Musings
Tony missed Alexis. He had become so used to her always being there that her absence bothered him. She was away to be trained by Loki and Thor and when she came back everything would be better. She would be better. Because he knew she needed help. There had been little incidents, and those would become big incidents, if she couldn’t control her magic. But he was still very concerned. He regarded her as his daughter. What if he indeed did forget about her because of a spell? So now, in the middle of the night, he was working in his lab. He had help. Dobby had been tasked by Alexis to assist Tony in his search for ways for Muggles not to feel the effects of certain spells.
He paused for a moment while Jarvis went through some calculations and thought back to his meeting with Alexis. That was after Thor appeared on Earth. SHIELD had confiscated Jane's files and he had secretly glanced at them. Smart cookie that Foster woman. He hadn't given Alexis much attention then. It wasn't until Loki made New York unsafe and Jane was brought to safety in Sweden as a result that he noticed Alexis. Jane had to be taken to safety and demanded that Darcy go with her.
After the threat disappeared, Jane was offered a job at SHIELD and she and Darcy moved into the tower. Jarvis had noticed that Darcy Lewis didn't seem to exist. There was no birth certificate, no proof that Darcy had existed until a few years ago. Tony hadn't wanted to go to Fury right away but did want to know who Darcy really was. He'd confronted her with the facts, and to his surprise, Darcy had burst into tears and walked away telling him to forget her. He would never forget the fear he had seen in her eyes.
He'd gone after her, and when he got into her room, he'd seen her grab her stuff and he had seen Dobby for the first time. To say his mouth had flown open was an understatement and he really thought he was drunk and had just forgotten about it. Darcy had promised that she would leave without any problems, that she wasn't a spy, and that she didn't want to hurt anyone. She had looked so lost and so sad that he had felt sorry for her, and to this day he didn't know why she had told him everything.
After the initial surprise, came denial, then resignation, and finally he believed Alexis. They agreed that no one needed to know and he had taken her under his wing. He watched her, scolded her for helping Bucky without any self-preservation, and was happy when she was happy. He had promised her not to do anything against her family, because Alexis didn't want to be found...but oh how he would like to let those people know about his anger. And if he ever ran into that Voldemort guy, he had a problem too. Let's see what his magic dust would do to his technology.
After a short night, Tony didn't sleep much, he came back to his lab. To his surprise, Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Bruce, Peter, Wanda and Vision were waiting for him.
‘So, where are you? What can we help with and what do you want us to do?’
Tony looked at Steve in astonishment. ‘Uhm...what?’ Peter chuckled. 'Come on Mr. Stark, we're here to help. When Alex gets back, we're going to make sure that Voldedouche can't kill her, aren't we?'
Bucky rolled his eyes. Bruce and Steve grinned and Peter turned beet red. "You know what I mean!’
Wanda walked over to Tony. ‘Now that we know why she ran away, it's only natural that we help her, right? That’s what we do, and she is one of us.’
‘And Fury?’ Tony looked at Natasha. ‘If he's planning on getting her…’ Natasha held up her hands. ‘Clint is talking to him. But I don't think he intends to. She's just like us. Special and he would be pretty stupid to bother her when he knows we wouldn't accept that.'
‘When she comes back, I only think it would be a good idea if we start training with her so she can help out on missions.’
Tony paled at this idea...missions...what if she got hurt?
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The book before him contained ancient obscure rituals, forgotten by time. He had been reading it for a while and was disgusted by some things. He was still convinced that he was doing the right thing. Tom had to be defeated. Why didn't people see how Dark Tom was? How could it have come to be that not Tom, but himself had been ostracized by the community? Hadn't he given everything? Hadn't he put everything aside for years? If that chit had just done what she had to do...he lost himself in angry thoughts again. Until his eyes fell on the ritual he searched for.
It was one of the darkest rituals out there. Summoning Death. Dangerous and demanding. Death would come after a sacrifice. Not an animal, no, it had to be a human. He doubted. A human. In addition to that insurmountable ingredient, something had to be sacrificed that the person performing the ritual loved. There were other things, but these two things...a human sacrifice and something he loved. But what did he have that he loved?
The ritual should be performed during the full moon. A drink was to be drunk, containing the blood of the sacrificed man. That meant that he would first have to make the offering and then use the blood before the drink could be drunk. And then there was the spell.
Age, Mors. Videte mihi, et perficite voluntatem meam. Ducam te. Venite ad me, et deprecamini me.
Roughly translated, it came down to Come Death. Appear to me and fulfill my wish. Let me guide you. Come to me and do my bidding.
The risk was that Death did not find the sacrifice sufficient. In that case, his life was over and Death would take him as a sacrifice. Choices had to be made. Once again the man was lost in thought.
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Six people sat around the table. Severus, Lucius, Hermione, Tom, Draco and Luna. The room they occupied was quite large, with several sofas, tables, and a huge fireplace. It was the meeting room of Draco and Luna’s house. They first lived in Malfoy Manor, because Draco would be the next Lord Malfoy, but he and Luna wanted a house of their own. It was called Nargles Manor.
The people seated at the table discussed the possibility that Alexis had an Obscurus and therefore was an Obscurial. The discussion was heated, as Hermione wanted to be right and Draco, as usual, refused to give in. Tom stopped the discussion by firing a spell, so a loud crack was heard. Draco rubbed his temples. She was still a swot…he asked one of the Elves to bring something to drink and eat.
‘Okay, we agree, Alexis is still alive. Then she must be somewhere and she must be hidden. She ran away when she was 14 years old. At that age, you may be able to hide yourself for a while, but not as long as now.’ Tom stated.
He paused a moment. ‘How did she do that? What's powerful enough to keep a witch of her caliber, because I'm the first to admit it, she's strong...was strong, for so long?’
To everyone's surprise, Luna and Lucius spoke at the same time. Lucius was pragmatic, Luna was a dreamer. Lucius could be cold and ruthless, Luna was nice to everyone, whether they were nice to her or not. Lucius believed in strength, Luna in love. Lucius stopped mid-sentence and gestured for Luna to continue, as it appeared that both wanted to say the same thing.
‘House Elves.’ Luna looked at everyone for a moment. Her gaze lingered on Hermione. ‘You know I am right. You know as well as I do that House Elves are forgotten, but they have their own magic. They can go anywhere, they won't be seen if they don't want to or aren't allowed to. They do so much more than just clean up the mess behind us. They are almost raising our children. They hear our secrets.’
Lucius thought back to Dobby and how Alexis had freed him. He hadn’t been mad about it for a long time because knew he had been monstrous to his House Elves. He had changed and found that his Elves now served him because she wanted to, not out of fear.
Tom nodded at Luna's words. ‘But we can't test this.’ He looked at Lucius. ‘I know about Dobby, but if he's loyal to her now, he won't come when you call his name.’
Severus broke the silence. He had been thinking the whole time. ‘Wasn't Dobby your Nursing Elf?’ His question was addressed to Draco. He nodded. ‘Yes, he and Twissy took care of me when I was little. They are siblings.’ Twissy was now responsible for Aurora. ‘Maybe Twissy can bring Dobby over here if only to see if it works?’ mused Severus. Among House Elves family was everything.
No one wanted to wait any longer, so Draco called Twissy and explained what to do. Twissy nodded and disappeared. After about 10 minutes there was a pop sound and Twissy appeared, holding a nervous and frightened Dobby. He glanced at the wizards and witches at the table and whimpered. ‘No, no, Dobby can't be here. Dobby has to go.’ He tried to free himself from his sister’s grasp.
Hermione quickly got up and walked over to the two House Elves. ‘Please, hold on, Dobby.’ She spoke calmly and kindly. Dobby looked suspiciously at her. ‘You know Dobby miss?’
Hermione nodded. ‘Alexis told me a lot about you.’ Dobby remained silent and glanced over at his old master. Lucius took that as his cue and left the room. If they wanted answers, Dobby would need to feel safe.
Hermione held out her hand to the House Elf. ‘I just want to know if she's okay. You don't have to tell me where she is. But I miss her and I hurt her and I have to make up for that.’ Dobby looked at the witch. Alexis had talked about Hermione a lot and Dobby knew she missed her. But that didn’t mean he could tell. Miss A wanted not to be found. Dobby also saw the other wizards. Professor Snape. Miss A didn’t like him. His young former master. He had been cruel to Miss A. And then he looked at Tom…a shiver ran across his spine. The Dark Lord. At this, he shook his head. He would not tell Miss Hermione where Miss A was. He wanted to leave and ripped his arm from his sister’s hand.
‘Please, we don’t mean her harm.’ Hermione had tears in her eyes. This was possibly one of the last changes they got.
‘Miss A is fine. She is safe. She with Sparkly God and Cranky God. Dobby must go.’ And with those words he vanished, leaving the people in the room completely baffled.