Harri wasn't exactly sure when she started to go crazy. It definitely wasn't until after Cedric died, she was sure of that. It didn't really start until she was at Dursleys.

The fake memories started first.

She could remember eating breakfast and lunch, but her stomach growled as though she hadn't eaten since the day before. She looked down to see she was still in her bedclothes. The clock said 6am. How could she remember eating breakfast and lunch?

Then the blood. She woke up with blood streaked everything. In her clothes, up her arms. Dried rivers of blood flowing over her body.

There were no injuries on her. It took a while to find the body of a cat hidden in the flower beds. She couldn't help but scream. At least the Dursley's weren't home.

She stared at the cat's body, mangled. It looked like someone had cut off the skin.

Next to the body, also tucked in the flower beds, was Aunt Petunia's pairing knife.

Harri didn't understand. She had no memories of any of it.

Had she stopped Dudley?

Did someone break in and take the knife?

But if someone else had done it, why was there so much blood covering her?

Worst of all, why couldn't she remember anything about it?

Then the Prophet started publishing those stories claiming she was going insane believing Voldemort was back. She'd grabbed the paper and flipped through it, wondering how they knew.

But they didn't really know, not about the memories or the blood or anything true. They were just making up fake stories without realizing how close to the truth they were actually hitting.

Harri was afraid to tell anyone even when she woke up with a squirrel's tail in her hand. She buried the tail deep under Aunt Petunia's roses. It still had pieces of flesh stuck to it like it had been ripped off the squirrel.

No one would believe Dumbledore and her about Voldemort if they realized she actually was going insane. So, she buried it deep inside her, the same as her feelings about Cedric's death. Seeing the flash of green, watching him fall, they weren't emotions she could go through at the Dursley's. Just starting to think about them brought up such strong emotions that the Dudley's broken toys had started to rattle of their shelves in her tiny bedroom the one time she had tried to go work through her feelings.

The last thing she needed was to get expelled from Hogwarts for underage magic use; though, she wasn't even sure if accidental magic done without a wand could be traced by the ministry. She'd never gotten a warning before Hogwarts. And why had she gotten a warning when Dobby had performed the magic before second year? There was a lot she didn't understand about the magical world and its laws, so she decided to compartmentalize for the summer and deal with her feelings the next time she was at Hogwarts and safe to perform accidental magic from her strong emotions.

It took all of June before she realized what was happening. The craziness was continuing to progress. Now it came even while she was awake.

She was staring at the shower, trying to will her mind to go back to normal.

Flames were flowing from the spout where water should be. But nothing else was catching on fire.

Her hand moved closer to the flames. They didn't feel hot.

Then, her famous temper made an appearance.

"I did not survive all those years of neglect. I did not survive Hogwarts and trolls and dragons and Snape and everything else to go crazy inside of this house," she snarled as she shoved her hand into the flames.

Nothing burned. Cold water ran over her hands but all she could see where rivers of fire.

A growl escaped her, and she pushed in her mind. Pushed towards her eyes and tried to make the vision match up with her feelings.

Suddenly it felt like a vacuum was sucking her away into somewhere else.

A red haze covered her gaze as Harri looked around.

Men in long black robes with white masks milled around. At her feet, a man lay quivering, his breath coming in quick gasps. Next to her, a voice she recognized was talking.

"My lord, how is the plan going? What vapous thoughts fill Potter's mind?" the voice was saying.

In a second, it came to her. Lucius Malfoy was standing next to her talking. And he had called her lord.

A horror started to fill her mind as she frantically tried to pull back. It worked and she felt her mind tumble back into her body. She sat up with a gasp.

Voldemort was in her mind.

IN HER MIND!

How was that possible?

She had never heard of such a thing. Why did he want in her mind?

Then she remembered the blood, so like Ginny's own experience. Retching filled the room as she leaned over the toilet and gagged.

Voldemort was possessing her. Filling her mind with fake thoughts.

...

...

...

A paranoia had filled her. There was nothing new in her possession. She wasn't writing in any journals. It had taken a while, but Harri thought she had a few things figured out.

There was some sort of connection between herself and Voldemort. Dumbledore claimed her mother's love was the reason for everything, but it must go deeper. Somehow, when the Killing Curse had failed, it had left a permanent connection between Harry and Voldemort.

Her first thought had been to contact Dumbledore, but she couldn't risk putting everyone in danger. Besides, no one was talking to her, answering her letters. This wasn't something she could put in a letter, and she had no other way of contacting them.

And going to the others would put them in danger. What would happen when Voldemort saw where the Weasley's home was?

Instead, she read through her school books, looking for anything that would help. Dark magic on connecting souls or minds or whatever the Killing Curse had done shouldn't really be in a fourth-year textbook, but she couldn't just sit and twiddle her thumbs.

To be fair, what she eventually thought of was not in any magical textbooks.

She had been reading about the Protego shield spell when something from Dudley's old comic books had come to mind.

A mind shield. People would could read other minds or block mind reading attacks like in X-Men. Telepathy.

Could the Protego spell be modified to put a mental shield around her mind?

She pulled out a blank piece of parchment and wrote Protego in the middle. Creating a web, spells were written down in branching patterns from the original spell.

Imperius was the next one to branch off, but she'd never heard of putting yourself under Imperius.

Diffindo was put on its own branch. Maybe sever the connection and then shield her mind?

Relashio, the releasing charm. Next time she was in a hallucination, if she noticed, could she just make him release his grasp on her mind?

Then another word came to mind, not a spell by itself, but the latin word for mind, animi.

An intriguing thought came to mind. Connecting Protego, Diffindo, and Relashio to the mental arts.

Unknowingly, Harri's desperation had led her to Mastery level Arithmancy, developing new spells. Unfortunately, Harri had never taken a single Arithmancy class and had no idea how spells were created. She had no concept in the delicacy needed or how many tests were run before a spell was considered safe. A single syllable off could change the purpose of the spell, let alone how the wand movements were connected.

Harri certainly had no idea that mind arts were barely understood at best.

All Harri could think of was that she wanted to be free from her connection to Voldemort.

With her wand safely on the bedside table, she practiced the wand movements as she said the new spell. All the movements from the original spells were put together with a slight flick at the end because it reminded her of happier spells such as the levitation charm or accio. Useful charms that were lighthearted.

"Diffindo relashio animi Protego," she muttered, "Sever release my mind and shield. What am I even doing? This is stupid at best. It's not like I can even perform magic."

Her temper started to rise along with her frustration. Suddenly, it was like a dam broke, and all her pent-up emotions started to flow. Tears sprang up in her eyes.

She was scared and alone. No one would answer her letters other than single lines. Voldemort was in her mind. Cedric was dead, and it was her fault. She told him to take the cup with her.

"Diffindo relashio animi protego," she cried and did the wand movement.

A glow formed at her fingertips as her magic responded. She gasped and tried to push her magic down, but her emotions were too wild. Her magic had responded to her strong emotions in accidental magic. The words and movement were enough to give the magic a vague direction.

The golden light flowed from her fingertips into her brain.

Everything went dark and Harri Potter fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where am I?" she wondered out loud. Well, she thought it was probably out loud, but she didn't seem to have any senses.

A light started to glow in the distance. Harri tried to follow it, but she wasn't sure if she was moving. She couldn't feel any limbs to walk or even crawl, but she tried to mentally push forward.

The light grew brighter and closer until she saw a park bench. As she went closer to it, she could suddenly feel her legs moving. Glancing down, her feet materialized beneath her, and she could suddenly feel them.

Harri sat at the bench and waited.

"Sweetheart," a voice breathed.

Harri's eyes widened, "Mum?"

Lily wrapped her arms around her daughter, "Oh my sweet, sweet baby."

Harri started to sob as she grabbed her mother, "What happened? Where am I?"

Lily had tears too, "There was an accident. I'm not sure if you remember what happened with your magic."

Harri pulled back, "My magic? Oh no! I was trying to find a way to sever the connection between Voldemort and myself. But…if I can see you…does that mean…I'm dead?"

Lily looked away and Harri felt herself grow numb.

"Not completely dead yet," Lily finally said.

"What does that mean?"

Lily sighed and ran her pale hand over Harri's black hair, "You are dead in the vaguest sense of the word. Your heart has stopped beating. You are not breathing. But you do not have to continue forward."

"I can go back?" Harri asked.

"You don't understand, baby. There's so much you don't understand. I don't think this was the way it was supposed to happen. I'll try to explain, but there's so much," Lily said.

"Please try," Harri begged.

Lily looked in her eyes, "You were right that there was a connection between you and Voldemort. It was deeply entangled in your brain because it has been there since you were one. The Killing Curse caused it as you suspected. When you said those spells and your magic responded, it cut out the connection with Voldemort and put a shield around your brain. No one would ever be able to read your mind again unless you learned to control that new aspect."

Harri felt herself lighten slightly, "But that's great! He won't be able to influence my mind anymore. The locations of those I love are safe now!"

"But it was so entangled that it killed you when it cut it out. It cut out large chunks of your brain," Lily continued.

The air was knocked from Harri's lungs, "What?"

"That's why you are here with me. His connection was so deep that it was too much. There wasn't enough brain left after the removal. Your brain didn't even remember to tell your lungs to keep breathing or your heart to keep beating," Lily said.

"No…" Harri breathed.

"But you do have a choice. Dumbledore was actually right; my sacrifice was important. Not just because I died for my child. That happens more often than you want to know. Instead, it was important because I had laid the ground work of a protection charm, ancient, Nurse specifically. I wasn't completely sure what all it would do, but it was a protection charm that needed the sacrifice of a close blood relative to work. That is what partially stopped the Killing Charm. Even now, it works to repair the damage. It can repair your brain to a point of sustaining life, but your brain will never be the same as it was. I'm so sorry, my baby," Lily told her.

"What are you trying to tell me? That I can go back as some sort of vegetable? Brain dead?" Harri demanded.

"No! Not brain dead, just damaged, not who you were before," Lily said.

"How is that possible? Why would my magic do this?" Harri asked.

"Magic is not truly ours. It is an energy that our bodies have learned to channel. Just like electricity can be used to power a lightbulb, too much electricity fries the same bulb. Your accidental magic was trying to cut out the connection. It couldn't direct itself or have a way of knowing that cutting the connection would cut out half of your brain," Lily explained.

Harri was silent as she stared around the area.

The area around the park bench had bloomed as they sat there. The small park in Little Whinging spread out around her.

Lily stood up and held a hand out to her. Harri grasped it as Lily led them to a small swing set.

Harri sat on it, and Lily pushed her.

"I used to take you to the park as an infant. I couldn't wait until you were old enough to really play," Lily told her. Harri's eyes had not dried.

"Is one of my choices to go with you and play in the park forever?" Harri asked.

Lily paused in her pushing and Harri slowed down, "Yes."

Harri didn't turn on the seat, "What are the other choices?"

"You could go back. Or you could become a ghost," Lily told her.

"Why would I go back?" Harri asked.

"Because it is your destiny to kill Voldemort. You don't have to, but if you do not, no one else will," Lily said sadly.

"Why is that my job? I'm not even fifteen yet! Besides, I won't be any help now," Harri screamed in frustration. She jumped off the swing at the top, feet stumbling as she hit the ground.

"I wish it wasn't your destiny, but I have no control over that. However, you do not understand, you would not be brain dead or incapable of thought. Instead, you would have a fractured mind. Your thoughts might not all connect anymore," Lily said.

Harri looked into her eyes, "You think I should go back."

It wasn't a question.

"You are my baby, and I want you safe more than anything. I want you with me. But, more than that, I want you to experience a life. Love, children of your own. If you can defeat Voldemort, you can have all of that and then still come to me later," Lily told her, holding her shoulders fiercely.

"I'm scared," Harri whispered. She could tell that her mother understands everything behind that statement. Scared of fighting Voldemort, scared of being more damaged than she already was.

Lily wrapped her daughter in a tight hug. They both knew she had already made a decision.

"Your father and I watch you all the time. We will be here waiting for you," she whispered in her daughter's ear. Harri tried to grip her tighter, but her mother was already starting to feel less solid.

"Look for Bruce Banner," her mother said, "He will be able to understand more than anyone."

"I don't even know who that is!"

"I love you, baby girl," her mother said as Harri's brain started to wake up.

Harri woke up in agony. Her chest was burning.

Everything felt too bright as her eyes opened.

"What…am…. who?" she muttered. Her eyes widened, that hadn't made sense. But what was she trying to say anyway?

"Banner Bruce," she tried again. Backwards. Her words came out backwards, like Yoda.

She stumbled to her feet, the burning lightening only slightly. On the bedside table, her wand still lay. The sun was lower in the sky than she remembered, but it was still far from dark. Dudley's old clock said 3:24. She thought it might have been around 11 when she had been in her room earlier.

Harri wondered what she could do now.

A smell drifted into her nose and she almost gagged. Looking down, she was disgusted to find she must have lost control of her facilities during her death.

She grabbed clean clothes and went into the bathroom. Her towel was still wet from her shower earlier. When she turned on the faucet, water sprayed out. She sighed in relief.

It only took a few minutes for her to wash off. Back in her tiny room, she grabbed a few key possessions from the loose floorboard. In Dudley's room, she grabbed his knapsack and shoved in her items; the photo album, invisibility cloak, and money pouch. A few outfits including her three Weasley jumpers.

"How find…Banner?" she tried to ask herself. It seemed like her thoughts couldn't flow anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Banner knew he looked older than his 28 years. Graduated high school at 15, then college and the PhDs. His mother used to tell him that four was probably enough, but he wanted to learn more. By 23, he had seven PhDs.

He'd started working for Betty's dad straight out of college, and it was only a year into it that the Hulk had happened, then Manhattan and three and a half years on the run.

Being on the run and the Hulk had done a number on his body.

Of course, he wouldn't at least be blessed to look like a superhero after going through the Hulk. He didn't grow overnight or gain huge muscles. He wasn't startling handsome or able to make a girl swoon with a single glance.

Instead, his messy black hair had gained a fair amount of grey, and new worry lines appear on his forehead.

Currently, he was on his way to India. His degree had been in biological sciences, and he'd taken almost as many medical classes as anything else. A passing stranger had told him about the need for qualified doctors in India.

His flight from Canada ended in London, then the tube into France and buses across the continent.

It was supposed to be quiet.

Supposed to be.

A frantic kid making absolutely no sense was not supposed to pop out of nowhere. She was not supposed to be looking for a "Banner Bruce."

"Wow, wow, slow down. Why are you looking for me?" he asked her as he sat next to her in a quiet corner of the airport.

"….H…H…help," she got out, looking at him with pleading green eyes.

"Help, with what?" he asked, stiffening. The last thing he needed was someone looking for the Hulk.

"D…d. don," she seemed frustrated as well and it made her speech even more disjointed.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at her head, "How did you get that scar?"

Red, raised, it looked like it was barely head. It seemed to start right above her eyebrow in a lightening shape and branch up her forehead into her hair line. It was thick and looked like a pretty bad cut.

Her fingers raised to it, and her eyes widen. He didn't think she had realized how thick it was.

"Cut," she said.

"Cut, cut what?" Banner asked.

"B…b…brain," she stammered out.

"Your brain. Are you talking about a lobotomy?" he was growing more startled. Without thinking, he pushed away her hair, looking closer. She flinched backwards in a way he unfortunately recognized from spending time in impoverished areas. A lack of money certainly didn't mean parents would abuse their children, but it did lend itself to children having bad experiences.

He held up his hands, "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. If I'm going to help, I need to know more about what's going on. Did someone cut your brain?"

She nodded her head empathically, happy she didn't have to try to say it.

Banner's eyebrows rose steeply. He didn't know of anyone still doing lobotomies. And why would they be doing it on a kid?

"Are they coming after you?" Banner asked. She nodded again.

"Help?" she asked him.

Bruce thought about it. She was a kid, no more than 14, but he thought maybe closer to 12. The last thing he needed around the Hulk. And he was being followed by many different organizations seeking to turn him into a weapon.

Despite that, this kid had obviously already been through some stuff. He needed to know why they were cutting into her brain and if there was anything he could do to help.

In a split second, he made a decision.

"Come on, we have a bus to catch."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Natasha was sent to retrieve the Hulk, he had been living in India for at least four months, but SHIELD suspected it was closer to six. During that time, he'd had a small, black haired teenager with him.

Facial recognition had matched her to Harriet Potter, an orphan who had been living with her aunt and uncle until she suddenly ran off. She'd turned fifteen during her time with Banner. There was an official missing person's report filed, but no evidence of anyone ever searching for her. It was kept completely confidential, and therefore, suspicious to SHIELD.

"Listen, we don't know the connection. Probably her aunt and uncle sold her to him for some extra money, and that's why they didn't bother with any sort of searching. Don't plan on using her bait, because he might not even be attached to her," a voice spoke in her ear.

Natasha rolled her eyes at some agent trying to coach her on persuasion tactics.

"Just add that to his crimes, huh. Killing innocent scientists, soldiers, cop, and now kidnapping and holding a teenager hostage," another agent spoke.

Agent Coulson interjected at this point, "Agents, focus."

It's all the mild-mannered agent needed to say for them to stop gossiping.

At least for the minute.

Natasha didn't really care what Potter's purpose was with Banner unless she could be used as a bargaining chip.

Natasha wrapped the shawl around her shoulders loosely as she walked into the hut. A child was leaving through the window as Banner turned around.

"This is why we should've made her prepay," he mumbled to the girl standing next to him holding the medical bag. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Dr. Banner," Natasha said. "For a man supposed to be avoiding stress, you pick a wonderful place to stay."

"Edge of the city, this was a trap," Banner said. Harri tensed next to him. "How many agents do you have outside?"

"Just you, me, and the kid," Natasha soothed. Her eyes caught how he had stepped slightly in front of her, protecting her.

Banner stared her down, "Are you here to kill me? Because that's not going to work for everyone."

"Of course not," Natasha gestured to the girl, "Does she know what you are?"

Banner scoffed, "Yes, she does."

"I'm here to request a favor. Director Fury needs your scientific expertise," Natasha continued.

"Sure, he wants my science skills."

"We have a special mission that requires your work with gamma radiation. It is a matter of international crisis."

Banner looked around him, "Now those I actively try to avoid."

"We need your help tracking a gamma signature," Natasha continued.

"And if I say no?" Banner asked. The girl took a step closer to him.

"There are ways of persuading you," Natasha said.

Banner laughed slightly, "And if the other guy says no?"

Natasha pulled up a picture on her phone, "This is the tesseract. It produces enough energy to wipe out North America."

Banner couldn't resist walking across the room to look at it closer. He pulled his glasses from the pocket of his old suit.

"And what do you need me for? To swallow it?" he asked sarcastically. Harri looked around him at the phone.

"It emits a gamma signature too weak for us to trace. You are the only person with the expertise to follow it," she looked at him, "If there was someone else, I'd be with them."

"Sure, Fury wants me in a cage," Banner continued.

Natasha wondered why the girl hadn't said anything.

"We do not want the Hulk- "

Banner slammed his hands on the table, "STOP LYING TO ME!"

As he expected, a gun was almost immediately in her hands. Natasha noticed the way that Harri had stiffened, already prepared for that.

"Sorry, that was rude of me, just wanted to check how you'd respond," Banner said softly, completely reverting to the mild-mannered scientist act.

He hummed as he thought, ignoring the pistol still pointed at him.

"I'll go without a fuss, but Harri is coming with me," he said.

That was all Natasha needed to know that the girl would be a powerful bargaining chip with one of the most dangerous creatures in the world. Or at least the human body that hosted it.

"Stand down," she spoke into the intercom. Soldiers put down their guns around the small hut.

"Just us, huh?" Banner asked sarcastically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It hadn't taken long for Harri and Bruce to figure out each other's big secret, namely giant green monster and magic.

Bruce was jerked from his sleep by something hitting his face. His eyes had a tint of green as he was instantly awake and surveying his surroundings. He breathed in deeply, but the Other Guy couldn't smell anything amiss. The Other Guy enhanced his eyesight slightly so that he could see around him. What he saw had him rubbing his eyes wondering if he was still asleep.

The strange girl that he had picked up was thrashing in her sleep, seemingly caught in a violent night terror. Unfortunately, it was the sparkles of energy bouncing over her body that shocked him.

The sparkles were similar to electrical sparks or fireworks, pure bits of energy.

Strangest of all, they seemed to be emerging from her fingertips and going wild.

A part of Bruce wanted to run away. The last thing he needed was the Hulk making an appearance in the outskirts of some small French town. A bridge hadn't seemed like a fine place to stay, but their sleeping bags had kept them warm, and Bruce didn't have the money for hotel rooms.

Despite that, a part of his mind reminded him of how he was treated when the Hulk made an appearance. With that in mind, he decided to handle the situation the way he wished someone would help him.

Throwing the sleeping bag over his shoulder to shield exposed skin, he crept closer to the girl. The energy felt differently every time it touched his skin. Sometimes it burned like fire, others it felt colder than snow. The scientific part of his brain couldn't help but catalog all of it.

Eventually he reached her shoulder and placed a gentle hand on her thin shoulder.

"It's not real, you're safe," he said.

She whimpered in her sleep, and Bruce felt sympathy. He may not know where the pain came from, but he recognized how that felt.

"Hey, it's fine. It's Bruce here with you, the doctor you've been traveling with," he continued saying words in a gentle tone as she pulled herself from her nightmares.

She scuttled away from him and blinked up with huge green eyes, a blush spreading across her face. Bruce self-consciously ran a hand through his curly black hair.

"What…happen?" she asked in her broken manner.

"You had a nightmare and this energy came from your fingertips," he explained.

She looked frustrated as she stared at her hands.

He placed a guess, "I take it that shouldn't happen?"

She shook her head ruefully, "Should better control."

"Well, what was that stuff anyway?" he asked.

"Magic," she replied simply.

"No, for real," he demanded.

She stared at him, "Don't know?"

"How can you not know- "

She interrupted him by shaking her head. She poked a finger into his chest, "Don't know?"

"Ohh, you thought I already knew about this…magic?" Bruce asked.

She nodded her head.

"And you used to have better control, before your accident?" Bruce made another guess. She nodded at him.

"Worked up…no control," she said.

"I see," Bruce said, his mind twisting through many different options. Regardless of what she was, mutant or creation, it was starting to make more sense. Someone had gone after her brain trying to recreate her without actually killing her. Now she had woken up missing part of her brain and losing control over her powers.

"And someone recommended you come to me to get help with your powers?" Bruce continued his train of thoughts.

She held up a hand in a "Eh, yes, but also no" kind of way.

"Didn't know why…just help," she said.

Bruce looked startled, "OK, well I've never had an apprentice before. I guess we should start with you meditating with me in the morning. I don't know how much help I'll be with magic type powers, but sure, why not?"

She held out her hand, "Harri."

"Harry? Is that your name?" he asked.

"Har-ri-et," she sounded out.

"Oh, well I'm Bruce but you already know that."

It had taken less than a week for Harri to find out about the Hulk. Banner had better control now than he had ever had before, but the Hulk always came out in life threatening situations. The mugging in the back alleyway had apparently constituted enough of a life-threatening situation that he had lost control.

Regardless of why he came out, he was surprised to find Harri sitting cross legged by him when he came to. Her green eyes stared into his eyes as they slowly returned to brown.

She looked surprisingly uncaring.

"Are you OK?" he gasped out immediately. The teen was barely five-foot-tall, how had she survived the Hulk emerging?

"Turn green," she said with a slight edge to her voice.

"You didn't know?" she shook her head. Bruce muttered curses, "Listen, I'm so sorry you found out like that. I just figured you already knew and that's why you came to me for help. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

"Told 'bout magic," she said. Bruce finally recognized the edge as pouting.

"I already said sorry, I figured you already knew," he said again as the memories of the Hulk's adventure played out in his mind.

The Hulk had destroyed the men before turning to Harri. The teen's hair was flying in the air as what she called her magic spread from her fingertips, several bodies lying at her feet too. She looked startled by what her magic had done, but she wasn't scared of the Hulk. Surprised yes, but he could see no fear.

Hulk bared his teeth at her, tiny teen should be scared of him.

She bared her teeth back and tried to roar. It sounded so puny that Hulk almost laughed.

"Human tiny," Hulk said.

"Green giant," she replied.

"Smash tiny human?" he asked.

"No," she said as though they were discussing the weather.

He raised his fist, but the sparkles hit him, and he was suddenly sitting. Hulk fought to stand but felt like he was glued to the ground.

"Hulk smash tiny human!" he roared.

"No," she said again and sat across from him.

It took hours, but Hulk slowly lost interest in the tiny human. As he grew bored, the anger faded away until Bruce was able to return to his normal form. The smell of dead bodies broke him from his thoughts. He couldn't believe the girl hadn't run away in fear.

"You should be scared of the Hulk. If your…magic hadn't held him, he would've killed you," he scolded the girl.

She smirked at him, "Magic held."

He sighed, in some ways her speech made it like talking to the Hulk. Just a smaller, prettier version.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her reaction to the helicarrier had been adorable though utterly exasperating. It was at least positive as Bruce bemoaned the idea of putting himself in the air with potentially hundreds of other people.

"Fly, fly!" she chirruped as she ran to the edge of the ship.

Bruce grabbed her around the waist and flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her gaze had seemed distant; he was worried she was stuck in a different memory. Her grasp on reality was sometimes tenuous during these memories, and the last thing he need was for her to walk right over the edge.

Then he'd be forced to jump after her to try and rescue her, and the Hulk would come out. SHIELD would have his head. Better to just carry her and try to ignore the disapproving glances of the agents.

Like he cared what they thought anyway.

"Fly," she pouted into his shoulder, but Bruce rolled his eyes.

"You cannot fly," he told her, though he wasn't actually sure of that. For all he knew, maybe her powers did include flying. He added that to the running list of things to check. At a different time.

The control room was like a smoothly run beehive, worker bees moving in different directions completing tasks needed to fly the ship. Director Fury was apparently the Queen Bee.

"Queen Bee," Harri muttered in his ear as he set her down. Bruce stifled a snort but wasn't quite enough because Fury turned his sharp glare on him. Then his gaze shifted onto Harri. She looked back at him without fear, but Bruce felt himself move slightly in front of her.

"Banner," Fury snapped, his gaze finally shifting over to Steve, "Captain."

Steve inclined his head, but Bruce really wished he was somewhere else. He fiddled with his pockets. Harri placed a hand on the back of his arm, probably to reassure him.

She didn't have the best capability for connecting the potential outcomes to current situations. To Bruce's knowledge, thinking through things was hard for her because she had a hard time connecting past, present, and future. She was either completely in the current moment or trapped in some past memory without conscience understanding of what was happening now. He figured the brain damage had left some issues with it all connecting.

He figured that was why she was so nonchalant in situations. She couldn't rationalize all of the dangers.

Still, the slight movement helped to calm him. At least one person was here who could truly do something to the Hulk.

Which reminded him of something, he leaned closer to Harri and spoke at the lowest volume he could, "Harri, you cannot reveal your magic. No matter what. Understand?"

She nodded and held a finger up to her lips to pretend to turn a key. Her symbol for secret. He pulled away feeling little gratitude. She'd built up a lot of control in the last six months, but her magic still tended to be as disjointed as her mind was. And that's if she even managed to remember this conversation.

Unfortunately, she quickly broke that rule and revealed her magic to everyone. He should have realized what the scepter was doing. Harri had realized as she paced the lab Bruce was working in. He kept her close to him. SHIELD had wanted him, and it wasn't fair that he had dragged her into this mess. Though, if he'd known somewhere safe for her, he would've sent her there long ago.

At least she had some defenses with her strange powers.

The scepter had caused all of them to say some horrible things, and Bruce wished the teen hadn't been there.

"SHIELD is creating weapons," Steve had announced.

"Great, super powered weapons using the tesseract. Cause there's nothing wrong with that scenario."

"Like you can say anything about morals while you're carrying a child around with you. She's only what, twelve? Does she cry every time or was it just the first few times?" Tony had said.

Everyone ignored Harri's indignant cry of fifteen.

"I've been wondering why she was here anyway," Steve had agreed.

Bruce straightened, "You don't even know what you're talking about. I'm helping her."

"Maybe you need to remove yourself from this situation, Doctor," Natasha had said.

"We were in Calcutta, pretty far removed from the situation," he'd snarled at her.

Then came the explosion. In a flash, he was flying through the air before smacking sharply into the floor. He was groggy and slightly dazed.

Harri was lying next to him but she sat up swiftly.

Natasha was slower than Harri to come around. She told Fury they were fine before glancing closer at Banner.

Were they fine?

Suddenly, the teenager sat up. Natasha glanced at her as Banner's muscles spasmed.

"Run, get out of here!" she yelled as she struggled to free her leg. Harri looked at her curiously as she settled into her cross-legged position.

Bruce jerked as more of his body turned green. His back arched in the agony of every muscle and bone stretching. Harri felt sadness as she remembered someone in a similar position. When was that she wondered? Something with a wolf and agony.

But she had been scared that time, and she wasn't this time. The Hulk did not scare her.

Natasha did not seem to share her feelings though as she tried to talk Bruce into not transforming.

"Banner listen to me, I promise I will get you out of here alive," she tried to coax him.

"STOP lying to me!" he roared, already more Hulk than Banner.

He staggered slightly away as the last of Banner faded away and the Hulk roared.

"Tiny human," he said to Harri.

She nodded back at him. They had reached somewhat of an agreement, neither could destroy the other, so they had relative peace.

"Hulk stop," she replied.

"Hulk smash," he roared.

"No."

"Smash."

Sparkles came out from her fingertips and glued Hulk to the bottom of the carrier. He pulled against it with all of his strength. The screws started to rip up as he pulled. Another wave and the screws were pulling back down into the metal.

Hulk continued to roar.

Natasha turned to Harri, "How are you doing that?"

"Classi…classi…classif," Harri couldn't get the word out and felt frustrated.

"How long will it hold him?" she asked.

Harri shrugged in reply. She seemed content to sit there and wait for Bruce to return, but Natasha grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Do you have to watch him to hold him?" she asked.

Harri paused before shaking her head.

"Good, come on then, we need to help the others," the Black Widow said.

Harri tried to remember who the others were. Was it Hermione and Ron? Was something happening at Hogwarts?

Wait, Hogwarts, when was she going there? Summer seemed to have lasted forever. Or had it? Hadn't Bruce made her wear a coat the other day? She tried to explain that she didn't need a coat in summer, but he said it was too cold. Wasn't it still summer?

Natasha tugged at her arm, "Come on, people are going to die."

Harri charged forward at that. Maybe it was Ginny who needed rescued again. Would they go into the Chamber again?

She followed the woman up the stairs to a metal walkway. On the other end was a man with glowing blue eyes.

"Barton," the woman muttered. "Go on, Harri, I'll stop him."

Harri wasn't sure where she was supposed to go, but she sidestepped the two agents as they started to fight. She made her path by avoiding any loud areas. Bruce always made them avoid places that were loud and busy, harder to maintain control. She agreed, it was too hard to remember what was happening.

Her paths lead her to the quietest part of the ship, a room with two men in it. One with long black hair and a man who looked completely average, receding hair line and all. The average man was holding some sort of large weapon to the other one.

She accidentally opened the door with a bang in her hurry, and they both turned sharply to her.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

The black haired one stepped closer, "What trickery is this?"

She held out her hand, "Ha…Harri."

"I am Loki, God of Magic, bow before me slave," he demanded.

"No," she said, a word easy for her to get out.

"Your magic has contained my beast," he growled.

"Beast no Bruce," she replied.

Coulson used the distraction to fire at Loki with the gun. He stumbled then flashed away.

Fury came into the room then, "What is going on in here?"

Coulson smiled at Harri, "I think you saved my life. Great job with the distraction."

Harri shrugged.

Fury looked between the two, "Coulson, stay here."

Harri followed Fury as he grabbed something from the locker labeled Coulson and lead the way to the deck where most of the Avengers were gathered. Along the way, he dipped whatever was in his hands in one of the piles of blood. She felt the Hulk go away and released her hold on the magic. Bruce stumbled up the steps. She went over and braced him with her shoulder. To the others, it should look like he was standing on his own. Only the two of them really knew how much he was leaning on her, well and probably the super spies knew.

Fury waved the cards around the room, "Coulson died fighting Loki. All because you bunch of idiots couldn't stop fighting to work together for ten minutes. You played right into his little trap."

Here he paused for a minute to look at Bruce and Harri. He was fairly positive that Loki's goal had been to set the Hulk on a rampage, so that hadn't gone to plan.

He continued, "You were supposed to be the best that Earth had to offer. The goal was for you to save lives. Instead, my best agent is lying dead in the other room."

The Avengers looked down, ashamed.

"It's time to stop Loki. But it can only be done if you work together."

The jet was a silent place as they traveled towards New York City. Harri watched as Bruce sunk back into the seat. Transforming took a lot out of him.

She wanted to tell him something, about someone not dying, but she couldn't remember who it was. And sometimes the name would flit through her mind, but she couldn't get her mouth to say it.

She started to sign something to him.

Bruce looked at her when she tapped on his shoulder. He had gotten some books on sign language 3 months ago, and they had been using it since then. Harri was much smoother in her motions than her voice sometimes suggested.

He signed back to her.

Clint glanced at them in the mirror, "You know sign language?"

Bruce looked up in surprise, "Uh yeah, Harri does better with signing than speech. Her brain control over the hypothalamus is spotty at best, but she knows a lot more than she can verbally say. Sign gives her more of a voice."

Clint nodded, "Sign gives a lot of freedom."

Bruce turned back to Harri, "Really?"

She nodded.

"But who? Wait, do you mean Coulson isn't?" she nodded again. He glanced up to make sure none of the other Avengers could hear them.

"Well, that couldn't back fire at all," he said sarcastically, but didn't make a motion to tell anyone else. Then Harri signed something else at him.

"Follow?" he asked. She repeated the same sign, "If you mean Ross, I think it's beyond the point of worrying."

She shook her head and pointed at herself, ~Follow~.

Bruce understood, "Hey Hawkeye, Black Widow, does this jet have any masks tucked away? Like for privacy."

The Black Widow walked to a cupboard and grabbed a small eye mask. It wrapped around and tied at the back of a head. Bruce grabbed it when she tossed it to him and carefully tied it around Harri's head.

"There, no one will know," he reassured her.

She smiled at him.

The battle in New York City was scarier than anything Harry had ever witnessed before, and she had faced many things. The strong emotions made her brain damage worse than ever.

Captain had tasked her with shutting the portal with her magic. Natasha had informed the rest of the team on what had happened with Bruce.

"Need closer," she said.

"Fling tiny human," the Hulk said in warning as he grabbed her and spun around. He released at the top of the swing and sent her hurtling through the air. Harri wasn't particularly concerned.

When she had drawn close enough, she directed her magic to hold her in place. It obeyed her desire and held her at the edge of the portal. Then she directed it to shut. Sparks flew from her fingertips and formed around the edge of the portal. It started to pull the opening closed. Harri felt the pull on her magic. She reached out and started to pull from the magic in the air around her.

Suddenly, Iron Man was blasting through the closing portal. She watched as he climbed until his thrusters started to die, then he fell back down. The portal was almost shut, but she felt drained. She was so tired.

Maybe she could just take a nap.

As the portal closed, she lost conscience.

Harri floated down like a feather, her magic able to lighten her weight. The Hulk decided Iron Man hurtling to the ground was in bigger danger and leapt to catch him. With no one guiding her fall, Harri fell down onto the Tesseract.

She woke up as it connected with her. The power surged through her, making her scream. It went straight for her brain, trying to heal the damage. It felt like parts of her brain were literally regrowing like her arm bones on skelegrow.

The Avengers gathered around her.

Suddenly, she stopped screaming and the blue beams of light coming from her eyes and mouth faded. Her body slumped to the ground. The Hulk didn't seem to feel the same hesitation that the others felt and scooped her up in a giant hand.

"Tiny human need help," he snapped and led the others to the top of Stark tower where Thor was waiting with Loki.

The black-haired man quivered at the sight of the Hulk, especially as he got closer. Then he looked curious as the Hulk laid the teenager in front of him.

"Why do you bring me the magic user?" he asked.

Hulk growled at him, and he lost his cold demeaner. Hulk laughed.

"Tiny human special. Fix her," he growled.

"She collided with the Tesseract, then the blue glow shot out of her face," Tony explained.

"The Tesseract has incredible power. It does not like broken things. I believe it probably tried to heal the broken pieces as best it could," Loki said.

"So its not going to hurt her worse?" Tony asked.

Loki considered, "It is surprising that a human was able to survive direct contact with the tesseract. In most cases, she would have instantly died. If you ever tire of her, I would be interested in buying the girl off of you."

Thor placed a muzzle on his brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harri was out for 48 hours. Bruce acted as doctor and worried friend. He gave the Avengers an abbreviated explanation as they waited for her to wake up. If she ever woke up.

"I was on my way to India. My flight ended in London, then I'd take the tube. She showed up in the airport looking for a Bruce Banner. I grabbed her and tried to figure out what was going on. She said she needed help. Someone had very recently performed a lobotomy on her, cutting out part of her brain."

"They can do that?" Steve asked.

Tony snorted, "In horror movies. It's a procedure that's almost never done today."

Bruce shrugged, "I'm guessing they were trying to discover the source of her powers. She obviously has issues ever since. She claimed they were still hunting for her. I was already on the run, and she clearly needed help, so I took her along. I couldn't think of anyone to send her to. Someone had already given her my name and sent her to me saying I could help her learn control. When they cut into her brain, they messed up her control of her powers," he explained.

"They didn't cut into my brain," Harri muttered.

Bruce jumped up and started checking instruments, "You're awake!"

"And you can talk again?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I feel better than I have in months. Not the same as the original me, but definitely better," she said.

"Who did cut into your brain, then?" Natasha asked.

Harry looked awkward, "Uh, well me. Or more specifically, my magic did. I realized I had a connection to a Dark Lord. The guy who killed my parents and tried to kill me. I was super emotional, and my magic responded by trying to cut the connection. Unfortunately, magic is like electricity, just a force to be directed. It had no way of knowing how much damage it was causing to me. It cut out chunks of my brain."

"Why didn't you die?" Tony asked.

"Technically I did, but magic was able to bring me back. It just couldn't heal me all the way," Harri said.

"And then the power of the Tesseract amplified the healing and brought you to this point," Banner mused.

Harri nodded, "Probably, I don't really know about any of that stuff."

The Avengers slowly filed out of the room after that. Eventually it was just Bruce and Harri.

She blushed, "Hey, thanks for taking care of me. I know I was crazy and a handful."

He looked awkward too, "I'm a doctor, that's what we do."

She nodded, "Yeah, but you went above just the call of a doctor, and I appreciate it. I think you're the closest friend I've ever had."

"Living and traveling with someone for six months can do that for a person."

Her eyes widened, "Six months? What day is it?"

Bruce looked at his phone, "December 6th, why?"

"Hogwarts! I've missed half the year!"

Author's note:

I've taken a few liberties with the time line. For example, the battle in New York was supposed to be in summer, but I set it in the winter to fit this time line better.

This was originally just supposed to be a one shot, but I think I'll add some more as I feel like it. Next chapter would be wizards, and how fifth year would be different. I mean, Harri missed half of the year, she no longer has a connection to Voldemort, her brain and magic is different, slightly broken, and she has formed a deep connection with Bruce Banner.