An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was after one in the morning, but instead of sleeping (like I should've been) I was trapped in a corridor with a golden circle of light, Stephan Strange and who knows what else on their way.

Stephan stepped out, which I was braced for. My dad came next, which was a little more surprising, but not much. He was pretty overprotective. I expected Strange to close the portal after that, but he didn't. People just kept coming.

Rhodey and Steve and Natasha and Loki and Bruce and Clint and pretty much everybody else who could loosely be considered an Avenger came through the portal one by one, until we were all jam-packed in the hallway like it was Christmas.

"What the hell are all of you doing here?" I demanded once I'd regained my senses.

"Language!" Natasha yelled. Steve pushed her, and I had to stop being frustrated. No matter how tired I was, these people were my family.

I missed them.

"Look, I know this isn't your favorite thing to have happen, but there was a murderer loose in your school a few days ago," started my dad. "I can't just sit at home and not check on you, and neither can anyone else."

Everyone was smiling and nodding at me, and it felt like my heart was actually about to burst.

"Plus, we wanted to see your cool magic school!" yelled Peter, pushing his way through the tall, intimidating superheroes to get to me. Shuri was right behind him, and I wasn't surprised to see Loki pushing through right behind her.

"Well, it's good to see all you guys," I said. "Please keep in mind though, it's going on two am for me. But anyway, Dad, I'm okay. I mean, it is pretty scary that there was a murderer in the castle, but if he shows up I'm pretty sure I can beat him up before he gets the chance to do more than growl."

"Hell yeah you can," said Nat as Clint reached over and gave me a sly high-five.

"Language," added Steve, shooting Natasha a mock glare.

Light laughter made it's way through the group, until my dad got us back on topic.

"Okay, let's go back to focusing on the fact that you could get killed at this school," he said. He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, which I appreciated. "Look, I believe that you can take care of yourself if you need to. And I already had a long talk with that headmaster about his definition of 'safe'..."

"Wait, what? Dad!"

"...so I'm fine with you staying here. I just want you to know you can always come home, anytime you want or need to," he finished.

"I know Dad," I said, stepping forward and giving him a big hug. "I can get you on the phone in 1.3 seconds flat."

"And, if this murderer guy shows his face again, you can call any of us anytime and we'll come take care of him for you," added Uncle Rhodey, putting a hand on my shoulder as I stepped back from my dad.

"Oh, I have no doubt about that," I said with a grin.

"Good. Alright, we'll let you get some sleep. Come on everybody, move out. She'll be back for Christmas." Rhodey started herding everybody back through Strange's glowing portal, slowly but surely. They all grumbled a little bit, in their own ways.

I forgot how much I missed this bunch of lunatics.

"Alexa, next time you're home you're gonna start studying the Mystic Arts," said Strange.

"I mean, I'm cool with that. Any particular reason?"

"I'm tired of being the messenger for your dad. He panics too often for me to keep this up."