AN: No warnings that I can think of, back in Harry's pov and a couple of time skips throughout the chapter; hopefully not confusing, but like I said in last chapter, I wanted to get to the end of year 3. I hope you enoy it.
Disclaimer I don't own Marvel or Harry Potter, done just for fun.
Chapter 13: Surprise
The Gryffindor team walked out onto the field as Harry gripped his brand-new Firebolt in his hand; the rest of the holiday break went by quickly so did January and February; it was now the end of March, and because Hufflepuff lost to Ravenclaw, then Slytherin lost to Gryffindor, it was now Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor in the final match and due to temperatures dropping below zero and blizzard-like conditions, Quidditch, Hogsmeade weekends, and any outdoor classes had been postponed until now.
The Ravenclaw team was already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on that team. She was shorter than Harry by about a head and very pretty. She smiled at him as the teams faced each other behind their captains; though Harry was attracted to her, he needed to keep his mind on the match and just politely nodded before turning away and running his hand through his hair, which had gotten even longer, with the ends curling outward; the plus side of this hair due, was it now hid his scar, but he found it a bit weird that because Petunia Dursely never allowed his hair to grow out like this, that he had never noticed it was naturally curly.
"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch called and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain. Shortly after that, they were told to mount their brooms, and once the whistle blew, Harry kicked off, his Firebolt zooming higher and faster than all the rest, he soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch as Lee Jordan's commentary filled his ears.
When Oliver Wood returned from Christmas break and discovered Harry had not only learned to deal with the dementors but also had gotten a Firebolt for Christmas, he had nearly cheered and acted so happy you would have thought Oliver had just won a million galleons. Not everyone was happy about Harry's new broom; the Slytherins sure weren't when they saw Harry carrying it, and had even complained when Gryfindor had beat them, but as Madam Hooch told them, there was nothing in the rules saying a player can't have a Firebolt. The other person that wasn't happy about Harry's new broom was Hermione, who finds Professor Ikol's gift suspicious and even suggested Harry return it; Ron asks Hermione if she is crazy, and Harry said it would be rude, and he doubts she'd accept it since she won't even accept his thanks, Hermione didn't say anything, but she seemed to be concerned with how close Harry has gotten to Professor Ikol, even though her and Ron has spent time outside of classes with her too.
Harry streaked past Katie Belle gazing around for the Snitch and noticing that Cho Chang was tailing him closely. She was a very good flier and kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction. Harry urged the Firebolt forward as they rounded the Ravenclaw goal posts and Cho fell behind. Just as Katie succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild, he saw it, the Snitch was close to the ground, flitting near one of the barriers. Harry dived; Cho saw what he was doing and tore after him Harry was speeding up, excitement flooding him; dives were his speciality, he was ten feet away. Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw beaters, came pelting out of nowhere. Harry veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished. Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead, if Cho got the Snitch before him, Ravenclaw would win. Harry dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw chaser, scanning the field frantically a glint of gold, he spotted the Snitch circling the Gryffindor goal post. Harry accelerated, eyes fixed on the Snitch, but just then, Cho appeared out of thin air, blocking him.
"Harry, this is no time to be a gentleman!" Wood roared as Harry swerved to avoid a collision. "Knock her off her broom if you have to!"
Harry turned and caught sight of Cho; she was grinning. The Snitch had vanished again. Harry turned his Firebolt upward and was soon twenty feet above the game. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cho following him. She'd decided to mark him rather than search for the Snitch herself. Which Harry thought was a stupid thing to do; she should concentrate on finding the Snitch. So, Harry decided to shake her up a bit.
Harry dived again, and Cho, thinking he'd seen the Snitch, tried to follow; Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply; she hurtled downward; he rose fast as a bullet once more, and then saw it, for the third time the Snitch was glittering way above the field at the Ravenclaw end. He accelerated; so, did Cho. He was gaining on the Snitch with every second. Then, Harry reached his hand out for it.
Cho suddenly screamed out, distracted, Harry looked down to see three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at Harry immediately held out his hand, and yelled.
"Expecto patronum!"
The shimmering gold light erupted from Harry's palm forming his golden wolf that chanced after the dementors, and Harry paid it no more attention as he turned and grabbed the Snitch, and held it up to show everyone he had it.
Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Harry turned around in midair and saw six scarlet blurs bearing down on him; next moment, the whole team was hugging him so hard he was nearly pulled off his broom. Down below, he could hear the roars of the Gryffindors in the crowd as Harry landed, smiling as he was being congratulated and cheered, people shaking his hand, and patting his back.
"Your Patronus has gotten better." Professor Lupin appeared at Harry's side,
"The dementors didn't affect me at all." Harry said.
"That would be because they weren't dementors," Professor Lupin replied, "Come and see. "
He led Harry out of the crowd and up to where Professor Ikol was standing, Jinx lying on the ground by her legs; she gave Harry a smile when she saw him, and put her arm around his shoulders, something she's been doing more of lately.
"You gave Draco quite a fright," Professor Ikol said; Harry looked to where she was looking, and lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of fury on her face, was Professor McGonagall.
"An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"
Ron and Hermione had appeared on Professor Ikol's other side, Ron doubled over with laughter as they watched Malfoy fighting to extricate himself from the robes, Goyle's head was still stuck inside it.
"Come on, Harry!" George cried, from somewhere behind him. "Party in Gryffindor Tower."
"Have fun, sweetheart." Professor Ikol said, letting him go, "And congratulations on the win."
"Thanks, " Harry walked away from Professor Ikol, smiling, but Hermione had cast her a suspicious look before following, and she wasn't the only one; Professor Snape kept glancing their way as he stood next to Malfoy while Professor Dumbledore was giving him a lecture on how dangerous their stunt had been, not only for Harry and the other Quidditch players but also dangerous for themselves too.
Laughing at Malfoy being in trouble with Albus Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried up to Gryffindor Tower to celebrate; the party lasted until after Midnight when Professor McGogongall finally put a stop to it and told them all to go to bed.
The week before the Easter holidays, Harry and Ron were sitting in Divinations class, Ron leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, and Harry was leaning forward, elbow propped on the table, and head in his hand, they both sat staring in a crystal ball they were supposed to see the future in, trying to stay awake.
"This has to be the stupidest thing we've done so far," Harry said.
"What? Can't you see the future in that glass ball?" Ron asked, "I can; look at all that white smok, it means it's going to be loads of fog tonight."
Harry snorted, "Guess it's a good thing I wasn't planning to go out."
Ron started laughing; yeah, their jokes weren't actually funny, but they were so bored it was making them feel a bit silly; both were beginning to regret signing up for this class.
"See anything, dears." Professor Trelawney appeared next to them, causing Harry to straighten up in his seat.
"Ron has predicted a foggy night," Harry said.
"Has he? Mmm." Professor Trelawney said, "Let's have a look."
Harry was suddenly feeling regret about saying anything; she was bound to see his death or some omen death; that's all she's done this year; back before Christmas break, she had announced to the class Harry had the shortest lifeline she's ever seen when reading his palm, she wasn't amused when Harry replied he better get started on writing his will.
"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered; she had bent over and had her face close to the glass ball. "Something moving, but what is it?" she gasped. "It is here, plainer than ever before, stalking toward you, growing ever closer the Gr -"
"Say the Grim, and I'm going to break that damn glass ball." Harry interrupted, shocking even himself and feeling a little bad for saying it, but really, he's had enough. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that but you have been predicting my death since my first class, and I haven't keeled over yet, so either you are wrong or seeing things from far into the future, I'd wager it's the former, and frankly, I've gotten sick of lifelines, and Grims."
Harry stood, picked up his bag and, without another word, turned and headed to the ladder, kicked open the trapdoor and began to climb down.
"Ooh, you were right, Professor." Lavender cried, "You said around Easter; one will leave us forever; you said it; you were right."
"Nah," Ron said, standing and grabbing his bag, "She said one, and there are two leaving, so she's wrong about that too." With that, Ron turned and followed Harry down the ladder.
The Easter holidays arrived quickly and had the opposite effect on the teachers than the Christmas holidays did, and most doubled down on the school work and homework, all but Professor Lupin and Professor Ikol, the latter of the two has taught about seven more realms (bearly even touching on Jotunheim), and now was teaching about Midgard's true history is how Professor Ikol put it. Harry wondered what she planned to teach next year since she's run out of realms.
"Call this a holiday." Seamus Finnigan said in the common room one day during Easter break. "The exams are ages away, what are they playing at?"
Harry understood Seamus's frustration over so much work during the holiday break, but he did cheer up a little when he got not one but two large chocolate eggs in the post one morning; one was from Mrs. Wesaley, of course, and the other was from Professor Ikol; Ron and Hermione had gotten two also, which surprised Hermione; Harry watched her take off the tag from the one from Professor Ikol, smile a little, then stick it in her Arthmancy book, then started eating the egg, which was even bigger than the ones Mrs. Wesaley had sent them.
The Easter holidays went by just as quickly as the Christmas holidays so did the months following. Before Harry knew it, it was June, and they were now doing their exams; the first exam was Potions that afternoon, and with Snape was glaring at him the whole time, Harry couldn't get his Confusing Concoction to thicken, and Snape watched with an air of vindictive pleasure and scribbled something that looked suspiciously like a zero onto his notes, and when Harry ran his hand through his hair, Snape snapped at him to stop doing that so loud that the whole class turned to look at them. Then used the reason that Harry was going to get hair in the other student's potions as to why he was no longer allowed to touch his hair in his class, and went as far as suggesting Harry get a haircut if it bothered him so much he couldn't stop touching it.
The Astronomy exam took place at midnight up on the tallest tower, they sat there the whole hour maping the sky, or as much as they could in that short time. Harry doubted Professor Ikol put much thought into making the exam because she had them write about their favorite realm and explain why. As she walked around and watching everyone work sometimes asked them about their choice. Harry choice Jotunheim, though he did wonder if it'd be cheating since Professor Ikol had told him things she didn't mention to the class. Professor Ikol said nothing, though; when she looked at Harry's paper, she just smiled at him and moved on.
Lavender Brown said her favorite realm was Asgard because Thor was from there, and he was so gorgeous, then her and Parvati Patil started giggling, Professor Ikol gave them a look that could only be described as disgust, while Hermione roll her eyes, she too wrote about Asgard, but because she thought it was the most interesting. Ron had picked Muspellheim because he thought the fire giants sounded cool, and Neville wrote about Midgard, "because that's where we are from, and I like us," was his reasoning, Professor Ikol laughed and patted his shoulder before moving on.
Wednesday afternoon it was Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sunburnt necks. On Thursday morning it was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, then cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a boggart.
"Excellent, Harry, full marks." Lupin muttered as Harry climbed out of the trunk, grinning. That was the funniest exam he had ever taken. And somehow the easiest. Harry was much better at physical exams than written ones.
That weekend the professors decided to give the students a break after a week of exams and gave them one last Hogsmead visit; Harry went for a short while, and left early, not really in the mood to walk around Hogsmead. When he got back to Hogwarts he went up to Gryffindor tower, Harry decided to go up to the dorm, and clean out his trunk and do away with most of Dudley's old baggy clothes; Harry decided since he didn't have to hid his gold at Gringotts anymore, he planned to buy some new clothes that fit him; Harry pulled out one of Dudley's oversized jumpers to toss in the trash bin when he noticed the cape Professor Ikol had wrapped around his shoulders when he had fallen from his broom because of the dementors, not sure when he had put it in his trunk or why, but Harry decided to return it to her. So, Harry folded it up neatly and closed his trunk, and headed to Professor Ikol's living quarters, and knocked on the door. She opened it within a second, and to Harry's surprise, she was holding a glass with some kind of smoky drink.
"Harry," Professor Ikol grinned, "This is a nice surprise."
"I was cleaning out my trunk and found your cape." Harry explained. Holding up the cape.
"Come on in; I'll be right back; I'm just taking this to Professor Lupin, " She looked behind her at Jinx. "Are you still coming with me? I thought so; I'll tell Remus you'll be along soon."
Harry stepped aside so Professor Ikol could get by, then walked into her living quarters and shut the door. Harry greeted Jinx as he scratched behind his ear. Then looked around the room; he had been inside a few times now, and he was always amazed at how someone could decorate in so much green, gold, and black. He noticed a cauldron in the fireplace, filled with the same smoky liquid Professor Ikol had in her glass. Harry walked over and set the cape on the table, and accidentally knocked a large book off. It landed on the floor with a thud and opened causing a piece of parchment fall out of it.
"Damn," Harry said, bending down to pick it up the book, sat it on the table, and then bent down and picked up the piece of parchment; he realized it was the same old beat-up piece of parchment that Lupin had taken from Fred and George. Jinx barked and ran forward, as if he was trying to stop Harry. "What's wrong boy?" Harry looked at the parchment in his hands and saw the words.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present The Marauder's Map.
Curious, Harry began to open it, and Jinx barked as if he wanted Harry to stop, he ignored his barks and continued to open it to see it was a map of Hogwarts, with names of everyone that was in the school, and according to it, standing by Harry was not Jinx but Sirius Black.
Harry dropped the map and backed away from Jinx, causing himself to bump into the table; Harry's breath caught as Jinx turned into a man before his very eyes; he pulled his wand out and pointed it at who that map said was Sirius Black.
"Stay away from me," Harry demanded, he looked into his dark grey eyes, and realized that he was looking at the mystery man from his memories, the man that always seemed so happy to see Harry was the very man that was supposed to be after him. This would explain why he seemed familiar to Harry, but he couldn't recognize him; it's because this Sirius looked nothing like the picture in the Daily Prophet, and that would mean Professor Ikol had been hiding Sirius Black inside Hogwarts all year in the form of a dog. She has been lying to him all year. Did she want to kill him too? Was all her help just a trick to get close to him and get Harry to trust them both? Was he even Jotunn, like she said, or was Professor Ikol? Was their friendship a lie? Or was she forced to bring Sirius here? These questions and more filled Harry's mind.
"Harry, I know what you're thinking, but I can explain," Sirius said, taking a step toward him.
"Don't come near me," Harry said, walking around the table backward, the opposite way from where Sirius was standing, and continued walking back toward the door while pointing his wand at him. "Did you do something to Professor Ikol to get her to bring you here? Did you threaten her?"
"Of course I didn't," Sirius said, "You and Reigny are the last two people in all the worlds or realms or whatever the hell Reigny calls them, that I would hurt."
"So, her friendship with me has all been a lie?" Harry asked.
"Of course not," Sirius replied, "Reigny cares a lot about you, Harry; we both do."
"I don't believe you," Harry said, reaching behind and opened the door.
"Harry, wait, let me explain." Sirius pleaded. Harry said nothing; he turned and ran out the door, Sirius following behind him.
"Stay away from me," Harry said, walking backward again, "I'm going to find Professor Dumbledore."
"Hear me out first, please," Sirius begged, looking close to panicking. "I'm innocent; I swear, I didn't do the things I was put in Azkaban for, and I have never wanted you died, and neither does Reigna."
"How can I trust you?" Harry demanded, "You both have lied to me all year; I can't even believe the memories, Professor Ikol showed."
"What's going on?" At that moment, Professor Ikol had returned and looked between Harry and Sirius questioningly, then looked back at Sirius, "What are you doing? You're going to be seen."
Harry watched as Sirius ran his hand through his hair while he explained to Professor Ikol how Harry saw the map; he frowned because Harry had never seen someone with that same nervous habit as him, then when Sirius was putting his hand down, something on his arm caught his eye.
"What's that on your arm?" Harry asked, curious as he took a step towards Sirius, who held his arm out so Harry could see; Sirius had two tattoos, one was a shield with two dogs on either side, the words Mischief Managed on a banner underneath, the shield had the same snake symbol that was all over Professor Ikol's classroom on it, but it was what was under that tattoo, which made Harry gasped.
"You have an H tattooed on your arm." Harry said, looking up at him, he really wanted to believe his memories, that this man who knew him since a baby, had cared about Harry as if he was his son.
"I care about you, Harry; I have never wanted you died; I was never a follower of that bastard; I know we've lied to you all year, but we have a good reason; well, we think we have a good reason, please, just let us explain, then you can judge if you believe it was a good reason. Or believe our story."
"We both care about you." Professor Ikol added, "Please listen to mine and Sirius's side; if not, you'll condemn an innocent man to have his soul sucked out."
"Harry, step away from them, now." A voice said; Harry spun around to see Dumbledore walking up, with Ron and Hermione. Then footsteps walked up to them from the opposite direction, Harry, Sirius, and Professor Ikol turned around to see Professor McGogongall and Professor Snape, both had their wands out, pointing them at Professor Ikol and Sirius Black. Ikol narrowed her eyes at them, not an ounce of fear on her face.
Then Professor McGonagall did something that both surprised and confused Harry; she slowly moved around Professor Ikol to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him behind her while still holding her wand out to Professor Ikol, who had no change in expression but by the flicker in her eyes, Harry could tell Professor McGogongall's action, angered her.
"I told you, Headmaster," Snape said. "Ikol couldn't be trusted; now, we caught her with Sirius Black, plotting to take over the wizarding world, no doubt, after they kill Potter."
"Brilliant, Snape, " Sirius said, "Once again, you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and, as usual, come to the wrong conclusion."
As Snape and Sirius looked at each other with complete hatred, Harry was thinking about what Snape had said; why would he believe Professor Ikol being with Sirius Black means they are trying to take over the world?
"Vengeance is sweet," Snape taken a step towards Sirius. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you...but to see you with another wanted criminal I never even considered."
"Severus," Professor Dumbledore warned.
"Go ahead, Snape, try something," Sirius said, raising his hand as black and yellow magic flowed from his fingers, surprising the wizards and witches. "I've gotten better at using magic since Hogwarts; I don't even need a wand."
"Let's all just keep calm." Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes on the magic flowing from Sirius's hand.
"I like to know what's going on," Harry said, stepping out from behind Professor McGogongall. "Why is everyone acting as if Professor Ikol is a criminal?"
"Because she is." Professor McGogongall said.
"Reigna Ikol is Loki, Harry," Hermione said. Professor Ikol turned and looked at Hermione, as did Sirius, the magic disappearing from his hand.
"What? Loki is a bloke; Professor Ikol is a woman." Harry said.
"Loki is a shape-shifter; there was a warning about it in the muggle newspaper my parents sent me the other day," Hermione said.
"And that automatically means I am Loki?" Professor Ikol demanded.
"That isn't the only reason we believe this," Dumbledore spoke up, "I am ashamed that I did not realize it myself, but I knew you from year's ago, so you showing up at the time Loki escaped last year did not seem anything other than coincidence to me, but Ms. Granger and Mr. Wesaley came to me with their suspicions, and I agreed, and we decided we needed to find Harry, I never imagined you would have snuck Sirius Black into the castle with you."
"I can," Snape replied. "Giving their history together, she probably broke him out of Azkaban."
"I broke out on my own." Sirius snapped.
"May I ask what information Ron and Hermione gave you that made you believe this theory that I was Loki?" Professor Ikol asked.
"Your last name is Loki spelled backward," Hermione said.
"I'm the one that realized that," Ron said, then took a step back a little when Professor Ikol turned to look at him.
"Then there are the intertwined snakes all over your classroom, your belt buckle, and the dagger you gave Harry." Hermione said.
"And Sirius's tattoo," Harry said, unsure why he felt he had to point that out, but Sirius didn't mind; he just raised his arm to show them. Dumbledore frown at the H on his arm.
"It's Loki's symbol," Hermione continued, "and you do magic that's not witchcraft, the way you saved Harry from falling from his broom, and then your name Reigna the way it's spelled if you take the A off the end, it becomes Reign, and with Ikol being Loki backward if you add an apostrophe S at the end of Loki, your name backward would be Loki's Reign."
"Is it true?" Harry asked, "Are you Loki?"
Professor Ikol turned to Harry and looked at him for a long time; she seemed to be having a private battle; then, she glanced at Sirius, who reached out and squeezed her hand.
"It's your choice, but I'll stand by you." Sirius told her, and Professor Ikol turned back to Harryhe
"We were going to confess everything to you soon," Professor Ikol said, "In the next few days, to be exact, but since you already found out about Sirius, and we have been lying to you all year, I can not bring myself to lie to you further."
Professor Ikol let go of Sirius's hand and then shifted into Loki right before Harry's eyes, along with his clothes changing to the armor he was wearing when he had attacked New York. The only thing missing was the helmet. Loki held his arms out and grinned, before saying.
"Surprise!"
AN I hope the ending didn't seem to come out of anywhere, I may be able to end year 3 in in less chapters then I thought, i'll see what happens, part of this chapter gave me a beat of trouble too. But I like how it turned out.
If I remember, I will explain later how Ron and Hermione discovered that about Loki's name.