Hey everyone! So this little plot bunny has been stuck in my head for a while and I've been seeing a lot of fem!Tony on Tumblr lately so this little plot kind of came together. It's not a romance, just a friendship. Enjoy!
Wedding Bells Blues
Harry Potter couldn't remember the last time that he had gotten a drink in a regular bar. When he needed a stiff drink after a long day he usually went to a wizarding bar which frankly served stronger stuff than whatever the muggles had to offer. Especially since his career as an auror wasn't exactly what you would call a walk in the park.
His career as an Auror had him traveling all around the world and while Harry didn't mind, it did tend to annoy his wife, Ginny. But then again, she was pregnant with their first-born child so he guessed she had a right to be upset.
This time his career had dragged him across the pond towards America. He and another group of Aurors had caught wind that the British witch Melinda Hayes had been lurking across the streets of New York among innocent muggles. Harry and his team had been immediately brought forward to make sure that Melinda didn't cause any more problems (she had been inserting dark spirits into children.) Unfortunately for him Melinda didn't give up without a fight and Ron had finally managed to tackle her down long enough for them to restrain her and drag her back for her trial at the ministry of magic. Ron had received a few injuries and had been transferred to St. Mungo's and Harry had been about to tag along when his supervisor had insisted that he stay to finish the paperwork for the American Ministry of Magic and use the memory charm on any muggles that might have seen the incident.
Now thankfully it was over, but Harry was exhausted. This was more exhausting than he had thought back in fifth year. But back then Tonks had been one of the few Aurors that he had known and she had always been a ball of energy.
Harry had never really been a fan of New York city mainly because there were too many people for his liking and the streets were always crowded. Out of sheer desperation instead of waiting to go back home and have a drink at the Hog's head or the Three Broomsticks or any other magic establishment he had ducked into the first bar he'd seen. After all, unlike most wizards he had been raised by muggles and knew how to act normally around them and not ask a lot of questions like Ron or Mr. Weasley.
The bar was empty, but after all it was only five o' clock in the afternoon. The bartender in front of Harry grunted when he took the seat in front of him. Harry made sure that his wand was carefully hidden, but still easy enough to grab. "What will it be?"
"Um," Harry looked down at the sticky menu. He had only gone to Muggle bars a handful of times, he in all honesty preferred Firewhisky and he didn't know what half of these things were. "Whisky." He finally said reading off the first drink that he saw once he saw the bartender growing impatient.
He nodded. "Coming right up."
Harry concentrated on reading the sticky menu for a few seconds, but finally forced himself to relax. He thought of Ginny and how he couldn't wait to go home to her even though for the past few weeks she had been cleaning the house constantly for the preparation of the birth of their son. Molly reassured Harry that she was nesting and that she would return to her slightly messy self once the baby was born.
Harry had been lost in his own thoughts when he saw something flash before his eyes. He reached for his wand, but slowly released it when he realized that it wasn't a dementor or another dark wizard. It was a woman.
She seemed to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Her dark, jet black hair was pulled back, it had once been a messy bun and she was dressed in a gold dress that hugged her curvy frame. She was wearing tall high heels and was holding a little, gold purse as she ungracefully settled herself in the chair next to Harry. "Bourbon neat." She snapped at the bartender once he had set down Harry's drink. The bartender raised an eyebrow, but went towards the back to get the girl's drink.
Harry saw as the girl fumbled with her purse as she let out a series of curses. She grabbed her phone and turned it off and then put it back into her purse. She noticed that Harry was staring at her and she let out an irritable snarl. "What are you staring at?"
"Sorry," Harry said as he quickly turned away and stared at his drink. Against his better judgement, he turned around once again and noticed that the woman was staring anxiously at her phone. "Are you ok?" he finally asked.
"I'm getting married tomorrow," she blurted out. "The rehearsal dinner is shit, starting already. At the Four Seasons. Rogers is going to be pissed or as he calls it 'disappointed."
Harry had already regretted asking the question. "Is Rogers your fiancé?"
"His name is Steve," she corrected as she grabbed the drink from the bartender. "And yes, he's my fiancé. But I can him Rogers, weird habit that I can't seem to break. Anyway, he used to be my boss, well we were teammates and then we started dating and well here we are." She saw the confused look on Harry's face and she sighed. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"A little," he said, not knowing of a polite way to excuse himself and there were too many people for him to pull out his wand and do a memory charm. With any luck, she would leave on her own.
"I'm sorry I'm not usually this rude," she said as she finished her drink. "I'm Toni Stark. Well, it's Antoinette, but it's way too old fashion. I don't know what my mom was thinking. What's your name anyway?"
"Um," Harry blurted out the name that he had given the Weasley family when Fleur had gotten married. "Barny. Barny Weasley."
Toni raised an eyebrow. "Barny? Like the dinosaur that sings songs about love on the kids' network." Thankfully, Toni's attention span was short, because she quickly turned around and ordered another drink. "So, what brings you to New York pleasure or business?"
"Business." Harry said. "I had to take care of a few things."
Toni nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "So Barny are you married?"
Harry nodded. "My wife and I are expecting our first child."
Toni gave him a small smile. "Good, you seem like the marrying type. The good type. You know the kind that has the whole picket fence and dog package."
Harry shook his head. "My wife doesn't like picket fences and she prefers other animals to dogs she likes. . .smaller things." Harry looked at Toni wondering if she was already drunk. "Why are you so upset about marrying this Steve guy anyway?"
"I'm not upset, I love Steve I was thrilled when he asked me. He even did the whole old fashion proposal because he's crazy about those things and he think that I deserve it because I'm some type of lady," she fiddled with her ring. "And then as the wedding started coming closer I started panicking. What if I screw up? What if I'm not capable of having a relationship? I mean, I'm sure I slept with half of New York before I even looked at Steve."
Harry winced. "I think you're overexaggerating things a bit, I mean I'm sure Steve knew about your love of certain. . .activities before you married."
"He did," Toni admitted. "And that just makes things worse American's golden boy married to a girl with daddy issues and trust issues, I mean I am practically the poster child for a- "she broke of when she saw Harry stifling a laugh. "Are you seriously laughing at me right now, Barny that is not very nice."
"I'm sorry," Harry said not sounding very sorry at all. "It's just that your whole situation sounds so familiar right now."
"You slept with half of New York too?"
Harry shook his head, "Not that part. When I was, younger I was involved in a situation that could have been dangerous for anybody. I wanted my wife, then my girlfriend to break up with me to keep her safe. She refused, said that nothing scared her. She has always been stubborn that way."
Toni looked confused not sure how this helped her. Harry continued, "What I'm saying is that your future husband probably knows what he's getting into especially if you two have been together for a while. Give him a chance, everyone has their demons, Toni. Running away from them isn't going to solve anything. Don't try to make the same mistakes that I did by pushing people away. Marry him it's obvious you love him otherwise you wouldn't be thinking too much about it at all."
Toni clicked her glass against his. "You're a good friend, Barny."
"So, I've been told."
"Hmm, maybe a little too sure of yourself."
"I earned it," Harry said finishing his drink. "And that is like the pot calling the kettle black."
Harry decide to accompany Toni back to the Four Seasons so that he was sure that she hadn't wandered off somewhere or start getting freaked out. "You didn't have to walk me back," she rolled her eyes. "But why don't you stay and have some dinner Barny, you can meet Steve."
Harry shook his head as he looked around, it was empty, a rare thing in New York, but it was freezing. "I'm sorry, I can't."
She looked slightly disappointed as Harry pulled out his wand slowly. "What is that? A vibrator? Not that I'm judging, but well Barny I'm impressed."
Harry gave a small laugh. "I'm sorry about this Toni, but no one can't know I was here, my job is dangerous and I think it's best if I keep our little meeting to myself. Good luck with the wedding, you're going to be a beautiful bride." He pointed the wand towards her and did a memory charm. "Obliviate."
Toni's confused face turned to a dazed expression as the spell took effect. Harry opened the door and Toni smiled. "Thank you."
Harry saw as Toni entered the hotel. She was greeted by Steve who Harry thought looked different in a suit, he had gotten used to seeing him in his Captain America suit that he was always wearing in the news.
"Toni," Steve said as he approached her. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Where have you been, you're over an hour late."
"Sorry," Toni said. "I got sidetrack, but I'm here now. Let's go."
Steve looked at her and said half-jokingly. "You're not having second thoughts are you."
"Nope. Are you? Maybe we should skip this whole wedding thing and just become lovers instead."
"Toni." Steve said with a small sigh, but he was laughing.
Toni rolled her eyes. "I'm joking future husband of mine. Do you have to be such an uptight groomzilla?"
Steve blushed slightly. "I just want everything to be perfect. I'm only doing this once."
Harry watched as they left, he shook his head slightly laughing at their conversation. He couldn't wait to get home to Ginny. He looked around once more and when he saw that there was no one in sight he apparated home.
The End
Thank you for reading! Hope you liked this little one shot!
