The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 68

When you could finally stop laughing, you looked up at Strange with Autumn curled in your arms. "You of all people should understand that not all familiars are cats," you teased him. "Autumn here chose me, and Fenna chose Loki," you explained, introducing the familiars. Autumn stretched toward Strange to sniff him.

/Magic/ she said in your mind.

You smiled and scratched behind her ears. "Yes, Doctor Strange has magic. He's our friend. We're here to help him," you explained to her. You looked up at Strange apologetically. "She's new and young. She'll learn in time,"

Strange nodded, though still looked at her and the wolf suspiciously. "A familiar chose him?" He asked, indicating Loki. He and Loki still didn't really see eye to eye, though the attempted to be civil to each other.

Loki rolled his eyes and cuddled Fenna close. "Yes, she did. It isn't common on Asgard for familiars to choose a mage to accompany, though it is not completely unheard of, as you should remember with Sera, as she originated from Asgard," he reminded Strange. He gave you an apologetic look. He tried not to bring up Sera. They all did. They knew it still pained you to talk about her.

You gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Lokitty,"

Loki groaned at the nickname, especially in front of Strange. Strange smirked at the embarrassing nickname that hadn't gone away, despite that Loki's cat ears and tail had gone away. Strange also liked making fun of Loki whenever possible. The two didn't get along except grudgingly.

Loki summoned a dagger to threaten Strange with. Strange rolled his eyes and both of them summoned their magic. You placed a placating hand on both of their arms. "Boys. Why don't we fix the problems with the magic students, then you two can solve this problem in the usual manner," you reminded them. You were here for a reason and they needed to get past their issues with each other to fix the problem with Strange's students.

Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You know I can take this second rater sorcerer," he told you. "And I don't need him making fun of me," he grumbled.

"Ergo why the usual manner is effective," you replied. You looked between the two. "Do you agree to the terms?" You had things to do and you'd smack some sense into both of them if they couldn't behave.

Loki huffed and vanished his dagger "Fine," he grumbled, though had a gleam in his eyes. He liked this game with Strange.

"Fine," Strange agreed.

"You two just want to spar again," you accused them, pinching the bridge of your nose. They both laughed with childish grins. You rolled you eyes. The usual method of them getting their annoyance out with each other was sparring with nothing but Harry Potter spells. It was a fair battle that way, as it was a magic system that neither of them actually used. Loki still won, but it was a fun activity and a way for them to relieve some stress.

With that settled, you all headed up to the training room to see what Strange's students had gotten themselves into that time...

*

Two hours and lots of complicated magic work later and you finally had all of the students back on this realm and not halfway through portals. The twins were also separated again into their own bodies. You had no idea what had caused the magical malfunction, nor did you really want to. All you knew was that Strange swore that it wouldn't happen again.

With that settled, he and Loki threw all the students out of the classroom to blow off some steam. You could tell they both needed it. You would be off on the sideline reffing the match to make sure they both behaved. You held Autumn in your arms. She was dozing, tired from your use of magic to help the students. Fenna curled up at your feet to doze as well, as save with you as she'd be with Loki.

"Draw your wands," you told Strange and Loki. If they were fighting with Harry Potter spells, they had to follow the rules of Harry Potter combat. They both rolled their eyes as neither of them usually used wands with magic. That was another point of this exercise, to expand both of their magical minds.

Loki summoned an ebony wand, which he held surprisingly proficiently. Especially for not usually working with wands. Apparently, he'd been practicing. There was just an ease in which he hold it that said he knew what he was doing. Strange grabbed his wand through a portal and the cloak of levitation flew over to settle on your shoulders. This was supposed to be a fair match after all.

You quietly pulled out your phone to record the madness as they both approached each other and saluted with their wands. They'd watched that scene in Chamber of Secrets too many times it seemed. They turned and strode a few paces apart before they turned again to face each other. After a polite bow, the match began.

For neither of them used to using Harry Potter spells as their main source of magic, they were surprisingly proficient at it. Spells went flying from their wands, both verbal and nonverbal. Unforgivable curses were, of course, forbidden, but that didn't stop stinging hexes, an itching curse, the leg locking curse, Loki being disgusted by the bat bogey hex, and others as they flew back and forth in green sparks from Loki's wand and gold sparks from Strange's. Loki finally won the match with a combination of rictumsempra and incarcarous, which had Strange laughing helplessly on the floor as he was tickled.

You ended the video and declared Loki the winner before you lifted the spells. You were all laughing by then and Loki and Strange were much more relaxed for blowing off some steam.

It was usually a bad idea to blow magic on such silly games, but sometimes it was necessary. And sometimes, especially in Loki's case, he needed to burn off extra magic before it got out of control. He had so much that he had to use it or too much of it built up. You had the same problem on occasion, though not as badly since you'd gotten the jewel to store your excess magic in. It would also be easier for you both now that you had familiars. Loki would learn that with time. For now, it was enough that he was laughing and happy and he and Strange weren't at each other's throats.

It didn't hurt that you had a lovely video to upload to YouTube and the team's social media. Publicity didn't hurt, especially publicity that made the magicians seem more human, more relatable, and remind the world that Loki wasn't evil. They trusted him now, and you wanted to make sure it stayed that way. Seeing magical games, seeing him laughing and having fun, would definitely help that cause.