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 20. Of Avoidance and Forgiveness
S.B
Making sure to not wake his horrible mother, who seemed to be muttering under her breath in her sleep, Sirius unlocked the front door of his house, pausing before leaning his body forward slightly and looking out into the cold, gray dawn.
Grey-eyes narrowed angrily.
"Certain things never change," Sirius grumbled to himself, pursuing his lips as he stared at the familiar man leaning against a old tree two houses down Number 12.
For a moment, the Dog Animagus wondered if Remus was being obtuse on purpose.
After they had returned to the country from Afghanistan, Sirius tried to tell the werewolf to leave him alone; to stop bothering him and at least give the grey-eyed man time before he could even contemplate the possibility of forgiving and talking to the werewolf.
But did dearest Moony listen?
No, of course he didn't. Honestly, it wasn't even a little surprising – Despite the fact that the amber-eyed wizard was thought to be the selfless member of the Marauders, Remus was actually the selfish one. He never stopped to think about how his actions affected those around him, only thinking about his own feelings.
There was no doubt in Sirius' mind that Remus would keep seeking him out until he gave up and stopped to listen to whatever the werewolf had to say. After all, it didn't matter what Sirius wanted.
At least Remus was far too focused on him to ask about Harry, Barnes or the illustrious Stark. The less the amber-eyed man thought about those three, the better.
The long-haired wizard scoffed, banishing any thought about Remus out of his head and looking down at his pocket watch. Sirius grimaced – He was going to be late for the meeting he scheduled last week.
Sirius paused, his grimace twisting into something ugly as he bared his teeth angrily when a very unwelcome voice shot out:
"Sirius!"
Slamming the door behind him, Sirius shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown suede biker jacket and started walking as fast as he could.
Sirius, you bloody idiot! The last male Black cursed himself, making a sharp turn at the end of the dark street and heading towards the underground. He should have been more carefully to not be seen.
"Sirius!" Remus sounded like their DADA Professor back in First Year whenever the old man caught Sirius or Prongs doodling on their desks with permanent ink. "Stop running from me!"
The grey-eyed man almost didn't answer but then, recalling what he had read in one of Harry's letters, he couldn't stop himself from looking over his shoulders and shouting back a, "If you weren't so insistent in stalking me, then maybe I won't have a reason to run as far as I can from you."
Just as he expected, Remus' eyes widened at this; he paled drastically and, to Sirius' entertainment, tripped on his own feet and fell to the ground like a giant sack of potatoes.
Sirius would have stopped to laugh his ass off at the whole scene if he hadn't been so late already.
The sky was dark and the run-down streets close to Grimmauld Place were almost deserted. The same, however, couldn't be said about the miserable little Underground station. Sirius shook his head, rather impressed to find that it was full with people.
Five or so minutes later he boarded an Underground train, grabbing a piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket and looking at the Underground map above the windows to check where he needed to go.
Sirius got off the train at the Charing Cross Station, looking around for a moment before he started walking. Magical travel would have been faster but, unfortunately, the place where he was going was warded almost as much as Hogwarts and, without permission, the use of Apparition or the Knight Bus in that area was impossible.
The dark haired man sent a few looks over his shoulders as he walked.
He had no doubt that Remus would track him down one way or another; there was a reason why Dumbledore used to send him to find specific people during the war. Besides, the werewolf was getting so desperate and irrational that he won't stop to think about the consequences of his actions if only that meant he would get what he wanted.
The Dog Animagus snorted to himself at this.
And people used to think that Prongs was creepy with how he handled Lily before their Sixth Year. At least he had seen what he had done as wrong and decided grow up instead of getting worse.
At this thought, a part of Sirius wondered if his werewolf side was the problem. Staying so long without some kind of pack and then being rejected by the last remaining member of said pack was surely messing with his head and making the less than desirable parts of his personality worse… Not that anything of that justified his actions. If that was the case, then Remus should've tried to look for help (Mind Healers were a thing and there were even a few specialized in dealing with werewolves).
"Sirius!"
The grey-eyed wizard gritted his teeth, trying to not think about how Remus tracked him down so fast.
Someone kill him now! His will could be found inside his old school trunk; everything but his porn is being left to Harry… Barnes would have found a way to resurrect and then kill him again if she got her innocent little hands on those.
"What?!" He turned back, growling a little. "What?!"
Several people around him jumped, throwing him looks and getting away from him as fast as they could, as if he a wild animal ready to pounce… Not that the analogy was wrong at the moment because that's exactly how he felt.
"Stop being childish!" Remus snapped back.
Sirius took a deep breath, fingers twitching.
The grey-eyed man had been kidding about the killing part but, seriously, if that wasn't an option then he won't complain if someone decided to be nice enough to act as his knight in shining armor. Sirius didn't need to go back to prison just because he decided to eviscerate Remus in public.
He won't get in trouble, Sirius decided a moment later. As cruel as it sounded, almost no one would care all that much if he made a werewolf disappear. Knowing the Ministry, he would end up with a medal for doing a favor to the society or something along those lines.
"You've told me that before already," he drawled, smiling widely. "There's no need to repeat yourself."
Remus' nostrils flared.
Sirius continued before he could do as much as think of what to say, "Look, I'm late. I don't have time for you."
"Really?" Remus said sarcastically, "You've been busy all this time?"
Actually, yes, he had.
After Afghanistan, Barnes had decided to use him as errand boy so he had been going all over the country in search of information and ways to help Stark go back to his country without causing some kind of problem in the Muggle World. Today was his last meeting regarding Stark and then, he was free to do whatever he wanted with his time… That, of course, until Barnes decided to order him around again.
"Believe what you want," Sirius shrugged the tension off his shoulders. "I don't care."
Remus gave him a poorly done kicked puppy look, "I thought we were friends, Sirius. You can't just –"
Did he just –
"You want to talk?" Sirius snapped, "Ok – Let's talk about the way you didn't even try to visit Harry for all those years. Let's talk about the way you abandoned me in prison without even trying to learn all the facts. Let's talk about how you truly believed that I would betray Prongs of all people or –"
The long-haired man cut himself off, inhaling and exhaling as he scanned his surroundings. It was then that Sirius noticed that he was standing just a meters away from his destination.
He forced himself to relax, shrugging his shoulders.
"Forget it." Sirius said dismissively, "I really don't have time to deal with your stupidity."
With this, he turned around to leave. Aside from trying to hold him back, Sirius didn't expect that the werewolf would try to stop him – At least not using magic, at least not in Whitehall. Although no one spoke about it, every witch and wizard knew to not draw their wands in this place.
Unfortunately, Remus seemed to have forgotten this little unspoken rule.
Sirius jumped in surprise when he heard Remus groan in pain, as if the werewolf was trying to not scream. He hesitated for less than a second before his curiosity got the better of him and he turned to see what was happening.
Grey-eyes blinked in surprise when he saw a very familiar man holding Remus' wand hand, gripping his wrist so tightly that the Sirius was almost surprised it didn't break.
"Moody," Sirius greeted, forcing himself to stay relaxed.
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody – His old boss and mentor during his short stay in the Auror Forces, looked at him with a small, dark eye; it was Moody only human's eye. The other eye, the artificial and magical one which was hidden under layers and layers of Muggle Repealing Charms, was large in a vivid, electric blue color. It moved without blinking, rolling from side to side before focusing on Remus.
The younger scarred wizard flinched. Not that Sirius blamed him; having that eye looking at you wasn't a nice experience.
"Are you here for work?" The Dog Animagus asked casually.
"Just doing a favor to Bones," Moody replied gruffly, eying something over his shoulders with irritation. "What're you doing here?"
Sirius followed his line of sight to see a tall, blonde haired man with hazel eyes standing in front of a large, white building. He was staring at Remus with pursued lips as he spoke on what the long-haired wizard recognized as a cellphone.
Moody noticed this as well because his magical eye started rolling like crazy before forcefully took Remus' wand from him and, without waiting for Sirius to answer his question, pulled the werewolf closer to him.
"We're leaving," he nodded at Sirius, ignoring the complains from Remus and dragging the werewolf away from him.
The grey-eyed wizard didn't move until the duo disappear from view.
"What the fuck…" Sirius muttered to himself in disbelief and confusion, trying to understand what just happened.
He really hoped that this day would get better…
R.L
He gasped as his feet hit solid ground, his knees buckling a little as side effect of the sudden Apparition. Moody had to strength his hold on his arm so he won't fall on ground and pulled him forward.
Remus took a deep as he tried to ignore his growing headache, trying to keeping himself from tripping over his own feet as Moody dragging him up the grassy slope, toward a familiar great oak front doors – Doors that belonged to Hogwarts.
"What're we doing here?" He managed to ask hesitantly as they walked past the Great Hall.
Despite knowing the answer, Remus wondered why weren't they going to the Ministry? If Moody was angry with him because he almost used magic in a Muggle Street, why would the older man take him to Hogwarts?
He closed his eyes, feeling like a student once more as they stopped before the large stone gargoyle that lead to Headmaster Dumbledore's office.
"Candyfloss!" Moody said shortly, glaring at the gargoyle.
Immediately, it moved to the side while the wall the wall behind it split in two, revealing a spiral staircase. As they stepped onto it, Remus felt his heart get heavier and heavier. He wished they had gone to the Ministry after all. After everything that the Headmaster had done for him, Remus hated disappointing the older wizard.
At the end of the staircase, Moody opened the gleaming oak door of the Headmaster's office and shoved the amber-eyed werewolf inside it. Remus scowled slightly, taking a deep breath as he scanned the large, circular room until his eyes rested on the familiar old man sitting behind his desk.
Dressed in bright orange robes, Headmaster Dumbledore looked up from the book he was reading and smiling at both of them before he noticed the thunderous expression on Moody's face.
"I there something wrong?" He asked, concerned.
Moody waved his hand when the Headmaster looked like he was ready to stand.
"Do you remember that favor Bones asked of us?" Moody asked, waiting until the long, silver haired nodded before he continued, "Well, guess what I see when I'm leaving?" The retired Auror bared his teeth, "This boy," there were so many insulting ways to interpret this that the amber-eyed werewolf didn't even want to think about it, "trying to curse Black in Whitehall!"
Remus made an indignant sound, "I wasn't trying to curse him!"
Moody growled, opening his mouth to snap at him, probably to insult him, but Dumbledore raised one of his hands, cutting him off.
Then, Headmaster Dumbledore asked, the tips of his long fingers together, "Would you like to sit down, Remus?"
Remus did his best to not look into those cornflower-blue eyes and straightened his back, sitting down in one of the two chairs before the Headmaster's desk.
"Biscuit?" Dumbledore gestured to a plate filled with biscuits of all sizes and forms. "Tea, maybe?" He made a motion to the left of the table.
Remus licked his lips, smiling weakly, "N-No, thank you, sir."
There was a long moment of silence as Headmaster Dumbledore took a biscuit from the plate between them, taking a bite as he stared at Remus with unblinking cornflower-blue eyes. It was like he was trying to read him somehow.
Moody was leaning against one of the bookshelves, his magical electric-blue eye swiveling before it stared fixedly at him. Remus shivered and pointedly ignored the older wizard.
Then, at least, Dumbledore said softly, "Please, explain what happened."
The werewolf grasped the arms of his chair, wishing that Dumbledore won't speak nor look at him like that. It was uncomfortable; the old wizard always knew how to make people feel like the biggest disappointment on Earth without even trying.
He didn't need to ask what Dumbledore was asking about nor how he would react to his explanation. He already knew the answers for those questions.
"…And... I-I didn't mean to cause a scene…" Remus grimaced as he finished explaining and his voice cracked, as if he was a teenager once more, "I-I wasn't thinking…"
All he wanted was for Sirius to stop being childish and talk to him. The amber-eyed man understood that he shouldn't have let his emotions get the better of him, but he was so tired – so frustrated – that he truly didn't stop to think before pulling his wand to stop Sirius from leaving once more.
Was it wrong of him to want to make amends? To make things right once more?
Moody snorted, snapping Remus out of his thoughts.
"You're luck, boy, that I stopped you before something happened." growled, as the pupil of his magical eye contracted, "They aren't lenient on people using unauthorized and unnecessary in their turf."
Remus stared at him, trying to not flinch, "I… I don't understand."
Headmaster Dumbledore leaned back, sighing. He looked weary, giving him a kind but stern look, "You tried to use magic in Whitehall, Remus."
The name was familiar but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't remember why.
Apprehensive, Remus looked from Headmaster Dumbledore to Moody, trying to not look as lost as he felt. He must have failed miserably because Moody sneered and the Headmaster took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes with a tired sigh.
"Is it forbidden to use magic in Whitehall?" He asked hesitantly when the other two men didn't say anything.
They ignored his question.
Dumbledore looked at Moody, "Alastor, can you contact Mr. Wisdom and explain what happened?"
He was calm but Remus had seem that expression on his face during the war and knew that the blue-eyed man was worried about something.
His words were more of a dismissal than anything else. Moody seemed to understand this because glared at Remus, nodding his head and grumbling under his breath as he left the room.
The moment the door of the office closed behind him and the tense and uncomfortable silence from before came to life once more, the werewolf wished he hadn't done so. Being glared or stared at by Moody was definitely better than being left alone with Dumbledore.
Gulping, Remus sat straight as Headmaster Dumbledore stared at him with sharp eyes.
"Well, my boy," he said, severely "it seems like we've a problem."
Remus' heart dropped.
T.S
Tony had no idea of how he managed to get out of the house nor why he didn't leave Rosewood's Mews altogether.
What he did know was that he made his way to the plaza absentmindedly, sitting down near the fountain and staring at the water with unblinking eyes. Tony stayed in that same position for hours, trying to organize his thoughts as well trying to keep his hands from shaking whenever he came to some kind of conclusion that were almost physically painfully to accept.
He ignored everything and everyone, not even acknowledging those around him when, any other day, he would have been watching the funny little witches and wizards walking from stall to stall with fascination.
Hours passed before he snapped himself out of his thoughts, blinking when he noticed that James was standing before him. Tony stared at the other man, blinking his eyes as he opened and closed his mouth, head throbbing as a myriad of unwanted emotions filled his whole body.
No matter how much Tony tried, he couldn't bring himself to speak a single word. His vocal cords refused to cooperate with his brain, which may have been a blessing in disguise at the moment. There was far too much to be said and, for the first time in his life, Tony had no idea of where to start.
He must have been able to say part of his thought process out loud because James spoke up with a small, almost unnoticed, tilt of his lips.
"From the beginning maybe?" The other man asked.
Despite himself, the whiskey-eyed billionaire snorted. Unconsciously, his shoulders relaxed as he leaned against the bench lazily, raising his head to gaze up at the dark sky.
"Would that be possible?" Tony asked, a little surprised at how calm he was at the moment.
Uh, would you look at that – Maybe all that thinking he did early as well all those hours spent with Summers had done some good…
James arched his eyebrows, "We can certainly try…"
The brown-haired genius finally looked into his eyes at those words, briefly making note of how expressive those cold-ice blue eyes were from the James's he had seen in that memory.
Tony had already made his decision regarding James and his parents' murder, but it was good to know that he hadn't let their friendship cloud his judgement.
"Come on then," Tony said, making a motion to the space beside him, "we'll talk."
Surprisingly, James hesitated.
There was a moment of silence before Tony understood what was the problem. Immediately, he smirked, finding humor in the revelation that the cold and stoic James could feel uncomfortable. He hadn't thought that was possible.
Tony almost made a joke about it but decided against it. Honestly, it felt rather nice to have a friend who actually took the time to remember that, as much as the genius ignored them, he did have feelings. Not even Rhodey did that those days – Oh, don't get him wrong. Honey Bear was his oldest friend, but those things were a little complicated between them those days… He could hardly remember the last time they had actually sat down and spoke about something that wasn't his behavior or weapons…
Shaking his head, Tony pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, not wanting to dwell on them at the moment.
"Do you want me to say it out loud?" The genius rolled his eyes playfully, trying to help the other man relax, "Ok then, if it helps – I forgive you."
The whiskey-eyed billionaire had expected James to at least roll his eyes back at him when he made a gran gesture. Instead, the veteran pressed lips together, staring down at him as if he had was out of his mind.
Tony's smirk dropped.
"Wh –"
"You don't need to forgive me," James cut him off. "Maybe you shouldn't... I'm rather surprised that you didn't leave yet or that you can actually bring yourself to look at me."
Tony swallowed, taking a deep breath as he stared at the man standing before him with wide eyes. Folding his arms, he tried to regain composure, thinking for a split second.
"Isn't that my choice to make?" He asked, arching his eyebrows. "If I want to forgive you, then I'll forgive you, RoboCop."
Besides… It wasn't such difficult choice to make as one would imagine.
The ice-blue eyed man had never hidden his past from him. Tony knew everything that HYDRA had done to James and how the other man had been nothing but a programmed puppet until he was literally run over by Charis. So, as unbelievable as some people would've found it, it had taken the engineer an hour or so after the big revelation for him decide to that he couldn't blame James for his part in his parents' death.
Knowing that James would just keep blaming himself, he informed him so.
"It was still my hand," James said, frustrated with him.
The brown-haired genius knew the feeling. And he knew exactly what James was thinking, having seen that expression on the mirror several times before over the years. But, honestly, Tony didn't want this… He didn't want to see the sadness, the guilty in those eyes…
"Give me that hand then. I was going to make you another one anyway," Tony scoffed, eying the prosthetic with disgust. Both because of its archaic design as because of its part in his parents death.
While James could be excused, especially as he was far different from HYDRA's puppet, the same couldn't be said about that accursed hand.
"We can throw it into a volcano," Tony continued, already making a mental list of all active volcanos he knew. "What do you think of Mauna Loa?"
James gave him a look as he stared back, completely serious. They stayed like that for a few minutes before the ice-blue eyed veteran sighed in defeat, moving to sit beside him.
The billionaire grinned and started to explain why Mauna Loa was the perfect choice. James listened in silence with an air of fondly exasperation that all of his closest friends had managed to master at one point or another during their acquaintance.
They still needed to talk; there was a lot to be said and explained (Like why someone had target his parents' that year and not before or who had given the order). But, for now, Tony was happy with the knowledge that they would be fine and that he hadn't lost the man who was growing to be more like a brother than a mere friend to him (Tony had always hated being an only child).
From under her Invisibility Cloak, Charis smiled at the duo and turned around to make her way home, wanting to give them some kind of privacy to talk.
So… No meeting between Sirius and Tony. I didn't like that part so I cut it off. The chapter it'll happen.
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!
July 26, 2009 – Tony learns about the existence of magic.
*Healer Taylor of the Department of Non-Magical Injuries of St. Mungos comes to check on Tony.
July 27, 2009 – Harry, James and Tony spends the day in Rosewood's Mews, looking at the shops
July 28, 2009 – Healer Taylor and Healer Summers comes to see Tony.
July 30, 2009 – James reveals the truth.
*Fred and George invites Harry to the World Cup.
*Sirius goes to Whitehall for a meeting