Here we go again.

Her whole body felt heavy, it did not want to be moved. She’d felt like that often enough to know it was drugs or potions or a combination of both. She hated that feeling but there was nothing she could do about it except wait it out, hope she wasn’t drugged again before this dose could wear off.

“You do know that you need sleep right?”

“Shut up birdbrain.”

“You’re not going to do her any good if you collapse in on yourself.”

“You’re not doing any good here either Clint.”

“I get being worried for her but you can’t ignore everything else while you are, especially not things like food, water and sleep that you yourself need.”

“I can sleep, once she’s out of here.”

“Tony…” The voice sounded almost exasperated, it reminded her harshly of Hermione whenever she would do something the other girl didn’t approve of… of course, that memory didn’t exactly spark a smile like it used to these days. On top of that, Tony.. as in Tony stark the guy who was claiming to be her father? He’d actually survived? The slow clearing of her mind didn’t quite allow for her to process that, it frankly only made her head hurt at this point.

“Bruce said she wouldn’t wake for another few hours at least, you can go eat something, Jarvis can keep watch but you won’t miss anything and you might actually feel a little better when you get back.”

“If I eat something will you stop bothering me?”

“If you go out of this room and eat a meal outside then I will stop trying to help you, yes.” He grumbled but it was followed by the sound of footsteps and a door opening and closing. She waited to ensure that they were really gone before giving up on her pretense of sleep. The lights did not help her headache when she tried to open her eyes and the resulting blinking to actually be able to see didn’t seem to help the limited amount of energy she had at that moment. What the hell had happened? She remembered the diner.. threatening the avengers… She remembered the park and Tony, some sort of injection dart… people, really more like blurs coming their way and hitting the ground.. She remembered seeing a gun being drawn, aimed at Tony. Her magic had protected him, why? Why hadn’t it protected herself first? She didn’t know him, didn’t owe him anything, certainly didn’t believe a word from his mouth. Hermione would have called it her saving people thing no doubt but even that didn’t cover sacrificing her own ass for a complete stranger who’d just lied and emotionally hurt her. It must have been manipulation, she burned through drugs faster than actual flames burned paper. If that first dose was all she got, she should be fine. She wasn’t fine, they’d given her something else and if they’d given her something else that meant they never had any intention other than to harm. And that, in turn, meant she had to get the hell out of there. The ceiling was white, the room was lab like but the view out of the windows showed that she was at least still on Madagascar, Antananarivo if she wasn’t mistaken. At least it would be a short apparition to get her go bag. First through, the needle in her hand and the one in her arm, those needed out. The muddiness of her mind made magic more difficult than it had ever been, she could just pull them out of course but then she’d be leaving behind just a little bit of her blood, no matter how little it was, it was dangerous. Assuming they hadn’t taken any blood from her, which really she couldn’t assume like that but she didn’t have a choice, she wasn’t willing to give them the opportunity to use it after all. She remembered well what happened last time someone had used her blood against her will, it had meant years of warfare and countless deaths. When she did succeed in ceiling the wounds and banishing what little remained of her blood on the needles, she faced the next problem.

Her legs didn’t want to cooperate, not well enough to let her walk at least. It took her far too long to even swing them over the side of the bed she’d been laying on, to get herself into a seated position. She was shaking, why was she shaking? Last time she was like this was when she’d last experienced the unforgivable curses, nearly four years ago already. Destination, determination, deliberation, breath… spin. The only result she managed to get was losing what little balance she had managed to gain while standing and leaning on the bed and nearly falling on her ass when she did so. She couldn’t apparate, this was literally the first time in years that she’d seriously thought about the steps and carried them out with precision, she’d done so because she knew her state of mind was shit. She couldn’t apparate out of here, she could barely walk so fighting wasn’t an option either. Slowly, she sunk down against the wall her bed had been standing against, eyes on the door. Her magic may be slow, it may be weak, but the first person to walk through that door was going to suffer for whatever they’d done. As she waited, eyes firm on the door, magic sissling just beneath her skin ready for use, she didn’t quite notice the shakes residing, slipping into that headspace… utter determination, complete focus, commitment to her task and currently, her task was to harm, harm badly. The very moment the door opened, the second the door handle went down, magic burst loose. All consuming, uncontrolled, powerful and wild unlike anything she’d ever created before and the blond that had barely crossed the threshold was thrown back with enough force to not only hit the wall on the other side of the hallway he came from… but go through it, and go through three others after that before sinking to the floor like a bag of potatoes, unconscious.

“Stop! Stop, we come in peace!” One voice, it was familiar for some reason, said hurriedly.

“O that was brilliant.” Another said. It was a much calmer tone but there was humor in his voice. One of them stepped into the doorway, apparently unafraid of suffering a similar fate.

“Are you willing to listen to an explanation?” In answer, he had to duck a blasting curse that took out half a wall.

“We weren’t the ones to do anything to you, we were the ones to save you!”

“Like hell you did, no drug remains working that long.” She only released more magic, spun a wider web and the next moment the man was caught in it. Tendrils of white magic snaking around him like a net and lifting him off the ground, tighter and tighter until he couldn’t move any more muscles.

“They had you hooking up to some machine, draining your blood and replacing it with something else, we’re trying to find out what but…”

“What about the blood?”

“Destroyed. I know magic, I know what it could have done.”

“And why should I believe you?” The man scoffed.

“I’m Loki, I’m the god of magic, do you really think this trap would hold me if I wasn’t allowing it?” It took time, to him it felt like ages but he for once didn’t want to rush a human in their decision making. Eventually he was let back to the ground, magic disappearing as did the unhealthy glow of power from her eyes. She suddenly seemed exhausted and sickly but still, her eyes were sharp.

“What happened?”

“We’re still working out all of the details but what we know is that the group that was following you earlier ambushed you and Tony in the park. They took you, knocked Tony out. We managed to track you down using your magical signature as a beacon but it took us some time. When we found you they had already started draining you of blood, they had you hooked up to something else, we haven’t been able to identify it yet but it appears to be some kind of midgardian potion.” The man.. Loki, patiently explained. He crouched as he spoke, hands in sight, treated her as a cornered animal and part of her hated it but the other part, the more rational part, knew she would probably already have attacked again if he hadn’t taken those precautions.

“Dr. Banner had you hooked up to a machine that was meant to filter your blood from the potion, if you could let him hook you back up then we can try to make sure it won’t have lasting effects. We may not know what it is yet but generally speaking the effects of potions get worse with prolonged exposure.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes for a moment, she seemed genuinely in pain and only looked worse for it.

“And I know you can defend yourself, you’re a god for fuck’s sake… but the muggles…”

“They’re tougher than you think.”

“One burst of uncontrolled raw magic had that guy going through walls and collapsing in an unconscious heap, I can guarantee that they will do worse when they get here.”

“He’s actually.. That’s Thor, my brother, he’s a god as well not that it matters. But that won’t happen, they don’t even know where we are.”

“He wasn’t knocked unconscious… Tony. He was shot, point blank, aimed at his head. My magic is the only thing that saved his life.. talked to me for less than ten minutes and already he nearly died. I don’t need more blood on my consciousness, Loki. I can’t.”

“No wait. Listen for a second alright. I will personally secure the space. Nothing will get out without my knowing and nothing will be able to get in without my permission.”

“It won’t be enough.”

“Asgardian magic, nothing on midgard is going to break it. You just need to stay put, let us figure out what potion they were dosing you with… Let Tony explain.” And that was the hope wasn’t it, that she’d let the man talk and explain and actually believe him. The likelihood that she would was near zero but maybe, just maybe, a little magic could help.

“James Potter was my father, he sacrificed his life for me when I was barely a year old. I don’t know Stark but I know we’re not related.

“How?”

“What?”

“How do you know for certain? Have you had a lineage test done?”

“If I had other relatives Dumbledore would have placed me with them, if he was my father, Dumbledore would have given me to him after my parents died.”

“Unless he didn’t know.” That was Tony, two pairs of green eyes snapped towards the doorway where he was standing.

“Lily didn’t specify in the letter if she told anybody, I don’t think she did after hearing about the kind of prejudice muggle-borns face. I think she and James might have been the only ones who knew.”

“He would have checked.”

“I… If I can’t convince you with words will you let me prove it? We can do a blood test or… or Loki can do some weird magic shit to confirm probably.”

“Sure, I’ll do some weird magic shit. You are such an idiot Stark. Magic isn’t weird and it’s an advanced and complicated science, it takes years of dedication to master unlike most midgardian principals so don’t call it shit.” There was a moment of silence and then there was a soft and tired sounding chuckle from Harry.

“yes… that. I wish you could have met Hermione, you would have gotten along famously with her.” Loki smiled, no doubt that Hermione was a dear friend, it was clear in the look on Harry’s face when she spoke of her.

“You’ll stay?” She looked frustrated more than anything at the request, brow furrowing, jaw setting slightly… but she looked uncertain too, no matter how fierce of a warrior she was, no matter how much her life had aged her beyond her years, she was still mortal, still impossibly young compared to him. Even if she was definitely more interesting than most others he’d met in this realm.

“I won’t make any promises.”

“We’re not asking you to, I will, however, ask you to get back on that bed and let Banner hook you back up to his machines.” She didn’t look happy about it exactly, but with a little grumbling under her breath he allowed him to help her up from the ground and back on the bed. She felt exhausted frankly, she’d already been dead on her feet, or rather off of them since she hadn’t been able to stand for more than a few seconds, and now she just wanted to sleep. Just sleep and recover and sleep some more… maybe a shower somewhere in between.

“Do you feel up to trying to eat something?” Banner asked softly as he carefully reattached her to the machines and drips. He seemed nice enough, they all did really, that didn’t mean she could trust them, it didn’t mean she could or would stay longer than she had to.

“Possibly.. something light maybe.” Her stomach didn’t exactly feel up to food, any kind really, but she also knew that if she ate, her body could use it as fuel to burn through… whatever it was they’d drugged her with faster.

“I’ll find something.. I think I saw some fruit earlier.” The good doctor left, Loki had left a little before to see about his brother and while the others had filtered in at some point. Mild alarm over all of their faces due to the sound of walls breaking earlier, they’d also all filtered out again sometime after when they saw that nothing was really wrong. This left her alone with Stark, he looked every bit as awkward and nervous as he had done in the park.

“..are you.. how’s your head?”

“It’s fine, I’m fine. Just a concussion, it's nothing.”

“it’s not.. Look Mr. Stark…”

“Tony.. please?” She looked at him, the vulnerability in his eyes. He didn’t want her to call him Tony, she could tell, but Mr. Stark was worse for him, so much worse.

“Tony. I don’t know what on earth made you think we are related and frankly, I just can’t care right now. But associating with me.. hell, being remotely near me at any given time, it’s dangerous. You were nearly killed because you talked to me for all of five minutes…”

“I wasn’t nearly killed, I was just knocked out and I’d risk it! I just want to know my daughter, please Hariana.”

“You weren’t knocked out, you were shot, the only reason you’re still here is because of my magic and you won’t always be that lucky.”

“I’ll still risk it.”

“Then you’re an idiot. Why do you even want to? You don’t know me, you don’t owe me anything and I sure as hell can’t give you anything you don’t already have…”

“Because…” What was he supposed to say? Because she was his daughter.. because he needed to be there for her.. because the second he’d laid his eyes on that stupid old baby-picture he knew he loved her and wanted her in his life.. Because she was the piece that had been missing that he didn’t know he’d needed for twenty years now… How was he supposed to say any of that? He stared at her, brown eyes on green ones. Emerald green just like her mother…

“Lily sent me a letter.”

“What?”

“You asked.. why I thought we are related. Lily sent me a letter a few months after you were born. I don’t know what happened to it, where it’s been for all these years.. I got it a few months ago. Haven’t stopped searching for you since.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.. I know I don’t understand either but.. It was her handwriting, and she was the only one who knew me well enough to write the kind of things she wrote and..” The picture. He pulled out his wallet, finally gathering up the nerve to cross the room as he pulled the slightly faded picture from it and handed it to her. She almost seemed wary of it but did accept it.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had a picture of her before, that’s..”

“Mum.” Her thumb moved over Lily’s coppery red hair depicted in the photo. Tony's heart clenched, pain, because Lily would have loved her, Lily did love her. But she never got to see her grow up, never got to see how strong she was and how much she took after her mother… after them both really but thankfully she was more like Lils. It was quiet for a long time, Tony was near holding his breath with it. And then when she finally broke it, he could hear the bare hints of vulnerability in her voice.

“Will you tell me about her?”

“Yes… Of course I will.”