Photographs
"And where have you two been?"
Stunned and silent, the brothers listened to the footsteps until they were faced by their mother, the queen of Asgard.
Frigga is a woman of grace with classic and timeless beauty and a sharp look over her eyes as she stared at her two sons who snuck out of the castle late that night.
"You told me she will be asleep by now," Thor muttered under his breath eyeing his younger brother threateningly. "I don't see her anywhere near drowsy."
"How about you keep your mouth shut and I'll deal with the matter at hand," Loki whispered back, his face turning into a gentle smile as their mother turned to them with an expectant smile.
She was already garbed in her royal nightdress and two Asgardian guards were standing right behind her.
"Deal with the matter at hand?" she gently said smiling at Loki who looked completely embarrassed and then at his older son and heir to the throne, Thor.
"Mother-"
"Ah." Frigga said raising her hand gracefully at Loki's face. "I would like to hear your brother explain the matter at hand."
Loki's face turned pale knowing this was defeat at its best form.
His expression was so obvious that Frigga almost laughed.
The moment Thor opens his big mouth, they were dead.
"Well.. you see, mother.." Thor began, stuttering at his words as his brains worked hard to search for the right ones for excuses why they were out in the middle of the night when there was a strict curfew for the whole of Asgard to be followed - especially of the royals.
"Mother, please." Loki began, gently shoving and elbowing his brother behind him to keep him from talking. "We were merely by the gardens, staring at tonight's beautiful placement of Orion in the sky and -"
"Orion's belt?" Frigga said with a smile at Loki, her eyes bright at her younger son.
"Yes, mother." Loki agreed, his big smile showing his even teeth. "It's actually very-"
"Yes, Orion, yes, yes." Thor loudly said with a proud smile and with his big arms, he shoved aside Loki's thin and weaker form. "That cute little sparkly belt, right?"
"I see you've been studying well, my sons." Frigga said smiling at Thor and Loki. "It is important to study the stars for they are the guides given to us by the heavens - "
"Yes, yes. Ofcourse. I'll be king." Thor said winking at his mother. "Anyway, where was I? Ah yes - that one mother, that Orion - the beautiful star up in the sky and together with it, we saw tonight - you know with my favourite Ursa Major - that great, big, strong bear-"
"And there goes our way to the guillotine," Loki whispered in defeat turning away from them, hiding his face away from his mother in shame.
He faced away from them wanting nothing in the world but to elbow his brother to death at that moment.
"The great, big bear?" Frigga repeated ignoring Loki as her expression changed, her smile different and her brows raised.
"Oh, god." Loki muttered under his breath shaking his head miserably. "Brother..just stop.."
Thor eyed Loki for a moment who was already rolling his eyes and ready to make a run for it before smiling back at his mother brother.
"I'm trying to tell our story here, Loki." Thor assured him with a big smile. "I got this."
"This is why you should leave the talking to me," Loki said with a hopeless look over his face before burying his expression in his hands.
"Shush, Loki." Frigga said with a smile from Loki and back at Thor. "Let your brother talk. I have not seen Ursa - Ursa what?" Frigga said with a pretentious smile over her face as she encouraged Thor's story.
But Loki already knew that their mother has already seen all the lies even before neither of them opened their mouths.
"Ursa Major, mother." Thor proudly corrected her, beaming widely at their mother as he moved his muscular arms in the description of the star. "It's that great star, it looks like a bear - it's so big and so strong like me and-"
"And it only appears somewhere in Springtime, my son." Frigga corrected him with a sudden change of expression over her beautiful face. "It's November, Thor. That favourite big bear of a star of yours does not appear until then."
"Oh." the smile on Thor's face completely disappeared and was turned into a red shade of shame. "Well, I was.. you know.. Orion.."
Loki sighed heavily and loud enough for his mother and brother to momentarily glare at him.
"This is why you should let me speak for us," Loki told him in an annoyed voice, pushing him aside again to move closer to Frigga. "I told you not to speak in times like this because your mouth is faster than your brains-"
"What did you just say - " Thor interjected angrily. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I said, you're not very smart." Loki bluntly told him rolling his eyes at his brother. "That mouth of yours is going to get us killed someday."
But Loki's vicious expression changed the moment he faced his beloved mother who was looking gently at him with a knowing look over her face.
She knew the truth, she always did.
And although she was a fair mother, a righteous queen, and a fierce warrior, it does not go unnoticed that she had a special kinder place in her heart for her younger son.
"Loki." Frigga whispered moving closer to Loki, "My beautiful son. Are you going to tell me the truth?"
"Well, mother.." Loki began all the guilt in the world eating him at that moment. "Actually..."
He looked up at Frigga with uncertainty, a heavy burden in his eyes.
He was torn between saving his brother's little ass and telling the truth to his much-favored parent.
She moved to him and placed her warm hand over the side of his left cheek and Loki already feels all the regrets for their little adventure that night.
Thor wanted to go downtown to meet a woman he met earlier that day in the marketplace they passed after their training in a nearby river.
He had tried to stop his brother from meeting the commoner but was unable to.
Knowing he would be caught and yet not wanting to be out there in the middle of the night, Loki offered himself as a lookout for his brother and his return in just an hour that he promised.
Thor returned safely in the welcoming arms of his brother by the garden gates.
He was very much eager to tell his younger brother about his escapade that night with the woman as they were returning to the castle that he forgot to be discreet and Loki had forgotten to use his little magic for them as protection.
The noises they made were immediately noticed by the night guards who immediately reported a 'movement' or 'activity in the gardens.
They made a run for it but Frigga, being a powerful witch, didn't need much information to know it was them creating havoc in the middle of the night and where they were to be found in the castle or by the grounds.
"There was a woman." Loki breathed out heavily, looking sideways at Thor who looked at him as if he was about to punch him.
"A woman?" Frigga repeated with a look over her face that told the two of them that it was not what she had been thinking was the answer to this late-night mayhem.
"Yes, a woman." Loki confidently says smiling at her. "Brother and I were.."
"Loki..." Thor began moving closer to the two of them with a threatening glare at his brother.
Loki smiled at Thor momentarily before uttering the words that made her mother and Thor gasp in disbelief with their mother grasping his hands tightly and her face twisting into a forced smile.
"I met a woman earlier today and I made an oath with her to meet her tonight and so Thor here just wanted to make sure I was safe and would safely return after I woe the beautiful lady I hoped to see tonight."
If there was anything Thor expected to hear, it was not those words.
He was looking at his younger brother with the same twisted look over his face akin to that of their mother who was looking from his heir to the throne and then to his much-favored child.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well isn't this a delightful surprise?"
No, it wasn't Hermione bitterly thought of his words.
She stood before the table as prince Loki sat there at their favorite spot, smiling up at her as if she had just made his day.
"Would you like to join me?" Loki said immediately moving aside a pile of his books to the other end of the table with a gesture of his hand and with a small movement of his other, had pulled a chair for Hermione.
She was looking vindictive back at him.
"There's no need to boast your wandless magic." Hermione pointed out not moving an inch from where she stood. "I think it's very obvious already that you are highly skilled at it."
"I'm not boasting anything," Loki replied his smile fading a little. "I'm simply offering my table to you-"
"Your table?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "Your table? Do you see your name labeled on it?"
He smiled at her - not the charming kind, but the one that says that he finds this whole conversation escalating in a moment or two.
"No." Loki slowly said sitting up and lowering his hands down. "But neither do I see your name labeled over one of these chairs when you claimed it was your chair awhile ago."
Hermione was already fuming in anger at this point but Loki was just smiling at her, expectant that she will still join him at his table.
Her eyes moved around him as if expecting to be attacked and in return, Loki only looked at the sideway directions she did as if to mock her before looking back at her, reflecting the same questioning glare she was giving him.
"Where's your entourage?" she asked him, putting her hands inside her jacket pocket in case she would need her wand. "I don't see your little parade around."
She stood there, arms folded and looking completely disgusted at him.
"Entourage?" Loki asked with a curious gaze over his face.
"Yeah." Hermione said taking a step forward to the table and thinking how it was taking Harry forever to arrive at the scene to help her out. "You claimed you're a very important person in Asgard, did you not?"
"A prince." Loki clarified to her. "A royal prince."
"Ah, right, right, your grace they called you there." Hermione mocked him rolling her eyes. "You know, those people with you at the gala?" Hermione reminded him withdrawing her hand from her pockets and mimicking the way he moved them with wandless magic.
Loki just quietly stared at her, watching her mock him with all her energy.
"The ones who laid the carpet for you, the ones who walked with you down with all that jazz? I'm surprised they didn't just carry you all the way in and out."
Loki laughed so hard that a customer who was passing by stared in their direction for a moment.
"All that jazz." Loki repeated folding his arms in front of him and looking back up at her with a smile that mocked Hermione even more. "Tell me, Miss Granger are you this observant or just nosy?"
"I'm not nosy." Hermione snapped at him. "Isn't it obvious that-"
"They're not with me right now. I don't bring them in my little quiet time of peace reading my books." Loki revealed opening his arms to her. "So if you would like to strike with that wand of yours inside your pocket, go ahead. I shall not stop you."
"I wasn't - "
Loki smiled at her.
"Come on now." Loki challenged her, "You were thinking it awhile ago, weren't you? What was it? Expelliarmus or a simple wand movement to just scare me off a little and then the use of Protego at the event I do some countermagic?"
Hermione's eyes widened and the color of her face flushed further.
He wasn't only good in wandless magic, he was a good and talented Legilimens because she was sure that her mind was strong enough not to be penetrated easily.
"Are you always really this cranky?" Loki suddenly asked her, an amused look over his face that Hermione didn't want to trigger all the anger insider her. "You remind me of a childhood friend of mine back at Asgard. Oh, she was such a lady - vicious and cranky all the time."
"I was trying to be nice." Hermione spat at him. "Who are you really?"
"I'm Loki, the prince of-"
"No." Hermione told him. "What do you really want from our world?"
The whole mood of the conversation changed this time as Loki's expression turned from charming and amused into a dark & cold look over his handsome face.
Hermione wasn't surprised at the change of expression from his face; she was in fact, relieved as the man's true emotions seemed to slip up, unmasking himself just for a brief moment.
"Your world?" Loki slowly said as he slowly stood up in his attempt to intimidate her. "Your small world in the nine realms?"
If she was intimidated, Hermione didn't show it but she did put her hand back inside her pocket.
"If you even try-" Hermione began, taking a step backward as Loki moved from his table and started to walk closer towards her.
"Miss Granger," he whispered, a devious look on his face forming as he spoke and moved closer to her, "this whole conversation and invasion of privacy and space from you really makes me think and wonder what it is you want from me. And I hope you already had your coffee because if you haven't, I suggest you get one." Loki whispered at her, stopping only a few feet from her, his tall physique towering over her.
He did intimidate her.
He was tall and Hermione had to inch her face up to him, eyes unblinking to cover the facade that he was affecting her.
He was so close to Hermione that she could smell him already - the smell of peppermint and - was that sweet vanilla?
Her thought bubble popped up however when he suddenly smiled, laughing loudly as Roberto reached their table.
"Roberto, my man." Loki greeted moving past her and grabbing the old man by the arm and pulling him closer to them. "I see you've got Miss Granger's breakfast. Here, let me help you there."
Hermione whirled around.
Roberto was holding Hermione's tray of food and was smiling at Loki and at Hermione.
Loki smiled at the older man, completely vanishing all his books from the table with a wave of his hand giving more space for Roberto to prepare Hermione's breakfast.
Hermione's expression of bewilderedness turned into annoyance as Loki helped Roberto lay Hermione's food over his table.
"This good?" Roberto asked Hermione and Loki.
"No, wait, Roberto-" Hermione protested side-eyeing Loki angrily. "I'm not really - we're not -"
"I think not," Loki said giving the older man a little sad expression. "Would you be able to upgrade her breakfast into that happy breakfast you gave me on my second day here? Would that be alright?"
Loki winked at Robert of and the older man smiled happily at the upgrade of order and not noticing Hermione's protesting glare at the two of them.
"Double the egg. Waffles with cream and berries. Bacon and sausages. And a large mug of cold happy drink. The happy breakfast coming in a few minutes." Roberto happily said as Loki patted him over his shoulder, thanking him as he walked away.
Hermione turned back at the table to see Loki sitting right back at his chair, pulling one book out of thin air and sipping his warm coffee by the table, and gesturing her to sit down opposite him where her simple order lay.
"The sausages will take a while," Loki told her with the same charming smile again and a wink at her. "You might want to sit down and enjoy your coffee while we wait for your happy breakfast to make you happy. You're a very cranky woman, did you notice?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Potter, do you have a moment? I have your report details with me."
Harry turned just as he entered his floor at the Ministry.
He was feeling slightly guilty for asking Robert to serve Hermione's breakfast because he had to go to the Ministry on a Sunday.
"Hey, what's up?" Harry turned welcoming the younger intern.
"How's Miss Granger?" he asked nervously.
"She's fine." Harry answered with a smile looking at the intern. "It's a Sunday so she's not coming in."
"Right, right. Ofcourse." the intern quickly said, his cheeks turning red. "Otherwise, very healthy?"
"Yes." Harry chuckled. "What's up buddy?"
"No, nothing. Just asking. Anyway. Were you good in your Astronomy Class?" the intern asked him.
They turned to one of the stairs to the third floor as the elevators were being cleaned at that moment and the only working one had already gone up.
"Do you mean at Hogwarts?" Harry asked staring at the intern as they walked down the hall to the meeting room for the day. "Not as much as Hermione. She was good at it. Well, she's pretty much good at every subject."
"Right." the intern nervously asked. "Mr. Potter, well, the meeting is a little bit about Astronomy, and here are the report details."
He handed Harry a rather thick folder with different still and moving photos of the sky and stars taken from the observatory tower of the Ministry and one taken from Beauxbatons Academy that were sent in two nights again from their request.
Harry flipped the folder and looked at the photos and notes from the research and the report in detail but he barely understood it.
This should have been a case good for Hermione who was good at the subject area.
As he read through, the only thing he understood was a particular and strange Astronomical has been occurring for about a rough estimate of six months. Most importantly a misalignment in the sectoral distance of the planets along the star-line.
"Uhm, I'm not an expert in Astronomy." Harry said as they stopped before the double doors of the meeting room.
Before the intern could answer him, the doors opened up and he was greeted by a full audience of Ministry department heads and even the Minister of Magic was present today.
For a moment, Harry thought that the meeting was a small meeting that needed a little consultation from him. But upon entering the room with fully-dressed officials on a Sunday, he knew that this was not just a meeting.
Something serious must be going for all of them to be present on a Sunday.
"I have a feeling I'm not here for just a consultation." Harry pronounced as he entered, being ushered in the room by the intern who quickly started going to the side of the room to make coffee for everyone.
"Not Harry." Kingsley greeted him ushering him to a seat next to him by the table. "You're here because we need to show you something."
"Right." Harry answered reluctantly sitting by the offered chair to him and placing the folder on the table. "Just to clarify, I'm not good at Astronomy at Hogwarts incase any of you have high expectations of me today."
"We have people for that today, Harry." one of the officials smiled at him and pointed at two unfamiliar guests by the table who were both wearing blue robes with golden stars and lines over their robes for design.
"Tell us, Mr. Potter, how is Miss Granger doing?"
Harry turned from Kingsley and then to the official who asked and to the faces along the table.
They were all staring at him, curious and expectant of his answer.
"She's fine," Harry said. "It's a Sunday so she didn't come in today and she's in good health, thank you. May I ask why?"
The intern asking about Hermione was peculiar enough but them asking about it again didn't sound right.
If they wanted to know how she was doing, they should have just asked for her that day instead of him.
After all, she knew more about Astronomy than himself.
"And when did you last see her? Talk to her?" Kingsley asked him.
"Just this morning." Harry admitted. "We were having breakfast before all these. What's going on?"
"She's in good shape?" Kingsley asked.
"Yes." Harry said slightly irritated now. "She's healthy if that's what you mean."
"Good sleep?" asked another official. "Nothing funny?"
"Nothing funny." Harry irritably said looking over the old woman across the table. "Hermione is fine and is in really good shape. I was just with her. Should we call her in?"
Suddenly, there was tension across the room.
They looked at one another and back at Harry, concern over their faces.
"Has Hermione been anywhere outside London recently?" Kingsley asked in a much kinder voice. "Any activity out of town? Out of country?"
"None that I know of." Harry said. "And she doesn't have time. She's very dedicated to her work. She barely leaves the office and at weekends, she's still working at home with the stuff she brings in."
"Does Miss Granger have other abilities?" another woman across the table asked him.
Harry turned at the woman who was looking at him as if he was lying about something.
"Abilities?" Harry repeated looking annoyed at the stern-looking woman. "She's a brilliant witch. She's excelled at school more than any of -"
"Does she have extraordinary abilities, Mr. Potter?" another wizard asked him.
Harry looked around the table and didn't like the look over their faces. He didn't like how the meeting was going and where it was going.
He wasn't called in to be consulted about the Astronomical activity but to be interrogated about Hermione.
"She's in perfect health." Harry said grabbing his things from the table. "And she's a very extraordinary witch in many ways. Whatever this is about, I don't think we're having the same thought but I will tell you that she's got a lot of potentials. If there is nothing else I can help you with, I would like to be excused from this meeting."
He stood up with his belongings but Kingsley stopped him.
"Can Hermione speak Parseltongue?" he asked Harry in a serious tone, his eyes unblinking.
"Can she what?" Harry asked in sudden alarm, unsure if he heard what he had heard.
"Is Miss Granger exceptional enough to do exceptional wandless magic?" the witch asked him. "A very, very strong wandless magic?"
"Strong enough to take lives?" asked a wizard across the table whom Harry immediately recognized as someone Hermione had a conflict with before about a Muggle law.
He looked up.
They were all looking at him as if he was to be hanged in the gallows.
"She's exceptional in many things," Harry said standing straighter and facing them again. "But she is nowhere a Parselmouth nor a murderer."
"You never taught her how to speak to snakes then?" someone from the table asked.
"What did you just say?" he asked in a very upset tone.
It was all that was needed to completely break Harry's good mood for the day.
"I think we better show him than interrogating him this way," Kingsley said as he sat straighter by the head chair and gestured for one of the wizards to walk forward to bring out something on the table.
Harry watched as the wizard brought out another folder and started taking out photos.
"We showed you photos, Harry." Kingsley started to explain asking Harry to calmly sit down again. "The photos were taken somewhere in the past six months when we noticed certain activities."
"Yes, I was told." Harry quietly said staring at the edge of the photos where Kingsley pointed out certain patterns and numberings for each photo.
Odd and even numbers.
All the even numbers and two odds were missing in the set of photos.
The wizard pulled out the folder's contents with the number of photos that were taken out from the first set.
He laid it carefully in front of Harry while the intern pulled out a small glass that looked something similar to a Pensieve.
He watched in silence as they set it all up in front of him.
The elderly at the table were staring quietly at him as if waiting for him to react the way they wanted him to.
Harry looked up at Kingsley who remained quiet which made him more nervous.
"If you please, Harry." Kingsley offered him staring at the photos and the glass poured with purple liquid.
He tapped his wand and the water began to gently swirl, slowly turning sky blue.
Harry moved closer to the table and stared at the second set of photos.
Two of the photos were blurry but nevertheless, it showed that it was taken somewhere in some part of what looked like another city in Europe that was not distinguishable.
There were landmarks in the background and the middle of the photo looked like a rotunda around a small park.
They looked like they were taken in a busy city with establishments and three were blurry snapshots but they looked like something like a portal opened in one of the rooftops.
The moving photo showed the repeated movement of an opening portal while the second blurry photo showed two individuals climbing out of the portal.
"German tourists." Kingsley pointed out. "We were able to collect these data from them with slight difficulty but nevertheless, they came from them."
"What am I looking at exactly?" Harry asked in curiosity.
He looked at the other photos that showed what looked like a post-explosion of a building in the same city with a few hours of difference according to the dimmer shade of the photo.
"This was taken by a witch who was making a living in the city. She noted it was a beautiful sunrise so she started taking photos. By which that happened. ."
Harry stared at the dilapidated building.
"I don't understand," Harry said looking up as Kingsley pointed his wand back at the glass jar where the blue liquid was turning cleared.
"This was taken from a Muggle station where cameras were installed. It took us a while to get it but we were able to procure a copy."
Light came from his wand and went straight to the jar with liquid.
As if watching an actual Pensieve, Harry knew he knew he was staring at some visual memory of some individual who had witnessed what he was about to watch.
The memory showed the same building before the explosion happened.
It was taking a little while and Harry was watching people walking down the street, busy individuals going about in their business.
Until he noticed there was a small flash of light at the corner of the memory visual and two individuals appeared out of nowhere - like out of the sky.
He looked up at Kingsley who encouraged him to continue watching.
He sat closer to the table and watched the memory he was watching.
The minutes had gone by and nothing was happening until the visual showed another light and the appearance and disappearance and appearance of the same individuals but this time they appeared at the busy street.
They were moving around - perhaps walking or talking or just moving - but he couldn't see or hear anything from what he was watching.
Until suddenly, one of them opened his arms and a blinding light appeared.
Fire and chaos soon followed.
People started running in all directions and without a blink, the other individual flew up in the air, with an opening movement of arms and gesturing the same hand movements, it faced the building and it exploded into smithereens.
Harry was horrified at what he had just watched.
People certainly died at the first explosion but he was sure at the second that there would be more deaths.
He looked up at Kingsley horrified at what he was just watching.
The minister nodded at him and pointed at him to look at the individual up at the air who was muttering something under its breathe repeatedly.
"I couldn't make it out." Harry said. "Do you understand what's -"
Kingsley sighed heavily and pointed the tip of his wand to the memory.
The liquid swirled and changed and like a Muggle video camera, it moved into a closeup view.
Close enough for Harry to make out who was up in the air muttering something under her breath that didn't look like anything English.
"I don't understand." Harry breathlessly said staring from the memory then at Kingsley then around the table.
"Harry-"
"I don't.. I don't think.. this is impossible. It just can't be..Who are these people?"
But before he could react and be defensive about what he was watching, a large snake almost the size of a basilisk had come out from the ashes of the building and had bowed low as if by command by the two individuals in the memory.
He couldn't make out who was on the ground whom the snake seemed far more afraid of.
But up in the air, hands open as if in a ritual, long and thick tresses flowing from the wind and with stern eyes was none other than his childhood best friend, Hermione Jean Granger.