The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 34

 "How is it my fault they are after her? I have done nothing to them, or any of the Midgardians recently," Loki growled, an actual growl and his tail puffed up in anger. "And the last time I did it was mind control," he grumbled. He hated any idea that you were in danger because of him, especially when it wasn't even deserved.

Nat was unphased by Loki's growls or his puffed up tail. Loki pulled you closer to him on the couch, determined to protect you though the threat wasn't here. You reached up automatically to pet his hair to soothe him. "They think you're being corrupted by, in their words, an 'evil sorcerer'," Nat explained.

It was your turn to glare. "Loki has done nothing but help the team since he's been back. And like he said, the alien attack doesn't count. It was mind control and that's been made perfectly clear," you protested, determined to defend your Lokitty.

"We know that," Nat reassured you quickly. "It doesn't make them less stupid,"

"It does not make sense," Thor protested. "Why attack Lady Y/N for my brother's actions, even if they were his fault?"

You sighed heavily and cuddled the cat-dragon in your lap, soothing yourself more than anything. "They never have made sense," you told them softly. "Rogue witch hunters are the ones who killed my mom with no provocation," you started to explain. You looked down when you realized that all their eyes were on you and petted Sera as you spoke. They needed more answers now that the witch hunters had become their problem too. "Witch hunters are semi official professionals. They range between bounty hunters and magical police. Most of them are barely more than squibs, those born from magical families with no magical ability of their own. Actual squibs go to live as muggles." You absolutely loved how prevalent Harry Potter was in society, it made explanations such as these easier when you could use terms that everyone was already familiar with thanks to those books and movies. "There are some with just enough power to use the magical items crafted for the witch hunters to use when capturing their bounties. Those kind of people are also usually really against those of us with real power and more likely to go rogue. That's what happened to mom, and I think that's what's happening here. Had I done something to actually deserve getting called before the Witch's Council, they would have sent official messages calling me before them. They would have contacted the academy where I work. There would have been a lot of things done before they sent proper witch hunters after me. These have to be rogues," you told them. They all sat in silence for a long minute digesting that information.

Nat recovered first. "We've got your usual haunts secured, and I'm sure Loki and Sera will keep you safe. Just be careful," she told you.

"I will be," you reassured them all. "Trust me, I don't want to mess with witch hunters any more than I have to,"

"She will be," Loki added quickly and pulled you tighter against him.

You sighed and rolled your eyes. "Yes, silly Lokitty, I just said that," you told him overly patiently.

He kissed the top of your head. "I love you. I'm allowed to worry," he reminded you warmly, though you could hear the touch of worry in his voice.

"I love you too," you told him and kissed his cheek. You pulled out your phone to tell the headmistress and Strange that you were home and perfectly ok. They both asked for you to stop by the next day and you agreed, quick to reassure them.

"So what's with the rock on the back of your hand?" Stark asked. Trust Stark to be blunt.

"It's a magical artifact known as a focus. I don't know all of the properties yet, but it's a reservoir for power," you explained to them. They accepted that answer and you knew you'd be spending the rest of the day with the books Frigga had given you so you could learn more about your new magical toy.