Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter or The Avengers belong to me, only the plot and original characters are mine. No money is being made from this story.
Warnings: Violence, Swearing, Slash, AU. Ignores everything after the first Avengers movie and the events of Harry Potter after year five are AU though some events did occur (including the Horcruxes).
Pairings: Harry Potter/Steve Rogers, Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger(minor), Tony Stark/Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner/Remus Lupin, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Blaise Zabini/Natasha Romanoff, Thor/Jane Foster.
A/N: I know I shouldn't be starting a new story whilst still doing Sudden Changes but this idea got into my head and I couldn't get it out of my head without writing it.
Chapter One
As cliché as it sounded, Harry had named his little three man Auror squad the Phoenix Squad. When he had been promoted to squad leader, barely two years out of the Auror Academy, he had been given the chance to create his own team and he knew exactly who he wanted. His choices, however, had garnered quite a few unhappy reactions from a lot of people in the wizarding world.
The first person he had recruited was the young Malfoy heir, though they were enemies throughout most of their years at school they had developed a friendship in their sixth year of school when the young blonde had refused to take the Dark Mark and join the ranks of the Death Eaters like his father. Draco had gone to his mother and begged her to help him escape the fate that awaited him, she had made arrangements for him to be spirited away in the night but a house elf had informed Lucius Malfoy of their plans and they had been caught.
Draco had been held down by his own uncles, the Lestrange brothers, and had been forced to watch as his father proceeded to torture his mother with the Cruciatus curse. Once Lucius had tortured her enough he made her watch as he then tortured Draco, the last thing she saw, before her heart finally gave out, was her son screaming in pain as Lucius used the Sectumsempra curse on Draco, almost shredding his chest to pieces. The young wizard was then partially healed, so he wouldn't bleed to death before more could be inflicted upon him, then promptly thrown into a cell in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor.
He had spent a good two weeks in the dungeon being periodically tortured by his own family, the worst of all came from his deranged aunt Bellatrix. In a desperate bid to escape his never ending hell, Draco had called upon the one house elf that had ever cared for him. And though that particular elf had been accidently freed by his father in his second year of school, Dobby had jumped at the chance to save his former masters son, the only one in the manor to ever treat him as an equal.
Dobby had apparated him away in the dead of night, the day before Voldemort himself was due to turn up to inflict the final punishment on the young Malfoy. Dobby had taken him to Hogwarts where the headmaster had immediately called on Madam Pomphrey to heal the boy. Once Draco had recovered enough from his injuries he had informed the headmaster of what had happened and how he had managed to escape. Dumbledore had to call in Molly Weasley to deal with him when he slipped into a crippling depression once he realised that his mother really was dead. The Weasley matriarch had put aside all hostility towards the young boy and had held him as he cried himself into an exhausted sleep, she then took it upon herself to bring the boy back to the Burrow so he could heal properly.
Ron had not been impressed with having his school enemy in his home and was hostile towards the Slytherin. Molly had finally sat down all her children, including Harry and Hermione who were spending the summer there, she then proceeded to tell them everything that had happened to the young boy. Harry had been the first to approach him and they had tentatively started a friendship, it took Hermione and Ginny smacking Ron upside the head several times to get him to finally stop acting like a jerk to the blonde.
That summer had been one of the best Draco had ever experienced and he vowed to take his revenge for his mother. He would face his father again but he would be better trained and would kill the man in the final battle.
The other recruit that Harry had selected was Draco's one and only loyal childhood friend, Blaise Zabini. Coming from a neutral family he had stuck by the young blonde and had kept him safe upon his return to school. Once the children of the Death Eaters had heard of his betrayal they had tried several times to kill the boy, one attempt almost succeeded which prompted Dumbledore to assign him his own rooms away from the other students in his house. Blaise had bunked with him to keep an extra eye on him. With their friendship still intact it was only natural that Blaise was included in all the activities that involved the Golden Trio.
The three wizards had all joined the academy together, finishing the program in two years instead of the normal three. They had been assigned to the same team, their case solve rate was the highest the ministry had seen in decades. It was only natural for Harry to choose them to be on his team once he was promoted, he trusted no one else to have his back in a fight.
Though Auror teams usually consisted of five to ten members, Harry wanted a small team because it helped them to be better at stealth missions. They were the ones who were called in when others couldn't solve a crime or catch the suspect, most of the cells in Azkaban were now filled thanks to them. They were good at their job and the wizarding world knew it, to the point that they had been called in to do some work by other ministries. They had spent a good six months in central Europe the year before working on a series of cases that ended up being connected. It was Blaise who had joined all the clues together, after six months of work it had all finally paid off when the group of dark wizards was finally apprehended and put behind bars.
Once the twenty first century had hit, the wizards had finally decided to come out of the middle ages of living. They started to integrate muggle technology into their world once Hermione had managed to figure out a way for magic and technology to coexist without the tech exploding from bursts of magic. It took a good five years, after the defeat of Voldemort, for Hermione to solve the problem. The Minister for magic had created a new department in the ministry specifically for the integration and control of muggle technology, Hermione was made head of the department and a lot of half-bloods and Muggleborns had joined the department over the years.
Muggle studies was now a compulsory subject at Hogwarts, they had to hire another teacher because the classes were so full that one didn't cut it anymore. However, there were some Purebloods who were not impressed with the changes and tried to sabotage a lot of the works being done around Britain. Not every place had the technology integrated yet, some of the ministry had it and only Harry's Auror team had integrated the tech into their missions, probably why they had more success than the other groups.
The integration of muggle technology was made easier by the fact that the new Minister for Magic was none other than Arthur Weasley himself. His love for all things muggle had made granting Hermione's request that much easier. Kingsley had been offered the position of Minister but had turned it down to be the head of the Auror office, he wasn't one for politics so decided to take the less hassle job. Of course, peace didn't last long in the wizarding world.
Death Eaters were no longer a threat, having all been tried and the punishments fit the crimes committed during both the wars. Draco had great pleasure watching as his father was given a life sentence in Azkaban, the former aristocrat was assigned his very own Dementor to keep him company. Only the worst of the criminals were assigned their own Dementor, too many of them had been killed in the final battle and they were too easily turned for the ministry to trust anymore.
The new threat in the wizarding world were those who didn't want to advance past their current level of technology. They believed that Voldemort had been right about muggles taking over and started to protest. They were easy to take down because they were nowhere near as dangerous as Voldemort's followers had been, their small group had been dubbed Voldemort Sympathisers and it mostly consisted of purebloods and half-bloods. They weren't a big threat as their numbers were not high enough to put them in league with the Death Eaters, many witches and wizards saw the benefits of muggle technology and embraced it.
Many of the stores in Diagon Alley had already changed to muggle lighting but used magic as the source of power. It made lighting Hogwarts castle a lot quicker and easier, something Filch was happy about. The Weasley twins had even branched out into the wizarding world and have plans to open stores in America, New York would be a steal. They still refused to use muggle transport; cars and the like. Though it was a requirement in the Auror department to acquire their licence to better blend in with the muggles.
All in all, the wizarding world had advanced for the better since the demise of Voldemort. Harry had become an Auror like he had wanted and he had a very close knit and successful team. What could possibly go wrong?
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
"Have you finished that report yet?" Harry asked as he entered into the office he shared with his two other team mates.
"Just need to print it out. So glad we use computers for this kind of thing, it takes half the time to write up a report that it used to." Blaise informed him as he clicked on the print icon on his laptop and stood from his chair.
"They are a great addition; I think Kingsley prefers them typed over written. I've seen him squinting at the hand written reports and he gets frustrated with how some of the words are smudged from the ink not being dried properly." Draco added as he typed away on his own laptop.
"I think he's pushing for the other squads to have theirs issued sooner, I'm pretty sure we were the first to get all this stuff simply because of who I am." Harry said as he sat behind his desk.
"Gin likes some of the new additions to our house, they make some things simpler especially with her being pregnant." Draco told the others.
"How is she, anyway?" Harry asked his friend.
Draco and Ginny had been married since they were twenty and Ginny was currently pregnant with their second child, at thirty-two weeks she had noticed bleeding and had gone to St. Mungo's. They still hadn't figured out what had caused it.
"She's doing okay, she's due to have another ultrasound on Friday." Draco told them. He wouldn't admit it, at least not out loud, but he was more scared now than he ever had been during the war.
"Have they determined what's wrong yet?" Blaise asked.
"No and that's what is most worrying. All the tests are stressing Ginny out and it's not good for the baby, Molly has practically moved in to help us out but Gin still worries." Draco told them.
"After everything you two have been through you'd think you would have caught a break by now. How is Chris handling it?" Harry asked. Christopher was their first child, he was a perfect mix of both his parents and had just celebrated his third birthday.
"He doesn't fully understand what is going on, all he knows is that mummy has to stay in bed and can't pick him up at the moment."
"Have you guys thought of going to a muggle doctor? Maybe they know something the healers at St. Mungo's don't?" Blaise asked him.
"Hermione said the same thing, I think Ginny is actually considering it. She's still got two months left and we still don't have an answer." Draco explained.
Harry was about to ask another question when there was a knock on their office door, giving the okay to enter the three wizards looked towards the door as Kingsley's assistant entered into the room.
"Hey, guys. The boss man wants to see you."
"Thanks Dean, tell him we'll be there soon." Harry told his former dorm mate. With a nod and a smile, Dean Thomas exited the office.
"Okay guys, let's go see what the boss wants. Fingers crossed that it's not a big case he wants us to take." Harry said as he rose from his seat and put his jacket on before making his way to the door.
"I really hope he doesn't have a big one for us, I can't leave Ginny right now." Draco added as he followed his team leader out the door.
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
"He's expecting you." Dean told them as they entered into the waiting room outside of the head auror's office.
"Thanks Dean." Harry said as the three wizards entered into the office of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Gentlemen, please, take a seat." Kingsley said as the three wizards entered.
"Okay Kingsley, let's just get to it. What is it you want?" Harry asked as he took a seat.
"I hate to say this boys, especially with what is going on with your wife Draco but I really need your help on this one." Kingsley told them.
"Come on, boss. Isn't there anyone else?" Draco asked.
"If I could trust another team with this then I wouldn't even be asking you. I got a request from the Magical Congress of the United States of America, there is a group of Dark Wizards causing trouble over there and they have asked for your assistance specifically." Kingsley told them.
"Oh come on, did this have to happen now?" Draco asked.
"I'm sorry Draco but your team was asked for, all the ones they have sent have either comeback in body bags or empty handed." Kingsley explained further.
"If I could send someone else then I would but you three are the best for the job."
"It's okay Dray, we'll sort something out. I'll put a request in for a reusable portkey in case you are needed back here." Harry told his friend.
"I'll make sure the request is at the top of the pile." Kingsley said to them.
"What are the details?" Blaise asked.
"For the last six months there have been rumours spreading throughout the American City of New York that there is a group of wizards and witches getting their hands on advanced muggle weaponry. In the last month it has escalated and they have managed to determine part of the groups plans, namely to gain control of more destructive muggle weaponry." Kingsley started.
"They have tracked them down to the city itself but there are still sightings in the outer suburbs. So far the muggle government just thinks it's your everyday bad guy muggle but if the group keeps spreading out then it's only a matter of time before they get discovered."
"That will be a big problem, last thing we need is a bunch of unskilled muggles getting into the mix and making matters worse." Harry added.
"Like the Glasgow incident. The Obliviators had their hands full with that one." Blaise said, he remembered the incident clearly. A lot of muggle law enforcement officers had their memories altered because they had managed to stumble across a group of Voldemort Sympathisers trying to destroy a magical power plant that was in the process of being set up.
"The only ones currently aware of the rising situation are the four of us and several American Auror's as well as their President." Kingsley told them as he pulled out the letter with the request on it before passing it to Harry.
"Hmm, group of eight. Mix of purebloods, half-bloods and Muggleborns. Been raiding muggle warehouses, so far no casualties among the muggle population. There are, however, multiple injuries and sightings of magic by the muggles. Their Obliviator department has been working overtime to keep the activities under wraps." Harry told his team mates as he read the letter.
"That's not much to go on." Blaise said as he looked over Harry's shoulder.
"The Auror's have yet to get close enough to determine who is in charge; I don't like sending you guys in with scraps for details but if anyone can do it then it's you three." Kingsley told them as he accepted the parchment back.
"Okay, boss man, we'll do it but only if we can leave after the weekend." Draco spoke up.
"Oh shit, that's right. It's Ginny's birthday on Sunday." Harry said once he ran the dates through his head.
"Okay, I'll send a reply letting the head of the American Auror office know what day you will be arriving. Once you arrive there they will be able to fill you in on what they have managed to gather so far. I'll see you all here bright and early on Monday morning, you can go now." Kingsley told the three wizards.
The three young wizards rose from their seats and exited the office, Harry and Blaise had no one to leave behind so they could leave at the drop of a hat. Normally Draco wouldn't worry about having to go away for a mission but with the current problem with Ginny's pregnancy he was worried that something would happen while he was away. The reusable portkey wouldn't really ease his worries and he was hoping that he would be able to concentrate on the mission while he was away from his wife.
"I'll meet you at your place tomorrow, Draco. I have some things to do tonight." Harry told the blonde as he picked up the pile of case files from his desk.
"Got a date?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah, with a pizza and a stack of paper work." Harry replied.
"You need to get out more." Draco told his friend as he put a couple of his own files in his bag.
"I do get out, occasionally. I just don't have time to do what you're suggesting, between my job, coaching Teddy's junior Quidditch league and helping Hermione with the mechanics of her new car. I don't know why she had to buy that piece of junk in the first place."
"When was the last time you went on a date?" Draco asked.
"I don't know, maybe six months ago." Harry said with an uncaring shrug as he turned to look at his friend.
"You really need to start living for yourself, Harry." Blaise told him.
"When people stop wanting me just for my fame and money then I'll start dating again." Harry told them as he walked out the door.
"I'll see you guys later."
With a wave goodbye, Harry walked to the elevator and pushed the button. He left his two partners standing in the office looking at each other with exasperated looks on their faces. Their friend really needed to get laid.
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
Six o'clock that night found Harry sitting on the lounge in the living room of his little one-bedroom apartment. He had the t.v on in the background as white noise whilst he slowly drank from a bottle of beer as he went over one of the cold case files he had brought home with him as he waited for his pizza to turn up. This was how he spent most nights after work, he'd take home whatever files had built up on his desk over the day, mostly cold cases, and he'd order in and settle on the lounge with the file spread over the coffee table as he sipped at a cold beer.
He had tried dating, being gay didn't matter in the wizarding world so it wasn't like it was hard to find a date. The problem was that he was only ever approached by those who wanted their fifteen minutes of fame by shagging the boy who lived. He had been burned too many times to date in the wizarding world ever again, the muggle world didn't hold much hope either. He was serious when he told Draco that he was too busy to go out, his nights were spent going over case files when he wasn't at a friend's place for dinner and his Saturday's were spent coaching his godsons Quidditch team. His Sunday's were spent sleeping to give him the energy he'd need for the next week of long work hours and short sleep.
Another plus side to Arthur becoming the new Minister for Magic was that after Tonks' death during the final battle Remus was able to keep his son. He and Tonks had a complicated relationship, they had gotten together while Remus was still grieving for Sirius after his death. One drunk night had led to Tonks becoming pregnant and Andromeda had made them marry so things would be easier for Remus when it concerned his son. Teddy was born about a month before the final battle occurred and was with his grandmother when Tonks was murdered by her own aunt, yet another reason for Harry to despise Bellatrix. It was the second time that deranged psychopath had taken someone from Remus and Teddy was left without a mother.
The ministry had wanted to take Teddy from Remus' custody when the war was over, Andromeda had gained custody until things could be sorted for Remus to take him. Thankfully, Remus' greatest fear didn't come to pass and instead of inheriting Remus' lycanthropy, Teddy had inherited his mother's metamorphmagus abilities. As long as Remus took the Wolfsbane potion every month and had someone watch Teddy during his transformations then he would keep custody of his son. Harry had been happy when Remus found out he was allowed his son, he deserved to finally have things go in his favour for once.
Harry's musings were interrupted by the doorbell ringing, sounds like his dinner had arrived. He put his beer down as well as the file he was reading through and got up from the lounge and headed the short distance to his apartment door.
"Hey, do I have the right place?" The pizza delivery boy asked once Harry opened the door.
"Meaty meat with lots of cheese?" Harry asked the kid.
"Yep, a carnivore's dream. That'll be twelve pound fifty."
"Fantastic, keep the change." Harry said as he handed over a twenty pound note and took the delicious smelling pizza from the delivery boy.
"Thanks man." The kid said, it was the biggest tip he had received that day
Harry nodded to the kid and closed the door, not being able to wait till he got to the lounge he pulled out a slice and started eating it as he made his way back to the living room. He was in for a long night so he might as well get started.
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
"How long are you going to be gone for?"
"I don't know, Gin. We weren't given much information about what was actually going on, Harry wasn't impressed with that part." Draco explained as he got dressed for bed.
He had arrived home to a tired wife and a hyperactive three-year-old. Once he fed and bathed his son, Christopher was ready for his bed time story and his nightly snuggle with his father. After growing up with a father that barely had time for him and hardly spoke to him when he wasn't busy, Draco had sworn that he would spend all his free time with his son and that he'd always read him a bed time story every night. Even when he's away for work he would always ring to read his son his favourite story, he's read it enough times to know it off by heart so he doesn't need the book itself.
"We're not leaving till Monday, so I'll have the weekend with you and Chris. We've been given the rest of the week off so I'll also be able to go with you on Friday. Have you thought anymore about going and seeing a muggle doctor?" Draco asked as he climbed into bed next to his wife.
"If they still don't have an answer for us at the appointment on Friday then I'll take Hermione up on her offer of seeing her aunt. Apparently her father's sister is a doctor, she knows of the wizarding world because she married a wizard and their oldest two are at Hogwarts." Ginny explained to him.
"How quickly can we get in to see her?"
"Hermione has already booked the appointment, just in case. It's on Saturday at eleven."
"I'm really hoping it's not bad news, at that first sign of bleeding you had I've never been more scared of anything." Draco admitted as he drew Ginny to his chest and placed his hand on her stomach.
"I know; we'll know soon enough." Ginny told him as she snuggled closer to him.
"Harry is putting in for a reusable portkey for me, so if anything happens all I need is one phone call from you and I'll be right back." Draco explained.
"That makes me feel better about you going, mum may have to actually move in while you are away. She's only been staying here during the day but she won't leave me here on my own if you are going to be so far away for an undetermined amount of time."
"I wish I didn't have to go."
"I wish you didn't have to go as well but you and the others are the best team that the Auror office has to offer and you said that they had asked for you guys specifically." Ginny told him.
"I know, hopefully we can get this over and done with quickly so I can be back here for this one's birth. I still can't believe you won't let me find out what we are having." Draco said with a hint of frustration in his voice.
"I want to be surprised, I let you know with Chris but I want this one to be a surprise. It's more fun this way and I love watching you get frustrated at the ultrasound appointments when I make you look away from the image." Ginny said with a giggle.
"You're just mean, should have listened to Fred when I told them I wanted to marry you."
"Oh really, and why is that?" Ginny asked as she lifted her head to look at the blonde.
"He said you had a mean streak about you and you enjoyed frustrating people." Draco told her.
"I kind of thought you had figured that out while we were dating, I never held back then. The effects of growing up with six older brothers, I had to survive somehow."
"It's alright, I knew what I was in for when I asked you to marry me. You have no idea what I went through just to get permission to ask in the first place. I had to go through a lecture from all six of your brothers, Percy surprised me there, as well as from your father. I even offered to take Veritaserum to prove that I had no intention of hurting you."
"Well you must have passed all they laid before you or otherwise we wouldn't be married." Ginny told him with a smile.
"Oh hush, you. Go to sleep, we'll be woken by an early riser in the morning and you need your rest." Draco kissed Ginny then reached over to the lamp and flicked the switch, casting the room into darkness.
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
"I won't lie to you; the news is bad." Doctor Mia O'Donnell said as she took a seat behind her desk.
It was Saturday afternoon, two hours after Ginny's initial appointment with the doctor. The doctor had spent the last hour and a half consulting with one of her fellow colleagues on the matter. She had ordered a more invasive ultrasound after being told what had led to Ginny being put on bed rest.
"Is the baby okay?" Draco asked as he grabbed his wife's hand and squeezed it.
"You have what is called Placenta Praevia, from your medical records of the injuries you sustained during the war you fought in I'm surprised your first pregnancy went so well." The doctor informed them.
"What is that?" Ginny asked with a hoarse voice after she was able to push the words past the lump forming in her throat.
"Placenta Praevia is an obstetric complication in which the placenta is inserted partially or wholly in the lower uterine segment. There are two classifications, minor and major. Yours is classed as major, meaning the placenta has moved and is right where the baby is meant to come out. It also doesn't help that the little one is feet first and is showing no signs of moving anytime soon."
"But the baby is alright?" Draco asked again.
"The chances of an early delivery by caesarean is very high, I want to book you in for another ultrasound and check up on Tuesday next week. You can deliver safely at thirty-six weeks if it needs to be done but that is only a possibility if the baby goes into distress, at the moment the baby seems to be coping very well with what's been going on and you need to continue with the bed rest."
Ginny and Draco both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that the baby was okay, the news wasn't as bad as they thought it would be but it wasn't good news either. The only bright side was that the baby was doing okay.
"Thank you so much, magical healers really need to bone up on the twenty first century when it comes to all things medical." Draco said to the woman across from them.
"From what my husband has told me, magical folks aren't affected by most muggle illnesses. Kind of feel envious of you for that but it does make me feel better knowing that my kids won't be subjected to muggle diseases." Doctor O'Donnell said to them.
"Where do we need to go to book the appointment for next week?" Ginny asked.
"I've already booked the appointment for you, just come in like you did today. You'll be at thirty-four weeks by then."
"Thank you so much for this, I'm really glad that Hermione knew someone who knew about the wizarding world. It made today go by so much easier without having to make up lies about my medical records." Ginny said as Draco helped her rise from her seat.
"You're welcome, I'll see you next week." Doctor O'Donnell said as she shook both their hands and saw them out of her office.
HPAVENGERSHPAVENGERSHP
Monday morning found the Phoenix Squad at the portkey departure room at the Ministry of Magic ready to take the assigned portkey to the ministry in New York. The three wizards had spent their weekends the way they normally did; Sunday night was spent at the Malfoy house with a birthday dinner for Ginny. Molly had moved in on Sunday making the guest room up for stay, Charlie and his husband had made plans to have Chris for a few days over the weeks leading to Ginny's due date.
Hermione had given Harry a new piece of tech that she wanted him to try out, she had modelled it after a muggle GPS system only instead of it finding a destination it tracked magical signatures. There were spells for that type of tracking but they didn't always work and they generally had a shorter range than what this new piece could reach. Harry's team would try it out on this mission and if it passed muster then they would be issued to all the Auror teams.
The young witch always used the Phoenix Squad as her test subjects when it came to any new tech she wanted to introduce into the magical world. The last one she had them test out was a pocket field generator that enabled them to tap into more magic during longer missions.
"I expect constant reports; I don't like the lack of intel on this one. There has to be something they aren't telling us." Kingsley said to his three agents as they waited for their portkey.
"We'll find out what is going on." Draco told his boss.
"Just be careful and come back alive, that's all I ask." Kingsley told them as Dean Thomas walked into the room with the appointed portkey.
"Will do." Harry said as he and the two others grabbed hold of the cup that had been made a portkey.
Once they landed, Harry promptly hunched over and started taking deep breathes. After all the years of using portkeys they were still the worse mode of transport wizards had and Harry had an adverse reaction every time he used one. It was the cause of quite a few jokes being said at his expense.
"Wow, you'd think after fifteen years of using those things that I'd be used to them by now." Harry said once he stood properly.
"Gentlemen, welcome to America." A man dressed in what looked like a very expensive muggle suit walked towards where they were standing.
"Are you the head Auror?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I'm Isaac Walsh head of the Auror department here in New York. We have one other department that is in Los Angeles, they mainly deal with the west coast." Walsh explained to them.
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Harry Potter this is Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Your report was rather vague, is there anything else that you have learned since we got your original report?" Harry asked as the head Auror led them towards his office.
"We've managed to gather some more intelligence since we last communicated with your head of office. Our last team to go in got further than the rest and were able to determine that the main group is about eight members, they have quite a few muggles as their lackey's who are mainly IT specialists with something to prove."
"Do you have any leads on who the ring leaders are?" Draco asked.
"We've managed to name one so far. Bartholomew Bishop, he's a pureblood from a lower class family. More of a follower than a leader from what we've managed to gather from his files. We're still working on the other two in charge, the main leader seems to be a rather vindictive piece of work. He's the one that sent three of our Auror's back in body bags." Walsh explained further as he led the team down a hallway, on the second floor, towards his office.
"What spells were used to kill them?" Blaise asked.
"That's the thing, he didn't use any spells. All three Auror's were shot in the head with a muggle gun." Walsh told them.
"That's odd, wouldn't using Avada Kadavra work quicker?" Draco asked.
"Not really, muggle guns are faster than any spell we can cast. It's harder to dodge a bullet than it is to dodge a spell. Remember that Muggleborn we went after last year? By the time we had fired off three spells he had emptied a full clip of bullets at us, whereas all of our spells completely missed their target." Harry reminded the blonde.
"Yeah, I definitely remember that. I wasn't so lucky in ducking out of the way and ended up with a bullet hole in my shoulder, hurt like a son of a bitch." Blaise said.
"We were also able to discover a warehouse that they have been using, it's not one of their main basses but there is enough activity going in and out of it on a daily basis to cause concern." Walsh told them as he directed them to seats in front of his desk before taking his own seat.
"We have you set up at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, most of our leads are from that area as well as Hell's Kitchen. It's easier for you to be in the muggle world so you don't have to keep coming back and forth for anything you need to do. Your cover story is three friends on a holiday from England, wanting to see the sites." Walsh informed them as he handed the information over to Harry.
"There is something you're not telling us, something that could make our movements about the city very difficult." Harry suggested as he looked up from the information on the hotel they had been booked into.
"There is a muggle agency over here that deals in the, I guess you could say supernatural and not quite normal. They are known as S.H.I.E.L.D, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. They're the ones who created The Avengers Initiative." Walsh explained.
"Aren't they the ones who had that big alien battle that tore up half of Manhattan?" Blaise asked.
"Yes, I'm not too sure of the details though. We try to keep out of the muggle's problems but if it had gotten out of control we would have stepped in. It would have caused a lot of hassle and more paperwork than I like but it would have been doable." Walsh told them.
"Paperwork is a bitch." Harry said absently as he read over the new report that Walsh had just handed to him.
"A car is waiting out front to take you to your hotel, any resources you need you can ask for through my assistant. I need to send you on your way now because I have a meeting with the President concerning another case, Abigail will show you out to your car and answer any other questions you have." Walsh said as he stood from his seat.
"Thank you for your time." Harry said as he shook the man's hand.
Harry placed the new reports into his bag before following Draco and Blaise out of the office. They met up with Walsh's assistant, Abigail Young. The three men knew that turning up at the hotel with no luggage would be very suspicious so they pulled their shrunken trunks out of their bags and resized them before promptly transfiguring them into looking like regular muggle luggage. They then proceeded to follow Walsh's assistant out of the building to their awaiting car.
Harry hated going into an assignment with barely any details, the Auror's here hadn't been able to gather much. With the possibility of a muggle agency sticking their nose in where it wasn't wanted, things would be a lot harder to accomplish. Things were looking to be very interesting.