Harry was sitting at Felicities desk alone in the office. The workload had diminished at the office and Harry had suggested Felicity take the time to improve herself so the girl had taken a gym membership and registered for some adult education classes.
Harry was working on the animagus transformation, going over the book he had received and the notes in Sirius's journal, hoping he could finish the transformation in the next few months when the bell over the office door sounded, heralding a visitor.
A bald, bespeckled man, dressed in a simple business suit, carrying a suitcase, made his way to Harry's desk with confident steps.
Harry vaguely recognized the man and activated the enchantment in his glasses.
'Jasper Sitwell.' That name seemed familiar somehow and then it hit him. This had been the man who had led the soldiers in Central Park.
Harry looked up to the silenced sneak-a-scope mounted above the door to see it spinning wildly.
Harry's expression must have betrayed his thoughts because the man hesitated for a moment before approaching the desk.
"How can I help you … mister Sitwell?"
The man's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he hesitated again. Harry took advantage of the direct eye contact to try and see what his limited legilimency skills could tell him.
Fuzzy, disjointed images filtered through Harry's consciousness. A severe looking, bald black man with an eye patch wearing a dark leather jacket was sitting behind a desk in a very modern office. On the wall behind him was a large stylised bird with the word SHIELD.
Harry couldn't hear what was being said.
Harry stood up and made to greet the man, not wanting to be caught sitting if the man proved to be a danger.
Sitwell placed his suitcase on Harry's desk, opened it and handed over a picture of a hammer.
"What can you tell us about this?"
The man sat down in the chair and leaned backwards with forced casualness.
Harry walked back to Felicity's chair observing the image.
"It's a hammer, not a workman's hammer but a weapon. It's also a fancy weapon for someone important. There's some knotwork, not celtic but norse?"
"How can you tell?" Sitwell asked
"Celtic knotworks are mostly abstract plants or patterns but Norse knotwork is abstractions of creatures or people." Harry explained distractedly, having spent years in a scottish castle with Hermione Granger … Harry had been exposed to plenty of knotwork and explanation on it's meaning.
Harry put the picture down and looked at the man sitting across from him.
"What else can you tell us about this hammer." The man asked.
Harry considered the situation for a few moments. Obviously he'd come to the attention of some type of organisation … not exactly what Harry had been aiming for when he openly declared himself a wizard … unless they were a more modern version of his worlds ICW after all wizards were pretty horrible at acronyms with OWL for Ordinary Wizarding Levels, NEWT for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests and even the ever pragmatic Hermione granger had managed to come up with the ever infamous SPEW. SHIELD wouldn't have been out of place at the Ministry.
They were aware of him and hadn't come in weapons blazing so they either were trying not to antagonise him or ...
'It's a test.' Harry realised.
Taking his wand from his wrist holster, Harry began animating the photo, moving the perspective as much as he could considering the limitations of untreated photographs, revealing that the hammer was resting precariously above a thin pillar of earth.
Harry noted that the man still appeared relaxed but his eyes were tracking his wand.
A few more flicks and Harry could see, in the background, scientific equipment and military personnel.
'So, not wizards.' Harry thought to himself.
"You couldn't move the hammer, it looks like you can't even affect the ground it touches."
The man offered no confirmation either way.
"Aparecium."
Lettering appeared on the side of the hammer written in Elder Futhark along with complex enchanting rune clusters that included runes Harry had yet to see in Hermiones books. Harry picked up one of Hermione's rune books on the desk and began scribbling away.
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Harry read back.
"Are you trying to say you have … what's it's name again … sounds like a cat meowing … the hammer of Thor, the god of thunder?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Not anymore, he left with it." The man answered in an even tone.
"So this was a test. So what does SHIELD want with me agent Sitwel."
Again, a slight tensing of the muscles, barely perceivable by most was the only reaction the man allowed.
"The director would like to meet with you."
"I'm guessing this isn't a request?" Harry asked.
"No, it is. There just really is no reason for you not to accept the invitation."
"Right. Let me just call my assistant so she doesn't wonder where I've gotten to."
The man nodded and Harry picked up his new cellphone. His third one to date.
"Wassup?"
"Hey Felicity. I'm heading out with a potential new client so I might not be home when you get back and I'll be leaving my cellphone at the office."
"Do you want me to head over now?"
"No. No, I think I'll go to this on my own. I'll close the office and you can have yourself a nice QUIET night at home. Just don't spend all night staring at yourself in the MIRROR."
"The fuck are you talking about?"
Harry really wanted to sigh out loud. After burning through so many cell phones, he had taken Sirius's journal and found his notes on the creation of the two way mirror and had enchanted the plain reflective back of two mechanical wrist watches.
"Anyway, like I said I'm leaving my phone here in your desk next to your mirror. If you could check it when you get in that would be great."
"Ooooh! Right! Got it! Be safe alright?"
"Yup. Talk to you soon."
Harry couldn't believe how pathetic his secret message had been. Sure it was a far cry from 'He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden.' that he had used in Umbitches office but Harry decided that he'd work out some better code words in the future for Felicity.
"Lead the way." Harry indicated.
He was guided to the back seat of a black SUV. Agent Sitwell sat in the front passenger side while another man drove.
They drove for a few minutes when Harry felt his wrist watch vibrate, flipping the watch over to the mirrored side Harry accepted Felicity's call and signaled for her to remain quiet while pretending to cover a yawn before flipping the watch back, the mirror still active on his wrist.
"So where are we heading?"
"We've secured a temporary meeting location not too far." Sitwell replied, not looking away from his phone where he was tapping away.
"Anything you can tell me before we get there?"
"Not really. The director has some questions for you."
Harry shrugged and tried to enjoy the ride, watching the early snow whip by the window. Eventually, they pulled up to a warehouse in the industrial part of the city.
"Go on in, the director is waiting inside."
Harry nodded at the man and walked into the darkened warehouse. In the center of the vast empty space was a table in an island of light with a man and a woman sitting on uncomfortable chairs.
"Mr. Potter" the bald man greeted from his seat.
"Mr. Fury. Ms. Hill." Harry greated back.
"Have a seat."
The entire setup was made to put him on bad footing. His chair was uncomfortable and lower, they were both on one side of the table, the light didn't come directly from above bit a little from behind them. The entire warehouse was blanketed in darkness to make him feel isolated.
Harry looked at the chair and decided to take a page from Dumbledore's book.
"This chair seems pretty uncomfortable, do you mind if I fix it?"
Fury gave him a slight nod.
'Ok, so he's the boss, the director.' Harry thought to himself before slowly taking his wand from his sleeve.
Harry waved the wand casting a silent detection spell before transfiguring the metal folding chair into a more comfortable upholstered arm chair seat.
The detection spell revealed a dozen individuals hidden in different parts of the room, including one person in the shadowed rafters.
"So, what can I do for you director Fury?" Harry asked as he sat down on his comfortable chair.
"Why are you here?" Fury asked.
"You asked me to come?" Harry asked confused.
"I mean, why are you here on Earth. Why did Asgard send you here?"
"Asgard?!" Harry asked in complete confusion. "I'm not from Asgard. The realm of Norse gods?"
"Then where are you from?"
"England, Surrey."
Fury's expression hardened slightly. "You arrived here in Central Park in a Einstein-Rosen bridge."
"Ah what!?" Harry's confusion grew even more.
"Our specialist says your people call it the Bifrost or the Rainbow Bridge."
The man pulled a photograph from an envelope and slid it across the table.
It was a picture of a circular patch of burnt grass. And perfectly burnt into the grass was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, circled by elegant knotwork as if the symbol of the Hallows had been stamped on top of the knotwork.
Another picture of burnt grass was tossed onto the table this was contained a circle filled with complex knotwork and in the center, a tree.
"The first picture is from Central Park. The second one from a town in New Mexico called Puente Antiguo or 'Old Bridge'". Hill explained.
"So let's try that again. Why did Asgard send you here?" Fury growled out.
"I'm not from Asgard. The symbol on the photo from Central Park isn't Norse. It's the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. A wand, a cloak and a magic stone. It's a family symbol from one of my ancestral families, the Perevels. As far as I know, they were British."
"Let's say I believe you, if you're not from Asgard, where ARE you from?" Fury asked, leaning forward, peering at Harry intently.
"It's complicated. I'm from Earth, England like I said, but not THIS earth."
"Are you talking about parallel universes?" Hill questioned.
"That's all we fucking need." Fury whispered angrily.
"As far as I can tell, yes. Someone tried to kill me and it went rather poorly wrong and I ended up here. Took me a few days to figure out what had happened."
"A few days and a trip to England." Fury added.
Harry nodded. "So why did you want to meet?"
"We need some answers. Where did you come from? Are others coming? What are your intentions? What are your capabilities." Fury rattled off.
"We've been keeping an eye on you since you arrived, trying to get some more information on you. We don't have much and nothing we have we could corroborate with a second source. On top of that, you've recently come into contact with one of our assets so our hand was forced." Hill interjected.
The two were playing off each other, trying to keep him off balance but they had nothing on the Weasley twins.
"The Black Widow." Harry offered.
Hill and Fury shared a look.
"Actually, no. The Black Widow is an agent set to protect the asset." Fury offered.
"Stark?!" Harry asked in surprise. "Doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to follow orders."
"No, he's a consultant." Fury explained.
Harry nodded in understanding. "So, before we go forward. What is SHIELD?".
"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is an extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining both national and global security. Founded in the wake of the Allied victory over the Axis powers and HYDRA in World War II. That's all I'm at liberty to tell you at this point."
"I hope you understand that I won't be sharing all my secrets with you just yet either."
"What CAN you tell us?" Fury demanded.
"Let's start from the beginning. My name is Harry James Potter. I was born July 31, 1980 somewhere in England to James Potter and Lily Potter born Evans. My parents were murdered on October 31, 1981. I then spent 9 years living with my maternal aunt, her husband and son in Little Whinging. On my 11th birthday I received a particular letter inviting me to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"So in your world there are wizards everywhere?"
"Yes but the wizards live in secret, separated from regular folk and the wizarding population isn't very large, percentage wise. England has the Ministry of Magic, the US has the The Magical Congress of the United States of America. There is also a sort of United Nations called the International Confederation of Wizardry and there's a law observed by all those governments called the Statute of Secrecy meant to keep knowledge of the magical world, secret."
Harry cleared his throat.
"Do you mind if I get some water?"
"I'll have someone get some bottles."
"No need." Harry drew his wand and conjured a glass and filled it with water. "Would you like some?"
Neither Hill nor Fury showed any sign of worry or amazement at his casual breaking of the laws of physics.
"I'll take a glass" agent Hill requested.
'Either they've seen things like this before or I don't want to ever play poker against them.' Harry thought to himself as he conjured another glass for agent Hill.
Harry took a sip before continuing.
"I spent 6 years in school but a civil war broke out during my 5th year and I spent what should have been my 7th and last year of school on the run. The war ended abruptly with the death of the leader of the insurrectionists. I went back to school for my last year and was just on my way home from school when I was attacked and ended up here."
"The math doesn't add up." agent Hill commented as she looked at her notes.
"What do you mean?"
"It's 2011 right now. You were born in 1980, July 1991 you received your letter for your school, then you spent 8 years there before coming here. That would be 1998-99 give or take a year. There's an 11 or 12 year gap."
"Yeah, beats me. Maybe the magic pushed me forward in time as well? Maybe I was traveling for over 10 years before I got here? Maybe the time between our 2 dimensions is off by a decade? I don't know."
"That's a minor detail. There are a lot bigger details I feel you've skipped over." Fury interrupted.
"Yes, for starters, we've just met. Trust isn't given, it's earned. And on top of that, we'd be here for days if I went into detail."
"We could arrest you for being a literal illegal alien." Fury offered, leaning back nonchalantly. It was said casually.
"No, you could TRY to arrest me." Harry countered staring the man in his one good eye, unleashing his passive legilimency.
Through the blur of color and motion, Harry could see a thick folder on a desk with the words 'Avenger Initiative' stamped in red letters but the image was blurred and fleeting.
Fury nodded in understanding, breaking Harry's brief mental contact. "Fair enough. So what are your plans here?"
"Honestly, I've just been winging it. When I got here, I went back to England to confirm what I had already guessed. There was no one there. None of my friends, family … even my school wasn't really there. My magical education hadn't prepared me to live in the normal world. The magical world is behind the time by centuries. The most advanced thing they have is a steam train, the printing press and the magical equivalent to the radio while the non-magical world seemed about equivalent to what it was about 10 years ago here. Also magic interferes with electronics, I've burnt through several smartphones already. My time at Hogwarts hadn't been normal either, I'd spent a lot of my time there solving mysteries so I figured I'd do what I knew best. But I also was hoping that by declaring myself openly as magical that if there were any magicals hidden somewhere that maybe they'd approach me."
"And instead you found yourself on the radar of one of the most powerful secret agencies in the world." Fury commented.
Harry simply nodded, taking another sip of his water.
"Why not go home?" Hill asked
"Not sure how I got here to start with! Parallel universes and alternate realities was all theoretical in my world. The only thing relating to other dimensions we had, as far as I know, was a magical archway in the bowels of the ministry of magic called the Veil of Death and the ministry had been studying it for hundreds of years with no result. I'm skilled and powerful … for a recent graduate of the best magical school in the world but this is something that would stump the best witches and wizards of my world."
"So you are stuck. That's why you moved to New York, to be close to your arrival point just in case?"
Harry simply nodded.
"So … what's next? Are one of the twelve guys hidden away in the room going to shoot me so you can take me to a secret lab somewhere?" Harry asked.
Furry didn't even blink at that declaration.
"No. Like I said, we've been keeping an eye on you for a while now and we've determined that you probably aren't a threat. Someone with your powers, what little we've been able to see anyways … you could have started a life of crime easily. Instead you started a detective agency, finding missing persons, cheating spouses. You gave a homeless girl a job and a place to stay." Fury explained.
"So … what? Are you trying to recruit me?" Harry asked perplexed.
"Fuck no!" the man replied with a laugh but Harry wasn't sold on it's truthfulness.
"Like you said, trust is earned. We know next to nothing about you! But we could use someone with your knowledge and skills every now and again. Your situation isn't the strangest thing I've had to deal with this year." Fury exclaimed.
"Like having the literal God of Thunder show up in a small New Mexico town." Harry offered.
"Exactly. So SHIELD sometimes makes use of consultants. Maybe we bring you on a few cases to help us. Maybe with time, we both earn that trust and go forward."
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" Harry quoted.
"Are you our enemy?" Fury asked, eye narrowed.
"No. I don't think so. Bad choice of words." Harry offered as an apology, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.
Fury simply stared at the young wizard before nodding slowly.
"Your handler is mostly going to be agent Sitwell. He'll come over in a few days with paperwork like birth certificates, school records, passports and all that. We're going to start by creating a paper trail for you." Fury explained.
"You're the ones that got my bank account approved aren't you." Harry asked.
Fury nodded. "We needed you to not get desperate enough to turn to crime and we needed you grounded somewhere so we could keep an eye on you. Hard to do surveillance on someone that can teleport."
Something clicked in Harry's mind and his annoyance, mostly at himself, grew.
"Kate! She's one of your agents." Harry blurted out.
Fury simply nodded while Hill looked as if she was debating with herself.
"Her real name isn't Kate but you seem to be able to know people's real name."
"It wasn't important for me to know people's real names then." Harry answered the non-question. "Honestly, at the time, I was a bit in shock still I think."
"I think that's about it for now." Fury stated as an alarm beeped on his smartphone. "Sitwell will be over to do paperwork. We'll also want you over for a medical, we need to know if you bought anything new or weird from your reality medically speaking."
"Great. It was nice meeting you both." Harry replied extending a hand to them, surprised that both Fury and Hill accepted the handshake.
"We'll have someone take you back to your office," agent Hill offered.
Harry noted that Hill hadn't taken a sip from her glass of water.
"No that's fine. I'll get myself home." Harry surreptitiously dropped his watch on his chair before spinning in place and disappeared with a soft crack, purposely leaving the chair and glasses of water behind.
Felicity rushed into the office but Harry hushed her signalling for her watch.
The connection between the watches was still active and they could listen in.
"So, that went well." A voice Harry didn't recognise commented.
"Went better than expected." Hill agreed.
"But we still know next to nothing about his capabilities Barton. He can teleport, create things out of thin air, change the molecular structure of things apparently at will, he can teleport, he knows peoples true names or the name they identify as, he can cause explosions, create force fields and who knows what else. He's a massive security risk." Fury ground out.
"Or an amazing asset." Barton countered.
"His preliminary psych profile is encouraging." Hill temporised.
"You planning on recruiting him for the Avengers Initiative?" Barton asked.
There was silence for a moment while Fury considered his options.
"Maybe. He's a complete unknown, we have no contingency scenarios, he seems to be a nice kid but his eyes are old … he's seen some rough times."
"I have an idea for a good evaluation mission." Another male voice cut in. "We have him do the initial orientation and debrief of the Captain. Seems like their situations are similar enough."
Everyone seemed to consider this quietly for a few moments before someone's cell phone began to beep loudly.
"Right, I have a meeting about sleeping beauty with the Council. Add your suggestion to the agenda for tomorrow's meeting."
"Alright! Packup and bag anything he left behind so we can have the lab guys analyse everything." Hill commanded.
Harry broke the connection quickly before the watch could be found.
"Can we trust them?"
Harry sat down at his desk pondering that question for a few moments before waving his wand about the room casting Mulfatio.
"I don't know. My sneakoscope went haywire when Sitwell came into the office."
"So no, we can't trust them." Felicity concluded.
"I don't know. Sneakoscope can be a bit sensitive. I had a teacher who had to disable his because it would get set off by kids lying about homework or planning a prank. Sitwell is an agent for a spy agency, that could be enough for the sneakoscope to trigger." Harry countered.
"So sneakoscopes are useless." Felicity concluded.
"No, if they don't trigger you know the person is probably there for honest reasons."
Sitwell returned several days later to conduct an interview with Harry to create his SHIELD profile and his official paperwork.
And they had scheduled a medical examination at a later date.
Harry had managed to get his watch back from Sitwell, claiming he had dropped it at the meeting.
It hadn't taken very long before SHIELD had called on him but Harry had been rather surprised by the nature of the request.
Harry woke up a cold winter morning, walked passed the kitchen to the bathroom where Nick Fury sat drinking some coffee, relieved himself, cleaned his hands and was about to brush his teeth when what he had just seen finally hit his conscious mind.
Walking back to the kitchen Harry peeked into the room. Sitting at his table, tapping away on a smartphone, drinking coffee shop bought coffee was Nick Fury.
"Uhm … hello?"
"Potter. I have a job for you."
"I'm just in my skivvies. I'll be back in a second."
Harry walked back into his room and quickly dressed before returning to the kitchen.
Harry started a pot of coffee for the still sleeping Felicity and made himself a cup of tea, cheating by heating the water magically.
"I'm going to need to setup some wards. So what can we do for you director?"
"I need you to do a debrief of sorts for a soldier we've recovered that was missing in action."
"Must be important if you came here instead of sending agent Sitwell." Harry took a sip of his tea. "Why me? This isn't anything I'm familiar with."
Felicity walked into the kitchen, dressed only in panties and a black band t-shirt. She stopped for a second noticing they had a guest, shrugged and went to pour herself a cup of coffee before dropping down into a chair at the table.
Fury looked to Harry with a raised eyebrow.
Harry simply shrugged.
"Let's just say that you have a lot in common." Fury continued, sliding a folder over to Harry.
The file was labeled: Steve Rogers.
Harry sat on an uncomfortable chair in a simple looking hospital room waiting for the man in the bed to wake up. Something the doctors had promised would be happening shortly.
When Harry had agreed to work with SHIELD, he had expected maybe identifying or debunking magical phenomena or maybe investigative work. What Harry had not expected was a request to debrief a soldier who had been MIA for a very long time.
Lying there in front of him in an older styled hospital bed was Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America.
Harry listened to the sounds of New York coming from the window. The sounds, like the room they were in were fake. Made to look and sound like they did in 1945, the year the man had plunged the plane into the icy ocean.
The whole room was essentially an elaborate set inside a secured floor of a building in Manhattan.
Harry noticed the man shift slightly, subtly looking for restraints.
"Good morning Captain Rogers." Harry said softly.
The man's eyes opened, alert and searching.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Harry Potter and you're in a temporary medical facility in New York."
The man gingerly sat up in bed, looking around the room, a confused expression on his face.
"You sound British."
"I am, spent most of my life in England and Scotland, I've been in New York for less than a year. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? The doctors want to see if there is any short or long term problems from your time in the icy water."
The man's features hardened.
"Don't worry, nothing secret. Name, rank, serial, date of birth, current year … very general questions just to see if there are any memory problems." Harry explained.
"Steven Grant Rogers, Captain, 54985870, born July 4, 1918 and the current year is 1945."
Harry tried to restrain his wince as it dawned on him that the man had been frozen in time for 66 years but something must have shown in his face as Rogers expression hardened more.
"So, now that I've answered your questions. Mind answering some of mine?"
"Ask away and I'll see what I can do."
"Where am I really and who do you work for?"
Harry noted as the super soldiers hand moved slightly towards the tray that lay on his bedside table.
"I told you the truth. You are currently in New York and this is a temporary hospital. We're in a secured location. The doctors were worried you might have brain damage and would react violently so this hospital room was created in a secure location. As for who I work for? I'm a consultant for SHIELD, an organisation that evolved out of the SSR."
"Evolved out of the SSR?" Rogers asked bewildered. "How long have I been out?"
Harry squirmed slightly in his seat before letting out a deep sigh.
"It's been something like 66 years. The current date December 5th 2011."
Suddenly, the soldier burst into action rushing forward much faster than Harry thought possible. Harry was barely able to block the punch aimed at his head with his arms but even deflected, the blow felt like he'd been taken a direct hit from a bludger and sent him to the floor.
Rogers sprinted past a dazed Harry demolishing the sturdy door with very little effort.
"Clear his way! Felicity! Where is he going?" Harry asked as he flipped his wrist watch to the mirrored side.
Harry could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance followed by a loud crash.
"He's heading to the roof. We've got all the fire doors sealed."
"Right! Tell Fury to keep his men out of sight. I'll go and meet the captain on the roof."
With that Harry stumbled out of the room, apparated past a fire door and then out a window. A few 'Alarte Ascendare' spells allowed Harry to quickly climb the building in a few leaps.
Rogers recoiled in surprise as he burst through the door to find Harry waiting for him, arms raised placatingly. "What? What?!"
"I took a shortcut." Harry explained. "I'm not here to hurt you captain, you're not a prisoner. Here come with me and come see the city."
Harry slowly backed away from super soldier and around a corner.
Captain Rodgers gasped in surprise as they could see, in the distance, the Statue of Liberty framed by a modern day New York.
The man fell down on his ass looking over the very modern New York skyline.
"I know it's a lot to take in, just take some deep breaths. Won't do any good to have a panic attack." Harry calmly explained moving as little as possible so as to not trigger the man's fight or flight response.
"66 years?"
"Yeah. It took SHIELD a long time to find you. Are we good?" Harry asked, sitting down on some machinery.
"No … not really."
Harry noticed the man tense and move his head in a direction a few heartbeats before SHIELD soldiers appeared around the corner.
"Everythings ok! You guys can go." Harry exclaimed loudly. "SHIELD security forces." Harry explained.
"Security detail?" Rogers asked.
"If you had suffered brain damage and were violent … well you are a dangerous soldier. Having a super soldier rampaging through New York would have been pretty bad."
"What now?"
"Now you ask me questions and I try to answer. Later you'll probably do a debrief on your last mission but it's waited this long, a few more days won't hurt. But first, we should probably get you dressed, pyjama bottoms and a muscle shirt in the middle of winter is probably not the most comfortable." Harry offered.
"It's warmer than I've been in a long time apparently but yeah." Rogers spoke softly.
Just then, Felicity turned the corner carrying a duffle bag and a small cooler.
Rogers stared at the girl in surprise. Her partially shaved head with purple fringe, matching purple lipstick, piercings and trashy punk clothing apparently shocking the mans conservative 1940's sensibilities.
"This is my friend and assistant: Felicity. Felicity, Captain Rogers."
"Hey." the girl greeted shyly and awkwardly.
She handed the man a duffle bag containing jeans, a t-shirt, socks, shoes and a jacket.
The man pulled the jeans over his pyjama bottoms put on the socks and shirt but hesitated at the shoes.
"Yeah, modern running shoes." Harry acknowledged.
"I ah … I brought up some food and a couple of beers." Felicity offered shyly before running off.
Harry shook his head at the girls strange behavior.
"Do you want to stay out here or go inside?" Harry asked.
"I'd like to stay out here for a bit if you don't mind."
Harry nodded and started poking through the lunch Felicity had brought.
"So you have questions. I might have answers." Harry continued, opening one of the beers and handing it to the other man before opening one for himself.
"I guess we won?"
Harry took a sip of the beer grimacing slightly, not being a fan of the drink.
"You'll be able to get more detail about that from a military briefing later but yeah. The leader of HYDRA vanished, Hitler killed himself as allied forces made their way to him. The world has been in relative peace for the last 60 or so years. There was something in Cuba and things between the US and the Russians were pretty tense, they called it the 'Cold War'. And there's been other wars like Korea, Afghanistan and so on but nothing like World War 2."
Rogers took a sip from his beer.
"What about my friends? The Howling Commandos? Howard Stark? … Peggy Carter?"
"They said you might ask so they prepared me. The Commandos are all gone, I'm sorry. Howard Stark and his wife died in a car crash in 1991 I think, Peggy Carter is still alive. Her location is considered a government national secret."
"Howard got married?" Rogers asked in surprise. "Never would have thought."
"Yes. I've met his son. Brilliant but a bit of an arsehole." Harry offered. "Actually I'm being a bit unfair, apparently he turned his life around over the last bit. See that huge tower being built over there? That's going to be a self sufficient, non polluting tower. He's moved the company from weapons development to clean energy and other fields."
"What about you? Why did they choose you for my orientation. You're young, not military, not a doctor."
Harry considered how to answer.
"I can … relate." Harry started hesitantly.
"You can relate to my situation?" Rogers replied with disbelief.
"A lot more than I think Fury, that's the director of SHIELD, even realises. We have a lot in common, including your particular temporal displacement."
"Really?"
"I don't think you're ready for all the details … you need more than the 30 minutes you've had to come to grip with the reality of your new situation but I lost 11 years and everyone I knew."
"How?"
"Trust me, you are not ready for this story but just know that I can understand your situation. I woke up in the future sometime this summer. I found that my friends were gone, my girlfriend, my godson, my almost in laws … everyone. I'll tell you my story once you've had time to come to grips with your situation. No need to overwhelm you."
"Fair enough."
They sat in silence for a bit longer eating sub sandwiches and finishing off the last of their beer.
"This just doesn't feel real. It's like I'm in some horrible nightmare."
Harry could very well relate to the older man's state of mind, having gone through the same realisation in the empty field where the Burrow should have been.
"It'll take a while to sink in. I still wake up sometimes thinking I am still at my boarding school in Scotland. Are you ready to head in? I think director Fury is probably anxious to meet with you."
Harry guided the captain back into the building and into a simple conference room. The room was simple and while the furniture was modern, the only modern technology in the room was the teleconference unit sitting in the center of the table.
Sitting at the table were Fury, Hill and another balding agent Harry had never met, a Phillpe Joseph Coulsen.
"Captain Rogers, Director Fury, Agent Hill and Agent Coulsen."
Rogers hesitated for a moment, looking surprised.
"Is there a problem captain?"
Rogers hesitated for a moment.
"I don't mean to sound bigotted Director Fury but to me, yesterday, people of color were segregated. To find someone like you in charge of a vast military agency is a little bit of a shock."
"A lot has changed in the past 60 years captain. There is still some discrimination but things have progressed a great deal over those past 6 decades. Who knows, we might even have a black president in the near future."
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" Harry quoted "My friend Hermione was a big supporter of civil rights."
'Or rather elven civil rights' Harry thought to himself.
"I feel like I'll need to go back to school." Rogers ruefully explained as he reached out to shake the man's hand.
To Harry's utter shock, Fury gave the captain an authentic smile.
"Ok Captain, I'll leave you in director Fury's capable hands. I'm not sure I'm cleared for whatever you guys are going to talk about. Here is Felicity's phone number. She's easier to reach on the phone than I am. Let me know if you want to talk and when you feel ready to hear the rest of my story."
Harry waved to everyone and closed the doors as he left. Picking up Felicity, he apparated them back to their apartment.