The next day, none of the Gryffindor girls expected to be woken early as the majority of the mornings they had free periods which most spent catching up on sleep but even Hermione who would be up studying or doing some homework, was woken rather early. They heard someone moving around and opening drawers as if searching for something, but Hermione woke quickly as she heard it coming from Dahlia's bed next to her. "Dahlia," she said as she blinked awake, "what're you doing?"

"Looking for my Exploding Snap cards," she said as she closed her trunk a bit too loudly.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?" Lavender said loudly and almost screamed and the other three girls shot up in their beds and looked at Dahlia.

Dahlia rolled her eyes and said, "oh, relax. It's not like I have a soldier with me...he's downstairs," the Gryffindor girls, except Hermione, glanced to the door.

"You shouldn't be here," Lavender said.

Dahlia sighed as she stood in her long amethyst coloured dress with silver cross-stitching across the neckline and on the bottom of her sleeves. She also wore a silver belt with her sword, wand, and a small pouch. Her locket was hanging proudly and freely in the centre of her chest like she hadn't been able to do before and her hair was pinned slightly to the side as it flowed in curls.

"If I remember, I'm a Gryffindor and this is also my room," Dahlia said as she crossed her arms with a small smirk.

While some of the girls just glanced down to the sword, Lavender pushed the covers off herself and stood and said, "like you're a Gryffindor. All the stuff Professor Odinson told us about your dad-"

"Thor is a big-headed fool," Dahlia almost snapped, "if you listen to him about everything regarding the nine realms then you're more stupid than you look".

Lavender gasped as some of the other girls smiled and Faye even let off a small laugh as she and Louise looked to one another. Parvati sat up in bed and reached over to her bedside drawers and brought out a pack of Exploding Snap cards. "Here," she said to Dahlia, "you let me borrow them a few weeks ago".

Dahlia unwrapped her arms and gave a small smile to Parvati as she collected her Exploding Snap cards before walking back to her own bedside drawers. She opened it and collected a few Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products before putting them and her cards in her pouch which clearly had an extendable charm. "Are you coming to breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"No," Dahlia said as she closed the drawer, "having a family day, I only came to the castle to get some things. I wanted to teach the boys exploding snap and," she smirked, "maybe give them some delicious sweets".

Hermione laughed, "will they even work?"

"We'll see," Dahlia said as she walked back towards the entrance to the dorm, "sorry for waking you early," she said as she closed the door.

She didn't even make it down a step before Lavender said loud enough for her to hear, "IT'S ONLY 7:30!"

When she reached the bottom of the stairs there were no students in sight, only Akio standing like the soldier he is near the entrance to the common room. He turned his head when she took the final step and asked, "returning to camp, Princess?"

Dahlia nodded but as she walked towards him asked, "Akio, quick question. Say if I was to give my brothers prank sweets that should change their appearance, would they work?"

Akio answered instantly as if no thought was needed, "your brothers' biology is different to yours. Although you have the same father, your mothers were of different origins. The sweets you speak of may work on you, because of your mother's Midgardian biology, but may have different affects or none at all on them because they do not possess that Midgardian biology".

"Soooo, they could still work?" she smirked.

"A possibility," he said simply.

"Excellent," she said happily then began to walk to the exit with a slight spring in her step as Akio followed.

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

"That didn't happen," Dahlia laughed as they were setting up blankets next to the Great Lake on the other side of the castle to the camp. Loki, Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Jonathan were carrying the bags while Violet was carrying the picnic basket and Hela and Dahlia were setting the large picnic blanket on the ground.

"It did," Fenrir laughed, "he was about four hundred and thirty, I think, and he wrapped himself up the tree and got onto one of the higher branches but was too scared to get down. He even turned himself back into his natural form and hugged the branch and cried".

They all laughed as Jörmungandr glared at his older brother for mentioning the time he was stuck up a tree but blushed under embarrassment.

"Please tell me you got him down fast," Violet said as she placed a hand of comfort on Jörmungandr's arm, hoping it wouldn't embarrass him.

"Of course," Loki said with a smile, "after about ten minutes of trying to persuade him to come down, the servant watching them finally came and got me. I was trying to teach Hela how to control her magic that had started coming through. Anyway, by the time I got there, Fenrir had thought it would be a bright idea to try to play hero".

"See, brother," Fenrir said to Jörmungandr, "I tried to save you".

Jörmungandr scoffed and said, "if I remember correctly, you got stuck in the tree with me. Some hero".

The girls only laughed louder as Fenrir opened and closed his mouth to defend himself but what his brother said was true and made him turn red too. Loki added, "okay, okay, you both got stuck up a tree. You were both young children, you weren't to know you couldn't get down".

Hela and Dahlia had put the blanket down and used a few rocks to hold it down in the corners before going in one of the bags the boys were holding and brought out picnic cushions. They had moved all the rocks from under the blanket but the rocky sandy surface next to the lake wasn't the most comfortable, yet it offered an enchanting view of the lake and hill.

After setting everything down, they all sat down on their own cushions as Violet began to pour them all drinks and set some fruit down, the rest of the food was for later. Fenrir asked once he was handed his goblet, "so, let's hear some funny stories about baby Dahlia".

"No," Dahlia said instantly and looked quickly to her grandparents, father and sister, "don't you dare".

"Oh, come on," Jörmungandr said, "you heard one about us".

"Weren't the whole finding out about Fen and Jora stuffed animals enough," Dahlia whined.

Hela laughed as the adults smiled and said as she placed a grape in her mouth, "so you found out about them...Storytime then, so Dahlia was about fourteen months old". Dahlia dove to cover her sister's mouth at the amusement of the others, but Hela grabbed her arms and held her tightly as Dahlia's struggled to stop her. She continued with the story, "she was going through a phase of developing her stubborn personality and her favourite word at that time was no. So, she was playing in the living room at that house in Godric's Hollow and Lily had cut up some fruit and put it in a plastic bowl for her. Dahlia, however, didn't want to pick at the fruit herself but wanted to be fed because she wouldn't let go of her precious Fen and Jora animals".

At this, everyone but Dahlia laughed, and Dahlia stopped struggling and just leaned into her sister as the embarrassment began to kick in and she closed her eyes.

"I didn't mind feeding her, but Lily said she wasn't going to raise a spoilt little witch and Dahlia would learn that even though papa and I would give her everything she wanted, she shouldn't have everything she asks for on demand. Dahlia refused to put down Fen and Jora and kept on saying no, no matter what we told her. And so, for about twenty minutes, Dahlia cried and even called out dada thinking he'd come and give in," Hela and the others laughed as Loki looked to his youngest who seemed to want to hide in her sister's arms.

Loki shrugged and said, "probably".

Hela continued, "so after about twenty minutes, she stopped crying as Lily sat there holding the bowl and it finally sunk in that she wasn't going to get what she wanted. She put the stuffed Fen and Jora to her side and reached out for the bowl with her lip sticking out in disproval and Lily happily handed it over. Of course, when she was finished she dropped the bowl and hugged the Fen and Jora stuffed animals and just glared at the two of us".

Hela unwrapped her arms from around her sister and Dahlia sat up as she glared at her sister ad said, "I hate you".

"Love you too," Hela said sweetly as she took a sip of her drink and Dahlia's glare broke as she smiled.

Dahlia, however, turned to her father and said, "so stories about Hela..."

It was now the Goddess of Death who looked horrified as Loki said, "like you being sick in her mouth".

Fenrir almost choked on his drink while Jörmungandr cringed and said, "what?"

Violet jumped in and said, "Hela learned the unfortunate way not to lie down and hold a six-month-old in the air and laugh with her mouth open at the same time".

Hela and Dahlia cringed as the boys laughed and Dahlia said, "sorry".

"No wonder your breath smells," Fenrir said, and Hela gasped and threw an apple at him which he caught easily and took a bite.

"Alright, no throwing," Loki said, "so Hela story...how about this one, when she was three hundred and sixty, which would seem like a toddler to you, I was giving her a bath and when I got her out and wrapped her in a towel, I turned my back for a few seconds to empty the tub. When I turn back she's gone but the towel is on the floor".

"Oh no," Hela said as she covered her face as she remembered the story, thankfully not the actual life experience of it.

"So, I run out of the bathroom," Loki continued, "I can't see her anywhere and all I can think is I've got a naked child running around". Everyone laughed while Hela groaned. "It took me thirty minutes to find her and it seems I wasn't the first as Fenrir here," he gestured to his eldest who looked confused about what part he played, "had found her first. It seems that Hela had disappeared and went to the play room where not only Fenrir and Jora were but also other children".

Dahlia burst out laughing and Hela said, "kill me and my soul now".

"Fenrir, however, thought it was a good idea to take off his own clothes, except his briefs, and give them to his sister before pulling her back towards our rooms. So, when I found them, I had one child wet and in her brother's clothes and another just in his briefs. By the evening, it seemed like everyone in Asgard heard and joked about it".

They laughed and fell into a comfortable silence for a moment before Dahlia looked nervously at her grandparents and asked, "what was mum like as a kid?"

Violet and Jonathan smiled before they glanced to one another and Jonathan said, "very open-minded, brave, incredibly stubborn-"

"Trouble," Violet jumped in.

Jonathan scoffed and said, "I wouldn't say trouble".

"She almost got expelled from school in the first three months".

"WHAT?" Hela and Dahlia exclaimed while the boys looked shocked and Loki smirked as if he wasn't surprised.

Violet sighed and said, "it was when she first started year 1, she was five at the time. She was the only girl in her class to have red hair and there was this specific boy that wasn't the nicest about it. Lily didn't let it bother her and just rolled her eyes whenever he said anything but two months in, there was a new girl. This girl was attacked by a dog when she was a toddler and had markings on her right cheek and she couldn't open her right eye properly. Emily, I think her name was, was shy and wouldn't stand up for herself. The kids were cruel, all except Lily who befriended the girl, but one day, the same boy who picked on Lily for her red hair pushed Emily over and Lily...well".

Jonathan smiled as if he was proud and said, "punched him so hard she broke his nose in two places".

"Go mum," Dahlia said as she laughed and everyone except Violet looked proud.

The grandmother rolled her eyes and said, "don't get me wrong, I am proud, but she could have handled the situation differently".

Fenrir began to whisper to Jörmungandr who glanced to his sister which made them nervous, but it seemed they didn't have time to react as the boys jumped to them and grabbed them around the waist before walking towards the lake. The grandparents and Loki laughed as Jörmungandr carried Dahlia bridal style while Fenrir had managed to swing Hela over his shoulder.

"Put me down," Hela commanded.

"Of course," Fenrir said as he reached the water's edge and walked a few more feet before he dropped her into the water. They laughed as she just sat there, glaring at her older brother as her dress was drenched in lake water.

"Don't even think about it," Dahlia said as she wrapped her arms tightly around Jörmungandr's neck as he was about to drop her. "Seriously-" she screeched as she was dropped onto her front into the water, her dress, face and hair all covered before she managed to sit in the water up to her chest.

Violet, Jonathan and Loki laughed as the girls were drenched and glared at the boys and then they splashed the boys as Hela said, "camp is on the other side of the castle, we didn't bring spare clothes".

"You wanted to swim," Dahlia added, "you could have told us first before ruining our clothes. We have stuff on under our dresses if we wanted to swim".

The boys looked quickly to each other before they shrugged and Jörmungandr said, "you didn't tell us".

They girls stood and walked back to shore and they quickly began to remove their outer dresses, revealing a thinner knee-high dress underneath with pants. The girls handed their dresses to Violet as the boys threw their shirts and outer pants off, showing thinner shorter pants underneath. The boys quickly began to swim away as the girls ran back into the water for revenge.

Dahlia and Hela swam about two hundred feet out when the boys disappeared. They began to tread water as they looked around but then they were pushed back by the waves as Jörmungandr broke the water's surface in his snake form, the water dripping from him, the sun reflecting off him so brightly that they almost didn't see Fenrir hanging onto his brother and letting go to drop into the water.

"You have got to try that," Fenrir said happily, forgetting about revenge.

"Oh yeah," Hela said as she jumped on him as if she was attempting to drown him.

Jörmungandr changed back and laughed, "come on, it was only some fun".

Dahlia then decided to jump on his back but Jörmungandr quickly turned into his snake form and she gripped on tightly, her fingers digging into his scales, but she couldn't hang on long and fell to the water. Even as she crashed hard, she whooped and said, "Fen's right, you have to try it".

Jörmungandr turned back and laughed and asked, "have you seen the Merpeople colony?"

"When they try to stop me from rescuing people, I'm sure I'd remember," Dahlia said sarcastically.

The four siblings swam to one another and Jörmungandr asked excited, "do want to see it?"

Fenrir frowned and said, "not all of us can turn into a snake and hold our breath for long".

Jörmungandr smirked and looked to his sisters and said, "and magic won't be able to help with that issue?"

The girls looked to one another and smiled before they looked back to their brothers and Dahlia said, "I used Gillyweed in the Triwizard Tournament. I grew gills and webbed between my fingers and toes, I could breathe for an hour underwater. There's also the Bubblehead Charm which causes a bubble to form over your head, so you can breathe...I haven't read anything in my Aseir books about breathing underwater, have you?" she looked to Hela. Hela just smiled as she looked between her siblings.

Five minutes later, the three siblings were holding on tightly to the scales of Jörmungandr as he swam through the water, not as fast as he could in case his siblings let go. The three siblings held on tight and breathed normally, bubbles floating to the surface as if they had an unlimited amount of oxygen in their bodies. They swam past the giant squid, or it swam rather quickly away from them as if it feared them and surprisingly, they saw the Slytherin dormitory. Dahlia quickly remembered that not only did the Slytherin dorms lie in the dungeons but had very large windows that looked out beneath the Great Lake, giving the dorms a more mysterious feeling once inside.

Of course, she didn't really appreciate the inside when she used Polyjuice Potion in the second year, but she could imagine the creatures and views they must see on a daily basis. Seeing a giant snake swimming past the windows carrying three passengers did attract attention and Dahlia noticed several Slytherins at the windows watching while waving to others to look and she recognised a few. She wondered if they could truly make out who the people were in the dark water, it didn't take a genius to guess who the giant snake was but then again, with people like Crabbe and Goyle in Slytherin, maybe they did need someone to tell them.

They swam slowly for a while before reaching the Merpeople colony. A large familiar rock to Dahlia appeared before them, a painting of Merpeople on it carrying spears, and chasing what Dahlia believed to be the giant squid. The rock brought back memories for Dahlia, back to a year ago when she went past the very same rock in the tournament, following the Merpeople's song 'an hour long you'll have to look'. The cluster of crude stone dwellings stained in algae loomed on all sides. The windows were showing dark faces like they did the last time, with no resemblance at all to the paintings of mermaids that had been done, nor did they look like the sirens her brother had stayed with for so long. They had greyish skin and long, wild, dark-green hair with yellow eyes and yellow broken teeth. As they entered their territory by passing the stone, Dahlia almost expected them to attack them with their spears but as they began to emerge from the caves and soon appeared all around them, they didn't attack but looked curiously at the guests.

Dahlia looked to Fenrir and Hela who were looking around amazed, but Hela noticed the Merpeople's looks too and looked to Dahlia just as precaution. Jörmungandr suddenly stopped when it came to the merversion of a village square and a crowd of Merpeople were gathered, more joining by the second. It was clear why Jörmungandr stopped when she realised the Merchieftaness Murcus was standing, or in this case swimming, not too far in front of him, holding her spear by her side with two other Merpeople by her side. She seemed to be analysing Jörmungandr but then didn't look into his eyes but down, as if to look to his chest. There lay the Sapphire of the Ocean, the necklace stayed hung around his neck, even in snake form, and hadn't moved since Princess Seraphina had placed it there.

Murcus then swam closer then stopped and it looked as if she bowed her head to Jörmungandr and he returned the compliment. She then spoke, "friend of the sea, protector, the one known as King of Serpents, you protected our cousins in the Greek waters, for that we are grateful...you are welcomed," she shrieked and suddenly all the Merpeople around them shrieked and raised their spears.