*Chapter 21*

June 17th, 2009

Harry was sitting on his beach getting, or at least trying to, get a tan. For everyone who truly knew him, they would know that this was not normal behavior for Harry. Harry didn't sit around wasting time trying to futilely get a tan. He would relax occasionally but never to this extent. So why was he sitting out in the sun on a beach chair that he had to go out and buy? Because Harry made a promise. A promise that he had forgotten about, but Tracy and Daphne apparently had not forgotten about. Last year, he promised that they and their families could spend the summer on his island. So here they all were. Daphne came with her mother and sister while Tracy came with her mother and father who after much prodding, agreed to come on this little vacation and were actually enjoying themselves. Mrs. Greengrass needed no prodding whatsoever. As soon as Daphne asked, she was already packing and preparing to go which seemed to actually irritate Daphne, much to Harry's amusement.

Now they were all here. All the girls were enjoying themselves in the water while Harry and Mr. Davis were sitting on beach chairs planted in the sun.

"Quite the place you have here Harry. Well protected too." Mr. Davis said. Harry cracked his eyes and looked at the man in his peripherals.

"Thank you," Harry said politely.

"How did you come by it, if you don't mind me asking?" Mr. Davis asked.

"I bought it around 4 years ago," Harry replied honestly.

"That must have cost you quite a lot." Mr. Davis commented in surprise. Harry shook his head slightly.

"Not as much as you think. Word of advice. If you want to buy a property and you know how to apply good wards or know someone who will do it for you cheaply, then always buy from muggles. Everything in the magical world tends to be heavily overpriced. I only buy things in the magical world that I absolutely cannot get in the muggle world." Harry said.

"Ah. I did not know that. To tell you the truth, I am not that accustomed to anything muggle." Mr. Davis said.

"You should become informed. Muggles outnumber wizards 1000 to 1. Plus their technology gives them an edge over almost all wizards." Harry said. Mr. Davis looked at him incredulously.

"Surely you jest. Yes, muggles have the technology but we have magic." Mr. Davis tried to say. Harry just shook his head.

"Magic is made for all purposes of a wizard's life. Muggles however are extremely good at finding ways to kill or at least subdue their enemies. I have no doubt that if a war broke out right now between muggles and wizards, muggles would slaughter wizards like animals." Harry stated calmly.

"How can you be so sure?' Mr. Davis asked suspiciously.

"I have seen the result of their weapons of death and war first hand. Not something a wizard is equipped to go up against. Most muggles aren't even equipped to go up against them. Their attacks are so quick that the naked eye cannot even see them. Would you like to see an example of what I am talking about?" Harry asked. Mr. Davis looked unsure but nodded. He wanted to see these supposed weapons. Harry and Mr. Davis both got up and Harry led him back to the house. He entered his room and grabbed a locked suitcase in his room before walking back outside to the side of the house with Mr. Davis. He laid the case down on a rock and put in the code before pushing it open. Inside where two Glocks and two clips of ammo. He grabbed a single of each and loaded the Glock before showing Mr. Davis.

"This is a modern-day gun. I'm sure you have at least heard of a gun before." Harry said. Mr. Davis nodded.

"Have you ever seen one in action?' Harry questioned. At this, Mr. Davis shook his head in the negative.

"I thought so. You see, the problem is that most magical do not have a shield that can block this. They would have to rely on conjuring a physical shield like a stone wall or another physical object to block its bullets. I myself made a shield to block bullets when I was younger but have not had to use it in a while. Now for the demonstration. Watch the tree over there as I shoot at it." Harry said as he nodded his head in the direction of a palm tree that was close to 50 feet away. Mr. Davis looked at the tree and waited. Harry took aim and fired three times at the tree. As soon as the shots were released, they collided with the tree and dug deep into the bark. Mr. Davis simply looked on with wide eyes.

"But…how?" He said astonished.

"Muggle weapons release their attacks much faster than a spell can be cast and also faster than the eyes can tract. Even if they could, a bullet is still small enough to be harder to see. Do you understand why most magical would be in danger against such a thing?" Harry asked. Mr. Davis nodded slowly while looking with slight fear at the gun in Harry's hand.

"And there are no practical ways to stop such an attack?' Mr. Davis attacked. Harry shrugged.

"There is some armor that can block up to a certain bullet size. If you know you are going to be shot at, you can always prepare a shield in advance as well." Harry said.

"So it's best not to get into open combat with anyone that has such a device.' Mr. Davis concluded. Harry nodded. After that. He put the gun away and they went back to the beach where they met up with the woman who was now outside the water and lounging in towels on their own chairs.

"Where did you and Harry go dear?" Mrs. Davis asked.

"Harry was just showing me a certain muggle weapon that they now use. Very impressive as well as scary. Certainly not anything I would want to meet in battle." Mr. Davis said. Mrs. Davis looked at him slightly confused before dropping the subject.

"So Harry how is the business going?' Mrs. Greengrass asked. Harry gave a dirty look to Daphne for telling. She just looked at the ocean innocently.

"Well since you already know about it…it is going well. We are just about to open up our first store in America. American wizards tend to have fewer biases against muggles so we figure that would be a good place to start." Harry said with a smile.

"Oh, that's good. Daphne told me that you offered her and Tracy a job if they ever needed one." Angelica said. At this, Harry internally smiled.

"Why yes, I did. In fact, I wanted to make Daphne my personal assistant as well as help me run the actual company. I'm afraid that I am not well versed in business and this may cost me later. This is where Daphne comes in. She is a smart girl who I know for a fact now's all about politicking and negotiating. Of course, she will be well paid. For Tracy, I was thinking more of an executive management position. What do you think?" Harry asked with a smile after explaining his plan. Mrs. Greengrass smiled.

"I think it is a great idea. You should put some thought into it Daphne dear. These opportunities only come once in a lifetime." Mrs. Greengrass said to her oldest. Daphne gave a quick glare to the smiling Harry before answering.

"Yes, mother." She said through gritted teeth. Her little sister simply giggled behind her.

"You should as well Tracy. Such job opportunities don't come often." Mrs. Davis said. Tracy just nodded and looked at Harry. Harry was wondering what she was thinking. Over the past month, Tracy had gotten used to the idea of his job but she seemed a little more distant know that she knew he killed people. Harry was of the opinion that she was a little afraid of him now. Only time would fix that though so he would leave it alone. With all the talk of business out of the way, they all went inside to have dinner since it was getting lower.

July 13th, 2009

Harry had decided to spend some more time with his baby sister since he hadn't seen her in a while. So he went to the Potter house and kidnapped her while leaving a note explaining what was going on. Deep down, he found the thought of the Potter's panicking over the thought of him taking Rose a little funny.

"So Rosy, what do you want to do today?" Harry asked.

"Hide and Seek!" She said back with excitement.

"Okay. I guess we can play that." Harry responded with a smile to his cute sister. They played that while Tracy and Daphne plus their families were swimming in the ocean. Most of it was Harry just following around the giggling Rose. He had to make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. After she was done he was ready to play some more games with her.

"So you full now?" Harry asked.

"Ice Cream!" Rose yelled/demanded.

"Ummm. I'm not sure that is such a good idea-."

"ICE CREAM!"

"Ice cream it is."

5 hours later

Harry was back at Potter Manor with Rose. He was also covered in multiple flavors of ice cream from head to toe. He tried to get rid of it but all attempts had been failures so far. Rose stood next to him perfectly clean and smiling. Harry just smiled and knocked on the door. It opened immediately to show an angry Lily in the doorway. She looked ready to tell him off for kidnapping her daughter but immediately took in his hilarious appearance along with the glare on his face. She could not stop himself from bursting out laughing at his appearance. Harry just grumbled in anger.

"You going to let me return Rose or not woman," Harry demanded. Lily took a second to calm herself before looking down at her daughter.

"So did you have a fun time at Harry's house?" Lily asked her daughter. Rose beamed up at her fun.

"YEAH! We had ice cream!" Rose said.

"I can see that," Lily said as she tried to make sure she did not burst out laughing again.

"I'm sure you can. Now hurry up. I have places to be." Harry said, no longer wanting to be here.

"Alright Rose, say goodbye to Harry," Lily said as she took her daughter's hand and led her inside.

"Bye Harry! Thanks for the ice cream!"

"Goodbye Rose," Harry said with a wave before flashing away to go and find out how to get all this ice cream off.

August 1, 2009

Both the Greengrass and the Davis's had just left after thanking him for a lovely stay and making him promise that he would let them over again some time. If he was being honest, they were kind of boring to Harry. Hanging out with normal people for an extended period of time was hard! He needed something to counter the boredom. Something that was exciting and action-packed all rolled up into an afternoon. He could try and get another contract, just for old times' sake. He sighed and started to put on his signature black hoodie.

"Going somewhere?" Sammy asked as she slithered into the room.

"Yep. Decided I need to go out and kill something. Preferably a human scumbag." Harry said as he put on his shoes.

"Bring me back a souvenir," she said as she slithered under the bed.

"Maybe I should get you a little snake boyfriend. You seem tense recently Sammy dearest." Harry teased.

"Ha, you think you're funny. Won't be so funny when I strangle you in your sleep though." Sammy hissed back.

"Ouch Sammy. I'm only trying to look out for you, you know." Harry said with mock pain.

"At this point, I am pretty much the closest thing to the queen of all snakes. It is beneath me to need a human to look out for my welfare." She said back smugly.

"Better watch out. That's the kind of arrogance that can get you killed." Harry warned.

"Oh? You mean the same kind of arrogance that you show in every single situation?" Sammy asked sarcastically.

"Well yes but they actually can't kill me. I'm way too powerful and cool for something like a human to be able to kill me." Harry said while puffing his chest out in pride.

"Oh, I'm sure. Now weren't you going somewhere?" Sammy said, clearly ending their little back and forth.

"Yes, I suppose I do. Ta ta Sammy. I'm going out to play." Harry said as he flashed away.

Same day (New York City)

Harry was currently in the backroom of Craig's bar, waiting for the man to show up. The man better hurry too. Harry was getting bored even faster. After waiting a few minutes, the man finally stepped into the room and greeted him.

"Harry. You rarely come in anymore. You just call. What's the occasion?" Craig asked.

"Just felt like going old school today. So what you got for me?" Harry asked nonchalantly. At this Craig shrugged.

"Nothing that I can think of. Not many contracts going on right now. Especially after that contract spree you've been going on for the past year." Craig said with some slight amusement. Harry frowned at this.

"I couldn't have taken that many could I have?" Harry said skeptically. Craig just deadpanned at him.

"You have taken 53 contracts over the past year alone. You are even being called 'The Reaper' in dark underground circles." Craig said. Harry looked at him in surprise.

"They even gave me a nickname? Why? Doesn't everyone know my real name by now?" Harry asked. Craig nodded.

"They do but I suspect many think that 'The Reaper' fits you a little better than 'just Harry'," Craig said sarcastically. Harry just waved it off.

"They are just exaggerating." Harry tried to say.

"Do you even know your official kill count?" Craig asked.

"…..No"

"2,567 people. And those are just the ones they could confirm. You probably have even more." Craig said. Harry's eyes were wide. While he never bothered to even try to count all his kills, he was pretty sure that it couldn't already be that high.

"That can't be right. No way have I taken that many contracts even counting the ones when I was with Nick." Harry said incredulously.

"I think you are underestimating how many underlings you have also killed," Craig said with amusement. Harry just looked at him and tried to get an estimate in his head of all the underlings he had killed. Plus there were all the random people he had killed because he found them to be disgusting. Then the few contracts like Daphne's that he took on the side. It was all starting to come together.

"Ok….maybe I am a little scarier than I originally thought," Harry mumbled.

"Yes, you are. Now, will that be all for today?" Craig asked with mock politeness.

"Wait, you seriously have nothing for me?" Harry said. He was silently panicking. He needed to relieve stress! He couldn't do that without a contract. Craig shrugged.

"Nothing that fits your MO. Besides, I think you should calm down on the contracts. I hear shield is on a 24-hour watch for you. Have their top people out searching for you. Best to probably not draw their attention for a while don't you think?" Craig said. Harry looked at Craig silently for a minute. His face was blank as he processed what the older man just said. Then his face broke out into a huge grin. A devious grin that made Craig uncomfortable.

"Harry….why are you smiling like that?" Craig asked wearily while inching towards the door in case Harry had finally lost it.

"Oh, Craig…You just gave me the most wonderful idea."

8 pm or 4 hours later

Harry was standing on top of a future skyscraper. It was currently under construction which was not uncommon for the New York skyline. There was always some new company trying to build here. What was uncommon about Harry being there was his reason. He knew he was probably playing with fire but honestly, he didn't care. He was just bored. He needed something to happen. Luckily for him, something WAS about to happen. He had openly walked around NY for two hours in front of as many cameras as possible. Why? Because he wanted to gain Shield's attention. Yes, Harry was so bored that he was going to use one of the most powerful government agencies in the world to alleviate his boredom. He had no doubt that they would send the best they had to try and contain him. They also couldn't send to many men otherwise they would make a noticeable scene. So now he was playing the waiting game on the shield agents that he knew would be here soon.

Just as he finished that thought, he felt a tingle on the edge of his senses. Two people had just entered the building. He was so glad that he could finally sense humans. Took forever to figure out how but it was so worth it. Just had to find the rhythm that their heartbeat was making as well as the vibration of the blood pumping through their veins, which now let him really sense any living creature. He felt them take the elevator to the second-highest floor before creeping up the stairs to his floor. He know he felt them on the other side of his floor no longer moving. Most likely discussing how to take him down or in. Harry didn't care. He just continued to look out over the beautiful New York skyline from the top of the building. He had to look like a badass after all. After a couple of minutes, he felt one of the signature's hides not too far from his position while the other approached him stealthily. He had to admit, if he wasn't able to loudly feel their hearts, he wouldn't know they were there. Must be real professionals then. Good. That would only make it more fun in his opinion. He suddenly thought of what Sammy said earlier about his arrogance.

'Hm. Maybe I do have a problem.' Harry thought. As soon as the person was 30 feet and closing, Harry decided to speak.

"You're a little too loud to be trying to sneak up on me." He said without turning to the person behind him. He needed to keep his cool image.

"So you heard me? Impressive. Do you have enhanced senses by chance?" said a feminine voice that he actually recognized.

"So they sent you after me again huh red," Harry said while turning to look at the woman known to most as Black Widow while totally ignoring her question. She smiled back.

"Well, they wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to get away this time." She said.

"Didn't do such a good job of that last time as I recall. Is that why you had to bring a friend this time?" Harry asked amusedly. Her smile dropped for a split second before returning.

"That's quite the gift you have." She commented, trying to get more information from him.

"I have no gifts. All you see is a result of hard painful work. But enough about me. Let's talk about you and your little organization that can't even find me unless I let them." Harry said.

"We wondered about that. Why did you purposely let us find you? You must have known we would see you. Did you hope to cut a deal?" Widow asked. Harry just hmmed to himself.

"You are extremely good at getting information. Everything you have said and asked was said to draw information from me. Not really going to work, but impressive none the less." Harry said with a smile.

"Does that mean we are just going to skip to the hard part?" She asked innocently

"Oh, I suppose it does," Harry said back with the smile on his face. This was the fun he was hoping for. Neither moved at all for a minute. Both just silently assessed their opponent. In a split section. They had crossed the gap between each other and were trying to trade blows. As soon as he dodged the first fist by a hair, Harry knew that she was skilled. She had more experience than him, but he could so far tell that he was slightly faster and more adaptable than she was and stronger as well. He ducked down to avoid a jab and immediately launched one of his own straight at her stomach. She jumped back to avoid, but before Harry could press his advantage, he had to sidestep as an arrow went whizzing by his head. He looked in a slight surprise at the arrow not lodged in the wall.

"What the hell. Is your teammate The Green Arrow?" Harry shouted.

"Don't ask. He gets real touchy when people bad mouth his bow and arrows." The widow said back. Harry just shook his head and reengaged with the female assassin. They were back to trading blows but now Harry was on the defensive. She seemed to be trying to grapple and put him into a submission hold. He had to continuously block her hands from grabbing hold of him. In turn, he also had to stay close to her as well. If he got too far, the arrow dude would shoot at him since she was no longer in danger of being hit. Harry also was not about to use magic otherwise this wouldn't be fun.

He then gained an idea. He grabbed Widow by her outstretched wrist and shoved her down. Just as he predicted, once she was out of the line of fire, the arrow dude shot one right at him, only this time, he was prepared. Just as it was about to hit him, he snatched the arrow from the air and wielded it like a knife at the, now, up to Black Widow. He immediately went back on the offensive and slashed at stabbed at her. She tried to disarm the arrow from his grasp but he was too fast to be able to get it away from him. She tried to punch him low in the kidney, but by now, Harry had figured out how she fought. He reached down just as she punched and grabbed her fist as he countered with his own. He hit her straight in the kidney which causes her to jolt forward in pain. Before she could recover, he took the arrow and put it right into her leg. The arrow tip was apparently electrically charged because she started spasming as soon as it went in. She then fell to the ground out cold. He heard a yell from the archer's current position.

"Natasha!" the man yelled. Huh. So that was her name. He would remember it.

Harry jumped behind a concrete just as three arrows flew by his last position. He then got up and started running straight into the shadows and hid. He calmed his breath and looked around. He could feel the archer sweeping the area as best he could in the night as he slowly approached his downed companion. Harry started to move again. He moved quietly from shadow to shadow as he kept an eye on the man. He slowly made his way around to the man's backside before approaching him quietly. He sneaked closed until he was right behind him. He reached out to knock the man out in one blow but before he could the man spun around and shot an arrow right at Harry. He was too close to avoid it and it pierced his skin. He grits his teeth and fell to a knee as electricity soared through his body. When it finally stopped. He tried to get up but was immediately kneed directly in the face causing him to fly backward. He immediately flipped over and hopped to his feet so he could prepare himself for the man's attack. The man was reaching for more arrows so he ran straight towards him to stop him.

They immediately entered a close combat battle. This man was good but it was clear his expertise laid more with long-range. Harry was able to handle him much better than he was able to handle Natasha. He gave quick punches to the man's abdomen the made him lean forward. Before the man could recover, he grabbed the man's head and used his knee to slam into the man's face as he brought the two together forcefully. This made the man immediately fall backward. Harry rushed to him so he had not to time to recover. As soon as the man lifted his head to get back up Harry's foot came slamming down on it causing him to collide with the ground and get knocked out instantly. Harry just bent over and took a breather now that they were both down.

"Hehehehe….Ha-ha…HAHAHAHA! That was fun." Harry said between his breaths for air. He had not such a hard fight since his old sparring lessons with Nick. Though he knew he was still a while from being at Nick's level. Nick specialized in hand to hand combat. He could have easily taken these two down in the right environment or with enough prep time. After he was done catching his breath, Harry looked down at the two downed assassins.

'Suppose I could heal them up and leave them for their agency.' Harry thought. With that, he aimed his hands at them and watched as a soft green glow surrounded them both and their wounds healed. To most, it would now look like they were just sleeping. Harry sighed.

'Guess that's my cue to get out of here. Bet Sammy is going to get on my case about being so gung ho about this.' Harry thought. And with that, he flashed away leaving the two government assassins to be found alone and passed out by their back up, 5 minutes later.