After being excused from the dinner table, Harry retreated to his room and flung himself onto his bed, smiling so widely his cheeks hurt.

He'd gone from having no family at all - because surely the Dursleys didn't count - to having an abundance of family - Tony, Steve, Sirius, and now Crispian Paddington.

Okay, he'd only known Crispian for the day, but already the man had shown him as much care and concern as anyone else ever had. That Crispian would be available to help him out in the magical world was just icing on the cake.

That was in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Tonks, of course, who were technically family because Mrs. Tonks was Sirius' cousin, but they were more professional than family. That could change, of course, once Harry met their daughter Nymphadora.

He wrinkled his nose at the name. It wasn't the strangest name he'd ever heard in the magical world - Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore came to mind - but it seemed that the magical world had far more than its fair share of unusual names.

Like Hermione.

Except she wasn't magical when she was named. Or, well, she was, but nobody knew that. Her non-magical parents gave her that name and even had a justification for it. Unusual it might be, but it was from Shakespeare, and nobody argued with a pedigree like that.

And, really, he couldn't think of a better name for his friend than the one she had. … Or was it? He frowned, thinking.

The name came from Shakespeare; that much he knew. But was Hermione the character worth naming someone for? There was one way to find out.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"There's a character from Shakespeare named Hermione. Which play is she in?"

"She is the Queen of Sicily in The Winter's Tale," JARVIS replied immediately.

"Has it ever been made into a film?"

"Three times. A silent film in 1910, a 1967 movie, and a 1981 television program."

"Do you have access to any of them?" Harry asked. "I'd like to watch it. Maybe not the silent one, though."

There was a pause before JARVIS spoke again. "None of them appear to be publicly available. I am submitting requests to the production companies to allow us to screen one or the other of them."

"Oh. Thank you," he added, because it wasn't JARVIS' fault they didn't have access to the films.

"In the meantime, if you wish," JARVIS said, "the text of the play is freely available. I can broadcast it for you, assigning different voices for different characters."

The idea struck Harry as wrong, somehow, and he couldn't explain why. Still, he didn't want to disappoint or offend JARVIS, so he thought for a moment before saying, "Does Hermione have a major part in the play, or is she just … I don't know … there?"

"She is quite central to the story, I assure you."

"Then does she have a defining moment? A speech she's known for?"

"Several."

"Then would you please pick one, and play it for me? I'll hold off on the others until we have a film."

"Very well. I will program a suitable voice."

Harry toed off his trainers - more difficult now that he had a pair that actually fit him - and adjusted his position on his bed so that he was a bit more comfortable.

"Act three, scene two," JARVIS said, and a moment later, a feminine voice surrounded him.

"Since what I am to say must be but that

Which contradicts my accusation and

The testimony on my part no other

But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me

To say 'not guilty:' mine integrity

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,

Be so received. But thus: if powers divine-"

The door to Harry's room swung open and a moment later, Tony was asking, "Listening to poetry? Nothing wrong with that, was never my thing, though."

"It's Shakespeare," Harry replied. "The character my friend Hermione was named for."

"Huh. Interesting. Play it for me while I'm working sometime, J."

"As you wish, Sir."

Then Tony focused on Harry. "How's the homework coming?"

"I'm almost done with everything," Harry said, and it was simply the truth. "I just have my Potions essay to finish." He felt his shoulders rising toward his ears as he added, "Thank you for letting me do my homework."

"Letting you?" Tony scoffed. "Making you, more like. At the least encouraging you."

Harry managed a laugh, weak as it was. "Maybe I should've said, thank you for caring whether I get my homework done or not."

Tony suddenly looked uncomfortable. "And that leads into what I wanted to talk with you about. You may not like it."

Hoping his sudden unease didn't show, Harry shuffled to a sitting position. "What?"

Tony stared out the window for a moment, watching the late evening shadows darkening London. Finally, he focused on Harry once more.

"I get it, you know?" he said finally. "I get that Hogwarts was a refuge for you - an escape from the Dursleys. And in those circumstances … well. I'm still not happy about it, but Hogwarts probably comes out ahead in that contest."

Contest? Harry frowned, not entirely certain what Tony meant.

"But things are different now," Tony continued. "The Dursleys aren't in your life anymore. I am, though, and while they didn't care if you lived or died, I do. I care very much."

Harry could only nod as he swallowed past a sudden tightening in his throat.

"It's because I care," Tony continued, "that I don't want to send you back there."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Tony just kept on talking.

"First year, it was a troll and a possessed teacher. Second year, it was a possessed diary and a basilisk, of all things. And just thinking about a basilisk still makes me homicidal. So-"

The change in timbre of Tony's voice made Harry focus more seriously on his father.

"Make your case," Tony said. "Tell me why I should let you go back to Hogwarts ever again."

It was a reasonable enough request, and Harry opened his mouth to answer-

-and then shut it again when there were no words immediately at hand. So he thought about the question, looking at it from different angles, trying to see past Tony's focus on the bad things at Hogwarts. It was hard to do that when Harry himself didn't think of the things as bad so much as exciting.

Oh, facing Voldemort and the basilisk had been scary in the moment, but looking back, Harry privately admitted that doing so much when he was so young was kind of cool. At least he'd actually done those things, as opposed to being hailed for something nobody living knew the truth of.

Harry gave himself a mental shake and brought his thoughts back to the question at hand, somewhat surprised that they'd drifted so easily.

Focusing again on why Tony should let him go back to Hogwarts, he was almost embarrassed when the only thing he could find to say was, "My friends are there. Ron and Hermione."

"Hermione, you've talked about her," Tony said. "But who's Ron?"

"My first friend," Harry said, then corrected himself. "My first human friend, I mean. Before him there was Hedwig."

There was only a flicker of anger across Tony's face at that, and no trace of anger in his voice when Tony asked, "So when did you meet Ron?"

"On the train to Hogwarts," Harry replied immediately. "He was looking for a seat because everyplace else was full. We talked on the trip, and he told me a little about the magical world, and…"

He trailed off, thinking again.

"And?" Tony prompted gently.

"And he helped me get through the traps protecting the Philosopher's Stone," Harry finished, and even he could hear how lame the words sounded.

"What else?" Tony asked, and Harry blinked up at him. Tony smiled gently at him. "That's not all - not with the expression you had. What else?"

Being able to trust an adult - even considering being able to trust an adult - was still a new feeling. Still, Tony had already done more for him than any other adult in his life, and he'd been remarkably open about magic.

That, Harry told himself wryly, really shouldn't be too surprising, since Tony routinely flew around in a suit of armor in Gryffindor colors.

Maybe - just maybe - Tony wouldn't abandon him if Harry told him the truth.

There was only one way to find out. Harry took a breath. "Remember I said that people thought I was dark just because I can talk to snakes?"

Tony's expression clouded. "Did he?"

"No," Harry said, then frowned. "Or at least he never said so to my face. But he didn't defend me, either."

"And that hurts?" Tony asked.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe, but it's not the worst I've hurt."

"Emotional pain can be-" Tony stopped and huffed a breath. "And you know that, too, because I'll eat my arc reactor if the Dursleys weren't emotionally abusive as well as physically."

Harry managed a slight grin, then blew out a heavy breath. "Ron's … well … jealous. I don't know how he'll take me suddenly having even more money and an even more famous father. If he's even heard of Iron Man or Tony Stark, which I'm not sure of. But somebody will know, and he'll find out, and then…" Harry trailed off with a shrug, unwilling to admit aloud that he hadn't written Ron with his news for just that reason.

Tony came further into the room and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed. "Sounds like he might not be as good a friend as you want him to be."

Harry bristled, but Tony just met his gaze without flinching, and after a long moment, Harry sank back in his chair.

"I kind of thought that," he admitted quietly. "But I figured I just didn't know enough about what friendship is to judge."

Tony looked like he wanted to give Harry a hug. Or murder the Dursleys. Or maybe both. In the end, he just ran a hand over his face, and when he looked back at Harry his expression was normal.

"You'll have to talk to Spangles about real friendship," he said. "He's probably had more of it than the both of us combined. Or maybe Sirius - the way he talks about his friends from school makes me think he knows a bit, too. What I do know is that real friends may be a bit jealous, even envious, of each other from time to time - that's natural - but they get past that and stick with you. Unless you do something unforgiveable, of course, but that's really rare."

And that might have been the most Tony had ever said to him at once. Then again, they'd only known each other … a week? Really? Harry counted the days over in his head and, yes, it was just over a week since they'd met.

It felt like longer. It felt like Tony had always been in Harry's life.

Which was the only reason Harry felt free to grin over at him. "That sounded almost parental."

"Don't be insulting." But Tony was grinning, too, if only a little, so Harry didn't think he'd actually offended the older man.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment before Tony quirked an eyebrow at him. "You realize you haven't made a good case for going back to Hogwarts."

"Because I can't," Harry admitted. "And I'm pretty sure the only things I'd really miss are Hermione, Ron, and Quidditch. And maybe Hagrid."

"Hagrid?" Tony frowned, then his expression lit with recognition. "Big guy, took you to Diagon Alley the first time."

"That's the one."

Tony grinned, but sobered quickly enough. "Okay, time to get real. If Hogwarts is out of the question, what's your best-case scenario? What do you want?"

That was a question Harry hadn't considered before, and he found himself blurting the first thing that came to mind. "I don't want to give up magic!"

"Why should you give up magic?" Tony asked, obviously befuddled. "Nobody's asking you to give it up. Magic's a part of you."

Harry swallowed hard. "You're - awfully accepting of this. Magic, I mean."

"Meh. Aliens, god of thunder…" Tony shrugged. "And that god of thunder said magic and science are the same thing. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and the corollary of that is that magic is just sufficiently advanced technology."

"Science and technology aren't the same thing," Harry observed.

"Close enough for this discussion," Tony shot back. "And once I work my way through your arithmetic books-"

"Arithmancy."

"Right, those, and the books on runes, I might be able to combine them here on Earth."

"But magic and technology don't mix," Harry protested.

"Bullshit."

Harry blinked. "Bullshit?"

Tony pointed at him. "Don't use that word until you're legal. But yes, bullshit. Where's the entrance to Diagon Alley?"

Harry blinked again at the apparent non sequitur. "The Leaky Cauldron."

"Which is where?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Charing Cross Road."

"Yep, somewhere between Trafalgar Square and the British Museum," Tony said. "Heard of any power outages there? Unusually large number of computer glitches?"

"Well, no," Harry admitted. "But would I?"

"Trust me, if technology in that part of London didn't work, everybody would know. And be shouting for the power company to do something about it. The whole place would be swarming with reporters and repair people faster than you can say electricity."

Harry felt as if he'd fallen off his broom in the middle of a Wronski Feint. "But - why do they tell us that?"

"No idea. And maybe there's something we don't know yet, but on its face, I call bullshit. Now that's done, back to the question. What do you want, if Hogwarts is off the table?"

"Hermione and Quidditch," Harry replied immediately, and thought for a moment. "Ron, maybe, if he's not too jealous. If you're asking if I want to go to school or be tutored, I don't think I have a preference. If you're asking if I want to stay in Britain or go with you to - America? Then I don't care. Maybe getting away from the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing would be good."

"Okay. Let's make it happen."

Harry blinked. "Just like that?"

Tony grinned. "Just like that. So - Hermione's in France, right?"

"Until the week before classes start."

"Pretty sure we should discuss this in person," Tony declared. "It's, what, an hour and a half flight? So how about we fly down tomorrow?"

"I'd love to, but I don't have a passport," Harry said.

"Sure you do," Tony replied. "I ordered one as soon as I realized you didn't have one in your things. No, I didn't snoop, really, just saw what you brought with you when you were unpacking."

"But - it's only been a week?" Harry's voice sounded weak. He hated that, but his overwhelm was quickly growing beyond his ability to manage.

"There's a saying in the software industry," Tony said. "You can have it cheap, fast, or good - pick any two. So I picked fast and good, using a picture JARVIS supplied. It came this morning."

"Um." There really wasn't anything Harry could say to that, so he just sat there, for once letting himself feel surprised.

"So call her up, find out what her plans are tomorrow, and we'll meet her there," Tony concluded.

"Just like that?" Harry asked, startled once again at how Tony just … made things happen.

"Just like that."

HP | HP |HP | HP |HP

After dinner, Tony retreated to his workshop. He wanted - no, needed - to know why the magical world thought magic and technology couldn't co-exist despite obvious evidence to the contrary in London proper, and the best place to start seemed to be with Arithmancy.

He'd scanned the textbooks he'd bought, admittedly paying less attention once he realized the kind of math involved, but tonight he resolved to read them thoroughly, however boring he found the math, to try to grasp the underlying concepts.

It wasn't quite as challenging as building a miniature arc reactor with, as Spock said in that one episode Tony could never remember the title of, stone knives and bearskins, but it should be enough to keep him occupied for a while.

Some time later, the elevator dinged softly. Tony blinked, focusing eyes that hadn't blinked in too long on the door that slid open to reveal Sirius Black.

"Safe to enter?" Sirius asked, looking around more cautiously than curiously without actually stepping off the elevator.

"Sure, c'mon in." Tony set the book aside to stand and stretch muscles that had been in the same position too long. "Just reading."

Sirius emerged fully and started toward him. "Steve and JARVIS both said I could interrupt you, if you can spare a minute."

"Take five. Or ten. However many you need. I probably should rest my eyes a bit anyway. Beer?"

"Whatever you're having."

Tony went to the fridge - all his workshops had refrigerators fully stocked with water and his favorite soda and beer - to retrieve two bottles and open them before gesturing Sirius to a seat.

"Need to move a bit, don't mind me," he said. He handed Sirius a bottle and rolled his shoulders. "What's up?"

"Harry got an owl from Hogwarts," Sirius replied. "Offering to let you guys have your meeting there on Friday."

Something in the other man's manner set Tony's instincts tingling. "Any reason we shouldn't?"

"Not that I know of." Sirius took a drink and rolled the bottle between his hands. "It's just - I've never heard of Muggles visiting Hogwarts before."

"And you don't think that's a problem?"

Sirius looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Hogwarts wants - expects - mundane parents to just send their children there for nine months a year-"

"Ten."

"The point-" Tony glared mildly at the other man for the interruption, "-is that there's a threat involved that I really don't like."

"Threat? What threat?" Sirius' frown deepened. "You've got to know that trolls and a possessed teacher aren't usual at a school."

"Not what I'm talking about - I'm talking about the threat that if the parents don't agree, they and their children are made to forget anything about magic. That's bad enough, but the children's magic is bound - they cripple the kids if the parents don't send them to Hogwarts."

Sirius' mouth opened and shut. Then he glared at Tony and drained his bottle before slamming it down on the coffee table. Then he sank back on the sofa, all the fight in him suddenly gone.

"You-" Sirius blew out a breath. "You're like a force of nature."

"I've been called worse." Tony grinned and took another swallow of beer. He sobered again. "What bothers me most about this is how little consideration is given to the parents. Here, your kid can do magic. Gosh, wow, cool! But they have to go to a special school that, unlike regular boarding schools, you can't visit, and then when they get home, they can't even show you what they're learning. What parent - what mundane parent - could find that a good situation?"

"The Statute of Secrecy-"

"Doesn't apply. The parents already know about magic. As long as the kids are just practicing what they learned, what's the problem?"

Sirius shook his head. "You're going to turn the magical world upside down."

But he was grinning when he said it, and Tony grinned back.

Sirius' expression fell more quickly than Tony would've liked, and he raised an eyebrow. "Something else on your mind?"

"Harry."

"What about him?"

Sirius grimaced. "Not so much Harry as what you plan to do with him."

"I plan to give him a home, make sure he gets a solid education in both worlds. I plan to be a father to him, even if I have no idea how to do that."

"Good," Sirius said. "That's good." He took a breath and met Tony's gaze. "Two questions. First, are you going to do all that here or in America?"

"Mostly the States," Tony replied.

Sirius nodded as though he'd expected that answer, then straightened. "Is there any room in that life for his godfather?"

Tony stared at him, figuring his bafflement showed on his face. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"It's just-" Sirius got to his feet and paced away from Tony. Tony bit back the impulse to tell him not to touch anything. "I thought I'd be his father, once they questioned me and released me. But they never did, and now you're here and I don't know what to be."

"Be what you were to him before James and Lily were killed," Tony said. "I'm betting you were the uncle who told him very seriously to mind his parents and then snuck him candy when they weren't looking."

Sirius laughed. "He was a toddler - no candy. But no, that was more Remus than me. I was actually the more serious one."

"No pun intended."

"Pun very seriously intended." Sirius grinned briefly but sobered almost immediately. "It was a huge responsibility James gave me, naming me Harry's godfather. I didn't want to let him down, either of them." His sober expression slid into a scowl. "And then I did, and Harry was abused for twelve years."

"No, you didn't," Tony said. "The magical world let you both down. Maybe you shouldn't have gone after Pettigrew that night, but there's no way in hell the Powers That Be should've ignored James and Lily's wishes for their son. It's their fault, not yours."

Sirius blew out a breath. "You make a good point."

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "But you'll still feel guilty about it all now and then, won't you?"

Sirius laughed weakly. "I had twelve years in Azkaban to build up a store of guilt."

"Yeah, well, stop selling it, 'cause nobody's buying any." Tony grinned and for a moment felt a genuine camaraderie with the other man. Then something occurred to him. "You know the only reason I hired Paddington to be our liaison to the magical world is because of the dumbasses here in Britain, right?"

"Huh?" Sirius looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you knew, sorry." And Tony explained what they'd done while Sirius was in Egypt. "So don't take it as an insult - as soon as the Brits get their heads out of their collective asses, I hope you'll help us out when we need it."

"Of course! I don't know how the American magical world works, but I'm a quick study."