Story Title: RIPPLE EFFECT

Summary: rip·ple ef·fect

Noun

the continuing and spreading results of an event or action.

Chapter Rating: K+

"speech"

'thoughts'

Chapter Five (Last week of June)

Being bored was one of the things Tony Stark didn't do well with. A bored Tony usually ended up being a PR nightmare for Pepper to put a spin on because he ended up doing something incredibly stupid. Or at least according to Pepper, sometimes Happy, and even Tony himself admitted ever now and then that he should have thought his actions through a bit more. Usually when on long flights he brought his own entertainment but it was the kind he didn't dare have while Pepper was with him. Which meant he was stuck going over some last minute information on Fuller Enterprises that his assistant thought he should know before they reached their destination. While he was one all for distractions, there was only so many times he could read the paperwork and discuss what he already knew before he couldn't take it anymore. He only agreed at first because it took half a day to get to Heathrow and when you added in the eight hour time difference, Tony was already going to be cranky by the time they landed. It was why they left a day for him to get over the jet lag before they went to Fuller Enterprises.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time to pretend to listen to Pepper while he kept his mind from dredging up old memories best left in the past. He regretted it as it looked as if his assistant was going to lecture him for 'not paying attention'. She'd learn soon that he could be a million miles away and still relatively get the gist of the conversation she was trying to have with him. It was something that his one night stands didn't get. He was fully capable of cognitive processing what was happening around him while at the same time allowing his mind to continue on a separate train of thought.

"Enough, Pepper." He finally complained. "I could recite this in my sleep."

This was a basic situation that while yes, he normally had Obi go to these things, Tony was just as capable. He'd take a tour of the building taking mental notes of the building; if it needed to be renovated or torn down and built back up more impressive then it was. Or if he'd be shutting it down completely and either moving the workers to one of his own company buildings or getting rid of them.

With a sigh, the woman complied setting the folder aside. "Alright then, what do you want to discuss?"

"Its a twelve hour flight. You don't expect to talk the entire time?" He asked with slight horror only partially joking. "I mean, I knew women could talk for hours..." Tony trailed off when he saw the expression on Pepper's face. Right, no women jokes when it came to the redhead. What did she expect him to talk about? "I'm sensing there's something in particular you want to talk about." Or rather something that she wanted to ask.

As if she couldn't restrain herself any longer, Pepper chose to voice the one thing he didn't want to talk about. "You know who the kid's mother is don't you?"

"Obviously," came the sarcastic response. "How else does a kid come into being?"

Pepper wasn't impressed, her expression stating as much. Sighing, he stated, "Her name was Lily." She had been one of the reason he avoided England like the plague. Along with many other reasons why. "According to the certificate of death, Jarvis and I uncovered, she died of a house fire four years ago."

The pensive expression and the tone of his voice had the woman questioning, "You don't think she died in a house fire?"

Tony was quite a moment before he answered, "I'm not sure. There's too many inconsistencies and unknowns."

If there was one thing that Tony didn't like besides variables, it was not knowing the answer to something. It was one of his Achilles heels. Variables he could eventually compensate and work them out within a margin of error. This, whatever this was, seemed a bit more convoluted and would take a bit of picking at to unravel the knot of information he wanted that lay at the center.

Arabella Figg hadn't argued or tried to pursued Albus Dumbledore when he'd asked her to take up a house in Little Whinging a few months after Harry was placed with his aunt and uncle. The house had been up for sale and she hadn't an idea how the old wizard had procured it. She was just told where it was and moved in. She had gotten some half kneazle kittens to help her watch the house as well as some regular cats to help the kittens blend in. When she was a child if someone told her that she would grow up to be 'the crazy cat lady', she wouldn't have believed them. It had somehow just happened as she collected injured cats and nursed them back to health. Some ended up deciding to stay rather than be on their merry way again. Nor had she ever believed that she would end up on a long term surveillance of the wizarding world's savior. It had been 'just an added precaution' according to Dumbledore. Apparently he hadn't thought an extra set of eyes on Harry was necessary, but had succumbed to the pressure of one irate Scotswoman.

It had been an easy assignment for the old squib. She lived her life as she had been before moving to Surrey. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary while watching the Dursleys. She had seen how they didn't like Harry to talk to strangers, especially those that were of the magical inclination. She could have sworn that the woman near pulled the poor boy's arm out of his socket when Arabella had stopped him to ask him if he liked cats. One of her kneazles had a batch of kittens and she had been trying to find homes for them.

The Dursleys seemed to keep both him and their own son quite busy. She had thought perhaps that Dumbledore had been overly cautious when she had sent her here to live. That changed when she caught sight of Harry's face when she'd stopped into the post office collecting her mail. While her regular mail such as magazine subscriptions went to her home address, the letters she received from her family and Dumbledore were collected from the post office. It was there she had seen the massive bruise on the tiny boy's face. That had been something else she had written to the man about, but he'd waved off her concern about the boy not getting enough to eat. She'd caught the glare that Petunia had shot her and how quickly she tried to hurry the boys outside afterwards.

Arabella decided to write up a quick note and sent it on and awaited to see if Dumbledore would answer her. He hadn't come but had written and told her not to worry that he was sure that it was just rough housing gone wrong. There were a lot of ways to get a black eye without actually being hit by someone's fist purposely. Or it could have just been a fight gone too far between cousins. Arabella, concerned had decided to take matters into her own hand if she saw anything else that she deemed harmful to the boy. Unknown to her, Ablus had taken her concerns to heart and would be visiting the Dursleys to check out Harry's condition for himself.

Since being struck by Aunt Marge the day after Dudley's birthday, Edward flinched whenever his aunt and uncle made too quick a move and he always felt guilty afterwards. He knew they wouldn't do to him what she had. It didn't help that everyone thought he got the nasty bruise on his face from Uncle Vernon. It was thankfully summer so there was no school for him to have to try and explain to the teachers or the other kids what happened. Justin had at least had been at Dudley's party and had seen how mean Marge had been to him, so was able to back up Edward's story with his parents. Malcolm had also been there and had even spent nights over at the Dursley house so also could confirm that it hadn't been either Vernon or Petunia that had given him the black eye.

Neither Petunia nor Vernon liked the fact the boy flinched from them but could understand it would take a bit before he would get comfortable with them again. Edward had to be reassured by his uncle that it would go away, that it would just take time. Vernon in particular felt for his nephew and could empathize with him. Everyone dealt with things differently and where Marge had decided to follow in their father's footsteps, Vernon had gone the other way by choosing to comfort himself with food. It was a habit that he had yet to break but had cut down some since he had other outlets now. There was the fact he was trying to be a good example to both the boys. That was why he was trying to control how angry he was when he'd answered the door to one of those people on a relaxing sunday. He and Petunia had been debating taking the boys to the park since the boys loved to pull either Vernon or Petunia into their games even if it was just to stand there watching them.

"What do you want?" He demanded with a scowl at the unwanted man standing on his stoop. It had to be a wizard with the outdated clothing he was wearing. Petunia had pointed them out before and told him it wasn't just fashion, or an inability to afford clothes, rather they had no idea what normal people wore in this era. Aside from the poor choice off wardrobe he was set apart due to the fact that his silvery white beard went past the acceptable length.

The man didn't seem to take offense to his attitude, his demeanor still amiable as he asked if he could come in to discuss this. Debating the pros and cons of just shutting the door on the old wizard, Vernon reluctantly opened the door and ushered the man inside. The quicker they got this done with the quicker they could get back to their lives. Vernon's frown didn't leave his face as he turned to see the wizard had gone to the sitting room and was looking over the framed photos of the family. He seemed pleased for some reason when he faced Vernon.

"I am merely here to check up on the well fare of your nephew."

Bristling, rather than answering he demanded, "Who are you?" While the man had an idea of who the pompous man was who was coming to his home, he wondered if they'd have to suffer any more of these impromptu visits. The letter hadn't said they'd come knocking whenever they wanted. It had clearly been stated that Ned was theirs until his eleventh birthday. He and Petunia hoped that by that time they would be able to figure a way around the old codger.

"Albus Dumbledore," he stated pleasantly confirming the other's fear. "May I see Harry?"

"He's not here," Vernon stated with narrowed eyes as the wizard didn't get the hint that he wasn't wanted and had decided that he would wait for him. He had thought they would have more time before they had to tell Ned about his parentage and other name. Apparently, it had been a lot shorter than they had thought. It wouldn't do to let the wizards know if they didn't already that 'Harry Potter' wasn't whom they thought he was. He and Petunia had always thought something was fishy when it came to wizards. Lily had confirmed that in her letter to them explaining in detail why she was in hiding and unable to come to them. The letter Dumbledore had left them with hadn't really explained much and would have left them as well as Ned ignorant of what to expect. He didn't appreciate being hoodwinked, by wizards no less.

'Maybe I should look into getting mobiles,' Vernon thought as he glowered at the old wizard not minding that he was being rude and inhospitable. He could have applied for a company mobile, but he hadn't thinking it was a frivolous expenditure. Now however, he wished he had so he'd be able to warn his wife what to expect and to have the boy play along with whatever game the headmaster was playing.

The men sat in silence for what seemed an age but in reality had only been at most a half hour. The key in the lock turned and soon Petunia and the boys were through the door but paused upon seeing who was in the sitting room. Quickly, Petunia ushered the boys into the kitchen to 'help' her with the take away they brought back. Whispering urgently, she knelt to speak in her nephew's ear. "We'll explain later, for now, your name is Harry."

Bemused, Edward nodded as his aunt repeated the instructions to 'play along' to Dudley. They entered the sitting room with Ned staying close to his aunt as he stared at the stranger. After having an adult he knew and trusted treat his cousin the way they had, had caused the boy to be even more protective of the boy. To Dudley, he was supposed to protect him as he was older and bigger than Ned. It didn't matter that they were in different grades and had even gotten Malcolm and Gordon to help him look out for his cousin. Seeing how people looked at Ned since Aunt Marge had hit him, Dudley moved closer to his cousin, expression mulish as he set his jaw with narrowed eyes. He didn't like how the man was looking at Ned so took a more protective stance.

"Ah, Harry. It's good to see you again, my boy." Albus eyed the child and saw how he pressed back into his aunt's legs. A smile made its way to the old man's face noting the actions of Harry's cousin. He'd heard that Harry was rather shy but he could see where Arabella was worried. While Dudley wasn't overtly obese, he was a tad husky and there was a definite difference between him and Harry who was of a slighter build.

Confused, the boy asked, "I don't remember you?" He was confused and didn't know what was going on but knew he'd learn. His aunt had said she'd tell him later so she would so he didn't really worry about that. Being raised to be polite, he was more concerned with upsetting the man because he didn't remember him. Was he supposed to? There were a lot of adults at the functions sometimes that his aunt and uncle went to. Dudley and he paid more attention to the kids and the food.

"Last time I saw you, you were an infant."

"Um..." Edward wasn't sure what he was supposed to say so ended up stating unsure, "Okay?"

"How are faring?" At the boy's head tilted in confusion, he tried to ask differently. "How are you enjoying your summer?"

Blinking, the boy shrugged but then seeing his uncle mime him to talk, he looked back at the old man and said, "I like no homework."

Chuckling, Dumbledore stated, "Many of my students would agree with you."

"You're a teacher?" Dudley asked with a doubtful look. None of the teachers at St. Gorgory's were as old as this man. He was ancient! When the man nodded, he dubiously asked, "Of what?"

"I'm headmaster at Hogwarts."

Edward frowned in thought, knowing he'd heard that name before. He looked up at his aunt who didn't look very happy. "The magic school?" he asked her rather then the stranger. She looked down at him briefly and got out a tight lipped, "Yes."

Nodding, he said, "Okay." He'd heard about it from the letter/stories his aunt read to him. He might be young, but he could tell neither of his guardians liked the teacher person so he instead stated, "I'm hungry. Can me and Dudley eat now?"

Nodding since she had told them they could eat when they got home, Petunia stated, "If you'll excuse us, the boys need to eat."

"Of course, of course," Albus smiled eyes twinkling as Harry looked back at him as he and the blond were ushered back into the kitchen. He had expected more of a reaction then he had when he'd told them he worked at Hogwarts. Apparently Harry knew about the school which was good, how much he knew was debatable. Turning to Vernon he was a bit more serious as he asked, "What happened to his face?"

"Its been dealt with," Vernon stated not wanting to air his family history. It was none of the old man's business. He had dealt with it and it wouldn't happen again. Marge had been banned from his home and only allowed to see Dudley with supervision in public places. "It won't happen again."

"I must ask if either one of you-"

"How dare you!" Vernon snarled justifiably angry at the insinuation. "Get out of my house!"

"You must understand how it looks," Albus tried to placate the man to get him to see his side of it. Vernon's face got redder as he glared at the wizard working himself up for a tirade. "However, I don't believe that you hurt him," he tried again causing the other man to pause. While he didn't condone it, the old wizard knew there were times when some underhandedness was needed. As such, he'd gleaned from both his and Harry's mind that it hadn't been either of his guardians that had hurt him but the boy's paternal aunt by marriage.

When Arabella had told him of her suspicions, he'd waved them off from what he'd seen and felt of the wards around the Dursley home when he'd dropped the boy off. Nor had the wards he'd added himself weakened or vibrate at all to let him know that the child was in any serious peril. From this brief interaction with the family he could see that he had chosen well to place the boy with his Aunt and Uncle. While he might have had doubts from what he could remember or heard from the Marauders, James and Sirius in particular; he could say he was relieved to find his doubts unfounded. Harry seemed healthy, happy, and loved by his maternal family. Having seen many children ranging from eleven to eighteen, Albus knew that some children stayed rail thin throughout their lives no matter how much they ate.

"You don't?" Vernon asked suspiciously. Even some of the neighbors had a glimmer of doubt about Vernon's innocence when it came to Ned's shiner. It had only been those that interacted with the Dursleys and the boys regularly that had steadfastly believed neither adult could harm the boys that way.

"No. In fact, I'm satisfied with the boy's care in your hands. I look forward to seeing him again in six years."

Vernon grunted but didn't comment one way or the other. If he and Petunia had their way the boy would be kept away from that school and the manipulations. While he might not have liked his wife consorting with her sister at first, nor put any thought into whatever it was they discussed, his mind had been changed. His wife had told him about some of the things Lily had confessed to her as well as some of those letters of hers. There was a reason he and Petunia didn't like wizards or want anything to do with them. From what he'd learned, he couldn't see how anyone would send their children away to that school year after year.

After bidding him a good day, the wizard made his exit and if Vernon shut the door a bit harder than necessary, he couldn't really be blamed could he? Griping under his breath, he tried to calm his anger before he joined his family in the kitchen to try and salvage the day.

Pepper watched as her boss tinkered with his phone knowing that was his way of sorting his thoughts as well as distracting himself. She'd found it to be his 'nervous tic'. They had flown out of California on Wednesday and arrived in England the next day. Pepper had wisely set up the appointment to tour the factory on Monday giving Tony the weekend to adjust to the timezone. It also gave him time to dig up any maps or any other information he hadn't had previously before leaving Malibu. Arching a thin ginger brow she wondered if Tony had gotten around to deciding how he was going to approach the guardians of his 'son'. That they were in the same country would cut down on the travel time a letter would take, but she was relatively sure he'd have her give them a call. What would be said was still up in the air as Tony tried to figure that part out. He might just delay it until after he'd dealt with everything else first before attempting to approach the Dursleys.

"This is giving me a migraine. Nothing makes sense!" Tony finally burst and sunk into the back of the couch in their suite. The phone lay on loosely in his hand as he glared up at the ceiling before shutting his eyes. Just as when he was back home, he couldn't find any such place as Godric's Hollow. He was beginning to wonder if it even existed.

"Tony?"

Lightly tossing the phone onto the coffee table he gestured to it lazily. "Take a look." Sitting up, he watched her carefully, elbows on knees, chin propped on his crossed fingers. Saw when her brows furrowed seeing the results he'd gotten from all his and J.A.R.V.I.S' hacking. There were no towns, cities, or suburbs listed on the map of either Great Britain or Ireland. If such a place as Godric's Hollow existed then it wasn't listed on any paper or electronic map that was readily attainable. The silent fantasies he'd used to try and piece together the puzzle that Lily Evans presented resurfaced in his mind again. When he was younger he'd mused about her being a spy and having gone to a spy school in order to account for the huge blank spots in her history. He'd believed that if she was a spy then her superiors were rather incompetent not to fill in those holes with fake papers. He'd forgotten the odd name she'd given him for her high school that was supposedly in Scotland, only recalling that there was no such place when he'd looked into it.

As unlikely as it seemed, her being a spy was as plausible as anything else once he'd really looked into her Cambridge transcripts, Tony had been in for another shock. They like everything else seemed to be nonexistent. Yet, at the time he had been sure he'd seen her name on the students list when he'd looked into her the first time when he'd decided to get a bit more serious in their relationship. With the new information or lack of it, he was beginning to wonder if Godric's Hollow was some kind of code.

"Maybe you should focus on what you're going to say to the Dursley's instead?" Pepper offered. Knowing Tony, he'd likely have this puzzle going on in the back of his mind even as he worked other problems. The man relaxed back into the couch even as he groaned petulantly, "You do it."

Pepper sighed in exasperation as she went to the other room to place the call while Tony stayed on the couch letting his mind wander. A frown crossed his face as he quickly sat up and grabbed the card key for the room and shoved it into his pocket. Knowing he'd have an irate red head when he got back didn't deter him from escaping for a bit. He was even being responsible and taking along a body guard rather than trying to ditch them.

AN: Apologies for taking so long to update. There have been hectic things going on such as my mom looking into fostering children. Lots of information to process. Also, I was back on my arm crutches for a bit and having to remember to take my meds every day. LOL. Thank you for reading and apologies for any mistakes. Creative criticism welcomed ^_^