This is a repost. The notification system has been down, and I just noticed that I'm starting to get notifications again. So I'm reposting this chapter for everyone who didn't notice it was updated during the mess. I'll put the next chapter up later this weekend!

Tony entered the lab later than he had intended. After he and Pepper broke up, he stayed up even later drinking and contemplating his next move. Even with all the attraction he had to Hermione, breaking up with Pepper still hurt like a mother. There was no way he could just jump from this long term relationship into whatever it was he had with Hermione. He wondered if the attraction he had to Hermione was superficial enough that if he just fucked her once it would be out of his system and he could move on and try to fix things with Pepper. But the idea of using Hermione in a one night stand capacity made him feel disgusted, and he knew deep down that the demise of his relationship with Pepper was more than just his attraction to Hermione. His desire to be Iron Man played a huge role in that. He finally passed out sometime near dawn, and woke up around noon in a panic.

He walked through the lab, wondering if Bruce and Hermione would even be there. It was Saturday after all. He was about to give up, when he saw Hermione hunched over a piece of paper in the back lab.

"Hey," he said, announcing his presence.

Hermione looked up, and gave him a tentative smile. "Hey."

"I wasn't sure you would be in here since it's Saturday. I realized that maybe you wouldn't work on weekends."

"Oh, I'm here every day. This is probably my favorite place to be. Thank you so much for letting me work in here."

Tony shook his head, "No thanks needed. Apparently if you and Bruce didn't use it, this place would just go to waste."

Hermione looked down at her paper, and Tony cocked his head. Something was bothering her. Did she regret last night? Did he fuck everything up and now that he was finally going to be able to be working side by side with her, she didn't want to be in the same room? "What's wrong?"

"Pepper came and saw me this morning," she said looking up and meeting his gaze.

Tony winced. That was not what he was expecting. At all. "Oh," he said, at a loss for words. "What did she have to say?"

"That the two of you broke up. She blamed me so she came and confronted me about it."

Tony shook his head. "What? Why on Earth would she blame you? Our, moments let's call them, never even came up. She never gave me the chance."

"Oh, that's not why she blamed me. She blamed Bruce and I equally for encouraging you to pick up the mantle of Iron Man again."

Tony rubbed his eyes, and groaned. "Of course. Fucking Iron Man. You know this persona has been more trouble than it's worth most of the time."

"And you love every second of it," Hermione chimed in.

"Every fucking second of it," Tony agreed, a grin spreading over his face.

They laughed.

"Pepper," Tony said, once they composed themselves. "She, uh, she wasn't mean to you was she?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've encountered meaner."

Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm so sorry Hermione. I move you in here and disappear for months. I finally come back, and all of this shit happens. I was supposed to be making your life easier, instead I filled it with unnecessary drama."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't mind it, actually."

Tony looked at her quizzically. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I was living alone, with very few social interactions for six years. Moving in here, it's fun. I mean, at first I was a bit upset that you weren't around since you were the only person I knew, but Bruce really went out of his way to make sure I felt at home."

"So, uh, are you and Bruce, uh, together?"

"I wouldn't have kissed you last night if we were."

"Well, I was with Pepper last night, and that didn't stop me either time, did it?"

Silence spread between them like a cancer. Tony knew he made a mistake pointing that out. He wondered if bringing the previous night up in general was a mistake. They really hadn't had a chance to talk about it themselves, and then Pepper broke up with him, and then she confronted Hermione. This whole thing was one big clusterfuck.

"So, last night," Tony hedged.

"Yeah, maybe," Hermione said, looking down at her feet. "Maybe it's best that whatever there is between us, we cool it off for a bit, yeah?"

Tony breathed a little sigh of relief. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, I like you, and I'm attracted to you, but,"

"But?"

"But I don't want to be your rebound. I haven't been with anyone since Ron, and I just, I don't know."

"You don't want to be hurt again," Tony finished.

"Yeah," Hermione said, looking up at him. "Not that I think you're going to hurt me, but..."

"I just came out of a two year serious relationship, and I'm going to need some time to get over it."

"Yeah."

Silence spread between them again.

"This is awkward," Tony quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

Hermione laughed. "Just a tad."

Tony gave her a smile and gestured at the lab. "Want to fill me in on what you've been working on in here?"

"Think you will understand anything I tell you?" Hermione challenged.

Tony leaned his elbow on the counter next to him. "Well, I've been told I'm a genius, multiple times. Try me."

"You are currently brewing five different potions?" Tony asked as Hermione took him through the back part of the lab, showing all the cauldrons in different levels of brewing.

"Yes," she said. "These are my best sellers. I've found myself selling a lot of healing potions to the local hospital, along with a few beauty potions. My top seller is the contraceptive potion, however. I get a lot of owl orders from teenage girls who are too embarrassed to see a healer to get it themselves."

"Contraceptive potion? How effective is that say compared to what non-magical people use?" Tony asked.

"One Hundred Percent," Hermione answered.

"Hmmm. Are the ingredients magical, or is there a way to transfer that into a product that non-magical people can use?"

She looked over at Tony. He was looking at her, eagerly. He looked like he was itching for a new project, and this could be it. And if they worked on this, it would be an excuse for them to work closely together, but in a non-romantic way.

"Um," she answered. "They're mostly magical, but maybe we can come up with something that involves Muggle ingredients. It would take a lot of research and trial and error though."

"Research and trial and error are my specialty," Tony said, jumping on the chance to work with her.

Hermione smiled. "Alright, so, I guess I'll get you a couple potions books so you can start doing that part of the research so we can start on the same page moving forward."

She moved to the shelf in the lab she had claimed as her own, placing her textbooks and research journals on it for easy reference in case she got an order for a potion that she couldn't brew from memory. She picked her first year potions book off the shelf along with a few books on magical ingredients and their properties handing them to Tony, who let out a low whistle.

"Geez, Glinda, don't you think this is a bit much?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "First of all, Glinda? Really? I was hoping that all of these months away put that unfortunate nickname out of your memory, and second of all, no, I don't. If you want to come up with a Muggle alternative to the contraceptive potion, then you need to first understand potions and magical ingredients. I have the advantage of seven years of school and seven additional years of research. And since this was your idea, I'm not going to pull the brunt of the research. You need to be up to snuff, so to speak. So, start with these, and then I'll give you the more advanced potions books. When you and I are on the same page, we will begin our research."

Tony looked back down at the books in his pile and back up to the woman standing in front of him, looking up at him expectantly. He flashed her a grin, his heart picking up speed. He should be heart broken, barely able to function. His first completely serious adult relationship had imploded not twenty four hours before, and yet, here he was, in his lab with another woman, ready to jump into a new project. He knew that they would be able to figure out the formula and be able to produce a, what did she call them, Muggle, alternative to the contraceptive potion. If they could come up with a birth control that was one hundred percent effective every time, it would be revolutionary. They would be able to sell the distribution to the right pharmaceutical company, and they would be rich. Well, he would be richer, but Hermione would be rich, and then she wouldn't have to worry about where she would live for the rest of her life. Not that he wanted her to move out. Quite the contrary. He gave her a discreet once over. Yeah, there was no way he was letting her move out of the Tower. He would continue to work closely with her, get to know her, get her comfortable with him, and then, when the moment was right, when it had been long enough for her to not be considered a rebound from Pepper, he would make his move. Because he would be an idiot to let her go.

"That sounds like a great plan, I guess I'll just, go start reading this mountain of tomes," he said, giving Hermione a lopsided grin, gesturing at the couch that was in the lab.

"If you have any questions about anything, I'll be here," she said, returning his smile.

"And I'm glad of it. Because I'm guessing I'll have a lot of questions, since my knowledge of magic is limited to what you've told me."

Hermione lit up, and Tony could almost see the light bulb flash above her head. She practically ran to the shelf and grabbed an extremely large book off the shelf, bringing it over to him, placing it on top of his pile.

"Jesus Christ, Hermione," Tony exclaimed, struggling a little under the weight of all the books she had given him. "What the fuck is this? Everything there is to know about magic?"

Hermione smiled, giggling at him. "Basically. It's the most recent edition of 'The History of Magic.' When I found out I was a witch, this was the first book I read. I've read every edition, cover to cover, ever since. It is my favorite book. Read this one first. It'll give you an over view of everything that you need to know."

Tony nodded. "Alright. The fattest book first, and then on to potions, got it. I'll just be over here."

Tony moved over to the couch, and set the pile of books on the floor. He made himself comfortable, and then grabbed History of Magic off the top of the pile. He opened to the first page, and glanced up at Hermione. She had moved over to her cauldrons, and had tied her hair up into a tight bun on the top of her head. He admired the view of her working hard over the potions and smiled at himself before he looked back down at the book in his lap.

Yeah, he thought to himself. He had definitely made the right choice. This was a million times better than any board meeting he would have been forced to sit in on.

Bruce came into the lab a few hours later, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and was taken aback at the sight in front of him. Tony was lounging on the couch, reading a thick, ancient book, and Hermione was at her normal position over the potions. He smiled. This was the way it was supposed to be. He had to admit, he was just as upset about Tony being brought back into Stark Industries. When his Malibu home was destroyed, Bruce was actually looking forward to Tony being in New York full time. It was lonely in the Tower. He knew Tony and Pepper had revamped it for the Avengers to all move in together, but he was the only one who lived in the tower full time right now. Steve and Natasha were in Washington, D.C. working for S.H.I.E.L.D. full time, Thor was in Asgard, Rhodey was also in D.C. doing whatever it was he did for the government, and who the hell knew where Clint was. He was the only Avenger that didn't have somewhere else to live. And it was fucking lonely. And then Tony's California home was destroyed, and for a few weeks, he was in New York full time, and it was nice, it was less lonely. When he moved Hermione in, it made things even better. Then Tony disappeared, leaving him alone with Hermione.

Not that he was saying it was a bad thing. He liked Hermione. They clicked almost immediately once they got to know each other. It was an awkward couple days at first because Tony left before he could really help get Hermione settled in, which left everything up to Bruce. He had to get her her key card. He had to show her how to use all of the technology in the lab because apparently tech and magic typically didn't interact well with one another and she had literally no idea how to use anything in the building, save the television in the lounge, even though she had been living mostly magic free for six years. Her home still had magic in it so she just steered clear of most technology. He helped her clean out the back lab of all the high tech instruments so she would have a place to brew her potions and do whatever else it was she was doing, that way the computers and J.A.R.V.I.S. wouldn't fry from her magic. Once he got her settled and set up, they worked for a bit before they started to talk and get to know one another. They related on a deep level with the loneliness. They spent many late nights talking about their lives. He told her about the other guy. She told him about the war. Before long they were helping each other out on research and projects and spending a lot of time in the lounge watching movies and drinking. It was the happiest he had been in a long time.

He could feel in the back of his mind the attraction starting form, but he shoved it away. He didn't want that, not with the other guy being around. And not until he knew what Tony felt about her. He knew logically that Tony was with Pepper. That they were very serious, and Tony loved her, but, in the weeks following his brief exile to Tennessee, Tony always talked about the woman who housed him, with a certain look in his eyes, and Bruce knew better than to dismiss that away. After Tony's reaction last night, he knew he had done the right thing. He knew that there was something between Hermione and Tony, even if they didn't realize it yet. Now, looking at the two of them in the lab, he smiled. He felt bad that he was so happy that Tony was back in the lab where he belonged. That meant that something went down with Pepper last night, and that couldn't be good. But, he now had two friends with him full time, and that was something he hadn't had in a very, very long time. And he couldn't help but look forward to whatever was going to happen next.

Bit of a transition chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it!