Wizarding Avengers *On Hold*

⚡08⚡

CHAPTER EIGHT
BRUCE AND NAT

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"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

Bruce pushed his jaw closed and forced his eyes to blink for the first time in what felt like forever but was only really two minutes.

They'd just arrived at the very place he was doubting was real since the arrival of his Hogwarts letter, but now he could tell it was no joke or prank.

They were here. It was real. And, oh freaking Merlin! It was fantastic! Amazing! Wicked! And everything else.

"Come on, Banner!" Natasha laughed. "Let's go and explore this place!"

Bruce smiled and quickly followed running behind the Russian redhead. They made it about halfway across the street before bumping into someone and falling to the ground, hard.

"Ouch!"

"Ow!"

"Merlin, that hurts!"

"Bloody hell!"

"Natasha?"

"Clint?"

"Hey," Natasha smiled, looking down at the first American friend she'd ever made. "Oh, this is Bruce Banner, by the way," she added throwing a nod to the boy that landed next to them.

"Hello," Bruce grunted.

"Yes, hello, I'm Loki Laufeyson," Loki introduced. "Now that we all know each other's names, do you mind getting off?"

"Oh, sorry," Natasha apologized quickly climbing off of the Odinson heir and back onto her feet.

Clint was the next one up and he immediately held both his hands out one to help Loki and one to help Bruce.

"Thanks," Bruce said, brushing his clothes off.

"Yes, much appreciated, Barton," Loki thanked as Clint pulled him to his feet and helpfully straightened his collar with a pat.

"Nat!" he turned to the redhead grabbing her in a hug. "It's so good to see you! I didn't think you were coming. What happened to Durmstrung?"

Natasha kissed Clint's cheek before pulling back and shrugging. "Dad thought I'd be better off at Hogwarts."

"Well, this is great!"

Natasha smiled back. "Hopefully." She then looked from Bruce to Loki, "I'll tell you how I met my new friend if you tell me how you met yours," she offered.

"Deal," Clint grinned.

There wasn't a whole lot Natasha and Clint had in common but finding it hard to make friends was one of them. The guarded and defensive shields mentally protecting them were another.

Clint looked at Loki and smiled as he set a hand down on the ravenette's shoulder. "I met Loki on one of the orphanage's field trips to the park. Trent picked a fight with me again and broke my nose," Clint explained. "And Loki offered to help me and took me home to his mother, who fixed my nose with a spell."

"Wow, you have been busy, Barton," Natasha laughed.

"Your turn."

"Well, I met Bruce-"

"Natasha saved me from a bully," Bruce quickly cut in.

"Evidently it will be a meet-cute for the both of you," Loki commented, smirking again.

Clint and Natasha shrugged in sync. "Trouble's always attacked us," Clint remarked.

"Like a magnet," Natasha added. "Anyway," she shook her head, "what have you guys gotten so far?"

"Wands and robes," Clint answered. "How about you?"

"We just arrived," Bruce replied.

"Well, why don't you join Barton and I then?" Loki asked. "I was just about to take him to the familiars you both need one, yes?"

"Yes," Bruce nodded.

"Sure, let's go," Natasha agreed.

Frigga watched from afar at how her son managed to make even more friends. She was pleased, perhaps they would stay with him, perhaps not. But she could tell already whether they left or not, getting Clint to leave Loki's side would not be a task easily completed and she was all too glad for that notion.

"What pet are you getting, Nat?" Clint asked as they walked through the pet shop doors.

The place was big and spacious and also cut off into sections.

The front of the shop held most of the owls, some sitting on plastic perches and some in little plastic gardens, the rest hung splayed out in cages in front of the windows for show. The middle of the shop was left for the more grounded and flightless animals. Cats, rats, bats, snakes, toads, and even some things Clint and Bruce didn't recognize as even animals. Then at the back of the shop, exotic and wild animals stayed. Fire-crabs, Acid-snails, slimy slugs, dragon eggs, and a cage that looked like it held big and small spiders.

"Uh, an owl or. . ." Natasha glanced around. "Maybe a bat?"

"I'm settling on an owl," Bruce declared. "They're practical and very useful," he noted.

"How so?" Loki questioned, curiosity and amusement twinkling in his emerald eyes.

"Well," Bruce started a slight hesitant stammer to his voice. "They're the only familiars that can carry and receive mail. They're loyal and they make easier pets than a cat, toad, or rat would."

"Interesting."

Clint stared at a brown hawk in fascination. Its movements had been following him around the store since he walked in, each step he took and motion he did it copied like a perfect mirror image.

"It suits you," Natasha commented.

"You think so?" Clint asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Hmm."

"What about you, Loki?" Clint asked, sliding the Hawk's cage off the hook it was sitting on. "What animal are you getting?"

"I quite fancy this creature," he said honestly.

Natasha peered over the glass habitat to see a thick patterned python staring back at Loki, its head turning to the side before its black beady eye winked and its fork-like tongue shot out at the same time.

"Did. . . it just wink at you?" Bruce questioned in shock.

"Appears so," Loki smiled.

"Well, that's just creepy," Natasha muttered.

Loki gently pushed the lid to the glass habitat off before slowly guiding his hands in and waiting for the snake to come to him and that's exactly what it did, slithering and wrapping itself around the Laufeyson's arms.

"Oh, wow," Clint murmured, looking back at him.

"Yes, I do think I like this one," Loki whispered, nodding as if to finalize his decision.

"As long as it doesn't eat my owl," Bruce remarked from his spot near the counter a grey owl with black spots littering its wings sitting on his left shoulder.

"Or my hawk," Clint added.

"And you, Natasha?" Loki asked as he let the snake climb him like a tree. "What animal are you settling on that my snake mustn't eat?"

Natasha straightened up from where she was bent over one of the animal cribs, she looked back at Loki with a kitten the size of her hand in her arms. It was fluffy, pitch black, and its eyes could match the ocean depths in color.

"A cat," she answered. "And anything happens to him I will hex your ass from Durmstrang to Beauxbatons, understood?" Natasha sweetly threatened.

"Clear as crystal," Loki remarked, smirking.

"Does he do that a lot?" Natasha asked, looking back at Clint.

"All the time."

"It's creepy," Bruce muttered.

"You get used to it," Clint shrugged.