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Peter Parker, like any teenager, was a naturally curious individual. On an average day, he was mature for his age and of course, knew responsibilities associated with being an Avenger. However, he wasn’t immune to the urge of disobeying the direct command of not to touch something. He might have resisted if the sword didn’t resemble Excalibur trapped in the stone. The temptation of cosplaying King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone was too much for his geeky side and he pulled out Hofund from its resting place in Heimdall’s Observatory. With the shiny sword in his hand, he felt like Aragorn, wielding newly forged Andúril for the first time. Suddenly the Bifrost bridge opened, sending him to the unknown location.
“Awesome, so that’s why I wasn’t allowed to touch you! Wish I had my phone on me to record this” He said to the sword in his hand, hoping Thor might be able to retrieve him and Mr. Stark wouldn’t be too mad. The only thing worse than being grounded was being grounded in the Avengers Tower.
When he reappeared in the middle of nowhere, Peter was disappointed. With such cool sword he wanted to fight some Easterlings or uruks, hell he would have even liked orcs or wargs as enemies if it meant he could put the sword to use. He peered around the dark and dense forest wishing he would encounter ents. Of course, he knew they were just fictional characters but hey the guy wielding a teleporting sword can always hope.
Bracing the sword and asking Karen to activate the suit, spiderman stepped out of the shadows towards the next adventure.
Luna was not supposed to be in the forbidden forest but it was the only way to get the message to Hagrid. After being banished from the school he had fled to the forest to live with Grawp. The winter break was starting in a few days and she needed to give him the DA galleon. She was trekking towards the Grawp’s cave when she heard the noise coming from the bushes. She quickly extinguished the wand light, not keen on attracting the attention of unsavory things lurking in the shadows. Sound of footsteps agitated her further and she readied herself for a fight.
“Karen, can you send a GPS signal to Mr. Stark? These woods are creeping me out. I am not sure if I want to adventure any longer”
She heard a muffled male voice and relaxed her stance. It didn’t sound like someone much older than her and lacked the British accent. While that didn’t eliminate the possibility of approaching death eater, she knew ‘GPS’ was a muggle tracker thingy and it pointed towards someone pro-muggles. She was about to leave them to fend for themselves when she heard a yelp followed by “Karen WHAT.IS.THAT.THING?? Are we even on earth?”
A red and blue thing with a sword in his hand, hastily climbed the tree and a young thestral gave a chase. The red and blue thing threw something at its eyes and the thestral collided with the tree trunk. The thing threw more white substance at it and it stuck to the trunk. When it gave a low whine, Luna stepped forward to help it.
“Stop that. You are hurting it. It is scared” She said to the boy and he almost fell from the tree. However, instead of falling on the ground, he just stuck to the branch and swung upside-down.
“It scared me first.” Luna heard him say but ignored it in favor of looking over the thestral for injuries. Once she was certain it was okay, she cut the webbing (for there was no other word for it) and sent it on its merry way after giving him an apple.
“Do you carry an apple everywhere?” Came the question from the hanging boy and Luna looked at him curiously.
“Yes. Everyone likes them and I would give you one if you tell me what you are! Are you a Scarlet Scarlet Batarchid? Is that how you stick to the tree? I have never heard about them in Britain. Dad’s friend said they were local to Norway. But I never knew they could talk in English. ” Luna quizzed, no self-respecting Ravenclaw could give up a chance of learning something new.
“I am Spider Parker... Peter Man...!” He flipped to the ground and Luna tilted her head to sideways at the interesting name.
“Hello Spider Parker Peter Man. I am Luna Lovegood. What are you doing in a forbidden forest?” She asked, stretching her arm out.
“You are pretty.” Peter blurted out and held Luna’s hand longer than necessary.
“You look like Arwen. I mean not exactly since her hair is supposed to be black and she is half-elf but your eyes are grey like hers. And you do look like an elf, you are dreamy and are you sure you are not an elf?” he rambled causing her to giggle.
“I am certain I am not half-elf. Dad would have told me if we were and house elves don’t look like humans. I will have to ask Dobby about other elves though.” She replied thoughtfully and Peter panicked about being on another planet.
Before he had a chance to interrogate further, he felt a shiver across her spine. He automatically moved to shield Luna from approaching danger.
“Peter, the temperature is dropping below optimal parameters. Do you want me to activate the thermal layer?” Karen spoke in his ears at the same time Luna mumbled about a dementor.
Peter couldn’t catch Luna’s hushed whisper but there was a silver hare bounding in the darkness. In the silver glow, Peter saw a dark cloak floating above the ground, eerily similar to Nazgûl. When more of them approached, Luna’s hare disappeared and Peter looked around for a way out.
“Karen, activate the lights and detonate the shooter. Find the shortest way towards the water.” He ordered Karen and grabbed Luna by her waist. He swung from tree to tree in efforts to ditch them and stopped when he was relatively safe.
“Luna! Do you know that scene with Witch-king and Éowyn?” He asked suddenly excited. If he had learned something from his avenging experience, it was borrowing ideas from movies. He wasn’t sure why he was so confident but he knew it would work. There must be a reason the magic sword had dropped him amid nazgûls and fell-beast.
“Luna, listen to me,” He urged when the blonde didn’t reply. “There is this book, and it says these creatures would not fall by the hand of man! You have to be the one to kill them. This is the sword of Heimdall, guardian of Bifrost. If anyone can do it, it will be you and Hofund.”
Luna gave him a confused look and he hurried the explanation. “This is a magic sword. It brought me here and I think it will help you too.”
Luna wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe Spider Parker Peter Man. She had read about the Heimdall. Hofund, the sword was enchanted by All-father himself and possessed the power of blue stars. She inspected the sword carefully, trying to read the runes etched at the hilt. Satisfied, she grabbed the sword, ready to face the oncoming trouble.
When the dementor came, Luna was ready. With a swift motion, she threw the sword at its chest with all her power. The sword glowed blue in the darkness and unholy scream echoed through the forest. They sat on the treetop in silence for a while, waiting for other dementors. She silently climbed down the tree to retrieve the sword and cleaned it with her robe. She softly thanked the sword for the help and turned around to return it. The sword and the boy vanished from the forest, leaving Luna behind.
Peter was sulking in his room. As expected, the trip to the supposed middle earth had resulted in the 2 weeks of ban from superhero duties and a long month of being grounded. It hadn’t helped when Mr. Stark had told the alert had come from Scotland and no Luna Lovegood had shown up in the search results. He remembered her wide silver-grey eyes and wished he could find her again. She had saved him from the Nazgûl and the little winged horse. She at least deserved a Christmas card and a gift. But he was stuck at home with next to no access to technology and a long list of chores.
He looked up when a tapping sound came from the window. A white owl was waiting outside carrying a lumpy package. The beady yellow eyes of the bird stared into his own and Peter felt compelled to open the window. The bird gracefully flew inside, dropped the package on his bed and perched on the chair to sleep. Ignoring the bird, Peter reached for the bright yellow bundle on his bed. His face broke in a wide smile when he read the name: To, Spider Parker Peter Man.
Enclosed within were an apple and a handmade Christmas card with a silly doodle of upside-down spiderman playing with a hare. Inside of the card showed a blonde girl with a sword hugging spiderman, confetti and ribbons exploding in the background.
Merry Christmas Spider Parker Peter Man. I am not sure if Scarlet Batarchids celebrate Christmas. I was going to send you a butterbeer cork necklace to ward off nargles but dad says you might not be affected by them. He also says there might be an elven ancestry in our family. How did you know? Is it in the same book
which told you about the way to kill dementor? I am sending an apple I promised.
I told Hedwig to stay with you in case you wanted to send a letter back. Next time when we meet, wait until I get to hug you goodbye before apparating.
Love,
Luna
He grinned at the wonderfully weird letter and started to pen down his reply.