DISCLAIMER
Last I checked, I'm not a humongous-ly rich blonde Brit. I'm a broke-ass brunette, student-waitress paying for a room in Canada with an unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. Thus, I do not own the franchise or the characters, sadly.
I also don't own Marvel. I wish I do though.
You're going to see me on breaks, btw -.-zzz
A man in a hotel penthouse by a bustling street in London reviewed documents flashing in the air through blue holograms projected by his AI. Upon waking up earlier, Tony decided to do the tasks he had postponed the night before. Last night, midway through reading his new investment's holdings and statements, he decided to cap the night as he could barely keep his eyes open after the drinks he had at the Manse by the Thames.
Now at 6:45 AM, sitting on an executive chair while sipping his morning coffee, Tony mulled over his new assistant's background information. Jarvis notified him at breakfast of several anomalies regarding Lupin; no history until 2000, no formal primary, secondary and tertiary educational records except for a few certifications he got since he appeared, a propensity of working multiple jobs only to be kicked out of them after a while due to frequent absences, multiple bank accounts amounting to almost half a million under his name and a minor named Harry Potter, police records regarding brawling and public disturbance, and an investigation involvement with a case regarding a 2001 bombing that killed 14 people.
"Ooh boy." Tony whistled. He didn't think the man's record and initial impression add up. Yesternight the man carried himself with an educated air and manners that Pepper would make Tony imitate. "Is he a spy?" he thought to himself.
"Jarvis, where's Nicky?" He asked.
"Mr. Fury is at the SHEILD Head Quarters in New York, sir," Jarvis replied.
"What's he doing?"
"He appears to have settled in his private quarters about 2 hours and 38 minutes ago."
A grin stretched up Tony's face, a sinister plan in the front of his mind. "Jarvis, call him" Tony ordered, and Jarvis obeyed.
"WHAT?!" the angry voice of the SHEILD director boomed from the speakers.
"Good morning, sunshine!" Tony greeted.
"Why in the goddamn hell are you calling me at 3 AM, Tony!" Fury demanded.
Tony smirked and replied, "Oh I just really missed you." His smirk grew bigger as Fury let out a long stream of colorful words and threats upon his life. "Don't worry darling, I'm all safe. Goodbye now. I love you." He ended the call with a long-drawn kiss while Fury kept going with his tirade.
"Jarvis, block SHEILD," Tony said, with an insufferable smirk on his face.
"As you wish." The AI complied with a resigned sigh.
Tony looked back at the blue hologram in front of him. He initially wanted to ask Nick Fury but changed his mind as he could always get more information easily through other means. "Jarvis, can you check SHEILD for more information on Lupin?"
"Going through SHEILD database."
-.- zzz
The hotel is one of the most luxurious hotels in London. Nearing the location, Remus' stomach dropped, his anxiety rising. Having second thoughts, he drove past the hotel and stopped at Lowndes Square Garden.
"Okay, Remus." He said to himself. "You can do this."
He removed his helmet and placed it in front of him. Looking up at the sky, he let the ray of sunlight and the warm breeze brush his face. Breathing in, he closed his eyes and let the sound of his surroundings flood him. At the park, children were laughing merrily as they run around, a dog was yipping playfully presumably running with the children, people were speaking in collective hushed voices, and distant cars were driving and honking by.
Breathing deeply one last time, Remus opened his eyes. "You can do this," he said. Gathering his Gryffindor courage, he wore his helmet, backed his motorbike, and drove back to the hotel.
-.- zzz
After parking his motorbike, he strode up to the lobby. Remus is no stranger to hotels, having enough experience going to some over the years, for work and 'pleasure', but never had he seen extravagance such as what he saw in front of him. Well, from the muggle world. "Nothing compares to Potter Manor," he thought.
His initial amazement settled, he went up to the receptionist where a petite buxom lady sat typing. "Hello, Miss…" Remus started as he looked at her nameplate, "Cora. How are you today?"
She peered at him with oval brown eyes and smiled. "I'm well, thank you. How may I help you?"
Remus noticed her subtle assessment of him, her gaze lingering longer on his scars. She masterfully hid her initial shock, and upon her longer inspection, Remus can see non-existent hearts blurring her gaze. He was never one to hoard others' attention, but with his nerves bugging him, he decided he needed the confidence boost. No matter where the source is. After all, Cora is one pretty lady, not as pretty as his female companions, but still pretty. Sirius would be proud. "Nope. No. JAMES will be proud." He corrected his thoughts, avoiding further thoughts of the traitor.
Smiling roguishly, he said, "Well, I am here for an appointment with Ms. Virginia Potts. Did she leave a note?"
Remus noticed her jaw muscle twitch as she replied, "Yes, Mr. Hogan indeed left a note. May I ask for your name, please?"
"Andrew Wolf." He gave him his alter name, as decided upon by Tony last night.
Her smile grew. "What a lovely name. Please wait a moment while I call their suite."
"Thank you." He replied as he leaned forward on the raised table, making her blush.
She had a short conversation with someone on the phone. She looked back at him with a silly smile saying, "Mr. Hogan will be with you shortly, Mr. Wolf."
"Please, just Andrew. Mr. Wolf makes me sound bad." He drawled, eliciting a giggle from Cora.
"Well, it suits you." She replied with a sultry gaze, slowly twirling her pen.
He licked his lower lip, making her blush deepen. "So, is Cora short for something?" he asked, making the play roll on.
"Corazon." She beamed.
"Ooooh, my heart." He sang in tune with The Righteous Brother's song, placing his left hand on his chest, and making her giggle more. "I assume you're Spanish?"
Before she could reply, he heard someone call for him. Turning back, he saw Harold Hogan with a cheeky smile on his face. "Hello there, Mr. Wolf!" the man greeted.
"Good morning, Mr. Hogan," Remus replied with a little nod.
"Happy's fine." He dismissed extending his hand to Remus. "Mr. Hogan seems so formal. We're going to work together, after all."
Remus grinned and shook his hand. "In that case, call me Andrew."
"Well then, 'Andrew'. Let's meet the boss." He said, clapping his hands together.
"See you later, my heart." Remus bade the receptionist goodbye with a wink, leaving her in a melting pile, and making Happy chuckle.
-.- zzz
As Remus walked into the living room of the suite, he managed not to let his jaw drop. If the lobby was extravagant, the suite was opulent. A white soft-leather chaise lounge was directly in front of him, back-to-back with what he assumed was the matching pair of the maroon velvet chesterfield sofa across the room. In the middle was a colonial-style glass-top coffee table, on its right was a TV stand flanked by two white furry ottomans, and on the stand was the slimmest and largest television Remus has ever seen. On the other side was a long white soft-leather mid-century-style sofa.
Looking around, behind the sofa across him were French doors leading to a balcony. To his left, was what he assumed was a dining area with a wooden dining table encircled by eight maroon velvet wingback chairs. On his right was a living room office with a wooden captain's desk, a black leather executive chair on one of its long sides, and two white wingback chairs facing each other on the other side.
"So, my heart? Ain't that a little sappy?" a voice said behind him. Looking back, he saw Tony sitting on a barstool by a minibar, a drink in hand, smirking. Happy had already gone to who knows where.
Remus smiled sheepishly and cleared his throat, saying, "Hello, Mr. Stark. At this, Tony grimaced. "Tony," Remus corrected.
"Hello, Mr. Big Bad Wolf." He replied with a grin, "Heard you earlier. Ms. Heart was so enthralled by you to even bother hanging up the phone."
Remus blushed, wringing his hand in front of him. Tony chuckled and leaped out of the stool, motioning Remus to follow him into the office. Tony sat on the chair behind the desk. "Sit, wolfie." Tony ordered, pointing to a chair in front of the table. Remus did as he was asked and tried not to squirm under Tony's scrutiny.
"So." Tony began, making Remus inwardly jump. "I dug a bit about you." He placed an open folder in front of Remus. He peered over the documents. He picked them up and started reading. A few words in, he froze. He stayed that way for a while, lost on how he'd respond. He quickly skimmed over the rest of the folder. Lost for words, he slowly looked at Tony who regarded him seriously.
"Mr. Wolf." Tony drawled, slowly getting to a wide grin, "How apt."
Remus hastily placed the folder back, closing it. He irrationally hoped that the action would erase the knowledge from Tony, which didn't. The action made the man standing in front of him grin wider. He was beyond mortified. Inside was a complete record of him; from his birth to present, his previous jobs, his Hogwarts years, his involvement in combatting You-Know-Who, and most surprisingly, his lycanthropy. Taking the folder once again to read through everything, his mind started racing over how an explanation could be made.
"A werewolf, huh?" Tony mused, making Remus jump on his seat.
Adjusting his tie, Remus let out a strained chuckle. "I'm surprised that my lycanthropy garnered more attention than my magic." He didn't bother obliviating Tony, knowing that every moment of this conversation is being recorded by his AI and that the man probably has more copies of the file. Probably the sources even.
"Oh please." Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Stark senior has a whole database on magic. Found it when I was 15. I'm guessing this is why you have been terminated many times for absenteeism."
Remus nodded with a gulp, feeling hotter and hotter by the minute. "I'm guessing that this is my termination as well?" He asked.
To his surprise, Tony let out a barking laugh, which reminded him of Sirius. He mentally smacked himself for thinking about the traitor now, out of all things. "On the contrary," Tony started once he got his laughter under control, "I've always wanted to meet a werewolf." This blatant admission made Remus gape at the man as if he were crazy. All his life, people avoided him due to his unfortunate situation, yet this big league was unfazed. Thrilled, more like.
"You're not afraid of me?" Remus tentatively asked once his shock wore off.
Tony frowned and looked at him as if he was stupid. "Is it the full moon now?" He asked, opening his arms in emphasis. "You only transform on the full moon. Why would I be afraid of you?"
A warm feeling surged through his heart. Only James and Lily had accepted him with this kind of openness, although Tony is more blasé. Peter had been afraid and hesitant at first but had come around for him. And he had to grudgingly concede that the traitor Sirius had been the most accommodating among his past friends, only he had to make jokes about his situation. "I suppose not," Remus mumbled. His stay with the Carmichaels had eventually quelled his anger over his state. Graciela had been adamant that the wolf isn't him and would regularly smack his head whenever he wallowed in self-pity. Delilah and Olga rallied with Graciela's endeavor until he gained confidence.
"With the elephant, or wolf in this case," Tony prompted, making Remus inwardly wince, "taken care of, let's talk business." Remus sat straight and clasped his less shaky hands together. "You'll be working as my personal assistant. Everywhere I go, you go. Say goodbye to good old Albion. That's Britain's old name, by the way. Just read this. Pepper made this a while back for the triple imposter. Made a few tweaks, in your case." With that, Tony slid another folder to Remus.
So, Pepper Potts also knew of his furry problem. Which means Happy might, too. With a resigned sigh, Remus looked at the folder cautiously. "It's not gonna bite," Tony said, waggling his eyebrows then downed his drink. Taking a deep breath, he took the folder and read its contents. His eyes bulged as he read further. Closing it without finishing, he placed it back. "Mr. Stark, t-truly this is t-too much. I-I can't accept this," He stammered. His reaction was due to the compensation part of the contract that includes a residence, paid leave, various insurance, benefits, and an almost sixty thousand pound base salary.
"That's because dealing with Tony is going to be too much," a feminine voice called out. Looking to his right, he saw Pepper exit a room. She's holding a folder and is in business attire. "Trust me. Being his assistant all these years would've given me lots of wrinkles without the 'prettying up' sessions I have often. My salary and benefits truly helped me with that."
"Hey! I'm not 'too much'!" Tony protested.
"You are." Happy interjected from behind Remus, earning a glare from the man-child. Another thought of Sirius came up to him, but he had mentally batted it away. The similarity between the two men unnerved.
"So, crazy enough to join us?" Happy asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"It's only for the rest of my life." Tony joked.
Remus thought about the proposition. Feeling a bit rushed, he decided to think on it more before giving an answer, "This is truly generous. I don't feel I deserve this much. Can I think about it?"
Tony scoffed, "One of the top students of your class, exemplary work ethic, fluency in French, Spanish and Latin, a sterling recommendation from your previous employers despite your absences? Not to mention your bad-assary with that Moldy Snort, I'm surprised Nicky hasn't gotten his claws on you yet."
"You'd give Natasha a run for her money." Happy added, beaming.
Tony looked at him askance, "Since when did leather Jane Smith become 'Natasha'?" Happy only shrugged, his smile unfaltering.
"I understand that this is probably too much right now, Remus" Pepper began. "But perhaps we could invite you to our business meeting today. We dug up on the man we are meeting and found out that he is the guardian of a young Harry Potter."
Remus looked sharply at Pepper, surprised and wary. "How on earth did they know about Harry? How did they know about my relationship with him?" He thought to himself. He then remembered the file in front of him about his entire life. If they can find out about it, surely going through his banking is easy enough.
"We understand that despite your keen interest in applying for the boy's guardianship," Pepper continued, "you had been denied any forms of contact due to your background, which I find truly unfair as you have a considerable repertoire and you were a friend to his parents. Might we tempt you to join us for now? Not for the position, but to see Harry."
Remus thought that if Pepper were a witch, she would have been a Slytherin. She was baiting him. Even with her beautiful smile, the gleam of her eyes couldn't hide her sly maneuvering. He feels indignant that she would use Harry as leverage, but he wouldn't want to miss this one chance to finally see his honorary godson. With a sigh, he replied, "I suppose, I could not pass this up."
Pepper beamed and clapped her hands together, her left hand still holding the folder. "Great! Let's head out to lunch. Then go through items for the meeting, other company options, and finally, meet the Dursleys." With that, she took Remus' arm with hers and dragged him to his feet towards the door. Remus yelped and blushed at the contact, and looked at the other men frantically.
"Woman! You got the wrong man!" Tony yelled and ran after them.
Happy just shook his head and muttered, "Yep. Good thing I am being paid more than enough for this."
-.- zzz
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I now have a visual of how this story would be going. Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Please R&R and check out my new story, Trouble Walking In. The most awaited reunion would be up next!
Grammarly and MS Word are my beta. I will not be having regular updates as I also have a life and writing fanfiction is not a paid job. Do check out some of my library readings for other AWESOME stories. I am currently hooked on The Last Peverell by animerocker646. I will update my bio accordingly for any reasons that would impede or progress my writing magic.
Til we meet again in the next chapter.
xoxo,
TragicErato
