Hope you enjoy this chapter. As promised last chapter, there's finally some FrostIron in here. ;) (I know I've said this before, but FrostIron is Loki/Tony Stark.)

Enjoy!


The shackles were reluctant to give up any secrets – at all – but this was Tony Stark. He didn't give up easily. Instead of trying to figure out how to use the magic right away, Tony focused on the magic itself – whether its main source was the metal, the runes, or both. If it was the runes, spectacular. Everyone would get a celtic makeover and go into battle with runes scrawled all over them. If it was the metal that was the true repellent of magic, they were back where they started. There wasn't nearly enough metal to make anything of use – some nice wrist protectors, but that was about it.

He really hoped it was the runes.

Another interesting facet of the strange handcuffs – there was no energy displacement outside of the shackles – all readings were completely normal, even a mere centimeter from the surface of the rune-covered metal. But inside the cuffs? Off the chart readings. The shackles didn't bounce magic away – it kept the magic inside instead. How interesting. Now Tony just had to figure out how to reverse the polarity and bounce all the spells back at those nasty Death Eaters.

It was a difficult task with no knowledge of magic whatsoever, but Tony began to realize something as he continued to fiddle with the shackles. What was electricity? Energy. And what was magic? Energy as well. Unpredictable, crazy energy, but still energy. If he could just simplify it, find its root, its base, its core… then maybe magic wouldn't be so hard to manipulate after all.

Or maybe it would make absolutely no difference and be just as hard. But it was worth a try, regardless.

Going with the hope the runes were the root of the power, Tony set to scanning each individual symbol. The runes, when viewed close up, literally glowed. It was a faint light, but most definitely there. Random, unexplainable power – definitely a good sign. He set to work.

Tony thought he heard something behind him as he examined the runes; engrossed in his work, he discounted it as Dummy screwing around... until a raven-haired figure appeared on the security feed above his head.

Tony whirled to find the god of mischief standing casually behind him, as though he'd been there the whole time. A cold trickle ran down Tony's spine as he realized he absolutely could have. He'd relied on his locks and on warnings from JARVIS to keep unwanted gods out of his workshop. He'd also banked on the fact that Loki had been lying as though dead a few hours ago.

Magic, it seemed, firmly believed in instant gratification. Seeing him now, Tony never would have guessed he'd been slashed to bits by a crazy murdering sorcerer. Though Tony could still see a few thin red lines through the laces of Loki's plain black shirt, the god looked much better than he had any right to look.

But speedy recovery or not, JARVIS had no excuses for keeping quiet about the blatant security breach.

"Thanks for the warning, JARVIS," Tony called cuttingly to his AI. Worryingly, there was no response.

Loki's grin got bigger. "For a mechanical creation, I found him much too talkative," Loki said in an offhand tone.

Well, that was rather disturbing. Tony glared at the god. "So, just to recap here - I save your sorry ass, and in return, you mute my butler and break down my door. Great show of thanks there."

Loki's expression didn't change. "Awfully righteous, for someone who is still in my debt."

"Are you still on that?" Tony said, exasperated. "No one's counting here, except for you."

"Considering the debt is owed to me, I am the only one who needs to keep track," Loki responded loftily.

A new thought occurred to Tony, and instead of cursing or shouting, he mirrored the god's self-satisfied grin. "Okay, Loki. Fine. I still owe you. One question, though - what made you so keen to take on the damsel in distress role? Because you see," Tony said, enjoying the moment as the god's grin faltered, "A life debt means I'm going to have to bail you out of trouble again – not once, but… three times, was it?" Tony shook his head in mock wonder. "The mighty god, demanding protection from a human in a suit of armor. I'm sure Heimdall is very proud of you right now." Tony grinned broadly as the god's gaze unwillingly flicked skywards. This little conversation, Tony was sure, wasn't going unnoticed upstairs. The 24-hour spy god was mostly just annoying, but he did have his uses – mainly in the humiliation department.

There was no trace of a grin on Loki's face now.

"I believe you have something of mine," the god said, his expression almost dangerous.

Tony glanced at the shackles lying on his scanners. "I don't think you really want those back."

"They contain valuable information, Stark. Such secrets always come with a price." He snatched the cuffs from the scanners as he spoke. Tony made a grab for them, but moved too late and missed. Loki skipped back two steps, fiendishly delighted once more.

"You know, I think I'm just going to let you bleed out next time," Tony mused, staring at the god's taunting face. "And save myself the trouble of dealing with you."

Loki didn't like that very much. "I've not time for your petty threats," Loki growled.

"But plenty of time to taunt me – because that's clearly not a waste of time or anything."

Loki moved so fast Tony had barely time to register it. In one bewildering second, Tony found himself pressed against the wall, Loki's arm against his throat, his face inches from his.

"Ever heard of personal space? You're violating it," Tony gasped, finding it hard to speak with Loki's arm still at his throat.

Loki ignored that completely, leaning in even closer as he spoke. "I wish to know something, Stark," Loki said quietly.

Well, Tony wasn't exactly in a position to argue. "Ask away," he grunted, still trying unsuccessfully to pry the god's arm off.

Loki finally moved his arm. Before Tony had time to do much more than gasp, Loki hand came to rest instead on his arc reactor. "There is a secret behind this," Loki said. "There is more to this light than just raw power."

This was definitely not a conversation Tony wanted to have with Loki. Playing innocence, he started to say, "What makes you think tha—" but Loki cut him off. "I am not a simpleton, Stark," Loki growled. "Neither are you. You know of what I speak."

Of course Tony knew what he was speaking of – but that certainly didn't mean he wanted to tell. The shrapnel lurking behind his arc reactor was his last, terrible secret – if Loki knew about the metal shards, it would be only too easy for Loki to kill him. They were operating under some strange truce now, it was true, but Tony knew that the uneasy peace was not going to last forever. And then what? Loki stuns him and tugs out his arc reactor. Adversary dead, plus a shiny new toy for him to play with. Win-win for Loki, decidedly lose-lose for Tony.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Loki's scowl deepened. "You were dying on the floor of that manor, dying long before the creature had even reached you. I wish to know why." When Tony still didn't speak, Loki raised his other hand, the shackles falling to the floor with a clatter. Sinister green magic crackled on his palm. "You have two choices, Stark. You may either tell me yourself…. Or I shall let my magic rip the truth from you. Your choice." The grin was back.

Tony looked edgily at the eerie green light still flickering around Loki's palm. Though his magic definitely didn't meet Voldy's standards, Tony was sure the creepy green tendrils would be able to find the shards in his chest…. And who knew what else they would do while rooting around in his body.

That really only left one option.

"You can put that down," Tony said, gesturing to Loki's glowing palm. Loki rolled his eyes but did so. Still glaring at the god, Tony took a deep breath. There was no point beating around the bush. "If you must know, there are pieces of metal shrapnel in my chest that want nothing more than to crawl into my heart and kill me, okay? I got on the wrong side of some gunfire. The arc reactor keeps the shards at bay. To answer your question, that man-beast Death Eater overloaded the arc reactor somehow." No need to mention Tony knew exactly how. Loki didn't need any more techniques to use against him. "It disabled the electromagnet. Currently working on not letting that happen again," Tony added severely, in case Loki was getting any ideas.

Loki said nothing, just stared at him. "So that's it," Tony hinted, shoving at the one hand that still held him pinned to the wall. Nothing happened for a second, then Tony gasped as something ice-cold and wrong protruded from the hand still resting on his arc reactor. The reactor flickered dangerously as the green magic slithered through Tony's body, filling him with fear and ice-cold dread. He tried to escape from under Loki's hand, but his arm could have been steel for all the good it did.

He could feel it as the tendrils found the shards, twisting and contracting around them with an almost unbearable intensity. Despite the extreme discomfort, though, Tony fought to keep his expression blank – if he cried out, Loki would never let him live it down. Of that, he was absolutely sure.

Though it felt like an eternity to Tony, it was only a minute before Loki removed the tendrils. Feeling surprisingly weak the moment the magic was removed, Tony sagged against the wall. Loki's arm moved, holding Tony up now instead of restraining.

"What the hell was that for?" Tony demanded, wanting to scratch and claw at his chest. He would have, too, if Loki's hand hadn't been in the way. He felt as though his insides had just gotten a good scouring – definitely not a pleasant feeling.

Loki didn't seem to be listening. "You spoke the truth," He said quietly, sounding almost surprised.

"I'm not the god of lies," Tony reminded him.

They stood there in silence for a moment, Loki looking pensive, Tony looking awkward. "So… now you know," Tony said. "I'm sure your nasty magic backed up my story… does this win me the shackles now, or what?" Tony was just rambling now. "Are we going to play more twenty questions, or do I need to beat you in a staring contest or something?" The god still hadn't looked away. "Seriously, Loki, I –"

Whatever Tony was saying was lost as cold lips suddenly crushed against his. Tony automatically tried to pull away, but there was no place to go, nowhere to escape – and suddenly Tony realized he didn't want to. He found himself kissing back before the god forcibly pushed himself away.

They stood staring at each other, Loki breathing rather heavily. Tony could see shock reflected in the god's eyes.

Tony stared back, bewildered beyond belief that the god had just stolen a kiss from him. Then he realized… damn, he wanted another.

The shock on both sides increased tenfold as Tony closed the space between them and hungrily returned the god's kiss.

This time Loki didn't push away; he pressed closer, which was more than fine with Tony. Somewhere in his mind, he knew this was a very bad idea – somewhere, he knew that he should get away before Loki pulled more magic crap. But despite its convincing argument, logic was trumped. Put simply, Tony didn't want to. He had an inexplicable but very certain desire to let this all continue… he couldn't even feel panic as green magic started to crackle around Loki's frame –

"Tony?"

Hermione's voice sounded through the speakers, and Tony fell forward as his arms were suddenly clutching nothing but air. Tony whirled, wondering at once where the hell the god had went, and what the hell he was going to say to Hermione. And what was the witch doing in his workshop anyway?

Feeling more scattered than he had in… well, a long time, he cast about quickly for the god. Loki was gone – judging by the feeble flickers of magic still hanging in the air, the god had somehow teleported out. So that left Tony completely alone, forced to answer any awkward questions by himself. Bastard.

But he was luckier, so far as Hermione was concerned – unlike what the rest of the Avengers would have done, Hermione had not opened the unlocked door. She was standing next to the camera, peering into the lens in a studious way. Her expression was not nearly shocked enough for Tony to think she'd seen or heard anything. Phew. Tony didn't know what to make of the last five minutes, but he sure wasn't ready to share with anyone yet. Hell, Tony was having a hard time believing it had happened, and he'd caused a part of it.

The god of lies had just shown up in his workshop, threatened him, jinxed him, then kissed him. Tony had no idea what to think about that. What the hell was the god playing at?

…And why had he been okay with it?

Definitely not questions to be asking while an impatient witch was waiting at the doors. Bending down, he scooped the abandoned shackles from the floor and tossed them back on the scanners. He figured he more than deserved them now.

Hoping very much he didn't look any crazier than normal, Tony headed for the door. Before he got there, though, he addressed his AI. "JARVIS, erase the last hour of security footage. We don't really need that on file."

JARVIS still didn't answer, but the lights on the camera blinked in a reassuring way, so Tony hoped his AI had heard.

"I couldn't sleep," The bushy-haired witch said the moment Tony swung open the door. "So I thought maybe we could make a head start?" She looked exhausted still, but that didn't stop her from brushing past Tony and making her way inside. Her expression was pleasingly amazed as she looked around the cavernous room.

"You want to start looking for the horcruxes in here?" Tony asked skeptically. Perhaps not the best thing he could have said, but Tony's mind was still – understandably - a little muddled.

The witch snorted derisively. "The horcruxes are important, but there's not much we can do without Harry and Ron," She said. "I'm talking about getting a head start on magic. I was there during the battle, Tony. Don't take this the wrong way… but you all desperately need it, in some form or other."

"No arguments there," Tony agreed immediately. He'd reached that conclusion a long time ago. "Some more magic on our side would be welcome."

"I'd be happy to –" Her sentence trailed off in a gasp as she spied the shackles. She made a beeline for them immediately, peering closely at the faintly-glowing runes. "I knew I'd need my syllabary," She muttered to herself, then stood up so fast that Tony jumped. "I'll be right back!" She cried, turning and tearing out the door. She was back before Tony had time to do much of anything, a huge leather-bound tome held in her arms. It was embellished with the title Spellman's Syllabary.

Not wishing to be outdone, Tony brought up the preliminary scans that he'd made on the shackles. He enjoyed Hermione's confusion probably more than he should have, but his enjoyment was short-lived – the witch was very quick on her feet, and figured out every electronic graph within two minutes. Ah well. His pride might balk at working with another mastermind, but it certainly beat working with a dunce.

Together they both worked to decipher the strange alien runes. It was slow work. Even though Hermione was magical, this wasn't any magic she was used to. And, as Tony had already figured out, the shackles weren't eager to give up any secrets without a fight. Hermione only left once, to get them both coffee – Tony was liking the witch more and more.

But even all-consuming work couldn't block out the confusion still rattling around in his head. He knew his encounters with Loki were far from over – they lived in the same damn house, after all. They couldn't avoid each other forever. And Tony wasn't sure he wanted to, anyway. Prior to the, ah… assaulting, the god had been proving himself quite useful in the workshop. Time was running out, and they needed to get things done. And the god had usually been predictable, anyway. He was a prick, certainly, and annoyingly cryptic – but that was it.

Now, instead of the typical taunts and overall attitude, Tony had no idea what to expect... but he had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't have to wait long to find out.


All right... Hope this was okay. Lemme know in review or PM's if it's not, please? :3

And please keep in mind that Loki is a sorcerer... all may not be what it seems.

More plot twists in the near future, guys, we're really meshing with the HP plotline now... some very exciting things on the way, yay!

And Newboy, thank you for pointing out the Elder wand (and thank you for such a nice review!) I knew I'd forgotten something! I'll have a whole bit about the wand very soon. :)