Hello All! Welcome to another Chapter of This Gonna Be Good!
As usual I would like to take a moment to address that were brought up in the comments.
Fire and foremost, for those of you saying I forgot Peitro. I know! I did it on purpose! ;) MANY, MANY of you asked to see the Maximoff twins in this fic and I agreed however what I was originally going to do was just have Harri send them to the professor and leave it at that. This would not have them stick in the story and I don't believe Harriet would be very open to accepting them beyond that what with their hatred of Tony. However, now Wanda can get her head on straight off screen and then search for the one who rescued her for help to save her brother, something Harri will be able to relate to. This will hopefully give the Maximoff twins more staying power in the story rather than just a cameo. So, that will happen next summer(story timeline wise).
Secondly, I had one negative review for last chapter and that's fine, however what was brought up in that review is probably running through some of your heads as well but you didn't want to say it, so I will clear things up. The review said: "I found the Marauders inaction and griping while at the Hydra base to be irritating, frankly unbelievable and VERY out of character for all three of them. This made enjoying that portion of the chapter quite hard. These are three men who were involved in a war over ten years ago. Even if the events and battles of that war did not change their attitudes of stun and capture then the years afterward should have. After all one of them was in prison for a crime he didn't commit, the second was drugged into a barely alert state and the third is a freaking werewolf. Given these characters' pasts and what they have been through their lack of action and accusational comments while at the Hydra base simply don't fit."
Alright guys, so before I go into that I want to tell you that if you have things you don't like about the story you can tell me. I either have a reason for it(whether to further the story or a personal headcannon) and will explain or I honestly forgot about something. In this case it is the first is true. In regards to the inaction, yes, that is VERY out of character for the Marauders however Harri didn't really give them a chance to do anything. After James' slip up in the hall she and Loki took care of everything quickly and efficiently. During the last war they were all well in Dumbledore's web and wouldn't do anything to go against the man let alone kill as anything but a last resort. Sirius, though he was in prison, held onto Dumbledore's ideology even after that because he was so afraid of turning into his family, the only person he's ever wanted to kill was Peter and that was because he caused deaths of his pseudo brother, and Azkaban certainly wouldn't have made him a hardened criminal, from what we see in the movies that prison is made solely of solitary confinement cells, one of the cruelest ways of being imprisoned(look up Adam Ruins Prison to see why solitary confinement is bad), it would make him insane but not necessarily murderous. James was kept in a drugged state, yes, but I fail to see how that would make him willing to kill. He never knew the war ended, he didn't know how things had changed, he didn't have time to see that maybe Dumbledore's way of thinking wouldn't last. He still had faith in Dumbledore and his ways until Harriet told her what happened in the last timeline. And Remus, Remus being a werewolf is why is afraid to kill in my eyes, he wouldn't want that temptation for Moony to become 'wild', he is hesitant of anything that would encourage him losing himself to his instincts. So, while yes, it was very annoying of them this is why I have made them as they are in this story.
There rant done.
All that being said, I'm not terribly happy with how the confrontation with the Marauders went. I rewrote it four times and this was the best of the lot. *sigh*
Enjoy!
Disclaimer in Ch. 1. Will add as needed.
"Let me get this straight." Lee said from where he was sitting at the table with the twins, Tony, Luna, and Sleipnir, "Harriet Potter, Fred and George's itty bitty soul mate, has gone to the secret base of an evil military organization to retrieve her brother who was brainwashed and is being held captive by them?"
"Yep." Tony said, looking amused.
"How is she able to do that?" Lee exclaimed, "I mean yeah she's pretty advanced in her magic but how can she take on armed men? And how is she even using her magic out of school anyway?" at Tony's amused look he deflated, "I'm not allowed to know yet huh?"
"I'm sure you'll be able to know soon." Sleipnir said with a smile.
Lee dropped his head to the table with a huff, "No, not until I perfect Occlumency."
"What's Occlumency?" Tony asked.
Lee's head came up off the table like a shot and he stared at Tony, "You don't know?" the genius shook his head, "And Harri told you?" Tony nodded and Lee's face drew into a pout, "Why can you know without learning it?"
"Because I'm a genius." Tony said with a smirk.
"How does that help protect your mind!" Lee exclaimed.
Luna turned to the twins as Lee, Tony, and Sleipnir continued arguing. "How are you two taking this?" she asked, her eyes clearer than normal.
"We knew our mate…"
"was badass but…"
"we didn't think it…"
"went this far." The twins responded.
Luna inclined her head and eyed them, "And?"
Fred and George shared a glance, "Our mate is awesome. We'll support her in whatever she does."
Luna's gaze never wavered from them, making the twins start to feel a little wary, "You have only known her for ten months. What if she does something you don't agree with?"
Fred frowned but George cocked an eyebrow, "Is that likely? She's our soulmate."
"Harriet does many things, some seem a little questionable, but they are all for the good of her family and you two." Luna said evenly.
Fred nodded, "We would hear her reasoning. We're pretty likely to do things she won't like either."
Luna's mouth quirked up, "She's on a bit of a different level than wild pranks."
George rubbed the back of his neck, "With the way we acted just because of some trash talking from Ron I don't think we'll be too far behind."
"I'm positive Harri will not be angry at you two for punching Ron in the face." Luna said with a small smile, the twins smirked. Luna's expression flipped and the twins felt the chill of fear go down their spines, "That being said, I will be very angry at you if you break my big sister's heart." Luna said, her eyes frighteningly clear and her voice low, "I am a seer and I will do all in my power to destroy you if you break my big sister."
The twins pressed into each other's sides as they stared down at the terrifying little blonde girl, "Got it." They gulped.
Luna's eyes went out of focus again and a serene smile made its way on her face, "Good." She stood up and walked around the table to stand staring at the rest of the ballroom.
Sleipnir bounced up from his seat, "What is it? Is mother coming back?"
"Yes," Luna said airily, "Sleipnir you'll need to drag the other three away."
Sleipnir cocked his head, "Has something happened?"
"Just a difference in leadership styles." Luna said, waving him off. Sleipnir nodded and stood by Luna as the rest at the table got up to stand behind them.
Blue flames burst to life in front of them and swirled into a large dome before dispersing, leaving six people in its place. Sleipnir didn't hesitate, he wrapped his magic around the three Marauders who were around Harri and drug them backward as Loki put away his spear and laid Bucky on the ground. Harri threw her hood off and knelt by Bucky's head as Tony rushed over with his tools and the new arm; Harriet flicked her wand over Bucky's form, running the standard diagnostics to see what she would need as Tony examined the metal arm and how it connected.
"Will you have any problems?" Harri asked Tony as she read over the list of injuries Bucky had collected from his most recent mission. It wasn't bad, he hadn't been fighting or anything drastic, just taking out a few targets, but at one point he must have landed wrong because he had a cracked rib and several cuts that littered his body. The rest was more geared toward the problems the cryo-chamber had caused. Harriet snapped her fingers and one of her LeFay house elves appeared with a bag of medical potions.
"No problem." Tony said as he opened the maintenance vents on the arm, "I just have to find the release, mine should fit on no problem." Harri nodded shortly as she pulled out a mild pain potion, Skele-Grow, a general healing potion, and a nutrition potion before beginning to administer the potions.
"Harriet!" James called from where he and Sirius were being held back, Remus was just watching with wide eyes, "We need to talk young lady!"
"A little busy!" Harri snapped, not moving her eyes from her brother.
"No! I won't have you going around killing people!" James bit back, his eyes hard. The twins and Lee tensed, their eyes going to Harriet.
Harri glared up at her father, "This conversation will still be here once I make sure Bucky is on the mend." She caught sight of her mates out of the corner of her eyes and went rigid at their disbelieving looks. Harri forced herself to look back down at Bucky, "This first." She muttered, Glacia screeching in the back of her head to gather up the real members of her flock and take them to safety.
"Harriet!" Tony said urgently, she looked up from her work to see he was gazing down into the arm in horror. "They put in a bomb. It's started count down."
Harri cursed, "Can you disarm it? Or take the arm off before it blows?"
"If I take the arm off it will blow before we can get rid of it." Tony said, as he examined the bomb, "The countdown is two short for me to attempt taking it apart. Hydra may be scum but they do know how to make a good bomb."
Harriet pursed her lips and looked up at Loki who had been watching everything, "Loki, can you help?"
Loki's helmet and heavier armor melted away and he went to his knees next to Tony, "What do you need Harriet?"
"I need you to rip the arm off and throw it as far as you can down the ballroom, I'll put up the containment shield and it will take most of the blast." Harri said as she settled her knees on Bucky's shoulders to brace him. "Luna!" the blonde came over and sat on Bucky's legs, Harri nodded and looked to Loki who was moving Tony out of the way.
"It will short out as soon as its free from the base." Tony said, "So pull and throw fast there Lokes."
Loki nodded and rested a hand on Bucky's chest while grabbing the metal arm by the wrist, "Ready?" Harri nodded, wand at the ready. Loki pulled the arm away with a single harsh twist, making Bucky arch against their holds in pain, before throwing it far down the ballroom, Harri's shield going around it just a second before it exploded. The force shook the room despite the shield around it, the fire within burning strong and fast before black smoke took over.
Harri let out a sigh of relief as she let up her hold on Bucky, "Thank you Loki." The God inclined his head as he moved out of the way for Tony to continue, now just having to take away the bits that had stuck to the base plate. Harriet went about the task of getting the last two potions into Bucky.
"Wait…"
"Loki?" the twins asked, "As in…"
"God of Mischief Loki?" they looked to Sleipnir when they were ignored, the boy just grinned and nodded before running over to his mother. The twins looked at the God in awe, even more so when they saw that the God seemed to be subconsciously edging toward Harriet almost protectively.
Harriet let out a breath as she got the last potion down Bucky's throat, he would need more to get him back to full health and to get rid of the side effects of cryo as well as extensive time with her in his head to comb through the memories and destroy the programming but for now he was okay. She kept her eyes locked on the man in her lap as she steeled herself for the talk to come. She wasn't sure why her mates were here so early but she couldn't and wouldn't deny the accusations her father threw at her. Harri bit her lip, the look she had caught on their faces when James yelled at her about the killing was going to haunt her, she was sure.
"Harriet." Came a soft voice, she looked up at Loki, he cocked his head toward the Marauders and she sighed before nodding. Harri conjured a pillow to put under Bucky's head before she stood and faced the Marauders with her arms crossed and all of her emotions locked tight behind her Occlumency walls.
"Say your piece." She said coldly, she saw the twins flinch at the sound of her deadened voice. Her heart ached but she knew she wouldn't be able to handle this if her emotions were running wild.
James and Sirius matched her stance but certainly not her emotionless façade. "What in Merlin's name where you thinking! Killing those people?! Stunning them would have worked!" James exclaimed, "How can you just kill them like that? What if they had been innocent? We could have turned them in or something!"
Harri's jaw clenched and she turned her gaze to Sirius, "And you?"
"I just can't believe that you would kill those people. You didn't even give them a chance!" Sirius said, doing a rather good impression of Dumbledore's disappointed face, enough for Harriet's anger to crack at her shields. "I mean they were just muggles! They didn't stand a chance! They were just following orders."
Harri let them stew for a second, making sure they had gotten it out of their system, before she began, "I have not nor will I ever enjoy killing." She stated flatly, "However I will do so to keep my family safe now and in the future." Her eyes narrowed at her father, "And don't you dare, for one second, think that I would just go around killing innocents. I'm not Voldemort!" she hissed, "Those people there at Hydra know exactly what they are getting into when they join, you don't get to be the most notorious Nazi Terrorist organization in the world without what you stand for being advertised to all who look you up. Those people want to kill the real innocents, overthrow governments, take over the world. None of them are going in blind, none who have taken their oath are innocent. So there is no way in hell I'm letting them stick around to cause more havoc or attack us later. Did you even listen when I told you that they were who we fought against the most last time? The ones who Bucky and Cap were fighting even back in World War 2?"
"We could have just brought them in." James grumbled, "They wouldn't have been a threat here."
Harriet's eyes narrowed, "What exactly do you hear when I talk to you?" she snapped, "I told you they would snap their suicide caps the second we captured them! Would you have blamed me for that too?" James flinched, "You need to understand something. Right. Now. Hydra agents would rather die than compromise their precious cause." She sneered the word cause, showing what she thought of their mission, "They will steal for their cause, kill for their mission, commit atrocities that are still written about by muggles today to bring about their envisioned world so they sure as hell will die to keep knowledge of that away from their enemies."
"They're just muggles." Sirius repeated, "They didn't stand a chance!"
The feathers in Harri's hair started to flame, she couldn't believe they were still arguing this, "Really Sirius? Are they just muggles? I hadn't noticed." Harri snapped uncharitably.
"Do. Not. Underestimate. Muggles." Tony jumped in, coming to stand next to Harriet definitely, "We've made war an art form. I should know. I was called the Merchant of Death. I made weapons. Weapons that could kill hundreds in seconds and those were just the ones I was allowed to sell."
"And the typical wizards and witches have no way to protect against it." Harri said, "Do you even know what it takes to make a standard protego bullet proof? Not my advanced shield but the simple one. The one most magicals would whip out first in reflex? Way too much magic. And only enough to protect from one standard round from a hand gun but that's it. That doesn't even take into account higher caliber bullets, armor piercing rounds, grenades, bombs, missiles, and everything else that muggles have come up with to wage war against each other."
"You three want to leave power like that to live another day? To threaten real innocents again?" Loki asked, stepping up on the other side of Harriet, leaving Sleipnir and Luna to watch over Bucky. "You want to scold Harriet for taking out those she KNOWS will be threats to us in the future?" Sirius and James flinched, Remus shrunk back.
Harriet kept her back straight, her head up, "There are no second chances for the guilty. I learned that last time when a certain rat escaped after I spared his life, only to pop up a year later to kill a friend and help the Dark Lord rise again. In fact, the only reason I haven't killed him already myself is because you guys said you wanted to take care of him." Harri clamped down on her own disappointment and took comfort in the family on either side of her as she delivered her ultimatum, "You have a choice," she began as her flames rose around herself, Loki, Sleipnir, Luna, Bucky, and Tony, ready to take them away as she knew she wouldn't be able to stay with her fathers like this. "You can believe and accept that I kill to keep my family safe now and in the future and continue on with me or we can break off knowing that if you ever present yourself as a threat to my family or myself in any way, I will take you out of the equation." She stated flatly, "Next time we see each other, make it clear." She growled, her flames arched high around them with a dull roar, easily accepting Lee and the twins as they ran to her, before they disappeared from Potter manor, leaving behind the three Marauders.
When the flames disappeared the group was in a strange rounded room with marble floors that's walls and ceiling were just undulating mists of a steel gray color. The twins looked at Harriet whose Occlumency shields were starting to loosen enough for her to feel, they felt something close to panic grip them when Harriet looked at them with uncertain and sad eyes that held just a hint of resigned acceptance. "I can send you back." She said quietly, her voice wavering slightly.
Fred and George didn't hesitate, they swept forward and wrapped Harri in a hug. "We aren't going anywhere." They murmured, Harriet melted into their embrace with a soft whine at those words, making them hold her tighter.
Tony cleared his throat, making the twins look up at him but not let Harriet go, only allowing her to spin in their arms to face her brother. "I know you need some…time." He said awkwardly, "But we need to get Barnes here settled so I can put his new arm on properly."
Harri wiped at her eyes quickly and nodded, "Right, sorry."
"Where are we?" Loki asked, he was over at one of the walls poking at the thick mists that seemed solid up close. Three pops alerted them to the arrival of house elves, Loki looked down and raised an eyebrow, "Peri?"
"Daisy?" Tony questioned, seeing the closest elf.
"Master Tony!" the small house elf exclaimed as Peri went over to dust at Loki's armor, chiding him for getting it bloody. "You has come to see LeFay Castle! Daisy is so glad youse here!"
Lee looked around with a frown, "No offence but this doesn't seem like much of a castle."
The third elf, an older and stern looking female eyed Lee before looking to Harriet, "Welcome to LeFay Castle young Lady LeFay. The castle has been in lock down since the death of Lady Petra LeFay almost a century ago. The preservation mists as well as the castles personalization magic have built up to what you see now. If you put your bare skin on the floor beneath you the personalization magic will change this castle to your preferences."
Everyone looked at the well-spoken elf with poorly concealed shock except for Harriet who was levitating herself slightly as she pulled her boots free of her feet, "Thank you Dianna. I'm aware of how to control the Castle. Please have a light lunch prepared now and dinner by six. The rooms will settle quickly, send a few elves over to Potter Manor to collect all of the electronic equipment from there and bring them here to set up in the common room in the family wing and the stuff from my room in the Queen Suite. Also send someone to grab my clothes and personal effects. Peri, Daisy, which room belongs to who should be rather obvious so bring over what Loki, Sleipnir, and Tony will need once its settled. Dianna I will be assigning Lin to Bucky, have her go to Potter Manor and transfer what he will need over here." Harriet put her feet back on the floor, magic pulsed through the marble and up into the mists around them. The mists began to undulate and colored lights swirled through them before all of the mists blew backward in one harsh movement, revealing a huge marble floored foyer with a grand staircase leading up into the rest of the castle.
"Yes Lady LeFay." All three elves said, bowing before they popped away.
Harri went to pick up Bucky but again Loki beat her to it and picked him up to lay over his shoulder with ease, Harri nodded at him and led the group up the staircase to the rest of the castle. Everyone only caught glimpses of the various areas they were passing as Harri led them deep into the castle. "What's with all those ledges and holes in the walls up high?" Lee asked as his eyes darted around, trying to take everything in.
"One of my brothers likes to crawl around in vents and perch in high places." Harri said, "Obviously castles don't have actual ventilation systems like muggle buildings but since the castle responds to my preferences I made artificial ones for him." Lee nodded in understanding.
Finally, Harri led them to double doors that had a large LeFay crest in the center of them. Harri pulled the door open and led them in, "This is the family wing, where we'll be staying. It's three floors. Only the bottom two have suites available. The ones already made up for family members are marked." She looked to Lee and the twins, "You can pick any of the others."
"Like the twins won't be staying with you." Tony snorted, the twins blushed and Harri rolled her eyes with a small smile playing on her lips.
"They can stay where they like." She responded nonchalantly, the twins' gazes shot toward her.
They were interrupted by a grunt from Loki followed by a thud, Harri spun to see Bucky running back toward the doors of the family wing in a panic. She cursed in parseltongue and quickly ran around the group and toward Bucky. Him being disoriented and off balance with only one arm helped her catch up in no time. She jumped at him and locked one leg around his torso and the other over his good arm before flipping around him and dropping him to the floor with the move Natasha had taught her. Harri landed sitting on his chest, he instantly reached up with his good arm to grab her by her throat and rolled them so he was over Harriet, she growled and managed to get her feet up enough to kick him in the stomach. His hold loosened and gave Harri enough of an opening to cast another sleep spell, he growled and fought it this time, but it gave Harri time to actually pull her wand for George's stronger super soldier version of the stunner which quickly put Bucky on his back. Harri stood and sighed as she began to wave her wand around Bucky in a complicated pattern to put him into a magical coma.
"Holy shit!" Harri looked up to see Fred, George, and Lee staring at her with wide eyes. She started to close off her emotions but Fred and George exclaimed, "That was awesome!" Harri blinked.
"Why did your spell wear off?" Loki asked curiously.
"He's a super soldier, regular defense spells only work when they are already vulnerable." Harri said with a sigh, "I didn't think he'd be well enough to throw it off so quickly after the mission he was on and the wipe." She stood up and levitated a now comatose Bucky, "I've put him in a coma now. He won't wake up until I take it off. It will be better for him to remain like that for a little while after my first rearranging of his mind anyway."
"You have to mess with his mind?" Tony asked as the group once again followed her down the hall, they got to the very end before they stopped at a door that had a steel gray circle with a red star in the center on it.
"Yes, I will have to help him through all his memories but right now, so he can relax a little, I will be locking the Soldier's memories up and bringing his original memories forward before suppressing as much of the programming as possible and tying up the triggers Hydra implanted with new reactions so the programing won't take back control should he ever hear the trigger phrases." Harriet said.
Tony blinked, "Wow, you can do that?"
"Yes." Harri said with a small smile. She opened the door and led everyone in to a sitting room that only she knew had weapons stashed in every corner so Bucky would never be without one, of course she would have to add some guns later as the castle didn't currently have any in its armory to pull from. Harri led them further, into the bed room that had a queen size bed done up in grays and reds as the center of the room but also included a fire place, a full bathroom, a walk in closet, and a hidden door that would lead him to his own personal armory when opened. Harri set Bucky down on the bed and Tony immediately went over to his armless side with the replacement.
Harriet took off her jacket so she would be comfortable for the long legilimency session she was going to be doing and smirked to herself when she heard familiar sharp inhales once her tight battle suit was revealed. She heard Lee mutter, "Hot damn." Before yelping at two smacks to the back of his head. Harri gave a smug smile as she conjured a hair tie and pulled her messy mane up into a bun, it was nice to know even after earlier and in her younger form she elicited such responses from her mates.
She spun to them with an innocent look on her face, noting their red faces and how they were suddenly very interested in the ceiling. Harri looked over to Loki who was watching with amusement "Legilimency doesn't take a lot of physical or magical strength but it does take quite a lot of mental power. I will most likely go to bed as soon as I'm done, something that will take maybe a couple hours considering how his mind is right about now. You don't have to wait around if you don't want to. The castle is free reign for you to explore except for already taken rooms in this wing, your room is on the floor below this one, the common room is above us." She looked to Sleipnir, "You can stay with your mother or take one of the empty rooms. Either one is fine." Harri looked to Lee and the twins, "You can claim one of the unclaimed rooms as well." Harriet turned to Tony, "Your room is on the floor below and is connected to your lab space here. It doesn't have much in it but your welcome to bring over whatever you want, you'll just have to adjust it to run on magic. Questions?" she asked, looking around only to see shaking heads and she nodded, "Alright."
Harri climbed onto the bed next to Bucky, only stopping long enough to glance over at Tony's progress before she gently spelled Bucky's eyes open and locked eyes with him. She pushed forward into his mind easily and had the sensation of falling before she dropped into a blank space. Out in the real world, she knew she was just hovering over Bucky with their eyes locked but to her she seemed to be in a room that was made of obsidian. It was rather uncomfortable but she assumed that this is what his mind looked like after a wipe.
Harriet gathered her magic and pushed outward steadily until the obsidian walls began to crack, with one strong push it collapsed completely and chaos exploded around Harriet. Memories flew past her and she stood strong against them, not wanting to be pushed out of Bucky's mind. Once the memories settled into place around her Harriet began to long task of sorting the memories around her, knowing that she would need to get past all of them before she could find Bucky's center, where his personality from before and the Winter Soldier programming would be fighting for dominance.
At first, all Harriet got was the horrific memories of the Soldier; missions, kills, being wiped, reprogramming, torturous arm up grades, brutal training, and punishments by Hydra agents when he had made one of his few mistakes. Harriet made Bucky's mind a simple three drawer file cabinet for her sorting, she put these Solider memories down in the bottom without looking too closely so she could focus instead of getting overly emotional. Pieces of information that Bucky had learned that were important enough to have split from the memories like his knowledge of weapons, hand to hand combat, languages, and technology, Harri put in the second drawer. The first one she was keeping for his memories of before the Soldier, they were still frighteningly few.
Harriet didn't know how long she had been in Bucky's mind but she eventually found the better memories, the memories of the time before. Harri laughed with some of the memories, memories of the Howling Commandos and of Steve, memories of the pretty dames he had danced and flirted with, memories of his mother. Harri lovingly stored those in the top of the file cabinet for easy access. Finally, she was finished sorting through the memories and she locked the drawer with the Solider memories. Those would have to be gone through slowly and sorted further to help him deal with them better.
With the field of memories finally cleared Harriet could see a with door with a red star on it which she knew would lead her to Bucky's center. She went to it quickly and pulled it open without hesitation. Entering she found the younger Bucky fighting against the Soldier Bucky helplessly in the middle of old fashioned barracks. Harri growled, a sound loud enough to draw both Bucky's attentions. She planted herself in place and made sure she exuded authority, "Stand down Soldier." She ordered in a flat dangerous tone.
Instantly the Solider released Bucky and stood next to his gasping form at attention, "Handler acknowledged. Asset awaits orders." He said, his voice monotone.
"At ease." Harri said, "Await further orders."
"Order acknowledged." The Solider said, falling into parade rest.
Harri nodded and walked over to the younger Bucky, she pulled him up and with a wave of her free hand changed the room to match the sitting room out in the real world, the Solider didn't react to the change at all. Harri dragged Bucky over to the couch and sat him down, "Easy Bucky, breathe. Deep breath in." she directed, he drew in a full breath, "And out, slowly." He let out the breath as long as he could, turning a little shaky near the end. "Good, again." She stayed and rubbed his back until he was calm.
After he was breathing steady he looked up at Harri in confusion, "What…what's going on? Who are you?" he looked over at the Soldier, "How did you get him to stop? I've been fighting him for…a long time."
"I know Bucky; you won't have to fight him anymore." She soothed, "I just made him see me as his handler."
Bucky blinked and focused back on her, "And who are you?" he asked, "Where are we?"
"I'm Harriet, I'm a friend." She answered, "As for where we are, we are in your mind." She tilted her head toward the Solider, "He's the embodiment of the programming that Hydra forced on you."
Bucky blinked again and rubbed at his head, "When they…wiped me?" Harri nodded, "And how are you in my head?"
"I'm a witch." Harri said with a soft smile, "Like you and Steve met near the beginning of your deployment."
"Steve!" Bucky yelped, shooting to his feet. "Where is he?" he demanded.
Harri stood as well and held up her hands, "Whoa there Bucky, calm down."
"I can't calm down!" Bucky yelled, "Last thing I remember…what's the last thing I remember? The train?" his face scrunched up, "No, its…"
"Enemy Steven Grant Rodgers known as Captain America. Status: deceased. Cause: plane crash." The Soldier supplied unhelpfully.
"What?!" Bucky yelped.
"Ten hut!" Harriet commanded, Bucky immediately snapped to attention. Harri narrowed her eyes at him, "You will sit. You will listen. Then and only then will you react. Am I understood?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Bucky shouted in return.
Harri's face fell into amusement, "At ease Sergeant."
Bucky shook himself and frowned at her, "Why did you do that?"
Harri cocked an eyebrow at him, "You were freaking out. Luckily, you army boys have that reaction drilled into you."
Bucky let out a breath and chuckled, "I guess." He said as he dropped onto the couch.
Harri sat back down with a smile, "Steve, contrary to popular belief, is not dead. He is currently being defrosted by Shield after he was frozen in the arctic." Bucky opened his mouth to ask something but closed it at Harri's look, "Now, I know you've had some awareness of your time with Hydra but it has been seventy some years since you fell from the train." Bucky's eyes widened, "There is quite a lot for us to go over later but right now I wanted to make sure you knew you were safe and out of Hydra's hands. We can talk about everything else when you wake up. Currently I have your physical body in a coma to help your healing and I will wake you in a couple days once you have rested correctly. Alright?"
Bucky nodded solemnly before he bit his lip, "What about him?" he whispered, pointing over to the Solider.
Harri smiled, "He is now a part of you, but I'm going to suppress him so he can't forcibly take control and adjust the triggers so he can't get out with that."
"Triggers?" Bucky asked in alarm.
Harri nodded, "Triggers, phrases to make the Programming reassert itself. I'm going to cut them from that particular function and attach them to a different set of commands so they won't be able to order you to do anything."
Bucky frowned and eyed her warily, "What kind of different commands?"
Harri smiled at him calmly, "Bucky, I promise you that I will never hurt you or cause you to hurt others. I consider you and Steve part of my family, I would never take advantage of family like that." She said solemnly, he studied her for several seconds before nodding, "As for the commands," she continued, "I was going to have the programming still reassert its self but instead of asking for orders I was going to have the command be to get to a safe, defendable location and wait for one of our family before letting you resurface. Does that sound doable? Or would you like to change something."
Bucky looked to consider that, "That sounds good but can you make it so I don't hurt anyone in the process? I don't think I would be able to handle it if I managed to get to safety at the expense of others."
Harri gave him a soft smile, "I can make that happen, but I will make sure that doesn't apply to those who attempt to hurt you or Hydra agents."
Bucky's face hardened, "Good." He growled, "Those assholes deserve it."
Harri nodded as she stood up, "They sure do." She said flatly as she moved over to the Soldier, she put her hand on his shoulders and let her magic wash over him. The form of Bucky's current physical appearance disappeared into an undulating tangle of threads, Harri huffed at the mess the muggles made of mind control. With her plan in mind she started in; she cut out the undesirable pieces and reshaped certain parts, with the Triggers she cut off the command threads and created new ones with the new commands in their places. Once she was done she double checked that everything was as it was supposed to be before she pulled out the pieces she had cut and incased them in a sphere of her phoenix ice, the sphere wouldn't be able to be broken by anything less than a fire phoenix. That done, Harriet pulled her magic out of the programming and let it reform with a grin on her face as the new form became clear.
"What the hell?!" Bucky exclaimed as Harriet calmly went to put the ice sphere down on one of the coffee tables. "What did you do to it?"
Harri looked over to him innocently, "To make sure you won't have to fight for dominance in your own body it had to be weaker than you."
"I guess…but why did you make it that?" Bucky asked in exasperation and a healthy dose of embarrassment as he pointed to the little embodiment of the Soldier.
Harri smiled and picked up the little creature; it was Bucky but he was only about a foot tall with paws instead of hands and feet, even his metal arm ended in a paw. His face still looked blank and dangerous but he had an adorable nose and wide eyes above the muzzle. On his head were two pointy gray ears and a ringed tail rose from his back. "I saw a picture of our family as these little creatures once, it was drawn by a fan. They were cute." She held out the creature to Bucky, "Isn't he adorable?"
The man stepped back at the murderous look on the little creatures face, "No!"
Harri laughed and stroked at the Soldier's ears, she smiled as the little thing closed its eyes and gave a purr, "Aw, Bucky, he's part of you. You have to at least get along with him." She walked over to set the little creature down on the couch gently, "Besides, who would be afraid of the Winter Soldier like that?"
Bucky eyed the creature like it was grenade that was going to blow, his head snapped around when he heard the door open. "Wait, where are you going!?"
Harri looked back at him and smiled, "Bucky you need to rest. I just reordered your mind and you've not had real sleep in over seventy years. Just relax. You don't have to fight the Soldier anymore, your safe. I'm going to leave your mind or I will interfere with the resting. I promise I will wake you up in two days. Alright?"
Bucky fidgeted slightly and the Soldier stared at her blankly, "Swear on your magic. The witches we met talked about that. You will have to keep your word."
Harri smiled softly, "I swear on my magic I will wake up James Buchanan Barnes from his magical coma two sunrises from now." She glowed slightly as it took and he relaxed a little before nodding, "Alright Bucky, sleep well." She stepped out and closed the door before letting herself be drawn back into her body, letting Bucky's eyes close once she was out.
Harriet moaned a little as she straightened from her kneeling position, her legs were asleep and her back ached from being in that position so long. Instantly she felt arms around her and she gave a startled squeak as she was lifted completely from the bed. She blinked as she looked up at Fred before a blush spread across her face, Fred chuckled, "Hello dearest."
George came up next to his brother near Harriet's feet so she could see him, "Have a nice trip?"
Harri smiled tiredly as her fatigue started to roll over her, "Can't complain. The in-flight snack was terrible though." The twins laughed. Harri looked around the room to see that it was empty, which she expected, "How long was I in there?"
"Well it's a quarter 'til seven…"
"so about five and a half hours." The twins said.
Harri winced, "That's longer than I expected."
"Shall we take you to your room then?" Fred asked, gripping her slightly tighter.
Harri's blush come back, "That would be appreciated." She said softly.
The twins nodded and George grabbed her jacket from where she had left it, "Tell us where to go Harriet." Fred said as he walked from Bucky's rooms, George closing the door behind them.
"Upstairs." Harri murmured, her eyelids starting to droop.
Fred and George looked down at their beautiful half asleep mate and smiled softly. They slowly made their way up stairs so they didn't jostle Harriet, at this point they were roughly the same height so Fred had to be careful with that. They made it up the stairs and found themselves in a large common room that had floor to ceiling windows on two sides and several large comfortable looking couches were in a half circle along the only wall that was made of stone, it had several pieces of muggle equipment that Harriet had mentioned to them before attached to the wall and on shelves beneath it.
The twins walked through this area, giving it only a quick glance as they proceeded to the far wall where a small hall led them to three more steps and a smaller set of double doors. These doors were marked just like the others but the picture of this one was of two foxes sitting back to back but with their heads turned toward each other, a stylized phoenix rose above them with its tail feathers falling between them. The twins shared a look at that but pushed the doors open regardless.
They stepped into a grand sitting room with plush furniture settled around a large fire place, the walls were covered in bookshelves that were packed full. Across the room was another small staircase done in warm toned wood with a door at the top and a door behind the staircase. Not sure which one to go for, George opened the one underneath the stairs first, the twin's eyes widened when they found a replica of the lab Harriet had shown them in them at Hogwarts. They closed that door, their minds racing, and climbed the small staircase to the second door.
This was the bedroom.
The bed was enormous, easily a full Emperor sized bed with deep red bedding that had gold shot through it and several pillows. Across from the bed was a large fire place that currently empty with a marble mantle across the top that held several odd looking trinkets and above that was another of the muggle devices, what Harriet had called a TV, attached to the wall. To the left of the fireplace was several long windows that were currently covered with thick curtains. To the right of the fireplace were three more doors before there was a small sitting area and glass double doors that led out to a balcony that Fred and George couldn't quiet see through the thinner curtains hanging over the doors. The floors were a dark hardwood but had a few plush wine red carpets strategically placed around the bed.
"I think we've just stepped into a catalogue." George muttered in amazement as he took in the room.
Harri giggled, drawing the twins' attention to her, "Morgana had a high standard of living. Even with my own preferences controlling it, this is as simple as it will go." She smiled sleepily at them, her going a little unfocused, "Fred, can you set me down? I need to go shower the blood off."
He blinked but nodded and set her down on the edge of the bed, she stood carefully and started off toward the bathroom. "Harriet." George called, she turned around at the first door, "Do you want us to go or…" they left the sentence to actually trail off this time.
Harri smiled at them, "If you two are comfortable with it I'd like for you to stay but it's your choice." With that she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door gently.
Fred and George looked at each other as they weighed things over in their joined minds. In the end it was too good of an opportunity to waste, they had missed Harriet so much even with only having been away from her for two weeks and she needed a bit of reassurance that they weren't going to leave after the revelation that she had killed people. They didn't particularly like the thought of their mate killing but for them it was more of a problem with the effect it had on her, they had understood the explanation she had given the three they assumed had been the Marauders and agreed with her; they had both known without a doubt that they would do the same if it was her safety in question. They were actually a bit disappointed with their idols for not understanding that and for yelling at their mate.
A pop drew them from their internal musing over their connection, they looked to see Dianna standing in front of them, "Will Lady LeFay's Soulmates be staying with her?" the elf asked with a tilt of her head.
"Yes." They said as one before George leaned down, "How did you know we were her Soulmates?"
"We are connected to the Castle, the Castle is connected to our Lady, our Lady is connected to you, we can feel you, even without the bond being completed." Dianna said, "Can I take your bags?" the twins blink at the little elf but handed over their trunks. She nodded and snapped her fingers to draw down the covers of the bed before disappearing with the two trunks. Seconds later their night clothes appeared on the edge of the bed. With a shrug they quickly changed and sat on the edge of the bed, feeling a little awkward as they waited for Harriet.
Harriet reappeared from the bathroom several minutes later in cute sleep shorts and a tank top with her hair wet and her eyes half lidded in relaxation and exhaustion, the twins blushed at the sight. She smiled at them and dried her hair with a wave of her hand, "Thank you." She said softly.
"For what?" they asked as they stood and pulled her into a hug.
"For staying." She murmured.
They held her tighter, "Always."
They all climbed into bed, the twins keeping Harriet between them protectively as they settled on the pillows. George pulled the blankets up over all of them as Fred wrapped his arms around Harri, once George stopped moving Harriet tugged him closer. The twins settled comfortably, like they had been sleeping with Harriet for years.
It was just as they were drifting off that Harriet's voice drug them back to the edge of awareness, "I can start telling you guys everything tomorrow." She sighed sleepily.
"Start?" Fred questioned into her hair.
"Hm, fourteen years' worth of material will take more than one day." She mumbled as she slid into unconsciousness.
"Fourteen years?!"
Chapter Notes:
Yes, Tony being a genius is protection enough from those trying to read his mind. NOBODY can keep up with all the things that race through his head at the speeds they do and when Harri tried in the timeline before she go a headache just skimming the surface let alone trying to go deeper.
Aw, Luna's shovel talk! I've been wanting to put that in somewhere since the start of the story!
Yes, Steve, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos met witches and wizards in the war but are under a secrecy charm about it. They didn't learn a lot, just the basics, you know, "Yes there is magic. There are people who can use this magic on this planet. Yes it can do bad things. It can also do good things. It is helpful to have a magic user as back up in battle."
Sorry about the little raccoon Bucky, I couldn't resist!
Emperor sized beds are fucking enormous! They are 85in x 85 in. I mean...wow that's a lot of bed to work with.
The poor twins, Harri left them with a cliff hanger.
We will get more of an explanation of the Castle, LeFay history, and Dianna next chapter.
Yes, the twins really will get to know about the time travel next chapter.
If you haven't checked out the Outtakes from the previous timeline on Ao3 do so! They're great fun!
See you next time!