Wow! Such a HUGE response to the last chapter - I'm just blown away! Thank you guys so much! Lots of people gave me suggestions and ideas, and had questions. There were several ideas that I really liked and want to use (Cody101 suggested that I let Gem and Nick duke it out, and I'm rather pleased with that idea! We'll see how the scene turns out...), and several more ideas that I really liked but that just don't fit into my idea for the story (I'm sorry!). Thank you for all the ideas!

A brief segment of Q&A...

What about Ginny? Where is she?

I have no intention to bring anyone else from wizarding Britain into this story, unless I decide that I want someone convenient for Hulk to smash and so throw the stupid Ministry officials in his direction. In this story, Harry was never in love with Ginny. I knew that she wouldn't be in the picture, and I didn't want to hurt poor Harry more than he already is. And I just can't picture him falling out of love with her. So they were never in love in the first place, and therefore she is just back with the rest of the Weasleys being sad that Ron is gone.

What will the pairings be for the story?

A bunch of you really want to know the answer to this. The truth is, I really don't know. I might do a Ron/Natasha or Harry/Natasha pairing. I will probably end up with Hermione/Clint, at the very least. There will be no Harry/Hermione or Ron/Hermione, for sure. If I'm leaving canon behind with Harry and Ginny, I'm not leaving Ron and Mione together. Sorry to those of you voting for one of those pairings. You can let me know, though, in the reviews, exactly what pairings between magical people and Avengers you want to see. I promise to take the results into consideration!

Is Harry MOD? What are the limits of the three's power?

This is actually going to be addressed in this chapter, so hold on just a little longer. However, I will just say right here and now that the rest of the wizarding world is nowhere near as strong as these three. Again, that whole issue will be discussed in this chapter - so keep reading to find out!

Why was the whole spell/name change thing necessary, since the Ministry proved with the war that they weren't too good at tracking people?

Partially because that was my original idea, so I did it. Also, they weren't just looking to escape from England. They wanted to be new people, not bothered by the demons of their past. They didn't want to be haunted by people looking for them to kill them, or looking to them to fix things. They wanted out, and they got out. Besides, Hermione never does anything by half, and she made sure that their tracks were covered.

Well, I think that's it... If you guys have any other questions, feel free to ask! Seriously, I was having a really awful day, and then I got on and saw how many people had responded to that one chapter and I was just like "HOLY UNICORN POOP!" (Yes, I am really that strange.)

Previously...

"Thor." Tony said quietly. "You'd better start talking. Because if someone doesn't explain, I will lose it. So, start talking. Now."

"You mean to tell me that the three most powerful wizards since the time of Merlin, who disappeared without a trace years ago, have been living under our noses all this time?!"

Director Fury was not pleased.

"It is no dishonor to you that your surveillance did not detect them." Thor hurried to assure him. "Even Heimdall has been unable to locate them since they hid themselves."

Fury did not seem to find that comforting.

Suddenly and ethereal blue eagle floated into the room. All weapons were immediately trained on it. It didn't seem to care, and happily let it's mouth fall open as words came tumbling out.

"I'm keeping my promise, Thor. Wherever you are had better be clear of people not in the know. I'm tired and don't feel like waiting, and I definitely don't feel like doing a bunch of obliviating."

A moment later, the Lions appeared with three soft pops.

Andy glanced at Fury. "Bloody hell. Now we'll have to obliviate him!"

"You will not bring your spells anywhere near me, or I will turn you over to the British Ministry of Magic before you can say quidditch." Fury glared.

Jim blinked. "You know of our world."

"And what I want to know is how the hell the three most powerful wizards in the world can just vanish?!"

"Oh please." Andy almost tutted. "We have Gem. We can do just about anything, if we put our minds to it."

Fury's glare deepened. "Drop the new names, Weasley. You are not in hiding anymore."

"Last I checked, yes we were." Jim put forth. "And the names we used to have aren't ours anymore, so that's pointless anyway."

"Harry James Potter. Hermione Jean Granger. Ronald Bilius Weasley."

"Not our names anymore, mate." Andy warned.

"You three are under arrest." Fury continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Gem raised an eyebrow. "For what, precisely?"

"Let's start with illegal immigration, and work our way up from there, Miss Granger."

Gem turned red, and her hair began to bristle and bush out. Little sparks crackled in the curls.

"Aw, bloody hell." Andy muttered. "He had to go and make her mad." He glanced at Jim. "I'll just go wait in the corridor. My ears still hurt from last time."

Harry nodded. "I'll keep her from killing him."

"Holler if you need me." Andy vanished out the door.

Jim leaned casually against the wall, watching his friend's hair crackle and spark.

Gem cocked her head staring hard at Fury as though she was reading something.

"Oh man." Jim muttered. "If she's mad enough to pull out his file, we could be here for a while."

"Nicholas Joseph Fury!" The witch exploded.

The Avengers winced at the volume and fury of her voice, and spent the next ten minutes attempting to covertly cover their ears while Gem handed Fury a tongue lashing that would have impressed a banshee.

When she finished, however, Fury did not look cowed.

"Bluster and threaten all you want." He said straightforwardly. "That means nothing to me. You used a spell to change your name. Good for you. However, the fact remains that you are Hermione Jean Granger, one third of the famous Golden Trio, and daughter of two dentists in Australia who cannot even remember her."

Jim raised his head, and flung out an arm toward Gem - just in time to stop her from thrashing the Director physically as well as verbally. "Andy - get in here and give me a hand!" He shouted.

The red-head reappeared, took one look at the situation, and glared at Fury. "He mentioned her parents, didn't he."

Jim nodded grimly. "Calm her down, would you? You always do that better than me."

Gem was so angry that her hair was a solid flame, and she was seething. Dark mist gathered around her.

"Shit." Andy cursed.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, since he had yet to do anything other than call things "bloody". The Avengers got the feeling that if he was cursing, it was very bad.

Jim had turned toward Fury, but whirled back around when he heard Andy curse.

"Sweet Merlin." He groaned, in miserable awe. He shot a glance at Thor. "Make sure this room is sealed. No one comes in, no one goes out. And no one comes near us. Understood?"

Thor nodded, and Jim put his hands on Gem's shoulders. Andy was holding her arms.

"Gem - Gem!" Andy called urgently. "You've got to calm down! You're pulling the death card, Gem."

"Come on, Gem." Jim urged. "Control. You know how to do this. We haven't spent weeks practicing control only for you to lose it now. It's trying to draw you in. Don't let it."

After a tense five minutes, the dark mist began to disappear, and her hair stopped flaming. Gem sagged against Jim.

"I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" She asked tiredly.

"No. I got Andy in here in time. Are you in control now?"

"Yes." She returned shortly, again glaring at Fury. "But someone is going to get a piece of my mind."

"Good." Andy shot back. "Bastard deserves it."

Fury was not amused. "What the hell was that?"

Jim glared at him. "That was you almost losing your life, because you were a total idiot."

Fury was still not amused. "Explain."

"You are not in any position to make demands." Gem told him shortly.

"You say you nearly killed me, I think that damn well gives me the right-"

"YOU are the reason I lost control." She spat. "You are a heartless, insensitive dick."

Tony snorted, but silenced himself when Andy glared in his direction.

"You think that you can tromp all over people - just do whatever you want. Well, you might get away with it most of the time but not now! You hit people, and they know that you are too big for them to hit back. Well, I can hit back, and my punches will hurt a lot more!" She paused, and stared at him.

Fury suddenly jerked, and glared at her. "Stop that."

She smirked evilly. "You think it's funny to mess with people's weaknesses? Ever hear of the Golden Rule? Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you."

Fury jerked again, and reached up to rub his eye-patch. "Stop that!"

Gem relented. "Not so fun, is it."

"What did you do to him?" Natasha demanded, aiming her gun at Gem. Thor leaped between them, gesturing wildly at the Black Widow for her to stand down.

"Really?" Andy groaned, and disarmed the woman with a flick of his wrist.

"Please, my friends. The Lady is well within her rights to challenge the callous misuse of her heartbreak." Thor tried valiantly to diffuse the situation.

Tony just looked at him. "...Really, Shakespeare, you need to update your vocabulary."

Clint was also glaring at Gem, and he leveled his bow at her. "Get away from him."

Gem raised an eyebrow. "I am used to dodging spells, idiot. You really think that an arrow is going to phase me?"

"Please, my friends! Do not antagonize them!" Thor tried again, a little more desperately this time. His voice was loud enough that everyone else finally shut up. "You know not what power you provoke! 'Tis the height of foolishness. Wake not the sleeping dragon."

Gem finally smiled slightly. "Best not to tickle it, either."

Jim and Andy both chuckled slightly at that.

"I don't understand." Steve said slowly.

"Do you ever?" Tony shot back.

"None of us understood that reference, I think." Bruce tried to settle things again.

"Why don't we start with exactly what this dragon can do, and go from there?" Tony suggested.

"Works for me." Steve agreed.

The three magicals exchanged looks.

"When did this go from grilling the bastard to a Q&A session?" Andy grumbled, and sent a quick stinging jinx at Fury, who jerked again.

Jim sighed. "I did agree to talk to Thor."

"And if someone like Voldemort shows up again, having this lot on our side could be helpful..." Gem added.

Andy sighed. "Fine. But we're finishing this later!" He added, glaring at Fury, who actually flinched.

Gem smiled calmly at the Avengers. "This "dragon" can do just about anything it puts its mind to."

"Within reason." Andy added quickly. "Actually we're not sure exactly what the limits of our power are."

"High enough that even Thor is treating you with caution." Tony cut in.

Jim nodded. "It's more a respect thing. We could wipe out half the city below us with just a thought. He knows that and treats us accordingly."

"And how could you do that?" Steve was focused more on the puzzle that these three presented rather than Thor's response to them.

Andy shrugged. "Not hard when we've got the Master of Death on our side."

"Master of Death?" Bruce echoed.

Jim sighed. "There are several incredibly powerful magical artifacts that fell into my hands while I was fighting Voldemort."

"Well, really, they were looking for him. After all, he is the last heir of the Peverell line, and the Peverells were the original holders of these artifacts. As the story goes, they were gifts from Death itself - though Death has neither confirmed nor denied that theory for us."

"As I was saying?" Jim interrupted Gem before she could go off on a new tangent.

"Right. Sorry." She looked sheepish.

"When these artifacts were united in the hands of their rightful holder, they granted the powers of the Master of Death."

"Which are what exactly?" Tony interrupted.

Jim sighed and pointed at Gem. She shrugged.

"Well, basically the MoD has a major power boost. See, there's a limit to how much magical energy ordinary wizards can use at a time. And there's a limit to how powerful a particular spell might be. The MoD doesn't have either of these limits. He can keep using magic forever and never face core exhaustion, and he has complete control over the power level of every spell. Also, theoretically, being MoD gives him the ability to perfect both wandless and wordless magic - though we are still working on that. Additional abilities show themselves when they are needed, such as our ability to magically bind Loki earlier. I don't think there is another group of magicals in all the realms that could have bound him completely. Even Odin couldn't bind the lies that constantly flow from his tongue, but we did. We can also look at any individual and tap into our power to learn all about them. That's what I was doing with the bastard over there before he started asking for death."

"But it's not all power." Andy cut in, seeing the Avengers shift uneasily. "There's a lot of responsibility. The MoD oversees the balance of life and death in the world. Normally it's not a problem, and the natural cycle is fine. But when there's a major war or disaster and thousands of people lose their lives, that's when the tipping balance puts the MoD on alert that something is wrong. It is then up to him to right the balance. That is where miracle stories often come in - people who shouldn't be alive but somehow manage to survive. They are the attempt to restore the balance."

"Then why didn't you step in with Loki sooner?" Natasha demanded. "He killed eighty people in two days."

Jim nodded. "If the balance tipped enough to alert us every time there was a shooting or minor disaster, we would never get any sleep. It sounds callous, but eighty people are simply not a concern to the MoD. To us as individuals, even a single person is very important. But that doesn't mean that our powers alert us every time someone dies. That happens every few seconds anyway."

This did not seem to reassure anyone, but Steve spotted another hole in the story. "You keep speaking of this Master of Death as if he is one person, but then you speak of these powers you hold as though all three of you are this person."

"Well, yes." Andy said. "That's because both are true."

Gem started again. "We've been through everything together. We continue to go through everything together. Jim pressed Death until it gave in and told him of a way that we could share this burden and privilege. Jim was the holder of the Deathly Hallows, but death told us how we could all three be their holders. Each of us holds - I suppose you could say represents - one Hallow, though we all draw power from them all."

"And just what are these "Hallows"?"Clint demanded.

At that, they hesitated. Finally Jim said, "It's not like they can use them. They're not magical, only Thor could even try. And even if they could use them - they are hidden until we die. We're not doing that anytime soon, so..."

Gem and Andy agreed, and Gem took up the narration.

"The first is the Invisibility Cloak. Kinda does exactly what it sounds like - turns you completely invisible, unplottable, etc. Nothing can see through it, not even Death itself. Second is the Resurrection Stone. It can't actually bring people back from the dead, but it can save anyone who is dying, no matter how tenuous their hold on life. And it can call up the dead so that you can interact with them. The third is the Elder Wand - the most powerful of the Deathly Hallows. It grants the person who knows how to use it unimaginable power. Andy holds the Cloak, I hold the Stone, and Jim holds the Wand. That means that we each have a special amount and kind of power based on our Hallow, but we still benefit from the power of them all."

Andy nodded. "We each have our area of specialty because of our Hallow. Jim is sheer power, enough said. I am underestimated - everyone thinks that the cloak is the weakest of the Hallows, though it's not - and I use that to my advantage. Gem is best at actually dealing with Death (Jim and I are too impatient) and also at dealing with people. But we still operate the way we always have. Jim is the power, the point-man and decision-maker in whatever we do. Gem is the brains, the one who tells us what we're dealing with and how we have to deal with it in order for it to be, well, permanently dealt with. And I'm the strategist, the one who gets us from point A to point B, and makes it possible for the brains and the power to work together."

Gem finished. "So, Jim is the Master of Death. And we are his deputy/helper/coworker things."

"He's Santa and you're the elves." Tony decided.

Andy shrugged. "Sure. Whatever floats your boat."

"And what was the reference about tickling dragons?" Tony asked. "Not that it's important, but I'm curious."

"School motto." Gem said, and left it at that. She glanced at Fury. "Don't think that we're done with you - we're not." She waved her wand, and he suddenly grew bright pink hair. Another wave had his clothes and eye-patch a gaudy shade of orange. "Those will stay like that until you feel actual remorse for saying what you did."

Andy and Jim gathered themselves and stood bye her.

"We'll be in touch." Jim told Thor, before all three disappeared with soft pops.

"Well." Tony said, eyeing the Director of SHIELD, who was speechless with anger and horror at the state he had been left in. "I'd say you'd better get to work on that whole feeling remorse thing. And what kind of school has a motto like that?"