Fury flicked his phone open and checked the time, the screen was almost static, as his standard Shield logo background flickered and twitched. Behind him, Coulson was checking his watch.
"It's three twenty-seven, sir." He pointed out helpfully, and Fury gave a curt nod as they rounded another corner into a corridor. Portraits hung on the walls and coughed as the two strode past, some whispered between themselves while others froze. They knew that the portraits could move, but he wondered how often these portraits had seen Muggles... or even suits for that matter.
"Ah!" A voice cried from behind them, and both Fury and Coulson wheeled around. "You must be Nicholas Fury... And Philip Coulson!" Fury stuck his hand out as Dumbledore strode towards them.
"Uh, it's Nick." Fury corrected, and Dumbledore shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I'm an old man, forgive me." The old man beamed and withdrew his hand away from Fury's, who felt slightly abashed, although the corners of his mouth were twitching slightly as Dumbledore then advanced on Coulson, who seemed slightly apprehensive but remained cool as the two launched into conversation over something, which turned out to be their shared love of sherbet lemons.
"Gentlemen," Fury interrupted "could we discuss the problem at hand?" Both Dumbledore and Coulson apologised as they made their way to Dumbledore's office. Coulson couldn't help but grin as Dumbledore announced that the password to his office was 'sherbet lemon'.
Inside, a passive McGonagall stood, her arms folded on and emerald cloak, next to her, Snape was wafting a small vile of a purple liquid underneath Quirrels nose, and he was beginning to stir.
"We don't usually have situations like this at Hogwarts, students safety is always a priority..." Dumbledore started, but Snape snorted cutting him off mid sentence. "Like I said, student safety is our priority so-"
Fury waved a hand as if to throw an invisible fly off its course. "I dare say our lot are used to it. Usually they put themselves in danger though..." Behind him, Coulson scowled, remembering only too well when Clint and Tony decided to sky-dive off the Helicarrier, which was over the Pacific Ocean at the time without parachutes. Needless to say they hadn't been completely sober.
"Yes, well," Dumbledore continued "Mr Rogers leg is healing up nicely, Poppy hasn't had to deal with gun wounds before, but she's had to deal with worse... She really is a remarkable healer." Dumbledore started muttering to himself.
"I'm sure she is, but we need to work out what's going on here." Fury interrupted. "I've missed out on a roast turkey today, I want some compensation." Quirrell had started to open his eyes, and was coughing. Snape started hitting his back to stop him from choking on his own tongue.
"Steady Quirrell... Steady..." Snape eased him up, Quirrell looked confused for a moment, and then his eyes widened.
"They're.. They're not really children, are they?" He asked timidly, Fury scowled, impassive, but Coulson shook his head.
The snow was swirling past the window, thick, massive flakes that tumbled into each other, and it cast shadows on the floor making it look like a Dalmatians coat, the room was seriously warm however, owing to the large fire currently roaring in the hearth. Steve eyed it closely, because the curtain seemed to be creeping towards it, and he was wary of it catching fire.
"Stevie McStevitons!" A voice yelled from one end of the hospital wing, and Steve was undeniably happy when he saw Tony, Pepper, Bruce, and Thor charging towards him.
"Stevie McStevitons? What?" Steve laughed, and Tony shrugged.
"It's what I call you in my head." Beside him, Clint whispered something to Pepper about shipping as he and Natasha stood up. The two of them had been sitting beside Steve's bed while his leg healed. They took everyone's coats off them and hung them up in front the fire to dry, but Pepper pulled her wand out and whispered a spell, drying them instantly. Everyone pulled up chairs and sat around Steve's bed, it was strangely quiet.
"So," Clint started "does anyone know why that guy shot Steve?" Steve glanced quickly at his leg, with the aid of magic, and the fact that he was a super solider meant that his leg was healing quickly, but he dread to think what would happen if he'd hit someone else, and had better aim.
"I think he was in a hurry." Natasha said quickly, fiddling with her thumbs. Seeing Pepper and Steve raise an eyebrow, Natasha carried on. "What I mean is, this guy is a trained assassin, and he only hit Steve's leg-" Steve coughed "Well sorry, it was a bad shot-" Natasha apologised, "still, he should have taken his time with it, I know we were having a snowball fight but still, it was an easy shot."
"Easy for you." Clint snorted, and Natasha rolled her eyes. "So what does that mean?" Pepper piped up from where she was sitting.
"I think... I think it means it was a warning shot." Tony suggested, and Peppers eyes widened.
"A warning shot? Why would someone hunt you all down to give you a warning shot? It doesn't make sense."
"It would explain why they hit Steve." Natasha continued thoughtfully. "He heals the quickest, a few weeks for a gun shot, am I right?" She looked and Steve for confirmation and he nodded. "So whatever's going to happen isn't going to happen for a few weeks, if he'd wanted to kill us he could have easily done so, this is just the start."
Sorry it's a really short chapter, really, and sorry it's taken ages too- I've been reaaally busy it's actually ridiculous. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that chapter. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favourited, and followed (75 of you guys, wow). So yeah! Thanks!
