Ooookei I did not expect such a response for this O.o There are so many ways this fic can go, I hope the direction I took will be satisfying ^^ This story happens about 2 or 3 years before the Avengers events, so I'm not following the Harry Potter verse timeline.

Thanks to all reviewers, and to:

Lala: Thank you for giving it a chance :)

Guest 1: Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy where it goes :)

Christina: Thank you!

Bex: :)

Carly: Thank you! I hope you'll like where this is heading :)

Guest 2: Hawkeye's past is more or less canon (or so I've read on wiki). Thank you :)

Guest 3: Thank you!

L. Nott: Gracias! Espero que le guste el nuevo capitulo ^^

Unbeta-ed work, so all mistakes are mine :)

New York, 48 hours earlier…

"Barton, you are expected in debrief room number 3."

The archer blinked and turned around to see Maria waiting for him on the other side of the shooting range.

"I am?" he repeated. Last news, he hadn't been convoked for anything.

"You are. Something came up and D-team is requested."

"Seriously?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

Clint hesitated, then shrugged.

"Nobody knows when you are. Except maybe Tasha."

Maria rolled her eyes and made a 'come on' gesture with her hand. He put down his bow, folded it in its case and followed her. After the huge mess they've left in Budapest, Delta Strike team was wisely given some time off to let them recover. That was the official reason. In truth, they were asked to lay low for a while, because the WSC was not happy with them. So that Maria of all people (wasn't she supposed to be on the Helicarrier by the way?) came for him left him perplexed. They entered the debrief room where Natasha was already waiting. Coulson wasn't there, which surprised him.

"Phil is late?" he asked, glancing at his partner. Natasha shrugged.

"I am your handler on this one." Maria interrupted and added before either could comment. "It's not a high risk mission, just an infiltration and information withdrawal. You are expected to find names of the leaders of a rising drug ring in England, the Nirvens, and forward this intel to another team who will dismantle them."

"Are you serious?" Clint blurted, annoyed. He had vaguely heard about the Nirvens from a colleague the previous month. Considering what Delta Strike team faced on their usual mission, this was way below their standards. "They're sending us on rookie missions now? Are they that scared of us being bored?"

Natasha didn't comment, but given her barely noticeable scowl, she agreed with him. Maria didn't take the bait and slid two files in their direction.

"You weren't chosen by chance," she added dryly. "Some members of this ring work in a small notary cabinet, and we were given the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the building. A man suspected to belong to the Nirvens died in a car accident recently." She turned towards Clint. "Does the name Bernard Granger ring a bell?"

The archer frowned and picked up the folder.

"Not a th-"

He paused when he opened the first page and fell on familiar blue-grey eyes staring back at him. Blue-grey eyes he hadn't seen in years.

"Then maybe you have heard about his real name." Maria went on imperturbably, in spite of Clint's uncompleted sentence and Natasha's stare of disbelief. "Meet Bernard Granger, a.k.a Barney Barton."

Present time.

"Hello Hermione, nice of you to join us."

The teenage girl stared at him abashed, and Clint took in how exhausted and lost she looked. Her parents' death must have hit her hard; she was only fourteen after all and from what he had read from SHIELD's report and her profile, she had had a good and loving life. For all his past mistakes, Barney seemed to have done right by his daughter.

When Hermione didn't move to take his hand, he dropped it and added:

"My name's Clint, which you must know by now. And sorry I didn't visit earlier, someone forgot to mention I had a niece." He sent a glare to Harrison for good measure. The notary shifted uncomfortably on his chair. "Where you hoping I'd never find out?"

Harrison's mouth thinned into hard line.

"You have a very debatable past, Mr. Barton," he spoke eventually. "And like I said, Mr. Granger was a good friend of mine, I wanted to protect his daughter."

"Hey Rushman, how high is your bullshit meter right now?"

His partner gave him a sweet smile. So she had smelt something fishy too. He turned around and faced Hermione once again. According to the files they had read, Barney had kept his wife and daughter out of the business. The girl was, in common agreement, not to be involved in this. Barton was in charge of pulling her out of harm if she happened to be there and let Natasha handle the interrogation. If anything turned sour, Maria was just around the bloke. Clint suspected the Deputy Director had brought her trustful tablet with her, not expecting to be called in. And Clint suspected she was probably right to do so.

"So Hermione," Clint started. "It seems that my lawyer," he nodded towards Natasha, and Harrison paled drastically –apparently, he hadn't expected him to bring 'legal' back-up. "And your notary are going to have a little talk. I've seen a coffee place across the street when I came by. Would you like to have a drink with me so we can get to know each other a bit better?" She hesitated, but he could read curiosity in her eyes. "There'll be lots of people there. You're allowed to scream if I make any indecent move." He added halfway to joke, halfway to reassure her.

The girl glanced at Harrison briefly. Her hand made an interesting move towards her pocket, like she was searching for a weapon, and the gesture seemed to reassure her.

"Fine." She replied. "I'll pick up my stuff."

He waited until she left the room to ask Harrison:

"Am I her legal guardian?"

The guy who had called him to 'deliver' the news of his brother's death hadn't mentioned anything else but a will. Harrison nodded reluctantly. Clint bit back a groan; now that was something he suspected, but he had hoped Barney hadn't been stupid enough to leave her with him. Had he been that confident he wouldn't hurt his daughter? Either his brother had believed him to be an idiot, either he had faith in his goodwill. Clint inched towards the former, because Barney was a sneaky one, and he wouldn't put past the hypothesis that he had survived or staged his accident, especially if he belonged to a new drug ring and SHIELD was after them.

"I'm getting too old for this shit," he mumbled tiredly and glanced one last time at his partner: "You'll be all right?"

Natasha gave him *that* look. He waited for Hermione and opened the door for her on the way out.

The coffee wasn't crowded, but had just enough people to put his niece at ease. Hermione chose a table near the exit and in full view of the street. Not Clint's favorite place, but he'd make an exception this one time. She ordered a Sprite and he a black coffee. He hadn't slept much during the plane trip, making sure to catch up with his brother and his family's every move. The only oddity that concerned him so far was her school (private school, the file mentioned. Great, now which private school?) but that was a detail he could clear with her later. Right now, the girl had seen enough for the past few days, he didn't want to push her too much and hear her expectations. While they waited for their order, they stood in silence facing each other. Clint waited for her to take the lead.

"How did you know I was next door?" Hermione eventually asked.

It amused him a bit, the way she wasn't scared of facing him. Clint briefly wondered if she had met anyone like him before.

"The door was slightly opened." He admitted. "I wasn't sure you'd be the one behind."

"So a door left ajar is a sign of eavesdropping?" She concluded and frowned judgmentally. "What kind of life do you live?"

Clint chuckled at that.

"If your lawyer wanted to respect his customer's confidentiality, he would have made sure all doors were locked." The waiter brought their drinks. Clint swiftly changed subject before she could ask again about his profession. "So where do you live right now?"

It successfully distracted her. She looked down and tightened her fists.

"At home."

That surprised him.

"Really? I thought you'd already be placed in foster care or with your mom's relatives."

"How can you say that!" she spat angrily. Clint raised his hands in defense.

"Whoah cool down little lady. I'm just curious because when my- our parents –your grand-parents died, the social services came to pick us up straight ahead."

"Mr. Harrison made it so I could stay a while longer," she argued, then frowned. "Your parents died when you were young?"

Clint briefly wondered what Barney had told her daughter about their parents. He suddenly wondered if she even knew he had existed at all, and what she had been told about him.

"Your dad never spoke much of his past?"

Hermione grimaced slightly.

"He said his parents died when he was in his twenties, that I would have loved to meet them had they been alive." Pause. "He never mentioned you."

"I can't figure out why." The archer muttered. "Our father was an abusive drunk who loved hitting anything that ran by. Mother stopped trying to cover for us after a while." He muttered bitterly and Hermione opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Barney…" Clint closed his eyes half a second. "Barney was a good brother back in those days. I don't remember much, I was maybe five or six. But I remember looking up to him, and him protecting me. Father ran his truck in a tree. Mother was on the passenger seat, and neither made it." Ironical ending, Clint supposed. "We were placed in foster care for a few years, and then Barney and I ran off to the circus. We stayed there a while. When he left…" his voice trailed off and he shrugged. "You heard that part. I haven't seen him since then."

Hermione took a few sips of her drink, her eyes dragging into the street, back to the small building where they had come from. Clint let her take her time; he wasn't quite sure she believed him anyway.

"How did you know I existed?" she suddenly asked.

"Thanks to Natalie." He replied. "When I got the call, since the guy was slightly unwilling to give out information over the phone, I asked her to run a research on whether it was worth coming over. And I wasn't lying back there; I really don't want anything of what Barney left behind. I just wanted to make sure you'd be in a good place. Just because I hated Barney doesn't mean I will hold a grudge against his daughter."

Wait, maybe that was why Barney had made him her legal guardian.

Hermione stared at him suspiciously.

"What is it you do alrea-"

Clint didn't hear the end of her sentence; his eyes were already focused on a group of four that had just entered the coffee place. Three men, one woman. One of the men discreetly turned the door panel 'close' while the two others headed towards the bar. The woman walked in their direction, aiming a seductive smile at him. She was hot, Clint admitted. But he was definitively taken with a spider that would live up to her name if he even dared consider giving the newcomer a second glance.

And even so, that group screamed trouble.

"You're done with your drink?" he asked Hermione, looking away from the woman but keeping her and her companions in his sight. The teen glared at him, no doubt upset upon realizing he hadn't been listening to her. "Cause we're leaving now."

The girl didn't have time to protest though, the unknown woman suddenly grabbed the teenager's collar and pulled her up, a knife in the other hand.

"No-one moves!" she shouted as her three companions pulled out guns in turn. "This is-"

She never finished her sentence.

20 minutes later…

"A hold-up? you got caught in a hold up?"

Hill's voice was laced with shock and disbelief, probably because she couldn't fathom Delta Strike team's luck (or lack of luck). Clint could sympathize, he never wanted to have to kick four wannabes bad guys' asses the day he was finally meeting with blood relatives. Fortunately, Hermione got knocked out early, the woman hostage-taker having dropped her against the chair after being hit in the face by Clint's coffee mug. The three others –amateurs- had been so stunned to encounter resistance that they barely put up a fight when he came after them.

"A pathetic attempt of a hold-up," Clint corrected. He could picture Maria rubbing her temples to soothe an upcoming headache.

"Do I have to pull my badge?"

"It's fine; I left the premises before they could identify me clearly."

"And what about the Granger girl?"

Clint glanced over his shoulder; Hermione was still lying unconscious on the back seat of Natasha's car.

"She's fine." He hoped so. "So what next?"

"Go to the Granger's house," Maria ordered. "I'll pick up Natasha on the way out and join you there."

Clint wanted to protest, but Maria hung up before he could open his mouth. With one heavy sigh, he turned the engine on and drove off to find his brother's place. He knew the address of course and arrived there in a short time (whether he'd get a serious slap on the writs for the speed tickets and nearly driving on the wrong side of the road or not remained to be seen, there was a reason why Natasha drove most of the time). Hermione was still out, probably because she was as exhausted as she looked. No neighbors glanced from the window when he carried her out from the back seat and into the house (the spare key was always hidden under the flower pot, go figure), which he considered a win.

He carried her to room and dropped her gently on her bed. She didn't even stir, which only half surprised him; she still looked exhausted even in her sleep. Clint watched her a moment, wondering what they were going to do next. Then, he turned his attention to her room. He had always noticed, people's rooms were always a giveaway of their personality. Hermione's was in between messy and tidied-up. The floor was clean, but books, parchments and quills and other odd stuff he hadn't expected to find in Barney's daughter's room piled up in every available surface. He stepped closer to the nearest pile and checked the titles. Potions, charms, history of magic…Clint smirked. It seemed like the kid had a serious thing for magic-related stuff.

A book about to fall off the desk caught his attention. He checked out the title: 'Hogwarts, a History'. Odd name, he thought, picking it up the book and going through the first pages. It resembled any good old history book he might have found in a high-school, with texts, history of the place, pictures and –Wait a sec; were the images…

The archer blinked a few times and stared at the portrait of a man occupying half the page. The man stared back, smiled widely and waved his hand.

Clint immediately shut the book close and stared back at the girl, still asleep on the bed.

What the hell was that?

Till next time :)