The Affliction of War

The start of the end...

Chapter Twenty-Five - Inside the Ministry of Magic

Harry had never been the most gracious when it came to travelling by floo and this occasion was no different. He fell out of the fire place and on to the floor before Steve could react and catch him. The super soldier sighed, shaking his head as he stepped out of the fireplace, maneuvering himself so that he could pick his boyfriend up, off the floor and make sure that he was alright.

"That's not a great start to being careful," Steve grumbled as he offered a hand to Harry to pick him up from the floor. The wizard was feeling rather grateful for the protective layering that Tony had put into his suit to protect his unborn children. Though Harry hadn't thought that it would protect them against his own clumsiness.

"This isn't where we're meant to be," Harry said, looking around in confusion as he accepted the hand from his boyfriend that helped him up off the floor. They appeared to be in an office but it was unlike any that he had known at the Ministry. It certainly wasn't anything that was in the Auror office, this was somewhere else.

"You said the Atrium, are you telling me this isn't it?" Steve asked; when he had first appeared here he hadn't thought that where they had ended up was the right place, however, he had been far more concerned with making sure Harry was alright. Now that the others were not joining them, Steve was starting to realise that this was not going to be as simple as he first thought.

"No, this is an office," Harry said with a frown, looking around and trying to get some clues as to where they had ended up, "though I'm not sure where we are," he added, going over to the desk that was scattered with an array of peculiar trinkets and a mass of paper work. Glancing over some of what was there made Harry rather concerned, though at least they were in the right place. "Steve, don't touch anything," Harry said at once, realising exactly what part of the Ministry of Magic they had landed in.

"What, why?" Steve asked, a little panicked at the tone of voice Harry used, thinking that they were in some form of danger. He instantly began looking around to see if he could see any of the potential threats; however, this was all new territory for him, he wasn't used to magic and had no idea if he would even be able to fight it.

"We're in the department of mysteries," Harry explained quietly, as if speaking loudly would disturb the items all around them, feeling rather concerned about why they had ended up here. "We're exactly where we need to be," he added though he didn't sound pleased about this. It might have been where they needed to be but it wasn't where they had been aiming for and getting this deep into the Ministry via the outside floo network was not meant to be possible.

"Why is that a bad thing?" Steve asked, thinking that it might have made their jobs a little easier, though in his experience that was never a good thing and it also meant that they were separated from the others who had no idea where they were.

"Because this is where Loki wants me and we've been transported straight here, away from the others," Harry said, looking at Steve with concern. "I don't think that was an accident."

-x

Something had gone very wrong when trying to apparate into the Ministry and both Ron and Draco had been stopped, neither of them were sure by what but it had been hard and painful. It was almost as if a ward had been erected and bounced them out, like someone was trying to keep them from getting inside. The four of them had ended up laying on the ground in a muggle street; Ron, however, had not been left unscathed.

When he and Natasha had bounced out from the Ministry and been thrown on to the pavement, Ron had focused all of his energy on keeping Natasha out of harm's way. If it came to to it then he knew that he could go to St Mungo's, Natasha wouldn't be so lucky. She would have been fortunate to escape with her memory in tact. As a result of his chivalry, his left leg had been badly splinched, a lot of the skin and even some of the muscle completely removed.

It was perhaps a stroke of luck that they hadn't landed in a populated part of the city, they were a fair way from the main streets and luckily it seemed that very few muggles were close by, which was beneficial considering that Ron was trying his hardest not to scream in agony. Draco had acted quickly and erected temporary wards around them almost immediately, thinking that they needed cover from not only the muggles, but also whatever had been powerful enough to refuse them entrance to the Ministry, before he could heal Ron.

"What's wrong with him?" Natasha asked as Draco dropped to his knees beside Ron, wand drawn, using it to open the fabric on the red-head's jeans and reveal the damage that had been done. Both Clint and Natasha were covering him, not understanding the nature of the wards Draco had put up, the two of them making sure that no one was sneaking up on them to ambush them while they were preoccupied with Ron's injury.

"Splinched," Draco said to them, though he was a little distracted. There wasn't a lot that he could do with just his wand, this wasn't an injury that could be fixed with wand work. There were potions and ointments that needed to be administered, and the best he was going to be able to do was bind the wound until he could get him to St Mungos.

"What happened?" Clint demanded, his weapon at the ready. He had no idea what was going on but he knew that this was not how things were meant to happen, something had gone horribly wrong, they didn't even know where Steve and Harry were. What was meant to be a simple mission was quickly becoming a lot more complicated.

"The Ministry didn't let us in," Draco said as he conjured bandages, wrapping them around the damaged leg, knowing that it was going to be doing very little good other than to stop the bleeding. Ron needed medical attention that Draco couldn't administer here. "It doesn't make sense, the wards were down, we should have been able to get in; whatever happened it wasn't anyone on our side that did it. We need to get in there and find Harry and Steve."

"How do we get in?" Clint asked, a sense of urgency in his tone. He heard every word that Draco had said and knew that they had to get inside and quickly. Nothing about this felt right anymore, they needed to get into the Ministry and find Harry and Steve before someone else got to them first. It felt a lot like someone was trying to separate them.

"You can't," Ron said with a pained groan, watching with clenched teeth as Draco bound his leg, stopping the bleeding but doing nothing against the pain of it. "You need to go in with someone magical," he added, his vision becoming a little hazy. "You need to leave me," he said, looking Draco straight in the eye, his breathing heavy.

"Ron…" Draco said, unsure that this was a good idea. He may not have liked Ron much but that didn't mean that he wanted to leave him here, unprotected, where anyone could find him. He wasn't going to leave anyone behind if he could help it, it wasn't what Harry would want.

"No," Ron growled out in frustration, "help Harry, get the job done," he said with determination. His leg hurt like hell, as if it was engulfed in flame but they were here for a reason and as always the mission was more important. Ron had been an Auror, he might not have stuck at it but he had had the training and had been in the field several times, he knew what had to happen. "Go" he snapped, "you've put up wards in this area, no one is going to get to me, I'll be fine, just go."

"Don't die," Draco said giving Ron a small nod, which the redhead returned. Getting to his feet, the healer motioned to Natasha and Clint who had been stood watching the exchange silently, knowing that it had a huge meaning to the two wizards. "This way," Draco said, looking around for a moment and getting his bearings, trying to figure out where he was and figure out an alternative method into the Ministry.

"Where are we going?" Natasha asked, following Draco without question. Without him they didn't have a hope in hell of finding a way in. To the Wizarding World they were muggles and the whole point of the Ministry and it's statute of secrecy was to keep them out; without Draco there wasn't any chance of them getting inside.

"There are several access points into the Ministry," Draco explained as they ran, "we can't apparate in; however, whatever stopped us might not be blocking all of these access ways," he said, rounding a corner and running towards a red phone booth.

"And if we can't get in?" Clint asked as they ran, becoming rather confused when they came to a rather abrupt halt outside a red phone booth. He was still pretty new to all this magic business and it still confused him but he needed to know if there was a chance that they weren't going to be able to get inside because he certainly didn't see how a red phone box was going to help them.

"We'll get in," Draco said firmly, unwilling to admit defeat on this. He wasn't going to allow Harry to be left with only Steve as backup, as much as Draco trusted the super soldier to keep Harry safe, he was concerned that he wouldn't be enough.

"You want us to get inside?" Natasha asked when Draco opened the door to the phone box for them all to get inside. She didn't look convinced that this was going to do any good, however, she had very little choice other than to trust Draco, there were no other options open to any of them right now.

"Just trust me," Draco said with urgency, getting rather on edge by the fact that Clint and Natasha were not moving fast enough. Granted he hadn't explained to them why he wanted the three of them to cram themselves into a tiny space but he really didn't have time to explain himself, they just needed them to move.

Giving one another a rather dubious look, Natasha and Clint piled into the red phone booth, followed closely by Draco, who shut the door on them before reaching for the receiver, however with the positions they were in, he couldn't quite reach the numbers to dial.

"Now what?" Clint asked rather impatiently. He didn't mind the fact that he was crammed in here with Natasha, it wasn't like he hadn't got up close and personal with her before, he just didn't appreciate sharing these close quarters with Draco as well.

"Dial, six, two, four, four, two," Draco instructed; it was Natasha who reached around them and in put the numbers on the keypad and then they waited, Draco expected for the operator to start to speak, to ask them why they were here and to present them with name badges but it never happened. Instead, the phone booth started to descend and, with it, a sinking feeling in his gut told Draco that the wards being down had left the Ministry vulnerable and they were not going to be the only ones who had found it easy to gain access.

-x

"We need to complete the mission," Harry said as Steve took hold of his wrist, trying to stop him from leaving the small office that they had arrived in. The super soldier wasn't keen on them going anywhere now they knew that Loki was playing some role in their mission here. It had already gone so wrong and he wanted to protect his family.

"Not at the expense of your life or the lives of…" Steve went to say but Harry clamped his hand over Steve's mouth, stopping him from saying anything further.

"Don't," Harry said firmly, he didn't want to think about that right now, he couldn't think about anything pertaining to his family right now, not if he wanted to keep his head focused on what had to be done. "Until this mission is over I'm not pregnant, we're not together, we're just soldiers, got it?"

"You can't ask that of me," Steve said as Harry relinquished his hold, "I can't do that, I can't not protect you, you are more than just a soldier to me," he said adamantly. There was no way that he could act as if Harry was any less than what he was, pretend as if Harry wasn't carrying their children in his belly. It wasn't something he could do.

"Yes I can," Harry said, looking at his boyfriend who seemed utterly lost at this request, but it was something that Harry needed from Steve, they couldn't get through this as lovers they needed to do it as teammates, as soldiers, because they were all they had right now, they couldn't count on the others. "We aren't going to get through this if at the first sign of trouble you're going to throw yourself in front of me. We're both going to be reckless if we do this as two people that love one another."

"It doesn't change the fact that I can't pretend that I don't care about you, that you don't matter to me," Steve said, refusing to put his boyfriend's life at risk in anyway. He refused to look at him as if he was just a soldier, he cared about Harry far too much for that, it wasn't something that he could do. He wasn't sure he would be able to even without knowing that Harry was pregnant with their children.

"Then here," Harry said, digging in his pocket and bringing out a packet of floo powder and pushing it into Steve's hands, "if you can't do it then go back to Tony and Bruce, wait for me there," he said stubbornly.

"Harry…" Steve said, looking a little lost for words. He couldn't believe that Harry would send him away in the middle of a mission, especially not when it was just the two of them and on some level he knew that Harry was more than aware that he would never leave him, not for any reason.

Harry, however, didn't let Steve finish what he was going to say, instead heading for the door, knowing that Steve wasn't about to leave him. With his wand drawn, Harry opened the office door and stepped out into what he assumed to be the Department of Mysteries. He wasn't an Unspeakable, Harry had never wanted to be one, though the choice had been there, so he didn't know his way around this part of the Ministry as well as other parts but he had been down here several times and had even worked with a few Unspeakables in the past.

What Harry didn't know was if anyone other than themselves was down here. Glancing behind him he saw that his gut instinct about his boyfriend had been correct, Steve was following behind him. Even with his limited knowledge, Harry thought he knew where he was and that meant he knew where he was going.

"So where are we going?" Steve asked as he removed his gun from its holder and prepared himself for what might be coming at them. He wasn't sure how effective his gun was going to be against witches and wizards wielding wands and he didn't recall them working very well against Loki either, however, it made him feel a little better, that along with the shield on his back.

"Are you asking as a soldier or as my boyfriend?" Harry asked as he focused on the path ahead of him, looking out for any potential dangers. He might not have wanted for Steve to treat him any differently than he would treat Clint or Natasha but he still cared about him a great deal and he didn't want to take any needless risks.

"I'm just asking," Steve said, neither confirming nor denying what he was trying to be in that moment. He refused to think of Harry as just another soldier, but he knew that Harry was right, they had to remain focused, they couldn't compromise the mission because of their feelings for one another.

"We're going to where I stored the sphere," Harry said with a sigh, realising that he wasn't going to be able to get Steve to think in any other way and he couldn't make him leave either. He had to trust that Steve knew what he was doing because they were all each other had.

"You know where you're going?" Steve asked hopefully. They had landed somewhere neither of them had expected, and so he had to ask, given he had no idea whether Harry knew where he was going or simply just making an educated guess.

"I do," Harry said as he reached the door that he needed, they really hadn't been far from where they needed to be, which only served to be more suspicious to Harry. He was actually surprised that they hadn't encountered anyone up until this point, despite Kingsley assuring them that the Ministry of Magic would be empty. He couldn't shake the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, which, combined with everything that had gone wrong so far, meant he wasn't at all sure that the Ministry was going to be as vacant as promised. "Ready?"

"Ready," Steve said with a nod as Harry prepared himself to open the door. Considering what was inside, it was not a door that was ever locked; everything inside had been placed there and protected by either a highly ranked Auror or an Unspeakable. If anyone gained access to it there was no way that they would be leaving the room with what they had been seeking, at least not alive.

Taking a deep breath Harry turned the handle and opened the door, however, he didn't go inside, he remained back, with Steve, in case anyone was on the other side of the door and was ready to attack. However, nothing came at them, everything remained quiet and still, nothing inside of the room moved. As Harry went to enter the room, Steve held up his hand to stop him, there was no way he was going to allow Harry to go first.

Shaking his head, Harry stepped in front of Steve, he wasn't about to let him go first, this place was his territory, the Ministry of Magic was a place that he felt comfortable, if this had been in the Triskelion then he would have allowed Steve to take charge. This was exactly what Harry had been afraid of, it was why he had asked Steve to take a more objective stance while they were on this mission, however, it seemed that he couldn't do it.

Giving the super soldier a stern and unhappy look, Harry entered into the room, his heart racing in his chest. The room itself was an endless room of dangerous objects that had all been magically protected individually by different people. Several of them Harry had placed here himself, but there was only one that he was interested in right now.

Stepping deeper into the room, Harry could feel Steve at his back, not willing to go too far from him. He appreciated this, he really did but he also wished that his boyfriend could be anywhere other than here, somewhere safe but that was exactly the kind of thinking he had asked Steve to forget until the mission was finished.

"Well," a voice said from deep inside of the room, "it took you long enough."

-x

"Do you know where you're going?" Clint asked in frustration as the three of them entered into the Ministry, all of them on high alert. They were moving slowly through the Atrium of the Ministry, unsure about what or who could be waiting for them. It was frustrating for Draco because he knew that it was unlikely they would get to Harry and Steve in time.

"Yes," Draco said adamantly as he caught something out of the corner of his eye, "but we're not going to make it," he said as a jet of green light came shooting right for Natasha. If it hadn't have been for Draco's quick thinking and pushing her out of the way then she would have been hit.

Clint fired off an arrow in the direction that the spell had come from as the three of them scrambled to get under cover as a jet of red light came for them this time, narrowly missing Draco, who ducked behind a pillar just in time.

"What do we do?" Natasha asked, glancing over to where Clint was crouched behind a pillar next to them, an arrow sat in his bow, ready to be fired. Draco had his wand in hand, breathing heavy as he prepared himself for the fight, Natasha releasing her gun from it's holster. The two Avenger's were ready for battle, they always were, Draco on the other hand had chosen to go into healing for a reason, he was not cut out for situations like this. He half wished that he could have been back in the alley with Ron, at least he would have known what he was doing.

"There can't be many," Clint reasoned, "if Loki had the manpower he would have attacked earlier or had more people guarding Teddy. The boy was his greatest asset so he would have guarded him with more than three men, I'm guessing we're looking at about two, maximum three, we can handle that."

"Agreed," Natasha responded, not missing the fact that Draco seemed nervous, scared and on edge. Draco was an asset to them, she knew that, but he was also a liability, he wasn't going to be much use in the fight that was for sure. She had been under the impression that Draco had fought in a war but clearly she had been mistaken.

"Can you see them?" Clint asked as another several jets of light hit the pillar he was hiding behind. Natasha risked a glance out from behind her cover, to see if she could see where they were being attacked from. As expected, their opposition took advantage, firing at her as she took a shot at them and as a result saw where one of them were hiding.

"Behind the fountain, left balcony and right fireplace," she said, lowering herself down into a crouching position, checking her weapon before signalling to Clint that she was ready. "Draco, you with us?" she asked when the healer didn't move or make any move that he was ready to fight with them.

"No," Draco said honestly, there was no way that he was ready for this. He had been perfectly happy in his hospital, being the personal healer for Harry Potter, that had been the right side of the line for him when it came down to combat, more than happy to deal with the aftermath but not participate in the fight. He was not cut out for being in the field, for fighting the battles, he knew that he was too much of a coward. Hell, he was so much of a coward that he had harboured feelings for Harry for two years, sending him gifts and flowers instead of admitting how he felt.

"Then get ready," Clint snapped, getting tired of waiting on the blond, he wasn't used to having soldiers hesitate on him. In their line of work hesitations got people killed. "I thought you fought in a war with Harry?" he challenged as more spells were fired in their direction. It was not a time for a cosy chit chat but Clint needed answers, he needed to know why Draco was letting them down because then he might be able to inspire some form of fighting spirit.

"We were children!" Draco snapped, "me, Harry, Ron, we were all children for that war, seventeen years old and sent off to battle to kill people," he told them, fear in his eyes. He knew that he had been a coward then and he was just as much of one now.

Natasha sighed, losing her patience with it, she had been younger than that when she had been started on the road that she was walking and she had little time for people who sobbed and cried about how unfortunate their lives were and their crappy childhoods, this was a fight and one that she was determined to win. She wasn't going to let one man bring them down.

"Fine," she said in annoyance, "stay down and stay out of our way, Barton and I have handled much worse," she said motioning to Clint that the countdown had begun. Three. Two. One…

-x

"I should have known," Harry said as they rounded a corner and saw Loki beaming at his own magnificence, leaning casually against one of the tall shelves, grinning manically to himself. Black hair slicked back out of his face and green eyes lit up with joy at seeing Harry stood before him.

"That I would be waiting for you?" Loki asked, looking a little disappointed for a moment, "I am almost ashamed that you thought me predictable." He raked his eyes up and down Harry's body appreciatively, not forgetting how the young wizard had come on to him in Avenger's tower when they had first met and the idea had been rather intriguing; however, there were bigger things that Loki had in mind for Harry. Though even someone as narcissistic as himself could see just how delightfully good Harry looked in his new suit.

"I'm more ashamed you thought I'd be stupid enough to get the sphere while you're stood right next to me," Harry said with a sneer, trying to ignore the fact that Steve was stood just behind him, tensed, gun in hand and ready to fight. Loki needed him alive, Steve, however, was not so lucky.

"Ah, well, yes," Loki said with a broad smile on his face, "but that is why Mr America's here because love is the best form of weakness. You humans are just such… sentimental creatures," he added as he pushed himself off the shelf and sauntered towards Harry, still looking at him in a hungry way. "Being an Avenger certainly suits you," he said, licking his lips, he could see how much his actions were bothering Steve and he was rather enjoying taunting the super soldier.

"Hurt him and I'll never give you the sphere," Harry said defiantly, ignoring the comments about how he looked; he had suffered through enough of those from Tony. Harry might have asked Steve to separate his feelings from the mission but when it came to it, it didn't seem to be something that either of them could manage. Each of them meant too much to the other, though as long as Loki didn't realise that it wasn't just the two of them involved in this, and that there were two unborn babies to be considered too, then they were going to have the upperhand.

"Give me the sphere and I won't have to hurt him," Loki countered, rather enjoying himself if the evil grin stretching across his face was any indication. He wasn't going to be beaten here, there was too much riding on this, if he didn't succeed in getting the eight sphere's then he may as well allow Thor to cart him off in chains back to Asgard because there no other options for him, not if he let down the organisation that had recruited him for this in the first place.

"Then I guess we have a stalemate," Harry said, squaring up to Loki challengingly. It took a lot to block out Steve, who was hovering just behind him, clearly on edge and ready to strike at a moment's notice but Harry remained focused, knowing that things could go sour within seconds if they didn't play this right. Harry wasn't sure what he was going to do, he knew that Thor had one of the other spheres and that giving Loki this one was not going to allow him to extract the power, but they still needed to avoid giving it to him.

He was racking his brains, trying to think of another option. He had been in this room so many times, he had placed objects in here and sealed them in their containers himself, there had to be another option to take. He couldn't remember what was in half of them or where a lot of them were within the room but there had to be something in here that could help them. Loki was far too happy right now, it was slightly unnerving for Harry to see Loki quite so joyous, as if he knew that he had the upper hand here.

"You really believe so?" Loki asked, looking far too knowing as he approached Harry, getting within a few inches of him. "I wonder what would happen to your little spells protecting the sphere if I snapped your neck," he said quietly, one hand reaching up to gently caress at Harry's throat, flicking his eyes to Steve as he said this, taking pleasure in watching the super soldier's reactions. Harry remained unmoving, unafraid, it wasn't the first time that his life had been threatened and it wouldn't be the last either, if he made it out of here of course.

"Keep your hands off him!" Steve yelled, as he stepped forward, firing a shot at Loki, more to just get him away from Harry; however, the trickster dodged it easily, knocking the wizard to the floor as he made a grab for the gun. The Captain couldn't help but glance to Harry as he reached for his shield, losing precious seconds before swinging it up, but Loki, taking advantage of Steve's hesitation, managed to dodge that as well, knocking the shield from his grip before his fingers easily wrapping around the super soldier's throat and pinning Steve to the wall, aiming the gun in Harry's direction with his free hand.

"Nuh uh uh," Loki said tauntingly, grinning wickedly at Harry when the wizard went to get to his feet and defend his boyfriend, not thinking twice about the consequences of this. With Steve pinned to the wall, Harry felt that he had no choice but to remain down, glaring up at Loki with fury in his eyes. His heart was racing manically, hating to see Steve in such a helpless position. The man was a super soldier and could have easily fought back, lashed out at Loki and just kept fighting but he didn't because there was a gun pointing directly at Harry and he was worried that he might not be able to stop Loki from pulling the trigger in time.

"Harry, run," Steve choked out as he struggled with the grip that Loki had on his throat. He knew that there was very little he could do right now; Loki needed Harry but right now the trickster wasn't sure whether he did actually need Harry alive and hadn't thought to test the theory. Steve wanted Harry gone, then he wouldn't have to worry about him, he could take Loki easily, he had done it before, but not with Harry here, constantly a target. They truly were each other's weaknesses.

"Hell no," Harry snapped, switching his glare to Steve, hating that he was being told to run. He was not a child and he had never run away from a fight but they did need to be smart about this, he needed to figure out what his next move was going to be. He was perhaps fortunate that he recognised some of the containers that he had landed close to, he had no recollection for what was inside them but he at least recognized his own magical signature on the boxes and therefore they weren't going to hurt him if he opened them.

"Think of the…" Steve began to say without really thinking of the consequences. He needed to remind Harry that there was more at stake than just their lives but the flash of anger in Harry's eyes told him that it was going to be better for everyone if he didn't finish that sentence.

"Steve, shut up, I'm not going anywhere," Harry said adamantly, very slowly edging towards the shelf closest to him, Loki watching their back in forth rather intently and enjoying their small argument, so much so he didn't notice as Harry edged closer to one of the stored items only an inch or so away from him.

"Aww, a lovers' tiff, how quaint," Loki said, smiling at Harry, who froze, not daring to move any further and give away what it was he was doing. "Shall I snap his neck and see if I can't get you to agree to relinquish the sphere for me then?" Loki asked in a mocking tone, immensely enjoying having the upper hand over these two.

"Fine, you want the sphere, I'll get it for you," Harry snapped, glancing to the box beside him and realising it would be no help to him; inside was a gemstone, rare and used to brew some of the most dangerous and potent potions known to the wizarding world, it could create something akin to the muggles atomic bomb when used right, but it was useless without the potion ingredients to combine with it.

"Harry, no!" Steve said as Harry pulled himself up from the floor, wand still in hand, preparing himself to strike the moment he was given an opportunity to do so. However, with Loki very willing to break Steve's neck at a moment's notice and a gun pointed directly at him it was a delicate situation.

"What choice do we have," Harry asked, making eye contact with his boyfriend, hoping that the super soldier was able to read him. Now that he was up and on his feet he had a much better chance of being able to dodge any shots fired at him. They needed to start fighting back, there was two of them and one of Loki, they could win this fight if they were smart and didn't count one another as weaknesses.

"How sweet," Loki mocked, watching Harry carefully as the wizard edged over to where he had stored the sphere. He came came to came to a stop in front of the box that he had sealed himself, knowing the danger of what it contained. There were so many boxes here, all of them containing dangerous artifacts of some description and and most of them inaccessible.

Knowing that he needed to take himself out of the situation before he released the sphere, Harry glanced at the surrounding boxes, scared of their potential to harm him and his unborn children. It was then that an idea came to mind and he need didn't have to open any of the boxes.

He had been told not to, he knew that it was dangerous but in comparison to the threat that Loki posed and the possibility of opening one of these boxes he knew that this was a viable option for him. Gripping his wand in his hand, Harry steadied his breathing, glancing over to Steve who was still pinned to the wall by Loki's hand.

"You know," Harry said, playing for time, "I would have thought you'd consider yourself far too self important to wield a mortal weapon."

"This thing?" Loki said, glancing at the gun in amusement. "It is a means to an end. It makes me wonder what would happen to a wizard who took a bullet," he mused.

"Harry get out of here," Steve said desperately, not wanting to see Harry hurt. He would not be responsible for his actions if Loki shot Harry.

"I don't think you'll shoot me," Harry said confidently, turning away from the box containing the sphere, facing Loki but only looking at Steve and trying valiantly to ignore the gun pointed directly at him, "Kill me and you'll never be able to get the sphere," he said, completely bluffing of course but Loki wasn't to know this, though he knew that this was a huge risk to take."

"You don't have to die to take a bullet," Loki said rather matter of factly. He was rather enjoying mocking the couple and seeing them squirm. Playing them off against one another was certainly rather pleasurable for him.

"Oh goodie," Harry said rather flippantly, turning back to the box on the shelf, "you're no fun," he added as he removed the box off the shelf and placed it carefully on the floor, kneeling in front of it as if he were about to open it.

Looking up at Steve, there was no way to communicate to him what he was planning on doing, Harry only hoped that Steve would understand why he had done it. By taking himself out of the equation, Harry was hoping that Loki would come after him and leave Steve alone. There were no guarantees that it would work but it was the only option he had.

"Steve," he said, giving his boyfriend an apologetic look, knowing that it wasn't even going to come close to being enough, "I'm sorry," he added, not giving Loki a second glance as he made as though to open the box, and the last thing he saw was Steve's heartbroken expression and Loki's broadening grin before he disapparated from the room, the box still firmly in his grasp.

-x

Harry had put his faith in his boyfriend's abilities, he knew that Steve was strong enough to be able to handle himself, though that didn't mean he liked what he had done. He was hoping to find the others, as he was concerned about what had happened to them, and so had taken himself to the Atrium, thinking that it was the best place to start; however, he had not been expecting to land in the middle of a fire fight.

Before he could move himself or the box under cover from the shower of spells, arrows and bullets that were flying around, Harry cried out, feeling a searing pain in his right shoulder. As he looked down, he realised that there was an arrow sticking out of his flesh. He swore, his heart beat racing as he pulled himself and the box behind one of the pillars, unsure who was firing at who and which side Harry needed to trust.

Thinking fast, Harry quickly worked out that it must have one of Clint's arrows that had hit him, though he was sure that it had been by accident. Using his logical Auror thinking and the that the tip of the arrow was sticking out the front of his shoulder, Harry figured out that it had been fired from behind him, and therefore knew which way he needed to go to find his allies. However, with his right shoulder now severely injured he had no hope of being able to take the box with him.

Harry had to trust that the box and the enchantments surrounding it would hold until he found help. No one was going to be able to touch it other than him and if anyone tried they were going to find out just how much it hurt when they tried to take something that didn't belong to them. Making a split second decision, Harry got to his feet and, leaving the box behind, he prepared himself to run.

Withdrawing his wand and bracing himself for the pain, Harry set off towards what he hoped to be his allies, the arrow still protruding through his shoulder. Several spells were fired in his direction, and he let out a yell of surprise as something collided loudly with a magical shield that suddenly appeared around him.

He kept moving as his eyes searched the direction from which he thought the shield had come. He almost sighed in relief when he spotted a tuft of blond hair hidden behind a pillar, heading straight for it. "Thanks," he gasped out a little breathlessly, as he all but barged into Draco's side, ducking behind the same pillar.

"You're injured," Draco said, spying the arrow, "you're lucky that wasn't your stomach," he said unhappily, though this was at least what he felt happy with dealing with. He hated being under fire like this and had been able to do very little other than shield Natasha and Clint from being hit by stray spells. He hadn't done a brilliant job, however; moments after Barton had fired the shot into Harry's shoulder a stray stunning spell had hit the archer across the room.

"Never mind about that," Harry said dismissively; he had been taught to deal with the pain, he had been trained to deal with a high level of it after all his Auror training. He didn't care that he was injured, his children would be fine, the arrow wouldn't have any affect on them and that was all Harry cared about. "We need to take out these guys, they're a distraction, Loki is in the Department of Mysteries, he has Steve."

"We'll get him back," Natasha said from the pillar to Draco's right, Harry turned and gave her a brief nod of understanding; he already knew that he was going to get Steve back, he didn't need for Natasha to confirm it.

"Where're Clint, Ron?" Harry asked, glancing around and looking for the rest of the team, however he couldn't see either of them. They were thin on the ground, they needed as many people to help them as possible but it seemed that that wasn't what was going to happen.

"They're down," Natasha said as Draco reflected another jet of green light as she rounded the corner and fired at the wizards; however, they were pretty skilled at their own defective charms it seemed.

"Alive?" Harry asked when Natasha failed to clarify any further. She was looking a little preoccupied, though he wasn't sure if it was because her bullets were getting through and hitting their targets or if because she was slowly running out of ammunition.

"Yes," Draco said, wanting to ease Harry's worry as he examined his injured shoulder. "Clint got hit by a stunner, he's over there, I put wards up around him. Ron's outside, again with wards; we had a little trouble getting inside and he got splinched."

"At least they're okay," Harry said with a sigh, hating that this mission had put people that he cared about in danger. People were getting hurt and there was nothing he could do to stop it and they had so much more to worry about, like why it had gone very quiet and no one was firing spells at them any more.

"Well that can't be good," Draco said, his whole body trembling a little at the shock of the sudden silence. There were no shouts of spells being fired, no gun shots, just nothing.

"Whatever happens, neither of you touch that box," Harry instructed in a harsh whisper. It was important that they both understood this, he didn't want either of them hurt, not least because they were the only allies that he had left.

"I should thank you, Harry," a horribly familiar voice said from out of the silence, giving Harry a rather sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, making him want to be sick. "The look of betrayal on your precious Captain America's face as I killed him was the most amusement I have had in months."

What did you think? Only two more chapters left of the story now. How do you think it's going to end? Don't forget to leave me a review and show your appreciation of the story because I do love to know what you think. :D