Magic and Heroes

“So, are we good to start asking questions now?” Bruce asked once everyone was sat in one of the towers living rooms. Heather, ignoring the others confused looks, sat criss-cross on the floor as the group began working on the pizza they’d picked up on their way back.
“How about we start with one question each and then we can work from there.” The green-eyed girl replied.
“Ooh dibs!” Tony called out, “How’d you get that scar on your head?”
“TONY!” Steve shouted, hitting Clint’s back to stop the man from chocking.
Heather just chuckled, answering in a tone that would be perfect if she were talking about the weather, “My genocidal, maniac uncle tried to kill me.”
Heather, wanting to nip them asking any more personal questions in the bud, quickly moved on, “Mr. Banner since you brought it up why don’t you go next.”
“Wait, wait, can we go back to the genocidal uncle for a minute?” Tony cut in.
“No.” She replied with a cold smile, “Mr. Banner?”
Half the group was glaring at Tony while the other half was staring at the smaller girl, “It’s, um, doctor, but, um, I guess, why is magic a secret?” He responded with an awkward cough.
“Oh, apologies Dr., to answer your question magic has only been a secret for about 400 years, before then it was actually common knowledge. Witch hunts by that time had been around periodically for over half a millennia, and whilst it was extremely rare for actual adult wixen at the time to fall victim, it was becoming more and more dangerous for magical children. So, we hid ourselves away and created the Statute of Secrecy to protect them.” She could see the understanding dawn on them as she finished her explanation, successfully keeping a neutral tone despite her own feelings on the matter.
“Why didn’t you fight back?”
“How?” She scoffed, her soft tone gaining an edge, “Non-magical people out numbered us 10 to 1, they still do, fighting would have been suicide. Even now only 30% of magical children raised by non-magical parents, make it school. I can think of three different people in my year alone that went home one summer and never came back.” Steve looked scandalized, not expecting that to be her answer.
Wanda was quick to try and change the subject, making a mental note to ask more about that later, “You’ve mentioned school a few times now, what was it like learning magic?”
“It’s different that’s for sure,” Heather said welcoming the change and turning to look at Wanda who was seated behind her. “Magical school starts at 11, and all they teach is magic, the main classes are Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration, that’s where we will be starting with you.”
Until then, Natasha had just been carefully watching the messy haired girl, whose posture while relaxed, was contradicted by her unsettling green eyes jumping between the members of the group, only Wanda and Vision outside of her view, “The Dark Arts, you said they were illegal earlier, what are they?”
“The illegal part is dependent on whether you go by the old definition or the new one, which is only about 80 years old and FYI isn’t the policy everywhere. But the new definition of Dark Magic or the Dark Arts is ‘any illegal fields of magic or spells’; necromancy is a pretty universal one and so are the killing, torture, and imperious curses, although those are rather extreme examples. The old definition is that Dark Magic is magic that is easier to be performed by or geared to, people with dark cores.”
Appalled Clint stuttered, “I’m sorry, killing curse? There’s a spell that just kills someone?”
“Using it does give you a one-way ticket to prison but yeah, it’s generally rendered to as ‘The Killing Curse’ but its incantation is ‘Avada Kedavra’. If you ever see a spell coming at you that matches my eyes, jump out of the way.”
“Why would it match your eyes?” Clint tried to push.
“Nope, you asked your question. Vision, you’re turn.”
“I will keep his question.”
“Well ask a different one.” She wasted no time to reply, aforementioned eyes cast firmly on the ceiling.
He seemed to ponder for a moment, “The result of the spell you cast on me earlier, what was it?”
“Oh yeah, I never explained that did I?” She said turning and raising her head to look at Vision. “The stone, it’s an extremely powerful magical stone based on mind magics.”
Heather had finished eating about halfway through the questioning, and was now just watching the others eat, “I have no doubt you all probably have more questions, but, so long as it’s not an issue, I would like to settle in for the night.” She stood, not actually waiting for confirmation, before casually leaving the room.

“Ouch!” Tony bit out as Wanda smacked the back of his head.
“What were you thinking, asking her that!” She all but growled, a glare firmly fixed on her face.
“Hey, blame Legolas, he dared me to.”
“Oi! Do not blame me, I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to actually do it.” Clint was quick to try and defend, once the red head turned her glare on him.
“It’s Tony, what did you think he was gonna do?” Wanda snarked.
The inventor’s complaints drowned out by the voice of his AI, “Sir, I seem to be having an issue finding the information on Ms. Potter you requested.”
Another shout of pain could be heard as Wanda once again smacked him on the head, “You’re digging through her life!”
“We don’t know anything about her, what if she’s some crazy person?”
“Oh, and you’re so perfect?”
“Wanda.” Natasha interrupted, “if she’s got nothing to hide it shouldn’t be an issue, and the fact that Jarvis is having trouble probably means she’s got some demons. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
She didn’t try to argue further, just slouched back into her seat, and glared at them. “Jarvis what’s the issue, you should be able to get past any sealed records.” Tony asked.
“It is not that the records are sealed sir, they don’t exist. All I can find are school records, and several complaints to social services, that all have been dismissed, with minimal or no investigation.”
“What? Let me see.” Tony was scrolling through a projection of records before Wanda could utter a word of protest. “She doesn’t have medical records; not even a birth certificate- what the hell?!” He seemed to grow more appalled the more he read, “Jarvis, look into the names Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley Dursley. And any other family relations you can dig up.”
“Yes sir.”
“Dammit Stark! Don’t go snooping through her life!” This time the inventor managed to dodge the swipe to his head.
“No can do, little red.”
“No Stark, I agree with Wanda, as long as she doesn’t have a criminal record, we shouldn’t be digging.” Steve cut in.
“At least tell us what you got first.” The statement earning Clint a deadly glare from Wanda.
The witch gazed around the room getting angrier when seeing that most agreed, “I want nothing to do with this.” She snarled before storming off.
The room fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes before Natasha spoke up, “Well Stark, what you got?”
“Basically nothing,” He replied sounding rather frustrated, “her marks when she first started school were really high, before suddenly dropping starting the second term, the records end completely after primary school.”
“And the social service reports?” Questioned Bruce, not sounding like he particularly wanted the answer.
To Tony’s credit he didn’t seem to want to say, “Reports of suspected abuse and neglect, all reported by teachers, all dismissed or closed without talking to the kid.” That made the group pale.
“And these Dursley people?” Natasha asked.
“Her supposed guardians, there’s multiple statements from Petunia and Vernon Dursley, talking about how awful and how much of a bully she is. But she got no write ups or detentions, nothing suggests it in her school records. The boy Dudley is listed as a resident of the house.”
As the group continued talking Wanda was storming off to Heather’s room, if the others wanted to pry into her life, then Wanda was going to make sure she at least knew they were doing it.
Heather honestly wasn’t that surprised when a knock sounded from the door; she was surprised to find Wanda so upset, “Please don’t tell me I lost my job already?” She quipped.
Wanda didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm, as she startled at the question, “What?! No!” She did catch on though when Heathers lips twitched and her eyebrow raised in amusement, “The others are just sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”
“And that led you to my door?” She asks, moving aside, gesturing Wanda to come in.
“You’re the one their being nosey about.” The red head sighed, sitting on the bed next to Heather.
Once again, she wasn’t surprised, “Mhm, unless they’ve got some magical friends you don’t know about, I honestly doubt they’ll find much.”
Wanda laughs a bit at that, “They haven’t, Stark was saying something about missing medical records, and social service reports. But that’s all he could find; he actually had the nerve to be annoyed about it.”
The mention of social services made the green-eyed girl wince, but neither commented on it, “Relax. I expected a background check of some sort, and, as I said, on the non-magical side there’s not really much to find.”
“He’s not just doing a background check though; they’re even going through your family’s history.”
“Family’s a strong word for it but I will admit there is probably more to find there.”
“Why aren’t you more annoyed? They’re literally digging up your life!” Their current conversation seemed to only rile Wanda up more.
“Look, believe it or not, I’ve had most of magical Britain digging around my life since I was one, hell half the time they can’t find anything and start making stuff up. It sucks that I can’t have privacy and it does annoy me, I have zero doubt that news of me being here will be all over the papers back home by morning.” She says, all sense of joking gone- Wanda’s anger on her behalf seeming to unsettle her more than the Avengers recent activities. “But for me it doesn’t matter anymore, the person they are looking into, sure that was me once, but I’m not that person anymore, and when it comes down to it, they will end up having to actually ask me if they want any accurate information.”
“That doesn’t make it ok!”
“No, it doesn’t, but that’s not going to stop them, and me trying to do anything about it, will only make them think their justified in looking. Frankly, they don’t trust me, and I don’t expect them to. We just met today- trust takes time, as long as their mistrust doesn’t interfere with our lessons, then I’m willing to wait.”
“I trust you. You’re here to help; why can’t they see that?”
“But you don’t trust me because I’ve earned it, you trust me because I’m the first connection you have to the magical world. And they can see that I’m here to help, they just want to make sure I’m a safe person to get help from.”
Wanda just sat there for a few minutes before she spoke again, “They really won’t find anything?”
Heather gave her a soft smile, “A whole lot of nothing, but thank you for the concern.”
“Ok, that’s good.” She seemed to hesitate before continuing, “I’m, I’m sorry for how I reacted, I shouldn’t have gotten upset with you.”
“All is forgiven, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
The red head thought for a few minutes, before replying, “The classes you mentioned earlier, can you tell me more about them?” Heather, as it turns out, was much more willing to answer Wanda’s questions, than she was the rest of the Avengers. It was a few more hours before either actually went to bed.
Unfortunately, Heather and sleep have a very toxic relationship- fitful and plagued by the remnants of nightmares, she left her room the next morning as the sun was just barely peaking on the horizon. Her footsteps silent as she walked through the tower, trying to remember if Wanda had shown her where the kitchen was.
Steve’s voice disrupted the morning silence, “You’re up early.”
“So are you.” Heather replied turning to look at the soldier, unlike her - still dressed in the overlarge sweater and tights she went to bed in - Steve was dressed for the day in a simple pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt.
“Were you looking for something?” He asks her.
“The kitchen.” She says, running her fingers through her messy hair, wincing slightly as she catches some knots.
Steve nods, “Come on, I’ll show you, its my day to cook breakfast anyway.”
Gesturing to him to walk in front of her, Heather dutifully followed him into the most gorgeous kitchen she had ever seen. Peering around the room, her attention didn’t go back to Steve till, she saw the man placing boxes of cereal down on the table, “What happened to cooking?”
“Cooking may have been too strong a word.” He admits, “Pepper is the only one who actually cooks anything, the rest of us tend to just take turns ordering in.”
“Sacrilege.” Heather replies her face looking simply appalled, before it took on a more determined look, making the super soldier uneasy, “Put that away, a kitchen like this deserves better.”
Rolling her sleeves up and securing her hair up with her wand, Heather began poking through the array of cupboards, “What are all your appetites like?”
“Me and Thor are the only ones with large appetites, the rest all eat typical portions.”
“Alright then,” She nods, setting an armful of ingredients down on the counter, “You can sit down, do you drink coffee or tea?”
“Coffee, what are you going to make with all of that?”
“You guys have got lots of blueberries: figured I’d make muffins, maybe yogurt parfaits and some French Toast?” She asked looking back at the soldier to see any approval.
“Pretty sure Tony’s laid claim to the blueberries.”
“All the more reason to use them,” Heather replied with a smirk, “Based on the old tea in the cupboard, it’s safe to assume, you all drink coffee?” She added, her face twisting into a grimace at the box of tea.
Not quite sure that the question needed answering, Steve moved on, “You don’t use magic to cook?” He asked watching her get started.
“I don’t no, but other wixen do, I learned to cook before I joined the magical world and wasn’t particularly interested in changing methods. Using magic to cook feels a bit like cheating to me.”
“Oh,” he acknowledged, “Do you mind if I ask you some questions? I know we all probably made you uncomfortable yesterday.”
“Mhm,” She hummed, engrossed in her cooking, “I suppose you can, but I’m not answering the same question twice, so you can tell your friends if they want to know.”
Steve considered that for a moment before shrugging, “You’re pretty young, I was wondering what your qualification for teaching was?”
“Ooh, a smart question first, this time, alright,” Heather replied the smirk once again on her face, “There are two exams all wixen take in school, their O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T.S. different jobs require different results, and you can take them at the Ministry level, which is country by country, or the I.C.W. level which is international. I’ll admit I didn’t do incredible on my Ministry level O.W.L.S. but a civil war broke out before I could take my N.E.W.T.S, I decided to do both exams at the International Level once it ended.” She said looking back at Steve to make sure he was listening, before returning to her cooking.
“Got top marks in most of the tests, then went on to get my Mastery in Defence Against the Dark Arts and I’ve also self studied in other areas of magic since.”
“Sounds impressive,” Steve replied, “But um, what’s a mastery?”
“Oh,” She said, “It’s essentially a Doctorate in that field of magic, typically takes 4-9 years of consistent study, my potion teacher at Hogwarts, was a dick, but he managed to get his in 2 years, which is impressive. Though I did hear he almost killed himself to do it.”
“How long did it take you to complete?”
“A little under a year although I did study extensively on the subject throughout my Hogwarts years.” Heathers dismissiveness confused Steve greatly.
“Are you planning to get another?”
At that Heather stopped for a moment and cocked her head to the side, “Honestly I never thought about it, I only really got the first one because my friend, Hermione, wouldn’t stop harassing me about going back to Hogwarts for an extra year with them.” She laughed quietly to herself as she went back to cooking, “Don’t even really know what I would get one in.”
Steve really wanted to ask her more about the civil war she mentioned but, recalling how she’d brushed it off earlier, thought better, “Can you tell me stories about Hogwarts?”
“Sure, let me tell you about the Weasley twins.”

Much later in the morning than Heather intended, her and Wanda laid claim to one of the training rooms in the tower, the room itself was quite simple, high ceiling, a sparring mat and various equipment throughout. But what caught Wanda’s interest was the two long wooden rods Heather pulled out of her much smaller bag. “Most wixen tend to ignore their physical strength in favour of their magical, despite several studies proving that while not necessarily reflective of each other the two are linked. To put it simply: the healthier the body, the healthier the magic.” Heather began instructing.
“I was speaking to Steve earlier and arranged for the both of us to start joining him on his morning runs.” She laughed as a look of horror crossed the younger girls face, “He did warn me he’s very fast, so don’t worry I don’t expect you to keep pace with him.”
“Outside of running, I will also be teaching you how to fly a broom, which is a good way to get your body used to consistent magical drain and does wonders for balance. And I will teach you how to wield a staff, though I suggest you don’t go mentioning that last one to other magicals- I’m not quite certain of its legality here.”
“Once I’ve shown and have you make your own wand and staff, we will work on proper dueling with magic, until then we will focus on more passive magic like potions and herbology, your physical shape, and magical theory and history. Any questions?”
“If it’s illegal, why are you teaching it to me?”
“Because the magical government is full of idiots who ban magic in broad strokes and not specifics, so as long as it’s not one of the big ‘no-no’s’ I mentioned yesterday you can argue your way out of practically anything, or at least throw some money at it.” She added to the end almost as an afterthought.
“Plus, I didn’t say it was illegal, just that I wasn’t sure,” she said finally handing Wanda one of the staffs.

“Should we be worried about that?” Tony asked around a mouthful of one of the blueberry muffins he was hoarding. As he and the other Avengers watched the two witches continue their lesson on a monitor.
“The potentially teaching something illegal part or the lack of care for the law part?” Bruce asked in reply.
“How about both?” Steve cut in, any worries soothed by his earlier conversation now back.
“These muffins are really good,” Tony said through another mouthful, “You did watch to make sure she didn’t poison these, right Capsicle?”
“She made them from scratch I have no idea what she put in them.” Steve said, caught off guard by the question.
“Aside from my blueberries.” Tony grumbled pulling his horded plate of muffins closer, as Jarvis’s voice came over the intercom.
“She did not add anything harmful sir,” The AI stated before asking, “Would you like me to update you on Miss. Potter’s family history sir?” Successfully taking their attention off the monitor where Heather was now going through stances with Wanda.
Upon receiving an affirmative the AI continued, “Mrs. Petunia Dursley nee Evans graduated high school; middle of her class, did not receive any higher education, and has been a housewife since her marriage to Vernon Dursley in 1978, Dudley Dursley is her only child having received a hysterectomy after labour complications, while no direct date is stated it can be inferred she receive custody of Miss. Potter early November 1981 from bank statements.”
“Her parents were Violet Merope Evans nee Riddle and Marcus Evans; both died in a car crash in 1976. Mr. Evans has a completely normal background. Mrs. Evans was an orphan only recorded family being a twin brother one Tom Marvello Riddle, their mother dying in childbirth with no recorded name, the twins were promptly separated and placed in gendered orphanages, neither receiving adoption, though school records for Tom similarly to Miss Potter stop at age 11, and he disappears entirely upon the age of 17.”
“Although, through a name match, the family can be traced to the Riddle family of Little Hangleton, one Mr. Tom Riddle married a Miss. Merope Gaunt in 1925. Mr. Riddle returned to his family without his wife several months later and the family was later murdered in 1943 by a Mr. Morfin Gaunt, no arrest record or prison named though local papers say he was arrested and charged. There is no further record of either Gaunt.”
“Mrs. Dursley also has a younger sister by the name of Lily Evans, who once again stops school at the age of 11 and further records stop after her parent’s death.”
The entire group sat in silence for a moment, taking in the shared information, “So the sister is probably Heather’s mother?” Clint half asked.
“And we can probably assume Morfin is the genocidal uncle.” Natasha added.
“Ok, but what about Dursley’s family, Jarvis?” Tony asked not liking the large gaps in their intel.
“Mr. Dursley graduated middle of his class; did not attend university and is currently working as a Director for Grunnings Drilling Manufacturer, he has a normal family history outside of his sister Margery Dursley who was arrested last year for animal abuse and neglect.”
“Which means we just wasted our time.” Tony groaned.
“What now? We still have no idea why she was raised by her aunt, or why she is missing her medical records.” Bruce pointed out.
“Let’s not forget the social services reports.” Clint added.
“Perhaps we could ask Miss Potter?” Vision tried suggesting.
“Or I call Fury.” Countered Natasha, grabbing her phone and leaving the room with a frown on her face. The rest of the group, taking that as their cue to finishing their snooping, started to disperse and go about their day, Tony making sure to take his plate of muffins down to the lab with him.