"Kill the spare."
Harry Potter bolted out of his bed with the Elder Wand in his hand and his chest heaving. His eyes darted around the room for Voldemort and found that he was entirely alone. It took a moment for that to register in his mind and when it did, he dropped his hand to his side, the Elder Wand snapping back into his wrist holster. The nightmare had been all too vivid for Harry's liking and by the way his shirt clung to his chest he had been tossing and turning for quite some time.
Fourteen years since the Second Wizarding War had ended and some days it still felt as though it had ended yesterday. Harry sighed as he rubbed what sleep he had left from his eyes. A glance at the alarm clock on his bedside table showed that it was nearly eight in the morning so with a groan the wizard stood from his bed and fumbled for his glasses. He stretched his body and padded his way through his dark bedroom towards the bathroom. The sounds of New York City waking up were coming from outside and rang with a familiarity that Harry had come to expect.
The shower was thrown on and Harry quickly divested himself of his clothes. Sweat soaked shirt was thrown in the hamper and it was quickly followed by his shorts and boxers. His golden wire frame glasses were set aside. Wrist holster with the Elder Wand was taken off and Harry Potter stepped into the cold water coming from the shower head. It stung his skin for a moment and Harry gritted his teeth. He rubbed his face with the cold water and tried to get the memories of Cedric Diggory dying out of his mind.
It was all in the past. There was no use in thinking about it now, over a decade after the fact, and it wasn't like he could bring them back.
Of course, that was when Harry noticed that he was still wearing the necklace with the Resurrection Stone set into it, and as he looked down at it, he couldn't help but feel a small bit of pain. He had the ability to commune with the dead whenever he wished, and in his weaker moments he had done just that, so it was a rather cruel twist of fate that he came to possess it. The man who had lost so much that he would have ample reason to use the damn thing.
His parents, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred, Dumbledore, and even Snape, all gone.
"Get it together Potter." He snapped to himself and shut the shower off.
Harry toweled himself dry, put his glasses back on, and took his wrist holster and wand in hand as he made his way back to his bedroom. He threw on the light and took in the place for a second. His desk was cramped with books and sheets that he had been going over. Charts filled the walls with an entire map of New York City taking up one side. His closet was filled with clothes that were completely muggle and Harry like it that was as he pulled on his clothes for the day.
Wizarding robes were never his style in the first place.
Jeans and t-shirts always felt more comfortable to him. He strapped the wrist holster back on and tested it to make sure his draw was acceptable. The Elder Wand felt as familiar as his Holly Wand did after so many years with it. Harry looked at the wand in his hand and couldn't help but see the bloodied history that it had. It was powerful to be sure, but Harry didn't understand the maddening desire for power that its wielders had, it was just a wand in his opinion. But maybe that was why he was so well suited for it, and he decided to end on that thought, the wand returning to its holster with the flick of his wrist.
It was as he pulled on his socks and dragonhide leather boots did he hear the sounds and smell the smells of cooking coming from the kitchen. Harry grimaced to himself. How could he forget his ever-present companion. One that for better or worse he was stuck with. No, that wasn't right, they were stuck with each other. It wasn't the situation he wanted, but it was the one he had, and Harry had to admit that they had formed an odd sense of friendship over the years.
Well, as much as any man could form a relationship with a primordial being billions of years old, but that was neither here nor there.
Funny thing about being the Master of Death, no one ever talked about how Death didn't take orders, or the slightly snarky attitude.
Harry walked into the kitchen of his Manhattan apartment to find Death at the stove cooking breakfast. As a primordial being, Death was genderless, yet she preferred to take the form of a woman when in the mortal plane. It had been explained to Harry by both Death herself and Hermione, yet it only made sense half of the time to Harry, so he had long ago simply stopped questioning how it all worked and just went with it. The fact that she was now tied to his being because he owned the three Deathly Hallows was just a fact of life at this point. When he learned that he no longer aged after turning twenty-five and fundamentally immortal he chalked it up to primordial beings and magic, something that Hermione had refused to accept and was still actively looking into, but Harry had long ago resigned himself to this fate.
He made sure to look on the bright side in any situation, for he had already seen too much of the darker side of life, and if he was to live for the rest of time than he'd rather do it with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, Harry." Death said in that ever-calm tone as she scrambled some eggs in a pan. "I do hope the nightmare was not too haunting."
"No more than the others." Harry replied as he took two glasses from one of the cabinets and set them on the small dinner table. Neither of them needed food to live, but old habits died hard, and Harry was not going to give up the satisfying feeling of eating a good breakfast.
A beat of silence filled the kitchen between them with only the sound of eggs sizzling in a pan filling the air. Harry was about to assume that today would be another ordinary day when Death spoke again.
"Its going to happen today." The eggs were flipped but Harry paid them no mind. He looked at back of Death's head instead with slightly wide eyes and the carton of orange juice forgotten in his hand.
"Please tell me you're joking." Harry so wanted it to be a joke, but he knew that his companion didn't joke about such things.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I am not joking." Death looked over her shoulder and eyes like pits of ash met his own green colored ones. She turned to face him fully and adjusted the plain black silks she always wore. If things had turned out differently Harry would have seen her as beautiful, but they hadn't, and their relationship was ambiguous enough for his liking.
"I thought we had more time." He poured the orange juice into the glasses and then set the carton aside. "Teddy hasn't even finished his fourth year yet."
"Three stones will converge on this city on this day, Harry James Potter. It is not an opportunity we can ignore." Death said firmly as she plated the eggs. Harry noted that he had missed the sausages and hash browns she had also been cooking. They smelled delicious. "Space, Mind, and Time. There won't be a better time to retrieve them."
Harry frowned as his thoughts went towards the Infinity Stones. Six rocks that held the power of creation or destruction over the universe. Six pieces that if combined could cause catastrophic and irreparable damage. Death had made it absolutely clear that he had to gather them. When he pressed as to why she had simply told him that if he didn't than everything he knew would go up in flames. That countless lives would be lost. As much as Harry knew that she was holding something back, he also knew that Death did not lie, so he took her words to heart.
Still, he thought he had more time, at least until after his godson Teddy had graduated from Ilvermorny.
But it seemed that the Fates were not kind to him on this day.
"Are you able to tell me what I should be expecting?" Harry asked as he dug into his breakfast. The sausages were juicy, and the eggs were runny. The hash browns were just right, and the orange juice washed it all down. If the worst was to come he'd rather do it on a full stomach.
Death looked thoughtful for a moment as she joined him at the dining table. Her skin was pale, and her facial features were soft and smooth. There was a distinct lack of color to her face that clashed with the dark pits that were her eyes. Harry hadn't known what to think of it at first. She had looked both beautiful and different. Her clothing was plain yet regal. The only piece of jewelry she wore was a ring on her middle finger, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows engraved within the gold, a taunting sigil that glinted in the morning sunlight.
"Something unlike anything you have ever faced before." Death answered and Harry didn't know what to think of it. Something unlike anything he had faced before? That was a rather vague answer that didn't really answer anything at all. He had faced a lot in his thirty-one years of life, far too much if he really thought about it, and he couldn't really imagine what could be worse than everything he had gone through in the Second Wizarding War.
"As long as it isn't genocidal aliens than I think we'll be fine." Harry said and expected a confirmation from Death. When he didn't get one, he looked up at her and was met with a level look that made him hang his head and curse himself for opening his big mouth. "It is genocidal aliens, isn't it?"
Death didn't answer, she simply placed a hand on his arm in a comforting manner, and Harry took his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose. It seemed that he could never truly catch a break. All six of his years at Hogwarts were rife with some manner of near-death experiences. The Second Wizarding War had come and gone with Voldemort finally dying to his hand. Even his decision to move to the United States hadn't given him the reprieve that he wanted. Being Great Britain's most famous – or infamous – wizard meant that the rest of the Wizarding World knew about him in some form.
As a result, he had gotten very good at the Glamour Charm in the years following the war. Going outside as Harry Potter The Defeater of Voldemort meant that the press would be on him in an instance to hound him about everything from politics back home to how Puddlemere United was doing in the league. Even with the deal he had struck with the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America hadn't been enough. The American Aurors could only do so much, and they had actual jobs to carry on with instead of acting as bodyguards for one British Wizard.
The only good thing about the entire situation was that the Muggle world didn't know anything about him.
"Genocidal aliens are hardly the worst thing you have faced down, Harry." Death gave his arm a squeeze. "Your years of hiding are coming to an end this day. It was always inevitable in the end."
"Still, doesn't mean I like it, but when do I ever get what I really want?" Harry sighed as he pushed his plate away, what was left of his breakfast now discarded to the side, for his appetite had left him.
He expected Death to say something in return. Whether they be words of wisdom or of comfort he didn't know. But when he looked over to her, he found her eerily still for a moment, a blank look in her eyes. She only ever got that look when fate came around to turn his day upside down.
Harry had thought that nothing else could surprise him, not after all he had been through during his Hogwarts years and the war itself, but when sky over Manhattan was suddenly filled with what could only be described as a beam of energy certainly did surprise him. In an instant he was at the window of his apartment and his green eyes watched as the beam of blue-white energy raced towards the heavens from the top of the Stark Tower before it shifted, expanding in a way that formed a crudely drawn circle, or a rather unstable portal. His mind flashed back to the Department of Mysteries and the Veil in the Death Chamber for a moment.
This wasn't the same, but it certainly felt damn similar, and Harry cursed to himself as he flicked the Elder Wand into his hand.
"That's the Space Stone." Death said with a hint of awe in her voice as she peered out of the window. Harry paid little mind to her as he rushed around the apartment to gather everything he needed for battle. He needed to get his dragonhide armor on and his mokeskin pouch of potions and supplies ready. "Truly magnificent."
"Tell me I'm not doing this alone." Harry said as he changed into clothes suited for combat. While wizarding fashion was rather aged, it did suit combat surprisingly well, and Harry strapped on the armor after his robes were already in place. "What was that Muggle group that was in the latest DMLE report?"
"The Avengers." Death continued to watch the portal in the sky as Harry belted and strapped on the last of his dragonhide armor. "Earth's so-called Mightiest Heroes."
Harry didn't know about that fact for certain. Whoever had assembled that list of muggles must not have known about the Wizarding World, for as much as he hated to toot his own horn, Harry was the Man-Who-Conquered and the Savior of Magical Britain. Many people had and still did hail him as a hero. Hell, he had even heard some whisper about how he was the next coming of Merlin. Though, he didn't always act like golden hero the world saw him as, nor did he deserve the titles after leaving it all behind, but a part of his pride smarted, nevertheless.
When he came out of his bedroom and glanced out of his window, he could see a battle commencing in the distance. There was already smoke rising in the air from fires and aliens of all things were flying through the air and causing destruction wherever they went. Harry couldn't make out much from the distance, but he did notice that one of the things flying in the air was blasting at the other fliers. There was only one of them, so they must be one of the so-called Avengers, though Harry expected more help than that.
"The Space Stone is most likely powering the portal." Death said as Harry grabbed the Clock of Invisibility from the coatrack by the front door. Putting it on felt like second nature, the cloak completing the triumvirate that was the Deathly Hallows, with the Elder Wand in his hand, the Resurrection Stone around his neck, and the Cloak of Invisibility around his shoulders. "We must get to it before too many lives are lost."
Harry didn't need any more words of encouragement. He had everything he needed and in moments he apparated out of his apartment and onto the roof of the building. Death became incorporeal and followed along, her presence resting in a corner of his mind, always there and never far. Unless she allowed them to, no one else but he could see her, and being the primordial being that she was there wasn't a thing that could hurt her.
It felt nice to know that she would always be at his back no matter what came at him.
Harry watched the battle in the sky take place over the Stark Tower for a moment before springing into action once more. He retrieved his Vanderbilt Excelsior 4000 from the warded trunk he had hidden on the roof. It was the best that the Americans had in terms of brooms. Lightning fast, maneuverable, nigh on indestructible, and made for a Seeker. He liked to think that it was a happy coincidence that all of the broom's qualities mirror his own.
With the familiarity of Gryffindor's Best Seeker in a century, Harry Potter mounted his broom, and then he was in the air. He pulled the cloak's hood up and disillusioned the broom itself so that no one would see him coming. The wind slammed into him as he raced through the air towards the battle itself. Only years of practice allowed for him to negate the feeling of uneasy he felt. He was once again heading into a war zone and people were bound to die.
Then he came to a realization and hastily cast a Patronus Charm.
The silvery translucent stag that was Prongs bounded through the air along side him. The antlered beast was magnificent and looked at Harry as he waited for his message.
"Smith!" Harry shouted the name of the Head of the American Department of Magical Law Enforcement as he sped through the air. "The city is under attack! You need to get the Aurors out in full force! I'm heading in right now to try to close the portal before too many get through!"
With that said, Harry motioned for Prongs to head off, and he watched as his Patronus bounded off towards the city as well. Hopefully the American Aurors would be able to contain the damage to a manageable level. He already knew that the Obliviators would have their work cut out for them in the coming hours. There was no way that Harry would be able to conceal his magic from the muggles without hindering his combat effectiveness. He also didn't see the point. There were fucking aliens flying around Manhattan. What was a bit of magic in the mix?
"I can sense the Mind and Time Stones are near as well." Death said, her voice sounding no different as if she were actually corporeal. "They are the priority above all else. If they fall into the wrong hands then only destruction will follow."
"Yeah, I know, you've only been going off about that for the last decade." Harry snapped as he served his broom through the buildings of New York City. The destruction was all the more gruesome the closer he got and whenever one of those flying aliens got too close to him, he blasted them out of the sky.
"You were the one who did not take the initiative." Death returned. "Very un-Gryffindor of you."
"Oh, don't start with me." Harry muttered as he jerked his broom into a hard climb. He noted the unique groups of heroes that were the Avengers as they fought. One man was in a flying suit of metal that sported Gryffindor coloring. Another was dressed like an American flag. There was a green… creature of some sort. A woman and man dressed in black leather armed with muggle – Was that a bow and arrow? – weapons. He also spotted a blond man with a hammer produced lightning and watched as he spun it up and then shot through the air past him.
Harry watched as the man flew towards the same tower that he was heading to at speeds that were shocking even to a man who was on a flying broom. Whatever that hammer was made of, it had to have magical properties to it, for there was no way a muggle invention could do things like that. Harry lived amongst muggles and the latest thing that was the craze was definitely not flying hammers.
He had to blast several of those flying alien vehicles out of the air as he reached the Stark Tower. New York City's tallest building seemed to be the center of the action and he had to serve out of the way as the last two letters of Stark's name were blasted off the side of the building. Metal and concrete rained down towards the streets bellow but Harry paid them no mind. He had to get those damned stones and the sooner he did the sooner he could put this all to rest.
It was as he reached the top of the tower did, he see what had caused the explosion. Two men were fighting, one dressed in green and black armor with a golden horned helmet, and the other with silver and navy-blue armor with a red cape flowing from his shoulders. The fight had devolved to fists and as the blond man landed punch after punch Harry landed onto the tower and stepped off of his broom.
With quick and practiced motions, he shrunk the broom and stuffed it into his mokeskin pouch. The Elder Wand was in his hand and his eyes were on the two combatants and it was there that he paused. Harry didn't actually know who he should help. Both of the men were strangers to him, and he didn't exactly know which one was the Avenger. He truly regretted not reading that report from the American DMLE in more detail.
"Death, you have any idea who these two are?" Harry asked as the blond man landed another punch to the face of the black-haired man.
"It matters not who they are." Death said and became corporeal beside him. By the nonreaction from the two fighters it seemed that she chose to remain hidden from everyone else but Harry. "What matters is the scepter. I can sense the Mind Stone within the core."
Harry turned to where Death was looking, and his eyes landed on a rather gaudy looking scepter. It was wrought in gold and made to look like a crab's claw. But what really caught his eye was the glowing blue rock in the middle of the scepter. It made the gold that the scepter was made of look like cheap bronze in comparison. As Harry took steps towards the scepter, he felt something poke at his occlumency shields and it made him pause in his step.
"It is the stone itself." Death supplied. "The Mind Stone has a form of sentience. It holds supreme command over the mind."
"And there are five other stones like this one." Harry muttered to himself as he picked up the scepter. A wave of power washed over him, and he suddenly had the desire to use it, an incessant nagging on his mind to do so. Death was at his side in an instant and her presence calmed it down to a dull tone barely noticeable but still present.
A roar came from his side and Harry turned to see the blond man slam his opponent onto the ground. It didn't seem to hurt the other man that much and when he looked back up his eyes went to Harry's for a moment. Or rather, the scepter, which was not hidden from within the confines of the Cloak of Invisibility.
Oops.
"Stupefy!" A bolt of red light flew from the tip of the Elder Wand and impacted the chest of the black-haired man. Harry watched the look of shock flash across him before he was pushed off the edge of the tower.
"Remove the other and continue on." Death said but Harry ignored her.
"You!" Harry said and pulled back his hood and then pointed the Elder Wand at the blond man. "Tell me you're the Avenger and I didn't just send the good guy plummeting to his death."
"I… I know your face." The blond man said, his stance immediately tensing slightly, and Harry grimaced at that. Of course, this muggle would know his face, damn Potter luck.
"You have me at a loss then." Harry gestured with the scepter. "A name to put with your face would be good."
"Right," The man seemed to get over the shock of who Harry was. "I am Thor Odinson, Crown Prince of Asgard. I am an Avenger."
"Very well, Thor Odinson, I am-"
"The Master of Death!" Thor said a hint of reverence, something that Harry disliked immediately, for when anyone spoke to him with reverence it soon was followed by responsibilities not his own. "Your tales have impressed many on Asgard."
Harry didn't know what to say for a moment. How did this man know he was the Master of Death? How did he know about what he did during the Second Wizarding War? He didn't even look like a wizard, and what was all that about Asgard? Harry was pretty sure there wasn't a country on Earth going by that name.
"Okay." Harry lowered the Elder Wand but kept it in hand just in case. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but I have things to do and portals to close." He gestured to the top of the tower where the pillar of energy was still shooting up towards the sky from.
The both of them looked up at the portal that continued to send aliens through, a giant armored flying worm coming through with even more little fliers accompanying it, and both of them grimaced at the sight. The battle was still being waged throughout the city and Harry could see the smoke and flames rising from blocks away. He turned away from Thor and returned the Elder Wand to his wrist holster.
"We will speak later, Master of Death, for the Chitauri will not stop." Thor said and held out his hand. Harry thought the man wanted a handshake but then he caught sight of a hammer flying through the air. It came to a stop in the man's palm like it weighed nothing and Harry watched as the man gave him a nod and simply took off again.
"Asgardians can be very Gryffindorish at times." Death commented as she walked over to Harry. She looked unperturbed by the battle that was going on around them. "Now, destroy this excuse of a container and retrieve the stone."
"Wait, that isn't the stone?" Harry looked at the scepter in his hand and the blue stone in the center of the head. It looked very much like stone, and it radiated power that he could feel with his magic.
"No, it is a mere container, one which you will destroy for the contents within."
"That seems like a rather delicate process." Harry said as he looked at the scepter. "I can't very well just smash the container without causing a volatile reaction."
Death looked at him for a moment with a blank expression. For all that she acted as the all-knowing being, there were still things that could trip her up, and this seemed to be one of them. Harry knew very little about the Infinity Stones and seeing as he had one in the palm of his hand, he didn't think it would be a good idea to just break it. there had to be a reason for it to be in the scepter in the first place.
It must have something to do with channeling the energy like a wand did for a wizard's magic.
He could see no other reason for what was essentially a very intricately designed – albeit ridiculous looking – staff.
"The Mind Stone is within the gem housing." Death said as she tapped a finger against the scepter's blue core. There was a reverberation of magic in the air when she did so which Harry found curious. "You, as the Master of Death, do not need such a trivial conductor as this scepter."
"Well, lets hold off on breaking this thing until this is all over." Harry said and gestured to the city around him. The Avengers were off in the distance fighting, and he could also spot some of the American Aurors moving about to try and contain the worst of the damage whilst also keeping within the Statute of Secrecy. "I also think we'd need someplace safe to store the damn thing."
"And what better place to keep it safe then with the Master of Death himself?" Death asked and Harry could already tell where she was going with it.
"I could think of several…"
"Yet, you know that they are all inadequate compared to yourself, Harry Potter. The Infinity Stones are too important to just leave in some cave. That is just asking for someone else to come along and retrieve it."
Harry wanted to deny that statement. There were plenty of places he could hide the Infinity Stones so that no one would ever find them. Places that no one else knew of. But, he could hear the merits in her words, and Harry already had the Deathly Hallows. What was six more stones on top of that?
He felt the Mind Stone prod at his mind again. There seemed to be a feeling of… acceptance… radiating from it. Almost as if it wanted Harry to keep possession of it. That had to be absurd though, right? Harry didn't want this new responsibility on his shoulders. He already had enough of that during his teenage years with the prophecy and now this? Yet, when he thought about it again the Mind Stone pushed against his occlumency shields again, and there was little doubt of what it wanted.
"This better not be a trick." Harry looked at Death. If she was hurt by his accusation, she didn't show it, her visage merely retaining the beautiful serenity that it always had.
"That you would think so low of me," Death lamented and placed a hand to her chest. "I am hurt. Our years together have meant nothing to you?"
"Merlin, never talk like that again, its downright odd." Harry muttered as he turned his attention to the scepter. It was lighter than he had first anticipated.
"So, with that settled, let us move on." Death gestured towards the still beam of energy that was shooting out from the tower and towards the portal.
Harry reached into his mokeskin pouch and took out his broom. Unshrinking it with a flick of the wrist he mounted up and pushed off into the air. Death turned incorporeal and as he flew through the air, he debated pulling his hood back on before deciding not to. He had already been seen by Thor Odinson and Harry was pretty certain that the other man wasn't fully muggle as he had first thought. Not many people walked around with the names of Norse Gods after all.
If anything, the American Obliviators would be able to wipe any and all memories of magic from their minds, so Harry was unconcerned.
He did have more important things to focus on at the moment, like stopping the army of genocidal aliens from coming in and closing that damn portal.
When he crested the top of Stark Tower, the sight he came upon was quite different. Harry was no stranger to muggle technology, but what he was looking at boggled his mind, for it look far more advanced than anything he had seen before. The portal was being generated by a machine of such complexity that Harry struggled to wrap his mind around it. Parts of the machine were moving and there were wires going every which way with a certain force of magic coming off of it as well.
It clashed with what Harry knew about magic and its compatibility with muggle technology. Something with this amount of magic radiating from it should have combusted into nothing long ago. Yet, here it stood, and it was producing something that should be impossible to do.
"The scepter…" A muggle that Harry hadn't noticed was propped up on the ground with blood coming from a headwound. "It can… it might… be able to close the portal. The Tesseract… it can't defend itself against that kind of energy."
Harry lowered his broom so that he was right next to the man and dismounted in one motion. The muggle looked a little beat up but nothing life threatening to his eyes. His words however seemed hopeful. The man didn't sound entirely convinced that the scepter would be able to close the portal. Harry looked up and watched as more and more aliens streamed through and decided that there had never been a better time to test the theory than right now.
"Let's hope you're right." Harry said and walked over towards the generator with the scepter in hand. Death became corporeal again by his side and had a determined look on her face. It was one that Harry was familiar with, for she wore it whenever there was a spike in deaths, and there were certainly many deaths occurring all around them.
"Strike hard and true." Death advised as Harry approached the generator. There was a field of energy surrounding the cube like center and it felt similar to a Shield Charm. Though, less stable in structure, and when he pressed his hand to it the energy zapped and warbled every which way. "The Chitauri are mindless beasts that know no other way. They will turn this planet to ash if so ordered."
"Well, we can't let that happen." Harry adjusted his grip on the scepter and pointed the tip at the cube. The muggle man had gotten to his feet at that point and was doing something with a laptop that was connected to the generator. His fingers were flying over the keys and his eyes were narrowed at the screen.
"Right at the crown." The man pointed at the metal housing that was holding the glowing blueish cube.
"Are you sure there's no other way, Death?" Harry asked under his breath. "Am I truly fated for this?"
"You were never meant for an ordinary life, Harry Potter." Death said, the shield around the generator sparking as Harry pierced it with the scepter's edge. "The Infinity Stones have already begun to resurface, and it is only a matter of time before they are united. I would rather have you be the one to unite them, for the alternative is a horrifying reality none of us want to see."
"We're going to have a long talk about all of this after today." Harry said and pushed the scepter further and further into the shield. The Mind Stone was thrumming its intent to Harry and all he could nearly hear the feelings coming off of it. His ears were ringing with closercloserCLOSER!
"Energy levels are spiking!" The muggle yelled as the shield sparked and hissed at them. The distortion was breaking the shield up and Harry felt the energy of the Tesseract lash out against his armored forearms. "Just a little more!"
Harry grunted as he gave one final shove of the scepter at the base of the Tesseract housing. Energy was roaring through the air, and he barely noticed Death's hand on his shoulder as the scepter made contact with the Tesseract and the world exploded around them. Everything went white for a moment and Harry closed his eyes as he fell to a knee. Magic was flaring in the air and bathing them all in cascading waves that ended as soon as it begun.
The muggle man had fallen clean off his feet while Harry drove the scepter bottom first into the ground for support. He faintly noticed that his broom had gone flying over the edge and was probably plummeting down towards the street. Death however, she stood tall in her plain black silks with her eyes wide as she looked towards the sky, the portal closing even as more of the Chitauri streamed through.
Harry grunted as he stepped to his feet. The air around him felt different than it had just moments ago. No longer was there a constant thrum of magic in the air. The alien invaders that were ravaging the city were now cut off and directionless. Harry watched as they were defeated with growing efficiency by the Avengers from the top of Stark Tower. He also saw several Aurors in the mix as well and knew that he'd have to make a report to the American DMLE after this.
There was no way they would just let him off the hook for this.
"Retrieve the stone, Harry." Death motioned for the rubble of what was once the generator. It was a pile of scattered metal and wire with a clear glowing gem in the center.
A fine layer of dust surrounded the Infinity Stone and as Harry walked over to it, he felt the Mind Stone pulse its desire to him from within the scepter. TaketakeTAKE! He almost used a bit of wandless magic to simply summon the stone to his hand when common sense caught up to him. This was supposedly one of the most powerful and dangerous things in the universe. There had to be a reason it was trapped within the glowing cube that had been the Tesseract.
Like how the Mind Stone was within the housing attached to the scepter.
"You are the Mater of Death." Death said and stepped closer to him. "The wielder of my gifts and the one who walked willingly into my embrace. The moment you and I became one, you ceased to be mortal, so such trivial matters are no longer a concern."
"So, I won't spontaneously combust if I touch it?" Harry asked. He noted the way the lens his glasses had cracked but he'd take care of that later with a simple Repairing Charm.
"No, you will not."
PickituppickitupPICKITUP!
Harry picked up the glowing blue stone that was one of the Infinity Stones. The moment his fingers touched the rock he felt a surge of magic flow through his fingers into his palm and then the rest of his body through his arm. It saturated ever single part of his body to the point that if it were not for Death's vice grip on his elbow he would have fallen over. Harry felt as if there were flames running through his veins and he couldn't help but let the shout leave his throat.
"Do not let go!" Death ordered and Harry so wanted to just drop the damn thing.
DonotletgodonotletgoDONOTLETGO!
The very air around him was shaking. Magic was roaring from him in a way that he hadn't known it could. A kaleidoscope of colors shooting from the stone in his hand and snaps of lightning were ringing from the heavens. Death's vice grip remained on him, and Harry had never both been more thankful and cursed someone so much as he did to her right then. It was like he had an insurmountable weight in the palm of his hand, and he had never concentrated so hard on not dropping something. He didn't even notice anything else around him.
His entire world shrank down until it was focused solely on the Infinity Stone in the palm of his hand.
HoldholdHOLD!
"Fffffuuuuuuuucccccckkkk!"
A wave of blue energy burst from the stone and Harry was pushed back into Death's chest. The rubble that made up the generator was thrown away from him and the muggle man was again knocked off his feet. Harry's glasses flew from his face and the Cloak of Invisibility slapped against Death as it was sandwiched between the two of them.
Only when the wave of energy subsided did Harry notice the way that the roof they were all standing on had been nearly flattened.
"Well done, Harry." Death said and Harry had to be held up less he fell. "You have survived the Space Stone, just like I knew you would."
"Bloody hell." Harry managed as he heaved breaths of air into his lungs. "We are not doing that again. The Mind Stone can very well wait. I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack."
"Your body needs time to adjust, this is true, but this is for the gre-"
"Don't you dare say that phrase." Harry snapped. "Please, don't say it."
Even after so many years, that damn phrase still haunted him, the scars he bore from it would always remain. It was part of the reason he left Great Britain in the first place. There was just too much, and he had already given everything. All because of that damn phrase.
He didn't know how long he was held up by Death. Soon his legs came back to him, and his heart didn't feel like it wanted to break through his ribcage. The blood in his veins no longer felt as though they were on fire. His magic calmed down to the level of control he had mastered over the years since the war. His vision was blurred, and he remembered that his glasses were most likely a pile of crushed glass at this point, so he reached into his mokeskin pouch on his belt and retrieved his spare glasses.
Not as pretty but they'd do.
"There are four more to retrieve." Death said and Harry so wanted to just sleep off what they had just done. "But that can be a focus for another day."
"Your damn right its for another day." Harry said and stood under his own power. Death didn't look at all ruffled by what had just happened and everything about her was simply as normal as it always was.
"Now, I do believe that the last of the Chitauri are being handled and dealt with, so your work here is done."
"But I only have two stones?" Harry held up the Space Stone and the scepter containing the Mind Stone.
"You are in no state to take on the full power of the Mind Stone at this time and the Time Stone is within safe hands for the moment."
"Oh, thank Merlin for that" Harry sighed as he looked down at the two Infinity Stones he had. The scepter was decidedly larger than the Space Stone and he didn't really feel like going through that process again so soon. He wondered what would happen if he stuck the Space Stone in his mokeskin pouch for a moment, then decided to lean into his Gryffindor tendencies and just slipped the damn thing into it, and when he got no reaction, he heaved another sigh.
He looked over towards the muggle man who was unconscious and made his way over to him. A quick flick of the wrist and the Elder Wand was in his hand. It was simple to point it at the man and revive him. His eyes flew open with a gasp and that soon devolved into a hacking cough. Another flick of the wrist and the Elder Wand was back in its holster leaving Harry with the scepter and an injured muggle man.
"You okay sir?" Harry asked the man.
"Never been better." The man groaned in response. He struggled into a sitting position and then looked at Harry for a moment. It must have been a rather jarring sight to see a wizard in full dragonhide armor and holding a gaudy scepter in his hand.
"Feel up for a drink?" Harry asked more to himself than to the muggle. He could have sworn Death had rolled her eyes at that, but he wasn't completely sure. "I could really use a drink right about now. Or maybe several of them."
"I…" The muggle said and then rubbed his bloodied head. "I can't say no to that."
DrinkdrinkDRINK!
Harry had the distinct feeling that the was going to regret keeping the Mind Stone with him as he pulled the muggle to his feet. Death went incorporeal again and left the two of them to find the nearest source of alcohol by themselves. A little inconsiderate but Harry wasn't going to argue with a primordial being. He had some self-preservation skills after all.
Now all they had to do was find a way off the roof.