Chapter 2
Hari wakes up on literally the softest mattress she's ever felt, which short-circuits her brain at first. Especially since she's used to either a thin mattress over a creaky, flimsy bedframe or a hard patch of ground.
What happened? Where am I? The last thing she really remembers is heading to Aragog's clearing to sacrifice herself, and after that...its all darkness. There was a warm presence behind her, a deep voice and rough but gentle hands...and she can't remember much else. She can barely remember that little bit, really.
When she opens her eyes, though, she sees…she's in what looks like a massively-expanded Hospital Wing. If the Hogwarts Hospital Wing had a lot of gold and technology.
What.
The.
Bloody.
Hell?
Okay, now she's officially lost the plot - and she didn't even know what it was to begin with anymore.
Gotta think, Hari. You're somewhere you don't recognize, feeling exhausted, and the last thing you can remember is letting Voldemort AK you… Hari isn't particularly religious, but she doesn't think she's in heaven - she doesn't get that lucky. She's the type that gets brought back to life, kidnapped, and imprisoned somewhere just because.
Hell, her Soulmate was probably Tom Riddle - that's how bad her luck always is.
Hearing footsteps, Hari quickly lays back down and keeps her eye that's half-hidden by the pillow open just a crack - a few fuzzy figures appear in her view, mainly tall figures. A lot of gold, and some teal are the closest, and a man's voice sharply asks "How is the girl?"
Before Hari can get particularly outraged though - maybe he just doesn't know her name, but the girl?! - a second, female voice sternly says "She has a name, Odin. And I can see why Hela didn't say with that attitude of yours." Ever since Odin heard the word 'Witch' he's been against her staying in Asgard - there's not much he can do, though, to keep her away considering the detail that Frigga insists on her staying and Hela will likely decapitate him if he tries to banish her as well.
There's a third voice, female once more from behind the first two, with a figure in red and white stepping forward, and the woman says "Well, she's utterly exhausted. Whatever was done to her, it completely drained her dry. The magical reserves that were detected are still recovering…" There's a tense silence, and then the voice adds "And whoever it is that had her in their care previously need to die. Painfully. This girl has been so mistreated I'm amazed she's even alive."
The first woman's voice goes icy as she says "Explain, Eir."
"Every bone in her body that isn't in her ears has been broken at least once, often multiple times though, Queen Frigga. And, yes, I do include the bones of her skull in that assessment. It's only through her magic that she's even able to walk, as even her back has been broken in multiple spots. There's evidence of severe beatings all throughout her skeleton, and I believe she was denied food for one reason or another."
A small voice quietly asks "Why would anyone do that to someone?"
The first lady's voice - Queen Frigga, apparently, wait queen?! - exclaims "Loki! When did you get in here?! I'll tell you when she awakens, but until then you shouldn't be here."
The same boy's voice pleads "Please, Mother? There's something about her, something different from everyone else!" He's never felt anything like it, except from his mother, and she's different from even her, and he's dying of curiosity. He won't hurt her, he just wants to get a closer look!
Odin's voice gruffly says "That'd be her magic, Loki. Nothing of any importance." Despite Loki's protests, he gets sent out of the room - and, more than likely, goes to sulk. At least he wasn't like Dudley and didn't throw a tantrum?
Eir, as the woman in red is apparently named, says "There are a number of reasons she'd have gone without food, the first being that perhaps they simply didn't have access to food." Coupled with the beatings, however, that's extremely unlikely. She's far from stupid, and can put two and two together, and her math is adding up to a disgusting answer.
Hari finds herself physically incapable of stopping the derisive laugh that bubbles out of her at that - the Dursleys having no access to food? If they didn't, Dudley wouldn't have been a pig in a wig for so much of his life. Unfortunately, it draws everyone's attentions to her.
There's a wash of magic over her - strange, and entirely unlike any she's known before - and then Eir asks "How do you feel, young one?"
Seeing the ruse of being asleep and waiting for a chance to escape is up, Hari pushes herself to a sitting position despite her body's protests and says "I've been worse, I'll live." Of course, that's under the assumption that she's still alive. She did get Avada Kedavra'd in the chest, after all.
Hari gives everyone a wary gaze, amazed to find that her vision is clear despite not having her glasses on, and asks "Where am I? And who are you people?" Maybe she's been hearing things wrong, but she's pretty sure the people in front of her are bloody gods. And, if so...bloody buggering hell, she's got no idea what she's supposed to do. She's surrounded by friggin royalty, to boot!
Eir says "You're currently on Asgard, the Realm Eternal. More specifically, the Healing Room. As for introductions, I'm Healer Eir, Head Healer on Asgard, and this is his Majesty, Odin Allfather, and Queen Frigga."
Hari blinks for a moment, then says "Asgard." Eir nods, and she adds "Home of Thor, and all that." Alright, I haven't been hearing things wrong. Maybe I'm just going mad.
Frigga nods, and says "My eldest son, as it happens. You met his elder sister earlier, and she brought you here."
Hari just sits there for a solid minute, processing the detail that a place of myths and legends is apparently very real, then says "Well, explains why the bed is so comfy." She'll deal with this relatively world-shattering revelation later. Right now, she'd like to get off the bed and at least stand in front of deities.
Frigga raises an eyebrow, and says "You're taking this remarkably well."
Hari shrugs, and says "Honestly? I've already had my entire worldview shattered once before. You go through it once, you go through it a hundred times." Might be a bit of an exaggeration, but she's pretty sure she's going into shock at the moment. She's already made a bad first impression on Asgardian Royalty, most likely, might as well roll with it, right?
She moves to get off the bed, and Eir promptly says "Don't even consider it, young lady."
Hari raises an eyebrow, saying "Way too late for that...Eir, right? Thank you for the hospitality, but I've got a war to win and-" Hari slides off the bed, only to freeze at the obvious height difference. She quickly turns back towards the bed, eyes widening at the detail that she can't even see over the mattress, and nervously swallows before asking "Are all your beds, like, six foot six or something..." She was a measly five foot, and only in the morning, thanks to the Dursleys and their habit of not feeding her. So, either these beds are absolutely massive, or she's very tiny once more.
Frigga makes a mirror appear, revealing Hari's current body - therein ensues an explosion of Parseltongue, complete with gestures, one hand buried in her hair, and pacing back and forth. Because she's currently about four. And then Hari simply faints from shock, everything finally being too much for her to handle.
Just as Eir's put Hari back on the bed, Hela and a dark-skinned bald man arrive from a dark shadow. At their looks, Hela says "Eir, Osiris. Osiris, Eir. Maybe you two can compare notes sometimes. He's our resident soul doctor-slash-therapist, more or less."
Osiris rolls bright orange eyes, and drily says "Yes, because there's such an abundance of people that need to be healed in the Underworld."
Hela just rolls her eyes back at him, and says "Came in real handy when we needed to de-age her, give her that Heritage Potion we had Snape brew, and more or less fix her up. Plus, there's Riddle to deal with."
Osiris' expression darkens, and he says "Don't remind me of that utter child, Hela! Thanatos and Anubis are still tracking down bits of his utter tapestry of a soul! It's like confetti at this point!"
He moves to Hari's side, still grumbling, and a third figure arrives from the shadow. A mop of unruly dark hair, and black eyes to match, which make his pale complexion stand out even further…he looks like a biker that Hela dealt with a few years ago. "Hades," she asks, wondering just how Odin will react to a biker-loving Greek God of the Underworld who also happens to be her Soulmate appearing, then deciding she doesn't particularly care so long as neither Hades, Osiris, or Hari gets hurt, "what are you doing here? I thought you were keeping an eye out for Than and Anubis?"
Hades grins, saying "It was me or Kali, Hels, and given the number of stories about that war we pried out of you she'd be taking your old man's soul with her." He presses a kiss to her hair just to mess with Odin, with immediate results as the man scowls at him at once.
Osiris calls over "Given the state you were in when you arrived, Hela, I'm not particularly against the idea." She was an absolute mess, and the only reason he isn't saying it took centuries to put her back together after Odin-the-uncaring-ass shattered her at long last is because there isn't any real time in the underworld. They can go to any point in time, after all - to a certain degree of accuracy, Hela was so on time with Hari's death because that's the moment the Hallows accepted her - so the only way to measure any passage of time in the underworld is the number of souls they've dealt with. And they've long since lost count.
Hela just rolls her eyes, then says "Well, I'm fine now, so stop being a pack of mother hens already!"
Hades grins, then asks "How's the kid, anyway?"
Osiris grumbles "In shock, if you must know. We missed her return to consciousness by mere minutes. Otherwise, stable. De-aging her reversed most of the damage those filthy mortals did to her, though the magical scars remained and it can still be detected with a magical scan, and the Potion took effect."
Hela asks "What about the Basilisk Venom and Phoenix Tears you found in her blood? Any change in that?"
"Well," Osiris says, waving a hand over Hari's body and waiting a moment, "those are there to stay, I'm afraid. Her magic bonded them to her blood to keep it all from killing her as one neutralized the other, but there weren't any adverse effects…" Unless something drastic happens, they should theoretically lie dormant in her blood forever.
Hades says "I'm not one for magic, but you did say her magic was restricted. Either because of the soul shard, or some other reason, her magic was blocked. Could that make any kind of difference in all that?"
"I'm aware, Hades. It might've been the soul piece, or Albus Dumbledore could've blocked it, it's impossible to tell between the Soul Piece being removed and the Hallows destroying any foreign magics affecting her as they strengthened her own magic. As for her magic now affecting the tears and venom, it's possible. Impossible to say for sure, but I can't rule out the possibility."
Hela asks "Well, what's it doing to her?"
Hades grins, and says "Beats me, but if she grows fangs…"
Osiris gives Hades a withering glare, and says "Growing fangs is doubtful, Hades. Increased strength and healing rate, however, is entirely possible. You finished with the Hallows, Hela?"
"Yep." Hela carefully fits two metal armbands styled after a Black Mamba, dark black with two of the greenest Emeralds she could find in each of their eyes - they go from just under her elbow to her wrist, the head ending on top of her hands. Thanks to magic, the snakes just wrap around her arms perfectly - and, they'll both grow as she does. A replacement for a wand, and something much more inconspicuous, to boot. At Hades' teasing look, she mutters "Shut up, I just went with something a little less breakable than a stick I found this time. That stick was all I had to work with last time, along with the pebble and my own cloak."
Of course, last time she was keeping her project a secret from Odin in the middle of a war he was waging and had to be inconspicuous about everything. Nobody questioned anything when she was found working magic on her own cloak and she merely said she was working on enhancing her own armor to fight better in the coming battles.
Thankfully, she wasn't caught with the Stone or Wand, because those would've been impossible to explain away. She was trying to find her Soulmate, having figured the Hallows would choose them. Hence why she had the Hallows make them immortal, not having known there were other immortal deities of death residing in the underworld. She'd taken her basic understanding of what a Soulmate is - someone who would accept her, death, even after the number of people she's killed - and worked that into the Hallows.
Imagine her worry when she found her Soulmate in the underworld, then, and the Hallows were floating around the Nine Realms after Odin seized them believing them to be some kind of weapon or ritual. And then he cast them off the Bifrost...where they ended up on Earth. They'd all given up on the idea at that point...until Hari Potter went and walked to her death.
She then fits two Stones into slots in the snakes' foreheads - the left one will summon the dead, as it's the original Resurrection Stone, and the right one will allow her to communicate with them. Finally, she folds the Cloak up next to Hari - she puts it on, it'll camouflage until she needs to become invisible. In a way that makes her blend in with her surroundings rather than simply making her invisible. It can still make her invisible, but now she has control over when it does so - it can also look like an ordinary cloak, or a jacket, etc. depending on where she is and what she needs to blend in. And it's indestructible.