AN:I do not own Harry Potter or the Marvel Universe. They belong to their respective authors and writers.

I would like to apologize for any mistakes in advance. Please do not copy this story.

"It's repulsive!" he voiced petulantly.

"It's the only thing we have! Get off your high horse, Malfoy or I'm gonna kill you myself."

The blonde glared at her but opened his mouth when she tried to feed him. He hadn't realised where he was at the time but had realised that something was wrong as soon as he woke up. It had been 2 days and she had finally told him about her encounter with Phineas Black and the machine he wanted them to work on. He almost had a panic attack when he saw where he was and that his magic wasn't working, but she had somehow managed to calm him down. They had been through so much in school and being Auror partners for about 7 years was enough to build the trust that they had now. He was weak, very weak, unable to move much and the bracelet binding his magic wasn't doing any favour either. She had given him some water and now was feeding him beans that had been mashed and were mostly watered-down. After weeks of his 'sleep', she didn't think giving him proper food would be alright and she didn't have anything else.

Tony was staring at the two of them, possibly bursting with questions, but now that Malfoy was awake, he would have to wait.

Once done, she gave him the pain medication the good doctor had left two days back. Malfoy was reluctant at first and scared out of his mind, but she was just glad that he trusted her enough and didn't throw a tantrum. Within minutes he was out like a light.

With a heavy sigh, she turned to Tony and was startled to see that he was pouring vegetables into two pots. It was the first time she had seen him doing something other than looking like death warmed over. She was curious but didn't say anything when he carried the food over to the cot and after some thought, sat on the foot of her bed. Dorea took a breath, pushed herself up, heading over and sat on the head of the same cot. She took the bowl he was holding out and whispered, "Thank you, Mr Stark."

"Tony." He corrected.

She gave him a small smile and they finished their food in silence until he broke it with a single sentence. "I'm not going to make their missile."

Dorea blinked, surprised and unsure what to say when he tapped the electromagnet in his chest with a finger and said, "First, I need to get rid of this."

She stared puzzled, waiting for him to explain and once he was done, she was left in awe of his plan. Even if it didn't work, for now, his plan was their only saving grace.

Men swarmed around as Tony listed things he would need. They had set up two work stations on the opposite sides – one for the missile and one for the machine. She still hadn't explained to him what the machine did, but so far, the man had been patient and hadn't asked her about it again. But she knew, she would have to tell him soon… about everything. The machine needed extreme energy and runes a muggle wouldn't know about, but she guessed that's why she and Draco were here. Tony said he won't be working on the missile or the machine, but she couldn't take the risk. Phineas didn't seem like someone who could be fooled and leaving Tony out of the loop would be playing with his life. Dorea knew this part of the world wasn't governed by the ministry, seeing as there were close to none witches or wizards that were willing to stay here, which was why Phineas must've chosen this place to lock them up. She was going on a hunch, but she was decided about telling Tony about their world, Statute of Secrecy, be damned! She purposely avoided thinking about what would happen in case it all went downhill. She would cross the bridge when she comes to it.

She eyed the bracelet on her wrist disdainfully. Not only was it restricting their powers, but it was weakening them. If worn for a long time, it would make their magic unstable and then there would be no one left around to work on these machines. And maybe that's what the plan was… magic was a form of energy and with correct runes, it could work for the machine Phineas wanted. The only downside would be that they'll all be dead. Or at least she and Draco would be.

When the terrorists left after what seemed like hours and the three of them were finally alone, she sat Tony down, only to pace along the length of the cave. On his cot, Malfoy huffed and she threw him a dirty look. He was against telling a muggle about the wizarding world, but right now, what other choice did they have? If the man was a genius and figured out how to work the machine, they would be all doomed. Sure, he wasn't making the missile, but they needed to tell him about the machine which needed runes and magic for pretence, in case Phineas came to check; and for that Tony needed to be in the loop. They weren't going to tell him much, just that there was a small society which consisted of witches and wizards and after his reaction, they'll decide on which course to follow.

"Get on with it, Potter! You're giving me a headache!" Malfoy snapped.

"Shut up, you bloody ferret!" She snapped back, earning a sigh from the man, but thankfully he didn't say anything.

"We've been sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone… but now all bets are off, yeah?" She mumbled before finally taking a seat in front of Tony, cleared her throat and said, "I need you to keep an open mind, alright."

He frowned, but nodded and motioned for her to continue.

Taking in a deep breath, she whispered slowly, "I'm a witch."

Tony's frown deepened and his mouth tilted down. Giving her an unimpressed gaze, he asked sharply, "Is this a joke? Am I on TV?"

"I'm sorry, but it's true. Malfoy is a wizard and I'm a witch." She told him, making sure to look into his eyes so he could see how serious she was. "We tend to live in secret so muggles… non-magical people do not feel threatened by our existence as is a basic instinct of a human to get threatened by what is different from what they perceive normal. I'm sure you've heard stories about witches being burned alive in Medieval ages? It's true. After that wizards decided to operate in self-imposed secrecy."

She shared a glance with Malfoy, who shrugged when Tony didn't speak and continued, "This bracelet is restricting our magic… preventing it from working so I can't prove it, but it's true."

He glanced between the two, running his fingers through his hair before rambling in a strained voice, "Is it a codeword? Are you working for some secret organisation? Is it a cult? This Phineas… what kind of name is that anyway? By the way, sounds like a cartoon character! He too said something about magic. Is that how you know each other? You belong to a cult?"

"No. We're not working for some secret organisation and there's no cult." Dorea shook her head before adding, "Uh… he looks like my godfather who died a few years back. I thought it was him. Turns out, he's Sirius's brother no one knew existed."

"So, he can do magic? Then why does he need me?" Tony asked with an arched eyebrow, clearly humouring her.

"He's a Squib, a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent. They are rare and are looked upon with disdain by some witches and wizards, particularly pure-bloods. Phineas was born into a pure-blood family. Purebloods tend to abandon squibs and pretend that they never existed." She told him, trying to ignore Malfoy's huff.

Tony looked at her like she was mental, but couldn't help his curiosity. "Pureblood…?"

"Wizarding families who claim to have no Muggles or Muggle-born in their family tree, which is bollocks because when traced back far enough, nearly every family tree had some non-magical ancestors." She informed him, ignoring Malfoy who was now outright glaring at her.

"Just because you don't understand doesn't mean it isn't true, Potter!" Malfoy snapped in a whisper, but there was no heat behind it.

Dorea rolled her eyes, but instead of participating in another banter, focused on the man in front of her, who looked tense and ready to snap any second now.

"You don't believe me." She nodded to herself before adding, "Of course. We can't prove it right now. Not with the bracelets on."

There were so many emotions on his face… way too many for her to decipher, but anger was the most potent.

Suddenly, Tony stood up, waving his hands animatedly and hissed, "Do you wear black pointy hats, have magic wands and green ugly faces? Do you own a black cat as well? What about rituals? Do you sacrifice children to Satan for power too? Well, you can stop me right here before it makes you look even crazier…"

He wasn't even finished when Draco spoke horrified, "Green ugly faces?! I do not have an ugly face! Now, trolls are ugly, but even they aren't green… maybe some are, but semantics!"

Dorea looked at him disbelievingly, unable to believe that he was still prioritising his looks over the situation they were in and busted-out, "That's what you focus on?!"

Tony, meanwhile, paced the length of the cave, running his hands through his hair and rambled, "Wow! Okay… so you're both delusional! I can understand. It can happen after being kidnapped and locked in a cave for such a long time. How long have you been here for? Clearly far too long! We need to get out of here and I'll have to do all the work because well… you two obviously think that you can escape on a broom or vanish with a poof as it happens in those silly movies…"

Dorea and Draco shared a look before he opened his mouth and corrected eloquently, "We could've used the broomstick, but we obviously can't and it isn't 'vanish with a poof'. It's called appariting."

Dorea resisted the urge to bang her head somewhere when Tony came to an abrupt halt and openly gawked at the two of them. His eyes clearly stated what he thought about their revelation and that he was locked with people who were nothing but cuckoo. With a huff, she marched to his cot and picked the paper which held the intricates of making the machine and showed it to him.

"Here, look at this." She pointed at the alphabetical letters printed in Latin and explained, "I'm not sure if you're aware, but these are called runes… inscriptions to increase higher magical power – you can do almost everything if you know how they work, like predicting the future, protecting a person against misfortune, imbue objects with different qualities, writing down conjurations, curses, and spells… or you can destroy whatever is it that you wish."

She wasn't intelligent like Hermione, but she tried to simplify and explain as best as she could. "Magic is all about will. Think of it as your energy; about channelling your energy through that will. You use equations in science, yeah? These are the equations to increase energy. Witches and wizards are born with a magical core. See the inscriptions on this bracelet? These bind the magic, make it impossible for us to use the energy. These can be harmful if worn for a longer period. They could eventually drain the magical core. These runes here… the one Phineas wants us to work on? They're extremely powerful, enough to drain the magical energy of a whole community at a time. This kind of energy blast would be enough to deplete the energy from every witch and wizard in England."

Tony waved his hand wildly and breathes out, "See, you seem like a perfectly average individual to me… which is why I don't understand what you're trying to do here. Are you one of those who are genetically mutated? Wait… I got it! I've heard about Xavier's school for the gifted… didn't get a chance to meet the lovely man himself, but are you one of those? Do they have a branch in London?"

"Genetically mutated?" Draco spluttered with disgust before snapping, "This is why we've kept it a secret for centuries now! Muggles! They can't except what they don't understand."

"Tony, we're not lying! We aren't mental or delusional! Do you remember the terrorist attacks all over Europe about 10 years ago? It was because of a war in the wizarding world! How could you possibly think we could lie about something like this? Even the Queen of Engl…" Dorea tried, only to be stopped by him.

"STOP!" He almost shouted. "Stop."

Dorea snapped her mouth shut at the sudden outburst, for the first time noticing how vulnerable the man seemed. He looked pale and was shaking, making her realize that the man had a heart condition. Maybe telling him hadn't been a good idea, but how else was she supposed to explain about the machine, how it worked and how much damage could it do? In case Phineas decided to visit, Tony certainly wouldn't be able to explain what exactly was he working on, making him suspicious and Black wouldn't think twice before murdering or worse, torturing them.

She didn't look at Draco, not wanting to see the 'I told you so' written on his face. Rubbing her temples tiredly, she stood up and went to her cot before slumping on it.

It was a long time before she spoke again, "It doesn't matter whether you believe us or not. It won't change the fact that thousands, maybe more will die if we didn't stop him. We can't let another madman play God."

"I still don't understand how is it always you, Potter," Draco muttered, resigned to the fact that he'll be going down with her.

Dorea knew it wasn't said with malice and couldn't help but agree.

Tony frowned but didn't speak.

Lost in their thoughts, the three didn't speak the rest of the day.

EN: Positive Criticism is always appreciated unless it is rude or insulting. Have a nice day everyone.

Next update: August 26th 2020

August 19th, 2020