A DISCLAIMER AND A SPECIAL DISCLAIMER
I don't own the characters of Avengers and Harry Potter. This fic was written with the purpose of providing a fun time to everyone.
This story is based in fics "Man of Iron, Father of Gold" and its sequel "Disparity by Magic", that were written by Lunabell Marauder Knyte, and this one is written with her blessing and permission.
One line written in this story appears in the fanfic "Man of Iron, Father of Gold" which was written by Lunabell Marauder Knyte and appears here, one more time, with her blessing and permission.
KINDRED SPIRITS
by
Airshadow
CHAPTER III
A MEETING
Time flowed and for around twenty minutes, all remained unchanged. Harry and Steve had arrived from their stroll a while ago and sat down. Cap, fulfilling his duties as godfather, took a seat for them far away from the mischievous Loki. But for the moment, the sly Asgardian had a wary look in his eye on Snow White, aka Miss Black. He knew that she was the kind of mortal that nobody knew what was able to do. Harry was starting to fall asleep when the sound of an intercom alerted all.
"Avengers and Miss Black," Fury said by the intercom "We require your presence in my office... and bring Loki with you!"
At first, Steve didn't want to attend because he felt that it was his duty to stay with Harry. After a second call, he reluctantly went inside the office, but not without making sure that agents Coulson and Hill wouldn't take away their eyes off him.
When finally Cap came inside the office, he saw Miss Black and Mr. Shacklebolt close to Fury. Tony was at one corner of the table, and in front of him was a dossier which had an animated picture of Miss Black fastened with a clip. He also could see a seal, obviously belonging to an official organization. The logo of the Minister of Magic could be seen clearly, together with the words 'Auror Office' written in purple ink.
Natasha, Clint, and Dr. Banner took seats around Stark while Thor and Loki were in the farthest corner.
Fury looked around, and then he broke the silence, "As we know, and it was agreed to by the wizards, Harry James Stark is now legally the adopted son of Tony Stark. It is also of the common knowledge that Loki is magically bound to this kid, and he only can have access to his power if young Harry is in danger." Loki snorted; just remembering that fact irritated him.
The leader of SHIELD looked around, ignoring the god of mischief and then continued, "Due to these terms, the situation has raised some concerns in the involved parties. Taking into account that your presence, Loki, isn't totally welcome, plus the constant menace of the so called Death Eaters; Mr. Shacklebolt and I were talking about designating Miss Black as Harry's bodyguard..."
"I can perfectly protect MY son, Fury!" Tony jumped to his feet, challenging Fury and Kingsley with a glare.
"From some kinds of menaces, I agree" Sabrina replied, "But what about the magical ones? Will you trust your son's care to someone as Loki? Forgive me, but the so called god of lies and chaos is not exactly someone reliable for such task. Besides, the Death Eaters have many creative ways to get away with kidnapping... not to mention murder."
Tony felt uneasy now - he remembered the warnings of the ghost of his father. An alien feeling invaded his heart, something that he never thought that he would felt in his life: Fear... fear to lose what he loved most.
"What do you suggest?" Natasha asked coldly.
"Aurors always were used to protect high profile targets," replied Kingsley "I myself was appointed to protect the British Prime Minister in The Second Wizarding War, shortly after someone unsuccessfully attempted to cast the Imperius Curse on a member of his staff."
"The Imperius Curse?" all the eyes turned to Dr. Banner then to the wizards.
"It forces the target to do the caster's bidding, it's one of the three Unforgivable Curses," Sabrina answered. When she saw that everyone looked confused, with the exception of Loki, added "Those are punished with life sentence when they are applied in human beings, no matter if is wizard or Muggle. Other one is the Cruciatus Curse, which inflicts excruciating pain upon the victim and was very popular among the Death Eaters for torture... and the worse of all, the Avada Kedavra. This one causes instant death. The only way to save your life is dodging it or using a solid object to stop it."
"Was that the one used on Harry when...?" Tony whispered but he was unable to finish the sentence.
"He was a baby? Yes," Sabrina answered bluntly while an uneasy silence fell in the room.
"Why not give the task to Miss Weasley? She really appreciates Harry and seems to be quite capable." Tony insisted. He didn't doubted that Kingsley had a genuine intention to protect his son, but Stark didn't like the idea that Fury was involved in the matter due his constant fear that the SHIELD Director would attempt to turn Harry in a sort of weapon.
Kingsley and Miss Black looked at each other quickly before the young witch answered almost in an accusatory manner "I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but Ginny isn't in condition to do it. Plus, the others wizards and witches that participated in the New York incident are too emotionally involved to perform the mission appropriately."
"Did something happen to Miss Weasley?" Tony asked with concern.
Kingsley and Miss Black looked at each other one more time and finally the witch responded "We can say that she's living her second childhood... She was de-aged, now she's a happy seven years old girl."
Most of the presents were stunned with the revelation, while Loki paid special attention to every word, and Tony felt guilty because he knew that somehow he was involved.
"What happened?" Steve whispered.
"We found the witch who cast the spell..." Kingsley started to say when Sabrina snorted.
"Miss Black?" questioned Fury.
"I wouldn't say exactly that we found her," she answered sharply "I have the suspicion that we found her because she allowed it."
"So what did happen?"
"We located her in Romania, shortly after what happened here. Ginny, another of Harry's friends, and myself went there. She seemed to know why we were," Sabrina answered while the sadness appeared in her face "When we questioned her, she told us that the spell is an ancient one and is linked to strange astronomic phenomena. She claimed that only could use it one more time because the time was running out, and offered Ginny to cast on her and binding it to Harry's... She decided to accept and was de-aged too."
"What's the relationship between Miss Weasley and Harry?" Tony softly asked.
"Harry is the love of her life..." Sabrina said sternly.
Stark felt a stab of guilt and replied "Does a way exist to break the spell...?"
"None so far we know," Kingsley answered, "The only thing that we can do is let them grow as normal children."
"But..."
"Mr. Stark, you must understand this," Sabrina interrupted "Magic is much more than a wave of a wand and an incantation. Some spells requires special conditions in order to be cast. And as in Chemistry and Physics, Magic has laws! And disregarding them is an invitation to disaster. Our best option, so far, is let them grow up as normal kids and focus on Harry's safety."
"What happened with the Wicked Witch of the East?" Clint asked while it was Kingsley's turn to have a confused look.
With a glance the Minister for Magic asked an explanation to the young Auror, she chuckled and responded "It's a character of the Muggle fairly-tale 'The Wizard of Oz'." then she replied "After doing that, she disappeared. I highly doubt that we will find her any time soon."
"But, you have magic..." Clint insisted.
"She does as well." Sabrina interrupted.
"And Miss Weasley?" Tony whispered with concern and remorse.
"Her memories were slightly modified and once more she's under the legal custody of her parents," Kingsley responded trying to soothe Tony's guilt feelings "And in the case of something happening, one of her brothers and his wife will be her legal guardians."
"What's about you?" Suddenly everyone heard Natasha's dry tone of voice, "What kind of relationship do you have with Harry?"
"My father was his Godfather," whispered softly the young Auror, and her voice slightly trembled, "His name was Sirius Black..."
"Before you make a judgment," Kingsley intervened "Mr. Black was framed for the murder of twelve muggles, crimes which were done by Peter Pettigrew as cover up of his own treachery. Sirius's name was cleared post-mortem after an exhaustive investigation. He was also member of the Order of Phoenix in both Wizarding Wars."
"Post-Mortem?"
"The Order of Phoenix?"
"The Order of the Phoenix was founded with the main objective to stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters. When he returned, the veterans of the first order gathered together new members and allies." In Kingsley's eyes the sadness could be appreciated, "But we suffered heavy losses."
"My father lost his life in the battle at the Ministry of Magic," Sabrina whispered, "When he was trying to save Harry."
'It was a year later, in a battle at the Ministry of Magic itself that people witnessed the return of the Hitler of our world. It caused most of us to be critically injured, and took away the last real relative Harry had left in this world.'Those had been the words that Hermione told to most of those present many months ago, that now made more sense.
"Now Mr. Stark, let's talk about the matter that concerns us... shall we?" Sabrina spoke with a more formal tone, "I think that you will find my credentials satisfactory."
Tony took the dossier and carefully read it one more time. Some stuff like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potioneer, Charms, Transfiguration, Dueling and Martial skills, not to mention Nonverbal and limited wandless magic, all of which sounded very clear... even for a Muggle. But others terms required a further explanation.
"There are only a few points in your profile which need clarification - like Occlumency, Legilimency and Animagus?" Tony finally spoke while he left the dossier in the table. The sly eyes of Loki moved towards Sabrina, as if he were evaluating a possible foe; this fact wasn't unnoticed by Steve and Tony.
"Legilimency is the art to correctly interpret feelings, memories and thoughts from an individual. Usually, it's used to tell if someone is lying. Because digging inside others' thoughts is considered an invasion of privacy, its use is highly restricted by the Ministry of Magic." Loki winced worriedly while Sabrina huffed with disdain while she looked at the god of lies, and continued "A highly skilled Legilimens can do it without speaking the incantation, and they can influence the mind of their target... Lucky for you, Trickster, I need to say the spell in order for it to work."
"So technically, you can read the minds!" Clint exclaimed surprised.
"That's a very simplistic way to define it." Sabrina tsked "The mind is much more complex than a book, so I can't just 'read it'." She then added, "On the other hand, Occlumency is the art of shielding your mind against an external invasion."
She did a small pause and then continued "I'll be totally honest in this point, Mr. Stark, in its basic form I can set my mind in blank: No emotions, no memories, no feelings... But I'm skilled enough to hide things. I can conceal the contradictory facts of my words and actions, and cheat a lie detector. I tell you this because eventually you will know it, and because I want to offer my services to protect Harry. Without a catch, and with the cards over the table."
"Soooo, Snow White" Loki teased "Are you a professional liar? That's unexpected."
"Coming from you, Pinocchio, I don't know if I should be flattered," Sabrina snorted while Thor and Kingsley looked confused.
Tony cleared his throat and asked "What is an Animagus?"
"I'll show you…" replied Sabrina with a smile, she walked some steps towards the table, and suddenly her body shrank and was covered by a fur white as snow. The little creature walked on the table towards the Avengers, who could appreciate that the young Auror was now a cute cat with shining blue eyes.
Most of the presents were really surprised, while the little kitty walked towards the table's border. She jumped towards the floor and recovered her human form.
"Why a cat?" Tony shrieked "They are always in the evil overlords arms, not to mention..."
"Witches..." Sabrina finished with an amused smile while looked at the Avengers. "An animagus only can transform into a specific animal that is determined by his or her inner nature. It's a skill more than an incantation, and it's very rare. My father was one of the few known in the past century. His form was a big black dog... Are you alright Mr. Stark?"
All the eyes were now on Tony, who was pale as a ghost. "In the first months that Harry spent with me, he had nightmares..." he stopped trying to find the right words in order to not sound stupid, "After one of them, he drew a man with long shaggy hair, and in the background stood a black dog."
Sabrina and Kingsley exchanged glances, and the witch asked, "Do you still have those pictures?" Tony nodded, then she added, "If you allow me see them; I will do my best to give you answers."
"Sounds like a deal," Tony answered and with a typical Stark smile he added "By the way, you are hired. I guess that you will need some days to gather your things..."
"In fact, I just need few minutes." Sabrina chuckled while she took her wand wave it, then a silver wolf-like creature appeared and as if where the most normal thing of the world, she talked to it "Ok, you know where to go. Send my message to Issy, in Garden Glove."
"What the heck was that?" Clint babbled while the other Avengers looked amazed as him.
"My patronus, it's also known as Spirit Guardian," replied Sabrina "It's a very difficult charm and is normally used as defense against some of the darkest creatures that dwell this planet. One innovation allowed the Order of Phoenix used them as messengers because it's dark magic-proof and identify the caster."
"Is thy Spirit Guardian a wolf?" Thor questioned as he raised an eyebrow.
"More accurately a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog." Sabrina replied as she shrugged her shoulder, few minutes after a truck appeared close her. She looked at it and then at the Avengers, "It seems that I'm ready."
"One second Miss Black," Kingsley intervened while he stepped away of the table "I think Mr. Stark, now that we have an agreement, that it is time to make the proper introductions with the young Harry."