*Chapter 40*: Chapter 40

"This is not the type of job that I thought you meant" Una said as she looked around the facility. Harry just smiled.

"It's better than being dead right?" Harry asked.

"I figure you want me to help you with technology. You will be disappointed. I'm not exactly an expert on how things work. I just know that they do work and how to use it." Una explained. Harry shrugged.

"That's more than anyone else knows. Besides, I am sure that Ren will appreciate the help." Harry said. Una just looked at him.

"You did not kill me just so I could help you with something that I probably can't even help you with?" Una asked in slight confusion. Harry looked at her.

"A long time ago I might have done just that. I use to kill plenty of people without a thought. Mostly because it was easy and earned me an income. When I think back on it though, I realize it was because it was an activity that I felt connected me with someone I use to be close to. I myself didn't really enjoy it nor feel a dislike for it. Now, I try to not kill people unless I need to or there just an asshole. Leave that to my significant other." Harry finished

"Does that mean you will stop saying you are the world's greatest assassin?" Asked Ren who finally entered the room.

"Nah. I already earned the title meaning someone has to beat me to take it away from me." Harry explained.

"One, you were a mercenary not an assassin. Two, that logic only applies to wrestling not killing people." Ren deadpanned.

"Ren, here I am giving you a new assistant, who is an ALIEN by the way, and all you can do is complain about my well earned titles!"Harry exclaimed. Ren chuckled slightly before looking at the blue woman with some curiosity.

"And who might you be?" Ren asked ignoring Harry.

"Una-Rogg of the Kree." Una said warily.

"Kree? Interesting. What brings you to this planet?" Ren asked as his eyes started to light up.

"Questions for after I leave maybe. For now let me do some quick explaining. Una is going to help you figure out the science behind her technology. She also can kinda suck out your soul through a kiss so be wary of that." Harry joked. Ren just scrunched his eyebrows in confusion while Una glared.

"I can't tell if you're joking or not. I did actually want to ask you how you found an alien though?" Ren asked,

"She found me actually. Yes, I also am sure she is an alien and not some sort of mutant or magical variant of a human." Harry said. Ren seemed to make a grunt in thought.

"Hmm. So you are sure she won't try to kill me?" Ren asked. Una did look slightly offended.

"Of course I'm not sure. That's why we have the turret security system. Oh by the way Una, there is a security system built into every room that will blast you to pieces if you try to hurt any personnel." Harry said to the blue woman. Una seemed like she wanted to say something but apparently decided not too.

"Good so you two have fun with science and shit. I have other stuff to take care of." Harry said as he prepared to leave.

"Wait! What did you want us to work on with her?" Ren asked.

"Whatever you think may benefit us, especially if it concerns our little project." Harry said as he gave Ren a meaningful look. Ren nodded in understanding. Una looked confused as she looked between the two men but still didn't say anything. Harry smiled and waved goodbye at the two before disappearing in a flash. Una looked at Ren.

"Is he always like that?" Una asked. Ren just shrugged.

"Pretty much. You should be glad that age has mellowed him out." Ren said to the tall blue woman.

Wolfe Cove

Harry looked at what use to be his snake as Sammy sipped tea in his kitchen.

"So, do you perhaps want to explain how you now have a human form?" Harry asked.

"Not really a human form. More of an anything form. While you have been sitting behind a desk doing nothing, I decided to study magic. You have a library of books that you haven't even bothered with. I thought I might as well take a look." Sammy explained.

"And this form of yours was in those books?" Harry asked. She shook her head.

"No, I had taken a liking to arithmancy and actually created this form myself or at least the ability to change form easily." she said with a lazy drawl. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Anything else you may have learned?" Harry asked.

"Plenty. Speaking of learning, it seems your power stopped growing. I was going to discuss that with you as I found out that's pretty dangerous." Sammy explained.

"A little late. Found out awhile back and made a quick solution. I put some runes on my skin that act as magical storage. They fill up and then disperse any of the extra magic after that safely into the air around me.

"That sounds like something complex that you just simplified to make sound simple." Sammy said with a smirk that was very reminiscent to her snake smirk. Harry smiled at her.

"Well you know me...So we going to have a fight or what? I want to see how strong you are." Harry said.

"I...don't think that's a good idea." Sammy said as she looked at him. Harry raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why? What's the problem?" He asked.

"To put it simply. You are out of shape. You are still both fast and strong but you are definitely not as fast and strong as you use to be. Plus, I doubt you have learned any new tricks. In a fight between us, especially with my bodies magical resistant properties. You would not win." Sammy said. Harry glared at her.

"Now i'm going to have to insist." Harry said. Sammy shrugged.

"Whatever." she replied. They both walked outside. They went over to the beach where Harry drew a rune in the sand to put a light dome around them to prevent damaging the island.

"Alright should we jump right into it." Harry said as he got into a stance. Sammy did the same. Harry started with a heavy stunner sent towards her. Sammy didn't even blink and barely moved to summon a shield to block the stunner. The way she did already proved that she was better than most modern day wizards. How much better was the question. Harry was about to throw out another spell to test her but Sammy did so first. She threw out a pitch white spell that almost looked like it had a trail of fire behind it. Harry threw up a powerful shield to block the spell and watched with surprise as it went straight through. He was barely able to dodge to the side as the spell flew past. It was very concerning that even when it missed him he could physically feel the heat coming from it as it passed by. Spells usually didn't have physical effects coming off them. With the darker ones, you could feel the darkness coming from it just like you may feel certain emotions from one's like an expecto patronum. Spells were really just concentrated forms of intent anyways. They needed to hit a living thing to even do anything, unless they were overpowered and cause damage. Of course, when you throw out an elemental magic like lighting or fire you could physically feel it since elemental magic worked differently than regular spells.

This spell definitely had heat pouring off of it that Harry could only imagine was comparable to the black flames that he used. Harry looked back at Sammy who was smiling innocently at him.

"We're going to play like that are we? Alrighty then." Harry said as he conjured a pack of wolves from the sand on the beach to attack Sammy. Sammy easily blasted them back into sand but Harry only needed it as a distraction as he conjured a giant wave of water from the ocean next to them. Sammys eyes seemed to widen a little but quickly whipped into action. She formed a transparent bubble shield around herself. The wave hit her and as soon as it did, Harry reached out with his magic and froze the water solid on top of her. He looked at his handiwork with satisfaction. Because of her little shield, the water had frozen around her in a sphere looking pretty beautiful actually..

The beauty didn't last long though as it started glowing bright blue before exploding outwards sending large shards of ice in every direction. Harry blocked the ones coming at him before looking at his snake/person/shapeshifter? He was honestly still confused about the whole thing. Sammy looked unconcerned about the fact that a minute ago she was frozen in an ice sphere.

"Most impressive. Seems I had underestimated your skills and reflexes after all this time." Sammy said with a smirk. Harry returned.

"Well I'm just that amazing I guess. You ready to call it quits?" Harry asked. He was pretty sure that she knew that she couldn't win at this point. Unfortunately her smile just got wider.

"You seem confused. I didn't say that you were going to win. Merely that I had underestimated you." Sammy clarified. Harry frowned at that. Sammy held out her hand. Immediately red markings started to swirl around her hand in an almost mesmerizing pattern. The markings looked like letters of some kind though not in any language he was familiar with. They were probably runes of some sort though he had never seen runes used in such a way and had no idea of how to even go about copying such a technique.

The glow pulsed once before a giant red mist shot out of her hand and quickly formed a giant cloud directly in front of him. He wasn't sure if cloud was the right word. It looked like a million tiny small things forming and moving as one to make a large thing. Either way, the way it pulsed almost like it was alive actually made Harry a little scared, almost. The red mist seemed to notice him and rushed at him in a very quick pace. Harry flashed away but some of the mist had already stuck to him. He watched as it ate away his clothing and started to eat away at his skin. He started to release large amounts of magic to purge the mist from his person but nothing seemed to work. Not only was it not working but it seemed to get larger the more it ate away from him. Eventually he summoned black flames to burn away the mist and that seemed to do the trick. He made sure to burn every last bit so it could not multiply back into existence. With the most taken care of, he flashed back to the cove more than a little annoyed.

"What the shit was that?" Harry yelled at Sammy. Sammy was sitting on a piece of driftwood on the beach probably waiting for him to return.

"Hmm. Just a little idea I had awhile back. Turned out quite successful don't you think?" Sammy said with a smirk.

"Successful my ass. That mist shit was trying to eat me alive!" Harry said as he held up his rapidly healing arms. Sammy nodded.

"Well its suppose to. Its suppose to consume everything in its path until it's destroyed or called back to me. Even magic isn't immune to its effects. I assumed you used your little flames to destroy it?" Sammy asked. Harry glared at her for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah it burnt it completely." He admitted. Sammy nodded as if such a result was expected.

"Magic with such a destructive nature can overwhelm or at least hold it off. Not many, i've noticed, have access to that kind of magic though making it very hard to counter." Sammy said. Harry was still grumbling in anger about almost being eaten alive.

"So how did you make it?" He asked. She smirked. She seemed to be doing that a lot more in this form.

"When I'm not sleeping and eating away the day, I relieve my boredom by trying to develop new magic for different purposes. Just something to keep me entertained. I've had quite a bit of success so far." Sammy explained.

"And the runes you used to summon that killer mist?" Harry asked. He was most interested in that since he considered himself quite the expert in runes yet he had not recognized them at all.

"They aren't runes, they are seals. Similar yet quite a bit more versatile. The language used for them is lost as far as I know but I have managed to find a few books with them when I decided to travel." Sammy said.

"Could you teach me?" Harry asked. Sammy shrugged.

"I'll think about it." She said unconvincingly. Harry glared at his snake in annoyance.

"Hey remember when I gave you magic that allowed you to do basically anything you wanted and not have to slither around everywhere. That sure was nice of me and all. Maybe you might be able to return the favor you know." Harry said with continued annoyance. Sammy put a finger up to her lips in thought.

"Hmmmm. I'll think about it. I need to decide if you doing what you should have no matter what is truly worthy of a reward." Sammy said.

"...You honestly believe that I am more your pet than you are mine don't you?' Harry said in defeat.

"What kind of stupid ass question is that? Of course you're my pet. That was never in question." Sammy said. Harry just sighed in exasperation.

"I'm going to leave now. In a few days I'm going to come back and hopefully you will be willing to teach me something. Also, you better visit your sister. She will be starting Hogwarts soon." Sammy said. Harry's eyes bulged in surprise.

"Oh shit. I totally forgot to visit her recently. She must be pissed at me." Harry yelled at himself.

"She is but she is very intelligent so she understands how busy you have been." Sammy said.

"Still not an excuse. I should go visit her tomorrow. It's been too long." Harry said talking to himself once more.

"Well if that's all, I'm going to go and sleep somewhere." Sammy said as she disappeared and a larger than average snake took her place before lazily slithering away. Harry looked at the snake in confusion.

'Why wouldn't she just walk to her napping spot before changing form?' He thought to himself before he too disappeared.

New York

Harry flashed into his apartment and immediately climbed into bed where he draped himself over his girlfriend and wrapped around her. Natasha squirmed into him a little before she found a comfortable position.

"Did you kill her?" Natasha asked sleepily.

"Nah. turns out she was an alien and we worked out a deal. She's going to be working with Ren until I decide she has worked off the debt she owes me for trying to kill me." Harry said.

"Okay. Were going to Tony's tower for dinner tomorrow or today I guess." she said. Harry figured she must be either too tired to care about the fact that Una was an alien or simply did not care normally. He couldn't tell.

"Mm why?" Harry questioned.

"Whole gangs getting together for dinner. Heard even Thor will be there." Natasha said.

"Okay. Night." Harry said sleepily as he drifted off almost immediately.

7 Hours Later

"Rose, I'm so sorry sweety. I swear I'll make it up to you. I promise. Anything you want and I'll get it for you just name it." Harry said trying to appease his pouting sister. Rose just glared at him and stayed silent. Harry just hung his head down.

"I want a dragon." she said to him. Harry's head shot up in surprise.

"A dragon? Why would you want that?" Harry asked.

"The lady on the television who's a princess has some. I want one too." Rose said as she looked directly at him. Harry felt a chill down his back as he suddenly realized his sweet little sister was testing him. It was clear this was less about the dragon and how far Harry was willing to go for her forgiveness. Harry sighed.

"Alright then. You want a dragon I'll find one for you. But understand that it will be hard to take care of. You have to find a way to feed it and keep it from eating people. Do you understand." Harry said seriously. Rose nodded at him in understanding and smiled at him.

"Now, what shows have you been watching with dragon princesses?" Harry asked trying to change the subject.

"Game of Thrones!" His sister almost yelled. Harry's face went blank at the mere mention of the show.

"Game of Thrones….who let you watch Game of Thrones?" Harry asked quietly.

"Sammy did! We watch it together when she picks me up for visits." Rose responded happily. Harry grit his teeth. He would be having words with Sammy later about what was appropriate for his younger sister to be watching while over for visits. Rose, however, did not need to know that.

"I see. Well what have you been up to here? Not getting into any trouble I hope?" Harry asked as he looked around her room. It seemed to be filled with things both new and old. Many were gifts he had given which filled him with some pride.

"Nothing much. I sometimes have Jessica come over and visit and we play games. Other than that I play with magic." Rose said as she produced a light in her palm. Harry looked at it and found himself thinking about how beautiful it was. It reminded him of a star you would see at night.

"It's very beautiful. What else can you do?" Harry asked. Rose shrugged.

"Not much I guess besides fire and the light. Sometimes when I get angry stuff breaks around me." Rose admitted with some embarrassment clearly. Harry smiled.

"Maybe I should teach you some mind arts to help you control that better?" Harry suggested to the girl. Rose looked at him with a scowl.

"You're not off the hook yet. You have to get me a dragon first if you want me to forgive you!" Rose said at him. Harry put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Okay Okay a dragon it is. Then mind arts" Harry said as he stood up. It was, sadly, very late in London at the moment.

"It's time for you to go to bed I believe." Harry said as he opened her comforter and gestured for her to hop in, which she did with no complaint. It was was already close to 11 at night, their time, and Rose was clearly tired.

"Goodnight Rose." Harry said as he placed a kiss on her forehead and made his way to the door. She already appeared to be asleep by the time he was closing it. Harry shut the door and moved downstairs where he saw the rest of the Potter family talking near the fireplace with some of their friends such as Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Harry over the years had learned to better tolerate their presence but knew that every time Sirius saw him, that he wanted to ta-

"Harry come sit with us for a moment and chat." Sirius called out to him. Harry repressed a sigh and simply swallowed his annoyance.

"I don't think now is the best time I am quite busy and still have things on my schedule." Harry said trying very hard to not just be an ass and tell the man to shove it up his ass.

"Nonsense this won't take long." Sirius said as he continued to press. At this point, Harry could tell James was clearly uncomfortable. While they were no longer at each other's throats. Conversations between them felt forced. Harry knew that it was his fault but honestly preferred it over the man constantly trying to bother him with conversation. Lilly on the other hand was a totally different story altogether. She wasn't saying anything but it was clear through her eyes she wanted him to stay as well. Both his "brother" and Remus looked impassive at the thought. Sirius on the other hand looked determined. Harry decided he might as well humor the man since in truth he had nothing to do until the dinner tonight. This could be entertaining.

"Alright you old mutt. What do you wish to talk so badly about?" Harry said as he made no move to go physically into the room to join them but did at least face the man. Both of his biological parents looked on with surprise as well as Arthur and Remus. Sirius just looked pleased.

"We were just talking about some of the current state of affairs in Magical Britain. Since you played such a large part in reforming the government and winning the civil war, we wished to hear your opinion on what is happening is all." Sirius said as he looked at Harry expectantly.

"I think that you have 5 to 10 years more of the muggleborn tearing the previously known dark purebloods a new asshole as punishment for all the years of blood purity bullshit they had to deal with. I think that after that you have another 30 years where while there may be less actual straight up attacks on the new minority but still be a lot of tension and not much trust. And finally think that if at that point your government hasn't managed to become extremely corrupt or destroy itself. Your society will finally start to some advancements it very much needs to continue to survive." Harry finished. All looked at him in deep thought.

"I see. You think it will take that long then?" Sirius asked.

"That was me being very optimistic. In truth, it also wouldn't surprise me if it took centuries before all the animosity went away. I was only optimistic because of how much the new government wants to move past the ugliness and establish good relations between all its people. If they continue on at this rate then yes it could take a decade instead of centuries. I would advise you to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. That would be smart." Harry said.

"I see. You're pretty knowledgeable. Have you given any thought of a career in politics? Many would follow your lead on principle. I'm sure you could speed up the process if you wanted." Sirius said. Harry nodded as he leaned against the door frame.

"You are so right. Now that anyone can pursue politics I could as well and yes I'm sure I could speed up the process quite a bit but there is a few problems with that thought line." Harry said. Sirius looked at him but Harry said nothing more.

"Could you elaborate?" Sirius finally asked while the others paid direct attention to him. Harry shrugged.

"For one thing I absolutely hate politics and am more likely to kill my opponents from sheer annoyance than I am to beat them in a political race. Two, the last thing the British people need is some powerful figure to swoop in and solve all their problems. It's high time that they learned how to solve their problems by themselves. Relying on others to constantly do all the work is why they needed so many wars in the first place." Harry finished. Sirius's eyes lit up in understanding as he nodded. Arthur too seemed to be deep in thought about something or another.

"Well if that is all I do have prior engagements to get to so I shall see you all later when I bring Rose her dragon," Harry said as he made to leave. As he disappeared out the door the family and friends were sitting in stunned silence.

" Did he just say he was going to bring Rose a dragon next time he came here?" Remus asked in clear confusion.

"He did. Oh well. I'm sure he meant a toy or stuffed animal." James commented as they all went back to their original discussion as they accepted his assumption as fact.

Stark Towers, New York, 7 pm

"Harry you seem to have gotten handsome in these past months! A few more years of that and you may be able to get to my level of handsomeness." Tony joked as he approached both Harry and Natasha as they came out of the elevator.

"It's going to take a lot more than a few more months before my good looks degrade to your level old man. I feel so sorry for Pepper. Having to pop back in your hip every time you try and get intimate must be a tiring task." Harry shot right back at the man.

"I'll thank you to not make comments about my sex life which I will have you know is more than adequate," Pepper said as she rounded a corner and gave a slight glare at him. Natasha smacked him on the back of his head for good measure.

"Ouch woman! Fine! Mayhaps I took it too far. Pepper can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?" Harry said as he bowed low mockingly.

"Fine but only because I have to see that ugly mug to often to be on bad terms with you," Pepper said with a faux snobbish tone in her voice. Harry laughed at her and brought her in for a friendly hug.

"It's good to see you guys. Anyone else here?:" Harry asked. Tony nodded.

"Banner and Capsicle are both here. Clint's on his way and so is Thor. He wanted to go visit his little lady friend beforehand. I invited him to bring her of course but he said she was too busy working on something.

"Shame. I have a meeting with her within the next week about something. Wonder if this has any relation to that? In any case, I think I'll go to visit Hulky and Cap." Harry said as he left the group. Pepper and Natasha were still in the middle of some discussion so he left his date behind knowing she would join him again at some point. Harry moved upstairs to see the Captain drinking a beer while looking outside at the view.

"Beautiful view tonight," Harry said as he came and stood next to man. Roger's looked at him and gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

"Wolfe, good to see you. How's the corporation life treating you?" The man asked politely.

"Love the work and things I build but I hate the paperwork," Harry responded with a smile.

"I can understand that. I can barely fill out reports with how boring they are to write." Steve said with a chuckle.

"Hahaha. Yeah, you don't seem the type who would be able to tolerate it for too long. Speaking of reports Where did you just get back from? Nigeria was it?" Harry asked the man. Steve immediately tensed up and looked at him.

"Don't worry. Natasha doesn't tell me anything. I know it myself. I trust Natasha with my life and know how capable she is but I still can't help but check in to make sure she's okay. Just the thought of someone hurting her makes me want to crush them to a pulp which is why I rarely ask about injuries she gets from work. At most I speed up her healing process but I never ask. I'm trying to experiment with making the bond I feel with her two ways so she can do the same with me if she wants." Harry explained quietly. Steve visibly relaxed at that and nodded in understanding.

"I can understand that. I can't tell you how many times if I was just one second faster or knew of someone's peril one second in advance how I could have saved their life." Steve said as he seemed to lose himself in thought before shaking his head and looking back at Harry with a small crooked smile.

"So I guess you guys are pretty serious then huh?" Steve asked. Harry smiled before holding his hand out. Steve looked at it confused before a small dark blue box materialized into his hand. Steve's eyes bulged as he processed what it was.

"Is that…" he started but didn't dare say out loud. Harry smiled and nodded.

"I decided a few months ago and decided to get it personally commissioned. I keep it on me at all times." Harry said as he opened the box after making sure no one was around. Inside was a ring though not like any proposal ring Steve had ever seen. The metal itself was black in color and he couldn't tell exactly what metal it was. Embedded in it were three small rubies. It was very beautiful and very much matched Natasha's style. It had an almost threatening feel to it as if telling those around it to only admire it from afar and to beware if they got too close.

"It's beautiful...When are you going to ask?" Steve said as Harry put it away and had it disappear.

"I haven't chosen a specific time. I figure I'll know the proper time. Plus I want to give her time to spend with me first. I know this all seems very rushed but I'm sure of my decision. I just want to make sure she will be too is all." Harry said as he looked out over the beautiful cityscape.

"I think you should go for it. It's clear that she loves you. She brings you up quite a bit at work you know. Talks about things you do that annoy and endear you to her but either way she says it with an affectionate tone. I'm not sure if I would ever use the words smitten in conjunction with her but I would say she is the closest thing to it." Steve said. Harry smiled at him appreciatively and nodded.

"What are you two boys talking about all alone over here?" Natasha asked as she approached. Harry turned and smiled.

"Beer and Nascar of course. What else would two manly men such as ourselves be talking about alone." Harry immediately responded. Steve rolled his eyes at that while Natasha tried to swat at him again for his cheek.

"Well Thor and Clint are here so we're going to start the dinner," she said. Harry smiled.

"Good, I'm starved," Harry said as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and left to the bottom floor where the table was while Steve followed.

They walked down the steps where Clint was waiting to greet them.

"Sup jackass," Clint said with a smirk as Harry approached. Harry squinted at him.

"That's funny. I could have sworn that Nat told me that my old teammate was here but so far I only see some old dude that looks like he may have been Clint's dad or possibly grandfather. Can I help you, sir? Could you tell me where your son has gone or are you yourself lost?" Harry responded mockingly. Clint dramatically grabbed his chest.

"Ah, you wound me, kid. Is that the welcome I get after all this time?" Clint asked.

"You came in and called me a jackass. You got what was coming." Harry deadpanned at the man.

"Eh. You may have a point." Clint conceded.

"Wheres lightning boy?" Harry asked Clint frowned and shrugged.

"Don't know. Soon as he got here, he dragged Tony to some private room to talk with him. I'm sure they will be back soon though." Clint said. As soon as he said it, a pair of doors opened from the side of the room and Thor and Tony came strolling out with serious looks on their faces. Harry could immediately tell that they were not in civilian mode. This was hero mode serious. Harry schooled his features and saw everyone else in the room do the same in preparation for whatever was going to be said.

"What's going on?" Harry asked. Tony said nothing which is out of character even for him. Thor was looking at him.

"My friends, I fear I have come bearing grave news. A threat the likes of which none of us has ever seen is currently approaching the Earth as quickly as they can. They are led by a creature called Thanos." Thor said not bothering to mince his words. This had an unfortunate effect on Harry. His body froze as he immediately recognized the name.

'I just learn about a mad titan named Thanos trying to kill me and now I hear of something called the same name approaching Earth. That can't be a coincidence!' Harry thought as the cold spread out in his body.

"Aliens?" Natasha said with some incredulity while Harry just felt a cold sensation settle in his stomach at the name. Thor nodded at here question.

"What are they after?" Harry asked despite not really wanting to know. Thor wouldn't meet his gaze.

"At the moment there are only rumors to-" Thor tried.

"THOR!" Harry yelled. Thor hesitated before continuing.

"They say his main purpose here is to hunt down a wolf," Thor said. As soon as the words left his mouth, every eye was on him. Harry let out a breath.

"Fuck"