A/N, I must say that I have been blown away by the interest shown in this story. Thanks for all who have reviewed, and kudos to the guest who just sent me a smilie; it made me grin.
To those who have asked, this story will not be slash. I've always been a fan of canon pairings, so unless the slash is canon, I tend to steer clear. That said, I did mess up Harry and Ginny...
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, even the plot is starting to stray into that of Joss Whedons.
No sooner had Harry entered his office then there was a tapping at the window. Harry crossed into his study and saw a small auburn owl perched outside on the ledge. He slid the window open allowing the bird to hop inside, a scroll of parchment tied to its leg. The bird stared at Harry, proffering its leg. Harry untied the letter, stroking its smart plumage before digging into a drawer for the owl treats that he kept for just such an occasion. Leaving the owl to munch happily on its prize Harry broke the seal and read his mail.
Dear Harry,
I just writing to tell you that I have been called to America for a research project as a ministry representative . As I'm in the neighbourhood I thought I'd drop by, you could show me around New York and we could catch up. Send Rapier back with a note, I should be wrapped up here in a couple of days. I hope to see you then.
Hermione.
Harry smiled to himself. He ran the dates through his head. Tony's tower opening was the day after tomorrow; Hermione would be arriving after that. That just meant he had to clear his schedule for the following weeks, probably stay away from Tony. Hermione looked old enough to be his mother, and even Tony would find their firm friendship strange, and Tony was nothing if not curious.
He quickly scribbled a reply and tied it to Rapier who'd been waiting patiently. The owl gave a low hoot and swept out the window into the night sky. Harry watched him vanish before remembering the tip that was the apartment above his office. He had a few days to sort it or face the disapproval of one Hermione Weasley.
Hermione Weasley nee Granger examined the cube with amazement. It rippled with blue energy, not unlike that of a Patronus. It wasn't magic; she had known that the minute that she'd seen it. She could feel its power, but she couldn't tap it. It evaded her efforts, shifting like fog in a breeze.
"We're inclined to think that it has a personality," commented the scientist who'd greeted her, a Dr Eric Selvig, a man truly enthusiastic about his work.
"Oh, definitely, " Hermione breathed as she stood, eyes still upon the cube, "but while I am fascinated, it's outside of my area of speciality." She looked back at Selvig, "If possible, could you please keep me up to date with anything you discover. It truly is amazing."
Eric bobbed his head, "Of course. This leads me to ask however, what is your speciality?"
Hermione smiled, "I afraid most of it is classified, but we can discuss what I can over food, if you want."
A grin lit up her fellow scientists face, "I'd love to."
Together they left the warehouse-style lab. Before walking from the room, Hermione took one last look around the room, taking in the scurrying scientists and their armed guards, including interestingly enough, a man sitting on a walkway at the far side of the room, watching. She passed her gaze over the Tesseract one last time before turning and following Selvig from the room.
Eric, who he invited her to call him, proved to be interesting conversationalist. He indulged her questions, placing a few of his own which she answered to the best of her ability. It was a shame when their conversation was interrupted by Eric's pager, waiving it he smiled apologetically,
"Sorry, Director calls."
She nodded and bade him farewell. It was after a few minutes of picking at her food that she realised it had grown cold during their talk and the already unappetizing food was now inedible. She grimaced and turned her thoughts to her upcoming plans.
She would leave tomorrow and apparate to New York as soon as she was out of military sight. Her partner, Cadman, would take her notes back to England for her, so that was all sorted. Having determined that the cube was nothing to do with them, they were withdrawing from the project. She'd checked with Cadman before coming to the dining room, and he agreed with her.
Hermione had begun to doubt that her research would ever turn up something to help Harry. Fifteen years, and still nothing. Not that she wasn't enjoying her job, she loved the puzzles and the travelling, but she continue to feel disappointed. Harry had done so much for her, for all the Wizarding World, and she couldn't help him with this one little thing. He seemed to be enjoying his life in America though, he'd seemed so happy, so much more relaxed at the Wedding, and his subsequent visits to see his Goddaughter, Rose.
Suddenly alarms started to blare, pulling her from her reverie. Everyone around her sprang into life, the higher ranking starting to bark orders over the shrill wailing. The next five minutes was chaos. Hermione helped by shift metal briefcases to an armoured vehicle before being advised to evacuate with the others civilian scientists.
Hermione nodded when the colonel gave her the direction, but then found herself torn between running and helping. Evidently, Harry's 'saving people thing' had rubbed off on her. Being a key player of the Wizarding War had left her with a sense of responsibility. She could at least help ensure the other scientists got out. For members of a military agency, they seemed unprepared for the emergency evacuation. She began to weave through the crowd towards the Tesseract room, coming across a room of freaked scientists on her way. They were trying to appear unperturbed, but their actions were strained, fumbling with their equipment as they tried to pack it away.
Hermione took charge, calming them and getting them out of the room. They were fleeing towards the exit; they were nearly there when an explosion rocked the base. Hermione twisted to see the tunnel behind them cascading towards them. The roof above collapsed, she never had time to draw her wand.
"Dammit."
Harry threw his coat onto his sofa as he made a beeline to his bedroom to change into fresh clothes. His client's entrapped wife had thrown a tantrum, tipping the contents of a neighbouring diners plate over him. While he'd managed to get most of the solids off his shirt, that didn't change the fact that spaghetti cabonara sauce was a bugger to get out of cotton. Not to mention he was running late. He was supposed to have been at Tony's ten minutes ago. He could send a text as he left.
He'd just ripped his filthy shirt off when he felt the back of his neck prickling. He paused, trying to pinpoint the cause of his discomfort. The needles pain spread to his gut, bringing with it a deep sense of unease.
He was just pulling a fresh shirt over his head when it hit him. A blazing pain shot through him, erupting from the centre of his chest and spreading across his torso.
It was gone as soon as it struck him, leaving him doubled over and breathing hard, a lingering sense of 'wrongness'. What the hell- Just as he was beginning to get over the first wave, another blasted through him and drove him to his knees. He rested his head on his bed as he tried to collect himself, his breathing strained. The only thing that he could liken the pain to was his scar, when Voldemort was at his angryist, but the horcux was gone, the connection dormant.
It was something to do with the Hallows. He couldn't pinpoint exactly where that certainty came from, but he knew it to be true. He stood shakily.
"Death." He said, or tried to. His voice came out croaky, breaking towards the end. He tried again, louder, "Death"
"I heard ya the first time."
Harry turned to Death who looked more serious than Harry had ever seen him.
Death had come without his coat, dressed instead in all black, the only colour in the Morris-patterned waistcoat he sported.
"What was that?" Harry got out through gritted teeth, still shaking from the aftermath of the pain.
"Unnatural," was Death's enigmatic reply, his dark eyes trained on Harry's. He didn't wait for Harry to complain at the briefness of the reply before he continued, "Someone, or something, is defiling the laws of nature."
"And because of the whole Master of Death thing..." Harry gestured to himself,
"You are more attuned to it. Correct." Death's eyes were narrowed, and for the first time, Harry could see the usually cheery gentleman as who he purported to be.
"What can I do, what can you do?"
"You could go hunt down the thing and do something about it, I on the other hand, find myself surprisingly useless. He is twisting nature and as a part of nature, without a truly corporeal form, I find myself... ineffectual."
"So how can I do anything?"
"You control my power. But you have a physical form to back it up. Not to mention your remarkably strong magical ability." He smiled wryly, "At least you're trying to be proactive."
"Are you kidding, that hurt like hell! The sooner I put a stop to it the better."
Death nodded at Harry's implication, "I can give you advice."
"Harry!"
Ron's voice took Harry by surprise and he swivelled to look into his living room. It was lit with a flickering glow that hadn't been there before. Harry spared a glance to Death whose gaze was in turn trained on the firelight.
"Harry!"
Ron's voice, tinged with fear spurred Harry into action. He sped into the room and knelt by the fire, meeting the gaze of his old friend, whose head sat in the fire.
"Thank Merlin, Harry, you're here. Where's Hermione?"
Harry frowned at Ron's tone, worry starting to worm into him.
"She's working for the ministry isn't she? She didn't tell me where. Why?"
"The clock Harry, the clock! She's in trouble!"
With a flash, Harry remembered the clock that Mrs Weasley used to have hanging in kitchen that told the conditions of the family members. He vaguely recalled seeing a similar one in Ron's house.
"What's it say?" Harry asked urgently
"Mortal Peril." The words cracked as they were spoken, Ron's despair apparent on his face.
"Do you know where she is?"
Ron shook his head, "Just that she's in America. What can we do Harry?"
The gears were whirring in Harry's head and clicked as an idea struck him. A coincidence was just too unlikely, especially as Hermione was in the States to study a possibly magical artefact. He glanced at Death who seemed to also have come to this conclusion as he nodded.
"Look, Ron, hold tight. I'll contact you soon. Don't worry. "Harry paused, weighing his words, "I'll find her." "He muttered as he grabbed his jacket. "I can follow this feeling, whatever it is. Track it."
Ron nodded and vanished while Harry surged to his feet.
"I need to find her,
"It's moved. " Death informed him, "I doubt Hermione would have moved with it."
"But I can figure it out."
Death nodded and gave him a casual salute as Harry span out of his apartment, out of New York. Once out of sight of civilisation, he pinpointed the direction from which the uneasiness came and began to apparate, instinctively gauging the distance. Flying would have taken too long.
He undershot, but the feeling had increased tenfold with proximity, and he knew he was close. He apparated again, a shorter distance, but now he could see lights and a fire. He ran towards the lights and could make out ambulances and medical helicopters as he got closer. As he ran he pulled his invisibility cloak from the pouch at his belt and slung it over his shoulders, flipping the hood up to conceal him completely.
It was turmoil, people running and shouting, machines trying to shift debris, bodies being pulled from the wreckage which proved to be a large crater. Harry slipped through the scene, looking for something, anything of Hermione. Then he saw it, a flash of familiar bushy hair. He ran after the gurney, his eyes upon Hermione's battered face, blood caking the side of her face, her hair coming loose from its careful ponytail. Her eyes were closed and a paramedic was putting an oxygen mask over her face as she was loaded into a helicopter.
"We're good to go," a man yelled from inside the copter as the door slid closed and men began to evacuate to give it room to take off. Harry too was driven back as the blades began to beat the air. He barely waited before it was safe before taking to the skies, trailing behind the aircraft.
He landed next to the hospital that the helicopter landed at and stowed his broom away, back in the extended mokeskin purse. He watched the traffic coming to and from the building for a moment before making his decision. He sent off a message Patronus, barely pausing to watch it streak across the sky before shedding his cloak. He tucked it away with the other Hallows before crossing the street and entering the hospital.
It didn't take him long to find the ER. He was disallowed entry and was told to wait, they'd keep him informed. He fidgeted in his seat, tempted just to pull the cloak back out and sneak in, but the fragility of muggle medicine held him back. He didn't want to complicate things accidentally, for anyone in the ER whom he may accidentally contaminate.
And so he was stuck, sitting, twiddling his thumbs in the waiting room. He'd been there and hour, his mind racing, trying to figure out what he knew in regards to this foreign power, taking in the damage at the site and possible motives, but he didn't have anywhere near enough information. He was growling in frustration when he heard someone call his name.
"Harry!"
He looked up from the floor to see Ron charging down the corridor, looking dishevelled and sooty, he'd clearly rushed a floo trip. Harry stood to greet him and was enveloped in a quick hug before he was held at arm's length.
"In your message, you said- do we know anything?"
Harry shook his head, "Not yet. It shouldn't be long."
Ron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Mum's got Rosie. I couldn't bring her. Not if it's..." he left the sentence trail off, looking worriedly towards the ER.
Harry placed a placatory hand on his oldest friend's shoulder, "Don't worry, she can visit when Hermione's awake and transferred to St Mungo's. "
Ron slumped next to Harry, "What actually happened?"
"I don't know." Harry murmured, "But I'll find out."
Hermione was moved to a ward a few hours later and allowed visitors. Ron was at his wife's side in an instant, while Harry hung back to talk with the Doctor.
"What's her condition?"
The Doctor threw a look towards the bed's occupant before turning to Harry, "She's in better shape than some of the others from the same sinkhole site. There was a minor skull fracture, but aside from a possible concussion there should be no further repercussions. Her left shin was also fractured, and there were numerous contusions, but our worry is for two of her lower ribs. They were broken in the fall and we worried that in may have torn some of her internal organs. We had to go in and remove some of the floating fragments. They've been bound, but recovery will be painful and take at least six weeks. We've got her on pain medication for now; it may be a few hours before she wakes up."
Harry nodded, "Thanks Doctor."
The man nodded and left, heading back into the ER to treat another patient. Harry relayed the information to Ron, who nodded but never took his eyes off of his wife. Harry shifted a chair so his friend could sit down without releasing her hand.
He was still holding it three hours later, even as tiredness overcame him and his head drooped onto Hermione's bed. The hospital was quiet, it was late at night and the turmoil from earlier had calmed and was under control. For the past few hours of worry, something had been nagging at Harry's mind. He'd passed it off to be the fact that he was in a hospital, death in the air. Harry was lucky insofar as he wasn't tuned into every death that occurred, that would be torture. But when in close proximity to those dying, part of him was aware of the passings. However, again, unless he focussed on it, it was a mere buzzing in the background.
This wasn't the cause for his unease however. In a flash of realisation, he remembered. Tony. Merlin, he was way too late for his opening night. With everything... he'd just completely forgotten. He glanced at the time, it was probably too late... But then again, Tony would have been celebrating, and he had no qualms about waking Harry up at any godforsaken hour of the night.
Looking at the no cell phone sign, he left the room and walked out of the hospital. He pulled the phone from his pocket and switched it on. He'd kept it off during his client meeting, out of politeness, and then in the kerfuffle off the spilled food and his rush home, he'd forgotten to turn it on again. He dialled Tony and got passed onto Jarvis.
"Mr Evans, we were worried. Good to hear from you."
"Ah, Jarvis. Thanks, umm, how's Tony?"
"Working, he was given some important files to look over. Shall I send you through?"
"Um, no. Don't bother I wouldn't want to disturb him. Look something came up, don't expect me to come by for a few days. Just tell Tony when he's finished whatever he's doing."
"Of course. Good night Mr Evans."
"Harry, please."
"Harry." The A.I acknowledged.
"Good night."
Harry hung up, turning off his phone and pocketing it as he walked back into the hospital.
When he entered the room, he was surprised to see that Ron was awake and on his feet, leaning over the bed. He turned to Harry, grinning.
"She woke up!" He looked back at Hermione, whose eyes were now closed, "At least, she was awake. But that's good, right!"
Harry smiled, "Yes Ron."
"We can look into a transfer as soon as she's capable of travel."
Harry nodded, but part of him was annoyed that he'd missed Hermione's moment of lucidity. He couldn't do anything about the culprit until he knew what happened, and Hermione was his best bet on that score.
Early that morning, Ron had fallen back asleep; there was a knock at the door. Harry, who'd been tied up in thought s of what he needed to figure out, looked up to see a man, some sort of suited official, standing in the entrance.
"Hello, sorry for disturbing you, I'm Agent Coulson, from S.H.I.E.L.D." He proffered a hand, which Harry rose to shake.
"Harry Evans, PI. Can I help you?"
Coulson looked across to Hermione, "I was coming to check on Dr Weasley, she was under our facilities jurisdiction after all."
Harry sharpened at that, "She looks like she'll pull through. What happened?"
Coulson's eyes were shielded as he replied, "An extremely unfortunate accident, a review is being conducted as we speak." Harry stopped himself from narrowing his eyes; it wouldn't do to show that he didn't believe a word coming out of the Agent's mouth.
"I am curious though," Coulson continued, "How did you hear about the incident so quickly, we hadn't contacted family before you showed up."
Harry found himself on guard, mind whirring as he came up with a plausible reason.
"Hermione and Ron were coming to visit me after her stint of work over here. I was in the city when the medical vehicles began to stream in; someone mentioned a government facility, so I thought I'd check it out. When I found out, I called Ron and he came straight from the hotel."
"Very lucky." Coulson commented.
"It'd have been luckier if it hadn't happened at all." Harry stated, levelling his gaze with Coulsons.
"Of course," the agent conceded, "Of course, we'll cover the medical costs. Have a good day Mr Evans."
Harry nodded, "You too."
Agent Coulson left the room, leaving Harry with a distinct sense of unease.
It wasn't until early afternoon that Hermione came round again, lucid enough to give information. Harry had spent the day as runner for Ron, getting food and drink, calling Death to discuss further the attacker. Unfortunately, they drew blanks, leaving Hermione as Harry's best option to proceed. If push came to shove, he'd track down Coulson, but he didn't see the man being particularly forthcoming with information and Harry didn't want to force the information out of him unless he had no other option.
"Harry?"
Harry turned and saw Hermione's clear eyes focussed on him and he rushed forward grinning. He shook Ron awake, and the red head exclaimed excitedly, buzzing with relief.
"I need to ask you something." Harry said, cutting through Ron's chatter, "What actually happened?"
Hermione frowned, "I'm not entirely sure... Self destruct sequence... I think... The base was ... breached." Her voice was quiet and sore and she took deep breaths, her brow wrinkled as she tried to remember. "That's all I can tell you."
Harry scowled, that wasn't nearly enough to go on, "Was there anything unusual there. A weapon? Something someone may have broken in for?"
His tone was urgent and Ron looked as though he was about to bring Harry up on it but Hermione spoke first.
"Well, it's not a ...weapon, but someone may... have wanted it... I was there to study... It's called a Tesseract... source of energy... not magic though. Wait, Eric... is Eric okay?"
A Tesseract? "I don't know any Eric I'm afraid. I could ask for you. Can you tell me anything else?"
Hermione shook her head and Harry sighed, "You just rest then." He looked at Ron who was tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, Harry was determined to find the ones responsible for this, for the more personal reason of vengeance now, over just duty.
Just then, a flash ran through him. Whatever the unnatural technology was, it had just been used again. Much further away, barely a tickle at the back of his mind, but he caught the feeling and focussed on it. He could track it.
"Harry?"
His emotions had obviously been showing on his face as his two friends were looking at him curiously. He brought himself to the present and nodded in their direction.
"I've got to go. Work on getting better, okay Hermione?"
"Wait, but-"
"No, this is something I need to do. Don't worry. Just... get better."
With that he left the room, pausing only to give a casual wave. He tried to ignore the concern on his friend's faces as he wove his way through the medical staff and patients, making his way out of the hospital. Once outside, he pulled the cloak on and began his chain of apparations.
After two jumps, he came to the East coast. He was only now appreciating all of the travelling in his younger days; apparating was so much easier if you knew something about where you were apparating to. However, jumping over the sea was risky, even Voldemort had had to fly a good distance over it to get close enough to apparate to Malfoy mansion, all those years ago.
However, Harry had the Elder wand. It boosted the rest of his magic, why should this be any different. He pulled the wand and its holster from the bag and strapped it to his arm, physical contact made the magic so much easier, took a deep breath and spun on the spot.
A/N I'm afraid I'm off on holiday now, so updating from now on will be sporadic.