Disclaimer: Tony Stark and the rest of the characters are the property of Stan Lee and Marvel Studios/Disney. Harry Potter and all associated characters and settings remain the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Warning: This fic is un-betaed and will most likely stay un-betaed. There will be mistakes and misspellings. There will be things that don't match up with what I wrote before (feel free to point out those mistakes). This is called writing by the seat of my pants. I lost myself as a writer, I think, by participating in fest after fest – it's time I wrote for myself again.

Notes: I am intrigued by Obadiah's character (especially after watching Armored Adventures). I find it fascinating that a man could imbed himself so far into Tony and Howard's life, to be so trusted by both, and then to come out like a bastard.

Chapter 10

Tony Stark was not supposed to survive.

The first hit on the young prodigy went out when the boy was barely taller than his knee. It was right after the kid build a damn miniature something-or-other that Howard praised him endlessly for. Obadiah Stane poisoned Tony Stark's hot chocolate that night, wanting to get rid of the little monster that would be nothing but a distraction from business.

Tony Stark took one sip, told his mother that it tasted funny, and went to bed with no more than a mild stomachache the next morning.

The years passed and, once Tony began to progress further in school, Howard wrapped his mind back around the business part of his life. Obadiah did everything he could to keep the genius under his thumb, using alcohol more than anything else. Howard always had a weakness for a good brandy. Sure, Obadiah would pay off random hitmen to try and kill Tony through the years, but all of them failed. All of them came back with a shrug and a "he doesn't come out of his lab often enough."

When he tried to stage an accident in the lab, he killed three people. Not one of them was Tony Stark. The annoyance had chosen that night to go out to a party with a few of the girls he "tutored."

It was then that Obadiah knew Tony Stark would be harder to kill than he imagined. It did nothing to ease his mind when Howard started to come forward with new designs, new products, with his son's name on the patent.

So if he couldn't kill Tony Stark, maybe he could kill Howard. And damn it had been his luck when both son and father decided to take a tour of England two weeks after the lab incident. Cars were easy to rig. Brake lines were easy to cut. Tires were easy to put holes in. He let the man doing the deed pick how father and son would die.

Howard Stark returned in a casket.

Tony Stark returned in well-tailored French suit.

But there was something different about him, something Obadiah couldn't put his finger on. Tony carried himself differently, acted differently to the press. He shied away instead of putting on the smile Howard taught him. He kept close to some red-headed girl that he claimed helped him in England. She had a spice as a name and a smile that meant she would protect him.

It didn't matter. Tony's attitude gave him a better idea.

He approached Tony as soon as the teenager got off the plane. He distracted Tony from having to look at the casket rolling by. He wrapped an arm around Tony's shoulders and promised that he would take care of things until Tony was ready, and old enough, to sit behind the CEO desk. Then he told Tony to go home and play with his toys, since that always made him feel better.

Three years passed before Tony brought forward a new invention. It was nowhere near the work Obadiah expected of him, but he praised it anyway. It would sell well, that was promised simply by the Stark name, and thus it would make him millions. On top of that, Tony looked to him for approval and guidance. As soon as the young billionaire sat behind the oak CEO desk, he looked straight to Obadiah and asked how he looked.

Obadiah knew he had won then. Tony Stark was his to control. Gleeful, he started pushing more and more weapons into production. Lost ideas Howard refused to acknowledge past their initial blueprint were sold to the military. And Tony, dear Tony, let it all happen.

The red-headed spice girl (who he found out was named Pepper Potts) asked once if it was smart to make all of his father's discarded ideas. Tony simply told her that all he wanted was to see his father's dreams come true.

Oh, he so had him.

But even people like Tony Stark had their limitations.

Obadiah wanted to sit behind that desk again, even if it now happened to be glass instead of wood. He wanted to turn SI into a weapons-making machine. He wanted more power, more destruction. He wouldn't say no to the money that would be rolling in, either.

Tony Stark had to go. There was no way, not even in his warped state, that he would allow the company to go that far. He cared about his public image, after all.

It was so easy to stage Afghanistan. It was easy to tell Miss Potts that the generals wanted Tony to be there instead of him. It was so damned easy to contact the Ten Rings and offer weapons in exchange for the death of Tony Stark.

So why was the bastard still alive!

He listened to the excuses over the video chat. He watched as the men tried to explain what it was that saved Tony Stark's life. They tried to make excuses for letting him live.

In the end, Obadiah was angry, and he was intrigued. They mentioned a "glowing, blue light" in his chest. The ones who knew English, and listened in on conversations while Tony worked, said he called it a reactor.

There was only one reactor that Obadiah knew of that gave off a blue light.

And if Tony Stark managed to build one in a damned cave, then maybe Tony Stark was still useful. If only to give him that reactor.

Yes, Tony would live a while longer. And once Obadiah got another idea on how to terminate him, that reactor would be his.

If the thing even existed.

The next chapter is Harry's procedure with his nightlight. I'm still tweaking things, and probably will continue to tweak after I post it, but for now just enjoy the ride.