Several months earlier.

Harry was leaning towards the window, and staring out over London's streets. It was in the middle of summer. It had been about six months since his uncle had died out there, in the middle of the snowy road. Shot down in cold blood.

By a Muggle.

His uncle, Sirius – a well-trained wizard – murdered by a Muggle. Of course Sirius had been unarmed, not expecting the sudden robbery of his car.

Sirius had taught him the most valuable lesson in the world, something he would never forget as he held his dying uncle's hand.

He told him that, with great power comes great responsibility. With his final breath, he told him to protect his aunt and his friends – no matter what.

Harry didn't remember the exact words, it was all so blurry, but to this day he had lived up to his uncle's last dying wish.

He was something people would call a freak, an idiot risking his life for others wearing a pajamas – maybe a little bit of both. He had a burden, others would call it a gift.

Through a mysterious spider-bite he had gotten this gift, giving him the ability to do whatever a spider does.

It was enough of a burden to be "The Boy Who Lived", but now he also carried the name "Spider-Man".

Spider-Man, the freak who saved people from burning buildings and stopped random crooks on the street. Spider-Man, the fifteen year old boy who saved the day and never got any credit for it.

Spider-Man, who always got the blame.

Oh boy, maybe he could change that nickname to "Spider-Fail" instead?

He almost looked forward returning to Hogwarts, where a superhero had nothing to do and nobody to save, just sitting up on a tower all day on his butt, brooding.

Of course, if he got that bored he would be forced to take the Floo Network in Hogsmeade or something back to London. There's no way he would swing his way all the way over and wasting web-fluid doing so.

Besides, there would be nothing to swing from.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Harry, you got yourself a visitor", his aunt Petunia called.

He wasn't expecting any visitors until much later.

"Right now?" Harry shout over his shoulder.

"Yes, right now! I'm not your handmaid, sometimes you have to answer the door yourself!" she shouted back.

Harry sighed and got away from the window. He was just about to open his door but hesitated when he heard a man's voice just outside.

"This place looks very cozy. Have you ever tried to apply as an interior designer?"

That didn't sound like anyone Harry knew. He slowly pulled back from the door.

Aunt Petunia laughed.

"Gods no, I don't think that kind of work would fit me", she said.

"Oh? That's a shame, because I am in desperate need of someone talented", the man said. "It pays well. My home looks like a pig farm compared to this."

She laughed yet again.

"You got a husband or something? This place seems too small for three people", the man asked.

"No… no. We moved here when my husband passed for a couple of months ago."

"Oh, my bad. I didn't mean to bring it up. I'm so very sorry for your loss."

Maybe this wasn't so bad. Harry forced his hand to the door handle. The man didn't sound like he was from the police, but then again he could be wrong.

If he was wrong, he could just swing away out through the window. Yeah, no problem.

Unless he got shot first.

Reluctantly he opened the door, and there stood aunt Petunia and a middle-age man in a black clean suit and a pair of squared sunglasses with a slight red tint to them.

The man looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Who's this?" Harry asked and looked at aunt Petunia.

"Who's this?" the man repeated with a chuckle. "Christ, don't they teach you kids anything in school nowadays about manners?"

Harry felt both confused and irritated at the same time.

"I'm Tony", the man said and reached out his hand towards Harry.

Harry shook his hand.

"Harry."

Tony put his hands in his pockets and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I know who you are. We all do", he added with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure you know why I'm here, Harry."

Harry looked at aunt Petunia, and then back at Tony. He had absolutely no idea what this man was doing in their apartment.

"Remind me again. Sorry, I forgot", he said.

Tony sighed.

"Teenagers – they never change", Tony shook his head. "Well, to remind you: I have come here to give you some special information about the new school term. I prefer face to face, if you know what I mean. It's a private school after all, right?"

Harry slowly nodded, accepting this lie they had to tell aunt Petunia. He had no idea who the man was, but he certainly wasn't here to talk about the new term at Hogwarts – he didn't look the wizard part either, more like the overly rich jerk kind of Muggle.

"We can talk more in your room. Your room is right here?" Tony asked and nodded towards Harry's room.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's here", he quickly said.

"Tell me if you want me to make you some coffee, or maybe tea?" Petunia asked.

"Nah, I'm good. I had about four espressos on the way here. Thanks for asking, though", Tony gave her a quick smile.

Harry and Tony went into Harry's room, and shut the door behind them.

"This looks awfully clean", Tony said suspiciously. "You were expecting me?"

Harry stood in front of the window, in case this guy would pull out a taser or something even worse.

"No. Why would I?" he said, trying to keep his cool.

Tony looked at him like he tried to figure out what kind of secrets he was hiding from him.

"It's that girl, isn't it?" a big grin spread across Tony's face. "Hermone? Hemine? I'm sorry, I can't pronounce it."

"Yes, Hermione", Harry mumbled.

"Right."

Tony looked around his room and spotted a photo of him and Hermione beside the bed before looking back at him.

"She's cute. But we aren't here to speak about girls, Harry. Neither are we here to speak about your school that… apparently doesn't exist. We are here to speak about your little… shall we call it: swinging around?"

Harry tried to act like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"C'mon, of course you do! You have been living these past months outside the law, throwing yourself between buildings and risking your life for people that probably hated you in the first place."

Harry gave him a glance.

"I don't know what you mean."

Tony tapped his wristwatch a couple of times and a video projected itself on thin air. The video showed a masked man swinging down a street after a car and webbing it up between two buildings.

"That's you, right there", he said and paused the video with the masked man in frame. "You swinging down the street and catching a couple of crooks – in a onesie."

"Are you sure? Because if I was that guy I wouldn't be able to go to school."

Tony grinned.

"But you aren't in school during the summer, are you? This little stunt you pulled off went viral last week. The media knows about it, the government does, you friends probably knows, I do – duh – who knows, maybe your auntie caught a glimpse of your monkey business?"

Harry scoffed.

"Okay, fine. What are you going to do – arrest me?"

Tony started to walk around the room, checking out every detail of it. Harry slowly moved his fingers towards the web-shooter's trigger.

Tony glanced over all the framed photos on Harry's wall.

"Nice friends, pretty girl, the nicest aunt I've ever met… and then there's the boy with spider-powers that goes to a school that doesn't exist in any records whatsoever", Tony looked at Harry over his sunglasses. "Something doesn't add up. What's your story, huh? Sit down, no need to web me to a wall. I'm not going to arrest you, in that case you would be knocked out already and locked up in prison."

Harry slowly sat down on his bed, Tony sat down beside him.

"You know", Tony took off his sunglasses and put them into a pocket, "there's a lot of people like you. Yeah, shocking I know. Some of them are my best pals – some of them wants me six feet down in the dirt. Let's keep this simple: who are you and what do you do out there?"

Harry didn't know what to answer.

"I… I don't know. I just do it because… I don't know", he answered, a bit confused over the question.

Tony slightly rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Wrong answer. You do it because you…"

"Because I think it's right", Harry interrupted.

"You know – don't interrupt me. Because you know it's right. What would ordinary people do when there's things happening beyond their control? What would they do when things go really nuts? Nothing. There would be mass casualties in the streets, there might be entire cities getting leveled. But with us out there, we can prevent that. We aren't always praised, we sure as hell don't get paid, but we keep doing…"

With a bang the attic hatch slammed down and revealed Harry's suit dangling down a rope.

"Oh look, we got another guest", said Tony.

Immediately Harry moved from his seat and tossed the suit up again and webbed the hatch shut.

"I thought you were faster", Tony grinned wide, he looked very amused. "But why the attic? You don't want your aunt to know?"

"No! She can't know."

"Why not? She seems harmless."

"Harmless?" Harry laughed. "If she found out I'm risking my life out there she would freak out. Then she would be anything else but harmless!"

Tony cleared his throat and slowly nodded.

"Alright, so I can't tell her right now?"

"I will throw you out of the window if you do that."

Tony chuckled.

"You can try, kid. Either you are able to throw me out of the window or your nice aunt will ground you for the rest of your life."

A short silent moment passed.

"So, have we calmed down yet?" Tony asked.

Harry still felt a bit mad at him but regardless he sat himself down again, facing towards him.

"Anyways, I can offer you much better gear and maybe, just maybe you won't get killed as easily. Of course, you're going to have to provide a bit more for me", Tony leaned forwards.

Harry chuckled.

"You want money?"

"No no no, no money. I just need to know why you think living like this is the right choice."

There was no sign of greed in Tony's eyes, no sign that he was willing to trick a teenager of the few resources he had at his disposal.

"Why would you save people and get almost nothing out of it, when you could earn millions in TV. You could get your own show, movies, comic books – do they still make those? You get the idea. You could be rich, you could…"

"I have no interest in money", Harry abruptly interrupted.

Tony looked a bit shocked and stared at him like he was completely mental

"Wow, okay. Maybe something else – is it the rush? I could imagine throwing yourself from building to building at a remarkable speed head first must be one hell of an adrenaline rush."

"No. I…" Harry sighed. "I lost my uncle. He was murdered because of me. I got mad at him one night for something stupid, we fought and then I ran away. He drove his car all over London just because of me. And then he got murdered because I made him chase after me."

Harry took a short break – the emotions were too much to handle and he was afraid he was going to be having trouble speaking in front of this stranger. He refused to make eye contact and instead he tried to focus on the wall behind him.

"He made me who I am, what I do. I will never forget that."

Tony nodded.

"I understand. It must have been really though for you. However, you seem to be doing okay in my eyes, and what do you mean he made who you are? Did his passing affect you in such a way?"

"He told me the words he lived by: with great power comes great responsibility. He didn't mean it literally, but you know…" Harry sighed.

Tony put his sunglasses back on.

"Alright, time for the one-million dollar – or whatever you use here in England – question", Tony fixed his eyes into Harry's. "You told me your uncle made who you are. Who are you then, Harry?"

Harry looked at back him, right into his eyes.

"I'm Spider-Man."

AUTHORS END NOTES:

Yeah, okay. I know what you're thinking. Sirius Black hooked up with Petunia Evans? "Sirius and Petunia? Are you Sirius?" But yes, it was essential to the plot. Originally I was planning to use Vernon but I can't see him as the father figure for Harry. I didn't want to pair them, but in my story they are the uncle and aunt Harry came to love as parents.

To clear some things up, Harry got his powers during his fifth year, Sirius died that winter. Everything prior to Harry getting his powers were essentially the same (Voldemort killing his parents, Lupin teaching him Expecto Patronum and so on). Sirius dying this early changes things drastically.