Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a better year than the last, Harry thought as he was made to walk home from the last day of school before the summer. His year in Reception was finished, next year he would be in Year 1. This year because he was at school, he at least got to eat lunch every day, it wasn’t always much because of Dudley's stealing but it was more than at home. He got to learn things, it may have only been the alphabet, numbers and simple words, but wow. Learning could be fun and the teacher doesn't hurt you if you make a mistake.

He had had a friend for the first two days, Jenny, which had been really nice, someone to play with and it didn’t even have to hurt. They sat beside each other in the classroom and at lunch, then Dudley had scared her off. He had been punching Harry when Jenny stepped in only to be hit herself, she had also been called names, but being hit had been the final straw. She still smiled at Harry and worked with him in class, she said sorry, but it had still hurt to lose his only friend and now he was lonely at lunch.

He was walking home from the primary school; Dudley had been picked up by Aunt Petunia. Apparently, Harry was not worth the extra petrol it would use for him to get in the car, Harry didn’t mind too much as he always had to sit beside Dudley in the back where he would get kicked and hit, with nowhere to escape or dodge.

The weather was warm at least, walking back in January when it had snowed had been horrible, the snow had been melting and dirty with the slush soaking through his holey shoes, it hadn’t taken long before his socks were drenched, and his feet were frozen. When he finally got back to number four, his feet were numb and looking a little blue. Even warming them up had been horrible, slowly feeling returned to his ankles then spread towards the toes, there was pain as they warmed too quickly, pins and needles, it was not nice.

Harry normally stayed at school for a little while, sat on a picnic bench outside the school gates, watching the parents and older siblings collecting the young kids. He liked to imagine what it would be like to have loving parents and siblings to play and fight safely with. He thought his parents would take turns collecting him, but they would walk home, stroking dogs and cats that they encountered, laughing together. Only driving when the weather was bad, but slowly and carefully driving, following all traffic laws and speed limits.

These thoughts swirled around his mind whilst he watched the collection time and then started the walk home. When he had to cross the zebra crossing, he was sometimes made to hold hands with an adult or big kid by the lollipop lady, he didn’t fuss it helped with his imagining of a family who cared.

As he got closer to Privet Drive, he began to worry about the chores he’d have to try and get done when he got there, there wouldn’t be a break, straight into the manual labour, before being shoved into his cupboard. Then the old routine of chores: cleaning, cooking, gardening would begin in earnest for the summer.  

So, he would stop to stroke Mrs. Figg’s cats, say hello to some of the neighbour’s dogs, and occasionally throw the small frisbee for the Jones’ parakeet. Before he completed the walk, turning the final corner to have arrived back at the house, his prison and shelter from the big bad world, number four Privet Drive. The perfectly normal house of horrors.

There was a freshly painted white fence that Harry had done last weekend, separating the property from its neighbours, the grass mowed regularly to maintain even grass length, flowers blooming in orderly beds, with a sparklingly clean black car sitting on the driveway. Everything looked perfectly normal from the outside.

The family who lived at number four Privet Drive liked to think of themselves as being perfectly normal as well, yet their normalcy was disrupted by a secret. The Freak, their unwanted burden of a nephew, a young boy who was small for his age, he had very messy black hair and bright green eyes. He had an unusual scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt, which was just one of the many things his relatives disliked about him. Freak, Boy, also known as Harry Potter, as he had learnt during his first week at preschool.

This young boy didn’t like his relatives either, so number four was not a happy household. It was a house of hatred and tension. Harry didn’t know what he had done to earn his family’s hatred but even at the age of four, almost five, he knew he was unloved by those who should love him. Yet, he still had hope that you could see shining in his eyes that one day his relatives would come to love him, or that he could escape from his living nightmare, more commonly referred to as his so-called family.

He had been trained in the household chores since he was able to toddle about whilst holding a brush. Now, he was almost five and had been learning to cook all his relatives’ meals for just under a year, even though he couldn’t see over the countertop until they got a stool for him. This stool had appeared one day, Harry figured it was because the Dursley’s were fed up with having to eat burned bacon.

But he was still punished for any slight mistake, he was now very good at dodging kitchen objects when thrown or swung. Normally, Harry was able to escape into the garden, he would do his chores outside hoping that his relatives would either forget or calm down whilst he was busy out of their sight.

This was what had happened on the first Sunday of the summer holiday, his cooking was still hit and miss, his pancakes had turned out perfectly, but the bacon had been a bit charred. He was still a little tired from the chores he had to complete before sleeping the night before, his concentration hadn’t been as good, the bacon had begun to blacken without his notice. After being shouted at by his aunt, he grabbed his plain toast, dodged a fork thrown by his uncle and jumped over his cousin’s foot and escaped into the back garden.

He went about his normal garden routine, starting with mowing the lawn and then moving on to watering the flowers. By this time, he could hear that his aunt was doing the dishes and his uncle and cousin had moved into the living room to watch some television. He knew he had to look busy as his aunt would be keeping an eye out from the kitchen window.                                                                                

***

It was now midday and the sun had been beating down on him for about three hours which was doing nothing good for his ever-growing sunburn which had been slowly developing across the past week of afternoons working in the garden. The time was spent preparing for the Little Whinging Garden of the Year competition which had taken place the day before, luckily for Harry the garden had won first place meaning he hadn’t faced any extra punishment last night. It took a lot of work as Dudley had his fifth birthday party just the weekend before meaning the garden was a mess.  

He took a drink of water from the garden hose whilst his aunt was turned away so he could quell his growing hunger. He was beginning to feel light-headed after all his time spent in the sun, he was trying to keep in the shade whilst he started tending to his prize-winning flowerbeds. This was one of his favourite chores as Dudley, his cousin, was warned not to attack him to protect Aunt Petunia’s flowers from being destroyed. It was also repetitive and soothing work meaning Harry was able to think about whatever he wanted and enjoy the reprieve from Dudley’s endless taunting. As if this thought summoned him, Harry heard, the whiny and demanding voice of his cousin.

“Mummy! I want ice cream!” Dudley yelled. Harry could also hear Aunt Petunia in the kitchen. Probably sitting at the table with a gardening magazine where she could keep an eye on him and sneak looks over into the neighbour’s garden.

“Just a minute, Duddydims. Then I will get you an ice cream.” Aunt Petunia calmly replied.

“But I want it now!” Dudley shouted, “I want a cone with two scoops of chocolate swirl with a flake,” the demand was punctuated by a stamped foot.

Harry continued to work out in the garden, keeping his head down, hoping to avoid their notice. He knew he had run out of luck when he heard Aunt Petunia tell Dudley to finish his massive ice cream outside. Dudley waddled out the back door licking a massive cone with a flake. He had chocolate on his shirt and all over his face. Looking like he had shoved the bottom half of his face into mud a bit like how a pig might, Harry had to stifle a giggle at the mental image.

Dudley having been ushered outside by his mum noticed the Freak working on the flower beds. He made sure to make loud noises of appreciation as he continued to lick his cone. In between licks he was also able to taunt the Freak.

“Hey, Freak”, Dudley called, “do you want some ice cream?”

Harry barely glanced up having learnt from experience that it never ended well when Dudley seemed to be doing something nice. Harry’s stomached rumbled gently, he really wanted to try ice cream. He either got the treat snatched before he could try it, or Dudley yelled for his parents that the freak had stolen some of his treat.

Whilst Harry had been lost in thoughts about his hunger, Dudley had got dangerously close to his cousin. “Oi, Freak, I’m talking to you” Dudley called indignantly, “answer me!” This demand was punctuated with a kick to Harry’s side, causing the breath to be knocked out of his lungs. Harry curled up protecting his vital organs and his hands quickly raised to cover his head.

Luckily, this time it was only the one kick as Dudley had the ice cream to focus on. Harry took a moment to make sure he could breathe and Dudley was plodding away to a deck chair.

Harry was able to finish his garden chores relatively quickly after that, finishing doing the weeding and having to put the pulled plants in the compost bin, finally he was hoping to be able to slip away from Dudley by putting the tools away. Unfortunately, today was not his day. As soon as Harry emerged from the shed, Dudley set in punching him hard in the side he had kicked earlier. Having already finished his massive ice cream, he was now ready for some fun.

Dudley bellowed to his mother, “Mummy, I’m going to the park to meet my friends”.

“Okay, Duddykins, be back by six for dinner”, Aunt Petunia replied from the back door, so with one last punch for Harry, Dudley rounded the house heading up Privet Drive towards the park.

Harry thinking he was safe approached the back door, only to have Aunt Petunia tell him, “I don’t want you in the house again this afternoon, be back in time to help make dinner, okay, Freak?”

“Yes, Aunt Petunia”, Harry replied, and trudged away planning to avoid Dudley and his gang who were sure to be hunting for him. He started walking down Privet Drive in the shade, enjoying the time out of the sun, he was heading towards the local library knowing that Dudley would never go there. He had just turned off of Privet Drive in the opposite direction of the park when his plan was destroyed with a shout.

“Look, there’s the freak. Get him!” Came the bellow from Piers Polkiss, one of the members of Dudley’s little gang. Harry didn’t waste time wondering where they had come from, he just turned on his heel and ran at full speed in the other direction. And so began his afternoon of Harry Hunting.

***

He had turned on his heel and sprinted towards the park away from his cousin and his gang of bullies. Luckily Harry was one of the fastest runners in his class, most likely due to the amount of time he had spent being chased by his cousin.

If he could make it to the park, he should be safe. Usually there were parents with their own children nearby who were willing to step in and stop Dudley’s gang from attacking him, but not always. Though the park sat on the edge of the residential area of Little Whinging, with a wood on the far side marking the edge of the town, if nobody would help he could probably hide in there until he had to return to Privet Drive.

Whilst sprinting along one of the slightly busier residential roads that led to the park, Harry had managed to cause a bit of a distraction. When he saw a really tall blond man dressed in red, white, and blue walking down the street, he started shouting, “Wow! Is that Captain America? Can you throw your shield for me, please.”

Captain America was Dudley’s favourite superhero at the moment. Uncle Vernon didn’t like the fact that the Captain was American, but at least he wasn’t some kind of freak with abnormal powers.

The gang not being the smartest kids stopped their run to circle the poor man, asking him questions, begging him to throw his shield, however it only gained Harry about a minute before even Dudley had figured out that it was a trick.

He continued to sprint away from Dudley and his neighbourhood gang. Using the extra time to check over his shoulder as he rounded the corner onto Magnolia Crescent at speed. Hoping that his head start would allow him to either find a good hiding place or make it to the park as even Dudley’s gang knew not to attack him in front of witnesses, unless it was community members Aunt Petunia had already poisoned against Harry.

However, today really wasn’t his day. As he glanced over his shoulder to see how close his pursuers were, he stumbled on his overlong trousers. The running had caused the ends he had folded up to unravel trapping his foot. Twisting around to be facing forwards and get his arms under him he smashed into the ground hard. Scraping the palms of his hands and hurting his left wrist a lot, it would have a massive bruise later he knew.

He scrambled to his knees in an attempt to get back up and start running before he could be caught. Though he hadn’t managed to get his feet under him before a hand slammed into his head shoving him back down to the ground. Knocking the wind out of him and getting his already broken glasses covered in dirt.

“Grab the freak, c-c-catch him quick.” Dudley shouted in between gulping breaths. He was steadily getting closer as it took him a while to catch up with his gang, given his extra weight and lack of exercise he still moved with considerable speed.

“We’ve got him”, one of the gang yelled, Harry thought it was Malcolm.

Upon realising Harry was trapped on the floor, Dudley yelled in triumph and picked up his pace, seeing his gang surrounding his cousin preventing him from getting away. Smirking as he got closer, he taunted his injured and trapped cousin. “Thought you could get away, Freak! Just you wait till I tell mum and dad you weren’t playing fair.” He punctuated his taunt with a kick to Harry’s ribs.

Harry curled into a tight ball, hands coming up to cover his head for the second time in one day, attempting to protect his vital organs from severe damage. He had enough experience to know it has safer to wait out the attack than to try and escape again. After the first hit from Dudley, the rest of the gang joined in. The pain was growing, the blows were raining down from everywhere. It didn’t help that Harry was already sore from both sunburn and where Dudley had previously hit and kicked his side.

Harry was chanting in his head for someone, anyone to help him. Please, Please, help me, make the pain stop, please.

Punch after kick continued to wrack his frail body.

Praying to any deity that would listen for the pain to stop. Hoping against hope that something would happen this time to let him escape the pain he was feeling. Both physically and emotionally.

Nobody was coming to help him; he could already feel the bruises forming as the blows continued to hit in the same places. He wasn’t sure if there was a snapping sound to go with what was most likely a broken bone, but a sudden massive burst of pain spread up his left arm.

All the while his pleas for help continued. Please anyone, help me. Please, please, make it stop. Help me, please. Something was building inside him. It felt like a weird pressure was building under his skin that couldn’t find a way to escape.

The gang was getting tired, the blows were slowing down, and their breathing had picked up. With one final blow to his covered head they backed off, leaving Harry there to suffer, still curled protectively around himself. His breathing was slow as though it hurt to breathe too deeply.

“Come on, let’s go to the park, so we can play before dinner”, Dudley said after a minute, seeing that the freak wasn’t moving at all. Only making the occasional pained whimper.

Normally Harry would be worried about the other children who might be found as their new targets, but he was in too much pain this time to worry about anyone but himself.  

Harry just wanted someone to care about him and help look after him, he hurt everywhere. He didn’t think it was too much to ask, all the other kids seemed to have parents which cared and loved them. He would settle for someone just looking after him.

He continued his chant from before, and the odd tingling pressure started to build with the strength of his hope for escape from the Dursley’s and the world of pain he was currently in.

For anyone watching it would seem as though Harry Potter simply disappeared from the pavement where he lay in a crumpled, bleeding heap. One second, he was there, the next he had disappeared without a trace.

But no one was watching, nor did they notice his disappearance. Life on Magnolia Crescent seemingly continued as normal. A miraculous event had taken place, and no one even realised except a small, injured boy who was carried far away from his life of misery and hardship into the great unknown.

Chapter Text

At the time of Harry’s disappearance from Magnolia Crescent, an alarm was sounding many, many miles away. In a big overly cluttered office, in one of the smaller towers, in an ancient castle that appears to be in ruins to a normal eye. The ancient castle is situated in a large grassy glen surrounded on one side by tall, craggy mountains and another by a large imposing forest.

The office itself was well-organised if overly stuffed, there was a large wooden desk set in the centre with a wooden bird perch of some kind behind and off to the right, it stood in front of the arched window that looked out onto the lake and forest. There were shelves lining the walls on either side of the desk, they were packed with a variety of books: hardbacks, leather-bound, paperbacks, and even handwritten journals. There were also a large number of odd trinkets and knick-knacks scattered across the room.

Many of these trinkets were constantly emitting some type of quiet repetitive noise or continuous swirls of colourful smoke. Others are always in motion, creating a potentially visually distracting movement for the person who would be sat at the desk.

The peace and calm of the summer holiday lull that had settled over the castle was suddenly broken. One of the numerous odd silver trinkets started shaking and emitting multicoloured puffs of smoke. The shaking similar to what would be expected if an earthquake of a high magnitude had shaken the castle, with bursts of green and then black smoke being released in great plumes every five seconds. The sudden eruption of smoke and shakes broke the quiet rhythm of the background noise and drew attention to the brightly coloured smoke rising from the bookshelf. Previously, it had been one of the few silent and still objects on a shelf full of motion.

This weird trinket had been puffing away and shaking for five minutes, but no one was around to see this alert and the break it offered in the normal level of office noise. After one final puff of emerald green smoke, the trinket fell still. Its job had been done. The alert had been given, it fell still and silent.

"Do you think we should inform Albus of what just occurred?" came the voice of an elderly women addressing her colleagues, she had a kind face and warm brown eyes, dressed in clothes that were the height of fashion in the sixteenth century.

"No, he most likely set an alarm to his person as any sane wizard would," answered a cantankerous aristocratic-looking older man with wavy black hair and piercing grey eyes. 

"Honestly, Phineas, what harm would it do to inform him?" the elderly women questioned, more than used to the other portrait's unfriendly nature.

"We are here to offer advice when asked not as an a back-up alert system for the lazy," Phineas exclaimed with indignation.

"Still bitter we weren't able to warm you about the assassination attempt?" called another male voice with a teasing lilt.

"No, I most certainly am not!"

"If you say so, Phin."

"Don't call me 'Phin', MacMillan," came the deadly cold reply.  

"Well then, I guess we'll wait until asked about it then," the original speaker said before any further argument or teasing could break out. 

The portraits fell back into a mutually agreed upon silence, though there was still the occasional titter from the peanut gallery as Phineas liked to refer to them.

The owner of the office returned later, as the sun was setting, lighting the room up with a gentle red colour, none the wiser to the five minutes of madness that had occurred in his absence. The fact that the trinket had sounded its alarm, and returned to its now useless job of monitoring, would not be noticed for another five years by anyone besides paintings of past headmasters and headmistresses.

The office owner, a really old man, with a long stomach-length white beard who was wearing what appeared to be a neon orange dress-like garment. He crossed the open office, rounded his desk and sat down. Piles of parchment were pulled towards him, starting on the paperwork left over from the school year.

He glanced across at the shelf of trinkets seeing everything moving and sounding as expected, he settled back to tackle the administrative elements of his job. He felt safe in the knowledge all was in order given that he had checked just the week before that all was in working order with the alarm and monitoring contraptions.

“Okay, Fawkes, my friend, this is the last pile for this week according to Minerva”, the elderly wizard said addressing a red-orange bird that was now sitting on the bird perch having appeared in a flash of flames when the door to the office opened.

***

Back at Privet Drive, the Dursleys had been worried what the neighbours would think and say when they realised that the freak didn’t return, even after the sun had set. Gossip was a commodity which anyone could make or break a neighbour’s reputation and standing in the community. Up until this point the Dursley’s had avoided being mentioned or included in any of the worst scandals and rumours.

There had been a dicey period almost four years ago, when one of the neighbours, the Mrs. nosey busybody at Number 8, could have sworn she’d seen a baby left out like a bottle of milk on their doorstep, in the freezing temperatures of a November night. But, that rumour had quickly been squashed under the sudden revelation that her sister-in-law was being arrested for animal abuse, no one knew for sure where the rumour began but Petunia Dursley had been looking a tad too smug the following week at the neighbourhood tea group for guesser to have to look far.

In the past when the freak hadn’t arrived on time, he would come running in only a few minutes later. Spouting a quick apology before getting right to work. By the time the boy was half an hour late, Petunia was fuming. He could sleep outside again she decided if he bothered to climb down from his tower of arrogance and return to the real world of work. The cheek of ungrateful, undeserving, burdensome, little freaks, she stewed. 

Saying Petunia wasn’t at all happy about having to cook dinner alone would be a massive understatement. Normally she could get away with hovering over and berating the freak when he made mistakes with the meal preparation. Lashing out with whatever kitchen utensil was to hand ensuring the mistakes weren’t repeated, attempting to ruin all her hard work, oh no, she wouldn’t allow it. The freak had slowly been perfecting his cooking ability with a few simpler recipes, meaning Petunia was receiving very high praise for her cooking skills from both friends and family. Suddenly, this was gone. The free labour, simple stress relief, and easy compliments, gone.

Due to the freak not returning on time, Petunia had started dinner late, having to slave away over preparing a perfect dinner, and her family didn’t even say thank you or show any appreciation for the time she spent on it. The best part of an hour’s work and not so much as a ‘thank you’ for the effort. The only acknowledgement she received was a couple of grunts when her husband and son paused for breath as the TV programme went to the ads.

Vernon was only aware the freak hadn’t returned because the food wasn’t quite up to his wife’s normal standard, and the table hadn’t been cleared by the time he settled onto the sofa when he moved into the sitting room to watch the news.

The boy not returning caused his frustration to reach a new peak because throughout the evening the boy ignored the orders he had been given. He had had to get his wife to fetch him his evening coffee and biscuit platter. He decided then and there that when the freak finally chose to show his face again, he would be kept in his cupboard except for his chores for at least a week without meals as his punishment. The boy would see not to flaunt their rules after that, wouldn’t he.

Dudley had enjoyed his afternoon, his gang had been able to catch and kick the freak; then the group was able to make fun of and chase another kid at the park, before returning home for his favourite dinner, roast beef with triple chocolate cake with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. His evening was the dark point in his day due to the roast beef being slightly overcooked and not seasoned as it should be. His complaints to his mother afterwards about the lacklustre meal had seemingly fallen on deaf ears, he told his father as well, adding fuel to the fire for the freak, oblivious to the already growing tensions within the house. 

***

In another very different office, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, on the fifth floor of the magical side of the Woolworths building, a young blonde-haired person was hunched over a table that was covered by a large interactive map of the whole country. Their eyes scanning the map ready to call others into action should their help be required.

Every once in a while, there would be a small flash of coloured light, these flashes occurred in different parts of the country. Beside the blonde there was a piece of parchment with a colour spectrum that came beside an explanatory key, the meaning behind the difference in size and brightness was also noted down.   

At this time, a large bright blue light flared up near the edge of the map causing the rookie from the accidental magic response squad who had been hunched over the table to jump up in excitement, knocking over their chair in the process. It had been a slow shift up until now.

Quickly consulting the key running their finger down the rainbow spectrum, then along the blue section, they called out “Code Blue, we have a level 6 Code Blue, most likely underage apparition, in the North East.”

This caused the previously bustling department to freeze for a moment, before a black man with a streak of bright green through his hair exited his office, and glanced around at the gathered wixen, “Carmichael, take Ramos and go investigate, then report back to me on your findings. Good job, Laval,” the man said with a nod to the rookie.

After the orders had been given the department returned to its previous level of noise and movement among desks. Some now discussing what may have caused such a level of accidental magic, and transportation magic at that.

Two men came across the room to the map and asked Laval a few questions to give them a basic understanding of what they were going into. The rookie, Laval, explained, “it was a powerful burst of accidental magic, a bright blue, a solidly size 6 spark, hence most likely apparition, though the hue strongly suggests a young kid, definitely pre-eleven.”

Both men look shocked, this level of accidental magic is really uncommon for kids so young, unless in a dire emergenct. “Pre-eleven! Wow…” muttered the younger man.

“Can you give us the coordinates, a basic idea of what the landscape will be like and any key landmarks close by,” Carmichael asked.

Laval nodded before zooming the map in on the slowly fading flash of blue light, showing local place names and the coordinates, “right, so, the flash is coming from northern Maine, within a forest, the Aroostock National Wildlife Refuge to be precise, not far from the border to Canada, for landmarks there is a small town, Caswell, a mile or so to the north, otherwise there is not much to mark civilisation near to the incident site, though there may be hikers out and about.”

“Thanks, that’s great, and the coordinates for apparition?”

Laval rattled off the coordinates, the men turned heading to the apparition point with Carmichael briefing and quizzing Ramos on what the correct procedure for this type of intervention and investigation was. “No, no, wait, calmly scan the area both with magic and our senses before…”

As their voices trailed off, Laval returned the map to its zoomed-out position, had there been another incident of an equal urgency the flash would have appeared on the edge of the map in the direction of the incident waiting until the map could be moved to its location. Laval pulled their focus away from their departing colleagues and back to the map, where the blue light had finally dissipated into the normal misty white of the map. Watching and waiting for any other such spikes of accidental magic to alert the different teams when necessary.

For their first week alone in charge of watching the map, it was going well. They started filling in the details of the magical spike for the report which Ramos and Carmichael would finish later upon their return.

 ***

Slowly days, then weeks, and finally months passed by without the freak’s return to number four Privet Drive.

After the first week had gone by without sightings of the boy, they had had to spread the story that grandparents from the boy’s paternal side had come forward to take the boy, not wanting to miss out on any more time with him whilst they were still able to. Those who questioned why they hadn’t taken him initially were informed they’d been seriously ill, their recovery in question. It had taken years, but they were finally as strong as could be expected and they wanted to make up for lost time. How could the Dursley’s refuse such a heartfelt appeal?

This rumour solved one of the issues for the Dursleys that of whether they should inform the police or not about the freak’s disappearance. They had also elected not to attempt and inform the other freaks from whom they had heard nothing even after a week with the boy gone, assuming that if they had cared someone would have visited or at the very least sent a letter, but no.

For the Dursley family as more and more time continued to pass, they slowly adapted and got used to this new version of their life, though they weren’t as happy as they’d thought they would be now that they were a completely normal family again.

Petunia began to resent having to do all the housework, gardening and cooking every meal, which had previously been done completely by her freakish nephew. Her takeover of these duties resulted in the garden falling in standard remarkably quickly as gleefully noted by the neighbours, the boy had been a lot more skilled at gardening than Petunia had realised. He seemed to have a developed green thumb that caused the garden to thrive, this was now lost and visible to all to see with the wilting flowers and overwatered greenery. No more gardening awards were won by the Dursley family in the years that followed their downsizing of occupants. The house was also less tidy, and the previous pristine perfection fell away without the boy’s help and constant cleaning and polishing.

Dudley got increasingly frustrated at the sudden decline in the quality of his food and about not having his punching bag at home. Added to this travesty, he was getting into a lot more trouble with his anger because his dad was a lot less understanding when he broke things now. The freak wasn’t there to take the blame or take the frustration Dudley expressed through his fists and blows.  

Vernon grew increasingly angry and irritated at having no one to relieve his anger on, creating a lot of new tensions in the Dursley household. Money was also tighter as the generous child support they had been getting for the freak’s uptake stopped out of the blue a month after his disappearance. Arguments became more frequent as even he noticed the decline in the cleanliness of the house. The presentation and quality of his home and his car had always been of the upmost importance to his reputation, without the biweekly carwashes and cleaning his car was noticeably dirty. When he had begun getting a professional cleaning service for his car, a massive row had been had over the extra pressure the expense put on them. 

The neighbours had noticed the decline in the standards of the Dursley’s garden and had been whispering and gossiping about it furiously, the once award-winning garden had suffered an astonishing decline which got the neighbourhood gossips all of aflutter over the cause. The family's social standing was also perilously close to tipping over the edge of no return; Dudley’s actions were being more closely monitored after an uptick in the number of local kids being regularly harassed. Even the ever-upstanding Mr. Dursley had been seen shouting vulgarities at another drive in a fit of road rage over a splash from a muddy puddle.

Some of the more observant gossipmongers had also picked up on the fact that something had changed in the household following the young boy’s removal, everyone else had caught on after having the police go round to number four twice in a fortnight over others being able to hear the obscenely loud screaming matches, accompanied by the occasional smashing sound.

Chapter Text

As the pressure that had felt trapped inside of him escaped, Harry suddenly had the feeling that he was being squeezed through a very thin, curving tube. Whilst being propelled through the tube, it felt like he was being turned inside out, before having everything shoved back in again. This pressure and sickening sensation seemed to surround him for hours, but it might have only been a few minutes. As quickly as it began surrounding him, it vanished. Gently leaving him in the same crumpled position on the ground, though now rather than the tarmac of the pavements in Little Whinging, he was now resting on the grass and dirt of a forest floor.

It was almost like magic. Except Harry knew, had had the knowledge forced into him by his relatives, magic was not real. 

Now that the unpleasant sensations had left him, the pain returned to the forefront. Harry didn’t feel any worse for wear from his freakish incident, his wrist still hurt a lot and he knew bruises would form across his body.

The snapping of a branch had Harry looking around from his place sprawled on the floor; he definitely wasn’t on Magnolia Crescent anymore. He rearranged his glasses back on his nose, looking around more closely at his surroundings. Harry didn’t recognise the area at all. He seemed to be in a forest, surrounded by tall trees whose leaves seemed to block out the sky, some shorter trees and the occasional massive rock and fruit tree.

Harry really liked the range in the green colours of the leaves. He seemed to be on a small beaten-down path which connected to a larger walkway a couple of meters to his left. His position was easily visible from the surrounding paths and area.

There was the sound of rustling in the bushes from somewhere behind him. Harry hoped there weren’t any dangerous animals or beasts in this forest with him. The Dursleys always threatened to leave him in a forest for the wolves to eat if he misbehaved.

With that thought, Harry scrambled to his feet, ignoring the ache this caused in his body, spinning slowly in circles trying to see if there were any wolves stalking him. He couldn’t see any right now so he breathed a small sigh of relief. With another rustling noise which seemed to be getting ever closer to him; his eyes began darting frantically left and right around the area of the approaching noise.

Harry could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, breaths coming faster and faster. He slowly backed up away from the bushes, bumping into a large tree trunk as the bush just across the path from him rustled. There was something coming for him.

Harry swallowed nervously, preparing to scream for help if a wolf lunged out of the bush at him. His legs felt like jelly, he couldn’t have run away even if he wanted to. Closing his eyes to avoid seeing his end coming.

Another rustle and a suppressed sob, he leant as far back into the tree as he could get, praying for salvation from anyone that would listen. When a minute had passed with Harry stood shaking against the tree trunk with no bite or attack landing, he slowly peeled his right eye open to see a fluffy rabbit sat on the path in front of him.

Harry felt the adrenaline and fear seep from his body, all the strength to hold himself up was gone. He slid slowly to the floor, his breathing calming to normal, just watching the rabbit as it hopped away having been startled by his sudden movement. Once his heartbeat had returned to normal, he suddenly felt very tired. He’d just rest his eyes for a few minutes before trying to find a way back to Privet Drive.

***

The forest was a bit brighter when Harry awoke from his nap. As his brain started working again, he remembered all that had happened so far that day. Then he was hit by another worrying thought.

What would his punishment be for another bout of freakishness when he finally made it back to the Dursley’s? Did he even want to make it back? How would he even be able to make it back to number four?

His breathing began to speed up. It felt like the world was spinning too fast around him, which was not helping his situation either. It was almost like he had run a marathon, then as the pace of his breathing peaked his vision started to become even blurrier than normal.

This time his rising panic was broken by the sound of two loud cracks, like the noise that whips make tearing through the silence. Harry let out a small yelp of surprise. He turned quickly towards the new sound; in the distance he could see two blurry figures in what looked like long dark jackets. He wasn’t sure how he had missed them with his last glance because he was sure that they hadn’t been there before, but they must have been. The figures seemed to be looking around for something. Maybe they drop something important?

Having learnt how to move without attracting attention at the Dursley’s Harry moved slowly and as silently as possible towards a bigger tree a little down the track to his right. He hid behind it, still able to see the two figures who seemed to be having a quiet conversation, one was pointing in the direction of the path he was stood on, the other was pointing away from where he hid. They had decided to split up, one heading in each direction. At this, Harry decided it would be better to climb a tree close by to try and watch what they were searching for without being seen.

A few trees across from where he stood had a lot of branches that would let him climb to a safe height, the only problem would be getting to it. As the figure in a long black jacket walked closer, there was a sound of rustling from behind him, as he turned Harry took his chance and as stealthily as he could rushed to the tree and managed to scramble up a few branches before the guy turned around.

The guy heading his way didn’t look appropriately dressed to be in the woods, he was wearing a fancy work suit under a warm black coat. He also seemed to be holding a wooden stick in front of him, glancing left and right for any signs of the missing object. As he got closer however, Harry could hear him mumbling to himself, “the kid has got to be around here somewhere.”

Was a kid missing? Harry hoped they were okay. Then another thought struck him, had this other kid escaped something bad like Harry? Then an even worse idea flitted through his mind, were these men looking to take the other kid back? Harry was able to keep his outward reaction quiet and minimal despite the loudness of the worries which were overtaking his brain. He also began looking over the surrounding area for the other lost kid.

The man kept scanning the foliage and visible areas around him, eyes on the path, bushes and looking round trees, he was walking ever closer to Harry. “This kid has got to be powerful to be able to apparate”, Harry didn’t know what apparate meant, maybe he would learn next year at school.

Panic was what Harry felt first after a different track of invasive thoughts rose up when he couldn't spot anyone else but the strange men, what if he was the kid they were looking for? But... how would they know he was here, was it due to his freakiness? Had the Dursleys finally told the police about his freakishness? His breathing started to pick up to an almost audible level and he had to close his eyes to try and focus on breathing quietly and slowly. When he opened his eyes again the strange man was a lot closer, he held his breath.

The man seemed to notice that something had changed and started looking more closely at the trees around him. Just as his gaze was about to reach the tree Harry was clinging to there was a shout, “Hey, Carmichael, I’ve found a more used track, it seems to be leading towards the larger hiking routes we saw on the map.”

The strange guy, Carmichael, apparently, shouted back, “Okay, have you scanned your area twice?” He put a strange emphasis on the word twice.

“Yes, a faint trace but no strong clues as to which direction,” came the reply.

“I still want to do a second run through my area,” he calmly added, “then, if I get nothing I’ll come, but remember, this is primarily a reconnaissance mission.”

Harry watched this conversation feeling like he was not fully understanding what was being said, though before he had time to think on it more he got distracted. Carmichael was now waving his stick in a weird pattern and saying something in a funny language.

“Homenum revelio,” Carmichael murmured, waiting to see what extra information the spell could offer. They had done a sweep of the perimeter of the radius for the incident area before apparating closer to the incident site, they had no sightings of the young magic user nor any no-majs, so he felt safe to use the spell fairly openly.

It took several seconds before a tree not far from where he stood had a yellow shimmery circle surrounding it. Someone was nearby, but he’d never seen a tree light up before. Was the kid somehow caught inside the tree? He thought in utter disbelief. A quickly muffled gasp from above provided the answer, someone was in the tree, obviously.

Carmichael rolled his eyes at himself, someone inside the tree, pfft. What an idiot. He tapped the middle button on his jacket twice, waited a second then twice again to silently signal to Ramos that their target had been found.

“Hey, kid, we’re here to help you. Do you want to get down from up there?” He asked gently, not wanting to scare the kid before slowly looking up into the branches to try and spot their mystery magic user.

“Damn. Definitely pre-eleven,” he whispered to himself spotting the tiny child who was attempting to hide, hugging the trunk of the tree to give himself extra purchase as if he expected to be violently yanked out of the tree.

***

Ramos quickly jogged across to where Carmichael was standing looking up into a tree. He wondered why his spells hadn’t shown any others magical presence when the kid had clearly been really close by.

As he approached the tree, he could hear Carmichael trying to encourage the kid out of the tree.

“Come on, buddy, we won’t hurt you, I promise. We just want to check that you aren’t hurt and help explain what happened,” Carmichael explained looking up into the branches.

This entreaty did not receive a response, the child only attempted to huddle closer to the tree trunk as if hoping he could sink into it.

“Hey kid, my name’s Luca Ramos, this is Noah Carmichael,” Luca added pointing to his colleague, “what’s yours?” He asked kindly looking to the kid, who had moved their face a little when he began talking.

Startling green eyes locked onto his gaze but didn’t say anything. When Luca had just started to think that he wouldn’t get an answer, a small voice from above said something.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear that, could you repeat it for me, please,” he said a smile on his face.

“It’s Harry,” came the slightly louder answer. Harry was shocked that these men were being so polite to him, he really wanted to ask how they made the tree light up, but he had been taught not to ask questions.

“His accent,” Noah whispered to Luca, “it’s not American.” From the single word he could here a different vowel pronunciation but couldn’t say where it came from.

“Hi Harry, we’re here to help if you’ll let us,” Luca explained, slowly sitting down on the ground resting against another tree trunk.

“Can you come down from the tree for us, Harry?” Noah asked.

Harry began to shake nervously in the tree, he didn’t want to get closer to the strange men, but he couldn’t ignore their request it would just hurt more when he finally got down.

Sniffling once, he slowly began to climb down, lowering himself carefully from one branch to the next. When he was on the final branch, he looked across at the men who were now both stood up on the other side of the path.

“That’s it, Harry. You’re doing so well,” Luca reassured, his wand was still in hand ready to cast any spell should the kid have fallen on his climb down.

Harry was surprised again at how nice they were being, no one was ever this nice to him. He lowered himself hanging from the final branch and then dropped the rest of the way to the forest floor. He stumbled slightly on his landing when pain lanced up his right leg.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Noah asks, stopping himself from approaching the kid after the nervous glances had continually been shot their way as he climbed down.

Harry nodded once avoiding eye contact with the men who were both quite tall. Favouring his left leg to avoid as much weight bearing as possible on the right.

The wizards shared a look, silently communicating their worries about the young boy in front of them. They could easily make out a few bruises that were forming despite the overlarge clothes covering a lot of the small body. He would need to be taken into the medical wing at MACUSA for his obvious injuries to be checked over, at the very least.

“Do you know how you got here, Harry?” Noah continued going onto one knee, so he was closer to Harry’s height.

“No, sir,” Harry replied, quickly glancing up at the man’s face, reading his emotions and facial expressions. Leaning back slightly as if in fear of what his answer would result in.

The wizards shared another look over Harry’s accent which was a lot clearer now that he was closer to them. He was British, or he was taught to speak English with a British accent.

“We think you apparated here, Harry. Do you know what that means?” Luca asked, moving to sit back on the ground again leaving plenty of room between him and the small, scared boy.

“No, sir,” Harry whispered after taking a deep breath. Again, his eyes quickly scanned the other’s face for any indication of what he would do next.

“It means you used your magic to bring you here,” Luca explained simply.

“That’s very impressive for one as young as you, bud,” Noah added with a smile, knowing that positive words often calmed the young ones down when they first learnt about their magical abilities.

“No, I didn’t. Magic isn’t real,” Harry said clearly. His emotions had shifted from just fear to now include confusion; magic isn’t real Uncle Vernon told him so, repeatedly. “My uncle told me so,” Harry added, normally this led people to stop questioning or doubting what he’d said.

Noah and Luca shared another serious look at that statement, obviously the uncle was couldn't explain the accidental magic, was in denial or he knew something about the magical world but was unwilling to explain. They had come across this a few times with parents or guardians in denial about the reality of their world.

“Magic is real, Harry. Both Luca and I also have magic as well,” Noah said calmly, Luca nodding when Harry glanced to him.

“We can show you, but not out here in the open, it's against the law. Did anyone come with you here, Harry?” Luca added, already knowing the young boy was alone but wanting to keep him speaking and hopefully continuing to build trust among them. 

Harry had his brows furrowed at being told they wouldn’t prove magic to be real now. “Um, no, just me,” Harry answered, looking at his feet.

“Okay, thanks for answering, Harry. Luca and I work with magical children to help fix any problems caused by magic. Will you come with us to our office, Harry?” Noah asked, wanting to get Harry back to MACUSA as soon as possible and have him checked over by a medical professional.

Harry leaned back into the tree trunk behind him, narrowing his eyes at the man in front of him. He had been taught stranger danger in school.

“Umm, no, thank you,” he murmured.

“We just want to help you, Harry. You look like you’re in pain and could use some help,” Noah explained quickly, not wanting to force Harry to come with them, knowing any trust they had built would be gone if they did.

“‘M fine,” Harry murmured avoiding looking at either man, his right leg was really starting to hurt.

“Harry, you really need some help. We’ll help you feel better and then if you want to leave later we can take you back home or somewhere else, okay?” Luca said looking imploringly at Harry, a serious look in his eyes still with a small smile on his lips.

“You promise?” Harry questioned seeing that he couldn’t escape but at least Noah and Luca seemed kind and they hadn’t hurt him yet.

“Cross my heart,” Luca said more brightly, making the gesture in front of his chest. Slowly rising from where he had been sitting across the path against the tree. “I’ll show you some more magic now, Harry. It's going to feel like the squeezing sensation you felt getting here, okay?

Harry stared at him, judging his facial expressions but he couldn’t see anything worrisome on his face. He took a slow, painful step forward taking the outstretched hand in front of him.

Luca took the small hand in his and helped to take some of the weight off of Harry’s injured leg before asking, “Ready?” Receiving a nod, he glanced to Noah mouthing ‘medical wing’, letting his superior know where he was apparating before spinning on the spot and disappearing.

Noah glanced around quickly dispelling the privacy barrier he had subtle raised around them at the start of conversation, turning in a circle and disappearing with a crack. Causing the skittish bunny from before to run further from where it had been further up the path.

Chapter Text

Harry glanced around at the new building he and Luca had arrived in, all done with just one spin then being squeezed through another thin tube. 

The room they had arrived in had big swinging doors on either side with a number of chairs set out on either side of large aisle running from one set of doors to the other. Currently none of the seats had anyone using them. 

They had arrived into a corner on the right hand side of the room which had a square of empty space for appearing into, Harry guessed. 

“Let’s get you onto a seat, okay bud?” Luca said lifting him into the closest chair before Harry could react. It was a chair that had its back to the wall. 

Before Luca could say anything else, one of the swinging doors furthest from them opened, revealing a young woman with brown eyes, her hair wrapped up in a dark green headscarf, dressed in some odd kind of light green dress. “What do we have here, Ramos?” She asked having come out of the main wing after being notified of a new arrival by the wing’s wards. 

“Harry is here for a check-up, Mediwitch Osan,” Luca said gesturing to his young charge just as Noah popped into the apparition spot. 

“Okay, hello Harry, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Miriam Osan and I’m a mediwitch which is a magical nurse. Are you able to walk or would you like me to float you into the medical wing?” Mediwitch Osan asked looking to the young boy who was looking at her nervously. 

“I’ll walk, ma’am,” he said not looking very happy at the situation, but more than used to following unwanted instructions without arguing. 

“Harry, it won’t hurt to be floated, if anything it’ll be fun,” Luca said quietly to Harry wanting to reassure him and avoid him hurting himself further. 

“Harry, have you hurt one of your legs?” Miriam asked walking closer to the trio nodding her head in greeting to Noah who returned the nod. 

“My right leg is a little sore,” Harry mumbled after sitting in silence for a couple of minutes. 

“Okay, well for your comfort I will float you into the medical wing, then do your check-up, alright?” she asked removing her wand from the special pocket in her left robe sleeve. 

After receiving a timid nod from her young patient, she conjured a stretcher and helped Harry hop up onto it. 

“Here we go then,” said Miriam once Harry had settled back onto the stretcher, she began directing it towards the double doors she had come through and the ward beyond them. 

*** 

Once Harry had been settled onto a bed in the children’s part of the ward, which was at the far end of the large rectangular room that they entered through the double doors, the medical exam began. 

Harry had been asked if he was happy for both Luca and Noah to remain during the process, he had agreed not wanting to anger anyone. They had taken seats on the opposite side of the bed to where Mediwitch Osan was standing. 

“To begin, I will wave my wand and perform a diagnostic scan, Harry. It will scan you and tell me what injuries you have,” she continued seeing Harry’s confusion at the term. “Tell me when you are ready.” 

Harry glanced around the curtained off area, taking in each of the adults before focusing on the mediwitch, “okay, I’m ready,” he murmured, bracing himself for the process. 

“I’ll start now then. I will wave my wand and you will feel the magic spread over your body from head to toes, it won’t hurt at all. Though, it might feel a bit strange,” she explained having seen Harry tense up his body. 

After hearing the explanation Harry slackend his body a little, but he was still fairly tense. Harry gasped when the spell first imparted it was a usual sensation like a warm fabric being ghosted over parts of his body, sometimes lingering for longer in specific parts. 

By the time the spell had spread all the way down to his toes, Harry was relaxing back into the pillows, his head was beginning to slowly lean backwards before he would blink and then sit up straighter. 

“Alright, what do we have here?” Mediwitch Osan said to herself as she read over the parchment that had appeared filling in with notes as the diagnostics began. Her face went from shocked to angry before clearing of all emotion. 

“Is everything alright, Mediwitch Osan?” Luca asked scooting his chair closer to Harry’s bed. 

“It will be soon, Ramos,” she answered, “I’ll need you to take a few potions and I’ll apply a bruise balm to you Harry, then you can get some rest.” 

“Okay, thank you,” Harry responded, watching as the mediwitch walked off to collect the necessary potions and balms. 

“You’ll be good as new soon, Harry,” Luca reassured the young boy who was looking worriedly after the mediwitch. 

Harry had curled his body up to be a smaller target, still resting on top of the pristine white blanket with his head against the pillow. “Okay,” came the quiet reply, not really believing the statement but he knew it was always safer to agree with an adult. He was having to blink his eyes open as the exhaustion was beginning to win the battle for control of his body. He needed to stay awake at least a little longer, follow the requests from the nice people, then he could hopefully sleep safely. 

Miriam had quickly made her way back down the ward to the warded potions cabinet beside the staff room. Placing her hand on the handle, it only took a second before the lock clicked open and she could gather the familiar potions. Normally they were gathered for aurors injured in the field, or the wixen from the experimental research department, not young children. A bone strengthener, a small dose of skele-gro, an immunity stimulater and a nutrient booster, as well as the bruise balm. 

She returned a few minutes later with a small lilac vial in one hand and a round green tub in the other. The other potions vials having been put in her pockets safely thanks to their shatterproof containers. 

“Here we are, Harry. Unfortunately, they don’t taste nice but they do a lot of good. Then I can get a meal brought up, or you can sleep then have the meal after, your choice,” she said, removing the potions vials and placing them on his bedside table. 

“Okay, thank you,” Harry replied not sure what else to say, still trying to force his body to remain awake. What happened if by sleeping he didn’t actually get the meal? 

“Up first we have skele-gro, the worst tasting, so they will only get better from here,” Mediwitch Osan offered the red vial with a small smile, “you may feel some tingling in your bones as it starts to bend where there are little breaks,” she explained. 

Harry took the small vial with a shaking hand doing his best to concentrate on not spilling any, he looked at the vial carefully before looking back to the magical nurse, he took a deep breath deciding to swallow it in one. Get it over and done with, like the horrible food Aunt Petunia would sometimes give him. 

“Well done, Harry, you took that a lot better than Ramos normally does,” the mediwitch praised sending a playful look to man sat closest to Harry. The young boy froze at the comment not knowing how the older man would react to the mediwitch’s words

“How dare you, I take my potions without complaint. Most of the time,” he added the second half of his statement in a stage whisper to Harry, who relaxed a little seeing the man wasn’t angry. He sent him a tremulous smile at the joke. 

All three adults had noticed Harry’s unusual reaction to the small exchange. 

The rest of the potions were explained and taken with little fuss, by the end Harry was very ready to sleep, now having nearly a minute go by between each blink. 

“I'll come ask you what food you’d like later, Harry,” the mediwitch offered, seeing her patient losing the battle to fight off sleep. 

“Thank you,” came the slightly slurred response. 

“Night, Harry,” both Noah and Luca said before slowing easing out of their chairs to follow the mediwitch down the ward, pulling the curtain around the young boy’s bed to dim the lights and to shut off noise from the rest of the ward. 

*** 

Once outside the staff room, Noah broke the silence that had remained among the three whilst they walked away from Harry’s bed, “what did the scan say?” 

Both Noah and Luca look to Miriam for the answers hoping the only issues would be the visible problems, both knew it would be very unlikely given Harry’s reaction and behaviour, but there was no harm in hoping. 

“Well, he most likely came from an abuse home, he is suffering from malnutrition, his bones aren’t as dense as they should be putting him at risk of brittle bones, his eyesight is poor he will need glasses soon though it’s not clear if this is hereditary or not. That's all the basic scan picked up anyway,” Miriam said glancing back at the parchment diagnosis which needed to be filed. 

“Oh, but you were able to deal with all the simpler issues today, right?” Luca asked. 

“Yes, I was able to treat all the simpler issues today, he will need a potions regime for a while, the length of time will vary depending on how he reacts to the potions, but with a healthy diet, regular sleep and more playing outdoors a lot of the current issues should be gone with no long term consequences,” Miriam reassured the two men in front of her, clearly seeing the fact that they had come to care for Harry in such a short space of time. 

“That’s good,” Luca said, breathing a sigh of relief that Harry could recover, he would need a good home and time but he wouldn’t clearly remember or be defined by this negative period in his life. 

“I will be sending a message to the WCPS to get him registered in our system, I think Harry would feel better if one of you are here with him when he meets the social worker,” Miriam explained knowing it was often a very confusing experience for the children and having a known face helps to relax them. 

“If you let us know when the meeting will happen I will ensure one us is there for Harry,” Noah said, knowing it would likely be the following morning once Harry had awoken. 

“Will him being, or at least sounding, British impact the process?” Luca asked turning to his colleagues who were more knowledgeable on the process. 

“It could, though his family may have moved to the U.S. and therefore he would fall under our jurisdiction, rather than the British. Though, there is also the question of other family who could take him in, and if his family is only on holiday Harry will most likely be given the choice to return to Britain instead of remaining here depending on the situation,” Noah explained quickly being more aware of the process than Miriam.

Miriam nodded having only been vaguely aware of the procedures that WCPS followed, “well, I will get his medical folder started and one of you can collect a copy of any documents you’ll need at the meting with the social worker,” she added, giving them both a small smile and nod, “enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Thank you, Mediwitch Osan,” Luca replied, grateful for her calm demeanour and expert knowledge. “Now, we need to fill in the paperwork for his case,” he said turning to Noah for any extra information. 

“Yes, finish off the case paperwork that Laval will have started and I’ll speak to the chief about one of us attending Harry’s meeting tomorrow morning.”

“Do you think Harry will be okay?” Luca couldn’t stop himself from asking despite having heard all the same information as Noah, he glanced back down the room to the curtained off area. 

“Given what he is most likely coming from, if put in the right family with the right support, as the WCPS will strive to do, I am sure he will thrive,” Noah said with certainty, knowing how much easier it was to become attached to cases at the beginning of your career. 

*** 

Harry woke up to a gentle light shining down on him, there was also the sound of birds tweeting. He searched his mind for why there would be light or birds in the cupboard. Before the memories of the previous day slotted into place: he had magicked himself away from Magnolia Crescent, arrived in a forest, met two wizards and a magical nurse, taken potions and slept in a comfortable bed. 

The last was reaffirmed by how it felt like he was lying on the softest mattress ever, the pillow behind him also felt unbelievably comfy, it wasn’t completely soft and floppy, there was some structure to it but Harry liked it a lot better than the flimsy thing he had had before that the Dursley’s had called a pillow. 

He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, there were no springs or dips in the mattress to make it uncomfortable, he was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of knocking. 

Harry’s eyebrows scrunched together, it sounded like someone had knocked on a door but there were no doors nearby. Before, he could begin to worry about it, Mediwitch Osan opened the curtains slightly to stick her head through, this morning her headscarf was a sky blue. “Good morning, Harry. Is it alright if I come in?” She asked a warm smile on her face.

“Morning, you can come in,” he replied as the curtains parted he tried to get a better look and see if there was anything that could have made the knocking sound. 

Having caught his intense scrutiny of the curtains, Mediwitch Osan asked, “is everything alright, Harry?” 

Harry drew his attention away from the mysterious curtains to the magical nurse in front of him, “yes, ma’am.”

“Good, if you have any questions feel free to ask,” she reassured the small boy hoping he would open up, before continuing on with the conversation, “can I do another medical scan of you, Harry? To check all the healing we started last night is done. Then, we can get you some breakfast,” she asked.

“Okay,” Harry replied quietly with a quick nod. 

“Thank you, I’ll cast the spell now, remember it is completely normal to feel the magic spread across your body,” Mediwitch Osan said before casting the spell and waiting for the results.

“Everything we were treating last night looks a lot better this morning, Harry,” she said happiness clear in her tone, “what would you like for breakfast? You can have anything.” 

Harry froze, not knowing what he was allowed to eat for breakfast, what if it was a trick question, he needed to answer the direct question, but what? “Um, I dunno, ma’am,” he finally murmured. 

“I believe there is a choice between oatmeal, toast, or some cornflakes,” she said realising her mistake of not giving Harry a clearer option, after another few minutes of indecision she added, “I would recommend the oatmeal with some fruit and honey.”

“Yes, please,” Harry added quickly, not wanting to miss out on food, but also relieved he didn’t have to choose and make the wrong decision. 

“No problem, that will be up in a few minutes,” she decided it would be best to wait until after breakfast to explain about the WCPS meeting so as not to worry Harry unnecessarily. “After your breakfast, I will be doing a more in-depth scan to highlight any areas that the basic scan may have missed. In the meantime if you need me just call as I will be out on the ward.”

Mediwitch Osan left the curtains open further so that Harry could look out onto the rest of the ward. There was currently one other patient who appeared to be sleeping on a bed closer to the main entrance on the opposite side of the room.

Someone else had just entered and was met by another mediwitch, then they were led to a medical treatment bed before the curtains were closed around the area silencing any conversation from within.

Harry’s breakfast popped into appearance about two minutes after his choice had been made, it simply appeared on a tray across his lap. The tray had stands which kept it off his legs, there was a white bowl when he looked at the contents he realised that ‘oatmeal’ must be another way of saying porridge, it had a circle of honey on top with fruit making a smiley face in the middle. Raspberries for eyes and a nose, as well as blueberries for the smile. There were also some apple slices as hair. On the tray was also a cup which contained some apple juice that Harry was very excited to try, only Dudley had been allowed to drink the juice at number four. Harry always had to have water.

“Thank you,” Harry whispered not sure whether whoever had brought the food could here him, but he knew how it felt to go unthanked so he would say it even if they couldn’t hear him.

Harry really enjoyed his oatmeal with fruit smiley face, he was only sad that he couldn’t finish it all. He had eaten all the fruit but there was still about a third of the porridge left over. The apple juice had been very nice, he now understood why Dudley complained so much when he was told he would have to drink something else because the juice was finished. 

Once he put his spoon down beside the almost empty bowl and empty glass, the tray vanished, he whispered another thank you and then went back to observing the room.

Mediwitch Osan had just left a room about halfway down the ward and was walking his way. 

“How was breakfast? Are you ready for the more detailed scan?” She asked.

“It was very nice, thank you,” he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing, “yes, I’m ready,” he said quietly but clearly. 

“I’m glad you enjoyed your breakfast. After the scan one of my colleagues from the Wixen Children Protection Service will be coming to speak to you, Harry. It’s nothing to worry about, and either Noah or Luca will be there the whole time with you,” Miriam explained. 

Harry took a moment to understand what he was being told, before he nodded slowly in response.

“This scan will feel different than the last two, Harry. It still shouldn’t hurt, but there will be a deeper tingling feeling that spreads from one area to the next,” she explained before incanting and casting the spell. 

Harry gasped at the new sensation when the spell made contact with him, the tingling started in his feet like pins and needles but spread into his bones as well. It was a very strange sensation. When the scanning reached his head it felt like static took over, the buzzing feeling continued but there was a burst of something else, not pain, but as if the spell had knocked onto a barrier.

The parchment appeared in front of Mediwitch Osan once the scan was finished. It had a lot of writing on it from what Harry could see, the mediwitch had just grabbed the parchment out of the air, when the doors to the medical wing were thrown open, two people were being floated in on stretchers. 

Both Harry and Mediwitch Osan turned to watch what was happening, the parchment forgotten. The door Harry had seen earlier sprung open and one person in light green and two in purple emerged heading towards the stretchers.

One of the people floating a stretcher was shouting for help upon entering the ward. “Help please, two magical creature attacks with severe injuries,” he shouted. 

The people in purple went to separate stretchers casting the same spell, several different coloured lights flared from the bodies, they shared a look before one calmly shouted out to the ward, “all hands needed now, someone call in Healer Bergmann immediately.”

Shoving the parchment in her pocket, she turned quickly to Harry, “I’ll be back later to check on you, the meeting should be in about ten minutes, I’ll close the curtains now. Stay in your bed, okay.” With her instructions given, Mediwitch Osan left the area around his bed, closing the curtains and went to help her colleagues.

The sounds of pain, calls for potions and quick healing spells vanished as the curtains fell shut, leaving Harry in silence. 

Chapter Text

The scene Luca walked into in the medical wing caused him to pause on the threshold. What looked like the entire staff of the medical wing were working on two patients in two beds placed beside each other close to the main entrance.

There were salves and potions vials being floated over the top of the hive of working healers and medi-wixen. Bandages could be made out wrapped tightly around appendages. Luca could also make out several obvious claw marks and two prominent bite marks across the visible skin of the patients. 

After a few minutes of simply watching the medical team weave in and out of one another like a seamless ritual team, he shook himself out of his impressed stupor and took in the rest of the ward. The curtains around Harry’s bed were closed, standard procedure for any kids on the ward when a serious injury occurs. 

So as not to distract the busy hive of bodies, he quickly and quietly made his way up the ward, having to duck once when potions were summoned in a stream from the potions cabinet. He made it safely to the curtains and knocked knowing Harry would be able to hear him. 

A gentle “come in” was called from the other side, so he parted the curtains only enough to let him enter before pulling them shut again. “Hey, Harry. How are you doing this morning?” Luca asked a smile on his face. Harry was visibly better than he had been the day before, his bruises were pretty much nonexistent, the bags under his eyes had reduced, and he had a small mark at the corner of his lips that let the world know he had eaten that morning. 

“Good, thank you. How are you?” Harry responded, having been taught it was polite to ask the question back. He pulled the blanket covering him a little higher around his body from where it had previously only been covering his legs. 

“I’m doing good, happy to see you looking better. Are you ready for your meeting?” He asked, walking around the bed to take a seat in the chair near Harry’s bedside that he had occupied the night before. 

“Yes, sir,” Harry responded with a nod, playing with the end of the blanket so he didn’t have to look at Luca when answering. 

“Okay, then. I’m sure it won’t be long before the social worker is here,” Luca said glancing at his watch knowing the meeting was meant to start at ten, “shouldn’t be more than about five minutes.”

***

The social worker from the WCPS was a friendly looking black woman,Hope Anderson, as she later introduced herself, all of her hair styled into a lot of long braids bouncing with her steps  had hurried in at just past ten a big handbag on her shoulder which had a stuffed animal hanging over one side, and a travel cup in her opposite hand. 

Harry spent a good amount of time just staring at her hair style not having come across it before in Little Whinging where almost the entire population was white, the main minority groups being Polish and Chinese immigrants. He thought the braids looked cool, there were some bright beads incorporated into the style which would shine or glitter every once in a while. 

“Sorry, for the delay, I had an emergency placement to manage this morning,” she explained quickly to both Harry and Luca, before she took a breath, removed her wand from a special pocket in her handbag and conjured a comfortable chair with a small pull-out table on the arm. 

“No problem, I know security can be a pain when you’re in a rush,” Luca replied, “I’m Luca Ramos, by the way, one of the AMRS who found and brought Harry in yesterday,” he explained knowing that Hope may not have been to her desk this morning, therefore missing the memo due to the emergency callout.

“Nice to meet you, Luca, and you, Harry. Please call me Hope,” she said having settled into her seat, pulling a small file out of her handbag with a pencil case, “I’ll be your social worker, Harry. Do you understand what that means?” She asked kindly, having turned her full attention to the small boy in front of her. 

He shook his head ‘no’, before murmuring, “no, ma’am.” Harry was back to focusing on the blanket which had slipped back across his lap, occasionally raising his gaze to the adults faces but avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

“It’s Hope, not ma'am, remember Harry. That’s no problem, I’ll explain it to you. A social worker is someone who works to help protect and look after people in need, in my cases I work with children. This means that I am here to help protect you, Harry. I will fight for your needs and safety, to make sure you are in a safe home with good people. I will be someone you can talk to if you ever need me,” she explained, taking pauses after each sentence to give Harry time to absorb the new information and see if he had any questions. “Does that make sense to you, Harry?” Hope asked. 

“Yes, thank you,” he replied slightly louder than before. 

“Good. I have brought a little something for you, and then I have a few questions that I need to ask you, okay?” Hope asked trying to get eye contact with Harry. 

Harry’s posture had changed with the mention of the mysterious ‘something’ for him. Hope said it in a kind way unlike how his aunt or uncle had ever said those words. It caused his eyes to snap towards her, scanning her face for any concealed negative meaning or emotions but he couldn’t see any. A warm, bubbly feeling began to grow, Harry tried to tamp it down knowing how much worse it felt when it was inevitably something awful.

Whilst Harry had been observing her, Hope remained calm and tried to broadcast her good intentions as much as possible. Once he turned more introspective she reached slowly across and into her bag and pulled out the stuffed toy, a niffler. “Here you go, Harry. I needed to find a new home for this little guy and I thought maybe you would look after him for me,” she said holding the stuffed animal out to him. 

Emerald green eyes finally made contact with her own brown ones, the hope and fear that warred in them was something she was too accustomed to. She didn’t retract her arm, giving Harry all the time he needed to feel the emotions and eventually slowly reach a tentative arm out for the toy. His gaze continued to flick from the niffler to her face and eyes, checking it was still safe and alright for him to do so. Hope nodded a few times when he glanced up at her. 

When the toy was firmly in his hand, she released her grip and let Harry pull it quickly to his body. Not responding but mentally noting the gentle exclamation, “so soft and small. I’ll take care of you, love you forever, even if you funny or are a freak like me.”

“If you’re ready, Harry?” Receiving a small nod from the young boy whose focus was still mainly targeted at the toy niffler, Hope continued. “Who do you live with?”

Harry looked up from where he was stroking the smooth niffler fur, he quickly took in the paperwork and pen in front of Hope. He took a moment, obviously weighing up whether it was safer to answer or not answer. 

“I will protect you, Harry, I promise. Even from your family if necessary,” she said earnestly, gaining eye contact for a few seconds. Shock passed across Harry’s face at the seriousness in her voice, no one had ever promised to protect him before.

He took another minute to scan her face for any twitches or flashes of emotion that would negate her claim. Seeing none, he tried to decide if it was worth the risk of telling Hope the truth, maybe if he did he could escape the Dursley’s forever.

Just when Luca and Hope had begun to believe that Harry wouldn’t answer, he gave his new toy a tight squeeze, “my aunt, uncle and cousin,” Harry answered, barely above a whisper. 

“Thank you, Harry. You’re doing really well. Can you tell me your family’s names?” Hope asked making a note on the still mostly empty paperwork.

“Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley,” came the nervous reply. 

“That’s great, Harry. Do you like living with your family?” Was the next question for him to face. 

All the colour drained from his face, he couldn’t be ungrateful. “Yes, ma’am. They took me in out of the kind…kindness of their hearts. All I am is an ungrateful burden to them,” he replied, the fear clear in his tone. It was also clearly an oft repeated statement for Harry to be able to repeat it so seamlessly without pause to really think. 

This shocked Luca who had calmly been sat close to Harry’s bedside, his jaw dropped a little to hear such a statement from one so young. Children should be cherished and look after whether or not they were yours by birth, at least that was his belief. He knew this wasn't always the case, sometimes unexpected or unwanted children came about.

Hope was also surprised by the statement, but she had unfortunately encountered similar statements before, meaning it only took her a beat to recover. 

“You could never be a burden, Harry. There is support available for families in need, sadly it isn’t always given or enough, but this is never, ever the child’s fault. It was not your fault, Harry,” Hope said calmly but clearly, there was an underlying strength and sternness to her tone. 

Tears began to trickle down Harry’s cheeks at this declaration. “It… it is my fault, Imma fr-fr-freak and a burden,” he whimpered in between hiccoughs.  

Hope slowly got out of her chair and moved closer to Harry taking the hand not squeezing the niffler tightly into both of hers. “You are not, nor will you ever be a freak. You are a wizard, just like Luca. Is Luca a freak?” She questioned. 

Harry shook his head frantically, “no, he’s not a freak.” Came the panicked reply.

“If he’s not a freak, then neither are you. I also have magic, I’m not a freak, am I?”

“No!” Hope had given him his first cuddly toy and she had really cool hair, she could never be a freak, even if she didn’t understand that he was yet.

“Good, no one here is a freak. Not me, Luca, the niffler, or you, Harry,” she reiterated knowing it would take longer and consistent repetition for Harry to understand he wasn’t a freak. “How about we have a little snack and then there are a few more questions I’d like you to answer if possible, Harry.”

Some apple, pear, and mango slices, alongside a selection of other fruits and vegetable sticks appeared as well as a number of different healthy snacks. There was also a jug of milk and one of water. 

“Thank you,” Harry quietly called. 

“Help yourself, Harry,” Hope said, before reaching forward to take a carrot stick. Harry slowly followed suit after receiving an encouraging nod, he chose some apple slices.    

***

After their short snack break, they were able to continue the conversation, Hope asked a few more questions about his life at the Dursley’s. She found out about his cupboard and his chores. She calmly informed him that his relatives were wrong to treat him like this.

Then the questions turned to how he had arrived here. 

“Do you know where you are, Harry?” She asked kindly, pen still in hand, her paperwork noticeably had a lot fewer blanks. Some of the added information was her assumptions and observations, other answers were the information Harry had provided. 

“I’m in the medical wing,” he replied simply, feeling more relaxed about the questions now they had turned away from the Dursleys, who he wasn’t meant to talk about. 

“Very good, but do you know where this is?” She probed further. 

“Where Luca and Noah work?” He answered, not really sure what more she wanted. 

“That’s true, yes. We’re also in New York City, in America,” she explained. 

Harry’s eyes bulged at this information, he was in America. That was a long way from Little Whinging. “America,” he repeated quietly, “is that why you speak funny?” 

Luca’s brows furrowed at that, ‘speak funny’, how did they speak funny? Harry obviously understood them. Luca paused in thought trying to work it through… oh. 

“Do you mean our accents?” Luca asked, interjecting for the first time. 

This question made Harry’s brows scrunch up. Not understanding what he meant. 

“We sound different to you, that’s are accents, Harry,” Hope explained gently, “because we’re American, though different parts of the country will also have their own different accents.”

That was one question Harry had been wondering about finally answered. Though, what would happen now, he was in a different country. How did he get here?

“What caused your magical disappearance, Harry?” Hope questioned.

“Um, it was after a game of Harry Hunting, I wanted to leave the pain, then suddenly it felt like I was getting squeezed through a really small tube and then I was in the forest.” 

“Okay. I’m going to find you a foster family here in America, Harry, if that’s what you want?” She asked.

Harry was confused, he had not heard of a foster family before. 

Spotting his confusion, Hope starting speaking again, “a foster family is someone or a couple where children in need can be placed so they can be safe and looked after. Social workers carefully decide which people and families are best for each child, so I would find a family who would be good for you Harry. Does that make sense?”

Harry nodded, but what if the family seemed nice but were actually like the Dursleys?

“I know it can be very scary, Harry. But, if this is what you want I will find the best family I can for you, okay?” Hope said, reading the different emotions as they travelled through Harry’s eyes. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to return to your relatives, Harry. They don’t look after you or protect you like they should.”

Harry just stared at her with tears in his eyes. He squeezed the sniffler to his chest more tightly taking comfort from it. Was he finally free from the Dursleys? What if the next house was worse? They wouldn’t even be his blood relatives.

“A foster family will look after you, Harry. I will only ever be a phone call or message away if you need me, I promise. This will be for the best,” Hope added, she could tell Harry was overwhelmed from their conversation, she glanced at her watch noticing it was almost time for lunch.

Luca who had remained quiet throughout most of the conversation, also glanced at his watch, “do you mind if I stay for lunch with you, Harry?” He asked gently turning the conversation to a more relaxed topic. 

Harry only stared at him for a minute, he would get to have lunch as well as breakfast. After a minute, he replied realising that he had been rude not to say anything back to a direct question, “yes, sir.”

“Thank you, I’ll have something sent up from the kitchens for us, alright?” He received a shy nod in response. 

Just as he was about to leave the curtained area to go to order lunch for the two of them, Hope looked up from her paperwork, “Harry honey, what’s your full name?” 

“Harry Potter, ma’am.”

“Potter, right. It's just Hope, remember Harry,” she said filling in the last gap on her paperwork, before it clicked. Harry Potter. A young British wizard. She looks again at her young charge, specifically at his forehead, where she could just make out the famed lightning bolt scar. Oh, this could cause some complications.   

***

There was a telephone box outside of the Woolworth building, it was an unusual sight for New York City many would admit. But, it had become something of a local landmark. It had been there so long despite it becoming unnecessary, the box remained. It was an old fashioned dial phone for which you had to insert coins and pay by the minute.

There had been talk a few months previously about the possibility of adding a card reader so that the box would still be useable given the slow move society is making to the use of debit and credit cards. No one had pointed out that this was somewhat redundant given that mobile, or cell, phones were also increasingly present in everyday life. The card reader had yet to be added as no one could decide who was responsible for paying for its installation. 

Given its proximity, many of the wixen community who lived on the no-maj side often used to the pay phone to contact those people in their life they couldn’t contact through magical means, or simply those likely to be close to uninformed no-majs at the time of contact. Depending on the time of day, it wasn’t completely unheard of for there to be a queue leading from the booth to the employee entrance to MACUSA. 

Fortunately the phone booth was empty and Luca was able to enter without hassle. He had some loose change in his coat pocket as was advised in the welcome booklet for new employees. He extracted three sickles knowing he would likely need two and it was best to have the third on hand if the dreaded triple beep would sound informing the speaker that more money was required to continue the call. 

He inserted the first two sprinks in the coin slot which any watching passerby would note was definitely too small for the silver coin. Despite this appearance the coins were easily swallowed by the machine. He turned the dial, matching the empty circle up to the desired number until the phone number was entered and the handset had begun to ring. 

The phone call was answered on the third ring. 

“Yes?” Came the short expected answer, the voice held no emotion, it was loud enough to be clear but not loud enough to be overheard if someone else was stood close.

“Boss, I have an update, important personnel,” Luca reported, his voice level and factual, he was staring out onto the road watching the pedestrians who were passing by while he spoke. 

“Report, agent,” came the voice from the other end, getting straight to the point as always.

“Harry Potter has come into MACUSA custody, WCPS is searching for a foster family now, whilst his previous living situation is being looked into more thoroughly. We believe it to have been at the very least neglectful. He wasn’t very forthcoming on the details, he only gave us general information about his living situation and arrival,” he explained keeping to the pertinent information, any extra details will be written up in his report or requested. 

“Any additional information to report?” The voice asked. 

“Yes. He has a very strong magical core for one so young. His accidental magic burst was a level six, for him to have arrived without splinching himself also says a lot,” he added.

“Noted. Anything else?” Came the response.

“None at this time, boss.” 

There was a no further conversation, a beat of silence and then the dull ringing letting him know that the call had been ended from the other side. Luca placed the handset back into its place, then exited the booth.

This was only the second time that he had had to make a phone call straight to the boss. Normally he would just update his supervisor with any information, but this was way too time sensitive and important.

***

Hope had brought the information to her supervisor on the fact that Harry Potter had come into WCPS custody, they had told her to continue on as normal until told otherwise. Whilst they would be taking the information to their higher ups, some additional security considerations may need to be made, fortunately while Harry Potter was still a famous name in America, it didn’t hold the same reverence that was held for it in Britain. 

So Hope had looked through the available families, taking the additional potential security concerns into account, Harry was unaware of his history so a family without direct ties to Britain would be best. 

Hope returned to the medical wing in the early evening, she had some exciting news for Harry. She had found him a foster family that could take him in that very evening. 

“I’ve found a foster family for you, Harry,” Hope explained, pulling a couple of photos from her bag. This is the Miller family, they are a family of six, all of them magical like you with three foster children. This is Daniel and Angela, all of their children are older than you, their oldest, Sophia, is sixteen, then there’s Jacob who’s twelve, Eliza who’s eleven and their youngest, Jo, is seven.” Hope said pointing to each family member in turn.

Harry took a moment just looking at the picture, they were all smiling and waving at him, which had confused him at first until Hope explained that magical photos were known to move. 

“Are you ready to go and meet the Millers, Harry?" Hope asked after a few minutes of silence.

Chapter Text

Harry stood beside Hope on the front porch of a big house in an area where none of the house were exactly the same. They had apparated from MACUSA to a small out of the way spot in the neighbourhood before walking to the house.

“Are you ready for me to knock, Harry?” Hope asked calmly after he had come to a stop at the top of the steps.

Harry shook his head quickly, just standing there looking at the door. He began to think back, it had been an eventful day for him. At the beginning, he had expected it to be a pretty quiet day, most likely leading to him being returned to the real world and his life on Privet Drive. Not being taken away from the Dursleys and to a new family with someone he could contact if he needed help. 

It began with the best breakfast he could ever remember eating, followed by the meeting with Hope, where Luca had returned to be there as support for Harry just like Mediwitch Osan had said. 

Both Hope and Luca had seemed surprised at his name when he told them. Maybe they both knew someone else called Harry Potter? They both seemed to get over the surprise fairly quickly so he didn't think about it much. There were other more important things to think about. 

Luca said he would return shortly with their food and then left the curtained off area, revealing the still loud calls passing between the medical teams who appeared to still be working on the same patients. 

Hope finished off her paperwork before explaining to Harry that she hoped to find him a foster family where he would feel safe. She would return that evening to let him know how she was doing with her search. She said it might take some time because not every foster family that would be best for Harry would have space for extra people and she wanted a family that would help him the most. 

It took about fifteen minutes for Luca to return, unlike with breakfast he was carrying a tray with the food for both of them on it. Luca explained that he had had to run to his office quickly and update Noah on what had been going on and that he would be spending a little more time with Harry. 

Harry and Luca had then had a quiet lunch together, it had been nice for both of them. Harry didn’t speak much, only answering direct questions, but he enjoyed actually being acknowledged whilst sat at the table eating with someone else.

The food had been just as good as what he’d had for breakfast, the portion he received was smaller as if the chefs had known that he couldn’t manage as much this time. It was the first time he had tried spaghetti bolognese, normally the Dursleys if they were being really nice would give him some warm, plain pasta. He never got anything put on it or with it, now he got to try bolognese, he was even allowed to put some cheese on top of that. 

Seeing that Harry wasn’t going to speak much throughout their meal, Luca had given Harry a bit more information about the wizarding world, focusing mostly on the different magical creatures, such as his toy niffler. Luca paused every once in a while to eat his own food, watching how Harry savoured every bite and enjoying what were obviously new flavours. 

Luca had had to work hard to hide his anger that came at Harry’s shocked but delighted reaction to the news that the spaghetti bolognese was for him. The smile, that had appeared to brighten impossibly when Luca had offered him the small cheese bowl to sprinkle some on top, had almost made his control on his emotions slip. He would never understand how any one could mistreat a child in the way that Harry had experienced. It was monstrous, there was no possible excuse he thought as he laughed at Harry having managed to cover his face in the red sauce. 

***

“Sir, may I speak with you quickly?” The agent asked as he approached Alexander Pierce when he was walking out of a meeting.

Pierce looked at who the agent was, before answering, “of course, let’s go to my office.” They walked in silence, neither even so much as glancing at the other before the office door had closed.  

Pierce moved to sit at his desk, whilst the agent remained standing.

“Sir, we just received the news from our informant. The Lightning has struck MACUSA,” the agent said. 

“Good, I’ll speak with Fury and send a message to our friend,” Pierce replied, shooting a look at the agent, who quickly left the office closing the door again firmly once outside.

Pierce picked up his phone stretching the cord slightly when he leant back in his chair and pressed the number 3, the phone began to ring. After two rings it was picked up, “Sir?”

“Nick, I’ve just been informed that Harry Potter is in MACUSA custody, they’re looking for a placement for him. Do we have anyone who can be suggested?” 

“A few. I’ll need to contact them personally though, sir.”

“Understood, Nick. This should be done by the end of the day. I’ll leave this in your hands.”

“Yes, sir,” came the final reply before the line was cleared. 

Pierce sat back in his chair, thinking about what this information could mean. They had a location for Harry Potter for the first time in several years, their friend would be very excited.  

***

There had been a lot of discussion between the director and assistant directors of the Wixen Children Protection Service that afternoon in an urgent meeting on what should be done about the news that Harry Potter had been taken into their custody. 

“Should we inform the president?” asked one of the assembled group, the newest assistant director, he was wearing comfortable looking clothes with a smart-looking open robe thrown over the top. 

There was a moment where the other assembled around the table thought about this question, looked to each other for an answer before all turning to the director, Loretta Hansen.

“It would be prudent to do so,” Hansen answered, knowing despite the fraught relations between the two countries, the president needed to be informed of such an occurrence despite it being only one young boy.

“I’ll send the memo now then, ma'am,” the administrator said, quickly writing a brief note on the magical memo paper. 

“Thank you,” Hansen said with a nod of gratitude.

With the memo finished, the administrator touched it with their wand, it folded itself up and flew out the door, making its way to the Presidents office informing them of the important situation that had arisen.

***

President Carissa Rosales Osacio didn’t deserve this, she was a good person, or at least she tried to be. You couldn’t always please everyone, politics had taught her that very clearly, but she did the best she could to protect her country and to keep its people safe. Why, couldn’t the universe give her a break, just a small break, she wasn’t asking for a miracle, really.

She sat back at her desk with a sigh, taking a moment to enjoy the comfort her chair offered. She was very pleased she had followed her predecessor’s advice to invest in a comfortable and supportive chair, she really had needed it.

Harry Potter was in WCPS custody, or so the note informed her. 

Harry Potter, the baby who became the saviour of the British wizarding world. Now, an abused little boy in need of love and protection. MACUSA could offer him that, a safe place in a country where his name was recognised but not idolised. He could simply be a young boy who had survived something terrible.  

What she found odd was that she hadn’t yet received any frantic calls from the British about their missing child saviour. This could mean one of several things: they were doing a quiet search not wanting to cause mass hysteria; the British didn’t want to call in outside help for the search; they had only just realised and were setting up the search arrangements; or, they had no idea Harry Potter was missing. If they hadn’t noticed his disappearance, which occurred over twenty four hours ago, it wasn’t her duty to inform them. 

There was still some tension between the two magical governments, given their different stances on a variety of different things. Also, the new Minister for Magic was really annoying, he had an ingratiating and slimy persona, that she just did not like. 

So, she would inform the WCPS to continue managing his case, that until they were contacted by the British they would not change Harry's life more than it already had been given his feat of accidental magic. They would give him safety and extra protection as necessary, removing him from any potential unnecessary fame that could negatively impact his childhood. 

Yes, she thought as she penned a return memo, Harry Potter could become a citizen of the magical US. If, or when, the British decided to contact her, she would deal with the situation. She placed her ring, which held the emblem of the MACUSA presidency into the memo’s corner before tapping it with her wand to send it on its way.

***

Miriam was exhausted when she was finally able to rest, it had taken the whole team almost eight hours of non-stop healing to stabilise the two magizoologists who had been brought in from the New York State Magical Creature Reserve. 

One had been caught off-guard by a pregnant erumpent leading to him having his right arm speared by the erumpent’s horn and his left ankle crushed under one of the male erumpent’s hooves when he charged forward in defence of his mate and unborn calf. The damage inflicted had not been pretty and a lot more complicated to remedy than they had first anticipated.

The magizoologist had thankfully been able to call for help, they had managed to stem the major bleeding whilst on site, but the crushed foot was well beyond the reserve's limited healing facilities. 

Due to the reduced numbers of staff remaining with their tasks when so many of the other team members had headed off to help in the erumpent enclosure, one of their trainees had been caught by a sphinx. Splitting the resources even further, thankfully no one else was injured. 

Luckily the trainee's mentor had been close on hand and had been able to pull him to safety before any life threatening injuries could be inflicted. Though he still had a bite mark which caused a dislocated shoulder and other internal issues as the trainee tried to escape the grip. 

Both of the injured team members had quickly been sent through to the MACUSA healing teams, where they would be remaining for a few days.

After the hours of hard work, Miriam had headed to her cubicle in the ward’s staff room, she had grabbed her bag with regular clothes before going to change out of her dirty robes. She placed her dirty robes into the communal washing hamper where they would be sent through to laundry. The robes would be waiting freshly laundered on her desk upon her return to work.

On the walk from the ward to the staff area, she had glanced towards the children’s section, seeing the curtains from Harry’s bed pulled back and the bed made. The WCPS meeting had most likely gone well and she felt the responsibility of caring and checking in on Harry being removed from her shoulders.

Having cleaned up, she said a quick good bye to her colleagues, then she shuffled across to the floo and made her way home. 

She slumped into the comfortable chair which had been placed by the floo for this exact reason.

One of her flatmates called through having heard the floo flare that there was a warm meal under stasis for her. A small, exhausted smile made its way onto her lips, she really loved her flatmates at times like this. Especially Alana, who was an incredible chef. 

Hauling herself out of the comfort of the armchair she made her way through to the kitchen-diner and fell onto the meal, all thoughts of work leaving her mind.  

It wasn’t until the following morning when her next shift began that she saw the slightly crumpled parchment of results that had been shoved hurriedly into her pocket when the pandemonium had begun. There was also another message marked in red as important, she read that next.

But first, Harry’s more in-depth medical scan. It completely confirmed that he had come from an abusive household, not that there had been much doubt remaining following the basic diagnostic charm.  

Harry needed to be brought back in as soon as possible for even further testing, there was clear indications of some type of strong black magic emanating from his head, specifically his forehead. Fortunately, it seemed to be in a passive state at the moment, though being that close to the brain this dangerous magic obviously had the potential to cause some very serious damage.

She couldn’t think of any similar magic that she had seen in any case she had worked on. There had been an incident with an auror who lost most of their left arm when they barely came into contact with some black magic of this magnitude, but that had been active and quick acting, as was normally the case with black magic.

For this magic to be contained, or only passively residing, next to Harry’s brain was very unusual. It definitely required further searching to avoid any catastrophic outcomes should it become active.

Miriam had several questions that she wanted answered. How did the magic get there? How had it not been spotted before? Given its location why had it not already started attacking or impacting his brain?   

She had a lot of questions and no suitable answers. She would show the results to a few choice colleagues and await their verdicts, hopefully one of them will have come across something which will offer a quick solution for Harry.

The important message was a request from Hope Anderson with the WCPS for a copy of Harry Potters medical scans. It took a moment for Miriam to understand why such a request had been sent to her, before she looked back at the in-depth medical scan. Oh dear, Harry was Harry Potter. That just created even more questions.

***

Harry looked down at his new shoes which were the perfect fit, they even flashed red when he walked. He had seen other kids at school with these kind of shoes and had always wanted some, now he had them. 

He ran a hand down the straps of his new backpack, staring at the door to the house in front of him, he was nervous about what was awaiting him inside. He could hear some laughter from within but he wasn’t quite ready to enter yet. 

Hope had taken a seat on the rocking porch swing, giving him the time to think and feel ready to meet the Millers. Harry gave her a small smile, thinking about how she had helped him get new clothes today. 

It had been after Hope had returned to the medical ward to announce she had a foster family for him to meet, she had quickly guided him out of the medical ward deeper into MACUSA. She said they had a few stops to make before they would meet the Millers. 

“Welcome to the Lost and Found, Harry,” Hope said, holding her arms out wide at shoulder height to emphasise the space.

“Wow,” Harry murmured looking around, the room had to be at least as big as the sports hall at his primary school if not bigger. Every section of the floor had been divided into squares, within each square there was a table with a big binder on it, in the space around the tables there were cubbyholes, some of which were overflowing. 

“We are here to get you some essentials, Harry. As the name suggests some of these things were lost and never reclaimed, other things were donated for those who might have need of them,” Hope explained as she led the wide-eyed boy through the busy room, “let’s start with some clothes.”  

Harry was too busy looking at everything around him to pay too much attention, clothes and objects seemed to be floating around and sorting themselves. At one point the ceiling shone a faint yellow then a collection of objects appeared floating above them. After a minute the objects began to join the flow of other objects sorting themselves to the correct square. 

They spent around forty minutes in the magical lost and found city, as Harry thought of it. They left with Harry in a new set of clothes which actually fit him, that he had chosen himself. He had a really cool green long-sleeved t-shirt with a moving dragon on the front. He also had a backpack which was bigger on the inside than the outside which had lots of other clothes, and a few toys. He still had the toy niffler under one arm.

~ ~ ~

Harry took a deep breath, still nervous but he was going to need to go inside soon. He took one more breath then turned to Hope, “I’m ready, now,” he said quietly. 

“Okay, you can do this, Harry,” Hope said sounding confident, standing from her seat, she approached the door and knocked three times. 

There was a moment of silence from inside the home before there was a yelled, “I’ve got it.”

Loud steps became louder getting closer to the door, alongside the call of “coming.” 

Harry didn’t have time for his nerves to get any worse before the door opened, light shone from within blinding Harry for a moment, making him notice how much time he must have been stood on the porch thinking. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” Came a voice from the door, stood in the doorway was a young teen, he was fairly tall and had dark brown hair. 

“Hi Jacob, it’s Hope, I spoke to your mom and dad this afternoon. I’m here with Harry,” she explained. 

“Oh, right. Mom mentioned that, hey Harry,” Jacob said turning to the young boy in front of him. “Come in,” he said opening the door further.

Hope led the way into the house that would be Harry’s home for the foreseeable future. He glanced around liking how different it was from Privet Drive, the walls were wallpapered with an interesting and colourful design. The front entry was a large statement area, with stairs ahead and to he left that had a slide taking up the half beside the handrail, and a walkway past them that led straight through into a kitchen. 

“Everyone else is in the kitchen, I think,” Jacob said leading the way down past the stairs into a nice sized modern kitchen. The rest of the family were moving food, crockery and cutlery between the kitchen and dining room which could be separated by sliding doors.

“Mom, Hope’s here with Harry,” Jacob called across the room, causing the others to stop their movement and look. 

At the attention, Harry moved to stand behind Hope. A tall woman with auburn hair came out of the dining room from where she had been helping Jo set the table. 

“Hello Hope, Harry, it’s nice to meet you face to face,” Angela said moving across the room to shake hands with Hope, offering a smile to Harry when he glanced around Hope to look at the new person. “This is my husband, David,” she said, gesturing to a light brown haired man, who said hello whilst he was draining some vegetables at the sink, with oven gloves slung over his shoulder, “and our kids. You’ve already met, Jacob. This is Sophia, Eliza and Jo,” she introduced pointing to each in turn who waved or offered a greeting.  

Harry was still stood behind Hope, but he had moved to the side to be able to see each of the rooms occupants when they were introduced. Smiling when Jo pulled a funny face at him. 

“What colour napkin do you want, Harry?” Jo asked, waving a white napkin at him from where they stood beside the table. 

“Um, white’s fine,” Harry replied quietly, not wanting to cause any fuss. 

“Really? Mine’s silver, which is so much cooler than white. And Dad has this multicoloured one that looks like tie-dye and...” Jo said voice hurried with excitement. 

“Jo, take a breath, if Harry wants white, that’s fine,” Sophia said calmly, sending a pointed look to Jo trying to remind them of the conversation they’d had earlier, knowing Harry would be nervous in a new house, she always had been. "He can always change his mind later."

“What drink do you want, Harry? We’ve got water, milk, or chocolate milk,” Eliza offered, catching on to what her older sister was doing. 

“W-water is good, thanks,” he said, not sure he was actually allowed milk, let alone chocolate milk. 

Continuing the conversation to take the attention off Harry, Angela smiled at her daughters, slowly the kids started moving towards the table, she asked, “would you like to stay for dinner, Hope? It’s lasagne.”

“That would be lovely, but only a small plate, I’ll need to get home soon,” Hope replied after quickly glancing at her watch.

“Wonderful. Sophia, can you grab another plate and some cutlery for Hope, please,” Angela asked. 

A timer dinged. “Lasagne’s done,” David said moving to pull the dish from the oven, when the door opened the smell spread through the room. Harry thought it smelt incredible, he hoped it could at least try a little. 

Angela calmly led Harry and Hope to the table, allowing them to sit beside each other. David brought the lasagne dish across to the table, a bread board with garlic bread floating behind him. The following meal was  nice kind of chaos, food and conversation being had, smiles and laughter all around. 

Chapter Text

Harry had only been able to eat a small plate of lasagna, still full from having a really nice breakfast and lunch. Hope had left not long after dessert had been over, she said she would check in again soon but had written down her number and floo address in case he needed to contact her. Harry wasn't sure what a floo address was but took the information anyway. 

Harry had then been led to the room he would be staying in for the night. Final room arrangements to be sorted out the following morning. It was up the stairs, the final door on the right, beside the big window which would serve as the emergency escape in the event of a fire or other serious situations. David showed him how to open the window and pointed to the place where the family would gather if there was an emergency.

The room was nice, very big, it had a window that looked out at the back garden. The room was set up a lot like Dudley’s second bedroom. Though the walls were painted light blue, there was no wasteland of discarded, broken toys, but the bed was up against the wall with the window, opposite the door. 

He fell asleep without issue, having brushed his teeth in the bathroom across the hall from him.  The bed was so comfy and even when he lay stretched out as far as possible he couldn’t touch both ends.

He woke up the next morning, not sure what to expect. Was he meant to get up? Was he meant to stay in bed? Did they expect him to help cook breakfast? Once he got his spiralling thoughts under control, Harry decided to stay in his room until he heard movement in the rest of the house. He moved to look out the window and watch the natural world waking up for the day. 

It wasn’t that much later when he heard footsteps going down the stairs, he decided that he would poke his head round the door and see what was going on. He spotted Jo leaving their room, so he decided it must be safe to head downstairs as well. 

Once there he found David in the kitchen cooking something, and Jo taking a seat at the breakfast bar. No one else was up yet. 

“Do you want me to help cook?” Harry offered quietly. Startling the other inhabitants of the kitchen. 

“Damn, Harry,” David said, one hand on his chest, he took a deep breathe before continuing, “you surprised me. I’ve got it under control, but thanks for the offer. Why don’t you take a seat beside, Jo.”

Harry quickly moved across the kitchen and scrambled into the stool next to Jo. He was able to watch what David was cooking, Harry was surprised to see it wasn’t a full English breakfast as he almost always had to cook for the Dursleys. 

The rest of the family slowly trickled down to the kitchen, but it wasn’t before eleven for all of them to have eaten breakfast. During which time, Harry had eaten his breakfast, got dressed, brushed his teeth, helped tidy up the kitchen, and played football outside, with David and Jo who had called it soccer. 

~ ~ ~

The discussion on who would be staying in which room began after lunch for which everyone was present at the same time. It happened around the dining room table, David and Angela sat at either end, Sophia and Eliza on one side, opposite Jacob, Harry and Jo. 

“According to state rules Jo is too old for you to share with them or one of the older girls, Harry,” Angela began, “by the same rules you could share a room with Jacob.” David nodded along with what his wife was saying. 

A chair scrapes back and suddenly a loud voice exclaims, “I’m gonna lose my room forever, or until he gets moved on, aren’t I?” Eliza gets progressively louder throughout her statement. “Make him share with Jacob, I don't want to lose my room!”

Everyone turned to look at her with the scraping sound, whilst Harry tried to sink lower on his chair. He hadn’t realised he was stealing someone else’s bedroom. He didn’t know what Eliza meant about being moved on, would he not being staying with the Millers forever?

“I can sleep on the sofa, or in a cupboard, I don’t need a whole room, really,” Harry said quickly. Not wanting the situation to get worse.

“By law you need to sleep in a bed in a room, Harry. You deserve to sleep in a proper bed in a proper room, no matter what the law says. We will sort this out, don’t worry and everyone will be in a room in a bed,” Angela said quickly looking right at Harry, she quickly wiped under one eye. Jacob and Jo were looking at Harry in shock. 

“We’re having this discussion to try and find the best solution for everyone, Eliza,” David said calmly, holding eye contact with Eliza addressing her outburst. She slowly sat back down when Sophia grabbed her hand gently tugging it, pulling the chair back under the table. 

There was a beat of silence whilst everyone processed before Jacob spoke up, “I don’t mind sharing with Harry.” Though he didn’t look very enthusiastic about the prospect. 

“There we go then, problem solved,” Eliza said happily, “Harry moves in with Jacob and I get my room back.”

Jo was sat quietly watching the back and forth as if it was very interesting tennis match. They didn’t say anything, just sitting back to watch. 

“Thank you for the offer, Jacob,” Angela said, sending him a kind smile, “though your dad and I discussed it and we think the age gap between you and Harry is a bit too big for you to be sharing a room.” 

At this pronouncement Eliza looked ready to burst again, she didn’t say anything this time but Harry received a sharp kick to the shin. He didn’t make a sound, though he briefly scrunched his face up, tears coming to his eyes, causing David to raise his voice. “Eliza, don’t kick Harry, it isn’t his fault. We talked about this when we first converted the office into a room for you.”

“Are you okay, Harry?” Angela asked at the same time. 

Harry nodded quickly in response, rubbing a hand across his eyes, not wanting to make the situation worse for Eliza, he knew nothing good would come from that. Harry wondered how they knew he had been kicked and why they cared, whenever Dudley had done it in the past he had been praised.  

“Apologise to Harry, please,” David was saying as Harry tuned back into the rest of the conversation.

At that request Eliza’s breathing had sped up which caused the windows to begin to rattle, before Sophia placed a hand on Eliza’s shoulder and forced her to take a deep breath and count to ten slowly. Once the windows stopped rattling, Eliza opened her eyes and looked into Harry’s taking in a quick breath, still looking very annoyed, “I’m sorry, Harry,” she ground out not sounding at all sincere.

“Really, Eliza. At least sound a little like you mean it,” Sophia admonished quietly, squeezing her sister's hand. 

Eliza took another breath, this one deeper. She closed her eyes and just sat there for a few seconds, “Sorry, Harry, I shouldn’t have kicked you,” sounding calmer and more sincere. Before she shot a look at her sister as if to say ‘happy now?’.

Sophia just rolled her eyes in response. 

“You can continue sharing with Sophia, or you can share with Jo, if you’d rather, Eliza,” Angela said getting the conversation back on track. 

Eliza huffed before mumbling, “I’d rather share with Sophia.”

“Thank you, Eliza. Are you happy to continue with that, Sophia?” Angela asked.

“That’s fine, Angie. Besides it’ll only be until we’re back at Ilvermorny in the fall,” Sophia replied, not seeming at all bothered. Harry wondered what an ‘Ilvermorny’ was, but wasn’t willing to risk asking. 

“Wonderful, thank you. Well, the family meeting is over then,” Angela concluded after sharing a look with David who nodded. 

***

Nick had been able to get in contact with one of the foster families that SHIELD has on their contact list, though the man he would have preferred to speak to about taking in Harry Potter wasn’t in the country. However, he can accept that this outcome may be for the best if they want to protect Potter’s location from everyone, even others within SHIELD. 

He was pleased to hear that Angela and David Miller had room for another foster child, as the godparents to Jacob Walters, they were a trusted family with only a loose connection to SHIELD which nobody but the best would be able to track down. 

With confirmation that the Millers would be able to take in Potter, Nick made immediate contact with one of SHIELD’s MACUSA members who could make a comment to lead the WCPS worker in charge of Potters case, one Hope Anderson, in the right direction.

He received a text later that same afternoon from Angela Miller informing him that his planning had come to quick fruition, Potter would be placed into the Miller's home. This information was then passed onto Director Pierce.

~ ~ ~

The man he had wanted to speak to, arrived back into the country the following Thursday. Nick got a notification when he had landed the plane on the runway. He decided that a walk would do him some good, give him a break from the paperwork and allow him to debrief his agents when all the details were at their freshest. He arrived on the tarmac as the back of the jet lowered, revealing a brown haired man who was stretching to work out the kinks in his back and a red headed woman who seemed perfectly unaffected by the long time spent sat down co-piloting.  

“Romanoff. Barton,” Fury greeted, with a nod, “any additional details about the mission?” As the agents grabbed their belongings and disembarked the plane.

“No, sir. Everything went to plan, it was a simple infiltration and collection of the required information. No one is any the wiser, they should be finding out about the disappearance,” she glanced quickly at her watch, “around about now, at the earliest.”

The trio began walking towards the building Fury had exited not five minutes earlier. Clint had swung his bow and arrows over one shoulder, his duffle bag on the other. Natasha had her own duffle bag, though Nick knew all her weapons were concealed on her person.

“Good. As I would expect, I want the final written report ready within twenty-four hours. Drop the memory stick off with tech who will finish the decryption,” Fury said. "Are you staying on base until the next mission?"

"Yes, I'll be remaining on site," Natasha replied, though anyone who really knew her could tell she was working out why Fury was breaking the norm by asking.

"No, I'm going to return home," Clint said looking more closely at Fury, having spotted the same indicators as Natasha, such as his tone changing ever so slightly when he asked. 

“Right, how's Laura enjoying the quiet life?"

"She misses some of the action but life is never too quiet or slow for her," was the response, something was definitely up. 

"Get to the point, Nick, we'll need to separate soon" Natasha interrupted before the polite chit-chat continued and they entered the main building when anyone could overhear.

Nick shot an unimpressed glare at Natasha before asking his question, "do you still have your foster licence, Barton?” 

“Yes, sir. We had and passed the annual home visit about a month ago, and don’t have to renew the licence again until November,” Clint said, used to seemingly out of the blue questions by now. 

“Good. You should be prepared for a high priority case as your services may be required in the near future,” Fury said not expanding further on his vague statement.

“Will do, sir. I’ll have everything in place over the weekend,” knowing he would need to speak with his wife whilst home about this potential change. They had had a dozen or so foster kids over the past few years, mostly only emergency short term placements due to the inconvenience of their location. But they were always ready to help support children in need, it was interesting that this was the first time Fury had reached out to him about looking after someone. 

***

It had been a few weeks since the bedroom discussion and things had been going great. Harry was still enjoying that he got meals three times a day, every day, he had tried so many tasty new foods. He got a whole room to himself, with a bed and window and everything. Eliza had been sharing with Sophia with only a few pointed comments and complaints. Sophia meanwhile had been taking it all in stride, rolling her eyes at her younger sister’s antics.

Eliza still hadn’t been happy to begin with at losing her room. She had shoved him into the wall when they had been alone upstairs later that day, and then for the first week she had continued to kick him in the shin whenever she could whilst they were sat at the table though somehow Angela or David always seemed to catch her doing it. She had been punished repeatedly for the bad behaviour and they had set up an appointment with her mind healer so that she could talk through her thoughts and feelings with someone outside the family.  

By his third week with the family Eliza had come to apologise to him properly, she explained that she still had problems with her anger sometimes and while she was still annoyed at having to give up her room, she realised it wasn’t really his or her fault. But that wasn't't an excuse for how she had treated him.

One of the great things about living with the Millers is that Harry was allowed to play with the other kids and their toys, and he didn’t even need to do lots of chores for the privilege. The only rules were he asked first before playing with someone else’s toys. The few simple chores he had were keeping his room tidy, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, and helping to set the table for mealtimes, he was in charge of cutlery and napkins. 

Angela had received a message on Harry’s second day in the house that they needed to schedule a meeting with the MACUSA healers as soon as possible for a follow-up appointment. So, on his third day Harry had been taken back to MACUSA where he saw Mediwitch Osan again. She was with some of her colleagues who were healers, apparently they were the magical equivalent of doctors. 

He had to undergo a number of different diagnostic spells and a ritual because something worrying had shown up on his in-depth diagnosis. The healers were still doing research as to what the solution to the problem was, supposedly it wasn’t something that Harry needed to worry about, but the healers wanted to keep a close eye on him to make sure nothing bad will happen. 

Harry had even had a small birthday celebration, he got some presents and there was a cake with a big number five candle. He finally got to try playing some of the party games that he had only been able to hear about from Dudley’s gloating. It was his best birthday ever, there had been a magical banner which would sing happy birthday when a candle was lit, there had been party poppers and he even got another cuddly toy to go with his niffler. 

~ ~ ~

It was the start of his fifth week in the Miller household, Harry was finally beginning to settle in. He knew the routine and understood the rules. He liked it, he felt safer than he ever had at Privet Drive. No one hit him or beat him up, and if they ever did hurt him they were punished. Harry was happy. 

It was nearing lunchtime and Harry was hurrying down the stairs in search of Jo, he wanted to ask them to play with him. They had some really cool dragon toys, they could fly and breathe fake fire, the day before they had started a game of Camelot, which they had to stop because of bedtime. He’d check their room but found it empty. 

“Don’t run on the stairs,” came a shouted admonishment from David in the kitchen. 

“Sorry,” Harry called back, slowing his pace.

Harry had reached the bottom of the staircase and looked through the open doors on his left and right, the room to his right was empty, to his left Angela had her head in the fireplace. Floo calling, apparently, it was what the floo address was for. Harry had been terrified the first time he had seen it happen, worried that Sophia would be hurt when she stuck her head in the fire, he had quickly grabbed some water to throw over her. She hadn’t been impressed and had taken the time to explain the magical communication and transportation abilities of floo powder. The lecture was a bit complicated and boring, but he now understood the basics. 

Tiptoeing past the doorway so as not to disturb Angela’s conversation, his name was mentioned causing him to stop and listen. He moved to stand off to the side of the doorframe, out of sight but still within hearing distance. 

“… settled in well so far. He’s beginning to come out his shell. A lovely little boy,” Angela was saying. 

There was a long pause, Harry thought he had been caught, then Angela started talking again, it was probably just the over person speaking he decided. 

“The Dursleys?” She questioned, “The relatives he was living with, okay.” 

Harry’s heartbeat began to speed up, he didn’t want to leave the Millers. Especially not to go back to the Dursleys. He missed the next part of the conversation, blood pounding in his ears when another statement broke through his panic. 

“… return to England.”

He couldn’t, he wouldn’t. Never again, he didn’t want to. Everyone was nice here, he wasn’t a freak, he got food. No. He couldn’t do it, even if he had to leave the Millers. Not the Dursleys. 

Before he could stop to think, he ran to the front door pulling it open. He rushed down the steps of the porch and across the front yard. He ignored the shouts from Jacob who was sat reading on the swinging chair. 

He stood on the curb, looking left and then right, trying to remember which way Hope had led him. He went right and ran between the parked cars towards the road, not noticing the car moving along the road. Privet Drive had always had very few cars, except before and after work, it was one of the things Harry forgot wasn’t the same anymore. 

“HARRY!” Jacob yelled, wanting to warn the younger boy, having spotted the car. He knew the driver wouldn’t be able to see Harry. 

At the distressed shout, Harry turned around taking another step backwards further into the road at the seemingly angry voice. There was a screech of brakes as the driver spotted the young child who appeared out of nowhere. 

Harry turned at the loud noise seeing the huge car getting closer by the second, time seemed to slow down, the car was going to hit him. Closer and closer. He was going to die, he closed his eyes, squeezing them shut. He didn’t want to see. Ever closer and closer. He knew he didn't have time to run. He could feel the heat of the engine. This was it. 

***

“Alpha team move in on target. Alpha five and Alpha eight remain in position,” came the order across the comms. 

The remaining members of Alpha team slowly moved from their various locations on the circumference of the two-mile radius towards the dilapidated building that was hiding a potential base. 

The building was old, made of grey stone. There were a couple of smashed windows running along the longer sides of the rectangular building, it was a couple storeys tall. A few of the upper windows remained intact. 

They were in a mostly open area, it was spotted by a few hills where enemies could be hiding so vigilance and stealth were key for this mission. Despite the almost exclusively open landscape with little to no good cover for the approaching team behind the ruin of a building there was a wooded area, from which some of the team were approaching, leaving no chance of their targets slipping through the net should they make it out of the building without being caught. 

“Alpha one. Movement spotted from the upper floor, final window, eastern side,” came the report from Alpha five, one of the two snipers positioned on opposites sides of the building. 

“Clear line of sight?” Came the question, the rest of the team continued to advance despite the new information being relayed to their team leader. 

“Affirmative.”

“Confirmation of suspect?”

“Negative. Tall, male of unknown further descriptors,” came the response. The windows were murky, streaked with dust making clear visuals practically impossible.

“Hold fire,” was the final command. Without confirmation of their main target it was better to not raise the enemies guard and continue with the strike team. The careful approach continued, no further messages being relayed across the comms as the team gradually drew nearer to the target. 

“In new position,” Alpha four relayed stationed as planned just beyond the edge of the tree line out of sight from the building.

“Remain alert, wait for support before approaching,” came the quick response from Alpha one. Alpha four settled in for a wait knowing that the teammates traversing the open area would be slower moving given the increased chance of being spotted. 

After three of the four remaining teammates declared themselves in the new position, an unexpected message came across the comms.

“Alpha one. Enemy spotted in the field, badly hiding just beyond the peak of the next hill,” Alpha six informed. 

This was not part of the plan, it was a poor strategic decision to have anyone laying in the field this close to the base when only one other enemy in a much better position who was easily been detained had been encountered by those crossing the open space. 

“Do you have clear line of sight?” Came the almost immediate response.

“Affirmative, top of head visible, an easy shot.”

“Take the shot,” came the order.

Alpha six raised their gun, lining up their target through the sight, aiming for the middle of the forehead beneath the messy black hair. The silencer was in place, once they were happy with the shot they breathed out slowly and gently squeezed the trigger, only one bullet would be necessary. The target moved, raising their head. 

“Crap.”

Impact was made. The target fell back to the ground from their slightly raised position. A loud cry of unexpected sharp pain rent the air. Alpha six put the safety back on and positioned the gun on their back so they could move quickly and more easily.  

“Alpha six?” Came the questioning voice of their superior. Nothing in the plan would require such an exclamation, even this unexpectedly simple adjustment. 

“It’s a kid,” was the blunt response, as Alpha six quickly approached the kid they had just shot in the face from fairly close range. Finally passing the summit of their hill and quickly climbing the next to get to the child. Cries of pain continuing throughout the quick scramble.

“It’s a kid?” Returned the unimpressed questioning statement of their superior.

“Yes. Can’t be more than about five, I’m approaching them now.”

Now that he could see the kid clearly, he realised how small he was. Messy black hair, eyes scrunched shut, clothes not suited for the terrain. He didn’t understand how they had come to be here, but that wasn’t important at the moment. “Kid, are you alright?” He asked gently, not knowing what else to say.

“Nooooooo,” came the pained response from the child still lying on the ground, hands brought up to their face, hovering but not touching, “it h-h-huuuuurts.”

“I’m sorry. I’m going to pick you up and take you to get some treatment, okay?” He asked not waiting for a response before moving closer to the injured child. 

“Nooooo,” moaned the small child, but they didn’t put up more of a fight when he reached across gathering the small body in his arms. He was surprised for a moment at how light the child was. 

“Okay, shouldn’t be long now, bud,” he reassured quickly heading back towards where medical had set up camp. He tried to quickly assess the small face in front of him. There was a massive red stain spreading out from across the top of the nose, maybe getting in the kid's eyes, he wasn't sure. Though the red paint really was realistic as blood, but it made it difficult to make out whether the kid had any further injuries. “Medical, I’m on route to you, impact with top of nose, unsure of any underlying injuries, he may have paint in his eyes, there will be bruises,” he informed across the comms. 

“Is that the end of the training session then?” Asked on of his teammates from their position. They had been so close to finally rounding up Delta team and successfully completing the exercise. Their final training exercise.   

Chapter Text

Harry was quickly carried to the medical van, where a dark haired, dark skinned man with cold eyes, and a strawberry blond woman with a contrasting pale complexion were sat beside a medical examination table which was situated on one side of the large van. The entire back of the van was set up as a mini treatment area, with shelves and cabinets along the wall opposite the bed, that were stocked with all the necessary equipment and medical supplies they could want whilst working in the field. 

Having been informed in advance, there were some supplied laid out on the counter space beneath the cabinets, there were two rotating seats placed in the small aisle between the bed and storage unit. 

The man moved towards the open back doors of the van to take Harry from the arms of Alpha six. He was smoothly transferred from one set of arms to the other, before he was placed down onto the examination table. 

Harry went to open his eyes at the shift in position, but quickly squeezed his eyes shut again, as it caused a dull throbbing to spread out from his forehead. Moving the muscles and area which had been injured during the earlier bullet impact. The pain had mostly faded during the quick trip to the van.  

“Kid, my name’s Doctor Watling, can you open your eyes for me?” The female medic asked, having put on a pair of latex gloves and removed some of the gathered supplies from their containers. 

“It hurts,” Harry mumbled slowly moving to peel his eyes open, wanting to see what was happening around him. The pain began again as the muscles in his forehead relaxed. “Owwww.”

Once both his eyes are open Doctor Watling moves a small, bright light in front of each eye in turn testing their reaction to the light, thankfully as expected the kid’s pupils were reacting normally to the stimulus. 

“What’s your name, kid?” Doctor Isaacs, her colleague asked from where he was moving some of the unnecessary prepared equipment back into its rightful spot in storage. Though, he had pulled out the clipboard and pen so that they could record the diagnoses, findings, and treatment administered. 

“Harry,” the young boy mumbled, trying to move his head out of the way of the doctor’s hands. Her hands were cold especially with the gloves. 

This was jotted down alongside the notes Doctor Watling was dictating to him, “and your surname, Harry?”

There was a pause, which caused him to look up from the paperwork, “Potts,” came the slow, uncomfortable sounding reply, whether that was due to the name or the fact that Harry’s head was being gently held between his colleagues hands, he couldn’t quite determine. 

“As in Pepper?” He questioned, trying to distract the kid and make the examination process easier for everyone, the only reaction he got from Harry was a scrunching forehead which brought about another moan of pain. Was that a thing here, a pot of pepper?

“No, uhh, like flower,” Harry eventually responded remembering something Hope had said when explaining why he was getting a new surname. 

Doctor Isaacs opened his mouth to ask another question but was interrupted before he could even get the first word out. 

“Can you pass me the wipes, please, Dex,” Doctor Watling asked, one hand stretched behind her, whilst the other gently kept ahold of Harry’s chin, tilting it back slightly to keep his face in the best position. 

“Thanks,” she added once the packet had been placed in her hand, sending a quick smile over her shoulder. 

“How old are you, Harry?” Doctor Isaacs continued, now watching the goings-on between the other two, whilst he leant back against the storage unit. 

“Five,” came the prompt reply. 

“Ah, there we go,” Doctor Watling said, “there’ll be a deep bruise marring your forehead for a while, Harry,” she said having cleaned the majority of the paint off of his face. “We’ll put some ice on it for now and then get you fully checked over once we're back at HQ.”

“Okay, thank you,” Harry responded, finally able to look around the rest of the van without having his face moved back into a specific position. He had never seen a van set up like a doctor's office, maybe this was what ambulances were like, he thought. 

“There you go, bud,” Doctor Isaacs said, offering a small ice pack wrapped in a sling to their young patient, who quickly pressed it against his head. 

***

“Jacob, what’s the problem?” Came David’s concerned voice as he hurried through the house, having heard the teenager’s shout. “Where’s Harry?” He asked concerned looking around the area in front of the house. 

Jacob was stood at the edge of their front lawn, there was a running car stopped in the middle of the road, its driver’s side door wide open, it was one car further to the left and separated from Jacob by the row of parked cars. 

David hurried down the front path to reach Jacob who hadn’t responded to his questions. Angela had extracted herself from the floo call and was stood at the front door, keeping the girls inside whilst they found out what was going on. 

“Jacob?” David called more gently, placing a hand onto the teen’s right shoulder, the teen was shaking under his hand which caused David’s heart rate to pick up a little, “can you tell me what happened?” 

“Harry, he… he…” Jacob began, his eyes still fixed on the car which was still stationary in the middle of the road. 

David could now see someone was moving around the front of the car where they were obviously looking for something. Maybe Harry knocked something into the road. David’s attention turned back to Jacob as he trailed off. 

“Where’s Harry, Jacob?” David asked becoming even more concerned, his heart increased the speed it was beating a little more. His eyes darted around the lawn and road trying to see if he had missed his youngest with his focus being pulled to Jacob. Though when Jacob didn’t respond he called to Angela, “hun, do you know where Harry is?” 

Angela looked confused for a moment, her gaze also quickly covered the area in front of the house, before turning to the other children who were still hovering behind her. There were a few words exchanged, too quiet to be heard from the roadside, a couple of heads shaking before he got his response, “He was in his room, but Eliza saw him head downstairs a few minutes ago.”

“Thanks, hun.”

So, it must have been Harry who was running down the stairs David realised, but where was he now… just a few minutes ago Jacob had shouted at Harry. He had to still be close by.

A car door slammed shut behind him, pulling him out of his thoughts, the car that had been loitering slowly started moving down the street. The driver seemed to be shaking their head as if trying to clear their thoughts, they appeared confused. 

The slam from the car door seemed to also start Jacob slowly coming out of his stupor.

“Jacob, can you tell me what happened?” 

“Harry ran out of the house… he, um, he seemed frightened… he took off down the lawn, then he went to cross the road, but… but he didn’t, um, he didn’t see the car coming,” Jacob began to haltingly explain, eyes still fixed on where the car had been stopped in the road. 

David’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest, what had happened to Harry? There were no cries of pain and the driver hadn’t seem overly distressed, more panicked and confused. 

Jacob continued before his thoughts could continue further along that path, “I shouted at him to try and warn him, he turned b-b-but took a step back as he did. The driver braked but it was going to be too late, the car was too close, then he was gone.”

A band that had been tightening around David’s lungs as Jacob retold the tale, loosened slightly, Harry hadn’t been hit. Relief rushed through him, before a new panic hit, “where’d he go, Jacob? Where’s Harry?” 

“I dunno, Dad, I dunno. He just vanished,” tears were silently running down the teen's face.

David pulled his son into a hug and shared a look with his wife who had approached during the retelling having seen his reaction to what Jacob was recounting. 

“Harry’s gone?” She questioned sadly, joining the hug, offering Jacob some extra support and comfort.

“Harry’s gone,” David murmured back to her.

“I’ll go search the house, then let Hope know Harry is missing,” Angela added, slowly pulling away from the quick group hug to begin searching for their newest charge.

***

“Hey, honey,” Clint said quietly, answering the call as he joined the stream of people leaving the room. He nodded goodbye to several of the people, mouthing ‘bathroom’ at the questioning looks, before going around a corner whilst most of the others went straight on. “How’s it going?”

“All’s good here, aside from the fact that Cooper’s in a temper because he had a fight with Matt, and Lila has decided she doesn’t like carrots anymore,” the exasperation was clear in Laura’s tone, as was the eye roll when Clint chuckled at the news. 

Lila had been going through phases recently of loving and then loathing particular vegetables, last month it had been peas. 

“What’s the problem with carrots?” Amusement underlying his tone, Lila’s reasons were always very entertaining.

“They’re too carroty."

"Carrots, too carroty," Clint repeated with a laugh.

"There's more, apparently and I will quote her on this ‘carrots are deceitful, they’re in disguise’”.

“In disguise?” Clint was honestly baffled by this.

“Yes. It somehow came up on TV that carrots used to be purple before they were slowly changed through selective breeding to be orange centuries ago by the Dutch.”

“Right… well you learn something new everyday.”

“Mmh. Anyway how was the course?” Laura asked, before he could reply though she shouted at the kids to stop arguing and to go play outside until dinner if they were just going to shout at each other inside. “Sorry, so your course?” 

“Yeah, it’s all done, I’m good for another five years before needing to redo the child abuse reporting training.”

“Good, when the certificate comes through we’ll send a scan to CPS so our file can be updated,” Laura said, Clint could hear her pen crossing it off the to-do list on the fridge.

“Oh, before I forget, Nat said she would try and make it out within the next few weeks, she should be back any day now,” Clint added as he continued to make his way through the corridors, heading to the back entrance to the building.

“Good, the kids will be pleased to hear that, especially after you both missed the 4th of July party.”

“I know, honey,” his phone pinged before he could continue, “incoming call from Fury, I’ll call again this evening, love you.”

“Love you, too,” she responded before ending the call. 

Clint pushed the back fire escape open, answering Fury’s call as he carefully closed it behind him, before making his way across the street, “sir?”

“Barton, you’re need on base immediately.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” he replied.

“Good,” was the only response he received before the call ended. 

He got into an inconspicuous black SUV that any SHIELD agent was able to borrow whilst leaving base, he started the car and joined the swiftly moving traffic.

***

Hope Anderson released a deep breath as she sank down into her office chair. The Millers had lost Harry Potter, she had just returned from a fact-finding visit to their home following the urgent and panicked floo memo she had received from Angela several hours earlier. 

He had vanished, which was bad, to put it very simply. They were unsure what caused the episode. But, on the plus side, his vanishing meant that he wasn’t hit by a car, so a small silver lining. Now, they just needed to find him, assuming he was still in the country that is, it had been irrefutably determined during the past few weeks that Harry had vanished from England and arrived in Maine. Who knew where the kid would apparatus next, given he was able to cross an ocean last time. 

This train of thought sparked an idea of how to find Harry. It was most likely that he would have caused a spark on the accidental magic board if he landed in the US. Step one decided, she left her office for the elevator to take a trip to the Accidental Magic Department. 

Depending on the size of the accidental magic burst they may have already responded to Harry as an urgent incident, especially given that it was transportation magic.

~ ~ ~

“Yes, the spike was recorded, a level five bright blue flash at approximately eleven thirty-nine this morning. A team was sent to the scene within ten minutes.”

“Okay, brilliant. Was he recovered unharmed?” Hope asked breathing a sigh of relief at how simple this was turning out to be. 

“No.” The young wizard who was in charge of monitoring the board replied, half his attention still fixed on the small flashes of light occurring across the country. 

“No?” Hope asked looking perplexedly at the younger wizard, one eyebrow raised. “You said the spike was recorded and a team was sent out.”

“Exactly, our records show it as an uninhabited, unused area of land. A team was sent to help deal with the situation. Upon their arrival and reconnaissance, it was discovered that a no-maj governmental agency actually uses the land occasionally for training purposes, one such time appears to have been this morning.”

“Sweet Morgana,” Hope sighed, there go her smoothly running plans of having this incident wrapped up within the afternoon. “Do we at least know if Harry is safe?” She asked. 

“Well, he was shot,” the monitor began before beginning interrupted.

“Shot? Mother of Morgana,” Hope exclaimed loudly drawing attention from many of the surrounding wixen.

“Yes, shot. But don’t worry it was only a paintball, and he was taken to medical and from there back to the agency's HQ for further examination,” the wizard continued not at all apologetic for the scare he had caused.

“For future reference, start with the non-lethal part of a situation where a kid is hurt, for peace of mind and to avoid unnecessary panic,” Hope said plainly, rebuke in her tone. 

***

Harry was in a new hospital bed, inside a building this time, not a van. He had been wheeled through from the van despite his protests that he could walk. 

It hadn’t taken long and was only a few corridors before they reached the medbay as the doctors called it. This one was a lot busier than the one in MACUSA Harry noted. A lot of people were bustling about, some wrapped partially in bandages, others had blood stains on their clothing, a few were sleeping or pretending to sleep on their own beds along the edges of the room. Though none of the equipment was floating around to where it was needed so this was probably just a regular hospital.

Hushed arguing brought his attention back to the adults around him, “how did you end up with a kid?” One of the new medical team questioned harshly. 

“He was shot during the training exercise, with no adult nearby to claim him as theirs,” Doctor Isaacs explained simply. 

“Which idiot shot a kid?” A different member of medical team asked. 

“Alpha six… so Schneider, I think,” Doctor Watling responded quickly before returning to explain all they had done and the information they’d been able to gather to the only medical team member who wasn’t arguing with them.

“Schneider’s gonna be in trouble,” one of the younger doctors singsonged.

“Okay, that’s enough, let’s get him checked out again, then try and contact someone for him,” the doctor who had been speaking to Watling ordered, “I’m Doctor MacPherson, Harry,” they said in a much gentler tone to him, “I’ll be taking care of you whilst you’re here with us.”

Harry just nodded and gave a small smile as his bed was wheeled down the ward and he was transferred from one bed to another.

~ ~ ~

A short while later after Harry had had yet another check up and been declared fine. Harry was sat around waiting, when asked who they should contact he had given the nice doctor the phone number Hope had told him to call if he ever needed help. 

The nice doctor had gone to call Hope, so he was waiting for her to arrive when he spotted a pirate. The pirate had just entered the medbay and was looking around for someone.

Harry sunk down on his bed, he didn’t want to be taken by the pirate, he couldn't swim and the pirate looked really scary. Unfortunately, it would seem his luck had run out, the pirate’s one good eye locked onto him and the man moved towards him. 

“Mr. Potter,” the man said quietly, causing Harry’s eyes to widen, how did this pirate know his real name? He’d told them his name was Potts, “if you would come with me.”  

Harry knew that tone well, it made sentences that sounded like requests into orders, he slowly slipped off the bed, put his shoes back on and hurried after the pirate who had begun to make his way back across the ward.

Once they left the room, he was only led a short way down the corridor and into a room with a massive table with a lot of chairs surrounding it. 

“Hope Anderson will be arriving shortly,” the pirate said, pointing Harry to a seat where there was some paper and a pen, “you can entertain yourself with that whilst we wait.” 

It wasn’t long before Hope popped into the room, when her eyes landed on Harry she felt all the leftover tension fade from her body. Harry was safe. 

“Sweet Merlin, is that where you were shot?” She asked Harry having caught sight of the large deep red bruise on his forehead. She moved to take a seat beside her charge, she pulled a pack of crayons out of one of the pockets in her bag. “There you go, Harry.”

“Thank you, Hope. Yeah, it still hurts a little.” Harry said, pulling out the yellow crayon to colour in his sun. 

“So, you’re going to be meeting someone new here, Harry. It’s been decided to place you with a new family, the Bartons, rather than return you to the Millers.”

“I’m not going back to the Dursleys?” Harry asked warily remembering the part of the conversation he had overheard that morning. 

“No, you’re never going back to them if I have anything to say about it,” Hope said seriously, getting eye contact with Harry to reinforce the message. 

“Okay. Why 'm I not going back to the Millers?” He asked in confusion, he had only just started to settle in there. 

“We think this new family will be a better fit for you, Harry. For one, their kids are closer in age to you and it will also be safer and better protected there,” Hope explained gently. 

Harry only nodded to that, sniffling a little, he had liked it at the Millers. What if this new family wasn’t as nice?

“This will all turn out for the best, Harry, you’ll see,” Hope reassured pulling him gently into a hug. Running a hand up and down his back in comfort.  

***

Upon arriving back at SHIELD HQ, Clint had returned the SUV keys and was heading towards Fury’s office for more information when the man himself arrived to steer him towards the medbay. 

“The high priority case I mentioned a while back is waiting for you,” Fury said leading the other man, he pulled up short before arriving at the medbay and led Clint into a meeting room, where a small kid with messy black hair was sat at the table colouring. There was a friendly-looking black woman sat beside him who was filling out some paperwork.

“Clint, this is Harry and Hope Anderson, Harry’s social worker. Hope, Harry, this is Clint Barton,” Fury offered by way of introduction before taking a seat across the table from the pair, the kid looked up at the noise of the door opening and his bright green gaze caught Clint’s briefly before it quickly skittered away. 

Clint nodded in greeting to Hope, then he slowly made his way around the table and bent down beside the chair Harry was sat on, “Hey, Harry, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Clint, you’ll be coming to stay with my family,” he said with a kind voice and a small smile.

"Hello," Harry greeted. 

Chapter Text

Following Nick asking Clint and Laura to be ready to take in a new foster child at short notice, they had spent time preparing their home and considering whether they would be a suitable fit for this child. Nick had been able to provide them with some information about Harry Potter, their potential foster child, who currently had a placement elsewhere and may not be in need of moving any time soon.

The two of them had ultimately decided that if they were needed then their family was ready to accept Harry and give him the support and care he needed. Laura had shown signs of recognition when they first heard Harry's name, but she brushed it off as probably just being a coincidence. 

Nick had only been able to give them the limited information that had been collected by the staff who had brought Harry into CPS from the Wildlife Refuge in Maine, though the file wasn’t clear on how he got there nor where his original caretakers were. There were a number of unanswered questions about Harry’s case, but what they were able to gather from the file made them think Harry would fit in well with their family.

The limited information they had already been given was in itself a breach of Harry's confidentiality and receiving any more would have to wait until the appropriate processes were undertaken if Harry needed to be moved and they were asked to care for him. 

Therefore, several weeks after Nick approached him in the corridor informing him that their services would be needed, he was following Nick down a corridor to Harry. Whilst they walked, he sent a quick text to Laura letting her know that he’d be bringing their new foster child home soon. 

***

Hope had just returned from the Accidental Magic Department when she received an unexpected phone call from an undisclosed number. She watched the screen with uncertainty for one ring before answering the call.

Her confusion had not abated at finding out she was receiving a call from the Deputy Director at SHIELD, he introduced himself as Nicholas Fury. She hadn’t thought the vast majority of the no-maj government and all of its associated agencies were informed on the reality of the magical world, let alone that WCPS contact information was accessible to them. Though, she probably shouldn’t be surprised that an intelligence agency was able to access supposedly hidden information. Even if it was beyond secret, need-to-know information. 

Speaking with Fury had helped relieve the stress she had been under as he revealed that they had somehow come to have Harry in their custody. Supposedly, he had appeared unexpectedly during a routine training drill. He was bruised from the experience but otherwise would suffer no long-term side effects and was being checked over again by the medical team on base at their headquarters.

He had asked whether she would be returning Harry to the same foster family or not. Before she could answer that that was confidential information, he informed her that one of his most trusted agents was a qualified foster father, with a very protected and unknown-to-most family and home. 

Hope had taken a few minutes to consider the implicit offer, it had been decided that the best protection and situation would be to relocate Harry from the Millers. There was still the need to keep him protected and off the radar of the wider magical community. Having him placed in a no-maj home could be a risk but this was one of the last places a magical would look, with the added benefits of being removed from most maps, additionally Harry would be protected by a highly trusted and respected SHIELD agent. This could be the ideal situation for Harry.

Fury had been willing to give some additional information on the family and provided the relevant links to contact and gain information on the Bartons, as a foster family, from her no-maj counterparts with whom the Bartons worked most closely. 

***

The conversation with the pirate, or Mr. Fury, as Harry had later found out was his name, Hope, and Clint had gone on for a long time. Though, Mr. Fury didn’t stay for all of it having other important things to do. Harry had been asked questions occasionally and listened in quietly throughout but he didn’t understand all that was being said. The adults had to sort out paperwork, read and understand some important documents, and do other grown-up stuff that Harry didn’t really see the point of, but apparently they had to be done so he could go and stay with Clint and his family.

They had a break part way through for a meal, Clint took some of that time outside the room so he could speak with his wife on the phone, updating Laura on the situation. It also gave Hope the time to clear and have the process approved as an interstate fostering, giving the Bartons all the legal paperwork and approval they needed to provide care for Harry. 

During the break Harry was also able to try even more new foods, tacos, which were very nice though he didn't like the green leafy stuff that looked like coriander, but was apparently called cilantro. While he was eating and picking the cilantro off his taco, Clint told him a little bit about his wife, Laura, and their two children, Cooper and Lila. He also learnt that the family lived on a lot of land, which meant they had a huge garden, with a surrounding forest area, there was a lake that they used for swimming in the spring and summer and the Bartons also had some farm animals that they looked after.  

Once the short pause was finished, the conversation and paperwork continued, “alright, then. That was the last document you had to sign, Clint,” Hope said about forty minutes later, shuffling the papers that had become spread out across the table into one more or less neat pile, “I’ll have a copy sent over to you and one to your local CPS branch by the end of the day tomorrow.”

Clint shook out his hand jokingly with a smile, “thank you, Hope. Your help has been really appreciated,” he responded. This is a process that Laura and he had gone through several times already, but Hope had been by far the most efficient at handling the handover.

“It was my pleasure. I’m happy to have been able to find a solution for Harry’s housing so quickly,” Hope said, placing the paperwork into a folder she had pulled from her bag. “Will you be returning home this evening?”

“No, we’ll stay the night at SHIELD, then return home tomorrow afternoon,” Clint answered, this having been his plan before Fury had called him, but it seemed to be for the best when he took in Harry’s slowly drooping eyes lids.  

“Perfect, I’ll return tomorrow morning then, with a copy of all Harry’s files that you need and his belongings,” Hope said, standing from her chair and lightly stretching to remove some of the discomfort she felt from the longtime sat down. 

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning, thanks again for your help,” Clint said also standing from his chair and offering a hand to Hope. 

“Bye, Harry. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay. Have a good night’s sleep,” Hope said running a hand gently through Harry’s messy hair. 

“G’night Hope,” Harry said, yawning, rubbing a fist against his left eye before continuing, “see you, t'morrow.” 

Hope chuckled lightly at the sleepy kid in front of her, she gave a final smile to Clint before leaving the two alone together. 

“Alright then, bud, let’s get you to bed,” Clint said coming around the table to Harry who looked like he was going fall asleep on the table at any minute, “do you want me to carry you, bud?” He asked quietly. 

Harry blinked his eyes open, looking at the man in front of him, his brain slowly processed the question he had been asked, before he nodded twice, he turned his body so his legs were hanging off the side of the chair facing Clint. 

“Okay, up you come,” Clint said, wrapping one arm quickly around the small boy before he fell off the chair, he pulled him into his arms so Harry’s head was resting against his left shoulder. Clint was surprised at how light Harry was, he was able to support the youngster's weight easily with only one arm. 

He left the meeting room, checking his phone quickly to see that he had received a text from Hill saying a room had been set up for his needs. He quickly checked the room number before heading that way taking the quickest route but making use of the  least used corridors.  

***

It had been a long day. Hope was ready to go home and sleep, she had lost and then found one of her kids. She had had to unexpectedly remove him from one home and then incredibly quickly rehoused him into another, hopefully this time a more permanent one. 

Moved to the top of her to-do list for the next day was returning to the Miller household to collect Harry’s belongings and inform the family that Harry had been recovered unharmed. But that would be tasks for tomorrow morning.

She still had to return to the office, make sure the files were updated correctly, ensure all the necessary forms were filled in so there wouldn’t be a problem with Harry’s placement later on. She also had to make a copy of all Harry’s files which the Bartons would need, his medical records, a copy of the information which came from the Miller’s routine reports on his behaviour, how he was settling in, his eating habits and any worrying signs he was showing. She would also ask the secretary, Joseph, to fast track all necessary paperwork to the no-maj CPS office and Barton family. 

Then, she would have to go over any other paperwork or messages for the other children under her care. She took a deep breath, released it slowly and reminded herself of how incredible it felt when she saw her children thriving with their foster families, knowing she had played a key role in getting them in a safe and caring environment. Paperwork wasn’t fun but it was needed, so she could do it for the children. 

~ ~ ~

It had been a busy evening but she was able to do almost all the paperwork that she had had on her desk. Fortunately there were no urgent matters that had arisen during her time out of the office. A few updates on her other children had arrived she had to read through, and an approval request for a haircut, but nothing out of the ordinary as those were all fairly routine.

She had arrived into work early this morning and was preparing to floo through to the Miller's. She had sent them a message the evening before saying that she would be popping by and also letting them know Harry had been found and safely recovered. 

Hope gathered the files she would need to take for Clint, double checked she had her travel cup already filled with her favourite warm drink, espresso hot chocolate, and a snack to tide her over in case she didn’t make it back to the office for her lunch. 

Happy that she hadn’t forgotten anything, she stepped up to the office fireplace, grabbed a hand full of floo powder, threw it into the flames, as they flashed green she called out the address for the Miller’s home before stepping into the flames to be spun away.

A minute later she stepped gracefully out of the fire in the Miller’s floo room. She removed the ash from her clothes before stepping beyond the fireplace. 

David came in to greet her looking tired, “good morning, Hope. How is Harry?” He questioned.

“Harry is doing well, he was safely found and was checked over by two medical teams who both gave him the all clear. Another placement has been found for him, he’ll be meeting them today,” Hope answered, following David as he walked back into the kitchen. 

“Oh, that’s good. Would you like a drink?” He offered. 

“No, thank you, I have my travel cup as it’s going to be a busy day and I was only planning a quick stop here to pick up Harry’s belongings,” Hope answered politely.  

“Ah, yes. Well, Angie packed all his clothes and some of his toys last night, I’ll just go grab the bags for you,” he offered, waving her towards a seat at the counter. 

Hope took a seat, taking a quick sip from her cup, savouring the soothing chocolatey flavour with just an undertone of the espresso. 

“Hi Hope,” Jo greeted having climbed onto the bar stool next to her at the counter. 

“Good morning, Jo. How are you?” 

“Good, thanks. Where’s Harry?” Jo asked, noting that the younger boy wasn’t also in the room with the social worker. 

“He’s being moved to another foster family,” Hope explained, knowing that Jo was used to having new children and teens stay with them for only a short while before returning to their own families or other homes as necessary. 

“Oh, I liked Harry,” Jo replied before jumping down from their seat and going to look through the cupboards for something. 

“Here you go, Hope,” David said returning to the kitchen with a backpack and a small duffel bag, “this one has most of his clothes and some toys,” David explained pointing to the duffel, then pointing to the backpack he added, “and this one has his niffler, a change of clothes, and his jacket.”

‘Wonderful, thank you, David,” Hope said with a smile. Removing her wand from its holster, she charmed the duffel and backpack to shrink, then placed them in her expanded handbag.  

When Hope looked back up from her bag, David had two letters in his hand, “we were also hoping you would pass these on to Harry. One’s from Angie and I, the other is from Jacob,” he explained holding the letters out to Hope. 

Hope took the letters, carefully storing the letters in her handbag. 

“Don’t forget my drawing,” Jo said from behind David, causing him to startle. 

“Jo, don’t do that. My poor heart can’t take it. Go grab your picture for Harry, love, Hope has lots to do today,” he said, hand still on his chest where it had landed following the jump scare.  

“Okay,” Jo shouted over their shoulder as they ran out of the room. 

“Sorry about that. We’re sad to see Harry go, hopefully this placement will be good for him,” David added whilst they waited for Jo to return. 

“No worries. How is Jacob doing?” Hope inquired having noticed he was quite distressed the day before. 

“He was doing better yesterday evening, though still not quite himself. Your message saying Harry was found safe really helped him,” David explained, his tone showing the concern he felt for his son. 

“I’m glad that could offer him some reassurance,” Hope said taking another sip from her cup.  

Jo same sprinting back into the room with a piece of paper in their hands, which they shoved towards Hope, “here, this is for Harry too,” they exclaimed. 

“I’ll make sure Harry gets it,” Hope said, gently taking the picture and delicately placing it in her bag. She said goodbye to both Jo and David then heading back up the corridor to the floo room. 

***

It had been a busy day so far, Harry had woken up in a strange room in pyjamas that he did not recognise. There were two doors in the room, he opened one a little to look round, when he rested his forehead against the edge of the door a burst of pain shocked him, now the memories from the previous day came back to him. 

The floo call. The car. Disappearing, again. Being shot. The hospital in a van. Another hospital. The pirate. Clint. Boring adult conversation. Tacos. 

At the sound of footsteps Harry came back to the present quickly looked around both ways out of the door and saw that it only led out into a corridor with a lot of similar doors. Deciding it would be better to check the other door first, he crossed the room. The next door led into a small sitting room, there was a coffee table with his colouring book and pencils, that was stood in front of a sofa and there was a television on the wall beside his door. The was also a small kitchen area across from him beside another door.  

He wasn’t sure if he was meant to prepare breakfast or not. New family, new rules. He decided it was better to wait and see. So, he settled down on the floor beside the coffee table and began colouring. 

Half an hour later he was pulled out of his intense focus on the green, orange and purple tiger, “good morning, bud. Did you sleep well?”  

“Yes, thank you,” Harry replied, turning to watch Clint.

After that the rest of the morning moved a lot more quickly. Clint started by making them both breakfast, well Harry wasn’t sure if it would count as making, but Clint prepared a bowl of cereal for each of them. 

Once the bowls were cleaned up, they got dressed and headed back to the meeting room they had been in yesterday, where Hope was waiting for them with two bags and a booster seat. 

“Good morning, Clint, Harry. How are you?” She asked, smiling at the young boy. 

“I’m good,” Harry responded, looking round the room his arms swinging beside him, not sure if he was meant to sit down or remain standing. 

“I’ve got all your things from the Millers, Harry. Your niffler is in the backpack,” she said to Harry. Clint furrowed his brow at the term but didn't have time to give it much thought before Hope turned to him, “the rest of his toys and clothes are in here. I have a copy of his files for you, and you should have received a copy of the documents from yesterday. All the paperwork for his placement has been filed with your local CPS as well,” Hope added, Harry’s files were placed in a small pile on the table, alongside the letters and drawing from the Millers. 

“Right, good to know, thanks,” Clint said, keeping an eye on Harry and the odd stuffed animal he had pulled out of the backpack, that was what a niffler looked like he guessed. 

“These are from his previous foster family,” Hope explained when Clint reached to pick up the drawing and envelopes. 

Clint nodded, before carefully slotting them into the front cover of one of Harry’s files. He glanced at his watch, seeing that they would have to get going soon to reach the airport on time, he quickly asked, “is there anything else I need to know?” 

“No, nothing is coming to mind, we covered all the important things yesterday. Everything else is in his files, I provided my contact details and Harry has a copy of them in the event of an emergency,” Hope smiled, helping Harry to put on the backpack. 

After that it had been as smooth a journey as you can have with a small child in tow when going to catch a plane. Harry had been fascinated by the airport security, though afraid of the sniffer dogs that they had occasionally passed in the terminal. 

~ ~ ~  

Now Harry was sat on a plane beside Clint in the seat closest to the window with his face almost smushed up against it. They were currently sat on the runway waiting for the plane to take off.

“Won’t be much longer now, bud,” Clint said, getting Harry to turn around and sit down properly with his seatbelt fastened, as the plane began to taxi along the runway. 

As the plane built up speed, Clint offered Harry a hard-boiled sweet to suck on to help prevent the fallout of having his ears pop from the air pressure.

Harry grabbed Clint’s arm as the plane began to tilt as the wheels left the ground and the plane sped up into the air leaving the ground behind them. 

“It’s alright, bud, this is normal, we’ll level out again soon, don’t worry, he soothed running one hand gently through Harry’s hair. 

Clint wondered if Harry had had the same reaction during his first flight to the US because his actions made it seem like he had never been on a plane before. 

Once the seatbelt signs were turned off, Harry spent a lot of the flight looking out the window, watching the different clouds and looking at the towns and cities they flew over. Telling his cuddly toy all about the world below them. There were points where it looked like he wanted to ask some questions but would stop himself before actually doing so. 

During the landing, Harry had a similar reaction to takeoff. Once they were off of the plane, all their bags with them, they were able to quickly navigate through the airport. Though, Clint made sure to stop for a toilet break before going to find their car. 

“Just the car ride left now, bud,” Clint said, strapping Harry into the booster seat. Once happy that it was properly secured and Harry was comfortable, he shut the car door and headed to the drivers seat. 

“How long will it take?” Harry asked quietly, as Clint reversed the car out of the parking spot, he was hugging the niffler tightly to his chest. 

“It should be about two hours, as long as the traffic is good,” Clint responded with a smile, glancing back at Harry in the rearview mirror. 

“Okay,” came the mumbled response, Harry was once again focused on the world outside the window, occasionally saying something to the niffler.

Clint turned on the radio, as their car left the parking garage and merged with the traffic. 

Harry dozed off about thirty minutes into the drive and only woke again as they were shaken from hitting a huge pothole on the dirt road which led to the drive of the farmhouse. 

Harry gave a small yawn before asking, “how long now?” 

“No more than ten minutes now, bud,” Clint responded happily, sharing a smile with Harry when their gazes caught with his quick glance in the rearview mirror.

“Wow,” Harry murmured taking in the big green trees on either side of the road, though as they drew nearer he began to feel a bit nervous about meeting this new family. Would they like him? Would they be nice? Would he fit in? These thoughts were pushed to the background as they emerged from the trees and the farmhouse finally came into sight.  

Chapter Text

“Behold family, I am home,” Clint called out from where he stood in the front entrance, dropping his bags at the same time, their clattering to the floor adding to the noise of his entrance. 

Harry stood behind him and off to the right, he watched as Clint dropped the bags he was holding, in confusion. His head followed the fall the bags took and he watched them for a beat before turning back to the man in front of him. He wondered if he was just going to leave his bags there, right in the middle of the floor. In direct contrast to Clint’s actions, Harry quietly lowered his own backpack to the floor with care, placing it out of the way of anybody walking by resting it up against the wall. 

“Daddy!” Came a young girl’s voice from further in the house, this exclamation was followed by the scraping of a chair on wooden flooring. Loud footsteps could then be heard as the owner of the voice charged in their direction. 

Sure enough, not even a minute later a small brown-haired missile shot out of the doorway to their right and was caught up in a tight hug within Clint’s arms. Once the girl, Lila, Harry remembered Clint had said his daughter was called, pulled back from the embrace she glanced around and noticed Harry still stood slightly awkwardly beside them. 

“Oh, hi. I’m Lila,” she said giving a small wave with her left hand, the other still wrapped around Clint’s shoulder securing her place in his arms. 

“I’m Harry,” he responded, only quickly glancing up at her eyes, his own returning wave looking much more stilted. 

Lila began to say something else only to be interrupted by another body flinging itself at Clint, this time wrapping themselves around his waist, Cooper, Harry thought he remembered was the older boy’s name. Clint moved his free arm to wrap around Cooper’s shoulders, giving him a tight squeeze before loosening the hold, but not releasing him. 

“Dad, I missed you,” Cooper said, his face still pressed into his father’s stomach.

“I missed you too, Coop. But I’ll be home for a while yet, at least a few weeks whilst Harry is settling in,” Clint said in the kind tone which Harry was beginning to realise was just his normal voice. 

Clint’s words caused Cooper to finally remove his face from where he had been attempting to bury it. “Oh, hey, I’m Cooper,” he said, holding out a hand when he spotted Harry who was still rooted to his spot watching the family interact. 

“‘M Harry,” the younger boy responded quietly, glancing at the outstretched hand for a moment before scanning Cooper’s face for any warning signs, spotting none, he shuffled forward slightly and quickly shook the hand. 

Harry heard a floorboard creak from near the doorway where Lila and Cooper had emerged from, causing him to shuffle back a step whilst he turned his gaze to assess the newcomer.

“It’s nice to meet you, Harry, I’m Laura, Clint’s wife,” came a soothing voice which sounded friendly, not at all like Aunt Petunia's clipped tones, this woman also had a smile on her face as she looked at him, another very distinct difference from Petunia. Their eyes connected for a couple of seconds before Harry quickly looked away. 

“Hello, ma’am, it’s nice to meet you too,” he responded being careful not to mumble as he knew some adults hated it when he did not speak clearly and properly. 

“Oh, none of the ma’am nonsense with me, Harry, just plain old Laura is fine,” she responded moving to hug her husband, placing a light kiss to his lips before stepping back. 

“Hi love,” Clint greeted his wife warmly, releasing Cooper from the hug, before lowering Lila back onto her own two feet. 

“Are you trying to invite all the world’s animals indoors?” Laura questioned, teasing rebuke in her tone as she looked from her husband at the still wide open door. 

“It wasn’t the plan, but I’m sure the Lila wouldn’t mind sharing her room with the chickens, Cooper could take the cats,” Clint responded ignoring the indignant squawk Lila let loose at that suggestion. 

Cooper began to tease Lila about how she was already sounding like a chicken, but a stern glance from Laura had him easing off and Lila stepping back from where she had been about to attack her brother. 

Laura rolled her eyes at her husband, before soothing their daughter with an admonishment to not always go straight for physical retaliation and then she pointedly stepped around all of them closing the front door, as a ringing sounded from somewhere in the house, “all right, that’s the timer, let’s go eat dinner,” she said gesturing for the kids to head back through to the kitchen. 

Before Harry could decide what he was meant to be doing, Lila came over to him, gave him a quick smile, then grabbed one of his hands and pulled him along behind her. 

“Clint, the bags,” Laura reminded with a glance at the floor when he went to step over them to follow after the kids. 

“Huh, right,” he mumbled gently kicking them to be resting against the wall, the main walkthrough now clear of tripping hazards. This 'tidying' resulted in an exasperated sigh and eye roll from his wife. He placed a quick kiss on her cheek before heading through to the kitchen, the enticing smells of a home cooked meal easily guiding him.  

***

The house elf popped into what should have felt like a large and airy room, most of the space however was being taken up by an unnecessarily long table, especially given the single occupant sat at the head of it eating his breakfast.

The house elf had popped into being on the left hand side of their master, they gently floated the newly received missives and a copy of the Daily Prophet onto the plate placed not far from the laid out cutlery for precisely this purpose. 

With the task complete, the elf quickly scanned the table for anything that needed clearing or any dishes that needed to be topped up, vanishing an empty jam dish before leaving without comment or acknowledgement from their master, as was normal.  

What was unusual was one of the letters that had arrived that morning, there had only ever been a handful like it received by their master, and only ever in recent years. The unusualness could be boiled down to one single thing, the complete and utter absence of magic. 

The red wax seal on the letter made it appear to fit in with the magical customs, though unlike usual seals from different families or businesses this one held no recognisable crest to mark the senders House or status, in fact the symbol was somewhat reminiscent of the dark mark, having a skull for the main part of the design, only instead of a snake coming from it, there were multiple tentacles connected to it from below. 

The lack of magic coming, or rather not coming, from the letter as would be expected from correspondence within the wixen community clearly signalled who the sender was to the elves. It was unusual for them to handle something seemingly devoid, to them at least as magical beings, of its ordinariness. In most cases if there was no magic in the ink or parchment, then normally there was at least a trace of magic in the wax or seal, and in the very rare case when there was none left from that, there was always a very small trace from the innate magic which the animal used to deliver the letter had. But this letter was without any magical influence until it had been transported from the mail box to its intended receiver by his trusted servant. 

From the past few experiences they knew their master would either be very pleased or extremely angered by receiving a letter from those people, only time would tell what reaction this anomaly would bring. 

~ ~ ~

The wizard, unaware of the tension that had begun to spread through his servants, finished his breakfast at a sedate pace, slowly perusing the paper for any interesting news or mentions of events that could impact his life or business interests. 

It was only as he finished, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin, in the way that all properly raised pureblood should, that he caught sight of the seal on one of his letters. He quickly reached for it wondering what the muggles could want to inform him of now, the communication had rapidly ended following the downfall of his master on the awful night of All Hallow’s Eve nearly four years ago.

He used the letter opener that was placed beside the plate for this exact purpose, the one time he had been uncouth enough to use a butter knife as a child had left a lasting impression on his habits, despite the fact his mother was no longer around to correct him should he ever act so inappropriately again. 

The contents caused a slow grin to spread across his face, this was very good news indeed. The first clue he had come across in his search, yes, today would be a superb day indeed. 

“Kubbi,” he called imperiously, hardly waiting for the elf to appear before making his demands, “parchment, an ink pot, and my eagle quill, immediately.”

“Yes, master,” Kubbi responded with a quick nod of their head before popping away to gather the requested items. A minute later all the items were placed in front of their master in the space cleared by the breakfast items, save the remaining unread correspondence, having been cleared from the table. 

“Prepare Zeus for delivery,” the wizard ordered, already drawing the parchment closer to himself, dipping the quill delicately into the ink, pausing whilst he thought about how he wanted to phrase the letter he would be sending. 

“Yes, sir, Kubbi will be doing that now, sir,” the loyal elf responded before silently disappearing again. 

***

The evening had been going really well so far, the Barton family plus Harry had all settled around the kitchen table to eat dinner. It was macaroni and cheese, another meal Harry had only recently been introduced to, Laura made it differently to how David had. It didn’t taste the same and Harry wasn’t sure if the new one was a better different or not.  

His stomach felt comfortably full, a feeling he had been growing used to over the last few weeks away from the Dursleys. When he had first sat down with the Bartons, it felt like there were butterflies flapping around inside of him, but as the family went about their dinner ritual, including him naturally, like with their going around the table sharing the best and worst parts of their day, he gradually relaxed. 

Both Lila and Clint said something linked to Harry was the best part of their day which had made Harry’s face feel all warm, but also brought a big smile to his face. 

After dinner was finished, the washing and cleaning up done, the whole family had gone into the living room to watch a film. Laura and Clint shared a comfy looking chair, whilst the three kids spread out on the sofa. Harry thought the film was brilliant, being able to see what was happening made it so much better, in the past he was only able to hear part of what was happening from his cupboard. 

It was his first proper experience of watching a film, the Millers had a TV which they didn’t really use as it tended to react badly if a magical device was being used or a spell was being cast at the same time. The image would blur and break as if the signal was not strong enough, sometimes the sound would stop but the picture would continue, or vice versa. 

The credits had just started rolling and his eyes were drooping, he was nice and warm covered with a blanket, his face resting against the back of the sofa. 

“Come on then, bud,” Clint said, rising from his spot on the chair and crossing the room, he knelt down in front of the sofa where Harry was still sprawled in between Lila and Cooper, “time to get ready for bed, I’ll show you to your room.”

Harry wiggled a little trying to wake his body up a bit more, all the movement did was get him more snuggled into the warmth of the sofa, he tried to stifle a yawn, “okay,” he mumbled, bringing one arm out from under the blanket to rub against his eye. He stretched his arms which pushed the blanket down so it pooled on his lap. 

“Up you get, bud,” Clint said, slowly reaching forward to lift Harry from the sofa, being sure to move slowly and broadcast his movements. He knew from past experience that new fosters could sometimes take a while to trust new adults. 

Harry watched warily but didn’t flinch or attempt to pull away from Clint, letting himself be lifted and gently placed back on his feet. 

“Alright, we’re going this way, bud. I’ll show you everything important on the way, we’ll do the full tour including the outside tomorrow,” Clint explained, making his way to the exit of the room, Harry shuffling along behind before he left the room he heard Laura say, “half an hour, Lila, then it’ll be bath time.”

~ ~ ~

Harry was led up the stairs by Clint, at the top of the stairs there was a small landing area, an open room from which all but one of the rooms on that floor opened off of, much like they had at Privet Drive, though here there was also another flight of stair which led up to the converted attic space, which Clint told him held a guest bedroom and the playroom.

There was a short corridor leading off of the far right hand corner of the landing that led to one of the bedrooms and ended with a window, “alright, Harry, this is the emergency exit, if you push the handle up like this, then the window can be opened,” Clint explained. 

This explanation of the emergency escape was just like the one had been given at the Millers. Clint got Harry to have a go at opening the window and there was a stool beside the window which could be used in an emergency if he needed help climbing out to reach the set of stairs leading down to the garden. 

Once Clint was happy that Harry understood and would be able to open the window if he needed to, he turned to the door leading off the short corridor they were in, “this is going to be your room, bud,” he said pushing the door open. The room was quite small but there was enough space for the bed, a chest of drawers, and a small desk. 

Harry’s backpack had been set on the bed at some point during the evening, and the duffle bag with his things had been placed on top of the chest of drawers, Clint quickly pulled out a set of pyjamas for Harry whilst adding, “we’ll put all of your clothes away tomorrow, okay bud.” 

“Thank you,” Harry said through a yawn, nodding to show Clint he had heard what he had said.

“No problem, bud,” Clint replied whilst walking to the wall which Harry’s new bed was pushed up against, lightly knocking on it, “Cooper’s bedroom shares this wall, so if you hear any loud snoring it’s probably him,” Clint explained in a teasing tone, pulling a tired giggle from Harry before he quickly brought up a hand to cover his mouth and stifle the sound, though his eyes still sparkled with joy. 

“Definitely time for bed, don’t you think, bud. Do you need help getting changed?” 

Harry shook his head quickly at that question, he was a big boy now, he hadn’t needed help getting dresses since he was really little. 

“Alright then,” Clint said. “I’ll go grab a choice of stories for tonight,” he added giving Harry time to change out of his clothes. When he returned Harry was steadily yawning and his pyjama top was inside out. 

“Teeth and then story, I think,” Clint said with a small smile, deciding to leave Harry’s top as it was. The kid was obviously tired after their busy day. He explained as they went that Lila was in the bedroom across the corridor from him, but the door to enter her room was one of those on the main landing. 

Clint led him back to the family bathroom so he could brush his teeth and pointed out his and Laura’s room was right beside it, on the other side of Cooper’s room, “if you need anything, bud, just come and knock, alright?” Getting another tired nod from Harry as he slowly finished brushing his teeth.

Harry was finally tucked up in bed and Clint began to read him the book he had chosen. They were barely more than two pages in before Harry was pulled deeply into Morpheus’ realm. The book was gently placed on the small desk as Clint stood from the chair. 

“Sleep well, bud,” Clint whispered, brushing Harry’s hair gently away from his forehead. Unintentionally getting a clear look at the odd shaped scar making his forehead for the first time. He wondered what had happened to the kid for him to have such a distinctive scar, it stood out as if done fairly recently. 

But, that was a problem for another night, he could hear Lila complaining about not wanting to have a bath. He gently closed Harry’s door and headed to see what part of the routine he could do to get his other kids tucked up in bed. 

***

That evening as Harry was enjoying his first film with his new foster family, Hope Anderson was relaxing at home when she was struck by a thought. Were the Barton’s aware of Harry’s magical nature? 

She hadn’t mentioned it, as was protocol in the rare instances when magical children were placed with a no-maj placement. In the rare cases where this did occur, normally the no-majs had a link or some awareness of the wixen world, though some were introduced to this new world with the first instances of accidental magic. 

She had assumed that since Deputy Director Fury was aware of the magical world and Harry’s wixen nature that he had informed the Bartons of this fact. Though, she was now questioning whether this was in fact the case as she would have expected more questions on what to expect from raising a magical child. Maybe the Bartons had already dealt with a magic child and therefore felt confident not asking all the expected questions. 

Yes, she decided that was the most likely outcome. She also thought she remembered Fury mentioning that Laura had a magical relative or at least magical blood somewhere in her family. 

If they weren’t aware, then the magical screening their file underwent had already shown that they would be accepting of magic. Hope let the worry leave her mind, she would go in for a post placement check-up in about a week or two and she could evaluate the situation then. 

Harry would be in safe hands with the Bartons, their file made that especially clear and if that wasn’t enough she could feel it, her magic was telling her so. 

***

Laura was lying awake in bed that night trying to figure out what about Harry had been reminding her of something. She knew there was something about him that was important, she had a gut feeling pushing the idea that she knew more about him that she could put her finger on right now, it was just like when she had first been told his name. An instant spark of recognition but without further knowledge or memories of why. Her subconscious mind was making connections or working off of these feelings letting her know there was a wider picture that she couldn’t quite put together or see at the moment.

As with similar experiences in the past she would give her mind time to slowly assimilate and work through the connections her subconscious had been making at a much faster pace than she could consciously follow. She would know when she needed to, everything would click into place given time, of that, she was sure.  

Having resolved this latest train of thought, she was able to relax and join her husband in sleep. 

Chapter Text

As Harry stumbled into wakefulness, it took him a while to figure out where he was, as this room was definitely not his room at the Miller household. Early morning light was shining in through the window, though from the opposite direction to that which he had become accustomed, though it gave the usual golden tint to this new little room. That’s when it hit him, he wasn’t at the Millers', nor was he at the Dursleys', last night he had arrived and stayed with the Barton family on their farm. 

A smile bloomed across his face as he remembered the night before, he snuggled back down into the warmth of his new bed, just enjoying the comfort and softness it provided. 

He couldn’t hear any movement but knew he wouldn’t go back to sleep, he was an early riser anyway and at the Millers David and Jo would normally be up with him. The nerves of not knowing what to do on the first morning arrived, just like they had at the Millers. Worries began to flow through his head, what did the Bartons expect, was he meant to get up and make breakfast, was he meant to stay in his room until called, was he meant to get up, get dressed and wait downstairs. Some of the scary stories which Sophia and Eliza had told him about past foster homes came to mind as he worried. 

The Bartons had explained their ground rules the night before, but some of them were a bit blurry in his memory and he couldn’t quite recall if they had said anything about in the mornings or not. He decided it would be best to try and make a good impression, he could cook breakfast as a thank you.

He had lots of practice with making breakfast so there shouldn’t be a problem. Yes, he nodded to himself, he could make breakfast. He quickly got out of bed and chose some clothes from the still packed duffle bag on top of his new chest of drawers.  

Sounds from outside the window drew his attention before leaving the room, so Harry quietly crept across to the window and enjoyed the view of the sun rising over the trees, casting a gentle golden light across the yard. He could only see the vast expanse of trees in straight behind the house and he remembered lots of fields for miles in the other. The view was so different to what he was used to, there was no uniform housing and gardens here like at the Dursleys', and no road filled with other different houses and gardens to be seen like at the Millers'.

The clucking sound which first caught his attention drew his gaze to a chicken coop set not far from the back of the house. Some of the chickens had left their little house and were in a caged off garden space. It didn’t take long for Harry to grow bored with the view, he decided it was time to make the bed then explore the kitchen to find the supplies and pans he would need for cooking. 

He made his way down the stairs and through to the kitchen without making too much noise, his bedroom door creaked a little causing his heart to beat a little faster but when nobody seemed to have been disturbed, the pounding slowed back to normal.

There was a small stool in the kitchen that he was able to move around so he could check what food the Bartons had in the fridge. Harry decided he would make pancakes because everyone likes pancakes, and they could choose what toppings to put on them. 

Harry had got out a big mixing bowl, added the necessary ingredients, he was very careful when cracking the egg as he didn’t want any of the shell to fall in the mix. 

Getting the frying pan ready to use had been a struggle, he had almost dropped the heavy pan when he was lifting it on to the stove top, meaning it clattered down loudly on the stove. Harry had frozen with the loud noise, too scared to even breath, his gaze darting between the now silent pan and the doorway. Though again nobody seemed to have been disturbed, Harry wondered if the Bartons were like Uncle Vernon and Dudley, able to sleep through anything, being almost impossible to rouse without the scent of food, specifically bacon.

Harry waited tensely for a couple of minutes, he thought he had heard footsteps at one point or the creaking of a bed. But after these sounds there was no obvious footsteps on the stairs or shouted demands of silence in the house. So he continued on with his plan. 

He found the dial which he needed to turn for the stove to ignite the flame under the correct ring. He double checked the pancake batter was without lumps, he had a empty plate, spatula, and the butter dish nearby to make sure nothing stuck to the pan. 

Once the first bit of butter was melted, he carefully poured a dollop of the batter into the pan, carefully ensuring nothing made the counter dirty. His full attention being on the pancake he didn’t notice when Cooper entered the kitchen sleepily rubbing his eyes. 

“Harry! What are you doing?” The older boy exclaimed once he processed the scene in front of him. 

Harry startled at the loud voice, naturally going to take a step away from the noise, forgetting he was on a stool. His balance shifted as his foot didn’t immediately find purchase, hands flying out to secure him from falling.

“Be careful, you’ll get hurt,” Cooper cried out again seeing the little boy has flailing like he would fall, he quickly ran towards him hoping to help. 

Cooper’s warning came too late, Harry’s hands were instinctively grabbing at anything to stop the fall, one hand grasped onto the edge of the frying pan, the other grabbing the counter. As his back leg landed on the lower step of the stool restoring his balance. 

“Owww,” Harry quietly whimpered, tears rolling down his face as he quickly released the very hot pan. He glanced down at the palm of left hand which was red from the already quickly forming burn. He cradled the hand to his body before turning his attention back to the pancake, he couldn’t let it burn, he just couldn't. He picked up the spatula with his good hand and carefully flipped the pancake. 

Cooper was beside the younger boy, not sure what he should do. Mom and Dad always said cooking was dangerous for young kids and Harry was already hurt, he saw when his hand held the hot pan, but Harry continued to cook, moving both feet back onto the top step of the stool. “Harry, I’m sorry for scaring you. Is your hand okay?” Cooper asked nervously. 

Harry sniffled quickly, he glanced to Cooper who was hovering beside him, “I’m fine,” he answered, “the pancake will be done in a few seconds.”

“Harry, you should’t be cooking, you’re hurt,” Cooper said, as Harry skilfully moved the cooked pancake onto the empty plate beside the stove. 

“It’s not that bad,” Harry mumbled taking a quick glance at his marked red hand, tears still running silently down his face. 

~ ~ ~

At the clatter of a heavy object both Clint and Laura woke up, their eyes springing open as the normal early morning quiet was disturbed. Both of them were more than used to needing to wake up fully in a matter of seconds so they could address a change in situation quickly. 

They remained lying side by side, listening for any further loud noises or sounds from the children, but nothing happened, the silence that had settled after the clatter was unbroken. No groans of pain, thankfully, no giggles, no not-so quiet children’s whispering, nothing. 

“I’ll go see what that was,” Clint said, reaching across to kiss his wife good morning, before stretching out and moving to sit up. 

“Alright, I’ll have a shower then meet you downstairs,” Laura murmured, taking a moment to relish in the warm cocoon that she would have to leave to tackle the day. 

It seemed they weren't the only ones disturbed as from the bedroom next door, they could hear the sounds of Cooper getting ready for the day, his door opening and closing, before his loud footsteps could be heard going down the stairs.

Laura remained lying in bed watching and admiring the view whilst Clint quickly got dressed for the day, once he was finished and turned back towards her, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, away from the warmth with a groan. 

Clint rolled his eyes lovingly at his wife’s reaction to having to get out of the comfort and warmth of their bed, Lila had a very similar reaction to getting up. Only wanting to do so when she is good and ready. “I love you,” he said quickly stealing another kiss from his wife before making his way across and out their room. 

“Love you, too,” came Laura’s reply. Before the shower could be heard running from their en suite. 

It was when he reached the top of the stairs that Coopers shout of alarm sounded through the house, bringing his attention quickly to the kitchen. He hurried down the stairs, making his way through the house in time to see Harry cradle an arm to his chest, whilst flipping a pancake on the stove. 

He took a moment to take in the scene in front of him. The conversation filtering through as he processed the goings on. 

Harry looked much too comfortable stood over a pan for it to not be some kind of regular experience for him. The young boy’s attention was fixed on the cooking, tears ran down his cheeks but he made only the one noise of distress and pain at the initial injury. 

Cooper meanwhile looked unsure of what he should be doing, his arm twitching as if wanting to pull Harry away for the danger, but hesitating as he felt the injury Harry had already sustained was partly his fault. 

Clint slowly moved further into the room, crossing it to remove Harry from the potential of getting hurt any further, as Harry began to undersell the extent of his injury to Cooper, “it’s not too bad.”

“Anything that causes you pain, especially if it keeps hurting after it first happens, then we want to know about it so we can help you, Harry,” Clint interjected into the conversation, his tone serious but caring.

“Oh,” Harry murmured, whether he was shocked at the statement or Clint’s appearance wasn’t clear. 

“Morning, Coop, did you sleep well?” Clint asked with a smile and hair ruffle for his son. “Can I see your hand please, Harry?” He asked the young boy who was watching his actions with careful consideration and scrutiny.

“Yeah, I slept well,” Cooper replied, quickly covering a yawn. Still watching the younger boy in front of him carefully. 

“Ummm.” Harry glanced back at his hurting hand, did he want to show Clint the red mark across it. Slowly a larger hand came into view reaching gently for his wrist. The hold wasn’t tight and he could pull out of it if he wanted to.

“Ah, bud let’s get this under cold water,” Clint said after quickly examining the burn, he was grateful that it didn’t appear too serious, from the looks of it only affecting the top layer of skin. “Can I lift you onto the countertop, bud?” He asked, waiting for Harry’s response before making a move. 

Harry tilted his head to one side at Clint’s odd request, why would he want him to sit on the counter, the Dursleys would have had a fit if he so much as got an elbow on the counter, let alone sat on it. “Okay,” he finally replied, his eyes still slightly scrunch up while watching Clint. 

Clint made sure to telegraph his movements as he reached out, lifting Harry under the arms and gently resting him down on the countertop beside the sink. He turned on the tap, running the cold water, “bud, I want you to keep your hand under the cold water until I tell you to stop, alright?” 

Harry looked confused at the request, but slowly moved his hand under the steady stream of cold water. Initially it hurt a little, then once he adjusted its position the cold water didn''t make his hand feel funny. 

“It will help lessen the pain of the burn,” Clint explained. “Cooper, can you tell Harry when ten minutes is up, please,” he asked turning to where his eldest was still stood watching everything play out. 

“Course, Dad,” he replied. Moving to stand closer to Harry where he could see the clock and make sure the younger boy kept his hand under the water. He began quietly talking to Harry, telling him a funny story. 

“Great, thanks, Coop. I’ll finish cooking breakfast, the batter looks really good, Harry,” he complimented, adding some more butter to the pan before pouring in some more of the batter. 

He made the first pancake in silence, Cooper telling his story causing Harry's quiet giggle to break out, when the second pancake was in the pan and Cooper's took a pause in the story, Clint asked Harry a question, “so, why were you cooking, bud?” He turned to look at Harry when he asked, but his gaze continued returning to the pan in front of him, giving Harry time to think about his answer without feeling scrutinised. 

“Um… well, uh… at the Dursleys', my aunt made me… help with the cooking. So, I- I thought, I could say thank you by making you breakfast,” Harry slowly explained. 

“Oh, buddy, you don’t need to thank us for looking after you, we want to do that, and every child deserves to be looked after. Also, as Cooper said earlier cooking can be very dangerous without proper adult supervision, Laura and I don’t want any of you kids to get hurt,” Clint explained making sure to get eye contact with Harry when he could.

“Oh, okay,” Harry mumbled, avoiding looking Clint in the eye, watching his left hand that was still being held under the cold water. It was feeling a lot better now. 

“If you want to help us cook, we’ll find you a safe job to do, but the stove and oven can be very dangerous Harry, so don’t use either of them without an adult with you, okay? That goes for you too, Cooper,” he said seriously looking at both children. 

“I know, Dad,” Cooper replied looking and sounding slightly put out at the reminder, while Harry just nodded his acceptance, “alright, then, who wants what on their pancakes?” He asked turning to an equally important topic just as Laura entered the room, her hair wrapped up in a towel to dry. 

“Morning, love, pancake?” Clint offered, “Harry made the batter, it’s very good,” he said, causing Harry to duck his head to hide the smile and blush that rose on his cheeks at the compliment.  

“I’d love one, thank you. Morning, boys. Are you okay, Harry?” She asked moving further into the kitchen, cataloguing what everyone was doing. 

“Morning, Mom,” Cooper replied with a smile, his attention still mostly fixed on the clock, “alright, Harry, that’s ten minutes.” 

"Morning, I'm all good now, Mrs Barton," Harry replied, turning off the tap, wiggling to lower himself from the edge of the counter and quickly being helped by Cooper. "Thanks," he said with a quick smile for the older boy.  

***

Jacob had been doing better in the last week or so since Harry’s abrupt disappearance from their lives. He hoped the little kid was doing alright, they hadn’t received any response to their letters, not that he really expected one. Hope had informed them that Harry had been settling into his new placement well. Though she couldn’t tell them much more than that. 

He had been going to see his old mind healer to deal with all the thoughts and feelings that had been crowding his mind since the almost car crash. The sessions were helping him a lot and he didn’t think he would still need them once the school year began again in two weeks. 

He was sat in one of his favourite places, on the front porch overlooking the yard. Despite the fact he had been there when the incident had occurred, the seat still offered him comfort. He had just turned back to one of his new textbooks when the hairs on the back of his neck rose. 

He paused in the action of turning the page, not raising his eyes from the page in front of him. He tried to process his surroundings, what had changed in the last few seconds. The sounds hadn’t altered drastically, there didn’t seem to be any unusual scents. He slowly tried to extend his magical senses as he had started learning the past year in school. 

There. A little prickling off to the right, he couldn’t yet determine what it was that was causing his magic to react, but there was something there. 

Trying to act casual, he turned the page in his book and raised his gaze from the book, glancing in front of him at the road, then slowly to his left trying to spot the strangeness he could sense. Nothing. Absolutely nothing seemed out of place. He squinted in that direction trying to work out if there was anything being concealed in plain sight, but he still couldn’t pick anything out.  

He blew out a frustrated breath, deciding to go ask his mom or dad if anything had pinged on the wards, he got up from his seat and headed into the house. He spun back around a moment before closing the door behind him. He was sure he had heard the cracking sound of disapparition. 

But who ever it was was gone now.  

***

Hope had been working at her desk when a memo flew through the room before landing in her incoming tray. It unfolded upon landing and became a simple note. 

As the memo wasn’t red, indicating that it was urgent, to be acted on immediately, she chose to finish up the paperwork she was currently working through. Once she finished, she stood up from her desk, stretching, then going to get a warm drink and a snack. Stopping to speak with a few of her colleagues in the break room. 

Once, she returned to her desk, she turned to the recently arrived note. Mediwitch Osan was sending through to request that Harry be brought back in sometime soon, one of her colleagues had found a ritual they thought could be used to deal with the extremely dark magic which lingered in Harry’s scar. 

Smiling at the good news, Hope pulled her calendar towards her. Checking when she would be able to schedule a visit to check on Harry and arrange the medical appointment with the Bartons. 

It would allow her to settle that small kernel of doubt on whether the Bartons had been informed about Harry’s magical nature. Friday afternoon, she would send a message across to them, asking if they were available for her upcoming visit. 

With that settled she sent a quick memo back to Mediwitich Osan with an update and a promise for more information by next Monday at the latest. 

***

The pancake breakfast had been nice, Lila had stumbled in when everyone else was on their second or third pancake. The meal had reminded Harry more of the Millers than the Dursleys, with happy family conversations taking place. A whirlwind of organised chaos with people seeming to know how to interact and work around each other seamlessly. He had enjoyed the pancakes, he liked trying one with chocolate spread and banana, the other that replaced the banana with strawberries. He also liked being part of the conversations.   

Once everyone was finished, Harry had been sent with Lila to collect any eggs that the hens had laid. It was a medium sized homemade structure that he had seen from his bedroom’s window that morning. This would be part of his morning chores from now on, and would be the start of his tour of outside spaces. 

Harry got given some wellington boots that used to belong to Cooper, they were dark blue with a dinosaur on them which he thought was really cool. They quickly made their way to the hen house. 

Though, before Lila could open the gate, Harry paused grabbing the back of her jumper. He stood staring at the chickens. 

“Why d’you grab me, Harry?” Lila asked looking over her shoulder.

Harry continued to watch the chickens, he never seen a chicken in real life before. 

“Will they attack me?” He asked, watching the weird ways the chickens walked, some of them were pecking something off of the ground. 

“No, don’t be silly, they’re just chickens,” Lila replied, looking to the smaller boy in surprise, who would be scared on chickens. “Come on.”

She took another step towards the gate, before once again being stopped by Harry grabbing the back of her jumper. 

“Will they peck me?” Harry asked nervously, he thought it would hurt to be pecked. 

“Maybe,” Lila said with a considering tone, she had been pecked before and whacked in the face with a wing when she didn’t correctly hold one of the chickens. 

“Maybe,” Harry repeated sounding more scared than before. 

“Don’t worry, Harry, I’ll protect you,” she offered, holding out a hand for him to take. 

Harry took another look at the chickens, before shuffling closer and taking Lila’s hand, he swallowed, giving a small nod, “okay.”

Finally, Lila was able to get into the chicken enclosure, though she passed the small basket they had brought to collect the eggs to Harry to hold. She took a step in, gently tugging Harry behind her. 

The chickens charged towards them, swarming around them. This action caused Harry to scream in fear and surprise, huddling closer to Lila. Lila’s eyes widened in shock at Harry’s reaction. 

“It’s okay, Harry. They won’t hurt you, I promise. They’re just excited about getting to eat food for their breakfast,” Lila explained, squeezing Harry's hand, wanting to make him feel better. 

“O-o-okay,” Harry replied, his voice shaking slightly. Though he slowly began to relax as the chickens made no attempts to do anything like attack them. 

“I’ll get the food for them, why don’t you go check inside the hen house for eggs,” Lila suggested, knowing this way the chickens would follow her. “Can you do that?” 

“Yeah, I can do that,” Harry said, relaxing as the chickens followed Lila away from him, though he watched closely and none of them attacked her. After that he was able to get into the building without any further scares. He looked around for eggs, to begin with not finding any. Once he worked out that the small boxes with straw were the chicken beds he had more luck. Easily finding five eggs.

“How’re you doing?” Lila asked calmly from behind him. 

Harry happily showed her his finds so far. “Look, five eggs!”

“Well done, Harry. We can probably find a few more. Then, we’ll take these back to Mommy and we can finish the tour of the outside. 

It didn’t take them long to check the rest of the beds, finding another three eggs. They quickly headed back to the house, though they didn’t close the gate to the coop this time. 

“We let them free range,” Lila explained as she stopped Harry from closing the gate behind them. Seeing Harry didn’t understand she added, “they get to walk freely around outside.” 

Once they made it back to the house, Laura quietly asked Lila, “was everything alright, I heard a scream.”

“Harry got a bit scared by the chickens but I protected him,” Lila explained quietly shooting a quick look at the younger boy who was stood by the back door watching the chickens move around with more interest. 

“Ah, okay,” Laura replied, having been able to see parts of what happened from the kitchen window, though only after the scream. “Go finish the tour then you two.”

Chapter Text

It was about a week since Harry’s arrival in the Barton family home, all of them had just gathered around the dinner table as they had every night so far. Harry had helped to set the table and was happily sat in his seat waiting for the food to be brought across. 

Clint and Laura were plating it up on the counter, bringing across four of the plates, before Clint went back for his. Once everyone was seated, they began the nightly ritual of going around saying what had been the best and worst part of their day. 

Chaos erupted during Clint’s turn, he had just announced that the best part of his day was getting the news that Aunt Nat would be coming for a week-long visit, starting the very next day. 

Lila squealed in excitement, whilst Cooper gave a couple of loud whoops at the news. Harry meanwhile was recovering from the shock at the sudden explosion of noise and excitement. He watched the other two with mild confusion. Dudley had never reacted in a similar manner when it was announced that Aunt Marge would be coming to stay, and Harry himself had certainly never felt anything but sadness and horror when they were informed. Was it normal for children to be excited to see an Aunt, he wondered. 

Lila and Cooper began talking excitedly about all the things they wanted to do whilst Aunt Nat would be staying. Both Clint and Laura watching on and listening in with smiles on their faces. 

Harry slowly began to eat his dinner, focusing on all the activities the other two were discussing, alongside the occasional story of what they had done with Aunt Nat in the past and how much fun she was. 

By the end of the meal, Harry was slowly beginning to feel his own excitement at spending time with Aunt Nat, she sounded a lot nicer and so much more fun than aunt Marge could have ever hoped to be. Maybe having family visit could be something exciting rather than an event to be dreaded and with his survival taken one day at a time, counting the days down until it was over. 

~ ~ ~

Later that evening once the kids were finally in bed, it had taken a while for them to calm down after the exciting news had fuelled the evening chaos. Laura and Clint were discussing everything that still needed to be organised for the upcoming school year which would start in two weeks.

“Right, so new clothes for Cooper… he’s growing so quickly,” Laura said, reading off of her list. “There’s a few gaps in Lila’s wardrobe but most of hers will still fit, though she needs some new shoes. Did you check Harry’s clothes?” 

Clint was nodding along to what his wife was saying, having noticed that morning that the bottom of Cooper’s legs were beginning to show between the tops of his socks and the hem of his jeans. Especially when he was reaching for something out of the top cupboard in the kitchen. 

“Um, yeah, all of his clothes are still fitting well, the Millers obviously sorted him out in that regard, though he might need a light coat, as he’s only got the thick winter one,” Clint responded. 

“Good,” Laura nodded, making a note on the paper. “Um, rey- reg-gie…. What have you written here?” Laura questioning holding the paper out to her husband, not able to decipher his handwriting, still only ever somewhat successful in the endeavour despite their years of marriage.  

“It says…,” Clint squinted at it for a moment, ”register Harry for school.”

“Damn. We should have done that already, I’ll do that tomorrow whilst you collect Nat from the airport,” Laura said, reclaiming her list to add that clearly, underlined several times. 

“It’ll be fine, love. You know there’ll have a space for him,” Clint reassured, gently pulling Laura into a sideways hug, kissing the top of her head. Feeling a little guilty for also forgetting that they needed to register Harry themselves as he came from out of state. 

“I know,” Laura sighed, leaning more heavily into Clint. “Doesn’t stop me from worrying though.”

“We’ll sort it tomorrow and then everything will be fine.”

“You’re right,” The pair sat in silence, each enjoying the company and comfort offered by the other, musing over their own thoughts, before Laura eventually brought them back to the topic at hand, “okay, so back to the list.”

***

The stake out had been going well, it hadn’t taken long to track down the house that the Potter child was staying in. The information he had received earlier that week had provided the address, though it had still taken them a while to correctly identify which hovel-like house was where their target was living. 

Who knew so many muggles would have their hovels right beside another family?  Even worse, wizards had chosen to sully themselves by living amongst them.  

Urgh, commoners, living in filth. He thought whilst suppressing a shudder. 

Despite having the exact address, neither of them knew anything of use about the muggle world. Other than: you had be careful to avoid the small knight bus like transportation which were constantly growling when in motion; muggles weren’t to be shown magic so as to avoid government intervention; and obviously, muggles were inferior to wizards in every possible way. 

To make the disgusting situation even worse, another barely suppressed shudder tried to work itself over his body, they were dealing with muggles from their ex-colonies. The extent of his distinct horror at the situation could not possibly be expressed in words.  

Anyway, he was letting his thoughts wander from the job at hand. The correct hovel had been identified when they encountered some strong wards surrounding one of the buildings. They discovered they were able to breach the wards, but decided against crossing them for fear of alerting the family inside of their presence. 

So far, they had been able to identify that the adults, a witch and a wizard, had at least three children. From the other side of the wards, they had been unable to correctly identify the number or ages of the children. From height alone they could tell that at least two were too old to be Potter. 

One of the children, had been observed on the front porch, an older boy. From whom they had to be careful to quickly conceal themselves from detection following the area being probed by his magic. This unexpected probing had led to their approach being made even more stealthy. They had attempted homenum revelio, but the wards prevented an accurate reading of the markers, which was the reason they had had to lower themselves to remaining on guard trying to count the inhabitants. 

So far, it was slow going, but the glory they would gain from the Dark Lord upon his return for having successfully captured the Boy-Who-Lived would be more than just rewards for their sacrifice, of that he had no doubt. 

***

The following morning, Harry had come racing in with the eggs he and Lila had collected that morning. He was a lot more comfortable around the chickens at last, after having seen that he wouldn’t be pecked by them. 

Breakfast was its normal, busy affair. With a new undertone of excitement to the chatter and movements of the kids, who hadn’t forgotten that Auntie Nat would be arriving that day. 

Clint was washing the dishes that the kids had brought across to the sink, whilst Cooper was giving the floor a quick sweep. The younger two were still sat at the table talking about something, Laura was sat beside them going over her to-do list, when Clint spoke up. 

“Lila, Cooper, do you want to come with me to collect Aunt Nat from the airport?” He casually offered, watching his family as he placed a plate in the drying rack. 

“Yes, yes, yes, YESSSSSS,” Lila shouted, standing up on her chair to express her joy at the idea. 

“Yeah,” Cooper responded, a big smile breaking out across his face. Rolling his eyes at his younger sister’s reaction. 

Meanwhile Harry simply blinked at Lila’s reaction. A small frown on his face at not also being asked if he wanted to go with them. Maybe the Bartons were finally stopping their kind act like the Dursleys had done when any guests who were visiting left. A cold sensation began to slowly spread through his stomach, he was used to being ignored, why was he feeling like this now. 

“Lila, sit down, now,” Laura said in a no nonsense tone, shooting an unimpressed look at Lila, who was still whooping and tapping her feet on the seat. This strict command caused her daughter to immediately slide back down until she was properly sat on the chair. 

“Sorry, Mommy,” she murmured. A faint blush colouring her cheeks at the reprimand. “I’m just super excited.”

“I know and you’re forgiven, but it’s still no reason to put yourself at risk of getting hurt though, is it? We’ve talked before about standing on chairs, haven’t we?” Laura said, her tone softer but no less serious than before. Turning to Harry she spoke quickly, having caught the disappointment and sadness that had crossed the younger boys face. “Harry, I’ll need your help here with something very important, if you don’t mind staying?” 

“Sorry, Mommy, I forgotted,” Lila said, looking down at her feet to avoid looking at her mother, they had had several talks about not standing or dancing on the kitchen chairs in the past few months. 

“Oh, okay, Laura,” Harry said, giving her a small smile. The cold feeling that had begun to spread inside him at being excluded slowly melted as the joy of only him being asked to help with something very important took over. 

“Thank you, both of you,” Laura replied with a smile, standing from her own chair. Placing a quick kiss on top of Lila’s head, reminding her that she was forgiven. “Why don’t you all go play before you need to go?” She added addressing all three children. 

~ ~ ~

Once Clint had left with the two eldest, Laura set herself up at the table with the paperwork she needed to fill out to get Harry registered at the local elementary school. 

Harry was in the sitting room playing quietly in the middle of the room with some toys, the doors between the two spaces were open, so Laura could keep an eye on him and easily ask him questions for the forms if necessary. 

It was easy enough to begin with. Name: Harry Potter. Sex: Male. 

“Harry, can you remind me of your birthday, please?” She called as her mind blanked on the information. 

“July 31st,” Harry responded without much thought, quickly glancing over his shoulder at her, before quickly turning back to his game. 

Laura was writing down the information before she quickly glanced up at him just in time to catch the glance which given its speed had caused his fringe to fly to the left of his forehead revealing the distinctive lightning bolt scar. 

“Oh God. Oh my God. Harry. Potter… he’s Harry Potter,” she murmured quietly to herself just watching the young boy playing in her sitting room. All the pieces that her subconscious had put together a while ago were suddenly all linked up at the forefront of her mind. “That really should have clicked sooner,” she said letting out a small burst of somewhat hysterical laughter. 

“What’s so funny?” Harry asked looking to her questioning, his head slightly tilted to one side, watching her laugh for no obvious reason. 

Laura regained control of the laughter trying to escape her before answering with a warm smile, “nothing, darling. I just surprised myself is all.”

“Okay,” Harry responded with a returning smile. 

“I should be finished with this soon, how about we make some cupcakes once I’m done?” Laura offered.

“Make cupcakes, together, really?” Harry asked, trying to contain his excitement at the idea in case it was a trick. 

“Really really,” came the kind response. 

“Yeah!” The enthusiastic response burst out of Harry before he could think to stop it, causing Laura to laugh again which brought an answering laugh out of Harry. 

“Wonderful, I’ll finish this then we can start,” she said turning back to the paperwork, shaking her head lightly as she reread his name on the form. Harry Potter. She should probably tell Clint… or she could wait until he finds out for himself, she decided with an internal mischievous delight. Yes, it would be much more entertaining to wait and see.

~ ~ ~

The evidence that baking had taken place was liberally sprinkled around the kitchen, from the dash of flour on one cupboard and a streak in Harry’s hair, a small piece of egg shell in a tiny drop of cake batter on the edge of the counter, a few drips of melted chocolate, to a few stray multi-coloured sprinkles that had fallen on the floor.

There was a circular display stand which held nine cupcakes, obviously decorated with different skill levels. A few had swirls of buttercream icing looking professionally crafted with a light dusting of sprinkles, some that appeared to have simply been plonked down into a bowl of icing then had toppings put in place with great consideration, and few somewhere in between.

“High five, Harry. These look brilliant,” Laura said, smiling down at her little helper who was stood in his own small apron on a stool beside the counter. There was flour in his hair, a smudge of chocolate on his left cheek and a little trace of icing at the corner of his lips. 

“Can we test one? Please… pretty please with chocolate icing, sprinkles, whip cream and a cherry on top?” Harry pleaded turning bright and excited eyes up on Laura. 

She pretended to think about it for a moment before answering, “oh go on then, you choose one and we’ll share it, alright?” 

“Yes!” Harry cheered with a small fist pump.    

They were midway through their cupcake when there was a knock at the door. Laura frown for a moment, eyebrows scrunching up. She didn’t think they were expecting anyone. 

“I’ll go see who that is, you wait here, Harry,” she said, calmly brushing a hand through his unruly locks that still had a trace of flour on them. Making her way out of the room, pulling the dividing doors almost completely closed. 

Harry remained seated at the kitchen table but moved so he could still see through the gap left in the door. He couldn’t quite make out the front door but he would be able to see when anyone entered the house and hear everything as long as the person at the door spoke normally. 

Laura glanced through the living room window and couldn’t see a car which immediately had her a little on edge. If someone had come by car, it should have been visible from that window. Though there were a few other options to get to their house, however most people drove and parked out front. 

With these thoughts passing through her head, she opened the door calmly and cautiously. The person stood on the other side smiled when their eyes met. 

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Barton, my name is Hope Anderson, I’m Harry’s main social worker, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Hope greeted in a kind, professional tone, holding out a hand to shake. “I’m here for the agreed check-in with Harry.”

“Nice to meet you too, Hope, please call me Laura. Harry’s just in the kitchen if you want to come on through,” she responded calming down any worries at the introduction, taking the proffered hand to shake. Noting the ID which hung around Hope's neck showing her name, picture and job role. 

She hid the frustration she felt at having forgotten they had agreed this appointment the previous Friday. “Clint has taken our other children to collect a family friend from the airport,” Laura explained as she led Hope through to the kitchen. 

“Okay, that’s no problem.”

“Hope, hello,” Harry greeted happily, a small smear of chocolate icing on his cheek. 

“Hi, Harry. How are you today?” Hope asked, her smile growing at seeing the youngster so happy and open, it was such a change to the young boy she had first met. 

“I’m great, Laura and me made cupcakes that we decorated, and I collected chicken eggs this morning, there were eight, one was covered in hay and had a feather stuck to it. I played with Lila and Cooper, then by myself and… now you’re here,” he rambled excitedly. 

“Sounds like you’re having a really nice time with the Bartons.” Hope was pleased with how settled Harry appeared, it was always nice to see one of her charges doing well.

“Would you like something to drink Hope?” Laura asked, gesturing for Hope to take a seat at the table.

“And a cupcake?” Harry almost fell off the chair he was sat on trying to scramble to the kitchen counter and grab the plate of cupcakes to show Hope. When he had the plate in his hands, he took extra care bringing it across the kitchen, his tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on not spilling his pride and joy. 

“Some coffee would be lovely, Laura. Wow, these cupcakes look delicious, Harry. Which one would you recommend?” Hope responded, helping Harry to gently set the plate down on the table. 

“Um…” Harry looked at the plate carefully, he had decorated several with the other Bartons in mind, finally he decided that one both he and Laura had done together, “that one,” he pointed to a cupcake that’s icing was mostly a perfect spiral with only a little bit smushed on one side where a few sprinkles were push in. 

“Thank you, Harry, I really like the design,” Hope said carefully lifting the cupcake up. She peeled back the one side of the case and took a bite. “Very tasty too.”

This response caused Harry’s excited grin to grow even bigger, “Laura and I made it together,” he explained again his joy at the praise obvious to see, giving a thumbs up to Laura at the shared achievement as she placed a cup of water in front of him and a cup of coffee in front of Hope. 

Small talk started up for a little while between the adults which covered how Harry was settling in, if there had been any issues, Hope also checked that the Bartons had received all the needed paperwork and confirmation from their local CPS worker Harry was officially registered as being with them. Harry had got bored part way through the conversation and wandered off to play by himself.

“As I mentioned in my message, Harry needs to schedule a follow-up appointment with our medical team. They think they have found a procedure to rectify the initially unidentifiable issue which appeared on his first scan,” Hope explained. 

“Yes, I remember. I’m assuming this will be done with a healer?” Laura asked, she was almost completely certain Hope was based within MACUSA given one of the acronyms on her ID. 

“Yes, Healer Capaldi will led the team with Mediwitch Osan, who Harry is already familiar with,” Hope replied, pleased to have confirmation that the Bartons were aware of the magical world. A small weight lifted off her shoulders. “Do you have a way to reach MACUSA or would you like me to collect you both on the day?”  

“I’ll sort something with family once the details are finalised,” Laura answered, taking a sip of her own drink. 

“Alright, then. We will get the everything set up, are any times or dates best for you? Ideally we’d like to have everything done as soon as you’re able,” Hope asked. “Are you connected to the floo, use owl post, or is your family solely no-maj communication based?” 

“We can receive owls and other birds, but we’re not hooked up to the floo, for us any no-maj communication is the easiest,” Laura answered. “And as long as it doesn’t put Harry at risk, waiting until next week that would be better for us.”

“No, no, a few extra days shouldn’t do any harm. I’ll get an appointment scheduled for next week with the medical team and text you all the details,” Hope said standing from the chair. 

“Laura, they’re back, I can see the car,” Harry shouted excitedly running through into the kitchen. 

“Brilliant timing, then. I was just about to take my leave. I’ll see you sometime next week, Harry. Remember I’m just a phone call away if you need me, do you still have my number?" she checked, receiving a quick nod in reply. "Good. It was lovely to meet you Laura, I’ll be in touch in the next few days with the appointment time and any other information the team can give me,” Hope added. “Are you happy for me to apparate out here or would you rather I go outside?” 

“Thank you for all your help, Hope. Yes, you can apparate from here, we’ll see you next week,” Laura responded with a small wave. 

Hope popped out just as the front door was flung open by a very excited Lila. “We’re back!” She shouted as if anyone in the house would have missed the noise of the door slamming open. 

Chapter Text

Following Lila’s shout to announce their return, the older girl came running through to the kitchen and began pulling Harry towards the front door, “come on, Harry, you’ve got to meet Aunt Nat,” she exclaimed excitedly her hand still gripped around Harry’s wrist as she half-pulled, half-led him through to the front entry. 

“Gently, Lila,” Laura admonished from where she was following behind her excited daughter and the slightly nervous Harry who she reassured, “everything will be alright, Harry, no need to worry.”

“O-okay,” Harry responded sending a shaky smile over his shoulder, stumbling a step when Lila lightened her hold. 

“Sorry, Harry. I’m just really excited,” Lila said hurriedly, still smiling brightly, now holding his wrist more softly. 

When they reached the front door, Clint and a red-headed woman were just entering, each holding a bag. 

The redhead glanced around and seemed to relax, very few would be able to catch when her sharp, analytical gaze focused in on the messy haired child seemingly observing and understanding all she needed to within a few seconds. Her eyes had briefly flicked up towards his forehead, cataloging the expected scar given all she had gained from her inspection from the naturally messy black hair, oval shaped bright green eyes, slightly skittish nature, and smaller than would-be-expected stature. Then her gaze moved on unnoticed by the small boy who had just been the subject of her scrutiny, he was accepted and approved as part of the family. 

“Laura, it’s so good to see you,” the new person said kindly, her face remained fairly expressionless but Harry could see the affection and happiness in her eyes. 

Laura stepped forward quickly wrapping the other woman in a hug, “it’s wonderful to see you too, Nat. I’m glad you could make it. Let me introduce you to Harry,” Laura said stepping back from the quick embrace. 

“Aunt Nat, this is Harry, he’s five,” Lila said, bouncing a little on the spot in her joy at being able to introduce their new foster sibling. Her jump shook Harry's arm which she was still holding.

“Hello Harry, it’s nice to meet you,” the redhead, Aunt Nat, said kindly. She made no move to hug him or hold a hand out for him to shake which made him relax some of the tension he didn’t realise he had in his body. 

“Hi,” Harry greeted quietly with a small wave and a relieved smile, “it’s nice to meet you too.” He wasn’t sure what it was about her, but he really liked Aunt Nat, though he was still wary, she seemed nothing like Aunt Marge, she wasn’t trying to make him angry or hurt him with her words. She seemed to be able to make him feel safe with just her actions, it was nice. 

“Please, move, now,” Cooper said from where he was stuck still standing outside the front door, “I really need the toilet,” he said with a tint of desperation to his tone, where he was bouncing lightly on the tips of his toes. 

“Sorry, Coop,” Clint said stepping aside allowing Cooper to quickly squeeze around him and heading towards the bathroom at speed. The door closed with a slight slam which caused all the adults to laugh lightly. 

“Your room is already waiting for you, Nat,” Laura said once their quick burst of laughter was over. 

“Thanks, Lau, I’ll just go drop off my luggage,” Nat said taking her other bag from Clint with a nod of thanks, before heading up the stairs. 

***

Jacob had spoken to David about the weird disturbance just outside the wards and the sound of disapparition he had heard, apparently there had not been any disruption to the wards themselves, but they had increased the strength of the protection for unwanted and unplanned visitors. 

A new ward had been laid around the edge of the porch as an additional and hopefully unexpected final level of defence. 

The adults were now taking a greater interest in what information the wards surrounding the house were telling them. It could sense that there had been wixen contact from the outside but no attempts to breach them. 

Angela was able to better understand the information from the wards and could tell that the presence of two different wixen had been hanging around the edge of the wards, but without them attempting to cross the wardline it was impossible to successfully determine their intentions.

Thankfully most of the children would be leaving later that week to return, or in Eliza’s case start, Ilvermorney for the new school year. Meaning only Jo would still be at risk if the presence of the unneeded, unknown wixen remained. 

Throughout the week that follows, they are able to determine that the unknown wixen return, then depart several times but they always remain outside the wards, out of sight, most likely simply watching the household, what they are watching or waiting for was not clear. 

They question whether it could possibly have anything to do with Harry, but no one apart from trusted people at SHIELD and the small team at MACUSA would have been aware of his placement. There had been no news of his presence in the country or his disappearance from the UK in the media, neither no-maj nor magical news. 

David notified the aurors about the abnormal presence and was told that a team will come around to investigate when they are able, but it will most likely only occur at the end of the week, as they are currently overrun with cases and the start of the school term which always has a basic auror presence for everyone's safety. But if as they suspect it is other wixen loitering nearby their magical signature will linger at least a week.

It is as the Millers are going through the last minute madness of getting out the door for the start of the new school year, with three trunks, a cat, an owl, and four appropriately dressed children, that a message comes through the floo, it is confirmation of a team coming the following day to do a sweep for the cause of their unwanted watchers. 

*** 

The family had all just finished dinner with every plate clear, apart from a small pile of carrots on Lila’s plate that had quickly been eaten by Cooper, who had no fears on the deceitful nature of the vegetable.

Harry was wiggling about in his seat in excitement, waiting for dessert which was going to be his and Laura’s cupcakes. He was especially excited because he had decorated one for everyone and he could give them to each person very soon. 

“Is it dessert time now?” He finally asked, moving to sit on his knees on his chair, still bouncing around a little, unable to hold in his anticipation anymore.

“We just need to clear the table, bud, then it’ll be dessert,” Clint replied, already stacking the dishes he could reach on top of each other. 

“Yes, dessert,” Cooper cheered, already looking around for whatever it would be. “What is it?” He asked, passing his plate and cutlery to his dad.

“Ohhh, are those it?” Lila asked pointing to the display plate which had been moved to the corner of the kitchen. Harry nodded in excitement, feeling his joy building up even more at Lila’s reaction. 

Clint laughed gently at his kids reactions, noting Harry’s growing excitement and bouncing. Whilst he carried all the dirty dishes to the sink. 

“What?” Cooper questioned, also moving to his knees to be able to raise himself up more and scan the kitchen more clearly. 

“Cupcakes!” Lila almost shrieked. 

“Quieter, Lila,” Laura admonished, from where she was now moving the display plate closer, though not placing it onto the table. 

“Sorry, Mommy,” Lila responded to the admonishment in a quieter tone. Receiving a gentle smile in return for her words. 

“They look soooo tasty,” Cooper said, eyes fixed on the small decorated cakes. Easily distracting Lila from feeling bad about being a little too loud. 

“Do you want to help me with giving them out, Harry?” Laura questioned gently. 

“Yes,” Harry exclaimed, waving both his raised fists quickly back and forth in an excited motion, he almost fell off his chair as he struggled to get his feet underneath him as he scrambled off the chair, fortunately Aunt Nat was able to reach out and steady him before he could fall and hurt himself. “Thank you,” he mumbled quietly to her, unable to meet her eyes. 

“No worries, Harry,” she replied just as gently. 

Clint had returned to the table by this point, sending a grateful look to Nat for helping Harry, then his attention switched back to the cupcakes that he was just as interested in as the kids. 

“Why’s Harry get to help with dessert and not me?” Lila whined, pouting in disappointment. Having turned fully in her chair to be able to watch what was happening at the counter. 

"Oh, you can help instead of men if you want Lila," Harry responded, sad at losing the chance but not wanting to annoy Lila. 

“That's very kind of you, Harry, but I asked for your help because you helped me to make them,” Laura replied evenly, sending a pointed look at Lila.

“Oh, okay. You should do it, Harry,” Lila quickly retracted her previous complaint, sitting down properly again, sending the younger boy a grateful smile over her shoulder at his offer.  

“I made one for each of you,” Harry said, sounding a little shy and nervous now that the time to give out his cupcakes had arrived. 

“Thanks, Harry,” Cooper said, sending a big smile towards Harry which caused the younger boy to grin in return and stand a little taller.

“I’m sure they will be brilliant, Harry,” Clint added, sending a proud smile to both Harry and Cooper. 

“Okay, Harry, why don’t you help me give everyone their cupcake,” Laura said, moving the step stool so that he would be able to reach the display plate. “If you tell me whose is who’s I can help give them out to everyone."   

“This one is for Clint,” pointing to a cupcake which had been dunked in the icing and then decorated with lots of sprinkles, “and this one’s for Aunt Nat” he mumbled more quietly, it had neater icing piped by Laura and fewer sprinkles. Laura nodded and gave the cupcakes to their intended recipients. 

“Wow, thank you, Harry, this cupcake looks incredible,” Clint said, acting shocked and impressed by the messily decorated cupcake. Causing Harry to blush and mumble, “Laura helped too.”

“Yes, thank you, Harry. This was very thoughtful,” Natasha said, looking straight at the young boy with a small smile. Harry ducked his head, but glanced up through his fringe to check whether she was telling the truth or not. Seeing the smile and not seeing any mean looks in her eyes, his own smile grew a little.   

When Laura returned for the next set of cupcakes, he continued, “that one’s for you, that one’s mine… and c-can I do Lila and Cooper’s?” Harry asked shyly. 

“Of course, honey,” Laura replied grabbing both of their cupcakes, watching Harry carefully get down from the stool with a cupcake in each hand and walk across to the table. Before offering each of the older kids their cupcake, not quite looking at them but he had a hopeful shine in his eye.  

“Thank you, Harry,” Lila said excited for her cake. Not waiting for Harry to move around the table to give Cooper his cake or sit back down for taking a bite. “Dis ’s deeshus,” she said mouthful of icing and cake. 

“As delicious as it may be, next time finish your bite first, Lila,” Clint said though his eyes were alight with amusement, and both Cooper and Harry laughed at Lila’s actions. 

“Here you go, I decorated it for you,” he said not brave enough to meet Cooper’s eye as he handed him the small cake. 

“Whow, Harry, this looks like the best cupcake ever, thank you,” Cooper said, already having a lot of practicing showing how much he appreciated the effort put into gestures by younger children. 

“Really?” Harry asked, looking at the older boy in shock. 

“Uh huh, of course,” he added with a smile and hair ruffle, much like his dad did to him when he was proud of him. Before he also took a bite from the cake, letting out an appreciative mmhm. 

This interaction caused Laura and Clint to smile at each other, proud of their son and the young man they could see Cooper would grow up to be. 

~ ~ ~

Harry had spent all of the afternoon and evening watching Aunt Nat after she had arrived, the way she moved, her reactions to things, how she acted and interacted with Cooper and Lila. She was always kind to him, she never excluded him from conversations or spoke badly about his parents like Aunt Marge used to. 

Aunt Nat hadn’t done anything mean or dangerous while he was watching, she had eaten dinner and his cupcake, joining in with the family’s pre-dinner nightly ritual, spoken to everyone, laughed at jokes. But, still. 

There was something about Aunt Nat that made Harry slightly nervous, in a different way to how he felt around almost all other adults. He still liked her but this sensation. It was similar to the feeling he got around Laura and Clint, it was like something inside him was saying they could be a special kind of dangerous. 

The feeling was least present with Laura, just a very subtle warning that he could easily overlook, then a slightly more obvious feeling with Clint, a louder more present suggestion of needing to be careful, and finally the most obvious message was with Aunt Nat, a more continuous need to watch and be careful. 

He had been wary and scared around the Millers at first, watching them to learn what he needed to do to avoid being treated like he was on Privet Drive but he never had this little tingling feeling in the back of his head. Weirdly the Dursleys had never caused this feeling either, at least he didn’t remember them doing so, he knew there had been terror, sometimes hatred, often hunger, strong dislike, frustration, and sadness, but never this warning of hidden danger. The Dursleys never needed to hide their threats and dangerous nature though because they just used to carry them out on him. 

Harry thought maybe it was his magic, now that he knew he had magic. It was like an extra warning system that he could now hear letting him know when certain things were happening. If he needed to be more careful, or if there was a threat nearby that he wasn’t aware of. If it wasn’t his magic maybe his awful years with the Dursleys had given him a different power, a superpower, he thought with a small smile. They would hate it if they gave him superpowers, he thought with a smile before allowing sleep to overcome him. 

***

A second week had passed and there were still absolutely no signs of Harry Potter in this magical household. They were now certain that there were only four children, thankfully all wixen, but none of them the Potter brat.

This was confirmed this morning, when the family left the house with the apparently one and only remaining child, who was too old to be Potter and had none of the traditional Potter characteristics even if they were tall for their age. All the other young inhabitants were apparently old enough to be going to the substandard colonial school for sorcery that could never live up to the standard provided at Hogwarts, Ilvermorney.  

As the family crossed the wardline, they then headed down the street towards the centre of town. It was barely three minutes later that a series of pops sounded along the edge of the wards. Each figure that appeared holding a wand out to their right, upon landing they cast a joint spell which was colourless therefore avoiding no-maj detection or awareness. 

The spell caused the disillusionment charms that the duo had cast on themselves to fade, a shout went up from one of the American aurors. 

“Suspects revealed, chief,” a young voice called, as all wands turned towards the huddled duo, who slowly raise themselves from their crouched position, hands held out in front of them with their wands pointed down. 

“Three slyther-out.” One of the newly uncovered wizards mutters out of the side of his mouth to his companion. Receiving a not so subtle eye roll in response. 

"No talking," one of the aurors interrupts, none of them having clearly heard what was said. 

Three seconds later both suspects spin on their heel and vanish. 

“Damnit!” One of the aurors exclaims, normally they raise anti-apparition wards, but they honestly hadn’t expected the watching wixen to still be on-site following their arrival. 

“We lost them chief,” a different auror relays to their senior officer who had been examining the back of the property line for any further indication of why the pair had started their stakeout.

So, it was a very frustrated and displeased duo that had had to escape from the team of aurors. The information they had been provided was a dud. His contact would be receiving a very strong letter of complaint about the uselessness of his incomplete, totally erroneous information and his time wasting abilities.  

***

Clint was finishing off the reading before bed with Cooper, he was too old for bedtime stories apparently, so they took turns reading part of a chapter before tucking him in. 

Laura was getting herself and Nat glasses of wine as well as a quick evening snack. Nat returned to the kitchen having also played a role in the nighttime routine for the two older kids, just popping in to say goodnight to Cooper, but reading a bit of the story for Lila. 

“Harry seems like a great kid,” Nat stated coming to rest against the kitchen counter, while Laura was searching for something in one of the cupboards. 

“He is, and he’s been settling in really well,” Laura replied with a smile. Finding and grabbing a small bag of roasted, salted peanuts from within a cupboard, making a pleased sound at her discovery. 

“So, he’s the Harry Potter then,” Nat added casually. 

“What?” Laura asked, dropping the bag of peanuts as she span to face her friend. 

“Harry Potter, saviour of Britain,” Nat clarified, an amused smirk twitching her lips, a reaction which she wouldn’t have normally shown, seeing as such would normally please Laura to see but this pleasure was currently hidden under her shock.

“You know about Harry,” she responded, finally controlling her shock. Picking up the thankfully still closed bag of peanuts. 

Nat raised an eyebrow at that statement, causing Laura to roll her eyes in response. “Of course, it’s my job to know things.”

“How do you know about that world?” Laura asked in interest, never having heard any mention of it being commonly known while working at SHIELD. She got a small bowl out of another cupboard for the peanuts. 

“That’s classified,” Nat responded with a wink and another smirk. She continued, “what I can say, on one of my missions I was inducted into awareness of that world. Does Clint know?” 

“Yes, both Clint and I know because of my family,” Laura added, “though he hasn’t put the pieces together about Harry. To be fair to him, it also took me a while and I'm more familiar with it,” she confided. 

“Leaving Clint in the dark and letting your skills slide?” She questioned with lightly teasing tone and a small laugh. 

“He'll find out soon, either when he connects the dots or Harry lets him know, and there's not as much practice available around here, though it’s been invaluable with the kids,” responded also with a laugh and a gentle shove.

Clint entered the kitchen before Nat could respond, “what’s been invaluable?” He asked heading across to kiss Laura, pulling away to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Using his other to grab a handful of peanuts. 

“My SHIELD training,” Laura responded resting back into him, adding more peanuts to the bowl after the dent Clint's large handful made. 

Conversation then moved away from any mention of the magical world with the trio reminiscing over some of their shared missions at SHIELD.

***

The next few days had been some of the most fun days Harry had ever had. Aunt Nat had taken all three of them on a day out, where they had gone to watch a film about singing birds which was really funny. As if that wasn't enough they even each got a bucket of popcorn and a drink. Then they had gone to the local park and played for hours, where Harry had met some of Lila’s friends who had happened to be there together. Finally they finished the day with a takeaway pizza which they had collected and taken home to eat all together. 

One of the days, they had spent out by the small lake which was out the back of the property, on the opposite side of the garden to the chicken coop. Harry had got to go on the rowing boat, wearing a really cool lifejacket because he couldn’t swim yet, he had even had a go at rowing it, but it hadn’t gone very well, he busted splashed everyone and almost lost one of the oars. But when the others were swimming an playing in the water he was able to splash everyone from the shallows, joining in the water fight which broke out when Cooper tried to unsuccessfully dunk Clint under the water and was thrown deeper into the lake in retaliation, which splashed Aunt Nat escalating the water fight to all out war. 

They also had a couple of movie nights which Harry thought were better than watching the film at the cinema, or movie theatre as everyone else called it. But he was very pleased that he had been given the chance to join the older kids and Aunt Nat on their day out, as he wasn't really her true nephew, rather than having to stay home and do chores or stay with Mrs. Figg as he would of had to if he had still been stuck with the Dursleys. 

Chapter Text

The whole family were spread around the living room, spending some mostly quiet time together before bed. It was one of their no screen days, Cooper has happily flopped in one of the armchairs in a position that should be uncomfortable reading a book. 

Lila was sat on one side of the room in front of a play kitchen and a toy truck the driver of which, a blue and green plastic dinosaur, was being challenged to drive over the food she was making. 

“Come on, it’s only a sausage. What are you doing, Rex?” Came the exasperated shout from the young chef come driver. 

“Be quiet, Lila,” Cooper asked nicely, barely glancing up from the page. 

"Please," Lila said shooting her older brother an unimpressed look, not that he saw it. 

"Please," he dutifully repeated with a hint of frustration, barely containing the eyeball, though knowing if Lila hadn't called him on it, one of their parents probably would have. 

Laura was also reading a book on the sofa, glancing up every few pages to check on everyone else in the room. Marvelling at how well everyone was getting along aside from the minimal expected sibling comments. 

Right in front of her, Harry and Clint were playing a different game. They had wooden blocks spread out in front of them in a somewhat organised and recognisable arrangement, some kind of settlement she would guess.  

Occasionally Lila would have Rex drive around the town, but mostly it was two unrelated games. 

“Oh no, Clint, thet bad guys are coming,” Harry cried out loudly, grabbing one of Clint’a arms in excitement pointing to the far side of their construction. 

“Quieter, Harry,” came Cooper’s almost immediate request. 

Harry quickly brought both hands up to cover his mouth, his eyes widening in horror, “sorry,” he said barely above a whisper. 

“I need help, Harry, the bad guys are overwhelming me,” Clint said quickly at a normal volume bringing Harry’s attention back to the game. 

Harry giggled at Clint’s words, watching his cowboy and horse toy try and fight the enemy, other farmyard animals and mix and matched toy figurines. “I’ll help you, hold on,” Harry responded being careful about his volume.

“Go, Rex." Lila whooped quietly, with a quick glance over at Cooper to check. "Your next challenge…” Lila looked through the toy kitchen for another food, “a tomato!” She declared holding the red plastic above her head in triumph. 

Her actions getting an eye role from Cooper and a fond smile from Laura. They were good kids, she thought. 

“Clint, we gonna need more help,” Harry called, “there’s a huge dragon.” Having spotted the toy hidden partly under a tipped over toy box. 

“Harry, volume,” Cooper said again, sounding slightly annoyed, looking at the younger boy. 

“Sorry, I forgotted,” the younger boy apologised with downcast eyes. 

"Forgot, bud," Clint gently corrected, shooting a look at Cooper. 

"Yes, I forgot, Cooper, I'm sorry," Harry said his wide eyes looking up at Cooper in apology. 

“That’s okay, just try and remember, please,” Cooper responded more calmly after the look. Getting an approving nod for his gentler tone.  

“If there’s a fire breathing dragon, we will need the firemen because all the buildings are wood,” Clint said continuing the game, moving to grab a nearby fire engine.  

“Nee naw, nee naw, nee naw,” Harry said imitating the siren, while trying to move around their town, still moving his toy car with a pig in the back. 

“Where’s the dragon, Harry? I need to know where to send the firemen,” Clint added, pushing the red truck closer to the settlement. 

“There, it’s flying closer, watch out!” He shrieked in excitement. 

“HAR—,” Cooper began thoroughly annoyed, only to stop at the sight before him. 

The toy dragon was floating in the middle of the room, actually flying. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but the toy was still floating. It had wobbled for a moment at the start of his shout, before levelling out. It was now steadily moving from where it had been near the toy box towards the small wooden town, the dragon even breathed  out a small burst of flames. 

Cooper’s eyes widened, he opened his mouth trying to say something but no words came out. The dragon did a quick circle of the town, breathing out fire twice on its route before going towards Harry who had a grin splitting his face.

“We need the firemen quickly, Clint, the school is on fire,” Harry said as he grabbed the toy that had just stopped flying or breathing fire.  

Cooper’s gaze slowly left the toy when it reached Harry’s hand and found his dad’s eyes, who looked shocked for a moment but not scared or worried. Then he quickly shook himself, before rushing the firetruck forwards to help fight the pretend school fire, continuing to make the siren noise all the while. 

“Good job, Harry,” his mom said calmly, following up as if it were an everyday run of the mill statement with, “you’ve got good control of your magic.” 

She smiled a Cooper, winking at him. It took Cooper a moment to understand why she had winked at him. Oh. Oh right, Harry was like Great-aunt Tilly. He had real magic. He just caught the look his dad shot at his mom before turning back to his book. He would definitely speak to his parents once Harry was in bed. 

Meanwhile, Lila had not even turned away from her own game. If Cooper wasn’t shouting at her then she didn’t need to focus on what was going on around her. Their parents probably got him to stop his shout. Rex was currently trying scale a slice of chocolate cake bigger than his truck, which was much more important than Harry being loud. 

***

A nondescript man sat in one of the organisation's top secret, completely off the radar bunkers, he was sat staring at an old-fashioned piece of parchment in shock. 

How dare that jumped up little freak write to him in such a matter. It was hardly his fault if the intelligence he provided was no longer correct, the useless fool was obviously to slow in implementing an effective plan for the information to remain pertinent. Freaks. Can't do anything quickly even with magic helping them, yet they thought themselves so superior to regular folk.  

Though it did raise the question as why further information to correct the supposedly incorrect information was not passed along. The information they had received had been passed down directly from the head of HYDRA, Alexander Pierce himself, it was impossible that he was mistaken, or to report that as being the case if you valued your job… or life. 

This left the man in a very difficult position, he had to report to his superiors that Operation Thunder had been unsuccessful as reported by their freakish allies. But how could he do so and stay alive, he'd find a way. 

Then he would need to try and find a way to fix the mess the freaks had created and get the operation back on track. 

***

They had had a brief talk with Cooper as he was getting ready for bed about how Harry was a wizard and what it would mean for the family. Not much needed to change, a few simple adaptions would be all. The biggest differences would be when he was older than Cooper was at the moment.

Once the kids were all finally settled in bed, the adults were just relaxing on the sofa. 

“The Harry Potter, huh,” Clint said into the peaceful quiet. 

“Yup,” Laura responded turning to smile at her husband, a merry, playful light in her eyes. 

“Were you going to tell me?” He asked in return with an eyebrow raised. 

“Nope.” A twitching of her lips gave away the smile she had tried to suppress. The playfulness not leaving her gaze for a second. 

There was a beat or two silence as Clint took on board this new information, he drew in a sharp breath, before the questions continued. 

“Nat?” He questioned both needing and not wanting the answer. 

“Uh huh,” Laura teasingly responded. 

“How long?” This question came out more as a despondent sigh.

“Same day she arrived,” Laura said, no longer able or willing to hide her enjoyment. 

“Urgh,” Clint whined, “I’m so screwed. Two weeks and it took her less than two hours, the teasing will never end.” 

“There, there, honey, it’s okay,” Laura said offering him comfort in a teasing manner, “old age can have this effect on the-“

“Old age!” Clint loudly exclaimed in fake hurt and exasperation, “I’m barely a year older than you.” 

“A year’s a year, love,” Laura laughed out, leaning gently into him. Her eyes still bright with laughter and joy.  

“Cheeky little,” his complaint ended there as he leaned down to kiss her, the amusement clear to anyone who knew him well. 

They returned to their peaceful silence for another few minutes before a further question came to Clint. 

“How long did it take you?” 

“Huh?” Laura murmured being pulled from her thoughts. 

“With Harry, how long?” Clint repeated.

“Oh, about a week,” she admitted, “wasn’t till I saw his birthday when I was filling in the school forms.”  

“Of course, I mean, we had all the information in his file, but his birthday wasn’t top of my priorities,” Clint said, feeling ridiculous for having overlooked all the small pieces now coming together. The small clues that his mind should have connected instantly like it would have had Harry been older or a threat.

Before either of them could say anything more or they slipped back into their contemplative silence, Laura’s phone pinged. She saw the notification and quickly opened her phone fully, reading the text that had arrived. 

“Right… now you’re in the know. Good timing, by the way. We need to sort out Harry’s healer appointment at MACUSA for sometime soon. It’s an important follow-up from when he was first brought in,” Laura explained.

“Do you want to take him to that? You’re a lot better with magical transportation than I am, and I’ll take the older two to get school clothes and supplies,” Clint suggested. 

“Divide and conquer,” Laura agreed after thinking it through, just before the new school year was always a hectic time, too much to get done and seemingly nowhere near enough time to do it all, “sounds like a plan. I’ll text Hope and let her know, we can be free whenever the healers needs us there.” 

“Great, now I’m about ready for bed,” Clint said, placing a kiss on her cheek before moving his shoulders and arms stretching out his back, slowly rising from where he had been sat on the sofa. 

“Alright, I’ll be up in a few,” she replied, smiling as he gathered their mugs and a random plastic cup from under one of the armchairs, taking them through to the kitchen.

She was just about to follow her husband up the stairs when another text came through, “tomorrow afternoon it is,” she said to herself, heading to the calendar on the fridge to add a note about Harry’s appointment.  

***

Harry had been told that morning at breakfast that he had an appointment with the medical team that he had met at MACUSA, he would be seeing Mediwitch Osan, who he was pleased to see again, she had been super nice, and Healer Capaldi. 

Cooper and Lila were going school shopping with Clint whilst he had the appointment, they said he would get to go choose some things just for him when whoever next went grocery shopping. But the bigger kids needed some new clothes as well which was very boring according to Cooper, you had to choose something, then find the right size, then try it on to check it was the right size, then change sizes if it was wrong, and it went on and on and on and on. So, Harry wasn’t too sad about missing it. 

The others would be going soon, at the same time as the portkey Laura and he would be taking to New York. He didn’t understand why the supposedly magical travelling thing was a really small sock. Like tiny, small sock, a baby sock, Laura had told him, but how could babies have feet that small? It was tiny. 

“Ten seconds, Harry, place a finger on the sock,” Laura said holding the tiny yellow sock out towards him. “Hold my hand or arm as well, please.”

Harry chose to hold her hand, it was warm and felt nice. Dudley always hated holding Aunt Petunia’s hand but Harry didn’t know why. It was nice to have an adult who cared. 

“Three… two… one…” Laura counted down, before it felt like something was trying to scoop him upwards from his belly button. Then there was a lot of spinning, Harry thought this was what it would be like to be put in the washing machine when it was on. 

When he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore, the spinning began to slow down, before finally stopping completely. Then his body was dropped, had Laura not been holding his hand he would have definitely fallen over. 

“Are you alright, Harry?” Laura asked kindly, kneeling down in front of him, still holding onto his hand, she ran her free hand gently over his forehead and hair. 

Harry took a deep breath, waiting for the horrible dizziness to pass, it felt like he was on a boat with the floor tilting really high one way to really high the other. He couldn’t respond so he just shook his head a little. 

“Just keep breathing slowly, the dizziness will fade, I promise. You’re doing so well, Harry, I’m so proud of you,” Laura said, making a warm feeling bubble up inside of him, one that becoming a lot more common, he wanted to smile and say thank you to Laura but he still didn’t want to move. 

“Harry, Laura, It’s so nice to see you again,” a different voice said, Harry knew the voice but he was focusing on keeping his body still and his eyes looking directly at Laura’s. 

“Good afternoon, Hope. Harry’s just struggling with some dizziness at the moment,” Laura responded not taking her hands or gaze away from Harry. 

“Oh, dear. I always used to suffer after portkeys as well,” Hope said in a more subdued tone. “Let me know when you feel good to move.”

The dizziness was slowly fading, and Harry felt safe to move his eyes away from Laura, he remained still and continued to breathe whilst taking in the room around him. They were in the corner of a large room through the doorway he could see an even bigger room that had a huge staircase in the centre and and a help desk was at the top of it. He had to look away from the floating clock he could see because the bright colours and spinning made him feel worse. 

It was probably five minutes later when he felt safe to move, throughout Laura had been calmly speaking to him and holding his hand, “I-I-I’m ready now,” he said, moving a little step forward pleased when it felt normal. 

“Wonderful, shall we head up to medical then,” Hope said with a smile, gesturing towards the door. 

~ ~ ~

The trip through MACUSA hadn’t taken very long at all, a simple ride up in the lifts where Harry had got to press the button, once on the correct floor it was only a quick walk to the ward.

Harry was very happy to see Mediwitch Osan and excitedly exclaimed that her deep purple headscarf was very cool and hurriedly introduced her to Laura, he continued chatting to the mediwitch after the women had exchanged a handshake and slightly more information than Harry had given. 

Mediwitch Osan led them into a examination and meeting room where the appointment would take place. 

Harry was just talking about how he had come to be with the Bartons when he noticed the other presence in the room and quickly stopped talking, edging towards Laura so he could hide partially behind her leg. 

“Hello, you must be young Harry,” the man said walking away from the desk he had been sat behind. A kind, professional smile on his face.

Harry gave a stilted nod, wrapping one arm around Laura’s leg. 

“I’m Laura Barton, Harry’s foster mother, it’s nice to meet you,” she said holding a hand out in greeting to who she assumed was Healer Capaldi. Though, she was expecting him to be an slightly eccentric older man with years of experience shown with white hair and wrinkles. She had been forgetting wixen age slower therefore he still had fully chesnut brown hair and sharp light green eyes.

“Healer Paul Capaldi,” came the return greeting. “I’ll be one of the leads for Harry’s treatment today, it’s a pleasure to meet you both though I wish it was under better conditions. Hope, a pleasure as always.” 

The conversation quickly moved away from introductions towards the procedure the medical team wanted to attempt. It would be a team of two healers and four mediwixen, led by Capaldi and Osan. 

Harry climbed onto the examination table and was quickly given a routine scan, followed by a more in-depth one targeting his head. When this was finished, the results having been written out on the parchment that appeared from nowhere, Harry was told he could go play in area set up for children. He took off quickly following a nod of reassurance from Laura. 

Laura was now sitting in a comfortable chair around a table with Healer Capaldi, Mediwitch Osan and Hope. 

“Everything looks good to me,” Capaldi began, having duplicated the scans for everyone else. “Though his magic reserve seems a little drained.”

“He used some magic yesterday,” Laura explained, “a toy dragon flew across the room spurting fire.” A fond look of amusement took over her face as she looked over to her youngest. “That won’t be a problem will it?” She suddenly asked looking a little nervous. 

“No, if anything it may help our procedure,” Mediwitch Osan was quick to reassure. 

They then went on to explain that the procedure much like muggle surgery would require Harry to be unconscious, though through the use of potions, then the ritual would be used to extract as much of the black magic which the second scan revealed was well contained by some force within and surrounding Harry’s scar. 

“My only concern is here,” Healer Capaldi added gently pointing to the scan which shown where there was a tiny bit of the black magic which seemed to either connect or extend into the protective casing. “We may not be able to remove it all, depending on how feisty the magic is.”

“Alright, will leaving some have any consequences?” Laura asked seriously feeling the worry within her trying to grow. 

“It’s difficult to tell given the lack of concrete cases similar to Harry’s. Our best assumption based on the information we have is given how contained the darkness is, the worst case scenario would be it growing to refill the emptied space, a bit like a tumour.” Osan answered, being as reassuring yet truthful as possible.

“Right, well, we’ll cross that bridge if it comes to it,” Laura said. 

“Do you have anymore questions, Mrs. Barton?” Capaldi asked.

Laura took a moment to think through the process and everything she had been told. “No, no more questions.”

“Well then, we should be ready to start in…” he glanced at his watch, “ten minutes.” Capaldi said glancing to Osan and receiving a nod. 

~ ~ ~

Harry had been told he needed to take a potion that would make him sleep, then the healers and mediwixen would perform a ritual on him that would remove some bad magic from his body. 

He had changed into some special ritual pyjamas, as he thought of them. He thought they were a bit boring being just plain white, but they were comfortable and fit him so he didn’t complain. 

Laura was impressed with how calm Harry appeared, fully trusting in her, Hope and Miriam Osan to look after him. He took the small vial and quickly drunk the potion, pulling a face at the unpleasant flavour. 

“I’ll be here waiting for you, Harry. See you when you wake up, love.” She said placing a kiss on his head, his eyes quickly began to droop.

~ ~ ~

Harry was taken from the examination room into one of the medical ritual rooms. He was gently placed into the left-hand circle at the centre of the ritual pattern, the right central circle held a reinforced spherical containment orb. 

Final checks of the runes surrounding the young boy and the patten in general were completed, alongside the team doing final pre-ritual checks that everyone knew when they were joining or leaving the chanting and roles each would take in chance of certain issues arising. 

Everyone assumed their position around the outside of the ritual circle. Taking a deep breath, when the quarter rang out Healer Capaldi and Mediwitch Osan began the chant. Magic slowly filled the room, flowing from those chanting. As the melody of the words rang through the room the power began to build, then another duo joined the chants, the feeling in the room grew even heavier.

Harry was calm throughout, unaware of the power wrapping around him in a cocoon, a tendril then reached out for the blackness it was being sent to ease out from within the scar. 

The final duo joined the chanting as the magic found the blackness intruding on the small boy, the added power gave finesse to the ritual. Slowly the black magic was being filtered out, it was also subdued by the potion Harry had taken. 

It was as the black magic touched the containment orb, that a shudder burst outwards from the young boy who remained asleep. 

The chant didn’t falter but the adults in the room were forced back a step. Once the orb had a grasp on the black magic it did not let go, slowly draining it out of Harry. But the small amount still contained and connected to Harry began to cling on tighter, actively fighting the removal, unwilling to be extracted. 

The group chant shifted to fight against the resistance, making some progress. Until it came to the final embedded sliver.  

~ ~ ~

Laura was pacing outside the ritual room, though she possessed very little magic herself, she was still just able to feel the change in pressure and ebb and flow of power coming from the room. 

Though, she wasn’t sure whether that was result of her limited magic or how well the room was warded from magical overspill. 

It felt like days were slowing dragging by when the doors finally opened, a quick glance at her watch showed it had only been four hours. Some tension that had built up across the hours slowly drained as she caught sight of her little boy. 

Harry was being floated on a stretcher, he looked as relaxed as when he had gone in, his scar was a little inflamed, but otherwise he looked undamaged. 

The medical team on the other hand looked drained, obviously having used a lot of magic for the process to be as smooth and noninvasive as it could be made.

“Thank you so so much,” she said looking to each of them in turn, grabbing a hold of one of Harry’s hand as the stretcher floated along towards an empty room beside the examination room they had been in earlier.

Chapter Text

The medical team had efficiently got Harry settled into his new room, only Healer Capaldi and Mediwitch Osan remained once they were done. The other four left most likely to have a quick nap, eat something, return home after their shift or get back to their other medical duties Laura assumed, though she made sure to thank each of them individually as they were leaving for all their help with the ritual and for taking care of Harry. 

Both the healer and the mediwitch were sat drinking a potion where they had gathered around the table. After they had swallowed the potion both seemed to brighten a little and sit up straighter, visually indicating to Laura how draining the ritual must have been for them, not only magically but physically too.  

“Well, the ritual went very well,” Healer Capaldi began once he had finished his drink, the empty vial when placed on the table vanished, “for the most part there were no complications, the only slight struggle occurred when the black magic came in contact with the containment orb. Though this was a potential reaction we had foreseen and prepared for therefore it did not cause us too much trouble.”

Laura breathed a sigh of relief, hearing that all had gone well helped the tension, which had steadily been building during the time she had been pacing, to slowly drain from her body, she now left a lot lighter than she had when they had first arrived earlier that afternoon. 

“The only negative outcome of the ritual was the small sliver embedded in the protective field within Harry, the one we mentioned could pose an issue,” Healer Osan explained, waiting for a nod of understanding from Laura before she continued, “it was able to keep its firm grip. However, we successfully removed all we possibly could, I'd estimate around ninety-seven percent of the magic, so that only the smallest shaving remained. It is still contained within his scar and prevented from reaching out further by the protective barrier, posing no additional threat to Harry.”

Laura took a moment to process this news thinking of like a successful surgery made the process easier for her. “And Harry will be fine once he wakes up?” Laura asked, needing to know for sure despite that being the implication from what they had said. 

“Yes, he will likely feel a bit sore, maybe have a headache, but nothing permanent. We can treat any discomfort with potions or magic once he is awake,” Healer Capaldi reassured her. 

“Good. That’s good,” Laura said more to herself than anyone else. “So, what’s next for Harry?” She questioned once she felt the information had been properly assimilated in her mind. 

“The black magic we removed will be sent to M-lab, essentially the magical equivalent of a no-maj biopsy, to be analysed. The results from this should be with us within the week and we will have the clearest idea what to do after that. For now, we’ll examine Harry once he’s awake and schedule a follow-up appointment for next week,” Mediwitch Osan continued. 

“Right. We’ll have to do a later appointment or on the weekend if possible because the kids will be starting school again on Monday,” Laura responded.    

“No problem, that can easily be taken into account with the scheduling, Mrs. Barton,” Mediwitch Osan reassured with a smile. 

“Do you have any other questions for us, Mrs. Barton?” The healer asked. 

Laura paused for a moment all the information running through her mind, no gaps were jumping out at her, so she responded in kind, “oh, um, no, nothing at the moment.”

“Alright then, if you think of anything later, don't hesitate to let us know, one of us will be back later to check in on Harry and then discharge him if everything goes to plan,” the healer added, “we’ll also ensure that Hope Anderson receives a copy of his updated medical file once he is discharged.” 

“Thank you,” Laura said shaking hands with both of them. Then she moved to the chair beside Harry’s bed to wait for him to wake up. Planning to call Clint and update him on everything while she waited.

“All’s looking good, honey. Enjoy your rest,” Laura said smoothly brushing a hand through Harry’s hair, placing a kiss on his forehead before lowering herself into the seat on the right hand side of his bed. She took his small hand in hers, offering silent support and reassurance whilst he slept off the last of the potion. 

***

Trying to piece together what had happened with Harry Potter was harder than he would like to, or was ever going to, admit. 

As far as all records showed the young Potter boy had been taken into MACUSA custody upon his magical accident which resulted in his arrival in Maine. There was a clear paper trail for this. From there he was placed into a family known by both the WCPS and SHIELD, the Millers. Also well documented and simply followed with their informants, he even had a copy of the documents in front of him. But this was where the records ended, there was nothing, no letter, no document, no record of a change in foster family, nothing. As far as the files and documentation were concerned Harry Potter was still with the Millers. 

Yet, Potter was no longer with the Millers, at least according to the wizards. 

A more trustworthy person had been being sent out to confirm this information. Should it prove to be accurate, then all hell could break loose. Requests for information had also been sent through to a number of their agents within MACUSA to see if anything was forthcoming. Something had better be forthcoming.

A positive outcome would be if the infernal wizards were simply so incompetent as to have miscounted and misidentified a child. Though the man doubted even they could be quite that incompetent. 

Alexander Pierce was not a man who took misconduct or insubordination well. He would want to know why an organisation such as theirs which was embedded within one of, if not the, most successful intelligence organisation was not kept abreast of such vital information. Information which had only recently been brought to their attention: the location of who had the potential to be the most powerful magical child in the world. 

His location had been a highly sought after secret that even the best spies had been unable to even gain the slightest indication of. They had had the information quite literally hand delivered to them, neatly wrapped up in a bow, to then let it slip through their fingers would be so far beyond unacceptable that heads would, quite literally, roll for it. 

Though it did pose the question as to how one such child could simply disappear from SHIELD and HYDRA radar after being brought onto it.

***

Clint was pushing the cart through the supermarket when his phone began to ring. 

“Hey, love. How’s Harry?” He answered upon seeing Laura's name on the screen. 

“Hi, he’s great. The procedure went really well, they got everything they were able to remove out, leaving only a sliver clinging on. We just have to wait for the biopsy results but the medical team are really optimistic.” 

“That’s brilliant. I- hold on a sec, love. Lila put that down now,” Clint ordered, his tone going from calm and loving to stern in the space of a heartbeat. 

Lila gently lowered the large jar of Nutella back onto the shelf. “But, Daddyyyyyy,” she whined. Cooper just laughed at her from where he was stood on the other side of the shopping cart. 

“No, we don’t need that much Nutella, who would ever need that much Nutella?” Clint said, half wonderingly whilst looking at the frankly obscenely large jar of chocolate spread. 

“Us.” Lila answered his quiet question without missing a beat. Cooper watched his laugh turning into a smile, waiting to see if their dad would give in, sometimes he could be swayed with a joke. 

“No, we don’t,” Clint responded simply. Obviously Cooper thought, today was not one of those days. 

“Hello, Clint… are you still there?” Came the faint slightly distorted sound of Laura’s voice from the mobile.

Clint shot one more stern look at Lila as she relinquished the jar back into its place before they all continued down the aisle, raising his phone back to his ear with his spare hand. “Sorry, love, Nutella,” he said as if that explained it all. 

“Ahhhh,” Laura replied, completely understanding the situation. “So, Harry will have a follow-up appointment sometime next week once they’ve got the results from the biopsy. How‘d the school shopping go?”

“It went well, we managed to find everything on the list except joggers in Cooper’s size. Cooper take that out of the cart now. Sorry, love, anyway, we’re justing finishing up the grocery shopping, do you or Harry want anything?” 

At the reprimand Cooper sighed before removing the pack of cookies from the cart, Lila stuck her tongue out at him when their gazes met. He was so sure he had managed it that time, but they really couldn’t get anything past dad. 

It was a game Lila and he had developed a few years ago, when their parents attention was diverted they would try and sneak things into the cart. Dad always noticed, even when his back was turned. It was actually impossible to get anything past him, he must have eyes in the back of his head. Their mom was a little easier, but it was still almost always impossible. Between him and Lila they had managed only two things with mom, and one of the them had been a duplicate of something else, so probably shouldn't be counted in their score but... they needed the point.

“Is peanut butter on the list? Because we’ve run out,” Laura asked. 

“Yeah, it’s on the list. Anything else?” He asked keeping half his attention on the kids who seemed to be conferring about something, most likely what else they could attempt to sneak into the cart without him noticing. 

“Just some more things for cake decorating, sprinkles and baking chocolate, but otherwise I think everything we needed was on the list,” Laura replied, after thinking through the running list she had in her mind. 

“Alright then, we’ll see you at home later, love you, look after Harry,” Clint said whilst the other kids shouted goodbye from a distance. 

“Bye, see you all later,” Laura responded with a light laugh at the kids. 

It wasn’t much time later when they arrived to the check outs, Clint was doing one more check of the list, they had every— nope, almost everything. 

“Cooper, can you go grab a bag of pretzel chips and then another bag of chips that you want, please,” he asked whilst he started getting things out of the cart and onto the conveyor belt. 

“Yeah,” Cooper said turning to go. 

“I wanna go too, why’s Cooper get to go,” Lila whined, going rapidly from happy and smiley to making sad puppy eyes at her brother and father. 

“Because Cooper is older and I need your help here, can you pass me the peanut butter, please,” Clint said, allowing Cooper to slip off quickly to grab the missing items. 

The cashier had begun to ring through their items by the time Cooper returned carrying the two requested bags of snacks.

“Thanks, Cooper,” Clint said, smiling at his son. 

“Ohhhh, what d’you choose Cooper?” Lila asked moving towards him from where she stood within the now empty cart.

“Tortilla chips,” came the quick response.

“I woulda picked Cheese Puffs,” Lila said with a disgruntled expression on her face. 

“Well, you weren’t there, so I chose tortilla chips,” Cooper responded, sticking his tongue out at his younger sister. 

“Cooper, stop it. Enough, Lila,” Clint admonished them both before the argument could get any worse, “let’s get this all bagged up and back in the cart, without fighting please.” 

“Can we have a snack in the car?” Lila asked as she was gently passed a light bag to place in the cart. 

“Yes, but only once everything is packed away. So, let’s go,” Clint said, smiling at how the promise of a snack incentivised his kids to work together better. 

***

Harry slowly woke up, as he came back to wakefulness there was a pain in his head that made it feel like he was repeatedly being tapped with a stick. The feeling was concentrated in the centre of his forehead. He let out a small pitiful moan at the discomfort which was answered by a rustling sound from beside him. 

“Harry, honey, how are you feeling?” A quiet, soothing voice asked from next to him, he recognised it as Laura. She also gently squeezed his hand that he now realised she was holding.

A smile began to grow on his face, an adult was waiting with him, asking how he was, after he was ill. It was just like in the stories they had been read at school, kids had adults who would take care of them. Harry had Laura and Clint now, these thoughts led the small smile to steadily grow. He gently squeezed Laura’s bigger hand back. He also slowly rolled his head towards her, peeling on eye open to look at her. “You stayed,” he replied softly. 

“Of course, I stayed, honey, you needed me,” Laura responded like it was the simplest thing in the world, still keeping her voice soothing. “Are you feeling any pain, Harry?”

An adult was asking if he was feeling alright, the joy of someone showing how much they cared for him almost overcame the pain he was feeling. “M’ head hurts,” he replied slowly, unsure what reaction this statement would cause.

“Oh, darling, have a little drink, some water should make you feel better,” Laura added, reaching over to grab a small cup that Harry hadn’t taken notice of, it was placed on a small bedside table. 

Harry slowly raised himself up a little, so he was in a more upright position. Laura waited for him to settle comfortably then helped hold the cup to his mouth for him to sip. He raised one hand to help support the cup himself and Laura carefully removed her hands once she was certain his hands were stable. 

“Thank you,” Harry said, once he had finished the cup. His head was feeling a little better and the strange dryness in his mouth and throat had been washed away. Though, there was still the prodding pain. 

“Is your head still hurting you?” Laura asked placing the empty cup back onto the bedside table. “Mediwitch Osan mentioned they could give you a potion to treat any pain.”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Harry answered quietly, he slowly raised one hand to his forehead, gently feeling around where he knew the scar began. The skin didn’t seem any different to normal, not warm or bumpy, he slowly inched his fingers closer to the actual scar itself which resulted in a slightly stronger flash of pain, causing him to hiss at its suddenness. 

“I’ll call Mediwitch Osan and let her know you're awake and that your head is hurting you,” Laura said slowly getting out of her chair. 

Before Laura could even make it to the door it opened and in stepped Mediwitch Osan greeting them both, “good evening, Harry, Mrs. Barton.”

“Well, speak of the devil,” Laura said returning to her seat beside Harry. 

Harry’s forehead scrunched up, causing another flash of pain, at Laura’s turn of phrase, “Hi,” he greeted Miriam quietly with a small wave, before turning to Laura and asking in confusion, “Miriam's the devil?”

“It’s only a saying, Harry. I’m not actually calling her the devil. I used it because we were just talking about Mediwitch Osan and then she appeared,” Laura explained simply.

“Okay,” Harry responded still not looking a hundred percent certain of the explanation. 

“So, how is our young patient doing? Are you happy for me to cast a spell on you, Harry?” The mediwitch continued coming to stand alongside the bed, removing her wand from its pocket. 

Harry shot a glance at Laura, getting an encouraging nod and hand squeeze, he answered, “my head is sore.” 

“Alright. And the spell?” Osan repeated, wanting and needing permission before casting. Laura nodded her approval. 

“Oh, okay,” Harry responded, settling back into the pillows waiting for the tingling feeling of the diagnostic spell to travel across his body. As with his previous experiences of the spell, the sensation quickly swept across his body, an invisible hand writing the findings on a scroll of parchment which hovered in midair. 

“Everything is looking good, the headache appears to be a side affect of the ritual but nothing to worry about. I can give you a pain reliever then we can get you discharged,” Osan said, quickly scanning the results, a pleased smile crossing her lips with nothing new or worrying appearing. 

“Wonderful, thank you,” Laura said, smiling brightly at Harry. 

With a quiet pop, a small pale pink vial appeared on the bedside table which had held the cup of water. 

“If you could pass that to me, Mrs. Barton,” Osan asked holding out a hand for the vial. The mediwitch quickly double-checked it was the correct potion and the wanted strength, that the production date was recent so as to get full effectiveness. Once satisfied she passed the potion to the young boy in front of her, “here you go, Harry. Just the one potion for you today.”

Harry took the uncorked vial, he took a quick breath then swallowed as much of the potion as he could in one go. Scrunching up his nose and eyes, whilst also lowering his bottom lip and chin in disgust at the flavour now coating his tongue, “urgh,” he complained.

Pulling a small laugh out of Laura at the face he was pulling, Mediwitch Osan only allowed the corners of hr mouth to twitch up in a smile.   

Another quiet pop welcomed the arrival of a small cup of water, “here, love, some water to wash away the taste,” Laura said handing across the cup and taking the small vial from Harry. 

“Well then, now that’s done I will go grab your discharge forms and we can get you on your way. I’ll be back in a few,” Mediwitch Osan said heading to the door. 

Not even ten minutes later, Harry and Laura found themselves being guided back to the portkey room they had arrived in several hours earlier.

***

The rest of the final week of the summer holiday flew by. In a way which Harry was beginning to accept was normal life in the Barton household. He would wake up and go fetch the eggs from the chickens with Lila or alone if she was still sleeping. He’d eat breakfast, sometimes he had simple chores to do, then he could have fun all day. Most of the time he was playing either by himself or with Lila and Cooper. Sometimes the adults even played with them which was so much fun. He had played hide and go seek, cops and robbers, they’d also played in the lake again.

Harry was allowed to get messy and muddy and mucky without being shouted at. He was just told to brush off as much of the mess as possible before entering the house, then he was helped to get all cleaned up. It was no big deal even when he had been dripping wet from slipping into the pond. He was quickly helped to the bath and the drips he had caused were dried without any screaming or shouting.

Harry  finally got to go and choose some school supplies on the last day of before the start of school, he chose a cool new backpack for all his new school stuff, it was green with a load of different animals on it. He was unable to find one with a niffler on it, which had made him sad, but elephants, giraffes and tigers were cool too.

It had been madness in the store, there were so many people. Frustrated parents trying to battle through the crowds in search of forgotten items their children would be needing the next day. Some kids complaining about not getting what they wanted, babies crying at all the noise. There were even some people that were pushing and shoving others out of their way. 

Harry had been made to ride in the cart after almost being run over by one very busy, distracted shopper. Even so, Harry thought the trip had been great fun, one of the best bits was when he got to have a cookie as a snack on the way home.

In Harry’s opinion, this had been the best summer ever ever ever. Hopefully the upcoming school year would be better than the last one had been. 

Chapter Text

The asset did not question why it had been sent to scope out and investigate this seemingly normal suburban home. It said 'seemingly normal' because when it got too close to the building it got the strange sense of protection as if the house had an aura. This odd aura was maintained around the perimeter of the house as if an invisible dome was settled over the building. The invisible aura dome did not prevent entrance or exit to the house or the yard, the family, a neighbour, and a postman had had no problem crossing the secret line.  

The asset appeared to have an unusual reaction to the aura which created the feeling of protection that sparked something within its mind, the sparking was not mission compliant, its handlers would want to be informed upon completion of the mission so the aberration could be corrected next time it was placed in the chair. 

The asset had been tasked with investigating the occupants of the household. If the asset was one to question such things it would wonder why this very simple mission had been assigned to it, but it wasn’t one to question such things. So the observation and information gathering continued. 

On day one of the mission it had successfully determined that the occupants were a family, currently in residence were the adults, parents: David, the father, and Angela, the mother. As well as one child: Jo, the youngest of the four children who inhabit the house. The other children, one adopted, a young teenaged male, Jacob, two fostered, both girls, one teenaged, one pre-teen, sisters, named: Sophia and Eliza. All three of the elder children were away at school, duration of time away currently undetermined; possible answers until Thanksgiving, the winter break, Christmas…. Yule a strange voice whispered in his mind, the asset quickly shook its head to clear it of the unknown gentle female voice. No other inhabitants were detected, no one else had been present for an overnight stay in the home since midsummer. 

The family appeared normal enough, during the three day stake out the asset had found no evidence of the target, name: Harry James Potter. Codenames: The Boy-Who-Lived, Potter Brat, That Freak Potter. Target description: naturally messy black hair, bright green eyes, shorter than average stature for a five year old boy, distinctive lightning bolt shaped scar marring his forehead. No sightings during the mission other than the image shown during the briefing. 

The asset had neither heard any mention nor seen any photos or proof that the target had ever resided in this house. There were forty-seven pictures including a variety of people from the family, friends and acquaintances that could easily be observed through the windows of the home, alongside a further seventeen that required a certain level of skill to see. None of them contained an image of the target. 

***

The family was all gathered around the table in the middle of dinner, they were discussing the new school year that started tomorrow in between bites of food. 

“Are you excited about starting Kindergarten, Harry?” Clint asked 

Harry took a minute to respond, finishing his mouthful after a look from Laura when he went to start speaking with food still in his mouth, “Sorry,” he said with a blush looking at Laura before turning to Clint to answer him, “is it the same as reception?” 

It was a question that had been bugging Harry for the past few days when the older kids mentioned kindergarten as the first year of elementary school. 

“Reception?” Clint repeated in confusion, casting a look at Laura to see if she understood what Harry meant, she didn’t. 

“Yeah, reception,” Harry responded when no one added anything in response, he slowly continued cautiously, not sure if he had said something wrong, “I spent last year at school in reception.” 

The moment that Laura finally understood the connection between kindergarten and reception was obvious to Clint, who had just drawn the same conclusions, her eyes widened minutely and her mouth opened as though she was going to say something. Lila spoke up before she got a chance. 

“Why’d you spend a whole year in the reception and not in class?” Lila asked her tone heavy with confusion, her tilted to one side as she studied Harry as if he was very odd.

Cooper was equally as confused at Harry’s words. Was this something weird that happened in England, spending a whole year helping out at the school’s reception. Though when he looked to his parents they suddenly seemed to be able to follow the very weird turn the conversation had taken, so he wasn’t too concerned. 

“No, I was in class… in reception,” Harry responded, his eyebrows drawn together staring back at Lila as if she were being stupid. He wondered if she was alright, his sentence was a simple one. 

“But,” Lila began, only to have her mom interrupt gently.

“Honey, reception is the first year of school in England. Harry didn’t spend the whole year in the school’s reception, that’s just the name of the class, not kindergarten or pre-K, it's reception,” she explained. 

Cooper nodded, not at anyone, more as if he was acknowledging and accepting this new information piece of information. “Right,” murmured. 

“Ohhh… well that’s stupid,” Lila said simply, taking another mouthful of her pasta. 

“No, it’s not,” Harry argued. “How is reception stupid, it’s school,” he responded with all the strong conviction a young child can hold. Pulling a chuckle from Clint and Laura.

“Not the school, the name. Reception,” Lila answered.

“Reception’s not stupid. Kindergarten’s stupid,” Harry responded. Cooper snorted at that, before having a slight coughing fit as he swallowed his mouthful incorrectly. 

“Alright, that’s enough, both of you,” Clint interrupted at the same time that Laura added, “neither reception nor kindergarten are stupid,” from where she had quickly reached over to pat Cooper’s back gently whilst he got his breathing back under control. 

“Sorry,” both Harry and Lila murmured turning their attention back to their food. 

There was maybe a minute of quiet eating before Cooper spoke up, “so is it the same?” 

“What?” Clint asked looking to his eldest son in askance.

“Reception and kindergarten,” Cooper clarified. 

“I’m… not actually sure,” Clint said after a moment’s pause. His gaze connected to Laura’s who only shrugged. “I guess Harry can tell us tomorrow,” he added with a smile for the little boy. 

Harry gave a small smile back, his mouth stained a light orange from the bolognese they were eating. 

“If it’s too easy we can see about changing things for you Harry, alright, hun,” Laura added. 

“Oh, okay,” Harry said uncertainly, not sure if he liked the idea of that, would the make him more of a freak than he already was? He shot a quick look at both Lila and Cooper for their reactions to their mum’s statement, but he couldn’t make out any obvious negative reactions which relaxed him a little.

***

Harry had been trying to sleep for what felt like forever, but his mind just would not stop thinking. He had been lying awake listening to everything that was going on in the house. He had heard the murmur of the television for a while before there was the thunder of footsteps on the stairs as Lila and Cooper were sent to prepare for bed. 

Then, the house had been quiet for a while once the older two had been tucked in and read to. Harry had even been able to hear some of the story that Cooper was reading, he wasn’t sure what a centaur was but it sounded pretty cool.

Harry had pretended to be asleep when he heard footsteps coming towards his room and then the door opening almost soundlessly. He had laid very still hardly daring to breath, would they be angry that he wasn’t asleep yet? They hadn’t gotten angry at him yet, but maybe now they would.

When what felt like hours had past and no sound came from the door, Harry slowly peeled one eye open to see if who ever had come in to check on him was gone.

They were not. He could make out a silhouette leaning against the doorframe.

“Hey, bud, struggling to sleep?” Clint asked quietly, taking a step closer to the bed. 

Harry didn’t reply too nervous to say anything. He was meant to be asleep. It was late. 

“It’s alright, Harry. Everyone struggles to sleep sometimes,” Clint continued softly. 

He didn’t sound angry, but maybe he was just better at hiding it than the Dursleys were. 

“Are you nervous about school tomorrow?” Clint asked lowering himself to be sat beside Harry’s bed. “I was always nervous on the last night before school,” Clint added.

At this revelation, Harry turned towards him, bright green eyes raking over his face in the dim light looking for any hint of a lie. Clint was a grown up, he was brave, how could he have been scared of school. “Really?” Harry asked in a barely audible whisper. 

“Uh huh, even though I didn’t need to be scared, I couldn’t ever get my mind to relax. It felt like too many thoughts were running ‘round my head.” 

Harry gasped, “that’s just like me,” he said at a regular volume.  

“Yeah, well maybe you just need a little distraction for your brain to get all sleepy,” Clint said, lightly brushing a hand through Harry’s hair. “How about another story?” 

“Really?” He questioned, surely Clint wasn’t going to help him without getting mad. 

“Really really. So, which book do you want?” He asked heading to the small stack of books on Harry’s dresser. 

“Oooh, the one ‘bout, ‘bout, the dragon,” he said excitedly. 

“The dragon book, it is,” Clint said, finding the new book that Harry had chosen when he went to get some of his school supplies. He tapped the lamp on Harry's bedside table so he could read by the gentle light. “Once upon a time, in a magical kingdom far away…”    

***

It was the final evening of the stealth and reconnaissance mission when the asset decided to try and gather some more information on the protective barrier. 

Approaching from the back of the house once darkness had fully fallen and movement within the house had ceased for the night, the asset slowly moved closer to the seemingly intangible forcefield, flesh hand outstretched until connection was made. The hand was able to breach the border that consisted of only a feeling, the hand was then withdrawn. 

Again the warm feeling of protection had built up. No ill effects could be detected, the temperature of the limb was unaffected, there was no pain or discomfort. A minute passed without a negative reaction.

No further information had been gathered from this experiment, the asset took a step forward when its face made contact with where the forcefield should be a sharp pain began in its head before it could do anything other than take in a deep breath at the shock, the world around it began to fade to darkness.

Its body collapsed onto the cold ground, folding down onto its knees then slumping forward so just the asset’s head was crossing the magical border line. The collapse was graceful despite there being no conscious control over the actions.

~ ~ ~

The room was poorly lit, obviously late evening. The room was familiar, the table he was sat at, the uncomfortable wooden chair he ate dinner in for at least eight years. Home, he was home. 

“…tect you,” the young female voice said from in front of him.  

His attention was drawn away from the surroundings to the young girl in front of him. She was shorten than him, though around the same height whilst he was seated, she had dark brown hair that fell with a slight curl to just past her shoulders, framing her heart-shaped face. 

“Jimbob, are you listening to me?” The young female voice asked sounding annoyed. 

“What’d I tell you about calling me Jimbob,” he replied with an equal amount of annoyance colouring his tone, turning a serious look towards her coming from his matching sharp blue eyes. One of his eyebrows raised in a move he knew would frustrate her, seeing as she was unable to do it, despite having practiced.

“Not to, probably,” she replied with a disgruntled tone, looking away with a huff of annoyance. “But you weren’t listening to me… and it’s important,” she stressed in earnest looking back at him. 

He rolled his eyes before saying, “well, I’m listenin’ now, ain’t I?” Her unimpressed frown remained, so he reached out to poke her gently in the side causing her to squirm away with a small squeal of "don't!"

“Good. So as I was trying to tell you,” she said with a pointed stare, only earning an unimpressed look in response, “this’ll subtly protect you from most dangers, stray bullets, shrapnel, barbed wire, et cetera,” she said handing back his dog tags. 

“How?” He asked curiously, examining the metal that didn’t look any different to him. It was the same silver colour as before, the metal was still cold to touch, there were no visible changes. 

“Magic, fat head,” she responded with a teasing smile, dancing out of reach of his swat.

Earning herself an eye roll, though the dog tags were quickly hung around his neck. “Thanks, Tilda,” he said standing, hugging her and placing a soft kiss to the top of her head. Before poking her in the side again. 

“Stop it, Jimbob,” Tilda squealed pulling out of his grip to avoid the tickling. 

“I’d run if I were you,” he warned in a dangerous tone stepping towards her, before he could grab her she had spun on her heel. A noise that was part terror part amusement following in her wake.

This memory began to slip from his grasp as what little light had made up the memory began to fade back to the darkness which was the world around him. It took a moment for him to process where he was. 

Slumped in an awkward position on the lawn outside the potential house of his target. He quickly checked his watch, seeing that an hour had passed since he’d begun gathering further information. 

Advised course of action: Retreat and move towards rendezvous location.

***

Harry couldn’t sit still, it was his first day of kindergarten and it felt like there was a washing machine spinning around and around in his stomach. His leg was bouncing almost constantly whilst he sat in the back of the car. 

“Normally we’d get the bus, but because it’s the first day of school, mommy likes to drive us,” Lila was saying from where she was sat beside him. 

“Wow, if Uncle Vernon wasn’t there to drive us, then we had to walk to school,” Harry said thinking how cool it would be to get a bus to school. Only the really big kids in Surrey got a bus to school.

“We couldn’t walk to school, Harry. It would take us hhhhhhhours,” Lila said in response. 

“Almost there,” Cooper called from the passenger seat. 

“I can’t wait to see Madison and hear about her summer,” Lila squealed in excitement. 

“You saw her literally a week ago at the park,” Cooper pointed out to his sister. 

“Yeah, well, a lot can happen in a week, duh. And we didn’t even talk about our summers then,” Lila responded, poking her tongue out. 

“Lila, behave,” Laura reprimanded having caught the gesture in the rearview mirror. 

Cooper pulled a weird funny face in return, “yeah, Lila, behave,” he mockingly added before turning round to face the front again. 

“Honestly, Cooper,” Laura said with a quiet sigh. Siblings, she thought. 

Harry laughed at the face Cooper had pulled, quickly trying to smother his laughter when Lila whipped her head towards him. “Sorry,” Harry mumbled contritely. 

Only a few minutes later, the car was parked and everyone was shepherded out. 

“Alright, I’m going to take Harry to his classroom. Then, I’ll come back and say goodbye. Dad’ll be the one to pick you up later, alright. I love you all,” Laura said giving each of her elder children a hug and kiss to the head, before reaching out a hand for Harry to take. 

~ ~ ~

Harry was really nervous, he was one of the first students to arrive at his new classroom. Ms. Rodswell, a young blonde woman with a friendly smile and warm brown eyes, had greeted both him and Laura happily. 

“Good morning, welcome to Kindergarten, I’ll be your teacher this year, Harry,” she had said holding a hand out for him to shake. Harry had taken it, though his other hand was still tightly grasping Laura’s trouser leg. “I’ll let you say goodbye and then I’ll show you your seat,” she added then stepped back giving them some space. 

Laura bent down so she was around Harry’s height, “Have a good day, Harry. I can’t wait to hear all about it later,” Laura said with a small smile. 

“‘m scared,” Harry admitted in a whisper. 

Laura gently stroked his fringe across his forehead. “I know, buddy. It will be a little scary at first but by the end of the day you will have had so much fun, you will forget why you were even scared.”

“Promise?” Harry asked quietly, still looking around nervously.

“I promise. If you need us, then you can ask for someone to get Lila or Cooper who are in different classrooms but still this building and if you need to then you can ask Ms. Rodwell to call either me or Clint, alright, bud.” 

“Uh huh,” Harry responded with a small sniff, trying to stop the tears from gathering in bis eyes, he was still scared about what the other kids would be like. What if they were all like Dudley? 

“You’re so brave, Harry. It will all be fun, you’ll see. I will see you this afternoon, love,” Laura said pulling him in for one last hug, before placing a gentle kiss on his forehead and standing up. 

***

It was the end of the school day and Harry was excited to tell everyone how it had been. 

He was bouncing on his toes as he waited for his new friends and the rest of his class to move out of the way. Ms. Rodwell was leading them all in a long line to the school yard. 

Once they exited the main school doors there was a lot of noise. There was a big school year that led up to a big fence that had a gate in it. Harry could hear younger kids screaming and talking. There were parents beyond the big gate waiting to collect their children, there was also a lot of big yellow buses that Harry could see further down the road.

“Listen up class, anyone who is taking the bus home can go and play over there,” Ms Rodwell said pointing towards the school’s play equipment and outside sports court. The pounding of feet and excited shouts followed this instruction as about half the class took off. “Everyone else, let’s go find your parents or guardians.”

Harry waved goodbye to some of his classmates, while he followed the smaller group towards the gate. He was scanning the crowd trying to find Clint, Laura had said he would be there at the end of the day, but he couldn’t see him. 

There was a loud burst of noise behind him, Harry turned to see another class had just come out the front door. 

What if he couldn’t find Clint? Would he be left alone at the school? Lila had said that morning it was too far to walk back to the house. Harry wasn’t even sure he knew how to get there even if he could walk. All these thoughts began to spiral as he looked over the crowd of parents, recognising no one. He was starting to find it harder to breathe. 

“Harry,” he heard a voice call out, bringing him out of his thoughts. He looked up at the sound of his name.

Clint was there. He could see him, he was smiling and waving at Harry. Harry was running before he even thought to move, squeezing past the other kids still waiting to find their parents.

“Hey, bud. How’re you doing?” Clint said, bending down to hug him as Harry launched himself at the man. To Harry’s surprise Clint simply stood up with Harry in his arms continuing the hug. 

“I'm good,” Harry said with a small smile, relieved he wouldn’t be left behind. 

“Hi, Ms. Rodwell,” Clint greeted the teacher with an easy smile, “Harry’s one of mine.”   

“Oh, yes, I remember seeing Laura this morning,” Ms. Rodwell nodded in recognition, offering a kind wave. “Well, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Harry.” She then turned back to the next student. 

“Alright, then, let’s go get Lila and Cooper. They have a different entrance over this way,” Clint explained, turning and moving his way smoothly through the thinning crowd.

~ ~ ~

Once everyone was correctly seat belted in the car, the stories of their first day back at school began. 

“So, I saw Madison and she…” 

“It was great, Dad, we had science class…” 

“I made some friends…”

All three kids began to share their news at once. Causing Clint to let out a warm laugh, “alright, alright, one at a time. We’ll go youngest first. Let’s hear it, Harry.”

“Well, it was good. I made friends with Ethan and Layla and Jude, who were all sitting at my table, we played with each other at break time. And, and, and lunch was really nice. And we spoke to the magic flag, and we did maths and counting and storytime. And I made friends,” Harry explained in a rush, his excitement and happiness easily felt and heard in his words. 

“That’s wonderful, Harry, I’m so happy you had a good day,” Clint said with a wide smile on his face, Harry had come a long way already during his short time with them. 

Lila began to talk about her day from her seat in the front.

“Hold up, you mentioned a magic flag, Harry,” Cooper said quietly looking across the back seat of the car at the younger boy.

“Mhmm, the magic flag,” Harry said with a smile at Cooper. 

“What magic flag?” Cooper asked, brows scrunching a little in confusion. 

“You know the one with red lines and star that everyone talks to,” Harry said looking at the older boy, also confused how he didn’t know about the magic flag. 

“You mean the American flag.” He elaborated further when Harry only looked confused, “the one hanging in your classroom, with red and white stripes, and stars in the corner.”

“Yeah, that one. Everyone has to speak with it at the start of the day,” Harry says happy now that Cooper understands him. 

“That’s not a magic flag, Harry,” Cooper says gently. 

“Why’d we have to talk to it then?” Harry asks, obviously thinking Cooper is silly for not knowing the flag is magic. 

“Because we’re saying the Pledge of Allegiance,” Cooper explains. 

“Yeah, the magic words for the magic flag,” Harry adds slowly, trying to be kind to the older boy because how could he not understand something so simple. 

“It’s just a flag, Harry. No magic,” Cooper exclaims, trying to keep down his growing frustration.

“Of course, Cooper,” Harry responds, though his tone shows he doesn’t truly believe him. 

“Dad, tell Harry, the American flag isn’t magical,” Cooper burst out, annoyed at the fact the young boy didn’t believe him.

“Sorry, Coop, I can’t do that. Many people believe in the magic of the flag,” Clint says with a teasing smile. Harry shoots a look at Cooper as if to ‘see, I told you so’.

Cooper just groans and looks out the car window, waiting for his turn to share about his day.  

Chapter Text

It was the Wednesday of the kids' first week at school when Clint received the phone call, he and Laura were sat at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee and the silence that could only be achieved when the kids were out of the house. 

“Healer Capaldi sent through a message earlier saying they had some results from M-lab, so I booked Harry’s follow-up appointment for Friday after school. 

“Okay, so I’ll…” Clint began only to be stopped when his phone began to ring. “Sorry, love,” he added, hitting the button to accept the call.  

“Hello?” Clint answered, raising the mobile to his ear. Shooting a smile at Laura before turning his full attention to listening to the currently one-sided conversation. 

The silence stretched, Clint periodically nodding his head and making noises of affirmation but not interrupting the other person. 

Laura continued to sip her coffee, watching her husband, trying to work out what he was being told from his small facial movements. Given the serious concentration, it was SHIELD, in which case it was most likely Coulson, so Clint would be back to work soon.

“Yes sir,” Clint eventually replied seriously, confirming Laura’s guesses. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

Hanging up, he put the phone down on the table. Taking a moment to process all the new details he had been given, sipping his coffee whilst thinking. 

“Back to work, then?” Laura asked with a questioning eyebrow raised once she saw her husband was ready to speak. 

“Yeah, my paternity leave is officially over as of tomorrow. Coulson needs Nat and I for a job,” Clint added. 

“What time do you have to leave?” 

Clint paused, “I need to be there by midday tomorrow at the latest, so I’ll probably have a flight booked for late tonight or very early tomorrow morning.”

~ ~ ~

Clint collected the kids from the bus stop which was at the bus' final stop in the closest town to the land they owned. The road onto their land wasn't hidden but it was easily overlooked, not having their kids dropped off there had been set up to provide an extra security measure. Getting off at the earlier stop meant that their kids weren’t the only ones doing so which would help them to blend in if ever it was necessary for them to do so. 

Harry was really enjoying taking a bus to and from school, he thought it was super cool. The bus is bright yellow which is a happy colour, yellow makes you think of sunshine, sunflowers, smiley faces and those other cool yellow flowers and… and other happy things. The seats didn’t have seatbelts which is very different to cars where you always have to wear a seatbelt to be safe. On the bus you also get to sit beside your friends which was really epic, a new fun word he had learnt from Cooper. Both Layla and Jude got the same bus as him, it was brilliant, but because there were three of them they had to switch who was sitting beside whom on each trip. 'Whom' was another fun word, one Laura had taught him, it was like who but a bit more fancy.

Yesterday had been his first day on the bus, he'd had been feeling really nervous about not getting off at the right stop and then being stuck on the bus forever. But he found it was really easy getting off at the right stop because he could just watch out for Cooper and Lila. Both of the older kids had been told to keep an eye on him anyway to make sure he wasn't left on the bus. 

Today was his second day on the bus and he wasn’t scared anymore. The bus pulled across to the side of the road and people began to get up out of their seats and walk towards the door. Harry stopped his conversation with Jude and looked back to where Cooper was still sitting, seeing he wasn't moving Harry started talking again. This continued for the next four stops, Jude got off at the third waving a big goodbye to both Layla and Harry, then Harry saw it was his stop. He also waved goodbye to Layla before joined the flow of other kids getting off. 

When he was on the pavement, he had a look around for the Barton’s car, Laura had picked them up yesterday and he wasn’t sure if they always would or not. Like how Lila said their parents liked to drop them off at school on the first day. 

“This way, Harry,” Cooper said from a little further along the road already having spotted his dad stood beside the car. 

“Let’s go,” Harry replied running past the older boy along the pavement towards Clint, now that he could see where he was. Cooper laughed, saying goodbye to his friends before jogging after Harry. 

“Harry,” Clint greeted with a smile once the young boy was within talking distance, “you have good day at school?”

“Hi,” he said excitedly, once he was swept up into a nice hug  tentatively returning it, he continued, “yeah, we spoke to the magic flag again today. It hasn’t done anything yet, other than wave slowly, but maybe it's nervous?” He said the last bit questioningly looking to Clint for his thoughts. 

“Maybe, bud,” he said, smile still firmly in place, sending a wink to Cooper who was rolling his eyes behind Harry’s back still unconvinced about the magical powers of the American flag. Clint gave Harry one more squeeze before lowering him back to the ground. He then gave Lila a hug and Cooper a high five, he was too old to hug his dad in front of his friends, asking how their days had been.

“Harry, move, it’s my turn in the front,” Lila said as she turned to find her newest sibling taking her seat in the car. 

“Nu-uh, it’s my turn,” he said moving to fasten the seatbelt. 

Lila rushed forward to stop him. “Daddy,” Lila whined, still blocking Harry from clicking the belt into place with her hand covering the buckle, “it’s my turn in the front. Cooper was in the front this morning, so it should be my turn now. Not Harry’s,” she said with a glare at Harry. 

Clint shot a look to Cooper who was quietly laughing as the younger two tussled with the belt, seeing his dad’s look, he nodded. “Yeah, it’s Lila’s turn, Harry,” he added. 

Harry shot him a betrayed look, his mouth dropping open in surprise. His lack of attention allowed Lila to pull the seatbelt out of his hands. 

“Alright, Lila step back for me, honey. It’ll be your turn in the front tomorrow morning, Harry, okay,” Clint said calmly. 

Harry was not looking happy at that announcement but he didn’t say anything about it. Only slowly sliding out of the car, failing to ignore Lila’s smug smile, not liking the look he pushed her as he went passed.

“Harry, don’t shove your sister,” Clint scolded seeing the small shove. 

“But her face, it’s being mean to me,” Harry said whining a little. His eyes had a few tears gathering in them, making the green appear even brighter. 

“Lila, don’t taunt your brother, try to be more gracious in your success, please,” Clint gently reprimanded ruffling Lila’s hair as he pulled Harry up into another quick hug. 

“Come on, bud, let’s get you strapped in,” Clint said, moving round the car with Harry in his arms to get the boy seated on his car seat.    

After that the journey back to the house didn’t take long, Cooper was telling them all about a big science project that his class would be doing later in the month that he was excited about. 

~ ~ ~

It was that night as the kids were eating their dessert that Clint told them that he was going back to work. 

“When?” Cooper asked, his spoon of ice cream paused hovering on its way to his mouth. 

“Later tonight, after you’re all in bed,” Clint responded, he had received a plane ticket that would get him into Washington D.C. early the next morning. 

“Oh, okay,” Cooper said, turning back to his ice cream, the expression on his face thoughtful. 

“Why are you leaving for work at night?” Harry asked confused. Uncle Vernon had always left for work in the morning, never at night, sometimes he had work dinners but it was never so late in the day. Even for the time he had spent at Angela and David's house when they went to work it was always during the daytime. 

“Daddy has to travel to get to work,” Lila answered, with a proud smile at knowing the answer to Harry’s question, earning a nod of approval from her parents. 

“Yeah, but…” Harry trailed off not really sure what he wanted to ask, but knowing this was still odd. 

“I work in a different state, Harry,” Clint began. 

"Not liquid or gas though," Cooper jokingly added, though only Laura picked up on the quiet joke shooting a mildly amused look his way, causing the older boy to laugh harder. 

“Okay,” Harry responded, his brows still furrowed as he tried to work through this information. He didn't understand why Cooper was laughing so he focused on the things that kind of made sense. However, even people living in Little Whinging who worked in London would get the trains in the morning for work. 

“Remember when I brought you home, Harry, and all the time it took us to travel here,” Clint clarified. 

“Uh huh,” Harry agreed around a mouthful of chocolate ice cream. It had taken sooo long, they had had to go in a car, then on a plane, then in another car. 

“Well, I have to do that journey to get to work,” Clint explained. 

“What! But that’s so far,” shock taking over Harry’s voice. 

“It is, bud,” Clint agreed with a chuckle. Laura and Cooper also laughed kindly at Harry’s surprise. Harry continued to eat his ice cream seemingly satisfied with the answers he now had. 

“Dad’s got a really important job that means he has to travel a lot,” Cooper added in a kind tone once he finished laughing. Getting a nod from the younger boy, this sentence made sense.

“So, what do you do?” Harry asked mouth still partially filled with ice cream, turning away from Cooper to look at Clint again. 

“Harry, finish the food in your mouth before talking, please,” Laura corrected with a stern look at the youngest boy. 

“Oops, sorry,” Harry replied after very obviously swallowing that which was left in his mouth, a light blush spreading across his face. 

“I work in security,” Clint answered with a small smile.

“He protects people from dangerous people and dangerous things,” Lila put in excitedly, her pride shining through. 

“Whoa, really?” Harry asked turning quickly back to facing Clint. 

“Remember bud, empty mouth before talking,” Clint corrected before answering, “but, yes, really.” 

“Sorry.” 

“When will you be back?” Lila asked, when the room had been filled only with the sounds of spoons scraping through ice cream and against bowls for several seconds.  

“I’m not sure, probably in a week or so.”

“What. But, but that’s so long,” Harry interrupted, fortunately for him he had now finished his ice cream.

“My job often takes me longer than normal jobs do for other people,” Clint calmly explained to Harry. 

“But… a week,” Harry repeated. Looking to Laura for reassurance.

“Clint helps keep people safe, honey. Jobs like that have different hours, like doctors and nurses they sometimes have to work at night,” Laura answered the unasked question. 

“Oh, okay,” Harry fell silent after this obviously processing the new information. 

All the kids spent more time around Clint that evening, everyone spending time together in the living room after dinner, as if by unspoken agreement the family had decided to make the most of the time they had left altogether. 

Harry made sure to hug Clint extra tightly when he said goodnight before bed, he also requested Clint read his bedtime story. Unknowingly all three kids had received another goodbye kiss just before Clint had to leave. 

***

Friday after school saw all three kids and Laura taking a portkey to New York for Harry’s follow up appointment. 

Cooper seemed to be the least affected by the magical form of transportation. Harry felt slightly better than the last two times he had travelled in the same way. Lila was doing a lot worse than Harry had, she had even been sick. Lila was still looking a little green but seemed to be feeling better now that they were walking through MACUSA. 

Hope had again met them at the portkey arrival point, leading the family through to the medical wing. 

Once they arrived at one of the appointment rooms, Cooper and Lila were asked to go to the other side of the room where a one-way sound ward was set up, the space held a variety of toys, books and entertainment options to keep them interested whilst Harry had his appointment. 

Harry was a little unsettled, his attention constantly slipping to the other side of the room, wanting to be playing with the older kids, not stuck on the boring side with the adults. 

“If you can sit still for me while I scan you, Harry, once I have the results I promise you can join your siblings,” Healer Capaldi said.

“Alright,” Harry agreed focusing hard on stilling his squiggling. 

“I’m going to cast the diagnostic scans now, Harry,” the healer announced before waving his wand in a pattern that was becoming familiar to Harry. The expected parchment appeared with writing appearing on it in the usual black ink. 

“And we’re all done. You’re free to join the others, young man,” the healer said with a teasing tone and smile. 

“Thank you,” Harry said speedily climbing down from the examination table, looking to Laura for approval before quickly crossing, but not running, through the one-way ward. 

“Well, everything looks to be in order with Harry. The black magic hasn’t expanded into the extra space it now has open to it, which is excellent news. Comfirming the results we received from M-lab. If anything it looks like the protective barrier, which is as strong as ever, has reduced the amount of space available for the leftover sliver which is also shown in the gradual fading of Harry's scar,” Healer Capaldi explained to the two women. 

“That’s great,” Laura replied, breathing a sigh of relief, feeling a weight that had settled over her lift with this news. 

“Did the M-lab reveal what the black magic inside the scar was?” Hope asked, she was also looking less tense than before. She jotted down a few notes as the conversation went on.

“The magi-scientists in M-lab haven’t been able to completely identify the magic, though they have the specific field and a general idea of its origin, an expert is being brought in to resolve the mystery more thoroughly,” Capaldi answered. 

“So, what’s the plan for the tiny splinter left in Harry’s scar?” Laura questioned, her gaze following the little boy as he played with some form of magical Jenga with the older two.

“For the time being, we will continue to monitor Harry’s situation whilst seeking out the best possible solution for its safe and complete removal. However, as currently it does not seem to be negatively affecting Harry, we are comfortable leaving it alone with occasional check-ups to assure its continued non-threatening nature. Of course, if you have any concerns or see any signs of anything unusual in Harry's behaviour that you believe are related to the black magic do not hesitate to bring him in to see us immediately,” Healer Capaldi told Laura, explaining the steps they had so far for the future treatment plan.

“Right, I’ll make sure to update all of this in his file. I’ll be receiving the full treatment plan and results from today’s diagnostics soon?” Hope confirmed. 

“Yes, if it’s not on your desk by later today, then it will be there Monday morning,” the healer assured.  

"Brilliant," Hope said with a smile, making a note of that at the end of her page. 

***

“Here, chick, chick, chick, chick, chickens,” Lila called rattling the plastic container she held containing the chicken feed. This drew the attention of the birds away from their previous activities, though most of them had already been focused on the approaching children.

“Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken,” Harry sung quietly to himself, enjoying the way the words sounded, he even put them to a little tune, he wasn’t really sure where he had heard it, but the little song came to mind after he heard Lila call out this new greeting to the chickens. 

“Lay a little egg for me,” he continued in a quiet voice making his way into the chicken coop, whilst Lila had the chickens distracted with the food on the other side of their enclosure. Lila really enjoyed being in charge of the food, Harry wasn’t as nervous around the chickens as he had been when he first arrived but he still preferred dealing with them in smaller numbers. One of the adults would normally change the chickens' water as the container was too heavy for the kids to lift back into place when it was full. 

The song continued to flow whilst he was collecting the eggs from the comfy little boxes that the hens slept in. Collecting the eggs with Lila had become a regular part of his morning routine. “Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken” he continued singing, searching the straw that lined the floor of the coop for any hidden or stray eggs, Harry liked hunting for the eggs because it was like going looking for treasure every morning, “I want one for my tea.”

“Harry, you done yet?” Lila called loudly, the friendly shout accompanied by the fast plodding towards the coop of her wellington boot clad feet. 

“Almost,” he shouted in response still focusing on his search. Harry’s little basket had eight eggs in it that morning. 

“Come on, Harry,” Lila called from the coop door, bouncing from one foot to the other, obviously wanting to go back inside. 

“Coming,” he said over his shoulder, just as he was about to stand up and declare his search finished for the day he found another egg hiding in the straw. He gave a little cheer at his discovery, he brushed off the few strands of straw and grass and a little bit of dirt that were stuck to the egg. Gently placing the extra egg in with the rest of his haul. “‘Kay, now I’m all done,” he said with a smile. 

“How many d’you find this morning?” Lila asked trying to look into the small basket. 

Harry put the hand not carefully holding the handle over his bundle to spot her counting, “Nine,” he exclaimed happily. 

“Quieter, Harry,” Lila said shooting him a look when some of the chickens made noises at the sudden burst of noise. 

“Sorry, chickies,” Harry said, gently stroking one that was in front of him as they continued towards the exit of the coop.

Once they were both out of the coop and the gate was closed safely, Lila spun around and declared, “race you!” 

Not waiting for an agreement she took off running across the back garden towards the house. Ignoring Harry’s outraged yell of “cheater!”

Harry began running after her, he swiftly moved the basket into both hands, clutching it against his stomach being as careful as he could whilst also running as fast as possible to try and beat Lila. Thanks to his experience running away from Dudley and his gang Harry was able to catch up with her despite her headstart.

In retaliation, trying to stop him from overtaking her, Lila reached out a hand to grab Harry’s shirt. The sudden grab meant Harry missed his footing slightly causing him to tumble. A number of the eggs ended up flying from the basket with the sudden change in direction. 

“NOOOOOO,” Harry screamed watching the eggs fly from the safety of the basket. 

The laugh of triumph got stuck in her throat and Lila also paused her running at Harry’s distressed shout. She hadn’t meant to hurt him. She turned around to see the eggs falling towards the floor. “Oh, no,” she breathed sadness suddenly removing any of the happiness that had been there only a few seconds ago. 

The back door to the house also pulled open quickly at Harry’s scream.

Harry was only just able to stretch his arms out in front of him to protect the eggs that were still in the basket from being crushed underneath him. Though he had squeezed his eyes shut, not able to watch the destruction of his precious chickies’ eggs. He knew he had to be careful when carrying the eggs because they could break. Laura had explained that eggs can break easily so you have to use gentle hands with them. She had also said sometimes eggs get broken and that was just part of life, but she probably would be really angry about this. It was almost all of their breakfast eggs gone because he was being silly and not careful like he was supposed to. 

He heard one distinctly not good crunch as the first egg hit the ground, probably breaking on impact. Harry wasn’t willing to open his eyes that were beginning to have tears filling them, he sniffled waiting for his own impact with the ground not noticing that it was taking longer than should be normal, his bad thoughts were taking up all of his mind’s focus. Another egg smashed into the ground. 

Lila thought she could save one egg as it was flying right at her, she carefully cupped her hands together, just like Dad had taught her when they played catch over the summer. The egg flew into her hands but it still broke a little on impact. “Ohhhh,” she breathed out sadly, feeling the stickiness on the palms of her hands.

Her attention was pulled away when Harry breathed out a pained “oufffff,” at last hitting the ground. 

She had to blink for a moment at the scene in front of her. Harry was lying on the floor, both arms with the basket containing three undamaged eggs stretched out in front of him. Above him at different levels in the air were three more eggs, just hanging there as if suspended by invisible string. 

“Harry, look,” Lila breathed out shocked at the magical sight before her. 

“I don’t wanna,” Harry mumbled, his voice really small and sad. His eyes still tightly squeezed shut. 

“Open your eyes, Harry,” Lila said with more confidence this time.

“No,” Harry said with a little shake of his head. 

“Harry!” Lila demanded, annoyance colouring her tone, “open your eyes now.” 

Slowly Harry peeled his eyes open, not wanting to make the situation or punishment any worse. Lying in front of him was one undamaged egg and two broken ones which caused him to relax a little. But when he slowly looked around, there were also eggs flying in front of him. “Whoa,” he breathed, slowly raising himself up from his tripped over position. 

“Good job, Harry. Nice catch, Lila,” Laura said calmly from very close by. Shocking both kids and causing the eggs to wobble in mid-air. “Let’s get these three back in the safety of the basket, hmm,” she added, plucking one of the eggs putting it gently back into the basket.

With all the remaining unbroken eggs back in relative safety, Lila almost caused them to be dropped again by startling the younger boy when she loudly exclaimed, “that was brilliant, Harry!” 

A light blush spread across his cheeks at his older sister's happy cry. “Um, thanks,” he mumbled looking down at the floor. 

“The eggs were floating. You made the eggs stop falling... and float,” Lila continued, big smile on her face. Her joy at the situation pulled a smile out of Harry, his tears and sadness long forgotten. 

“Now, would one of you like to explain why the eggs needed to float in the first place?” Laura asked calmly but sternly, looking from one young child on either side of her to the other.

"So they wouldn't hit the ground?" Lila offered tentatively. 

Laura raised an eyebrow pointedly at that answer, "Okay and would you like to enlighten me as to why they would be hitting the ground then?"

“Uhh, nope,” Lila responded popping the 'p', dashing the last few meters to the house, “got to wash my hands, egg yolk,” she added loudly as she ran off. 

“Of course,” Laura added with a barely contained eye-roll of fond exasperation. She turned an expectant look on Harry who had taken advantage of her slight distraction to quietly move faster towards the back door. “Later, it is then,” she said to herself. They could escape for now, but not for long.

Chapter Text

The bright sun was beating down on the city street, maintaining the high temperature of the city. The road and pavements had a light dusting of sand from the desert storm that had been raging for several days, blowing dust and sand through the streets, before it had blown itself out the previous night. 

An innocuous white building of four floors with a smattering of unevenly arranged windows stood one down from the quiet intersection. To the average passerby this building was nothing of importance, fitting in completely with the surroundings, the locals knew it was government owned and run, an administrative branch of some sort, but not much more than that was known, not that the locals cared much. Political tensions were still running high and most people were satisfied knowing it had nothing to do with the running of the economy nor any corruption that had recently been brought to light. 

So the building remained mostly ignored and disregarded. 

The area was fairly quiet. At the moment there were only a few passersby normally on foot or on motorbike, the occasional car, most likely due to the time of day. A majority of people would still be at work. 

One of the passersby was a woman who ambled her way down the road at a slow but steady pace, she looked around at the buildings as if trying to pinpoint exactly where she was, spotting something that seemed to confirm whatever she was looking for, her pace picked up a little, her gait becoming smoother, more assurance showing through in her walk. 

She brought a phone out of a bag resting on her shoulder, tapping at it before raising it up silently, obviously listening to the ringing noise whilst waiting for the call to be answered. 

“How’s Harry settling in?” Nat asked over the comms, as she held the phone to her ear, whilst she carefully scoped out the government building further along the street. Her gaze appeared to flit from one place to another without truly taking anything in, more concentration being dedicated to the call than her surroundings. At least, to the untrained, unknowing observer, or even to anyone not an expert in espionage.  

Positioned on a nearby rooftop, Clint surveyed the wider area, his chosen location provided him an ideal view out over the city, with a particularly clear view of the several neighbouring streets and junctions. He was constantly scanning for any suspicious behaviour or signs they had been spotted. “He’s doing well, a lot more relaxed around us all, though I'm pretty sure he likes Cooper best.”

A white van pulled around the corner closest to where Nat was casually moving towards a small café. The paint job on the side advertised it as belonging to a cleaning company, it didn’t slow down at all, not lowering the windows, no attention paid to the pedestrians, it just continued on past. 

Potential threat evaluated and deemed not dangerous at the current time, he continued with only a minimal pause. “There have been a few lows that honestly broke our hearts a little, his surprise at being treated like any kid should be, you know? But he has made a lot of progress even just since your visit. He started school last week and was really enjoying it.”

“That’s good. How is Cooper taking the newfound attention?” Nat asked, pushing open the café door and joining the short queue. She silently noted that any of the tables by the window would provide a good stakeout position for the next few hours. Partially blocked from outside because of the branding, but still easy to look out. 

“Coop’s really risen to the role of big brother to Harry. He’s always been good with younger kids but the two seem to have clicked faster than normal,” Clint responded, pausing as Nat came to the front of the line and ordered in flawless Arabic. 

He was keeping one eye on Nat and whilst also continually moving his focus over the surrounding buildings and roads. Nothing of interest to their mission had happened since they arrived an hour earlier. Though a lorry with livestock had almost been broken into while pausing at an intersection. 

“And Lila?” Nat prompted once she had settled with her cup and a small plate that held some kind of pastry at a corner table beside the window, where she would be in prime position to observe both the comings and goings of the café, the street, and their target location all with relative ease. 

“Lila has enjoyed helping Harry and having someone to boss around when they play together. Harry is more uncertain of his interactions with her, whether because she’s a girl, from his experience in his previous homes, or from only having the one cousin before isn’t yet clear.” 

“Mhm,” Nat murmured in agreement taking a sip of her drink. Relaxing back into the chair and continuing the observation. She had removed a newspaper from her tote bag spreading it on the table in front of her. 

She remained in the café for the next hour and half, ending the fake call after half an hour. She flicked through the paper noting the articles of relevance to their mission. There was very little activity from the building, though what could be noted fit in with the little intel one of their informants had been able to provide. 

This was the third and final day of their observation period. They planned to infiltrate the building to secure the necessary documents that night. It was an easy job but the importance of gathering and protecting the documents they had been sent to collect was a matter of national security which was why SHIELD had sent in their best agents for what was on the surface an easy task. 

However, complete professionalism was key. The mission needed to remain entirely secret, no hint of anything other than a bureaucrat misplacing files could be detected. No room for error or a small misstep, perfection was required. The country was already in turmoil given the recent protests and riots, international interference was the last thing anyone wanted to add. 

***

It was after dinner when Harry headed into the living room and settled himself comfortably in place by one of the windows. 

His position had been carefully selected as it gave him an ideal line of sight to easily be able to watch the furthest part of the drive that could be seen from the house. 

He built himself a little nest on the armchair nearest the chosen window, he grabbed a blanket and a pillow, he had his toy niffler with him. Everything was set.

He had only been settled in for five minutes when Lila wandered out of the kitchen, spotting him on the armchair she asked, “Harry, do you want to go play in the playroom?” 

Harry looked across at Lila, he glanced out the window quickly, nothing had changed, he wanted to go and play with her but he also wanted to stay where he was. 

“Um, no, I’m gonna stay here,” he replied quietly, snuggling his niffler close to his chest.  

“Okay,” Lila agreed easily, heading towards the stairs. 

Over the next couple of hours Harry remained within a few meters of the window, only leaving the small radius to run to the toilet. Otherwise he entertained himself, he didn’t last long in his little nest, growing bored at remaining still. He played with a few of the small toys littered around the room. He would always pause his play and glance out the window checking if anything had changed, it hadn’t yet.  

Cooper came in after about an hour and started building structures with the wooden blocks. He began with a few smaller buildings that would be easier to reconstruct should they get pushed or accidentally knocked down. He left them slightly apart from what became his larger and increasingly complex main building. 

Harry seeing what Cooper was doing gathered a small pile of his own blocks and began trying to build some structures. He could get the base pillars and one across the top copying Coopers simple outer structures, but he was really struggling with linking two similar arch shaped structures. 

Laura came through and settled on the sofa working on some papers for a while before Lila called down to her for help with something. 

As he was trying for the third time to connect two arches Harry thought he heard a sound outside so he turned around quickly, forgetting to be gentle, he dropped the block that was meant to connect the two roof pillars and the whole thing toppled to the left, making a clacking sound as the blocks connected with the wooden floor. 

“Nooooo,” Harry cried out annoyed, turning back to his destroyed effort. It was normally fun to knock down towers, but not when he was trying to build them taller. 

“It’s okay, Harry,” Cooper said, looking up from where he was carefully placing a connecting block on what would be his fourth level of inner blocks. 

“No, it’s not. I can’t dooooo it,” Harry said sadly, looking at Cooper’s impressive building with tears beginning to form in his eyes. 

“Sure, you can. Just give me a minute and I’ll help you,” Cooper said, finishing off the other connecting beams in what was becoming vaguely reminiscent of the colosseum. The older boy slowly extracted himself and gently walked in a wide arc around the edge of his slowly expanding wooden city.

Harry had started building his arches again, he had two close together by the time Cooper got to him. 

“Good job, Harry," he praised taking a seat on the floor.

"Thanks," Harry replied still sounding sad.

"Alright, now, gently take this block and put it across those two,” Cooper directed, pointing to the tops of the two block arches. 

“Okay,” Harry said, taking the block Cooper had held out to him. He began to lower it onto his structure, it was just barely touching the arch on the right. 

“Move it across a little, Harry. You want it more evenly placed between the two,” Cooper said, moving his hand, palm held out sideways, in a small budge up gesture to emphasise his point. 

Harry accordingly moved the block to be more central. 

“Good, now slowly lower it down, like a crane,” Cooper said. 

Neither boy noticed Laura had come back to the room, stood at the threshold with a camera in her hand. Snapping a few pictures. 

“Gently… gently,” Cooper coaxed as Harry released the block, it lay slightly skewed but the arches remained standing. 

An enormous grin spread across Harry’s face, “it worked, it worked. I did it. Look, Cooper, I did it!” Harry cheered turning to the older boy in excitement. 

“Well done, Harry. That was perfect,” the older boy responded with a big smile reaching over to ruffle Harry’s hair. 

The photo of the two of them with the wooden structures in front and off to the side of them would gain a position of pride in Harry’s room and as part of the family photo wall for years to come. 

Sadly the success was not to last long, as Harry raised both arms in the air in triumph, he also shifted one of his feet which caught the edge of the carpet sending a jolt through it, toppling the small structure, and a few of Cooper’s creations wobbled but only a few outer buildings in his city fell over. 

Harry’s eyes widened in shock for a moment and Cooper held his breath as the wobbling stopped.

“Sorry,” Harry said looking at the fall blocks.

“An earthquake struck, but nothing that we can’t rebuild,” Cooper said kindly, pleased that most of his creation had escaped the potential devastation. 

***

The asset regarded the building before him with subtle interest. Hidden within its depths was the only hope of finding a lead for his missing target. 

Upon the asset’s return to the rendezvous point and later the base for the debrief, a further set of orders had been given, a continuation of what so far had been a dull, uninformative rookie-level task. 

As the mission would continue with a second part, a visit to the chair had been deemed an unnecessary hindrance and waste of time at this stage, given that the asset reported no fluctuations in normal function. 

The asset was not sure what had caused him to not speak up about the feeling of warmth or burst of memory, but he hadn't. 

The next step in the mission: break into SHIELD headquarters and find what hidden information there is on the target. An agent already entrenched within the organisation had accessed all the files that their level of clearance would provide them  access to on the target: Harry James Potter. This had turned out to be next to nothing of use. 

By using Undersecretary Pierce’s credentials, it still only provided them the barest of information. All of which HYDRA had already been aware of, no other updates had been made within the last few years, nothing in fact since November 2007. 

One of their contacts within MACUSA told them that there had been contact and communication between the WCPS and SHIELD, but anything more than that was mere speculation. As their contact was unable to break into the magically sealed and heavily protected files holding everything on the children under the care of the magical state. 

So, the asset stood waiting for the perfect opportunity to enter and find the required evidence so he could progress onto the main objective of this second part of the mission. 

From all the floor plans he had been given, along with the security information, the asset had no concerns about easily and successfully infiltrating the building. The problem would lie in getting access to the surveillance footage, without the correct credentials and pre-approved time slot for access a silent alarm would be triggered. After two hundred seconds without resolution of the problem, an audible alarm sounded and the location of the breach was sent to all in use and functioning computers on the site. If the breach continued without correction for more than three hundred seconds then the systems were all frozen.  

The asset’s reasons for accessing the surveillance footage was simple. One of the grunt workers in the web that made up HYDRA had overheard mention of a child being brought in following what was meant to have been a regular training exercise. Yet there was no apparent file to match with this report, no mention of any child being brought on site for at least two years. Normally such poor reporting would be written off as misinformation and a fanciful story, but given the sudden inexplicable disappearance of one high-profile and powerful child only recently returned to HYDRA awareness, the potential coincidence could not be ignored, no stone would be left unturned in their search. 

Three hundred seconds maximum. Wading through hundreds if not thousands of hours worth of surveillance footage in the hopes of finding a needle in a haystack, or more correctly a child in the crowd. 

A worthy challenge for the Winter Soldier. 

***

“And then the super niffler flew this way looking for gold,” Harry quietly said through a yawn, holding out the stuffed toy and swooping it across towards the window as if it was flying. “Nnnoooooommmmm,” he added sound effects for the speed of the flight. 

“Come on, Harry, time for bed,” Laura called gently from where she stood at the entrance to the sitting room closest to the stairs. 

After the excitement induced earthquake that levelled his small creation, Harry had returned to his position of the armchair. Watching Cooper continue to build, playing with his niffler, and continuing to glance out the window. 

“But, but,” Harry began, shooting another glance out the window, he turned back to face Laura who was waiting patiently for him to finish his sentence. 

When the little boy didn’t continue after a minute, Laura prompted him calmly, having moved closer to his snuggled up position, carefully having made her way around the ongoing construction site. “But, what? Love,” she asked, smoothing Harry’s hair across his forehead. 

“But, Clint’s not home yet,” Harry murmured after another long pause, his gaze more focused on the drive than Laura. 

“He’s not, no,” Laura agreed simply, still crouched in front of Harry who was trying to smother a yawn. 

“It’s been a week though, Lila said so this morning,” Harry continued, finally glancing away from the outside that was only still partially visible thanks to the light on the porch being on.  

“Yes, a week has passed since Clint left. Remember though how we said sometimes he can be gone longer than a week, this might just be one of those times, alright, love,” Laura explained. 

Harry covered another yawn with the hand still holding the niffler, “alright,” Harry agreed.

"Off to bed with you then," Laura said again, holding a hand out to help Harry as he started to extract himself from the blanket cocoon. 

“Night, Harry,” Cooper said from his position on the floor. 

“Night, night, Cooper,” Harry returned, slowly trudging towards the stairs. 

“There we go, love. Once you’ve done your teeth and are in your pjs, you can choose a book,” Laura added, shadowing the younger boy up the stairs. 

Harry slowly made his way up the stairs, stumbling a little only to be caught and steadied by Laura. He was barely able to keep awake through his nighttime routine and the beginning of his chosen story. 

“Sleep well, love,” Laura said tucking the young boy in snuggly, placing a kiss on his forehead before quietly making her way out of the room. “One down, two to go,” she said to herself once she was in the corridor, hopefully Lila was feeling tired, otherwise it would be an uphill struggle to get her daughter calmly into bed.

***

Slipping into the room which held the mainframe for the security tapes was even more unexpectedly simple than he had imagined, especially for one of the leading security organisations in the world. 

Accessing the computer to find and replay the cctv tapes took a little longer, once he was in there was no time to pause. The silent alarm had been triggered. 

He had two hundred and eighty seconds before he was frozen out of the system. 

The asset recalled a brief mention in the informant’s report about the child being taken to medical, so he narrowed down the location and the race against the clock continued. 

Two hundred and thirty seconds. 

Nothing, no child. Further back the footage went, medical professionals moving between the beds, checking patients, going on breaks, making notes, changing bandages. Hours, then days worth of footage was running by at incredible speeds. 

A tall, well-built man with a head of blond hair passed the medical wing. Turning to face the camera for a moment as his attention was called from outside the shot. 

The asset paused the footage. He knew that face, the warmth he had felt earlier in the mission returned, flooding his mind. He knew that face, that face was important to him. But how?

An alarm began blaring. Time was quickly running out.  

Focus on the mission. The tape continued, hour after hour, day after day. No child, anywhere. Wait, there. 

Fifty seconds. 

A scrawny, messy black-haired child. He came in and was seen to, before being led away not long after by an authoritative black man.

That would have to do, the target had been here. A little over three weeks ago, according to the time stamp. 

Now, the asset would follow the kid’s lead and disappear. 

The door to the mainframe room burst open, men and women with weapons drawn, ready to take down the threat, but it was empty.

***

Harry made his way down the stairs the following morning. It was a school day today which meant everyone had to be up and out the door early. So they could make it to the bus stop on time, otherwise they would not get to school without being late. 

He jumped down from the second to last step with a smile on his face. He liked Kindergarten, it was much better than being stuck with Dudley in year one. He got to play with the other kids without being hurt on purpose. He got to eat a tasty lunch everyday, he could even share it with his new friends. He had friends, it was great. 

Harry’s attention focused back on the world around him as he entered the kitchen. That wasn’t Laura making breakfast. Harry brought a hand up to rub his eyes, looking up again the adult had turned around and they were now smiling down at him. 

“CLINT,” Harry shouted in excitement, bounding the last few steps across to the man, throwing himself at him for a hug. 

“Hey, buddy. Did ya miss me?” He asked with a teasing tone, returning the tight hug Harry had wrapped him in. 

“Uhuh,” Harry said, nodding his head quickly, almost knocking it against Clint’s chin in his enthusiasm. “I missed you lots and lots,” Harry murmured quietly, not able to bring himself to look into Clint’s eyes as he said it.

“I missed you too, so much,” Clint responded, dropping a kiss onto Harry’s sleep-ruffled hair. “So, what can I get you for breakfast?” Clint asked moving to lower Harry to the ground. 

Harry wasn’t quite ready to let go of the man yet, so he just tightened the grip of his legs and arms where they were wrapped around Clint’s torso and neck. Understanding the silent request, Clint righted himself and placed a supportive hand back around Harry.

“So, breakfast?” He reminded, jiggling Harry a little which brought a giggle out of the young boy. 

“Can I have toast, please?” Harry asked, looking up at Clint with a hesitant smile. 

“You can, indeed, good sir,” Clint said putting on a posh English accent, moving around the kitchen to get the bread out.

"I don't sound like that," Harry said with a pout. 

“Of course not, bud. Now, tell me what you’ve been up to Harry,” Clint said as he slid the slices of bread into the toaster. 

“Umm…” Harry said thinking about what he had done in the past week, “oh, oh, Cooper and I made a whole city out of blocks, but I- I knocked some of it down when I was excited. But, it was soooo big. Cooper did most of the building, but I helped a little,” Harry began excitedly rambling about the night before. 

“That sounds like great fun, bud,” Clint commented, continuing to get everything prepared for their breakfast. 

It didn’t take long for the rest of the family to slowly trickle down and join them, by this point Harry had finally relinquished his hold of Clint and was sat at the table eating a slice of toast covered in raspberry jam that had been cut into triangles. 

Both of the older kids were excited to see their dad home, moving to hug him tightly. Lila was slightly less rambunctious than normal, but as Harry had learnt during the short period of time he had spent with the Bartons, Lila was really really not a morning person. 

By the time they arrived at school, she would be her normal bubbly self, but it took her a while to get into the flow of not being wrapped up in her warm, comfy bed. 

“Good morning, wonderful family, what can I get you guys to eat?” Clint asked, slowly steering Lila to her chair, where she quickly slumped down resting her head on the table. 

Chapter Text

The time Harry had been in the Barton household had been flying by, as he settled into the new family and the new routine. He began to relax in this new home and with the people he was beginning to see as trustworthy and safe. 

He was always treated the same as Lila and Cooper when he was naughty. The punishments were fair and Laura or Clint always explained why he was being punished beforehand and they told him how long the punishment would last. Their punishments were nothing like the ones at the Dursleys, he still always got to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everyday. Even if he had been in trouble. They didn’t hit or smack him, not even like Uncle Vernon sometimes did with random objects such as a newspaper or a broom so he didn’t have to touch Harry. 

The one time, not long after Clint got back from his first trip away, Harry had been hit by Lila and then he had hit her back, both of them got in trouble. The same amount of trouble, or if anything Lila got in a bit more trouble because she was older and should know better apparently. Clint had pulled them apart, he checked neither of them was hurt and then listened to both sides of their fight before deciding on the punishment. But they only had to sit on separate naughty steps for seven and five minutes to match their ages, before having to apologise to each other. Then it was over, no secret extra punishment, nothing. It was just done, forgiven.

It was now the beginning of October and Harry was still really liking school. Kindergarten was brilliant, it was a lot like reception but this time he had friends to play with and he could prove to his teacher and the Bartons that he wasn’t dumb. His teacher, Ms. Roswell, had sent a letter home with him one day to say how well he was doing. Him, Harry, doing well at school. Laura had given him and Lila and Cooper a little treat with their desserts that evening as a congratulations for all their hard work.

Harry had been allowed to put that little note on the fridge beside some of the art that all of them had made at school. He still smiled every time he saw the small piece of paper.  

Clint had been away on another two short work trips whilst the days had been passing.  One really soon after having returned home the first time, Harry thought it had something to do with a problem in security at his job, but he wasn’t too sure, Clint didn't say much about his work. But Clint always came back home when he said he would be back and they had even been able to speak with him on the phone while he was away that time.

The chickens were still laying their eggs and Harry now felt brave enough to pick up the some of the hens, he would stroke their feathers when he passed them as he was searching for eggs. Harry was now an egg spotting expert, some of the eggs he found were in really weird places, chickens he decided could be very strange. 

His little egg song had become a big part of the morning chicken routine and even Lila joined in the singing sometimes. It was a catchy song, it also made them feel a bit like the dwarves from Snow White, a film Harry thought was very scary in some parts. He didn’t like the evil witch who made the red apple poisonous. He loved red apples. What if he started making apples dangerous with his magic? Laura quickly reassured him, when he quietly asked, that it was just a movie and that the evil witch wanted to make the apple bad, so Harry didn’t’t need to worry about it because he could choose to do good instead of bad things with his magic.

***

It was a Saturday morning and Harry had asked to go with Laura when she went grocery shopping that week because Cooper’s birthday was coming up soon. They were going to be making him a cake together. 

Harry was excited to be part of the birthday celebration. Aunt Petunia had always bought Dudley his birthday cake from the shop because everything had to be perfect for her Diddykins. Harry was never allowed anywhere near the cake, even when it was still in the box, in case he ruined it with his freakiness. But now he was getting to help make a birthday cake for Cooper, he thought making a cake made it much more special than just buying it. You could make it whatever flavour you want and decorate it however you like. 

Both him and Lila had been told they could have some money to buy Cooper a birthday present and Harry was hoping to find something brilliant whilst they got the cake ingredients. They wouldn’t actually be making the cake until closer to Cooper's birthday which was still almost two weeks away though it was better to be prepared or so Laura said, this way they knew that everything they would need was at home when they started baking.  

The journey to the shops had only taken a little time and soon they were in the supermarket, it was massive, much much bigger than the Waitrose he was used to back home in Little Whinging that Aunt Petunia had always dragged him into when she couldn’t leave him behind or she needed extra help with the bags. 

As they reached the end of the cereal aisle and turned to go down into the next one, a display at the end of the sports section across from the aisle caught Harry’s eye. What looked like a lot of huge all-black nerf guns hung from the wall. Maybe Cooper would want a nerf gun for his birthday, Harry questioned taking a small step closer to the display for a better look.

Laura was already making her way down the new aisle, pushing the cart she turned to speak to Harry, it was then she noticed he was no longer in step beside her. She quickly glanced around for him knowing he wouldn’t and couldn’t have gone far in the last minute, as she looked to the entrance to the aisle she spotted him, her racing heart began to slow back to normal, “Harry, what are you looking at?” she called back to him, not able to see what was drawing his distracted staring from where she was stood.  

“Them,” Harry responded, quickly glancing towards Laura, still stood in the same spot, pointing towards the display wall. 

Laura left the cart where it was and returned to get a look at what Harry had seen. “The guns?” She questioned, gently brushing a hand through Harry’s hair.

“Nerf guns?” Harry questioned, his brow scrunched in confusion. Green eyes looked up to hers for an answer. 

“No, honey, they’re real guns, not nerf guns,” Laura responded, slowly guiding Harry back towards the cart so they could continue shopping, and before their cart could cause a blockage in the aisle. 

“Why?” Harry asked, allowing himself to be led away from the display.

“Why, what, Harry?” Laura asked kindly, not understanding the young boy’s question. 

“Why are there real guns in a shop?” Harry posed putting his full thought into words, he knew real guns were dangerous. They could really hurt people, Kevin from his class said one of his family members died when they were shot with a gun. 

“Because in America, we believe in the right to bear arms, which means guns an be sold in shops,” came the almost automatic response, as if Laura was repeating words without really thinking or questioning it.

Harry glanced down briefly, confused, he thought for a moment before looking back up at her, “why do you need bear arms?” 

Laura paused to think before responding and correcting Harry’s incorrect phrasing, “We don’t need to bear arms, but we are allowed to as written in the Constitution.”

“What do bear arms have to do with guns?” Harry questioned looking to Laura, his confusion clearly broadcast across his face and in his body language. 

Laura passed again, also confused by the odd question, she calmly responded, “I don’t understand what you mean, honey. Can you explain that to me?”

Harry waved both his arms in front of him as a demonstration, “why do you need bear arms, I’ve got to two good human arms? So do you,” he added gesturing to her arms.

“Oh. No, honey,” Laura responded with a small laugh, “Not arms like the body part. To bear arms in this case means you are allowed to have weapons, like guns.”

“Oh, right,” Harry responded, still not really understanding. “Why don’t you just say that then?” 

“A couple hundred years ago, a set of rules were written down in the Constitution, a very special document, so the words they used were a bit more fancy and complicated,” Laura added slowly moving the shopping cart down the aisle. 

“Old people used fancy words. But why hasn’t it been changed since?” Harry asked now gently skipping along, one hand holding onto the cart. 

“Tradition and fear that people would take away the rule letting people have guns,” Laura explained as simply as possible. 

“But… but guns are dangerous,” Harry responded after thinking through her answer, “Kevin said so. They can kill people.” 

“Yes, they can. That’s why it’s really important to know how to safely use and keep a gun if you have one,” Laura explained, “Clint and I will go over all the proper steps later today, alright?” 

“Okay,” Harry replied, sending a look over his shoulder, but he could no longer see the guns.  

“Next on the list is… chocolate chips,” Laura said, steering the conversation and focus back to what they had come into the shop for. She also sent a quick text to Clint as a reminder that they hadn’t yet got around to teaching Harry about firearm safety.

***

Clint and Laura were making the most of the good weather to have the lesson on gun safety outside. It was something they normally always covered during the first few weeks of the stay when any new foster child arrived in their home. With Harry they had had a very busy first few weeks so they were only now just getting around to the lesson. 

They had a number of firearms hidden around the property, all of them safely out of easy reach or access for the kids. Most of the guns were locked away, however they had a few placed in several secure and secret places that could be accessed quickly in an emergency. All the kids were told where they were, they were taught the basic safety instructions for having the weapons in the house, and when the kids were a bit older they would be offered the chance to learn how to use them if they wanted to. 

Cooper and Lila had both been through the firearm safety talk a number of times, both with new foster children that had been in the home throughout the past few years and for the house's biannual refresher course, as Clint liked to think of it. Both he and Laura wanted to ensure that their kids would be able to safely handle a firearm should they need to, but also have them know everything they needed to help avoid injury if they ever come across a gun when out and about or over at their friends houses. 

With the weather still being warm thanks to the sun being out and a barely noticeable breeze, they had got the kids settled outside on the front lawn, not too far from the barn. They had spread a picnic blanket out beneath them and were all sat on it in a circle. Clint and Laura beside each other, across from the kids. 

They had a small metal box behind them which held a fake handgun which was designed to be identical to a pistol but unable to fire anything but specially made foam bullets. The fake gun could be broken down into its component parts and then reassembled, have the magazine loaded and removed, and also fire the foam cartridges. There was also a real handgun kept in the box for demonstration only, it was never loaded nor fired. 

“First we are going to go over the rules for the firearms that we have in and around the house,” Clint said once everyone had settled down on the blanket. “We’ll show you where they are kept afterwards, Harry, okay?”

“O-okay,” Harry responded with a hesitant nod. He was wringing his hands together, not sure what he should be doing with them. He was feeling nervous about seeing and being around real guns.

“Don’t worry, Harry. This is completely safe, both Clint and I are trained in how to handle weapons. The ones we will show you and let you touch now are just for demonstration, one cannot do any serious damage and the other is always empty. So, let’s start with the rules,” Laura explained hoping to reassure Harry. 

Harry felt a little less nervous knowing that he couldn’t be hurt with either of the guns they would show him, but he was still unsure. He gave a small smile and took a deep breath. 

“Okay, Lila, can you tell us the first rule of gun safety, please?” Clint said, his tone and face serious. 

“Rule number one, guns are weapons, they are not toys,” Lila responded confidently from where she was sat on one side of Harry beside Laura. 

“Good girl,” Laura responded with a gentle smile. “Rule number two, Cooper?”

“The second rule is never to touch any of the guns without supervision or permission from you or dad,” Cooper replied, he was sat on the other side of Harry.

“That’s right, next rule, Lila,” Clint responded with a pleased nod for Cooper.  

“Never point a gun at anyone or anything unless you are going to shoot it,” Lila said after a moment thought. 

“A very important rule, good job remembering. Next rule, Coop,” Clint said. 

“Until you check it, assume every gun is loaded,” Cooper added, with barely a beat of hesitation. 

“Yes. Well done, and the last ones are: keep your finger away from the trigger until you want to fire, and always pay attention to the surroundings or your target,” Laura finished. 

“Do you understand all the rules, Harry?” Clint asked, making eye contact with Harry, he had been paying attention to their youngest child whilst they went through the rules. 

“I- I think so,” Harry said. 

“Don’t worry, Harry. We will remind you of these rules. They are in place to keep you and everyone else safe. The most important one for now is do not touch any gun without a trusted adult there,” Clint said, waiting for Harry to nod his understanding.  

“Don’t touch alone, not a toy,” Harry murmured to himself. 

“That’s right, Harry,” Laura said with an encouraging smile. 

~ ~ ~

The afternoon continued at a slow pace, the kids were shown both the fake and real guns. Cooper carefully checked the real gun, showing Harry what position a small switch on the side called the safety needed to be in to stop the gun firing, he made sure to keep the muzzle of the gun pointing at the ground throughout, then he released the magazine showing both Lila and Harry that it was empty. 

Laura also explained to Harry that to be extra safe it was best to keep your fingers away from the trigger guard, the small loop of the gun’s frame around the trigger, so there was less of a chance that the gun would be fired by mistake. Pointing out how Cooper was holding the handgun with his fingers positioned outside of the trigger guard. 

Harry was allowed to touch both guns and was given the chance to manoeuvre and load the foam cartridges into the fake gun. Clint offered to let him fire the fake gun with his help but Harry didn’t want to try that.

Once the lesson was over everyone shared a quick snack of fruit and some homemade flapjacks before being set free to do as they wanted.

“Do you want to play hide and go seek?” Lila asked, making eye contact with everyone one at a time before they had a chance to move away from the picnic blanket.

“Can we?” Harry replied excited, he hadn’t played hide and seek with the Bartons before. 

“Of course. Cooper, mommy, daddy, do you want to play too?” Lila asked after smiling at Harry’s joy. 

“Please, Cooper,” Harry said turning his excitedly shining eyes up at the older boy, his hands were shaking a little where he clasped them together. 

“Alright, I’ll play with you,” Cooper agreed, not wanting to ruin Harry’s excitement. 

“Great,” Lila exclaimed, all the kids turned their attention to the adults waiting for their answers. 

“I have a few things I need to finish inside,” Laura said, slowly gathering the containers that had held the snacks and firmly closing the metal box that held the guns. 

“Dad?” Cooper questioned, making Clint the centre of their attention. 

“Go on then, it’ll be fun,” he agreed with a warm smile, letting a small laughing loose when both the older kids cheered at his answer. Harry was shocked for a moment before smiling widely at the announcement. 

They all stood up for the picnic blanket, helping to pull Clint up when he asked for their help. Causing all of the kids to laugh as they struggled to pull him up from his seated position. Once they were all standing, the rules needed to be decided. 

“Both front and back yards?” Cooper asked. 

“Yes, but not in the house,” Lila agreed firmly. 

“Alright, nobody is to go into the trees though,” Clint said firmly waiting for a nod from each of the kids before continuing. “You guys go hide, I’ll count first. To thirty.”

“Thirty? No, that’s not enough time. A hundred,” Lila interrupted sounding outraged at the suggestion of only counting to thirty. 

“I’ll count to fifty and then I’ll come and find you, ready?” Clint began, quickly receiving nods from the boys and a slower begrudging nod from Lila, then he closed his eyes and began counting “one... two... three...” With a shriek from Lila, all the kids took off running in different directions. Cooper towards the barn, Lila towards the house and Harry towards the lake. 

“Eighteen... nineteen... twenty” could be heard as they sprinted in search of their own hiding spots. Cooper reached the barn and took a quick look around trying to find a spot somewhere his dad wouldn’t immediately think to search. He spotted the tractor parked in a dark corner and decided to try and hide behind one of its wheels. 

Meanwhile, Lila had reached the house only to be shooed away by Laura with a reminder of the rules and a suggestion to hide on the back of the truck, if she could make it there before the time was up. Clint had just reached “thirty-five… thirty-six...” Lila tried to run quietly to the truck as it was close to where their dad was standing, who continued to count. Lila could see Harry climbing a tree as she climbed into the open back of the old truck. 

Harry had reached and started scaling a tree near the lake by the count of twenty. He was hoping the branches and leaves would keep him hidden. The leaves were fading to orange and yellow with some having already fallen to the ground, if he could remain still it should be a good hiding spot. He saw a larger branch above him and decided it would be the best place to sit and wait. 

Just then, he heard Clint reach “forty-six... forty-seven”, Harry stilled his movements on the branch and moved a small branch to let him see what was happening in the yard. 

“Ready or not, here I come,” Clint shouted, taking a quick look around the yard. Not one of the kids was immediately visible which was better than he was expecting from Harry, remembering how bad Lila used to be at hide and seek before Nat had given her some tips. 

There was a rustle of plastic from near the truck, so he headed in that direction as he got closer, he caught a glimpse of the Lila’s bright green t-shirt, so he called out in a sing-song voice “come out, come out, wherever you are?” he heard a giggle from the truck. He quietly went around so he could pick Lila out of the back. 

Lila shrieked in surprise to suddenly be lifted from the truck but couldn’t start to complain as her dad was tickling her too much to be able to say much more than “st-sttt-op, dad”, as she was wriggling to get out of his grasp, “p-p-please, sto-op”. Finally, she was put down. Pulling in deep breaths to refill her lungs. 

“Why don’t you go grab a drink whilst I continue looking for the boys,” her dad suggested, turning around to re-examine the yard. The most obvious place to hide would be in the barn, he was heading that way when he caught a weird movement from a tree out the corner of his eye. Clint decided to explore that later, he continued on his way to the barn, calling “I know you’re out there, Cooper, Harry, I’m coming to get you”. He didn’t get a giggle in response this time, but the same tree seemed to move against the slight breeze, so he had a confident guess of where at least one of them was. 

He had just entered the barn, scanning the floor for Cooper’s red shoes or anybody’s feet when he heard an ominous creak. This sound immediately had his senses flaring, with a single brief glance around the barn he headed back out to check on the tree. Only to hear another louder creak followed by a small scream. 

Harry was scared, he was too high up and he was worried because the tree was making funny noises. Then with a sudden strong gust of wind, the branch above the one he was sitting on creaked loudly. He was shifting along his branch to try and climb down when it gave and the loudest creak so far and began to bend, he was using the creaking branch as a handhold, it was only at that moment that he caught sight of the crack between the branch and the trunk of the tree. 

He faintly heard Clint shout “hold on, Harry, I’m coming to help, just hold on, bud.”

His foot was almost touching the branch below when the cracking sound reached his ears, he looked up to see the branch was coming loose and its weight forced him to let go. The branch slammed into the ground with a mighty crash. He teetered dangerously, losing his balance now that one of his handholds was gone. 

Clint saw the branch fall from the tree making a heavy thunk on impact, he was running as fast as he could towards it. He heard Harry give another shriek and then whimper. Harry was calling out for help. 

“Help me, please, h-h-help me” he choked out between sobs, “I can’t hold on much longer”. Harry was crying heavily now as his foot slipped from the branch below him, he was able to get both hands on the big branch he had been sitting on, but his feet were dangling in mid-air, unable to reach any of the branches below in his panic. Clint was beneath him now, telling him to stay calm, he was going to help. 

“That’s it, Harry, stay calm, I’m coming to help you, just keep breathing, good boy.” Clint soothed as he started carefully climbing the tree. Laura and Lila had emerged from the house having heard the branch land and Harry’s scream of terror. Lila was sobbing as she hugged her mom. Cooper had emerged from his hiding spot and was slowly walking over towards the tree, staring in fear at the sight before him. 

Clint had just reached Harry when the young boy's fingers finally slipped, he managed to catch the messy-haired child carefully, hugging him to his body. “How d’you manage to find the one bad tree to climb, huh, bud?” Clint breathed, placing a gentle kiss on Harry’s messy hair. 

“I’m sor-r-ry” Harry said in between sniffles. 

“It's not your fault, bud, just no more climbing trees for the rest of the fall, please,” Clint said, as he began the slow and careful descent from the tree with his precious cargo clinging tightly to him like a koala. “You’re safe, Harry, I’ve got you”, he repeated calmly as they made their way down. 

Clint breathed a sigh of relief when his feet touched the floor, “okay, we’re down, bud”, he tried to put Harry down, but the young boy just clung on tighter, still recovering from his shock. Clint walked them both over to the house murmuring reassurances the whole way. He pulled Cooper into a one-armed hug as the reached him. Clint sent a reassuring smile to Laura and braced for impact as Lila ran to join the family hug, still with tears running down her face. 

After the shock of the afternoon none of them noticed the sunlight flashing off of something unusual from just a little way into the tree line.

Chapter Text

To say it had been an eventful day in the Barton household would be an understatement. Not only had the day been eventful, it had been stressful and fear inducing for everyone. 

It had been an important day, teaching Harry the basics of gun safety and reminding the older two of those basics. Hopefully some of the information would stick, though they would review it regularly to keep everyone safe. Then, the afternoon had happened. It began well with Harry feeling more relaxed around the weapons and he seemed to have some confidence that he could safely move around a gun. What followed should have been a relaxing and fun afternoon of hide and go seek turned very quickly away into something Clint was sure had aged him at least a decade in barely five minutes. 

Thankfully no one was seriously injured. Everyone was in a state of shock, Harry may develop some bruising from his having been caught after the fall and Clint's shoulder had jolted a little. But no one was seriously injured, he repeated like a mantra, and that was all that mattered. Shock, bruising and joint pain could be dealt with and would disappear if correctly managed over time. Permanent injury or death was not so easily moved on from, thankfully the situation had not been that serious. 

It was frightening, but it had turned out alright. The kids were all safe and unharmed. Currently they were huddled together under a blanket on the sofa watching a film. Brother Bear was quickly becoming one of Harry’s favourite films. 

Dinner had been a quieter affair than normal as everyone processed the fall and its potential consequences, but by dessert each of the kids were returning to their normal level of exuberance. All but begging for extra dessert as well as a hot chocolate to deal with shock, Cooper was certain he had read somewhere that it was good for you. Once he had mentioned that Lila grabbed onto his reasoning with both hands and would not let go until their parents gave in to the alleged science of "warm chocolatey goodness" as she called it. 

~ ~ ~

Several hours later Clint returned to the kitchen, having tucked all of the kids into bed. He had hugged each of them tight for a beat longer than normal and not getting any resistance from Cooper, reminding him despite how much his oldest had grown over the last few years and how he acted maturer seemingly with each passing day, he was still only young, he still needed parental support a lot of the time, it just was not always as obvious as it had been when he was younger. 

Clint really wanted a drink after today, it had been a long day and had felt longer. He saw Laura putting away some of the plates that had been left to dry after the washing up from dinner and movie snacks. He went up behind her and embraced her in a hug, resting his head down on her right shoulder. For a while they just stood together enjoying the moment, taking the time to breathe with nothing pressing or urgent that they had to do, no kids to see to, no job on the other side of the country or globe. Just hugging, sharing the same space and breathing the same air, before reality had to come back to them.

“I love you so much,” Clint breathed, arms still wrapped tightly around her. Turning his head slightly, laying a kiss on her neck. 

“I love you too,” Laura returned, a strong yawn stretching her mouth wide open, “now I need to go and lie down.”

“Go to bed, love. I’ll finish up in here,” Clint said, gently spinning her around to place what was meant to be a quick kiss on her lips. The kiss deepened, lasting longer than the several seconds he had intended, reaffirming the love they had declared for each other. They soon parted and he rested his forehead against hers, a gentle smile resting on both of their lips. 

“Love you, Lau. I’ll be up soon,” he promised, turning back to the task at hand. He could hear Laura climbing the stairs as he put the last pieces of cutlery in the designated drawer. 

It did not take long for Clint to finish tidying the kitchen, whilst Laura got ready for bed. Laura was already asleep when he got up to their bedroom. He quickly went to double check on the kids and each of them was sleeping peacefully in their beds. Next he went through his own nightly ritual letting it lull him down from the heightened state still somewhat present from the afternoon, then he crawled in beside her, placing a light kiss on Laura’s head before resting back against the pillow to follow her into sleep. 

All was finally quiet in the Barton household.

***

It had taken the asset some time to follow the very well-hidden trail to his target. It would have been impossible for someone of lesser skill to find, let alone follow. But the winter soldier, HYDRA’s most successful operative and weapon, was no untrained, inexperienced fool and he had succeeded. 

Finally, after almost three weeks of searching since his infiltration into SHIELD headquarters, the twine had been fully unwinded. He had been able to painstakingly piece together the clues he had managed to gather from the surveillance footage. 

Though the blond haired man still troubled him. The soldier knew he knew the blond man, he knew, well felt it in his bones that this man held special importance to him. Despite this certainty, there were no memories nor mission relevant information provided as to why. 

During the minimal hours of sleep he required for optimum function the face of the blond haired man would haunt him. Occasionally the face was accompanied by the sounds of boyish laughter, other times it was partnered with the sounds of fists striking flesh, and on others by racking coughs that always left him worried when he awoke. It had taken the soldier a while to identify the emotions, that he should not be feeling, as concern, worry, nervousness. The coughing was bad, dangerous even, but it had been a frequent occurrence. Again the soldier could not say how he knew this, it was just something he knew as instinctually as breathing or shooting a gun. There were also flashes of scenes which he could not remember the details of once he was conscious.

Other than being visited by this phantom during his sleep, the mission had progressed smoothly, he had had a rendezvous with his handler twice during the last few weeks. Updating them on his progress, limited though it had been at times. He had been given orders to report in regularly unless he thought he could close in on the target. If that was the case then radio silence was the order. 

For the last few days after the final breakthrough on the trail the soldier had been gradually travelling across the country through whatever means possible. This was a stealth mission as HYDRA did not want attention drawn to them, nor to the soldier. 

The soldier had hot-wired a car for the first leg of the trip, next he jumped into an empty carriage on a freight train crossing the border between states, quickly carrying him further on the tail of his target. The train journey had caused a similarly irregular reaction in the soldier, it was an emotion that he had still yet to define. 

Once closer to his target to avoid detection he had hiked most of the way to the farm, though one night he had climbed into the back of a lorry and gained a free unnoticed lift north.

Now the watching began. He had set up a small camp a ways into the wooded area. He had sighted the target, he was ninety-five percent certain the young boy with messy black hair and green eyes was his target. But ninety-five percent was not good enough. 

He would watch and wait, immediate action was not required at the present moment. So reconnaissance would continue, until absolute certainty could be gained. Then the mission objectives would need to be reassessed. 

Remaining unnoticed would be essential, not alerting the other members of the household. Both adults had been assessed and categorised as threat level six. The oldest child deemed a threat level three, he had some training and was a quick and inventive thinker. The youngest two were both currently threat level one, though the girl was closer to level two than his potential target. 

Seeing the boy fall from the tree had sparked the same feeling as the train ride, alongside a small burst of warmth in his mind that he was becoming increasingly accustomed to, flashes of memories... imagined scenes... images from his dreams began to rise so he stumbled away from the edge of the treelike to avoid ruining his stealth mission before it had really begun. 

***

The door to Harry’s bedroom slowly swung open, not disturbing the small body sleeping in the bed. The scene in the bedroom was peaceful. 

The silhouette of a person was outlined on the doorframe of the moonlit room. Nothing beyond the outline could be made out about the person, the depth of the darkness from the hallway behind them prevented it. They remained at the door watching the small boy sleep. He looked calm and at peace. They did not move beyond the threshold as if by that simple action alone the scene in front of them would be destroyed. 

As if the thought itself had caused a change in the room. Harry rolled over in his sleep, making a noise that was impossible to discern the nature of. The figure remained frozen at the doorframe, unsure what they should do. Waiting mind whirling through possible approaches. The next noise made by the youngest member of the household was easily discernible; it was a whimper of distress. 

With the whimper the person moved swiftly across the room, making no noise, moving into a position where they could stand guard at the young sleeping boy’s bedside. As Harry struggled, appearing trapped in some kind of nightmare the self-appointed guard’s arms rose on several occasions as if to reach out and wake the young boy or gently place them on him as if to offer comfort. But they never made contact, always lowering back to their sides before anything was done.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning Harry startled awake, sitting upright and breathing heavily. Once his breathing began to slow he looked around into the semi-darkness of his room, still lit by the moonlight shining through the window. Finally settling on the single figure that was not meant to be in his room.

“C-Cooper?” Harry questioned quietly, squinting at the figure outlined in darkness, a few steps away from his bed. 

“Yeah, Harry. It’s me,” Cooper responded in a whisper, moving to be beside the bed again.

“Okay,” Harry mumbled tiredly, laying back down on the pillows, his gaze still fastened to the older boy. “Why are you here?”

“I had a bad dream,” Cooper explained, gently running a hand over Harry’s hair in a comforting motion, though to whom it was offering the most comfort was difficult to say. 

“You too?” Harry exclaimed louder, a tinge of surprise and excitement in his voice. Maybe he wasn’t a freak if older, braver boys like Cooper also had bad dreams. 

“Shhh,” the older boy said, looking towards the door and waiting to see if anyone was woken by the sudden burst of noise. Once he was certain no one had awoken, he replied to Harry, “yeah, me too. I came to check you were alright, in my dream you got hurt.” 

“Oh,” Harry whispered in shock, someone had come to check on him when they had a bad dream. Cooper came to see him to make sure he was safe. 

“Do you want to talk about your dream?” Cooper asked, slowly sitting down on the bed beside Harry who had scooted over a little to create more space.

Harry just shook his head quickly in response. Nobody ever cared about his dreams or nightmares in the past. 

“It can help to share them, makes them less scary,” Cooper said, sliding an arm around Harry’s shoulders, a one-armed hug that Harry slowly allowed himself to sink into. 

“It was- it was about the- the tree,” Harry quietly explained with breaks and pauses, reassured when Cooper didn’t pull away or laugh at him. “I was falling and falling and falling. Clint didn’t make it in time and I just kept falling,” Harry continued, silent tears rolling down his face, “it was so scary.”

“Ah, I know, Harry. My dream was like that too. Dad didn’t catch you in time in my nightmare,” he murmured the last part quietly, lowering himself to lying on the bed and pulling Harry into a hug, offering the younger boy comfort, whilst reassuring himself that his new brother was fine. Still slightly frightened and in shock after his nightmare had reinvigorated the feelings from what had happened that afternoon but otherwise Harry was not severely injured or anything worse, in spite of what his mind had try to convince him. 

Harry managed to stop his tears after several minutes, he had returned the hug with all his might, appreciating the first reassurance he got after having a nightmare. He thought this must be why other kids in his old class had been less scared of bad dreams, it was not so bad when you had someone who cared with you afterwards.

“Thank you, Cooper. Love you,” Harry murmured into the older boys pyjama-clad shoulder. 

“I love you, too, Harry. You’re my favourite brother,” Cooper said with conviction. 

“Really?” Harry asked with excitement, looking up to the larger boy with joy shining in his eyes. He didn’t think he had ever been anybody’s favourite anything before. 

“Really really,” Cooper promised. They remained in silence for another few moments before Cooper asked, “do you want to go and sleep with Mom and Dad?”

Harry immediately froze, his whole body going from floppy to stiff in an instance. He shook his head even more furiously than before, “no,” he added nervously.  

Cooper’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, he had always gone to his parents for comfort after a nightmare, why would Harry not want to go to them too. It was only thirty seconds or so after that the reasoning clicked inside his head, Harry was in foster care… he probably hadn’t had the right or same support before. 

“Okay, you don’t have to Harry. It’s okay, just relax,” Cooper coached, rubbing a hand up and down the younger boy’s back as he murmured the same reassurances over and over again, until Harry slowly loosened and relaxed his clenched muscles. 

“Do you mind if I stay with you for tonight then?” Cooper asked, partly for him but also partly for Harry.

It took Harry several seconds to respond and for a moment Cooper thought he might refuse but when he saw the shock in Harry’s eyes he understood. “Please,” Harry said so quietly Cooper almost missed it despite the almost absolute silence in the house. 

“Budge over then,” Cooper said wiggling down under the duvet and trying to get into a comfortable position. “Sleep tight, Harry,” he said through a yawn, head resting back on the pillow, the younger boy cuddled in beside him. 

“Night, night,” Harry drowsily responded, quickly falling back into sleep. 

~ ~ ~

Harry wakes the next morning feeling warmer than normal, he goes to roll over and is unable to. Realising he is stuck, he quickly opens his eyes only to be met with the sight of another body in bed beside him. His just awoken mind takes a while to process what it is seeing before the memories from the prior night come back to him. 

Cooper came to check on him. He had had a nightmare, Cooper comforted him. Cooper offered and did stay with him the rest of the night. 

Checking that Cooper was still asleep, Harry snuggled back into the older boy’s side and closed his eyes. Revelling in the warmth and comfort he was feeling. 

Snuggled around one another. This was the sight that greeted Laura when she came to check on Harry an hour and a half later because he would normally have been up and about for at least an hour. A smile grew on her lips at the sight in front of her, she was so proud of both of her boys. Harry had come so far and Cooper was really stepping further into his role of big brother and she couldn’t be prouder of him. She quickly captured a photo on her phone before backing out of the room. It would be another photo to add to the growing family collection.

Both boys would eventually make it downstairs to breakfast, well rested despite their mid-night wake ups.

~ ~ ~

That afternoon much like the one before was also one with nice weather, there was a light breeze but it was not too cold, so Clint decided to make the most of it. He decided it should be one of his training days with the kids. 

“Alright, kids, outside now, please,” he ordered coming into the living room where everyone had headed after lunch. Still a little nervous about letting the others out of their direct lines of sight. All three of them looked up in surprise at the tone he had taken, usually Clint spoke with a joking tone or calmly. This was not his normal fun-loving, affectionate tone. He had allowed half an hour for the meal to settle but he did not want to lose the sunlight or the good weather. “Training afternoon begins now,” he declared. 

This added detail received cheers from Lila and Cooper, and a confused head tilt from Harry who was glancing between Clint and the older kids. He knew the tone Clint had used suggested something serious but the joy and cheering from the others did not match with the reaction he normally saw to that kind of tone. 

The other two quickly scrambled up from where they had been on the floor and rushed out the front door. Harry slowly raised himself and followed after them at a much reduced pace. 

“It’s alright, Harry. It’ll be fun but it will hold some important lessons for you, alright,” Clint added, coming up beside Harry and gently ruffling his hair, sharing a small smile with the younger boy. 

Harry stopped for a moment on the front porch, watching the other two bounce around outside, chatting excitedly between themselves. They were obviously looking forward to this training, not at all scared or worried which made Harry feel better. He glanced back at Laura who had followed behind them all, she gave him a strong, certain nod and warm smile. With those gestures he finally left the porch and made his way across to join the others. 

“Okay, stretching first,” Clint said standing across from the kids who had formed a line. 

This was the routine they followed for the next twenty minutes or so. Clint would demonstrate a move and then the others would copy with varying degrees of success. Harry had to quickly put his foot down to stop him falling on his bum quite a lot, once or twice he also had to reach out and grab Lila who was stood beside him to stop him from tumbling over. 

Once Clint declared them sufficiently stretched and ready, phase two of the training afternoon began. 

“Two laps around the house, then we’ll start the session properly,” Clint said. “Ready… set… go.” 

All three kids shot off, yelling about winning and beating the others. Harry began with the lead but was soon overtaken by Cooper because of his longer legs. Lila was almost neck and neck with Harry as they completed the first lap, but Harry was not willing to lose so he sped up a little. 

When the laps were completed all of them were breathing heavily, Harry had managed to keep his second place but only just. 

“Now the real exercise begins,” Clint said, smiling at the shocked look Harry sent his way. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent learning a mixture of different moves. The first thing Clint did was assign different exercises for the older two to complete with Laura watching on and offering corrections when needed, Cooper was given some fighting set thingies that Harry thought looked really cool, like a ninja. Lila began some sort of gymnastics and twirling thing. 

“Alright, Harry, you’re with me. First things first you need to learn how to fall,” Clint stated. 

Fall? Harry thought, very unsure, was it because of yesterday and the tree? “O-okay?” Harry said, head tilted to one side as he looked up at Clint, his body clearly broadcasting his confusion. 

“Knowing how to fall safely means you won’t get hurt. It’s a very important skill to have and will be instrumental when we start teaching you more difficult things,” Clint added in answer to the question Harry had not be brave enough to voice. 

“What’s instra-instru-instri… um, that word mean?” Harry asked quietly, checking the distance between him and Clint before braving to ask the question. He was becoming more comfortable asking questions to the Bartons but some habits were too ingrained to lose so soon.

“It means important or very useful,” Clint calmly answered, noticing Harry’s nervous check and easily masking the sadness that rose within him that Harry was still affected by the monsters he used to live with. 

“Oh, okay,” Harry said, soothed by Clint’s answer and calm reaction. 

The rest of the afternoon was then spent going through different exercises and practicing some really cool moves that would help keep him safe, or so Clint and Laura said. He learnt to fall safely which was actually quite fun. He got to do some gymnastic things like a roly-poly and other ninja-like moves. Apparently it was some kind of fighting or martial arts as Cooper called them. 

By the end of the afternoon Harry was tired and very ready to eat dinner, but he was also already excited about when they would have the next training afternoon. It had been a lot of fun. 

***

Harry had been excited about today since Cooper mentioned on Monday that he would be out of the house and going over to a friend's after school for dinner. Laura had said when they went grocery shopping the weekend before that they would have to wait for Cooper to be out of the house to begin the cake baking so that it would be a surprise for him.

Friday was already a good day as it meant the weekend was about to begin, but it was now even better because today was cake baking day. 

Unfortunately, once they were back home Laura broke the news to him that they should wait until Sunday to bake the cake so that it would be fresher on Cooper's actually birthday which was the upcoming Tuesday. Cooper would also be out on Sunday because he along with three or four of his friends were going out for the day with Clint for his birthday treat. 

So he was a little sad that they would not get to make the cake today, but it was going to be another exciting weekend to look forward to, he would get to bake a cake with Lila and Laura for Cooper to enjoy on his birthday. He knew that Cooper would love the surprise cake design that they planned to make for him.

Chapter Text

Cooper’s birthday arrived with excitement from everyone. There was a small collection of brightly wrapped parcels waiting in the living room to be unwrapped when Harry came down the stairs for breakfast. 

He slowly checked if anyone was around before tip-toeing across to the small pile. He gently ran a hand over the bright paper, letting a finger bounce the ribbon tied around one of the smaller boxes. He didn’t let himself linger too long, they weren’t his presents but he didn’t think Cooper would mind that he had touched them, not like Dudley would have. 

Just before Harry had used his accidental magic to escape the Dursleys, Dudley had thrown a tantrum on his birthday when Harry spent too much time looking at his presents. So Harry decided it was better to be safe than sorry, after one final gentle brush of his hand over the nicely wrapped gifts he headed through into the kitchen to help with breakfast preparation.

Cooper got to choose a special dinner because it was his birthday, but they usually just had normal breakfasts on their birthdays, or that was what Lila and Cooper had told him when he had quietly asked the day before. Cooper said he wanted carbonara for dinner, something that Clint was an expert at making and Harry was excited to try it. 

Clint and Laura were bustling about the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher and preparing some breakfast foods.

“Good morning, Harry,” Laura said as she spotted their youngest entering the kitchen through the archway from the living room.

“Morning,” Harry greeted the adults as he entered the room with a slight hesitation, though seeing no negative reaction to his entrance he quickly moved across to get a fast hug from each of them.

“Morning, bud. How d’you sleep?” Clint asked, ruffling Harry’s hair after returning the hug. 

“Good, I had a really cool dream about a dragon,” Harry began, his smile and excitement slowly growing as he retold what he could remember of his dream to the captive audience of two that he had. 

When Harry paused for breath, Clint quickly jumped into to ask what type of juice and fruit he wanted with his breakfast, the response of “orange juice and a banana please,” was quickly swallowed as the tale of the fire-breathing gold protector resumed.

"... and then a wizard jumped onto the dragon's back and they flew off," Harry was saying. One of his arms was acting out the dragon's movements. 

Clint brought a small cup of orange juice to him just as he was wrapping up, “wow, bud, sounds like it was a very exciting dream.”

“Uhuh,” Harry agreed before adding a quick “thank you,” after taking a sip of the juice. 

Before Harry could say anything else a joyful exclamation from Laura caught his attention. 

“Ah, there’s my beautiful birthday boy, you’re growing up so fast, double digits already,” Laura said going to wrap Cooper in a big hug, swaying side to side placing playful and loud kisses all over his head and face. 

“Mooooom, let go,” Cooper whined whilst struggling to extract himself from the hug and kiss attack. 

“Happy Birthday, Cooper,” Harry shouted a little too loudly in his excitement. 

“Thanks, Harry. Come save me, please, I’m being attacked,” Cooper called playfully, still trying to extract himself from the hug. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll save you,” Harry said jumping down from his chair to hurry across the kitchen and wiggle his way into the hug, then gently he pushed Cooper outwards, “go, Cooper, I can’t hold her for long,” Harry said dramatically stealing a funny line he had seen in a movie recently.

“Your sacrifice is appreciated Harry, I’ll always remember you,” Cooper responded with equal drama, brushing away a fake tear as he was finally able to extract himself from Laura’s strong hug. Laura turned her full attention to Harry hugging him close, “you shall never escape now, my precioussss,” she said tickling the smaller boy in her grasp. 

Cooper laughed as Harry began to squeal in joy as he tried to escape the tickle attack, arms wrapped around Cooper from behind causing him to let out a small shout of shock. “Dad, don’t do that,” Cooper said his heart racing as he took a deep breath. 

“Happy tenth birthday, Coop,” Clint said ruffling his oldest’s hair, before placing a kiss to the side of his forehead and slowly letting him go. 

“Thanks, Dad,” Cooper said with a smile, moving to take his seat at the table.

A breathless Harry retook his place soon after, a wide grin spread across his face, his hair was even messier than normal, looking as though he had walked through a wind storm rather than cross the kitchen. 

“Harry, you made it alive!” Cooper exclaimed causing Harry to giggle and grin at him.

"Yup," he agreed, holding one fist up in front of him like he was holding an imaginary sword. 

~ ~ ~

“Happy birthday to you,

 You live in a zoo,

 You look like a monkeyyyyyyy,

 Aaaaaaaaand you smell like one tooooooooooo!” 

The final note was a bit too high for Harry’s comfort, or so his scrunch up face indicated to the rest of those occupying the kitchen. But he did have a little laugh at the lyrics, Cooper got called a monkey.

“Thank you, Lila, for that wonderful singing,” Clint said, one hand rubbing his left ear which ached from the pitch she had reached.

“You’re welcome, Dad. Got to make sure Cooper knows I didn’t forget it’s his birthday,” she said with a cheeky grin. Skipping her way into the kitchen to sit at the table.

“Yes, thank you, Lila,” Cooper said, a small smile curling his lips belying the unimpressed tone of voice he had used. “Glad to know the animals haven’t escaped the zoo,” he added sticking out his tongue. 

“Hey!” Lila exclaimed indignantly. 

“What are you having for breakfast, Lila?” Clint asked trying to avoid the bickering that was sure to come if it wasn’t derailed quickly. Once Lila had answered the question, she and Harry were sent on their quest for eggs and to feed the chickens.

***

Cooper was sat in the front seat of the car, one leg almost continually bouncing up and down, broadcasting his excitement to be returning home from school. As per Barton family tradition he had been allowed to open one present before going to school, so the rest of the beautifully wrapped boxes remained in place on the floor of the living room awaiting their return. 

It had been a good day at school, he got to choose his team in gym and they had won the game of dodgeball. His class had had a science lesson which was super cool, they had been learning about volcano formation and would get to make fake volcanos in the next practical science class they had. 

The car finally emerged from the trees, allowing a direct line of the sight to their farmhouse. The sight brought a rush of safety and the feeling of ‘home’ to his mind. He loved their home, it was brilliant. And being so close meant it was almost time for his presents!

The car had hardly stopped when he had the seatbelt detached, door open, and was jumping down and sprinting to the house. A smile blooming across his cheeks as he ran, enjoying the light sun peaking through the clouds and the steps drawing him ever closer to his bounty. 

He could hear footsteps and laughter behind him as Lila and Harry chased after him, one of them stumbled, if he had to he’d guess it was Harry, if it were a normal day he would be hurrying back to help, but today was special and he was too excited and he was in a rush. 

Laura’s breath caught in her throat as Harry tumbled on a loose rock, ready for the cries of pain and tears to begin falling. But Harry didn’t let the fall shake him, he took Lila’s offered hand with a small smile, he looked down at his trouser legs which were now slightly dirtier than they had been without neither a snuffle or a tear.

Lila heard Harry trip and headed back to help him get up, though the younger boy was not crying or even that upset, he shot a quick “thank you” to her, then he just dusted himself off and continued running to the house. 

Seeing that a potential crisis had been averted, Laura released the breath she was holding. Reminding herself kids were resilient, and easily distracted by exciting things such as birthday cake and gifts.

Laura had not even made it half way across to the house when shouts of joy emerged from within. "Auntie Nat! Uncle Phil!" Ah, there surprise guests had been discovered she thought bringing a gentle smile of her own to her face, she picked up her pace slightly following in her children’s footsteps. At the threshold she stopped and could see the older two kids with their arms around their aunt and uncle, whilst Harry was clinging to one of Clint’s legs like a limpet peaking at the other adults with an air of uncertainty. 

Cooper and Lila soon moved so they were both talking to Natasha about something, it sounded like they were trying to persuade their aunt to do some kind of game. Most likely they would be successful, Nat was almost always willing to play with the kids. This time it would only depend on when the kids were told how long the other adults would remain in town as to whether or not it was the game they were hoping for. 

“Please, Aunt Nat, pretty please,” Cooper was asking, hands clasped tightly in front of him, looking beseechingly up at the redhead.

"With a piece of mango on top," Lila added as she was doing her best pleading eyes alongside her older brother. 

Any of the adults could have told them that Natasha was amused by their efforts, her whole posture was relaxed, she glanced over to Laura, giving a small, barely there smile before returning her attention to Cooper as he started saying something else. 

Whilst they had been distracted Phil had moved across the room towards Harry and Clint.

“Hi Harry, I’m your new Uncle Phil. It’s nice to finally meet you, Clint has told me so much about you,” Phil said as he squatted down in front of the messy haired child that had become the newest member of his extended family. 

“Hello,” Harry said, one hand wrapped around Clint’s leg whilst the other was tightly clutching Clint’s trouser. Harry had his head resting against Clint as well, whilst he watched the new adult in front of him. The man had dark brown hair and blue eyes, he was tall but not as tall as Clint. Harry's senses were staying quiet which was a good sign, he liked how calm and friendly Uncle Phil seemed to be, but he knew those impressions could be deceiving.

Phil remained crouched down, smiling gently at Harry. Making no move to pressure or hurry him. Only rocking forward slightly on his feet as Lila took advantage of his position to jump on his back. “Oofff, hello again, Lila,” Phil said calmly, looking over his shoulder at the madly grinning girl that was clutching onto him. 

Harry had braced slightly at Lila’s actions prepared for a poor reaction from this unknown adult, but this new Uncle Phil only steadied himself, an emotion flashing through his eyes that might have been a moment of panic, before amusement and love settled into his look. This more than anything caused Harry to slowly release his strangle-like hold on Clint’s leg. 

“Just wanted to give you a hug, Uncle Phil,” Lila said, squeezing him tightly to prove her point. 

“Sure you did,” he replied, moving faster than Harry had expected him to be able to, Phil managed to wrap an arm around Lila pulling her gently but rapidly around to his front and began tickling her. 

“St-t-top, Uncle Phil,” Lila wheezed out, trying to break free of the hold. “I c-c-can’t breath-th-the.”

“I’m just giving you a special hug, Lila,” Uncle Phil replied calmly, a happy look on his face as he continued to tickle the squealing child, “just like your jumping hug, this is my tickling hug.” 

Harry let out a squeal as he was suddenly tickled in the side by Clint. Harry jumped away, moving closer to Laura pouting in betrayal at the older man who only laughed in return, wiggling his fingers in a threatening movement. 

***

“Happy Birthday, dear Cooooooooper. Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuu,” the singing, some of which was more in tune than others, ended with a cheer from the youngest two.

Harry seemed almost as excited as Cooper. It was time to reveal the cake, the lights in the kitchen had been turned off so the birthday candles were the only form of illumination, he could make out the colour and vague shape of the cake but nothing precise. 

Once the cake was placed gently in front of him, he could finally make out the design. His eyes roved over the cake ignoring the ten blue and white striped candles that were dotted around the top layer.

“Do you like it?” Lila asked loudly, breaking his concentration on the flowing space themed cake. It was one smaller cake placed in the middle of a larger one. There was icing that was mostly a very dark blue-black colour with different flecks of yellow, white, red, and orange to symbolise other stars. There were a number of small decorations which were shiny black and silver, they were placed in a more or less even circle around the far edge of the big cake making up the meteor belt and the second cake was designed to look like the international space system. 

“Yeah,” Cooper breathed out awe colouring his tone, “it’s awesome,” he exclaimed with a massive smile that felt like it was going to split his cheeks. He had to blink quickly after a bright flash blinded him for a second as a photo was snapped from someone’s phone. “Thank you, Lila, Harry, Mom,” he said looking to each in turn. 

“Now the candles?” Harry asked in a quiet voice, though his joy at how happy Cooper was with the cake was evident in his posture and smile. 

“Candle time!” Lila cheered, really wanting to try the cake, no matter how good it looked. She was hungry and ready for dessert. 

Her exclamation caused all the adults to laugh and Cooper to roll his eyes, then he turned back to the cake. Harry gave a small cheer at the exclamation, he was just excited to be included in somebody else’s birthday celebrations. 

Cooper closed his eyes thinking about what he wanted to wish for. Once he knew and had made the wish, he took a deep breath, held it for a second before blowing out the candles, the final one flickered as if it would remain alight before going out.

A minute later they relit, Harry's excitement getting the better of him as Lila asked if she could have a turn blowing them out. The adults shared a look but said nothing as the younger two each took a turn blowing out the candles. 

~ ~ ~

After the cake, everyone had moved through into the living room for the grand present opening ceremony. Cooper had sat on the floor beside the small pile of differently shaped boxes, with the adults taking seats on the surrounding furniture, Lila was snuggled in beside Aunt Nat and Harry was sat on the floor resting back against Clint’s legs.

It hadn’t taken long for all of the presents to be opened, thank yous had been said to both his siblings, aunt, uncle and parents for their gifts, and Cooper also now had a list of everyone else and what they had given so he would need to write and send thank you letters in the next few days. 

One of the coolest presents he had been given by his parents was a remote control helicopter.

“Wow,” Harry murmured moving away from his seat to get a closer look, Lila scrambling off the couch to also get a better view of the toy. 

“Can we go do a test flight now?” Cooper asked as he carefully unboxed the new toy, the paint was a mix of dark blue with yellow accents. 

“Not tonight, bud. It’s too dark now,” Clint said, “though we can get it all ready for you to test it tomorrow.”

“But, you’ll be gone by then. I want to fly it with you, Dad,” Cooper said, a small frown marring his face. Clint had told the kids he would be going away for a slightly longer than normal work trip whilst they were eating cake.

“Then you are going to wait a while, Coop. Or you can decide to test it sooner without me,” Clint calmly explained. 

“Besides, your mom is the one who would be the most skilled in flying the helicopter,” Nat said quickly with a lightly teasing smirk.

“Really?” Lila asked, looking to their mother, her head tilted to one side as if it would allow her to discover and see something she had never noticed before. 

“No, I would be better,” Clint interrupted quickly, with a smirk at his wife, who only rolled her eyes at him. Nat meanwhile was slowly shaking her head at the kids, denying this fact.  

“I guess we’ll just have to wait for your return so you can prove your superior flying skills,” Laura said, a hint of challenge in her tone. 

“You’ll see, you’ll all see,” Clint said, before doing a fake maniacal laugh, which caused all the kids to giggle. He then leaned over quickly to give Laura a kiss, which caused Cooper to groan and put his hand over Harry’s eyes. 

“What?” Harry asked, trying to swat the bigger hand away. 

“I’m protecting you, Harry. My eyes and brain will never be the same again,” Cooper declared dramatically. 

“We’re not that bad,” Clint said, before giving Laura another longer kiss.

Cooper only lowered his hands once he was certain it was safe for Harry to look again. 

“Can we all play Cooper’s new game now?” Lila asked, scooting her way towards the colourful box that still had the plastic protective wrap around it. 

“You’ll have to ask Cooper, Lila,” Laura said. 

“Please Cooper can we play your new game?” Lila asked, turning to her older brother with a big smile. 

“It says on the box that you need to be ten plus,” Cooper said reading the small label in the corner of the lid. 

“Well, then we can have the little ones working with an adult,” Phil said, seeing from Lila's body language that an argument was about to start. 

“Little ones! I am not little, Uncle Phil,” Lila said sounding horrified to be called ‘little’. Harry nodded along before Lila continued, “Harry is little, I’m almost eight.” 

“Not 'til April, you’re not,” Cooper interjected with a smug little smile. 

“‘M not little, I’m five,” Harry mumbled at the same time. “That’s one hand,” he added holding his hand out to show how many it was.   

“I know, bud. You can be on a team with me,” Clint said, running a hand through Harry’s hair. 

“Then, I want to be with Aunt Nat. She doesn’t think I’m little,” Lila said spinning on her heel to sit herself down beside Natasha, with a decisive nod.

“Alright then. So, how do we play?” Phil asked, trying to steer the attention back to the game and away from anyone being called little.

Soon the game was under way and despite it only being a family board game, there was an air of competition running through the room. Fortunately they finished without anyone storming off or having an argument, though it was a close call on a few occasions. 

***

It had been just over two weeks and the blue and yellow helicopter had remained ready for flight but untouched on the small side table in the living room. 

Cooper felt the helicopter was mocking him, he really wanted to fly it. But Dad still wasn't back yet. 

The weather outside was perfect flying conditions. Well, it looked like it to him anyway, and his mom had already said they could under absolutely no circumstances fly the helicopter in the house. 

Well the weather was better than it would be when their dad finally returned. It wasn’t sunny, but it wasn’t raining or windy, it was just kind of grey with clouds.

By the time they got home from school he couldn’t wait anymore. 

“Test flight will commence in T minus five minutes,” Cooper announced to the kitchen where he and his siblings were having their afternoon snack. 

“What?” Harry asked, mouthful of apple.

“Finish your mouthful before speaking, Harry,” Laura said even though she was facing away from him. 

How did she know? Harry wondered, did she have eyes in the back of her head like one of the teachers at his old primary school said she had? “Sorry,” he said once he had swallowed the apple.

“The helicopter will take off in five minutes,” Cooper replied.

“Great,” Lila said, quickly shoving the last of her snack into her mouth.

“Oh… yay,” Harry cheered, he did not stuff the last of his apple slices into his mouth. He was still savouring the food, it was fruit that wasn’t bruised or mushy.

Once all the snacking was done, Cooper ran into the living room to grab the helicopter and let Lila carry the remote control. They then all rushed out the front door, slamming it shut behind them. 

There was a small tussle over the who would get to fly the helicopter first. Though Cooper was finally able to wrench the remote from Lila’s hands because it was his birthday gift! So he would be the one to fly it first. 

“T minus ten,” Cooper said, remote control in hand, “final checks, please.”

“Is it on?’ Lila asked, only sounding a little whiny. 

“Power, check,” Cooper agreed, flicking the switch, the lights on the remote came on. 

“Spiny thing?” Harry asked.

“Rotor blades, check,” the older boy confirmed getting them to spin a few times.

“Three… two… one,” Lila began and Harry joined in, then Cooper pushed the left dial backwards.

“Wow,” Harry breathed as the small toy lifted off the ground, it was flying. 

They each got to have a go flying the helicopter after Cooper had the first try. Well, Harry was assisted by Cooper who wasn’t quite brave enough to trust the younger boy with complete control of his new toy.

They were sharing nicely for about twenty minutes, taking turns to control the helicopter. Raising it and landing it, sending it all over the yard and running after it. 

It was Lila’s third turn when the arguing began. 

“My turn,” Harry said, reaching to take the remote from Lila. 

“No, it’s still my turn, Harry,” Lila said spinning her body away from him. 

Harry ducked under her arm and reached again for the remote, getting a hand on it. “No, it’s my turn,” Harry argued more forcefully. He gave a yank on the remote, which caused the helicopter to suddenly make a big drop in the sky. 

“Careful,” Cooper said, coming round from the other side of them to grab the remote from the younger two. As Lila levelled the helicopter out again.

“Hey, it’s my turn,” Harry argued still holding on.

None of them were looking where the helicopter was flying whilst they were arguing. 

“Stop,” Cooper shouted, finally pulling the remote from their hands, but it was too late. A crashing sound pulled all their attention away from the remote, the helicopter or what used to be the helicopter now lay on the floor beside the barn in pieces. 

All three of them froze. There were maybe ten seconds of silence before Cooper exploded. 

“This is all your fault,” he shouted turning to face his two younger siblings, the remote hanging loosely in his hand. “That was new and now it’s BROKEN. Look what you DID.” 

Harry was shocked, he took a step away from the old boy, scared by his shouting. He had never heard Cooper shout like this before.

“Sorry, Cooper,” Lila said quietly, her eyes switching between the crumpled helicopter and her older brother.

“SORRY? Sorry? Sorry, won’t make it not broken, Lila,” he continued shouting. “I HATE having younger siblings. I hate you both.” Cooper shouted even louder before running off towards the house.

~ ~ ~

Harry paused for a moment as Cooper’s words sunk in. 

Cooper hated him, like the Dursleys hated him. 

Tears began to pour from his eyes, it became harder to breathe. 

His instincts were telling him to run from the pain. So he turned on his heel and ran. Into the trees, forgetting with his heartbreak that it was against the rules. 

Twigs were breaking under his shoes, piles of leaves being thrown into the air. He was getting hit by branches every now and then during his mad dash away from the hurt, away from the words, away from another person who hated him. 

Once his legs began to wobble and he could no longer get breath to flow easily into his lungs, he stumbled, lowering himself with little grace onto the floor. Scooting across the dirt to rest back against a big tree. 

His tears continued to fall rapidly, one after another. Choked sobs escaping him, as he tried to process the feelings running through him. He hurt, not just his legs and lungs, but his feelings, his trust. 

“Why does he hate me?” He quietly asked the space in front of him, when he had stopped sobbing so hard. “I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry,” he murmured with deep sadness colouring his words. 

Another five minutes had passed before his tears began to run out, his sobbing had come to a end. Different thoughts began to enter his mind. 

Would he get moved again? Last time he had run away he got moved to the Bartons, would it be a new house for him now? He didn’t want to move again, he loved it at the Bartons… even if Cooper didn’t love him anymore. He didn't want to be taken away.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. 

“Hello?” Harry called, scrambling to his feet, using one hand to wipe the drying tear tracks on his face.

A man stepped out of the shade of a tree. “Hello there, little one,” the stranger said, his voice harsh and croaky like he didn't use it much.

Chapter Text

At the sound of shouting Laura moved towards the front of the house, through the living room window she could see Cooper was one who had been yelling at the younger two. 

She was just reaching the front door as Cooper pushed it open with a lot more force than was needed. She quickly glanced back out the door as it was on the return swing, the younger two were stood frozen but did not appear injured or in need of immediate attention. 

Cooper spotting her stood right beside the door threw himself at her, tears running down his face.

“Ah, love, what happened?” Laura asked making her voice gentle, hugging him tightly to her, running one hand up and down his back. 

Cooper just clung on tighter, shaking his head where it was buried against her, not quite ready to explain what had happened yet. 

“Okay, love, let all out. Once you feel like you can tell me calmly what happened, then we’ll talk,” Laura said, slowly moving them both towards the sofa. 

Cooper began to calm down fairly quickly as he started to process everything. His birthday present was broken, but it was only a toy. A very cool new toy, but just a toy. They might even be able to fix it. As this thought crossed his mind the guilt started to creep in and replace the heartbreak. He shouldn’t have shouted at Lila and Harry, they had just been excited to play with the helicopter. Harry had looked so upset at his words. 

Cooper slowly pulled back a little from the hug to look at his mom, who only smiled gently at him silently encouraging him to speak in his own time, continuing to rub one hand up and down his back. 

“Harry, wait,” came the shout from outside, drawing Laura’s attention away from Cooper for a moment. There was no follow up or retaliatory shouting so she focused back on her eldest. 

“My helicopter got crashed into the barn,” Cooper said avoiding eye contact. “And it b-b-broke,” he continued with only a little struggle as the sadness resurfaced.

“Alright,” Laura agreed waiting to see if Cooper would expand more on his explanation.

It took about half a minute of silence before Cooper finally drew up the courage to continue, “I was mad. My birthday present got smashed, so I was really mad at them, and I- I- I started shouting,” he said getting quieter and quicker at the end of the sentence. 

“Okay, so you started shouting,” Laura began to explore the event further when more, louder shouts came from outside. 

~ ~ ~

Lila stood there for a moment feeling the words roll over her. They hurt but she knew Cooper would apologise soon, he always did. She said things just like that when she was angry too. He didn’t mean it. They always made up even if sometimes they were forced to by mommy or daddy.

Her attention was drawn away from her thinking when Harry started running, tears pouring down his face. Oh, no, she thought. 

“Harry, wait,” she shouted after him. He either didn’t hear her or ignored her shouting. 

A moment of indecision ran through her, should she chase after Harry or go and get help instead? Harry was going towards the woods and they weren’t meant to enter without telling a parent and getting permission or being with an adult. 

Harry reached and entered the treelike before Lila had decided what she should do. He vanished into the trees not even pausing or slowing a little. She’d get her mom, she’d know what to do. 

First, she went to pick up the remains of the smashed helicopter to see if they could put it back together. If Mommy or Daddy couldn’t fix it, then maybe Harry could magic it back together, she thought rushing across to the broken toy. Gathering the pieces as quickly as she could before rushing towards the house. 

“Mommy,” Lila shouted rushing up the steps of the porch.

“MOMMY,” she yelled again louder trying to open the front door with the pieces of the helicopter in her hands. “MO-,” she cut off as she stumbled through the door seeing both Cooper and their mom right in front of her. 

“Lila, what’s all the shouting for?” Laura asked quickly accessing her daughter. No obvious injuries, she was breathing fine and had just run across the yard yelling at the top of her lungs. In her hands were the remnants of the toy helicopter. 

“Harry’s gone into the woods,” Lila said moving quickly to one of the side tables unceremoniously dropping the pieces of helicopter onto it. “He was running. Fast.”

“Right. We need to go find him. Lila go and grab the first aid kit from the bathroom please. Cooper go and fill a couple of water bottles and grab a few easy snacks,” Laura ordered in a no-nonsense tone quickly taking charge of the situation. 

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her cousin Hector who had helped set the wards around the house. Hopefully he would be free to come over and help find Harry. 

***

The man who was the asset had been suffering from encroaching flashes of scenes. The blond haired punk, who he was now sure was called Steve, was a frequent participant in the scenes. Alongside three dark haired, blue eyed girls or women, depending on the age of the scene. The scenes were coming from what he believed were his memories. He thought these women were his younger sisters, he wasn't sure but thought their names might be Becca, Tilda, and Lottie.

Now whenever there was the feeling of warmth spreading across his mind, his left hand automatically reached between his collarbones towards something that wasn’t there but should be. 

Tilda had done something to help protect him before… before whatever happened to him happened. Most things were still fuzzy, shrouded in obscurity, blocked from the reach of his grasping mind. When he didn’t push it, feelings, thoughts, and memories would slowly come back to full brightness.

Every time he had had a sudden burst of warmth it wasn't long later that more memories would come flooding or trickling in. 

He hadn’t always been the asset. He had had a family, one of blood and one of choice. He had protected both of them as much as he could, or supported them when he couldn’t. 

Yet his mission remained in the forefront of his conscious. Like it had been carved into his brain. Watch the child. Watch the small child. Watch the small, messy-haired, smiling child.

The same small messy-haired child who now stood in front of him, tear tracks drying on his face. This was not the face of the bright, bubbly child he had been watching for the last few weeks. 

This was his mission. Watch. Capture if possible.

Capture. Simple, yet it wasn’t. The hidden half of him was fighting the mission, instead it was saying protect. Like the dark haired, blue eyed sisters, like the blond haired punk. The messy-haired scamp was to be protected. 

Protected from what? He wasn’t sure. From whoever made him the asset and whoever they worked with. 

Step one, get the kid back to safety. The farmhouse meant safety, there was warmth surrounding it, the warmth was safety, his bones and scrambled brain told him so. 

No one could find the child behind the warmth. It protected and nurtured.

Assessing the kid in front of him. He had seen the scene in the backyard. New step one, reassure the kid, then return him to safety.

~ ~ ~

Harry stared at the stranger as they stepped closer. They had long black hair that hung around their shoulders, it was messy and he thought he saw small bits of twigs and leaves mixed in. 

After exchanging hellos nothing was said for a little while, both man and boy were eyeing each other. Though the strange man seemed to have a less focused look as if he wasn’t really looking at Harry, more in his direction, through him. 

Harry didn’t say anything more or move, just to be safe. The man was a lot bigger than him and he looked strong and dangerous. Before he could start worrying, he thought about the self-defence session from a few weekends ago and about his magic. 

Everything would be okay, if this strange man wanted to hurt him he was allowed to fight back. Laura and Clint told him so, he didn’t have to not fight. He was allowed, expected, to fight back, to protect himself, however he could. Harry breathed out slowly, calming down even further. He slowly moved his feet into better places, Clint had used a fancy word for where you put your feet but he couldn’t remember it now. 

If the man tries to hurt him, he knew what to do. Plan A should always be to get away, run fast and run far Laura had said. If I’m not gonna win, why fight? Lila had added afterwards. Getting an eye roll from Cooper, but he hadn’t disagreed. 

Thinking about Cooper brought back the words he had just shouted at them. Would he still care about Harry, now that he hates him? 

“He doesn’t really hate you, kid,” the stranger said, startling Harry out of his thoughts, could the strange man read his mind? “Everyone says things they don’t mean when they’re angry,” the man continued. 

Harry wiped away more tears that tried to fall, his face showing that he did not agree with the stranger’s words. “Nuh-uh. He said he hated us,” Harry contradicted. How could this strange man think Cooper didn’t hate them, he said he did. Just like the Dursleys had.

“All siblings say that at some point,” the stranger retorted sounding confident. “They don’t really mean it. He was just angry.”

“Really?” Harry questioned with a small voice, as a tiny new hope started to bloom within him. 

“Really. I said it to my sisters, they said it to me. It hurts and you feel bad, but it’s a not forever feeling,” the stranger said, there was no scene to back this up but it felt true.

After a minute scrutinising his face and body language, Harry finally let out a relieved “Okay.”

“Now, let’s get you back home. They’ll probably be looking for you already,” the man said turning to lead the way through the trees. 

Harry stood still staring after the stranger who was about to lead him home, when Harry wasn’t even sure which way home was. 

The stranger obviously noticing that he wasn’t being followed, he glanced over his shoulder, raised one eyebrow before motioning for Harry to follow, “come on, kid. It’s this way. 

Harry tried to raise one eyebrow at the stranger in return, but ended up lifting both. “How’d you know that?’

“I just do, now come on,” came the somewhat disgruntled reply, before the man just continued walking. 

“Stranger danger,” Harry said to himself, thinking about his teacher from last year who had warned the class about not going with strangers, not taking sweets from random people and other things. But Harry really didn’t want to be alone in the woods, and the stranger seemed to know the way. So he would follow but keep enough space between them and use his new ninja skills or magic if he needed.

~ ~ ~

They had been walking through the woods for about five minutes when Harry broke the silence that had fallen between them. 

“What’s your name?” Harry asked, looking at the back of the stranger’s head with interest. 

“Bu-  Ja-  As-,” the stranger began and restarted several times seemingly unsure of the answer. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the kid, a smile being brought to his face at the kid’s expression despite his own concern over his non-answer. 

“…Burgess?” Harry asked eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to put the sounds he had heard together into a name. 

“No,” was the immediate and clear response that that questioned name received. The man didn’t even stop his steady pace, just a swift rejection as he ducked around a low leafy branch.

So, he wasn’t called Burgess. Replaying the broken answer in his head, the sounds around him prompted his next guess. “Budgies?” Harry tried again, it sounded similar to the noises the stranger had made. 

“B- what? Budgies? No, kid,” the stranger replied, turning around to look at Harry, his face not seeming to know whether it should settle into an expression of amusement or something offended. “Who calls their kid ‘budgies’?” 

“I dunno,” Harry mumbled, “your parents,” he continued even quieter, while scuffing one foot on the ground. 

Maybe the man had heard his mumbled words because the only response he received to that was an unimpressed expression with one eyebrow being raised. The showoff. 

Harry was just trying to help as the strange man didn’t seem to know his own name. Maybe he forgot it? How do you forget your name? Maybe, like Harry when he started school, the stranger maybe hadn’t been told his name until recently. “B- B- Bertie?” Harry exclaimed with excitement clear in his tone. That was close to Budgies. 

Slowly the stranger turned and began walking again, he titled his head a little as if thinking over the name. The asset didn’t think it seem quite right. “Sure,” he replied hesitantly, trying to remember the scraps of memories where his old name had been mentioned. 

***

Hector arrived with a loud pop around the back of the house at the designated apparition point. The wards had changed slightly, Laura had mentioned they had a new magical foster kid. Maybe the WCPS also installed additional wards with new placements.

He had come as quickly as possible after Laura explained what had happened. Harry already had past experience with apparating when scared if what Lila had passed on was true, the kid could be anywhere by now. They had to move quickly. 

“Hello,” he called opening the back door and glancing around the kitchen. It was empty. 

“Hector?" Laura called, “we’re out the front.”

Hector quickly walked down the corridor to the open front door. On the porch Laura had both of the older kids, each had their coats on and a flashlight in hand. 

“Hi Hector,” Lila said with a small smile, Cooper just offered a wave. 

“Hey, Laura, kids,” he replied, seeing how anxious they were to get going. 

Laura quickly greeted him with a hug, “thanks for coming, Hector,” she said before stepping back. She glanced over both the kids who each nodded when they met her eyes.

“Alright, we’re ready to go when you are,” Laura said, also dressed ready to go into the woods, she was also wearing a small backpack which held the water, snacks, and first aid kit.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Hector said, taking a quick breath before releasing his wand from its holster and casting a point-me spell. 

His wand lay flat across the palm of his left hand, it span around three times before the tip started pointing to the right, what would be two o’clock on a clock face. Hector felt a light tug on his magic.

“Right, he’s still on the property,” Hector informed the others who had been watching the magic with varying levels of excitement and anxiety. 

“Thank, goodness,” Laura said with a sigh, feeling some of the tension draining out of her. Now they just had to find him.

“Lead the way, Hector,” Lila said with a bossy tone, already descending the porch steps. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Hector replied in a teasing tone, rolling his eyes at the young girl.

~ ~ ~

The small group was moving at a steady pace through the trees, there was a small path which they were following. The kids had their torches out but it wasn’t dark enough for them to be necessary just yet. 

Hector was glad they had them because he hadn’t considered how challenging it would be, if he had to keep recasting the point me, so that he could keep a lumos going so they could see the path. 

Laura was taking note of the surroundings, noticing small clues that showed someone small had passed through recently at a quick pace. 

Occasional words or a few sentences would break the silence, but they mostly just kept quiet as they slowly followed where magic and Hector’s wand was directing them. 

They had been walking for fifteen minutes, when Laura slowed down to a pause. They had reached the edge of a small clearing. Seeing his cousin stop, he called quietly to the kids which brought them back a little. 

Lila went to ask something, but Laura slowly raised her hand asking her without words to wait a minute. She moved her head to look slightly away from the main path exiting the clearing, turning her ear towards whatever it was she was hearing. 

Cooper seeing this action turned away from his mom to look back the way they had been walking. It was starting to get darker, so he turned on his flashlight. Darting the beam of light across the space, he couldn’t see or hear anything. He glanced back to Hector’s hand where the wand was pointing directly across the clearing at the path. 

Just when he was about to break the silence and ask what his mom had heard, there was a rustle of leaves and a branch breaking.

All of their heads immediately turned in the direction of the sound. 

Hector felt a tug on his magic, “he’s closer,” he murmured quietly. 

***

“So, Bertie, do you live in the woods?” Harry asked, still walking a couple of meters behind his guide through the trees. 

“No. Not normally,” Bertie replied, his voice hard, not very friendly. But Harry was beginning to understand it wasn’t his fault, that was just who Bertie was.

“Where d’you normally live then?” Harry followed up, stepping onto a large root before jumping down the other side. 

Bertie looked around at the sound of his landing, Harry just smiled back at him, getting a small lip twitch for his effort.

“So?” Harry prompted after Bertie just continued walking without answering his question.

“A… in a bunker,” Bertie replied after a moment’s thought. 

“What’s a bunker?” Harry asked, before begin silenced by Bertie who took a big step towards him, turning to look at him with one finger placed against his lips.

Harry fell silent, trying to work out what Bertie was stopping for. They were meant to be going back to the farmhouse, not stopping to have a picnic. 

Bertie sent a fiercer glare his way when he went to ask a question, which caused Harry to recoil a step. In response Bertie shook his head a little before sending an apologetic look his way.

“This is where I leave you, kid,” Bertie said quietly moving to crouch in front of Harry so that they were at eye level. 

“What? But, you were gonna take me home,” Harry said shocked. Bertie said he would help, not leave him lost in the woods. 

“Your family is through there, kid. They’ve come looking for you,” Bertie said as kindly as he could when his tone was a bit stilted and cold, pointing behind himself.

“Oh, r-r-really?” Harry asked shocked, just then a circle of light appeared a little further down the path. “They came for me,” Harry murmured shocked. 

“See you around, kid,” Bertie said standing to leave. 

“Wait,” Harry said reaching for him, “will I see you again?” 

“Who knows,” Bertie responded, just before gasping a little when Harry’s hand made contact with his own. A new, stronger but similar warmth than the one he had felt before flashed through him, he needed to go now. He took one final look at the kid who had been his mission, then he disappeared into the growing darkness. 

“Bye, Bertie,” Harry called stumbling back a step as the man suddenly vanished. Maybe he was magical too. Harry turned to go towards the circle of light he had seen when he stepped on a branch and froze. 

~ ~ ~

“HARRY!” Lila yelled when the younger boy slowly emerged on the other side of the clearing. 

The loud exclamation caused Harry to pause for a second before he was suddenly running towards their small group at full pelt. 

Laura stepped to the front of the group, pulling Harry into a tight hug. “I’m so grateful, you’re okay, Harry. I love you, don’t ever do that again, alright?” She said, easily going from relieved to caring to admonishing without relinquishing the tight hug. 

Harry was nodding against her shoulder, she could feel his tears landing on her neck. She just rocked gently back and forth, cherishing the moment of relief, knowing he was safe and back where he was meant to be. 

After a minute or two their small hug was disturbed as first one, then another slightly larger pair of arms wrapped around them both. 

“I’m sorry, Harry. I’m so sorry, I shouted at you and Lila. I didn’t mean it, I swear, I don’t hate you,” Cooper babbled tightening his hold as much as possible on the younger boy, as the stress, guilt, and worry he had been feeling finally drained out of him seeing Harry safe.

“R-realy? You don’t hate me anymore?” Harry questioned barely louder than a whisper, lifting his head as much as he could to try and see Cooper’s face. 

“I never hated you, Harry. I was… I was just angry that the helicopter got broken,” Cooper said, quick to reassure his young brother. 

“Can you forgive me?” Cooper asked, looking away before looking directly at Harry. 

“Yeah. I forgive you,” Harry mumbled, lowering his head back down letting loose a wide yawn. “Love you too,” he added quietly. 

“Alright, let’s head back home,” Laura said after another few minutes of group hug which even Hector joined at the end. “We still need to have dinner,” she added. 

She slowly stood back up with Harry still held in her arms, his head resting against her shoulder.

“I’ll apparate these two back, then come back for you and the little guy,” Hector said, holding a hand out to each of the older kids. 

“Thank you, Hector,” Laura said, her tone showing her gratitude.

When they vanished with a pop, Laura looked down to Harry whose eyes were drooping and asked gently, “how did you find your way back, Harry?” 

“Bertie helped me,” Harry responded around a yawn.

“Bertie?” Laura asked confused. 

“Uhhuh, he’s my friend,” Harry added, jumping a little as Hector returned with a pop. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” Hector said, holding out his arm. 

Laura gave a nod and after an uncomfortable squeeze through a too tight tube they were returned home, standing at the back of the farmhouse. 

Laura took a deep breath to settle her stomach, rubbing a hand up and down Harry’s back to sooth him. “Thanks, Hector. Do you want to stay for dinner?” Laura asked looking to her cousin who had been such a blessing. 

“Sure, why not? I’ve got to meet this new adventuring munchkin,” he said with a relaxed grin, reaching to ruffle Harry’s hair. 

Harry began to squirm to be put down, feeling a lot more awake after being apparated.

“We’ll speak about this more later, Harry,” she called after him as he quickly ran towards the house. He paused at her words, looking back to them with a nod before running inside. 

As she was making dinner an alarm from her phone went off, it hit Laura then that she needed to send a text to Hope making her aware of the situation. She had set the alarm so if they hadn’t found Harry in forty minutes she would contact WCPS and then follow their lead. 

She knew Hope would have to pop by sometime soon to check in with Harry, the family, and make sure this was still the correct placement for him. 

~ ~ ~

The dinner that followed had been lively and like any other previous night they had. Hector brought a new vibrant dynamic to the mix, he spoke to the kids about his job. He was studying magizoology with a minor in herbology and was currently working at the Florida State Magical Creature Reserve as he wanted to specialise in aquatic creatures and plants. 

All the kids were asking lots of questions, slipping back into their normal rhythms with each other. Harry had had a few moments of pause with Cooper but it was gradually returning to their normal bond. 

Laura was soaking in the joy and happiness, feeling relieved that everything had turned out well. She loved all three of her children and couldn’t imagine life without them all. If everything went well with Hope's visit, she would have to speak with Clint. 

***

Hope appeared behind the farmhouse with a small popping noise. Before she had taken more than five steps towards the back door it was swinging open with Laura stood on the threshold. 

“Hope, thank you for coming,” Laura said with a gentle smile on her face.

Hope paused en route as a new feeling swept over her as if examining her and determining her intentions. 

“Have you had new wards added?” Hope asked after feeling the magic finish its sweep of her. 

“New wards?” Laura said at the odd question.

“That’s a no then,” Hope said more to herself than Laura. 

“No, nothing added since the last ward update and renewal,” Laura confirmed, looking to the witch for more information.

“Well, I think a new ward has appeared in your set. I have just been tested for my intentions and threat level,” Hope explained calmly, politely giving Laura time to process her shock at this information.

“Harry? Could he do that?” Laura asked, directing a questioning look at Hope. It would have taken a lot of magic to set up a ward, could he have even done it unintentionally? He hadn’t seem really tired at any point recently and the amount of magic it would require was not insignificant. Though it was a good indication that the ward was still there after the recent adventure in the woods.

“Occam’s razor would suggest so,” Hope replied thoughtfully. 

“What’s Occam’s razor?” Cooper asked from where he was stood at the backdoor watching the women talk. 

His simple question pulled the women out of their thoughts and got them walking towards the house. 

“Occam’s razor,” Hope began to answer, “is the principle that the simplest answer is the one we should give preference to.”

“Can I get you a drink, Hope?” Laura offered while Cooper slowly processed and worked through this new explanation. 

“Just a glass of water for me, please,” Hope replied turning away from Cooper to face Laura. 

“So… there is a new ward and… and because Harry is magic, he must have put up the ward,” Cooper said with a questioning lilt to his words. 

“Exactly, well thought through, Cooper,” Laura said. Her words brought a proud smile to Cooper’s face. 

“Cool,” Cooper murmured quietly, still wearing a bright grin. 

Laura and Hope spent a few minutes talking before Harry appeared in the kitchen asking for a snack. 

"Of course, love. Would you like an apple or a banana?" Laura offered. 

"Banana please," Harry responded before spotting Hope, "hello Hope," he greeted with a smile.

"Hello, Harry. Can I have a quick chat with you?" Hope asked, slowly getting out of her seat. 

"Sure," Harry responded, thanking Laura when she gave him a banana. 

"Outside or in your room?" Hope asked. 

"Uhh, outside," Harry replied, heading to the front door. 

"Alright, then," Hope agreed following her charge's lead wanting him to be comfortable for their talk. 

Chapter Text

Harry had led Hope out of the house and across towards the barn where there were a few square hay bails, he plonked himself down on one of them. 

He had been a little nervous about what Hope wanted to talk to him about but he was quickly reassured. She had just wanted to check in with him, speak about what had happened, why he had run into the woods, and if he was still happy staying with the Bartons. 

The final question received a resounding “yes, Hope,” from the young boy.

The rest of the conversation had been very similar to the one he had had with Laura two days before. After that chat he had to sit in time out for five minutes because he had broken the rules. But he felt happier when Laura had reassured him that he was forgiven and he could go and play with the others if he wanted. 

After that Hope asked a few more questions about how he was liking school and other things like that. “If you want to stay and have nothing else you need to tell me,” Hope said standing up and pausing giving Harry time to interject, he only nodded in response to the first part of her statement. “Well, then, I only need to chat with Laura and I’ll see you again at our next check-in.” 

“Okay, thank you, Hope,” Harry says before running back towards the house leaving the social worker to walk at a lot calmer and slower pace towards the house. 

Harry was already absorbed into a game with Lila in the front room by the time Hope made it to the house. She paused to watch their interactions for a few minutes then she headed back into the kitchen to get any additional details she needed from Laura. Details both on the incident and how Harry was doing more generally in his day-to-day life. 

*** 

Benita was exhausted when she returned to her desk at one of the regional branches of MACUSA. She had been on site of one of the big potion research and development companies. The company, P,L&T, were establishing a new brewing and production plant which required a hugely complex nexus of wards for not just the site, but the individual areas within the site. All of which then had to be tied into subnexuses and attached to the main site nexus. To say it had been exhausting would in reality be a massive understatement. 

Benita was beyond exhausted, but she had also loved every minute of it. The complex arithmancy calculations to confirm the wards would hold and having to go over all the runic arrays to ensure that the wardstone would not be overpowered. It was months of work coming to fruition and it was extremely satisfying, or it would be when she woke up tomorrow after a very well deserved rest. 

First she had to confirm completion of the project, but she would wait until the following day to complete the full report and all the final paperwork. It was as she was rising from her seat that she spotted the small pile of notes in her in-tray. They could wait until tomorrow. She wasn’t doing anymore work tonight, it would be dangerous and ward inspection was much easier in daylight hours. 

The next day when she returned to her desk, she felt refreshed and jubilant. The P,L&T project had been successfully completed and she could move on to her next challenge, taking her one step closer to the Ward Master qualification she was pushing herself to achieve as quickly as possible.

She had the paperwork to complete which was actually not too boring but was far from her favourite part of the job. Form WNC-241-5B, Benita’s nemesis, or as it was more commonly referred to the completion of project form, was a finicky piece of paperwork that many times felt more challenging than doing the wards themselves. Why MACUSA felt the need to have such overly complicated forms and paperwork was beyond her. But needs must as without it being completed the project could be deemed invalid and in that case an order would be issued to have the ward nexuses deconstructed. 

Putting off the Form of Doom for a while longer she removed the memos from her in-tray and cast a spell to sort them into priority order. Some still ended in an ‘other’ pile as the senders hadn’t labelled them with a priority ranking, but it saved her some time. There were no category one memos thankfully. Though there was a category two.

Once she glanced it over, Benita realised the urgency was due to it being connected to the WCPS. Anything linked to wards with children under WCPS care was automatically ranked at the second highest priority. MACUSA took their children’s safety very seriously. So seriously that even the warders and ward inspectors were under secrecy oaths and were kept in the dark about even the smallest piece of personal information about the child or children unless absolutely necessary. 

Hope Anderson was requesting a ward inspection for a WCPS placement home that had had a new ward added. The ward was currently believed to be the work of accidental magic. The ward was not posing a threat or reacting negatively with the main nexus, as far as Hope could tell. But action was required and requested as quickly as possible to confirm these facts. 

Benita sent a return memo to Hope informing her she could make time that afternoon to examine the wards if she was available to accompany her. 

She received a return confirmation not even ten minutes later. With the bulk of her urgent requests done. Benita tried to ready herself for the inevitable brain ache that the Form of Doom was about to inflict upon her.

~ ~ ~

Hope stood outside the front of the farmhouse with Benita, the wards expert who occasionally works with the WCPS when there were cases in her area. Benita has her dark brown hair tied back in a messy knot, her hazel eyes looking up into the space in front of her face. Her wand is held loosely in her left hand, not currently needed but ready in case it should be. 

The two women had taken a quick tour around the outside of the farmhouse whilst Benita was performing the ward evaluation and diagnosis. She was happy with the strength and skill with which the ward nexus had been weaved. Though the main nexus was not what she had been called to examine. 

“It’s interesting. I can see the main nexus is tied to the magic of an adult outside the main home. But like you stated there’s a newly stabilised ward attached to the youngest member of the household.”

“Right. Did they create it?” Hope asked Benita who was still seemingly gazing off into the distance, but was in fact reviewing the findings of his ward diagnostic. 

“Umm…” Benita contemplated her answer, making a hand gesture as if rotating something invisible in midair. “No, no they didn’t, it’s just tied to them.” 

“How does that work?” Hope questioned with an uncertain tone, not sure how she should be reacting to this information. 

“When it was first cast it was tied to them, it’s a mobile ward. Complicated and finicky magic, they are,” Benita murmured more to herself than to Hope.

“Okay, and how is that possible? I thought wards were tied to buildings or objects,” Hope questioned, intrigued by this new magic she knew little about. 

“Most wards are tied to buildings with a small strand connected to the caster. This one protects the chosen child predominantly and once settled it begins to expand to protect their home,” Lucinda responded, her attention turning more towards Hope than the ward nexus.

“That’s really neat,” Hope says with an appreciative head nod. She wondered if it would be possible to have a similar ward attached to each of her charges. 

“Wards are a fascinating magic,” Benita agreed, sending a pleased smile towards her companion. Other wixen tended to see wards only as a tool or a means to an end, not as the complex and impressive magic that should be appreciated. 

“So, what else can you tell me about the ward, Benita?” Hope asked, having already jotted down a few notes that the ward expert had shared during the initial reading of the diagnostic. 

“Well, it’s a modified blood ward,” Benita responded as if that answered anything. “Centred around the youngest household member. It’s already covering the house and expanded out to the edge of the trees. It is comfortably settled and healthy, growing stronger each day.”

Before Hope could respond to this new influx of information, Benita’s eyes widened as she murmured, “Love of my love. Heart of my heart. Blood of my blood.”

“Alright, what does that mean, Bee?” Hope queried looking askance at the beaming smile on the ward expert’s face. 

“The caster changed the hierarchy of the ward's requirements,” Benita murmured, her tone impressed, “it’s modified from the ancient blood magic to a new love-blood hybrid… maybe the caster didn’t have a lot of… close blood ties or blood relatives and... and so decided to protect the child through love.”

“Smart decision. Blood doesn’t mean love after all,” Hope quietly added, having seen some of the best and worst of humanity in her job. Family love was strong, but it wasn’t always blood family that children could rely on. Sometimes it was chosen family. Love is love, no matter the blood.

“Exactly,” Benita agreed, not really processing the undertone of sadness in Hope’s voice, too caught up in the impressive ward before her. “Love is the new central aspect, when the child feels love and is loved, when they are a true part of the beating heart of the home, the wards begin to settle. It’s incredible, the blood aspect is now merely to tie it to the child without any outside obligation of blood relation or barrier to non-blood relatives.” 

“So, the ward is... it's tied exclusively to the youngest’s blood and it’s the love felt for the child and by the child that has allowed the ward to attach itself to the home and its occupants.”

“Yes, yes, exactly so. It’s an incredible piece of magic. I’m not a hundred percent sure of the time required, but I would estimate after another three or so months the ward will be entirely anchored to the house,” Benita expanded, after carefully consulting the ward nexus that was invisible to all but her.

“So, that’s it then once it's anchored. It would remain here, unable to move if the child did?” Hope asked, wanting confirmation of how she understood that last piece of information. The answer could change any future actions on her part in regards to Harry’s placement. 

“Hmmm, that’s more complicated. This is only my speculation, I would want to do further research before giving a definitive answer, but I think the magic would be flexible enough that if it began to lose strength and stability then it would be willing and able to move with the child. However if it remained at full strength and was ‘happy’ then it may be unable to be transferred,” Benita carefully developed her thoughts. 

"What if the family moved houses?" Hope questioned, feeling torn by the answer. It was positive but could also potentially be problematic.

"This is just my speculation, Hope," Benita warned before continuing, "I think it should then still follow the family that has become the child's home rather than sticking to the literal home."  

“Right, okay, good to know,” Hope responded distractedly as she took careful notes of everything Benita had said. “The strength and stability of the ward is reflective of the love and safety of the home.”

“In a basic sense, yes. It may still wobble with sibling disputes and anger during the beginning phase of settling. But once its fully established, yes, neglect, abuse, or mistreatment would be needed for the condition of the ward to deteriorate.” 

Hope nodded along underlining this information several times on the page in her notebook. If Harry remained happy and healthy in this home then the ward would reflect that. She had no concerns about the Bartons, but it was good to have another outside way to confirm the home as still safe. 

*** 

Bucky. His name was Bucky.

Such a simple thought, but it offered a great deal of reassurance. He finally knew who he was. James Buchanan Barnes, oldest of four with three younger sisters. Best friend to Steve, the blond haired, blue eyed punk. 

The warmth that had been triggered and came from Harry touching his arm had been like a flood. It was a flood of warmth against the dam that had been built in his mind, keeping the memories and truth of who he was away from his searching conscious. 

The warmth, or magic as he now remembered it to be, had overcome whatever mind manipulation and brainwashing had separated his old personality and memories from the weapon he had become as the asset.

He felt like he remembered almost everything he should. But there were still gaps in his memory. He could remember his childhood, or at least the most important events and parts of it. He remembered meeting the scrawny blond kid who was being beaten up for defending somebody else. He had felt the instinct flare that before he had only ever felt when his sisters were being taunted.

Bucky could now remember what had happened to him that led to him becoming the Winter Soldier. He had fallen from the train, down, down, down, into the snowy ravine. Collected by Hydra. He didn't die or freeze because them and in return he had his memories, his sense of self, and his life stolen from him.

Before that he could now recall having joined the war efforts to help defeat the Nazis. His sisters had been proud but terrified what would happen to him for enlisting, war had already been waging for two years in Europe with no end in sight. He was leaving them and an unfit for service Steve behind in Brooklyn. At the beginning it had been exciting, the women flocking around him, then once overseas it quickly became horrifying. Rounds of bullets, the craters from exploded bombs, fellow soldiers being killed left and right. 

Bucky shook his head to try and clear the negative thoughts and terrifying images that the path of his memories had taken. Find the positives, he told himself, shaking his head again more violently. 

Steve. Becca. Tilda. Lottie. His parents. The Howling Commandos. His families by blood and by choice.

He thought of Steve, his best friend for as long as he could remember. Small, passionate, stupidly stubborn. He spent more time injured and ill than not. Steve had often been fighting for his life, or against injustice. Why would the war be any different? 

He was too small, he'd always still packed a punch. He was too unwell, he'd never let that keep him down for long. He was physically unfit, well his passion, charisma, and knowledge would make up for it. Or so Steve would argue whenever Bucky had tried to talk sense into him. 

Then, Steve had become Captain America. More than just his pal from Brooklyn, his leader and mission commander. 'Til the train. He could feel the bitting wind and cold as it seeped into his skin, then his bones, then his soul. 

After that, the memories were blurred and filled with pain. Not only his own, but that which he had inflicted. Some memories and events stood out starkly. Others were faded and unclear as if being viewed from underwater. 

There were moments of warmth that he could remember from the foggy years, as he was referring to the time he spent during the mind takeover. He would sneak into the nearest town to find out the exact date so he could find out how much time he had lost. 

He didn’t look that much older than when he’d fallen from the train. But from his journey out here, he knew so much had changed. But he did not understand how. Anyhow, he knew he would be staying here a while at least to ensure Harry was really safe. 

*** 

Harry was really excited to get home. He had a very important piece of paper to deliver to Laura. It was a permission slip for an upcoming school trip. His class was going to visit an American Indian tribal reservation. 

It was going to tie in with their classes in the lead up to Thanksgiving. He wasn’t completely sure what Thanksgiving was, but they would get a holiday from school which was cool and all the other kids were really excited for it.

He was on the school bus, Layla and Jude were sat in front of him. All three of them were happily talking about the school day. The news about the trip had only been told to them at the end of the day, when Ms. Rodwell stressed the importance of giving their parents or guardians the permission slip. 

The whole bus ride was a whirlwind of excitable chatter. Harry moved to sit beside Layla when Jude got off. They both waved to him from the window as the bus began pulling away. 

When it was Harry’s turn to get off he said goodbye and waved, before standing with Lila and Cooper to see where Laura had parked the car waiting for them. Once the car had been pointed out to him, he sprinted towards it. 

The car ride back to the farmhouse was filled with stories from how their days had been. Harry was barely able to wait his turn to share the exciting news he had.  

~ ~ ~

It didn’t take them long until they were pulling up outside the house. 

Harry quickly hopped out, unable to sit still any more. He slammed the car door shut behind him before running towards the front door.

“When will Dad be home?” Lila asked, directing the question at Laura as she got out of the car more calmly than Harry.

“Much sooner than you think,” Laura responded ambiguously, locking the car once all the doors had been shut.

Cooper had rounded the car from the front seat to listen to the conversation.

“What does that mean?” Cooper asked, looking questioningly at their mother who just smiled benignly at them both, continuing to walk towards the house.

“Mommy,” Lila whined at the lack of real answer. 

“Patience, Lila,” was the simple response she received.  

All of their attention was drawn away from the conversation when Harry gasped and the happily shouted “CLINT!”

“DAD,” Cooper and Lila exclaimed in unison, both breaking into a run towards the porch where Harry was currently wrapped around Clint’s legs.

“Cooper, Lila,” Clint greeted with a bright smile, pulling them into a tight group hug. None of the children noticed in their excitement how he moved his left arm more stiffly than normal.

“I missed you,” Harry mumbled, tightening his grip. 

“I missed all of you too. So much, bud,” Clint replied, ruffling Harry’s hair gently with his right hand that was still wrapped around Cooper in a hug.

“I missed you too, love,” Laura said once she made it to the porch, she placed a quick kiss on Clint’s lips before wrapping her arms gently around her family. 

Lila began to wiggle in their grasp, ready to be released from the group hug. 

“Homework first, Lila,” Laura said before Lila could run off. 

“But mommy,” Lila whined, turning around to face the hug that was breaking apart as the rest of the family separated. 

“If you get it done now, then your whole weekend is free for you to enjoy,” Laura reminded as she did almost every week. 

“Fine,” Lila said with a grumpy sigh. She knew it was smart to get her homework done but there were so many fun things she could be doing instead. 

Cooper gave Clint one more squeeze before heading through to the kitchen to get a drink and begin working on his own homework.

“Come on, buddy, let’s get inside,” Clint said, gently stroking a hand through Harry’s hair. The younger boy was still wrapped around his legs, he was enjoying Clint being home, he had really missed him. It had been so long since Clint left.

Harry’s previous excitement began to return when Clint asked, “so what did you do at school today?”

~ ~ ~

When they had first come through to the kitchen, it had taken a little while for everyone to settle down. Lila had had to run to her room to get some things, so she was up and out of her seat a number of times. Harry was bouncing around trying to find the very important piece of paper in his backpack. It was a little crumpled when he found it, so had laid it on the table and was using his hands to try and flatten it back out. Cooper quickly got his homework and pencil case out of his bag and set up on the table, but then he wanted a snack. Clint had been assisting with getting snacks for anyone wanting them before calmly going through some exercises with his left arm. 

“What’s that?” Harry asked getting down from his chair, the permission slip held lightly in both hands.

“What’s what?” Cooper asked looking to Harry, having finally gathered and arranged everything he needed.

“That thing,” Harry said pointing at Clint who had finished his exercises. 

“Oh,” Cooper said, looking to his dad and pausing at the sight before him, “What d’you do, Dad?” He asked sounding nervous.

Lila walked back in and stopped a couple steps into the kitchen surprised at the sling cradling her dad’s left arm.

“It’s a sling, bud,” Clint answered Harry before responding to Cooper, “It’s alright, Coop. I dislocated my shoulder but it’s all better now,” he reassured. 

“Why d’you need a sling?” Harry asked, staring at the sling, he thought it looked kind of fun.

“What’s a dislocated shoulder?” Cooper asked a beat after Harry, their questions overlapping a little.

“It helps to support my arm while it’s healing,” Clint explained.

“It means the shoulder joint, so where the arm connects into the body, came out of the socket,” Laura explained using her hands to demonstrate. Her left hand forming a 'C' shape as the socket which cupped around the fist of her right hand. She slowly pulled the fist down away from the other cupped hand as she explained the dislocation. 

“Does it hurt?” Harry asked quietly, not wanting Clint to be in pain. 

“Not anymore, buddy. It’s only a bit sore now,” Clint said with a gentle smile, feeling touched by Harry’s concern. “I just need to keep doing the exercises and resting it and It’ll be good as new.”

“That’s good. No pain’s good,” Harry said after carefully scrutinising Clint’s face. Then he looked down and the excitement returned as he remembered what he was holding. 

“Look, look,” Harry said tone coloured by excitement as his focus completely shifted away from Clint’s injured shoulder. 

“What’s this for, Harry?” Laura asked reaching out to take the paper being waved enthusiastically in front of them. 

“School trip,” he said continuing to bounce, though he relinquished his hold on the paper when Laura’s hand took hold of it. 

“Oh, the field trip to visit the Sioux’s tribal land,” Laura murmured to herself as she read the information provided. 

“The one they do every year for the Kindergarten class?” Cooper asked.

“Seems like it,” Laura agreed distractedly.

“You went to visit them?” Harry asked spinning round to look at the older boy. 

“Yes, they do it every year, Harry. To teach us about different ways people live and the Sioux culture,” Cooper responded.

“Culture,” Harry repeated the word sounding familiar to him, “is that why Miles got told off by Ms. Rodwell for going ‘wha, wha, wha, wha,’ and slapping his hand to his mouth?”

“Yes. What did Ms. Rodwell say exactly?” Laura cut in before Cooper could respond. 

“That Miles was being mean. It was culture insensey-tit to… um to do that,” Harry answered, acting out the gesture he meant.

“Culturally insensitive,” Laura corrected, speaking over Clint’s surprised chuckle at Harry’s mispronunciation. 

“Yeah, that. ‘Cos American Indians aren’t… really like that, Ms. Rodwell said. They do some things, um, some things not- not like us, but we should be nice, nice to them and not be mean,” Harry said. 

“That’s right. They do things differently and we should respect their culture, and who they are. We wouldn’t want people to be mean to us for how we did things, would we?”

Harry shook his head quickly, “nuh-uh. ’s not nice,” he agreed. 

“It’s why we learn about them so we can be nice and understand them better,” Clint added, having restrained his amusement. He added his own words knowing this was an important conversation to have all together. 

“Okay. So, can I go?” Harry asked excitedly, bouncing from one foot to the other. Watching Clint and Laura as they reread the piece of paper which held the permission slip and information about the trip. 

“Yes, bud, you can go,” Clint agreed, sharing a nod with Laura as he reached for a pen to fill in the necessary information and sign the permission slip, thankfully he was right-handed. 

“Yessssss,” Harry cheered, jumping up and down in excitement. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He repeated, running up to hug Clint’s leg tightly, receiving a light laugh and hair ruffle. Then Harry hurried across to Laura to give her a hug as well. 

"Alright, back to your homework, Harry," Laura said with a smile at how Harry was, quickly guiding him back to the table. Offering some help to Cooper as he asked a question.

Chapter Text

Clint was reading the information that had been delivered by the owl. He was still unused to mail delivered by birds but he was impressed with their speed especially given the distances they had to travel. He assumed there was some sort of magic related to the birds’ abilities to deliver despite the weather and at a comparative speed to the mailman. 

The owl had delivered a more in-depth report on the ward nexus and the new ward that Hope said had appeared around their home. The report confirmed what Hope had spoken about after the ward inspector, Benita, had analysed their unknown new ward. The ward was not a creation of Harry’s accidental magic, as was the initial theory, it was a ward cast on him for his protection. Benita had identified the origin of the ward as being cast by Harry’s birth mother, Lily. 

Benita’s detailed report explained how unique the ward was, Lily had adapted an ancient blood ward to her own needs and desires. She offered Harry one of the best protections Benita had ever seen, Lily had made it so if her son, the heart of her heart was loved and cared for as he, and all children, deserve to be then the family whether blood related or not would also be protected. Lily had given her love for her son a physical presence, her magic and love lived on despite her death. Her love transcended death, all her love and magic had needed to work was reciprocal love for her son. 

Reading the report and understanding the meaning and message behind the fact the ward was strengthening daily around their house and land was incredible. It had brought a tear, really a several tears, to his eye. To know that them caring and loving Harry could offer him an even greater protection, an extra level beyond that of the support and guidance they normally had to offer also came with a bit of relief. 

They loved Harry and he in turn loved them, and those feelings gave them all some strong protection.

“You okay, Clint?” Laura asked coming up behind her husband where he was leaning against the kitchen counter, she wrapped herself around him carefully, making sure not to jostle his injured shoulder. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, Love,” he replied taking a short breath, reaching up a quick hand to brush a couple of tears from his face. 

Laura gave him a gentle squeeze, both a question and a reassurance, she didn’t miss the way he wiped tears from his face. She knew he would talk to her in his own time if it was something really serious that he wasn’t ready to share yet. 

“It’s nothing bad, Love. I was just caught by surprise, you know. The report on the wards arrived,” he said in explanation. He felt the small bit of tension drain from Laura, she reached up to gently cup his face before placing a soft kiss on his cheek and then another on his lips. 

“I love you,” she said with a quiet strength and dedication, looking him straight in the eye. Clint smiled gently back at her before returning the sentiment with equal love and starting a deeper kiss in response. 

“Ewwww,” came Lila’s exclamation of disgust as she entered the kitchen to see them kissing. 

“Can we help you, Lila?” Laura asked with a smile on her lips as she pulled away from her husband but not without placing another quick peck on his lips. 

“Can I have a drink?” the younger asked, moving closer to the counters. 

“Of course, but only a glass of water because it’s close to bedtime,” Laura responded, retrieving a light green plastic cup from one of the cupboards and filling it about half full with water. 

“Thank you,” Lila said, taking a big gulp of the water before spinning on her heel and heading back into the living room. 

“Careful, Lila,” Clint admonished as the water almost splashed over the side of her cup. 

“Sorry,” Lila responded in a way that was more habit than actual sincere apology. 

“A wild child, your daughter is wild,” Laura teasingly commented to Clint. 

“Yes, funny how she’s always only my daughter when she’s wild,” Clint returned, his own eyes glinting in amusement and a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. 

“Very strange that,” Laura replied not missing a beat in the conversation. 

“Yes, very strange,” Clint dryly retorted, “you should read the report, Love,” he said pushing the sheets of parchment across the counter towards her. 

“Yes, yes, the report,” Laura murmured as she picked up the parchment, taking a moment to admire the beauty of the calligraphy before her full concentration turned to the content’s of the report. 

Their love and acceptance of Harry as vital to their family was clearly written on the page in beautifully formed black ink. Their feelings and home were his too. His birth mother not only gave her life to protect him but gave her forethought, her likely very extensive research and her magic to keep their newest son safe. She not only ensured her only son’s safety without her continued presence, but she granted protection to the chosen family of his heart. Lily Potter may not have been able to offer her child the childhood he deserved by remaining alive with him, but she was willing to fight and adapt ancient magic to safeguard his future and those most important to him. 

Laura leant into her husband, accepting and savouring his warmth and affection. She sniffled as she thought on the depth and strength of emotions Lily Potter must have felt. The same emotions echoed within her own being for her family. Tears pooled in her eyes, gratitude to the woman who had birthed and protected her youngest son until he found his way to their family. A young woman lost from the world too young, who despite her youth was not naïve to the dangers of the world.

Love of my love. Heart of my heart. Blood of my blood.

They may not be his birth parents but they would continue to protect and care for Harry because he was their son. Born to them or not, he was their child and always would be. At these thoughts everyone within the radius of the blood wards felt a surge of warmth, a sense of home and a feeling of love flow through them. There for one second gone the next, the wards were growing ever stronger and even more stable.

~ ~ ~

As they were tucking Harry into bed that night, they told him about the blood ward that was continually developing around their home.

“Your mommy and daddy loved you so much, Harry,” Laura said as she passed a hand through the strands of Harry’s hair in a calming caress. 

“Really?” Harry asked a little uncertainly, he had never heard anything positive about his parents before.

“Really really,” Laura promised, not stopping her soothing hand motions. “Your mommy loved you so much that she used her magic, magic just like yours, to protect you.” 

“Wow,” Harry murmured awe colouring his tone, after a moment a thought sprung to his mind, “that’s a lot of love?” He asked tentatively. 

“Lots and lots of love, sweetheart,” Laura replied with a gentle smile. 

“This much love,” Harry asked holding his hands about his chest’s width apart. 

“An even bigger amount of love than that Harry,” Laura replied, her gentle smile growing into a grin. 

“Whow… this much love?” Harry questioned in growing joy, holding his arms out at their maximum span. 

“Even more love than that Harry, more than this much,” Laura said holding her own arms out as wide as she could.

“That’s a lotta lotta love,” Harry murmured in shock, lowering himself back down on to his pillows. 

“It is, sweetheart. They had more love for you than their bodies could hold, so your mom used some of the extra love she had to protect you,” Laura explained, trying to simplify the complex ward into a way Harry could understand it. 

“Then… then why’d she die?” He asked quietly, hiccoughing as the tears began to take over. “Why’d she leave me? If- if she loved me so much?” He questioned turning large tearful eyes towards Laura’s gaze. 

“Oh, sweetheart. She didn’t want to leave you, never ever. But she didn’t have a choice, if she did, if they both did, they would both still be here loving you more and more each day,” she said, pulling Harry into a tight hug, rubbing a smoothing hand up and down his small shaking back. “She might not be alive with us, but your mommy’s love is here with you, protecting you and our family and our home. She loved you so much that her love still protects you and your new family who love you just as much as they did. We love you so much, sweetheart,” Laura said, not stopping her reassuring actions or words until Harry’s tears stopped and his breathing returned to normal. 

“You love me?” Harry asked several minutes after his tears had stopped, leaning back slightly to look up through his lashes at Laura. 

“I love you, and Clint loves you, and Cooper loves you, and Lila loves you,” Laura said seriously placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head, waiting for Harry to read the sincerity and get the reassurance he needed. 

“Wow, love you too,” he responded, burrowing deeper into her hug.

“We love you so much that it is bigger than our home, Harry. You are a part of our family, never ever forget that, sweetheart. You are so loved, not just by us but by your other mommy and daddy too. So many people love you, Harry, I promise,” she reasserted. Savouring the hug with her youngest son. 

“We all love you, Harry,” Clint said coming up behind them to join the hug. Before Harry had time to process that the hug had grown. 

“Love you, baby brother,” Lila added at a louder volume before tackle hugging them all. 

“Love you, Harry,” Cooper added, joining the hug with a more considerate force than Lila. After about two minutes, Cooper added a quietly teasing, “I love you, maybe a little bit more than Lila.”

“HEY! That's rude,” Lila shrieked in outrage, “well, I love Harry more than you too!” She added sticking her tongue out at Cooper.

“Thank you, love you all too,” Harry responded quietly, his eyes lids starting to droop even though Lila and Cooper began to squabble, in not so quiet tones, over who loved Harry more. 

***

Harry was really excited there was still two days until his school trip to visit the American Indians. He felt like his skin was buzzing with his excitement.

The morning was quite cold but the sun was shining so it should be getting warmer soon. He was running and bouncing across the garden on his way to collect the chicken eggs. 

Clint had told him to try and get all his bouncing and jumping out before collecting the eggs because otherwise they might bounce out of his basket and smash. 

So, he was acting a bit like a happy lamb would in springtime, skipping and bouncing his steps on his part run part walk across the grass. 

He and Lila had their routine perfected, he gathered the eggs, she kept the chickens away from the hutch and fed them. There were beginning to be fewer eggs now that the days were getting shorter.

But it was still fun to see and speak to his chickies. This morning they would be using the eggs for omelettes, so Harry was happy to help in whatever way he could.

~ ~ ~

Harry and Lila were lying on opposite ends of the sofa watching a cartoon on the television. 

Cooper was curled up on one of the armchairs, he had the remote control grasped in his hand curled to his chest. He knew that letting go of it could mean losing control over the show and channel and that was a risk he was unwilling to take. 

It was a lazy Saturday morning, they had had their omelettes for breakfast and were currently chilling out. Laura and Clint were cleaning up in the kitchen, they had the doors open so they could see and hear what was going on in the living room. 

Lila stretched out crossing the line separating the two sides of the sofa. 

“Lila, you’re on my side,” Harry said, catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, still mostly focused on the tv. 

“So?” Lila challenged, not making any movement to remove her feet from Harry’s side. 

“Please move your feet,” Harry asked nicely, drawing his eyes from the screen as the show went to the advertisements. 

As the adverts started Cooper jumped up to rush to the bathroom, he had to hurry otherwise he would miss part of the show when it came back from the ads. 

Lila retreated a little as Harry stretched out to try and occupy more of the space on his side so she couldn’t. As Harry shuffled around without getting up, his feet came to rest on the dividing line. 

Lila lined their feet up, placing her left foot against Harry’s right and her right against his left. “Three… two… one,” she counted down. 

Harry just watched her actions a bit confused, when Lila reached one she began pushing her legs out. She quickly gained ground before Harry began fighting back, pushing against her feet with all his might. He soon had his left leg up against his chest as it was the weaker of the two. His focus shifted to his right leg where he hadn’t immediately folded. 

The two of them were squiggling around on the sofa, trying to gain the upper hand, or upper foot. Harry’s left leg remained pinned but he gave it an experimental squirm trying to get a little wiggle room and fight back. Lila’s focus shifted with the unexpected move giving Harry a chance to use the pinned grip. He lifted slightly off the sofa putting extra force behind his right leg pushing, slowly he began to get Lila’s left leg closer to her chest. 

“Go, Harry!” Cooper cheered quietly, causing both of the younger two to lose concentration for a moment. 

“Traitor!” Lila exclaimed indignantly at her older brother siding with Harry. 

Harry capitalised on the moments of Lila’s distraction with her outraged shout as her strength weakened for a moment allowing him to get her left leg further from him and get his left leg a couple of inches from his chest. 

Though Lila's attention was refocused with these movements and Harry’s leg soon returned to the bent and pinned position against his chest. 

“What on earth are you two doing?” Clint asked from the archway separating the living room from the kitchen. 

“Foot wrestling,” Lila responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Clint’s interruption had momentarily shocked both of the foot wrestlers and it meant Harry lost a little ground with his right leg before he doubled down on his effort.

“Of course, silly of me not to have recognised that,” Clint responded dryly. 

“Really, Dad, imagine not knowing about foot wrestling,” Cooper inputted with a cheeky smile. 

Their banter was interrupted as Harry made a triumphant noise, he had managed to pin Lila’s leg, then his foot slipped off of her foot releasing the pinned limb. 

“Hey, put your leg back,” Harry said, as Lila tried to gain more ground whilst Harry’s leg was not pinning hers. "Put it back." 

Harry quickly righted himself placing his right foot back against her left and forcing her leg back into its tightly tucked up position. 

“Just be careful, you two,” he advised calmly, keeping an eye on the match. It was quite entertaining, though he could see how it might go wrong if they weren’t careful. 

~ ~ ~

"The kids are foot wrestling," Clint said as he returned to the kitchen. 

"Of course they are," Laura responded tone resigned, looking towards the ceiling in exasperation. 

"They've done it before?" Clint asked in bafflement.

"Yes," came Laura's somewhat terse response, "Cooper almost got kicked in the groin, and Lila got a glancing blow to the head, Harry has so far avoided injury but not from a lack of participation."

"Right, good to know. DO you want me to stop them?" Clint asked, hugging his wife. 

"No, they know the risks and I've told them to be more careful, they'll just continue doing it anyway," Laura added, shaking her head lightly in exasperation. 

***

“Have you done your teeth?” Laura asked, doing the final checks before leaving the house to drop them to the bus stop. She looked from one to the other at the three children in front of her. 

Harry was bouncing about in excitement. It was the day of his school trip, it was a great day, it was so exciting, he could hardly stand still. 

“Yes, mom,” Cooper and Lila replied. Harry nodded looking anywhere but at Laura.

“Harry?” Laura questioned at his lack of response. 

He glanced quickly up at her before answering honestly, “no,” he mumbled quietly.

“Go brush your teeth, Harry. I know your excited but you need to clean your teeth before we leave,” Laura reprimanded sternly but kindly, gently guiding Harry to the bottom of the stairs. 

“But... but... we’re gonna be late and I’ll- I’ll miss my trip,” Harry argued, looking beseechingly up at Laura. 

“You won’t miss your trip, Harry. They’ll wait for you, but we can’t get you on the bus until you’ve cleaned your teeth. Off you go, we’ll wait in the car so we can go immediately once you're done, alright?” Laura asked, squatting down to be closer to Harry’s eye level. 

“Alright,” Harry mumbled sadly, moving up the stairs at speed.

“The full two minutes, Harry. Use the timer,” Laura called after him, before ushering the other two out the door. “Go get in the car,” she said. 

Just over three minutes later Harry rushed back down the stairs, a smear of toothpaste on his lip. He slowed his pace when he spotted Clint at the bottom of the staircase.

“Enjoy your field trip, Harry,” Clint said, “I can’t wait to hear all about it later.” 

Harry threw himself at Clint for a quick hug before pulling back to race to the car. They might be late, he needed to hurry. 

“Love you, see you later,” Clint called as Harry pulled the door shut behind him.

“Love you too,” Harry responded, not looking back or pausing in his run to the car. The car door was already open and he could see everyone else was already waiting for him. 

“Go, go, go, go, go,” Harry murmured as he scrambled into the car. 

“Seatbelt first, Harry,” Laura instructed looking at him In the rearview mirror.

“Urgh,” Harry grumbled, hands quickly reaching to grasp and click the seatbelt into place. “Done, can we go now? Please,” he quickly tagged on. 

“To the bus,” Cooper said in a dramatic tone, one arm raised pointing up and out the of the windscreen.

“Onwards, my noble stead,” Lila added not to be left out of the excitement. 

“It is indeed an honour to have the knights of the oval table, using my carriage, sir drivesalot, for part of your quest,” Laura said in an equally serious and dramatic tone, playing her role, a smile forming on her lips as all the kids laughed together. 

“Giddy up, car,” Harry exclaimed through his giggles. 

***

It had taken a long time to get to the tribal lands, all his classmates were as excited as Harry was. It was their first field trip ever. They had done a few singalongs while they were driving and he had played I Spy with Laila and Jude. They’d seen cows and a yellow car and a really weird-looking tree. It was a fun drive, Harry wondered if the school trips he had missed in reception were as much fun as this was.

They were finally at the Sioux lands, and it was going to be fun. 

Some of the houses were round with domed roofs which was a surprise to all of the kids because it was so different to their own homes. Others were rectangular and more similar to their own homes.

Their class was being guided around by a pair of young Sioux people, Adriel and Enola. In their class Ms. Rodwell had taught them about the traditional clothes that American Indians wore, but both Adriel and Enola were just wearing normal clothes. They didn’t have any feathery hats or headdresses.

When Samantha asked about their normal clothes Enola explained that they still had and wore some traditional clothing that were brightly coloured and closer to the types of clothes they would have seen in class and movies. Adriel added that the people living on the tribal lands sourced their own material to make the clothes and create the dyes which were all homemade. 

There were a few more questions that the children had, then the tour began of some of the tribal land and buildings. They got to go into two of the domed houses, one that had been kept like a museum to show what equipment and how the room would have been set up in the past. Then the class were also shown how the tribe had adapted their traditional buildings into modern homes. They also got to see inside a teepee which were mainly used for camping and hunting trips as Adriel informed them.  

At lunch time the class were allowed to sit around the empty fire pit and were offered the chance to try some of the traditional foods. A few dishes made for either everyday eating or those for celebrations. Harry tried a small amount of some of the choices and he liked most of them. He didn't try the ones that he thought looked icky... too much green.

It was also during the lunch break that the class were taught about Siouan beliefs about everything being connected. The sun and the moon, plants and animals and people, the stars and the earth. They were told to try and feel the connections, to close their eyes and feel the warmth of the sun, the blowing of the wind, the chirping of the birds. The Great Spirit had made them all, connected them all. 

In the session after lunch the class was broken up into small groups to rotate around a few different activities. They were taught how to say a few words in one of the languages used by the Sioux people, as well as a few words in the Sioux sign language. 

The class got to learn a little about some of the tribe’s history, these people were descended from warriors who had to fight to protect their way of life and traditions. Harry had been most excited for the third activity his group was doing, they got to help make some of the dyes that were used for colouring clothing and jewellery.

Jude and Naomi both ended up accidentally getting splashed with the dye, Naomi only got it on both her hands and her chin, but Jude ended up with stain on the sleeve of his jumper.

The final activity of the field trip was done as the class came back together. The class got to meet the chief of the local Sioux tribe, he explained a different version of the Thanksgiving story which was from the Indian perspective. 

Harry thought it was a fun story. Apparently, this tribe wasn’t connected to the people who had been at the original Thanksgiving. It was a different tribe who had their own language, culture and traditions. The chief explained that the tribes were all different, some only had small differences and others were really different. Like different countries in the world, lots of the people look the same and live in similar ways but they were still different nationalities. 

Harry thought the school trip was super cool. He got to have fun with his friends, he learnt more about Thanksgiving and the Sioux people. He was also quite tired by the time the bus made it back to school, it had been a busy day. He tried new food, sung songs, felt the connections, and made dye, he still had some on his hands and smudge on his face to prove it. 

~ ~ ~

The Sioux people, as with many of the other tribes of American Indians, had magic practitioners. Their style of magical use was different to the wand waving wixen of MACUSA, it allowed those with smaller and almost empty magical cores to be able to participate in magic. Some of the tribal wixen still attended one of the magical schools located across the American continent though it was not always the case. There were regular exchanges and collaboration between the tribal magic users and MACUSA wixen, they came up with exciting new ideas and theories for ways to perform magic and challenge existing beliefs. 

Compared with the no-maj system, there was a greater separation between these two magical communities. Namely that each magical tribe had their own sovereignty and was considered a separate country from MACUSA, however there were still ties and alliances built across the centuries. These alliances and peace agreements were respected and maintained, where the relationships on the no-maj side had been fraught with betrayal and war. 

Through these interactions with non-tribal children that visited from across the state, the tribes could contact MACUSA and inform them of any magical children they became aware of. It helped to ease transition for the magical children into the new society if they and there family were told before the start of their schooling. It also meant the children were unknowingly exposed to another way of using and practicing magic which often helped them to learn in a more open way in the future. 

Chapter Text

The Sioux chief sent a message to his regular contact based at the MACUSA branch in Chicago. He informed them that during the school visits they had received since the start of the school year that they had found another four magical children. 

The chief included the names of the children if they had been told them and if not just the schools they had come to visit with, leaving the rest of the investigation for more details up to the relevant authorities. 

The Sioux people normally saw the children they discovered as magical again before they reached full-time magical education age. Though it depended on how far away the families lived to whether or not they were frequent visitors. To make it easier on the families that lived greater distances away if the child or children were interested in the American Indian style of magic wielding they would contact other tribes that were closer to home for the families to visit. 

Before the choice magical children faced at the age of eleven, most had interacted with the magical world. A large number of wixen children will have experienced some informal magical education and culture through contact with tribal communities before choosing their school. This interaction was part of cooperation and education programs run in concert by the tribes and MACUSA to allow all magical kids the opportunity to see the different approaches to magic. 

Keeping in contact and working with the more centralised power that MACUSA wields helps to protect all wixen from any breaks of the statute of secrecy. The chief as was his norm chose to send a letter when he had a handful of students to make the magical congress aware of, he only changed this approach if he felt immediate intervention was needed for the child's protection. 

As it was approaching the thanksgiving break and no more school groups would be visiting again until after the chief sent the letter via magical pigeon. 

This choice of pigeon as a mail carrier was more common for communication to and from tribes due to the different belief systems they hold on what owls represent. It became normal procedure to use pigeons after an incident occurred in 1917, everything was up in the air because the no-maj had just entered the world war, a constant stream of communication was arriving, debates were raging on whether they should become involved, and new policies were being introduced left, right, and centre. 

Due to their workload one intern, Bobby Klein, had accidentally sent a message with an owl to a Cherokee chief. Normally such an action wouldn’t result in any problems arising. However because the owl arrived during the day many among the tribe feared their chief would die because within their tribe owls were believed to be harbingers of death. To avoid any future scares or misunderstandings it was decided magical pigeons would be their delivery birds of choice when contacting any tribal communities. The pigeons also helped to blend in better with the birds being trained for military correspondence.

~ ~ ~

Jayden Taylor had been expecting a new list of magical children from several chiefs since the beginning of the week. Jayden had recently been promoted so they could now work alone on the investigation of whether they had a record of the children already. If they did not have a record of them a visit would be organised to introduce them to the magical community.

Once Jayden had read the list and areas the children came from they consulted the lists of magical households in those areas and who, if they were mixed no-maj and magical households, was registered as a magic user. It was often an easy investigation with the child living as part of a registered fully magical home in which case no further effort was required on their part.

The more challenging and interesting cases were newly discovered no-maj born or the WCPS or CPS placed wixen children who may not be living in registered magical homes but might already be aware of their magic. This appeared to be the case for two children on the list, no registered magical home though one child was just the name of the school the young girl attended so finding her would be a longer process. Once Jayden had found her name he could come back to cross-reference the list of magical households. Her case would be a fun one.

The other child was a young boy named Harry no surname was given, though there were no houses registered magical homes on their lists in Harry's school area, which meant the next step was to speak with WCPS because sometimes children were housed in no-maj relatives homes or with those in the know about magic. 

Jayden sent a request for confirmation of status for any children housed in the area whilst they began the deeper research required into the magical girl who the Sioux tribe had identified. First, Jayden would have to get a class photo and list of the students in the class and from there the puzzle would slowly be pieced together. 

***

“Can I go see Bertie?” Harry asked nervously, looking down as one of his sock-clad feet rubbed back and forth across the dining room floor in an arc shape.

“Do you want someone to come with you?” Laura asked, leaving the letter she had been reading on the table in front of her, full attention given to Harry. 

“Uhh, I dunno,” Harry replied, looking up at her quickly before looking away again.

“Well, Clint or I can come with you, or you could ask Cooper or Lila if you want one of them want to accompany you,” Laura suggested.

“Okay, but I- I can go and see Bertie?” Harry double checked.

“Yes, Love, you can go and see Bertie,” Laura confirmed with a smile. 

“Great,” Harry cheered before shooting out of the room to get his shoes on. 

“Be back before dinner, Harry,” Laura called after him.

“Okay,” he shouted back before the front door closed behind him.

“Who’s Bertie?” Clint asked coming back through to the kitchen from the pantry. 

“Harry’s friend. The man living in the woods, brought Harry back after he ran off. He’s ex-military, well trained, appears protective of Harry. I’ve hardly seen him just caught glimpses, I think his left arm’s a prosthetic or enhanced in some way,” Laura informed him. 

“There’s been a man living in our woods and you didn’t think to mention it?” Clint asked, deep shock colouring his tone. 

Laura’s eyes widen and her face pales at his comment as the thing that she knew she’d been unable to remember for the past few days finally slotted into place. 

“I'm so sorry, Clint, it completely slipped my mind and when I spotted him after we knew about the new ward, I figured he was safe enough. I honestly thought I'd told you, sorry. And the wards wouldn’t have let him remain and remain largely unnoticed if he was a threat to us, or Harry in particular,” Laura explained apologetically, getting out of her seat to stand in front of Clint. 

“Alright,” Clint said taking a moment to absorb this new information, “it’s alright, Lau,” he soothed as he cupped her face looking into her eyes and seeing her worry at keeping the information from him, he leaned forward resting their foreheads together. “I agree, Lily Potter’s ward would have stopped him if he was a potential danger to our boy. How’d you know he’s ex-military?” He asked as he leaned forward to kiss first her cheek, then her lips.

“Good,” she said breathing out a small breath, pleased Clint wasn’t angry she had failed to remember to share such important information, “it’s just an assumption, but he has successfully remained hidden from us for a long while and what little I’ve seen of him, his movements suggest some kind of training. Those mixed together implies military training,” she explained her thought process.

“Bertie, a man living in the woods, another protector for Harry,” Clint said, slowly leaning back from Laura and giving himself a gentle shake. A strange occurrence but not stranger than magic. 

~ ~ ~

Harry only had to go a short way into the woods before he found Bertie, or really before Bertie found him. 

“Hey, scamp. What you doin’?” Bertie asked, from where he stood further down the path leaning against a large tree.

“Bertie!” Harry greeted with enthusiasm bounding a few steps closer to the man. A large smile blooming across his lips, “hi,” he added with a small wave when he came to a stop.

“Bucky,” Bertie interrupted, a twitch of lips at the boy's joyful greeting. 

“What?” Harry asked head tilted to the side in confusion. 

“I remembered my name. It’s Bucky, not Bertie,” Bucky corrected smoothly. 

“Bucky?” Harry repeated as if trying the name out, he scrunched his eyes up looking at the man he thought of as Bertie. “Bucky,” he said again slowly, he paused then continued, “okay.” 

“Okay,” Bucky repeated, quietly pleased at the easy acceptance, sometimes little kids were the best. 

“What’s a Bucky?” Harry asked, looking up at the man in interest. 

“What’s a Bucky?” The man repeated under his breath, looking to the sky as if asking 'why him' before continuing to murmur to himself, “this, this is your fault, Steve.” Then more loudly in answer to the inquisitive boy across from him, “it’s my nickname, Bucky, it's short for Buchanan.”

“Buchanan… cannon... cannons are cool,” Harry said, completely shifting the conversation Bucky's name already forgotten, “put in the cannonball and then… ptchew,” he shoved his hands out in a gesture as to how the ball would be shot from the cannon.

“Yeah, cannons are cool,” Bucky agreed with a little laugh at Harry’s sudden excitement over the new topic. 

“Pirates have cannons and they... and they fire them at other pirates,” Harry said, repeating himself in his hurry and elation to talk about cannons. 

“They do, do they?” Bucky asked. 

“Uh huh,” Harry agreed, head nodding so quickly Bucky was surprised he didn’t hurt himself. “They sail on big ships called galleons, like the coin, they have a lotta pirate friends and parrots ohhh ohhh they also have a flag called Jolly Roger. Why’s it called Roger?” Harry rambled, looking questioningly up at Bucky for an answer. 

It took Bucky a moment to process all the information that Harry had just thrown at him, “the Jolly Roger… well, I’m- I- I dunno, scamp,” Bucky admitted after a contemplating the fact for a minute. 

“Do you think Roger spoke to people like the magic flag does?” Harry asked over his shoulder while he was looking at some of the sticks on the ground around him. 

“Probably not, Roger was only a skull and crossbones, no tongue so he probably couldn’t talk much,” Bucky responded with an amused lilt to his voice, he had forgotten how entertaining little kids were. 

“Huh, maybe it’s the stars that make the magic flag magic, or all the people talking to it. Maybe Roger was lonely because pirates had parrots to speak to,” Harry pondered aloud, letting his thoughts flow out into words, “ahah,” he exclaimed finding a big stick to swing through the air as a sword. He pointed it towards Bucky in challenge, who only raised an eyebrow at the move. 

“Prepare to fight,” Harry said, trying to make his voice sound like a pirate would.

“Really?” Bucky asked, looking questioningly at the kid, before slowly adding in his own pirate voice “you want to challenge me, Silver Arm to a duel?” 

“Yup,” Harry agreed swishing his stick back and forth. 

“Alright, en garde,” Bucky said quickly finding and raising his own stick in return. 

“On guard for what?” Harry asked in confusion, letting the point of his stick drop slightly. 

“To fight to the death, me hearty,” Bucky returned, taking a step closer to Harry arm outstretched with his stick-sword at the ready. “Keep the point of your sword pointing up, scamp,” he gently advised. 

“Ahar,” Harry exclaimed with a bright grin before swinging his long stick with little thought. Bucky parried and brought his stick to clash with Harry’s, before doing a small lunge to get closer to Harry’s chest with the end of his stick. 

Harry quickly jumped a couple of steps away before squinting his eyes and moving one set closer, his stick swinging through the air, left and right. 

“You will lose, Black Hair,” Bucky taunted, twisting his wrist to bring his stick around Harry’s stabbing towards the boy. 

“Nuhuh,” Harry disagreed, having to bring his stick up quickly to block the jab just in time. Their battle continued back and forth with Bucky subtly teaching Harry a little about fighting with swords.

Their swords clashed into each other a few more times, Harry had to pause at one point when a bit of bark flew from his stick. Once he was sure the sword was stable the fighting continued. The young boy slowly but surely began to use the little tips he was being shown and taught so he was eventually able to win by ‘stabbing’ Bucky in the chest. 

“Oh no, I’m dying, how will my parrot Polly survive without me,” Bucky questioned dramatically, grabbing his chest where he had been hit by Harry. He gradually lowered himself to the ground as he succumbed to his injury.

“Ha ha, I beated you, Silver Arm. Now where’s your treasure?” He asked, jumping around in his joy at the win.

“Yes, you beat me, but I’ll never tell where my treasure is buried,” Bucky continued, before closing his eyes and flopping on the ground ‘dead’. 

***

Harry had been enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday so far. They had a few days off school and Harry had been able to have relax and play all day.

Cooper and Lila had promised that Thanksgiving would be fun, they said the food was always very nice and they got to see family.

Aunt Nat and Uncle Phil were coming for Thanksgiving day but would be arriving after bedtime, so the kids would see them in the morning. 

Clint’s shoulder was getting better but he hadn’t been back to work in the field yet, so there had been a few more training weekends than normal since he was injured. All of the kids had been progressing really well according to Clint. Harry was quick to learn the new skills.

Harry and Lila had been taught some more gymnastics skills during training and Lila was very excited to show Aunt Nat the new skills she had perfected. Lila had told Harry that Aunt Nat used to be a ballerina and a gymnast, so she had expert super skills.

Harry was also a bit nervous about the holiday because they were also going to visit Laura’s sister who was having a large family gathering on the weekend. He would be meeting Cooper and Lila’s cousins, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Dudley was his cousin and he was very mean. But everyone had told him the Barton cousins were nice so he would wait and see.

Thanksgiving was a lot like Christmas or what he had heard about Christmas in books the teacher read to the class and seen in films shown at school last year.

The thanksgiving dinner lived up to expectations because it was really tasty, there were a lot of new dishes that Harry got to choose from to try. There were also a number of different pies to try for dessert, he even got to help baking them. Uncle Phil had also let him help make a few of the side dishes that he was in charge of cooking. 

Once the cooking was finished they all sat around the table together and ate the food. The table was filled with chatter as Aunt Nat and Uncle Phil shared some of their stories from work. The kids contributed some of their funny stories from school and Harry shared about his trip to visit the American Indians again. 

When the meal was over Harry saw that there was quite a lot of food left over, he gently tugged on Laura’s shirt and asked, “Can I take some food to Bucky?” 

“Bertie?” Laura asked a little distractedly as Phil was talking about some new protocol SHIELD had introduced while Clint had been on medical leave. 

“No, Bucky. He remembered his name, ’s not Bertie, ’s Bucky,” Harry said also a little distracted as Cooper and Lila were laughing about something with Aunt Nat in the other room. 

“Yes, okay, we can do that. It’s very kind of you to think of him, Harry. What food do you want to take to Bucky?” She asked bringing her full focus to her youngest. 

“Uh, some of the turkey, and some from the side dishes maybe,” Harry said, looking beseechingly up at her. Surprised and pleased Laura was agreeing, the Dursleys never let him have more food, or enough food, they would never give any away to other people. 

“Alright, love, let’s get some food chosen for Bucky,” she said, going to the cupboard to find a container to put some food in. 

“Bucky?” Phil asked having caught the end of the conversation. 

“Harry’s friend,” Laura answered. Pointing to some of the side dishes with a serving spoon for Harry to decide what to include in the box. 

“He lives in the woods,” Clint added to Phil, when Laura’s attention returned to Harry’s choices. 

“Yes, the green beans,” Harry nodded, he had really like the green beans, they were so tasty. He hoped Bucky would like them too.

“You let someone live in your woods?” Phil asked, eyebrow raised in askance. 

“The wards let him remain and Harry likes him,” Clint responded as if that were the only explanation needed. “Come on, bud, I’ll take you to drop the food off,” he added when Harry was satisfied with the box of food. 

“Thank you,” Harry said cheerfully, hugging first Laura and then Clint, a bright grin shining on his face. 

***

It was the following day, it had mostly been spent relaxing and playing games together. The kids had been kept inside as the adults had been doing something out in the front yard for most of the afternoon. Harry had just gone upstairs and was getting himself ready for bed when the sound of the front door being violently thrown open reverberated through the house. 

He paused in his actions, his heart beginning to pick up its pace as fear and adrenaline pumped through his body. 

The speed of his heartbeat picked up another notch as the lights went out a couple of seconds behind the door slamming open. 

“It’s okay… it’s okay,” he mumbled to himself, trying to keep his breathing under control. He heard footsteps spreading out from the door but nothing coming up the stairs.

He slowly put his toothbrush back into the holder, listening carefully to the sounds around him. There had been no sounds since the footsteps as the lights had gone down. 

He slowly made his way out of the bathroom and into the open landing space at the top of the stairs, he kept to the back of the space edging around towards the corridor leading down to his room. He moved silently on his tiptoes, hardly daring to breathe, moving carefully but with as much speed as he could. 

He paused every few steps just to listen, a floorboard creaking downstairs had caused him to freeze but when no further noises came he continued on his path. 

Quiet footsteps from towards the bottom of the stairs had him hurrying the rest of the way to his bedroom. Once he reached his room, he looked around quickly before deciding it would be best to hide under his bed. He pushed his door closed behind him with a bit too much force. 

It wasn’t a loud noise but in the still silence of the house it might as well have been a slam. Footsteps headed down the corridor towards him.

Harry’s breathing began to pick up as he huddled under his bed, there was only a discarded pair of shorts, a single red thought-to-be-lost sock, and his old backpack under there with him. 

As he curled up into the smallest ball he could, Harry’s thoughts went to the other members of his family. Were Cooper and Lila still safe?  

“They’ll be okay, they’ll be okay, they’ve got to be okay,” he repeated quietly to himself. 

He silenced himself and quieted his breathing, his head twitching towards the wall beside him thinking he heard a noise from Cooper’s room. A really soft thump as if a hoodie had been dropped on the floor. 

His attention was brought back to his own situation as the small sliver of light shining into his room got bigger as the door was silently and gradually pushed open.

Harry held his breath. He didn’t dare to move even a tiny bit, just like when Uncle Vernon got really really mad. Stay silent and out of sight. 

He could make out the outline of a person shadowed on the floor of his bedroom. The shadow grew closer taking a step into his room and Harry began to wonder if he would be able to squeeze into his backpack to hide better. 

The figure seemed to freeze as if hearing something elsewhere in the house. They appeared to be doing another quick search, Harry thought he might have been turned to stone as he saw the shadow begin to crouch down. He couldn’t make a sound, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t give his position away. 

They got closer to the edge of the bed and Harry was rooted to the spot, he couldn’t be found, he just couldn’t. Then the large hand was there lifting up the edge of his duvet before a face looked under the bed. 

Harry could only stare straight at them, frozen. But the face looked to left and then to right, twice their gaze swept under the bed. 

“Damn, I was sure he’d be here,” the invading figure cursed quietly to themselves. Before they slowly and stealthily withdrew from the room with one final glance at their surroundings. 

When the door was pulled ajar behind the retreating figure, Harry let out a slow breath. He had made it, his magic had protected him, now he just had to get out to the barn to win. 

Magic had stopped Uncle Phil from seeing him, he just had to make it out and down the fire escape and across the front yard.

As he began to shuffle out from under his bed a scream pierced the silence that had been hanging over the farmhouse. “No, Aunt Nat,” came Lila’s indignant follow-up to the scream, then the required five second pause happened before a chair was scraping across the floor and quick footsteps sounded in the house. 

Harry decided Lila might be making a mad dash for the barn. He needed to move now, Clint and Laura had said they would need two of them to make it across the yard when they explained the rules of their upcoming surprise training activity. Being less careful about the noise he was making he hurried out of his room, glancing left and right at his door, there was no one in the corridor, so he rushed to open the window and get out onto the fire escape.   

“NO!” Lila shouted from somewhere out the front of the house. “Cooper, Harry, help me!” Came the bellowed order, any hopes for a quiet, undiscovered victory were gone. 

Harry was down the stairs and running around the front of the house only a couple of minutes later, his heart pounding at what he would find. 

Cooper came up behind him having come from the back of the house, placing a gentle hand on Harry’s shoulder causing the younger boy to jump. “You okay, Harry?”

Once Harry had swallowed his shocked shout, he nodded, “yeah, Uncle Phil almost got me,” Harry replied with a nod. 

“Well done for avoiding him, he’s extra sneaky,” Cooper said keeping his voice down despite how Lila had been shouting so the adults most likely knew exactly where they were. “He caught me earlier,” Cooper added showing the red wristband he had wrapped around his left sleeve. 

“So how do we make it to the barn?” Harry asked, looking across the front yard. There were a few straw and hay bales laid out in odd places. A number of barrels were also scattered around creating barriers and one on its side with a huge plank across it like a monster seesaw. 

“It’s normally like an obstacle course, but easier with two people working together,” Cooper explained carefully looking at the objects, “last year Mom and Dad were hidden and shot water balloons and foam balls at us, so we should be careful.” 

Harry looked around the yard, the lights in the house were still out but there was light on in the barn and the moon was already shining in the sky so they could still clearly see. He could not spot either Clint or Laura hiding anywhere but he trusted Cooper.

“Can you see Lila?” Harry whispered nervously, trying to stand still but he wanted to move.

Cooper looked across the yard but some of the obstacles blocked his view, he even raised himself up on the tips of his toes but it didn’t really help, “no, I don’t see her,” he reported to Harry, “come on, let’s start and maybe we’ll find her on the way.” 

It took them about twenty minutes to make their way through the front yard, they found Lila caught under a small trap that she would have avoided if she waited for help. All of them were hit with a couple of water balloons and a few foam balls but they eventually made it to the barn, where they collapsed into the ground exhausted but smiling.  

"Well done, kids. You all did great," Clint said a pleased and proud smile on his face, seeing how Harry was almost asleep in the ground he reached down to pick the little boy up, adjusting slightly for his still sore arm. "Time for bed now, I think," he added, gently cradling Harry to his chest.

***

“Master Healer Goldgrinder,” Junior Healer Zhang called, “I think I’ve found the answer,” breathing more heavily than normal having rushed from the office they had been looking through old medical texts in. 

“Zhang,” the goblin healer acknowledged, “what answer have you found?” 

“The black magic in the scar tissue, Master Healer,” receiving a nod of understanding from the goblin and a hand gesture to continue, “I think it’s the remnants of a horcrux. An unstable and very small soul shard at that.”

This piece of information brought the goblin to an immediate stop. Zhang had to quickly sidestep to avoid running into the smaller being. 

“A horcrux,” the Master Healer said, their normal stony tone somehow reaching new depths of stoniness.

“Contact Healer Capaldi immediately,” the goblin ordered beginning to walk again. “We need to create a plan to remove the remaining sliver. The patient need to be brought back in for another follow-up as soon as they're able.” 

“Yes, Master Healer,” Zhang complied, quickly turning on their heel and returning to the office so an urgent message could be sent to the healers at MACUSA. 

Chapter Text

Clint was trying to process everything he had seen as they were walking back from accompanying Harry into the woods to drop off the food to Bucky. 

Harry had called out to the woods at large hoping to let his friend know they had food for him but he received no visible response. Clint eventually persuaded Harry to leave the box with food because maybe Bucky was too shy to show himself. 

Bucky hadn’t come out to meet them, not that Clint had honestly expected him to, but Bucky had definitely been close by. Clint had caught a glimpse of the metallic prosthetic arm that Laura had told him about during her description of the man. The metal had glinted off of their flashlight, he also caught a smudge of red on the upper arm. 

The man, Bucky, moved swiftly, it would have been impossible for an untrained civilian to track. Based on the height he had spotted the metal arm at Clint felt comfortable making a rough estimate as to Bucky’s height. His metal picture of the man was forming nicely as he also had the description Harry had given of his friend to go off of; brown hair and blue eyes. 

The metal arm with a large red marker of some kind, Harry’s description of his basic features, pairing that with the man’s graceful movements sparked a memory in Clint’s mind. He began to connect all these pieces of information together which led him to the stories he had overheard of the Winter Soldier. Could the man living in their woods be the Winter Soldier? Was the soldier actually more than just a myth or nightmare?

He would bounce the ideas off of Nat, Laura, and Phil. Though Phil may be a little wrapped up at the moment in telling the kids more about Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Uncle Phil was known for taking any opportunity to speak to his niece and nephews about the Howling Commandoes, trying to recruit more enthusiasts, or as anyone but Phil would call them ‘fanatics’, to his fan club. 

***

Healer Capaldi was pleased to have heard from Master Healer Goldgrinder. They finally had more information on the magic that had ensnared itself in young mister Potter’s scar. He and his team had been researching on and off trying to find the solution whilst also working on their other cases. It was only when Mediwitch Osan mentioned reaching out to an old colleague for assistance that their researching began to make tangible progress. 

Master Healer Goldgrinder was renown for his prowess with black and dark magic healing, using experimental and often thought to be long-forgotten rituals now used mainly by the goblins. The fact that it was his team who were able to identify and diagnose the correct type of magic is both a relief and a new cause of stress. 

Young mister Potter would need to be called in as soon as possible to ensure the blackest of magic hadn’t had any adverse effects since the last check in just over a month ago. There were no signs for concern at that time, but as they had a world leading healer’s expertise at their disposal it made sense to deal with the potential problem before it had the chance to become more of one.

~ ~ ~

The meeting between the Gringotts healers and the MACUSA medical team was quickly arranged and had been scheduled for the following day.

The Gringotts team had forwarded their information which Healer Capaldi forwarded to the M-lab for them to apply the additional information to their findings and their knowledge base should they ever come across a similar magic again. 

Mediwitch Osan and Healer Capaldi both had a set of questions they were hoping to ask the mixed team of goblin and wixen healers from Gringotts. They were hoping the team who had identified the magic had experience with a similar case so that they could help Harry Potter recover and remove the final piece of black magic simply.

M-lab sent a finalised report which contained a lot more information and advice now that the type of magic had been identified. This report arrived ten minutes before the scheduled meeting so the MACUSA healers were just flicking through it as the Gringotts team arrived. 

When the doors to the meeting room opened, Mediwitch Osan and Healer Capaldi stood up to greet their fellow healers. 

“Afternoon, Healer Capaldi,” Master Healer Goldgrinder greeted, before acknowledging the other member in the team with a nod of their head as was customary for goblins. “This is Junior healer Zhang, they are the one who correctly identified the remnant of the horcrux,” the goblin continued with a head tilt to their colleague. 

“Thank you for your help, Master Healer Goldgrinder, Junior Healer Zhang,” Healer Capaldi said, returning the nod of greeting to the Master Healer and held out a hand for Zhang to shake. “This is my colleague Mediwitch Osan, she was the first person to identify and work with the patient.” 

Once the greetings were finished, the four of them settled into seats on either side of the rectangular table. There was a tray with a jug of water and four glasses set at the left head of the table.

“Here are a copies of the information our M-lab compiled,” Mediwitch Osan added, floating the two spare copies of the report across to them.   

“Thank you,” Junior Healer Zhang replied before beginning to flip through the information. The four of them sat and read through the report before turning quickly to discussion. 

“This piece of information is incorrect, normally horcruxes are only found in inanimate objects. I know and understand the basis for this belief but with a living horcrux it is completely untrue. There are too many additional variables when treating a living being that a method using this information is wrong, we were brought in to help in a case a little over three years ago where they had tried to use this approach. It was almost fatal for the patient,” the Master Healer pointed out, urgency in their tone. Such mistakes could not be made nor could the inaccuracy be allowed to stand without being rectified, lives could be at stake.

Mediwitch Osan and Healer Capaldi were both taking careful notes as the goblin went into further information on how this method would need to be changed for an approach tackling the treatment of any kind of magical being. They would ensure the information was passed on to the relevant areas so a similar mistake would never be made in the future. 

The meeting continued as they began to build a plan for the extraction of the horcrux splinter, though they would require up-to-date scans of Harry for the plan to modified and tweaked for the best results. From the meeting the MACUSA healers were able to learn a great deal of new information and possible methods of treatment for similar types of interactions with this type of magic. 

It was decided early on in the meeting that the Gringotts team would take point on the ritual for the final healing of Harry Potter. Given their experience and deeper understanding and knowledge of the rituals that could be used, it was the most logical and sensible choice. Mediwitch Osan was excited to be able to learn more about this ancient Egyptian ritualistic approach to the healer, which differed a great deal from the M-lab suggested ritual. 

A message was sent to Harry's family asking them to book an appointment so they could perform another ritual to remove the remaining magic from his scar.

***

Bucky had been shocked to be offered a warm meal on Thanksgiving. He had been touched by the gesture, the food had been the best he had eaten in way way too long. Living in the woods was unsurprisingly not conducive to having great meals. This seemingly small gesture had made his protective feelings for Harry grow even stronger. When he acknowledged this fact, it was accompanied by a feeling of warmth running through him, it was almost as if the wards around the property approved of his feelings.   

So it was with this heightened sense of protectiveness that led Bucky to have a moment of panic when he was doing one of his patrols that crossed closest to the farmhouse. The lights had been completely off despite it being only late evening, early night at the most.  

He took a moment to observe the house, if Harry was in danger then he needed a plan. He knew there were more adults in the house than normal seeing as it was the holidays. If those adults had been overwhelmed then he needed to be extremely careful because all of them were well trained and obviously highly skilled. The red headed woman especially, he wasn’t entirely certain, couldn’t place the reason how he knew and was so certain of that fact, but the moment he saw her a bone-deep certainty settled that she could be either a terrible danger or a formidable ally. Fortunately for him, she was the latter. 

All these thoughts quickly passed through his mind as he swiftly travelled around the farmhouse keeping to the cover of the trees. He kept his feelings under control as he was moving for a better view of the driveway. The pickup was still there, meaning lights should be on. However, there was also a weird mess of random objects set out between the house and the barn. Almost like a training obstacle course, he realised taking in how different skills would be challenged with the eclectic mix of barriers.

Seeing this eased the panic out of his mind, not completely as it was still possible someone had broken in to harm Harry and his family. But the likelihood of that being the case was now minimal. 

His quiet observation was interrupted by the front door opening and the Barton parents quietly conversing before heading towards two separate areas of the yard. Their presence and lack of worry immediately reassured him all was well, he decided to remain nearby to see how this would play out. 

When Lila appeared and began to traverse the obstacle course he had to hold back a chuckle on several occasions as well as the want to shout advice and tips at others. 

Overall it was an entertaining evening, watching the kids use their skills and work as a team. They were a lot better trained than he had first judged them to be, he was impressed. They still had areas to improve on but they had a lot of potential to be very talented in self-defence.

***

It was a couple days after the end of the holiday and Clint was in charge of taking Harry to his healer’s appointment. It took him a couple of minutes to feel completely settled in his own body upon their arrival at MACUSA. He held him body as still as possible hoping that the lack of movement would reassure his body of its structural integrity. He quickly glanced around their surroundings as he had been trained to do, there was no threats in their immediate vicinity or his scope of vision so he allowed himself the time to feel better before taking any further actions. 

Portkeys were not his chosen method of transportation, although Harry seemed to have managed it a lot better, maybe they did get better with time. Or your body simply got better used to the horrifying, swirling and tugging sensation of magical travel. 

Harry had landed without issue which he was proud of and only felt a little dizzy so he focused his eyes on one spot off to the side of the arrivals area until the world stopped spinning. He was thankful that it did not take too long this time, maybe portkeys weren't as bad as he thought. 

His attention was then caught by everyone and everything that was going on around them further in the MACUSA building. He stayed close to Clint who was looking paler than normal even though he wanted to approach the railing around the stairs to get a better look at the tropical birds that were flying in colourful circles. 

“Are you ready to go now, bud?” Clint asked Harry once he felt he could move without falling over. He glanced down at the little boy when he did not receive a response, seeing Harry’s attention was elsewhere he turned his own sights beyond the little alcove. “Whow,” he murmured to himself as the surroundings he had previously scanned for any threats processed more thoroughly. Laura and all of the kids had described the MACUSA building and things they had seen there but it was a whole different thing to be told and to actually experience a place filled with magic and magical people.

“This way, Clint,” Harry said decisively once he had moved on from watching the birds and realised the older man was feeling better, “we gotta go to the medical ward. It’s over here.” 

Clint had memorised the route Laura had detailed to him on how to get from the arrival area to the medical ward, so he was happy to let Harry lead the way and then redirect them if necessary. Not that he ended up needing to redirect them as Harry remembered the way perfectly, it took them about five minutes to walk there as they stopped on occasion to observe some feat of magic that was taking place around them. 

~ ~ ~

They arrived in the medical ward and were led by Mediwitch Osan towards the same medical examination room as Harry had been the last few times he visited. 

“How are you today, Harry?” She asked kindly after greetings and introductions to Clint had taken place. 

“I’m okay. How are you?” He asked politely, he was skipping along beside the adults as they walked to the room where they would be meeting the rest of the team for the day’s ritual.

“I’m feeling great, Harry. Have you been sick or hurt at all recently?” She questioned. 

“Nope, I’ve been all good,” Harry replied with a small smile. 

“Fit as a fiddle, this one,” Clint added with a smile of his own, before he reached over to ruffle Harry’s hair. 

“Clint hurted his arm though, it went ‘pop’ outta his shoulder so he had to stay at home to get better,” Harry explained making a popping noise to emphasise his point. 

“A dislocated shoulder? How’s your recovery been going?” Mediwitch Osan asked turning to Clint. 

“It’s been fine. I have been keeping up with the exercises recommended and there’s no stiffness nor very much pain anymore,” Clint responded, stretching and moving his injured arm to show how he had regained his range of movement. 

“That’s great, we can still have a look at it after Harry’s ritual if you’d like?” She offered, “and here we are,” she added guiding them into the room. 

“Alright,” Clint agreed, interested but a bit uncertain about the offer. “But let’s get Harry all sorted first.” 

Once they entered the room both Harry and Clint were confronted with the team of healers, Harry took a step closer to Clint and slipped his hand under the man’s jacket to grab a handful of his shirt. 

“Harry, Clint, this is Master Healer Goldgrinder, Junior Healer Zhang, and Healer Capaldi, who you’ll remember from last time Harry,” Mediwitch Osan said as she did the introductions. 

“Hi,” Harry said quietly from where he was remaining partly hidden behind Clint, though when Clint put a hand on his shoulder he relaxed a little as the warmth and comfort spread through him from that point of contact. 

“Goldgrinder and Zhang are one of the healing teams from Gringotts, the goblin-owned bank, and they have experience with the kind of magic which is in Harry’s scar. They will be leading the procedure to remove what is left over from the last extraction attempt,” Healer Capaldi stated, gesturing Harry and Clint further into the room. 

“If you wouldn’t mind sitting on the exam table, Harry, we have to run a few scans,” Mediwitch Osan directed, Clint followed Harry over and lifted him onto the table. “Okay then, when you’re ready, Harry.”

Harry looked up to Clint for a moment getting a reassuring nod in return, he turned his gaze back to Mediwitch Osan and gave his own nod of confirmation. 

“Here we go,” she said before beginning to cast the main diagnostic spells they needed results from. As normal with each spell Harry could feel the magic travelling down his body and everyone could see the scroll of parchment and quill that appeared and began writing down its findings. Once the spells were done the mediwitch took a step back and created four copies of the results. 

“Now, youngling, I would like to perform a couple of scans on you,” the master healer said approaching the examination table. “All you will need to do is hold this crystal,” they continued. 

“Okay,” Harry said slowly, reaching out a small hand for the green hexagonal prism shaped crystal whose shape looked a bit like a large rock pencil. The green colour started as a jade at one end fading to the lighter tea green at the tip of the pointed side.

“Just hold it closer to your chest, little one,” the goblin coached before the chanting began, initially the sound of the goblin language shocked both Harry and Clint with its deep gravelly sounds. The green crystal began to glow slightly as the magic of the chant called upon its power. Once the chanting was finished and the glow returned to the crystal, the goblin took the crystal back from harry then laid it out on a piece of parchment Zhang had set up. 

“Well done. Now, just the one more,” the goblin directed holding out a smaller crystal that was a mix of blues, purples, and greens. “This one needs to be held against your scar,” the goblin instructed as he passed it over to Harry, who took a few minutes to turn the crystal over and look at the colours. This crystal had a less uniform shape with jagged bits poking out from all over the crystal. 

This time the chanting did not shock anyone in the room, the crystal again began to glow. Its light built quickly before vanishing in a flash. Again it was placed on a piece of preprepared parchment. 

“Thank you, youngling,” the goblin intoned, before going across to examine the written results. 

Harry and Clint were sent to have some food whilst the healing team established any changes they would need to make to their plan for the ritual when taking into account the new information they received from the scans. They returned from getting a snack half an hour later to have the process explained to them. 

Harry would once again be put into a potioned sleep whilst the ritual was conducted, as the remnants from the last horcrux was so small they were hopeful the ritual would be over faster. However, it was likely that the remaining sliver would fight to remain, though one of their positive findings from the scans was that his mother’s protective magic had slowly being pushing the embedded horcrux sliver out much like how a splinter is normally slowly pushed from the skin. 

~ ~ ~

“Sleep well, bud. I’ll be here waiting with you when you wake up, okay, bud,” Clint said, gently stroking Harry’s fringe back from his forehead. The healers were completing the final checks in the ritual chamber and then they would bring Harry the anaesthesia potion. 

As Harry went to answer the door to the exam room opened, Healer Capaldi was there holding the vial in his left hand, “we’re ready for you, Harry. Any final questions?” He asked looking at both the nervous father and the worried son. 

“Not really, any idea how long it’ll take?” Clint asked when Harry just shook his head.

“We're hoping for around two hours, but like surgery sometimes things happen which can speed up or slow down the process. Harry is in good hands no matter how long it takes,” the healer assured, then he handed the vial across to Harry having removed the cork. 

“I’ll see you later,” Harry said before drinking the potion, his nose scrunching up at the taste. He had to take a few gulps before it was all gone. “That’s yucky,” he slurred as the potion began to take effect. 

“Well, it’s drunk now. Love you, son,” Clint said placing a kiss on Harry’s head before he was moved across to the stretcher.

“Love voo too,” Harry said as he finally succumbed to the pull of the potion. 

“We’ll have him back to you before you know it, Mr. Barton,” the healer said as he led the stretcher out of the room and up to the door of the ritual chamber.

“Take care of him,” Clint said looking the healer in the eye. It was his kid they were magic operating on they had better look after him really well.

“We will,” Healer Capaldi promised as he spelled the door shut behind him. 

There were a number of chairs just down the hall from the ritual chamber, Clint took a seat and rested. He sent a text to Laura to update her on what was going on. Then he settled in to wait. He wanted to get up and pace the length of the corridor to release the nervous energy he was feeling but he didn’t. If he could remain still for hours on end during a mission, ac couple of hours at a hospital would be fine, he hoped. 

There was no noise from the ritual chamber, he could hear conversations between other people who worked in the surrounding area. The sound of the workplace were slightly abnormal, there was the normal rustle of papers and sound of writing but then an owl would hoot or a strange word would reach his ears reminding him that this was no regular hospital or workplace. 

It was an hour and a half later when the first sound breached the ritual chamber. It was an ear-splitting scream. Harry, was the immediate thought that entered his mind. Clint was up and banging on the door to the ritual room before he was conscious of making the decision to move.  

The screaming continued for three minutes as he thumped on the door demanding answers seemingly without making any dent or impact, other than making his arms and throat sore. As the screaming stopped he held his breath unsure if that was a good or bad sign, before he could decide and beginning pounding on the door again to reach his child, Junior Healer Zhang exited the room quickly shutting the door behind them. 

“He’s alright, I promise, the splinter put up more of a fight than we had anticipated. But Harry is fine, the remnants of the horcrux has successfully been extracted from his scar. They are just finishing off the ritual, it shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes now,” the healer added as Clint opened his mouth to question them. 

“Okay, thank you,” he said still unnerved at the sound Harry had made, he wouldn’t feel better until he saw his son for himself. 

“Would you like me to look at your arm?” Zhang questioned when Clint made no move to return to his seat or to take any steps away from the door. 

“What?” He asked, his attention still mostly focused on the door in front of him. 

“Your arm, the way you’re holding it suggests it might have been injured,” the junior healer continued, with a nod of their head at the injured limb. 

“Um… alright,” Clint acquiesced.

“Let’s sit down over there and I can do a quick scan,” the healer directed as he gestured towards the seats. 

“Fine,” Clint agreed still keeping his eyes on the door. 

“I’ll cast the diagnostic now,” the healer instructed before the wand was waved in a now familiar pattern. Clint felt a faint tingle of sensation travel along his arm. 

“You’ve tweaked your healing shoulder, Mr. Barton. I can prescribe you a balm that should reduce any stiffness that may occur and another for any aches. Apply the one for stiffness once in the morning and again before bed and the one for aches whenever its aching but no more than thrice a day until you are back to your full range of motion,” the healer instructed, before making a note on their pad. The pad when tapped folded itself into a paper aeroplane and flew off. “The balms will be delivered to Harry’s room when he’s settled.” 

“Thank you,” Clint said, though he quickly moved to stand as the door to the ritual chamber began to open again. This time it was with a stretcher carrying Harry. His scar was standing out bright red against his forehead which looked paler than normal but otherwise nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. 

“Everything went well, Mr. Barton. You’ll be able to take him home later this evening,” Master Healer Goldgrinder informed the anxious father as the stretcher was slowly directed towards the awaiting room. 

“Good, that’s good. Thank you,” Clint said moving forward to hold Harry’s hand as they made their way down the corridor. 

***

Harry and Clint returned home that night by portkey. Clint was carrying Harry who was still very tired and achy from the ritual but otherwise the healers had been happy to discharge him to recover at home after they had explained the potions Harry would need to take for the next week. 

“We’re home,” Clint called as they entered through the backdoor. He slowly sat Harry down into one of the chairs from the dining table so he could eat some dinner. There were a couple of bowls of stew waiting for them. Steam still wafting off of them, there was also a couple of thick slices of buttered homemade bread beside each bowl. 

“Harry!” Came an excited shout from upstairs before two pairs of footsteps thundered down the stairs. The steps slowed halfway at a shout from behind them.

“Don’t run on the stairs,” Laura shouted as she followed the older two down.  

“Are you okay, Harry?” Lila asked moving to sit in the seat beside him, “I got you some strawberry ice cream at the store,” Lila added as Harry took a mouthful of stew. 

"We," Cooper corrected as he waited for Harry’s answer whilst he stood beside their dad who had also started to eat, Cooper looked Harry over trying to spot whether everything had gone well.

“Strawberry? Really?” Harry asked in surprise addressing the more important part of Lila's words, “but you don’t like strawberry ice cream, Lila.”

“Yeah, but you really like it so I got you some,” Lila responded as if it that made everything obvious.

"We got you some," Cooper corrected again. 

“Wow, thank you,” Harry said a big smile taking over his lips as that fact settled in. Lila chose ice cream she didn’t like just because he liked it. No one had done that for him before. 

“How d’you feel, Harry?” Cooper repeated the question. 

“I’m okay,” Harry said, taking another slurp of stew. "Tired and a bit sore but okay."

“Don’t slurp your stew buddy,” Clint said, as turned away from quietly updating Laura on everything the healers had said. 

“Sorry,” Harry mumbled, taking extra care to place his next spoonful of stew completely in his mouth without slurping it. 

The conversation continued to flow around them as they ate, everyone being updated on how well the ritual had gone. Once Harry was finished, having been allowed a small bowl of strawberry ice cream, both Lila and Cooper helped and escorted him upstairs to bed. 

After Harry had gone through his nighttime routine, Cooper volunteered to read a story to him and Lila grabbed one of her teddies to give to Harry whilst he was still a bit ill. All three of them bundled together on Harry’s bed, Harry was under the covers head resting on the pillow with his siblings on either side of him. Once all the squirming and fidgeting to find. comfy position had stopped Cooper began to read the first chapter of A Bear Called Paddington. Laura had bought a copy for him after Harry mentioned he had enjoyed it when his teacher read part of it to his class the year before, though they never got to finish it. 

Chapter Text

The first day after the ritual Harry had tried to get out of bed and go to school when he heard Lila and Cooper getting ready, but when he had made his way down the stairs to help with the morning chores he had quickly been shuffled into his chair at the kitchen table. 

“Morning, Harry. How’re you feeling?” Laura asked as her youngest shuffled tiredly into the room.

“Mornin’,” Harry answered “I’m feeling fine,” he continued after a yawn as he was gently rubbing a small fist against his eye trying to get the sleep out of it. 

Harry looked up from rubbing his eyes and headed towards Clint hoping for a good morning hug. Clint only released him when he started to lean back, then Clint gently brushed his fringe away from his eyes, examining the lightning bolt scar where the redness had reduced since than the day before. After scrutinising the scar he cleverly used the same movement to place the back of his hand against Harry’s forehead to check his temperature. “Morning buddy,” he said, laying a kiss to the right of the scar before quietly adding to Laura, “his temp feels a little high.”

Harry took the parental concern in stride with only a slight look of bafflement marring his face throughout the process. He sent a small smile to Clint and Laura giving them each another quick hug once he was finally released from the inspection.

It was as he began to move towards the back door that Lila moved in on him, “sit down, Harry, you’re ill. I’ll go get the eggs on my own today,” Lila said as she gently steered him away from the shoe rack where his wellies lay to his normal seat at the table with a hand on his back. She gave him no chance to argue or move around her, she just unrelentingly pushed him towards the chair. 

“Oh,” Harry said confusion in his tone as he slowly lowered himself into his seat. “Are you sure?” He asked, his eyebrows scrunching together as he squinted at Lila. This was not normal behaviour, they always went to the coop together. However, she didn’t seem to be playing a trick on him. 

“We’ll take care of you, Harry,” Cooper added, looking over to Harry from where he caught the tail end of the conversation as he hopped into the kitchen whilst trying to pull his second sock on. “What drink do you want with breakfast?” The older boy questioned after he adjusted the sock to fit more comfortably.

“Uhm…” Harry tried to process this change to the normal routine, usually he would be pulling on his wellies to go grab any eggs that the hens had laid. Though over the last few weeks the number of eggs had been getting lower and lower, Clint had explained that the chickens didn’t lay as many eggs in the winter, he said something about there being less sunlight and it being darker. Lila added that it was because the chickens didn’t like to get their butts cold which made both her and Harry giggle, Cooper also found it funny but tried to hide his laughter because he isn't a little kid.

“So milk or orange juice?” Cooper changed the question slightly when Harry failed to give an answer. He had noticed that sometimes Harry found it difficult if he wasn't given something to choose between.

“Milk, please,” Harry said, watching Lila through the window as she made her way across the garden to the chicken coop. 

“Coming right up,” Cooper said throwing a jaunty salute at Harry which got a laugh out of the boy, before the elder moved around the kitchen to get out some cups and then the cartons of milk and juice from the fridge. He moved around their parents seamlessly fitting into the coordinated dance that the adults moved in where they were preparing breakfast together.  

Harry just watched the scene in front of him still feeling confused. Why would him being ill mean he didn’t need to help out? That had never been allowed at the Dursley's, if anything it meant he got more work to do. No one had been sick since he started living at the Bartons, Clint had hurt his shoulder but he still helped around the house. Harry wondered why him being a little sick would be any different to that. 

Cooper brought the cup of milk over to the table for him before taking his own seat.

“What fruit would you like with your breakfast, Harry?” Clint asked, already chopping up a couple of apples and a few bananas.

“Grapes and banana, please,” Harry responded with a smile, he still found it exciting to be able to choose what different foods he could eat. For breakfast that morning they were having porridge, or oatmeal as he was occasionally beginning to call it. 

“There you go, buddy, bud,” Clint said as he placed the bowls of porridge in front of Harry and then Cooper. 

“Thank you,” Harry said picking up a slice of banana that was floating on top of the warm oatty goodness.

“Thanks, Dad,” Cooper added. 

Laura placed two bowls in front of Lila’s seat, she liked to have her fruit on the side rather than in her oatmeal because she was an ‘odd bod’ according to Cooper. Harry wasn’t really sure what that meant but Lila had stuck her tongue out and tried to thump Cooper when he said it in front of her so Harry guessed it was something at least a little mean. 

Lila entered at that moment with two eggs in hand just as Clint and Laura’s bowls were placed on the table. “Yes, pears and grapes,” Lila cheered as she saw her fruit bowl. She quickly placed the eggs in their basket and then washed her hands before taking her place at the table. 

It was a mostly uneventful breakfast, Harry had almost spilt his bowl when he caught his elbow on the edge of it as he reached for a slice apple from the shared bowl at the centre of the table luckily that crisis had been averted by Lila’s quick reactions. As the meal came to an end Harry’s earlier confusion at the morning’s events returned. He got up from the table to go get ready for school and he was shepherded back upstairs as normal, only to then be guided back to bed. 

“It’s time for school,” he pointed out to Clint as he stood beside his bed in confusion. His head tilted to one side as he looked up at the man bewildered at this turn of events. 

“That’s true, bud, but Laura and I want to give you some time to fully recover from yesterday’s ritual,” Clint explained as he crouched down to Harry’s eye level. 

“But, I feel good, I’m not sick,” Harry said, a little uncertainty in his tone as his face scrunched up in thought.

“No, you’re not sick but your body is still recovering and you might feel more tired than normal so we want to give you time to rest, alright, bud,” Clint reassured, stroking a calming hand through Harry’s hair. 

“Time to rest?” Harry questioned still concerned about this new treatment. 

“Yeah, rest is important when you are sick or have been to the hospital, even magic hospital,” Clint said with a relaxed smile, lifting back the covers on Harry’s bed. 

“Can I say bye to Lila and Cooper… if I’m staying home today?” Harry asked after a small pause, he wasn’t sure how he was meant to behave, this was all new territory to him.  

“Course you can, bud, let’s go say goodbye now,” Clint said, holding his arms out as an offer to carry Harry. After a moment’s pause Harry moved to be lifted up, he liked being carried it was like a special moving hug, plus he could pretend to be super tall, you could see so much from up high. 

The older two were almost ready to leave the house as Clint and Harry made their way back down the stairs to say goodbye. 

“Bye Cooper, bye Lila, have a good day at school,” Harry called out as the older two were pulling on their shoes. 

“See ya later, Harry,” Cooper hollered as he raced out the front door, it was meant to be Harry’s turn in the front seat so whoever got there first would be able to claim the empty seat. 

“Feel better soon,” Lila shouted, one shoe not properly done up as she raced after Cooper to try and get to the car before him. 

“I’ll see you a bit later, Harry,” Laura said as she placed a quick kiss to his forehead and one on Clint’s lips before she headed across the front yard to break up the growing argument over who got to sit in the front. 

“Lila will ride in the front on the way and Cooper on the way back, now get in the car before we miss the bus,” Laura instructed in a no-nonsense tone as she made it to the pickup. The kids scrambled to obey the instructions given in that tone and all three of the waved from the car as it pulled away towards the track.

“Alright then, bud. Do you want to rest in bed or on the sofa?” Clint offered as he quietly pushed the front door closed once the car was hidden among the trees. 

“Uhm, sofa, please,” Harry replied, glancing between the stairs and the front room. 

“Sofa, it is,” Clint agreed, quickly moving to settle Harry down on the sofa, grabbing one of the several fluffy blankets littered across pieces of furniture to wrap snugly around him. Harry was delighted that Clint chose his favourite green and grey blanket to wrap him up in. It wasn't long before Harry was drifting back off to sleep as he snuggled down in the comfy cocoon Clint had made the sofa into. 

***

Clint had not had the time to discuss his theory of Harry's Bucky being the Winter Soldier with anyone but Laura. He had been distracted by something Harry had said on their way back into the house, then everything had been happening at once as the holiday continued. 

Phil and Nat had left the following evening after a day packed full of excitement for everyone, building the obstacle course and then running the training exercise had been both fun and tiring.  He was really proud of how far all the kids had come. The next morning they had travelled to see Laura’s family which was always a bustling but entertaining affair.

Harry had been nervous about meeting more of the extended family all at once. He didn’t say anything but it was clear that he did not have any good past experiences of meeting aunts or uncles or cousins. Harry had spent a lot of time clinging onto him and Laura being afraid of leaving them whilst still interested in what the other kids were up to. 

Everything had gone well with their youngest once he had come out of his shell, or rather he had been pulled into the fun by Lila. Though their deescalation and mediation skills had been needed when a full out brawl almost erupted when the kids couldn’t decide on teams for Cowboys and Indians. Harry also sparked a debate among both the adults and older cousins on the name of the game when he mentioned his lessons on the Sioux tribe and Ms. Rodwell mentioning cultural sensitivity. 

Once they returned home there was the rush of needing to make sure everything was ready for them to return to school and the preparation for Harry’s hospital appointment. 

This was the first chance he had had to really think about the potential Winter Soldier living in the woods. Before this morning there hadn’t even been time to more than mention it to Laura, they had decided it made sense to raise this potential security breach with Phil. 

The phone rang twice before it was answered. “Coulson speaking,” came the professionally toned response. 

“Phil, we may have a problem,” Clint explained leaning against the counter in the kitchen, watching Harry as he slept on the sofa. 

“Alright. One moment,” Phil instructed followed by the sound of a door closing and someone sitting down in a chair. “Everything’s secure now. Go on.”

“Bucky, the man living in our woods. Lau’ and I think he might be the Winter Soldier,” Clint got straight to the point. 

“The Winter Soldier,” Phil repeated back a slight shock colouring his tone that most would be unable to pick up on. 

“Yes, neither of us have had full visual confirmation of his identity. But we have both spotted a metal prosthesis," Clint said.

"Fits the descriptions," Phil murmured more to himself than to Clint. This statement was accompanied by the sound of typing on a keyboard and the occasional clicking of a mouse.

"On Thanksgiving I also noticed a star-shaped red mark on the prosthetic arm in an area that correlates with the stories about him,” Clint added, explaining how they had reached what could be seen as an outlandish conclusion. 

"Why didn't you mention anything then?" Phil asked, his voice all business. His eyes scanning the few reports that the SHIELD database had on the elusive Winter Soldier. 

"It slipped my mind and we were preparing for the kids training," Clint answered honestly. 

“Fair enough. Has he shown any signs of violence or malicious intent?” Phil asked thinking over all the information that Laura, Harry, or Clint had mentioned when talking about this Bucky character. 

“None, which doesn’t fit his MO at all."

"Nor does the length of time he has remained on your property," Phil added. "he's normally in and gone before anyone is any the wiser."

"Exactly. Though the description Harry gave us matches the few more reliable reports I've read on the soldier’s existence: dark hair, blue eyes, no obvious scars or tattoos. Bucky is evidently skilled in evasion and surveillance given how long he had been living near us without detection. His style of movement also suggests a lot of training: military and offensive attacks,” Clint continued, helping to build a fuller image of the man living on their land.   

“I’ll speak to Nat as she’ll know more about the Winter Soldier than I do, and I will update Fury on this potential sighting. Honestly if he’s not done anything in the months he’s been there already then it might be safe to try and make contact or use Harry as a go-between,” Phil added after thinking through all the details Clint gave him. 

"He seems more interested in protecting Harry than endangering him," Clint put in, thinking back on Harry explaining his pirate fight with Bucky. 

"Well, we'll wait and see. Have Laura keep an eye out," Phil ordered before the conversation moved on to Clint's timescale for returning to work.

***

“Harry, wake up, honey,” Laura said gently shaking his shoulder in an attempt to rouse him. 

“Wha’, mommy?” Harry sleepily slurred, one eye gradually pulling itself open, still mostly asleep and unaware of his surroundings. 

Laura’s heart skipped a beat at the appellation. Harry had been settling in really well and they could tell he was feeling at home with them, the ward establishing itself here proved that. But to have such an unconscious reaction warmed her soul.

“Yes, baby. It’s time for lunch,” she murmured softly, stroking a hand over his hair that was doing an impressive imitation of a bird’s nest.

“Not a baby," he responded before the other words registered. "Lunch? Already?” Harry exclaimed a lot more awake now. He had slept the whole morning he thought with surprise. That was hours and hours and hours, all gone. 

“Indeed, love,” Laura said with a light laugh, pulling Harry into a quick sideways hug, revelling in the emotions of love and joy she was feeling.

Harry enjoyed the hug and then shimmied out of his blanket cocoon. “What’s for lunch?” He asked with an inquisitive tone and a bright smile, he was interested to find out what food the adults ate whilst he, Lila, and Cooper were at school. 

“Chicken soup,” Laura responded with an answering smile. It was a family recipe that they always made when someone was ill, it was also a really good way to get a mix of different vegetables into the kids that they normally claimed not to like without them knowing. 

Harry wasn’t sure if the adults usually had soup or whether they were hiding the more exciting food that they would normally eat. He decided he would check with Lila and Cooper when they came home. But the soup was really tasty so he was happy to eat it. 

That afternoon he spent time snuggled up with Clint watching a film. They had to watch without Laura because she had been doing some important work in the kitchen. According to Clint his shoulder was feeling a lot better now so he would be going back to work soon, so Harry was making the most of him being in the house and having one-on-one time with him. 

It was nice to just cuddle and watch films, it made Harry happy and feel all warm inside, cared for and loved. 

The film had just finished when Laura came into the room, she was holding a letter in her hand. “Guess what an owl just delivered?” Laura asked, lightly shaking the parchment envelope that had Harry’s name on it. 

“A letter for me?” Harry cried in excitement, he caught Clint in the stomach with his knee as he jumped up. 

“Oof,” Clint breathed out as he was winded by the sudden blow. “Careful, buddy,” he coughed out as he took a couple deep breaths. 

“I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, are you okay? Where’s the hurt?” Harry asked, quickly falling back down to kneel over Clint’s lap as his hands gently pushed on the man’s stomach and chest. A few tears falling from his eyes as he tried to take the pain from the other. 

Clint tenderly pulled both of Harry’s hand into his right, the left hand wiping the tears from Harry’s face, “it’s fine, bud. I feel all better now, you just need to be careful. You have strong, knobbly knees, buddy,” he said with a kind but stern tone, looking into Harry’s teary green eyes. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you,” Harry said with a wobbly voice as a couple more tears fell. 

“I know it was an accident buddy, you were excited there’s nothing wrong with that. You apologised and I forgive you, I love you buddy,” Clint responded, calmly releasing Harry’s hands to rub his right hand up and down Harry’s back as he pulled him into a hug. 

Harry was a little reluctant to be pulled into the hug at first, scared he might hurt Clint again. But he quickly melted into the embrace, running a gentle hand up and down the man’s front mimicking the same soothing gesture being stroked on his back.

Laura stealthily took a picture of them as they made an adorable image, the letter mostly forgotten in her hand. 

“I love you, bud,” Clint quietly breathed into Harry’s hair as he placed a kiss on the top of his head. 

“Love you too,” Harry responded, resting his head down on Clint’s shoulder wrapping the other arm around his back. 

“I’ll put Jacob’s letter on the side for later,” Laura quietly put in as she exited the room with a loving smile on her face. Harry had fallen back to sleep safe in Clint’s arms with a blanket pulled over them both.   

***

Jayden had slowly been compiling information on the two young children that had not been properly identified on the lists the chiefs had sent them. 

It had taken Jayden many hours of research and cross-referencing information to be able to identify the latest unnamed magical child. The young girl had now successfully been identified as Cynthia Woodlock, she had very recently turned six years old and was confirmed as a no-maj born. All the relevant information Jayden had collated had been put into Cynthia's new file. Her household would also need to be added to the magical homes database. 

As was protocol for cases such as these, they would monitor any accidental magic and send a representative to explain the magical world to the family after either a few small instances of magic use or a single larger magical incident. The introduction squad found it was easier for the families to understand if they had a very recent example to work with. 

The Woodlock family would be given the traditional set of books which explained the basis of MACUSA and magic more generally. They would also be told where all their closest magical communes were and how to access them. The Woodlock’s were fortunate that one of their larger local communes was very proactive in helping integration into the magical world. They held a number of introductory events throughout the year to welcome and teach new members about the cultural differences. It also gave the parents to magical children an opportunity to meet others local to them before their children reached school age.

Jayden had also been able to gather a little more information on Harry, as the other hard case to solve. Jayden had got in contact with the WCPS who had been able to confirm that Harry was on their register as a magical child under their care. But the note also explained that if any more information was required then Jayden would need to get into contact with Hope Anderson based in the New York office as she was his caseworker.

Jayden had sent a message to Hope explaining that one of the local chiefs had identified Harry as a magical child which came with the normal offer of assistance or guidance should Harry’s family wish to make use of it. The message to Hope also explained that Harry’s presence would be noted in their database with a note to seek Hope out should they require more details than the fact that there was a known and registered magical child in a home in that area. 

Hope had sent a short but kind message back thanking Jayden for the update. With that done Jayden had moved on to the next list of children to be identified and if necessary introduced to the magical world. 

~ ~ ~

After he had initially reported having Harry Potter in MACUSA custody, he hadn’t thought his help would be needed any further. He had reported the social worker in charge of his case and contact had been made with SHIELD and then an appropriate home had been found for the young charge. 

Everything had been going according to plan. Until it hadn’t. The boy had vanished from the appointed foster home and had yet to be found again by HYDRA. He had received another order to be on the lookout for any further information on the child. 

Luca had been taking any cases that involved children in the care of the state to give him a legitimate reason to be spending an increasing amount of time in the WCPS office. Don’t get him wrong he loved children, it was one of the reasons he had chosen the accidental magic reversal squad, and he would normally volunteer to work on the cases of those most in need anyway, but not on Every. Single. Case. That was a bit too overwhelming and fanatical for him, but the mission required maximum dedication so that is what he would give. Yet...

Nada.

Nothing. 

Diddly-squat. 

That was the result of literal months of being on as many cases as humanly possible with kids who either had WCPS intervention or were already under their care. WCPS had excellent confidentiality, no files left out and legible to unintended readers. No personal information pertaining to their charges nor the foster or adoptive families was accessible to those who were not need-to-know. Anything important was locked up tighter than the secret of magic had been under Rappaport’s law, when a wixen faced harsh penalties for any non-essential interaction with no-majs.

Luca had honestly given up hope of just stumbling across any useful information. If he wasn’t still in a position of use he may have begun to fear for his life given the amount of times he had had to report back that he had found nothing new. 

Say what you like about social workers, they protected their charges confidentiality to the best of their abilities. Add in magic and it was a true force to be reckoned with. 

A small seemingly inconsequential memo had been his light at the end of the tunnel. He had been in the WCPS office to check-up on Caesar, a really cute kid he had to retrieve from under a bookcase when his accidental magic ended up pulling the whole thing away from the wall. He always tried to pass by Hope Anderson’s desk knowing she was in charge of Harry’s case. 

The small inter-office memo was one of the few legible pieces of writing on the desk. His quick once-over of the desk taking in all the small scraps of readable information. It took half a minute for the words to actually process. Harry, it had mentioned a Harry. 

“Luca, hey,” Bernard called, he was an older man, his brown eyes still as bright as his red hair which had a couple streaks of silver flowing through it, “you here about Caesar again?” 

“Huh?” Luca replied offhandedly, as he tried to pull his focus away from the breakthrough. “Bernard, yes, how are you? How’s Caesar?”

“We’re both doing well, just like the last time you came to check. He’ll be discharged this afternoon as good as new,” Bernard replied heading towards the young man. 

“That’s great. Pleased to hear it,” Luca said, still trying to return his eyes subtly to the memo. He wouldn’t lose the first potential lead he had had in months.

Thankfully he was saved from having to pretend to give Bernard his full attention as the man’s cell phone began to ring. 

Bernard pulled the device from his pocket, checking the screen before looking apologetically to Luca, “excuse me, I need to get this. It’s nice to see someone so dedicated to the children who are only briefly under their care,” Bernard said before moving across to his desk and activating a ward that blocked all the noise from the area. 

“No problem, I’ll catch you later,” Luca murmured, he found and reread the memo as he turned to leave, throwing a quick wave to Bernard as he passed through the department's exit. 

The Chicago office had been asking about a Harry. A lead he finally had a lead. 

Chapter Text

Bucky had taken to patrolling the perimeter of the Barton’s property. If every once in a while he stepped over the property line just to step back in and feel that welcoming warmth spread through him then that was a secret between him and the wards.

He also found that by crossing the wards the memories, which had slowly been slotting back into place within his mind, became clearer and easier to focus on. It smoothed the edges of the harsher, more ragged memories of pain or torture.

Any interactions with Harry were often followed by new memories resurfacing, it could be a traumatic experience. On more than one occasion he had been transported from the woods on the Barton property to a battlefield in World War Two, or a mission with the Howling Commandoes. Though other times the memories were amusing or heart-warming, he could remember more about his sisters and family, he had regained most of his childhood memories he thought. 

There were also memories from his time as the Winter Soldier beginning to filter through, though these were still harder to understand and it was more taxing for him to follow the scenes occurring before his eyes, his mind’s eye? His whatever. It could be fine one minute, then suddenly it was like his memory was an old soundless black and white movie. Sometimes he could hear everything but the picture was blurry or suddenly it was as if the event was obscured from sight by a mass of fog, hiding the rest of the memory from his understanding and vision.

He was finding and learning ways to deal with the episodes of sudden memory recovery. He found that grounding himself by touching the trees and leaves or sinking down to feel the ground beneath him could help clear up and soften the experience. He no longer passed out from an influx of memories assaulting his mind. He guessed this was because there were fewer memories left to remember, but he also secretly hoped it was because he was better at dealing with them when they reappeared. 

The patrols had started out with the single purpose of guaranteeing that Harry, his mission, would remain safe. They had evolved to protect not only Harry, but his family, and Bucky himself. He knew if he could find Harry it was possible someone else could. He knew HYDRA would be searching for him as the Winter Soldier to recover their asset and secret weapon. The patrols also had the added benefit of helping to keep him healthy and warm with the changing seasons and declining weather conditions.

He would protect his newfound friend and family as a physical deterrent and force to overcome, just as the wards were helping to protect both him and his family with magic.

***

Harry was super happy being back at school, on his first day back his class gave him cards they had made for him that were to wish him a quick recovery and to get well soon. He had put a whole row of them across the top of the dresser in his room when he got home that afternoon. 

Harry was enjoying being back at school even though he only had a few days off. He got to speak to the magic flag again, Cooper still argued it was just a regular flag whenever Harry mentioned it but that was okay. Harry was still waiting for the magic flag to respond to his class’ words, he thought it might be shy or maybe it couldn’t speak back to them because not all of them knew about magic. He wasn’t really sure, he could be patient though. It was just like when he wanted to choose the tv show and it was Lila or Cooper’s turn to choose, he could try and wait. 

The class had been doing maths and practicing writing their letters and the sounds they make. Harry was very good at it because he had a lot of practice from his year in reception. Because he was so good he could help his friends and classmates if they were stuck. 

“No, it’s a curly ‘cuh’, not a kicking ‘cuh’ in cat,” Harry said as he gently traced the letter c on the table with his finger as he helped correct Ethan who sat beside him.

“But why? They make the same sound,” Ethan whined in annoyance. Throwing his pencil down on the table in frustration.

“It’s really hard with the curly and kicking ‘cuhs’. I used to get it wrong all the time but I know for cat it’s a curly ‘cuh’,” Harry kindly put in passing his friend the eraser he had which was shaped like a t-rex. 

“Oooh the t-rex,” Ethan said happily, “Rawr,” he added making the noise as he slowly moved the dinosaur eraser across the desk to his page to begin rubbing out his hard work. He let out a groan as the page crinkled when he didn’t hold down the edges as he began using the eraser.

"It's okay, Ethan," Layla said from the other side of the desk, "just push the paper flat again... like this," the girl demonstrated on her own work which had a similar crease. 

"Wow, it's better. Thanks, Layla," Ethan said smiling at her as he managed to make his work less rumpled. 

“Good work, you guys,” Ms. Rodwell said as she came to check in on their progress. “Well done spotting your mistake, Ethan. I know this can be tricky.” 

“Thanks, miss. Harry helped,” Ethan said with a pleased grin at the praise. 

“Thank you for helping out Harry, that’s very kind of you,” Ms. Rodwell praised before moving on to check on another table. 

~ ~ ~

Another really exciting thing had happened on his first week back. They had been having some time to do art at a different tables when Felix had invited him over to his house for a playdate.

“My mommy said I can ask you when you’re feeling better,” Felix had said with a bubbly grin on his face. 

“I’m better now,” Harry exclaimed in excitement bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. 

“Yay!” Felix shouted.

“Inside voices, Felix,” Ms. Rodwell admonished with a gentle tone from across the classroom. 

“Sorry,” he murmured then he let out a quieter “yay!” before continuing to talk after a minute of happy wiggling and jumping about with Harry, “my mommy said to give you this piece of paper with her number so your mommy can call her.”

 “Okay,” Harry replied, taking the sheet of paper and heading to his cubby to place the important paper carefully into his bag so it wouldn’t get lost before he could give it to Laura. 

~ ~ ~

All of the Barton children were sat around the kitchen table completing their homework. Laura was in the kitchen doing some prep for the evening meal where she could keep an eye on the kids and offer some help if any of them had a question.

Harry had just finished his own homework, it was to colour in the different letters they had been practicing writing in class.

“I helped Ethan with his letters today,” Harry suddenly declared to the room at large. 

“Well done, Harry, it’s very sweet of you to help your friends,” Laura replied, sending a smile to Harry when he met her eyes. 

“Uhuh and then Jude helped us with maths and then it was lunchtime and we had macaroni and cheese and,” Harry began to retell his day. 

“Shush, Harry. You told us in the car earlier, ‘member,” Lila said as she tried to work on her own homework. 

“Yeah, but- but I didn’t tell you about the paper Felix gived me,” Harry began again, a small frown on his face at the interruption. 

“Gave you, honey,” Laura corrected. 

“Yeah, he gived- gave me a paper to give to you for a playdate,” Harry said his volume rising as he got excited.

“Alright, have you finished your homework, love?” Laura asked, seeing the older two were getting a little annoyed with Harry as they tried to focus.

“Yup,” Harry said popping the ‘p’.

“Well, why don’t you go find the paper from Felix while your brother and sister finish their work,” Laura suggested. 

“Okay,” Harry replied, scrambling off his chair and rushing out of the dining room to find the important piece of paper. 

“Try to be patient with Harry, Lila. He’s just excited to share everything with us,” Laura admonished lightly. 

“I know, but he already told us everything earlier,” Lila retorted, taking a short break from the problem that she couldn’t quite figure out. 

“Yes, but sometimes you want to share good news or things you find exciting more than once and with everyone,” Laura said kindly, “you feel the same sometimes too, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s actually exciting stuff,” Lila said. 

“Exciting to you maybe,” Cooper adds in. 

“Yeah, exactly,” Lila agrees. 

“It’s not always exciting to us though. Like last week when you kept telling us about how Helena had a cookie shaped like a unicorn,” Cooper said. 

“But that was cool,” Lila said sounding shocked that Cooper didn’t find that information interesting. Everyone in her class had had to look at the cookie because it was so cool. 

“Maybe the first time, but you told us like ten times in one day about the same stupid cookie,” Cooper said sounding annoyed. 

“Cooper don’t call the cookie stupid, it wasn’t stupid to Lila so we need to respect that,” Laura interrupted before a full fight to erupt. 

“Sorry, Lila. Harry didn’t complain once, did he? Even when you told us ten times,” Cooper continued, a little begrudging with the apology. “With littler kids you have to be kind even when you aren’t as interested as them.” 

“Well said Cooper,” Laura acknowledged with a proud smile for her eldest. She knew the younger two could be very annoying for him at times but he always tried to be very patient with them. 

“Got it,” Harry shouted as he ran back into the kitchen waving his piece of paper in triumph. 

“Thanks, love. Why don’t you go play in the living room whilst we finish up in here,” Laura said, quickly shuffling him through the doors into the other room so the older two could get back to their work. 

***

Despite all the time he was trying to dedicate to research in Chicago to track down Harry Potter it was not going well. 

WCPS were unable and unwilling to give him any information without a valid reason for him requesting it. If he had a valid reason he would also need written proof of this valid reason and the exact information he would be in need of so that any unnecessary confidential information remained that way. Though from what he had observed it appeared that Hope Anderson had an embargo on access to information about Harry as his main case worker. 

Simply put WCPS in Chicago was a dead end. They could reveal nothing, but also likely knew nothing about Harry. 

Luca was running himself ragged trying to find out anything he could to report back to his bosses. He couldn’t say he’d found anything now because the little he had come across was getting him nowhere. He made a breakthrough, that led him to Chicago, but now he was in exactly the same boat as he was in New York. Except it could be argued he was in a worse position now because he had to spend all the extra free time he had trying to find leads to chase. Unsuccessfully. 

He felt a little proud of the MACUSA system that protected wixen children so well. However, his overwhelming feelings were of frustration and bone-deep weariness. What he would do to the person who invented the merlin forsaken system if he ever encountered them… was not something he could ever say out loud without being immediately arrested or worse.

Whacking his head against a wall. Repeatedly. Was slowly becoming an ever increasingly appealing escape to the current predicament that was taking over his life. He had honestly considered asking for a secondment or to move his work office to Chicago as a way to reduce the stress in his life.

But... he hadn’t quite reached that level yet though as each day passed with no new information coming to light it was becoming a more and more enticing option. 

Sure, he could reach out to the people at HYDRA but then he would have to explain why he hadn’t told them earlier. He just wanted to solve the problem, deliver Harry Potter to his higher ups and then go home and sleep. 

Luca wasn’t sure what his next step in the search would be. He had gone through a few fruitless searches already and now he had finally deemed the WCPS as a no-go. 

How else could you find someone when you only knew their name? That was a problem for another day, he thought as he slowly trudged towards the public floos to make his way home. He was so sleep deprived that he did not trust himself to apparate without splinching himself and he really was not in the mood to explain to the healers in New York why he was in apparating in such a state. 

He tumbled out of the floo in his apartment. “Thank you,” he murmured to his past self for having the intelligence to place a beanbag chair in prime tripping out of the fireplace position. Thanks to his prior genius his face was currently smushed into softness and not smashed on the floor. As the tiredness began to overtake he slowly forced himself to begin crawling towards his bed, only pausing to pull off his boots before collapsing into his pillow and falling into a deep sleep. 

“You both saw that, right?” Doug, one of Luca’s roommates asked, eyes still locked on the form of their friend who was late and now sleeping through their planned hang out. 

“Yup,” replied Javier, one of Luca’s friends from Ilvermorney, “crawled right by without even an apology. How rude!” His teasing tone clear to all.

“Now he’s asleep,” added Hector, as he looked at his friend who was most definitely out for the count, feeling concerned. He had never seen Luca this exhausted and they had gone through both their OWLs and their NEWTs together. 

“Should we wake him?” Javier questioned, taking a bite out of his slice of pizza. 

“Nah, I’ll make sure he eats in the morning,” Doug said, raising his wand to spell Luca’s bedroom door shut which would activate the room’s silencing spells. 

“Besides, he looked dead on his feet, well on his hands and knees,” Hector corrected with only a slight teasing smile on his lips.  

***

It's the following weekend when Harry heads out to find Bucky. He is wearing his warm winter coat because it is getting really cold now that December has arrived. 

He hasn’t seen Bucky since Thanksgiving when he didn’t even really see him but he still got to do something nice for his friend. The Tupperware that had held his friend’s thanksgiving meal had been left empty on the front porch the following morning. 

Harry wanted to check on his friend. He knew how horrible it could be to sleep outside when it was cold.

“Bucky?” He called walking into the woods, Harry knew from past interactions with his older friend that they would run into each other soon. Bucky claimed it was because he was quick to find the younger boy, but Harry wasn’t so sure. Harry thought he himself was just a really good finder. 

“Bucky?" He called again as he continued to trudge deeper into the trees. As normal he had only been walking for around five minutes when he came across his friend. 

“Harry,” Bucky called out happily in greeting. “How are you, pal?”

Harry ran to give Bucky a hug, wrapping his sleeve covered arms as tightly around the older man’s waist as he could. At first Bucky froze at the new form of contact before gradually releasing the tension and even more gradually wrapping his own larger arms around Harry in return. After a minute Harry slowly pulled away from the hug. 

“I’m so good. We did a training scene- scena- thingy which was scary but fun. Oh, oh, I’m back to school after I had the blackness sucked,” Harry inserted his own sound effect to the story, “‘ssssccckkkk-ed’ out of my scar. I’m gonna go to Felix’s house for a playdate soon and- and it’s almost Christmas,” Harry rambled excitedly filling his big friend in on everything that had happened since he last saw him.

“Wait, you had what sucked outta your scar?” Bucky asked confusion heavy in his voice and written plainly across his face. 

“Oh,” Harry quietly murmured as his eyes widened in shock at what he had revealed to Bucky, “um the blackness,” he continued more unsure of himself. 

“Something magic related?” Bucky questioned, already aware of how secretive the magical world could be and wanting to reassure Harry he wouldn’t get in trouble. 

“You know about magic?” Harry asked his tone moving from nervous at first to joy. “That’s great. Yeah, the healers got some goblins to help and they sucked the bad stuff right out.” 

“Right. That’s great news, pal,” Bucky responded not sounding one hundred percent convinced of his own words.

“Yeah, it’s all gone and I feel all better,” Harry continued, not noticing the slight doubt colouring Bucky’s tone.

“So, what can I do for you today, pal?” Bucky asked, rubbing his hands together as the cold began to seep in whilst they stood chatting.

“Um… where do you live?” Harry asked a little nervously, he couldn’t look his friend in the face as he asked and he began to move one foot back and forth on the ground. 

“At the moment I’ve been livin’ in the woods,” Bucky answered after a moment’s pause to decide what to tell the young boy. 

“But- but it’s so cold. Aren’t you cold?” Harry asked having looked up in surprise when his friend said he was living in the woods. Harry had thought that his friend lived there but to have it actually confirmed was still a surprise. He didn’t know anyone who really just lived in the woods, most people he had met lived in a house. 

“Sometimes it’s cold, but I’ve learnt how to survive in the woods, pal, so you don’t need to worry about me,” Bucky tried to reassure Harry as the young boy started to look sad. 

“But- but, no, no it’s cold you should- you should be living in the warm,” Harry started, stumbling over his words as tried to speak his thoughts. “It’s not nice being cold for too long, it’s not nice.” 

“Aw, pal, I’m fine, I promise,” Bucky repeated, moving closer to pull Harry into a hug. Rubbing an arm up and down Harry's arm in comfort. 

“Nuh-uh, ’s not right. You gotta be warm, he’s gotta be warm,” Harry started confidently before starting to murmur to himself as if reassuring himself that what he was thinking was right, no matter what his friend was saying. “Come on,” Harry said definitively grabbing the older man’s man and starting to walk back to the house. 

“Where’re we goin’ pal?” Bucky asked allowing the younger to begin leading him along the path. 

“Home. I’m taking you home. Laura will know what to do. She knows everything,” Harry said, with a sharp nod to back up his words. 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Bucky put in trying to slow down their pace. 

“Why not? You live outside. It’s cold outside. Laura and Clint look after me, it’s warm inside. Everyone should be warm. Come on,” Harry explained slowly but with growing confidence. He could help his friend. He would help his friend. 

“I’m not sure they’re gonna like me, pal,” Bucky tried to reason with his determined young friend.

“I like you and you’re cold. You can share my room,” Harry offered, looking beseechingly up at Bucky his green eyes shining with hope. 

“Fine, alright, let’s see what happens,” Bucky caves, how could he try and say no with that look levelled at him. Also a little warmth would be appreciated.

~ ~ ~

Harry pulled Bucky into the house via the front door, quickly closing the door behind them both to keep the warmth trapped inside the house.

“Laura?” Harry called as they were crossing the threshold. Harry was still holding tightly onto Bucky’s sleeve, partly to keep him there and partly to keep Harry upright as he began hopping in the process of removing a shoe. 

“Yes, love?” Laura called in response, her voice quieter as she was focusing on some other task in the home. 

“Can I speak to you?” Harry called finally deciding to release his hold on Bucky’s sleeve as he chose to sit down on the bottom stair so he could continue removing his shoes, gloves, and coat without almost falling over.

Bucky stood against the front door scanning his surroundings. He hadn’t been inside the house before, only having caught glimpses of the inside when doing his checks.

“Of course, love, I’m in the laundry room,” Laura called back, voice slightly muffled.

“This way, Bucky,” Harry said as he hung up his coat in its rightful place. He took a hold of Bucky’s sleeve again as they made their way down the hall towards the room just off the kitchen. 

“Alright, pal. I’m followin’,” Bucky quietly responded, measuring his steps carefully to limit the noise he was making. 

“Oh, Cooper, meet Bucky. Bucky this is my big brother, Cooper,” Harry called excitedly as they ran into the older boy who was getting a snack from the kitchen. 

“Hi,” Cooper greeted after a moment, taking in the stranger in his home who was apparently friends with his five-year-old brother. The stranger was quite cool looking, his outfit and his super exciting metal arm. Like a robot.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” Bucky greeted with a small smile, “Harry’s told me a lot about you.” 

“Really?” Cooper asked surprised. 

“Yeah, he thinks you’re really cool and fun,” Bucky replied, his small smile growing as Cooper began to blush at the praise. 

“Thanks, little bro,” Cooper said stepping up to ruffle Harry’s hair, causing the younger boy to try and squirm out of his reach. 

“I heard a new voi-“ Laura trailed off as she took in the new man, who may or may not be an internationally wanted spy, thief, and killer. 

“Laura, this is my friend Bucky,” Harry explained happily pulling the man closer to his foster mother. “Bucky, this is my new mommy, Laura.”

There was a beat of silence as both adults took the time to quickly appraise and analyse the other. The children picking up on the sudden undertone remained quiet just watching the adults. 

“Good afternoon, ma’am, Bucky Barnes at your service,” he greeted holding his hand out in a peace offering.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Barnes. Any friend of Harry’s is a friend of mine,” she said, taking his hand in and giving it a firm shake. Internally she was trying to imagine how Phil would react to this new information. Now she could see the man clearly the resemblance to the thought-to-be dead war hero was stark. Phil was going to freak out. Everyone was going to freak out.

“Please, ma’am call me Bucky,” he quickly corrected shooting a charming smile her way. Yeah, lots of people were going to freak out.

“Alright, Bucky. Then you should call me Laura,” she returned with an equally warm smile. Bucky Barnes of the Howling Commandoes is most likely also the Winter Soldier, all hell could break loose.

“Can Bucky stay with us?” Harry interrupted the boring adult conversation to get the point of what he wanted to ask. 

“What?” Laura asked her attention quickly sliding almost completely away from Bucky to her youngest. 

“He’s living in the woods. It’s cold, so cold… and- and we got space for him. He can stay in my room,” Harry begins to talk quickly. 

“Slow down a minute, love,” Laura advises, running a hand quickly over his head to sooth him. 

“It’s cold outside and Bucky has no house. But we do. Can he stay whilst it’s cold?” Harry asks, turning bright hopeful eyes towards his foster mother, beseeching her to agree.

“Well…” Laura began giving herself time to think, if he began living with them she was duty bound to inform social services so they could check he was safe to be around kids. But it was difficult to ascertain the safety of supposedly dead war hero turned soviet weapon. “I suppose... it is very mean to make someone sleep outside when it’s so cold. But I’ll have to talk with your dad about it first.”

“Awww, okay,” Harry sadly responds. His face turning downcast at the lack of initial acceptance and enthusiasm. 

“It’s alright, pal. Your ma is just trying to make sure you and your siblings are safe,” Bucky puts in quietly but firmly as he kneels down beside Harry. He gives a nod of reassurance to Laura that he didn’t expect anything different. If anything it had gone a lot better than he ever could have anticipated.

"Fine, let's go play," Harry said, cheering up as he began to lead his friend away.

***

Phil now had a nice file of information on the Winter Soldier. He was comfortably certain that the man in the woods known as Bucky was indeed the Winter Soldier. Though he obviously could not be one hundred percent certain of this fact without actually having seen the man himself. 

Natasha had had a lot of useful information to provide to the file that allowed him to create a more concrete timeline of the soldiers actions. The length of time that the soldier had been in operation raised questions on whether the role had seen a number of operatives in the position or if HYDRA had found a way to ensure the longevity of their human turned weapon. 

The limited number of photographs and an even smaller number of videos that contain clips of someone who is thought to be the Winter Soldier match the description of the man living on the Barton’s property. 

“Why has he remained there for so long? Why has there been no violence? And why has he interacted with Harry?” Phil said to himself as he added notes to the file.

His cell phone began to ring. 

Chapter Text

Clint immediately picked up the phone when he saw that it was Laura calling, “Barton, speaking.” 

“Hey, love, you need to get to Phil asap,” she said skipping over a greeting, knowing from how he answered that he was around other people he didn’t want to overhear their conversation. 

“Right away, ma’am,” he agreed, nodding at a few people as he left to go and find Phil. “Why’m I going to Coulson?” He asked once he was in a more secluded corridor.

“We just found out that Bucky, the Winter Soldier, is also Bucky Barnes,” Laura says, her surprise still clear in her tone. “Oh, and Harry wants him to move in.”

“Wait, what?” Clint says after processing all that information being rapidly thrown at him. “The Bucky Barnes? Like Captain America’s best friend, Bucky Barnes,” Clint continued. 

“Yes, that Bucky Barnes,” Laura confirms, the proud smirk at surprising her husband coming across as clear as day in her tone. 

“Move in? Harry wants him to move in… with us?” Clint said returning to the other part of her previous information dump. 

“It’s cold outside. He doesn’t want his friend to have to live in the cold. You're still going to find Phil, right?” Laura said, keeping half an ear on what the kids were up to. 

“I’m heading towards his office now,” Clint replied, shifting the phone to be between his ear and shoulder as he had to swipe his access badge to enter the next section of office areas. “We’d need to speak with CPS and WCPS if we let Bucky move in.”

“I know, love. But we can’t expect him to sleep outside, the weather is predicting snow in the next week,” Laura said, allowing some of the stress she was feeling to seep through. 

“I guess if he was only staying for a bit and not actually moving in, technically we wouldn’t have to have him get checked out,” Clint eventually pointed out as he paused to hold the door he was about to go through open for someone walking his way.

“That’s sticking to the letter but not the intent of the rules,” Laura admonished though there was no real heat behind her words. “I had similar thoughts. It would make it easier though, at least until his supposed death has been worked out.”

“Kinda hard to do a background check on a dead man,” Clint agreed with a chuckle. “You never actually answered why I’m going to find Phil,” he pointed out approaching the man’s office. 

“You need to get there quick, the kids have persuaded Bucky to phone Phil to introduce himself,” Laura said with an amused tone. 

“Whose idea?” He asked trying to suppress his own mirth. 

“Cooper’s,” Laura responded. “They’re calling now.”

“I’m here, we’ll speak more about that problem later,” Clint said as he heard a phone start to ring on the other side of the door. 

“Bye, love,” Laura said before hanging up. 

***

”Come on, Bucky, you gots to call him,” Harry said looking excitedly from his siblings to the older man. They had started to playing a board game together when Cooper had mentioned needing to tell Uncle Phil all about Bucky. According to Cooper he would ‘freak the hell out’. 

To Bucky sounded like a bad thing, but the kids all agreed it was actually something good. Though their mischievous smiles and exchanged celebratory looks did not completely reassure him. He was however always down for some fun. 

“It’ll be funny,” Lila added cajolingly, an innocent smile on her face as she grins up at Bucky. 

Bucky shakes his head in amusement at the kids' antics. Honestly, trying to pull him into stuff just like Stevie. “I- don’t think so, kids,” he said, holding his hands out palms up in supplication.

“Please, Bucky,” Harry asked again, lightly shaking Bucky's arm up and down while putting his super cute puppy eyes as Lila called them to good use, “pretty please… for me?” 

“Really, pal?” Bucky questioned, one corner of his mouth ticking upwards with his suppressed laughter. 

“Really, really,” Harry said, his smile grew as he saw Bucky’s resolve beginning to falter. Cooper started to guide them towards the house phone. 

“I don’t know how to use this, I’m old,” Bucky pointed out making a final attempt to avoid making the phone call.

“You not that old,” Cooper said as his eyes scanned over the man’s face. 

“That might be true but inside I am that old,” Bucky retorted playfully.

“Nuh uh. You’re kinda old, but not super old,” Lila put in, also looking closely at Bucky’s face. 

“Yeah, you’re old 'cos you're a grown up, but not older than… daddy… um, Clint ,” Harry hesitated, not sure what to call the older man he is starting to see as his father in front of Lila and Cooper.

“‘xactly,” Lila jumped in on the argument when Bucky opens his mouth to reply, “our Dad’s old. But you don’t look as old as him,” Lila explained, hands on her hips. Without realising it her words reassured Harry who relaxes a little when she didn’t react or seem to mind that he was claiming Clint as his dad too. 

“Yeah, Mr. Bucky, you’re not so old really,” Cooper said, reaching for the handset. "Harry's right you do look younger than dad."

“Technically I am old, super old,” Bucky final managed to butt in, a mischievous light entering his eyes. 

“Can't be. Grampa Arnie’s super old,” Lila said indignantly. “He’s got white hair and everything.”

“It’s true. Grampa Arnie's hair looked white like clouds. Your hair’s not white, Bucky. It’s black, like mine,” Harry said pulling a strand of his messy hair out in demonstration. “See?”

“I was born in 1917,” Bucky replied, deciding to negate their argument with facts. 

“What?” harry asked, not really understanding what that meant. 

“Really?” Cooper questioned, head tilting to the side as if trying to work out through sight alone whether the man was lying. 

“Swear on my ma’s grave,” Bucky promised, left hand over his heart. 

“But you look… not old… youngish,” Cooper said squinting. 

“Good genes,” Bucky murmured, using the full power of his handsome grin. 

“Well, we’ll teach you how to use it then,” Cooper said not to let the task get more derailed. He began to explain how the house phone worked, though he was pretty sure telephone had been around forever like a hundred years at least. 

~ ~ ~

Phil looked at the caller ID, it identified the incoming call as coming from the Barton household. He reached to pick up the phone as there was a knock at his door. 

“Come in,” he called out, letting the phone continue to ring not wanting anyone to overhear the call. 

Clint opened the door slightly and poked his head around it. “You alright, Phil?” He asked with a friendly smile on his face. 

“Yes, come in, Barton,” Phil said mock sternly, gesturing for him to shut the door behind him. 

Once the door was shut, he answered the call with a simple abrupt “Coulson,” he picked up the call just before it would have gone to voicemail.

“Is this Uncle Phil?” An unknown adult male voice asked in return. Phil had a moment of shock at the stranger's voice coming from the Barton home. 

“May I ask who’s speaking?” Phil questioned, his tone neutral with a barely noticeable wariness. He raised an eyebrow at Clint in silent question of whether the other man was aware of what was happening on the call. Clint’s face made no hint to him understanding the silent question. 

“I’m calling on behalf of Cooper, Lila, and Harry to speak with their Uncle Phil,” the voice added further information to his repetition, easily avoiding Phil’s question. Phil could just make out the sound of light childish laughter in the background before it was shushed. 

“This is him,” Phil finally agreed somewhat reluctantly. If the kids were there then whoever it was obviously wasn't a danger. “How can I help you?” 

By this point Clint had settled himself comfortably in one of the chairs across from Phil’s desk and was moving to prop his feet on said desk. 

“I’ve been told to introduce myself to you," he took a breath before continuing, "my name is Bucky Barnes,” the man, now identified as Bucky, said calmly. Phil gestured impatiently across his desk for Clint to remove his boots from the polished wood.

“Right,” Phil acknowledged slowly, not sure why this call was important. Yet Clint’s attention was fully riveted on the phone call taking place in front of him.  

“The kids told me you are a huge fan of my pal, Steve,” Bucky continued, tone still neutral. The giggling picked up again at this declaration. 

“… well,” Phil began not sure what to do with this information, “if you don’t have anything of…” Phil trailed off. Bucky Barnes. With a slight Brooklyn twang to his words. A friend called Steve. This was a prank call. It had to be.

There was a minute of silence on both sides of the phone as the information was processed, then Phil slowly asked, “Is this a joke?” He looked to Clint’s face trying to gauge whether he was aware of this call and what it meant. Was he in on the prank?

“No, no joke, Uncle Phil. My name is James Buchanan Barnes, formally a Sergeant and member of the 107th Infantry Regiment, then the Howling Commandoes under the captaincy of my buddy ol' pal, Steve Rogers,” Bucky gave a more full introduction. 

“Okay,” Phil repeated still not sure he trusted this unknown voice to be who it said it was. Had someone heard about what they had fished out of the ocean? But how would the kids know? Even Clint and Nat hadn’t been informed about the Captain being defrosted… unfrozen… de-iced, he wasn’t sure of what the technical term for that should be. 

“He doesn’t believe me,” he heard the supposed Bucky Barnes say quietly, obviously speaking to the kids around him. That was another point in favour of this being a prank. 

“What?” Came Harry’s obviously shocked remark. 

“He’s meant to be excited not- not-“

“Doubtful, disbelieving, or dubious. How rude,” Cooper finished for Lila as she struggled to find the right word to finish her thought. 

“Exactly. Give me the phone,” she demanded. Bucky took in the serious set to her face and the hard glint in her eyes before quickly handing across the phone, he may not have interacted with young girls in a while but he remembered that kind of look from when he was young. No way was he getting in the way of that look. 

“Uncle Phil?” Lila asked sounding stern and unimpressed. 

“Hi, Lila,” Phil replied neutrally having caught most of the conversation happening at the other end of the line. 

“You’re being rude to a national hero. A war hero… and- and an old man. That’s super rude! You should respect your elders,” Lila criticised. 

“Maybe if it actually was the real Bucky Barnes-“ Phil began. 

“He is! We had to teach him how to use the phone. He’s old Uncle Phil, but not on the outside,” Lila continued indignantly, parroting the comeback Bucky had used earlier. She couldn’t believe their uncle wouldn’t believe them. “He still doesn’t believe us,” she said obviously turning away from the call to inform the others nearby of the continued outrage.

“Give me the phone, Lila,” Cooper said with confidence. 

“Cooper’s gonna speak to you,” Lila said before the voice on that end of the line changed.

“Hello, Cooper,” Phil greeted kindly before his nephew could say anything. 

“Hello ex-favourite Uncle,” Cooper greeted putting on his best disappointed voice. 

“Wow, you’re not pulling your punches are you Coop?”

“No. We’ll prove that Bucky is the Bucky. Ask a question only he would know the answer to,” Cooper challenged. “Get ready, Bucky,” Cooper said looking to the old-young man who was listening to the telephone conversation with growing amusement. This had been a lot more entertaining than he had expected.

“Give me a second,” Phil said as he turned to his record to pull up some information that SHIELD held on Bucky Barnes. “What’s his date of birth?”

Cooper turned to Bucky opening his mouth to ask when Bucky replied, “March 10, 1917.”

Phil nodded, that was correct and quick. “Okay. Parents names?”

Again Bucky responded before Cooper could ask, “George and Winnifred Barnes. Three younger sisters. Rebecca, Charlotte, and Matilda, I don’t know if they ever got hitched and changed their names.” 

Another right answer, Phil thought and the sisters’ names were all correct and would not have been commonly known. One final question he decided, “Where’d he train after enlisting?” 

“Camp McCoy, Wisconsin,” Bucky answered without hesitation, pleased he had clear enough memories of those weeks to remember that. Though he wasn't sure he could ever forget it.

“Satisfied, Uncle Phil?” Cooper asked archly. 

“Um, yes, thank you, Cooper,” Phil replied as slow sinking feeling began to overtake him. He had just questioned a national hero about whether he was in fact himself. “Oh God,” he quietly murmured, ignoring Clint’s snort of amusement. 

“Would you like to speak to Bucky again?” Cooper asked sounding much too smug now. "Now you're sure your kind, loving, devoted-"

"I get the picture, Cooper," Phil tried to interject.

"-niblings got one of your heroes to phone you," Cooper continued over the interruption.

“Yes, please, Coop,” Phil agreed, rolling his eyes at Cooper's attempted guilt trip. He wasn't sure if he was more mortified or excited to speak with The Bucky Barnes.

“Uncle Phil,” came the now lightly amused voice of Bucky. 

“I can’t apologise enough, Mr. Barnes… It truly is an honour to speak with you,” Phil said once he came out of his dazed mix of embarrassment and stifled joy. He was speaking to Bucky Barnes, war hero and right-hand man of Captain America. “I just wanted to thank you for your service.”

Clint was pleased Laura had pushed him to be here, he wasn’t sure he had ever seen Phil this flustered before. He stealthily took a photo of the moment to show Nat and Laura later. The unimpressed look Phil sent him showed that he had not managed to sneak the picture under his boss and mentor’s radar. 

“My pleasure,” Bucky replied with a little hesitance not really used to the reaction. Sure he had received a lot of positive reactions when he had first enlisted and on the short breaks he and the other Commandoes had had in England. But he wasn’t sure if he still deserved the gratitude.  

“I have studied the Commandoes work, Mr. Barnes, I admire your success and the tactics you guys used,” Phil gushed, he was speaking to one of his heroes.

“Well, Steve was a damn good leader and we had a good team of men,” Bucky agreed, the hand not holding the handset raised to his head and ran through his hair in an unconscious gesture of embarrassment. 

“Your track record speaks for itself really. It really is an honour, Mr. Barnes,” Phil reiterated, he allowed himself a small smile as he relaxed his stiff posture a bit.

“Well, I don’t want to keep you from your work. The kids just wanted me to introduce myself-“ Bucky was saying.

“Ask if he’s coming for Christmas,” Lila put in quickly before Bucky could end the conversation. 

“Oh, it was no trouble at all,” Phil was quick to reassure. 

“Lila would like me to confirm…”

“Go on,” Lila encouraged as Bucky stopped mid sentence.

“She’d like to know whether you will be visiting for Christmas?” Bucky added, not sounding as confident or assured as he had previously.

“Oh? Um, yes, I was planning to stop by,” Phil replied after a moment to adapt to the change of topic. 

“I’ll pass on the message,” Bucky said into the phone before turning to the excited looking children, “he says he’s coming.” 

“Yes!” Lila cheered as both Harry and Cooper let out similarly excitable exclamations. Obviously having moved on from their earlier disappointment with their uncle.

“They’re all very happy to hear that,” Bucky relayed.

“Great. Maybe I’ll have the opportunity to speak with you in person then. Goodbye, Mr. Barnes,” Phil said allowing Bucky to return the sentiment before ending the call. 

“Wow,” Phil murmured putting the phone down on his desk and leaning further back into his chair. “I just spoke to Bucky Barnes, the Bucky Barnes.”

“That you did,” Clint agreed with an easy grin. “Also interrogated him because you doubted he was in fact himself.”

“God. Don’t remind me,” Phil said, shifting from his happy, relaxed posture to lowering his head to rest on his desk. 

***

Bucky had had a bedroom set up for him on the top floor of the house the same day Harry asked if he could move in. Bucky had been surprised by how long it took him to adjust to sleeping in a bed again. The bed was also a lot softer than he ever remembered his bed before the war. He couldn't fairly compare it to his time sleeping in the woods or under HYDRA's control.

Living with young kids was an adjustment he had to admit. There were parts of living with them that he remembered from when he and his sisters were young. It felt louder and a little more chaotic, but it was also very joyful. As the holidays approached Lila had taken to randomly singing Christmas songs and carols, Cooper would always make a noise of exasperation and annoyance but Bucky had caught him joining in quietly multiple times. Harry was learning the songs, though his lyrics were often better than the originals or at least that was Bucky's opinion. 

Bucky thought he would feel awkward and like an outsider living in another family’s home, but the kids didn’t give him a chance to feel uncomfortable. It took Lila and Cooper a little time to adjust to him, but the call to their Uncle Phil went a long way to making them relax and feel happy playing with him. 

He enjoyed the organised chaos that was the Barton family home, he still did his perimeter checks during the day and offered assistance with household chores or repairs where he could. Some of the modern machines left him confused so he mostly stuck to manual tasks like helping in the kitchen and cleaning.

“Come on, Bucky, it’s snowing,” Harry shouted excitedly running up the stairs to try and find the man. The holidays had just begun and it was Harry's first proper chance to play in the snow.

“Don’t shout in the house, Harry,” Laura called up from the bottom of the staircase. 

“Sorry, mommy,” Harry whispered, looking over the banister at Laura with an apologetic smile, before continuing to rush, not run, the rest of the way up to the top floor.

Spotting Bucky through the open door Harry smiled brightly and ran into the room before freezing on the spot and quickly reversing out of the room, “sorry,” he mumbled before knocking on the door. It was one of Laura’s main rules: knock and wait for an answer before entering a bedroom. 

“It’s fine, pal. How can I help?” Bucky asked with a grin, ignoring the shouting Harry had been doing. 

“HARRY, hurry up, get Bucky and let’s go,” Lila bellowed up at them both. 

Bucky could just to catch the sound of Laura admonishing Lila for yelling in the house immediately after she had told Harry off for the exact same thing. 

“It’s snowing, Bucky. It looks so fluffy and white, we’re gonna build a snowman and play and have fun, you gonna come play?” Harry asked, turning his hopeful gaze on the older man. 

Bucky wasn’t a fan of the cold, he glanced out the window at the white landscape that had being forming over the past few days as the snowfall increased and the snow began to settle on the ground rather than melt away. 

“Please, Bucky. Pretty please with snow on top,” Harry begged, obviously having decided Bucky was taking too long. 

“Alright, alright, if you're asking with snow on top. Let’s go, pal,” Bucky agreed merrily enough, getting up from where he had been lying on the bed reading a book. 

“HARRY,” Lila shouted again impatiently. 

“We’re coming,” Harry called back down loudly but not quite shouting. He grabbed Bucky’s hand to pull him along leading the way as if the older man would get lost en route.

When they reached the front hall, Lila was sat on the bottom step with a mutinous look on her face. “Time out for shouting,” she murmured with a shake of her head when Bucky raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"Ah," Bucky said with a nod of understanding.

~ ~ ~

“Harry, you make the ball for the head,” Cooper instructed. “Bucky, can you start the middle one, then when Lila gets out here she can take over and I’ll start on the bottom one.” 

“Okay,” Harry cheered, clapping his gloved hands together then he paused. He didn’t actually know how to make a snowman’s head. They had never had any snow in Surrey not that he remembered anyway. 

Bucky set to work packing a couple handfuls of snow into a compact ball, Harry slowly made his way over to the man carefully watching what he was doing. “Grab some snow and push it tightly together,” Bucky advised, bending down to place his snowball on the floor to begin rolling it to collect more snow.

Harry quickly followed the advice, grabbing two big handful and smushed them together, “like that?” He asked, holding out the loose ball of snow. 

“Yeah. You should push a little harder though so that the ball is firmer and it all sticks together better, then you can start rolling it around the rest of the snow on the ground,” Bucky said, giving his section of the snowman a firm roll. 

“I’m here! I’m here. What do I do?” Lila called running as quickly as she could through the snow, pulling her mittens and hat on as she ran. 

“Bucky started your section of the snowman, you’re doing the middle bit,” Cooper called back, already having a sizeable ball for the lowest section of their snow creation. There was also a path marked out behind him to show his progress. 

“Okay, I can do it now, Bucky,” Lila said with a smile as she approached the other two. “Thank you for starting,” she added after a moment remembering her manners. 

“No problem, kid. I can help Harry,” Bucky said standing and shaking out his hands. He was only wearing one glove but he didn't want any snow to get stuck in the metal arm. 

“Yeah, come on, Bucky. We’ll make the bestest head ever,” Harry exclaimed, shoving his steadily growing snowball. 

All three kids were focused on heir own tasks for a while before Cooper called out, “I think it should be good now. Lila, Harry, bring your sections here.”

“Why do we gotta come to you?” Lila asked, puffing her breaths after the effort of growing her snowman part.

“It's have to, not gotta. And it's because my bit is the biggest and hardest to move,” Cooper retorted simply, crossing his arms.

“Oh, okay,” Lila agreed, ignoring the grammatical correction. “Bucky will you carry mine, please?” She asked kindly. 

“Sure. Will you help Harry if he needs it?” Bucky asked in return making his way to collect the medium sized section.

“Uhuh,” she agreed, following along beside Harry who was waddling a little under the weight of his armful. 

“Don’t need help,” he muttered, carefully looking where he was going, not wanting to drop his precious cargo. 

“Alright, Bucky put yours on first, then Harry you need to carefully put yours on top of that,” Cooper instructed when the others were closer to him. 

The construction of the snowman went smoothly, Harry needed to be lifted slightly so he could place the head on flat. 

“Good job,” Cooper said to his workforce. “We need to sticks, some stones, a carrot, and a hat and scarf,” he added. 

The kids scattered, Bucky stuck with Harry who headed to the edge of the woods for the snowman’s arms. 

“Is this one good for an arm?” Harry asked struggling to pick up a small branch. 

“A bit too big, pal. If you can’t pick it up, how can the snowman use it?” Bucky replied with a small chuckle. 

“Oh, yeah,” Harry happily accepted. “Silly billy, too big,” he chided himself with a giggle.

“AAAHHHH, LILA, stop it,” Cooper suddenly shouted. Bucky turned from Harry to see why they were shouting. Cooper was jumping around shaking out the back of his coat. 

“What?” Lila asked trying for innocent. 

“I will get you back for that. Now my neck’s all wet and cold,” Cooper groused loudly, reaching down to make a snowball. 

“Uh oh,” Harry murmured quietly from beside Bucky. He was now holding two better sized sticks, watching his siblings begin to throw snow at each other. 

“You wanna join the snowball fight?” Bucky asked kindly looking back to the youngest Barton. 

Harry answered after a moment of thought, “umm… after the snowman has arms.”

“Let’s do that then, pal,” Bucky agreed, walking beside Harry while keeping an eye on the older two. 

“Careful, Harry,” Lila yelled when Harry almost knocked the snowman over putting in the first arm. 

“It’s alright, Lila,” Bucky cut in before anyone had their feelings hurt, “Harry knows to be gentler with this arm, don’t ya pal?” 

“Mhm,” Harry said, tongue sticking out as he focused on getting the arm just right. “There, arrrgh,” he shrieked, having received a snowball to the cheek. Tears began to pool in his eyes. 

“Sorry, Harry. I’m sorry. Don’t cry, please don’t cry,” Cooper said quickly hurrying over. He hadn’t meant to hit Harry, especially not in the face. 

“Hey, pal, it’s alright,” Bucky said gently, crouching down and reaching over to brush the remaining snow and some of the tears from the young boy’s face. “You’re okay, aren’t you?” 

Harry just shook his head tearfully as Cooper continued to apologise repeatedly. Lila quietly watched on adding the final touches to the snowman as the scene played out behind her. 

“D'you want a hug?” Bucky offered holding his arm out. 

Harry nodded, rubbing a mitten across his eyes, quickly stepping into the hug tightly gripping onto Bucky’s shoulders. 

“You’re alright, pal.” Bucky comforted, holding on just as tightly. After a while he murmured quietly “it just means we have to get him back better, right?” This drew a small sniffly giggle from Harry who pulled back a little to nod. 

“Ready, pal?” Bucky asked, when he got a nod he slowly made a snowball and handed it to Harry to throw. He missed, but he was giggling as Cooper dodged away from him quickly to make his own snowballs. 

When they finally went to go back inside all four of them were sporting rosy cheeks and bright grins, the kids all had wet mittens and a least a little snow dusting their hair. Bucky’s jumper under his borrowed coat was soaked from when the kids teamed up and shoved snow down his back. 

Laura met them on the porch with a grin, “all the snow stays outside, then there’s hot cocoa in the kitchen.”

All four of them murmured some kind of agreement. Cooper was kicking his boots gently against the porch steps to remove the snow from them. Harry had copied Lila who was shaking herself vigorously to get as much snow off. 

“Thank you, Bucky,” Laura said with a smile as she helped Lila hop out her boots and salopettes. 

“No problem, we had a great time, didn’t we?” He said looking to the kids who all nodded with big smiles.

Chapter Text

It had been a long day and Clint was exhausted. But his happiness to be home in time for the excitement and joy of the Christmas season was more prominent than his tiredness. He also had the added benefit of bringing his two best friends home for the holidays with him. 

He pushed the front door open and took a moment to bask in being home. The smells, the sounds, the feeling as though he was wrapped in a warm, loving hug. He could hear the sounds of a movie playing and knew if he turned to his right he would be able to see more than the just the glimpses he caught in his peripheral vision. 

“Loving family, I’m home,” Clint called joyously, following what was becoming his usual routine of dropping his duffle bag onto the floor as an added announcement of his arrival.

“DAD.”

“DADDY.”

“AUNTIE NAT.”

Came the three excitable shouts from his children. It was only after a moment that the words hit him, Harry had called him daddy... for the first time. He was still absorbing the shock and thrilled love that was running through him as he bent down to hug the boys as they ran towards him. 

“Oof, careful pal, I may look like I have abs of steel but a foot to the gut still hurts,” a lightly accented male voice said from the sofa. Bucky, Clint assumed, before his full attention returned to his sons. 

“Sorry, Bucky,” Harry called back apologetically as he threw himself at Clint with his arms stretched wide open. Quickly followed by Cooper joining them both in the hug. 

“What am I? Chopped liver,” Phil asked exaggeratedly, though Clint could hear the underlying amusement in his tome. 

“Hey, buddy, how are you?” Clint asked, his bright grin having completely taken over his face. He placed a kiss on first Harry’s then Cooper’s head. Squeezing them tightly in a hug. He could hear Nat speaking happily to a bubbly Lila as two sets of footsteps approached. 

“Hi love,” Clint said, looking up from his crouched position with the same brilliant smile that reached his eyes.

“Welcome home, all of you. It’s great to see you, Phil,” Laura said with a smile as she approached the other man for a quick embrace. She lightly brushed a hand over both boys' heads as she crossed the entrance hall. 

“Finally, someone who appreciates me,” Phil muttered still smiling as he returned Laura’s hug. 

"Someone's got to," Nat teased without missing a beat.

Phil ignored the remark, continuing as if he hadn't heard, “thank you for having me, Laura. You’re looking really well.”

Clint heard Natasha quiet shocked tone as she obviously took in the other adult who had stopped in the doorway to the living room, “Yasha.”

“Natalia,” Bucky murmured in return equally as caught off guard as his gaze quickly swept over the woman before him. A glimmer of recognition in his eyes. 

“Oh, oh yeah,” Harry said excitedly obviously having caught their words, wiggling his way out of the group hug after giving Clint one final tight squeeze. “Bucky, this is my daddy, Clint, Auntie Nat, and Uncle Phil,” Harry said introducing the adults while pulling on Bucky’s arm to bring him further into the familial moment. 

Laura shared a loving and pleased smile with Clint as she caught the new appellation Harry had used for Clint. 

“Thanks, pal,” Bucky said with a small smile for Harry as he ran a comforting hand over Harry’s hair. “It’s nice to meet you in person, Uncle Phil,” Bucky greeted with a gently teasing tone as he held out a hand for the other man to shake.

“Apologies again for that Sergeant Barnes, it really is such an honour to meet you,” Phil replied with a very faint blush on his face as he firmly shook Bucky’s hand. 

“It’s no problem, Uncle Phil,” Bucky continued with a boyish charm and cheeky light entering his eyes.

“He’s a war hero, Uncle Phil. He helped fight the Nazis and you- you inte-rro-gated him,” Cooper reminded sounding out the difficult word as he gave a fake disappointed shake of his head whilst looking to their uncle. 

“And Daddy, and Auntie Nat,” Harry reminded Bucky pulling him to Clint and then Natasha. 

It wasn't until later that evening that Bucky and Natasha had time to slip away and speak without other people listening in. They agreed to let their past interactions from the Red Room, during their time as a Black Widow and Winter Soldier, to remain in the past where it belonged. They both returned looking more relaxed with the other but decided to keep their conversation to themselves, nobody else needed to know what they had discussed.

***

The weather outside had remained cold and snowy. But the kids were enjoying an afternoon indoors after a morning outside. 

“Ahhhhh, be careful, Harry, the floor’s on fire,” Lila suddenly shouted as she jumped from the floor onto one of the armchairs. Thereby disturbing the quiet that had settled over the living room where they had both been playing quite happy for around a hour.

“WHAT?” Harry shouted quickly in fear, jumping up from where he had been sat opposite Lila, he began frantically looking around for the fire. “Where’s the fire, Lila?” He asked confused not spotting the supposed flames. 

"Everything, okay in there?" Bucky called out from somewhere in the kitchen.

“Yeah, we're fine," she responded promptly before adding, "Get off the floor, Harry, or you're going to catch on fire,” Lila said, carefully stepping from the armchair to the coffee table. 

Harry quickly scrambled to obey the order, still confused by Lila’s weird actions. She told Bucky they were fine but told him he was going to burn and he couldn’t see or smell any fire or smoke.

As Harry just stood on the sofa watching her, Lila began to explain, “it’s a game, Harry. The floor is lava. We can’t touch the floor or we’ll burn, okay?” 

“Oh, okay,” Harry agreed. Before questioning her position, knowing their parents, but especially Laura, would not be happy if she caught Lila stood on the table, “should you be standing on the table?”  

“How else am I meant to get to sofa without being burnt?” Lila asked indignantly, surely their parents would understand the urgency of the situation. “Help me, Harry,” she ordered.

“Right,” he said, easily falling into the role of following orders, he placed one hand holding the back of the sofa as he slowly reached his other arm out towards his sister. “Um, I don’t think you’re gonna make it,” he pointed out taking in the big gap between the table and the sofa. 

“Then drop a cushion on the floor and I’ll have to be quick or I’ll get burned alive,” Lila said with a determined set to her face. 

“Three, two, one, go,” Harry instructed before chucking one of the sofa cushions to the ground. It bounced once and landed in an awkward position nowhere near the table Lila was perched on 

“How am I meant to get there, Harry?” Lila demanded watching as the cushion was swallowed by imaginary flames, sinking below the pool of lava. “Now, it’s gone.”

Harry looked to the perfectly normal cushion and back to Lila, he opened his mouth to say something but was rudely interrupted. 

“Gone. Burnt. No more,” Lila declared. “Now try again, go for there,” she said pointing to a spot between the coffee table and the sofa. “Careful… gentle… I don’t want to burn,” she coached before dramatically ending her encouragement and dragging out the word 'burn' to emphasise her point.   

“Okay, get ready to jump, Lila. What ‘m I gonna do if you burn?” Harry said getting caught up in the excitement of the game. He threw the cushion more gently and it landed close to the pointed out place. “Quickly, Lila,” Harry squealed, imagining the lava slowly eating the cushion. 

Lila took her life in her hands and jumped from the table onto the cushion and reached out for Harry to help pull her up. “Quick, my foot is burning,” she squealed with a small laugh. 

Harry reached out with both hands and quickly pulled her on to the sofa. They collapsed beside each other, though Harry was quick to pull his legs back from the edge as he imagined a fire ball spitting up out of the lava floor. “Um, Lila, I think the sofa is one fire too,” Harry said rolling towards her to get away from the other end of the sofa. 

“Oh, no, we need to get Cooper so he can help us,” Lila declared. 

“But we don’t got enough cushions. How're we gonna make it?” Harry asked feeling a little stressed. 

“Um… we’ll have to get all the cushions and blankets we can and use them. 

“‘Kay,” Harry agreed looking around the room. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move making him almost fall back in surprise as he swung around just in time to see a ball of fire drop to the ground. “Lila, Lila, there’s fire,” he said. 

“I know, Harry,” Lila dismissed also looking for what they could grab, luckily there was a throw blanket on the back of the sofa. “No, Lila, there’s fire, real fire,” Harry said shaking her arm to get her attention. 

“What?” She asked, throwing her head around rapidly towards Harry in time to see another ball of fire rise from the floor, her gaze swept across the living room as the floor slowly transformed into lava. “Cool,” she breathed out awe colouring her tone.

“What? The floor is on fire and you think it’s cool?” Harry asked panicking as he moved further away from where the fire ball had been. 

“I think it’s just your magic, Harry,” Lila said she slowly crouched down to touch a finger to the floor, ignoring all warnings her parents had given her about touching something hot. 

“NO,” Harry shouted hurrying to pull Lila away, but he was too late. 

“Oh,” Lila said breathing out in surprise feeling a tingling warmth when she touched the ‘lava’. “It’s okay, Harry, it doesn’t really burn, now let’s play before the sofa is eaten by the flames.”

Harry took a while to process the new information, his magic had made the fire, to make the game better, his magic was playing with them, “okay, quickly, we need to move,” he shrieked letting the fear slide away as he quickly climbed the arm of the sofa to try and jump to the other arm chair.

After hearing bits and pieces from the conversation in the living room Bucky was debating whether he should step in or not, but ultimately decided the kids seemed to be having fun so he would leave them to it whilst keeping an ear open for any problems. 

~ ~ ~

Cooper had been in his room reading a comic, he reached towards his bedside table for a drink when he caught sight of the floor. The floor was an orangey-red colour that looked a bit like lava, the potential lava was slowly spreading across his room, not in the way that the paths were made after a volcano erupted but as if something was replacing the carpet and floorboards with a new very lifelike lava floor. 

“Cooper,” Lila shouted before a knock sounded at his door which drew his attention to the noise being made outside of his room. 

“Do you think he’s in there?” Harry asked loudly, “quick, Lila, we need something else to stand on before it gets eaten by the Lava,” Harry continued hurriedly. 

“Cooper, help,” Lila called, banging more rapidly on the door. 

“You can come in,” Cooper replied, correctly guessing the lava floor had been caused by Harry in his excitement. 

The door to his room swung open and he could see both Harry and Lila huddled together on what looked like one of their dad’s coats that was slowly being submerged in the lava.

“Damn,” he murmured surveying his room. “Lila jump onto that sweater, Harry try and reach the laundry hamper,” he instructed, keeping an eye on the lava around his bed to check he was safe. 

“What do I do?” Harry squealed as Lila jumped to a sweater Cooper had left lying on the floor, abandoning Harry on the slowly disappearing coat. 

“Pull it over so it's lying flat, then jump on its side,” Cooper suggested. 

Harry was straining to grab the hamper and managed to grab a pair of jeans that were hanging over the edge which toppled the hamper. Harry emitted a small scream as his left foot was touched by the lava and he hopped, then jumped across to land partly on the hamper, he had to use his right foot to push himself more fully onto the basket. “Oh, no, I touched the lava,” he cried in horror.

Despite Harry’s struggle it had reassured Cooper that the lava floor wasn’t actually going to hurt them. Whilst Harry had been struggling to move beyond the doorway, Lila had used scattered pieces of clothing as stepping stones to make it to Cooper’s bed. 

“Now what?” She asked, as Harry pulled articles of clothing out of the hamper as potential future stepping stones. 

“I don’t know,” Cooper said, “but we need to be careful of that lava monster,” he added fully joining the game and pointing to the far corner of his room.

“What?” Harry asked, dropping a sock in his shock. The sock was quickly eaten by the floor. 

“Monster?” Lila questioned, sounding scared but also excited. 

“Quickly, Harry throw me a t-shirt or a sweater,” Cooper ordered, walking to the edge of his bed. 

“The monster can spit fireballs,” Lila exclaimed as she hurried across the bed to climb onto Cooper’s desk. 

“Ahhh,” Harry cried as he lobbed a piece of clothing at Cooper who only just managed to catch it. 

“We need to evacuate and seek help to defeat the monster,” Cooper explained taking control of his troops. “Grab some of the big books, Lila, then go back across the stepping stones of fiery doom,” he instructed. 

Harry had extracted all useable clothing from the hamper and was trying to work out where to go when a pillow landed a big step away from the slowly disappearing hamper. “Quick, Harry, you’re going to have to make a trail out the room before the monster eats you,” Cooper called, already using a blanket to form a bridge across the lava. “Go, go, go, soldiers,” he called out in his best serious Uncle Phil voice. 

“Sir, yes, sir,” Lila retorted, throwing a quick salute and pushing off from the desk on the wheelie chair. “The monster is approaching quickly, the desk has been eaten by flames,” she exclaimed, imagining the fire it would cause. 

~ ~ ~

Bucky and Clint had been left in charge of the children whilst the other adults had gone to gather last minute presents and supplies for the holiday food and baking that was sure to begin in earnest sometime soon. 

Bucky had begun the food prep for the evening meal and Clint had been outside checking on the chickens and doing some of the tasks that Laura had left for him. Bucky had continued keeping an ear open for any sounds of distress or pain from the kids, but most of the squealing and yelling had been in joy so he had left them to it. 

As Clint returned through the back door Bucky happened to glance up and have a perfect line of sight into the living room, despite the dividing doors being left only a little ajar.

“Um, Clint,” Bucky began his voice completely neutral whilst he was looking towards the living room floor in askance, “is your living room meant to have lava on it?” 

“What?” Clint almost yelped quickly spinning around from where he had been pulling off his boots to look in the direction Bucky was. “No. No, it is not. I’m sure it’s just something the kids have created,” he responded trying to brush it off lightly as a more common occurrence than it admittedly was. 

Internally Clint could admit that he was panicking a little - or a lot - because he was not sure how he was meant to explain this to someone not in the know about magic. He was seriously hoping it was magic and that it wasn’t anything posing real danger to the kids or the house. This was not a situation that could easily be overlooked. “I’ll just have a look to see what the kids are up to,” he put in calmly, from where he was stood he couldn’t actually see into the living room, but he kept his body language relaxed to maintain the image of composure. 

“Alright,” Bucky agreed nonchalantly, returning his attention to the cutting board where he was dicing an onion. Clint bitterly noted there wasn’t a single sign of tears in the other man’s eyes, maybe being super human protected you from the tear-inducing power of onions. 

The quiet sounds of food prep was accompanied by the muffled excitable exclamations and thumps of feet as the kids entertained themselves upstairs. 

Upon catching sight of the living room he knew he was screwed. Oh so very screwed. There was literally no possible way to logically explain why it looked like their furniture was suddenly situated in a volcano… that also included the occasional jumping fire ball as if it were a Mario bros game. Clint felt the strong desire to facepalm but was unwilling to give into the desire, he had a mask of composure to maintain. “Kids, huh, what are you gonna do?” He asked, turning back to Bucky with a forced chuckle as he shut the ajar door firmly behind him. “Excuse me for just one second,” Clint said before heading down the corridor.

“No problem,” Bucky replied, hiding his amusement and smile until Clint had left the room. Apparently Harry hadn’t informed his parents that Bucky knew about magic, they had spoken about it briefly on a few occasions when Harry visited him in the woods. This could be very entertaining he thought. 

“Kids,” came a shout from Clint as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. Stairs which were also swamped in lava, though there were no fire balls apparently which was a relief. 

“Yeah?” Came the questioning response from Cooper as the kids continued their on-going discussion at a quieter volume.

“Come here, now… please,” Clint requested, trying to keep his voice level as he awaited their arrival.

“Hurry,” Cooper ordered, Clint took a moment to appreciate Cooper responding before that appreciation filtered away as the rest of the command was issued, “otherwise the blanket will sink.” 

“Should we slide down the banister?” Lila queried, apparently still focused more on their game than their dad. 

“We wouldn’t get eaten by the lava monster and- and- and it would be like whoosh, whoosh, so fast,” Harry put in a bubbly voice. 

“Do not slide down the banister,” Clint called up to them sternly, giving in to the urge to rub a hand over his face. 

“Ah, but…” Lila began in annoyance. 

“No,” Clint responded firmly before her argument could build momentum. 

“Fine,” was the audibly unimpressed acquiescence. 

Clint wasn’t sure that the part jumping, part shuffling manner in which the kids eventually made their way down the stairs was safer than sliding down the banister would have been, but eventually his children were gathered uninjured at the base of the stairs. Lila stood with her feet in between the bottom rungs of the banister, Cooper on the small shoe storage slash bench, and Harry in his arms. 

“Quick, daddy,” Harry urged his eyes fixed up the stairs as if watching out for something, “before the monster comes.”

Clint melted a little at Harry calling his daddy again, but he firmed his resolve before continuing, “why is there lava everywhere?” He asked in a measured tone. 

“We’re playing the floor is lava,” Lila responded quickly in a tone that suggested the question was rather stupid. 

“Okay. Let me rephrase that… why is the floor covered in lava when anyone unaware of magic could see?” Clint questioned, gently shuffling Harry a little in his arms in a prompt. 

Lila and Clint both paused at this new question, not having considered that someone who may not know about magic could see.

“But- but everyone knows,” Harry responded, his forehead scrunching up in confusion. “You, and mommy, and Lila, and Cooper…”

“Bucky, Harry,” Clint interjected as Harry started listing everyone. “He doesn’t know.”

“Yuhuh,” Harry replied. 

 Clint paused with this response as it did not answer his point, was Harry agreeing that Bucky didn’t know or was he saying he did?

“Bucky?” Harry shouted, shocking Clint with the sudden loud noise in his ear. 

“Yes, Harry?” Came the warmly toned response. 

“No, Harry, shush,” Cooper quickly instructed. Whilst Lila was frantically shaking her head at the younger boy. 

“Harry-“ Clint began, only for Harry to ignore all of them. 

“You know ‘bout magic,” Harry shouted. 

“Course, pal. Tilda had magic, remember,” Bucky responded calmly. 

Before Clint could process this fact, Lila let out a squeal. 

“Quick, the monster’s coming, run,” Lila said which caused Harry to start squirming to be put down and Cooper to grab a coat from behind him to lie on the floor. 

Clint slowly made his way back to the kitchen, then finally questioned “you know about magic?” 

“Yeah, my sister was a witch,” Bucky replied with a bright teasing grin, as if he hadn’t just caused Clint to almost have a heart attack and fear his son was breaking one of the most important magical laws of all time, the Statute of Secrecy.

"Right. Of course," Clint replied, sinking into a seat at the table, ignoring the chuckle Bucky gave at his reaction.

***

After the lava incident the rest of the holidays had seemed to fly by; they played in the snow, baked specials desserts and treats, made decorations to hang around the house, decorated the tree, watched seasonal films, drank hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. Before long and much sooner than anyone wanted it had was New Years and Uncle Phil and Auntie Nat were leaving again to return to work. 

Christmas day had been very exciting for Harry. He got presents that he was allowed to touch and open and keep for the first time and he got to join in all of the events rather than just listen to whatever the Dursleys were doing. 

Harry was woken up by Lila bouncing on his bed and she was babbling about waking up the adults and Cooper so they could go open presents from Santa. It was so early it was still really dark outside, but both of them hurried to wake Cooper by throwing themselves onto him and shouting at him to wake up. Cooper did not appreciate their form of waking him, however he did lose his annoyance at the reminder of what day it was. Then it was decided they should divide and conquer each going to wake up a different adult to bring them all downstairs for gifts. 

Harry had been so thrilled he had been unable to stop bouncing around, he got to rip the wrapping paper off of his three presents from Santa. Then they had a simple family breakfast to leave them with plenty of room for the special Christmas meal, which was delicious. Harry tried a lot of little mouthfuls of new foods and enjoyed the main meal and dessert feeling very full at the end of it. After the meal they passed around and opened the gifts altogether from their family.

One of the things Harry found most exciting was that they had a real Christmas tree, it wasn't like the fake one the Dursley's had had. It smelt like a tree and it was bright green with long branches, and the needles fell out and created a bit of an outdoor carpet inside. They hung ornaments off it and wrapped tinsel around it, with carefully placed presents underneath it. He was still finding the occasional needle other places in the house even with all the cleaning and tidying they had been doing. 

Another thing he liked was when he was allowed to help wrap a few gifts for Aunt Nat and Uncle Phil, but he was almost too excited as he wanted to tell them what was inside the sparkly, bright paper. He had to be shushed or force himself to stop sharing before he ruined the surprise. 

Whilst Harry was falling asleep he thought about how much fun opening presents with his family had been. He got given a bow and arrows that had suction cup tips. He was squirming with excitement just thinking about being able to try them out. But he was surprised by how brilliant it was watching everyone else open their presents and smile. Especially Bucky, he had been so shocked before a small pleased smile plastered itself across his face when Harry had presented him with the gift. The gift held a couple of picture frames with photos from their time together and a few from the internet of Bucky with his old friends and family.

"Best Christmas ever," Harry quietly murmured to himself, smiling sleepily. He snuggled deeper into his pillow, hugging his toy niffler tightly with one arm. 

His new family had shown him how Christmas was meant to be. He did so many christmasy things that he had only ever heard of in stories. He fell asleep with a smile on his face and welcomed in a new year in a new home with the best new family ever. Unaware that the wards surrounding and protecting his family increased these feelings as they had been steadily growing more powerful as they absorbed the extreme feelings of love and happiness from every family member, it had made them the strongest they had ever been. More powerful than Lily Potter could have ever hoped to dream they would be.

Chapter Text

“What are we gonna do about Bucky?” Clint mentioned as both he and Laura were getting ready for bed. 

The holidays had been very joyous and he was both looking forward to and dreading the reprieve that the kids going back to school would bring. The three youngest Bartons had been loud and excitable as would be expected, they’d been in and out of the house making the most of the snow, though this also came with the added risk, that had befallen all of them bar Nat, of stepping in a puddle of melted snow in socked feet. 

“What d’you mean?” Laura asked from the en suite where she was just finishing up her nighttime routine by spitting the toothpaste out of her mouth and giving her face a final wash and dry.

“Well, our timeline on bending the rules is reaching its end, so we either need to get him officially approved or we need to find another solution for his accommodation,” Clint replied, drawing Laura in for a kiss as she reentered the bedroom.

“Mmm,” she murmured into the kiss, her thoughts slowing as just took the time to enjoy these moments of closeness with her husband. 

“Hopefully it should now be easier to get him approved at MACUSA as he might already have some magical records thanks to his sister,” Clint put in once he pulled back from the kiss. Making his own way to the en suite to clean his teeth.

“Right, yes, we need to get Bucky approved by WCPS to live here, if that’s what he wants, of course,” Laura replied, settling herself into their bed, though she wasn’t sure she could imagine the house without the other man who was fast becoming an essential part of the family despite him only having truly been with them for a few weeks. 

Every single member of the family had come to enjoy Bucky living with them. He was a lovely person; funny, teasing, great with the kids, and helpful around the house. He was willing to help out in anyway he could, be that playing with and distracting the children, or helping with the household chores. Laura honestly did not know nor want to see what Harry would do if they told him Bucky was no longer allowed to live with them. Harry loved the other man as both a friend and family member, she knew with absolute certainty that Harry would not respond well to anyone trying to take someone he loved away from him.

“We’ll ask him in the morning then,” Clint agreed happily, he had also enjoyed spending time and getting to know Bucky who had slowly come to fit in well with their friends. Once he finished his quick nighttime routine he walked over to his side of the bed and lightly moved one of his pillows into a better shape before lying back against it. 

“If he agrees, we can get the paperwork started when Harry has to go back in for one of his follow up appointments next week,” Laura added before yawning widely. 

“Good idea. Night, love,” Clint said, rolling over to place one final kiss on her lips before settling back down.

“Love you, night,” she murmured quietly as she settled down to let the exhaustion claim her.

***

Since the return to school Bucky had taken over the mayhem that could be giving the kids their afterschool snack.

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky,” Harry chanted running down the hallway to the kitchen, he hadn’t even stopped to remove his coat when he entered the house, though his shoes had quickly been shucked off and his hat pulled from his head leaving parts of his hair even more messily sticking up in random areas than normal. 

“What can we have for a snack?” Cooper asked as Harry threw himself at the older man for a hug. 

“I’m starving,” Lila exclaimed while dramatically collapsing into her chair at the table. Both older kids having successfully divested themselves of their outdoor clothing. 

“Hey, Harry. Cooper, Lila, how was school?” Bucky greeted with a smile, ruffling Cooper’s hair when he stopped in front of him with the hand not returning Harry’s hug.

“School was good,” Cooper responded, “snack?” He asked again questioningly. 

“Oooh, cupcakes,” Lila said as she glanced across at the kitchen counter where three small cakes remained from a batch made earlier in the week.

“Oooh,” Harry voiced in agreement, pulling back from Bucky to look towards the treat. 

“Fruit first,” Bucky said, “meant to be for dessert but… I suppose after the fruit you can each have a cupcake,” he added when three sets of pleading eyes turned towards him, how was he meant to say no when they looked at him like that?

“Yes,” came the happy cheers from the kids

“So, what fruit would you like?” Bucky asked, pointing to the fruit bowl. 

“Oooh, oooh, can I have a ‘nana, please, Bucky?” Harry asked. Receiving a nod from Bucky, he smiled and skipped to the table and sat down in his spot.

“Grapes,” Lila said, quickly adding a thank you when Cooper coughed pointedly.  

"An apple for me, thanks,” Cooper put in, after his spontaneous coughing fit cleared up and he reached over to take the platter holding the cupcakes to the table.

“Nobody is to touch a cake before their fruit is finished,” Bucky said authoritatively as he got the fruit prepared. 

“Yes sir,” Cooper agreed with a sloppy salute. “Though I’ll have the chocolate one,” he laid his claim. He placed the plate of cakes away from Lila and closer to him and Harry. 

“No, I want the chocolate one,” Lila broke in. 

“Well, I said I wanted it first,” Cooper said with all the confidence of an older sibling who been the first to claim something. First come, first serve, after all.

“But, I want it,” Lila indignantly exclaimed, slamming her palms down on to the table to highlight her outrage.

Harry just watched the ongoing argument, his head swivelling from one sibling to the other. 

“If you don’t stop arguing, Harry will get the chocolate one,” Bucky put in sternly before the argument could be allowed to go on any further. He put the bowls of fruit down in front of them.

“Thank you,” Harry said, picking up the peeled chunks of banana. Cooper and Lila said their own thanks before beginning to eat. They started eating quickly in the hopes that if they finished first they would be the one to get the most desired cupcake. 

“Slow down,” Bucky instructed worried one of them was going to choke on the fruit. Fruit was meant to be good for your health, not a risk to it.

“Fine, rock, paper, scissors?” Cooper offered.

“Okay,” Lila nodded in acquiescence. 

They faced off against each from either sides of the table, their left hands held flat with their right held in fist on top.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot,” they said in tandem, tapping their fist to their palm with each word before thrusting out their right hands. Both of them chose rock. 

Whilst they got ready to go again, Harry slowly reached out to pick up the chocolate cupcake, pausing to check his movements weren't seen, luckily neither of his elder siblings gave his gesture any attention too busy focusing on their game. 

Bucky watched on, knowing he should be stopping Harry but also kind of wanting to see what would happen when the others noticed their chosen cupcake had already been taken. 

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot,” they began again as Harry took a bite of the cake.

Harry then pulled a morsel of the cake away from the main piece and quietly held it out to Bucky in offering. 

“No, thanks, pal,” he whispered back, lightly shaking his head his eyes glued to the older two waiting for the outcome of their game.

“Yes,” Cooper exclaimed having chosen scissors beating Lila’s paper. He turned to the cake stand to find his prize missing, his eyes quickly moved to Harry. 

“Harry!” He shouted, his cheeks brightening as he took in the sight before him. 

“What?” Lila asked turning to see the same image, Harry had another mouthful and a small smudge of chocolate icing on the edge of his mouth. He offered a little smile which surprisingly didn’t seem to help improve the situation.

“That was mine,” both Lila and Cooper said at the same time. 

“What?” Cooper asked, his voice more confused than angry as he turned to look at Lila. 

“It was my cake,” Lila said in answer to her older brother. Harry continued to happily munch on the cake despite the annoyance he was causing, it was a really nice cake. 

“I just won it,” Cooper said waspishly to Lila.

“Oh, right… well then, good job, Harry,” she said afterwards with a grin. Receiving a returning grin from their younger brother who also had a smudge of the chocolate icing on his front teeth. 

“Bucky!” Cooper tried appealing to the adult as his stolen cupcake was finished off by Harry.

“Sorry, pal,” Bucky responded, “there’s still two other cakes to choose from. As victor you can have first choice over Lila,” he tried to appease the older boy.

“Why’d you do that, Harry?” Cooper asked, his tone sad as he quickly picked up the cupcake with white icing. He would not miss out on his second choice of cake. 

“It looked really yummy,” Harry said mournfully, trying to be apologetic but he had liked the cake a lot so he was happy to have eaten it. It also didn’t help the situation that he was saying this as he licked all the remaining crumbs and icing off his face and fingers.

“Then you should have said you wanted it as well,” Cooper said around a mouthful of his own cupcake.

“But- but- but I wanted it and I got it, if I’da played with you and Lila I might not of,” Harry said with his eyebrows scrunched up as tried to explain his thinking. 

“Yes, but we all wanted the cake Harry,” Cooper replied in annoyance, “next time say you want it, don’t just wait for us to be distracted and then take it,” he continued, finishing his snack. 

“Alright, now that's sorted, who’s got homework?” Bucky asked, not at all subtly steering the talk away from cupcake theft.

“Urgh, no, Bucky,” Lila whined, flopping back in her chair. 

“That’s one, anyone else?” He questioned with a teasing smile as Lila just groaned again in response. 

“Nuhuh,” Harry responded, scooting down from his chair with a bright smile.

“I finished mine last night,” Cooper also added with a smile at Lila. 

“Well then, let’s go, Lila. Go grab your work I’ll be here if you need me,” Bucky said, gently pushing the girl to get up from her chair. 

***

Harry groaned as he put a finger on the baby sock that Clint was holding out in front of him. It was bright yellow and had a fluffy duck on it. Harry was leaning back into the man with Bucky stood facing them looking at the sock with an eyebrow raised, his face displaying his apparent lack of understanding.

“It’s a portkey,” Harry said with a yawn, it had been a tiring week at school, he just wanted to snuggle up on the sofa and watch a movie with his family.

“Really?” Bucky asked, looking more closely at the sock as if it would suddenly appear that much more magical with the new information revealed. He had assumed it was magical why else would they need to be holding on to it, he remembered Tilda mentioning different magical transport but he had never seen Tilda use anything other than the vanishing act... appa-something, so he wasn’t sure what to expect from the sock.

“When you touch it, you’ll feel a weird pull from around the navel, then it’s a spinning, whirling, dizziness inducing experience. But thankfully it’s fairly instantaneous,” Clint explained when Bucky didn’t reach out to take the sock. 

“Come on, Bucky,” Harry said, reaching the hand not touching the small colourful sock out to Bucky.   

“A magical kid, why not magic transport?” Bucky said more to himself than anyone else but also took Harry’s small hand in one of his own. He lowered one finger as the others had to the child’s sock still feeling a kernel of doubt that anything would actually happen. The moment his fingertip made connection with the material the sensation was just as Clint described, like something was hooked through his body and yanking him into a whirlwind that just as suddenly as it began started to fade.

“Whoa,” Bucky breathed out once his feet returned to terra ferma. He blinked a few times to let himself acclimatise to being in a completely new location after touching a baby’s sock. He knew socks belonging to children could be magical objects in their own right, vanishing without a trace, but he was fairly certain this was not the type of magic mothers he had once overheard speaking of socks had meant.  

“You okay, Bucky?” Harry asked gently swinging his hand in question. 

“Yeah, pal. Just a little…” he trailed off as his gaze was pulled to the space around them, “sweet Jesus.” 

“Welcome to MACUSA,” Clint said, enjoying the obvious wonder and amazement the ex-mythical weapon of HYDRA was showing at the self-propelling memos and magic taking place around them. 

“Thanks,” Bucky murmured not truly paying attention, letting his eyes be drawn from one place to another after he had quickly swept for any possible dangers nearby.  

“We gotta go to the medical wing, ‘member,” Harry said, tugging on Bucky’s arm as he began leading the way. 

“Alright, pal, I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” he agreed with a chuckle as Harry set a fast pace away from the area they’d arrived in just off the central elevator shaft and staircase.

~ ~ ~

Bucky was taking in his surroundings carefully, it hadn’t taken them long to make their way to the medical wing where he was introduced to Hope Anderson, Harry’s magical social worker. They were currently sat on the other side of large private medical room, it looked a lot different than the last doctor’s office that he had been in. 

Harry was sat on the exam table with Clint sat in a seat close to him, the magic doctor, healer, Bucky corrected himself, was explaining something. They could hear what was happening on the other side of the room but according to Hope the others couldn’t hear what was happening on their side. 

“Mr. Barnes, I was able to find a few records of you here at MACUSA that must have been filed by your sister,” Hope distinguished after taking a quick glance at the documents she had in front of her, “Matilda,” Bucky nodded in confirmation before Hope continued, “they ranged in date from the late thirties to the early forties but nothing after that which ties in with what you explained. You have never been declared dead according to our records thanks to the magic in this next of kin registration.”

“That’s good news,” Bucky eventually said after he allowed the information to register. Thanks to his sister he wasn't completely dead in the world of administration and paperwork, despite him having been declared MIA, assumed dead in '45. He knew that this would make the process of allowing him to be around Harry, and the other kids, and also remain a resident at the Barton farmhouse, less complicated. 

“It certainly makes my life easier,” Hope happily agreed as she began to explain the process he would have to go through and finishing with, “and whilst we’re here, WCPS regulations require you to go through a magical medical exam.” 

“Alright,” Bucky warily consented, knowing he wouldn’t be able to continue the process if he was unwilling to take this one step. “What would that involve?” He asked, his gaze straying to what was happening across the room from them.

“Healer Capaldi would cast a few diagnostic spells on you, we require all foster parents to undertake these tests to see if there are any potential unforeseen health reasons that could impact their ability to care for the children under MACUSA’s protection,” Hope explained. 

“What do the diagnostic spells look at precisely?” Bucky questioned, wanting to be fully informed on what he would be consenting to in advance. 

“First is just a general diagnostic spell, it’s a bit like a normal non-magical checkup, but it also reveals any internal physical ailments or conditions without the need for further screening. Sometimes it reveals things people were unaware they had, for example recently one foster parent was diagnosed with low iron. Others have had allergies or early-stage tumours revealed,” Hope said, providing more information for Bucky.

“So you can help the parents and protect the kids,” Bucky nodded, thinking aloud as he processed everything Hope was telling him. 

“Exactly, foster parents are always needed, we want to help them be at their healthiest and offer any support and guidance necessary so they can best care for and look after their kids,” Hope agreed. “After that spell, there’s one that seeks out any magical interference, lingering curses, compulsions, potions. We want everyone happy, healthy, and going through the process of their own free will.”

Bucky was a little surprised by that, he wouldn't have thought it common for someone to be forced into fostering or adoption. Though he was also impressed with the level of dedication MACUSA put into the process, he didn’t say anything but nodded again to Hope to show he had heard and understood.

“The final spell, as long as nothing else is needed to help you or to help the healer complete accurate diagnosis, is a spell that scans for mental and brain health, this goes hand in hand with compulsions but the brain is so complex just checking on its health is important.”

This final spell made Bucky nervous, he worried that his time under HYDRA control and their muddling with his mind would affect him being able to stay with the Bartons and protect Harry. Considering it carefully he decided it would be better to have the spells cast and find out everything he could, getting help or advice to support him because he could acknowledge his mind was still very much jumbled and struggling. If he had to go back to protecting Harry from further afield he would do that.

Decision made he told Hope with a determined glint to his eyes, “I’ll do the diagnosis.” 

“Wonderful, it seems Healer Capaldi is just finished with Harry,” she accepted his decision easily. She stood from her seat, sending a kind smile to Bucky as she moved back to the other side of the room. 

“How was that, Harry?” She asked tone friendly and bright. 

“Tickly, but I’m all good, no more blackness, right?” He checked looking to the healer who had retaken his seat and had been discussing something with Clint. 

“Pardon? Oh, yes, no more blackness. You’re in fine health, young Mr. Harry,” the healer confirmed seriously.

“See I’m all good-a, Hope,” Harry giggled, leaning forward to give the woman a hug. 

“Like the cheese?” She teased returning the hug without hesitation.

“What?” Harry asked tilting his head to the side as he squinted up at Hope. 

“Gouda is a type of cheese, Mr. All good-a,” Clint clarified for Harry. 

“Oh,” Harry said understanding, “no, I’m not cheese,” Harry said to Hope in a serious tone.

“Phew,” Hope said, wiping a hand across her forehead in exaggerated relief. "I thought you were a young wizard, but sometimes you just don't know."

Getting a quick laugh from Harry before he turned to Clint and asked, “can we go now?” as he hopped across to where Clint was sitting.

Clint looked to Bucky and Hope in askance, remembering from his and Laura’s past experience with MACUSA that they required a magical medical exam. Bucky gave him a quick, firm nod. “Healer Capaldi is going to do a quick check on Bucky so we’ll give them some room and speak with Hope outside, alright, buddy,” Clint replied to Harry calmly. 

“Bucky?” Harry said turning to the other man looking a little nervous, “you’re ill?” 

“No, pal, I’m not ill. I just gotta check my health so we know I’m good to keep playing with you and Cooper and Lila,” Bucky reassured, crouching down to Harry’s level, shooting a bright smile in reassurance. “I want to be able to help you win in more snowball fights, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry cheered, hurrying forward to wrap his arms around Bucky, when he pulled back he planted a quick kiss on Bucky’s cheek mimicking an action Laura and Clint had been doing to him more frequently since he started calling them mommy and daddy. 

The unexpected affectionate action caused Bucky to sport a small gentle smile. 

“See you soon. Make sure he’s all super, super good. Bucky and me are a great snowball team,” Harry directed his last comments to the healer. 

“See you in a bit, pal,” Bucky happily returned as Harry grabbed Clint’s hand and followed the other adults out of the room. “Let’s get this done,” he said when the door had shut, he was nervous this unknown wixen could potentially mess more with his head. Though he reassured himself Clint and Laura would have picked up on something if the man was a bad person, and they would never have let him get anywhere close to Harry if he was. 

***

Luca was making his way into the medical wing at the New York branch, he had been injured out in the field because he had been slow to move due to all the time he was spending overworking himself. 

He had finally given in, he decided he was going to pass on the information he had found and allow the powers that be to do what they do best with it, because he sure as hell hadn’t been able to do anything with it. 

He pushed open the first door to the medical wing, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs to wait for someone to come and get him. He looked around taking in his surroundings to distract himself from the discomfort he was feeling.

A young voice caught his attention as the doors to the main healing area were pushed open and a handful of mediwix entered the waiting room. He noted idly that one mediwix had shoulder length deep purple hair that clashed slightly with their light green robes.

“I’m Mediwix Ash Porter. How can I help?” They asked, voice calm and professional. It took a moment for Luca to realise he was the one being spoken to and pull his attention from the now closed doors. 

“What?” He blurted out rudely, giving himself a little shake and looking to the mediwix stood in front of him in question.  

“What do you need assistance with?” The mediwix repeated a little slower than before, their tone a smidge colder and their face displaying a slight annoyance at having to repeat themself. 

“My arm, it’s pretty sore, not sure what I did, there was a lot of magic and objects flying around,” he explained simply, glancing again towards the main ward. 

“Come this way and I’ll examine the damage,” Porter said, gesturing towards the main ward as they moved away from Luca.

“Right, thanks,” Luca said slowly raising himself out of the chair keeping his injured left arm held cradled across his chest to rest the hand against his opposite shoulder. 

“Were you hit by anything? An object or spell?” Porter asked as they led Luca through to an empty bed about halfway down the ward, Luca quickly settled himself on the bed, his eyes scanning around the rest of the ward. 

“Um, I think a blast of magic hit me, but it wasn’t really a spell… more unformed accidental magic lashing out, there were also a few objects that caught me going through my shield,” Luca explained a little distractedly as he tried to spot the owner of the voice that he had heard earlier which was vaguely familiar.

“Good to know, Mr…” Porter said, purposely trailing off. 

“Ramos, Luca Ramos,” he introduced himself. 

Mediwix Porter began speaking again but it mostly passed through one ear and out the other as another door across the ward swung open and a young boy with messy black hair emerged, followed by an unknown man with blond hair and a black woman that Luca took less than five seconds to identify as Hope Anderson. 

“Mr. Ramos, are you happy for me to proceed?” Porter asked. Upon receiving no response, the mediwix took a breath and slowly passed a hand in front of their patient calling out, “Mr. Ramos?”

“Huh?” Luca eloquently replied, only briefly pulling his eyes away from the child who had escaped all his searching for months. 

“I was asking if you were happy to consent to my chosen approach for diagnosis and treating of your arm, Mr. Ramos,” the mediwix explained, growing annoyance present in their tone.  

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Luca replied offhandedly, not even sure what approach the mediwix had decided on. 

“Brilliant,” the mediwix replied, “just one moment,” they added before stepping out of the small treatment area and closing the curtain around his bed behind them.

“No,” Luca mumbled to himself, rapidly moving off the bed to pull the curtain open again and keep eyes on the boy he was almost certain was Harry Potter. 

He could not miss this chance, it was likely to be his only chance. He had to move quickly and he had to move now. 

Chapter Text

Clint and Hope were talking amongst themselves, they’d taken seats in an empty treatment cubicle near to the door that led deeper into the medical wing at MACUSA.

Harry didn’t want to sit still and talk but his tiredness from before was coming back now that the excitement and nervousness of his appointment was over. He was leaning against the side of Clint’s chair with his head resting against the older man’s arm. Meanwhile he was lazily moving his gaze around the room, watching the healers and mediwix moving back and forth to treat people, patients lying or sitting in beds, only a few curtains were pulled around areas hiding them from view. 

“Don’t wander too far, buddy,” Clint warned as Harry made his way across to someone on the other side of the room who looked like he could use some help.

“Okay,” Harry agreed easily as he was slowly approaching the man who looked to be struggling to pick something up from his bedside table. “Um, hello, do you need some help?” Harry asked quietly, keeping a good distance between them just in case. 

“Pardon, what?” The man retorted jumping a little at the sudden voice, all his focus had been on getting his hand to cooperate and pick up the damn book. 

“Do you need any help?” Harry repeated, shuffling from one foot to the other, as he shot a small nervous smile to the man stuck in his bed. 

“Oh. Um, yes, please could you pass me my book,” the man responded, after a moment’s hesitation and blinking a couple of times. He forced himself to send a quick smile to the young boy in return as he readjusted his body into a more comfortable position.

“Here you go,” Harry said, skittering forwards quickly to grab and hold the big book out to the msn who had now settled back against his pillows.

“Thank you for your assistance, young man,” the patient who introduced himself as Stephen said.

“That’s okay. Whatcha reading?” Harry questioned, peering at the cover of the book as he tried to sound out the words. 

Harry spent a few minutes speaking to Stefan about his book before moving on to other people on the ward who looked interesting or like they needed some help. He looked back to Clint and Hope every few minutes, getting a smile each time, he was also on the look out for Bucky who would be coming through to meet them soon. At least he hoped it would be soon.

~ ~ ~

Luca had been watching the young boy, who was his target, flit around the ward helping and talking to people for the past fifteen minutes as Mediwix Porter treated his arm until it was good as new. Mediwix Porter had just gone off to get his notes added to his medical record and get the discharge paperwork for him to sign.

But Luca was not hanging around, he seized his chance, standing quickly from his bed, he slowly began making his way to where Harry was stood. It wouldn’t do to move too quickly and immediately pull everyone’s attention to him, no slow and steady would win the race. He had already taken the precaution of glamouring his face which if Mediwix Porter came back would be null and void. It wouldn't hit him until later that he also forgot to take into account his disappearance before being discharged would similarly shine a light on him.

Luca knew he would only have one shot at this because Harry’s foster father had been very vigilant, constantly looking up from his conversation with Hope Anderson to check on where Harry was and that he was still happy and safe. 

Luca waited for the blond man to glance up again and when his gaze turned away Luca took his chance, pulling Harry towards him and a few steps closer to escape. Once Harry glanced up he paused momentarily as he looked over the face in front of him, when he realised the man holding him was not someone he knew, he began to resist violently. Opening his mouth to scream or shout or say something, anything, Luca responded automatically placing a hand firmly but not too tightly over his mouth, taking a second to cast a wordless spell to silence the young boy. 

He lifted the young boy into his arms and hurried the last few meters across ward to the main doors, he internally took a moment to be thankful that Harry had been talking with a patient in one of the first few beds in the ward. 

His newly healed arm twinged a little with the strain of keeping a squirming and though young still heavy child within his grasp. 

“Hey! What are you doing?”

He ignored the shouts from the patient in the bed closest to where Harry had been. 

“Somebody help, that man’s stealing a child,” rose another furious voice. "Stop him!"

Luca didn’t need this to be a stealth mission, though it certainly would have made his life easier, he thought to himself. He only needed it to be quick enough that he would reach the disapparition point before he was apprehended and Harry was removed from his grasp permanently.

He quickly shifted the hand that was still covering Harry’s mouth to a more useful position given the silencing spell, he adjusted it for a better grip on the madly flailing boy. He began to use his other hand to cast spells creating a much needed distraction and some cover for him.

By this point Harry had stopped trying to make a ruckus quickly realising he couldn’t make any noise so he put all his focus on using all four limbs to kick and hit out and connect with any part of his abductor that he could. Putting as much of his knowledge from the family training days into use, Laura had stressed using elbows and knees because he was still small and they would be stronger hits but also they were bony and pointy.

He managed to get a good few jabs in with his elbow before his would-be kidnapper moved the arm they had across his chest to pin down his arms. Harry didn’t let this worry him too much he could still kick out, sadly he was facing the wrong way to use his knees too much effect. He had also seen Clint coming to get him and he thought he caught a quick glimpse of Bucky in the swirling madness around him. 

~ ~ ~

While Luca was otherwise occupied with kidnapping Harry Potter, he failed to notice the side door to the main ward open letting through a tall dark-haired man whose sharp blue eyes turned quickly from relaxed but assessing to cold and determined as he took in the scene taking place in front of him.

He quickly moved to follow the man who had grabbed Harry, he was only a couple of steps behind Clint, who had pulled a handgun from a concealed holster at the small of his back. The gun was currently directed towards the floor but the safety had been released. Bucky moved to flank Clint’s left, ready to move in lockstep with the other man. “What’s the plan?” He asked, alerting Clint to his presence.

Clint had sprung quickly into action at the demanding shouts from down the ward. It didn’t take him longer than a couple of seconds to access the events occurring, the shout hadn’t been directed at Harry annoying a patient, the second shout confirmed that. 

Bucky’s presence at his shoulder was a welcome addition. “Duck,” Bucky murmured, pulling the other man out of the way as what looked like a metal scoop dish flew by them accompanied by a number of medical tools.

He couldn’t get a clear line of sight with the medical personnel moving to get out of the way of the spells, furniture, and random objects being flung around the ward. 

Hope muttered something about a summoning and repelling spell being the reason for the numerous objects flying here, there, and everywhere across the ward. Hope cast some kind of shield spell around the three of them which gave them a much needed advantage: no longer having to dodge and be on the look out for the projectiles. 

Through the mass of projectiles and moving personnel they could just make out the main doors to the ward opening as Hope spoke up. 

“He's got to be planning to disparate, he’ll only be able to do that from one of the far corners in the waiting room,” Hope explained, holding her ward in front of her ready to use it in any way she can to help retrieve her charge. She received a firm nod from both men, confirming they had heard and took her words under advisement.

The madness in the ward reduced after the doors had opened, some objects were still bouncing off the curtained treatment areas which were apparently, and quite intelligently, warded to prevent projectiles entering them which could have further harmed the patients. 

“Bucky go left, I’ll go right, Hope if you’re able to get a clear line stun the abductor,” Clint said taking charge of the situation as the trio cut a quick path across the ward pulling the doors open quickly and spilling out. 

Hope shot a trio of stunners in a fanned out area as cover fire, the light from these had the man spinning around, Harry clutched firmly to his chest. After taking in the lack of civilian bystanders in the waiting room, Clint had raised his gun letting off a warning shot to the right of the man hoping to push him towards Hope’s stunner. Unfortunately for them the abductor slid away from the bullet marginally avoiding being grazed by the stunner.  

“Release the child and you’ll come to no harm,” Clint said sternly, gun still raised and pointed unfailingly at the man holding his son like a human shield. 

The abductor just continued to steadily move backwards towards the apparition point, his wand pointed in their direction, he flinched at the harsh words but made no move to speak or release Harry. 

“Are you okay, Harry?” Hope asked her tone calm and measured, not showing any panic or distress as if this were an everyday event. 

Harry glanced quickly away from Clint to Hope and nodded, his struggling picking up a notch as he saw both of them so much closer to him and there to help.

“Freeze,” Clint ordered, not missing how the abductor was sliding ever-closer to an escape point. “Or we’ll shoot,” he warned, both him and Hope still having their weapons pointed at both Harry and the abductor. 

Clint made eye contact with Harry, he used his free left hand to move through a couple subtle signals so Harry would know what he wanted him to do. Harry’s gaze had slid to the hand and back to his dad’s eyes and he gave a slow blink.

“Now,” Clint said firmly, as the abductor slipped backwards finally at the apparition point. Harry stopped struggling at the command and flopped heavily to the left revealing most of his captor’s body. Clint took a shot as Bucky burst from where he had faded into the shadows on the left of the pair, punching towards the abductor’s face with his metal arm as he reached to grab Harry with his right. Bucky didn’t quite manage to grasp a handful of Harry’s shirt nor get him free from the other man’s grasp. Harry had reached out to grab him in return but his grip had been ripped away with the continued motion of the apparition.

The spin of the apparition brought the abductor more firmly into the punch that shattered his nose creating a cascade of blood but the spin continued on if in a more wobbly fashion. The interruption of a punch also meant the abductor spun back into the path of the bullet.  

“Shit,” Clint swore passionately as the apparition spot emptied. Though there was a resounding splat as blood and a lump of flesh hit the floor before the bullet embedded itself in the wall. 

~ ~ ~

Laura could say hands down that receiving a call from Clint to say that their child had been kidnapped was the worst phone call she had received in her life. The fear, worry, horror, and too many other feelings swarmed her, chasing one another through her body and mind. 

She managed to regain some semblance of control and listened attentively to everything Clint could tell her before offering her own suggestions and thoughts as professionally as she could. This was the most challenging time she had ever had to attempt to separate her emotions from the work she was completing because it wasn’t just a mission, it was her child, potentially her child’s life, at stake. 

Once the call disconnected she gave herself a couple of minutes to just be. She had stepped away from the living room to take the call for which she was grateful. Her older children were here… they were safe. Harry would be too soon... she had to believe that.

Still feeling off-kilter she made her way down the corridor and into the kitchen to do some menial tasks to give herself a little more time to process. Objectively she knew there was little she could do for Harry, but that didn’t stop her from thinking, wanting, hoping. She gave herself a mental shake trying to return to the present, absorb the presence of her kids in the background, whilst Clint dealt with getting Harry back to them. She trusted her husband with this, as she did with everything important—with one of their kids’ lives he was the man for the job, with the grocery shopping… eh, it was honestly hit-and-miss whether he’d come home with what they needed or not. Harry would return to them, or she and Clint would tear down any barrier in their way to find him.

There was a pile of brochures and information packets that Hope had sent them via owl earlier in the week. It was mostly to give Bucky, but also them, more information on the magical world. There was the generic information on how to access the magical sections in the major cities around the country; how they could contact a magical representative should they need help or want information; there was also a brief history of MACUSA including giving a breakdown of the main infrastructure and systems of government. 

One small leaflet that caught her eye as she was tidying the messy pile was about voting, apparently in contrast to the no-maj United States, all citizens of MACUSA were automatically registered to vote upon reaching their majority at eighteen. Their ballot papers would be sent to them and could only be filled in by the individual named on the outer envelope. Some form of magic in the ballot slips prevented tampering or coercion according to the leaflet. 

Laura was excited to discover that despite being no-majs because they are in-the-know all three adults in their home would be entitled to a vote in any MACUSA election. As she had with the older kids in past elections, she was excited to show and share her participating in with the kids. It was important to her and something she considered a civic duty, especially given it was a presidential election year on both no-maj and magical sides of the country.

Reading a few of the other brochures allowed her to push aside the worry that had overwhelmed her when Clint’s call first came through. Now she had finished with that distraction and tidying the already clean kitchen she felt more in control of her emotions and composure.  

When she returned to the living room, it was an innocent question that had her quickly rebuilt composure beginning to crumble. With her short break she had made it through the emotionless numbness that had settled in with Clint’s words, but her emotions were not as under control as she’d thought. “Mommy, when’s Harry getting back?” Lila asked. 

Laura blinked, her heart was breaking but she couldn’t worry the kids. Clint, Bucky, and Hope were on the case and the aurors had already been called in as well she knew. Clint said they had aurors with them and that the apparition could be traced from the hospital ward in MACUSA. She would give herself time to truly feel and unpick everything properly later, for now she had to act normally to avoid worrying the kids just yet.

“Mom, are you okay?” Cooper asked sounding concerned, he was observant and had picked up on there being something. Kids are often overlooked but they could be very in tune with emotions and body language Laura thought to herself. 

“I’m fine, honey. Dad just gave me some surprising news, that’s all,” she offered in response, pulling a smile on to her face it wouldn’t be as strong or genuine as normal but it was the best she could manage right now.

After carefully scrutinising her facial expression Cooper seemed to find whatever he was looking for and nodded, accepting this answer. Though he continued to send her the occasional glance showing he had not been totally reassured.

“And when are they coming home, Mommy?” Lila repeated. 

“I’m not sure, Lila. Bucky was having to go through some tests as well,” she said in explanation not wanting to lie or worry her. Once Clint knew more she would be updated.

“Okay,” Lila agreed, she at least appeared to be oblivious to the newly awakened tension in the room.

~ ~ ~

The kidnapper landed with a stumbled step, immediately dropping his precious cargo to the floor, where Harry landed in a sprawled heap as his head continued to spin, fighting the apparition apparently made what was already an unpleasant mode of transport even worse. He had to move his hands out to either side of him to stop him slumping further as he waited for the dizziness to subside. 

Harry took the time to slowly look around as he waited for the world around him to right itself. He created distance between himself and his abductor smoothly so as to not overbalance or worsen his spinning mind. It looked like he was in a living room, there was a sofa across from him and a fireplace to his right.

Above him he could hear his kidnapper groaning in pain, good Harry thought, Bucky had hit him real good, right in the face. Harry’s head finally managed to clear the disorientating spinning and he chanced a glance up at the man who took him, his face was a mess of blood that had Harry grimacing in disgust. It looked like he was missing his whole nose, how hard had Bucky punched him? Was it common to lose your nose when it got punched, Harry wondered shuffling further away from the stranger.

It was as he finally stopped shuffling away from the bleeding stranger who seemed more focused on his mangled face and wounded right shoulder than the child he had abducted.

“Harry?” A shocked voice broke through the quiet that had settled over this new location except for the moans ad grunts of pain. This one word had Harry’s head snapping towards the new voice that apparently knew him. 

It was when his eyes settled on the owner of the voice that he realised he also knew them too, “Hector?” Harry shakily questioned stumbling to his feet and towards his cousin. 

“What are you doing here, Harry?” Hector asked confused at the sudden arrival of his young cousin. Though he quickly drew Harry into a side hug as he raised his wand to point at the stranger. He was meant to be hanging out with his friend, who was late yet again. Now there was a blood covered— was that a bullet hole? — and groaning stranger in his friend’s apartment with his cousin. “More importantly who the hell are you?” His voice markedly colder when addressing the man who was bloody and hole-y. 

“‘ector?” Luca tried to reply, his voice was wet and nasal as he tried to speak and breathe through the horrible throbbing pain that was his face and shoulder. He had been shot... and punched.

“How do you know me and why do you have my- Harry?” Hector repeated, shuffling Harry behind him with one firm guiding hand on a small shoulder as he shifted his position to block Harry from view, simultaneously moving his body more fully into a defensive stance. Ready for a fight if he needed to. 

“’S Looca,” Luca tried to explain though he was struggling to move his face without making the excruciating pain worse. He couldn’t understand why Hector wouldn’t recognise him, his face was obviously a mess but there should still have been at least a small spark of recognition in his friend’s eye. They'd known each other since the age of eleven.

The distrust and defensive stance did not relax even a little with this garbled declaration. 

Awkward tension filled silence stretched between them. One minute, then two.

Luca went for his wand to remove the glamour that he finally realised must have survived the trip from MACUSA but he was disarmed before he could do so. Expelliarmus was followed up in quick succession by an incarcerous that had Luca falling backwards to the floor with its force. ripping another breathy moan from his throat as the burning agony spiked to reach new levels. Only once he hit the floor did Hector throw a final stunner and then Luca knew no more as darkness took over.

Hector slowly approached the strange man and kicked him none-too-gently to check the stunner had held, defence had always been one of his weaker subjects. Hector then took the time to cast a few detection spells on the man, the glamour faded away with one to reveal Luca’s true face which didn’t improve Hector’s mood. 

“What happened, Harry?” He asked turning to his young cousin who was still huddling, arm wrapped around himself on the other side of the room. 

“I was at the- the hospital for a checkup with Daddy an’ Hope. But- but we were waitin’, um waiting for Bucky, cos the doctor, no healer hadda see him ‘bout something. Then I was talking, talking with Rico, and then he- he- he grabbed me and runned, but Daddy, Hope and Bucky runned after us. And Daddy told me to go all floppy and then Bucky punched him. Punched him hard... in the face but he still got me and we-“ Harry threw in a spinning hand gesture in to explain apparating, “away. Then you were here.” Harry began slowly and nervously but gradually got more confident and excited about telling Hector what had taken place.

Hector blinked once as he tried to process all this information and work out what happened. “Right. So you were at the hospital at MACUSA?” He checked, only continuing once he got a nod from Harry. “And you were waiting for someone-“

“Bucky,” Harry interrupted. 

“For Bucky and that man grabbed you and apparated you here,” Hector continued. 

“Yep, after Bucky punched him, in the nose, haaaaard,” Harry put in with a supporting punching motion for clarity.

“Right, after he was punched he apparated. Right, I better call your dad let him know you’re safe,” Hector said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket, “and the aurors,” he added to himself. 

***

“Sir,” Phil called out in greeting as he walked into Fury’s office. He had been sent a message to report to Fury’s office as soon as possible.

“Coulson, good,” Fury said, facing the other man who moved to take a seat on the opposite side of the desk to his boss, who was finishing something up on the computer screen in front of him. “You’ll be overseeing security on Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S now that Dr. Selvig has been brought on board full-time, organise your team and have them ready to ship out in forty-eight hours."

“Yes, sir,” Coulson agreed more than used to receive orders rapidly, he opened his mouth to ask for further details only to be cut off before he could begin.

"They’ll be a folder on your desk with all the information.”

Knowing that was all the dismissal who would get, he stood up to leave the office, already thinking through who he had available. Nat was already away on a job and had another lined up to start in a couple of weeks. But Clint would be available, he needed to review the file before he decided who would best fit the brief.

Chapter Text

Clint was trying to keep up with all the new terms being thrown around by the aurors who had quickly arrived to investigate Harry’s abduction. Some of the terms were self-explanatory such as magical signature, others he had to try and figure out from the context or store on a mental list to ask Hope about later. He was pleased with how quickly the aurors had arrived on the scene and had gotten to work.

He had given Laura the bad news just as the aurors had arrived and since then he had been dogging their steps to keep updated and fully informed on the case. Hope had been taken aside by an auror to give her statement on what had happened, the auror had then moved into the ward proper to take statements from the other patients who had witnessed the incident. 

He and Bucky had split up so they could follow the two sides of the investigation. Bucky had set himself to trailing the auror on the ward in case he found out anything useful. Whilst Clint followed those remained outside in the waiting room which was being examined. 

“Clint,” Bucky called coming back through from the ward, “they have a suspect for the abductor. Luca Ramos, he was a patient this evening, the mediwix said he was gone when they got back from getting his discharge papers. No one else is unaccounted for on the ward.”

“Right, well, these guys have managed to pull out the magical signature from the last disapparition. They also collected the flesh the abductor left behind as he splinched himself when leaving, someone suggested it might be his nose.”

“Good, nothing less than he deserves. It woulda been loose after I punched him anyway,” Bucky said, his metal hand clenching and releasing from a fist at the news. 

Their conversation as well as the quiet talking around the room was interrupted by Clint’s phone ringing. He pulled it out to see it was a call from Hector, he declined the call he needed to focus on Harry at the moment. He was sure if it was important Hector would try again, send a text, or contact Laura.

“Mr. Barton,” the auror in charge the group, Senior Auror Rowle, called from where they had been stood in a small huddle. Bucky and Clint approached the group. The auror turned to look questioningly at Clint as Bucky remained stood beside him. 

“He’s family, he can hear anything you have to tell me,” Clint informed the auror in a firm, no-nonsense tone. He just wanted to find his son, Bucky would help in any way he could.

“Of course. We have identified the main suspect as Luca Ramos, he works here at MACUSA and one of my aurors has gone to find out all further information we hold on him. We will perform a search of his residence as soon as possible and update you as we go,” the woman said clearly but kindly. 

“Don’t you need a warrant to search his home?” Clint asked his face displaying surprise at how quickly they were able to move, normally non-magical investigations were delayed by getting all the necessary approvals in place. 

“Once we have the results from the magical signature and splinched skin sent off for urgent analysis, that should give us enough information to justify the search,” the auror replied simply. 

“Alright,” Clint agreed. Bucky stood like a silent, brooding shadow beside him taking in all the information as it was revealed. Admittedly it was mostly only things they had already overheard, but it was still nice they were being kept so well abreast as the case evolved.  

~ ~ ~

“He didn’t pick up,” Hector said sounding bewildered, looking down at the phone in his hand in shock. “He didn’t pick up,” he repeated as if he couldn't understand or process what was happening internally. Harry gently patted Hector’s arm in a there-there sort of manner, he might be feeling unsettled after the abduction but he could tell Hector needed some support right now. Harry had been through some weird situations before but Hector did not seem to be used to these odd things happening despite being magical. 

At the kind contact from Harry, Hector gave himself a shake. “Sorry, Harry. Just wasn’t expecting that,” Hector murmured, his eyes going from the screen to his young cousin, who was handling the situation surprisingly well, and back to the screen. 

“What we gonna do now?” Harry asked, his eyes slipping from Hector to the tied up man still unconscious on the floor with a small amount of blood puddled around him. Harry shuffled a little further away from the trussed-up man, he was scared that he would suddenly try and get him away again.

“I’ll floo the aurors,” Hector stated decisively, having been thinking through his plan. Clint didn’t answer his call, which threw his plan for a loop, should he try calling Laura? But what if she hadn’t been told yet, then he would get her worried without needing to and then reassure her but she would still have been worried. So... should he try sending a patronus to Clint? But what if he was no longer in a magical area? No, the aurors were the right people to contact. They'd know how to handle this weird situation.

Harry unaware of this mental indecision just watched Hector as he got a strong fire going in the hearth, it gave some much needed extra light and warmth to the living room. Hector then reached into the thing holding a powder that sparkled like glitter, Harry imagined this was what fairy dust looked like. 

The flames flared an emerald green as soon as the powder was added and Hector called out, “MACUSA Auror office,” then stuck his head into the fire. Meanwhile Harry’s gaze flittered back up to the mantle where he noticed a couple pictures frames one that included Hector and some other people. Next his attention went back to the floo jar which as he looked closer was a big empty chocolate coated raisin jar, Harry’s nose wrinkled when he saw that. Raisins were grapes that had been ruined, like they had shrivelled up and died, but people even ate them without them being covered in chocolate. Nope, not Harry, he had taste buds.

~ ~ ~

“N-E-A-D, what do you need?” Junior Auror Watkins questioned as the floo call came in to the hearth in front of him.

“Really, Jordan? What do you need?” His colleague sat at the neighbouring floo call only hearth questioned teasingly.

“What?” Jordan hissed in response, trying not to look or sound unprofessional on the floo call “I think it sounds better than 'how can I help?'.” Turning back to the head stuck in the flames watching the auror in front of them, Jordan repeated louder, “what do you need, sir?”

“My cousin has been abducted,” Hector said clearly, though there was a hint of panic in his voice as the adrenaline hadn’t quite run its course yet. 

“Right,” Jordan answered as both aurors sat up straighter at the serious declaration, it had been a fairly quiet evening shift for them so far, “do you know who took your cousin?” 

“Yes, he was abducted by Luca Ramos,” Hector answered easily. 

"Okay, that’s good. Do you know where Mr. Ramos is?” Jordan continued the questioning, taking down everything being said on a notepad sat beside him. 

“Yes, he’s at his apartment.”

“Is your cousin also there? At his apartment that is,” Jordan clarified, tone very professional and calm, though he was beginning to feel confused about the situation he was dealing with. 

“Yes,” Hector answered, feeling Harry hovering beside him on the side furtherest away from Luca who remained frozen on the floor and unconscious. 

“Just to be clear,” the junior auror said, checking their notes quickly before continuing, “Luca Ramos abducted your cousin and took your cousin to his apartment.”

“That is correct,” Hector confirmed. 

Jordan thought about his word choice for a moment before he added as neutrally but still professionally as he could, “why do you believe he was abducted if you know where your cousin is and who took him?”

“What? OH. Ohhhh, no, right, um, I- I was waiting in Luca’s apartment because we were meant to be hanging out this evening but he was late, again. And then this stranger apparated in and he was holding my cousin, Harry. This guy, the abductor, was bleeding from his face and he looks like he has been shot, he dropped Harry to the floor and began moaning with pain. I was startled and recognised Harry but not the man so I questioned the stranger who had just broken in with my kid cousin. Then once Harry was with me, I stunned and tied the intruder up and when I cast a finite on him the glamour faded revealing him to be my fr-, Luca Ramos.”

“Alright, sir,” Jordan answered, having been taking rapid notes as the story began to flow out of the caller. “Can I just confirm your name, please?”

“It’s Hector Morris.”

“Very good, and the address you’re calling from is that Mr. Ramos’ apartment?” Jordan confirmed as the address, if registered with MACUSA, always displayed across the mantel of the Auror department call-only floos.

“Yes, I’m still at Luca’s apartment, he’s still bound, unconscious, and injured. Harry’s also here too.”

“Okay, Hector, I’ll send a couple of aurors through to you within the next few minutes and they’ll take everything from here. So, please disconnect the call and move away from the hearth,” Jordan explained, writing and sending an aeroplane memo through to the main bullpen to ready an auror pair for the job.

“Oh, okay, thank you,” Hector said, pulling his head out of the fire, brushing away the little pieces of ash that had accumulated there during the call. When his head was removed, the flames return to a regular orange and became a touch smaller. 

“Aurors will be coming through in a few minutes, Harry,” Hector informed the young boy who had grasped a handful of his trousers when he returned to standing. Hector kept his wand in hand and placed himself between Harry and the restrained Luca.

~ ~ ~

Clint and Bucky had followed Senior Auror Rowle through MACUSA from the medical wing to the Auror Department which an equally bustling environment. It was also a large rectangular room that had large windows looking out onto the New York City skyline on one side with a row of doors on the opposite side, most of them baring labels for what was behind them. 

There were desks set out in clusters shaped like the letter T throughout the central open plan section of the room. The far end of the room had a section of offices, though when Clint took the time to carefully study the number of offices that seemed to be marked out he quickly realised it was too many to comfortably fit within the actual space available, must be magic at work. Each office had a large rectangular window, the majority with blinds closed, beside the doors, a plaque displaying the rank of the office owner was level with the door handles. Though it did not escape his notice that no names were included on these plaques. 

Clint’s phone began to ring for the second time in the past hour, this time it was Phil. This call he at least answered but he didn’t give the other man the chance to talk. 

“Sorry, Phil, can’t speak now something urgent's come up. I’ll call you back later,” Clint bluntly informed his friend and superior, not waiting for any kind of acknowledgement before ending the call. 

Bucky shot him a look, raising one brow in question, not needing to say anything. Clint minutely shook his head in return and they continued to follow Rowle who was guiding them seamlessly through the madness.

Senior Auror Rowle easily led them across the large room towards her desk which was among a cluster that had office partitions between them giving the illusion of privacy. However when they actually stepped into the desk space the hustle and bustle of the department was muted.

“Rune-based office wards,” Rowle explained at their blinks of surprise when the noise level abruptly lowered, “allows us to focus on work but still easily grab one another's attention if we’re needed,” she explained gesturing them to sit as she conjured two practical looking chairs for them.

“So, what now?” Clint questioned, wanting to have all the information. The senior auror had received a paper aeroplane memo on the walk to the department which she had been quick to respond to.

“The lab results should be with us in the next ten minutes and one of my team is cross-checking the identified magical signature with our recorded database of them,” Rowle said.

Bucky had been listening to their conversation but his focus had been mostly on the wider room, watching the aurors as they moved between desks, as they completed paperwork and sent memos, people who were to be questioned were escorted to one of the unlabelled side doors and those going out on assignment either left through the main doors or went towards one door behind which he had caught a glimpse of fireplaces.

It was from this floo room that a pair of aurors in their official robes appeared with an unmoving body bound in ropes floating at head height behind them. Though what interested Bucky more than that was the pair of people following behind this already odd procession. 

“Clint,” Bucky said his relief making itself known in his tone as he interrupted whatever else was being said in the conversation between the other two, “look over there,” he added with a tilt of his chin towards the right side of the room, a smile making its way onto his lips as his eyes locked onto a very familiar pair.

~ ~ ~

The Auror pair had been very efficient after coming through the floo. One had begun casting a spell chain that seemed to be something for criminal diagnostic or scene investigation. Whilst the other had come to speak with Hector before going straight across to Luca to remand him in custody. Luca had been rapidly rennervated so the Auror could read him his rights before he was put under the body bind when he began to struggle in the ropes. 

Hector was asked to bring Harry and follow the aurors through to MACUSA where their statements would be taken so the case could progress and Luca could be questioned. 

Harry had watched the magic being cast in silent amazement, trying to distract himself from the feelings bumping around inside him, he had mostly seen medical and domestic spells before now so it was cool to see this new magic. The shock and fizzy-buzzing feeling of fighting off the abductor had now completely faded leaving him uncertain and just wanting to go home to his family. He had been too shy and nervous to speak to the aurors who seemed so official and serious, his hand had tightened with his discomfort where it was still grasping a handful of Hector’s trousers. He had also shuffled closer to his cousin, shaking his head lightly when the auror tried to ask him a few questions. 

Hector had helped him through the whirling green flames of the floo, keeping him from falling over when they stepped, or in Harry’s case stumbled, out the other end. 

“Thank you,” he murmured barely above a whisper to Hector, a tiny smile twitching his lips as he looked up at the older man. They were then led through a door into a bigger, busier room that seemed to have desks everywhere. Harry thought it would be quite cool to get floated along like the man who took him, Luca Hector had called him, was being.

As their group began walking along the side of the room with lots of doors, Harry’s gaze skidded from one group of people to the next, then it landed on Bucky who was looking straight back at him from where he was sat beside a familiar blond man. “DADDY,” Harry shouted when he spotted Clint, pulling away from Hector to run towards his dad.

“Harry,” Clint called out in shock as he heard his son’s voice, having already been turning in his direction with Bucky’s prompting. He stood quickly from his seat making his own way towards the running boy. 

Harry was less than a meter away when he flung himself at Clint, arms stretched out to hug the man tightly. 

“Oh God, Harry, are you hurt?” Clint asked trying to pull back a little to see Harry’s face but the young boy would not be moved, though he did shake his head where it was pressed between Clint’s shoulder and throat, this motion offered some immediate consolation, “I’m so glad you’re safe, buddy. We were really worried about you. You did great trying to fight him off, buddy, so great, I am proud of you. I love you, Harry.” He placed a kiss firmly to the top of Harry's head, releasing a breath now that his son was back in his arms.

Being back with his family, being in his dad’s arms with Bucky right there, brought the tears that had been building flooding out of him in hiccoughing sobs. Harry clung tightly to his dad seeking comfort and reassurance, soaking up his words of love. Clint had one hand running up and down his back and there was another that reached out to gently squeeze one of his wrists. 

Clint had moved to retake his seat in the somewhat private desk area as he and Harry clung to each other. Bucky stood beside them silently offering protection, allowing Clint to lower his guard a little and focus fully on comforting his son and assuring himself that Harry was safely back with them. Bucky reached out to squeeze one of Harry’s wrists in silent support, letting the kid know he was there.

The next half an hour seemed to fly by. Harry and Hector were interviewed and their sides of the story was taken. A healer had been called to check Harry over for the second time that day, then he went to see the man who had abducted Harry, apparently he was missing his nose and had a bullet hole through his shoulder. 

Hope had also been called to the auror department when Harry's return was announced, she explained to Clint that Harry's file had been updated with no fault being laid on the Bartons and that Bucky had been given preliminary approval by the WCPS to remain as a resident in the Barton's home. After receiving consent from Bucky she shared that Bucky’s preliminary approval would progress to full and complete approval with the completion of his treatment plan that had been established during his medical testing.

Clint was torn between returning home with Harry straight away and hanging around to wait for more information on the case. As Harry began to drift off in his arms he decided he would ask the aurors to keep him updated and take their leave to get Harry safely home and into bed. It was as they made it to the main doors that a junior auror caught up to the three of them to say Luca Ramos would be remaining in medical custody overnight with an interview scheduled for the following afternoon.

***

Clint returned to MACUSA the following afternoon and he had been granted permission to watch the interrogation by showing his credentials as a federal agent. It had been a fairly standard interrogation so far, the suspect was not giving away much information. The auror interrogators had explained that the use veritaserum was regulated, it could only be used with consent or with sufficiently probable cause. Thankfully in this case there was sufficient probably cause, despite consent having been denied, however the interrogators had decided not to use veritaserum immediately hoping the suspect would voluntarily provide information in return for a reduced sentence.

The back and forth had been going on for close to an hour, the self-imposed deadline for when they would begin using the potion and remove the offer of a reduced sentence. Up until now little additional information had been brought to light. They had plenty of evidence to press charges but they had been hoping to gain further insight into a number of questions, namely: why Harry had been abducted, whether there was a larger plot in progress, was Luca Ramos acting alone, and had the attempt been pre-meditated. They would get answers under the potion's use but it was widely agreed that answers given freely tended to reveal something more because the potion-induced answers were emotionless, factual statements. 

“Due to your lack of cooperation and us already having sufficient evidence for probable cause we will be administering the veritaserum now, Mr. Ramos,” Auror Interrogator Pugh said.

A rune on the table was pressed which caused Luca to cease movement as if he had been frozen, but when the Rowle moved around the table she was easily able to manipulate his jaw to drip the required three drops of colourless potion onto his tongue. Once she had returned to the other side of the table, the same rune was pressed again.

“Now, let’s try this again,” Pugh stated, “what is your full name?”

Clint noted that Luca’s face had blanked as if all emotions had been drained away, or at very least heavily suppressed. 

“Luca David Ramos,” came the monotonous answer.

“Where do you work?” Pugh continued on to the second necessary test question.

“MACUSA. The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad,” again the words held no inflection or tone.

A few more questions were asked and more details began to be slotted into the puzzle that this case had been. Pugh went to open his mouth again, to dig deeper into the motives for the abduction and who Luca was working with but was interrupted before he verbalise the question.

"Hail Hydra,” Luca declared firmly, the statement was made more unsettling by the slightly vacant eyes and toneless voice, not able to show on his face the nervousness he was feeling. Luca used his tongue to dislodge the hidden last resort capsule that had been implanted into his mouth to replace a cuspid on the upper right hand side of his jaw. It didn't take long for the capsule to burst and the life-ending substance to begin to spread, a frothing white foam quickly formed in his mouth. Soon it would all be over, no secrets would be spilled by him.

“Damnit,” Pugh exclaimed, slamming his fist down onto the table hard. 

“Move, Pugh,” Rowle interjected fiercely, ignoring the man’s clenching fist she reach past him up the table to tap another of the runes on the table's surface whilst also flicking her other wrist to pull her wand from its holster into her hand. Once in hand she cast, a spell having already been on her lips, before anyone could even think to question her Luca was hit by two spells in rapid succession.

“What was that?” Pugh asked his colleague, watching where Luca had frozen in place.

“Removed the magic dampening ward, then cast a body bind and stasis spell. We don’t know what that was but I sure as hell ain’t gonna let him get away without spilling all his secrets. ‘Cos a man with whatever preventative measure that is definitely has something to hide.”

“Right,” Pugh agreed with a nod, rubbing the already bruising hand as he acknowledged her fast-thinking, “good idea, Rowle.” 

“Interview paused at-“ Rowle checked her watch, “-three fifty-seven p.m. due to interviewee, Luca Ramos, attempting to end his own life and needing urgent medical intervention.” A quill that had been set up on a piece of parchment at the opposite end of the table to the runes noted down her sentence, before lowering from its upright position to rest flat against the bottom of the parchment.

Clint watched them as they then conjured a stretcher to float alongside Luca who was still frozen in the process of frothing at the mouth. Pugh tapped another of the runes at the table before he manoeuvred Luca from the chair onto the stretcher. 

Clint exited the observation area as the stretchered man was guided out of the adjacent room. 

“We’ll reschedule the interview once the healers have given their verdict,” Rowle explained seeing Clint as she guarded the back end of the stretcher. “It’ll probably be a couple of days, we’ll owl you the details.”

Clint nodded and offered his thanks before making his way to the designated portkey departure spot outside the auror department. Once he landed in the backyard at home, his phone was in hand and Phil’s number was ringing.

He didn’t bother with a greeting, he got straight to the point, “Phil, we have a problem.”

Chapter Text

For anybody watching they wouldn’t see the surprise on Phil’s face, but his actions, to anyone who knew him, displayed distinctly that something unusual had happened. He pulled the handset away from his ear to check the screen. Yes, the call had been ended before he had had a chance to say anything. 

He continued to look blankly at the screen for a few beats before moving on to the next task. He would wait until Clint called back later to tell him about his latest assignment then.

The concern for what had happened with Clint tried to push to the forefront of his mind. He hoped all of the Bartons were alright, but he pulled some pieces of paperwork towards him, he could distract himself whilst he waited to be updated. 

It had been a few hours later when Clint finally returned his call and updated him on the situation. Harry had been abducted and returned, safely if shaken, all within the span of two hours. Clint said they were still waiting for further details as to the circumstances of the case which he would hopefully have the details of the following day. 

~ ~ ~

The call the following day had not yielded any better news. It had quite simply revealed the continued existence of HYDRA, a group they had thought was defeated alongside the Nazis with the end of the Second World War. 

You cut off one head and two more sprung up to replace it. 

The axiom on a mythical creature seemed to bear more truth than he would have liked. The victory over Red Skull had not ended his organisation’s reign of terror instead it had taken on a new tact and strengthened its power in the shadows. 

Phil was not looking forward to informing the director of the situation. How far had HYDRA infiltrated into government, into society, into the intelligence community? How many of the people he worked alongside everyday and considered friends were loyal first and foremost to an old, fanatically bigoted, terrorist organisation? 

Captain America had been defrosted- recovered from the ice and issues and enemies thought long dealt with had been brought back to the fore as well. 

Clint hadn’t been able to reveal much useful information because the HYDRA agent who revealed the organisation's ongoing existence had unsuccessfully attempted to end his own life in defence of HYDRA’s secrets. The wixen believed they would be able to reverse the suicide capsule’s effects after having paused its path of destruction. 

This revelation would make his life harder. He not only had to adapt his plan for the security detail at the PEGASUS project, now he had to deal with HYDRA as well. Phil had been right with his recruitment speech to Clint all those years ago, life at SHIELD would never be boring… but neither would it be easy. Alone in his office he allowed himself a deep, overwhelmed sigh and a couple of minutes wallowing and panicking. 

He took a deep breath and settled his mind, acknowledging then pushing aside his worries. Informing Fury of this unwanted development was his next move, then they could begin making a plan to tackle the situation.

***

Harry took in a gasping breath as he sat up suddenly in bed. The only sound was the deep, rattling breaths he was taking, it felt like his heart was pounding against his ribcage, fighting to beat out of his chest. 

His hands were fisted in the duvet, it was soft and warm between his fingers. He was at home, he was in his bed in his room at the farmhouse. He was safe, no one had grabbed him and stolen him away again. He wasn’t back at the Dursleys’.

A drop of water fell onto his hand, he looked up to the dark ceiling to see where the water was coming from only to then realise he was actually crying. He began gently rocking himself back and forth as he tried to calm down, he didn’t want to go back to sleep, what if he had another scary dream? What if someone came to take him whilst he was sleeping? 

Harry tried to stop crying, he was a big boy. Big boys don’t cry, he shook himself a little, no, Laura said it's okay to cry, sometimes feelings were too big for your body. Crying could be good, they could be happy tears, but these weren’t happy tears. He was scared. The wind was blowing and it sounded a bit scary like there was a monster outside.

When a particularly strong burst of wind made a growling, scraping kind of noise, Harry had to hold back a scream. There was a monster, it was going to get him, it was hiding in the garden. He needed help, he didn’t want to be eaten. 

He scrambled out of his mess of duvet and blankets to his bedroom door. Pulling the door open, he looked both ways down the corridor, an odd shadow near the fire escape pulled a whimper from him. He hurried down the corridor on his tiptoes, glancing repeatedly over his shoulder to make sure the shadow monster wasn’t following him.

It was only as he reached the landing that he paused again, his head turning between his options, he could go one of four ways. Who should he go to? One of his siblings? Up the stairs to Bucky? Or to his mommy and daddy? Would they be annoyed that he disturbed them over a bad dream? What if they didn’t like him anymore, thought he was a bad boy, because he woke them up in the middle of the night?

Harry struggled to decide which door to choose, as panic and fear began to mix within him. Freezing him in the indecision.

~ ~ ~

Clint stirred awake quickly though he made no outward reaction to waking. It took hardly any time before he was alert, a benefit, or drawback as some would argue, to his training in SHIELD. There was a reason he woke up. Something in the room around him had changed. He waited a moment just listening for any noises; a rustle of clothing, the creak of a floorboard, shouts of distress. He also waited to see if any light would fall across his face. Twenty seconds passed and there was nothing; putting him on edge, his senses heightening. 

There. The lowering of the door handle accompanied by a small creak of the door, a small sliver of light then the sound of small footsteps entering the room. His body relaxed again, it’s just one of the kids, nobody was in any danger, their home was still safe. He pealed an eye open, Harry. His youngest was stood one hand still on the door handle, his indecision written in the all the lines of his body highlighted in the faint background light.

Harry made no move to come further into the room, though he obviously wanted to, just as he was about to leave again, Clint called out gently, his tone still holding hints of sleepiness that were quick to return with the lack of threat, “come here, buddy.”

Harry jumped a little in place at the sudden break in the silence, pushing the door almost closed behind him. Then he hesitated again seemingly uncertain of his welcome.

“Come here, Harry,” Clint repeated, his voice still level and reassuring despite the undertones of tiredness. Laura laid a hand against the shoulder closest to her quietly letting him know she was awake to help if needed. Clint shifted subtly into the gesture in acknowledgement but just lifted the edge of the duvet with one hand, a silent invitation to his son. That gesture seemed to break whatever internal barrier had been holding Harry back, he was quick to scurry around to Clint after that.  

Harry climbed onto the bed but remained sat bolt upright hardly moving, showing how uncertain he was feeling about what to do. Clint gently laid his hands on Harry to lower him down into a more comfortable lying position with Harry's head pillowed on his chest, but he couldn’t hold himself back from letting out an instinctive hiss as Harry’s cold feet came in contact with his leg.

“Sorry,” Harry was quick to apologise, sounding scared. Moving to pull away from Clint and get out of the bed.

“No, buddy, don’t worry, I was just surprised about how cold your feet are,” Clint promised, tightening his gentle hold on Harry to stop him leaving, whilst also brushing a hand over the young boy’s hair in a now very familiar motion. 

He let Harry settle back down against his chest, keeping a hand rubbing soothingly along the boy’s side. Harry wiggled around trying to find a comfortable position, his toes occasionally digging into Clint as he shifted and squirmed. 

“Do you want to talk about whatever woke you up, buddy?” Clint offered quietly when Harry continued to fidget around and didn't seem ready to fall back to sleep after several few minutes had passed. 

Harry's only response was to shake his head quickly which was a little uncomfortable given his pointy chin was running over Clint’s ribs. He glanced up once before looking away again.

“Alright, bud, try and get to sleep, I’ll be here to protect you,” Clint promised awkwardly leaning down to place a kiss on Harry’s head, he felt how some of the tension drained out of Harry with his promise, though he made sure to continue, “and if you want to talk in the morning we can do that. You don’t need to keep anything hidden.”

“M’kay,” Harry murmured sleepily before his jaw swung wide open with a powerful yawn. 

“Sleep tight, buddy,” Clint whispered, wrapping an arm around Harry as the young boy drifted slowly off to sleep. “Night, love,” he murmured to Laura knowing she was probably still keeping herself floating between asleep and awake to check Harry was all right.

***

Clint was meant to be preparing to go to New Mexico for his latest security assignment. Instead he had been in a meeting with Senior Auror Rowle. Apparently the healers had a time limit on reversing the contents of the suicide tablet, the status spell could only be maintained for a period of two weeks before its effectiveness would wear off and reapplying it wouldn’t be an option in time to prevent the spread of the poison. 

The good news was that the healers had been able to extract a sample of the substance from Luca Ramos’ blood without any problems.

The bad news was that they had never seen this substance before and were uncertain if they would be able to reverse its effects within the time limit. 

A lot of resources had been dedicated to unveil the secrets of the mystery substance. Potion masters, healers, and scientists had all teamed up in the hopes that a breakthrough could be made in time for them to save Luca Ramos’ life. They needed him alive to be questioned, whether his mental state would have him in a condition where he could reveal the answers they sought was a concern for another day. 

He returned home in time to be the one to go and collect the kids from the bus which he was very pleased about. He was able to speak with a few fellow parents whilst they waited for the bus to arrive, they mostly spoke about things of little consequence or an upcoming at event at the school. One of the parents had a freshman at high school and they had the winter formal happening in two weeks.

Clint was relieved that they would not be having to deal with any dances, or proms, or formals for a few more years at least. Nope, his kids could remain little kids for a little longer, thank you very much. Cooper was already too close to being a teenager.

He enjoyed the short amount of time it took to drive them all home as it was a chance to spend some time listening to the kids telling him about what they had done at school.

Cooper’s science class had begun learning about the solar system which all of the kids thought was cool, and they had all seemed excited about trying to find a documentary that would teach them more about outer space. Clint also thought it might be fun for Bucky to watch with them, he wasn’t sure if the other man was aware of the moon landing and the space race.

When they pulled into the driveway the kids hurried through the house to grab their afterschool snack, talking about space and stars and rockets, telling Bucky all about it. Some of the information was more opinion based than actual facts, but that was ignored given how enthusiastic they all were.

Clint had just settled at the kitchen table alongside the kids when his phone began to ring, with a sigh he pulled it from his pocket seeing it was an incoming call from Phil he stood up to take the conversation elsewhere.

“Barton,” he answered formally, once he had stepped outside to accept the call. 

“You have a new assignment before we send you to New Mexico,” Phil informed him, not even taking the time to offer a greeting.

“Yes, sir,” Clint agreed easily enough, waiting for the other man to expand upon his instructions.

“You are to find out as much about HYDRA from Luca Ramos as possible, and do not share your findings with anyone except myself or the director,” Phil continued seriously.

Director Fury had been less than thrilled to find out a cult-like terrorist group from the nineteen forties was not as defeated as they had been led to believe. Who knew how far the influence of HYDRA had been able to spread covertly when their operations went underground almost seventy years ago, it was an intelligence agency’s worst nightmare. An unknown counter-intelligence group that was potentially infiltrated within their own ranks, with no one any the wiser as to who was an ally and who was an enemy.

Immediate action was required, but it had to be subtly done otherwise HYDRA would catch on and heighten any security and secrecy they were already shrouded in. Clint was now ideally placed to gain them some much needed intel from a source directly related to the group. However, it was likely that Ramos was nothing but a drop in the ocean that was the group they were facing.

“Do you have an update on the situation?” Phil requested.

“MACUSA are throwing resources at this situation as they try to reverse the suicide capsule’s contents, they have less than a fortnight before the stasis runs out. And even if they do succeed, there’s no guarantee that Ramos will even be conscious, let alone mentally capable, to respond to questioning upon saving his life,” Clint reported the facts of the case.

After a pause, Phil continued, “right, well, you’ll just have to do some investigation around MACUSA about Ramos and see what connections or information you can gather that can gain us an insight into HYDRA whilst we wait for the wixen to save him.”

“Yes, sir,” Clint agreed, despite this not normally being his scope of practice, Nat was always the better of the pair at gathering information. Sure, he could easily get into buildings and steal any intel needed but this would be more research and speaking with people than he was used to on missions. 

“I’ll expect another update by the end of the week,” Phil instructed before hanging up. 

“Wonderful,” Clint sarcastically said aloud to himself. He rubbed his hands together to try and get some warmth back into them as he headed back inside to find all three kids spread out around the table with some kind of homework in front of them. 

“Does anyone need any help?” He asked brightly, clapping his hands together enthusiastically.

“Nope, I’ve got it all under control,” Cooper retorted, not lifting his gaze from the worksheet in front of him.

“Harry? Lila?” Clint checked, moving forward to take a look at what they were working on. He brushed a hand over Lila’s head as he glanced over her shoulder.

Harry shook his head in silent refusal and Lila leaned into his touch briefly before saying “nah, it’s math, I can do this.”

“Bucky?” Clint questioned turning towards the other man who was washing the dishes from the snack.

“I’m alright, just got a few more things to dry,” Bucky responded lightly, though his eyes were lit up with hidden laughter. 

Clint let out a loud breath, “oh-kay, I guess I’ll go find something else to do then,” sounding uncertain before turning to go and find some household task that needed to be done. With six of them in the house there was always something that could do with a tidy or needed to be fixed.

***

It had snowed again whilst they were at school and Harry was excited to get outside and play. He always had a lot of fun playing in the snow. Over the holidays they had had many fun mornings and afternoons spent outside, making snowballs and having battles, building an array of snow people and animals. 

Aunt Nat had even showed them how to build an actual igloo. Before they had tried making snow into bricks and stacking the snow blocks like some of the Inuit people do, or they had tried building walls little by little but it didn’t really work very well, and they could never make a roof. Today, he wanted to start building another igloo using Aunt Nat’s method which was different to how the Inuit people did it; Harry learnt that the Inuits live in the cold, snowy areas so they would be the best people to trust when making igloos but it didn't get cold enough for their snow bricks to remain solid. He also found out the eskimo kiss wasn't quite right, their kunik gesture, placing your nose and upper lip to somebody else's cheek or forehead and breathing in, was a really cool way, especially when it was cold, to show he cared for someone without saying anything.

First, he had to choose where he was going to build his igloo, he decided not to be too close to the house but not somewhere always in the sun because then his igloo would melt quickly. Once he was happy with his site, he began by making his pile of snow, he started by pushing the top layer of snow into a pile with his foot. Then he began collecting armfuls and dropping it onto the pile. 

“Cooper. Help me, please,” he shouted when he spotted his older brother coming to play outside.

Cooper made his way over, placing his feet into the same foot holes Harry had made on his trek through the snow. The older boy took in the smallish pile and asked, “making an igloo?”

“Uhuh,” Harry agreed, happily continuing and gesturing grandly, “look how big my pile is!”

“Yeah, you’ve started really well,” Cooper praised after thinking about what kind words he could say. “Let’s grab a shovel and then it’ll go a lot faster.”

“Oh, yes, a shovel,” Harry breathed out excitedly, not having thought to try and use tools to speed up the process. “Race you,” he declared beginning to run as quickly as he could through the knee-high snow covering their yard.

Cooper easily kept apace with the younger boy and they sped towards the barn laughing, Harry cheered at his victory, breathing heavily from the effort it took. Cooper pretended to be very annoyed at having lost the race, throwing his hands up in the air in faux-disappointment.

“It’s okay, Cooper, we can win together,” Harry offered, throwing himself into the older boy for a hug, performing a kunik when Cooper's returned the hug, as he believed Cooper’s frustrations at losing to be real.

“Thanks, baby bro,” Cooper said, pulling Harry’s hat down over his face teasingly. Causing Harry to let out a confused and annoyed sound of protest. “Here’s a good shovel,” Cooper declared, choosing one of the medium-sized tools they had available, knowing from experience the big shovel would be too heavy to move with a blade full of snow.

“That wasn’t nice,” Harry complained having righted his fluffy hat on his head.

“No, but it was funny,” Cooper replied with a cheeky grin.

Harry shook his head and huffed.

“Let’s a-go,” Cooper said dragging the shovel onto his shoulder, “ohh, grab the sled, Harry, then we can drag more snow and dump it on the igloo pile.”

Harry grabbed the rope for the large red plastic sled that they had and began dragging it across the yard behind him.

They spent a further half an hour getting sled fulls of snow onto their igloo pile.

“Okay, last one then we need to compact it so the outside will be strong when we dig out the middle tomorrow,” Cooper said as they did what Harry thought must be the hundredth sled of snow.

“Yay,” Harry cheered, his face was feeling a bit cold but the rest of him was warm as he had been working hard pulling the shed. They had just finished filling the sled and started walking to the pile when the weight on the sled increased significantly.

“Lila! Get off the sled,” Cooper ordered as both boys turned around to see their sister comfortably sitting on their carefully collected pile of snow.

“No, pull me,” Lila retorted, crossing her arms.

“No,” Harry shouted in response, his anger getting the best of him.

“Get off the sled," Cooper repeated his demand also sounding annoyed. He and Harry had been doing a lot of physical work and were already tired.

“Make me,” Lila challenged playfully, not realising how close her brothers were to the end of their tether's because of their tiredness.

Harry took a flying jump at Lila and tackled her from the sled into the snow, Lila had challenged them to make her get off so Harry did.

Lila shrieked as she got a face full of snow, some of the fluffy whiteness slid down the inside of her coat making her shriek again with the sudden intrusion of cold water.

“Run, Cooper,” Harry instructed as he rolled off of Lila, who was trying to shake out any leftover snow, to help pull the sled faster away from Lila. They managed to get the sled back and emptied before Lila caught up to them.

She retaliated by tackling Harry into the snow which normally would have been fine. But Harry was already annoyed and tired, so when he hit the ground, catching his shoulder on a solid clump of earth buried beneath the snow he began to cry.

“Harry?” Lila questioned confused, pulling back from where she was resting partly on top of the smaller boy. She thought they were having fun, she hadn't meant to hurt him.

Harry simply shook his head tearfully, his green eyes looking even brighter as tears pooled in them.

“What? No, don’t cry, please don’t cry,” Lila said, trying to be soothing, sounding apologetic and concerned.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Cooper asked, coming closer from where he had been patting the pile of snow with the shovel.

Harry nodded twice still sniffling, not able to stop the tears from falling, he wiped his face and nose with the sleeve of his coat.

“I’m sorry, Harry, please stop crying.”

Cooper reached out a hand to pull Harry up as Lila continued to apologise and worry about hurting Harry and getting in trouble. Harry took the hand and slowly stood back up.

“See you're fine,” Lila said, brushing the snow that was clinging to his coat off of Harry, “you can knock me over again,” she offered, “go on, just please stop crying, and don’t tell Mom.”

Harry sniffled again, his tears starting to slow down as he realised he wasn’t actually hurting anymore, but he was still cold. 

“Come on, Harry, you can knock me over, you can,” Lila continued to offer, getting worried that Harry might tell their mom about what she did. 

“Here, Harry, I’ll pull you in the sled while we take the shovel back to the barn,” Cooper said, trying to distract his youngest sibling and move them away from the upset. 

“Yes! We’ll both pull you,” Lila declared jumping onto the good idea. “Hold on tightly,” she told him firmly.

Harry began to smile as he held on to the shovel with one gloved hand and the edge of the sled with the other. His older siblings began to pull the sled, gaining speeding with each step until they were running. 

Harry really enjoyed the sled ride, they even did a small lap outside the barn so he could have more time in the sled. He was smiling brightly by the time they were called inside for dinner. 

“Please don’t tell Mom,” Lila begged one more time as they headed back to the house. 

Chapter Text

“Do you think the flag ever talks Bucky?” Harry asked with a sigh, they were lounging about in the living room. Bucky was relaxing in an armchair whilst Harry was sprawled out across the floor. Cooper still rolled his eyes whenever he spoke about the magic flag but Harry still believed in it. 

"What?” Bucky asked in confusion. They had been sat in relative silence, he was recovering from the game of hide and seek they had just played. Lila had gone off in search of a drink and Cooper was at a friend’s house to hang out for the afternoon. Now, out of nowhere, Harry is talking about a flag?

“The Flag,” Harry repeated, rolling his head to the side to look across at Bucky like he was the crazy one for not understanding, “the magic flag, do you think it ever talks to people?” 

Bucky squinted back at him still not sure what magical flag they were talking about, as far as he knew MACUSA didn’t have their own flag, especially not one that talked, “sorry, pal, but what magic flag?”

“You know, the blue and red stripy one, it’s even got a lotta stars on it too,” Harry explained, his tone displaying the fact he thought he was being quite clear, his eyebrows scrunched as he looked at Bucky.

“Oh,” Bucky drew the word out as Harry’s words finally made sense, there had been a few off-hand remarks about flags before but he hadn’t really bothered to find out the meaning behind them, now he knew. Harry was smiling gently at him evidently pleased Bucky was now able to follow his line of thought. “That flag, the Magic flag. Right. Wait, does it talk?"

“I dunno, that was my question,” Harry said, his forehead scrunching up again. He rolled onto his knees and came to climb into Bucky’s lap.

Bucky took a moment to process this question as he helped Harry settle against him in a comfortable position for both of them. He tried to think about any memories he had of Tilda mentioning there being a magic flag speaking to people in the magical world or at Ilvermorney.

“Everyone talks to it, they even say the magic words every morning at school, but it never talks back. Never. Do you think it’s mad at us?” Harry continued when Bucky remained quiet longer than he was willing to wait, he tilted his head up from where it was resting against Bucky’s shoulder to look at his face.

“No, I don’t think it’s mad,” Bucky reassured, returning to a pensive silence as he considered the matter further, the flag wouldn’t be angry, well… not at every American he thinks to himself.

“So, you do think it talks… the flag,” Harry prodded again trying to get a proper answer to his question.

“Yeah, pal, I’ve heard it speak before,” Bucky responded easily, a bright slightly amused smile growing on his face as he looked down at Harry, when a new thought popped into his mind. He could see Steve as he was back in the war when he was wearing his old Stars and Stripes uniform. In the uniform he was a physical embodiment of the flag, hell he was even named ‘Captain America’ - a human mascot of their nation - and he definitely spoke, sometimes too much or at the wrong times Bucky thought with a chuckle.

“Really?” Harry breathed out in excitement shifting quickly to reach out and grab Bucky’s face between his hands, so his bright, hopeful eyes could bore straight into Bucky’s own. 

“Oh yeah, pal. The flag can listen and it can speak, I know it…” he began confidently, thinking of Stevie, his tone took on a hint of melancholy as he continued, “it’s just been silent for a long time, frozen some might say.” The older man’s face tightened as he thought about how he had felt when he found out what had happened to Steve.

“Thanks, Uncle Bucky,” Harry murmured, snuggling into the man, sensing his need for comfort and quiet. 

Bucky was shocked at the new title he had just had bestowed upon him, he gave Harry a tight squeeze in silent thanks as he felt a burst of love and affection blossom in his chest. He soon loosened his grip but Harry remained settled within the caring circle of his arms. 

“No problem, pal,” Bucky quietly murmured, his throat feeling a little tighter than normal. They may not be his original family but he sure as all things holy loved them as much. He’d try to be with them til the end of line like he couldn’t be with Steve.

***

The stasis spell would be wearing off in a day and the team from MACUSA were still not confident in their ability to successfully reverse the effects of the death capsule.

They had been able to identify all the components that had been incorporated into the compound. But still death for Luca Ramos was looking more and more likely as each hour passed with no suitable approach being discovered.

HYDRA scientists had not been taking any chance of someone surviving the capsule being burst. The compound included not only deadly chemicals and substances but also potions and poisons created for magicals.

Unravelling the cure to the capsule was held up for the most part by the sheer number of death inducing substances that were included. The potioneers who had been brought in struggled to work out how the some of the potions and poisons had been successfully combined without the new potion becoming unstable and killing the brewer.

Over the past twelve days Clint had uncovered what felt like Luca Ramos’ entire life story. He knew about his childhood, his grades throughout Ilvermorney, his MACUSA training and his time in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. Though nothing at the moment was indicative of how he was recruited by HYDRA and which other colleagues could have been in league with the terrorist organisation. 

The lack of progress was really beginning to grate on Clint’s nerves. He wanted to know if his son was safe or whether he needed to be on alert for another attempt to steal Harry away from them. He had been putting in long hours which was cutting into his sleep making him snappish. He didn’t want to snap at his kids or wife but he was struggling to contain his mounting annoyance. 

It was a waiting game. He had to put his faith in others to ensure his son’s safety and at this time they were failing. All he could do was keep looking through the information he had complied to find potential links or clues as to who else should be questioned. He knew if he had magic then things around him would be rattling with his mix of emotions as the helplessness tried to sink its claws in even deeper.

People were jumping out of his way as he quickly made his way to the main portkey arrival and departure point. Clint had decided to walk there rather than leaving from the one outside the Auror Department giving him some time to calm his emotions. He wouldn’t take his disappointment and frustration out on his family, he wouldn’t. 

“Bucky?” Clint asked, taking to a quick step back as he rounded the second to last corner almost running in to the other man, “what are you doing here?”

“Appointment with the healers,” Bucky explained, his tone level and his face blank. 

“Ah, right,” Clint nodded.

“Any luck?” Bucky asked, trying to redirect the conversation. Clint could just make out the touch of hope colouring his tone. 

Clint released a sigh through his nose, shaking his head lightly as he answered, “no. Nothing yet.”

Bucky’s mouth twisted to the side, making his lips thinner in an expression of disgruntlement. He grunted in acknowledgment of the words, silently sharing in Clint’s despondency. 

“Yeah, see you later?” Clint replied, not wanting to hold Bucky up.

Bucky nodded once before they both continued on their way. 

***

The Asset was trapped in the chair, it didn’t know what it had done wrong. It hadn’t been mission non-compliant, it had completed the mission within the parameters set. It had been mission compliant. But it was back in the chair, its body spasmed as it felt the first bolt of electricity, its teeth clenched down on the mouth guard. It tried, knowing it was useless, to prepare and brace for the horror that was sure to come after the first shock.

"Neit," the asset tried to squeeze out around the mouthguard. 

Then a small hand reached out to touch the asset. The asset jolted almost as much as it just had from the electrical current flowing through its body. Before the asset could think anymore it was on its feet approaching the threat. No longer restrained and being punished. 

Between one blink and then next the ass- Bucky, James Buchanan Barnes, he corrected himself with a firm shake of his head. He was stood outside, just outside the wards, barefoot in the slushy mess. His breathing was elevated alongside his pounding heart, a nightmare. It was just a nightmare, he realised as he focused on getting his breathing under control. 

He held a hand out towards the wards slowly, having spent so much time getting to know the magic and having had it help him he knew how protective they could be. Despite his worries, his hand passed harmlessly through the invisible barrier protecting the Barton home and land. There was a feeling of welcome and warmth, followed by the impression of a warning. 

The small hand. Harry, Bucky placed together from the snippets of vision he remembered before the wards took action.

“Could have at least let me had my shoes,” he muttered, looking down at his feet that were rapidly becoming numb from there time stood in the slush. He began his walk back to the farmhouse, one good thing at least from all his time guarding the perimeter is that he knew exactly how to get back to the farmhouse from where he was. It was the opposite edge of the wards from the main exit.

~ ~ ~

Harry panicked. Bucky was here one minute gone the next, just vanished. Was Bucky magic and he didn’t know it? Had Harry scared him so much he ran away like Harry did when we was at the Dursleys and the Millers?

He had only come upstairs to check that Bucky was okay. Normally he would be awake and downstairs in the kitchen by now. But we wasn’t. When Harry made it to the top floor, he could hear quiet noises like someone was scared or in pain. He couldn’t see anyone and the noises only got louder when he got closer to Bucky’s room. 

He quietly knocked as that was the rule. But he didn’t get a response and another sound of pain came from the other side of the door. Harry thought Bucky was being hurt and needed help and he had tried knocking so he just opened the door and went in. Bucky was there but he was asleep in his bed, the sheets were all scrunched up around him, the noises of pain continued so Harry got closer.

“Bucky,” he called quietly, nervous about being in the man’s room without permission. 

He got no response, not even a twitch. Normally the older man would wake up very suddenly if there was noise around him and he had fallen asleep downstairs. 

“Bucky,” he tried again, a little louder, he edged three steps closer to the bed. 

“Neit,” came a whispered hoarse plea. The single word froze the breath in Harry’s lungs, he didn’t know what it meant but the sound was not Bucky’s voice, it had none of the kindness, the joy, the love.

“Bucky, you gotta wake up,” Harry said, he was now stood beside the bed.

This time the man seemed to react to his words, his head and body turning slightly in his direction. His other movement and any noises he was making had stopped, it was as if he were listening for Harry even in his sleep.

“Bucky… it’s Harry,” the young boy tried, reaching out a hand to gently squeeze the older man’s arm once. 

Bucky’s eyes fluttered at this contact and then before Harry could even process it the man was out of the bed startling Harry into tripping backwards. Despite him being up this still wasn’t his Bucky, his eyes were the same shade of blue but the spark of something that was Bucky wasn’t there, it had been replaced by a sort of nothingness. It was cold, it scared Harry. 

“BU-“ he began only to have the man who had Bucky’s face but wasn’t really Bucky step towards him menacingly, arm stretched out ahead of him. Then poof, gone. Then he had a momentarily feeling of warmth like a spiritual hug surrounding him.

Harry hurried downstairs and tried to explain everything that had happened. Laura promised him that they could do more about the situation once all of them had eaten breakfast and were ready and able to face the day.

Fortunately for his unsuccessful efforts to start mounting a search and rescue were unnecessary because as Clint was finishing up his breakfast the backdoor opened revealing the other man. 

“Bucky?” Harry asked tentatively, his eyes squinted as he looked at his newest uncle as if trying to decide just from looking at him whether he had regained what made him Bucky that had been missing this morning. The rest of the Bartons quietly watched the interaction. 

"Yeah, pal. I’m me again,” Bucky answered softly, once the words had left his mouth Harry was quickly throwing himself at the other man to hug him tightly. 

“I’m glad you’re safe, I was scared when you poofed away,” Harry admitted quietly from where his face was smushed into the man's legs which he had wrapped tightly in his arms.

“I’m all good, pal, the wards just took me away because I was not safe for you when I woke up,” Bucky explained hoping to offer Harry some reassurance, he also returned the hug which was slightly awkward given their height difference.

“Why were you not safe, Uncle Bucky?” Harry asked, brow scrunched in confusion. 

“Well you know the healing I've gotta go to at MACUSA?” He checked, waiting for a nod before continuing, “it’s working with my brain to help me get better and that brought back some bad memories that I got stuck in.”

“Oh. But, but you’re okay now, right?” Harry confirmed, his young face taking on a serious set with his latest question.

“Yes, I’m much better now. But sometimes after my healing I might need sometime for my brain to go back to being safe, ‘kay, pal?” Bucky answered.

“M’kay,” Harry agreed, giving one final tight squeeze before he released the older man, “do you want some breakfast now?”

With that question Harry was back on track for a normal rest of the day. Animation and conversation began to slowly freely around the room again.

***

The lab in MACUSA where the team was set up was extremely tense. They had less than three hours to find the- a- any solution to the Death Serum, as the compound contained in capsule had been nicknamed by them. 

A number of cauldrons had different potions in multiple stages of brewing being worked on by a handful of potion experts. 

“Don’t be offended by my frank analysis,” Jamie sung quietly to herself as she worked on cross-referencing the reactions between all the ingredients of the poisons and potions for a third time, triple checking she finally had a way that they could have been combined without blowing up in her face, “think of it as personality dialysis.”

“What was that?” A colleague, a woman with warm honey skin and deep chestnut hair, working at the next station asked, turning to look at her. Her eyes intensely focused, contrasting slightly with the friendly set of her face.

“Oh, nothing, sorry,” Jamie apologised, her eyes widening, she hadn’t meant to distract anyone but she had always found that humming and singing helped her to concentrate better.

“No, no. What were you singing?” The woman questioned again their face and tone serious.

“Um, it’s a song from Wicked. A musical,” Jaime answered, trying to keep her posture and tone confident despite the hesitancy she was feeling at her colleague’s strange questioning. 

“No, no, the words. What were the words?”

“The lyrics? Um, don’t be offended by my frank analysis, think of it as personality dialysis,” Jaime repeated easily, though she found it a little strange to just say and not sing the words. It was one of the songs that always got stuck in her head, especially this lyric. 

“Dialysis. Dialysis could work, right? Why didn’t we consider that? Could we perform a magical version of dialysis and extract the Death Serum from his body?” The scientist wondered aloud, heading towards the front of the room where the project leaders were gathered. “Thank you,” she called over her shoulder, her tone and face much friendlier now that her focus had been relaxed.

***

Clint returned home to the sounds of the kids playing some sort of game outside. This brought a smile to his face buoying his mood even further and he had already been feeling brighter than he had in almost a fortnight. When he had received the summons to MACUSA half a day after the deadline for the stasis spell had passed, he could admit he had not been feeling much hope. He had been preparing himself for the inevitable bad news: Luca Ramos had died and ergo no further information could be gained from the dead. The facts of Harry’s kidnapping and HYRDA’s continued existence would go to the grave with the dead man.

But Senior Auror Rowle had met him at the portkey’s arrival point in MACUSA with a small, tired, yet noticeably pleased smile on her normally professionally blank face. 

“We’ve had a breakthrough,” the auror had announced, “the healers administered the treatment plan the scientists came up with yesterday before the deadline and so far so good.”

“Ramos will be brought back round?” Clint checked.

“Luca Ramos isn’t dying on us today,” the auror confirmed, a warm pleasure of a job well done lacing her tone. “We are still going to have to wait to see what state he will be in should- when,” she corrected herself, “he regains consciousness.” 

After that conversation it was an understatement to say that Clint returned home with a small spring in his step. He could begin to prepare to move on to his next assignment and pass on all the useful information that Ramos would reveal once he was interviewed again.

A sharp burst of cold air brought Clint out of his thoughts, he refocused his attention on his kids who were unaware of his presence wrapped up in their own little world as they were.

They were all tightly bundled up in their warm winter gear, he just stood in the garden and watched the running and shrieking and smiling as all three kids played together. Even after several minutes giving their antics his full consideration he still had no clue what the hell was going on; Harry was shouting about a dragon, whilst Lila seemed to be on a boat, and Cooper was in charge of a fighter jet, or at least that was what Clint thought was happening. It was all a bit confusing but the kids were all enjoying themselves, what more could he ask for?

He entered the house with his smile still firmly in place. The kids were safe, having fun, and it wouldn’t be long before they got some actual answers about whether further protections or actions needed to be taken to safeguard Harry. 

“Hey, Bucky. Do you know where Laura is?” He greeted cheerily as he entered the kitchen, stomping his feet on the doormat to clear off the last of the snow clinging to his boots. 

“Hi, Laura’s just through there, how was the meeting?” Bucky returned affably, pulling his focus from watching something in the oven, pointing towards a side door past the pantry. The other man had taken to spending some of his time over the last month learning to bake, Clint thought this was one of his attempts to usurp Phil as favourite uncle but wasn’t too bothered because Bucky was producing some amazing treats. They may not always come out looking the best but they tasted fine and none of the kids complained. 

“It’s still a waiting game with Ramos, though the healers have administered a cure for the death capsule. But we’re still waiting for him to fully rejoin the land of the living,” Clint answered, pulling his boots off one at a time.

“Good,” Bucky agreed, with a nod. Clint could notice a slight decrease of tension in the way the former soldier was holding himself, a silent tell to the relief he wasn’t able to express in words. Luca Ramos’ potential escape from justice and the lack of information revealed had been a silently growing weight on all three of the adults in their home. Clint was pleased, a positive outcome was finally in sight.

He found Laura in the laundry room, she was sorting laundry to be put into the machine. He quickly stepped up beside her to help sort through the kids clothing, checking the pockets to make sure nothing had been left behind.

“So it was a good meeting?” Laura said by way of greeting.

“Did you hear me speaking to Bucky?” Clint asked as he has hand came into contact with something slightly wet and slimy in one of Harry’s pockets. “Argh,” he whined pulling the hand out to look at it. Nothing suspicious looking was visible to him.

Laura looked across to him with amusement in her eyes and a smile tugging at her lips, “no, dear, I’m just omnipotent,” she replied deadpan. 

“Great. What are the lotto numbers going to be?” Clint retorted while jokingly poking Laura in a ticklish point along her side, gaining an aborted squeak and a part shuffle part jump away from him.

“Don’t,” she warned, pointing an index finger with intent, though the stern image was ruined by her other hand containing several pieces of underwear. 

Clint held up his hands in supplication, a couple of seconds later Laura nodded in acknowledgement turning back to her sorting. Clint leant across quickly for a kiss before returning to his own work. “They don’t know when he’ll come round, but I want it to be soon so we can all move on from this,” he explained, putting the now soggy, slimy but broccoli-free trousers into the washing machine. “How was your afternoon, love?”

“Good, though I had to send the kids outside when they almost broke a window, I don't really want to know what they were doing, so anyway we also received a letter delivered by a pigeon-“

“A pigeon?” Clint interrupted, looking over to Laura in shock, he had been expecting her to say owl not pigeon, but seeing no signs of teasing on her face he refocused.

“Yes, a pigeon. From the Sioux offering Harry the chance to attend one of their weekly magic classes,” Laura added.

“Right, what does it involve?” He asked, leaning back against the counter now that his pile of clothes was sorted and in the machine. 

“The pamphlet they sent says they gets the local magical kids together and teach them about how the Sioux use magic. The kids are taught some small acts of magic and introduced to the wider magical community, it seems like a really good programme,” Laura explained, throwing the last t-shirt into the machine and adding the necessary products before turning it on.

“So, you think he should do it then?” Clint checked, pulling Laura into a hug went she went to leave the room.

“I think we should offer him the chance and if he wants to, well why not,” she replied, leaning into him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders before placing a kiss on his lips. 

“Mhm,” he hummed into the kiss. “If Harry wants to and it won’t be too much extra stress for you,” he agreed, knowing that with him getting sent elsewhere for work that Laura would be the one having to get Harry there and back. 

“They mentioned a collection and drop-off sight for portkeys, a bit like a magic school bus for those who live further away,” Laura explained, hearing the silent meaning behind her husband’s words.

“Oh, that’s good. Let’s see what Harry thinks then," Clint agreed.

Chapter Text

They were into February and the magic dialysis had worked, Ramos had finally awoken but he wasn’t as he had been before he burst the Death Capsule. He hadn’t spoken a word, but from the tests conducted by the healers he was aware and seemingly able to comprehend everything that was going on a round him. Their diagnosis spells indicated that he should be able to speak without issue, his voice box, throat and tongue were all perfectly fine but he hadn’t. Not a single word since his reawakening five days earlier. 

Clint had received a call from Phil the day before that he was being sent to New Mexico for the PEGASUS mission despite Ramos not having revealed anything since he had been brought back from the very brink of death. Another SHIELD agent who was aware of the magical world would be on the case continuing the investigation into Ramos and Laura would be receiving the updates from Senior Auror Rowle in his stead whilst he was away. If needed Laura could pass any relevant information on to Phil.

The last time Clint had spoken to Senior Auror Rowle she had informed him that the team were looking into using spells that had been developed for wixen with disabilities, so that they could continue the questioning of Ramos even if he had lost the ability to speak in his attempt on his life. His mind was still functioning as it should so they were hopeful that answers could still be pulled from him.

But it was more of a waiting game and SHIELD could no longer hold off sending him on this next mission. Clint felt frustrated at the lack of progress even though rationally he knew the fact that Ramos was even still alive to give answers was a minor miracle. It may not be reasonable, but his heart and emotions wanted to know Harry was safe or where to aim his bow to make Harry safe.

But patience is a virtue… and all that. Hopefully his latest mission would at least distract him from the intolerable frustration of even more waiting. For people with magic who had the literal power to do crazy things instantaneously the wixen were sure taking their sweet time.

***

“I don’t wanna go,” Harry murmured quietly from where he was wrapped around one of Laura’s legs, hands clasped firmly into the material of her trousers. 

They were stood waiting at the designated portkey site. There were a couple of other children with their own adults stood in a loose group. Some of the kids knew each other and were happily chatting whilst they waited for their ride to arrive. 

Harry had spotted a few other children who like him didn’t look excited to be leaving their parents or guardians. 

“You were so excited about the club just yesterday, Harry,” Laura reminded him in a gentle tone as she stroked her thumb back and forth over the back of his head from where she had laid her hand comfortingly atop his head.

“Now I don’t wanna,” Harry repeated a slight tremble in his voice. His tight grip getting even tighter around the leg he had in his grasp. 

“I think you should give it a go, sweetie. You’ll get to learn about magic and you’ll get to make friends with some of these cool kids,” Laura replied, keeping her tone even and encouraging. Her hand never stopping the rhythmic stroking, despite the strain she was beginning to feel in her thumb.

“But what if they don’t like me?” Harry whispered desperately, shooting a quick glance around the dozen or so people around them. 

“Why wouldn’t they like you? You’re a wonderful, kind boy and a great friend,” Laura answered, not giving Harry time for the bad thoughts to sink their claws into him. 

Harry tilted his head back to look up at her, scrutinising her face his eyes a little squinted as he stared hard. 

Laura kept a smile on her face and looked down into her son’s eyes, letting him take the time to read the truth of her words on her face and in her tone. 

“Now he looks like a nice boy too, why don’t we go say hi,” Laura suggested after a minute had passed without Harry saying anything, though his vice like grip on her leg had loosened. However with these words, Harry’s eyes quickly widened in horror.

“No, mommy, no,” he whispered, trying to dig his feet into the ground and stop them from moving towards the boy with light brown hair stood a couple of meters away from them with his parents.

Laura ignored Harry’s protests and moved somewhat awkwardly, given the child-sized limpit weighing her down, towards the small family.

“Hello, I’m Laura Barton, and this is my son, Harry,” Laura introduced them both happily, “is it your first time going to the club too?” 

“Hi Laura, Harry, it’s nice to meet you both. I’m Natalie, this is my husband, Caspar, and our son, Earl,” the newly introduced Natalie responded kindly, though Earl took a step closer to his father showing his nerves. 

“Yes, it’s Earl’s first time attending the club,” Caspar agreed, pulling Earl into his side lovingly, holding his spare hand out to Laura to shake in greeting.

“Oh, that’s nice, it's Harry’s first time too, he’s a little nervous, aren’t you love?” Laura said, stroking a hand over Harry’s hair. He shot her a quick annoyed look before nodding quickly and throwing a glance at the new people, his gaze settling on Earl before bouncing away again.

“So were you aware of the world of wizards before all this?” Caspar asked a bit cautiously, motioning with his head towards their small gathering of people, some of whom were wearing robes. 

Laura gave a short friendly laugh at the slight confusion on Caspar’s face as he took in the odd fashion choices of some of the wixen, “yes, one of my cousins is a wizard so we knew a little about the other half of the world. I’m guessing it was a bit of shock for you all then?”

“You could say that,” Natalie agreed with a shocked burst of her laughter. Harry startled a little at Natalie’s laughter which sounded like what he imagined witches would laugh like before he knew magic was real.

“She laughs like a witch,” came a quiet voice from beside Harry causing him to startle away again from the unexpected words. Without him noticing as the conversation had progressed Earl had moved away from his dad and come up beside Harry. Earl demonstrated his point by copying his mother’s cackle-like laughter throwing his head back in the image of a cartoon villain.

Harry tried to laugh quietly as the adults continued to talk over the top of their heads, “yeah, a bit," Harry agreed. Earl smiled back at him, puffing up in pleasure when Harry laughed at his impression.

“And you should hear a boy at my school, whenever he laughs he snorts like a pig,” Earl put in, before demonstrating the snorting. 

This pulled another laugh out of Harry, he tried to copy the snort back at Earl, though he wasn't very successful which caused them both to laugh. They kept trading snorts and attempted snorts back and forth with increasingly loud laughter and sore throats until there was a call from someone nearby that the portkey was ready to take them to the Sioux land. 

Harry turned to give Laura a quick hug, his nerves returning to him.

“Come on, Harry,” Earl encouraged gesturing for the other boy to hurry up as he stepped towards the person holding the teapot that would whisk them away.

“See you later, mommy,” Harry murmured, then he quickly headed towards Earl so they could stand side by side to take the portkey.

~ ~ ~

Harry was with Earl in a group with twelve other magical children from a range of different ages all the way up to eleven. He found out there weren’t any older kids around because they would most likely be getting their magical education at one of the several magic schools across the continent. This made him think about Jacob who had sent him another letter recently where he wa talking about his new semester at Ilvermorny, Harry was excited for when he was old enough to go away to magic school.

As they portkeyed Harry tried to remain close to Earl, liking the other boy’s company and appreciating the familiar face in the unknown they had just entered. Stumbling out of the magical whirlwind, Harry helped to stop Earl from falling straight onto his butt. 

Though Earl barely remained standing even when the dizzy sensation of the portkey had ended for Harry. The other boy was leaning heavily into Harry, who was trying his best to keep them both upright. 

“Urgh,” Earl moaned, his tone making him sound close to vomiting, “I’m gonna throw up,” he added softly, sounding distressed as his hands wrapped around his stomach.

Harry didn’t want to get sick on his clothes, but it would be rude to shove his new friend away if he was unwell. He looked around with urgency as he tried to find someone to help Earl, he began rubbing a hand up and down Earl’s back just like Laura did for him when he felt ill.

“Urgh, my tummy,” Earl moaned again, lightly swaying back and forth even as he leaned on Harry. 

“Please don’t be sick on me, it’s okay now, you’re good, the spinning's stopped,” Harry said, finally making desperate eye contact with a man who was across the group helping someone else who hadn't't dealt well with the portkey travel. “Help please,” he said addressing the man, “Earl said he’s gonna be sick,” Harry continued, his worry shining through in his tone.

The man took in the situation and hurried across to the two boys, he waved one hand towards Earl whose breathing had been coming faster and faster. A couple of seconds after the hand was waved, Earl slowly straightened up.

“Thanks,” he murmured quietly, taking some deep breaths, a hand rubbing subconsciously over his stomach, his face showing his pleased astonishment at his sudden recovery. He also sent Harry a thumbs up when he saw Harry’s concerned green gaze locked on him. "I'm good," he promised.

“Young magical beings, gather around,” an older woman called out to the children. She was quite tall and her brown hair had streaks of grey through it.

The new kids shared nervous looks, but those who had been attending the club for a while happily approached the elder, some calling out greetings, others waved or smiled.

“I want to welcome all of you and say how pleased we are to receive the new faces among us. My name is Winona and I will be one of your teachers,” the elder woman introduced herself, taking the time to look at each child in turn. Winona had a stern air about her, though Harry thought she sounded nice.

“Everyone who has come to the club before if you would follow Matthew, he’ll be leading your first session,” Winona instructed, gesturing to the man who had helped Earl feel better. Seven of the thirteen children moved to follow Matthew away from the group.

The six remaining kids shuffled closer together at the silent command Winona made, drawing them in. 

Once the children had come closer, Winona began speaking again, “you will taught how we as members of the Sioux community access and commune with our magic throughout the time you attend this club. Some of you will learn some more about the wider wixen community that you are now aware you are a part of, others can welcome and share their own tales of this magical world in which we all live. But today we will focus on our magic and begin with a small exploring exercise.”

At this final declaration all of the children looked intrigued, smiled widely, sharing bright grins and excited glances. 

“Alright, spread out, find a space to stand where you can have your arms out and not touch anyone,” Winona said, which quickly caused the children to scatter, rushing here and there around the small clearing they were stood in away from most of the main buildings that made up the village. 

Harry took a couple of quick steps backwards, his arms held completely stretched out, he was twisting this way and that making sure he had the right amount of space around him. Once he was satisfied with his chosen spot he watched the other kids move for a while, until everyone had settled in their chosen spots and turned their attention back to Winona who was watching them with an indulgent smile on her face. 

“Are you all ready?” She checked. 

“Yeah!” Came the excitable cheer back to that question.

“Good, the first step is to close your eyes, feel the space around you, the wind on your face and the warmth of the sun,” she continued, watching as the children closed their eyes and began to focus on their surroundings.

Harry felt a bit strange just standing there with his eyes closed, but after a little hesitation he had done it. He let his other senses take over, he was still listening to Winona as she guided them through their task. He could feel the wind which was still quite cold blowing a little at his face, there had been some sun, but he couldn’t really feel much warmth from it.

“Listen to the noises around you, the animals moving, the birds calling, the other people near you.”

He could hear the birds, some sounded like pigeons, and there was one that had a really annoying sound that it was making again and again. There was a scuttle nearby as someone moved, hitting a rock or a stick. 

“Keep breathing deeply and spread your arms and hands out like you’re feeling the space around you.”

A calmness was spreading over the area and Harry could feel a fizzy warm feeling inside him, it spread as he lifted his arms. Coming up from within to run along his arms.

“Try and stretch your senses, share any warmth inside you out into the world.”

Harry’s face scrunched up as he tried to work out how to do that, he could feel the warmth, it seemed like it wanted to move and fly but he didn’t know how to make it. He was straining but the warmth wasn’t listening to him. 

“Try wiggling your fingers a little and feeling the air around you.”

It took a moment for Harry to stop trying to force the warmth and follow the next instruction, he laughed a little as he did so, feeling the warmth moving into his fingers, it felt like the warmth was running between them as well. Harry could hear small laughter or sounds of excitement around him. 

“Now if you haven’t already, open your eyes.”

Harry peeled his eyes open and blinked in the bright light. After a few blinks he realised it wasn’t just the sun that was so bright. There were light sparks of light coming from his fingers and the other kids around him. 

“Wow,” he breathed out in awe. Some sparks and flickers were brighter than others and they had a whole range of colours, his were mainly yellow and orange, like a fire keeping him warm.

“That is your magic, young wielders, your spirit given physical power,” Winona added calmly, her smile bright as she took in the awe and excitement of the young souls around her. Her own magic was surrounding her arms in bright shades of purple.

“Your next challenge is to use your senses to try and find the magical objects hidden around this area that are disguised as everyday items and pieces of nature,” Winona said.

With this instruction there were shrieks and joyful calls as the kids hurried to try and find something magical that didn’t look magical. Harry hurried over to Earl who smiled as he approached. 

“Wanna work together?” Harry asked quickly, his eyes trying to look at everything and what everyone else was doing. 

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Earl agreed easily, reaching out to grab one of Harry’s hands as the gentle waves of blues and greys of his magic wrapped through his fingers. Mixing the flames and waves of their magic which was slowly fading back into their bodies.

~ ~ ~

Bucky had been waiting at what he hoped was the right spot to collect Harry for about five minutes. There were several other adults loitering about so he thought he was in the correct place.

With a whirling splash of colour, a group of five children and two adults appeared in the middle of the alley.

"Uncle Bucky!" Harry happily called, stepping away from the small posse to throw himself at his uncle.

"Hey, pal, how was magic club?" Bucky asked swinging the young boy up into his arms. 

"It was great, I gotta see my magic. It was like fire Uncle Bucky and- and- and Earl's was like waves, it was so cool. And I found a pebble and a leaf with Earl," Harry began to ramble, he sounded very pleased with his and Earl's work.

"That's great, pal," he agreed, pleased Harry had had a good time and to pull up a physical manifestation of his magic after the first session was impressive, though he didn't not understanding why Harry thought finding a rock and leaf was so impressive.

"Uncle Bucky you gotta meet Earl," Harry suddenly exclaimed, wiggling and leaning to be placed on the ground where he began to pull Bucky by the hand towards another young boy once his feet touched down.

***

He had been in New Mexico for almost four weeks already. The mission to watch over the PEGASUS project was objectively quite boring, but he was picking up a lot of interesting information not that he understood all of it. Some, most, he mentally corrected, of the science was beyond his realm of understanding or interest. The shining blue cube that the scientists had been studying and running different tests on seemed to have had all the scientists getting increasingly excited throughout the last few days.

Personally Clint could not see what the excitement was about. The cube seemed to be releasing a flash like a light, but it had been doing that every so often for at least the past week. He had heard the scientists talking about how it was an indication that the cube was releasing energy, but then the mumblings began to get too complex for his level of scientific expertise.

But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about the cube, research for the day had ended and he was preparing to phone home from the relative comfort of his room on base.

“Daddy!” Lila greeted exuberantly as the call connected.

Clint could hear the other kids calling out their own greetings around the phone. Though tonight was Lila’s turn to hold the phone first. 

“Hi, Lila, how are you?” He asked, settling comfortably back on his bed ready to spend a long time on the phone hearing all about his kids' days and that would finally progress to getting time to speak to Laura.

Lila spoke about her day at school and about how she had been invited to one of the girl’s in her class’ birthday party that would be next weekend. He was told all about what she had done at school and home in the days since he had last spoken to them. Lila had just been getting into something about an argument some of her friends had had when her voice cut off. 

“Daddy, I’m gonna tell you about my day now,” came Harry’s voice, apparently he was a phone snatcher now. 

“I don’t think Lila was finished, buddy,” Clint reprimanded lightly. He was able to make out a similar admonishment coming from Laura as Lila also complained loudly about not being done talking to him. 

“But she was taking forever, and she told you about the fight with Rosie on Friday,” Harry whined. “I wanna have a turn.” Clint could hear the pout in his voice. 

“You can have your turn when I’m done,” Lila said sounding closer to the phone.

“But it was boring and Daddy already knows about it,” Harry retorted sounding annoyed. 

Clint couldn’t make out what Laura said over the youngest two arguing to get them to settle down but Lila was back on the phone finishing her small recital, before the phone was once again handed off to Harry.

Harry began to tell him about his own day and the things he had been doing with the Sioux at the magic club. Apparently the previous weekend the kids had been learning about some of the traditional Sioux magic use and wielding. The Sioux magic warriors had come by and shown them how they could call upon their spirit animals; a bright vapoury animal that could appear with their will, forming around the person it was a part of.

Clint thought Harry was trying to say that they were told the Sioux used to use it as a way to scare away unwanted visits or those who came to hurt their tribe, but the explanation was a little jumbled with comments and tangents coming in throughout the story. Though he was quite clear that the Sioux could be shrouded in a ghost-like animals that appeared out of nowhere and would charge at their enemies scaring them off.

Harry was telling him how Winona had promised that all of the children could be taught how to do the spirit calling if they were patient and practiced hard enough. Harry was speculating on what animal he would produce, apparently Earl wanted his to be an alligator, but Harry wasn’t sure, he thought a niffler would be exciting or a dragon or a penguin. Clint thought it sounded like quite a cool party trick to have, though practical use was hard to work out for modern times.

Eventually Harry wrapped up when he began yawning between sentences as the phone got passed on to Cooper, who filled him in on other interesting things that had happened around the farm and in his life since their last chat. Whilst he was talking Laura was getting Harry ready and in to bed and Lila up the stairs to start her nighttime routine. 

Cooper was starting to get drowsy by the time Laura had finished with the other two and ushered him off to bed. The two of them were able to talk for a short while, relishing the chance to catch up with one another, speaking about everything and nothing.

Senior Auror Rowle had been in contact they had managed to conduct a short interrogation of Ramos the week before. He had been working under orders to find Harry. His kidnapping was not the work of a solo agent gone rogue, but the poorly planned actions fuelled by desperation. Thankfully Ramos never found out where they lived. But HYDRA wanted their son, Ramos didn’t even know why, he only knew they wanted him and had tried to get Harry for them.

That news had sent a shiver down his spine. He only knew a little of HYDRA’s history but it could never be for anything good that this historic terror organisation wanted to capture Harry. He purposefully disrupted his thoughts when they tried to follow the path of what they could possibly want a five-year-old for; it didn’t bear thinking about.

He also got to hear clear, adult explanations for some of the odd things the kids had said which brought the mood back up after the lingering stress of the kidnapping had sunk in. It was hard to be away from his family for such a long period of time, he missed out on the little moments of love and comfort, sometimes he also missed big events, but he did love his job and he got a real sense of purpose from doing it and he was very good at it.

After they ran out of words, they sat in comfortable silence for a while, simply taking the time to absorb the other’s company and presence despite being thousands of miles apart.

“I love you, Clint,” Laura said, breaking the silence as a shout came from upstairs and she needed to end the call to go address whatever problem had occurred. 

“Love you too, honey,” Clint replied, feeling the fleeting wish to be home with his nearest and dearest so he could tuck the kids in and hug them goodnight, before spending time with Laura where he could actually kiss his wife.

But he had a job to do, the phone calls would have to be enough for now. 

“Love you too,” he repeated.

Chapter Text

They were now on week who-even-knew-anymore of the mission, the days and weeks began to fade and merge into one another given the severe the lack of clear distinguishing moments. During the months-long operation Clint had been able to return home for a few days of vacation twice since the beginning the mission. The last trip home had been for Lila’s birthday in early April, well it was a vacation from work because he had to face the truth, whilst he loved his family and spending time with the kids it could be very hard work.

He’d been back in his post up above the circus of science and so far the day had been following what Clint had come to know as a normal day for the project: scientists carrying out readings and tests, analysing the results, comparing the new results with old ones, discussing them with each other, and repeat. Tension had been thrumming among the scientists which had caught Clint’s attention as abnormal, there was a collective sense of excitement with an undercurrent of nerves, that had only worsened throughout the day. 

Dr. Selvig and his team had been analysing results from the cube with increasing levels of interest but similarly a constant level of confusion over the figures they were drawing from their readings. The cube, or Tesseract as was its correct name, had become more and more active over the past week.

“Dr. Selvig, her levels are spiking, drastically,” one of the female scientists called out as the cube sparked. The scientists had decided that the tesseract would be given the pronouns she/her, Clint figured it was researcher equivalent to sailors with ships.

"Selvig's on a break."

"Well go find him then," the first scientist, Dr. Amy Van de Wit instructed eyes focused on the screen in front of her.

One of the lower levels hurried off to find the man in charge.

“Still emitting low levels of gamma,” another lab coat wearer informed just as an alert blared out as the sudden spike in energy levels was measured bypassing some safety measure they had put in place. An evacuation would need to be ordered, he used his comm to inform Phil of this as the scientists continued to battle to shut down the energy source that was not playing ball.

Clint’s eye methodically scanned the goings-on in the room. That spike hadn’t been planned or anticipated it was anomalous to the previous standards they had recorded; some of the team looked scared. He had picked up on how the cube was a bit like a gateway into space that the scientists were trying to work out how to open and use to harness power. Currently they hadn't had success, the cube definitely had access to lots of energy which it could apparently wield as and when it liked. 

There was some more flurried actions among the team as they gathered around their monitors, watching the results flood in. Dr. Selvig arrived back at a fast pace, nodding along as he was filled in on the surge.

“I can't shut it down,” Dr. Selvig informed after several minutes where he made attempts at something from his monitor.

It seemed the days of routine actions and testing were over. Clint had a gut feeling that something—he wasn’t sure what, but something—was coming and he wasn’t confident that they were well prepared for it.

Fast forward four and a half hours, Director Fury arrived on scene, the Tesseract had another larger spike which processed to blast them all with icy blue energy out of which appeared a uniquely dressed man. Said man then went on a killing spree using his glowing blue spear, sending bolts of magic or power or something around to cause untold amounts of damage to property and human life. 

A short fight raged before the last thing Clint remembered clearly was having the hand he was holding his gun in blocked from getting a clear shot on the new unknown threat before the glowing stick was placed firmly against the centre of his chest. Icy power rushed out and through him, freezing out everything else.

***

This was the first proper birthday party that Harry had ever attended. Of course he had been there on Cooper’s, Lila's and Bucky's birthdays, but they hadn’t had a real party for any of them. Cooper had chosen to go out for the day with Clint and his friends rather than do a birthday party. Lila had wanted to go out with Laura and Aunt Nat for a girl's day, and then Uncle Bucky didn't real have enough friends for a proper party, he was also an adult and they never seemed to have a proper party with balloons and bouncy castles and party games.

So this was the kind of birthday party Harry had been invited to once at the start of his last school year with the Dursleys but had never been allowed to go to. Freaks don't get to go normal people's birthday party's. He only ever heard about how much fun it had been from Dudley. He would come back with a party bag, talking about the really fun games of musical bumps and pin the tail on the donkey. The best bit was always the cake though, everyone would sing, there were candles and different exciting cakes. Harry could always imagine it so clearly, but he never got to go, all his class would then talk about the party was ages afterwards leaving excluded even more than normal.

But not this time, he was at a birthday party and it was going to be great, he just knew it. The large rectangular room was decorated with balloons of red, yellow, pink, and purple, there were bright colourful triangle things on a string and a huge banner that exclaimed Happy Birthday in the same bright colours as the balloons. There were long tables along one side of the room with lots of different party foods and some cups of juice. This was the proper type of birthday party Harry had missed out on.

It was for Sophie, a friend of Lila’s, eighth birthday. Lila had been invited and Laura had offered to help chaperone and prepare for the party so Harry was also getting to join in. Cooper had declined the chance, deciding he wanted to stay with Bucky at the house rather than go to the birthday of an eight-year-old girl. Cooper said it would be boring and too pink but Harry didn't care, this was his chance.

Harry was having a lot of fun, they had already played pass the parcel and musical chairs. Harry had had a great time with musical chairs and he had got so close to winning. One of the chairs had wobbled as if it was going to move away when one of the other boys went to sit on it before Harry got the chance. Unluckily for Harry who got eliminated from the game, the chair did not jump away from the other boy as he sat down. 

Suddenly the lights in the hall had turned off causing quite a few people to squeal. Harry jumped in surprise but didn’t scream because he could still see easily enough because the window were letting in lots of light. He tried to remain calm, reminding himself he could fight to get away from someone if they tried to attack him, both Laura and Lila were also here too, he looked around a bit frantically trying to work out why the lights had been shut off. In one corner of the room an adult was holding something that had a lot of flickering lights above it.

“Happy birthday to you,” someone started singing, and pretty quickly everyone else began to join in. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, it was just time for the cake, this thought quickly hurried away any panic or fear he had been feeling replacing it with a bubbling excitement.

“Happy birthday to you.” The flickering lights were just the candles Harry realised as he watched the person, he thought it was Sophie’s mother, walk towards the birthday girl.

“You look like a monkey,” a boy and girl beside Harry sung, making him giggle. Other people were singing the proper words so the song was a bit of a jumbled mess but Sophie didn’t seem to mind.

“And you smell like one too.” 

The cake had arrived in front of Sophie and everyone gathered around closer to watch.

The suggestion to “make a wish,” was issued, Sophie closed her eyes, when she was done she took a deep breath and blew out the candles, she had to have two attempts after only getting six the first time. When the candles had been extinguished the lights came back on and everyone cheered.

Harry ran across to Laura when he saw she was stood near the food tables, hoping she would help him get a good slice of the cake. The cake had two tiers and apparently looked like a rainbow inside, the top was covered in white icing and had a chocolate number eight in the middle.

Harry was bouncing up and down, he couldn’t wait to have some proper birthday cake at a proper birthday party. His friend Jude had said birthday cake was the best type of cake, so Harry was really excited to get to try some.

“-Lila can’t have any.”

Harry froze as he heard that. Horror sinking into his bones as he heard the adults, his mom included, say his sister wasn’t allowed any of the cake. Why wasn’t Lila allowed any of the cake? Why would Laura not fight against it? It looked like really nice cake too, Harry’s face scrunched up in confusion as he tried to figure out why Lila wasn't allowed. Lila was nice and she was proper friends with Sophie. He wasn't, what if he didn't get any cake because of that? And- and Lila hadn’t even been naughty recently, she had fought with Cooper that morning about who got to choose the tv channel but she still deserved cake.

Harry looked across the room to spot Lila, she was smiling and talking happily to Sophie and some of their other friends. Lila was nice and funny and kind, she deserved to have cake. If the adults weren’t going to let her have any then Harry would just share his slice with her instead. He gave himself a firm nod as he quickly decided that. Lila would get some cake, he wouldn’t let her be sad because adults said she wasn’t allowed the cake. 

“Are you okay, honey?” Laura asked kindly having closed the space between them while Harry was distracted.

Harry looked up at Laura, not sure how he was feeling about her. He felt hurt and confused, what if she decided he couldn’t have any cake either, “uh huh,” he agreed, his tone subdued.

“Are you sure?” Laura checked, her eyes scanning him with slight concern. Harry had been so happy and enjoying himself throughout the party after he got over his initial shyness. But something seemed to be wrong now. 

Harry nodded quickly, eyes darting between the cake and Lila. But he didn’t want or know what to say. So, he tried to give Laura a small smile as he warred with the different thoughts and feelings inside his head.

“Okay, we’ll be giving out slices of cake soon,” Laura said, still not completely reassured that Harry was fine. She reached out to rub a hand over Harry’s shoulder but Harry shifted away a little, causing Laura to halt her movement and a moment of shock to flash across her face.

“Okie dokie,” Harry said nervously, nodding, rocking forwards and backwards on his feet.

“Go have some fun until then, alright, Harry,” Laura said, her voice was normal but Harry could see she wasn’t quite acting normally.

The music was playing again so lots of the other kids were dancing and singing along to the songs, some who didn’t want to dance were running around the others playing tag Harry joined in with them whilst the adults sorted out the cake. 

It took about five minutes for the cake to be cut into slices and put onto paper plates.

“Alright, come and grab a slice of cake if you’d like one,” one of the adults called. There was a big scramble for the table that was holding the plates of cake. Harry was able to squeeze through and get what he thought looked like a good slice.

Lila hadn’t run across to get cake with everyone else she was stood talking with someone else. Harry decided now would be a good time to share his slice, the adults would be distracted. He looked around to make sure none of the adults were looking so he wouldn’t get in trouble and have the cake taken away from in punishment.

“Lila, do you want some cake?” He asked quietly as he walked up to the older girls, interrupting whatever the other girl was saying, Harry didn’t know her name and sharing the birthday cake was more important anyway. 

“Oooo, thanks Harry,” Lila said brightly, a big grin on her face. Harry held the plate out to her in offering.

“No, Lila, don’t eat the cake,” Laura called rushing across to them. Lila paused in shock at their mum’s serious tone.

“Why can’t I have cake Mommy?” Lila asked sadly with a hint of confusion lacing her trembling words.

“You’re allergic to the green food colouring used in the cake,” Laura explained, breathing a sigh of relief that Lila hadn’t had a chance to eat any of the cake.

“Oh, alright, Mommy,” Lila perked up a little when their mom's tone became less stern as she accepted the explanation. 

“What’s an allergic?” Harry asked, not understanding why it meant Lila couldn’t eat the cake, Lila liked cake and she had eaten cake before all the time.

“An allergy, honey. Lila is allergic to the green food colouring. If she eats it then she will get sick,” Laura explained. "Allergies can be really serious so you need to be careful, quite a lot of people are allergic to peanuts, so they can't eat things like peanut butter."

Harry looked down to his slice of cake, seeing the green layer in the middle, “the green will make Lila sick?” Harry checked sounding a little scared that he might have made Lila ill.

“Yes, honey, that’s why she can’t have the cake to keep her safe," Laura said, rubbing a hand up and down his arm in comfort.

“But she can eat the other colours? Just not the green” Harry clarified, head tilting to the side in question.

“That’s right, Harry. It’s just the green cake that will make Lila sick,” Laura said with a nod.

“Okay,” Harry accepted, then picked up his slice of cake and pulled it apart so the red, orange, and yellow layers were separate from the green, blue and purple. “Here you go, Lila,” Harry said, offering the first half to his sister.

“Thanks, Harry,” Lila said with a smile taking the half of the cake that she could eat. 

“That was very kind of you, Harry,” Laura praised, a smile on her face, she wasn't sure why none of the adults, herself included, hadn't thought of such a simple solution. A laugh was pulled from her as she spotted the icing that smudged on both of her kids faces. They’d only taken a couple of bites and icing was already spread about their faces. She shook her head lightly in amused disbelief as she pulled out her phone to snap a quick picture of them both.

***

Natasha was not looking forward to call she was about to make. She was still reeling from when Phil had broken the news to her, she’d then gone to recruit Dr. Banner from Calcutta. They had returned to the ship and she started to scroll through the contacts on her phone, her thumb hovering over the small call icon, she took in a deep breath, then hit call.

Ringing. The phone was ringing. It rang through once. Twice. Thr-

“Hi Laura,” she greeted when the call connected.

“Hey, Nat, how’re you doing?” Laura greeted her tone happy if with an underlying nervousness, having somehow picked up on something in Nat’s voice. 

“I’ve been better, I’m calling on official business, Lau’. Clint’s been compromised, I'm sorry, Laura,” she delivered the news as gently but as swiftly as she could. But the sharp intake of breath from the other end of the line nevertheless felt like a punch to the gut.

There was a couple of seconds where Laura made no sound, Nat could make out the kids voices in the background. Bursts of their joy and shrieks of laughter contrasting with this conversation and the sadness she was delivering.

“Compromised how?” Laura questioned, her tone having gone all business, Nat could imagine her re-centreing and directing all her focus onto the problem at hand. Pushing her emotions aside to be dealt with later when she had the time to sort through them and feel without having an audience.

“The Asguardian god, Loki, appeared and used a sceptre to take control him along with a team he was watching over,” Nat offered the best explanation she could with the limited information they actually had on the situation. They had next to no information on the supposed god, Loki, or the sceptre he had in his possession.

“He’s being controlled… by a god,” Laura repeated slowly. Nat felt like she could feel Laura processing her words in real time.

“Yeah. We’re searching for them and we’ll bring him home, back to you and the kids,” Nat said with conviction, even though they both knew in reality it wasn’t something she could promise.

“But his mind has been compromised,” Laura reiterated.

The conversation gradually shifted away as Nat gave all the information she had available to her, it became less stilted as they moved on to safer topics but their shared sadness lingered. 

***

Daddy needed them.

Harry didn’t know how he knew but it was a certainty in his mind. A thought, a belief, a truth that had suddenly appeared to him from one second to the next.

Daddy needed them.

The toy dragon slipped from his hand. He wrapped his arms around himself, thinking of the love and warmth he felt when he was wrapped in Clint’s arms. The comfort his daddy's hugs offered, how much he loved being held tightly, snuggled up against the man he loved. Clint looked after him, played with him, taught him so many cool things, but he would also hug him, kiss his head, and tuck him into bed. 

He loved his dad so much. He was the first member of his family that Harry had met.

Unbeknownst to Harry at that time every other member of his family had had a similar thought and urge to think of Clint and all the positive emotions of caring, of love, and of family they held for him. He was a member of their family, heart of their hearts, love of their love, and blood of their blood for some of them. He was their family, their dad, theirs to love and protect. 

The wards used this additional influx of strength to help protect one of its people. One of its family, someone under their protection, a key figure in their nexus. created by one family, powered and strengthened by another. The magic could protect and offer support to all those under its power. But to help breakdown the relentless force of icy blue mist of an infinity stone attempting to hijack on its family, the wards had needed some help from those who gave it purpose and a well of strength charged by their depth of emotion.

***

He didn’t know how to describe the strange sensation. As best as he could explain when the point of the staff had touched him, he felt a deep, rolling blue fog come down upon him.

Clint had been having only flashes of clarity since the staff with the large attached blue gem had come into contact with his chest.

But his strategic mind was being used against him, he’d set their headquarters deep underground to keep the radiation covered from SHIELD’s technological gaze. But when there were moments of being himself, or closer to truly himself, he had tried to find a way to leave a trail for SHIELD, more specifically Phil and Nat who knew him best, to follow.

He was creating plans for the mission in Stuttgart, then in what felt as if it had been the same instantaneous change as when the blue mist had descended, like a flicker of light and hope he felt an immense burst of love and warmth from within him. The only way he could think to describe it was as if a powerful hug in the form of a dome that was created and sustained by love, comfort, and warmth had formed over his mind.

He was loved deeply. He had a family of blood and of love. He was Daddy, a caring father who was needed.

The blue mist remained there within his body, it felt like it was circling the dome in an almost sentient way. As if it was feeling out the strength of the protection around him, looking for weaknesses and ways to regain the control it had been able to wield before it was excised.

Clint had to panic without missing a beat in his actions and without showing any signs that he had been released from the mind control. He had given away information on the Avengers initiative, the weaknesses and pressure points within the group from what he had seen on the files. The struggles that would need to be overcome and bridged if Fury wanted them to be a successful as a team of defenders for the earth.

Annoyance and frustration at himself began to battle for control as his mind was in turmoil. He felt like he should have been stronger, he should have done better, should have been able to break free from the fog that had been controlling him. 

His kids, his family, the world was at risk, a risk made even worse by him. His ideas and suggestions had added to Loki's own, building more concrete plans that would be harder for outside interference to foil. He mentally shook himself, not allowing any of his anguish to slip outwards, he wouldn’t jeopardise the opportunity he now had. He could make a difference from within, overthrow and undermine the plans from inside the system. Revolution from within.

His return to control and owning his own mind meant that he was able to save an eye. It was a small first step he could admit, but an important one. The revulsion he felt at the plan he had created when mindless and moral-less was deep. He was grateful to the magic from his family that had protected him and helped him scale back the plan that would have cost a man his eye. The vibranium was still needed as a stabiliser otherwise the machine Selvig was building could dangerously backfire endangering countless lives.

Thankfully he was still able to drive Loki into SHIELD custody with their plan for Stuttgart. Loki wanted to rule the world, he wanted control and devotion from the earth's inhabitants, so Clint had subtly guided him towards making an even bigger scene laying the clues and foundation of what he suspected Loki wanted for his grand finale.

The pieces were there, all SHIELD had to do was join them together to form the big picture.

***

Bucky had just finished his latest mind healing session, it had been a tough session. Memories had been slowly flowing back in over the past half year; his time spent in mind healing had helped him to begin processing some of the things he had seen and done. He still wasn’t comfortable speaking about most of what he could remember from his time as HYDRA's deadliest weapon, but the mind healer had helped him develop techniques to work through the newly emerging memories by himself.

His exposure to magic had been both a blessing and a curse. It had helped him regain and retain who he was before the decades of indoctrination and torture, but it had also loosened the dam holding back the horrifying images of what he had been forced to do.

This session had been difficult, they had been working on removing another of the trigger word anchored deep in his brain. A few had been removed successfully already, it was always extremely challenging, not only mentally but also physically. The magic being used to remove the words hooked within the fabric of his mind was by no means easy, it could take hours. Hours of stifling pain flowing throughout his body. Bucky always felt exhausted and unlike himself afterwards, he didn’t want to be around anyone he cared about in case he lashed out. It felt like something was missing, a gaping hole in his mind as his brain readjusted to having a little more control and assurance of his body being his and his alone.

He needed some time to himself; time to let his mind wander, no deep thinking or careful focus just silent processing and passing inane thoughts. So he had decided to take a walk through the city before returning to the farm, he had flooed to magical district near Central Park. Then he let his feet lead him, paying no attention to where he was going, just enough focus to dodge the other bodies passing by, easily joining in with the flow of people moving through the streets beside him. 

Block after block passing by, his eyes taking in the people, the buildings, small events and snatches of conversation. The streets were bustling, it was a similar craziness to that which he remembered from before the war. Though the world felt brighter, billboards flashing, cars and buses honking, even clothing felt blinding on occasion.

Slowly he was feeling more himself, the trauma brought up and the hardship of the session were beginning to settle down, when all at once it felt like the world around him had frozen for an instance. Out of nowhere there was a bright beam of blue light leading up into the sky which started to bubble and ripple, before a literal hole opened up in the sky. Then, things... bodies… weird floating stuff that was to far away to clearly determine began to flow out of? through? into the city from the hole in the sky.

It was events like this that made his already shaky mental stability be stretched to its limits. Thank you, universe.

The people around him who had also had their attention drawn to the sky began to chatter, phones were drawn out of pockets, cameras pointed at the sky. Bucky, despite the irony of his thoughts, quietly questioned the sanity of the people around him. He knew his own sanity wasn't at its best right now, so he at least had an excuse. Something was pouring through a hole in the sky and these people were not going for cover, they remained out in the open staring at the sky.

New York had become a little too blasé to weirdness in his opinions if the people didn't know to run for safety at times like this.

"MOVE," he instructed at the top of his lungs to the New Yorkers who had frozen as the scene unfolded before them.

Unaware, or unthinking, of the danger they were exposing themselves to. His bellowed order had people startling and running without care for the safety of those around them. The chaos his shout had caused hadn't quite been his intention because it wasn't much better than the frozen gawping, but at least this way they hadn't left themselves as sitting ducks. Progress.

Chapter Text

Clint would be needing the bruise balm again he thought as he brought a hand up to his head. His mind had been freed from Loki’s mind control before the attack on the helicarrier yet that hadn't stopped Nat from attacking unaware of his reemergence from under the mind control. 

Cognitive recalibration hadn’t been needed nor appreciated, thank you very much. 

The arrow to the engine had been a calculated move, he knew the helicarrier would remain air-bound with the other engines functioning, his shot had also been perfectly placed that with the technical abilities of those Fury had recruited to the Avengers it would be repairable without too much trouble. It was also an attack that appeared severe enough that it wouldn’t raise suspicion for being too light nor blow his cover as a trustworthy mind controlled minion. He needed a way onto the helicarrier. 

He had been making his way as quickly as he could through the flying ship to the main deck or a storage where he could gain access to some comms. It was in an attempt to offer all the insight he could and prevent Loki from escaping as was planned; when his spatial and battle awareness alerted him that an attack was about to be launched on him. He had drawn the arrow without hesitation, ready to shoot it to pin his attacker in place so he could convince them of him having regained control of his own mind. 

It was Nat, so evidently with a couple graceful movements she controlled the bow so his arrow had no chance of touching her. She then went on the offensive to which he retaliated but only as far as to defend against her incoming motions. 

“Nat, it’s me,” he got out through gritted teeth whilst blocking her onslaught of attacks. Using his forearms to deflect the jabs aimed at his head. 

His words had none of the desired impact; she didn’t slow her attack, but he could tell she was processing his words. She wouldn’t pause or lose her advantage over him he knew, she wouldn’t put anyone else at risk if he was playing a trick. He attempted without success to knock her off her feet and keep her down so he could have a moment to explain and prove himself to her. She rolled with the change of position and turned the move to her benefit, shifting out of his grip and kicking up at him, knocking him back and the air out of lungs.

“The wards helped break Loki’s hold over my mind,” he continued, grunting as her foot connected with his gut. 

There was maybe a few milliseconds of hesitation in her attack that he only spotted because of how well he knew her. She stalked towards him, he straightened out slowly, hands raised in front of him in surrender, one still gripping his bow but it was facing downwards hanging almost limply in his grip. 

“Your mind is your own?” She asked doubt plain to hear in her tone.

Clint lowered his hands pleased he had got through to her. He should've known better. Before he had time to react she had reached forward and slammed his head firmly into the metal railing. 

He blinked slowly as the pain radiated through his skull. “Jesus, Nat,” he spat out through the throbbing in his temple. He squinted up at her, bringing one hand up to cradle his now definitely bruised skull.

“I had to be sure,” Nat said, no remorse or hint of apology in her voice. 

“And you couldn’t have done that through questions?” he retorted disbelieving and a fair amount annoyed."you know me almost better than anyone," he pointed out harshly as a particularly strong burst of pain bloomed across his skull as he moved his head too quickly.

“I didn’t have time to peacefully subdue and question you, plus this was more fun,” she remarked, a small teasing smile flitting across her lips. She held a hand out to help him back to his feet. 

“Asshole,” he muttered huffily, not even attempting to keep his voice lowered. 

She loosened her grip on his hand in retaliation, causing him to quickly tighten his hold around her arm to prevent him from slipping back to the uncomfortable metal of the bridge passageway. She sent him a smug look at his more quietly muttered curse.

He was led to the Medway to have his head checked out while Nat explained the situation to him and he answered her questions in return. Nat had relayed what he was telling her to Fury but it was too late. Their mini debrief was interrupted by a message being relayed over the comms to Nat, Hill informed them that Loki had successfully made an escape. Thor and Doctor Banner had been lost, though Stark and the Captain remained.

“Captain America?” Clint asked Nat in shock. He wasn’t sure how they were going to break that to Bucky. How did you even go about informing someone their presumed dead best friend from seventy years was in fact very much not dead?

“The one and only," she confirmed. 

“How did Phil react?” Clint asked amusement already taking over his voice, a mischievous sparkle entering his eyes. 

“It was as good as the call with Bucky,” Nat replied in a tone most wouldn’t know was deeply amused. “Sucks you missed it.”

"You have it on video?” He asked almost pleadingly. 

The look she shot at him was almost cold enough to freeze, it clearly broadcast her derision and unimpressed state at that question. 

"Great,” he replied, rubbing his hands together in delight.

***

Harry was jumping in a puddle when he felt it. A shiver running down his spine, something bad was about to happen. 

The water splashed up around him. But unlike the other times he had caused such a big splash, it hadn’t elicited a bright grin and cheery laugh.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Nothing around the home had changed, well not that he could tell anyway. But something somewhere wasn’t right. The wards were showing, telling, feeling, something bad. Warning them of something dangerous. Maybe it was something with Bucky who had gone to MACUSA for healing, or maybe with Daddy who was still away on his mission.

He didn't know. As the worry began to settle in he hurried inside to see if anyone else had felt it too.

***

It was chaos. 

Aliens were pouring from the sky, flying spaceships, and shooting weird gun-like things that fired blasts of blue lasers indiscriminately.

The closer Bucky got to where the blue light was shining out of the top of a building, the more hectic both the sky and the streets became. There were loud screams easily heard despite the noise of the battle that had begun, the screams were those of terror and of pain. People here at least were running for cover and to escape the war zone that the streets of Midtown had become without needing to be prompted.

Wherever he could, he assisted people to cover, advising them to head off the streets and preferably into the subway or a basement if possible. Cars had been thrown over on their roofs making them appear like toys, with the occasional small fire still burning here and there. Where people were trapped he helped to get them free from their seatbelts or crushed not opening doors. The vehicles had been driving along the street before the tarmac of the road had become rubble and craters between one moment and next.

The police had begun to set up a cordon and perimeter which he ignored, moving swiftly ever closer to the heart of the fray, hoping to use his skills to provide some assistance to the small number of individuals he had spotted fighting back the swarming army of aliens.

He caught sight of a woman wrestling uselessly with a large block of cement. As he approached he noticed the small red shoe lying just to the right of the cement. His eyes widened marginally as he worked out what had happened.

“Come on, Jenny, come on,” the woman was saying as she gave another useless heave on the block, she raised an arm to wipe her face smearing dust and dirt on the sleeve of her sweater as more tears fell to replace the ones she had wiped away. “This isn’t the time for tears, Mandy’s gonna be fine.”

“Here, let me help,” Bucky interjected, startling the struggling woman.

After jumping and whirling to face him, the woman smiled tremulously, “oh, thank you, thank you. My daughter, Amanda, Mandy, she goes by Mandy, is t-t-t, she’s trapped behind this block.”

“Let’s get Mandy outta there then,” Bucky offered, hoping his tone was offering Jenny some reassurance. He placed his metal arm on the top right hand corner of the block, his flesh hand lower down the side. Jenny also stepped up to the large block.

“On three we’re gonna pull it back and to the right, alright?” Bucky instructed, waiting for a sign of affirmation from Jenny. He stretched his metal fingers out once before tightening his grip on the top of the cement. “One... two... three.”

They pulled together, creating a horrible noise as they managed to make the block scrape a little across the ground, moving it away from the building. A gap was forming.

“Arghhh,” Jenny cried, straining with all her might to pull the cement further away from the wall. Bucky reinvested his effort, using the full strength of his metal arm to get the block further from the wall, widening the space.

Several space craft flew down the middle of the street behind them, shooting up the road, sending debris flying and a mess of dust blooming outwards.

“Take a breath,” Bucky coached. When Jenny just kept rocking back and forth trying to move the cement further, Bucky gently pulled her off the block to rest. “We’ll go again in a minute,” he promised. 

Jenny gave a sniff and nodded sitting down to calm down her breathing, Bucky went around the edge of the cement block to look through the gap they had created. Feeling a breath of relief leave him as he spotted the young girl, miraculously uninjured other than a few scraps, huddled back against the wall. 

More and more aliens had been pouring out of the hole in the sky during this short period of time, now there were even some of the weird aliens scaling the side of buildings, inflicting damage and shooting at the people within. But he couldn’t focus on that right now, he had a small girl to help.

“Hi, Mandy, me and your Mommy are gonna get you outta there. Just hang tight for a few more minutes, alright,” Bucky said quietly, offering a smile to the girl who was relatively calm for being trapped in a small, dark space.

Bucky got back into position and gave a couple of strong heaves, Jenny made to get up but he told her to keep resting. He was able to move the block further away, creating a big enough gap for Mandy to slip through, he crouched down and slowly reached his flesh arm out towards the young girl, pleased when she grasped his hand allowing him to help her. 

He guided her quickly through the space and transferred her hand across to Jenny who had scrambled back to her feet when she realised what Bucky was doing. 

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Jenny murmured in relief, tears streaking down her face.

“No thanks needed, Jenny. Now get both you to some shelter, head for the basement or into subway if you can make it there safely. The police have a perimeter set up on 39th,” Bucky explained already looking for the next place he could go to help.

Explosions and laser shots continued to ring out throughout the streets. Small fires were burning left and right, for the most part they weren’t spreading so he left them alone. Something large gave an enraged yell that rattled a few of the nearby windows. The nearby aliens, clinging to the exterior walls of bustling responded in kind.

There were a few subtle signs that magical had been covertly helping in the fight, the fires remaining small and contained was one of them. Every now and then an alien would fall as if frozen without any visible reason for that to happen.

Bucky also caught sight of someone dressed in a uniform that he would liken to what Stevie had been made to wear during the Second World War. The guy was even carrying an exact replica of the shield that Steve had had and used. He guessed even the twenty-first century needed someone as a national symbol to rally around even if they would never be quite as good as Steve was.

He had a passing thought of how excited Harry would be to see a walking talking American flag, but didn’t have any more time than that to think about the guy who was dressed as the embodiment of the Stars and Stripes.

A group of five aliens had herded three teenagers, two girls and a boy, into a corner, the laser guns were raised offering no hope or room for escape. One of the teens noticed him and made desperate eye contact, he tried to offer as reassuring a smile as he could before continuing to walk on silent feet.

The roof of the building on the corner of the block was struck by some gunfire and was blown away, sending up a cloud of dust as well as shrapnel in the form of shards of glass and chunks of bricks and mortar scattering across the area.

The hope he had seen bloom when the young woman had spotted him faded from the teen’s warm brown eyes as he continued moving away from them. 

He was now in a better position and before he could be noticed by the aliens, he took a running leap, tackling one into two others. Using the one he had tackled as an alien- shaped shield between him and the death rays being fired.

Bucky rammed an elbow down hard into the face of one of the aliens he had toppled them like dominoes whilst he rolled slightly to the side, he was still keeping a hold of the first alien’s body to protect himself.

Gladly he noticed out of the corner of his eye as the teens nervously skittered away whilst the aliens were distracted. The girl was having to pull one of her friends along with them as the boy appeared to have frozen in terror.

A bolt of blue light barely missed his shoulder, bringing his focus fully back to the two still standing aliens.

The alien on the bottom of their human-alien puppy pile made an odd chittering noise so Bucky punched it right in the face with his metal arm as he dragged himself closer to one of the aliens who had remained standing. He just needed to wrench a laser gun free from one of them, then he would be on a more even footing. 

A hunk of rubble hit one alien in the head giving him enough time to take advantage of the momentary lack of concentration. He was on his feet and punching through the armour protecting the alien’s chest, wrenching the gun from its arm as it fell to the ground incapacitated. He turned and shot dead the alien that had turned to face one of the teens who had thrown the chunk of what used to be road.

“Thanks,” he said sincerely to the teen, quickly taking a look around to access the situation. No more aliens were in the immediate vicinity. The teen’s two friends were huddled just beyond the doorway of a nearby restaurant. “Nice aim by the by.”

“Thought we owed you a little help,” she murmured abashed, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“You guys good now?” He checked walking the teen back across to the relative safety of the building. 

Before any of the teens could respond, an enormous bolt of lighting was bursting into the sky striking down aliens as they flew and blocking the arrival of more giant flying worms. 

“Was that lightning in reverse?” One of the teens whispered in shock.

“Wha’?” Their friend asked, turning to them in surprise. 

“The lightning came from thata way,” the first teen muttered indignantly, “like from a roof top of something, not from the sky.”

“Chrysler Building’s gotta be good for something,” the brick-throwing girl mumbled quietly.

“Course, that’s what you’d be thinking about Kelsie,” the boy muttered, a hint of amusement lightening the scary experience they were all having.

“Stay under cover and off the streets,” Bucky ordered, deciding the teens were safe enough now for him to move on.

There were now multiple large snake-like creatures terrorising the area, he caught glimpses of the more organised fight being led against the alien invasion when he was forced to move away from the edge of buildings and cross the street. He saw the occasional spacecraft exploding and falling out of the sky shot down from someone in a sniping position at the top of a building. They had clean lines of sight across a large chunk of the city.

The impressive and deadly accurate shots made him think of the times he had seen Clint doing target practice, or helping the kids with their aim. But he knew Laura had said Clint had been compromised recently during his latest mission.

Bucky continued to fight aliens and help civilians wherever he could as the battle continued to rage around him. He thought he’d seen a large green gorilla like creature jumping from building to the large armoured space worms, but he wasn’t sure.

There was definitely a small coordinated team fighting back against the invasion. He wasn’t sure but assumed they were the ones responsible for the space worm that crashed into Central Station. He didn't interact with any of the other fighters, grasping that they had got their area well covered and had a plan of action. He continued to catch any strays, reducing the numbers slipping towards the police perimeter.

It was madness, very similar to the battles he remembered from the war, though those had had fewer aliens. Gunshots were ringing in his ears, explosions causing damage to buildings that were stood nearby. Some were being partially decimated whilst others only received glancing, superficial damage. He had taken a laser blast to the shoulder and blocked one with the metal arm which held up fairly well, though he had been thrown backwards into an overturned car. He quickly got sucked into the rhythm of fighting. Punch here, tackle and shoot there, block or hide behind that alien, dodge a precisely aimed laser blast. 

He’d spotted something that seemed to be flying towards the hole in the sky rather than away from it, but didn’t pause to give it too much thought. Lives were at stake and he had no time to be distracted. Distractions cost lives and limbs. He couldn't save everyone, but he would try and protect anyone in need.

After he didn’t know how long all the aliens just fell down dead in a weirdly synchronised manner. The portal in the sky was still open, flaring an unnatural bright blue before suddenly it began to fold in on itself. 

Just as abruptly something fell through the portal, glinting in the sunlight, hurtling with dangerous speed towards the ground. Bucky tracked its movement with his eyes, moving closer to where it would be landing. He waited for the inevitable sound as it smashed into the ground, the crash never came. Instead a few minutes later there was another loud roar from the unknown green creature.

***

When Bucky stumbled into the house exhausted, there was one thing on his mind. Check the kids were okay, he needed to know his niece and nephews were safe. He knew it was irrational, they hadn't been anyway near New York today, but feelings weren't always rational. He could hear the tv making noise from where he was leaning against the wall in the kitchen.

He made his way on tired feet across the room to the doors. All three of them were there, watching a movie, that one with the small orange fish again… uhh, something about looking, or searching, or... Finding Nemo, that's what it's called. Because they were the best kids in the world they had started to only watch Nemo when he wasn’t around. 

Bucky had overheard them talking about it before movie night once, Cooper had been worried that Dory would make Bucky feel bad because of her memory problems. Harry had looked horrified at the thought that his movie suggestion could make someone else feel sad. Lila had agreed, she had a steely look in her eyes that warned everyone not to challenge her because this was something that she would fight like hell to ensure never happened. 

Whilst he was revelling in the warmth of being home with everyone safe, he must have unintentionally drawn attention to himself.

“Uncle Bucky!" Lila exclaimed happily, jumping up from the sofa to throw herself at him. The movie was quickly put on pause behind them.

“Hey, Lila,” Bucky greeted with a large but tired smile, “how’re you doin’?” He asked, catching her easily and lifting her into tight hug, then spinning her around a couple of times and lowering her back to the floor as Harry rushed over. 

Lila laughed brightly as they spun, “I’m good. How was the magic healing?” Lila asked, looking him over in concern, there were streaks of dirt and the odd tear here or there in his clothes.

“Healing was hard work and ‘m tired but ‘m gettin’ better slowly,” Bucky reassured her having kneeled down to be on eye level with the kids, he pulled Harry into a tight hug when the young boy hesitated taking in Bucky’s disheveled appearance. Probably worrying he would hurt him, Bucky assumed, Harry could be very astute and was always deeply caring.

“Uncle Bucky, you okay? They were meanta make you better not hurt you,” Harry said indignantly as he looked up to the older man’s face and carefully raised a hand to touch a cut that was already scabbing over on his forehead. The small fingers ran very gently along the line of the healing cut when Bucky didn't pull away from the touch.

“That wasn’t the healers, pal,” Bucky promised, giving Harry another squeeze. He went to put Harry back on his own feet, but the young boy had other ideas, clinging on tighter to the older man refusing to release him. Bucky tried to look exasperated but must have just looked fond because Harry sent a small smile up at him before resting his head on Bucky’s shoulder.

Cooper also allowed himself to be pulled into a side hug, despite him in his own words getting too old for hugs. 

“You three gotta promise me something, aight,” Bucky began, his tone and face serious as he remembered the battle he had just come from, “if you see aliens or anything—not a bird—flowing outta the sky you go for cover and you go quick.”

The kids faces scrunched up in bafflement at the seemingly very random turn of conversation. Laura had an approving look of understanding in her eyes.

“O-okay,” Cooper agreed, eyebrows furrowed as he processed the words.

“You guys are smarter than standing around starin’,” Bucky said thinking of the people he’d had to order into movement. He shook his head in remembered disbelief. 

“Yeah, we’re smart Uncle Bucky,” Lila agreed easily. Harry nodded in wordless agreement from where his head was still resting on Bucky's shoulder. 

“Good. ‘Member just like training, you see danger and there’s a way out you go for shelter or help," Bucky reiterated, he like Laura and Clint wouldn’t let one of these kids be unprepared for the dangers of the real world. 

“Course, Uncle Bucky,” Cooper agreed, stepping closer for another hug which Lila was quick to join.

“Good. You’re all good, smart kids,” Bucky said, relishing in the warmth, love, and acceptance he had found with this family. His new family.

They were all about to step back and separate when another pair of arms joined the hug, Bucky opened his eyes to see Laura smiling at him from over the kids heads. Glad you're safe, she mouthed at him.

Yes, he and his family were safe. 

Chapter Text

Phil had thought he was ready. He wasn’t ready. The phase two weapon wasn’t enough when you underestimated your opponent. It was a lesson he should have kept in mind, it was one he always used to his advantage. Average looks, average height, he blends in to the background, easy to forget, even easier to underestimate.

He knew Loki was a God just like his brother, Thor, yet for some reason he had failed to account for said God’s magic.

That was a huge oversight he concluded as the sceptre slid home into his back. He gasped at the unexpected starburst of pain that followed the initial painless incision.

A massive oversight.

The blood began to bloom, then it poured. His knees gave out beneath him as the sceptre he hadn’t realised was keeping him upright was mercilessly ripped out of his back. The huge gun with unknown, still untested power clanged to the metal pathway beside him, the sound reverberating around the space that seemed to be getting smaller by the minute.

There was a ringing in his ears, the noise was trying to challenge the gradually weakening thumping of his pulse for dominance in his head. 

Phil had slumped into the metal wall, one hand brought up to his chest sluggishly in an attempt to be helpful. The warmth of his blood quickly covered his palm. He knew it was useless as more blood pumped from the opening he was forcing his slowly weakening hand to try and cover.

This wasn’t an injury you could recover from, a quiet cynical voice spouted quietly in his mind. Despite the seemingly overwhelming presence of the ringing sound and the thumping of his heart, those quietly spoken words were still perceived, loud and clear.

He was going to die.

Stabbed in the back by a god.

At least it was a cool way to die, he thought to himself. A weak chuckle that most wouldn’t have been able to tell was anything more than a huff of air escaped him. 

He’d met Captain Steve Rogers. Captain America. And he’d made a fool of himself doing so.

His hand began to slip away from where it was against his chest. He blinked once slowly, no, he needed his hand to move back up. He just needed some more time. He needed to stay awake, think of his friends, his family, his niblings. He had to fight the encroaching darkness for them.

He didn’t want to die. The darkness didn’t want to respect his wishes, as it marched ever closer, stealing away more and more of his vision. His thumb was still trying in vain to stem the remaining trickle of blood. The warmth of it was the final thing he felt as the blackness fully descended over him and his eyes slid shut.  

***

“Woah, look at that. That’s so cool,” Cooper exclaimed in the living room, his tone impressed. “Hey! Wait, Unc- is- is that you Uncle Bucky?” He turned away from the newsreel that had been showing scenes from the battle in New York to head across to the doors into the kitchen-dinner where his siblings and uncle were baking something. 

“Um-“ Bucky hesitated not sure what Cooper was referring to. “Don’t touch the stove or oven," he warned the younger two sternly, waiting for them to agree before he began to step over to see what Cooper was talking about.

“But the stove’s not even on,” Lila pointed out cheekily, hands on her hips where she was kneeling on one of the wooden stools against the kitchen counter.

Cooper had stepped away having got their uncle’s attention not wanting to miss any more of the clips.

Bucky paused his movement and turned towards his niece an unimpressed eyebrow raised, his face set with a firmly displeased look, not letting the amusement that wanted to show display itself in any way. Lila was funny, but their safety was no laughing matter. At his reaction to Lila’s cheekiness, Harry had tensed up still not completely used to someone back talking to an adult safely, in a move Bucky thought might be unconscious his small hand reached out to wrap gently around Lila’s wrist.

“Uncle Bucky?” Cooper called again, though he sounded a little distracted by whatever it was he was watching.

Bucky wanted to offer reassurance to Harry but he needed Lila to know he was serious about this so he let the silence stretch a little more before asking, “what was that?” His tone calm, firm and more authoritative than normal.

“Um, yes, Uncle Bucky,” Lila murmured with a nod, “no touching the oven, or the stove… sir,” she added, having regained a little of her cheekiness by the end, feeling brave enough to throw a small salute. 

Harry’s eyes widened at that, but Bucky just cracked a grin and ruffled Lila’s hair pulling a displeased choking noise of protest from her, “behave, ’squeak,” he ordered with a fondly stern tone. He also gave Harry’s hair a gentle brush as he moved past.

“Sorry, Cooper, what was that?” Bucky asked kindly, brushing flour onto his apron as he made finally it the half a dozen steps to the living room.

Cooper pointed at the video still running on the screen, his eyes were shining with an innocent excitement that brought a smile to Bucky’s face. His eyes darted to the screen as directed causing him to pause in shock.

“That's you, right, Uncle Bucky?” Cooper repeated loudly with excitement, looking between his uncle and the TV. 

“Y-yeah, that’s me,” Bucky replied slowly, trying to process the fact that he was being shown on television. The flash of shock was quickly overridden by a wave of horror. That was not good, really not good. Was his new found family and hard fought for freedom now at risk? Should he move on, leave the Bartons to protect them? HYDRA would be coming for him, they wouldn’t give up on recovering their weapon. Now they knew he was still in the country as well.

“-so cool, Uncle Bucky. You’re like boom, ka-pow, and then the aliens goes flyyyyying, bash straight into the wall and it’s down for the count,” Cooper was narrating with a huge amount of enthusiasm, unaware that his audience was frozen unsure what to do. Cooper had accompanied the narration with matching punches and kicks, that in a distant part of his mind Bucky could appreciate were performed with an impressive amount of form and skill.

The television continued to show short clips of the battle some of him fighting aliens or helping people. A couple of interviews from people who had been helped or who had seen some of the fighting. The newscaster was also discussing the work of a group of people, the Avengers, who had fought the extra terrestrial invasion. The organised group he had noticed, he thought briefly before the worries and half-formed plans took over his focus again.

Cooper’s words and excitable babble continued to flow, slipping into his mind but the words weren’t being grasped and fully processed. It was almost like he had been put into a bubble that was muffling the world around him, his heart was beginning to beat faster and faster.

~ ~ ~

Harry saw Uncle Bucky go still like a statue. He wasn’t touching anything in the kitchen, he told Uncle Bucky he wouldn’t. Harry went running for help. They needed Mommy, she would know what to do. Something was wrong with Uncle Bucky, he was stuck.

Harry rushed along the corridor and through to the office where he knew their mom had had to go to do something boring. 

“Mommy, you gotta come help, Uncle Bucky needs help, come on,” Harry exclaimed quickly, having hurried through the door. He rushed to the desk, grabbing onto one of her arms and pulling her in the direction of the door.

“Harry, what’s going on?” Laura questioned in concern. She hadn't heard anything unusual or worrying, Bucky was great at managing the kids. He had been baking with the younger two and Cooper had been entertaining himself in the living room. Had Bucky hurt himself while cooking?

"Come on, we need you. Uncle Bucky needs help, quickly,” was the explanation Harry offered, not relaying anymore information that could help, nor was he ceasing in his efforts to pull her out of the room. 

Harry continued to pull Laura across the room, “I’m coming Harry, don’t worry, honey. Let’s go help, alright,” she soothed moving beside Harry, who still had a fistful of her shirt in a tight grip.

They entered the living room a minute later, Cooper was gushing excitedly about something in the middle of the room, the TV was running in the background with the noise turned down low. Bucky looked paler than normal, Laura could see that he was working through something. His mind moving too fast for his body, his breathing was more erratic than it should be. He was panicking.

“Stay here, Harry,” Laura gave the quiet command having speedily assessed and taken in the scene in their front room. 

Lila stepped up to Bucky slowly, hand outstretched to catch his attention.

A small flour-covered hand placed itself on Bucky’s arm, causing him to startle and pull in a deep breath, breaking him out of his stupor, “Uncle Bucky?” Lila asked gently, having approached him obviously without him noticing.

“Huh? Sorry, Sweetheart,” Bucky questioned, his voice soft and aware, physically shaking himself free of the negative thoughts trying to overwhelm him. He swallowed when his voice came out rougher than expected.

This finally drew Cooper out of his hyper fixation on how cool Uncle Bucky had been. His uncle had been on the TV. Fighting aliens and saving people on the TV, just like the new superheroes. He stepped up to Uncle Bucky along with his mom.

“Coop, hun, can you go get Uncle Bucky a glass of water, please,” his mom instructed, she seemed calm and in control which brushed away the alarm that had been simmering in his body. “Lila, can you turn the TV off please,” she directed.

Harry meanwhile had his eyes glued to the telly, watching scenes of aliens being fought off, short clips of different heroes. He gasped then giggled when he saw it, then the screen when black. “What. Nooooo, no, no, no, hey, I was watch-” he complained spinning to see why the news wasn’t playing anymore. When he saw Uncle Bucky his eyes widened as his previous worry came back to him.

Spotting his niffler on the sofa, he hurried over to grab it, maybe it would make Uncle Bucky feel better to have something soft to cuddle with.

Laura managed to coax Bucky across to the other sofa whilst the kids all did their own tasks, he seemed to have gotten himself mostly out of whatever negative thoughts had overwhelmed him. “You’re alright, Bucky. You’re safe here at the farmhouse. You’re with me and the kids, we’re all here with you,” Laura murmured in reassurance trying to keep him grounded in the present moment. He had regained most of his composure though still appeared a little off centre. 

“Here, you go Uncle Bucky," Cooper said a little too loudly, thrusting the glass out a bit too fast, sending some of the content sloshing over the sides splashing onto Bucky's apron. 

Bucky blinked, then offered a smile, “thanks, Cooper,” he said sounding a lot closer to normal. He took the glass and brought it up to his mouth. Harry was quick to scramble up onto the sofa beside him, squeezing into the space between him and the arm of the sofa pushing his stuffed animal at him insistently. 

“Thanks, pal,” Bucky repeated, smile growing less strained, as his heart rate dropped to a more normal pace. He brushed a hand over Harry’s head in another silent thanks, the small body resting comfortingly against his side. A warm grounding weight, Cooper sat on the floor and leaned into his legs and Lila not to be left out squeezed in between Laura and him.

Had someone told him before this happened that being surrounded by other people, especially young children who he could easily hurt, after having a moment of panic would calm him down he would have laughed sceptically. But being lightly leaned on by the warm weight of his family did help ground him, they weren’t enough to restrict his movement or prevent him getting away if he wanted, just a supportive warmth. They were just letting him know they were there, quietly comforting him with their presences.

***

It had been a couple of days since the Battle of New York as the news stations had been calling the Chitauri invasion over Midtown. Clint had had to remain in Manhattan to deal with one of the longest debriefs of his career with Director Fury, creating a plan for the healing process to get him cleared mentally and physically to go back out into the field. They’d been informed of Phil’s death and Clint wasn’t sure how to feel; he felt like it was partly his fault, Loki wouldn’t have even been on the helicarrier without the plan he'd helped to create, but then Phil would never have stood back from a fight when he could help.

Then of course there had been the departure of Thor with his handcuffed brother back to Asgard. Why it had been decided that Central Park was the best location to stage their departure was beyond him, but he was relieved to have Loki off-world, far away from him and his family.

He had invited Nat to come back to the farmhouse with him, but she said she had something else that needed to be done first. But she might come by after that.

He had also passed his address on to Steve telling him he had to come visit when he was nearby, after the other man mentioned getting away from the city and seeing more of the country he had only ever seen parts of with the tour to sell war bonds back in the forties.

The night following the battle he had attempted to have a conversation and explain how Bucky was still alive and had become a part of his family, though it didn’t quite go as planned. The Captain had been so pleased but also understandably confused about what had happened to his friend and annoyed at not having been informed earlier when he’d been struggling alone through his time out of the ice for months now. Clint didn’t feel like he had explained the situation as well as he would have wanted to, and Steve had had a lot of questions that he just didn’t have the answer to and other parts he didn't want to share because they were Bucky’s story to tell.

However by the end of the conversation Steve had said he would call by for a visit when he was close to the farmhouse. Clint could tell he wanted to see his best friend as soon as possible, but was also nervous about something.

Seeing as he was in New York and didn’t want to deal with the effort of arranging travel from the airport back home, he decided to pop into MACUSA for a portkey and a visit with the healer. He was officially on medically leave with no heavy duties until he was fully cleared for the field, he wasn’t sure if SHIELD would accept a medical certificate from a magical doctor but it was worth a try he decided. 

~ ~ ~

He landed in a secluded spot just off the drive way meaning he had a little walk to get in sight of the house. 

The moment his feet touched down he felt a rush of love and relief. He was surprised by the strength of the wards, even with what Benita, the ward expert’s report had said, he could sense the magic of the wards as they brushed over him, it felt much like the action he did when checking the kids over for injuries. “I’m okay, promise, you helped to keep me safe and protected my mind,” he said aloud, “and now I’m losing my freaking mind, talking to the wards,” he muttered only realising afterwards how weird it was to speak with invisible, insentient magical forcefields as if they could understand. So when the wards reacted with a burst of what felt like pride in response to his words he wasn’t sure whether to be concerned or reassured.

Stepping into the yard hearing his family’s voices brought a sense of calm that he had been dearly missing for what had in reality only been a week but felt like years.

“DAD!” Cooper yelled in surprised pleasure before he began running towards him at full speed. His eldest’s shout had drawn the attention of the other four, all of whom began heading towards him at varying levels of urgency. Though the bright grins and happy faces was a common feature across them all.

The kids all slammed into him for hugs. Cooper first, Clint felt a moment of shock at how much his son had grown in the five or so weeks since he had last seen them all. “You’ve gotten taller, Coop,” he remarked with a grin receiving a brilliant smile in reply.

“Yeah, a full inch Mom said,” the boy confirmed before another body slammed into the two of them. Causing them to sway a little with the force of the collision.

“Hey, sweetheart, I missed you,” Clint said pulling one arm out to wrap around her, leaning down to place a kiss on each of their foreheads, when a weight landed on his back as Harry attempted to scramble up his body.

“Missed you too, Daddy, so much has happened since you last came home,” Lila explained, hugging him with as much strength as she could.

Cooper seemed not to mind just soaking in the time wrapped up together until a foot stood on his elbow, “ow, Harry, be careful, you oaf,” he complained loudly as Harry tried to use him as a foothold in his climb up Clint’s back.

“I didn’t know we’d got a pet monkey whilst I was gone,” he murmured, receiving a giggle in response.

“It’s just me, Daddy,” Harry explained with a laugh trying to haul himself up a little higher, digging his feet into Clint's back as both hands grasped onto his shoulders. The weight was removed and then returned in a higher, less prodding position off to one side.

“Thanks, Uncle Bucky,” Harry said happily, more secure and using his legs to anchor himself, causing Lila to scooch round to avoid a knee in the face.

“Yes, thanks Uncle Bucky,” Clint said, lacing his tone with mock annoyance sending a friendly grin to the other man.

“No problem,” Bucky returned with a teasing smirk, laying a hand on Clint’s shoulder for a quick squeeze in greeting.

The kids all took a little time to have a group hug, before they slowly stood back having had their fill. Laura had waited till then to step up to her husband, a mix of emotions crossing her face. Clint pulled her tightly into a hug, trying to offer her some reassurance that he was fine, he was back safely. They would be alright.

They got sucked into their own little bubble, hugging tightly and relishing the love and touch of the other.

“Why’re you sad, Mommy?” Harry asked in concern. Daddy was back, he was safe, why was their mommy so sad she was crying?

“These are tears of joy, baby, not of sadness. I’m just so pleased to see your daddy again, I’ve missed him,” she informed their youngest turning back to Clint to place a firm, lingering kiss to his lips.

“I was so so worried about you,” she breathed quietly to him. A couple more tears escaping her eyes as she said it.

“Well, I’m here now. Thanks to all of you, our family, our love… it- it was stronger than him, I love you, Lau’ so damn much,” he replied forgetting the rest of their family stood around them. He cupped her face gently between his hands. The two of them stood staring into each other’s eyes, relishing the fact that they were both there, safe. He was the one to close the small space between them this time, trying to express his love for her through his actions.

The background faded away again as their attention was firmly set on each other, the light shuffling and scuffling from those stood around them lost to their senses.

The kiss was more passionate than they’d normally show in front of the kids, as they were reminded when Cooper groaned.

“Oh God, my eyes, I might never be the same again,” Cooper complained, pulling a giggle from both of his younger siblings.

Laura and Clint separated slightly, turning to look at their eldest, who had one hand firmly placed over Harry’s eyes preventing him from seeing anything ‘scarring’. The other had been raised to cover his own face. Lila had been picked up by Bucky and was stuck facing the house as the other man had one hand firmly covering Cooper’s over Harry’s eyes and he himself had his gaze averted.

This action pulled an amused huff of laughter out of both parents and a fond eye roll from Clint. He assumed Bucky had decided he wouldn’t be able to herd the kids away so he did what he could with the situation.

Laura shot a questioning eyebrow at Bucky, who just smirked and raised a shoulder in response, which brought a burst of laughter from Lila as she was jiggled about in place.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, bud, I’ll be sure to remind you of this when you’re older,” Clint added, mock chastising, wagging a finger for added effect.

“That’s gross, Dad,” Cooper retorted, face crunching in obvious disgust at the idea of kissing someone.

“Yeah, gross,” Harry muttered in repetition, having ducked away from both the hands that had been blocking his sight. He hurried back across to his parents, “no more kissing, ‘kay?” He instructed look up at them beseechingly.

“Hmm, fine,” Clint sighed out as if it was some great hardship, “no more kissing,” he agreed before swooping down to pick Harry up, placing a flurry of kisses all over his face.

Harry giggled and struggled to escape the attack, “no, Daddy, no. You- you promised,” he got out breathlessly as he continued trying to squirm away from the kisses being placed on both cheeks, his forehead and the tip of his nose. “Save me, somebody save me,” he cried in between giggles and attempts to suck in deep breaths.

“I’ll save you, Harry,” Lila declared firmly, “come on, Uncle Bucky,” she instructed, pulling him by the hand as she charged across the grass.

“You’ll never catch me,” Clint declared, throwing in an over the top evil laugh, pulling Harry into his body and turning to run towards the house.

“We’ve gotta save Harry, from the evil kissing monster,” she declared, giving chase.

***

The family had begun to settle into a more normal rhythm in the past few days. They had avoided putting on the news not wanting to cause either Clint or Bucky to have flashbacks. The relative quiet of the mid-Saturday morning was disturbed by the roar of a motorbike.

"What's that?" Lila questioned from where she was sat at the kitchen table working on a piece of homework. 

"A motorcycle," Cooper responded from where he was stood beside the window in the living room. "What I wanna know is who is it?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Clint filled in, lightly prodding Cooper's side as he passed on his way to go and greet their guest.

"HARRY, come here," Lila suddenly shouted. 

"Was that necessary Lila?" Laura asked, "would it not have been just as easy to walk upstairs and quietly inform your brother someone is here?"

"Uhh, well..." Lila began, then considering the look on her mother's face decided to change her answer, "yes, mommy, sorry, mommy." She said with an apologetic smile.

Hurried footsteps could be heard on the floor above, "walk on the stairs, Harry," Laura instructed in a raised voice, which brought the pace of the steps down a speed or two.

"Who's it?" Harry asked skidding into the kitchen having walked at a respectable pace down the stairs and then ran down the corridor, luckily Bucky stepped up to stop him falling over or crashing into the counter. "Thanks, Uncle Bucky," he murmured giving the man a quick squeeze.

"Dunno, a look like a giant though," Cooper put in, heading to grab a snack from the kitchen, holding up a packet of cookies for a nod of approval, which Laura granted with a fond head shake. 

"No worries, pal."

"A giant?" Harry asked, turning wide eyes to Cooper, resting back into Bucky trusting him to support him. Bucky couldn't describe the pleasure that this level of subconscious trust from Harry and the rest of the Bartons filled him with.

It was then that the front door opened.

~ ~ ~

The happier chatter they had been able to hear on their walk towards the house became a lot more distinct as the door swung open.

Steve paused in the doorway, blocking the door from closing. His gaze slowly passed from one room to the next, taking in the everyday bits and bobs that marked this house as a home. It settled something within him that he hadn’t noticed had been tensed ever since he’d woken up in this new millennium. It may have only been sixty odd years but it might as well have been a thousand for how little this new word resembled the home and time he had known.

The familial, lived-in atmosphere was like a breath of fresh air, after the standardised, almost clinical apartment he had been given by SHIELD.

“You want to come in?” Clint questioned softly, though Steve caught the slight teasing to his tone and amused light in his eyes when he turned his gaze quickly to the other man.

“Yes, yes, sorry,” he murmured, finally stepping over the threshold as a light blush began to colour his cheeks. “You’ve got a lovely home, Clint,” he offered sincerely.

“Thanks, though I can’t claim much credit, it’s almost exclusively down to Laura and the kids,” Clint replied with a grin as a fondness settled into his face. His face seemed to soften as his thoughts turned to his loved ones. “Bucky’s through here,” Clint added leading the way down the corridor to the kitchen.

“Hey, Bucky, someone’s here to see you,” Clint called stepping into the room. Pulling all attention to him despite it already having been mostly focused on them since the door opened, as he moved aside the other man became visible. 

“Steve,” Bucky breathed out barely louder than a whisper, his face showing his complete and utter shock.

“Sasha?” Harry declared loudly in excitement a beat behind Bucky. He was almost bursting in excitement at the man who was stood in between their kitchen and the corridor. The magic flag was alive!

“Sasha?” Lila questioned, the first to voice the question that everyone but Harry had been thinking, in the same breath that Harry spun around towards Bucky and questioned.

“Steve?” His forehead scrunched in bewilderment, “who’s Steve?”

“Who’s Sasha?” Bucky replied instead, pulling his gaze away from his thought-to-be-dead best friend who may in fact not be so dead despite being declared dead in the forties. 

“He is,” Harry answered simply, pointing to Steve. 

“That’s Steve, pal,” Bucky answered, moving to squat down in front of Harry. “My old pal, Steve.”

“The one from the stories?” Harry asked, thinking back to some of the stories Bucky had told him and his siblings about his past. The time he spent with his little sisters or his pal. The cool things they had done together, the fights they had been dragged into. Rather the fights Steve had dragged Bucky into. “But that’s the flag, Sasha,” Harry continued, confusion slipping into his tone. “It’s the flag, Uncle Bucky, the magic flag. He’s alive,” he tried to whisper, but his excitement was getting the better of him. 

"Sasha? Why Sasha?" Cooper asked, head titled to the side in question. 

"Cos Sas isn't a name and the flag needed a name," Harry answered seriously. 

"Sass?" Lila repeated.

"Oh... Stars and Stripes," Laura said quietly, but because of the quiet in the room everyone else heard. Harry just smiled her way pleased to be understood. 

"Stars and Stripes Ha... Sasha," Cooper worked through, before laughing which caused the rest of his family except for Harry to laugh.

Chapter Text

Bucky led Steve back outside so they could spend some time catching up on all that had happened since they had last seen one another. Giving them a little space to get reacquainted without an audience, or at least that had been his plan. 

Bucky would have expected the conversation to be a little stilted considering what he had been and the fact they hadn’t seen each other for almost seventy years. But after exchanging just a few words they had fallen back into the easy pattern of their friendship as if they had never been separated. It made it feel as though they’d been apart for a couple of months at the very most, not the decades it had truly been. 

There were the inevitable stumbles, pauses, and awkward bursts of emotion when they got to the more serious topics of conversation. But just being in each other’s presence had a calming and reassuring effect. Allowing them to keep talking when it felt like their throats would close over because of the feelings clogging them. 

Bucky gave Steve the short version of events, skimming over some details and completely jumping over others. Steve had never been very good at hiding how he felt about things and that hadn’t changed since they last saw one another. Bucky wasn’t sure how to feel when Steve remained sat beside him showing not a single trace of disgust at what he had been told, he just leaned across and bumped the shoulders together in silent support. 

They didn’t really speak about how they felt about the events that had taken place, though Bucky felt much more comfortable speaking than Steve appeared to as he recounted what happened at the end of the war following his fall from the train and the months since he first woke up in the future. Bucky silently thanked his mind healer for his ability to speak more freely on the horror that was his patchwork recollections of the past. However choked up or emotional they got they managed to muddle their way through, eventually getting to the point where each knew at least the barebones of what had happened to the other during their time apart. 

Bucky wasn’t ready, nor was he sure he even wanted to share with Steve some of the memories he had been slowly uncovering and working through with his mind healer. They were dark, horrifyingly so, and the complete opposite of the man his best friend had known, the same man he was trying hard to be once again. 

Whenever it got to be too much there was one topic Bucky was able to return to time after time without hardship or any hesitation: the months he had spent living and sharing a home with the Bartons. He had been in the middle of recounting yet another story to Steve about the time Lila had almost created a flood in the bathroom “for science,”when Steve interrupted. 

“You know the kids are watching us, right?” He checked, not looking directly at the window where the three small faces could be seen staring out at them with varying levels of subtlety having been achieved. Surprisingly, Harry with his curtain twitching was currently the most conspicuous of the three.

The other two had been appearing at irregular intervals, their heads just popping up and down in a way reminiscent of the meerkats Bucky had seen recently on a nature documentary. It was quite amusing to watch, one head would rise up and the other would drop down, they could have also been on a seesaw he thought to himself which drew a smile to his face.

“Yeah. It’s the reason I was the sniper, Stevie, and you were the brightly coloured distraction, not so much going on up here, is there?” bucky mocked, knocking none too gently against Steve’s head. 

“Shut up,” Steve very maturely retorted, shoving Bucky so hard he almost fell off the bench. Causing Bucky to laugh and shove him back just as hard.

“Anyway… to return to your real sharp observation,” another strong shove and eye roll was the response to this comment, Bucky continued as if unaffected, “they’ve been there since two minutes after we left the house,” Bucky easily informed, before he turned and looked right at the kids waving a hand. This unexpected action caused all three of them to go for cover, vanishing from sight, which drew bright bursts of laughter from the targets of the not-so covert observation.

~ ~ ~

Uncle Bucky and Sasha had been outside talking for ages. Harry didn’t know what they were talking about or why it was taking so long, but he was bored. But Mommy had forbidden them from going outside and disturbing the men, which Harry thought was unfair. He wouldn’t bother them, Uncle Bucky loved to spend time with him, he said so all the time. Harry was great fun. 

But Mommy had given them that look. So he, Cooper, and Lila had decided if they couldn’t go outside, they would have to watch from inside. It was quickly decided that the living room window offered the best view of the two men who had settled on the picnic bench that they had gotten out of the barn a couple of weeks ago.

Harry had been using the curtain flicking trick that he had seen Aunt Petunia use so frequently back when she would spend hours just watching the neighbours on Privet Drive. She only had to use one finger, but Harry found it a bit tricky so he used his whole hand to slowly and carefully move the curtain away from the wall so he could peak out at Uncle Bucky and Sasha.

When Uncle Bucky waved at them, Cooper yelled, “abort mission, retreat, retreat,” before quickly dropping to the floor with a loud thump. Harry squeaked in shock, dropping the curtain which caused it to swish and sway, then he stood frozen with his eyes closed and his face smushed into the curtain whilst his heart was beating super fast. Lila had gone to wave back before being pulled down beside Cooper.

“Harry, are they still looking this way?” Cooper asked in whisper still curled up tightly on the floor. 

“I dunno,” Harry whispered back, eyes still firmly held shut.

“Why are you whispering? Uncle Bucky’s outside,” Lila said at a regular volume, her tone clearly showing she thought they were both being stupid. She pulled her arm out of Cooper’s grasp, though she was quickly tackled back to the floor when she went to sit up properly, revealing the top of her head to the outside world. 

“Remain low, soldier, the enemies might have eyes on us,” Cooper informed harshly, lying on Lila to keep her on the ground.

“Move. I can’t breathe, you’re really heavy like an elephant,” she complained, squirming to get away from Cooper’s weight. “‘Sides they can’t even see me from here.”

“Harry, status report,” Cooper pressed again not releasing Lila despite her continued complaints and increasingly violent attempts to dislodge him.

Harry slowly retook his former spying position and glanced out, “no, they’re not looking,” he answered happily, releasing a deep breath.

“Good,” Cooper replied, finally getting off of Lila.

Lila took in a dramatically deep breath, “Air, sweet, sweet air,” she said, aiming a quick kick at Cooper’s thigh. Though Cooper grabbed her foot before it could make contact and twisted it quite fluidly causing her to stumble and have to hop in an effort to keep her balance. 

“Let go,” she fumed in annoyance, trying to shake off his hold. 

“You gonna try an’ kick me again?” Cooper asked peevishly, giving the caught limb a shake. 

“No,” Lila retorted equally annoyed, resting back against the armchair for balance whilst trying to yank her foot more forcefully from Cooper’s grasp.

“Fine,” he said releasing her foot as she gave another forcefully tug, causing her to stumble-hop a couple jumps to the left before falling onto her butt. 

Harry’s question interrupted the beginnings of a physical fight, “where did his stars go?”

“What?” Lila asked sharply, her annoyance still simmering close to the surface. 

“His stars?” Cooper questioned a beat behind, his tone similarly abrupt.

“Uh-huh, his stars, the blue went into his eyes-“

“Oh- the stars… well, the red prolly went into his blood,” Lila agreed. 

“And he’s got white skin,” Cooper put in. 

“No, he doesn’t,” Harry retorted quickly, “his skin’s pink,” he corrected bemusedly, throwing a confused glance towards Cooper, dropping the curtain in the same movement. 

“Well, yeah, course, but that’s called white,” Cooper tried to explain.

Harry’s eyebrows scrunched together at this explanation, “but that’s silly. We’re pink not white. Paper’s white, clouds are white, snow’s white-“

“Unless someone peed in it, then it’s yellow,” Lila pointed out with a laugh, which quickly got both of her brothers laughing too. 

“And it would be brown if somebody po-"

“Okay, I think that’s a good place to stop,” their mom interrupted from the other side of the room before that sentence could be finished. 

Though it didn’t stop the three of them from laughing at the end of the sentence they all mentally completed. 

“Now go do something else, and leave Uncle Bucky and Steve alone,” she instructed making a shooing motion with her hand. 

The kids scrambled to obey, though Harry shot one final glance out the window to check Uncle Bucky was still alright before he followed his siblings out of the room.

***

It was now less than two weeks until school was out for summer. The lessons had gradually been getting less structured and less about actually learning new things. There were films to watch and more arts and crafts activities, as well as a few fun group tasks to do.

Cooper was really excited to get home today, he wanted to speak to his mom about a few of the summer camps and clubs that they had been told about in school. At the end of the day they had all been handed a piece of paper with different camps, clubs and events described. There was one that he had to speak to Mom about, he didn’t think Dad would take it well at all if he suggested it to him.  

So he was practically bouncing in his seat for the entire trip home, especially when he saw that Dad had come to pick them up from the bus stop. Even before the car had come to a complete stop he had his seatbelt undone and he was jumping out of the door. 

“No fair, why can’t I do that?” harry whined mournfully behind him, not that Cooper stopped to hear the answer. He was a man on a mission. He hurried into the house leaving the front door wide open, “Mom,” he called excitedly, “Mom?”

“Through here, Cooper,” Laura replied from in the kitchen. 

He rushed down the corridor, piece of paper clutched tightly in his hand.

“Afternoon, darling, how was school?” She asked, pulling him into a quick sideways hug. 

“It was good, look what they gave us,” Cooper said showing her the piece of paper he had been covetously holding on to throughout the trip home. “It’s about summer camps,” Cooper explained in spite of the fact that Laura was already reading the sheet of paper. 

“I can see that,” she agreed easily, eyes continuing to scan the information. 

“So I um- well, I thought some of them sounded quite cool,” Cooper explained with joy in his tone. Though his eyes were searching the kitchen for something to snack on as he avoided his mom’s eyes.

“Yeah? Any in particular,” Laura questioned as she glanced down the list. There were a few she would guess had interested Cooper. She wasn’t sure about a few of them, but some seemed like they would be really good.

“Well, I was-“

“Mommy!” Harry called out in happy greeting as he hurried down the corridor and into the kitchen.

“-thinking this one looked fun,” Cooper finished pointing to one of the names on the list in Laura’s hand, sidestepping as Harry rushed into the room.

Laura’s brow raised as she took in the activity Cooper had chosen, a searching look on her face, she didn’t say anything as she greeted Harry with a smile, “good afternoon, love, did you have a good day at school?” 

Harry nodded and began to babble about his day as he threw his arms around her legs in a hug. 

“Please, Mom?” Cooper requested quietly over the top of Harry’s continuing narration of his day, hands held clasped together in front of him, his face earnest and pleading, though the subtle twinkle of mischief in his eyes somewhat undermined the look.

“You were meant to take your shoes off at the door, Harry,” Clint called from where he had just entered the house. A backpack in each of his hands.

Laura’s eyes took in her eldest’s face, before quickly turning back to Harry to hum in agreement at his excitement over the pudding he had chosen to have with his lunch, “I’ll speak to your father about it,” Laura informed Cooper with a matching, but much better hidden, amusement in her eyes.

“Oopsie,” Harry mumbled, finally slowing the excitable stream of retelling his day. “Oh no, I- I forgotted, sorry Daddy,”he shouted back, though there was some embarrassment in his tone 

“Forgot, love,” Laura corrected gently, rubbing a hand over Harry’s hair in a quick gesture that was almost subconsciously done now to soothe and as a sign of her affection.

“Yes, thanks Mom, love you,” Cooper whooped excitedly. He knew his mom would be the better choice to approach with this, he wrapped his arms around her and Harry both, as his brother was still hugging their mom. 

Harry giggled as Cooper joined the hug, “what about me?” He asked cheekily, finally releasing Laura and turning to face and look up at Cooper as the older boy pulled back from the quick squeeze. 

“What about you?” Cooper repeated back in askance. 

“D’you love me too?” Harry questioned, a little nervous now that the question was out in the open.

“Course, you're my baby brother,” Cooper answered easily, reaching forward to ruffle Harry’s hair.

“And me, Cooper?” Lila asked making her way through from the living room having a grabbed a toy from where she had dropped it that morning. 

“Most of the time,” he answered Lila with a half-shrug and indifferent twitch of his face, however his eyes held a silent merriment at the situation. 

After a moment of shocked silence Harry finally managed to react to those words, “I’m not a baby, Cooper, I’m five,” he retorted indignantly, face scrunching in annoyance, he also held a hand with all of his fingers stretched out in front of him. He was five whole years!

Clint shared a look of fond amusement with Laura, silently asking if they should step in before this conversation escalated. He received a gentle head shake in return, so he continued into the room and placed a quick kiss on Laura’s lips.

“Still you’re my littlest sibling,” Cooper replied evenly to Harry, though his tone was playful and teasing. He allowed a moment of pause before adding to the fire he had stoked, “that makes you the baby of the family.” 

“That’s… that’s just rude,” Lila replied, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking her tongue out at her older brother. 

“Lila,” Clint chastised sounding somewhat stern, though he wasn’t trying too hard to hide his amusement at scene playing out before him.

Cooper rolled his eyes at Lila’s reaction, though his teasing air hadn’t faded.

“Cooper,” Laura rebuked with an unimpressed look.

“Yeah, Lila. I’m not a baby,” Harry repeated, copying Lila by crossing his arms over his chest, brow furrowed. “I’mma big boy. Five whole years, ’s a lot,” he voiced his earlier thought.

“Just ‘cos you’re the youngest doesn’t- isn’t a bad thing, Harry,” Cooper replied, not willing to back down. He was right, Harry was the baby of the family. 

“I wasn’t talking about you being a baby, Harry,” Lila corrected, “you are the baby in our family.”

Harry pulled his eyes away from Cooper to shoot a betrayed look at their sister.

“Thank you, love you too, little sis,” Cooper quietly said, a smile firmly in his lips.

“Okay, I think now-“ Laura began to interrupt seeing that they were quickly approaching a turn towards a proper disagreement.