." Hera groaned, dramatically flopping across the seat, resting her head on Hermione's lap. "Distract me. How are you and Victor?"

"He invited my family to visit his in Bulgaria." Hermione announced happily. "I think he really likes me."

"Of course, he really likes you." Ron snorted, having followed them in, plopping down on the opposite seat. "You don't care that he's famous, don't care for Quidditch other than to be supportive of your friends, and are genuinely interested in him as a person. He's lucky to have you. Has he had the shovel talk yet?"

"Already taken care of." Hera offers with a wicked grin from her resting place. "I offered to break his legs."

"Nice." Ron commented, approvingly. "Skeeter's bound to be all over that."

"Skeeter isn't going to be doing any writing any time soon." Hermione remarked primly, causing Hera to bolt up and face her properly.

"You figured it out." Hera accused happily. "What was it? How'd she do it?"

Hermione nodded, and brought out a small glass jar with a very fat and rather ugly looking beetle inside. "Meet Rita Skeeter, illegal animagus. She won't be printing much of anything for a while, till she's learned her lesson about printing lies."

"You're much nicer than me." Ron commented, peering more closely at the bug. "I don't think I'd ever let her out of there, ugly beetle that she is."

"Are we blackmailing someone?" Fred asked as he and George walk in.

"Hermione, Hermione, and here I thought we knew you." George added, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Oh, boys, since you're here, I figure I should let you know we have Gringotts business later. I'll send a note when I know the time of the appointment." Hera interjected. "I figured we should get this done while your mum's a mime."

"Is she still like that?" Ron asked, snickering.

"She hasn't apologized to Hermione yet, so I'd imagine so." Hera shrugged. "It might wear off on it's own, but I doubt it."

"Did I hear that right? Did you turn Weasley's mother into a mime?" Draco asked, strolling in and hip checking Fred so he can have room to sit down. "Does Uncle Sev know?"

"I don't know what you mean, Malfoy. It was complete coincidence that a plague of mimes struck Europe around the same time people started insulting Hermione. I didn't have to write a paper that will be published with proper sources or anything." Hera insisted, unable to hold the innocent look long. "Where's Blaise and Theo?"

"They're sitting with Crabbe and Goyle for now. You gave them quite a lot to think about, you know." Draco replied nonchalantly. "I don't know what Father's going to do, but I suspect I'll hear the details soon enough."

"Back to the part where we have Gringotts business with you, Hera." George reminded them.

"Oh, right. I'm investing in your joke shop." Hera announced. "Will a thousand galleons be enough? I got a windfall recently, as apparently risking my life is becoming lucrative, and I'd like to invest in something good with it."

"Wait, you're starting a joke shop? Why didn't you say so sooner?" Draco asked, actually looking affronted. "I'm in. Also, I'll be back. Pretty sure Blaise will want in on this, Pansy too. Not sure about Daphne, but I'll ask."

He was gone before they could think to stop him.

"Hera, you're mental." Fred declared in clear disbelief.

"Probably." Hera acknowledged. "You were never bound for the Ministry; and once your mum gets over her own stubbornness, she'll realize that. You're pranksters. You like to make people laugh; sometimes at themselves, sometimes at others, and sometimes at nothing at all. Something tells me we'll need that far more than we ever have before too long. Besides, I don't think the Ministry would be left standing for longer than a week if you two started working there."

"But, Hera…" George objected weakly.

"You'll need a good solid foundation. I assume you have a business plan, and if not then you should really work on one. You'll need testers for your products, though I would recommend staying away from the First Years for reasons, and I would recommend becoming licensed Healers, just to make sure you can fix anything that messes up later." Hera continued. "Plan to go global, boys. I know you can do it."

"But, Hera…" Fred now.

"It's either you take my investment, or I chuck this money out the window right now." Hera replied with a shrug, holding up the bag. "You know me. I have no concept of money. I'll do it, and not think twice about it."

Ron looked like he was gonna have a stroke.

"I'm back!" Draco announced bursting into the compartment with Neville, Blaise, and Pansy. "What's the buy in? Also, why is Potter holding a bag near the window like she's going to throw it out? Please tell me that's not the prize money."

"You might as well accept it." Hermione pointed out, looking over to them. "Think of how many canary creams that is."

Fred and George looked like they didn't know whether to cry or faint, which would sort of explain why the two of them let out what sounded like a sob before promptly passing out.