May 2nd, 2023 - A/N
Here's another one! And only 4 days past the 2 weeks period I promise. See? I'm making progress.
On a personal note, the job hunt in over! I am currently working for my brother's football team taking stats and setting up the fields. As I am writing this I am currently recovering from wisdom tooth removal surgery. I am 6 hours post-op and so far I have minimal pain but it's supposed to get worse before it gets better. I had my 4 wisdom teeth removed as well as an additional 2 teeth because apparently I am prone to growing extra teeth. Also I just watched the new show Jury Duty, and oh my god it was so good. I recommend it to all of you, it's just so much fun to watch and it really made my day everytime a new episode is posted. I watched it on Soap2day if you need a place to watch it however I will not take responsibility for the virus or ads you get on your computer.
Now for my thank yous. Thank you to my Beta Luke, our marvel expert for editing this chapter. Luke who is the Riff to my Tony, the Larajean to my Chris, and the douchebag jar to my Schmidt. (Yes, I will keep adding more every week because Luke HATES it and also I'm running out of these shows/references so leave some in the comments for me). And a massive shoutout to my amazing ghostwriter ElianaIsabella who never fails to edit these chapters for me. Especially the last few weeks, even when our dear ghostwriter has their own personal stuff going on they never fail in editing a chapter. I can never express how truely grateful I am to you ElianaIsabella but thank you so much for everything you do for this fic.
Also as a reminder, today is the 24th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, thought its fictional remember all the sacrifices and battles that came before and after the events in Harry Potter. Especially keep in mind the conflicts in Urkarine, Afganistan, Iran, and with that our hearts go out to the LGBTQIA2S+ community with their struggles against US law makers.
Now for questions/comments:
pclauink: Yes, yes he is and to this day I've never understood why She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, decided against having her end up with Harry, or Fred, or Draco, or literally anyone other then Ron.
hateme101: I completely understand your point of view but from my experience even when you love/like someone jealous is still emotion one can feel. Honestly I do understand Ron jealous, it doesn't excuse his words. But from the way I look at it, Hermione is getting everything Ron had ever dreamed of. She is a super hero, she is recently rich and despite the reason for why this all happened, she is trying to be happy. In my opinion, that is why Ron is so mean to Hermione despite him liking/loving her, she does not trump his jealous. Ron will always feed into his ego more they he would into love. Ron also doesn't know how to control his emotions so that combined with his ego and jealous is the reason I think he would take it that far.
That's it for this week. I hope you enjoy this chapter! As always here is a list of the Marvel shows I have not watched or finished yet so please do not spoil them in the comments, Loki, What If?, Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantum Mania, Agents of SHIELD, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Werewolf by Night. It isn't that I don't want to watch them, I just haven't had time.
And once again, I own nothing but the storyline. If I owned Marvel or Harry Potter I would've starred in the films and been rich, and directed the films, oh and married Sebastian Stan or Tom Hiddleston, or RDJ, or well, really just any of them.
I've also decided to include a list of songs that I either mention in the chapter or that I listened to that influenced the chapter. That list this week is
Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
Yesterday by The Beatles
Blackbird by The Beatles
New Orleans Is Sinking by The Tragically Hip
The Reason by Hoobastank
That's all for music this week! I hope you like the chapter, enjoy!
Previously on A Stark Contrast:
"What, this is all somehow their fault?" A blonde female civilian asked the audience, "Captain America saved my life, wherever he is and wherever any of them are, I would just…I would want to say thank you."
Chapter 14: The Rise of Iron Hex
June 24th, 2012 Unnamed Shawarma Restaurant, New York City (8:24 PM)
They ate in silence, Hermione had to admit, now that she'd had it, she really didn't think she liked Shawarma.
"This is truly awful," Hermione said through a bite of the dish, breaking the silence. No one had said a word since they ordered their food, Hermione assumed it was from exhaustion.
"Really? I like it." Tony replied, taking another bite of his food.
"Yes, that is something I will say you mid-guardians have on Asgard, your food is excellent." Thor boasted, chowing down on his 5th plate of Shawarma.
"Slow down there brother, we may mistake you for a gentleman," Loki said sarcastically, taking a polite-sized bite from his food.
"Can we talk about your friend back there Granger?" Natasha asked, refusing to beat around the bush. She never liked small talk, it was pointless.
"What's there to talk about? Friends fight." Hermione said with a shrug still chewing her food, attempting to avoid the subject.
"Yeah, but most fights don't end with an open-palm slap in the face." Clint pointed out to the witch in between bites before complimenting her, "Nice hit by the way, clean."
"Look Ronald is an arrogant prat. He's always been rude toward Harry and me but then he'll suddenly decide to be a good person, he'll do something to help us, and we forgive him." Hermione explained, thinking back to all the times she and Harry were forced to do something by themselves because of Ronald's jealousy and selfishness. "He took his insults too far this time. It's time he learned that words hurt and I can't always forgive him."
"What did he say to you, Hermes?" Loki pushed angrily. His niece was not violent, and it would take some vicious venom to provoke her. Hermione sighed knowing that of anyone, her uncle wouldn't let this go.
"Something about how I must be eating all this attention up and that I must be glad that my parents are 6 feet under now that I have a rich dad to-" Hermione explained paraphrasing Ron's words nonchalantly. She tried to make his hurtful words seem less severe as she had no doubt that Loki and Tony would kill Ron if they could for saying such vicious words.
"He said that?" Tony clarified in anger, Hermione could see the smoke practically coming off of him.
"I swear by the power of Odin witchling thunder will rain upon-" Hermione watched as Thor's anger began to summon thunder and lightning, his hammer raised in the air.
"No!" Hermione yelled, intent to stop the god of thunder in his summoning, which worked…barely. The god was still seething with rage. "Yes Ronald is an arrogant prig, but he does not deserve your wrath."
Hermione could see the gear turning in her uncle's head, his fingers drumming the table while in thought.
"Same with you uncle, don't even think about it." Hermione scolded, "Revenge is not the answer. Ronald will get what's coming to him. Karma is a very powerful thing."
The group ate the rest of their meal in silence as they realised she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Heading back to the tower using Hermione's apparition to transport the Avengers to a large hotel suite Coulson and Fury had set up for them while Tony figured out what to do with Stark Tower. They also needed a place to lay low for the night as Stark Tower was being monitored 24/7 by news outlets around the world.
June 24th, 2012 Unnamed Hotel, New York City (10:37 PM)
"Tony?! Hermione?!" Pepper Potts yelled in relief, meeting her fiancé and future stepdaughter in the doorway of the hotel before they could even get more than a foot in the door. She hugged the pair tightly, tears of relief brimming in her eyes. She pulled back and led them inside, allowing the others to pile into the massive penthouse suite.
"You told her she's grounded right? Because Hermione I'm sorry sweetie but going after a missile?!" Pepper began to rant, Hermione smiled at the nickname 'sweetie' it made her feel at home.
"Yes Pep, she's grounded till she's 30," Tony replied with a wide smile before taking Pepper in his arms and giving her a long-awaited kiss. Hermione saw Sharon staring out the window of the hotel, talking to Happy looking upon the wreckage of New York.
"Sharon?" Hermione asks, trying to grab her cousin's attention. Her cousin turned around and walked to her silently. They stared at each other for a long time before Sharon pulled her cousin in for a tight hug.
"I told you to stay away from SHEILD." Her cousin whispered in her ear, not angry or accusingly, just a matter of fact.
"I had to help them," Hermione replied simply. Sharon didn't answer, she didn't need to. Hermione looked up to see Happy staring at her with a prideful smile. Sharon took her head out of her cousin's shoulder to see the group now known as the Avengers.
Hermione felt her cousin's tension and knew it was time for introductions.
"Oh Sharon this is Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff who I believe you've met," Hermione began, the two field agents greeted Sharon muttering an 'Agent 13' quickly, "Thor and Loki, otherwise known as my uncle Tom-"
"Yes, I am aware. Fury met and debriefed me on the tarmac when I landed." Sharon replied, still eyeing Loki with a wary look. Hermione gave her uncle an apologetic look for her cousin's wariness however, it was her job as an agent.
"And lastly, Steve Roger and James Barnes." Hermione introduced. The two met and held their hands out for her cousin to which Sharon shook and replied, Captain Rogers, and Sergeant Barnes respectively.
"We have a SHEILD physician here to do wellness checks on all of you," Sharon informed the group, remembering that she isn't just here for her cousin. She was here on official business. "He wants to look at Hermione first given the circumstances."
Hermione nodded but still looked warily at the doctor. The last time she came in contact with one was back at the hospital which was when…
Everyone noticed her hesitance but Sharon was the first to offer, "I can come with you."
Hermione simply nodded as Sharon began to escort her into one of the suite's bedrooms with the doctor leading the way, "Just right in here Miss Granger…"
Slowly one by one they were all cleared by the doctor and decided it had been too long of a day. They were all spent. With the suite only having 4 bedrooms, 2 with queen beds and the others with 1 king bed each, the group had to decide who would be bunking with who.
"Well, Hermione and I can share a bed," Sharon offered first, putting an arm around her cousin tickling her side with the other hand and in a sing-songy voice saying 'sleep-over!'
"And I don't mind sharing with you Natasha," Pepper offered, the redheaded assassin nodded in confirmation. While her time working with Potts had been a ruse, she did consider the fellow redhead a friend. "We can take one of the doubles."
"You okay with that?" Tony clarified with Hermione. She nodded with a weak smile, she'd been quiet ever since the doctor had checked her out. Tony was sure no one would be opposed to giving her her own space if she needed it.
"Ok well I don't mind sharing with Happy if he doesn't," Tony offered.
"I suppose if I must, my brother and I may share a room," Loki said with a roll of his eyes.
"Great. Happy, Tony, you and uncle Loki could share a room." Hermione suggested, she hoped that if Tony and her uncle got to know each other, Tony might be more inclined to help her keep him here. She knew he wouldn't be able to stay now but hopefully. in the near future, she could integrate him back into muggle society.
"Well-" Tony stuttered in shock.
"I don't know Hermes-" Loki began to refuse.
"Great! Then it's settled," Hermione said with strained excitement, she didn't want to seem too eager at this plan. "Well I don't know about everyone else but falling from the sky and apparating upwards of 20 times a day really knocks the energy out of you."
"Same here," Pepper said, getting up to join the girl, the redhead as clearly exhausted from the worry of the entire day."No-not the falling from the sky part but the tiredness and- I'm just going to join Hermione in the bedroom."
"Hold up." Tony kisses his fiancee on the cheek before giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead, messing up her hair as he pulled back. "Night' girls"
Slowly the group filed into their rooms with Clint and Bruce sharing one of the rooms with the king beds and the other going to Steve and Bucky. Pepper had ensured they all would have proper sleepwear at the hotel with all the toiletries. Hermione put her PJs on and decided that she would sleep closest to the window as it had a breeze and Sharon knew she tended to get too hot during the night.
Hermione couldn't sleep, even as the lights were turned off, and everyone's breathing evened out. She just stared at the bright lights of the city, hardly believing what had happened to her in the last few days. She fully expected that every time she blinked, would be the time that she woke up from this hellish dream. That she would wake up in her bed back home in England, with her mother doing the crossword in the newspaper, her dad making breakfast.
But she knew it would never happen. They were gone. This was her new reality. Not that she would trade Tony in for the world, he was great and the Avengers were amazing. Still... there was a large part of her grieving, not only for her parents, for her old life and old self. This was a new Hermione. While she missed the old her, she liked who she was becoming.
"Pshh, hey," Sharon whispered to Hermione, the witch turned over in the bed to face her cousin. "I have to do damage control the next couple of days but once everything cools down do you wanna go visit Grandma?"
"Sure, that sounds good," Hermione replied with a nod to her cousin before turning back over, not beginning to cry until she was sure that her cousin was fast asleep.
June 25th, 2012 Unnamed Hotel Balcony, New York City (1:08 AM)
Tony couldn't sleep. He didn't know why, he was more than exhausted. There were just so many questions circling in his head. So, he did what he always did when his head was full of ideas and questions…when he couldn't tinker in the lab. He walked towards the large terrace of the suite to look at the city lights.
He was more than surprised to see Loki outside doing the same thing.
"Not thinking of escaping are you?" Tony commented, closing the glass door and stepping onto the terrace, suddenly feeling the cold late-night summer air.
"You and I both know Hermione would hunt me down and kill me," Loki said, meeting the eyes of the billionaire.
"So you are going back to Asgard? No tricks?" Tony clarified, eyeing the god suspiciously.
"It's the only way I can think of that would allow me to stay here in the future. Permanently. Semi-permanently." Loki clarified. The god knew it would take a long time for the Avengers to forgive and trust him, especially Tony. Hermione was put into direct danger trying to protect him and Tony would probably never forgive him for that. Loki didn't know if he could forgive himself for that.
"Hermione would like that," Tony replied simply. He wanted to give this guy a chance. He really did. He knew it would mean a lot to Hermione for them to 'bond' even if they are only bonding for one night. Tony was trying very hard to think of a talking point, then the most obvious one came to mind. "Can you tell me about her?"
"Who? Hermes?" Loki asked, confused.
"Yeah, you know when she was younger," Tony replied then continued, "From an adult's perspective you know? Something that research or Hermione couldn't tell me."
"Well from your research you obviously know she was a brilliant child. However, whenever she was particularly stuck on something she would always wrinkle her nose." Loki said with a slight smile, reminiscing. "One would think she would've grown out of it when she got older and even smarter, but she still does it from time to time. It reminds me of the simple times when she would be confused over the bigger words from her favorites, The Iliad, Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice."
"When did she read those?" Tony asked in surprise. He loved The Iliad, he'd read it at least half a dozen times by the time he was 9.
"I believe she was 7? I gave her a copy in Greek when she was 8. It took her weeks to translate and read." Loki said with a smile. He was very proud of that gift, it was something he'd never been able to top, something enjoyable and mentally challenging. It had been perfect.
"What else? Honestly, I'll take anything." Tony asked with more desperation in his voice than he wished to admit. Loki understood Hermione was a complicated girl, and Tony was going to need all the help he could get. And it was the least the god could do, Hermione needed familiarity with someone who knows what to do when she was upset, sad, or curious and needed guidance. He wouldn't be there but at least Tony would be.
"Oh, she absolutely detests mushrooms. She will not touch or eat anything that has come in contact with a mushroom." Loki informed him.
The two talked all night about Hermione. Tony learned about her fears, likes, dislikes, and hopes. Loki got to reminisce about the better times with Hermione and her parents. He'd lost so much, and so many in his life that he didn't cry in grief anymore. Though his heart severely ached for his friends, he couldn't find it in himself to cry.
Talking about them and Hermione helped. It made him feel a modicum of mourning and loss, something he desperately wished he could feel more of. By the end of their conversation, it was nearly 6 in the morning. Though both were feeling extreme bouts of exhaustion, neither regretted their talk. It got them on the same page about the one thing they could agree they had in common, their love for Hermione.
June 25th, 2012 Unnamed Hotel, New York City (8:40 AM)
It was Bruce and Happy who woke up first, then Pepper, Natasha, and Clint. The five talked over a pot of coffee, watching the news recaps of yesterday's battle. Thor and Loki, as well as Sharon, were the next to trudge themselves out of bed. Joining those already awake in starting the day off with the news broadcast.
To no one's surprise, Hermione and Tony were the last to get up. Though the only reason they hadn't slept longer was the very limited 3 hours Hermione had until Loki would be leaving for an unknown amount of time.
"Who dares wake me at this unholy hour?" Hermione said with a groan, taking a cup of coffee from Pepper's hand. "Thanks, Pepper."
"Ditto that," Tony said, reaching for his usual coffee cup from Pepper, only to find it had been given to Hermione.
"Sorry," Pepper shrugged with a smirk, "Hermione got here first. By the way, pots are empty, would you mind making another one?"
Tony stood flabbergasted as the rest of them walked over to the couch when a reporter began discussing Hermione.
"-but of course what everyone wants to know is who is that masked hero in an eerily similar suit to Iron Man. The last we saw of this masked hero was as she was falling from a hole in the sky. Citizens are calling this masked hero 'Iron Hex-'"
"I'm sorry what?!" Hermione said, choking on her coffee, causing her to sputter in the process. Pepper rubbed her back as Hermione continued to choke on the air. Everyone around her was laughing at her reaction to getting her hero alias. They all received theirs in unconventional ways. Hermione was confused by their laughs, "Why are you all laughing that is god awful!"
"We all hated our names at one point," Natasha explained. "I've never even been married or killed a husband, do you really think I would've chosen 'Black Widow' for a code name?"
"Yeah, or 'The Hulk?' what even is that?" Bruce pointed out. "Welcome to the bad name club, where news sites are our worst enemies."
"Speak for yourself. The government named us." Steve pointed to him and Bucky. "I shouldn't even be a captain, I didn't deserve the rank."
"And 'The Winter Soldier?' really? Cause my birthday is right on the cusp of the end of winter? It's ridiculous." Bucky proclaimed with an eye-roll.
"And I was named by people in the freaking circus," Clint added before beginning to talk in a mocking voice, '"Hawk's they have the worlds best eye sight they said,' I mean really-"
"Okay, I get the 'Iron' part but hex? Really? They've lost the bloody plot." Hermione rolled her eyes, interrupting Clint and staring at the screen as the broadcast displayed more blurry images of her. She was glad to know that at least her modified self-disillusionment charm worked, there was not one clear image of her face.
"Hex is a witchy thing right?" Clint clarified, Hermione snorted at the term 'witchy thing'
"A hex is like a jinx, only darker," Hermione explained, and at the groups, expressions decided she would need to demonstrate. "Fine, I'll show you, any volunteers?"
Clint being the curious man that he is, wanted to research all he could about the magical world. "I'll do it."
"You sure?" Hermione asked, eyeing him curiously.
"Eh, what's the worst that can happen," Clint said with a shrug.
"Ok, so this is a jinx." Hermione pointed to Clint muttering, "Locomotor"
Clint's legs began to wobble before he collapsed on the ground, Hermione let him struggle for a moment before muttering the countercurse.
"Some jinxes can be fun, others are more dangerous, not necessarily dark." Hermione explained, "For example, one jinx is blocking a person or people from apparating within a certain radius. Many of the sacred 28, the wizarding world's most prominent rich pureblood families, put these warded jinxes around their homes in case intruders break in."
"Sounds pretty useful," Bucky commented, a spell as ensures that people who break into private property have a harder time escaping sounds like a police officer's dream come true.
"Don't be so sure," Hermione commented in a sad, cryptic tone, forgetting that she was trying to make the wizarding world sound like a perfecting happy place, rather than a world beginning a war. "Anyways, this is a hex my friend Ginny is famous for, I'm warning you, Clint, this is going to sting."
"How bad could it be?" Clint said with a shrug, sure Hermione proved herself a worthy fighter with magic yesterday but how bad could a hex be?
Hermione waved her wand to Clint, for a moment nothing happened then all of a sudden bats started coming out of his nose, attacking him as he coughed from the discomfort of having a living animal crawl their way out of his nose.
Hermione allowed the group to understand Clint's situation for a moment before canceling out the charm.
"See the difference? Harmless prank versus actual harmful trick." Hermione explained, putting a numbing charm on Clint's nose to relieve the pain. "Thank you, Clint."
"Don't mention it," Clint groaned in pain. "Seriously don't mention it, please."
"Kid, it's a news site, people don't know what a hex really is other than it is a witch's term," Tony explained as his daughter came to sit back on the couch, tucking her knees into her chest. "Don't take offense to it. Embrace the crappy name, you'll learn to love it."
"You're one to talk 'Iron Man,'" Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.
"Yeah well, I kinda picked my own name there. Turns out that hacking a blog site before the post went viral to change the name to 'Iron Man' was a pretty brilliant move on my part." Tony boasted with a smirk. Hermione pouted jokingly at the idea of not being able to change her name to which Tony replied, "You snooze you lose kiddo."
"Oh god, I can already hear people calling me 'Iron Hex' Jesus." Hermione blanched, and there was a knock at the door as Happy got up to greet a delivery person.
"Just imagine the paparazzi." Happy pointed out, reaching into the take-out bag, pulling out a bagel, and taking a massive bite. Everyone scrambled to the kitchen area to grab a bagel. They all hadn't eaten since the shawarma the previous night.
"Ugggg…" Hermione screamed into a nearby pillow, she didn't rush to the kitchen immediately as she didn't feel entirely hungry. Loki walked over to the girl, as he still didn't entirely trust Midguardian food.
"Hermes, do you want to talk before I leave?" Loki offered, and that was when Hermione was reminded of the fact that her uncle would be leaving in a few hours. The witch simply nodded before walking over to Tony and asking,
"I know the answer is probably yes but figured I would ask anyways cause I'm supposedly 'grounded', can uncle Loki and I go on a walk somewhere? Thor can come with us if he needs to watch him." Everyone looked at her warily, not because they didn't trust Loki but him walking around the city was a different matter entirely. So she offered, "I can disguise us if it helps, not one will know it's us."
"Stay in one place, stay with Thor, and if anyone tries to talk to you, come right back okay?" Tony told her. "Be back before 1, they're heading back after that."
Hermione nodded before looking at Thor who gave her a 'let's get going' look, taking a bite of what she could assume was his third bagel.
"Ok stand in front of me, I'm just going to put the charm on you." Hermione asked Thor and Loki, "Close your eyes, this may tingle."
With a wave of her wand, Hermione made Thor and Loki much shorter in stature, changing their eyes color, hair color, and bone structure until they were completely unrecognizable to the rest of the world. Except for the people in the room.
"Nothing happened." Clint pointed out looking over the two men, not seeing any difference in their appearance.
"To us, nothing has happened, however to any old person walking the streets? These two are average gents, not gods." Hermione pointed out, she summoned a hand mirror to her hands and showed the gods their reflections only to find... not themselves.
Hermione waved her wand to transfigure her pj's into some light-washed blue jeans, and a navy blue sweater and transfigured her coffee mug into a pair of black converse. Before doing the same to their pajamas, put them both in blue and green t-shirts respectively, and matching black loose-fit jeans. She stole Tony's newly made cup of coffee despite his glares and protests as well as Pepper' cup to transfigure a pair of dark brown men's boots for the pair of gods.
"This is some kind of magic witchling," Thor commented in amazement, wondrously gazing at his glamoured face and his newly freshly-clothed body.
"Did you really have to take my freshly made coffee?" Tony asked, slightly annoyed as his daughter stole his coffee for a second time.
"Yep! I'll be back before 1." Hermione promised the group before locking hands with Loki and Thor, apparating to the edge of a small pond in central park that she had seen while flying the day before.
June 25th, 2012 Central Park, New York City (10:58 AM)
"Right then, here we are," Hermione said brushing some stray dust off her jeans as her uncle and Thor dry heaved at sudden nausea caused by the apparition. She laughed slightly at the idea of gods being caused this much discomfort by her magic. "You'll get used to it."
Nausea eventually subsided for the two men and Thor agreed to give them their own time alone while he waited at another end of the pond. Hermione was grateful for this not that she didn't like Thor but she wanted time alone with just her and her uncle without feeling… watched.
Hermione sat with her knee in her chest while her uncle sat with one knee up to support his arm while the other kept the rest of him up. It was the most relaxed Hermione has ever seen him.
They didn't talk for a while. They just stared at the pond, the still water, lily pads, and the soft cool breeze against the early summer air. It was still, and peaceful, a stark contrast from the day they'd had before. Hermione took in a long deep breath, closing her eyes to take in the air and before she knew it she was sobbing.
"Oh Hermes," He whispered, taking her head in his shoulders, rubbing her back in comfort, to relieve some of her sobs. It was his least favorite thing, Hermione when she cried, because it was when he was the most helpless, even as a god. "I miss them too."
That only made her sob harder, but he knew it was what she needed to hear. Nothing he could say or do would make any of this better. It would take time, a lot of time for her to heal. He knew the hole in her heart would never be fully healed but it would feel less empty in time.
"Shhh…it's going to be alright." Loki soothed.
Thor watched from a distance slightly stunned at what he was seeing, his brother hugging and comforting someone. He'd never seen his brother like this, not with him or his mother. At this moment Loki reminded him of Frigga, their mother, and how kind and gentle she is with her patients and people. He knew this girl was special to his brother so Thor made a vow to himself that with his privilege of being able to come to Midgard, he would watch over this girl for Loki.
Hermione's sobs quieted and slowed slightly, but her eyes still leaked soft tears of grief. "I wish you could've been there." The young witch shared.
"I do too." Loki promised, "Would it help you to tell me about it?"
Hermione nodded and recounted the funeral, how Tony gave the eulogy in his place, and how Pepper had prepared a video montage of her parents to their favorite song to sing to her as a child. 'Brown Eyed Girl' as Hermione was their little brown-eyed girl and they loved that song. Supposedly Hermione's mother sang that to her every night before she was born in the hope that Hermione would inherit the famous Carter brown eyes.
"Good choice, I would've expected Elton or some Beatles at least." Loki joked, and Hermione smiled at that. Her parents were old souls, they always believed they should've been born a decade earlier than they did. To enjoy the 60s as early teens and the 70s in their early 20s. But Hermione grew up on rock music of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. It drove Ron and Ginny mad as they didn't understand the appeal of that era of muggle music, but it was her and Harry's secret guilty pleasure. And evidently Uncle Loki's.
"I kinda let Pepper plan everything. I just couldn't even think about planning anything. She asked me for some simple details and then filled in the rest." Hermione explained, "I'm feeling slightly guilty about it now, I didn't even wait. I just wanted to bury them and move on. I thought it would help…but it still h-hurts so much."
The young witch began crying again as Loki took over the conversation, trying to get her to understand that she did nothing wrong.
"We all grieve differently Hermione, you've always been the driving force who just wants to push through everything at once, and there's nothing wrong with that," He consoled as his young niece sniffled into his shoulder. "They understood that about you Hermes, I'm sure you've heard this enough but they really would be proud of how you have been handling this, however, they would be proud of you no matter what you did. If you need to cry, cry. If you want to smile and laugh and let yourself be happy then do it. Because you deserve to be happy, I know it and they knew it. Never forget that Hermione."
Hermione wiped her tears with a smile and decided to continue, "After the funeral, we had a reception at the Fat Duck."
"Odin no," Loki said with a disgusted eye roll, to which Hermione laughed, "That god-awful place?"
"We never understood why you hated that place so much," Hermione said with a smile and slight laugh, it was a mystery she and her parents had tried to solve for years. He'd always denied hating it because her parents loved it so much but everyone knew he had great disdain for the place.
"Maybe because the food was greasy as all hell, the chips were sub-par, oh, and let's not forget anything that takes pride in the name 'Fat Duck' could not be good." Loki defended with complete seriousness. Hermione laughed at how picky her uncle was.
"Ok, seriously you're going to be so sumptuous?" Hermione asked in gawking disbelief at how spoiled her uncle was.
"You are not going to change my mind." Loki proclaimed defensively.
"I wouldn't dare." Hermione laughed. It felt good to laugh at something so unserious again. She would miss him. Miss this, the laughing and the inside jokes. Loki must've known what she was thinking because all he said was,
"I'll miss you too."
"There's no way to contact you?" She asked hopelessly.
"If I am able to send a message through Thor I will, and he'll get the message to you directly or through Stark," Loki assured, Hermione, let out a hopeful breath. That was enough. It would only be temporary. He wouldn't be gone forever. "But I highly doubt the Allfather will forgive me so easily."
"Ok." She finally said, she was afraid if she said anymore she would start crying again and she was seriously concerned that she would run out of tears.
"Hermione you're going to have a fantastic summer. Stark was telling me about some of his plans, some you know about and some will be a surprise, but they sound amazing." Loki explained trying to get his niece excited about something.
"When did you two-" She asked confused, Loki gave his niece a smirk of pride,
"It seems your little rooming scheme worked, neither of us could sleep and we found ourselves talking all night," Loki admitted, proud of his niece's sneakiness. He always knew she was capable. He'd kept an eye on her through Heimdall on her progress at Hogwarts. How she wasn't sorted into Slytherin, he'll never understand.
"What could you two possibly have talked about all night long?" Hermione asked. Part of her knew the answer, but she just wanted confirmation. Even though the last few days had been great, she wanted to know that Tony genuinely cared.
"What else? You." Loki admitted with another signature smirk. "He wants to know you, Hermione. Give him the chance. Promise me? Don't close yourself off. Anything you need he's prepared to be there for. Let someone be there for you. That's all I want for you, even if that someone can't be me."
"I will. I promise." Hermione swore.
Her phone decided to ring at that moment, it was Pepper, reminding her it was 12:45 and they should probably head back to give Thor and Loki enough time to prepare to leave. When Hermione hung up and motioned Thor to come back. She didn't want to talk, she was afraid if she did she would just start crying again.
"You know the drill," Hermione told them sadly as she grabbed their hands and apparated them back to the hotel room.
June 25th, 2012 Unnamed Hotel Suite, New York City (12:47 AM)
"Holy shit!" Clint yelled, jumping in shock causing him to drop his bagel, as the gods and young witch suddenly apparated in the room.
"Sorry." Hermione apologized sheepishly, with a wave of her wand the bagel was off the floor, cleansed, and ready to eat. She turned to Tony and gave him a sad smile, "Back before 1, as promised."
"I knew you would be," Tony said with a shrug, never doubting that she wouldn't be back on time.
"So what's the plan? Are they opening the Bifrost here and-" Hermione began to ask, as her anxiety slowly began creeping in, that was another thing about the young witch. When adrenaline isn't involved Hermione became very anxious when she didn't know things. Surprises were fine, the battle over the last few days didn't bother her because of the adrenaline. But when she doesn't know what weather to pack for or when she was supposed to be ready to leave, she felt an intense sense of anxiety. She wanted to know what and where and when, and if she didn't she would feel this pit in her stomach that just wouldn't go away until whatever she was doing was over.
"We can't open the Bifrost in a building unless you would like another hole in your ceiling," Thor explained to the group.
"Where did you guys go?" Nat asked Hermione.
"A small pond in central park," Hermione told the group, "It was really empty surprisingly."
"That still might cause too much attention." Clint pointed out.
"I can cast a disillusionment charm so people won't see us." Hermione offered. She found it slightly annoying that her meeting with her uncle was cut short only for them to have had the option to meet in the place she just was but she didn't want to point that out to them.
"Sounds good enough to me," Tony confirmed.
"Do you want me to apparate everyone there?" Hermione offered, she really didn't want to, her magic was still exhausted from yesterday's battle.
"As much as I want to say yes, I don't think any of us are up for motion sickness today." Natasha smiled, picking up a duffle bag and tossing it to Clint before picking one up for herself.
"You're leaving?" Hermione asked, eyeing the bags. Clint and Nat looked at each other with a smile.
"Yeah, I gotta get back to my dog, and Nat's going to crash at my place," Clint told Hermione. She could tell something was off but decided to ignore it. "So Nat and I will take her car, Coulson made sure to drop it off this morning."
"And I got my car," Tony said cheerily, "Hermione, you're with Bruce and me." before pausing and turning to Bruce. " You in?"
"Yep," Bruce confirmed.
"Pep's going to stay here with Happy to figure out the next steps with the tower," Tony told Hermione when he noticed his daughter looking at Happy and Pepper for their plans.
"And I have to be going," Sharon told her cousin, her eyes full of regret.
"Already?" Hermione asked in annoyance.
"SHIELD needs me on a mission and since I didn't fight in a battle yesterday, I don't get time off." Sharon joked with Hermione, trying to get a smile. The young witch gave her a weak smile.
"What about Grandma Peg? Will you be back to see her next week?" Hermione asked, her voice full of hope. Sharon shook her head sadly.
"Coulson said at a minimum I'll be gone 4 weeks. No contact." Sharon told her cousin, "I tried to get any other assignment but-"
"I get it," Hermione said in a rough voice.
"But hey, if it helps, I talked to Pepper and Tony, they're going to take you in a few days when everything settles down," Sharon reassured.
"I'll go too," Steve pipped up, still unsure what he just said. "I haven't visited her yet, I've been meaning to but-"
"You didn't want to go alone," Hermione said with understanding. She never visited her grandmother alone, it scared her. Ever since she had been diagnosed, Peggy was getting more and more unpredictable with her lucidness. She didn't know how to talk with her grandmother anymore, whether she was lucid or not.
"You'll never be alone Hermione, you'll always have someone around," Pepper assured, hugging the young witch from behind, Hermione blushed with a shy smile at the redhead's comment. She looked around the room and saw everyone giving her the same look, and she knew then, she would never feel lonely again.
"Thanks." She replied sheepishly. "Steve, how are you and Bucky getting there?"
"We both have bikes," Bucky replied, Hermione's eyes widened at the mention of motorcycles.
"You know those things are death traps right?" The young witch began the exact same speech she gave Sirius when he insisted on riding on his old motorcycle.
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there before they get a 20-minute lecture and the gods are late for their ride on the Bifrost." Tony interrupted, seeing the long argument Hermione had cooking up in her head.
"And we'll take the hammer," Loki assured.
"Should only take us 10 maybe 15 minutes to get there," Tony told the group, really it was only a five-minute ride from their hotel but Tony knew New York traffic and made sure to factor that in.
"It'll take Loki and I mere seconds, we'll give you a head start," Thor informed them.
"Meet you there," Hermione said hugging Loki, before walking over to her cousin and asking "4 weeks?"
"4 weeks, maybe more," Sharon confirmed. "Coulson will call you with updates on my well-being but I cannot contact you directly. But if you need to get a hold of me just call him or Fury and-"
"I'll see you in 4 weeks," Hermione said cutting her cousin off with a hug. Sharon gave Hermione a look of confusion at her eagerness to have her own cousin leave. Hermione noticed this confusion and explained, "Look, I love you but you have a job to do. And besides Pepper's right. I'm not going to feel alone this summer. Now, of course, I'm worried for you and I expect you to be careful. But really I'll be ok. I was just surprised they'd send you on a mission two days after your aunt and uncle's funeral."
"That's SHIELD for you." Sharon shrugged, trying to set aside her grief early before it overtakes her during her mission. With one last quick hug, the pair made their way to the elevators to meet the gang downstairs.
Hermione noticed the car waiting for Sharon, her cousin headed towards the car, turning around and swiping her finger across the tip of her nose before pointing that same finger at Hermione. Hermione smiled and did the same back. Sharon laughed and stepped into her car. It was something they used to do as kids, it was a signal for anything that pertained to the situation. It could mean 'swipe some extra cookies, I'll distract them' or 'I'm nervous' but in this case, it means, 'I love you.'
Hermione walked over to Tony's,car which she quickly discovered was a convertible and took the passenger seat as Bruce decided to take the back. It was odd, sitting on the right-hand side, but as long as she wasn't driving it wouldn't really bother her.
"What was that nose thing?" Tony asked her, putting a pair of aviators on.
"Don't worry about it," Hermione assured mysteriously, Tony reached into the glove compartment of the car and pulled out an extra pair of aviators, almost identically to his.
"For you."
"Really? Matching aviators? Isn't that a bit much." Hermione rolled her eyes, this was all feeling a little too Tom Cruise.
"Just put on the damn glasses," Tony ordered. "Alright, we're all following you since you've been to this small pond."
"Perfect you'll take a left up here." Hermione pointed, pulling the tip of her wand slightly out of her sleeve to cast a sort of bubble-headed charm on the open roof of the car. This ensured that the convertible still maintained the clarity up top but also make sure that Hermione's hair wouldn't be susceptible to the wind. She wouldn't be able to control her hair for the rest of the day and the young witch really didn't feel like looking like a well-groomed poodle.
"What did you do to the wind?" Tony asked accusingly, his eyes wide, mouth tight, eyes glaring at her. Genuinely in awe of her ability to change the elements. But also very annoyed that she would ruin the best part of a convertible. "I like the feeling of wind in my hair, hence the convertible."
"Don't worry about it," Hermione said with a menacingly playful shrug, laughing at Tony's pout.
June 25th, 2012 Central Park, New York City (1:58 PM)
In the 15 minutes, Hermione spent in the car with Tony driving she'd already accepted the fact that she was probably going to die in that car. Despite the traffic, Tony was dodging and weaving through the street of New York like it was the Indie 500. Hermione looked back at Bruce who looked just as green as he did when he was 'the other guy.'
When they pulled into a spot by the pond Hermione took the biggest breath of relief she'd probably ever taken, it was as if she was just breathing air for the first time in years. She felt the intense urge to fall out of the car and kiss the ground, but seeing as it was New York she decided against it. Tony shut off the car and was out of his seat before Bruce or Hermione even moved.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked them, confused as he saw them still in the car, staring off into space. Hermione slowly turned her head to look at her father in disbelief at his confusion.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" Hermione asked.
"Hey get used to it Glinda, I feel the need, the need for speed," Tony smirked, referencing the glass Tom Cruise film that inspired his love for aviators.
"You are so not a Maverick," Hermione told the billionaire, stepping out of the car, and pushing her aviators on top of her head.
"What is he then, a Goose?" Bruce added jokingly, they both knew Tony was the farthest from a Goose you could get.
"Hell no," Hermione answered with a scoff before staring at her father, "He's an Iceman."
"What's an iceman?" Bucky asked, stepping off his bike after parking directly behind them.
"It's a reference to Capsicle over here-" Tony began, trying to jokingly confuse the super soldiers with a modern day reference.
"Don't listen to him, It's a movie-" Hermione answered in shock they had never seen it. Before remembering Steve and Bucky couldn't have possibly seen Top Gun. "One that we will be watching I assure you."
Hermione lead them over to the pond, keeping an eye on the sky for her uncle and Thor. It didn't take long before she spotted them in the sky, landing in front of the pond with thunderous force, Tesseract in hand. It had taken some negotiation with Fury but the SHEILD director relented and allowed the Asgardians to take it with them. Only after Hermione pointed out that having such a device on earth could leave them open to more alien attacks. Immediately after they came to the ground Hermione put a disillusionment charm around the group, ensuring people wouldn't look their way after the thud.
"The Bifrost should be opening any minute," Thor informed them, looking up at the sky for a sign. Hermione then noticed that Loki was in magical dampening handcuffs.
"I'm sorry what are those?" Hermione asked furiously, the tips of her hair beginning to spark and crackle with fury, the tips of her fingers glowing blue.
"Hermes calm yourself it is necessary to open the Bifrost," Loki told her softly trying to calm her magic before it completely took over.
"And how, pray tell is it necessary to handcuff an innocent man?" Hermione asked through her teeth.
"It is a stipulation of my fathers, I could not return to Asgard without Loki in handcuffs. The Bifrost would not open without that obligation fulfilled." Thor responded, Hermione quickly came down from her anger, after that explanation.
"My apologies," Hermione mumbled in embarrassment, Tony rubbed her back in support.
"I suggest you say your goodbyes now Lady Granger, once the Bifrost opens we will be leaving swiftly," Thor recommended to the young witch.
"Hermione or witchling please, Lady Granger is much too formal Thor," Hermione told him with a shy smile before walking over to her uncle. "So this is it."
"So it would seem. I'll do my damnedest to be back before the end of summer," Loki told her, pulling her into a tight hug as she willed herself not to cry. She didn't dare let go as he said his goodbyes. "Remember, I'll be watching so don't do anything stupid or so help me Odin I will have Thor down here faster than you could say Heimdall."
"You can't get into the wizarding world, you're magic prevents you, so I'll just hide there." Hermione stifled a laugh before pulling away to look him in the eyes. "I'm really going to miss you."
"Try not to," Loki told her, speaking low enough for only her to understand "Allow yourself to enjoy this, take risks, not dumb missile-grabbing risks, but try new things. Don't seclude yourself, don't hide away, and don't be afraid to ask for anything. You will do so much and go so far if you are able to do that. Stark would find a way to get you the moon if you asked. Be selfish for once, and for the love of Odin, finish school before you court that silver-armed fellow. I see the way you look at him."
Hermione blushed at that last part, she hadn't figured out anything when it comes to Bucky. But she chose to ignore her instincts to scold her uncle for embarrassing her like that. She nodded at his requests, promising him that she would put herself out there.
She pulled a letter out of her hoodie pocket and handed it to Thor. "I wrote it last night when I couldn't sleep. It's a letter to the Allfather in support of Loki's freedom, we call it a character letter here. I figured anything could help."
"Clever witchling." Thor complimented, pocketing the letter in his breastplate.
Loki then grabbed her hand, making it look like he was squeezing it in reassurance, only to slip her a note in her hand, whispering,
"Do not open it until you are in the privacy of Stark Tower."
Just as Hermione went to respond, a bright light crashed down from the sky, it was sparkling and shone rainbow colors Hermione could only dream of. He turned to Hermione, "It is time, it has been a pleasure meeting you witchling, I will keep you informed on Loki's situation," and then turned to the group behind her, "Till we meet again Avengers."
"The pleasure was ours," Hermione responded for the group before weeping as she gave her uncle one last quick hug and pulled away as he walked toward the Bifrost, pocketing the note in her hoodie pocket. "Goodbye."
"It's not goodbye," Loki clarified with a smile, "It's see you later."
Thor and Loki stepped into the Bifrost, looking above at the endless tree of life, Yggdrasil. The group watched as the godly pair were pulled into the sky as the Bifrost closed. Hermione turned to the group with misty eyes but refused to cry, they stared back at her all with varying degrees of concern. The young witch felt so small with their eyes staring at her.
"What? I'm okay." Hermione told them in a choked-up laugh.
"We know," Nat told her, clearly not believing her, but wanted to tell the young girl what she wanted to hear.
"So you two are heading off?" Bruce asked Natasha and Clint, who nodded with a regretful smile.
"Yep, SHEILDs giving us a few weeks off so we're going to rest up a few days but Stark, if you have anything exciting, planned I better get a call from Pepper or Hermione got it?" Natasha threatened half seriously.
"Then expect a call soon," Tony assured them.
The pair hastily said their goodbyes, leaving Hermione with their numbers on speed dial should she need anything. The young witch had grown on Natasha and she saw Hermione in the last few days as a little sister of sorts, one she could hopefully mentor further in combat training this summer. Clint saw her as an extension of his family as well. Even having spent even less time with her than Natasha... he owed a lot to the girl. She got Loki out of his head and he could honestly say that he cared for her like a niece and happily wants to kick that Ron guy's ass for her.
Clint and Nat headed out, Natasha revving the engine and pulling away even faster than Tony had which sent Hermione in a complete trance trying to imagine being in that car. She only looked away when she heard Steve say,
"We should be heading back too," Steve told the group gesturing to himself and Bucky.
"Hold on, where are you guys even staying?" Tony asked the two, he had no idea where SHIELD would even put the two super soldiers.
"We have a bunk bed in the SHIELD barracks," Bucky told the group.
"You're kidding right?" Hermione asked in disbelief, she understood SHEILD keeping an eye on the two super soldiers but really? Making two men well over 6'4 sleep in bunkbeds? What was Fury even thinking? Her grandmother would be furious at the accommodations for the two soldiers.
"That's it, you two are coming to stay with us, Banner you're invited too. I want you in my lab," Tony told the group and. Hermione was dumbfounded. She could've seen Tony offering to put them up in one of his New York properties or something, but never was she expecting an offer to live with them.
"Oh Tony, I couldn't possibly-" Bruce began.
"Banner's right-" Bucky chimed in.
"Dr. Banner is right we couldn't possibly-" Steve argued
"Nope, I won't hear it. You guys need a place and I have 10 apartment floors in Stark Tower with each of your names on it." Tony told them, "Besides, Hermione's grown attached and she needs some friends."
"I am not attached and I don't need you to buy me, friends." Hermione huffed at her father's embarrassing display. 'Honestly' she thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. The group laughed at her embarrassed face.
"Well thank you, Stark," Steve told the billionaire gratefully, even though he was a super soldier his back was starting to hurt from the SHIELD mattresses.
"Yeah really, thank you so much." Bucky thanked,
"I'm sorry did you say you wanted me in your lab?" Banner asked concerned, did Tony Stark want to experiment on him? Tony noticed Bruce's wariness and understood where the concern was coming from.
"Oh god no, not for that!" Tony reassured, "I want you to help me, invent, study…I don't want to experiment or anything."
"Really?" Banner asked in slight disbelief. This was Tony Stark. Didn't he have some of the world's best scientists at his disposal?
"Yes really, I could use someone who can keep up with me and who isn't my own daughter," Tony told the scientist.
"Well, thank you Tony really. New York is a lot better than Calcutta," Banner smiled, "As long as Hermione can keep teaching the Hulk to keep himself in check."
"Can do," Hermione promised with a smile. Tony loved that smile, he would do anything to make sure he could see that smile as much as he could.
"Ok you two follow us back to Stark Tower, Pepper, and Happy, they have a plan for us to live there despite the damage." Tony told the group, "Also Pepper had your things delivered to the tower already so no need to stop at headquarters, so you can just go straight to the tower.
"Sounds good, we'll meet you there," Steve confirmed.
The group walked toward their respective vehicles when Hermione remembered,
"Oh Tony, did I tell you that I can repair the damaged part of the tower with magic?" She told him simply.
"You're kidding right?" Tony asked her in shock, Hermione shook her head, and Tony began howling in laughter, "Oh Pepper's going to kill you."
"What? Why?" Hermione asked confused.
"She's spent her whole morning on the phone with contractors," Tony informed her. "She hates talking to contractors."
Her hero name has been revealed! I want you too all know I loved all of your suggestions. I did have the name 'Iron Hex' in my mind as early as chapter 3 I think but I wanted to see if I preferred any of the suggests you all came up with. But eventually I just really fell in love with the name and hope that you guys like it as well.
Okay so as far as the last chapter's poll question, I am please to announce that all is right with the world because I won this week's challenge bringing the score to:
Delaney - 10
Luke - 3
This week's poll question (curtesy of Dark-Supernatural-Angel) is:
What are the thoughts on the new Harry Potter series that has been announced?
Luke thinks that people are going to make money form this no matter what and because it is Harry Potter people are still going to watch it. There are so many different versions, interpretations, and actors who play Spiderman yet we still watch those movies. So why is Harry Potter any different? His opinion is that he's cautiously optimistic about the series. I think it has the potential to be great, but no matter what, people will still watch it
I personally think it is horrible that they are doing this. Of course I understand the curiosity for the book concepts that were cut frm the movie come to life, as I am sure every fan is. But we already see the cast of Harry Potter, we write fanfiction with the descriptions of Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in our minds. Also there were just so many other Harry Potter series that I would've loved to have seen even if it did have a different cast. For example, what happened to the golden trio after the war, Sister's of Black (an amazing fan film), and espeically a marauders series. I think that the series is just unnecessary to fans right now. Not enough time has past from the last film (2012) for fans to get comfortable with a new cast and story. Also there were many additions to the film that I think made the story even better so if there is a series, I hope they find a way to incorporate the new movie concepts with the original cut pieces of book material to the story.
What do you all think?
We are slowly starting to run out of topics to argue about so I would love to get some suggestions from you guys on what you want Luke and I to debate. We will even give you a shout out for the question if it is used. It can be anything, it doesn't have to be Marvel related. Feel free to comment it, or message me privately. I can't wait to hear your suggestions.
Alright, that's all for me this week, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Finally, I just want to thank you all so much for reading and for giving me all the support and kind comments. It's amazing to know that so many of you have stuck by me over these last few years of writing and have given me pointers and suggestion that in my opinion have made me a better writer. I love you all. See you all 2 weeks! (Hopefully)
-Delaney