The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter Sixteen

July 4, 2014

Remus was never far from the mirror. If it wasn't in his hands, it was on the nearest surface, facing up. He never took his eyes off it. He wanted to sleep with it cradled to his chest, but he was so afraid of rolling over and breaking it.

He didn't notice Steve's ninety-sixth birthday. Steve kept trying to remind people he was frozen for sixty-one years so it was actually his thirty-fifth birthday, but Tony was so excited about the prospect of getting a cake with ninety-six candles on it no one noticed. Mostly because it meant the cake was huge. Red velvet, white chocolate, and blueberry, the same shape and pattern as his shield, only three times the size. How anyone made a cake that big, Steve would never know.

Tony got him butter pecan ice cream, which he hadn't been fond of until Tony handed him a bowl with a big smile and happily announced, 'your favorite!' all smugly, like he was the greatest man in the world. Steve couldn't deny that, so now butter pecan was his second favorite flavor, right after strawberry. But they didn't make strawberry like they used to, and he had yet to find the same flavor he and Bucky used to share on a hot summer day on Coney Island.

He also didn't have the heart to tell everyone his birthday was actually June fourth. His birthday being on the Fourth of July was a PR stunt when he was selling war bonds. It was close enough that he didn't protest at the time. He didn't protest anything at the time. Apparently his records before the war were dodgy enough that even SHIELD had the wrong birthday logged on his file.

Remus didn't get him anything, but he wasn't entry sure Remus knew it was his birthday. Remus also wasn't aware of how big a deal the Fourth of July was until Tony kicked off the annual SI fireworks show and sent Remus and Gwyllgi running in terror to the panic room in the basement.

"I forgot about the super hearing," Tony winced.

July 12, 2014

Remus glared at the mirror so intently that his eyes were dry. He brought the mirror back to the lab. He told Mr. Stark that every full moon from 10pm to 4am, also known the beginning of witching hour in Scotland to the end of the witching hour in New York, his friends could contact him through the mirror.

"You've been staying up until four in the morning once a month?" Mr. Stark asked.

"Uh… no, I passed out at one during finals week," Remus tried. He didn't get slapped, so he figured he wasn't in as much trouble as he thought he should be. He didn't know why he still expected to be slapped all the time. His therapist tried to help him work through it, before he stopped going. Something about fixing his self-talk. "Are you upset with me?"

"I'm not mad," Mr. Stark sighed. "I'd be a hypocrite otherwise. Lord knows I've done worse with no good excuse. Once a month to talk to your friends is… not great, but I know why you did it."

"Oh," Remus said. "It's just… if they made it out…"

"This is when they're most likely to contact you," Mr. Stark said.

"I'm worried about them. This is also the most likely time for Greyback to kill them if he hasn't already. It's the full moon."

"I've already narrowed down the most likely dimension for them to be in," Mr. Stark said. "Either 49777, 49881, or 49080. For reference we're 12042. That doesn't mean they're far away or close by, the multiverse is strange and confusing. The numbers are just shorthand for the vibrational frequency and you're ten, you don't need to hear my science speech."

"I'm thirteen," Remus pouted. "And I'm not an idiot."

"What I'm saying is…"

"They can come here?" Remus pleaded.

"I'm not convinced that's the most responsible action…"

"I'm here," Remus said.

"You'd be in danger otherwise…"

"Sirius' family tried to kill him once! And… and James and Meriam are orphans now and Lily's sister is cruel and vindictive and calls her horrible names and her husband has a temper and… and…"

"And you miss them," Mr. Stark said. "That doesn't mean that… it probably wasn't a good idea for us to… personal feelings… I'm terrible at this. Ask Cap."

"But it's your tower and your team and your tech and I'm…"

"I don't own the Avengers, and I certainly don't own you," Mr. Stark said, quite sternly. "I'm in charge of you and I'm responsible for you. And yeah, I own the building, I make the tech, but it's not a home if it's empty."

"If James has got it in his mind to come here, there's nothing anyone can do to stop him short of killing him, and every time I think about him getting himself hurt or killed, Gwyllgi tackles me. I… I just… I'd rather we had permission than have to ask forgiveness."

"He's that determined?"

"And Sirius and Meriam would follow him to the end of the Earth and back. Lily hates him, but if she's put up with him this long, I have no doubt she's the same as James, she's just smart enough not to do it alone. And she's friends with Meriam. Not best friends, Snape was her best friend but I guess they fell out, she doesn't like talking about it. I just… I don't know where else they could go?"

"I didn't sign up for this," Mr. Stark hissed under his breath, turning back to his calculations.

Either he was telling Remus in uncertain terms that he would not be allowing Remus an extended sleepover with his wizard friends or he forgot Remus could hear him when he whispered and he was just complaining because he enjoyed it. Remus couldn't tell.

"Well, hand the mirror over," Mr. Stark reached a hand back and made grabby motions.

Second one. It was the second one.

July 13, 2014

Remus hadn't noticed he'd fallen asleep until Mr. Stark nudged him awake at 3:30 in the morning. The stools in the lab didn't have backs, so he'd fallen on Mr. Stark. Remus was nestled under his arm without realizing it. It was very embarrassing, but Mr. Stark didn't seem to mind.

"Morning, Moony," Sirius said from the mirror.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Remus sighed.

Mr. Stark snorted.

"It's 8:30 over here," Sirius yawned. "We made it back to your house in one piece. Greyback was gone so we booked it back to Potter Manor."

"Oh, thank Merlin," Remus repeated.

"Happy to see you too, you're talkative today."

"It's 3 in the bloody morning over here, you prat!"

"Cap would like me to scold you on your language," Mr. Stark said. "But I've said worse younger, so…"

"We've been packing the essentials," Sirius continued. "I'm the only one free right now. We've got a narrow window. Greyback tried to get in last night."

Remus whimpered.

"Everyone's fine. Mr. and Mrs. Potter are gone, but their wards are still holding because… because they're buried on the property and… haven't decomposed that much yet. Ever since Mr. Potter's brother's family was assassinated, they warded this place so much that I had difficulty getting through the front door. Let Evans in no problem, but my family's Dark, so…"

"You got in and that's the important part," Remus assured him.

"Yeah, figured they wouldn't have… since Great Aunt Dorea was allowed in the wards but her assassination is what made them put up the wards. Pretty sure my uncle is who ordered the hit. Cygnus, not Alphard. Uncle Alphard's got the same super pox as Mr. and Mrs. Potter. It's a shit show over here, Moony. I tried dragging Regulus out the front door, but… he wouldn't come. Least he didn't snitch on me."

Remus couldn't smell Sirius' grief from across the mirror, but he didn't need to.

"He said Mother wouldn't let both of us leave and… that I had it worse, so… I… I wasn't going to leave. I just told James I was. I think… that was the switch that got us back from nightmare Apparition land. I finally accepted that I had to leave him behind."

"I'm so sorry."

"I know you are, you're always sorry for something. Especially if it's not your fault."

"Don't make fun of me! You're supposed to be having a moment."

"There's guys with guns outside," Sirius said. "I think… if Mr. Potter hadn't fought in WWII, they would have gotten in. It was kinda funny, apparently he had specific anti-Nazi wards that got activated. Well, it was funny until we realized they were lethal. They've been here since the war, set up in case Germany invaded."

"Shit, HYDRA," Mr. Stark muttered. "I mean… what are the essentials your packing?"

"The entire bloody library, apparently," Sirius said. "Meriam couldn't part with her books. James actually agreed with her. I think he's caught a case of swottishness. It was nice knowing him."

"They're family heirlooms! This one was written in 1216!" James' voice drifted from across the manor. "It's a prank book, Padfoot! A thirteenth century prank book. That's nearly a thousand years of pranking tradition, I'm not leaving it behind!"

"Is there room for food!" Sirius cried back.

"Of course there is, these are bottomless bags, they're bigger on the inside and light as a regular book bag," Lily shouted back from the kitchen. "And they've got preserving charms so the food will stay fresh. We've got at least a year's worth if we ration it correctly, which means banning Potter from snacks."

"I don't eat that much…"

"You do!" Meriam shot in. "It's a miracle you're not fat."

"I have a fast metabolism! What I'm trying to say is a lot of books are medical," James continued. "Our family has been the leading Potioneers and healers since before we got the surname Potter from Linfrida of Stinchcombe, the Potterer herself!"

"We don't need a family history!" Sirius shouted.

"What if we're in the middle of a nightmare realm and you get your arm lobbed off! Healing is important! You're not gonna treat that with a steak and kidney pie, are you?"

"Alright, I get it, jeez."

"And I'm not letting the arseholes trying to get in here desecrate the family library or our heirlooms," Meriam shouted. "There's dangerous magic in here and there aren't any wards inside the house. Sure, it's nothing compared to the Black Family Library, but that's pretty heavily warded."

"You have to be a real idiot to try and touch my family's books if you haven't been keyed in," Sirius grumbled, rubbing his hands. Remus had always wondered about the faint burn scars there.

"Kevin McAllister the house," Remus said.

Mr. Stark looked at him with a mixture of awe and amusement.

"Clint made me watch Home Alone for Christmas time when the rest of the team was on a mission. I mean booby trap the hell out of the house."

"That won't be necessary," Lily said. "Please don't give them anymore ideas, we're tight on time as it is."

"What do you think we are, lame?" Sirius scoffed. "We've already booby trapped the place. Expanding foam, boil balloons, bat bogey traps, set the Bludgers loose, everything. What Meriam means is it's not rigged to explode once we get out."

"I'd prefer no trace is left behind for them to spoil."

"I'll just be sad that I'm never again going to hear Dad shout 'Blitz this, you Nazi Bastards' followed by several explosions," James sighed. "That was… like he was still around."

"We've figured out how to pilot the book," Meriam said. "As soon as we're done packing or they get in the house…" there was a pause for distant gun fire followed by screaming… "We're out of here."

"Are you sure the book is your best bet?" Mr. Stark asked. "In my experience, it's never good to tinker with Cosmic Artefacts. Especially ones that can open interdimensional portals."

"It's not malicious," Sirius insisted. "I grew up in a malicious house full of malicious books and malicious people. I won't go so far as to say it's benevolent, but neither is better than plain up evil. I'd say it's more chaotic than good or evil."

"That's not much better," Mr. Stark said. Remus could tell he was thinking of Loki. Loki hadn't killed anyone, as far as Remus was aware, but every time he started messing around, someone got hurt or very majorly inconvenienced. He turned Thor into a frog once. And Spider-man into a pig twice. Remus liked to think Captain America would turn into a golden retriever.

"Five minutes!" Meriam shouted, skidding down the hall. She had an expanded book bag under her arms. "I'm sorry, Remus but we've got to go."

"Be safe," Remus pleaded.

"We'll give it the old college try," Sirius said.

"You're coming straight here?"

"Not how it works," Meriam said. "There's holes, we have a route. We're punching the first one, but the rest we'll have to get too. We could punch more, but the book needs to recharge after each punch if it's taking more than one person and…"

There was another explosion. Closer than the others. This one sounded more like a frag grenade than a stored Bombarda.

"Duck!" Meriam called.

A Bludger whizzed overhead and barreled down the hallway.

"That's the expanding foam! Anything not in a bag is left behind," Lily shouted.

All four of them converged on Sirius and the two trunks he had. James had the invisibility cloak over his shoulders and his shrinking trunk. Lily had three preserving bags, her dark red hair trailed behind her like fire.

The mirror was shoved into a bag and turned back into a mirror.

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