A/N - okay, some action in this chapter. After all, when you put our favorite danger magnet and our resident hero together, you know things can't stay quiet for long.
Previously:
Hermione smiled, aware of and amused by Lisa's interest in their conversation. She winked at Bella, and spoke a bit quieter. "Well, you're in luck. Just like here, the ministry for MacUSA is in the capital. The shopping district in DC is much smaller - but you should be able to catch a floo to Marblehead, in Massachusetts. That's where the main shopping district on the American east coast is."
Bella looked surprised at that. "Marblehead? Isn't that near Salem? Where the witch trials were?"
Hermione nodded, pleased that Bella made the connection. "Yes. At about the time of the Salem witch trials - which mostly only caught squibs or a few very unlucky witches who got caught without their wands - a central commerce area was established in Marblehead, right near the coast. It's not quite as big as Diagon alley but it will have everything you need. Plus there is a wizarding school very close by, Ilvermorny. Maybe you'll be able to visit."
As Harry and Lisa turned to them, Bella realized there conversation was done, as did Hermione.
"Don't be a stranger, Bella," the older woman said with a warm smile. "I don't know when you might be back in London, but feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have."
Thanking Hermione and saying goodbye to Lisa, Harry and Bella went on their way, heading for the tutor Harry had mentioned earlier, and then to Harry's home and her first 'magic lesson,' again ignoring the many interested stares.
Chapter 8
London
Later that night, Harry had escorted a frazzled and tired Bella - via the Night Bus - back to her friend's home just north of London. She was a bit shaky after the events of the past couple of hours, and Harry completely understood her desire to avoid any jarring side-along apparitions after the difficult evening they just had.
After leaving the Weasley's shop, they'd spent most of the remainder of their time in Diagon speaking with one of his colleagues who arranges for magical tutoring and who had many contacts abroad: he was more than happy to help get Bella set up with some tutoring back in the states.
During their discussion, Harry had noticed that she was uncomfortable about the admittedly pricey cost for the tutoring, but a quick wink to his friend - unseen by Bella - and the price was suddenly 'discounted' and Bella was thrilled that she'd be able to afford it. Harry of course suspected she knew what he'd done, but she graciously accepted his help, winking at him when they left the office.
Bella had her first experience with Floo travel when they'd gone to Harry's home at 13 Grimmauld Place direct from the Cauldron. After arriving and a few minutes of conversation, Harry had given Bella her first lesson in using her wand. She seemed a quick and eager student, and Harry found himself enjoying teaching her.
The first surprise of the night was watching her wandlessly cast a lumos. It had been a spur of the moment thing - she had practiced the wand movements and cast the spell successfully on her 2nd try with the wand. But when they finished for the night, she lifted her palm and cast the spell wandlessly! When he explained how rare a gift it was for adults to cast without a wand, she just shrugged and blushed.
After that brief eye-opener, they relaxed in the spacious living room chatting and continuing with their flirty banter. The only downer to the visit was that Harry was disappointed she was leaving back to America so soon: she was definitely someone he would be interested in knowing better, perhaps on a romantic basis, and he had hoped that maybe she could be convinced to extend her stay a little longer.
However, she explained that Sophia and her family were leaving Monday for a trip to Greece, and Bella would be visiting her mother who she'd not seen in a year. Harry had been prepared to offer her a spare room to stay in, but when he heard the bit about her mother he stayed silent.
Having not grown up with parents, he didn't want to make Bella choose.
For her part, Bella enjoyed spending time in his home; Harry explained that it had been completely remodeled since the war ended, and that Hermione had helped him brighten up the place. When Kreacher appeared and offered tea, Bella had hid her surprise well and was polite and friendly towards the old elf, and from Kreacher's lack of grumbling he suspected that he didn't immediately dislike Bella, which was a rarity for him: he usually grumbled about everyone Harry brought home.
As they talked about her return home, they firmly resolved to keep in touch. Harry took out a gift he'd bought for her to facilitate this, a brand-new communications mirror. And despite her loud protests at accepting such a gift, Harry convinced her to take it, saying she could pay him back at some future date. She groused a bit, but when he explained it was really the only way for them to reliably stay in touch - his phone didn't work at work, Diagon, or in his home, after all - she finally accepted.
The second surprise of the night was, unfortunately, not nearly as pleasant.
*Earlier, at 13 Grimmauld*
Stretching her arms over her head, Bella let out a quiet yawn before checking the time and frowning. "Harry, I need to call Sophie and let her know when to expect me. I want to thank her parents properly for letting me stay, and Sophie should be home soon from visiting her friends. But I can't get a cell signal in here."
Harry was pleased to see that Bella seemed sad to be leaving, and again resolved that he'd try and keep in touch with her. He walked with her to the front door - the tiny backyard was warded almost as much as the house and she'd get no signal there - and gave her privacy to make her call, explaining that she just needed to move a few feet past the muggle repelling wards to get a signal.
A few minutes later, a blushing Bella quietly re-entered the house as she pocketed her phone. "Sophie won't be home until nine, so if you don't mind I can stay for another hour or so."
Harry smiled down at her, tempted to call her on her blush. They spent some more time talking about all things magic, though the conversation often veered into personal territory, each of them enjoying their time together as they got to know one another on a more personal level.
A few miles north of London, Clint and the two agents on the assigned night shift waited near the Danver's residence for Swan to return. They'd been there for hours already, and were quite bored: there was only so many word games you can play before needing a break.
Suddenly, however, Clint's earpiece chirped to life. "This is Hawkeye, go ahead," he said as he answered the query.
The tinny voice spoke through the electronic earpiece."Target 1 just made a cell phone to home base. Voice tracking confirms Target 1 made the call, and the phone number matches up. We have a triangulated signal from three towers: we can nail her location down to within about 400 feet of where she made the call from. Sending coordinates to you now, Den Mother out."
Clint opened his phone as the coordinates came through from Base, and he overlaid the coordinates he received over a map of the area of London where the call originated from. Zooming in on the black and green display, he recognized the general area from where Swan called from, and was pleased to see it was a less populated area that covered only two small residential blocks on the outskirts of Central London. A quick info box popped-up with relevant information about the location, indicating it was in a dilapidated district with old brownstones and townhomes.
Clint recognized the location - it was a place where less savory people conducted business - and Clint remembered thinking that the homes there would be worth a pretty penny if that part of the city ever got developed and the old abandoned railyard a few hundred yards away got cleaned up.
Closing his phone, Clint considered the issue; he had to decide on whether to stay put or go and try and track Swan at the source. After a few seconds, he reasoned that since he had no idea what time Swan would be back here - and they were less than fifteen minutes from the signal source - they would redeploy and try to re-acquire her there.
If Swan left the area by the time they got there, well, they could always pick her up again back here.
It's not like they were doing anything better anyway.
About an hour later, while laughing at one of Harry's stories about the Weasley twins, Bella's stomach growled, making her blush. "Sorry Harry," she said. When he snickered, she raised an eyebrow and gave him a very pointed stare, trying to keep from laughing at his scolded expression. "It's really your fault for distracting me so well that I forgot to eat."
When he opened his mouth to apologize, she winked at him, and they both had a chuckle.
"Would you like something to eat?" he offered when she stood from the couch.
"I think I need to get going," she admitted, glancing at the antique grandfather clock in the corner. It was a beautiful piece, dark polished wood, with a long pendulum that swung back and forth silently, standing vigil over the large living room where they'd been relaxing. The browns and creams of the room were muted and peaceful, and Bella enjoyed spending time here and didn't really want to leave.
"I understand," he answered, standing with her. "I just wish you had some more time here."
Color stained her cheeks, her eyes shining as she looked up at him. "Me too," Bella agreed quietly. "I'll miss you, Harry. This week has been...well, the most fun and excitement I've had in a long, long time." And then she smiled softly at him, adding, "and the company has been pretty great."
Their eyes met then, green staring into brown. They were standing close together, Bella's face turned up and looking at his. The seconds stretched, and there was a tension in the air as neither of them blinked, their bodies almost touching as they moved closer together.
Just then, Bella's stomach gurgled again, breaking the mood, and they both chuckled in embarrassment. "I think we need to feed that hungry beast," Harry joked, secretly disappointed that he didn't kiss her.
Bella huffed at him, but then chuckled a moment later as he walked with her towards the door, a small grin on her face. She too would have liked to have that kiss.
It was close to 8pm as they stepped out into the faded light of early evening; the days were getting shorter as the summer drew to a close, and the streetlamps were already lit, casting long shadows on the ground. They walked slowly away from Grimmauld, chatting happily, with Harry explaining again about the Night Bus. He had considered apparating her home straight from Grimmauld, but he didn't know the area where Sophie lived and didn't want to blind apparate there: it could be dangerous to side-along someone with blind apparition, and if he appeared in front of a muggle he would be forced to obliviate them and write up a tedious report.
Bella admitted she didn't care much for apparition the one time she'd experienced it and was eager to experience this 'Night Bus,' though she frowned when she saw the evil looking grin Harry threw her way. "It will definitely be an experience, I promise you that," he said mysteriously.
As they walked along the dark street, Bella let her eyes wander over the shabby looking buildings that stood sentinel on either side. Some of the homes were grand, but almost all of them were in a bad state of disrepair, and the street itself was littered and dirty. Metal garbage cans were chained together and attached to old iron fences that guarded almost every home, and some of the cars parked on the street looked like they belonged in the scrapheap.
As Bella turned her head back to Harry, she did a double-take, certain she'd seen something flicker out of the corner of her eye. Harry had been looking the wrong way to see it - but she was certain she didn't imagine it.
As her mind caught-up with what she'd just seen, she felt a shiver race through her body; her eyes quickly scanned the street, seeing nothing. And, Bella realized, that, whatever it was that she had seen, it must be incredibly quick to already be hidden from her sight.
She had a sinking feeling what 'it' might be, as she had experience with only one thing that can move that fast.
Trying not to panic, Bella took a step closer to Harry, latched onto his arm and leaned up to whisper urgently in his ear. "Harry I think a vampire is hiding nearby. I saw something flicker to your right."
Unfortunately for Bella, she'd forgotten how keen a vampire's senses really were; not only did the vampire realize he'd been spotted - he heard Bella's heartbeat suddenly spike - but he also heard her whisper even from his perch across the street as he stood unmoving in the shadows.
With a low snarl the vampire launched himself at the pair, determined to avenge the capture of his centuries-old mentor by killing the girl and draining Potter dry.
Hawkeye and his team had been sitting idly at the exact center of a circle of probability where the triangulated signal from Swan's phone had originated from. This ended up putting them about two hundred yards from 13 Grimmauld, so he did not spot their targets when they first exited the heavily warded house, despite three sets of eyes scanning the streets with night-vision capable binoculars.
When they did finally pick them up shortly after they left the house, the infrared binoculars were able to isolate them them quickly on their thermal sensors. Hawkeye noted that they were heading in the opposite direction to where his ground team was parked, and he scanned the street again before ordering someone to shadow them on foot even as he stood to follow from the rooftops.
"Ground 1, let's go," he ordered. He would keep one of his team with the vehicle while he and another agent followed the pair. The street was too quiet and deserted for them to possibly follow in the car, so Hawkeye used his incredible agility to cross from rooftop to rooftop while the other agent walked slowly along the sidewalk.
As they moved, Hawkeye ordered his ground man to hang way back so as to avoid detection by Potter. Now that it was almost dark, he and his team had a huge advantage as the night-vision binoculars would let them tarry far outside of Potter's visual range on the dark and shadowy street. They had all been dismayed at how easily Plotter had spotted them earlier that day, so they were being hyper-vigilant and keeping their distance.
When Hawkeye jumped a small gap over to the next house, it took a few second to raise the binoculars and get another bead on Potter.
As he turned the focusing dial, Hawkeye spotted a purplish image on the infrared sensor: someone else was across the street from Potter and Swan, hiding way back in the shadows of an abandoned townhome.
For some reason the infrared signature of this person was a cool blue - almost the same temperature as the background air, making them difficult to spot - and so very unlike the thermal reds and oranges emitted from Potter and Swan, which struck Clint as odd. Keeping his eyes on this new player, he spoke quietly into his mic. "Ground 1, we have an Unknown in the shadows across from Primary at three o'clock, your position. Designate Unknown as Delta 1. Possibly using tech to counteract their thermal sig, barely getting a reading on infrared. Target stationary, about forty yards from Primary 1 and 2. Acknowledge, Ground 1."
There was a brief pause, then: "Roger, Air-1. I've got him. He's not moving, looks like he is hanging back, definitely concealed."
"Roger," answered Hawkeye. "I don't want to spook him, let's hold position until..."
At that moment, Hawkeye's words died in his throat as the Unknown - who they had designated 'Delta 1 - sprang from concealment and passed completely across the field of view of the binoculars; he moved so quickly that Hawkeye was not quite sure what had just happened. Flicking his thumb on the small zoom dial to widen the visible field, he turned and looked towards the bright infrared signatures of Swan and Potter.
Just as his eyes focused on them, a bright light erupted in the binocular's eyepiece, flat smack in the middle where Potter and Swan had been standing. The glare of the flash completely overloaded the infrared sensors before they could compensate, causing a bright splodge to temporarily blind Clint's eyes, making him blink furiously as he tried to clear his eyes and regain his night vision.
Harry responded instantly to Bella's warning, his battle instincts taking over and his wand jumping into his hand from his concealed wrist holster. A wide and silent protego was already forming before Bella had a chance to even take a single breath, as Harry had moved so quickly.
It was a good thing he did: just as the blue nimbus of the shield surrounded them, a loud cracking noise rang through Bella's ears as something crashed into Harry's conjured shield, hard, from Harry's right. Bella blinked in shock and surprise and let out a startled scream as the vampire - for there was no doubt now as to what it was as it crouched with angry red eyes and gleaming teeth from less than a dozen feet away - tried to attack again, throwing itself at the shield that Harry had summoned just in time to save their lives.
Another enormous crash reverberated through Bella's body, and she shrank away, her heart hammering in her chest as she was faced with the second deadly vampire she'd seen this week. Thankfully, the shield held again, and Harry stepped in front of her as he turned to face the creature. His wand was extended forward, his face hard, as he prepared for combat. "Bella try and stay behind me at all times," he commanded, not taking his eyes off the vampire which was moving very quickly, trying to find a weakness in the shield and undoubtedly trying to stay out of Harry's line of fire.
After two or three more attempts at piercing the shield failed, Bella calmed just a bit, and wondered why Harry had not fired a spell at the vampire yet. She had seen him handle the one a few days ago pretty handily.
Indeed, Harry was frustrated as the seconds passed and he had no clear way to attack the vampire without either putting Bella into danger or completely destroying the street. His conjurations and wind spells - the main spells he used to take down the vampire on Tuesday - could not be cast through the magical barrier of the protego maxima he was holding.
With grudging admiration, a small part of Harry's mind was thinking that this vampire was behaving much smarter than his comrade had.
But as the seconds ticked by, Harry began to worry about muggles coming out of their homes to investigate: they would have no chance if the vampire turned on them, and the crashing noises as the vampire continually attacked the shield were very loud and would be sure to draw attention soon.
Deciding to call in for immediate reinforcements, he conjured his patronus and sent it off to the auror department. He knew they had a ready-10 team on call tonight, and he just had to hope for an opening he could use to take the vampire down, or at least for the muggles to stay-put until help arrived.
"Harry can't you cast a spell at it?" Bella finally asked in a tight voice. Harry glanced at her, seeing that, although she looked fearful, she was thankfully not panicking.
His eyes turned back to the vampire. "Most spells that would actually affect him can't get through my shield," Harry said with a grimace. His eyes and wand never stilled, tracking the fast moving vampire as best he could. "And he's too close for me to risk dropping it with you right here."
As the seconds passed, Bella watched as the vampire continued to circle them at speeds that were too fast to make any details save for a streaky blur, occasionally accented by enormous 'booms' whenever the vampire smashed into the blue dome.
Even as her eyes tried to follow his movements, she spotted two other figures approaching cautiously, still a ways away but clearly making their way closer. They were hard to make out in the dim light - the streetlamps didn't do much except make small circles of light that didn't extend very far - so she could not make any generalizations of their appearance. "Harry, there are two people coming towards us!" Bella hissed, fearing the possibility that they were allies of the vampire; but she was almost as fearful that they were just innocent bystanders who were unlucky enough to be walking into a deadly fight.
Harry glanced in the direction Bella was looking, narrowing his eyes as he tried to make out any details. His immediate worry was that they might be wizards: if they were working with the vampire, they wouldn't hesitate to try and take his shield down. Pumping more magic into his shield, Harry's face hardened. "Bella, I've got to concentrate on the vampire, watch those two and tell me if you see them take out a wand!"
"Should I warn them away?" she asked, her voice shaky and her heart thudding as she watched them maintain their cautious approach; thankfully, they still hadn't pulled out anything resembling a wand, but they hadn't turned and run away either. "They are walking slow but are definitely coming closer, Harry!"
Harry thought furiously for a moment, thinking what was the best thing to do here. He finally decided that Bella had a good idea about warning them away: after all, if they were bad guys they were going to attack anyway; and if they were just bystanders, they could run off and escape the situation.
Decided, he answered her. "Yes, do it. Warn them off!"
Bella yelped when the loudest crash yet reverberated through the shield, and she whimpered when she realized Harry's face had begun to sweat. She had no idea how hard it was to maintain a shield while under attack by a vampire, but the shield looked like it momentarily wavered with that last hit. She jerked from another stupendously loud crash, which she saw was from the vampire swinging an iron fence railing at the shield.
And then more furious blows rained down - an absolute cacophony of crashing noises that would be impossible for anyone on this block not to hear; the only thing she thought that might be louder was her own heart thundering in her ears, making her want to scream.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her body to face the bystanders who were still approaching, but had spread themselves out. Waving her arms over her head, she began to yell. "Get away, it's not safe! Go! Get away!' she shouted, hoping they could hear her over the continued crashing noise and the growling snarls of the vampire, or at least recognize her panicked waving as a warning.
Unfortunately, Bella's shouting seemed to have the opposite of its intended affect: the pair halted their approach, that was true; but the vampire turned suddenly, and with incredible speed smashed its hand into the ground, cracking the sidewalk into small pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. And then it gripped a piece of concrete the size of her head and launched it straight at the foolish people who should have been running and screaming in the opposite direction.
Even as Bella expected to see the man on the left killed by the hurled rock, somehow he was able to leap out of the way of the projectile. The rock continued on and smashed headlong into a car that was parked just a few feet past him. It went straight through the windshield and out the side back window, leaving shattered, gaping holes in their wake, before smashing into the railing fence of a home a little further down the block. A moment later, the blaring siren of a car alarm added to the noise of the fighting, and Bella hoped the two strangers now had the sense to run.
As Hawkeye's vision returned, he and Agent Briers stopped dead in their tracks as they watched the new target Delta 1 crash his fists into some sort of hazy energy field that had sprang up around Swan and Potter. And then, to further confound the agents, the figure began to run at near invisible speeds around the pair, a cracking noise every few seconds indicating he was testing the force field with powerful blows.
"What...what is that?" Briers gasped, his hand reaching automatically for his gun in his shoulder holster, but not yet drawing it. Despite his shock, he was a well-trained agent and - as per orders – would not draw his weapon unless he or another agent's life was threatened.
"I don't know," Hawkeye answered, equally surprised. He'd never seen tech do this, even Stark's latest toys couldn't conjure force fields. And no one should be able to move as fast as this newcomer.
Shaking off his amazement, his focus sharpened. "Spread out. Do not engage unless I do, but draw your weapon." His eyes never strayed from the unbelievable display he was watching in front of him, even as his hands smoothly lifted his bow clear of his shoulder and fitted an arrow to the string.
As they moved closer, Clint re-assessed the situation. Clearly, Potter was responsible for the shield as he was tracking the Enhanced as he continually tested the barrier and Potter seemed to twitch with each blow to it. The attacker himself was clearly another enhanced, who seemed to have a beef with either Swan or Potter. This seemed to dovetail with his dossier on Swan: she seemed to draw in enhanced to either attack or protect her everywhere she went.
Whether or not she was the target this time or not he couldn't tell, but it was time to call in backup. Without his eyes ever leaving the street in front of him, he relayed some instructions to the agent waiting back in the car and the response came back immediately: SHIELD would have a combat ops team here in minutes.
As they approached even closer, Hawkeye saw Swan suddenly fix on him - not a surprise as they were no longer being very discrete - and then Potter turned his head and looked as well. A moment later, to his surprise, Swan began waving her arms frantically over her head, shouting and screaming at them to get away.
Hmm, Hawkeye thought, looks like she really might be one of the good guys if she was concerned with some stranger's welfare.
Unfortunately her act of chivalry did not pass unnoticed by Delta-1. He turned, pallid skin and vivid red eyes reflecting in the light from Potter's shield, making Clint suck in a breath as they zeroed on him: enhanced or not, surely that thing was not completely human. Even as he raised his bow, in an amazing display of strength and agility the Enhanced stopped his attack on Potter, plunged his fist through the pavement, and in one smooth motion was throwing a basketball sized piece of the street at him with incredible velocity.
Had Hawkeye not already been moving when the Enhanced drove his hand into the street, he'd be dead. As it was, the speeding missile missed him by fractions of an inch, and he felt the wind of its speed as it passed. He dimly registered the crash of glass behind him - a shattering sound accompanied by a hollow 'boom' - followed a moment later by the siren of a car alarm.
But all of this passed in his periphery; for even as he rolled to his feet from his lunge, his bow was aimed at his target, a tungsten tipped arrow already loosed at the Enhanced who was raining blow after furious blow upon Potter's barrier with some sort of metal rod, causing huge showers of sparks wherever it hit.
Even as Hawkeye's first arrow sped towards the target - who was moving fast again, making an accurate bead on him difficult as Hawkeye didn't want to test Potter's shield by accidentally shooting at him or Swan - a second and then a third arrow were on the way, Clint's hands moving by pure muscle memory.
Bella watched with an open mouth as the civilian somehow dove out of the way of the deadly rock the vampire threw at him. And then, to confound her further, the man rolled to his feet gracefully, a weapon that she recognized dumbly as a bow and arrow in his hands even as he loosed at the vampire.
'A bow and arrow?" she wondered, worried that her brain was feeding her false images. Was this man returning home from an archery contest or something equally as bizarre? Who even carried bows and arrows around with them?
She watched the arrow fly harmlessly by the vampire's head and then a second one whizzed by, almost hitting it. This got the vampire's attention, as he swung his head over his shoulder to face his attacker even as a third arrow impacted right into the middle of his back.
As Bella expected, the arrow bounced off his diamond hard skin, but the vampire snarled and grabbed more pieces of the ripped-up concrete and began to throw them at the newcomers like some demented baseball pitching machine. Dozens of two and three inch projectiles were flying at the Bowman, who dived for cover behind another parked car.
Not sure if the man was hit by the fusillade, her eyes snapped to the other man as she heard the sound of gunshots ringing through the night. She quickly realized that these two were no ordinary bystanders - not with bows and arrows and handguns - and the second man was in a shooters stance, hands steady out in front as he fired his gun at the vampire.
Just like with the arrow, the bullets had no effect, and the vampire turned fully now to face this new nuisance. Bella watched with mute horror as the vampire snarled and launched the metal rod he'd been holding at the gunman with incredible force, like an Olympic javelineer on super steroids.
Unlike his more agile partner, the gunman's dive to cover was late, and to Bella's eyes it seemed the projectile seemed to connect to his body and send him flying backwards at high speed before he crashed into a gaggle of garbage cans that were bunched together in front of one of the houses. The crash of the cans as they went spinning merged with the screams of the man - he was still alive, thankfully - and Bella too screamed in frustration, having never felt more useless in her whole life.
Meanwhile, Harry cursed as he watched one of the newcomers - undercover cops, maybe? or MI-5? - went flying backwards, hurled by the iron-fence rod impacting his body.
And to make matters worse, the huge amount of noise this fight was generating had finally attracted the attention of the neighbors. Harry saw lights appear from several houses on the street, curtains pulled back and curious faces looking through their windows to see what was causing all the racket.
This was getting ugly, fast.
As he tracked the vampire again, Harry saw movement behind the car that had recently been pummeled by the rocks thrown by the vampire. And then, he saw another blurry arrow sail out of the darkness and head at tremendous speed towards the vampire. Even as it hit - Harry expected it to bounce like the last one - a small explosion resulted, staggering the vampire and making him roar in defiance and anger. When the smoke cleared, Harry saw that the vampire's shirt was shredded and filled with burning, glowing embers, though his marble skin looked unharmed despite soot marks blackening it.
As the vampire launched more projectiles at the Bowman, Harry realized he had to end this, and made a quick decision on what to do. Checking that Bella was still behind him, he crouched low to the ground and raised his shield so there was just enough room for him to shoot spells under it.
Not wasting the chance with the vampire still distracted, Harry snarled and cast a wildly overpowered reductor, the curse spitting from his wand in a streak of angry red.
The spell smashed into the vampire's lower back, sending him staggering forward a good dozen feet with a scream of anger and frustration, and finally giving Harry the space he needed to drop the shield and go on the offensive.
Before the vampire had even settled, Harry straightened and began casting, using the same set of spells that had taken out the other vampire a few days ago. The first one connected, a loud crack sounding as his hammerfist spell smashed the vampire aside, sending him careening down the block, screeching in pain. A second and third followed up, both landing before the vampire could find his feet.
And now, with the distance opened up to a good fifty feet, Harry conjured hellfire, the fiery mass gathering itself hungrily, ready to immolate the vampire.
However, just as he was prepared to unleash the eager flames that were roiling a dozen feet in front of him, Bella suddenly shrieked a warning. This distracted him just enough that the vampire, sensing the extreme danger of the sentient fire, had time to launch himself away and crouch behind a parked vehicle.
Bella's fear and frustration continued to mount as Harry and the two strangers - who she realized were most likely some sort of undercover policemen, though exceedingly strange for one to be carrying a bow - battled the vampire. She felt useless and a burden, a feeling she'd not felt in years.
Things took an even stranger turn when suddenly one of the arrows exploded on impact with the vampire's stone body, destroying his clothes and making him stumble backwards from the force of the concussive blast.
Exploding arrows? Who were these people?
The vampire reacted by launching a volley of projectiles towards the Bowman who was hiding behind a parked car, and Bella knew it was only a matter of time until either the gas tank got hit and the car exploded or one of them blew straight through the car and killed the brave man.
However, just then Bella watched as Harry suddenly crouched down and yelled out the word 'reducto'. A bright red spell hit the vampire in the back, making him stumble forward to his knees. Eyes wide, Bella watched the shield dissipate: and then, like on Tuesday, Harry really went to work.
Bella felt a rush of power wash over her as Harry unleashed his torrent of spells. One after another, the vampire was hit with powerful curses that tossed him around like confetti. Huge, echoing 'cracks' thundered down the street as Harry's outstretched wand sent pulverizing blasts of magic at the vampire. As the space opened up, she watched Harry summon the fiery construct he'd used to burn the last vampire to a crisp, and Bella found herself reveling in the back-blast of the powerful magic he was using, the heat singing in her veins and sharpening her mind.
With her senses heightened, her eyes suddenly caught movement from over her left shoulder, at the very edge of her peripheral vision. Glancing that way, she saw two dark robed men wearing cowls approaching them at a run, wands extended and pointing directly at Harry.
"Harry! Behind you!" Bella screamed, praying Harry would hear her and turn in time - maybe raise his shield or teleport them away, something! The heat sang hotter in her veins now, and she felt that same overwhelming feeling of pressure that she'd experienced in Hermione's office.
There was no time to think. The two men shouted what sounded like 'Abra Cadabra', green lights forming at the tip of their wands; and even as the men fired their spells at Harry's unprotected back, Bella's right arm was rising without conscious thought, her desire to stop them racing through her and fueling her will.
A sudden liquid heat rushed through her, her vision going hazy even as she felt the barrier in her mind coming to life and answering her call. Her raised hand suddenly blazed like the heart of a star, so hot that she was sure her skin must be nothing but ash, the flash of it so bright that she had white halos in her eyes.
A dark, giant cloud of what looked like swirling dust motes rocketed out from her hand, spreading wide and intercepting the poisonous green lights flying towards Harry, snuffing them out like candles as it swept onwards towards the two wizards.
When the cloud reached them, it picked them up like they were pieces of paper caught in a cyclone and carried them backwards at tremendous speeds. They vanished from sight a moment later, the only indication they'd ever been there was the resounding crash that echoed down the street as their bodies smashed into some obstacle.
Even as she dispassionately watched her raised hand quivering in the aftermath, some part of Bella recoiled in horror at what she'd just done, her mind finally overwhelmed with the fast pace of the action going on around her.
Hawkeye cursed, keeping his head down as the car he was using as cover was rocked by a steady stream of booms and crashes from the impacting rocks being thrown at him. Had his situation not been so desperate, he might have laughed at the thought of being pinned down by someone throwing stones at him!
A sudden angry roar coincided with the settling of the car as the assault on him stopped. Peeking his head around the bumper, he watched with amazement as Potter waved something in his hand and the Enhanced was pummeled as if by an invisible fist. Once, twice, a third time...the Enhanced getting thrown further down the street and away from Potter with each toss.
Unfortunately for Clint, the Enhanced was now less than fifty feet from his position, and he didn't want to break cover yet, knowing he was overmatched.
Eyes switching back to Potter, he watched as a ball of roiling fire seemed to coalesce, a thin streamer of the flames connecting to the tip of the stick in Potter's hand. And though Clint was too far away from the fire to feel the heat of it, he suspected it was very hot and might be able to finish off this red-eyed enhanced that could shrug off bullets, tungsten arrowheads and exploding anti-personnel warheads without any damage except some ruined clothes and blackened skin.
Hawkeye drew back his bowstring to help if necessary, loading an arrow with a gas warhead that packed a powerful sleep agent, when Swan suddenly screamed, distracting everyone in the field.
Turning to follow Swan's gaze, Clint saw two black dressed men running at the pair, each brandishing their own sticks. They were held out at arm's length, pointing straight at Potter, and twin lights - dark, venomous green - launched from their sticks in time with loud exclamations from them that sounded like nonsense words to Hawkeye.
Even as the lights sped towards Potter - and Clint suspected they might be as deadly as the color indicated - some sort of cloudy miasma seemed to erupt from Swan's right hand and engulf the lights, snuffing them out and sweeping towards the two assailants. The cloud rolled right into them before and picked them up and carried them away at speed, like they weighed nothing and were simply caught in the maelstrom. Hawkeye followed them with his eyes until they were far down the street, a loud crash heralding the end of their flight. Given the speed they were moving, Clint thought it might very well be their final resting place: he would not be surprised if they died from the impact generated by the speed of the...whatever is was that Swan did.
As Bella screamed, Harry cursed in frustration as he turned, his hellfire spell fading reluctantly as he cut the flow of magic to it. While hellfire was not as deadly as fiendfyre as it was a touch more easy to control, it was still an extremely difficult spell to master as the flames were difficult to quench. It was one of Harry's 'big hitters', when he had the time and space to summon it: nothing he knew of could survive long in the blistering heat - almost two thousand degrees, Hermione had once told him - that the flames produced in their core.
His auror-honed reflexes immediately took in the situation and the danger as he saw two hostile wizards already casting at him even as he swung his wand-to-bear. He didn't need to hear the words to know he'd be looking at a pair of killing curses, and his first instinct - to simply apparate away - had to be immediately discarded. Bella was about five feet from him - standing almost between the enemy and himself - and he'd never be able to grab her and apparate in time. His only option was a physical shield, as some spells such as the killing curse could only be stopped by a physical barrier of some sort.
Even as these thoughts ran though some part of his conscious mind his wand had snapped unerringly to point at the closer wizard. Harry was going to summon him into the path of the second curse, confident he could dodge the first one which was just leaving the wandtip of the caster. He normally would use a piece of debris to block the spells, but the only thing immediately handy was the rubble behind him and he simply didn't have the few seconds needed to conjure a barrier or find a better solution.
Rolling to his left even as his summoning spell flew from his wandtip and raced towards the first wizard, he watched in astonishment as a glittering black cloud of shimmery vapor shot out from Bella's right hand and expanded like an exploding bubble of gas. It careened towards the incoming killing curses, somehow negating them as it raced onwards towards the enemy wizards. Harry's summoning spell - a dark red bolt that he'd cast at full power as it needed to get to its target quickly - couldn't quite catch the wizard before Bella's cloud picked them both up and tossed them down the street like leaves in a hurricane.
Compartmentalizing his amazement - as he knew the vampire would have recovered his footing and had to be quick - he continued his roll and brought his wand back around to the front, a protego shield already forming around Bella and himself, ready to protect them again from the angry vampire.
His caution was well earned: just as the shield formed a tremendous crash sounded against it, the vampire's snarl of frustration almost equal in volume. Harry rose smoothly to his feet, ready to continue the fight, when the sound of sirens was heard over the blaring car alarm, approaching quickly. And then Harry heard the sound of several powerful vehicles that were even closer, the low rumble of their engines and the squeal of their tires getting steadily louder. The vampire - now less than five feet from the shield - stared with a furious expression, his lurid red eyes locked onto Harry's own.
"I am going to kill you Potter - I swear it." His eyes stayed glued to Harry for another moment before quickly shifting to Bella. He held his gaze on her for a long second, shifted his eyes back to Harry, and then snarled again. He crouched down for just a moment, and then sprung into a stupendous leap that had him arcing dozens of feet into the air and onto the roof of the closest house, taking one last look at Harry before vanishing in the shadows.
Harry let out a deep breath, his wand falling fractionally, but he held the shield in place as a precaution. His eyes scanned the street, checking for threats, insuring no one else was targeting them. Even with the attack ended, there was still a lot of noise, the car alarm continuing to blare and the sirens getting louder. The loud engines he heard before also got louder, and Harry watched as several vehicles turned at the corner at the end of the street.
A quick glance to the left and right showed several faces peering out of windows, and he grimaced thinking of the mess the cleanup of this was going to be. Two possibly dead wizards, another vampire attack in muggle London, and a seriously injured or dead muggle agent laying somewhere like a shish-kabob with a fence railing out his back.
Ignoring for a moment the dark vehicles that were closing on them, he turned to Bella, walking up to her with a look of concern at her ashen face and rapid breathing. "Are you okay?" he asked loudly, to make sure she could hear him.
Her eyes were wide - almost comically so - and her hands were trembling, but she managed to give him a shaky nod.
Brave, thought Harry. Probably a Gryffindor. This observation rattled in some part of his head that could find humor in the nights events. Having learned much over the years - including how to deal with near hysterical women - Harry closed the last foot and opened his arms for a hug, insuring his wand was free and unobstructed from catching on any clothing.
Bella didn't hesitate, her arms wrapping around his lean body and her face pushed into his neck. When his left arm closed around her pulling her close, she began to really shake as she crashed from the adrenaline surge, and Harry tried to soothe her, despite being aware the vehicles - two SUV's and a single black van - had parked in a 'V' about fifty feet away, completely blocking the street as men in suits and tactical gear poured from them.
Through the slightly blurred edge of his protego, he watched dispassionately as what must have been a dozen men holding impressive looking machine-guns fanned out around him and Bella. He was confident his protego could withstand any weapons they might bring to bear - he didn't see any heavy artillery, so he doubted they could pierce it - and he knew his auror team would be arriving any moment, with an obliviator standing by if necessary.
As he eyed the dozen or so guns pointed at him and Bella, he realized his team would be apparating into a very dangerous situation, and Harry was now fearful of what might happen if someone got an itchy trigger finger. He tightened his grip on his wand and readied himself to cast a second protego on his aurors the moment they arrived, just in case someone shot at them.
Harry watched with cautious eyes as the Bowman approached a short man in a suit who was just getting out of a 3rd SUV that had just arrived; and while it was far too noisy to hear what they were saying he saw the Bowman gesture towards the side of the street.
Harry realized that was where the other agent had been thrown when the vampire skewered him, and two men ran in that direction. Harry grudgingly admired the Bowman's actions - helping his wounded immediately - and watched as more words were exchanged with the short man.
Harry noticed the short man had a balding head and wore a plain black suit, white shirt, and dark tie. He could easily have passed for a banker or an accountant, and held himself very differently than all his fellow agents.
Then, at a spoken word from Baldy, all the guns pointed at them lowered a bit, and Harry let himself relax just a touch. It seemed to him that everyone was deferring to this man, and when he finally looked at Harry, his face showed a small smile.
Surprised, Harry held Bella tighter and moved his right hand a little bit away from Bella's thigh; despite knowing that these men were almost certainly MI5 or special forces and that there shouldn't be any trouble, for Bella's sake he chose to be careful. He watched as Baldy and the Bowman walked confidently forward with everyone else hanging back or moving aside, letting the pair of agents approach the edge of the shield. The guns of the other agents lowered even further, now pointing towards the ground, though still held at shoulder-ready position.
More sirens were sounding in the distance now, and Harry groaned internally when he thought of how many obliviates would be performed tonight.
'Maybe he should stop going out into the Muggle world altogether?' he mused, the thought laced with some gallows humor.
Stopping just short of the barrier, Baldy addressed them.
"Harry Potter? Isabella Swan? My name is Phil Coulson, and I'm with SHIELD."
Harry twitched in surprise at hearing that these were SHIELD agents. Harry knew of the agency, of course, but they had a bit of a shadowy reputation that made him cautious. He also thought that SHIELD mostly dealt with deterring extremist threats and terrorists, and he didn't understand why they were here at all - this was outside of their normal jurisdiction.
As a matter of principle, he and his auror forces tried to steer clear of the super spy agency. They had a reputation that was not always so saccharine, and in general wizarding governments tried hard to stay off of any muggle spy agencies radar whenever possible.
This situation just got a mite more complicated.
However, Harry noted that this Coulson was friendly, and exuded a confident but warm manner. Harry had a sneaking suspicion he was here to put them at ease, and grudgingly admitted that it might be working.
Giving Bella a squeeze, he looked more closely at the man as he turned to face him fully. Under the flap of his jacket, Harry could see a sidearm in a shoulder holster, though the flap was still closed on the butt of the gun. Coulson also seemed completely unconcerned with the spectators from the houses or the fast approaching sirens that would bring more chaos to this sleepy street, which made Harry think he was used to dealing with situations that involved bystanders.
In stark contrast to Agent Coulson, Harry noted that the Bowman was still very alert. There was an arrow nocked on the string, though like the machine guns, it was pointed at the ground. Harry didn't let that fool him into a false sense of security, however, as he remembered how quickly the man was able to loose. A dark quiver of arrows hung at the man's back, secured across his chest with a thick strap. He was wearing a pair of black sneakers, some sort of stretchy black pants and top, and had a pair of handguns in shoulder holsters snug against the sides of his chest. Looking down, Harry noticed a leather sheath strapped to his calf, the handle of what must have been an impressive knife just visible at the top.
Meeting Bowman's eyes, Harry recognized him for what he was: a trained killer.
Harry felt Bella's hold on him tighten - she must have also sensed the danger from this man - but she turned to face Agent Coulson with a brave face; and though she was still slightly trembling, she stood straight and her face didn't give anything away. 'Definitely a Gryff,' he thought with admiration, thoroughly impressed with her.
"Why is SHIELD here?" Harry finally said, staring into Coulson's eyes and sending out a wandless legilimancy probe. Harry's wandless mind reading was by no means particularly effective yet - he knew it took many years of practice to really become proficient - but he was at least skilled enough to get a general idea of someone's surface thoughts, as long as he had clear eye contact.
And Harry needed to know what was going on and if these men could be trusted before he even considered dropping his protego.
Harry thought he saw a brief flicker in the man's eyes - amusement maybe? - before he answered. "We are currently liasoning with MI5, Mr. Potter. I would appreciate if I could talk with you and Ms. Swan somewhere with some privacy. We are going to be swimming in uniformed police in a few minutes, and I'd rather just save us the trouble of having a local constable arguing jurisdiction with me."
Harry's mouth twitched, fully able to commiserate with this Coulson. He'd had enough jurisdictional pissing contests with the Hit Wizards and foreign auror forces to last a lifetime.
Even as Harry opened his mouth to answer, a series of staccato pops echoed down the street from the direction of 13 Grimmauld - maybe two blocks away - and almost every gun-wielding agent turned and raised their guns back up to eye level as they sighted down the block - on what Harry realized where his auror backup team.
Even as he cast an enormous protego that blocked off almost half the street, he sighed in frustration. "Bollocks," he thought. 'This is going to be a long night.'
A/N - let me know what you think!