Last time...

"And the billowing robes?" Hera asked, cracking a grin now. "Can I learn that too?"

"I must be allowed some secrets, Potter." Snape replied pointedly, but she just did her level best Snape's brow impression, and he sighed. "Very well. If you can successfully brew Polyjuice Potion to such a degree that even your voice sounds like your intended addition, I'll teach you how to get a proper billow to your robes."

Chapter 22

"This is insanity." Hera blurts out, seeing them all gathered in the Common Room when they head up to gather her things.

It felt like the whole of Gryffindor was in that room, and all of them began chuckling as soon as she had spoken. However, none of them seemed angry. She'd expected them to be angry. She was, a part of her felt like, ditching them for Slytherin. Granted, it was the House that would protect her best now, but this was the House she'd found herself in, the House she'd made her first friends in.

"We've got you a parting gift." Wood insisted, bringing Colin to the forefront. The younger kid was holding tightly to a box anchored down by twine. "Colin told us how much you've been paying him for photos of everything. We decided to make a project out of it, and did the same."

"You're not mad at me?" Hera managed to get out in a squeak.

"I should be. You're taking my Beaters with you." Wood replied, pretending to be cross for all of a second. Fred and George popped up next to him, bags already packed.

"Neither of you are subtle." Hera feels the need to point out in objection. "At all."

"Sure we are." Fred disagreed genially.

"So overt, it's covert."* George followed after.

"We're offended you-" Fred

"-would think otherwise." George

Both were grinning like mad by the end.

"I'm coming too." Hermione informed her promptly.

"M-me too." Neville insisted, making his way to them.

"Hermione I get, but Neville? You came to Gryffindor to be close to your parents." Hera objected. "What will your Gran say?"

"If she wanted to know what I thought about things, maybe she should have listened to me when I was screaming for help on that balcony instead of constantly comparing me to her worse-than-dead son." He insisted stubbornly. She tried talking, but couldn't do more than a gaping fish impression.

"Ron?" Hera hesitated to ask, not wanting to sound hopeful, already knowing that she was going to fail miserably at that.

Ron smiled ruefully, but shook his head. "I tried, but I'm just too much a Gryffindor to change the hat's mind. Besides, if you can get on the Slytherin team, we might get to play against each other next year. That could be fun."

"Beater?" Here, she couldn't help but be hopeful.

"Together with Gin, we're almost as scary as the twins." He admitted.

"More than." Ginny cuts in with a grin.

"You can't leave!" Colin sudden cried, dropping the box, and rushing to hug her. "You can't! If you leave, they'll all go back to thinking I'm annoying, and complaining about my camera again!"

"Colin?"

"I tried! I tried on the hat!" Colin sobbed, having latched onto her like a limpet. "It wouldn't let me change Houses!"

Hera looked to Professor Snape in confusion and panic, unsure of what to do or say, as she tried to placate a crying Colin.

"I told you. Practically all of Gryffindor House tried to convert for you." Professor Snape explained quietly, some unreadable emotion in his eyes.

She looked to the rest of Gryffindor House, and saw all the confirmation she needed. Even Professor McGonagall looked misty eyed in the background. It hits her all at once, these people really all tried to jump ship for her. A strangled sort of sob came out of her then, and then she really was crying, returning Colin's hug as she could. They didn't hate her. They just wanted her to be safe. How could she have ever doubted them?

He'd bowed out gracefully when Albus came to him and spoke of his concerns for the girl. In reality, Sirius had known that his getting custody of Hera was a long shot, but for her to just…give it up like that, to acknowledge that she knew he wasn't going to be well soon enough to really help her…He had no words for that. She'd not given up on him, just his ability as an adult to take care of her, and damn it if that didn't rankle. Hera was still talking to him, still wanted to get to know him as her godfather, but her opening up to him about how truly scared she was…that was new.

She'd told him about the Tri-Wizard Tournament being hosted at Hogwarts, how all the schools students supported her to such a length that it was incontestable that she had ever entered herself, but she was still being forced to compete. It's why Snape offered the apprenticeship, apart from some things she vaguely hinted to that she didn't want to write down on paper yet. Think what he would about the git, Snape was lethal when he was cornered. He'd teach the girl how to protect herself and make her enemies wish they'd never gotten up that morning. There was a time or two he'd certainly managed it with them, four against one though it had been, and he was really trying not to think about that last part too much. Ugh, maturity.

She was a Slytherin now, and he didn't know what to think about that. What would James and Lily have thought about that? Would they have cared? Would they have just supported her? She'd had to argue the hat to put her in Gryffindor in the first place. James would have thought it was funny, a snake hiding in the den of lions, and Lily had been friends with Sni…Snape for years. He just couldn't get over his brother, and his whole rotten family being in that house. Oh, but her verbally lambasting him in front of Remus brought back memories.

Magic didn't care about distinctions such as Light or Dark, he knew that. Magic cared about intent and power. What did you intend to do, and could you back it up when the price was to be paid? Hera said she'd had to kill two or three people, or at least made the decision that lead to their deaths; most likely the DADA professors. What was her price, or had that been theirs for something they'd done? Hera was wrath and vengeance after all, not a woman to be trifled with or scorned; both the goddess and the young girl.

When he got the letter, when she'd admitted how scared she was that this time someone was going to succeed in killing her, he knew what he had to do. Thanks to her good will with the goblins, he was able to pull strings with his account, and now he was in the good ole U.S. of A. Where the hell was he anyway? New York? Florida? Fuck, there was a lot of sun here. Ugh.

The man/boy he was searching for wasn't much better than he was, completely narcissistic to hide family issues. He'd know that coping mechanism anywhere. He'd done exactly what this man was doing with his life now; drank like a fish, fucked anything that gave him half a chance, and made things explode because it was fun. Damn Wormtail for using that against him too. Remus always did say that one was going to come back to bite him in the arse one day.

He'd done his research. Tony Stark was a billionaire/genius/playboy/alcoholic/philanthropist. Just judging from the news, Sirius already knew that the guy was hardly a mature adult, not that he could fully trust the papers anymore. He'd been to Stark Industries, going through the official channels, and got the run around like he thought he would. It was time to use a little discrete magic and find him on his own. Sirius eventually found him in a bar, but at least it was lit just enough so that things didn't hurt his eyes in here. After that, finding the guy was easy. Figuring out how to approach him was not, and so Sirius stayed where he was.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" The young man asked, walking up to him with a charming smile. Well, that took care of part of the problem. "Doesn't matter. I'm Tony Stark! Of course, I'm sure you already know that. You look good enough to eat. How 'bout you let me buy you a drink?"

Sirius shook his hand, marveling at the bollocks on this bloke, thinking he could seduce him!

"Look, I'm not here for that-" Sirius began.

"British? That's hot." Stark insisted, already gesturing to the bartender.

"I need to talk to you about Howard Stark." Sirius blurted out, before the man could say anything else.

"Howard's been dead some few years now." Stark clarified, knocking back the drink he'd originally ordered for him. Rude.

"I know. I was in prison till recently. Didn't get the chance to stop by sooner." Sirius admitted. "I'm Sirius Black."

"The mass murdering psychopath?" Stark asked, in surprise.

"Acquitted, and wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years, thank you very much." Sirius felt the need to point out.

"What did Howard do that you would need to seek him out now?" Stark asked, with a stern expression, what Sirius recognized as 'the business face'.

"Friend of mine couldn't have children, went looking around for a candidate that fit the bill and found Howard, asked for his help." Sirius explained. The man began to grimace, already dreading where this was going. "He agreed, under the condition that he never be contacted about the kid. It's not like they needed money or anything, being wealthy themselves, so they agreed to his condition. Thing is they're dead now, have been for the last twelve years or so, and the kid has been living with abusive relatives on the mother's side. The father had no family left living to take the kid in. I couldn't take custody before because I was in prison, and can't now because the powers that be say my mental state isn't right enough after being in there that long."

"So you want me to believe that I have a…a…" Stark struggled.

"A sister. Technically, she would be your half-sister, I suppose." Sirius supplied, sliding him a picture she'd sent. It had a temporary stasis charm on it so he wouldn't see it moving, because he didn't know how much Stark knew yet. "Her name is Hera Potter. She's fourteen, maybe fifteen years old now."

"You want me to believe that I have a sister? That Howard helped a couple out of the goodness of his heart?" Stark continued, barely glancing at the picture. "Prove it."

"How much do you know about what your father did back in the early to late 70's?" Sirius asked him. "Besides drinking and searching for some Captain?"

"Government contracts mostly, something about a secrecy statute." Stark replied, looking lost in thought.

"You know about magic? That makes this easy then." Sirius exclaimed in relief.

"Magic…like Houdini?" Stark snickers dismissively. "You've got to be joking."

"More like Merlin and Morgana." Sirius replied sternly, waiting until Stark's awkward chuckles gave way in sight of how 'serious' he was. That joke never got old, even when it was only in his head.

"Look, I'm glad you're figuring out life on the outside again, but you've obviously still got a few screws loose if you still think magic is real." Stark scoffed, trying to hide his unease as he rises from his seat.

"There's a reason we believe in magic when we're little, Stark. Some of us just never forget why." Sirius stated easily. The man was out the door almost before Sirius even finished his sentence. "Well, that could have gone better."

It was hours later before Tony could get his brain to stop being bothered by what the man had said to him. Howard? Fathering another child? Helping out a family? No. Couldn't be possible. The photo hadn't even…Had he even looked at the picture? Not really. Still couldn't be true. It wasn't that Tony couldn't see his father cheating, it was that he couldn't see the man willingly helping out a family when he couldn't be bothered to spend time with his own.

Half forgotten memories came pulling at his mind, and he couldn't let it rest. Getting out of bed, he went searching for his mother's memory box. He'd never been allowed to look in it when she was alive, hadn't had the heart to after she'd died, but he remembered his mother's face as she lovingly stared at what must have been photographs. She never looked at them when Howard was home, never even mentioned she had them, and Tony had never said anything either. There were few things in the world that could put that kind of a smile on his mother's face, and he hadn't wanted to take away a single one of them, even if he hadn't known what it was.

What he finds, he can't believe. It sobers him up faster than any other shock he'd ever had. He quickly finds himself in the floor of his workshop with a box in front of him, staring at pictures that fucking moved. One of them was titled 'our little blueberry', which okay that baby was really blue, but there were other pictures where the baby was the normal pinkish color Caucasian babies tended to be. There were pictures of that man with them too, Sirius Black. Wait, had he tried to pick up a guy twice his age? Thinking more on that later. Still hot though.

Tony quickly dug out the picture from the evening before, surprised that he hadn't thrown it away as soon as he got home. How had it even gotten in his pocket? The young girl looked younger than the fourteen years that man had said she was, focused on a game of chess she clearly wasn't winning, but it was her hair Tony couldn't stop staring at. That was his hair, his wild crazy ass hair, and yeah…it kind of looked like James Potter's too. No wonder they had chosen Howard. The man had had to use copious amounts of hair gel to get that sleeked back look that Tony refused to put his hair through.

"Tony…Tony, I need you to focus, okay?"

That sounded like Rhodey. Shit. He should say something. Focus, Tony!

Tony blearily looked up at the man. "…Platypus?"

What was he doing here? Had they planned something for today? Shit! The pictures! Had he seen the ones that move?!

"Tones, what happened?" Rhodey asked, searching him for signs of injury or alcohol…something. "I haven't seen you this out of it since your parents died."

"I have…I have a sister." Tony replied, still in shock. "A family approached Howard…looked enough like the dad that no one would question it…He agreed to help…wanted no contact. Mom kept pictures of the family, the baby…I never knew."

"That's good though, right?" Rhodes encouraged. "Family?"

"It is, but I…I may have just brushed off the only lead I have at finding her." Tony admitted with a grimace. "The guy sounded insane when he was talking to me. I brushed him off, thinking he was completely out of it, but he talks about this girl he couldn't take care of, insinuated that Howard was into some secret government shit, and this sister…If what that man said is true, even just the normal sounding stuff, that girl has been living with abusive relatives since she was just over a year old. Rhodey, she's fourteen…What am I…What am I gonna do?"

Sirius wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, if anything, when he stepped out of the hotel he'd been staying in. He'd just checked out, having come up empty in trying to reach Stark through the official channels again, and was ready to go home. It hadn't been a wasted trip. The man knew, even if he didn't believe, but it was a far cry from the outcome he'd hoped to get. So when he turned the street corner, fully prepared to use the portkey to get out of there, he was a bit surprised to see Tony Stark leaning back against a bloody limo.

"I'm terrible with boundaries, and had Jarvis hack the camera feeds." Tony admitted shamelessly, seeing his shocked expression. "Also, Sirius Black is a rather unique name. You weren't all that hard to find. Mind if I buy you a drink? I swear I'm not flirting this time, if that helps."

Sirius snorted in spite of himself.

"I was actually getting ready to take a portkey back home. Hera doesn't know I'm here, doesn't know anything about you, and I'd like to get back before the goblins tell her. I imagine that's the first place she'll go as soon as she can manage it." Sirius replied, figuring he might as well drop some of the bombs now. If the boy couldn't handle this, there was no way he could survive Hera. "You can come with me, if you like. The portkey's not time sensitive or anything. Oh, portkeys are like…instant travel, sort of like riding in a tornado, and then you're there. You may or may not spew chunks, depending on how you handle a sudden case of motion sickness."

"Teleporting? Your people figured out teleporting?" Tony asked, in a strained voice.

"No. Apparating is more like what you're thinking of, but international apparation is hard. Oh, Apparation feels a bit like being compressed and squeezed through a tube, and you can't breathe, and you hate every second of it, and then you're there. It's not exactly easy on the stomach either." Sirius explained. "I suppose a portkey could be considered teleporting, but it's powered by the magic put into the object instead of directly from a magic user like myself."

"My place first then. I have to pack a bag, and then book a flight for yesterday with a soon to be very confused pilot. If I disappear, and then show up in another country with no travel plans logged, someone is bound to notice." Tony nodded, his mind already miles away, as he gets into the limo. "You coming?"

"Thought you said you weren't flirting." Sirius remarks, and then barks out a laugh when Tony's jaw drops in shock.

...

"There's got to be a way to fix that." Tony groaned, as they 'landed'. He'd just barely managed to keep his breakfast behind his teeth, taking a moment to settle himself. He was glad that he'd been warned at least. "Go over it with me again."

"Ok." Sirius agreed. They waited a moment, and then began making their way out of the side alley to the main street. "The Tri-Wizard Tournament is a highly dangerous event that is now being held by three different international schools of magic. The Goblet of Fire is a magical artifact; very powerful, very old. It was used as a way of weeding out the weak contenders in duels, so that there wasn't as much death as before, brought about sometime during when Godric Gryffindor killed over a hundred contestants because he kept getting challenged to duels, and duels were to the death back then. The Tri-Wizard Tournament was brought back as a way to foster international cooperation, with limitations in place so that those not of age were unable to compete, and a few other odds and ends to make it safer. Somehow, the Goblet of Fire has been hoodwinked, and now Hera's being forced to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"How can an inanimate object choose contestants?" Tony asked, before being pulled into a building he'd not been paying attention to before.

"The Goblet of Fire is sentient in a way. It can read magical signatures, judge if someone has enough power to do the task." Sirius explained, and they reached a stone wall dead end.

"Why doesn't she just back out?" Tony asked, knowing there had to be a reason she was cornered into this mess. "It's obvious someone's using the tournament to try to kill her. She's fourteen. You just said full grown witches and wizards die doing this."

"Because the magic bound up in the Goblet of Fire might kill her anyway if she doesn't." Sirius explained, gravely. Well, shit. "It reads magical signatures, and it knows hers now, chose her as worthy. If she backs out, it's likely that it won't just take her magic as punishment for the slight, but her life as well. I have no doubt that girl tried to argue just what you're thinking. She's only fourteen. The only world she's really known till a few years ago contained zero magic in it. She'd be fine if all it took was her magic, but…"

"The risk is too great that it'd take more than that." Tony sighed, and then a thought. "What about blowing it up?"

...

"I guarantee you there are at least two people who have thought of that before you, but they won't risk it without knowing what it would do to her." Sirius replied in all seriousness, before tapping on the bricks in the correct pattern, watching Tony out of the corner of his eyes. It's strange that behind all that cynicism, there's the same childlike wonder that First Years get when being brought here for the first time. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

Childlike wonder gone, to be replaced with humour.

"Really?" Tony asks, through breathless laughter.

"Yes. We magicals love our puns, damn it." Sirius defended with a grin. As they walked through the alley, he immediately realized he'd forgotten to warn him. "Don't touch anything, don't eat anything, and don't buy anything."

"I thought you said you were the fun one." Tony pouted, but followed him closely, eyes trying to take in everything at once.

"I was once," Sirius replied, undeterred, now guiding the man towards Gringotts. "and then I went to prison. Sucks the fun right out of you."

"How bad was it?" Tony asks, looking over at him now. "Wizard prison, I mean."

"I went to the worst one. Azkaban. When I say sucks the fun right out of you, I mean that literally. There are these creatures called Dementors…think floating grim reaper in a cloak but without the scythe, if you want a visual…they literally suck all the joy and happiness right out of you, just by being in your general vicinity. To add insult to injury, they can also suck out your very literal soul. You'll still be alive, but…what's that phrase…the lights are on, but no one's home." Sirius shuttered. "Still don't know how Hera befriended a group of them."

"Why would she have met them at all?" Tony asked, askance.

"Oh. The Minister ordered them to guard the school after I escaped prison." Sirius sighed, then looked at Tony's shocked face. "I've been acquitted!"

*Quote from the first Sherlock Holmes movie, which also is played by Robert Downey Jr. The plot bunnies suggested it, and I just could not stop myself lol