May 2012, Stark Tower, The Day After Portal Frame Installations
Harry was standing in the living room of the Penthouse area of Stark Tower waiting for the rest of the group to show up. He was playing with his new Stark Industries Mk. M1 Phone, going over the feature and just testing it in general. Tony and him were going to be releasing the new line of phones that used his batteries soon. Which meant that Magic Innovations would be going public as a partner of SI. His thoughts were interrupted when the door to the room housing the Portal Frame opened. Thor walked out dressed casually, well casual for Asgardian princes, and greeted Harry.
"Hey Thor thanks for coming." Harry said as he stood and shook his hand. He waved off to the side but had no time to sit as Natasha and Clint exited the Portal Frame.
"Yo Magic Man." Clint said as he energetically moved into the room before dumping himself onto the couch. Harry rolled his eyes at the archer. He looked back at the door but didn't see anyone else coming.
"Where's Steve?" Harry asked Natasha who just sat down in a nearby chair.
"He lives off base now in DC so he said he'd take his bike here." She answered. Nodding Harry sat next to her, "So when did you and Tony finish those?" Nat asked, tilting her head towards the Frame she used to travel here.
"Tony finished up the design a few days ago. I used my portals to go and install them yesterday, even left one on Asgard." Harry explained as he threw his thumb towards the now laughing god of thunder. "How did you like it?"
"It's pretty incredible. One second we're on the Helicarrier somewhere above the Pacific Ocean, next thing we know we're back in New York at Stark's tower. Clint and I were both a little skeptical when Fury showed us how they work." She said with a bit of wonder, before it slipped back beneath her mask of indifference.
"Why do you do that?" Harry asked as he took in the usually blank faced woman in front of him. She reminded him entirely too much of Daphne and her use of Occlumency to hide herself.
"Do what?" she replied, clearly playing dumb. Harry saw the guarded nature in her eyes and decided to drop it. He was about to change topics when the ding from the nearby elevator grabbed his and Natasha's attention. Tony walked out with Bruce both pretty excited about something.
"-ese runes are incredible. The amount of stuff you've done with them already is mind boggling. They break so many rules of the universe…" Bruce said as he trailed off when he noticed the room all looking at him and Tony. Tony paid no mind to the attention and moved over to Harry and sat next to him.
"I was just giving Bruce a crash course on the things we've done so far with runes. He was really impressed with the line of prosthetics we were working on." Tony said as he leaned back and propped his feet up. Harry looked over at Bruce and gave him a smirk.
"Interested Bruce?" Harry asked, already knowing the man would be working alongside him and Tony in the near future. Bruce blushed a bit before sitting on the couch across from them rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah definitely, if the things Tony has planned really can work the way he expects, we could change the world." Bruce stated. Harry, Tony, and Bruce started discussing the projects they had been working on and what they wanted to do in the future. Natasha chipped in at one point asking about how runes worked, causing Harry to start explaining it, like he had done for Tony a year or two ago. Bruce and Natasha were enraptured with talks of magic and the idea that these small writings could manipulate dimensional energies. At one point Tony ordered food for the group, moving the conversation away from scientific and magical inventions, to stories of their pasts. Thor boasted of his adventures and battles, while Harry talked about his old world and all the crazy things he saw in school.
Steve arrived shortly after they finished eating to hear Harry talking about the time the Weasley twins attempted to enter their names in the Goblet of Fire and came out with matching beards. "Afterwards Dumbledore, the Headmaster, complimented them on their beards." Harry said while he was laughing, "He had charmed the Goblet, so that anyone who tried to bypass it would gain a beard much like his own." Harry finished up with a flourish of his hand causing his own face to grow a beard similar to his old Headmaster. This set off Tony, Clint, and Thor who started laughing while Bruce chuckled softly. Natasha had a small smirk that shortly morphed to a full smile when Harry stood running his hand down his beard and turning his clothes into one of the more garish robes Dumbledore used to wear. This just increased the total mirth of the group.
Steve dropped his bag and approached the group with a smile, "Did I miss the party?" he asked, waving to the mess on the table. Harry looked behind him to see Steve standing there.
"No, but we did grab lunch. Are you hungry?" Steve nodded and ate as the stories continued to flow around him. Tony had just finished a particularly crude but hilarious story about Rhodey and their days in college together, when Harry stood up and stepped to the head of the table. "Alright, so I called you all here for a few reasons, we'll go through them one at a time. Everyone ready for a tour?" The rest of the Avengers nodded so Harry vanished the mess left on the table and led them all to the Frame Room. Standing next to the Frame with Tony on the side, everyone else arrayed themselves in front of it. "This is the Portal Frame. It is a doorway that connects to others like it. Tony designed it with my help and we have installed them at other locations. As both Nat and Clint know, there is one on the Helicarrier, the SHIELD headquarters, my house, Stark Tower, and my Resort."
"Today we wanted to gather everyone and talk about these Frames and show you a new training area, where we can start to prepare for new missions." Tony took over. He gave them significant looks when he mentioned missions, causing everyone but Bruce to gain an understanding look. Seeing Bruce looking confused Tony explained, "A few days ago we gathered together to talk about something with Fury. He explained about how HYDRA, the organization that worked with Hitler in WW2, was still around. They have evidently infiltrated SHIELD at even the highest level, and wanted our help in removing them." Harry stepped back in.
"HYDRA is dangerous and having SHIELD at their disposal makes that truer than ever. So Fury and myself have been tagging hostiles and separating a loyal division of SHIELD that can pick up the pieces after we take out the known HYDRA cells. This won't be quick. It definitely won't be easy, but with some effort and help from us, SHIELD should be back in action, with only a loss in personnel, quickly." Harry said. He then moved over to the dial and turned it to the Resort, "This is a resort I built for my personal use and to invite the X-Men and their charges to have a good time."
Harry then led the Avengers through the portal and gave them the grand tour of Potter Resort. He winded up the tour in the basement, "Now the real reason we're here." He presented the door, "This my friends is one of the greatest creations from my old world. Just creating it takes an understanding of runes, enchanting, charms, and divination. This is the room of requirements." Harry then opened the door for the group who all had expectant looks on their faces, only for them to fall and show disappointment when it was just a large empty room. Harry waited for a few moments playing up the showman, but when he saw the disappointed looks he chuckled.
"Harry, I know you, what makes this room special?" Tony asked as he gave Harry an expectant look. Shooing the few who stepped into the room back out he closed the door and paced back and forth three times before they saw the door flash. Harry approached and opened the door again. This time when they walked through they were flabbergasted. The room was now a large hall in what seemed to be a castle. Tony recognized the room and immediately looked up, he was blown away by the sky that was only a few feet above his head, "Look up."
Harry watched as the entire team walked in and smiled when Tony recognized the room from his pensieve. When he told them to look up, he followed along and sighed wistfully at the enchanted ceiling that he saw every time he ate at his old school. His mind drifted to the last time he saw it before it was destroyed. He could hear his teammates exclaiming and discussing the room as his memories played. It wasn't until Tony tapped his shoulder that he was brought back and found the team looking at him, "What?"
Tony saw the look that was flashing in Harry's eyes and decided to ignore it. "Was this all you wanted to show us?" Harry shook himself from his reverie and moved back outside the door beckoning them to follow.
"Alright, now someone else can try. All you need to do is pace back and forth three times thinking of what you want the room to be and it'll appear. Only a few things to note, it can't create food and anything made in the room can't be removed." Harry waved them forward after explaining. Tony was the first to go and paced quickly, when he wrenched open the door Harry was surprised to see The Library of Hermione. "Why did you pick this?"
"I wanted to see it again." Tony said as he walked to the middle of the room. The rest of the team followed and were surprised by the sheer size of the library.
"What is this place? You both seem familiar with it." Bruce asked. Tony looked to Harry who just nodded as he looked over the stacks.
"This is The Library of Hermione. It's a library that Harry created using all the books and knowledge he was able to collect from his world." Tony explained. Bruce and Natasha were both astounded that Harry owned a library while Thor and Clint were still studying the books closest to them.
"Alright, who wants to pick next?" Harry asked as he walked towards the door. The rest of the team moved after him, still looking over the grand room that held thousands of books. When they were all back in the hall and Harry closed the door Thor stepped up and walked back and forth three times. Opening the door the team were surprised to find a field with a giant creature in the center. It was nearly 15 ft tall, large antlers, and scales covered it all down its body. It had a huge jutted jaw and massive arms. Its back had a line of spikes leading all the way down its tail.
"Ha! A Bilge-snipe!" Thor spun his hammer and was covered in lightning before he was once again dressed in his armor. The battle was quick, with Thor using short fast swings to knock the head around before he summoned his lightning, jumped up and struck one of the horns, piercing the creature's skull with its own antler. He was grinning as he moved back to the group. Harry did him and them a favor and cleaned him up. Harry had just closed the door when he heard a tearing sound only to look back and see Hulk approaching the door. Harry grinned and moved out of the way. Hulk was soon pacing back and forth before he opened the door and jumped straight into a battle with a copy of himself. They all watched as the Hulk fought a hard battle but eventually walked away with a knockout.
When Hulk turned back into Bruce, Harry fixed up his clothes before turning to the rest, "Anyone else?" When no-one asked to go for themselves he started pacing back and forth opening the door once more. This time they found themselves in a large room with buildings and cars, "This room can be used for recreation, but I thought we could use it for training." Harry said as he moved off to the side of the room and several creatures appeared. They were large but nondescript, which was by design as when Harry started to engage them they changed forms to fight back. They would change from the bland gray to a huge red creature, who's punches broke the sound barrier, one of them changed to yellow and started flying and firing beams. The team watched as Harry fought the group of enemies, who kept changing and adapting to the fight. Harry used different elements to change the battlefield, he used spells and transfiguration to make golems that helped him fight, and eventually he won. Slightly out of breath Harry stepped away from the arena and conjured a town to wipe his face, "What do you think?"
After that was a veritable free for all, to see who could take on the most enemies. It only stopped escalating between Harry, Thor, and Hulk when Steve said they should do some Team fights. There they saw several deficiencies in their own tactics when working with a team, but worked out quite a few strategies that would work well off of each other's abilities. Thor found that Harry's abilities could amplify his own, especially when he created giant metal rods to pin down stronger foes, who then took massive damage from his lightning. Steve and Tony worked out several uses of his shield as a refractor. Hulk and Hawkeye ended up making a great team when Hulk would grapple with large enemies, Hawkeye would gain the time he needed to put an arrow in the creature's eye. When Harry noticed that Natasha was having a hard time fighting anything bigger than the average human he remembered the staff he created.
Opening a portal he grabbed it off his workstation and tossed it to Nat, "Try using that." Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him catching it and twirled it around herself, when she was rushed by one of the medium sized combatants she spun around it and swung the bo staff into a devastating smack to the back of it's head, she was surprised when the creatures head shattered into shards of ice. The others all stopped what they were doing and looked at the now slightly glowing staff. "That is a staff enchanted to use the essence of Ymir. It's quite powerful so be careful with it. Also, you can throw it and summon it back, much like Thor's hammer."
The team watched as Natasha, using her new staff, became a whirlwind on the battlefield. Creatures would be frozen and shattered constantly as she spun and jumped through their ranks. Her hits were hard, but the freezing effect is where she truly shined. At one point she started to use the staff to slide around the field by freezing the ground and using it to push herself around. When she was done she was breathing heavily but her eyes were shining with happiness. She suddenly turned to Harry and grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a heated kiss. When she pulled back she smirked before she turned and sauntered away, "I'm done for the day. I'll catch you all later."
Harry just stood there frozen as the door closed behind her. Clint was chuckling as he walked over to the mystified magic man. "She's something else, right?"
"Yeah…" Harry said quietly as his gaze was still unfocused.
"You should probably ask her out." Clint said casually.
"Yeah…" Harry once again mumbled before his mind caught up to what Clint was saying, "I mean…" but he stopped when all the others were looking at him with grins on their faces. Sighing he gave a small glare at Clint before his eyes moved back to the door, "You think she'll say yes?" Clint laughed.
"Oh I'm sure she'll say yes." Clint said nonchalantly. "You're probably the next closest person to her next to me and you know we see each other as siblings." When Harry didn't move Clint just nudged him, "You know I meant now right?" Harry was soon racing out of the room after the red headed super spy.
"You think he forgot he could make portals or teleport?" Tony said with a chuckle that soon turned into a full laugh that was joined by everyone else.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
Harry didn't end up catching her before she used the Frame, so he went home to shower. After finishing that he faded over to the tower only to find her, in fresh clothes, sitting in the penthouse living room. "Hey Nat." Harry said, slightly unsure of himself. He was nervous, as he hasn't dated in over 20 years. Sure he had female companions in his old world, but when you're fighting off hordes of demons everyday you tend to lose that romantic edge.
"Hey yourself." Natasha said as she looked up from her tablet to see Harry standing there awkwardly. She was nervous herself but just gave him a smirk instead. "Need something?"
"Do you want to go out for dinner?" Harry asked as he steeled his nerves and looked her in the eyes. At first he saw apprehension hidden behind that smirk, but after he asked he could see the happiness.
"Sure. Where do you want to go?" She asked. Harry decided that he wanted something delicious and to show Natasha somewhere quite special, so he just looked at her with a smile.
"Ready to go now?" When she nodded he offered his hand and pulled her up form the couch. He opened a portal and led her through it. On the other side was a small asian village high up in the mountains. A cold wind swept through the street, the morning sun shone down on them as he led her down the road a bit before he walked up to a patio with a few tables taken up by what she assumed were the locals. They got a few odd looks before they looked at Harry and went back to what they were doing. "Fu Mei! I'm back and I brought company!" Harry suddenly shouted out in mandarin as he approached a table and waved her to sit.
"Who's that hollering for me!" an older woman dressed in a thick cheongsam style dress came bustling out carrying large bowls of steaming soup. Noticing Harry she quickly dropped off the soup and stomped over and started tugging on his ear, "You punk. You don't come and see Fu Mei for months?! I thought something happened to you!"
"I'm sorry Fu Mei! I was busy!" Harry shouted with a yelp. She then released his ear and grabbed his face looking him all over before she patted his cheek and finally noticed Natasha sitting on the other side of the table.
"Oh ho, you brought your girlfriend huh? She's a real looker too." She checked out Natasha quite blatantly, "Tsk, should have introduced you to my niece before now." Waving her bad thoughts she focused back on Harry, "What does your girlfriend want to eat?"
"Do you want anything in particular?" Harry asked Natasha.
She smirked and turned to Fu Mei and spoke in rusty Mandarin, "Could I get a bowl of Hot and Sour soup?" Fu Mei gave a shocked expression before she chuckled and nodded.
Harry was about to speak up, but Fu Mei waved him off, "I know what you want. The beef noodles right?" When Harry nodded she just bustled off back to the kitchen. Harry turned in his seat to see Nat smirking at him. "What?"
"She must know you well to be that familiar with you." Natasha said. Harry nodded and started to explain.
"Well a few years ago, when I first came to this world, I would go on missions for my…supernatural friends. One day I was sent just outside this village to banish some type of fear demon summoned by an idiot looking to 'make a deal with the devil' so to speak. When I was done I could smell the most heavenly cooking coming right from this courtyard. That's how I met Fu Mei. Over the next few years I would return at least once a month. I eventually but up a friendship with her and now she fusses over me every time I come through." Harry finished with a shrug. During his story he was making a set of tea and placed the cups on the table. Taking a sip he continued a thought out loud, "I bet she would love to meet the twins."
Natasha smiled as she watched Harry tell his story and then ponder bringing his adopted kids here. She took a quick glance around out of habit and noticed that a few of the older people sitting around were giving Harry fond glances. She assumed that she wasn't getting the full story about what he does around the village but she could guess based on the goodwill he's receiving. Not too long after his story, they were chatting about places they had seen Fu Mei come hustling out of the kitchen with two large bowls. When she set them down Natasha got a whiff of the soup and almost started drooling with how heavenly it smelled. "You two enjoy," she then looked at Natasha, "but don't let him leave until I get a pot of his tea. You hear?"
"Fu Mei, you know you only have to ask." Harry said even as he was scooping noodles with his chopsticks. Fu Mei made eye contact with Natasha and rolled her eyes before she patted her shoulder and bustled off to another table. Harry gave her an eyebrow raise, which looked ridiculous because he had noodles hanging from his mouth. Natasha just smirked before she started spooning her soup into her mouth. The next several minutes were quiet as they almost scarfed down the food. When they were done Harry was making another pot of tea. Almost like she knew, Fu Mei appeared from nowhere and took a seat. Harry slowly and methodically made three cups of tea before placing them before Natasha, Fu Mei, and himself.
Fu Mei just sat there slowly enjoying the tea with a blissful look on her face as the sun was soon rising above the horizon. The sound of the village waking up and people out and about was evidently some kind of signal to Fu Mei as she finished up her tea and stood, "You Harry, need to come back more often. Your tea is better than most of the traveling tea masters that come through here."
"I will Fu Mei, don't you worry." Fu Mei gave him another smile and patted his cheek before she bustled back off to an older couple that sat down a few minutes ago. Harry smiled fondly as she walked off before he stood up and stretched. He looked over at her, "Want to go back stateside?" Natasha gave a genuine smile and agreed. When they were about to walk away Harry took out a bundle of Yuan and put it under his bowl. He gave her a wink and led her away quickly. "If we don't leave soon she'll try and give it back." After that Harry took her back to the Tower where they continued to chat and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Around midnight Harry gave Natasha a quick kiss, "I had a great time. We should do it again."
"As long as we eat something as delicious as what Fu Mei made us. I don't mind." Nat said with a smirk before she leaned in and gave Harry a much deeper kiss, "Goodnight Harry." Nat then walked over to the Frame and went back to the Helicarrier to sleep.
Harry sighed as he faded back to his house. He checked on the twins and found Pietro passed out across the end of his bed with a controller in his hand and the TV and game system still on. Shaking his head he straightened him out and put him under the covers. Going across the hall he found Wanda already asleep in bed and headed to his own room. Laying down after changing he sighed once again and his dreams were filled with red hair and green eyes.