Chap 1 - One wrong number later...

In case you didn't know, I don't own either the Potter universe (that one belongs to Ms. Rowling) or the Goddess Universe (that one belongs to Kōsuke Fujishima). The characters have just been telling me stories in my head.

Urd slid her door shut. The happiness that shone across Beldandy's face as she listened to Keichi tell her about the engine he was designing to work the microbike he was trying to power made her heart ache. 'Their lives are so short. Living here, day in and day out, you don't notice it as much, but... they live to around a hundred years and that is it.' Urd double checked to make sure the door was locked and sealed. Then she glanced about the room, making sure the seal encompassed the walls, floor and ceiling. Only a Goddess First Class could enter her domain now, and Bel was happily talking to the human she had come to love. Flipping her white hair over one shoulder, she pushed a small knot in the shelf behind one of her many ingredient bottles. The shelf silently swung out to reveal several built in shelves loaded with books. 'Who knows what type of damage Skuld could do if she knew where to find these. Not that she cares too much for potions, but she might be tempted to play.' Scanning the titles, she suppressed a shudder at the image of damage Skuld could cause if the younger goddess gave in to that temptation.

Pulling one of the books from the shelf, she started to scan through the pages. 'I have to find it... I have to find a way to keep Keichi around. There has to be a way. I know that Iðunn won't let him sample her apples, at least without His permission. And I doubt that He would give it.' Closing her book, she slid it back on to the shelf. She knew there was nothing here. She knew every potion in every one of these books, and not one would allow Keichi to stay alive past his normal life span. Nothing that would keep him young with Beldandy. If there was any way known to the Gods and Goddess, it would be back at Asgard buried in Yggdrasil's information banks. 'I have to go back.' Closing the shelf, she sank next to her table, resting her chin in the palms of her hands. She didn't really want to go back, but the thought of Bel's blue eyes drowning in tears as she held the limp hand of the man she loved convinced Urd that she had to try. There had to be some way to keep him around, and she, the mistress of potions and mystical cures, would find it. With her mind made up, she started preparing her room for her departure. There was no way she was leaving things for Skuld to fool around with.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Severus Snape missed the feel of his robe brushing the across his legs and its rhythmic slap against his ankles as he strode down the road. He attempted to stroll like the muggles around him, but he was too used to having to hurry from his study to his classroom. A quick scan showed that there were no dementors in this section either. 'Dementors roaming around in the Muggle world. This would only happen when Potter and those other two are involved.' A frown marred his brow. He knew that this time it really wasn't Potter's fault, no matter how much better it made him feel to lay it at the boy's feet. It was Voldemort's.

Stopping on a street corner, his eyes rested on the store front that was selling TVs. 'The muggles use a lot of energy to make their pictures move like the ones in the newspaper.' Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he set his mind to sensing magic around him. Dementors gave off an ambient magic field. That is partially what gives the feeling of terror when someone is confronted by them. There was something really close, but it wasn't a dementor. His eyes focused on the corner knob of the handrail for the step stairway that led up to the entrance of the TV store. Looking at it carefully, he could tell it was clumsily spelled to make people trip their way up the stairs. Certainly not the safest thing to have about, and definitively not supposed to be here in the muggle world. Reigning in a sigh, he reached into his pocket for some muggle change. Dumbledore had made sure all of them were carrying some, and that they knew the right number to call so that they could get a hold of a squib that was in the Order. They would report it to "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts" without the Ministry being any the wiser. This wasn't the first piece of magic that the members of the Order had found that was in the wrong place. In a near by public phone, he picked up the receiver and dropped the appropriate coinage into the slot. Punching the number on the keypad, he kept his eyes on the problem. Luckily at this time of morning not too many people were entering the store. As the phone worked to send its signal, Snape felt as if something was about to happen.

Urd sat next to a beautiful phone waiting for it to ring. She had accepted being put out of the Administration category so she could do her research without that many interruptions. She knew that the phone hardly ever rang, it was more an exception for it to ring, but she did have to sit next to it and wait, just in case. Actually she was hoping it wouldn't, as it would interrupt her research, and she had just found a small lead. She was scanning through a small treatise by Nicolas Flamel about an recent, at the time, discovery of a Philosopher's stone, its properties and how it was used. 'Bel could easily make the elixir of eternal youth following these directions. I just need to find the stone, or what its true properties are. Maybe I can put one together, or at least the essential elements so that it would work.' Further looking into the stone showed that Nicolas was associated with the wizarding community of Great Britain. Just as she was beginning her search on this community, her phone rang. With a flick of one hand she sent Yggdrasil hunting for the information while she picked up the receiver with her other hand.

As she spoke she scanned the information that was running across her screen. "You have reached the Goddess Help Line. I shall be there shortly to grant you one wish." The last of the information ran across the screen. It was a rough outline, a place to start once she returned from this unusual phone call. After clearing all her search data, she followed the thread of fate to her caller.

Snape glared at the receiver in his hand. Somehow, he had dialed the wrong number. Even as he prepared to hang it up, something made him stop. 'Goddess Help Line? A wish?' A power flux caught his attention, drawing it back to the store front. There, in plain view of the two muggles walking by, was a woman coming out of one of the TV screens in the store front window. He tried not to gape at her, but knew he was failing. It wasn't her long white hair, or dusky skin, nor even her rich purple gray eyes that held his attention. It was her body, which was perfectly portioned, but more importantly, scantily covered. Sure, the dark purple dress she wore came down to the black heeled boots she was wearing, one of which stopped at her ankle and the other went up to her thigh, but the split on the side with the high boot went up to the hipbone. And the front dip ended just below the navel. The dress was strapless, with a large yellow and black standing collar the encircled her shoulders. Add the flaring light purple cape, the long fingerless gloves and the silver bracelets, and she stood out like a sore thumb.

Urd glanced about for the man who had called her. Spotting Snape in the phone booth with the receiver still in his hand, she walked over to him. "Hi, I am Urd, second class Goddess, limited license, from the Goddess Help Line, and I am here to grant your wish." She cast her best smile at the man, who had yet to react to her presence.

Snape felt the disbelief well up in him. 'Goddess? Why would a Goddess grant my wish? She is just a witch who needs to be brought in for doing magic in front of muggles.' He was sure that the couple who had been walking by were still staring in amazement. A quick glance told him otherwise. They were a bit further down the road, acting as if nothing unusual had happened. Somehow she had stopped them from noticing, he was sure. 'It must be a new spell. Probably something whipped up by those Weasley twins. It would be right up their alley.' Making a mental note to go check it out, a good teacher always need to know what the students were going to try and use next, he hung up the phone before focusing on the woman who was still waiting on him. "You need to work on your apparate spell. Next time you might not be so lucky, and you will be permanently stuck in some window or building."

Urd raised an eyebrow at his "you should know better tone" but decided to let it slide. It wouldn't do to shock the one she was here to grant a wish for. 'Besides, it will make this take longer.' Flicking her head so that her hair was behind her shoulder, she decided to speed him up. "And you are?"

Severus looked scathingly over her. "Snape."

Urd fought the urge to raise her eyebrow further at his look and his tone. 'Was he really addressing a Goddess like that?' It made her wonder what he had done to deserve the service of the Goddess Agency. "Your wish?" The question came out blunter than she had expected it to.

Narrowing his eyes, he turned away from her. "I have no wish."

Urd shook her head even though he couldn't see her. His attitude was getting her back up. If he kept it up, she was sure she would zap him just to knock some sense into him. "If you didn't have a wish, you couldn't have reached the Help Line. So, think hard, and tell me the biggest wish you have in the bottom of your heart. I can't leave you until I grant it."

Snape glanced back at her. This was taking too long. He had to get that baluster cap to the Ministry, and report back that there were no demetors in the area. 'A wish... and then she'll leave and I can get done? Fine.' Folding his arms akimbo, he frowned at her. It was then that he realized that she was eye level to him. "I wish for a cauldron filled with molten gold."

Urd frowned slightly when there was no reaction. No confirmation, not even the attempt to send the wish to Yggdrasil. "That wasn't your true wish." Leaning forward, her frown deepening, she tried not to fry him for wasting her time. "I have a potion to finish researching. Would you please make your honest wish so we can get this done with?"

Snape raised an eyebrow as he wondered if she knew who he was and if this was planned. A quick glance told him that the Gryffindor trio were nowhere to be seen. Not that he really expected it, but habits die hard. "That was my wish, if you can't provide it, then I shall be on my way." Turning away from her, he surveyed the area. Seeing no muggles, he decided to ride the Knight Bus to the Ministry building. Reaching out carefully, he removed the baluster cap from its railing.

Urd watched him with a touch of a frown marring her brow. That cap was spelled, she could tell that from here. She watched him as he tucked it into an inner pocket of the coat he was wearing. Glancing over him, she wondered if he lived in a world that was as starkly divided as he looked. He was dressed in all black. Black shoes, pants, shirt, and coat. His skin was a pale white, as if it barely felt the touch of the sun's rays. Even his hair and eyes were in the monochromatic scheme, so dark a brown that they appeared black. She kind of hoped that whatever his wish was, that it would add color to his world. A sudden gust of wind caused her to look behind her. There was a large double decker bus sitting on the curb.

Snape notice the surprised look that flitted across her face before being replaced by curiosity. Ignoring her, he boarded the bus, giving the driver the sickles for passage. He was not surprised when the white haired woman followed him. She didn't seem like the kind to give up.

"Sorry Ma'am, I can't let you ride."

Snape looked back at the driver in surprise. Anyone in the wizarding world could ride the bus, as long as they could pay the fee. And he knew that, in special circumstances, the driver let some of those who couldn't pay ride anyway.

Urd stepped back from the door. The barrier that covered it wouldn't let her through. Sizing it up, she decided that it would be too destructive to destroy it, so she let the bus doors close without her on the bus. 'And as I am here on Goddess work, I can't go blowing up the scenery...yet.'

Snape sat in the seat nearest to the driver. "I need to get to the Ministry."

"No problem, Professor." Turning the wheel, the driver headed off towards the Ministry.

Urd watched as the large bus headed take off down the road, bending and morphing around the other vehicles. Moving quickly, she settled onto a spire on one of the skyscrapers and watched the bus drive off into the night. Following the link between her and Snape, she made her way across the city.