Annnnnnnnnnnnd, I'm just going to drop the French accent altogether because doing it the old way was giving me a headache because of Dyslexia and the other way because no one liked it and I feel that. By the time you read this chapter, I would have gone back and fixed most of that, I just wanted to say I tried.
This is the final chapter of "A Very Harry Christmas" in which we get a little fluff between our best boy and someone else and finally meet that old man.
On with the show.
Harry Potter, Hogwarts Garden.
The night was passing in a blur of dancing and laughs for Harry Potter, and it was passing pretty fast for him and he felt awesome. "Was this what normal people felt like?" he couldn't help but think to himself. He had danced with Daphne until she wanted to sit down before dancing with Tracey for a bit before Theodore stole his date back with a smile and a shake of his head, then he shared a single dance with Angelina they had talked about…something, he thinks it had to do with the second task and something to do with a golden deer. After their dance, Harry had felt a tugging at his jacket and looked down to find Gabriella smiling at him and speaking in French, Harry had led the tiny half-fae back to her older sister who was dancing with Cedric and tried to leave Gabby with Fleur, but thanks to the older sisters translation Harry found out Gabby wanted to dance with him. So, with a resigned sigh he let the tiniest half-fae step on his feet as he began to dance with her until Zoë had stopped them and set the pouting girl away with a glare before he had pulled Zoë into a dance much to the lieutenants'(fake) horror.
Harry was one of the two people who had successfully danced with Zoë all night, most being stopped by her glare or by Sirius sweeping in to distract, befuddle, and otherwise turn away any who wish to test their luck and courage against the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, all but one other. To be fair, it was hilarious watching Zoë lead the Headmaster in a dance as she spun and dipped him much to the older man's amusement.
Harry was currently laying on a stone bench in the gardens, looking up at the sliver of the waning moon and the stars that twinkle around it with a smile, he could feel the cold snow soaking into his pants but he didn't care, he was outside because he was fucking hot from all the dancing and how close everyone packed into a room was. He could feel the cold sweat pooling on his back and sliding down his head as the lights started to dim from their semi-glaring brightness in rainbow technicolor, he sighs contently and watches as the steam from his breath rises into the air with a grin on his face. The crunching of snow catches his attention but decides not to move, He was far too comfortable in the cool night air, and it wasn't until the blonde and blue hair brought the smell of bubblegum with it, did Harry finally move.
"Geez, Pothead, how stoned are you and can I get some?" Delphini says with a shockingly beautiful grin as she leans over Harry, looking down at him.
"You have a pretty smile," Harry mumbles, causing the girl to blink before blushing at the boy's words.
"Fuck, you are toasted, aren't you?" Delphini says as she fights to get her blush under control as she shakes her head fondly at The-Boy-Who-Lived, "Here, lift your head up, Pothead, these heels are killing me," She says, and Harry does what he was told before Delphini vanishes the snow with her wand she had pulled from somewhere before sitting down and guiding Harry's head on to her lap before kicking off her heels.
Harry watches Delphini huffs out a sigh before looking down at Harry with that pretty smile of hers, "So, why are you outside all by your lonesome, Pothead? Not brooding again are you?" she asks.
"Hot," Harry says, as his eyes flutter shut before Delphini chuckles.
"Why thank you, but I already know I am," Delpini says with a grin before she tosses her hair as far back as it will go.
"Yeah, but I was talking about me," Harry says as he rested more comfortably than he had before now thanks to his new lap pillow.
"Yeah, you can say that again," Harry hears Delphini mumble under her breath, "You look a lot better like this you know?" She whispers to him as Harry feels her cold fingers run through his hair, "Relaxed and happy, you're much cuter like this," she says the last part in a whisper, "Sucks I'm only here for this stupid tournament, Kakaroffs clingy ass doesn't like me leaving his side, the creep," she says, making a face of disgust at the mentioned of the Durmstrang Headmaster as she continues, "But it sucks that our time grows short," Delphini says, and it echoes in Harry's mind, digging at memories he didn't know where they came from. But with Delphini's cold hands running through his hair and her words bouncing around his mind he recalls someone else doing the same thing.
"Harrrrry," it was whispered in the dark of the cupboard.
"Harrrrry," the voice says as he lies on the ratty beat-up old cot, "There you are, my little Harry," the voice said, so full of something he couldn't put his finger on.
"That uncle of yours, I don't know whether to thank him or feed him his son's liver with what he does to you," the voice says as Harry feels cold hands run through his hair.
"But you're here now, and our time grows short, and I just want to enjoy this moment with you, My Little Harry," it says as it continues to stroke his hair in the dark of the cupboard, giving the small boy comfort in his darkest of times, the boy feels himself be picked up and hugged to someone chest, their arms cradling him tenderly as if he was the most precious thing in the world.
"Our time grows ever closer," the voice whispers as the small boy feels a cold cheek press against his scar.
"A few more years, and I'll be able to hold you once more in my arms, My Little Harry," it says as it begins to rock him to a nightmare-filled slumber.
Harry's eyes open to see Delphini looking down at him with soft eyes, "Someone was there," Harry says in a whisper, causing Delphini to tilt her head in confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asks, her brow furrowing as she speaks, "Are you so toasted that you forgot I was here, Pothead?" Delphini says, sounding more amused than anything.
"Not Here," Harry slurs, "In the cupboard," he says, causing Delphini to blink.
"You're not making sense, Pothead, what cupboard?" Delphini asks, as she continues to run her hands through Harry's hair.
"My cupboard," Harry whispers, horror and fear entering his words for a moment, "The one my uncle used to lock me in, the one under the stairs," Harry says, causing Delphini to freeze and stopping the soothing sensation she was doing for Harry.
"Why would your uncle lock you in a cupboard, Harry?" Delphini whispers to him, trying to keep the horror out of her voice.
"Because I burnt the bacon," Harry says, his voice dead and distant, like he wasn't here in the small maze in the gardens, but somewhere far away and long ago.
"You too, huh?" Delphini says with sad eyes as she looks down at the broken boy, she smiles softly at him before she continues to stroke his hair. She brushes her hair out of her face, before looking away and around the garden for a moment, her lips pressed into a thin line, before looking back down to Harry, "What the hell," she says in a whisper and a sigh before leaning over, her face coming closer to Harry's. He doesn't ask what she's doing, or even move as dark blue eyes meet emeralds, Delphini moves to brush her hair out of her face, pausing to do so, her lips hovering just over his.
"I'm telling you, Severus, it is growing darker! It's becoming clearer!" Kakaroff's voice echoes around the garden before Snape's voice answers him back.
"So?" The potion master answers back in a bored and flat voice.
"It means he is coming back, what do we do?" Kakaroff asks, fear entering his voice as the two men round the corner, causing Delphini's head to snap up.
"Run then, tuck your tail, and flee, but I will not abandon my duty, Kakaroff," Snape tells him before the footsteps stop as they enter the garden followed by a moment of shocked silence.
"Delphini!" Kakaroff snaps at her before she quickly stands, knocking Harry to the ground.
"Potter," Snape says banefully, looking at Harry on the ground with a frown on his face.
Severus Snape.
"Why the bloody hell is Potter here with a Durmstrang chit?" Severus thinks as he glares at Potter picking himself off the ground, wobbling as he does so and causing Severus to narrow his eyes at the boy. When Albus had stuck him on patrol duty around the castle to watch out for any students sneaking off to hiding spots and broom cupboards to get handsy with each other, Severus' last bet would be finding the Boy-who-tries-to-die-every-week hiding in the gardens with someone who wasn't- "No, absolutely not thinking of THAT of all things," he thinks to himself, because he was not about to suffer himself to a single moment of the singular hell of thinking of James Potter's insepide teenage spawn's love life, just no.
"Delphini, what are you doing with Him, and where the hell is Selwyn?" Kakaroff asks the girl, quickly advancing forward with a frown and a glare.
"Who?" the girl asks, before recognition enters her eyes, "Oh, the ponce? He got a bit handsy, so I cursed him, stunned him, disillusioned him, and dumped him in a girl's lavatory, why?" she asks, a grin stretching across her face causing Snape to narrow his eyes at the girl, trying to place where he had seen that grin before.
"You are going back to the ship, right now," Kakaroff hisses grabbing the girl's arm and twisting the girl's arm, Severus had to fight the urge to curse the bloody fucking coward down as he pulls the young girl toward him, preparing to drag her off. But Kakaroff is quickly stopped, not by Severus, oh no, but by the brat.
Severus had taken his eyes off of the brat all for a few seconds, and before the man knew it, the brat had Kakaroff's wrist firmly locked in his grasp, Severus hears Kakaroff hiss in pain as the girl just looks at the brat in shock as the boy looks into Kakaroffs eyes unflinching and Severus knew this wasn't going to end well…
"Let her go," The brat says, baring his teeth at the coward, "Now," the boy growls as his pupils split and his eyes turn golden-yellow before squeezing Kakaroffs arm hard enough for even Severus could hear the coward's bone crack from the pressure.
"For Kakaroff that is," Snape finishes his thought from earlier.
Kakaroff curses before with his free hand he goes for his wand, but as Severus' own wand falls into his hand to strip Kakaroff of his flesh, both men watch the boy move. For Snape, he saw a ghost, the ghost of a lion overlaid over the boy as he moved with a speed and swiftness that Snape had only seen from one other girl who wore a silver jacket as well, the brat even had the same feral smile on his face that the lion wore when she had used him as a punching bag.
For Kakaroff, all he saw was a blur and all he felt was his strum almost splintering from the force of the hit.
The brat had done a single open-palm strike that sent Kakaroff flying off his feet and into the bush behind him leaving a trail of vomit behind him, Severus had stepped out of the way of the flying fool before watching in one fluid movement the boy had pulled something out from his pocket and before Snape could blink the brat had a red spear in hand before the same malevolent aura he felt from the fucking forest ignites around the spear.
Severus was also reasonably sure that Kakaroff pissed himself as he found the point of a dragon-killing spear at his throat. As the boy stood in the maze, glaring down at the Coward, Severus freezes for a moment, because in the burn torch light and twinkling fairy lights, the brat's eyes no longer looked like the golden-yellow like when he had gone half mad hunting Black and Pettigrew, nor were they the gleaming silver that Lucius spoke about in fear, no, they were burning fucking amber, and the raw terror of the only other thing that he had ever seen with eyes like plays back in Snape's mind as she manhandled Albus in his own office as if he wasn't the most powerful wizard in the world.
As the brat pulls the spear back to drive it into Kakaroff, Severus' stunner strikes the side of the boy's head, and he crumples like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Holy bloody fucking shit," the girl says as she watches the events of the last five seconds play out in front of her.
Severus lets out a sigh, it was going to be a long night.
Harry Potter, Grimmauld Place.
Harry had woken up an hour and a half later, laying on a bench in the Great Hall with his head in Daphne's lap and her stroking his hair with a throbbing headache and cottonmouth. Most of the schools had cleared out of the Great Hall by that point because it was close to midnight, Harry had sat up and proceeded to drink his weight in water before choking on the water as what had happened flooded back to him. The memory, the almost kiss with Delphini, what-what he had told her, Kakaroff and Snape, knocking the holy hunt out of Kakaroff before he was going to kill him, Harry looked around, unable to find any people involved before it was time to go back to Sirius' place.
Hermione and Ron had apologized for losing track of him but he told them it was fine before seeing them off, and walking Daphne down to the dungeons and kissing her goodbye before walking back to the headmaster's office with Sirius and Zoë, his head still ringing before they all passed through the floo to find Remus sitting in a chair by the fireplace looking grim.
"What's got your wolf, Moony?" Sirius asks, looking at his old friend as he and Zoë helped Harry up off the floor.
"We have a guest," Moony says, his face never changing as he looks over to the dining room, and as they all turn to look to see what Remus was talking about, they see him, a cloaked man with a walking stick leaning against the door frame of the dining room taking a swig of something from Harry's drinking horn.
Zoë eyes go wide and she gasps.
Sirius draws his wand and points it at the man.
Harry, however, spoke.
"Oi, that's mine!" He snaps at the man, and before Harry could step forward to get his gift from his brother and sisters from the old man, Zoë grabs him and pulls him back behind her before reaching out and pulling Sirius' arm down much to the man's confusion.
"Good Morning, Cloaked One," Zoë says in a respectful tone before bowing her head deeply, "How may this humble servant of the hunt be of help to you?" she says causing everyone to look at her oddly.
"Zoë, who the fuck is this?" Harry asks in a hushed whisper, but before she could answer, the old man chuckles.
"Who am I, you ask?" He says pushing off of the frame before downing the rest of what was in the horn and turning to Harry, "What an interesting question young half-blood, for I have many names," he says before tossing the horn onto the table behind him, it lands on the rim and doesn't move, "I am known as One-eye and Highest and True Guesser, some call me the Cloaked One and others the Grinning Gallows Burden, Wand-Barer, Spear-Shaker, All-Father, Grim, Greater, and Third, are all names for me" he says as he begins to walk slowly over to Harry, the room filling with an ominous sort of power, the type of power one was not to question, the type of power that was only held by the highest of gods.
"I have as many titles as there are winds, as many names as there are ways to die," the man says as he straightens from his hunched posture, towering over everyone in the room, "My Ravens are Huginn and Muninn, thought and mind, my wolves are Geri and Freki, I ride upon the gallowed Sleipnir, I am the Rune Master and the Once King of the Wild Hunt," he says as a single dark blue eye shining with power looks at Harry and the walking staff the man had begins to shift and twist with mist revealing what hid below it, a razor-sharp spear made out of the whitest metal Harry had ever seen, "In these lands, I was once known as Wōden, but now? I Am ODIN!" He yells out as he throws back his hood to reveal a face full of wrinkles and scars, short gray hair, a long black and gray beard, and an eye patch wrapped around his head with a single dark rune carved into the middle of it. The cloak parts show off a barrel chest and tree limb thick arms wrapped in a red polo with the words "Hotel Valhalla Management", Odin raises his spear and points it at Harry.
"And now boy," he thunders, "I ask, WHO ARE YOU!?" Odin speaks and demands an answer, his voice shaking the house and the mortals/semi-divine beings to the core.
"Umm, Harry," he says looking back and forth between Zoë and Sirius who looked as confused and shocked as he felt, "H-Harry Potter?" he says, and the All-Father scoffs.
"No, No, No," One-eye says with a dismissive wave of his hands, "That will not do, will not do at all," he says as he steps up to loom over Harry.
"W-What?" Harry asks as he takes a step back from the large god.
"You are not just Harry Potter," Odin says, pointing a finger at him, "You are the Boy Who Lived, you are Shadow Dancer and Shadow Trained, Bearer of the Fangs of Dún Scaith, You are the Son of Hunt and Moon, Death Touched and Loved Cursed, you are Wand-Braker and Magician, Star-Slayer and Fáfnir's Bane," he tells Harry in a single breath, each name hitting Harry like a punch to the chest as if the old god was branding each one on to his soul, "You are Harry Potter, The Heir to the Hunt, have some pride when you speak these titles Harry Potter, for you have earned each and everyone," the old god says before turning back around and walking over the couch before sitting down on it, leaning his spear on his shoulder.
"Lord Odin," Zoë finally speaks, stepping forward to look the old god in his eye, "If you do not find it too rude for me to ask, but what are you doing here?" she says, bowing her head slightly.
Odin chuckles, "You do not speak rudely, Zoë Nightshade, so do not fear, and please, a warrior such as yourself would have earned her place in Valhalla a thousand times over, just call me Odin, which I permit the rest of you to do so as well," the one-eyed god says with a wave of his hand, "As for why I am here, I am here to do three things, the first of which is to hear a story," he says before waving his hand and conjuring seats for each of them on the other side of the coffee table and drinks appeared on the table.
"Come boy," he says, gesturing to Harry and then to the chair directly in front of him, "Come spin the wandered a yarn on how you slayed the terrible Fáfnir," he says before Harry looks between both Zoë and Sirius before swallowing thickly and walking over to take a seat. For the next hour, Harry told the old god the tale of his fight with Fáfnir in the arena of the first task, Odin listen patiently, never interrupting Harry, never asking a question, and only nudging the story back on track when Harry would go on a tangent about something or other.
Odin nods his head as Harry finishes his tale and strokes his beard, "A fine story, and an even greater fight, to surpass Fáfnir's scale by using the Gaé Bolg and throwing it down the beast's throat, now that is something no one had thought of, be proud of your hunt, Harry Potter, Fáfnir-Bane," he says with a smile that makes a few scars on his face reflected in the firelight, Harry just nods his head before taking a sip of his drink.
"When I had first heard of Fáfnir's escape I marshaled my forces to hunt the beast down and kill it before sending all my best trackers all over North America to find the beast even sending a message to the Greeks about what I was doing so it would not seem an act of war, but when they had returned to me empty-handed I had thought the Dragon may have gone back home, to Scandinavia," Odin says with a shake of his head and leaning back on the couch, "But then we got word from the DoMC to the south of us that the beast was found already dead, and when they told me the details I was surprised for I had not heard the words Gaé Bolg in many, many years," Odin says with a nod and a faraway look.
"But as soon as I was free from my throne, I had approached your mother-" Odin began to say before Harry cuts him off.
"She's not my mother, my mom is Lily-" Harry tries to tell the All-Father, but the old god quickly cuts Harry off.
"Stop boy," Odin says quietly, making Harry fall silent, "The more you try and deny it, the more foolish you look, you already know who she is to you," the old god says as he looks at Harry who shuffles in his seat uncomfortably, "I approached your mother and asked for leave to meet you, and once I explained why, she allowed it," Odin says as he stands and looks down at Harry, "Second off, Heir to the Hunt, I have to come to you on this night to offer you an apology, you dealt with a problem that you never should have and that was my pantheons responsibility to deal with," he says to the shock of the room before he dips his head to Harry in a show of respect.
"You have my respect as a fellow hunter and a warrior, Harry Potter, and my thanks for dealing with Fáfnir before he became a threat to the mundane world," The one-eyed god says to a speechless Harry, who just nods his head at the high god's words.
"And thirdly, I offer you both a reward and an apology all in one," Odin says as he holds out a hand, and the collective mortals watch in fascination as a thick white mist begins to twist and turn around the Old God's hand, being pulled from the air as Odin's single eye glows with a burning sapphire light, rune's of elder futhark join the twisting mists next, burning in the ephemeral green light, and as Odin closes his hands the mists extends before finally, a sword folds into existence.
"This Blade, like you and I, has a few names, Harry Potter," The Spear-Shaker says, before offering it to Harry, "The Blade of Twilight, Balmung, Gramr but names aside this is the blade forged, broken, and reforged to slay Fáfnir and this is the sword I offer to you," He says in a solemn voice.
Harry wanted to say he didn't use swords, especially two-handed ones that looked bigger than him, but telling a King of Gods doesn't sound like a very Hunter-Smart thing to do. So, Harry reaches out and grasps the sheafted blade and takes it with a nod, "Ah, t-thank you?" Harry says as Odin smiles down at him.
"It is against my better nature than to deny a hero his just reward, and this sword is your reward, Death Touched, do with it as you wish," Odin says before gathering up his spear and begins to leave.
"T-Thats it?" Harry asks, surprised as he turns to Odin who had stopped in the middle of pulling his hood up, turning to Harry with a smirk on his lips.
"Were you expecting feasting and drinking? For me to share a tale or two as well?" One-Eye asks, sounding amused, "No, Wand-Breaker, If you ever wish for that, I will send my Valkyries to bring you to Valhalla when you step foot on North America if you wish, I'll even introduce you to a fallen sister of yours that stays in Fólkvangr by the name of Victoria, but that will have to wait for another day, for I have done what I wish to do and now wish to go visit an old hunting body," the old man says to Harry before nodding to the shocked forms of the hunters before, much like he came, Odin left through the front door.
"Harry," Sirius says, catching Harry's attention and the boy turns to look at his godfather, "You have the weirdest fucking life, and I thought the weird list was pretty good, but mine don't even scratch your top ten because what the bloody fuck?" Sirius says, and Harry couldn't help the mad laugh that escapes his throat.
Chapter done, and so is Yule!
This was fun to write, the scene between Delphini and Harry, and yes Delphini knew that Harry was dating someone, she just didn't care and Harry was too fucked up to want to stop her.
Harry is finally remembering certain things from the cupboard that he isn't meant to remember, there is a good reason for that, let's see if you'll have figured it out.
Kakaroff fucked around and found out really fucking quick, no, Harry didn't have Amber eyes like Artemis it was the light throwing that effect into his eyes. Snape, after knocking Harry out, proceeded to "Take care of the problem".
Yes, all of you were right, it was Odin thanks for not reading the author's note and proceeding to scream about it.
These last three chapters could be summed up with a Card, which one do you think it would be?
But I am happy to announce, after this chapter we enter into the last ten(maybe) chapters left in the story, and the final cards have been chosen.
The Devil (Three parts)
Judgment
The Moon
The Tower (Two parts)
The Magician
Death
ZA WORLDO!
Kingsaxcul, out.
