All riiight we're so close! Loki's going to be in the next chapter! :D I had other plans originally for this chapter, but I just want to introduce the God of Mischief dangit so I changed some. X3

I'm super-excited for next chapter (even though I'm writing it...) because Loki's finally going to make an appearance, so hopefully that'll speed me up some! ^^;

And about last chapter - I don't know why I feel the need to explain myself, but eh. If I had been being 100% percent serious, the meeting between Harry and the Avengers would not have gone that way. Harry would have given a better description, dumbed it down since he knows exactly what it's like to be out of the loop in the magical world... But I have to say that I just loved the idea of all the readers following the thread of conversation with ease, and Tony sitting there dumbfounded without a clue xD That was one of the funnest bits I've ever written, I was dredging up all my HP knowledge and trying to figure out how to fit it in. x3 Reallly hoping another situation like that will present itself in the future. X]

Anyway! A big huge THANK YOU to all my wonderful readers, your follows and favorites and reviews mean more than I could ever say ^^ But food often delivers essential messages that words cannot hope to communicate... so here! *puts out big plate of brownies* As a thank you. xD

Enjoy!


Nick Fury was not happy.

Back at the helicarrier, Fury had done a preliminary search. This 'Chief Death Eater,', it seemed, could be held responsible for dozens upon dozens of 'natural' crimes. Before the Tony and Steve had made their appearance, he'd had a chat with Harry, about the mechanics of the magic. Of course it couldn't be that easy – not even Harry could properly explain how magic worked. It just did. Harry could, however, tell him the signs of magical tampering. That was actually easy – when there was no logical explanation, magic was likely at work.

Wasn't that just wonderful.

"Agent Hill!" Fury barked as he stormed up to the bridge. Maria Hill appeared from nowhere.

"Sir?"

Fury was not one to mince words. "Bring up every file you can find of deaths like those of our scientists. Any crimes that don't make sense, deaths that can't be explained - search every database and get it on my desk."

Agent Hill disappeared as quickly as she had come. Fury rubbed his temples, dreading the amount of files Hill was sure to find. Wizards had been living under their noses, and not even SHIELD had heard a whisper about their world. If they could hide their very existence from the world's best spy organization, he shuddered to think about what else was hiding beneath their spells and smoke.


Tony and Steve played bedside duty faithfully, but Thor did not wake up. Several hours into their self-imposed guard, the girl, Hermione, suddenly sprang up on his sensors, escorting someone JARVIS failed to recognize. JARVIS immediately brought up the security camera feed – Hermione was leading a gray-haired lady though the hallway. Two bags were draped over the woman's back, and both of their arms were laden with books and noxious-looking bottles. Undoubtedly this was Popfray or whoever they had been looking for.

Shall I let her pass, sir?

Tony nodded, knowing JARVIS would recognize the gesture. The security feed snapped off. Tony couldn't believe the turn of events. This girl, Hermione, could easily be leading in an assassin, a killer. Why did he trust someone who he'd known for about five minutes, and who also was, for a fact, more powerful than he was? Tony Stark was usually not a trusting person. Where was this coming from?

Ugh. He needed a drink.

Hermione made it to the medical bay a few minutes later, the gray-haired lady following immediately afterward. The woman tsk'd under her breath as she made a beeline for Thor. She didn't give him or Steve a second glance as she dropped her bag with a thunk and immediately began rifling through its contents.

"I'll take it from here," She said in the vague direction of Tony. Tony didn't move. It was one thing to let someone inside (though he was still a bit surprised at his decision) but it was another thing entirely to just leave two strangers alone with a defenseless god.

"I'll stay, Tony. You have things to do." Steve oh-so-subtly picked up his shield, watching the gray-haired lady. So Thor wouldn't be unattended, at least, and Steve was right – there were things he should really be doing. But Tony still didn't leave.

"Here, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, passing her a lurid-green potion. With a sigh of satisfaction, Madam Pomfrey yanked the stopper off, releasing a copious amount of smoke. Tony stood immediately – that stuff definitely didn't look safe. Before he could say a single word, Madam Pomfrey snapped, "Do calm down, Tin Man. It's just an awakening potion."

"And how do we know that? Why should we trust you?" Steve said abruptly. The Cap had a point.

The gray-haired witch observed them both sternly, rather like a teacher would. Tony didn't care. He didn't like this, didn't like leaving Thor in the hands of people he hardly knew. He didn't like interacting with people he barely knew, much less do anything of importance with them.

"Not everyone is evil, Captain," the witch said, surprisingly gentle. "A little trust goes a long way."

"A little poison goes a long way, too," Tony retorted.

"Mr. Stark, if I had wanted him dead, this would not be the way to do it. Feeding him poison in front of two armed men is not the path to success," She said matter-of-factly. "However, nothing I say will convince you entirely. With that in mind," Her voice was rather condescending at this point, "the choice is yours. Either allow me to try to heal your friend, or denounce me as a follower of You-Know-Who. I see no other reason why I should be here."

Was being overly dramatic a prerequisite for becoming a sorcerer? There was a middle area between the two extreme spectrums. Even if she wasn't with Moldy, that didn't mean she wasn't up to no good.

But Fury trusted Hermione, or at least as much as Fury ever trusts. And Hermione trusted this stern lady.

And there was an implied question in Madam Pomfrey's statement – Did they have a choice?

He knew the answer to that. No, they didn't really. Thor didn't seem to be getting any better on his own, and though all he'd seen of their magic so far was parlor tricks, he was sure that their wands held a far more serious power than fetching things and putting out fires.

In the end, though, Tony was not the one to give the final okay. Steve gave both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey a serious staredown, and Tony was impressed by the implied threat in his gaze. But then he nodded and waved them both forward, sitting back down solidly in the chair. Captain America was not going anywhere.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "A very wise decision," She said smartly, then immediately started forward to Thor, the still-smoking potion clenched in her hand. Hermione followed after, a leather-bound book in one hand and two more potions in the other.

"I got this, Tony," Steve said. He sounded more confident than Tony felt.

More trusting. He was getting really tired of all this faith and goodwill.

But the Cap wasn't some random witch with smoking potions. Tony stood and sent a very clear message. He raised two fingers, pointing first at his eyes, then at Madam Pomfrey's. He repeated the gesture just in case the melodramatic witches had missed it. I'm watching you guys. No funny business.

With a last reassuring nod from Steve, Tony left, heading towards his workshop with a sense of measured relief. Though Fury called his treasured room a 'greasy robot-filled junk heap', to Tony it was his work, his home, and his safe haven all rolled into one.

Though Fury was right about the grease thing. It wasn't the cleanest safe haven in the land. He wondered idly whether there was any of the original floor visible, or if it had been completely covered by grease and other various stains. Grease was a messy thing to begin with, but when you factored in the types of machines he worked with, plus a laboratory assistant like Dummy, there were bound to be accidents… and occasionally explosions.

Once back in his workshop, he bolted his door and brought up the video feed from the medical bay onto one of his many screens. JARVIS would call him if things started to get dicey in there. There was nothing he could do for Thor now, and he had other things to attend to.

After removing his metallic armor, his machines made to put the pieces away, but Tony stopped them using the manual override. Staring at the empty suit, he was going to pull the chestpiece out, but decided that the piece was too big and difficult to recreate. Instead, he yanked one of the gauntlets off and set it on the scanners. There had to be a way to protect the metal against magical attacks. Or if not his suit, then protect something, anything that could be used as a shield. And if there was a way, Tony Stark would be the one to find it.


He didn't find it. He was still sure there was a way, but he was no closer at the end of three days than he was at the beginning. Every combination of every element and power he could find still had no viable defense against the magic that JARVIS was reporting.

And Thor had still not woken up. He'd been doused with potions and hit with spells, but there seemed to be no effect on the thunder god. That, coupled with Tony's own lack of progress, was not helping matters or Tony's mood. But still he toiled, feeling the familiar sensation of hunger and tiredness aching dully beneath his intense focus. Those hardships, though, Tony could easily override. It was nothing he hadn't experienced before, and normal human needs took the backseat next to an all-consuming project such as this one.

It was either the end of the third day after the battle or around the beginning of the fourth – time wasn't easily measured in the workshop. But what shook Tony out of his fevered labor was a knock at the door. That right there was enough to catch his attention. No one ever knocked. Whoever wanted to see him just barged on in, regardless of locks or the 'DO NOT DISTURB THE GENIUS' signs. So he glanced up at the screen to see the visitor and saw the black-haired wizard waiting patiently outside the door.

Wiping his hands on a grease-blackened rag, he went to get the door. "Hello there, Merlin," Tony greeted him as he threw the door wide. "Come to visit the primitive wonders of electricity?" In one of Fury's brief visits, he'd mentioned the wizard's distaste for electricity. He'd said that wizards as a whole considered electric power to be a poor substitute for their infinitely superior magic. Tony would have liked to say something decidedly less polite in response to that opinion, but considering his epic failure to beat magic up until this point, he kept things light.

"I'd hardly say primitive," Harry replied, staring at the various robot parts scattered about the cavernous room. Whirs, clicks and metallic buzzings abounded, giving the space an eerie life of its own. Tony found the sounds comforting, but, as Clint was quick to point out, it tended to creep out everyone else.

"Any update on the Thor situation?" Tony said after a moment of silence. Harry shook his head. "Not really. Hermione said he twitched a finger last night, but I don't think that counts as much improvement."

Tony grunted, wondering what this boy was up to. He was simply standing in the doorway, bouncing his wand on his palm. Harry didn't seem aware of his action, but Tony became very aware of it when the tip of the wand shot out bright red sparks.

"Go set things on fire somewhere else, wizard-boy," Tony snapped, jumping away from the sparks. Harry quickly put his wand back in his pocket, "If you're just here to blow things up, I can handle that perfectly well myself, thanks." Without the distraction of his work in front of him, he was really beginning to feel the sleepless nights.

"I thought you might want some help," Harry said, ignoring his comments. He gestured to the gauntlet still resting on the table, to the metal plates scattered around it. "Your electricity is brilliant, Mr. Stark, but you're not going to be able to go up against You-Know-Who or Bellatrix with that alone."

Tony had a feeling that was coming, but that didn't make it any easier to take. He forced a horrible fake smile on his face and said, "Then what would you suggest? I don't have a wand or a scepter to work with."

He never liked feeling inferior, but this was infinitely worse, because he could never master magic the way he bent electricity to his will. It was a world that was entirely out of his grasp. He could watch other people use it, sure, and could quite easily die from it, but that was it. He'd feel better if the tables were more even, but Tony knew when he was outclassed. They'd only escaped from Bellatrix by chance. Next time they might not be so lucky.

"You don't," Harry said, walking into the workshop, "But I do."

Harry, it transpired, was more than willing to help. Tony was a little – actually, very – reluctant at first, but the boy slowly grew on him. That same ardent drive that so often fueled Tony was present in the wizard. It was nothing compared to his own, but it helped them work together. And so they did, for many long hours, trying new combinations to try to find the magic equation that blocked magical attacks on his suit without hindering the electronic core of Iron Man. Tony was very picky about this – if anything went haywire and interfered with his own personal arc reactor, that meant good-bye Tony. So they tested carefully, on one of Tony's older units. They were met with limited success – a blanket shield charm worked, but after two or three direct hits the spell failed. And Harry warned right from the start that no magic would protect against the green light of death. Moderate spells, yes, but anything that was meant for killing would do its job, shield spell or no. It was nice to have a modicum of protection on his suit, but it was a small triumph. He was much more concerned by the arc reactor itself. Regardless of the shield spell, every time Harry hit it directly with a spell, it fizzed and malfunctioned. That really really wasn't good. The complexity of the project called for both of them to be working together for many hours at a time. Harry too often let Tony know when his ego was getting in the way, and perhaps Tony was a bit too condescending with every single sentence he uttered, but they hadn't tried to kill each other yet. That was a success in Tony's book.

Two days after the alliance of wizard and tech-master, Tony was alone in the workshop, waist-deep in discarded tools. The older pieces that they had been practicing on had firmly passed into the 'junk' category, and Tony was trying to restore them enough so that they could continue. With a wrench clamped in his mouth, he was trying to take out an unidentified chunk from the gauntlet when Clint came tearing to the door. As was his habit, he just tried to push the door open, but Tony, tired of unwanted intrusions, had pushed a car in front. "Be there in a minute!" He shouted to the impatient archer. "Get here now, Tony!" Clint shouted right back, continuing to bang on the door.

Sir, JARVIS chimed, I do believe Thor is starting to show improvement. My readings indicate he is beginning to stir.

Tony chucked the wrench at the nearest speaker where JARVIS's voice was emanating. "Thanks for the early warning, JARVIS," Tony said, hauling himself out of the metallic heap. "I'm coming!" He shouted in the general direction of the door, but then he heard a thud directly ahead of him and bang – Clint dropped down from the air vent.

This was hardly new, but it was the first time he'd done it in the workshop. Tony squinted at the panel in the ceiling. "That was unnecessary," He noted.

Clint for once wasn't listening. "Thor's waking up," He said, and they wasted no more time. After Tony had pushed the car out of the way, the pair headed quickly for the medical bay, finding it incredibly crowded. Every Avenger was there, including Fury. Madam Pomfrey hovered close beside Thor. Behind her stood Harry, Ron and Hermione, all their wands out.

Tony took all of that in a second, then turned his attention to Thor. The thunder god was definitely alive, but maybe not so happy about it. He was writhing in the railed bed, his mouth open in a soundless howl, his eyes still clenched shut. Tony noticed Steve hovering on the other side of the bed, ready to restrain him if he got too violent.

Then the soundless howl became very audible, as Thor roared to the high heavens and entered again into the realm of the living. His eyes opened, and his war cry faltered as he saw his audience. His hand was raised as though he was clutching Mjolnir, but luckily he had knocked Mjolnir aside in his previous convulsions. Even more luckily, the heavy hammer hadn't fallen on anyone.

Thor stared around confusedly, and everyone stared back. No one seemed to know what to say.

Thor looked down at his hands, then rubbed hard at his shoulder, at the exact point where the killing curse had hit him. Then he looked again at his audience and asked bluntly, "What happened?"

The story was quickly told, of Bellatrix, of magic, of everything. Then the questions turned to Thor, how he was, how he felt, what he remembered, etc. Tony asked a few of the questions himself, but the answers weren't to his satisfaction. Thor said he felt strange, the memories he had were fuzzy, and he was hungry. And that was it. What a trove of information, Tony thought sarcastically to himself.

But he was very glad that Thor was back.

He clapped Thor firmly on his shoulder as he moved aside, listening to Madam Pomfrey's description. She seemed unsettled about something, and Tony realized with a start that no one had bothered mentioning Thor's species. Oops. He should probably get around to mentioning the fact that Thor was an alien at some point.

But Madam Pomfrey still seemed pleased that her remedies had worked. "I used every antidote in the book," She was saying to Bruce. "And a few of my personal concoctions. I do think that the combination of Nightshade and lionfish spines was especially effective –"

Okay, yuck. Tony definitely didn't want to know what else was in those bottles of hers.

Harry was the one to break up the happy party, saying that he and his team had something very important to take care of, something that required the utmost haste. Tony got the distinct impression that they really shouldn't even have stayed as long as they had. After telling Tony briefly that he would be back to help as soon as he could, the trio left the medical bay and promptly disappeared.

Tony sighed and turned away from the empty doorway. "C'mon, Thunder," Tony said, "I'm sure you've had enough of your admirers for now." Thor still looked dazed, but it sort of looked like he nodded.

With Steve, they helped Thor off the bed. Walking resolutely past Fury, who was in the middle of asking a question, Tony said to Thor, "Let's go get you a bagel or something."


Heh, this was written at 3 AM in a big rush of muse, but it was still written at 3 AM. Hope it's up to snuff for you guys. And as always, please slap me if it isn't. Just lemme know if you find a derp that I made, and I'll do my best to fix it! ^^;

And we're Livin' la vida Loki next chapter! ;D