Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 9

Harry sat at his desk in his New York flat with various objects orbiting around him: his golden snitch, his wand, his Weasley Watch, the Deluminator that Ron had given him when he'd first left Britain. 'So you'll be able to find your way back to us,' Ron had said. Hermione had upgraded him to the emotional range of a tablespoon then. Harry had never been too concerned with material possessions, but like his Cloak of Invisibility it quickly became one of the few things he cherished.

He was currently gazing with unfocused eyes out the window that overlooked Washington Square Park. It was no Central Park, true, but he'd chosen this flat for its view of a little piece of greenery in an otherwise concrete jungle. Spending much of his formative years living in the Scottish Highlands had given him a need for nature. It relaxed him, helped him center himself when he was otherwise distressed.

And he was distressed, at least a little bit.

Loki's staff, full length and gleaming dangerously, turned lazily in the air before him, floating just above his outstretched left hand. He'd cast every detection spell that he could think of and the results of which were at fault for his current state.

It was composed of a foreign metal that as far as he could tell had never been seen on Earth until the staff's arrival here. The metal seemed capable of channeling certain energies of the Mystic Arts, but slightly more surprisingly his own magic as well. Just as Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, had been able to. That itself wasn't terribly unique. He was under no delusion that the sentient beings of Earth had discovered every metal in the universe, and plenty that they had were capable of channeling magic. Gold, Silver, even Aluminium was capable of it.

The true mystery was in the gem. It was egg-shaped and gave off a distinct blue glow identical to that of the Tesseract, indicating that its power must come from the container of the Space Stone. And indeed it did produce dark energy readings similar to the cube, if to a much lower degree. The problem came from the other energy it produced.

At first he'd assumed he'd made a mistake. How could the gem be producing Delta and Theta waves? He returned to Kamar-Taj to brush up on his understanding of the activity of a brain during rest and meditation, and came to a harrowing conclusion.

The gem was.. sleeping.

A brief spike of Beta waves preceded a pressure on Harry's mind. If he hadn't spent the first seventeen years of his life mentally connected to a Dark Lord he likely would have never even noticed it, but he had and did. Harry's eyes snapped into focus, staring back at the gem, and he pushed back. After only a moment the pressure receded and the gem was once again producing only Delta and Theta waves.

It turns out that not being a moody little git was the best thing you could do to learn Occlumency. Killing the parasite attached to his mind being the second best, though they weren't mutually exclusive.

Harry quickly banished the staff back to the sub-dimension he'd created specifically for its safe storage and stood from his desk. He snatched his watch out of the air and noticed he'd missed a night of sleep again. He'd feel more like a hypocrite if meditation didn't allow him to rejuvenate much more quickly than actual sleep. It was just past six in the morning so he decided to go out and find something to eat. He'd been enough of a hermit for the past few days, stalling more than anything.

Harry attached a short note to his owl and set it off with, "To Tony Stark, try not to be seen." His owl yipped at him in confirmation before soaring through the open window.

With that he secured his flat and disapparated.

(S/B)

Diurn Alley was fairly new by a British Wizard's standards, but Harry thought it still held the same awe-inspiring splendor of Diagon Alley. The entrance to said magical shopping district was located through an ancient looking red oak door set into the office building just across the street from the Woolworth Building. Unlike Diagon Alley there was no pub on the other side, instead opening into a large cafe named The Cauldron Press that served the MACUSA witches and wizards hustling to work.

Also unlike Diagon Alley, Diurn Alley had been opened to the muggles of New York, if only briefly, during the Chitauri invasion. It had acted as a safe haven to muggles and magicals alike, and the Obliviators of MACUSA had earned a good bit of overtime pay sorting them apart once everything was safe.

Harry sat in The Cauldron press that morning, considering the discussion that he was soon to have while sipping a perpetually hot cup of tea. Every once in a while a customer would recognize him and greet him, one young child even asking for an autograph, but generally he was left alone. He also quickly found himself growing bored and envious. Envious of the others streaming in and out, looking as if wherever they needed to be was the most important place to go.

Unemployment wasn't something Harry was accustomed to, and he was finding it didn't agree with him very much. Ever since turning eighteen he had been constantly busy. From training, and healing, at Kamar-Taj to Auror training he'd always had a task to accomplish. There was always something next to grab his attention, but now that he'd resigned from the Aurors his time was his own.

Thankfully he'd been appointed to a new position, Liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D, but the time-frame and duties were up to him. With his letter to Tony all he had to do now was wait.

After nearly two hours of sipping tea and exploring the magical shopping district his phone finally started to vibrate. Harry quickly made his way towards the exit of the alley and flipped his phone open.

(S/B)

"Tony?"

"You sent me an owl."

"I said I would, didn't I?" Harry asked into his mobile-phone.

"I thought you were joking. Why an owl? A messenger pigeon might at least make sense if it didn't find me at the airport," Tony replied.

"Why would I use a pigeon?" Harry asked, slightly confused. "Anyway, one of these days you'll start believing me when I tell you something," he said as he walked away from Diurn Alley.

"Well she snuck onto my plane. I didn't even know she was there until we'd already taken off," Tony said. Harry could hear his owl in the background yipping like a young dog. "She's laughing at me.."

"She's a he," Harry said with a chuckle. "His name's Aloysius, take good care of him for me. He can be a little mischievous."

"JARVIS can't even tell what type of owl it is."

"He's a laughing owl."

"Laughing owl. What-? Are you Sure?" Tony asked away from the phone. "JARVIS says laughing owls are extinct, Houdini."

"Maybe to muggles," Harry said with a unseen shrug.

"Mug- alright. That's it, Fury'll be at my house in Malibu tomorrow. I'll send you the address, can you be there?"

"Sure, what about everyone else?"

"Cap, Legolas, and Romanoff are all on missions. Bruce is, somewhere, so it'll just be Fury and Agent Hill," Tony replied.

"Agent Hill?"

"Fury's number two after, well, you know," Tony said in a quieter voice.

"Right," Harry said, asking no further. "That should be fine. The others will just have to get the story later, then."

"So we're finally getting the whole story?" Tony asked, quickly regaining his upbeat attitude. "You're more mysterious than Romanoff, and she posed as my secretary when I first met her. I haven't been able to find anything on a 'Harry Potter' with your description. You might as well not even exist."

Harry just chuckled once again and replied, "You can wait one more night, Tony. See you tomorrow." He then hung up the phone and made his way back to his flat. He had some preparations to make.

(S/B)

Maria Hill, Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, was best know for her pragmatism and she felt her reputation was well earned. After working her way up the ranks of the U.S. Military she'd been tapped by Nicholas Fury for the, at the time, lesser known intelligence agency. Again she quickly became one of the best in the organization, rising to second in command much quicker than even she'd expected.

At first it'd been a challenge to continue to use her well-honed reasoning ability when dealing with mutants and aliens, amongst other curiosities. But eventually she realized they too could be understood if one just opened their view of the universe a little. She had thought that she once again understood the Avengers and their various abilities: Stark and his suits, Banner and his science experiment gone wrong. Thor was the most difficult of course, but aliens with extraordinary powers wasn't exactly new to her.

Then she saw footage of one that she hadn't interacted with yet. A flying motorcycle that sometimes had brick walls for exhaust was seemingly unexplainable. The ability to project energy capable of destroying nearly an entire alien army could be a mutant ability, albeit one of the stronger she had ever seen, but the problem was that was only a small portion of this new man's abilities. The most likely explanation was perhaps that he was an alien posing as a human, using unknown tech to imitate abilities. It wouldn't be the first time S.H.I.E.L.D had dealt with such a situation.

Still, it would only take her one conversation with the man and she could go back to her logical perception of the world. And today she would get that chance. Officially she was there to give him a psych evaluation and index him. Unofficially, she just rather disliked unsolved mysteries.

Director Fury was standing at the window, staring out seemingly lost in thought. Whether brooding or enjoying Stark's admittedly magnificent view she didn't know, but neither would surprise her. Stark was offering drinks and talking with his A.I., and didn't that have terrifying implications. All they had to do was wait for the man of the hour.

Eventually Maria heard a well known Black Sabbath song and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at Stark's ego once again. If she gave into the impulse she was sure they'd never stop spinning.

Stark answered and begrudgingly put it on speaker phone when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Harry, we're here waiting for you," Stark said.

"I thought it might be best to do this at mine," the voice replied. "It will make some things more, believable, I guess."

Fury finally turned away from the window to stare at Stark, as if this inconvenience was some how his fault.

"Do you have a place in California? Where do you live, anyway?" Tony asked, ignoring the three eyes on him.

"I have a few places, but my house in London is-" 'Harry' was replying before being cut off by Fury.

"I don't enjoy having my time wasted," Fury said in his usual curt way. "A flight to London would do just that."

"Oh, no flight necessary. I'll take care of transportation, just step outside Tony's house. It's part of my attempt to convince you of what I'm about to tell you," Harry said.

Stark finally looked at the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents and shrugged.

"Very well," Fury said with a nod, already walking for the door.

With that Stark hung up the phone and the trio made their way to the front door. Maria had seen footage of his portals, whatever they were, so she wasn't exactly surprised by his admission that he had a way from Malibu to London instantaneously. However, she was surprised to see a seemingly nondescript wooden door just yards from Stark's own front door. Nondescript if one ignored the way it floated inches off the ground attached to nothing else.

"This is a little too Stephen King for me," Maria said, walking around the door. It even disappeared when viewed from the other side.

"Didn't take you for a horror fan, Agent Hill," Fury said without looking away from the door.

"Do we knock?" Stark asked in a joking manner.

Instead of replying Fury turned the door nob, pulled it open, and stepped through. Stark merely shrugged and followed through with an owl from seemingly out of nowhere soaring right over his head.

Maria hesitated for only a moment before following. Of course the door closed behind her with a snap, completing the picture, and she was left standing in the most ancient looking library she'd ever seen.

(S/B)

Harry stood in the library of Grimmauld Place under a disillusionment charm and watched his three guests step through the door. What he'd just done was technically of the Mystic Arts, but he wasn't interested in distinguishing them from Magic today. As far as S.H.I.E.L.D was concerned they would be considered the same thing, at least when it came to what Harry could do.

He watched curiously, wanting to know how they would react to a new environment. Tony unsurprisingly began perusing the books that lined the various shelves, though he at least seemed to know better than to touch anything. The other man, Director Fury, was scanning the room obviously searching for Harry himself. Fury's outfit made Harry want to laugh a little as his trench-coat and suit underneath could pass as wizarding wear in MACUSA territory.

The only female of the group, Agent Hill, did a bit of both. Harry was surprised to find that he recognized her from the incident in the Mojave where she worked closely with Phil. She reached out to touch the furry spine of The Monster Book of Monsters before it began to quietly growl at her, so she moved down the line. As she was about to grab a different book Harry finally decided to reveal himself.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," he said as he let his disillusionment charm fade. "You won't be able to put it down."

Agent Hill quickly withdrew her hand and turned with the others to look at Harry.

"That good?" she asked, glancing back at the book.

"No, well yes, but I meant that literally," Harry replied.

"I'm a quick reader," Agent Hill retorted.

"I hope you know how to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics, then," Harry said with a smile.

"You do?" Tony asked curiously.

"I learned. Please, have a seat," Harry said, indicating the four plush armchairs surrounding a small tea table. "Can I offer tea, or something else to drink?" he asked as they took their seats. Before anyone could respond four cups and a pot of tea faded into view. Kreacher was obviously lurking nearby. Harry waved his hand and the pot began serving itself.

Harry took a sip of his tea before continuing, "Director Fury, Agent Hill, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name, if you haven't been told, is Harry Potter."

"Likewise," Fury said, ignoring the floating pot. "That you convinced two of my agents to keep even that from me is more than a little frustrating."

"I think that was Steve's doing more than my own," Harry said, happy that his new teammates could keep a secret. "So, how do we want to do this?"

"What is it you think this is?" Hill asked after glancing at the tea in front of them. Only Tony so far had drank any, though he didn't seem like much of a tea drinker.

"Well, I know you have questions," Harry replied, not exactly answering the question. "Do you want to ask them? Or should I just start from the top?"

"What I want to know first," Fury said as he hunched forward, elbows on his knees, eye focused on Harry, "is why my best agent used his dying breath to give me your number."

"Right, figured we'd start there," Harry said as his eyes dropped to his tea. He looked up into Fury's eye and continued, "About a week before the invasion I approached Agent Coulson after he visited Tony in Manhattan. I convinced him that I could help in the detaining of Loki should it be necessary."

"Wait," Tony said, cutting across Harry's explanation. "Are you the reason that camera in my lobby failed?"

"Sorry about that," Harry affirmed with a grin and nod.

"And how did you 'convince' him?" Fury asked. "Like I said, he was my best agent. Gaining is trust like that couldn't have been easy."

"I revealed to him that I'm the one responsible for the recovery of your people from the destroyed base in the Mojave," Harry said plainly.

Fury sat up straight at that, tensing slightly. "Do you have any proof of that?" he asked.

Harry shrugged and said, "Not much. Agent Hill did speculate that an Asgardian may have followed Loki and saved them."

Fury looked to the woman and she nodded at the unasked question. "He's right," she said to Fury. "How did you know that?"

"I detected the energy of the Tesseract activating," Harry said, " and went to find out what happened. When I found the facility buried I did what I could to help and then stuck around to find out the cause. That's when I learned that Loki was responsible for the destruction."

"And you just believed that a god out of Norse myth had come to Earth?" Fury asked skeptically.

"I'm going to be as upfront as possible," Harry said, spreading his hands, knowing every answered question would only raise more questions. "I've known Asgardians were on Earth once again since the Bifrost events in New Mexico. The energy output of the Bifrost Bridge isn't exactly subtle, and I was sent to investigate. From there your agents led me back to the research facility in the Mojave."

"Sent by who?" Hill asked. "MI6?"

"More importantly," Fury interjected with a narrowed eye, "exactly how much of our operation are you spying on?"

"Spying is such a harsh word," Harry said, holding back a wince. "Though not entirely inaccurate. I've really only observed your organization in those two instances, and only because of what it was you were investigating yourselves. Agent Hill asks a much more difficult question to answer."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because it circles back to why we're having this conversation," Harry said. "I told you that I would be trying to convince you of something. To answer that question is going to take a lot of convincing."

"Try," Fury said curtly as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"I assume one of your other questions was going to be how am I capable of the things I am," Harry started.

"We have theories," Hill said with a nod.

"And what does that have to do with who sent you?" Fury asked.

"Well, I'm a wizard," Harry said bluntly. He'd never had the opportunity to reveal the wizarding world to muggles and he thought three people as intelligent as his guests would respond best to a nonverbal Episkey, as Poppy sometimes liked to say. "And I was sent by other wizards."

There was a beat of silence as the other three processed what he'd said. Hill had cocked an eyebrow, Fury somehow narrowed his eye even further. But Tony, Tony looked at him with consternation.

"So not Houdini," Tony said as he shook his head, "but Dresden. Cap was right."

Harry shrugged and said, "I never actually read those books."

Tony nodded, deep in thought as if this was much more important than Harry's revelation. "Dresden would be much taller than you. Gandalf? Too old," he muttered to himself.

"And Gandalf was technically a divine being of some sort," Harry added.

"Merlin?" Tony asked, looking at Harry speculatively.

"I'm not that narcissistic, he was a much better wizard than me," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Wait, Merlin was real?" Tony asked in surprise.

"Oh yeah, he was-" Harry started, only to be cut off by Fury.

"A wizard," he said disbelievingly. "Sent by what? A council of wizards?" he asked with what seemed to be annoyance.

Harry shook his head and replied, "More like a government of witches and wizards."

"Witches?" Hill asked with an amused smile.

"Well men are wizards, women are witches of course," Harry said with his own smile.

"Of course," Hill agreed with a laugh. "You certainly get points for originality."

"I told you I didn't like having my time wasted," Fury said, clearly not as amused as his partner. "If you brought us here just to screw with us-"

"I didn't," Harry said, cutting Fury off. "I brought you here to establish a working relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D and MACUSA, one of the governments of our hidden society. "

"Muh-cooz-uh," Tony said, repeating the foreign word. "I haven't been able to find any references to whatever that is after you told me you're their new liaison."

Harry nodded and said, "You wouldn't, not on the internet anyway. M-A-C-U-S-A, and no I don't know why it's pronounced that way, stands for the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

"Assuming we believe you, and I don't," Fury said, "Why now? If your society has been hiding from us, why reveal yourself to us now?"

"And why hide in the first place?" Hill added on.

"If the year 1692 means anything to you, you'll understand why we hid ourselves," Harry said to Hill.

Tony of course began typing rapidly into his phone and his eyebrows rose at whatever he read. "The Salem Witch Trials? You mean they were actually executing witches?" he asked, looking up at Harry.

"And wizards," Harry said with a nod. "It's the most famous instance, but to us it was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. For centuries before that we were hunted and executed for our magic. It was also around 1692 that we made our final attempt to gain recognition and protection under non-magical governments, and failed. So the Statute of Secrecy was enacted and the magical communities of the world formed their own governments for the first time with the singular goal of hiding from the muggles that hated us."

Hill looked a little sad at Harry's tale and shook her head before saying, "It wouldn't be the first time a persecuted group of people hid themselves away."

"Wait, you believe him?" Fury asked in a way that made it clear he thought she was mad.

"Well no, I still need proof. But that much at least makes sense, doesn't it?" Hill asked, shrugging her shoulders at Fury.

"Proof will come," Harry said with a nod. "As to why now? Technically we already have. Your own President is well aware of us, as is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, among other world leaders."

"The President?" Fury asked, and received a nod. "As in the President of the United States of America, one of my bosses?"

"That's the one," Harry agreed.

"So if I call him, he'll confirm this?" Fury asked, reaching for his phone.

"Go ahead," Harry said with a shrug. "Ask him who President Quahog is."

Fury stood and began tapping the screen of his phone, shaking his head slightly. He walked away from the group a little to gain a bit of privacy.

"You at least seem to believe me," Harry said to Tony with a smile.

Tony shrugged and said, "Thor said magic and science are the same thing on Asgard. We just don't understand whatever it is you do yet. I'm just happy you're not another alien."

"What's the quote?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The problem is Asgardian magic and my own are distinct in important ways."

"How's that?" Hill asked curiously.

"On Asgard, and all of the known realms, no one is born magical," Harry said with certainty. "As far as I've been able to find the witches and wizards of Earth, among other creatures and beings, are the only ones born with an innate talent and connection to Magic. Where more advanced societies use science and technology to manipulate the energies of the universe to imitate magic, we, for whatever reason, naturally access a different type of energy."

"As far as you know," Tony said a touch smugly. "You've never had a genius like me test you."

Harry sighed and reluctantly agreed, "So far as I know, yes. But I assure you some very smart witches and wizards have spent their entire lives studying why we're different."

Fury chose that moment to return. He looked a little less surly than he had been before, when he'd thought Harry was just jerking them around.

"So?" Hill asked Fury as he sat back down.

Fury shook his head and finally took a sip of his tea. "This is still hot," he exclaimed with some surprise, examining the cup in his hand. "Would still prefer coffee, though."

"Heating charm on the cup," Harry said with a shrug as a cup of coffee faded into view in front of Fury.

"Beer," Tony said to the table, and a moment later an open bottle of butterbeer faded into existence.

"Are you doing that?" Hill asked Harry.

"No," Harry said with a slight shake of his head. "That would be my house-elf. A magical being that shares a symbiotic relationship with witches and wizards. Kreacher!" he called out.

The aging house-elf stuck his head out from behind Fury's seat, remaining out of view of the three non-magicals. "Master?"

"Say hello to our guests, Kreacher," Harry said while the others looked at him like he was insane.

"Half-blood Master wants Kreacher to reveal himself to the muggles?" the elf asked skeptically.

"Please," Harry said with a nod. Kreacher hesitantly stepped into view and Hill let out a small gasp.

"Wow," Tony said, examining the elf. "It's really an elf."

"He is an elf, yes," Harry corrected.

"You named him Kreacher?" Fury asked, showing no signs of being overly surprised by the new being.

"Oh no, not me," Harry said. "Kreacher is much older than the four of us combined. Thank you Kreacher." The elf nodded and faded away. Harry clapped his hands together and continued, "So, you believe me now, yes?"

"The President was quite, happy, to have someone to talk to about all of this," Fury said with a short nod. "He's as curious as I am why S.H.I.E.L.D is being brought in on the secret now."

Harry nodded and took a sip of tea to get his thoughts together. A moment later he said, "When I discovered the Tesseract within the Mojave facility-"

"Wait," Fury said, cutting him off, "You got inside of the facility without us knowing?"

"Yes," Harry said bluntly. "But I wouldn't worry too much, my partner at the time and I are likely the only ones capable of doing so."

"Confident, aren't you?" Hill asked, halfway between amused and annoyed.

"Realistic. I assume Agents Hill and Barton are your best agents?" he asked, and received two nods. "We were the two best Aurors, essentially equivalent to your agents just with magic to help."

"Were?" Fury asked, quickly regaining his surly attitude now that he knew his facilities weren't as secure as he'd hoped.

"She's riding a desk now. I quit."

"Quit when she got the promotion over you, eh?" Tony asked teasingly after a gulp of butterbeer.

"I was getting to that," Harry said, thankful for the man's unintentional breaking of a bit of the new tension. "When I discovered that the Tesseract was activated I knew it was only a matter of time until something came looking for it."

"Thor said something similar," Tony said, glancing at Fury. "Said that it was S.H.I.E.L.D's work with the Tesseract that drew Loki to Earth."

"He was partially right," Harry said. "It was in 1942 that the Tesseract was first activated. During World War II, a mentor told me."

"It's why S.H.I.E.L.D was formed," Hill said, and Harry looked at her curiously. "An offshoot of the Nazis, called Hydra, were studying it among other objects of unknown origin. S.H.I.E.L.D was created to study and contain such objects."

"Well normally it's the Auror's job to remove obviously magical artifacts from non-magical possession, but due to the nature of your organization my partner and I determined that it would be impossible to remove the Tesseract without exposing ourselves," Harry said, steering the conversation back into focus. "I knew the consequences of it's activation and began lobbying MACUSA, the British Ministry of Magic, as well as the ICW, essentially our United Nations, to make contact with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"And like any good government they said no until it was too late," Tony guessed.

"Got it in one," Harry agreed.

"So you quit and contacted Agent Coulson," Fury said, continuing the narrative.

"It was the morning after the destruction of your facility," Harry said with a tense nod. "I felt guilty, it was my call to leave the Tesseract there, and I was emotionally compromised. But the next day it still felt like the right decision so I made contact with Agent Coulson. After that the invasion happened and MACUSA was only prepared because of my insistence."

"They helped during the invasion?" Hill asked.

"Their headquarters is in Manhattan, so they did what they could," Harry said. "As far as I know they helped evacuate a little over a hundred non-magicals. It took some time after that for them to appoint me liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D, and here we are."

"Here we are," Fury agreed. "What now? What is it your people want with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D has shown itself to be adept at unraveling the mysteries of the world," Harry said, earning himself a smirk from Hill. "Many are convinced it's inevitable that soon you'll notice first-gens and their accidental magic."

"First-gens?" Tony asked.

"Magicals born to non-magical parents," Harry clarified.

"That's possible?" Fury asked, looking too intrigued for Harry's comfort.

"Nearly a quarter of our population are first-gens," Harry said with a nod. "It's MACUSA's hope that with S.H.I.E.L.D leadership in on the secret you'll have no need to study any first-gens you come across. Really it shouldn't happen, we have ways of detecting them at birth and concealing them from there. It's also their hope that you'll turn over any magical artifacts you come across for their safekeeping and disposal, if necessary."

"You seem to be asking for a lot here," Hill said.

"Besides that you won't keep any files, digital or paper, on the existence of the Wizarding World," Harry said. "I'm sure you already have a file on me, considering the public nature of the invasion, and that's fine. But the secret of our existence is to be limited to you two and the Avengers," Harry said, indicating Hill and Fury.

"And what do we get?" Fury asked.

Harry spread his hands and said, "Me. I'll be S.H.I.E.L.D's consultant on anything and everything mystical, magical, and otherwise inexplicable. And of course I'll be available for situations that require the Avengers."

"That's what you actually want, isn't it?" Hill asked, looking directly into Harry's eyes. He tilted his head to the side, silently asking her to continue. "You broke thee law of your people, the only reason you have governments in the first place is to hide from us. But you couldn't sit idly by when people were in danger. The fact that it's now legal is of lesser importance."

Harry sighed but nodded slightly. "You're not wrong. MACUSA had to include a clause that retroactively applied the law to my actions during the invasion, but I would have helped either way. But I do have a life, and ending up in a jail cell isn't on my to-do list."

"Agent Hill, your assessment?" Fury asked his partner.

"Their demands aren't especially stringent," she started, "And may even be beneficial to S.H.I.E.L.D if we can learn how to detect magic in the attempt to turn over magical artifacts. It wouldn't be the first thing we've compartmentalized like this."

"That means secrets," Tony stage whispered to Harry, making him laugh quietly.

"Participation in the fighting during the invasion could suggest self-destructive tendencies," Hill continued, ignoring Tony's ongoing commentary.

"They said the same thing about me," Tony whispered with a scoff.

"But performance suggests prior combat experience."

"The latter," Harry said, finally gaining the other two's attention. "Aurors are primarily Dark Wizard catchers, and I was among the best. But, well, we have wars, too."

"You're a veteran?" Fury asked curiously.

"I am," Harry confirmed.

Hill nodded and finished, "He's a prime candidate for the Avengers. Threat level similar to Thor, but I have no idea how to index his abilities."

"Just keep adding to it whenever he shows us something new," Fury said, waving her off. "Alright, only you'll be on the books, and we'll contact you for anything we find that might be 'magical,'" he said, with finger quotes. "And you'll need a code name, we'll keep your identity secret as long as possible."

"Code name?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, like Iron Man," Tony started, listing with his fingers. "Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Hulk. Thor is just Thor, which is lame."

"Is that really necessary?" Harry asked skeptically.

"For marketing, if nothing else," Tony said with a shrug. "Toys, apparel, you know, the normal stuff."

"You're way too into this," Harry said, shaking his head. He thought for a few moments, sipping his tea. Hill and Fury were now standing a bit away from the chairs, having a whispered discussion. Tony was tapping away at his phone, every once in a while giving Harry a suggestion that the wizard barely heard.

He had an idea, and if any of the weirder myths were true Thor would at least get a kick out of it. He would be revealing one of his secrets, but they were allies now. Besides, they wouldn't know he could only easily turn into one thing. "Raven," he finally said.

Hill and Fury turned away from their conversation, and Tony looked up from his phone.

"Raven?" Hill asked. "Why Raven?"

Harry stood from his seat and allowed himself to melt away. Once fully transformed he took to the air, made a few laps around the room, and finally landed on the back of his chair.

"Oh, that's good," Tony said.

A/N: Let me know what you think.

Aloysius (pronounced Al-oh-ish-us) is the Latin form of the name Ludwig, which is the male form of the name Hedwig. (All based off my ability to google things.)

I'm still not 100% on the name Raven, but in the MCU they barely use them anyway, so we'll see how it goes.

This chapter was delayed thanks to life being life. Hopefully it doesn't happen to often, but this is first and foremost a hobby to me. Still, I enjoyed this chapter and I hope you do too.

OpenOffice has been doing this weird thing where it deletes random characters. Quotation marks seem to be the most affected, but I've noticed other things as well. So, I'm sorry for any errors.

Also, if you haven't read Browncoat, Green Eyes by nonjon you definitely should. It got me to finally watch Firefly.

Edit: A guest review pointed out my naming conventions didn't line up right, so Diurnal Alley is now Diurn Alley.