Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters. All rights belong to their respective owners and no money is being made off this.

Previously on Harry Potter: A New Universe ↓

Despite his best efforts, Harry is unable to prevent Loki from escaping. On the other hand, Sirius manages to transform the Hulk back into human form. Before turning, Bruce had successfully triangulated the source of the Tesseract's gamma energy signature around Stark tower. Tony hurriedly orders JARVIS to lock down the building as the Avengers prepare for battle.

Harry Potter: A New Universe

Chapter-7

Location: SHIELD Helicarrier

Harry looked around the room, as everyone slipped into their chairs, determination on every single face. Sirius was sitting to his right, busy in a quiet conversation with Tony who was listening to his godfather with rapt attention. He didn't even want to know what they were discussing. To his left Steve and Natasha appeared to be consoling Bruce, who looked like he'd rather crawl into a hole and bury himself forever.

Now that his adrenaline had worn off, he couldn't stop thinking about the man he'd killed earlier. He knew it was an act of self-defense, and Fury had assured him that the intruders were enemies of SHIELD, not innocent men under mind control. But frustration still gnawed at him. He had blood on his hands that he could never wipe off. Was he any different from other people who killed? The answer was yes, his gut told him. But it always started with the first kill, he thought miserably, grinding his teeth together.

Director Fury's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "…so listen up. We know where the scepter is, thanks to Dr. Banner. It is safe to assume that the Chitauri army Thor warned us about is coming. We need to power down whatever machine Selvig designed and acquire the Tesseract before the army arrives. Is everyone clear with the mission objectives?"

A slight murmur of agreement went through the group. Fury tapped the table at the centre of the room and a hologram shimmered into existence on the surface. Harry recognized the building, having seen it in the file SHIELD had on Tony. "The scepter is on top of the building. JARVIS has confirmed that Selvig is there as well. God help us all, folks. Make sure the world doesn't need to be avenged."

Tony was the first one on his feet. He nodded slightly, as if coming to a conclusion. He left the room, followed by Sirius. The two men had the same air of arrogance around them, and a smile found its way onto Harry's lips. Now he was feeling curious about the nature of their earlier conversation. "His suit needs repair, if that's what you're wondering", came the quiet voice of Steve. He turned, noting that the super-soldier's eyes were on him, watching him keenly. "Yeah. I am just thinking whether letting Sirius come near Tony was a good idea at all", he replied. Steve smiled sadly, but never broke eye contact. The gaze of those blue eyes was unnerving, to say the least. "It is a sad reflection of society that you have experienced things no one should have to, let alone someone of your age", muttered Steve, pushing the trading card back into his pocket. Harry had no reply for that. The society didn't create Voldemort, or maybe it did. He didn't have a clue. When it came down to it Voldemort knew more about him than he knew about his adversary. He didn't know what turned Riddle into a monster, and he never tried to know. It is easier to detach Voldemort from his humanity and see him as a monster, he mused.

Steve was the last one to leave the room. Harry sighed, and decided to go find Sirius. The word STARK shimmered beautifully on the building hologram in front of him. Harry got to his feet, and realized Dr. Banner was still there in the room, staring into nothingness. "Dr. Banner?" he called. Bruce looked up, and to Harry he seemed more tired than anything else. "You go on without me, Harry. I have done my job. I found the damn thing. Now all I want is to go back to my isolated life."

Harry nodded sadly, and left the meeting room. He couldn't hope to understand what was going through Bruce's mind. But he wanted to stay away from a fight near civilians, and Harry understood that. He respected that.

He made his way down to Tony's workshop hoping to find his godfather, but he wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him. Sirius was muttering spells and it seemed to Harry that he was enchanting the Iron Man armor. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Ah, Harry. We will be leaving in ten minutes for Stark Tower", said Sirius, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Please tell me that this is not what it appears to be", Harry replied sarcastically.

Sirius pointed his wand at him cheerfully. "Oh it truly is what it appears to be, my dear."

Then the doors slid open and Tony walked in, carrying his helmet with him. He threw it in the air for Sirius to catch, who deftly caught it in his arms and started muttering some more incantations. Tony clapped Harry on the back and muttered, "Don't worry, kid. I know your energy blasts make our electronics go haywire. But we are short on time, and my suit just went through a blender. I need this tin can to hold together until I collect my Mark VII armor from the Tower."

Harry frowned slightly. "But how do you expect your armor to work while enchanted? I mean, it would go haywire as soon as you turn it on."

"Oh but that's where you are wrong, O godson of mine", piped Sirius. "You see, I had an idea."

"I'm sure you did", replied Harry with a sigh. Tony pulled a screen close and started entering commands rapidly. He winked at Harry, muttering "Now pray this works, or I will have to endure travelling in a Quinjet."

Harry held his breath as the armor powered up silently. There were a couple of sparks but other than that it seemed to be fine. Tony gave a thumbs up to Sirius, and stepped onto the assembly platform. Harry asked Sirius, "What exactly did you do to the armor?"

Sirius replied happily, "Oh, it really was nothing. Tony's repulsor tech is in many ways similar to our magical bursts. All I did was use a protective charm on his equipment. He said that magical bursts are like an electromagnetic pulse to Muggle electronics, and we needed to counteract that. That was when I realized that most of the protective spells do that already to nullify spells."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who chuckled. It was a simple yet brilliant approach. Meanwhile, Iron Man stepped out of the assembly rig. "All systems seem to be working fine. Nice job, Black." Sirius smiled, and said, "Time to avenge."

The quinjet took off from the flight bay with Agent Barton serving as the pilot. Harry had strapped himself to the seat carefully, but as the metallic beast shuddered and groaned he clutched his wand tightly in his pocket. The others were trying their best to appear relaxed, but only Steve appeared truly calm to Harry.

Tony wanted to be on the scene as soon as possible, and he had blasted off into the sky before anyone could advise caution. Harry wanted to leave as well, but Sirius had advised against apparating straight into Stark Tower, as they had no clue what was waiting for them there. Harry had agreed to the safer approach, but the delay would cost them, he had pointed out. Sirius had grimaced and said nothing.

After what seemed like an eternity, Clint declared, "We're here." "About time", said Harry, but his insides froze slightly when the archer added, "We are late."

"What do you mean we're late?" asked Steve. Natasha replied, "The Chitauri are here", her voice hushed. It was the first time Harry had noticed uncertainty in her voice. So far the assassin had carefully maintained a neutral expression, but being confronted with something beyond the world that she knew appeared to have taken a toll. It was the same with everyone else. All the men onboard the quinjet were seasoned warriors, but this was nothing they had ever prepared for.

Clint swerved the aircraft between two buildings, heading for Stark Tower. Harry craned his neck for a better view. As the quinjet arced upwards, Harry finally saw it. He was suddenly aware of his own breathing, which had slowed down considerably at the sight in front of him. A streak of blue ran straight from the roof of Stark Tower into the sky, where it gave way to a huge circular void of blackness.

"It is…huge." Harry was at a loss for words. He was numbly aware of the numerous things pouring out of that hole, and a part of his brain realized that those were the Chitauri soldiers. To make things worse, a sudden jolt of pain in his head made him gasp. "Loki!" he seethed, aware of the trickster's attempt at another invasion of his mind.

"You needn't have come here, wizard. You can't even fathom what you're up against." Harry massaged his temples, gritting his teeth hard. Sirius undid his safety belts and was beside him in an instant, but Harry waved him away. "I'm fine", he whispered. "It is Loki. He knows we're here. "

Sirius took out his wand and growled, "He will be sorry we're here." Harry nodded in relief as the pain subsided, noticing that Tony was shouting something over comms. He tapped his earpiece, and Tony boomed, "He has countermeasures! I can't get inside my own building. The cube is pulsing and- WATCH OUT-"

The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts

20th June, 1996

A loud hiss disrupted the silence of the room, causing many of the portrait headmasters to sit up in alarm. Albus Dumbledore sighed as he lost his concentration for the sixth time in the past hour. He waved his hand and the two way mirror levitated itself to his desk. No matter how hard had he tried, the best he'd been able to do was to cause the mirror to heat up dangerously. Even the wand in his hand felt like a mere stick, and for the first time in decades, Albus was feeling helpless.

He turned his chair and snapped his fingers. The ornate fireplace responded with sputtering flames and a monotonous voice vibrated off the ash. "Message for Albus Dumbledore. From the Ministry of Magic."

"Ah, not now. Not again."

Albus took off his spectacles and rubbed his forehead, assuming it was Cornelius asking for his help once again, trying to escape the pit he had dug up for himself.

"Proceed", he muttered.

"Headmaster, this is Saul Croaker from the Department of Mysteries-"

Albus felt an unnatural stillness descending over the room. There was no business for an Unspeakable to be calling him. Unless, it was an emergency…

Dippet stirred in his portrait. "Croaker? Now there was-"

Albus silenced the portrait as the incoming message was too important to miss. Dippet continued, unaware that he had been silenced.

"-I'm asking you to see it for yourself, sir. As of right now, this matter is eyes only, as we progress. But you need to come to the Ministry now."

The message ended abruptly, the flames dying out gradually. Albus was certain the man was terrified as he recorded the message, but why? What could cause a veteran Unspeakable to abandon protocol and frantically call for help? There was only one way to find out, but the more time he wasted, the lesser chance he had of retrieving Harry successfully. An ugly choice reared its head in front of him, and he found that he had made his decision already.

Somewhere deep down in his gut he felt that this alarm had something to do with Harry. He couldn't say why, but as he found time and time again, his guesses were quite good. He enchanted a quill to scribble a message for Minerva, instructing her to convene a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix for the evening. Fawkes crooned, sticking his leg out for the scroll. Albus smiled warmly at the phoenix, and Fawkes vanished into flames as soon as he'd held out the scroll to him.

Before leaving, he secured the two way mirror in an enchanted drawer in his desk, aware that the only lead to finding Harry was the mirror. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on Hogwarts, feeling the ancient walls thrumming with power around him. Bit by bit, he took down the Anti-Apparition charm from the office. The millennium old power protested slightly, as space-time was altered at the spot. He removed the charm just for a couple of seconds, which were enough for him to disapparate with a faint pop.

"Level Nine, Department of Mysteries", the pleasant female voice echoed.

Albus got out of the elevator and found Croaker waiting for him, trouble on his face. "I must tell you Mr. Croaker that I certainly didn't expect this day to get any stranger", he said, smiling politely.

Croaker grimaced and replied, "Neither did I, Dumbledore. But I couldn't handle it anymore. We need all the help we can get."

"I will be glad to be of assistance. Please, lead the way."

The corridor was dark and gloomy like always, the blue-white light from the torches being the only source of light in the blackness. They entered through the door into the Entrance Chamber, circular and with twelve doors equidistant to each other. Albus waited for the walls to rotate and the doors to shift. But the Unspeakable waved his wand and a door to their right swung open. "This way, please", he strode off.

"The Death chamber", declared Croaker, and Albus nodded. It is true, then, he thought. Harry's jump into a different reality might have something to do with this place, and he needed to find a solution before it was too late.

They stopped in front of the central pit, inside which the tattered veil fluttered softly, without any wind whatsoever near the archway on which it hung. He could hear whispers from beyond the veil, the soft laugh of a girl, several broken promises, and they beckoned him closer. He averted his eyes and asked, "The world Beyond the Veil. Is it truly the realm of Death?"

Croaker stared at the veil, unblinking for a long time before he replied. "It is not like we will ever know for sure, will we, Professor?"

"True", he murmured. "Now tell me, Saul. What happened?"

"It is the damned Veil. Even in the earliest Ministry records of the distant past, the Veil has always served as, well, a portal with its edges confined to that archway. But ever since Harry Potter disappeared from this point right here", he jabbed a finger inside the pit, "that thing has been growing."

Albus blinked. "Growing?"

"Yes. Like I said, the area of the portal is always confined to the archway. But it is increasing slowly. Right now this pit has protective spells over it, otherwise if I were to shove you in, you would be gone forever, Professor."

Albus took out the Elder Wand and muttered some incantations. The Veil stopped fluttering for a second, before it pushed back against his spells with a renewed vigor. A power far greater than any he possessed swatted aside his spells, and the Veil continued fluttering.

"You closed it for a second!" gasped Croaker, astonished beyond measure. "But how? Nothing we did so far has had any effect on that thing."

"Like you said, it was only for a second, Saul. It is troubling, to say the least. Needless to say, we need to stop it before this situation becomes catastrophic." He couldn't tell the Unspeakable about the Elder Wand and certainly not about the Peverells. "How exactly did you find out about this?"

"We lost a couple of men today who were examining it for any clues about Harry Potter", Croaker replied in a sad voice. "Professor, listen to me. This is an event of cataclysmic nature. Did you know that the Ministry was originally built around this structure to study it?"

Albus stroked his beard, slightly unsettled by the turn of events. "No, I did not. So you mean to say that no one knows about the true origin of this archway?"

"Yes. All we know right now is that its diameter is fifteen feet. As it is growing, the rate of growth is increasing as well. We have calculated that if it maintains this rate, it will swallow England in about a week."

"A week?!" gasped Albus, now actually alarmed. "Evacuate the Ministry then. We need to set up a perimeter of operations and work on closing this portal. Merlin's beard, boy. I needed to hear about this yesterday."

He pushed his spectacles back and took a couple of deep breaths. The Deathly Hallows. The Realm of Death. If I combined all three, would it be enough to stop this?

No. That kind of thinking was dangerous. He couldn't give in to temptation again. A couple of other Unspeakables had joined them, he noticed. He didn't know their names. One of them said, "We only noticed this anomaly today, Sir. We notified you soon after realizing that it was beyond our control."

Albus clenched the Elder Wand tightly. Harry. Harry was the key. His jump had broken the balance between the two realities, he speculated, causing a tear in the fabric of space-time in this universe. Assumptions and guesswork. They had no time for it. Croaker whispered something to the other Unspeakables who nodded and left.

"We have notified the Minister. Despite the current political scenario, we feel that the society needs stability and there is no time for choosing a new Minister when in about twelve hours this portal will start spilling out of the confines of the Ministry."

He inclined his head in agreement. Cornelius had to go, but not right now.

"Has anyone found out where Harry Potter disappeared to? It seems to me that all this ties back to his disappearance." Croaker growled. Albus didn't want to share that information with any more people, but this situation warranted full disclosure. They had to figure out a way to get Harry back, and fast. "Tell me Saul, do you know about the multiverse theory?" he asked.

Manhattan

Earth 199999

Harry groaned. Someone was shouting in his ear, but all he wanted to do was sleep. He opened his eyes after some effort. Everything inside his vision was swimming. Someone thrust his glasses at his face. "Huh", he said stupidly.

"HARRY, C'MON. WE NEED TO MOVE NOW", Sirius was shouting. He vaguely remembered a flash of light and a shockwave that had thrown the quinjet off course. He got up, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He was wearing a SHIELD uniform. When did that happen, he chuckled to himself.

Then Sirius grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed his wand at his head. There was a blinding flash of white light and his thoughts grew clearer. Their quinjet had crashed, and they were out on the streets amidst rubble and mayhem.

"That blast was too strong. We are two blocks out, and we have aliens to deal with as well", Natasha was telling Clint, who had his bow out. Iron Man was hovering a few feet above them to his left, surveying the destruction quietly. Harry raised a hand, shielding himself from the sunlight and realized that the scene in front of him was that of utter chaos. A gargantuan eel like warship circled the Stark Tower, almost protectively. The air was full of Chitauri soldiers, and there was a horde of them on the ground as well.

"Loki doesn't want us closing that portal", said Cap. "He knows that if he buys enough time all our efforts will be for naught."

"This whole area seems to be under an Anti-Apparition charm", Sirius was telling Iron Man. "I can't er, teleport anywhere. Damn Loki and his tricks!"

Iron Man landed on the ground, and Harry felt his anger despite his expressionless metallic faceplate. He found his own temper flaring. "What are we waiting for?! There are so many people out there. We need to help THEM."

"Look around you, kid. Do you see any civilians?" Iron Man echoed, his voice a mix of anger and despair. It slowly dawned on him that the streets were empty. There were vehicles strewn everywhere like a hurricane had passed through, but no civilians as far as he could see. "What did he do…" he whispered.

There was a flash of red in his peripheral vision, and he turned, his wand held tightly and pointed straight ahead. To his relief, it turned out to be Thor. His presence didn't settle the uneasy feeling inside his gut, though. Thor growled, "The barrier surrounding the cube cannot be breached. I couldn't stop the machine." He spat the words angrily, and Harry couldn't bear it anymore. "Where are the people?!" he demanded. "Gone", whispered Steve, his eyes closed.

"Gone? Wh-"

"-The Tesseract can take you anywhere in the universe, Harry. Loki opened a portal into the vacuum of space right over the streets. The pressure…it sucked a lot of things inside, including people."

Harry felt bile rising in his throat. "Just like that…" he choked on his words. He buried his face into his hands, trying to control the rage that boiled inside him. "But there have to be survivors."

"I know that", said Cap, his tone sharp. "People who were out on the streets have been butchered mercilessly by these monsters, but those who stayed indoors must be alive and well. We need to save them. But Loki has all of the Chitauri soldiers in a defensive perimeter around the Tower. We can't just go charging in. We need a strategy."

"Call it, captain. That earlier shockwave from the second portal has all but knocked out this armor. If it weren't for Sirius, my current address would be in space", Iron Man examined his palm repulsors.

Cap nodded, and pointed in the sky. "If the whole army gets in, there is no point trying to close that portal. Thor, you need to bottleneck that portal. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up."

Thor whirled his hammer and was gone in another flash of red. Cap continued, "The rest of us, we need to find a way through their defense and close the portal. That flying….leviathan needs to be distracted. Stark, I believe you can do that, which will give the four of us an opportunity to hightail it down the street, into the main entrance of the Tower and straight up to the roof."

Iron Man blasted off into the air, leaving a column of smoke in his wake. Harry took a step, then another, and soon all of them were sprinting as fast as they could, their target looming above them. The road ahead was littered with debris and vehicles were the only possible options to take cover. The Chitauri saw them charging, and Harry saw a group of the airborne ones break off from the horde circling the Tower. They zoomed towards them, and would be upon them in seconds.

Then Iron Man fell upon them like a one man army. Within three seconds the small group of Chitauri was reduced to smoke and falling machinery. The airborne were not a threat, for now. "Twelve o' clock. Sixty feet and closing", warned Steve. The foot soldiers had lined up across the street in a defensive formation. Harry smiled to himself.

He shared a look with his godfather, and they both shouted, "Reducto", angling their wands slightly downwards. There was a loud bang, and the front of the horde took the brunt of their combined spell. Rubble rained down upon the soldiers at the front, and Sirius shouted, "Oppungo!"

Every single piece of rock found its way into some Chitauri's eye in the next second, and about twenty of them dropped, writhing with pain. The remaining aliens raised their weapons and started firing. Their weapons emitted blue bolts of energy, which streaked through the air too fast too dodge, so Harry simply raised his wand and muttered, "Protego!"

"Get behind me", he called, and the others obeyed without questions. All the blue bolts started converging on him, but the magical shield held, to the relief of Harry. It was taking too much of his concentration, so he let the others lead the offense.

Within moments they had broken through the first line of defense, and all hell broke loose. Harry dropped his magical shield, and the vibranium shield went whistling past his ear that very instant. It took one alien straight in the head, which deflected it from its path and caused it to hit another one in its center of mass, before being deflected back to its owner's waiting hand.

Harry had time to gape for a second at the amount of skill involved, before he was broken out of his reverie by a bolt that missed him by an inch. "Careful", called Sirius from somewhere in the crowd. Cap and Black Widow cut through the soldiers like knives through butter, and for a brief moment, Harry allowed himself a bit of hope.

Clint stuck close to him, and took out any attackers that came near them by ground or air, and Harry was grateful for that. He could only deal in ranged attacks, and if it came to close quarters, he would be in grave trouble. "So many of these damn fools", moaned Clint. "I didn't even bring enough arrows."

Harry raised his magical shield around the two of them, and performed a basic conjuring charm at the quiver on Clint's shoulders. "There", he said. "Now your arrow supply will replenish itself."

"Dude! Did you just give me infinite ammo?" gasped Clint.

"I did, Hawkeye."

Christmas had come early for Clint Barton. As soon as Harry brought down the magical shield, he started unleashing explosive arrows at anything that moved. Soon, they were ahead of everyone else, Clint blowing everything apart in their path and Harry taking care to stun any attacker that dared to come closer.

"Guys, I am going to poke the huge thing. So watch out for the airborne, will ya…" came the voice of Tony. Harry tapped his earpiece and shouted back, "Will do." Sirius and the others had caught up to them by then, and they kept running.

Sirius barked "Captain, your shield. Throw it." Cap smashed an alien's head with the shield and threw his shield lightly for Sirius to catch, and then continued his brutal assault with his bare hands.

Sirius, however, did not catch the shield. He pointed his wand at the thing and sent it whooshing straight into the enemy ahead. The vibranium absorbed all the damage without losing momentum, Steve had told Harry earlier. Now he saw it in action. Sirius lined up a series of headshots with the shield, dropping dozens of enemy soldiers.

Harry was more worried about the aerial assault than the pathetic foot soldiers, and he was right. Without Iron Man to fend them off, they were surrounding them on all sides slowly. They are going to try and vaporize us with a burst of energy blasts, he realized with a jolt.

"Captain", he called urgently, gesturing at the sky. He could see the Tower straight ahead. It would barely take a minute if nothing stopped them. Cap had seen it already. "We need Thor", he shouted. "We need to get his attention. Does anyone have a flare gun?"

Sirius chuckled. "I have something better." He twirled his wand and a red jet of light flew straight at the airborne, before turning into red smoke forming huge letters in the sky.

"Thor, followed by a lightning symbol? Can he even read English or understand that symbol?" Harry asked, incredulous. Sirius waved a hand dismissively, "We just want his attention."

Thor didn't disappoint. There was a loud crack of thunder and Harry saw a white beam of light decimate the entire group of airborne in a single stroke. The beam of light made a one eighty degree turn and returned. "Mjolnir", laughed Natasha.

That bit of reprieve cost them, as another leviathan took advantage of the situation and managed to enter through the portal. "Not another one", groaned Natasha. "We already can't deal with one. Speaking of which, where is Tony?"

"Uh, guys? I didn't manage to put a dent in this thing", tittered Tony on comms. "Where are you?" asked Natasha. "I'm bringing the party to you", he replied.

"Negative", shouted Cap. "You keep it busy, Stark. We have an opening here."

"How long?" Tony shouted back. "I already managed to lure it away from the Tower. I can't let it go any further in the city or it will wreak havoc."

Fury's voice echoed in Harry's ear suddenly. "Here is a gift."

"What gift?" muttered Cap in confusion.

There was a loud roar straight above their heads. It was something big, and green, and angry. The Hulk landed in front of them with a thump, and everyone moved backward reflexively. Hulk smiled, and it was a scary thing to behold, with him towering over all of them. Clint gulped and drew an arrow, but Cap held up a hand and he lowered his bow. "Change of strategy", the super-soldier declared.

"Stark, lead that thing here. We have to keep those leviathans busy."

More soldiers were pouring out of the second leviathan that had entered the fight. They dropped in front of the Tower and snarled. Steve turned to Harry and grabbed his shoulders. "Now listen carefully. You and Sirius must find a way to stop that machine. The best we can do is to provide you cover from these monsters while you do that. Stop the machine, or none of this would make a difference."

Harry nodded, and Steve squeezed his shoulders lightly. Harry met his godfather's gaze, and he sighed. "It is true that we have the best chance to succeed, but Loki is unhinged. We need to be extra careful this time."

"I agree", he replied. "Now hurry." He could see Iron Man closing in the distance, a leviathan right behind him. Taking a few deep breaths, he started running, Sirius at his side, the two of them against a large group of Chitauri foot soldiers. It should have been easy, but this time the fight was going to be up close and personal. This time, they didn't have a super-soldier and two assassins to shield them.

"I will cover you", wheezed Sirius. "You take them apart."

"NO", he shot back. "You can take them all before I get a few of them. I will cover you. YOU take them down."

Their argument was interrupted when the Chitauri soldiers started firing. Sirius cursed as the first bolt went past him. Harry quickly raised his shield, but the enemy had realized that ranged weapons were not going to do anything against his shield. They charged, some with spears, some with long axes, and others bare-handed. Harry yelled "Impedimenta!" and one of the chargers hit an invisible wall, but the others closed in. "Stupefy! Impedimenta!" No matter how many he dropped, more took their place. There was always the next enemy, and then the next. There didn't seem to be an end.

Beside him, Sirius swept his wand in the air and a dozen knives appeared out of thin air, which then travelled through the air and buried themselves into the necks of the incoming horde. They are going to swarm us, Harry thought helplessly, as he saw more and more arriving.

Sirius tapped his earpiece. "Tony, are you listening? Please let us enter your goddamn building. We can't push them back forever. We have to make a run for it."

"Keep up, you lazy dog. We just took down this big ass warship without breaking a sweat, in case you didn't notice. You're telling me you can't handle infantry?"

"The building, Stark!"

"Fine", sighed Tony, and a couple of seconds later there was a loud metallic groaning noise from the main entrance of the Tower. The barricades at the front gate were disengaging, Harry noticed. He shouted, "INTO THE TOWER."

Harry noticed the Chitauri soldiers' features for the first time. Up close, their skin seemed reptilian, and they appeared more machine than an organic being. One of them came close enough to strike and Harry dropped it with a stunner. That turned out to be a trick to get him to lower his defense. Two aliens jabbed at him with their spears, one of which he dodged. The other caught him on his shoulder, sending waves of pain shooting down his left arm. He leapt sideways, rolling on the ground to avoid a spear aimed at his heart. To his left, Sirius was drowning in enemies. He had raised up his shield and was using it to push them back, but they kept coming.

There are too many of them. We cannot survive for long. Harry raised his wand desperately as an alien brought down his axe on him. "Imperio!" he coughed. A curious sensation flowed down his arm and the alien stopped mid-swing, but his world turned to darkness.

He felt like someone was ripping his mind from the inside. There was so much to see, so much to hear. There was way too much input. All he could think about was the pain, and how he would give anything to be left alone. He screamed, but he doubted anyone heard him. He saw New York City below him. He was a bird. Or, no. He was on a Chitauri aircraft. He saw himself lying on the street, but it was not him. He was looking at his physical from the point of view of an alien. When he realized that, his mind was twisted once again, and he found himself in space.

There was some sort of spaceship in front of him. The next moment he was inside a circular room full of Chitauri larger than what he'd seen on the battlefield. He was inside the spaceship, he realized. It was the command center. Reality swirled into darkness once again. He became aware of a presence apart from his own, and it was huge. He felt that someone was watching him, and whatever it was, it laughed before he was violently thrown back into his own body.

The alien growled and brought down its axe, but Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and the axe went flying out of its hands. His head was throbbing, and his shoulder was injured, but he couldn't give up now. "Reducto!" he growled, and the armor of the alien exploded to bits, leaving a hole in the center of its body. It crumbled to the ground, screeching loudly.

Harry side-stepped a jab of one spear, dropped an alien with a stunner, and disarmed another before exploding its helmet. Tony's voice echoed in his ear. "My doors are open."

He yelled, "Sirius! Let's GO." Sirius nodded, jabbing his wand forward. His shield spread outwards, pushing the aliens away, buying them a slice of time. They both darted towards the wide main entrance gate of the Stark Tower. The remaining aliens pursued them, and more kept dropping from above.

They dived into the building, and Sirius bellowed, "LOCK IT DOWN NOW!" A couple of Chitauri soldiers stumbled through the gate, but Tony had already initiated the lockdown. A turret came out of the ceiling and fired twice. Twice was all that was needed.

Harry didn't get off the floor for a few seconds. He just breathed. In and out, he told himself. When his heart had calmed down a little, he moved his neck to look around. The building was…clean. It had not been affected even slightly by the mayhem outside.

"Welcome to Stark Tower, gentlemen", a pleasant voice echoed. "I am JARVIS, and I will take you where you need to go."

Sirius was grinning like a fool. "We made it, Harry", he babbled. "Oh God, the number of times I thought I was going to lose you-"

"That was the easy part, Sirius", Harry interrupted his godfather. "We still need to deal with Loki AND find out a way to close the portal."

"You're no fun", Sirius pouted, before turning solemn. He got off the floor, and offered his hand. Harry grabbed it and let himself be pulled back to his feet. He straightened his spectacles and wiped the grime off his face. "Take us to Loki, JARVIS", he told the air, vengeance in his heart.

End of Chapter 7

(A/N): I'm back! I haven't abandoned this story, if that's what you were wondering. Sorry for the huge gap though. I will make sure to post new chapters regularly. Please don't forget to review, and thanks for sticking with the story so far. Until next time, then!