Sif was in a mood, something that, whenever it happened, caused those who noticed to move out of her path, as it had been learned that when she was 'in a mood' like she was now, that it didn't matter who you were, you would be picked up and tossed into the nearest breakable object that could do the most damage. The reason she was in a mood is cause of the fact she had been subjected to a prank, a fowl one, in her opinion, and she KNEW who had done it, but she couldn't prove it, and no matter how much she argued, Thor would not hear of it, and Odin, apparently, had started to grow tired of her 'complaining'. Somehow, she wasn't sure how, that mongrel dog and wolf, Sirius and Remus, had gotten into her things, and caused her shampoos to be replaced with hair dye. While on the one hand her hair was no longer a raven colour, it was, instead, a nasty disgusting deep, rich, blood red in colour. She hated red hair, she couldn't exactly think of a reason, but, if anyone asked, she would always say that it just irritated her that she was one of the few in Asgard with black hair, and causing everyone to realise just how petty she was.
For now, she was off to find Fandral, and Odin forbid she should run into one of the Asgardian Wolf Guards on her way, she couldn't stand the new guard force. They smelled like wet fur, and their breath stank of rotten meat, then again, she could just, again, be being petty. She hated all the changes, the friends of Harry had apparently told Loki and Thor of a holiday that Freya and Harry had told them about called Halloween, and how it was a day to celebrate the dead, as well as make fun of monsters and hand out candy to children. Needless to say, Thor had been overjoyed at the idea and had 'petitioned', i.e. PESTERED, Odin till he accepted to make it happen on the same day it happened on Earth, the thirty first of October. Costume shops had quickly sprung up with people importing costumes from the other realms, well, minus Midgard of course. Needless to say, kids were dressing up and trying on new combinations of clothing, preparing for the event. It was to be called 'Day of the Honoured', and while there were already days of honor in Asgard's calendar, Thor was mostly using it as an excuse to give Thorina new experiences, especially since she would have a unique costume, one apparently from something called a 'Banshee', which was a magical creature on Midgard. Needless to say, she had gotten Harry and his friends to have Freya deliver a long black robe for Thor to dress up like the Midgard figure of Death was said to wear.
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~With Thorina and Thor~
Thor looked at the black robe Thorina had presented him with, trying not to let his disappointment show too much. "But sister, would you not want me to be dressed as something other than this? Death is such a horrid thing after all!" He tried to reason with her.
Thorina shook her head, "No! I'm going to be a Banshee and you are going to be Death! We'll scare everyone and get all the candy!" She giggled, "I just wish Harry could join us!" She then pouted.
Thor sighed a little and knelt down to his sister's level. "Harry must stay and attend his school for the time being. However Loki has told me that Harry must only go for seven years, once he finishes his seventh year he does not have to go back if he doesn't want to and will be free to join us for this wonderful holiday," Thor comforted her.
"But that's too long!" She groaned, "Can't big brother Loki teach him everything?" she whined.
Thor shook his head, "This is not just about learning Thorina. Harry goes there also to discover more about his mother. Remember he did not grow up with her like we did. Hogwarts is one of the few places he can hope to learn more about her."
Thorina continued to pout before turning to her dress up box. "Fine!" She then smiled up at Thor. "At least you can play with me until then!" She said a tad too cheerily for Thor's liking, before going over to the box, not seeing Thor's look of panic and his eyes darted to the door as he thought about bolting for it.
Loki walked into the room at that moment and Thor could honestly say he was never happier to see his brother, only to frown when Loki said, "Thorina, it's time for your magic lessons, I think Father also needs to see Thor about something, so let's leave him to find his own way, shall we?" he stated.
Thorina, meanwhile asked, "Am I finally going to learn that fart curse that Freya mentioned inventing and testing on Thor once at an important feast?" she asked curiously, missing Thor's expression at her words.
"Freya did what?" Thor questioned before Loki pushed him towards the door.
"You don't have time to question it Thor, off you go!" Loki said before shoving Thor out the door and closing it as fast as he could, turning back to Thorina, he smiled, "Now now, you know you cannot speak of the pranks Freya played on Thor like that," He scolded with a smile. "Or even my own pranks. Because if you tell the victim about them they no longer are funny," He told her.
"Oh right, I forgot," Thorina said before smiling. "So, am I learning the fart curse today?"
Loki just chuckled at her for that.
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~With Remus in the Library of the Palace~
Remus was highly enjoying the freedom and respect he had garnered in Asgard. He was free to live the way he chose, and it was a peaceful and quiet life, well, when he wasn't representing Werewolf interests in Asgard or on Midgard that is, he had even been looking forward to trying dating, a few of the women in Asgard had asked him, repeatedly, if he was available or not, something that had Sirius laughing his ass off as the old wolf was very shy, and awkward, around the opposite sex. He had been given permission to act as the librarian of the royal palace of Asgard when he had shown to be a man of learning, even offering his insights into how those with power tended to look down on those who were weaker, or different when corrupted by their own powers to govern. This was a subject that had many Asgardians wondering if maybe they were wrong about the magic that had been gaining favor in Asgard, but had been frowned upon for centuries, along with furthering discussions about Loki and his choice of magic being viewed as a weakness.
Something Loki noticed, but everyone else did not was when patches of shadows would grow darker while Remus was reading in the library. Loki knew what it meant, and found it cute that his other daughter now had an interest in Remus, though he was curious about why she was being so secretive about it.
Hogun found himself liking Remus, sometimes the two would sit together and talk about things in Asgard, or Remus would speak about his life on Midgard. Whenever the two would talk the subject wouldn't turn to battles or glory, something that was all too common to end up talking about in Asgard when dealing with the noble or royal classes. Remus had a quiet strength about him that Hogun respected; knowing that Remus would never feel the need to prove himself strong, and that is part of what made Remus stronger than most Asgardian warriors. They would all leap into action when someone would tell them to prove their strength, but not Remus. Remus would refuse to do such a thing and then, most likely just walk away from whoever had challenged him. Asgard could learn much from a man like him.
Frigga also enjoyed talking with Remus. Though the man was a stranger to her Frigga couldn't help but speak to him as if he was a very dear old friend. And the fact that Remus never pushed subjects that she didn't wish to speak of was deeply welcomed. She enjoyed speaking with him so much that she would almost always make time for him if he wanted to speak with her.
Volstagg, while not the biggest fan of Remus, did not dislike him. While Hogun, Loki, and to a point Thor, liked Remus's company, Volstagg just couldn't enjoy it all that much. The man was too quiet for his liking most of the time and, though Remus had been eating more since coming to Asgard, Volstagg found it a little off putting to see so much food go to waste whenever he would invite Remus to dine with him. Remus wasn't like Sirius, who could almost keep up with Volstagg in an eating contest, however Volstagg did like seeing Hogun open up to the man. Seeing the two speaking so often was a welcome change as far as Volstagg was concerned. He had even joked that the two would make the perfect pair. Oddly enough after he had done that he had tumbled down the stairs he'd been standing next to. Volstagg still swears to this day that he saw something move in the shadows as he lay at the bottom of the stairs.
Sirius on the other hand, was living it up in Asgard, regaling women with his feats from the first Wizarding War with Voldemort, that is, until Remus had told Amelia and she put him in the dog house for seven months, needless to say, he had gone from regaling women, to putting on 'magic shows' for the kids, something that amused the Asgardian children to no end, and made many of them more encouraged to learn magic for one reason or another, not to mention got a lot of angry husbands to stop plotting to murder Sirius for trying to steal their wives for an evening.
Sif and Fandral were both against Remus and Sirius and had been the cause of more than a few small turf wars between the Werewolves and some of the more die hard loyalists of Asgard's old ways. Odin had ordered his guards to punish anyone who was caught starting a ruckus, something that was further driving a wedge between Asgardians into two separate camps. Sif was quickly becoming more and more of a leader for the die hards then Odin pleased, and he knew he would have to do something, but, he couldn't act against those learning magic as that would mean he doesn't approve of useful warriors, and useful they were, as the new Battlemages, a group made up of those who had finished learning enough magic to be considered 'battle ready', had already managed to put down several different attacks by some of Asgard's chief enemies, like Fafnir, who had tried, amongst a few things, to set fire to some of Asgard's outlying villages, as well as cursing a few villagers here and there too.
Needless to say, things were heating up in Asgard, and the other realms were taking notice.
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~With Freya~
Freya had been going around the different realms, in disguise of course, and making contact with the needed sources to enact Loki's plan, they didn't have much time, by Midgard's standards, before the coronation, and they needed to make sure that everything that needed to be in play was ready, after all, they only wanted to show that Thor was not ready for the throne, not start a war between the realms. As such, she had been notified recently that the info that had been passed on had indeed made it to certain ears, and that plans were in motion to take advantage of these paths during the coronation, which in turn would offer a small window for them to take advantage of.
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~Back on Midgard~
Harry was smiling, he hadn't celebrated Halloween since he was four, and even then, he hadn't been able to ENJOY a Halloween once in his life, at least as far as he could remember anyway. His friends, likewise, were looking forward to experiencing a proper festival feast at Hogwarts, as many times they ended up clearing the tables of food at meal times.
"I wonder if Hogwarts will do costumes and other things that non magicals do for Halloween," Harry wondered out loud as he petted Von.
"What would a magical dress up as?" Ari questioned.
"A non-magical?" Runa shrugged simply.
Godiva was idly toying with a small ball she had brought with her, seemingly not paying attention to what the others were talking about.
"Well whatever they do I bet there's going to be some great food for us to eat. Maybe they'll bring in some special creatures for the occasion!" Harry thought about the kinds of creatures he would love to see brought in, though not all of them were safe to have inside the castle.
"They will not be reckless just for a holiday Harry. Were they to have creatures brought to the school they would remain outside," Jarl commented, not wanting to crush his friend's dream.
"True, and you just know that old goat would blow his top if something like that happened," Runa was speaking, of course, of Dumbledore, who they had caught trying to lure some of the students to his side during classes. He claimed that he was just offering extra tutoring, but no one was really buying it, even less so as the students he was luring all came from pure blood families with heavy influence under their names.
"Well if he tried anything you just know it would cost him his job," Ari pointed out with a smirk. "Honestly I don't know why he hasn't been removed yet. Least Snape only got to stay because Harry here wanted him to."
"Professor Coulson is an interesting one, don't you agree?" Godiva asked suddenly with some excitement.
"Huh? You mean that squib?" Ari questioned as he scratched his head. "Yeah I guess so, I mean the guy does know his stuff and how to keep you listening," He then turned to Harry with a smile. "Hey I bet Prince Loki would like the guy!"
Harry had to agree to that, Professor Coulson was a great teacher and he seemed like a pretty nice guy outside of class. From what Harry had gathered about him Coulson had spent more time around Muggles then magicals, which was something that Harry liked about him. Most, if not all of the school staff seemed to be made up of people that rarely interacted with the non-magical side of the world. Coulson had even shared some stories from his travels, telling of the muggle world and things he had seen, though Harry did get the feeling that Coulson was holding something back from them. Add to that his interest in Harry's grandfather and it made Harry wonder if maybe Coulson was teaching at the school for another reason then just teaching.
Coulson, meanwhile was busy sending an owl to his boss, he had to admit, aside from Dumbledore, no one at Hogwarts was likely to read one of his messages, and they had yet to figure out how to make electronics work in high magical zones. So far he had yet to meet the elusive grandfather of young Harry Potter, but, he was hoping that would change soon. However, of late, his mind had been on one Quirinus Quirrell, the Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts. The man just seemed off to him, and his instincts told him that the whole cowardice act was just that, an act. He needed to ask his boss for instructions regarding the odd man, regardless, he would investigate to the best he could, but he was limited by how magic worked and how easy it was for him to be detected in this castle, what with the pictures reporting to the headmistress and deputy headmaster, it was very hard to sneak around the castle, even with the secret passages. Then there were Harry's friends, he had no idea of the abilities, but he had observed their training, they were very well trained, and could probably go toe to toe with some of the best back home.
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~Back on Asgard~
Sif turned to Fandral, "Everyday more look to us to lead them rather than Odin, Fandral," she began, "You feel it, don't you?" she asked, "Odin is losing this war of Traditions to that Midgardian wand waver and we're supposed to accept it, meanwhile the children keep embracing these new traditions, and throwing out the old, they are being corrupted!" she said pointedly. They were currently in one of the more outlying taverns of Asgard's city range, thanks to the Werewolves, the streets were far safer than they had been in centuries, as the Werewolves would prowl at night to catch any of the more blood thirsty Asgardians as well as those who were of a more unsavory disposition.
"Sif, have you stopped to consider that perhaps you are moving too quickly? That maybe you should take some time away from Asgard? I do know of some outlying villages that have reported monster sightings that the Allfather has not dealt with. You could go tear those monsters apart and come back more...level headed, and ready to win back the trust of Asgard?" Fandral suggested. Though he wasn't happy with how things were he could see that Sif was starting to slip into a dangerous mindset. That she was, as he'd once heard Freya say, 'going off the deep end'. He was worried for Sif, not that she would ever care about his concerns regarding her.
Sif growled, "NO!" she screamed, slamming her tankard onto the table they were sitting at, "If I go away, who will keep an eye on the changes that those snakes are making to Asgard?" she countered.
Fandral had jumped when she slammed her tankard and then looked around, afraid they had drawn attention to themselves. While there weren't too many guards in the area he really didn't want to take the chance of being caught speaking in such a place to Sif, who's reputation had taken an even greater nose dive in the recent weeks due to her outburst and consistent temper. "It is not as if you would be far from Asgard," Fandral began before giving up on getting her to take a break from hating everything. "So then, what do you want to do? We cannot openly do anything against our king after all, and given how many embrace the changes it would be hard to attempt to make the Allfather see the error of these changes." Fandral wondered if he could have as little to do with Sif's plans as possible, that way, when she would get caught he could claim he did not know how far she was willing to go and thus escape the more harsher punishments that the Allfather would most likely sentence.
Sif glared at Fandrall, "We need something on the heads of the snake, Loki, Freya, and Harry," she countered, "If we can get something, anything, on them, we could win the favor of the people and show them the errors of their ways!" she finished, then she sighed, "All we can do is wait, and watch, eventually these changes will go too far and we will be able to lead them back into the Light of Asgard,"she said with a tone of reverence.
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~Back at Hogwarts~
Minerva smiled but was also weary, from the portraits of the castle, she had received several reports of Dumbledore continuously trying to influence students through 'tutoring', he had even come very close to crossing the line when it came to one instance with Hermione, who had tried to ask him why even she could use some tutoring when she was in the top ten of the best students at Hogwarts. The old fart had had the audacity to tell her to shut her mouth and don't ask questions, he had been put back on probation for that. Harry and his friends had also been meeting with students from every house. He and his friends had been spotted meeting with Hermione of Ravenclaw, the Weasley Twins of Gryffindor, along with their friend Lee Jordan, and Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davies, and even Blaise Zabini of Slytherin. Collectively they had been given the nickname of 'The Alliance' as they were known for picking on anyone who tried to bully others, one of their biggest targets was Ron Weasley, who the Twins had openly claimed they had disowned as their brother for his shameful behaviour. When they had received a howler from Molly Weasley for saying that about their own flesh and blood, Harry and his friends had responded by learning how to make a Howler from Susan Bones, and proceeding to use the Sonorus charm they had also learned from Susan to make five howlers that had been so loud that it had been reported the next day in the Dailey Prophet that Obliviators had been called to the Weasley household the day before because of a ruckus so loud the entire town nearby had heard it. Needless to say, this infuriated Ron even more.
To be honest, Minerva was looking forward to Halloween, even if Professor Quirrell made her uneasy. To be honest, since she took over, she had made improvements to the wards, she had even hired Bill Weasley, through the Goblins, to add a little something to keep out creatures of a dark nature, specifically Dementors and other similar creatures. She was angry as all hell when she was alerted by Bill that someone had altered the wards to make Muggleborns and even some half-bloods do poorly. According to Bill, the ward made those it targeted less likely to research information and also fog their minds of information at critical moments. Minerva shared this discovery only with Pomona and Flitwick, deciding with them that they would use this information to crush the remaining support that Dumbledore has when they find a truly horrid reason to sack him. After all there would be no way to explain away or justify why the man who speaks out for Muggleborn and half-blood rights for equality would purposely hinder those very same children he claims he is trying to help by not checking and removing the ward if he didn't place it himself. There would be no redemption for Dumbledore once that information went public.
In other matters Minerva was very please with the new History Professor and how excited the students were these days to go to History class. She had even over heard a few students debating on matters they learned in Professor Coulson's class. Minerva knew that Coulson was teaching about World History as opposed to just British Magical History like Binn's was supposed to have done, and she approved of it as it would widen the students minds and perhaps lead to some of them traveling around the world, rather than just have them go into Ministry work or even some random job somewhere in Britain.
"With luck some of them might even create a future in which all magical communities are able to work together peacefully!" Pomona had said hopefully when the matter was brought up during the last meeting they had had. "Heavens knows it would be nice to have some of our students one day working side by side with MACUSA or one of the other governing magical bodies and not hear anything about the two sides fighting with each other and being unable to work with one another."
Minerva had agreed whole heartedly with that. When Dumbledore had been in charge any time MACUSA had been brought up with the students, there had been a number of jokes and insults made about the American Magical Government. But now, thanks to having Professor Coulson at Hogwarts the students were showing an interest in other magical communities. Some even requesting to try a muggle concept called 'Pen Pals', something that she was sure the muggleborns and maybe even half-bloods had brought up to a few of the pure-blood students. She wasn't sure if they were ready for writing to people around the world yet, but maybe one day that would not be such a bad idea.
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~During the feast~
Harry was distinctly unhappy, and for good reason. He had just learned that the reason Hermione wasn't at the feast was because of the fact that Ronald Weasley, had called her a mudblood, something that had earned him detention for the rest of the year, a never ending stream of pranks from his twin brothers, and a loss of about two hundred points from Gryffindor for not just saying it once, but several times, first to Hermione, and then in his defence of how he was right to do so. He had also gotten two black eyes and a broken nose, mostly from Godiva who, when she had found out, had hunted him down and beaten the shit out of him.
The reason he called her such a fowl, disgusting, degrading term? Because she had tried to help him understand how to work a spell, which had then caused him to call her a 'know it all', and then told her to go back to the dark creatures that were the Asgardians and Harry, to which she had responded by citing some of the things she had learned from Runa and Godiva, only for her to be silenced when Ron had told her, quite loudly, to 'Shut the fuck up', and that she was nothing 'but a mudblood whore trying to get into Prince Harry's good graces', then proceeded to go on a rant about how much of a mudblood she was. To quote Ari's observations of the event when he had been going to see Hermione about a book subject regarding some confusion of one magical creature or another native to Midgard, it was one of those 'your idiots showing' moments for Ron.
"I still say we should use some of our magic that Prince Loki and Lady Freya taught us to really punish that idiot," Ari said as he glared at Ron from where he sat.
"As good as that would be I don't want to waste any time on him. Its better we focus on Hermione once she reappears," Jarl told Ari.
"I bet in a few years that bastard is going to change his tune about her once she blooms into a woman," Runa commented. "He'll be all, 'we belong together' and most likely he'll also say something like 'you'll be nothing in this world without me once we finish school', along with other lies to try to force her to be with him."
"We should keep an eye on Hermione then as the years go on, just to be sure that she does not fall under the effects of a love potion. He seems the type to do something dastardly underhanded like that!" Godiva pointed out.
"When we finish eating I want to go look for Hermione!" The only reason Harry was even sitting there eating was because it was expected of all students to sit together to eat, and what is more Loki would expect Harry to sit amongst his fellow students rather than be seen showing 'weakness' to those who could one day use it against him. It was something he hated Loki for instilling into him but he also knew he would need it one day in the future.
Just as they moved onto the deserts, with Harry and his Asgardian friends eating about seven times as much as anyone else, Professor Quirrell burst into the room, surprizing those who had missed his absence, like Harry and his friends, as he then shouted, "Nundu, in the Greenhouses!" said, "Thought you ought to know..." he said before he fainted backwards, something that instantly made Harry and his Asgardian friends realise that he was faking, but, Ari who had read about Nundus gulped, "Guys, Nundu's are no joke!" he said seriously.
Minerva sighed and rubbed her nose as the hall broke into chaos, before sending out a cannon fire into the air from her wand to get everyone's attention. "Prefects, please escort your houses back to the common room, I will notify the aurors while Deputy Headmaster Flitwick will come up with a battle plan to deal with the Nundu," she said commandingly, missing Dumbledore's glare, Snape's frown, and Slughorn's worried look. Flitwick, however, rose confidently, and waved to the teachers to follow him.
As the students were escorted to their common rooms, Harry and his friends heard one of Pansy's followers mention how they hoped Hermione encountered the Nundu out on the grounds. Apparently when Hermione had run away from Ron in tears after Neville told her what Mudblood meant when she had asked him for the meaning, she had run off to Hagrid's garden, apparently to hide amongst the giant pumpkins that grew there. Whatever Hagrid used, they grew to be easilly seven or eight times larger then normal pumpkins.
~Song Start: Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age OST - 30. Among Savages~
Harry and his group immediately broke off from their house silently, going unnoticed by all except one Hufflepuff prefect who had short spiked hair that went from pink, to black in a flash and went to follow them.
"Alright," Harry began, "Godiva, Runa, your with me, Ari, Jarl, go find Hermio-" just as they spoke, they heard a loud scream come from the direction of Hargrid's hutt, followed soon after by a menacing roar.
~Song End~
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