AN: I'm constantly surprised at the amount of people who respond to the things that I write in the AN. Maybe because I'm keeping them short? I know I'm always annoyed when I see an update for a story that is half author's note and the other half the actual chapter. Also for those of you who complained that the chapters are a bit too short, well I've been steadily increasing the number of words. Enjoy it while it lasts! :)

As per usual, THANK YOU! to all of you who reviewed, favorited and followed this story. You are the BEST!

Rating: T - Should I change it?;

Pairing: Loki/Harry - It's complicated;

Beta: Un-betaed. Sorry guys for all the remaining mistakes.

Warnings: mention of blood, violence, swearing, fem!Harry. Also some 'f' bombs closer to the end of the chapter because Tony has a mouth on him. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are property of their respective owners. Everything else is the product of my imagination. Enjoy!


Chapter 4

With freedom in his immediate reach Loki was hard pressed to stay still while Harry moved around throwing several spells at him. He tensed every time her magic tickled his skin and made his scar itch; a pale pink line that marred his chest and reminded him of how closed he'd been to actual death. He didn't like looking at it, but he caught himself absentmindedly tracing it whenever he thought of how he acquired it.

Another scan, another tickle, and Loki turned his full attention to his…healer. With every relaxing of her rules and his subsequent expanding freedom - he had been gradually allowed to move, first just around the bed, then whole room and eventually in some parts of the house - his initial distrust had gone down, while his curiosity had been picked. From seeing her as his jailer, then as his healer, and then maybe something else which he tried not to think of at the moment, she had earned a tenuous position on the short list of people he didn't mind knowing, and he had even caught himself smiling genuinely in her presence. But now, all he wanted was for her to let him go.

At the moment, Harry was frowning, the swish and flick of her wand making symbols dance and change color in the air between them, but as far as Loki could tell she wasn't really worried.

"Can I go now?" Loki asked, still voice in stark contrast with his almost palpable restlessness. Despite her having told him that this was to be the final check-in, a small part of him couldn't help but be on guard. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, metaphorically speaking.

"Magic still a little on the low side", Harry answered, her focus mainly on the symbols the spells painted in front of her. "But other than that you're good to go. Just do me a favor, will you?" she said smiling crookedly, while Loki just froze, "A favor?" he asked, a strange note to his tone.

"Don't go running into any pointed objects and we're golden." Harry answered and with a swipe of her hand the spell she had been weaving disappeared, leaving her and her former patient alone into the sunny living room.

"Don't you have anything else you would ask of me?" he insistent even though old instincts told him to leave as soon as possible and leave her none the wiser.

Harry let out an amused huff, eyes smiling while she was watching him, "Why do you look like no one has ever been kind to you before? I told you, I require nothing but a promise that you'll take care of yourself." She teased, almost reaching out to smooth down the collar of the jacket she had lent him, before she realized what she was doing and stopped, hand hovering in the air before she pulled it back. Loki let her, watched her for a long moment with an unreadable expression and then turned around and went to the door.

"But if you ever found yourself in the neighborhood, you can stop for tea," she called after him and then bit her lip when she realized just how than must have sounded. Loki stopped for a brief moment, and then he opened the door and left without turning back once.

Harry let out a long breath and then closed her eyes for a few seconds, composing herself. "What did you expect?" she whispered in the empty hallway. Predictably, the hallway gave her no answer.

xXx

A week passed with no sign from Loki and Harry stopped glancing outside the window every time she thought someone was coming to the door. Even Teddy was more subdued and clingy, insisting she tugged him every night and sometimes grabbing her wrist and not letting go until he was asleep. She didn't begrudge him, proud he was mature enough not to ask countless questions she didn't have an answer for, yet she hated it too, because no seven-year-old should accept without a fuss the fact that sometimes people left and didn't come back.

Another week gone and life went back to normal, as if her house had never housed a stranger for ten days, all the reminders of his stay completely gone, when the phone she had never wanted in her house started to ring.

She picked it up by the third ring even though a big part of her had wanted to let it go on forever, and when she connected she didn't even had the time to say hello when on the other side Agent Coulson said, "We have a situation. We need you to come in."

Despite the dread pooling in her stomach and a million thought chasing each other in her mind, her voice was steady when she asked, "When and where? Also my son…"

"Will be taken care of," the agent said, not letting her finish. "A car is waiting for you outside." And with a click the conversation was over, leaving Harry standing still in the living room for a few seconds, and then she started to move. Summoning her work bag and a coat, she started to dress just as she exited the house and as promised a black nondescript car was already parked at the front gate.

Fifteen minutes later, a change of cars and a helicopter ride, Harry was on what appeared to be a floating ship in the sky, someone had called it the Helicarier, when she heard her name called from her right.

"Miss Potter, thank you for coming," Agent Coulson said, mild voice betraying nothing. Then again, the man would probably face down a whole battalion of Death Eaters armed with only a small frown and a taser. Harry respected him, perhaps even liked him, when he wasn't calling to disrupt her life.

"You called," she shrugged and fell in step with him, as Coulson maneuvered them between army planes and busy personnel."So what exactly happened, that you had to have me here at such a short notice?"

Agent Coulson waited until they were inside the ship, the closed door cutting the extra noise when he continued with his explanations, "Forty minutes ago Iron Man was brought in after being attacked with an energy blast by unidentified assailants. His right arm is being taken over by what appears to be an aggressive and invasive rot and the resident doctors have no idea how to stop it."

"So you're thinking magic. Alright, let's see what this is about" Harry said just as they were cutting the corner and the doors to Medical came into view.

Right on cue, the sound of something big and metallic crashing amidst several loud voices welcomed them when they stepped inside.

"Get off me, you crazy fucking bastard," man wrapped into a very battered gold and red armor was yelling his head off to Doctor Stevens, SHIELD'S head of Medical Department, while pointing what looked like some kind of weapon to the doctor. For his part the doctor looked ready to pull his hair out.

"Gentlemen, what's going on here?" Coulson asked, entering the room, Harry close on his heels.

"He's refusing treatment!" Stevens exclaimed, looking frustrated enough to squeeze the life out of his patient.

"I'm not!" Tony Stark shot out almost immediately. "You're trying to cut off my fucking arm! Just keep your incompetent hands off me. JARVIS!" he called and when no answer was forthcoming he swore with great relish.

"Agent Coulson, if I may," Harry said already moving closer to the wounded man. Pale and sweaty, it seemed that only fury and fear were keeping him still conscious, while his right arm dangled like dead weight. Her eyes zeroed in the arm, noticing the ugly greenish and purple rot enveloping it, and then she started barking orders. "Everyone clear the area, and take the fancy equipment with you. I will be taking care of this."

For a second the medical staff just stood there gaping at her. "Do as she says," Coulson intervened when no one moved while Stevens looked like he wanted to protest some more. "Move it," the agent stressed the words and two nurses came to help Harry as she was already unplugging all the machines connected to Tony Stark.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, keeping unconsciousness at bay by pure stubbornness. The arm must have hurt him a great lot - he was taking in shallow breaths between words - but he never took his eyes of her, "and why are you unplugging the equipment?"

"Because magic makes it go on a frizz. And I'd rather not have it explode around me while I'm saving your arm" Harry said, moving quickly. "Now sit still and think happy thoughts" she said while tapping Tony's forehead lightly with her wand just as he was opening his mouth to ask more questions. The man was out as a light, and seeing that the surrounding area was clear thanks to Agent Coulson and his men having herded everyone out of the room, Harry immediately set to work.

She shot an identification spell at the sickly mess that was the man's right arm, and as she watched flare in response she couldn't help but purse her lips as the symbols appearing above it told her everything she wanted to know. A transfiguration spell, combined with a flesh eating curse, probably someone's sick idea of a clever attack.

Alright then, she had a spell to fry, she thought just as she prepared to cast her next spell, rapidly considering and discarding options as she planned her every move. Not wasting any more time, she dove into it, the surroundings ceasing to have any meaning as her entire focus settled on the her current enemy.

And the spell fought her back with everything it got. It acted a lot like a vicious beast that had finally gotten its claws onto some hapless prey and almost everything she threw at it only managed slow it down for a bit. It was strong, so very strong, and had Harry been anyone else, someone with less power or less experience with the dark arts and their consequences, she might have lost the battle, but she kept going, a game of cat and mouse until she got hold of it weakness. And when she did, the whole thing unraveled like a string of badly woven yarn. And just as she was getting out of the trance she always went under while fighting a challenging spell, she realized two very important things. First, while the spell had been impressively strong, it had also been sloppy, as if its caster had recently come into their powers and decided to forgo solid work and fine details because they figured sheer amount of power would do the trick. And secondly, she had also recognized the signature behind it, the special feel of the magic it created it, because it was the same magic she had spent almost a week scanning it daily.

Just as she was coming down from her high, the doors to Medical burst open and a strong presence, somewhat familiar although she could have sworn she had never met the man before, entered the room and bee-lined for the exhausted Tony Stark, who was slowly coming back to consciousness.

"Was it Loki?" Thor, God of Thunder asked, anguish plain in his face and voice, "Was it my brother?"

And luckily his entry had created such a commotion that nobody saw Harry visibly jerk at his words and almost drops her wand.

TBC.


AN: BWAHAHAHAHA! "cough, splutter" - Yep that was my evil laugh. Now let the speculations begin, did he or didn't he do it? You know who I'm talking about. "smirk"