Harry cursed shopping. Even with them taking every empty elevator as a chance to stash their purchases it was a nightmare. What was worse, the only one who agreed with him chickened out and took his wife in an entirely different direction.

At least they were done. Right now they were sitting at a table along the side of the road eating street vendor hot dogs while waiting for Ororo and the Grangers.

They were surprised when a beam of light shot into the sky from on top of one of the tallest buildings. It quickly formed into a blue swirling portal. Things came out of it into the sky. No not things, aliens on personal fliers of some kind.

Harry sighed. "This was supposed to be a quiet day."

He looked to Phoebe, Mindee and Celeste. Their eyes flashed briefly. Agreement instantly reached. He first cast a mild aversion spell and then quickly cast a glamour on each of them.

Where once there was blonde and blueeyes now they were Weasley red with brown eyes. Harry made his the same. He then transfigured their outfits to a generic green camouflage shirt and pants, much like the US military used all over the world. After that he cast dissillusionment on everyone.

Phoebe said, "Let's go."

Celeste said, "Priority A is to understand the situation. This began on top of Stark's building. I say we start there."

"Agreed," they all said at once before vanishing and reappearing still invisible on top of Stark's building.

They saw Loki first, complete with horns added to his armor. A moment later Thor arrived.

Thor said, "Loki, turn off the Tesseract or I will destroy it."

Harry appeared. He said, "Destroying it seems a good idea."

Both Loki and Thor turned to him.

"Who are you? Show yourselves!" commanded Loki.

"You dare to touch our mind. Impudence!" The other three appeared.

Their eyes glowed fiercely as Loki held his head in pain.

Thor shouted, "You shall not attack my brother!"

They replied, "Hold your attack. Your brother is not acting on his own."

"Explain!" commanded Thor.

Loki collapsed onto the ground.

Harry spoke alone. "The time to heal your brother is not now. We shall attend to it in time. Did you mean it when you said you would destroy the Tesseract?"

"I did, but I would also help my brother."

"We can get you inside the shield, but it will be difficult."

Erik Selvig stuggled to get up not far away. He gasped in pain before struggling to say, "There is another way. The sceptre can penetrate the shield. It will shut it down."

Harry held out his hand and the sceptre came towards him before it instantly dropped.

All said as one, "That scepter is very dangerous. We dare not hold it. It might corrupt even us."

"I will do it then," said Thor.

They said, "The danger to you will be less. Do it, but drop it after. Do not let it linger in your hands."

"I shall heed your advice. If this is what affects my brother."

He picked up the staff and shoved it into the portal instantly shutting it down. All the invaders instantly acted like their strings were cut. They collapsed.

"Drop the staff," they commanded.

Thor dropped it. They conjured a lead lined case several inches thick and levitated it inside. Then then summoned the cube, but did not catch it, instead letting it fall to the floor. After that Harry vanished the rest of the apparatus.

Tony landed next to them. "Who are you?"

Their eyes stopped glowing, shifting from blue white to the brown from the glamor charm.

Harry said, "Just some people that didn't get a chance to finish their lunch."

Thor said, "You said you could fix my brother; that he was under a spell."

"We did, didn't we." Harry almost sighed as they said it.

They sat around Loki with Harry pulling him into his lap so they could join hands. Their eyes glowed again. They stayed like that for over an hour before coming to. By then the rest of the Avengers and Nick Fury were also there.

Mindee was the first to speak after they finished.

She said, "He is healed. Loki is not to be fully trusted in any event, but you have larger threats. He will tell you. The cube is properly called the space stone. It would be something that we could use, but its use comes with too high a price. It is a beacon attracting trouble. Do not use it, or we will return, or worse, someone else will. The mind stone is worse. It is tainted and will not serve you. The mad Titan's will still lingers on it. Our temporary enclosure will fail in time. The power of the mind stone corrodes what we made. Replace it with the strongest and thickest metal you can."

Fury asked, "Could you not destroy it?"

Harry said, "Loki didn't know everything about them, and we didn't really dig, but he did know they are elemental keys to the universe. We could try to destroy them. We think we would fail. We would bet the attempt would attract attention, and perhaps even be dangerous. We could drop the cube in some random spot in the ocean if you wish?"

Thor said, "They belong on Asgard. They will be safe enough in the armory."

Celeste admitted, "We have no better idea."

"When will my brother wake?"

Phoebe smirked. "He has been awake since we finished."

Loki smiled and yawned. "Good day brother. How is the weather?"

"You have much to answer forbrother."

"True, and there is much to do. No one makes a plaything of Loki without paying the price."

Celeste said, "Either way, we are leaving."

Fury asked, "Who are you?"

They walked together. After they joined hands their eyes once again glowed.

They said, "Do not mention our involvement. Forget we were ever here." They vanished with a small pop.

Stark said, "Well that was interesting."

"Interesting is not the word," Fury said.

"You know something," suggested Stark.

"I know a lot of things. Stark, can you create containers for these things? For now I want them welded shut and stored, though where is unknown. Don't touch either one. Assume they are more dangerous than was said."

Stark muttered, "Wasn't planning on it."

Fury said, "Now, Loki tell us about the Mad Titan…"

A hours later Harry brought the Grangers, Charles, and Hank to Australia where after an introduction they began studying.

The next day the four appeared in Tony's living room in New York using their previous disguises. Only Pepper and Tony were present. They walked in on them watching the news of yesterday's events.

"Oh hey, that dropping in stuff is well," Tony said.

"We know," they said in stereo.

"Did ya forget something? Or perhaps you just wanted to finish your meal. I've got plenty I bought.. um stuff."

"You bought two of everything on the menu, again," said Pepper irritated.

Mindee made for the takeout and started passing it out. It was Chinese food.

Tony said, "Not that I don't appreciate the save earlier. I do, I really do. You likely saved a lot of lives today, and then there is what we learned. I really can't see how we can win against these odds, but we are going to, somehow."

Harry asked, "We know you aren't the best with secrets."

Pepper snorted.

"Therefore we will try to minimize how many we disclose. It is very important that you keep our secrets. There is a price to pay if you do not."

"What are you going to do? Erase my memory?" kidded Tony.

Celeste said, "We certainly could erase your memory. We might even do that, if you started leaking secrets we told you to keep, particularly to the press. Our way is much safer than what others might do. Your mind could be damaged, particularly if they used their method too often."

Pepper gasped.

"I can't express how scary that sounds," said Tony seriously.

Phoebe said, "It is up to you. We have certain knowledge that may help, but you have to keep it secret, or people will come after you. Your life and the life of those around you will be in some danger. The normal process is just to wipe memory, but people could be killed if it was necessary. Choose."

Tony said dryly, "There is no choice is there. Jarvis encrypt and lockup any information you have on these people or related conversations. No one but me can unlock."

"As you say sir."

Harry blinked. "Who was that?"

Pepper said, "That is Tony's computer."

Their eyes flashed briefly. Harry said, "I understand."

Harry pulled the necklace from around his neck and removed his trunk from it and restored it. He then pressed several indentations on the front before opening it. After that he motioned and over a hundred books floated out and into stacks.

Phoebe said, "That is our personal library of magical books. It was bought more for building something new, but it should be a start."

Tony picked one up and flipped it open. He said, "Are you serious?"

Harry said, "Yes."

"And you believe this may help?"

Celeste said, "We are uncertain. It is what we have to offer."

"Can you prove it?"

Mindee asked, "If we healed your heart, would that do as proof?"

"Sure," said a skeptical inventor.

"Tony. You need to be more careful. This sounds dangerous. They said it was inoperable."

"Pep, If those four wanted me dead, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead. They took down Loki without breaking a sweat, though actually undoing the glo stick of destiny from Loki apparently was another matter."

Celeste said, "We will be back shortly. We need to wake up a healer that will not be happy to see us."

They formed a circle and vanished only to reappear fifteen minutes later with what appeared to be a dark skinned young woman with brown hair and eyes. She asked, "How again is this important enough to drag a woman out of bed at one in the morning?"

Harry asked, "Do you want the short version?"

"Sure why not?"

"There is a threat from outside this world. Another mad lunatic with plans to fix things, except his plans might kill all life on Earth."

"Your joking."

Harry said, "No, I am not. Now will you help?"

"Fine." She turned to Tony. "So your my patient? What did you do to your chest? You have a thing in it!"

"I made a power source to power an electromagnet. It keeps metal fragments out of my heart."

Sharon asked, "Is this what passes as muggle healing? It is Barbaric!"

Tony sulked.

Mindee asked, "If you wish our help?"

Sharon asked, "For this? Maybe after I get rid of the fragments. Let's get you to a table where I can work."

Harry absently conjured one of Madam Pomfrey's hospital beds.

"Bit antique isn't it?" asked Tony.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Get on."

"Fine."

He laid down on the conjured bed.

Sharon vanished his shirt. She looked at the arc reactor in horror. "Can you remove that? I hesitate applying magic so close to this much technology."

Tony asked, "Pepper can you help? You have done it before."

"Are you really sure Tony?"

"I've got a feeling okay. Trust me?"

"Okay. She washed her hands before carefully helping to remove the arc reactor from Tony's chest. The electromagnet and wires remained.

Sharon asked, "So anything else that doesn't belong I can vanish and your okay with?"

"Sure." Tony said, even as his heart started to pain him.

She quickly did several spells. She said, "I think this is solvable, but tricky. Things are now as ready as I can make them safely on my own."

She turned to the four. "The pieces near his heart are in difficult to reach positions. I find I need your help, else he might die before I can heal it all."

"We are here," all four of them stated.

They surrounded Tony and Sharon took her place in the group, her eyes also glowing blue white.

A three dimensional representation of Tony's heart appeared above them. The places where the metal was embedded glowed green before vanishing one by one, healing immediately afterward. Then the electromagnet vanished. Then the hole in his chest just began to close.

Twenty minutes later he had unbroken skin. Their link faded.

Tony yelled, "Woohoo! I'm back."

"So now you don't need that thing, or the suits," suggested Pepper.

"Yah, I'll probably still need the suits. I'm not sure how I'll tell people I don't have the arc reactor, but I'll think of something. I can probably fake it."

Sharon turned to Harry and the others, "That is probably addictive you know."

"We know. We do not do this lightly. Tony is, we believe, an important part of saving our planet."

"You should know that Neville's father is well. Alice created an odd link that shared her magic and it healed Frank of his remaining injuries."

Harry said, "We are glad to hear that. Do you want to stay for a bit or return now?"

"Stay? Is that food?"

Tony laughed. Pepper handed her a bag.

Harry said, "So, I'm committing a very blatant betrayal of the statute of secrecy. Have you been doing anything fun since we left?"

The healers eyes widened. She hesitated several seconds before speaking. "I'm just trying to keep order over that madhouse. Most of the kids you helped save are still there." She looked around and saw the books. She pointed to them.

Harry nodded.

"Why?"

Harry said, "Because there is a threat to Earth coming that we are not ready for. It may be that we could kill him. I do not know. I do know we are not invulnerable. We can be killed. We have to assume this threat is as bad as it appears to be. I'm not sure if you know what happened in New York, but the city could have easily been destroyed had we not been there."

"We were fighting," noted Tony.

Phoebe said, "We know you might have won. We do not dispute this, but are you sure?"

"No," Tony said quietly.

"How will magical books in the hand of a muggle help? He cannot use our power."

Harry asked Tony, "Can we see that glowing thing?"

"Glowing thing," said an affronted Tony.

Pepper grabbed it. Tony nodded.

Pepper gave it to Harry. It was still running. Harry set it between them. They joined hands. The device spun and then started leaching energy into a thick band of energy outside itself.

"What?" Tony exclaimed. "How did you do that? Was that your magic stuff?"

Their link faded and the reactor drifted into Mindee's hand who returned it to Pepper.

Harry said, "Not really. That was a bit of these three's power and my own magic, but only a bit. That was controllable, with only a bit of our energy. We do not understand. We felt it before. There is a resonance to it. We can't explain it more."

Tony mused, "So there may be a connection between this magic and science and even arc reactor energy. Well that is more than most scientists have to go on. You do realize that we will need someone to help us."

Harry said, "We would prefer to find someone to help you that is not us. I know our medic here is really busy."

"Your the one that made it react," noted Tony.

Harry asked, "Could I trust you with the safety of people I care about if I brought you into our project?"

Mindee said, "Thank you."

Tony said, "I hadn't responded yet."

Sharon said, "They are extremely powerful in the mind arts. If you not an expert in shielding, to them, it is like you are shouting your thoughts."

"Well that is comforting," noted Tony.

Celeste laughed. "I don't think you need to worry about Pepper thinking you are going to seduce us. Your not our type."

Pepper smiled.

"So what is your project?"

Phoebe said, "The official idea is to create a magical holodeck. We have experts from around the world. It would be a good place to learn the material we brought you."

"And the unofficial idea?" asked Tony.

Phoebe replied, "Your too bad at keeping secrets to learn that. Needless to say it is not a bad thing."

Pepper laughed.

Tony pouted.

Harry asked, "So, want to go to Australia?"

"Well I can get the jet ready to go within the hour."

Mindee quoted, "Where we are going, we don't need roads."

Tony chirped up. "We get to do the transporter thing? Sign me up."

Celeste turned to Pepper, "How about you?"

"Somebody has to run Tony's Company."

"We can return you Monday. It is the weekend."

Pepper said, "I guess. Let me at least change into .. um. What should I wear?"

Harry said, "What you have on is fine, save for the shoes.. Trainers perhaps?"

Celeste said, "He means tennis shoes."

Pepper nodded, returning quickly with a jacket and wearing tennis shoes.

They formed a circle and reappeared in Australia late at night.

In front of them was the picturesque stream and the bank they planned to build the new house on. On the bank were a half a dozen tents. Harry directed them to the largest of the lot. He and the girls entered first, followed by Sharon and then a reluctant Tony who seeing it was bigger on the inside walked faster. Pepper followed last.

What they saw inside, was amazing...

Harry said, "This is the great hall at Hogwarts." Seeing no comprehension he added, "It was the castle where I went to school. There are problems with the current tent. I'm sure you can see them."

"Yep," remarked Tony. "You can see through parts of it. It lacks detail, and is fuzzy at places."

Sharon said, "I heard about this. It is a magical energy hog like no other. Haven't you done enough for one day Harry?"

Mindee said, "She does have a point."

Pepper said, "Okay, I'll leave. Tony come on."

"But,"

"We can do so later."

They left. Celeste walked to another tent. It was plain and seemed fairly small. She said, "This one is fine. No problems at all."

They walked inside and saw the inside of a small house that would not be out of place in any 17th century village in England.

Tony asked, "So this is what real or ?"

Harry said, "It is all real. Some of the items here are magical, but nothing is conjured or transfigured. Charms keep the temperature stable and runes, that are a bit beyond me stabilize the expanded space."

Tony said, "This is. This is just as important as the other. You could move thousands of people on a single airplane, or cargo, or…."

Harry said quietly, "All of us who grew up in the real world have thought such thoughts or similar ones, but the statute is there for a reason. People don't always act sanely."

"The which hunts were real?" asked Pepper softly.

"They were, and despite what is common knowledge in the magical world, the actual truth was a lot of magicals died. A lot of regular humans did as well."

Tony said, "But if I could do this with technology?"

Mindee asked, "Do you know what we want the most?"

"No," Tony said. "What do you want? It is surely not money."

Mindee said, "Mutants are often persecuted. Their secret is out, and it is common and flashy enough that it is too late to hide. Eventually we assume magic will be known to the world, though no time soon if we can avoid it."

Tony said, "Ah. Yah. I don't have a solution for that. I'll back you and anyone else up on my team, but well governments…"

Phoebe said, "We know. We do not object to you also learning how to do things like this, but may wish help for our own purpose in the future."

"You have a deal," Tony said.

"Agreed," all four added.

Pepper rolled her eyes.

Celeste pointed to the right, "We have that room. Just to minimize the dirty thoughts we can hear from Tony. No, we are not having sex. No we are not planning on having sex. No, we are not gay. No Tony you have no chance."

Pepper smirked. "I like them."

Sharon said, "Remember they can hear your thoughts."

"Finally we have someone who can keep Tony out of trouble," remarked Pepper.

"Hey!" whined Tony.

Mindee said amused, "I agree that herding cats would be easier."

"Hey!" whined Tony louder.

Ignoring Tonty Celeste said, "The other room is to the left. Sharon do you mind taking the couch? The other tents are occupied, and we didn't plan far enough ahead to get another."

Sharon said, "No. That is fine. I'll sleep here then maybe get a portkey in the morning, perhaps after breakfast?"

They nodded.

Tony said, "We could have slept at my place."

Harry said, "This place is much safer than yours. Loki probably could not even find this place."

"That's interesting," Pepper said. "Can we get whatever it is?"

Harry said, "Where you were at, no, you can't. If you buy someplace in the middle of nowhere, well we could figure something out, but that much magic used in a popular muggle building will not be allowed."

Tony said, "Don't let me forget that then. Even if I don't use it, I'd want to have one there for pepper."

Harry said, "The ICW people will be around for breakfast. Talk to them. We have to convince them not to memory charm you anyway. It shouldn't be hard, not with what we are facing."

"You said there was an imminent threat," noted Tony.

Harry shrugged. "I wasn't sure how the American Aurors would react to be honest. I'm amazed they don't seem to have a detection net or are ignoring the splash our group apparition makes. At any rate, there is a restroom at the end with a shower. There is some food in the kitchen off to the left. We are going to bed."

Harry yawned as Phoebe, Celeste and Mindee followed him into their bedroom. It was neat, yet sparse. He took off the majority of his clothes and slipped on a bed robe. He very carefully did not look at the others as they did the same.

He looked at the gigantic bed they had put together. It was the next thing there was to permanent now. He cast a cleaning and bed making charm on it. He turned to them and couldn't help but smile as he saw them in the fake moon light.

Harry said softly, "You know I didn't think about sex so much before Tony's thoughts practically shoved it in all our faces."

Mindee said, "Don't worry about it Harry. We will wait until the day we are all sure."

Harry asked softly, "Can we be together in our dreams tonight?"

Celeste smiled fondly. "Of course, now go lay down."

Harry did so, trying to lay flat in the middle of the bed. As usual Celeste pulled up to his left and Phoebe to his right while Mindee laid down on top of him.

"Not my fault," he muttered.

Mindee said softly, "Sleep." They eyes glowed blue white and then faded into the dimmest glow as they slept together; as they dreamed together. In their dreams they imagined the world not as it was, but as they wished it was.

Pepper knocked on their door the next morning, and then, upon hearing no answer hesitantly peeked in.

She smiled when she saw them, pulling out her Stark phone and taking a picture.

Celeste was the first to wake. "The others will wake soon. We will want a copy of that picture."

"You seem tired," said Pepper softly.

"It is the equivalent of Jetlag mostly. Our use of our powers to share our dreams probably didn't help, but we probably wouldn't have slept easily without it. Your boyfriend has distracting thoughts. He is getting his own tent, far from ours."

Pepper laughed.

"Yours are a bit distracting too," Celeste noted.

Pepper blushed.

Mindee blinked and woke. Phoebe did as well. Harry was right after.

"Breakfast," he asked hopefully.

Breakfast they all chorused.

They all stood. Pepper left. Harry changed his clothes while looking away while the girls changed.

At breakfast Harry was surprised to see Babajide at the large table someone had apparently brought. He sat down in front of him. "Hello."

Babajide asked, "Why did you bring Tony Stark here?"

"End of the world stuff. You ever heard of an organization called Shield?"

"We know of each other, though only at the director and assistant director level. I had a message that Directory Fury wanted to talk to me."

"Well this is that. The short story is there is an entity known as the Mad Titan that seeks to apparently gather some toys of ultimate power, possibly to kill off half the life in the universe."

Babajide blinked. "You are kidding right?"

"No, I am not," he said seriously.

"Then Tony is some part of our response to this?"

"He is a bit of a Hale Mary on our part. We figured if he also understood magic…"

"You know, at times I hate this job."

"I understand, so can I count on you not to memory charm him unless he is exceptionally stupid. I think we need him."

"Fine."

"I heard that," Tony half yelled form down the table.

"So are you going to talk to Fury?"

"Do we need to?"

"Yes, you do. The Tesseract and the mind control stick thing were two elemental pieces of the universe or some such. Either way, the one gives massive control of space, the other of mind, except that one has a sick link to the mad titan himself. Don't think you can control it. We dare not touch it. Hopefully they are all going back with Thor and Loki, but, well, Fury is not to be fully trusted. He means well, but he is dangerous."

"We know this. Very well. His bosses are worse. We shall make sure they are monitored and the situation managed. Can we count on your group if it becomes necessary to do so?"

They all nodded.

Harry said, "We helped in the battle in New York. I don't think anyone much saw us though and we did disguise ourselves. We also freed Loki from the mind control of that stone, but he is also not to be trusted. Our own histories agree with that. He wants revenge at being played with. That much is true. Don't assume much else is."

Babajide held his head in his hands. "Fine. Anything else?"

"Fury thinks that someone on the world security council is likely a traitor and a great danger to Earth."

"Dammit. And you have no idea who, because Fury wasn't sure either. Since they all know about the magical world that makes all of them a class one threat to the statue. That had better be the last headache you brought me today."

"Your not entirely surprised?"

Babajide said, "No, but they are well enough protected that it makes it difficult."

Harry nodded. "If you need help."

"Very well, we will have to have a vote in the ICW. We may have to come up to a war footing to meet these threats. Stabilizing Britain has spread us thin. Will you come, show us what you saw?"

"We will be there. You may want to bring Stark as well. He represents something new."

"What is that?"

"He and his suit would be more than a match for most wizards."

"That's it. I'll contact you when a meeting is scheduled. I'm leaving before you tell me another headache."

Babajide drank the rest of his coffee, stood up, and vanished with a crack.

Charles said, "My team was heading for the New York battle when it ended. I assume that was you? You were a bit rushed when you brought us here."

Phoebe said, "Yep. We kicked the but of an actual Norse god."

"Oh?" Charles asked.

Celeste said, "More seriously, his defenses were in tatters. The mind stone is a very dangerous thing. Had he been at full strength, I'm not certain we could have overpowered him. We worry, something like that should not exist, yet it does."

Charles asked, "May I get your memories of the event?"

The four linked and said, "Sure."

Charles hesitated, but held a mental hand out to the gestalt. His eyes lit up a dim blue light and stayed that way for several minutes."

Their eyes faded to normal. Charles did the same.

Charles said softly. "Thank you. I normally would not do so for sharing so much from someones mind with me, but Loki's understanding of the situation is very important. You have bought us time that we didn't know we needed. I will have to talk to Erik but first but that is a lesser issue."

Charles paused before he glanced around the table then turned back to the four. He said, "I think you were correct in your senses. This staff or stone seems to try to prey on the link between the four of you. Avoid it, or if you must keep physical contact between you, but do not handle it. If you must face it, come get me. I may be strong enough to silence it, and my shields do not have the weaknesses yours, by necessity have. As a group you are far stronger than me, but from what you conveyed you are weak against this. Be careful." He gave special emphasis to his last two words.

They said as one, "We are already on guard. We have no intention of letting that guard down."

Charles nodded. He winced slightly as he started to get up and ended up staying seated.

Mindee asked, "Are you healed?"

"Oh, you mean my spine. Yes, it is healed thanks to Mrs Weasley. My muscles are pretty weak though, and it was considered a bad idea to apply more potions since they are slightly toxic to normal humans. I'll be fine. It just will take me some time to be able to walk again."

Mindee said, "That is good to hear."

Tony said, "So, when are we going to get started on the learning?"

Harry said, "We may have made a mistake. Most people here know what they are doing, but Charles, Hank, and you do not."

"We can learn," Tony defended.

Hank added, "Indeed. I have been fascinated by what I've read so far."

Harry said, "Still, let me see if I can find some people to help bring everyone up to speed. Does anyone know if any of the Hogwarts staff are still alive?"

An ICW field agent responded, "Yes, we were going through that to see about getting a school back up and running. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Babbage, Vector, and

Sprout were still alive of the main staff."

"John, do you know if they might be interested in working here for a couple weeks?"

He said, "Given that we are trying to round up resources for a new school, I'm sure they could be convinced if you were to donate.."

"Done," both Harry and Tony said at the same time.

Harry asked, "Do you know where to find them?"

John said, "They are at the former Malfoy manner. It was the biggest location we could acquire for their work. The family is gone now, though we weren't able to confirm what happened to Narcissa."

"I haven't a clue either." He turned to Tony. "For now I'll go ask them to come. I figure if they need materials and such from the muggle world you might be able to coordinate and I could pay for the rest."

Tony shrugged. "Whatever it takes."

Harry nodded, even as he and the Frost sisters vanished right from where they were sitting.

John said, "I think they are getting better at that."

Tony said, "I just wish I knew how it worked."

Harry returned to a place he had never wanted to return again, let alone with people he cared deeply about.

Mindee hugged him from the front and the other two hugged him from his side.

They let go of each other and Harry calmly walked up to the door and knocked.

A house elf answered the door. "Harry Potter!" the house elf's eyes widened in recognition.

Minerva came out less than a minute later. "Hello Harry. Do you mind telling me what I said when you came to me about trouble in your first year?"

Harry smiled. "You said the stone was perfectly safe and I should stay out of it."

"It is good to see you Harry. Would you introduce me to your new friends?"

"Sure. This is Celeste, Phoebe, and Mindee. They saved my life. Have you heard about..?"

Minerva swallowed. "She died far too young. Far too young."

"That she did," Harry said.

"Now, why are you here?"

"First of all I have some ideas that may help with your work to restore Hogwarts."

"We cannot restore Hogwarts. We don't have nearly the amount of money it would required."

Harry said, "I've probably have the money. I also know a muggle who can probably help source things like stone and such. I suspect he could even be talked into footing part of the bill."

"Oh?" inquired his former professor. "And?" she added.

He added sheepishly, "Unfortunately, I need a bit of help. Perhaps we could come in and discuss it? I heard some of the others were here as well."

"Just what have you gotten yourself into this time Mr. Potter, and how did you get these girls in it with you?" She looked sternly at him.

The girls smiled.

Harry was relieved to see Sprout, Vector, Flitwick, and Babbage. He was less thrilled to see Filch, but, well he supposed they couldn't be too picky.

Harry asked, "Did anyone else..?"

Filius said, "This is all of us I'm afraid Mr. Potter."

"I'm still Harry. My friends are Phoebe, Mindee, and Celeste." He pointed to each as they were introduced.

Celeste said, "So these are some of the people that we have to thank for helping Harry grow up."

Mindee said, "You have our thanks."

Minerva said, "Harry here has volunteered money and perhaps resources, but he wanted something, though he hasn't said what yet."

Celeste said softly, "I'm afraid it is quite serious. Are you familiar with the events of New York?"

"We are," Minerva said crisply. "The ICW filled us in. They wanted us to keep a look out."

Harry asked, "Do you have any questions?"

Filus said, "Loads. They were fairly vague, but a threat not from this Earth. It is hard to grasp."

Celeste offered, "If you wish, we could show you."

Minerva asked, "And how would you do that?"

Phoebe added, "We are telepaths. We can show everyone who wants to see. It might help explain Harry's other plan as well."

Minerva turned to Harry. "Are you sure?"

"I trust Mindee, Phoebe, and Celeste with my life."

Filch said bitterly, "I ain't got no magic."

Mindee said, "It is not necessary."

"You sure?" he asked hopeful.

Mindee nodded.

They hesitantly formed a circle with the newcomers interspersed between them.

Four pairs of eyes began to glow as they relived the battle of new york and the events and plans afterward. An hour after they began they finished.

Minerva said, "So, you think to teach the principles of magic to muggles for a couple of purposes, both of which seem impossible. I know you are trying to help…"

Phoebe asked, "Do you truly doubt so easily?"

Vector said, "We'll I'm game for helping, even if I think some of your goals are far too optimistic to ever truly work, though it might still be better than nothing if it did."

Babbage added, "I am as well. There is not really enough room in this manor for all the Hogwarts electives anyway. As to your original plans, well, I'm afraid I agree with Aurora."

Four pairs of eyes glowed dimly. Mindee spoke. "We know it will not be easy. We are not even sure what we hope is possible, but if it is? What if we could make what we required?"

Minerva replied, "It is not merely that I doubt, but what you plan is something like out of legend. Harry is strong, but he is not Merlin reborn."

Phoebe said, "We'll then, perhaps we should do something not seen since Merlin. Who wants to apparate to Australia?"

"Are ye mad? Harry might be strong enough, maybe, but not for all of us."

All four eyes glowed. "We are strong together. Are you coming?"

"I can tell I am going to regret this. Very well." She took hold of Harry's and Celeste's hands. She added, "There are no disapparition wards."

All four said, "We know."

The others hesitantly joined hands with them and then with a deafening crack the group vanished.

They appeared again hundreds of feet above a barren stretch of land. Harry said softly, "We will return one day and make this right."

Another crack and minutes later they appeared in front of the little tent town they had established at the Granger property.

They let go.

Filch promptly walked to the side and threw up. Several minutes later he said, "Never again. I'll walk."

The others, far more experienced with apparition laughed.

Minerva looked up at the sky. It was dusk there. The stars were out. She turned to Filus. He looked as well. He said, "I think we are in Australia."

Minerva turned to Harry. "I do hope you have a good cup of tea then. It would seem we have a lot of work to do and I find myself quite needing a cup."

Harry smiled. "It's not bad. Hermione's parents have been doing our shopping. I believe their should be tea made in the mess tent."

Tony walked up to them.

Charles walked up to them as well, though he was aided by a pair of crutches.

Tony said, "I take it these are the experts; the ones that know all there is to know about magic."

Minerva huffed. "No one knows all there is to know about magic, but we know more than most."

Charles said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Charles Xavier, and this is Tony Stark."

"It is good to meet you. My name is Minerva. This is Filius, Pomona, Septima, Bathsheba, and Argus."

Tony asked, "So where does the energy come from?"

"Pardon?" asked Filius.

"Harry and the rest just moved all of you from Britain to Australia. Ordinarily that requires a lot of time and a lot of Jet fuel. I know there is no way they eat enough food to do that, so where does the energy come from?"

Bathsheba said, "Most high quality wards usually draw magic from the Earth. We can power them ourselves, but they have limited life."

"Well that is something. So, let's get this party started. I read through four magical theory books, and they are all crap. No scientific method in any of them."

Danok and Garnok walked up and stood to listen.

Bathsheba asked, "Garnok, what are you doing here?"

"Ragnok assigned us a most interesting job."

Bathsheba's eyes widened. "I think I understand. Why are we here if they already have you?"

Garnok said, "I believe you sell your own abilities short. Ragnok asked me to write a book to help train our youth. I pointed him to a copy of your own that I lightly edited. He had it translated and published."

"Really? Could I see it?"

Garnok laughed. "It probably wouldn't help you, unless you know our writing?"

"No," she said disappointed.

"I will have one of my students translate it for you."

"My thanks. I'm not sure the ministry will let me give you credit, but if I can."

He nodded.

Harry said, "Well, to answer the original question, I figured, hoped really, that they could answer some of the questions Tony, Hank, and Charles might have so as to save time of others."

Both goblins nodded.

Phoebe looked towards the group of Tony, Charles, and Hank. "I know our understanding of magic isn't perfect, but I begin to wonder if our understanding of understanding is lacking."

Tony shrugged. "It honestly could be. I could get you books, but it takes a lot of time to learn. Modern education really does not teach such things very well. Memorization is far less important than true understanding."

Mindee asked, "Professor, could you monitor our links if we made one? We want to make sure they don't have side effects such as addiction. We were thinking of trying with us, Tony, and maybe two of the teachers?"

"I can. We should move this to one of the tents, where we won't be disturbed."

Tony said, "Not wild with all the head stuff, but if it is necessary… Pepper is going to kill me if I end up an idiot."

Celeste smiled. "That we can promise you will not."

Mindee said, "You could be changed, but probably not in a big way."

Tony turned to Charles. He nodded.

Charles asked, "Which teachers? I would assume perhaps one Arithmancy expert and one Runes expert."

Septima said, "I will volunteer. I believe a logical mind will help with this."

Danok and Garnok looked at each other. Then one pulled out a coin and flipped it. Garnok sighed. Danok said, "I would like to be the other, if this is possible."

Mindee said, "We will need to test. We have sensed your passive thoughts, and are greatful that you shield most. Are you okay with that; with letting your shields down and being part of something larger for a time?"

He nodded smiled.

Septima asked, "The others will be there?"

Harry shrugged. "We have no objection to that. It should be pretty boring from the outside."

She nodded.

They returned the the tent Charles and Tony were sharing. Mindee sat down first and motioned Danok to sit in front of her. She said, "I plan to enter your mind and sense mainly if my presence causes you pain. I will try not to look around."

"Go ahead."

Her eyes glowed softly for several seconds and then faded. She asked, "Do you feel any discomfort? Are your thoughts still clear?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I have felt wizard legilimency before. Thankfully this is not that."

She nodded.

Tony and Septima joined Danok on the floor in a rough triangle. The four surrounded them, though they had to reach a bit to hold hands. Charles sat just outside of that.

Four pairs of eyes lit up, and then Septima's, Tony's and even Danok's lit up as well, though dimly.

Packing into the rest of the room space in the tent was everyone else.

"What is energy?"

"Energy is the ability to do work. It is stored potential."

"Is magic energy?"

"Yes."

"Can you see magic normally?"

"No." then a moment later the part that is Septima said, "Not normally. There is a ward schema crafters sometimes use."

"Let's build it."

The part that was Danok added, "A few changes are recommended."

"Agreed," replied the whole.

"Dangerous. Even with changes, still dangerous. Must be perfect."

"Why would it not be?" the whole asked.

Curly sigils formed in the air above them forming a circle with lines radiating out in all directions and beginning to spin. Details were added. Runes inside runes inside runes formed in an almost fractal like pattern.

Activation.

Suddenly they could see. They could see the magic in each person there, even Filch who had so little. The Frost sisters each had a pulse of magic that did not originate at Harry, and something else, twined with it. The mix was nearly perfect.

They could see the lines between all four. They were like massive cords tying them each to all the others. They were all around them and yet they were not there.

Matrix was flawed. Why had they not noticed before? Changes helped, but still flawed.

Symbols grew and shrank. Some moved. Some faded, while still others appeared. Symmetry. Resonance. Activation. Clarity.

Fire, Water, Electricity formed in the air.

Wood, Metal, Sand, and Glass were conjured and then changed into other things, including flowers, shovels, figurines, and even cats.

A random thought created a mouse with an oversized brain that stepped away from them even as the mouse rubbed his hands together. "Tonight. Finally, tonight we will do it! The world..." Another thought made him vanish.

Understanding. Clarity. A miniature set of rooms formed in outline and then changed above them.

First year spells were cast, analyzed, and decomposed into arithmantic formula.

"Not correct," the part who was Tony noted.

"True," the whole noted. "The missing piece is a common realization in this art. We see the flaws, but not the solution."

"Music," the part that was Mindee noted. "You see the finished work, but do not listen to the melody. Play again and listen. Magic, the power behind Mutation, telepathy. The melodies are here. Listen."

All focused again as the gestalt carefully examined a simple thread of flame suspended in the air.

"See it," Mindee said, "See how it vibrates. It connects with something close."

"Is that something magic?"

"Unknown. Look deeper."

Suddenly they were there, their minds a part of this tiny flame and more. Suddenly their collective consciousness dipped below the veil of reality only to see more. There was an uncountable number of resonances. Yes the nearest ones beat in time with the magic that fed the flame. Was that the Earth's magic?"

They were about to go deeper again when Charles voice firmly said, "Enough. Separate now."

With regrets the whole fragmented.

Tony almost fell backwards before he caught himself. He said, "We almost had it."

"Had what?" asked Minerva.

Charles said, "I was monitoring. I think they saw at a level beyond that of subatomic particles. It was amazing. This one day could propel science a thousand years, if we but understood it."

Hank said softly, "I wish I could have seen it."

Charles nodded. "Three is likely pushing even them, at least while keeping it safe. There will be other times."

Hank nodded.

Tony said, "Magic isn't something special. It is energy leakage from the structure that underpins the universe. My god. Your freaking tapping into something like zero point energy and using it for parlor tricks. When can we do that again? I'm sure I recognize the pattern. It was some orthogonal set, like a Fourier series, but not quite."

Charles said, "You and Septima should avoid doing that again for at least a couple days, if not more. The dangers are real."

"What? But we just got started. I've got books worth of notes to make and tests to create."

Charles said, "I"m sorry, but this requires great care. They picked me to watch because I can remain objective. They cannot, not fully."

"We'll can I get brought back to Malibu or New York? Maybe with whoever wants to come? I'd like to get started."

Charles shrugged. "As long as you don't link again before I give approval and not without me there it should be fine. I get the feeling that we could become lost in it, possibly fatally. Those four have exceptional skill, but also exceptional power. I'm sure you have some idea of what exceptional power could do to something fragile like a human brain?"

Tony paled. "Noted."

Argus said quietly yet clearly, "What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,

how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god!"

Charles said, "Hamlet."

Several of the Hogwarts faculty looked at Argus in surprise.

Argus nodded, almost surprised he had said anything. He added, "What do you think I spend my entire day cleaning? The elves do most of that. I read."

Author's Note: As always I appreciate all reviews, favorites, and follows.

In particular, on this part, I really really hesitated in bringing in Avengers, but the scene sort of wrote itself once I had them shopping in New York around the right time… Either way, feel free to tell me what you think. The story's focus will remain on Harry and those close to him.