Chapter 7

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

Coulson stood behind Stark, the thin, unimposing man had snuck up on the pair. Clad in an off the rack black suit and tie, you'd be confident in stating that the man's occupation was that involving finance or insurance. Only the bulge on his hip and the earpiece indicated that there was something more intriguing that occupied the man's working hours. During the time it had taken Harry to take all this information in, the agent had disregarded Stark and was staring at Harry, as if he were Sherlock Holmes foraging for clues about who he was and how he managed to get a meeting with the enigmatic billionaire.

"Stark, aren't you going to introduce your guest?" It was amazing how Coulson was able to phrase a request as a command, in fact this ability was only superseded by Stark's ability to ignore any and all subtext in conversation.

Getting the sense that Tony had totally ignored Coulson in favour of berating his AI for somehow allowing himself to be overridden, Harry took it upon himself to answer. "Harry Potter, I'm here to talk to Mr. Stalk about a business opportunity." It was quite an ambiguous answer and the spy wasn't about to let the issue drop with such a basic answer.

"I wasn't aware Stark actually talked to others about business opportunities, my assessment of him rather focused on his egotistical attitude and inability to play well with others. You must be quite an expert in your field if you've managed to finagle a meeting with him." The unspoken question was left floating there for Harry to answer or ignore, hoping that it would placate the man and cease the onslaught Harry felt as if it were his due to respond.

"I work in the field of electronic shielding, preventing interference is a crucial topic, especially for a man with a miniature arc reactor keeping him alive." Coulson just nodded along to Harry's explanation, accepting the bullshit that Harry trotted out for the man in the vague hope that he'd believe the reason for Harry being in the penthouse of the new Stark tower before the building official opened.

"Well Mr. Potter, whilst I wish you much luck with your future venture I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to reschedule your meeting with Mr. Stark. I'm afraid my employer has a more pressing need of his services."

Recognising a chance to unobtrusively gain information on the mysterious organisation that Stark was allowing to muscle in on their meeting, Harry left without further argument, but not before dropping a wandless listening charm on the coffee table at the centre of the room, hoping that the meeting didn't stray far from there. "Well Agent Coulson, I can see that you have a rather more urgent need of Mr. Stark's services than I, so I shall bid you goodbye. Please give Mr. Stark my thanks for his time, brief though it was." With that Harry moved around Coulson and strolled into the still open elevator. He had a brief glimpse of Coulson eyeing him cautiously before the doors sealed shut.

As the elevator descended 100 floors to ground level Harry focused on his listening charm to try to get the crucial information he'd been seeking on Coulson and his link to the mystery assassin. "…your plans and your new building, you're needed elsewhere and you will co-operate." It was undoubtedly the voice of Coulson giving Stark instructions, apparently the billionaire didn't like to have his schedule change or do what others told him.

"Coulson why do you want me now, last time we met you said that I was egotistical, narcissistic and would never take part in your Avengers initiative. Now you want to pull me into the fold, and now I don't want to I don't have a choice. You've got to help me here Coulson because I'm getting mixed messages. You're not a drunk college girl Coulson, Robin Thicke and Blurred Lines aren't going to help me now."

"Mr. Stark, you're coming in, there's no choice, the co-ordinates to the carrier have been shared with you, we want you there to help track down the Tesseract. You'll be working with Dr. Banner, a legend in his many fields."

Taking a different approach and living up to his reputation of being as difficult and childish as possible Stark attacked Coulson with a fresh issue. "So now I have to facilitate my own transport. I bet you've flown Banner."

Rolling his eyes at Stark's antagonistic response Harry struggled to hear Coulson's parting remarks. "I just assumed you'd want to bring a suit with you Stark, but I'm happy to send a jet instead to transport only you. Your choice!"

With that, the conversation was over, or at least the conversation was dead and Harry could only hear discontent grumbling and half formed words from Stark. Dropping his attention on the listening charm Harry waited only a few seconds more for the elevator to reach his desired floor and the doors to open, exiting the building and moving past a black Chevrolet Suburban that couldn't have been more obviously Government if it tried. Deciding that he may be followed after his curtailed meeting he decided that sticking to muggle methods of transport would be best.

Back in the penthouse suite of Stark Tower the man himself was left deep in thought, and not from Coulson, that Tesseract issue was old news, he'd hacked in SHIELD back during the whole Vanko affair when he almost died. Not his proudest moment but he got a lot out of his work with Coulson/house arrest. No, it was the Potter kid that intrigued him, an expert on electronic shielding, well that's a load of bullshit, not to be immodest but Tony knew nearly every major player in electronics, sure he'd missed Vanko but the tech he used was old and this must be new stuff if he was working on shielding technology. Hell, even the first Gen suit made in that shithole of a cave had basic EMP shielding. So the only option was that the boy had lied to Coulson to cover up the real reason he was here, and wasn't that a bloody stupid idea, SHIELD knew almost everything, very little could be hidden from that all seeing agency. No doubt the poor boy would be picked up soon and have a few poignant questions directed his way by one of Coulson's numerous lackeys.

It was perhaps unsurprising that the same thoughts were going through Coulson's head as he rode back to the helicopter that would carry them to the carrier. Stark was a simple man at the end of the day, easy to point and unleash, rather more difficult to control the finer points of his behaviour but that was rather par for the course for the individuals that Coulson dealt with in this job. The intricacies of the Potter boy was the topic that was currently percolating within his brain. He wasn't known to SHIELD, that was for sure, and they would know about any individual worthy of a meeting with Stark. He definitely warranted more investigation, and once his agent reported back which hotel he was staying in it would be a simple case of getting his check in details, running a few database enquiries, and then maybe some more invasive questions and he'd get to the bottom of this mysterious Potter character.

Harry didn't know if the efforts of the SHIELD agent following him were meant to be laughable or if the super sensory charm he'd cast was just that good against muggle targets. Regardless of Harry's indecision between laughing and once again celebrating his love of magic, it only took Harry 15 minutes to reach his hotel with his government employed escort. Settling down in the bar area he ordered a drink and awaited the inevitable conversation with SHIELD when their search turned up nothing.

In fact he only had to wait for an hour and one more drink before he spotted Coulson bustling into the hotel with an impressive entourage of men who looked like they would form a robust and effective scrum formation. It was amusing in some ways that Coulson had judged him worthy of that kind of persuasion to answer a few questions, but maybe it was more than a few questions that Coulson needed to ask. Harry quickly paid his bill with the assumption that he wouldn't be returning any time soon and stood and made his way over to Coulson, even without the use of notice me not charms Harry was a person that most people wouldn't spare a second glance at, thanks to years of sneaking around the Dursley family for that one.

"Hello Agent Coulson, what a nice surprise to see you again so soon." As openers go it was rather weak, it was always so much easier when you knew the words to trigger a childish rant in your opponent. A few well placed "Hello Tom's" had the snake faced bastard ranting and raving like a petulant child. Ah well, no point reminiscing for times long gone.

"Mr. Potter, despite our short meeting earlier, it turns out you are far more interesting than our mutual acquaintance. I'm not sure how much more interesting, my director tells me I'm not cleared for that information, which means that you must be very special, as there are few things above my pay grade at this point." Harry was rather pleased with that assessment, it made him sound quite important, and it also gave him a taste of how Tony Stark could develop a narcissistic personality.

"And your friends are here for…" Harry allowed the question to tail off as if he were rather unconcerned with the whole arrangement. In truth this was rather a coup for him, if he could pull off the whole clichéd move of take me to your leader then he'd be able to get right to the bottom of this matter.

"Just to help you pack, facilitate your leaving of this establishment, keep us company." It spoke volumes that Coulson gave such a practiced remark so much depth, the unspoken threat was clear to everyone.

"Well then Agent Coulson, lead on and let's go see what all the fuss about." With a smile Harry turned and walked to the door, his assumption that the agent would follow him was proved correct moments later when the man sidled up to his shoulder with a smirk lodged on his normally expressionless face.

"Mr. Potter, you aren't by any chance taking lessons from Stark are you? That was move one right out of his beginner play book to try and annoy me." It was an unresponsive and smiling Harry that moved through the revolving doorway and went and lent against the same black Suburban he'd seen outside Stark tower. With a hushed whisper into his wrist and a moment of inattentiveness as he received responses' in his ear, Coulson also moved to stand next to the SUV. Within moments there was a commotion at the doors as a hoard of men moved through them to their pre-assigned vehicles.

"Well Agent C, shall we make a move, I'd hate to keep everyone waiting for us." With that Harry climbed into the idling car and made himself comfortable, even going to lengths to belt himself in which garnered some odd looks from the agents present. "I see you guys aren't big on safety, guess you didn't have the clunk click commercials over here." Seeing that reference went straight over his fellow passenger's head Harry turned and faced the window, using the journey through New York to do more sightseeing.

It seemed to take forever to reach the NY heliport where Harry was totally unsurprised to find the cousin of the vehicle he was riding in, a black bodied executive business helicopter, with another impassive set of black suited guards. Mindlessly following Coulson as he mulled over the predictability of Government organisations he seated himself in the plush cream leather and placed the headset on. Harry had to admit to himself that despite taking longer than apparating or portkey's, the muggle methods of getting from A to B were certainly more comfortable.

The SHIELD carrier hovered at 5000 feet above the Atlantic, 70 miles outside of New York City, it was only thanks to the ingenious cloaking system that they hadn't been discovered yet or become the target of an investigation by the FAA. Natasha stood on the flight deck, the wind whipping around her, watching as the helicopter completed its touch down and the rotors slowed to a point where the occupants felt safe climbing out. She was frankly a bit pissed that she'd been relegated to a welcoming service. She'd supervised Stark's arrival and inevitable chauvinistic looks and comments about how she still had an opening as his secretary, how the hell Pepper Pots put up with him was beyond her. It was another kettle of fish to be told not to get comfortable inside as she was expected to greet another individual, not even tipped for the Avengers initiative. It wasn't her place to question orders but escorting a no name tourist that Coulson grabbed from the street was far beneath her.

As she tracked the incoming guest she reminisced about Banner, the trip to India had been her last mission that had actually been worth her skills, or so she'd thought. The scientist had his grounding in Nuclear Physics, specifically in the military theatre, and had been bought in to track the unique signature of the Tesseract and if possible, Loki's staff. Natasha had assumed that she had been selected to acquire the skills of the man due to his second, much more frightening, and in her opinion, much more interesting skill set.

Unfortunately the good doctor seemed to have a tight lease on his metamorphosis and she hadn't seen any sign of the big green man breaking out. She'd heard legends of the swath of destruction Banner had left through Harlem during his battle with the Abomination, unfortunately she was out in Egypt at the time, making sure that some jumped up rich boy couldn't hold almost all of the African nation's hostage with a dam.

It was a bored Harry that sat with his head resting against a window, flying over New York and Manhattan had been fun, the aerial view of the city being beautiful, but once out at sea it was miles and miles of unending emptiness. It left Harry reassessing his decision that muggle methods of transport really were better than magical. But then with nary a warning the helicopter they were in flared back coming to a halt above what appeared to be nothing, only a detailed and focused search would reveal the slight glimmer of a gigantic city in the sky, like spotting a weak disillusionment charm that flickered every few seconds. Just as with the disillusionment charm, the giant carrier faded back into reality, leaving the helicopter hovering only a few meters above the deck of the carrier.

The pilot bought the plane down gently onto the deck of the carrier only 20 meters from the superstructure set to the starboard bow of the ship, stood in their way between the helicopter and the doors stood a trim figure clad in a black jumpsuit with flame red hair, darker than that of Ginny's, but no less alluring, Harry was happy to admit he had a thing for redheads. Unresolved mummy issues he chalked it up to. Coulson disembarked from the chopper and bowing low and with the assumption that Harry had followed made his way to the lone figure.

Harry slowly disembarked, and begun to casually stroll his way towards the new agent facing him. The unnamed agent"Welcome back, I see you bought company, Fury wants to see you immediately, and I'm to take care of Mr. Potter." With that welcome complete she turned sharply and led the way towards the entry hatch. "Shall we?" Coulson asked with an outstretched arm inviting Harry to go first.

It was short walk to the metal hatch that served as a door to the carrier, Harry was rather reminded of the hatches on submarines and surface ships which surprised him, he had been expecting something a bit sleeker and modern considering the quinjets and other technological marvels surrounding him. Pushing these stray thoughts aside he turned his thoughts inwards and began some basic occlumency exercises to control any nerves and to present a façade that was harder to read for the individuals he would find inside.

As the trio weaved through a maze of homogenous metal corridors Harry quickly became disorientated and was unsure where he was being led, lots of scenarios were running though his head depending on where he ended up, it wasn't the first time he had been led towards the unknown, unconsciously he began flexing his arms to ensure he was able to react as quickly as possible, a move not missed by either agent. It was at least five minutes of walking through the unrelenting grey of the corridors before there was finally a change, as the walls morphed into glass partitions showcasing labs that would leave any scientist drooling. The final lab they passed was also the grandest, at least three times larger than any others, inside munching on blueberries was none other than Tony Stark, alongside a shabbily dressed man with a tan, discussing complex figures and equations on a screen, all of which was surrounding a strange sceptre that Harry could sense, but not place exactly, it was like magic but twisted and much more energetic, like lightning popping and cracking rather than the flowing nature of his own brand of magic which closer resembled a river, at times peaceful and gentle, but with a hidden force that could destroy all in its path.

Harry was led to a door manned by a pair of muscular sentries, handguns holstered at their thigh and futuristic looking tactical shotguns held across their torso. The pair tensed up and hands tightened on their weapons as the trio approached, Agent Romanov stopped at a retina scan and placed a hand on a pad, with a flash of red light from the scanner the doors parted. "This ones with me" were the only words spoken as they moved through the door. The door closed silently behind them as Romanov moved across the cream carpet to the sofa placed against one of the walls, casually propping her feet up onto the glass coffee table in front of her. Other fixtures in the room included a black glass desk with a modern office chair behind it currently empty. Otherwise it was a Spartan room with few other features, certainly nothing giving away the personality of the person that occupied the room.

"So this is nice, I like the complete lack of any personal touches" the sarcastic comment wasn't even deemed worthy of a response by the leather clad spy, deciding instead that her time would be better spent scrolling on her phone. Deciding that silence seemed to be the topic of conversation, Harry moved to one of the low chairs around the coffee table, not quite imitating his company, electing instead to keep his feet on the floor.

The pair wait for around half an hour before Harry heard the guards outside snap to attention and greet an obvious superior. The door swung open and in strode a tall imposing figure dressed in a black trench coat. The most noticeable feature however was the eye patch covering his left eye, but which did little to hide the spider web scarring that branched out from beneath the patch. Harry didn't know if the grimace etched into his features was permanent or as a result of the current situation but he wasn't in the mood to find out, the man looked like he was close to a major coronary any time soon.

Striding past the two, the man seated himself behind the desk and pinned Harry with a stare. "So tell me Mr. Potter, what did I do to deserve the attention of the most famous Wizard in the world?" ignoring the small surprised cough from the sofa behind them Harry just stared back at the man opposite him.

"So you're cleared to know about magic then, who are you exactly, normally it's only the President that's informed and he leaves the rest up to the MACUSA over here."

"Please Mr. Potter, this is SHIELD, there's very little we don't know, and if we don't know about it, then it isn't worth knowing about. So tell me, just why did you arrange a meeting with Stark. Why lie about why you were there to Coulson. What are you trying to achieve."

"Well, I'd be much more willing to share if I knew who I was talking to…"

"My name is Nick Fury, I'm the director of SHIELD. This is my Helicarrier and these are my agents. Now we've made all friendly, tell me what I want to know."

Inside Harry was quickly working out how he could spin his tale into something believable for the master spy. Anyone that was the boss of an expert assassin, and had the power to order Stark to do his bidding wasn't going to be a moron. So this lie would have to be perfect, no chance that it could be seen through. "Well, it's funny really, when wizards start dying, certain people panic, especially when they die due to muggle actions. That's non-magical for you if you're confused. Now, the International Confederation of Wizards doesn't have its own police or army so they asked me to investigate. So tell me Mr. Fury, you wouldn't happen to have any information on the killing of a high ranking member of British Wizarding society by a woman, around 5'7", slim but powerful build, who was able to drive a stiletto between the 4th and 5th Rib into the man's heart without even touching the bone. You also wouldn't happen to know that the penalty in the wizarding world for a muggle killing a wizard is death, and as this happened on British soil, you'd be handed to the Dementors to be kissed." At that the veteran spook flinched before schooling his features once more.

"I see you know of these creatures, so tell my Mr Fury, it's not a question of why I'm stalking Stark, but why you feel like you have the remit to start assassinating wizards and what excuse you have so that by the end of the day, Ms. Romanov isn't a soulless husk, only fit to be used as food for the fish around Azkaban."