When they pulled up it was to the sight of a long queue of limos so Tony just threw some money at the driver, knowing it was far too much, and made his way up the line until he found the one he wanted. They were still a number of cars away, so he risked his life and hopped inside, startling the woman, "What the hell? Stark?!"
The divider was down again and now the driver was pissed, "Hey! Get out of here mate!"
"It's fine Luther, he's not a threat," Mia personally put the window up again before turning on the invader, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You sobered me up, with a drink, in a vial. Now, I had this female friend when I was a kid, she was the daughter of one of Jarvis' friends, and she could do these amazing things, stuff no one else could do. Her mother once fixed my broken leg for me by using a drink that came in a vial suspiciously like this one. And," touching her scarf, "Her dad had one of those hanging in the front room, down to the lion roaring."
"Wow, I'm actually surprised, you know about my world. Bravo on that but it still doesn't explain why you are here and how exactly you caught up to us."
Tony laughed, "I paid a cabbie to break every rule there is, paid him well for it too. As for why I'm here, well that would be to ask a few questions of my own. First off, why are you called Lady Granger and have ordered not to be called it at the hotel?"
Mia actually cringed at hearing the honorific, "Don't say that bloody thing, only have it because that bastard Sirius knew Harry had his dad's."
"Uhh, what?"
"Listen, Stark, this is a long story and we're almost at my event, so seeing as you are here, you're my designated plus one for the evening. We are attending the opening of a magical library, one that only the Swiss magically community has had access to up until tonight. It holds many of the great texts, some of which were donated to them by a humble worker at the patent office here, he knew that no one in the mundane world would care about them, which they wouldn't seeing as they were all about magic. I do not want to be barred from entering because I've brought a muggle so if asked, you are to state that you have been aware of the magical world since a child, nothing more and nothing less. Understood?"
"Yep," seeing the fire in her eyes, Tony knew not to press his luck, "But, if it is magical, how am I going to attend?"
Rubbing the bridge of her nose, the witch sighed, "With me, you will be able to enter, so just make sure I'm on your arm as we approach the area. Don't freak out if we start walking towards a wall, it isn't actually one, all a rouse so that muggles don't walk in. Set to go?"
"Yep," as the door opened, Tony exited first and offered his arm to the witch as she hopped out.
After handing over her invitation, not that it would have mattered as the curator of the library had spotted her instantly, Mia led her date over to the red carpeted area where she was met by Franco, who swore he didn't have a last name, "Oh Lady Granger, we are so honoured to have you here. Ah I see that you brought a date with you. Are you…?"
"Anthony Stark," shaking hands, the man gave a smile to the silently groaning witch, "This is a wonderful library, your area must be all that much more wonderful."
"Oh it is. Now I wasn't aware that you knew about our community or else I'm certain it would have made it to our papers."
"I have been aware of magic since I was a child, a friend of mine was a witch, but I've not been involved for a long time now."
Mia coughed lightly as she cut in, "Well Franco, we must be getting in, don't want to form a traffic jam behind us."
The man looked and blushed deeply at seeing the number of people waiting impatiently to be allowed in, "Oh, of course, I'll see you inside then."
"Not if I can help it," the brunette muttered under her breath as she walked towards the wall, her mood lifting considerably when she felt the hand on her arm tighten as they walked through and entered into a huge building, "Oh. My. God."
Tony was quick to move them away from the entry, knowing that others would be entering after them but was in awe also, "I must admit, I never knew magic could be this awesome."
All around the building there were shelves, gold labels on the ends that showed what was in the aisle, books flying about as they were placed into return baskets or summoned from the catalogues provided at each table. At the back there was a large setoff wrought iron gates, a large sign stating it was the rare documents area above it.
"I cannot wait to see the Library of Alexandria but this is bloody awesome!" Mia's eyes shone as she looked on.
"Library of Alexandria?" Tony queried.
"Yes, the muggle library was obviously destroyed but the magical one was simply hidden from the ages. My brother, well practically, Bill is a curse breaker for Gringotts and a few years ago they discovered the entrance to the library. It should be ready for a few special benefactors in a few years," giving a sly grin, she continued, "Best million I've ever spent."
"Aha, now that was another question. Are you really a few spots ahead of my in the Forbes list?"
Seeing the almost pout, Mia laughed as she lead her companion towards an empty table, grabbing up the index book that lay there, "Yes, actually I'm currently 2nd, not that I'm pleased about it, I'd much rather not have any of it and only even bother with it when I've found a worthy cause, such as the restoration of the library. Seeing how I got the money, I'd much rather not have the money."
"How did you get the money?" Tony asked gently, realising it was probably a sore subject.
"Well, I got my first couple million the same way you did, only my parents were murdered by Death Eater scumbags. On top of that I got both my portion as well as my best friend and brother's portion of his godfather's estate, which was also how I got that title, I became the head of a dead family. The year afterwards I got two shares of the estate of my headmaster and mentor, he was really very much like my grandfather and it definitely hurt when he died. Then in 1998 I got a huge supposed windfall. My fiancé, he and his twin had been running an extremely successful joke shop and were rather well off from it, well I got everything when he was killed, including ownership of the shop because George was unable to run it. Add that on top of bounties and rewards from a few nations, once again doubled over because Harry is a bastard and didn't want the bloody money, and we have how I'm the second richest person in the world."
Hearing about Fred, the man had looked down at the ring, surprised he hadn't noticed it before, he usually honed in on rings, and passed over the handkerchief from his jacket pocket when he spotted the tears that weren't going to be shed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"I'm fine, well, I'm trying hard to be, Fred asked me to move forward and I think I've done a good job. Left my birthday that year, walked most of the way to France, bought a bike there and have been riding about just relaxing and learning since then. Even still, it hurts every time I look at this ring, knowing that he never saw me wear it," the laugh was sad, "He bought it a year before he died, never got the nerve to ask me to marry him until the letter he'd left behind with it, just in case he was killed. Has been a good man repellent since then though."
"Not that good, I didn't even see it until just now," Tony joked, looking about at the many people mingling, "So you own a joke shop but instead of running it you're travelling around on a bicycle?"
"It's being run by my brother and sister, as well as our good friends. They've increased business and are on my case all the time about finding expansion spots, for some reason they tell me it's my job to do all of that sort of stuff. What I'm thinking of doing is making it a working honeymoon for Ginny and my brother, actually Harry is the closest thing I had to a sibling before I was brought into the Weasley family. Make the lazy arse find a spot in America to put up shop," chuckling, she then stopped and said sternly at her new friend, "And for your information, my bicycle is absolutely perfect for travelling, except in the mountains during winter."
That had the man laughing heartily, something that they both did for the majority of the night, Mia more so after informing her companion that he wouldn't be able to get drunk for 3 days, until he decided that could be a challenge in the making, which had him in gales. When the new millennium countdown was announced, Mia and Tony were out on one of the many balconies the library had, overlooking the city lights.
"The last end of the year I saw, I was on the run but Fred still found me, we climbed the tallest tree we could and watched a nearby town setting off their fireworks. Damn near fell from the branch with what we did next," Mia sighed remembering.
Tony on the other hand was struggling to remain breathing, "You had sex in a tree?"
"Well we couldn't have done it anywhere else, Harry was a few yards away, in another tree, and there were about 30 Death Eaters on the ground looking for us. The terror only made it that much better though I was certain we were done after I dislodged a branch and it hit one of the bastards."
The countdown got louder and as it hit single digits, the two brunettes smiled, "I may not be offering the same but I would very much like to start the new millennium with a kiss from a gorgeous woman, unless she would curse me then I'll go find Franco."
Laughing, Mia simply nodded and as the fireworks began, many of them Weasley products, the two brunettes came together for the traditional kiss, cutting off when a large explosion sounded near them, one that produced the business symbol, "Well, happy 2000 Mr Stark, I hope that this millennium treats you better than the last."
"I hope the same for yourself Lady Granger," Tony's laughter carried as he ducked the hit to his head and was joined in by the witch.