Chapter 6
“Mummy! Kreek says no swearin’!”
She forces herself to take a deep breath and then several more. When she is sure that her magic isn’t going to lash out in an attempt to murder a certain deity, she looks at her audience.
“You’re right, darling. Mummy apologizes.” A whimper escapes her as she pushes herself to her feet again. Merlin, she needs a wand or a pain potion. She holds her arms out despite the uncomfortable way it tugs her IV, glaring at Stark, who is looking between her, Teddy, and Azrael with wide eyes. “Hand over my son.”
“Uh…” Godric, isn’t her father so eloquent?
Fuck this, Azzy already blew the Statute out of the water. Gritting her teeth, Harriet rips the IV from her arm, ignoring the gasps her actions draw. A flick of her wrist has her bag summoned from Dr. Banner’s shoulder. She opens the satchel and her folded clothes fly into it. Shouldering the bag, she glares at Stark once more.
“Hand over my son. Now.” She injects as much magic into the command as she can without a wand. It’s not quite the same as the Imperius Curse, more on level with a Confundus Charm. Stark is holding out the toddler without even realizing, only stopping his actions when Morgan speaks.
“Are you really my sister?”
The question startles her. As soon as her son appeared on the scene, she had promptly forgotten that the other child was there. Morgan has escaped Peter’s hold and appeared beside her, fisting a hand into her paper gown. Light green eyes blink up at her, curious and hopeful and not scared at all, which is honestly concerning Harriet a little bit. How much has her sister seen in her life that men appearing out of thin air and women doing wandless magic doesn’t even garner a blink of an eye.
“Er-” She turns her glare on Azrael for a second before looking at the child once more. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, love.”
Morgan tilts her head. “Not really. You either are or you aren’t.”
Harri holds back a sigh, glancing between her sister and father. “Look, just forget that Azzy said anything. It’s better that way.” She gives the girl a sad smile before staring hard at Stark. “Hand over Teddy and my wan- sticks and we’ll be out of your hair.”
“How about we all take a minute to breathe.” Dr. Banner steps in, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. “Miss Granger, or Potter I guess, please sit back on the bed. I’ll reinsert your IV and we can all have a calm conversation.”
Azrael steps between Harri and the doctor, looking much more stern than smug now. “You have no more need to touch my mistress. She needs no more of your healing.” Azzy reaches out and places a hand on Harriet’s shoulder. A greyish light fills the room and a cooling sensation travels over her body. When the light fades, Harri finds herself free of pain. She touches her side with a tentative hand, relieved when she only feels smooth skin through her gown.
“Will somebody please explain to me what the hell is going on here?” Stark is the one to jerk Morgan away this time, shoving the young girl behind him. He adjusts his grip on Teddy, turning her son away from her as he brandishes his metal hand once more. “You get brought in here, bleeding out and emitting sparks. Your two sticks spark so much that they seem they might set the tower on fire. Now, this guy pops into existence with a baby, heals your gunshot wound, and says you’re my kid. What the fuck?”
“What’s going on is none of your business.” Harriet bites out defensively. She adjusts her grip on her bag and whips her head to glare at Azzy once more. He at least has the sense to finally look sheepish rather than smug. “You will collect my sticks and meet me at home.”
“Harri-”
“That is not a request, Azrael.” She just barely restrains the true extent of the fury bubbling up in her gut.
“Very well, Mistress.”
As soon as Death fades out of existence, she rounds on Tony Stark again. He has set Teddy on the floor beside him and Morgan has taken the younger boy’s hand.
“Teddy, darling, come to Mummy.” Her son needs no further prompting, gladly releasing Morgan’s hand and dashing over to Harriet. She is quick to swing him up into her arms, clutching the small boy to her and burying her nose in his hair for a second. Having him in her reach and knowing he’s unharmed goes a long way in calming her raging emotions.
“So, am I allowed to ask about the magic now?” Peter’s voice, half cautious and half humorous, breaks the silence. Harri lifts her head, looking from the young man to Dr. Banner to Morgan and finally Stark.
“No.”
A resounding crack is the only evidence she leaves behind of the family Potter ever being in the tower to begin with.
“Kreacher’s Mistress Harriet returns- where are Mistress’ clothes?!” Harriet and Teddy’s arrival in their apartment is met with a very distressed house elf, staring at the paper medical gown that Harri is still wearing in absolute horror. The blood stain from where she had torn her stitches early does nothing to help matters.
Harri sets Teddy on his feet. “Teds, why don’t you go play with your toys while Mummy speaks with Kreacher.”
“‘Kay!” The toddler briefly embraces her legs and then the elf before disappearing down the hall from where they had appeared by the front door.
“Mistress Harriet is hurt.” Kreacher’s eyes have yet to stray from the blood on the gown.
“Azzy healed me.” She waves off the mixture of concern and anger the house elf emits, walking past him and toward her room. She’d like to find clothing that offers a bit more than her current outfit. Kreacher follows, grumbling after her. There is the sound of snapping behind her and she enters her bedroom to find robes laid out on the bed for her. “Thanks, Kreach.”
“Mistress Harriet did not comes home.” Kreacher politely stays in her bedroom instead of following her into the ensuite bathroom to change.
“I ran into complications while out shopping.” As she strips out of the paper gown, she does a few stretches to ensure that her wound really is healed. Azzy seems to have done a marvelous job, but she’ll still be left with another scar. Let it never be said that Harriet is poor when it comes to scar tissue.
“Muggles hurt Mistress?” The viciousness in her house elf’s tone drags her attention away from her marred skin and back to the situation at hand. Harri sighs and quickly finishes changing. She brushes her teeth and hair, never having felt quite as fresh with charms in comparison to doing the tasks the muggle way, and then finally re-enters her room. Kreacher stands in the doorway where she had left him, his spindly arms crossed and bright eyes narrowed in disdain.
“Someone attempted to rob me while I was trying to find a place to apparate home.” She sinks down onto the edge of her bed, across from where Kreacher stands. “The spider fellow, the one Teddy likes to watch on the news, saved me. He took me to Stark Tower so their muggle healer could attend to my injuries. I woke up there this morning.” Harri scowls at the memory. “I wanted Azrael to come get me the muggle way, so that I wouldn’t expose us by apparating out, but apparently he misunderstood my request.”
“Master Death was with Master Edward when Kreacher told him of the Mistress' request. Master Death disappeared with the young master before Kreacher had finished speaking.” Kreacher wears a scowl of his own now.
Harriet hums, nodding. And now Azzy is probably hiding away until her anger with him fades. The deity has learned much over the past few years living with her family. When Death had first come to her, he had not been as knowledgeable about humans, or at least not humans that are alive. Apparently, his past masters treated their duties with an indifference that Harri just doesn’t possess. She has always either been all in or all out, there is no in between for her. Azrael calls her his mistress in a way reminiscent of Kreacher and possesses the childlike wonder often seen in Teddy. It was no decision at all to take him into her family. Which is why, no matter how furious she may be right now with the deity, the thought of turning him away never crossed her mind. Azzy is her brother, Teddy’s Uncle Zee, and Kreacher’s Master Death. The Family Potter just isn’t complete without him.
Harri forces herself to remember all of these things when Azrael finally makes an appearance at dinner that evening. She has spent the day playing with Teddy and talking Kreacher through his more murderous tendencies. She had thought they were past his desire to rend muggles limb from limb, but her gunshot wound seems to have undone a lot of their progress. The elf has at least been distracted by heaping copious amounts of snacks on her throughout the day, all the while grumbling about muggle healers and ‘Master Death healing Mistress.’ Harriet would almost say that the elf is jealous of Azzy for healing her before he could do it himself. Fifteen-year-old Harriet would never believe her if she were able to send a message back in time detailing how the Black Family elf would one day be unhealthily possessive of her and her son. To be fair, there are a lot of things that her teenage self would be hard pressed to believe about her life over the previous few years.
“I smelled steak and kidney pudding.” Azrael lingers in the doorway to the dining room, looking unsurely between Harriet and where Kreacher is plating dinner.
“Well, it is Sunday.” Harri tries to keep the bite out of her voice but doesn’t quite manage it. Azzy warily enters the room, skirting around her to take his normal seat at the head of the table.
“Mistress Harriet and Master Death will not be fighting at Kreacher’s table.” The elf glares at them both as he takes his seat opposite Harriet. “Kreacher will only bes feeding Master Edward for the week if he bes seeing fighting at the table.”
Harri just does manage to not roll her eyes. “Understood, Kreacher.” Her son giggles from his seat beside her. Kreacher stares between her and Azzy suspiciously for a moment before giving a curt nod and finishing filling their plates. Their meal is filled with Teddy’s chatter about his day, the toys he played with, the shows he watched, the books he read. If nothing else, Harriet can always count on her little wizard to be the light shining in the darknesses. Teddy is nothing if not a ball of pure sunshine.
“Kreacher, why don’t you and Teddy Bear put on a movie while Azrael and I clean up in here?” She asks pointedly after they’ve all finished eating, wiping Teddy’s face with a wet cloth as she does so.
“Kreacher’s Mistress needs not be cleaning. Kreacher always tells the Lady Black that she-”
“Kreach.” Harriet sighs, lifting Teddy out of his chair and setting him feet first onto the floor. “I wasn’t really asking.”
The elf glares at her for a moment before narrowing his eyes at Azzy. “Very well. Kreacher bes taking Master Edward into the sitting room for a muggle moving picture.”
Teddy practically sprints out of the dining room. “I turn on the telly, Kreek!” Kreacher casts one more narrow eyed glance at Harri and Azzy before slinking after the boy, grumbling to himself about muggle cleaning methods.
“You are angry.”
Harri avoids looking at Azrael as he speaks, focusing on levitating the dirty dishes from the table and leading the procession into the kitchen. She doesn’t answer the deity until she is elbow deep in soapy water and vigorously scrubbing a pan. “I’m more than angry, Azzy.” She can hear him shuffling behind her, but doesn’t turn to look. If she focuses on the dishes, maybe she won’t start cursing the personification of death.
“Should I apologize?”
Harriet grits her teeth, scrubbing harder at the pan before her. “Are you sorry?”
“No.”
Water splashes over the edge of the sink as the sponge and dish slip from her hands. She whirls around to face Azzy, bracing herself on the counter behind her. “Your plan got me shot!”
Azrael averts his eyes from hers, staring at the floor. “That was not my intention. I had planned on the arachnid-human reaching you before the other man could cause harm to you.”
“Well, that didn’t happen, did it? I could have died, Azzy!” Harri blinks rapidly, turning her face toward the ceiling in an attempt to hold her tears at bay. “I could have died. What would have happened to Teddy, then? To Kreacher? To you? You didn’t just risk my life, Azrael, you risked my son’s future. Teddy has already lost two parents!”
“I would not have allowed you to pass on. As my mistress, you are only able to pass once you are ready.” A glance at her somewhat-brother shows him looking at her with an expression of sincerity. She tries not to let it soften her heart.
“On top of it all, you then bring Teddy into an unknown situation. We have no idea the danger he could have been in. Those are not normal muggles, they could have caused us real harm.”
“I would never have allowed harm to come to Edward.” Azzy actually looks offended at the mere suggestion.
“You broke the Statute of Secrecy.” She sighs as she brings up her final fighting point. “You exposed those muggles to magic.”
“They have seen magic before.”
“They have seen sorcerers and man-made magic. They have not seen nor heard of the secret society of wixen who walk the streets alongside them and live in homes they can’t even see.” Harriet folds her arms over her chest, raising an imperious eyebrow. Her temper may be cooling, but that doesn’t mean their conversation is over.
Azzy frowns before shrugging. “As your father, Anthony Stark is allowed to know of magic.”
She forces herself to take a steadying breath before responding. “Stark isn’t my father. He has a daughter and that isn’t me.”
The deity gives her an odd look, tilting his head to the side. His expression reminds her of how Teddy looks when trying to put the pieces of one of his puzzles together. “Is that what you truly believe, Harri?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. That is the truth. Morgan Stark is the daughter of Tony Stark. I am just an unknown factor that could bring disruption to their lives.” She turns back to the sink as she speaks, continuing the washing up.
“I had assumed you were avoiding Stark out of anxiety, not out of insecurity.”
Water splashes out of the sink and onto the floor with how fast she turns around. Static fills the air. “Excuse me?”
“You have avoided your father out of fear of rejection.”
Harri can’t help but gape at the deity, at a loss of words at his accusation. How dare he? Upon receiving no response, Azzy continues.
“I believe that if you would allow me to reap your other relatives, you would find yourself more open to a relationship with your father and sister.” His nose curls up in disgust as he speaks.
“Azrael!” Harriet sputters, squeezing the sponge that is still and her hand and making more of a mess on the kitchen tiles. “I have told you that you are not allowed to reap the Dursleys before their time!”
“I am Death. The only ones to know that their clocks stopped early would be you and I.”
She throws her hands into the air with a groan. “We are getting so off track here! Let’s go back to me fussing at you for trying to kill me.”
Azzy scowls, crossing his arms. He looks as if he’s only seconds away from stomping his foot on the floor like Teddy would during a tantrum. "I apologize for the injuries you endured. That was not my intention.”
Harri raises a brow, pausing to wait and see if any more remorseful words are forthcoming. When Azrael has none, she speaks. “But not for leading me on a wild goose chase for a toy robot just so I would come face to face with my - with Stark.”
“I will retrieve the toy Edward desires as compensation for my actions.” The deity lifts his head to look at her with a hopeful expression. She manages to hold her disapproving look for a few more moments before finally breaking.
“Fine. But I don’t want you to ever do something like this again. Not only was I hurt physically, but you broke my trust, Azrael.” She finally allows the hurt she has been feeling from the moment she awoke in Stark Tower that moment to show on her face. “You knew I wasn’t comfortable meeting Stark and yet you forced the situation anyway. On top of that, you put my child in danger.”
For the first time in their conversation, Azzy looks genuinely remorseful, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped. “I understand.”
Harri stares at her friend for another moment before nodding. “As long as we understand each other.” She turns back to the sink again, determined to finish the dishes. “Why don’t you go join Teddy and Kreacher. I’m sure they have a film picked out by now.”
Her suggestion doesn’t receive a response, but when she glances over her shoulder she finds herself alone in the kitchen. She huffs out a deep breath, slouching over the sink. What a day.
After putting Teddy to bed, Harriet makes her way to her own room. Her plans for the evening include a long shower and a good night’s rest. She pauses on her way to the wardrobe to collect her pajamas, noticing a new addition to her room. On her bed sits a red and gold toy robot, a colorful bow tied around its middle. Against her will, a small smile tugs at her lips. If nothing else, at least her eventful weekend is ending on a pleasant note. Her family is safe and Teddy’s birthday present has finally been found. Perhaps tomorrow will dawn a better day.