Title: Magic and Myth
Song: Harlem by New Politics
Rating: T for language and future chapters
Genre: Humor, Angst, Romance
Fandom: Thor and Harry Potter
Couple: Loki/Hermione
Inspiration: 'By My Side' by Blinded-Kit

Warnings: Pre-Thor, teenager!Loki, meet the parents, and the neighbors, gardening, gardening gone wrong, ninja skillz

"making a movie on the couch with a flip-phone

just like you, like I, like fingers in your mouth"

Harlem. New Politics

"Would you like some more lemonade, Loki?" Her mum offered raising the glass, daisy patterned pitcher they'd owned since Hermione was little. Her mother's eyes were bright and she was smiling charmingly at the teenage boy to her left like he was her winning lottery ticket.

Loki smiled charmingly and slid his glass closer to Mrs. Granger—under Hermione's critical eye—and added a compliment. "Yes, thank you, Jane."

Oh, Merlin, Hermione and her father shared identical looks when her mum laughed.

She kicked him under the table only to receive a bruised toe. Where in the bloody hell did he get those Doc Martins?

"Hermione are you okay?" Her father asked and she waved him off, sipping at the sweet homemade lemonade her mother had made for their informal brunch which a certain Norse-christened-god invited himself to.

"Fine," she coughed and side glanced Loki, who was grinning around the lip of his glass. "What was the question again?"

"How did you two meet?" Her mother asked.

"Oh, we met outside the house." Hermione said for the second time and Loki snickered, drawing more attention to himself.

"What's so funny?" Her dad asked.

"Nothing, she's just missing some basic detailing of the story is all."

"Such as?" Her mother ventured.

Loki smiled broadly and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"He was taking a nap in Mrs. Dubose's garden."

"I knew it!"

Four heads snapped to the left to find their wizened neighbor standing at the edge of the property on her side of the white picket fence like she'd been there the entire time.

"You ruined my gardenias!"

Hermione felt that it was against some law to be that nosy.

"Thank you, Thomas," Mrs. Dubose smiled showing only the top row of her thin, yellowed teeth and graciously accepted the saucer her father handed her. "You are one of few from the male species who can make a good cup of Earl Grey." She took a delicate sip from the glass while Loki rolled his eyes.

Ten minutes later, her parents were undergoing extensive damage control which involved inviting over their senile neighbor over for brunch.

"Thank you, Prudence." Her father puffed up and her mum pinched his forearm. "What we are hoping is that we could help pay you, in any way, for your garden, we know how much it means to you."

"You can't, he can." Mrs. Dubose set the saucer down on the table, sitting imperiously tall in her chair and glared threateningly at Loki. "Where are your parents, boy?"

"Loki's here on holiday." Her mum supplied and Mrs. Dubose glared at her.

"Whom?"

"Who." Loki and Hermione silently correct under their breath.

"Loki," her mum said. "Loki's here on holiday without his parents."

"Yes, I know that Jane, as you've told me, but I fail to see how that has anything to do with our current situation."

Hermione caught on. "Mrs. Dubose, his name is Loki."

The woman's lips pursed. "Well, that's an odd name for a boy."

"Even odder name for a girl." Loki winked at her.

Mrs. Dubose carried on as if he hadn't spoken. "I would have thought you were named Tom. Loki!" she laughed dryly and Loki's brows drew together.

"Well, it's certainly one of a kind." Her father offered and Mrs. Dubose waved him off.

So, it was settled that Hermione and Loki would work in Mrs. Dubose's garden for the rest of the summer in order to pay back their debt.

"This is all your fault!" Hermione shouted once they were alone and Loki rolled his eyes.

"Well, don't pin all the blame on me. You confessed—"

"I had to."

"You could have lied."

"I didn't know she was hiding in the bushes!"

"By the way she was breathing? I could have shot her in the dark."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "If this is some sort of idiotic Viking humor, I will be very angry."

"Never," Loki has the nerve to look aghast.

"Are you going to help or not?" Hermione asked and Loki gave her a brief sidelong glance, before returning his gaze to the window.

"As soon as the old crone stops staring," he paused and the curtains in the upstairs window fluttered. "There we are." Smiling cheekily he turned back to Hermione and surveyed the flowerbeds. "What are we doing again?"

"Planting: here." Hermione handed him a miniature shovel that he stared at for a moment before tossing it aside, and rising to his towering height over the flowerbeds. Hermione glared up at him from his shadow.

"Do you honestly believe I'd do manual labor?" He inquired, green sparks snapping at his fingertips.

"Oh Merlin, no."

Mrs. Dubose's eyes wracked over the overgrown shrubs that curled wildly skyward into wicked shapes of six legged horses and bunnies that moved on their own accord and have already 'eaten' the postman.

The willow tree hanging over the door creaked softly in noises that sounded almost like uncontrollable sobbing and watery dew fell like rain from the tips of the leaves—"well, now it matches its name!" Loki had said—and left the berth of the area around it soggy and misty. The roots of the other trees looped around the yard, slithering through the grass like an anaconda and whipped out of the cool soil towards anything that came too, too close—i.e. the lawn gnomes and, almost, Hermione.

As for the grass, or what remained of what hadn't been burned in attempt to fend off the roots of the cannibalistic trees, by Loki, rose tall and green and blade sharp, bending up and towards them like porcupine needles rising in defense.

Hermione and Loki stood on the small stone walkway covered in mud and shallow cuts and bruises, at a loss for words as Mrs. Dubose stood under the weeping willow in a rapidly dampening dress and an equally shocked expression.

"We can explain!" Hermione shouted, unable to fathom how to explain and Loki wrapped his arm around her, jerking her out of the way when a rock—with gaping rock teeth—hurled their way.

"I do not think we can." Loki murmured into her hair and batted aside another rock.

"Get out! Get out, you little monsters! Satanists! Rats!"

Hermione never knew how strong Loki was until he pulled her in to his arms and vaulted over the picket fence and sprinted into the house all the while dodging flying snapping-rocks.

this is a bit of a filler and an apology for making you all wait this long. I kinda lost my will to write for a while, but I thank you all for your kind and encouraging reviews. And if there is anything you want Loki and Hermione to do before going back to Hogwarts, please include it in the review.

Thank you :)