"So, J," Tony said at dinner that night, the table scattered with the remains of what Steve had called a "poor man's meal," consisting of potatoes, onions, and kielbasa sautéed on the stovetop with salt, pepper, and a bit of some herb Tony couldn't identify. "How's it coming with looking for mundane-born magicals?"

"Not as well as I would've liked, Sir," JARVIS replied.

Tony frowned around a bite of potato and reminded himself to swallow - he was in polite company, after all - before asking, "What's up? The search parameters were simple enough."

"That's not the problem, Sir."

"Then what is?"

"An issue Captain Rogers raised."

Tony turned to Steve, who shot a mock glare at … the camera in the corner of the ceiling? Tony thought he'd concealed it, but apparently not well enough that the super-soldier couldn't see it.

JARVIS remained silent, and after a moment, Steve blew out a breath. He met Tony's gaze evenly and said, "It's not about whether we can do it, Tony. It's about whether we have the right to do it at all."

Beside Tony, Harry sat up straight to glare at Steve. "But Sirius was put in prison without a trial!"

"I know, and that's terrible. But," Steve added with an apologetic glance at the man in question, "he's not in immediate, life-threatening danger. If he were, I'd probably feel differently, but it's like carrying a gun. You can only legally draw one - in America, I mean - in immediate defense of human life when there's no safe option available. What right do we have to violate a lot of people's privacy when nobody's in immediate danger?"

Tony watched Harry process the question. Once, his son started to speak, but eventually he flung himself back in his chair with a frustrated exhale. "I wish you were wizards."

Tony's eyebrows shot up - as did Steve's and Sirius'. "Why?"

"Because Hermione once said that wizards haven't got an ounce of logic among them," Harry replied. "Them I can out-reason."

Tony laughed with the others but sobered quickly. "Okay, then. Let's reframe the problem. How can we find a guide to the magical world without invading hundreds of people's privacy?"

Steve looked at Sirius. "Is there anyone you know from before that might help? Anyone at all?"

Sirius looked thoughtful while he chewed some naan. "Mm… Maybe? My cousin Andromeda was disowned when she chose to marry a Muggle-born- sorry, a first-generation magical. We were close as kids, so she might not burn a letter or, worse, hand it over to the Aurors to track me down. And Remus-"

The look on Sirius' face spoke of anger tinged with fondness, so Tony asked gently, "Who's that?"

"There were four of us at Hogwarts," Sirius said. "Called ourselves the Marauders - me, James, the Rat, and Remus. Thick as thieves, and all that. He might answer - especially if the letter comes from Harry."

"Did he visit you?" Steve asked. "Write to you?"

"The only visitor I ever had was Cornelius Fudge," Sirius said, a bitter expression twisting his lips.

"Who?" Tony asked.

"The Minister for Magic," Harry said. "He's - well-"

"The worst kind of politician," Sirius finished. "Easily swayed depending on who's lining his pockets and how much."

Tony couldn't help asking, "Just how long did he visit you for?"

"Just long enough to throw a newspaper at me and rub my imprisonment in my face," Sirius said. "But I heard talk about him before that, when he was still with the Department of Magical Creature Regulation, or whatever it's called. Nice enough, I guess, in a smarmy kind of way, but they couldn't have a worse minister if they tried."

"Your cousin has an excuse," Steve said, "being disowned and all. But I'm reluctant to trust anyone who didn't bother even to write."

Tony nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't considered the choice from that perspective, but it made sense, and was certainly something to keep in mind in the future. Harry's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Do adults always make things harder than they have to be?"

"What do you mean, Pup?" Sirius asked.

"Why not announce some kind of contest by company email," Harry said. "And make it a quiz - give the best definitions of the following words. Words like Hogwarts or Quidditch."

"People cheat," Tony said, at the same time Sirius said, "What about the Statute of Secrecy?"

"So JARVIS can set it up so that once they start the quiz, they can't search for meanings," Harry said. "And as for the Statute, throw some real English words in there. Weird ones, but real ones. Like xertz, or nudiustertian."

Well, at least Tony wasn't the only one staring at Harry.

He was, though, the one to ask, "How do you know those words?"

Harry shrugged. "Uncle Vernon does the crossword puzzle. I read them when I was taking the rubbish out."

"That could work," Steve said thoughtfully. "And add some made-up words, too - like jabberwock and boojum."

"What are those?" Sirius demanded.

"Nonsense words," Steve replied. "Made famous by a poet in the late 1800s."

"The jabberwock is from the novel, Through the Looking-Glass," JARVIS said. "And boojum is from the poem, The Hunting of the Snark, both written by Charles Dodgson, writing as Lewis Carroll."

"Let's do both," Tony said. "Sirius, write to your cousin. JARVIS, make up a quiz. Send it out early Monday morning. All SI employees, everywhere. Ask for the best definition of the words, without looking anything up. There'll be prizes - say the equivalent of $500 in local currency for the funniest or best answers, $250 and $100 for second and third places. And block access to the Internet whenever a person clicks on the quiz to start it."

"Will you actually follow through on the prizes?" Harry asked.

Tony gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Sure, why not? Doesn't cost me much, and it'll add to employee morale. Pepper's always on about that."

"Pepper?" Harry asked, and Tony realized that he was the only one brave enough to voice it, though the question was evident in Sirius' and Steve's expressions.

"Pepper Potts," Tony said, though he was aware it wasn't really an explanation. "She was my personal assistant for a lot of years, and when I thought I was dying, I made her CEO. We - well, we were starting to be a couple, but after New York…" Tony trailed off, considering his words. "New York made everyone rethink their lives, to some degree. We're not sure what we are now - and no, Harry, I haven't told her about you yet. Not because I'm ashamed or embarrassed, but because Pepper's a real take-charge type, and we need to sort ourselves out before we invite a take-charge type into us. If that makes sense."

"It really does," Harry said earnestly. "Take-charge women are great, wait 'til you meet Hermione, but right now is for us, the three - four? - of us to make a family."

"You're already calling him Uncle Steve," Tony pointed out. "Four. Unless you object?" he added with a look at Sirius.

"No objection here," Sirius said. "Especially until I'm fully healed, as far as I'm concerned, the more and better defenders Harry has, the better. I'll admit to surprise that the two of you aren't together, but that doesn't matter either way."

Huh. Rogers blushes as red as the stripes he wears.

"That's-" Steve stopped to clear his throat. "I hadn't realized that's allowed nowadays."

"Yep," Tony said. "Nobody blinks an eye at it - well, hardly anybody. Can't necessarily get married in all fifty states, but most of the outdated laws against it are gone, or will be soon enough."

"Good," Steve said. "That's - good."

Tony blinked, unable to conceal his surprise. "No offense, Spangles," he said, "but I wouldn't have thought you'd approve."

"I don't have to approve to believe everyone should be treated equally under the law," Steve replied. "The Church may or may not allow homosexual unions these days, but that's a whole other issue from the legality of them."

Tony nodded. It was exactly the kind of morality he expected from Steve Rogers given his father's reports of the man. It was just a shame that more people couldn't see past their own personal ideologies to the larger issues they represented.

"So," Sirius said into the silence that had descended - not a bad silence, necessarily, but Sirius seemed to prefer interaction. Then again, Tony reminded himself, he probably would, too, after a dozen years in prison with little to no company. "The quiz is for Monday. I'll write Andromeda tonight, and she'll respond or she won't, whenever. What's on the schedule for tomorrow?"

"Not a blessed thing," Tony replied. "I thought we might show Harry some of the sights in London? Or maybe somewhere else, if you've seen all of them?"

"I haven't," Harry replied, almost too eagerly. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon rarely took me anywhere, especially after the zoo incident."

"Zoo incident?" Tony tried not to laugh as he was joined by two others in asking the question.

Harry ducked his head. "It was Dudley's birthday, and Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, and she couldn't keep me while they went out. So I got to go with them when they went to the zoo. I…" Harry paused, and Tony had the impression that there was something his son wasn't saying, "…accidentally made the glass of a boa constrictor's enclosure vanish. It got out and scared Dudley a lot, so I never got to go anywhere after that."

"We can fix that," Tony declared, unwilling to spend more energy on the Dursley family than he had to. They'd never see Harry again, and if they tried, well, they'd come up hard against the most vicious attorneys Tony could find, on either side of the Pond. "What would you like to see, Harry?"

"Everything!" Harry answered enthusiastically.

Steve chuckled. "We can't see everything in one day, so we'll have to narrow that down a bit - at least for now. What's the most interesting thing you want to see?"

Harry thought for a moment. "The British Museum. It's got a little bit of everything."

"JARVIS, what time does it open tomorrow?"

"The ticket desk and Great Court open at nine," JARVIS replied. "The galleries open at ten."

"Civilized," Tony observed. "Get us tickets and we'll pick them up tomorrow."

"Oh, wait," Harry said, sounding crestfallen. "I forgot - the Muggle authorities are looking for Sirius, too. He can't come."

Tony frowned at that, vaguely recalling something about seeing Sirius' face on television at some point. Even so, there had to be a way for Sirius to join them if he wanted. But Sirius surprised him.

"It's okay, pup," Sirius said, and Tony thought he looked like he meant it. "Not that I don't want to spend time with you, and once I'm free, I'll show you all kinds of places, but right now…" he shook his head. "I spent twelve years in Azkaban, with few visitors, and not much but myself for company. As great as being with you is, and as much as I'm starting to like these two, a day to myself wouldn't be horrible."

Harry frowned. "I just don't want to leave you here alone."

"I won't be alone," Sirius said. "I have Hedwig and JARVIS. I'll be fine. You guys go and enjoy."

"If you're sure?" Tony asked. "If you want to come, I'm sure we can come up with something - even if it's just to dye your hair for the day."

"I'm sure," Sirius said firmly. "Besides, I need to catch up on things, since you two already have." Tony must've let his confusion show, because Sirius grinned. "The Prophet."

"Ah, right." Tony shook his head. He should've realized. The stories in the Prophet were interesting to him in a distant kind of way, and mostly because some of them concerned Lily and Harry. Sirius, though - Sirius knew a lot of the people mentioned in the articles and would surely be curious about the magical world after Voldemort.

"Besides," Sirius added, "it might be best if I talk to my cousin first without anyone else around." He looked at Harry. "Assuming I can borrow Hedwig?"

"Of course," Harry replied immediately. "She likes to be busy."

Conversation turned to milder subjects, and after dinner Tony asked JARVIS to cue up Stardust. He never got tired of Robert De Niro in drag, but once he'd seen that, he abandoned the others for his workshop and figuring out how to build a better mousetrap. Or rat trap, as the case may be.

Not long after, Steve joined him. Tony looked up, wondering what the problem might be, but Steve just found himself an out-of-the-way corner and made himself comfortable with a book. Tony cocked his head and could just make out the title: Parting the Waters.

Huh. Nothing his father said ever suggested Rogers was that religious, but if he chose to read about Moses, Tony wouldn't judge.

He would, though, ask, "Didn't like the movie?"

Steve immediately looked up. "Loved the movie, thanks for showing it to us."

Tony waited, but when Steve didn't elaborate, he said, "So what brings you down here?"

"Sirius and Harry started talking magic. When it started focusing too much on Harry's homework, I-" Steve gave a bashful grin. "Well, I got bored. And I figured you might not mind some company while you worked."

Tony's eyebrow flew up. "That's boring, but this isn't?"

Steve shrugged. "This is how we spent a lot of evenings - we didn't have television, remember, let alone the Internet and ten thousand methods of self-distraction at our fingertips. When I could find paper and pencil, I'd draw. Or I'd play solitaire while Bucky read the newspaper, and then we'd trade off. Quiet nights in are what we did."

"I feel compelled," JARVIS said suddenly, "to point out that Sir's nights in can only infrequently be described as quiet."