The Liesmith
Thor stared at Loki. His brother’s face restraint was removed around mealtimes, and Thor was always there, watching, to make sure Loki didn’t cause mischief with his words. It has been mere days since Loki’s attack on New York, and Thor was already exhausted by watching Loki. As much as Loki claimed to hate him, Thor wouldn’t leave his brother to Fury’s care, especially since Fury’s mind had gone directly to insinuating Thor should torture Loki for information before the Chitauri attacked.
“Have you spoken to her yet?” Loki asked as soon as he could speak.
Thor took a deep breath. He shouldn’t answer, but he always answered Loki. “To whom?”
Loki smirked. “I’m surprised the arrow wielder has not hunted her yet.”
“Brother,” growled Thor.
“You should find her,” said Loki.
“What have you done, brother?”
“In this case, brother, it is not a case of what I have done.” Loki smirked to some inside joke, closed his eyes, and ignored the world.
________________________________________
The Avengers were gathered in Stark’s penthouse.
“He could be lying,” said Natasha. “Trying to divert our resources so he can escape.”
Clint was writing on a notepad.
“That’s not a chance we can take,” said Tony.
Phil Coulson was sitting, looking too pale with an arm in a sling. In a soothing voice, he said, “We’ve been back-tracing Loki’s movements, as well as those he controlled. Hopefully that will narrow the possibilities.”
After a few minutes of silence, Clint stopped writing. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone. “There was one female scientist, one female computer scientist, and five female field specialists. I doubt he’s referring to anyone from Germany. You know who he interacted with on the Helicarrier. Everything is fuzzy. The only other encounter I can vaguely remember was…”
“What is it, Clint?” murmured Steve.
“He said he needed to take a walk. He had five of us follow. I was in a sniper position. It was at a park. With a girl.” Each word seemed to hurt Clint.
“A girl?”
________________________________________
Hari Potter was sitting on a bench at a park in Little Whinging.
Life had been very strange for Hari. Stranger than usual, which was impressive given her history.
After defeating Voldemort in the graveyard minutes after his resurrection, there had been a lot of political upheaval throughout the wizarding world. Some researchers from the Department of Mysteries had developed a theory based on her defeat of Voldemort – a theory of how to completely separate the muggle and magical worlds. They wanted to create a new reality – a copy of the universe – in which everything originating in the magical world was removed from the old reality. No more muggleborns. The squib lines that phased into the muggle population would be truly muggle. Histories would be changed. No muggle world leader would remember their conversations with their magical counterparts.
There were so many political debates. But faster than Hari thought any bureaucracy would move, it was decided by the International Confederation of Wizards that the New Statute of Secrecy would be enacted.
Hari had been with Sirius and the Weasleys when the Statute’s magic washed over her.
And she woke in the cupboard under the stairs.
Years of memories appeared in her mind. She remembered going to Hogwarts. But she almost remembered going to the local public secondary school. She remembered Snape sneering at her, but she also remembered sitting in History lectures that weren’t quite as boring as Binns’. The second set of memories didn’t feel as real – as colorful – but they were in her mind.
Hari spent the next year coming to terms with the fact that the wizarding world was in another reality. And she’d been left behind. With the muggles. With the Dursleys. She didn’t have a wand or books – and for the first time she desperately missed her textbooks – but she had her magic.
Now she was seventeen, getting ready to take her A levels. She couldn’t wait until she could leave the Dursleys forever on her eighteenth birthday. Channeling her inner Hermione, Hari had applied herself to school work like never before, hoping for a scholarship. She knew she’d find or create a job that used her magic, but…she needed time to think, plan, and not worry about feeding herself.
But Hari wasn’t planning her future at the moment. She was thinking of a conversation she’d had the week before with an interesting man. A man who was being blamed for an alien invasion in the states. Aliens!
Hari’s neck prickled, bringing her back to the present.
Two men approached her.
“Hello, ma’am,” said a tall man. With a lot of muscle. Gorgeous muscle. And pretty eyes. But he wasn’t smiling.
“Errr. Hello?”
“My name’s Steve,” said the tall man in an American accent.
Hari raised an eyebrow and looked toward the other man.
“Clint,” he muttered. He wasn’t smiling either.
“Hari,” she said.
“I was wondering if you could come with us and answer some questions?” asked Steve.
Hari blinked. “Errr…no?”
“Please, Hari. We need to ask about Loki.”
Hari let out a slow breath. “Who are you?”
“Steve. Steve Rogers.”
Hari scanned his body up and down, imagining the outfit and shield. She gently brushed against his mind and felt nothing but honesty. And sadness.
“Did he really do all of those things on the news?” Hari asked, dreading the answer.
“Yes.”
Hari deflated. She should have known Loki was too good to be true. “You’re not going to let anyone hurt me, will you?”
“No. I promise.”
She could feel the truth in his words. Hari stood and walked toward Steve. Maybe if she went with them she’d have a chance to punch Loki.
________________________________________
Hari was in a conference room with the Avengers and a few other people in suits. And Thor. She couldn’t stop staring at him. Was anything Loki said true?
“It was…it was about one week ago? Loki came up to me in the park – the same park you came to today. We had a conversation. He said he had some business to attend to, and that he’d come back and continue our conversation when his business was done. He didn’t – I swear – he didn’t tell me what he was going to do.” Hari’s shoulder rose close to her ears. “He seemed…nice.”
“What did he talk to you about?”
Hari shook her head and jiggled her foot. “I don’t think I should say.”
“We need to know.”
“You really don’t.”
“Hari.”
“Look. If the stuff on the news was right, he did horrible things. What if…what if he wants us to have this conversation? What if it hurts you, Thor? What if this is a backup plan or something for him?”
“If Loki is planning something, we need to know,” said Stark.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Hari said, looking at Thor. “I don’t want him to use me to hurt anyone.”
“Please tell us.”
Hari shook her head. She should have known Loki was too good to be true. “Maybe…maybe I can verify some parts of his story, and we can figure out if it’s true or not early…” Hari drummed her fingers on the table.
She looked up at Thor. “Do you know someone named Sigrun?”
Thor blinked in surprise. “Indeed. That is a name I have not heard in some time.”
“Loki said she was…errr…a Valkyrie?” Hari felt a little silly saying this out loud. They must think she’s crazy.
Thor nodded. “A fierce Valkyrie, yes.”
Hari let out a sigh of relief. No one was calling her crazy, naive, or stupid. “Loki said she…left…her job? Sort of?”
Thor raised an eyebrow. “Her path changed directions.”
Hari shrugged. “Because of a mission? It went wrong? That’s what Loki said. That it hurt her heart and mind, and she needed to heal.”
Frowning, Thor gave one nod.
Hari stared at Thor, unblinking. She needed to know this next answer. Trying to sound calm, she asked, “Have you seen Sigrun in the last twenty years?”
“No,” said Thor. “I have not seen Sigrun for hundreds of years.”
Wow. He was older than Dumbledore. He was older than Flamel!
Hari forced her attention back to the present. This didn’t necessarily mean that Loki lied. “Did you travel to earth in the last twenty years?”
Leaning back, Thor’s gaze darted toward the others in the room before returning to Hari. “I made a very brief visit less than two decades ago.”
Hari’s heart was beating so quickly. Maybe Loki had told the truth? “Did you…did you meet a woman? Lily?”
A small smile graced Thor’s face. “Lily. Yes. A fiery, fierce woman.”
Hari winced a little and looked over to Stark, whose eyes opened wide. The genius knew where this was going.
“And you…knew her. Intimately?” Hari winced again. Screw Loki, and screw every decision of every adult in history that led her to this conversation.
Someone at the other end of the table spluttered, but Hari didn’t take her eyes off of Thor.
He was staring at her with compassion and pity. “Child. I know not what Loki said, but I can assure you I am not your father.”
There was a crushing feeling in Hari’s chest, and she couldn’t tell if it was extreme pain or relief.
“How can you be sure?” She hated that her voice wavered.
Very gently, Thor said, “Aesir cannot have children with mortals without aid from healers. I assure you that Lily had no such aid.”
Hari came to a decision – it was best to rip the bandaid off. The words started to tumble out. “Loki said Lily must have been Sigrun. He said he was traveling when he thought he felt you and came to chat with you. Although, given recent events, he probably wanted to fight you. He said when he got closer he felt you and Sigrun. And then was surprised to find me, and not either of you. He said I feel like you and Sigrun, and also something else. Something just me. I told him that – as far as I know – Lily and James were my parents. But he scoffed. He said he could feel that I’m…errr…Aesir. But I said I even looked a bit like Lily. And that’s when he talked about Sigrun, and how she was deeply depressed after that mission, and that she may have found someone to wipe her memories and make her mortal. She could have lived her life as Lily, not realizing…and then you met her, not realizing she was Sigrun… I sound mad. I sound absolutely mad but he was so kind. And he said he’d come back after his business was done. And I absolutely did not know his business was tyranny and an alien invasion. I mean, really?! And he said I could leave my…” Hari abruptly broke off and looked away from everyone. She didn’t want to see their faces. Their pity. She had been so stupid.
Thor’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He stood, and took a few steps toward her, motions jerky. His hammer flew to his hand. Very gently, and without touching her, he put the hammer on her lap. And then left the room, banging into the door frame on the way out.
“If it didn’t feel like a very personal rejection, that would have been…kind of funny.” Hari felt strange. “Maybe someone should…” She looked toward the door.
Barton stood and left the room.
No one spoke. It was unbearably awkward. Hari stood, holding the hammer to her chest, and moved to the window.
“Listen. Maybe I should leave. Loki was probably just–” Hari stopped talking when she turned around and saw several people staring near her chest with wide eyes. “What? What’s wrong?!”
“Nothing’s wrong,” said a man with a smooth voice whose arm was in a sling. “Thor is the only one who has–”
The door opened and Thor walked into the room. His eyes latched onto Hari, south of her chin.
She snapped her fingers next to her eyes. Thor’s gaze didn’t move. “Eyes up here,” said Hari, glaring.
“You can wield Mjolnir,” Thor whispered.
“Errrr…pardon?” Hari shifted her feet. “The hammer? I didn’t do anything. I just…stood?”
Thor blinked and then smiled. “Of course you did nothing untoward! You and I shall be friends for the rest of our days.”
It was Hari’s turn for wide eyes. “Errr…thanks?”
Thor strode closer. As Hari held out the hammer, it flew out of her hand into Thor’s. He set it on the table and motioned for her to sit. He moved a chair next to hers and sat. He didn’t seem wigged out any longer.
“I do not see how this could be, but there is a simple way to learn the truth.”
Hari raised her head and looked into Thor’s kind eyes. “How?”
“A touch. A simple touch. If you are my daughter, I will know. We will feel it.”
Hari shifted. “Does Loki know that? What if…what if he did something and this is his plan to hurt you?”
Thor shook his head. “I am not the expert of magics like my brother, but I have studied enough to feel his magic is not on you.”
Thor held out a hand.
Hari reached out.
When their fingers touched, the room disappeared.
Hari saw a couple in China drinking tea. She knew they weren’t in the room with her, but she could see them. She saw a child take his first steps in Chile. She saw a bird fly into a window by an ocean. She saw a chemistry class in a language she couldn’t understand. The sights and sounds were growing. She was seeing and hearing everything all at once. And then she was seeing a sky that was impossible from Earth. Cities that were beyond imagination. Everything was so loud. So bright. She was going to drown in the sight. Where was her body? She tried to bring up her Occlumency shields, but that made everything worse. Someone was screaming. Was it her?
Back in the conference room, Thor had moved so his hands cradled Hari’s face. Her eyes had shifted to the golden hue of All-Sight; tears poured down her face as she screamed.
“Heimdall. Please, my friend. How can we help her?”
Hari heard a deep, smooth, voice.
“Little One. Do not try to control it. Let it wash over you and pass like a river.”
Shutting it out with Occlumency wasn’t an option. Let it pass. How? She didn’t like water. Let it pass…like wind! Hari imagined she was flying during a Quidditch game. There was so much going on in the stands and with other players. So much in the castle and the forest. But she didn’t need to pay attention to any of it. She just had to feel the wind on her face. All of the scenes were like the breeze. Hari tried to focus on the feeling of the broom under her hands…but she wasn’t flying! She panicked. Where was she?
“Good, Little One. Feel the chair under your legs. Your feet against the ground.”
Right. She was in a conference room. It started to come back into focus. Thor’s worried face swam into focus. Hari wasn’t sure if she’d ever felt as exhausted. She pitched forward, head pushing against Thor’s chest.
“Uuuuuuugggggh,” she groaned. And then fell asleep.
Thor put an arm under her knees and cradled her to his chest.
“What was that?” asked Tony.
“Is she alright?” murmured Bruce. “Does she need anything?”
“She’s mine,” murmured Thor, eyes wide again. “She is my daughter.”
________________________________________
Hari opened her eyes and stared at beige walls. Unfamiliar beige walls. Her heart rate sped up, which made her whimper. The pounding in her head was twice as fast as her heart. The walls were too bright.
She sat up and almost vomited. Her brain did not like movement. Or light.
Noise came from nearby. Loud noise. Were people throwing metal around? She’d kill whoever was making that noise and then throw up and then die from whatever was wrong with her head. That was her new life plan.
Slowly, Hari stood and moved to the door.
It wasn’t until walking into the next room that Hari realized her too-bright room actually had blinds drawn. It felt like an ice pick stabbed into her brain with the sunlight streaming into the next room.
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” came a cheerful male voice.
It was too loud. Hari clapped her hands over her ears, closed her eyes to a slit, and maneuvered to a couch.
Very quietly, she whispered, “Does someone have Advil? Or morphine?”
Thor sat next to her and said, “I can take away your headache.”
He reached for her head, and Hari scooted back quickly, groaning at the sharp pain in her head.
“That didn’t go well last time,” she managed to say.
“Ah. That will not reoccur,” said Thor.
He hesitantly reached toward her again, and Hari leaned forward. Thor’s hands settled on the sides of her head, thumbs on her temples. After a few minutes, the pain eased. All of the muscles in her body relaxed.
“Thanks.”
“It is my pleasure,” said Thor.
“Do you want breakfast? Juice?” came a cheery voice.
Hari couldn’t move her head to see who it was. “Mmmmmm. Just…just give me a…moment.”
When Hari opened her eyes again, she felt like hours had passed. And she felt a lot less like a zombie. She stretched and sat up, to find Thor watching her. Because that wasn’t creepy.
“Hi?”
“Hello, my daughter!” Thor practically bellowed.
Hari blinked.
“Would you like a meal? Food is ready for you.” He was so…enthusiastic. And loud.
“Food…sounds good?”
An alarming shade of pink drew Hari’s eyes to the ceiling above the kitchen island where a banner was hanging. Its glittering gold letters read, “Congratulations, Point Break. It’s a girl.”
Hari didn’t want to know.