Edited by the mighty pazed!
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Chapter 11
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?" Hermione yelled at Harry as they made their way down one of the hallways of Stark Tower.
"Just what I said, Hermione. N. O. No." Harry said, shrugging. "I wanted a few… tweaks, and asked Tony about them. He suggested that we both use this opportunity to try some new things, and even learn some about modern technology, then we can compare what changes we have made. I thought he may have a point, so I started thinking…"
She grumbled under her breath, "You just wanted to play Marauder!"
His grin widened. "Can you blame me? I am the son of Prongs! And godson of Padfoot!"
She chuckled. "I guess you come by it naturally... so when do we start comparing our modifications?" she asked, just as a voice spoke in her ear.
"Ms. Hermione/Mr. Potter?" the AI asked, over each of their earpieces.
"Yes, Jarvis?" they both answered automatically, smiling at each other because of a discussion they had had about how easily they were getting used to the technology they had been around recently.
"The others have gathered in the lounge, and await your presence," it intoned.
Harry glanced at his watch. "Huh? I thought they said ten it's not even eight?"
Hermione shrugged. "Maybe something happened. We'd better get up there."
Fury was drumming his fingers on the table as they waited for the youngest of them to get to the lounge. "I don't like this, not a bit… We still don't have all of the information that we need… But we just don't have any more time!"
Moments later the two teens hurried through the door and approached the large circular table.
"Alright, now that we are all here, let's begin. Stark?" The dark man motioned to the man across the table from him.
"I completed the Wizarding Wireless scanner and programming yesterday, and had Jarvis start monitoring them this morning. As of now we have only found two signals originating from within England. The first one consisted of almost three hours of music last night along with intermixed messages from the Ministry." He tossed a tablet onto the table and watched as it slid toward the two teens.
Harry slapped his hand out, stopping it, then spun it around so both of them could read. "Oh! Merlin!" Hermione gasped.
Harry's eyes hardened. "That BITCH!" he growled.
Fury nodded, and filled in the blanks for the other Avengers "A woman…"
The tablet in Harry's hands cracked, and fizzled, as he crushed it. "That… thing, is no woman! She's worse than a demon!" he said tossing the now broken hunk of plastic back on the table.
"Delores Umbridge," Fury continued, "has put a bounty out on any muggle-born, half-blood, or known Harry sympathizer. They have forty-eight hours to turn themselves over to the Ministry or they and their families will be brought in… dead or alive."
Grumbles came from around the table as Fury continued. "I wanted to give you both a little more time to prepare, and talk to you about a few more things, but if we are going to do something it needs to be now."
Harry began to stand, only for Hermione's hand to keep him sitting in his chair. "I think he has a plan Harry, and we need to hear him out." Harry's head pivoted towards her, aggravation plain on his face but she spoke again before he could. "We don't need to do this alone… and they have training we never had."
She paused for a moment gathering her thoughts, and making sure she had his full attention. "Harry, I've been thinking about everything we talked about with them over the last few days. During the talks something started bothering me…"
Her eyes swelled up with tears. Harry, concerned, turned to fully face her and took her hands in his. "Hermione… What?"
"Harry, I-I," she stuttered softly. "I think Dumbledore may have been insane…"
His eyes widened, and he jerked his hands away as if shocked. "W-what? Why? W-why would you think that? He was a great man! A great leader of the Light!" he said loudly coming to his feet.
"Harr-" she began.
"No! He was a great man! A HERO!" Harry yelled backing away from her. "H-he captured Grindelwald! He fought Riddle! He was…"
Hermione stood slowly, motioning the others to stay seated. "I'm not saying that he wasn't!" she said sternly, as she took several steps forward and put herself between him and the assembled Avengers, intent on keeping his attention solely on her. "He was a hero! Of that I don't have a doubt! But think about it Harry, please! Something wasn't right with him! Why else would he send us out with just a handful of odd clues? And don't you think for a moment that I didn't expect you to try and sneak off on the hunt alone!"
"Why, in the name of Merlin did he send us off by ourselves?" she asked as she walked closer and her voice raised in volume. "Where is Remus? Or Tonks? Hell, I'd even take Diggle!"
Harry's tone grew hard, angry. "Remus is dealing with the werewolves! Trying to get them…" His voice fell away, what was he trying to do with them?
"What is he doing Harry?" she pushed, as she took another step forward. "The wolves are firmly under the sway of Greyback! He would never be able to turn them away, he can't beat him and take over the pack!"
She took a deep breath, and took the last step to bring her within arms reach of her best friend, keeping her eyes firmly on his. "As for Tonks, she was an Auror. One known to be a supporter of both you and Dumbledore, she is most likely in hiding with her parents, if she's lucky."
She searched his eyes looking for any sign of comprehension of the points she was trying to make, watching patiently as his eyes flickered back and forth between hers, at the edge of panic.
"Harry," she said in her most calm voice. "Dumbledore was a hero… but he wasn't infallible! He was a man, one that was fully capable of making mistakes." As his eyes settled on hers again, she smiled softly, and slowly stepped out of the way so he could see the others. "Look at them Harry, different people, different backgrounds working together, working to help people. This is what the Order of the Phoenix should have been. Taking action when others couldn't… or wouldn't."
Harry looked around at each of the people gathered in the room, each of them calmly waiting for the young man to think things through.
Hermione gave him a moment then spoke again, pulling his focus back to her. "Harry," she said softly. "I know you respected him, I did too, but what he asked of us, the responsibility he left you, because of a prophecy was too much. We needed help, planning, training, and none of those things ever happened."
For a moment she thought he was going to return to yelling, but slowly his shoulders began to sag, and slowly he slid down his back against the wall. "It's… it's my responsibility…" he said quietly. "I'm the only one that…"
Hermione knelt next to him, and touched his chin to gently bring his face to her. "Harry, you are a great wizard, the best friend I could ever ask for, and you have done so many things that were… amazing… since I first met you. But!" she said punctuating what she had to say. "I never thought you needed to do it alone." She brought his attention to the others still sitting at the table. "We! Will help you. Together they beat an alien invasion, led by an insane god. Together We will stop him, and save our friends!"
Harry looked at each person, in turn, sitting around the table, each of them giving him an assuring smile and a nod of agreement.
Slowly the young man gathered himself, and brought his attention back to Hermione. "Any other revelations you've been thinking about?"
She sighed, glad he had taken it as well as he had, but it was time for the other shoe. Taking another deep breath, she nodded. "One big one… this one I think you may already know the answerer to, deep down even if you can't admit it… Harry… what happens in a war?" she asked.
Harry looked at her confused, as his mind pondered the question.
What did happen in a war? he asked himself.
The answer seemed fairly simple, you fought the enemy… but was it that simple? He looked around at the other people in the room.
Tony Stark, Harry knew that the man was worth more than probably all of the gold in Gringotts, yet he put his life on the line in a suit of armor. He looked at him with sad eyes, as if haunted by something.
Clint Barton, marksman, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He had heard the man joke and laugh even at the littlest of things. He was quick to smile, and always seemed to have a kind word, he reminded Harry of Sirius in some ways. Now, however, his eyes were hard, dark. There was something in them he had only seen in one other person's… eye, Mad Eye Moody.
The next face he found belonged to Dr. Banner, his eyes held some of the same pain he saw in Tony's, but it was somehow different, as if some form of deep shame accompanied it.
On the other side of the table his eyes found a set of eyes that, over the last couple of weeks he had seen a lot of. However, now, Natasha's eyes were cold, angry, but in their depths he could see pain, and a hint of her own personal hurt.
Steve was next. His eyes were firm, determined, but they too held some of the darkness that the others had.
The last person at the table was the one that he somehow, wanted to look at the least. He knew the man was the leader of a large organization, one that had been pivotal in the invasion. The man was sitting forward in his chair, his hands arched into a steeple that covered his face to just below his eyes… or eye as one had been lost and covered with a dark black patch. His eye was dark, cold, it held a depth of anger and loss that was undeniable. 'This man is a leader,' Harry thought, 'one that has sent his people out into harm's way, knowing that they most likely would not return. He has given them orders to do things… things that have seen them, or others killed. Something Dumbledore was unwilling…
He paused thinking about that. No that wasn't true, Dumbledore had been willing to send people out… but he had never been willing to…
Memories of the telly's broadcast of the invasion flashed through Harry's mind, his new friends, the National Guard, even the Police fighting back, all to protect their city… their world from a threat beyond their imagination.
Harry's eyes widened. "People kill… or die…" he said under his breath.
Hermione nodded. "I've thought about it a lot, Harry. We were never fighting a war… We were…" She paused then sighed. "I don't know what we were doing…. Riddle's people were at war while we… we floundered… and did nothing." Tears slid down her face.
She sat back on her haunches, eyes blankly on the floor. "Something… Something had to have been wrong for a long time, even back before your parents went into hiding… They were losing back then, just like now, and Dumbledore did the same thing… Nothing, and when others fought back… he spoke about forgiveness, and second chances. Chastised those who fought hardest… those willing to kill to protect those they loved."
She sniffed, and looked up at her best friend. "Then when Riddle was gone… he… he didn't do anything. He had eleven years to help change things, or to look for those stupid Horcruxes, or even make sure that the next ten years worth of students through Hogwarts didn't harbor the same feelings of hate… but he chose to… to do nothing!" she said, her voice becoming angry.
She wiped her eyes and when Harry could see them again they were red and puffy. "He did NOTHING! He played games with our future! Instead of choosing one course, or asking for help he tried to do it all himself… Whatever happened to him, whether it was his sister's death and Grindelwald's hand in it, like Rita Skeeter's book said, or something else, he actively let the situation that bred Riddle and his people continue! If he had just said something, trusted one person!" She broke down into sobs.
Harry moved forward and gathered her into his arms, joining her in mourning all of those that had been lost to one old man's hubris.
He didn't know how long they sat there holding each other, but when he looked up only one person remained in the room, Nick Fury, though he had moved to sit closer to them. Harry looked at him questioningly.
"They're making final gear checks, it will still be a few more minutes till they're ready to go… I had Natasha grab the bags out of your rooms, they'll make it on the Quinjet with the rest."
Harry nodded his understanding as he pulled away from Hermione, who was now sniffling less. "Ok, we'll meet the team on the roof as soon as we clean up."
Fury nodded. "We're not leaving without you."
"You're going with us?" Harry asked, looking surprised.
"I am," Nick confirmed. "I want to help you keep them out of public knowledge… at least until they can figure out how to be a part of the world at large. As it is they have no idea of how to survive in today's world. So I'm going to help by doing communications and strategic planning, Rogers will be tactical command once you're on the ground."
Harry thought about what Fury was telling him, and after the last few weeks he knew the man was right. The muggle world had changed so much compared to what they knew… "Sir? What do you plan to do about the Ministry? Or the International Confederation of Wizards?"
Fury chuckled. "One step at a time Harry. We need to handle the things in front of us first, we'll deal with the rest afterward." He stood and turned toward the door, stopping just before stepping outside. "That doesn't mean that if you have an idea you shouldn't say something, because you can bet I'll be thinking about it." He then turned and continued out the door.