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Dumbledore turned to look at Hermione, his tone warm with admiration.
Hermione waved him off.
"Alright, alright. I can't stand this kind of sentimental scene. I'm heading out."
She turned and left without a backward glance.
"That girl..."
Dumbledore shook his head, helpless.
Severus Snape watched her go and let out a cold snort.
"Hmph. One of the few decent things Granger has ever done — even if the process was drenched in her usual twisted sense of humor."
Meanwhile.
Hermione walked out of the Great Hall and stretched lazily.
"Ugh. Boring."
"Hogwarts without Voldemort to torment is just too dull. I can barely get by bullying Harry and Ron."
...
Stark Tower, top floor. Hermione's private laboratory.
"Still nothing?"
Hermione sighed and set the Time-Turner down on the lab bench.
She stared at the parchment spread across the desk, brow furrowed, eyes tracing the dense tangle of formulas and symbols she'd filled it with.
This was everything she'd managed to produce lately.
She'd tried every approach she could think of to make the Time-Turner withstand stronger magic and extend its range. She'd even tried charging it with the Time Stone.
Barely any effect.
"Simple charging isn't going to cut it anymore."
She rubbed her brow and muttered to herself.
"If I want to break through this bottleneck, I'll have to approach it from an alchemy angle. Modify the thing from the ground up."
KNOCK KNOCK.
A knock at the door.
Hermione set down her quill and pressed her fingers against her throbbing temple.
"Come in."
Happy pushed the door open. "Miss Hermione, someone's here to see you."
"Who?"
She didn't look up, still flipping through the notes on her desk.
"Thor. He's brought a girl with him. She looks pretty bad."
"Thor?" Hermione's head came up.
She'd assumed it would be someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. She hadn't expected this overgrown baby.
"Send him in."
She set her things down and stood.
A moment later, Thor walked into the lab carrying a woman in his arms. She was tall, and even in a plain shirt and jeans it was obvious she was beautiful.
Jane Foster.
Her eyes were shut. Her face was the color of chalk. She looked seriously ill, her whole body radiating a bone-deep exhaustion.
"Hermione, I need your help!"
Thor's face was tight with urgency, like a man grabbing for a lifeline. "Can you ask the Sorcerer Supreme to open a portal to Asgard?"
Hermione's brow creased. "How did you even get down here? The Bifrost still isn't repaired."
"My father sent me down using dark energy." Thor's voice was strained. "But it takes a heavy toll on the body. He can't do it again so soon — and Jane can't wait."
"What's wrong with her?"
Hermione crossed to Jane's side and looked her over carefully.
"I don't know."
Thor shook his head, worry carved into every line of his face. "Heimdall saw that something was wrong with her. As soon as he told me, I begged my father to send me down. I need to get her back to Asgard for treatment."
Hermione studied Jane. Her magic reached out, quiet and probing.
To her eyes, a dark red glow pulsed from Jane's body, restless, like something alive and straining against its container.
The magic book chimed in right on cue.
[Artefact]
[Aether (Analyzing — can be disassembled)]
[Marvel Universe Infinity Stone, Reality Stone vessel. Embedded with the Reality Stone. Possesses the power to manipulate reality. While held: all Transfiguration spell levels +1]
[Remaining Analysis Time: 5999h 55min 13s]
So it's the Aether.
She'd been sprinting back and forth between Hogwarts and Stark Tower lately, stripping both places of every magical material she could find, running alchemy experiments until she was half-mad. She'd nearly forgotten about this entirely.
She did the math. The Convergence was coming up soon.
Jane must have picked up on the early signs and gone to investigate. Activated the Aether by accident.
Well. The alchemy experiments weren't going anywhere for now. Might as well deal with the Dark Elves and clear her head.
"If you're looking for the Ancient One, you're going to be disappointed," Hermione said. "The Sorcerer Supreme has already left Earth."
Thor went still. The color drained from his face like someone had pulled a plug.
"Then... what do we do?"
He held Jane tighter, his voice unsteady, completely at a loss.
Then Jane stirred. Her eyes fluttered open, weak and slow. She found Hermione's face, and something flickered in her gaze, a small, tired spark of relief.
"Miss Witch... long time no see."
She managed a smile. She'd clearly already pieced together the situation.
"It's fine." Hermione reached up and unclasped the pendant at her throat. "The Sorcerer Supreme isn't here. But I am."
The Space Stone glowed on the pendant, soft and deep blue.
She gave a light wave of her hand. A portal tore open in the air, crackling with sparks at its edges.
Through it, a golden palace gleamed into view.
Asgard.
Thor stared. His mouth hung open.
"How is this possible?"
He remembered clearly, the last time they'd met, she'd been nowhere near capable of this. How long had it been? And now she was opening a direct portal from Earth to Asgard?
What kind of insane rate of progress was that?
Hermione caught his expression and felt a flicker of exasperation.
Are you seriously not seeing the Space Stone in my hand right now? Or are your eyes just completely full of your girlfriend?
Love really does make people stupid. His IQ wasn't impressive to begin with, and right now it looked like it had gone negative.
Whatever. Thor was just a child of a thousand-odd years. Pfft.
The Golden Palace rose around them, vast and blazing. Odin sat on the throne, his bearing severe, but when his gaze landed on Hermione, something in his expression softened.
"Welcome to Asgard, Miss Granger."
Hermione inclined her head. "Allfather."
They'd had their friction before. But he was extending an olive branch now, and she wasn't petty enough to slap it away.
Mostly, it was because the Ancient One was dead and she couldn't take Odin in a fight.
Grovel with grace: ×.
Grovel with dignity: ✓.
Frigga stepped out from behind the throne, her smile warm and unhurried. She came straight to Hermione and took her hands.
"My dear. We meet again."
Hermione smiled back. She and Frigga had talked before, properly talked, the kind where time disappeared. They'd gotten along well.
Frigga had a soft spot for this little witch from Midgard.
After Thor explained everything, Odin's brow drew together.
A mortal. He'd never liked the idea of his son tangling himself up with this woman, and now Thor was dragging her to Asgard. If it weren't for Hermione, he wouldn't have given this a second thought.
He let his power flow outward and examined Jane carefully.
After a moment, his expression went grave.
Something powerful was lodged inside her, something he didn't recognize. It had wound itself through her life force, threaded into it so deeply the two were almost indistinguishable.
Even he felt a flicker of unease.
"This is no ordinary illness," Odin said, his voice low. "We'll need instruments to examine her further."
Hermione spoke.
"If I'm not wrong... what's inside Jane is the Aether."
Odin's head snapped up.
➤ Next: The Simplest Way to Extract the Aether
— .—— .—— .—— .—— .——
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