Right, first, apologies for the delay. I could give a whole host of excuses but I sense that is not really why you're reading this. Just a hunch. (If you are then you really need to find a hobby. Sorry, bad health, school work an completely re-writing the story after I got 30,000 words into it...and laziness. Yep, just blame it on pure laziness.)
Disclaimer: Anyway, themes stolen from Inception. If you recognise anything blame it on the Harry Potter, Avengers and Inception franchises.
Also, updates should be every week or so, as most of it is written I just need to tidy it up and edit.
Also slow build. If you're looking for smut or romance don't bother reading this. That stuff doesn't come. (Until the next segment. Then we'll see.) So you can think of the Loki/Harry thing as friendship if you want and the past Tony/Harry thing barely comes up.
You don't need to read Troublemaker first, it isn't necessary. Suffice to say Tony and Harry had a thing, it was great but not right for them. They broke up amicably. Harry is Master of Death which brings about the usual complications (also, hopefully with some new elements...maybe) and he quit the aurors early on.
xxx
Harry gasped for breath as the unbearable pressure lifted from his head.
It didn't matter that he wasn't truly there, that his physical body on a different plane of existence, because right now (for a while actually) his...soul was here. Which meant that the projection of his consciousness still felt pain, still felt just as if his real body was here too.
Only being half here didn't halt the mental onslaught nor the fact that Harry was trapped here, trapped on this wasteland at the beings mercy.
"Willing to submit yet, imposter?" The chilling gravelly voice asked in a mocking tone that gave Harry a momentary flashback to Voldemort. The tone was the same even if the sound was different.
Harry wearily lifted his head staring at the thing with blazing green eyes. He didn't have the strength to speak and his throat felt like he was swallowing glass when he tried to talk due to the amount of screaming he had indulged in.
With deliberate slowness Harry spat a glob of saliva right at the being in front of him. It fell short of the mark but his intent was clear.
Infuriatingly the being didn't react to this provoking act of defiance and instead sighed wearily as though Harry was acting like an impetuous youth who was refusing to admit to some wrong doing in an elders presence.
Harry didn't miss the almost gloating look of satisfaction the creature wore at his continued resistance.
"Surely you don't wish for such pain?" The huge being asked, in a voice, that through the rough sound of rocks grinding together, Harry caught definite amusement and sadistic glee. Harry simply glared and tried to calm his furiously beating heart and slow his panting breaths.
"No? Well, then, I shall be merciful and oblige your wish." The cruel voice intoned.
Harry sneered at the very thought of this being showing mercy.
His sneer didn't last long before he was lost to bright white pain, searing agony flooding his body, the main part of the pain centring at his forehead as though someone was pushing a white hot poker through his skull, bending and misshaping the bone.
Harry screamed.
His screams broke the silence they were surrounded by and was soon joined by deep, rough laughter filling the nights sky, echoing around with an eerie finality.
The torture may have lasted days or seconds...or anything in between. Harry had long since lost his ability to track time in this place with only the thing for company.
Harry lay back panting on the ground once more as the creature let up on his assault for the time being.
It had been made clear to Harry that the thing did not want his mind broken (yet) and that he, Harry, would provide endless entertainment for it.
It also took pleasure in slowly dragging Harry's thoughts out of him, his memories in between bouts of torture. Harry couldn't really say he was glad for the reprieves, sometimes he preferred the physical torment.
"Now, now, I thought you would at least be courteous enough to use my name." The voice chided.
Pain rocked through Harry and he bit his lip. It wasn't the unbearable pain that he had been subjected to before, which Harry compared to the cruciatus curse, but it was still painful.
Harry hated that this thing had access to his thoughts.
"Tsk, tsk. And even after I had the good manners to warn you."
This time Harry screamed, his vocal cords protesting but not enough to make him stop. His throat was raw but that was the least of this torture.
"I think it's time for another journey through this absolutely fascinating mind of yours, don't you?" The harsh voice enquired almost pleasantly.
Harry closed his eyes and his body sagged, he was so tired of this, so tired of everything.
Thoughts flashed and spun past him, flying faster than a Firebolt and with more fury than an enraged Hungarian Horntail as Harry was forcibly dragged into the depths of his mind.
Just before he was completely sucked into his memories he once again cursed ever having heard the name Thanos.
Xxx
"Any change?" Steve asked slightly awkwardly as he entered the communal living room area where Tony sat with Pepper a full glass of something Steve was sure was alcoholic in front of him.
They both had expressions on their faces that indicated a 'serious discussion' had just been had. Steve would have felt like he was intruding had not both their faces turned to relief when he offered them a distraction. Even if it was a rather depressing change of topic.
"His brain activity spiked a bit a couple of hours ago but otherwise nothing." Pepper answered when it became clear that Tony was not going to utter a word.
Steve nodded with a frown as he debated the merits of staying here or going to the rooms Tony had given him in the Tower mere minutes after the New York attack.
In the end Pepper made the choice for him as she patted the chair next to her. He sat where she indicated and wondered what he should say. Or even if he should say anything at all.
"Maybe his um...magic does this sometimes? I mean do..." Steve trailed off as Tony snorted in derision.
"The doctors did say it's likely he will wake up soon, that it's like he's in a coma only-"
"You weren't the only one at the doctors briefing, Cap." Tony interjected in a mocking tone of voice.
Steve resisted the urge to give a small smile. If Tony was being snarky and assigning nicknames again it meant he was in a slightly better frame of mind than Steve had seen from him in days.
"Well if you need anything..." Steve began as he stood to leave the room. Tony waved his hand in a dismissive action that nonetheless informed Steve that Tony had taken his words in.
He noted Pepper was holding her pen so tightly her knuckles had gone white; despite the pleasantly bland expression on her face she was tense. Rattled. Tony didn't look any better.
Steve paused at the door a frown momentarily crossing his face.
"Does he have any relatives to inform? Friends?" Steve queried not having considered it before, much to his shame. Harry had collapsed nearly a week ago now and it was only days after that Steve even contemplated Harry's attachments outside of the Avengers.
From the expression on Tony and Pepper's faces he wasn't the only one to realise the remiss.
"I-He-Harry's not very talkative, even less so now. He did mention a couple of close friends but...maybe his file will have a phone number or something. He's an orphan but has an aunt and cousin...I'll see if I can dig up anything else." Tony said getting to his feet and his eyes gleaming slightly at having something to do and not just sit there and mope.
Pepper got to her feet also and smoothed down her impeccable blouse and pencil skirt combination.
"I'd better get back to work; there are a lot of things I should have completed three days ago..." Pepper excused herself as she tapped away on her phone.
Steve eyed the tiny contraption with instinctual distaste. Technology was useful, Steve acknowledged that, but did it have to be so difficult to use?
His fingers and thumb were often too big to select each letter individually on the touch screens.
For lack of anything better to do and wanting to feel helpful, Steve followed Tony to the lab where Dr. Banner was currently absconded in.
Tony had, in his usual over the top manner, made sure there was something for everyone of the Avengers in his tower, newly refitted and refurbished after Loki's foiled invasion. So while Tony had his private lab rooms there was another set that Bruce and Tony shared (seeing as none of the other Avengers wanted to 'play' in the labs).
Tony had JARVIS scanning (hacking) S.H.I.E.L.D.s files for any mention of Harry anywhere then set to fiddling with some electronic blueprints on the desk making corrections on the holographic monitors. Steve stood at the entranceway and instead of just doing nothing he settled himself on one of the couches in the lab room (it was Tony's lab, of course there was one or two sofas) and slipped the sketch pad he always carried in his pocket when in an idle mood and a pencil.
"Harry made all the electronics explode." Tony stated in a casual voice. Steve let his eyes flicker over Tony's form for a second before turning back to the creamy paper on his lap yet to be marred by any pencil lines. Tony, whatever his tone implied, was anything but relaxed at speaking about Harry.
Honestly Steve was far from comfortable with the subject himself and not just because Harry was laid up on a hospital bed and not really likely to wake up anytime soon.
Steve didn't try to understand what Tony and Harry had been to each other, he knew they had been engaged but that said little about the emotions involved.
Pepper had told him that Tony and Harry had loved each other (and still did) but that they weren't right for one another, they were in love but that wasn't enough.
Steve still didn't comprehend (how could being in love not be enough?) but he didn't really want to delve his thoughts any deeper, Tony and Harry's relationship was their private business and Steve was never really one to pry.
Well...not into personal things anyway. Organisations with machinations against the people of earth were another matter.
It was the result of the break up that Steve was more invested in. They were both part of the Avengers and Steve was the leader (sort of) which meant he was concerned over the teams dynamic.
Harry and Tony were probably the most volatile people on the team and considering the Hulk was a member that was saying something.
Curiously enough Tony and Harry either got along incredibly well or were at odds, arguing with abandon. Steve almost thought they both seemed to like getting angry at the other. Which was stupid.
Wasn't it?
He was quite glad that neither Tony nor Harry ever seemed to hold the break up against one another and that it didn't throw off their capability to work together and with the Avengers as a whole. He really had no clue how to talk to them if it had.
He hardly had any experience in relationships so he wasn't one to talk about them. Plus everyone seemed so open about things barely spoken in polite society when Steve was growing up. It did make him just a little uncomfortable.
He had no intention of broaching the topic but it seemed Tony wanted to talk.
Steve noted that Bruce also was listening intently even as he did...something (Steve's scientific knowledge was scant)...
"Why was that?" Bruce asked. For all intents and purposes Bruce was focussed on his work.
"Something about his magic did something to the electronics." Tony answered.
"Do you know how or what specifically caused the damage? What was affected in the items?" Bruce asked intrigued.
Steve started sketching, he was sure that in a few seconds the entire conversation would fly over his head with all the science those two spouted ad infinitum.
"Direct spells on them caused instant damage. He didn't seem to affect the arc reactor. His phones died on him, some even exploded, after a few days. When his emotions were heightened then things exploded with more frequency." Tony elaborated.
"He wouldn't let me test on his blood. Or him." Tony pouted theatrically. It didn't hold his usual flair nor was nearly as dramatic as just a week ago.
There were tired bags around Tony's eyes and Steve knew for a fact he spent nearly all his time buried in his lab. It was probably how Tony coped, when worried/in doubt/angry/in any way emotional he hid in his lab inventing. He had to be dragged out forcibly to eat, shower and rest. It was the same way Howard had coped.
Steve (wisely) kept that observation to himself.
His prediction became reality when Tony and Bruce started a rapid fire conversation. Steve understood a few words, the 'and' and the 'the'.
He sunk into his sketch, little by little the grey lines forming a more coherent picture.
Tony was, much to Steve's initial surprise, cleverer than even Howard had been. Howard had had vague designs towards building a realistic arc reactor, a couple of plans or blueprints. Tony had taken this and managed to make it a reality in a cave in Afghanistan while held captive and without the lab of high tech gear he was used to.
(The huge one that had been at Stark industries was more a publicity stunt than anything useful.)
Bruce was a genius of a different calibre to Tony but no less intelligent. Steve thought anyway, but he was hardly certified to call that assumption fact.
(It was a little intimidating at times being around two men who thought on a completely different plane of existence to him. Thrilling but intimidating.)
Steve jerked out of his vague thoughts and almost ran a pencil line right through his nearly complete sketch when Tony gave a sharp exclamation.
Tony pulled up more of those hologram screens this time with writing on. Tony frowned.
"That's funny...I could have sworn these files were blank when I last hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. for information on Harry..." Tony muttered to himself. Steve paid him no mind eyes tracing over the files.
He spotted a promising one and not waiting for permission he tapped on the holographic file bringing out holograms of pictures with written information to the side of each picture. Some looked like news articles, in fact most of them did, but the pictures appeared to be moving like a short video on a loop.
Tony pulled up the first photo and the writing and enlarged it somewhat.
There was a grainy photo of a scrawny kid with wide green eyes hidden somewhat behind large round glasses and a mop of messy black hair.
The three of them read the caption and Steve realised it was a cut-out of a larger picture of a few school children in the paper because of the school doing a project or something like that.
The young boy, he couldn't have been more than seven, was wearing a school uniform that looked ill suited to him. The clothes hung off his thin frame a little too much and the school shoes were falling apart. He looked a little scruffy and Steve bet the only reason he was in the photo was because the children in it had good maths scores in their class according to the article which was describing a new maths block being added to the school.
1989, was when the newspaper was dated and Steve raised an eyebrow.
"When was Harry born? He doesn't look more than twenty now and if he was young in this photo..."
"1980, July 31st." Tony answered already scanning through the notes added by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents presumably.
"He doesn't look thirty." Steve mumbled. But then again, Steve didn't look seventy despite the decades spent in the ice.
"Here. It says he lived with his maternal aunt, her husband and his cousin." Tony pulled out a photo of the three listed.
"I for one am glad Harry took after his paternal side of the family...and his mother." Tony commented as he looked at the photo of a horse faced woman, a fat man and a chubby blond haired boy, all three were smiling at the camera.
The man's arm was around his wife and his other hung over the boys shoulders. They looked like a typical loving family. You could almost feel the pride emanate from the large man, saying that this was his wife and son.
Steve ignored Tony's words as he noted that they were all dressed well, not overly expensively but certainly better than Harry. Their clothes all fit and looked well taken care of.
Maybe Harry had had an attachment to those baggy clothes?
"His parents were reported to have died in a car crash when Harry was still a baby. They died but Harry escaped with a thin lightning bolt shaped scar to his forehead." Tony read aloud then snorted. Steve shot him a questioning look.
"There are no records of any such crash involving a Mr and Mrs Potter with an infant that night and there aren't any formal papers that place Harry legally with his aunt." Tony explained.
"Look here." Bruce interjected pointing at a certain paragraph.
Steve felt his eyebrows rise of their own accord when he read about a mass murderer who targeted Harry's parents (and him), a wizard also.
It seemed Harry's parents had died from something much more insidious than a car crash.
"Hang on, is that a newspaper article?" Steve questioned looking at a particular article with what seemed to be a large photograph of an atrium with a golden set of statues behind a stern faced woman. The only reason Steve could see that made this impossible to be a picture was the fact the woman was moving about, making gestures presumably to emphasise her words as she paced.
"'Minister Millicent Bagnold defends the Wizarding Worlds right to party after the defeat of perhaps the worst of Dark Lords to ever darken the earth.
'I assert our inalienable right to party.' Was what the Minister said when confronted by the Head of Muggle and Magical relations who wondered if the Statute of Secrecy was about to dissolve through the careless actions taken by the majority of the wizarding world this fine day.
The Minister was firm in her belief that although the dark times are over that this will only be a brief reprieve before hard work kicks in to heal the damage from the war, You-Know-Who and his followers - some who still are causing havoc throughout Britain.
The Minister has said not to fear as she is setting the Auror Department on the remaining Death Eaters trails imminently; promising them a bonus and extra holiday once the threat is over.
In other news Lord Lucius Malfoy is to be pardoned on plea of being Imperiused...'"
Bruce stopped reading the article aloud and just blinked as the woman in the picture seemed to be pointing at them and saying something with admirable passion, brown eyes flashing and the glasses perched atop her head bobbing up and down.
"Is that a Wizarding newspaper?" Steve asked baffled. He was sure that if this (and the other digital versions of the newspapers) was actually printed then surely the Wizarding world wouldn't be a secret now?
"Yup. The Daily Prophet. Huh, I could give them tips for a better name...something like Wizarding Weirdness...or Magical Madness...maybe even Men in Dresses..." Tony muttered looking at the picture of several cheering men and woman all wearing what appeared to be brightly coloured dresses and toasting the camera with their drinks.
Steve looked away when he thought he saw an index finger in one of the drinks and a man pulling out his own eye. He hoped it was fake.
"Robes. Do they still wear them?" Bruce asked with a slow blink.
Tony smirked. "Oh, the teasing I could put Harry through...are there any pictures of him in a dress?"
Tony riffled through the photos gleefully while Steve and Bruce shared a look.
Well, at least Tony was happy.
"Aha!"
Tony pulled up some photos and his smile seemed to get even more gleeful, a feat Steve hadn't thought possible.
There was Harry, looking only a bit younger than the man they knew, dressed in what looked like a school uniform with a robe thrown haphazardly over the top.
Steve studied the picture. Harry seemed different in it, both lighter and more subdued than the Harry who was currently unconscious in the newly made medical suite.
He had his hands tucked into the pockets of his black trousers, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a grey vest and a red and gold tie completing the picture. His hair was as messy as ever but round glasses perched on his nose.
The picture blinked at them before turning to the red haired man at his side and the bushy haired woman with a grin. The three turned as one then headed off to the lake seen in the distance.
Steve eyed the relaxed shoulders and the uncaring bright grin, eyes only partially shadowed.
The Harry in the photograph was relaxed in a way he didn't think was possible for the man he knew.
Bruce whistled next to him and Steve turned to see that Bruce wasn't looking at the picture but the accompanying article.
"'Our Saviour, Harry Potter, elected five months ago to return to Hogwarts to attend his final year instead of heading straight into the Auror office to the position he was offered. His two closest friends, and rumoured to have helped the Boy-Who-Lived the most during the war to defeat He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, Pureblood Ronald Weasley and Muggleborn Hermione Granger also attended the reopening of Hogwarts under Headmistress McGonagall.
The Headmistress was said to commend this attitude towards learning stating sternly that avoiding getting ones NEWTS would not help ones future...'"
"What are NEWTS? And what's this about a war? Saviour? Boy-Who-Lived? He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named? What is it with the hyphens?" Tony nattered on to himself pulling up more files as well as a poster.
"Undesirable No. 1." Bruce read aloud. Tony snorted.
"Well they're being extremely sarcastic there; he's like desirable number 2, with me just ahead, maybe 1 at a stretch."
"There's a reward for his capture, something about galleons..."
Xxx
-He was sitting huddled in his cupboard, arms wrapped around his knobbly knees.
There was a thin stream of light coming from underneath the door, a small chink making the gloomy room just visible.
The muffled sounds of chatter, laughter and general happiness seeped through the thin wooden door.
His stomach growled but he made no movements, he was supposed to stay silent. It was a little boring, sitting there doing nothing but he didn't want to incur his aunt and uncles wrath.
His licked his dry lips. He was a little thirsty come to think of it but he would be alright until tomorrow when he was released.
Slowly and carefully, he silently lay down on his small pallet bed eyes drifting shut.
It was a good thing he was small for his age otherwise he might not fit so easily in the cupboard.-
Harry blinked and was forcibly jerked out of the memory that felt more real than the ground he was lying upon.
He panted for breath unsure why he felt so exhausted.
Why was Thanos making his watch his own memories? What was the point? Was he trying to seek out the chinks in his armour? A way to hurt him further?
Maybe he had gotten bored of physical torture.
Harry didn't particularly like running through his memories, especially the unpleasant ones, but they weren't going to surprise him, there were no monsters in the corner. They were his own memories, he knew them.
He wondered if Thanos was watching his memories or his reactions to being in them.
Harry, not for the first time, cursed the fact he was appalling at Occlumency. It probably wouldn't have helped in this instance but the possibility had him regretting that foiled opportunity.
"No, not important, not enough information..."
Harry rather thought Thanos was talking to himself without a care that Harry could hear.
And wasn't that a galling (and terrifying) thought.
Harry didn't have long to ponder that before he was once again forced into the maelstrom that was his memories.
Xxx
"...So let me get this straight. Because of a prophecy a kid was supposed to save the magical world and kill the man who murdered his parents and who had tried to kill him several times before.
Now this kid then managed to overcome and kill this megalomaniac even though he had less than half the knowledge, power and everything else.
And this is all because of a prophecy?" Tony finished and shook his head.
"Of all the stupid reasons to rely on a kid. A prophecy. Wizards are nuttier than a nut Sunday complete with sprinkled hazelnuts!"
"And pistachio sauce."
"I mean, look at the sweets! Cockroach cluster, yuck. Do they put real cockroaches in it?" Tony asked with a grimace.
Bruce rolled his eyes.
Of all the things to get fixated on.
"The wizarding world does seem a little backwards." Steve put in with a frown. The blatant prejudice against blood was silly but hopefully things had changed since-he glanced at the date of the article-1998.
"Well done Capsicle, you have the art of understatement down."
Steve didn't respond to the deliberately inflammatory remark.
He was beginning to wish for Harry to wake up purely because Tony was in a mood and because the longer Harry spent in a coma the worse Tony got. Not that Steve wanted Harry in a coma, he didn't want anyone in one and Harry was part of the team and someone Steve got along with even if they weren't especially close.
He wondered if Tony was itching for a fight, an argument like the ones he and Harry happily partook, or if it was his way of expressing his worry over Harry's condition. Probably both.
"Anyway we were trying to find out if we should tell any of Harry's friends about his...condition, is there any information about their addresses? Telephone numbers?" Steve asked reminding them of their original purpose before they had gotten enthralled in the weird world of magic.
Steve wasn't sure if he believed dragons were actually real or not yet. Even though the picture of one was rather lifelike. Well, Steve assumed it was lifelike. It looked real though.
And brooms?
"What about the red haired man, Weasel, and the bushy haired woman, Ranger?" Tony murmured searching through several files, flipping through the holographs with enviable speed.
Steve was 75% sure Tony got the names wrong on purpose.
"They might not have a number." Bruce put in quietly reading what looked to be a report to the side.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if Harry's magic exploded the electrics what's to say the others doesn't too? Plus this report seems to imply that the entire magical world is a little...archaic." Bruce answered rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Surely if Harry is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. then they have emergency contact details, maybe not a mobile but an address?" Steve suggested.
"Yeah...that might not help so much. According to this report there are such things as 'wards' which prevent normal people from seeing the house or even knowing if it is there. Apparently Hogwarts school has some of the best wards and if we ever went there all we'd see would be ruins of a castle. So I doubt even a letter would get there because the post men wouldn't be able to get to the house or have it registered as an address." Bruce again shot down an idea.
"So how does the magical world communicate? It sounds like they're pretty isolated." Steve frowned; surely there was some means of keeping in contact?
"A couple of magical ways. It seems they have teleportation down, an object that causes a different type of teleportation, a way of travelling through fire places and the good old fashion Owl post." Bruce grinned.
"They can teleport?!"
"Yeah, but apparently there's limitations. You can't apparate too far a distance, you can travel further the more magical power, and you can only apparate to somewhere you can visualise, so only places you've been before." Bruce examined the holographic files with interest.
Steve wondered how long it would take before Bruce and Tony were sprouting obscure magical theories and debating the possibilities at a level beyond his comprehension.
"You're looking up limitations when you've just been introduced to the magical world?!" Tony asked incredulously. Bruce shrugged.
"If there wasn't a down side I wouldn't believe it."
Steve left them to it and decided to contact Fury directly. He was better at dealing with people than reading through masses of files.
And who knew, maybe there was another witch or wizard working for S.H.I.E.L.D. that could help them contact Harry's friends.
Maybe wizards communicated through cats or something; didn't a lot of stories about witches include black cats?