A/N I'm not one for massive long Author's notes, but I must say that I've been bowled over by the interest in this story.I have recieved over two chapters more reviews than I have in any of my other stories, so thank you all. I hipe this chapter lives up to any and all expectations.

I must thank FrisComyns, who had acted as my Beta reader.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Despite Harry's growing list of contacts and acquaintances, he lived quite a solitary existence. He realised that his apparent age unnerved most people as he tended to act older than he looked. Maybe there was a preservation instinct, a subconscious nag that set him aside as different, close to Death. He didn't mind this though, especially as he kept in correspondence with his friends. He'd even flown back to England for Neville and Hannah's wedding. He used several spells while in attendance, to make himself appear older, at Hermione's suggestion, but found them surprisingly tiring and was relieved when he dropped them later, surrounded by his closest friends. George continued the line of jokes he'd set up before Harry had left; scooping firewhisky away from him, commenting on his inability to grow a beard in relation to his maturity... It provided a sense of comfort; he knew his friends accepted him. At the same time, he started noticing the beginnings of receding hairlines, small wrinkles and changes in them which showed their age, and he knew that before too long, they would move on, while he would be left behind, alone.

Before he left, Hermione took him aside, pulling him away from the rest of the group who were listening to Luna's accounts of her travels. He looked into her brown eyes which were scanning him nervously.

"Harry, I'm sorry I've not found anything yet!" her voice rose on the word anything, reminiscent of when they were children and Hermione was frustrated in her research. He smiled fondly at the throwback to the past.

"It's okay Hermione." And it was, to a degree. While saddening, he'd adjusted to his new way of life and had accepted it. He didn't want Hermione to feel guilty for something that wasn't her fault.

"No, it-"

"Seriously. I'm getting over it. Besides, I don't know if there's anything you can find. Death might have hinted at something, but he's being deliberately vague. It seems to be more of a 'he'll let me know when I'm ready', rather than a..." He trailed off at the look on Hermione's face. "You okay?"

"Death!" she squeaked, her hands over her mouth, "You've seen death?"

"Uh... yeah? Nice chap really. Cockney."

His light hearted response didn't seem to quell her anxiousness however.

"Don't worry I'll tell you everything." He assured her as someone called his name. He was about to rejoin the group when Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Wait, there was something else. Harry." He looked at her expectantly while she smiled softly.

" Will you be our child's Godfather?"

Harry stared at her for a moment and suddenly the fact that she'd been stroking her stomach throughout the conversation, which he'd noted but not paid attention to, made sense. He grinned, happy for her, but then her query registered.

"Are you sure, I mean-"

"Yes I'm sure. Don't be a fool." She sniped affectionately.

He grinned, "Then I'd love to."

Hermione had hugged him, all of her relief and worry transmitted through the action. Ron had cheered and clapped him on the back with a "good on ya mate". Hermione was teary eyed when he left again, hands folded over her belly.

"Keep yourself out of trouble," she warned him as he went through the barrier at the airport.

"You keep me posted and give me a shout if you need anything," he replied, making no promises.

As it was, he did stay out of trouble, minor cases, a couple of stalkers but nothing he couldn't handle even without use of his magic.

And as luck would have it, he did make a friend... of sorts.

"This astonishing announcement from the Stark heir-" Harry flicked off the TV, rising to his feet as there was a knock on his door. He pulled the door open to reveal a man, mid forties, permanent frown line, absentmindedly stroking the wedding ring on his left hand. Harry figured him to be worried about an affair and stepped aside to let the guy enter hesitantly. He sat in the proffered chair looking around anxiously before his eyes settled on Harry.

"You're a bit young aren't you?"

"I'm older than I look," Harry stated smoothly as he took his own seat.

The man nodded, still looking unsure, but tied up in his problem. "You were recommended to me by a colleague... Look, Mr Evans, I'm not a paranoid man. I trust in my wife. Of course I do. But..."

"Some of her actions aren't matching up." Harry filled in for the man only to have him nod wearily, deflating once the words were out. "Well I can help you there. Can you tell me what makes you suspicious?"

What followed was the stereotypical list, late nights, unaccounted for purchases and tales that didn't sit right. Harry nodded, taking note of the specifics.

"So can you help me?"

Harry nodded once more, "Yes, I shall do what I can,"

That's what led to Harry entering the Annual Stark Benefit Dinner, shadowing his target, a Mrs Harrow. Mrs Harrow, or Marie as her husband called her had arrived in a splendid green dress on the arm of a man most definitely not Mr Harrow. Taking advantage of her husband's business trip, she'd worked off the ring and the man had picked her up from the doorstep.

Harry had transfigured his clothes into something more suitable for the occasion and made his way in. He could only go back to his client with absolute proof and while the circumstances were incriminating, they were still explainable. He watched across the room as they ate together, chatting and laughing. He snapped a picture with one of the tiny camera's common amongst PI's when they kissed and began to make his way out, job done. Spying wasn't his favourite part of the job, he definitely preferred the taking down of proper baddies, but Mr Harrow deserved to know.

The electric gadgets he'd bought when he'd started out had originally faulted in the presence of his admittedly powerful magic. Out of necessity however, as he needed legitimate evidence for his work, he'd learnt to curb his effect on technology, and only rarely killed a device nowadays. He was nearing the entrance when a voice broke through his reverie.

"Leaving already? Party a bit dull?"

Harry looked up to see a face he'd come to recognise all too well from the news in the past few weeks. Tony Stark had a devious smile on his face as he eyed Harry.

Harry floundered for a response momentarily, he didn't have an excuse prepared after all.

"Wha- No. I have-"

Stark clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Nah, I understand. Now I'm gonna go change that. Stick around. Fun's just starting."

With that Stark left, leaving Harry to continue making his way out of the party, leaving Stark to his benefit.

Stark grinned to himself, and to the world as he tore Hammer to pieces in court. Buoyed by his victory he turned to look around the courtroom to fully appreciate the admiration of his peers. He looked past Pepper and let his eyes roam over the crowd recognising people from the different factions who wanted his suit and the reporters that were regularly assigned to all things him. His gaze lingered over a boy that he knew from somewhere, but not in connection to anything relevant to the trial. It took him a moment to place the lean face and dark hair, but those green eyes and scar were distinctive. He could have sworn that the boy, who barely looked to be in his twenties had been at that benefit that Obadiah had tried to keep him from, over sixth months earlier. The boy met his eyes and grinned in Starks direction, giving him a lazy salute as he stood and left the room. Tony smirked but then the boy was forgotten in the heat of the moment as he was surrounded by people asking questions and calling his name. It wasn't too long before they saw each other again.

"There's a lot more to this whole thing than you think." Harry had told the woman who was currently his client. The recently fired young scientist had leant forward.

"What do you mean?"

Dana McRow had asked him to research a Justin Hammer, to find proof that she had been fired unjustifiably, based on some files that she shouldn't have seen. Harry had, in his perusal of information had come across a file of greater importance, relating to Starks Iron Man project.

"Essentially, the project that you stumbled upon involved more than just Hammer's company."

She'd nodded and gave him information regarding the facilities layout once he explained that he needed to be onsite for his little doo-hickey to work. Now Harry wasn't and never would be a techie, but he was acquainted with one who'd adapted a pen drive into a device that'd download the contents of a server in a flash. And it was this that he planned to use on Hammers network once he found a compatible terminal. He quickly found a suitable room and ducked inside. He crossed to the desk and turned on the computer. He waited for the login screen before plugging in the drive. He watched with amusement as various numbers and letters flickered across the screen. He sat back to let the device work it's magic, completely oblivious to the fighting that was happening across the other side of the facility.

He found out about the battle of that night and Hammers consequent arrest the next day. Regardless, he scoured through the files and found the evidence for his client. During his search however, he came across several files that looked as though they had been hacked directly from another server, Starks, apparently. He figured that he might as well do the man a favour and copied all of these, plus any other Stark related files to a disk to return to the man.

The next day, he rang the bell and found himself admitted into the tower that was the home of Tony Stark. At least, where he seemed to spend the most time. According to the news, he seemed to travel anywhere and everywhere on a whim.

"Hello, I'm Miss Potts." Stark's ex-CEO greeted him, holding out a hand. Harry shook it with a smile,

"Harry Evans. Sorry for disturbing you, but I have some files belonging to Mr Stark that I wish to return."

Potts eyebrows rose in surprise. "Sorry?"

"I'm a PI, I was asked to look into Hammer Industries and found something's that didn't belong there." He held forward the disk. "Everything's on here."

"And for what do we owe this Good Samaritan act?" came a voice from above. Stark himself was descending the stairs, coming up from behind Pepper to look down at Harry with an eyebrow quirked in interest.

"I simply came across it and thought that you might be interested." Harry shrugged and stepped away. "That's me on my way now."

"You were at the trial." Stark commented.

"So was Hammer, I was keeping track of him. Well played by the way."

"Thanks."

Harry was just about to say goodbye when Tony spoke, "Bit young for a PI, surely?"

"I'm older than I look," came the rehearsed reply.

"Old enough to drink?"

Harry raised a sarcastic eyebrow and nodded slightly. "Why?"

"Come join us for a drink sometime. I'd gladly buy a round for anyone who gets around Hammer."

"Sure." Harry waved good bye and left, not knowing that Stark would indeed chase up the promise and that they'd keep in contact from then on.

Harry Evans fascinated Tony. The casual PI had dropped into his life; well Tony had forced his way into Evans', believing that three chance encounters was a sign and the man had proved good company. His dry wit didn't quite match Tony's own, but was fair competition, especially over a good beer. There were just so many mysteries around the boy. That scar for instance, he'd asked Harry where he'd got it and he'd made an offhanded remark about a car crash when he was younger, which Tony didn't buy for one second. No way was such a specific scar a remnant of chance.

Then there was his age. He could claim that he was older than he looked until he was blue but that didn't change the fact that he was inordinately good at his job, even for a man in his early twenties. There was an aura, for lack of a better word, around Harry that emitted age, or at least wisdom beyond his years. There were times when Harry thought that Tony wasn't looking, that his shoulders would fall and an intensely world weary expression would cross his face. And yet there was a strange... 'goodness' about him. Tony had been around a while, seen the worst in a lot of people from reporters to competitors. One could probably say that he was jaded. For that reason, Harry's perspective, his Good Samaritan act bemused him. As a PI, Harry probably saw more of the darker side of life that Tony did but he still maintained his strange morality that could be labelled as naivety. It probably would be, if not for Harry's matter of fact assessments of the cities under life.

The boy was incredibly lonely, Tony realised. He didn't seem to talk to many people outside of his job aside from Tony and occasionally Pepper. He found this strange; he remembered fondly his times around that age, the parties, the girls, the drinking... Not that Harry showed even the slightest interest in any of those things. The Brit's isolation had been another factor that piqued Tony's interest, almost seeing it as a challenge to make Harry enjoy company.

Harry was always careful to avoid publicity. Tony being Tony, he was often surrounded by reporters and fans, but whenever they popped up, Harry seemed to melt away, sometimes with a quick whispered farewell, but often without. When questioned on it, Harry had grimaced and asked how Tony could stand it.

"The appraisal and pretty girls? What's to stand?"

Harry had shaken his head and muttered something about "Each to their own," and continued his filing, a process which Tony had rather rudely interrupted when he unabashedly flounced in and plonked himself down on Harry's desk.

Tony had found a picture album tucked into one of Harry's shelves while Evans was in the kitchen. There was a collection of Harry with the same five people next to different landmarks around the world. They appeared to be happy, but something was wrong with the pictures, Tony couldn't quite put his finger on it. While he flicked through the album, he kept looking about him; sure that someone was watching him. There were pictures from weddings that Tony skimmed over, noting that they appeared to be of Harry's friend's older siblings.

Before the holiday pictures came two pictures that stood out from the other. They were quite serious looking pictures, group shots, each with at least thirty people in each. One of them was set in a grand stone room and filled with what could only be students at a school, all in uniform. Harry was in the centre, looking younger than he was now. Tony spotted the other five in the picture, two of them, the brown haired girl and the red headed boy by his shoulder, the other three set further away, amongst the others. All of them shared a grim determined air that unsettled Tony, especially as it came from children.

The other was a collection of adults, Harry stood to the side this time, under the arm of a man with shaggy black hair and a boundless grin. His red headed friend was there as well, along with what could only be his family, all of them with flaming hair and awkward smiles. The other people in the picture were a mismatched bunch, one of them even appearing to be wearing an extremely old fashioned version of a false eye.

He heard Harry returning from the kitchen and quickly replaced the album. He straightened quickly when Harry entered, making it look as if he'd been examining a strange bronze spinning top lying on the counter.

One night, after he'd been at a party that had been liberal with alcohol, he'd had the fantastic idea to drop by Harry's. He had to say, after breaking into the flat with the key Harry provided him with a few weeks previously; finding one of his few friends in the throes of a pretty violent nightmare was extremely sobering. The drunken haze had slipped away as he rushed forward to shake Harry awake. The boy woke, and sat up quick as a shot, making to attack Tony. Tony had ducked, looking back to see Harry's green eyes, still hazy with the dream, even as they stared back.

"Wha- Tony? What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd come and annoy you, and you repay me by lashing out. Are you okay?"

Harry had frowned at him for a moment as he registered his question before nodding his head and making to get out of the bed. "Fine. Bad dream. "

"No shit Sherlock."

Harry chuckled as he left the room, shadowed by Tony.

"And why would I be grateful of you annoying me?"

Tony merely scoffed while Harry made a beeline for the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He offered a glass in turn to Tony who accepted it, suddenly aware of the sandpaper that had taken up residence in his mouth.

"So, want to talk about it?"

Harry raised an eyebrow in Tony's direction. He appeared to be considering it before saying, "Nah. All's good."

Tony opened his mouth to complain before Harry cut across him, "You tell me your nightmares and I'll tell you mine." This effectively shut Tony up. How Harry could know about the dreams of his imprisonment he didn't know. Maybe the lad made an educated guess? Either way, Tony didn't want to talk about it. He got the point Harry was trying to get across though. Everyone was entitled to their own privacy. For now at any rate. Tony would get Harry to spill eventually.

That's when he noticed the scar. Scars, plural. Wearing a short sleeved baggy shirt with a low collar, Tony could see marks that had been hidden until now. Two stood out, a large oval appeared to have been branded onto his chest, next to a knotted scar that looked reminiscent of a bite. Both looked old, but must have been incredibly painful. Most worrying however was the long, thick line that travelled down his wrist. It couldn't have been self inflicted... Harry didn't seem like the type. But that was now. There may have been a time in the past that Harry had felt the need to. The thought of such action repulsed Tony but he couldn't stop the possibility from nagging at his mind.

Harry saw where Tony was looking and smiled grimly. "It's not as bad as it looks. I'm just incredibly clumsy."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Clumsy. That's what you're going with?"

Harry pointed at the bite mark, "Pissed off snake," the oval, "hot coal," and then his wrist, "crazy guy with a knife. I just have a lot of bad luck."

Tony didn't know whether to believe him. There was one scar that remained unaccounted for. One that Tony had noticed pretty soon after he'd met Harry, but he'd never felt it the right time to ask. Tony wasn't known for his tact, but even he found it awkward to try and slip in the question, "So why'd you have 'I must not tell lies' carved into the back of your hand" into casual conversation. But this had drifted outside the realm of casual.

"And the back of your hand?" Tony asked over the rim of his glass before taking a sip.

Harry looked down at the writing before his mouth twisted into a smirk, "A pretty sadistic teacher." He shrugged at the look of surprise that slipped through Tony's carefully placed mask. "She's been dealt with."

That statement piqued Tony's interest, but Harry's tone said that that was where the topic ended and one thing that Tony had learnt about his friend was that Harry could be extremely bloody minded when he wanted to be.

There continued to be a mystery around Harry, though Tony believed that he knew him better than most. He hesitated in just throwing the intrigue out of the window by doing a thorough search on him through Jarvis, he had a feeling that Harry would react badly to such an intrusion of privacy and Tony, to his surprise, found himself unwilling to risk it. Good friends were hard to come by, and in the past few months, that was exactly what Harry had become.

He invited Harry to the opening celebration for his new Eco-Friendly tower, but strangely, the man never showed. He put off flying into action for as long as possible, but Harry remained absent, and out of contact. Everything was in place however and he need to go ahead that night, or waste a fair sum of money, but the celebration felt off as Tony was left to wonder.

A/N People have enquired about the timeline for the story, so here's a brief idea, I must confess to moving the battle of Hogwarts forwards a few years to that the timelines would mesh,

1992- Battle of Hogwarts

-Meets Younger Bruce later that year

1997- Harry leaves Wizarding World

2002- Harry becomes a PI in LA

2006- Harry moves to Chicago

2009- Harry moves to New York

2010- Iron Man

-Harry meets Tony for first time at Benefit

2012- Avengers and now up to date.

I hope that this answers any questions amd makes sense.

CJames