Chapter 48

"There was an op last year. Fury had agents stationed all over the city, monitoring, mostly. I picked Harry's roof as my vantage point. Somehow, he knew that I was there and came out to ask me about it. How did you know?"

"Magic," Harry smirked and Thor let out a boom of laughter.

The answer was perfect from any magic user and one that provoked a sour look from the agent.

"Magic? That's it? You're not going to go into more detail than that?" Clint asked.

"A seidhr's ways are not to be questioned or understood," Thor said, clapping the archer on the shoulder. "Just accept that they have a unique way of doing things that defy the comprehension of the rest of us."

"Seidhr?" Natasha questioned, a question that seemed to be echoed by Harry, if his raised eyebrow was any indication.

"Seidhr, yes," Thor replied. "A Midgardian magic-wielder. That is what they were called, at least when last I was on Midgard many hundreds of years ago. Are you still called by that name?"

Harry's eyes sought out his companion, Hermione, and he allowed her to answer.

"It's an old Norse word," she said. "I'm fairly certain that it related to witches and wizards but these days we just call ourselves that: witches and wizards."

"I will endeavour to remember that, please forgive me if I slip into the old terms, learning new words is not always easy," Thor said, bowing his head slightly in respect.

"Not a problem," Harry smiled. "Besides, I think I like 'seidhr', we should reintroduce it to the wizarding world."

"Wait a minute! Did Point Break just say that he knew that there were magic users on the planet and didn't tell us?" Tony interjected.

"It was not my secret to tell," Thor pointed out.

"How much do you know about us?" Harry asked.

Thor shrugged. "What I remember from what would be ancient history to you. The seidhr and Asgardians were ancient allies; we fought together to rid this world of the Frost Giants. Then, after we left Midgard, Heimdall would give us the occasional report. He told us that your kind had gone into hiding centuries ago. While we do not understand it, we respect your decision."

"Sixteen ninety-two," Hermione stated. "That's when we withdrew."

"The Salem Witch Trials," Steve said. "Remember learning about that in school."

Hermione nodded. "Witches and wizards had always been treated warily up to that point. But with the Salem Witch Trials here in America and the Spanish Inquisition in Europe, the International Confederation of Wizardry introduced the Statute of Secrecy which declared that all witches and wizards worldwide should disappear into our own areas and not let outsiders know that we still existed. It was a survival method that's still in place today."

"And was what got Harry here arrested," Matt continued. "His use of spells in the battle, not to mention the fact that he was wearing clothes that marked him as being different, were in direct contravention of the Statute."

"Then how'd he get off?" Natasha asked.

"There is a set of exemptions to the Statutes," Matt explained. "They primarily cover the use of magic in life-threatening situations."

"I would say that an army of Chitauri descending on Midgard would qualify," Thor nodded.

"It did," Matt stated.

"And how come you know all this?" Tony asked. "I checked. You Matt Murdock, are a partner from a small firm that hasn't really done anything noteworthy that I could find. What makes you so special that Fury would specifically pick you for the task?'

Matt shrugged. "The man never came out and said. He mentioned that he'd been keeping his eye on me, but that's it." Then, at the chuckles and groans throughout the group, "am I missing something?"

"Fury's halfway to being like you; he wears an eyepatch," Tony replied.

"Either way, I'm just glad that Fury did pick Matt. He did a brilliant job. He got the charges dropped before I even had to tell the court that I was not guilty," Harry said, ending Tony's inquisition.

"You have done a great service," Thor stated, clapping the lawyer on the shoulder. "You defended a new friend and an ancient ally. If you ever need assistance, you shall have it."

"About that," Harry said. "I've been told that I'm an Avenger now. Which is cool. But 'Mage'? Where'd that come from and how come I didn't get to pick my own name?"

Once again, all Thor could do was laugh as every eye pinned Tony with expectancy.

"What? You needed a name and you weren't around to ask. So, I did you a favour. You should have heard some of the ones the media was throwing around," Tony defended himself.

"Do tell," Harry said innocently, too innocently if Thor was any judge and after living with his brother for so long, he could tell that there was some sort of retribution in Tony's future.

ooo00ooo

"Sir, there is an Agent Morse from S.H.I.E.L.D. in the elevator," Jarvis announced through the floor P.A. system instead of Tony's earpiece.

Tony looked up, startled before glancing at Clint and Natasha.

"Yeah, Jarvis, we've already got enough Agents here, tell her to go home," he said.

"Sir, my protocols are being overwritten," Jarvis near-whined, if an A.I. could actually be deemed to 'whine'.

"I thought we fixed that after the last time …" Tony trailed off.

His eyes closed briefly and his mind flashed to the elevator doors opening, was it only a week or so ago? He shook his head. The memory of hearing that Agent had been killed was still just a little too fresh.

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