September 2013, Harry's Office, Godrick's Hollow

Harry sat there staring at the vial for what felt like hours. He was debating in his mind whether he had the right to use it to find her after she clearly left of her own accord. Frowning he sighed as he battled himself on what to do. Eventually he decided that if anything they needed to talk and finding her was the only way to do that. So he pulled out his phone and called Tony.

"Hey Tony I need a favor." Harry said into the phone as he got up and headed downstairs.

"What's up buttercup?" Tony asked as he finished tightening a bolt on a repulsor he was working on.

"I need a bit of time to go out but Teddy woke up yesterday. Think you and Pepper could babysit?"Harry asked as he opened the door to his workshop.

"That's great buddy. Sure me and Pepper could baby sit. When do you need us?" Tony asked as he put away his project and headed to the penthouse from his lab.

"Today would be optimal."

"This have anything to do with you looking for Natasha earlier?" Tony asked with some worry.

"Well," Harry sighed and explained everything that was going on. He knew Tony wouldn't spread it around, in fact Tony had become one of his best friends over the years they've known each other and he trusted him.

"Not a problem Harry. We'll be there in an hour or so. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you Tony."

"Don't worry about it." Harry heard the line disconnect so he pocketed his phone and walked over to the far wall in his workshop before tapping and imbuing some magic into a hidden runic sequence. The wall slid down revealing a large stone room with a primer circle for rituals situated in the middle. Snapping his fingers he switched out his clothes for his ritual robes. They were off white, no dyes, no chemicals, just cotton. Everything else on his person was removed and put into a hidden compartment outside the room moving forward he summoned the vial of blood and started the ritual.

He poured the blood into the center of the circle, allowing it to spread out and fill the divers of the ritual circle. He pricked his own finger and left it on three sides of the circle. Using his own blood as the ritual sacrifice would ensure it lasted enough time for him to find her and save his magical regents for other projects. Chanting a blood tracking spell in Sumerian he slowly walked a large circle in the room. At the end of his chant he pulled all the blood from the circle and allowed it to gather into a sphere in front of him, waving his hand an amulet came flying into the room. Slowly the blood was threaded into the basic amulet, causing a blood red circle with a small dot in the center to be created. Smiling, he allowed his magic to finally release and the ritual was complete.

Looking at the amulet he held it up with the face being flat horizontally and he watched as the small dot moved and hit the edge of the circle. Now he just had to wait. So he changed clothes and burned the ritual clothes, as they had now been tainted with their use. Moving back upstairs he sat in his kitchen and just stared at the wall.

Harry thought about why she would leave. Sure he could understand the pressure of being in a relationship with someone like him. He had baggage, he had kids, he was dense sometimes, and had a generally dangerous lifestyle, but he thought she was okay with that. Thinking it over, the only significant thing that happened was Teddy waking up. Maybe she wasn't ready to take care of a toddler. He understood, he just wished she had talked to him in person. Shaking his head he slowly leaned back and closed his eyes. In his mind he saw her beautiful red hair, the secret smiles she tried to hide, the low throaty laughs when she found something truly funny. Eventually he was pulled out of his semi-meditation when Tony and Pepper pinged the wards as they entered his home. Opening his eyes he saw Tony and Pepper walking into the kitchen.

"Hey there Gandalf." Tony said as he approached. Harry stood and smiled at Pepper.

"Thanks for doing this Pepper. I really appreciate it. I know the company is busy right now." Pepper smiled as Tony grunted and held his chest.

"You're welcome Harry. I can take a few days if I need to." She said with a smile.

"No thanks for me?" Tony said with fake hurt in his voice. Harry and Pepper both gave him a look before smiling as they chuckled at his antics.

"Thanks Tony. Okay a few things," Harry then gave them a rundown of Teddy, what he ate, how much, and what might happen with his abilities. "I'll be back as soon as I can, call me if you need anything. He should be getting up so let's introduce you and I'll be on my way."

Going upstairs Harry entered Teddy's room to find him in his wolf form on his back, still sleeping but kicking a leg up in the air. Harry smiled while both Tony and Pepper were baffled at seeing small wolf in a child's bed. Harry moved forward and poked Teddy in the tummy causing him to huff before he rolled over and let out a big yawn. Seeing his papa he smiled, as much as he could with a muzzle, and his tail started wagging before he suddenly shifted and jumped into Harry's arms.

"Hey buddy. How was your nap?" Harry asked as he stood back up with Teddy in his arms as Teddy's hair shifted wildly for a moment before settling into the typical black hair and green eyes.

"I was havin' a dream and I ran and jumped and found a lake and swam." Teddy said animatedly as he explained his dream to Harry. Harry just smiled as he patiently listened to Teddy's tale of basically running in a forest as a wolf. Eventually Teddy noticed the two other people and stopped talking.

"Alright Teddy I want you to meet a couple of friends of mine. This is Tony and Pepper, they are going to watch you while I go run some errands okay?" Teddy frowned and hugged Harry. Harry, already knowing why he was upset just smiled as he hugged him, "Don't worry buddy, nothing will happen to me okay? I'll be back as soon as I can." Teddy nodded and let go a little bit but still seemed upset. "You know, Uncle Tony can fly in the air using a suit of armor. It shoots beams and everything." Teddy's eyes widened with wonder before suddenly he was fighting to get down.

Harry looked over at Tony as Teddy ran to him and started peppering him with questions. Pepper was off to the side hiding the large smile she had behind a hand as Tony was left floundering on what to do. After that Harry said his goodbyes again, but Teddy was way more interested in Tony's flying armor than being clingy so Harry waved to the two adults and faded away.

He first headed to Avenger's tower, there he got to the balcony on the penthouse level and pulled out the amulet. Seeing it read East he first cast a notice me not then faded again and landing at Charing Cross in London. Looking down he saw that it was still east, but a little south, so he faded once again over to Kamar Taj. Seeing the direction was now westish he faded to Egypt and saw that the amulet was pointing almost straight North. Sighing he took out a broom and started flying. He hadn't spent a lot of time in this area of Europe and didn't have anywhere he could fade or portal to, so he took the long way.

Crossing the Mediterranean, he bypassed Cyprus, and flew over the borders of Turkey. Slowly the amulet started drifting to the west so he turned. Flying a few hundred miles an hour, he made it to Istanbul just as night was falling. The tracker was now moving much more quickly and followed it from on high as it slowly pointed him to a small bar.

Landing he put away his broom and shook his self doubt loose and opened the door. The room had a small layer of smoke along the ceiling, the bar was half empty, and soft music was playing in the background. Harry immediately saw his runaway sitting at the end of the bar talking to a very old man. Moving forward he dropped the notice me not and saw that everyone's eyes followed him as he moved across the room. The old man saw him first and smiled before giving him a nod and moving away.

Natasha was still battling with herself about leaving so abruptly, but she thought it would be the right thing to do. So she took off and disappeared. She decided to stop here for the night and speak with an old friend when she noticed all the conversation in the bar stop. Yusef, who she was talking to, looked up and smiled before giving her a look and leaving her to her alone.

"You know, I didn't take you for the dive bar kind of girl." A very familiar voice said behind her. She sighed as the sound of him removed much of the stress she was carrying. Turning she found those beautiful green eyes looking at her, not with hate or anger, but with confusion and love.

"So you found me. It took me nearly 12 hours to get here. How did you find me so fast?" She asked as he came and sat beside her. He grinned sheepishly before pulling a small amulet up and holding it out. She looked at it and noticed a red dot inside a red circle, frowning as she reached for it and held it. When she handled it she realized that the dot always moved to be closest to her. Giving Harry a tired look she smiled and shook her head as she dropped the amulet. "Guess I should have known you could find me. So are you here to yell?"

"You know I'm not." Harry said with a small smile, "I just want some answers. What made you leave? Was it something I did? Was it Teddy? I just need to know."

"It isn't you or Teddy or the Twins." Natasha said quickly before she bit her lip and looked down. Harry reached forward and lifted her head back up and saw small tears in the corners of her eyes. Giving her a sad smile he sat forward and cupped her face.

"Then tell me what it is. I could help you if something's wrong. You know that." Harry said softly as he wiped away the gathering tears.

Natasha felt raw and vulnerable. She was surprised with how much this was affecting her, she was the Black Widow for god's sake. She could hold it together better than this, but then Harry lifted her head back up and his simple touch made her feel so much more. She was barely able to stop the tears before his voice again sounded out breaking through the walls she was building to hold herself together. A soft sob escaped her and before she knew it she was holding on to him. She wasn't crying, but she felt overwhelmed.

Harry was surprised at how she reacted but he just held her. Slowly she let go and leaned back giving him a small smile before she sighed, "You know about my past in the red room." Harry nodded. "Well something I didn't tell you was what happened before I became a full widow." She paused and once again bit her lip. Harry grabbed her hand causing her to look him in the eyes.

"Take your time." He said with a soft look in his eyes. She gathered herself again before continuing.

"Part of the program is something they called 'the graduation ceremony'. What they do is take you in and," Here she once again stopped and took a deep breath. "They take you in and sterilize you." Harry's eyes were linked with hers so she saw the moment his eyes hardened, they transformed from the soft pools of emerald to frozen chunks of emerald ice. She felt his anger and his magic did too, as it slowly responded before he reigned it back in.

"I'm ss sorry Nat." Harry said softly before he squeezed her hands with his. They sat in silence for a moment, "Is that why you left?"

"I saw you with the twins and Teddy and knew that I could never give you what you wanted." She looked down again before snapping her eyes back to his, "You deserve better than that. You deserve to have the family that you always wanted."

"You're so dumb sometimes." Harry said with a rueful shake of his head. Natasha looked at him incredulously before getting slightly angry. Harry saw this and caressed the side of her face, "Family isn't only about blood. I learned that throughout my life. Family is something you build with people you care about. I could adopt any child I wanted and use a ritual to give them my blood. You don't need to give me kids, you just have to love me and my crazy family to be a part of it." Harry said with a smile on his face.

Natasha's anger melted away before she jumped into his lap and started to kiss him. A few cheers from the other side of the bar distracted them and caused them to pull away. Natasha looked over and saw Yusuf behind the bar giving her a big grin and a few of his friends cheering. She looked at Harry and smiled before she got up and pulled him out of his seat. "Looks like I won't be needing that room tonight."

"Go on. Live a happy life. You deserve it." Yusuf replied as Nat pulled Harry out of the bar. Harry was smiling as Nat dragged him out. He gave a wave over his shoulder before he grabbed Natasha and faded away as soon as they were around the corner.

The next morning Harry woke up and looked down at the pile of red hair resting on his chest. He smiled and hugged her a bit tighter to himself. She looked up at him with a lazy smile, "Good morning."

"Good morning love." Harry said as he leaned down and gave her a kiss. Sighing he let his head drop as they cuddled. His eyes were staring up at the ceiling of his room at the tower. "I was thinking."

"Oh?" Nat asked as she ran her fingers over his chest, "What were you thinking?"

"What if you moved in with me?" Harry said casually as he held his breath. He didn't have to wait for an answer as Natasha was pulling his face back down for an intense kiss. When she released him he looked at her, "Is that a yes?" Laughing she just kissed him again before getting up and stretching. Harry watched her as she prowled into the connected bathroom. With a large grin he fell back onto the pillow and sighed.

"Hey! Get in here, we don't have all day." Nat's voice echoed from the bathroom. Harry was up and rushing into the bathroom before the sheet hit the ground. As he approached the shower his smile felt attached to his face. Life was just getting better.

After that Nat and Harry went back to the house and relieved Tony and Pepper of duty. Turns out Tony had used his suit to go out on a run with Teddy last night and the little tyke was more than ready for bed after that.

"I'm glad you're back Nat." Tony said as he passed by her on the way to the . Natasha just smiled and nodded watching them leave. When she turned she saw the kids already at the table and Harry making breakfast. With a shake of her head she sat down and looked at everyone. Harry was smiling as he flipped pancakes from four different pans at the same time, Pietro was mumbling and half asleep, probably started up too late again, Wanda was chastising him while she manipulated a stuffed dragon to fly around Teddy who was happily watching it go. Sighing, she leaned back and smiled, "I could get used to having a family." She said quietly under her breath. When she watched Harry plate food for everyone she got a mischievous glint in her eyes and licked her lips, "Who says we can't grow our family anyway."

AN: JoeMcLuvin - Yes her name is Sazala, I figure parseltongue lends itself to 's' sounds and it is similar enough to Salazar ot a tribute.

comicnut - Oh they'll make an apperance, but not until this next major arc is over.

Torhelm - Yeah, the early parts of the story are awkward, I tried to clean them up without wasting a massive amount of time but it still needs work. This is my first story.

Red's Melancholy - It is edited, I just don't like breaking up paragraphs until I'm done with the current subject. I'll probably go back and rework a lot after the story is finished, but until then it'll stay like that. Sorry.