Title: Click Click Boom
Author: JoeHundredaire
Rating: PG-13/FR15
Disclaimer: Captain Fangirlhumper… err, J.K. Rowling owns the world the Harry Potter series takes place in. Wish the characters were mine so I could do utterly retarded things to them and watch my bank account get steadily larger, but sadly not mine. With a myriad of writers, artists, and editors, actual rights are a nightmare when you go near a comic book universe. Suffice it to say that Marvel Entertainment LLC owns all of the property printed in their comics, along with the television and movie adaptations of said same property. Not mine, don't sue, and so forth and so on.
Summary: From their midst, she vanished. From the outside, she watches. From the shadows, she strikes.
Joe's Note: This is partially scavenged from the recently posted Magical Thunder, which I wrote a while ago and thought was never finished but actually found a finished copy of while cleaning up my stories folder. Since I couldn't remember how I wanted to end it, I decided to borrow part of it to make this story and since the two end up being rather divergent, I decided to keep working on it even after I located the finished Magical Thunder and posted it.
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Alexander, Howard, MJ, Daniel, Christopher, Timothy, Leigh, Noh, Jason, Chris, George, Koby, Judedeath, Ken, Thyatira, William, Wil, Thomas, Jack, Pat, Chris, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

"Severus… please…"

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, hesitating for just a moment before his features twisted in a sneer of anger. "Avada kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him; kept silent and unmoving by the last spell Dumbledore had cast before being disarmed, he was forced to watch as the headmaster was blasted into the air. For a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull of the Dark Mark and then he slowly fell backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. Harry felt as though he too were hurtling through space, out of control. What he'd just seen was an illusion… it had not happened… it could not have happened…

"Out of here, quickly." Snape seized Malfoy by the scruff of his neck and forced him through the door ahead of the rest. Behind them, Greyback and the squat siblings followed, the latter both panting excitedly. As they vanished through the door, Harry realized he could move again. What was now holding him paralyzed against the wall was not Dumbledore's magic, but horror and shock.

After a moment, those two emotions gave way to rage and Harry threw his invisibility cloak aside as the last Death Eater stepped through the doorway to exit the tower. "Stupefy!" The Death Eater was blasted off his feet by a bolt of red light, slamming him hard into the wall. He crumpled to the floor and didn't move. Harry didn't take the time to savor that little victory, clambering over him and running down the darkened staircase. For some reason, Harry had two utterly separate goals in mind… he had to get to Dumbledore and he had to catch Snape. Somehow, the two things were linked in his mind. He could reverse what had happened if he had them both together… the headmaster trusted Snape… Dumbledore could not have died, especially at Snape's hand…

Harry leapt down the last ten steps of the spiral staircase and stopped where he landed, his wand raised as he took in the situation. The dimly lit corridor was full of dust; half the ceiling seemed to have fallen in; and a battle was raging before him, but even as he attempted to make out who were fighting whom, he heard the voice of his quarry. "It's over, time to go!" A black-clad form disappeared around the corner at the far end of the corridor; he and Malfoy seemed to have forced their way through the fight unscathed. As Harry plunged after them, one of the fighters detached themselves from the fray and flew at him. He barely had enough time to identify the human missile as Fenrir Greyback before the werewolf was on him. The far larger man knocked Harry back onto the stone floor, with filthy, matted hair in his face, the stench of sweat and blood filling his nose, hot, greedy breath at his throat…

"Petrificus totalus!" Harry felt Fenrir collapse against him and sighed in relief. He had enough problems as it was; he didn't need to add lycanthropy to the mess that was his life. With a stupendous effort, he pushed the werewolf off and onto the floor as a jet of green light came flying toward him. He rolled out of the way and then hopped to his feet, running headlong into the fight. His feet met something squashy and slippery on the floor and he stumbled; there were two bodies lying there, lying facedown in a pool of blood, but there was no time to investigate.

Harry could see red hair flying like flames in front of him: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy male Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while Ginny dodged them. Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport. "Crucio! Crucio! You can't dance forever, pretty…"

Narrowing his eyes, Harry raised his wand and jabbed it at Amycus. "Impedimenta!" His jinx hit the Death Eater in the chest, lifting the squealing man off his feet and slamming him into the opposite wall. He slid down it and fell out of sight behind Ron, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin, each of whom was battling a separate Death Eater. Beyond them, Harry could see Tonks fighting an enormous blond wizard who was sending curses flying in all directions, so that they ricocheted off the walls around them, cracking stone, shattering the nearest window…

"Harry, where did you come from?" Ginny reached out, trying to grab at his arm, but Harry shook her off. There was no time to answer her now. They could talk later, when he'd caught Snape. He ducked his head and sprinted forward, narrowly avoiding a blast that shot over his head, showering them all with bits of stone as it hit the wall. Snape could not escape, he had to catch up with Snape…

An uncommonly vicious look on her face, McGonagall whirled and sent a bolt of sickly orange energy at the sole female Death Eater, Alecto. She gave the same piggish squeal that her brother had emitted when struck and sprinted away down the corridor with her arms over her head, Amycus rising to his feet and stumbling along behind her. Harry launched himself after them but his foot caught on something and the next moment, he was lying across someone's legs. Looking over, he saw Neville's pale, round face flat against the floor. "Neville! Are you-"

Neville nodded, a grimace on his face as he clutched at his stomach. "M'alright. Harry… Snape 'n Malfoy… ran past…"

"I know, I'm on it!" From his spot on the floor, Harry shot a hex at the enormous blonde Death Eater who was causing most of the chaos. The man gave a howl of pain as the spell hit him in the face, wheeling around and following the others in retreating. Harry scrambled up from the floor and began to sprint along the corridor after him, ignoring the bangs issuing from behind him, the yells of the others to come back, and the mute call of the figures on the ground whose fate he didn't yet know…

Harry skidded as he turned a corner, his trainers slippery with blood. Snape had an immense head start. Was it possible that he had already entered the cabinet in the Room of Requirement and escaped, or had the Order taken steps to secure it, to prevent the Death Eaters retreating that way? He could hear nothing but his own pounding feet and his own hammering heart as he sprinted along the next empty corridor, but then spotted a bloody footprint that showed at least one of the fleeing Death Eaters was heading toward the front doors. Good. Hopefully the Order had blocked off the Room of Requirement and that would funnel all the Death Eaters to one spot if they wanted to escape.

As Harry skidded around another corner, a curse shot past his head. He dove behind a suit of armor for cover, the spell striking it and causing it to explode in a shower of metal shards. Harry spotted the brother and sister running down the marble staircase ahead of him and fired off several spells at them, but merely hit several of the multitude of portraits that lined the wall, sending the occupants scrambling into neighboring frames for cover. As he emerged from behind the wreckage of the armor, Harry heard more shouts and screams. Bugger; other people within the castle seemed to have awoken and were likely emerging from their dorms to see what the fuss was, giving the Death Eaters even more targets.

"Shit shit shit." Harry raced toward a shortcut, hoping to overtake the brother and sister and close in on Snape and Malfoy, who must surely have reached the grounds by now. Remembering to leap over the vanishing step halfway down the concealed staircase, he burst through a tapestry at the bottom and out into a corridor where a number of bewildered and pajama-clad Hufflepuffs stood.

Ernie Macmillan was the first to find words. "Harry! We heard a noise, and someone said something about the Dark Mark-"

Shaking his head, Harry pushed Ernie and Justin apart so he could shove through. "Out of the way!" He sprinted toward the nearby landing and down the remainder of the marble staircase, reaching the Entrance Hall. The oak front doors had been blasted open, there were smears of blood on the flagstones, and several terrified students stood huddled against the walls, one or two still cowering with their arms over their faces. The giant Gryffindor hourglass had been hit by a curse and the rubies within were slowly trickling out, falling onto the flagstones below and shattering. But before the Death Eaters could reach freedom, before Harry could give chase… people.

Out of nowhere.

Harry blinked as he skidded to a stop, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. One second, there had been an open path to freedom for the Death Eaters and the next, a slender figure was charging toward them. He wasn't the only person seeing them, though; the Death Eaters came to the same abrupt halt in the middle of Entrance Hall as they tried to figure out what to do next, caught between the seemingly suicidal new arrival and the converging defenders of Hogwarts. After a few seconds, the standoff ended when the Death Eater closest to the door raised his wand…

…only to be met with the sharp crack of a gun firing. As the Death Eater tipped over backward, revealing that he was suddenly missing a considerable portion of his face, the figure skidded to a stop in the midst of the remaining Death Eaters. Clad in a skintight, shiny Ravenclaw blue and bronze outfit, a familiar blonde smirked as she surveyed her opponents. "In the name of the Crown and the Ministry, I order you to drop your wands and surrender yourselves into STRIKE custody pending a transfer to a suitable WAND facility for detention and questioning regarding suspected terrorist activities against the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

"Like hell I will, you little bi-"

Having evidently not learned anything from his companion's death, a Death Eater drew his wand and managed to take a single step toward Luna Lovegood. Glowing symbols flickered across the surface of the strange golden glasses that Luna was wearing and then… crack! As his body crumpled to the floor, relieved of what was apparently a critical amount of brain matter, the others began to mutter and shuffle from side to side. Apparently, they weren't used to engaging a foe who - unlike the DMLE and the Order of the Phoenix - was quite willing to retaliate with lethal force. Stalking forward, Luna brought her foot down on the chest of the second Death Eater's corpse and looked around the Entrance Hall challengingly. "Would anyone else like to disagree with my plans for your evening, or shall we be behaving like mature and civilized beings from this point forward?"

The remaining Death Eaters looked at each other before raising their hands in surrender, dropping to their knees in almost perfect synchronicity. It was too easy, Harry thought. Too perfect. What were they… there! Behind the others, Fenrir's legs flexed and then he was flying through the air toward the slender figure. Harry wanted to shout a warning… cast a spell… but there was no time. Luna was about to get herself mauled by the worst werewolf in Britain and-

And evidently wherever Luna had disappeared to for most of the past year, she'd been… actually, Harry couldn't think of anything that could possibly explain what happened next. Quickly tucking her pistol into a thigh holster, the blonde brought her hands up to grab Fenrir's and somehow absorbed all his momentum, forcing him to drop back to his feet in front of her. That was followed by two quick knees to the werewolf's stomach, a series of lightning quick punches, and then Luna bending forward to deliver a devastating scorpion kick straight to Fenrir's face. As the massive brunette went stumbling backward, blood gushing from his nose, Luna finally drew her wand and cast three stunners at Fenrir in rapid succession. The werewolf collapsed to the floor, unconscious, leaving Luna to look around warily as she straightened up. "I'll assume that means the rest of you won't be coming quietly either. Widow… we have our prisoner for interrogation. Would you care to dance?"

"I thought you'd never ask." The distinctly American voice came from behind Harry, making him jump as a young woman with flaming red hair didn't so much melt out of the shadows as erupt past him, electricity crackling around her hands as she charged. If the similarly styled black and red outfit wasn't proof enough that she was connected to this strange new Luna, the way they fought together did. It really was like they were dancing, gracefully twisting past or leaping over each other as they took on one Death Eater after another. Harry found himself intrigued by the fact that while both carried guns, neither drew them as they worked together. Which wasn't to say that they were avoiding lethal force: every person that Luna cursed went down screaming in pain before going eerily silent, while 'Widow' took out her opponents with either blasts of lightning or snapping their necks. When their dance finally ended, they were the only ones left standing… and Fenrir was the only Death Eater that Harry was sure was still alive. "That was satisfying. I hate child killers."

Luna nodded, making her way over to Fenrir's fallen form and rolling him onto his stomach. Yanking his arms behind his back, she pulled out a pair of silver manacles with glowing blue accents and secured his wrists together. "We should have taken more prisoners, but there will be more Death Eaters. And we got the one that we came for. Captain, I believe you can take it from here?"

For the third time in only a few minutes, Harry found himself glad that Moody wasn't there: he wasn't even practicing occasional vigilance tonight. "Gladly." A dark-haired woman wearing a red domino mask and a catsuit patterned after the Union Jack strode confidently into the Entrance Hall, backed by a dozen or so men in black muggle military gear who were carrying almost excessively large rifles. "My name is Captain Britain. You may call me Captain Britain. Per our agreement with the Ministry of Magic, my companions and I are here to drag you to a warded STRIKE prison nearby. There, a team of telepaths will give you a full psionic evaluation. Once you have been drained of actionable intelligence, you will be transferred to WAND custody and shipped off to… wherever the Yanks feel like putting you. If you attempt to resist, we will use force. If you attempt to injure me or mine…" Coming to a stop in front of Fenrir, Captain Britain curled her fingers into a fist, a nimbus of purple light gathering around it before extending downward into what was unmistakably a blade. "Just because I do not carry a wand does not mean that I am unarmed. Any questions? No? Good."

"Betsy?" Rising to her feet, Luna wandered over to lean on the new arrival before gesturing down at Fenrir. "He doesn't have any questions because he's unconscious."

Eyes widening behind her mask, Captain Britain let out a sigh before slumping. "…I thought he was just being really, really compliant. Bugger. That was a perfectly good waste of a hundred and eight words."

As the muggle troops surged past the pair and began preparing their captive for transport, Harry threaded his way through the mayhem and made his way over to Luna. The blonde offered him a small smile but remained silent, leaving Harry struggling to figure out how to get a conversation started. Finally, he couldn't contain his curiosity anymore. "So… being able to go hand-to-hand with a werewolf. That's new."

Luna let out a tinkling, bell-like giggle at that. "Not really, Harry. I've been this strong for a few months now. I wanted to come back sooner, but Mister Stark and Miss van Dyne had to make sure my implants would survive areas of heavy magical saturation." Despite his sheltered upbringing, even Harry knew about a certain muggle plastic surgery procedure and his eyes immediately dropped to Luna's chest. Which - in his defense - did seem significantly larger than it had been when last they'd seen each other. Captain Britain groaned and buried her face in her hands even as Luna burst into renewed giggles at his behavior. "Don't be silly, Harry, those are all natural. Puberty affects witches too, you know. No, SHIELD gave me a series of cybernetic implants as part of my basic training that make me stronger and faster than I used to be. Not quite as strong or fast as Natasha, but I'm still growing into them. Strong and fast enough to handle anything I'll run into when I take full command of WAND, though…"

"Cybernetics? SHIELD? Your mentor? WAND?" Harry felt a headache coming on; trying to get an answer to just one question had ended with him having three entirely new questions for her. In the end, he managed to boil them down to just one: "What's going on?"

"It's a long story that involves accidentally wandering into Norway during our trip to Sweden this summer, the God of Thunder, three kegs of beer, and a game of Exploding Snap. And then eleven months at a top secret military base in America, training under two of their top espionage agents so I could come back here and help you clean up the wizarding world, since the Ministry obviously doesn't know how to. I'll tell you later if you're really curious; it's actually quite funny. Anyways… let me introduce you to the lovely people who've been caring for me for the past year." Grabbing Harry by the wrist, Luna led him over to where the redhead she'd fought with was leaning against a wall, fiddling with a rifle that was probably as tall as Harry himself was. Beside her stood a rather dour-looking man in all black holding… a compound bow? What the bloody hell? "The woman with excellent fashion sense, an uncanny resemblance to your mother, and a piece of hardware from the military's Compensating Collection is Black Widow. And being cranky because he missed his son's birthday and didn't even get to blow anything up is Hawkeye."

"…hi?"