With the time difference between America and Afghanistan, and the time it took them to fly there and back, it was late morning by the time they got back to the Malibu mansion. Harry watched, laughing, as the robots that had attached Tony's armour around him in seconds tried to remove it, the man hopping around and yelping.
"I designed this to come off!"
"Pepper's coming down." Harry grinned, hearing the distinctive clack of her high heels on the marble floor above.
The robots paused for a moment before Tony shrugged, and a few seconds later Pepper appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Tony?" She said, bewildered. "What the hell is going on?"
"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."
Harry just about swallowed his snigger as Pepper came further into the room, mouth open. "Are those bullet holes?"
Tony glanced down at the suit. "Er, yeah."
"What – how – why-" Pepper shook her head, and caught sight of Harry. "Don't tell me you were with him." She rounded on Tony once more, who was still trying to balance on one foot as the red and gold suit was unscrewed. "Where even were you?"
"Have you ever heard of a place called Gulmira?" Tony said. Pepper shook her head. "It's a nice holiday town. Bit of a problem with the local militia but nothing to worry about."
Harry rolled his eyes and stood up, deciding to leave the bickering couple to it. He headed into the kitchen to make a late breakfast, finding bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and a tin that he thought probably contained baked beans around the kitchen. The buzzer for the intercom at the gate at the end of the drive sounded, and Harry headed over to the keypad on the wall. A holographic display sprang into the air above it.
"Er, who is it?" Harry asked.
A familiar voice replied, unusually clear for an intercom. "Hey Harry, it's Matt."
"Oh, hi." Harry said. "Hold on, I'll let you through. Jarvis, how do I open the gate?" A faint buzzing sound came over the intercom, and Harry heard a car pulling off from the end of the drive. "Thanks."
Knowing how long the drive was, Harry went back into the kitchen rather than waiting for Matt to arrive, pulling a knife out of the block on the side and beginning to slice the tomatoes.
Pepper and Tony emerged from the workshop as he took plates out of a cupboard and began distributing sausages between the four of them.
"This smells great Harry." Pepper smiled.
Tony was frowning. "Why have you got four plates out? There's only three of us."
"Matt's two hundred metres down the drive." Harry replied, taking the pan of beans off the heat as they began to burn at the bottom. Tony still frowned at the portion size Harry dished himself, but had given up trying to get him to eat more. After years of near starvation at the Dursleys followed by less than a can of soup a day in Afghanistan, Harry never really had much of an appetite.
Tony set four glasses and a carton of orange juice of the table as Harry transferred empty pans to the dishwasher, and the doorbell rang just as they were placing cutlery on either side of each steaming plate.
Pepper went to answer the door, and led Matt through into the kitchen, his white cane tapping in front of him. Harry levelled him with an unimpressed look and he shrugged.
"I hope I'm not interrupting."
Pepper shook her head. "Not at all. There's a plate for you too."
"Thank you." Matt said, dropping into one of the seats.
"Why are you here?" Harry asked as the four of them started on their breakfasts. "Not that it's not nice to see you and everything..."
"Foggy and I managed to track down your aunt and uncle over in England." Matt said. "We got them to sign all the necessary paperwork transferring guardianship."
"So Tony's now Harry's legal guardian?" Pepper asked.
Matt nodded. "As soon as he signs the forms. I've got them here with me." He tapped the briefcase he had been carrying when he walked in.
Harry felt a huge grin spreading across his face, and Tony pulled him into a sideways hug from where he was sat next to him. The four of them chatted amiably as they ate, and Harry cleared the plates at Tony scrawled his signature at various places in the sheaf of papers Matt had brought.
"I feel like we should have champagne or something." Pepper said as Tony signed the last page, her arm wrapped around Harry.
Harry shook his head. "I don't mind."
Harry was given a copy of the papers, and although he couldn't read the words printed on the white pages he felt like they should be framed or something.
"Congratulations." Matt said with a large smile.
"Thanks." Harry said.
"I was just doing my job."
Harry shrugged. "I know. But my relatives aren't exactly... easy to deal with."
Matt frowned slightly. "Well, you were right; they seemed quite happy to sign those papers. They even asked if I'd bring some of your stuff back with me."
Harry's eyebrows rose. "They didn't burn it?"
"What?"
Harry shrugged. "I just assumed they would have burned it if they thought I wasn't coming back."
Matt shook his head. "Well, they might have gotten rid of some of it, I'm sorry. They gave me a large trunk and a bird cage. Practically pushed me out of the door with it once they'd signed the forms."
Harry's smile grew even further. "You've got my trunk?"
"I couldn't bring it back with me on my flight, but I've arranged to have it shipped over." Matt replied. "Should be stateside within two weeks at most."
"That's brilliant." Harry said.
"How's the meditation been going?" Matt asked.
Harry shrugged. "Alright, I guess. It's hard, sometimes, when there's strong smells or something."
Matt nodded. "Learning to ignore those distractions is the first step to being able to focus on the important things. The things that will help you."
"Help me fight?" Harry asked. "You said you'd teach me."
"Why do you think I'm here?"