The Affliction of War

Had a day off from work and finally got this chapter finished! Thank you so much for your reviews, I'm amazed at the response I have had for this! Please enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter Two – First impressions

The irritating and dreaded whistling of the alarm on Harry's wand was what woke him only five hours later with a throbbing headache and the urge to vomit. After he had done just that and taken one of his hang over relief potions he was feeling mildly better but no less apprehensive about the day that was to come.

His flight was due to take off in three hours and he was running a little behind. He was just thankful that he was ready to leave. Showering, scrubbing his teeth and pulling on his clothes took less than half an hour and it even made him feel a little more human as the potion began to take effect.

The very last thing that Harry did before grabbing his wand and bags was to slip on each of the bracelets, knowing that he would need them as he ventured into the muggle world, especially considering he was about to board a plane. He didn't really want to risk messing up the electronics on board, the results could potentially be catastrophic. He felt a little apprehensive about heading to the airport, having never been on a plane before and was glad that he had had his muggle clothing adapted to conceal his wand so that it was still usable but remained hidden from view and also impossible for non-magic folk to be able to detect.

An unexpected knock to his front door startled Harry out of his thoughts as he went through his mental check-list of everything he had to remember before he left for the airport. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at his front door, with suspicion. Harry had not been expecting any visitors, Kingsley had not mentioned anything about anyone coming to see him before his departure either and very few people had the knowledge of his home address. Above all else, Harry valued his privacy and had taken great care to keep his home as his sanctuary. Not even his casual flings had been permitted back to his home.

He had always been reluctant to erect wards around his apartment. Harry was in a dangerous line of work, that was true, however, he had never wanted to end up being that paranoid. He had a basic anti-theft charm and other such enchantments but he had never wanted to go to the extreme that he had had to go to while on the run during the war when he was seventeen. Instead he kept the address a closely guarded secret, given to only a select few that he knew he could trust.

Edging slowly and quietly towards the door, wand drawn, Harry peered through the peep hole, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was on the other side. Putting his Auror training to good use, Harry steadied his breathing, making himself as silent as was possible. He didn't want to be heard as he neared the front door.

Through the distorted glass of the peep hole there was no sign of any one. It gave Harry a rather uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, something wasn't right and his instincts were rarely wrong. He had spent years honing them and trusted his gut instinct without hesitation. With this feeling nagging at his gut, he recalled the suspicion he'd felt the night before that Kingsley hadn't been telling him absolutely everything. Harry honestly didn't think that the Minister for Magic had any reason to cause him harm, he trusted Kingsley, however, he was starting to think that the Minister might have had an ulterior motive for sending him to America on this mission that he hadn't disclosed.

Carefully backing away from the front door, Harry went to grab his bags, along the way, changing his course as he remembered that he had left the files on the Avengers and the mission on his bedside table. Under no circumstances could he leave those there to be discovered; he knew he needed to cover his tracks or the mission would fail before he even managed to leave the country. Moving quickly across his living room, leaving his bags behind, he headed for his bedroom. Harry's instincts were screaming at him that he had to move quickly. Whoever had been knocking on his door was now pounding against it, he didn't have a whole lot of time left.

Gathering up the files, shrinking them down and pocketing them was all he had time to do before a huge explosion blasted his front door off its hinges and sent it flying across the room, colliding with the opposite wall, the wood shattering, sending splinters in all directions. His time was up and he had to leave; Harry wouldn't even be able to grab his bags but thankfully all they contained were his clothes. Everything of importance was on his person or under such heavy protective enchantments that not even Kingsley Shacklebolt would have been able to break them, not even with the help of the entire Ministry.

This knowledge still didn't make it any easier for Harry to leave, however. This apartment held his most treasured possessions. His invisibility cloak, his Hogwarts memories, old family photographs and pictures of those that he loved. Everything that Harry held dear to him was either here, within these four walls or in his vault at Gringotts and he was about to leave both behind for an indefinite amount of time, possibly never to return.

It went against all of his Auror training to run from a fight, but he could hear several voices shouting what sounded like strange spells into his apartment; he was just lucky that he was in his bedroom and not in the firing line. He didn't need to be in the living room to know that he was drastically outnumbered, though no one had entered his home... yet. Harry was just thankful that he had moved away from the door when he had, otherwise he might never have made it to the airport.

The mission he was on was more important than anything else now. This place was just brick and cement, his possessions, though irreplaceable to him were second to his memories and he was confident in his ability to conceal things that he didn't want anyone to find. Whoever was out there, set on attacking him could tear apart this place and find nothing. It was with this confidence that Harry closed his eyes and apparated to the designated point that had been set up just for him close to the airport.

A sense of unease settled over him as he departed his home, wondering how it was that someone had found him. He didn't like to think that Ron, Hermione or even Kingsley, who were the only three that knew his home address, would have betrayed him. Even then none of them had ever been there in person, Harry tended to visit them if the need arose to do so.

There was also something about the jets of light that had been fired into the apartment, something about them had seemed off, like magic but not. Harry's head was all over the place, his mind racing with possibilities but there was no way to tell what had been going on or who had been attacking him and why. Harry wasn't sticking around long enough to find out, not when the odds were stacked so highly against him. His gut was telling him that whatever was going on it was linked, somehow, to this mission with the Avengers. The best way to get information was to stick to the plan and that meant boarding his plane to New York.

-x

"What do you think he's like?" Bruce asked as he scanned over the file he had been given. He had been the first to arrive to the mystery location aside from Director Fury and had been reading over the rather scarce file ever since. Steve had been the next one to make an appearance, the loud roar of his motorcycle announcing his arrival. Clint and Natasha not far behind him, arriving together in a sleek black sports car.

Each of the Avengers had been summoned together, for the first time since the aftermath of New York. Some had been more reluctant than others when they had received the summons from S.H.I.E.L.D. They were using one of Nick Fury's random locations which the Director had deemed safe for the duration that they would need it. It was a vast, empty warehouse space that had been furnished with a table and chairs for their use only. Dank and depressing it might have been, however, considering the confidential nature of their conversation no one had been expecting luxury.

When discussing the imminent arrival of their new charge only the most secret of locations was satisfactory to Director Fury. He knew how important this young man was, his brother had made that very clear to him. He wasn't sure who he would be able to trust with the small file that they had on Potter and he didn't want to risk it falling into the wrong hands. The last thing they needed was to put Harry in more danger.

"Stuck up, conceited little prince probably," Clint said unhappily, Natasha nodding in agreement. Barton had taken one brief glance and disregarded the file having already made up his mind about who this Harry Potter bloke would likely be. Natasha had read the file cover to cover with a blank expression on her face, which Clint knew to mean that she was unimpressed with what she was seeing. He didn't need to ask her for her opinion, he knew her well enough by now to be able to read her silence.

The four present were all either sitting or standing around a large rectangular table, Bruce and Natasha still scanning over the file, Clint however had his feet propped up on the table, tilting himself back on his chair, looking extremely bored. Director Fury hadn't bothered to sit down, he stood at the head of the table, surveying the gathered Avengers, even with two of the team missing from the group.

Of course the Avengers were not privy to any of the great things that Harry had done, that was all top secret information; the file they had been given was more than a little vague, mentioning a war in which Harry was the hero, the saver of many lives but there was very little else. It couldn't even clarify what war he had fought in without giving away too much. Fury could understand why the Avengers were a little disgruntled about the situation.

"You don't know that," Steve chastised as he read over all the notes, taking care not to miss any of the details, just as Natasha was doing. Steve just wanted to be sure that he had all the information on the young man before he arrived. He wasn't convinced that Clint's attitude was the right one to have, after all they knew nothing about Harry Potter, though Steve had to admit that Clint had at least shown up to this meeting, which was a darn sight more than Tony and Thor.

"I'm curious as to why he is our responsibility to look after," Bruce said, thinking that this seemed to be too minor a task to call them all back together. Babysitting a twenty-seven year old man seemed to be a waste of all of their talents. It wasn't as if there weren't other more important missions for them to be occupying their time with. They all had other occupations outside of the Avengers Initiative, however mediocre they might have been. Thor didn't even belong on their planet, it was unlikely that he would return to earth for such a simple task.

"And why we have to pretend he's one of us," Clint said somewhat bitterly, feet still propped on the table, keeping his chair tilting backwards, Natasha nodding in agreement once again at this as she shut the file and threw it down on the table, having learnt everything she needed to learn from it. None of them really cared for babysitting duty, especially not for a deluded young man who believed he was worthy of being part of the Avengers initiative. None of them could really understand why Fury was willing to put up with it, he wasn't really a man who took nonsense from anyone.

"You should give him a chance, Harry might just surprise you," Nick said knowingly; he of course knew all about the amazing abilities that the young wizard had and the many astounding things that he had achieved in his short life. He felt that it was a shame that he hadn't been able to tell his gathered team of extraordinary individuals the extent of Harry Potter's accomplishments. These were the reason Fury was confident that Potter would fit in with the team so well. He was, however, slightly ashamed of them all that they would discount Harry so easily when they knew so little about him.

"This is a waste of time," Natasha said, her voice neutral. She didn't understand why Fury had demanded she be here, he had taken her off another mission for babysitting duty, to say she was a little pissed was an understatement. This was not what she had had in mind when she had joined the Avenger's Initiative.

"Sorry I'm late," Tony said as he threw open the door and strolled in, clad in his full Ironman suit minus the helmet, a Starbucks Frappuccino in hand. "Wait… no I'm not," he added with a mischievous smile as he grabbed Natasha's discarded file to read up on the reason he had been called away from his work and Pepper.

"Good of you to join us, Stark," Steve said disapprovingly, glancing up from the file only briefly, glaring at the billionaire for a moment before turning his attention back to the photograph of the young man that had been attached to the file. He was trying to convince himself that he was so enthralled by the file because he was trying to do his job but he couldn't lie to himself, he knew that that was not the only reason he was studying the photograph so that he had memorized every detail.

Fury watched the way that Steve studied the file rather intently, focusing on the two photographs that had been supplied. The first of the two pictures attached to Harry's file was the one that had been taken of him when he had first entered the Ministry of Magic as an Auror when he was only seventeen. Of course it didn't move, those particular bits of magic had been removed from the photo before it had been handed over to the muggles but it was still a rather striking photo. Harry's black hair was sticking up all over the place in its usual lacklustre style, his brilliantly green eyes looking directly into the camera, no longer hidden behind the glasses that he had worn throughout his childhood as they had been against Ministry regulation.

A second picture had also been supplied, this one far more recent; gone was the small awkward teenager that he had once been, Harry was a young man now. It had been taken when he had been promoted to Head of the Auror office, though, of all of them gathered only Nick Fury was privy to that information. Harry had bulked up between the times that the two pictures were taken due to his Auror training and he had gained a few new battle scars too.

Although he was still smaller than he should have been for his age, he was rather impressive when the two photographs were compared. Steve couldn't take his eyes off either of them. There was something about this man that had captured his attention and he couldn't work out what it was. He thought that maybe it was the fact that they had both been through war that had ignited this kinship he now felt, though it didn't state which war Harry had fought in and Steve was curious.

Clint and Natasha were sat saying nothing, both of them looking rather unhappy still. Clint insisting on acting like a petulant teenager and Natasha looking as if she might kill someone if provoked. Tony's constant and deliberate slurping through a straw was not helping to ease the tension in the room either and was actually making the situation worse.

"It mentions that he was in a war," Steve said, voicing his thoughts as he continued to scan over the information in the file. So little detail had been given to them and it made Steve suspicious as to why this might be when they were being asked to protect him. He found himself wanting to know why it was going to take five, if not six of them, if Thor made an appearance at all, to protect one man.

"That information is, unfortunately, classified," Fury said with a tone of exasperation, trying to ignore the irritating slurping sound coming from Tony as he drank his Starbucks while perusing the file, a look of boredom on his face.

Fury was bound by the statute of secrecy to keep what he knew about Harry Potter and the wizarding world to himself. Even if he had wanted to share what he knew he wouldn't have been able to tell the gathered Avengers anything about the Great Battle of Hogwarts or the Dark Wizard, Voldemort, whom so many had died to defeat. The information that he was privy to just wasn't information that they needed to know to ensure that Harry remained out of the clutches of whatever danger Kingsley believed him to be in.

"Classified?" Clint demanded, clearly outraged by this response. Removing his legs from the table and sitting forward so that he could better glare at Fury, even Natasha folded her arms over her chest looking rather put out that she was being asked to do this task that was so clearly beneath her and her skill level. "If we're protecting the little brat then we should know."

"If it's the reason we have to protect him then we should know," Natasha stated, clearly just as annoyed as Clint at the fact more information was being withheld from them. She wasn't a woman that was accustomed to being kept in the dark or being denied what she wanted.

Steve said nothing, more than happy to remain looking at the picture in his hand, studying the young man as Clint had his little temper tantrum. Steve couldn't deny that he was curious, Harry was meant to be a war hero, a man who had saved many lives and taken down the one responsible for starting the war in the first place. Whoever had written the file on the young man clearly thought very highly of him.

"Information surrounding Harry Potter is classified," Fury repeated, more firmly this time, not liking Barton's attitude or that Natasha was taking the same stance as him, though Fury had a feeling that Stark was going to be a whole lot worse. Tony had remained unmoving, scanning over the file and slurping gracelessly at his Frappuccino.

"If Director Fury says that the information is classified we should accept that," Banner said, forever the calm voice of reason. "When does he arrive?"

Natasha was still looking rather dubious about the whole situation and shared a look with Clint who jerked his head in a brief acknowledgement that they were on the same page. He didn't like this any more than she did. The two of them had worked for S.H.I.E.L.D before, they knew just how many secrets Fury was capable of keeping and they knew better than most that if he didn't want them to know then only Stark would be able to get the information from the computers, which was perhaps why they were meeting at a safe house that didn't have any.

"His flight is due to land at 12:42 this afternoon at JFK, you will be there to meet him off the plane," Fury said, keeping his voice firm and authoritative. As usual he felt as he he were talking to a bunch of rowdy school children who didn't know how to behave and had lost control of their hormones.

"I'll send a driver to collect his highness," Tony said as he closed the file and threw it unceremoniously on to the table. "Is that all?"

"No," Fury said, his patience being tested by the arrogance of Stark. The others might all have felt as if their time was being wasted, however, Tony was acting like it. "I have requested that he stay at Stark Tower along with the rest of the team."

"Then I'll send Happy," Tony replied dismissively as he put down his now empty Frappuccino cup on the table in a rather decisive action.

"The whole point is that you are there to meet him," Fury said, steadily losing all patience with the arrogant attitude that Stark was displaying. Clint and Natasha had both gone on the defensive and actually seemed as if they might agree with Tony. Banner was the only one sitting out of the fight, as was his nature to do so.

"I will be there," Steve said as he finally closed the file, tearing his eyes from the pictures and refocusing on the gathered group in front of him.

"I suppose, if we are simply meeting him at the airport then I will too," Bruce said with a sigh, thinking that it was probably for the best. He didn't exactly trust Director Fury entirely but if he was asking them to do something then there was likely a good reason for it.

"Excellent, that covers it then, see you at my place for dinner, we'll have Shawarma," Tony said with a wry smile, remembering the last time they had eaten it together.

"Better be an improvement on what we ate last time," Clint commented making Natasha roll her eyes. Fury didn't seem impressed with their banter either, his mouth forming a stiff, unimpressed line.

"This is a serious mission, even if you don't agree with that assessment, this man is an important asset and there are people out there, serious people, that want to hurt him. You will all be there to meet him and ensure that he reaches Stark tower safely." By this point Nick Fury was really forcing himself to stay calm, he knew that they were frustrated about not being told anything more than the minimum information but he needed them to take this mission seriously.

Nick was more than aware that Harry could take of himself if it came down to it but the whole point was that he didn't have to. Kingsley had sent him away to protect him and that was what Nick was intending to do, even if the boy didn't want to be protected. Fury didn't want Harry to have any reason or excuse to use his abilities to protect himself.

"Fine," Natasha said reluctantly, glaring at Fury. Clint gave a rather stiff incline of his head to show that he too agreed to go even if he did think it ridiculously stupid, crossing his muscle bound arms over his chest, still looking decidedly grumpy.

"I have a meeting," Tony said with a shrug, an action that looked utterly ludicrous while he was in his Ironman suit.

"Cancel it," Fury said impatiently, "Or send Pepper, hell, she does your job better than you do," he added with a menacing glare to the rather pompous billionaire.

"Fine, I'll check my schedule but you're paying for the Shawarma," he said with a smile that vanished as his mask slid into place and he took flight, leaving through the open door. The other gathered Avengers all begun to get to their feet knowing that the meeting was now over.

Steve was the last one to get up from the table, lost in his thoughts about the mysterious new charge they would have in a matter of hours. 12.42 at JFK. Checking his watch, Steve realised that he only had three hours until he had to be there. He decided that it would be time well spent checking out the security at the airport and ensuring that when Harry arrived, he would be safe.

-x

After eight hours on a plane Harry wasn't sure how muggles put up with it. He had been sat next to a large gentleman who had not only taken up his own seat but half of Harry's too. Three rows in front of him a young mother had struggled with her toddler for the entire flight which had included screaming fits from the child and a lot of bribery to try and get the child to calm down. The mother had also been making numerous embarrassed apologies to the rest of the passengers for the child's behaviour.

Harry didn't even want to think about the meal he had been served that had been practically inedible and looked worse. It had tasted much like what he imagined cardboard to taste like and in the end had satisfied himself with a couple of beers, though he had been careful not to over do it as he was still a little fragile from the previous evening and he was technically working.

All in all Harry was thrilled to be disembarking from the plane. It was not an experience he wanted to repeat in a hurry. When the mission was over, if he survived it, then he was going to have to have words with Kingsley about getting him a port key home because there was no way that he was suffering through that ordeal ever again. What kind of idiot took a child on a long haul flight?

Breezing through boarder control and security, Harry bypassed baggage collection, realising that he would probably have to go shopping at some point. He detested shopping, really detested it. Usually Harry used owl order for anything he needed, which had the added bonus of avoiding contact with people.

Shopping for regular people required going out of the house, which was tiresome for Harry with the papers looking to photograph his every move, not to mention the fans that were always dying to get his attention. It was usually all too much for Harry who didn't get a lot of free time and therefore refused to spend it being uncomfortable in public.

The casual crowds in the airport were enough to make Harry a little nervous and extremely on edge. He took comfort in the fact that he had his wand and could use it if necessary without getting it out. He wasn't unprotected but he still wasn't going to be at ease until he had located the team he was going to be working with. He hoped that things might be calmer for him now that he was in muggle America, after all no one would know him here.

Harry's heart sunk however when he came out, into the arrivals area and swarms of people were milling around, some taking pictures, others just generally buzzing with excitement. Harry couldn't help but tense up until he realised that none of the fuss or the hype was for him. A wave of relief washed over him as this realisation hit and he actually smiled when he realised that all the fuss was for someone that he recognized; Tony Stark.

He was minus his Ironman suit today, wearing simple jeans and t-shirt, sunglasses sitting atop his head as he signed autographs and smiled at some females who were fawning over him, telling him how amazing he is.

Scanning the crowd Harry spotted a few more faces that he recognized from the pictures that he had been given. Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. Harry was a little disappointed that Thor wasn't present. That was one superhuman that Harry wanted to see up close and personally if he could.

Feeling a little awkward and not knowing how to introduce himself, Harry headed towards the gathered superheroes. He was feeling rather self conscious as he realised that Clint and Natasha were looking rather unhappy and even a little bored. Steve was standing with his arms folded over his broad chest looking extremely impressive as he scanned the crowd and Bruce was looking a little nervous about being in such a busy place, something which Harry could relate to. He wasn't fond of crowds either.

It was Steve who spotted Harry first, the two of them making eye contact through the mass of people. He turned to say something to the others before he began making his way through the bustling assemblage of returning holidaymakers, towards Harry who couldn't help but smile at the stunning example of a man that was approaching him. He was dressed simply in beige trousers and a white t-shirt but the simplicity of the outfit only made him more impressive.

"It's nice to meet you Harry," Steve said as the two of them reached each other, Steve offering out his hand for Harry to shake, which he did. The gesture was warm and soft, the smile on the older man's face making him appear all the more handsome.

"You too, Steve," Harry returned, smiling back at the Avenger. He was beginning to wish that he had taken the time to stop at a bathroom before coming out to meet his future team mates. Steve was stood before him neatly dressed, blond hair combed over to one side whereas Harry knew himself to be rather dishevelled from the long flight, his hair no doubt a mess and he didn't even want to consider what his breath smelt like.

"Do you have any bags?" Bruce asked, coming up behind Steve and looking a little sheepish as he interrupted them without properly introducing himself, keen to make a quick exit.

"No," Harry said rather regretfully, "I ran into some difficulty as I left my apartment this morning, I had to leave them behind."

"Difficulty?" Natasha asked as she and Clint joined the three of them. Her tone was one of discontent as she looked down her nose at the young man in front of her, wanting it clear exactly what she thought of his presence here with them. In her eyes he was not worthy of a place amongst them.

"I was attacked," Harry said, picking up on her tone easily enough and going on the defensive himself. If she wasn't going to play nicely then neither was he. He had had enough experience of wizards trying to kill him, he didn't think that Natasha would be any match for him, even with her rather impressive list of skills.

"Perhaps we should leave this discussion for more private locations," Bruce suggested, clearly even more on edge with the threat of them all bickering in the middle of the airport. He couldn't stop himself as he mentally counted up the number of innocent civilians that would die if he lost control.

"Yes," Steve agreed, "If we can tear Stark away from his admirers." He was frowning as he glanced in Tony's direction, not approving of the egotistical behaviour that he was demonstrating. He could remember a time when that was him and he didn't miss it.

The tension between their small group was making Harry a little uncomfortable as he realised just how unwelcome he was among the Avengers. Whoever had requested help from Kingsley, they hadn't asked the opinion of those gathered here.

"He can take care of himself," Natasha said stiffly, casting a glare over her shoulder where Tony was now posing for a picture with a charming grin and also making the peace sign with three over excited fan-girls that had low cut tops, which exposed their breasts and declared their love of Ironman.

"I'm sure he will follow when he realises that we are leaving," Clint pointed out, arms still folded across his chest, looking anywhere but in Harry's direction. He hadn't so much as acknowledged the young man since he had arrived, clearly determined to be very standoffish towards him.

"I'm sure he won't want to miss the Shawarma," Bruce said, torn between disapproval and amusement, however he was in agreement with Clint that Tony would follow when he was ready. He wasn't the type of guy to go with the flow, he did his own thing and didn't care about anyone else. There were a lot of things about Tony Stark that were inexplicable to him.

Bruce often thought that trying to reason with Stark was much akin to reasoning with a stubborn toddler who didn't want to do as they were told, except Stark was worse. Difficult, frustrating and generally a waste of time and energy, though he did admire the man's mind, that was something he envied.

"Do I dare ask what Shawarma is?" Harry asked, his voice little more than a whisper as he leaned a little closer to Steve, taking the opportunity to brush against the firm biceps and finding himself wanting to touch them a whole lot more. He wasn't ready to talk to the whole group yet, especially not when Clint and Natasha were being so cold towards him. Steve seemed nice enough though and Bruce at least seemed not to mind that he was there.

"It's food," Steve explained, slightly amused that Harry had never heard of it before and overly aware that the younger man was deliberately getting closer than he needed to, "A favourite of Stark's," he added. As he had said this, Steve motioned for the group to head towards the exit. He took the lead, Harry staying close to him, still uncertain about the others.

Harry might not have been sure that they were willing to accept him into the group without question, something he had thought might happen, however he wasn't exactly going to complain about the fact that he was here. This was what he had wanted after all, to be out on assignment again, fighting against those that needed to be fought. He was more than happy to take a back seat for the time being and simply observe for a little while, and what a sight he had to observe. He had three very tall, muscular men to ogle at and then there was Bruce of course who wasn't as tall or as muscular as the others but he was still an impressive man.

He had been hooking up with as many witches and wizards as he could back home, being in another country just gave him new material to work with. However the added bonus of being in another country was that no one knew who he was. He didn't have to worry about the press or anyone judging him, here he was just a man and he could sleep with whoever he wanted.

"Well it can't possibly be worse than the crap they served on the plane," Harry said with a forced smile and laugh. He heard Clint give an amused snort just behind him but Harry didn't turn to acknowledge him.

Steve smiled at the comment, "I wouldn't be so sure," he replied as they neared the exit. Harry didn't bother to turn to see the reactions of the others, not when Steve was smiling so sweetly at him. Steve stepped out of the building first before holding the door open for Harry to step through.

Bruce came next, followed by Natasha, Clint bringing up the rear, all of them on alert, harry didn't fail to notice that they all seemed to form a kind of protective circle around him. They were all a little relieved when Tony started heading their way too, waving off his many adoring fans who were trying to follow, turning to blow them kisses before coming to join the rest of the Avengers team plus Harry on the pavement outside in the blistering heat.

"So where is he?" Tony asked as he slid his sunglasses into place, glancing around his friends expectantly, rolling up his sleeves, exposing his toned forearms as he crossed them over his chest, biceps bulging. It was a good thing that he had covered his eyes because when Natasha pointed to Harry, Tony couldn't have stopped himself from frowning. Harry was not what he had expected. "Okay then, I thought you'd be... taller."

"I'll work on improving that," Harry bit back with a roll of his eyes, giving Tony his best smile. Stark actually smiled in response, liking the sassy retort and how quick it had been delivered. He had a feeling that he was going to like Harry.

"Travelling light?" He asked in amusement, noticing that Harry didn't appear to have any bags with him.

"You mean short people need changes of clothes,... huh, who would have thought," Harry retorted as two large black cars pulled up to the curb, both of them looking rather official with the S.H.I.E.L.D logo on the doors.

"I like you," Tony said pointing his finger towards Harry who couldn't help but smile at, what he considered to be, a high compliment coming from Tony Stark. Harry hadn't been expecting to like Tony as much, his mind sure, after all Stark had created a great many impressive things, even when you didn't factor in the Iron man suit. Tony was much like what Harry thought Fred and George might be rolled into one person with a little bit of Seamus thrown in.

Thinking of his friends back home however had the smile falling from his lips rather fast and he needed to find something to focus on before he allowed his memories to overwhelm him. To hide how he was feeling, Harry refocused on the cars that had arrived for them where a man at the butt end of middle aged was stepping out.

Harry had to take a moment to take this man in as he didn't know who he was, he hadn't been in any of the files that he had been sent. He was a rather serious looking gentleman, wearing a black suit and carrying a metal brief case, which he put on the floor in front of Tony.

"Mr Stark," the man greeted as he extended his hand out for Tony to take. Harry stood beside Steve observing everything going on and he didn't miss the hoards of fans that were heading for the exit, looking to follow Tony out of the airport. Clint and Natasha had also seen the hoards heading their way and had closed in around Harry, almost like they were protecting him, something which confused Harry a little.

"Happy," Tony returned, acknowledging the man and accepting the gesture that Happy offered. Harry thought it a rather strange name for a man but he wasn't about to question this, far too content to just observe for the moment.

"TONY WE LOVE YOU!" A chorus of girls shrieked as they departed the airport, clearly intent on following Stark, who turned to smile at them, giving them a small wave.

"Shall we get moving?" Bruce asked, looking around nervously, feeling rather exposed standing out in the open as they were. He also didn't want to give the Ironman fans a chance to swarm them, which it seemed they were more than willing to do to get a piece of Tony.

"I'm not sure your ego will fit in one car, Stark," Steve said as he turned his back on the shrieking females, ushering Harry towards the vehicles that were waiting for them.

"Good thing I wasn't intending to travel in the car then," Tony retorted with his trademark smirk as he pressed a button on his watch and the briefcase that Happy had put at their feet began to expand and unfold into what Harry recognized as being the Ironman suit.

"Not bad," Harry commented as he took in the impressive sight of Tony now that he was Ironman. He could certainly appreciate how good Stark looked clad in red and gold metal. Though, Harry was fairly sure that Tony Stark was a man that would look good in anything he wore, or in fact with nothing on at all.

"Stark, cover us from the sky, Barton, Romanoff in the car behind, Banner in with Potter and me," Steve instructed, realising that having Tony use his suit to fly home was actually rather a good idea. It meant that someone was watching their back from above.

Harry was looking at Steve as if he were slightly crazy, he thought all of this was a bit much if he were honest. He was a new team member sure but he didn't think that that required any special treatment. He also wanted to see Ironman take off and wasn't about to let himself be rushed into the car before he had seen it.

"See you in ten," Tony said, directing this to Harry right before his mask slid into place and he projected himself into the air. Harry couldn't help but smile, the fan girls squealing at the sight of their idol taking flight.

"In the car, Harry," Bruce said gently, knowing that they had to leave.

Harry, however, just smirked, "Oh no, after you," he said, casting a glance over towards Steve and raking his eyes up and down the large, handsome man's body. "I'd be an idiot to miss the opportunity to snuggle between two handsome men in the back seat of a car."

Steve and Bruce shared a look between them that was a mixture of horror and amusement before Bruce climbed into the back of the vehicle, Harry clambering in after him before Steve got in last, closing the door behind him and they were off, heading for Stark tower.

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