Chapter 16: Avengers

After dinner Dumbledore walks up and asks, "What about the school?"

"Oh, the school is still going to be run the same. You're still in charge of our education for now, the only differences are now big decisions going forward has to be run by us, we get final say in those matters, and we now eat up here with any we invite to eat with us." I say as I get up.

"But you don't have crowns." he says desperately.

"Which can be easily remedied with a quick letter to my good friend Aurea. The founders just never got around to making themselves official crowns." I say while rolling my eyes.

I walk out and head to bed. The next day I make a set of armor for Fleur and send it to her before making Harry, Neville, and I crowns because Dumbledore seems to think they're a big deal. I send the package to Harry and head to bed. Now it's Thursday morning, the fifteenth of December, I'm lounging in my new throne, wearing my new crown, and Dumbledore has just stepped up to the announcement podium, which is in the same place as usual.

"Attention everyone. Last night I received news that Loki's forces have reached the border of the UK, both England and Scotland. The Avengers arrived just a few minutes ago." he says as the doors to the great hall open, revealing a small team of people all of whom look exhausted. "Please treat them well and go about your days business as usual."

'The one with long blonde hair is Thor, the red head is Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, the man in the expensive robotic suit is Tony Stark, Iron Man, and the one with the shield is Captain Steve Rogers, Captain America.' I hear Hella tell me. 'I need you to find their weaknesses. Become friends with them, see what you can learn.'

'They'll most likely stop being my friends soon as you're revealed as my date at the Yule Ball.' I say.

'Then learn fast, love.' she says cheekily. They get told to sit with the Slytherins by Dumbledore and I clear my throat. The headmaster looks at me as I mentally tell my group what I'm doing. I send a small glare over at Dumbledore and say, "The guests shouldn't be ordered to sit somewhere." I look at the Avengers and add, "I would like to offer you all seats at our table."

More seats appear at our table and the Avengers walk up and sit with us. I smile at them and Captain Rodgers says, "Hello. My name is Steve Rogers."

"Why are you all up here?" Tony Stark asks, "What's with the crowns?"

"Hogwarts and Hogsmead, the village nearby, is counted as its own country, a kingdom ruled by the lords or ladies of the founders houses." I explain. "I am, officially speaking, Queen Iris Potter, of the houses Hufflepuff and Slytherin. To my right is my twin brother, King Hadrian Potter, of the house of Ravenclaw, and to my left is our friend King Neville Longbottom, of the house of Gryffindor. You can all just call me Iris though."

I then introduce everyone at the table, after they all exchange greetings Captain Rogers says, "Nice to meet you all. This is Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, and Thor."

'Play the part expected of you, love.' Hella tells me.

'You mean I have to bow?' I whine and she laughs.

'Yes, dear.' she says so I bow my head to Thor and say, "Lord Thor, my family has followed your path for generations now."

"An honor to meet you, Lady Potter!" he says proudly.

"The honor is mine, Lord Thor, I assure you." I tell him before looking at Natasha Romanoff and saying, "Nice to meet you and Mr. Stark as well."

"Nice to meet you kid." Tony Stark tells me cheerfully. "Excuse her sour attitude, we've lost quite a few people to this war. You can just call me Tony, Mr. Stark was my father."

"Yes, it truly is tragic. Professor Dumbledore has been doing his best to keep us informed about the war and, while I do disagree with him on most subjects, I must concede that he seems to have the best interest of the wizarding world in mind...he's just too much of a fool to be of much use." I say.

"I get the feeling you don't like him." Tony says with a joking smile.

"Have you met him? He's completely barmy." I say, "He's repeatedly hired mentally unstable professors since my first year that never last past the year and all of them, without fail, have tried to kill either myself or my twin at some point, accidental or not."

"Accidental?" Tony asks.

"Last year he hired a werewolf. The werewolf forgot to take his Wolfsbane potion one night and almost ended up attacking my twin." I say. "The year before that I took on a seventy five foot long, extremely venomous snake that could kill with its gaze. I only lived with aide from a phoenix who blinded it and cried on the wound I gained from it, and in first year he hired a literal mass murderer in disguise. Now there's this year where I, a fourteen year old, have been entered in a death competition the first task of which had us facing off against fully grown mother dragons."

"Alright...yeah, I can see why you don't like him." Natasha says, sending a weary look over at the headmaster, "So, anything good about the year?"

"Me and my fellow champions in the tournament are all hosting a Quidditch Tournament as a way of distracting everyone and keeping moral up." I tell her.

"Quidditch?" Captain America asks.

"The most famous sport in the wizarding world." I tell him. "The next round of the contest is next Tuesday, classes will be dismissed for the day so we can all watch it or compete, in my teams case. Its also, in my mind, partly a celebration of the fact that I can once again participate in said sport. I got injured in my second year here and couldn't compete anymore until this year."

"I look forward to seeing what it is." he says.

"If you want I could show you a bit about the main aspect of it after we finish our meal." I tell him and he nods in agreement. "Excellent."

We eat our breakfasts and I show them to the Slytherin dorms before going and grabbing my new broom. I then lead them to the Quidditch Pitch and show them the basics of flying lessons. Soon I take to the skies and show them several aerial maneuvers before landing again, the avengers all looking rather impressed. Natasha tilts her head and says, "That looks like fun."

"It is, you wanna try? You can use my older Firebolt." I offer with a small smile.

"You'd let me?" she asks.

"Of course, just give me a second to get the Firebolt. I'd offer to let you use this one, but it was just bought for me last month and I need it in the best possible condition for the Quidditch tournament." I tell her and she nods. I point my wand towards the school and call, "Accio Firebolt." a few moments pass before my old Firebolt stops in front of me and I grab it. I pass it to Natasha and walk her through how to kick off the ground. Soon, we're about fifteen feet in the air and I smile at her, "So, what do you think about flying so far?"

"It's fun so far. How fast can this thing go?" she asks and I grin.

"That one can go up too a hundred and fifty miles per hour." I tell her before adding, "Just will it to fly forward and ease yourself into going faster though. You don't want to go from zero to one hundred and fifty in a second."

She nods and we fly forward, slowly getting faster until we're both going as fast as the broom she's on can go. I smirk before casting a charm and making glowing loops appear for us to fly though to teach her how to handle the broom better. I then fly through the first loop and she follows, quickly realizing what the loops are for.

Me and Natasha spend the next half hour flying and, eventually, I lead her back to the ground so I can head for class. When we land I see that the other Avengers are now standing with the headmaster, who smiles at me before saying, "Hello, Miss Potter. Are you enjoying your morning?"

I force a smile and say, "Yes sir. I was just about to head for my first class."

"Never mind that. The Avengers tell me you've been showing young Black Widow to fly, she seemed to be having fun up there. Please, take the day and show them around Hogwarts. I'm assigning you as their guide to the school, which means that starting today if they need anything they can pull you from classes and have you assist them." he says. "I've already informed your teachers that you've been given the day off and of your new position as a guide."

"Of course professor." I say and Dumbledore walks away. As soon as his back is turned I glare at him and his skin becomes rainbow colored. Once he's out of sight I sigh and give the Avengers an apologetic look, "Sorry about that."

"Is there a reason you hate him?" Natasha asks. "Aside from what you already told us?"

I frown a bit before remembering that I'm supposed to have Madam Pomphrey check on my wounds again today. I get off my broom and say, "Yeah, there is. Do you guys mind if we stop at the hospital wing first? I need to see Madam Pomphrey."

"Sure kid, are you alright?" Natasha asks as she climbs off the Firebolt.

"Just a few cuts she needs to look at." I say before grabbing the Firebolt and shrinking both brooms, placing them in the pocket of my robes and leading them to the Hospital Wing. When we enter I quickly move to sit on my bed and Madam Pomphrey walks over.

"Good morning, dear." Madam Pomphrey says when she sees me.

"Good morning, Madam Pomphrey, how are you today?" I ask.

"I'm in a rather nice mood, thank you for asking." she says

I then smile and pull the translated texts from my bag, passing them too her as I say, "I brought you a present."

"Thank you, dear, this was really thoughtful of you." she says before asking, "Now, how has your back been doing?"

"Better, I think only the one set of cuts need checked." I tell her as I pull off my outer robes and lift my shirt so she can see my back without my front being exposed. I hear the Avengers gasp and remember how many scars I have on my gut. "That's nothing." I say to them and they look at me, "The back is worse. Much easier to hide things there."

Natasha frowns before walking over to stand next to Madam Pomphrey. I force my magic not to react and hear her gasp at what she sees as Pomphrey tends to the word carved there. Once the nurse gets done checking on them Pomphrey says, "They're ready for the scarring cream now."

"Alright." I say before feeling her apply the strange feeling cream to all my newer scars. When she gets done and wipes the excess cream off my back I put my shirt down and look at her, "Thank you, Madam Pomphrey."

I stand and look at the shaken spy who asks, "Who gave you those scars?"

"The people Dumbledore told my parents to send me too so I wouldn't grow up jealous of my twin's fame." I tell her. "Specifically, his name was Vernon. Shall we go on a tour now?"

"How bad is it?" she asks in response and I momentarily go rigid.

"Not bad anymore, he's in prison now." I say tensely before adding, "I'm sorry, but we just met today, honestly you're lucky I let you move to stand next to Madam Pomphrey. Most people I would have tossed across the room for approaching her. I view her as one of my two favorite aunts and hate people being able to see my scars. Now, can we please get on with the tour or would you rather just stay here for the day?"

"Alright." she says hesitantly so I take them on a tour of the main school.

"With that we reach the Great Hall just in time for lunch, shall we head in?" I ask pleasantly.

"Sure." Natasha says and I lead them back to my table.