CHAPTER 1

Chaotic Greetings


All Harry had wanted was a nice, simple visit to his brother's now completed tower, considering last time he had been it was still in construction. No fuss, no drama, no alien species invading the city - just himself, his brother, Pepper, a sassy AI and the shocked face of Tony when Harry told him that he had proposed to Ginny randomly after she was cleaning a nasty cut he had gotten after a raid at four in the morning because he, once again, refused to go to hospital.

He didn't even have a ring, but Ginny was happy anyway. She got to pick the perfect ring later, after all.

Harry, of course, never got quite what he wanted. It seemed that whoever organised his fate had decided to have a right old laugh at Harry's expense today, and instead of peace, had ordered a huge dollop of alien with a not-so-small side order of destruction for him to deal with.

Harry stopped for a second to absorb everything that was happening around him.

There were huge, scaly looking creatures drifting through the air in the manner of large worms, the sides of their armoured bodies carelessly cutting into buildings and destroying windows as they made their way deeper into the city before - oh.

And there was a huge, bizarrely green man-thing that had rippling muscles and one hell of a roar taking down the even more massive scaly worms, as Harry had dubbed them. It appeared that whatever it was seemed to be defending the mutilated city, and so Harry thought he would let it be. (He was kidding himself into thinking that he had the skill to take it down. He didn't, vanquisher of Voldemort or not.)

One of the many things that looked like much smaller versions of the flying worms (thank God they were smaller) nearly knocked Harry over, and it was only the quick reflex's born of Oliver Wood's rigorous Quidditch training that saved him from getting his head lopped off.

It was the pumping of adrenaline and the thrill of battle that made Harry whip out his wand and cast a quick and deadly Sectumsempra, Statute of Secrecy be damned. After all, he was sure Kingsley would be far more upset if Harry died because he upheld the stupid Statue than if he didn't. After all, if the worst came to the worst, they had memory charms.

Every so often, through the haze of energy in which Harry conducted himself throughout the invasion, Harry glanced up at the building with his last name plastered across it, seeing the source of the portal and the tiny people that stood up there battle and talk. He found it mildly shocking but not shocking at all that the letters slowly got demolished before only the "A" was left.

That was probably symbolic in some sense, but Harry had no idea how.

Constantly, Harry kept a keen eye out for his brother. Even though he knew about Tony's suit intimately, and all of it's ramifications affectionately called "Stane" and "Vanko", Harry couldn't help but be worried about his older brother.

Harry had never been more pleased that Tony was not present at the Battle of Hogwarts before in his life.

'Protego!' Harry shouted as a jet of sickly blue light flew towards him with the look and speed of a spell. Thankful that the pale blue shield appeared from the end of him wand to protect him for the immediate future, Harry spun around in a circle as another of the alien's kin - appearing quite intimidating in their identical looks - charged towards him. A quick explosive spell stopped the creature in it's tracks, sending pieces of it's strange, metallic-like shattered body flying through the air - and landing in Harry's side.

An unsavoury word leaked out of Harry's mouth as the shard of something embedded itself in his side, and it was all he could do to throw up another Shield charm to protect himself from the sudden onslaught of the creatures at seeing his weakness.

'Bugger,' Harry muttered, feeling himself lose blood already as he held his hand to his side firmly. He yanked the piece of alien out of his body, and luckily for him, one of the modules of training to be an Auror was moderate healing spells for the short gap between injury and Saint Mungo's.

'Sarcio.' And from the wand tip came a soft haze of light purple, leaving in its wake after dissipating a thin layer of pink and raw skin that was easily breakable - but it would have to do. A quick Ferula bandaged up his side quickly to prevent too much bleeding for when the skin did eventually split, and Harry was back in business even if he could feel some remaining shrapnel lodged into his side underneath the skin and bandages.

Jumping up, ignoring the stabbing pain in his side, Harry let down the shields and allowed the rampage of aliens to storm at him.

One strong Reductor Curse knocked aside four of the creatures in one blow with a relatively small flick of his wand, and one more was stilled by Harry shouting 'Impedimenta!' last minute just as it was about to stab Harry through the chest when he turned around suddenly.

A sudden idea struck Harry as he spun in a circle, completely set on his task as he meticulously surveyed his opponents, a side affect from the Auror program that he very much wanted.

Readying himself on the balls of his feet, Harry crouched down slightly and held his wand straight out from his body, raising his voice as he spoke.

'Immobulus!' He spun in a circle, allowing the spell to carry to all of the aliens around him as he went, happy that they were all freezing in their attacking positions around him.

True to his memories of Hermione's performance of the charm in their Second Year, the alien creatures did indeed still - but then they collapsed to the dusty concrete, limp and boneless. Harry's brow creased as he looked at the things surrounding him, and after a small moment of hesitation, he nudged the closest one to him with his foot. Nothing happened.

He kicked it. Nothing happened.

Raising his head to look around for more sparring partners, letting go the fact that the spell seemed to have put the creatures permanently out of business, Harry saw, shocked, that all of the other aliens had collapsed to the ground in exactly the same manner as the ones closest to him.

'What the hell …?' Harry questioned to thin air as he looked around a little more, spinning on his feet and running his hand through his hair.

It was only out of the corner of his eye that he saw the portal close and a small, red-looking figure that looked like a man plummet to the ground.

Harry's heart stopped.

Surely not … no Tony wouldn't … he wouldn't do that -

- But he would, whispered a nasty little voice in the back of Harry's head. He would if he thought it was the best option available.

Harry barely saw the green-man-thing that something told him was called the "Hulk" pluck his older brother from the air, nor did he see the Police or Ambulance's swarm the area in which he was walking. All of his attention and focus was directed into making his way - slowly but surely - to the place in which Tony had fallen to.

Harry had to make sure he was okay. He had to.

And so it was, that Harry found himself about an hour later, stumbling through the streets of the ravaged city, looking all around for where his brother might be, or had been or was - any indication, really, that Tony Stark was still alive.

This was the man who had taken in a small and skinny little eleven year old boy at the age of eighteen, and had cared for him like no other ever had in that boy's life. They had bonded and clicked much over that summer holiday following his first year, with each brother educating the other on something brand new and truly fascinating.

Harry had discovered science, and more specifically, physics - interested in the parallels and the differences between magic and the laws of physics, Harry had spent many hours researching and storing the information in his forever buzzing brain. Tony, however, had discovered magic, and despite not being able to sway Harry on illegally performing some for him to study, Tony had poured over the volumes of school textbooks that Harry had brought home, collecting the new information about the new world that he and his little brother had been inducted into.

Both brothers learnt a lot from that particular summer, and when Tony saw Harry off just outside Kings Cross Station before going off to another year at Hogwarts, Harry was more than a little certain that there was a tear in his brother's eye - not that Harry commented on it considering he was just as bad.

Harry had been given a family on that quiet afternoon in Little Whinging when a sleek black Rolls-Royce had pulled up outside number four, and he wasn't about to give it up for anything.

It was when he was walking past a small joint that seemed to sell some sort of Middle-Eastern food when he saw the dark hair of his brother. Of course, it took more than one glance for Harry to see that it was actually Tony, considering his eyes were a tad irritated due to dust getting under his contact lenses uncomfortably.

A sudden anger welling up inside him, Harry marched into the shop, speaking loudly and uncaring of the company surrounding his brother.

'Come to New York, you said,' Harry started off with, watching his brother's eyes widen comically and his jaw drop low at Harry's appearance. 'It'll be fun, you can see the tower when it's finished. Have a nice, relaxing holiday.'

There was a long moment of silence in which Harry presumed Tony was getting his thoughts in order. Clearly, he had not thought that Harry would be coming to visit him at this time. Or, he had just forgotten.

'I sent you a text. I did tell you not to come -'

'Tony, I was on a plane! You do know that for normal people a plane from London to here takes about seven hours -'

'I offered to let you use the private jet -'

'We are not going off topic on this one!' Harry shouted, and you could hear a pin drop in the shocked silence of the joint. 'What the hell were you thinking? You're a complete idiot! Who the hell flies into outer space in just a tin can for fun?'

'It's not a tin can; just because you and electricity don't mix doesn't mean anything with it is inept! Besides, it wasn't for fun … there was a nuke involved -'

'The sea is right there -'

'Tsunami!'

'Oh my God I'm just trying to make sure you don't kill yourself, apologies for being concerned -'

'Apology accepted, now would you like some Shawarma?'

Harry glared at his brother, but the need for food after such a surprisingly exhausting battle overrode the need to punch Tony in the face. Grudgingly, Harry sat down in the drawn out chair next to Tony, pulling a spare plate of meat-something towards him.

'You're paying.' Harry said, before taking a big bite and nearly sighing out loud in relief.

Tony looked affronted. 'Hang on, I went through an inter-dimensional wormhole today, doesn't that count for anything in the not-paying tally?'

'Nope,' Harry replied, 'You're the billionaire in this situation.'

Tony leant back in his chair and whined. 'But we split the company fifty-fifty -'

'I don't have any money with me.' Harry said decisively. 'And if you don't pay I'll set Kreacher on you.'

'No! You know he hates me!' Tony looked at Harry in horror.

'Exactly,' Harry replied seriously, taking his brother's Shawarma and taking a bit out of it, moaning at how nice food was after what seemed like an age of not having it.

Harry slid down slightly in his chair, and looked around at the company he and his brother held, all staring at him with varying expressions.

Sitting to Harry's immediate right was a heavy-set man with shoulder-length blonde hair, decked out in some kind of armour that reminded Harry a little of dragon hide. On his back, Harry was amused and surprised to see a deep red cape, that looked to be made out of some fine, expensive material. He was looking at Harry curiously, scrutinizing him uncomfortably - Harry decided he would switch his gaze to the man at the right head of the table, who was sitting next to the caped man.

This man, too, had blonde hair, though it was cut into a conservative style that was rather old-fashioned and relatively neat considering he had just emerged from battle. He was dressed in clothing that was so blatantly American that it nearly made Harry snort in laughter out loud. He was looking at Harry in a reserved and defensive manner, as if trying to hold judgment on Harry whilst also trying to assess whether or not he was a threat. Lying on his lap being clutched in his hands was a round shield looking thing, that was also plastered in red white and blue, and it was then that it struck Harry that this must be Captain America.

That explained his outfit and shield then.

The two opposite Harry were both the most menacing looking and the most official looking out of the motley group he was surrounded with. The woman on the right had a short hairstyle that was bright red and reminded Harry fondly of the Weasley's - though her face certainly didn't, as it was pulled into a scowl directed straight at him. She looked both suspicious and intimidating, the gun that lay uncomfortably close to her hand on the table, which Harry presumed was hers, just as black as the clothes she was wearing, under which Harry was near certain he could see the outlines of several other weapons about her body. She and what looked like her partner beside her appeared to be some form of spy, or assassins.

The man next to her, with short dark blonde hair, had his leg resting on the back of her chair, wore exactly the same kind of clothes as she was but in what seemed to be the male edition. His face seemed to hold nearly the same kind of expression as the woman next to him, but with a hint of something akin to a fierce protectiveness. Oddly, he was fingering a bow, and Harry wondered why he would choose such a relatively mundane weapon before Harry remembered that it didn't matter what you chose to wield, as long as you could use it well you could be nearly invincible.

The last man on the table before Harry's eyes got back to Tony was the least threatening looking. He was dressed in ordinary clothes; a simple shirt and a pair of dark jeans, with normal brown hair and eyes - but all of this normalcy made Harry think that perhaps he was the least normal out of all of them. He held no weapon either, and was looking at Harry with a sort of resigned interest, as thought preparing himself for yet another big adventure that he was going to be dragged on - he just wasn't sure whether he was going to like it much or not.

'Er,' Harry looked closely at the ordinary looking man, who was the person that had spoken, albeit quite awkwardly.

'Who are you?' Said the woman opposite forcefully, her glare intensifying as she asked her question.

Harry looked up at the redhead, glanced at his brother who was grinning slyly, knew exactly where his brother wanted to go with this, and obliged.

'Harry Stark,' Harry said absent-mindedly, taking another bite of his brother's Shawarma, grinning into it. He heard an exasperated sigh and a confused, tired 'What?'.

'There are no other Stark's,' The Captain said slowly, as if not trusting his own words. Although, he probably didn't know a lot about most things in the century, so perhaps he was entitled to a bit of self-doubt for the time being.

At that moment, Tony spoke up, the smile in his voice evident even though Harry wasn't even looking remotely in his direction.

'Harry's my brother,' he said, putting an arm around Harry's shoulders and refusing to let it be shaken off. Harry glared at him. 'Kid brother, anyway.'

There was a long moment of silence in which Harry shifted uncomfortably as five pairs of eyes pressed into and flickered between himself and Tony.

'How is that relevant?' Harry asked his brother to try and diffuse the tension and silence, just before the man to his right said in a loud, booming voice,

'I was not aware that you had a younger brother, Anthony,' he paused, looking Harry up and down. 'The resemblance is uncanny.'

Harry frowned and looked down at himself. He had never really thought that he looked too much like his brother, but apparently so. A quick glance at Tony revealed that he, too, felt the same way. The brothers exchanged a confused glance.

'You have a brother?' The man who Harry thought was the Captain said weakly, holding his head in his hands.

'There's two of them.' The agent type man said with a straight face and monotonal voice. 'I think now might be a good time to retire.'

'What? How did you stay away from the tabloids -'

'It is a pleasure to meet you, son of Stark,' the caped man said cheerfully, interrupting the ordinary looking man on the left end of the table, 'my name is Thor Odinson, but you may refer to me as Thor,'

'Okay,' Harry said, shaking Thor's hand (or, allowing Thor to crush his hand for a few seconds). 'Is this guy for real?' He whispered out of the corner of his mouth to his brother behind him, to which Tony rather smugly replied,

'Real deal. From Asgard and everything,'

Harry whistled lowly, and was about to turn back around to reclaim the Shawarma that was being retaken by Tony before Thor said something completely unexpected.

'It is an honour to meet a user of … magic? I believe that is what you Midgardian people call the Seidr.'

Tony promptly spit out the bottled water that he was drinking all over the portion of food to his left, and turned to stare at Thor with wide eyes. Meanwhile, the man next to him, who looked only mildly annoyed that his food was now drenched in second-hand water, looked up at Thor too, raising an eyebrow.

'Thor, magic doesn't exist on Midgard. It's a myth.'

'You cannot sense it?' Thor said, apparently shocked at their ignorance. Tony and Harry exchanged uneasy glances. 'I had assumed that even those on Midgard could -'

'Well then!' Tony shouted over Thor. 'That's enough of that! Harry, this is Thor, our resident Norse God of Thunder, as he said before,' Thor nodded and smiled widely. Tony then pointed to the blonde haired man in the all-American garb.

'Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, aka Capsicle, amongst other titles that I am yet to create,' Steve scowled at Tony and then smiled awkwardly at Harry. Tony then gestured to the two spy-agent-assassins across the table from them.

'Next we have the mildly terrifying Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow,' Natasha glared at Harry with her arms crossed over her chest.

'Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, who shoots things with arrows,' Tony said with a bored tone, and Clint broke his intimidating persona to look offended at Harry's brother. Tony made a large, extortionate movement with his hand as he pointed out the last person around the table to Harry.

'And finally we have Bruce Banner, a scientist that has a tendency to turn into a giant green rage monster when the situation arises.' Bruce, who had stopped trying to pick off the dry pieces of his ruined meal after giving it up as a bad job, gave a sheepish look towards Harry. A spark of memory welled up in Harry's head.

'So that's who it was!' Harry exclaimed, brightening now he knew what the green-man-thing was. 'I was wondering about that. You don't usually see the Jolly Green Giant wandering around New York, I presume?'

Bruce looked taken aback as Tony laughed.

'Sir,' Natasha spoke for the first time, now standing and holding her gun in one hand with her other holding something in her ear. 'There's been a development with Stark.'

'Oh come on!' Tony said, throwing his hands up into the air. 'Not a little bit of slack? We just saved the city for God's sake, I thought we were taking a day off -'

While Tony rambled on, Harry turned to the Captain. 'Who is she talking to?'

The Captain looked quite uncomfortable, but still answered Harry as it appeared that he saw no reason not to answer.

'Most likely Director Fury - Nick Fury.'

Harry laughed. 'Nick Fury? Oh, him I've met before.'

'Where'd you meet Director Fury?' Hawkeye interrupted, staring at Harry unwaveringly. Harry shrugged noncommittally as his brother and Black Widow continued to argue rather one-sidedly.

'He tried to recruit me for this initiative thing after I got rid of this guy a while back.' Harry said. 'I didn't accept. Getting involved in government agencies is never a good idea when you attract danger like it's the common cold.'

Those that were not arguing or a Norse God gawped at Harry.


- I'm sorry that I haven't replied to any reviews; I had my prom and so had hardly any time! I did make the decision that you would rather a chapter than review replies, so that's what I worked on. I will be reviewing to this chapter's reviews.

I've decided that I will be going through Iron Man Three, but not in too much detail, due to the fact that this is going to be nearly entirely, if not all from Harry's perspective. Through the IM3 arc, I'm going to either be having Harry go off by himself and deal with a new enemy that will eventually involve all of the Avengers, or, AIM and the IM3 plot will be part of this new, bigger villain arc.

How would you feel about Peter Parker/Spider-Man being incorporated into this story?

Please, tell me your thoughts about what you would like to happen in this story, since I am still very undecided.

Thank you so much for reading and for the astounding amount of favourites, follows and reviews!