Sept 19th, 2023 - A/N
Firstly, Happy 44th Birthday Hermione Granger! In my fic you will forever be under 30. We love you so much even though you sadly don't exist.
Secondly, I know I said I would be writing more but as usual I lied to you all. I'm just going to stop apologizing because…well…life. However there is a reason I have been delayed in putting out chapter and that is as followed below,
Thirdly, It is with sad news I announce the departure of our amazing ghost beta ElianaIsabella, who I thank so much for her work on this fic, I probably wouldn't have continued without her. She had to leave this fic for family circumstances and we wish her all the best. However, that does mean we need a new ghost beta! So please feel free to comment or reach out if you would like to be a part of our team! No experience necessary!
Now for thank yous! Thank you to Luke the Taylor to my Belly, the Boots to my Dora, the Tupee to my Binou, and the Green Arrow to my Barry. Yes, I will keep adding more every chapter because Luke HATES it and also I'm running out of these shows/references so leave some in the comments for me).
I'm not answering comments this time around seeing as it has been 4 months and I'm sure you've all forgotten what you've posted anyways. But keep commenting because really it does remind me a lot of the time that I need to keep on top of my upload schedule.
Before reading this chapter I implore you to keep in mind the conflicts in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, and with that our hearts go out to the LGBTQIA2S+ community with their struggles against US lawmakers. And in Canada we have our day of National Truth and Reconciliation coming up so please keep our Indigenous communities in your thoughts as well.
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 Quantumania, Agents of SHIELD, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Werewolf by Night, and Secret Invasion. 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.
This chapters playlist
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Elton John
"In My Life" - Beatles
"What's Up?"- 4 Non-Blondes.
That's all for music this week! I hope you like the chapter, enjoy!
June 25th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (2:28 PM)
With Tony's speed, it wasn't long before they were at the base of Stark Tower. Hermione stepped out of the car, pulled off her aviators, and looked up at the massive building in disbelief. This was her new home, it looked endless from the ground.
"Welcome home Sabrina," Tony said smiling, taking off his aviators, putting an arm around her shoulder, and patting it. She smiled at the nickname she had so come to love.
"Woah."
"Yeah, woah," Bucky said with a long dragged-out whistle, sure he'd seen around New York since being unfrozen but he hadn't realized just how much everything had changed.
"Alright, shall we head up?" Tony asked the group leading them into the lobby of the building which was deserted in light of the battle the previous day. The emptiness and echoing of their footsteps were deafening as they walked toward the elevator. "Usually there are more people here, but I moved them to Stark Industries or gave them time off until the building is completely fixed. Thanks to our Sabrina here."
"Once we get up to the top floor I'll do it. I might need to floo back home for help with the casting, as it'll take a large amount of magic." Hermione explained to the group, "Fred, George, Remus, and Mr. Weasley will probably be enough. I'll send them a patronus so they'll be ready to floo over by the time we get up there. Are your cameras up and running?"
"No, servers down, one of the aliens ran into the server room. I mean with the exception of JARVIS, he's his own thing." Tony explained, "Why?"
"So I can do this," Hermione summoned her otter patronus and began muttering a message requesting Fred, George, Remus, and Mr. Weasley's help 'Reparo'ing the damage in New York. The otter nodded before disappearing to deliver the message. Not that the cameras really mattered as she couldn't be recognized by cameras thanks to her charm work, but the building was easily recognized and she didn't need people figuring out she was Iron Hex and that she was staying there.
Hermione chose her help specifically. Fred and George wouldn't be running missions for the order most of this summer unless the Order needed more numbers because they were working on their shop. Remus was a few days out from the full moon so he was extra strong but his temper was short so the Order wouldn't dare use him until he was recovered. Mr. Weasely was easy, he didn't need much magic to do his job at the ministry, and because of his status as a ministry employee, the Order never sent him on missions for fear of being recognized.
At Tony and Steve's confused look as to where and what the otter was Hermione explained, "It's a patronus, it's a way of communicating quickly and without a trace. It can come in handy sometimes."
"How long does it take to get to the recipient?" Steve asked Hermione, fascinated by such a useful method of communication, 'if only we'd that had that in the war' he thought to himself. He saw Tony press the elevator button and before Hermione could give him an answer she received a wolf patronus from Remus saying 'We'll be there in 5,' Steve blinked in shock, "Guess that answers my question."
June 25th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (2:33 PM)
"Good news; Hermione can fix New York!" Tony boasted with a smile as he entered the top-floor living room seeing Happy and Pepper looking over older plans of the building. The pair looked up from the plans in confusion
"I'm sorry what?" Happy asked Tony, he was used to Tony entering a room announcing some crazy things but nothing as boisterous as that. Hermione rolled her eyes at the glossed-over words of her father.
"What Tony means is that with help from some of my friends back home, we can undo and repair the damage done by the Chitari," Hermione explained, before sheepishly adding, "Which means no need for any contractors."
"Seriously? Tony, you couldn't have called sooner to tell me that?" Pepper asked, annoyed, never once thinking Hermione was to blame.
"What? Me? Sabrina just told me!" Tony asked, shocked that Pepper was taking Hermione's side over his.
"Oh don't blame her." Pepper continued annoyed before asking Hermione, "How soon will they be able to help?"
"They'll be here any second," Hermione informed them, no sooner had she said this when Fred and George jumped out of the floo.
"Hey there Granger," Fred said smiling.
"Seems our favourite little superhero needs our help." George continues.
"Cleaning up her problems," Fred added,
"Some bookworm she is," George teased, a playful smirk on his lips.
"Not being able to clean her own messes." Fred laughed, ruffling her hair.
"Yeah, yeah nice to see you boys," Hermione said with a smile and a roll of her eyes. "Where's your father and Remus?"
"On their way," Fred explained.
"Bill insisted they bring more pepper up than they had so they stopped at his place to get some," George added.
"They'll be here in a minute," Fred said with a shrug. The twins passed her and began looking around, inspecting the place. Fred let out a long whistle, "This is some place, Granger."
"Well, this is the first time I'm seeing it other than the heat of a battle but yeah it's pretty cool," Hermione smirked, the truth is she loved it, it was so…futuristic. A stark contrast to the small wartime home she grew up in. As much as she loved that home, as she grew older it didn't give her the spark of innovation this place did. It felt small, which it was, it was homey and perfect. But she needs this. Something completely different than the home she once knew, nothing about Stark Tower reminded her of her childhood home.
"Here that Tones, she just called your place 'pretty cool!" Happy teased, Steve and Bucky laughed along with him.
"Yeah, I heard that," Tony said with a mock gasp of insult, before actually settling on genuine confusion on how she only thought Stark Tower slightly impressive. "I'm sorry 'pretty cool?' in what world is this-"
Just as Tony began his rant Remus and Mr. Weasley came through the floo.
"Oops, no time to explain, have to fix New York, sorry!" Hermione told Tony as she ran to greet Remus and Mr. Weasley.
"A little otter told us that you needed some help." Remus playfully told Hermione, taking her in his arms when she ran to hug him.
"Well if I don't want to suffer extreme magical exhaustion I was going to need backup." Hermione smiled back, pulling out of the hug. "Thank you for doing this, all of you. Really I should've had my uncle do it-"
"Uncle?" Mr. Weasley clarified, "As in the uncle-"
"Right, yes, I'd forgotten you didn't know." Hermione remembered, "Essentially, Loki is my Uncle Tom, the reason he attacked Germany and New York was to do someone else's bidding. He was under a powerful form of 'Imperious' curse. Anyways he just returned to Asgard with his brother Thor and I could've asked him to help me with this."
Of course, naturally, they had follow-up questions, which everyone was very happy to answer. Once they were satisfied with her answers, she ushered them to the disillusioned balcony of the building to begin work on rebuilding. Hermione knew that the wizards knew what they were doing but the others needed to know what they were in for.
"Ok, Mr. Weasley and Remus brought more Pepper Up potion, some of you have seen this before, some of you haven't. I am going to hand you the potion, now this is going to take a lot out of us, so I ask that each of you pick one of us to catch in case we faint."
"Faint?" Bucky asked the witch warily, Hermione scoffed a laugh and rolled her eyes.
"Honestly that is not the worst thing you've seen happen to me in the last few days." She assures. "It's called magical exhaustion, because our magic is part of our very core, if our magic feels overexerted it is going to take it out on our bodies. Hence the Pepper Up it'll give us a little boost of energy to recuperate enough of our magic to allow our bodies to function normally. Then in a few days, I'll be back to normal. Just no apparating or extreme bouts of magic, and I certainly won't be able to run a marathon or anything but I'll be okay. The boys will even be okay enough to floo home right after this."
"Unless you want to stay for dinner," Pepper offered politely, it was the least she could do considering they were fixing her city and sacrificing their magic for many days.
"It's actually almost 9 in England so we've already eaten, but thank you, Ms. Potts, next time," Remus thanked gratefully before turning to Hermione, "Shall we get started?"
Tony paired up with Hermione, Steve with Remus, and Bucky with Mr. Weasley. Happy was with Fred and Bruce was with George. The group pulled out their wands and took a readying stance, giving silent nods to indicate their readiness.
"3…2…1," Hermione counted before they all yelled,
'Reparo!'
Their bodies struggled to hold the spell as the city began to repair itself right in front of their eyes. The muggles of the group almost forgot that they were there in case the others fell because of how in awe the site was. Buildings that previously had chunks and holes littered throughout them were repaired in a blink of an eye. It was amazing.
Large chunks of street and building floated majestically through the air, attaching themselves back from whence they came. It was incredible, you would never know that less then 24 hours ago, there was a battle fought here. The decaying bodies of the Chitari in the street completely disappeared with no explanation. It was an truely an enamouring sight.
Mr. Weasley was the first to fall, Bucky caught him with ease and gave him the pepper up. Then Remus and Fred, and finally George, all passed out from exhaustion. Hermione struggled to stay up but felt a sudden magic boost as the end of her wand glowed blue. The same blue her fingers had been during her fit of anger earlier that day. She screamed at the intensity her body was feeling as immense power followed through her. She felt her vision blur before her eyes fell to darkness as she felt someone catch her.
June 25th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (5:27 PM)
Hermione woke up slowly, her body felt limp and heavy as she awoke with a groan. She tried to lift herself up to a sitting position but found her body was too weak to sit up, and her eyes fluttered half open.
"Woah take it easier there," She heard Bucky warn, she could hear the concern in his voice, then heard him call her father over, "Stark she's awake."
"Hermione? Hey, hey, take it easy." Her father said helping her sit up, helping pour another Pepper Up down her throat. She felt the tension in her body relax for a minute as she was able to open her eyes fully as the exhaustion melted away. She looked around to see everyone surrounding her, with the exception of her wizarding friends.
"Where's-" Hermione began to ask, her voice hoarse from screaming earlier, she was suddenly acutely aware of the ache throughout her body.
"It was getting late back home so they left, and said you just needed some rest," Steve told her, looking down sorrily at her exhausted state, lord knows he'd been there himself before. If any one of them had known how much fixing the city would've hurt her, they wouldn't have asked her to do it.
"They said you took the bulk of the energy, why? They were willing to split it?" Tony asked his daughter, not mad or disappointed, just confused, his daughter was just as confused. Splitting the energy and powers was the plan, and Hermione once again took the plan into her own hands.
"I-I didn't even realize I had…" Hermione replied honestly, she remembered her hands and wand glowing blue but couldn't really remember anything else after that. She then remembered the note from her uncle. Hermione shifted her body so she could pull the note out of her hoodie's pocket. "Wait, I have-" she began to say as she read the note.
Dearest Hermione,
I know I miss you already as well however this matter is urgent. I couldn't talk to you about it in person as I am fearful that the one who imprisoned my mind is still watching what I say. I need you to have Stark and Banner check your gamma levels. I fear that your exposure to the tesseract may have left you more powerful than you know. If you have indeed been exposed to too much of its power, I fear the one who controlled me, is watching you too. If that is the case you need to shield your mind and yourself from an external view. I know you can do it as soon as you read this message. This unfortunately shields you from Heimdall's view as well, so please do be careful because I cannot watch over you through him once you've done this. Shielding yourself ensures you are safe and that you do not have to look over your shoulder Hermione. Do this, worry not and have a great summer, I love you.
Your ever-loving uncle,
Loki
Hermione's eyes widened with every line of the note, without saying a word she handed the note over to Tony with shaking hands. Gamma was not something to play or joke around with, it was what created the Hulk. Too much gamma and you could suffer unforeseen consequences. Tony had about the same reaction as her, she could see the gears turning in his head.
"Banner, we need to get her to the lab, now," Tony told the gamma expert who gave him a confused look. Tony passed him the note and as soon as he saw the words, 'Hermione' and 'gamma exposure' he understood the severity of the situation. "Pepper, can you show Barnes and Rogers where they are staying? Figure out what they need, it doesn't matter how stupid."
"Yeah sure," Pepper replied, deeply concerned at Tony's panic but didn't want to add to it by asking him more questions. He had enough of those circling in his head. "Come this way," Pepper said as she led Steve and Bucky down the hallway to their wing of the penthouse. The pair of super soldiers looked back at the young witch with worried expressions.
They had all talked about it while Hermione was asleep and they all decided that they would stay in a different wing of the penthouse and they would renovate the floor below them for Steve and Bucky. As much as the two protested any renovation on their behalf Tony and Pepper insisted. Tony felt an obligation to the two. First of all, his daughter had become attached to the two and secondly, his father had spent so long looking for them that it was only right he made sure they were well taken care of.
Tony and Bruce put Hermione's arms on their shoulder, as she was still weak from the magical exhaustion. They took her weight on their shoulders as they headed down to the lab to begin testing.
June 25th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (5:48 PM)
Hermione was lying flat on a medical table as JARVIS scanned her body. She'd already had blood collected by Bruce, an MRI, a CAT scan, so many tests she hadn't even heard of, and now a CT scan courtesy of JARVIS.
"You may sit up now Ms. Granger," JARVIS informed, her body felt stiff and weak as she attempted to sit up.
"Hermione please." She groaned as she sat up and got off the table. She walked towards Tony and Bruce who were looking over her blood results with worried expressions, "So? What's the verdict?"
"Well, it's hard to say," Bruce told her, "I've never studied someone with magical blood before. See this," He pointed to a section on the screen, "This is your magical blood, and over here," He pointed lower on the screen, "Is the gamma radiation in your bloodstream."
"We think your magical blood is absorbing the gamma, which is like adding a supercharger to your magic," Tony explained, clearly frustrated by his inability to fully diagnose or heal his daughter.
"Shit," Hermione breathed in shock, her brain was running a million miles a minute with possibilities. "So my magic is just more powerful?"
"It's also more potent." Bruce added, "I don't even think you would need to use that wand if you didn't want to."
"Really?" Hermione said in shock, looking down at her wand and feeling nothing but sadness. She loved this wand, it had been there for her since the day she got it. It was proof of something she'd always struggled with, that she was truly a witch. She couldn't imagine not using it. She saw a beaker on one of the desks and grabbed it, putting her wand down beside her and wordlessly casting 'Aguamenti.' She watched as the glass beaker bean filled itself with water. "Holy shit."
"The good news is since this gamma has merged with your magic, this gross expanse of power won't deplete easily," Bruce explained to Hermione.
"So why did me repairing the city take so much out of me?" Hermione asked. It didn't make sense to her why she was still feeling so weak if she had the power of the tesseract giving her a boost.
"It's still merging," Tony told her, "It's going to be a few weeks until you feel the full effects of your powers."
"Oh," Hermione replied, slightly stunned, just casting the 'Aguamenti' felt so easy and effortless that she couldn't fathom having more power.
"I'd like to contact that, Remus fellow and see if he'd be willing to help you channel and control your powers when you go back to school," Tony told his daughter. She'd need help learning how to control it if her recent fits of rage told him anything.
"We'd also need to send one to my headmaster as no one can set foot on school grounds without his approval, but I can't see that being a problem," Hermione informed her father. "We'll have to go to wizarding New York to owl him in the next few days. There are owls that you can rent there."
"Or we can just buy one." Tony shrugged at Hermione's look of 'we don't need one' as he did something he never did, justify his own spending habits. "I'll need one anyways to contact you when you go back to school."
"Fine, but we are getting a reasonable price owl." Hermione insisted.
"There are expensive owls?" Bruce asked in disbelief, he couldn't believe that owls could even be remotely expensive.
"Very, it depends on breed, training, and behaviours. It's a very successful career for those involved in owl breeding and pricing." Hermione confirmed, Bruce just nodded in shock as he returned to the scans on the computer.
"We'll go after the press conference that Pepper is organising," Tony told her. He knew the kind of rumours that would circulate if he was seen just walking around the streets with Hermione.
"Press conference?" Hermione asked, she hated attention, and forcing her into a room with reports and cameras definitely terrified the hell out of her.
"She's hoping to have one tomorrow at noon if that's okay with you," Tony asked his daughter, this was another thing he and Pepper had discussed while Hermione was passed out. They needed to address where Hermione had come from with the press head-on before fake news and rumours began spreading. "We just don't want the press to come up with anything untrue before we've had a chance to explain our story."
"I can't say it'll be my favourite thing to do but I'll do my best." Hermione agreed nervously, remembering Rita Skeeter and her time in the jar after Harry and their 4th year.
"Pepper and I will prep you. Don't worry, everything will be fine." Tony assured, ruffling his daughter's hair, which brought up a smile.
"Ok well, now that we know I am connected to the Tesseract I am going to need a minute alone to block out my mind if that's okay with you," Hermione told the two men who frowned with concern.
"Is that safe? I mean you just underwent magic exhaustion," Tony asked his daughter with the utmost concern.
"You said it yourself Hermione, you needed to lay off the magic." Bruce added, as her technical 'doctor' at the moment he was concerned as a physician. But as a friend, he was even more concerned.
"This'll be easy, it's just a mental lock on outside sources. I just need to be able to concentrate without distractions." Hermione assured, at most, that she would get a slight headache.
"JARVIS will be watching if we leave," Tony warned.
"Isn't he always?" Hermione pointed out, Tony still looked unsure about leaving. "I'll be fine just go."
"Fine, Pep's ordering pizza, any preference?"
"Meat lovers?" Hermione asked, and then added, "With extra bacon and pepperoni."
"So a meat lovers pizza with extra meat?" Tony smiled at his daughter's appetite. He loved that they had this in common, he didn't know if I could've tolerated a kid who ate like a rabbit, only salads and smoothies. He blanched at the thought.
"Perfect. I'll be up in 5." Hermione assured Bruce and Tony began to head back upstairs.
Hermione sat in the middle of the lab and began to secure her mind from outside forces, just as Sirius and Remus had explained. Building up walls, brick by brick closing her mind and memories, shoving them in filing cabinets protected by her walls.
Little did she know it was too late.
The mad titan who contributed to enslaving Loki had seen her little bout of magic she used to fix New York. He watched her as his vision of her slowly shut off. But he knew, he knew just how powerful Hermione Granger would soon become. He would be keeping tabs on that one.
June 25th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (6:28 PM)
Once Hermione had successfully locked her mind and thoughts, she headed back up to the penthouse where the group was waiting for her. She was pale of face, visibly shaking and sweating from exhaustion, but she was okay.
"You okay?" Bucky asked as the girl entered the room, Hermione took a deep breath and smiled. She assumed Tony and Bruce caught the others up on the results of her testing.
"Yeah, I'm ok. Little gamma radiation can't bring me down." Hermione jokes, and because she didn't know how long she'd been in the lab she decided to ask, "Pizza?"
Pepper laughed, "Your father and your stomach aches, it'll be here in 20, you can live 20 minutes without pizza right?"
"Barely." Tony and Hermione replied in unison. They both smiled at Pepper saying 'Your father' It felt familiar. But the young witch's smile faded as the guilt crept in. Here she was making jokes and laughing with her biological father, soon-to-be stepmother, and new friends. What kind of person was she?
She was about to start crying when she remembered her uncle's words, "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. 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."
She smiled thinking back to that conversation, she dried the not-yet-fallen tears and came back to earth into the current conversation.
"Movie?" Happy asked the group, everyone agreed but Hermione got an idea.
"Wait! Before we pick a movie I have an idea." Hermione mentioned, "I was thinking, Steve, Bucky, you still haven't really caught up on everything you missed over the last 70 years. What if I recapped each decade you missed over the last 70 years this summer? Every week we could do a different decade, and cover different historical events, pop culture, media, and movies. Then by the time, SHIELD calls you for a mission you'll be all caught up."
"I don't know Hermione, don't you have better things to do this summer?" Steve asked unsure about this plan. It would be useful for sure, it would be nice for people to reference some and he is able to understand it without feeling stupid for not understanding. But he didn't want to inconvenience Hermione, she shouldn't have to give up her summer to help two men hopelessly out of their depths in this time period.
"Are you kidding me? I love history and I love learning/teaching." Hermione said excitedly, "And you guys can come with, right Tony?"
"I mean yeah, anything we were going to do save for a couple of father/daughter bonding things you guys were going to be invited to everything we do this summer," Tony said to the men with sincerity. "Besides I find this fascinating and it gives Hermione something to do while I'm working."
"So what do you think?" Hermione asked the two soldiers, particularly Bucky who had been quiet thus far. "Bucky? You've been pretty quiet…you can say no, I won't be offended."
"I'm in." Bucky said with a genuine smile, "I just wanted to make sure you actually wanted to do this and weren't doing it out of pity."
"Yes!" Hermione yelled in excitement, pointing at Steve next, putting him on the spot. "Steve?"
"Why not? It would be nice to not feel like a schmuck most of the time." Steve agreed.
"Yes! Perfect, I'll start planning tonight, we can start with everything you missed for the rest of the 40s which means," Hermione leaned over the couch, over top of Tony to steal the tv remote from Happy. "I choose tonight's movie and that will be, 'It's a Wonderful Life"
"Oh come on!" Tony and Happy wailed.
"You couldn't have picked Citizen Kane?" Tony asked his daughter, annoyed.
"Or Casablanca?" Happy offered,
"Or hell! Bambi? I would happily take Bambi!" Tony finished.
"All of those came out before Steve and Bucky were deployed, so likely they would've seen it." Hermione pointed out. Happy and Tony turned to Steve and Bucky who confirmed what the young witch had said.
"I'm sorry, how do you know when Rogers and Barnes here went into the ice?" Tony asked his daughter curiously, he knew she was a genius but didn't think that genius extended this far.
"Grandma Peggy told Sharon and me, the stories of Captain America and the Howling Commandos all the time," Hermione told him, Bucky and Steve smiled at the mention of Peggy telling their story. "I won't even get into the Halloween costumes."
"I'm sorry Halloween costumes?" Bucky asked with a mischievously playful smile, Hermione's eyes widening as she realized what she just revealed. She quickly pressed 'play' on the movie.
"Oops, the movie's starting!" Hermione pointed toward the screen, hoping to bring attention away from what she had said.
"Don't think you're going to get away from this so easy Hermione," Bucky warned jokingly, whispering from across the couch.
"Shhh… movies started," Hermione whispered back to the soldier.
The group watched as the screen opened on a ringing bell, losing themselves in the world of the film. About 20 minutes in, the doorbell rang for the pizza, and Hermione practically sprinted to answer the door. Bringing in what looked to be 7 pizza boxes, Pepper must've gotten the memo that Steve and Bucky ate more than the average human so got some extra for them.
Hermione brought the boxes over to the couch as the group dug into the food. Steve and Bucky had polished off a whole pizza each and before Hermione knew it she had as well. The group looked at her in shock, while she stared at them giving them a look of 'what?' until she looked at the meat lover pizza in front of her.
"JARVIS adds that increased hunger to Hermione's tesseract side effects," Tony checked his watch to see that the AI had messaged him this information so as not to interrupt the film. However Tony was still looking at his daughter in shock.
"Sorry," Hermione apologized sheepishly, blushing in embarrassment. Steve and Bucky were simply impressed.
"Don't worry about it Hermione, it's actually kinda refreshing for someone to have a heightened appetite with us," Steve assured and it really was kinda nice for him and Bucky not to be the only one with the burden of a heightened. They always felt weird taking more food than others around them. Especially during the war when they had to ration food.
Hermione felt better at Steve's words as she allowed herself to relax and continue watching the movie.
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (10:23 PM)
Hermione, Pepper, and Happy all wept tearfully as George got his happy ending. Even Tony had to admit he was moved by the endings. Hermione shut the TV off, turning to Steve and Bucky,
"So?" Hermione asked the two men.
"Woah," Bucky said, still kind of stunned by how much he loved it.
"Kinda puts things into perspective," Steve added, still having not looked away from the screen.
"Right?" Hermione added before yawning loudly, stretching as her body was quite stiff after watching the two-and-a-half-hour movie. "I think I'm going to head into bed."
"Here, I'll show you to your room," Pepper said, getting up from her seat and beginning to guide Hermione to one of the guest rooms they had designated for her.
"I'll come too," Tony said, getting up from the couch to join his fiancée and daughter.
"We're going to hit the hay too," Bucky added, gesturing to himself and Steve.
"Us too," Bruce added with a Happy nod to confirm he was also going to bed. They had all been given the tour of the penthouse while Hermione was asleep.
They all said good night, going to different ends of the penthouse as Tony and Pepper guided the young witch through the halls, showing her the kitchen, the dining room, and all the many bathrooms of the building.
"This is our room," Pepper showed the girl, it was the first room off of the dining room before a long stretch of hallway. "You are just a few doors down, we wanted to give you your own space so you weren't right beside us."
Hermione didn't say anything to that, she just kept looking around, shocked by the size of her new home. Hell, the living room was bigger than the first floor of her entire house back in England. Pepper and Tony could sense Hermione was overwhelmed by everything. So they guided her a few doors down to her room. They moved to the side, allowing Hermione to open the door for herself.
The room was massive, she didn't know what she was expecting but the room was easily three times the size of her parent's master bedroom back home. The first thing that she noticed was that it was a very white bedroom. Pretty much everything in the room was bright white. It looked like a Crest commercial.
The entire room had massive floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. There was a massive king bed centred on the left side of the room, across from it was a huge electric fireplace with the biggest TV she'd ever seen above it. There was a door on either side of the bed, she walked into the one on the left, to see a massive bathroom with a walk-in glass shower, marble floors, more counter space than she knew what to do with, a built-in vanity, and a self-standing bathtub that looked more like a hot tub then a bathtub.
Just off to the left of the bathtub was an entranceway to a massive built-in closet. Hermione didn't even know if she had enough clothes and shoes to fill a singular cabinet in the closet. At the other end was another door that led her to the right side of her bed. When she came through the door she was Tony and Pepper looking at her nervously, as if she could possibly hate this room. And she did really like this room. It was just a little…plain, it didn't feel like hers.
"We can change anything you want, honestly, just make a list and I'll get it done." Pepper spat out fast, she really wanted Hermione to feel at home here. The research Pepper had done on the plan about integrating a child into a new home first started with giving them their own space. A place where they could feel comfortable.
"Okay," Hermione said softly, not really knowing what to say. Then she remembered that Pepper and Happy had packed up some stuff from her room back in England. "I know you packed some of my stuff from-"
"It's here, we put it all in the bedroom just beside yours so you wouldn't feel overwhelmed with boxes." Tony explained, "We can help you unpack tomorrow after the press conference if you want."
"Also there are brand new toiletries, some pyjamas, and clothes in the closet and bathroom. I would've unpacked some of your clothes from home but assumed you wouldn't be comfortable with me touching your stuff," Pepper explained nervously. Hermione laughed slightly in reassurance about to speak, before Pepper continued, "Oh, and, there's a set of headphones for your phone by your nightstand. I also got you Apple Music, Spotify Premium and Stark Radio so you can download music and such. JARVIS can connect your phone to Bluetooth if you want to play music. Also, JARVIS can close the curtains for your windows whenever you want-"
"Pepper, it's okay, you can show me all the cool features tomorrow, I promise. I love the room, I mean how could I not? Thank you for everything and I would love some help unpacking tomorrow." Hermione assured the pair. The young witch didn't like being tiptoed around. They had no need to be nervous around her.
"You never have to thank us, Hermione," Tony told her earnestly. "Guess we'll leave you to it then."
"Oh, I forgot to ask! Is it okay if I go on a run by myself tomorrow morning? Something tells me that after tomorrow's press conference, I won't be going anywhere by myself without being watched for a very long time." Hermione asked hopefully, she just wanted to feel normal and explore by herself with Tony or Happy or security or paparazzi following her. Tony and Pepper looked at each other unsure of the request.
"JARVIS can track my phone, I'll have Google Maps to show me where I am in the city, I mean I literally can't get lost. Please?" Hermione asked desperately. She just wanted to clear her mind without knowing she was being followed, she just wanted to explore.
"Fine, but take this with you," Tony pulled out a debit card with her name on it. "It's connected to an account that I set up when I found out"
"Tony that's too much," Hermione insisted. "Don't-"
"Yes, yes you do," Tony insisted, "I just added to what your parents had left you. Just…just please take it. Give me some peace of mind. I wanna know that you'll be okay if you get stranded somewhere."
"I'll be ok," Hermione told him, taking the card reluctantly.
"New York can be a scary place, Hermione," Tony began.
"I lived in London, it's not like this is the first city I've lived in." Hermione reminded him, and then added, "Also you let me fight in a battle yesterday where I showed you I can clearly kick ass-"
"Well actually you lived just outside of London in a rural-" Tony began but Hermione flashed him that look of 'I got this' and he knew he could trust her to hold her own. He sighed in defeat.
"Fine, but JARVIS is going to track you the whole time, you have to be back by 9 and if you need anything I'm flying over there or sending Happy, got it?"
"Yep, understood." Hermione nodded, pulling the pair into a tight hug. "Night'"
"Night Hermione," Pepper and Tony replied in unison.
After getting ready for bed, she quickly found her way into bed as sleep consumed her quite simply after the day she had had.
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (6:58 AM)
Hermione woke up with a start, her body full of energy, it was all-consuming. 'Guess that's another side effect,' the young witch thought to herself. So she had more energy to burn. 'Cool' she thought with a smile.
Hermione got up from her bed feeling more energized than she ever had before. She got herself ready in her new bathroom, brushing her teeth and taming her hair with some new products she assumed were left for her. Most products she attempted to use back home never worked but this seemed to. Hermione could only assume based on the packaging that this was some expensive hair formula and really it worked. Instead of her usual bushy, untamable mess, her hair fell in brown cascading waves down her back.
She looked through the multitude of drawers by her vanity and found a pack of elastic bands and a hair brush. The witch put her hair into a high ponytail, before walking into her comically large closet. She saw that some sections of the wardrobe were full already with some more business casual types of outfits, some dresses, and heels. Hermione didn't know if she'd even worn heels since the yule ball in her 4th year. Then she found a black workout set and a brand-new pair of sneakers. After several minutes of looking through drawers, she found a pack of new socks and many packs of different kinds of underwear.
She was grateful the Pepper didn't try to guess her underwear preference. It was awkward enough she had to buy it for her.
The witch quickly dressed for her run, feeling excited to get the energy out. Hermione finished tying up her shoes and excitedly grabbed her new headphones, connecting to the Bluetooth on her phone. She quickly made a playlist of some of her favourite rock songs including Queen, AC/DC, KISS, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. She had also seen that Tony had shared his playlist with her. She noticed a lot of her songs matched Tony's playlist save for a few songs she hadn't heard before. She quickly added those unheard songs before letting JARVIS know she was leaving and she would be back soon.
Hermione knew she probably shouldn't apparate after experiencing magical exhaustion but she felt she had enough energy for it. She pictured herself at the pond in Central Park they'd just been to the other day as she apparated.
Destination…
Determination…
Deliberation
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (7:04 AM)
Hermione opened her eyes and found herself beside the pond, which was still and calm. The park was quiet, something she wasn't expecting in a city full of hustle and bustle. But she knew people were probably just being careful with everything that happened over the last few days.
With a deep breath, Hermione ran and ran, and ran. She loved feeling the wind in her hair and seeing the beauty of Central Park. The seemingly one large space of green in an entirely concrete city. Hermione knew she wouldn't find trees this big anywhere but outside the city. It's an untouched part of an otherwise ever-growing and developing city. Hermione loved it.
The energy slowly dissipated from her body as 5 minutes of running became 20 and 20 minutes became an hour. The witch checked the time and realized she had an hour left. She checked Google Maps on her phone and found it would take her 35 minutes to run back to Stark Tower and she really wanted another bagel this morning. There was something about them, the New York bagels, it might become her new food obsession Hermione decided. That would take her about another 10 minutes. So she only had 15 minutes left in the park. She was right back to where she had started and decided to just spend the next 15 minutes looking at the lake.
Lying back on the grass she turned off her rock playlist and pulled up Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" a personal favourite of hers and pressed play. She took long deep breaths to settle her breathing before she heard the chorus, her personal favourite. She began dramatically mouthing along to the words, looking up at the sky.
The blues, ah, ah
So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh, I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road
Ah, ah
She then continued by listening to "In My Life" by the Beatles, and "What's Up?" by the 4 Non-Blondes. Before she knew it her 15 minutes were up and began running to the nearest bagel shop. She texted Pepper on the way and asked if she should bring some bagels back with her and she received a text back which she knew was from Tony saying "YES. God yes."
She grabbed a baker's dozen of bagels and a fruit smoothie as she began walking back to Stark Tower. Hermione made sure to remember this, the scenery just as it is. Without cameras flashing in her face, or seeing it from the tinted window of a car. The young witch was just starting to understand what it means to be Tony Stark's daughter. Press conferences, high-profile events, no privacy. Was she ready for it? Being Harry Potter's best friend was one thing, but being Tony Stark's daughter was a completely different matter. At least she had Hogwarts and the Order to get away from it she needed to.
And the war. Hermione had nearly forgotten, she didn't know quite yet what to tell Tony. She knew if she told him he more than likely wouldn't let her go back to Hogwarts come September. But she needed to be there, for Harry, for herself. She would tell him, maybe, definitely not now. They weren't at war now so there was no need to worry him yet, and if he asked about the scar…she didn't know what she would say.
Soon she was in front of Stark Tower, she looked around and saw there was no one in the building or outside. She entered through the front door, walking to the same elevator Tony had shown her the other day, the private elevator for residents. She stepped inside the elevator and was scanned by JARVIS.
"Welcome back Ms. Granger." The AI welcomed
"Hermione please, JARVIS." Hermione corrected.
"Of course Ms. Granger." JARVIS agreed as Hermione huffed at the AI's difficulty in following the request.
Soon enough she had reached the top floor as the doors opened to the living room, where Tony and Pepper were looking over a multitude of papers in front of them.
"I have bagels!" Hermione said, breaking the two out of their trance, slowly waving the bag in the air.
"You angel!" Tony said, walking over excitedly at the bag, before taking a whiff of the air. "You smell."
"Tony!" Pepper scolded, logically she knew it was a joke but she really didn't need Tony making Hermione feel bad about herself at a time like this. Hermione laughed at her father's words.
"Believe me I know, I got plenty of looks on the street. I'm heading to shower now," Hermione said with a giggly smile before catching a whiff of her own smell and gagging slightly.
"OK, sounds good then after we're going to talk about the press conference," Pepper informed Hermione on a more serious note. At Hermione's nervous face, Pepper softened the tone of her voice. "We're going to have to prep you."
"Oh, um okay," Hermione replied warily. She had just assumed she'd be at the press conference, say 'hi', snap a few pictures and Tony or Pepper would explain everything.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure you know what to say, what not to say, you'll do great," Tony assured the nervous girl. "Pep's an expert on this. You'll do great. And the bright side is, Rhodey will be there so you two will finally be able to meet."
"Ah, the famous James Rhodes. I can't wait," Hermione smiled before heading to her bathroom to shower.
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (9:23 AM)
Hermione was quick in the shower as she knew she would need as much time as possible to prep for the press conference. Her mind was swirling with questions they could potentially ask her. She walked out in sweats she'd found in her closet, her hair still wet with long riglets down her back, wetting the shirts she was wearing.
"Ah great, you're ready, come take a seat." Pepper indicated to a chair across from the couch, and Hermione found that everyone was there. Tony, Happy, Bruce, Steve, and Bucky
"Well this isn't intimidating at all," Hermione joked nervously, this felt more like an intervention than a prep session.
"Sorry, just figured you know this is awkward, and it would be easier if all of us were in front of you," Tony told his nervous daughter. He understood her nerves, he had his first press conference at 10, guess that was the age that his dad decided he was ready to have no privacy. Even though she was much older than he was, no one was ever ready for hundreds of people screaming questions at you, cameras flashing, and no one ever really giving you a moment to process…or breathe.
"So what should I be expecting?" Hermione asked cutting to the chase, she wanted to be prepared as much as possible. The group looked at Pepper, the expert.
"Well the first question should be for Tony, did you know about her? Why now? Etc," Pepper informed quickly, "And as much as we'll deflect direct questions at you, inventable people are going to ask about your mother and father."
"What about them?" Hermione asked, talking about her parents still brought tears to her eyes, she didn't know to what extent she would be able to talk about them.
"Just did your mother ever mention your biological father? Did she ever go after him legally? Are you just reaching out now because you want some of Tony's money? Stuff like that," Pepper spat off some examples, Hermione's eyes widened at the example, "I know it's hard, and those questions are ridiculous but just try to answer them seriously without a lot of emotion there. We are going to pretend to be reporters, asking you a series of questions one after another, just follow along."
"Oh ok, um well my mother never mentioned my biological father, other than that he existed and he wanted nothing to do with me, which is obviously untrue," Hermione answered simply, not giving the attitude she so wanted to give.
"And why is that obvious?" Happy followed up pretending to be a reporter.
"Because as it has been discovered, Obadiah Stane covered up my existence. My mother had reached out to Tony when she found out she was pregnant. Stane, being his confidant got the message first and didn't tell Tony about it even after DNA tests confirmed I was his daughter. Stane informed my mother that Tony wanted nothing to do with me. Obadiah Stane is the reason Tony and I never knew each other."
"And have you seen proof of these interactions?" Bucky asked,
"Yes I have, on the plane from London to New York, Tony showed me the emails when I asked." Hermione lied simply.
"Ok pause, why did you lie just then?" Pepper asked the girl who now looked nervous at her response.
"Because I knew if I told the truth and said, no I haven't seen them, it would lead to more questions. They would ask for proof as well," Hermione answered, she knew how these reporters worked and manipulated answers. She had been trained for that with Rita Skeeter.
"Good, and for the record if you ever want to see them, you can," Tony told her. "Now for another concern with your Tesseract magic."
"I can't lose it," Hermione answered knowingly.
"Exactly," Pepper confirmed.
"If you feel yourself losing control, just grab my hand, okay?" Tony told her. "Look nervous instead of angry and they'll just assume you're nervous."
"Okay," Hermione replied nervously.
"OK let's keep going." Pepper continued, pulling up a list of more questions.
Some questions were more difficult than others. Some were about her mother, and her father (step), painting them in an unflattering light. At some point, Tony had pulled up a chair beside her, so she could practise regulating her anger by squeezing his hand. The questions got harder, and more personal, which Pepper ended up coaching her to deflect. By the time she was done, they all agreed.
She was ready.
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (11:28 AM)
Pepper led Hermione to her bedroom to get her ready for the press conference. She had to look professional, but still, her age which they all decided would be 16 for continuity's sake. Everything the public would be able to find on her said she was 16 so they decided to just roll with it.
Pepper helped Hermione defuse her curls with some kind of hair-drying attachment. While she did that Tony had got into her boxes from home and found a small makeup bag with product Hermione really hadn't used since the yule ball in her 4th year. The only reason she had makeup in the first place was that her mother had sent it with her dress.
Pepper offered to put it on for her as Hermione was hesitant to put any makeup on herself. Parvarti had done it for her for the Yule ball so the young brunette really didn't know what she was doing.
"You don't really need it you know," Pepper told her, "It's just for the pictures, without makeup those lights can be quite unforgiving."
"Thanks, Pepper," Hermione thanked gratefully as Pepper began tapping some concealer lightly for what the ginger had called 'a natural look'
"Don't be nervous, Tony and I will be there the whole time, and if things get out of hand then we pull you out," Pepper assured the witch simply, as she brushed some rosy pink blush on her cheeks.
"I know, it's just all those people and-" Hermione began but found she couldn't find the words. Pepper paused putting anything more on the witch's face to level with her.
"I know, I've been there," Pepper replied sincerely, she knew the nervous feeling of being watched. "My first event as Tony's partner was scary. I'd been in front of those cameras before but now they were looking at me. But Tony was there to hold my hand, deflect the questions, and pull me out when things got intense. He'll do the same for you."
That made Hermione feel a little better, she gave Pepper a small smile indicating for her to continue. Pepper used a brush to put her eyebrows in place, something the young witch never even thought to do, she thought waxing was just enough. 'I guess you do learn something new every day' Hermione thought to herself. Finally, Pepper used an eyelash curler to lift Hermione's lashes, brushing on some brown mascara to bring out her eyes. Pepper didn't need to do much with her hair, just pinned one side of it behind her ear, securing it with a couple of bobby pins.
The duo then walked to the closet as Pepper picked out a blue dress with short, bell-capped sleeves. The dress fell just below her knees and was paired with short 2-inch black heels. Pepper handed Hermione some sheer black tights to cover the dark bruises on her legs she'd received from the battle. Pepper allowed Hermione some privacy to get changed and would meet her out in the living room.
Hermione quickly dressed and when she was done she looked in the mirror, she didn't even recognize herself. She looks so…mature? Yet innocent. She looked far different from the girl who fought for her life after the battle at the Department of Mysteries. She was grateful for her blue dress having a high neckline to cover the scar. She didn't need anyone asking about that just yet. Looking in the mirror she knew she wasn't just Hermione Granger anymore. She was a Stark, a Granger, and a Carter. With one last glance, she walked over to her bathroom vanity and added a sheer lipgloss to her lips, it added a red to her lips. A Carter red, a Stark red, a Gryffindor red.
She cleaned up the edges before pocketing the lipstick in her dress pocket as she walked towards the living room. Ready to face anything.
June 26th, 2012 Stark Tower, New York City (11:49 AM)
Hermione stepped into the living room to see everyone waiting for her, Tony was talking to someone she'd never met before.
"Glinda!" Tony greeted excitedly, gesturing for her to come towards him, as he looked over her appearance. "You look great!"
"You seem surprised Tony," Hermione smirked at her father before looking over at the new man Tony was talking to. Tony noticed this and remembered he completely forgot to introduce the two.
"Oh that's right, Glinda this is Rhodey, Rhodey this is Glinda." Tony introduced, completely forgetting that most people didn't know about witches and wizards, especially her status as one. Hermione scoffed in preservation at the nickname before reintroducing herself.
"Hermione," She told the man, offering her hand, the man took her hand and shook it firmly.
"James Rhodes, Rhodey for short." He introduced before clarifying in confusion, "Glinda?"
"Just Tony's nickname for my bubbly personality." Hermione offered simply, lying through her teeth. She noticed his uniform, US Air Force, and given the medals and bars on his uniform, he was high up too. It was bad enough that SHIELD knew about her witch status, she did not need the US Army to know about it. She gave Tony a subtle look to follow along.
"It's more of a sarcastic thing, it seems she inherited my humorous wit," Tony added, finally getting what Hermione was saying. Rhodey laughed at his friend's comment.
"Wit? Is that what we're calling it?" Rhodey rhetorically before turning to Hermione, "Well it is nice to meet you, Hermione."
"You too Rhodey," Hermione replied sincerely before turning to Pepper and Tony, "So we heading down or what?"
"Pepper and Rhodey will go into the conference space first, followed by Happy, you, and me," Tony explained, suddenly becoming serious, there was no hint of sarcasm or joke in his voice. "Do not say anything until I explain who you are or why you are with me. Do not answer any questions no matter how infuriating they may be until I open the floor to questions with you. Got it?"
Hermione nodded.
"Good, if you start to feel uncomfortable for like your-" Tony was about to say magic but quickly got himself together, as he realized that Rhodey was the only one in the room who didn't know about Hermione's magic. But he recovered by saying, "Like you're going to explode from anger, squeeze my hand 3 times and I'll get you out of there. And if I find the questions are getting too much Pepper or I will make the decision to take you out of there. Got it?"
Hermione nodded once again.
"Good, you ready?" Tony asked, and Hermione nodded, "You know you can talk right?"
"Yeah I was just getting ready, you know? Nerves," Hermione shrugged nonchalantly trying to hide her nervousness, shaking her shoulders out. Tony and the others began to file into the elevator.
"Just breathe okay? That's kinda important." Tony joked, Hermione rolled her eyes at the lame attempt at a joke.
"Thanks, no shit Sherlock." She responded sarcastically.
"Oh that's another thing, no swearing," Pepper added, she reminded Tony of that every time he had a press conference, though it never worked for him she was hoping it would work for Hermione.
"Absolutely Pepper," Hermione replied seriously, she knew how stressed Pepper was with this press conference. She didn't want to add any more stress by joking with her right now.
The elevator arrived on the ground floor. Hermione could already hear the noise before the door even opened.
As the doors opened Pepper and Rhodey exited and Tony whispered, 'Count to 15, then we follow.' Hermione counted, hit 10, then 5, and zero.
Happy led the way as Hermione and Tony followed behind, leading them into a large conference room at the front of Stark Tower.
The first thing she saw was the flashing lights.
All pointed directly at her.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed that chapter!
Okay so as far as the last chapter's poll question, I am pleased to announce that once again I am right and Luke is wrong. I won this week's challenge bringing the score to:
Delaney - 11
Luke - 3
This week's poll question is: What was the movie of the year?
Delaney: Barbie was a global phenomenon, it gave us "I'm Just Ken" and that iconic remake of Matchbox 20's "Push". You got lines like "Mojo Dojo Casa House" (which is now my wifi name and password, and "Sublime!" Barbie demonstrated what girlhood is and how beautifully messy it is. The cinematography was amazing and has solidified Greta Gerwig as the filmmaker of the decade for me. While I loved Across the Spiderverse (I beside Luke in the theatre the first time we both saw it) it didn't get the amount of hype that Barbie did. We received with Barbie amazing jokes, ever better Halloween costumes, Allan, a phenomenal soundtrack, and John Cena as a mermaid. What more can you ask from a film that will have you pee your pants laughing then sobbing by the end?
Luke: Across The Spiderverse was out of the gates an ambitious film that set out to improve upon everything that the first one did amazingly. The soundtrack was phenomenal, and the cast was all cast for perfection. The return of fan favourites like Peter B, to introduction of new characters such as Pav or Hobbie, made the movie feel like a perfect sequel. The animation was already great from Into The Spiderverse, but they really stepped it up a notch for the sequel, especially when it came to animating Hobbie. But the plot twist that occurred when the chase concluded on the train was a phenomenal, emotional gut punch that I wasn't expecting, and was only elevated by the reveal that ended the film. I can concede that Barbie was a phenomenal movie, but in my opinion, it can't hold a candle to the beauty that is Across The Spiderverse.
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.
That's all for me, I won't give you a timeline because if I do I'll just keep disappointing you and myself! I hope you are all doing amazing and are looking forward to the next chapter!
Once again message me or comment if you are interested in being the new ghost beta for the story! I look forward to chatting with you
Love you guys!
-Delaney