Bewitched by You (A Marvel/Harry Potter Crossover) COMPLETED

Chapter Fourteen: I'd Stop the World

(Readers please be advised: It was at this point that I buckled down and started focusing on moving this story through to its ending. The chapters from here on out are shorter than the previous offerings in this fic)

Hermione wasn't stupid, by any means. Anyone who'd had more than a passing conversation with the witch knew that. Yet, still, she found herself surprised by what the prepClint mentioned entailed.

But then, tripping off-world was a new concept to her, so she supposed she shouldn't be surprised, at all.

Tony and Sam opted to be the ones to stay behind and keep an eye out for any suspected Loki-related incidents. This amused Hermione, somewhat, as they didn't seem to much like one another. However, as they were clearly the least fond of Bucky, they were the logical choice to stay behind, since it had become clear rather quickly that if Hermione was going, they'd have to stop Bucky from trying to follow.

And vice versa, it seemed, as they very much doubted she would hear of any plan that left him behind.

"So, now, what's this?" Hermione asked, reflexively pulling back as she eyed the silver medical device in Natasha's hand.

Natasha shrugged, even as she swept the tumble of wild hair back from Hermione's neck and tapped the device against the side of the witch's throat. "Scans of the atmosphere show that oxygen levels on Pathios are a bit different from earth. This is just little something—" She pressed a button and Hermione jumped at the stinging sensation that rang through her. "To help us maintain in that environment."

"Suppose that makes sense," Hermione said, wincing as she turned her head this way and that to ease the resulting soreness in her neck. "But, um, Pathios? Like pathos?"

Sucking her teeth, Natasha nodded. "Caught that, huh?"

"I . . . I don't think I need to express why I'd be concerned about going to a planet that's name equates to sorrow."

"It is not named from a Midgardian language, so it is unlikely that the meanings are similar," Thor chimed in as he strolled through, on his way to help Bucky and Steve with transporting some necessary equipment.

The witch glanced up at him. "So what does it mean?"

He paused, mid-step, blue eyes a bit startled as he shook his head. "Oh, no one knows. The language is entirely dead."

"To be fair, none of us really know what to expect there. There's some comfort in that it's supposedly abandoned, but beyond that?" Again, the redhead shrugged. "Scans don't show any activity on the planet, but really, you never know."

Hermione bit her lip to hold in a frown. She wanted to still feel excitement about going to an alien planet, but with words like abandoned, sorrow, and dead getting bandied about so freely, she was having a hard time of it.

In an effort to distract herself from letting that get to her, she changed the subject. "I noticed you didn't receive any lovely neck shots."

Thor shrugged his ludicrously broad shoulders and grinned. "Asgardian. The environmental differences will not affect me as they may the rest of you."

Hermione couldn't help but smirk at him. There was something infinitely lighthearted in his presence. "Oh, you're just so pleased with your godliness, aren't you?"

He granted her wink and then went on his way, answering over his shoulder, "Of course I am."

"Technically, Steve and Barnes don't need it for obvious reasons, but I gave it to them, anyway, as a precaution." Natasha let it go without saying that she probably didn't need it, either. Everyone always forgot that she, too, was genetically enhanced—not nearly to the same extent as the resident super-soldiers, of course—and it had always proved an advantage in the past to let people go on forgetting.