Chapter 11: Illuminate Mall
Hello, and thanks for all the reviews.
I just wanted to let you know that I don't have writer's block, per se, I just have zero desire to write. I think its part of my bipolarism. That or my thyroid is out of whack. I'm just so very, very tired. I don't have a desire to do anything at the moment.
I did write this chapter over the course of a few days.
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The days went by, and Loki did his community service without complaint, much. Tony and the others were still wary of him and limited his time with Ivy. He was not allowed around her without one of the magicals with him. He didn't seem to mind, since all he did was ask questions about the magical community. He told her about Asgard and how they did magic there. He and Sirius and Remus did teach her a few things about the differences in the magics of the two places.
Loki was under the impression that he could teach them Asgard magic. More so Ivy than the two men. Mostly because they were too closeminded to learn new things. He started her on a few meditations that young children could do. Sirius and Remus sat in on those lessons and took from them what they could.
It was a Saturday morning when they were all sitting to breakfast, when Loki asked that they all should go to Illuminate Mall, the equivalent of Diagon Alley, and get some books so that they knew what to do when training Ivy.
"That is not a bad idea," Bruce said, looking to Tony and Sirius as they were technically in charge of Ivy's education. Remus and Pepper were nodding along. The other Avengers were looking on curiously. They had never been to, nor did they really know about the magical places, though they were all interested.
"I think you're right, but should all of us go?" Sirius asked, not sure it was a good idea to expose the magical community to the full force of the Avengers. They were quite a force of nature when they went anywhere together. That had only happened twice since he had been here and it had cause quite a stir both times. He, Remus, Ivy and Loki had been with them. It had been to eat both times, and the restaurant had gone crazy with fans and foes alike.
There were those that loved what the Avengers stood for, and those that opposed everything they did. That and Loki was not liked at all. He had had to make impassionate speeches both times. Declaring that he had not acted under his own power and was in the process of making amends for the damage he had done. Tony said he was going to get the press involved shortly, and that Loki could make a public statement.
Everyone was of two thoughts on that. One, was that it was a good idea. The public would know that the man was only guilty of being controlled by another. However, it would let Nick Fury know that Loki was there with them and that was something they had avoided so far.
"I don't think we're going to be able to talk anyone in to staying behind," Remus said, pointedly looking at all the eager faces. Each Avenger had their own reason to want to venture into the unknown place.
Steve to see what it was all about, the same with Clint. Natasha wanted to get a feel of what she could do to help train Ivy, along with Tony and Loki. Bruce was chomping at the bit to get ahold of books to understand where magic came from and what it could do, along with Tony. Thor was just happy to be tagging along and seeing more of Midgard, albeit a place that was new to them all. Pepper wanted to shop and Happy was finally going to see the inside of the magical place instead of waiting in the car.
"I think you're right," Sirius said, seeing what Moony saw. "Well, at least between I and Tony we'll have enough money," he said with a shrug. They were the two richest people in the room, more so Tony than him. He had been humbled with how much more so. Then Tony had explained the economics to him and he felt better about it. In the small community of British magicals the Blacks were almost royalty with how much they were worth. Not so much in the vastness of the muggle world.
"What time do we leave?" Loki asked, not wanting to leave it open for discussion. They tended to talk things to death here.
"We'll go when breakfast is done," Tony said, pointedly eating his eggs. It wouldn't be long until they were all done, but there was no reason to hurry.
"Are we all going?" the cute little Ivy asked, having gotten the gist of the conversation, but wanting to know if all her grownup friends were coming along.
"Yes, sweetie," Pepper said, tucking some of that cute curly hair behind Ivy's delicate ear. "We'll find a nice outfit to wear after you eat. Do you think we'll need a hat here?" she asked Sirius.
"I don't know," the dogman said, tapping his chin in thought. "Best have her wear one just in case," he added. "I wouldn't put it passed Dumbledore to have her poster plastered everywhere as a missing child," he finished, thinking that was something the old headmaster would do just to get the child back in his control.
"I think you're wrong," Tony said, thinking the exact opposite. "I don't think he's going to let anyone know that he lost his charge," he added, smiling at Ivy who was trying to cut up her ham and making a cute little face as she concentrated on it. She was getting much better at eating at the table, something the Dursley woman never let her do.
"You might be right," Remus said, remembering that Dumbledore liked to play things close to the chest. "He likes to keep his secrets."
"We'll find a nice hat for you, sweetie," Pepper said, ending the discussion. They had not told the child about the man who had entered her room. They did tell her that Goose had chased off the bad man that night, just not how close the man had gotten.
"Okay, Miss Pepper, can we make it a baseball cap?" Ivy asked, finishing off the last of her ham. "Can I be excused?" she asked the general table, smiling as she did so. She was just too adorable for words.
"Of course," Tony said, smiling at her cuteness.
"Thank you, Mr. Tony," Ivy said, giggling her tinkling giggle and leaving the table, going to her room. Pepper put her napkin over her plate and followed.
"That giggle of hers is cute now, I just hope it grows with her," Clint said, thinking on how weird it would sound coming from an adult Ivy. Then again, he had heard much worse.
"It might," Sirius said, scrunching his brow in thought. He couldn't remember if any of the other quirks grew with their person. He knew his puns didn't get any better. The kid who ate dirt, still ate dirt, and Junior's tongue still flickered out of his mouth. Would Ivy's giggle become more pronounced as she grew? He didn't know.
"I think we can train it to be something that will work with her," Tony said, knowing that it could be used as a cutesy thing. He had seen women use such in the past. He could think of the Geisha women who did something similar to entice men. Not that he wanted his new daughter to entertain men, but the example was there.
"I guess," Sirius conceded. He could see the same in his mind. Though he was thinking of his cousin Bellatrix and her babytalk. He prayed those two never crossed wands.
The rest of the meal was finished in silence as they all thought of what they were going to find in the magical world.
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The entrance to the magical world in New York was in the Woolworth's building. Ivy spotted it right away, and Sirius and Remus and she led the rest through the portal to the magical side. It was set up like a mall, and was just as magical as Diagon Alley in that it had things that one would not find in the normal world.
There were fairies, dwarves and goblins roaming around with the humans and they were all conducting business for things like cauldrons and eyes of newts. Each window eave was illuminated with a dim sunshine charm to give light to the mall. There were magical moving plants in each doorway that crept along the walls and gave the illusion of a moving jungle. Some of those plants had lanterns in them. The fairies like to flit through them. Between the lanterns and the sunlight spell, it was like walking down a street in the middle of the afternoon.
"We want to hit the bookstore last," Tony said, knowing they would be there the longest. He also knew that he and Bruce would probably buy out the store. He made sure to keep ahold of his black briefcase. He didn't want to lose it.
"Why don't we split up? I know you and Sirius want to go to the bank first. We can look around and see what is for sale around here, and if there's anything we need to buy right away," Natasha said, thinking they could pair off. "I'll take Clint, Steve can go with Bruce, Thor sticks with Loki, You and Sirius go to the bank, Remus and Pepper can do their thing, Happy can stay with them. And of course, Ivy can stay with you," she said, ticking off the pairs on her fingers.
"That's a good idea. Except I want Happy with the Asgardians," Tony said, thinking it would get things done a lot faster. "Look for things that would make Ivy's life easier and help train her," he suggested, tapping his leg with his hand. "Things like trunks that hold more, or bags of holding. Weapons that can be hidden, like jewelry that holds poison, or hairpins that are weapons. Toys that teach, books, or robots… things like that."
"I doubt you'll find robots, but the other things are here," Sirius said, laughing at the thought that the wizards would have robots. He had never seen one until he had been to Stark's lab. Dummy was a hoot. The other two were just as fascinating.
"We'll meet back here in an hour to discuss what you've found, and I'll give out some money to purchase what we think will help," Tony said, waving off the robot comment. He could build one if necessary. It would be a challenge. He knew that electricity worked with magic, but robots were new, and he wanted to have one that could produce a shield that would work against spells.
With that they split up and went their separate ways. Tony, Sirius, and Ivy went to the bank. They went to the nearest vacant teller. "I need to speak to Tarnak," Tony said, not mincing words. He knew time was money to goblins.
"Who are you to ask for him?" the teller asked, looking at Tony like he was a bug.
"Tony Stark, Ragnuk suggested I speak with him," he answered, taking his key out and showing it to the goblin. "This is Ivy Harriet Potter and Sirius Black," he introduced his companions.
"This seems to be in order," the goblins said, looking at the key. "I will see if he is available," he said, hopping down and going to the door behind him.
"I guess we wait here," Tony said, leaning against the counter, placing his briefcase next to his feet. He looked at the other patrons and nodded to the looks he was getting. Many of them knew who he was, and they were all talking about him and speculating on why he was there and who he was with. They thought they might recognize the man, but the girl was not someone they knew. However, she was wearing a ballcap that was covering half of her face.
Ivy giggled her tinkling giggle, and everyone looked at her and cooed. They didn't care who she was after hearing her giggle. They only cared that she was happy, which it looked like she was.
"What an adorable child," the nearest woman said, looking at Ivy and smiling.
"Thank you," Tony said, smiling back but keeping Ivy close. He didn't know if they knew Ivy here, and he didn't want to be mobbed. It was a good thing they did cover her face; he didn't want to take any chances.
"Tarnak will see you now," the goblin said, coming back to his counter. "Follow Smarkrak," he said, indicating the goblin that had come with him.
"Right," Tony said, nodding to the teller and following the new goblin.
"Bye, Mr. Goblin," Ivy said, waving to the teller as they were leaving.
"Goodbye," the goblin said, waving in return. Then he turned back to his job.
The trio followed Smarkrak to Tarnak's office, which was not far down the hall. Tony and Sirius led Ivy into the office and Tony put her in his lap as he took a seat on one of the chairs.
"Tarnak," Tony said, with a nod of his head. "This is Ivy Harriet Potter. I am Tony Stark. This is Sirius Black. Together we hold quite a bit of money in Gringotts." He planned on making himself the richest in this community.
"Of this I am well aware," Tarnak stated, shuffling some papers. "I also know that you brought Britain's Gringotts into the 21st century. I would ask that you do the same here," he said in an almost pleading tone. "While we were not nearly as far behind as they were, it galls me that they are now decades ahead of us," he snarled. They had done their best to stay ahead of their British counterparts. They used pen and paper, they had telephones, and they used typewriters. Now the British had computers and fax machines. It was unacceptable.
"Let me find a magical among my employees and I'll set you up," Tony said, texting Jarvis to do just that. "I need you to check out our accounts and see about investing." He put the phone down and looked to the head of this bank.
"What is investing?" the goblin asked, not having heard that term before. It was not something they did.
"Nevermind, I'll set something up with a different company," Tony said, making a note to set up an investing firm in the wizarding world. It should make a killing. Or flop, it could go either way.
"What did you want to know about your accounts?" Tarnak asked, pulling out three files and handing them over to their owners. Tony got his and Ivy's. Sirius would go over Ivy's with him, they were sharing custody, after all. Sirius was her magical guardian.
Ivy was getting bored, so she hopped off Tony's lap and started dancing in the office around the empty spaces. She did a cute little pirouette and sashayed around the room to music only she could hear. In her cute little shorts outfit, she looked like something out of a children's movie.
Tarnak saw that the little girl was bored and looked around to see if there was anything that would hold her attention. He had some colored pens and paper. "Here, Miss Ivy. I have something to color with," he said, holding the pens and paper to her.
"Thank you, Mr. Tarnak," she said, smiling at him and running over to take the items. She curtsied a cute curtsy and went to the corner were there was a hard chair and set her pens and paper on the seat of it, while she sat on the floor. It was a clean floor, so she didn't mind.
"Thank you," Tony said, he was about to hand her his phone and he was loath to do that. She might lock him out of it, and it would take him an hour or so to get back in. Smart as he was, even he knew that children could mess up a phone without meaning to.
Maybe he could get her a phone of her own. Was six too young? He'd ask the group what they thought. They had phones for kids that age, right? He didn't know if Stark Industries made any, but they should start if they didn't. He could just envision a whole kid's line of electronics.
Sirius was pouring over his folder and seeing that everything was as it was supposed to be. He was the last male of his line, therefore the Lord of the house. He never wanted to be in this position, but there it was. He could do many things, like kick Bellatrix out of the family, add Andromeda back in, or nullify Narcissa's marriage. But he wasn't going to do any of those things, yet. He needed to get the lay of the land before he committed to doing anything.
He had no clue as to what was going on in Britain since he had been in prison for the last five years. All he had was Remus' accounts, and the werewolf spent most of his time in the muggle world. That and Sirius wasn't exactly mentally stable at the moment. He looked at his balance and noted he had more then enough to get a mind healer.
"Where is the local hospital?" he asked Tarnak with a note of desperation in his tone.
"Here in the mall," the goblin said, eyeballing the man like he'd snap any minute.
"Good," Sirius said, looking at Ivy and setting his resolve. He needed to be in the best condition to be around his little goddaughter.
"I'm not sure I ever told Ragnuk, but I am a billionaire in the non-magical world. What does that equate to here?" Tony asked, running some numbers in his head.
"There are no billionaires here," Tarnak stated, thinking hard on the richest person in the magical world. "The richest person would be Lord Black here, there are three in America that come close, and he is a multi-millionaire," he stated, tallying the figures. "I will not tell you his worth, that is up to him, but I ask that you do not inflate the market," he all but begged the man.
"Don't worry, I won't," Tony said, picked up the briefcase that he had brought with him and opened it. There was half a million dollars inside. "I want to deposit this into my vault. That will put me above Sirius here, I believe. Or at least tie with him," he added, looking to Sirius for confirmation. Sirius did a quick calculation and agreed that it was about his worth.
He had never been around someone who was richer than him. Malfoy like to think he was, but he was about a million galleons short. Probably more now that he had to pay so many bribes to stay out of prison. Things were just less expensive here in the magical world, where one could create most of what they needed with the wave of a wand.
Books, clothing, potion ingredients and enchanted items were the things that sold the most. Enchanting was a specialty that most wizards couldn't do. It required a certain amount of a finesse that most lacked. Many people thought it was runes that made enchanted items, but it was spell work too. The combination is what hung most of them up.
"Ivy, we're done here," Tony said, going over to the little girl and looking at the drawing that she was doing. It was of the Hulk, and he was drinking tea with Goose. It was a strange sight. Did she put a tiara on the Hulk and was Goose wearing a boa? Girls.
"Okay, Mr. Tony," Ivy said, taking up her picture and folding it and putting it in her pocket. She'd give it to Mr. Bruce so he could hang it in his room. She was sure Mr. Hulk would like it. She had yet to meet Mr. Hulk, but she could not wait until she did, she was sure he was a nice man.
"That is a really nice picture, little bug," Tony said, taking up the pens and paper and putting them on the desk. "Say goodbye to Mr. Tarnak," he said, picking her up and putting her on his hip. He left the briefcase here and would gather it back when everything was settled.
"Goodbye, Mr. Tarnak," Ivy said, waving to the goblin.
"Goodbye, Miss Ivy," Tarnak said, waving back. She really was an adorable little girl, for a human.
"Come on, we're going to take Sirius to the hospital and then meet everyone else," Tony said, after getting a map from the lobby of the bank.
"Are you sick, Mr. Sirius?" Ivy asked, her voice laced with concern. He didn't look sick. Should she kiss him and make him better? That is what Aunt Petunia did to Dudley, though she never did it to Ivy, so Ivy didn't know if it worked. "Can I kiss it better?" she asked.
"Only a little sick, sweetie," Sirius said, looking at Tony to explain. "And a quick kiss on the cheek will always make me feel better," he said, presenting his cheek for a kiss.
She giggled her new giggle and kissed said cheek. He smiled at her.
"You remember that Sirius was in a bad place for a long time?" Tony asked her as he looked at her smiling face.
"Yes," she said, nodding her curly head.
"Well, that made him sad and the doctor is going to try to make him happy again," Tony tried to explain. "I mean sad in a way that even little girls with cute faces and smiles can't kiss happy," he said, when she went to open her mouth to say something.
"Oh," she said, a bit hurt that she couldn't make Mr. Sirius happy. She liked to think she could make everyone happy.
"There were monsters on that island," Sirius explained, getting closer to her and hugging her a bit. "They took my happy bone, and the doctor is going to try to regrow it." It was the simplest way of explaining that he could think of.
"Real monsters?" Ivy asked, her eyes wide. "Why did they put monsters on the island?"
"Because they are mean people," Tony said, not sugarcoating it for her. The British magical government were cruel to have those demons used as punishment. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it.
They had been walking towards the hospital and they stopped at the entrance. "Well, this is it," Sirius said, looking like it was the last place he wanted to be.
"Do you want us to go in with you?" Tony offered. "I can call the others and let them know we'll be late," he said, taking out his phone to do just that.
"No, but could you send Moony my way," Sirius said instead. He really wanted his friend with him for this. "I'll wait in the lobby for him." He went to move inside, but he was stayed by a hand on his arm.
"I'll call Pepper and have them come here right now," Tony said, releasing Sirius' arm and dialing the number. It went through and Pepper picked up on the first ring. Tony explained where they were and why and then hung up after saying goodbye. Five minutes later, Remus came running up and put his arm over Sirius' shoulder.
"I've got you, Padfoot," he said, leading his friend into the hospital.
"Wait, do either of you have a phone?" Tony asked, already dreading the answer.
"No," Remus said, looking around like one would appear for them to use.
"Do you know how to use a payphone?" the billionaire tried.
"Yes," Remus said, relieved that he did know that.
Tony dug some coins out of his pocket. "Here's some money, call me when you're done," he said, giving them his card with the money. "There should be one outside of the mall."
"Will do," Remus said, once again leading his friend into the hospital.
"Will they help him?" Pepper asked, thinking they might help Tony if he asked, though he was doing much better since Ivy joined the family.
"They are going to regrow his happy bone," Ivy said, helpfully.
"Are they now? Well, that is a good thing," Pepper said, taking Ivy from Tony and starting down the street to where they were going to meet the Avengers. Tony was on his phone texting everyone that they were ready to meet.
"He really needs to have his happy bone regrowed," Ivy said with all the wisdom of a child who knew these things.
"I think we all need our happy bones," Tony agreed, touching her nose making her eyes cross. He loved doing that.
"Silly Mr. Tony, you already have your happy bone," Ivy said, nodding her head at him.
"You're right, and its name is Ivy Harriet," he said, with a smile.
"You are a silly man," Ivy said, shaking her head and giggling her new giggle, making everyone smile at her.
They arrived around the same time as everyone else and went on to discuss what to do next.