"You are failing, Stane," said the man on the computer screen. "Stark is supposed to be dead."

"'And the Army is supposed to be wiping out the Ten Rings in response," Stane retorted. He didn't know the other man's name because he wasn't high enough in the ranks to know, and that turned his guts. All he did know was that the man was called "Node", and he was some kind of coordinator.

"There were complications," Node said, though he looked slightly guilty. He was a dark skinned man with a bald head and glasses.

"Complication," Stane corrected. "Raza fucked up."

"That's your concern," Node shot back. "You hired him, you must deal with his failure."

Stane snorted. "I leave for Dubai in a month and a half. Simple enough to make a side trip."

"And Stark?"

"He's up to something," Stane growled. "For twenty years, I've had to practically twist that punk's arm just to get him to work with our people, hell, with anyone, and now he's put together a research team working out of his house. AND, he's refashioned weapons development into making environmentally friendly cell phones. Goddamn hippie bullshit is what it is."

Node decided not to reply to that. Stane's ruthlessness and the arrogance that drove it had been one of the reasons he'd been recruited. But it also made him dangerous and erratic. "Again, your concern," Node said out loud. "Find out what Stark is making, get him back under control or eliminate him, and keep the weapon shipments moving. Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra," Stane replied and the screen went dark. "Prick," he added

Pepper had known Hogwarts would exceed her mental picture, but she hadn't expected to exceed it this much.

Towers stretched up to the sky from behind broad, thick walls, inset with gleaming windows and crafted from large stone and brick. Even from where she stood at the gate, feet rooted to the ground in awe, she could feel the history, the sheer age of the building, and yet, somehow, it was imposing without being threatening, radiating a sort of majestic permanence that spoke of welcome. I am here, it seemed to say, I will always be here.

"I never . . . my God . . ." she breathed.

"I know," Remus murmured. "I felt the same way. i think just about everyone does."

Pepper laughed and tried to imagine Tony's reaction. "Tony's would be awe followed by a detailed critique of every single structural flaw as he pretends that he was never awed in the first place."

"Probably," Remus agreed. "I'm a little surprised he didn't want to come along, actually."

"I'm not," Pepper replied. "Believe it or not, Tony's a homebody. Given the choice, he always prefers to stay home and in his workshop." They started walking and Pepper shivered slightly as she felt the tingle of the wards. An amulet she wore around her neck allowed her safe passage through the castle's magic and to see past the illusion that kept it safe from prying eyes. "Most of the reputation and rumors are false or exaggerated." Her mouth turned down in a frustrated scowl. "Including the one that he and I are secret lovers."

"That one I've heard," Remus drawled. "My neighbor Clarence is quite fond of it. It is apparently my duty as a Stark employee to speak out and confirm that all the rumors are true. Even the ones that contradict each other."

Pepper gave him a pained look. "Remus, we pay you enough, you have . . . a wide choice of neighborhoods." Remus' neighborhood, a swath of homes out in the desert, was more like a demilitarized zone than a community.

Remus shrugged. "I've lived in worse. All the houses have good solid walls. Nice and are soundproof, good for privacy." He smiled that twisted, sardonic smile that Pepper found to be equal parts fascinating and frustrating. "Besides, I'd miss Clarence."

Pepper laughed at that. "But yes, no truth to the rumors." She paused. "Tony is a good man, and Harry adores him and Tony adores him right back. And . . . I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it, and Harry would be over the moon, but I can't. I mean, he's the closest thing I have to a best friend, but he's my boss, and . . . I can't. I won't. Not even for Harry's sake."

Remus struggled to keep his expression neutral, as he pointed out some of the castle's more notable features. Pepper had that iron-clad sense of self-awareness and refusal to compromise that awareness that he'd always found attractive in someone and it was stirring feelings that he hadn't felt since . . . Remus clamped down on that as well. A relationship with Sirius had never been in the equation and even if he turned out to be innocent, and Remus couldn't see how, they were both different men now. Too different to pick up where they'd left off.

"Is the forest part of the school?" Pepper asked, jerking Remus from his thoughts.

"Ah, yes and no," Remus replied. "Technically, this is centaur land. For their time, the Founders were incredibly liberal and progressive, but they still chose to build Hogwarts here and forced the centaurs and other magical creatures into the forest. It's better now than it used to be, though I understand the current caretaker likes to have students serve detention with Hagrid when he has to go into the forest. Especially at night."

"That's . . . unsettling."

Remus smiled. "Hagrid wouldn't let anything in the forest lay a hand on them. He has a crossbow that will put down a werewolf at fifty meters and he's very good with it."

"There's werewolves in the forest?"

"Lupin," a man dressed entirely in black had caught up to them. His voice was level, and despite that they were the same height, Pepper suddenly felt like she was a kid on the very first day of school.

"Hello, Severus," Remus replied. "How's the new crop this year?"

"Poorly prepared, untalented, and singularly lacking anything resembling aptitude."

"Isn't that always the way? Ah, forgive me. Pepper, may I introduce Severus Snape, the school's Potions Master. Severus, this is Pepper Potts."

"A pleasure," Snape said, clearly not meaning it at all. "I assume the horrific pun is some sort of nickname."

"Well, yes," Pepper admitted. "But I've grown used to it." She tried one of her best smiles, the one that had thawed even the Russian foreign minister, whose icy demeanor was legendary.

Snape's lips didn't so much as twitch. "I must commend you, Lupin. Potter isn't as big of an idiot as I'd expect." Pepper bristled, but Snape didn't even blink. "Dumbledore tells me that's your doing."

Remus shrugged. "We made a few basic potions, went through the textbooks, nothing special. You're the Potions Master, Severus, I know where my talents lie."

"Indeed. You always did know your limits, Lupin," Snape said. With that, he strode off, black robe swishing about his legs.

Pepper shivered. "Unpleasant. And rude."

"For Severus that was high praise." Remus cocked his head. "He was rather chatty, actually. I wonder why."

Pepper's cheeks were flushed with excitement when she and Lupin returned. She wasn't much of a sports person, but she'd had to admit that Quidditch was very exciting and she was very pleased that Harry was enjoying it as well, his brief brush with death notwithstanding. She hadn't told Harry about Tony either, That was a surprise for christmas. She and Harry also needed to have a long talk.

Setting her coat down, she turned to see Lupin watching her, some sort of unreadable expression on his face. "Remus? Is something wrong?"

"Ah . . . no, no." He smiled. "I was just thinking that James and Lily must be incredibly glad that Harry is with you and not the Dursleys."

"The who?"

"Lily's sister and her husband. Unpleasant sorts."

"The ones Dumbledore went to first?"

Remus nodded. "Petunia despised Lily for being a witch, mostly jealously, I think. They turned their backs on her when she married James. I shudder to think what kind of person Harry would have been under their care."

"Are they really that bad?" Pepper asked. "Why would Dumbledore even think of them in the first place if they're so bad?"

"Blood," Remus told her. "'Blood harms, blood protects, blood connects', that's the first rule— the oldest rule — of magic. It all comes down, or back to, blood. Simply put, Petunia has the strongest blood connection to Harry, meaning that living in her home, Harry would have the strongest protection."

"But she didn't want him."

"Apparently so. As Harry's next closest blood relative, your blood also offers protection, just not as strong."

"But between SI's security and being in California, any loss in protection is made up for. Or should be?" She crossed her arms. "Still, these Dursleys, that they were even in the running . . . is Harry's safety that important?"

"Dumbledore seems to think so," Remus replied. "I don't fancy his methods, Pepper, but he usually knows what he's doing."

At that moment, the house intercom went off. "Pepper!" It was Tony. "How big are your hands?"

"What?" Pepper asked.

"Your hands. Show me your — just get down here." The intercom clicked off.

In the workshop, Tony lay on a bed, stripped to his waist, his arc pacemaker or whatever it was — Pepper understood that it was keeping him alive, but that was about it — half out of his chest. Yinsen was next to the bed, looking slightly frazzled.

"Hands," Tony barked.

"Tony, if you got ahold of plutonium again," Pepper warned.

"Nah, I'm on a watchlist for that, which is really unfair — okay good. Hands are good. C'mere."

Yinsen cleared his throat. "We are upgrading the chest implant," he explained. "But there is a wire in the wrong place that must be moved. I can't stand up or lean forward and Stark's hands are too big." He held out a set of latex gloves.

Pepper nodded and pulled them on.

"Do exactly as I tell you," Yinsen ordered. His directions were terse, but clear and it was really weird reaching into someone's chest, but it all went off without a hitch.

"Im impressed Ms. Potts," Yinsen told her, "I've known surgeons who didn't have your calm."

"I'm raising a child, Doctor," Pepper told him, peeling off the gloves. There was insulating gel in the cavity that reminded her way too much of pus. Ew. "This is hardly the most disgusting thing I've ever had to deal with."

"Really?" Tony asked.

"Remember Harry and the peaches?"

"To my eternal horror." Tony pulled his shirt on. "Bathtub had to be nuked from orbit," he told Remus. "It was the only way to be sure."

Pepper picked up the old implant. "What about this?"

"I am many things, Potts. Nostalgic isn't one of them." Tony made a dismissive gesture. "Toss it. Gentlemen, with me."

As they moved off to the computer bay, Pepper looked down at the implant and then back over at Tony and smiled. She knew exactly what to do. "Jarvis?" she asked as she climbed the stairs, "find me one of those places that makes those lucite trophy boxes."

Quirinus Quirrell stared down at his hands. Despite repeated washings, sometimes until the skin was red and raw, he still thought there was a gleam of silver to them. The stain of blood. Of unicorn blood. It was glorious.

It is power, whispered the Master. As I promised. Do you not feel it, Quirrell?

He did. He did feel it. Sometimes it was all he could do not to dance though the halls. But he had a role to play, and he would not fail.

Quirinus Quirrell had never been a good man.

Now, he was no longer a man at all.

Intellectually, Tony knew he couldn't blame Rhodey for thinking that Tony needed to "get his mind right", but God, if there was anyone who he thought should hear him out, it was Rhodey. But as much as Tony had faith in their friendship, today was proof that Rhodey still saw Tony Stark as the guy who made weapons.

Stripping off his coat, he tossed it on the couch and jogged downstairs. His dreams last night had been full of his weapons. His weapons, weapons he had created to protect his country's interests, weapons that belonged in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of terrorists. Worse, while Tony didn't know much about the Black Market, he did know that you couldn't buy as many Starkweapons as he had seen in that camp without having a direct line to the source. Someone in Stark Industries was dealing under the table and he meant to find out who and then he was going to do something about it.

"Jarvis, you up?" He asked, sliding into his chair, his fingers already on the keyboard, dancing as he recreated the onionskin plans he'd drawn up in the cave.

"For you, Sir, always," Jarvis replied and Tony grinned, before he sobered up and continued typing, refining and adding, as on the screen, the Mark 1 took shape. With a final flourish, he added in the schematics for the Mark 2 chest piece and hit save.

"I'd like to open a new project file, index as 'Mark Two' and then, for my eyes only, attach project Cool Name and categorize it as a modular component." While Cool Name—he really needed to come up with a better name— was still in the research stage, it was best to account for it now. "Throw in the chest piece as part of life support while you're at it."

"I assume the addition of Project Cool Name indicates you wish to store the Mark Two on your private server."

"You know it, Jay." Grabbing a light pen, Tony flipped the Mark Two over to his holo table and watched as the Mark One took shape. His original plan had been for Rhodey to wear the suit, but since Rhodey apparently thought that Tony was crazy (and maybe he was, just a little bit), he was just going to have to do this himself.

Get his mind right?

His mind had never felt righter.

"That is totally barbaric!" Hermione flushed as she watched the destroyed chess pice reassemble itself on the side of the board.

"That," Ron replied, "is Wizard Chess."

"Wizard Chess is totally barbaric," Hermione clarified.

Personally, Harry thought Wizard Chess was awesome. It reminded him of playing Battle Chess against Jarvis.

Hogwarts at Christmas, though, was even awesome-er. Wreathes over the doors, the huge christmas tree that Hagrid had literally dragged in and Harry wished he had a tape recorder because hearing ghosts sing as they roamed the halls in group put the operas and choral concerts Aunt Pepper liked to listen to to shame. Heck, he wanted a camera.

"So," Hermione continued, sitting next to Ron, "you're both going home?"

"Nope," Ron told her. "Mum and Dad are off to visit my brother Charlie in Romania, and Harry has invited me to come stay with him. In America." He said the last word with relish, watching Hermione to see her reaction.

Harry took the opportunity to set up one of Ron's knights for capture.

"Hm," Hermione might have looked slightly jealous, but it was difficult to tell. "Then you'll have to visit a library there, then. We still don't know who Nicolas Flamel is."

"We're going to ask Remus," Harry told her, "He knows everything."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"All right, everyone," Percy Weasley called out. "Everyone going home for Christmas, gather by the doors, carriages leave in five minutes! Five minutes, everyone!"

Remus had met them at King's Cross and once they had taken the Portkey to Los Angeles, Happy had been just outside the entrance to the Mercado De Las Pulgas, which was Los Angeles' version of Diagon Alley, the name reflecting the city's Spanish roots.

Ron hadn't been too amazed by the limo, he insisted his Dad had one that he was working on to make magic. Not a limo, a car, but it was the same thing, apparently.

This early, traffic was supremely light, and they made good time back to Tony's house, Harry didn't think too much on it, they had always celebrated Christmas at Tony's house, but it did remind him of something.

"Remus? Has there been word about Tony?"

Remus looked at him gravely. "I'm afraid you'll need to ask Pepper about that, Harry."

"Oh, okay," Harry said, turning towards the house, which was fortunate, because Remus was trying very hard not to laugh and for just a moment, he'd lost control and a smile broke out on his face. Still, he held Ron back with a hand as Harry went inside.

"Wait for it," Remus said simply.

Then, from inside, loud enough that they could probably have heard it at Hogwarts; "TONY!"

"Thanks," Ron said.

"Not at all."

The balcony just off the living room of Tony's house boasted a small herb garden, courtesy of Pepper, who had started it largely because it seemed like she spent three quarters of her life here and had reasoned that access to fresh herbs for cooking was worth spending extra effort to grow them She also enjoyed gardening as a relaxation method and working for Tony caused her no end of stress.

"Aunt Pepper?"

Pepper turned to see Harry standing there, looking pensive and Pepper managed a smile. This was the conversation she'd been dreading for years. "Hello, Harry." Rising, she stepped over to the bench and Harry sat down next to her. "Is something wrong?"

"Why did you never tell me I was a wizard?" He looked hurt and betrayed and Pepper felt like she could have thrown herself into the water below for causing it.

"Do you remember last year at science camp when they had that guest speaker? The one with the funny name?"

Harry nodded. "Otto Octavius."

Pepper nodded. "Remember what he said about science? It was about being able to understand something well enough to explain it to other people and if you couldn't understand something well enough to explain it, don't try." Harry nodded. "I don't understand magic, Harry. I don't understand what being magical means or is and until Remus showed up. there was no one who could teach me." She put her arm around his shoulders. "Harry, when Dumbledore brought you to me, you were this . . . bundle in a basket with a cut on your forehead and the most brilliant eyes I'd ever seen and he told me exactly what I needed to hear to take you in and I'm glad he did because you are the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Really," Pepper confirmed. "But, it also means I've pretty much been in the dark. Harry, you're going someplace where Tony and I can't follow; you're magical, we're not. It's two different worlds."

"Like that's going to stop us from trying," Tony added and Pepper glanced up. Tony stood by the sliding glass door. "Face it, Mop." Tony continued, sitting down on Harry's other side. "You're stuck with us."

As the sun set, a very unconventional family sat on that balcony, reaffirming that whatever else, no one would be taking them apart.

What none of them saw was that through the window, Remus Lupin was watching, and considering leaving.

Harry had his own room at Tony's house, as did Pepper. With nine bedrooms, there was plenty of room for a pair of semi-permanent houseguests. Tony, proving that once again, his time away had changed him, was loving having guests over, dead set on making this a christmas to remember. Harry and Ron had spent the day exploring the estate, exposing Ron to video games, and, at least for Harry, catching up on Naruto.

Later, Ron confided to Pepper that he didn't understand the appeal of the show, but he did like "American Telly".

Now, Harry and Ron bunked down on a set of cots in the middle of Harry's room, sharing a bag of Skittles. Both boys were still filled with the energy of the very young and despite the jet lag, were still, as Happy would put it, "raring to go".

"This place is huge," Ron marveled, "and there's no house elves. How is it so clean?"

Harry, having no idea what a house elf was, shrugged. "Dunno. I think Tony has robots or something."

"Wicked. Dad would have a field day with this place." Ron paused. Arthur Weasley had an almost fanatical obsession for trying to figure out all things Muggle and a place like this, would be his Holy Grail. "We can't tell him about it. He'd move in and never leave. And Mum would blame me for it."

The door opened and Pepper poked her head in. "Alright you two, bed. We need to leave early tomorrow."

"Aw, but Aunt Pepper, we're not sleepy," Harry protested. Can't we stay up?"

"Harry, do you really want to be tired when riding Space Mountain tomorrow?"

Harry's eyes lit up. "No."

Pepper grinned. "Then bed. Jarvis, lights out. Set the alarm for five."

Of course, Miss Potts." The lights dimmed as Harry and Ron laid down. "Good night,"

"Good night, Aunt Pepper," Harry replied. "Good night, Jarvis. 'Night, Ron."

"Good night, Harry," Pepper replied and left, closing the door behind her.

"What's Space Mountain?" Ron asked.

"It's a ride at Disneyland."

"What's Disneyland?"

"It's a place. Better than Hogwarts."

Somehow, Ron doubted that. Muggles were weird.

Muggles. Were. AWESOME!

The rides, the sights, the stores, the people in costume, and the food! The food!

"I want to live here," Ron said, mouth full of turkey. "Can I live here?" There was a section of Disneyland themed like American Western movies which had turkey legs that rivaled those served at Hogwarts, but bigger. "Forget Hogwarts. This is where i want to go."

"Aunt Pepper says that if you lived here, it wouldn't be special anymore," Harry replied.

"I don't see how that's possible," Ron told him.

Harry shrugged in the universal manner of "Adults were weird", and took another bite of turkey leg.

A short distance away, Remus, Pepper, and Tony were enjoying their own turkey legs. Yinsen had elected to stay behind at the mansion to run calculations.

"Ah, youth," Remus marveled, watching Harry and Ron all but inhale the food.

"Says the guy who was sick just last week," Tony told him, eyeing Remus' plate which had been loaded down only slightly less than Harry and Ron's plates had been. "Is all that food a wizard thing?"

"Yes and no," Remus replied. "Magic is biological, at least in part, and I have been using a lot of magic for Project Cool Name . . . and we really need a new name for that."

"Like?" Tony asked.

Remus thought for a moment and then sighed. "I have no bloody idea."

"I still think we need to give more attention to Phase 2," Pepper pointed out. "I know, I know, Phase 1 is still in the research stage, we're nowhere even close to building it, but without groundwork . . ."

"Potts, relax. Disneyland. Fun. Stuff. Work later." Tony waved a hand. "Fun."

In an unremarkable office in an unremarkable office building, two men studied the screen before them.

"Jas?" Phillip Coulson asked. He was one of those men who was capable of blending in anywhere by dint of being very forgettable. Short brown hair, unremarkable facial features, and dressed in a suit that gave no hints to its origins. Anyone from a lowly office drone to a lawyer on their way to court might have worn such a suit, and Coulson could have been any of those.

Japser Sitwell, by comparison, looked exactly like an office drone. Not a lowly one, but he had that pallor that could only come from being exposed to artificial light for hours on end, day in, day out. He had recently been promoted to level 8 clearance, and as Senior agent, it was Coulson's responsibility to brief him on certain things. That two men were also friends, albeit only in the intelligence sense of the word (your friend today may kill you tomorrow and might or might not feel bad about it). "That Merlin Codex is fantastic," Sitwell admitted, and then held up his hand and a long thin stick slid out of his sleeve. "Did get a few things wrong though." The stick vanished into his sleeve again.

Coulson sighed and updated Sitwell's file. "You should have mentioned it early on. You get a pay raise."

"Statue for Secrecy," Sitwell replied.

"Fair enough." Coulson closed Sitwell's file.

"How does Shield know about the Magical world?" Sitwell's tone was curious.

"Apparently Director Carter came to some sort of agreement with the Wizengamot," Coulson told him. "The exact details of the agreement are only known by Director Fury."

"Carter is a witch?" Sitwell asked, shocked.

Coulson shrugged. "Unknown. If she is, she's kept a secret."

"But then how did she even—"

Again, Coulson shrugged. "You would have to ask Director Fury."

Sitwell visibly shuddered. In some ways, Fury was scarier than the Black Widow. "I assume I was briefed on the Merlin Codex existence for a reason besides being level eight?"

Coulson nodded. "As you know, Tony Stark returned from Afghanistan last month and has been avoiding debriefing, which is hindering operations against the Ten Rings terrorist group. Instead he is in seclusion at his home in Malibu, having emerged twice, once just after Thanksgiving to travel to Los Angeles AFB to speak with Colonel James Rhodes, a long time friend and then today, to go to Disneyland, where he has booked a suite of rooms for five days. We also believe he's made contact with the Magical World and he's been shipping materials to his house from Stark International. According to our sources, he's formed a personal research team composed of himself, Doctor Josef Yinsen, who was imprisoned with him in Afghanistan, and—"

"Lupin!" Sitwell exclaimed as Lupin's picture came on screen.

"You know him?"

"Know of him," Sitwell clarified. "We studied magic at the same school, but were in different houses and different years." He thought for a moment, anticipating Coulson's next question. "Usually had a book with him. Made prefect, but Potter took Head Boy." Sitwell thought some more. "Dark Arts specialist, knows a lot of about magical creatures and how to counter curses and hexes."

Coulson nodded. "What else do you know about Stark?"

"As little as possible," Sitwell replied. distaste evident in his voice.

"Stark has no biological children that we know of, but his assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts is raising a young boy named Harry Potter who is supposedly her younger cousin from a distant relative but there are inconsistencies. . ."

As Coulson continued, Sitwell paid very close attention and gave no hint that he was smiling in triumph.

He'd found Harry Potter. His superiors were going to be very, very pleased . . . both those in Hydra . . . and the ones like him . . . who still served the Dark Lord.

It was New Year's, and Tony, Pepper, Harry, Lupin and Yinsen had been invited to spend it at The Burrow.

In the years to come, Pepper would look back on that first trip to The Burrow as the day she'd begun to understand the dual nature of Remus Lupin and more importantly, what Dumbledore had truly signed her up for when he'd given her Harry.

"There's no wifi out here," Tony complained from the front seat. "I can barely get a cell signal."

"Most of Ottery Saint Catchpool is magical," Lupin told him, eyes on the road. He was driving due largely to the fact that he had an EU Driver's License. "You'll get a wireless signal out here, maybe the telly, but that's about it."

"No, that's just it," Tony said, "I'm not getting a . . . this is one of those 'word means differently in America than it does here' things, isn't it?"

"Pretty much, yes," Lupin said with a grin.

"I hate England," Tony grumped, slumping in his seat. "I should buy the place and make you use correct words. Hell, I should buy Europe. Pepper, let's buy Europe."

"No," Pepper said absently from her seat. She was working her way through a very thick stack of papers.

"Why not?" Tony replied, rising to the challenge.

"Because I still have nightmares about the last time."

"Dare I ask?" Yinsen asked.

"The last time Tony tried to buy and on his own, he almost undermined the Finnish government," Pepper explained, not taking her eyes from the papers in her lap. "While trying to buy a beach house. In Greece."

"Hey, that minister was corrupt," Tony justified, turning around in his seat to look at Pepper.

"Tony, Finland came within inches of declaring war against Canada. The State Department is still unhappy with us."

"Ah, here we are," Remus announced, bringing the van to a halt. "The Burrow."

"Oh good," Tony announced, opening his door. "Because I seriously need to . . . whoa."

The house before them had begun as a small cottage or farmhouse, with an adjacent pond and a small pen with a couple of pigs. A shed was nearby, and further on were some trees. However, at some point in history, the house had undergone extensive . . . modification.

It now rose up seven or eight stories, boxy and ramshackle in defiance of physics and architecture, it seemed to droop in places, and bits of the walls seemed to have been patched over the years.

Inside though, everything seemed to speak of home. The furniture was old and had been well used, but still scrubbed to a sparkling shine. A stair case rose up through the center, wrapped around a fireplace big enough for Tony to stand in.

"It's not much," Ron admitted, "but it's home."

"It's brilliant," Harry said.

"Yeah, Mop, it is," Tony agreed.

Molly Weasley had always been an excellent cook, but she'd outdone herself and they sat around the living room after dinner, talking. Impressively, the entire family had gathered, including Bill and Charlie, the two oldest Weasley children.

Remus, always conscious of his curse, sat slightly apart from the others, a tumbler of fine wizarding brandy in his hand. Tony had acquired the bottle the moment he'd been told about the invitation and had brought it as a thank you gift to their hosts. Pepper had confided that Tony actually had impeccable manners . . . when he bothered to use them. Which was less often that either Pepper or Stane would have liked.

Still, if he half closed his eyes, he could almost imagine he was at James' house with James, Sirius, and Peter over Christmas, just the four of them, as it had always been.

As it should have been.

Sighing, he opened his eyes and found himself looking at Harry and Ron, who were seated with Charlie and having a rousing Quidditch discussion. Ron had his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder. Despite being ten years old, Scabbers still seemed to be quite the spry little fellow as he chewed methodically on a bit of shortbread cracker, the black patches on his fur . . .

It was though someone had slammed on the brakes, bringing time to a standstill and Remus paled, feeling as though his heart had become encased in ice as he actually took a good hard look at Scabbers and then somehow, he was on his feet, wand out, and the blue light of a reverse Hormorphus Charm sending Scabbers flying from Ron's shoulder, following it with a binding spell.

He wanted so badly for that light to be green, so badly to let the wolf out, but a lifetime of control had come to his rescue. Answers. He need answers. More importantly, for Sirius' sake, he needed proof. The ice around his heart filled him, everything was deadly, frozen calm.

Ignoring the fact that everyone had their wands pointed at him, he instead walked over to the man who lay on the floor, struggling against the binds that held him down and gently poked his ratlike nose with the tip of his wand as he smiled the terrible smile of a predator.

"Hello, Peter."

Author's Note:

"Mercado De Las Pulgas" more or less translates to "Market of the Fleas", or, if you prefer, "Flea Market".

As it turns out, Sybil Trelawny did, in fact, hear Harry's yell in her mind, resulting in her racing to see Dumbledore to advise him that Hufflepuff fourth year Tony Bufferly was in terrible danger. However, she'd been bathing at the time and thus was clad only in a towel when she passed Severus Snape on her way to Dumbledore's office. A subsequent request for the installation of a bath in Snape's quarters was rejected.

If you've eaten the turkey legs at Disneyland, you know what Ron is on about.

For those wondering, Project Cool Name is the secret project Tony recruited Yinsen for in the previous chapter.

Ask yourself this regarding Cap 2. Did Peggy have dementia? Or was she hit with a very powerful and well constructed Memory Charm?

While the exact details of the agreement between Shield and the Wizengamont are secret, a persistent rumor among Level 8 Shield agents is that some fairly detailed threats were involved and that then Director Carter broke someone's jaw. When Coulson asked, Fury told him that part of the agreement was that that rumor never be confirmed or denied. This has led to some fairly spectacular speculation, of which Agent Burns' theory involving Howard Stark and time-traveling sharks is especially notable and well considered to be within the realm of possibility, thus justifying the extremely high percentage of Shield's yearly budget going towards the Psychiatry Department.

Sitwell was a Ravenclaw, two years behind Lupin and the Marauders, if anyone's wondering.

A Harry Potter wiki stated that the spell to force an Animagus to human form may be the Hormorphus Charm, mentioned by Gilderoy Lockhart in Book 2. For lack of anything better, I'm rolling with it.

Two Wizards is the single most popular fanfic I have ever written and I have been doing this since AOL was . . . well, I've been fan-ficing for very long time.

Anyways, point is, every day I get notifications that people are liking this, favoriting it, following it, following me, and it's awesome. I mean, I don't know if there's a link on TV tropes or I've been recc'd on a popular blog or what, but every time I get an email, I smile.

So, thank you. Thank you one and all.