Tricksters and Gods

Chapter 9

Harry was present when it all went to hell in a handbasket. Both Tony and Harry had been completely unaware that his friend Rhodey had used the commotion of Tony's party to steal one of the outdated Iron Man suits, if only to get the people he served under off his ass. The only reason Tony still considered him a friend was because Rhodey had at least shown enough decency to wait until he was absolutely positive that Tony really had been alright after Harry hit him with a rather nasty vomiting hex as a distraction.

Tony couldn't very well be an idiot when he was too busy being sick, and Harry had covered up the lie of him having a bit too much alcohol by 'accidentally' hitting Tony in the stomach to activate the hex. He had apologized immediately once the party was over and Tony had calmed down from his morbid state, but it had been a fake one.

The second those robots started acting on someone other than Hammer's orders, Harry started levelling actual curses at them.

His wand, to his everlasting shock, morphed inside his hand to become a staff with a sharp end. It looked almost similar in origin to the one he had seen Loki use in his memories.

He knew he was Loki. He just didn't care. What had once been his idol had become a disillusioned past.

Loki Laufeyson was an arrogant, spiteful, petulant child. Not too dissimilar to Draco Malfoy once Lucius had been taken out of the equation.

He was quite happy remaining Harry Potter Black, the Viper of the World's legal system and advocate of the outcasts. Harry had infinitely more fun than Loki ever had, and he wasn't shunned for it to boot.

Besides, Harry got to play with people almost as much as the faeries that once lived among the mortal realms did.

He concentrated on killing the robots before they did too much damage. He wasn't ashamed to be a magical...however when he displayed inhuman feats of strength at least two hours after the start of this mess, he knew he could hide behind the fact that he was no longer human.

That ought to be fun to explain to Tony later.

~

"So spill...how in the hell did you bend that steel in the convention area to free those people?" asked Tony a few days later, once his injuries had healed up a bit and he forgave Rhodey for swiping his outdated suit.

"...I'm not entirely human. Haven't been since shortly before I went after Dumbledore on the stand," admitted Harry.

"Why?"

"It all comes down to Loki, the Asgardian and adopted brother of the one called Thor, pissing off Odin to the point where he banished him from Asgard and forced him into a human form as punishment. So far I've seen up to the events leading to Thor being temporarily banished until he learned some damn humility, but I have no idea how Loki angered Odin to the point he couldn't talk his way out," said Harry.

"So...your real name is actually Loki? As in the god you worship?" said Tony in surprise.

"That sums it up. Apparently Odin felt my actions so far have earned me another chance in Asgard, but frankly I'm not that interested."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, this is a culture from the Viking era. Those people traditionally didn't like people being too smart. Plus there's the fact that Loki is still active on Asgard, and I really don't want to cause a paradox until I figure out how he managed to piss off Odin. One of the biggest rules of time travel is that you cant see yourself in the past, mostly because one of the two might attack the other. Even that bossy twit Granger remembered that much."

"Seriously?"

"I think the real reason is so that the wizards had a more reasonable answer than to try and understand what the word 'paradox' means. The mass majority of magicals in Britain are sheep, so the idea that they would attack their double isn't a ridiculous one," said Harry flatly, drinking his beer.