When Harry first stepped foot in the park, he could still see traces of the sun below the horizon, the last hues of gold and red disappearing beneath the encroaching dark blue sky. That was ten minutes ago.

Now, the trees were swallowed by dark, save for places illuminated by lamps here and there.

He was greeted by a man in a suit, who asked to see the text message and verified that he was Harry Potter. The man told him to follow the path to the lake, where the show was to be held. Harry wondered at the lack of people, but was told that the park was booked for this private performance. The crowd would be small, and he was one of the first to arrive.

So the young wizard strolled along the winding path, taking in the sights and smells of the earth and greenery. It was a nice enough park, he supposed. After a few minutes, he stumbled on a sign along the path that pointed left, towards the lake.

'That's odd. There's no trail this way…'

He looked around for any other side paths the sign could be referring to, but none could be seen. Feeling like the butt of a joke, Harry took a sharp left and walked right through the shrubs, weaving between the trees.

He ended up in a clearing, isolated from the main path by walls of flora.

'Strange. Is this some sort of trick? Maybe someone moved the sign?'

Harry was about to turn around and get back on the main path — maybe give the attendant at the park entrance a piece of his mind — when he was dazzled by a bright beam of light.

"Argh. What the—"

Harry recoiled and shielded his eyes, squinting to get an impression of whatever foul thing was trying to blind him.

"Target identified," a robotic voice spoke.

The intensity of the beam lowered. Harry moved his hands and blinked as his pupils adjusted to the level of illumination. Evidently the blasted lights came from a small flying metal contraption in the center of the clearing. A cursory glance around him revealed that he was surrounded by a group of four people in black suits, one of whom had a visibly holstered gun.

"Who— what the fuck is this?"

"Agent Mitchell speaking," a woman said, stepping forward. "We're with the Sokovia Accords Enforcement Division of Homeland Security."

Harry frantically repeated her words in his mind.

'The Sokovia Accords…' Harry recalled that the Accords were that law that forced people with superpowers or unnatural abilities to register themselves with the government. 'But...wait— no way.'

"You buggers think I'm some sort of superhero?" he exclaimed.

Him? A superhero? That was just unimagi— actually it made sense, given that he was a wizard in a world without magic. But how the fuck did these people catch on?

"I'm not quite sure you've earned the hero moniker Mr. Potter, but we have received reports that you're in violation of the Accords," Agent Mitchell replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

One of the men with the agent stepped forward, pulling a badge out of his pocket and flashing it at Harry. "Agent Hughes, also with the S.A.E.D.; you need to come with us," he said, pocketing his badge again and taking another step towards Harry.

Harry backed away, cognizant of the two agents behind him. He was trapped. Well, not really, but by all appearances they had him boxed in.

"I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on," he stated firmly, glaring at the two agents that had spoken.

Agent Hughes rolled his eyes. "Look kid. We know you've got some freaky mutant power shit going on, that or some illegal as fuck tech. So, either you come with us peacefully, or we call for back-up," he told him, smirking at the end, "and trust me, you don't want us to call for back-up."

'Smug bastard.'

Harry glared at the agent, all the while working rapidly to figure the situation out. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and Harry just knew the men behind him were moving closer. Apparating away was very tempting, but there would most certainly be consequences to revealing that ability. What's more, these were law enforcement agents, and they already knew who he was; escaping might make things worse.

On the other hand, he had no reason to trust these people. Tricking him here and then ambushing him. They could just bugger off.

"Hm, you do make it sound so appealing," he smiled at them thinly. "But I think not."

Alarmed, the men moved closer, and two of them pulled out their guns; they kept them pointed at the ground, interestingly enough. A sign they wanted to avoid harming him, perhaps?

Agent Mitchell tried to de-escalate things. "What my colleague means is, we apologise for the deception in drawing you out, Mr. Potter, but it comes with our line of work. Either way, we'd like you to come with us to answer some questions. We guarantee that you won't be hurt as long as you're cooperative."

Harry half believed her, but he wasn't going to take that chance. With a flick of his wrist he cast an overpowered Lumos that blinded the agents much like they had done to him. Then taking advantage of their momentary distraction, he summoned his wand and slashed the air, apparating away.

He didn't go very far, however.

Harry only apparated far enough away to be out of hearing range and sight. The invisibility cloak soon found itself in his hands, then over his body. Under cover of the cloak, Harry carefully walked back to the clearing, using a Point Me spell to help him find the way.

It didn't take more than a minute before he found himself peaking into the clearing, watching the agents, and he found that — to their credit — they were remarkably calm. Three of the agents, Hughes included, were fanned out and searching for him.

'Good luck with that.'

Agent Mitchell, however, was on the phone.

Curious, Harry pulled out his wand and cast 'Ausculto' non-verbally.

He grinned as the spell took hold and let him hear the Agent's conversation clear as day.

"Yes sir, he got away while our eyes adjusted. We didn't see everything, but by all indications he, erm, he teleported, sir," she was saying.

"You're kidding me," a male voice replied.

"No sir. He quite literally disappeared right in front of our eyes," she explained.

There was a moment of silence.

"I need to see this."

"Yes sir. I think the drone got it all. Is there anything else, or are we done here?"

"Nah you're good. Tell Hill I said hi."

"Understood," Agent Mitchell replied, hanging up and turning to look at the hovering machine. Slowly, it started moving upwards, with the engines getting louder and the outer fan-like things starting to spin faster as well.

With little time to spare, an idea formed in Harry's head, and before he could question himself, he closed his eyes, concentrated, and willed — no, commanded — a fragment of his magic to embed itself into the machine's metal frame.

Nothing happened at first; and Harry wondered if he blew it, but as the machine got higher and higher — with Harry needing to tilt his head upwards to watch it — he felt a miniscule drain on his magic, as it did what he asked.

Harry could feel that piece now, as the machine flew further up and moved away, deeper into the city. Hopefully the connection would last long enough for him to track it. He wanted to know who had sent these arseholes after him.

In the meantime, Agent Mitchell was corralling the men so that they could leave.

Harry wasn't really listening to their chatter, but he did find one thing she said interesting.

"Well, that didn't turn out like we expected, but the kid seems harmless enough. I still think this is overkill, but whatever, we did our part. He's going to want to handle this personally, I think," she said, pulling out a pair of sunglasses and sliding them on. Agent Mitchell then gestured her arms in a wide circle, as if rounding the other agents up.

As they grouped up, one of them snorted. "Still can't believe that text worked. How'd you know he'd buy it Anne?"

Agent Mitchell responded, "Honestly, I didn't think it'd work either. The profile suggested it would, but I was already working on something else, an actual plan, when he texted back."

The agents expressed their amusement then, after a quick scan of the area, they waltzed out of the clearing, leaving Harry with a myriad of questions and feeling a little offended.

'Well how was I supposed to know there was something unusual about that text? Ah nevermind that for now. They seemed remarkably unconcerned by my escape. And who were they talking about?'

Knowing he wouldn't get an answer just yet, Harry apparated back into his apartment. It wasn't exactly a safe place to be, given that they knew who he was, but his wards should keep any intruders out.

Tomorrow he could figure out what to do.

He spent the rest of the night restlessly practicing his magic, trying to release the tension that had built up in that encounter. Only when his magic was well and properly drained did he decide to tuck in for the night, making his way to his bedroom, where he curled up in bed and relaxed into the cool, soft sheets. As he waited for sleep to come, Harry grabbed his phone and started reading up on the Sokovia Accords, trying to understand their contents and the events surrounding their creation better.

They were fairly complex, so he had to do quite a bit of reading. When he finally had a decent grasp on the contents of the Accords, Harry found he had mixed feelings. These Accords had glaring privacy issues and did nothing to discourage any possible discrimination — issues the defecting Avengers were undoubtedly in protest of.

That said, he understood some of the concerns about the legality of the Avengers' activities, and why the muggle governments wanted some sort of protocol for dealing with preternatural threats. Forcing everyone with such abilities to identify themselves and be registered, though? That was too far.

Those with good intentions…well, it wasn't for him to judge.

Ultimately, Harry grew tired of thinking about the Accords and put his phone away, eyes growing heavy with the call of sleep. As he drifted off, he was faintly aware of a spark of his magic still beckoning him closer somewhere in the distance.

Tony Stark was feeling pretty off-kilter recently.

This Potter guy was throwing him for a loop, and he wasn't happy about it.

It was his date night with Pepper, so he sent Hill's agents after Potter instead of confronting him directly. There was much still unknown about the guy, but he didn't strike Tony as especially threatening; he figured a bunch of ex-SHIELD agents could handle him just fine.

Instead, they called him while he was in the car with Pepper, on their way to the restaurant they had a reservation at, and told him that Potter fucking teleported away. He thought it was a joke at first, but he would never be that lucky.

He needed to see it for himself, but he was with Pepper, so he had to wait till the end of the night, after they got home and Pepper went to bed. He told her he'd be right behind her, and had Friday show him the video from the closest screen available.

He watched it three times before he had to tear himself away and join Pepper in bed, and even as he fell asleep, he couldn't get over the image of that silhouette bending, stretching, and deforming into nothingness out of his head. It had to be a trick. He wanted to think it was an illusion. If the guy was like Loki, he could have been there the whole time, just invisible.

But he knew that wasn't it.

The next morning, after breakfast with Pepper, Tony checked in with Friday.

As soon as Potter left his apartment, Tony had a few drones set up shop right outside the place. They couldn't get a clear read on the place, thanks to whatever energy field was protecting the place, but the infra-red could pick up when he was there at least.

According to Friday, Potter was back inside his apartment 2 minutes 43 seconds after he vanished. He had the AI look over the readings again and again, but it was the same every time. Empty apartment. One second later, he was right there.

Sooo… teleportation. Matter displacement. Quantum leaping. Same thing.

Tony doubted it was an inbuilt ability. SHIELD had no files on mutants with teleportation abilities. Even Asgardians couldn't do it without relying on constructs like that fancy bridge or the Tesseract. But there was some weird shit out there. He could believe it if he had to.

Tony still had no indication that Potter could be hostile, but he was definitely more wary of the guy in light of his apparent capabilities. Someone that could erect invisible force fields, teleport, and apparently come back from the dead? That wasn't someone to take lightly.

And the odds of someone with Potters' abilities coincidentally living next to Peter were infinitesimally small. It was far easier to believe that was some sort of malintent to it. Naturally, it didn't help his case that he technically ran away from the authorities, but Tony was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt there.

The thing was... with Rhodey still in physical rehabilitation, Vision starting to go awol, and team Capsicle all in hiding from the government, it was down to him to keep people safe.

Just him.

So call it paranoia, but Tony was looking out for everyone the best way he knew how to.

"YOU DID WHAT!" Peter bellowed.

"Whoa, kid!"

"Mr. Stark are you out of your mind!?"

"Probably not. Depends on who you ask."

Peter wanted to rip his own hair out in frustration. He couldn't believe he was yelling at Tony Stark, but what the actual hell? He thought they were just trying to get a read on whether or not Harry was dangerous, with the goal of approaching him amiably. That did not mean sending ex-SHIELD agents to arrest him last night!

"You can have a conniption over this later," Mr. Stark said, waving dismissively. "You need to see this first."

The man walked deeper into his lab, leaving Peter to sigh and follow him, though not without making it clear that he wasn't letting this go.

One mind shattering video later:

"So… he can make force-fields—"

"Well, some sort of barrier."

"He can come back to life—"

"Not necessarily, but looks like it."

"And he can teleport."

"Now that's an affirmative."

"That's… insane," Peter murmured, struggling to reconcile the fun, friendly Harry he knew with someone who could do all that.

"Yup," Mr. Stark agreed, popping the 'p'.

"Do you think he's an alien?" Peter blurted out. "It'd explain why he's so clueless about normal stuff, right?"

Mr. Stark pinched his chin. "It's possible. Not to sound too X-Files, but we know they're out there. But... Friday pulled up a pretty extensive history of aHarry Potter. If he was an alien, he's been here for 17 years".

Peter watched as Mr. Stark buried his head in his hands melodramatically. "I sound like a conspiracy theorist," he groaned. "If I ever start ranting about chem trails or gay frogs, get Pepper to have me committed."

Peter snorted.

Mr. Stark lifted his head up and stared at Peter blankly.

"Uh, you alright there Mr. Stark?"

The man shook his head. "Yeah I'm fine kid, just questioning the reality of my existence."

Peter didn't know what to say to that.

"Right…"

The man huffed a laugh and got up, abandoning his stool for the discomfort of leaning against the workbench.

"...so," Mr. Stark spoke up, capturing Peter's attention. "That's me done processing!" He clapped his hands. "Time to get some answers."

Mr. Stark grabbed onto the workbench and pushed himself forward, launching into action.

"Friday, have a couple of pizzas sent over. I have a feeling I'll need the carbs, and the kid has a black hole for a stomach," Mr. Stark called out to the AI.

"Mr. Starrrrk!" Peter protested. "I'm not that bad. Just a growing kid, y'know? Plus, I burn a lot of calories."

"Mhmmm. Oh, and tell Pepper I might be late tonight."

"Aye boss, three pizzas on their way. Would you like some flowers to be delivered as well?" Friday chimed in.

"Good idea. Yes. Do that."

Disgruntled, Peter followed Mr. Stark to the center display, where the man pulled up a hologram display of his plans.

"Let's get to thinking Petey boy."

"Sorry Mr. Stark, if it's going to be anything like what happened last night, I… I-" Peter cleared his throat, a nervous sweat forming at the back of his neck. "I don't wanna be any part of it."

Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. "Relax kid, they were never going to hurt him unless he attacked them first."

"Yeah but…"

"Besides, now we know he can teleport, and that he can't or won't blow up law enforcement when threatened. It's a win!"

And what could Peter say to that? He still felt like Harry was being done wrong, and he half wished Harry was there so he could apologise for what Mr. Stark put him through. But Mr. Stark was a genius, and an Avenger at that, so surely he knew what was best?

In the end, Peter decided to trust in Mr. Stark and his methods, but damn if he couldn't silence the doubts in his heart.

It turned out he didn't need to be too worried.

Mr. Stark's plan was basically for them to talk to Harry and approach him in a friendly manner, all the while arming themselves and readying themselves to take down Harry by any means necessary.

"So, everything clear?"

"Yeah," Peter affirmed. He wasn't comfortable with the situation, but he understood Mr. Stark's position. As long as diplomacy was the main route, he'd go along with this. He trusted Mr. Stark to do the right thing and keep things peaceful. "It's simple enough. Talk, try to make nice. And if all else fails, incapacitate."

Mr. Stark nodded at him, an approving gleam in his eyes.

Peter nodded back, then surveyed the array of contraptions they had piled up before them.

A tranquilliser dart that could be attached to Peter's web shooters, robotic magnetic cuffs that were programmed to shoot out and immobilise Harry's hands before he saw them coming, and some more standard stuff like a stun gun, knockout gas, and such that were 'borrowed' from SHIELD caches. Nothing that could harm Harry, just stuff to subdue or detain him if needed.

Although, short of Harry going berserk and trying to murder them — which, come on, was never going to happen — Peter had every intention of accidentally missing any shots he had to take. That was just a line he refused to cross.

"Oh yeah, and I built you a voice modulator for your suit."

"Really? Sweet!"

"Don't get too excited kid, it's the same tech in those toy microphones for kids."

"Yeah, but still. Now I can sound really badass," Peter grinned. He lowered his voice and tried to sound gruff. "I'm Spider-Man, and this is my city, punk."

Mr. Stark facepalmed, to which Peter's smile merely widened.

"Just… just make sure you use it," Mr. Stark instructed wearily, not unlike a school teacher at the end of his rope. "Last thing we need is for your little buddy to recognise you. Actually, why don't you test it out now?"

Peter nodded and told Karen to activate the voice modulator.

"Testing. One? Two? Three?"

Mr. Stark nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect. Doesn't sound like you at all, but it's not too robotic."

Peter thanked Mr. Stark for the voice modulator and then, after disabling it, they talked some more about other, non-Harry related matters.

All the while, Peter was considering something Mr. Stark said.

"Last thing we need is for your little buddy to recognise you."

'Would that be so bad?' Peter wondered. 'I know about his secret, and...we're friends. After the all clear, should I let him know about mine?'

Come morning, Harry shot out of bed.

Maybe it was his rested brain, or maybe he'd had a particularly inspiring dream, but he knew what he was going to do — and Merlin was he thankful for his quick thinking last night.

Pushing off the blanket, Harry rushed to start his day.

Brush. Piss. Shower. Eat. Done.

As he munched on the bread, Harry tried to reach out and feel that piece of his magic he imbued the machine with.

It was definitely still out there, just at the edge of his senses.

He finished his toast and summoned the Elder Wand. He held it in his palm and said,"Point Me North."

The wand started spinning until it settled on North, pointing in its direction. The tug of his magic however was slightly to the left of North.

North West then.

Harry didn't fancy apparating across the city, or even further, blindly, so he decided to look for a more precise locator charm. He entered his study and started rummaging through the books. Finally, after about ten minutes he found one that focused on tracking charms. Flipping through the index he managed to find a spell that could be used to locate objects based on magical traces — as long as one had a similar magical trace with which to attune the spell.

Harry smirked, feeling a little smug. Given that he was trying to track down a piece of his own magic, he wagered he would be more than able to attune the spell.

"Vestigia magicae."

An illusionary map of golden light unfolded from the tip of his wand, displaying what Harry recognised as the geography of the state. A thin beam of light could be seen some distance to the North West, away from the city, someplace upstate.

Well, there was nothing to it then. Harry pulled his invisibility cloak on and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the small piece of his magic he could feel all those miles away. Gripping onto that connection tightly, Harry turned in place and disapparated with an audible crack.

[AN:] So, here you go! On time for once!

I have like 3 versions of this chapter, in which some scenes play out quite differently. I almost didn't post this chapter, cause I was having so much trouble deciding how I wanted the reveal story-line to play out. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter! Can't wait to hear what you think :D

Oh and of course, thank you for all the faves & reviews on the last chapter!

Cheers!