A Start

Sirius Potter couldn't sleep. It was almost eleven o'clock at night, and the little five year old knew that he should have been asleep by now. Crawling out of his bed, Sirius navigated around his messy room in the dark, reaching up to grasp the door knob once he made it to the door. The hallway outside his bedroom was just as dark as his own room, though Sirius was able to make his way to the stairwell as easy as if it had been day time.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was dark and silent, and Sirius would have been frightened by the lack of light and noise if he had been anywhere else. However, he knew that his mother was home, and nothing bad ever happened to him when his mother was around.

Light shone underneath the door to his mother's office, and Sirius didn't hesitate to open the door. He squinted as his eyes grew accustomed to the light and he took a small step into the room. Sirius saw his mother look up from her desk, her surprised look on her face falling gently into tired amusement.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" she asked, watching her son wipe his eyes with the backs of his hands.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied, his frustration at his inability to sleep coming out in his voice.

"Well, come here then," his mother said, pushing out her chair from the desk and motioning for Sirius to join her. Sirius walked over and his mother picked him up from the ground and sat him down in her lap, her left arm encircling him in a hug as her right hand picked up her quill once more.

Sirius relaxed in his mother's embrace, watching calmly as she went back to her work. He breathed deeply, smelling the parchment his mother was working on, the leather of the seat they were in, the unique scent of his mother – who smelled like the wind on a cold day, like a fire in a grate, like the broomstick polish she used on her prized Firebolt.

"What's wrong, Sirius?" she asked him once he relaxed completely within her embrace. Sirius groaned in answer, causing his mother to smile.

"I don't know," Sirius said, looking up at his mother's face.

There were many things Sirius inherited from his mother. For one thing, he got her hair – black as night and perpetually standing up as though it was always subjected to a windy day. He also got her knobby knees, her nose, and the shape of her eyes.

"Sirius, don't lie to me," his mother warned, causing Sirius to pout.

Sirius's mother was not like the other mothers he knew of. Mothers were old, however his mother was young. At twenty-three years old, his mother was at the age where most women would just start thinking about children. Despite her young age, Sirius's mother was the best human lie-detector Sirius had ever met, which was saying something since he knew Mrs. Weasley.

"Why don't I have a dad?" Sirius asked suddenly, his fear coming out in his voice. He wasn't afraid of his mother's reactions to his question; rather he was afraid of her answer.

He saw her brows narrow at his question, her face showing confusion at his inquiry.

"You do have a dad," his mother told him as if it was an obvious fact.

"Then why have I never met him?" Sirius asked. He looked intently at his mother's face and watched as she gave a sad sigh.

"Because he doesn't live here and there's no possible way for me to tell him that you exist," she told him honestly. She ran her right hand through his hair, causing Sirius to pout as he tried to straighten his hair out.

"That's not going to work," his mother said, watching in amusement at his useless efforts to tame his hair. As if to prove her point, she ran her hand through his hair once more. At Sirius's glare, his mother gave a small chuckle.

"What was his name?" he asked, trying to get back at his mother.

Sirius was curious about his father, his curiosity growing every time he overheard an adult talk about his nonexistent father behind his mother's back. His mother raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him as though she knew where his curiosity stemmed from.

"You overheard the Weasleys and your Uncle talking about your father again, haven't you?" she asked him, part concerned and part tired.

At Sirius's nod, his mother sighed.

"Try to ignore them, they're idiots," she told him, her voice solemn.

Sirius nodded to show his understanding, causing his mother to smile.

"Good," she told him as she started to gently rub his back.

"As for your father's name, I had thought that was obvious," she told him as she went back to her work.

At Sirius's confused look and lack of response, his mother turned to look at him once more.

"I named you after him," she told him, her face trying to convey the true extent of the meaning behind her words.

"I thought you named me after your godfather," Sirius asked, his confusion causing his nose to crinkle.

"I'm not talking about your first name, love," she told him with a subtle smirk on her face.

Sirius thought about his full name for a few seconds, his brow creasing in confusion.

"I thought he wasn't real," he finally said.

"Well, he's not real in this universe," she replied with a smirk, causing her son more confusion.

Life for thirteen year old Sirius Potter was not going well. It had started before his third year at Hogwarts even began. The young Hufflepuff was packing when his mother sat him down and told him all about the case she had been working on. Apparently his mother, the secret-operative auror, had been tasked to spy upon seven Unspeakables who had been studying the Veil that had claimed the life of one of his namesakes. The task had claimed much of her time that summer, which had explained why he had been spending so much time with Teddy Lupin and his grandmother during that time.

She had told him the seven Unspeakables believed that the Veil was the key to accessing different universes, and they were eager to test out their theory. His mother explained, for obvious reasons, why they had to be stopped. One of the reasons was because the seven had found out about his mother's venture into the Veil after her godfather, and, in turn, about Sirius's less than normal means of conception.

Long story short, his mother had told him, the seven Unspeakables were trying to get a hold of Sirius by any means necessary. They believed that he could lead them to a different universe entirely if they were able to force him through the Veil.

Despite his assurance to his mother that he would be careful – that he would watch his back and be on his guard – that didn't stop him from being taken by the Unspeakables on his first legal trip to Hogsmeade. It also didn't stop them from taking his friends Teddy and Victoire Weasley along with him.

So there the three teens were, tied up in front of the Veil as the now five Unspeakables discussed their actions – their ranks went down two men due to his mother and her rather unorthodox decision of killing off the Unspeakables instead of capturing them for trial.

It hadn't taken long for the Unspeakables to finish their talk, and it took even less time after that for them to force the three teens through the Veil. Tied together, the three passed through the Veil, two screams ripping through the air as Sirius started to concentrate.

He didn't want to end up where his mother went – he promised her that he never would. He concentrated, and he knew instinctually that they could not travel back; but felt that they could go forward.

Focusing, Sirius had followed the feeling and dragged himself and his two friends forward, which resulted in the three crashing into a living room, located in a tower in New York City.

They had passed out, at first, which only lead to Sirius's utter surprise when he woke up to find himself in another universe entirely – a universe which just happened to contain Thor, Norse god of Thunder.

Suffice to say, Sirius was pretty stoked about meeting Thor because if Thor was alive then so was a certain Trickster. Even Thor's insistence that his brother was dead could not dissuade Sirius from knowing that the man was still alive somewhere.

Granted, Sirius's thoughts about the Norse god of mischief and magic was pushed to the back of him mind at first. He had to catch everyone up on what was going on and he was just thankful that he and his friends managed to end up appearing in front of a group of muggles who would believe just about anything.

Apparently they had battled aliens and robots, one was a god, one was a super soldier from the 40s, one could turn into a green giant rage monster, and other wacky things.

They called themselves the Avengers, and Sirius, Teddy, and Victoire were placed in their care since apparently the organization that would normally take care of them was currently going through a sort of reorganization after all the recent events.

Sirius didn't really care: for one thing, he got to hang out with Thor, which was amazing; for another thing, Sirius knew that his mother was going to be arriving to get him and his friends at some point in the foreseeable future.

There was no way Harriet "Harry" Potter was going to let her son, her godson, and their friend be in an alternate universe for longer than they had to be.

So for the first couple weeks in the new universe, Sirius made sure he was being helpful. He was there for emotional support for both Victoire and Teddy, who were still worried that they would never get home. He was there to help Tony Stark and Bruce Banner better understand the wizarding world and magic. He spent time with Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton in order to try to persuade them that he and his friends were of no threat – mainly because the Unspeakables had taken their wands so they didn't have them.

Lastly, he hung out with Thor. He hung out with Thor a lot. Sirius asked Thor about his life growing up, listened to his girlfriend, Jane Foster, and his friend, Darcy Lewis, recount stories about Thor's life on Earth, and just generally took in the awesomeness that was Thor. The longer Sirius was within Thor's presence, the more he wished that Thor had been in his life when he was growing up.

The only downside to hanging out with Thor was that Thor began to notice. The longer Sirius was within Thor's company, the more Thor looked at Sirius critically, as if Thor was trying to think of who Sirius looked like. Sirius tried not to give anything away, however once puberty had hit it became pretty obvious to his family that he no longer looked like a carbon-copy of his mother.

In fact, as the years passed, Sirius started to look more like his father than his mother. A fact he once took with pride was slowly becoming a hazard to his safety the more Thor tried to think about who Sirius reminded him of.

It didn't stop Sirius from spending time with Thor; however Sirius did start to try to steer conversations away from a certain god who was supposedly dead even though Sirius didn't believe it to be true.

It took two weeks in the alternate universe before others from the teen's universe arrived. The Unspeakables, their numbers down to three now, arrived in Central Park with Bill Weasley, Andromeda Tonks, and Jamie Potter. The Unspeakables wasted no time in fleeing the scene, while Bill, Andromeda, and Jamie passed out.

Apparently the three were used to make sure the Unspeakables arrived in the same universe as Sirius, Teddy, and Victoire, since they were all related by blood in some sense: Bill was Victoire's father; Andromeda was Teddy's grandmother; and Jamie was Sirius's uncle on his mother's side.

Of course, their arrival left Sirius with the question of what happened to his mother. Their answer was not one he wanted to hear. His mother had arrived last minute, taking out one of the Unspeakables who was supposed to travel to the alternate universe and taking his place in the ritual before anyone could stop her. They didn't know why she hadn't arrived with the rest of them; her disappearance was most troubling to Sirius's Uncle, though not as much as it was devastating for Sirius to hear.

Many people overestimated how much love there was between Harry and Jamie Potter. Sirius knew that if his Uncle said he found her disappearance troubling, he really meant that it was inconvenient.

After all, Sirius's mother was the only one to really know what was going on; with her absent, Sirius was the one who knew the most.

After that, everyone's focus turned to trying to capture the Unspeakables, along with trying to think of ways to get the wizards and witches back to their own universe. For Sirius, though, his main priority became finding his mother.

He had an inkling of where his mother was, however if he was right then that meant that he needed to find his father first.

His father could help Sirius find his mother. His father had to help.

Almost a week of having to adhere to his Uncle Jamie's rules had passed before another bombshell hit.

Odin had arrived in the tower with several other Asgardians, much to everyone's surprise – though no one was as surprised as Thor, except maybe Sirius himself.

Apparently, Loki was still alive and had imprisoned Odin before impersonating himself as Odin in order to rule Asgard. Odin had just escaped, and he and Sif and the Warriors Three had come to Midgard to get Thor so they could stop Loki from succeeding in whatever plan he had concocted.

Thor had agreed, if only because Loki was acting up again, and though the other Avengers said they could help, the Asgardians rejected their offer. Thor told them it was his fight, which was understandable, and the others backed off after that.

Sirius, on the other hand, did not.

"I can help," he spoke up suddenly, causing all eyes to turn to him.

It was not one of his most brilliant ideas; however this was his only chance of getting to Loki, of getting his help.

The Asgardians laughed him off, except Thor who looked at him with concealed intrigue.

"Sirius, be quiet," his Uncle Jamie told him, motioning for Sirius to get away from the gods.

"I can help you stop Loki without fighting him. I can talk to him – he'll listen to me," Sirius spoke up again, his voice conveying his belief of his sincerity.

Once again, he was laughed at. Uncle Jamie tried to get Sirius to stop talking while Odin went on a long speech about why Sirius was being stupid and how he would be a hindrance and Sirius was beginning to boil because they didn't know.

"He'll listen to me!" Sirius interjected, cutting off Odin's rant. "He'll listen to me because he'd find me useful – he'd find me intriguing! I'd be willing to make a deal with him!"

That, again, was the wrong thing to say. Sirius might have realized too late that saying he would be willing to make a proverbial 'deal with the Devil' was probably a bad idea when said around a group of people who had been personally screwed over by said 'Devil' several times in the past.

He realized he didn't really care – Thor, at least, looked as though he was being talked around to Sirius's idea.

"Sirius, stop this nonsense at once!" his Uncle Jamie commanded, causing Sirius to turn around so he could glare at his Uncle.

"I'M TRYING TO SAVE MOM!" Sirius yelled.

His anger was a hereditary gift from his mother; his yelling was almost as loud as hers.

"I KNOW YOU COULDN'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT HER, BUT I DO – SO SHUT IT!" Sirius shoulders heaved as he breathed, his anger cursing through his body like poison through the veins.

"SIRIUS, ENOUGH," his Uncle bellowed, "GO TO YOUR ROOM AT ONCE!"

Sirius gave a harsh laugh at his Uncle's commands; as if he had the authority to order Sirius around in Stark's home.

"I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU! YOU'RE NOT MY ONLY UNCLE! AND YOU AREN'T MY GODFATHER, DESPITE WHAT YOU THINK!" Sirius called back, his words tumbling out of his mouth before he could filter them through his censor.

Sirius took a couple steps back towards Thor, as if he was hoping Thor could protect him from his Uncle's wrath.

After all, Thor was his godfather – so says Sirius's mother.

In the quiet from Sirius's outburst, he watched as his Uncle's face turned red out of a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"SIRIUS LOKI POTTER! GO TO YOUR ROOM AT ONCE!"

Sirius paled at his Uncle's outburst. How could his Uncle be so stupid to say his full name out loud when one of his namesakes was currently being discussed in hostile tones?

Sirius glared at his Uncle before storming out of the room without looking at anyone else. Sirius didn't need to see the looks of anger and disgust flash across people's faces when the realization hit them.

He especially didn't want to see the look of judgement on Thor's face when he realized who Sirius's father really was.

"What was dad like?" six year old Sirius asked his mother one day at breakfast.

Sirius looked at his mother, his half-eaten stack of pancakes all but forgotten when he asked her his question.

"Your father was an arsehole," his mother replied immediately, bringing up her mug to her lips so she could take another sip from her coffee.

Sirius frowned at his mother's response. Spending time with the Weasleys had shown Sirius that mothers and fathers were supposed to be in love with each other, that they were supposed to talk positively about one another. For some reason, Sirius believed that his parents would be the same.

"Why did you have me, then?" Sirius asked. His tone was not accusing nor was he fearful about her answer; he was purely curious.

His mother looked at him with an unidentifiable look on her face as she put down her coffee.

"Don't get me wrong, I love your father," she told him sincerely, pushing aside her own plate of pancakes to do so. "But you have to understand, your father is the Norse god of mischief and lies – he's going to be an arsehole."

"Why's that?" Sirius asked.

"Because most of the time the only thing that's coming out of his mouth is a load of shite," she told him with a smirk.

Sirius smiled in humor at his mother's response, though it fell once he realized what she meant.

"Listen, love, your father was not completely stable when I met him. He had just found out he was adopted, and he had already felt neglected by his father; finding out he was adopted had not helped him emotionally nor with his insecurities. He was vengeful, angry, insecure, depressed, manipulative – Merlin was he a manipulative bastard.

"We met after I had saved him from a particularly horrific hallucination, and we decided to travel together because we were both stuck in an unknown place and I had thought that he could have helped me find my godfather. I'll admit, at first he annoyed me. He was far too Slytherin for my tastes – he was judgmental, had a superiority-complex, believed himself to be better than me, and was just overall really distrusting.

"It only got worse once we found out that my godfather was dead. After that we still traveled together, though that was mainly because I didn't want to be left alone. He had thought that I had hit such a low that he could manipulate me into becoming his little puppet.

"Only that didn't work," she said with a smirk.

Sirius could see his mother retreat into a memory, her eyes becoming glassy as she recalled what was probably a really funny memory. It didn't last long, and Sirius took another bite from his pancakes as if to show that he hadn't noticed his mother's momentary absence from the present moment.

"After that I was pretty quick to call him out every time he tried to manipulate me," she continued as she stirred her coffee.

"I started to be completely honest with him, knowing that it bugged him. I also started to make fun of him every time he would act like he was better than me. Basically I just started to get on his nerves, thinking that that would get him to realize that I wasn't going to fall for his tricks.

"I'm not sure how well it worked. There came a point in our relationship where we became really good partners in combat – we just about became unstoppable in any fight we went into together. I started to trust him more, and I think he started to trust me too.

"I don't know when it had happened, but one day I realized I loved the guy. And one day he must have had the same realization because, well, you're the result," his mother finished, waving her hand towards Sirius as awkwardly as she had finished her sentence.

They were silent for a few minutes. Harry went back to eating her breakfast after making sure that Sirius was also eating. Sirius, though, chewed his pancakes until they became a giant mush-ball in his mouth. Swallowing the mush with a grimace, Sirius asked the question whose answer he had been wanting for years.

"Do you think dad would love me?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper. His eyes displayed his concern, his insecurity that his father would not love him.

His mother got up from her seat and walked over to him, crouching down so that she was looking up into her son's face. She reached up and cupped his checks with her hands.

"Sirius Loki Potter," she told him sternly, "your father would absolutely love you."

It was the sincerity in her tone that convinced Sirius of her lie.

Sirius was asleep in his room in Avengers Tower. Two days had passed since Thor and the other Asgardians had left to defeat Loki at whatever plan he had.

Sirius was startled from his sleep by a feeling in his very soul. It felt like the feeling he had when pushed into the Veil, the feeling that caused him to want to move forward.

He sat up in bed, looking around in the dark of the room, light from the moon bleeding through a curtain which helped Sirius see a rather big shadow in the corner of the room.

A shadow that hadn't been there earlier.

"Lights on," Sirius commanded, closing his eyes momentarily so he wouldn't be blinded by the lights that turned on through the voice-command.

He really had to hand it to Stark – the guy was a bloody genius.

Seconds passed, and Sirius opened his eyes to see the illuminated room.

There, in the corner, stood his father.

Sirius's heart-rate quickened, his eyes roving over his father, as though if he looked at different parts of his father in quick succession that it would be quicker to memorize his image.

Sirius had had no photographs of his father growing up, no pictures to look at longingly during the night. The only description he had of his father was from his mother's stories and mirrors.

Because looking at his father now, Sirius realized just how much he looked like Loki.

Same colored eyes, same mouth, same cheekbones, same body structure.

It was like looking in a circus mirror.

"Dad?" Sirius asked, his tone hopeful. He threw the covers off his body, standing up from his bed.

He was about to approach Loki, his father, when Loki snarled at him.

"What are you," Loki hissed, stalking towards Sirius as he stood, rooted to his spot by his bed.

Sirius was confused – that was not the answer he was expecting from his question. His shoulders dropped, and Sirius felt like he should take a step back from his father. Loki came at him, like a tiger walking towards its prey.

"I don't – " Sirius began, fear creeping down his spine.

He was not expecting this; even after all the stories his mother had told him, he did not expect his father to be this –

Frightening.

"WHAT ARE YOU!" Loki growled as his hand reached out, grabbing Sirius's shoulder like a snake's bite.

Loki pulled Sirius by the collar of his t-shirt, Sirius stumbling from the force of his action. Sirius's eyes widened as he finally realized what his father really was.

Loki was the bad guy.

Sirius tried to answer, but all he could do was stutter.

Loki, not satisfied, grabbed Sirius by his throat, pulling him closer as he did so. Sirius, eyes widening in surprise and fear, grabbed at the arm Loki was holding him by with both of his hands. Loki's middle finger and thumb were holding his jaw, his pointer finger digging into his cheek, while his other fingers and the pad of his hand tightened around his neck.

Sirius really couldn't help but think about how big Loki's hands were.

"Are you a hallucination?" Loki hissed out, his anger palpable. "Who conjured you? Was it Thanos? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Sirius began to struggle in Loki's tightened grasp. Loki was hurting him – his father was hurting him, and that was a very bitter pill for Sirius to swallow.

I AM YOUR SON, Sirius wanted to yell, I WANT NOTHING MORE THAN YOUR FUCKING APPROVAL – STOP HURTING ME!

But he couldn't get a groan out while in Loki's hold – there was no way he could yell an answer.

"Do you think me dumb?" Loki asked him in an angry whisper. "Do you think I would fall for such an idiotic trick? She's dead – how am I supposed to have a son if she is dead?"

SHE'S NOT DEAD, SHE'S ALIVE! Sirius wanted to scream. He was referring to his mother - he had to be. SHE'S ALIVE, SHE'S FINE, SHE HAS TO BE SHE HAS TO BE SHE HAS TO BE.

Sirius was slipping into unconsciousness; his vision began to blur to black, his blood pounded in his ears. He had to show his father that he was his son.

He had to prove it.

When Sirius was six years old, his mother had enrolled him in muggle school to help Sirius gain social skills. It was also to get him to learn basic math and English grammar that would be important once he went to Hogwarts, but it was mainly for him to learn how to interact with children his own age who he wasn't familiar with.

When Sirius was eight years old, he officially got himself a bully. Steven Patterson was a bully who had targeted Sirius because Steven's father had targeted Sirius's mother for his derision. Basically, when Mr. Patterson learned that Sirius's mother was a young woman who had had Sirius out of wedlock, Mr. Patterson immediately decided that Harry Potter was a whore and that Sirius was a bastard whose father was some drug addict living on the streets of London.

Sirius knew of Mr. Patterson's thoughts of his mother because the man could not stop himself by commenting snidely on Sirius's mother's marital status every time she was within his talking-range. Sirius admired his mother, though, because she never let the man's comments get to her. It might have had something to do with the fact that Mr. Patterson's beliefs were slander, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Mr. Patterson was twice divorced and so shouldn't have been making accusations about his mother's love life.

Either way, Mr. Patterson's hate for the Potter family had been transferred to his son.

So Steven Patterson bullied Sirius on a constant basis, and when Sirius asked for advice on how to deal with him, his mother had replied, "Every bully is different, just like how every person is different. You have to assess them – their strengths, their weaknesses, their character traits, their wants, their fears – and once you've acquired enough knowledge about them, then you act."

"How do I act when I have all the information about them?" Sirius asked as they walked home from school one rainy day in October.

"That is up to you to decide," his mother told him with a wicked smile on her face.

Come December, Sirius's class had taken a trip to a park. It had been snowing, and the lake in the park had been frozen over. After lunch, Steven Patterson stalked over to eight-year old Sirius and had pushed him right onto the ice of the lake. Sirius, who had just before been looking at the lake in wonder, had found himself in the awkward position of being on literal thin ice.

A teacher noticed Sirius on the ice, and at her horrified yell a crowd began to form around the frozen lake. Sirius, wanting to avoid the attention, began to get off the ice; however the cracks that began to form caused him to pause. His classmates started to yell at him, his teachers as well, but he ignored them.

For some reason, he thought that he could run across the ice before it caved in. He got up to his feet from his position on his hands and knees, which was a bad idea because the next moment Sirius was plunged into the freezing lake as the ice caved under him.

He heard stories about how to survive being dunked in freezing water. He heard about how the water felt like pins and needles, about how people have to get out immediately to avoid hypothermia and shock.

Yet there Sirius was, completely submerged in freezing water feeling perfectly fine – almost like he was in a bath that matched his body temperature. He actually liked it to be honest. He had never really been affected by the cold as much as others had, so he guessed being immune to freezing water was part of that inability to be cold.

He remembered looking out at the lake while under water, looking in awe at the beauty that resulted from the light hitting the water through the ice. When he needed air once more, he swam out of the hole he had fallen through.

He almost wished he hadn't when he heard the screams that accompanied his appearance.

An hour later had seen Sirius waiting outside the headmaster's office, bundled in more clothes than he was comfortable wearing, a scarf covering his face, gloves covering his hands, and sunglasses hiding his eyes.

Apparently it wasn't normal for a child to emerge from the water with blue skin and red eyes.

Sirius remembered his mother coming to pick him up, first checking to make sure he was okay before laughing hysterically.

Sirius had transferred schools after that.

Later that night, Sirius sat with his mother on the couch in the living room. He still had blue skin and red eyes, and he listened to his mother tell him stories about his father, the Frost Giant, while they ate vanilla ice cream and drank hot chocolate.

Sirius took the news that he was part Frost Giant with the excitement only children could muster. Sirius's best friends, Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley, weren't completely human themselves after all (what with Teddy being half-werewolf and Victoire being part veela), so Sirius was pretty happy to join the club of 'not-so-human human'.

"So I'm not a monster then?" Sirius asked later that night as he lay in bed, still blue with red eyes.

"Never," his mother replied, kissing him on his forehead. "You are my son, not a monster."

"So you still love me?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Of course! After all, I love your father knowing he's a Frost Giant and it's no different for you. I love you for who you are, not what you are," she told him with a smile on her face.

Sirius went to bed that night with a smile on his icy-blue face.

Sirius's vision was blurring black, and he knew he only had seconds to get Loki to relinquish his grip on his throat before he passed out.

So Sirius willed himself to get cold – ice cold, colder than was humanly possible.

He didn't need sight to know the change was taking affect. It felt like ice was encasing him, as if his own personal snow flurry was raging throughout his body.

Sirius heard a shocked gasp as Loki let go of the hold of his neck.

Sirius hit the ground, gasping for air. His throat pained him with each breath he took; his eyes started to water from the pain.

Moments passed, the only sound in the room being Sirius's wheezing every time he took a breath. His vision returned to him, allowing him to see his hands, blue hands, placed on the floor, holding him up in his position on his hands and knees. He looked over to where Loki was standing back in his corner.

Loki stared at Sirius, a myriad of emotions on his face. Sirius was able to pick out revulsion, fear, realization, and guilt, though the guilt was buried and gone in a flash.

Nice to know his father felt a little bit guilty though.

"The FUCK?!" Sirius said once he got his breathing under control. His voice was raw and speaking hurt his sore throat, causing him to cough from the aggravation.

Loki continued to stare at Sirius, though he was slowly starting to mask his emotions from his face; not like it mattered all that much – Sirius had already seen what Loki was feeling.

Sirius got to his feet, wobbling a bit as a wave of light-headedness hit him. Fearing a fall, Sirius plopped himself down on his bed, determined to look anywhere that wasn't his father.

He tried not to be hurt over the fact that his father almost choked him to death, but it was hard to accomplish.

"This is all an illusion," Loki spoke up suddenly. Sirius looked at Loki to see his look of desperation – as if he was hoping Sirius wasn't real.

"No I'm not," Sirius countered back, repressing another cough. He glared at Loki, not impressed by the way his father tried to kill him.

"You can't be real," Loki replied, as though he was praying it to be true.

"I am!" Sirius exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

What was he supposed to do to convince Loki that he was real?

Loki shook his head; Sirius would have been angry at Loki's continual refusal to acknowledge his existence had it not been for the fact that Loki's eyes displayed his hurt, his confusion.

His eyes were far more truthful than his words.

"Harry –" he whispered, pain entering his voice because he must be realizing Sirius was speaking the truth – he had to be.

"Is going to kill you when she finds out you almost choked me to death," Sirius finished for him, his bitterness coming out in his words.

Something flashed through Loki's eyes; Sirius thought it was amusement, though it was gone far too quickly for him to be sure.

"She died," Loki said instead, taking a step towards Sirius.

Sirius flinched away from Loki, causing his father to stall in his movements.

"She didn't die," Sirius told him, eying Loki like he was going to attack him once more, "she fell down a chasm and ended up falling out of the Veil back in our universe. No one realized she had run through – to them she was only gone for a second, not – "

"Not centuries," Loki finished Sirius's thought for him.

The two stared at each other in silence: a father looking at his son who took on the form he hated so much; a son looking at his father who he had wasted thirteen years worth of birthday wishes on.

"Where is she now?" Loki asked, finally breaking the silence.

Loki started to approach Sirius once more, and Sirius had to will himself not to flinch once again.

"She was supposed to be here, but she never arrived with my Uncle and the others," Sirius explained, watching Loki closely for any warning of violent behavior.

"I think she's in the Inbetween," Sirius blurted out, causing Loki to stop moving, his eyes widening in fear.

"How did you and dad meet?" six-year old Sirius asked his mother. The pair was in Harry's study; Sirius was sitting next to his mother, squished between her side and the arm of the leather chair, with a book in his lap.

Harry looked down at her son with a contemplative expression on her face. She pushed the papers for a case she was looking through to the side and wrapped her arm around Sirius's shoulders.

"That's a complicated story," she told him, causing Sirius to pout.

"I can understand it – I'm a big boy now," Sirius said, repeating what Mrs. Weasley always told him when he helped her set the table during the big family get-togethers.

He saw his mother roll her eyes at him, though she couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

"Right, yes you are," she agreed sarcastically, causing Sirius to pout once more.

"Long story short," she began, eyeing Sirius with a serious expression on her face, "I met your father when I was fifteen years old. I, along with your Uncle and his friends, went to the Ministry of Magic because your Uncle had a vision that our godfather, Sirius Black, was being held captive by Voldemort there.

"So we all went to the Ministry – into the very obvious trap in retrospect – thinking that the seven of us would save my godfather. Well, we didn't, and we were attacked, and it ended up with my godfather and other Order members coming to save us instead of the other way around.

"Those who were conscious all converged in this one room, where a large Veil stood in the center. I, along with your Uncle, Neville, and Luna had heard voices coming from the Veil earlier that day – so it was obviously bad news. Anyway, the Order and Death Eaters started to duel in the room, and I, your Uncle, and Neville tried to escape. During the fight, my godfather was dueling his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, when she hit him with a stunner that sent him through the Veil.

"Well, your Uncle and I were both in shock, and we both started to run towards the Veil because we thought he was just behind it. Your Uncle was stopped by Teddy's father – Remus Lupin – but no one was there to stop me.

"I ran through the Veil, expecting to find Sirius, and instead I entered the most hellish place I have ever been."

Sirius watched as his mother got a far-away look in her eyes, her face descending into despair. Sirius regretted asking his mother his question and leaned his head into her side, hoping it would get her out of her thoughts. He felt her arm grip his shoulder and he looked up to see her smiling down on him.

"Your father and I ended up calling it the Inbetween because it was really in between everything. It was in between universes, between time and no time, space and no space. It was disorientating: one moment you would think you were in reality only to realize what you had was an illusion. Your father and I would be up against hordes of attackers only to realize half-way through that they weren't real. Or we would traverse a land where all of our insecurities would be displayed for us to see, and we would have to ignore them to get by. It was exhausting, and terrifying, and I think I would have killed myself if it hadn't been for your father. I mean, I hadn't at first because I had been looking for my godfather, but once I learned that he was dead –"

She trailed off, once again stuck within a memory.

Sirius, at six years of age, didn't understand the severity of what she told him, however he could hear in her voice that it was bad.

"How did dad end up there?" he asked, as he gripped his mother's shirt.

His mother shook herself out of her thoughts at his question, looking down once more to see Sirius.

"He fell off the Bifrost Bridge – fell right into the Inbetween from there. I don't even know if he made it out – I had left him there."

It had been on accident; she didn't want to leave his father but she didn't have a choice.

"Promise me you will never enter the Inbetween," his mother told him commandingly. She was far more serious and stern than Sirius had ever heard her in his life.

Sirius nodded his head.

"I promise."

Sirius watched as his father processed his assertion. He knew Loki was taking it badly when he shut his face down of all emotion.

"Are you positive?" Loki asked, once again making his way towards his son. He stopped within arm reach, staring intently at Sirius's face.

"She didn't make it through to this side; I mean, she might be back in our universe, but I highly doubt it," Sirius told him, still uncomfortable with how close his father was standing to him.

"Because if she was still in your universe she would have made it through to this one by now," Loki supplied, explaining Sirius's reasoning back to him.

He still nodded his head to show his father that he was right.

Loki fell silent after that. He closed his eyes, as if in meditation, and stood stock-still. Moments passed before Loki opened his eyes once more, his shoulders tense.

"You're right, she's there," he finally said.

Sirius felt his stomach drop – knowing was definitely different from guessing.

"Can you get her?" Sirius asked, his voice small and pitiful. "Please?"

Loki didn't respond immediately; instead he held up his hand, palm up in a nonthreatening manner. It didn't stop Sirius from flinching; however he relaxed enough to give Loki silent permission.

Loki wasted no time in laying his hand back on Sirius's neck, though instead of pain he instead felt relief. He watched in fascination as Loki's hand turned icy-blue as he touched Sirius's skin – the first sign Sirius had that Loki was a Frost Giant as well.

Loki looked at his hand with a mixture of horror, disgust, and despair. Sirius, knowing it was because his father doesn't like his Frost Giant origins, pulled his father into a hug.

It was impromptu and poorly thought out on Sirius's part. His arms wrapped around his father's waist, his face squishing into Loki's stomach. Loki's hand retracted from Sirius's neck as his hands shot up in the air, Loki holding them up like an awkward criminal who had just been caught by the police.

Loki was obviously not a hugger, which sucks for him because Sirius was a major hugger – he grew up around the Weasleys and his mother, and Hufflepuffs were known for their hugs, it was destiny that Sirius would love hugs.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Loki hugged back. He placed one hand on top of his son's head, the other one resting upon the shoulder he had roughly grabbed earlier in their encounter.

Sirius felt a warm feeling spread from Loki's hand on his shoulder, causing Sirius to sigh in relief as the pain was taken from his bruised shoulder and neck. He took the opportunity to bask in the heat radiating from his father, Loki's scent filling Sirius's nose. Loki smelled of ice, and leather, and something else; Sirius decided that if deceit had a smell, it would smell like his father – he loved it.

Loki was the first to pull away from the hug, not used to affection of any kind that wasn't from his Frigga or Harry. Loki was relieved to see that Sirius no longer looked like a Frost Giant; gone was Sirius's icy-blue skin and his red eyes, leaving in their place his pale skin and his eyes the bluish-green color of his father's.

"Are you willing to go find mom?" Sirius asked once more, looking pleadingly at his father. "Because if you don't want to, I will."

Sirius didn't know how he would get into the Inbetween, but at this point he was willing to take the challenge. Sirius just wanted his mom back; he didn't care what he would have to do to get her.

"No," Loki commanded, causing Sirius to look at him in confusion.

"You are never going to the Inbetween – I forbid you from doing so," his father elaborated, causing Sirius to relax.

"Yeah, well, I had already promised mom I would never step foot there," Sirius admitted, rubbing the back of his neck out of embarrassment.

"Then heed your promise; no need to make your mother more incensed than she already will be when she gets here," Loki told him, causing Sirius to smile.

"So you'll get her?" Sirius asked giddily.

"Yes, I will," Loki said, trying not to display any emotions on his face. "You are lucky that I need to make myself scarce as it is, and that I am not currently in the middle of a plot to take over Midgard."

Sirius smirked at his father; to anyone else Loki's declaration would sound sinister and backhanded, but to Sirius it sounded sarcastic.

Like Loki wouldn't have dropped everything if it meant he would be reunited with Harry.

"Yeah, well, Odin's a dick," Sirius replied in solidarity with his father.

The look Loki gave his son was probably the proudest look Loki would allow himself to show his son, and Sirius took it as his greatest accomplishment to date.

Before Loki could respond, though, the bedroom door flew off its hinges, causing Loki and Sirius to turn towards the commotion.

Sirius's Uncle Jamie stormed into the room, wand out, and Sirius could see the present Avengers crowding the doorway – so mainly just Tony Stark, Clint Barton, and Bruce Banner, since the others were away on SHIELD missions or on Asgard at the present time.

Sirius watched as his father transformed right in front of him. Whereas before the intrusion, Loki was relaxed and sincere, now he was threatening, powerful, and wicked.

The change left Sirius speechless and in complete awe at how amazing his father was. Sirius didn't even register the fact that Barton had his bow drawn, or that Banner looked like he was about to Hulk-out, or that his Uncle looked like he wanted to stun Loki – all he could register was how much of a badass his father was.

Of course, this didn't mean Sirius totally forgave his father for almost strangling him to death earlier that night, though the fact that Loki had placed himself in front of Sirius as if to protect him from the others was definitely a start.

Loki surveyed the others in turn, realizing that it would be pointless to fight them – especially Banner and Barton, whom Loki did not want to get into an altercation with at the present moment. Turning his attention to Stark, Loki gave him a smirk.

"Make sure my son does not come into any harm; if anyone hurts one hair on his head his mother will kill you all."

And with that Loki disappeared, much to his Uncle's and the Avenger's annoyance. Sirius, though, couldn't take part in their displeasure – his father had just acknowledged the fact that Sirius was his son.

It was definitely a start.

A little more than a week had passed since Sirius had met his father, and the longer his father was away the more worried Sirius became.

Now he had to worry about his mother and his father. It was definitely a new feeling, the worry over his father, though it was not one he was entirely upset by.

He grew more anxious by the day, and while Teddy and Victoire were wonderful and were willing to listen to his fears, his Uncle Jamie and the other adults basically just destroyed his good feelings – well, more like his Uncle Jamie, Bill Weasley, and Andromeda Tonks were destroying his good feelings, the Avengers seemed to no longer care that he was the spawn of their mortal enemy.

If anything, Tony Stark found the whole thing to be hilarious, which made Sirius feel better.

Sirius exited the Tower without telling anyone – though with the amount of cameras everywhere he was sure someone would notice his leave. He had just had an argument with his Uncle and he was riled-up. Sirius didn't know exactly why his Uncle was angry – though he had a couple of ideas why – but it gave him no right to take out his irate feelings out on Sirius.

Had anyone made any progress on locating the three Unspeakables who were still at large? No, they hadn't. Are they any closer to getting back to their own universe now than they had when they had first arrived? No. Did Sirius know why Harry had kept his parentage a secret from everyone? Well, yes, he did, but he wasn't telling his Uncle why his mother kept a tight lip about the entire thing.

It was her life, she could do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted; if that whoever just happened to be the Norse god of mischief, magic, and lies, well, then more power to her.

Sirius was so engrossed in his anger over his Uncle that he did not realize he was being followed until it was too late.

"Potter!" a voice called out, causing Sirius to turn to look at where it came from. His eyes widened when he saw it was one of the Unspeakables, and Sirius wished for the millionth time that he had his alder wand with him so he could defend himself.

The Unspeakable sent out a dark purple curse far too fast for Sirius to dodge. The spell hit him right in the chest, and immediately Sirius felt as pain erupted from his chest, flowing quickly throughout his body. His body convulsed in pain, causing Sirius to collapse to the ground. He shook in pain, a black tar-like substance coming out of his mouth, causing him to create gurgling, gasping breathes as he convulsed.

"Take that you bastard! Maybe next time your whore of a mother will – HICK"

The man's taunts were cut off by a sickening sound – like a butcher stabbing a pig's carcass with his knife. Sirius's vision blurred, and he couldn't see what had happened, but he heard a body drop to the ground.

"SIRIUS," a very familiar voice called out, causing Sirius's heart to race.

It was his mother.

"LOKI, SOME HELP HERE," she called out, her yelling like an angle's choir to Sirius.

His mother and father were alive – they were there, trying to save his life.

Sirius passed out before he could know if they saved him or not.

It was Sirius's seventh birthday. His mother placed in front of him a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a lit candle in it, and a cup of hot chocolate that was brimming with whipped cream.

"Happy birthday, love," she told him after kissing his forehead.

Sirius always enjoyed this part of his birthday, when it was just him and his mother – no Weasleys, no Uncle Jamie, no Teddy and his grandmother.

Just him and his mother.

"Make a wish before the wax destroys your ice cream," his mother warned, though they both knew that the wax wouldn't actually destroy his ice cream.

Sirius made a show of thinking about his wish, even though he and his mother both knew what it was going to be.

Sirius blew out the candle before taking it out of his ice cream and tossing it onto the table.

"What did you wish for?" his mother asked for the sake of tradition.

"I wished for what I always wish for," he told her, also for the sake of tradition.

He wished for his father. Every year, he wished for his father to be there.

"You and me both love," his mother replied, running her hand through his hair.

"You and me both."

A constant beeping was what Sirius woke up to. He opened his eyes to see that he was in a hospital bed, the sterilized smell of an infirmary assaulting his nose. His entire body felt sore, and he was oddly fascinated by the IV going into his arm – he felt like Mr. Weasley.

Sirius looked around the room; it was small, very white – from the walls to the floor to the furniture – and inhumanly clean.

What really caught Sirius's eye, though, was what was waiting for him on the couch – or rather who was waiting for him on the couch.

His mother and father were asleep. His father embraced his mother from behind as they slept on their sides – his parents were spooning and it was the weirdest thing he had ever seen in his life.

And they looked relaxed and content and the best thing Sirius had ever seen because they're his parents and they're together.

Sirius smiled at his parents, and slowly he drifted back to sleep knowing that they were there to protect him.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Author's Note:

Just a quick one-shot that wasn't going to leave me alone until I wrote it. This is actually the idea I had originally before I wrote "Red Like Roses," though it is much more condensed and missing a lot of information so it could be made into a one-shot.

As for questions about Harry and how she could conceive Sirius at 15 but have him at 18: my reasoning is that since she and Loki are 1) not of the same species and 2) not from the same universe, that it would take longer than nine months for Sirius to gestate. So basically he gestated for about two years and eight months. It's my reasoning, I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you have a nice Sunday.