Welcome to the next installment of the 'Saving Harry' series. Thank you so incredibly much to those who have reviewed and to everyone who has favourited & followed.
End Game is only a week away (already have my tickets!) and I'm super stoked.

I'm trying to keep the timeline with this series as ambiguous as possible, as this short little series is Harry focused, not Avengers.

That being said, there are certainly some hints here & there where the arc is at timeline-wise, and some clues dotted about as to whom will be showing up now & then.

Enjoy, review, follow!

Saving Bruce

Bruce woke up early, as he often did. He was never one to sleep late, even before the Other Guy moved in. This morning though, he got to indulge his curious side and find out who Steve had curled up with on the sofa last night.

From Tony, Bruce knew that the kid's name was Harry Potter and that under no circumstances was Bruce to startle him. Keep his movements slow and if he was going to stand, to do so slowly and deliberately with his hands away from the little boy.

That was an easy thing to do for him. He was soft-spoken as it is and fairly laid back. The confusing part (amusing?) was that the Other Guy was being quite docile this morning, even expressing curiosity about the little boy.

That was a new one for Bruce. He'd been around kids plenty of times over the years. Quite a few, if one took in to account all the kids he'd treated and saw when hiding out in various locations pretending to be an MD and Hulk really had never had anything to say about it.

Shoving the covers on his bed aside, he got up, then turned around to tidy up and make his bed. Say many things about Bruce Banner, but messy he was not, nor did he tolerate a mess for long. While doing research, he'd sometimes get excited, then papers and books would get strewn about for awhile. He would never be able to compete with the utter slobbery that Tony was capable of accomplishing when on a creative bender.

Putting the last pillow in place, he forewent his usual morning of a shower followed by tea and toast, and instead went straight to the elevator and asked Jarvis to take him to the Avengers common room where he last saw Steve.

He tried to walk casually in to the living area, just in case the kid was awake, and it was a good thing too. A pair of green eyes under a mop of black hair stared at him very carefully and cautiously, as if weighing out whether Bruce was friend or foe, so the scientist did the only thing he could think of: He settled down in to an overstuffed chair and smiled at Harry.

"Hey, little guy," Bruce started up, then winced at the silly nickname he just gave him. He was dead positive he heard the Other Guy chuffing in laughter in the back of his head. "Just checking on you and Steve to make sure you're warm enough or if you want breakfast. My name is Bruce, and I live here with the others."

Harry was still eyeballing him carefully, then he put his good hand on Steve's chest and pushed up a little to look at Bruce head on instead of sideways. This woke Steve up immediately, and he sleepily rubbed Harry's back and opened his eyes.

"Hey Harry, you're awake. Did you sleep okay?" he asked the boy as he pulled them both up in to a sitting position. One little hand poked through the blanket and pointed at Bruce in the chair. "Who? Oh, good morning, Bruce."

"Good morning," he returned. "Looks like you found some company last night." He pointed with his chin over to Harry, who was really looking Bruce over quite thoroughly, something Steve found odd, as Harry hadn't been one to stare at a stranger thus far.

Steve smiled gently and ruffled Harry's mop of black hair. "Hey, little man. This guy is Bruce Banner. He's a scientist, really smart about big science things."

Harry looked at Steve with a curious look on his face. "'mart like Tony?" He asked.

"S-mart, little man, and yes, smart like Tony. They're good friends," Steve corrected. Harry looked back at Bruce, still with a curious and almost confused look on his little face.

"Cap'n, who else is wif him?" Harry asked. He was staring intently at Bruce now, and Bruce shuffled nervously. "There's two peoples there."

Steve and Banner exchanged a look that was half-horrified and half-shock. Could he sense the Other Guy? Steve was already surprised that Harry hadn't teleported off to hide from a complete stranger. The little guy never ceased to amaze him with his resilience and hoped that he was feeling far better today,

"Uh," started Bruce, "Well, yes. In a way. Do you see someone else?" Bruce was beyond curious. Hulk was rumbling in the back of his head about wanting to see Harry up close and Bruce had half of a mind to let him through. Tony would slaughter him though if he hulked out in the common room.

"Jarvis, can you please bring Tony up here?" Steve asked the AI. He figured some backup wouldn't hurt. "Tell him to bring a suit but not dressed. We don't need him panicking."

"Of course, Captain Rogers," Jarvis confirmed as he instantly relayed the instruction to Stark.

Harry's green eyes were staring intently right at Bruce's. "Can I meet the other guy? He's green and I bet he's nice like Mr. Bruce too."

Tony replied as he came speed walking in to the room. "Hey squirt. You seeing someone else here? Tall, black hair like me, green eyes? Wants to take over the planet?"

Harry grinned at seeing Tony and squirmed to get down from Steve's lap. Steve let him go and Tony found his arms suddenly full of little boy. "Hi Tin Man!" Steve snorted, trying his best not to laugh and Bruce coughed in to his hand to hide his grin.

"Tin Man?" Tony replied with fake indignance. "Tin Man?!" and he tickled the little boy as he swung him up to place him on his shoulder. Harry's giggles filled the room and all three men couldn't help but laugh with him.

Bruce recovered first, and still grinning at the pair remarked that perhaps Harry's laughter could be bottled and used for when he needed the Other Guy to simmer down. As it was, Bruce could clearly feel that the Hulk was happy and not enraged.

"Tony," Banner started, "He says he can sense someone else with me. Someone green." Tony's play with Harry froze immediately and he looked at Harry.

"Hey half-pint. Who do you see with our Brucey?" Harry looked back at the scientist and pointed right at him.

"Right there. Cantcha see him too? His head is all green with the other man. I wanna meet him." Harry's reply had Tony's eyebrows going up and glancing at Bruce.

"Jarvis, security sweep this room. Every bandwidth you can, every frequency. Make sure Loki isn't in here." Steve rolled his eyes. Of course, Tony would go straight at blaming Loki, but Steve thought it had more to do with Harry being able to sense the Hulk. Loki was supposed to be in Asgard with Thor undergoing a trial or some such. They hadn't heard from either god in awhile since Loki faked his death, yet again.

"More like he can sense Hulk, Tony. Bruce was saying that Hulk is calm and curious about Harry," Steve explained. "Highly doubt Loki is here."

Jarvis agreed, and let them know that his scans came up negative for anything even remotely Asgardian. His creator was a tad paranoid about the mischief-making god and even if he was an AI, he knew Tony would be relieved that there was no sign of Loki, especially with little Harry in the base.

Tony looked a bit more relieved yet disturbed at that declaration. "Harry bug, you can see Big Green Mean?"

Harry's little face screwed up in a frown. "No! He wants to meet me. He's making silly faces!" Everyone's eyebrows went up at that one and everyone started talking at once. Miraculously, the sudden cacophony of noise wasn't bothering Harry. He looked a bit angry, which on his little face was absolutely adorable.

"Everyone, simmer down!" Bruce's eyes were tinged in green, but he didn't look angry. "Harry is right." That grabbed everyone's attention and Harry took the opportunity to escape from Tony's arms and walked over to Banner.

"Harry is right. I can feel Hulk, right behind my, uh, brain, for a lack of better description. He's beyond curious about Harry and he's actually in what I'd classify a good mood." Tony snorted at that. A good mood for the Hulk usually involved the annihilation of a city.

The scientist continued, "I can't believe I'm gonna suggest this, but let's go to the Hulk's safe room and let him out. I actually think he'll be fine. I can't explain it." Everyone started to protest at once, but Harry giggled and patted Bruce on the head.

Steve and Tony exchanged a look, but decided to see where this was going. Harry was an enigma, and if they could believe in gods, teleporting toddlers and mutants, who were they to disagree?

"Fine," Tony choked out. "But the entire team will be in there, suited up, and Harry doesn't go near him until we see what Hulk's up to."

Bruce nodded and Steve muttered his agreement. Steve had never seen Bruce grin so much when he was tinged with green. It was unsettling. "I'll call in Clint & Natasha," Steve offered.

There was a rattling sound from the corner of the room and the upper vent opened. Hawkeye's head poked down. "Don't bother. We're here. Nat is just arriving and will meet us in the safe room." With that, he dropped down on to the floor, fully geared and armed.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You and the abuse of my vent work. Jarvis, remind me to install a deadly laser system in that corner so it fries birds on contact." He glared at Clint, but the archer just grinned at him and he cracked open a pack of blueberries and started munching. "And seal my blueberries in a vibranium locker." Stark called for his suit and got in, while Steve brought his shield to bear with a laugh.

Banner scooped up a giggling Harry (who just wouldn't stop playing in Bruce's hair) and the entire crew headed off for the safe room.

Natasha was already there, typing on away on a keyboard to set the parameters of the safe room. "I've set it for Hulk, but if this doesn't work, we can lock up in the secondary." She thought this was the stupidest venture the Avengers had ever taken on, and there were some fairly stupid ventures in the list of lists. One of Harry's abilities could set the Hulk off on a smash fest, for all they knew.

"Oh, superb idea," quipped Tony from his suit, though the face plate was retracted. "Let's take a 4-year-old kid and let the Hulk loose. Go team!"

"Go team!" cheered Harry from Bruce's arms. That broke the tension and everyone had a bit of a laugh, with Harry laughing the crazy laugh of a little kid who made a joke but doesn't know why it's funny,

"Yeah, go team," laughed Bruce and he passed Harry off to Rogers. Steve looked warily at Bruce as his eyes were already tinged green and his skin absolutely was a long way away from the usual dusky whiter colour.

"Hi Cap'n" chipped Harry, patting Steve on the face with his little hand. "Green time, yeah?" he asked in his proper little accent.

"Yeah, buddy. We'll all be here, alright? We're missing a few members, but we'll keep you safe." Steve was supposed to be leader of this troupe, but right now, he was pretty sure he'd be fired and his shield melted if Fury got wind of what they were up to.

"Alright crew. We don't have a lot of time. Fury is due here in 55 minutes. Let's do this before he shows up." Steve commanded, and Steve put Harry on the floor. "Stay right here Harry. Guard my shield for me, okay?" and pushing Harry to sit, Steve jammed his shield in the floor in front of the boy to give him some shelter.

Tony nodded at Steve in thanks and turned to Bruce. "Alrighty Big Green. Give 'er. Get angry."

"That's just it though Tony," Bruce explained. "He's not angry, not at all. He's eager to meet Harry. I'm simply just gonna let him go."

And he did.

Typically, Hulk came surging out and looking for smashing opportunities right at the get-go, and already roaring. This time, it was a smooth transition, and as soon as he'd fully emerged, he took one very large step towards Harry, and planted himself on the floor in front of Cap's shield.

Every Avenger in the room was locked & ready, but this was so vastly different from before. There was no angry feelings in the room, no tension, and other than one large grunt when Hulk lowered himself to the floor and sat down, there was nothing even remotely threatening about the big guy.

A little mop of black hair followed by those green eyes peered over Captain America's shield. "Oh, hi! You're here!" Harry said, and before anyone could stop him, he darted out from behind the shield, ran up the Hulk's massive leg and climbed him like a tree to sit on his shoulder, cast on the arm and all.

Hulk chuffed, and helped steady the little boy with a massive hand. Every Avenger had something trained on the pair, all of it severely deadly. Tony had the Hulk Buster ready to deploy, but then seeing Harry giggling while standing on Big Green's shoulder, his fingers threading gleefully through Hulk's hair. What was it with this kid and hair, anyway?

Everyone started to slowly stand down with a gesture from their Captain and cautiously watched the impossible – The Incredible Hulk was (laughing?) and playing with a little boy. Even when one of the boy's little feet or elbows dug in to places that would have the rest of them wincing, the big guy stayed put on the floor and simply played.

"Hulk's boy," he grumbled, and oh so carefully pulled Harry out of his hair and let the boy stand on the palm of his hand, bouncing.

Natasha exchanged an incredulous look with Barton and he grinned back at her with a shrug. She carefully walked over to the playing pair and squatted down. "Hey big guy." Hulk abruptly looked at her and grunted. "His name is Harry. He's pretty special, yeah?"

"Harry." Hulk said, though it came out more like a growl. "Harry ours?"

This caused even more odd looks between the team as they all gently closed in, though Tony looked like he was about to have an aneurysm with worry, and he stayed in the Iron Man suit.

"Yeah," she nodded. "He's ours. To keep safe and happy. You can visit him when you want, but we need Bruce back soon. We don't have much time."

Hulk kept allowing Harry to bounce around and giggle and not one of them could even fathom that he was capable of not smashing everything in sight. It went against everything they knew. "Banner says playtime is over now. I go. But I watch. Protect boy." Hulk looked at the entire team and they were certain that while there was no smashing today, upsetting Harry would result in a lot of smashing.

With that simple declaration, Hulk shrank and his colour paled, and he carefully put Harry on the ground. In a matter of moments, Bruce was back in his place, trying to hold shredded pants together for decency and Harry was waving and saying hello to Banner. Clint threw a robe at the scientist and he covered himself up and stood, as did Natasha.

"That was," Bruce started, a bit at a loss for words. "Surreal. He's still here. He never is this close by. He's… happy. Really happy. I can't even explain it. He left willingly and he's just guarding." Bruce's brows frowned in contemplation and the scientist in him couldn't resist trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

Tony exited his suit and picked Harry up. "Hey little man," he said as they all trooped back out the exit and headed to the common room. "Did you like meeting Hulk?"

Harry grinned that impossibly irresistible grin of his and hummed in agreement. "He's my friend. Can he come and play again later?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think he can," Tony informed him, though he couldn't believe their kid was wanting a playdate with someone so deadly. "We really need to find you a real playmate though. Hulk is kinda smashy."

"He's my friend!" Harry protested with a scowl.

Barton barked out a laugh. "That's something we haven't heard before, brat. We'll let you play again someday, okay?"

Harry smiled and yawned, laying his head down on Tony's shoulder as they sat on the couch but lifted his head again when he heard a tapping noise on the patio window that lead to the walkway where Tony usually landed. He pointed at the window, "Look! Bird!" and everyone's eyes followed to see exactly that: A bird tapping on the glass. The bird in question was an owl.

"The hell?" muttered Clint.

"One of your friends?" Tony smirked. "Wait, does it have a scroll attached to it's foot?"

Barton and Romanoff pushed through the glass doors to go to the owl, but it flew over their heads and landed beside Steve, who was standing behind the couch Tony and Harry were sitting on.

"Er," he stared at the bird. "Yeah, there's a scroll, and your name is on it, Tony."

"What?" said Tony. "How?" and he turned around on the couch to take the missive from the bird, who flew away immediately back out the door as the spies were coming back inside.

Tony unrolled the short scroll. It was a brief note. "It just says, 'Dumbledore is your enemy. Keep Potter away from the magicals.'. That's it, nothing else."

Steve leaned over to read over Tony's shoulder. "No name?"

"No. Just a weird squiggle at the bottom. Maybe two letter S's hooked on each other?" The rest of the Avengers crowded in to read as well, but no one knew anything other than it was written in a thin, spidery handwriting, and looked to be on something other than paper.

"Banner?" queried Tony, as the genius put Harry on the floor for him to go play with some of the toys they had found for him.

"Parchment. It's written on parchment with ink, which is odd. And I have no idea what or who a Dumbledore is." Bruce looked as confused as everyone else.

A new voice added to the conversation. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Unofficial leader of a faction of so-called Light wizards and witches in the world that Potter comes from and currently the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The entire group looked up at Nick Fury as he strode in to the room.

"Jarvis!" Tony yelled at his AI. "The hell you didn't tell me Patch was here?"

"My apologies sir. I did not know. and I'll be diagnosing that immediately." Jarvis sounded embarrassed.

"You'd better," chastised Tony. "Debrief time, crew. Gird your loins."

Hawkeye snorted in laughter and the group took seats around the room. Maybe now they would get some answers to their questions about the little boy who'd abruptly taken over the entire tower in a short space of a couple of days.