Dahlia returned to McGonagall's office with only minutes to spare before curfew carrying a bag with some of her belongings from the camp, including a couple of books. She felt bad that her father and Jora were doing all the research into healing Alice and Frank when it was she who asked so she took a couple of books from her box and brought them to the castle. She didn't wish to bring her box to the castle when it contained the apple as it was safer in the centre of the camp surrounded by soldiers.

As they approached McGonagall's office, they noticed another man coming down the hall and Tonks said, "that's my replacement".

A rather tough-looking wizard with short wiry grey hair approached, wearing a brown trench coat, but as he got closer, it seemed his confident and self-assured personality disappeared as he began to blink and look between the three of them rather foolishly. Tonks said, "Dahlia, Tonks, this is Auror John Dawlish".

"Pleasure," Dahlia said as she raised a hand to knock on McGonagall's office door and within moments, the door opened.

Professor McGonagall blinked at the number of people at her door and Dahlia quickly said, "Tonks is leaving, Akio just wants to know about all entrances and exits to your office and quarters and then he's staying out here, and I don't know what Dawlish is doing".

"Patrolling," Dawlish answered.

Professor McGonagall gestured them inside but kept the door open as Tonks stood at the door. Professor McGonagall said specifically to Akio, "that's the only door into this office, the fireplace is linked to the Floo Network, but no one can enter without my say-so. Clearly, the windows are locked from the inside. That painting over there," she gestured to the back of the room which showed the countryside with a small house in the distance, but in the fields with red flowers were two little girls playing. She continued, "is my quarters. That is the only entrance, but it also has a fireplace that has a Floo Network that is cut off unless I allow the person through."

Akio looked between the painting and the professor, what he wanted was clear, so the professor sighed and walked over to the painting before saying the password. It opened, and Akio went inside to see the professor was telling the truth that the painting and the Floo Network were the only access inside and was happy knowing that was all. He then left the quarters and nodded to both professor and Dahlia before he began to leave the room.

"Night," Dahlia said as Akio closed the office door.

In the hallway, Dawlish was still quite uncomfortable being with a soldier of the dead, but Tonks had gotten used to it throughout the day, so she said, "good luck, you're in for a long night. He doesn't talk, don't take it personally".

They then noticed that Akio wasn't stood but sat down against the wall with his legs crossed as he held his sword on the knuckles of his hands balancing it with his eyes closed, meditating.

This didn't faze Tonks as she then said, "as I said, don't take it personally if he doesn't talk to you, he hasn't said a word to me all day, but he does speak English. Don't try and attack him, even now when he looks all Zen. From what I heard from the camp, the best of Niflheim are trained by him so don't piss him off. Night".

She then just walked away as Dawlish looked at her. She walked away as if she had just left her fellow Auror in an ordinary position, as if the child he was assigned to watch was any ordinary child and the soldier was an Auror whose desk was in the same department as his. As if this whole situation was normal and happened on a regular basis.

Professor McGonagall gestured for Dahlia to follow her into her quarters when her office door closed, and Dahlia followed and was surprised at just how cosy it seemed. After she walked through the painting, she saw everywhere was opened, except the bedrooms and the bathroom. The sitting room was to the right as you walked in and had a red and brown two-seater couch with a matching armchair on a rug that was a golden brown in front of the fireplace. The coffee table in front of the couch had a chess board on and a few books and there was a bookcase in the corner of the room. Dahlia could see pictures on the fireplace and more on the cupboard against the wall. She couldn't see the pictures clearly from where she stood but she guessed that they were of McGonagall's family.

To the left side was the dining room with an oak table that could seat four and was right next to the kitchen, a small kitchen island was all that separated the two and Dahlia was shocked at the kitchen; the cupboards, the stove, the sink, the food, everything, considering that at the call of a house elf she could have any form of food or drink instantly.

McGonagall guided her to the corridor and walked past one door on the left side before she opened a door and said, "your room".

Dahlia followed McGonagall into it to find that it was decorated with Gryffindor colours. From the bedding and the curtains that hung around it like in the Gryffindor bedroom, to the curtains at the window and the wardrobe. The desk, chair and drawers almost had a gold-brown feel to them. It was clear to anyone that McGonagall was a proud Gryffindor.

McGonagall said, "it's not much but us professors don't usually have guests throughout the year, so our spare rooms don't usually get used".

"It's perfect, professor," Dahlia said as she put her bag down on the bed and said, "thank you".

McGonagall nodded and said, "I'll give you time to unpack".

They both sent quick smiles to one another before McGonagall left the room and Dahlia began to unpack, putting her books on the bedside cabinet while hanging her dresses in the wardrobe and putting other belongings in the cupboards.

Not ten minutes later, Dahlia left her room and walked down the hallway slowly and saw McGonagall carrying a tray into the sitting room with tea cups, milk, sugar, a tea pot and biscuits. The professor noticed her and said, "come sit, miss Lokidottir, we should talk".

McGonagall sat on the armchair and began to pour the tea as Dahlia walked around to sit on the couch and said, "I don't want any tea but thank you".

As McGonagall made her own, she questioned, "is there a reason you don't eat or drink? Even in the Great Hall, if you're there when there's food, I haven't seen you eat".

Dahlia leaned back against the couch and her thumbs began to twiddle with one another as she answered, "I know you put potions in the food and drink. It's why when a student falls sick from something like a stomach bug, it doesn't spread to the others, and it stops them falling sick from something as simple as the flu. Also, it's why you don't have any pregnant students. I know you got the permission from parents to slip it into their food and drink in the kitchens. What parent wouldn't want their kid to be well and not pregnant?" Dahlia stopped and noticed the professor was shocked, as if a student had never known before as they stressed secrecy on the letters to the parents. Dahlia shrugged and said, "don't worry, I won't make it public knowledge. The blade I stabbed myself with was from Niflheim, it's blessed so it has a specific poison embedded into it and that poison is still in my system. We found out yesterday the antidote wasn't working properly so I must have these injections every day at the camp. While I'm healing, I can't take any other potion or else it'll contaminate what I've been given, it will actually do the opposite and make me worse".

McGonagall's eyes stayed wide for a moment before she returned to normal and said, "so this is why you wanted to go to the camp for your dinner?"

Dahlia nodded, "that and to have my injection".

"Well, you can go for every meal, you have my permission," McGonagall then moved the biscuits towards Dahlia and said, "but I must tell you, these biscuits and tea do not have any potion in whatsoever. So, if you do want some, you can".

Dahlia hesitated for a moment before leaning forward and pouring herself some tea and leaning back, holding it in her hands after taking a sip. She smiled and said, "thank you. I don't just mean for the tea, for letting me stay. I don't know what I would have done if you had said no".

McGonagall hummed and said, "the paperwork was dropped off earlier. I currently have custody of you until your mother's will is found and your true guardian is discovered".

"If they find it. You know as much as I do that the Ministry is corrupt".

"That may be so, but the goblins usually deal with wills. They usually do not take part in our wizard matters which is why I was shocked when I discovered Albus knew of the first will and still left you with your aunt and uncle".

"Yeah," Dahlia said quietly as she looked down, "my family aren't happy about that".

McGonagall hesitated in asking what she truly wanted but after several moments of silence she did, "I heard the Aurors talking, one of them said you were abused living with them. How bad?"

"I don't want to talk about it".

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Dahlia sighed as she looked up to shockingly see the look of pain in her professor's eyes and said, "it wouldn't have made a difference. Dumbledore knew. He had someone watching me, Mrs Figg, she would have known and told him. Everyone saw how harsh they were, but the Dursleys told everyone I was a delinquent, that I am currently going to a detention school for the troubled where I get caned". She looked down as she couldn't look into her eyes anymore and said, "if I had told anyone, if I told you that my bedroom was a cupboard under the stairs for ten years, that I only had a proper bedroom when you sent the Hogwarts letter out that said about the cupboard, that the bedroom I got also came with three extra locks on the door to keep me in and even had bars on the windows at one point so that Ron and the twins came and broke them and got me out in second year. If I had told anyone that sometimes I went days without eating, that I was treated no better than a house elf, would anything have come of it?"

"Of course," McGonagall said as she put her tea down and reached over to hold Dahlia's hand.

She still didn't look at her professor as she shook her head and said, "no, it wouldn't. Dumbledore believes in these blood protection wards, he would have insisted I stay to keep the wards intact". She looked up to her professor who had tears in her eyes and said, "it's okay, it could have been worse. You should hear what my brothers have been through, then you'll be shocked at what children can endure".

"And your father, he didn't-"

"No," Dahlia shook her head, "I only found out about him after Voldemort attacked in first year. When I was unconscious, our magic connected, and I found out about him, but he was in prison. He didn't even know I was alive, he saw my mother's body that night in Godric's Hollow and then he found blood in my crib from this," she moved her hand from McGonagall's and put her fingertips to her scar. After a moment, she wrapped the hand around her cup and said, "he believed I died with mum, so did Hela. I couldn't tell either of them. If they found out they'd blame themselves and now they have, they do. Dad already blames himself for the others being taken a thousand years ago, I didn't want him to take the blame for what the Dursleys did".

"You'll never go back there again".

"I know," Dahlia said with a hint of a smile, "dad, Hela, the boys, they all suffered at the hands of others and they see me as a baby, someone they have to protect. I guess me not having all their abilities kind of encourages the whole baby sister image. Even if I wanted to go back, they wouldn't let me".

McGonagall frowned and asked, "if you chose to stay here, would they allow that?"

Dahlia was confused for a moment at the way she said allow but then it clicked in her mind what the professor was accusing and leaned forward and said quickly, "no, no, no, no, no," she put her tea down on the table as she turned her body to face the professor. "It's not like that. They're not being controlling or keeping me trapped-"

"It sounds that way. You talk of them having to allow you to be somewhere you want to be, you are followed every moment of the day, sometimes by two of those soldiers, if you're alone the room has to be searched for entrances and exits as if you're in a cage".

"No, it's not like that," Dahlia said then put her hands over her face for a moment then dropped them and said, "I'm sorry for Akio searching this place but that's because when Sirius took me, two of the soldiers watching me were trained by him. When you're trained by Akio, to become a soldier, you have to face him in a fight and last, I think it's for a whole minute, against him. Because I was taken, Akio blames himself. He believes he should have taught the other soldiers better or guarded me himself as he would have sensed the magic used and would have stopped me from being taken...when it comes to my family, okay yes, they can go a little overboard but don't all families when one of their own is in danger? Yes, I am followed constantly and sometimes I want to scream and tell them to leave me alone, but I've been watched by people my entire life. At least with them they want to keep me safe, they want to protect me and not just make sure I haven't died at the wrong time".

"Miss Lokidottir,"

"No," she said shaking her head, "I don't see it as being trapped in a cage. I see my family not wanting to be torn apart again. We're currently on a realm where both sides of this war want me dead. Voldemort and his Death Eaters will do anything to kill me because of this prophecy and Dumbledore thinks I should die in this war. Then the Avengers, I know they won't kill me and Thor is under a soul contact now, so he can't, but Asgardians won't keep their mouths shut when the other realms discover Odin has released my father and siblings and they will panic that Ragnarok may be coming. When they discover that my father had a child of two worlds, they'll become even more paranoid...and you don't know what that means".

She put her head down in her hands and sighed as McGonagall said, "a child of two worlds, I assume that means here and your father's world?"

Dahlia nodded and lifted her head, "but so much more. Children of two worlds are rare because all the realms, except of course Niflheim where they're a lot more accepting, speak of them as abominations. Each realm is connected by the world tree, the branches and roots of Yggdrasil. Each realm has its own magic, its own strengths and weaknesses of their races. They don't like mixing races because the child could end up with all the weakness and none of the strengths from either race, or the opposite, all the strengths and none of the weaknesses. Then there's the issue of the magic inside the child, it could drive them mad. There's a story that it did once with one child, he killed lots of people, entire towns and villages on Vanaheim before he was stopped. It's rare for them to be born but when it does happen, they're watched for any sign of evil, but some don't even wait for that and they're killed. Thor's wife Jane was from here, he met her and fell in love but of course, Odin disapproved. From what my sister tells me, the only way Thor and Jane married, and she bore his child, was for her to change, to become one of them. Hela says its wrong what they did, almost against nature as they changed her biology, right down to her very soul. She would have been in undescribed pain, almost as if Hela was torturing her, and she almost died. Their child is probably being watched, just in case...do you see, Professor? Do you see why they're so protective? It's not just the people here who want me dead, people everywhere don't trust my family because of some prophecy told a thousand years ago, and they definitely wouldn't like the news of a child of two worlds being born into that family".

McGonagall couldn't believe it, how such a young child could have so many enemies just for simply existing. She still remembered the day she first met young Dahlia Lokidottir but of course, she went by Dahlia Potter back then. A small baby being introduced to several Order members at only fifteen days old, sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms, but when she saw her awake, she was a happy baby without a care in the world. A symbol to all who were fighting in the war; that they were fighting for her and all the children, then and in the future, so that they could remain peaceful and live without worry. Of course, now, the same generation they were trying to protect were the same generation that were now arming themselves, preparing themselves for the war they would soon be dragged into.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following day was a Friday which meant that they had Realms and History again with Thor then double Sports and Self-defence before having the toad for the final lesson of the day, DADA. Dawlish seemed spooked when Dahlia came out into the hallway to go down to the camp for breakfast and it seemed Akio hadn't moved from meditating all night. Going down to the camp, you could see Dawlish looking around, as if waiting for Tonks to appear, and in the camp, he seemed to be constantly looking everywhere and the soldiers in the camp took great delight in scaring him. A few of them were throwing little rocks towards him to lightly touch his back and he would quickly turn and hold his wand up, ready for an attack. He seemed to quickly get the idea that it would be better for him if he stayed at the entrance of the camp and almost seemed to run when Tonks made an appearance and she seemed all too happy to be speaking to a few of the soldiers and servants.

When it came to Realms and History, Dahlia didn't speak to Thor or Steve and they didn't even attempt to speak to her either, knowing they weren't exactly welcome. Dahlia chose not to listen to them and instead read her books on healing. She was surprised when Thor didn't question her on why she was reading it, or Steve question what it was about as it was written in Norse and he couldn't translate the titles whereas Thor could. Only Hermione asked what the books were about, and Dahlia told her the truth about the books but didn't tell her the reasoning behind them. She didn't want Hermione letting something slip to Neville and him getting his hopes up in case she, her father and brother couldn't come through and find a way to heal them.

In Sports and Self-defence, the fifth years were spread out on different apparatuses while Natasha and Clint worked one on one with two students as they taught them Self-defence and they would alternate with the others. Akio and Tonks stood by the door and watched but even with his unemotional expression, Tonks could tell he disproved when Dahlia was called upon by Clint to train with him after she was on the rock-climbing wall with Hermione. Tonks hummed and said, "you don't like them teaching her. Let me guess, you disprove of women learning to fight? Considering the way, she dresses since your lot arrived, and this is the first time she's worn pants but even her top has long sleeves instead of short like the other girls. Pretty backwards society".