A Serpent's Adventure
The morning was a disaster, Harry hadn't had enough time to take a bite of his handmade sandwich prior to it being knocked to the ground by a rushing student.
Loki suffocated from all the people in the halls walking around, childishly whining about the problem to his two friends. like they wouldn't be pranked hours from now.
He had this self-satisfactory smile on his face, that Blaise and Draco immediately noticed, "what's got you all smily this early in the morning. We remember you being a crying mess yesterday."
Harry only rolled his eyes at that. "As if. I only shed tears when sleeping." He caught two amused faces grinning back at him. He sighed, "Okay, then there was the time I got back in the common room."
If only they knew. He kept grinning despite the vile thoughts about what would happen if they did know.
Morning classes went slowly. With all the homework done, the information still clear in Lokis head and succeeding the demonstration of the spells or even brewing, Harry felt bored.
This is not how he expected being in a magic school would feel like.
One couldn't have everything, he presumed.
And the time has come for him to sacrifice even himself for experiencing this worlds first step to mischief.
The great hall was bustling with boisterous Hogwarts witches and wizards, elated about Halloween, the gifts they'd receive and the food they'd consume.
So noisy.
It Looked like some teachers shared his thoughts: Snape looked like he was about to murder all the students in cold blood, the other teachers seemed like they wanted to get this over with to go rest, and some... didn't even show up on the big day.
Weird.
If Loki decided to skip a magnificent get-together such as Halloween, he must have been orchestrating a highly significant scheme.
Given that Quirrel chose to be absent, he either has no desire to partake in this exhausting assembly; or he was engaged in executing a task undisturbed, rid of anyones peering eyes, as everyone else is occupied here.
That's when he heard: "Little Loki, I need you."
He recognized a familliar sibilant voice summoning him.
He certainly has a knack for timing, calling me just as I thought I'd be joining the fun part of witnessing a few students eating the potion sprinkled food and their useless heads turning into pumpkins. I suppose it can't be helped now that I've been called.
"Excuse my rudeness, but I think I forgot to do something very important." He said aloud to the Slytherin table and turned to whisper to Draco and Blaise. "My pet is calling me, I need to take care of her." Draco was once again stunned by something Harry didn't understand. Why was it that the blond kept being shocked? He should get used to it already.
Blaise had that, "I'll be asking you a lot of questions later" look. Loki couldn't avoid that for much longer.
He took the precaution to shape shift himself into a snake prior to reaching the third floor, where the dark wizard last called from.
"Where are you, human?" He hissed out.
"Right here."
The wizard stood right in front of the forgotten door Loki abandoned once he made the three-headed dog fall asleep. Other than that, "Quirrel" appeared to not have been alone.
There was a giant, green monster standing right next to him, looming over the man with its ginormous hand gripping an enormous wood bludgeon.
It appeared as though the man had the green monster under his sway, which made Loki interested about how that spell worked. He'd pick that up later, if he had a moment with that disgusting beast.
Loki didn't find the Troll threatening, he has see far larger creatures in his previous life, besides, he didn't think this green monster could beat Hulk or other giants...
He quickly pushed those thoughts starting to emerge before it got ugly for him.
Letting his snake body glide nearer to the professor, he greeted him with a cheerful hiss. Thankfully, he was acknowledged in return.
The man waved the Troll off and the being randomly started walking around the halls like it was no big deal.
He didn't find this as any plot of Quirrels to make that dumb looking creature smash him with the large wood.
The man seemed impressed by the little snakes boldness at disregarding the Trolls presence. "What do you need my help for, human?" He asked carefully.
"I require you to proceed beyond that door, exercise caution regarding any traps, and return after obtaining some information."
What a request to give to a small snake.
"Sounds easy to me. Why couldn't you go in there yourself?" He asked curiously.
"I need an alibi for the moment of a trolls appearance. Quirrels acting will cause some ruckus, which will make students panic, Dumbledore will also be forced to take action, nothing will be leading back to me."
It appeared to him that the man was oblivious to what lay behind the door.
Crawling closer to the door, Loki looked back at the staring figure of a red-eyed man. "This is not a goodbye, human. When I get out of here, you better tell me something to call you by, or I'll bite you." He slipped in the tiny crack of the door he created with magic.
There were footsteps echoing from outside the door, going further and further away.
Now was the time for him to do what he did best, silently sneaking, using tricks to get away from tricky situations.
Lokis eyes quickly scanned the room and landed on an old acquaintance–the once again slumbering Cerberus.
Now that he could think clearly, the Cerberus might have been trained to guard whatever door it was currently sleeping on, but Loki knew that it got love from someone. The Cerberus had no injuries whatsoever on its body, meaning that it wasn't trained like useful animals are treated on Asgard.
All it took was Lokis presence for those three pairs of eyes to stare at him with confusion, realisation, then with some anger in them.
However, this time, Loki didn't make the dog sleep, he dodged three mouths and multiple teeth and made his way on their heads. He turned himself into a small Cerberus, changing his smell and aura completely.
This started confusion between the three heads, but Loki was already loving it. He simply hopped down from the sniffing beast and nudged the large paw with his head, making a typical, puppy whimpering sound.
Having three heads and six eyes did nothing to fix the terrible eyesight.
The Cerberus was hesitant, but then it held onto the door handle with its teeth to open it, letting the small pup hop its way in.
Loki didnt need to use a spell to slow down his fall, because the plants prevented any harm being done to his fragile form.
Harry would brag to his friends about knowing herbology after this.
After making a slight movement, he knew that he was dealing with the devil's Snare. Not having the patience to wait for this thing to let him slip through, he minimized the devil's snare in shape, it looked like a small, living organism, growing and wriggling.
Right before hitting the ground, he returned the plant to its original size, making the landing easier for Loki. Then he burned it to a crisp and kept moving forward.
Only a ragged, old broom was waiting for him there and a bunch of flying keys. Loki considered summoning Hedwig, but that felt wrong, since he hadn't looked her way since he bought her.
Sighing, his green magic unleashed, pulling all the keys towards himself, eyes searching for one even the slightest different in them all. He found an old looking key that perfectly fit the doors lock and he creaked if open.
He was on a giant chess board. Interesting, however not worth his time.This was much more boring than he initially thought it would be.
Besides, he needed these chess pieces to stay in perfect condition, as if not a soul had been here before.
He did make a deal with that man after all, he had to delay details of what his obstacles would be.
Eyes glowing green, his seidr burst out from the core, making the dark place rumble.
Stopping time took a lot of energy out of him, finishing the job quicker was required.
Stepping through the opponent chess pieces, footsteps echoing as he went.
There were stairs leading downwards. And just as these stairs came to an end, he saw a mirror.
Hm?
His eyes scanned the surroundings, but only the mirror stood out.
He approached the mirror and glanced within, the sight before him should have been expected, but it still managed to surprise him.
Reflecting on the glass, he witnessed Harry Potter gazing back at him, surrounded by Snape, Hermione, Neville, Draco, Blaise, and the Weasley twins, all wearing smiles and enjoying each other's company.
After a short while, the reflection shifted, showing Loki in his Jotun form, receiving admiration from the Aesir and being embraced by Thor and Frigga.
Loki was almost brought to tears... almost.
So that's all then. Better take my leave.
Now getting out of this place was another task. There was only one entrance and exit. It was too much of a hassle, so Loki just teleported in one of the closest secret routes to the third floor.
After making his way out of the passage, he picked up on a familiar voices calling his name.
His head was buzzing from overexhausting his magical core, so his ears didn't work that well on catching who these voices belonged to. That's why he followed the source of noise and ended up on the second floor with two very familliar pieces of ginger hair standing out.
Right as he was about to enthusiastically announce his arrival, big, loud footsteps making the ground beneath him shake.
It's getting closer.
The green eyes caught the Weasley twins rushing to his side, both hands pulling him away from a clear destructive strike from the troll.
The ground shattered, leaving cracks and rubble in its wake.
"Mischief, are you okay?" The twins synchronized. "I'm fine, just tired." He smiled at them. "Let's get away from this thing before it smashed us all." Harry joked. The two seemed to understand the gist and cast some light jinxes. They hit it with an expelliarmus, making the troll think for a second to understand what just happened.
They didn't have long before it lunged at them again.
"That won't stop it from attacking" Harry stood up straighter. If he used a deadly spell with his wand, people would know it was him that cast a spell, so he took the twins hands and told them to run.
They barely had a moment to take a step before the monster rushed at them with its bare fists.
Harrys eyes widened when Fred took a hit to the back and stumbled forward, George caught him before the other twin hit the ground. Harry's heartbeat sped up, there was no way now that he'd be letting this thing live. "Hurry up, let's leave." He told George after unintentionally putting up a shield.
George dragged his hurt brother all the way to the first floor to visit the healer of Hogwarts, accompanied by Harry.
They got there without any more hindrances.
However, the truth was, Loki had enough energy left in him to make a clone of himself that would finish the pathetic, stinky, green troll before it decided to mindlessly attack another student.
While his original body was resting in the infirmary, the clone would even find out how the dark mage controlled the thing, it was a winning bet for him either way. Harry even had an alibi with the healer of Hogwarts, Poppy Pomfrey.
Madam Pomfrey was fussy about details of how the three ended up in this sort of situation. So Harry started, "I didn't know anything about a troll being in Hogwarts, or I would've stayed in the great hall and not gone to feed my owl."
The mediwitch seemed exhausted. "And how did Fred Weasley end up getting hit by a troll if you were the one to go? Why are the three of you together?" She asked with a suspicious glance to them.
George decided to speak up next. "After Harry strolled out of the great hall and professor Quirrel informed us all about a troll in the dungeons, we decided to go, find him and warning him about the situation."
Fred, who was lying on his front to avoid straining his injured back, continued–"when we arrived on the second floor after calling out to Harry, we saw the troll approaching him."
"But he didn't look like he reacted to it, he only looked at us."
"So we went to his rescue."
"Unfortunately the troll managed to take Fred down, so I rescued him myself and brought him all the way here."
Harry listened to the two of them with an amused expression. "Well, the two of you seem pretty much the same to me. So full of energy."
The healer turned to face him and leveled him with a stare, her eyes turned to George as well. "Since there's a troll on the loose I won't let you two leave just yet. I'll send the both of your head of houses a patronus message to collect you and take you where you should be right now."
Harry shrugged, "where should we be?" He looked at George."Where do we belong?" He asked with a serious face and a clear desire at cheering George up.
"Where do we belong if not with a fallen soldier?" Said George after picking up on what Harry was trying to do.
Harry sighed dramatically. "You can't throw us out, we're humans..."
"...just like you."
Now that Harry learned how the twins communicated with each other, it wasn't hard to let one finish a sentence for him.
However, madam Pomfrey wasn't having it. "The two of you are going to leave weather you want it or not." She cast a eye-catching spell, the former god couldn't take his eyes off the blue silhouette of some winged animal flying out of the infirmary.
"Now you two troublemakers, wait for the professors arrivals and upon their arrival follow them to your common rooms." Madam Pomfrey said and walked into another room in order to get some potions for the patient.
While Pomfrey was gone, George started. "We noticed how you snuck out from the hall before the whole announcement. It was weird, since you had to be there to witness your own prank, so we followed you to warn you about the troll."
George cast his gaze to the resting figure of his injured brother.
Following some time of anticipation, the two professors stormed into the room. Snape gave one glance at Harry, with that expression that said, "why is it you Potter?"
McGonagall fixed her gaze on one student and then directed a disapproving glance at the other.
The professors were ganging up on the two ans they haven't even said anything yet.
Harry smiled pleasantly at them. "It is so good to see familliar faces, right mister Snape?"
The moment Snape scowled at him, he wanted to know how much of it was real and how much an act in front of witnesses.
"There's nothing good about seeing you of all people here, mister Potter." Snape and McGonagall looked at each other with the same tired faces as madam Pomfrey had and said something about taking the troublemakers to their dorm. At this point, Lokis head felt like it would explode, he used up too much of his magic. This body wasn't trained for this much burden. Harry was standing only because of the desire to not look weak in front of watchful eyes. Because he wanted to let them know that he would always be okay.
"We shall get going now." Snape gestured for Harry to follow him and so they departed.
Snape noticed that Harry looked a bit unfocused, his eyes wandered elsewhere. "Potter, explain to me what you were doing out in the hallways when you were clearly warned about its appearance?" He waited for an answer that never came.
Frustrated, he looked behind his shoulder to see what the boy was up to now. "Potter!" He slightly raised his voice, but Harry was just looking down and following him, he hadn't even noticed Snape had stopped walking.
"Potter... Harry." He called again, yet the boy provided no reply.
Extending a supportive hand to the boy's shoulder, he saw as the boy got startled with the sudden contact. His green eyes widened and immediately went back to undisturbed ones. "Yes, professor?"
"Were you not listening? I was calling you." Harry shrugged. "I was just zoned out."
"Don't lie to me, Potter. You didn't even notice that you kept walking while I stopped." He looked at Harry suspiciously.
"What happened when you and the Weasleys encountered the troll?"
An innocent smile plastered to Harry's face. "I didn't know there was a troll and the twins saved me." The genuineness never left his voice.
Snape sighed. "Problem child, why were you there in the first place?"
"I was just on my way to the bathroom, sir." He shamelessly clarified.
Snape understood, that Harry's answer was a lie, but he couldn't do anything about it, he knew once the boy made up his mind, there was no going back for him. "One last question. Why didn't you answer me when I called your name?" Crossing his arms, he leveled Harry with a stern gaze.
"I told you, I was dazed, thinking about other things." His answer remained the same.
Snape led Harry to the Slytherin dorm and left, looking very dissatisfied.
When Harry made way to his bedroom right after his arrival, he met two, very angry looking Slytherins. "Nice to see you again?" He smiled, hiding the exhaustion from his face.
Blaise spoke up."Where were you this time?" Draco glared daggers into his face. "Your little pet was here the whole time, so what did you actually go for?"
Harry smirked. "I just wanted to leave before Fred and George enacted their prank."
Blaise and Draco looked confused, upon realisation, the blonds eyebrows furrowed. "You're friends with those blood traitors?" Blaise didn't look as hurt about the whole blood traitor thing. "A prank? And you left not be pranked yourself, huh?"
"I couldn't have told you two, people would suspect us if we all left together. Besides, no one got pranked, right?" He waited for Blaise to say yes, but didn't hear it. "Oh, dear. Did someone indulge themselves with the sweets?"
Blaise nodded approvingly, his serious expression turning jovial. "Slytherin and Ravenclaw didn't start eating, we all had a conversation before trying anything. Gryffindor, on the other hand..."
That made Draco smirk as well. "So, what happens if you eat those treats?" He asked Harry.
The other Slytherin shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? I only heard that consuming food today would be a bad choice."
The pale Slytherin resumed his solemn demeanor. "How did you befriend the Weasleys?" He asked.
"Don't you worry, Draco. The twins are nice Weasleys." He said truthfully.
"I don't really care about who you decide to befriend next, just don't let it be someone like Ron Weasley." Said Blaise.
"See? Blaise totally understands it."
Draco was not amused, he took off to the bathroom.
Harry wanted that long rest as soon as possible, so he told Blaise he'd be sleeping and told him to warn Draco about it.
The day could've been better.
A man's familiar voice shattered the silence of the night, abruptly ending the peaceful slumber.
Straining his eyes, he sought to identify the time. It wasn't that late, still midnight, but Harry had enough time to seek out the voice of man currently in Quirrels possession.
His seidr was not fully restored, but enough to be okay after a transformation or two.
Loki arrived in the professors office in his snake form. There, he saw him. Compared to seeing him earlier that day, he looked more like a corpse, pale and fragile-looking. He must've had a glamor hiding how he really looked.
"You look awful, human." He said casually and slithered into the room.
The man slumped into the seat with a wearied expression. "What can you delay to me?"
Loki delayed the details of everything he saw and how he escaped all the impediments.
"...and at the end there was a mirror. Honestly human, I don't know why you want to lose your time over these trivial matters."
"Fascinating." said the man whole looking at Loki. The snake just tilted its head.
"You were able to pass through all that by yourself and come back alive. I have never been more correct in choosing an ally."
Loki relocated himself on the mans desk. "Now that that's settled... what do I call you, human?"
"Just call me Tom." The dark wizard said that name as if it physically pained him to even utter. Loki couldn't understand why, but he put the confusion away.
"Okay then, Tom. If you want to enact whatever plan you've made, you will need to tell me what you're looking for."
Tom scrutinized him momentarily, as if gazing through, on the lookout for any sign of threat. He didn't seem to find any, so he told Loki. "I'm searching for ways to get back my body. I need to find something that will let that happen." He told Loki.
"And... how did you end up in Quirrels body in the first place?"
"A part of my soul took control of him and lived on in this living organism. Since he was already loyal to me back when I was alive, he used some really dark magic to rescue me."
"The thing you're looking for... is obtaining that the only way for you to come back to life?"
"No, but it is the best choice. Safest and most reliable way to return."
Loki understood what Tom meant. He knew Tom didn't trust him enough to tell him what he was searching for, but he'd be okay as long as he knew this much.
"Alright then, human. You should really snatch that thing quickly, look at you."
Loki thought he hurt Tom's feelings by saying that, so he tried to rephrase it. "I meant that you should quickly get your body human... you're better off on your own than living in this weird man's body."
That cheered him up. The red eyed Tom smiled at him, it wasn't a creepy smile like the first time this human and snake met, it was a sincere expression.
"I better get going now. You go to sleep too, human."
And he left the office.