You're Not a Horse, Harry!

Number 7

Number 7

Everyone had gathered in the communal living room. All the Avengers, others that frequently worked with them like Sam Wilson and James Rhodes, Ms Pepper Potts, who was a category onto herself, and the guy with the eyepatch, who had the meanest scowl, aside from Snape, that Harry had ever seen.

“Start talking, kid,” Tony said from his spot on the couch beside Harry’s mother.

“About what?” Harry asked, confused but also suspecting they’d want to know about the thing in his scar.

“About the thing in your scar,” Tony said, waving his hand frantically in the general direction of Harry’s head. “We all saw what came out of it and we want to know how it got to be in there in the first place.”

“Haraldr,” Loki said with a patient smile while his eyes were sharp as ever. “Someone performed very foul magic on you. Please tell us what you know.”

Harry sighed. He’d been dreading this moment. Telling everyone he was a wizard. On the one hand, the people around him seemed reasonably accepting of magic. But on the other hand, there was the Statute of Secrecy and Harry really didn’t want to break it, since it had dire consequences.

But perhaps Harry could exploit a little loophole he thought he’d found. See, you weren’t allowed to tell muggles who were unaware of magic about magic. “Before I can tell you anything,” Harry said carefully, pointedly. “I need you all to tell me that you know magic exists.”

“What?” Sam Wilson asked.

“I know magic exists,” Bucky said, which earned him a proud smile from Steve, who immediately added, “And I also know magic exists.”

Pepper Potts was next, and then Loki and Thor and James Rhodes and eventually everyone gave a verbal confirmation, even Tony, though he did roll his eyes while doing so.

“Thanks. Also, I’m a wizard,” Harry said and watched people look at him in confusion. “I am a wizard who for most of the year goes to a magical school alongside other wizards and witches.”

“Okay, kid, keep talking,” Tony said, sitting up and leaning forward.

“Are you saying that there are magic-users living on earth? In some kind of organized fashion?” Natasha asked, head tilted as she looked at Harry as though she’d never seen a more interesting person in her life.

Harry swallowed. “Yeah. Each country has a hidden community of wizards and witches. We have our own governments, schools, prisons, shopping districts and other stuff.”

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone took in that incredible piece of information.

“Why the hell don’t we know about this?” Mr Eyepatch demanded, arms crossed as he glared around the room.

“Because your people used to burn my people at the stake,” Harry said in a deadpan sort of voice, causing Tony to snort with laughter.

“Point taken.” Mr Eyepatch looked at Natasha and Clint and appeared to be giving them some silent commands.

“That still doesn’t tell us how you received that abomination in your scar,” Loki said, narrowing his eyes as though he suspected Harry was purposefully not answering that question. And yeah, Harry kinda was hoping to avoid that subject, since he wasn’t sure how much to tell his parents and the Avengers about Voldemort.

“My parents…James and Lily Potter were murdered by a Dark Lord called Voldemort,” Harry explained to a riveted audience. “Then he tried to kill me with magic, but because my mum…Lily Potter had sacrificed herself for me, his magic backfired.” Harry touched his scar, which was nowadays nothing but a very thin, white line instead of the puffy, inflamed thing it had been. “I got my scar that evening. That’s all I know.”

“And what happened to this Dark Lord?” Steve asked, while beside him on the couch Bucky looked simultaneously worried sick on Harry’s behalf yet murderous towards anyone daring to harm him.

“He got hit with the curse meant for me which blew up his body. I don’t actually remember any of it, as I was just over a year old. This is all hearsay,” Harry felt compelled to add.

“Haraldr, if anyone tries to harm you again,” Thor said as he gazed at Harry with a solemn look, placing a large hand on Harry’s knee, “you need only tell us and we will all fight alongside you to defeat your enemies.”

Yeah, and that was exactly what Harry was afraid of.