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Almosts Lost to Time
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"Director Fury! We lost Biggs!"
Fury jerked upwards, chair flying back, "What do you mean, we lost him!?" Fury walked threateningly towards the agent in question. "That man was under 24-hour surveillance and you're telling me he's dead."
Rynan was half from her seat as well, eyes wide as the information sunk in. While she had gotten the information she needed from him, he was still useful to SHIELD.
The agent shifted, fully realizing who was in the room. Gulping, he struggled to continue, "Sir, he was. But someone hacked into our system and put it on a loop."
Rynan moved to stand completely, taking in the information. Since she had announced her hacking of SHIELD, they had worked overtime to fix all the holes and now had one of the best firewalls. Even Hermione couldn't hack into it anymore.
"And no one noticed this because…? I have the best people working here and no one noticed a simple feedback loop?"
"To be fair, sir, he was sleeping at the time. For anything to happen, only an estimated 15 minutes would be needed. During that time, your sleeping position does not change or fluctuate. Unless someone was with him 24/7…our analysts noticed it about an hour after the infiltration. By the time we got to him in his cell, he was already gone."
Rynan stood equal with Fury now, both staring down the agent baring the bad news, her forehead furrowing in concentration. While Fury was fuming on the loss of his prisoner, Rynan realized the opportunity this presented them.
Quieting his rage, something Rynan admired about the man, he never took his anger out on his people, Fury dismissed the agent, making his way to his window overlooking the capital. She watched his clenched hand beat into the hurricane thick window before resting his head on it.
He was beyond frustrated. In all his years, he had never come up against an enemy he couldn't defeat. These last few years had pulled his brain for every strategy, every contact…he was beginning to question everything, everyone. He needed to trust his agents but there was a traitor amongst them and he wasn't sure if it was 1 or 100. What has he been reduced to that his confidant was a young twenty-something witch from England? Who, he might add, had a certain proclivity for defying authority.
But he never questioned her conviction or her loyalty, not once. She was dangerous, but she was on his side, no matter their disagreements.
"We can't keep going at this blind," he punctured each word with a fist to the window.
Rynan's eye's lost focus as her thoughts drifted to what she needed to do. Letting out a large sigh, she placed her hands on the back of her chair.
"I want you to suspend all operations associated with HYDRA. This confirms that they have infiltrated SHIELD and anything we do, they'll be three steps ahead. All we can hope for now is that Biggs died before he disclosed his betrayal."
They were here, planning, alone, in an impersonal office. She had never been good at waiting but she should've known this would be her life. She had been preparing for this since she was fifteen: taking on authority covertly.
"Give me time. HYDRA won't stay quiet for long once they realize SHIELD isn't tracking them anymore. It'll give you time to search the city for anything suspicious." Rynan finished before Fury could interrupt her.
"We don't know what they'll do."
"We don't know what they're doing now! We lost our only lead and we lost him in the heart of SHIELD." Rynan ran her hand through her messy braid, "Alert the Security Council of the plan."
"And what will you be doing?" he inquired, lips pulling tight at being ordered around.
Rynan gave him a weak smile, "Nothing."
Hands slammed onto the desk, the sound echoing in the office.
"You better give me a lot more than 'Nothing'!"
Was that concern she saw? Funny, who'd have ever thought the two of them would be in this situation. If the situation wasn't so severe, she would've let out a laugh but as it stands, that wouldn't be appropriate, all things considered.
"I've been asked to take a permanent place in the cooperation between the US and UK in the implementation of both training and programming of standard care in both the VA hospitals and centers along the East Coast."
In reality, these plans had already been scheduled ages ago but it was a good cover to give Fury. She didn't need him poking around in her personal business as she was being commissioned to give weekly lectures at Ilvermony for the next seven weeks. While their relationship had greatly improved since their first meeting, Rynan didn't care for the Director of SHIELD and she had an inkling the feeling was mutual. For the ruse to work, she had to do something. She knew she couldn't do nothing indefinitely, waiting for HYDRA to make a move. So this was her also moving on with a chapter of her life. She had given lectures to the Auror trainees and Kingsley had been hounding her to be a guest speaker for the NEWT and OWL DADA students. She had finally caved, just not at Hogwarts.
"I'll inform Pierce of our findings so he can communicate them with the World Security Council."
"Understood, Director," she mock saluted, drawing his ire at her disregard for his position and the apparent danger she was putting herself into.
Fury groaned, praying to anyone listening to never put her and Stark together in a room with him. One of them would not be making it out alive.
/
Rynan really felt like they were getting somewhere now. They just had to let HYDRA crawl out of their dark hole. And while they waited for that, she would carry on with her life which meant going over her notes and lectures for each year. Since it was Hermione's idea (she thought it would be good for her), Rynan accepted on the condition she help her prepare. She was nervous as hell and didn't want to make a fool of herself. Teaching your peers was a lot different than teaching children.
Her entire living area was covered in scattered notes and books as she drew up lectures appropriate for each year group. First years did not need to know spell combinations and seventh years should already know the basics of dueling.
It was a few days later when Fury informed her the meeting had concluded and they were a go. He had informed the delegates that SHIELD had suspended the inquiry into HYDRA as they had come to a standstill. Instead, they were shifting their focus to the Middle East and the unrest forming, having a suspicion that someone was supplying the terrorist organization, the Ten Rings, with advanced weaponry. They needed to maintain what little peace they had managed to scrape up these last few months since the end of the war. Rynan also heard something about a Stark creating issues in his attempt to 'play hero', to quote Fury.
Tony Stark? The guy flying around in a suit of armor?
She didn't even want to know why Fury knew that man. They hadn't traveled in the same circles but she had heard his name thrown around quite a bit. He had a taste for the finer things in life: booze, ladies, thrills. He was a 'Grade A, narcissistic genius womanizer' who Hermione desperately wanted to meet. If there was one thing her friend found irresistible, it was intellect.
Which begs the question, why did she marry Ron, Rynan thought fondly for the millionth time. But they brought out the best in each other (and the worst). But they made it work and as it turns out, Ron isn't a total empty brain.
Really, they were the perfect pair and she admired how far they had both come since they were teenagers.
Light eyes followed her every movement. He knew what her ploy was, he had seen right through it the second Fury had entered his office with his orders. Fury was never one to let a mission get away so for him to give up, after all these years of humiliation, there was no way. It was personal for the man now.
Personal or not, it didn't matter what Fury said and SHIELD did, he knew Rynan was the real force behind the search. Her dedication was something to admire and he knew she had been the one to get the information from the now dead agent; he had reports that Interrogation Room A had gone silent for roughly 8 minutes the day he talked with her outside the Triskelion. He didn't know how but she had broken him. The man was barely coherent, bits of information slipping past his lips without his knowledge, almost like someone was controlling his mind. He was wary of killing her. If his previous attempts were anything to go by, she was a survivor. No, he wanted her alive. He wanted her studied, every inch of her taken apart and put back together under his control. He had ways of taming the unwilling.
She was adamant about seeing his asset once again, maybe he'd do her a favor. A cruel smirk crept across his face.
/
She hadn't been lying about heading the implementation team. With DC as ground zero, she had recruited Sam as her partner. She spent long hours at the VA going over logistics and evaluations with him. She wanted his input on what needed to be improved and what they needed to keep with the newly opening centers. There was no one she trusted more to get these up and running. She was sparing no expense.
Sam, ever the gentleman, made sure to catch her a cab every night they left. She rolled her eyes as they parted from their hug but conceded to his demands. He didn't know how deadly she truly was; that if anyone thought of attacking her, they would most likely be sent to the hospital.
She was running close to empty. She had three of her seven lectures down and was giving her fourth one this Friday. She was up by six to work on her speeches and by one she was meeting with Sam to talk logistics until nine. With each group meeting, she observed and asked questions to get a feel for what the people they were helping wanted.
"It's good, what you're doing. You're happier." Sam commented as he pulled away from their nightly hug.
Rynan hoped the dark hid her flush, choosing to wave him off instead.
"You're just saying that cuz I'm compliant and too exhausted to argue with you." She dropped her bag in the back seat and sat down, Sam closing the door for her.
Sam cracked a smile but said seriously, "I mean it, whatever you're doing, you need to keep doing it."
It the darkness of the night, it was just the two of them on the road, the taxi driver forgotten. She gazed into his chocolate eyes and saw nothing but warmth and concern. They were like two old souls who found each other's broken pieces. They both had a void in their life the other filled. Sam was her person.
"Good night, Sam."
He nodded to her as the driver took his cue and drove off.
Rynan thought about what Sam had said. She did feel happier. Her lips turned upwards, remembering her lecture last Friday with the sixth-years at llvermony.
/
She stepped into the familiar room where she had already given two lectures. Professor Zilk sat in the back like he had done the previous times, handing the reins of his class over to her.
This time was different. These were sixth-years, students who had passed their exams and were learning advanced defensive magic. These weren't bright-eyed first and second-years who were amazed at a simple disarming spell.
Her stomach turned when all eyes followed her with rampant attention as she strode with confidence she didn't quite feel, to the front of the room. Questions began falling out before she even had time to introduce herself.
"Is it true you know Hermione Weasley? The youngest witch ever the head the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?"
"Do you really know Ginny Weasley?! She's like my favorite chaser of all time! Do you think you could get her autograph!?"
"Could you really produce a corporeal Patronus at 13? My father told me that even most adults can't produce a corporeal Patronus."
"Did you really defeat a hundred mountain trolls on the back of a dragon?"
"That's such a stupid question, Quinn. Everyone knows trolls don't move in that large of groups. There're solitary creatures with no more than five in a group."
"Hey! I'm not stupid!"
"I didn't say you were stupid! I said your question was, stupid."
Rynan stood there, paralyzed. This was not what she had been expecting. Was this what she and her friends were like at sixteen? She watched as 'Quinn' and the other girl dissolved into a shouting match.
She looked on in horror, was this what Teddy was going to become in a few short years?
She took down a Dark Lord, what were a bunch of teenagers?
A wave of her hand, a resounding 'BANG' reverberated around the room, drawing a hush as all eyes turned to her.
"Now that I have your attention.
"Yes, I do know Hermione Weasley. She has been my best friend since we were 11. Ginny is also like my sister and we played Quidditch together all the time growing up."
Looking to Quinn, she quirked her lips, "And no, I did not defeat a hundred trolls on the back of a dragon. My friends and I knocked a troll out in our first year and when we were 17, escaped Gringotts on the back of a Ukrainian Ironbelly."
The other girls' triumphant smirk was wiped away when Rynan detailed their exact exploits.
"Now, I am not here to share my death-defying youth. I am here for one reason and that is to talk to you about how to defend yourself against the unknown. What to do when you suddenly find yourself facing death. What do you do when you're all that stands between the people you love and danger?"
The class turned quiet, completely captivated and enthralled by Rynan. Not a single person so much as moved as she went on to describe how even the most basic of spells could save their lives one day. Not even the bell got the students from their seats.
/
After that lecture, she knew she had nothing to worry about. After class, Quinn and the other girl – who turned out to be her best friend – approached her to talk about skills they would need to get into the Department of Law Enforcement. It was a little bit embarrassing how awestruck the two were by her and her friends. The two claimed both Hermione and she were their idols and they wanted to be just like them.
If made her chuckle, never having pictured herself as someone to look up to. She was a mess. Her life was a mess.
Her chuckle turned into a slight cough before they began racking her body. She couldn't breathe! Everything was getting blurry, her eyes struggled to stay open. The last thing she saw before slumping forward was the driver with a breathing apparatus.
Rynan laid unconscious in the back of the cab, having been caught out by the very people she had been looking for.
/
Eyes struggling to open, the lids feeling weighed down, Rynan tried to stop her eyes from rolling around. Something wasn't right…why couldn't she focus her thoughts?
…where was she?
…had she made it home?
Moving to sit up, her limbs were hit with resistance. No, it wasn't just her limbs; she couldn't move her entire body!
People in white came into focus and like that everything came rushing back. The car ride, it had been a trap!
She couldn't even talk as a strap was pulled across her mouth, keeping her head in place. She could feel the cuts littering her body, it seemed they had been impatient for her to wake up.
Pulling at the restraints, Rynan's efforts became more frantic as the seriousness of the situation hit her as her eyes followed a gloved hand lowering a scalpel beyond her vision.
The scientist working on her didn't even bother to acknowledge that she was awake. As the scalpel disappeared from her vision, she felt a searing pain flare up from her abdomen. They were cutting her open without any anesthesia!
Her vision turned red as she slammed her eyes closed, tears forced out the sides as her nostrils flared.
Memories began to flash before her eyes; it wasn't a HYDRA scientist over her, it was Bellatrix. All she could hear was Hermione's screams as she was forced to watch the crazy bitch carve her friends' arm. She could block out the sight but she could never block out Hermione's terrified, pain-filled screams.
The sound of flesh being cut, the feel of the skin spreading open, she could smell the copper mixed with antiseptics in the air…
She felt another scientist examining her arm where Wormtail cut her in fourth-year.
She tried screaming through the gag but even that was almost impossible. Her body thrashed and withered as much as the restraints would allow. Her eyes darted rapidly back and forth, counting three white coats in front of her and who knows how many out of her eyesight.
This wasn't right. This wasn't right. This wasn't right.
She could feel herself start to hyperventilate. None of her calming exercises were helping, the pain was too fresh for her Occlumency to work. Every cut brought her magic closer to the surface. She wouldn't be able to control it if it escaped.
This wasn't right. This wasn't right!
"Have you gotten her blood sample back yet?" She heard a muffled voice speak from above her.
"…normal…" The voices were going in and out as Rynan lost complete control of her breathing. No air was getting to her lungs as her chest struggled to expand. She couldn't feel her right arm anymore and the strap over her mouth was escalating her descent into hyperventilation.
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe!
Involuntary, tears slipped down her face as her body struggled to get oxygen to her frantic lungs.
The doctors finally took note of the incessant beeping on the heart monitor to see that her heart rate had hit well over 190 bmp.
As calm as they had been since she had woken, the one examining her scar gave out orders, "Administering benzos."
Rynan wasn't sure what benzos were but she knew she couldn't let them give her any more drugs. She had to be coherent to get out of here, she had to get air! She finally let her magic go, lashing out at everyone in the vicinity and unlocking all the locks in the room.
Her hands pulled desperately at the straps, fingers ripping them off and throwing them across the room to get them away from her. She managed to pull herself from the table, heaving for air. With a few deep breaths, she could feel her mind begin to de-fog. The iciness of her skin hit her as she realized she was only in her pants.
Deep breath.
Sitting on the floor with her head between her knees calmed her heart rate and let her body and adrenaline come down.
It was getting easier, so the drugs must have been to stop her panic attack. She had to sit there for a few minutes as she regained her breath. Soon the dizziness went away and the feeling returned to her arm. She didn't even want to look at her abdomen, she grabbed the nearby wrappings and did a quick stitch and wrap job.
Thankfully, she still had her pants on, the only damage done was to her upper extremities. As she went to move towards the door, Rynan found herself on the ground. Damn, she had lost quite a bit of blood. Footsteps broke her line of thought. Adrenaline began to pump through her blood again. Screw blood loss, if she didn't get out of here, she was dead anyway.
She knew her best bet was to go towards the footsteps; casting a disillusion spell, Rynan stayed close to the wall, hoping the agents wouldn't see her.
It worked. They passed right by her.
The ground was cold on her bare feet and the air caused goosebumps to crawl across her exposed torso.
"Come on Potter. You survived Voldemort and all his crazy shit, these muggles should be a piece of cake," Rynan mumbled to herself to 1) Keep her mind from drifting and 2) Give her confidence. "You're underground: an underground, shelter house, a basement?"
She couldn't make out anything significant. All she could see was that this place used to be abandoned. Keyword: Used. If this was where HYDRA was operating, no wonder they couldn't find them.
She paused, there were more footsteps coming towards her but these were different. Why were they coming from behind her?
Her mind finally caught up. She hadn't bandaged her arm where the doctor had made an incision. Looking down, she saw her confirmation: there was a trail of blood leading right to her. Cursing, she wiped the excess blood on the wall before clamping her right hand over the incision to stem the flow. She continued to make her way down the hall, thankful that there were no turns.
"It's always you Potter, trouble always finds you." Rynan found talking to herself gave her mind a distraction from what her body was currently going through. "What the hell was the spell to heal wounds?" she cursed herself under her breath.
She knew she should've been paying attention all those times she was in the infirmary.
"Nulus Scartem…Vulnis Saneteria...Vulnera Sanentur!" she finally remembered the spell for healing. Concentrating, Rynan moved her hand over her forearm, mimicking the movements of her wand while chanting the healing spell. She saw the wound stop bleeding completely. Satisfied, she hurriedly removed her bandages to apply to spell. The blood flow stopped and she was just about to go over a third time to knit the wounds when she heard voices. Pressing herself against the wall, she quickly reapplied the disillusion charm. She cursed when she saw the bandages laying in front of her; there wasn't enough time to grab them.
An agent came over to examine them…She recognized him! He was part of SHIELD!
"Fan out, with this much blood she couldn't have gotten far." Rynan resigned herself to staying in her spot for a while. She watched them search up and down the hallway only to find nothing. She didn't dare move. The double agent was looking directly at her quizzically. She green eyes held his unknowing gaze, as her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. She didn't even let out a sigh when he finally averted his gaze to focus giving out commands. When they finally moved out of her hallway, she moved her hand across her abdomen for the third time, knitting her skin back together. She grimaced when she saw her work – that would leave one nasty scar. She ran her hand over her arm one more time to knit the skin there back together as well.
That had been too close. She was sure the man had sensed something amiss. Her back slid down the wall, taking the minute she had been given to catch her breath.
/
She must've blacked out because the next thing she knew, she was jolted awake by a fairly large explosion. Overhead debris falling onto her and filling the hallway with dust.
'BOOM!'
Another explosion hit, shaking the building and causing more debris to fall from above.
Running towards the sound, hoping beyond hope she was right about what was making that sound, the sudden assault of light blinded her for a few seconds but when her vision finally cleared, she was amazed.
It was Hermione and Ron.
HYDRA agents were being blown back left and right. Rynan couldn't let them have all the fun. Raising her hand, she took out a large group near her.
"RYNAN!" Hermione yelled, rushing over to her best friend, Ron covering her back.
Frantic hands moved over every crevasse of her body, taking in all the injuries and blood soaking her pants. They were firm and demanding yet gentle in the way they probed her reopened wounds.
Rynan felt herself collapse into a safe embrace, her humor not lost now that her friends were here, "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress. I've got this."
The truth was, no she certainly did not have this. She could barely think straight and getting out of here was the only thing keeping her focus.
Hermione huffed, pulling her uninjured arm around her shoulders to help her walk, "Now is not the time to quote Hercules!"
Seeing that Ron had them covered, Hermione supported Rynan to the exit. Rynan was doing all that she could to help but it looked like everything had been contained already.
"You guys found me pretty fast, must be a record." With her eyesight finally devoid of white spots, she could make out the sun high in the sky, indicating it was somewhere around noon.
The area surrounding them was covered with black SUV's and armed personnel with SHIELD badge affixed to their uniforms. There were bodies littered around them, both dead and alive. The ones unfortunate enough to be alive were being rounded up and escorted into the vans.
"I don't know what drugs they gave you Potter, but you've been missing for the past three days."
Rynan recognized that voice: Natasha.
Three days? But it only felt like -
"How'd you find me?" Hermione had sat her down outside the general chaos, already tisking at her sloppy healing work.
"You gave Teddy that bracelet portkey connected to your magic. I went to Hogwarts when we couldn't locate you after two days," Ron answered, grimacing as she looked over her, taking his shirt off to cover her torso.
"Teddy?" she questioned, coherency coming to her in urgency, "Please tell me Teddy isn't here?!" Rynan begged.
Hermione pushed her back down, studying her face. She moved her finger in front of her face, Rynan obliging and following it with her eyes.
"Neville was able to stop him from following us." Rynan shot her best friend a thankful smile. She couldn't have Teddy seeing her like this.
The bushy haired woman leaned back, standing up once she was satisfied with her evaluation. "Honestly Ryn, your healing spells are atrocious. Didn't you pay attention to Madam Pomphrey?" she lightly reprimanded her friend.
Natasha, who had been hanging back, for the most part, observing the interaction of the three friends, stepped forward, coming to Rynan's defense, "Is now really a good time to be criticizing her?"
Hermione rolled her eyes while hiding a smile. If she wasn't nagging Rynan, she would be left focusing on the fact that they had almost lost their friend again. She didn't want to think on that at the moment. She had been putting that thought off for the past two days, convincing herself that if Rynan was dead she would feel it. She would somehow know it in her being.
"These spells, shouldn't they be healing her wounds?" Natasha questioned, looking at the still bleeding wounds.
"Ideally, yes. But I can't say for sure if there is internal bleeding and it would be counterproductive to heal the wounds only for them to be reopened again. They must've given her a coagulate or something similar because her blood had already clotted around each wound." It was something that bothered her. She didn't know much about medicine but she knew enough to proceed with caution.
Rynan was barely following the conversation in front of her, Ron the only thing grounding her to the present. He had moved to her side when his wife had stood up.
The conversation before them paused when a man in a black trench coat and eye-patch approached. Rynan was surprised Fury came to oversee the operation himself. Guess she was right about him, she thought as her body swayed forward slightly.
The director stopped in front of her, his one eyes assessing her condition.
He finally spoke, voice lacking the usual annoyance he reserved just for her, "It seems your plan worked, Potter."
The swaying was getting worse. It was like she was on a rocking boat in the middle of a hurricane. "This wasn't…how I thought…it'd go down."
Ron placed his hand on her shoulder to steady her as she swayed forward too far. The four saw that that was all they would get from her at the moment.
"Take her to the hospital; I want guards on a 24-hour rotation. No one gets in there but those present."
"Yes, sir." Natasha navigated the group to the waiting cars. Ron collected her in his arms, making sure his shirt kept her covered for both her modesty and against the chilly April air. Head nuzzled in the crock of Ron's neck, Rynan felt herself drift off to the smell of ashwood and linen.
/
It was a surprisingly quick recovery for Rynan. She was only in the hospital for observation while they acquired blood samples to see all that was put into her as she didn't have any memory till she woke up in the hospital.
She couldn't even use Occlumency; her memories were just black. She had never experienced something like this or even heard of it. It worried her that there were drugs that could do this to her.
Hermione and Ron both shared concerned glances when she woke up asking how she got here and when the two of them had arrived.
"Nick would be here but urgent matters took him to New York," Natasha supplied when Rynan kept glancing towards the door.
Natasha had volunteered to be her guard, keeping everyone but the doctors out. Even down, they didn't want to take the chance that HYDRA could retaliate. And with the condition Rynan was currently in, it would be all too easy to finish the job.
"He wasn't there?"
There was no need to ask who the 'he' was.
Natasha shook her head negatively, "No, but we have the cryofreeze machine. He's out and they can't ice him anymore."
If there was good news, Rynan could work with this. But that begged the question: what was more important than finally getting a HYDRA base? Rynan asked her question, maneuvering the IV cord so she could sit up.
"What's so important in New York that Fury gave up supervision on a HYDRA raid?"
"Someone who's fought HYDRA longer than you." Rynan didn't understand what that was supposed to mean. "Teddy should be here in about 20 minutes. Someone named Ginny is dropping him off. He was released from tomorrow's classes."
Rynan threw Ron, Hermione had gone home to be with their kids, a glare seeing as he had skipped out on that part, "Great because he really needs to see me like this."
"Come on, mate. Teddy knows most of the things we get up to. We've never hidden this from him." And that was the truth. From the moment Teddy learned to talk, he asked about his parents and Andromeda and Rynan promised to always tell him the truth.
"Hiding this from him is only putting him in more danger."
"I'd almost died four times by the time I was 14. I was fighting in a battle no adult wanted to fight in. I don't want Teddy to go through that. I don't want him to be dragged into someone else's war," Rynan winced as she jerked her arm too far forward, pulling at the IV and heart monitor cords. "And you're such a hypocrite. I know you don't plan to tell Rose about our adventures any time soon."
Ron rubbed at his morning shadow, his beard a few days old now but not very long. "Rose doesn't need to know about it. And if she asks," he shrugged, "We've agreed to tell her."
Rynan raised a black eyebrow in disbelief. She would believe that when she saw it. Rose was an inquisitive little girl, something she undoubtedly gained from her mother. She was willing to bet her little goddaughter already knew everything there is to know about her family.
Natasha pulled the visitor chair around to her side of the bed and put her feet up nonchalantly, "I'm not telling you to let Teddy fight but he can't be in the dark about all of this. He'll find out."
"How are you giving me parenting advice?" Rynan wondered aloud, not meaning it unkindly.
"I have a unique perspective," it was said with a forlorn look and Rynan was suddenly reminded that she and Ron weren't the only ones to spend their youth in war preparation.
Ron looked between the two, still not sure about the redhead but knowing if Rynan trusted her, she had to be somewhat good. Rynan was usually a good judge of character.
"When are you leaving for Russia?" Rynan changed the heavy subject, shrugging when Natasha raised her eyebrow. "Fury mentioned you were going out of the country for a bit. I took a wild guess."
"Worried?"
"About you? No. You can take care of yourself. Barton on the other hand…" She trailed off as they both laughed. Natasha's partner was known to get himself in very peculiar situations.
He really needed to get more guy friends. If only Neville wasn't stuck at Hogwarts for most of the year, Ron sulked in the corner.
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