Thank you so much for the amazing response to chapter one - to be honest I'd had a horrible feeling that this might not be too popular - how wrong was I? A special thanks to those that posted reviews - love and choc chip cookies to you all.

Apologies - I forgot this in chapter one. For the record I have no claim on either Marvel or JK Rowling's characters. I make nothing from this beyond my own personal satisfaction and hopefully your enjoyment.

Enjoy - and let me know what you think

Merrick x

Draco Malfoy was still sitting in his pyjamas, enjoying his Earl Grey and toast when his floo pinged to announce Harry's arrival the following morning. Entering his sitting room, he was surprised to find his boss and former nemesis standing on his hearth rug, busy siphoning the soot off his robes with his wand.

Draco smiled lazily, leaning casually against the door frame. "Really Harry. I know I was less than well last night, but I don't think I merit a house-call… Since you're here, can I offer you some tea?"

Harry sniffed dismally at the Earl Grey and pulled a face. "I don't suppose you have any coffee?"

Draco smirked. "I may have an elderly jar of instant in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Could the great Harry Potter compromise with English Breakfast?"

Trailing Draco back into the kitchen, Harry perched comfortably at the breakfast bar and watched him pottering around the kitchen. "Nice pyjamas Draco. Black silk - why am I not surprised?"

Draco huffed, putting a mug down in front of Harry. "There you are Harry. And I even found a mug for you. Would you like some toast?"

Harry shook his head and took a tentative sip of his tea. "That's good Draco… thank you. How's the shoulder this morning?" Draco shrugged dismissively, refilled his bone china cup and took another bite of his toast.

"It's fine, like I said last night. There was really no need to ship me off to Saint Mungo's, it was nothing I couldn't have treated myself."

Harry scowled at his second in command over the top of his mug. "Dragon fire burns are not to be taken lightly – you needed to get it looked at. Even more so now…"

"Now?"

"I'm going to have to leave you in charge for a bit"

Draco put his tea cup down slowly. "Harry Potter, don't tell me they finally talked you into taking some of that leave that you've had owing for Merlin knows how long?"

Harry shook his head. "No, when I got back to the office last night I had a message from Kingsley. An urgent message…"

"Don't tell me, let me guess… The famous Harry Potter saves the world again…"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. I can't go into details, but somethings got Shacklebolt's wand in a knot. It'll probably turn out to be a wild goose chase. So while I'm away – you're in charge. Just – be good, and try not to wind the boss up OK" Thaddeus Fitch, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and Harry's immediate boss had lost his eldest son in the run up to the Battle of Hogwarts and had been horrified when Harry had appointed the son of a former Death Eater as his second in command. Generally, they rubbed along with a fairly frosty politeness, but there had been a few incidents when Harry had been forced to intervene for the sake of interdepartmental peace and quiet.

Draco held his hands up. "I'll be sweetness and light personified. Just watch your back, and shout if you need backup."

"I promise" Harry looked at his watch. "Hell, I have to go or I'll be late for this meeting. Thanks for the tea Draco, and I'll probably see you in a few days, once I have this sorted out"

"Take care Harry…. Oh you sneaky bastard…"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry"

"...so you bloody well should be. You're leaving me with all of yesterday's paperwork aren't you?"

Harry shrugged and grinned broadly. "What can I say Malfoy… gotta go save the world…"

Draco sat down as the floo whisked Harry away, smiling and shaking his head. "Sometimes I still really hate that man…"

ooo0ooo

Harry stepped out of the floo into the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, which was fortuitously quiet at that slack, pre-lunchtime time of the morning. With a curt nod to Tom, who was stacking glasses behind the bar, Harry slipped out of the muggle-side door on his way to his rendezvous with the SHIELD agent.

"How will I know this Agent Romanoff?"

"Oh don't you worry about that Mr Potter. Just you be there on time and she'll find you..."

The imaginatively titled "Copper Kettle" was to be found only a few streets away from the Cauldron and was your classic nondescript backstreet London coffee shop where, with the exception of a few elderly regulars, no-one knew anyone, and everyone minded their own business. The coffee was undistinguished to say the least, but as a meeting place, Harry thought, he'd been to worse. Dressed in jeans, hoodie and trainers, his nose buried in a scruffy detective novel, Harry knew that no-one would give him a second glance.

"Is this seat taken?"

The girl standing opposite him was similarly dressed, in a zip up hooded jacket at least four sizes too big for her, and baggy jeans. Under the hood, most of her face was concealed by a pair of heavy glasses. If this was Agent Romanoff, thought Harry, she wasn't quite what he was expecting. Ostentatiously looking around at the numerous empty seats elsewhere, he shrugged and nodded before returning to his book.

The girl rummaged in an oversized rucksack, pulling out a mobile, which she fiddled with for a few minutes.

If this was her, thought Harry, they were going to sit here all day if someone didn't say something soon...

"Harry Potter?" The girl's voice was low, with little trace of an accent

Barely glancing up from his book, Harry nodded briefly.

Without another word, the girl finished her coffee and left. Giving her a respectable few minutes, Harry followed. She was waiting for him just around the first corner, hood pulled forward to conceal as much of her face as possible.

"Ms Romanoff I assume? Disguises, facial recognition, anonymous meetings, this is all very cloak and dagger."

"I'm impressed Mr Potter. I didn't think that those of your... persuasion would know about such things as facial recognition apps."

Harry smiled. "I may be a wizard Ms Romanoff, but I spent the first eleven years of my life as a muggle, and I've kept in touch. It's proved very useful in my line of work, being able to move between the magical and muggle worlds"

"Muggle?"

"Those without magic, like yourself"

She led him down a side street to a car which was clearly chosen to be as unobtrusive as she was. Once they were inside, she snapped her seat belt before turning to appraise him. Harry gave a small smile as cool intelligent blue eyes looked him over.

"You don't look like a wizard."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What did you expect. Cloak, pointy hat, long white beard..."

"Magic wand?"

Harry couldn't resist it, eyes wide open and innocent... "Ms Romanoff. Are you asking to see my wand?" Romanoff's glare froze him where he sat...

"O-kay no wand jokes. You're not far off though; under normal circumstances I would wear the cloak, and on official occasions have been known to wear the hat - although I feel like an idiot in it – but you'll need to give me a year or two before I start thinking about the beard. I only just turned thirty you know. And if it comes to that – you don't look much like an American Secret Agent – or a Russian one either if I'm honest."

"What did you expect. Trench coat, trilby and dark glasses."

Harry laughed and raised his eyebrows wickedly. "Tatiana Romanova?"

Agent Romanoff scowled. "James Bond. I really hate James Bond. Do you know how many From Russia with Love lines there are? Besides – Romanova she wasn't even an agent, she was a secretary that got dragged in because she was blonde with great..." she gestured vaguely towards her chest "... potential."

"Fair enough, I take your point."

"So... Mr Potter?"

"Harry"

"Harry. Where are we going?"

"Out of town. Do you have a bag..?"

"In the trunk. What about you?"

"I'm good. And this is England, cars have boots, not trunks."

Romanoff huffed irritably as she started the car and pulled out of the side street, narrowly missing an oncoming taxi. Harry leaned back in his seat and sighed... It was going to be another long day.

ooo0ooo

Harry successfully navigated them out of London and onto the M40 motorway. Once they were clear of the outskirts of the city, they pulled into a service station. "I need to change out of of this" Romanoff plucked disdainfully at the baggy sweatshirt, "and top up my caffeine levels – then you can tell me where the hell we're going." Leaving Harry next to the ubiquitous chain store coffee shop she headed for the ladies.

"Mine's a no-fat cappuccino, with an extra shot and sugar free vanilla"

Harry shook his head. "Whatever happened to 'black or white?'"

The queue for the coffee shop was tiresomely long, and inevitably Harry ended up stuck between tired looking woman with a grizzling child and a flirtatious young woman who seemed determined to get his phone number. He had finally reached the front of the queue when he became aware that the young barista was staring, mesmerised, over his shoulder.

"Hello – could I have one regular cappu... Hello"

"Hello darling, are you alright?"

Harry looked down, and his eyes bugged. Gone were the baggy, unflattering clothes and huge glasses, to be replaced by black cashmere sweater, slim fitting jeans and boots, revealing curves that made Harry's head spin. Bright red hair tumbled in loose curls over her shoulder, clashing dazzlingly with red lips that he was trying really hard not to have very professionally inappropriate thoughts about.

Completely ignoring Harry's shell shocked expression, Romanoff tucked her arm into his, smirking at the persistent young woman behind him, before turning back to the barista and giving their order."

After Harry had paid they selected a quiet corner of the cafe.

"So where are we going Gandalf?"

Pulling himself together, Harry rolled his eyes. "Can we make a deal? I promise not to make any more James Bond cracks if you can remember my name is Harry?"

Romanoff took an appreciative sip of her coffee and shrugged. "Fair enough. So how much do you know - Harry?"

"Well - Llanelwy is a small cathedral town in North Wales."

"And the 596. A house number?"

Harry shook his head. "If this is what I think it is, it may well be a date.. 596 AD"

She blinked. "Wow. That's old. Living in the States you tend to forget how old things are in Britain. Over there anything over a hundred years old is considered historic. Over here, your average townhouse is older than that. How far is it?"

"About four hours - maybe a little more depending on the traffic"

Romanoff rose and picked up her coffee. "Well we'd best get our asses into gear. Let's go Merlin."

"Emrys"

She froze, halfway across the car park, giving him her full attention and undivided attention for the first time. "What did you say?"

"Emrys." Harry couldn't resist a smug smile. "According to some legends, Emrys is a name commonly associated with the man we know as Merlin."

"Oh you have got to be joking me... Merlin?"

"That was what clued me into the date."

Slamming the car door she turned to glare at him – daring him to be mocking her. "But Merlin's a myth. Like Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot…"

"…and wizards and magic?"

"Well so far - Mr Magic Man - I haven't seen any proof of that. Not even a white rabbit out of a hat."

"We're not back to making cracks about the size of my wand again are we? Because wizards get very sensitive about that sort of thing…"

Ok thought Harry, wincing as she slammed the car irritably into gear.. Enough with the smutty jokes until you know her a little better….

Feeling the effects of the previous day Harry dozed most of the way to Chester, only waking for the trickier bits of navigation around the British motorway system. At Chester they stopped briefly, to grab a coffee and debate whether or not to risk motorway catering or to push on. They decided to wait, Harry taking the wheel for the final stretch, preferring to wait for a decent meal once they reached their destination.

It turned out to be a good decision. The road was clear, and within the hour they were pulling into the picturesque centre of St Asaph.

As he pulled into the car park by the cathedral Harry realised that Natasha had dozed off, her head resting against the window. As soon as the engine stopped, however, she was wide awake and immediately wary.

"Where are we?"

"St Asaph. That's the Cathedral over there."

She stared at him, eyes suddenly suspicious. "I thought we were going to Llan... Llan..." she stumbled sleepily over the unfamiliar name.

Harry smiled, opening his door. "St Asaph is the English name, but this is Wales, so most places have two names. Llanelwy in Welsh. Come on, let's go for a walk."

By then it was early evening and the ancient cathedral was already closed, but they wandered aimlessly around the site stretching their legs and getting their bearings. Natasha had her nose glued to her phone, looking up the building's history.

"Amazing..." she murmured, gazing up at the carved stonework, "In the thirteenth century the English nearly burned the place to the ground, then someone called Owain..." She hesitated over the Welsh name.

"Glendower" finished Harry helpfully. He peered over her shoulder. "Again, I think that's the Welsh spelling."

"... And they say that Russian is difficult. How do you know all this anyway? You don't strike me as a Welsh History expert."

"I read..." Harry smiled. "Years ago, when I was a rookie Auror, I got stuck doing a stakeout on this house in this tiny village on the Norfolk coast that was being used to smuggle dark artifacts into the country. I spent three weeks posing as a writer, living in this tiny little bed and breakfast. The only thing I had to read was this whole series of detective stories about this monk that someone had kindly left on the bookshelf. The hero was Welsh, and there was a lot of historic background – earlier than this but it was quite interesting really, so I did a bit more reading, spent a few days up here, visiting some of the castles"

But Romanoff was no longer listening. "Don't look now..." she muttered "but I think we're being watched. Light blue Ford, over on the corner."

Taking her phone from her hand, Harry pretended to take a picture of Natasha, carefully catching the Ford in the background. "Got them"

As they walked back to their car, Harry slung a casual arm around her shoulder. "Hopefully they're looking for a couple of agents, not a young couple. Do you think there's any chance they don't know what we look like?"

Natasha shrugged. "To be honest, I doubt they will have come across you. Even SHIELD has practically nothing on the British magical community. Me however... me they'll know... I had hoped that they might not have picked us up yet though."

"Don't worry. By the time we come back tomorrow your own mother wouldn't recognise you... just leave it to me."

"My own mother wouldn't recognise me now" muttered Natasha. "But what makes you think that we can fool them? I'm not the only one with facial recognition you know."

Harry smiled smugly, pulling her a little closer for authenticity, body turned slightly towards her, making it harder for the agents to see their faces clearly, all the time trying not to notice how easily she fitted against him. "Relax Agent Romanoff. They may have facial recognition, but you have a wizard. I got it covered as they say. Come on, we need to find a hotel."

"We haven't booked. Do you have somewhere in mind?"

Harry nodded. "It's a little way away, but I know just the place. And they'll be expecting us to stay locally"

"You know they'll follow us?"

"Just leave that to me"

Pulling out of the car park, Harry instructed Natasha to drive past the Hydra agents. Ignoring her look of surprise, his wand materialised in his hand, making her jump. As they approached the car he shot a surreptitious spell, from below the level of the window, into the bonnet of the car.

"So you really do have a wand" smiled Natasha. "What did you just do?"

"Put it this way. It'll take a while for them to get the car started" Harry smiled smugly. Sure enough, as they looked in the mirror he saw one of the agents leave the car to lift the bonnet . He looked furious. Harry's grin widened.

Once they were out of sight, Harry turned them inland, taking them by back roads through the lovely Welsh countryside to a pretty little inn, which stood on a valley road. As they pulled into the car park he pointed down the valley to the picturesque ruins further down. "Valle Crucis Abbey. This pub used to be part of the abbey lands. The last time I was here I had a very interesting conversation with a very pleasant monk – I forget his name. He was delighted that I could see him – I didn't have the heart to tell him I was a wizard. I was pretty sure that he would've disapproved."

He was suddenly aware that Natasha was looking at him as though he'd grown an extra head. "Ghosts" she said flatly "Harry there's no such thing as ghosts"

"Says you" Harry snarked. "When I was at school they were just a normal part of life... I never yet met a witch or wizard that couldn't see them."

"Fantastic. I suppose you'll tell me next that there are still Welsh Dragons in these mountains."

Harry shook his head seriously. "Not in the wild. There are native British Dragons of course, the Common Welsh Green and the Hebridean Black, but as far as I'm aware there aren't any left in the wild. Breeding dragons has been illegal in Britain since the Warlock's Convention of 1709. There are a couple of private collectors in the remotest areas of North Wales, and a family in the north of Scotland, but the majority of dragons are on special reserves in Europe these days."

"Good God", Natasha looked quite stunned. "Please. Don't tell me anymore... I don't think I can take it in."

"You do look like you need a stiff drink. Come on, let's hope they have vacancies"

They were in luck. The pub was pretty quiet at this time of year, and the landlady was happy to help.

"Just the one night Mr err...?"

"Potter, Harry Potter" The moment he opened his mouth, Harry thought that he probably should have given a false name, but it was too late to worry now.

The landlady looked between them uncertainly. "Will it be one room or two?"

"Oh just the one please." Natasha leaned comfortably against Harry, the image of the happy couple.

The landlady smiled. "Certainly. Can you sign the register please...?"

Natasha stepped forward, signing as Mrs Natalie Potter of Charing Cross Road London. Having booked a table for dinner, they followed the landlady upstairs to a comfortable sized bedroom under the eaves. Once she had left them Harry turned back to Natasha. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer two rooms?"

She shook her head, utterly unworried, absorbed in her phone. "You're right. Hydra will be looking for two agents, not a couple. They don't know your name either, which will help. Relax Harry, I've done some pretty unpleasant things in the line of duty, I think I can handle sharing a large and comfortable looking bed with you. Unless you snore of course, in which case I will have to shoot you."

She was joking, thought Harry. At least he hoped she was.

The pub that Harry and Natasha are staying at is real - and highly recommended. It is known to be haunted, and although I didn't get to chat with any of the former residents when we visited, my daughter and I did get woken up by a tapping on the door at 2, 4 and 6am, even though our rooms were at opposite ends of the same corridor, which only had one other occupant, and they denied all knowledge!