When the school year was finally over Mum and Dad thought it would be if we spent some time at the family farm in Nashville before we head to Asgard and I couldn't have agreed more. I had missed the Bentley family farm but not as much as I had missed my Gran and Pa. Part of me couldn't wait to run onto the Avengers quinjet and start the journey back to the place that I spent the first four years of my life but the other part didn't want to leave Cedric after everything that had happened. But in his usual fashion, Mr. Diggory didn't want to let his son do what he wanted and let him find out what he is now capable of. No, he wanted to make him go back to their home so they can 'talk' about what Cedric should do with his life now. In other words, it was Mr. Diggory wanted to yell at Cedric for letting him down and judging by the way he looked at me at the train station, trying to convince him to break up with his 'half breed' girlfriend who have saved his life. And I actually heard him to use the words 'half-breed' when he was talking to Mrs. Diggory who promptly hit her husband over the back of his head.
Seeing how much not I, but Dad as well, wanted to yell at Mr. Diggory, Mum pulled us away from the man and into the waiting car before either of us could lose it at him. But the second I stepped off the quinjet and into the fresh country, I immediately calmed down and felt more relaxed and I became excited when I saw Pa's old orange pickup truck waiting in the airport carpark.
"There she is, my little sunflower," Pa said I ran over to him. "I heard you had quite the year at school."
"That is the understatement of the century, Pa," I told him as he kissed the top of my head.
"Now where is this English boyfriend of yours? Monty's grandson. I thought he was coming back with you," Pa said as he looked around the carpark for Cedric.
"His Dad wanted to have some time with him after everything that happened," Mum told him.
"Well then, I guess I'm just gonna have to wait to meet the boy then," as the five of us walked over the truck, Dad carrying my school trunk.
"Shot gun!" I called out like a little kid as I ran to the passenger seat. I don't know why but being around Pa always made me feel I was little again. Maybe it was all the good memories of the fun times we had when I was younger or maybe it was because even though he was in his 80's, he only looked like he was in his early 60's while acting like he was still in his 20's. But whatever the reason was, I loved the way I felt when I was back at home with him.
A week in to the summer holidays, I woke up just before sunrise and even though it was an over cast day, I saddled up my favorite horse, Ivy, and went out ridding. It had been so long since I had been able to just go out and ride for no reason at all. It always cleared my mind and that was something that I definitely needed to do. Even though everything had been building to that one night of the third task, it seemed like it all happened so quickly.
I was grateful for everything that Urdr and Verdandi had done for Cedric and me but I still wanted to confront Skuld for everything that she has put us through. I still didn't know why she chose me to harass me out of all the Asgardians but I was damn sure that I was going to find out one way or another and Loki had sworn to help me find out the answer.
But more importantly, Cedric and I needed to find out what his new abilities were. We already knew that he could somehow now speak Norwegian which was the language spoken in Asgard, I learnt not to question how Norway had learnt the language of the gods and call it their own because you could never get a straight answer from any Norse god, and he could now use glamour's as well. But from what Mum said, there was bound to be a lot more to uncover.
When I got to the lake that I had brought Cedric too, I climbed down off Ivy and let her graze on the grass as I pulled a blanket out of the saddle I had packed and my copy of Fantastic Beast. I couldn't count how many times I had read the book but it was comforting to me. I also wanted to start researching a bit more about the magical creatures in America. Newt had told me that MACUSA, even though grateful for what he had done for them, weren't the biggest fans of his after he unintentionally let a suitcase full of magical creatures loose in New York City. That meant that they weren't overly keen on letting him research any of the state's magical creatures, so I had offered to do it for him.
I was particularly interested in the wampus. I mean who wouldn't be, it resembled a mountain lion that could walk on its back two legs and could use hypnosis as well as legilimency. They were native to the Appalachian Mountains which just happened to be in Tennessee. The only problem was the Appalachian Mountains also stretched out over a few states. But it was a starting place.
Before I knew it, I had been down at the lake for hours and the sun had broken through the grey skies to brighten in to a warm, summers day. I packed up my blanket and the letter I was in the middle of writing to Newt, on my theories on where I could find a particularly large pack of wampus and climbed back on to Ivy and rode back to the farm.
When I got back to the farm, I found Danny looking particularly sheepish as Aunt Tammy lectured him on something. As I listened into the conversation, I picked up that Danny had already managed to get Pa's truck covered in mud after taking it off roading the night before.
"Now, you march out into the backyard and wash that truck, Daniel Thomas Odinson. And no magic! I don't care if you can use magic outside of school now, as long as you are living under my roof, you will follow my rules. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mum," Danny said, sounding like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"I'll watch him to make sure that he doesn't use magic, Aunt Tammy," I said walking over to them.
"Good morning, Elsa," Aunt Tammy said as she gave me a quick hug. "Thank you, he needs someone to supervise him."
"Oh, come on! Do you really not trust me," Danny whined.
"Not in the slightest," Aunt Tammy said at the same time I said, "No, not at all."
"Fine! I'm going," Danny sighed getting up off the couch to head out to the backyard.
I followed him out the back as I laughed at his sulking behavior. He should have known better than to get Pa's truck so dirty on out first week back from Hogwarts. I knew that he loved driving through the mountains as much as I loved going for a ride. But unlike Danny, I didn't ride Ivy through a mud pile.
"Did you enjoy yourself, at least?" I asked him as I sat down on one of the bay barrels as Danny pulled out everything he needed to wash and polish the truck.
"Yeah, I did," Danny laughed, filling us one of the buckets with water. "I can't believe that Mr. Diggory wouldn't let Cedric come with us, I mean he's almost like us now and he needs to figure out what his powers are before something happens. Trust me, I learnt that one the hard way."
"What, like setting your leg on fire?" I joked.
"Very funny, Elsa," Danny said as he turned the hose on me.
"Jokes on you, Danny," I said as I used my powers to draw the water off me and to throw it back at Danny who went to grab his wand to dry himself off. "Hey, no magic!"
After glaring at me, Danny turned the car radio on and turned it up loud as all our favorite songs came on. Which we proceeded to sing along to at the top of our voices, having fun and letting loose for the first time in forever.
"Hey girl!
Woah, now!
You know you've got everybody lookin'"
"I love this song! Turn it up!" I called out to Danny as Country girls, shake it for me by Luke Bryan came on the radio.
"Sure thing, cousin," Danny called back as he cranked up the radio.
"Got a little boom in my big truck
Gonna open up the doors and turn it up
Gonna stomp my boots in the Georgia mud
Gonna watch you make me fall in love"
I couldn't help but sing along even louder as the song continued to play, as Danny did the same thing. I didn't either of us had felt this at ease in a long, long, time.
"Get up on the hood of my daddy's tractor
Up on the toolbox, it don't matter
Down on the tailgate, girl I can't wait
To watch you do your thing"
As the song continued to play, I couldn't stop myself from jumping up onto the hay barrel I was sitting on and start dancing along. It was just one of those songs that was so catchy that you couldn't help but dance along to it. But in saying that, I was glad that it was only Danny and me so no one could witness my terrible dancing.
"Shake it for the young bucks sittin' in the honky-tonks
For the rednecks rockin' 'til the break of dawn
The DJ spinnin' that country song
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon"
When Danny saw me dancing along to the country song in my crazy way, he started laughing and shook his head at my behavior.
"Shake it for the birds, shake it for the bees
Shake it for the catfish swimmin' down deep in the creek
For the crickets and the critters and the squirrels
Shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl, oh
Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me girl
Shake it for me
Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me
Sombody's sweet little farmer's child
With a gattle in her Bud to get a little wild
Pony-tail and a pretty smile
Rope me in from a country mile
So come on over here and get in my arms
Spin me around this big ole barn
Tangle me up like grandma's yarn
Yeah, yeah, yeah"
After a few more verses, Danny had finished washing the truck and I managed to coax him up onto the hay barrel with me and to dance along to the song. After all, he was a bigger Luke Bryan fan as I was. We had even gone to one of his concerts a few years earlier during the summer holidays and lost our voices from sing along at the top of our voices.
"Shake it for the young bucks sittin' in the honky-tonks
For the rednecks rockin' 'til the break of dawn
For the DJ spinnin' that country song
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon"
"Shake it for the birds, shake it for the bees
Shake it for the catfish swimmin' down deep in the creek
For the crickets and the critters and the squirrels
Shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me
(Guitar)"
Starting to get more into the song, Danny grabbed hold of my hand and spun me around in a clumsy fashion and almost dropping me off the side of the hay barrel. Laughing as I got my balance, I jokingly nudged him towards the edge and he tumbled off but landed on his feet in true Avenger's style thanks to Loki's training.
"Now dance, like a dandelion
In the wind on the hill underneath the pines
Yeah, move like the river flows
Feel the kick drum down deep in your toes
All I wanna do is get to holdin' you and get to knowin' you
And get to showin' you and get to lovin' you
'Fore the night is through, baby you know what to do"
"Shake it for the young bucks sittin' in the honky-tonks
For the rednecks rockin' 'til the break of dawn
For the DJ spinnin' that country song
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon"
Not letting Danny's little tumble deter us from the fun we were having, Danny and I continued out own little concert like we didn't have a care in the world.
"Shake it for the birds, shake it for the bees
Shake it for the catfish swimmin' down deep in the creek
For the crickets and the critters and the squirrels
Shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl, oh"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me
(Oh, country girl)"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me"
"Country girl, shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me, girl
Shake it for me"
"And here we have two Tennessee born teens in their natural habitat, unaware they are making fools of themselves," I heard Pa say, turning around to see Cedric trying not to laugh as he watched Danny and my little performance.
"Thanks for telling us that you guys were watching, Pa," Danny laughed as I flipped off the hay barrel and ran over to Cedric.
"Cedric! What are you doing here? I thought your dad wanted you to stay with him for a bit," I said as I threw my arms around him like I hadn't seen him in months. Even since that night in the hospital wing, I had this fear that it was all another one of Skuld's mind games and Cedric really was dead. After everything the she had put me through, I really wasn't surprised about it.
"We had a big fight. He wanted me to ignore everything that happened and the fact that Voldemort was back because in his words I was 'technically unconscious and have no proof that you know who was back except from that strange dream'. He doesn't want to believe that I actually died and came back. He would rather delude himself into believing that I was knocked out and that Harry is lying to get attention than face the truth. Mum called him an idiot and distracted him so that I could apparate here," Cedric explained.
"That's such bullshit," Danny spat out in anger.
"Language, Daniel," Pa snapped at him. "But you are welcome to stay here as long as you like, Cedric. It's the least I can do after Monty helped keep me alive back in that Hydra prison after I ticked off one of the guards for taking away Kimberly."
"Thank you, Captain Bentley," Cedric said to my Pa. "My Grandfather told me so much about you and so have both Elsa and Danny, it's so nice to finally meet you."
"Son, I haven't been Captain Bentley for more years than I care to admit," Pa laughed. "So, call me, Tommy. And it's nice to meet the boy who final melted our Elsa's frozen heart."
"Remind me why I ever let you watch Frozen with me when I was little," I sighed.
"You should have never have let any of us watch Frozen with you, cousin. Especially Cassy," Danny pointed out. "It's way too much fun not to tease you about it."
"Shut up, Danny," I said as I rolled my eyes at him. "Come on, Cedric. I'll show you around while Danny finishes cleaning Pa's truck."
"Hey! It's clean!" Danny said as I waved my hand, freezing the muddy water on the ground as I lifted it up and dropped the frozen mud mixture back on to the truck.
"I think you missed a spot and remember no magic," I laughed. "Next time, no encouraging the Frozen jokes."
Pa laughed at Danny who was muttering about the having to clean the truck again as I walked off with Cedric to show his around the farm. As I walked hand in hand with Cedric around the one place that I felt more at home than any place in the world, I felt more at ease that I had in a long time. I just hoped that the feeling would last into the new school year and that nothing would ruin it.