To Be A Hero ↠Avengers x HP Crossover

Chapter 12- The Vanishing Act

She made her way to the newly decorated kitchen and started making breakfast. For once thankful her neighbours were so noisy, they helped drown out the voices from her dream.

She had been busy these past few days. She wasn't allowed to paint the walls, but she had managed to find new equipment, which made the place brighten up a lot more. New toasters, kettles, and a mattress really did help the place feel less ancient. It had taken some getting used to American muggle money. They were all green and looked identical to each other! But she had got the hang of it eventually.

On her way home from doing the food shopping yesterday, she came across a second-hand store and decided to have a little look around. She found some beautiful hanging English Ivy plants that now hang in her living room, swaying over the side of the shelf that was home to Neville's self-sustaining plants. As for the kitchen, she had found some mobile glass sun catchers which flooded the boring, grey kitchen in bright rainbow colours. The more magical gifts she received from her family and friends were displayed in her bedroom, just in case she did get a visit from a muggle. It wouldn't be a very good image if the liaison between two ministries had broken the statue of secrecy. Especially not here in America. The rules were a lot stricter than they had been in Britain. That had been the main reason she hadn't transfigured her sofas or tables into something nicer. She didn't want her landlord to notice during a surprise visit. That wouldn't go well at all.

Sending a good morning message in her enchanted notebook, Eliza turned on the rusty muggle radio and got to work on her letters to the two ministers. Both Will and Amy had shown their enthusiasm for a healers department in the ministry, and for that, Eliza was glad. She had given the matter a lot of thought and couldn't think of many objections other than cost. She would have to make some compelling arguments. After all, everyone knows government decisions are usually decided by money, no matter how hard they try to say otherwise.

A few hours later and Eliza had already done the majority of her work for the week. Stacking the papers back into their files, she stretched and went to open the window for some fresh air. The view wasn't great, mostly being the windows from other nearby apartments, which sadly didn't look much better than her own. However, if she craned her neck just right, Eliza could see straight into the main part of town. It was extremely busy right now. Men and women in business suits were rushing in and out of buildings, paying no mind to the traffic that was rapidly increasing.

'It's probably lunchtime.' Eliza thought, that would explain why she was so hungry.

Lunch. Eliza realised with a start. She was supposed to be meeting Amy for lunch right now! Racing into the bedroom, Eliza rapidly changed out of her pj's, grabbing the first pair of clean clothes she saw.

'I better not be late!' Stuffing her feet into her trainers, Eliza grabbed her purse and wand and quickly apparated into a nearby alley adjacent to the cafe. Perhaps she had apparated a little too quickly. She leaned heavily on the wall for support, waiting for the world to stop spinning. She could practically hear Remus's lecture on the importance of apparation safety and the dangers of splinching.

Once the world had finally stilled, Eliza walked out of the alleyway and into the cafe. It didn't take long to spot that fiery red hair. Amelia was sitting at the furthest booth in the corner, her mile high tower of folders right next to her, tilting alarmingly.

"So sorry I'm late, Amy! I was just catching up on work and completely lost track of time. Hope you haven't been waiting too long." Eliza slid into the seat opposite her friend, taking her jacket off.

Amelia simply waved it off, "No problem, I've only been here for about five minutes myself. Had to try and apparate over here with this massive pile," she said, patting the tower, causing it to tilt even more. "Don't worry, it won't fall... I think. I applied a few sticking charms to them. Mind if we eat before we go through them? I'm so hungry I could eat this massive pile of paper!"

Eliza laughed, reaching for a menu. "Of course we can! Can't have you eating those, I need them."

As the two girls ate, they talked about their day, both having not got up to much except work. By the time dessert arrived, the conversation was back onto the job at hand.

"You'll have to thank your uncle for me," Eliza said, digging into her chocolate cake. "He gave us an awful lot of information, must have taken him ages to gather it all. Are the two of you very close?"

"We were, I would go by his house every weekend and have sleepovers and watch movies 'til we fell asleep! But sadly, he left when I was five," Amelia replied.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Eliza said.

"No, you're all good. I actually haven't told anyone about him yet except for Will, and of course, my mum knows."

"Well, you don't have to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable with. But I won't lie, I am intrigued."

Amelia laughed and gave in. "Okay, fine, I trust you, Eliza. I'll give you the short version, or at least the version that I got told. Back when I was five, my uncle was feeling a bit left out. After all, he is a no-maj, or a squib more specifically, but the rest of the family are all magical, so of course, most family gatherings are spent talking about the wizarding side of things.

"Anyways, he applied for a job at some no-maj company and wanted to take it. They specialise in the weird and abnormal things that aren't normal occurrences in the no-maj world and try and protect the people from such dangers. Problem is grandpa wouldn't allow it, he says the company is just trying to get into our world to destroy it and that by joining such a company, he would become a traitor to his own people. My uncle tried to persuade him, tried telling him that the company were the good guys, that the no-maj's need someone looking out for them too, but it just fell on deaf ears. So he left.  Completely vanished, actually. There wasn't a single trace left of him, not in the house and not on the internet - Will searched him for me. He went to Washington last I heard and joined the company. Grandad was furious, of course, and refused to let anyone in the family contact him.

"But he was my mums twin brother, you see, so she tracked him down, whether to bring him home or not. I don't know. But she found him. She told me that he was finally happy. He 'finally had a purpose,' he had said." Amelia paused and smiled. "He was happy, and that's all that mattered to mum, so she let him stay as long as he promised to stay in contact. They still talk every few weeks or so. It's a long distance for the poor birds, so they don't talk as much as they probably want. But anyways mum started persuading me to contact him again last Christmas after she told me this story. And so, ever since, we've been slowly getting to know each other again. It's amazing, Eliza, to reconnect with a family member who one year ago you weren't even allowed to talk about. Of course, Grandpa still doesn't know. Just me and my mum for now. Well, me, mum, you and Will."

"Oh, Amy, that's amazing, I'm so happy for you! But wait, what if your grandpa finds one of your letters?"

"We use code names! It was my uncles idea. He's the Vanishing Act, and I'm Phoenix," she explained, pulling a strand of her fiery hair. Having finished and paid for their food, the two girls made their way back to small alleyway, both carrying a pile each. "He was so happy that you wanted to know about muggle jobs. He used one whole side of parchment just expressing his joy. He also said that we should use something called why-fhy so you can research your options, whatever that is."

"Wi-Fi? I have that back at my flat, shall we?" Eliza asked, having managed to successfully draw out her wand without dropping any of the files. 

Amy took Eliza's arm, and with a twist, they vanished.