119 The Prince of Asgard

"D'you think they have Christmas here as well?" Oleandra asked her sister, frowning. For a while now, they'd been hearing the rhythmic rumbling sound of drums and the trumpeting of a fanfare, and as the Greengrass twins drew nearer to the city centre, they'd started encountering denser crowds. 

The atmosphere was downright electric; it was nothing like the cheering Oleandra had witnessed in the streets when the dwarven warriors had returned victorious from their campaign against the Frost Giants. The fanatical Dwarfs seemed almost desperate to push forward towards the city centre; an old female Dwarf was even crying tears of joy on the side of the road. What in the world had they just walked into?

"Old woman, what's going on up ahead?" Oleandra asked her. "And why are you crying?"

"Haven't you heard, dear?" the venerable dwarven lady hiccupped. "Blessed be this day; the gods have returned! I never thought they'd return again of my living, since the priests predicted they would only come back in twenty-seven more years."

She blew her nose loudly in an embroidered handkerchief.

"I saw them once, when I was a little girl a thousand years ago, it was the most beautiful moment in my life," she continued. "That is why I'm crying; these are tears of joy, but also of sadness. I'm too old to make it to through the crowd to the parade."

This was bad; very bad! Oleandra didn't think the Asgardians would react too well to the fact that she was effectively illegally pirating their star magic. Maybe they'd caught on to her shenanigans and dispatched someone after her? Oleandra's heart sunk; the reason why Draco and Ginny hadn't returned was because this god had captured them, or worse, killed them!

"Sister, we need to leave immediately," Oleandra said in the most serious tone she could muster. "Before it's too late!"

Before Daphne had a chance to respond, a magically magnified voice rang out from further in. A very familiar voice, in fact.

"People of Nidavellir!" the voice shouted. "Your beloved prince has returned!"

Oleandra almost thought her eardrums would burst from the sheer amount of noise that rang out at that moment. But at that moment, she felt more relieved than anything!

"THAT MORON!" Oleandra screamed at Daphne over the cacophony of acclaim and cheers. "WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES HE THINK HE'S DOING!?"

Indeed, the voice belonged to none other than the one and only Draco Malfoy, professional annoyance! Gradually, the cheers died down enough to allow him to add a word in edgewise.

"Yes, it is I, Prince Loki!" Draco continued, completely oblivious to the fact that Oleandra was going to tear his head off when she next saw him. "Worship me!"

"Did you see that? He must be somewhere near!" Daphne said, pointing upwards. "He just used a spell that shoots out green sparks into the air!"

"Give me your hand," Oleandra said. "We're going up to the roofs to get a better look!"

With one practised movement, she removed the Nimbus 2001 from her back and sat astride the broomstick. Making sure Daphne was holding on tightly, she took off and landed on top of one of the houses a few moments later.

"There's the idiot," muttered Oleandra, looking down at the street below. There he was, thoroughly enjoying himself in a Wyvern-drawn carriage, waving happily at the populace. "How in the world did he get himself into this mess?"

With a small (pop!), Ginny Apparated at Oleandra's side, giving her quite a fright and almost making her slip off the roof she had decided to occupy. 

"That's a long story," Ginny said nonchalantly, reaching out to help Oleandra to her feet.

"A little warning next time, maybe!?" Oleandra said, gasping for breath. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"What happened?" Daphne asked, always to the point. "Why do they think he's a god?"

"Well," Ginny said thoughtfully, "it went a little like this. We disguised ourselves as those hooded people, and we bought some translation earrings." Seeing the twins' getup, she added, "I can see you've done the same; great minds think alike, it seems."

"We figured as much," said Oleandra curtly. "But what happened after that? You were gone for an entire day!"

"After that, we explored a bit," Ginny said. "Did you know that this city has eight Gates in all; one for each of the other nine realms? They're all permanently activated, save for Asgard's, Svartalfheim's and Earth's. Nobody ever comes in or out of them, aside from Svartalfheim's gate; we're dressed as the Dusk Elves who originate from there, you know. They activate the Gateway every once in a while from their side."

"And?" Oleandra questioned.

"And then, we headed for the city centre, towards the mountain," Ginny explained. "That's where the Dwarf's royal palace is located. We just wanted to get a look at what we were dealing with, but as soon as we stepped in front of the gates, a magic circle appeared under our feet."

"So, why aren't you down there with him?" Daphne questioned Ginny.

"I immediately reacted and Disapparated to safety," Ginny admitted. "I didn't have time to grab Draco. At any rate, I saw what happened next: rainbow-coloured lights shone from the circle. I take it that phenomenon only happens when the gods come to visit, because a moment later, Draco was surrounded by guards. I didn't hear what they talked about, but they kneeled in front of him, then took him behind the gates to the palace."

"Maybe the magic circle reacted to the runes engraved in his soul?" Oleandra theorized. "That's how the Asgardians use runic magic, so it must have confused Draco for one of them. Still, this is bad. If they return and find out we've been impersonating them, it won't be pretty…"

"And what were you doing during all this time?" Daphne said, narrowing her eyes. "Why didn't you come back to alert us?"

"I was trying to sneak into the palace," Ginny justified herself. "It's extremely well warded, but just as I was going to give up, Draco came back out with this huge procession. He seemed safe, so I was going to let him be and go back to warn you, but then you arrived." 

"So, I guess you didn't want to rain on his parade," Oleandra joked. "All right, fair enough. But that's enough playing around. Since apparently you know how to Apparate, would you kindly get him out of there so we can all go back home?"

"Well, since you asked so kindly," Ginny said, before disappearing with a pop!