AN:I am so sorry. I wish I had answers for you, or progress on my job hunt, but I have nothing. No answers, dropped the ball with the job hunt, and am just trying not to melt

Last time...

"The only one our realm has known, though I can not speak for the others." Salazar confirmed, before turning his attention back to the arena. "How have none of them worked it out yet?"

Hermione turned her attention back to the Arena as well, while she contemplated what this would mean. The wizarding world as a whole was already in the process of learning what Hera was in relation to the newest title she held. If Salazar was right, and he seemed confident that he was, then they would all soon learn just who she had been. Hermione snorted in amusement as she watched her friend vanish the dragon – hopefully back to wherever it had been summoned from – before proceeding to stomp towards the last of the Masters to give him what for.

"I wish I knew." Hermione replied, unable to hide her fond amusement. "She really is the worst kept secret."

Chapter 121

Something flickered at the corner of Tony's vision, and though he'd wanted to keep his attention solely focused on his little sister, he couldn't help but look to see what it was. As soon as he saw the man, he froze in shock. If Hera hadn't described this man so well, Tony would have just assumed he was another weirdly dressed wizard, but he thankfully knew better. Standing there watching Hera as she went through her last test in the arena was a man Tony could only assume was Loki. He watched Hera as if in mourning, prompting Tony to surmise that this was the last visit.

A simple flex of fingers, something he'd seen Hera do a thousand times, only solidified the suspicion for him. Had Loki blessed her magic? Was that what that was? He wasn't expecting for Loki to realize he'd been spotted, or for him to be surprised by that fact. Was the god supposed to be hidden or something? A simple nod, and Loki was gone; Tony hadn't even had the time to blink.

"STOP!"

Tony whipped his head back around, only to be stunned into silence. A dragon. He'd always wished dragons were real, and it never failed to amaze him that his wish had always been true all along, but wishing and seeing were vastly different experiences. It was jarring, how gargantuan this one was, and it was angry at his little sister…for leaving? Tony stilled as he realized he could hear both sides of the conversation, something he really shouldn't be able to do, reminding him of all the times he thought he could hear Jörmungandr. He'd thought it was a figment of his imagination each time, that it was simply his wish that he could understand his sister's world that made him hear things he wasn't really hearing.

He didn't know what to think. Absent-mindedly, he knew that Hermione and Salazar were having a conversation next to him, but hadn't noticed his distress yet; he wasn't sure he wanted anyone to notice yet or ever. The sounds around him began to change, not that he paid much attention to it, and the atmosphere became even more tense. His mind kept trying to get him to see something, but he refused to look, not wanting to open that door. The more he refused it, the more it demanded to be acknowledged.

"Tony?" Hera's voice managed to reach him through his turmoil, and he looked up to see she was in front of him now; which begged the question of how long he'd been in his internal spiral. "Tony, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine…I…" He shook his head. He didn't want to deal with this, whatever this was.

~He hears me~ Jör hissed, causing Hera to turn her attention to him. ~He understands

"Tony?" Hera's shock is immediate, as is his wish to curl in on himself, and she looked to someone he couldn't see. "We need to get him out of here."

The familiar feeling of shame washed over him then.

"He wouldn't want strangers to see him like this."

Surprise filled him then, allowing for the warmth of her hands on his own to ground him, and he squeezed them to let her know he understood. She wasn't Howard. She wouldn't be ashamed of him. She would never condemn him for something out of his control, and he found comfort in that fact; though it was tinged with the shame that for a moment he'd thought she had. As he let himself be guided to another room, Tony tried to bask in the feeling that was someone taking care of him; that depending on another for help wasn't a sign of weakness.

…

"Tony, what's wrong?" Hera pleaded, once they'd managed to get him into an empty room, as she knelt in front of him; his hands in her own. "I don't know what to do."

"I'm fine…Please just…I'm fine." Tony tried to insist, shaking, unwilling to look her in the eyes. "Starks are made of iron…I'm fine…I'm fine."

"Tony…" She was at a loss, and looked to Rhodey; who had a grim look on his face.

He'd seen his friend like this before, she'd wager, but didn't know how to pull him out of it. Turning her attention back to her brother, she struggled to find the words. She could only imagine what had happened. Could her brother have a spark of magic, and she just hadn't noticed? It had happened before, but…Jör claimed Tony could hear him.

She began to see a possibility in her mind. Her opinion of Howard Stark was already not a kind one, and this theory didn't make it any better. Howard Stark had been a man of science, and while fine on its own, he had also been unyielding in his views. If Tony displayed signs of magic around his father, and Howard reacted badly…Well, the picture wasn't pretty.

"Starks are made of iron," She repeated back to him, before continuing. "but that is not all that we are. You are so much more. We are more."

It surprised him into raising his head enough to look at her in confusion.

"Iron breaks if it's stressed too much. It isn't always strong on its own. It needs other things to help it bend when it would break, to help it stand strong where it would have fallen otherwise. Do you understand?" She continued. "You don't have to tell me, but I need to know."

He crinkled his eyebrows further in his confusion.

"You could show me." She reminded him. "I could see it if you show me."

His eyes lit with understanding, and he nodded. Her mind was flooded with fuzzy images of a memory through a toddler's eyes. Little Tony Stark running around with a light bulb in his hand that glowed with nothing external attached to it, just little Tony's fingers wrapped around it as he happily babbled to his father. She saw the twisted look of shock and then anger in Howard's face, and backed out of the memory Tony had pushed towards her. She didn't need to see what followed after, knowing far too well what the man had likely done.

"I think I know how my parents got your father to agree to help them." Hera stated, but instead of explaining that, she turned Tony's hands over as she produced the flame she'd handed to Mr. Felch. "I'm going to let go now, Tony. Is that alright?"

"It…It doesn't hurt…" He muttered to himself, distracted by the flame in his hands. "I don't…I don't understand…"

"Hera?" Rhodey questioned, worry for his friend evident in his voice.

"I think Howard was a squib. Either that or his father was." Hera continued. "Both were involved in arms dealing. Both were overseas quite a lot, but I think only Howard would have really had the opportunity to come across the wizarding world in my parents' lifetime. They might even have met him during that time. It's the only way I can think of that would explain their connection to him. The squib registry we have doesn't account for those of other countries."

"You mean they…"

"I think they might have thought of him when they realized they couldn't have children without outside help. I think they went looking for Howard." Hera continued as she stared at the flame still lit in Tony's hands. "I think they saw Tony doing magic, and I think…I think they saw what Howard did to him. I think they offered him a choice…He could help them have a child, and they would hide Tony's magic away, or…Or he could refuse, and the consequences would follow. They might have threatened to reveal his secrets, or maybe to take Tony from him and raise him as their own. I don't know. It's all theory at this point."

"I can't…I can't be…" Tony objected weakly, even as he stared at the flames, his eyes filling with tears unshed.

"If they locked your powers away, it would explain why Howard wanted no contact. They would be the only ones that could undo the spell…" She hesitated here. "…or I could."

Tony looked to her in shock, the flame sputtering out.

"I can see magic, but I couldn't see the spell affecting you. It's not an infallible ability." Hera continued to explain. "Simply being around me might have been enough to slowly unlock it on its own though, but…"

"…If I'm…Jarvis…I'm not safe around Jarvis, Dum-E, U, Butterfingers…any of them."

Of course, his first thought was to protect Jarvis and the others. Hera knew that as much as he tried to deny the dreaded 'feelings', he wasn't immune to them, and he was slowly coming out of his shell just as she was hers. Of course his first thought would be worry for the protection of those he considered family in some way. They were his children, his creations, and their safety was paramount. It was one of the things the two had bonded over.

"Of course, you are, Tony." Hera reassured him, taking his hands into her own once more. "You made them."

His eyes seemed to plead for a lifeline, anything that would ground him here.

"Tony, I've been trying to figure out how to keep Jarvis and the others safe, but you already have." She tried to explain. "Your magic was never able to be let out, but instead of risking you becoming an Obscurus, I can only assume my parents tried to make the spell channel your magic into a more healthy avenue for you."

"Are you saying I'm a genius because I have magic?" Tony inquired, a hint of confusion and hurt mixed in his voice.

"No." She corrected, and he relaxed a little. "You're brilliant on your own, Tony, brilliant enough to work out Arthur's words into schematics for a flying car – the bare bones beginnings of your very own BiFröst – brilliant enough that you created an artificial intelligence when it was barely being theorized that it was possible beyond science fiction novels."

"Then…what are you saying?" Tony asked, hesitant and uncertain.

"Your magic isn't an external force. It's you. It's just another sense, like taste or smell." She explained. "It allowed for your brilliance to go farther than it could have on its own, create things that allowed for you to push it past the point Howard or a particularly brilliant muggle could have. With the way you've been subconsciously channelling your magic, you're practically an artificer. Jarvis, Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers will always be safe around most magics, because – in part – you made them with it."

Tony relaxed a bit more with that, though she got the sense that he was going to be a bit on edge for a while. There was something she wasn't telling him, something she feared to be true. She didn't even want to think about it while in the room with him, because her brother was always so perceptive. Happy and Pepper pulled him into conversation, seeing that she needed a moment, each with a different approach; Pepper going over all the new projects he'd marked for her to start keeping an eye on, while Happy cracked jokes about how he was going to have his hands full trying to protect the Stark siblings now. Rhodey looked her in the eyes, jerked his head towards the door, and then walked out; she didn't hesitate to follow.

"Can you make it so we're not heard?" Rhodey inquired, his arms crossed; his very demeanour guarded. Hera made a minute hand gesture and nodded. "What weren't you saying in there?"

"I think Stane knows." Hera revealed, looking him dead in the eyes; she knew the moment he wanted to object, and couldn't let it happen. "He's his godfather, Rhodey. Tony grew up with this man watching over him. Are you really going to stand there and tell me it isn't at least a possibility? You're going to tell me Tony couldn't possibly have had bursts of accidental magic around that man at some point in his childhood? Do you really think Howard would have trusted someone who didn't know to watch over his son?"

…

"Fuck." Rhodey swore under his breath, slumping his shoulders, realizing she was right. "If he knew about that, he had to have known about you. No wonder he's tried so hard to remove you from Tony's life."

"You can't tell Tony." She whispered, though she'd made sure no one could hear.

"Why the hell not?" Rhodey demanded, matching her quiet tone, incredulous.

"Because he'd kill him, Rhodey."

He would too. Rhodey knew his best friend well enough to know that. Finding out that Obadiah had kept such a huge secret from him, and had actively sought Hera's removal from his life, would set Tony off. Hera didn't want Tony to risk his life and freedom over this, and both knew that's exactly what would happen. Rhodey nodded his agreement, and Hera made her way over to her friends. He went back into the room, only to be confused when Happy and Pepper both stood up quickly and walked out.

"I wanted to talk to you alone." Tony confessed. "I need to tell you something."

"Okay…" Rhodey nodded, slightly confused.

"Obadiah. I think he knows." Tony admitted in a rush. "He was always encouraging my inventions, even when Howard got mad about them, because each thing pushed at the boundaries of what was possible. If he saw a cash cow instead of a godson…You can't tell Hera."

"…What?" Rhodey demanded, even as his brain faltered. He couldn't believe what he was hearing right now.

"She'd kill him, Rhodey."

Rhodey found himself nodding numbly, and the two left the room. He couldn't believe it. Those two stubborn fools were going to be the cause of all his grey hairs, he was sure of it. Watching Tony join up with his sister and her friends, talking with dignitaries and the like, Rhodey almost missed Snape approach him. Neither said anything for a time, content to lean against the wall in silence as Rhodey gathered his thoughts.

"Hera's smart, right?" He asked, turning to the man. "She's a genius too, isn't she?"

"She is, though even now she struggles with the practical application of what she knows." Snape answered, looking over at him. "Why?"

"How?" Rhodey tried, failed, and tried again to explain his inquiry. "How can they both be so smart, and yet so incredibly dense at the same time?"

"You answer that question, and you might have just worked out a secret of the universe." Snape remarked sardonically, turning his gaze back to the siblings. "What did they tell you?"

Rhodey didn't want to say, wasn't sure he should, but it didn't matter.

"Potter has been suspicious of Stark's godfather for some time. I've watched their interactions enough to know that. Stark has been growing suspicious the man as well in recent months." Snape continued, before dropping a bomb of information. "I've looked into his mind, and I can say with confidence that Potter has every right to be suspicious of the man. I can only presume that Stark has been taking a closer look at his godfather's actions as a result, and hasn't liked what he found."

"You looked into-"

"The safety of my apprentice is paramount." Snape cut him off, pinning him with a side glare now. "Imagine my surprise when I find myself suddenly in their home, the defences of the bonding spell having been activated, and the man in question standing outside of her room with this."

He handed Rhodey an unfamiliar instrument not unlike a pen.

"What does it do?" Rhodey inquired, holding the implement gingerly as he inspected it.

"I don't know, though I believe it may be something to render ones enemy defenceless." Snape admitted, regarding him closely once more. "Potter had been keeping a ward on her rooms that would have kept her safe, but had relaxed it over time due to feeling safe with her brother. That man would have been able to enter her room and use that device. I don't know if it would have allowed him to capture or kill her, and Stark's electronic butler would have been of no help. For all that has been done to protect Jarvis from magic, the AI is still susceptible to electronic attacks if they are planned well. I obliviated Stane, removed the device from him, and sent him on his way."

"They each asked me not to say anything to the other about this, convinced that the other would kill him should they find out." Rhodey revealed, trusting his gut on this one. "If we tell either of them about this, they will kill him. Hera's convinced Stane isn't too far gone yet, but kidnapping and murder…I've seen combat. I know there are worse things, but…that ranks right up there. What are we going to do?"

"Nothing…yet." Snape shrugged, much to Rhodey's chagrin. "There is nothing we can do right now. Both are wary and on their guard now. That will have to be enough. If I know Potter at all, she's waiting for something that she hopes will never happen. Whatever that something is, keeping these secrets is how she hopes to keep it at bay, so that is what I will do; what you will do."

"You know this is going to blow up in everyone's faces, right?" Rhodey pointed out, handing the implement back to him.

"Undoubtedly," Snape nodded, turning his attention back to the siblings again. "but I hope for their sakes that it does not."

Stane had to know, Hera thought to herself, it explained everything; his intense objection to her upon that first meeting, his insistence that she was hindering Tony instead of helping him, his desire to keep her out of Stark Industries, and lastly his words to James Rhodes to 'watch' her. She wasn't sure what was going to have to be done about that, or even if she was the right person to deal with it. This might be one of those situations where she was too close to everything, unable to see the forest for the trees. Whatever was going to happen would do so soon. She could feel it in the very air around them as they left the Ministry.

There was another worry she had as she and her friends separated, each leaving with their families, though a somewhat silly one; especially given the emotional upheavals the day had thrown at her. Tony had said she was grounded, but what did that mean? She thought about that as they were guided through the busy streets to the waiting limo. She thought about it as she listened to the conversations going on around her. Though she was a far cry from the person she'd been when she'd first come to Hogwarts, the only experience she had to fall back on was her time with the Dursleys, something she highly doubted Tony would ever think to draw on for inspiration.

There was also the fact that if she really wanted to, she could easily defy Tony's 'grounding', not that she would. She felt it deserved, given the fact that she had grown far too cavalier with how risky she was with her life as of late. People died all the time; gods were no different, it just took a harder hit to get the job done, something she knew all too well. She had people she cared for, who cared for her in return; friends, family. Those weren't things to throw away, but to be treasured, and still she found herself risking life and limb when the desire struck.

"Never been grounded before?" The words pulled her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Salazar next to her looking at her in inquiry.

"I doubt the Dursleys are shining examples of what to expect when it comes to that sort of thing. I was locked in a cupboard under the stairs any time I did something 'freakish', and when I finally got a room of my own they put bars on the windows and a cat flap on the door." She admitted. "You?"

"I lived in a strict religious orphanage until I was old enough to age out." He reminded her. "I doubt a past life as a mad despot willing to curse others into insanity counts for much of an experience as to what to expect either."

She heard someone start coughing as if strangled by a drink at that moment, but a quick glance told her that Pepper was fine.

"You're going to have another problem if you can't come up with an excuse for why you can talk to dragons." Salazar informed her, his tone quiet so as not to interrupt the conversations around them any further than they already had.

"You can't?" Hera inquired, perplexed. She'd been running on the assumption that he could, but he shook his head in the negative, and she frowned. "But…snakes are cousins of serpents, and dragons are just big serpents with wings…You've tried?"

"I thought as you did; though mine was in arrogance, not logic." Salazar supplied. "It was a mistake; one I almost did not live through."

"Ouch." Hera sympathized with a grimace, before turning thoughtful. "So…I can talk to dragons, but you can't?" Salazar nodded here. "Loki could talk to dragons. They'll make the leap."

"They may, given your familiars on top of things, but he wasn't of Earth." Salazar reminded her. It was like he was getting at something, but she couldn't see it. "They may think of him, but he's not who they'll think of first."

"Who else then?" Hera wondered, turning a touch more to face him fully now. Salazar only arched an eyebrow at her as if it should be obvious, and then it dawned on her. "No…I can't be…Merlin's balls, are you for real right now?"

"I'm not sure your ancestor would appreciate you speaking like that about his dangly bits."

The words hung in the air for only a moment, and then…

"Whyyyyyyyyy?!" Hera cried out, rubbing at her eyelids, absolutely mortified. "I can't scrub this out of my brain! Why would you say that to me?!"

"I couldn't resist." He teased, chuckling at her antics. It was nice to see how far he'd come, how well he was adjusting to his new life, even if it came with moments of complete mortification such as this.

"Now, for those of us who haven't been eavesdropping at all, would you mind clarifying what you meant earlier?" Snape inquired, having volunteered to join them for a time. "Just who do you think they'll connect in regards to her?"

"He's talking about Wylit." Hera replied after calming down, too shocked to fully come to terms with what Salazar had hinted at. "He's talking about Myrddin Wylit…or as we would more commonly know him…Merlin."

"I didn't think Merlin had any kids." Pepper objected thoughtfully.

"If he did, the knowledge was lost to us as well." Hera acknowledged. "Many of the old Pureblood families claim him as a direct ancestor of theirs, however, but none have been able to claim the Wylit Vaults."

"…Didn't you say you performed one of those familial blood test spells?" Tony reminded her. "Did you take a look at it afterwords?"

His words caused her to go into a flurry of activity, if only seated as she was, searching through her pocket dimensions for a piece of parchment she hoped she hadn't thrown away without thinking. She barely registered the shock of Happy and the others while they watched her casually break physics; too intent on her search. When at last she found it, Hera scrambled to unfold it, searching for the starting point of the blood test in order to work her way back. Ignoring Loki's line once more, as it would be useless to her here, she went through Lily's line first; after a lot of searching through the back through the names, she found nothing. While James had blood adopted her while she was in the womb, she knew his line wouldn't hold the answers, instead turning to Howard's.

The parchment continued to unfold in her search, becoming impossibly long the more she read. It was beginning to fill up the floor of the limo for the second time, not that anyone objected; though Fenrir huffed a bit when a bit of it fell onto his snout. They too were curious now, and even Salazar read over her shoulder just a bit. Howard's line continued back, changing last names as it went, crossing countries, warping and changing until it was unrecognizable as Stark; till eventually an all too familiar and yet completely unexpected name came into view. Hera stopped moving, couldn't even breathe as she stared at the name.

"Hera?"

"Tony, I'm going to ask you a question I need you to be completely honest about when answering, okay?" She warned him, still looking at the parchment. "When Jör said you understood, it wasn't just him, was it?"

"What do you mean?" Tony hedged. Her eyes sought his, knew the truth before he could try to avoid it.

"You understood me when I spoke to the dragon, didn't you?" She surmised, leaving no room for him to wiggle out of the answer she saw in his eyes. "You understood the dragon when it replied to me, didn't you?"

He couldn't answer, eyes wide as he realized what she was telling him, only managing to nod in confirmation.

"I think…" Hera tried to get the words out, but couldn't manage it at first. "…I think we need to go to Gringotts, Tony."