It sad day when such a great actor passes. To Alan Rickman we say farewell and Gods speed.

Edited by the mighty pazed!

Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!

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Chapter 14

Tony stepped out of the armor he had just placed in its sarcophagus for maintenance and rearmament. "Jarvis... full reload. I want the mini-missiles reconfigured for maximum burn damage…" He turned toward the golden clad woman. "What else can you tell me about vampires? Jarvis has dealt with the scanning issue already... How does that even work?" He stomped towards the computer console in the middle of the bay. "What the hell else is out there? And how do we handle them?" he asked smacking his hands on the surface of the table.

The woman was suddenly standing next to the table with only a small shimmer of gold showing that she had passed through the space in between. She shrugged as she laid her sword on the table and spoke. "Vampires don't show up well, if at all, in mirrors, depending on their age and lineage… I expect that is the reason they do not appear on your cameras… You can burn them, but that takes time… Sunlight, of course… A stake will work in a pinch, but only Rosewood will be permanent, otherwise they are just kind of paralyzed… Then there is my favored method, remove their head."

Tony studied the woman's face for a moment under her mask. "You sure know a lot about them."

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I've killed my fair share as well, Mr. Stark."

Tony stood up, nodded and headed toward the computer terminal. "Jarvis? Did you hear that? Can we adjust the repulsors to duplicate sunlight?" he asked.

"I'm adjusting them now…" replied the AI. "Shall I adjust the Arc reactor housing to do the same?"

Tony nodded again. "Do it… and I want you to go over the adjustments to the targeting system again, just to be on the safe side… Pepper would kill me if it didn't work and I came back to her a walking dead man."

He turned back towards the other Avengers and their guest. "What other things are we going to be up against?"

Spitfire sighed. "Wizards, trolls, giants, vampires, werewolves…"

Tony cringed. "Great… First it's aliens, now I'm fighting some kid's bedtime stories… Next you'll tell me they'll be riding dragons!" he said looking disgusted.

She cringed. "God! I hope not! Those things are almost impossible to kill!"

Tony's eyes widened. "They could have DRAGONS with them?"

Spitfire chuckled. "I don't think even he is that insane! They would be just as likely to eat him and his followers as his enemies."

A voice came from the cockpit. "Five minutes to our landing zone!"

"So how do we kill these things?" asked Clint.

"Same as most things," Spitfire replied. "I find most things have problems moving much after their head is detached… as for the wizards they may be a little tougher than a normal human, but they are still human."

The door to the Headmaster's office opened and a group began making their way inside. First was a small man, his head only coming up to mid thigh on Steve, followed by a pair of women, then Harry and Hermione, who had gathered the group of unconscious prisoners from the closet along the way and had them tossed across her shoulders.

Minerva looked up from what she was looking at on the desk. "Good, you are all here, I've sent messages to both Hagrid and Poppy, they should be on their way."

Hermione dumped the unconscious mass next to the door. "I thought you may want to do something with them, rather than just leaving them where they were," she said with a shrug.

Minerva chuckled darkly as she nodded. "I'll have Poppy check them over, then have them placed in the dungeon… I may need to apologize to Mr. Filch, his decision to keep those manacles in a pristine shape may just prove to have been useful," she said, her face angry as she glared at the pile of bodies. She then turned to Hermione. "I see the new you seems to come with a few advantages."

Hermione's grin widened as she flexed. "I was never much of an athlete… but I kind of like it!"

The short man, or Professor Flitwick as he had introduced himself, nodded. "Indeed! I do not believe I have seen Ms. Granger this happy since Harry woke up after the tournament during her fourth year."

Minerva chuckled, as she watched the now seven foot tall teen blush a curious shade of green. When her eyes moved to Harry to see his reaction she found him staring at the sleeping magical portrait of Albus Dumbledore, the last headmaster of Hogwarts. She walked till she was standing next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He was a good man," she said.

Harry drew in a deep breath and shook his head. "No… No he wasn't." He turned toward her, keeping his voice low. "He was…" Harry shrugged, "Either he was a manipulative bastard, or insane… I'm just not sure which he was."

Her eyes grew wide. "Surely you don't believe that?"

Harry's eyes met hers, they looked tired and sad. "I do…" he began, then took a deep breath. "Did you know this little adventure Hermione and I have been on for the last year was his idea?" he said gesturing to the portrait.

She shook her head, as he continued. "He had us out scouring the entirety of Britain, Ireland and Scotland for things that Tom has hidden, and do you know what he left us as clues?" She shook her head again. "Clues now, not instructions but clues… A single snitch, a children's book, his putter-outer, and a bunch of memories about Tom that he spent a year showing me that I told Hermione the entirety of in less than two hours!"

He swung his arm toward the painting. "Four objects that could be anywhere! We found one!" He held up a finger, his voice raising and gathering the attention of the others in the room. "One! It could have taken us years! We've been alone since before Christmas until Steve and the others found us! No one helping us, out of food, out of money, just us! Where is Remus? My supposed uncle, missing again! How about Tonks? She is a trained Auror! Where was she? Or Bill? He's a cursebreaker, we've needed him! Hell I would have taken Dung! Even his thieving ways could have helped! Why were three children, that don't even have their N.E.W.T.S. chosen for this stupid trip? Because of some drunk's prophecy? That alone was insane!"

Hermione wrapped her arms around him from behind, over both shoulders, quieting his rant. "It's okay Harry…" she said, pulling him in tighter.

Steve placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Harry's right. He's told us, the Avengers, what your Mr. Dumbledore tasked him to do. He was lucky to have someone like Hermione, and even their friend Ron for a time, force the issue and accompany him. He wanted Harry to do all of that on his own." He shook his hand to ward off the torrent of questions that were about to erupt from not only the school's new Headmaster but the others that had gathered as well. "I don't claim to know what, or why, he thought of sending him out there alone, but it was poorly conceived at best."

He appraised all of the faces surrounding him as he continued. "Our first concern is the welfare and safety of our children, they are not expendable! So until the children of this school are safe I will suggest that we not continue this discussion at this time, there will be plenty of time later for that."

"Harry?" Steve turned to the teens. "I want you and Hermione to stay here for the moment, and babysit our… guests. Wait for the people the Headmistress has summoned, and let them look them over. You keep an eye on the map for surprises, and we'll start in the dorms."

Harry nodded numbly, as Hermione spoke. "Alright, be careful… especially when you reach the Slytherins. They can be tricky, and there is no telling what forms of dark objects they have, not to mention their wands."

Steve smiled at her, and picked up his helmet from the desk. "I'll be careful, keep me posted, and try and contact the other team, find out what their ETA is."

"Right," she said, as one arm slid from around Harry. "Com check?" she said.

Harry responded, "Check."

Then Steve, "Check."

"Alright," she said, "I'll contact Fury, we want this done as soon as possible."

As soon as his suit finished its calibrations Tony donned it then pushed the button for the rear gangplank and stepped out into the night air, flying away from the Quinjet that would escort the transport into international waters.

"Alright Fury," he said into his suit's microphone, "What's her deal? And just who is she?"

Fury didn't speak for a few moments, as Iron Man made his way eastward at near sub orbital speeds. "She's a friend Stark. That's all you need to know."

"BULLSHIT!" Stark snapped. "I can guarantee both the Widow, and Legolas have already asked the same damn thing! JARVIS came up empty on her or he would have told me as soon as I was back in my armor. Just who is she?"

Fury sighed, then spoke in a quieter voice. "Tony, you need to let this drop… please."

Tony's eyes widened, Fury was asking for something? Not telling?

"Her story is her own… and it has cost her a lot," Fury said. "The fact that she is even lending a hand tells me volumes about how bad the situation there has become. You can trust her, and what she can tell you about these creatures. If she wants you to know more she'll say something…"

.Tony scowled. "Ok… For now but you can bet we will be talking about this when we're face to face! Tell them my ETA is six minutes till I am in range of their coms, the Quinjet will be about fifteen after."