Could It Be Magic?

by DZ2

With magic, not everything is what it seems: such is the case for the Saviour and the new Sorcerer Supreme who now has two reasons to accept his calling: for destiny and for his son! Grey Super Harry; Eventual Harmony;

1. Reopen Your Eye

Could It Be Magic? A Harry Potter/Avengers/Doctor Strange Crossover Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters: all rights belong to JK Rowling. I do not own Avengers, Doctor Strange or any of their associated characters: all rights belong to Marvel, Stan Lee and the MCU; I do not own any other crossover references used in the story: all rights belong to their original creators. I do own any OC spells explained at the end of a chapter.

Plot: With magic, not everything is what it seems: such is the case for the Saviour and the new Sorcerer Supreme who now has two reasons to accept his calling: for destiny and for his son!

Author's Note: So, before anyone has a whinge about it, let me just say that I KNOW what I said about no new stories and everything, but in cleaning up the ideas I knew wouldn't stand up and allow permanent, decent ideas to come together, I found myself actually disliking parts of my other Sorcerer-Supreme-Harry story and, at the same time, working on a little something that would make it a little more permanent, to the point where I could get a full story out of it.

So…this is that story and, well, let's just say there are a lot of interesting things in it, a lot of unusual twists and turns, a few things people might not like and some that others might find completely disgraceful and uninteresting.

Well, if that's the case, then you know what to do, don't you?

Don't like, don't read.

Added Note: Also, before anyone asks, this story will start with the events of the Doctor Strange movie, but the rest of the MCU is pretty much AU and altered, twisted and mixed up in places to suit the story. Also, a certain someone will be majorly-bashed and hated while certain others will be unlike they're usually portrayed in fanfiction and certain themes. Oh, and expect a Good – again, that's G-O-O-D, GOOD – Albus Dumbledore and some twists to the norm that, hopefully, will make this a fun read.

But, hey, if that's not your sort of thing, then…

(All together now)

DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT!

Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to my amazing friends and loyal fans: my recommended reads are Scion of Sorcery by DZ2, Master Potter of Kamar-Taj by Ryuko monogatari, Child of the Storm and Ghosts of the Past by Nimbus Llewelyn, Magical Avenger by EricPotter97, Something Worth Avenging by A Writer's Second, Heroes Assemble by Stargon1, The Phoenix by WinterAlice, Avengers: Broken Oath by LordSlytherin120, Saviour of Magic by Colt01, Prince of Asgard by Drakenn, Harry Potter and the Revival of Soul Magic and Harry Potter: Birth of Technomancy by AlphaPheonix, Crafting Magic by kgfinkel and Harry Potter and the Mystic Sorcerer by Winged Seer Wolf

Key Pairing: Eventual Harmony;

Other Pairings: Mentions of Tony/Pepper; Mentions of Lily/Stephen; Others TBD

Normal Speech

'Thoughts'

'Mental Speech'

/Parseltongue/

Chapter 1: Reopen Your Eye

'What is she doing?'

Stephen couldn't believe how stupid, if not, pointless it seemed, but all he could do was follow the astral form of the Ancient One through the spiritual realm, a part of him – the part that was a Doctor – hoping to convince her to return to her body, to allow them a chance to save her and help her regain her strength.

Just as she had helped him, now he hoped to help her and then, together, the two of them could help save and protect the world.

To his bewilderment, by the time he managed to catch up with her, Stephen saw her, the Ancient One, standing on a balcony, watching the world pass her by without a care in the world. Beyond her viewpoint, a storm had started to roll in, but, as Stephen caught up with the spirit of the powerful sorceress, he couldn't help but notice how slow the world seemed to become.

Right now, however, he had more-important things to worry about, as he made clear when he reached her, "What are you doing? You have to return to your body now; you don't have time."

"Time is relative here," argued the Ancient One, her voice as calm, yet mysterious as she always had been in recent months. "Your body hasn't even hit the floor yet."

'So she knew I was following her?' wondered Stephen, standing next to the woman who'd become something of a trusted friend and mentor to him ever since he'd first shown up in Kamar-Taj, though, as he noted, she was still reluctant to return her astral self to her physical self.

Together, the two of them watched the slow progress of time, though the Ancient One seemed to take advantage of this situation as she continued speaking to her young protégé, "I've spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it. I've prevented countless terrible futures; and after each one there's always another…and they all lead here, but never further."

"You think this is where you die," said Stephen: it wasn't a question.

When it came to the seemingly-eternal spirit of magic next to him, he'd come to realise there were no questions, only answers and the right time for them to be given to those who didn't need to ask.

And, in this manner, the Ancient One just seemed to change the subject, addressing Stephen once more with the air of curiosity and smug, if not amused knowing, as she asked him, "You wonder what I see in your future?"

"No," replied Stephen, though he was cut off from arguing the point when she gave him that look; the one she always seemed to give to suggest she knew what he was going to say, even if he chose to deny it.

And, given the situation, he didn't feel right arguing, so, just this once, he let her beat him; lowering his eyes, Stephen's lips twitched in amusement as he admitted, "Yes."

Smiling at his reluctant admission, The Ancient One chuckled to herself before she became calm and expressionless once more as she told him, "I never saw your future…only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness; you've always excelled, but not because you crave success but because of your fear of failure."

"It's what made me a great doctor," argued Stephen, earning another smirk from his mentor.

"It's precisely what's kept you from greatness: arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all."

"Which is?"

Turning to him, her gaze reflected in the briefest flash of light from beyond their place on the balcony, the Ancient One sighed softly as she answered his question. "It's not about you!"

While Stephen stared in bewilderment, the Ancient One sighed again as she told him, "When you first came to me, I showed you the world as we see it as Sorcerers, but I also showed you more than I have ever shown anyone else. Whether it's Mordo, Master Kaecilius, Master Hamir, Wong or any of the other young charges I have trained across the centuries, not one of them saw what you saw, Stephen…and even fewer were shown it for a reason."

"Which is?" repeated Stephen.

Here, the Ancient One visibly blushed before, heaving a sigh of regret and amused hope, she looked back to him as she explained, "I showed you what you needed to see, not what you wanted to see. I then did it again when you needed an incentive to master your Sling Ring and, even now, I have seen the bond forged between you and the Cloak of Levitation, not to mention how you were able to lift up and wield the Eye of Agamotto, which contains a power far greater than you, or any of the others, can possibly imagine."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Stephen curiously, his voice edged by a note of urgency as he insisted, "We can talk about this more when you are healed: for God's sake, you're going to die!"

"I have known that for a while," argued the Ancient One, cutting off Stephen once more as she explained, "I hoped I would have more time and, trust me, Doctor Strange, like you, I am not ready for the unknown: no-one ever is. We don't get to choose our time, you see; death is what gives life meaning: to know your days are numbered and that your time is short."

Here, she chuckled softly before she added, "You'd think, after all this time, after the many times I have walked along the paths of time and seen all that there is to see and more, I'd be ready, but look at me…stretching one moment out into a thousand…just so I can watch the snow."

While Stephen stood with her, the Ancient One sighed sadly before she turned to him once again, "But this is not the only reason: like I said, when I showed you the endless capacities of the universe, I did so because you needed to see it, not because you wanted to. You see, I needed you to believe in the greatness and endless boundaries of magic…just as you did when you were a child."

That caught Stephen's attention, though as he went to speak, the Ancient One lifted her hand, cutting him off as she told him, "I know: you don't remember much from when you were a child. The games you would play with your dearest of friends, the laughs you would have that made you a true believer and a spirit worthy of the greatest adventures…I've known it ever since I first saw you, Stephen…which wasn't when you came to my door, but several years ago, on a night so dark, it sent ripples through all of magic itself."

"But how could you know?" asked Stephen.

"Because I know the magic that blocks you from seeing the truth," explained the Ancient One, lifting her hands once more as she told him, "And while you have been training with Wong and Mordo, I have been searching for the necessary spells to lift your memories and give you back what you have lost…but I can only do this if you are ready."

"Then why not wait until you're better?"

"Because this is my last day," explained the Ancient One, though as she said it, a lone tear rolled down her cheek as she went on. "But several years ago, when I had the vision of you, seeing you where you are now, unsure of yourself, but ready to take that step, I knew I had to find a way to give you this…even if it was the last thing I have given you because, you see, just as I do not see myself past this day, neither do I see what could happen with me or through me if I had done this sooner."

Here, she lay her ghostly hands on Stephen's heart before she looked into his eyes as she asked him, "Please, Stephen: if this is to be my last day, allow me to go out knowing I did at least one thing right. I hated drawing power from the dark dimension but as you well know, sometimes one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good and now…now the payment comes due, so please, my friend, my student…let me give you this so that, one day, the world can be made all the better for it…for you, for them and for everyone who still chooses to understand what magic truly is."

As Stephen looked down at her hands, he looked back to his mentor before he gulped hard as he muttered, "For…for a while…before I let myself be lost to my…my studies, I…I wanted to know…but when I believed it impossible, I…I gave up."

"Then tell me," said the Ancient One, her eyes shining with the same magnificent power he'd seen her wield as she asked, "Do you want to know the full truth, Doctor Strange?"

Stephen only had to look out at the view from the hospital, seeing the snow fall as the Ancient One had said, as well as the light that shone around them in a flash of lightning that seemed to take forever to appear and disappear again, before he looked back to her, his green eyes like emerald fire as he took her hand in his.

"Yes…and thank you; I won't forget what you've taught me."

"I know you won't…Sorcerer Supreme," replied the Ancient One, earning an alarmed look from Stephen.

Before he could say anything in retort, however, he felt his body burn with magic, which seemed to come from a lightning bolt that hit him even through the slowed-down-timescale around him. The bolt passed through the Ancient One, hitting Stephen's chest hard and fast, lighting up his eyes with more power and strength than he would have ever believed.

But as he felt this power coursing through him, so too did he receive the gift of his mentor.

Magic

In his mind's eye, he saw a much-younger him, in a place that did seem remotely familiar, but he couldn't quite recall it just yet; he also saw a flash of red and green, so similar to his, but so different. He saw two children, laughing and reading together, being happy in each other's company for a long time until Stephen saw older people, who took one of the children away, leaving the other alone.

His visions then showed him pieces of paper – no…parchment – and words written on the paper, talking about magic, the trust of a dear friend and words that stood out like neon signs in Las Vegas.

No matter what, you will always have my hidden kiss

He saw an older girl, with similar flashes of red and green to before; he saw her laughing and joking, but, as the images changed and she grew older, he saw her expressions change until he saw tears, heard her cries and how she was talking…no…begging for him to help her, to be there for her as he used to be.

Stephen saw her talking about someone she thought she had loved, but how he had changed and how, in the aftermath, all she wanted was her friend, her childhood sweetheart, and how she would be damned to anything else for that to change.

Then the vision changed again and Stephen saw a man, furious with him, angry and vengeful.

He saw a flash of white.

Then…

Magic

Snapping out of the vision, Stephen's eyes widened as he looked to the spirit of his mentor, though as he did so, he saw her ghostly form fading away, indicating that her time had come.

However, even as she began to fade, she smiled at him as she told him, "She never stopped loving you, even if you forgot about her…and, as proof of that, you should know that, although she is gone from this world, her bloodline endures…"

Here, the Ancient One leaned in close, so close she was practically cheek-to-cheek with Stephen, as she whispered in his ear;

"And so does yours…"

Stephen's eyes widened for only a moment before he watched as the Ancient One vanished, leaving him alone on the balcony while time slowly started to return to normal. Though, even as time caught up with him, Stephen felt his heart grow cold in his chest as he let what the Ancient One had said to him, right at the end, come back to him.

His bloodline…

His…his best friend…

"Lily…" whispered the new Sorcerer Supreme, his eyes wider than wide as he looked down, clutching at his heart as a dim and distant, but very pleasing, memory came back to him.

A night he would never forget.

A wish he had granted because, like her, he never stopped caring.

A world he had heard about and kept close to his heart because she had trusted him with the secrets.

Secrets told to him long before the Ancient One, before Mordo and Kaecilius and before all this new sorcery.

Secrets associated with a magical world, which his best friend, his childhood crush-turned-sweetheart, his first kiss and his greatest regret and pain, as well as his greatest joy, had all belonged to.

Most of all, with his eye reopened, as She would say, Stephen remembered the wish he had granted.

For her…his best friend.

Lily.

Her wish for him, plain, ordinary Stephen Strange, medic and neurosurgeon-in-training at the time, to become the Father to a child.

And, before the white flash, he remembered her saying it had happened and, from the sounds of it, according to the Ancient One's last words, that child…his child…the child lived!

Suddenly, it was like a fire had been lit in Stephen; one that surged through him in such a way that it sent his body spiralling through the astral plane, back to his physical body, just in time to see and hear Dr Palmer deliver the TOD notice.

Before she could question him, however, Stephen was gone, cloak and all, leaving her confused and a little surprised by his sudden departure.

Little did she know, he had something very important to take care of.

And, once it was done, he vowed, he would make sure the more-important thing was taken care of.

Once the world was safe.

For Man…for Magic.

But, most of all, for his child!

So, I know this one might seem a little strange – puns fully intended – but I thought it might be fun to have another crack at this theme and, well, like I said before, clean up a former act; anyway, now it looks like magic has given Stephen more than he thought possible, but can he find his lost child?

Also, can he make sure nothing and no-one can endanger the line of the one he loved and lost?

More to the point, we have to wonder: why did he lose her?

Keep Reading to Find Out

Next Chapter: In another part of the world, an ordinary little boy holds onto faith and belief as he tries to survive his own dark times, but it looks like help is on the way in the form of a strange visitor who seems to want to help save him from the dark times;

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