The Affliction of War

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Chapter Six - Unwelcome Attention

"Leave him," Director Fury said as the lift door closed on Harry and he was gone. Steve had looked as if he was about to get up and go after him but Nick couldn't let that happen, not just yet, not until they had figured out some sort of plan for how to deal with Loki. Members of the team had gone AWOL before, it was nothing new, and he knew that Harry was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, so he wasn't particularly worried.

In truth, the pictures of Loki and George were a week old by now, there had been no sign of either George or of Loki in that time. Whatever he was doing he was being uncharacteristically quiet. Subtle had never been something that Loki was capable of before now and it was a worry because without hide nor hair of him they had no idea what he was doing. Loki had always had a flare for the dramatics, whatever he was up to couldn't be good.

They were lucky that Harry's temporary move from the United Kingdom to America had been so discreet. There was only one person in England that knew his exact location so Nick Fury was sure that Harry was safe to wander off on his own for the time being. Baring a media storm declaring him to be an Avenger and living in New York, Loki wouldn't have a clue where he had been hidden away.

Harry therefore could be allowed this time to gather his thoughts and he could then come back to them in his own time when he had calmed down, just like Bruce had returned during the battle of New York. Besides, Harry had the right to storm off given the lies that had brought him here. He would let the others go and try to reason with him once they were done here.

"Aren't we still meant to protect him?" Steve argued, fighting the instinct he had to follow Harry and make sure nothing happened to him. He felt rather guilty for having told Harry that he could be trusted when he had been lying. He wanted to follow the younger man and explain himself, though he wasn't sure what good it would do, Harry was clearly furious and feeling rather betrayed; it had been hard enough to get Harry to open up to him the first time.

"He can protect himself," Natasha said bluntly, tired of babying the young man already. She could respect him as a fighter, even with the little that she had been seen, but they had another mission now too, Harry was not their only priority.

"That is not the point," Steve said rather harshly, glaring at Natasha. She had been somewhat hostile towards Harry since the moment that he had arrived the day before, so he didn't expect for her to be sympathetic but he hadn't thought that she would disregard Harry completely like she was now. "Making sure that Loki doesn't get this sphere is the job we have to do, and Harry is part of that! Even if you ignore our orders to keep him safe."

"Alright, Miss Congeniality," Tony said, wanting to tone down the tension in the room. "As long as Harry is in the tower he'll be fine." He added, he was confident in his security system, no one was getting into Avenger's tower without his or Happy's knowledge. It was more than Happy's job's worth to allow someone unauthorized into the tower. Besides that no one who wasn't authorized could access the lift, Tony had made sure of this personally.

"As long as he stays in the tower," Bruce pointed out. He was under no delusion about Harry's fiery temper and thought that the young man probably wouldn't put his own safety first when in a bad mood. He was fairly sure that Harry had probably already left the tower or was about to; he knew he would have in his place. Bruce could see, even from the little he knew of the young man, that Harry would do what he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it.

"Why would he leave?" Thor asked, feeling a little confused. He hadn't been told that they were meant to be protecting Harry so he didn't understand why Harry had reacted the way he had, or the emotion behind why the young man had stormed out in the first place. In Thor's mind, he was here to take his little brother home and in the process of this, stop Loki from getting his hands on the unspeakable power the sphere contained. He dreaded to thinking what might happen if Loki got his hands on that much power.

"Jarvis," Tony said, "please locate Harry." He wanted to put everyone's mind at ease and assure them that Harry had gone to his room and not left the tower because then they could get on with the meeting and figure out how they were going to deal with Loki.

"Harry is on the ground floor, Sir" the computer animated voice of Jarvis informed them. For a moment no one knew what to say, all of them looking to one another, waiting for someone to react or to say anything. "Harry has now exited the building, Sir."

"I'm going after him," Steve said decisively, getting to his feet rather suddenly. If he left now then he would hopefully be able to catch Harry before he went too far. Loki might have been in London as far as they knew but that didn't mean that Harry would be safe wandering the streets of New York. There was no telling who Loki had on his side this time if he had been able to coerce a friend of Harry's to help him. Not to mention the fact that it was a strange city to Harry, he had no idea where he was going or what areas to avoid.

"Captain, you are letting your heart take president, the mission should come first," Director Fury said sternly as Steve headed for the door, not bothering to look back. Nick wasn't particularly surprised that the relationship the two men had struck had come back to bite them in the ass, but he was annoyed that it had done so as quickly as this. He frowned upon his Agents striking up relationships, though admittedly he had been curious about the combination of magic and science in these two but not to the point where he would let it interfere with their work in this way. Fury had underestimated how fast Steve would develop sentimentality towards Harry.

"Harry is the mission," Steve returned somewhat snappishly without turning to look at the others or waiting for any further responses before leaving the room and heading for the lift. The other Avenger's watched him go through the wall of glass, none of them knowing what to say. They weren't accustomed to seeing emotional outbursts of this nature from Steve, it was something new and different for them all.

"Well that was nice and dramatic," Tony said with a smile once Steve had gone, trying to break the tension that had been left behind when the two men had departed. No one wanted to point out how dangerous it was that Steve and Harry were already so close and no one dared to question the affect the serum might have had on Steve's emotions, though they were all thinking about it, Nick Fury especially.

"If we are going to stop Loki from getting his hands on this sphere then Harry will need to be trained on how to fight him. If the worst happens and Harry falls into Loki's hands, he needs to be able to resist him," Fury said, ignoring Stark and his particular brand of humour. "Barton, perhaps you should do the honours."

"What, why me?" Clint demanded, unhappy that he seemed to have drawn the short straw on this unwelcome task. He didn't want to have to train anyone; fair enough, Harry had abilities but that didn't mean that he could fight worth a damn. Clint cared very little for Harry's boastings that he had been trained by the best in his world, it was a claim that meant nothing here.

"Because," Fury began, "if you're nice to him, perhaps he'll change your hair back," Fury said and although he was trying to keep it in check they could all hear the amusement in his tone. Clint scowled at Fury, narrowing his eyes, but said nothing, folding his arms across his chest in a clear huff.

"Fine," he grumbled, never one to defy orders, even one's he didn't like or didn't agree with. If this was what Director Fury wanted him to do then he would do it; he could certainly see the benefits of having his hair turned back to its original colour.

"Is he really going to be able to help us?" Natasha asked sceptically. "He seems more of a liability." One day with them and Harry had already caused Steve to walk out on the team, in her mind the new team member that they were supposed to be protecting was more of a loose cannon than an asset.

"I'm inclined to agree with Natasha," Bruce said a little sadly. "As talented as he seems to be and as extraordinary as his abilities are, he is the key to Loki getting hold of this sphere and the power that it holds. We can't allow the two of them to get too close to each other, is it wise to have him helping us?"

"Loki will not stop until he has what he wants," Thor stated with a frown, knowing his brother well enough to be confident in this judgement. To him, Harry was so little and even though he too had been impressed with the young man's rather unique skills, he knew that it would not be enough against his little brother, not when he wanted something so badly.

"Then we protect him," Tony said with a shrug. He had grown fond of the young man already and he wasn't about to let him fall into the hands of Loki. In truth, Tony didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"We should find out more about this sphere, whatever it's origins are. We should find out what would need to be done to open it, so that we can prevent it from happening," Bruce said, mulling things over. The more they found out the better in his mind, because at least if they knew what they were dealing with then they could be better prepared.

"I will return to Asgard and find out what I can," Thor said, his booming voice still sounding confident despite the situation.

"Thor, talk to Jane, she might be able to help," Fury suggested and Thor nodded, looking less sure about this plan but agreeing regardless because Nick was right, Jane would be able to help. "I have my best agents working on this but for now find out what you can about the sphere and train Harry because Loki is coming for him."

-x

Harry had not taken the time to realise that he had no idea where he was going when he had made the decision to leave Avengers Tower and that was why he was now wandering aimlessly around New York City looking for some kind of shopping centre or mens clothing store. However, he wasn't getting anywhere fast, though in truth the walk itself was enough just to calm him down a little. He didn't want to be angry at any of the Avengers, not even Steve.

Half an hour later and Harry was nowhere close to finding what he wanted. He was hot and sweaty, the heat of the early August sun beating down on him and by this point he was fairly fed up with all the hustle and bustle. New York was busy, lots of people milling around, knocking into him, not even looking where they were going. To top it off he had the feeling that he was being watched, it was a sensation that had been with him for the last fifteen minutes or so, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He was fairly sure that he was being followed, which didn't bode well considering the fact that he was fairly certain he was now lost. His amazing Auror instincts were failing him, he was in an unfamiliar city and he had left the only place where he knew where he was. He could see the top of Avenger Tower, so he was halfway sure that he could navigate his way back, he just didn't want to go back, not yet.

Lost in his thoughts, preoccupied with what had happened in the meeting that morning, Harry barely had time to stop himself colliding with someone as they stepped right in front of him. "Sorry," Harry went to say, glancing up to look at the person he had nearly barrelled his way into.

The man in question was grinning broadly at him, he had a light brown stubble across his jaw and pale green eyes that swept over Harry rather appreciatively. When Harry took a moment to fully observe this man, he realised that he seemed to be wearing some rather mismatched clothing. The fluorescent blue trousers combined with the neon yellow t-shirt that had a black mesh vest top over it gave away that this person didn't exactly belong in the muggle world. The shoes were the best piece of clothing in Harry's mind, they seemed to be platform trainers of some description, it was a miracle that the man could walk at all. They made him tower over Harry though.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked, fearing that this man was a wizard; he certainly looked like a few that Harry had seen trying to blend, unsuccessfully, into the muggle world. The last thing he needed was to be recognized here, it was something that had never occurred to him. Sure he was famous in England but he hadn't thought that that would be the case in America too.

"You're… Harry Potter," the man said, speaking his name in a whisper of excitement. In fact the man seemed so overly jubilant about meeting him that he seemed to be having trouble breathing. Harry was fearful that the older gentleman might pass out at any moment due to the fact he was almost hyperventilating.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Harry asked; he had been worried that this might happen, though he had thought it very unlikely. He knew that America had its own wizarding population, their own version of Diagon Alley and Hogwarts but he hadn't been expecting to run into them in the middle of New York. Though considering how heavily the wizarding world was based in London, Harry realised how stupid he had been to think that New York wouldn't be the same.

"No, of course not but I know you," the man said, hopping from foot to foot in excitement as he turned to beckon someone else over. When Harry turned to see who this was he noticed three other men, all of them dressed in similar attire to the first man. An easy feeling settled in Harry's gut, there was something that just didn't feel right about this, his guard immediately up.

"Of course you do," Harry said with a sigh. He had never cared to find out how much the other countries knew about the war he had fought back home or how far his fame had spread across the world. Harry had never seen the need to travel before, far too engrossed in his work to take holidays and such. He realised now that this was an oversight and something he should have looked into before coming here.

By this point the first man's three friends had joined him, all of them looking just as excited as the first. They were starting to draw attention to themselves with their excited squealing and exclamations of, "I can't believe it's Harry Potter!"

All four men were young-ish, in their late twenties or early thirties. None of them really knew how to dress to blend into muggle society but then again, in the middle of New York, it just seemed like an odd fashion statement. None of them had their wands drawn but Harry had been trained to notice things and he knew that each man had them stowed in the waistbands of their trousers, probably for easy access.

"Trying to keep a low profile here," Harry tried to tell them, however it was to no avail, none of them actually seemed to be listening to what he was trying to say. Instead they were flapping parchment and quills in his face, trying to get him to sign them. It was a little overwhelming and entirely confusing to have so much shoved in his face at the one time. Harry was starting to feel a little disorientated, which he realised was probably the point.

Holding his hands up in refusal, Harry was shaking his head, trying to explain that he didn't do autographs. He needed to get out of the situation, he knew they were trying to confuse and disorientate him more, he just didn't know for what purpose and Harry honestly didn't want to find out. However the four wizards were relentless, wanting to take photographs too, they seemed to have some form of muggle disposal cameras. Harry wasn't sure how well they would work when combined with magic but he didn't want to take the chance.

The four wizards were all talking a mile a minute and Harry was struggling to keep up with what they were saying. He was hugely shocked when one of them put an arm over his shoulders while a second snapped a photograph; the flash of which blinded him momentarily. His ears pricked up rather suddenly when he heard mention of brunch and the four wizards tried to usher him along the street.

"No," Harry tried to say, alarm bells ringing in his mind as he starting to put up some resistance against them taking him anywhere. However it was four against one and he really didn't stand a chance, not even with all of his training. "I really can't," Harry tried to insist but the four poorly dressed wizards were really not paying any attention, all of them too excited to be seeing Harry Potter to actually listen to anything he had to say.

"We'll have lunch," the wizard that had first approached him said, "We can show you round the city, it'll be great," he rambled, speaking so fast that Harry only just managed to catch what he was saying. "I can't believe I've met the actual Harry Potter, it is such an honour!"

"I can't," Harry said again, digging his heels in. He didn't want to use magic and cause a scene. These people were fairly innocent as far as he could tell, all they were guilty of was over enthusiasm and Harry didn't think that they deserved to be cursed because of this. He was far too used to people acting like this back home for it to phase him much here.

"We know this great little café," he kept on, insistent that Harry needed to come and eat with them. It didn't seem to matter how much he protested, they weren't listening to him and aside from using magic and causing a scene in front of a lot of muggles, which was likely to be frowned upon by the wizarding authorities, there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Let me go," Harry insisted, struggling to pull himself free from where he had been grabbed. One wizard still had an arm around his shoulder, another had hold of his arm, the other two were just surrounding him as he was dragged along the street. "Let me go," Harry said again, this time a little louder than the first. He had no leverage to pull his arms away from these men, his legs to busy holding him upright as he was pulled along to kick out at them. The best hope he had was to cause a scene that wouldn't get him into trouble with the American Ministry for Magic.

"No, no, don't be like that, we just want lunch," one of the wizards who wasn't holding on to him said, though his tone wasn't entirely innocent and he added a somewhat salacious wink in his direction to top it off. The tone of his voice made Harry feel physically sick at the thought of the ulterior motives of these four men. He was starting to realise that even though they might very well have been a little starstruck by him, they still wanted something from him, just like everyone else.

"We heard you like to be shared," the fourth man said in a whisper with a little laugh, "ever been shared between four?" he asked and copped a feel of Harry's behind as he said this, making Harry tense up as the hand cupped his arse cheek.

"Don't you touch me again!" Harry snapped, redoubling his efforts to get away from these four wizards. He had been aware that the Prophet and other various publications had been very keen to report on his promiscuous activities over the years, as well as interview anyone that he had slept with. They had paid a lot of money for those kind of interviews, Harry had no idea that these publications had been spread so far across the world.

For the first time in his life he felt ashamed of himself for not having cared, for not having given it more than a few seconds thought. He had barreled through his life, dangerous mission after dangerous mission, filling his down time with bedding men and women in an attempt to make himself feel alive and connected but all it had got him was a promiscuous reputation and a whole world of trouble.

"Don't be like that," the first wizard said, "We'll make sure that you have a good time!"

By this point, with all of Harry's insistence that he be released, they were starting to draw attention to themselves. People around them were starting to stare and to point as Harry struggled against the hold that the four wizards had on him. It was perhaps fortunate that the surrounding muggles had had the sense to alert the authorities to what was going on.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he saw two uniformed officers heading in their direction, watching suspiciously as Harry struggled against the four men that were attempting to take him away.

-x

Steve had been riding around on his motorcycle, minus the shield of course because he didn't want to draw attention to himself, he thought it might be rather counter productive to finding Harry if he was swarmed by Avenger's fans. The bike was also faster than walking and he could cover more ground with it too, weaving in and out of the traffic, being careful to scan the crowd and not cause an accident.

He had been listening into the police scanner, just in case he could get any clues that way. If Harry was in any kind of trouble he thought that this was the first place to hear about it. There were NYPD officers all over the city, if something was happening one of them was likely to see something and report it on his radio.

As it happened, when something did come through on the scanner he was only three blocks away, a complete stroke of luck. He was able to turn his bike around, only just avoiding a collision with a rather grumpy yellow cab driver, and head straight there. He arrived just in time to see two police officers trying to defuse the situation but when Steve saw that Harry was in the very middle of this, being manhandled by four strangely dressed men he lost it.

Abandoning his bike on the side of the street in a slight panic, Steve strode towards the group that was causing the commotion, his fists clenched as he saw harry struggling to tear himself away from them. The first Avenger was looking utterly menacing as he literally tore Harry from the men who were still holding on to him. Harry himself looked relieved to see the larger man and slumped into his arms the moment they were a few steps away from the group.

"What happened?" Steve asked, looking down at Harry in concern, eyes scanning over him, searching for injuries. "Are you hurt?" he asked but Harry shook his head; he was a little shaken by what had happened but he wasn't hurt. He had not been expecting for people to recognize him here, he had been naive to think that his fame had not stretched this far. "Are they in league with Loki?" Steve asked in a whisper, glancing over to the four strangely dressed men suspiciously.

"No," Harry said shaking his head, his thoughts a jumbled mess. "They know me, from what I did in my world," he explained softly so that no one else could over hear. "What they wanted from me had nothing to do with Loki or the sphere."

"It didn't?" Steve asked looking a little surprised at this. Harry shook his head, glad that the wizards hadn't been that subtle, or had simply underestimated the muggles of the City. Either way he was back in Steve's arms, which he found was exactly where he wanted to be.

Steve frowned at Harry's failure to elaborate further but knowing that this wasn't the time or the place to go into it. He wasn't sure what had happened or how these strange men had known Harry but he wouldn't push for answers that Harry clearly wasn't ready to give him. He owed Harry that at least after lying to him, plus he hoped that Harry would come to trust him in time and simply be able to confide in him.

"Let's get you back," Steve said, giving the policemen a nod of thanks. No crime had been committed apart from some ruckus, grabbing a man was not a crime, nothing else could be proven, and therefore the four wizards would not be arrested. It was a shame really and Steve would have gladly beat each one to a bloody pulp but he restrained himself, though only just.

Harry, however, shook his head. "I need clothes," he explained when Steve looked at him questioningly; he wasn't going to let a few stupid wizards send him running for the hills. Besides, with the first Avenger with him now, he thought it was unlikely that anyone else would try anything. "It's why I left the tower, I was trying to find some clothes shops; I can't just keep wearing yours."

"We can't really carry much shopping on the back of the bike," Steve said as he motioned towards where he had abandoned his motor cycle.

"I have a few more tricks up my sleeve yet, Captain," Harry said with a small smile, still leaning quite heavily on the larger man.

"Oh, I bet you do," Steve said as they reached the bike and he threw one leg over it, settling himself into the seat. Harry, however, hesitated slightly. a little unsure of what to do, at least not without it ending up being rather intimate.

"I've never…" he began but Steve just smiled at him. Neither of them were paying any attention to the four wizards that were still being talked at by the two police officers. Not that they four men were listening, far too busy glaring at Harry and the mysterious man, who they were sure they recognized from somewhere.

"It's alright, just hold on to me and you'll be fine," Steve said as Harry, somewhat nervously, climbed on to the back of the bike, straddling Steve from behind as he did so. With a little uncertainly, Harry placed his hands on Steve's hips but the larger man wasn't having any of it, taking the other man's hands and joining them together in front of him so that Harry's arms were encircling his waist.

"Is this okay?" Harry asked nervously, painfully aware of his groin pressed close to the other man's rear.

Steve couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Sex on the first night we meet isn't a problem, yet any form of close intimacy and you're nervous?" he asked turning so he could almost see Harry's face, "You, Mr Potter, are an enigma."

"Well as long as I'm not boring," Harry said with slight amusement, resting his chin on Steve's shoulder and nuzzling into his neck. He didn't spare a moment to look back at the four men, he didn't want to think about them any more. That was part of his life he was more than happy to leave behind, his fame had always been more trouble than it was worth.

"I'm pretty sure that you could never be boring, Harry," Steve said as he started the engine and they were off, the smaller man clinging on for dear life. Broomsticks were one thing but motor cycles were something else altogether.

-x

It was clear that the two men had been researching for a while, they had remained in the meeting room on floor thirteen, not wanting to get distracted by anything. Numerous coffee mugs were littered across the table, all of them Tony's; Bruce stuck to earl grey tea with honey, not wanting the caffeine to aggravate his other side. He wanted to eliminate the chance of incidents if he could help it.

"I think Harry knows more about this than he's letting on," Bruce said, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes in frustration.

Neither of them felt as if they were getting very far. They had all the information that S.H.I.E.L.D had acquired about the sphere but neither of the two genius' could find out much more about it. They couldn't figure out how it worked or how to get the power out once it had been duplicated and stored inside.

"He seems to have a lot of rules holding him back from wherever he's come from," Tony said as he flicked through some of the files for what felt like the hundredth time. By this point he had memorized it word for word but couldn't help but feel as if he was somehow missing something and therefore he kept going back to it.

"He is the only one of us who has seen the sphere, wherever he's from, whatever he is, he has the information we need or can at least gain access to it," Bruce said, he had clearly been thinking things over for a while now.

Unable to make ends or tails of the information both scientists were glad when Jarvis announced the return of Harry and Steve to Avenger's tower. There was no emergency call or suggestions for a doctor to be called so both Bruce and Tony took that to mean no one had been harmed or injured in anyway.

"We should go and see them," Tony suggested, thinking that Clint would most likely be heading in the direction of Steve and Harry to whisk the latter off to start his training as soon as possible. "I'd quite like to see him in action."

"I'd quite like to see Clint trying to convince Harry to turn his hair back," Bruce said with amusement. He too was curious about the young man's abilities and he was keen to watch him fight but he could also see the enjoyment factor to watching the two stubborn men duel it out over hair dye.

-x

Harry, with his shopping shrunk down and in his pocket, and Steve headed straight up to the communal kitchen, dining area; they had been so busy shopping that they had failed to grab anything to eat. They had both skipped breakfast that morning and as a result the two of them were famished.

However their plans of getting food were put on hold when the moment they stepped out of the lift they were ambushed by the rest of the Avenger's who had all been notified by Jarvis of their return. Such a mass of voices accosted them that neither of them could make out what was being said or by whom.

Harry had already asked Steve not to say anything about the four men that had tried to take him. After all the bolstering that he could take care of himself, Harry really didn't want Clint or Natasha, or in fact any of them, to think less of him.

"Harry, come with me, we're going to start your training," Clint said bluntly when the rest of the noise had died down.

"Can't I eat first?" Harry asked with a tired sigh. He didn't want to get into the habit of skipping meals too frequently. Because of what the Dursley's had done he had never been a big eater, food was more of an inconvenience that he had to put his life on hold for, however he knew that he needed it to be strong.

"We both skipped breakfast this morning," Steve chimed in when it appeared that Clint might deny Harry this request. Steve was feeling rather protective of the young man, especially after what had happened earlier, and he wasn't going to see him go without food, especially not before one of Clint's rigorous training sessions. He had trained with the archer before and Clint certainly liked to push himself, for hours at a time, without rest. Harry would need to eat before they started.

"Fine," Clint said unhappily and watched as Harry and Steve moved to the kitchen area and began to make some kind of pasta dish together. Tony and Bruce settled themselves at the stools at the counter, watching the two of them closely. Natasha sat at the dining table, Clint standing beside her, arms folded over his chest looking disapproving.

One thing was sure and that was that Harry knew his way around the kitchen. He seemed very natural as he helped prepare some chicken and throw it into a pan to cook while Steve made a cheese sauce. The two of them moved fluidly around the kitchen, rarely making contact, just simply working together silently, speaking only to pass things to one another.

"It's like something from the fucking Walton's," Clint said, sharing a small window into his life before he had come to be an Avenger. He rarely shared anything about his life and this slip of the tongue gave a rare insight that none of them, not even Natasha, had experienced before.

None of them passed comment about this, not wanting to make a big deal out of something that had passed so easily between them. Not even Tony took the rare opportunity to tease Clint about it, whereas in any other circumstances he might have done.

"You guys hungry?" Harry asked the gathered group, "We made enough for everyone."

"Where did you learn to cook?" Bruce asked as everyone nodded, the smell of the food making them all feel rather hungry. Steve went to fetch the bowls and cutlery to place them on the table while Harry mixed the sauce, chicken and pasta together in a large dish ready to be served.

"My Aunt and Uncle forced me to learn," Harry said softly. His tone wasn't saddened or withdrawn at all, despite what they had done to him it had been something that Harry had come to accept over the years, he had forgiven them and moved on with his life. He was not the eleven year old boy they beat and abused any more. He was now a celebrated war hero, broken beyond anything that the Dursley's could have done to him.

"I thought you said you didn't have any family," Clint said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I don't," Harry said simply, as, with a wave of his hand and a muttered incantation, the bowls Steve was carrying flew out of his hands and landed neatly on the table, cutlery perfectly placed beside them for each avenger to sit. Glasses, a jug of iced water from the fridge and the bowl of pasta also landed neatly on the table after a little magical assistance from Harry, who also set the dirty dishes to start washing themselves. This was all much to the amazement of Bruce, who was watching, open mouthed in awe.

"But you just said…" Clint tried to say but was swiftly cut off by a glare from Steve that clearly said not to got here. They were all curious about Harry but he would open up when he was ready to do so. It wasn't as if they all knew everything there was to know about each other.

"Let's just eat," Steve suggested, moving to sit down as Bruce and Tony did the same, "then you can catch us up on what happened while we were gone." Clint was the last one to take a seat with the rest of them, waiting for Harry to settle himself in the seat next to Steve before sitting on Natasha's other side. He wasn't going to be able to trust Harry easily but he was rather looking forward to putting the young man through his paces in training and seeing just what he was capable of.

"Is Thor not joining us?" Harry asked as the others started to serve themselves, watching as Clint tucked into the meal with gusto, feeling rather smug that the archer liked his cooking even if he disliked everything else about him.

"He's gone to back to Asgard," Bruce explained as he was passed the large bowl of pasta and began to serve himself, "to see what he can find out about the sphere."

"Have you had any luck on that front?" Harry asked, looking around as those that had helped themselves began to eat. He felt a little guilty for leaving when everyone else had clearly been working, however he had needed to cool down a little. Also it wasn't as if he hadn't achieved anything, he had at least got some clothes that were just his and he and Steve had had a chance to talk.

The two of them had cleared the air, Harry could understand what it was that Steve had done and why, he didn't begrudge him especially for lying considering just how much he was hiding from Steve about what he was and where he had come from. They had both come to conclusion that they wanted to try with whatever they had and make things work.

"We were hoping that you might be able to help with that," Bruce said honestly, "After all you are the only one of us who has seen this sphere, we were hoping we might be able to examine it."

Harry look dubious, not thinking that it was a great idea to take the sphere out of the Ministry. He also didn't think that it was a great idea to take Bruce, or in fact any of the Avengers, into the Ministry either. He was going to have to talk to Kingsley sooner rather than later it seemed. "We'll see," he said, wondering if Fury would be able to get the Minister for Magic here without raising too many questions with the others.

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