Rewrite the Stars
Summary: "Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." – Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land. FemHarry.
Just a warning: FemHarry, AU, Language, Clichés, Age Difference, Messed Time Line, More in the Future
Just so you know (Name): FemHarry's name is Charis Aster Potter. In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of the Charites or "Graces"; goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. This name comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning "Grace", "Kindness" and "Life". Aster is an Ancient Greek word for "Star" while the meaning of the flower Aster can differ depending on the presentation, my favorites being "Elegance", "Patience" and "Daintiness". Also, the Ancient Greeks used to burn aster leaves to ward off both snakes and evil spirits.
I don't own anything related to Marvel or Harry Potter!
Chapter 16. To Rescue a Man of Iron
T.S
Standing straight, Tony stared at the suit if armor before him, taking into every rustic detail. It was one big monstrosity without any style but he was rather proud of himself. Not many could say that they had created such thing in a cave in the middle of the desert and without all the necessary materials and tools.
Stepping inside the metal framework, which was suspended upright as Yinsen (His fellow prisoner and surgeon) put the suit together around him. By the end, he could barely breathe much less move. The suit was a hundred pounds of welded together iron and until the suit was properly connected to the miniaturized Arc Reactor in his chest (which was keeping the shrapnel out of his heart instead of that ridiculous car battery), the genius knew that it won't move a single inch.
"Say it again," Yinsen commanded him, looking into his eyes.
"Forty five steps ahead." Tony recited as if he was a child before a very strict teacher, "Then sixteen steps left, that's from the door... Fork right, thirty three steps and turn right again."
Just as he finished speaking, the hatch on the door at the corner slid open loudly. There was shouting; nothing that he could understand though.
"Answer them." Tony whispered urgently. He hadn't reached this point only to fail, "Stall them."
"They're speaking Hungarian!" Yinsen hissed back, giving him a look, "I can't speak Hun –"
Tony interrupted him, "Give them something!"
The older man gave him another look but did so, turning toward the door and yelling something back. The way his face twisted, however, made it clear that it didn't work.
Thankfully, Tony had thought about something like this happening, so they were prepared. The moment the door opened, one of the wires of the improvised bomb tied to the door snapped and – If the screams of his kidnappers and the sounds ot made, then the explosion caused by that small bomb must have been impressive.
"How did it work?" Tony asked Yinsen as the other moved away from behind the suit, which he had been using as a shield.
His fellow prisoner looked dazed even as he continued working, quickly attaching all the leads to the Arc Reactor before finally attaching the arms to the torso section of the suit.
"Oh my goodness – It worked alright," he replied before looking up at Tony. "Let me finish this –"
The billionaire gave him a look.
"Finish the last powering sequence," The brown-eyed genius ordered. They weren't going anywhere without it.
"Ok,"Yinsen nodded, rushing toward the large laptop he had been using before he started to help Tony with the suit. "Alright! Tell me what to do!"
"F11!" Tony said, "Tell me when you see a progress bar. There has to be one! Talk to me, tell me when you see it!"
At the same time, Yinsen's longer fingers tapped the key quickly, staring at the screen with worry before saying, "I have it!"
Tony wished he could run a hand through his hair at the moment, exhaling as he said, "Press Ctrl + I! I, Enter! I, Enter!"
With trembling hands, Yinsen saw the progressing bar finally start to move in a very slow pace and announced, "Got it!"
"Come over here and button me up!" Tony ordered. He could hear the voice echoing down the corridor. They couldn't lose any more time.
"They're coming…" Yinsen said, stepping away from the laptop as he too heard the sounds of footsteps, yelling and guns being loaded. Straightening his back, he hissed, "We need more time!"
Tony immediately knew what was going through the other man's head, eyes widening, "Yinsen – We've got a plan. Stick to the plan!"
Ignoring him, the surgeon picked up a rifle on near the space the door had occupying previously and looked back at him, "I'm gonna go buy you some time."
"Yinsen!"
The older man stepped into the corridor, continuing to ignore his calls and started shooting when he saw a group of soldiers.
Tony gritted his teeth, knowing that the plan was ruins now. With difficulty, he craned his head to look at the laptop screen; it was still in 55%. It was in moments like this that he hated not being able to use his own technology.
He stared until the progress bar finally reached the end of its loading cycle and his suit finally powered up. The lights around him went dim, flickering before they died completely and Tony flickered his fingers, narrowing his eyes.
Steppingdown from the harness, he pulled the faceplate down.
He was ready to fight.
R.L
It was dark and the chilly mist surrounding London seemed to get ticker as time passed, making it difficult to see as he jumped from the bus and onto the pavement. Shoving his free hand inside the pocket of his coat and scanned the deserted street before he started to walk.
Looking up, Remus Lupin wondered how long it would take before he was fired from his new job. Mr. Fortescue had always been kind to him but he doubted that even he would let Remus keep his job if one of his clients refused to be served by a werewolf.
With a sigh, he decided to think about it later, noticing that he had reached Charing Cross Road. Remus walked down the street, only upon stopping before the shadowy entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
A stooping figure holding a lantern appeared through the door, looking up at him with surprised brown eyes.
"Ah," Tom, the Leaky Cauldron's landlord, said with a toothless smile, "look who we've here! Professor Lupin!"
The amber-eyed man tried to not wince, giving the other wizard a tense smile, "None of that, I'm no longer a teacher."
Tom gave him a look, waving his wand so the lantern started floating beside the door before making a motion with his hand for Remus to follow him inside the building.
"Nonsense!" Tom said and smiled once more, "My niece Hannah always spoke a great deal about you and how sad she was to see you go. So, in my mind, you definitely deserve the title."
Remus' smiled a little. Despite the problems he had with Severus and the way his honorary goddaughter avoided him like the plague (And he tried to ignored how much it hurt – how her caution and distrust felt like someone was trying to his heart from his chest), he had enjoyed his time teaching at Hogwarts. His students had certainly been dedicated and attentive than he and his old year mates had been at their ages.
The scarred wizard was pulled away from his thoughts as Tom continued to talk, "Are you looking for Mr. Black?"
"What?" He whispered.
The landlord either ignored or didn't notice how weak his voice was as his eyes widened at the mention of Sirius.
Ever since he had read about his old friend's trial, he had been trying to contact him. No matter what he tried though, Sirius ignored him or sent notes warning him to stay away from him in a not so polite way… Not that Remus could blame him.
He just… He just wanted a chance to talk to his only living friend, maybe explain why he had believed the worst in him as well ask him about Harry. Maybe, as her godfather, he knew how to get in contact with her?
"I think Mr. Black was going to the Portkey point near Gringotts…" Tom mused out loud, "I'm not sure."
Portkey…? Remus clenched his hands, handing his suitcase to Tom as well a bag of money as he asked the man to take care of it before running in direction if the entrance to Diagon Alley.
He needed to talk to Sirius before he left! This was his chance!
Starting to run the moment Diagon Alley revealed itself to him, Remus scanned every shop, every corner he could see in search of the last male Balck. Thankfully, it didn't take long before he noticed a familiar man walking into Knockturn Alley.
"Wait!" He yelled, tripping as he made a sharp turn, "Sirius, wait!"
Sirius didn't stop, merely throwing a look over his shoulder.
"Sirius!"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, the other wizard turned around with a scowl on his face, "What?"
"I – We need to talk!" Remus gasped, stopping a few steps away from him.
Grey eyes rolled with exasperation as the Dog Animagus waved a dismissively hand, "I don't have time for this. Just leave Remus, we can talk later."
Remus snarled, starting to feel angry. Why was he acting like this?! What had happened to his old friend? The old Sirius would have hesitated, he would have given him a chance. Had Azkaban changed him that much.
"I won't leave until we talk," the werewolf said, amber eyes locked with grey.
There was a moment of silence as the other man shook his head.
"You should have listened to me," Sirius warned him with unblinking eyes.
The scarred wizard hesitated. The last time he had seen that look on Sirius' face, it was during the war. It was almost surreal.
He opened his mouth to ask when he noticed a tall dark figure, taller than either him and Sirius, stepping from the shadows
Remus didn't have time to react much less blink as the figure moved and gloved fingers warped around his throat painfully, squeezing as he was jerked forward and then thrown against a brick wall with enough strength to break it. Hadn't he been a werewolf, even if a weaker one, he doubted that he would have gotten more than black spots before his eyes and back pain. No, Remus had no doubt that he would have died.
Gasping for air, he found cold, glacial ice-blue eyes staring at him with a look that had only seen in Death Eaters before. It was a look that said that this man wasn't afraid of killing him and that he won't feel a single drop of regret in doing so.
Wh – Who was this man?
"You're lucky Lily once called you a friend," Remus' eyes widened, half because of Lily's name and half because of the strange accent the man had; as if his voice couldn't decided between a Brooklyn accent or a Russian one. "Otherwise, I would have killed you long ago."
Before Remus could even process his words, the man threw him on the floor. The werewolf gasped, coughing as he massaged his throat.
Sirius threw him a look before looking down at his golden pocket watch, "Barnes."
The ice-blue eyed man, Barnes, nodded and took out a red ribbon out of the pocket of his aviator jacket, holding onto one end while Sirius held onto the other. Although a little disoriented and in pain, Remus was still alert enough to understand that they were standing in a Portkey point and that those two were ready to leave.
With a raspy Wait!, Remus proved that once a Gryffindor always a Gryffindor as he jumped forward just the Portkey had gone active and grabbed Sirius' ankle, much to the long-haired wizard surprise.
Shutting his eyes, the werewolf gritted his teeth as he felt his body leave the group as if jerked back by a hook. All he could hear was the howl of wind as tightened his hold of Sirius' ankle, hoping for it to end soon. He hated Portkeys, especially when he hadn't been ready for them.
After what seemed to an eternity later, his face slammed into a blanket of sand, which seemed to have made its way inside his mouth, eyes, nostrils and ears.
"What the fuck, Remus?!" He heard the muffled snarl. Sirius yanked him from the sand, holding the collar of his coat as he yelled into his face, "Are you trying to kill us, you bloody imbecile?!"
Remus shook his head much like a dog, getting rid of the excess of sand as he opened eyes slightly to look at the other man, "We need to talk and I won't let you go anywhere alone with him."
He didn't need to specify, both of them knew who he was talking about.
"For Merlin sake," Annoyed, Sirius let him go, throwing his hands up. "I'm not protecting you from Barnes, Remus. I already have enough problems trying to keep him planning my death at every opportunity."
The amber-eyed was ready to answer but all that came out of his mouth was a painfully scream as a black army boot stepped over his wand hand. Raising his head, he found Barnes blocking the sun and staring down at him as if he was less than dirty in his eyes.
"Do you have a death wish?" Remus opened hos mouth to speak only to scream again as Barnes crushed his hand a little harder, "Doesn't matter. Stay out of my way, Lupin, that'll be your only warning. Lily's friend or not, I've no patience for cowards."
With that, he scanned their surroundings, taking into the rest of what looked to be muggle cars and weapons. The whole place looked like a war zone or what he imagined how one would look like when involving Muggles. Remus hissed as Barnes moved away from him, taking out his wand to heal his hand while trying to understand the ice-blue eyed man's confusing words.
"It looks like we're in the right place." Sirius said, rolling up the sleeves of his white dress shirt.
"Black," Barnes' voice held some kind of hidden warning.
Making a face, Sirius summoned his wand with a wave of his hands. With a wave, Sirius cast what looked like cooling and protection charms around himself and Barnes. After that, the Dog Animagus took a deep breath.
"Appare –" The last male Black started, "– Vestigium."
From Sirius' wand, golden sand materialized surrounding them. Remus closed his eyes to protect them from the sand until he noticed that it didn't bother him. Opening his eyes once more, he saw Barnes kneeling not too far from him, touching what looked like footprints.
The moment he touched it, the image of masked men dragging a bleeding and unconscious man appeared in the place of the footprints. Barnes stood up to follow the men until they stopped, throwing the unconscious man in what the werewolf guessed to be a car (Although that was only a guess). The two men nodded at each other and then disappeared after entering the car.
"We can't track machines, only living beings," Sirius said, frowning.
Barnes wasn't bothered as he started walking, "Doesn't matter. We follow this direction until we get signs of life once more."
The last male Black gave him a look, grumbling under his breath. Making a motion with his hand toward Remus, he started following Barnes.
"You either come with us or you can Apparate back to Britain." Sirius told him, looking over his shoulder. "If you can, that's it."
Remus stood up with difficult, muttering a cooling charm when the scalding sun started to bother him. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he started following the duo.
"Where're we?!" The scarred wizard screamed.
He had wanted to ask where they were going but he didn't think they would give him a answer so settled down for the second best question.
Sirius turned around, walking backwards as he opened his arms wide, "Welcome to Afghanistan, Moony!"
Remus flinched back, stopping to stare.
Afghanistan…?
What were they doing in Afghanistan?!
Gulping, he shook his head and kept walking. It just won't do to think about it. He was here now and there was no going back. He only hoped that he would survive this…
They had been walking for four hours when reached the limit of hos patience, getting tired of the heavy silence between them and opened his mouth to speak.
"Who's he?" Remus asked, amber eyes flickering from Sirius to Barnes and back again.
His old friend didn't reply, twirling his wand through his fingers and sending him a look by the corner of his eyes. There was a moment of silence and before Remus could repeat his question, this time more demanding and exasperated, Sirius spoke.
"James Barnes," he said, "Harry's Great-Uncle."
Remus tripped on nothing, looking at Sirius with disbelief.
"Harry doesn't have a Great-Uncle!" He said, irritation evident in his voice as he narrowed his eyes, "The only Uncle she has is Vernon Dursley."
He never noticed when Barnes stopped, fingers twitching at the name. Slowly, the dangerous ice-blue eyed man turned to look at him, lips pressing in a thin lin.
Sirius halted, tilting his head in a way that reminded Remus of his Animagus form, his expression carefully blank, "And how would you know that…?" He spoke slowly, his eyes resembling more steel than silver under the sunlight.
Had he noticed the way the other two men were looking at him, Remus would have hesitated before replying. Instead, he stood tall as he spoke.
"Professor Dumbledore told me when I asked him about Harry after –" The werewolf gulped, licking his dry lips, "– After Lily and Prongs died and you were sent to Azkaban."
"Let me see if I understand it properly," Sirius smiled tensely. "You knew that Harry was sent to live with Petunia and her husband, and you did nothing."
Remus looked into his eyes, frowning, "She needed to stay with them and there was nothing that I could do." He snapped, "The blood wards kept her safe and Professor Dumbledore thought that it would be better if Harry was raised away from the Wizarding World."
There was a moment of silence as Sirius processed his words. The Dog Aninagus had looked interested when the blood wards were mentioned, but he didn't ask about it. Instead, he seemed to be more focused on something else.
"And you didn't think, for even a second, to approach her…" Sirius narrowed his eyes, "To see how she was doing?"
"She was fine," Remus said, not understanding the problem. "Professor Dumbledore had someone watching over her."
Sirius sneered while Barnes' hands moved to his side. Before anything could be said or done, Barnes' head snapped up as he stared up at something. Both Sirius and Remus turned their attentions toward him, following his line of sight.
"Is that a meteor?" Sirius asked in disbelief, blinking at the line of smoke in the sky.
Barnes started running.
Grey eyes blinked in surprise, "Hey! Wait for me, Barnes!"
Remus frowned but started following the other two, not wanting to be left behind. He still had questions to be answered.
He didn't know how long they kept running; minutes, maybe even hours. It was difficult to know for certain. Shaking his head, he blinked upon noticing that Sirius and Barnes had stopped on what could only be called a hill.
"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered. "What the fuck happened here?"
Remus merely stared at the pieces of metal scattered bellow them, looking as though something had exploded.
Jumping, Barnes slid down the hill until he jumped down one of the pieces of metal, pulling it from the sand. He looked at it for a while before scanning their surroundings, walking toward something.
Sirius slid down as well, although with much less grace, and pulled out his hand, casting a quick Reparo. The pieces shook for a second then started to move, repairing themselves until they were staring at some kind of armor. The piece Barnes had been holding, which had joined the others, showed itself to be a mask of sorts.
"A robot…?" Sirius muttered.
"No," Barnes said, refusing to elaborate. "We'll take it with us."
Remus scowled at him but Sirius merely rolled his eyes, waving his wand and shrinking the armor. After that, he placed the miniaturized and burned down armor inside the pocket of his black dress pant, turning to look at Barnes.
"Anything else, your Assassiness?" The last male Black asked, bowing exaggeratedly.
Barnes arched an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"That doesn't exist," Remus found himself saying. "Stop trying to murder English, Sirius."
"Sorry," Sirius said mockingly, "but I don't know any English."
The brown haired werewolf opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Barnes.
"Black," the ice-blue eyed man's voice held a hint of irritation and Remus found himself clamping his mouth shut immediately.
Sirius understood whatever was left unsaid and muttered Appare Vestigium under his breath, pointing his wand to the spot beside Barnes. The golden sand materialized and Barnes touched something, staring as a hurt and disoriented looking man appeared, walking away from the with difficult. It took Remus longer than he would have liked to recognize the man as the one that was being dragged away the last time Sirius used that spell.
Barnes' lips twitched. It wasn't enough to be called a smile, not even to resemble one, but it was enough to show that he was pleased about something.
"Would you look at that," Sirius whistled. "He got himself out – Smart Muggle."
"He is a Stark," Barnes said, following after the hologram-like image.
Not for the first time that day, he started following the other two. They ignored his questions, staying in silence. Remus clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting to do nothing more than scream and demand that Sirius speak to him.
Why was he ignoring him? Who was the man they were tracking down? Who was James Barnes and why did Sirius think that the man was related to Harry?!
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Remus was usually more calm and collected but the full moon had happened not too long ago and his moods were still a bit unstable. It was rather difficult to control his emotions properly.
"Is he alive?" He heard Sirius ask, opening his eyes to see the other two man crouching next to the real life version of the man they had been tracking.
He was lying with his back against the sand, eyes fluttering slightly although he was clearly dehydrated and hurt, the skin of his face and arms burned because of the sun. Amber eyes scanned the man, stopping when he saw something in his chest.
"What the hell is that?" Sirius asked, moving his hand to pock the glowing thing on the man's chest but Barnes hit his hand.
"Don't touch it," Barnes said coldly, "you don't know what it's for."
"It isn't a… what was the word… a bomb, right?" Sirius hesitated, taking a step back while Barnes took the man's arm and placed it around his shoulder, holding him still.
"I doubt it," Barnes replied as the Dog Animagus cast a cooling and a stasis charm on the man.
Sirius turned to look at Remus, "Come on." He said, pulling a scarf from the pocket of his pants, "We're leaving."
"What about the thing in his chest?" Remus asked, "Technology doesn't –"
"Doesn't work around magic," Sirius recited, rolling his eyes. "It's small enough to not break. Are you leaving with us or not?"
Remus licked his lips, grabbing the scarf, deciding that it was better to not argue. Sirius seemed to know something that he didn't. Besides, he wanted to leave this desert – Maybe then he and Sirius would finally have the chance of talking. That's it, if his old friend stopped ignoring him like a child.
Closing his eyes, Remus felt the familiar tug of a Portkey.
This chapter was a little short but since this is just the beginning of a new year and arc, I'm rather happy with it. It's more than I thought it would be, especially after I decided to rewrite it. Next chapter Tony will be waking up inside a certain cozy, rose-pink house!
Anyway… Hope you liked it and please, don't forget to:
Review, Favorite or Follow and if you have questions/suggestions, just send me a PM.
-Cissnei.
TIMELINE!
June 20, 2009 – Hogwarts Express back to London.
July 19, 2009 – Tony Stark finds his way out.
*James and Sirius (Plus the uninvited Lupin) leave by Portkey to rescue Tony Stark