Interim, fairly fluffy chapter. Doesn't advance much, but it was fun X3

But anyhoo - Newboy, I hoping you'll like next chapter. Next chapter, Harry will finally, finally get his due. :)

Many many thanks as always to my wonderful readers, who are still with this story despite my egregious gaps of updating D= You guys are all awesome. Srsly.

Enjoy!


There was a stampede towards the door the moment the jet landed, with everyone eager to get food, rest, or both. Tony stayed where he was and waited for the crowd to clear, not in the mood to push past everyone. A normal crowd, sure, but a crowd consisting of superhumans and wizards was a battle for another time. After Clint was carried out on a stretcher, Tony stood up; it was only then that he realized Loki had been left in the seat, still bleeding and still unconscious.

"What, so he's my charge now?" Tony muttered to no one as he peeked out the door, to see if anyone was coming back with a stretcher to help. Of course, no one was there.

"Some team," Tony growled, going over to the god. He swung him awkwardly into his metallic arms, feeling rather queasy when Loki slid a little, covering the red of his suit with redder blood.

Tony kept up a steady stream of curses as he entered the mansion, heading straight to the medical bay. He couldn't believe what he was doing. Not only was he carrying his unconscious enemy to get medical attention, he'd been the one to bandage him up in the first place.

This had to erase a life-debt or two.

"You," Tony said to the unconscious god, "Owe me big time."


The rest of the team was already assembled in the medical bay. A medical bay was not your usual mansion add-on – but this was not a normal mansion. Considering the trouble the Avengers could get into on a daily basis, Tony thought it would be good to have some place with decent medical equipment to help patch them back up. And, Tony mused as he set Loki on one of the empty beds, it was shaping up to be a good idea so far.

No one spared Tony or Loki a second glance as they entered – they were all grouped around Clint's bed. Bruce had a nasty-looking scalpel in one hand, whereas the wizards all had their wands drawn. Harry's wand looked different than when Tony had last seen it, but so long as it could still do magic, Tony didn't care.

"If you're going to do something, do it fast," Bruce said to the wizards. "We need to get it out of him."

"No s**t," Clint spat through his teeth. His fists were clenched on the bed, and he was clenching his jaw so hard he looked like he had lockjaw. Natasha had her hand resting on his forearm – a huge gesture for her. Tony hoped Clint would focus more on that, and less on the arrow still sticking out of his shoulder.

"We could just try Vanishing it," Harry said, with less assurance in his voice than Tony would have liked.

"That could work," Hermione said, her voice soft but steady. Tony was impressed with the witch – even after being tortured, she was still standing, pale but determined. She'd already saved them all by helping Bruce – and she still had her wand now, ready to help Clint as well. There really was more to these wizards than met the eye.

"It could work," Hermione continued, "But we'll need to stop the bleeding immediately. We can't leave a hole that size open. Do we still have the dittany?" She answered her own question by pulling out her beaded bag and pointing her wand inside. "Accio Dittany!" She cried, and a small stoppered bottle zoomed into her hand. She tossed it to Ron. "When Harry vanishes the arrow, pour four drops onto the wound," She instructed the ginger wizard. While Ron nodded, Tony peered furtively at the little bottle and hoped there would be enough leftover for Loki.

"Ready?" Harry said, both to Ron and to the room at large. When Ron nodded, Harry raised his wand, pointed it at Clint (The archer closed his eyes and turned away) and shouted, "Evanesco!"

The arrow disappeared. Clint howled with pain as everyone saw what the arrow had left behind – a jagged, gaping hole in his shoulder. Dark red blood streamed out of the wound at an astonishing rate.

"Ron, quickly!" Hermione said. Ron darted in and poured four drops carefully onto the bloody hole. Thor and Steve restrained Clint as his control broke and he started to thrash – but after five painful seconds, it was over. Clint collapsed limply back into the bed as the blood stopped flowing. New, waxy looking skin covered what seconds before had been ripped and bloody muscle.

Clint blinked, stretched, and tentatively touched his shoulder. "I could get used to this magic stuff," He said, staring in amazement at the new skin.

"You're not fully healed," Hermione reminded him severely. "You'll want to be careful with that arm for a few days."

"I can live with that." He moved his arm in a slow circle, then nodded at the wizards and said simply, "Thanks."

"No problem," Harry said with a grin.

They looked like they were going to chat more, but Tony's charge was still unconscious and unattended to. He'd already wasted plenty of time and energy on the god – he wasn't going to have Loki die now because they were too busy chitchatting.

Tony clapped his gauntleted hands together. "Well, now that that's all finished up nicely," Tony said, "Mind doing some more magic over here?" He gestured to Loki, who was still completely out and bleeding all over the sheets. He was starting to look pale as death again, not that he was far from that normally. Still, the amount of blood on the sheets and bandages was worrying.

Clint glared. "That bastard shot me," he growled.

Tony had a feeling that was coming. "He also saved your ass from the green laser," Tony reminded him. "Several times. He could have killed you with that arrow. He could have let you die. He didn't. Is that enough reason to heal him for now?"

No one answered. Everyone just stared at him. "What?" Tony said, feeling uncomfortable beneath their combined scrutiny.

"Did he do something to you, Tony?" Steve asked, his head tilted a little to the side. He stared right into his eyes, as though he was looking for icy blue within the brown.

"You've got to be kidding me," Tony said. "You think he possessed me?"

No one answered, but the looks on their faces was answer enough.

Then, before Tony could completely lose it, Bruce came to his rescue.

"Tony isn't possessed," Bruce said, but his tone wasn't nearly as harsh as Tony would have liked. "He has a point. Loki helped us all out. Yes, he shot you, Clint –"
"But it was part of the act," Tony said in exasperation. "If he'd shot me instead, sure, I'd be pissed, but it's better than being dead."

"But why would he help us?" Clint asked, still scowling heavily.

"Because he can't beat Voldy on his own. And neither can we," Tony said, directing the last words towards the wizards.

Bruce continued, "It's going to take all of us to bring that bastard down, and Loki realized that. He covered for Hulk back there. He doesn't stand to gain anything by killing us until Voldy is dead."

"Plus, the Heimdall threat is still in effect," Tony reminded everyone. He didn't blame them for being suspicious, but come on. Loki'd been living under their roof for awhile. If they weren't dead yet, it wasn't likely to happen soon. "If Heimdall thought shooting Clint was an act of war, Loki would be dead by now. Heimdall understood it like we did," Tony said, gesturing to himself and Bruce. Looking sternly at the rest of the Avengers, he said, "So you all better catch up and get with the program."

"I don't like this," Clint muttered, but that was the only dissention he got. Everyone else was silent – which Tony took as a good sign. He turned briefly to look at Loki, and felt sick when he saw all the red. He really shouldn't have wasted as much time as he had. Wouldn't it be something, if after convincing everyone Loki was helpful for the time being, the god just up and died. The loss of a sorcerer, even a sometimes-evil one, wouldn't be helpful. Loki was a good distraction to Voldy, if nothing else.

He turned back to the wizards.

"Someone mind fixing him up before he ruins all the sheets?"

Natasha and Steve remained by Clint's bed, but Thor, Bruce, and the wizards all grouped around Loki's bed.

"He looks bad," Bruce said, stating the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock," Tony said sarcastically.

Everyone automatically turned towards Hermione. This wasn't an easy fix, like Clint's arrow had been. Loki was slashed up and had lost a lot of blood – and Tony doubted the local blood bank carried god blood in their tanks. To make matters worse, the wounds had been inflicted by dark magic, which apparently didn't heal by normal means. So now what? Tony had no clue what to do, and judging by the look on Bruce's face, he didn't either. So that left Hermione. In the brief time Tony had known her, it had become pretty apparent she was the brains of the bunch. Maybe she could think of a solution, because Tony certainly didn't have one.

"Well, we can use dittany to try to seal up those cuts," She said, pointing a shaking finger at the blood-soaked bandages, "But I think we'll have to brew up a blood-replenishing potion."

"You mean that stuff my dad drank when he got bitten by that snake?" Ron said.

"Yes," Hermione said. "So far as I know, the potion replenishes from the blood that's already inside. If he's… not exactly human," Hermione said uncertainly, "Then it's the best chance we've got. It should," She placed uncertain inflection on the word, "Work. But the book never mentioned using it on non-humans, so I can't say for sure," She said with a helpless little shrug.

"Are there any other options?" Bruce asked her. Hermione shook her head slowly. "None that I can think of," She said. Harry and Ron shook their heads as well.

"Then let's do it," Tony said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"He'll die," Ron said bluntly.

Thor let out a strange noise, a mix between shock and horror. "Nice bedside manner, Ginger," Tony said to Ron before clapping Thor on the shoulder. "Worrying isn't going to help your brother, Thor," Tony said, throwing the 'brother' word in so the wizards would know Thor and Loki's bond.

He saw no need to mention that Loki hated Thor's guts.

Thor made a sound suspiciously like a sniffle. "You are correct, Stark," He said, with a brave attempt at calmness. He cast one look towards his unconscious semi-evil brother, than turned resolutely towards the wizards. Getting very close to the three, he growled, "Take care of my brother." His tone and glare made it sound like a threat. "If you think your spells shall fail, call on me. Heimdall shall open the gate and bring my brother to Asgard's healers. I will not have him die."

Though Harry looked confused, he nodded. "Will do," Harry said, the calmest of the lot. Ron, on the other hand, looked terrified and on the verge of screaming.

Tony resisted the urge to make a face. Regardless of situation at this point, he'd prefer Loki alive over dead, but having Loki alive on Asgard wasn't much use to them at all – and that was the whole point of keeping him alive, wasn't it? For him to be useful. There wasn't much he could do for them stuck and powerless on Asgard. But Harry's magic was just that – magic. Hopefully they could make some voodoo and fix Loki up so he could stay on earth.

With a sharp nod, Thor turned towards the door. "Get some food, Thor," Tony called after the retreating god. "You'll feel better." Thor was always ornery if he didn't eat every two hours or so – lack of food, coupled with his injured brother, hadn't put the thunder god in a happy shiny mood. Tony hoped some food would help calm him down some – and prevent any temper tantrums that could bring down the house.

Steve cast a concerned look at Thor as he left – a few seconds later he stood and followed him out. Tony shook his head and turned his attention back to Loki. Steve was like a mother hen – Tony was sure he was following Thor right now, making sure he went to the kitchen and ate a proper amount of food. Steve was always fussing at Tony, trying to get him to drink less and eat something substantial now and again. Normally it was just annoying, but now Tony felt better having someone look after Thor. Beneath the rough exterior, Thor was seriously upset about Loki being injured. Steve would do what he could to help Thor out, of that Tony was sure. And distraction in the form of an overprotective Captain America could only be a good thing.

The wizards were already busy at work over Loki. Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the floor, poring over a book. Her expression was worried. "We don't have all the ingredients," She said, standing with a little shudder. "I'm going to have to pick some up. Harry – give me your invisibility cloak," She said.

"Where exactly are you planning on going?" Harry said, the bottle of dittany suspended mid-drop as he stared at Hermione. "You have a thousand galleon price on your head!"

"Hence the invisibility cloak," Hermione said patiently. "There's only one place that has everything we need – Diagon Alley.

"I'll be safe enough in a public place, no one's going to notice a few things slipping away here and there. I'll drop the money on the counter after I get what I need." She was very righteous for a witch.

"It's still not safe," Harry insisted, going back to putting dittany on Loki's wounds. Tony took a peek at the wizard's handiwork – it was relieving to see some of the bloody gashes beginning to close.

"What would you suggest then? Hogwarts?" Hermione said with a sarcastic laugh.

"Diagon Alley's sure to be a dragon's den of Death Eaters," Harry said. "It's too risky."

"And what could go wrong?" Hermione snapped. "I'll be invisible!"

"Is this something I can help with?" Tony asked, getting tired of the bickering. "No," The wizards chorused without looking at him. Humph.

"Harry Potter, Dobby can help!"

The high, thin voice came from the Dobby, who had been standing silently by Harry up until this point. Tony had all but forgotten about the thing.

They all turned to look at it. Staring at the thing anew, Tony couldn't help interrupting. "I'm sorry, but what the hell are you?" he said, directing his words to the thing.

"Dobby is a house elf, sir," The thing replied immediately. "A free elf who helps Harry Potter and his friends!"

So it was an elf. And its name was Dobby. … Okay.

"Sirs and missus, Dobby can go to Diagon Alley and get the ingredients you need!" Dobby said eagerly. Then he turned to Tony, a surprisingly kind expression on its ugly little face. "We house-elfs have different magic, sir," Dobby said, still looking just at Tony. "Dobby can make sure no one sees him, sir, and come back with no wizards knowing!"

Dobby was actually explaining things to Tony. Well, that was polite.

Harry crouched to the little elf's level. "Are you sure, Dobby?" Harry said seriously.

"Dobby will do it, Harry Potter!" The elf squeaked.

"Why does he keep referring to himself in third-person?" Tony muttered. Everyone ignored him.

"Okay, Dobby," Hermione said, beckoning him closer. He went and stood by her side as she tried to dictate everything he needed to get – but in the end, she just tore the page out of the book and handed it to him. "I'll repair it when he gets back," Hermione said defensively as Harry and Ron sniggered. She circled what he needed and, as an afterthought, pressed several gold coins into his hand. "Put these behind the counter if you can," She said. She then whirled and looked behind her. "I don't like stealing," She shot at Ron, who was looking very close to laughing.

Dobby nodded, his bat ears flapping wildly. "Dobby will be back soon!" The little elf cried, and with a sudden and very loud crack, he disappeared.

"Well, I can get started while he's getting everything," Hermione said, suddenly businesslike. She turned to Tony. "Tony, do you have a pot I can borrow?"

"Several – no cauldrons, though," Tony replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes and followed as Tony led her down to the kitchen. Steve and Thor were there – Thor was eating an absolutely enormous casserole under the Captain's watchful eye. Thor looked up as they entered. He managed to look panicked even with his mouth full to bursting.

"He's fine," Tony said immediately, then amended his statement and said, "Well, the same, anyway. The wizards are going to brew up some magic potion for him in our soup pot." Considering what he now knew of potion ingredients, Tony made a mental note to buy a new soup pot ASAP.

Thor relaxed back in the chair, visibly relieved. Tony made to follow Hermione as she made her way back upstairs with the pot, but Hermione turned and stopped him in the hallway.

"Tony, we can handle it up there," She said seriously, looking at Tony with concern. "Shouldn't you get some sleep while you can? You're not doing anyone any favors, running yourself into the ground like this. You look terrible," She added with a little frown.

Tony smiled, but he could tell it came out more like a grimace. He probably did look like hell – he felt like hell, so why should he look any different? But Tony wasn't used to just passing out when important things were still going on. True, he hadn't really done anything of merit after dumping Loki on the bed, but it just felt wrong not to be in the thick of things at the current moment, when things could change drastically so quickly.

Then again, he hadn't slept for over a day – he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, either, which told him it'd been awhile. And he'd been so focused on everything else, he hadn't even changed out of his suit yet.

Maybe he did need a little break.

"Get some rest, Tony," Hermione said quietly. "We'll get you if we need you."

Tony heaved a big sigh. Now that he was actually paying attention to himself, he was amazed he'd actually been able to stay vertical and conscious. Sleep sounded good. He waved a gauntleted hand and said, rather sourly, "Fine."

Hermione continued up the hallway alone with her soup pot, while Tony staggered to the kitchen, made himself a sandwich, and ate it on the way up to his room. JARVIS activated the auto-dismantle, and Tony collapsed into his bed in his jumpsuit, too tired and sore to care.

"Those wizards better get me if they need me," He started to say, but the sentence trailed off into a snore as he promptly fell asleep.


Poor Tony. All worn out xD

Next chapter is going to be serious and groundbreaking, guys, so yay for that! Like I kind of said in the beginning, the secrecy walls are coming down, and everything will finally be out on the open. Plus it's already half written, so it shouldn't take me an age and a half to write! :D

Oh, and pun intended on the dragon's den. X3

Hope you enjoyed!