25 December 2013

Harry woke early on Christmas morning, despite indulging Hermione's stated desire to attend a midnight Mass the night before.

It wasn't so much that presents would be distributed this early - Dad had already told them to plan for presents closer to noon, thanks to the midnight Mass excursion - that had Harry awake, but rather that the plum pudding he was making for Christmas dinner required that much preparation time.

He pulled the fruit mixture he'd prepared a few days before from the refrigerator and added it to the bread crumbs, eggs, and sugar he'd just finished combining. While normally the pudding would be steamed, he hadn't found a steamer in the kitchen and was reluctant to order one.

Oh, Tony - and thanks to him, Harry - had money, but Harry had gotten used to making do with what he head, and a few months in America couldn't change that habit.

So he set the pudding into an oven that seemed ridiculously hot at two hundred and fifty degrees, but JARVIS had assured him that temperature was quite low. Apparently America used a different measuring system for temperature than England.

He'd just closed the oven door when a moderate pop sounded from the living area. His wand slid into his hand, a reflex honed by weeks of training with Hawkeye and the Black Widow.

He could only hope he didn't need it. "JARVIS?"

"Unexpected guests," JARVIS replied. "But not unwelcome ones."

Harry holstered his wand and padded on bare feet into the living area where he saw a dark-haired woman he didn't recognize standing near the tree, where a man knelt, placing something beneath the tree.

"Excuse me?" Harry said.

The man started and looked over his shoulder at him. "Oh, hey, Harry."

Harry let out a silent sigh. "What are you doing here, Agent Tony?"

Tony DiNozzo, special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Harry's Defense against the Dark Arts tutor, had the grace to look abashed. "In my defense, I wasn't expecting anyone to be up so early… Why are you up so early?"

"Had to get the plum pudding in the oven. What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping off some gifts, including something special for your Dad from Crispian," the agent replied. "He Floo'd it to me earlier in the week, and since I had to pop in to pick up my cousin, I figured I'd just drop it off and nobody would be bothered."

"Cousin?" Harry looked at the woman with Agent Tony.

"Maria Hill," she said. "It's nice to meet you, Harry."

"Pleasure," Harry said back before focusing on Agent Tony again. "Why are you picking her up?"

"Spending Christmas with the Paddington side of the family," Agent Tony replied. "I'd hoped to get out sooner, but we had a case that took priority."

Harry nodded in understanding. More than once, their classes with Agent Tony had had to be rescheduled because his team - the premier team in all of NCIS - had caught a case that needed to be investigated.

"I'm sorry we bothered you," Maria Hill said. "Tony assured me nobody would be awake."

"I don't think anyone else is," Harry said. "We went to a midnight Mass last night."

Agent Tony gave an exaggerated shudder. "Better you than me. But we should be going - Uncle Clive will be irritated if we miss Christmas brunch. See you next year, Harry."

"Happy Christmas," Harry offered.

"Merry Christmas," Maria said in return.

Agent Tony took her hand in his and with a final, "Merry Christmas," the two disapparated away.

Harry huffed and turned toward his bedroom. "I'm going to try to sleep some more, JARVIS. Please wake me if something goes wonky with the pudding, or when Hermione gets up."

"I am quite capable of maintaining an oven's temperature, Master Harry."

HP - IM - HP - IM - HP

Tony surveyed the explosion of wrapping paper and ribbons before him and took a satisfied sip of coffee. The kids had finished unwrapping their presents - hand-knitted sweaters and home-baked treats from Molly Weasley; classic works of fiction from the Doctors Granger; wand holsters from Sirius; classic board games from Steve; e-readers from Tony, complete with solar recharging battery packs - and Harry and Sirius were taking turns passing out presents for the adults. Tony wasn't sure which of the two was having the most fun.

Probably deliberately, the first adult gifts that were handed around were sweaters from Molly Weasley. Sirius' was a bright blue - Tony would've called it electric blue if he thought Molly had any real understanding of electricity - with a black dog on the chest.

Steve's was red and white striped with a blue star on the chest - Tony suspected it was her best attempt at Steve's uniform.

Tony's own was red with gold sleeves and a silvery white circle on the chest, and when he pulled it on, the circle seemed to glow. The scientist in him pulled the sweater off again to see that the circle didn't glow anymore. A few minutes of testing had him conclude that the circle only glow when it covered his arc reactor.

"Cool," Tony said with a grin at the Weasley children. "Tell your mom I love it." And he made a mental note to write a thank-you note. It wasn't something he did often, but as much care as Molly obviously put into the sweater deserved a personal response.

"Um… Mr. Stark?" Ginny Weasley asked hesitantly.

"Mm?"

"Um, well - I don't want to be rude, but … what is that glowing thing on your chest?" The last words came out in a rush, accompanied by a deep blush that truly clashed with her red hair.

For a second, Tony was flat-footed. He'd explained that, hadn't he? Then he remembered - the kids hadn't been around when he had. He took a breath and blew it out as he gathered words that someone completely unfamiliar with science and technology might understand.

"It's called an arc reactor." Tony repeated the words more slowly and she nodded. "How it works is complicated, but what it does is keep some metal bits in my body from riding my bloodstream into my heart and killing me."

Her eyes went wide. "I had no idea Muggles could do that."

"Not many can," Steve put in. "From everything I've read, Tony's probably the only one who could've made it - and he did it in a cave with a box of … scraps," he finished.

"Wow!" Both Weasley kids exclaimed.

"Can't it be fixed?" Ginny asked.

"I'm looking for someone - magical and otherwise - who can," Tony replied. "But it's a complicated procedure, and it's my life, so I'm being extra careful in who I pick to do it."

Ginny nodded her understanding, but her brother was frowning.

"Why were you in a cave?" Ron asked.

"That's a long story," Tony replied, "and not nearly as much fun as opening presents."

Sirius took the hint and grabbed a package from under the tree.

"For Steve, from me." Sirius offered Steve a package about the size of a deck of cards. It was wrapped in white paper with stars-and-stripes ribbon.

Steve hesitated before taking it. "Is it going to explode in my hand?"

Sirius looked offended. "Would I do something like that?"

Tony was fairly certain everyone said, "Yes."

Sirius glared at them all before turning back to Steve. "Well, yes, I probably would. But I didn't for this. Promise."

Still, Steve opened the package gingerly. Finally, he held a wallet in his hands, and unfolded it - only to start in surprise when the wallet started trying to bite him. "What the-?"

"We can match it to you, then it won't bite you," Sirius said. "Just people who might try to steal from you."

"But," Hermione said, "what about the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Avengers are allowed to know," Tony said. "Though I'm not sure how well that'll play if the wallet bites someone not a wizard."

"That's the beauty of it," Sirius said. "Muggles - sorry - will only feel an electrical shock. They won't see the teeth."

"Thanks," Steve said, and Tony was impressed at how sincere the man sounded. Then again, given that he'd come of age during the Great Depression, Steve probably was more grateful for things than most people.

"This one's for you, Dad," Harry said. "Agent Tony dropped it off earlier."

Tony straightened and set his coffee aside to accept the package from his son. It was perhaps eighteen inches by twenty-four and two inches deep, wrapped in a gold-patterned paper that reminded him of the fainting couch in his mother's bedroom.

There was also an envelope in place of the gift tag, and Tony opened that first. It had a small card inside that read, Wish it a Happy Christmas.

Tony raised an eyebrow at that but set the card aside in favor of opening the package not quite as carefully as Steve had opened his, but the paper was gorgeous and Tony was loath to crumple it, let alone discard it.

Inside was a plain white box and, curious, Tony lifted the lid. His breath caught at what rested inside it: the portrait of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, that he'd spoken with at Hogwarts.

While she'd been lively and an amusing conversationalist then, right now the portrait appeared to sleep.

"What is it, Dad?" Harry asked. "It must be something special if Agent Tony delivered it in person."

"It's very special," Tony murmured. "Merry Christmas."

The portrait didn't respond, and Tony frowned. Hadn't the note said…?

It had said to wish the portrait a, "Happy Christmas, Your Majesty." Tony wasn't sure why he added the honorific this time; it just seemed the right thing to do.

The person in the portrait blinked and yawned and focused on him. Then she smiled. "Mr. Stark. A pleasure to see you again."

"And you, Your Majesty," he said.

"Your Mr. Paddington is quite the charmer," she continued. "I was sorry when he had to put me to sleep for the journey to America. Is this the more interesting place you sought?"

"Eh - close enough. Let me introduce you." Tony turned the portrait so she could see the others who'd gathered and made introductions quickly.

"Wait," Ginny said. "Weren't you on a wall at Hogwarts?"

"Indeed I was," Mary Stuart replied. "But when Mr. Stark visited, he offered to find me a more interesting place to be. In that, he appears to have succeeded."

"It's a start," Tony said, looking around for a place to rest the portrait so she could interact with the rest of the group.

Harry hopped up and grabbed a dining chair, dragging it back to place it next to Tony. Tony gave his son a grateful grin and rested the portrait on the chair. The moment he moved his hand away, though, it started to slide forward on the seat.

Tony saved it from falling and readjusted it.

"Allow me." Sirius jabbed his wand in the portrait's direction. "Sticking Charm."

"Thanks," Tony said then, feeling slightly foolish, asked Mary if she could see."

"I see very well," she replied. "Though I had not imagined such wealth. So much glass! I'd no thought glass could be used so."

Steve Rogers smiled at her. "That's a long discussion, ma'am, but building techniques and materials have changed a lot."

"I shall enjoy that discussion, sir."

The silence after her declaration lingered just a little too long before Sirius cleared his throat. "I guess any other presents will be anticlimactic, but we still have a few left to go." He picked up a package wrapped in green and gold. "From Harry to Steve."

NOTE: Just a heads up - my home computer is dead. Not sure whether it can be revived or has to be replaced, but... the next post may not be at its regularly scheduled time. (This one is early, because I have a blessed few minutes of functionality.)

I'll post again as soon as I can.