The Unknown

Chapter 34: Hard to Accept

Many of the professors had retreated into the hall for dinner while they all knew that Umbridge would have gone to her office to report to Minister Fudge about what had occurred. She'd use it as another reason to get Dumbledore out, saying he allowed a killer into the castle just to smear his name even more, as well as the names of the Avengers. The Avengers remained in the hallway with headmaster Dumbledore and Professors McGonagall and Snape, discussing the events and how they would handle Loki as they knew the danger he presented being in the castle.

The danger presented itself quite clearly when Loki's sons came around the corner, Fenrir jumping between them all as if to separate them from one another while Jörmungandr used himself as a wall. Loki, however, went straight for Thor who was isolated from the others and pinned him against the wall. Thor, not wishing to fight the man he called brother, knowing that he wouldn't kill him, simply let it happen but what he wasn't expecting, was for the accusations that Loki brought. "Where is she?" Loki asked, tightening his grip with every second that passed while the Avengers threatened him. "I know you took her. Was this Odin's plan from the beginning? Give us hope, distract us so that he could send someone to retrieve her".

Thor shook his head as best as he could and struggled as he choked, "brother-"

"I am not your brother," Loki snapped.

"We didn't...didn't take her," Thor stuttered, "we gave our word".

Loki tightened his grip for a second before letting him go. He knew Thor wouldn't take her, not while they made Loki wear a cuff of oath, they had him and his children just where they wanted them. Trapped. Taking Dahlia at this point would be pointless. "Someone has her, if not you who?"

"Voldemort," someone behind him said but the boys obstructed his view.

"Boys," he said and they immediately turned to their human forms, Fenrir catching Jörmungandr just in time before he fell. Loki saw that it was the Captain that spoke, and he glared at the man as he said, "he is dead. He's nothing but a spirit in the air waiting to be captured, clinging to this realm in fear of what comes next".

Even Loki, however, immediately doubted himself when he saw the headmaster quietly discussing with his two professors hastily. He knew they were all past members of the Order of the Phoenix, well he knew two were and he, like Lily, had hope that Severus was a double spy, which only concerned him more. The group of heroes, however, looked to one another but it was Clint that took the great pleasure in telling him, "seems like your girls have been keeping secrets from you. He's back, flesh and blood, and living. Has been for almost a year now, and...he wants Dahlia dead. Seems like all his attempts over the years haven't quite worked out yet".

Loki froze but tried to keep himself composed to not show weakness but when the others silenced and glanced behind him, he turned to see Hela stood ten feet away from him, breathing heavily from running. "We were going to tell you," she said sounding like a small child that knew she was going to get in trouble, "papa, I swear we were. But it'll have to wait, we have to find her now".

She turned to walk out of the front doors, but Loki grabbed her arm and pulled her back, "you tell me now," he said sternly.

Hela looked to her brothers for help, they looked at her the same way her father did so she answered, "she told you what happened in first year, you know about the troll and Quirrell and Voldemort. In the second year, she told you that Muggle-borns began to get injured, petrified. She told you that the teachers-"

"Dealt with the monster...they didn't, did they?"

Hela shook her head, "Dahlia is the one who put the pieces together. She discovered the Chamber of Secrets, the monster that Salazar Slytherin put in there. Of course, before she even went down there she had to find out the truth about it which meant fighting off giant spiders that wanted to eat her, a crazy teacher that wanted to wipe her memories, and when she got down there, she had to fight off a Basilisk that was being controlled by a memory of Voldemort concealed in a diary. She destroyed the diary and him, but she almost died from when she was bitten by the Basilisk, luckily she was healed with Phoenix tears".