"American-style iced tea is the perfect drink for a hot, sunny day. It's never really caught on in the UK, probably because the last time we had a hot, sunny day was back in 1957."

~ Tom Holt


Extra #4: Aunty P

"Come on, kiddo," Harry called, smiling as his son's eyes darted around the airport in absolute wonder. No matter how many times he came here, there was always something new to his young eyes.

At eight years old, Teddy was forever asking questions, something which Harry encouraged. It was a product of his own knowledge-deprived childhood that made Harry as open as he was; he'd sworn to himself that he'd never tell his children "don't ask questions". He hadn't expected to have kids at such a young age, but that promise still stood.

"Dad, dad, what's that?" he asked, pointing at one lady's phone as she placed it to her ear. He recognised her from the flight over; first class was always a rather small community, even if they didn't speak to each other.

"That's a mobile phone, Ted," he told him, "I'm surprised you haven't seen one at school."

"Yeah, but that one's really skinny; like cardboard!"

Harry looked at the brand on the back of it; it said "Stark", on the side, and he nodded.

"That's because it's made by a very smart man who knows how to make them very skinny."

Teddy looked absolutely fascinated; "You can do that?"

The red-head looked over, finished with her call, and smiled at him; she'd obviously heard their conversation. He smiled back, thinking that her hair reminded him rather too much of Ginny, and took his son's hand.

"Come on, kiddo; let's go visit your grandmother."

"Na-nah! Na-nah!" he chanted in reply, and the smiling woman walked over, trailed by a couple of aides in suits.

"Visiting family?" she asked, and Teddy nodded enthusiastically from his side.

"Yeah! Dad's taking me to see my nan, aren't you?"

"That I am," he agreed warmly, before turning to the woman, "I take it you're here for business?"

"That I am; Virginia Potts, employee of Stark Industries and Tony Stark's personal assistant."

Harry blinked; "Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you. Personal assistant to Tony Stark, huh? How on Earth did you get that job?" he asked, gesturing for them to start walking.

Her aides picked up their combined luggage, and looked around for his. He shook his head; "We don't take anything when we come here; everything we need is in my manor up north."

Virginia's smile faltered for a moment and Harry knew exactly what she was thinking; 'Oh my god, he's a rich guy. Crap.'

"So, how did you get that job with Mister Stark?" he prompted as they finally started moving.

"Oh, I caught his eye," she said grimly, and Harry grinned, "And then it turned out that I was competent, so he kept me around."

"Competency is the heart of any position," he agreed sagely, cheeky grin still in place.

"Yeah, that's what my soccer coach said about me!" Teddy piped up, and Harry snorted.

"Football, Teddy," he informed him, not commenting on just how abysmal Teddy was at the sport.

"Coach Markson said it's called soccer 'cause it's in America, though."

"But we're in England now," Harry told him, and Teddy stuck his tongue out.

Virginia chuckled.

"And what do you do for a living, Mister Potter?" she asked.

"I run a pub in New York," he informed her proudly, drawing a surprised look from the businesswoman, "You thought I was some rich snob, huh? I admit, I have more money than I've ever known what to do with, but I don't really use it."

She blushed, "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just so used to Mister Stark that-"

"It's fine," he assured her, "I knew a few snobs growing up, myself. Hated the lot of them. I was actually raised in the suburbs in Surrey."

They swapped stories until they managed to reach the outside and Teddy broke free.

"Nana!" he called, running up to a woman with flyaway grey hair and a smile that lit up her entire face.

"Teddy! How is my Ursa Minor? Did you have a good flight? Were the flight attendants nice to you? Did you take a nice long nap?" she asked, rapid fire, and Harry smiled at the show. Beside him, Virginia's smile echoed his own.

"And you, Harry? How was your flight?" she asked after Teddy had answered, "And who is this beautiful young lady?" she said, giving Virginia an approving once over.

Virginia blushed, and Harry chuckled.

"Someone we met in the airport, Andy. Virginia, this is Andromeda Tonks, Teddy's grandmother. Andy, this is Virginia Potts; she works for Stark Industries," he introduced them, and Virginia stuck out her hand.

"Please, call me Pepper," she said as they shook, and Andromeda grinned.

"Then you can call me Andy."

"I get the feeling that I should be afraid of what I've started here," Harry whispered to Teddy, who giggled.

"It's funny how scared you are of girls, dad."


Three days later and Harry was in the business district of London, checking on the various businesses he owned or had invested in, when he bumped into Miss Potts again.

"Mister Potter!" she called from behind him, and he turned and smiled on seeing her.

"Miss Potts," he greeted, waiting for her and the aide she had trailing her to make it to him, "How are you finding London?"

"As wonderful as ever, Mister Potter," she said, and Harry snorted.

"It's been raining all week and today is the first day without clouds for the last month," he informed her, and she laughed, "Half the reason I left was because I couldn't handle the damnable weather."

"Well, seeing as it's such a nice day, would you be up for lunch? I have reservations at a nice cafe, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I brought a plus one."

"I'm happy to find Jones and have lunch with him," the aide piped up, and Pepper looked up in consternation.

"Are you sure?" she asked, a Harry quietly approved of how she treated her underlings.

"It's fine, ma'am," she replied, and Pepper couldn't of anything but let her go.

"Well," he said, "Lead the way, Miss Potts; it seems the issue with the plus one won't be such an issue after all."


They discussed stocks over lunch; Harry didn't have many and he didn't like having less than a co-owning share in something he hadn't setup himself but Pepper was adamant that the only way to make it big was to take risks.

"It's all about jumping right in, Harry," she insisted, having heeded his suggestion to call him by his first name, "because if you don't follow your intuition, you'll just wallow in sameness forever, and the business world is nothing if not fluid."

That certainly got him thinking. Stagnation was the problem that the Wizarding World here in England was facing; he did not want to go down that route.

"And what would you suggest I invest in, Pepper? My mind is better suited to creating new drinks than buying stock, and I don't want to hire someone to do it for me."

"Buy from a few well-established companies with consistent numbers. Then, once you feel more confident in your intuition, start to invest in up and comings or relatively small-name brands that look promising. It's like a game, Harry, you just need to know how to play the market."

"I suppose that one of those well-established ones you mentioned would be Stark Industries?" he asked, grinning widely.

She smiled, "Yes, Stark Industries is a well-established company. We've been around since before the Second World War, after all, and the only time we've seen negative numbers was when Stark Senior passed away. That drop lasted less than a week," she said. Harry was impressed again, this time by the pride she had in her company.

"And how does one go about buying stocks in Stark Industries, Miss Potts?"

"If you give me your email I can have the forms in your inbox by this evening."


Three years later, in New York, Harry watched Tony Stark announce that he was no longer making weapons and grinned. He'd best call Pepper and rub the inevitable stock fall in her face; so much for consistent numbers.


A few days later, after the revelation of Iron Man's identity, Pepper called him.

"What was that complaint you had about consistent number, Harry?" she asked cheekily, "Because the numbers on Stark Industries stocks just hit an all time high."

Harry snorted; "Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Stark for the win, and all that. We still going for lunch this weekend?"

"Unless Tony- that is, Mister Stark decides that he needs me along on another one of his crime-fighting adventures, then yes. Jean George's at one o'clock, sharp. Don't be late!"

"Of course not," he acquiesced, smiling at the frazzled image of his friend fending off reporters on the screen, "That's an absolutely beautiful shot of you, Pepper; you should go on television more often."

"Be quiet you," she scolded, though her next words held a smile, "See you on Saturday, tell Teddy I said hi."

"Will do; later, Pepper."

"Bye, Harry."


AN: Mostly unedited because I'm bloody tired.

Goodnight, my lovelies (or good morning, since you all live on the other side of the world).