Hermione blinked, certain she hadn't been away from the muggle world for so long. Science and technology had clearly grown exponentially in the time she had stayed within the wizarding world, helping to rebuild everything that had been damaged – fixing the Ministry had been the first thing she had tried to set her sights on, but there were very few who had been willing to change their ways.

It wasn't often that Hermione conceded her view, but when faced with the real reason for the fear the Purebloods had (not that they would admit such a thing to anyone) when thinking about muggles, joining the two worlds hadn't sounded like such a good idea anymore, and Hermione had decided to prove that they were wrong. To do that, she needed undeniable proof that muggles had changed – that most of them had changed, at least.

Why she had ended up in America, Hermione couldn't be certain and, while she would have liked Harry and Ron's company, there were only so many things she could afford to let go wrong, and Harry was an absolute disaster whenever plans were involved. Not to mention how hot-headed Ron could be at the worst of times.

Not that her new boss was any better (and why had she thought that getting a job with one of the most obnoxious people in the world was a good idea, only Merlin knew). It had been the best way to get close to the latest technologies, though, and what she was seeing now went far beyond her expectations.

Stark's flying robot suits were something Hermione would have thought impossible, had she not seen it with her very own eyes, not to mention the Norse God, Thor, that occasionally popped into Stark's tower, or the seemingly human man that gave Hermione an odd feeling of danger that was almost similar to Remus. Pepper had been the one to hire her, hoping that Hermione would be able to help reduce the risk of Stark messing up every time he stepped in front of the media. It was more than a little tempting to simply cast a silencing charm on the man and be done with it.

Of course, the man would then probably build a robotic voice that was eerily similar to his own, and the problem would return.

"Hermione! Early again, I see. You've been working so hard," Stark added, seeing her expression, "why don't you take the day off, or something. There isn't much to do, anyway."

"Mister Stark, I would prefer not to come back to a disaster should I take the day off. I doubt Pepper would be too happy to come back to a destroyed building. She would never let you out of her sight again."

"How many times have I asked you to just call me 'Tony'! And I'll deal with Pepper. Don't worry about her," Stark said, walking towards the door with Hermione trailing behind him. "And, although I know you just can't stand to be away from my wonderful personality, I really think you need a day off today."

"I don't think so, Mister Stark. I get the feeling that you're about to do something you aren't supposed to be doing," Hermione argued. "Besides, you 'dealing' with Pepper is more of me hearing Pepper screaming at you when I walk into the building the next morning."

"Whatever would make you think that?" Stark laughed, not in the least bothered by the fact that Hermione knew that he was lying. "I just have a couple of experiments I want to finish up, and I would rather not have someone watching me over my shoulder."

"I'd be outside your lab, not over your shoulder," Hermione deadpanned, not moving closer to the door even though Stark held it open, and crossing her arms. The invisible holster on her right arm dug nearly uncomfortably into her elbow. She may be surrounded by muggles, but that didn't mean that she didn't carry her want around – even though it caused some of the electronics around her to malfunction.

Stark had simply taken the malfunctioning equipment in his stride, and finally figured out something that didn't react too badly to her presence. It had only taken him a fortnight, and Hermione found herself impressed despite herself. The wizarding world had known of that problem for decades and nothing had been done, yet it had only taken Stark two weeks.

Then again, he hadn't seen it as some sort of insoluble problem like the wizarding world had.

"That's still uncomfortable, because I know that you're going to be standing there ready to voice your disapproval even if you don't know what I'm making."

"And whose fault would that be?"

"For which part? The fact that you are disapproving, or the fact that you don't know, because the latter really isn't my fault," Stark said, raising his hands in a helpless manner. "The two of you insist that you don't want to know what I'm doing."

"I'm sure Pepper would like to hear that, Mister Stark," Hermione smirked, watching the man's face pale drastically.

"Fine. Stay, if it makes you happy," Stark muttered, heading I the direction Hermione knew his private lab was. Hermione hadn't actually been in the lab for fear of the magic her wand emitted interfering with whatever Stark was experimenting with.

It looked interesting enough for Hermione to consider leaving her wand at home one day just to go into that lab and look around. She doubted JARVIS would mind too much, Stark definitely would but that didn't really make a difference to Hermione.

Every day she spent around Stark, and his band of friends (if you could really even call them that), made Hermione more and more certain that the muggle world could be dangerous to the wizarding world, but their technology could also potentially explain magic itself.

And, honestly, Hermione didn't think that was entirely a bad thing for the nearly stagnant wizarding world. All she would have to do was convince them, which was probably the most difficult part.

Written for Ultimate Battle Competition: Marvel Crossover

Written for Go Fish: Hermione Granger

Note: so apparently trying to write oneshot crossovers are a lot more difficult than they sound -_-"