So the reason this was so late was because I got carried away. Originally this 'chapter' had right about 35,000 words. Dakota pared down the unnecessary bits and had me rewrite somethings but it was still like 29,000+. So in the interest of keeping our chapters relatively equal we split this thing into parts! This is the first one, the second I'm polishing up, and the third I need to wrap up in a nice little package.
Because of this there will probably be a double update next week to get everything out there.
Also because of this, the Alice v. Augusta has been moved to next chapter or the second part of the big one.
So enjoy this chapter and await the next in baited breath!
Disclaimer in Chapter 1! Will add as needed!
"Sir." Jarvis called, "You may wish to put down the blowtorch."
Tony looked up from his project, blowtorch still in hand, "Why?" he asked warily.
A pop sounded behind him and Tony swiveled to find Fred and George standing there with several boxes in their arms; Daisy was at their feet, having just brought them in. "Thanks Daisy." Fred and George said with a smile at the elf, she beamed up at the twins before popping away.
Tony smiled and flicked off his blowtorch with a practiced move, "Hey guys! What's up?"
The twins looked to him with innocent looks, "What?"
"We can't just come"
"visit our new brother?" they pouted.
Tony crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk, "Without texting me directly first?"
Fred laughed, "Fair enough."
"We brought you a present!" George grinned as they moved toward his current work space with the boxes.
"Well, two presents." Fred put in.
"But one is better than the other." George added.
Tony frowned, "It's not my birthday."
Fred and George gave frowns of their own as they put their boxes down on the clear space of the table, "What does that have to do with anything?" George asked.
"We just made something for you and we didn't want to wait until Christmas!" Fred said, smiling again.
"And we figured while we were here we would give you the other present, which is more from all of us."
"But everyone else is doing stuff and we didn't want to wait!" Fred finished.
Tony grinned but it looked a bit tight to Fred and George, "Alright. Show me what you got."
George nodded and handed him the first box, a slim one just about the size of a StarkPad, "The rest are all together so we'll start with this one."
Tony opened the plain brown box and found a cool black rectangle box inside with two green eyes etched on one side, the material was smooth but thick and Tony couldn't decide what exactly it was made of. He examined it curiously, noting a small line of runes on the edge with the last rune of the sequence separated by a switch. "What is it?"
"Our new and improved"
"Demon Box!" the twins said excitedly.
"We brought you the first one!" Fred said seriously.
"We made them smaller and more sustainable." George added excitedly.
"You mentioned that Hammer bailed himself out so we thought you could sneak it somewhere to mess with him." Fred said with a mischievous grin.
"As long as he never finds it and destroys it, it will go off randomly for a long, long time." George said proudly.
"Yeah, no running out of magic like the last one." Fred laughed.
Tony ran his hands over the box again, thoughts were running through his head a mile a minute as old anxieties rose and threatened to choke him. He forced a smile on his face as he looked up at the twins, "Thanks guys." He startled when they both leaned in really close with frowns, "What are…"
"Why are you smiling like that?" Fred asked.
"Don't lie to us if you don't like it Tony." George huffed.
"It's not that…" Tony said, swallowing hard, despite their age the twins could be a bit intimidating when they completely focused on you. Tony didn't know how Harriet did it without any reaction. "Forget it, I'm…"
"Tell us what's wrong." George insisted.
"We're family, we help each other." Fred added.
"Also, we're not sure what would happen if Harriet was angry with us." George said sheepishly.
"And we're sure she's be pissed if we hurt you." Fred said, nodding sagely.
Tony fiddled with the box in his hands before steeling himself and putting it down, crossing his arms soon after to stand defensively, "What do you want?"
Fred and George exchanged a look, "Want?" they echoed, confused.
Tony nodded, "People don't do this." He scoffed, gesturing toward the Demon Box, "Gifts without reason. It's not a special day so this isn't obligation. The only other reason is you want something. What is it?"
The twins shared a deep frown, "We don't want anything Tony." George said easily.
"Unless you count wanting to torment Hammer." Fred added in.
Tony's jaw clenched, "Don't beat around the bush. Out with it."
George cocked his head, "Tony…what could we possibly want from you?"
"Money is a popular one." Tony snapped irritably, but that fell flat as Fred and George laughed.
"Money!" Fred wheezed.
"Priceless Tony!" George snickered, they calmed down to just a few amused chuckles as they grinned at Tony, "We don't need money Tony."
"Turns out we're loaded!" Fred commented, "The Prewett family was very successful and without our mum to make a bloody mess of things we're not exactly hurting for Galleons. Not between the patents, shares in businesses, and the three vaults under our name."
"And even with having all of that, Harriet hasn't exactly let us buy much since we ran away from the Burrow." George said with a fond smile, "We only got to buy some new clothes. The Castle is hers and all of the food and potion supplies within are stocked out of her vaults. If we want to buy something with our own money we have to sneak it past her."
"We almost didn't get to buy the stuff to make her Christmas present with our own money." Fred snorted.
Tony was feeling a bit lost, "Tech then." He stated, less confidently than last time.
Again came the frowns, "What more would we need?" Fred asked. "We've got phones and the headsets you gave us for Christmas. Harriet already has TVs in the Castle and we never really use her computer."
"There's always more toys to be had." Tony inserted.
"Yeah, but muggle toys?" George asked, "I know we've gotten the hang of the phones and the TV but we grew up in the magical world. Let's go a little bit at a time. We still haven't gotten to have Jarvis in our faces during training."
"I think you're doing quite well." Jarvis cut in dryly.
"If you call getting our asses handed to us because we can't focus past your holograms 'well' then sure J." Fred snorted.
Tony's mouth was opening and closing as emotions he didn't recognize bubbled to the surface, "I'm…I can't…you want…"
"We don't want anything Tony." They repeated. Tony started to tear up and the twins shared stricken looks. "Whoa Tony don't"
"cry mate! We didn't"
"mean to bring up"
"something bad!"
Tony swiped roughly at his eyes, "I'm not crying." He said roughly, clearing his throat, "I'm just…leaking..."
Dummy heard this and rolled over, beeping in concern, as he held a squeeze tube of sealing glue. "Sir, I believe that Dummy has found you a solution for your problem." Jarvis announced.
Tony let out a rough laugh when he took the bottle from the bot and patted at its claw, "Thanks Dummy."
Fred and George grinned and both patted Dummy, "Good one Dummy!"
"I see we're rubbing off on Jarvis"
"who is passing the wonderful art"
"of comedy onto you!" Dummy beeped in agreement, holding his claw up to Fred and George in turn for a high-five, which they gave him without hesitation. Tony set the glue down and scrubbed at his eyes before looking up to see Fred and George looking him and deadpanning, "Have you fixed your leak?"
Tony chuckled, trying to regain his composure, "Sorry, I just…I guess it's been so long since I've…gotten a gift without a motive or obligation behind it." He said with a wince.
The twins softened a bit and came around the table to smother him in a hug that had him frozen in surprise and confusion. "Only assholes give a gift with the sole intention of getting something in return." George said softly.
"The world is only mostly filled with assholes; we promise we aren't a pair of them."
"Very profound Fred."
"I thought so Georgie."
Tony slumped between them, still feeling a bit off balanced. "Thanks guys." He muttered.
They squeezed him gently before letting go. "Of course Tony." They said, smiling at him.
"Although now we're kind of glad we didn't start with the group present." Fred joked lightly.
"Would have crushed the poor girl." George tutted.
Tony blinked and leaned back on his stool so he could fully see the twins, "Girl? What girl?"
Fred and George grinned and made their way back over to the boxes before putting a small gift box with a lid about the size of a toaster in front of him, "Why don't you find out?"
Tony eyed the box warily, "You wizards don't think it's acceptable to give a person as a gift right?"
"Of course not." Fred scoffed.
"Just open it Tony." George urged, "We think you'll like it!"
Tony stood cautiously and pulled the lid off carefully, pulling it up as a shield in front of him as he peeked into the box. "What the hell?" he muttered, putting the lid down as he moved closer. Inside was a soft blanket bunched up in the bottom, a few colorful plastic balls were there along the side of the box, and in the center was a puff of black fur. Tony reached for the little bundle of fur hesitantly but jerked his hand back in surprise as it moved and he was suddenly pinned by startlingly electric blue eyes.
The bundle uncurled further without the blue eyes leaving Tony's but he could take in the small slim body that would certainly grow longer later, short stubby legs led to tiny feet with delicate claws, small rounded ears, and a short tail that ended with a bit of tufted fur. Tiny whiskers twitched as an adorable pink nose sniffed in Tony's direction. The fur was jet black with strange blue streaks in the tail tuft and around its eyes in a mask, along with a touch of blue right at its chest.
"Did…did you guys get me a ferret?" Tony exclaimed, not sure whether to coo at the ball of fluff or be horrified at the idea.
"Who the hell are yea callin' a ferret!" an adorable voice squeaked. Tony gaped at the tiny creature who has just uttered that sentence and was currently trying to climb the walls of the gift box, "Come 'ere! I'll take yea down!"
Fred chuckled, "She is actually a jarvey Tony. Try not to call her a ferret. She takes offence. Almost took Steve's thumb off."
"Blondie will learn!" the little jarvey exclaimed.
George rolled his eyes, "She's just a baby. We saved her from the gang of poachers we took out over in Finland." Tony startled when the little jarvey gave a high pitched squeak and dove under a bit of the blanket in the gift box. George winced, "Yeah, she didn't have such a good time with them."
"They started experimenting on her just after her mother gave birth." Fred said, "Trying to make a more attractive and exotic animal to sell to people."
"Is that why she has blue in her fur?" Tony asked as he leaned down toward the box.
"Yeah and why her eyes are so blue. That's definitely not a normal color on a jarvey and it certainly wasn't done with a non-invasive potion." George said.
"Luna did say she was in perfect health, the only big thing that they really managed to change was her smarts." Fred explained, "Apparently when she was born they fed her sphinx blood mixed into her mother's milk. Since it was fed to her at such an integral phase it had made her much smarter than a normal jarvey."
"Yeah, usually jarveys only speak in short rude sentences but she's got quite a mouth on her and she can carry a conversation." George laughed.
Tony nodded absently at all this as he carefully tugged the blanket from the little jarvey and saw that she was curled in her ball again, practically vibrating with fear. "Hey little girl." He said softly, "They already took care of the poachers, you can come out." The jarvey poked her head up to look at Tony again, "And I promise not to call you a ferret." She seemed to consider this before unrolling again and waddling out from under the blanket.
"Who are you?" the jarvey demanded.
Tony laughed, "I'm Tony. Who are you?"
The jarvey sat up on her back paws and gave a frustrated squeak, "Normal jarveys have no need of names and the two legs who rescued me wouldn' give me one. Said me new companion would give me one."
Tony looked over to Fred and George who grinned and gestured for him to continue, Tony looked down at the little girl sitting haughtily in front of him, "I'm guessing that's me." He said in amusement, holding his hand palm up right in front of the jarvey, she climbed into his hand and settled herself into his palm, not a bit of her going over as her tail twacked against his wrist, "You okay with that?"
The jarvey titled her head, "You'll be givin' me warm and food? And no callin' me ferret?"
Tony chuckled, starting to feel at ease with this tiny creature whose attitude was bigger than her body. "Yes."
"Then it's good Boss!" the jarvey said, her tail curling around his wrist as much as it could at this point.
Tony grinned, "Alright, a name." he scratched the back of his head and looked over to Fred and George sheepishly, "I'm actually not good with naming people. I mean, look at Dummy, Butterfingers, and U."
"You named Jarvis." George said encouragingly.
Tony snorted, "I named him after the man who basically took the role of father-figure from Howard." He looked back to the jarvey who was waiting patiently as she took in their surroundings curiously, "Hmm…how about Friday?" the little girl looked back at him, "That alright? Friday?"
"I could get used to it Boss." She squeaked.
Tony grinned, "Then welcome to the madhouse Friday."
Harriet sighed as she made her way to the guest wing. She had been putting this talk off long enough. She had completely ignored it after her first meeting with the Longbottoms in favor of preparing for the Slytherin Reunion. Now, two days after that, she had run out of excuses. She had to face them, to talk to them and assess, assess them fairly.
She would rather nap with a dementor.
It's not that she was afraid of them or that they had done anything yet. They were innocent right now and not a little bit beaten down by the hand they were dealt. In any other scenario with any other people Harriet would be more than willing to help them reach where they needed to be physically, mentally, whatever really. Harriet's saving people had never stopped at saving their physical forms and if anything had stayed the same through years and years of fighting and more monumental changes it was Harriet's need to save people.
No her real problem with this situation was that the person was Wanda Maximoff (and her brother, but Harriet had no basis for him yet).
Even though the last time Harriet had met Wanda, Harri hadn't bonded with Tony yet as siblings and Glacia hadn't existed at the time, Glacia was ratcheting up Harri's wariness of the girl. The claim a phoenix had on a flock member didn't see time, they only saw offenses. It didn't matter to Harri's phoenix instincts that the offense had happened in another timeline and before the flock had fully formed, the instincts only saw the threat. Those instincts wouldn't go away unless Harri could say without a doubt that Wanda wouldn't make a move to harm Tony and Harri didn't know if she could ever be absolutely certain of that.
Finding the door that led to the Maximoffs rooms Harriet stopped and breathed deep, "They haven't done anything yet Harri. Calm down. Make them see reason. Tony is safe. He isn't near them." She tugged at her hair a bit in agitation as she released a long sigh and straightened herself. "Here we go." She knocked on the door lightly, praying they were asleep as her last line of defense.
Unfortunately for her there was a soft whooshing sound behind the door followed by a soft wump and a light curse, she lifted an eyebrow as the door was open by Pietro, rubbing at his nose with a slight blush on his face, "Hello?"
Harriet opened her mouth to speak as she got a good look at Pietro for the first time.
When she had seen him before he had been a mass of cuts and bruises and broken bones, barely visible under it all. Now though, she took in his strange wispy silver hair that stood on end and his light compact form that likely helped with his speed. He was about her height as well but Harri could see the potential for more height. It was his eyes, however, that made her pause and Glacia sit forward.
They were blue-gray and seemed lit with curiosity but Harriet…Glacia could sense weariness underneath it. Weariness that, when found, seemed to permeate his whole body. Wariness was there in equal measure and translated to tense muscles, ready to make a run for his sister. Fear lingered beyond that, tucked in close with resignation and defeat; his fight or flight on a hair trigger so touchy that Harriet knew it rivaled what her own had been at the Dursleys. Behind all that, huddling in a corner, was longing, overwhelming and crying out.
Harriet's protective instincts roared.
'Well fuck.' Harriet thought, 'This is gonna get complicated.'
"Pietro!" Wanda's voice interrupted, making Harri snap back to herself and close her mouth, "Don't go running off without me!" she poked her head out to see past him, "Oh! Hello Lady LeFay!"
"Dear Merlin you two are pale." Was the first thing Harriet got out, her mind still cycling through her response to Pietro, Glacia fussing with quickly forming plans, "And what are you wearing? Didn't you get the clothes I had put in here? You don't have to wear the hospital pajamas." She huffed, waving them back into their rooms.
Wanda and Pietro stumbled backward in stunned silence as she moved through the space and headed for where she knew the first bedroom was. Luckily it was the one the elves made up for Pietro. "Those were really for us?" Wanda asked uncertainly.
"Of course." Harri scoffed, "No one should be without clothes and I'm certainly not going to wear…" she pulled out the first piece of clothing she touched and wrinkled her nose, "silver leggings. Yeah. The elves might have missed on that one." Wanda giggled softly behind her brother. Harriet looked to them and sighed, "Get dressed." She frowned, "Sweet Morgana, just looking at you I feel like I need a sandwich." She threw the garish silver leggings on the bed, "We're going out to eat. Get you some sunlight. Get you some food. I won't have half dead teenage mutants wondering around this Castle." She waved her hands at Wanda, "Go on. Get dressed." She looked back to the still stunned Pietro, "I wouldn't suggest the leggings but to each their own." With that Harri shut the door and walked out to the living room that was in the small guest quarters, dropping onto the couch with a sigh.
As she sat there waiting and contemplating what would become of Glacia going full phoenix on the second Maximoff, Harriet felt something on her left wrist warm up. She brought her arm up to her face and smiled when she saw that Natasha and Phil had finally put on their bracelets, finally trusted her enough to take them on their person. Her bracelets fed her information, their current well-being and mood. Harri smiled and sent a little of her power into the bracelets in a cool greeting before picking up her phone and pulling up their names.
Doing so much paperwork is bad for your wrist. Ice it or I'll bring over a pain potion. She sent to Phil before switching quickly to Natasha.
Don't forget to eat, big sister.
Should mild wrist irritation qualify for pain potion? Phil sent back seconds later.
Only if you're planning on making it into full fledge carpel tunnel later. :P Harriet sent back with amusement.
Leave Clint's humor to Clint. Phil shot back but a few seconds later Harriet felt the bracelet die down in response to whatever Phil did to remedy it.
I was going to eat. Natasha finally texted back.
Feels like more than just the start of a hunger pang. Eat or I'll send Dobby with a four course meal.
Is that supposed to make me want Shield cafeteria food?
Harriet chuckled, Touché.
She quickly snapped her fingers and Dobby appeared at her feet, "What can Dobby be doing for youse?"
Harriet made an illusion of the current Natasha, "This is my sister Dobby. She's either in the New York Shield base or the Helicarrier which was somewhere near Florida last time I checked. She needs food, a big meal if you can. Do not be seen by anyone but her alright?"
"Dobby be takin' care of Miss Harri Potter's sister." Dobby said before he popped away. Harri waved away her illusion.
Harriet looked up when she heard Pietro's door open and he came out looking a little unsure in jeans, a dark grey shirt, a pair of sneakers, and a deep blue hoodie. She stood with a smile, "Do they fit alright?" she asked gently.
He looked at her with wide eyes, "Um…I'm think it's just because their new." Harri hummed with a nod and pulled her wand to quickly apply some softening and light airing charms, stressing the clothes slightly so they would be more comfortable for him. "I feel like I'm going to mess them up." He muttered, "Never had new clothes before." He looked away in embarrassment and Glacia cooed softly in response.
"It's alright Pietro." Harri reassured softly, "They're yours to mess up or keep in good shape as you see fit." She took a step back and holstered her wand, "Now, I assume with the mutation you have that you need a large calorie intake."
Pietro blinked at the sudden change but nodded, "Yes. I need much more because I use more energy running at the speeds I do."
Harri nodded and smiled kindly, "Alright, where do you want to eat then?" That loosened him right up and Harri listened intently as Pietro sped through his favorite foods and what he wanted to try, all of his shock melting away for an easy topic and an attentive audience. Wanda came from her room a few minutes later in black skinny jeans and a red shirt matched with short black boots. Harriet turned to look at her when Pietro stopped his food talk, "Ready Wanda?"
"Yes." Wanda said uncertainly, stepping toward Harriet.
Harri smiled, "Good. I think Pietro decided on…" she turned back and hummed before snapping her fingers, "Mexican, right?"
His eyes widened, "You caught all of that?"
Harri chuckled, "Yes, and I know the perfect place!" she held out her hands to the Maximoff twins and they both took her hands.
Harriet flamed them to New York, into an alley so they weren't seen, and quickly led them down the streets to one of the Mexican restaurants that Wade frequented. It was small but boisterous and easy for Harriet to put up a privacy ward without people becoming suspicious. It was also used to large quantities of food being ordered so they had no problem filling the enormous order that Harriet laid out for the server.
"You can't possibly buy me that much food." Pietro said with wide eyes as their server left with the order.
Harri raised an eyebrow even as she put up a privacy ward around them, "I can and I will." She sat back on her side of the booth, "Besides, if you turn it down now you'll just be wasting my money rather than just using it."
Both Maximoffs ducked their heads, "Thank you." They murmured.
Harri nodded, "You're welcome." She crossed one legs over the other as she tilted her head, "Now, to what I originally came to your rooms for." The twins tensed but Harriet plowed forward, "Wanda, you came to me for help rescuing Pietro. What are your plans now that he's away from Hydra?"
"I…" she cleared her throat and scooted closer to her brother, "I hadn't thought that far." She admitted softly, "I didn't even think I would succeed." Pietro slid an arm over her shoulders.
Harri pressed her lips together in a thin line, "You know that Hydra won't just let you go right? You'll have to be careful, especially when you are outside of an allies territory." Harri's phone chimed and she trailed off to look down at it, smiling slightly when she found a picture of Fred, George, Dummy, and Tony with his new jarvey perched on Dummy's claw. 'Friday huh? He never was good at names.' Harri thought in amusement.
"And I guess you're going to tell us that we will find protection with you if we follow you." Wanda hissed harshly.
Harri blinked as she looked up from her phone, "Um, no?" Harri said, "I've got my own enemies I can't keep completely off my back. I can't promise to keep Hydra off of yours." She set her phone down and eyed the two of them, "All I was going to offer you was access to your rooms in the castle as a safe place if you are ever in danger. I won't force you to interact with anyone and you can't do any real damage in my home so it wouldn't really be a problem to have you there." Wanda jerked slightly in shock at the dismissal, Harriet focused on Pietro who looked skeptical, "The only thing I would ask is that you follow the same rules any other guests."
"And those would be?" Pietro asked uncertainly, swiping at his silver bangs and making Glacia coo again at the teenager.
"No intentionally destroying the property, no abusing the house elves physically or mentally, keep hate and intolerance to yourselves, and, most importantly, no hurting any member of my flock." Harriet said, her voice dropping at the last rule as her eyes flashed green and the air temperature dropped in their booth.
"And who would that include?" Wanda asked shakily.
Harriet tilted her head back slightly to look down her nose at Wanda, "My flock is large and each are powerful in their own rights. I cannot see you attacking them without them retaliating and yes, they'll be able to get around your strong telepathy powers." She said sternly, ignoring Wanda's tensing. "The only one I'm worried about in regards to that rule is my brother, Tony Stark."
"Stark!" Wanda practically snarled as Pietro's face practically turned to stone, his jaw clenching. "He is with you!"
Harriet narrowed her eyes at the girl, "Yes, he is. Is that a problem?"
"You don't know what he's done! He's a monster!" Wanda snapped, Pietro edged closer to his sister protectively, seeming to sense Harriet and Glacia's icy burning rage that was being suppressed.
"He is no such thing." Harriet hissed, almost slipping into parseltongue.
The parseltongue seemed enough to bring Wanda down a little bit, "You don't understand." She insisted, "He's blinded you. He is a monster."
"Because he killed your parents right?" Harriet growled, the twins before her froze, "Yes, I know the story. A faulty missile landed in your house, crushing your parents but leaving you to stare at the Stark name until you were rescued."
"We were waiting for Tony Stark to kill us." Wanda muttered fiercely.
Pietro looked to Harriet with big eyes, "We have a reason for our views of Tony Stark." He said stiffly.
"No," Harriet said, softening as she turned to Pietro, "What you have is misplaced aggression."
"It was his bomb!" Wanda shouted and Harriet was grateful for the privacy ward.
"It was his design!" Harriet snapped, "That's it! It was his design because it was his company, a company which, wait for it, was a weapons company! It was literally his job to design and make weapons."
"His fault!" Wanda said in agreement.
Harriet fought the urge to bare her teeth, "If Pietro was run over by a car who would you blame?"
Wanda blinked in confusion, "Excuse me?"
Harri glared at the girl, "If Pietro ran out of here right this moment and got ran down by a Hummer who would you blame?" Harri snapped, making Wanda flinch, "Because if we use your logic right now you would blame the person who designed that Hummer! Not the person who put the car together or the dealer who sold it to the driver or the driver themselves, you would blame the designer! Because obviously it wasn't the driver who was at fault!" Harriet said, sarcasm dripping from her last sentence. Wanda sat frozen in her seat as Harriet saw the gears in Pietro's head turning.
"Even if Stark Industries had sold that bomb legally to the party who fired it, why would you not put the blame on the people who fired it off?" Harriet asked. "You were children at the time but you've grown up. Hell, you joined Hydra willingly." Both brother and sister flinched at the reminder, "That is plenty of time to work through things and place blame on the appropriate party." Harriet flexed her hands as she took a calming breath, "I respect your grief but you are placing the blame on the wrong person. Placing all of your hate into one person who didn't even know you existed let alone knew you well enough to maliciously kill your parents."
"It still stands." Wanda whispered, "If Tony Stark didn't make weapons then the bomb wouldn't exist and our parents would be alive."
"No they wouldn't." Harriet snorted, making stricken expressions appear on the twins' faces, "I hate to be blunt but you two need it. It is highly unlikely that even if Tony hadn't made that weapon your parents would still be dead. Wars don't stop because one weapons company goes out of business or decides to stop making weapons. The weapons come from somewhere else, legal or not, and the war goes on. You are only fooling yourselves if you believe the opposite."
"What did you mean 'if the bomb was sold legally'?" Pietro asked in a small voice.
Harriet frowned, "You two have recognized Tony as your enemy for how many years and you aren't keeping tabs on what is happening around him?" Wanda blushed and Pietro looked down at the table. Harri huffed, "Obadiah Stane was once the partner of Howard Stark, he took care of the company once Howard died before handing it off to Tony. Stane was greedy though, he dealt weapons under the table without Tony's knowledge while he worked to get Tony ousted from the company."
"He didn't know?" Pietro asked softly and Glacia clacked her beak in satisfaction, happy their newest edition could be reasoned with.
"No." Harriet said, "He found out about the double dealing while he was captured by the Ten Rings, which is why he shut down weapons manufacturing right after returning to the states. After that he found out it was Stane and Tony killed him."
"So it was Stane." Wanda muttered.
Harriet groaned, "From one extreme to the other, seriously." She looked at Wanda again, "Would you just bloody think for a moment about who did the firing of the missile? Which military it was? Research! You tracked me without too much trouble so you must know where to look for things like that. Find them first, they are the ones who bought the bomb with the express intention of using it, they were the ones who decided to bomb an area with civilians." She let out a breath, "In the meantime, you two are welcome at the castle as long as you adhere to the rules." She pulled two bobby pins from her hair and quickly transfigured them into a necklace with a small phoenix charm, she cast a couple protection and detection charms on it before ending with the more permanent portkey charm, "This will bring you to your rooms. Just hold the phoenix and say 'not a real witch', it will activate." Wanda blushed at the phrase as Harriet leaned over the table and put it around Pietro's neck. "Remember," she said as she stood, pulling several large American bills from her coin purse and putting them on the table to cover their food, "if you hurt my brother all bets are off. I don't give second chances when my family is involved." With that she left the Maximoffs to their deliberations.
The next evening Harriet was curled between Fred and George on the common room couch, most of the family was here. Tony was at his own Mansion, jarvey proofing his house which he apparently took very seriously, one video call had shown climbing tunnels all around the workshop already, many with jumps that the tiny Friday couldn't possibly make yet. Lee was still out on vacation with his parents and wasn't due back for another week. Steve was off with Bucky and Luna at the moment taking care of the baby moon calves that had been born this morning. This left the room with Harriet, the Marauders, the Prewetts, Loki and his children, and Severus, who had come to discuss a few things with Harriet. Now thought they were all just relaxing together with some inane TV show playing in the back ground.
Harriet was quite comfortable where she was, dosing against Fred as George held her legs in his lap. Fred reached up to comb his fingers through her hair and she hummed happily.
The quiet atmosphere was interrupted by the insistent ticking of a beak against glass.
Harriet waved her hand at one of the panes nonchalantly and a small screech owl darted into the room, a letter clutched in its beak as it winged its way over to Harri. "Hello there." Harri said with a smile as the owl landed on her arm, she took the letter with a smile, "You can go up to the owlery for a bit of food and water before you leave." The screech screeched and took off gracefully to dart back outside the window and upward.
"Who is it pup?" Sirius asked.
"Neville." Harri said with a smile as she sat up between Fred and George, "It must be time! I can't wait to see Alice in action!"
Remus chuckled, "Yeah, she can really get going. Both her and your mother were absolute forces of nature when the people they loved were threatened."
Harriet tore into the envelope and pulled out Neville's letter, a smile growing on her face as she read, "The healers are coming tomorrow to make sure there was no back slide. If everything goes well they will be allowed their wands back right after the appointment!" Harri laid down the letter and sat back, "I can floo in right in the middle and play it off as the visit I promised! Bam, front row seating to the main event!"
"Which you surely won't egg on." Fred chuckled in amusement.
Harri gave him an innocent expression, "Would I do that?"
"Is a Malfoy's hair blond?" George snickered, wrapping an arm around her waist from behind.
"Such faith." Harri teased.
"We have faith you're going to make Alice break Augusta." The twins chorused with a laugh.
"Damn right." Harriet giggled.
"Are you going to tell them everything Princess?" James asked, doing his best to ignore the sickly sweet interaction his daughter was in the middle of, all his commenting seemed to do was escalate it.
Severus snorted, "Why would she do that Potter?"
"They're friends!" James huffed, "We can trust them!"
"You may have been able to trust them thirteen years ago but things have changed, they just woke up from years of vegetative states. They don't know up from down at the moment and you want to pile time travel on them?" Severus drawled.
"Stop it you two!" Harriet snapped, not moving from her space between Fred and George. "Or I will stop you." The two wizards deflated slightly and Harriet nodded, "I haven't decided yet. It will depend on how exactly things go tomorrow."
Loki nodded, "That is probably best but you will have to tell them something. If what James has said is true, they are excellent aurors. They will notice something is up the more time you spend with them and you can't exactly avoid them, you have no plausible reason and that will only draw more suspicion."
Harri sighed and leaned back into George who rubbed his thumb at her side, "I know."
"Harriet, you really can trust them." James said solemnly, "Just tell them the truth."
"Leave it be." Severus scoffed, "She said she didn't know yet. You're pushing it."
"Keep out of this Snape." James snapped, "They weren't your friends! You don't know them!"
"I know enough!" Severus snapped.
Fred and George focused in on Harriet who had started to let her aura creep out as the fight devolved further, the two beginning to resemble their teenage selves rather than the adults they were supposed to be. Granted they had been doing well, keeping their bickering to a minimum, at least in Harriet's presence. But this one didn't look like it was stopping and Fred and George had a feeling it was because Snape had formed a sort of friendship with their mate and wouldn't back down from something he thought would hurt her one way or another.
Harriet's fingers snapped softly and Fred and George watched curiously as Dianna appeared with a small black jewelry box. "What are you"
"going to do with them?"
Harriet took the box from Dianna so the elf could pop away, before opening the lid so Fred and George could see what was inside, "I'm going to practice for tomorrow." She said sweetly. Fred and George's eyebrows rose but they grinned as they caught on. Harriet took the small black stone from the case as the fighting continued in the background, Loki looked over to her curiously, a thin black eyebrow going up as he recognized the artifact.
Harriet focused intently as she spun the stone in her hands three times.
The temperature dropped just a few degrees, not that James and Severus seemed to notice, and a slim figure tinted blue appeared before her with a warm smile and kind eyes, "My beautiful little girl. I was wondering if you would call me."
Harri felt something rise in her throat, "Hi mum." She got out with a smile. This wasn't the first time she had called her mother's ghost but it was certainly the first time in this timeline.
"It has been a while since you called me." The floating woman said with a smile.
"You remember?" Harri asked.
Harri's mother reached out a glowing hand and ran it along Harriet's cheek, leaving a cool trail, "I've always held your soul close sweetheart. I received the memories when you merged with your younger self." Harri beamed up at her mum, who turned slightly to take in the two shouting men, "I assume this is what you called me for?" this was a bit louder and Remus looked over, his jaw dropping open at the sight as he frantically elbowed Sirius.
"You are the expert." Harri laughed.
The woman smiled, "I guess you could say that." She straightened up and floated a bit higher, "Let mama show you how it's done my little Rose." At this point Sirius was choking, coughing to try and dislodge the saliva that went down the wrong pipe.
"JAMES CHARLUS POTTER! SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU TWO ABOUT FIGHTING!"
The two men spun and stared slack jawed at the glowing woman who was floating in front of Harriet with red hair blown out like a fiery crown.
"Lily?!" they both exclaimed in disbelief.
Wanted to put Friday in somewhere but you couldn't pry Jarvis from me! I love Jarvis! You can't have him!
You can thank tiamac7 on Ao3 for our wonderful Jarvey edition! This was her suggestion all the way back in chapter 13 for Tony's pet!
In case it was hard to tell...THIS AUTHOR DOESN'T ACTUALLY LIKE WANDA! I think she's a brat and I think she is better served as a tier two villain for everyone to defeat. However, in the spirit of time travel and because you wonderful fans have asked for it I will do my best to make room, especially since I love seeing Quicksilver and *sigh* he'll want his sister.
Next time: Lily is here! Augusta is broken! Neville and the Hulk!
Also, someone on here messaged me about the AN still be up in place of ch 46 but I couldn't see it. It's been deleted on the chapters page and when I look in the story its not there. I'm not sure what's going on but if you know please tell me!