Chapter Text
Harriet woke up with a gasp.
"Harriet!"
Harriet felt the familiar calming sensation of her mother's arms wrap around her. Harriet closed back her eyes in relaxation at the gentle touch. "Mum," her voice mumbled, "I'm alive…"
"Of course you're alive!" Lily scorned, "we were so worried about you!"
"What happened…?"
Lily sat down on a stool beside Harriet after pecking her daughter's forehead. She then told Harrit, "SHIELD tracked your location and your father saved you from the dementors. What were you doing in the middle of nowhere?"
Harriet gulped in fear, remembering the horrifying event at the mention of dementors. She tried to get it off her mind. "I didn't do anything," she answered her mother's worried question. Harriet didn't want to worry her parents. "... How did you know about SHIELD? And where's dad?"
Lily stood up from the stool, her expression morphs into a worried expression. She finally sighs and turns back to Harriet, "sweetheart, your father's been working alongside SHIELD all this time."
"So... he's not a detective…?" After everything that had happened, this was the least surprising.
Then, her father enters the room. "I am a detective, but I'm also an Agent of SHIELD when needed, though my use is beginning to become scarce." He went to his daughter and kissed her forehead just like Lily had done, "how're you, Harry?"
"I'm feeling better. I didn't expect… Dementors… Wait, what about the woman that was there? There was a woman with black curly hair and - She was the one controlling the dementors. A-And she said something about Mr. Riddle… my Literature teacher."
James sighed, rubbing his temples with his rough fingers. "I'm afraid she got away and Riddle wasn't there to begin with."
"He's not even on radar," Fury was the one to add when he entered the room.
Harriet raised an eyebrow at the dark man with an eyepatch wearing all leather. She only saw very short snippets of Clint's memories when using legilimency on him, and so she couldn't exactly tell who this man was. "… Who are you…?"
"Director Nicholas Fury," James answered instead, "head of SHIELD."
"W-Wait, hold on a minute, what do you mean he's not on radar?"
"We've been tracking him down for years now with the technology that we have. He did get captured once by Detective Potter, but he managed to escape. We were wondering where he was, only to find out he'd been hiding under our noses in disguise."
"Is he some kind of a mutant or something?"
"'Or something.' He has the MM-gene." Lily had named it that as a subtle hint that it meant magic-mutant gene, not wanting regular human beings to find out in case she planted paranoia toward the idea of 'magical beings'. "Your mother was the one to have extracted the gene from him while he was detained."
James then further explained, "we were sure he didn't have any MM-gene ability… But he's working with Bellatrix Lestrange, a former renown doctor who specializes anything related to the human body, we can be certain that she'll be able to revive that MM-gene in him if he doesn't have it in his DNA."
Harriet frowned, looking between the two. "… Why're you guys telling me these things? I thought those who work for the government are supposed to be all hush hush about these kinds of things."
"We're giving you this case, whether you like it or not. There's no one else to capture Riddle and Lestrange and bring them in," Fury said. He didn't like giving any case to outsiders — even if they were potential Avenger material — but he couldn't help it, the fate of the world depended on Harriet now.
"... Why me?"
"You're the only one with the power to do so."
Upon seeing Harriet's confused face, Lily was the one to explain. "Your father's gene is changing, and…" Lily's voice trailed off.
"And what…?" Harriet looked at Lily expectantly.
"It's nothing. You'll find out soon, Harriet."
As if that explained everything.
"What your mother is trying to say," James talked, "is that you may be the only one capable of finding Riddle and bring him into custody."
Harriet was guided to where Clint was with the help of James. Entering the room, Harriet saw Clint in bedrest, though seeming to have woken up not long before Harriet had as well.
"Hey, kiddo."
"Hi, uh, Mr. Barton." It was a little weird that Clint's name wasn't Clark Eastwood, or Clint Eastwood - that would've been awesome.
Clint sat up with a groan, "just Clint's fine."
"I take it you're not teaching math anymore?"
Clint smirked in amusement. "Not exactly. I was assigned as your aid, as well as your handler until Riddle and Lestrange are caught and detained into SHIELD facility. Director Fury thinks they'll come back for you again, and if that happens, you'll be ready with or without your powers."
"So, when you say 'handler'— ?"
"I'm saying I'll be training you how to handle yourself even without the, um, hocus-pocus."
Harriet frowned, wanting to retort that she didn't need training. But thinking back to what happened to her, she concluded that she needed all the help she could get if she wanted payback for what those two criminals did to her.
"When do we start?"
"As soon as I get out of bedrest."
The next morning, Director Fury had summoned Harriet to a concrete room. Harriet felt uncomfortable from Fury's hard gaze, feeling as though he was scrutinizing her, which he was.
He finally slid a folder across the metal table that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a cop movie. Harriet peered at the folder and glanced up at the director who stared at her with a hard, unyielding gaze.
She grabbed the piece of file and opened it, and proceeded to skim through it. The papers comprised her profile and several photos of what she'd done in the past two months ever since she dealt with her first minor crime of street theft to the recent Riddle-Lestrange ordeal.
"Assessment of Harriet Potter: A lovesick teenager who tends to make sassy comebacks if tempted or provoked."
Harriet glanced back up at Fury. Her eyes went back to the profile when she saw Fury raise an eyebrow at her.
"That's… true enough. Was it Clint who wrote this?"
"Who else? He was there to gather relevant information on you, but it just so happens that Riddle had interfered, so that's all the description you get for now."
Harriet scratched her head. "So... what does this have to do with anything."
"You didn't read through all of it."
Harriet continued reading. "— Has a strong bias for justice, however, naive. Needs training in combat. Useless without her abilities. Makes smart decisions, but is easily provoked." Harriet's frown was deepening. She didn't know whether these were compliments or insults. "Harriet Lily Potter: Recommended. … Recommended for what?"
"It wasn't a highly voted subject for a kid to join the team, but even if we don't invite you along to save the world, you'll come anyway. So, welcome to The Avengers Initiative, Miss Potter."