Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/animealam

Rating: T

Pairing: Mentions of one sided Steve/Peggy, Past Tony/Pepper, Clint/Laura (mentioned)

Summary: Steve Rogers had many secrets, some of which a few people from his past found out. Like the fact he was no where near 24 when he enlisted, or that he was a wizard. A powerful and well trained one.

There was, however one secret he protected above all else, he was a Time Traveller born in the year 2000. A future where, as far as he knew, there were no wizards anymore.

Depressed and overwhelmed by his loses and finding himself back to a future where he had no one, Steve sought a permanent way out, only... it did not work quite like he was expecting. Instead of the teenager he was, he ended a four year old.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or Harry Potter, I'm just borrowing them. They belong to their respective owners.

Warnings: Suicide Themes, Triggers for suicide, Time Travel, Dimension Travel, Younger Steve, DeAged Steve, DeAged Harry, Wizard Steve, Parent Tony, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Abuse, Abusive Dursleys, Bad Ginevra, Violence.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Jarvis, Thor, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Harry Potter, Original Characters, mentions of Bucky, mentions of Peggy Carter, mentions of Howard Stark, mentions of Colonel Phillips, mentions of the Howling Commandos.

Timeline: Pre Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Post Avengers, Pre Iron Man 3, Harry Potter Post TDH. I'm using the MCU Wikia timeline as a reference.

Author's Note: I know I shouldn't be posting anything with three other stories on the works, two of which are more or less on hold because the muses don't want to cooperate no matter how often I go back to them. They will be finished, although it's taking more time than I wanted.

Anyway, I simply could not leave this one to remain in my hard drive anymore. It's eleven chapters so far, and a bit over 55,000 words, it needed an out. Updates will be every couple of weeks or so.

Harry does not make an appearance until much later on the story, around chapter 10, so have patience.

Also, in this particular Universe, Doctor Strange does not exist. Please do not ask about him. I know nothing about him, and thus do not plan to include him.

This is just a very long prologue, to explain a few things, because I don't want to go over Captain America: The First Avenger, before getting on with the story.

Total size without notes: 7,307

Keys:

"Speaking aloud."
'Thoughts'
Magic (Spells, Potions, Items)
«Language»Foreign language.«/Language»

Prologue

Steve sat in the dingy hotel room he had checked into last night. He had been away from New York City for about two months. The pretext he gave everyone was that he wanted to connect with the 21st century, and they believed it. But it was just that, a pretext.

There had been no need to connect with a 'supposed' future when in fact he had been born in the year 2000, not 1918 as he wrote in his enlistment form, or even 1929 as his 'other' birth certificate stated. He had grown up knowing and using technology.

There had been too many lies for someone who 'supposedly' did not lie. Yeah, sure, like he had not lived a lie for the past four years of his life. Frankly he was tired. Steve was too physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.

Fate had placed such a heavy burden on a kid's very scrawny shoulders, yet he had done his best to fulfill the destiny assigned to him. But no more. He had done, seen, lost, and survived too much, and he had no wish to be a weapon anymore.

Unfortunately his options were not all that great. He could not go back to the life he had before that super powered Time Turner sent him to 1941. Sure, he was a genius, and Steve was usually more mature than even some adults.

By the age of eleven he had a Bachelor degree on Applied Web Technologies, and a Master in Cyber Security from an online University, one which was recognized. But his life since his mother died had not been a good one.

He was orphaned at five, after winning the Maria Stark's Foundation grant for the second year in a row. The very simple, yet powerful programming language he created for his second application for the grant was used in all Stark-phones, once Stark decided to stop making weapons.

He received royalties—which were deposited in a trust fund—for its use since it became exclusive for Stark gadgets. Steve's education had been assured because of the grants. He was even privately tutored because he was too advanced, and too small for a regular school.

The foster parents he had after his mother died were not happy about it, but they could not do anything against him receiving an advanced education until college. Not that Steve remained with the Smiths for long.

He had frankly lost count of the many families he lived with since he was five, but things did not change much from one to the other though. The family Steve had been living with at the time he was ready for college refused to sign his enrollment forms granting their permission for him to attend.

Steve was a minor, so he just could not enroll himself even when the grant's money would have paid his full tuition all the way to a Ph.D. if he wanted. He needed his guardian's permission to enroll. Never mind trying to move out of New York City to attend MIT, which he would have loved.

He did find an alternative to continue with his education, although the means to do so were not quite legal. His guardians at the time had not forbidden him to study on line, and so that was what he did.

Steve researched carefully until he located a recognized institution providing on line degrees. Then it was only a question of forging his current guardians' signatures, which was surprisingly easy with magic.

Forging their signatures was not something Steve could have done for any other college, since they had insisted on speaking with his guardians. But the online University did not require it. No one had been the wiser because by the time he finished his education, Steve had changed foster families several times.

Steve never had much luck with those people, and the last fosters of the month had been religious zealots. Frankly those guys were horror movie material. The Masons blamed the alien invasion on him, the blasphemous, unnatural heathen.

Those people had nearly killed him with their brutal punishment, and it was only the fact he was a wizard which saved him. After Summoning his belongings, he Disapparated to the American Bureau of Magic's offices in New York City.

The building, and just about any magical place in the world were devoid of nearly all magical human life, since witches, wizards, and werewolves had been killed in 1944. There were still vampires around, but it was debatable whether they could actually be considered alive.

At the time of his escape, Steve had no idea what happened to the magical humans. He only knew what the portraits told him, and most did not really recall what happened, much less the date. But one day while they were still at war like the mundanes (non magical people), blue-green flames had engulfed all human magicals. Then, in a bright flash of light, they were gone amidst screams of pain and terror.

He, Steven Grant Rogers Cahill, was the only magical human born since then. Or so the portraits, house-elves, and goblins told him. It was actually a group of them who trained him in the use of magic, and the art of making potions. Steve had found them by accident when he was six, as he Apparated to the American Bureau of Magic's New York offices to escape his bullying foster siblings at the time.

He should have used a portkey when he escaped the Masons, because he was seriously injured, instead he Disapparated. As a result, his badly calculated Apparition landed Steve atop the largest Time Turner in the Department of Mysteries.

Falling on top of the Time Turner, and breaking it, was how he ended in 1941. Steve had been transported to the Department of Mysteries' Time Room, gravely injured, and unconscious. An Unspeakable found him, and he was rushed to the magical hospital.

It was at the Gertrude Goodwill Hospital for Magical Accidents and Maladies—when he finally regained consciousness a week after he was found—where Steve came to a shocking realization. He, scrawny, runty, and sickly Steve was THE Steve Rogers who became Captain America.

Steve had been a fan, as were his parents, so he had known quite a bit about his hero. Contrary to what people usually assumed, Rogers was NOT his surname, it was Cahill. His parents were Joseph and Sarah Cahill, and had wanted to honor their childhood hero and role model, so they named their first and only child like Captain America.

There had not been much to do at the hospital while he healed, so he had taken notes of what he remembered of Captain America's history. It did not take him very long to realize the dates did not match his current age. Steven Grant Rogers was supposed to have been twenty-four when he enlisted in 1943. But Steve would be only thirteen, nearly fourteen by then.

Steve had spent a week in the magical hospital, which gave him time to plan how he was going to do what he needed to do, because he had obviously already done it. Just thinking about the paradoxes gave him a horrible headache, but much as it confused him, he saw no way around it, so he planned.

He did not lie to the Unspeakables, but he also did not tell them anything about the future, except the year he came from. They were understanding, more than any other magical would have been. In fact, it was standard protocol for those working at the Department of Mysteries not to question any time traveler, they understood the most about Time Travel after all.

Another of the standard protocols when dealing with time travelers was to provide them with a fool proof identity. It was important no one suspected the witch or wizard had travelled back in time. Specially since it was a given they could not go back to the future. Steve did tell them he needed a birth certificate for the mundane world specifying he was born in 1918 to avoid a paradox. He got it no questions asked.

Steve was a very powerful wizard, nearly fully trained, and the Head of the Department was impressed with him, and his abilities, specially when children were just starting to learn magic. The witch, named Isadora Galveston decided Steve would be tutored by the Unspeakables, but he needed to admit his real age.

The Unspeakables would provide him with the adequate identity documents for the Wizarding World. Steve admitted being eleven years old, nearly twelve, which really shocked them. An eleven year old was just stating to learn magic, so it was even more important for him to be tutored by them. A birth certificate with a 1929 date of birth was issued then. In both worlds he became Steven Grant Rogers, and he dropped the Cahill.

While the American Bureau of Magic provided him with the Birth Certificates, they also got him a magical guardian since he was under age. His name was Bartholomew Twintowers, an Unspeakable specialized in Combat magics, and the one who discovered Steve in the Time Room. Barty was the first adult to ever be good to him since his mother died.

The Unspeakables never questioned him as to why such a young child was so magically advanced, but he could see they were very curious. Steve really did not want to tell them there had been no wizards alive in the future, so he kept quiet. Besides, he did not know why they had disappeared.

He did tell Barty a couple of years later—after he had already done it—he agreed to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum, because Steve knew it had happened. There were records of it, and was an important event in the future.

Steve also knew what the results from Project Rebirth would be, and could not risk changing it, because it was a Key Event. Barty had not been happy, but he did understand why Steve did it, he still berated him for not informing him.

In the past Steve received the magical education he needed, and had dreamed of. He became a fully trained wizard, specialized in Combat (with Barty as his Master) and Warding, but he learned as much about potions, charms, curse breaking, and Healing as he could. Steve also tried to live life the best he could until it was time to enlist.

He had met James Buchanan Barnes during his second week in the past, and it was not as much of a surprise as it should have been. A couple of guys were bothering two teenage girls, and since he did not like bullies, Steve got into a fight.

Getting into fights was nothing new. Steve hated bullies, whether they bothered him or others, and sometimes was the one to get the first punch or kick. He usually ended the worse for wear, unless he was lucky enough to knock out his opponent before his ailments began acting out.

This time Steve landed a good kick to the jaw of one of them, and actually knocked the guy out. He would have patted himself on the back for that one, except the other bully took exception to that, caught him unaware, and was beating the stuffing out of Steve when Bucky came into the alley and intervened.

Bucky beat the guy up, then sent him packing. Since then the both of them became fast friends. Bucky was really a life saver, and the only mundane who actually called him a liar when Steve told him his age. Bucky had cuffed him on the head, and told him he did not believe him at all.

Steve did end admitting his real age to Bucky, as well as the fact he was a wizard, but only after they had been friends for nearly five months, and he had sworn the necessary Secrecy Oaths. He had been told by the Unspeakables tutoring him there was something called the International Statute of Secrecy which Steve was bound by law to respect.

Shortly after those revelations Steve became Bucky's roommate and began helping with the expenses. He had been living alone in the non magical world—much to Barty's displeasure—because Steve knew he had to make a life in the non magical world.

Living amongst non magicals did not mean he ignored his magic. He had a decent part time job with the Unspeakables—mostly doing errands, and secretarial stuff—which kept him close to his tutors. Steve also got a job on the mundane side as an illustrator for a publicity agency, as well as repairing electronics.

Life was not bad at all, if he did not count the fact medicine in the forties was not as advanced as he had been used to, not even the magical remedies. He got ill a lot, and ended in the magical hospital more often than he liked, thankfully the Ministry of Magic did provide him with the most basic of health plans.

The Health plan paid for his hospital visits, but not his treatments outside. Potions were expensive, and while he could save a bit of money by buying ingredients in bulk, and making some of them, it was still a drain on all their pockets. Barty and Bucky did help as much as they could to finance his medicines.

Then on December 7, 1941 only a few months after he arrived in the past, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. One thing had been to read, and watch documentaries about it, another was hearing the confusing and sometimes panicked reports on the radio. Then to hear first hand Roosevelt's declaration of war. It became personal.

Bucky wanted to enlist as soon as the government began asking for volunteers, but he did not because of Steve's poor health. He caught pneumonia that winter, and was very ill. He survived, but Bucky still put off enlisting.

He knew Steve was a child posing as an adult, and it did not feel right to leave him to his own devices. Specially because he knew Steve was not going to live with Barty, even if he did not know why. Bucky did try to convince him, but Steve was too stubborn, and independent.

On February 1943 Bucky was finally drafted, there was no way for him to get out of it, so he left Steve to attend basic training. It was supposed to last only thirteen weeks, but he stayed four months. He did too well, and advanced ranks quickly. Bucky received more training, and became a sniper as well as obtained the rank of Sergeant.

Steve was very proud of him, but also sad as he knew how everything would go for the both of them. It was not a happy ending, for one James Bucky Barnes and one Steven Grant Rogers. They had done a good job and assisted in ending the war on the European front, they even made it to history books. Steve had to take comfort from that.

Even when Steve knew neither Barty, nor Bucky, approved of him trying to enlist because he was too young, he kept trying because he knew it would happen. On June 14, 1943 at the Stark Expo, Doctor Erskine approved his enlistment form, just as it should be. The doctor believed in him, in his inner strength, his determination, and his heart, because he did not lie about the person he was, even if he did lie about his age.

Somehow, after all the adversity he had been through in his life, Steve retained a good heart, his morals, as well as some of his innocence. There had also been another thing Erskine considered, but was never made public, his magic. The man himself was a wizard, but with very little magic as to be nearly a Squib, so he had moved into the mundane world.

It was Steve's powerful, and so very Light magic which had drawn Erskine to investigate him the second time he tried to enlist. The doctor had been a the first enlistment post Steve visited, and at the other three as well. His determination, stubbornness, good heart, and powerful light magic were proof he was the perfect candidate for Project Rebirth.

Less than a fortnight later, Captain America was born, and the third adult man who believed, and had had so much faith in him was dead. He tried to save him, but he could not. Steve captured the HYDRA spy who killed Erskine, and obtained a mini submarine for the SSR to study, but it was a bitter sweet victory. The man committed suicide with a cyanide capsule.

After that Steve did what was expected of him. Colonel Phillips wanted to send him to the facilities at Alamo Gordo to be studied, but Steve knew that had not happened, so he refused. Then Senator Brandt offered him a place with the USO, and Steve accepted his role as a figurehead to sell war bonds, while he waited for the right time to prove himself.

The chance came when he rescued Bucky, who was the older brother he never had, from a HYDRA factory and prisoner camp. Steve simply could not accept Colonel Phillips made the decision of leaving Bucky, and the rest of the 107th for dead. Because, well, he knew a very good number of them were not.

Steve knew they were alive because of history, but he had not known how he had managed to save them. Still, he did not stop to think much about it. Peggy Carter had been instrumental in getting him a way to reach the HYDRA factory, and it was Howard Stark who piloted his own plane to drop him behind enemy lines.

Their participation in his practically solo rescue mission was something which had not been mentioned in history books. Steve was not happy about it, they had risked as much as he did to rescue the men from the 107th, as well as the other prisoners of war. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do to give them both the recognition they deserved.

Steve saved his brother in all but blood, and Bucky was grateful for it. But he was also furious with Steve for allowing people to experiment on him. He was happy things turned out all right, and Steve was healthy, but he did not like the fact they had experimented on a fourteen year old boy—even if they had not known it.

Besides, in his opinion, and after what he had been through so far, Bucky believed children had no place in the army, and no matter how much he protested, Steve was fourteen and not an adult yet. He too loved him like a brother, and only wanted for Steve to be safe.

His best friend ended locating one of the wizards working for the SSR, and asking for help communicating with an Unspeakable at the American Bureau of Magic's offices in New York City. It was the first time he used the floo network, and found it disconcerting. Still Bucky contacted Barty, and told him what his charge had done.

The slightly older wizard floo to their camp as soon as he informed his superiors he was joining the war efforts to keep an eye on his unruly, and stubborn charge. The row between the three of them was terrible, and louder than it should have been.

The loud row was how Phillips, Howard, Peggy, and the soon to be Howling Commandos found out his age, and the fact he was a wizard—Erskine had not told anyone about Steve's magic, and the fact it was the main reason why he was chosen.

They almost shipped Steve back to New York, but the news about Captain America's impossible solo rescue mission had boosted morale, and war bond sales. He was needed, so against everyone's best judgement they kept quiet, and Barty became the secret Commando to be with his unruly charge.

Steve developed the hugest crush for Peggy Carter, and he new she liked him too. But he was a minor, and nothing was going to come out of it until he turned eighteen. She offered her friendship, and support, as well as advice and training, but kept everything platonic.

He respected her decision even if he did not like it. Of course it did not mean Steve did not moon or day dreamed about her, because he was rather obvious. So practically half the base knew he was head over heels for the feisty British woman.

For sixteen months, not counting his time as a dancing monkey with the USO, Steve worked with both mundanes, and wizards, specially the British ones. His mission to stop HYDRA, as well as the Red Skull, went actually hand in hand with the British and American, wizards need to stop Gellert Grindelwald, and to keep the mundanes away from the Tesseract.

The Commandos, Barty, and him worked hand in hand with several witches and wizards, as all HYDRA bases were heavily Warded. Steve was probably the best Ward Breaker they had, as he had also been very well trained by the Unspeakables. Besides he was powerful as Albus Dumbledore—who was the British magicals most powerful wizard—perhaps even more so.

Then on December 27, 1944 Barty took a Killing Curse for him. He had been duelling Grindelwald, and winning, so he did not see one of the wizard's minions cast the Avada Kedavra at his back. Steve went insane with grief when he realized what happened. Barty had become like a parent to him.

Steve killed the wizard who cast the Killing Curse at Barty, then proceeded to nearly kill Grindelwald. The wizard used a portkey to escape, he was badly wounded. It was not enough to assuage Steve's grief, so he went on destroying anything HYDRA in his path. He was shipped to England along with the remaining Commandos to get his act together.

Three days later, on December 30, Wizard Kind died in a flash of Avada Kedavra green and Tesseract blue flames. They all just died where they stood, sat, or laid. Then their bodies banished in another flash of light. Steve was affected and collapsed like all magicals, but he did not die.

The Super Soldier Serum, fueled by his magic kept him alive. It still did not save him from falling into a coma for a week, then fought a raging fever for another. By the third week after the extinction of Wizard Kind Steve was finally conscious and coherent enough to learn what happened to his fellow magicals. He suspected Grindelwald had done something stupid with the Tesseract.

The young wizard was in shock, but he was not really given the chance to grieve the loss of his guardian, the loss of his other mentors at the American Bureau of Magic—whom he had come to care about very much—as well as the extinction of a whole race, his own kind. By the fourth week since Wizard Kind became extinct the time to capture Arnim Zola's train arrived.

Steve knew Bucky would die during the mission, and nothing he had done prepared him for the loss of his brother. Specially so soon after loosing Barty. He tried to save him, but he lost his wand during the fight, and just like with Erskine, Steve could not change anything. He could not save Bucky.

Once again Steve was not given a chance to grieve before going on his next mission. His last mission. His legacy to his country, and the world. At least Steve got to kiss Peggy, which was the only moment when he actually felt something, as he had started to feel numb when Wizard Kind died.

The young wizard did as expected, fought Schmidt, confirmed his suspicions about Grindelwald and the Tesseract, and his second wand was damaged during the fight with the Red Skull. It was the Cube which killed his enemy.

The Tesseract fell to the floor after it disintegrated the Red Skull. It made a hole through the Valkyrie's planks, and fell through it. The pieces of his broken wand rolled into the hole the Tesseract made, and were lost as well. It had not mattered, he was not going to need it anymore.

Steve could have probably Apparated out of the plane, but it was in auto pilot, so it would still reach its destination if no one stopped it. Then he could have probably been able to land the Valkyrie somewhere. The plane was very advanced for the time, but nothing like more modern jets.

He had been an avid video gamer, since he could not play outside with other kids because of his illnesses, and Flight Simulators were amongst his favorites. While they were not the same thing, it did provide Steve with the basic knowledge to attempt a landing if necessary.

But Steve no longer had the will, or the heart, to go against Fate. He was tired, injured, and hurting in more ways than one. So he chose to crash the Valkyrie. He survived the crash with several broken bones, but was not able to Apparate in that condition. Besides, he knew Captain America did not survive the war.

Steve simply laid there, in terrible pain, alone, scared, and waiting for death to come. It took a long time for hypothermia to take him because of the Super Soldier Serum. The young teenager's last thought before the darkness and the numbness took him, was that he was finally dying, and he would be reunited with his loved ones soon.

Steve expected to finally find the peace he only fully had when his mother was alive, only to wake up in a mock up 1940s hospital room. It was a terrible disappointment to discover he survived, and Steve worried HYDRA had captured him. His suspicions seemed to be correct when men dressed in black uniforms similar to those HYDRA soldiers wore, entered the room to subdue him.

He did the only thing he could, Steve fought them off and fled. He did recognize where he was as soon as he left the very modern building. He was in New York City, his New York. Steve learned he had been in some kind of suspended animation—or perhaps it was Magical Stasis, which had been known to happen to powerful magicals—for nearly seventy years.

A government agency known as the Security, Homeland, Intervention Enforcement, and Logistics Division, also known as SHIELD had him. He was back to the future, and it was even the same year he left.

Steve should be happy, but he was numb, and in shock. There was nothing for him in the future, and there had not been even before he left. Sure he had studied, and earned his degrees, but he now he was back, he could not use them. There was no way to explain how he had been eleven years old, was mentally fifteen, and looked to be in his twenties.

SHIELD did some basic tests—not counting whatever they had done to him while unconscious—provided him with IDs, money, and an apartment. Then they set him loose in New York City without the basics on how to survive in the 21st Century. Had he truly been from the forties Steve would have been in deep trouble. He was not, and that was how he knew he was being watched.

His apartment had the worse electronic bug infestation ever seen, and it was seen because the bugs were badly disguised. They believed him technology illiterate, and he chose not to enlighten them on the fact he was actually very good with it. Not only that, the smartphone, laptop, and tablet SHIELD provided for him were full of spyware. Not content with that, there were also several agents following him when he ventured out.

Steve found it offensive they could even think he would not notice he had a tail. He was a soldier for only twenty months (counting from the day Erskine enlisted him), but the SSR did provide him with intensive training once they realized what he was capable of. That was without counting his enhanced senses, or his training as a Master of Combat Magics.

He needed privacy and time to come to terms with what happened to him, to grieve his losses, and to think about what he was going to do with his life. But Steve could do neither when he knew his every move was being watched and analyzed.

SHIELD's therapists expected some kind of breakdown, but Steve did not allow himself to break, not when he felt he was not safe, and in hostile territory. Steve barely slept, had to force himself to eat, and wandered around the city feeling numb, depression taking a hold of him the first two weeks since he was 'defrosted'.

Steve began thinking he should be dead, as it would be the only way he could be with his family, and the friends he left behind. He even went to church, trying to find the will to go on. Going to church had been a comfort before he went to live with the last foster family, and in the past he went as well, but Steve found no solace this time.

The people who nearly killed him, the Masons, where there pretending to be good, when in truth they were evil monsters. He could not stay, or he would put a bullet right between their eyes, or kill them with his own hands. While Steve had killed in the war, he was no murderer, like those people.

After a few days, and probably as an after thought, SHIELD had offered to help him acclimate to the 21st Century; not that he needed it, but Steve had no true excuse to refuse, unless he told them he was a time traveller. Steve knew that was not a good idea. So he went to his acclimatization lessons to avoid suspicion.

The agents in charge of acclimating him treated him like a caveman from the ice age. Hell, one was even shocked to discover Steve knew what electricity was! Needless to say, the lessons were a torture.

The glazed look Steve got during the lessons, probably served to confirm their beliefs, but he did not care what they thought. Besides it was nice to escape into his mind and the happy memories of people he so dearly missed.

Then when he was having a bad night Fury appeared at the gym where he was pummeling punching bags. SHIELD's Director asked for his help to recover the Tesseract. The God forsaken thing that killed his people. There had probably been over five million magical humans all over the world, and he was the only one alive because of the Super Soldier Serum.

Howard knew what happened to the magical humans. He had been one of the few aware of the existence of the Wizarding World, and of their work alongside the allies to stop HYDRA and the Dark Lord Grindelwald. He also knew of his suspicions as to what had caused the extinction.

Why would Howard fish the darn thing out of the ocean where it was safe? Where it would not harm anyone? Why would he allow others to study and experiment on it? Did he care so little about human life to risk another extinction? So of course Steve agreed to help.

He knew where and when the portal would be opened, knew there would be aliens, and there would be a battle, although he did not know the outcome of it. Hopefully the human race managed to repel the invasion. Steve had seen Iron Man, the Hulk, and who he now knew was Thor on TV. Knew there were others involved, because there were mentions of it, but the Masons had turned the TV off, and 'punished' him for the invasion.

He wanted to tell SHIELD to prepare New York for the upcoming battle, to evacuate Manhattan's residents, and perhaps the other boroughs. Steve wanted to avoid loosing time and innocent civilian lives, but there was no way to do it without revealing his Time Travel, and perhaps he was a bit of a coward, but he did not dare tell SHIELD about it for fear of what they would put him through.

Steve tried to give Banner and Stark hints, until the later finally got it. Too late to avoid opening the portal bringing the Chitauri above Stark Tower, which had to happen anyway, as that was the reason why there actually was a Captain America. Steve had not been ready to fight, or to lead again, but he had no choice.

He thought that meeting his idol—both as Iron Man and Tony Stark—would at least be a bonus, but Stark added to the problem. He made Steve feel useless, obsolete, and pushed at all his buttons in ways that left him feeling worse about his situation. The man brought him out of his numbness for a few hours, but nothing positive came out of it.

Against all odds they won, and Stark proved he was indeed a hero. They managed a tentative truce, but the man still made him feel stupid, even when he knew he was not. It just made Steve want to prove him wrong, and perhaps get the man's approval, which he told himself was stupid. Steve had neither wanted, nor needed, anyone's approval since his mother died.

After the battle, and the shared shawarma, the six of them has spent the night at Stark Tower. Steve managed to disappear for a few minutes, and get a hold of a landline to report the Masons. It might have been four years for him, but the fact was the beating had happened a couple of hours ago, or probably less. The police might still be able to find enough incriminating evidence to charge those monsters with at least attempted murder.

The Masons lived in Brooklyn, which had not been affected by the invasion, although the whole city was in chaos. The police had thankfully responded to his report. His 'panicked' call to 911 got them moving. Telling them the family was killing their foster son because they blamed him for the invasion helped.

The police found a lot of blood, enough to believe the Masons had indeed killed their foster child, and hid the body somewhere. There was also evidence of their abusive nature all over the house.

Those zealots did not bother to hide it, as they truly believed they did nothing wrong. Thankfully no one believed their excuses of their charge being the devil, and the cause for the invasion, or that he had simply 'vanished'.

He kept an eye on the news, and felt vindicated when the Masons were charged with murder in the first degree. It also seemed Steve was not the first child they had punished to death, and he had been 'lucky' to escape with his life. There were others who did not.

The CSIs found nine small bodies buried in the basement of their house. This was so horrific it made it to the local news, social media, and the newspapers, despite the confirmation of aliens being very real. This was how Steve found out.

The Avengers, as their dysfunctional team was now called, got together to see Thor take his brother and the Tesseract back to Asgard. It was a relief for Steve to see the Cube would no longer be on Earth, humanity would be safe from its power, and he could actually breathe easier with the knowledge. They all said their goodbyes after the Asgardians left.

Steve and Stark parted in good terms, and the older man gave him the latest Stark-phone, and Stark-Pad prototypes so he could keep in contact should he need it. Steve was not sure he would ever call the billionaire, but accepted the gifts anyway, specially since it was clean of SHIELD's spyware. It probably had Stark's own spyware, but Steve did not mind that too much.

He left the city the same day. Fury had set him free, there would no longer be anyone tailing him. It was something, although Steve did know the bugs in the apartment, the laptop, the tablet, the phone, his motorcycle, and his clothes were still there. He suspected Fury had no intention of getting rid of them.

He was no fool though, and had been preparing to go under SHIELD's radar before Fury told him about the Tesseract. Steve had emptied the grants' accounts, the total of which was a considerable amount. He knew he had enough cash to disappear for many years if he was careful with his money.

Steve Apparated with his bike to Wizard's Pier, and chose to leave it there, where SHIELD would never find it since it was Warded against mundanes. He had discretely bought modern clothes as well as a few other things, which he had kept hidden there. He Disapparated straight from his bathroom, to Wizard's Pier at night to avoid his tails and the bugs.

He also obtained a wand, twelve inches, holly with a dual core of dragon heart string and phoenix feather. The wand was much more powerful than the two he had before. It had been a huge mistake not to get at least one earlier, as Steve was more than a bit rusty with his wand-less casting. Warding the cell where Loki had been would have made things so much better, and they could perhaps have avoided the invasion.

Once he had changed, and with a wand, Steve used a Glamour and some potions to change his appearance. His hair ended a chocolate brown, and his eyes a warm honey brown. He grew his hair past his shoulders with another potion, and created an amazing and beautiful tattoo in black ink covering one side of his face and neck.

The tattoo was celtic in design, and using the same theme he used magical inks to add other tattoos to his body; none of which were permanent. The tattoo, plus sunglasses would assist in defeating face trace, as the shadows created by the dark ink would confuse the software.

He also planned to use cash for anything he needed, to avoid being tracked through his electronic transactions. A second moke skin pouch he found in one of the deserted stores in Wizard's Pier would ensure his money was safe from theft.

Steve Apparated to Washington DC, and bought a bike there. A used, but more modern one than the vintage Harley Davidson SHIELD gave him, and from a German brand. Yeah he fought them in the forties, but they got their act together, and no one could deny they made great bikes and cars. He chose a black BMW K 1200 GT. It drove like a dream, and was wonderful for the road.

He had travelled for almost two months, and visited several magical centers. Seeing them so devoid of human life only added to his depression. The nightmares were too frequent, and he was barely sleeping. Steve had nearly crashed twice, only his surprisingly good reflexes avoiding the collisions.

Steve began to think crashing his bike at top speed would not be a bad thing... if the crash killed him... he would finally have peace. Yet as easy as that would be, Steve doubted a high speed collision would do him in, since crashing a plane in the Arctic had not. The Valkyrie had been going much faster than any bike could.

It was then when Steve began actively searching for a way to finally have peace, and join his loved ones. One could not cast the Avada Kedavra at oneself, so that was out, and it had not worked since he survived The Extinction anyway.

He remembered the Unspeakables had mentioned a potion named Mercy's Release, which had no counter. Steve also remembered it was highly controlled, and used to give mercy to those victims of severe physical, or emotional trauma with no hope of recovering. He hunted for it at several American Bureau of Magic's offices, and ended finding it in New York City.

The vial of Mercy's Release was before him, and Steve had written a letter explaining why he decided to take the potion. His whole history was written there as well. The Time Travel and the documents proving who he had been were also there. Steve had carried them in a moke skin pouch protected by a Fidelius Charm, which was the reason why SHIELD had not found it.

Steve explained why the Super Soldier Serum worked on him, his magic, so it was not really going to work on anyone but a wizard. Erskine had told him that the night before the experiment, and Steve had given his word to keep the secret until he deemed it the right time to reveal it. He admitted to being fully trained but still needing a wand to cast most spells.

He could have gotten one. There had been time, but going back to the deserted Wizarding World had hurt too much. Steve also explained why he had been afraid to use magic during the invasion. He feared to become a lab experiment, Steve had barely avoided it in the past, and Phase 2 had proved SHIELD did not have many scruples.

Steve knew that after his death SHIELD's scientists would take whatever samples they wanted from his body, regardless of his final wishes. He begged for them to allow for the rest of him to be cremated, so he could finally rest in peace.

He wanted his ashes spread somewhere warm, or with beautiful landscapes. Steve had always wanted to see the Caribbean... or New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. One of his most prized possessions was one of The Hobbit's first editions. Steve was leaving enough money aside to pay for the transportation, and stay of whoever was kind enough to take him to his final resting place.

As to the rest of his money, Steve wanted the contents of his bank accounts to be donated to several institutions dedicated to do charity work. He was thinking specially of a few children's hospitals, and a couple of associations dedicated to helping war veterans.

Steve wrote his letter on the tablet, and had a copy on the Stark-Phone. He had dressed in an Armani dark blue three piece suit, an expensive cotton shirt in a blue the attendant who sold it to him said matched his eyes, and a silk tie. Steve was wearing Italian shoes, matching socks, and even his underwear was new. For once he chose to splurge on clothes, so he could be presentable in death.

He drank the potion, laid on the bed, and got comfortable. From what he had heard about it, Steve would simply go to a peaceful sleep. There would be no dreams and no pain. Steve began to feel drowsy moments after he settled, and he allowed himself a small smile. He was going home, and would soon see his loved ones.

Steve had believed suicide was a sin, but his faith had taken several hard blows. Thor's and Loki's existence for one, but above all knowing the Masons. People who were so religious they practically lived at the church, and yet so twisted they had tortured and murdered children. After them Steve no longer cared about sinning, he just wished for peace.