Thousands of miles away, Clint Barton wrapped his arms around his wife and laid his hands on her swollen belly.
"Can we call him Cooper?" He asked, remembering the children that Harry had levitated into the bubble of fiendfyre. Documents said that six of them came from one family and their surname had been Cooper, the only ones to be identified.
"Cooper?" Laura repeated, she had listened when Clint told her about what had happened and cried with him afterward. "Cooper… I like it."
"Same here." Natasha sat a few feet away, like them she was watching the sunset over the trees.
The next few years were best described by photographs.
Clint proudly holding his newborn son towards a camera. It captioned with a single word. Cooper.
The baby had a mess of dark hair and Fred was heard to comment that it looked more like Harry's hair, than Clint's.
Bill sitting on a picnic rug with a stunning blonde woman, looking down the beach. The woman leans in and kisses Bill's cheek before leaping to her feet and running down the beach towards a group of people, Bill shakes his head and after climbing to his feet, following at a more reasonable pace.
In Tonks and Remus' wedding photo, the bride's hair cycled through a rainbow of colours before settling on a vibrant turquoise blue that picked up the tiny flecks of colour in her robes. Remus looked good, since his temporary de-aging the scars inflicted by Greyback had regressed, leaving his face unlined. Both of them wore traditional wedding robes, although the bride's were white with flecks of multiple colours and the groom's had a tinge of brown to what should have been slate grey.
Neville's and Luna's wedding was held on the beach, everyone around them barefoot, even an uncomfortable looking McGonagall. The bride wore a bright yellow dress under a silvery grey robe while Neville's robes were the traditional grey, however he'd slipped a bright yellow handkerchief into his breast pocket and instead of white flowers pinned to his robes, they were in Gryffindor's colours.
Bill's wedding was at Muriel's, under a huge white marquee in the corner of the massive garden. The bride wore a stunning white gown with black peacocks trailing from the bodice towards the rear of the skirt, almost like a train of feathers.
Charlie remembered that night fondly.
"It's a pity your parents couldn't be here for this." Dedalus Diggle said to Charlie, who had been Best Man.
"It's a long way to come." Was all Charlie said, ignoring the unsubtle dig at his parents for 'abandoning' them. His eyes were on Millie and Artie standing, talking quietly, on the far side of the tent. "Please excuse me, I'm going to ask Cousin Millie to dance." He left the man and approached his mother. "Hi… mum…" He whispered the second word as he leant over to kiss her cheek.
"Charlie…" She hugged him tight. "I didn't see you earlier, where were you hiding?"
"Keeping the twins from doing anything that Bill might regret." Charlie answered as he drew Millie out onto the dancefloor.
"Oh, dear Lord. Those pair…" She shook her head.
"I think the girls will keep them in line."
"I hope so, because no-one else has a chance."
"Oh, Harry can." Charlie said. "He's been able to since first year, according to Katie."
"Really?"
"Apparently, being able to tell them apart, is the secret." Charlie smiled at his mother as they swayed in time to the music.
"No wonder I never succeeded." Millie muttered, causing Charlie to laugh.
"Swap with me?" Bill asked as they slid passed.
"Sway with my beautiful sister-in-law? Sure." Charlie let Bill handle the swap and just continued to sway.
"Not good wiz danzing, Charlie?" Fleur's accent wasn't nearly as strong after working at Gringotts for a couple years but it was still there.
"Nope, never have been." Charlie shook his head. "Mum said I have two left feet, even Harry can dance better than me. So I just do this, just sway."
"Ees steell moving to museek, ees steell danzing." Fleur pressed a kiss to Charlie's cheek.
"No really, it's just swaying." Charlie argued.
"Then, svay mee over to your papa, mon brozzer." Fleur laughed.
Charlie looked around, surprised to find that they'd crossed the width of the dancefloor.
"Oh…" He whispered.
"Oui, Charlie. Museek means danzing." Fleur gently applied enough pressure that they began to move and, inch by inch, foot by foot, they crossed the dancefloor.
Sirius chasing after a toddler on a kiddy-broom, captioned, 'father and son'. It was taken a week after Sirius and Bucky adopted a muggleborn orphan. That the little boy had Bucky's eyes and Sirius' hair was down to the adoption potions that the Ministry had insisted on, when they were told that the boy was documented as parents unknown. While Sirius couldhave taken him to Gringotts and got a blood heritage test done, the Ministry opinion was that if his parents didn't want him, to the point where they abandoned him in the countryside, miles from anywhere, in the middle of a heatwave, then they didn't have a right to complain, later.
Harry wore simple black slacks and a white shirt, the day he and Hermione married. She also went simple, a pretty cream sundress that reached to her knees. With flowers in her hair and a corsage on her wrist, she danced with her new husband, the pair so intent on each other that Harry's usual clubfooted-ness was missing, as they glided around the Great Hall. The building was decked out in the colours of all four houses, much as it would have been for a Welcoming Feast.
A pair of photos of Ron and Percy. Ron sitting on a cushion, under a tree, reading a substantial book. Percy on a broom zipping around an open field.
"Have they swapped personalities?" Seamus was heard to ask Bill, as the pictures made the rounds of the Unit.
Harry studied the face of the boy who was once his best friend.
"He looks happy." Was all Harry said.
Draco and Astoria Greengrass' wedding was not what Harry would have expected from the arrogant pureblood tosser that had been his nemesis, in their early years at Hogwarts. A gaudy, fun-filled and extremely muggle wedding in San Diego was definitely something that Lucius would not have approved of, if he'd lived beyond the first year after Riddle's death. Both bride and groom were dressed in costume, Astoria as Cleopatra and Draco as a stormtrooper.
"That was fun." Neville laughed. "Getting married by a giant green Yoda? Not what I expected."
"Who else was there?" Bucky asked.
"Everyone." Harry shook his head. "It was the middle of Comicon. The place was packed. Astoria as 'given away' by Julius Caesar and Frodo was the Ringbearer, with Superman pushing his wheelchair. Wonder Woman was her bridesmaid and I was Slytherin, although only a few people seemed to realise that, most thought I was just an evil wizard. A really pregnant Princess Leia went into labour, her husband was the Yoda, it almost interrupted the wedding but Bones McCoy and Hot-lips Houlihan stepped up and while Yoda was doing the 'repeat after me' bit, they were doing the 'this baby's not waiting, you'd better start pushing' bit."
"It was kinda hilarious." Neville added. "Yoda's trying to pay attention to the wedding and his wife. At one point he was asking Draco 'do you take this woman' and he paused and groaned, 'Jeebus woman, stop crushing my hand, I'll need it to sign their marriage certificate' and Leia's like 'what does it matter, nobody can read your writing, anyway'. He snaps back, 'yours is no better' and he's straight back to 'as your lawfully wedded wife?' without missing a single word."
Bucky blinks and shakes his head. "You are not going to Comicon without us, again. I don't care if Siri' got the flu, he can take a pepper-up and have a day under dilation to get over it, I'm not missing out on this shit, again."
"We miss all the best stuff." Sirius nodded.
"I got a card from them, for our anniversary." Astoria chuckled, as she waddled by, her hands rubbing her baby bump.
Two photos. One showing Tony morphing into a red bird, with a gold mask and the occasional gold feather hiding among the rich red ones. The other showing his return to human form, three feet in the air, his arms windmilling as he fell to the ground, landing face-first in a burst of red feathers.
Fred and George's wedding to Katie and Angelina was remarkably traditional and amazingly quiet. The two grooms stood with their brides, in front of Dumbledore, wearing simple grey robes, something that for them was very unusual. The brides both wore muggle dresses with silky veil-like robes over them, shimmering in the evening light.
Mille and Artie sat with Muriel, Bill and Charlie watching the twins take the first steps towards becoming domesticated.
The Unit formed a guard of honour to frame the two couples as they moved from the Hogwarts chapel to the Great Hall for their reception.
A muggle picture of a destroyed building, rubble clumped around the remains of a doorway. Underneath was the rough writing that identified the picture as having come from Tony.
Extreme case of Jekyll and Hyde – or – He's a troll Animagus
Alongside it was a note.
Turns out the guy was playing with Erskine's notes and radiation, not vita rays like they used on the Cap but gamma rays. Obviously, something went wrong. I managed to get involved in the clean-up, touted something about 'he was one of mom's scholars, I need to keep the reputation intact'. Not surprisingly, Obie bought it. I found a minute sample of his serum and the complete formula and he was way off base. He was using the wrong proteins and targeting the wrong gene sequences. I'm going to see if I can work out exactly where he went wrong and if I can stabilise his serum, otherwise Banning's not going to have an easy change, he won't remember a thing from when he turns green. It'll be like being two people in one body. Ask Remus how comfortable that was.
T
Hermione, Angelina, Katie and Astoria standing side by side, showing the progression of baby bumps. From Astoria and her barely there bump to Hermione and her 'swallowed a blimp' belly. As the picture passed, babies feet, or fists, could be seen moving under their mothers' skin as the soon to be hellions jockeyed for a comfortable position. A wild-eyed look from Hermione as her waters broke and her first contraction hit. The camera dropped sharply, as it hit the ground and tilted onto its side, a frantic Harry could be seen running towards to the women.
A newspaper clipping.
TONY STARK KIDNAPPED! The headline screamed.
Under the headline, the body of the article stated that Tony had been kidnapped during a tour of the troops in Afghanistan. Their convoy had been hit by extremists and the billionaire taken.
The Unit hadn't been told until Peggy had got tired of Tony avoiding her calls and contacted Ms. Potts, only to be told that Tony was missing. Less than five minutes later, Ms. Potts rang back, Tony had rescued himself and was on his way to LA.
When questioned later, why hadn't he hit his panic button, the emergency portkey that Sirius had given him? Tony replied that it had happened too fast. One second, he was posing with a soldier for a selfie and the next everything was spinning and then it all went black. When he woke, he'd been stripped and had a car battery attached to a hole in his chest. Which is why he hadn't used his Animagus form, either.
The next picture was a muggle photo of a partially crushed blue and white car and was closely followed by a pair of notes.
I am Iron Man.
Or I will be, when I get this under control. Testing is tricky. Getting the balance right was harder than I thought it would be, nothing like flying on a broom.
Not so much the flying but the landing. Look what I did to the Shelby! My poor baby. I don't suppose anyone's interested in coming out and doing a reparo for me?
Apologise to Luna for me but I'm far more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw, hence the colours will be red and gold.
T
Hey
Peggy was right, Obie was a bastard. He's been selling stuff on the black-market and didn't take my decision to move the company away from arms manufacturing, all that well. As in he tried to kill me, he planned to make it look like I didn't test the suit properly and it killed me. He was going to release a 'tested' version for the military and maybe sell some under the table.
I took care of him, not pretty and it's going to add to my nightmare listing but he's not going to sell SI bombs on the blackmarket, any longer.
The Arc reactor is great but I can't be that vulnerable again. Can that de-aging stuff, remove only a few months? Just back to before Afghanistan?
Please?
T
Tony sat on Pepper's shoulder in his Animagus form, before hovering in front of her and changing back into his human shape. Her eyes were bright and excited as she followed his transformation.
"Oh, wow…" She gasped. "That's… wow…"
"Want to meet the rest of the zoo?" Tony asked.
"Zoo?" Pepper asked.
"Not quite a real zoo." Tony answered leading her towards the rear of the manor and the large patio area. "But we do have a lot of animals. Little cats, big cats, dogs, wolves, birds. Even got a squirrel and a dormouse." He opened the door and gestured to seats off to the left.
"Wow…" Pepper looked at the gathering of animals, a lion, a lynx and was that goat?
"We did some testing with the families of Unit members and…." Tony shrugged. "If a witch or wizard brews the potion and a muggle drinks it, they can become an animagi. The potion allows muggles to access the tiny bit of magic we contain and amplify it. I'll never be able to do the more complex spells without a dedicated wand, but Andi and Hermione believe that if I take the animagi potion each month, in a year or so, I'll be able to do magic from my own core, I'll never be strong at magic but for the simple stuff, I'll be able to use my own wand not a dedicated one."
"If you want…" Harry walked over, holding a baby in one arm and a smoking goblet in the other. "… you can take the potion, too?"
"Animagi…?" Pepper asked. "Me, be an animagi…? Really…? Ooh, Caroline would be so jealous, if she ever knew."
"Caroline?"
"My younger sister." Pepper replied. "She's went to Ilvermorny while I went to Harvard. She's struggling to cope on a MACUSA wage and I'm PA… and girlfriend… to a multi-millionaire. The benefits of being a squib." She gave Tony a clearly fake, innocent look, causing both Tony and Harry to laugh.
"Oh, yeah." Harry laughed faded to a chuckle. "You're going to fit in perfectly."
"Thank you." She smiled at Harry. "Is the muggle friendly animagi potion any different to a squib or witch friend version?"
"Not as far as we've tried it." Harry said.
"Peggy's a squib, as is Natalie's younger brother." Andi said as she joined them. "Neither has had any complications from the potion."
"Oh, there's a few people you need to meet before we get too far into this." Harry said. "Drink the potion and do your first change, while I fetch them out, okay?"
"I can do that." Pepper picked up the goblet and drank the still smoking fluorescent purple liquid.
She'd barely placed the goblet on the table when the change began. When it finished a long-legged, elegant Arabian mare stood on the patio.
"Oh, now, that's nice…" Tony said, sidling up to Pepper-in-horse-shape and running a hand down her neck. A few more seconds and Pepper stood there, Tony's hand still on her neck. "Hi…" He whispered and pulled her towards him, gently enveloping her in his arms.
"Oh, my, that was…"
"Brilliant, I know…" Tony grinned, widely and after a couple of startled blinks, Pepper's smile matched his.
"Excuse us…" Harry's voice interrupted them.
Both turned towards Harry and Pepper froze. She studied the six people with Harry, seconds passed and ticked over into minutes before she did anything more than look from one face to another.
"This is how you dealt with the arc reactor, isn't it?" She asked, turning to Tony.
"A couple of drops of de-aging potion and the physical damage from Afghanistan was gone." Tony nodded. "I still use the reactor for the suits but it's now built into the suits, not me."
"And them?" She poke to Tony, even though she nodded in the direction of Harry's companions.
"Yes and no." Tony said. "Yes, for Peggy, Morita, Falsworth and Dum-dum. No, for Sirius and Bucky."
"Explanations can wait." Pepper huffed. "Teach me to change back into that horse."