A/N

A wild chapter appeared...

Yes, almost a year later, we have an update, one that I hope lives up to expectations.
I have been working on this story on and off for the past few months, spurred by the reviews and the daily favourites to pull something together that would be worth the time spent reading it. This is where I confess that when I started writing this, I didn't have a clear plan for where it was going. Then the complexity of what I was attempting required that I keep checking and altering early chapters to make sure that there was continuity, build up and a lack of plot holes. Just last week I revisited chapter 12 and made a change which would have been a pain to work around had it already been published...

From now on, there shall be one update a week as I do final edits and one last read through and continuity check.

A quick summary of everything since the film arc:
Harry went to London and heard about a series of Death Eater style attacks. He was followed by Tony who then had a crash course in the Wizarding World and the Weasleys. They then returned to America, George in tow to start experimenting with potions that may help Banner with the Hulk. Then, at Hogwarts, Neville finds out from a young slytherin boy that a group of wannabe Death Eaters led by Rudolphus Lestrange have planned an attack on Harry and he goes to help. Meanwhile the tower has been shut down, the muggle inhabitants captured. The wizards arrive and there is a battle. Neville finds himself face to face with the man who tortured his parents and finally gets some of the closure I felt the books denied him.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective creators.

It was with a subdued atmosphere that they regrouped after the fight. George bound the Death Eaters while Harry brought Bruce around. The man was groggy- he remembered the red light, but after that… He was shocked to learn of the attack. Tony investigated the power outage in his tower as Harry gave him the barest bones of who the men were and what they were after.

It didn't take long. As a self-sufficient tower, the energy was still there, building up in the strategically placed emergency storage units around the tower. What the wizards had done was stop the electricity getting to the rest of the building. Whether that was because they'd breached their prejudices enough to use a tech savvy-muggle or because of a concentrated use of magic in the area he couldn't say immediately. He needed Harry, or perhaps Hermione to outline the exact effects of magic on electricity, but Harry had said that it didn't seem to impact the reactor in Tony's chest, which would explain why energy was still being channelled at them.

"Do you mind if I use your fire?" George asked from by his shoulder. Tony raised an eyebrow but gave him the go ahead.

He surveyed the room. The spies were lumping the unconscious bodies together in one place with more force than strictly necessary. George was striding to the fire after snatching a pouch from the satchel that had been sat next to the couch since that morning. Harry had finished getting Bruce up to speed and had taken a seat next to Neville.

The other wizard was sitting with his head in his hands. He hadn't spoken since stunning the boss man, a wizard that both Harry and George had called 'Lestrange'. Harry looked up as Pepper offered him a tea from the tray of hot drinks that she had knocked together. She had been flitting around with the restlessness of someone who needed something to do when George had gently suggested beverages.

"And the hot chocolate." She murmured, handing Harry a second mug. He thanked her and in turn proffered the mug to Neville. The other man straightened and sat back with a shaky breath, his eyes looking suspiciously shiny. Even so, there was a steely mask over his features as he stared at the Death Eaters. He only turned away when Harry waved the polka dot mug through his line of sight and nudged him. A pale hand retrieved the mug but didn't raise it to his mouth. Harry spoke to Neville quietly.

A flash of green light lit the room. George, who'd been quietly minding himself, by the fireplace, was now kneeling next to a roaring green fire. The other muggles all exclaimed in shock when George proceeded to stick his head into the flames. Bruce looked in askance at Tony who just shrugged, sipping his coffee. He found it difficult to be surprised anymore. Though he was enjoying the use of the word muggle, it was much more succinct than 'non-wizard'.

Pepper had placed the tray on his coffee table and come over to him. He wrapped an arm around her, savouring her closeness. She rested her head on his shoulder allowing him to kiss the top of her head, trying to convey how much her being safe meant to him.

Harry rose from Neville's side and crossed the room.

"Are you both okay?"

Tony nodded, "Although that is the second beating this month that this building has undergone. You couldn't have made your magical battle a little less destructive?" I glanced meaningfully at the charred walls and broken glass piled around the room.

"I'll keep that in mind." Harry let a small smile cross his face. "Though we can do something about the mess."

"They did something to Tony." Pepper spoke up.

Tony rolled his eyes, "I'm fine!" But Harry was now looking him over critically.

"What happened?"

"Cruciatus." Tony said shortly, not wanted to dwell on events. He felt fine now and that was what mattered.

Harry put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure that you're okay?" Tony read the concern in those green eyes.

"I am more pissed at what they did to my tower." Tony answered. This wasn't quite true, he was more concerned with Pepper and Bruce's welfare , but that wasn't what Harry was asking.

"Is he okay?" Pepper asked, nodding at Neville who was now staring out over the city, his brow creased in concentration.

Harry sighed and ruffled his hair. "He'll be fine."

"What's going to happen?" Tony asked curiously, "Unless I'm very much mistaken, that was an Unforgivable." He remembered clearly the punishment for such a curse. He couldn't see the otherwise mild-mannered teacher surviving in prison.

Harry looked to his friend. "I doubt charges will be brought against him if it comes up. There are extenuating circumstances."

"Circumstances that explain torture?" Tony raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that he wanted the man to go to Azkaban, but he was trying to understand a legal system that could choose which crimes to prosecute and which to let slide by.

Harry sighed again, "It's- it's complicated. For starters, Neville is one of the key figures in the war."

"Just cause someone's a war hero doesn't mean that they get off scot-free from crimes." Barton supplied, having approached the small group.

Harry shot him a tired look and Tony recognised Barton's residual guilt for the lives he'd taken under Loki's control.

"I've used Unforgivables you know." Harry informed them to Tony's surprise. Despite having seen Harry fight, and knowing his role in the war, he had difficulty identifying Harry as a caster of the spell that he had endured. Harry saw his enquiring gaze and clarified. "The Imperius, a couple of times, when I had to. The Mind Control curse. He clarified for Barton and Pepper's benefit, "We were trying to break into Gringotts and we were going to get caught and killed otherwise."

"What about the other two?" Tony asked, morbidly curious.

"I've never cast the Killing Curse." Harry said firmly, surprising Tony, who thought that Harry must have cast it at least once, possibly when killing Voldemort. "I did attempt Cruciatus once, many years ago." A sadness crossed his features as he thought back to that time.

"Attempt?" Barton queried, almost surprised that there was a spell Harry couldn't do.

He smiled grimly, "I didn't mean it enough. Didn't have enough hate."

Tony was surprised at the slight bitterness in Harry's voice. They were obviously encroaching on buried territory.

"But your friend does." Barton prompted.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "That man over there," he indicated the body of Lestrange, "Is Rudolphus Lestrange. He, along with his wife and another Death Eater, used the Cruciatus curse to drive Neville's parents to insanity."

Tony felt sick to his stomach. Suddenly Neville's transformation made sense. He glanced over at the other man, glad that he was out of earshot as they dredged up his past.

"The others?" Barton asked, his expression carefully blank.

"Barty Crouch Jnr received the Kiss years ago. He died in Azkaban. Bellatrix," the name was said with a certain venom, "Lestrange was killed in the Final Battle."

Tony tuned out as Harry explained Dementors to Barton, George had pulled his head out of the fire and was walking towards them.

"Yeah, Crouch Jnr was a real piece of work." He contributed to the conversation, "But he was one of our best DA teachers. Not a patch on you Harry." George tipped an imaginary hat in Harry's direction, smiling wryly when Harry narrowed his eyes. "Ron's on his way, he's bringing a clean-up team."

Harry nodded.

Tony broke the prolonged quiet that followed that statement.

"So what do we do until then?"

"Good to see you're alright mate." Ron said, clapping Harry on the shoulder, "not that I thought you'd gotten soft or something."

Tony was sat on the sofa with an arm around Pepper watching Harry interact with his friend. He noticed the spies narrowed gazes from the other side of the room and guessed that they'd picked up on the age discrepancies that Tony had yet to ask Harry about.

Bruce was sitting next to Neville. The older man had succeeded in getting the Herbologist to talk, about magical plants of all things. Bruce was asking questions in a low voice and, slowly but surely, Neville was answering, occasionally with hand gestures to illustrate a point.

Another crack echoed through the room. It was the last in a succession which had brought small groups of Aurors, each with some kind of hand sized object. The portkey principle had been explained to the room at large by George. This time however, it was Hermione that appeared in the centre of the room. Her hair was loose and she, unlike the Aurors surrounding them who were wearing dark robes, was dressed casually.

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, emphasising the second syllable, "I said everything was okay."

She rolled her eyes, "I came to see Harry and Neville." She strode to the pair, and pulled Harry into a hug. They spoke quietly as a small group, and Hermione looked back at Neville, who had quietened upon her arrival. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before crossing the room and taking a seat next to Neville.

Tony gave Pepper a quick kiss on the temple before rising and joining Harry and Ron. It was then that Captain Good-Timing decided to show up.

Steve looked around the room in barely disguised surprise. He'd arrived back in New York and figured that it was only courteous to tell the other Avengers that he was back. Not that the spies wouldn't already know. He'd pulled his motorbike up to the curb outside Stark's ego-pillar, looking at the darkened building. The lack of light was the first sign of something being off. Not even the ostentatious 'A' of 'Stark' left from the battle was lit. He tried to brush it aside as Stark's eccentricity, but his gut churned with a certainty of something being not right. This was only confirmed by the body he found in the reception.

He couldn't identify cause of death; there wasn't an obvious mark on her, but now on guard, he tread carefully but quickly through the building, his training ringing through his head. It didn't take him long to reach the top floor and a darkened corridor with light that didn't look to be electric at the far end, the room he knew to be Stark's penthouse lounge. He could hear voices muttering to each other and he walked softly down the corridor. He paused at the corner, poised to come out swinging if necessary, but was halted by the sight that met him.

The fight was already over, there were men clad in what appeared to be dark blue dresses, or cloaks, he amended, trussed along the wall opposite him, and men in similar attire were swarming around them, each holding a slender stick that looked familiar. The room was littered with broken glass and he thought he could see burn marks indenting the floors and walls. Standing to one side, he could see Harry, conversing with a tall red-headed man, dressed just as strangely as his fellows. There was another man on the couch in the same getup but in a deep green who was accompanied by a brunette and Banner. Another ginger man was standing, talking with the spies, who were watching the going's on with curious expressions. Stark and Pepper were sat on the other couch, but as he watched, Stark stood and walked to Harry and the red-head.

No one was fighting or dying so he rounded the corner to enter the room, still cautiously assessing his unfamiliar surroundings.

"Nice timing pops!" Stark quipped from his spot next to Harry who looked around in concert with his companion.

"Stark." Steve acknowledged him with a nod, "Potter." He knew that Tony was waiting for him to ask the obvious and so he bit his tongue as Potter seemed the type who would explain and put him out of his misery. Not immediately apparently. There was obviously a reason he and Stark got on so well.

"This is Ron." Was all Potter saw fit to clarify, pointing at his companion who grinned and put out a hand to shake, "Ron, Steve Rogers."

"Nice to meet you mate," Ron said easily, and Steve was unsurprised to hear a British accent, before looking at Stark.

"So what's with the excessive clean-up crew?" Stark asked, waving a finger at the number of cloaked men, and woman Steve noted, waving sticks that he recognised as wands over the unconscious figures.

Ron grimaced slightly, "We want this cleared up and out of America as soon as possible."

As if on cue, there was a crack and one of the wizards and two bodies vanished from the room.

"Any particular reason? Isn't there and American Wizarding Government"

"There is…" Ron hedged, "but this was an attack on Harry, not America. The yanks didn't want anything to do with the War at the time, so there's no need to bother them now."

"And…"

"And, if we made this incident public to the Americans, Harry would have to officially declare himself as a Wizarding resident and his anonymity in this country would be shot." Ron finished, smiling at Potter.

"Cause the massive televised battle didn't do that already." Stark commented dryly and Ron chuckled slightly.

"That was a muggle affair. They know he's here, but they don't know he's here, if that makes sense. Harry's made a big name for himself, across the world in fact. The Americans are well aware that if not for him, Voldemort could have gone after them next, so as favour, they keep his name off public records. As soon as a magical-muggle incident of this nature goes down with him involved, such courtesy gets shot by procedure. Freedom of information and all that."

Steve bit down on asking exactly what had happened, aware that Tony was still waiting to pounce with another annoying comment. Instead Steve looked around at the destruction and decided to pick at what he knew would piss Tony off.

"And you only just got the builders out." He commented wryly, letting a grin that he knew was annoying to cross his face.

On cue, Tony's eyes narrowed in annoyance as the brunette leapt from the couch.

"I can help with that!" She exclaimed and a pale wand appeared in her hand. She made a swift gesture that encompassed the whole room, ending it with a flick. On command, the room began to shift. Fragments of glass swept as a wave back to their perches, clicking together to form the once destroyed ornaments, the jagged lines glowing slightly before vanishing. The scorch marks rubbed themselves out and splinters flowed back into the floor, leaving smooth, pristine wood. A tear in the sofa stitched itself up with an invisible needle and thread. Steve watched the display around him, marvelling at the beauty of it.

He'd seen Potter's magic, had been taken aback by the stag that had been conjured. The beauty of that moment had however been overshadowed by the magic he had seen during the battle- the vicious, destructive side in fire and death. He'd seen Potter soaring through the city, killing hoards of the aliens, and while Steve had admired the skill and use in battle, he'd found himself disillusioned. This act of creation was causing him to question his views again.

The room stilled, everything back in its place, the last remaining body the only sign of anything having happened. That was whisked away a moment later, leaving an astounded room. Stark rounded on Potter.

"You had me letting builders stomp over this tower for weeks!"

Potter shrugged, not looking at Tony but grinning at the brunette.

"That's one of Hermione's specialties. I've never had cause to practise that spell, while she has to clean up after him." He nudged the redhead, who responded with a profound,

"Oi!"

Hermione laughed, a clear, ringing sound which seemed to echo in the now uncluttered room.

"Well if you're wont to hit a bludger into the house…" She left the sentence hanging with a raised eyebrow and no explanation as to what a 'bludger' was.

Steve spotted the wedding rings on the couple's fingers and surmised that they were married. There was another crack and one of the dark robed wizards appeared by the window. He glanced around the room to orient himself before making a beeline to Ron.

"Mrs Longbottom will be arriving shortly." He muttered to Ron who nodded. The man put his hand in his pocket and vanished with a small crack.

Steve looked at Potter appraisingly. He'd always said he was older than he looked, but now seeing him with his school friends, he realised what a discrepancy there was in their ages. And it wasn't just due to magic affecting his aging; as his friends had demonstrated several times now, they were wizards and witches as well. He tried to think about how to phrase the question. It was more awkward than he thought. Maybe that was why Stark hadn't asked. Or maybe he had. Lord knew, Stark didn't care about awkward questions. That didn't mean he had shared his knowledge with everyone else.

"I can't help but notice," he began, drawing the attention of the others in the vicinity, but he ignored them in favour of meeting Potter's sharp green eyes. "there's a bit of an age discrepancy." He was expecting the customary flippant variation of 'I'm older than I look'. What he wasn't expecting was the momentary exchange of glances between Potter and his two friends, a flicker of acknowledgement that something was amiss.

"I'm aging incredibly well." Potter grinned, "Better than this sod at any rate." He nudged Ron in the side who in turn adopted a mock-peeved expression. He was about to retort when Barton interrupted.

"Bull." Steve looked over at the archer who had an inscrutable expression, his eyes focussed on their magical teammate. "There is some magic that messes with ages right. George mentioned aging potions."

"That's not quite it." Potter admitted after a moment's pause. He looked across at Stark. "I know you asked about it at the barbecue, what do you know?"

Starks voice was uncharacteristically measured when he replied, "I know something happened during the war. Some seriously messed up magic."

Steve felt his spine stiffen, as it always did at the mention of battle.

"You could call it that." Potter conceded for a moment it looked like he wasn't going to add anything more.

"Voldemort killed Harry." Steve looked over Potter's shoulder and saw the green robed man had stood and approached the group.

"Wait! What?" Steve was sure that his shocked expression would be echoed on the others' faces, but he was too focussed on the other man to pay them much attention.

"It wasn't quite-" Potter started but his friend cut across him.

"Yes it was. Hagrid told me what happened in the clearing." The man asserted.

"I was playing dead. It was kinda the point."

"To be fair," Ron cut across the pair of them, "it's impossible to know exactly what happened. You blacked out mate. It's not like we know what the spell did."

Steve got the distinct impression that there was something not being said between them all. Potter had narrowed his eyes at Ron who shrugged.

"What spell?" asked Stark, his voice low. Steve suspected that the man somehow had a very good idea what the spell was.

"Avada Kadavra." Potter replied and confirmation flashed across Tony's expression.

"Damn. How is that possible?"

Potter wore a bemused expression that seemed somewhat forced. "Boy that Lived. It's sorta my thing."

"Anyone wanna fill us in?" Barton asked slightly impatiently.

"The Killing Curse." Ron supplied.

"So what, since then, you haven't aged?" Tony asked.

Potter drew in a deep breath and nodded. "Pretty much."

"Is there anything you can do" Banner asked, having come closer to listen to the conversation.

Potter's eyes narrowed, "I'm working on it." He assured them. "He looked over at the man in the green robe who ducked his head.

"It was easier just to tell them." Steve thought he heard the man mutter to Potter who nodded. Steve reflected on what he had just learned. To have come that close to death at that age… It hadn't been uncommon during the war, but that didn't make the idea any easier. And the spell had hit him if what the man had said was anything to go by. Steve briefly remembered crashing into the ice. He'd been sure that he was dead in that moment as well. As it was, he had lived, only to find out that his friends were dead and his love aged. He looked at Potter and his perpetually teenage face. Would he wake up in sixty five years, looking exactly the same but having lost all of his current friends and loved ones?

There was another crack in the centre of the room and a pretty if harried blonde woman appeared in the centre of the room. She was with a man in black robe, but she was wearing in a simple cream dress with rolled sleeves.

"Hannah." The green robed man muttered, moving towards her with a small lurch. She met him half way and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay Nev. It's going to be okay." She was muttered as she wrapped her fingers in his hair.

"There's a room down there. If you want some privacy." Starks girlfriend and CEO stated, slightly awkwardly as she realised she was interrupting a private moment.

The woman, Hannah nodded her thanks and led 'Nev' away, keeping a tight hold on his arm while her other hand wrapped around his waist.

They watched them go, quietly.

"We can put you all up for the night." Potts offered, looking around at everybody. "Lord knows we have enough rooms."

They exchanged small grins.

"Might just take you up on that, mate." George stretched with a yawn, "Nothing quite takes it out of you like a good old battle of life and death." The red head ignored the good natured glares directed at him.

"While I appreciate the offer, I can't just leave Molly with the kids."

"She loves the brats." Ron opined and Hermione swatted him over the head.

"She doesn't know what happened. I just called her as soon as I heard, said it was an emergency. She's probably worrying, poor thing."

"Since when is mum, a poor thing!" Ron retorted indignantly. His wife narrowed his eyes.

"Don't you have paperwork for this whole incident?" Ron wilted slightly. "Oh yeah." He looked over at Harry, "You never mentioned how much bloody paperwork headship entailed!" He moaned. Harry smiled knowingly and shrugged.

In the end Steve accepted the offered bed. He hadn't intended to, but the prospect of driving to his flat didn't appeal to him. Ron and Hermione cracked home after a swift but fond farewell with Harry with a promise to visit soon. The other Avengers claimed rooms and quietly circumvented the one that the Longbottoms were occupying, so not to disturb them.

He realised when he lay down in one of Stark's overly modern bedrooms that no one had actually explained to him what had happened. He punched his pillow in frustration and sat back to think through what he knew and what he guessed.

Mmm Mango Sorbet is good for the creative faculties…