It had been a peaceful morning in Harry's small flat that he shared only with his new raven Colm. Colm was a black raven who had bonded with Harry while on the run with his best friends. It was the day of his eighteenth birthday and Harry had been on leave for the whole week because people - mostly fanatics of him - had decided to swarm the ministry to try and be his date for the ministry ball held for him. Harry hated the attention and wanted nothing more than to be left alone with a good book and a cup of coffee, he had never liked tea as his Aunt Petunia had always made his tee with cold water and the old, dry tee leaves and with anyone else Harry found that tea was just not a drink he liked. It was just water with aroma and Harry found that he liked coffee much more, to which he had been addicted since one of his muggle-born classmates introduced him to the hot drink in the cold December of 2009. All of the fifth years had been trying to find anything that would help them study and for Harry that had been coffee or one specifically. The caramel frappuccino with a lot of caramel and cream. Susanna had brought the recipe from her mother and asked the house-elves to make them for the study group they both had volunteered to run for charms. One evening after a lesson full of shouting at each other Harry had been so exhausted that he had collapsed on his spot. The Ravenclaw had patted his shoulder and handed him a cup. A week later he had always been carrying around one of those to-go cups the muggles used and refused to drink anything else during the school day. It was as much of an open secret that he was a coffee addict as it was that he was one of the best students of their year.
Back to the topic at hand, instead of being out on a mission for the ICW or the Ministry, he was on paid leave until further notice, which also was why Harry had asked to be transferred from his Force Team to an American no-maj agency. "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division" or SHIELD for short was an agency Harry had heard and read much about as his Force Team tended to work with their agents if needed, which hadn't been since Harry joined the team but it was better to know about them - especially since Harry was climbing the ranks rather quickly for someone who had only been a full member for a little over a year. He had joined just after he graduated in 2010 - two years before his year mates, which was also the year his Force Team killed Voldemort and captured most of the Death Eaters. Since then he had gotten the official title Auror Major Hadrian Jameson Rayan Potter-Black, something he was very proud of as it was a title he had worked very hard to get. His title was also recognised in the no-maj world, which meant that the Dursleys got a letter every time he was promoted or got a medal or something. Harry had spoken to Auror General Anton Gojele, who was his direct superior and the only one Harry answered to anymore. He was just waiting for the letter confirming his transfer as he had been assured that he would be transferred sometime this month.
Harry was very excited when an owl swooped into his kitchen and dropped two letters for him. One was thick and Harry recognised from the wax signal that it was from the General but the other one was from Gringotts from what Harry saw. Deciding that Gringotts could wait Harry carefully broke the signal from the thick envelope and pulled out the pages of parchment. The first parchment was a personal letter from the General:
'Dear Auror Major Hadrian Jameson Rayan Potter-Black,
It is my sincere honour to be the one to tell you that your requested transfer to Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, also commonly known as S.H.I.E.L.D., has been accepted and wish you all luck in the world. Hopefully, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be able to see your full potential and give you the missions we could unfortunately not give you due to the status you hold as the Head of House Potter and Black. Your flight is booked for today evening at five pm local time and you will land in New York City at one am our time or eight pm local time. All flight details and needed documents are included in the envelope.
With high regards,
Auror General Anton Caelius Viktor Gojele,
British Special Force Team.'
There was also a letter which seemed to be an informal letter from the General, which told him that he was always welcome back into their team, that his team had also written short letters to him, which were also included, as were his letters of condolence - his letters written to his family that would be sent out if he died in the field. Every Field Auror was required to write those letters in the application process, even Harry had to, but he only wrote short notes to Remus, Ron and Hermione and his family's account manager goblin. Another requirement was his testament which was safe at Gringotts together with all of the other documents that he didn't need for work.
Finally, after reading all of his team's letters, he took the envelope from Gringotts. Reading the letter Harry let out a quiet growl, his mother had been kidnapped as a small child?! Harry was grateful that he had already packed most of his things for the transfer as he flicked his wand to pack the last of his things and put them all in his trunk. It was one of those trunks that had a no-maj safe compartment and everything else couldn't be detected by even the best of technology. He shrunk his trunk and with a plop left behind his flat just as the flat door opened to Ron and Hermione who wanted to visit their best friend for the first time since he had graduated without them.
Arriving just outside Gringotts Harry quickly made his way inside and straight towards a free teller. "I got a letter this morning concerning my mother's side of the family. Lord Potter-Black." The goblin grunted and took Harry towards his account manager. "Go inside, Lord Potter. Account manager Peres is waiting for you, be polite." Harry nodded and knocked on the door before the goblin left as the door opened on its own accord. "Come inside, Lord Potter." A goblin called from inside and Harry just knew that this would be a long meeting.
At three pm Harry finally walked out of Gringotts still feeling angry at Dumbledore and his maternal grandparents for doing what they did to his mother and his two aunts. He had changed his name again to honour his mother's birth family even if he believed them all to be dead. The goblins had also changed all his documents accordingly, which he was grateful for as he had to get to the airport now or risk missing his flight. Being late was something he just couldn't be, especially as he had his first meeting with Director Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D., which he would miss if he had to wait for the next flight. With that thought, Harry apparated to a quiet alley near the airport and decided to walk the rest of the short distance.
He got through the controls easy enough but when he was finally in the waiting area he only had ten minutes left until boarding would start. He quickly went to the loo and when he came back out the announcement for boarding came through the speakers. Harry grabbed his bag and got onto the aeroplane which would take him towards his new home. Harry was happy to finally leave behind all the bad memories he made in Britain, although he felt a bit bad for not telling Ron and Hermione that he was leaving. He hadn't seen them since he joined his Force Team which had been two years ago. He hoped that life had treated them good but he simply couldn't imagine going back to the way it was when they were all still at Hogwarts. The golden trio was no more - not since Ron had pulled that shit in the fourth year with the tournament - and Harry found himself thinking about those days much less than he did two years ago. Yes, he had forgiven Ron for that stunt but Harry could not bring himself to trust them without a doubt again, that unbreakable trust and loyalty he had had for them had been shattered on Samhain night '08 when they had sided with the majority of the school population against him instead of having his back like they should have had. Their bond had permanently broken that night and Harry had found comfort in his studies. He had written to the head Auror of the Force - who was ironically General Gojele - and asked about completing basic training parallel to his schooling so that he may join as soon as he had graduated. In his response, General Gojele had answered that he could if he was ready to graduate in his fifth year as he had to be at the training camp for them to decide if he was right for the Force or if they should rather give him to the normal ministry Aurors. After completing his basic training in the summer of '09 he had been given the rank of Lieutenant as he already knew everything he would have learned before he got that rank. During his fifth year, he had gotten a time turner to be at school and at the camp at the same time. When he had led his troop (30-40 Soldiers) against a smaller Dark Lord in Argentinia two of his colleagues - Lieutenants O'Connor and Thayne - had been downed in a duel against that Dark Lord so Harry, as the only other Lieutenant, had had to take responsibility and command of the other Auror Soldiers which equalled the responsibilities of a Captain. When they got back to their base the General had watched their memories of the battle and promptly awarded Harry with the title of Captain Hadrian Potter. The public had thought that Harry would get the title of Major after defeating Voldemort, which was exactly why Harry and General Gojele had decided to not do that. Instead, Harry got the Major rank after being a full member for a year and the old Major, who wanted to retire, had nominated Harry as his replacement. That had been just two weeks ago and now he was sitting on a plane to America, hopefully starting his career fully, now that he was away from all his fame and his responsibilities back in Britain. With that thought in mind, Harry dosed off into a light slumber for the rest of the journey.
When the plane landed Harry quickly made his way out of the airport and decided that he would head to the apartment General Gojele had organized to be brought for him as a parting gift from his Team. He took a cab there to the apartment building in Brooklyn and started putting away his things. He had planned to stay there for quite a while so he wanted to make it homey for himself and Colm, who had flown ahead and was waiting outside the window of his new living room to be let inside by Harry. With a bit of magic Harry got everything done by half-past ten and decided to head to bed after setting the alarm in his wand. He was excited for the next day and what S.H.I.E.L.D. would be like.