(A/N: Someone asked about other Marvel characters, especially those with a magic influence. They won't be appearing because this is a limited universe in my mind. Also, the cloak didn't work for Natasha because she's not magical, so it won't activate; at best she could share it with Harry.)


Chapter 3 - Getting to Know You

Harry woke slowly, not quite sure what brought him out of slumber. As he blinked, he saw the slight movement of a foot as it rocked to a silent beat. Looking up, he saw Natasha sitting in a chair, legs crossed, and looking over a mug at him.

"Good morning," she said quietly, her eyes looking him over, searching for something. "Do you feel better?"

He looked down to make sure he was wearing something and saw that he had pants on, so he sat up. "I'm uh, a little tired, but yeah … thanks."

"Your godfather meant a lot to you, didn't he?" She didn't pause for long. "It's all right, it proves you're still human if you can care."

The smile she gave him was small and somehow serious; it was contradictory but real. He knew she understood, that she'd lost someone very important to her in the past. "I thought I was past missing him; I guess not."

"The hurt will fade with time, but you really don't want it to go away, not deep down," she assured him.

He nodded; he didn't want to ever forget Sirius.

"We have to be there in a little over an hour. You can use the bathroom to get ready. We'll grab breakfast on the way." She took a sip of her coffee, still watching, evaluating him.

Standing, he went over to his trunk and saw his cloak lying on top, neatly folded. He picked it up and opened the compartment for his special things and put it away. Then he closed it and opened the compartment for clothes and pulled some out.

"So, it has different spaces in it?" she asked confused.

He closed it and looked at her. "Something like that. I was told each was a dimensional pocket, whatever that means. I don't understand the theory, but I can make use of it," he said with a smirk and went to the bathroom.

When he came back out, she was watching the telly, which was showing a broadcast from the battle zone yesterday.

"Harry," she asked and looked up at him, searching again. "Did you do anything else last night except look for your godfather?"

He looked at the telly and saw they were showing the area he'd walked through last night and repaired as much as he could for the bottom three floors on several blocks. They even had pictures from immediately after the fight and right now. They were obviously questioning how that "change for the good" happened.

"I felt a little restless and not completely there. I thought that if I could do something normal it would help," he finally answered, still watching the telly because he didn't want to look at her. He held onto his thoughts about Sirius.

"Normal? So you repaired the damage?" She sounded very puzzled.

"It was spell work, that's normal to me." He pulled up the courage to look at her and saw that she wasn't angry or anything else bad. She was looking at him as if trying to figure him out.

"I also felt bad about causing some of it, so I fixed what I could. There are limits," he pointed out.

Natasha slowly smiled at him. "That was very nice of you, Harry.

"Get your things together and we can leave. We'll get breakfast nearby. I'll be back in a minute with my bag." She turned off the telly and went to her room, allowing him to pack his trunk.

— — —

A man pulled out his mobile phone and saw a new message: "Yes". He nodded to himself as it solved one mystery. Of course, that answered question created several new ones.

— — —

His trunk was in his pocket and she had only her large purse when they reached the street. She donned her sunglasses and looked at him. "Do you have any?"

"No. Should I?" Harry asked with uncertainty.

Natasha didn't say a word and led him into a small shop a few doors down. She pointed at the display of sunglasses. "Pick some. It's a simple disguise and it keeps the wind out of your eyes. You'll want that soon."

Shrugging, Harry spent a few minutes and picked some out, with a little prompting from Natasha to make them dark. He surprised her by pulling out some money and paying for them.

"Where did you get that?" she asked casually as she led him a few more doors down and into a small deli that sold pastries and other foods they could take with them.

"One of my thoughts was that the doorway I went through might only send me to another part of the world, so I converted some of my money into the major currencies. The rest of my money is in gold," he told her quietly before they ordered.

Walking out of the place, she resumed the conversation. "How do you carry gold around? It should be too heavy."

"I was told it's part of the nature of a dimensional pocket in my trunk. It has a consistent weight and very little at that." He looked at her and had to hold in his laugh at her astonished look as he said, "I probably have more weight in it than several of these cars."

She stopped at the entrance car park building. "Do you know how to make more of those? That would be very useful."

He grinned at her. "Not off the top of my head, but it might be in a book in my library. I'll have to show you sometime."

Natasha shook her head in disbelief of multiple rooms in a trunk and led him inside, where she had to show identification and they had to wait a few minutes for the car to be retrieved. They used the time to finish their minimal breakfast.

"At least you have good taste," he told her as she was driving them out in an Aston Martin convertible.

"You're just saying that because it matches your accent," she teased him.

Harry just smiled, enjoying the banter, not to mention the envious looks they were getting from those they passed. It was all that much better because he knew Dudley would have killed for something like this, and here he was just because he'd simply gotten lucky to meet the right people. He knew the Avengers would say he'd earned it, but he didn't feel like he'd done all that much.

Far too soon, she pulled over into a parking spot. He looked at her and quipped, "We should have walked the what … six blocks?"

"This allows us to leave directly from here," she pointed out and led him over to an area away from the main street. They were the last ones there. Except for Thor and Loki, all were dressed completely normally, not a special suit or outfit to be found among the other six. Even Natasha wore something that looked normal, although it was leather.

"We appreciate your help," Natasha told him and held out a hand, which Thor shook.

"How could I not when he comes from our world," Thor replied, giving Loki an unhappy look. Loki was wearing something covering the lower half of his face and his hands were in manacles.

The demi-god looked at Harry and held out his hand, which Harry shook. "It is good we have met, Vitki Harry Potter. The All-Father will be pleased to hear of your survival and I'm sure he'll wish to converse with you one day."

Harry couldn't help his grin as he said, "I'll stop by Asgard if I ever find myself in the neighborhood." That caused Thor to laugh heartily and the others joined him. "Uh, I guess I need to give you the scepter to take back." He pulled his shrunken trunk out of his pocket.

"Nay, keep it," Thor admonished him. "I can think of no one better to guard it than yourself. Can anyone else open that?" Thor pointed to the small trunk in Harry's hand.

"No, only me," Harry assured him. "If anyone else tried, well, it wouldn't be good for them."

"Aye, never touch a wizard's staff," Thor said in jest, causing Harry to blush and look down while the other's laughed at his expense. "I will arrange for you to come one day and we will have a feast." He looked briefly at Natasha and smiled before turning back to Harry. "If you do not bring your own fair maiden, I'm sure there are several in Asgard who would delight in accompanying you. Take care, Vitki Harry Potter."

"Good luck and take care, Thor," Harry returned, doing his best to reign in his embarrassment and yet enjoying the comradery.

Thor held out a device powered by the Tesseract to Loki, who obviously didn't want to but took ahold of the handle anyway. Thor activated the device and the two left in a streak of light going up.

Steve shook hands all around and said, "Until next time." He walked towards a motorcycle.

Bruce and Tony started shaking hands with those remaining too. "I see you didn't need me to find you a place to stay," Tony teased him and nodded towards Natasha.

Natasha gave him a calculated look. "Unlike you, I'm on vacation for the next two weeks so I can show him around. I'm also nearer his age," she pointed out.

"Ooh, ouch," Bruce murmured just loud enough everyone could hear him.

"Hey, be nice or there's no toys for you to play with in the lab," Tony said, strangely sounding a little like a father. "Call me, Harry. I'd really like to know how you do what you do, and maybe I can help you with a few things, like help you find a real girl, one without guns for certain."

"Real girls can handle guns and a whole lot more," Natasha said confidently and taking a half-step forward, daring him to reply.

It was friendly, and yet, Harry felt he had to do something, so he stepped between them. "Hey, stop it before I have to kick both of your arses."

The two looked at him and both burst out laughing. Perhaps that wasn't quite the reaction he was going for, but at least he'd accomplished his goal of removing the tension. Clint and Bruce were grinning madly and laughing also, understanding what he'd done.

Tony looked at Harry. "I mean it, call me soon. Later everyone." As he turned, Bruce waved and walked away with the billionaire towards his sports car.

They looked at the last member.

"I've got a mission in Greece to check on some weapons that aren't supposed to be where they are," Clint told them. "Fury said that if I needed to take a week to make sure the Mediterranean beaches were safe on the way back that I should do that."

"I've got two weeks off," Natasha told him. "I get to play tour guide and show Harry around, maybe give him some advice if he wants it." She looked at Harry steadily. "Maybe even convince him that Fury isn't really as much of a prick as he acted like yesterday, just that he was having a bad day."

Clint laughed. "Harry, Fury can be a real tough S-O-B sometimes, but she's right, he was having a really bad day yesterday. If you can, give him a second chance. Take a look at the people who are around him. I don't mean just this group, but there are some fine people in SHIELD … and there's one less today because he did his duty."

"Phil," she said quietly and Clint nodded.

"Take care, Harry," Clint said as he slapped Harry on the shoulder. "And don't believe half of what she tells you about me." With an easy smile, he turned and walked towards a car.

"Come on," she told him and they walked back to her car. A minute later she pulled out of the parking spot with a small squeal and looked at him. "Now I'll show you why I bought this." As she weaved through traffic, Harry thought that she'd make a good Seeker, if she could ride a broom.

— — —

They'd stopped at the first town outside of New York City and picked up groceries. It hadn't taken but a few questions to determine, based on her hesitations and non-answers, that he was the better cook, so he took over that shopping. He also insisted because she was providing the house and he wanted to contribute his fair share.

Eventually, they entered an area that had bigger houses. They weren't mansions, other than a few exceptions, but they were bigger than average and nicely kept up.

Natasha looked at him. "So you know, the story here is that a rich couple bought this house. They were really a couple of SHIELD agents, of course. They own the house and they have two grown daughters that use the house from time to time."

"You're one, I assume?"

"Yes, Agent Maria Hill whom you saw on the bridge of the helicarrier is the other. I think each of us only come here about once or twice a year," she said. "SHIELD maintains the house and has installed an above average security system, so if there are problems, someone will respond quickly."

Harry nodded as he took that in. He also assumed that by "an above average security system" she meant something beyond what the average person would have, based on what he'd seen of SHIELD so far.

Pulling into the driveway, he saw a good-sized house. It looked a lot like the others in many regards.

As they walked inside, she entered a code on a keypad on the wall. "This is the security system." She showed him how to turn it on and off, as well as the "panic button".

Each room was spacious and nicely decorated. It had four bedrooms; Natasha and Maria each had their own and Harry picked one of the guest rooms and placed his trunk in it. A few minutes later, all the groceries were being brought in and put away.

Since it was about lunch time, Harry made some sandwiches.

Natasha looked at him after they'd cleaned up. "What would you like to do, Harry? This is a reasonably safe and comfortable place, which is why I brought you here. However, there's not a lot to do other than rest and talk, unless you bring a small project with you and I didn't."

Harry considered what she said as well as thought about what he really wanted to do, something he'd come to no final conclusions about while they drove here. "In many ways, talking is good. I need to know what it's like in this world." He pointed to the TV in the other room. "Watching the telly and some news would be good, maybe just go out and walk around too."

He smirked at her. "Now that I know where your apartment in the city is, there's no reason we can't go to the city and do things. I can Apparate us there in secrecy and we can come back here at night."

"Apparating, that's what you call it when you travel somewhere? Like when you took us to the roof of my apartment building?" she asked.

"Yes. Fortunately, I'm fairly good at it."

"That has some very interesting possibilities. What kind of range do you have?" she wondered.

He shrugged. "Not really sure. I know I've gone almost 300 miles, or 450 kilometers before." He tilted his head a little. "It seems like you use miles here."

"Yes," she replied, "the old imperial units here, although some of us can deal with both as most of the rest of the world uses the Metric system."

He nodded. "Where I came from, we were switching to metric and mostly had, but there were still a few places the old units were preferred, like in a pub. A pint of beer is still a standard," he said with a grin.

She chuckled. "Some things have changed here, but it's a slow process. Maybe we should talk about what your world was like and compare it to this one; that might be helpful to you. Why don't you change into something comfortable, like a swimsuit, and we can sit by the pool and talk. I'll even make us some cold drinks."

"All right," he agreed and went to change.

When he came out, she was at the bar making the drinks. He couldn't help but notice her black bikini. It wasn't super small or anything, but it really showed just how good a figure she had. Forcing himself to not give in to embarrassment, he asked teasingly, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"No," she answered with the barest of smiles. "If I was, you'd already be dead. Here." She held out a large glass to him.

Hoping she really was teasing him, he took the glass and a sip. "Fruity with just a hint of something more. Nice. I'll have to introduce you to Firewhiskey sometime. I've only got six cases though."

"Six cases is quite a bit," she pointed out as she led him to the back porch.

"That has to last me for as many years as I think I'll want it. I can't make any here as I don't think the ingredients exist on this world and I don't know how either," he said with a smile.

Harry saw a small pool and a hot tub. Down an incline and in the distance, maybe 75 meters, was the ocean. The pool area was mostly shaded and they took seats in loungers with a table between them. He pulled his seat around so he see her a little better without constantly turning his neck.

"This is nice," he said, "the breeze makes it better."

"It'll get a little too warm some days in a month or so, but most of the time it's pleasant in the summer. So, tell me about your world?"

Harry took another sip of his drink as he thought about where to start. It was somewhat hard because it was such a broad topic, then again, looking at the lightly tanned beautiful woman in front of him made his brain freeze up in another way. "As you said, maybe we should compare history to see if there is a difference?"

"Sure," she easily agreed and listened to him describe his world's history highlights. As he wound down, she noticed their glasses were empty and took them for refills.

He watched her walk away and had to force himself not to ogle her. There was no doubt in his mind that she was really hot looking, which he had to admit made for a nice holiday companion.

Returning, she gave him his new drink and said, "I'm sure there's some details that are different, but at least from what you told me of the major events, I really don't notice any differences."

Harry nodded. "I see. Then if true, the real differences are that my world never had anyone like

the Avengers or SHIELD, and certainly not Thor or the Hulk; while this world never had my Wizarding society."

"Or if we did," she continued his theory, "then they died long enough ago that they didn't really make any lasting impact. We do have the myth of Merlin, but there's no evidence of him and many other things you think of as real."

They continued to talk for the rest of the afternoon, slowly sipping on their drinks, until Harry made dinner.

Natasha looked at him as she finished her meal. "I think I'm jealous," she told him as she put her napkin down. "I can cook well enough that no one will say they didn't like my meal, but that was far better than I could have done."

"I think the secret is in the seasonings," he told her as he waved his wand and the dishes started washing themselves.

She just blinked at that. "When you said there was a spell for just about everything, you weren't kidding, were you?"

Harry looked at her and grinned. "When I was in first year Charms class and learning how to levitate things, our professor cautioned us to be careful because someone once did the spell wrong and summoned a buffalo which fell on him."

"Seriously?!"

"A friend of mine researched that and she never found a spell to summon buffalos," he answered, "but technically, mistakes like that are possible. My personal opinion is that the professor was using a funny story to caution us. He was always the most fun teacher there."

"Go get a T-shirt on and let's walk down the beach," she told him as she headed to her room.

He did that and a few minutes later she returned with a short T-shirt over her bikini top and a short wrap over her bikini bottom.

As they walked to the beach on the path from the house, she asked, "Harry, you talk about having friends and school fondly. Why did you really leave?"

He stared out at the water, watching a wave break against the nearby shore for a moment. "I had friends, and yet I didn't. There were a lot of people who said they were my friend, but I believe it was only because I was famous; we didn't really know each other that well."

"You've mentioned some 'good friends'," she reminded him.

"We grew apart because of the war. You'd think fighting a war together would have brought us closer, but it didn't. My two best friends also ended up marrying each other. In my opinion, that was a mistake. I thought we were good enough friends I could tell them that, but my telling them only widened the gap between us." He shook his head at the travesty. "We were still friends after that, mostly, but that wasn't enough to keep me there."

He looked at her for a moment. "Part of the reason I wonder about SHIELD is because the last big reason I left was the government. They were very corrupt. We elected a new Minister whom I knew was a good guy, but it wasn't enough."

"The rest of the government was so bad he couldn't really change enough to matter?" she guessed. At his nod, she said, "It's in the history books here. Some think it's even happening now in some countries."

"Sad if true, but at least here I don't have to deal with my fame and I can start a new life," he told her.

Natasha snorted and chuckled. "Harry, you may not be famous for what you did as a baby here, but as the only wizard and someone who helped us defeat the alien invasion, you'll have fame for that."

"But it can be minimized, you do it," he pointed out, not mentioning his own efforts in that regard.

"Working in SHIELD helps, but I suppose you have a point," she conceded.

Screwing up his courage, he decided to ask a question that had been bothering him all afternoon. "Natasha, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but how do you afford all of this? I know you said SHIELD pays for this house, but you said you have others and you were an orphan too. Or did you find family who has money, like I did?"

Surprisingly, she shot him a look of triumph. He knew her moniker was "The Black Widow" and he'd swear he'd just walked into her web based on that look.

"I have been considering whether to tell you about that part of my life and I think I shall, but it will have to wait until we return to the house," she told him. "I doubt anyone is listening, but this is a secret I'd prefer to keep that way."

Harry looked behind them and around. There was no one on the beach anywhere near that he could see. In fact, the only people he could see were very small they were so far away. The wind off the ocean seemed fairly loud too. Still, if she was that concerned. "I can help with that," he said, pulling out his wand and silently casting, "Muffliato."

"There," he told her as he put his wand back in his wand holster and the thing went invisible again, "now all they can hear is a small buzzing like insects."

She was looking at his arm. "So you always have your wand with you?"

"Yeah, pretty much. As you saw, when it's in the holster, it's invisible, so I can wear it even with short sleeves. You pay extra for that of course," he replied. "I could probably make one if I wanted to, but I have three others in my trunk just in case this one gets damaged.

"Your secret?" he prompted as she looked thoughtfully at his arm.

Natasha suddenly laughed. "I like this idea better all the time." She turned serious suddenly again. "I told you I was trained as a spy starting when I was very young. When I grew older, I was sent on missions as you'd expect. I soon noticed that there would sometimes be extra things left lying around at the end … things that wouldn't be missed or couldn't be reported as stolen." Her amused look returned. "Thieves can't report things that have been stolen from them."

"All right, I suppose I can understand that, since the stuff wasn't really theirs anyway. What kind of stuff are we talking about?" he asked.

"Mostly bags of money with the occasional pieces of jewelry and artwork. It was this last bit that matters. Don't get me wrong," she said seriously, "the money was very useful and I still use it to pay for my safe houses, but the jewelry and artwork made a special change in my life."

"I can understand the money, as having extra allows you to have options you normally wouldn't," he said.

"That's very true, but the other gave me a way to continue making money." She put her hands behind her back as they walked, giving Harry a profile that he had to force himself to look away from despite how much he enjoyed it.

"When Clint helped me to change sides, the job with SHIELD was good for me. It gave me stability and some spending money, but more importantly it gave me something to do with myself, a way to use the skills I'd taken years to learn. However, even SHIELD didn't use up all of my free time and eventually I became a little bored.

"Looking at what I had, I remembered the jewelry and artwork and decided to sell some of it. Fortunately, I'd picked someone who wasn't completely honest and he didn't turn me in when he mentioned that it was stolen. However, the price for not turning me in was that he wanted half of the reward money from the insurance companies."

She shook her head for a moment. "I had been smart enough to only show him a couple of pieces, so I didn't lose much, but it started me thinking about how things worked. I contacted the big insurance companies and found that they maintain lists of property that have been stolen, all with rewards for their return, and sometimes they even have suspects whom they think have it.

"My second job was born in that moment, and it's all, or very close to all perfectly legal."

Harry considered that. "So you steal stolen artwork from thieves and return it to the insurance companies for their reward?"

"I think of it as helping to return stolen works to their rightful owners," she adjusted his definition. "Looking through the rest of my collection, I found that about ninety percent of it was stolen and I returned those as well, collecting my finder's reward. The last few pieces are stored and I check the listings from time to time to see if they belong anywhere."

"You said 'close to legal'. What isn't legal?" he asked, watching her closely, but she didn't react guiltily at all - although he did wonder if that was real or part of her spy training.

"Technically, I'm committing the crime of breaking and entering when I retrieve the stolen pieces, which means I don't go somewhere unless I'm sure there's a stolen piece there to retrieve," she explained.

"Yeah, I bet Fury would blow a gasket to have to get you out of jail for that," he mused.

Natasha stopped walking and looked at him. "Harry, while I'm reasonably sure Fury does know I have this extra job that I do in my free time, going to jail wouldn't happen because the people I retrieve the stolen goods from don't bother with the police. I believe you mentioned you fought against people who thought they were above the law. What would they have done to you if you were caught breaking into their house?"

"Oh! I see your point," he said just as seriously. "I'd simply disappear, if they caught me." He looked at her and searched her face, but she just looked at him calmly and neutrally despite the seriousness of the conversation. "That's a very dangerous hobby."

She slowly smiled at him before turning their walk around and heading back towards the house. "It keeps my skills sharp and gives me enough spending money to maintain a comfortable lifestyle."

He looked at her and saw her red hair blowing back behind her now, which reminded him of another redhead that had been in his life. He wondered if he was doomed to find redheads fascinating, or maybe it was just these two that seemed more similar than he'd first thought and their hair color was merely coincidence. This did cause him to look at the spy in a slightly different way. "You like the excitement too, don't you?"

Turning her amused looked back on, she said, "That was very insightful, because it's true."

"My former girlfriend was sort of that way. She liked the thrill of playing a sport that could severely injure you, despite how good magic is at healing." He shook his head. "I liked the sport too, but not enough to play professionally like she did."

"You aren't that daring? Some of the stories you told me sounded like you are," she told him.

Harry snorted. "Most of those I had no choice in. Still … there is something to be said for having some excitement in your life. I merely prefer a more controlled kind."

"The unknown is part of the thrill," she pointed out. "But the reason I'm telling you all of this is that I thought you might like to work with me. You're unique skills would make it a lot easier and safer. I'll even split the money with you down the middle. We could do quite well together since we could go after the harder to retrieve items."

"Even if stealing from a thief to return the item to the owner is acceptable, I'm not sure about breaking into people's houses," he told her.

"If it helps your conscious, the people I have to retrieve these items from are the sort that have already committed a lot of crimes and should be in prison. They're generally not because they've bribed government officials. This sort of thing can cause problems there and sometimes helps in cleaning up the corruption, at least a little."

"Because they blame each other?"

"Yes," she confirmed, "I've seen it happen. It's not often enough, but it's nice to see when it does. Sometimes I've found enough information to put them prison. Again, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but it has happened."

"So you're a vigilante cop?"

"In many ways, that's what SHIELD does too, although it has the backing of governments."

Harry stopped as they'd come back to the path leading to their house. "I'll consider it, but I'll need to see proof that we're going after stolen items."

"Easily done first thing in the morning," she told him as she put an arm around his shoulders and guided him towards the house. "I think this is a beginning of a great partnership."

They watched the news on the TV for the rest of the evening, with Natasha explaining things when he asked questions.

— — —

It was late and Harry was sure Natasha was asleep. A spell ensured that she stayed that way for a few hours. He used the time for two things, the first of which was research. He looked around her house to see what he could find. There was one reference to SHIELD on a piece of paper, but otherwise, nothing that showed any problems; although, that might have been mostly because there was little to find about anything.

He knew that didn't mean she was totally honest with him, but it was a good start. He looked down at the ring on his left hand. It was a simple one with no jewels, but it was a little different in that it looked like metal and wood twisting around it, which it was. What really made it special was that it was a focus device, just like a wand. Olivander had made it for him as a thank you for rescuing him. It wouldn't do powerful spells, but it could handle most everyday spells and light versions of combat spells. It was easily able to handle Legilimency. He didn't need to read her mind and he wouldn't do that as he'd hated it when Snape at done it to him, but he now planned to use the skill to determine if she was telling him the truth when they talked tomorrow.

He thought she was, else he would leave; he also wouldn't be doing his second task tonight. Taking some stones with special runes out of his trunk, stones that he'd paid Bill and Fleur Weasley to teach him how to make, he Disillusioned himself and went outside. There, he planted the stones underground and came back inside. One last stone was stuck to the wet bar because it was in the center of the house. A little more magic and the intruder detection ward came up. If anyone crossed that, he'd know.

Feeling a little safer, he went back to bed … letting the sleeping spell on Natasha wear off naturally.


(A/N: Yes, I am making stuff up whole-clothe about Natasha's extra job and all the details. Let's just go with it.

The idea of a focus ring is probably influenced by Bobmin's "The Power of the Press". I wasn't thinking about that when I wrote it, but I did remember the story when editing, so we'll call it a sub-conscious influence. :-)