Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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23 May 1995, Stonehenge

Heimdall's golden eyes flared in outrage, and he released his first attack. Harry quickly pushed the kids telekinetically behind him and raised a shield, which resisted the god's attack. Well, it looked like he was about to fight a god now. He knew that things would go out of control.

Harry's shield was able to stop the attack, but the sheer power of it, sent him back a few meters. He retaliated by sending a ball of warped space at the god, who somehow dispelled it with just a flick of his hand. Heimdall then waved his hand and conjured a golden sword, leaping towards him, at almost blinding speed.

The young wizard slowed down his perception of time, hoping that it would give him time to think, yet the god still acted extremely fast. Harry telekinetically sent the kids away and conjured a staff of ice, which he quickly enchanted to be unbreakable. Harry dodged the first attack and parried the second one, which chipped out half of his staff, forcing him to reinforce it.

Hoping to buy himself some time, Harry conjured spears of ice, which the possessed Penelope Clearwater, dodged with barely any effort. He channelled that resurrection stone into an ice blade that he conjured and used the staff to parry another attack and sneakily try to stab the god in the stomach while making an illusion that the blade was shorter than it should have been.

Heimdall saw completely through the attack, and parried it with barely any effort, going on the attack. Harry dodged the first attack and followed with a beam of necrotic energy, which he disguised as a small ball of warped space inside. However, the god conjured a golden shield, which absorbed the impact completely and even repelled the space-based attack that was supposed to have been sneaked in.

Penelope's golden eyes glistened in amusement, "Your tricks are amusing, mortal. But they are just, tricks."

"You have a pretty nice trick of your own too, huh? Insight, if I'm not mistaken. You can understand what you see in front of you."

Harry grinned as he saw the god freezing in his tracks. It wasn't that hard to figure out. The way Heimdall negated his spells was literally the optimal way to do that, as far as Harry could tell, but they weren't bullshit enough to capitalize on a possible form of battle divination, hence, insight. It was a deceptively powerful ability, that mirrored a bit Harry's own, which allowed him to interpret magic as music. That little skill had brought him very far and made him a very fearsome opponent, much like the god before him.

His guess seemed to be a correct one, as the amusement fled from Heimdall's face, and he spoke up loudly, "I was told that your intelligence was impressive, for a mortal that is. You must know that there is very little you can do to stop me."

"Sure, you're a god, after all. But I can't help but wonder why you're even bothering with this dust ball. Everyone. The Light, the Dark, Gods and Demons, all want to influence this place, and I can't help but wonder why that's the case. You'd think you could all have better things to do than deal with us, insignificant mortals."

It had been something that niggled in Harry's mind. Humanity shouldn't be that special. The material realm was nothing more than one realm amongst many, but everyone was always so fixated on it. There had to be something there, especially given that Heimdall looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, "Humanity is under Asgard's protection. It is our duty to guide you and pave the path for Midgard's safety."

"Nah, that's not it. There wouldn't have been any threats if that happened. So, what made this a prize? The only thing that's special about it is the fact that it's material in nature, maybe the worship of us mortals. The Olympians used it to nourish themselves for centuries. Nah, you wouldn't really care about it; you're powerful enough not to care about it. But I'm close, aren't I? Oh, yes, I am. I can feel it. It's on the tip of my tongue. The same process of empowerment using worship could affect something else, doesn't it? It doesn't have to just empower being. But what could it affect? Not realms, they're too stabilized… Stabilized? That's it. Chaos. The material world shapes the chaos between worlds. We don't shape realms, we create realms, and whoever has control over the material realm is a god amongst gods. That is brilliant. That's why you made sure that the Light and Dark couldn't touch us. That's why everyone wants to have their little slice of Midgard. Well, isn't that neat? Now, the question is why Asgard should have that much power. After all, they didn't do shit against the Light and Dark."

The look on Heimdall's face got more serious as Harry's guesses got more accurate. For a god, he had a pretty shitty poker face. Or, maybe Penelope was influencing his reactions somehow. He was technically just possessing her body, overwhelming her conscious mind, but taking over her subconscious was a waste of energy.

"I have entertained this for long enough. You shall be spared, for you have a role to play and your punishment for defying Asgard will be the fate that awaits you."

Harry didn't have enough time to process that response when the god literally ran at him with a much higher speed, ready to impale him, only for Harry to raise his ice staff in response. A small victorious smile grew on the god's face, probably expecting to win. Right as the two weapons were about to meet, Harry froze his staff in time, turning it into an unbreakable object.

The power of a god met the concept of time itself, and that resulted in a gigantic explosion that sent everything flying back. Harry included, but he had expected that. His golden staff was shattered, but so was Heimdall's golden sword.

Harry knew first-hand the main weaknesses of insight, and that was either stuff that he didn't understand, or the understanding of something when it was too late. His time magic did help with the latter, but the former was still a danger, which he had to slowly deal with over the years as he learned more and more magic.

If his deductions were correct, Heimdall could see everything, but he still had to process it through Penelope's mortal mind. And that was the flaw. No matter how divine, no matter how fast, Heimdall was still bottlenecked by a brain not built to handle the sight of a god. The sheer lag in translating knowledge into action was barely perceptible—but it was there.

And Harry could exploit that.

Still, what Heimdall said, rattled him. What did happen to Harry or Daphne? None of the kids had obviously met him before and they didn't mention Daphne in any way. It was worrying him a bit, but he had put it on the back of his mind. The less he knew, the more flexible his future was, after all, but the way that Heimdall said it, the way, it sounded like a curse, like a punishment, Harry realized that he needed to know. He needed to know what awaited him in the future. He needed to make sure that Daphne would be safe at the very least.

Harry got up and saw Heimdall do the same. He was about to attack, demanding that the god elaborate on Harry's future, only for one of the kids to send a stunning charm at the fucking god. The red spell splashed harmlessly on the god's chest, and the entire battle froze, as everyone looked at the castor with pure incredulity.

Alexander Granger gave them all a cheapish look, barely able to believe that he had actually cast that spell and Harry rolled his eyes, "This isn't time for this shit, kids."

Without saying anything further, Harry opened a portal underneath the time-stranded teenagers, sending them back to a warded room in Hogwarts, before turning back to the god-possessed woman, "Now, where were we? Ah, yes. What was that about my fate?"

The possessed woman let out an ugly laugh, "Did you seriously think that anyone would let you be after Ragnarök? It is your purpose, and whether you survive its aftermath or not, is not our concern. But it could be. You could ascend amongst us, welcomed as the warrior, the hero that you are, Midgard's saviour, but only if you choose your next actions wisely."

That thought wasn't exactly new to Harry. Sure, what Heimdall was saying was a non-answer if he heard one, but he couldn't exactly imagine the ICW or any magical government, really, letting him move around unrestrained. And since they couldn't exactly force him to do anything – they would have learned from Dumbledore's failures, hopefully – it wasn't exactly hard to imagine what they would resort to. That was if he even survived Ragnarök in the first place.

This was an empty offer if he heard one, and Harry pointed the Elder Wand at his opponent who growled, "So be it."

Heimdall conjured a spear and threw it at Harry, who dodged it and sent a spacial breach that the god easily countered, their duel beginning anew.

Fighting Heimdall was a far more different endeavour than fighting Dumbledore or Grindelwald, and that probably had to do with the fact that the god and Harry surprisingly fought in a very similar way. They both relied on tricks, on an economy of movements, on understanding the attacks going their way and cutting them apart with the precision of a surgeon using a scalpel.

They were easily matched, with Harry's only advantage being his processing speed, only to realize that Heimdall must have copied it, and created some form of thought acceleration spell to keep up with him.

As Heimdall was conjuring a gigantic beam of golden energy, Harry finally saw it, the chink in the god's armour, and that was the woman he was possessing. Harry knew, without a doubt, that he'd have been overwhelmed in seconds had he fought the god in his true form, and that his human form limited him, but that did not really help matters, since Heimdall's most dangerous attribute was his insight.

But he could hear it with his Arcane Hearing. The god's insight had to be done through Penelope Clearwater first, and it was consuming her very being, overwhelming her soul, consuming her. She was very unlikely to survive past this battle, but her soul acted as some sort of buffer for Heimdall to pilot her body.

Harry grinned as a plan started to develop in his mind. He quickly warped space in front of him, making him appear right behind Heimdall, who almost impaled him with a golden spear, and negated a small space warp that still sent him back slightly.

The young wizard grinned, "You know why you're going to lose?"

The god sent a beam of golden energy at him, then followed back by turning the entire battlefield to sand that tried to overwhelm Harry, which quickly used a transmutation spell to turn it into dust. The god then dodged a bolt of lightning that Harry sent at him, "You're a mighty god, but your vessel leaves much to be desired. After all, who would be stupid enough to allow herself to be manipulated like this, allow herself to be possessed like this, all for an impossible dream, despite knowing any better."

The god yelled as he managed to get the dust to bind Harry's legs, ready to impale him with his spear, only for his weapon to freeze a millimetre before it struck Harry, the young wizard having created a small veil of infinite space right in front of him and murmured, "After all, what person would let someone possess them, even after they admitted that they had no plans of destroying the World Tree, only manipulate it for their own ends."

Harry's words obviously had an effect on Heimdall. At first, it was something that he could only determine with his Arcane Hearing. It wasn't much, just the smallest crack—but it was there. Penelope twitched, her golden eyes flickering, as if something inside her was screaming to be heard.

This allowed Harry to take advantage of that and conjure an ice sword which he channelled the power of the resurrection stone into, impaling it into the woman's heart, while murmuring, "I'm sorry."

The woman didn't mean much to him, but she had obviously been taken advantage of, during a very vulnerable time of her life. Still, she was a murderer and a very reckless woman, but Harry had just killed her for something that was not entirely her doing.

He slumped for a moment, thinking that he had won. After all, with Penelope dead, Heimdall should be able to pilot her, only for a pulse of golden energy to send him flying back. Harry groaned as he landed and saw Penelope's eyes glow gold, and golden energy slowly manifest into Norse battle gear, with armour and a far greater sword on the god's forearm.

The Aesir laughed mockingly, "Thank you, Peverell, for freeing me from that mortal's shackles."

Yeah, he may have miscalculated a bit. Heimdall didn't need Penelope's soul to pilot her body, he needed to use it because, for some reason, he wouldn't kill her. But since Harry's attack killed Penelope, the god was free to use her body as he wished, without using her as an intermediary. Damn it, he should have suppressed her soul, not kill her. He should have seen this coming. Alas, it was useless to think of what he should have done.

With a flick of Heimdall's wrist, Harry found himself bound with dozens of golden runes and he knelt down, punching a hole in the ground, grabbing a familiar small ball filled with energy. After all, Harry had made it from the remnants of Stonehenge's energy.

The grin on the god's face disappeared as he stared at the realm seed that Harry had built, "What is this?"

Harry realized exactly what the god was witnessing and burst into an incredulous laughter, the god immediately turned towards the bound wizard and yelled, "What did you do, boy?"

"Nothing," Harry answered, his grin not abating at the god's fury, "It's just that I didn't make this to exist as the World Tree. It was never my design to make something like this, to separate the muggle world from the magical world. I just created a seed of a realm that would continue what this place was made for in the first place, its purpose, and that was to bless magical kind and protect them in this isle. You cannot alter its purpose, because it hasn't even gotten close to becoming the World Tree, you're so scared of. Your journey here was doomed from the start, Aesir."

For some reason, the god's face paled slightly. He was probably still unused to a human body, being an energy-based entity himself, but his tells were surprisingly very easy to read. He was afraid. Why would a god be afraid? Harry was almost afraid to find out.

Heimdall's features settled towards determination and the god glared at Harry, "I will not fail."

Golden energy crackled around Heimdall's form, arcs of divine lightning searing the very air around him. The battlefield shattered. Reality itself cracked at the seams, and Harry quickly realized that the god was attempting to express himself fully, uncaring of the consequences of his stunt. Did he seriously fear failure that much? Even then, the essence seemed remarkably familiar. With that last thought, everything clicked, and Harry turned towards the god, unflinching at the power being thrown around. No, it was better than that. He was grinning. After all, he had just a very clever idea.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.