A War Is Won By Soldiers Not Sentimentality

Chapter 1

A War Is Won By Soldiers Not Sentiment

Chapter 1

The second war with Lord Voldemort had been an intense battle that led to Harry Potter successfully defeating Voldemort and beating back the Dark Lord's ruling. With it, the Death Eaters were finally actually punished for their actions, not that Harry had been there to see it. Harry had made what he saw as the worst decision of his life; he had used the Elder wand, just once, while in the possession of the two other Hallows. He had intended on getting rid of the Elder wand directly after. He had felt it as soon as he used it, hiding his growing concern from both his friends, but it hadn't taken long to receive his answer, not when he had seen Death himself standing before him informing him he was his true master. That he was practically immortal, it had dawned on him pretty quick that he would see everyone around him die and he wouldn't. That impact was still carried with him, he never let anyone close, spent his time travelling the world, starting from the areas closest to him. Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Poland and now he was in Germany. He wasn't only travelling to magical areas but to Muggle ones too, he had to keep himself entertained, and he did that very well, he had learned so much magic, magic that Britain did not approve of at all.

To begin with he had received so many letters from everyone in the magical world, all of them protesting the fact he had left them to rebuild the magical world themselves. That he should join in, he was one of the wealthiest wizards in the magical world after all. The relentless badgering had only done one thing, made it so much easier for him to walk away. He hadn't told even Ron and Hermione why he had chosen to leave, letting them speculate whatever they felt like. Over the years it had become more bearable having left those he loved behind.

There was only one except to his rule, his godson, whom he kept in contact with, regaling him with tales of his travels. When he was younger Harry would visit him in secret every Sunday, no matter where in the world he was. He couldn't abandon his godson, he couldn't be like Sirius, while Sirius had tried, and it hadn't been good enough in his book. He didn't see him as often anymore, just maybe three or four times a year, Teddy had a family of his own now and no longer needed him, he had married Bill and Fleur's daughter, Victoire he had left him with a considerable sized vault so he would never have to struggle through life.

Harry was technically thirty-five years old, but he didn't look a day over twenty-one, he had stopped aging, just as Death had revealed to him all those years ago. Death visited sometimes, but never for long, unfortunately death never stopped, and so Death never had time to having a long conversation with his 'Master' which he had strongly informed him never to call him that again.

Harry cursed suddenly as people began screaming and scrambling from a museum of some sorts he was passing by. He was quite literally boxed in at all sides, literally having to move himself otherwise he would have ended up trampled over by everyone, and the women were all in heels, he definitely didn't relish the thought of that occurring. He was looking for their source of panic though, then he felt it, extremely powerful beyond belief, foreign magic, with the likes he'd never felt before. The blue coloured beam (not until normal magic) smashed into the police car, Harry gazed at it critically realizing it was nothing like his magic, it felt wrong too, outwardly it reminded him on the surface of the fire charm Hermione had cast in his first year to warm them up a bit that was as far as the likeness went. Harry unlike the others didn't panic; he was more interested in finding out what source of magic it was. He was the Master of Death, had travelled the world and saw many different magicks and magic practitioners. He should know what kind of magic it was, but he didn't. It made him curious, and so he continued to observe what he could, over the sheer panic that was surrounding him on all ends. Regretfully death was something he had to come to terms with, he couldn't save everyone when someone was marked for death, they were marked, and nothing could prevent death from collecting the soul.

Then the figure who had cast the spell, began to appear all around the people boxing them in, Harry looked around at them, the magic in those figures he decided to call them, were different from the magic cast by his sceptre, now that was definitely catching his attention, even his magic had changed into one definable magical signature, it's what had kept him off the ministry's radar and enabled him to keep himself to himself and not be hounded day and night. There was something just not right, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"KNEEEEL!" the figure shouted, bringing Harry out of his thoughts, not for long, when he got a good look at him Harry realized he was dressed oddly, and having lived in the magical world for seven years (and going in and out over the years to different magical societies) he knew what he was talking about. There was magic surrounding that too, now his curiosity was turning into irritation. The helmet though made him have to refrain from snorting; the horns were just utterly ridiculous on his head. "I said KNEEL!" he roared, his voice taking on a really angry pitch causing his magic to pulse just slightly.

Then Harry watched those surrounding him begin to kneel, he quickly cast a disillusioning spell on himself, their faces filled with terror, they were terrified of him. Curiosity getting the better of him, Harry connected with the person closest to him, sliding into their mind and saw what had occurred to make them so terrified of him. He was one hundred percent sure he had used a muggle implement, this guy whoever he was, was brutal, he didn't even flinch once at what he was doing, yet had no interest in killing him, he had merely probably blinded him in the one eye if his calculations were correct, if he had killed him then Death would have appeared with him being so close to the conflict, he must have been after something then. He was dressed different, and even Harry had to admit he was hot as hell in the suit he had been wearing.

Before they had even finished kneeling before the wizard (if he was even a wizard) he began talking, Harry was reminded vividly of Voldemort actually, with the exception of the way he spoke, now Harry had never heard anyone phrase things the way this wizard did. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?"

Harry arched an eyebrow, natural state? He didn't know whether to think he was crazy, or not, and that magical signature was really starting to get on his nerves. Who in their right mind wanted to take over the lives of the Muggles? Not only were the magical world tiny compared to those of the Muggle world, they were boring, predictable and annoying nosy…same could be said for wizards too though. He had an image of Gellert and Dumbledore doing the same thing, for they had wanted to subjugate the Muggles too. This wasn't going to end well; he was revealing magic in a huge way to the Muggles. Wizards were going to be cleaning this up for months. Why was it that wizards who wanted to rule liked to talk? Voldemort had done the same thing and it had allowed him to get out of very stick situations that could have otherwise resulted in his death.

"It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation." he continued as he walked amongst the Muggles Harry observed, there was something distinctively off, he just couldn't put his finger on it, "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity, you were made to be ruled."

He walked further, "In the end, you'll always kneel."

Harry twitched in surprise when a Muggle stood up, "Not to men like you," he proclaimed proudly, alright so some of them were alright, some of them continued to surprise Harry after all this time.

The wizard laughed in amusement, "There are no men like me," he replied.

"There are always men like you," the Muggle said in turn, what was he doing Harry thought, trying to get himself killed? He was playing with power beyond his ken, with a resigned sigh, Harry swiftly moved in front of the man, he might have changed but he wasn't about to let someone kill another being, not while he had the power to stop it and he most certainly did, allowing the disillusionment to fall away.

"I'd like to see you try," Harry stated sharply, "Why don't you play with someone of your own power,"

Those green eyes sharpened (had they just glimmered blue?) before he blasted a blue light from his sceptre, Harry called up his strongest shield, causing the odd magic to bounce off it much to Harry's relief, as strange as the magic was, he hadn't had a clue whether his own magic would be able to prevent it from smashing into him. It bounced right through one of the illusions he had up, when everyone realized that they weren't surrounded on all sides, they began to flee.

Harry merely rolled his eyes at them, before he could do anything else, the sceptre was pointed at his chest, he could see the magic furling along it and trying to get into him, but it continue to wash off him like water, whatever he was trying to do it was obviously failing. It angered him, he obviously didn't like being beaten, then Harry noticed something that gave him pause, how strange, yet the knowledge this wizard was trying to do something to him enraged him, so without pause he blasted his own magic at the wizard, causing him to be blasted away from him.

Harry cursed, erecting another shied; the wizard had barely tumbled, before pointing his sceptre at him, blasting him with magic.

Out of nowhere someone in a star spangled suit appeared, with a shield to go with it holding the shield in front of both of them, causing the magic to bounce back, and hitting the wizard causing him to fall flat on his face. That was no mere Muggle shield, not even metal should have been able to cause that magic to bounce back the way it did with such ferocity.

"You know the last time I was in Germany I saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." the newcomer said, speaking casually. Glancing at Harry, whether it was suspicion or worry, Harry didn't see since he delved into his mind.

Harry's eyebrows rose, Hitler? The guy didn't look a day over thirty, either his memories had been tampered with…or he was extremely old…just like him. The thought did give him hope that there were others out there like him. Why hadn't Death said anything? Then again Death didn't exactly tell him things until he asked, and he hadn't thought to ask, he'd assumed he was some sort of freak of nature, that he would walk the edges of the world alone. "Yes, then when you came around the war was over," Harry commented dryly, it wasn't as if he had beat Hitler and he didn't deserve to try and take credit for it. The so called 'Captain America' glanced at him before dismissing him, he was here for Loki, the world was at stake, he couldn't afford to think more on the stranger who seemed to know about him.

"The solider. The man out of time." Loki said, gearing up ready to fight.

"I am not the one that's out of time," Steve informed him.

"You both are," Harry snorted, both of them spoke like they belonged in really ancient times. His head jerking up as he observed plane that was far too close to the ground for comfort stealing their attention, but Harry did pout, he would have greatly liked to have had a verbal spar, how would they have replied he wondered? Oh well, he was sure he would get some entertainment soon. If not…well it had been fun anyway, hopefully Death would point him in the direction of some good reading material about this wizards magic which was unlike anything he'd ever seen…could it be a sorcerer? Their magic was different and usually they didn't need a wand or any implement to use their magic though.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." a voice from the plane demanded, its weapons cocking in their direction.

Without thought of how it would look, Harry automatically flung up a shield, magic had already been exposed, but he definitely didn't want them to know what else he was capable off so Apparating right now probably wasn't recommended, this Loki certainly hadn't for some reason. Glancing towards the wizard, he still couldn't get much of a read on him, although it was his emotions that bothered Harry. Harry narrowed his eyes, well shit, he'd obviously intended for it to go this way, he was up to something else. Harry cursed, this was the most fun he'd had in years, was it so wrong that excitement was pulsing through him? Probably, but what could he do? He wanted to know what on earth was happening, who Loki was, who this guy Steve was and how the hell he was still young; he didn't have an ounce of magic in him that was for damn sure.

Or maybe not quite so ready to give in, Harry thought as Loki used the sceptre to hit the plane but it missed by millimetres, Harry ducked the shield and watched the two of them fight, plopping himself on the fountain, all that was missing was popcorn, watching the scene in front of him. Watching the two trying to get the better of each other, not that it went on for long much to Harry's disappointment, a humanoid metal thing swooped in, smashing Loki back into the steps, ouch, that looked like it hurt. Harry couldn't help but wince, he would be in agony for day's maybe weeks unless he had potions on him.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," the metal man said, his weapons aimed at the wizard, then Harry watched as his outfit melted away, the magic once again different from the sceptre, was the sceptre a magical weapon? It could be, but when one used a magical weapon some of their own magic became embedded within, he was honestly perplexed. If he hadn't been so confounded he would have laughed at the metal mans words, for some odd reason it reminded him of Sirius, his nonchalant attitude to danger. It soon revealed a human face, a 'Mr. Stark' apparently, so it was human, a man dressed in a metal suit, now he'd seen everything.

"Good move." was added, powering down whatever his suit was capable off.

He definitely needed to have a conversation with Death, hopping down, having every intention of walking away, unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

"Don't move, Yoda," Stark said, his weapons opening up again having been informed that Fury wanted to the unknown man taken too. "You're coming with us."

"Now why would you want to take me? I am just an innocent bystander," Harry said, his face sincere, eyes wider than normal. Yoda? Really? Yes he knew who Stark was talking about; he had seen bits of Star Wars and heard much chatter about the movies.

Loki couldn't help but feel at least a little bit impressed with the magic wielding mortal, he was the god of lies and mischief and even he wouldn't have been able to tell if he was lying or not. He didn't care enough to correct the assumptions the solider and Stark had come up with. In fact he didn't care about anything other than getting his much deserved revenge.

"We have to move," Steve said, grabbing Loki as the plane's back end opened up in the street for them to get the prisoner onto it.

"Let's go," Stark said, eyeing the unknown teenager, who somehow had abilities like Loki, magic which made him instantly weary. He had his hands up, ready to blast him if he put up a fight, but it was really more for show, he didn't care what Fury said, he wouldn't hurt a kid, not for being different.

Harry raised his hands the universal gesture of giving up, something was wrong with what was going on; he knew that, he wanted to find out what though. That and he was genuinely curious about Loki and Steve, Loki's magic and Steve's longevity. So with Tony Stark's weapons aimed at him, Harry casually walked up the ramp and onto the plane. He'd never been in one, not in his entire life, he got everywhere Apparating, he twitched in agitation when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he jerked out of the persons hold, Steve's he realized as he glanced over his shoulder. "Do not touch me." he informed the man, if he was a man, before sitting down, ironically enough it was across from Loki who looked as bored as he was beginning to feel as the plane began to take off. Harry strapped himself in, despite the fact there was no need, and he would survive anything anyone threw at him.

"What's your name kid?" Tony asked from where he was standing, he fully removed his helmet and placed it to the side, gazing at Harry curiously.

"Yoda," Harry said innocently, his lips twitching at the irritation on Stark's face.

"Where's the Tesseract?" Steve asked Loki, but there was no answer.

-0

Harry was almost falling asleep; they kept asking the same questions over and over again. Harry wondered what the Tesseract was, some sort of magical artefact? They seemed awfully worried so it had to be something that was a danger. Neither of the men were looking at him so he couldn't slid into the minds to find out - and he wasn't going to go into Loki's to find out, something warned him against that, everything was just wrong with Loki except some of his magic which felt warm and soothing, like most magic, it's as if the clothes he wore were imbued with a warming charm, it's the only way he could explain how Loki's magic felt. The magic in the sceptre was different, it was slimy cool and unpleasant.

"Is he saying anything?" Harry heard a disembodied voice say through an earpiece.

"Not a word," proclaimed one of the women, Natasha, apparently an assassin, the infamous Black Widow. This little trip was turning out to be quite the adventure, as soon as he got bored he planned on Apparating away, leave them to it, even if it required living on an island for a few decades, he was quite happy to do that, he had put away dozens upon dozens of books just in case he ever got into a situation where he had to hunker down, the reason he'd assumed he'd need to was because the wizarding world would find him…not quite this way. He wondered if the voice meant him or Loki, but he knew it was Loki, he'd just been an unexpected addition.

"Just get him here. We're low on time." the disembodied voice said, snapping at her.

Harry who was sitting across from 'Loki' gazed curiously at the now impassive wizard, wondering if he too could hear what was going on. What could a wizard possibly want from a bunch of Muggles? He was obviously powerful, he could feel it pouring off him in droves, why didn't he just Apparate whatever he wanted? Or read their minds and retrieve it? It wasn't hard, in fact all unprotected minds chattered away constantly unless he put up his own shields fully.

Harry smirked when he heard the two of them getting at each other, so Stark knew about this guy being old? He definitely had a way with words; it was scary how much this guy reminded him of Sirius though. Harry stiffened immediately, power similar to Loki's but different was saturating the very air, glancing up, he watched the sky that he could see, the others glanced at the prisoner, who Tony had called Yoda, wondering why he was staring at the sky so suddenly.

Then lightening crackled around them, Steve and Stark stiffened, wondering if Yoda was doing it, but Loki's reaction was the most extreme of all.

"What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightening?" Steve taunted, but it actually sounded like a genuine question, Harry would need to ask him how he did it.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki commented as if he was having an every day conversation.

Harry had a feeling he wasn't referring to thunder. The magic came even closer before the plane shook loudly as if something had just landed on it. Which should be impossible, even Wizards would find it impossible to Apparate onto moving things let alone a plane going this fast. The thunder had stopped an elemental? Could it be possible? They were extremely rare, and there had only been three recorded elementals in the world since the written word had began. The thunder quickly began again; Stark put his helmet back on, and stupidly opened the back of the plane. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes at such stupid actions. There was someone out there so yes, opening the plane was the smartest of options! Utter idiot. He tensed, wondering if the plane was about to go down, he was just about unbuckle himself when he was…sidetracked.

Then the next few moments were a blur as Stark was smashed across the plane, Loki was grabbed by a giant on steroids and both of them lurched out off the plane. Harry watched them go; he was beginning to suspect that they weren't your every day average wizards. Without his power levels, he knew he wouldn't be able to do what that guy had; perhaps he wasn't as alone as he assumed.

"And now there's that guy." Stark complained, watching the outside of the plane as if he thought he could possibly still see them.

"Another Asgardian?" the Black Widow guessed.

Asgardian? Harry had never heard that term before in his life, and he wondered what it was codename for, another magic user? He would have asked but he somehow doubted they would tell him. Well Loki was gone, Harry wondered whether to stay or not, something told him to stay, and he listened to his instincts, now more than ever.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve questioned, he had left the plane still moving, he just seemed determined to get to Loki.

"It doesn't matter, if he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Stark argued.

"Stark we need a plan of attack!" Steve shouted, as he held onto the plane.

"I have a plan. Attack." Stark called out before he too was gone.

Asgardian? Tesseract? Harry was beginning to think he'd been a bit too hasty in his actions earlier; but learning more of the unknown made him quite excited. He was no Hermione, but he loved learning new cultures or new ways of Magicks. Plus there was something going on with that Loki, he just couldn't for the life of him work it out, and he had a feeling it had something to do with the sceptre. Which was on the plane with him right now, the magic was still active, and it made his hair stand on edge whenever he thought of it.

"I'd sit this one out captain. These guys come from legends. They're basically gods." the Black Widow told him, as she fiddled with the dashboard.

Harry's breathing hitched, legends…she couldn't possibly mean he was that Loki? The thunder… could it possibly be Thor? No, that was impossible, there were no way they were gods, the magical world would know about it surely? She wasn't lying though; she truly believed what she was saying.

"There's only one god ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that," Steve told her, as he strapped a parachute to himself, and jumped from the plane.

Harry snorted derisively at Steve's words but he was long gone.

Harry grew bored very quickly, there was nobody there but him and two others, they weren't exactly talkative, but they occasionally looked over at him to make sure he was still there. If they 'killed him' he wouldn't die, he was in the very definition of the word, immortal. Although it would piss him off, and Death would be getting a bunch of souls a hell of a lot earlier than he should if that were the case. Just because he couldn't die permanently it didn't mean it didn't bloody hurt when it happened. He wasn't a scared seventeen year old anymore, afraid of killing, afraid of his own power, he had come to accept it even if it did get lonely from time to time.

There we go, much better and a much smoother read too! This will be Loki/Harry Slash please if you don't like don't read.