The Worship of Chaos

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James was hyper-aware of his guest dozing in the upstairs bedroom.

Mainly, it was mostly because of the tingling he couldn't help feel in his magic. Gods really felt weird.

"I can't believe we're doing this," James muttered to himself for the eleventh time. He didn't pace. Nope.

Lily ignored him, changing Harry's nappy with a wave of her wand.

The baby was actually really quiet, which made him worry more. Harry wasn't a loud baby, per se. But he chortled, laughed and babbled in baby-talk. With the arrival of the god, he'd gone quiet. It was unnerving.

"How sure are you?" Lily had asked yesterday when he'd blanched at the sight of the stranger they'd found faced down on their backyard, the stranger who had ripped through the Fidelius like it was wet parchment unconscious. "How sure are you of what he is?"

James had been sure. Was still sure. As secure in his knowledge as a rooted tree.

"Look," he'd reassured her. "Lily, has anyone ever told you about Worship? I mean, I know McKinnon prays to Freya. There are even some years below us who prayed to a different pantheon altogether, the Greeks, I think? But just...just trust me. I know a lot about the gods. The technical details too. The Potters got blessed with Chaos magic a few generations back. Loki is our patron."

And he had known, just looking at the man, that this was his god. His magic practically sang for him.

Lily had nodded then, though her face had screwed up with consternation. "I thought Marlene was just weird."

She had the face of a person reviewing old memories and finding new insight.

James almost couldn't understand how she could miss McKinnon lighting a sprig of flowers on fire every weekend.

Not that James himself was a very devout follower. Mostly, he dedicated every prank he and the Marauders did to Loki. He collected blood in a bowl every full moon and left it by the windowsill. The other, more extreme practices he didn't really like to do.

(Still, he was pretty sure some of his yearmates in Slytherin also worshipped Loki. He'd never seen people as dedicated to sabotaging potions as them. Or maybe it was just his cauldron. Too bad for them, he was mostly protected from most Chaos, even if he wasn't immune to the effects.)

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The god woke up at about noon the next day.

James was especially irritated then, because his magic kept going haywire and he couldn't sleep. He envied Lily who hadn't invited any gods in her life and managed to ignore the tingling. Harry was an angel and didn't even make a peep the entire night.

"Where am I?" came the dry rasp by the bed.

He stopped wiggling his fingers for Harry and - maybe he should have left the baby with Lily? – answered, "You are in the Potter Cottage in Godrics Hollow, my Lord."

Those bright, almost unnervingly bright green eyes focused on him with alarming intensity.

"Chaos magic," the god murmured. "I feel it on you."

His facial expression seemed to demand an explanation so James gave him one. "The Potter Family, my Lord, has been your devout followers since 1825, after you answered the prayers of my ancestor and saved the family from ruin. You fell on our backyard."

He wanted to add the bit about the wards, but judging from the gods's shock, he probably wasn't aware he was answering prayers or had followers.

"Me?" the god demanded. "Your patron god? When has anyone with sense ever prayed to me?"

James wanted to laugh. Really badly. "People would agree and say that the Potters don't have sense," he said blandly.

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Lily found the supposed Loki talking to her husband and suppressed a shudder.

Now that he was awake, she could finally understand what James meant about how difficult it was to sleep. Her magic felt particularly itchy. Like she had the urge to scold someone.

"I see what you meant," the god murmured, eyes dark and glittering on her person. "You practically radiate hearth and maternity. You'd get on well with Frigga."

James gave a full body twitch. "She doesn't do Worship, my Lord."

Loki sniffed. "If one doesn't Name the god they Worship, you're inviting all sorts of gods in your life." The god fixed her with a look that Lily didn't appreciate. "If you don't pick one, they'll choose for you instead. And believe me, my dear, that a god picking you would be something most mortals can't handle."

Harry chose that moment to fuss. Lily exhaled a bit and hovered over him.

"Thank you very much," she said blandly. "And you still didn't mention how you came to be in our backyard?"

The gods face closed off and went cold. James hoped he imagined the temperature going down.

"That is none of your concern," he said glacially.

Lily rounded on him, blocking Harry from sight. "Yes it is," she answered just as frostily. "You came down from out of nowhere and tore through our wards like they were nothing – and we've got a madman after our baby. If you bring any of your trouble here, we'd like to know so we can deal with it, or at least, know when to run away."

James swallowed his trepidation and tried to look like he supported his wife while mostly praying that Loki wouldn't hurt her, or turn her into anything.

The god glanced at him and James realized a bit late that he had reflexively prayed to Loki.

"Cease, mortal," Loki sighed. "I will not harm your wife for speaking her mind." He looked about and then ran a hand through his hair, and it was such a human gesture that it took James aback. "My brother is about to be crowned king of Asgard and roped me in for one last drinking game. I skipped away from them when they started singing ballads. I didn't know I was inebriated as well and misjudged my spell. I will be leaving, as soon as I can discern which part of the multi-verse I landed in."

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Lily had been friends with Severus Snape for years before she had James, and she recognized that tone of voice anywhere.

It was the tone of someone who wanted help, but didn't want anyone to notice.

With that regret and failure behind her, she straightened up and said, "What's the latest you can stay before you're absence will be noticed?"

Loki's eyebrows furrowed but Lily didn't really care about disrespect. Her husband thought this was his god and she would respect that. She didn't really think he was a real god but magic did strange things to belief. Believing and having magic made things real.

"Until All Hallow's Eve," the god replied. "And then my mother will start to wonder."

She nodded decisively. "Then you'll stay here until it's time for you to leave. Until then, you can help protect Harry."

The gods eyes went to the baby and became intent.

"Killing children? Why on earth would he?" he demanded. Her estimation on his morals went up a few notches. He seemed genuinely angry at the thought of children being harmed.

Lily looked to James and he nodded. "Because there is a prophecy that he is destined to kill him," James answered.

The idea still made her shudder with pain and fear.

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Loki took to warding their house with a vengeance.

He explained it as he went about putting protections in place, carefully putting it layer by layer and leaving barely a residue or sign that it was there. The only way to actually tell it was there was how it felt to someone with chaos magic. Harry laughed loudly and cheerfully after it all went up and James sneezed a lot as he slowly got used to the smothering sensation of the gods magic.

"It tickles," James explained. "It feels like a blanket, barely there and it shifts sometimes. So it tickles. I'll get used to it."

The only thing of note to happen was that Sirius visited. At that time, Loki had shifted into a cat to disguise himself but they all knew he was a god, because Lily had never known a cat who could talk. Even McGonagall didn't talk when she was in her animagus form.

He pretended to be an ordinary cat with green eyes and gold-spotted white fur for Sirius and the dog-animagus didn't even suspect a thing. Mostly because Loki was really good at acting like a cat.

"You've got a new pet now, James?" Sirius asked, looking amused at the cat sprawled out at his lap. "He's pretty cuddly."

James still acted a bit skittish and awed around Loki, but he managed to act casual at the god-cat lying on his best friends lap. "Yeah, he is. He just turned up in our backyard one day. He might have some kneazel blood, he doesn't bat an eye at magic."

Sirius scratched behind the gods ears and Lily tried to smother her laughter. It might have been slightly hysterical, but nobody mentions it.

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Don't expect regular updates, I know where this is going! Just...getting there...is going to be so hard.

Reviews please!