A/N Hi guys! Sorry it's been a longer wait than usual - I don't really know what happened there! Anyway, let's get on with it but don't miss the important AN at the bottom.

Some instinct made Steve turn to his left and he twisted just in time to witness a limp Hermione be thrown over the edge of the city, a fall of thousands of feet to the earth below, and he felt like his heart disappeared with her.

"Thor!" Steve yelled panic-stricken, getting as close to the edge of the city as he dared. "Hermione's free-falling!"

"In more ways than one," Ultron mocked, appearing suddenly before him. He propelled Steve backwards so that he collided forcefully with an already battered car and then zoomed off. As he struggled to remove himself from the metalwork, a blur passed over him and he prayed that Thor wouldn't be too late. Ultron had disappeared again so Steve ran back to the edge, taking out a couple of robots as he went.

"I've got her," Thor's voice called and Steve's knees nearly buckled in relief. "…sort of," Thor's voice sounded strained. "She is unconscious but her magic keeps attacking me."

"Harry, did you copy that?" Steve asked, flinging his shield so that it ruptured the head off an Ultron-bot.

"I did," he replied, "I'm on my way."

Steve stayed alert but watched for a sign of Thor and Hermione. They eventually came into view and he could understand why it was taking so long; every few seconds there was a blast of Hermione's magic and Thor would lose his grip on her as it propelled him away, then he would have to swoop down and catch her again. Harry appeared next to Steve and watched with a frown.

"What happened?" he asked.

"A run-in with Ultron, I think," Steve answered. "He said she was free-falling in more ways than one so I guess her mind finally caught up with everything that's happened."

Thor reached the bridge with a final burst of flight but Hermione's unintentional magic blasted them all off their feet.

"Be cautious in your approach," Thor warned, blood dripping freely from a cut above his eye, and he winced as he got to his feet.

Harry sent a simple levitation spell in her direction to move her further from the edge but a streak of light from Hermione chased the path of his magic back to him and threw him backwards.

Steve looked around to check that there was no immediate threat to either themselves, or the civilians who were sheltering in a nearby building, before approaching her carefully. If her mind had shut down, he assumed that her innate magic was protecting her now. Unfortunately, Steve knew only too well that the instability of her inner magic made her quite dangerous to others and, in a warzone like this, to herself, too.

"Hermione," he called gently as he got closer. "It's alright, my love, I'm here." He lifted his shield just in time to deflect a burst of her magic. "I'm here," he repeated firmly. "And, while I don't blame you for trying to shut this all out, I really need you to wake up." He managed to close his hand around hers without any further incidents but he daren't try anything more than that for the moment. "I need you to come back to me…"

Across the city, Wanda and Clint had been forced to take shelter in a building as a group of Ultron-droids surrounded them. Wanda cowered against the wall. "How could I let this happen?" she murmured and Clint crouched down next to her.

"Hey! Hey are you OK?"

"This is all our fault," she whimpered, not taking in his words.

"Hey, look at me," Clint instructed. "It's your fault; it's everyone's fault – who cares? Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know because the city is flying. OK, look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots… and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense." A couple of projectiles burst through the wall close to his head and he paused his speech to quickly fire an arrow through the hole they had made, before kneeling back down next to Wanda as she continued to gasp for breath and stare at him with wide, panicked eyes. "But I'm going back out there because it's my job. OK? And I can't do my job and babysit. It doesn't matter what you did or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door, you are an Avenger."

He waited for a response but she only gazed at him.

"Alright," he said, getting to his feet, "Good chat."

He stood by the door and notched half a dozen arrows to his bow at once. "Yeah, the city is flying," he murmured before kicking open the door and re-entering the chaos.

Wanda stared at the place he'd disappeared from and faintly marvelled, despite her inner turmoil, at how he could risk his life in such a calm manner. It doesn't matter what you did, he'd told her, but that wasn't true. Her actions had helped to lead them all here; nothing she could do would change that.

But could she go out there? Could she put her life on the line to try and make amends? An explosion just outside the building she was hiding in caused little piles of dust and debris to descend from the ceiling and she worried that Clint was hurt. She stood up with conviction. He saved her life by pushing her into this building so, at the very least, she owed him support. But, more importantly, she owed it to herself to prove that she was the strong woman she'd always believed herself to be. She was not going to cower in the dark any longer…

Clint loosed arrow after arrow, including one as he leapt sideways behind a car. "Ow," he muttered, after he landed somewhat ungracefully amongst the jagged metal and debris. He risked a glance over the hood of the car and unhappily saw at least half-a-dozen droids advancing on him, with a couple more flying in to join them.

He heard a door opening and he turned to see Wanda stride confidently into the street, her eyes glowing red as she used her powers to begin blasting and pulling apart the droids. Clint stood up to join her in the assault, meaning that, within seconds, the street was clear of all hostiles. He nodded at her, pleased that she'd stood up to the task, and she nodded back.

"All right," Clint communicated to the others, "We're all clear here."

"We're clear too," Steve answered, "But Hermione has shut down. We can't get through to her."

"I might be able to help," Wanda suggested.

"We're coming to you," Clint confirmed.

Pietro suddenly appeared in front of them, picked up Wanda, and then zoomed off again. "Keep up, old man!" he called as he left Clint in his dust.

Clint aimed his arrow after him in annoyance. "Nobody would know. Nobody," he muttered, lowering the bow and beginning to jog after them. "The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him," he playfully rehearsed, "Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already…"

Pietro skidded to a halt by the bridge and put his sister down carefully. He looked around for any sign of an enemy but was relieved to see that they were momentarily safe.

"Has anyone seen Ultron?" Pietro asked as his sister crouched down next to Rogers, looking intently at the Sorceress.

"Not since he threw her over the edge," Steve replied.

Thor wiped blood out of his eye. "I will find Ultron and keep him busy," he said, swinging his hammer and then disappearing from view.

"Her voice is quiet," Wanda revealed. "Distant."

"You can hear her?" Steve asked in surprise. "If our skin is touching, I can normally hear her too but now there's just silence."

"Her mind has retreated to protect itself," she explained.

"Can you bring her back?" Harry asked worriedly.

"I will try," Wanda murmured. She closed her eyes and focused her own mind as she gently reached out to Hermione. There was an aggressive response from Hermione but Wanda was able to shield herself from the attack. Harry was also able to shield himself and Pietro was quick enough to move out of the way but Steve was propelled a few feet along the ground.

Natasha appeared and pulled Steve to his feet.

"Thanks," he said, pleased to see her.

"It's a bit too quiet here," Natasha commented, glancing around.

Steve glanced over to Wanda and Hermione and had to be content with the fact that they were doing all they could for the moment to bring her back. There was still the rest of the world to save, after all.

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute," he said, almost surprised that there had been a lull of Ultron-bots. He knew that they could take care of them but it was for nothing if they couldn't bring the city back down safely. "What have you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great," Tony responded dejectedly, "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve reminded him.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony pointed out, "We're going to have to make a choice."

"I can start portkeying people off," Harry said and then frowned at Hermione's prone figure, "But it'll take much longer than we'd like if I'm the only one doing it."

"How long?" Steve asked.

Harry shook his head. "Too long," he admitted but Steve told him to get started anyway.

"If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…" Natasha said but Steve shook his head.

"Not 'til everyone's safe."

She stared at him. "The people up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve insisted.

"I didn't say we should leave," she told him gently and he looked at her in surprise because it was the first time he'd ever heard her mention the possibility of an unsuccessful outcome. "There's worse ways to go," she admitted, looking out over the clouds. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff," a familiar voice said in their ears. "It's about to get better..." And, before their eyes, a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier emerged from the clouds. "Nice, right?" Fury said. "Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

Steve looked at the helicarrier appreciatively, relieved that something was finally going their way. "Fury, you son of a bitch."

"Woah," Fury chastised, "You kiss your fiancée with that mouth?"

Steve glanced over at Hermione. "I hope to." He jogged over to her as a number of lifeboats deployed from the helicarrier.

Pietro was watching the boats with an impressed look on his face. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" he asked.

"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D is supposed to be," Steve answered, kneeling next to Wanda.

"This is not so bad," Pietro admitted with a grin.

"Let's load them up," Natasha suggested to him and they left to start evacuating the civilians.

"Any progress?" Steve asked Wanda hopefully. If they couldn't bring her round, he could at least get Harry to put her somewhere secure on the helicarrier.

"I have calmed her down," Wanda replied, her eyes still shut, "And told her that all is not lost, that we will defeat Ultron, that we can save everyone."

"But you can't get her to wake up?"

Wanda opened her eyes. "Her mind is peaceful. She will wake when she is ready – there's nothing else I can do."

"How about a true love's kiss?" Tony suggested in his ear.

"Very funny," Steve muttered.

"I'm being serious," he claimed, "The job's not done yet and you know she wouldn't want to miss out on this."

"She's just had a mental breakdown," Steve argued, scooping Hermione into his arms after a reassuring nod from Wanda that her magic wouldn't attack him. "She shouldn't be going into battle."

"I think that should be her choice," Tony countered. At Steve's pause, he rolled his eyes, "For God's sake, Steve, just kiss your fiancée already!"

Steve looked down at her, admittedly feeling a little ridiculous; but, if there was a chance that this would work, it was worth taking. "You're all I need, remember?" he whispered, before gently touching his lips to hers.

Steve?

A shock went through him, almost like he'd been electrocuted, as he felt Hermione connect with him like she used to. He pulled back and watched with relief as her face screwed up before she cracked open an eye lid.

"It worked!" Wanda laughed.

"Seriously?!" Tony asked as he flew over them. "That both pleases and utterly disgusts me."

A number of Ultron-droids flew in the direction of the helicarrier and Tony followed them. Gunfire reduced one of the droids to wreckage and Tony turned to see War Machine soar through the air.

"Yes!" Rhodey cried, blowing another robot apart, "Now this is gonna be a good story."

"Yup," Tony agreed, "If you live to tell it."

"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey asked.

"We get through this, I'll hold your own," Tony responded.

"You had to make it weird," Rhodey muttered.

The two friends kept the Ultron-bots occupied so that the Sokovians could start boarding the life boats and Hermione quickly took in what had happened in the last few minutes.

"I'm sorry, it all got too much!" she said to Steve but he shook his head.

"It's OK," he reassured, "It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you're alright." He nodded towards the nearest lifeboat. "Do you want to get on?" Hermione regarded him silently and he frowned. "Yeah… there's no chance of that, is there?"

"None whatsoever," she agreed.

"OK," he nodded, "We'll take things one problem at a time; that's the only way to do this."

"One problem at a time," she repeated…

Thor had found Ultron at the church. The fingers on one of his hands may have curiously been replaced with flowers but that didn't much lessen Ultron's threat.

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron snarled as he slammed Thor into ground, making him lose his grip on Mjolnir. Ultron grasped Thor's throat and raised his flowery stump threateningly. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead," he said, referring to the structure in the middle of the church. "Even you can't stop that."

"I am Thor, son of Odin," he replied imperiously, "And as long as there is life in my breast…I am running out of things to say!" Thor looked past Ultron to where Vision was holding the hammer. "Are you ready?"

Ultron turned, relaxing his grip on Thor's throat, and Vision hit him with such force that he disappeared from view.

"It's terribly well-balanced," Vision complimented as Thor took Mjolnir back.

"Well, if there's too much weight," Thor replied amiably, "you lose power on the swing, so…"

"Thor, I got a plan," Stark's voice called in his ear.

"We're out of time," he replied gravely, surveying the church's surroundings and seeing multiple robots headed in their direction. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board those carriers," Tony instructed, "Avengers, time to work for a living."

Hermione heeded his instructions and apparated herself, Steve and Wanda to the site. The rest of the team quickly arrived in ones and twos, eradicating any of the Ultron-bots they could see as they did so.

"Romanoff," Stark called, noticing the only two absentees, "You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'."

"Don't be vulgar," Hermione chided, wrinkling her nose.

"Relax, shellhead," Natasha responded, "Not all of us can fly." They saw a large truck come into view and Natasha jumped out of it. "What's the drill?" she asked.

Tony pointed to the middle of the church. "This is the drill," he explained. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

A loud thump and growl announced the Hulk's arrival and then they saw Ultron float down about fifty yards away from them.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor roared.

In response, Ultron simply raised his arm, summoning the rest of his robots and the horizon was soon flooded with them. "You had to ask," Steve muttered, throwing a disapproving look at Thor.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron announced, before gesturing to the Avengers, "This is exactly what I wanted; all of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony answered, looking over at Steve, "together."

Hulk roared his defiance as the swarm began. They came from every entrance and flew down through the roof but the Avengers were equal to the task. It was a chaotic, frenetic commotion as they blasted, ripped, fired, crushed, punched, cursed and destroyed everything that crossed the threshold.

Ultron yelled in fury and flew at Vision, attacking him in contempt. Vision retaliated by using the power of the Mind Stone to drive him from the church. Thor added the sustained lightning from Mjolnir and Tony kept up a continuous blast as they pinned Ultron down. His body began to melt and deteriorate so they finally let up the streams of light.

Ultron struggled to his feet. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight…" But he was unable to finish his sentence as the Hulk thumped him across the city before he turned and started chasing after the remaining robots as they began to run away.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor warned.

"We can't let them, not even one," Tony said urgently. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it," he replied, soaring towards the escaping droids. "No, I didn't say you could leave," he joked as he started firing at them. "War Machine coming at you!"

Steve turned to the rest of the Avengers. "We gotta move out," he ordered, "Even I can tell the air is getting a little thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda volunteered. Clint looked at her in surprise but she held his gaze assuredly. "It's my job." He nodded at her and then signalled for Natasha to join him as Hermione turned to Steve and Harry.

"I'm going to see if Tony needs any help destroying the city," she told them and gestured to herself, "All of this power's got to be good for something." She disapparated before either man had the chance to respond, which was likely the intention because neither looked particularly happy about her plan.

"Let's go," Steve said to Harry and they began to make their way to the nearest boat.

"So," Harry said conversationally, "true love's kiss, huh?"

"Shut up, Potter."

Pietro reappeared next to his sister after a quick bout of robot hunting. "Get the people on the boats," she ordered him.

"I'm not going to leave you here," he protested.

She looked at him firmly. "I can handle this," she said, using her powers to mangle an oncoming droid. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Pietro still didn't look happy but he began to walk off. "You understand?"

He turned back. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you," he pointed out.

She laughed. "Go."

Hermione flew underneath the city to find Tony. "Need a hand?" she asked.

He looked at her in surprise but shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"That's not really what I asked, is it?" she responded. "If there's a way that I can help create a bigger explosion and lessen the impact down below, then I'm going to do it, Tony."

He reluctantly explained how they were going to supercharge the Vibranium spire to create a heat seal so that when Thor struck it with his hammer, the resulting force would destroy the city. He used his suit to cut a hole in the base underneath Ultron's core and they looked inside the gigantic mechanism.

"Vibranium deflects my magic if it's an aggressive spell," she told him as she held onto his suit and peered up at the colossal structure through the hole.

"You should be fine with supercharging," he replied, "It's not a hostile act. But you've got to promise me you'll leave before Thor hits it. I mean it, Granger; nothing will be gained if you stay an extra second."

"Well, then I'm taking you with me," she insisted.

"There'll be no time for that," he argued, "I've got my suit to protect me – you've got nothing."

"Really?" she said, "My magic's nothing?"

"We haven't got time for this," he muttered, "Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church."

Thor watched a few more people hurry towards the lifeboats. "Is this the last of them?" he asked Steve as he watched Natasha approach the Hulk to return Banner back to them.

"Yeah," he replied, "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know," Tony continued gravely, "If this works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not," Thor agreed solemnly.

The chatter of gunfire disturbed the quiet and they heard the Hulk roar. Looking up, they saw their quinjet soar towards them and it opened fire again, forcing Steve and Thor to leap for cover as the bullets erupted in the ground around them.

Pietro saw the advancing quinjet too but he also saw that Clint stood in the line of fire, defencelessly clutching a child. As Clint turned his back on the quinjet to protect the child, Pietro rushed forward and pushed them behind a car, exposing himself to the bullets instead.

Clint looked around, confused as to what had happened, and saw Pietro standing there, his body riddled with bullet holes.

"You didn't see that coming?" Pietro said hoarsely and then fell to the ground.

Wanda felt it happen. She knew her brother was dead. Her heart stopped beating as she fell to her knees and a destructive wave of energy left her body, destroying the nearby robots, as she screamed in utter despair.

Thor left for the church as Steve helped Clint carry Pietro onto the lifeboat, and Hulk leapt onto the helicarrier with Natasha. He placed her gently on the runway before launching himself after the Quinjet.

"Oh, for God's sake," Ultron cried in exasperation as the Hulk flung him back down to the city to crash land in an empty tram, which was where Wanda found him. Her eyes and hands glowed with red energy as she surveyed him darkly.

"Wanda," he murmured weakly, "If you stay here, you'll die."

"I just did," she replied shortly. "Do you know how it felt?" She used her powers to pull out the central pump of his body. "It felt like that…"

Hermione nervously tapped Tony on the back and then floated next to him so they could supercharge the core together. It wouldn't be easy to maintain her flight and send out a continuous flow of magic at the same time.

"Remember," he told her, "Get cl-"

The city dropped.

Hermione distanced herself from the base and intended to start releasing her magic but the anti-gravs flipped into reverse, causing the speed of the city's fall to increase. The air around them soared in temperature and Hermione had to fly down at top speed to stop herself from being incinerated.

"Go!" Tony yelled in her ear as he, too, struggled to get back in position.

She stubbornly maintained a heat-resistant charm as she flew in smoke-form through the hole. It was less hot in there so she dropped the charm and charged the core as powerfully as she could before flying out of the hole again to avoid the power that hummed through the air thanks to her and Tony's efforts.

"Thor, on my mark…" Tony called and Thor raised Mjolnir aloft to summon all the energy he could. "Now!"

Hermione grabbed the foot of Tony's suit and disapparated them to the landing strip of the helicarrier. Unfortunately, a number of rocks were transported with them and Hermione banished them away before they crushed her as an explosion boomed beneath them. She apparated to the edge of the carrier but she couldn't see anything through the clouds.

"Thor?" she asked but there was no response. Hermione looked back at Tony but he was struggling to get power from his suit. "I'm going back down there," she told him and then jumped off the edge. As she flew lower, she was relieved to see that the city was no more. Parts of the wreckage were still plummeting to the ground; thankfully, much of it fell in the lake but the circle of devastation spread wide. She knew that only a miracle would have prevented any civilian fatalities as a result of the explosion; either in the city or wider countryside.

Hermione kept her eyes peeled for Thor but it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. She paused on the shore of the lake and cast a summoning charm; if that didn't work, she'd just have to wait anxiously to hear back from him. She focused on the spell, willing his form to emerge as she peered around her surroundings. Something burst from the water and, to her relief, she saw that it was him. She lowered his unconscious form gently to the ground and cleared his airways, which made him cough and splutter awake.

"We did it," she told him softly, "It's over." He sat up with a groan and dragged a hand down his face, only then noticing that Mjolnir's strap was wrapped around his wrist. "I can dry you off, if you like? I had to use my magic to pull you out of the lake," she explained.

He looked confused as he glanced between Hermione and the hammer but then he shook his head and hauled himself to his feet. "That is not necessary," he replied.

"Come on," she said, holding out her hand, "I'll take you back to the others."

The flight deck was clear when she apparated them up. "I've got Thor," she communicated.

"You alright, buddy?" Tony responded, sounding a little exhausted.

"A little damp," Thor replied as he and Hermione made their way to the nearest door that would take them down to the lower levels. "But I can't complain."

"We're in the lab," Steve told them. His voice was heavier than Hermione had anticipated and anxiety settled in her stomach. When she saw everyone's sombre and drawn faces, she knew she was right to be worried. Most of the group were there except for Bruce, Pietro, Wanda and Vision.

Hermione walked straight over to Steve, slotting into his side. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"Pietro," he murmured, shaking his head.

She gasped, holding a hand to her chest at the fate of her new colleague. They'd certainly not seen eye to eye, and his actions had created utter chaos for her, but he had been so full of life that it was almost impossible to think of him as dead. She recalled what she'd told Steve about the Maximoffs after their first encounter; how, in many ways, they were victims who'd been dealt a bad turn in life. Pietro's actions that day had proved her right and she determined that she would always remember him that way.

"The others?" she asked fearfully, referring to the other absentees.

"Vision got Wanda away," Steve replied. "He's making sure there's no trace of Ultron and she wants to be on her own, which is understandable. The Hulk flew off in the quinjet. Nat tried to get him to turn it around but…" he shook his head. "It's in stealth mode so there's no way to track it."

Hermione glanced at Natasha and she could see that her friend was trying hard to cover up the hurt she was feeling inside. Hermione wished there was something she could do for her, some spell she could cast, but she knew nothing that could fix a broken heart.

Over the next few minutes, she visited each of her friends in turn and healed their various scrapes and injuries as well as her own.

When she came to Harry, he waved her away. "I'll do my own," he told her.

"You're horrendous at healing charms," she reminded him, dabbing a cloth with some burn salve to rub into the singed skin on his left arm, and he duly let her fix his sprained ankle and bruised ribs.

"I don't know how you do this," Harry murmured. "It brings back so many memories of the war."

"You know what it's like," she answered, "you get used to it."

He looked at her closely. "That's not a good thing," he pointed out.

Steve forced her into a chair and she promised him she'd sit still for five minutes but, after forty-five seconds, he could see she was struggling. He reached for hand. "You're going to burn out again," he warned.

"No, I'm not, I'm-" But she never got to finish her sentence.

Hermione gasped as Draco Malfoy strode into the room, flanked, once again, by a number of serious-faced witches and wizards. "Hermione Granger, you are under arrest by the order of the International Confederation of Wizards. You are charged with a Grade One breach of the International Statute of Secrecy, illegal advancement of your own magic, and attacking employees of the British Ministry of Magic." He flourished a piece of paper at her. "All perfectly in order and signed by the Supreme Mugwump himself in case you wanted to check."

"What the…?" Natasha breathed but Clint signalled her to be quiet.

"Arresting her in the middle of a muggle aircraft, are you mad, Malfoy?!" Harry cried.

"The proper wards are in place, Potter, I'm not that stupid that I would expose magic in front of all those people," he drawled, a knowing expression on his face.

"Well, you should arrest me, too," Harry declared.

"All in good time, Potter," Draco assured him before he returned his gaze to Hermione.

"I'm going before the Confederation?" she asked, a whirl of dread settling in her stomach.

"Yes," he replied. "An emergency session was called after New York to ensure you could be arrested in any part of the world."

"Then you cannot obliviate these people," she argued, a slither of relief running through her, "Not until the outcome of the trial is decided."

Malfoy stiffened but he wasn't shocked by her words so she assumed he'd been made aware of that technicality. "You are to be held responsible for whatever further breaches they cause between now and your trial," he said tautly, before adding in a hiss, "but you're only delaying the inevitable because we both know that you're guilty, and you risk bringing down our whole society while you attempt to save your neck!"

"We're not going to tell anyone about magic," Tony said, looking hostilely at Malfoy. "And not just because it'll mean our minds will be wiped or Granger gets in trouble."

Malfoy sneered at him. "You think we should trust you: the people who just dropped a city from the sky?"

Tony glared back, thankfully managing to hold his tongue.

Malfoy turned back to Hermione. "This would be the time that I ask you to surrender your wand. Do you even have one?"

She reached into her pocket and retrieved the wand she carried around partly for precision work, partly as habit, and handed it over to him. "You don't need to worry, Malfoy, I'll come quietly. Just, please, can I have a few minutes to say goodbye?"

He passed her wand onto one of the witches and then surveyed her coolly. "The portkey is set to leave in…" He took out a pocket watch from inside his cloak, "eight minutes and forty-six seconds."

She nodded at him and turned back to her friends. She opened her mouth but struggled to find something to say as they looked at her hopelessly. "You… you know I'll do everything I can to, to…"

Clint nodded. "We know," he said heavily, getting to his feet to give her a hug. "Stay strong, Mei-mei."

She smiled tightly, trying to contain her emotions, as Thor stepped forward to embrace her too. "Are you sure you don't want me to just throw them off the carrier?" he asked semi-seriously.

She let out a breath of nervous laughter. "No, it's alright," she replied, "This needs to be done."

"This seems serious," Natasha murmured, looking warily at the witches and wizards. "You come back soon," she ordered.

"I'll try," Hermione answered and turned to Tony. He was frowning at the floor. "Don't do anything crazy while I'm gone," she suggested and he smiled grimly.

"No promises," he muttered.

She hugged him tightly and he actually embraced her back. Don't beat yourself up, Tony, please, she told him. He momentarily stiffened but then nodded as he released her.

"I'm going to visit you so often you'll be sick of the sight of me," Harry vowed, hugging her briefly. "We'll get through this. The Confederation will see sense." He sounded confident but Hermione couldn't help but feel that it was more put on than genuine.

Finally, with a heavy heart, she turned to Steve. Immediately, tears threatened to fall from her eyes and she wiped them away as she closed the distance between them.

"It's OK," he told her even though he felt dead inside. He couldn't believe he'd spent all those months searching and waiting for her to come back only to have her snatched away from him again for an unforeseeable length of time.

"W-will you visit me too?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Steve couldn't withhold a grimace. "Harry doesn't think I'd be allowed to."

"But you're an official liaison!" she argued desperately, despairing at the idea of not being able to see him again.

"That's not enough," he said heavily, "I'm not family."

Hermione glanced at Harry and he nodded grimly in confirmation. She gasped and threw her arms around Steve's neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Steve held her closely, trying to convince himself that he would be able to do so again soon but neither of them could prevent their minds from exploring the possibility that it could be years before they got the chance, if it all.

"Well, I can fix that," Tony's voice cut through the silence. Hermione and Steve pulled apart to look at him questioningly. "I can marry you," he said simply. "I got my license years ago – don't ask, long story – but it's perfectly legal." They continued to gape at him. "Do you want to or not?" he pressed, "We're a little tight for time, after all."

"Do it," Steve urged and Tony started typing into the computer behind him. Hermione turned to Steve in surprise.

"But this isn't how you wanted –"

"I don't care," he interrupted. "Do you?"

The timing was awful: she was about to be incarcerated, the ruins of a city they'd blown up lay thousands of feet below their feet and one of their colleagues had died less than half an hour ago. She loved Steve with all her heart and, if she had her way, her future would be with him. The problem was her future wasn't in her hands anymore…

"If I'm found guilty, I could be sent away for years, Steve," she pointed out. "That's not fair to you."

He shook his head. "That's my decision," he insisted. "Whatever the verdict, it doesn't change my commitment to you." He glanced at Malfoy. "How long have we got?"

Malfoy didn't look particularly pleased at the turn of events and he looked at his watch haughtily. "Five minutes and six seconds."

Steve looked at her expectantly and she tried to come to a decision as dozens of thoughts swirled around her head at once.

"Do you know what date it is today?" he asked gently.

She took a moment to remember and then she gasped. "First of May…"

"The day we first met," he reminded her though, of course, she hadn't forgotten. "The day we got engaged…"

"OK," she breathed, "Let's do this." There were excited mutterings amongst their friends and Tony announced that he was ready. "Wait," Hermione realised suddenly, "What about rings?"

"I've got them," Steve revealed, reaching into a pocket of his suit, "I've had them with me ever since you left," he admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "I couldn't bear the idea of locking them away somewhere…" He passed the rings to Harry and then nodded at Tony.

"Er, dearly beloved, I guess we'll get straight to it," Tony said as the pair of them gripped each other's hands tightly. "Do you, Steve, take Hermione as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Steve said firmly without a second's hesitation

"And do you, Hermione, take Steve as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she confirmed, letting him feel her love for him.

"OK, well, those were a couple of no-brainers," Tony pointed out. "Onto the rings: these seal the promise you're making to each other."

Steve took Hermione's ring from Harry and locked his gaze on hers. "Hermione, I give you this ring as a symbol of my unending love for you." He slid it down her finger, hardly daring to believe that it was finally happening. "With this ring, I thee wed."

With trembling fingers, Hermione picked up Steve's ring. "Steve, I give you this ring as a symbol of my unending love for you. With this ring, I thee wed."

"Great! So by the power vested in me and in sight of your friends, and, you know, these other people," Tony muttered, throwing an annoyed glance to the unimpressed witches and wizards, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride but I suggest you make it quick because we still need to sign the marriage certificate."

Steve cupped her face gently as they shared a short, sweet kiss as Natasha, Clint, Thor and Harry called their congratulations. Tony pulled the computer screen towards them. "I updated my license so that it's valid internationally and I had to be creative with the certificate but I'll make sure it fits all the legal requirements. Granger, you sign here," he pointed to the spot on the screen and she used her finger to make a digital signature.

"You can't call me that anymore," she told Tony as Steve signed next.

"Oh," he frowned, "I guess not. Can't you just keep your old name? It'd make things easier for me."

"Rogers still has two syllables," she pointed out.

"True, but that's still going to take some getting used to," he said seriously.

"One minute," Draco announced, looking eager to get off the carrier.

Hermione looked at Natasha. "Will you sign as a witness? This was all down to you, remember?"

"I'd love to," she replied, trying to look pleased despite her personal heartache.

"Harry?" she asked and he nodded.

"Of course."

"And here I thought you'd dismissed my suggestion of getting married in your supersuits," Clint said, shaking Steve's hand and kissing Hermione on the cheek. "Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Rogers."

"Hermione Rogers," Steve murmured and she looked at him. "Are you sure? You don't want Granger-Rogers instead?"

Hermione shook her head. "Granger has stood me in good stead but it's had its fair share of bad luck, too. Maybe Rogers will be the start of something better; hope for the future."

"It's time," Malfoy announced, holding out a violet woollen scarf.

Hermione kissed Steve quickly but hands pulled her back.

"I'll see you soon, I promise," Steve said, feeling sick as the wizards gripped Hermione's arms tightly and forced her to hold the scarf.

"Three, two, one," Malfoy said.

Then they were gone.

A/N: An so ends another stage in the Sorceress stories! I really enjoyed writing this one and, after the first couple of chapters, it was definitely the easiest one I've written so far. I hope you enjoyed it.

Yay, Steve and Hermione got married! Though, I'll admit, it probably wasn't the happy occasion you were all hoping for! The 'True Love's Kiss' thing was TOTAL CHEESE but I don't care and I honestly think it's one of my favourite snippets from the whole damn series. What a loser I am.

Hermione pulling Thor (and Mjolnir) out of the lake is a continuation of the earlier question about whether she's worthy to lift the hammer. Her ability to do so here depends on whether you think, in this case, she just picked up Thor or if she is worthy to 'pick up the hammer' and therefore was able to lift Thor, too. I'll let you guess which one I lean towards...

RIP Pietro. I expect some of you were hoping he'd be saved but it was not meant to be. I had to think where Hermione's character would be at that time if she was really there and, unfortunately, it wasn't near Pietro.

SUPER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you've been a longtime reader of this series, you will know that I don't keep you waiting too long before I start posting the next fic. It sucks to say this but that won't be the case this time. I AM NOT abandoning this series and I already have a decent chunk of the next one written out. The reason there's going to be a little break is that I don't want to start posting the next story until Infinity War comes out. I know, I know, that's MONTHS away and, as I said, it sucks that there's going to be a break but, whilst writing this series, I've always known what's going to happen next for all the main players (be it through Age of Ultron, Civil War etc.) until now. There's too many things I don't know about what happens after Civil War for particular characters. I understand that some of you will be thinking, 'Hey, this is fanfiction; just write whatever the hell you want to happen next, use your imagination for once!' but that's not how this series has worked. By keeping things close to the true MCU I have been able to continue Hermione's involvement without going off on a tangent and getting myself stuck. I hope you understand! This series means so much to me and I assure you that I have every intention of carrying on with it. So, after May, keep a look out for Sorceress: Civil War (and, who knows, I might even have the courage to post a little earlier than that to get the ball rolling).

Phew, sorry about the essay! Now, I was debating about whether or not to tell you guys this but I flipped a coin so, here we are. A few months ago, I actually started posting under another account when I had other fic ideas that weren't related to the Sorceress series. If you want to read some of my other stuff whilst waiting for the next installment, my other name is Red8436 (I'll list it under my 'Favourite Authors' tab on my bio). One story is a HP/Avengers crossover featuring Hermione, Steve and Bucky. The other two are pure HP stories focused on Hermione/Dolohov. I feel it might be worth pointing out that the stories I write on the other account do not impact on my writing time for Sorceress :)

Anyway, lots of love to you all!

Lil Drop of Magic

PS Happy Holidays!