Chapter 21
Petunia told Natasha that after the disastrous events of their stay at the beach house, she was quite glad to not have to look at the ocean when she was getting married and so by a quick decider voting, she and Regulus had decided to have the ceremony as well as the small reception dinner following it in the backyard of Number 4 Privet Drive.
Regulus and Sirius would fix the place up nicely with magic, grow some flowers and create a general atmosphere of joy and matrimony and then they would tie the knot beneath an arch of flowers.
Maybe it was a bit cliché, but that was what Petunia wanted. She claimed she was past the whole bells and whistles affair of a young bride and she just wanted to have her second wedding in a place that was comfortable and homelike with her family and friends around her.
So a week after Thor had returned to Asgard, Natasha found herself in Petunia's living room to pick up the dress she was to wear to her friend's wedding.
In the back of her mind, the red head had had visions of some hideously purple frilly creation that had been dug out of a thrift store from the disco era.
But when Petunia brought down the actual dress, she found herself pleasantly surprised.
Petunia explained as Natasha looked at it, that she had always been partial to the color peach and so the dress the red head was to wear was a delicate pale soft orange with halter top straps and a low back. It didn't have any other adornments other than a band of pearls that was tied just beneath the bust line and simple low slung white heels.
It was actually rather classy.
Completely unlike those black low backed thigh high slit things she had been asked to wear when she was running covers for the Red Room.
It's a good thing I'm keeping my hair brown otherwise the red would completely clash with this, Natasha thought absently as she tried the dress on later that afternoon.
Ivan was still insisting she rest even though it had been a week and a half since they had escaped from the Weavers. She had never seen him so uptight before.
They were both born and raised in the military, he should have known that she would be able to brush something like this off. It was who she was.
It wasn't until the third day however when she began to realize that Ivan wasn't insisting that she stay home for herself.
He was more worried about how the abduction from the beach had affected Hermione.
It was still puzzling Natasha because though her little girl had been afraid during the whole ordeal, she hadn't shown any type of post-traumatic stress like she would have expected, nightmares for example.
Her curiosity got to her the day before the wedding and while Hermione was playing in the backyard with her bubbles that Aunt Petunia had given her, Natasha finally decided that she had to know.
"Hermione?"
The little strawberry blonde looked up. "Yes Mummy?"
"Can you come here for a moment?"
She hurried over and Natasha took her hands and looked at her carefully for a moment. "You haven't had any scary dreams lately, have you?"
The four year old frowned. "No Mummy. I did once, but I told Daddy about it when he was here and taught me something to make them go away."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. That was new to her.
"What did he tell you to do?" she asked.
"Daddy taught me how to make a wall," the little girl said cheerily. "He does it all the time. When something gets in his head that scares him he says he uses…..electricity to make a wall inside his head to block it out."
Natasha blinked. She hadn't even realized there were mental capacities like that, and Thor had never told her about that.
But it was good that Hermione was bonding with her father. She didn't see him very often and hadn't even known who he was before he had spent the last week with them.
Perhaps it was somewhat sentimental, but Natasha hadn't taken the necklace he had given her to reach him off. On the other hand though, she was just being safe. She wanted to make use of it if something like this ever happened again and Stalin reared his ugly head.
And speaking of the weasel himself, she and Ivan had been digging in into every backstory and cover of his they could find and there had been nothing, he had covers for his covers.
She knew they would find him and it would just take some time, but knowing that that slimy snake was slithering around in the world out there made her skin crawl. He hadn't just been after her, he had been after her daughter and Natasha had made a silent vow to herself that she wouldn't rest until she had killed the man and seen the head fall from his shoulders herself.
Needless to say, no one messed with her daughter.
She could only imagine what Thor would do if he caught the man first though. She knew what he would have to say if he found out that she wanted to go after the man herself, but she decided he would have to deal with it. This was their daughter they were talking about. Maybe he would even want to go with her to deal with this bastard personally.
They weren't even married and they were already thinking like a team.
"And so is that what you've been doing?" she asked. "Putting into practice the things your father taught you?"
"Yes Mummy," Hermione said cheerily and then hurried back to play.
Natasha watched her for a minute and then glanced back at her cell phone. She had been expecting Ivan to call with more leads on Stalin, but so far, everything had been maddeningly quiet.
She knew he wanted her to make sure that Hermione wasn't affected by the abduction, but it had been a week of no nightmares and her daughter seemed very unchanged by what had happened.
This was getting ridiculous! Hermione didn't possess the mental faculties yet to lie without being detected and Natasha was trained to sense lies, so there wasn't anything her little girl could hide from her, at least not now.
Finally, she decided to set being a mother aside for a moment and put it out of her mind and take back the mind of an espionage agent so she could stop analyzing her daughter.
If she wasn't affected by the abduction, then she wasn't affected by the abduction.
It was as simple as that.
So when the day of the wedding came, Natasha realized she needed to stop worrying about any type of post-traumatic stress her daughter might be suffering, because she certainly wasn't saying anything.
As Natasha put the dress on and stood in front of the mirror adjusting the straps, she began smirking as she thought about the events surrounding the last time she had worn a dress.
It had been red and backless with a sky high slit with long white gloves of all things. She had hated that thing.
Of course, later that evening that she had worn it, it had been taken off her and not by her own hands, which was the only time she had liked it.
Thinking about that night still caused her to smirk.
It had been one hell of night.
She smoothed down the wrinkles on the waistline of the peach dress and her smirk widened when she remembered that she had to wait almost half an hour before putting clothes back on after that night because of how sensitive her skin had been.
She wasn't in pain from it, but she had felt almost worked over as if she had been almost too close to a roaring fire but not quite so, the intense heat was there without any of the unpleasant burning side effects.
No other man than a god was capable of doing that.
Hmm…..maybe I'm not as a-romantic as I thought.
"Mummy? I'm ready."
Natasha turned around and found Hermione standing in the doorway of the room in a dress of the same color with little ruffles on the sleeves and hemlines. She was wearing white socks and white patent leather Mary Janes and her loose strawberry blonde curls bounced around her shoulders as effortlessly as if they were being blown by a wind. She was holding the white basket of flower petals in it that she was to throw and the whole picture she created was like something out of a Hallmark card.
When she saw her mother though, her blue green eyes widened.
"Mummy, you look so pretty," she said in a hushed voice and Natasha smirked at her reflection.
"Thank you baby girl."
"I think Daddy would like it too," the little girl said thoughtfully.
"Really?" Natasha said raising an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"
"I don't know," Hermione said cocking her head to one side. "I just think he'd like it."
Natasha felt a corner of her mouth quirk upwards and quickly quelled it so her daughter wouldn't see.
"Well maybe we should take a picture and show him for when he comes back," she suggested and Hermione's eyes lit up.
"Yeah! Do you think he'd like my dress?"
Natasha bent down so she was eyelevel with her daughter. "Sweetheart, I think he would like anything that you wore."
She glanced at the clock. "Now come on. The wedding's in half an hour and we don't want to be late. Your aunt Petunia would have a fit."
Ω
For just a simple backyard wedding, Natasha thought Sirius and Regulus had actually done a pretty good job.
The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky and the air was ripe with the smells of spring.
There was an archway of petunias and lilies, which was actually a nice touch and tribute to Harry's mom and Petunia's sister. It was at the back of the yard near the garden where the rest of the spring flowers were already in full bloom and there were three white chairs set up for Harry and Dudley and Hermione to sit upon when their ring bearing duties had been completed.
Across the fence were strung garlands of dainty little white lights entwined with flowers, and there was elegant violin music coming from a small record player just inside the patio door.
Also right by those doors an awning had been set up where there was a buffet table where people could go and fill their plates when the ceremony and pictures had been concluded.
Not bad….not bad at all.
Regulus and Sirius were operating by that old its bad luck to see the bride in her wedding dress until she's walking down the aisle, so they were still at Grimmauld place getting ready.
Natasha slid open the backdoor which was always left open in this quiet neighborhood and knocked on the siding of the door before they stepped inside.
"Petunia?"
"I'm in here!" called the blonde's voice from the living room.
Natasha bent and looked Hermione in the eye. "Why don't you go and find Harry and Dudley? But if you get yourself dirty, all the skill I have won't be able to save you from your Aunt Petunia's wrath. Do you understand?"
The little strawberry blonde nodded and hurried toward the stairs in search of her best mates.
Natasha carefully took off her shoes and strode to the living room.
Upon entering it, she saw Petunia standing before a floor length mirror she must have lugged down from the attic and fussing with the seams of her dress.
The couches had been pushed back for more room and were now against the far wall.
The gown was the same style as Natasha's, halter with a low back but she had opted to not wear a veil and instead there was an intricate crown of pressed petunias woven throughout her hair. The tips of the petals had been dipped in silver and it was a very classy but simple look.
Petunia turned around at the sound in the doorway and smiled when she saw who it was.
"Is it too much?" she asked, sounding a little nervous. "I didn't want to wear anything elaborate considering how disastrous my marriage to Vernon was. But then everything with him was so over the top and dramatic."
The brunette smile. "You look lovely Petunia."
There was a moment of silence when Petunia turned to her friend and said, "Regulus told me he wants to live here."
Natasha paused before answering and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"He does. He told me that he doesn't want to live at Grimmauld place permanently as that place has too many bad memories for him and Siri and he told me something about how Sirius is looking for work out of the country as well."
That surprised Natasha. "He is?"
The blonde nodded as she adjusted the flowers in her hair. "Yes. Apparently the media circus surrounding his release has been pretty bad and he wants some peace and quiet. In fact he's already been offered a job somewhere else. Apparently Sirius has always had an aptitude for Transfiguration which is what helped him become an Animagus when they were in school. He's been offered a job in Central America at a school there."
This was news to the brunette. "Is he going to take it?"
"I think so. He was a little uneasy about leaving Harry, but now that he knows Harry's being well cared for and trained, he's more comfortable with the idea of it. He'll fire call every evening and talk to them, but I think he just wants to get out of England and get a fresh start, get as far away from Azkaban as possible until he feels secure enough that he's not going to be hauled back."
Natasha nodded. "I get that. And Regulus will live here with you then?"
Petunia nodded. "He told me he doesn't want me to come live in Grimmauld Place because he doesn't even like it there and because everyone in the wizarding world thinks he's dead, he wants to keep it that way for right now."
Natasha frowned. She had remembered the conversations she and the younger Black had had about why he had shown up on Petunia's doorstep in a coma.
Apparently when he had been in school he had been recruited to join this Lord Voldemort fellow that his brother had hated, but it wasn't long before he became a turn coat and started working against him covertly. He had made a discovery of something that Voldemort was hiding, something that he had been able to do magically to prolong is life and make him immortal.
Regulus wouldn't talk about what it was yet, but Natasha had a feeling that it was something big.
And she knew that unless you were a god, being immortal was impossible. So what he had done must have been something very dark and sinister.
Regulus had discovered his secret and had been looking for ways to bring him down when he had had some sort of accident that left him in a coma for a year before he awoke and tried to apparate home only to somehow land on Petunia's door step.
It was a bizarre story, but Natasha beginning to become used to the bizarre.
"When does Sirius want to leave?" she asked.
"Next week," Petunia replied. "He told us that he's going to be away on contract for two years and then he can choose if he wants to come back to England."
Something shining on the table in the sunlight caught the Russian's attention and she frowned. "What's that?"
Petunia glanced down at the table, saw the shiny object and gave a half smile. "It's a bracelet. Lily sent it to me as a wedding present before she went into hiding. She didn't approve of Vernon, but she didn't want to make me think that she didn't care about me. I've never even put it on."
She bent down and picked it up. "It almost doesn't seem right wearing it after everything that's happened. She's gone forever and I'm about to get married for the second time, finally to someone who loves me. She should be here to see me walk down the aisle, finally with someone she would like. I'm not the same person anymore. I wasn't deserving of it then and I'm still not sure I am now. I don't know if I should wear – "
She was stopped when Natasha suddenly strode toward her, took her by the shoulders and gently but forcibly turned her around so they were both looking into the mirror.
Petunia looked teary, but Natasha was coolly determined.
"Tuney," she said quietly. "You are someone who has lived through an abusive marriage and took in her nephew when it would have cost her a lot. You raised Harry and Dudley for three years by yourself and did it well even you were all on your own. If anyone deserves it, it's you. Put on the bracelet. Wear it as a reminder that you're not just the person you used to be anymore. You're someone better."
Petunia took a deep breath gave their reflections a watery smile.
"Thank you Natasha," she whispered. "I think I needed to hear that."
Before anything else could be said, there was the clattering of little feet on the stairs and giggles as three preschoolers tumbled down it from the second level.
"Harry James Potter and Dudley Evan Dursley! If you've messed up your suits I am going to be – "
Petunia cut off when her two little boys tumbled into the doorway of the living room, completely perfectly dressed and grinning from ear to ear, with Hermione right behind them.
"Don't worry Aunt Tuney," she said, ever the prim and proper little lady. "I didn't let them get dirty."
Petunia smiled at her niece. "Thank you Mione."
"Mummy you look pretty!" Dudley said as if it was the strangest thing in the world and Natasha rolled her eyes good naturedly.
"Come on you three," she said holding out her hands to them. "Let's get out to the backyard and leave your Aunt Petunia to get ready. Uncle Reg and Uncle Siri will be here soon."
Dutifully, they took her hands and followed her out into the backyard.
"It's pretty," Harry commented and Hermione and Dudley nodded.
"Yes, it is very pretty," Natasha said briskly, now all business. "Now look you three, Hermione is supposed to come down the aisle first with her basket and then the two of you," she pointed to Harry and Dudley, "are going to follow her."
She walked them to the end of the lawn where the arch of flowers was and they followed her. "And when you have given the rings to Uncle Reg, you are to come back and sit down and don't move until we get up to take the photos. Do you understand?"
The two little boys nodded somberly. "Yes Auntie Nat."
They had taken to calling her by her given name pretty well, but at first they had wanted to make sure that Hermione's actual name was in fact Hermione and after that, they were fine with the transition.
It didn't take long after that for the two Black brothers to show up and the next thing she knew, Natasha was standing up underneath an arch of petunia's waiting for the flower girl and two ring bearers to come down the aisle.
Sirius who was looking smart in a Muggle suit winked at her and she smirked back at him. She had warmed up to him a little since the trial and the abduction and decided that maybe he wouldn't be exactly the same as he was in school.
The person that had been found to marry them had actually been an old friend of the Black family that both Sirius and Regulus had liked and he could keep a secret. He was also one of the few that didn't know that Regulus had become a Death Eater nor that he had been in a coma for a year. So all of that worked to their advantage.
He had owned a small shop in Diagon Alley and both brothers had known him since they were young.
His name was Percival Whimsby and he owned the shop of Slug and Jiggers where all the Hogwarts students went to retrieve their potions kits before school started. He was also a lower level government official with the French Ministry and traveled back and forth in between the two places so he did have the authority to marry them.
He had been a little surprised when Sirius tracked him down and asked him to marry his brother and his fiancé but he had come none the less.
He was a sweet looking older man with a long white beard, curly white hair and thick spectacles. One of the oddest things about him however was the midnight black owl that he carried on his shoulder everywhere he went.
He was currently standing in between the groom and the maid of honor and they were waiting for the music to begin so Petunia could begin her descent from the house.
Sure enough it did within the next few moments and their eyes all rose to the sound of the sliding door opening and Petunia came through wearing her wedding dress.
Sirius and Natasha both covertly cast their eyes at Regulus and smirked at each other when they saw that he had gone slack jawed.
Petunia was blushing right to the roots of her hair as she walked toward them with Hermione walking just ahead of her and throwing flower petals, but her eyes were glistening like two stars and Natasha felt a twinge of happiness for her friend.
If anyone deserved this, it was Tuney.
When the bride and groom came parallel with each other, the grins on their faces could have been seen from the moon.
Whimsby began reading the vows slowly and carefully but Natasha and Sirius could tell that the bride and groom were barely paying attention as they were too enthralled with each other.
"May I please have the rings?" Whimsby whispered and Harry and Dudley jumped eagerly to their feet from where they were sitting. They dashed forward and handed the two rings over proudly.
Regulus placed the ring on Petunia's finger and she did the same.
"I now pronounce you man and wife," Whimsby said. "You may kiss the bride."
Natasha smiled and clapped along with Sirius who wolf whistled and the children giggled and cheered as two of the people they loved most in the world were joined together.
Unbeknownst to everyone, that scene would forever be cemented in little Harry's mind as the day when his life truly began.
He would forever respect what Lily and James had done for him. But from that moment on, Petunia and Regulus became his mother and father.
Ω
Life carried on at a steady pace from that moment going forward.
Regulus adjusted to playing a Muggle for the neighbors rather well and only used his wand when he was at home.
Petunia continued to work and Harry, Hermione and Dudley began school where they impressed their teachers with their quick thinking, especially Hermione.
Natasha went back to work for the Secret Service, but things were a little different now. Ivan placed her in the Covert Operatives Division and she quickly began to wow her superiors both with her physical capabilities and her intelligence in the division as well. Ivan told her privately that if she kept it up, she could be head of the division within five years. She was well liked and respected and glad that her life had returned to some level of normalcy.
Thor also was taking risks to make sure he could see his daughter. He tried to come and see the two of them at least once every four weeks and Natasha spoke with him at least once a week on the device he had given her.
It was dangerous for them to keep in touch often, but it was a risk the three of them had to take in order to stay together.
In fact, Thor's vehemence to see them as consistently as he did pleasantly surprised Natasha. There had been times when she questioned his commitment to his daughter in past, but not anymore…..he was all in now.
His devotion to things like his family was starting to grow on her and whenever they said goodbye after a long distance call so to speak, she was now able to admit to herself that she did kind of miss him.
True to her word, Natasha had taken on the role of overseeing their daughter's physical education. And every evening, after school and homework had been completed the three children would gather in Petunia's living room so Regulus could teach them about the ins and outs of magic and assist them with any type of magical questions they had. He didn't want them to be unprepared when they went to Hogwarts.
Before they made the trek to Number 4 in the evenings, Hermione and Natasha would go down to the training field that was the basement and the red head would teach her daughter what little of basic training she could as she was still a child.
During the next few years, the red head learned a few things about her daughter.
Hermione was remarkably light on her feet and she could think on her feet just as fast. Those were the things that Natasha would add to the list of things she had inherited from her. She was also a little stronger than a child should be, and that was something that Natasha would credit to her from her father's side.
All in all though she was making remarkable progress and if Natasha hadn't spent over a decade fighting, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with her.
Something that was increasingly becoming prominent were her electrical abilities. She didn't really know how to control them yet, and so when she would walk by a light bulb that wasn't lit, it would crackle and spark.
Twice Natasha had been called in to the school when Hermione was six because some of the bigger kids had decided to pick on Harry because he was so small.
It wasn't Harry's fault, he had a small and wiry build like his father and Dudley and Hermione had gotten so ticked that Dudley had pushed the bigger boy down. But when he had jumped back up and tried to hit Hermione because she was a girl and he thought she would be the easiest to take out, she had socked him in the chest and sent him flying five feet back into the sand box.
Thankfully no teachers had seen the incident so it was the kid's word against Hermione's and no one believed a six year old would send someone bigger than her flying back a few feet, but Tasha had been still been called down the school to be briefed about the incident.
Natasha kept a stern face on the whole time, but inwardly she was smirking.
That's my girl.
Later that night, the red head had sat her girl down to have a conversation with her.
"I know you were mad, but you can't just go around punching kids when they annoy you," Natasha explained.
Six year old Hermione folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow looking for all the world like a younger Natasha Romanov. The agent was struck for a minute about a similar conversation Ivan had had with her when she wasn't that much older than Hermione.
"Why?" the strawberry blonde asked. "You do it at work all the time."
Natasha smirked. "There's a difference there little girl. I get paid to do it and I can do it without getting caught. Your father's a god, so you're going to be a little stronger than most kids. There's nothing wrong with that, you're just different….that's all. But you can't let other people know that you are."
"Why not Mummy?"
She sighed. "Because like it or not Hermione, you and me…..we're not normal. You're a witch and demigod. I'm a witch too, and those sorts of things aren't normal. People don't like what isn't normal. Promise me that you won't do something like this again. There are other ways to handle people. I'll teach you if you want me to."
Hermione looked at her mother for a long moment before nodding firmly. "Okay Mum."
She hadn't hit any of the other kids at school again, but Regulus nearly split a gut laughing when he heard about it.
Natasha ensured to leave out the part where she had sent the kid flying into the sandbox and knew her friend would chalk it up to accidental magic anyway.
All three of the friends began to experience stronger bursts of magic as they grew older but Hermione was the only one who could really control it.
Thor explained to her when she was eight that because her magic was tied to her instincts and those could be suppressed a little more easily than her emotions because she was a demigod, she would have an easier time of it than her friends.
It was those times when he was with them that Natasha really began to feel like they were a family.
She and the god had grown closer in the next few years and being around him had softened her in the right ways.
It hadn't been easy at first, but with each smile of his starting eight years previously and the strange way he got her to loosen up that only Hermione could do was making it a little easier for her to care about him each time she saw him.
She still wasn't a romantic at all and in some ways neither was, but that just made the pair of them simpler and more in sync. He was a prince among gods and she spent more time in hostage situations than she did in coffee houses.
Again, normal would never define them, but that was what was beginning to make the three of them even more endearing.
Hermione herself was always happy when her father was able to sneak away from Asgard and spend time with her and her mother. Like Thor, she was very family oriented and protective of those she considered thus.
As she grew older Thor taught her how to handle the electricity coursing in her blood and how to physically take it from the elements around her.
Hermione was ecstatic one evening when she managed to summon the electricity from the lamp in the kitchen and hold it in the palm of her hand for a minute.
Natasha who had been keeping an eye on the situation, smirked at the delighted look on her daughters face.
Hermione reached out tentatively with her other hand and touched it, letting out an ecstatic giggle when it sparked against the tip of her finger.
Thor smiled. "As you grow little spark, I will teach you how to use the electricity. It can be very useful."
"Can you show me something now?" Hermione asked eagerly.
Thor shot a smirk at her mother and Natasha rolled her eyes. Despite his age and the fact that he was a god, there were times when things about him reminded her of his daughter. The way his eyes would light up subtly at the sight of Hermione or her, the times when he would tell her about Asgard and how someday hopefully, he would find a way to bring the both of them there reminded her that as serious as he could be at times, there still lurked a playful side of him.
Buried beneath the rugged good looks and chiseled body and god like powers of course.
There had been a time once when he had been waiting for them when Natasha brought Hermione home from school and she would never forget the look on her daughter's face.
Those two were almost scarily alike.
Natasha made sure that she used the time with her daughter without her father being there to instill in her some of the finer points of being stealthy.
It was beginning to pay off too.
Natasha had started off with basic training for Hermione, teaching her how to tumble and flip and somersault and dodge blows. She was nowhere near ready for weapons training though as she was only eight years old, perhaps when she was ten.
They started running every morning since she was five, not for very long, but truthfully Natasha was a little curious about how many god like characteristics her daughter had.
Something Natasha had discovered about Hermione as far back as when she was four was that she was very flexible and quite agile as well. Her reflexes were excellent and her vision was as sharp as her mother's. She also had a great deal of endurance even at the tender age of eight and she didn't tire as often as Harry and Dudley did when they were playing.
I guess some of the genesis serum is hereditary.
As the time drew nearer for them to go to school however, Regulus amped up the magical training.
He taught Hermione, Harry and Dudley all about the history of magic, potions, transfiguration, charms and care of magical creatures. Subjects like Divination he turned up his nose at for they were woolly at best and highly unpredictable at the least.
Natasha meanwhile kept to the physical training and her father kept up with the magical training.
By nine years of age, Hermione was the fittest child in the entire school. Her mother told her that she needed to cover up her unnatural physicality by getting involved in some type of sport and so the strawberry blonde chose swimming.
Not to be left out, Dudley and Harry also chose a sports team, but they preferred soccer.
So some Saturdays found Natasha, Petunia and Regulus at Hermione's swim meets or Harry and Dudley's soccer games, doing regular ordinary parent type things.
Natasha was the only one who was able to notice the fact that her daughter was slightly faster than everyone else due to her god like DNA.
Go get them little girl.
Hermione was proving to be nigh on unstoppable throughout life. She had a smile that was electric like her father but she was also proving to be quite serious and mature like her mother. She had taken to dressing like her too.
Natasha wore leather and dark clothes to work all the time along with her gun holsters and knives tucked away into tall boots, and Hermione was beginning to emulate the all black trend.
One evening when Natasha was away on assignment with granddad, Hermione was spending the night at Aunt Petunia's house and she and Harry and Dudley were watching James Bond.
Now that a nine year old Hermione knew what her mother did for a living, she inwardly scoffed at James Bond, knowing her mother was so much cooler.
"I'm going to get a drink," she announced and Harry and Dudley barely acknowledged her as their eyes were glued to the television.
Hermione rolled her eyes and hurried to the kitchen where the lights had been dimmed.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Reg who had been married for the last five years were upstairs and so the back half of the house was quiet.
Hermione had just pulled the carton of juice from the refrigerator when a sudden flash from the backyard of her own house caught her attention.
She grinned, knowing right away who the flash could be attributed to.
It was hard for her to believe that no one around was able to witness the amazing things that her father could do. But he had disguised himself from the humans when he was in his god like form because anonymity was their friend right now.
It was a warm fall evening just after her ninth birthday and so after checking to make sure that Harry and Dudley were still tucked into the world of James Bond, Hermione silently slid open the back door and hurried across the yard to the gate which she pulled open and slipped through.
Sure enough, there was her father.
He was dressed in normal human clothes and she had only seen him in the attire of normal Asgardians a few times, but she always liked when he wore clothes from his world.
He seemed more like a god that way.
He smiled when he saw her and it seemed to light up the night that way.
Hermione grinned back at him and hurried toward him.
He knelt down and hugged her and she gave a contented smile. She always felt safe with her mother around, but when her father hugged her, Hermione felt as if nothing bad would ever happen to her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked when she pulled back. "We didn't expect you for another few weeks. Mum's not even here. She's not going to be happy that she missed you."
"I spoke with your mother a few days ago," he said in that deep voice that was perfect for storytelling. "She told me that she would be out of the country for a few days and that you would be staying at your aunt's in the meantime. I thought you could use some company."
Hermione smiled up at him as they walked back to the patio and sat down on the steps. "Grandmother and Grandfather don't know you're gone do they?"
"They believe I have left for a short scouting mission to one of the other Realms," Thor explained easily. "Even your Uncle doesn't know I'm here."
Hermione laughed. She had never met her trickster Uncle, but Thor had told her a great deal about him and she felt as if she knew him well enough already. She knew it wasn't possible at the time, but someday she hoped she would be allowed to meet him.
Thor had told her that he had basically broken a dozen laws when he had met her mother and they had had her, and so because of that, he had to be very secretive when he came.
Privately, the strawberry blonde thought it was all very romantic. She knew her parents weren't married, but they had a commitment to one another that was basically like marriage because she never saw her mother smile as much as she did as when Thor was around.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to be here for your birthday a few days ago," he said, the mood of the conversation turning a bit somber.
"That's alright," Hermione said and she meant it. Her father was a prince in another world and so he had responsibilities. She had been disappointed at first, but her mother told her that he would come soon.
"Perhaps," Thor said and she could see a smile behind his deep blue eyes. "But I would still feel better if you were to have this."
He held out his hands and a sleek silver box materialized in his palms.
Hermione's eyes went big when she saw it and she eagerly took it from his hands, grinning all the while.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Well that would require you opening it to find out hmmm?"
Hermione smirked at her father before reaching for the clasp on the front of the box, flipping it up and carefully pulling the lid open.
She gasped.
Lying on a cushion of black velvet were the most beautiful blades she had ever seen.
Their length was from the tips of her fingers to the middle of her forearm and they were completely made of silver. The pommels were twisted into a spiral at the end and the metal gleamed like starlight. The lines on both sides of the blades were so smooth and flowed like water, but she could also see that they were razor sharp. They were meant to be used at the same time in combat she was sure
"Their beautiful," the young demigod whispered.
She glanced up at her father. "But Mum said she doesn't think I'm ready for weapons yet."
Thor smirked. "Leave your mother to me. This time, I'm going to teach you how to handle a knife."
Hermione felt her eyes go big. She could only imagine what her mother would say.
"Do they have names?" she asked.
Her father told her that he and many of his friends who were also gods and goddesses often gave names to their weapons that had seen the most battle and done heroic deeds. They were named for the great acts they performed in war.
For example, her father's hammer was known as Mjolnir.
"You yourself must name them," Thor replied. "Though I doubt there will be many wars to fight here that you must use it in."
He gently took the blades from her hands and held them so that they lay parallel with Mjolnir. "But I can tell you that they were forged using the same material as my hammer, so none but you will be able to use them."
"Wicked," Hermione whispered, a catch phrase that Dudley used quite often.
"But you must promise me that you will only use the, when your mother or I have taught you how to handle it without hurting yourself or others," Thor said. "It would be a grave error if someone were to be hurt by carelessness."
"Yes Dad," Hermione said seriously.
He smiled at her. "I have no doubt one day you will be as swift with this steel as your mother is. But there is a reason for why she is the way she is. She will tell you when you become older."
Hermione frowned at her father, wondering the reason for the change in conversation topic. Her parents were always so secretive about their pasts. She knew her mother was a gifted fighter and talented with weapons. Hermione had seen her mother fight before and she had always been a little envious. She wished she was able to do half the things her mother did.
But Natasha wouldn't even let her hold a gun. It was only recently that she'd been allowed to hold a knife and so far they had only done tumbling.
There wasn't anything wrong with being agile and Natasha had often told Hermione that she was so fast and agile on her feet that nothing would be able to touch her, but Hermione was getting impatient.
She wanted to get to the good stuff.
She had told Harry and Dudley about what her Mum was teaching her and they had wanted to join in too, but Aunt Tuney wouldn't let them. She had said that if they wanted to learn things such as martial arts, they were allowed to go and take classes.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Natasha, but Petunia knew that what she did with her daughter was her business, but she didn't want Harry and Dudley learning how to kill before they reached school.
Well, she didn't want them to learn how to kill at all, but being wizards that was somewhat inevitable by the time they reached a certain age.
So while Harry and Dudley weren't entirely pleased that they couldn't do what Hermione was learning, they were pacified by the fact that they would be able to learn to fight both with magic and with Muggle means.
They started karate lessons when they were four and so far had been part of the program for about five years because they were nine now and were well on their way to becoming masters by the time they were fifteen.
"I know," Hermione said and her father must have heard the frustration in her voice because he smirked. "But I want to learn to do what Mum does. She says I'm too young to hold any sort of weapon but what happens when I go to school in two years?"
"Do you honestly think you're going to be needing to do a lot of fighting when you go to school?" Thor asked raising an eyebrow.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. But what if I need to?"
Thor laughed, causing his daughter to smile. "You need patience little spark. Your lack of it is something that streams from me. Your mother is as cold and calculated as your uncle. You would do well to emulate her more as a lack of patience isn't something that is going to get you very far here."
Hermione sighed. "Well when can I get impatient dad?"
He smiled again. "You cannot little spark. Have you ever seen your mother lose her cool?"
Hermione thought back through her eidetic memory to a scary time when she was four years old and she saw her mother fight like an animal.
She had told her to hide in a barrel while she and her father took care of the bad guys, but Hermione hadn't listened.
She had peeked out of the barrel and seen just what it was that her mother could do, and that image had been cemented inside her mind forever.
The earliest thought that she could remember had been this: I don't want to be a scared little girl that hides ever again.
Thor must have seen the shadow that passed over her face because he tilted her chin up so he could look at her. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Hermione said. She hadn't inherited her mother's complete ability to lie without giving away the truth, but she was working on it.
Thor raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. "It's just…..I don't want to be scared again."
He frowned and she could feet the intensity of his stare. "Little spark, why are you afraid?"
Then he realized what she was talking about and his expression went stone cold. "Do you remember what happened in its entirety five years ago?"
Hermione sighed and nodded. "I remember being afraid and being told to hide. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to be someone who's scared."
If she had been looking at her father during that time, she would have seen the sorrow that entered his eyes upon hearing this.
"Little spark," he said gently and waited until she looked up at him again. "It is alright to fear, even good sometimes. The thing you must never do is let the fear control you. Fear is something that will touch you throughout your life despite whose daughter you are. You are a child of lightning, let that light burn brighter than any fear."
It might have sounded a little cheesy if she were older, but for now, they were the most comforting words her father could have said.
"Thanks Dad," she said and he smiled and pulled her into his arms, once more reinforcing the fact that she would never be truly afraid when he was with her.
"You had best be getting back," he said. "Your aunt will be calling for you soon."
Hermione nodded reluctantly. "Will you be back soon?" she asked.
He kissed the top of her forehead. "As soon as I am able."
He walked to the centre of the lawn and smiled at her. "Look after your mother little spark."
"Yes Dad."
There was a flash of light and then suddenly he was gone.
Hermione sighed and glanced down at the box in her hand before opening it up and flipping the knives into her hands. It shone like starlight in the gathering dusk and she smiled at the sight of it.
This would be one birthday present that would not become lost among the rest of her things.
Ω
It wasn't long after that Natasha came home and needless to say, she was less than pleased when she found out what Thor had given to his daughter.
But the sight of the knives must have prompted her that her daughter was finally ready for weapons training, without the firearms of course and the salsa with steel began.
Of course she was only allowed to hold blunt weapons at first, but when her mother witnessed her agility with the instrument, she reluctantly agreed to allow Hermione to handle sharper weapons.
The basement in their house was littered with training dummies as Hermione learned how to block flip, punch, and box and needless to say move as fast and effective as her mother did.
The amount of bruises her daughter amassed in that time broke Natasha's heart, but when her little girl confessed to her that she didn't want to be someone who was afraid anymore and what her father told her, Natasha resolved to make Hermione physically impossible to take down.
One afternoon after one of their sessions, the two of them were sitting in the backyard with glasses of lemonade and ice packs in their hands, Natasha told her that she could learnt to fight all she wanted but there were some things she needed to learn that would make people reluctant to even push it that far.
"What's that Mum?" Hermione as she placed the ice pack on her neck and winced. She had whipped back too far when she was training with her mother and hurt her neck.
"It's your level of confidence Mione," Natasha explained. "When you walk in a room, the first thing that people will see is the amount of surety you have. Walk tall, don't slouch, and look them down with your eyes. Don't be arrogant, but let them know you're a threat if you have to be."
"How do I do that Mum?" Hermione asked. She wanted to be just like her father, but she also wanted to be as stealthy as her mother. Her mother had a sarcastic streak that could cut skin and the moves to back it up. Hermione didn't want to be someone that people feared, but respected.
Granddad had come to collect her from school once and had taken her back to HQ where he had allowed her to watch her mother train new agents.
Hermione had been in awe watching her mother move. It was like water the way she flowed from position to position, and not once did she ever see her mother take a hit.
I want to be like that, the strawberry blonde thought to herself.
Her mother was the epitome of fearlessness just like her father. She was also the epitome of strength and when Hermione was around either of them, she didn't feel one inch of fear.
Her father may have been a god, but as far as she was concerned, her mother was a queen.
"It's simple," Natasha said. "You make eye contact with everyone you meet. You refuse to look away and you walk with your head held high. Watch."
She got to her feet and walked to the end of the garden before striding back and Hermione observed the look in her mother's eyes. It was frigidly cold and unyielding and nine year old Hermione smiled.
"Now you try," Natasha prompted and the two of them spend the next few hours striding about the garden staring down the plants. It was a little silly with no one to intimidate but fun none the less.
"Unless you are using negotiation to intimidate someone," Natasha told her. "Only smile to those who deserve it."
"Like you and Dad and Harry and Dudley?"
"Exactly."
Later that evening, the three of them were sitting in the living room with Uncle Reg having their daily magic lessons. When the boys had learned about two years earlier that Hermione didn't have to use a wand to do magic, they were very envious. But when Regulus explained to them what a Mage was and that Hermione's father was one, they calmed down.
"We're going to put transfiguration aside for right now," Regulus said and they put their books down.
"There are a few things that you three need to know first before you go to Hogwarts," he continued and the three best mates exchanged glances.
"Like what Dad?" Dudley asked. He had no memory of Vernon and since Regulus had married his mother when he was four years old, the title of father was something that he had given the youngest Black naturally.
He knew about Vernon because he had asked his mother when he was a little younger why he didn't look like his dad at all. They had sat him down and explained to him not too long ago about his birth father Vernon and how he had been sent away by the police for hurting his mother and Harry when he had barely been walking.
Since then the blonde boy had had a vehement hatred for domestic abusers. Unfortunately, like his birth father, he had a bit of an anger problem when he was younger, and so that was why Petunia had suggested karate so that he could channel his anger into something useful.
Not to be left out, Harry had begged to join as well.
And so it was that all of the children were involved in some degree of martial arts up to this point.
Hermione's training was just a little more brutal.
"You need to be wary of who you trust when you get to Hogwarts," Regulus said lowering his voice to Natasha and Petunia wouldn't hear him in the kitchen. He was sure that Natasha would agree with his sentiments however.
"Don't be suspicious though. Make many friends when you get to school, and above all else train, do what you do best. You three are brilliant and you are already the best of friends. Don't let anyone try and take that away from you."
"Who would do that Dad?" Harry asked curiously.
He also knew that Regulus wasn't his real father, nor that Petunia was his mother, but he had no memory of Lily and James and as far as he was concerned, the members of Number 4 and 5 Privet drive were the only family he had. Aunt Tasha was his godmother, Dudley his brother and Hermione his sister.
After their wedding, Regulus had taken a closer look into Harry's strange scar that he had gotten the night that the Potters had died and discovered to his horror that it was of the same magical substance as the Horcrux he had nearly died to get ten years earlier.
Petunia nearly had a fit when she learned of this but Regulus had taken his adoptive son to the healers at Gringotts and they had succeeded in removing the soul fragment from his scar so any influence the Horcrux might have had upon him later in his life would be eradicated.
No one knew how the soul fragment had gotten there, but the three adults, and Sirius when he was told burned with anger when they learned of the news.
"People who might not want the three of you to be friends," Regulus continued. "Find allies, make friends, work hard. You still have nearly two years until you leave so there is still a lot we have to teach you."
He looked at the only dark haired boy in the living room. "Harry, we thought it was important that you learn about the prophecy that was predicted about you so you will know which people want to be your friends and which people simply want to use you. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded. He had been shocked when his Mum and Dad had told him and Dudley about the prophecy that he would defeat a Dark Lord that wanted to rule the world.
It was all craziness as far as Harry knew. He was only nine years old, how on earth could he possibly be the one to take down a powerful wizard?
That was where all the magical and physical training came in. Petunia and Regulus didn't want him to have to fight this creature as Regulus knew firsthand what he was like, but he determined that his two sons weren't going to be defenceless by any stretch of the imagination. He had wanted to wait until they were a decent age before he got them their wands, but having discovered a store of old wands in the family home at Grimmauld Place, he had selected three and brought them over for the children to practice with.
Harry and Dudley had been thrilled that they were getting a head start on magic before the other kids and their work ethic surprised the three adults, especially Natasha.
She would have expected no less from Hermione than to work her ass off, but Harry and Dudley were relentless.
Hermione didn't understand why she needed to use one because she got along with wandless magic just fine. But her uncle told her that wandless magic wasn't something that was normal at Hogwarts and being the daughter of a mage, she would have ready access to it.
Her mother had privately told her later that no one, not even Harry or Dudley could find out that her father was a god, a mage was as far as they could go to tell people the truth. She was a demigod and those were unheard of in the world they lived in.
Hermione who was quite proud of her heritage, agreed somewhat reluctantly. Her mother was a master of secrets and as time went on, she was teaching Hermione to school her features to be completely expressionless.
All black clothes all the time, intimidating piercing eyes and a smirk that could draw blood, Hermione was reminding Natasha more and more of herself every day.
Her power came from her father, but her intelligence and stealth from her mother.
"Good," Regulus continued. "Than here are the things that you need to know. There are many who will expect all of you to be in Gryffindor especially you Harry. While that is a perfectly respectable house in its own right, don't choose that route just because its expected of you. Choose the house you want to go to. Learn as much as you can."
Regulus and Natasha and Petunia and Sirius had conferred privately and they all realized that because of these horcruxes, Voldemort would seek to make a return.
All were in agreement that they couldn't let that happen.
Thus, Natasha found herself reading up on more magic than she ever thought she would do before.
Regulus wanted to use the time to teach as much magic to the children as possible and Natasha would handle the more physical aspects of her daughter's education.
They were already learning spells and potions as well as charms and Regulus predicted that the three of them would be the tops in their class in their first year.
Meanwhile Petunia and Regulus had been conferring about Dumbledore. They were unsure of his intentions, but they wanted to prepare the trio for anything.
Privately Petunia wondered if Dumbledore had simply left Harry on the doorstep in the middle of night knowing that she feared magic, hoping that she wouldn't tell him anything about it.
She wondered why on earth he would do something like that though. Wouldn't it be helpful to Harry to learn as much as he could before coming to school?
After a few days of thinking about it, she decided to put it out of her mind and simply concentrate on getting Harry, Dudley and Hermione ready for school.
Again, they still had two years, but it was vital that they know as much as they possibly could in the time before they went.
The trio soaked it all up like sponges.
They learned who they should be wary of, all the ancient families, the different teachers, what they all looked like, what they could expect from each one, what each of the houses was like.
Natasha wanted to laugh at how much Regulus seemed like an interrogation agent at these nightly sessions, but as a result of his schooling the children, there were a great deal of things she learned as well.
For instance when she wasn't helping Ivan track down international criminals, she was learning how to apparate and how to use her wand properly.
It was difficult after not having done it for so many years, but slowly but surely she was learning.
The red head was relieved when she finally learned to apparate from one end of the lawn to the next as it would be so much easier to get around. In some ways doing things the magical way was better than the muggle way and vice versa. The trick was to combine the two of them and see what results you came up with.
I am a firm believer in the fact that both should be combined.
Time passed and it was busy, but full.
Purpose had come back to Natasha's life, both in the form of motherhood and a career. She found she was good at balancing both and kicking ass at the same time.
Plus it pleased her to no end when she saw that in many ways Hermione was taking after her. She had the raw power of her father, but her mother's own cunning.
And there's nothing a parent likes better than to be told that their child is taking after them right?
Hermione later on demonstrated just how much she was like her mother when they were ten and she and her two best mates were walking home from school.
They were talking easily about the magic lesson Regulus had given them from the night before when suddenly, an obnoxious voice called out behind them, causing them to stop.
All three turned around and found themselves faced with the bully of their school Piers Polkiss and his gang of pathetic yes men walking down the street toward them.
Hermione hated arrogant braggarts, something her mother loathed as well and from the moment Piers had disrupted the class in their first day of first grade, she had despised him with a passion. He annoyed everyone in class when they were trying to study and picked fights with every other kid on the playground.
His father was rich so he thought he owned the world and everyone in it. All the other kids were scared of him, and because Mr. Polkiss was on the board of superintendents for the school and provided the primary school with a lot of funding, none of the teachers wanted to cross him either.
Hermione hadn't really been on the receiving end of his taunts, but that had worked to her advantage because she liked to watch him carefully and see what there was about him that made him tick. She wanted to know how he thought, every secret he carried and knew about, and even the ones he didn't she wanted to know.
And it was through her casual perusal of him that she discovered something interesting.
Piers didn't like the fact that there were others who would stand up to him and so Hermione, Harry and Dudley had been on his hit list for a while. He had never managed to corner the three though as they had always been too quick for him.
Now however, he was going to have some fun.
Or so he thought.
"Great," Harry muttered when he saw Piers and his gang start in their direction. "Now what do we do."
"Well I'm not running," Dudley said stubbornly. He was a Black and so was Harry, Regulus had stressed from them that Blacks never ran from a fight.
"We don't have to do that Dud," Hermione said watching the approaching band of boys coolly. "But we don't have to fight either. There are other ways to do that."
After a decade of learning from her mother, the strawberry blonde had learned that in order to fight someone, you had to know everything about him, all of his secrets, what made him tick and the best way to throw him off guard was to hit him with something that he didn't know.
And then all she had to do was step back and watch him crumble.
"I thought they kept you freaks after school!" Piers said loudly as they came closer. His henchmen snickered and Hermione suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
He really was an idiot.
He might actually be smart if he picked up a pencil for once instead of using it to draw pictures in his desk.
Hermione sighed and examined her finger nails as if he was the most boring type of insect she had ever seen.
"No Piers," she said easily. "I thought they reserved that type of treatment for you since you're so far behind, its only due to your dad that you're in fifth grade at all."
Harry and Dudley snickered and Piers face reddened.
"At least I have a dad," he snarled to save face. "Where's your father Granger? Couldn't stand the sight of your ugly face when you were born so he took off?"
Dudley growled and stepped forward looking furious but strangely Hermione wasn't mad. She knew exactly who her father was, where he was and that he could blast this insignificant maggot to smithereens if he wanted to.
Matter of fact she could probably roast him and have a decent barbeque with him with all these street lamps and their high voltage in the area.
So instead she stepped forward and looked Piers solidly in the eyes.
"I'd be careful whose father you're talking about Piers," she said in a deadly whisper. "Because they all have their secrets….including yours."
Harry looked at his friend curiously, wondering what she was talking about.
"What do you know about my dad Granger?" Piers said but he was looking a little uncertain. And like an apex predator, Hermione noticed the weakness and pounced.
"Oh I probably shouldn't say anything if he hasn't told you," he said calmly, and Harry and Dudley caught on pretty quickly that she was playing some type of game and jumped right in.
"Maybe you should tell him what you know Mione," Harry said with a perfectly straight face. "After all, he has a right to know."
"Tell me what?" Piers demanded, but they ignored him.
"Yeah Mione," Dudley continued. "I mean if Mr. Polkiss hasn't told Piers by now, he's not likely to do it until after the divorce."
"Divorce!?" the boy squawked.
"You didn't know?" Hermione said her face perfectly in character with the non-existent shock she was feeling. "Goodness me, how embarrassing. All the teachers were talking about it the other day when we walked by the teachers' lounge. Apparently Mr. Polkiss has this favorite bar he frequents when he tells his wife he's running errands and apparently one of the teachers saw him getting handsy with one of the waitresses."
By this time Piers was backing away, his face going an unhealthy ashy color.
"You're lying," he stammered, but his eyes said he didn't believe them. "My dad wouldn't do that!"
"Would he?" Hermione asked raising an eyebrow. "Piers if you know anything about me its that I don't lie. Go ask the teachers and see if they'll deny it. In fact go and as Miss Tanner. You know she's the new geography teacher. I heard your father wanted to welcome her to school on a more…..private level."
Her words having registered like the twist of a knife in his gut, Piers turned and ran. His henchmen hesitated for a moment, confused because their leader had disappeared. After a minute though, he turned and hurried after him.
"That was incredible Mione," Harry observed as they watched him go. "How did you come up with a story that fast?"
"Who said it was a story?" Hermione asked as they turned back around to continue the walk home.
"Wait a minute," Dudley demanded. "You mean it was true?"
Hermione smirked at her best mate. "Dud what does my mum do for a living?"
"She's an agent with the British Secret Service."
"And what does she do?"
"Well…..she watches people to find out – "
He broke off when he realized what she was getting at. "Oh."
Hermione smirked. "I knew for about a month that Mr. Polkiss had a taste for younger women. I just had to wait for the right moment to tell Piers. With any luck it'll be all over the school by the end of the week and he'll be kicked off the board. Good riddance."
"But what about Miss Tanner?" Harry asked as they turned into the driveway of Number 4."
"I never liked her anyway."
Ω
Sure enough, Mr. Polkiss was called into an inquiry along with Miss Tanner by the end of the week and both were dismissed for their inappropriate actions. Piers was removed from the school as well and the entire student population breathed a sigh of relief at his absence.
Life continued on as normal with magic lessons from Regulus every evening and Hermione continued to learn hand to hand combat from her mother.
Natasha refused to let her hold a gun though, claiming that with her magic and her hybrid status as a demi god, she wouldn't even need to learn how to protect herself.
The strawberry blonde grudgingly agreed, but decided privately that she would ask again when she got a little bit older and see if her mother changed her mind.
And if not, well…..she could always talk to her dad and see what he thought. Maybe he could change her mum's mind.
Yeah, so she was a bit of a Daddy's girl.
Sue her.
He lived on a different planet and she only got to see him once a month.
She hated keeping such big secrets from her best friends, but it was imperative that no one found out Thor's status.
It wasn't that she didn't trust her best mates, it was the fact that keeping silent about something like this was in everybody's best interest.
Little did Hermione know though that the silence she had become used to wouldn't stay that way for long.
Ω
Despite the grim manner of his dress and the fierce stare that could somehow be deadly even though it was coming out of one eye as well as the way all the junior agents cleared out of the way when he walked down the halls, Nick Fury was an incredibly patient man.
The few people who knew him best would liken him to a cobra.
He would slither through the grass of the seamy under belly of international criminal world, just stalking his prey…..waiting for the right moment to strike.
And that moment was near in coming.
Right now he was sitting in his office, four different profiles of agents they had been tracking for the last five and a half years spread out across his desk.
All three of them had been affiliated with the Red Room and he had just received word that the second one was dead.
SHIELD had only been able to track three of them since the Red Room had dissolved almost six years ago. They were trained not to be found so he hadn't expected them to be easy to locate.
But when he had received a year ago that Dimitri Nabokov was dead, he had been a little surprised.
And then to hear from his staff a few minutes ago that Svetlana Markova and Mikhail Grabowska were dead as well, it was a bit of a surprise.
That left one Red Room Agent alive who, along with the other three who were now out of commission, had been at the top of the hierarchy of the Red Room.
Natasha Romanov.
They had been searching for her and Nabokov for nearly six years and while he had gone back and forth on whether or not she was to be brought in or taken out on sight, Fury was now beginning to realize she was a valuable asset with connections that would help them.
They needed to find her and bring her in.
She would do well on this team.
He got up from his desk and faced the wall of glass windows that looked out toward the rest of the city of Washington. All was calm and quiet, the sun was shining, and cars were moving on the street far below them with a steady continuous pace.
Fury knew however that when the sun went down those back alley ways and less traveled streets would turn into a hub of crime and debauchery.
This city needed cleaning up and the president knew it.
The only way they were going to make this country and this world a better place was if SHIELD was comprised of the top men and women throughout the world to see to it that it was made safer.
Force would be necessary to make that happen, and it would be a long term change not a short term fix, but he would see it done before he retired.
That team would consider Natasha Romanov a valuable asset.
He turned around and tapped the intercom for his secretary. "Sharon can you page Barton and send him up here? I need to speak with him right away."
"Of course Director Fury."
It wasn't long before the door opened and a tall solidly built man walked in. He had close cropped brown hair, a tan weathered face from a life spent in the outdoors and the long lean muscles of someone who hunted for a living. He had sharp blue eyes that darted about every which way as he walked, searching for potential threats.
The junior agents called him Hawkeye for a reason.
He stopped in front of Fury's desk and folded his hands behind his back in the cool manner of seasoned soldier. "You wanted to see me Director Fury."
"Barton I've received word that all but one of Red Room Agents we've been tracking for the last few year have been rendered deceased. Either they amassed too many enemies and were killed trying to flee the agency or they died under mysterious circumstances. Either way, there is only one more that is alive that we still know of. Ironically, she is one of the most important."
Barton raised an eyebrow. "She, sir?"
"Yes," Fury said glancing down at his desk. "Agent Natasha Romanov. She fled Russia almost a decade earlier and there have been almost no sightings of her since."
"But you have reason to believe that she isn't dead sir."
"No, because one week ago, the British Secret Service was alerted to a possible large drop of drugs coming from Portugal on their coast and this photo was taken from one of the dock's cameras."
He held out the photo to Barton. It was somewhat blurry, but the agent could still make out the outline and features of a women with the same height, build, and stature of Natasha Romanov.
Her hair was dyed a deep chocolate brown but she did look very familiar.
"And you believe this is her sir?"
It was Fury's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Barton would I have called you up here if I wasn't sure this was our agent?"
"No sir. But if she's part of the BSS now, what do you want me to do. Tangling with the Brits could take months and miles of red tape."
"Who said anything about tangling with them?" Fury demanded. "Barton, you're the best of the best. I called you up here because everyone else I've sent to locate her has failed. And now that we finally have a lead after a few years, I don't want there to be any more delays. Bring her in."
Barton gave a sharp nod and headed for the exit.
"And Barton?"
The agent stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked back. "Sir?"
"You don't have to be gentle. Bring her in…..by any means necessary."
Ω
So I realize there isn't a lot of action in this chapter, but it was necessary for character development. Only two more chapters until Hogwarts people, get excited! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!