Harry hadn't managed to do more than wave at Fleur across the room as he was bundled out of the festhall and down to the travel point where Heimdall was set up. He'd at least gotten a moment to contact Sirius on his mirror, and confirm that it was true, and he'd be waiting for them when they arrived. They'd appeared in the Ministry courtyard, still lit by the lowering sun: in late summer, the sun stayed out long enough to make it harder to notice that he'd been on Asgard for basically half a day after leaving early that morning.
The worst part of the Azkaban breakout was that it didn't have an immediate effect. Those that had escaped had gone to ground, and Mindless Ones failed to appear and start attacking. But everyone realized it was only a matter of time: they'd rather have fought them immediately than waiting to be surprised at a later date.
Harry and Sirius thought that the timing probably meant that the Death Eaters had been waiting to make their move until they learned how Harry's trial went that morning. If he'd been blamed, maybe they wouldn't have moved at all. Or if he'd somehow lost the trial so badly that he had been sent to Azkaban, they'd have been able to take him immediately along with all the other prisoners.
Dormammu was no longer accepting communications from the Ministry, so none could say exactly what he'd been promised to break his oaths to Vanaheim. But over on Earth, the Ancient One was almost certainly giving them a big "I told you so" about relying on the Dark Dimension for housing prisoners.
With Vanaheim locking down in case of impending attack, there wasn't much reason for Harry to stay the rest of the week. Sirius and Tonks guarded him back through the Goblin Market, and told him to be especially careful at home until it was time to go back to Hogwarts. After all, the forces behind the Death Eaters had just displayed a willingness to attack Earth a few months earlier, for all that they'd seemed to need the Tesseract to do it.
And then he was back in Los Angeles. While the Tower was receiving final repairs and being refitted, Tony and Pepper thought that they should work out of the main Stark offices on the West Coast. They had kind of been neglecting them with all the time they'd spent in Manhattan, and one of the members of the C-suite had commissioned major renovations and landscaping changes to the LA campus without Pepper's approval. Plus, Harry thought he caught a vibe off of Tony that he didn't like being reminded of the Battle of New York, and wanted a change of scenery to less-charged surroundings.
It wasn't like it really mattered where Harry was sleeping, since he had a sling ring.
Sirius had sent an owl to Pepper to explain what was up, even if Harry had been inclined to keep it secret, so she did insist that he carry a JARVIS-connected phone at all times and be ready to go invisible and portal away at the first sign of trouble. He was also to keep his presence outside of safe areas as low key as possible. The Ancient One didn't think that the Mindless Ones would be able to track him like they had Sirius, and scrying for targets wasn't really a competency that sorcery provided, especially across-Realms. As long as he didn't visit a well-known location at a time an enemy could predict he'd be there, he should be relatively safe.
Everyone left it unsaid that relatively might be as safe as he'd ever be again, given the enemies he was making on top of those he'd inherited.
Harry wasn't too worried about it. He'd been bathing in Vanaheim's particular flavor of Norse fatalism for years, and basically figured that the Norns were going to throw problems at him whenever they wanted, and over-planning for a crisis would just result in a different one. If he was due to be attacked, he assumed it would happen even if he tried to bunker down and play it safe, so he might as well enjoy the last three weeks or so of summer. Especially since he was the only 15-year-old with the ability to internationally teleport.
He and Dean went to an 80s-sci-fi-movie film festival in Austin, Texas. He took Hermione to watch one of Viktor's last amateur races before he signed onto the Stark team, and then the three of them visited the town in Bulgaria the teen driver was from and met his parents (who were thrilled that their son's friends spoke such perfect Bulgarian). He brought Parvati and Seamus over to LA and went to a celebrity party that Tony had gotten some extra plus ones to, where they got to meet a few actors. He took Padma and Hermione around to various university campuses around the world (it was never too early to start thinking about college!).
And Fleur actually got to come over one day for the promised Lord of the Rings marathon. She'd been sent with two severe (if beautiful, like basically all elves) chaperones, so it wasn't exactly the romantic excursion that he'd hoped. But he got to spend a whole afternoon and evening in Tony's movie room on an extended date. Pepper and Tony made a very casual point of meeting her.
Happy—who'd driven them from the Market exit rather than having Harry try to lead three elves across LA while looking for a private place to make a portal—spent the next week making "elf princess" comments. And Rhodey was devastated that he hadn't had a chance to meet her.
What Harry didn't get to do was spend any more time with his Vanir friends. Things were so tense on Vanaheim that nobody wanted to risk their kids going too far afield (they didn't even have a cell phone equivalent, for all that Sirius was slowly working on a consumer version of the communication mirrors). It was good that they'd gotten most of their basic school supplies at the Market on Harry's birthday, since the expected follow-up trip never materialized. Mrs. Weasley just sent out letters coordinating what supplies everyone had left to buy, and had them boxed up and delivered to the train.
While owl mail was flying fast and furious, Harry was slightly surprised to receive an extremely large, regal-looking owl with a letter from Thor.
My mother has finally consented and provided me with a letter owl, so that I might use it for correspondence. I understand that you convinced her, and you have my deep thanks. Might I trouble you to acquire Jane Foster's current rough location, and perhaps explain to her the use of owl post?
So that was a fun email chain with Coulson, asking where Thor's girlfriend was so her boyfriend could send her letters via bird.
Inevitably, though, the summer vacation ended. He hadn't even had any chance to spend time with the other Avengers after his birthday. Nat, Clint, and Steve were all off on various SHIELD operations, and Bruce was in the wind, again, still not wanting to make a regular home on the grid where he could have an accident or any of his old enemies could try to set him off on purpose.
Honestly, Harry barely spent much time with Tony, despite basically living in the Malibu mansion. The owner of the house was spending all of his time in the garage, brain firing with ideas for a ton of new armors. Harry went down to check on him a few times, but the genius billionaire was so focused he barely even noticed anyone else was around. The mechanical fabricators below the mansion were running 24/7, and when Harry asked where the new suits were going, Tony simply reminded him, "Remember that missile silo under the house I was going to keep the Jerichos in?"
Between Tony being distracted and it being an open secret that Harry could teleport among all the agencies that might notice a discrepancy in his travel, his trip to school on the Saturday of the first of September was just him telling Pepper and Tony goodnight and that he'd see them at the holidays. He left LA just after midnight and wandered out of a ring of fire into the back garden of the London sanctum a moment later, after eight in the morning, local time.
"I suppose, let's get this show on the road," Master Mordo said, his own rolling luggage set up in the front lobby, as Harry joined the rest of the Hogwarts students that traveled through the sanctums.
"They didn't let you go ahead to the school?" he checked.
"The convergence remains the safest crossing," the strict sorcerer observed, and then started rolling his way toward Charing Cross, trusting the kids to follow him. In addition to Harry, Dean, Hermione, Padma, Parvati, and Cho, they had several other students including the Creevey brothers and little Ned Leeds, who Dean had guided over from the New York sanctum. It was a veritable parade of rolling trunks, with Master Rama strolling along at the end to watch for any slips or dangers.
"It's going to be weird, losing three people to the prefect car," Dean complained, as they walked. Hermione and Padma were at the head of the line, just behind Mordo, comparing their shiny badges. "Weird you didn't get it."
"I told McGonagall I didn't want it. Not that I know for sure they would have given it to me if I hadn't taken myself out of the running," Harry shrugged. He'd seen how much work being a prefect was for Percy and the others, and didn't really have any interest in it. It hurt to give up what felt like some kind of major high school achievement, but he had a lot of other things going for him. And it would have really cut into his training and study time. "Hopefully they took my advice and gave it to Nev."
"Yeah, I guess I don't want that much responsibility, either, and Neville's the next best pick after us," Dean mused. "Man, if it's Ron, though…"
It was Neville. "Guys! Why didn't one of you get this!?" the self-conscious Longbottom heir asked, having been waiting for them on the train platform, where the time of day on Vanaheim had synced back up to close to the time in London. He seemed ready to hand over the shiny prefect badge on the spot.
"You'll do a way better job than we would've, Nev," Harry assured him, while taking in the increased auror presence to guard the area from any attacks. Tonks gave him a wave from where she was posted up by the bonfire, and he'd shared a nod with Shacklebolt as they entered from Earth.
Luna, standing by her boyfriend, suggested, "And it will help if anyone is unkind to you about the prison escape. You can just dock them points."
"Why would anyone bother you about the prisoners?" Dean asked.
"I, uh… I don't know if I want to explain it to everyone. But you can, Luna," he told them. "I'm going to go to the prefect car, I guess."
Padma and Hermione also told them that they'd be by later on rounds as they accompanied their friend into the front car, while everyone else staked out a set of compartments in the middle after finding another spot for the first-years from Earth. Three members of the group down, they just needed room for the six remaining Gryffindor fifth-years, plus Ginny and Luna. Four to a compartment was a much roomier fit than their usual arrangements.
"So what was Neville talking about?" Dean asked Luna, while they waited for the Weasleys, Seamus, and Lavender to arrive.
"His parents," she said, succinctly.
"Oh, no!" Harry thought he got it. "Did they die in the war? Did some of the prisoners kill them?"
"Worse. They lived, but their minds broke under torture. And the people that did it were part of the escape."
"Why hasn't he ever said anything?" Dean asked.
Parvati realized, "Harry barely talks about his parents, either. We just know all about them from the stories. We didn't ask Neville, so he didn't bring it up."
"Huh, I guess so," Dean agreed. "Guess not knowing who my dad is isn't as bad as it could be."
"It's weird that your mom won't tell you," Harry pointed out.
"She doesn't really know," he shrugged. "Someone she hooked up with in Europe on a college trip who was probably also there on vacation. Didn't even get his last name or enough information to track him down when she found out she was pregnant."
"Guess it's too much to ask the Ancient One to use the Eye to scry back on their one night stand, huh?" Parvati figured.
"'Ma'am, would you please watch my mother having sex about sixteen years ago and then follow the guy home?'" Dean joked. "Can you imagine?"
Eventually the rest of their friends showed up and the train started moving. Ron was a little sour about not getting the prefect position, but when he realized Harry didn't either, he was nonplussed enough to just be happy for Neville. Of course, some of that jealousy came back when he found out that Harry had gotten to party on Asgard. They had to rearrange so Harry could answer questions about that experience to his Vanir friends (Dean, Parvati, and Seamus already knew all about it from their times hanging out in August).
They'd barely gotten back situated with Harry, Dean, Ginny, and Luna in one compartment and Ron, Lavender, Seamus, and Parvati in the one next door when their least-favorite Slytherin decided to check in. Bolstered by the badge on his chest, Draco didn't even seem to think he needed his brute squad as backup. "Well, well, Potter. Not even skilled enough to make prefect. Such an embarrassment that Longbottom is the best of you. I can't even fault the administration's pick."
Totally ignoring the attempt to pick a fight, Harry tried a different tactic than usual. "Well congrats, Draco! You really earned it. I'm glad they were paying attention when you were the go-to in our year for organizing the other Slytherins that time Hogsmeade got attacked. I doubt there was a better person for keeping your lower-years safe and on-task!"
Harry thought he was putting on an expression of guileless honesty while Draco just stood there at a total loss for words. Luna was always difficult to read, and nodded along. Ginny was keeping it together.
It was Dean that broke first. "Plus, that badge really brings out your eyes."
That finally got Ginny giggling, and Luna followed suit. Dean was laughing along. Harry managed to keep from joining in, but his grin had probably gone mocking, or at the very least sarcastic.
"Just you wait! I'm going to take so many points off of all of you!" Draco gave them his foiled again speech and then stormed off down the train.
"Does… anyone in our dorm care about points?" Ginny checked, getting her giggle fit under control.
"Hermione does…" Harry considered. "Do you think we can get her to take points off of us as punishment for losing too many points?"
"Don't you dare, Harry Potts!" the girl in question shouted, clearly having been only a minute behind Draco. She thrust her head into the compartment, "We are going to have a lovely year where we all behave ourselves and don't give the Slytherins any chance to take points in a way that can't be disputed." She regarded the compartment of her friends who were looking at her like she was crazy. "And if that doesn't work, you're going to help me and Neville catch the snakes at just as much as they get us for, so it evens out."
"That's our Hermione," Dean agreed to the terms.
"I have to do an hour of rounds, then I can hang out. Neville and Padma should be here in a minute, then they'll have rounds later," she informed them, before striding off to try to catch up to Draco and put a check on his newfound powers.
The rest of the train ride was basically sedate. They caught up on everyone else's summers. Harry tried to work out when people wanted to do D&D sessions given new responsibilities (they now had three prefects in the group, and Ron would also be full-time on the quidditch team). Dean wanted him to do more teaching, especially of the Ta Lo martial arts style, and Harry wanted to spend some time practicing wandless casting on a broom. And that wasn't even accounting for whether he'd have to spend more time with people outside of his year group, given his recently-intensified celebrity. Nearly all the Midgardborn took a moment to wave at him as they passed, clearly explaining things about him to their Vanir friends.
He just really hoped none of them had been quick enough to acquire any of the Avengers merchandise that had started to appear at the end of the summer.
The train pulled into the station while it was still light out, though dropping into evening, and they were all ready to take the helhest-pulled carriages to the great hall to eat. "Huh, no Hagrid," Ron observed, as the first-years were met by Usher Burbage instead of the half-giant.
They didn't see the big man at the staff table either, his place filled by a middle-aged woman that they eventually placed as being in charge of the stables at Hogsmeade. Mordo had taken a seat at the head table as well, actually seeming to get along with Snape the most of those sitting near him. But the real shocker was the magenta-decked Accuser sitting at the end of the table. "That's the kree woman that was trying to railroad me," Harry explained to everyone nearby. "I guess they stuck us with her to get her out of Diagonalt."
Answers wouldn't be forthcoming until after the sorting and food. They were mildly surprised that young Ned Leeds wound up in Ravenclaw: despite meeting him as Peter Parker's science friend, and thus knowing he was probably brilliant, he'd really felt like a Hufflepuff to Harry and Dean. Padma already knew who he was from that morning, plus the boys talking about meeting him over the summer, and he gratefully slid into the space she and Luna opened next to them at the Ravenclaw table to make sure he made friends around the house.
The food finally arrived as Ron was on the verge of shouting that he was starving, and Harry caught up with the rest of Gryffindor over the meal. It was clear they all wanted to hear the new stories he'd accumulated over the summer, and weren't sure whether they wanted to hear about Asgard, fighting a transforming battlemech, or the scuffle in the Leaky Cauldron first.
As soon as they were finished eating, Dumbledore stood and began the normal greetings, rules, and warnings, leading into, "You may notice a few new faces at the table. First, please welcome Madam Grubbly-Plank, who will be handling Mr. Hagrid's duties for the first few weeks of our year." He didn't elaborate on where Hagrid was. "Our defense seminar this year will be handled by Master Mordo, of Midgard, who has a great deal of experience in dealing with threats from other dimensions, which has proven to be timely, indeed.
"As most of you know by now, I'm sure, Azkaban prison in the Dark Dimension has rejected its oaths, and the prisoners are believed to be at large. Hogwarts remains well-defended, and Ronan's guard on alert for any signs of attack here. Additionally, the Ministry has assigned us the help of Accuser Dar-Benn, our third new face, to keep watch for external threats." He even managed to sound like she was welcome, rather than being stuck with her.
He clearly wasn't expecting her to stand and take over his speech. "Thank you, headmaster," she began, not seeming to shout but managing to carry across the whole hall even without magical amplification. She was trained in addressing legions, after all. "I have enjoyed the company of your fine people for some time now, and would like to take the opportunity to talk about these external threats. I have noted a tendency for you to put your fears onto a single individual: a dark lord that embodies all of your problems.
"My people also have such a boo-gee-man," she frowned as she realized she got the word wrong from the expressions of the crowd. Honestly, it was impressive that she was managing English so well without her translator implant working. Bulling on, she explained, "We call her the Annihilator, and her betrayal began the many cycles of troubles faced by my people. But, even should she be destroyed, as I hope to see some day, we would still have external threats. One figurehead can inspire your enemies, but they will not stop being your enemies when that threat is defeated.
"Constant wariness!" she raised her voice to emphasize, and frowned again at the titters that swept through the crowd as she almost copied Moody's catchphrase from the previous year. Again, pushing ahead she finally got to her point, "Vanaheim has more threats than it knows, and may not even truly understand the enemies facing it, hiding behind a masked figure that claims to be one long thought dead. And external threats can pretend to be members of your people, just as the Annihilator was once thought to be a loyal kree.
"I am here to root out these external threats, and see your people free to chart their own destiny once again. This I have sworn. Thank you, all." She finished speaking and held for applause that never came, though some of the students did seem to be considering her rhetoric. Waiting just long enough that it became awkward, she finally sat.
"Very well," Dumbledore resumed. "I encourage all of you to take advantage of this resource among us, who is interested in teaching about kree history. Perhaps some of the upper-years might consider the culture for your cosmology or cultural studies theses. And, I think that is enough hearing from us this evening. Off to bed. Classes in the morning!"
"I wonder if we can meet this Annihilator," Dean said, as they were walking to the Gryffindor dorm. "Probably awesome, if that lady's any indication."
"I hope Dumbledore can keep her in check," Ron opined. "That's 'Madam Umbrage,' right? My dad can't stand her."
"You heard the way she was stressing words?" Lavender asked, ever tuned into the nuances of conversation. "How much do you want to bet that she's going to suggest Midgard is external? Maybe Asgard, too?"
"No bet," Harry frowned. "I'm with Ron. Maybe Dumbledore will handle her."
But he knew what his life was like, and didn't believe it would be that easy. She'd already come after him hard at his trial, and she didn't seem like the type to just give up. He'd hoped that maybe he'd have one relaxing year…
