Chapter 3. One of Those Days.

A no-named agent supplied Harry with a standard white t-shirt with the shield emblem emblazoned on the front. He shrugged it on quickly while turning toward the Agent that had originally brought up the feed from Hogwarts.

Harry moved quickly to him, ignoring how the others seemed to be watching a different video at the table.

"That video you brought up earlier, can you bring it up again?" Harry asked, looking over at the scared agent. The man, who must have been considerably older than Harry himself, gulped harshly before offering a stuttering yes.

Very quickly the footage of Hogwarts came back on the screen. Harry let a shaky breath out at seeing his home still standing proudly. The agent zoomed in along the grounds once again. It seemed the three Hufflepuff's had retreated back inside.

"Is there any footage from 14 years ago?" Harry asked, pretending not to notice how his voice had broken slightly at asking it.

"I-I don't know." He stuttered in response.

"Can you check? Please?" Harry begged, pulling his eyes from peaceful Hogwarts to look at the man.

"Um, yes sir." He agreed, typing rapidly at his computer. Harry watched as the man sped through different option menus, going through lists of footage until he reached as far back as he could. Harry could clearly see on the screen that the monitoring of Hogwarts grounds had only began the 3rd of May. Harry nodded briskly at the agent as the man turned to him in askance.

He was faced with a very familiar sight.

The footage was a lot less clear, rather shaky in fact. And yet Harry recognized everything. It was late evening in the footage. Hogwarts might have been dark if it weren't for the copious fires still blazing around the place. Chunks of the castle were missing, including the entirety of Gryffindor tower, all that was left a ragged looking wound.

"Jesus." The Agent helping him breathed. He began to manipulate his controls zooming in as best he could with the old footage.

"Don't!" Harry hissed. Too late.

Harry ignored the Agents flinch. Ignored the urge to look away and forced himself to look. It was the least he could do to honor the small body shown through flickering footage. Harry had done this. Had brought the final fight to Hogwarts before leading his school against the greatest evil of his time. He didn't recognize the body before him. The head was turned away but there was no mistaking the Ravenclaw robes. Nor the fact that only the top half of the body was sitting before them. From the hip's down was missing, leaving a ragged bloody mess in its place.

The Agent zoomed out and still Harry kept his eyes focused on that small body until it became little more than a pix-elated blur. Manipulating the controls once more the Agent fanned the camera out to show other angles it had captured.

"Bring up footage of the forest." Harry ordered. The Agent turned to look at him. Whatever expression Harry wore had the man gulping quickly, eyes widening, as he turned back to frantically bring up what Harry had asked for. The forest came into view and-

It looked… normal.

Harry wasn't quite sure what he expected to see. It seemed strange to see the place so normal considering what Harry had planned to do. At the sight of the Dark Forest, Harry found himself swallowing harshly, hiding his hands in his pockets to both clutch his wand and hide their shaking.

"Is there anyone moving about outside?" Harry lowered his voice to aid in his attempt at hiding the break he was sure would come if he spoke louder. The agent took a moment to look through the camera angles before giving a negative shake of his head. "Right, thanks." Harry grunted pulling himself away from the man.

Harry turned to face the great expanse of windows before him. He took a moment to just loose himself amongst those clouds just as surely as he lost himself in thought.

He'd been hoping these people might actually have recorded his final battle with Voldemort. He might have been able to get some kind of advantage, or at the very least see if his sacrifice was enough. As it stood now, Harry knew he was walking to his death if he went to that meeting. He knew it and accepted it. What he didn't know is if he'd bought enough time, did he hold them off long enough for Hermione and Ron to destroy that last Horcrux? Long enough for them to make Voldemort finally mortal.

Harry had already accepted he wasn't going to be able to kill the bastard, but hell, he could at least weaken him enough for someone else to. After all, Harry wasn't the original Harry Potter. He was James Rogers, no matter what he called himself. Which meant the precious prophecy meant jack all and anyone could finish this. So no, Harry didn't need to stop him. Just buy time.

So many good people had given their lives to stop Voldemort and really Harry had no right to do any less than them.

But now he was in the future. Miles and years from where he needed to be. Maybe he could wait it out until Fury and his people could figure out how to get him home. After all, if they were sending him back in time it didn't really matter how much time Harry spent in the future, right? Sure, he'd have to spend every day knowing they were numbered. But at least there'd be extra days. So yeah, he'd wait it out here until he could go back. Maybe even spend some time with his father?

Harry had to stop that thought there. He didn't think he was capable of opening up that can of worms yet. Not without losing his composure completely.

God, but it would be good to know the man. Harry had always wanted- No.

No. It was best for now he simply looked at Steve as just that. Steve Rogers. A regular guy… that just so happened to be his father…

Dammit.

He needed to get out of his own head.

Harry moved himself over to the conference table, slipping into his seat once more. None of them seemed to really notice, too busy watching a video of Fury talking to a man caged in a circular glass room. Well, none except Steve noticed him anyway. The Captain offered him a small, strained smile before returning his eyes back to the screen. Harry turned his own eyes to the screen watching what he suspected was the dark-haired man's interrogation.

The dark-haired man inside the cage was smiling nastily at Fury while Fury looked on in disinterest.
"The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man." The dark-haired man was saying. "How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" The man finished with a sneer.

"How desperate am I?" Fury rhetorically asked. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control." Fury was responding. Harry found himself sitting up straighter paying more attention to what was being discussed. Is this the problem Fury had mentioned? The future world being on the brink of another war?

Still Fury was speaking on the screen. "You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh." The caged man mocked softly. "It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for What? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is." The man almost cooed.

Harry didn't understand half of what was just said but he knew enough to tell that those right there, those were fighting words. The caged man was clearly not intimidated. In fact, if his manner was anything to go by he thought he was still winning.

"Well you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." Fury sniped with a not so nice smile before spinning on his heel and walking away. The caged man looked directly to the camera smirking at them through the screen. Harry almost felt the man could really see them, sending a shiver up his spine.

The brunet, the one who reminded Harry so much of Remus, snorted before announcing; "He really grows on you doesn't he?"

Harry couldn't help himself from interjecting. "Who the hell is he?" Harry asked. He was surprised to hear his voice come out quite harsh. The caged man's cocky air and disregard for life was grating Harry, reminding him too much of the Death Eaters he'd been fighting nearly his whole life.

"His name is Loki. He's an alien from another world called Asgard." The bearded brunette announced bluntly. If his expectant look was anything to go by he was aiming to get some sort of reaction from Harry.

"An alien?" Harry responded skeptically, eyebrow raised as if challenging him to pull the other leg.

"Sure. Earths the main event, Loki and Thor are the gate crashers." He continued, jerking a thumb in the big blonde's direction. Harry turned to face the man as the two seemed to examine one another.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve interrupted bringing them back on topic. Thor pulled his gaze away from Harry seemingly reluctantly as he turned to face the others.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor explained grimly.

Harry felt his eyebrows raising as he looked to the others. "An army from outer space? As in aliens. Really?" Harry asked humour leaking into his voice despite himself. He thought traveling to the future and meeting his supposed to be dead father was the weirdest thing he'd experience today. It was just going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

Thor offered him a small nod but did not offer a verbal response.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." The other brunet, the quiet one, mused out loud. And yeah, this was getting a bit ridiculous. Harry seriously needed to find out the names of the group before him.

"Selvig?" Thor blurted in confusion.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." The red headed woman inputted into the two men's exchange. Hang on, did she say spell?

"A spell?" Harry repeated as he leant closer in.

"Yeah, looks like magic is real too." Steve offered sympathetically. Harry waved a hand dismissively.

"I know that. What spell did he use?" Harry demanded. He was met with silence for several minutes while the others exchanged looks.

"You know that magic is real?" The red head echoed him in the same way he echoed her. Harry shrugged.

"Yeah?" Harry replied slowly. The red head looked to the bearded brunet offering him a smirk.

"Loki's using his glow stick of destiny which runs off of a form of very advanced science. Not magic." Beard guy huffed dramatically. Harry scrunched his face in confusion as he sat back.

He'd never heard of anything like a destiny stick. Although maybe Beard Guy was right and it was simply futuristic technology? Or even alien technology. It didn't have to be magic.

"Iridium, what did they need the iridium for?" The quite brunet wondered aloud, apparently not having listened to their exchange. Or maybe he had and he was simply moving them along.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Beard guy announced as he pulled himself to his feet. Trotting over to the control board, poking at it interestedly. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants." He mused absently.

Harry turned to stare at the others and found all but the quiet Brunet looking just as confused as he himself felt. At least that was comforting.

"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails! That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Beard guy hollered, pointing into the gallery of agents where indeed one man seemed to be quickly minimizing some sort of game, pulling up a file. With a huff, he turned to face them once more. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high-energy density, something to kick start the cube."

"Since when did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" The female agent from before demanded.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory Papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" Beard guy asked in exasperation. He threw up his hands at the blank looks of everyone else.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked after a moment's silence. When Harry chanced a glance over to the Captain it was to see him sitting sideways, hand under his chin and looking as though he were thinking very hard.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." The other brunet announced as if thinking out loud. Beard guy spun around at the quiet man's comment. His eyes sparked with excitement as he took a step forward.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Beard guy argued. Or at least Harry thought he was arguing. If he was being honest, Harry had gotten lost since the bearded fellow first started his spiel.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." The quiet brunet replied with that same pensive air as if he were thinking out loud.

"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Beard guy exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Is that just what happened?" Harry grumbled at the same time as Steve. Both turned surprised faces to one another before quickly looking away.

"Wow. Creepy." Beard guy whistled before marching forward to shake the quiet man's hand. Both men were eyeing each other up with excitement for some reason.

"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner." Beard guy declared. And finally! A name to distinguish between the two. "You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." Harry watched as Doctor Banner's lip twitched upwards at the praise. Had he stopped there, Beard man might have successfully broken the ice. Except he didn't. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Beard man finished with a flourish.

Okay, what? Giant Green rage monster? What the hell?

Harry watched with scrunched brows as the small glimmer of a smile disappeared from Doctor Banner's face as he scrunched his shoulders once again folding into himself.

"Uh, thanks." Banner mumbled to his shoes.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube." Director Fury announced as he entered the room. Harry was beginning to get the feeling the man was incapable of not making a dramatic entrance/exit. "I was hoping you might join him." Fury directed this comment to beard man who merely raised an eyebrow at the 'request'.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve inputted from his still pensive position. Fury nodded, a tiny dip of his head acknowledging Steve's input.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury grumbled.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor puzzled looking to the in confusion.

'Me either, mate. In fact, I'm not really understanding anything that's happened today,' Harry thought sympathetically.

"I do!" Steve exclaimed sitting forward in his seat. "I understood that reference." He added excitedly. His blue eyes looked around the room to see many unimpressed faces, besides Harry's which had yet to stop being scrunched in confusion. Steve slowly slunk back in his seat the excitement draining from him.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Beard guy asked flippantly.

"Let's play some." Banner agreed solemnly before the two departed. Harry watched them go before turning his attention back to the others present only to see them staring at him.

"What?" Harry asked after the silence had stretched just a little too long.

"If you are who you say you are, then you've done some serious fighting." Fury mused as he examined Harry intently. From his left, he could see Steve turning to face Fury with an incredulous expression.

"I've been known to have the occasional disagreement, sure." Harry agreed slowly. Fury smiled slightly at his response.

"You ever heard of the Avenger Initiative?" Fury asked seriously. Harry opened his mouth to reply before he was cut off.

"No!" Steve shouted quickly. "You're not- With all due respect Director, this isn't his fight. You can't ask him to get involved." Captain America quickly blustered. Harry couldn't keep the surprised expression off his face.

All his life people had been throwing him toward the fighting, not trying to keep him away. Sure, Mrs Weasley had stood up for him occasionally but when it came to it, Harry was always going to be running toward the danger, not away. She knew that and, for the most part, accepted it. It had been so long since anyone had tried to shelter him. Not since after Sirius had died. After that, Harry hadn't let them protect him. He'd made it perfectly clear that he was either all in, or completely out. And since Voldemort was literally gunning for his head, Harry never could have gotten all the way out. There hadn't really been a choice.

Having someone now try to protect him had Harry feeling all kinds of strange. He wasn't sure he particularly appreciated it if he was being honest with himself.

"It was his fight the minute he stepped foot in our time, Captain." Fury rebutted before turning his attention back to Harry. "If Loki isn't stopped, SHIELD will be in no position to help you return home."

Harry found himself gritting his teeth and the blatant manipulation Fury was trying to pull on him.
"I would have helped if you simply asked." Harry bit out lowly. "No need to get nasty." Harry glowered before getting to his feet. "I assume the world can wait long enough for me to shower and eat?"

"Of course. I'll show you to a room." The red headed woman agreed, also standing to her feet. Harry offered her a nod of thanks before the two set off without waiting for anyone else to speak.

"Natasha Romanoff." The red head stated simply as they were walking.

"Sorry?" Harry asked in confusion. They had been walking in complete silence up until now.

"My name. Natasha Romanoff." She explained simply. "Do you have a preference to what I should call you?"

Harry thought on it for a long second. "You can call me whatever you like. I answer to pretty much anything these days it seems." Harry admitted almost wryly. "Although I'd probably prefer Harry." Harry decided after another thoughtful moment.

Natasha nodded her head and flashed him a small smile.

"Harry it is then." She confirmed as they came to a stop outside a plain looking door. "This will be your room. There's a shower attached. Why don't you get cleaned up?" Natasha offered as she pressed a button.

The door slid open to show a bare room with a single bed, a desk with wardrobe drawers surrounding it. Another door led into the small yet practical bathroom on the other side.

To Harry, the set up looked almost luxurious. He supposed that was the cost of having spent the last year living on the run and sleeping in a tent. Either way, when Harry turned to offer Natasha a smile of thanks it was entirely real and heartfelt.

"It's great. Thank you." Harry told her politely as he stepped inside.

"I'll have someone bring you something clean to wear." Natasha told him, giving her own tight lipped smile in response. "Be ready in an hour and I'll take you to the dining hall." Natasha instructed before turning on her heel.

Harry watched the red-haired woman move swiftly down the hall for a few seconds before he stepped inside his room. He couldn't stop himself from spinning around in surprise, hand halfway to his wand, when the door slid shut automatically behind him.

'Yeah, it was going to be one of those days', Harry thought as he forced himself to relax.


A/N: Thanks you to everyone who reviewed, left kudos or followed. I appreciate your support, advice, and encouraging messages immensely. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :) Let me know what you think!