Chapter 23

It had been a long and exhausting day at Gringotts, but it was finally over. She was emancipated, at least on the Magical side of things. She'd also inherited the title of Lady Potter – Head of House Potter, several vaults she was going to have to have audited, a few titles she was going to have to look into at some point, and the Potter Estate; something else she was going to have to have the goblins look into for her while she was busy with school. Dumbledore wasn't going to be happy about that, but then again he was the one that made this all possible by agreeing to have the tournament at Hogwarts with a Potter in residence. That had just been asking for trouble right there.

She'd done the blood inheritance test, more for Professor Snape's benefit than her own. He'd wanted it so that he could get an idea on what her magic levels were, and how best to deal with her training. She had agreed, on the condition that she didn't have to look at it. Getting told the limits of magic is what limited magic, and she didn't care for that. People said the word impossible like it was a rule, and Hera had specific ideas about where they could shove that rule. She was still wrestling with 'Don't ask questions'.

Being pinned as an apprentice was the last thing on the list to do; something that Professor McGonagall made it out for. Ragnok had agreed to send the audit of her various holdings and vaults to her vanishing box. Professor Snape hadn't looked shocked when a glowing ethereal Grim bounded into the room, announcing in Sirius' voice that he wanted them both to come to the Leaky when they were done. It probably had something to do with the inheritance test he kept looking at furtively and back to her, as if she wouldn't notice that. It didn't help that just before they got to the room Sirius told them to meet him in, Snape gave her shoulder a bracing squeeze as one does when about to face a difficult situation, something she thought highly uncharacteristic of him.

"I'm going to have to reevaluate everything I think I know about you, aren't I?" Hera commented.

"Do try to keep my more humanitarian actions to yourself, hrm, Potter?" Snape replied with snark, as they stepped into the room Sirius had told them about; not that she made it much farther than that, stilling as she did when she was who was in the room with him.

The Man of Iron, someone she'd half forgotten about in dreams she'd not thought real till now, was sitting in the room with Sirius. He looked weird without the soft blue glow emanating from his chest. This must be before he was Iron Man, but how would she have dreamt of it if that were so? Could she have dreamt of a future and a past not her own? What was he even doing here?

"Please don't tell me Tony Stark is actually my father." She blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say that would cover the awkward silence that had settled over the meeting room. "I don't think I could take it."

Professor Snape closes the door, and the wards are locked down with a flick of his wrist.

"How old do you think I am?" Stark asked, obviously mock offended.

"Old enough to know what an STD is." She shot back, and wow that might actually be offensive. Instead of getting angry though, Stark just bursts out laughing.

"You've got spunk, kid." Stark chuckled. "Not your father though."

"You have my hair, so you have to be family somehow. No one else should be cursed with hair like this." Hera countered, glaring between him and Sirius and back again. "One of you explain. Now."

So she hears the story of how her mother and father couldn't have children; more specifically James was shooting blanks, not that she'd needed to know that detail. So they found Howard, and he'd agreed to help as long as he was never contacted again. Hera suspected they had some kind of really good blackmail on that man. They'd kept their word, contacting his wife instead, who had adored the pictures of a little girl. After Tony, Maria hadn't been able to have anymore kids, so seeing pictures of her was the next best thing; except she didn't get anymore pictures of Hera growing up, and with no way to reach out, she had had no way of knowing what happened to cause the sudden radio silence. Tony hadn't known about her, not until Sirius Black came calling, and he'd braved opening a box he hadn't had the heart to after his mum's death.

...

Tony watched as the girl struggled, learning things he himself had had to come to terms with only hours before. It was heartbreaking to see the shut down of all emotions as she processed what they were telling her, the dawning understanding he could see in her eyes as she realized what this could mean for her, the struggle to stamp down any hope in case of a trick or lie. How many times had he had that look on his face growing up, as he struggled not to hope that this was the time his father would see him? How many times had this girl, young as she still was, hoped that this was the time she might actually have hope?

"…I have a brother?" She hesitated to ask, grimacing as she was betrayed by the hope in her voice. "I mean…you…you're my brother?"

"Yeah, Kid. I'm your brother." Tony confirmed, and watched in wonder as a hesitant smile slowly crept across her face. "Now, let's compare notes. I'm interested to see how much trouble a Potter can get into as opposed to that of a Stark. I have gotten into a lot of trouble in my life."

She just snorts, and plops down across from him at the table, and replies. "Are you sure you have that kind of time? I have a lot of stories."

"You're on." Tony challenged. "There's no way you can top the shit I got into as a kid."

"I'll take that bet." She replied with a sly smirk, and the two settled in to swap stories.

...

"Do you think this will work?" Sirius asked, keeping his voice low. Both he and Snape were watching the newly reunited siblings compare notes.

"It has to." Snape replied, thinking something over before looking at him. "How's your Occlumency?"

"Strong enough to keep out the Dementors in Azkaban." Sirius admitted. "Why?"

"What do you make of this?" Snape asked, instead of answering, handing Sirius a sheet of paper. "It's her Blood Inheritance Test."

"Has she seen this?!" Sirius hissed in disbelief, unable to process the information in front of him.

"Said she didn't want to see it, that tests that told you the limits of your magic potentially limited the growth of your magic. I asked to keep it, for a guide in where to start her training. She agreed." Snape revealed, keeping his voice low. "The only questions that remain are who was she before, and why was she sent here now?"

The Blood Inheritance Test listed all the usual things; areas of magic she was strong and weak in, gifts she possessed, things of that nature. There was one word at the top of the test that Sirius couldn't process. Hera Potter was godborn. Tests like this one spoke to the magic within the blood, and the goblins did not make mistakes. If that were true, discovering who she had been could very well be the key to figuring out why she was sent.

"Guide her training…How the hell do we even guide a power like that?" Sirius asked, daunted as he looked from the paper to Hera and back again.

"Very carefully." Snape replied, going back to watching the siblings as he continued to speak quietly. "She doesn't seem to realize how powerful she is, that much of what she can do is impossible for anyone else, and believes that the reason our magic is so limited is that we learn what the limits of magic are before we ever learn what magic truly is. If who she was before was any authority on magic, she could very well be right."

...

Rita Skeeter smelled the story of a lifetime, and her name was Hera Potter. She'd lucked out, having caught sight of the girl entering Gringotts with one Severus Snape. Rumours were already flying around about the girl, how the students of each school had come together in support of her, but would they support her if they knew she was here alone…perhaps caught in a sordid affair with her professor? How scandalous! The girl exited Gringotts some time later, a Lady of her House, and apprentice besides; quite the development.

Unfortunately, Rita had not been able to enter the bank. Gringotts had always been more stringent than the Ministry when it came to their wards. While she'd waited though, Rita speculated about why they could be there, hoping to spin it for her articles. They entered the Leaky Cauldron, an abysmal place if there ever was one, but not to leave. A private room? Oh, this was scandalous indeed! She'd been able to sneak a peak into the room, and what appeared like Sirius Black and an as of yet unidentified man sat with drinks and snacks waiting. Unable to enter due to the paranoid nature of the potions professor, Rita Skeeter would have to contend with the one jewel Potter had gifted her.

"Please don't tell me Tony Stark is actually my father – I don't think I could take it."

...

Tony had had a strange few days, getting acclimated to how the Wizarding World in Britain worked. He was convinced he could bring tech to the wizarding world as a whole, and Hera agreed with him. She explained that muggle tech reacted badly to surges of magic, something that was usually caused by strong emotions, the stronger the surge the worse the reaction; after a while people just stopped trying to get it to work at all. He'd been surprised to find that the Goblins ran a tight ship when it came to money, and they got along just fine, more so when he realized they loved to negotiate. The money system was a little weird, but they helped set him up, and transferred money into his very own new Gringotts account from one of their Muggle holdings that he had an account with; they even had a thing that looked like a credit card.

Once he got through setting all that up, he went shopping. Noticing the side glances he was getting because of his clothes, he made sure that was the first thing he fixed; and oh the things they could do to clothes. Clothes with pockets that were bigger on the inside? The Doctor could only wish he'd had it this good. Books were next, because if he was going to understand Hera's world, he needed to learn all he could about it. What were the customs like here? There were books about the last wizarding war, which he made sure to devour those as well. What were the laws of this world? He would definitely need to know that.

He noticed the articles about Hera, thanks to his own subscription with their local paper The Daily Prophet, along with the follow up articles in another local paper The Quibbler. He liked that one more, mainly because while they seemed a bit crazy they also weren't blindly following the masses either, and half of the time he thought they were writing in some kind of code; he'd need to back order the rest to confirm that particular theory later. Learning the laws had been tougher, but he'd plowed through that too. If Hera could hang on for a few more days, he'd get custody on the 'muggle' side of things, and then she'd never have to go to those Dursleys again. Maybe she would be okay with him suing the Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter personally for libel, as well as whoever owned and printed the Hera Potter adventure book series.

"Hey, Pepper!" Tony greeted, calling her on the phone once he was back in his hotel.

"Tony! Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be back from London four days ago!" She sounded frantic.

Jeez. Mother much?

"Yeah, something came up, and I need to adopt a kid…teenager technically." Tony replied nonchalantly. "I need you to fast track it through my lawyers, and have one of them send me the documents. I'm staying here for now to see this through."

"Well, it was bound to happen sometime, I suppose." Pepper mused. "Wait. Are you sure the kid is yours? You did say teenager. Did you do a DNA test?"

"How old do you think I am, Pep? She's my sister, not my kid." Tony corrected with a huff of annoyance. "Long story short, Howard helped out a family who couldn't have kids. The parents died, and the child went to stay with relatives of the mother. They abuse her, and I'm not leaving her to that."

"Taking over custody…adoption…that's a huge responsibility, Tony." Pepper argued. "Are you sure you're really the best person for that? A teenager can be-"

"I'm her brother." Tony stated in a tone that brokered no argument, his patience shot. "Now get those documents over here pronto, and make sure there won't be any problem where she's from Britain. Talk to Rhodey if you have any questions."

It took a few calls, but once Pepper got over the initial shock of it, she apologized. Tony was just glad the woman wasn't going to be weird about this. So he was taking custody of his sister. It would be fine. Now if she would just stop with the 'I think this will be good for you, Tony' that would be great. It took two weeks to get the paperwork together, with the thanks of more money than he would ever need in his life and the best lawyers that money could buy, but now all he needed was the signatures, which was exactly where he was headed.

Dudley couldn't believe his eyes. A guy who looked remarkably like Tony Stark was walking up and down Privet Drive as if searching for something. He had this horrified look on his face, as if it disgusted him that everything was so utterly similar, probably thinking he was walking through the twilight zone. Figuring that he better go help the man out, or risk him getting mauled by the housewives of Privet Drive, Dudley made his way over. Seeing him approach, the man seemed relieved, if slightly suspicious.

"Can I help you, Sir?" Dudley asked politely.

He really was trying to be better about his manners and stuff. After watching Hera have to fight his parents and their denial these last few years just to go to her school, a lot of things had started making sense. His parents had both feared and envied her magic, and had tried to stamp it out of her, only Hera hadn't given up. Instead, she'd fought them every step of the way. She'd ran away every year just so she could go to that school, and he just knew she kept up with her schooling on this side of things; She was too smart not to do that.

If he ever got the chance, Dudley knew he owed her a big apology. He'd played a large part in trying to keep her down, being encouraged by his parents, he'd tormented her with his friends. He would forever regret Hera Hunting and Find the Freak. His therapists at school were helping him work through a lot of it, though he was hesitant to tell them just how much had gone on in his home, and he knew that even though his parents didn't see it that way, they had done a lot of damage to him that he was working to correct. He'd even started dieting and exercising on his own, which was hard, but the people down at the local gym said he could be a boxer if he played his cards right. Guess Hera knew was she was doing when she'd given him that punching bag that one year.

"Yeah, I'm trying to find a Number 4 Privet Drive." The man explained. "The name's Tony Stark. I need to talk to a Petunia Dursley about Hera Potter."

"Are you…one of those?" Dudley asked, not certain of how to say it.

"No, I'm not…one of those, but I know what you mean." Stark replied, looking amused.

"Petunia Dursley is my mum. I can take you to our house." Dudley nodded. Understanding dawned in Stark's eyes, along with barely restrained anger. "Listen, I know it won't do any good, but…when I was little, I didn't know any better. I bullied her because it got me attention, praise from my parents, and cake whenever I wanted. When I did know better…it was just easier to blame her for my problems. I know what I did was wrong, and while I can explain it, it doesn't excuse what I did. If she ever forgives me, it'll be more than I ever deserve."

"Do your parents feel the way you do?" Stark asked, as if evaluating him.

"No. They…they still think they've done nothing wrong, that Hera somehow ruined their perfectly normal home." Dudley sighed in defeat. They'd had several arguments about that over the summer. "I don't know everything they did to her, but I can tell you what I do know if it will help you get her away from here. She deserves family that will love her, and I know she wanted that from them, even after everything, but…they're never gonna admit what they did was wrong."

That evening, things were strangely silent. Dudley had taken to such strange habits lately. Petunia didn't know what to think of it, and Vernon blamed the educational system for its new ways. They'd pulled him out of that school Smeltings, and placed him in a local day to day school, but it was too late. The boy had gone to counseling! Therapy! Imagine it, her boy in therapy like some crazy person for the loony bin! He was exercising! Dieting! Her dudders didn't need to diet. He was still a growing boy, not…He wasn't fat, just big boned like his father. She wouldn't hear of it, and tried to tempt her son with sweets at least five times in between every meal.

He'd started talking about toxic situations, child abuse, and trigger words. Her little dudderkins actually wanted them to apologize to that little freak for the things they did to try and keep her from becoming the freak she was! Perhaps she should have let Vernon hit the little freak more, Petunia mused as she set the table. Starvation and poisoning had done nothing to the girl, and breaking her bones only made her freakishness save her. She just didn't know where they had gone wrong!

A knock at the door broke her from her thoughts.

"Who could that be?" She murmured to herself as she made to answer the door. Petunia was too surprised when she opened the door not to blurt out. "Tony Stark?!"

"Good thing about being famous, you never have to introduce yourself." The man stated with a suave grin. "May I come in?"

"Of-Of course!" She agreed, ushering him in.

"I'm actually here to talk to your son, and for you and your husband to sign some paperwork." Mr. Stark stated distractedly as he looked around the place with a frown. Perhaps he wasn't use to such a modest home? He was obscenely rich, after all.

"Our son?" Petunia asked, suddenly on alert as she guided him to the dining room. "Why would you need to talk to our Dudders?"

"Mum! I told you not to call me that." Dudley groaned in embarrassment.

"Tell me she never calls you that in public." Mr. Stark snickered, causing Dudley to blush deeper with embarrassment. "My apologies, kid."

Vernon grunted. "It's good to meet you, Mr. Stark."

"Call me Tony! Mr. Stark was my father." Tony insisted with a grin that suddenly looked predatory. "Now, let's get onto business. I want custody of Hera Potter."

Vernon flustered. "Get out. We don't want your kind here. Didn't want her either. Freaks, the lot of you!"

"I'm not a magical, if that's what you mean by freak." Tony replied, his predatory grin becoming all the more so. "I'm her brother."

Vernon looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, but Petunia was suddenly over the moon.

"An affair? Perfect Lily had an affair? Oh, this is rich." She snorted.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but no dice. James couldn't have children, so they found one of those donors, someone who looked close enough that no one on their side of things would question it. They performed some sort of magic adoption ceremony before she was born, making her James daughter as well." Tony corrected. "As it turns out though, that donor was my father, and I'm here to take custody. I'm not leaving without it."

"Now you see here!" Vernon shouted, abruptly standing up from his seat.

"No, you see here. With the evidence I have, I could have you thrown in jail for child abuse at the very least; attempted murder at the worst." Tony stated calmly, and now it was Petunia who looked like she'd eaten a lemon. "Poisoning, starvation, abandonment, neglect. I could go on, but you get the picture. How many times did her magic have to save her from you? How old was she when she learned her name wasn't Freak? You're lucky I don't take your son from you too, and I could. I could have you thrown in jail so fast your heads would spin, and raise Dudley as my own, but he has asked for mercy on your behalf, mercy I am inclined to grant if you sign over custody of Hera to me."

"She's supposed to stay with us! Because of her, the wards keep us safe from those freaks that are after her." Petunia objected, her voice shrill.

"Don't think you can play me. Those wards are bond based, powered by emotions of familial love, and you knew that; or you would have if you'd bothered to do your research at all. If you had truly wanted to be safe, you would have fostered those feelings in her. You would have loved her instead of treating her like an unwanted shadow." Tony snapped, and Petunia looked down at her plate. "I see plenty of pictures of your son. I see none of her."

"We never wanted the freak to live here. Never! But we were told we had to, or be killed just for being associated with her family." Vernon snarled. "So we tried to stamp out that unnaturalness, make her normal. You're not going to make me feel guilty for that!"

"A cupboard under the stairs as a bedroom is normal?" Tony asked with an edge to his voice that hadn't been there before. "Thinking her name was Freak for years was normal? Trying to poison her was normal? Starvation, being locked in a small confining space with no food or water, or even a pot to piss in, for days…That was normal? You encouraged your son to beat her up with the help of his friends. You hit her whenever you didn't get a deal at work to go through, or a promotion. You didn't want her to be normal. You wanted to punish her for existing. Now sign those damn papers, or I will bring the full might of Stark Industries on your ass, have you fired from your job because I own your company, and take custody of your son. What's it gonna be?"

Petunia just knew that her husband wanted to hit the man for embarrassing them in their nice normal house like this, but she shook her head no hoping he would listen. If they didn't sign these papers, they would lose their son. It was that simple, but judging by the fact that Dudley couldn't look her in the eyes, it was clear they were already losing him in a way. He hadn't known about the poisonings in their desire to be rid of her, hadn't realized they'd actively tried to kill her in a way, and he'd been wanting to 'make things right' ever since he'd started going to therapy. Vernon signed everywhere he needed to, and then it was her turn. When it was over, Tony Stark placed the paperwork in his briefcase, and locked it.

"Now, where's her room?" He demanded.

Petunia looked at Vernon in a panic, because he'd blocked off her room from the inside.

"I'm not going to like this, am I, kid?" Tony asked, looking to Dudley, who shook his head no. "Alright then, if you'll show me her room, I'll get out of your hair. I imagine you three are going to be having a long conversation here soon. I'd planned to talk to you about a job at some point later on in your future, but perhaps it's better for things to calm down first. You have my personal number."