It was the next day, and as promised, Harry came over in the evening to join them for dinner. Peter let him in and ushered him to the kitchen, where May awaited with warm greetings and apologies, but Harry was having none of it, saying that whatever he felt about Peter and Mr. Stark had nothing to do with May who was just being a protective mother figure.

With that out of the way, May eyed Harry curiously. "So you're a wizard?" she questioned, setting down a jar of sugar and reaching over to her left for a measuring jug.

"Erm, yes I am," Harry confirmed and then, without any prompting, he set about demonstrating it, much to Peter's amusement. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, muttered a word, and flicked it upwards, leaving Peter to watch with awe as red sparks shot out of his wand and circled around May. It was like something from a CGI movie. It struck Peter that he'd been so busy stressing about his relationship with Harry that he kind of forgot to be excited about knowing an actual freakin' wizard.

"Shit!" May exclaimed, as the bright red sparks spun around her. She was so startled that she jerked back and dropped the measuring jug. It fell to the ground and broke into a few large pieces, with smaller shards decorating the kitchen floor.

The three of them flinched at the impact, turning away to shield themselves from any stray shards that might have come their way. Peter and Harry were lucky enough to be unharmed, but May wasn at the epicentre of and when Peter looked, he saw small drops of blood already beginning to form on her legs, where some of the glass no doubt made an impact.

"Shit!" Harry swore, a panicked look on his face as he surveyed the mess and spotted the signs of injury on May's legs. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that so suddenly."

May took a few deep breaths. "It's okay," she reassured their guest. "It's not a big deal, just a few tiny cuts. But just in case, Peter, can you get the tweezers?"

Peter was about to agree when Harry stopped him.

"No need, I can sort this out," he said, brandishing his wand. "Reparo."

Instantly, the pieces of the broken measuring cup started coming back together, shards streaming in from all around to fill in the tiny spaces in between. Peter's keen eye even spotted a couple coming out of May's leg. With all the pieces in place, the cracks and imperfections vanished, leaving the cup completely intact.

Peter watched all this with parted lips and round eyes, then shook his head and pursed his lips at Harry. "Do the laws of physics mean anything to you?" he accused.

An unrepentant smirk was all he received in turn.

Next Harry, crouched in front of May. "Can I use a spell to heal the cuts?"

"Uh, sure. Go ahead."

Harry touched his wand to May's left leg. "Episkey," he said, and immediately the small cuts in the skin disappeared as it knit back together. Another muttered word and the few specks of blood were cleaned off.

"Damn," May whistled. "Next time I get a cut, I know who I'm going to."

Peter shook his head. "You could try paying more attention when you're handling a knife," he suggested.

"I could also put you up for adoption, but you don't see me doing that either," May replied cheerily. "Now both of you shoo, I need to focus on dinner." And with that she grabbed a whisk that she shook at them threateningly, then swivelled around and used the utensil to mix something in a saucepan.

Peter shook his head fondly at his aunt's antics, then turned to walk out of the kitchen and caught Harry watching them with a small smile of his own. He returned the smile and led his friend to the living room.

"So, who knew we had a magical doctor living next door," Peter said moments later as they got seated.

Harry threw him an unamused look. "Hardly. Cuts and bruises are about all I can do."

Peter didn't know how true that was, given that 'potion' Harry mentioned, but he figured Harry was talking about actual spells. From what he said, it wasn't like he could whip up a potion at a moment's notice.

Peter smirked. "I mean, we both know that's not all you can do, 'Mr. I-Can-Just-Teleport-Into-The-Avengers-Complex'," he teased.

"That's different, and it's called apparating," the wizard muttered. "And it's not like I knew where I'd end up."

"Wait what?"

"Well, I just used a tracking charm of sorts on the drone from that night. Hadn't the foggiest idea who'd sent it, or where it would go. And I certainly didn't expect to find myself on the grounds of that facility."

"Huh. So how did you get into the lab? Don't tell me you…" Peter trailed off, then gasped and grabbed Harry by the arm. "Dude! Did you actually sneak in, all super-spy style?"

"Something like that?"

"Man, I wish I coulda seen you in action," he whined, then realised moments later that he wouldn't have seen anything 'cause Harry had that cloak that made him invisible. He then rushed to interrupt said wizard when he opened his mouth, "I know, you were invisible, no need to say it."

Harry smirked and raised his hands in a show of innocence. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Mhmm." Peter voiced skeptically, receiving a snicker in response.

"Come to think of it, you did remind me of something," Harry said. Peter cocked his head, inviting Harry to continue. "I ought to tell Stark about the holes in his walls."

He must have heard that wrong. "What?"

Harry grinned sheepishly. "I may have vanished a window to get into the building, and also one of the glass panes lining Stark's lab to sneak in there."

'Hold it.' Peter furrowed his brow, knowing that they would have definitely noticed a missing glass pane forming a massive hole in the wall. 'Unless he… holy shit.'

"Let me guess," he said. "You used illusion magic?"

Harry showed some surprise, eyes widening and lips parting in a quiet "huh?", then he nodded affirmatively and explained how he cast illusions to hide the disappearance of the glass panes, followed by spells to make sure no sounds crossed from one side to the other, and to keep people from getting too close, lest they notice anything strange, like a draught of air.

"That said, it's not a perfect solution," Harry explained. "Eventually, someone observant might notice the compulsion, and with enough determination they could brush away the effects of the charm. From there it wouldn't take much to detect the deception."

"How long do you think it'd take Mr. Stark to figure it out?"

Harry shrugged. "I've no clue, I'm sure you'd have a better idea. Either way, I don't fancy waiting to find out. 'Spose I'll have to pop over there and remove the charms soon. Will it take him long to replace the glass, do you think?"

"Huh? Why would he? Oh, you can't just poof it back into place?"

"No, unfortunately not," answered Harry, a bit cagily if you asked Peter.

He squinted at the wizard. "Can you conjure a new one?"

Rather than answering, Harry stared at him blankly then looked past him and loudly asked, "How long until dinner, May? Peter's stomach is starting to growl."

"Wait. What? You can't just—" Peter protested.

Behind him, in the kitchen, his aunt laughed and called out, "20 minutes! And be careful, he might eat you if you get too close!"

"I don't accept this slander!" Peter yelled back, then shoved Harry playfully. "Also, nice try at distracting me, but you're busted.

Harry shrugged. "It's a little spiteful, but can you blame me?"

Peter snorted. "Not really. Mr. Stark probably could, but he's weird. He'd probably find it funny."

Harry crinkled his nose at hearing that Mr. Stark would enjoy his antics.

"So what else have you got in your bag of tricks?" Peter asked, trying not to laugh at Harry's expression.

Harry hummed in thought. "Well… how about I pull a rabbit out of a hat?" he asked, with what Peter could only describe as a shit-eating grin. He waved his wand and suddenly there was a frickin' top hat in his other hand. He then turned it upside down and tapped it with his wand, saying, "Abra Cadabra."

The next thing Peter knew, rabbits of all shapes and sizes started falling out of the hat, landing on the floor and immediately scurrying around the apartment.

"That's so cool," Peter enthused, watching with wide eyes. He bent down and peaked into the top hat, trying to see if the bunnies were falling through a small wormhole, or if they were appearing out of thin air. He couldn't see anything though, as the opening was constantly occluded by falling bunnies.

"No. No it's not. What the hell? Why are you—" Aunt May exclaimed from the kitchen area, watching with horror. She reached forward, hand clasping nothing but air. "Harry this is not okay— is that a capybara?"

Sure enough a massive capybara had fallen out of the hat. Peter was 100% sure that was impossible given the hats dimensions, but what the fuck did he know anyway? Harry made him feel like nothing made sense anymore and he was loving it.

Peter leaned down and pet the capybara, a little surprised to find that it was actually real.

'Whoa, it's so soft.'

The capybara butted its head at his hand and Peter had to hold back a squeal. He really wanted to keep it, but he didn't need May to tell him keeping a dog sized rabbit in a smallish apartment was a terrible idea.

"Oh my God… Harry get them out!" May demanded. "They're all over the place, that's one's biting the tv cables!"

May didn't seem as pleased to see the cute little bunnies, Peter noted, as he watched the capybara twitch its adorable not-so-little whiskers.

Harry laughed and winked at Peter, "No problem, I'll get rid of them."

Harry waved his wand again, said something in Latin, and then all of the bunnies were gone. The capybara disappeared too, which sucked. Peter consoled himself with the idea that he could ask Harry to make it come back later, when his aunt wasn't around.

"Sorry May, I was just trying to be playful," Harry apologised. "I didn't realise it would turn into such a Hare-ey situation."

Peter and his aunt groaned.

After pretending to give him a hard time, May went back to finishing up dinner, leaving them alone in the living room again. It was early September, so Harry asked Peter about the upcoming school year; what it was like, what classes he was taking, and such.

Peter was just telling him about his decathlon team when May called out, "Dinner's ready!"

Pausing the conversation, they got up and set the table, then helped May serve the food. Soon after they were enjoying a rather delicious meal, which Harry made sure to complement May on.

The conversation was a little stilted throughout, but overall it was an enjoyable meal. Despite what had happened, Harry felt welcomed at the Parkers' dinner table; not made to feel like an outsider as he had feared.

Later, having filled their bellies and the table all cleared, May decided to retire to her room to finish up some work, and left Harry and Peter alone in the living room again.

"Why don't you show me some more magic?" Peter suggested with a shrug.

It was charming how he tried to play it off like a casual question, but his fingers tapping on the armrest and the eager glint in his eye betrayed Peter. Harry had yet to draw up a secrecy contract, but in the face of such eagerness, Harry saw no reason to refuse. He just had to be careful what spells he cast, in case anything did reach Stark's ears, though he believed — or wanted to believe — Peter wouldn't do that.

"Alright," he agreed, summoning the elder wand and twirling it idly in his hand. "Is there anything that you particularly want to see?"

"Man, I don't know. There's so much. I can't make up my mind."

Harry hummed thoughtfully. "Well," he said. "Maybe I'll do something simple then. Lumos."

The tip of Harry's wand glowed, emitting a bright white light.

"Magical flashlight, cool." Peter looked impressed, but Harry wasn't done. He concentrated and tried to tap into his magic, seeking to manipulate the spell as he had learned to do in recent days.

Once the connection was made, he pictured the light getting bigger and bigger, and watched with satisfaction as it did just that, doubling — no, tripling, no, quadrupling — in size. Then, when he was satisfied with its size, Harry nudged the magic and separated it from his wand, letting it hover unaided in the air between Peter and himself.

Next he willed the lights to change, and watched with mild fascination as the spell shifted. It wasn't unlike unweaving part of a tapestry and weaving those threads anew in a different pattern, transforming the soft warm lighting of Lumos into an orb of mesmerising green.

Wanting to take things further, Harry reached into the magic of the Lumos and with dexterity that surprised even him, he split the spell. As the orb of green light split into seven smaller ones, Harry's lips upturned with a small show of pride, then he sent them flying to the ceiling, where they spread out to illuminate the whole room.

"Damn," Peter said, eyes wide and admiring the new lighting. It was a little funny to Harry that, as impressed as Peter was, he really had no idea how much effort went into that little display. Other wizards would have been utterly astounded if they saw what he managed with a simple Lumos.

"How many of those can you make?" Peter asked.

Harry had to actually think about it. "Quite a lot, I assume. They don't need very much magic. Why?"

"It's just that you could make a killing as a lighting designer."

"I… what?"

"Bad joke. Never mind," Peter waved it away. "Anyway," he sat up and Peter started clapping his hands and chanting, "More! More!"

'Merlin have mercy, I'm friends with a toddler.'

With a put-upon sigh, Harry flicked his wand and silently cancelled the lumos charm, picked up the tv remote on the coffee table, and stood up. "Watch," he said, then tossed the remote into the air. "Aresto Momentum.'

Instantly, the falling remote froze in its place, suspended in the air.

Peter stared at the floating remote for a good second, then shook his head and pursed his lips. "Seriously dude... physics… ever heard of it?

"I've a vague familiarity," Harry replied teasingly. "Always took them as more of a suggestion, personally."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Well, I can't say life isn't more interesting with you around."

"I'll take that as a complement," Harry said with a smirk.

Peter shook his head fondly then leaned over and poked Harry in the side. "So… As impressive as those two spells were to me, were they actually anything special?"

Harry shook his head. "No, they're rather basic spells."

"Well in that case," Peter challenged Harry, "how about you show me something that you consider worth showing off."

Harry gave it some thought, trying to figure out what spell would win best of show, then the idea came to him like a strike of lightning, lighting up his eyes with eagerness and anticipation. With a big grin, Harry sat up and closed his eyes, bringing his happiest memories to bear: the day he found out he was a wizard, Hagrid's photo album, the first time flying on a Hippogryph — these memories and many more flashed before him in an instant.

Harry was surprised to realise that in the montage of happy memories, there was a new addition. He had unwittingly called up a memory of Peter and himself, from three weeks ago — the night that he and Peter watched the rest of that movie trilogy and went out for Chinese. He had barely known the bloke at the time, but Harry supposed that night did represent a lot of things to him — the possibility of a new friend and the idea of a new beginning.

A tad sentimental, to be sure, but he couldn't deny that something in him had settled that night. So, with all those memories at the forefront, Harry called forth his magic and channelled it into his wand.

"Expecto Patronum."

He instantly knew it had worked, coming to recognise the hum of contentment in his magic when it was able to do as he asked. Harry opened his eyes to see a majestic stag, made of light, purity, and happiness, erupt from the tip of his wand and prance around the room in all its elegance and ethereal grace. Harry beamed as watched Prongs, basking in the peace and contentment the Patronus radiated. Tension Harry hadn't even realised was there just leaked out of his body.

Peter looked to be similarly affected. His pupils had dilated and his lips were parted in awe.

Prongs pranced around the room a few times, before trotting over to Peter and nosing over at him. The young superhero was visibly awestruck as he slowly reached out and touched Prongs on the side of his face.

"Wow," he breathed out. "How is it-? That is, how does— it feels like it's real, but it's not? What is it?"

Prongs was as corporeal as a Patronus could get, but that still left him somewhat intangible. It must have been a strange sensation for a muggle.

Harry scooted closer and stretched his arm out to pet Prongs, stroking the phantom fur down his neck. Smiling fondly at the stag, Harry explained, "It's a Patronus. A spirit guardian that wards off evil creatures."

"Evil creatures? Like what, vampires?" Peter couldn't take his eyes off of the creature. "And what's with the good vibes?"

Harry snickered. "No, not vampires. And, pardon me, good vibes? I've never heard it put quite like that before, but yes, it's essentially positive emotion given physical form."

"Does it stay until you make it go away, or does it only stick around for a while?"

"Huh. I'm not entirely sure," Harry tried to remember the magical theory behind the spell. "Technically both. A Patronus can be sustained indefinitely with enough magic. So in theory I could keep it around indefinitely, but it would be very taxing. I doubt I could keep it up for especially long."

"That's interesting," Peter remarked idly, still very much enraptured by the Patronus.

Harry kept petting Prongs, enjoying the 'good vibes', as Peter called them, until he decided that was enough and released the spell. Shortly afterwards, Harry decided to go home, thanking Peter for the invitation.

He spent the rest of the night relaxing, watching some TV and trying out some of the games Peter introduced him to. It was only shortly before the clock struck midnight that he wandered into his study and unrolled a blank piece of parchment. He sat there with a quill in hand and started to write down what he remembered from Hermione's DA secrecy agreement, adjusting the wording as needed. Once he was done, he had a clumsily written agreement in need of considerable refinement, so he picked up another roll of parchment and got to work.

Half an hour past midnight, Harry had a completed secrecy agreement layered with jinxes. He rolled it up, placed it in the drawer, then decided to turn in for the night.

"A wizard? Truly?" Vision questioned.

"Yeah. Wand and all."

Vision hummed and crossed his arms in thought. "That is indeed surprising."

"You're telling me," Tony scoffed, shaking his head.

Rhodey snorted. "Well, you can't say your life's not interesting."

"Nobody was saying that Rhodey. Nobody."

Rhodey raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying…"

"Anyway," Tony drawled, "if we can get back to the walking fairy tale... " Vision and Rhodey motioned for him to carry on, so Tony continued, "He seems safe enough for now, but I don't like how little we know about him. Kid was way too cagey when explaining his abilities and where he came from." He shook his head and grumbled, "His background checks out but it has to be fake, it doesn't add up."

Rhodey shrugged. "Don't know what you expected, Tones. Did ya think he'd open up after the warm welcome you gave him."

Tony stilled. That hit a little too close to home. He'd had time to think about how he handled that, and he could admit he acted rashly. It was the latest in a series of mistakes, really. He sighed and scanned the room, taking in the sorry state of the team. Rogers and his crew were in hiding, Romanoff disappeared a while ago — probably joined the others —, Barton was on house arrest in Missouri, and the kid was well... a kid — Tony should never have involved him in the first place, but they had needed the help in Germany.

All that was left was Vision, who was gone half the time, and Rhodey, who was still recovering from his spinal injury. Tony recently gave him a highly advanced exoskeletal support system, but he needed time to get used to it, and even then it was only an adjunct to what was still a long healing process.

The fact was, the Avengers were crippled. It was only pure luck that no major threats rose to exploit that fact yet. Maybe that was why he was so on edge lately.

"You're right," he admitted, squaring his shoulders. "I definitely made him more closed off, but I don't get the feeling he was going to be an open book either way. And I doubt that's going to change soon. Although... I hear from Happy that Peter was a lot less 'mopey' yesterday, so I think they made up."

Rhodey crossed his arms and shook his head, staring at Tony with the unimpressed eyes of an exasperated parent. "Oh hell no. Tell me you aren't thinking of using Peter to spy on this Harry guy."

Tony shook his head. "No. Not directly, at least, but I do trust the kid, and since he's friends with the wizard-boy wonder, they'll spend a decent amount of time together. If Peter did see something concerning, he wouldn't stay quiet. He's just too good for that. So maybe we— I don't need to do anything."

"Young Mr. Parker is certainly an exceptional individual, but do you think he will be a sufficient safeguard?" Vision wondered.

"Probably. He's smart, very smart. Perceptive too, most of the time."

Rhodey had his own doubts. "But will he be safe around a wizard we know so little about?"

Tony gave it some thought, then nodded. "Yeah, I think he will be. I have so many questions about Potter, but playing his reactions back… well, unless he's skilled enough to give Widow a run for her money, I think he genuinely cares about underoos."

"So your plan is to do nothing, and just wait and see? You?" Rhodey asked, eyebrow raised, watching Tony with a slightly hurtful amount of scepticism.

Tony nodded. "We'll keep an eye out for Peter, but yes, for once I'm going to be hands off," he clarified, raising his hands in a show of innocence.

He could understand why his best friend doubted his ability to step back from the situation, but he needed to. Tony couldn't shake the thought that he was starting to have too much in common with Fury lately. In a way, he understood why that was the case. All the responsibility piled on his shoulders was taking its toll, and for all that Tony had issues with the guy, he understood the need Fury had for his methods. They didn't call the man the world's greatest spymaster for nothing.

That path was not for him, however. He had decided in recent days that he had to draw a line between them, and part of that meant letting go of his ego and knowing when to step back. This was one of those times.

"So, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee, any thoughts?"

Rhodey was quick to agree. "Yeah, alright. No need to overcomplicate it. Using Peter as a sentinel node seems simple enough. Are you going to tell him?"

Tony shook his head. "No need. We're not really asking him to do anything except be who he already is."

"I also believe the course of action you've suggested is indeed the most appropriate," Vision declared. "Harry Potter has shown no sign of being a threat, and I see no reason to trouble him until that changes." He stood to leave, turning to walk away before halting in his steps. He turned back to Tony and offered a smile that was increasingly natural on his synthetic face. "Caution is useful, paranoia is a poison. You might find, Tony, that a little faith is what you need. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off. Try not to do anything too exciting while I'm gone, else I might have to tell Pepper on you."

Tony snorted and waved Vision off, repeating the man's words to himself. 'Paranoia is a poison' indeed.

A glance at Rhodey revealed that his lips had quirked upwards at Vision's parting remark. His friend moved to stand up, once Vision was gone. He placed his palms on the conference room table and, with a loud grunt that made Tony wince, pushed himself onto his feet.

"So, this's been interesting, but I've gotta get to my physio." he turned and walked out of the room, steps heavy but much better than they had been a year ago; Tony was proud of his friend.

With the meeting done, Tony decided to walk Rhodey out, catching up with the man and matching his pace. As they made their way through the hallway, Tony idly wondered how good of a fighter Potter was.

'And that's as far as that thought goes. You're not dragging another teenager into this,' he told himself, turning the corner with Rhodey. 'Although…'

Tony glanced at his best friend and the wheels started turning in his head.

It's been a while, sorry about that. Uni started up again, and I've got a hectic schedule.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I would love to know what you thought about it. I'm also curious about what people think of the pacing of the fic so far.

And of course, thank you to everyone who favourited, alerted, and reviewed this story 3

Cheers!