"You have questions. I can see it in your face."

Nikolai glanced up. His mother was looking at him softly. Her sharp, alert presence didn't reduce at all, but her attentive expression didn't make him uneasy. He'd never met anyone like her before, and he knew there was a lot he didn't know about her, he had already noticed how people followed her orders almost as quickly as she spoke them, how some (most - perhaps all) of the people in the building had seemed tense around her, but he didn't feel the need to react like that around her.

More than anything her presence comforted him. It was an odd reaction to have to someone who was realistically almost a stranger. But she'd always been a presence in his life, even if she wasn't there physically. He thought of her all the time and had spent years wanting to meet her. He had planned that once he left Hogwarts he would look for her, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

He thought back to what his mind had been on before Natalia had spoken.

There were more than a few things on his mind.

Smiling reassuringly at her to show his silence was contemplative, not uncomfortable, Nikolai thought of how to phrase his questions.

"Yes. I'm just wondering how we managed to make it here so fast without magic, as well as why our guardians haven't come to find us, as I know they put tracking and protection spells on us in order for us to be allowed in muggle London by ourselves. It just doesn't seem to make sense."

Natalia angled closer to Nikolai and lowered her voice more, speaking in soft undertones.

"I can answer your first question easily, the second one I'm not so sure. I work with a secret organisation, which I won't tell you the name of, just because strictly speaking I'm not supposed to be telling you this, so we don't want anyone to catch on. But they have highly advanced technology which is how you were transported here so quickly. I'm assuming you've heard of jets?"

"Vaguely, but I'm not overly familiar with the word."

"They're like aeroplanes, but shaped different to passenger planes and smaller to sum it up. We have the fastest ones available, the ones the public aren't aware of."

"That makes sense, but what about the tracking spells. I thought the people here weren't magic so they couldn't have broken them?"

"Well, as you may know, a lot of magic doesn't work around technology. Normally it's the technology that is effected, but it could have reversed and when you were introduced to a lot of modern technology the spell broke. Although I doubt it. There is also the fact that you were hit with a very strong tranquiliser dart, and although that shouldn't have mixed with magic, as a Romanov both mine and your magics are very in tune with our physical state, and whilst your magic would normally work on rejecting the tranquiliser – and likely was – it could have alternatively pushed away all potential threats, including any foreign magic. Meaning your guardians would have felt the spells on you deactivate, but wouldn't have been able to do anything about it if they didn't have your location."

"That makes sense for me. But what about the others?"

"Well, I was thinking about that and do you know the type of tracking or safety precaution spells that they placed on you?"

Nikolai blushed slightly.

"No then. It's okay, but in future maybe make sure you know what spell someone is casting on you before you let them."

"I trust them."

"I'm glad of that but in the future someone could be masquerading as them. Sometimes people will use the people you trust most to manipulate you."

"Did-"

Natalia seemed to predict what he was going to say and shook her head.

"I rarely trust someone enough to let them betray me. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Just that you should be careful. I was going to ask you if you think your guardians would have tied your tracking spells together, meaning they were interlinked and that when one failed, they all did?"

"Perhaps. It would explain why no-one's apparated in to whisk us away."

"Maybe. Although it does take a lot of magical energy to apparate between countries, it's almost impossible to do. They'll be more likely to portkey through or to contact the American Ministry of Magic."

"The American Ministry?"

"Yes. MACUSA. Magical Congress of the United States of America. Did they not teach you that in Hogwarts?"

"Our History of Magic teacher isn't exactly stellar." Nikolai smiled ruefully.

"Well, now you know, perhaps you could ask your guardians for more information on the subject when you get back. It might come in handy in the future."

Nikolai was reminded of the fact that he'd have to go back, and whilst the idea didn't upset him, the thought of being reunited with his mother only to have to leave her soon after wasn't exactly at the top of the list of things that made him happy.

"What's wrong?"

Nikolai didn't expect the touch of her hand on his arm, but he leaned into it subtly.

If Natalia noticed she didn't comment.

"Nothing. I just had a thought that's all."

"Well, what were you thinking about?"

"I just met you." Nikolai expected her to say something as she had each time he'd paused, but she didn't, she was just watching him, waiting for him to elaborate with her sharp green eyes.

"I just met you and I don't know that if I leave when the next time I see you will be."

Natalia seemed to contemplate something for a moment.

"Do you know why I gave you up?"

"To protect me."

"Yes, to protect you from people that wanted to use you, because you were my child and you had my genetics. The people that I hid you from, they think you're dead, but if they find out you aren't, they could hunt you down. I'm a dangerous person to know Nikolai. You have to understand that."

Nikolai leant forward, a tinge of panic sparking in his eyes as he heard what she wasn't saying.

"But I don't care, you're my mother, I want to stay-"

Natalia covered his mouth with her hand, silencing him as she met his eyes.

"Nikolai. I know. I want you to stay. You have no idea how much. But you have a life in England. You have a school to return to. A family. Friends that care about you. I can't take care of you the way you deserve."

"Are these them? Are these the people?"

Nikolai's body tensed up and he shifted so his back was against the wall of the van, leading Natalia to lower her hand.

"No, they're not. These people you can trust. These people I trust. But the organisation I work with will be interested in you and I want to minimise that interest. They aren't the same people I hid you from, and they helped give me a second chance, but that doesn't make them all good people."

"Then why do you work for them? Why do you stay?"

"Nikolai. Do you not think that perhaps I'm not a good person?"

Nikolai looked at her for a moment. Still her eyes didn't waver, even though it wasn't an easy question to ask.

"Do you not think that perhaps I don't care? Perhaps I just want my mother?"

"You have me. But it's safer for you if I'm not there."

"I'm not sure whether I believe that."

"Nikolai. I'm an assassin. I have a target painted on me. That means by extension you have one on you too."

"I don't want to lose you when I just got you."

Nikolai tilted his head so it was resting with his cheek pressed hard against the side of the van, his head tilted down, his line of view focusing on Natalia's left arm pressed to the side of the van, not meeting her eyes.

It didn't take long for her hand to tilt his chin upwards and away from the wall, although his eyes stayed down.

"Nikolai, please look at me."

He lifted his eyes.

Her other hand came up to cup his face.

"I love you. More than anyone or anything else in the world and there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you. I'm not going to run anywhere. I'm not going to disappear completely from your life after today. But if something happened to you because of me I would never forgive myself. I just want you to be safe."

Her voice implored him to understand and her eyes searched his to see if he did.

"I know. I love you too. And I know it's unrealistic, but I always thought that once I meet you I'd be able to stay with you and get to know you the way I've always wanted to instead of having to leave you again."

"You will still see me. Perhaps in your next summer holiday you and your friends can come stay here in America. We'll be able to see each other and I can prove to you that I'm not leaving your life. I haven't used magic in a long while. It is hard to do so undetected, but I promise you I'll find a way that we can talk together even when I'm not there."

Nikolai sighed. He had known when he'd started the conversation that it would end up this way. Honestly he would have been more surprised if she'd told him to stay with her in America. He knew it was unrealistic and he couldn't exactly just leave England. He didn't even fully want to. He just wanted to be with his mother.

"Okay."

He could see her face shutter slightly as he switched back to English so he quickly backtracked.

"I mean, I'd like that, I still want to spend more time with you, but I get that you're doing this to keep me safe and you probably have things to be doing anyway."

He was filled with relief when her lips quirked upwards fondly.

"Well, you still have a while left of your summer holidays don't you? Why don't you spend the time exploring America rather than London? I'm sure we can sort something out with your guardians."

Nikolai's whole face lit up and Natalia knew she'd said the right thing.

"I'd like that."

Neville had predictably freaked out when the van had started moving. Though to his credit it had only been a minor freak out.

"Honestly Neville, it's not that different from the carriages we ride in. And you stay firmly on the ground. No flying required."

"Actually Hermione, I am not firmly on the ground, I am in fact, trapped in a suspended moving metal box, and yes, you aren't the only one who uses words like suspended."

Hermione rolled her eyes, before shifting her attention off the snarky but considerably calmer Neville and onto the driver.

"You're Hawkeye aren't you?"

"That is a name I go by, yes." Clint didn't take his eyes off the road, but his mouth twitched up at the question.

At Neville's confused look, Hermione decided to elaborate.

"He's a member of the Avengers. The Avengers are basically a team of people with special abilities or skills who help save the world from evil."

A very simplified, childish version, but Clint supposed that was the general public view.

"Right. But why do you know about them and not me?"

"Well, they're in the muggle news a lot, I don't really know why they aren't in the wizarding news, but it could be because wizarding Britain is very isolated from the other countries if you don't include Quidditch and the Avengers are based in America."

"What the hell is Quidditch?" Tony spoke up from where he'd obviously been listening in from the back of the van.

Hermione and Neville twisted round in their seats and even Nikolai looked up from his hushed conversation with his mother.

"It's the wizarding sport. You play it on brooms and there are several balls that do different things."

"Wait. Did you say brooms? As in flying broomsticks?"

"Yes, you heard correctly."

"You're joking."

"No."

"That is beyond even my capabilities of understanding. How would you even sit on a broom?"

"The same way you sit on a bike?"

"You mean they have bike seats. That seems a little weird."

"Well, no they don't have bike seats," Hermione was on the verge of going into full on rant mode, when Neville cut in.

"What's a bike?"

Nikolai closed his eyes as the conversation blew up from there, with Tony's incredulity, Neville's confusion and slight terror at being faced with so many incredulous faces, and Hermione's protective defence of Neville mixed with everyone else's own opinion.

When Luna and Thor started discussing bicycles and then horse riding and then magical creatures were inserted, Nikolai asserted she'd probably be at it for a while and leant against his mother.

"I'm taking a nap, wake me up when we get there."

Natalia just nodded and waited until Nikolai had drifted off (it seemed that tranquiliser was still having an effect – she was going to have to visit those eyes in medical when she got the chance) before repositioning him so he was lying down properly, her hand gently untangling the knots in his hair as she surveyed the van and listened into the surrounding conversations.

Steve was occasionally glancing over at her, and would give her small smiles when she caught him at it, before going back to conversing quietly with Bruce.

Tony had made his way to the front of the van, perching behind the seats, but keeping out of view each time Natalia gave him a sharp glance, his curiosity and incredulity taking priority as he talked to the two fourteen year olds. Distracting Clint whilst he was at it.

Luckily Clint was good at multitasking.

Natalia was listening to Thor talk to Luna though with an odd sense of confusion. It wasn't often she was left confused, and despite her rather extensive knowledge of magic even though she hadn't lived in the magical world for very long (only a few years from when she was a child, but adults tended to talk over you when you were a child and didn't think you were listening, so she had trained herself to remember everything of value once she'd entered the red room), she was quickly beginning to wonder whether many of the subjects of the rapidly paced and quickly changing conversation actually existed.

Then her thoughts turned from evaluative to contemplative.

Nikolai had asked her about the tracking spells put on him and the others in the group. There was an alternative explanation.

Despite the part about the tranquiliser and the technology being true, Nikolai's well-being was in a way, directly tied to Natalia. Something that had formed the day she gave him up. She was always aware of his distance from her. It burned itself into her shoulder every day. So when they were apart Natalia would constantly be aware that he was in potential danger, yet today the consistent burning that signalled him being out of her reach when he needed her had calmed. He'd fallen back under her protection.

Natalia couldn't help but think that was the reason the protection spells around Nikolai had broken - because hers was far greater. And if their protection monitoring spells were all interconnected – or it was a group tracking spell – then it would have been Natalia that had effectively broken them.

"In Asgard, warriors are highly regarded, but there are magic wielders amongst us too. My brother Loki is one such wielder. But he does not use any wand."

Thor ignored the tilted head and raised eyebrows at the mentioned of Loki, ignoring even Clint's unamused expression from where he was stood beside the sofa's that had been dragged around the room.

Luna, Hermione and Neville sat on one, Thor sat on an armchair nearest to Luna's side, Clint stood beside him, as near as he could be to Natalia and Nikolai without being suspicious.

Thor seemed to realise Luna was interested in almost anything new and unheard of and so had started telling her about Asgard, listening intently when she spoke.

She had odd speaking patterns, very drifty and often seemingly jumping subject without warning, but Thor went with it.

"Weapons aren't used much in the magical world. Most witches and wizards just use wands. Though there are other magical species that use weapons – like the centaurs. Centaurs are legendary archers you know." Neville tilted his head slightly from where he was sat beside Hermione, hearing Luna's tone change and become less dreamy.

Hermione was caught up in talking to Bruce, Tony interrupting when he could, but caught by Steve every time he started taking over and pressing an issue.

"Ah! But are they as good as our Clint?"

"Thor." Clint tried to do damage control as he heard the hidden message in Thor's booming voice, but it was already done, everyone – even Nat and Nikolai – were looking his way now.

"What do you mean?" Luna's floaty question was directed at Thor but her gaze was on Clint.

Nikolai's eyes narrowed as he caught onto what Luna was doing. But why?

"Clint here is perhaps the best mortal archer I've ever met. He rivals even Asgardians."

Luna hummed.

"Perhaps a demonstration then."

"Tony, no."

"Come on, Clint? What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything Stark. I just don't have your compulsive need to show off and prove myself. I'm confident in my own skill."

"Well said, my friend, but surely it wouldn't hurt to show the young ones a little of your skill. They don't seem entirely convinced of my word."

"They aren't interested."

Clint looked to Nat for help, but she just looked back at him.

He shot her a look.

Bad move.

"How about we go outside. Go get your bow and we'll set up some targets for you."

"Natasha, I don't think."

He gave up when he saw the look on her face. She was having too much fun for this situation.

"Fine."

"Finally. Why are you so self-conscious anyway?"

"Just set up the damn targets Stark."

A/N: So I don't really like this chapter but I felt bad for not updating in like half a year, so here this is. I wanted to do Clint being outed as Nikolai's father in this chapter but every time I try and lead on and write it, it just feels so thin and terrible, so I'm going to wait and do it in the next chapter in the hope that then I will be able to do it justice.

This is mainly just a linking and explaining chapter so I'm sorry it doesn't really have much substance to it, I'm thinking of maybe ending this fic on the end of Nikolai's visit and doing a separate one on the Triwizard Tournament which was one of the primary ideas being what this fic was leading up to (perhaps not ending it, but doing a separate fic so this one isn't as rushed). Just a thought. I might do a poll on it if enough people give the inclination.

Thank you everyone for baring with me and following the story with my terribly sporadic updates, I really am sorry, and I know I said I'd update soon on the last one but…