He found nothing in Britain. The barrier between platforms nine and ten was completely solid. Where the Leaky Caldron would have been was a regular storefront. There was no discernable entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Number 12 Grimmauld Palace was a completely ordinary house that didn't resemble the ancestral Black family home in the slightest.
Hill had ended up being the one to accompany him, and silence said it all. He occasionally caught her casting him concerned glances, which made him bristle. It wasn't surprising, none of this was surprising, but it did add a note of finality to it all. All the places Harry knew and loved- Hogwarts, the Burrow, Diagon Alley, Platform 9¾- they were all gone, more than gone, they had never existed. He was alone, in a way no one else in this world could ever be.
Wandless magic continued to elude him, he seemed to have hit a brick wall with lumos. It was a neat trick, something he could do to easily convince people he was 'enhanced' as they called it, but it wasn't particularly useful- aside from absurdly overpowering it to create a sort of flashbang effect. The lack of progress on that front never received more than a raised eyebrow from Hill. It again made him wonder what exactly they were keeping him around for.
His research had born slightly more fruit. While researching Norse mythology, he'd stumbled across the old Nordic Runes. His only experiences with Ancient Runes had been indirect, either through Hermione as she studied or worked on homework, or when Bill explained curse breaking, so he'd only picked up a few things.
He'd never had realized that not taking Ancient Runes of all thing would come to bite him, but here he was trying to reconstruct the entire course through what little he remembered and what he could glean from the texts.
The furthest he'd gotten was with the dagaz rune, for 'light', which should roughly be the equivalent to lumos. It couldn't be as simple writing the rune down and just watching it light up. Magic has something to do with it, once activated they drew on the ambient magic of the ward, but they needed a burst of magic to prime them. Harry's first (and so far, only) breakthrough when he realized he could channel magic into the rune. He'd first tried it with a rune he'd drawn on a piece of paper- for a moment, light burst from the rune, before it fizzled and popped, leaving nothing but a darkened blotch on the page. He'd tried the same with a rune carved into stone, or engraved onto a sheet of metal, only to receive very similar results.
Bill had said that during warding, it was necessary to enchant the anchor stones before runes could be engraved on them. This must be why- he needed something sturdier than mundane materials to get a rune to last for more than a brief moment. And so, he was at another wall- even if he had a wand, he wouldn't know the spell to use, and nothing he had access to at Shield could withstand the rune's magic.
His research into runes had gotten Hill's attention. Their monthly meetings were generally uneventful, but she had asked some probing questions about the potential of these runes. Harry could easily see the applications, protective runes- say Algiz or Eihwaz- could be used to make magically reinforced armor. Otherwise, their meetings were as much small talk and chatting as they were serious dives into magic and mythology. He had attempted to make up for his lack of progress on all fronts by becoming a font of knowledge on all matters magic and mythic. He'd read dozens of mythologies, but it was the sort of thing that wouldn't come up until it was needed.
Regardless, Maria Hill had slowly become one of the few people he could call a friend. Coulson caught up with him whenever he was in town, but most other Shield agents and personnel had little use for him, and Harry in general had a difficult time connecting with people. Most information about his nature and past were top secret, so he couldn't exactly be honest about much, and there was that ever-present feeling of disconnection… of being utterly, completely alone.
-----
Steve pushed himself, lashing out at the punching bag with more and more ferocity. He had hoped that the exercise would distract him from his thoughts, but instead it just drew him deeper, and the more he pushed, the more he was caught in the past.
Don't do anything stupid until I get back.
I'm with you 'till the end of the line, pall.
You were meant for more than this, you know.
Please don't do this. W-we have time. We can work it out.
I'm going to need a rain check on that dance.
Something snapped, and the bag went flying back. Steve sighed. He couldn't begin to explain the mix of emotions he was feeling. Everything was just… unbelievable.
"Quite a right hook you have there." Steve turned at the interruption. The man was dark-haired, wore glassed over his piercing green eyes, and was, judging by his accent, British. "And quite a left hook for that matter. I can see why Shield is so interested in you."
"And who sent you?" He asked, no way was this just someone who randomly stumbled across him. This agency… Shield, had been treating him like he was made of glass. The rather insulting 1940s façade hadn't been the end of it. He had minders, and resented them.
"Agent Hill." The man shrugged. Steve had met the woman briefly, though he wasn't sure what exactly her position was. "My name's Harry Potter, I study magic and mythology."
Something prickled at his mind "So, you're here about the tesseract." Potter grinned ruefully as if to say, 'you got me'.
-----
Hill had requested the interview- given a perfectly reasonable rational for it. Captain Rogers had been on the Hydra plane, talked to red skull, had seen the Tesseract- it made some sense why he'd be asked to talk to him.
Harry knew better, though. As soon as he read Rogers' file, he knew better. They were being set up. Shield's two displaced assets being put in a room together to play. Steve Rogers had once been plagued by health issues and deemed unfit for military service. The man standing in front of him had been transformed by a serum that had been lost due to sabotage. While the army had clearly been hoping for an army of super soldiers, just one had done the trick. Rogers' journey was honestly fascinating, from his stint being sidelined and selling war bonds, to a daring and completely unsanctioned of one of his friends that struck quite close to home for Harry, to his campaign against Hydra that culminated in him being lost and frozen in ice for the better part of a century.
Ostensibly of interest to Harry was his experience with the Tesseract. The glowing blue cube had been uncovered by Hydra from studying Norse mythology, and had been used to build up an unprecedented arsenal that they'd nearly used to raze every major city on Earth to the ground. The Tesseract wasn't quite like anything he'd heard of in the magical world. A one of a kind- uniquely powerful artifact that could power weapons and create massive amounts of energy. There were many magical artifacts, but they didn't tend to be so… blunt. Wizarding artifacts, while often obtuse or flashy, tended to be designed for a purpose.
"I don't know how much I'll be able to tell you, Mr. Potter." Rogers opened "Howard was always the more involved with the tech side of things."
"I understand. What I'm mostly looking for is the parts that you didn't have the opportunity to talk about at the time."
"The final mission."
Harry grimaced sympathetically. He wouldn't be too happy about recounting walking to his own death.
"So does Shield have a lot of people like you?" Rogers asked, perhaps trying the change the topic. Harry quirked an eyebrow., prompting him to add "Into… magic?"
"I don't think Shield has anyone like me." Harry said coyly. His aloofness and inexplicable standing in the Shield organization had given him an air of mystery. Who was this person who only seemed to report to the top brass, who carted in magic and conspiracy theories? Harry found that he enjoyed cultivating that reputation.
"So how did you end up with Shield?" Harry could see where he was coming from, it wasn't that long ago that he was in exactly his situation. Frankly, he still didn't know just how much he could trust Shield, and he didn't fault Rogers for prying.
"A long story." Harry vacillated on how much to tell him. Even if he wanted a heart to heart with the man, which he didn't, he doubted that a Shield agent spilling his guts would be seen as genuine at this point. "The short version is that around when I came of age I found myself unexpectedly separated from my family and friends. I struggled a bit, developed an interest in the supernatural. I must have been on the right track, because I attracted the attention of an assassin. Thankfully, a Shield agent was also monitoring me at the time, and saved my arse."
"An assassin? Did you ever catch who did it?" Harry shrugged, there'd been no trace of this 'Winter Soldier'. That seemed to be his MO.
"Not a clue. I had my reservations about joining, but they've been good to me so far."
Steve nodded, seeming to appreciate his candor. Harry took the opportunity to steer the discussion back to the events of his final mission- going through the narrative until they got to the Tesseract. "So, what exactly did you see, when the Tesseract vaporized the Red Skull?"
"It went up, like a beam, straight to the sky. Bright, blueish. When it disappeared he was gone."
"Hm." He filed that away.
"What are you thinking?"
"Seems odd, doesn't it? That it'd shoot a directional beam straight up into the sky. Why not just explode outward?" Harry mused. "There's a lot we don't know about the Tesseract." It was a shame it had been lost, or perhaps it was a blessing it couldn't fall into the wrong hands again. "Anything after that?"
"No. Just… the plane going down. And then I woke up, in a new world. With a dozen people like you wanting to talk to me. Blood tests, medical exams, interviews… the whole nine yards."
"I'm sorry. I know, a little, what that's like." Harry gave him a sympathetic look "When Shield picked me up- so many interviews. They would've picked apart every detail of my life if I let them." He shook his head.
"Unfortunately, they already know every detail of my life." Steve said "I can't help but feel smothered here."
Something in the frankness of his tone triggered a spike of sympathy in Harry. He could sympathize with feeling smothered- although in a different way to Steve. Harry wasn't built to just read and study, he wanted to get out and do something but without magic there was little he could do.
He wanted to tell the man that it got better. That one day he'd feel like he'd belong, and that he'd build a new life here. But they would just be platitudes, he was never particularly good at comforting people.
"Well, I can pass that along, but don't expect them to listen to me." Harry shrugged "Sorry mate." Yeah, he never was the best at comforting people.
-----
Harry awoke to the incessant ringing of his phone. It was 1:00 AM.
His irritation diminished when he realized it was Maria Hill calling. It had to be for something important.
Not fifteen minutes later, she showed up at his front door. He'd had time to wake himself and pull himself into his Shield uniform, it was well fitting, all black, and most importantly to Harry- practical.
He followed her without question. He was an employee at Shield, and he'd had it pretty easy up to this point, pulling in a late night once in a blue moon wasn't a problem.
It was only until he'd boarded the quinjet with her and she began to debrief him that he realized the enormity of the situation. An entire Shield base had been destroyed- by Loki, who had wielded a seemingly magical staff, made off with a powerful artifact, and was still at large. Harry recognized why he might be useful.
He wondered if they wanted him for more than his knowledge of Norse Mythology. If he were being honest with himself, he hoped so. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life as an academic. That may have been Hermione's dream, but there was a part of him that itched to get back into action.
Not that he was much use in his current condition.
It was still dark when he and Hill arrived at the Helicarrier. The idea of a flying aircraft carrier seemed equal parts ridiculous and awesome, so it was a shame he didn't get to properly see it.
"The others will be here much later. You should rest now." Hill advised him.
"Others?" Harry asked. Hill waved her hand flippantly.
"Fury's assembling a team. I'll send you the packet." Something about that tickled at Harry's brain. It seemed an awful lot like he was meant to be a part of this team.
Harry tried to take Hill up on her offer of rest, but a combination of excitement and apprehension made it hard to come by. He'd never been particularly good at sitting back and being patient, always having that urge to jump straight into the action. Not being the prophesized hero of this world hadn't dulled that instinct in the slightest.
Eventually, he gave his attempt at resting up as a bad job and got himself set up in a room that Hill had shown him- part conference room, part lab. He pulled up the packet Hill had sent him- information on other 'individuals of interest'. To his surprise, he had his own file, including blurry footage of the mugging incident that had first got him on Shield's radar, and a clip of him demonstrating lumos during one of his initial interviews. No details of his origins or life before were included in the file, and for once Sheild's secrecy suited Harry just fine.
Tony Stark, he was familiar with- who wasn't? While he found the man's persona amusing, he doubted he'd be pleasant to actually be around. A rich playboy, arrogant, no respect for authority, refused to take anything seriously… he was everything Snape had accused Harry of being. Which was another way of saying Stark was just like his father.
Bruce Banner, a scientist who had gotten on the bad end of one of his own experiments, and now had a habit of turning into a destructive creature. It wasn't entirely dissimilar to the werewolves of his world- and he wondered if a fully equipped potions master could have brewed up a potion to help him. He was ostensibly being taken on to tract the Tesseract, just as Harry was supposedly being taken on for his knowledge of the supernatural. Harry snorted, yeah, right.
Then there was Steve Rogers, who he had met, albeit briefly. Out of all of them, Rogers reminded Harry most of himself. He had thought that no one could possibly understand Harry's position- of being a stranger in a world so familiar yet so different from his own, cut off from everyone he had cared about. They'd even gotten into this position in similar ways, they had saved their world, but didn't get to enjoy the future they'd helped to create. Yet Harry was hesitant to reach out to the man, though he couldn't for the life of him describe why.
Finally, there was Loki himself. Harry was satisfied to see that the file on him was his own work. All of it except the beginning, which showed Loki's assault on the Shield base. Harry went over the footage over and over again- his entrance, how he used the staff- both as a sort of beam weapon and also to take control of the minds of his enemies. It made his hair stand on end- how similar was that to the imperious curse?
Moreover, what exactly was that staff? Could anyone use it as Loki had, or did it channel his Asgardian magic like a wand? Loki's magic was supposedly based around illusion and deceit, not blasting people off their feet, so he suspected it was the former. But the door was left open in Harry's mind, could that staff allow him to do magic?
He couldn't lose sight of the larger issue- Loki had the Tesseract. Harry had learned of it after he had joined Shield, but only of how Hydra and possessed it and used it to create its weapons. He had thought it had been lost, but no, Shield had it and was using it. They never bothered to let their so-called expert on magic take a look. The deception rankled. Hill had even been at the facility herself, so it wasn't just the bureaucracy, she'd lied to him personally.
The implications of Loki possessing such a powerful artifact weren't lost on him. The tesseract could be used as a power source, it could be used, as Hydra had done, as a weapon, but it could also apparently be used as a portal. Loki was working for someone- and he had a feeling he didn't want them coming to Earth.
He'd been well into organizing the information and his thoughts on the available screens when he was interrupted. He turned around and momentarily forgot himself. "Nat." He whispered. She looked much like as he'd known her, except she was now in a Shield uniform rather than civilian clothes. Frankly, it suited her just fine.
A moment later, he realized that she hadn't been alone. Both Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner were accompanying her. Banner raising an eyebrow and queried "Nat? I take it there's some history?"
Way to be professional, Potter.
"Agent Romanoff saved my life once. Sort of introduced me to Shield." He said, trying to smooth over the situation. He offered his hand to Banner, who took it. "Harry Potter."
"Bruce Banner. So, you're supposed to be an expert on magic?"
Wordlessly, Harry held out his palm and murmured "Lumos." Almost inaudibly. Just don't ask me to do any more than that.
Banner, ever the scientist, had to ask "Not to be rude, but…"
"Is it really magic?" Harry finished for him. He'd gotten that question several times before. He shrugged "It's what I've always known it as. Perhaps you scientists could come up with some long explanation, but I think magic is a perfectly good description of my abilities."
"Considering we're hunting down the Norse god of mischief, I don't think we should be too picky about our terminology here." Natasha added, and Steve nodded fair point.
"Nice to see you again, Harry." Steve said. "How's life treating you?"
"Well, my days are getting more exciting. So that's nice." Harry grinned. "What about you?"
Steve shrugged "Well, I certainly can't say my life is dull. So, what can you tell us?" He pivoted.
Harry launched into his thoughts, sans the possibility of him being able to use the staff, concluding with his speculation about Loki's motivations and behavior "We obviously can't take the legends as gospel, but we should be expecting for him to use deceit and trickery as much or more than brute force. Other than that-" He shrugged "It'd be real nice if we got some insider information on him, but Asgard isn't exactly answering my calls."
----
He'd felt like he'd been building a rapport with the Steve and Bruce, but there remained an unspoken tension with Natasha. Time had given him some perspective, and he really just wanted to talk to her, to clear the air and tie up those dangling loose ends that they'd left unresolved. Unfortunately, privacy was not a possibility, and soon enough Natasha was off with Rogers to apprehend Loki.
He and Bruce were more or less left to their own devices as attention was focused on the mission. It was easy enough to get along with him. Bruce certainly didn't seek out conflict. "So, Shield has you on in a support role?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I figure you and I are in the same boat here." He agreed. "I have no intention of doing any of… that." He waved his hand in the general directed that Natasha and Steve had left.
Harry nodded, already figuring that Shield, or at least Fury, was planning on using him for more than just tracking the Tesseract. "Do you really think so?"
"You think they're going to try to… force me to get involved." He shook his head "That'd be an incredibly bad idea."
"I wouldn't say force. But I'm sure they'd be happy if you decided to go into the field." He wouldn't put it past Fury to manipulate and engineer a situation in which Bruce would feel he had to transform.
"And you think it's the same with you." He deduced "Doesn't that bother you?"
"No." He grinned. It had taken him a while to figure out Fury's game, but it'd finally crystalized for him with this mission. Shield didn't want him as lab rat, or some researcher, they wanted a wizard. The notion gave Harry a bit of a thrill, not unlike how he felt riding a broom. "If anything, I'm looking forward to it."