Enjoy!

"All of these nights out are killing me," Tony said, cracking his neck and stretching his shoulders as he walked into the Avengers tower. "And any possible inventions or ideas that normally come to me during these late hours. How is a person supposed to work like this?"

"I would have thought that you would have been brimming with ideas after the conversation you had with Stensky." Steve replied.

"Oh, I have ideas but nothing that I can actually work on until Natalya gets her eight hours of sleep and time to set up a workspace for me in her office. If I'm going to develop technology that works with or runs off of magic, I need to do it in a space where any test runs won't destroy the rest of my R and D."

"Natalya?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

"Don't give me that disapproving look. We didn't trade phone numbers or anything, mostly because she doesn't have a phone. I just decided to play friendly, since we are collaborative partners until we find out what psychopath is killing these families while they sleep and why, though Natalya hinted that we may have to ask Potter about the why part."

"Why would he know and not her?" Steve asked.

"From what I could gather, it has something to do with that green smoke skull that we've been finding above the houses. Apparently it means something."

"Of course it means something," Natasha grumbled. "If it didn't mean anything, it wouldn't be there."

Sensing the pending argument, Steve broke in before it could start. "Let's not start something this early in the morning. Let's just go to bed and regroup once we've all had some rest."

Natasha and Tony glared at each other before Tony sighed and stretched again.

"Whatever," he said. "I'll see you at lunch. Anyone up for shawarma?"

Steve sighed when he saw the dark-haired man head down the hallway, bypassing his room and heading straight for the elevator that lead to his lab. "So much for sleeping," he muttered before heading for his own bedroom.

Natasha and Clint glanced around the room and saw Thor claim the couch and turn on the television.

"Busy night," Natasha said quietly as she beckoned her friend over to the kitchen. "How long have you known about magic?"

"About a week," Clint replied."Potter and his colleague Lupin showed up the morning after Nathaniel was born to break the news that he had magic. Apparently it runs in Laura's extended family."

"Lupin? Not...Natalya?" Natasha grimaced as she said the name.

"I met Stensky for the first time when everyone else did," Clint replied. "No, Lupin is another magic user from the U.K."

"Why send two? I get Potter since he had another reason for coming here but why this Lupin?"

"Nathaniel changed genders while growing inside Laura," Clint said. "When he was born, his skin was black but it turned to white on the drive home. He's special, even among wizards and witches. With a thought, he can change everything about him except for his age-he can even change genders and body shape. He's something called a metamorphmagus and there's only a few in the world. Lupin is one as well, which is why he was sent."

"He can change everything? Not just hair or eye color?"

"Everything except for age," Clint repeated.

Natasha sighed. "That's quite the skill set. I know of a large number of people who would do or give anything to be able to have that skill set."

"I can as well," Clint replied flatly. "And I don't want my son around those people."

"What if he decides he wants to become like them?" Natasha asked quietly. "What if he wants to willingly use his skills for that line of work?"

Clint frowned and refused to answer.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes before Natasha sighed. "We know how SHIELD works," she said. "We won't them take advantage of Nathaniel's abilities without his consent. If he wants this life, we'll give him all the tools he needs to succeed and we won't let anyone attempt to brainwash him into becoming a loyal soldier. Clint, I promise you that."

After a few seconds, Clint sighed. "Thanks," he said. "Hopefully it doesn't have to come to that though. Not after all I did to keep my family separate from this." Clint waved his hand around the tower, which screamed Avengers from the framed pictures on the walls, the news playing on the television, and the Asgardian sleeping on the couch.

"And you've done better than I ever thought you would be able to," Natasha said. "You kept them safe, even when Hydra was inside of SHIELD and had every opportunity to try and find something that would hurt you. You might not think you can do the same in regards to protecting your family from any threat posed by witches and wizards but I know you can."

Clint gave his friend a tight-lipped smile. "Thanks Nat," he said before covering his mouth as a yawn overtook him. "I'm going to go get some sleep."

"Don't forget to call Laura," Natasha called after him as Clint began to walk away. Her acknowledgment came from Clint reaching into his pocket and pulling out a phone.

The red-haired woman rolled her shoulders, grimacing when the movement caused some joints to crack. After getting a glass of water, she was nearly ready to find her own room and get some sleep, but before she could start the brief journey, the lights in the entire building flicked off and back on.

The hairs on the back of her neck raised and Natasha's hand drifted down towards the gun on her hip. "Stark?" she called, eyes beginning to scan the area.

Inside his lab, Tony cursed as the brief power outage caused entire systems to restart throughout the Avengers tower. "Jarvis?" he called.

"Sir, our current location just appeared on the tracking system you set up last night."

"And what's on the security cameras?" Tony asked. "Who came into sight of any of the cameras before the power cut out."

"It appears to be a group of SHIELD agents at multiple entrances to the building."

Tony blew out the air he had been holding in. "That's new," he muttered. "And where are they now, Jarvis?"

"I'm not sure, sir. Something seems to be interfering with the systems throughout the building."

Tony cursed as the distinct sound of gunshots came from one of the upper floors. "Let the others know and try to convince them to leave at least one alive."

"Sir?"

"I want to know why SHIELD is attacking us when they should be worry about other things," Tony answered as his suit formed around him.

Harry Potter sat up with a jolt as the alarm attached to his floo went off, alerting him that someone was attempting to fire call. He rubbed a hand over his eyes before grabbing his glasses and stumbling to the fireplace.

"What's going on?" he asked as Natalya Stensky's face appeared in the flames.

"There's been some developments in the case," she said, speaking rapidly. "A SHIELD agent's body turned up in the Lebanon morgue, alongside of the newest family of victims. I contacted Fury about the matter and he informed me that that same agent had checked in with him, thirty minutes prior."

"That's impossible," Harry protested.

"Exactly what I said. Thankfully, Fury's a smart man-oh, don't give me that look, Potter. It's true, no matter what else you think of him. Anyways, he thought the agent was acting oddly and started tracking him. Now a whole team of SHIELD agents has gone rogue and they were last seen in the vicinity of the Avengers Tower."

"That can't be a coincidence," Harry muttered. "So what do you want me to do? I'm pretty sure if anything happens, the Avengers can handle themselves."

"Fury was of the opinion that some of the agents on the rogue team weren't the type to go rogue. I want you to find the agents and make sure that no outside influences are being used."

"Like the Imperius curse," Harry said with a sigh.

"Like the Imperius curse," Natalya replied. "Get to the tower as soon as you can. I'll meet you there." The witch pulled her head out of the flames and Harry sighed and rubbed the scar on his forehead.

"What does a person have to do to get some sleep around here?" he muttered as he summoned the clothes he had just discarded a couple of hours ago. After a second thought, he flicked his wand and summoned a set of battle robes to his hand as well. Hopefully he didn't need them but it was best to always be prepared; too many missions had gone wrong due to Aurors not being prepared.

With a sigh, Harry glanced at the picture of the Avengers tower from the files he had received from Stark, taking note of the surrounding areas, before apparating away from his apartment.

Straight into a firefight.

Harry ducked as a jet of light shot over his and decimated the set of windows behind him. A quick Accio to summon a discarded sheet of metal protected him from the bullets that came in his direction.

"It's Potter!" he called out when he spotted the red-haired shooter. "I came to help."

"Then you're late," Natasha remarked as she holstered the weapon. "We've taken care of things on this floor already."

"And on the others?"

The pair listened for a few heartbeats, taking in the sound of shattering glass and collapsing metal.

"I think Stark and Thor have things well in hand," Natasha stated.

"Is there a chance of any of your opponents being left alive?" Harry asked. "Fury contacted Stensky and she sent me to check the rogue agents over."

"For what? Some of your magic stuff, or whatever you call it?"

Harry grimaced. "Yes," he admitted. "Particularly a spell called the Imperius Curse. Wizards and witches use it to control others and do their bidding."

Green eyes narrowed. "Control others? To what extent?"

"As far as you can think of," Harry said. "To commit murder, to betray family and friends, even to kill oneself."

"Wonderful," Natasha muttered as the floor beneath the pair shook. "There's no survivors in this room, but Tony said to try and keep at least one alive, so you might be lucky today. Clint, what's your status?"

"No survivors among the handful that were still trying to enter the building from outside," the archer stated as he stepped over the broken glass that was once a door. "It's up to Tony, Steve, and Thor if we want any questions answered. A spell that can be used to control other people?"

His question was directed at Harry, who nodded in confirmation. "It's a nasty one and using it carries a mandatory prison sentence in the United Kingdom. Some people can throw it off but they have to be incredibly strong-willed to do so."

Natasha and Clint traded looks before Clint grimaced and wiped his hands off on the suit he had yet to change out of. "You left that out of your explanations about what magic is capable of," the man said.

"You'll find that there's a lot of things I left out," Harry said flatly. "It would be impossible to cover everything that magic is capable of and I don't see you going around and explaining everything that the human body is capable of to random people on the street."

Natasha snorted in amusement, drawing two glares in her direction.

"And now that everything is apparently out in the open and everyone seems to know about magic, I'll tell you the cause of death regarding the families for the past five nights. Just so no one can claim that I'm holding back information unnecessarily. It's called the Killing Curse."

Natasha snorted again. "You couldn't have called it something less obvious?" she asked.

"I didn't come up with the name," Harry grumbled. "It's another curse that carries a mandatory prison sentence for using it. While it's possible to use other curses and spells for killing, the Killing Curse is the only one that will leave behind a body without a mark, both inside and out. It was meant to be a way to kill without leaving behind a trace as to what caused the death but once you know what to look for, it's really quite obvious."

"So what's the point of killing all of those families? What's the point of killing everyone, even the family pet?"

Harry shrugged. "At this point, it's anyone's guess. I really can't tell you the reason why, but in my experience, the few wizards and witches that still know how to cast the Dark Mark are either not all there or they like killing for the sake of killing."

"The Dark Mark? That...smoke signal above the houses?"

"That's one way to describe it."

The floor shook beneath their feet one final time before loud voices were heard.

"Should we go down and see if they managed to leave one person alive?" Clint asked reluctantly.

"Might as well," Harry said with a small sigh. "The sooner we get answers, the sooner I can try and catch up on some sleep. I can only use Stay Alert potions for so long." At Natasha's look, Harry held up his hands in frustration. "Once again, I don't come up with the names!"

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