57 Chapter Fifty-Seven

"So you're the reciprocal for all of the power that all of the infinite multiverses generate towards the anthropomorphic entity of Death." Natasha asked.

"Not really and kind of." Harry said. "It's really difficult to explain. There are different laws and stuff to different multiverses, but while I'm its representative, I hold the position in all the multiverses, but can only claim a small percentage of the power he doesn't use in the Multiverse I currently reside in. That's where a majority of my magical regeneration comes from. It's channelling it for me into a form that best allows for me to use it to do what I do."

"And what powers does that give you?" Natasha asked.

"Not much really." Harry said. "I'm magically, probably the most potent caster in any world, and can use the Hallows as I see fit. I still have no powers of resurrecting the dead or anything, for which I am glad actually. It did say something about having more responsibility than I used to, now that we've spoken, but that I'm already doing what I should be, so it didn't even tell me what that was."

"That's irresponsible." Natasha scowled. "Even if you're already doing it, you should be told, so you don't make any mistakes."

"I had the same thought. It said I'd know if I was doing the wrong thing. Something about who I am will let me know, apparently." Harry said. "There are some other things that I needed to know, but am not allowed to discuss them with you, with anyone really. It has to do with… ahh!" he screamed as he was hit by a massive headache.

"Harry!" Natasha was at his side instantly. "What's wrong!?"

Harry held his temples and focussed a bit of magic into relieving the pain. Fortunately it seemed it was short-lived, like a warning. Harry knew instantly why, too. "It seems I'm REALLY not allowed to talk about it. Physically incapable, even." He held his head for a couple of seconds longer. It seemed that the promise to keep things about the afterlife secret was binding.

"Then don't talk about it!" Natasha instructed angrily. She was shocked that Harry had bound himself this way, but suspected he had no choice in the matter. An entity, which existed throughout all dimensions and multiverses that was in charge of the end of all life, with an infinite amount of power, resources and information, had decided that her man was to be its representative, just to skip being bound to a form, not of its choosing. This would take some getting used to.

"I didn't know insinuating or skirting around the edges of what I know was against the rules." Harry said, still rubbing his head, even though it wasn't in pain any more. It was more to help soothe himself from the knowledge his mind shied away from. 'Or I take a step back and look into the eternity of everything, forever. A moment of that can be very entertaining.' The words Death had used to describe something he liked to do on occasion, as a pastime. Something Harry suspected might break any human mind just to grasp the smallest fraction of. As Tony had once said, 'A fraction of infinity is still infinite.' Harry shuddered again.

"Then we'll just not talk about it." Natasha said. "If people knew you were putting your mind in danger, they'd understand, so let's rather not freak anyone out, and avoid dangerous questions, okay?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Harry said, suddenly feeling better. "You know what I'm in the mood for?"

"A whole lot of tequila and some whiskey?" Natasha asked with a smile.

"A whole… yes, that." he said with a smile as he looked at his lovely future wife. "You really are the best, you know that?"

"So long as you don't forget." she said playfully.

"I wouldn't dream of it." he said as he led her out and to the bar, where a group of elves were sitting, drinking and talking while listening to music and the bar-tender, Eldrin, practiced spinning the bottles in the air, following the instruction from the TV. Elves were supernaturally predisposed to acts of dexterity and Eldrin had made Harry jealous with his skill on more than one occasion.

They were greeted warmly and Harry had to tell the people to sit back down, when they made to get up to give their Lord and Lady some privacy. "Please people, don't leave just because we show up. The idea of a bar is to invite people to join us." Harry said.

"If we wanted to be alone, we'd simply stay in the house." Natasha said.

"Thank you, my lord." Xera said from behind him. Harry and Natasha spent the next ten minutes hugging the Nymphs who showed up to greet him. Because there were no guests around, they partook in their favourite drinks, from strawberry daiquiris to appletinis and soon the air was filled with the sounds of grateful moans until it became too late and the Nymphs retired to the grove.

Harry had not been taking it easy as he tried to get his mind off of some of the revelations of the day. After his second bottle of Firewhiskey and half a bottle of shots, he blacked out.

He woke up the next morning and slowly opened his crusty eyes to find his beautiful fiancée lying on his left shoulder, looking at him. What bothered him was when he realised someone else was on his right shoulder. Natasha's face soon sported a smile. "Good morning, lover-boy." she whispered.

Harry slowly turned his head and found Xera sleeping there. "What happened?" Harry asked in a whisper to Natasha. "I remember a lot of drinking, but somewhere along the line, it kind of blanks out."

Natasha giggled, actually giggled. "You don't remember?" she asked, then. When Harry shook his head, she shook her head as well. "Well, don't let her find out." she warned. "While we were drinking, you had this great idea. You decided to create a new enchanted item, or a pair to be exact."

Harry nodded as half a memory came to him, "I seem to recall a locket?"

"That's right." Natasha nodded. "You decided to enchant two lockets with a portal, in the hopes that the Nymphs could leave the island if they wanted to."

"That sounds familiar." Harry asked. "Did it work?"

"Oh, yes." a voice said from his right shoulder. Apparently Xera wasn't as asleep as he had thought. "You barged into the Nymph House and knocked on my tree until I came out. Then you gave me a locket and hung one from one of my branches."

"And then you apparated all three of us to a festival in Belgium, without even checking if it would work." Natasha admonished him. Then she smiled again, "Suffice it to say, we enjoyed a couple of dances and had a couple of drinks, but when one too many men started flirting, you decided to get us out of there."

"I didn't do anything stupid, did I?" Harry asked.

"You may have punched a man when he started getting fresh with Xera, but he was fine. Just unconscious." Natasha assured him.

Somehow, hearing that didn't bother Harry. "Then what happened."

"Then you brought us all here and many things happened." Xera said with a smile that promised delights no man had known before. "You are quite proficient, if I may say so, my lord." she said and Harry could tell her heart-rate had picked up.

"I think you can call me Harry." Harry said. "If you can share my bed, you should be on a first name basis with me." Then he turned to Natasha.

Before he could ask again, she just smiled at him and kissed him. "You have nothing to worry about. I'm fine. We're fine. Our family just got a little bigger."

"I though you said my L… Harry was stopping us from baring the fruit of his loins?" Xera asked.

"She meant you, Xera." Harry said after taking a moment to sigh in relief. He wasn't certain what was going to happen now, but he couldn't lie to himself either. Xera had become quite close to them both. "You're now part of the family." Natasha nodded along, and Xera's eyes developed tears. Harry pulled them both close for a hug, and Xera soon calmed as her hands started to wonder. "Whoa," Harry said, "I need to get to work soon. I don't think we have time for that." Now that he was sober, he didn't know how to handle the situation.

"We could always make time. You're the boss, after all." Natasha winked at him. When Harry shook his head, she conceded. "I understand." she nodded. Harry was still stressed about the previous day's revelations and the work he was doing to get to Hela.

Xera got up quickly, completely naked and jumped up and down in excitement, "Are you still taking me on a tour of your place of work?"

Apparently Harry had made some drunken promises. He didn't mind, though she'd need to be more dressed than she was, he reflected, after watching her assets bounce along with her. "I don't see why not, but you'll have to be able to wait while I handle a couple of things and you'll need to dress in a manner that befits a workplace."

"Illusion." Natasha suggested. "Cover her in an illusion and she can wear her normal outfit."

Harry nodded and got up, to go to the shower, but noticed the time. "Damn, we're really going to be late if we don't get going now." He cast a couple of cleaning charms over the three of them and then he got dressed, while Natasha and Xera did likewise. Harry covered Xera in an illusion and then he opened a portal to his office.

"Running late this morning?" Tony asked with a smirk, only then noticing he had company. "Xera?" he asked. "How are you away from your tree?"

"Harry was able to enchant a locket with a small connection to my tree." Xera said with a smile. "I can now go wherever I want. I have never felt so free!"

Xera was truly exuberant. Harry smiled, "Apparently I had one too many last night and ended up apparating us to Belgium for a festival of some sort."

"Oh, I know." Tony said, smiling again. "You called me on a mirror at three in the morning and told me to come join you guys."

"Really?" Harry was mortified. "Sorry I bothered you."

"No problem." Tony waved it off. "I would have joined. I only went to bed a couple of minutes earlier, but Pepper refused." Tony grumbled, for a second looking like he felt he had missed out.

"After that call, Harry didn't take long to tire of the atmosphere anyway, and we retired to his chambers on the Island." Xera said with a happy smile.

Tony's eyes grew wide. "Oh really?" he asked. "Is there something I should know?"

"Not at all." Harry quickly interjected. "What happens in my relationships, are still private."

"Relationships?" Tony asked. "Plural?"

"Let it go, Tony." Harry said sternly, hoping Tony would do just that, for once.

"I'm sorry, but no." Tony said seriously. "I need to know if you did something stupid. Where was Natasha during all this?"

"Lady Natasha was there with us, as is only proper." Xera said, suddenly understanding Tony's look of worry. "Do not worry, friend Tony. Harry still loves his Lady with all his heart. If anything she and I took advantage of his more… malleable state of mind, last night."

Tony looked between her and Harry, who was blushing as Tony hadn't seen in recent memory. "You pulled a ménage?" he asked, before nodding. "Respect." Tony opened a drawer and pulled two cigars. Then he walked into Harry's office and handed him one. "That's for achieving many men's dream. We can puff these bad-boys later. First, let's go check out the satellite Friday has been assembling since last night."

Harry nodded and put the cigar in his inner pocket, before opening a portal to the moon base, where Tony had set up a fabrication array for their off-world tools and vehicles. "What did you end up going with?" Harry asked as Xera followed them through, having no idea that she was probably the first Nymph to ever leave a planet and her tree so far behind.

"Standard load-out for a space vehicle." Tony said. "IRDR, PMG and rune-portal based air release propulsion for micro adjustments in alignment while in orbit. Oh and a sensor array to help achieve orbit to begin with. The non-standard here is the new rune based telescopic view camera system, which allows for more accurate and higher quality remote viewing than even the NSA has access to.

"The runes expand the space between the cameras' lenses and provides an exponentially larger zoom factor. Literally fifty times more so than was previously achievable. Rocket's rune-cluster for this was truly inspired. I could read a newspaper on Earth from orbit and not have to squint and we haven't even really tried. I suspect I can boost that factor quite a bit, still. We also fitted it with a clear lens, which was runed to see magic, just in case that helps us narrow in on your psycho step-sister." Tony finished.

"And you set all of this up since last night?" Harry asked.

"What do you take me for?" Tony laughed.

"Are all the components loaded and MI Tech?" Harry asked.

"Of course." Tony laughed. "All we need now is to load it up and drop it off." When Harry smirked, Tony had a sinking feeling. "It's too early in the day for you to look so devious."

Harry turned to Xera. "Do you trust me?" he asked, ignoring Tony.

Xera straightened her shoulders, knowing she might be tested in the next few minutes. "Yes, Harry. I trust you with my life."

Harry nodded and formed a bubble around them and levitated the satellite and them up, and moved to his personal airlock. It had detectors for air pressure and would open for him when he used his space-bubble charm, which he did. They were soon floating out into space.

Xera had never felt so small. She looked out at the sea of stars and felt the power Harry was using to keep them safe, having decided, apparently on a whim, to travel the stars on nothing but his personal power, not even showing the slightest hint of strain. Instead of fearful of the void around her, she suddenly grasped why he always felt so good to be around. His power, at least to her, was incalculable. And she shivered in delight, with the biggest smile on her face.

When Harry saw her smile, he was touched to see her trust in him. He nodded at her and looked at Tony, who was acting like it was nothing, but Harry had seen the flash of dread cross his face. "Still too soon?" he asked. He had been meaning to do this for a while. Tony had confessed to him that he needed to face the fear he had once fallen prey to and Harry had decided to bring Tony out with him one day.

"No." Tony said through suddenly chattering teeth that had nothing to do with being cold. "I need to do this." Harry noted that his hands were balled into fists and they were shaking suddenly.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "You look like you're about to have a panic attack." He took him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes as he said, "Focus on your breathing. Control your emotions. They are yours, not the other way around."

Tony nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, focussing on the Occlumency he had studied so hard to control his emotions, even if he told people it was just for the enhanced recall. A couple of moments later, his heart-rate calmed and when he opened his eyes again, Harry could see the building panic was under Tony's control and slowly fading to the background.

"Well done." Harry said. "Is that enough or do you want to go along?" he asked indicating the nearby satellite.

"I think I'll go along." Tony said after a moment's contemplation. He was very glad that he was able to regain control. No matter how many times he went into the Room to face this fear, it would never be the same as knowing he was actually in space, with nothing but a thin layer of magic protecting him from a gruesome fate.

"If you're sure?" Harry asked uncertainly. When Tony nodded he lifted his hand and opened a portal to Niflheim.

They exited above the planet and Xera shuddered. "There's not one spot of green down there." She sounded like she was near tears.

"This is Niflheim." Harry said. "We're here to drop the satellite off and then we're going back."

"Why would you come here?" Xera asked in mild shock. "Nothing good ever happens here."

"That's what we're doing here." Harry said, having looked at Tony for a moment and noting he was still in control. "We're hoping to have one good thing happen here." Xera only nodded and watched as Harry aligned the satellite. "How's that?" he asked Tony.

"It should be fine." Tony said. "We can align it better from the office, but we should go soon, just in case the orbit isn't stable, which it likely isn't. It's not the kind of thing you can just eyeball."

Harry nodded and opened a portal to just outside the hanger. "Let me try something quick." He said as he floated them up to above the dome of the base. He expanded the dome and formed a portal inside the bubble with them noting the other portal forming normally. "Cool." he said and levitated them through before allowing both the portal and the bubble to collapse, in that order, of course.

"That is cool." Tony nodded as he took a couple of breaths in relief. "Could you do that from Earth?" he asked. "Make a bubble that contains the vacuum of space as you form a portal?"

Harry wasn't certain. "I don't know. The bubble head charm I used to aid in the creation the space bubble charm, fills the bubble with air. I don't think it will be able to produce enough air to stop the spell from collapsing from the strength of the vacuum. It wasn't meant to take those kinds of pressures from inside."

"You can figure it out, I'm sure." Tony said with a shrug as Harry finally lowered them into the garden where Xera instantly sat down, lay back and continued staring at the stars. "Until then, At least you have a quicker way of exiting space."

Harry nodded, but didn't really think too deeply on it. He lay back as well. "What do you think Xera? How does it feel to be the first Nymph in history to go into space?"

"I… I don't have the words." Xera stammered. What had just happened to her went so far above what her mind was ready for. "We really just travelled the stars. It's unbelievable."

While she was talking to Harry, he heard Tony quickly call Friday and had her monitor the satellite. "Harry, we can't stay here long. I need to go check that the Satellite is correctly set up and searching." Tony told him once he was done on the phone.

"Fine." Harry said, opening a Portal for Tony. "We'll be along in a bit. I'm taking Xera on a tour of the moon base and then HQ. I'll probably be a couple of hours as I have some things to catch up on here."

"See you later, then." Tony nodded, walking through the portal which closed behind him.

Harry offered a hand to Xera and once she was up, he started walking her through the base. Agent Erik Koenig showed up as if by magic and handed her a green laminate card. He actually showed her more respect than he normally showed Harry. Harry shrugged. It was probably meeting a mythological creature for the first time. Koenig had requested, but had not yet received permission to go on the next company retreat to the island. Harry suspected that that was the reason he acted the way he did.

Once Harry showed her his personal office, with the perfect view of the stars, she spent a good couple of hours on his couch, just staring out the large, floor-to-ceiling windows, while he handled correspondence and looked through proposals.

By comparison, their visit to EPI HQ was almost tame, except for when people recognized Xera and Harry suspected he'd be receiving a request for a meeting from Fury sometime soon. The Nymphs being able to leave the island would make them available, if not for missions of seduction, then for testing occlumency proficiency, without needing to rely on a psychic, which he had refused to do.

Harry ended the tour back on his hidden floor, where he took Xera through to Bruce's lab, where she'd become the first Nymph to see what Bruce did with the ingredients he took from the island. She had been quite impressed. Then Harry stepped her through the door to the more publically accessible part of the lab, where quite a few graduates from Xavier's institute were being taught about the basics of potion making by their instructor Doctor Hank McCoy.

"Xera?" Hank interrupted himself, in the middle of his speech. "How are you here? You are invalidating my previous class by being away from your tree!" he said it with a smile. Xera stepped forward and hugged the big blue man. They had had many conversations on the island in the past.

"My Harry has made it possible for me to move about but stay connected." Xera said lifting up her locket. "This contains a small opening through which I can feel the island and stay connected to it and the rest of the grove."

Hank nodded, smiling broadly as he hugged her again. "I am really happy for you." Xera smiled happily and nodded, before turning and going back to Harry, who was leaning against the wall by the door. "Harry." Hank greeted with another nod and smile. Harry had allowed for some of the classes to take place here, as long as the students always harvested their own potions ingredients, except for those that came from creatures.

The rest of the time, Hank commuted between the newly established EPI Magical College, located on the same campus as the other re-branded SHIELD institutes of higher learning (where he was the professor for both Herbology and Potions) and his own potions lab, where he was still working on newer and better delivery systems for potions. He'd even had some success turning a select few potions into gel capsules. Bruce had loved the challenge of condensing potions down to a state where it still worked in such a concentrated form.

"How are classes coming, Professor McCoy?" Harry asked.

"They are going spectacularly." Hank said. "The visits to the island has helped, it seems. The students were familiar enough with some of the creatures' magical natures to understand the ingredients better."

"We also started a study group, to prepare for when we started studying potions." one of the 'kids' said. It was one who Harry recognised, but didn't know the name of. "You did tell us we'd be allowed after we finished high school, after all."

Harry nodded, "I remember." Then he turned to Hank, "Maybe it would be a good idea to have them create an educational packet for those interested in the class?"

Hank looked proudly at the class. "They are already ahead of you." he said. "They turned in a project from their private studies to show their desire to get into the first class."

"Did they?" Harry asked, impressed. "It's that kind of planning and preparation that will take them far in my company." he said. His words were met by excited, but determined faces. "Were any of you interested in going into alchemy after that?" Only one student nodded. "Why so few?"

"Ah, yes. The problem is that even if there was a dedicated teacher, Alchemy is still quite difficult." Hank said, apologetically. "We found that only those who studied particle physics and the atomic sciences would be able to understand the basics needed for application."

"Did you and Bruce have any issues understanding what you were learning?" Harry asked, not having realised the requirements of the study. "We could hire some people if you need them." he offered.

Hank scratched at the back of his head, "We manage and Tony has been quite helpful, as he has a very wide scope of knowledge to draw from, but we've been hoping to ask you about hiring Maya Hansen to help pick up the slack?" he asked hopefully.

"Maya Hansen? Why does that name sound familiar?" Harry asked.

"She's the one that knocked you out so that Aldrich Killian could use you as a hostage against Tony." Hank responded.

"Oh, right!" Harry said, snapping his fingers in recognition. "Isn't she in prison?"

"She is, but we were hoping that, with a contract, her skills and knowledge could be useful again." Hank said. "Fury seemed willing to go with it, but said it was up to you, since you choose who works with and has knowledge of the magical."

Harry had been unaware that Fury deferred to him in anything, usually running EPI without informing Harry of what was going on unless it was something big that they needed his help or resources for. Sure they still had the Marauders' Den, but it was unnecessary these days as everything was contract protected. They still met up to discuss things, but it was usually in Fury's hidden Room of Requirement. Harry had opted to keep Marauder's Den, just in case it was ever necessary.

"How has she been holding up in prison?" Harry asked, rather than giving an answer outright. He had noted the students moving off, rather than stay in the middle of what was obviously not meant for their ears.

"Apparently some of the inmates discovered that she had been involved with experiments on ex-soldiers and she had a rough time in the beginning, until she was isolated from the rest." Hank said.

Harry thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Okay, but you get to tell Natasha, I don't want to see her anywhere near anything she's not cleared for and Fury has to handle whatever security this will require." he said as he counted on his fingers.

"You're not making this easy for me." Hank said. "Any specific reason why?"

Harry smirked, "Why were you the one to bring this up and not Bruce?"

"He asked me to… Ah. I see." Hank finally got it.

Harry continued to smirk. "Yup." he confirmed. Bruce didn't want to spend all that time on getting through red tape. "On the bright side, it's not that difficult a task, the most difficult being telling Natasha, really. Fury probably knows which routes to follow for a prisoner transfer, or to get her extracted if we don't have the pull we might need, now that we're not necessarily compliant with UN requirements."

"You might want to talk to Fury about that." Jarvis said as he walked into the lab. "Apparently the Council has been making strides towards correcting that."

"Oh, really?" Harry said as he opened a portal and stepped thought indicating for Xera and Jarvis to follow, waving at Hank as he went. The command room of EPI was built much like the command deck of the Helicarrier had been, except that it was bigger and with way more magic in play. Different divisions were represented by people through mirrors on the walls, made to look like windows to adjoining rooms.

Physical documents needing signatures and processing floating between people, desks and inboxes, as if transported via telekinesis. Many people's mouths were moving without sound being heard as they went about their business. All of them had the ability to cancel the silencing to be heard by everyone, by the press of a button, with another button that allowed only the person standing in Fury's usual spot to hear them, in case it was sensitive information.

Fury was not standing in his usual spot, though, so Harry led Xera and Jarvis to Fury's office, nodding at the agents who sprang up to salute him. Harry had asked them not to do it, so obviously Fury had suggest that they do it anyway. Everyone was in on the joke and Harry tolerated it, knowing they wouldn't stop.

When they reached Fury's office Harry knocked and waited for a 'click', which indicated the door was open. Fury had requested he knock a certain way, but because of the saluting thing, he refused. Fury knew it was him and he had many security cameras showing him who was at the door. Security inside EPI wasn't necessarily necessary, but Fury, being the paranoid bastard he was, insisted.

When they entered, Harry decided to forgo the niceties, "What's this I hear about the council actually making themselves useful for once."

"Jarvis?" Fury asked looking at the PA behind Harry, who was studiously looking anywhere but Fury. Fury sighed but complied, "They are hoping to gain more influence with us by getting the UN off our backs and behind us again. If we actually needed it, I'd be grateful." Fury scoffed, as he moved closer to hug Xera, not acting surprised to see her at all. The Nymphs were the only ones that got away with it and everybody knew to just drop the subject.

"What do you mean influence?" Harry asked.

"After everything that PI and EPI have been doing, we're basically the most powerful organization on the planet." Fury explained. "They will fight for every inch of power they can get within the organization."

"What's our response to that?" Harry asked.

"Nothing." Fury said with a shrug. "We let them do what they want. As long as it keeps them busy, I don't really care. We're not here to pander to their whims. We're here to make actual change."

"This doesn't sound like you." Harry said. "You have something planned, don't you?"

Fury just looked at him, Xera and Jarvis, before sighing, "While they are working so hard to get themselves into our good books, we've been doing favours for people in power. Healing diseases, sharing info and taking out corrupt officials. By this time next year, every world government will be singing our praises, not to mention the citizens."

"So while the Council are keeping themselves entertained, you've been contracting heads of state, kings and prime ministers." Harry said, a look of dawning realisation on his face. "Nobody knows who they are allowed to talk to, so they all think they're supporting us anonymously, while everyone is actually on the same side, because they all owe us favours." He looked at Fury and saw the gleam in his eyes. "You know, I've never seen you looking quite so devious. Was the Council really holding you back this much?"

Fury smirked. "I was never capable of as much as I am here at EPI. Give me resources and manpower and I can do anything." He walked to a cabinet and removed a bottle of fifty-year Firewhiskey. Harry hadn't given it to him, so he knew Fury must have bought it for a special occasion. "When you offered me a place here and told me that you needed the person in charge to be dedicated and to believe in the cause, I saw a change coming."

Fury poured four glasses and handed three of them around. "I realised then, for the first time, that there was such a thing as destiny. Not the kind that you follow, but one that you carve out yourself. I saw you carving your own way and making your own possibilities. You didn't need me, but I sure as hell needed to go with you, because where you go, good things happen.

"Don't get me wrong, you find the trouble, but you also fix the problems and then you make it so it can't happen again. When you made that ultimatum, join or leave, that's when I decided to follow someone for the first time in many years." Fury said sombrely. Then he lifted his glass. "To a world united." Harry nodded and clinked his glass and repeated the toast, followed by Xera and Jarvis.

"So…" Harry started, "I don't need to worry about the council?"

Fury smirked, "You don't need to worry about the council." Then he took a sip before seemingly remembering something, "But you can put some more people in R&D. We need to keep moving forward. From Brand's reports, it seems Magic, while not unheard of, is not a well-known power and your kind even less so. We've got an advantage over the rest of the universe, and we need to keep our advantages growing."

Harry nodded and Jarvis made a note. "We have been extending offers for people to enter the classes within EPI and our other contracted allies." Jarvis said. "Should we start making offers to people that show promise?"

Harry nodded and looked at Fury, "I'm guessing you have someone in mind?"

"I've had a couple of talent-scouts put together a list." Fury said. "I'll start the process and setup a couple of demonstrations. We can handle it with the resources you've given us. I just needed your go-ahead."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"It's still your company." Fury said. "While I wouldn't hesitate to contract someone myself, this is going to be big. Once we've got a couple of teams that work well together, we'll be putting a think-tank together. By the next time the universe throws a monster our way, we'll be able to send them packing."

"I don't know that we'll have time to train people before Thanos comes." Harry said.

"I've still got Danvers to call on, when that bastard shows up. The things Brand has uncovered about him and his Black Order, makes me think we'll need all the help we can get." Fury said. "Chances are he's already heard about you and has put a plan together to either keep you busy or to take you out of the fight. She's an unknown to him, as far as I'm aware."

"Have you made contact yet?" Harry asked, having heard about Carol Danvers. He was quite excited to meet her, but he hadn't been told that Fury had called on her, yet.

"No." Fury said. "I'm not risking getting hold of her until there's absolutely no other option."

"You may want to start thinking about sending her a message anyway." Harry said. "With a portkey and a mirror, she can be here much quicker. I don't care how fast she can fly."

Fury scowled, "I'll think about it."

"That's all I can ask." Harry allowed.

The impromptu meeting soon broke up, with Fury congratulating Xera on her newfound freedom, again. He would be interested in seeing if one of the Nymphs could be persuaded to come work for EPI, but wouldn't do it until they were ready for the real world. Many of them were still recovering from a life spent in fear and abuse.

Fury had not been happy to hear that Harry had handled their rescue personally, as he would have employed the entire Ghost Ops division to get rid of those who had mistreated the poor creatures. Harry might have a duty to see justice done, but Fury had no qualms about having a couple of people snuffed when they deserved it. Especially after he had met some of the new additions to New Atlantis.

When they returned to the island, it was to find a very excited group of Nymphs waiting to be told of Xera's grand adventure. She was soon led off telling tales of the festival, the moon base and the other experiences she had gone through.

As Harry watched them leave, his mirror vibrated. "Hello." he answered jovially.

"Where are you now?" Natasha's sweet voice asked.

"I'm at the island. I just dropped Xera off." Harry said as he lifted the mirror to show the house as he approached it. "Why?"

"Did you hear about Spider-Man's latest adventure?" Natasha asked.

"No…" Harry said. "Should I be worried?"

"Maybe a little." she laughed. "Tony's probably going to be bragging his ass off. It seems Peter caught his first super-villain."

"Really?!" Harry asked in shock. "Why wasn't I told?"

Natasha shrugged, "Tony was probably already watching and didn't want to get anyone else involved with his protégé."

Harry nodded and then smiled, "Still, his first supervillain at fifteen. That's impressive."

"Didn't you have, like, three wins under your belt at that age?" Natasha asked.

"About." Harry confirmed. "Not that I'd name myself anyone's role model."

"Not in that regard, maybe." Natasha smiled. "You're not a bad person to emulate normally. Why do you think Jarvis wanted to work with you?"

"Stop, you're going to make me blush." Harry joked, as he opened a portal to Natasha's office and closed the mirror connection. "The only enviable thing about me are my friends."

"Flatterer." Natasha mocked as she kissed him before sitting down at her desk again to continue writing up a report.

"You really shouldn't just portal in anywhere, you know." Hill said from behind him. Harry turned to see her standing by the window apparently watching as one of the operatives snuck through a house in the dark. Harry always tried to open his portals close to a wall when he made them, so that there's a smaller chance of someone being hurt by its sudden appearance.

"Anything interesting?" Harry asked as he walked up to her to look at the screen, ignoring her statement.

"Not really." Hill said. "We're just planting information for a certain Yakuza boss to find. He was getting product from a new source. At first we though they were onto what we were doing, but it turns out it was part of a scheme to gain more territory by proving his opposition has an inferior product, unknowingly spreading ours further. We're setting it up so he takes over even more territory."

"How is distribution and infiltration looking?" Harry asked.

"We're getting there." Hill said. "A couple more months and then we can unveil our surprise."

"Good." Harry said. "I'm looking forward to finding out how much of an effect this will have."

"Controlled tests came back with a success rate of one hundred percent." Hill said. "Depending on what sources people use, and how many, I'm estimating a forty to fifty percent success rate in our affected areas. Once we set up the next phase, I suspect our success rates will go up."

"I like your optimism." Harry said. "Can I see the map?"

Natasha looked up from her desk, "No. You asked us to keep that a surprise."

"Oh, come on! Just a peak?" Harry begged.

"Not even a little one." Natasha said stubbornly. "And don't even try to pull rank on me, Mister Potter. You asked for this yourself."

Harry sighed, "Okay, fine, but I'm never setting up a surprise for myself again."

Hill smirked at him before focussing back on her work. Natasha was still looking at him and asked, "So did you stop by only to torture yourself, or was there a purpose?"

"You called me!" Harry accused.

"Yes, and I thought you'd be over at Tony's the moment you heard?" Natasha asked with a smile, knowing he'd gotten side-tracked. "If you hurry, Spider-Man might still be there…"

Harry, having suddenly remembered, smiled at her and apparated to Tony's floor. Upon arrival, Tony looked up from the bar, "Took you long enough."

"Hello, Mister Potter." Peter said from the bar, where he was drinking a butterbeer.

"Are you letting him drink butterbeer?" Harry asked.

"We're celebrating, and you drank butterbeer when you were younger." Tony countered.

"That's because it didn't do much to my people." Harry said.

"And this is conjured." Tony finished with a smile. "You installed the tap, you should know."

"Please?" Peter pleaded.

Harry shook his head but relented. "If your aunt finds out that we're contributing to giving you a taste for alcohol, I'm blaming Tony."

"Everybody takes a sip from their parents as children." Tony qualified. "We're just contributing to a more rounded-out childhood."

"But he's not your kid." Harry said as he summoned himself a glass and filled it with butterbeer too. He held out the glass to clink with Peter. "Congratulations on your first supervillain."

"Thanks." Peter said after he took a sip. "It wasn't as easy as you guys make it look."

"It never is, kid." Tony said wisely. "You could have the most underpowered villain in the world, and he'd still make you work for the win."

"Think about it." Harry said. "Steve often gets stuck in fights with people. He can take them out easily with a show of force, but he tries to do as little damage as possible, when possible, and that takes more effort than simply shooting someone in the head. My old headmaster once told me that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy."

Peter thought about that and before he could give his great power quote, Tony spoke up, "Whatever happened to you telling your aunt about your powers?"

"I'm also curious about that." Harry said. "We've not heard from you. Did something happen?"

Peter looked shifty, like he tended to, and then sagged, "My friend Ned found out, okay? Now I'm worried about telling too many people."

Tony did a spit take, "Who's Ned and why don't I know about this?"

"He's my friend and I didn't want you zapping his memories." Peter defended. "He was actually quite useful while I took out the bad-guy."

Harry laughed. "This isn't funny." Tony said indignantly. "We can't have random people know about this stuff!"

"It's his secrets to tell, Tony." Harry said sobering. "We have to trust that he knows his friend well enough to protect his secret." He turned to Peter, "He is being responsible with the knowledge, right?"

Peter was refusing eye-contact. "What did he do?" Tony asked dangerously.

"He… he told the entire class that I know Spider-Man. In gym last week." Peter admitted finally.

"Friday." Tony said.

"I'm making a list now." Friday said as pictures from all of Peter's classmates started appearing on a screen. Even the gym teacher's face appeared on the screen. "Should I send the information to Director Fury?"

"NO!" Peter interjected, "No, no, no! You can't have my entire class taken out!"

"Jeeze, kid. What kind of monsters do you take us for?" Tony asked. "We've got a division set up for memory modifications."

"What we need to do now, is decide if we want 'Ned' to keep the information." Harry said seriously. "He doesn't sound like a very good friend."

"He was trying to help me get a girl's attention." Peter defended lamely. Even he knew that Ned had overstepped in that situation. If it wasn't for that, Liz's dad would never have worked it out, even with the Stark internship.

"Listen, kid. We're not going to tell you how to live your life or even who you want in on your secrets." Tony said. "I mean, look at me! I told people on national television that I was Iron Man, but that's me. I could afford to. If I hadn't my life would be completely different now."

"Not necessarily better, mind you." Harry interjected.

"Fair enough." Tony conceded. "But you don't have my resources to keep your people safe."

Peter was following where they were leading him. His experiences from earlier that day proved that he needed to keep his secrets to himself. "Couldn't you give Ned and my aunt portkey thingies?" he asked.

"We could," Tony said, "If they were under contract."

"And while you don't tell us what's going on, we can't protect anyone." Harry finished for him.

"Anyone else we should know about?" Tony asked with a serious look at Peter. "What about your girlfriend? The prettiest cheerleader? How about the school bully? Did you tell them?"

Peter took a deep breath, before admitting, "Mister Toomes also knows."

"Your bad-guy knows your secret identity?!" Tony asked incredulously. "Tell me 'Ned' didn't have something to do with that?"

Harry didn't wait; he pulled out his mirror and called Fury, while Tony was berating Peter. When Fury answered, Harry quickly informed him if the situation. "Let me get this straight," Fury started, "The spider-kid's secret identity has been in the hands of a guy who just tried to steal from one of our own transports and he hasn't even told us about it? Has Stark not taught him anything?!"

Tony winced, before turning to Peter, "Yeah, you really screwed the pooch on that one."

"Fortunately he's still in our custody." Fury said. "He's been through questioning, but I'm thinking he can take a second set of questions. This time we'll make sure nobody else knows."

"Thank you Director." Harry said.

"Don't mention it." Fury said seriously. "To anyone. I really don't like feeling like I'm cleaning up after this kid. Get him through training and set him up with a permanent portkey. I want him debriefed from now on. If he's going to jump into these situations, he needs to know to follow protocol."

Fury hung up the connection and Harry turned to Peter. "Sorry about that." he apologised.

"Yeah, now you're on Fury's radar." Tony agreed. "We hoped to save you from 'the manual'."

"There's a manual?" Harry and Peter asked together.

"You didn't know?" Tony asked with a smirk. "Everyone has to follow procedures you and Fury set up when you created EPI. Something about 'constant vigilance'."

"Those were made official?" Harry asked. "I thought we were just spit-balling. Some of those protocols were super redundant."

"They still are, but we all follow the same rules, except, apparently, for you." Tony scoffed. "Benefits of being the boss, I suppose."

"Fortunately you've never needed to go through a full debriefing." Friday said. "You've had me sending all video footage to EPI when you were on the field."

"That does admittedly save me some time." Tony said. Then he noticed Peter looking nervously between them. "Worried?"

"What did he mean training?" Peter asked.

"You need to learn how things work." Tony said. "I'll ask Sam if he can walk you through it. He's been working with new recruits and helping them adjust to life as part of EPI. Apparently he likes being close to all the vets and people who want to re-enlist."

"Sam?" Peter asked.

"Falcon." Harry clarified. "He's kind of new too."

"But before that, we need to sort out your other problem." Tony said. He turned to Harry, "Are we doing this old-school or are you putting a twist on it?"

"Wait! What are you talking about?" Peter asked desperately.

"Sorry, Kid. You've given us no choice." Tony said.

Harry nodded along, "We can't let your friend be a threat to your and your aunt's safety anymore. You can choose whether we tell her, but 'Ned' has proven himself untrustworthy."

"Even if you trust him, he needs to sign a contract, at least, because it makes it impossible for him to give you up, even under mind-control or torture." Tony said.

"Torture!?" Peter asked, only now realising how serious this was.

"Do you trust Toomes?" Tony asked sarcastically. "How sure are you that he didn't tell someone, who has told someone, etc.?" Peter couldn't answer. The chances were Toomes' friend, who was waiting outside the school for him, probably knew. "Exactly. It's not just your life that's in danger. Your choice to be Spider-Man puts others in danger."

"Fortunately," Harry interrupted, "we have an option to help with that. One contract and you're safe. Two and you have a proper support system at home."

"We'll take care of 'Ned' first though." Tony said. He looked at the ceiling, "Friday?"

"EPI has been notified." Friday said instantly, having waited for confirmation. "Ned Leeds has been located. He's currently at the Parker residence."

"The rest of the class?" Tony asked.

"We'll arrange for the Professor to use his methods to secure the knowledge." Harry said.

"Good idea." Tony said. "That Cerebro thing scares me, but it's good to know we're on the same side."

"Okay, stop!" Peter said. "What are you talking about, what are you going to do?"

"Professor Xavier helps us out when we need to modify memories." Harry explained. "I can do it too, but I'm not as good as him. The professor will simply check and see if there's any danger of anyone outing you. If necessary he'll remove memories or modify them."

"And you just let him do that to people?" Peter asked.

"We asked him to, kid." Tony said. "It's all done very professionally, of course, and privacy is protected via contract. Unless he finds someone that is a danger to others or themselves, he can't even tell Harry of what he learned."

"So it's like a doctor thing? Confidentiality?" Peter asked. Then he nodded, "Okay, fine, but no erasing Ned! He may have made a mistake, but he'd never knowingly sell me out."

"Fine." Tony said. He was still not happy about the situation. He turned back to Harry, "So old-school or something more impressive?"

"It's almost dinner." Harry mused. "Should I get the chef to start on dinner at the island and then 'invite' our guests?"

"We could have them picked up by Quinjet and then open a portal…" Tony said. "It's less kidnap-y that way."

"Is Pepper available?" Harry asked.

Later that evening a Quinjet appeared through a portal above the island and came down for a vertical landing. When the door opened, a female voice was heard saying, "I'm just saying we can't have gone very far. The trip was less than five minutes… What the f-"

"May!" Peter interjected. "I was telling you, there's a lot going on here you don't understand."

"How the hell are we at the beach?" May persisted.

As they made it out, a butler seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Good afternoon. If you would please follow me to the bar area for refreshments, you are expected." The butler turned, having ignored May's shout of alarm at his sudden appearance, and started walking to the bar. When they reached the pool, only a couple of nymphs were swimming around lazily, but they waved happily at the possible new friends.

"Eyes front, boys." May said to the silent boys. Ned had yet to say anything, having been warned by Peter to keep his mouth shut. The stress on his friends face convinced him that it was very important not to make a sound. That did not affect his ability to watch the apparent supermodels who looked at him in curiosity, rather than outright ignoring him like he was used to. He really wanted to say hi, but looked away reluctantly at May's words.

Peter had been here before and was able to keep from staring. He did take a couple of glances though.

Tony Stark got up from his chair by the bar where he had been talking to the bartender, sitting with two other women. "Hi there, May." He said warmly offering a hand to May and shaking hers. He then looked at Ned. "Mister Leeds." he said coldly. Then he turned back to May, "Come, let's get you a drink."

May was astounded at meeting the world-famous Tony Stark. He even knew her name! It took her a moment, but she soon found her words and said, "Hi." A moment later she followed that up with, "I'll have whatever is good." when the bartender asked her what he could get her as she took the offered seat where Tony was sitting with two women already. Pepper Potts she recognized, but she didn't recognize the redhead.

"Here you go." Harry said, handing her a Bahama Mama, infused with the newest creation from SPB Breweries.

May took a sip and her heart skipped a beat as the magical effect hit her and a magical wind blew through her hair, making her feel like she'd just arrived at a holiday destination. A feeling of welcoming and acceptance hit her and she looked at the drink in wonder. "This is a really good drink! What's it called?"

"It's a Bahama Mama." Harry said. "It's a cocktail with coconut rum. Specifically a new kind of Rum, from SPB Breweries."

"I've heard of them. One bottle of their whiskey would cost me my entire month's rent." May said, still looking at the drink.

"Well, don't worry about that here." Tony said. "Everything is on the house."

"Of course it is!" Pepper laughed. "Since you own equal shares of SPB with Harry and Bruce."

"You own part of SPB?" May asked.

"A third, yes." Tony said easily. "Along with Bruce Banner and him." he said pointing a thumb at the bartender.

"Who?" May asked looking up as if seeing the bartender for the first time. She had a look of confusion, before a sudden look of recognition crossed her face. "You're Harry Potter!"

"Nice to meet you, Miss Parker." Harry confirmed.

"May, please." May said with a blush as Harry took her hand and kissed the air above it.

"Then I insist that you call me Harry." Harry said.

"You're laying it on a little thick aren't you?" Tony asked Harry, after looking at Peter, who looked mortified at how his aunt was blushing at the attention.

"Harry is always a gentleman." Natasha said as she walked up to May and held out her hand, "Natasha Romanoff."

"The Black Widow?" May asked, shocked. "How many Avengers am I meeting today?"

"Maybe one or two more." Tony said with a smirk. "Natasha and Harry are engaged, by the way, so don't flirt too hard. Their girlfriend might just get jealous."

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed. "Now's definitely not the time for that!"

"Jealousy makes you nasty." Natasha said with a smirk.

"Right." Tony scoffed. Then he turned to Peter and Ned, "There's a non-alcoholic Butterbeer tap here, if you want."

"Yes, please!" Peter said instantly, easily accepting the change of subject.

May wouldn't make it that easy though, "Girlfriend?"

Tony smiled, but before he could answer, Harry spoke up, "I know, right? I was the last one to find out too!" then he turned and waved at the model who was floating around the pool on a pool chair. "Her name is Xera."

"She's one of the special residents here on the island." Natasha said with a fond smile. "There are also extenuating circumstances which required at least one of her people to be in a relationship with Harry. Fortunately she's great company."

"Our personal lives isn't why we asked you to join us for dinner, though." Harry said. He turned to Peter and asked, "Are you ready to proceed as planned?"

Peter nodded, and while Harry was retrieving his Pensieve tablet, he looked at his aunt, "May, I have some difficult news to give you."

May was suddenly all nerves. She had known something was going on of course, but he had refused to tell her what was going on. One part of her had feared that he had knocked up a girl at school, but another part of her had hoped for it, since there were so many worse things he could tell her. Now, in the presence of these people, she had no idea what to expect. "What is it, Peter?"

Peter swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and continued, "Eight months ago, while we were on that field trip to Oscorp, something happened." He went on to explain about the spider-bite and the discovery of his powers. That was followed up with a visit to the Pensieve to see the events for themselves. Harry told her he'd explain how it worked later.

May was just this side of livid when Peter was finished, stating that Tony gave him the suit. "You're sending Peter out there to fight people with guns? What's wrong with you?!"

"May, listen to me!" Peter interjected. "I was going out there already. Mister Stark was trying to protect me!"

"Then he should have told me!" May said. Then she looked at Peter with pain in her eyes, "You should have told me."

"I'm sorry, May." Peter said.

May wasn't done though. She turned to Ned, "And I guess you knew as well? I thought you were his friend. How do you feel about Peter putting himself in danger?" Ned made to reply with half a smirk on his face, but May interrupted him, "So help me, if you say 'it's cool', I'm going to cut you up and feed you to the wildlife on this island."

"Nah, we keep the carnivores well fed on things better suited to their diet." came a voice from the bushes, where Logan appeared. "Most of them are also locked up for your protection."

May stood up and looked at Logan with shock written on her face, "James, is that you?"

"Hi May." Logan said with a soft smile Harry hadn't seen there before.

"What are you doing here?" May asked.

"I work here." Logan said. "I take care of the wildlife."

May had apparently lost her train of thought for the moment as she closed the distance between them and gave Logan a tight hug. "You never came to visit. You still owe Ben that cigar."

Logan looked sad, "I was sorry to hear of his death. When I heard, I thought I'd just be in the way."

"You're a moron." May said. "I know you were closer friends with Richard and Mary, but you really should have visited."

"I'm sorry." Logan said. "Come, I can tell you a bit more about what Peter's been getting up to."

"You knew?" May asked with a sudden look of anger on her face.

"Of course I knew!" Logan scoffed. "I helped train him."

"Why?" May almost begged.

"Please, Mary and Richard's kid, stay out of trouble? You're kidding yourself." Logan scoffed. "Only thing any of us could do was get him trained up and give him the tools he needs to protect himself."

"I can't lose him too!" May pleaded. "You don't understand!"

Logan gave her a flat look. "You know that I do." Then he sighed, "Listen, I know more than you do at this moment. Harry and Tony have taken every precaution short of blocking his powers, and don't even ask them to do that. Harry probably could, but he never would. Not without Peter, himself, asking for it."

May seemed to consider this for the moment. Then she nodded and walked back to the bar with Logan. When she sat down, she looked at Harry, "What is James talking about?"

Harry had been mostly quiet and supportive of what Peter said. "We actually have an offer for you," he said as he pulled out a contract, "but you'll be free to say yes or no, as long as you sign this contract."

May read it over, asked the same questions as everyone and finally signed. Ned wasn't given a choice. He was told to read it carefully, but Harry planned to have his memory wiped anyway if he refused to sign. "That means you don't get to say things like Peter is friends with Spider-Man in front of thirty people." Tony said dangerously to the suddenly pale Ned.

"You didn't!?" May and Logan exclaimed at the same time. "What kind of friend are you, kid?" Logan wanted to know.

"I didn't know it would get him in trouble!" Ned spoke for the first time. "I was just trying to get Liz to notice him."

"Yeah, it turns out Liz's dad was a bad-guy." Peter said.

"Who figured it out, due to your telling random people things you had no right to tell." Tony said with a tone of voice stating he'd very much like to kick the kid off the island.

Ned's face lost all colour at the thought. "I… I didn't know! I'm so sorry, Pete!"

"It doesn't matter now." Logan spoke up. "Just sign that contract and you won't be able to do it again." When almost everyone there looked at him with shock on their faces he said, "He's a stupid kid. He wasn't malicious about it." Then he smirked evilly as he looked at Ned, "Besides, if he had gotten Peter hurt," he said as he let his claws come out, "I'd have gotten even. I was almost Peter's godfather, after all."

Ned almost pissed himself as he rushed to sign the contract. Peter hadn't known that. Apparently Logan was closer to his parents than he knew.

Once Ned had signed, Harry summoned the contracts and made them vanish. "Welcome to New Atlantis. My name is Harry Potter, also known as Ghost of the Avengers. The island is home to a refuge for magical creatures and plants. I do magic. I'm a wizard."

"Don't call him a magician or he'll turn you into a farm animal." Natasha said with a mischievous smile.

"Ghost?!" Ned asked in awe. "I know who Ghost is!" He reached across the counter, apparently forgetting his fear in the face of meeting one of his favourite supers, until his hand was shocked by the automatic protections on the bar. Nonetheless he looked up while holding his hand and said, "It's a genuine pleasure to meet you, sir!" Harry reluctantly reached over the bar and shook his hand. "I can't wait to tell people I shook Ghost's hand."

Harry just smirked, but Tony outright laughed. "You can't. Not unless you want to forget meeting him." Logan informed him. "Did you already forget the contract?"

"I can't even tell people I met Ghost? I'm not telling people his secret identity or anything!" Ned argued.

"You know what, kid? Go ahead and try." Tony said with an evil smirk.

Ned blanched again and then looked sullenly at the spot his contract had disappeared from, before he smiled again. "I still got to meet him." he mumbled to himself.

"So what steps have you taken to protect Peter?" May asked.

"Besides the suit that has many protections and features to keep him safe, including being bullet-proof?" Tony asked. "Harry set him up with a Portkey for instant extraction and he placed a ward at your house to keep undesirables away."

"Ward? Portkey?" May asked looking at Harry.

"A ward is a form of magical protection, which reacts to bad intentions." Harry explained. "If someone wanted to break into your apartment, they'd think they left the stove on at home or something and quickly leave. A portkey is a form of instant travel, which can get him from any dangerous place directly to our medical department for treatment, should it be necessary." Harry conjured a coin, concentrated on it and tossed it to May, who caught it. "Say 'test' and you'll be transported to the other side of the pool."

May was about to say it, when Logan suddenly put his hand on her mouth. "Put any electronics on the counter first. You don't want your phone destroyed, do you? Magic has a bad effect on electronics." he said.

May complied and put her handbag on the floor, which held her phone, the only piece of technology she had. Then she said the activation word and landed on the other side of the pool. "That was fun." May said with a smile. "Like a roller-coaster."

"That's what I said!" Harry exclaimed in triumph. "Some people complain about the sensation. I always rather enjoyed it."

The gathered people enjoyed dinner, only experiencing one interruption when Wanda arrived with Jarvis, giggling like a school-girl as she led him towards the guest-house, where she was still staying. Wanda also blushed like a school-girl when she realised they had been caught trying to sneak to her place. Tony had objected, even if he was slightly proud of Jarvis, not that he'd ever admit it.

As it was a Friday, and since May had decided to take Harry's offer of employment, straight off the bat, considering it would put her in a place to support Peter if he ever needed it, they took rooms in the guest-house for the evening. Logan had offered to handle May's tour. Ned had to go back home as he hadn't arranged to sleep at Peter's place. Harry took him directly home, to save him some time. He hadn't needed to give him any warnings. Ned knew he was on thin ice. He'd be disappointing Tony by never breaking the contract. Apparently he'd rather hoped Ned would mess things up.

The next day, there was a call from Xavier, who had some interesting news. Apparently Michelle Jones, or MJ, had figured out that Peter was Spider-Man as well, but wasn't planning on telling anyone. Harry just sighed and got the location of the girl's home. He took Peter with him.

Harry went invisible and had Peter handle the conversation. He knocked and when MJ answered the door, Peter asked her if she'd like to go for a walk. MJ agreed easily, much to Peter's shock. She didn't even ask how he knew where she lived. When they were at the local park, Harry cast some privacy spells and revealed himself in his Ghost Armour.

"Peter, why are you hanging out with Ghost?" MJ asked. She didn't think he knew what she suspected.

"I'm sorry, MJ." Peter said. "After Ned blabbed, EPI had to take steps to protect the information. We are here now to see if we can get you to sign a contract to protect my secret and theirs."

"What secret are you talking about?" MJ asked.

"Do you know who Professor Charles Xavier is?" Harry asked.

MJ blanched, "You had someone go through my private thoughts?"

"He's only allowed to look for our peoples' secrets. He is literally incapable of giving people's private secrets away when we ask him to search memories." Harry said. MJ's blank face looked completely unconvinced.

"Trust me," Peter said, "You'll like what comes next."

Harry opened a portal and soon they were all sitting at the bar. After everything was explained, MJ signed the contract happily, especially since the contract protected her from ever being read like she had been. She took the tour along with May, while Peter accompanied them on a flying broom.

The magic they saw on the island, especially the Unicorns and Hippogriffs, soon made believers of the ladies and by the end of the day, Peter and MJ had started what Harry called the mating dance. Harry liked her. Her sardonic wit and understated intelligence made her a fascinating girl to talk to. He thought he might like seeing her at PI at some point. He made a mental note to start his own internship program.

Harry was surprised to note a similar dance occurring between Logan and May. He smirked as he passed a two-way portkey to Logan on the sly, with a wink. Logan didn't acknowledge it one way or the other, but he gave May the portkey by the end of the weekend anyway, telling her that she could bring Peter with her if he needed advice or someone to train with. The Room of Requirement was open to him after all.

MJ had to go back home on Saturday evening, for dinner, but Harry suspected they were still chatting by the way Peter was constantly on his phone after she left. By Sunday they had arranged for May's immediate move from the emergency ward at the local hospital to start her training and working at EPI. It came as a welcome surprise to her that her new job paid much better than she was used to and could now afford to work less hours and spend more time with Peter.

Peter was at least happy to find out that Tony's threat to connect May to his suit's surveillance system, was a joke. It was considered against EPI's policies to do so as it infringed on people's basic human rights. They were only allowed to do so for their agents when permission was given. Most of the agents appreciated the backup, so agreed easily, but Peter, being a teenager, refused outright.

After Peter's situation was handled, things went back to normal. Only one week passed, before Tony's efforts paid off.

Hela had been found.