Chapter 5: Fly! Owls! Fly!
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Their first stop was to get an owl. They stopped at the Owl Emporium, which Tony assumed is where one got owls. It was loaded with owls of every flavor. There was brown, tawny, golden, snowy ones and even a black one. The noise was almost overwhelming. The ruckus they made, made Tony glad that he wasn't with Bruce. That man might Hulk out just from the stress of the screeching.
Ivy squealed and started running up and down the isles pointing to each owl and stating that she wanted 'that one' and 'that one' and 'that one'. There wasn't an owl there that she didn't want. Even the hyper tiny owls. The large quiet barn owls. Or the middle tawny owls. She wanted every single one of them.
"Ivy, we can't buy them all," Tony said, trying to be reasonable. He could buy them all, but where would he put them? They were going to leave for the states soon. Could the owls fly that far, or was he going to have to shelter them here? He didn't know. He did know he only wanted one or two.
"But, Mr. Tony, they are all sad," Ivy said, her eyes tearing up and her bottom lip trembling. She pushed up the brim of her hat so that he could see that she was sad. There were tears on her chubby little cheeks.
Tony folded. He looked at all the birds, who did indeed look miserable in their cages. He looked to Pepper. She was looking at Ivy and her eyes were glittering with tears too. "Fine," he said, going to the counter. "How much for your entire stock?" he asked the man there.
"You can't buy my entire stock," the owner stated, flabbergasted that the man would give in to his daughter like that. Not even Lucius Malfoy folded so easily, and his kid was spoiled rotten. Then he looked at the little girl and he too felt bad for the birds. He squared his shoulders and looked at all his birds, then he looked at Ivy and slumped. "Three hundred galleons," he said, rounding up a figure in his head. He knew he was taking a hit. He wasn't sure how much of one, but that little girl was just too cute for words. Eyes like that should be outlawed.
"Sold," Tony said, pulling out the galleons for the owls. He looked around and started opening cages.
Ivy squealed again and started clapping her hands when the owls started coming down to her as if to thank her for their freedom. They all started roosting on the flat surfaces of the shop. None of them flew off, like Tony thought they would. They were hooting and generally making a fuss. But they weren't screeching anymore.
"Will they hunt?" Pepper asked, thinking the rat population was going to be a lot less in London come nightfall.
"Yes, they are trained to feed themselves. However, they expect treats for a job well done," the owner said, watching in amazement as the owls all stayed near the little girl.
Said girl was running from one owl to the other, petting and cooing. She was running her hand down their chest and then naming them. Usually normal names like Mr. Tom, but sometimes they'd be called Mrs. Tibbles or Mr. Sparklypants.
Ivy was having the time of her life. She had never had a pet before and now she had dozens of them. They were all so pretty, and they let her pet them. She just hoped they got along with Mr. Goose. He seemed to be a reasonable cat.
"Well, now that you are all free to do what you want. I will need some of you to stay with Ivy," Tony said, feeling silly talking to birds, but the owner assured him that they would understand. "Those of you that want to earn your keep, meet us at the Royal Arms Apartments in London. There is a roof there, and I'll come and get you from there," he stated, waving his arms as if to drive them off.
They all took to the skies and were out of the store and out of sight soon after.
"Do you think they will go there?" Ivy asked, worried about her new friends. Her eyes got huge, and she looked at Tony and Pepper for reassurance.
"I am sure some of them will. The rest will have wonderful lives as a free bird," Pepper assured her, leading her out of the now empty shop.
The owner gave Tony a queer look as he counted out the galleons. He noted there was over a hundred extra. "I need some owl treats," Tony said as a way of explanation.
"Right," the man said, going and emptying his stock of those too. He made some profit back from that transaction, which made him feel better. Just then a family came in and looked at the empty shop.
"Bad day for owl shopping?" the father of the group said, looking around in awe.
Tony thanked the man and took the bag of owl goodies. He exited the store and found the two waiting for him. They went to the bookstore. Once there, Pepper took Ivy to the children's section as Tony looked at the magical theory selection. He just started grabbing all of the books on the shelf, and he put them in the basket he had grabbed at the entrance of the store. Then he moved on to the rest of the magical section. He wanted to know everything he could about this world that Ivy was supposed to enter when she became older.
If he let her. He wasn't impressed with what he saw so far. There wasn't a sign of electricity anywhere. What kind of world didn't have that?
"Tony," Pepper called for him in a tone that said someone was in trouble.
"Yes, ma'am?" Tony said when he approached her and Ivy. They were standing in front of a display that showed a book with a depiction of Ivy riding on the back of a dragon on the cover. It wasn't a very good likeness of the child, however there was no mistaking who it was supposed to be. "Well, shit," he said, grabbing one of each story and putting it in to the basket that didn't seem to run out of room or get heavy.
"We will need to look into this and sue for liable or unlawful use of her image at the very least," Pepper said, thumbing through the one with Ivy running with a large cat that seemed to have deadly breath.
"I want to see what they say first. If they are passing them off as children's books, there might not be much we can do, but sue for unlawful use of image," Tony said, going around and picking up some of the storybooks to read to Ivy.
They finished up their shopping and went to meet Happy. It was about the time they told him they'd be done. Soon enough they were on their way back to the apartment, each reading something that caught their attention.
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"Pepper, I have to go back to the bank," Tony said, putting a book on recent history down and making notes in his phone. It was the next day and they had spent the rest of the day yesterday reading up on the wizarding world.
"Tony, you have cash on you," Pepper said, knowing she had given him some just yesterday. The only time Tony went to the bank was to use the ATM machine, and even then it was usually to avoid the fees.
"No, I mean Gringotts. It seems in the magical world they are more than just a bank. They are the hub of everything that wizards are too lazy to do themselves. I mean, if you want a lawyer, or a wardsmith, or even housekeeping, you ask a goblin," the billionaire said, shocked at the scope of what the goblins were able to do. "That and it seems that Ivy's dad was rather rich and I want to see the state of her accounts," he added, standing and fixing his shirt.
"Do you mean to go now?" she asked, also standing. She was more then ready to go out for a while. She knew Ivy loved Diagon Alley. It was early enough in the morning.
"I need to send an owl and make an appointment," Tony said, moving towards his office. He was glad they were in the penthouse. It was easier to access the roof from there.
It was shocking that ten of the owls that they had let go decided to live with them. The landlord was not overly pleased that they had so many birds roosting on his roof, but the decline of rats in the nearby alleys seemed to make up for it.
"I want to go," Ivy said, standing up from her petting of Goose. She had been reading him a story from one of the books that had little words. She was learning from it, because if she didn't know the word, all she had to do was touch it and magic would tell her. It was amazing.
Sometimes she had to ask Goose what a word meant, but he was such a good kitty, and so smart.
"I'm just going to my office," Tony said, ruffling her hair as he passed. "I need to write the letter first." He went to the office and did just that, and he printed out about four different form letters that he adjusted to fit magical responses. He didn't want the fans to think that Ivy was ignoring them. So, the first one was an apology for the long wait in a reply. The second one was to let people know that all mail was being forwarded to the goblins for sorting and replies. The third one was a thank you for such and such. The fourth one was to ask that they not send any more letters because she was too little to answer them herself. That while she was going to read them from now on, she was still just a little girl.
He was going to take a picture of her and let those that asked have a token of her appreciation. But that was for later when she was safely in the good ole US of A.
He put all of these into a manilla envelope and went to the roof with owl treats in hand. "Who's up for a trip to Gringotts?" he asked the owls.
Immediately three owls came to him. He chose the tawny one and attached the letter to its leg. He gave all three a treat and shooed the owl off. It took flight as Tony watched. He glanced at his watch to time how long it took for such a short flight.
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The owl came back during lunch and Tony noted that it had only taken a few hours. He factored in the time it must have taken for the reading of the original missive and the writing of a reply. "Well, we have an appointment for tomorrow morning at ten," he said, reading the letter.
"Ivy's doctor's appointment is at one in the afternoon. Will we be done by then?" Pepper asked, not sure how long they would take at the bank. She had no clue as to what Ivy's finances looked like. Then again, neither did Tony. However, she knew one could spend hours going over such matters.
"You can cancel her doctor's appointment. Goose took care of her scar," Tony said, hitting himself in the head for forgetting to mention that to Pepper. Then again, she didn't know Goose was an alien.
"A cat got rid of the scar?" the strawberry blonde said, lifting an eyebrow.
"Well, he's a magical cat, sort of," Tony confessed, not quite telling the truth.
"He can talk," Ivy added, thinking they were telling the whole truth. "He helps me with my words," she said, nodding her head like it was a shared secret.
"Ivy, sweetie, Goose didn't want anyone to know that," Tony said, grimacing at the look he was getting from his girlfriend. He was so sleeping on the couch tonight. "Now, Pepper, it wasn't my secret to share," he said, holding up his hands in supplication.
She took a deep breath so that she didn't start yelling in front of Ivy. She knew there were things that Tony didn't tell her, but a talking cat? She wasn't sure if that was something he should have kept from her. "We'll discuss this later," she said, whipping out her phone and calling to cancel the appointment. She felt bad about canceling on such short notice. She hoped there wasn't a charge like there would be in the states.
"I really couldn't tell you," Tony said, only to stop when she raised her hand. She pointedly looked at the worried Ivy. He nodded and knew they'd talk about it behind closed doors.
"So, Ivy what do you want to wear tomorrow?" Pepper asked, going back to her meal of fish and chips. She really loved this type of meal from England. It tasted much better than the USA's version. Something in the batter, she was sure.
Tony didn't have to sleep on the couch, but it was a close thing.
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The next day they went back to Diagon Alley. Pepper made sure to have all of Ivy's paperwork with her in a briefcase. They made quite a powerful looking trio, in their business suits and Ivy in her cute little princess dress, complete with hat and gloves. No one would recognize her all dolled up like that.
When they got to the bank, Ivy went straight up to Garbling and said, "Good morning, Mr. Garbling. How are you today?"
"I am well today, Miss Potter," the uncomfortable goblin said politely. He just didn't like the attention he was getting from the humans going into the bank. "Do you have business in the bank today?"
"Yes, we are going to…" was as far as she got when Garbling raised a hand.
"It's no one else's business what you are doing. A 'yes' is good enough," he said, lowering his hand and smiling at the girl.
She squealed and clapped her hands. She hugged him and then quickly let go. "I knew I could make you smile," she said, happiness laced her tone.
The other guard just stood there, his face turning funny colors as he tried not to laugh at his coworker's plight.
"Yes, well, you'd better get to your business," Garbling said, waving them through.
Tony and Pepper chuckled at the goblin's demeanor and moved to shuffle Ivy passed him. They made it into the bank and went to a free teller. "We have an appointment with Ragnuk," Tony said, holding out the letter.
"Yes, come this way," the teller said, hopping off his stool and making his way to a door that led to the back.
They went a different way this time and were led to an ornate office. Ragnuk sat behind a rather large desk that was overflowing with parchment, inkpots and quills. There were a few gizmos and pictures here and there, but mostly it was paperwork.
"Ragnuk," Tony said as he escorted Ivy and Pepper to the chairs in front of the desk. He had to pull one from the wall for a place to sit, but he did that and they were soon settled.
"Tony, Miss Pepper and the lovely Miss Ivy," Ragnuk said, putting his quill down to give them his full attention. "You had questions about Miss Potter's account. I need to know what relation you are to the young lady," he said, taking out a gizmo and handing it to Ivy, who took it and started poking and prodding it.
Pepper took out the paperwork they were currently undergoing with the British government to get Ivy stateside. She was already their ward, but there were still some legal things that needed to be done before they could leave these shores. She handed them to Ragnuk, and he put on some reader's glasses on the bridge of his nose. Which made Ivy giggle, since he had a rather long nose.
"I see," he said, when he was done reading the forms. They were all pretty straight forward. "These might be legal in the muggle world, but they are useless here in the magical world. She has a magical guardian," he added, taking some parchment from the middle of one of the stacks on his desk, almost creating a paperslide. "I have here the Last Will and Testament of James Potter. Lily didn't make a will, perhaps she thought James covered it all. Perhaps she thought she would live through the war, I don't know. My point is that Mr. Potter named Sirius Black as Ivy's magical guardian if anything happened to him and Lily."
"So, where is this Sirius Black?" Tony asked, looking at Ivy, who was intent on the gizmo she was playing with. She seemed to have gotten her princess glove caught in it and was trying to free the item.
"He's been imprisoned. We have been trying to get him a trial since his incarceration, but they keep telling us that he doesn't need one," Ragnuk said, slamming his hand on a blank spot on his desk, which seemed to be blank for just that purpose. "It's been six years," he growled.
"That is illegal," Pepper said, aghast. She wasn't sure what all the laws were in England, but she was pretty sure they couldn't hold someone without a trial.
"In the muggle world perhaps, but they seem to be getting away with it here," Ragnuk said, slamming his hand down again.
"I need to hire your most cutthroat lawyer," Tony said with an evil smirk. He glanced quickly at Ivy to make sure she hadn't seen it. She was still untangling her glove.
"My pleasure," the goblin said, pushing a rune on his desk. Another goblin came in and they talked for a moment and the smaller goblin left. "He'll be here soon. As to Ivy's account. All I can legally tell you is that it is safe and growing." He was quite proud of that fact.
"So, no one can access it?" Tony asked, it was what he was most worried about.
"No, though many have tried. Her account can only be accessed by her and her magical guardian," Ragnuk said, flexing his fingers as if to strangle those that had tried to get into the accounts that weren't theirs. "She can only get into the accounts when she starts her magical education. It is tradition. Something about making sure they are magical before giving them access."
"You mean there's a chance that she might not be?" Pepper asked, taking out her phone and making notes.
"A small one, but yes. There are children born to magicals that don't have magic," the lead goblin said, looking at the strange contraption in the woman's hands. "What is that?" he asked, pointing at her smart phone.
"It's my cell phone," she said, turning it around so he could see it. Tony decided to help Ivy untangle her glove. She was getting frustrated. Pepper told Ragnuk all about cell phones and how most people could not survive in today's world without one.
To say the goblin was intrigued was an understatement. "And you have no problems getting it to work here?" he asked, waving around his head to indicate the magical area.
"No, should I?" she inquired, thinking it was a trick question.
"According to the magicals you should," Ragnuk said, a look of thoughtfulness on his face. Surely other muggles have tried to use their cell phones in Diagon Alley before. Then he remembered they were usually escorted by a magical. He would not put it past the magicals to spell the items inert. Well, Gringotts was going to have some say in this. "Mr. Tony," he said, getting the billionaire's attention, "tell me more about what your company can do for the bank."
And with that a beautiful business friendship started.