"What? Why are we at war? How much exactly happened while I was unconscious on the desert floor." Harry questioned, still recovering from his fainting fit and the injuries which followed.

"Loki has the tesseract." Coulson said bluntly, picking through the debris in an effort to find his sunglasses.

"The Norse God Loki?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"The all powerful tesseract capable of unfathomable feats?"

"Yes."

"Well…planet Earth is doomed." Harry muttered, taking a seat on a jagged piece of the helicopter's rotors.

"We at SHIELD won't be giving up quite so easily. This is the only planet we've got." Said Fury, withdrawing a flare gun from his pocket and firing it into the air.

"Good, cause neither am I. I do live here you know, and I don't like the idea of Loki rifling through my things after he's done conquering. I'm sure he'd love to get his divine hands on some of the BMA's more dangerous artefacts, not to mention my antique quill collection." Harry said poisonously, brushing off the thick layer of sand that had clung to his robes after having been unconscious atop it for no small amount of time.

Harry could see a SHIELD jeep hurtling towards them from the base and after a moment or two it screeched to a halt to pick up Fury and Coulson.

"Meet me at the SHIELD mobile operations hub in 2 hours." Said Fury, climbing into the back of the jeep.

"Where and what is that?" Harry queried.

"A courier will deliver the carriers location and specifications to your offices within the hour." Fury said, giving the signal for the driver to go.

"No time to waste then." Harry said to the vast emptiness of the desert surrounding him.

With crack and a whirl of colours, Harry disappeared from the site of the wreckage and into great unknown (which in this case was the BMA's headquarters).

—

Harry popped into the centre of the BMA's offices with a light gust of air. They seemed eerily still. Sure, a few house elves were processing potion permits, but apart from that the BMA appeared unaffected by the catastrophe Harry had just been neck deep in.

"Gabriel!" Harry shouted to his assistant currently labelling and logging confiscated magical artefacts.

"Harry!" Gabriel said with a smile on his face "You'll never believe it, but all of a sudden Loki stopped wreaking havoc across the globe a few hours ago. How was the tesseract? Safe and sound I imagine?"

"It and Loki have buggered off to god knows where." Harry said moodily, walking towards his office with Gabriel trailing behind him.

"The Norse God Loki?" Gabriel asked.

"Is there any other?

"Ahhh, ok. The all powerful tesseract capable of unfathomable feats?"

Harry rolled his eyes as confirmation.

"Yes, I see how that would be a problem." Gabriel stuttered hesitantly.

"Well, I plan on doing something about it. I don't know where I'd move if the earth was imploded. I guess my holiday house on Pluto is always an option. Although it has lost it's appeal after it was designated a dwarf planet. Harry Potter doesn't live on anything less than a moon, thank you very much! " Harry shouted indignantly.

"What are we doing in your office then?" Gabriel asked quizzically "Shouldn't we be going to the UN or something? Aren't they in charge of alien invasions?"

"Maybe they could handle a normal alien invasion, I don't know. But they certainly aren't equipped to respond to a magical alien invasion." Harry said, opening the oaken door to his office "And as to why we're in my offices. You'll soon find out."

Harry walked towards the bookshelf covering the entire wall opposite his door and stared at it intently.

"I think I remember the password…barely." He said, withdrawing his wand from within his robes.

"Moby Dick." Harry muttered tapping the spine of a book with the end of his wand "Pride and Prejudice, The Tome of Terrible Treasures, and…Murder on the Orient Express." Harry said under his breath, tapping the spine of each, one after the other. With this, the room began to shake violently knocking fragile trinkets from his table and mantle, purple lights burst out from every book, and the screech of some long forgotten monster wailed throughout the room. DING! The centre of the bookshelf swung open with a whining creak.

"Must get that fixed. Those lights are supposed to be pink not purple, and that monstrous wail sounded nothing like the nightmarish screech it was supposed to be." Harry said, walking through the newly opened bookcase. Gabriel followed him into the room beyond and found himself to be in a round wooden chamber, much like a cylinder. The wood which lined it's walls had runic carvings on it, forming an intricate mosaic of symbols. The ceiling was reasonably high and in the centre of the room stood a stone pillar which reached the middle of their chests'.

"Do you still have that key I gave you?" Said Harry, gesturing towards the two key holes embedded into the top of the pillar. Gabriel reached underneath the white dress shirt he was wearing and withdrew a heavy golden key which hung from a silver chain around his neck.

"I barely notice the neck pain anymore." Gabriel said through gritted teeth, rubbing the back of his head.

Harry withdrew his own key and both of them inserted their respective keys and turned them in unison. A mechanism could be heard clanking about within and with a sudden jolt, the pillar and the wooden flooring surrounding it raised off of the ground and began to ascend. They rose higher and higher, reaching the ceiling only for it open at their arrival, allowing them to soar beyond the roof of the BMA's headquarters. The platform stopped after surpassing the roof by at least 6 meters and a railing rose from the edge of the platform, encircling them both.

"That was probably the last thing I expected to happen after inserting a key into a concealed stone pillar located in a ritual chamber behind a secret bookcase door." Gabriel said, peering over the railing and across the skyline of New York.

"Well, I got it at a garage sale, so I was just as surprised as you when we started going up. Luckily I installed that hinged ceiling turret a few weeks ago, or you'd be suffering from painfully large splinters as well as surprise." Harry retorted, withdrawing his wand from within his robes and sticking it into a hole just below the top of the rough stone pillar and embedded in the outline of a circle. Gripping his wand with both hands Harry began cranking, and as he did the pillar disassembled itself. The top of the pillar blossomed open and from within rose a complicated metal contraption. It's arm extended itself like an accordion, on the end of which was a green crystal encased by a triangular golden frame and sealed with a sparkling glass.

"This is your plan to defend planet Earth?" Asked Gabriel quizzically

"It's called a cross planetary protego array projector." Harry said proudly "It's an invention of my own making. You see, this is one of three projectors on the surface of Earth. The other two are in Russia and Australia, and together they are the best hope this god forsaken rock has of surviving anything extra terrestrial."

"How exactly does it work? Is it like a trebuchet?" Gabriel asked, spinning a little doodad on the projector before Harry batted his hand away.

"When activated all three of these projectors will emit a beam of pure defensive magic into the sky. For those beams to actually be of use, I launched three corresponding runic satellites into the Earth's orbit. When each beam collides with it's respective runic satellite they will encompass the planet in a defensive casing. It's top of the line, best model on the market, and surprisingly easy to use. But that's mainly cause I designed and built it."

"Wow…ummm, when exactly did you have time to do this?" Gabriel asked, still coming to grips with the device.

"You know how I go to yoga for 45 minutes each day?" Harry asked

"Yes.."

"Well, I actually got to yoga for 30 minutes and work on this for the remaining 15. I mean, sure. I could have just stopped going to yoga and dedicated the full 45 minutes to this, probably would have completed it faster that way. But my mental well being is just as important as the physical wellbeing of Earth's 7 billion inhabitants!"

"I do tai chi myself. It's very soothing." Gabriel said

"I may look into that." Harry said, reading from a page in his notebook "If you step back, I'll activate the array and we can nip this Loki problem in the bud."

Notebook in hand, Harry began reciting the activation spell. "Strenuus in praesidio fabrica" Harry incanted, waving his wand in a circular fashion for three rotations. As he did this the device began to crackle with electricity and a powerful gale encircled the the projector and the two people activating it. With a find flourish, Harry tapped the green gem and said "Proelium!".

A green beam of energy burst from the prismatic tip of the device and pierced the sky. After it reached it's corresponding runic satellite a wave of green energy rippled from the beam, blanketing the planet in a barrier of pure magic. With this, the maelstrom of wind ceased and the arcs of electricity died down, allowing Harry and Gabriel the opportunity to pull them selves up from where they'd been thrown to the ground.

"That should hold them off for at least a fortnight, less if my runes were inaccurate…which they probably are, I fell asleep just as I was carving elgr." Harry said, trying to style his hair how it was prior to the magical wind storm.

"A fortnight? Just a fortnight?" Gabriel asked incredulously

"I can't just wave my magic wand and make everything right…actually, scratch that, of course I can. But that magic can only last so long. Have you seen how large Earth is? It's no Jupiter of course, but it's still a whopper of a celestial body and the larger the object the more difficult it is to protect." Harry said, tapping the railing with his wand. They smoothly descended into the ritual chamber, the roof closing behind them, and returned to Harry's office.

"So that's how you activate a cross planetary protego array projector. It'll look great on your resume." Harry said to Gabriel, reclining in his padded leather office chair.

"Do you want me to grab you lunch? The deli's having a sale on all purchases of cured meat over 10kg. Are you in the mood for 10kg of salami?" Gabriel asked, getting his notebook out in preparation of Harry's order.

"As much as I'd love to drastically increase my risk of bowel cancer, I'm expecting a package." Harry responded, rapping his fingers on the oaken desk.

"Is it that new cape you ordered from the tailor?"

"Sadly not, apparently Alfonzo had to get the silk imported. It's the coordinates to a secret SHIELD headquarters. I hope I don't have to sign for it, my hand is cramped after that activation ritual."

A house elf popped into existence before them, jumping excitedly from one leg to the other.

"Master Harry sir, someone's at the door, theys wanting to give you something." Squeaked Tipsy

"Send them in, and get me an almond croissant for when I get back." Harry said, the elf popping away almost immediately.

After a few moments of small talk between Harry and Gabriel (Harry asked about Gabriel's father and Gabriel asked Daredevil), a severe looking woman strode into the room. She had a briefcase handcuffed to her arm and was dressed in a black suit, Harry could tell she was with SHIELD as she was wearing sunglasses indoors.

" , please sign here." She said, withdrawing an iPad from within her jacket.

Harry signed his name (reluctantly) and she unlocked the handcuffs before giving over the briefcase and all it's contents.

"You're expected in 30 minutes or earlier, dress sharp, and make sure your ID card is visible at all times…the guards have itchy trigger fingers." She said, before walking towards the exit of Harry's office.

"What's your name?" Harry asked

"That's none of your concern." She said before turning and leaving his office entirely.

"They never tell me their names." Harry said to Gabriel "I'll call her Cassandra for the meantime."

Opening the briefcase he emptied it of it's contents: a manilla folder stuffed with files, an ID card on a retractable lanyard, and tin of SHIELD branded mints.

"I wonder if Fury is trying to send me a message." Harry said, opening the mints and popping one into his mouth.

"You have very pleasant breath sir." Gabriel quickly said

"You're damn right I do." Harry said hotly, flicking through the stuffed folder "Well, colour me impressed. SHIELD's certainly done their research. Go fetch my coat Gabriel, I have a feeling I'm going to need it based on these coordinates."

"Why is that?"

"They correspond to the middle of the damn ocean."