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

Chapter Seventeen: Hope and Abandon

Loki looked up at the discordant sound that rang through the ante-chamber. The ceiling parted, each piece shunting backward into hidden crevices in the walls.

"Well," he said, from the comparative safety of the astral plane, watching as the group fell to the floor before him. "That was unexpected."

Hermione was too concerned with the sudden sounds of metallic whining to fret much over whether or not her bum was bruised as she pulled herself to sit up. As they collectively climbed to their feet—she and Clint the only ones needing a moment to self-assess for anything more than minor injuries, she noticed with an inward grumble—she lifted her gaze in search of the sound.

Her eyes went wide as she stared at the iron cross-work monstrosities. Cages . . . . Hanging from ancient, enormous bolts jutting from the walls.

"Oh, God," she said, her voice so quiet she barely heard it, herself.

"It is just me," Clint started, not liking where this entire thing seemed to be headed one damn bit, "or are those—?"

"People-sized?" Natasha cut in with a nod. "I'm really hoping not, but it certainly looks like it."

Steve turned to Thor, but already the Asgardian was shaking his head. "I wish I could refute the possibility, but the stories I heard of Pathios never mentioned anything like this, at all."

"Okay, all right!" Hermione spread her hands, not able to spare the time to feel grateful over the fact that she'd not relinquished hold of her wand in the fall. "We came to find samples of the written language, or information on the locator stones."

Loki's brows shot up, a half-grin curving his lips. That's what they were doing here? Oh, these simple, precious creatures. If he'd gotten the orb from the true source, their purpose might've occurred to him, sooner.

The group scattered across the ante-chamber, scouring reliefs and etchings . . . calling the witch to them when anything that might be writing was found.

Another tremor shook the building, stronger this time, and Loki turned his gaze toward the chamber doors. "Do not dare," he said. He'd hoped they would not breach the chamber, but it had not crossed his mind that those doors might open, unassisted.

Hermione glanced about, even as she moved on thoughtless footfalls to stand beside Bucky. "Okay, stone or no stone, I think we need to leave this place."

Natasha nodded. "She's right. I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"All right, before we decide to waste the trip," Clint said with a shake of his head—sometimes he could swear he was the only one with the ability to think on his feet.

Shoulders drooping as she watched him take pictures of the chamber walls, Natasha asked, "Really?"

"Hey, if we're gettin' out of here empty-handed, we should at least see what we came for. All done, let's go."

Already, Thor and Steve were looking up, toward the missing ceiling and the corridor ledge. "All right." Steve nodded. "Who's going first?"

Natasha stepped up, bracing a hand on his shoulder.

Hermione's jaw dropped as she watched Captain America throw his girlfriend through the air. The other woman somehow managed a tuck and roll and popped right up, appearing none the worse for wear.

She'd gladly Apparate back up there, but she wasn't certain if her magic might function differently on a world which was not earth. There had never been studies done on the effects of other planetary environments on magic.