Henry didn't leave his study for an entire day. From the moment the sun rose until well past midnight, he remained inside, fully immersed in the study and mastery of time magic. Books floated around him, pages flipping on their own as green light from the Time Stone pulsed steadily in his palm.
It wasn't until the early morning hours that he finally emerged from the room, rubbing his eyes and stretching his stiff limbs.
As he descended the staircase, a voice filled with exasperation called out from the living room below.
"Seventeen hours. That's how long it's been since I last saw you."
Henry paused mid-step.
Natasha Romanoff was lounging on the couch, arms crossed, her tone hovering between sarcastic and genuinely annoyed.
He stepped down and looked around. "Wait, you're still here?"
Natasha pointed to the sofa beside her. Lorna—now a small child no longer—was fast asleep, curled up beneath a throw blanket.
"I've been taking care of her all day," Natasha said, her voice dry. "I came to have coffee, but I ended up being a full-time babysitter. Feels more like I got assigned to daycare duty."
Henry looked between the sleeping Polaris and Natasha, then scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Right… Sorry about that. I was practicing magic and, well… I lost track of time."
"That's the understatement of the century," Natasha muttered.
The truth was, Henry had mastered control over the Time Stone long ago—probably around the halfway mark of his time in the study. But the magic was so fascinating, so intricate, that he'd kept practicing. He experimented with stopping time, reversing objects, and creating localized time loops. Each success brought more curiosity, and that curiosity kept him locked away longer than he had intended.
He genuinely thought Natasha would've left by now. As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, she was always on some mission or briefing. He hadn't expected her to stay.
"Don't you have any assignments today?" he asked, curious. "You spent the entire day here."
"Not really," she replied. "My mission today was to have coffee with you. Which, for the record, I still haven't done."
Henry smiled awkwardly. "Well, you're remarkably patient."
"More than you deserve," she muttered.
Still, there was no anger in her voice—just the tone of someone who'd endured enough chaos for one day.
Henry glanced over to Lorna and said, "To be fair, you did a good job. She's out cold."
"I fed her. Kept her from zapping anything with magnetic force. Even helped her color."
"You helped her color?"
"I was blackmailed with crayons."
Henry couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well," Natasha continued, brushing imaginary dust off her coat, "since you finally decided to rejoin the world of the living, how about we skip the coffee and get some actual food?"
Henry blinked. "Food?"
"You haven't eaten all day," she reminded him. "Come on, let's grab something hot before the sun comes up."
Henry nodded. "Sounds good. But I should probably fix something first."
Natasha tilted her head. "Fix what?"
Rather than answer with words, Henry stepped closer to the sofa and held his hand over Polaris. A small green glyph spun into existence above his palm. With a gentle clockwise motion, the glyph glowed brighter, casting light over the sleeping mutant.
In seconds, Lorna began to change—her limbs growing longer, her features maturing. By the time the light faded, she had been restored to her teenage self.
Natasha stared, jaw slack.
"You… you just…"
"Returned her to her original age," Henry said calmly, lowering his hand.
"I saw that," Natasha said slowly. "You… you used magic to age her up. I mean—I watched it happen. Like… live. No cuts. No special effects. She literally grew in front of my eyes!"
Henry gave a small nod. "Time acceleration magic."
Natasha was speechless.
It took several seconds before she could even formulate her next question.
"That's… that's what you were working on all day?!"
"Yes. Time control. Reversal, acceleration, freezing. All of it."
Natasha blinked. "So… mages can just control time now?"
"Only a few. Most can't even touch it without an artifact like the Time Stone."
She pointed at him. "But you can?"
"With practice, yes."
Natasha shook her head. "What else can you do? I mean, if turning kids into adults and yanking souls out of people is just the beginning…"
"I'm still learning," Henry said with a shrug. "But yes, time magic is just one category."
Before she could continue grilling him, Lorna stirred on the couch.
Her eyes opened slowly, blinking against the soft light in the room. She sat up and looked around, confusion washing over her face.
"What… what happened?" she asked groggily. "Why was I asleep?"
"You should ask Natasha that," Henry replied. "She was the one taking care of you all day."
Lorna blinked again and turned to the woman beside her. "You took care of me?"
Natasha nodded. "You've been a kid for the last sixteen hours. Apparently, that's a thing now."
Lorna froze.
"A kid?!"
Henry walked over and folded his arms. "You don't remember?"
She closed her eyes, trying to recall. "I… I do. Kind of. It's all blurry. I remember going upstairs… opening the study door…"
"And interrupting my spell," Henry finished.
"Right! You were practicing magic, and I walked in… and then everything just… vanished." She looked at her hands. "That wasn't a dream?"
"Nope."
Lorna's face twisted in horror. "Wait! That means… the memory I have… of being seven years old again… is real?!"
"It wasn't your memory," Henry corrected. "It was your timeline. You literally were seven for a while."
She looked between the two of them, then gasped. "So I really did color with Natasha Romanoff?!"
"You colored outside the lines," Natasha said. "Sloppy work."
Lorna flushed with embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to go upstairs—I just… you weren't coming down and she said it was urgent and…"
Henry held up a hand. "Relax. I'm not mad. But next time, don't barge into a mage's study. Especially while spells are active."
"Lesson learned," Lorna said quickly.
"I mean, really," Henry muttered. "You're lucky you didn't turn into a frog or something."
Lorna's eyes widened. "Wait—can you actually turn people into frogs?"
"…Why is that always the first thing people ask?"
"Because it's in every cartoon!" she defended. "Witches and wizards turning people into animals—it's a classic!"
Henry didn't dignify it with a response.
Instead, he turned to Natasha. "Alright, now that the daycare arc is over… shall we?"
She smirked. "You sure we won't have to wait another seventeen hours?"
"Absolutely not," Henry promised. "I've already locked the study."
"Smart man."
He turned to Lorna. "We're heading out for food. Can you clean up the living room?"
Lorna gave a mock salute. "You got it, boss."
As Henry and Natasha stepped outside, the cool dawn breeze brushing against their faces, Natasha exhaled deeply.
"You know," she said, "I've seen some wild things in my time. Aliens, talking raccoons, Steve Rogers' morning jogs—but you? You're in a league of your own."
Henry smirked. "That a compliment?"
"Depends. You planning to turn me into a kid next time?"
"Not unless you sneak into my study."
"Duly noted."
They walked off together into the early morning light.
Behind them, the house glowed faintly with residual magic. Inside, Lorna picked up a coloring book, stared at it for a second, then tossed it aside.
"Never again," she muttered.
___________________________________
Get membership in patreon to read more chapters
Extra chapters available in patreon
patreon.com/Dragonscribe31