It's Time to go Home

Ginny apparated at Draco's side in his royal carriage, causing chaos among the procession's guards. Luckily for Ginny, Draco made them back down with a wave of his hand, signalling to them that he wasn't in any danger. She whispered something in his ear.

"My apologies, my dear mortals," Draco said smarmily with his magically enhanced voice. "I'm afraid I need to leave; I have some urgent business to attend to. Farewell!"

And with another popping noise, the two reappeared at the Greengrass twins' side. Fortunately, the people didn't seem to mind too much that their long-awaited god had just left them high and dry. Instead, they seemed to laugh it off, saying things such as, "As expected from the Trickster!" or, "That's Loki, always playing pranks!"

"Oleandra, I take back everything I said before," said Draco, as he looked down fondly upon his 'subjects'. "This place is amazing. Here, I get the respect I deserve; magic gets the respect it deserves. You know, my family used to have real power with Muggles. We manipulated things behind the scenes with Muggle royalty and in high society, but we lost all of that when Wizard-kind enacted the Statute of Secrecy."

He paused for a moment, lost in his thoughts.

"This is how it should be!" he exclaimed with renewed ardour, clenching his fists excitedly. "This is our rightful place; ruling above the Muggles, not hiding from them like scared rabbits! This is the perfect society; these gods had the right idea. Just wait until I tell Father!"

"Well, I'm glad you liked your visit," said Oleandra uneasily. "But we really should go back home to Earth, to plan our next move. You were right when you said we had no idea what we were doing; so, we should really get going."

"So soon?" said Draco, sounding disappointed. "Well, you're right. Who knows how long we've been gone from Earth's perspective. And it sounded like the Dwarfs wanted me to kill a Dragon, or something."

And with that said, the decision was made; the adventure would be postponed until a later date. The entire point of the visit had been to get preliminary information on Nidavellir, as well as cure Stacey from her condition. They had clearly overstayed their welcome, and thus, the group of four started making their way to the Midgard gate.

Now that Oleandra thought about it, they had jumped into this adventure quite spontaneously. That's not to say that Oleandra's group had been unprepared; but the sequence of events that had led to them Realm Travelling seemed somehow… artificial.

Oleandra gave Ginny a sidelong look. They had gone from complete strangers to travelling companions in a strange land in a matter of months. Ginny had also been the one to push them to make the journey a few days in advance, seeming awfully keen to bring Stacey along with them, which just happened to be the cure for her curse. Something about this whole situation didn't seem right, but Oleandra couldn't tell what it was.

"I'll go grab the car," Ginny said. "I'll meet you at the gate. Don't leave without me, 'kay?" 

And then she disappeared with a pop!

Ugh, this didn't make any sense! It was clear that Ginny had done her utmost to keep the Muggle girl safe throughout all this; besides, Weasleys loved Muggles. It was natural that Ginny would want to help one. Oleandra was probably just imagining things.

A few minutes later, Oleandra saw a blinding flash of light being emitted from up ahead, where the Midgard gate was located; it seemed like Tracey and Stacey had finally managed to find their way home. However, this also meant that Oleandra, Daphne and Draco needed to accelerate their pace, since the authorities were sure to come looking to see how and why a gate that had remained closed for millennia had suddenly been activated!

Realizing this, the three broke out into a mad dash. Luckily, the district surrounding the Midgard gate seemed to have mostly fallen into disuse; it appeared that to the inhabitants of this city, it didn't make much sense to live near a gate that couldn't be opened, and as such, there weren't any crowds to block their way. After a dozen minutes of running, they had reached the gate, which still seemed to glow with power from its recent use. Nobody was there.

"Wunjo, Raidhu, Eihwaz, Dagaz!" Oleandra sang, as she seemed to dance while adopting each of the Nidavellir stances sequentially. "Let the powers of the stars unite under my banner! In the name of the World Tree, carry me home through time and space! Let the gate to Midgard be opened!"

The runes inscribed on the gate glowed white hot; the gate groaned and creaked as it opened slightly, revealing a world of white nothingness behind. The doorway between worlds had been opened.

"You two go on ahead," Oleandra said through gritted teeth as she laid a hand on the archway. "I'll keep it open for Ginny, since she can't use our magic."

"Stay safe," said Daphne, before entering the portal.

"See you on the other side," said Draco, before hopping in after her.

Oleandra groaned; it was quite a strain to keep the gateway open, much more so than simply briefly opening it. In fact, it felt as if she had put her hand on a scaldingly hot kettle. Where was that red-headed girl? She could Apparate; there was no reason for her to be this late. Ow?

Oleandra was beginning to get dizzy. Suddenly, her entire world seemed to move down by two heads' worth of height. Oleandra looked down incomprehension; it appeared that her knees had given out from under her. And now she was looking at gravel; she had fallen to the ground. What…? Why was her hand stinging?

"Wha'sh a knife doin' in thereeee…?" she muttered, slurring her words.

A black dagger had planted itself in the back of Oleandra's hand; it appeared as if she'd been stabbed, as well as poisoned. As her consciousness left her, Oleandra could only curse herself for relying too much on Naudhiz to warn her of danger; her senses had dulled. And then, there was only darkness.