An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Forty-Eight

On the bright side, Strange got what he wanted. I had amazing reflexes with the Mystic Arts shields now; I heard anybody going for their shoes or rustling a pillow, and my arms were up with my shields blazing.

Finally, on December 31st, it was time to do a sweep of the Tower for any and all magical items. We were having a New Year's Eve party, just like we did every year, and we needed to make sure none of the guests found any random magic objects lying around.

Once we'd finished, I went upstairs to get changed. Shrui and T'Challa had decided to stick around through the party, and I as much as I was happy to have them around, I was also happy for a more selfish reason: having them here would make it easier for me to avoid Maria Hill.

The last time I'd seen Agent Hill, she'd tried to recruit me to S.H.I.E.L.D. She had given me her personal phone number, which was honestly a massive mistake on her part. Before I'd known what was going on with Jackson last year, I'd needed answers, so I'd called her. Instead of asking her questions directly, however, I distracted her by pretending to be interested in joining S.H.I.E.L.D. while Ana hacked their mainframe. Once I'd gotten everything I needed, I'd hung up on her.

I hadn't heard from her since, but I had a feeling she wasn't too happy with me. So, I decided a while ago that I was going to avoid her for the whole party. She couldn't do anything to me if I never had to face her.

Shuri, Wanda, and I got ready together upstairs, and by the time we were all done with hair and makeup and everything, people were already arriving. We met up with Harley, Peter, and Pietro in the hallway outside our rooms before heading downstairs, and I motioned for everybody to huddle up.

"Alright guys, listen up. I need your help with something," I said, leaning in close. Before I could continue, I saw Harley move his arm, and instinctively I leaned backwards and threw up my Mystic Arts shields. A balled up sock bounced right off. "Dude, seriously?"

Harley just shrugged. "I'm just trying to make sure you really have good reflexes. I might be saving your life with my balled up socks and potatoes."

"Okay, you're definitely not saving me life unless you lean in and listen right now."

"Fine, fine." Harley held his hands up in surrender, and the six of us leaned back into the huddle.

"As I was saying... I need your guys' help. Last year Maria Hill gave me her phone number and then I used it to get information I needed while totally leading her on and making her think I wanted to join S.H.I.E.L.D.,and I think she's probably not very happy with me about that. Since she's going to be here tonight, and there's not much I can do about that, my plan is to avoid her completely. She's a super spy, so I know it's not going to be easy, but if you're all willing to help me I think I'll have a shot."

"Ha! You pissed off Hill?" asked Pietro, looking impressed. Harley gave me a high-five, and Peter actually looked a little worried for my health.

"Yeah, I did. So are you guys in on helping me avoid her?"

"We're in!" said Shuri. She actually looked excited, which made me a little nervous.

"We've got your back, Alexa," Wanda agreed. Peter looked nervous, but everyone else had mischievous expressions. If any group of people would be able to handle Maria Hill, it would definitely be us.

"Great. Thanks you guys. Now let's go dance!"

With that, the six of us headed downstairs. Peter and Harley used Jarvis and Ana to scan the room for Hill, and I made sure to hide in the middle of the pack so no one would be able to see me coming down the stairs.

"Alright, she's not here yet," muttered Harley.

"Good. Jarvis, Ana, let us know when she gets here." Jarvis and Ana both agreed to give us a heads up, and with that, it was time for our crowd to move to the dance floor.