An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Forty-One

"Hey guys," I said, grinning and not bothering to explain. "How's that Strange?"

"Hmm..." Strange, stroked his beard with one hand, walking all around my portal and poking his head through. Finally, he turned back to me, his assessment complete. "Looks good. Nicely done, Alexa. Now, can you close it?"

I laughed. "That's the easy part. Ron, Harry, do me a favor and don't tell the twins about this. I'm gonna scare the hell out of them when I get back."

They nodded, still looking seriously freaked out. I waved, then shut the portal. Once I'd finished everything without a hitch, I turned to Strange and grinned in triumph.

"Ha! I did it!"

Strange smiled one of his rare, genuine smiles. "You did. Nice job."

He gave me a high-five, and with the help of Strange's Cloak (Cloaky, for short) I pulled him into a hug. After a minute I pulled away and we both went downstairs to join the party finally getting started. I had a massive smile on my face, and it didn't leave once the entire night.

Just a few hours later, Dad's party was in full swing. New Year's was always one of my favorite events because it brought everybody together, from far and wide. And sure, there were some people in attendance that I barely knew. But it was worth it to see the people I only spent time with once or twice a year.

Nothing particularly unusual happened until around eleven, t-minus one hour to midnight, when I was approached by a lady I recognized from my dad's whining about her.

Maria Hill, Deputy Director of SHIELD.

"Miss Stark," she said, coming to talk to me. As far as I could tell, she was one of the only adults in the room who was completely free of the influence of alcohol.

I nodded to her. "Maria Hill, right?"

"That's right. I assume your dad's told you who I am?"

"Nothing beyond your name and position," I said, deciding to play this one close to the vest. I didn't want her to know I'd searched up her SHIELD file right after my dad whined about her the first time. This way, I could tell if she was going to lie to me.

"Well, on behalf of Nick Fury and the rest of SHIELD, I wanted to talk to you about joining us once you're done with school," she said. I did my best to keep the surprise off my face, but I'm sure I wasn't successful. SHIELD wanted to recruit me?

My dad was going to go ballistic.

"Why me?" I asked. I was confident they knew nothing about Hogwarts, although I wouldn't put it past Fury the super spy to realize there was something off about my boarding school.

"You're incredibly smart, talented, and strong. We think you'd make a great addition to the agency, in whatever capacity you wanted to join."

I was not interested in joining SHIELD. I'd heard too many bad things from my family, and I was about to say so when Hill interrupted me.

"Take my card," she said, handing me a little rectangle of paper. "You don't have to decide now. In fact, it's probably better if you don't. Talk to some of your family, whatever you need to do. We just want you to know that there are more opportunities out there for you after school than your dad's company, if you want them."

I took the business card and she nodded before disappearing back into the crowd.

"Ana?" I said, turning to the side so no one could hear me talking to my AI.

"Yes, Miss Stark?"

"Save the number from this card, just in case we need it later. Then burn the card."

"Will do, Alexa." I passed the card off to Jarvis, sure Ana would pass my instructions on to him. No matter what all the agents and whoever else said, I still wanted nothing to do with SHIELD. I only kept the number as a direct line, since Fury almost never answered my dad's calls anymore.

Maria Hill was going to regret giving me her number.

The party kept going well after midnight, and as a result I slept almost all day Saturday. We had one last family dinner Saturday night, and with the time difference and how long it took to fly to London, my dad and I had to leave right after dinner to make the Hogwarts express on Sunday.

We got to the station just in time, and as usual it was hard to say goodbye. But at least this time I was excited to see my friends again, and I knew it wouldn't be long before I was back with my family.

Besides, with sling portals at my disposal, I could basically see anybody I wanted any time I wanted.

I waved goodbye to my dad and barely made it five steps down the train before the twins were upon me.

"Alexa!" they yelled, running over and giving me a big hug. They each grabbed one side of my trunk and started walking down the corridor, assuming that I would follow.

"Hey guys!" I replied once I got enough space to breathe. "How was your break?"

"It was great!" said Fred, turning into our compartment.

"Yeah, and Ron stayed at Hogwarts, so it was even better!"

I laughed as the boys hefted my trunk into the overhead storage. I knew Ron stayed at Hogwarts since I nearly scared him to death, but the twins would just have to find out about that the hard way.

"I'm glad you guys had a good break," I laughed, sinking into the window seat next to Fred. "Where's the other half of our little group?"

"Should be here any minute," said George, leaning over to glance into the isle. After not seeing any of our friends, he sat back up and looked at me. "So how was your break Alexa?"

"It was great! I know this won't mean a ton to you, but I got to tour NASA with some of my friends. And, even better, I pranked my uncle really good with that biting tea cup."

"Yes!" They both pumped their fists and then gave me high-fives.

"We're so proud," said Fred, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Of what?" We all looked over to the door to see Lee coming in, followed closely by Angelina and Alicia.

"Of Alexa finally using her expanded magical pranking skills," answered George with a grin.

"What did you do?" asked Lee excitedly, a literal twinkle of mischief in his eye.

"Okay, here's the full story," I said, moving to sit criss-cross applesauce in my seat and leaning forward. I told the story of pranking Uncle Clint, then I showed them the video Peter took. We laughed for a while, then spent most of the rest of the ride swapping different stories from our breaks. Fred and George had pulled quite a few new pranks on Percy, and they couldn't wait to tell us each and every one.

The ride passed quickly, and before I knew it we were kicking the boys out to change into our robes as the castle came into view. Fortunately the dementors didn't hijack us this time, and we made it back to the castle unbothered.

As we sat down to a feast in the Great Hall, surrounded by a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a few weeks, I felt almost as much at home as I had in New York. Hogwarts was truly a magical place, and it was nice to be back.