Guess what?! I interviewed with ChaosBlue on The Fanfic Maverick podcast. My episode doesn't drop until November 7, but you should definitely check out her other episodes. They're so great and so fun to listen to!
I was debating about holding this chapter until Halloween since that's a really significant date in the Harry Potter universe, but progress reports are coming up and I'm stressed so maybe posting this will make me feel a bit better.
Clearly, almost all my reviewers/commenters share Harry and James' opinions of Dumbledore... I wasn't expecting it to be quite that universal.
Now probably wasn't the best time to build a tower in New York City, but Tony's never been held up by what other people consider to be good ideas. Besides, he'd contracted it before he'd found a mutant mansion hangout in Westchester.
Anyway this tower's already towering in the heart of Manhattan, so it's still worth it. Pretty soon, it'll have its own arc reactor powering it, and be a beacon of clean energy.
Tony checks on the construction. He throws out some ideas for the Stark Expo; his Iron Man armor could easily be adapted into prosthetic for amputated war veterans, children born without limbs, and so on. Pepper sends him a knowing look, but doesn't comment.
Tony hightails it out of there in his Audi soon after. Nobody seems surprised- after all, Tony's been known to play hooky from his own award ceremonies.
Now, Tony's living more of a double life than ever, and he was already a superhero. He'd been a billionaire philanthropist genius for years before, but unlike Harry's beloved Bruce Wayne, Tony's never had a secret identity. He'd been the one to announce to the world he was Iron Man.
Now, however, Tony is keeping three identities secret.
He figures it wouldn't do for anyone to find about about Harry and James yet, especially when there are still HYDRA agents out hunting them. And Steve, well, he's not supposed to be alive.
Tony had been prepared to set up new identities for them, so they wouldn't be recognized at every turn, only to learn over a phone call that Harry's got another secret identity in his head. The very same evil wizard that killed his birth parents.
It's quite possibly even more shocking than the HYDRA reveal, which still hasn't been completely cleaned up.
All in all, Tony's been busy, and he can't catch a break.
Tony scoffs at himself. Harry's the one who can't catch a break. Abused, running from an evil organization, not to mention dealing with magic powers and apparently an evil wizard in his head. Then there's James, who was tortured, brainwashed, and is still struggling to find who he is. Hell, Steve just woke up to find out his best friend- and the whole world- changed without him to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.
Really, Tony thinks as he pulls up to the mansion, doesn't he have it easy compared to them? A voice in his head tells him it's not a competition; that the horrific traumas faced by others don't discount his own.
The voice sounds suspiciously like Professor X. Tony glances at the mansion. The professor could easily be reading his thoughts, though he'd promised not to.
He'd like to think nothing in his head would shock the guy after what he just found in Harry's.
Tony arrives to a very heated debate about whether to involve Dumbledore or not. Harry's standing as tall as he can, glaring up at Moody, not the least bit intimidated by the rather unsettling wizard.
"You want the most powerful wizard on your side," Moody points out. Harry opens his mouth, likely to say Dumbledore is a bad guy. "You act as if I'm suggesting You-Know-Who."
"No dumb doorbell guys. No dumb doorbell guys." Harry chants, clearly thinking he's reaching the peak of insulting puns. "Or enemy assets."
"Considering Dumbledore sent Snape after you," Moody's eyes shift to bore into James. "I'd have thought he'd recruit you for his cause. I bet you were already protecting Harry, but Dumbledore didn't realize that."
"He freezed Dad and flew him away!"
Moody tries to gruffly placate Harry. "They won't take your dad away."
"You said wizards erase muggles' memories." James states, flatly, just as unwilling to budge as Harry.
"We don't obliviate any Muggleborn's family."
"So, no obliviating anyone here." Tony assures Harry. "That counts me, mad eye. I'm not saying we should call this doorbell guy, I mean, I'm sure there's a way science can solve this. My new tower's going to have a state of the art medical lab, we can run some tests. MRIs or something. Is this a tumor we can remove?"
He glances at Bruce in particular. Really, Bruce is the expert of having someone living in his head.
Surprisingly, Steve backs Tony up on the technology front. Then again, to a guy from the forties, ordinary tech like computers and cell phones with digital cameras all likely seem like magic. That's not even counting Tony's own contributions of technological genius.
"If Zola could stick himself on a USB, I'm sure there's a way we can pull this wizard out of Harry's head." Steve says.
Harry, of course, had already latched onto the USB idea. He runs to the craft table and makes a crude attempt at a flash drive, shaping the clay into blobby imitation. He mashes it into head, frowning when the clay squishes, then pounds the whole thing into a shapeless lump. He tears off pieces and scattering them over the table.
"He's dead!" Harry announces, satisfied.
"He will die," James promises, and Tony's abruptly reminded of his unwilling, if very effective, past as an assassin.
Moody clomps into the room and Harry eyes him suspiciously. "Did you ring the dumb doorbell?"
"I haven't contacted Dumbledore yet." Moody leaves but I should left unsaid.
"'Cos you can't use phones." Harry snickers suddenly. Moody always eyes phones with a great deal of suspicion.
"Tragic, isn't it?" Tony says. "Almost as tragic as-"
"We don't need a old wizard." Harry interrupts. "We have my Grandpa an' my sort of mom. Ms. Jean. And Mr. Stark's gonna build a mem'ry stick."
Tony's done the impossible many times- he miniaturized an arc reactor with scraps in a cave, created a new element when said arc reactor started poisoning him, made several Iron Man suits.
Removing an evil soul from a child's mind isn't really a problem he ever thought he'd have to solve. He'd much rather be working on a new prosthesis for James, but James would object if Tony prioritized that over Harry.
Harry doesn't quit badgering Tony about a real memory stick, evidently realizing his version was pretend. Clearly, he hadn't been listening on the phone, either, and Tony finds himself having to state, flat out, that something is impossible. Harry isn't a computer with a virus or a sentient program that can be debugged or stored on a flash drive.
There isn't a whole lot to go on. Tony's woefully uninformed about this magic stuff, and even as one of the richest people in the world, he apparently can't walk into a magical bookshop to buy knowledge without the accompaniment of someone magical.
"Lead the way," he tells Moody. Moody doesn't.
According to Moody, very few bookstores would have information on soul fragments. They aren't common, are in fact some of the darkest magic known.
Moody insists that, even with books, Tony would be incapable of implementing anything he read. "You need a witch or wizard."
"We have you," Harry says. "Are you a bad wizard?"
It takes Tony a second to realize he means incompetent, not evil. Tony jumps in. "Coulson found you, somehow, so I'm sure he can find someone who's not Dumbledore. But I still think there's a way science can solve this."
Tony's not one to let someone else solve a challenge for him, and he's definitely not going to give up on science and hand it over to magic. Besides, clearly the resident wizard isn't doing any better than he is.
Bruce and Hank inspect Harry's scar under his longer, still messy hair. Aside from being oddly shaped like a bolt of lightning, there's nothing notable about it. Nothing to suggest what's hiding in Harry's head.
Harry opens his mouth wide, like he had during his dental appointment, as if they could see the entity from his mouth or pull it like a tooth.
"There might not be a way to get rid of the guy," Bruce murmurs apologetically once Harry's stopped saying ahh. "Trust me, I've tried a lot of ways, and..."
"Am I going to get sick?" Harry asks, as the adults scrutinize him.
"It doesn't seem to be affecting you much," Tony mutters. "I mean, you're pretty damn wholesome kid. Seeing you with your dad, it's hard to believe there's a mass murdering megalomaniac in your mind."
"What if I turn into Joker?" Harry's eyes widen. "Will you put me in jail?"
"That won't happen." James promises. "You haven't hurt anyone."
Tony's not great with feelings, but he can sense the guilt coming of James in waves. He sends James a look, which is ignored. James is focused solely on Harry, smoothing the boy's hair- which now resembles James's own- down reassuringly.
"But HYDRA put a guy in me too," Harry says into James' shoulder.
"I think he put himself in you," Tony's glad that Harry's young enough that the entendre flies right over his head. Not what he meant at all.
"Dad says old him's in his head, but he was younger." Harry's face scrunches, more confused about that contradiction than he's been about the murderer in his own head. "You're not a grandpa, Dad."
"I'm older than the Professor," James replies, and Harry laughs as if he's joking. "The old me meant the me from before. Bucky."
Tony thinks that it's good Steve isn't around to hear that.
As they leave the infirmary and make their way through crowded hallways, Harry calls out "Does anyone have hoover gifts? I need a bad guy sucked out of my head!"
Several students look at him curiously, and Harry isn't at all hesitant to tell everyone about his situation. Or how his "Aunt Tuna" made him help hoover, and it sucked everything up so surely it could suck a bad guy out.
Over the next several days, Harry keeps asking if Dumbledore's coming, stating that Tony will blast him if he does.
Harry's own attempts to get rid of the so-called Horcrux become more and more wild. Once, Tony spots Harry crouched next to a small snake, hissing at it. Harry picks it up, bringing it toward his head before James snatches it away.
Harry frowns, reaching for the snake. "I asked her to go in my ear and eat the bad guy."
"That image belongs in a horror movie." Tony mutters.
Harry ignores him, frowning at James. "You let me ask a snake how to get to the Batcave."
"That's not how we ended up with Stark." James sounds weary.
"Is too!" Harry stalks off to begin venting his frustrations by flying on his motor broom. Somehow, he flies high enough to be eye level with the adults, even though the safety features shouldn't allow him to go that high.
Harry seems to be trying to crash, dive-bombing the ground and tumbling on the grass, speeding at trees until James hauls him off the motor broom with a glare at Tony for being a bad influence.
"I'm going to knock him out." Harry protests, shaking his head wildly so his hair flies around.
"You're going to knock yourself out." James sounds amused, yet still exasperated, as he mutters that soon Harry will try to knock the Horcrux out in other ways and "I'll be pullin' another punk who likes getting punched out of fights."
"I don't like it!" Harry insists. "It hurt when Uncle Vernon-"
"I didn't mean that," James says, his face suddenly murderous. He confiscates the motor broom until Harry can learn to fly safely.
Harry plays several games where he hides his Joker figure behind his own head or in his hair before making the hero toys defeat him.
Bruce tries to coach Harry in meditation on the grounds it helps him with the Hulk, and nightmares. Harry complains it's too boring and barely gives any effort before running off.
By this point, Moody is extremely fed up with their attempts, and hinting even more strongly that they should consult Dumbledore. Tony keeps wondering if he's sent one of those message owls out, but the mansion remains undisturbed by old wizards.
Professor X even puts in a good word for Dumbledore, but Harry and James remain unconvinced.
Stark Tower is finished sooner than the horcrux situation. Steve's been sketching the outside of it from pictures Tony has shared, seeming far less impressed than others are. The more he sketches it, the less ugly he seems to think it is.
Tony brags about how the tower will be entirely clean energy when several students express environmental concerns.
Harry exclaims that it's better than any castle ever and asks endless streams of questions. "Is JARVIS there? Is there a basketball court? A Quidditch pitch? A cave? Can we fly there?"
He barely gives Tony time to answer, but judging from several people's expressions, what goes around comes around. Tony's having a hard time remembering the boy who was hesitant to question anything.
Tony takes Harry, and others, along for the grand opening, when he'll finally hook up the arc reactor. He gives Bruce a tour of the labs, mentions the fully-stocked art studio to Steve.
Harry runs around the penthouse delightedly, exploring every nook and cranny and playing hide-and-seek. Jarvis pretends not to know where Harry is, but finds Steve immediately when he joins the game. Harry cackles and James says that Steve's idea of stealth is a flag costume that stands out like fireworks.
Eventually Steve sits and sketches the view of the New York skyline. "It's no Brooklyn," he tosses to James as the pencil details the Chrysler Building.
Pepper arrives in time to distract Harry as Tony leaves to light up the tower. Tony has Jarvis keep the comm line open, listening to Harry tell Pepper all about their time at Xavier's Institute. They'll likely go back, of course, but it's nice to have a night or two to themselves.
Tony would never have expected Captain America would be a part of those nights, but that hardly ranks as the strangest thing that's happened in his life recently.
Once Tony lights up his tower like a Christmas tree and flies back, he shares drinks with Pepper, James and Steve. Harry is back to playing hide-and-seek with Jarvis until, suddenly, Jarvis announces "Sir, my protocols are being overridden,"
Tony turns to suit up again, but then a call comes through. It's Coulson, not HYDRA.
The elevator doors open. Tony's somewhat miffed that the man's here, and that Coulson seems unsurprised to see Bruce. Pepper seems unsurprised to see Coulson, and even calls him Phil. Tony's incensed about that, but he's been waiting for this moment, in a way.
Tony smirks as the usually composed Coulson turns into a starstruck fanboy at the sight of one Steve Rogers. "That's right, Agent. I've already assembled most of the Avengers initiative."