Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Marvel or Harry Potter characters. I do not gain anything from the following story except quenching my own fanboy thirst.

I am sorry for the delay in publishing of the second chapter. I didn't exactly do what I said at the end of the first chapter but I figured I should wait before introducing Hawkeye and his son into the story. They'll come eventually but meanwhile, we take a peek at the Avengers building this time. I appreciate all the reviews I got last time and I look forward to more. So enjoy and don't forget to review. J

Chapter 2:

"Give it to me Auggie!" The nine year old almost pleaded although her voice had the tinge of anger in it as she chased her sister. "Auggie, I said give it to me now or you'll be in big trouble." Alice tried to take out the tone which when came from her mother almost always managed to scare Augusta but the six year old was smarter than that. "Finders keepers, losers weepers." She said as she quickened her pace and laughed running into the guest bedroom.

The guest bedroom was usually empty. It was the room where they let Neville's grandmother or Hannah's parents stay whenever they visited Hogsmeade. The girls sometimes played there and some nights Neville used it as a study. However, this morning it was not empty.

Augusta turned around to look at her annoyed sister and stuck out her tongue. She then giggled and turned around but tripped and fell down. The doll she was holding flew out of her hand and fell a few feet away. Alice ran to pick up the doll first. Of course, her dad would have preferred her to help her little sister first but Alice was currently angry at her for taking her doll.

"This is mine. I asked daddy to buy it for me the last time we went to Diagon Alley." Alice snapped at her sister who was already down on the ground, fallen on her chest. Augusta began to tear up a little and held out her little hand to her sister. "I fell down Allie. Help me up please?" She said in the sweet, innocent angelic voice of hers.

"No!" Alice said, her face a dark red with anger.

"But I just wanted you to share it with me." Augusta said sobbing once. Alice rolled her eyes and frowning, walked out of the room.

Bruce Banner was watching the exchange sitting on the bed in the corner. The girls had apparently not noticed him since it was usually empty. As the older girl left, Bruce stood up and walked to Augusta. He picked up the little girl and helped her sit up. "Hey." He smiled at her and dusted some dirt from her clothes. "What happened?" He asked smiling at the little one.

"I fell down and Allie was mean to me." She said sniffling and looked down. "I'm sorry Augusta." Bruce said sitting down on the floor too beside her and gently patted her shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

The brown haired girl shrugged a little wiping her nose. "I don't know." She muttered.

"Are you upset that your sister wouldn't share her doll with you?"

She nodded a little and looked down fiddling with the hem of her dress.

"Did you try asking her nicely?" Bruce said and Augusta thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Well maybe if you had done that first, she would have given you the doll right?" He asked smiling at the little girl who looked up into his eyes and shrugged again. "Try it out then. Go apologize to her first for taking the doll without asking her and then ask her nicely if you can play with it."

As Augusta mulled over his suggestion, they heard someone walk into the bedroom and both of them turned their attention towards the door.

"Good morning Dr. Banner." Hannah said as she stepped in to see him sitting on the floor with Augusta beside him. "Hey Hannah." Bruce said with a smile.

"Oh no! Did she wake you up?" Hannah said frowning as she walked to Augusta.

"No no… I was up." Bruce said and smiled at her. "Augusta had a little tussle with her sister and I was telling her how to fix it." He smiled at the little girl and helped her stand up. "Thank you Dr. Banner." She said before running away again to find her sister.

Bruce smiled as he watched her and stood up. "Oh you didn't have to bring me breakfast in bed, Mrs. Longbottom." He said looking at the tray with a teakettle and a cup at his bedside.

"Oh that's just tea. Breakfast is of course downstairs." Hannah said smiling at him. "If you want it brought upstairs, I can…" She began but was cut off by Bruce. "Oh, no… I'll be down in a few minutes."

A couple of hours later, after having promised Hannah that he wouldn't wander off too far, Bruce was out looking around the various magical stores of Hogsmeade. Although he was fascinated by all of it, he wasn't exactly surprised that a magical community had existed all this while without anyone else knowing. He wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D. had any idea of these wizards and witches walking right amongst them.

"Are you sure your cousins are the people to tell it to?" Lorcan Scammander asked as he strode, trying to keep pace with an excited James Potter. James was always seeking out adventure and Lorcan, although a little scared tried to go along with him. After all, James was his best friend.

"Yes." James merely said as they stepped outside the school gates and headed to the village. "Lorc, I saw the bloke. He spoke with an American accent and Hagrid said he was something else when they found him."

"So maybe he transformed himself. What's the big deal?" Lorcan asked confused.

"The big deal is that he's a muggle Lorc!" James repeated again. For some reason, Lorcan simply refused to believe this. He however kept following his friend.

James and Lorcan walked out into the village and they were strutting through the streets looking for Fred and Roxanne, James' cousins. Suddenly as they walked past the door of a store, a figure came out at the same time and the boys bumped into him and the three of them fell on the floor.

Lorcan gasped as some sweets fell out of a paper bag that Bruce had in his bag. "I'm so sorry sir. That was our fault." He said as he began collecting the sweets and putting them back in the bag. James helped him too and as he put the last candy in the bag looked at the man as he said "Why do you have so much candy anyway?" and stopped as he looked at the man's face.

Bruce smiled at the boys and helped them up. "Oh it's for my friends' daughters." He said and looked at the pair of them. "And I am sorry too. I should have looked where I was going. Good day." He said and walked on.

As the grown man walked away, James nudged Lorcan who was still dusting himself. "That's the man I told you about. He's the muggle." Lorcan stopped dusting himself and looked up at the man walking away.

"What do you want to do?" He asked after a while and James shrugged. "Follow him, I guess."

Lorcan raised his brow and chuckled. "And then what? Is there a point?"

James nodded. "Don't you want to know how a muggle got into the Forbidden forest?"

"That's the kind of stuff McGonagall should be worried about and she probably is taking care of it." Lorcan said as he followed James, who was already following Bruce. "This is a bad idea." He whispered as they turned a deserted street. Suddenly, Lorcan grabbed James' arm and pulled him back. He put his hand into James' jacket and pulled out the invisibility cloak pulling it over them.

"What the…" James started but his mouth was covered by Lorcan's hand in an instant and he pointed out to a couple of hooded figures at a distance. James looked at them and slowly moved away Lorcan's hand. "Who are they?" He whispered.

The hooded figures were watching Bruce. They were crouched behind a tree and to any onlooker who wasn't thorough, they would be a couple of the tree's roots. Suddenly James was thankful that Lorcan had the key Hufflepuff quality- great finding.

"We should warn him." Lorcan whispered to James, who shook his head. "If we walk through the snow, they'll see our footprints." He whispered back. "Let's see what their move is."

Hogsmeade wasn't a particularly crowded village and this street, even more so. The far end stores of the street were almost empty. If the hooded men wanted to do something to Bruce, now would be the opportunity. One of them pulled out a wand and pointed it straight at him. James and Lorcan saw this and pulled out their own wands too. They didn't know many spells but they wouldn't hesitate to cause a distraction so they could get Bruce under the cloak too. As the boys raised their wands to cast a spell, the second hooded figure smacked the first one on his head. James and Lorcan lowered their wands raising their brows and watched curiously as the two seemed to have some sort of an argument and then they were gone. They disapparated.

"Next Friday then?" Colonel James Rhodes said as he leaned back against another chair and looked at the woman in front of him. She turned a second to glare at him and turned back to the agent in the bed. "No." She said in the same monotonous fashion.

"Oh come on, Helen. Would it kill you to go out with me?" Rhodey said walking up to Helen Cho.

"This is why I hate to come down here." Helen said as she covered her mouth with the surgical mask. "It's a fractured limb. Why do you need that?" James said with a chuckle.

Just then the glass doors of the room opened and a blonde, muscular figure walked in. The Upstate New York Avengers facility was functioning as usual. The medical wing was busier than usual owing to the presence of Helen Cho who had come after a long time.

"Dr. Cho." Steve Rogers said politely as he entered.

"Captain." She acknowledged with a small nod and James stood up straight.

"What's Rhodes doing here? Pestering you for another date?" He said with a grin and looked at James. Helen glared at him too and turned to Steve. "Its not a problem Captain. I have worked under harder circumstances." She said and looked at the computer screen.

"Rhodes, training." Steve said looking at James. He raised his brow and shrugged. "I am a Colonel. Just because I am an Avenger now doesn't mean I need training." He said.

Steve frowned for a second. "You can never be too prepared Rhodes." He said and James rolled his eyes. "Besides, this is not for you or me. It's for Wanda." He said and both Helen and James' eyes lit up at this.

"She finally agreed to do it?" Helen asked taking down her surgical mask. Steve nodded a little. "How has she been?"

"She was a wreck until last week." James sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Pietro's death didn't come easy on her. She didn't speak to anyone, she merely ate…" He sighed again and looked at Steve. "She did say she was ready right?"

Steve nodded a little. "We're using the simulator. It'll be solo training for her today but I want the whole team to be there and watch her. We're going to be a team so we need to know what the other members can and cannot do." He said and turned to Helen. "You are welcome to come watch if you want."

Helen smiled at Steve. "Thank you Captain, but I need to be back in Seoul by tonight so I probably will leave as soon as I can." She said. Steve smiled back and nodded. "Good. I'll see you later then." He said and walked out.

James smiled at her flirtatiously. "So next time then." He said before walking out following Steve.

"Why do you do that?" Steve asked as James caught up.

"Do what?" James said shrugging.

"You're Colonel James Rhodes, commanding and authoritative always but when you're around her, you turn into this desperate college guy trying to get a date…" He sighed. "You turn into Tony when you're around her."

"No I don't. I am just showing interest in her and trying to woo her." James said shaking his head.

"If I didn't know better, I would say she finds it desperate."

"This from the man who hasn't had a date in 70 years?" James smirked and Steve fell silent at that. They quietly walked on till they reached the simulated training room. Steve looked to the right and saw Vision and Sam sitting in chairs. He motioned James to join them. "Isn't she here yet?" He asked.

"Natasha's gone to fetch her." Sam replied as James sat down near him. "So how goes the recruitment?" James asked.

"Not bad." He shrugged. "Cap asked me to come in today to watch Maximoff train so nothing today." He finished his sentence as Natasha Romanoff walked in with Wanda Maximoff.

"Are you ready?" Steve asked Wanda as she came in and she looked at him and nodded a little. "Good." Steve said and motioned Natasha to go sit down with the other three. He then turned to her. "Okay Wanda. Our research division looked up your power and they got no idea how they work. The primary analysis is that they coordinate with your neural system." He said and walked to the chair and switched on the simulator. "Now all the enemies you see are holographic projections so you're not really hurting anyone. Just show us what you can do and how you do it so we know how to work around you." He said and sat down as a glass wall separated Wanda from the other five.

The projection turned on the battle of New York was projected on the room. The Chitauri were pouring in from the portal on top and Wanda looked around. She took a second to understand what was going on and she inhaled deeply. She pulled back and started shooting at Chitauri soldiers with her red magic, breaking some in two, and puncturing the chest of others. It went on for a while as the other five watched her, studying her.

Wanda let out a deep breath as the projection was turned off. The glass wall was taken off and her team walked towards her, smiling with approving expressions. She smiled for a moment before her expression turned back into one of sadness. "I need some time alone." She said and Steve placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sure. Take the rest of the day off. That was some good progress you showed there." He said with a smile and as Wanda exited, he signaled Vision to take care of her. He nodded and followed her.

"That wasn't half bad." Natasha commented as she watched Wanda and Vision leave.

"I know. In fact, she's not the team member I am most concerned about anymore." Steve said and turned to Natasha. She looked at him for a second and rolled her eyes as she turned away and started walking out. "Please don't tell me this is about Bruce again." She said as Steve followed her.

"Why not?" He shrugged. "It's obvious that you miss him and you wonder why he hasn't tried to contact us yet. You just are doing a great job covering it up." Steve said walking along with her.

"Don't you wonder why he hasn't contacted us?" Natasha asked looking at him.

"Of course I do. He's our team member."

"So do I. What makes you think I am extra-concerned?" She said stopping and looked at him.

Steve shrugged slightly. "I am sorry. If you need to talk about it…"

Natasha smiled and ruffled Steve's hair before she turned around and walked away.

Bruce sat in front of the fireplace staring into the burning coal. He held a bottle of half empty beer in his hand and the droplets forming on its surface were drying up fast owing to the heat of the fire. Just then, he heard the excited sounds of the girls at their father's arrival.

Neville didn't always come back after work. He mostly slept at the castle and spent only the weekends with Hannah, Alice and Augusta. Seeing him back at the inn on a weekday was a celebration for the girls.

"Daddy, read us a bedtime story." Augusta said clinging to his leg and looking up at him.

"Hush dear. Daddy hasn't had his dinner yet." Hannah said trying to pull her away.

"Oh no. I had it already." Neville said with an apologetic grin. "I am sorry dear. I figured you weren't expecting me so I ate at the castle before coming home." He shrugged a little.

"Then read us the story." Alice said getting excited and Neville laughed. He picked up Augusta and let Alice grab his finger as he walked to the girls' bedroom with them.

About half an hour later, Neville yawned and walked out. He walked to the fireplace and poked it to make it hotter. He sat down beside Bruce and smiled at him as he grabbed another beer and sipped it.

"Your family is absolutely lovely." Bruce said to Neville, smiling a little.

"Thanks a lot Dr. Banner." He said smiling back at him wider. "They're all I have." He shrugged. "I just try to make my three girls happy." Neville said and turned to Hannah, grinning at her. Hannah grinned back and put her arms around his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night honey." She said before walking to their bedroom.

Bruce smiled and watched Hannah as she walked away and he took another sip. "So what's the story with you two?" He asked Neville. "How did you two meet?"

"We were the same year in school." Neville said. "But we never really talked to each other at school. A few years after school, we met back here when we were both considered for the position I am working in now." He smiled to himself. "It was a heavy competition. Then I learned that her father owns this inn and I suggested her to run the inn and I'll take the job. She refused of course." He chuckled and took another sip of the beer. "Then, I asked her what she wanted to step aside and let me have the job and she jokingly said a date." He smiled at Bruce.

Bruce laughed a little and shook his head as he took another sip. "So then once you started dating, she gave up?" He asked looking at Neville curiously.

"Oh no." Neville shook his head. "We didn't start dating at that. We both kept preparing and working hard for the position and finally I got it. I felt sorry for her at first but then I asked her out. But I didn't do it out of pity." He smiled. "That's when I realized I actually liked her."

Bruce nodded, amused as he listened. Neville continued. "Of course she refused at first because she thought I was doing it out of pity but then I convinced her…" He sighed. "And here we are." He shrugged and took another sip of his beer. They kept silent for a while before Neville spoke again, "What about you Doctor?" He asked with a smile. "Is there someone?"

Bruce let out a sigh before nodding slightly. "Sort of…" He said and looked at Neville. "We separated." He said after thinking for a while.

"You broke up?"

Bruce looked into the fire, sighing. The red areas of the coal reminded him of her red hair and he opened his mouth to reply before they heard a bang and people screaming. Both Neville and Bruce turned to the window and they ran towards it to look out.

Neville's eyes widened with horror at the sight that he saw. Flashes of light indicating various curses and hexes were coming from the windows of other houses and stores. Men and women wearing mask and hats were coming out of the houses with bags of money on their shoulder.

"Seems like some sort of armed robbery." Bruce commented but Neville frowned. "We haven't had one of these in years." Just then a bang was heard from the girls' bedroom and screams of Alice and Augusta could be heard to the living room.

"Allie! Auggie!" Neville yelled as he bolted for the room but the door was thrown open before he could reach it. A man similar to the robbers on the street appeared. He was wearing a black mask and a hat in such a way that no feature of his was recognizable. He held a struggling Augusta in his hand and pressed his wand to her jaw. Alice followed him and started beating up his thighs with her little fists screaming and yelling "Let go of my sister!" repeatedly as she did so.

If Neville wasn't panicking, he would be proud of his older daughter for not running away to safety at the first chance she got and sticking and fighting for her sister. Unfortunately, the nine year old's fists couldn't do much damage to the six foot tall, fat man who had a wand pressed to the jaw of his six year old. "Empty your safe, all your cash and put it in a corner…" The man said in a gruff voice.

"Alright! Just don't hurt my daughter." Neville said raising his hands slightly. "We'll give you what you want. Please… Allie! Get back here." He said to his older daughter. Hannah who had just come down the stairs gasped seeing the scene and repeated the same to the nine year old. Alice however kept punching him and the fat man groaned. "Get away!" He yelled and pushed Alice away with his foot. She fell back and hit her head on the ground and groaned.

"Allie!" Neville yelled and ran to her. The man got in front of him and pressed the wand harder into Augusta's jaw. "Money. Now." He repeated. Neville frowned deeply and his eyes turned blood red with anger. With a quick movement and disregarding any risk, he gave a sharp kick on the masked intruder's elbow. The sudden movement made his wand slip away from the little girl's jaw and seeing his chance, Neville pounced on him. Neville heaved with all his might to unwrap his arm from around Augusta's waist and as soon as Augusta was free, she ran to Alice to help up her sister. Neville rolled around on the floor with the man for a while and rolled a few metres away. Bruce and a Hannah who was staring in horror ran towards the girls to pull them away to safety.

Neville forced the hands of the man to the sides and with great difficulty and attempted to pin them on the floor. The struggle continued for a few moments before the man let out a curse from his wand. The purple colored hex flew off the tip of his wand and went straight for the point where Hannah and Bruce were trying to revive Alice. Bruce acted on impulse and quickly jumped in front of them and took the spell on his chest.

At the events that followed, the man on the floor and Neville stopped their struggle and turned to look at Bruce, their eyes widening in horror at what they saw. Hannah grabbed the girls and walked to a corner, her eyes just as wide as Neville's as the sound of ripping fabric filled her ears. Soon, the low hanging chandelier crashed and fell on the ground as the monster stared around at everyone.

(To be continued in Chapter 3, which hopefully I'll publish sooner than I did this. Once again, thank you for reading and please review.)