Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, nil, need I say more? All belongs to J.K Rowling, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Marvel, and Disney
Warning: Language
A/N: Okay this is the third rewritten chapter, yay. I have a better idea on where I want the background of this story to come from. All the origins will be taken directly from the movies though a few things may be modified slightly. For example I changed Pepper from a redhead to a blonde. Since in the movies Pepper has blonde hair and blue eyes.
I think this will be the last of Neo and Dawn for a while though I can't be absolutely certain as I have a brief conversation between Neo and Fury planned. Other than that I don't plan on having them appear for a while. Before I started the rewrites I wasn't certain whether or not I wanted Fury to be in the know on the magical world. I have decided that he will be in the know as I was originally planning on leaving him in the dark.
There is something I do need some help with. I have never been to New York so I have absolutely no idea what the city is actually like all my knowledge regarding location will be secondhand. If there is anyone familiar with New York and the surrounding areas willing to give me a walk-through of the city and landmarks, I would really appreciate it. I am not asking for a beta here just someone to help me with keeping locations accurate and somewhat realistic though this person will probably end up getting a lot of sneak peeks because I am going to need help picking locations for events and such. So PM me if you're interested.
The Ministry of Magic-Minister's Office
Neo paced his office, treading around the Persian rug on his office floor. He had spent the last half hour going in circles. He knew that things were already starting to move too fast and if he didn't get a handle on it the entire situation would spin out of his control. If things fell now the blow up would be spectacular. He needed to stop it before things got too far; he also needed to distract Lestrange and her cronies from their current objective. Aurors would need to be sent out to keep an eye out on the situation as it developed. He was so deep in his ruminations it took him a minute to realize there was someone else in the room.
"NEOLAN NOVUS WELKER, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" yelled Dawn. Her expression was a mixture of anger and exasperation that Neo was quite familiar with. He knew that if he didn't respond she would continue shouting and probably get louder as well.
"Yes," answered Neo, "and please stop shouting."
"Well I wouldn't have to shout if you answered me. I have been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes" said Dawn exasperatedly.
"Was I?" asked Neo distractedly, "I was thinking, what did you need?"
"Well there were some forms I need you to sign" responded Dawn, "Though there are a few rumors floating about that I am rather curious about."
"Yes, and?" said Neo quirking an eyebrow. He turned his full attention towards her shoving his other thoughts aside for now.
"You are being purposely obtuse, I have no doubt you've already heard them as you seem to have a pretty good grasp of everything that goes on, sometimes before it even happens." replied Dawn raising her own eyebrows.
"You overestimate me. It is simply a matter of perception" responded Neo.
"Somehow I doubt it" said Dawn wryly, "no I think—no I know that you know exactly what is going on and you don't want to answer the question."
"Well it was a rather vague question" said Neo.
"I need to be more then do I?" asked Dawn tartly, "very well I assume you've heard that several Death Eaters have been spotted in America if the latest reports are to believed. And given the source I believe they are fairly trustworthy."
Dawn was starting to lose patience with her boss. She had worked directly under for several years. She knew that he was avoiding answering her question she just didn't know why. Neo kept his own counsel, she knew that, but it often infuriated her especially when he started plotting. The man set about making elaborate traps that worked more often by chance than anything else.
"I assume that you have looked at the files?" asked Neo, then seeing Dawn's sharp nod he continued, "Well then you know everything that I know."
"I am asking you because I wanted to know your opinion" scowled Dawn.
"Why did you not ask me that in the first place?" asked Neo with a smile.
"Aargh!" cried Dawn, "you have to be one of the most infuriating people I have ever met!"
"Well, perhaps because you have not met all that many people my dear" said Neo.
He was aware that baiting her so purposely would come back to get him later but he could not let her interfere. The trap was set. He just had to wait for Bellatrix and all her other compatriots to walk into it.
"My dear Neo you are plotting. I pray that whatever haphazard plan is currently in the works it has nothing to do with Harry!" shouted Dawn.
"Harry?" asked Neo his eyebrow rising further as he regarded his irate secretary.
"Yes, well, Min talked about him a lot, she was like a proud grandmother, always bragging about the boy. So much that I feel like I already know him." said Dawn.
"A great witch, she will be missed." said Neo solemnly.
"Yes," agreed Dawn sadly then added with a smirk, "and she understood what it was like to work with someone completely off their rocker."
Neo ignored the intended barb as he focused on putting forwards a calm and solemn demeanor. He knew that Dawn could see through him fairly well but even she could not read him well enough to tell just how much of his attitude was genuine. It amused him slightly that even though she knew he was up to something she managed to fall for his tricks repeatedly. It was not quite as amusing when she realized she'd been tricked, but that was something to worry about later. It would not do for Dawn to interfere at this point in time.
"That is true. She worked for a great man too" said Neo, his solemn air more genuine with this sentiment.
"You would think so." said Dawn wryly.
"We shared similar ideals." replied Neo simply.
"Yes and you share the habit of concocting haphazard plans that ultimately get someone hurt. Although you have an even worse penchant for silly traps." said Dawn.
"Sometimes people get hurt it is an unfortunate result though in this instance the risks are quite minimal. As long as Potter stays out of trouble everything will be fine" replied Neo evenly.
"You say that now, besides you and I both now that boy finds trouble like a niffler finds gold." said Dawn.
"True, but as of this moment no one aside from us and a couple of others, know the exact whereabouts of Mr. Potter." said Neo.
"That's because you coerced the poor boy into a vacation he didn't want" said Dawn.
"I had no choice, he would have refused otherwise" said Neo. He did regret having to threaten Potter that had not been his intention, but if things worked out perhaps then it would be for the best. Further angering the young wizard was not an idea he relished either. The boy was very capable and had many allies. He was certain that some recent accidents in the Ministry were the responsibility of some of those allies.
"Mm-hmm and I just fell off my broomstick!" cried Dawn, "you can't honestly expect anybody to figure out where he is"
"Of course not but I have made sure he has protection where he is. I called in a favor or two to get him very capable protectors" said Neo.
"Ever the diplomat you are. Sometimes I wonder what you see when you look at the world. It's like life is a giant chessboard and people are just pawns. Not everything can be planned out!" shouted Dawn. Her temper was boiling again.
"You have a skewed view of me. I like to have things thought out well in advance, there is no crime in that" said Neo.
"Depends what you consider a crime" retorted Dawn.
"It is not like he can't take care of himself and I really do have his best interests at heart." said Neo.
"You are on very thin ground Neo. You purposely misconstrued the law for your own advantage. The age of majority can only be changed if there is a lack of mental culpability. Not to mention at least a dozen other laws that you more or less ignored to send Harry on that vacation." said Dawn.
"I may have used the law to my advantage but I did nothing illegal. Was there anything else?" said Neo.
"I—no, arrgh. You hijacked my entire conversation again." cried Dawn.
"I did not, you merely saw fit to repeat an argument that we have had at least a hundred times before." said Neo.
"Fine, but I'm warning you Neo if any harm comes to that boy because of you, Minister or not I will castrate you." Dawn said with menace. She proceeded to turn on her heel and storm out of the room, effectively ending the conversation. There was a phone call she needed to make.
"No need to be so crass!" Neo called after her departing figure.
He watched her leave with some trepidation as he knew that it would be a good while before she calmed down. Though he did acknowledge her point, he would need to tread cautiously. Things would work out for the best, now they just needed to follow their course. He had after all promised to ensure the boy's safety and he meant to keep that promise.
Harry gazed at the building before him feeling slightly awed. It was very tall and not like anything he had ever seen before. Actually the entire ride had been spent gazing out the windows at the large city. He had been to muggle London a few times so he knew what a city was like but New York was a city all its own.
The towering buildings were something to look at and he did get a brief glimpse of Central Park which was not all that far from their destination. He was amazed by how alive the city seemed to feel much like Hogwarts had been. Or at least, the Hogwarts he remembered from before the Final Battle since the castle had collapsed in the fight against Voldemort. The walls had crushed friend and foe alike, trapping several and killing more. Harry had survived unscathed because he had been in the courtyard finishing off Voldemort. His thought became increasingly melancholy and it took him a few minutes to figure out that someone was trying to talk to him.
"Hey kid come on can't stand out here all day we might get mobbed" said Sunglasses cheerfully.
"Ok" said Harry distractedly his thoughts still on Hogwarts and the Final Battle. He distracted himself from his current line of thought by musing that he still didn't know Sunglasses' name. He was quite looking forward to the man's reaction when he learned Harry had absolutely no idea who the man was.
Harry looked around at the building and saw that there was a lot of technology around, He fidgeted with the silver bands around his wrists, grateful that they would keep him from blowing anything up. Magic and technology did not mix though, in Harry's case that seemed to be an understatement; he had the tendency to blow up or short out even the simplest machines. In fact technology in general had taken a great dislike to him for no apparent reason recently. He kept having some strange bouts of accidental magic lately too.
He stepped into the lift with the other two and felt relieved. The bands were working excellently nothing had blown up or shorted out in the short walk across the lobby. He looked at all the buttons with mild curiosity and saw that there were at least sixty floors in the building, there was also a complicated looking control panel above the buttons. A few minutes later the lift dinged and the doors slid open to let them out.
"Good Afternoon sirs" announced a voice as they exited the elevator and caused Harry to nearly jump out his skin in surprise, his hand reaching automatically for his wand. He looked around trying to find the source of the voice and found there was no discernible source.
"Relax that's just JARVIS my AI" said Tony. He must have seen the slight confusion on Harry's face as he added, "Artificial Intelligence, he's in charge of most of the Tower's functions."
"You get used to it" said Steve kindly.
"Hello and welcome to Avengers Tower, Lord Potter-Black" greeted JARVIS.
"Err, hello" said Harry feeling slightly weird about talking to a bodiless voice, "and I prefer Harry, if you please JARVIS"
"Of course Harry" replied JARVIS.
"Thank you JARVIS" said Harry sincerely.
"Of course Harry. Sir, a call has just arrived from Director Fury? Would you like to answer it? He claims it is of the utmost importance." stated JARVIS.
"Later JARVIS. Old eye patch can wait, after all we still have to get Harry settled as per SHIELD and Fury's request of course." said Sunglasses.
"Maybe we should see what he wants" suggested Steve.
"He either wants to yell or give us more work. Besides it's I like messing with Fury" said Sunglasses.
"What if it's an emergency?" asked Steve.
"JARVIS would have notified me" answered Sunglasses.
"Correct, I have been programmed to monitor SHIELD and report any threats and evaluate any emergencies" said JARVIS.
"You're spying on SHIELD?" asked Steve.
"They started it. Besides this way I know when there's an actual emergency or not" said Sunglasses.
Harry watched with amusement as the pair started to argue. Their conversation proved interesting but also slightly confusing. He was curious about this Fury and shield that kept being mentioned. He wondered about all the new information as it was becoming glaringly obvious that Welker had left out quite a few details on where he was staying, and the people he would be staying with. It looked like he would definitely need to have a talk with the Minister soon.
"Sir, Fury demands that you answer at once, he's threatening to call Ms. Potts instead, I suggest that you answer" said JARVIS.
Harry saw that Sunglasses looked slightly alarmed. He guessed that Ms. Potts was someone to be reckoned with because the man complied rather quickly. He excused himself to make a call, dragging Steve with him. Harry thought it was quite an achievement as Steve was a good deal bigger than Sunglasses. Harry realized that he would probably be left to his own devices for a while but he didn't particularly mind. Harry decided the first thing he needed to do was find his room and then he would go from there. Now the question was how to find his room, because with the size of the tower it would take him a while to find anything.
"Erm, Jarvis?" asked Harry.
"Yes, do you require some assistance Harry?" asked JARVIS
"Yes please, would you direct me to where I'm staying? I would like to unpack." said Harry.
"Of course, your room is one floor down in the guest quarters. Just take the elevator back down your room is on the right." said JARVIS
"Thanks JARVIS" said Harry.
"It is no problem" said JARVIS.
Harry went back into the elevator and carefully selected the button that would take him to the next floor down. It was quite easy to find his room after that as there was a short hallway and three doors. He turned to the one on the right and turned entered the room. He looked glanced around carefully noting all the entrances and exits before examining the room in general. It was well-sized room, there was a king-sized bed pushed against the far wall, a small end table near the bed, and a desk next to the left wall. He explored room for a couple minutes more and found he had a walk-in closet as well as his own bathroom. He also found that his luggage had been brought up and was now resting against the foot of the bed.
He rummaged through his carry-on before pulling out a few vials that had been enchanted to look like water bottles. Inside were different potions that he used regularly. Several were from a supplier that worked with Fred and George. The potions helped him sleep sometimes and made it easier to be in crowded areas. He also had some pepper-up, veritaserum, polyjuice, and various other potions. Sadly, there were no potions that would take the edge off his memories while he was awake, so he tried not to dwell on them much. They weren't as bad now that he knew occlumency, and was able to employ it to some extent to keep his mind organized. He was about to unpack when his stomach decided to remind him that he had not eaten since before the flight.
He took the stairs up this time as he didn't want to use the elevator too much. He was distracted from his pursuit to find the kitchen by the reappearance of Sunglasses and Steve. He saw that they were now accompanied by a woman. She was shorter than both men but Harry could see as she approached that he was only two or three centimeters taller than her. She had shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles. He noticed that she looked slightly disappointed while next to her Sunglasses looked sulky. Steve was looking at Sunglasses with exasperation and barely concealed irritation.
"Hi I'm Pepper Potts" said the woman with a smile. She held out her hand for Harry to shake which he did.
"Pepper's going to stay with you while we go out" said Steve.
"Geez, don't give the kid the wrong impression Capsicle. I'm not dating him, I'm dating Pepper." said Sunglasses who looked a bit more cheerful. His comment caused Steve to look at him in confusion while Pepper elbowed him in the side.
"Ignore him, his brain is suffering from a severe lack of oxygen" said Pepper rolling her eyes at Sunglasses.
"I'm not suffering from a lack of oxygen" said Tony bemusedly.
"You will be if you don't get to the Helicarrier soon" stated Pepper.
"Pepper!" cried Sunglasses looking torn between indignation and amusement after a few moments amusement won out, "as much as he would love to Fury can't strangle me after all I'm the one who helped remodel the Helicarrier."
"She has a point come on I don't want to be late." said Steve. He then grabbed Sunglasses by the arm and dragged him towards the elevator. Harry watched them go with slight bemusement.
A/N: updated 10/21/13