Disclaimer: I don't own/torture people with the Avengers or Harry Potter.

WARNING: There is content in this chapter that is NOT suitable for children. It certainly earns it's mature rating.

Colonel Jason Mallory

Harry watched Natasha flip through the pages of Forbes Magazine mindlessly. He didn't quite know why she was looking at Forbes, but he could only imagine it was one of two reasons. One, she wanted advice on how to hide her money from taxes and what best to invest in. Two, she wanted to know who next to target for her gold digging con.

At seventeen years old, Natasha was quite a bit different from the fourteen year old that had followed him around three years ago. She had grown into her skin in a way that made Harry almost regret the fifth rule of their partnership agreement, almost. Her body was slim and toned. The black outfits that she wore now were form fitting and slick. They still contained hidden pockets for weapons, but were of a much higher quality that anything she had worn three years ago. He glanced down at her hip where the cloth of the outfit was hiding her only identifying tattoo, an ouroboros with a black widow spider inside. The same tattoo lay on his hip. It was something they did together on their first year anniversary after a particularly rough job.

Her red hair was as dark as always, but cut short to stay out of the way. Her face was just on the cusp of adulthood and prettier than any of the other woman he had ever gotten close to. She was young, but beautiful. She was the type of beauty than drew old perverted men, which was one of the reasons she was so good at coning them out of their money.

She had started her con last year on their tour of Europe. One of their targets was a high society type and Natasha had gotten in to one of their parties. The job was done quickly, but Natasha stayed around to chat with the other wealthy individuals. That of course lead to her getting into bed with one of them and then a whole string of them. The presents that she received from the targets made the job worth it to Natasha. So it became one of her goals in every city she stayed at to meet gullible men to take advantage of. She did it between jobs in the city so she was never bored and waiting.

Harry figured he had a little to do with her side job. He was perhaps a little too harsh with the no sex rule when they were first starting out and endeavored to keep Natasha away from the scene for as long as possible. Which eventually lead to this string of mindless sex and gold digging. Harry shook his head. He no longer controlled what Natasha did or who she did it with. He was her partner not her father.

"Here he comes, try to look professional." Harry tapped Natasha on the shoulder. She closed her magazine and placed it on the table in front of her.

The meet up place for this particular job was an empty warehouse in Los Angeles, California. There were some windows on the upper part of the building, but no real defining features to the warehouse that was surrounded by other warehouses. It was a mostly empty room with some boxes in one corner and a table in the center.

Harry focused his gaze on the man entering and immediately tensed. A chill ran up his spine and a strong feeling of foreboding overcame him. Something was very wrong with this picture. It took him a few seconds to figure out what it was, but then slightly shaking of hands and shifty eyes gave him away. This man was nervous, which was never a good state of being for a person about to hire the services of two assassins. Harry turned to warn Natasha, but saw that she had already tensed herself and was looking around suspiciously. Nervous clients were bad news.

Harry and Natasha had only had one other client that acted suspiciously. After they had done the job for him the client had tried to kill them. Needless to say, nervous clients weren't good for anyone and put Harry and Natasha on edge.

The man scurried across the room and nodded to them.

"Basilisk, Black Widow, I have a job for you." The man told them in a rushed, breathless voice. Harry rolled his eyes, but refrained from a sarcastic comment.

"What's the job?" Natasha asked leaning against the table.

"A Colonel in the United States Army Rangers has overstepped his boundaries and I need him taken care of."

"What a tactful way of putting it." Harry said offhandedly. The client shot him a look that was not entirely friendly and turned back to Natasha.

"Here is all of the information you need to know." The client placed the folder on the table and opened his mouth to say more, but before he got to the sound of breaking glass crashed through the air.

Harry didn't have time to twist his head or move out of the way. He didn't have time to do anything before the client's head snapped to the side. The splatter of blood that came from the gapping head wound wasn't enough to unsettle him. Harry had seen more blood than that by the time he was eight, Dudley had made sure of it. Harry knew though just how much blood was stored in a human body and by the size of the wound, more would be gushing out soon. In the milliseconds that followed the shot Harry let himself glance around, tracing the angle of the head wound back to the broken window pane and the flash of light across the street on a building rooftop.

"SNIPER! DOWN!" Harry barely recognized the words that exited his mouth, but moved without thinking. The crash of the table to the floor, Natasha moving as quickly as he behind it. The wood was too flimsy to be more than a screen that the sniper couldn't see behind. The bullets would pierce the wood easily, he just had to make sure that neither he nor Natasha was in the way of them. As far as cover went, it was about as bad as you could get.

Double doors that let the client into the warehouse swung open and the pounding of boots hitting the floor could be heard. Natasha pulled out one of her knives and angled it. The flat part of it acted like a mirror, showing the room beyond. Twenty heavily armed men in black combat gear stood in front of the door. They were spearheaded at the table, but hadn't shot yet. Which either meant that they needed visual contact before opening fire, or they wanted Natasha and him alive, neither were good prospects.

There was only one way he could see out of this - magic.

Harry thought quickly, flipping through his mind's book of spells. There were a few shields that protected from physical contact, but were fairly obvious. Harry seriously doubted surrounding the both of them in a titanium bubble was going to help any. Harry pulled out his wand silently thinking up a plan on the spot. Natasha was turned away from him, but was pulling out her guns. Harry thought she was fooling herself if she thought she could get out of this so easily.

"Basilisk, do you think..." Natasha's use of his codename told him just how much of a shithole she thought herself in. She had been trained never to revel anything to enemies including names. She also looked like she was about to go on a suicide shooting spree. Harry tightened his grip on his wand, he wouldn't allow that to happen so he cut her off.

"Widow, when I give the signal I want you to run for the door. Bypass the soldiers, don't kill anyone. Got it?" Harry spread his arms and gave a slight wave. Natasha turned to ask him what he meant just in time to see a flash of his wand. "Nox." Harry said the spell out loud and used the wand motion because he needed this to be powerful, as powerful as possible.

Blackness crushed the occupants of the room. In fact, from his view out the window Harry could see all of the surrounding buildings fall into a similar state of darkness. He spread his magic thin, as far as he could to give the sniper less of a chance to see them. The spell wouldn't last long, maybe ten minutes, but long enough to get them away from here.

"Move." Harry whispered frantically to her moving his wand arm again. The shield that he cast over them wasn't as strong as some, but would protect them from projectiles as long as he could power it and it would move with them.

Natasha sprang from her position behind the table. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness quickly, or maybe she just knew the layout of the room well. She moved quickly and quietly, curving around the grouping of soldiers. He heard murmured curses and whispers, but didn't listen closer. The men had positioned themselves into a circle, guns facing outward. When Natasha moved she made sure that her body was always facing the men so if they suddenly regained their sight she would have time to react. Harry didn't care about that, he just wanted to get them out of the building as quickly as possible.

Harry didn't let out a sigh of relief once they got to the door, but it was close.

"There they are." A shout came from the man facing them. Harry let out a curse of his own and shot through the door right after Natasha. He closed the door just in time to hear banging as something hit it. He placed his free hand on the doorknob locking it. It wouldn't delay them very much, but anything would help. Harry motioned to Natasha which way to turn and off they went. He made sure that they were heading away from the sniper, trying to keep as much distance and buildings between them as possible.

"Basilisk, what was..." Natasha whispered frantically to Harry, still moving forward.

"Shut up, we have five minutes, tops." Harry told her, looking around nervously. The wand never left his hand and he stayed tense the entire time they were rushing through the streets.

They were three streets over when he heard it, cars backfiring in the distance. He cursed again and pushed Natasha to move faster. He needed to get out of there before the bloody Aurors cut everything off. They would no doubt quarantine the area and Harry needed to be far, far away when that happened.

"What is going on?" Natasha asked him, looking toward him inquisitively.

"Bloody hell, woman, shut up until we get out of danger." Harry told her, glancing over his shoulder.

"We are still in danger?" She asked confused. Of course she was confused, Harry had never told her about the Wizarding World or his place in it. It didn't look like he had much of a choice now though. "I have a nook over there." Natasha told him, pointing to an alley that they were passing. She had no doubt placed one close to the meeting spot in case something went wrong, but it would be of no use now.

"Too close." Harry told her, his eyes scanning the surrounding buildings. It wouldn't take too long for the American Aurors to send out people to cordon of the area. They were almost far enough away now, but he didn't dare stop.

Then, just as he was about to give a sigh of relief, a gunshot noise rang through the air. Harry turned to face it. A younger man in bright red robes stepped onto the street from an alleyway. Harry pushed Natasha to one of the nearby parked cars. He motioned her to hide and keep quiet.

"Hey, you there." The man noticed Harry, which wasn't a surprise, Harry was standing in the middle of the road and the ambient light from the city helped the Auror to see. The man stalked toward him trying to see him better. The darkness that still surrounded them was a good protection, but it wouldn't last forever. His wand hand twitched, ready for battle. He had to decided quickly what he wanted to do. "Did you see anything that happened a few streets over?" He pointed in the direction of the warehouse they were fleeing from. He must be a new recruit, which is why they sent him to cordon off the area.

"No. I heard some noises from over there but wasn't near enough to see what was going on." Harry told him cautiously. The man nodded.

"Okay, sorry to bother you." Harry turned away slowly, almost not quite believing his luck. He just started walking away when the lights suddenly came on. After a second of near blinding brightness as the streetlights came back on Harry tensed.

The man gasped from behind him and Harry cursed. Of all the times to be wearing a sleeveless shirt, it had to be the time when he ran into a trainee Auror.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" The shout was shaky, but loud. Harry didn't have to glance behind him to know that there was a wand pointed at his back. "Turn around slowly. Hands up." The voice was still shaky and Harry wanted to sigh.

Harry turned slowly, the wand in his hand going up into the air along with his free hand. He didn't have time for this.

He braced his legs and leaned forward a little. It didn't take much, just a push of magic toward his legs and he sprang away. His body flew through the air easily, the Auror staring in shock at the man flying towards him. He gathered his wits in time to send out on hastily cast offensive charm, but all it took was a lean of the body and the charm missed him.

Harry leaned in a little and pulled up his free hand. He was just far enough away from the Auror that you could see a tiny flash of red light exit his hand and hit the red robed man. The robed man hit the ground with Harry crouched over him. It didn't take more than a few seconds before he sprang away.

Natasha was standing in the middle of the road behind him. Harry didn't stop and walked right past her.

"You coming?" He asked gruffly, still moving.

"Who was that guy?" Natasha asked him.

"An Auror." Harry answered truthfully, turning onto another street. He walked over to a parked car, tired of this walking around business. He tucked his wand away and place a hand on the car door handle. With a click, the door opened and Harry got inside, opening the passenger side door as well. There was no use hiding from Natasha now, best make the most of the situation.

"What's an Auror and how did you open that?" She asked from outside the car.

"I will tell you when we get to a safe place. Now, will you get in?" Harry placed his hand on the car ignition keyhole. He pushed some of his magic inside and twisted, the car came to life with a growl. Natasha got into the car reluctantly and off they went.

It only took them fifteen minutes of driving to reach their destination, a back alley in the middle of downtown. Harry parked the car haphazardly and got out, slamming the door on the way. Natasha followed him down the alley cautiously. Harry walked behind one of the dumpsters and took out his wand, Natasha's sharp eyes following his every move.

He tapped the brick fifth from the bottom and three over. With the same magic that had him so entranced when he went to Diagon Alley the first time, the wall slid open to reveal a doorway. He motioned Natasha forward. Her dumbfounded expression would have been funnier if the situation was any better.

Natasha stepped through the door and gasped. Harry pushed past her into the room and closed the door behind him, the scrapping of bricks moving back into place could be heard. The room was one of the many he had placed in cities all over the world. The nooks where quick stop places, he had many of them in the city, but the safe houses were fewer.

There was a large queen sized bed on one wall of the windowless room. There was a dining room table a few feet away from a small kitchen on another. There was an armoire that he knew opened up to his collection of weapons. The armoire was another one of his cleaver inventions, he had one in every safe house that all gave entrance to the same collection of weapons.

"Basilisk, what is this place?" Natasha's voice was sharp and she was still speaking his codename, which meant she still thought she was in danger. Harry sighed to himself, troublesome.

"You are in one of my safe houses. There is a bathroom through that door if you need it, it's pretty small though."

"What are you?" She said harshly, she had put away her guns at some point, but instead held a dagger in one hand. Harry didn't blame her, it was a lot to take in. He plopped onto the counter and faced her.

"I'm a wizard. A wand waving, magic using, broom riding wizard." Harry told her succinctly. She snorted.

"No, but really?" Natasha asked amused.

"Do I look like I'm joking Natasha?" Harry asked harshly. "What would you rather the answer be? That I am a genetic experiment gone wrong, an alien from outer space, a military super soldier that escaped? Would that be any less completely ridiculous than a wizard?" His tone was biting. Natasha looked at him, still trying to understand just how much her life had changed in one night.

"How long have you been one?" Natasha asked emotionlessly, tucking the dagger away. The man that she had known for three years had turned into someone she didn't know at all. Natasha the informant had quickly overcome Natasha the assassin.

"My whole life, but only trained since I was eleven." He rested his head against the upper counter. "This is going to be hard for you to believe, but there is an entire society out there of people just like me. The wizarding world." Harry snorted to himself. There was silence for a few moments.

"That man tonight, he was one?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, he was an Auror, one of their police officers."

"Why didn't you jut hide from him, with me? Why did you attack him? How did he know you were not what you seemed?" Natasha spat out questions now, trying to understand.

"Which would you like me to answer first?" Harry laughed a little. "I didn't hide because I didn't know he was such an incompetent. All Aurors are taught a spell that shows any humans in the area, if he had used it while we were hiding I would have been at a disadvantage. The man was pretty green though, so I probably could have saved myself some trouble if I had."

"Did you kill him?"

"No, the red light is a stunning spell, one of the first offensive spells that you learn. I had to get close to him to use it without him blocking. Wizards rarely expect a physical attack, it's one of their weaknesses."

"Any other weaknesses?" Natasha asked emotionlessly, sitting down at the table. Harry almost laughed, back to the same old Natasha ready for anything.

"Some, but Natasha there is something else you should know." He caught her eyes. "Just you knowing this information is dangerous that's why I kept it from you for so long. There are very few wizards in the world compared to muggles, non-wizards, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. There is a spell they can use to wipe your memories. It is supposed to be safe, but it really isn't. They wipe all of your memories connecting to your knowledge of the wizarding world, which could be years of your life. Years, gone in an instant, possibly you would never even know I existed. That's if they do it right. A badly cast charm could bring you back to your toddler years." Natasha kept his gaze and nodded. "You can't let any spell they cast at you hit."

"If they are all giant streams of different colored light I don't know how I would let that happen." She said sharply. Harry scoffed a little.

"Of course, I am not doubting your skills I am just trying to impress on you just how important it is to stay out of a magical firefight." Harry stopped. There was probably more she needed to know, but he didn't really want to tell her.

Silence fell over the room again for several minutes. Harry tried to unwind from the fight and Natasha's dissecting gaze never left Harry. It almost came as a surprise when she broke the silence.

"The tattoo you have changes on its own, doesn't it?" Harry looked at her surprised.

"What?" He croaked out.

"The tattoos, the tally marks, you don't get them do you? You don't go to a tattoo parlor and get new marks." The last sentence was a statement, she knew exactly what she was talking about. "It always confused me. After jobs you would have a new mark, but I would never be able to place the time you got away long enough to have it done. I just thought I was missing something, but I wasn't."

She wasn't asking a question, Harry's gaze darkened.

"You're wrong." He told her ignoring her baffled gaze. "It isn't a tattoo, it's a curse. I was placed on me against my will." He rubbed one of the marks absentmindedly. "Is this really what you want to know about, of all things?" Natasha glared and nodded. Harry sighed, but continued. "I used to think it was them trying to punish me into remembering all of the people I killed." Natasha looked at him incredulously, she knew better than most, there was very little chance you would ever forget the people you killed.

"What was it really for?"

"It's a reminder and a warning." She looked confused at his answer. "Not for me, of course. The curse was actually made by a viking wizard clan, it was to show off how many people they killed in battle. Of course, that changed over time, they started applying it to kids sure that their son was going to be a great warrior. It only took one time for one of those kids to commit a murder that the curse had different connotations entirely. The curse is a warning to every wizard that looks upon it, this man is dangerous and deadly. It is a warning that I was too strong to be contained for my crimes and to kill me on sight of they get the chance."

Natasha stared at shock at his tally marked arms. "They show your kills?" She was almost breathless. Harry nodded. "But that means...holy fuck." She didn't try to count the tally marks, she already knew how many were there, she had counted them years ago.

"I used to be a soldier in a wizarding war that bordered on apocalyptic. Needless to say, I got a few kills." He shrugged, the past was the past.

"They branded you?" Natasha's face was emotionless, but her tone held a hint of anger in it that only Harry knew well enough to hear.

"Yeah." He didn't care, not really. "All it really means is that I can't walk around in front of wizards without a long sleeved shirt. So, we stay here for the night and then head out in the morning." He hopped off the counter. "Dibs on the shower."

"Don't you want to know who tried to kill us?" Natasha asked.

"Sure, but that's not really a problem we can fix right now. The client is dead and we don't even know who he was planning to kill. It might have been a trap all along."

"I wouldn't say we have nothing." She pulled out a folder and placed it on the table. At sometime during the fight she must have picked it up. "Colonel Jason Mallory, Ranger sniper. Don't you want to get the guy that sold us out?" Harry looked at her sharply.

"What do you mean, sold us out?"

"I recognized one of the soldiers that came in the doors. Big, blond and very familiar. I'll give you a hint, he was also, very Russian." Harry looked at her with wide eyes.

"That was three years ago, the pharmaceutical companies couldn't seriously still hold a grudge." He sat down at the table and picked up the folder. "Our first job together, man that brings back memories."

"I don't know about why they are still chasing us, but I know you person we should thank. After all, he did reunite us with old friends." She pointed to the folder.

"Colonel Mallory, I think we should get better acquainted." Harry picked up the folder and started flipping through it.

"Jason Mallory is a notorious ladies man, he has a couple of notations in here for misconduct with the women in his unit. Which is a nice way of putting rape. He has commendations for good work in hostile situations, which means that the army can't get rid of him without losing a good soldier. He also happens to have an apartment in the city." Natasha told him from her side of the table. "I want this one."

Harry smiled at her and put down the folder. "Do you really?" Natasha nodded. "Fine, but before you kill him we have to interrogate him. Military men are always so stubborn, but I have something that can help with that."

"Tonight?" She asked a little surprised.

"Yes, we need to be out of the city by tomorrow, so we do it tonight. Shouldn't be too hard, he thinks he is safe now that the man who wants him dead is gone." Harry stood up and look disappointedly at the door that lead to the bathroom. "I guess the shower will just have to wait. Go get a disguise from the armoire." He stood up and stretched a little.

Natasha stood from the table and headed to the armoire. The swear word that came out of her mouth when she opened it couldn't be repeated in respectable company. "Harry, what is this?"

The room that the armoire opened to was filled to the brim with weapons, clothes, wigs, and any other miscellaneous item he thought he would every need.

"It's the armoire of course." He smiled to himself, showing Natasha magic would certainly be fun.

"Wake up." A blond haired Natasha slapped the man tied to the chair roughly. Harry leaned against a wall next to the door, watching the scene in front of him.

Jason Mallory was very easy to trick. He was already getting drunk in a bar when they found him. All it took was a scantily clad blond Natasha and some alcohol before he was making a fool out of himself to get her into his bed. Natasha knocked him unconscious as soon as they entered the room and tied him to the chair. She had let Harry in a moment later.

"Whaa..." The groggy man slowly came back to consciousness, too slowly for Natasha. She slapped he again, harder.

"We don't have time for this lover boy, wake up." Natasha stood in front of him. The man's head was snapped to one side then the other, his eyes growing brighter. He stared at Natasha confused.

"Amy, what are you..."

"Not Amy, moron." She pulled off the blond wig with a tug. Her dark red curly hair springing loose. The look of complete terror on the man's face was enough to know that he knew exactly who she was. He looked behind her for a second and caught sight of Harry. Harry gave a cruel grin to the man and waved a little, if it was possible for him to get even more scared he did.

"What do you want?" The shaky voice asked.

"We want to know who you sold us out to." Natasha said pulling out a large knife, too big to use on missions, but big enough to be intimidating in interrogations.

"Chezk Molotov. I don't know if that's his real name, but that's the one he used." The words came tumbling from his mouth. "He was the one that was looking for you. He gave you descriptions and everything. I just told him where you would be. You aren't getting paid for this so you can let me go, okay? I told you want you wanted to know."

Natasha looked at him for a moment silent and then turned to Harry. "Aren't these guys supposed to be harder to break?"

"Apparently we just got a sucky one." Harry answered. "What a shame."

"Indeed." Natasha turned back to the man. "I'm kind of disappointed I had this whole thing planned out and now we don't need it because you are such a pussy. Oh well." She shrugged and then lifted the knife.

"WAIT, wait, I told you what you wanted to know. You can let me go." He shouted, trembling in his ties.

Natasha laughed cruelly. "Whatever gave you the impression we were going to let you go?" She leaned close to the man. "You sold us out. Kind of a stupid move if you wanted to stay alive."

"Please...please...please..." He started crying, tears running down his face. Natasha stood and tapped the knife against her chin, pretending to consider for a second.

"Very well, I was going to do this after you were dead, but since you want to stay alive so much..." Natasha reached down and pulled the knife through his shirt cutting it in half, revealing his chest. She took the knife in one hand and started tracing on his chest. "You better hold still, canvases don't move." She pressed down.

Screams filled the room for several minutes. Harry was glad that he put up a silencing ward when he entered otherwise the noises surely would have drawn unwanted attention. The man's whimpering continued even as Natasha backed away from his chest. The blood from the knife dripped to the floor.

SNITCH.

The word was carved into his chest right about the bloody image of a spider in an ouroboros.

"There, now, just for the finishing touch." She placed the bloody knife on the whimpering man's throat.

"Nonono..."He didn't get any further than that before the knife sliced into his jugular. He had barely enough energy to gurgle up blood before he was dead.

Natasha turned back to Harry, face emotionless.

"Let's go."

Harry nodded to her, they had done enough for one night.

AN: Yeah, finished a chapter. Sorry about the wait, I have been reading tons this week. I just finished almost all of the books by Trudi Canavan. She does the Black Magician Trilogy. They are good books, I recommend them. I hope you have been having just as good a week as me.

There is a poll up on my author page about the relationships in the story. I will be checking periodically to see what you think. That being said, I have final say. I hope you like the chapter, if so review. If not, review anyway.

~Rain