Chapter 1: Avengers Compound
"We're going to America this summer, dears." Mrs Ollivander, Sylvia and Matilda's adoptive mother told them as they got off the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 and 3/4, with Gerhaze Ollivander coming for them not far behind.
Fourth-year was great for Sylvia Ollivander – technically Black. Surprisingly, she had become the Ravenclaw Quidditch team captain after the previous captain, Hayden Rivers, graduated from seventh-year. Gerhaze, their older adoptive brother who was in seventh-year, had just finished his N.E.W.T.s exams. Their team won this year's Quidditch Cup, and came second in the House Cup – Hufflepuff came first – and Sylvia's end-of-year exams results were top of the class along with her best friends in the year, Tim Davies, Tiffany Toran, and Davina Sayre.
"Muggle America or Wizarding America?" Gerhaze asked curiously.
"Muggle America. Your father doesn't want to be stuck in a pile of wizards." Mother said. Yes, their father (adoptive), as you might have worked out by now, was the Garrick Ollivander, the best wand-maker in Britain, and probably in the whole world. This meant he was very famous. Mr Ollivander rarely leaves the small shop at Diagon Alley, especially after what happened in the Second Wizarding War, when he walked out of the shop and got kidnapped by Voldemort, the darkest wizard at that time.
Last year, which was their third-year, was way more eventful than the fourth. Sylvia and Matilda, after finding out they were obliviated in first-year, had finally found out who their true parents are. Sylvia was actually a Black, the daughter of Regulus Black and Martha Malfoy. She had discovered this during a visit to Number 12, Grimmauld Place that technically belonged to her, where she saw the family tree. While Matilda was a Potter, but hadn't found out who exactly her parents were yet. And that was not it. Sylvia discovered another part of her unique power in third-year, fire. She had started to see a pattern back then. Air and fire, there should be water and earth as well. It turned out to be right, she had managed water powers in fourth-year.
Going to Muggle America was one thing to look forward to in the two months' time of the summer holidays. Sylvia had picked up a thing or two while in the Muggle orphanage she had stayed for two years. Things about a billionaire by the name of Tony Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man, and a team named the Avengers that protects people from villains. Of course, she didn't take that as real things, not entirely real, anyway. Normal people with loads of money and a super brain who could build himself an iron suit to fly and fight is acceptable, agents and soldiers who have superhuman abilities from training is acceptable, but a man who could turn into a green troll and some gods interfering Earth is out of the line.
She never expected all of this to come real.
The Ollivander family took them to America via international Portkey, another kind of wizarding transport Sylvia didn't fancy too much, at the very start of the holidays because Mr Ollivander had to run the shop in August. They planned to visit the Avengers Compound, but never expected to meet the Avengers for real there.
The Avengers Compound was a huge building in the middle of a huge field. Everything inside was high-tech, much to their astonishment, especially for the wizards. They saw robots, or technically artificial intelligence, that does nearly everything.
When they arrived where the restaurant was, they came face to face with a man with long blond hair, a messy long beard, and a beer-belly. He was fiddling with an axe, which looked strangely like the Stormbreaker in the legends. There were multiple jars of wine at his table, all empty.
"Hi, sir." Matilda said with a nervous grin as the adults went to order food.
"Hullo," The man looked up, "I didn't know there're visitors today."
"What's your name?" Sylvia glared at the axe.
"Thor, Thor Odinson." He replied.
"Come again?" Matilda stared at him in disbelief.
"Thor, son of Odin, God of Thunder, y'know." He picked up a huge cup and finished the beer in it in five seconds.
"That can't be true," Sylvia breathed, "Are you sure you're not drunk, sir?"
"The hammer will prove it." The man who claimed to be Thor offered the axe. Both of them couldn't lift it, even when Matilda tried her steel powers, which made him stare, "Are you doing magic? I thought Midgardians can't..." Sylvia blinked and used her hands to fill one of the cups with water.
"So, you are Thor?" Matilda still couldn't believe it.
"The one and only." Thor responded, "And you are witches? Or should I say, Seiders?"
"Yeah..." Sylvia nodded.
"I thought you use wands." He muttered.
The girls exchanged shocked gazes. This man knew about the wizarding community.
"We can do wandless magic, well, not exactly wandless magic, more like powers." Sylvia said.
"Do you really live in Asgard?" Matilda asked.
"Nope, not anymore. Destroyed in Ragnarök. It's a place on Earth now. in case you ask, my brother, father, mother, and sister are all dead." Thor laid back on his chair.
"Wait, what?" Matilda was shocked with the news.
"Yeah. Mother's killed by dark elves, father faded away, my sister Hela broke out of prison, broke my hammer, took one of my eyes, and was destroyed with Asgard, and Loki's killed by Thanos. All dead." Sylvia gaped at this.
"But why don't you live with your people?" She asked.
"Tony made me come here to do a weird mission to bring everyone back. Everyone who was snapped."
"S-snapped?" Matilda stammered.
"By Thanos, the madman who believes he has to kill half of the universe to make it thrive. I aimed for the head and killed him though." Thor said.
"These are all real? We're not dreaming?" Matilda had to confirm.
"All true. And there comes Tony." They turned around to see a man walking to them.
"Better than last time." Tony Stark patted Thor on the back while looking at the pile of empty glasses and cans, "Who are you?" He looked at Sylvia and Matilda.
"They're Seiders, Man of Iron." Thor hiccupped.
"Yeah, and I'm a rabbit." Mr Stark responded, "I ask again, who are you?"
"I'm Sylvia Black and this is my adoptive sister Matilda Potter, we were Ollivanders but then we discovered our true names." Sylvia said calmly, "And yes, we are what Mr Thor calls Seiders."
"Call me Thor." Thor said, "They have powers, Tony, like Wanda."
"Wanda Maximoff?" Matilda asked, "Scarlet Witch?"
"Snapped." Tony said simply, "Call me Tony, Mr Stark makes me feel old. Thor? This had better not be a trick, I don't have time for this right now." The words were barely out of his mouth when Sylvia made a small force of wind rushing at Mr Stark, startling him, "Did someone turn the fan on? No one? Friday?"
"There are no fans in this room, sir." A female voice came from nowhere.
"Who's that? Another AI?" Sylvia asked.
"Named Friday, another weird name, I must say." Thor said.
"What do you mean, another weird name?" Mr Stark questioned, "JARVIS is just fine!"
"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, yeah, a very good name." Thor retorted.
"It was the best I could come up with. And just what kind of name is Stormbreaker?" Mr Stark shot back.
"I can say the same for Ultron." Thor grinned.
"Are they adults or not?" Sylvia leaned over and whispered to Matilda.
"Don't think so." Matilda sighed.
"What is this Thanos thing, anyway? A few wizards disappeared about five years ago, but we assumed it was trolls or dragons or chimaeras or something." Sylvia asked.
"Wizards?" Mr Stark stared at them, "Thanos is a purple mad Titan that gathered the Infinity Stones and killed half of the universe."
"Should we tell them?" Matilda looked at Sylvia.
"Just half of it, I suppose, since a God is here." She responded, "Okay, believe it or not, there is a hidden community of witches and wizards on Earth, which in Norse Myths is called Seiders. We have wands and can perform magic, and most of your 'imaginary' creatures are real. Unicorns, winged horses, dragons, hippogriffs, Basilisks, fairies, pixies, kelpies, Zowus, and phoenixes. All real. I can turn you into a real rabbit if you want, Mr Stark."
"What?" Mr Stark jumped, "Alright, rabbit me." Sylvia pulled out her wand and transformed the man into a dark brown rabbit in front of their eyes.
"You can do that with a wand?" Thor bent down to pet Tony-rabbit.
"Yup." Matilda flicked her wand and turned Mr Stark back.
"Can someone pinch me?" Mr Stark got up and Thor smacked him on the shoulder, "Ouch, not a dream."
"Thor said you're working on bringing everyone who were snapped back, how?" Sylvia asked.
"A time-machine to get all the stones." Mr Stark said.
"Why do you need to build a time machine?" Matilda asked before she could stop herself, "There're Time-Turners – oh."
"Tony." Mr Ollivander came over.
"Ah, Garrick. That's your child?" Mr Stark asked, looking at Gerhaze.
"Wait, you know each other?" Sylvia and Matilda said at the same time.
"We don't have visitors at this time." Mr Stark replied.
"So, you know about the Wizarding World?" Sylvia asked.
"And yes, Gerhaze is my son." Mr Ollivander told him proudly.
"You knew about the whole Avengers thing and never said anything?" She asked her adoptive father.
"Okay... how does this time machine thing work?" Matilda wondered.
"Do you want to see it?" Mr Stark walked to the door, "Scott's supposed to test out right now."
"Please?" Matilda turned to Mr and Mrs Ollivander.
"I suppose..." Mrs Ollivander frowned at the thought of Muggle Time-Turners. Mr Stark led them down to first-floor, but to the other side of the building, where a van stood in the middle of a huge hall. A few people were working.
"Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby." A man was saying.
"Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950's." A green giant guy responded.
"Excuse me?" The man in red and silver suit looked up.
"He's kidding." A redheaded woman chuckled, "You can't say things like that." She looked up to the giant.
"Just... it was, just a bad joke." The green guy replied.
"Kids, meet the Avengers – or what's left of it." Mr Stark announced to all of them.
"We're not exactly kids, I'll be of age in fourteen months." Sylvia sniffed.
"Tony?" The woman with red hair questioned.
"What are kids doing in the lab? I thought Peter's enough." The man asked.
"Peter?" Matilda pipped up, "I thought Peter Pettigrew's dead."
"Who?" The one in the silver and red suit asked.
"He means Peter Parker, Spider-man." Mr Stark told them, "That's Natasha or Black Widow, the man is Steve or Captain America, that's Ant-man Scott, and the green giant is Dr Banner or Hulk. People, these two are witches, Sylvia Black and Matilda Potter."
"You were kidding, right?" Natasha had to check again with Dr Banner.
"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." Dr Banner replied. "We're good! Get your helmet on." Dr Banner said and Scott got into position, "Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, but you'll walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Make sense?"
"Perfectly not confusing." Scott said.
"Good luck Scott. You got this." Steve called.
"You're right. I do, Captain America." Scott gave a grin and was sucked into the machine.
"On the count of three. 3... 2... 1..." Dr Banner pulled down a handle and Ant-man reappeared, only not in the same age. A teen was in the suit Scott was in.
"Guys? This doesn't feel right." The teen frowned.
"What's going on? Hold on." Dr Banner bent down to check the controller.
"Who's that?" Captain America asked.
"Is that Scott?" Natasha turned to the others.
"Yes, it's Scott." The teen said worriedly.
"Hold on." Dr Banner replied and pressed the button again, this time the suit returned with an old man inside it.
"Ooh! my back!" A very old Scott complained.
"What's this?" Steve asked.
"Hold on a second." Dr Banner went back to the controller, "Give me some space." He said as Cap move around to see.
"Can you bring him back?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm working on it!" Dr Banner snapped.
Suddenly, the suit appeared again, only with a baby in it.
"A baby." Natasha clarified.
"It's Scott." Dr Banner said.
"As a baby!" Natasha exclaimed.
"He will grow." Dr Banner said seriously.
"Bring Scott back." Steve called.
"When I say kill the power, kill the power." Dr Banner said urgently, "And... kill it!" Natasha killed the power and Scott returned, as the normal aged Scott.
"Someone peed in my pants," Scott said.
"Oh, thank god!" Natasha let a breath.
"I don't know if it was the 'baby' me or the 'old' me... or just 'me' me."
"Time travel!" Dr Banner announced and Steve sighed rather dramatically, "What? I see this as an absolute win."
"That was... cool." Matilda commented.
"Time-Turners are better." Sylvia said, "Wait, you're going to mess with time?" She suddenly exclaimed, horrified.
"That's exactly what we're doing." Mr Stark said.
"The last time I saw someone messing with time they destroyed the world," Matilda clarified, "They unknowingly killed the wizarding saviour from the past while trying to save a person they believe didn't need to be killed, and brought Voldemort back to life and the whole world's under his rule"
"You mess with time, time messes back," Sylvia agreed, "A lot with people have accidentally killed their past or future self."
"Our time rules are different." Mr Stark said unconvincingly, "Ever heard of multiverse?"
"Where in another universe I might be a normal doctor, and in some other universe I might turn into a yellow monster instead of green." Dr Banner said automatically.
"So, you have more than one time line." Matilda nodded slowly.
"And you're saving this one." Sylvia said.
"I miss Strange at these times." Mr Stark said.
"Who? Don't tell me it's Lestrange." Matilda groaned.
"No, Dr Strange, a wizard." Mr Stark told them, "Who's Lestrange?"
"A Slytherin git. There're no records of someone by the name of Strange in Hogwarts, only Lestrange." Matilda frowned.
"Master of Mythical Arts, as he calls himself." Thor pipped up.
"Never heard of it." Matilda said.
"I need a break." Steve sighed and walked out of the building.
"I've got something for him." Mr Stark said and followed.
"Okay, I've got to check again: so, you're using time-travel to create multiverse, when you change the past and doesn't change the future, get the Infinity Stones, and bring the other half of the universe back. Right?" Sylvia asked and Dr Banner nodded, "You guys are insane."
"I've never heard of such a crazy plan since my first-year." Matilda agreed.
"It's our only hope, it's a chance." Natasha said.
"I'm going to the kitchen." Dr Banner said and walked off.
"I'll have a break as well." Scott went outside.
"We'd better get going." Matilda suggested and dragged Sylvia away.
"Wait, what? We can help." Sylvia used a force of air to push her adoptive sister away as they arrived at the food hall.
"What do you mean, we can help?" Matilda stared at her blankly, "We're in the holidays right now, school starts in two months' time. We're going back to Britain!"
"We have powers, they need more people." Sylvia protested, "Besides, I don't think we should stay with the Ollivanders now that we know who we are. We can go to Grimmauld, or other Black possessions. Don't you see? We're not part of the Ollivander family. We never were. There's a chance of doing better things than staying in a school that sees people by their heritage, my mother was killed because she married a Black and they don't want me to grow up as a Black-Malfoy! I'm helping, whether you like it or not."
"You're just gonna go? Without saying anything?" Matilda asked.
"I'll go back for the last time, and that's it. The Trace doesn't work on us, I can Apparate, no one will really know." Sylvia softened.
"What about me? What about us?" Matilda looked close to crying.
"You can come as well if you want, there's an even bigger chance of finding who your parents are here." Sylvia said.
"I'll think about it. It's no rash decision." Matilda sighed, "But how will you convince them that you'll help?"
"I have a suspicion, and my suspicions usually turns out to be true." Sylvia smiled.