Quasars Between Us

Chapter 4 – An Expanding World
Words: 3 862

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead, Coulson."

The trio of SHIELD-operatives had moved to a secluded chamber where they were free to speak without the risk of being overheard. On the other side of the panoramic windows the world was dark with night, but the lack of sunlight did not affect the importance of their mission. Spy-organisations never sleep because neither do their enemies.

"What was that?"Phil asked, referring to the confrontation he'd just witnessed. He had thought that he'd been informed about all the key-elements of the current situation and finding out that this was not the case had him struggling to regain his equilibrium.

"That was the son of Loki and a human magic user."

"Excuse me? I am not certain I understand."

Hill cleared her throat. "We only learnt of his existence a few days ago. Once records of his parentage were discovered, contact was made, and Mr Potter told us of the existence of magic here on Earth. Mr Potter's mother was a human woman named Lily Potter. She and others like her have the ability to reshape the world around them, using a so far unidentified force most easily referred to as magic."

"All right." Phil tried to grip the information. He knew that his face showed nothing, but on the inside he was in turmoil. The balance he was trying to find was racketing beyond his grasp; he was freefalling from the impact of the implications. However, that was only for the time being. He had handled meeting Thor when the Asgardian crashed into the desert of New Mexico; he had learnt that humanity wasn't alone in the universe and he had come out on the other side, arguably, a wiser man. He would be able to handle this too. "What do we know?"

"Not much yet," Fury answered gravely. "The information is still being compounded into a cohesive report for me to read. Witches and wizards—which is what they call themselves, believe it or not—live hidden in most countries of the world. For centuries they have lived and evolved unnoticed by the majority of the world's population. They have extensive security measures to keep the information of their existence hidden. It's been like this since at least the early eighteenth century when the last enclave of Chinese magic users signed the International Statute of Secrecy. MI6 informed us as soon as they picked up the boy and then I had the pleasure of getting acquainted with some of the most hard-headed and secretive people in the country."

"That's why you disappeared even as we were preparing this operation," Phil stated. The Director had gone away for the majority of the previous day—something which was odd considering the current crises and the dire need for leadership.

"Yes," replied Fury. "I met with the Head Auror of the United Magical American Confederation. I'll let you watch a recording of the meeting later; perhaps you'll be able to notice something we've missed."

"Yes, sir. What about the boy? What is the plan with him?"

Hill's mouth turned into a thin line as he asked this, and Phil knew that she didn't like the answer the Director was about to give.

"The plan is to keep him safe, to learn about him and to shape him so that he doesn't become a threat later on. We don't need another entity with unknown powers to go unchecked and form questionable allegiances."

Phil could feel his mouth tightening into a reflection of Hill's. "And?" he prompted. "Why is he here if that is all? You should have taken him to the Academy or another facility if all you wanted was to train him and keep him safe."

"That's what I said," muttered Hill.

"Potter is here because if it comes to it, we will use the boy against Loki in whatever way necessary," said Fury.

Phil understood it, but he didn't like it. "The boy is a minor and he isn't a US citizen; we don't have the right to control his life like that, to gamble with his life."

"His guardian agreed to send him and Potter came willingly."

"You know that there are things we're not entitled to do despite consent."

"Coulson," said Fury warningly. "Don't you think I know this?"

"Sorry, sir," he said, lowering his eyes.

"Though our main task is to be humanity's shield against anything that would threaten it, from without or without, we are an organization built on morals and ethics. I will not use Potter for anything untoward unless the situation becomes very, very dire. I will look for another solution as long as possible, but I have to plan for all eventualities. I know where to draw the line, and I know when the only acceptable choice is to overstep it."

"Of course, sir."

"Are we good then?"

"We're good," said Phil. He was as satisfied with the situation as he could expect to be. Fury had convinced him that his morals still held strong, while he was forced to make difficult decisions. They could only hope that things would turn better than the current outlook promised.

"Hill?"

"Yes, sir. We're good."

"Good. Hill, return to your duties. Coulson, I'll leave you to look at the recording from the meeting I mentioned. Now I need to go talk with Stark and try to convince him to keep his mouth shut."

"Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you, sir?" asked Phil. "I've experience dealing with, Stark."

"I'll handle him."

Phil was left alone in the room after Fury started the recording he was to watch, seeing it on a large monitor that made everything much larger than it would have been in real life, allowing him clearly to see details that might have been missed in person. The perspective of the recording was from normal height, leading Phil to the conclusion that the camera had been hidden somewhere on the Director's head—the eye patch was a possibility. Despite how small the camera must have been everything was crystal clear.

He saw a busy street; the yellow taxi cars passing by revealed it to be New York. A man came up to Fury. Nothing about him said that there was anything out of the ordinary about him. He was perhaps a bit too ordinary if anything.

"Mr Fury," the man said in an implacable standard American accent. "I'm Auror Reginald. I'll be escorting you to headquarters today if that is agreeable. The boss will meet you there."

"And how do I know that you are who you say you are?"

"The lightning bolt has struck from a clear sky. Wouldn't you say that's almost like magic?" the man said conversationally. A security phrase if Phil had ever heard one. A method that was a bit dated, but fairly useful nevertheless.

"I'd say it's exactly like magic," Fury replied gruffly.

The man—or rather wizard as the case might be—nodded. "Follow me please."

They walked in silence for several minutes, eventually arriving at a corner coffee shop. The café was dark and full of people wearing odd outfits; tall, pointy hats, long sweeping robes and cloaks in a multitude of colours—some of which sported patterns moving lazily around the hems.

They passed into a back room and went through a door with a sign that said staff only. From there they came to a staircase leading down. A flight of stairs later they entered a corridor and then they were in a large hall, a reception area as far as Phil could tell. It was impressive and clearly magical.

One wall was lined with fireplaces through which people came and went in bursts of green flames. Paper planes sailed through the air and people dressed in robes hurried to and forth, some with stacks of books floating beside them in the air, others carrying broomsticks or cages with owls.

He catalogued everything he saw, remembering it and cross-referencing with his memories, concluding that he had encountered witches and wizards several times in his life, never knowing why they were strange.

The Director was led further on; Phil noted that he was lead in circles as they took many twists and turns through corridors, but there were a few things to be recognized every so often, despite him first being confused as the portrait images on the walls kept changing and it was when he saw a painting of an old wizard scratch his nose that he realized that they could move.

They eventually ended up in an office where an imposing man waited. He was tall, with dark hair and sharp brown eyes. He had a crooked nose and was dressed in a dark blue uniform. While it in some ways looked like the robes he had seen on other magical people it also resembled typically military clothes. Here the Director was left by his escort.

"Nicholas Joseph Fury," the man in the uniform said, looking at Fury with unblinking, hawk like eyes, "No-Maj. Head of the intelligence agency known as SHIELD. Obliviated on no less than seven separate occasions over the last three years. A man who is a clear threat to the secrecy of the world I am sworn to protect."

"Cut the speeches, will you?" Fury said irritably from out of frame, apparently unimpressed, though Phil suspected that the indifference was a part of a power struggle between two men who both were adamant to come out on top and not yield to the other.

The wizard didn't show that he had heard the Director. "Memory spells are dangerous, but performed by a skilled wizard it is deemed safe to be used to erase as much as two weeks of recollections annually. That limit has not been passed for you yet and despite that I will not have your memory erased."

"Good for me. Why?"

"Because you will be of much better use if you know what you are up against. Keeping magic from the wider population is our priority; we are not concerned about the individual. Can I trust you to keep our secret and work towards the same aim as us, Director?"

"The existence of magic is not something I want made public."

"Then we shall be able to come to an agreement."

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Thor looked much like in the photos Harry had been shown of him when Agent Hill told him about the situation. Tall and muscled with shoulder length blond hair and short cut beard. He was wearing armour, with a chest plate and arm guards, but no red cape flowing from his shoulders. All in all Harry felt a bit surprised at how human the man looked in person. He would be able to walk down the street and no one would ever know that he wasn't of this world.

It disappointed him slightly at the same time as it made him comfortable. If Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, could feel and look normal there was hope for Harry too. All that aside, Harry could vaguely sense—in a way he had no words for—that the man was powerful. Thor was powerful obviously physically powerful, but there was more to it. Magic or spirit maybe; Harry didn't know. However, the sense of power didn't faze him, not any more than being around Hagrid who was physically imposing or Headmaster Dumbledore who was knowledgeable in magic and respected for his wisdom, did. Thor's aura was nonthreatening. Harry instinctively knew that the power hidden in the being before him would not be used to harm him. Already he suspected that Thor would do what he could to protect him. It was a good feeling and Harry hoped that he could confirm it in time. Doing what felt natural, Harry smiled up at the man, though the twist of his lips might have resulted in a smile that was a bit wan.

The situation had changed again, and though he felt as if he should be overwhelmed by everything that had happened over the law few days, his emotions seemed numbed. He'd only had a minor freak out at the revelation of his parentage, and seeing his uncle, next to a man who could be none other than Tony Stark—someone who was important enough in the Muggle world for even Harry to know of him—hadn't affected him nearly as much as it probably should. Then again, he had received various curveballs before. On the night when he had first met Sirius he had in less than an hour gone from feeling enough hate and anger to be capable of killing the man, to being filled with strong enough happiness that he'd been able to conjure a Patronus with enough potency to repel a host of several hundred Dementors. Dealing with swift shifts was actually not a novelty for Harry.

However, he had not expected to come face to face with Thor so soon. He would have thought it more likely to sooner meet his father. Loki appearing on earth was after all the catalyst of current events and when he had been briefed SHIELD had informed him that as far as they were aware Thor had returned to Asgard after his short sojourn on earth and he was unlikely to return any time soon. That last part had obviously been a miscalculation on SHIELD's part, which led to Harry's first question.

"SHIELD said that you were in Asgard, how come you returned to earth?"

The tall blond grimaced slightly. "How much do you know about me or-" he hesitated, "or about your father?"

Harry shrugged inelegantly. "About as much as you know about me. That's saying: not a lot. I've been told a little bit about what happened when you were on Earth last year, and SHIELD said that Loki stole something from them and that they want it back. Besides that, all I have had to go on is what is written down in old myths."

"That is indeed lacking," Thor said seriously. "A friend I made when I was last on Midgard showed me how my people and I appear in your legends. Not much of it could be called accurate, not even names all of the time."

"So I don't have any siblings? Harry asked.

The man chuckled; it was a rumbling sound, warm and reverberating. "Not any of which I am aware," was the reply.

"Oh. One thing to cross off the list I suppose." Harry felt vaguely disappointed again. Though most of Loki's children were described to be monsters in the retelling of legends in the Prose Edda, Harry wouldn't have minded having brothers or sisters. It would have taken some pressure off, made him less special. Now he was confirmed as one of a kind.

"I do not have any children either. Contrary to your legends, we Aesir are careful about not dishonouring our partners by having children in relationships outside unions of husband and wife."

"How come I exist then?" Harry asked and it did not make him any happier when Thor frowned. "My mother was married to another man, unless Loki went about masquerading as James Potter he wasn't married to her."

"This is not something I have an answer for. I can only tell you that Loki is a skilled shape shifter and that he would have been able to pull off such a feat, but I cannot recall that he was missing for any length of time during these past years. It is something we will have to ask your father."

"That won't happen any time soon then," Harry said despondently.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, I suppose he's in hiding or something... trying to stay away from SHIELD and doing whatever he had planned when he stole... whatever it was he stole."

"They have not told you. I see. Loki is here."

"What?"

"He is held prisoner on this vessel. I joined SHIELD as they transported my brother here."

Harry's heart began to beat faster. His father was on board the Helicarrier and nobody had told him. He felt some resentment as he understood that this must be the secret they had kept from him. Yet, what did it matter? His father was close by. Harry could talk to him; he could ask him everything he wanted to know.

"Can I see him?" Harry asked, looking at Thor with hope.

I am not certain that is advisable." Thor frowned. "My brief interaction with my brother has me worried about his current state of mind. When last I met him he had just learnt something troubling about himself and it changed him. I cannot tell how he would react if he was to meet you. I think it is best that you wait to meet him, and we would have to discuss it with the people of SHIELD."

"I see," Harry said disappointedly. "It's just... I have so many questions for him about how he knew my mother and what shall become of me now. If he wants anything to do with me, if he knew I existed and…" He sighed. "I had hoped to speak with him at some point, hearing that he is here… I suppose it made me get my hopes up."

Thor went over to him and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. It felt comforting, something he hadn't been expecting. He wasn't good with physical contact; it usually made him feel awkward. Thor's touch felt right.

"You will get a chance to speak with him. Once this situation is dealt with there will be time for answers, time for you to get to know your father. I am sure he will want to know you; no matter what state of mind he is in, I know that he would treasure you as his blood, as his son. He can be rather possessive. For now I will do my best to answer your questions."

Harry nodded. The reassurance felt good, as good as the warm hand on his shoulder. He hoped Thor's words were true, that it was true that Loki would want to know him. He shouldn't get his hopes up, but it was difficult to resist. "Okay, so first. Are you gods?"

Thor laughed. "No, we are not. We are different to humans on earth and it happens that we call humans mortals, but that is only because we live for a much longer time. Most Asgardians live to be over five thousand years old, some become far older than that. Our currently oldest citizen will soon have seen her eight thousand year, I believe."

"Merlin," Harry said, "that's... that's really old."

"To you I assume it would seem so; when everyone you know expects the same lifespan, the years cease to have the same meaning."

"Can I ask how old you are?"

To Harry's relief Thor didn't take offence, he only smiled. He seemed to smile a lot. It made him seem less threatening than his large stature would imply, which was a good thing as far as Harry was concerned.

"We count years slightly differently from you as Asgard's days are slightly longer and a turn around our star is slightly shorter. When I first visited earth in my youth people said that it was the nine hundreds After Christ."

"You're over a thousand years old," said Harry, making large eyes.

"Yes, but I'm still considered young. Remember, Asgardian life-expectancy; I've lived only a fifth of my lifespan. If you equal that with a human lifespan it might not seem so old anymore."

Harry calculated it and found that Thor would be no more than twenty counted in such terms, but it was still mind boggling that any being could get so old. "How can your people get so old?" he asked.

"How can our people get so old," Thor corrected him gently. "You will most probably grow to become just as old."

"Really?"

"Aye. You will likely have inherited everything from your father that can strengthen you. While I do not know of any half Midgardian children, I do know about children from unions with other shorter-lived races. They have all inherited the lifespan of their longer lived parent as well as their strength, intelligence or affinity for magic."

"I'll live to be several thousand years old?" The thought did not sit right with Harry. He did not desire such a long life. All he'd ever wanted was to be normal; though, he had realized that he would never have it once he learnt that he was a wizard he had come to accept a new normal, the normal of the wizarding world, and he had hoped to perhaps fit into it someday. Now he would have to accept another set of normal—the normal of powerful extraterrestrial beings. It would take some time to accept.

"Most probably," Thor said with a nod in answer to his question. "To go back to your original question about how we are able to become so old: it has to do with how our bodies are constructed. I am no scholar or healer and couldn't properly explain it, but I know that our bodies are denser than the bodies of humans and therefore more durable, I suspect this has something to do with our comparatively slow aging."

"Right," Harry said with a curt nod, satisfied with the reply. Even if Thor had been able to describe it to him in scientific terms he wouldn't have understood it. Magical educations didn't exactly provide fundamental knowledge in physics, chemistry or biology. Perhaps wizards had their own explanations for how the world worked, but that wasn't something that was taught either, in his experience. If it had been, Hermione would surely have made a mention of it by now.

"The density of our muscles and bones is what make us more durable and also stronger than humans; this is something that happens first when we reach as certain point in aging, and I wouldn't be surprised if you experience great increase in your appetite and weight in the years to come."

"Oh?" This was interesting; this concretely affected him, not that the other things didn't, but it was closer in time, making it more relevant.

"How old are you Harry?"

"Eh, I'll be fifteen in about a month."

Thor nodded. "It might take a year or two before you notice anything out of the ordinary then. It is in the later part of puberty, once you have reached your full height, that your body will begin to grow denser, and your strength and endurance increase profoundly. Once that happens, you will need to eat a lot of meat. I remember that I was always hungry during those years, though my mother would surely say that I never lost my appetite." He smiled abashedly. "My brother ate even more than I during those years. Something people find hard to believe now."

"Oh," Harry said again. "Will you tell me about him? How it was to grow up together?"

"It would be my pleasure."

End Chapter 4 – An Expanding World

A/N 2nd March 2015

This took me far longer than I had counted on. Sorry about that. The next chapter should be along shortly—I hope. It's half done and has been that way for months; it is also in the next chapter that Loki enters the stage and things get really interesting. The first half of this chapter is there as a beginning of an explanation of what's going on as SHIELD learns about magic and the reception this has. There will be more cooperation between the magical world and SHIELD as the story goes on.

Thanks to those of you who have waited patiently, and welcome all new readers! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please, let me know what you thought!

If you want to follow how my progress with coming chapter is faring, you can see it in a document that's linked to on my profile page under the STORIES heading.

[This chapter was most recently edited November 2016]