Alright, wow, it's been a hot minute since I wrote something not for uni, and even longer since I started a new story. If you keep up with my update center on my profile, you'll know that this is a story inspired by a fic I read and was not satisfied by the ending of, and with the blessing of the author, I am writing my own take on the premise, with my own style and writing quirks, of course, and anything that you see that matches up with their story is intentional, I assure you. I will name both the author and story at the end of each chapter, go and give them some love for both writing the original and letting me take my own stab at the idea. I think I can promise that I won't go back to my bad habit of writing multi-hundred word long author's notes, this one is merely an exception, and on that note, onto the story.

Surry, England, 23:00

The tall, dark-skinned man cast his eye over the strangely dressed old man and his charge, while the old man acted like he had not a care in the world, he knew better. He could tell that the man was watching everything quite carefully, and was ready to spring into action at a moments notice. The boy, however, made no efforts at hiding the fact that he was constantly searching for threats, his eyes darting every which way, ready to run or defend himself at the slightest hint of provocation, and he had only the barest amount of trust in the old man, obviously seeing him as devil he knew, and sticking close, rather than the devil he didn't, namely, the man himself.

All of this was observed in an instant, the man's eyes cataloguing subtle body cues faster than thought, and then quickly processing them into data that summed up the situation before he even opened his mouth.

"Alright, I'm here. How did you find me, I'm not generally considered a man who can be found when he doesn't want to be." The old man chuckled, "My dear Mr. Fury, while I'm sure you are quite adept at hiding yourself from mundane means, I'm sorry to say you are ill equipped to do the same for magical ones." The man, Fury, scoffed, while also noting the child's extreme reaction to the word 'magical', "Magical, eh? So, what, you waved a magic wand, and found out where I was, whichwas at a black site so unknown it might as well not exist?" The old man laughed, "Hardly, my dear boy…" Fury glared, "Then how…" "Wands are not the most useful tool for tracking, I using a scrying bowl and ritual." Fury's glare deepened, "Cut the shi…" and abruptly cut off as the old man pulled out a stick, waved it, and he found he could no longer make a sound.

After trying for a few moments, Fury angrily gestured at his mouth, and with the beginnings of a small smirk, the old man waved his stick again and Fury found he could talk again. "What the hell did you do to me, old man?" With a small amount of mirth in his eyes, the old man answered, "Nothing harmful, I assure you, my dear boy, merely a simple silencing charm." Fury scoffed, "While I might be forced to concede that that was the best goddamn hypnosis the world over, a trick like that won't convince me of the existence of magic." Fury again noticed the child shirk away from them both when magic was mentioned, but couldn't think on it further as, with a full blown smile, the old man hummed for a second, before, with a complicated gesturing of his stick, Fury saw an ornate table appear where he was sure a second before nothing had existed, before the table suddenly became a chicken, then a dog, then a goat, and finally became an ornate crystal bowl which the old man filled with water that erupted from the tip of his stick. Eyes brimming with contained mirth, the old man asked, "Is that enough proof for you?" While shocked at the display on the inside, Fury managed to kept his facial expression calm as he replied, "Until such time as I can prove otherwise, I will concede that the existence of magic is one of the better explanations for what I just witnessed." Fury absently noted the child's continued reaction to the same word, before continuing on, "And with that out of the way, let's move on to why you have requested me here, and why you have a boy that is clearly terrified out of his mind with you." The boy's eyes snapped to his and he began to back up before the old man calmly put a hand behind him to stop him. Fury noted that when the man moved to stop him, the boy flinched and began to turtle, obviously expecting to be struck. While Fury was sure the old man noticed, he continued to smile serenely as if all was right in the world, and what was happening was nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, Fury mused, perhaps for the strange old wizard, warlock, sorcerer, whatever; it wasn't.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you are aware of the string of terrorist attacks that have been plaguing England and some of the surrounding lands?" Fury nodded wordlessly, and the old man continued, "Well, that was just a cover story fed to the muggle media, they were actually attacks made by a dark lord, who had been plaguing the British magical community for over a decade, and who was close to overthrowing the government and instating himself as supreme ruler. It was only down to chance and luck that Harry, here, after his parents sacrificed themselves for him, managed to rebound a curse meant to kill him at the dark lord, destroying him. Unfortunately, the dark lord has many followers who managed to escape being sent to jail by claiming they were being held under mind control, and they were allowed to walk free. It is well known that young Harry defeated the dark lord, and so I hid him away in the muggle world, with his mother's sister, her husband, and their son, along with blood-based protections to keep him safe. Unfortunately, a terrible accident has occurred and they all perished, so I am left looking for ways to keep him safe, and I thought that there is no better way to keep him safe than through anonymity, and who better to facilitate that than the leader of an organization that is based on secrets? So, I am hoping you will allow the boy to stay with you, learning and enjoying his childhood, until he turns eleven, at which point he would come back to Britain to learn magic at my school, Hogwarts."

Fury scowled internally, maybe his earlier assessment was wrong, and the old man wasn't as perceptive as he thought, the boy was clearly traumatized, and likely abused, and the old man was talking about him having some kind of happy childhood, along with sending the boy to live in the states, only to be ripped away from any friends he made, and his new home, only to be thrown back into the crazy world that had left him behind. Either the man was more senile than Fury had originally thought, or he was not the kindly old man he was clearly trying to portray himself as, which was a much more disturbing thought. "Yes, and no." The old man blinked, "I'm afraid I don't quite follow…?" Fury gladly elaborated, "Yes, I'll take the boy in, but no, he will not be ripped away at age eleven halfway across the world, just to attend some school." The old man tried to bluster his way through, "Well, Hogwarts is the best magical school in the world…" Fury interrupted, "He can attend school in the states, or self-study at worst." The old man tried again, "It's what his parents would have wanted him to do…" Fury cut in again, "Well, I can't very well verify that, as they are dead." The old man tried one last time, "I can protect him from those that would do him harm." Fury almost snorted at that, "Irrelevant, as that is why you came to me in the first place." The old man sighed, and looked defeated, but Fury noticed that his eyes did not, and was instantly wary. "Very well, can I at least have your word that you will have him go his first year, and let the boy make his own decision after that?" Fury didn't like it, but at this point, his primary goal was to get the boy away from someone who clearly was either incapable of seeing to his health, or actively trying to sabotage it, "His first year only, and then it's up to him."

The old man nodded, and gestured for the boy to go over to Fury, which he very reluctantly did.

Making as if to leave, before pausing and turning back, the old man rummaged through what Fury could only guess was a number of pockets, he finally made a sound of triumph, before pulling out a shimmering, silvery cloak. Holding it out to Fury, he explained, "It was his father's, I dare say you both will find it both fascinating and useful." Taking it, but not quiet understanding what the old man was talking about, Fury was about to voice such, before a crack, much like a gunshot sounded, and both he and the boy dropped to the ground, Fury grabbing the boy and hauling him into cover.

Not hearing anything else, Fury cautiously poked his head out, before softly barking, "Hill, report!" From his earpiece he heard, "The old man just disappeared, sir, and that's what made the noise, far as I can tell." Grumbling under his breath about crackpot wizards, he turned his head to his new, young charge.

"Harry, right?" The boy nodded. Thrusting the cloak to him, the boy cautiously took it, before looking at him quizzically. Fury made a motion with his hand, "Well? Go on, then. Try it on." Before nearly swearing as the boy disappeared himself, without the accompanying gunshot like noise. "Harry?" No response, so Fury reached out to where the boy was last standing. His hand felt a soft fabric, but his eyes told him there was nothing there, "Not gone, then, just invisible. The old man was right, this could be useful."

Gripping the fabric, he slowly pulled it off of the boy, watching as his body slowly became more and more visible. Nodding to himself, he could easily see this becoming useful for agents in the future, figuring they had spent enough time here, he spoke once more into his earpiece, "Hill, bring the car to me, we're leaving and heading back to the states." Hearing her acknowledgement, Fury thought now would be as good a time as any to figure out if some of the things he had picked up from the boy were true, not that he doubted himself, of course, but more to confirm all his bases.

"Okay, then, Harry, let's clear a few things up for me, sound good?" The boy looked at him akin to a deer caught in headlights, before hesitantly nodding. Fury nodded as well, "Okay, first off, you're a wizard as well?" The boy nodded, then shrugged. Fury frowned, "You think so, but aren't sure?" The boy nodded. Frowning harder, Fury asked, "Do you speak?" The boy shook his head. Fury sighed, "Can you speak?" The boy hesitated, then shook his head, with a look of slight apprehension on his face. Rubbing his face, Fury muttered, "Right," to himself, before continuing. "Were you abused?" The boy shrank back from him, before ultimately nodding. "Was it your aunt and uncle?" Eyes darting around nervously, the boy eventually nodded. "It had something to do with your magic?" The boy flinched, before shakily nodding his head. Fury had saved the big question for last, and he showed the boy no mercy as he asked, "Did you kill them?" The boy shrank back, and looked as if he was considering trying to run, before clearly deciding that he wouldn't get far, and eventually nodding at Fury.

It was at this point that Hill showed up with the car. Fury nodded to it and said, "Harry, inside is one of my associates, Agent Hill, she'll be driving to an airstrip where we will then fly to the states and start your new life there, understand?" The boy nodded, and made his way alongside Fury to the car, and got in when Fury opened the door for him.

It took a few hours, but eventually they were in the air and heading towards a new chapter in Harry's life, and though no one knew it at the time, this would set into motion events that would forever change the fate of the entire universe.

Alright, first chapter of a new story. I hope I'm not setting myself up to fail by shooting for such a high goal on this one, as I intend to go through Harry's early years with Clint and Natasha, then do an abbreviated version of the HP-verse, before going on to write basically most of the Avengers-verse, though what impact a full wizard loyal to Earth will have, well, only time will tell. The music for this chapter was Ed Sheeran's Shape of You.

As promised, the names of both the author and the story that inspired me to write this:

Author: Elipsa

Story: Understanding Beyond Words

Go and give them some love as, even though I don't agree with how they ended their story, hence me writing this, it is still a good story, and worth the read.

Edit: For some reason it didn't post the last 500 or so words, so here you go.