Chapter 10

It had been a week since her public display of embarrassment and Jeanne-Marie was still recovering. True to their words Marie and Jeanne had let her be. For the first time in a long while Jeanne-Marie was alone and she didn't know what to do with herself. Well it was not like she ever knew what to do with herself but normally she could distract herself amidst their bickering.

Part of her wanted to go find them and apologize but they had embarrassed her in front of the whole school. On the first day for goodness sake. How would she ever recover from this?

Even now as she sat by the flame in the Great Hall she could see the way people looked at her as if she was the biggest weirdo in the room. There was no way Thor would associate with someone like her. No her friends' crime was unforgivable... at least for now.

Jeanne-Marie had spent the majority of the week locked in her room in a mad fit. Having given up all hope of being with her nordic hunk she wrought armageddon on everything in her room which reminded her of him and their awkward introduction. This included one hundred and thirty two pieces of fanart, two hundred thousand words worth of fanfiction, forty nine drabbles, and a mural of them flying off into a scarlet sunset on a pegasus that she had painted onto the ceiling on the first night. She got the inspiration for this masterpiece after seeing her muse swagger into the bonding ceremony, hair whipping in the evening air. In her mind those toned arms had swept her with a hearty laugh and brilliant smile, and BAM pegasus riding into the sunset.

Presently all remained of that pegasus was a large scorch mark, much like the rest of her room. She had been in the midst of her fit of depression, while the sky raged outside her window, when a flash of lightning shattered the darkness of her room. There, clinging to the glass like a drowned rat fighting against the storm, illuminated like some kind of deity, was Tony Stark.

Her heart stopped as she gaped at the boy struggling passionately to ascend the cliff outside her room. For a brief second his gaze caught hers and she could see the flame that drove him up the cliff. There was a sense of deep desperation in him that made her sadness of the past week seem like a childish tantrum. His expression sparked intense feels inside her, erasing any memory of that strapping blonde.

And then it was gone.

The room was plunged back into the shadows, leaving Jeanne-Marie in a state of utmost confusion. When lightning struck again, seconds later, the window was empty as if the boy had never been there.

After that night she had attempted to get her life sorted out. She cleaned her room and started going to class. The following couple of days had been rather difficult as she would constantly catch people's eyes and feel a wave of insecurity, but then she would remember Tonys frame shining in the stormy night be ashamed of her childness and weakness.

"Je vois que tu dessine encore les jeunes garçons." Jeanne's sharp voice interrupted her scribblings.

"Oooh look, it's a new slice of man meat." Marie sleazed her way into the conversation, "This Stark boy is okay but he's a little twink in comparison to that sex god Thor."

"Je pense que I says dat I don't want you deux bot'ering moi maintenant."

"Blame-moi pas. C'était sa idée." Jeanne defended, jeering at Marie.

"What are you looking at me for, because of me we finally got the boy's attention. Just you wait, give me an hour with that chunk of man meat and I'll have him begging for you."

"I'm so over ta merde. I told vous, I never want te revoir!" Jeanne-Marie yelled at them.

"Pardon-moi, ma soeur." Her brother said as he stepped forward. "I guess I will just leave you toute seule."

"Oh excuse-moi Jean-Paul. I didn't see you t'ere."

"Sens-tu bien? You 'aven't been in classe much cette semaine." Jean-Paul warmly pulled her into a hug.

"J'sais pas, l'ecole is more difficile than I t'ought." She mumbled into his shoulder. "But j'essaie"

"Well ma chère soeur, n'oublie dat you are not alone."

Their sibling bonding was broken by the rowdy voices of Thor and his gang heading towards them.

"Oh lookie here boys, the wonder twins are having a reunion."

"I think it's cute."

"Volstagg you think everything is cute."

"Is there a problem with that?"

"What I have a problem with is this little toad who thinks he stands a chance against us in the opening match next week."

"I wouldn't get too cocky Thor, Fox House has been known to put up a good fight."

"Not this year. We must beat the House of Fox. I will do whatever is in my power to ensure our victory." Thor said in a surprisingly desperate tone.

"Woah buddy, I'm excited as anyone to kick some fox ass, but lighten up a bit. It's just a game." Fandrall stepped closer to her. "We are in the presence of this fine lady, why don't we use this time to get to know her better? You know, have a little fun"

Before she had time to react his hand was on her ass.

"Lâche ma soeur!" Her brother yelled, shoving Fandrall aside.

"Cool it Frenchie! I'm just returning the favour." He gave her a wink, "Aint that right princess."

Jeanne-Marie was consumed by a cold rage. After the past week she was not prepared for shit like this. SLLLLAPPP! she looked up to see Jeanne standing triumphantly over her assailant a red handprint fresh on his face. Marie stepped forwards and elbowed him in the groin.

"Any more of you shitheads wanna piece of this!" Marie spat at them.

"You freak! What the fuck was that for?"

"Well you kind of crossed a line." Hogan said flatly.

"Kind of? He violated ma soeur, tabarnak!"

"What? I...but...she...damn..."

"Let's just leave." Thor said broodingly.

"Yeah allez, get your culs away from 'ere!" He brother cursed as the gang slunk back to Hottah's Mire. He then turned to face her with a serious expression, "Câlisse Jeanne-Marie, is that why you 'aven't been coming to classe? À cause de those crosseurs."

"N'inquietes pas, Jean-Paul. Je juste..Je juste 'ave need to figure out des choses. I'm going d'aller sommeiller. Je te verrai plus tard, okay?"

"D'accord..Let me know si les gars de merde return."

Jeanne-Marie gave her brother that look they had developed over the years and slowly walked towards the security of her room.

"So you done being crazy?" Marie cooed in her ear. "You're gonna let us hang out again? After today I think it is clear that you're shit without us"

Mmmmhmmm...

"Pour une fois, elle a raison. Tu n'es pas forte comme nous. Tu es faible. Tu as besoin de nous." Jeanne joined in.

"I dunno... on vas voir..." Jeanne-Marie lamented. The spirits were being unfair sending her all these mixed messages. Figuring shit out was not going easy. "Oh well.." She sighed..

By then it was getting dark and the Great Hall was largely empty. Soon the prefects would be out to herd the remaining students back to their residences for curfew. She paused at the exit to relax with a deep breath before retreating back into the damp caverns of the Bear House residence.

It was then that she noticed Tony Stark and his shadow scurrying out of the kitchen with armfuls of cake. "Fuck dis." Without thinking twice she cast a makeshift invisibility spell and followed after them.

It had finally happened, after what had had seemed like an eon, Bruce had finally completed a full day of school. Tony swore that this had involved the scaling of Mount Everest, the slaying of an Antipodean Opaleye, and other epic quests. Bruce was so happy he thought Mount Everest wasn't enough and that a voyage to the moon or through the spirit realm was a more accurate description.

It hadn't been easy though. After meeting with Fury, Bruce had been pretty shook up even if he would never let it show. The days in the aftermath of the meeting were rough and Bruce had spent the majority of the rest of the week out with "medical problems". With Bruce largely out of the picture Tony had used the time to lay out the groundwork for his next big plan.

They spent the weekend hauled up in the lab tinkering away on a whole array of spells. With Bruce's help Tony had accomplished twice as much as he usually would have. Bruce also was a great conversationalist and they spent much time debating such things as the legitimacy of Divination. It was like a big innovative magic party.

By the end of the weekend Bruce had relaxed and they were ready to take Monday head on. Tony had prepared a whole slew of relaxation charms that kept disturbances away and created pleasant aromas. He had even gone so far as to enchant the two of them with an invisible tether so that Bruce couldn't just disappear again. Bruce said that this was all a little excessive and that he preferred to rely on these calming potions he had brewed. Tony could see concern flash across his face when he cast the tethering enchantment but he had insisted anyways.

"This is so you know you know you're not doing this alone, even if sometimes you think you are." He said with a smile, "You might as well just accept it Brucie. You'll never getting rid of me now. Besides I've always wanted to try this."Tony bolted away until the tether caught and they both went crashing into the floor laughing uncontrollably

Luckily the day had passed without a hitch. There were several times when Tony could feel Bruce tense up, spurring Tony to whisper some snarky remark about the professor or to simply put a friendly hand on his shoulder and give a warm smile. As the day neared its end they both got more excited and the jokes became more frequent.

"Five! You ready big guy. Four! No turning back now. Three! Are you sure you're feeling well. Two! Like you're not going to vomit? One! or run away because we... ZERO! DUhdudduhudhdu!" Tony trumpeted,

"Congratulations and what not! You are now officially a kindergartner. I hope you enjoy playing with your foam blocks. They were always my favourite part. Except there was this one kid, Lucas Maloney, who would always stomp on my buildings. It was then that I learned my first stunning spell."

"Tony.."

"And what a beautiful spell it was."

"Tony!"

"Already a genius at such a young age." Tears were welling up in his eyes.

"You done yet Tony?"

"Sorry it was just a traumatic experience for me you know having all my hard work destroyed day after day." He gave a mischievous grin. "But you know if you're going to be an attention whore we can talk about you...sooooo big day for you? How you holding up?"

"Pretty good." Bruce said trying to contain his smile like he was some kid in trouble for sneaking cookies. It was adorable. "I didn't think it was possible. I never thought that this would happen to me."

"Well you did have some pretty amazing help I might add."

"Thanks Tony." Bruce gave his signature sheepish half smile. "I doubt I would have been able to do this without someone as pigheaded and ridiculous as you."

"Pigheaded?" Tony mocked hurt. "You wound me sir and here I had this huge party planned for tonight with booze and cake and strippers. I have the right mind to cancel it."

"Oh okay I guess I'll spend the evening pigging out by myself." Bruce turned and strutted off. "Happy, looks like it's just us tonight."

Tony was astonished, when did Bruce become such a douche. He ran to catch up and gave Bruce a friendly tackle. "You jerk, where did you learn such sass?"

"While I do have a great teacher, Oh Sensei."

"Well my young grasshopper lets hurry on our way. There is much butterbeer and cake to be consumed. I told Happy to go all out."

"You were that confident that today was going to be the day?"

"I had a feeling."

"Um Tony?"

"Yeah Bruce?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Bruce asked gesturing towards the invisible tether.

"Oh Darn... I was hoping to string you along like a puppy all day."

"Really? If anything you're the dog." Bruce yanked the rope sending Tony crashing to the ground. Bruce stood above him, with his stupid smug expression.

"I have a bad feeling I'm going to get used to this view."

Bruce cocked his brow sending his smugness to unbearable levels. Tony quickly brought Bruce down to his level and they sat on the ground locked in a death stare match. Eventually Tony couldn't take Bruce's face anymore and burst into were embarrassingly girly and he struggled to regain composure.

"Damn you're good at this. All right I concede, I'll disenchant the tether. We done here?"

"Hell yeah, I'm starving."

They spent the rest of the evening gorging themselves on a feast for kings. The cake was a feast in itself probably being better suited for a wedding.

"Happy you out did yourself." Tony beamed proudly.

"How are we supposed to eat this? It is almost as tall as me."

"Like this!" Tony dug his hand into the cake and ripped out a massive chunk shoving it into his mouth in the most seductively unseductive way possible.

Bruce laughed and followed suit.

"We're going to have leftovers for a week."

"A week? More like a year. This is ridiculous."

"Well come on it's time for the real party to begin." Tony shot up and grabbed a plateful of cake, passing it to Bruce.

"Tony what more could you possibly have planned?"

"Don't question my art. Now take this cake and let's go. Thanks again Happy you are the best half man servant a guy could ask for."

"Anything for you Master Stark."

They scurried back to their room with half a tonne of cake in tow. Bruce kept asking questions which made Tony even more excited for the next part of his plan. He dumped the cake in the lab and began changing.

"Tony seriously what is going on?"

"We my good sir are going on an adventure."

"Uh..huh..why?"

"So you know how we've hit another snag with the cell phone project?"

"Yeah...the waves that muggles use to transmit cellular energy cannot travel through the magical energy around campus."

"Well while you were being scolded by Uncle Fury.."

"Which was supposed to be private I might add."

"Yeah yeah, whatever the point is that I saw a book in Xavier's office that looked like it could be useful." He had in fact seen a book that night but it was on a different subject matter. Our Dark Masters and Other Secrets of the Spirit World. Tony figured that if anything in this Academy held the answers to Bruce it was that. But Bruce didn't need to know that yet.

"So what, we're gonna go break into the headmasters office?"

"Exactly."

"On a Monday?"

"Why not? Xavier has a staff meeting now, so we have like an hour and a half."

"Tony this seems like a bad idea."

"Nonsense. I did stuff like this all the time at my old school. Come on it'll be fun."

"I guess..."

"Awesome. Put these on." Tony threw Bruce a black hoodie and toque.

"What are these?"

"Muggle clothes. They are more convenient for moving around in the dark. Also don't they make us look more stealthy?"

"Sure."

"Also use this." Tony tossed him a scarf. "It's charmed to mask noises you make so you can sneak quietly. Its a muffler that muffles HA I'm a genius!"

"You're so lame." Despite his skepticism Bruce was eagerly wrapping the muffler around his face.

Once they were all decked out they slipped out of Totoba's Perch and down the stairs.

They had a couple of close calls on their way to the eastern wing. Sif had almost caught them on the stairs as she headed back to the dormitory but Bruce had quickly shoved them into a corner and cast a concealment charm. Tony didn't want to think about what she would have done to them if they had been caught.

The Great Hall was empty except for the dim light of the fire which was burning low. Without the bodies of the student body, the room appeared more cavernous and normal as if was opening up into the heavens.

At the entrance to the eastern wing stood Coulson, on guard as if his life depended on it. Tony had expected the pompous ass to be there fulfilling his "duty" and pulled a marble out of his pocket. As stealthily as one can, he rolled the marble down the hall so it stopped near the library. Tony had enchanted the marble, and slowly it turned into a bird. Just as he had planned the bird softly chirped away at the other end of the hall.

When coulson moved closer to inspect the noise the bird shot up and began flapping around his head.

"Argg is this a bat?" Coulson cried, "Shoo! Get away from me."

While he was distracted the two boys snuck their way beyond into the eastern wing.

"A bird?" Bruce harshly whispered into his ear, "Are you an idiot? Why in the world would a bird be in the school at this hour? You should have enchanted a bat."

"Well whatever he thought it was a bat."

"You're just lucky he's a bigger idiot than you are."

Their banter was interrupted by the noise of a chair being scraped back. That was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps on stone, heading in their direction.

"What are you two doing out here at this hour?"

They turned around to face Professor McCoy. He looked like he had been busy as he took of his glasses to wipe the fatigue from his eyes. In the corner of his eye Tony saw Bruce's face light up in an alarming shade of red. Potions was his favourite class so he was probably embarrassed to be seen by his teacher breaking the rules.

"We could ask you the same question." Tony started, "Isn't there a staff meeting now?"

McCoy gave them a quizzical look before continuing. "It went short. Ended five minutes ago. The rest of the staff should be out soon."

"Damnit!" Tony cursed under his breath. There was no way they would get into Xavier's office now. They'd have to try again another day.

"You two weren't planning on causing any trouble now?"

"No sir. We...we went out for a walk." Tony quickly lied, "Bruce was feeling ill so I took him outside to get some air. And then it got dark out so we headed back...took us longer than I thought though."

"Oh.." The professor paused for a second, mulling over his thoughts. Tony almost shit his pants. He really hoped McCoy bought their excuse or else Bruce would never forgive him. "Well if that's the case hurry on to bed boys. It's late and I don't want you two to sleep through my class tomorrow morning."

Tony let out a huge sigh. They were lucky bastards. "Yes sir. Right away."

"Oh and Bruce." His roommate tightened up all over again. "I forgot to give you this earlier." he handed over a small packet of herbs.

"It's starthistle, for your extra credit project." Bruce looked dumbfounded.

"Well goodnight boys." Professor McCoy said as he lumbered down the hall, "I dearly hope I do not see you down here again."

"Well this sucks." Tony grumbled as he began the long walk to their room. He had only gone a few steps when Bruce had pulled him into the bathroom.

"What are you doing?"

Bruce was surprisingly excited, "Tony it's starthistle. Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah your extra credit project."

"I don't have an extra credit project. Professor McCoy is helping us out."

"I don't follow."

"Don't you get it. He said he doesn't want to SEE us down here again."

"I gathered that much." Tony was very confused, "But how does that help us get into Xavier's office especially when this hallway will be crawling with staff in minutes."

"Starthistle is the key ingredient in the the Now You See Me Potion, a class 4 invisibility potion."

"oh...OHHHHhh Why didn't you say so in the first place. Here use my cauldron." Tony pulled out a small pot from a satchel on his side that had the Undetectable Extension Charm on it. "What else do you need?"

"I should have the rest on me." Bruce said as he emptied his pockets of various plants. "Man McCoy is the coolest."

"Yeah we'll have to give him a hug tomorrow. Now hurry up I can hear voices starting to head this way."

"There, all good. Quick chug this." Bruce said handing him a small cup of was bitter but definitely better than PolyJuice Potion.

His stomach bubbled slightly and then FLASH Bruce was gone. He raised his hand but it was still visible.

"I don't think it worked I can still see myself."

"It worked you dummy. You're invisible to everyone but yourself"

"You're just out to get me tonight. You will rue the day you mocked Tony Stark."

"I'm just saying your reputation supercedes yourself, genius."

"Oh Ha Ha, come on let's hurry."

They snuck back into the hallway which had a couple more occupants in it, most likely professors reviewing their notes. The Astral Tower was much more vacant and they easily made their way to headmaster's door.

It was locked of course. Tony took this opportunity to redeem his pride and transfigured the door into water. Before them lay the warm golden walls of Xavier's office and sitting at the headmaster's desk, fiddling with an glowing blue gem, was Tony's red haired nemesis.

"I was wondering when you two would get here." She cocked.

"Ahghg get out of my life! Why are you everywhere?"

"I thought I would take the opportunity to get better acquainted with our honorable headmaster's private collection. What are you doing here?"

"We're doing research for a pet project." Bruce spoke up.

"Oh Brucie there you are. You were harder to detect than Trudgey McFoot over there."

"Why you grrrrrr. Just keep out of our way. Come on Bruce I'm pretty sure it's over here."

"Wait someone else is coming to join our party." Nancy warned.

"Damn it! Xavier must be back already. Quick hide."

"Wait why are we hiding Tony we're invisible."

"Just shhh!"

All eyes turned to the door as a shadowy figure walked through.

"I could 'ave sworn il venait ici." A feminine voice spoke up as the shadowy figure disenchanted themselves to reveal a young woman.

"You're not staff." Nancy said strolling over to her threateningly, "Why are you here?"

In response to Nancy's menacing look the girl suddenly became stiff and serious. "Je cherche pour M. Stark."

"Oh well in that case he and his boyfriend are cowering over there. Tony you were right when you said you have persistent fangirls."

"Traitor..." Tony grumbled under his breath as he stepped forward. "As my lackey was saying I'm Tony Stark. I'm assuming you want an autograph. Who shall I make it out to?"

"Je m'appelle Jeanne," she said curtly. "Mais je ne veux pas..."

"Oh you're that Jan-Mary girl." Tony interrupted. He was reminded of awkward memories of walking upon her howling session. "Uhhh you wouldn't to be a dog person would you?"

"Quoi?"

"Yeah Tony I'm confused." Bruce spoke up, "What's going on here?"

"Yes please enlighten us Tony, what is going on here?" Professor Xavier demanded as he wheeled into the room.

"O Fuck!" Tony made a quick start to try and grab the book he had come for but it was gone. So was Nancy.. Tony was really starting to hate her.

Xavier moved into the centre of the room waving his wand to disenchant Tony and the puddle of a door.

"Evening Headmaster." Tony said awkwardly, no longer invisible. "We were just..."

"I don't have time for your excuses Tony. You two, detention." He gestured towards Tony and Jeanne-Marie. "Everyday after class for the next two weeks."

"Mais le premier match de Quodpot..."

"You two will unfortunately miss. That is the price you pay, Miss Beaubier, for bad behavior."

"Whatever it's not like I was going to go anyways." Tony muttered under his breath.

"Ummm what about me Headmaster?" Bruce spoke up from the shadows. He was still invisible for some reason even though Xavier must have known he was there.

"Oh...Is that you Mr. Banner? I didn't realize you were here." He fumbled awkwardly. "Given the nature of your roommate I absolve you of responsibility. He probably dragged you here against your free will."

"But Professor.." Bruce argued.

"Enough...I think we have had enough disturbances for tonight. Be warned Mr. Banner I expect you to have better behaviour in the future. I will speak to you further at our session next week. Now all of you be off. It is far too late for this."

Tony was highly confused by the professors actions. He had expected after last week's confrontation, for the Professor to be extra hostile towards Bruce, not for him to awkwardly tiptoe around the boy. But now was not the time to debate the headmaster for his actions as they had just got a fairly lucky break with only two weeks detention. Tony grabbed Bruce and booked it out of there.

"Thank you Headmaster. We will never do this again. Goodnight." He called out as they left.

"Wait Tony." Bruce cried.

"Not here." Tony hissed. "Come one lets get back to our room...Now." Bruce did not argue and they zoomed onwards.

Tony took one last look behind him to catch Xavier calling out goodnight. The headmasters face was uncharacteristically cold and calculating leaving Tony with the fear that there was more trouble to come.