The following morning when the teenage Avengers awoke, they expected themselves to be asleep on a bed, awakening from a spectacular dream, and getting ready to go their separate ways later that afternoon.
However, as Tony’s eyes blinked open to the sun shining on his face, he noticed his bed felt…different. Rolling a few times over, he felt himself land on the floor with a hard ‘thud’. Now that was really strange, his bed just shrunk!
Expecting to see his bedroom walls of white surrounding him, he saw a bunch of other beds all lined up instead. His royal-blue bed curtains were drawn wide open to reveal a room full of boys getting dressed. At the bed closest to him was Bruce, looking young, already dressed and his nose in a book, trying hard to stifle a laugh. Sitting up, Tony’s eyes popped open in shock. So it wasn’t a dream? He thought to himself. The time pendant really works! Tony scrambled hastily to his feet.
Bruce must’ve read his mind because he ended up laughing and chucked him a pair of robes, boxers, a plain white buttoned shirt, a blue and bronze striped tie, a thick grey V-necked jumper and grey trousers.
“You expect me to wear this?” Tony asked incredulously. It was almost as ridiculous as having to wear the hat. Bruce shrugged.
“It’s uniform. Get used to it. Now hurry up, or we’ll miss breakfast!”
Groaning something about personal freedom, Tony grabbed a towel and made straight for the bathroom while Bruce fingered the time pendant that hung around his neck.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Oi, come on now, breakfast will be over soon, and honestly, we’ll whack you with your hammer if you don’t get up!” Sirius cried as he shook a deeply snoring Thor. Turning to James, he gave his friend an exasperated look, who seemed to be trying to wake Steve.
“Please, can I get one more minute?” Steve begged as he turned and stuffed his face into his pillow, holding his finger up. He also added onto that, but his words were muffled by the pillow for him to be understandable.
Getting rather impatient, James lifted his wand in the air and thought, I really hate to wake you up like this Steve, but you’re making it bloody effing difficult! With that, James thought ‘Levicorpus!’ and Steve was hoisted by the ankles.
“Son of a gun! What the hell? I was having a damn dream when—” Steve opened his eyes to find his world upside down. He could feel the blood rushing to his face, and by the gawking familiar faces, he knew very well where he was. “Oh…so this isn’t a dream?” He asked, feeling embarrassed, and was glad that there was blood already pumping in his face. Remus only shook his head, smiling gently while Peter was rummaging under the bed, complaining about a sneaker. Sirius and James however wore identical grins, only James’ was smugger.
“I had to mate, you wouldn’t wake up.” James pointed out and Steve merely fidgeted.
“Uh, right…can you…uh…put me down now?” Steve asked, suddenly feeling a little dizzy. James only smirked before raising his wand and muttering the counter curse ‘Liberacorpus. ’
Landing with a violent thud, Steve was dropped back onto the bed and he sprang up to find Sirius struggling to lift Thor’s hammer.
“Bloody hell…heavy…can’t…pick…up…” Sirius grunted to himself.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you. He loves his hammer rather dearly.” Steve advised to Sirius who stepped back from the thing, looking rather thoughtful at it. A few locks of his dark hair fell over his eyes as he tried to blow them off his face. James had now lifted his wand, but Steve made a grab for his arm.
“I wouldn’t try that either. As friendly as Thor can be, he’s got a nasty temper. And honestly, no one wants to make a god of storms, lightning, and thunder unhappy.” Steve warned. Sighing, James let down his wand, but Sirius looked rather pleased, looking down on the sleeping Thor with admiration.
“You know, I could trade him with Regulus any day. That way Loki can have dear Regulus as a little brother and Thor can be like my older bro. Things could be happier that way. Funny how much we have in common really, now that I come to think about it.” Sirius’ eyebrows furrowed at his observation while Steve grabbed the folded clothes at the foot of his bed.
“It’s uniform.” Peter squeaked. Steve merely shrugged while James and Sirius exchanged a glance of surprise.
“It doesn’t bother you that we have to wear clothes like this?” Sirius demanded, tugging at his overlong sleeves. Again, Steve shrugged.
“I’m a superhero. I wear a uniform that has me wear tights tighter than spandex. Honestly, I don’t mind this one bit.” Grinning, Steve made his way to the bathrooms while James snorted.
“Spandex…” He muttered to himself, and within a second, Thor was hoisted by the ankles, and Thor gave a rather shrill yell of bloody murder.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Clint woke up, blinking as the sun’s rays directly hit him in the face. He had a rather remarkable, yet odd, dream that night. But the dream just wouldn’t continue. It just stopped there.
When his blurry surroundings came into focus, he blinked repeatedly to find himself in awe. He wasn’t delusional, nor was he imagining things. There he was, sitting in a comfortable bed in blood and flesh. He was in Hogwarts.
Looking around, he found that the Hufflepuff dormitory he was sleeping in was almost empty aside from two boys who were hastily putting their socks and shoes on. They gave him warm smiles of greeting and exchanged the question of how well one another slept that night.
When they left the dormitory, he was indeed alone, standing there not knowing what to do. As independent as he was, he longed for Natasha to at least be in his house. It wasn’t fair. Thor had Steve, and Bruce had Tony. Natasha was stuck in calloused hell with the Slytherins and Loki, and here he was. Plunked in the lonely house of Hufflepuffs. How Natasha made Slytherin, he had no clue. Maybe it was her cunningness of being once a Russian spy? But that was too vague. Or perhaps it was her shady past?
Sighing, he grabbed a stack of neatly folded clothes at the foot of his bed, a sticky note stuck on the first article of clothing.
Clint
I didn’t wish to wake you, but I left you your uniform on your bed, so when you wake up you’ll attend class in dress code .I’m not sure whether you have your schedule yet, but in case you don’t, we Hufflepuffs have our first period class with the Ravenclaws. Our class is out in the grounds, not far from Hagrid (the giant’s) hut. You’ll see us.
Amos
Sighing, Clint took the sticky note and folded it, tucking it deep into the robes’ pocket and made his way to the bathrooms for a shower.
At least he had first period with Tony and Bruce...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Natasha was awoken by a sharp jab at her shoulder. Blinking and groaning, she sat up to find the same, stuck up blonde she was sitting with yesterday smirking at her.
Oh God, not her. I thought this was a dream! Natasha thought to herself, mentally giving herself a kick. However she faked a smile at the blonde girl and said a civil “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you too. I guess I haven’t introduced myself yet? I am Narcissa Black.” She extended a small, white hand, with French tipped fingernails.
“Did you just say, ‘Black’ as in Regulus Black, and Sirius Black? Are you their sister or something?” Natasha asked blearily, and Narcissa sneered.
“Not quite dear, but I’m their youngest cousin. I see you befriended our little Sirius and his friends? You’re no different than my second oldest sister, Andromenda.” Narcissa scorned coldly. Natasha’s posture straightened.
“I heard Andromenda is a sweet woman.” Natasha countered coolly back. Narcissa rolled her eyes. Turning her back against Natasha, she began to walk towards the dormitory’s door.
“Andi was always my favorite sister,” Narcissa began softly. “But then she disappeared a year after she graduated and we never saw her again. Last time she owled me, she said she had eloped with that Mudblood filth, Ted Tonks. Auntie Walburga had her blasted off the tapestry.” Her tone became restricted and bitter.
“Ever since she left, Bellatrix became closer to me than ever.” Her tone was calloused and empty, but Natasha could sense the longing in her voice. To lose a family member you were close to would leave scars in one’s heart, no matter how distant they became. Natasha envied that. She didn’t have that relationship with anyone other than perhaps Clint.
Narcissa left the dormitory and shut the door with a cold slam, leaving Natasha sitting alone.
Natasha painfully drew in a deep breath. It was her first actual day of being an official Slytherin, and so far it was going horribly. Whatever quality she possessed for being in Slytherin made her stomach lurch. Sure she didn’t have the best of pasts and yes, being a Russian spy made her cunning, but what did that have to do with anything? This school year wasn’t going to be easy…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Loki woke up with a start, feeling free from being bounded by ropes and his brother’s hammer. How strange… He thought to himself. Sitting up, he allowed himself to blink. At first he was confused, not knowing where in the world he was. It definitely was not in the basement at Stark Tower. Hell, he was lucky he was sleeping in a bed. A rather comfortable bed… Since when did they give me a bed?
Wait, so this isn’t a dream! Loki thought. Swinging himself out of bed, he spotted a thin boy leaning against the doorway. He had dark brown curly hair and an amused smile on his face.
“I thought you wouldn’t wake up.” The boy said coolly, walking towards him, a folded uniform in his hands.
“If I didn’t know this was a reality, I don’t think I would’ve wanted to.” Loki murmured softly, taking the uniform. The other boy raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” He asked, looking clearly confused, watching Loki skeptically. Loki blinked rapidly. He was most certain that being stuck in time was his little secret and not to be shared with anyone else.
“It’s nothing. I just thought that this was all a strange dream.” Loki said hastily, turning around, making his way towards the bathroom.
“The name’s Rabastan Lestrange.” The thin boy called after him. “I’ll meet you in the Great Hall. We have potions for first period.” Loki didn’t respond. It made him lonely, not to have Severus or Regulus, the two who had welcomed him openly. But perhaps, the Slytherins would all welcome him…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The smell of food filled the air as the six Gryffindors entered the Great Hall.
“What man in this world has all the time to come up with so much food?” Thor asked, wondrously eying all the plates of food before him. “You earthly men impress me day by day.”
“Men? Nah, it’s not humans that prepare all this food. It’s the house elves.” Sirius said, helping himself to sausages and pancakes.
“House elves?” Steve asked eagerly, preparing himself a light breakfast of buttered toast and fresh fruit. “Are they responsible for the school maintenance then?”
Remus nodded. “They cook and clean, as well as carry out simple orders from teachers. Usually they dwell in the kitchens though. 600-800 students is a lot of people to feed.” Remus cast an eye of disgust towards Sirius and James who were shoveling food down by the second, “Not to mention, boys with hormones that don’t have any manners at all and can’t seem to control their appetites.” Remus glared at his friends as they looked up, smiling guiltily with their mouths full.
Thor sniggered as he ate his bacon. It seemed like James and Sirius had etiquette that matched Tony’s own. It was a good thing he learned to control his own appetite before coming.
“Hey! Potter!” Called a bossy, female’s voice. They turned to find Lily Evans marching towards them, a piece of parchment in her hands, her dark red hair billowing behind her. It was obvious she meant business.
“Evans!” James called back, a bit of eggs falling from his mouth. Lily’s nose wrinkled in disgust.
“How Dumbledore placed you as Head Boy, I have no clue. But he wants all of you in his office. Now.” She said, handing James the parchment. Sirius however shot her a bemused gaze.
“We didn’t do a bloody thing!” Sirius cried out indignantly. Lily turned to him self-assuredly.
“Guilty conscience, Black?” She asked, and Sirius sent her a scathing look. James looked up from the parchment, an eyebrow raised.
“Why is Snivellus part of this…meeting or whatever?” James demanded. At this Sirius stood up, clearly affronted.
“Whatever happened to Snivellus, we had nothing to do with it. It was probably some other bloke who—” Remus cut him off with a glare, beckoning Sirius to sit down. Lily, who was getting impatient, sighed and tapped her foot.
“Dumbledore wants to see us before classes begin. Obviously, you all don’t realize how important this is.” She snapped. James folded and pocketed the parchment.
“Alright then Evans. Let’s go gather the rest us and we’ll meet at Dumbledore’s office.” James compromised, but Lily’s eyes flared.
“What do you mean, ‘meet up’? If we split up and I’m not there to keep you in line, then you and Black will obviously find an excuse to be up to no good.” Sirius huffed.
“We have Remus!” Sirius pouted. “Remmy here will keep us in line, won’t you Remmy?” But Lily shook her head. She knew perfectly well Remus wasn’t one to stand up to his friends. She of course, knew his reasons why.
“I believe we’re wasting time.” Remus said tiredly. They didn’t however need any more bickering because they were joined by Tony and Bruce.
“We overheard there’s some special meeting going on, and that you needed to gather up the rest of us. We figured we must be part of it.” Tony shrugged.
“It’s about the time pendant! I know it.” Thor whispered excitedly, clearly forgetting it was a secret. Everyone turned to Thor and hissed for him to shut up. Lily however, looked at Thor in surprise.
“Time pendant?” She whispered sharply, not containing her anxiety and interest. Why did Dumbledore trust these new students with a time pendant?
“What do you mean by ‘time pendant’?” She pressed. Thor began to shake his head violently.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Honestly, I do not know why I said that.” He said hastily as Bruce tucked the pendant into his shirt. “I dreamt it up last night.” Thor rambled on nervously. Tony began to pretend cough loudly, casting Thor the evil eye.
“I’ll just shut my mouth, for it would be beneficial for everyone.” Thor continued and under the irritated gaze of Steve, he distracted himself by digging into his ham. Lily just stared at Thor, eyebrows raised at his peculiarity.
“I refuse to believe I’m in Slytherin!” huffed a female voice at Slytherin table. Natasha had slammed her fork loudly on the table and rejoined her friends, ignoring the hisses and sniggers of her housemates.
“Is ol’ Cissy making sure you’re well?” Sirius asked playfully, walking over to Natasha and peering over at Slytherin table. Natasha scowled.
“Your cousin is so…so…I don’t even know her well enough, and I don’t like her one bit.” Natasha spat. Sirius chuckled and ruffled her hair. Natasha growled.
“Well, you’ve got ickle Reggie and Cissy. That’s my family in a nutshell. You’re lucky you don’t have to meet dear, sweetest Bella.” Sirius said. Natasha grimaced at the name.
“Well, Narcissa told me a little bit about her. Said she got close to Bella after Andromenda left.”
“Bella, who’s this Bella…?” Tony asked with interest. Sirius turned to face him darkly.
“Bellatrix is probably the darkest witch you’ll ever meet. She’s into the Dark Arts and is all soaked up in the whole Pureblood mania. She’s desperate to join the Death Eaters and she’s head over heels for old Voldy. I peeked in her diary before. Her fantasies about him are rather repulsive, but funny as hell.” Sirius said, smirking smugly. Tony’s face of interest dropped into sudden revolt.
“I suppose with someone as dark as her, she’s ugly as well? I mean, look at all the Slytherins. The only decent looking one is your brother, and he’s a spitting image of you.” Tony expressed. Everyone began to snicker at Tony’s outburst. Sirius was smirking at Tony’s reddening face.
“Oh, you know, it’s the inherited Black gene, we Blacks are born with features to literally die for.” Sirius said, tossing his hair a bit and pretended to analyze his nails femininely. James coughed in his drink and Lily allowed herself to look amused. Tony looked away, muttering to himself how it was just a sheer observation, and how he was a straight man.
But it was true. The majority of Slytherins looked like a rather unpleasant lot, apart from Regulus and that blonde that must’ve been Narcissa and a few others. Perhaps it must’ve been the inbreeding that messed them up so badly…
“You’re actually rather wrong.” Sirius chuckled, returning to his natural self. “Bellatrix is actually the prettiest out of her sisters. She has that dark, mysterious demeanor. Rodolphus, her stalker, likes to call her his ‘fallen angel’. Or ‘The Angel of Darkness’.” Steve choked in his ham while Peter gagged in his pumpkin juice. Thor snorted in his goblet, water dripping slightly from his nostrils.
“Andromenda is the spitting image of Bella though, only she emits a warmer and kinder aura.” Sirius continued.
“And then there’s my dearest mother, Walburga,” There was a sound of snickering at the name, but Sirius looked disgusted. “I swear that woman always has her knickers in a twist. Her britches are tighter than McGonagall’s! She loathes me, but that’s fine. Reggie is her favorite. I honestly can’t stand her. And then there’s—”
“Are we honestly going to sit here and gossip about the Black family? We have Dumbledore who we still have to meet with!” Lily burst out. She looked like she had wanted to interrupt but didn’t want to be rude. Her eyes were now sparkling furiously, her lips were quivering, and she did not look happy one bit. She was no longer an amused Lily.
“Right, I’ll go get Severus and Loki—” James said standing up, making his way to Slytherin table. But Lily was fast and grabbed James by the wrist.
“Absolutely not!” She snarled angrily. “I’ll go fetch them myself. With you and your arrogance, everything will go catastrophic, and let’s make one thing straight, YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” Lily looked like she was on the verge of exploding, and many students had turned to watch them with sniggering faces. James however smirked.
“Can’t keep your hands off me Evans?” He teased, and they watched Lily stalk off, seething with words like ‘arrogant prat’ and ‘lousy disgrace’. James frowned.
“She’s probably late on her monthly spill. Blimey mate, girls are complicated.” Sirius said, trying to be amusing. James however, did not laugh, and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“Right, I guess I’ll go get Clint then.”
Author’s Notes: And the final edited chapter; chapter five. Thank you for those who have been following through with this story and been keeping their patience with me. The brand new chapter seven should be up and running, so all those who wanted chapter seven will eventually get their hands on it soon.
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