The Space Stone.
Inside the gem, an endless starry sky seemed to breathe, pulling anyone who looked into it down and down until they forgot to look away.
Hermione set the Space Stone into the second slot on her necklace.
Click.
Two gems. One yellow, one blue. Side by side, they shone against each other.
...
City ruins. A forgotten alley. Space buckled and tore, and three figures stepped out of nothing.
Steve. Tony. And a man in a red cape with a distinctive fringe of hair.
Stephen Strange.
Doctor Strange.
"Yes. This is the place."
Strange surveyed the alley, then gave a short nod.
"We've come back to the day of the Chitauri invasion. Time to find Hermione."
He turned to Tony. "Are you ready?"
Tony reached into his jacket and pulled something out.
A wand. Pitch black, its surface faintly radiating something wrong, something that made the air around it feel heavier.
The hand holding it trembled. His knuckles had gone white.
"Do we really... have to do this?" Tony's voice came out rough, scraped thin with pain and doubt. "Can't there be another way?"
"Like — try talking to her again?"
He looked up at Strange. There was still hope in his eyes. Just barely.
Strange shook his head. His expression didn't waver.
"I have seen countless futures."
"Not one of them moved the Dark Witch."
Tony pressed his lips together. Said nothing for a long moment.
"Why would she do this?"
He said it quietly. Maybe to Strange. Maybe to no one.
Strange exhaled. "I don't know."
"What I do know is that the Ancient One, in her final moments, gave me one specific instruction. Whatever the Witch wants to do , don't interfere. Except for one thing."
"Never let her see that object. If she does, she changes. And what comes after makes Thanos's Snap look minor."
Tony's stomach dropped.
Steve's brow pulled tight. "What object? What is it?"
Strange shook his head. "The Ancient One didn't know either. But in every future she witnessed, as long as Hermione — the Witch — remains unaware of its existence, she is the axis the universe holds on. The thing that keeps order."
"The moment she sees it... every future ends."
"As for how she finds out , I still don't understand it myself. It's as if she simply wakes up one day knowing, and then she starts looking."
Steve went quiet.
He thought about the girl who had fought beside them. The one who had stood shoulder to shoulder with them through everything. Now she was the Dark Witch. The one who would unmake the universe.
He couldn't make it fit.
Strange's voice cut through before he could try.
"The seven Archbishops of Sin of the Witch Cult have already destroyed all life beyond Earth."
"She isn't the Hermione you remember, Tony."
"She is the Dark Witch. And we are not her match." His gaze dropped to the wand in Tony's grip. "That is the only hope we have left."
"The Ministry of Magic is gone , completely. This is the only wand she never placed a restriction on. It holds a single Avada Kedavra."
"We kill her now, as a child, before it begins. That's the only way to stop it."
"The Chitauri battle just ended. Her guard is down. And this is the last energy the Eye of Agamotto has. One trip. One chance."
Tony's eyes opened. He breathed in slow and deep. Then, finally, he nodded.
"I understand."
...
Stark Tower.
Everyone was heading out to deal with their injuries when Hermione called them back. She linked the group together and cast a single spell. Every wound closed at once.
The Avengers stared. Tony blinked. "You can do that? Why have I never seen you use it before?"
"Because you were never injured before," Hermione said. "If you want the full experience, you're welcome to cut yourself right now. I'll patch you right up."
Tony had nothing to say to that.
The group split up to change clothes and agreed to meet back shortly.
Thor had finished his negotiations with S.H.I.E.L.D. The World Security Council, thoroughly rattled by Hermione, had agreed without argument to send Loki back to Asgard , provided Odin gave his word to judge him fairly.
The Tesseract went unmentioned. It was as if everyone had quietly decided to forget it existed.
As for the Hulk, one look at Hermione's wand had been enough. He'd retreated straight back into Dr. Banner, and by all indications, he wasn't coming out again anytime soon.
Hermione stayed behind to keep an eye on Loki.
The Hermione-Loki Scam Partnership did not leave its members hanging.
"Stay in Asgard for now," she told him. "When the moment's right, I'll come get you myself."
Loki nodded and settled back, perfectly at ease.
Hermione rolled her shoulders, walked out of the building, and nearly walked straight into Tony and Steve.
"That was fast."
She stopped. Looked at them.
They'd healed and changed in no time at all. That was strange enough. But it wasn't the speed that bothered her. It was something else, something she couldn't name. The atmosphere around them was wrong. They were Tony and Steve , she could see that clearly , and yet they weren't.
Tony especially. His face was pale. He wasn't talking. He looked nothing like himself.
Steve looked like he was carrying something he didn't know how to put down.
"What happened?" Hermione's brow creased.
Then she saw it.
Her expression locked. Her eyes went wide. Her pupils contracted to a point.
Tony was holding something.
A wand. Black from tip to base, with several rounded, knobbed joints running along its length.
The Elder Wand.
Dumbledore's wand.
Here. In Tony's hand.
A hundred thoughts collided in her head at once.
She didn't get the chance to sort through them.
A jet of green light burst from the wand and shot straight for her.
Every hair on her body stood up. Something vast and wrong came rushing at her , she felt it before she saw it , and her body locked in place.
The light missed. It grazed past her and was gone.
That sensation of death , that was the Avada Kedavra. She was certain of it. Absolutely certain.
And not just any Killing Curse. Something that could make her , someone carrying Level 4 Ancient Magic , feel genuinely mortal. That was Level 6 or above. It had to be.
Ancient Magic could block the Killing Curse, but only up to its own level. A Level 5 curse wouldn't kill her outright, but it would leave her wrecked. Only Level 6 and above gave her that bone-deep certainty: if that hits me, I die.
Tony was shaking. His lips wouldn't hold still. "I'm sorry. I , I couldn't do it. I still can't..."
The space beside them split open.
A figure in a red cape stepped through.
The Mirror Dimension.
Hermione looked at Doctor Strange , at Stephen Strange, who had no business being here, not at this exact moment , and in the span of a single breath, everything clicked.
One thought. And it explained all of it.
"You're not Tony."
Her voice came out low and sharp.
Not quite right. They were Tony and Steve. She could see that. But they weren't the Tony and Steve of right now.
They were from the future.
The moment it landed, the rest of the noise in her head went quiet. She locked her gaze on the two of them, steady and cold.
"When did you come back from? Why are you trying to kill me?" Her eyes dropped to the wand in his hand. "And why do you have the Elder Wand?"
The future Tony said nothing. He just looked at the ground.
The future Steve looked like he had a hundred things to say and couldn't start any of them.
Hermione watched them both. Then she drew a slow breath.
"Fine. Let me ask it a different way."
"What exactly happened in the future?"
➤ Next: Shawarma, Oh Shawarma, Oh Shawarma
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read 100+ advanced chapters on Patreon
Visit: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Free track there updates daily — stays AHEAD of here.
Why wait?
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~