"Basically the whole school thinks it's Malfoy," Parvati assured them on the train ride away from Hogwarts, everyone crammed into one compartment to talk about Justin Finch-Fletchley being the next victim of Slytherin's Monster. The whole train was packed. Hardly anyone, especially no one from Earth, was staying at Hogwarts for the break. "They all saw him summon the snake that nearly bit Justin, and they figure he came back later to finish the job."

"I bet he loves the attention," Ron grumbled, a little put out that he was going to have to do something particularly grandiose now that his nemesis had stepped up his profile as a villain. His pranking campaign against Malfoy in payback for the Slytherins knocking books out of peoples' hands had never really gone anywhere. Fred and George had helped a bit, but they'd wanted Ron to take most of the initiative and his strategic genius didn't seem to extend to pranking.

"I doubt it's Malfoy," Harry shook his head. Before Hermione could make a big deal about how they could have been sure if they'd investigated, "Why was everyone freaking out about the snake, anyway? There must have been a hundred people in the room that could have canceled the spell like Hermione did."

"Snakes, especially magical snakes, are terrifying," Lavender explained to the crowd of mostly-Midgardians. "Jormungandr. Nidhogg. Fafnir. Even the Aesir are scared of them. We don't really have any snakes on Vanaheim, so if you see one it might be a big magic-resistant monster that could even kill Thor."

Dean pointed out, "But the whole house of Slytherin is all about them."

"Everyone would have probably been scared of a lion too," Hermione countered, to the compartment of mostly-Gryffindors. "Just because something's your mascot doesn't mean it's not scary."

"An eagle in a confined space would be pretty threatening too," Padma added. Everyone looked at her funny and she said, "Our mascot is not a raven. Any more than your house's mascot is a griffon."

"I should ask Luna if there's any such thing as a huffle," Harry grinned, making as if to head down to the compartment where Luna, Ginny, and some of the other first-years were sitting.

"Don't you wind her up," Padma insisted, putting out a hand to keep the door shut. "We've been working on her not saying things that make people think she's crazy."

"You lot doing things with the flying armor man again?" Ron asked, changing the subject away from his sister's weird friend.

Harry shook his head, "Dean and I are staying with Hermione. Well, we're staying at the London sanctum, but we're hanging out with Hermione during the day."

She explained, "My parents didn't feel great about two boys staying in the house the whole time, especially since they have to work half the break."

Parvati winked, "Our dad wouldn't have let us have two boys over for weeks either."

"Mine would probably be thrilled if Harry Potter came calling," Lavender rolled her eyes at parental meddling. "Wait, did I just say that out loud?"

Dean laughed, "Look at what good friends we all are. Just totally platonic friends."

The compartment suddenly got very tense, as eight people just starting to be hit with adolescent hormones realized how tightly packed in they were with an even mix of boys and girls.

"Guess Nev stayed," Seamus brought up, to try to cut the tension.

"He said he needed a break from his grandmother," Parvati gossiped. "I think he told her he wanted to spend the break studying. I guess he's not in much danger from the monster, and she wouldn't have let him stay at any of our houses."

"I hope he gets some sleep," Harry agreed. "He's been so stressed, I feel like a lot of nights he just stays up studying. I wonder how much of that is his grandmother. Does anyone know what happened to his parents? He doesn't seem to want to talk about it, but his grandmother seems…"

Everyone turned to Lavender and Ron, who were the most likely to have that information, and Lavender explained, "I think they might have died in the war? I can ask my family."

"Don't want him to think we're prying," Harry agreed. "But it might help to know."

"He's been really withdrawn this year," Hermione nodded. "I don't know how to make him feel included."

Dean rubbed his chin, thinking, and suggested, "Maybe one of you girls should try to talk Fandral into asking his grandmother to let him do more stuff. He probably knows her, right?"

"One in three chance he broke her heart, though," Harry grinned, reminding them that Augusta Longbottom had been jilted by one of the Warriors Three. "But I like it." He left unstated that it might be the most useful thing the guy had done all year.

Nobody had any better ideas, and the conversation moved on. Soon enough, they were once again detouring through the Goblin Market to get back to London, and saying their goodbyes for the holidays to Seamus and the Patils, as Harry and Dean followed Hermione over to her parents.

"Thanks again, Doctor and Doctor Granger," Harry grinned.

"You're never going to stop, no matter how often we ask, are you?" Hermione's mother shook her head. "It's no bother. We've been watching the news about Iron Man. To think. If only more of the world's billionaires could have the change of heart Mr. Stark had."

Harry shook his head, "I've met a lot of them at Tony's parties. They wouldn't be much use even in power armor."

"Well said," she smiled. "Well, why don't we get you situated over at the sanctum and then work out schedules? We parked over there, so we can just walk."

It was, as usual, a short stroll over to the London sanctum in Whitehall Gardens, and they were met at the door by Master Rama himself, who joked, "Back promptly, I see. Strange that Vanaheim has only one train, and yet they manage to keep it on time. Come in."

Harry and Dean were sharing a small room in the elaborately-appointed building, which seemed to borrow heavily from the classic British aesthetic, all intricately-carved dark woods around heavily-ornamented cream-colored walls. They at least had their own slightly-ostentatious bathroom rather than sharing one with the entire hallway, and it included a brass-accented clawfoot tub. It was honestly a lot for two boys used to either modern American or semi-medieval living.

"Shall we draw ourselves a bath, Harry old boy?" Dean asked, in a bad English accent.

"Perhaps later, old bean, after high tea," Harry responded in kind, and they both cracked themselves up laughing.

When they got their stuff put away and headed back downstairs, Hermione was bouncing, "We're learning escapology!" Neither seemed to get it, so she elaborated, "You know, like stage magicians use to get out of handcuffs and ropes?"

"Zip ties are also a modern challenge," Master Rama added. "While it doesn't come up often, if you get restrained, it really impedes your ability to work magic. So we try to teach everyone at least the basics of escape. Perhaps some other stage magic thrown in, so you can play off any slips as mere entertaining illusion, yes?"

In all actuality, the Masters of the Mystic Arts were scrambling to come up with a curriculum for these children. Even the Hogwarts-trained sorcerers that they eventually got rarely wanted to spend so much of their vacations doing extra study. Perhaps that was why their conversion rate was so low, frequently only convincing a couple of the recent graduates to join their order. The Ancient One had patiently explained to her subordinates that they were to make all reasonable allowances for helping Harry Potts and his friends with their educational aspirations.

It might even keep them alive long enough for the Masters' investment in the kids to pay off once they graduated.

After both boys acknowledged the plan, Master Rama finished, "We'll start tomorrow. I understand the Grangers are taking you out to supper now."

The dinner conversation with Hermione's parents suddenly took a steep turn as they accidentally mentioned the attacks, and had to explain that two of their classmates were in comas from a monster that was targeting students from Earth. "It's probably why that elf assassin was trying to keep Harry from going," Dean further put his foot in his mouth. Ronan's Guard had been searching the train before they left, and keeping watch as they boarded, to make sure that the Dahvee mercenary didn't follow them back to London for another shot at Harry. They all assumed he must be hiding somewhere in the forest outside of Hogwarts.

Helen Granger pinched the bridge of her nose while her husband cupped his face in his hands. She asked, "Why are we sending you to this place that has trolls, giant wolves, and now a…"

"Giant snake, probably," Harry admitted.

"...a giant snake wandering the halls?" she finished.

"Oh! I was actually thinking about that, after Lav mentioned the snakes on the train–" Hermione began.

Dean laughed and started to quote, "I want these mother–" Harry elbowed him before he could finish the catchphrase in front of Hermione's parents. The movie Dean had been about to quote (that was not nearly as good as its internet hype hoped) was one that Happy had taken Harry to see without Pepper knowing. Honestly, Simon Williams had been all wrong for the lead part, anyway, despite how much gusto the famous actor had put into the signature line.

"Anyway," Hermione said, trying to finish her thought and distract her parents from the way the conversation had been going, "as I was saying, you remember that giant blur on the photograph?" Aunt Pepper had eventually gotten Colin's film developed, but it hadn't been particularly helpful. "What if it's a Nidhogg serpent?"

"But they're bound to Niflheim," Harry disagreed. "Thor and the Warriors Three fought one during the… huh… maybe we are learning something in that class."

"Right!" Hermione continued. "And it showed up right after the Deathday party when a convergence to Niflheim opened. Maybe it's incorporeal like the ghosts. It would explain why the picture came out as a blur. That's how it's in the walls, and why when it attacks you it just knocks you unconscious. It can only attack your spirit, not your body."

"The regular ghosts can't punch you unconscious, though," Dean said, though now not completely confident about that statement.

Hermione shrugged, "We can mention it to the headmaster and I'm sure he'll sort it out." She turned back to her parents, "We really are being careful. Honestly, I kind of wonder if Hogwarts doesn't allow a little danger to prepare us for the kind of things we might run into if we stick with magic in the real world."

Jean Granger reluctantly nodded, saying, "Before all this started, I'd have been aghast at my little girl having to fight monsters. But, well, on top of everything else, normal people on the freeway can have their lived endangered by two men in flying robot suits. And there are all those rumors about the green sasquatch smashing up towns."

"Not the green sasquatch again, dear," Helen objected.

"It was big news a few years ago!" he argued. "The American military was hunting it and everything, according to the internet. Anyway, I'm just saying that I don't like Hermione being in danger. But… I think she'd be in danger even if we forbid her going back to the school. This way, she's at least learning to be as safe as she can be in the world she's been thrust into."

Helen looked between her family members for a long minute, everyone awaiting her decision, before she finally nodded, "But I want you all to be extremely safe! No unnecessary risks!"

"Yes, mum!" Hermione agreed, with a relieved smile that she wasn't being forbidden from going back to school.

After dinner, they were dropped back at the sanctum, and got the full tour of the place before heading to bed. The most impressive area was basically a museum for magical relics. "All the sanctums have such a room," Master Rama explained. "Relics wait here in trust for a sorcerer whom they might choose to bond with."

"They're intelligent?" Harry asked.

"In a sense, and some more than others," he shrugged. "It's my personal belief that they accumulate bits of the spirit of their bearers over the centuries. The oldest ones can become very powerful, and very temperamental. Feel free to come close to the cases but do not touch unless invited. And don't feel badly if you are not chosen by a relic at your age. Some are never chosen, but go on to create new relics."

"Supposed to teach that in runes class at school, I think," Harry agreed.

"Not sure if I'm going to take that one," Dean shook his head. "I'll probably take whatever leaves me enough time to practice the things I'm actually good at."

"Supposed to be a fair about it in a couple months," Harry shrugged. "And then we get to try to explain to Hermione that she doesn't have enough time to take every elective."

Dean smirked, "If anyone can figure it out, she can. Maybe get one of those Oculus Agamotto things?"

Master Rama raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm surprised you know of the Eye of Agamotto. But it is not for something as mundane as taking extra classes."

"Tell Hermione," Harry grinned, though he picked up on the implication that it wasn't a type of item, but that the one he'd seen in the Kamar-Taj inner sanctum/library might just be the only one, and it was powerful enough to be mentioned in books about time travel written on Vanaheim.

Master Rama did, in fact, caution Hermione about that when she showed up for training the next day. "Honestly, what must you all think of me?" she complained. "I'm not that mental. Though… I guess if there was a simpler magic item that could give me a couple of extra hours in a day, that would be a big help…"

"And that's why the warning," Harry poked her in the shoulder.

"I'll leave you in Master Mordo's capable hands for the lesson," Master Rama simply shook his head, dropping them off in a sitting room toward the front of the building, where his fellow British master was waiting, various restraints placed on an antique writing desk.

All three bowed to Master Mordo. Between their first short class with him before Hogwarts and encounters over the previous summer, they'd picked up that he was nice enough but very serious, so he didn't have much patience for joking around. "Good morning. I suppose you're learning to escape from bondage. It's a good skill to have. I shan't be explaining why I needed to develop it." He grabbed three stout-looking padlocks from the desk and said, "Let's start with whether you can pick a lock with magic, before moving on to how to do it with hand tools…"

What followed was a fairly intense several days of training. Mordo never raised his voice, and was never mean, but simply assigned them new and more difficult challenges, treating them like young adults that wanted to succeed. For many pre-teens, the style might not have worked, but Hermione was eager to excel in any learning situation, Dean saw a definite value in all of the information, and Harry just thought it was plain cool. They worked at it for several hours a day, and then spent time doing holiday things with the Grangers in the evenings. By Christmas, they'd pretty much mastered various unlocking and cutting spells without using their wands, learned to slip bonds and break plastic ties, gotten the rudiments of physically picking locks, and were even close to being able to get out of handcuffs.

But Christmas morning was all theirs, and Harry and Dean had relocated to the Granger residence. Bright and early, he got a video call on his phone from Aunt Pepper, "Merry Christmas, Harry! Oh, and Hermione and Dean. Are your parents around yet, Hermione?"

"They're having tea. We're not opening anything right away," she told Harry's aunt.

"You're up late?" Harry said, recognizing the living room in their home in Encino. "Isn't it like 1 AM there?"

"Who sleeps?" Pepper joked. "But, no, I wanted to make sure to catch you so I could be part of your morning. Sorry again that you couldn't come home. There's at least one car outside the house right now that I'm sure is a pretty annoying reporter. How bad has the sneaking around been? Did you get the contacts?"

"They're so itchy," Harry complained about the color-changing contacts. He was happily back to his glasses when not out in public. "If I didn't need to disguise myself going out in London…"

"I've almost gotten used to seeing you with brown eyes," Hermione grinned.

Dean chuckled, "We get you wearing those full time, and it'll just be Ron who doesn't have brown eyes in our group."

"And Nev," Harry made sure they didn't forget the boy.

"Neville has brown eyes, though," Hermione disagreed.

"You sure?" Harry asked. "I could have sworn…"

"The contacts weren't the only thing I sent," Pepper interrupted that thought process. "Did you get the presents?"

Harry acknowledged, "Yeah, but I think Luc is getting tired of playing portal courier for us."

"They won't teach us to use sling rings though," Dean said. "We've been trying all week. I don't think they trust us."

"Well I'm trusting you," Pepper said. "I think you'll recognize one of the presents from last year. Use it responsibly. From what I hear about dangers in the castle, I think you'll need it. Only for your protection, understand?"

"Yes, Aunt Pepper," Harry repeated. "Thanks! Did you wind up using it?"

She nodded, "It helped a lot when Obie was going crazy. I had to steal files from the office without him noticing, and he probably would have tried to use me as a hostage during his fight with Tony if he could have found me. But I'm hoping I won't have that much excitement going forward."

"Says the lady being stalked by reporters," Dean joked.

"Unfortunately, I usually need to drive to get away from them, and they'd notice my car driving itself," she disagreed.

"Why hasn't Tony made self-driving cars yet?" Harry asked.

"It's on the product roadmap," she admitted. "We usually bump into Tesla and Google people at the Monaco Grand Prix. I'll try to bug Tony to mention it to them. It would be easier for us to do the AI and one of them to work on the hardware."

"Aw, man, is that this year?" Harry grumbled. "It's in May right? So there's no way I'll get to go."

"You just focus on your schoolwork and not getting eaten by a monster," Pepper insisted. "Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you. Pass it on to the Doctors Granger, please!"

The Potter cloak of invisibility was indeed in Harry's Christmas gifts, along with a bunch of other presents that were less magical but probably more useful in his day-to-day life, like new socks. To his surprise, there was even a box that came from Tony, which contained a complete set of original AD&D books from the early 80s and a note that simply said, "Uphill. Both ways!"

"Were those Mr. Stark's?" Hermione asked, fascinated by the vintage rulebooks.

Harry flipped through, and noted a few markings that didn't look like Tony's handwriting on the otherwise well-preserved manuals, "Doubt it. He doesn't really keep physical books around. Probably had JARVIS or Aunt Pepper order them online. But neat! I was worried he was going to get me something electronic that I'd break if I took it to school."

After a lovely Christmas with the Grangers, they were right back to escapology training on Boxing Day. At the end of the lesson, they were somewhat surprised to find the Ancient One having tea with Master Rama in the central meeting room. They all bowed formally to the leader of the order, and she inclined her bald head with a smile of greeting, and then turned it sideways as if perplexed.

"Harry. I sense a relic, and not one of ours?" she said. "But barely. Like it's trying to hide itself from me."

"Probably my family cloak," he admitted, pulling the diaphanous object out of his robe pocket. It packed down to about the size of a baseball when rolled up. He shook it out for her to see, his arm flickering in and out of vision as the length of silvery cloth caught and deflected the light. "My aunt just trusted me with it."

"Ah! The Tarnkappe. I've heard many stories, but never seen it," she smiled. "Though I expect few have. It's not bonded to you, yet. I wonder if it will become completely undetectable once it is."

Harry's eyes widened and he asked, "How do I bond it?"

"It's different for every relic. Keep it to hand and use it if you get the sense that it wants to be used. An item that old may take some time to accept you, or may do so suddenly for its own reasons." She gestured them toward seats at the table, "But that was not why I came to talk to you."

"You came to talk to us?" Hermione said, surprised and barely remembering to sit. So far, only Harry had really had much face time with the Sorcerer Supreme.

She nodded, and once they were all sitting explained, "Anthony Stark has become quite possibly the most visible individual on Earth. I trust now you understand my message from earlier this year?"

Harry nodded, "He needed to become Iron Man?"

"Our particular timeline did not feature any viable possibilities where he did not," she agreed. "But he is a very smart man, and scrutinized. And you are learning to use magic, even here on Earth. And have already encountered threats that have followed you here from the other Realms."

He frowned, "We know we can't tell Tony. And I'm being very careful! I didn't tell him anything about the elf that attacked him."

She smiled, "It's good that you're careful. I encourage you to remain so for the time being. But, the way events are unfolding, our centuries-long secrecy may come to an end. Perhaps even within the next few years."

It was Master Mordo who seemed shocked at that, saying, "Surely we can continue to work from the shadows? Our fight is not against material evils."

She shook her head and explained, "With the prevalence of cameras and the internet, it would only have been a matter of time before we were revealed had this world's threats simply remained on the level they have been for the past few decades. But I have foreseen threats coming that are beyond any that Earth has faced before, and we may need to face them in full public view."

Mordo bowed his head in grudging submission, "You do see more clearly than any of the rest of us."

"That time is not yet, however," she cautioned. "My belief is that there will come a day where enough wonders have been encountered that an order of sorcerers that protect the world will be easily accepted, but were we to reveal ourselves now, it would be politically disastrous."

"So… what if we have an accident?" Harry checked. "Should we do like Master Mordo has been teaching us, and be ready to die instead of revealing magic in public until you say so?"

"Karl," she gave Mordo a fond but chastising smile, "did you really tell them to die instead of revealing their powers?"

"I find it's best to set firm limits with young people," he gave a very faint smile, one of the first they'd seen from him. "But both Wong and I agree that it would be too easy to rely on the Runes of Kof-Kol to cover any mistakes. Best to take things seriously."

She nodded, but said, "Another explanation may present itself. I have seen that Earth could soon become aware of Asgard and the other Realms, though no fault of our own. Once those facts are known, these students may be able to reveal a certain portion of the truth to those like Anthony Stark who might demand answers: they are aliens, learning 'sufficiently advanced science' on a distant planet."

"Huh," Harry thought out loud. "I guess I really am technically an alien. Now that Obie's dead, there's not as much risk of me getting alien autopsied. But if Tony tries to run experiments, I'm going to need to use all the escape moves you've been teaching us… and maybe a sling ring?"

"We can discuss that again when the time comes," she smiled. Apprentices always wanted a sling ring.