Loki's magical friend? - ON HIATUS

8.

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Chapter Eight : Did someone say Pancakes?

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Hermione's POV:

The weeks passed faster than I would have liked. Before long, the new academic year was looming over me - It was OWL year and already I was starting to consider possible careers. Whilst the Wizarding World offered many opportunities as to jobs and options, I was also a shoe-in for training to be an Avenger. 

'Only after you've graduated Pigfarts or whatever it's called'. Uncle Clint had said when I'd asked him. 

The idea certainly had appeal and it meant I would see my family more, which was always a bonus. We'd even gone so far as to discuss a possible backstory if I had to use my magic in public, protecting myself, the Statue of Magical and the Wizarding World from persecution, though I would hopefully remain anonymous for as long as I could.

I was packed and ready to leave - Dumbledore had sent an owl requesting that I come spend my remainder of the holidays at Number 12, Grimmauld Place in London, a safe house for the Order of the Phoenix. I had researched a lot on the secret society but didn't find very much. It was perculiar and made me more determined to find even a sliver of their purpose, their members - anything!

At last, the day came, and I woke early - like 6am early, determined to make these last few hours with my family memorable. After all, I wouldn't see them until Christmas! Sam had left the previous day to go back to DC, so I had said my goodbyes before I went to bed, with the promise of a letter to be sent within a week.

I crept past Aunt Nat and Uncle Clint's room - being the super cool assassins that they are, they wake at the tiniest noise. I walked normally past Thor's room, seeing as NOTHING can wake him. Except for the mention of Poptarts. What felt like an eternity passed and I arrived at the kitchen.  I found the eggs, flour, sugar, milk, salt, cooking oil, baking powder and chocolate chips and following the recipe Mrs Weasley taught me when I was a second year,  and successfully made enough pancakes to feed London, and then some. I put the freshly-made pancakes on the table, feeling proud at my quick work.

"Ooh! Pannncaakkkeesss!" Tony sung as he slid into the room, wearing only wooly socks on his feet.

"Yep, freshly made. I made plenty so there should be enough for everyone."

"By the time they get their lazy asses over here, it'll be cold!" He complained, looking remarkably childish for his age. I laughed; The formidable Iron Man, known, loved, respected and feared around the world, whining over his friends actually having sleep schedules.

'Not for much longer.' I smirked, thinking of an idea that could be considered hilarious - no, possibly even evil. Loki seemed to be rubbing off on me. 

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Would you mind waking up the Avengers with a nice, LOUD wake up call. Except for Bruce, if you could just wake him up like you usually do, we don't need a hulk-out if the green guy hates Rick Astley."

"Of course, Miss, does that extend to Mr Odinson?"

I paused and quickly weighed up the pros and cons of waking up a newly-reformed god known for stabbing and pranking people with magic. I took my chances and decided to include him. Worst case scenario, I activated the puppy dog eyes. They had never been defeated yet. 

"Yes, that does include Loki."

"Very well. Playing 'Never Gonna Give You Up', by Rick Astley."

I smirked, waiting for the chaos to descend. A few seconds into the song and I heard Uncle Clint screaming in annoyance .

"HERMIONEEEEEE!"

I started lip-syncing to the unfortunately catchy and well-known song as I waited for my family to make their appearance. The Avengers came - or rather, stumbled - out of their rooms. Steve looked confused, and covered in sweat. It appeared he'd just come back from his inhumanely early run. Tony laughed at Clint's reaction, unbothered at the choice of song and even lip-syncing with me, while the other Avengers looked amused as well as annoyed that they were woken up this early. 

Bruce crept into the room, looking tired but smiled warmly as he approached me. "Thanks for warning me. I like Rick Astley as much as the next guy, but not at 6 in the morning. You're lucky I was already up." He talked over the music. I nodded, smiling widely as he began to dad-dance his way to the coffee machine, Tony being too occupied with filming their reactions to notice. Uncle Clint stormed dramatically out of the room, clutching his ears dramatically, while Nat smiled at me and requested JARVIS to turn off the music. Loki came into the kitchen, clutching a dagger. He looked murderous, which then changed to confusion and finally relief that the song had stopped.

 I smiled at them mischievously. "Morning guys, I made pancakes!"

Instantly, they perked up and rushed to the counter, and thus began the fight for food. Thor staggered out of his room, blearily. "Did someone mention pancakes?" 

 Loki rolled his eyes at his brother's seemingly never-ending appetite. "Yes brother, you heard correctly. Lady Hermione has made pancakes, although why she though to wake everyone up at such an ungodly hour is quite beyond me." He answered, directing the end of his sentence at me. 

"Well, I'm leaving in about 2 hours and since there's a slight time difference in Britain, I need to have time to recover, seeing as it is now 11am over there." 

"Well you've still got a few hours left. Let's make the most of it."

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The team had split in half, with Tony, Nat and Loki on one side, and Cap, Clint and Thor.

The exercise was meant to be training to deal with hostage situations, and they really did try, if not for 3 things:

1) Thor forgetting he was not, in fact, facing villains but rather his teammates, and was the cause of several mild concussions, a broken hand and just a touch of electrocution. If it hadn't been for the blessing that was Skele-Gro, Uncle Clint would have been in a lot of pain right now.

2) Tony and Cap having an intense stareoff while spouting off orders to their teammembers, of which only a few followed.

They started off focused and united. Then the orders got gradually stupider until it was just them shouting over each other.

"Thor, flex those muscles! Stun Tony with those ripped biceps!"

"Clint! Cosplay as Katniss Everdeen in a Comicon. Oh wait, you already do..."

By the end of the round I was on the floor struggling to breathe, out of breath from laughing so much. Eventually it was decided that Nat and Clint would take over as team leaders and from then on, the exercise went much smoother.

Or it would have, if it wasn't for...

3) Me.

I had grown bored simply being made to sit quietly and do as the 'heroes' said. So I decided to amp it up a little. In real life, when faced with life- threatening situations, most people tend to act irrationally and recklessly. 

So that's what I did.

I cried hysterically and cling onto one of their arms, or ran the opposite way, even going so far as to engage in combat. My actions meant the teams were meant to re-evaluate how they worked together.

Once the time had come for me to gather my things and get ready to leave, the team were red in the face, Tony and Steve were STILL squabbling as I levitated the last of my bags into the living room.

It was time to go.