I don't own the Avengers or Harry Potter hope you enjoy this chapter. And thank you for all the reviews the make me so happy and give me inspiration to write my stories and post them much more quickly then I would without them.

Chapter 2: The Tale of the Three Brothers

Team building.

It had all started off as team building. With orders from Director Fury himself, the team had to get know each other. They had decided to do this by having each of them share a story from their past. Every Friday, if the Avengers weren't needed, they met in the living room of Stark Tower and told their story.

Right now the living room was full of excited team members. No one could sit still, not even the Black Widow. Clint was sharpening his arrows on the couch next to Natasha, who was sharpening her knives. Bruce was tapping his foot, trying to look patient and pretending to bury himself in a book. Steve and Thor were discussing what need people had for escalators while trying to inconspicuously glance at the door.

Tony wasn't even pretending.

"Where is heeeeee?" Tony whined. Harry's the one everyone most wanted to hear about. He was also the last to go.

Tony had gone first telling about his time in Afghanistan and about Yinsen helping him while he was there. Thor went next painting a perfect picture of the sibling love that he and Loki used to have when they pulled pranks on the All-Father back on Asgard. The week after that, Bruce told of the innocent, beautiful children he healed in his travels. The ones who made him cards and gave him beautiful flowers as payment. He told the team how the children he met were the reason he worked so hard to control the Other Guy.

Clint's story was about his tie to the circus and was the one that brought much needed humor back to the team bonding. As Tony put it 'We need more humor to take away from all the drama from our angsty past.' And the humor was nice as was the warm feeling Natasha's story created. She told them of a woman with long red hair and a gentle voice that used to rock her in her arms and sing Russian Lullaby's to her when she was being put to bed. They were all excited to learn more about Agent Romanoff because they knew very little about her, however the team knew even more about the infamous Black Widow then they did about Harry Potter. Which was why they so desperately wanted to hear about Harry and it was finally his turn.

The doors slid open and Tony jumped to his feet with a "Finally!"

"Is he always so impatient Jarvis? You think he would show more appreciation when someone brings coffee and biscuits for him."

"Biscuits? Why would you bring- oh you mean cookies. And COFFEE! You are a God!" Tony made a give me motion with his hands. Harry passed out the coffee to everyone but Thor, Bruce, and himself. After an incident known only as 'The Horror, Oh God The Horror' that was always accompanied by a shudder, Thor wasn't allowed coffee anymore, so he got SunnyD instead. Bruce and Harry had tea.

"Get on with it Harry. We're all ready!" Natasha shot Tony a dirty look for his impoliteness but said nothing because she desperately wanted to hear the story too.

"Alright. I decided that this time I would tell you a story that is very important to me. Where I went to boarding school this was actually a children's story but it is very important to me. It's called The Tale of The Three Brothers."

Harry glanced at his team and they all had undisguised anticipation in their eyes.

"There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight-"

"Why can't you just say midnight?!" Tony asked. As Clint and Steve yelled at Tony for interrupting their story. Harry couldn't help but think of Ron who had also said the same thing when they read the Tale of the Three Brothers together all those years ago, thinking about any part of the Golden Trio always made his heart ache. Thor was the only person who noticed the shadows in his eyes and was going to make quick work of the others, so they could finish this story and wipe that look of the face of his friend. However it was Bruce who got the story back on track with a quick, uncharacteristic glare. "No more interruptions." Bruce growls in a way that was reminiscent of the Other Guy.

"In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water."

"Magical arts? There are more people with magic on earth besides you?" Tony asks. There is no judgment in his tone, no demand for proof. He, and the team, had met Norse Gods after all who had their own magic. Upon Harry joining the team Fury informed them that Harry had magic but they had already known from the various meetings they had had with him over the years.

Harry smiled. A knowing, broken smile with eyes filled with so much knowledge that he looks more ancient then they know Thor actually is. And this time everyone notices. Harry can still see his friends in his mind smiling at him before the Magical World came crashing down. Purebloods, Half-Bloods, and Muggle Borns were only able to produce squibs. No one, not even Hermione knew why. But Hel had told Harry that it was simply that magic's time was over. There were other superheroes now and the Norse Gods magic would've killed off everyone in the Magical World when they came to Earth anyway. The only reason their magic didn't affect harry because his magic wasn't really magic anymore.

"There was."And no one, not even Tony, could quite bring themselves to ask any more questions after that.

"They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. And Death spoke to them."

This time it was Thor who interrupted. "Death? Do you mean Hel?"

Harry smiles a true smile, eyes full of tenderness. "Yes, Hel." And there is love when he says the name. "But the people who wrote this story were not aware 'Death' had a name. This story was written a long, long time ago."

"He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river."

"He? They thought Hel was a man?"

"Yes Thor, after all Hel is able to change her form to look how people perceive death to look like or how she wants people to see her." No one asked how he knew that. They just accepted that he did because what he said simply sounded right.

"But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him."

Natasha snorted. 'Really Death is going to reward you for evading him. Did they really believe it? If they did then they were idiots.'

"So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother" Harry looked around and while there was interest there was no longing or desire of having this ultimate power as their own. And Harry was relieved.

"Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead." Here Harry saw longing in both Steve and Tony but he saw knowledge in their eyes too. They were both aware that such power couldn't come without a great consequence or payment. And yet again Harry felt a small spark of relief, that even though they wanted to see the dead they were aware that it wasn't worth the payment that they knew was going to have to be made.

"And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility."

'Finally,' Natasha thought. 'Someone who knows that it is too good to be true. If I had to choose a gift, then I would want the cloak and maybe then I could hide and not have to put more red in my ledger.'

This time when Harry looked around he saw that Natasha, Clint, and Bruce all wanted this Hallow. And this was the only one that Harry thought would be save to covet because all it did was guarantee a long, safe life. And the eyes of his team showed that is what they would use the cloak for and Harry wholeheartedly approved.

Thor is the only one who didn't covet any of the Hallows because he was aware, after talking to Loki at length; just what price the owner of all three Hallows had to pay. He might be a God and he might live a very, very long time…but immortality…that was a harsh burden to bear, especially on a planet full of humans and there endless wars.

"Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so, talking of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination. The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible."

"First rule of having a powerful weapon: Don't flaunt it. Is he really that stupid?" Clint asked dryly.

There was respect in Harry's emerald eyes when he turned to answer Clint. "Yes, he was rather stupid, wasn't he? But he does get what's coming for him."

Clint rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, split the oldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own."

'There is always a price.' Natasha thought. 'Killed by his own greed and quest for power.'

"Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him."

'There has to be a catch,' Steve thought. 'As the story says, Death is cunning and would not let someone out of the Realm of the Dead so easily.'

"Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered."

Tony thought he was going to be sick. His stomach was a mess of tight, greasy knots. 'I would never bring someone back. Not if it meant them suffering even more here, no matter how lonely I was. I can't believe anyone would use this stone.' Tony was not aware that the fact the dead were so unhappy is because only one person could truly bring back and talk to the dead, and even he could only bring them back for short pieces of time, just as there was only one true owner of the Cloak of Invisibility and the Elder Wand. Only Death's Master could truly use the Hallows.

"Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her. And so Death took the second brother for his own." Harry looked around and saw the comprehension on his team's faces, for they all realized no one could truly trick Hel.

"But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."

"That was a great story Harry. I'm glad you chose to share it with us."

Tony stretched, laying an arm across Harry's shoulders. "Yeah, it was a good story but we didn't really get to know you any better."

Harry ignored Tony in favor of addressing Bruce. "I wasn't done yet. Jarvis, can you please get me a piece of paper and a black marker?"

"Certainly, Sir." And with a ding a shelf popped open with the needed items on it. Huddling around Harry they watched as he first drew a thick black line. "The Elder Wand," followed by a black circle surrounding the wand, "The Resurrection Stone," And finally a thick black triangle encompassing the other to objects was drawn, "And the Cloak of Invisibility. Together they create the Deathly Hallows."

"The Deathly Hallows?" Steve asked.

Eerily shining green eyes looked back at him and Steve shifted under the weight of his gaze. "Yes, when the three objects in the story or 'Hallows' as they are actually called, are united they form the Deathly Hallows. And the owner of Deathly Hallows will become the Master of Death."

"Master of Death?" Tony asked, disbelieving. "But Death is supposed to be the ultimate force, nothing can oppose it." He quickly glanced at Thor. "Even Gods."

"Master," Harry said, unconsciously copying Xenophilius Lovegood's explanation. "Conqueror. Vanquisher. The only person able to stand against Death. Hel's equal."

With those words he stood and made his way to the door to the living room. "And Tony to answer your question I will tell you a story about my school years the next time it's my turn for the team bonding exercise." And with those parting words Harry walked to his room.

And the Avengers were left to ponder the Hallows and the ability to actually be an equal with Death.

Author's Note: The next chapter will either be how Harry met each avenger or Harry's next turn at team bonding where he tells them all about Voldemort and Hogwarts. I will eventually get to the meeting with Loki but it might be a while but I can't think of a good way to do it right now. I'm glad you all like my story so much. And right now Thor and Harry are the only two who will call Death Hel. In a future chapter I will have Hel meet the Avengers. Please review!