Marvelous Return

The rest of the week went quickly. Twice they called Darcy to the Tower but one of those was them trying to know more about Ilvermorny. Bill and Charlie were involved in this talk, so they could decide where they wanted to go, and they were enthusiastic about this new possibility.

Throughout the week, the bag was examined attentively as Clint, Phil, Natasha, and Tony read the books found on magical children, but also on basic magic theories. They all played with the children, making sure they were not disturbed by the changes in their lives.

The strangest event happened when Tony caught Sirius and Arthur talking about their estates, at first he simply wanted to help as he was used to going through his own assets, but a fight started when he realized they were looking into places to move into. Apparently, both the Blacks and the Potters had residences on the Upper East Side which would be appropriate to house everyone, and Arthur wanted to contact the Goblins to transfer his house to a wizarding city nearby as he loved The Burrow.

Tony took it as meaning they didn’t want to live at the tower and tried to throw them out once again. It was Severus who calmed him down, he seemed to have a good grasp on how to handle the genius. It took two hours but when they came back Tony explained that while the tower was still under construction it would soon be done, and he would be happy for everyone to live there, but that he also had a mansion with a large tract of land near Central Park, and they could all stay there while they waited for construction on Stark Tower to be completed. The estate was large enough for Moony to run during full moons and could easily accommodate The Burrow. When asked how Stark Mansion could be so big in the middle of New York as people would have noticed, Tony simply said “Magic”.

On the day Darcy came back to babysit, the adults sat around the plans for the tower, Tony explaining what was going to happen and how he was going to organize the place for it to be secure enough for the children yet allow everyone to have their own private space, with the mansion being available for the weekend retreats or Fullmoon runs. Severus would have his own lab and suite of rooms, while Remus, Sirius, and Arthur would live on the same level as the children, sharing a kitchen and living room. He had space put aside in case that idea didn’t pan out, or they needed more privacy. While appreciative, the wizards explained that no matter where they lived they could be there in seconds if needed, but, and the others agreed, having everyone under one roof, or at least one residency when at Stark Mansion, would help secure the children but also create a better sense of companionship. Remus, who hadn’t talked about moving out once it was explained to him that this was how a pack was supposed to live, though Phil, Tony, Clint, and Natasha were not yet part of the pack, felt like they would be soon and would rather keep them close. After that, none of the wizards talked of moving out, not even Severus, who seemed uncomfortable with the idea of being one of Remus’ packmates already.

As planned, in the afternoon, while the other adults were working out a tentative schedule for the month, including a visit to Ilvermorny, but also for Clint, Natasha, and Phil to go back to SHIELD, and for Tony to work between Malibu and New York without telling Pepper why he wanted to be in New York so often, Sirius and Severus went to Gringotts to meet with Amelia Bones. Getting Severus pardoned and his record cleared was easy -  a dose of Veritaserum, coupled with the notes and memories Severus had of his dealings with Dumbledore, as well as the man’s own admission of his role, and he was released to live his life as he wished, though he was now under Sirius’ responsibility, which meant if Severus went back to his Death Eater friends or committed any illegal acts that Sirius would be fined if it was discovered he knew and did nothing about it. Severus rolled his eyes at the condition, but ultimately agreed  - he had no intention of going back to the life he had before he decided to follow Harry and had already gotten an exception made for his Godson and the Malfoys as Madam Bones wasn’t going to force him to abandon the little boy.

They took the time to question her, about current events of the Britain Wizarding World.

“Well, Lady Magic’s judgment was released,” she told them with a grin, expecting them to ask what she meant but when they didn’t, she kept going, though with a raised eyebrow at them, “It seems you know something about it.”

“Did it say what she was judging,” Sirius asked.

“No, it only announced Albus, Muriel, and Molly’s future matrimonial ceremony, and said it was enforced by Lady Magic’s judgment.”

“Good,” Severus mumbled.

“Are you going to inform me?” Amelia wondered.

“Dumbledore tried to file a contract as Harry’s guardian. As he is not, nor was he ever Harry’s guardian, I called for Lady Magic’s decision on the matter,” Sirius explained, waving his hand absentmindedly when Amelia was about to ask for clarification. “Did he mention Harry?”

“The Wizengamot is asking for his whereabouts at every session and trial he has attended, but he only states that Harry is in a safe place and protected. The attack on the Longbottoms had even the most adamant relent in their demands as he was able to use it to prove the Death Eaters would not stop their attacks because the Dark Lord was gone,” she explained, “Dumbledore even told the Wizengamot the attack was because Alice was his Godmother, and you,” she said looking at Sirius, “being aware of this, sent Bellatrix to Longbottom Manor thinking Harry would be there,” She waved off Sirius’ protest. “I know it wasn’t the case, and he was embarrassed when Lady Greengrass asked for Veritaserum, which was not required as they were caught in the act, and all four of them admitted to going to Longbottom Manor thinking the Dark Lord was still alive and going after Neville. They thought the reason Dumbledore refused to produce Harry was that the boy was dead. He had to bring in Hagrid and McGonagall who under Veritaserum said they saw Harry alive and well that night.”

“No one asked them where he was?” Sirius asked worriedly.

“Some tried, but as it was meant to protect an underage wizard, I was able to cast a one-way silencing shield around the Wizengamot. I was the only one questioning McGonagall and Hagrid and I knew not to ask that,” Amelia assured him.

“Okay,” Sirius and Severus both sighed out.

“I also looked into the voting law Ragnok told us about,” Amelia said. “For votes in the Wizengamot you are allowed to vote from here,” she said before going on to explain, “as an added protection, contrary to the in person votes, they are anonymous, which I guess is the reason Dumbledore never told us about it as he likes to know exactly who voted for what law and their voting history since they took their seats.”

“Why are they voting anonymously?” Severus asked, not familiar with the proceeding.

“For protection,” Amelia told him. “The whereabouts of a Lord or Lady are considered private. The vote will state the Ministry it was cast in, and how many votes are Aying or Naying the law, but the names aren’t divulged,” she explained. “Apparently, in some countries, during controversial votes the party wishing for the law to pass or be dismissed were kept away from the ministry of the country they were staying at if they foresaw the possibility that the votes were not going to go the way they wished for.”

“That won’t help that much if I cast Harry’s votes from here. Dumbledore will come to investigate,” Sirius said with a sigh.

“You are free to use my office, at any time,” Ragnok told him.

“Brilliant idea,” Severus said, “Thank You, Ragnok.” When Sirius and Amelia looked at him curiously, he extrapolated. “You can cast one vote from here, then come to Ragnok’s office and move to another country, until all our votes are cast.”

“Marvelous idea,” Sirius said with a grin.

“I’ll keep you updated on the important voting and possible special sessions,” Amelia agreed and Ragnok said he would pass the messages along if she addressed her letters to Gringotts. “You don’t trust me?”

“I disagree with Dumbledore on almost everything, but one point I will agree with is that Harry’s protection is paramount,” Sirius told her.

“That, I can understand,” Amelia agreed with a smile. “What will you do about the Board?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” Sirius admitted. “From what I remember they only meet three times a year, the next one will be on the day the students return after the Winter Break. I’ll try to think about something before then. Hopefully, you’ll catch Pettigrew before then and I can appear as myself.”

“We’ve had no luck yet, none of the Death Eaters we caught have seen him, and only two even knew Pettigrew was a Death Eater,” Amelia admitted, “It helped though, as the trials are public people believe Pettigrew betrayed the Potters.”

“With Dumbledore saying I did?” Sirius asked dubiously.

“I may have started a rumor,” Amelia told him with a grin.

“What did you say?”

“I had tea with Celeste, reminded her of the troubles she had deciding who to use as a Secret Keeper, and how we had to change it several times after the beginning of the war. She talked about it with Gerald, who talked to others he knew who had the Fidelius cast over their residences, and so on, until everyone was questioning who really was the Secret Keeper for the Potters. I even heard someone say if they had known they were a target in advance, as the Potters had, they would have changed the keeper weekly to keep it confusing for everyone,” Amelia explained.

“That’s brilliant, also, not a bad idea,” Sirius admitted, he would keep that in mind for the farm harboring Clint’s in-laws.

They kept talking for a while, until and after Amelia left. She had troubles with the fact that they were conspiring against Dumbledore, but at the same time, she was seeing and finding more and more evidence of his misbehaviors on her own, few of which she talked to them about, she needed more time, more proofs.

Soon, Ragnok had both of them signing investment papers, and they were on their way back to the tower, for another lesson on the difference between Ilvermorny and Hogwarts. Darcy was always nice about it, and actually wanted to help, not simply point out what they were doing wrong, which they all appreciated.

On the morning of the last day of the Budapest Protocol, the journal lit up brightly.

“It’s been a few days,” Clint commented as he finished feeding Harry before they all sat in the living room to read the new page, the kids sitting calmly on the side of the room Tony decorated for them with pillows and beanbags, as Bill read one of the children books Darcy brought with her to them.

“This message is from Natasha,” Clint said handing the journal over to her. “Didn’t they say she was gone?”

“The day they sealed the bag, I was,” Natasha agreed, clearing her throat before she started reading.

I have decided to start a journal of the events, I know Harry will be sent back, but I don’t want us to waste time on certain issues waiting for him to learn to talk or write.

Note to self: I need to talk to Brady about possible time-release spells for the journal, no need for temptation.

“Who’s Brady?” Clint asked.

“How would I know?” Natasha retorted calmly, though she was wondering about that too, obviously, it was someone from their group if she would tell him about the journal, and he was with them at the time they decided to go through with the ritual, but she didn’t know who it could be.

“A wizard, or a Sorcerer we’ll meet later on then,” Phil commented.

“But now we know you started this journal thing,” Sirius pointed out.

Some things, I know we can’t change, others will be different or never happen just because you’ll get wizards involved. Loki would be one of those, though we had an easy time at it, a little help can’t hurt, and it might save Phil.

Thinking about Phil, I don’t know who will get to read this, but whoever you are DO NOT LET HARRY AND TONY FALL INTO SURVIVOR GUILT.

You two, unless you killed those people yourself and it was not in defense of yourselves or others then it is not your fault!!

“Got it?” She asked glaring at Tony, who nodded meekly.

“We’ll work on it,” Severus assured everyone, he knew he had some work to do about it too as he felt guilty about the Potters’ fate even though he only delivered part of the prophecy and did everything he could to protect Lily when he realized what it meant.

Don’t get Wade’s help in the matter, while he is willing, it won’t help, and the nightmares he gave the youngs are not worth it.

“I guess you meant Deadpool, I can see that not going the way you wanted,” Clint laughed.

“Who is he?” Arthur asked curiously.

“A merc,” Phil said rolling his eyes at Clint.

“He is a mutant who can’t be killed, and a mercenary, though he has a moral code, only goes after bad people,” Clint explained. “And while he is fun to be around, he is really inappropriate company around kids, and will give details about his kills without even realizing how traumatizing it could be for them.”

“You’re sure he is friendly?” Remus asked confused.

“Oh, yeah, he is on the good side he just operates on a different level,” Natasha assured them. “You have to meet him to understand.”

Let see, if the plan went the way we are hoping, which I hate the uncertainty of, it’s November, so a few important events will happen soon that you should be made aware of.

First, on the wizarding side, Sirius Black is innocent, I’ll get someone else to write about that, Remus Lupin must be somewhere around Devon, England, that’s as close as Harry knew. It’s still not much but at least it gives you an area to search. If you are approached by a man called Peter Pettigrew, well, I heard the snakes at Central Park’s zoo are always up for eating a rat.

Although they were not saying anything everyone was contemplating the idea.

The Dursley will get what they deserve, I know that technically they didn’t do anything to Harry yet, but they aren’t going to raise their son, or act differently just because he isn’t there. I bet it will only up the embezzlement we found when we went looking into their lives as they will need to hire people to do everything around the house. Keep an eye on them, if Dudley steps out of line make sure he is taken away from them, we promised Harry we would give him a chance as he tried to redeem himself later in life, and he was only the product of his parents’ child-rearing abilities, and I think we all know how that could turn out.

Everyone nodded, they would keep an eye on Dudley, if only to make sure any children he had were not magical as it could happen, and they would need to keep Petunia and Vernon away from them.

On SHIELD’s front, so much will be going on and soon…

This had Clint and Phil straightening up, and Tony ordered JARVIS to keep tabs on everything she would say.

Primarily, I guess would be Steve, but that’s more of a calendar issue than due to the importance of the Intel. Choosing one thing over another is complicated when they are all linked and although impossible should be dealt with simultaneously.

Steve first then, Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America, born July 4th, 1918 isn’t dead. He fell into the Arctic Ocean with the Valkyrie and was kept in hibernation by the freezing waters. Don’t worry about finding him, he’s been at New York SHIELD’s facility for a little under a month where they are trying to revive him. It will happen on the 22nd. Fury is going to go about this day all wrong, trying to make him believe he still is in the 40s, it will not end well for SHIELD’s wall, or for Steve’s trust in Fury. (Not that we would want that, Steve is good at questioning everything, let him do it).

I know you need this Intel but there isn’t anything you can do about it. Steve was left alone after that, and I guess he never completely moved on from his past life, though he became a good friend with all of us, it’s been 27 years, and he still looks over his shoulder expecting Peggy and the Commandos to be there, to have his back. Try and make him feel like he belongs, would you? Other than that, he is a pretty well-adjusted guy, he will make new friends, (though one of them you might have to recruit on your own if you manage to fix points two and three before Steve meets him, he will need him, they work extremely well together and are true friends.)  

I am not there to micromanage the past, do with it what you wish, know that Loki will try to invade Earth and the Avengers will be brought together, on that I will not tell you more, other than Phil, don’t be a Gryffindor, and if one of the adult wizards is around, amulets against mind manipulation would be useful for all. Be sure to prepare Manhattan for evacuation, organize a safety protocol for the first weeks of February, I can’t give you an exact timetable as keeping everyone’s mind safe would change what happens at the time.

Let’s see, point two… Which would also be point three as they are one and the same…

Bucky Barnes and Hydra. Neither are gone.

We never found out how, but Bucky survived the fall from the train in Italy and unfortunately was found by Hydra and brought back to their base. From there it became hard to know exactly what happened. Bucky lost part of his arm in the fall, it was replaced with a metal one. He was, as Steve was, kept in hibernation. Contrary to Steve, Bucky was revived from time to time through the decades, for what Hydra saw as important missions. They used electro-shock therapy and conditioning to make him forget who he was and obey them; they also gave him some Serum though it is different from the one used one Steve.

Natasha, he is the Winter Soldier, he is the one who shot you in Iran.

Tony, this is a hard choice to make, but one I believe is the good one, one of the Winter Soldier’s missions was the murder of your parents.

Tony got up and started to pace.

Please, try and remember he was not himself; he didn’t have a choice, they erased all that he was at the time. Steve is the only one who can get him out of the programming. Bucky somehow, even after everything he went through, still remembers him, but he almost killed Steve several times before a gesture or a word would bring the memory of his best friend back to the forefront of his mind and make him fight his programming.

“Sounds like the Imperious Curse,” Sirius commented. “There is nothing you can do about it. I don’t know how Harry can fight it.”

“Cast it on me,” Tony told him.

“Are you crazy?” Sirius exploded. “They are Unforgivables, I’d end up in prison, and even without that, it’s an awful thing to do to someone. I could make you jump out of the balcony and you won’t be able to do anything about it. When Moody taught it to the kids he was tame -  only told them to do things that would make them look ridiculous, but I could order you to do anything I want. For instance, I could order you to go to Ilvermorny and kill everyone.”

“I know a way to show you,” Severus said and got his wand out waiting for Tony to nod at him.

Severus ignored Sirius, Remus, and Arthur and cast a compulsion at Tony, then grabbed a notebook and told him “eat this.”

Tony protested, as did the others, but in the end, he started tearing up the notebook into tiny bits without even realizing it, Severus waited until he put the first piece in his mouth before releasing the spell.

“And that was a simple compulsion to do as I asked,” Severus told him.

“I understand,” Tony said, “but I’ll still need time.”

“That’s okay, it’s not like any of us know what you are going through,” Severus assured him.

“Now, I’d like to know how Hydra can still be around without anyone knowing,” Tony said and gestured for Natasha to keep reading.

You would wonder how Hydra managed to stay under the radar if they had the Winter Soldier who has over 200 kills to his name? How did we find out about them?

Well, really, Fury got suspicious and went looking into something someone wanted to hide, as he is prone to do. They sent the Winter Soldier after him. Steve and I investigated the incident, we found a trail which led us to Operation Paperclip.

SHIELD offered their freedom to the scientists who were willing to work for them, only Zola and his associates used their positions to turn SHIELD agents to their cause.

From what we gathered after we dealt with the first attack, a little under half of SHIELD is actually Hydra waiting for the right time to act.

You can trust Coulson, May, Simmons, Fitz, MacKenzie, Bobbie (no matter my personal feelings on the matter), Hunter, Triplett, Fury, Carter, the Council (though only about that), a specialist called Klein, Doctor Fine,  and Hill… The others will need to be checked on.

Those we are sure are Hydra are Rumlow, Rollins, the Strike teams under their guidance, Garreth, Ward, Senator Stern, Sitwell, Alexander Pierce (though you might as well check on his son, he ran before we could), Strucker, Doctor List.

While you look for Strucker and List if you stumble upon the Maximoff Twins, take them in, but keep them away from Tony until you can explain life to them. They blame him for the bomb killing their parents, even though he was simply doing his job selling the weapons he built to armies. He was not the one who decided to go bomb a civilian building, and from what we put together Stane sold that specific missile to separationists, Tony had nothing to do with it.

I think I meddled enough, take care of this and most of our future problems won’t happen. Though I am telling you now, mess up the team and I will find a way to come back and kick your ass. While it is what we went through that built our trust and friendship, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen anyway, we are good together - find common ground, assemble around Harry if you want and need a reason -  not everyone needs a war to build upon. And find Sam Wilson, weirdly enough he is the glue that holds us all together in this timeline.

Natasha kept reading but didn’t speak up, so they didn’t know what else was written.

“So,” Sirius said but stopped, he didn’t understand half of what was talked about.

“I need to meet with Fury,” Phil announced.

“Tomorrow,” Natasha told him, closing the journal.

“What about the men? Steve and Bucky?” Remus asked perfectly aware there was nothing they could do at the time to help SHIELD with Hydra.

“I’ll approach Steve when he wakes up,” Clint volunteered.

“And do what?” Phil asked.

“Well, I won’t fangirl over him,” Clint said with a smirk as Phil blushed.

“Meaning?” Sirius asked getting frustrated, they had explained everything to them, but they were not forthcoming.

“Captain America is a legend, he is a super soldier and was fighting Hydra during World War II with the Howling Commandos,” Phil explained. “From the people I know about, there is no one I could compare him to in your world, well no one but Harry, the Harry we read about in the books.”

“Down to the surviving exception part, as Steve Rogers is the only who survived the full implementation of the Serum, without any mutations,” Natasha said, “Bucky and I only have a partial Serum, as it was Hydra and the Russian attempts to replicate Erskin’s serum after he escaped to the USA.”

“Bucky was his best friend, thought to have died during one of the Howling Commandos’ missions,” Phil told them, “They grew up in Brooklyn, not far from here.”

“So, they are from the 40s?” Arthur asked. “Aren’t they going to be old?”

“I don’t think so, between the cryo-process, and the serum they could still physically be in their twenties,” Tony said, then moved to one of the monitors, “JARVIS found Rogers.”

An image of a sleeping blond man in an infirmary hooked to all kinds of machines came up onto the wall.

“S’eve,” Harry cried out happily, making Sirius move to the children to hug him.

“Steve is taking a nap,” Sirius told him.

“He cold,” Harry nodded.

“SHIELD is heating him up,” Tony said and then focused on the screen. “It’s going well since

Natasha said he will wake up on his own. I don’t think we should interfere.”

“I don’t think so either,” Natasha agreed.

“Just get everything ready for him to join us?” Arthur asked.

“Howard was part of the initial testing,” Tony said with a shrug, “I can insert myself easily, I just need to find his notes and I’ll tell Fury we need to make sure the serum didn’t have long time side effects.”

“You’re not lying to him,” Severus told him.

“Not to him,” he gestured to Steve, “To Fury.”

“Why not tell him the truth?” Sirius asked. “You said he knew about magic, while I don’t want to tell him about Harry, you can say we know he has Steve, and we sent you.”

“Because he will want to come in, question you, put spies around the tower to find out why or how you know,” Phil told him.

“He can try,” Sirius said with a snort.

“Harry doesn’t trust SHIELD in the future, and you said they were probably involved in what happened, so why not explain things to him? Natasha said he is trustworthy,” Remus argued.

“About Hydra,” Natasha pointed out, “I don’t know what went on in the future, but SHIELD lost our trust, and Fury with it.”

“Crazy thought,” Arthur said, “maybe he tried to hide things from you, and you stopped trusting him, or you hid something from him, and he stopped trusting you. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t let anyone Harry doesn’t trust near my sons, but as of now Natasha from the future didn’t tell us to stay away from him, I don’t think we should start acting as if he will do something that may never happen to us here.”

“Fury planned the Avengers Initiative for as long as I’ve known him,” Phil provided, “I don’t think he’d want to jeopardize his work now that we know it will work, and we managed to secure powerful allies.”

“Contact Ragnok,” Severus finally said, “He had contact with SHIELD before, he might know the answer.”

They sent the goblin a letter and waited patiently over lunch. Finally, as dessert was served, Ragnok sent his answer.

Director Fury knows about magic, report to him saying what you did this week is under a secrecy ward, and he will understand. From the Intel I have, you can trust him with everything, but his primary loyalty will always be to SHIELD, though he grew attached to each of the Avengers over time. Let him handle the challenge faced by the No-Maj’s. We’ll need to create a similar network among the wizarding community if we want to face the event coming for us.

It would be better for our group to focus on raising the children while covering the fights and missions the Avengers had to deal with over the years and preparing for the future behind the scene.

We would serve better as a point of contact between both worlds, a Unified Council, meant to maintain the International Statute of Secrecy while bringing No-Maj’s’ advances to the Wizarding World.

It would allow the Avengers to act in the Wizarding World and our Wizards to act in the No-Maj world with everyone’s approval.

Cover stories for the wizards are easy to provide with the Mutants around and No-Maj seeing those who they think are Mutants help save them will only increase their trust in them when/if the time comes.

The Avengers won’t need cover stories, but will need publicity in the Wizarding World. They won’t act in secret in the No-Maj World, as Mister Stark can attest, as public figures, Half-Bloods would know about them. Introducing them to the Wizarding World would create an awe factor, a curiosity we might use to push the young ones into learning about the No-Maj’s. Something they could relate to.

Comics stories and collector cards would be a hit in our world, and it would demote Harry’s stories from the forefront of everyone’s mind. From what I gathered, everyone was all over Harry when he came back to the Wizarding World because he was our hero, but also because nothing of import happened before the Second War. Put the Avengers in our news and while they won’t forget about Harry, he won’t be as revealed as he could be.

Make friends in both communities, it will be harder for Dumbledore to fight you that way. We can’t do anything about it immediately, but we can make sure he doesn’t have power over us when the time comes.

If you agree, send a letter to me. I’ll start the parchment work immediately.

Ragnok.

They all looked at each other, this was pretty simple to follow, they would need to create a network from scratch, but they were the type of people who could do it. The rest was focusing on the children, which was fine by their parents. Overall, it seemed like a good plan, and this is what they told Ragnok after talking things over, only to receive a short note stating.

Following Harry’s plan.