Bruises || Harry Potter x Ivar The Boneless - Viking / Harry Potter Crossover

Ein

"Bill, I think this was the worst idea I have ever agreed to," Hel muttered as she followed after the lanky ginger.

"You said you might want to be a curse breaker," Bill rolled his eyes fondly at her. "So the best way to check that potential career path is to get an idea of what you are dealing with."

She wanted to scream at him that she knew exactly what the bloody hell she was dealing with, thank you very much but she, like everyone else, since the war preferred not to ever mention it. Forcing the memories as well as the emotions deep down and out of thought and mind was how they got on with life.

They all suffered and dealt with it in their own ways, like Ron who slept his way through woman to woman. Hermione who shoved herself through the ministry doors intending to work herself to death instead of facing her trauma. Though for Hel Potter... She tended to drink it all away. She had spent the better part of the last years bumping pixie dust and drowning herself in fire whisky to elven wine. And not to mention the potions she took or injected in her veins when none of the above calmed the screams in her head and kept her up at night. She became an alcoholic and addict.

If it wasn't for Andromeda's death, she might have continued down that path until she O.D. But Teddy was her godson and he needed her. She needed him too. So she got her fuckin' act together and tossed it all out or had Kreacher flush it down the toilet while she sweated it out in her bed thinking she was going to die if she didn't get her fix.

Thank the Gods that Bill and Fleur had come to help her when she admitted to them one night over dinner that she was suffering and needed help. Apparently, they had been waiting for her to admit she wanted help. Fleur's uncle had been the same so she knew how to handle her, knew that she could only help until Hel had wanted it herself. Fleur took Teddy until she could stand on her feet again and Bill laid cold compresses on her head and held her hair up while she puked up everything she ate and drank for two weeks, and then some even later when she thought she was better.

It was a long year of recovery. Now at 20, Hel could say she survived it, claw herself out of no pun intended, Hell.

"Here we are," Bill sighed in happiness as they came upon the ancient Celtic stones of Craigh na Dun.

"They're beautiful," Hel breathed in awe.

"Yes," Bill agreed. "And they are also cursed."

Hel couldn't take her eyes off the circle, seemingly like giants might have put them there themselves. "How so?" she asked, moving closer to them so she could look at the runes carved into them.

To an untrained muggle eye, the intricate runic system would remain invisible, much like the shimmering magical barrier that guarded it from any attempt at dismantling. Only those well-versed in arithmancy and the art of runic crafting could truly appreciate the complexity of this protection—after all, it was their knowledge and skill that ensured its continued existence. If a skilled curse breaker had yet to unravel its secrets, then it was clear that the fortress of runes stood unyielding and impervious to any would-be intruder.

"They're traveling stones," Bill placed a hand on one. "They can't harm you as long as you don't wear any gemstones. Then, well, you'll find yourself in the past. Where you'll need to acquire another gemstone to get back."

"Shouldn't this be regulated?" Hel eyed them warily now as she thumbed off her garnet ring that represented her status as Lady Potter. She tucked it down in her bag along with the Lady House of Black ring as well as the opal necklace Hermione had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday.

"It is," Bill smirked. "It used to take muggles away from their time and place them elsewhere, after a woman named Brianna and her Husband Roger came through, we were able to close them off for good to the muggles. We were able to add a system monitor that should a witch or wizard use the stones, a team of unspeakable will come and collect them to bring them back and fix any damage they might have done to the timeline."