Chapter 64: What?!

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'Of course you do; you take after me.'

'Except I'm normal enough to know that capes are only for formal occasions,' Harry said, beginning to get dressed.

Loki sniffed. 'You,' he said, 'are not a prince.'

A few minutes later, Harry exited his bedroom. He timed it so that Maria was directly outside the room at that point. He wasn't going to let her denial to go along with his plans ruin his prank.

"So," he said, sidling up to her, "have you finally decided to comply with my prank?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "And what prank would that be?"

"Well, I'm making Marco think that we're dating each other."

A hint of red touched Maria's cheeks. "Why are you doing that?"

"It's funny." That was reasoning enough, Harry had decided. Maria didn't seem to agree, judging by the hesitance written on her face.

"Come on," Harry said, practically whining. "Isn't there anything you'd like to get back at him for? Anything at all?" He hummed. "Or are you just still annoyed with me?"

Maria scowled. "What would I be annoyed with you for?"

"Well, not asking you to the ball, tagging along on your Portkey, and probably a few other things." Harry did his best to look apologetic. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Suffice to say, he was not—not that Maria would ever know.

"Fine," she finally said. "But I'm not jealous."

Harry nodded. "I never said you were jealous, did I?"

Red tinged Maria's cheeks, but she did not speak, for they were already arriving at the dining room. Harry noted that the hallway was conveniently long. That was one of the benefits of having a mansion, of course. Perhaps the Potters had one somewhere that they hadn't managed to somehow lose. Probably not. They would've most likely thought it too "purebloody."

Subtly, Harry moved himself closer to Maria as he entered the room beside her. He had to make their "relationship" realistic, after all.

Marco was already sitting at the head of the breakfast table, apparently reading a newspaper. He scowled as he noticed Harry and Maria enter together, but said nothing.

Breakfast was already lying out upon the table, presumably placed there by house elves—or humans, Harry supposed. The Aureliuses could certainly afford it, and most likely wouldn't be against having slaves.

In silence, Harry pulled out a chair for Maria, and sat next to her, his mind still occupied by the topic of slaves.

'Do you think I should get some slaves?' he said, beginning to dig into his food.

'Mortals are too unreliable,' Loki said. 'They tend to die when you get angry and stab them.'

'I'm perfectly in control of my temper, thank you very much—I'll only beat them half to death.'

Loki snorted. 'I think you'll find the only reason you don't get angry about everything is because of my influence upon your mind when you were younger.'

'And because I'm actually capable of dealing with whoever annoys me.'

'That too,' agreed Loki. 'What I wouldn't have given to have that ability when I was younger.'

'Somehow, I feel as though that wouldn't have gone well for Asgard…or Jotunheim, or Midgard—or any of the other realms.'

'Have you no faith in my leadership skills, Harry?' Loki said, his tone dramatic. 'Have I not kept you alive all of these years, even with you making imbecilic moves at every single turn?'

'Hey! Not every turn!' Mock indignity burst from Harry's voice.

Loki gave a mental nod. 'Yes, I suppose you do occasionally make good decisions—like jumping out windows and leaving your wand behind because you thought it would be cool, or forgetting to collect your golden egg, which was the sole purpose of the task.'

For a moment, Harry was silent. 'I was concussed both of those times. They don't count.' Before Loki could come up with a whole new list, he continued, 'Say anything else, and I'll do something stupid now,' he warned. 'And don't test me; you know I will.'

Loki sighed. 'Speaking of your idiotic actions, we should probably learn how to Obliviate people.'

'Probably, and we'll need it to cover up the trail of brain-dead people we leave whilst we're practising how to do it.'

'Fine,' Loki conceded. 'We'll wait until we've won the Tri-Wizard Tournament and there's no way for us to be linked to any of our not-victims.'

'Once again, I destroy you in a battle of will and wit. Are you getting old, Loki?' Harry deflected Loki's mental attack; it was roughly equivalent to a firm poke to the stomach, and blocking it was a matter of pride. Harry, after all, had to prove his superior will and wit.

After a few minutes, Harry decided that he was most likely unnerving Marco and Maria by not having moved in the last minute and a half, and called a cease-fire with Loki.

"So," he said with a grin, "what are we doing today?"

As he had been doing since Harry and Maria entered the room, Marco glared. And then he said, "Well, I've been meaning to speak to you two." His scowl grew more menacing, almost comically so. "You're apparently dating, and I just thought it was necessary that I say something."

Slowly, Marco slid his chair back and stood, his expression dark and wand in hand. Under the table, Harry slid his own wand from his sleeve—just in case Marco did something rash. He was immediately aware as two guards slipped into the room behind him.

Marco moved from the head of the long table so that he was standing behind Maria and Harry. He leaned down between them, and menacingly whispered, "Hysterus Steria."

If it was a spell, it didn't work. Harry would have felt the magic react at such a close range.

"What?" Maria finally said.

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