Book 1

Chapter 1

"Oh my God is that Howard Stark!?"

"It is...No way does that mean TONY is going to be in my class."

"He's such a hottie. How am I supposed to get work done knowing that Tony fucking Stark is sleeping in the same building?"

"And showering...naked... Om nom nom..."

Jane laughed at the group of fangirls swarming the Starks as they attempted to have a family moment (most likely crafted from start to finish as a publicity stunt). Tony had a surprisingly anxious look on his face, which was uncharacteristic for the child of the wizarding world's most successful businessman. But she mused that even billionaire playboys must have a tough time leaving home. Jane could still remember how hard it was leaving her parents earlier that morning.

"Bye mom, bye dad. I'll miss you guys so much. I cannot wait until I get to come home for winter break," Jane had sobbed into her parents' arms. "I'll send you an owl every day."

"We love you so much sweetie!" her mom gushed. "You're growing up so fast, it's hard for us to keep up."

"Too fast." her dad interrupted emotionally, "You're only fifteen and you're trucking off to another country... or I guess I mean another part of the country. It's so hard for us "muggles" to keep track of everything that's happening now that you've been blessed with this gift. To think, that you're heading off to the National Academy so you can become a professional wizard person! We just hope you won't forget your boring old parents."

"We got you something to remember us by." her mom said, handing her a cell phone. "If you ever need to talk to us or anything just give us a ring."

"Oh guys, you really didn't have to."

"Of course we did. You're our only child! God forbid that we would let you leave without being able to contact you every second of every day."

"I love you guys so much." Jane said as she leapt into her parents arm for one last hug.

"We love you too. Now hurry up and catch your train so you don't miss your big new adventure."

She smiled as she weaved her way through the train full of robed youth trying to find a space to sit. Her parents were so silly buying her a phone. With all the magical interference flying around the National Academy there is no way it would work - but it was the thought that counts.

Finally she found an empty booth at the back of the train; she sprawled her body over the seat, claiming it as her own before sitting up to find a comfortable position. It wasn't much longer before she heard the piercing shrill of teenage girls that could only signal the arrival of one mister Tony Stark. He rushed in and slammed the door shut, casting several locking enchantments to bar the door against his crazed fangirls.

"It took me forever to find you." he chided her. "Did you have to pick the most inconvenient, out of the way place in the multiverse?"

"Sorry Mr. Grumpy, but it was the only one that was free," she snarked back, rolling her eyes. "Now if you're going to be in such a grouchy mood I won't give you the present that I have, courtesy of my foolishly over-loving parents."

His eyes lit up at the sound of her offer, "'Grouchy', what are you talking about! I scream 'happy.'" He quickly opened the door and yelled "HAPPY" before firmly shutting and locking it again. "See, 'happy.' Now what do you got for me?" She tossed him the phone and smiled at his childlike fascination. "Whoa! What kind of muggle crap is this? It's so derpy and fragile looking."

"It's called a cell phone, you dolt. Muggles use it to communicate with each other instantly and all the time, sans owl."

"Wow! For once you muggles have created something more convenient than our superior fantastical magical minds... This will be a great piece for my project on merging magic with muggle technology." He paused. "Now, how do you open it?" he mused as he banged it against the railing of his seat. "Do you mind?"

"Suit yourself, it's yours to play with." She laughed as the wizard continued to smash the phone. For someone who was supposedly a magical genius, Tony could be amazingly dumb sometimes. "It will be more useful to you than me, especially given where we're going."

Leaving Tony to distract himself with the phone she reached into her bag and pulled out her astronomy book. It had been a long drive from Long Island to Salem this morning and it was supposed to be an even longer journey to the National Academy, so she made herself cozy and prepared for the journey ahead.

Her mind was still racing as she read her magical astronomy textbook, even though it was the umpteenth time she had perused it. The magical perspective was just so different from the muggle version she had grown up with! She had fond memories of herself as a kid, dressed up in a silly suit and pretending to be an astronaut exploring unknown worlds. That all changed when she found out she was a witch and suddenly her own world seemed a lot more unknown. It had only been four years since then and she was still getting used to the fact that she, Jane Foster, was right now heading to the top magical academy in the realm and one of the top in the world. It had been so difficult for her to transition in those early days, back at the Long Island School of Magic she had attended for the past four years and which was tiny in comparison with what she was about to face.

She still couldn't believe she was one of the mere five students from her grade accepted into the National Academy, the rest having to go to the Salem Witches Institute or the Noranda Wizards Collegiate. Luckily Tony was coming with her so she knew someone from her Long Island days. Granted, Tony was Tony, ridiculous and aloof, an arrogant motherfucker who Jane swore was only friends with her because he was fascinated with her muggleness. He wasn't the best friend in the world, but he was all she had right now and she was glad for that.

Even though his family founded and funded the Long Island School of Magic there was no question on whether Tony deserved to come to the National Academy; he was a bona fide genius. Some said he was even more gifted than his father - which made Jane question how in the world she got accepted. She was just a muggle born girl who was confused half the time and feeling like a fish out of water the other half. But whatever, she was accepted and she was going to try her hardest to be the best witch possible.

The metal shriek of the train stopping jolted her out of her daydreams. She couldn't believe they were already in the capital city - but a quick look at her watch showed her that it was already 2pm.

"We're already halfway there!" she exclaimed. But Tony, completely distracted by the project at hand, wasn't listening so Jane rushed to the window instead. This was her first time in Frontenac and what she had heard about the capital city was nothing short of breathtaking. An all-wizard city, Frotenac was the third largest in the world, (after Xian in Henan and Tikal in Calderon) located in the middle of the muggle Quebec City. It contained the Assemblage, the centre of the management of magical beings in The Laurentides and the ministries which uphold the International Statute on Wizarding Secrecy. The Assemblage also houses the meeting place of the governing council comprised of the chairman and representatives from the four great wizard clans in The Laurentides.

It was really weird for Jane to think that four years ago this was just some french city in Canada to her but now it was Frontenac, the capital of The Laurentides. The United States and Canada didn't exist anymore; instead there were the six magical realms of North America. Aurora, Cascadia, Calderon, The Shield, Louisiana and The Laurentides which was the furthest North-East and comprised what Jane used to call New York, New England and parts of the Eastern Canadian provinces. Jane struggled to view herself as a Laurentian as opposed to an American or a New Yorker but she tried her best to adapt to her new magical reality.

Outside the train Jane could see the Assemblage towering over the city skyline, its green roof glimmering like dragon scales. Witches and wizards on brooms zoomed throughout the air alongside winged creatures that Jane had never heard of. In the streets outside the parked train Jane watched as a consortium of robed figures and magical beings strolled to and from magical stores. She tried her best to name them all, "Goblins, House-Elves, Ghosts, Doxies, I think that's a Hag, Ohh those are Gnomes and that one is uhmmm what's the word again? is it a Re'em?"

"Bwahahaha that my dear child is an Adlet." Tony burst in laughing "We haven't even reached school yet and someone already needs to study."

"Shut up!" Jane blushed "How was I supposed to know the name of every creature that looks like the lovechild of a man and his dog. I've heard of man's best friend but that's a little ridiculous."

"Be careful with your tongue young lady Adlets may be dumb as fuck but they are proud little bastards and will duel you to the death at a whims notice."

"I think I've had enough of your criticisms for one day. I'm going to take a walk and see why we haven't started moving again." And with that Jane zoomed out of the booth before Tony could reply.

As she walked through the train she could hear a commotion in the car ahead. Students were still boarding from the capital but movement was slow as there seemed to be some kind of security detail. Guards were filing through the train knocking on doors and checking for peoples' documents. Jane suddenly got really anxious and made to start to head back to her booth but she was stopped by a firm hand gripping her shoulder.

"Excuse me ma'am. May we please see your acceptance letter?" asked the man in a firm tone that betrayed all his polite formalities.

"uh I um there in my bag I um can.." Jane stuttered finding it difficult to talk with the man staring so impatiently at her.

"What are you doing? Leave that beautiful lady alone." A loud and regal voice called out.

"Can't you see that you are upsetting her?" Jane traced the voice back to a tall blonde youth who was boarding the train.

"But sir there is a security protocol in place."

"Nonsense have you forgotten that my father is a councilman. I will not have you ruin my first day at my new school. This is supposed to be a happy day of merriment. What possible security threat could a bunch of youth be. This young lady is beautiful and is in my care. If you have a problem with that you can speak with my father. Now hurry up and finish your job I want to get to school and start the festivities as I am getting quite hungry."

"Uh yes sorry sir." the guard mumbled and ran off into the other train.

"Um thank you..." Jane muttered still flustered by the whole exchange of events.

"You are welcome fair lady. Thor Odinson at your service. And what might be the name of such a beautiful maiden as yourself?"

"Jane Foster" she sputtered as the realization of who this was dawned on her.

Tony was not in a good mood. Having to sit through his father's lecture all morning about how he has a name and a reputation to uphold. His father was such an ass sometimes. Tony almost gagged when his father made them all pose for a family photo. It was sickening how fake his family was, like his parents actually cared what he did. All his dad wanted was to take credit for his work like when Tony developed a broomstick that was twice as fast and had ten times the control of a Firebolt. But according to the daily bugle that was a Howard Stark creation, not even a mention of the amount of work in flight spells Tony had invested.

Yes, he was definitely excited to finally be free from his father's empire, free to continue his work into bridging magic with muggle technology. Yet despite this freedom he had sudden wave of anxiety roll over him as if this train ride was going to lead him into dark waters.

After finally finishing his goodbyes with a hug to his mother and a nod to his dad he bolted to the train only to be stopped by a group of nonsensical fan girls.

"Hello ladies, Yes I know, I'm amazing. Genius you say...why yes I did reinvent the wand...but you see ladies my genius is needed over ... there."

Finally finding Jane's booth he rushed in and bolted the door with as many concealment charms he could think of. If only Jane knew that he practically transported their booth out of existence. But Jane was cute in a naive and muggle-ish kind of way like a little sister. She was a wealth of knowledge completely foreign to Tony which mystified him.

Muggle knowledge was for the most part looked down upon in the wizarding world especially by his father who was so egocentric about his magical prowess that he failed to realize that the innovations Tony made on the broomstick came from research he did on muggle "physics" out of a book Jane lent him. Over the past four years Jane have given him so many cool muggle treats such as the "calculator" and his personal favourite the "pedometer".

"A cell phone you say hmmm." his brain was running a mile a minute trying to work out all the intricacies that made the device function. Muggle technology was fascinating; while their "science" was hokey and existed in a lower level of experiential processing than magic, it could do things that were too technical and mundane for magic. It operated on a sense of order unknown to magic but the results were still impressive.

This object granted muggles the ability to directly communicate with each other anywhere at anytime. The closest equivalent in the magical world was the owl post or the floo network both of which were often tedious or inconvenient. Tony could only imagine the fun he would have being able to instantly gloat to anyone anywhere. Sadly the magical world and the muggle world were still incongruent and magical interference prevented muggle technology from working. His ultimate goal was to find a way to bridge this gap and this phone was a perfect starting project.

"This is fantastic Jane, I have so many great ideas for this"

"You seem really proud of yourself for a man who is talking to nobody"

Tony turned to see a girl with flaming red hair leaning against the door frame. "Why wouldn't I be proud of myself, my words are such genius the world is better off just by experiencing them. However, those words of pure gold were not directed towards you so I'm going to have to charge you interest. What did you do with my audience by the way?"

The girl raised a skeptical eyebrow at Tony's ridiculousness. "She left five minutes ago probably to get some fresh air as your ego seems to be hogging all the space in this booth."

"Are you saying that you have been standing here this whole time taking in my beauty. Wow I must say I am impressed, you fan girls are getting more desperate by the day. However if I recall I cast several charms on this room making it practically undetectable and impenetrable so you must be some kind of ghost or apparition or something. Judging by the offensive hue of your hair I'm guessing some kind of demon." Tony begins waving hands frantically at the girl. "Shoo foul demon you can't have my brain it's sacred! My body on the other hand is dashingly handsome and 93% available."

The girl glared at him completely unfazed. "Nice try hotshot. Your charms were quite impressive it took me all of nigh 10 seconds to figure out how to get through them. For future reference if you are going to combine Cave Inimicum with Fianto Duri and Protego Maxima you need to include Repello Inimicum or else it will all easily be undone with a simple spell once someone notices the terrible excuse for a bedazzling hex you are using."

"I'll have you know it's a charm entirely of my own creation and it doesn't have to be overly complicated as it's designed to thwart crazed fangirls who if you haven't noticed aren't the brightest bunch of people. Their brains are too filled with racy vampire novels and smutty fanfics. It really is so disgusting to be around them with their loud voices interrupting all my work." He paused putting the most disgustingly judgmental expression he could muster. "So what is it this time? Did you create a gender swapped version of the Tale of Three Brothers or are you shipping me with Babbitty Rabbitty or some other god awful creation that will make me miss the innocence of my childhood."

She frowned, "I'm not here to gush about some trashy fanfic you boob. I'm here because I need to lay low and your anti-fangirl charm, while flawed, is good enough to serve my purposes."

"Lie low? Well you do have the bad ass rebel look going for you. Did you do something bad you naughty girl? Because it is totally okay if you did, I'm all about naughty. I like to think I'm quite the bad boy myself."

"Would you shut up someone is outside."

"What are you talking about-?" her hand slammed down across his mouth and she gave him a death look that sent a shiver down his spine. She pointed to the door and Tony became aware of the muffled sound of people talking.

"Something doesn't look right about this wall..." said one of the guards

"Is this some kind of concealment charm?...Hey what's going on here is someone trying to hide or something?

"Protego Recanto ... Man this is a doozy of a charm."

"Damn!" the girl cursed under her breath.

Tony wiggled his way free "Don't worry miss, I got this"

He reached for the door and yelled "Who the fuck is disturbing my workplace?" Opening it he came face to face with two angry looking guards "Why hello officers is there any reason you are disturbing me, the great Tony Stark, at this crucial point in my research which is mind blowing and will change the way you live your lives?"

"Oh...Mr Stark...why exactly you are hiding behind a bunch of concealment charms? Also we are going to need to see your acceptance letter, protocol and all."

"I'm sorry who the fuck do you think I am?" Tony fumed, "I'm Tony freaking Stark, of course I got accepted into the National Academy, have you seen me, I'm a genius and of course I'm hiding behind a bunch of concealment charms, magical patent pending, because I need peace and quiet from fools like you as I work on such earth shattering stuff that just looking at it would cause your mothers' eyes to melt. Now if you don't mind me officers I've kind of got to get back to changing the world soooo .."

"uh right right um sorry sir..." the guards looked flabbergasted, "Well I guess that's the last of them. Tell Chairman Fury that this train is a good to go and be quick about it, it's already 2:30 and that Odinson child is getting rather grumpy."

Tony slammed the door shut and beamed at the girl who was giving him the most deadpanned unimpressed face he'd ever seen. "What did I tell you? I'm all about naughty."

"Clearly."

"So what's the deal with these guards and Chairman Fury getting all up in my biznatch? Naughty girl did you steal Fury's magic eye? Because I have had an idea or two of my own on how to snatch that little gem of a magical artifact."

"Have you been living in a hole in the ground? Why do you think there is enhanced security surrounding the capital city? Chairman Stoner was assassinated only a month ago, Fury was appointed Chairman because the realm was on the verge of chaos. These fools in charge have no idea what happened and everyone is crying foul blood."

"Hold on, who said he was assassinated? All we know is that he died of mysterious circumstances. We live in a magical world, everything around us is teeming with mysterious circumstance. Besides it's no big deal, he was an old man. Old men die all the time, I'm pretty sure dying is in the job description. Unless you know something that no one else does demon lady. You do seem to be implying naughty intentions. Why are you hiding here in the first place? Did you kill the chairman? Because that takes things to a whole new level of naughty."

"And what if I did? You gonna try and stop me?" She replied curtly "Anyways can't a girl have a little privacy? I know this must be a foreign concept to you, you ego whore, but I don't want to draw a lot of attention to myself."

"Well you certainly got my attention..."

"Cool it boy, looks like the train is moving again so I'm out. Thanks for the hide-away but you better watch out Mr. Stark for I may very well come back for your brain." she waved her arms menacingly and then slipped out the door.

Tony chased after her, "Wait if I'm going to be haunted by a demon can I at least have a name?" but the only person in the car was a steward pushing the food cart. "I'll take six chocolate frogs and all the butterbeer you've got"

"Sorry laddy but the law is the law and you're definitely underage".

"But I'm Tony Stark, I practically am the law." he pleaded to no avail, "Dammit!" he grabbed his chocolate frogs paid up and disappeared back into his booth for the remainder of the ride.