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Chapter Text

Prologue

Planet : Vormir
Time: 2014

Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America turned at the sound of a voice he hadn’t heard in decades.

“Steven, son of Sarah. I see you have something that you need to return.” Red Skull turned from the overhang were Natasha sacrificed herself, surprising Steve as the ghost went past him.

Steve paused, thinking he should toss the Soul Stone down the cliff. “I wouldn’t toss the Soul Stone if I were you. The stone doesn’t return the way its summoned. It’s usually a simple matter. You give me the stone and it’s all as it should be. Unfortunately for me, Clint son of Edith wasn’t the one to sacrifice himself but Natasha daughter of Ivan, which makes this a bit more complicated. Come.”

Red Skull glided down stairs carved out of the side of the huge mountain, the cold wind and eerie loneliness of the forlorn place was forgotten when Steve balked at the scene that greeted him at the bottom.

Gamora and Natasha were side by side in death, almost exactly as the other. Countless others of various ages and species dotted the landscape until the horizon.

The Red Skull didn’t give Steve a moment to even process the horror he was witnessing. “Do you see that dark crevice that’s encircling everyone. Put the soul stone there.”

Steve gently tossed the Soul Stone down, not waiting to see it land and turned to walk back up the mountain. He had the time stone to return.

“Captain.” The Red Skull’s sharp tone pivoted Steve’s head as his blue eyes widened. “What the?!”

“Natalia’s soul was unique.” Steve tuned out the Red Skull’s voice and just stared.

The orange light of the Soul Stone seemed to have been woven into five separate but joined bands of light.

A clap of thunder and then Steve was gone.

The Red Skull scowled down at the innocent looking orange Soul Stone. “I hate my job.”

The stone seemed to be laughing at him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

October 31st, 1981

Godric's Hollow

Natasha coughed so hard that she gasped, thinking she’ll upchuck her lungs. Her ears were ringing as if a loud bomb had exploded. As she mentally went over her body to make sure that nothing was broken, Nat heard voices talking about something she couldn’t make out. She did heard a motorcycle roar to life and take off after a loud pop of something.

Slowly standing up Natasha realized something was very wrong. One half of the house she was in was blown apart at the seams, and two, the last thing she remembered was seeing Clint’s heartbroken face as she sacrificed herself for the universe. Third, this was clearly not her body. It was too soft and too young. She didn’t feel like herself. Her muscles ached in ways that Natasha’s muscles never did.

In fact, Natasha mused out loud as she looked in astonishment at the dark bruise she had on her left arm, it wasn’t even her body. There were scars that were missing and her hands were different, but as she stared at the unknown woman in the mirror she found over the baby changing table, at least she still had red hair and green eyes. A voice behind her interrupted her observations. Natasha swung around and took up a combat stance. She didn’t even hear anyone come in.

“Of course, that’s not your body. It’s mine. And from what I know, dead people don’t come back to life. Even by magical means.”

Natasha took in the frowning redhead who had the brilliant green eyes of her new body but had a blue glow around her body. If that person was the spirit of the body Nat was inhabiting then she’ll be in her early twenties. Very early twenties.

Natasha slightly amused, asked as she eased in a relaxed stance. “What you’re a force ghost now?”

“Force ghost?” Lily didn’t know that term but it might be a muggle thing. “No I don’t know what that is.”

“Hum.” Natasha didn’t answer as she fully took in the destroyed nursery searching for something, which to her shock, made her yearn.

”Where’s the boy?” Natasha said, filing away how she knew that she had a son or this body had a son. That’s why she was yearning for. Her mothering instincts were screaming at her to find her son.

Lily Evan Potter crossed her arms staring at her body which was strange since it was her voice coming out but everything about it was completely wrong. The woman’s stance suggested some sort of training, not Auror but maybe muggle style, her eyes were constantly looking for something.

“Harry isn’t here. Hagrid took him at least I heard that much when I was appearing as I am now. I don’t know where. I just pray that it wasn’t my sister Petunia’s house.” Lily said as the woman huffed her amusement at the moving pictures and then dismissed them as they exited the destroyed nursery slowing to a stop only at the sight of the unmoving body that was at the bottom of the ruined staircase that led into the cold night.

Natasha felt sadness trying to tear her up instead as she stared at the dark haired man on the floor. ‘James.’ Her mind whispered as a different dark haired man with the same name flickered through her mind.

“James.” Lily voiced, sorrow as tears rolled down her face. She went to push back his hair and her hand went through him. Natasha didn’t waste any time and figured out how to get down quickly disregarding the lack of stairs. Even if this body didn’t have her training, Natasha still had it.

Natasha squat down and was preparing to fire carry the body down the stairs, ignoring the ache in her muscles. This ‘James’ deserved better then just being left on the floor. As she went to close his eyes, the body’s hand shot up into the air halting her movements towards his shoulders.

Natasha moved backwards, not as fast as she had hoped but moved fast enough to get away if necessary.

Her heart squeezed as she heard this ‘James’ curse fluidly in Russian. Her James did that on the occasion that they on missions had a rough night and he has to get up early the next morning. James was not a morning person.

If Lily wasn’t a ghost she would have died of shock as her husband slowly flickered into existence next to his body who for some reason kept poking his left arm as if it wasn’t real once on his feet. “James. How? What?”

James Potter tore his eyes away from his moving body who also responded to the name James to his wife Lily. “I died and what the heck is going on?”

“I would also like that information thank you.” The other James was now leaning back against the partly obliterated wall. Arms crossed but his left hand kept moving as if he couldn’t believe it was even there. His face was arranged in something that only Natasha recognized. His blank “Winter Soldier” look. It was not a look she liked to be honest, but his eyes were alive which was different.

“But since we” the other James gestured between the glowing blue man and himself, “have the same name, you can call me Bucky or Jamie.” James or as he named himself Bucky, face flickered in sad remembrance of an old friend.

This lead to a brief introduction between the Potters and James quipped, the two body hijackers, Natasha Romanoff and James ‘Bucky’ Barnes.

“I suggest we move before anyone else comes to the house. People usually gather at disaster zones. Please tell me that you can still hot wire a car.” Natasha said with a teasing sort of voice as she did something with her hand that Bucky recognized and responded to. The hand signals were from when they worked together and only between them so she knew it was him, not a shape shifter and thankfully he seemed to have his memories back, dark that they were. They’ll talk about everything later. Much later. They didn’t even know what time period or time of day or night it was. Natasha was just grateful that Bucky knew her somewhat.

Bucky gave her a dry look as the Potters exchanged glances that spoke volumes. “We don’t have a car. We have a few brooms or we did. We can do a port-key maybe.” Lily said, her eyes narrowing in thought. Her wand was snapped, thanks to that Voldemort. She sighed in relief at seeing Jame’s wand intact just as he spotted it as well.

“There. That’s my wand. Lily where is? Oh, great I can’t pick it up.” James said as his hand went right through it, sad that his wife’s beloved wand was gone as she shook her head at his question.

“Great magic. Just what I wanted.” Bucky said dryly as he scooped up the wand which to his hand had a slight reaction but, if wands were like the staffs from Middle Earth, he couldn't use this one properly. If he remembered the books properly. It was so strange to feel with his left hand again, but it seemed like with his old body this one was right handed. It was still a shock to hear a different accent then American or peppered with Russian coming out of his and Nat’s mouths.

“Nat. Get some knives. I don’t feel just completely safe with this wand.” Bucky flicked the wand up and down in his hands alternating, thankful that at least this body had some good reflexes. He vowed to get contacts asap or some magical version. This glasses were something he did not want to get use to. He felt so old and to deal with glasses on to of that, nope. No way.

“Hey. My wand had seen some battles and is well used.” Bucky just looked at James and snickered as the women were in the kitchen or what left of it, getting supplies as the men went to the main bedroom to get other supplies with a quick stop in the nursery even if most of it was completely gone. There might be something of use.

James was impressed on how ‘Bucky’ could maneuver up the stairs or lack of. But he slowed when he came to his bedroom and the ruined nursery, James couldn’t get himself to go in, but it seemed that Bucky had some experience with babies as he knew what he had to pack.

James rolled his eyes as he instructed Bucky on what to pack. Thankfully in a expanded backpack that Lily insisted on making in the muggle style. “I meant that wooden stick you muggle.” Then at Bucky’s confused look James sighed and started to explain what exact a muggle was compared to a magical being or at least the human version.

James stopped talking at the sight of his wife walking towards them and casually flicked a few knives at his body, no Bucky caught with ease then grimace at the condition of them. “How in the world did you never used this steak knife?” Bucky complained as he stole away the two small knifes that made James wonder if Bucky had magic after all. The backpack didn’t count.

“Magic.” Lily answered as she put a torn towel on the floor. Or Nat did with an identical backpack on.

He turned to Bucky and instructed him in making a port-key as Nat kept watch, eyes flickering everywhere. Lily was on the ground floor doing the same, just in case.

That is after they determined that he did have some magic in him. It was Jame Potter’s body but with a different soul in his body, James mentally sighed with relief when a simple ‘lumos’ spell light up the end of the wand, much fainter then his own magic, but still Bucky’s soul and himself had magic enough to interact with his own magic.

James even dead was getting a headache with all this stuff. They settled on a grove of trees near Lily’s sister’s place, just in case anyone was stupid enough to give their son to her sister.

Just as the port-key went off, and crumbled to dust, a trick that Remus came up with, a crunch was heard outside the house.

It took the neighbors a good half hour to even go into the half annihilated house after Hagrid came and got the Potter boy. It was completely empty of life but black dust particles floating in mid air until it settled down on the pile on the floor. Voldemort’s mark still hung over the house.

****

James and Lily were amazed at the recovery time that Nat and Bucky had at the arrival which took more energy then they usually had. The port-key could only go halfway since they were working with Bucky’s magic and James’s wand, then it took more time then James and Lily wanted to get another good piece of junk to use as another port-key. The half-way point was surprisingly clean.

Even if Bucky picked up on how to make the port-key quickly in the first place, James privately thought that he had something to do with it since he literally had to hold ‘Bucky’s’ hand to make the first one and his magical energy helped speed on the process as his wand recognized his magical signature.

They even kept their feet unlike James who always fell down. They were two strange muggles. They haven’t blinked an eye or even demanded how or why magic existed. Could there be other magic around besides the wizarding world? Either way they needed to get to Harry before they demanded answers.

“What do you suggest? I don’t think walking up to you sister’s house would be a good thing to do in the middle of the night.” Nat suggested as she eyed the boring looking English housing. Cookie cutter houses the lot of them. She was itching to find a computer or even a discarded newspaper. She didn’t know exactly what year it was, but judging by the cars parked it was somewhere between the 80’s and 90’s. She hoped it was the latter. The former had less technology to work with.

A pop made the two spies crouch down and look towards where a strange man was strolling along and making the streetlamps disappear one by one. Lily’s eyes widen. What was Dumbledore even doing by her sister’s house? If he was here then,

Nat watched as James raced behind his wife as she yelled out angrily, “Dumbledore what in Merlin do you think you’re doing? If you hand over my son to my sister I will end you.”

Bucky got one line in before the neighborhood was plunged in darkness. “Well at least we know that guy’s name. I was going to call him Gandalf.”

Nat huffed a laugh.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Lily ran up the Dumbledore yelling and went straight through him. She kept trying to get Albus’s attention as the sky seemed to darken which if she remembered her old astronomy classes right, it was just a few hours before sunrise. Her old head of house who transformed from a cat made her heart leap with joy then it plunged as Minerva explain how exactly wrong it was to leave little Harry, her son on her sister’s doorstep as Lily wiped her hand through her to.

Even if Lily was estranged from Petunia she was concerned about her nephew Dudley. Petunia had better manners then that at his age. As the discussion went on, Lily could only growl as James listened intently as Dumbledore explain why he was leaving little Harry in November on his wife sister’s doorstep.

Hagrid came with Sirius’s bike and with him was Harry. Harry was fast asleep and didn’t stir as his mother tried to take him. Her hands kept going straight through him. Lily held back a sob as the people she trusted her life with left her son with only a letter to explain why he was there. James didn’t even try to take his son, if Lily couldn’t hold him, then he couldn’t.

The-Boy-Who-Lived, what an stupid name her son was saddled with. She hated to admit Dumbledore was right. He couldn’t live and keep a clear head if he grew up in the British wizarding world. But he was wrong to leave him in the dead of night as well. Petunia would have a fit. She hated, just hated surprises. Not to mention it was freaking November! It was freaking cold outside, thank you very much.

On top of that, even if Lily knew her sister would take Harry in, his eyes would be hard for her, they would remind her of Lily and how she was dead because of the magic she craved. The Evan sisters could hold a grudge like no other. If only her mum was still alive since she was the only one who could get her daughters to talk reasonably.

While the Potters kept an eye on their son and the neighborhood as the magic folk who dumped him there, the two displaced spies conversed.

Nat was quiet as she kept her body from running toward the baby which her new body insisted was her son. So to distract herself, she asked the question she was wondering as soon as she realized that her James was there with her and that he knew her.

“What happened after we won?” at James’s surprised look, Nat clarified. “You are alive so I see that we won. Even if you have been out of the field for a while.”

James nodded, not at all surprised that Nat picked up on his rusty skills, new body or not. She knew him at his ‘sharpest’, no pun intended. “We did win. Almost two decades ago, but there was a cost.” Bucky couldn’t look at Nat’s new face, one it was dark and two it was still strange since it was so young and different. That, and his heart still ached for another. Leaning back against a tree to get comfortable, he continued before Nat could say anything, memories still sharp, a side effect of the experiment that made him the Winter Soldier.

“We not just lost you, but Stark took on the gantlet. He snapped everyone back but died as a result we were all there at his funeral. I also heard from Steve later that he told everyone to assemble but since you weren’t there, and Stark dying, I don’t think it truly counted. He went back to Peggy and married her. I knew it was coming. His heart wasn’t in the future, not with so much different from before. Most of his ‘Avenger’ family was gone, so he went and made a new one.

As for me, after the Wakandans did their deprogramming and I got done with my counselling, along with a few adventures which I will tell you later, I came to peace with my past as the Winter Soldier. My code name then was White Wolf which I past on when I retired. Wilson became the new Captain America. That was a dozy. As for Clint, a few months after everyone got back from the blip, Clint called it the snap,”

James said after a short pause for Nat to take in the cost of winning, Nat would cry later, “he found himself training the new Hawkeye. Kate Bishop loves purple. I wish I had pictures. Clint in purple is priceless. I laughed myself sick the first time I saw them in the new Hawkeye getup.”

James smiled even if Nat couldn’t see him. “Yelena thought it was a good color too, once she got over trying to kill him. She’s a regular partner with the new Hawkeye. They come to family gatherings.

As for myself, I freelanced with Sam before I retired completely. Now I’m keeping an eye on my grandchildren or I was until I came here. It’s been thirty-five years but I have had a happy marriage. The last thing I remember was blacking out from a bleeding wound from a gunshot as I was hoping to surprise one of my grandchildren with a visit and got jumped by a couple of punks in a back alley at night. My body isn’t as fast as it used to be. I hope that someone found me. Sarah deserves a body.”

James thought it was strange to talk about his death. He knew he was dying at the time. He couldn’t live forever but he hated to not see his kids and grandchildren one last time. He knew his wife would spoil them rotten. Mostly.

Nat nodded as the lights came back on and they started up the quiet street towards the glowing blue couple. She wondered how much James really remembered of his past. Of the Red Room and of her. But even as she was jealous of James having a stable partner, it was a slight jealously since she did have her own romances after him which did not count a drunken one night stand with Clint on an op and Bruce was just a bad decision all together, she was happy for him at the same time. She wondered who Sarah was. How good was Sarah for him? She pushed the thought of thirty-five years of marriage to James from her head as she and James walked towards the Potters.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Lily didn’t notice as her body and James, or should she say Nat and Bucky come up to her she was too busy gazing at her sleeping baby. He had grown so much from his birth, he was old enough to instinctively ride a broomstick for Merlin’s sake!

She glanced at James who was staring down at Harry with worry, then icily commented to Nat and Bucky, “At least they cast a warming charm on the basket so he was warm.” Her eyes widened as she took in the warm blue glow around her son’s body. “Holy shit I can see magic! James can you?”

Now James was peering at the sleeping neighborhood gazing at the faint magical light he could see a few houses down. “If you count this house, there is only another one in the neighborhood that has traces of magic. Not as strong as this one. How do I know that?”

“Don’t know, but I know we need to move.” Bucky said as he expertly gathered Harry in his arms and smiled gently at him, leaving the basket and letter behind. Bucky knew this boy wasn’t his by birth but dang, he hadn’t felt like this since his daughters were born or when he had officially adopted Sara’s boys, A.J. and Cass. Harry would be protected for life. By a overly protected former assassin/superhero and a badass spy/superhero.

Bucky bounced lightly on his toes rocking his boy back and forth, it’ll be fun to raise a child again, and this time, he glanced over to Nat, who was discussing something serious with Lily who if by the look on her face was reluctantly going to go along with the plan as she grabbed the letter and tossed the basket behind some bushes.

Her voice, hair and eyes were slightly different but her spirit was the same. Nat knew what she was doing. Bucky was stuck that he still trusted her after all this time, but hey at one point in his life she was the only light in his darkness. If he couldn’t trust her then who?

“We need to get to London but we don’t have any funds. Unless you have some other money besides those interesting coins you had me gather. Is there a way to transform them into the proper currency?” Nat asked Lily who was peeking behind Nat’s shoulder as she broke open the seal on the letter addressed to Lily’s sister and devoured the contents.

Which as par to the course for the Headmaster, was very vague and only talked about the broad stokes on why Petunia needed to adopt Harry for his own protection against You-Know-Who, Lord and then his name was spelled out with dashes in between the letter. It simply stated something about Lily’s blood protection and how it extend to Petunia’s family if she adopted Harry until he came of age at seventeen. It also mentioned that Lily and James had died because of him.

It was signed with the headmaster’s usually long titles. “So if I called him a pompous windbag that’s vague as hell would that describe this headmaster of Hogwarts well?” Bucky asked seriously, not expecting an answer as the other James and Lily just stared in growing outrage and disbelief at the letter that Dumbledore left on Petunia’s doorstep.

As they walked back towards the grove they first landed in, Lily inform Nat that no they can’t transform one form of currency into another when Nat asked her again since it seemed that she was reading the letter the first time that she asked. Nat’s plan seemed more and more the right direction to go however it worried Lily.

“He clearly doesn’t want anyone from the wizarding world to interact with my son. I didn’t see any mention of the people that I would have chosen for Harry’s guardians explained.” James scowled but then blinked at Nat’s question of “Anyone have a pen?”

‘What was a pen?’ James wondered, probably a muggle thing. Lily noticed the look on James’s face and sighed inwardly. She loved her husband, but he was a bit clueless of things not from the magical world.

Bucky, who Nat started calling Jamie in her head, tossed her a pen that he pick up someplace.

Nat was amused, it was a Eraser-mate pen they hadn’t made those in decades. Time travel to the past was going to be a pain. Thankfully it ‘erased’ the first few tries of Lily’s post script letter to her sister ended up with the parchment having faint eraser marks, not as bad as it could have been.

Once Lily finalized her note with proof that it was Lily and not an impostor, she had to dig deep for some embarrassing memories that only they shared, Nat had Jamie, with James’s help to make it ‘invisible’ to anyone but Petunia when the mail came and stuck it in the mail slot to open it when she was alone.

“Now we just wait until after the mailman has come and gone.” Nat said as she leaned back against the tree she claimed in the grove where they landed in the first place.

“Do you think she’ll let us in? After all it says that we’re dead, and mentions Harry and Harry is nowhere in sight! We are dead right?” Lily asked as she continued to monitor Harry’s sleep as the sun started to rise in the sky.

“Oh we’re dead alright. I helped ‘Jamie’” James said as Nat had informed Bucky flatly that she was not calling him Bucky but Jamie and by Jamie’s half smile, it seemed that his fellow James, like that nickname better. He’ll still be Bucky to him though. It reminded James of his stag form. “make some mock dead bodies of ourselves back at the cottage just in case while we were getting supplies or lack of. James told me even with my weak magic, since he was an expert in transfiguration, it’ll hold up for a few days, enough for ‘us’ to get buried.”

“Great. My big sister is going to be pissed and confused at the same time. When does the mailman get here? I cannot wait to get into Petunia’s house. You must feel dirty.” Lily said to Nat who shrugged.

She was used to worse on missions, hiding for days to get the perfect shot for Clint came to mind. Nat felt clean in comparison. But a shower would be nice and a possible haircut. Lily’s body needed to change for protection, maybe she’ll go blonde again and Jamie needed contacts and a haircut too.

“I’ve been through much worse. A little dirty is not so bad. But we need to get funds asap. I’m think we can see if the Sanctum Sanctorum is in London. If so that’ll make our life easier. If not at least it’s a place to live.” Nat told the address.

“The holy of holies?” James asked confused as the address in London had that name. He knew that location it was by an entrance to the Ministry of Magic but that was all.

“We’ll explain later. If it is there, then it won’t be Doctor Strange or anyone we know living there. London has a different sorcerer guarding the London one. Dr. Strange guards the New York one. If it doesn’t exist then what?” Jamie pointed out as he fixed a ‘magical’ bottle for Harry as Lily instructed him on how to do so from the supplies they brought since Harry had started to wake up as he was held in a magical sling which was more comfortable then the basket.

“If it’s empty, we’ll move in, if someone has rented it, we buy it and move in. If it’s condemned, we still buy it and move in since Lily had explained to me while we were in the kitchen earlier, America had different laws concerning magicals and normal people. England is a little more friendly to non-magical people. That and Lily need to make amends with her sister.” Nat said softly as she thought of her little sister, Yelena Belova, who she never got to see again, a pang in her heart. Family was family after all. Jamie nodded in agreement while James wondered what they meant by sorcerer, a different magical system?

By the time that Harry got reacquainted with his parents, who were thrilled that he could see them, his new ‘parents’, had a nappy change with two bottles, the postman finally came and went almost running into Petunia husband Vernon who didn’t seem like the best sort rushing off to work, saying to kiss his boy and he'll get breakfast on his own, if the tone of voice Nat and Jamie had while talking in, Lily thought it was Russian, when he was first spotted. Lily tended to agree with that statement. Why Petunia married that man she’ll never understand. The one and only time she had met him was enough.

It was just a few minutes after eight a.m. when Petunia got the mail whose face paled at the letter addressed to her as she grabbed the milk from the step with a pale face, the letter clutched in a tight fist. But her need to know got the better of her wariness.

Petunia had the look on her face when she was torn between believing and ignoring. Lily sighed in relief when Petunia ripped up the letter in very tiny pieces which then evaporated as it was the signal that she’ll let them in after a half hour. It probably helped fuel her grudge after Lily and Snape read her letter from the headmaster. Lily was just happy that she’ll hopefully get to see her sister again and make amends.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Petunia frowned at her extremely clean living room, hopefully Lily’s husband wouldn’t mess it up. Dudley was taking his morning nap after breakfast, he was a growing boy, and will be out for over an hour. A soft knock and then it was repeated in a pattern that she recognized from her childhood. It was Lily and hers can I come in please, knock. Sadly it faded rapidly after Lily started to spend more and more time with that Snape boy.

Petunia opened the door and the Potters were on her doorstep. They quickly with a sleeping Harry, what a name for Lily’s child, came in and sat on the couch. Petunia’s eyes narrowed. As a nosy gossiper, and she was quite aware of it, thank you very much, she had sharp ears and eyes. Something was wrong besides that weird letter, the gall of that Dumbledore using her love of her sister and his rejection of her wanting to go into Hogwarts against her. Something was wrong besides that weird letter. Petunia just couldn’t put a finger to it.

“Lily. Why are you here?” Petunia said frostily after they declined any tea and biscuits, she was the hostess, sitting down on the only armchair. Even in her contempt of her sister’s magic, she was quite relieved that Lily was alive. Her couch on the other hand, she might just have to get a new one.

“We can’t go back to the wizarding world. Everyone thinks we’re dead and I would like to keep it that way for now. I just need some funds to get to London. We’ll pay you back as soon as possible.” Nat recited word for word what Lily told her to tell her sister as Jamie started to sing softly to Harry in Russian, a lullaby if she heard right, to calm him down into a nap. “My wand had snapped, and James wand is acting up.” Natasha put on her best acting skills since she did get to observe Lily and James up close.

Petunia was silent as she half-listened to her sister getting up to James to look at her new nephew, if he was here, she needed to gloat that her son was better. Magic or no magic. But as she gazed at the man and the, somewhat cute baby, her eyes narrowed into slits.

“I don’t know who you are, but you are not my sister or her.” Petunia stopped as if she couldn’t find the worst word possible. She smiled grimly at the person who claimed to be her sister, eyes cold, wondering why the wizarding world send a person who looked like her sister to torment her. “Besides doesn’t the wand chose the wizard?” She hissed as the Doppelganger recognized that she knew she wasn’t Lily Evans Potter.

Petunia threw the much quoted saying into Lily’s ‘face’. Oh she couldn’t go to Hogwarts but she was there when Lily got her wand. Envy, greed and annoyance eating her up like a flood at Ollivander's Wand Shop.

At that, Nat slumped down into a more comfortable position as Jamie handed her Harry, not denying anything which thrilled and worried Petunia, as ‘Lily’ seemed slightly uncomfortable with her own son, a look of tender awe on her face as Harry snuggled with ‘Lily.’

“I told you it wouldn’t work Lily.” Nat mocked complained as her face softened to look at Harry, he was a cute baby. She had held Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel when they were babies, and helped babysit at times, but this, this was completely different and it terrified her. “Your sister from what you told me, might be petty and from the look of the house too much into cleaning, but she isn’t stupid. Now Lily calm down, you’re going to upset Harry.”

Petunia didn’t believe in ghosts, but as much as she denied that magic existed, “Lily?” Her voice was a soft tone of hope.

All at once, Petunia could see magic, but not really because, when the blue ghost of her sister withdrew her hand from her shoulder, she and her husband, also a blue ghost, disappeared. She didn’t even know how she had sat down on the floor, crying until a warm cup of tea from ‘James’s hand’ pressed a cup into her hand.

“Drink. You’ll feel better. I got it right enough that the English have no complaints. Or at least that Peggy Carter had told me, once long ago.” ‘James’s’ said with a roguish wink that never have crossed James Potter’s face before, nor that smile. It was a warm smile, not one of distant interest as James Potter had the first and only time he meet his wife’s sister. It didn’t help that he ‘prank’ them or Vernon. It soured her towards her sister and her husband ever since. But this seemed different.

“Petunia, please drink. You will feel better. We’ll explain what is going on. Or at least what we think we know.” Lily said sitting next to her, her hand on Petunia’s foot, gazing at her older sister with a look of desperate hope that Petunia could help fix whatever she broke, a look that faded about the same time that Snape boy started to come around. Petunia missed that look. She missed being the bossy, smarter older sister. She missed her Lily, the one she once knew. She missed being that sister. So somehow Lily was ‘alive’ but ‘dead’ as with her ‘husband.’ So she was prepared to listen and pushed her envy of magic from her mind.

“Oh Lily, what really happened.” Petunia sighed as James or as he called himself Jamie poured her another excellent cup of tea. By hand no less. She approved of this new ‘James.’ Dumbledore, on the other hand, had a lot to answer for, a lot.

Before they even got through the introductions, Dudley started to cry, a loud demanding cry. Jamie rolled his eyes, plopped Harry in Petunia’s lap as Nat had handed Harry to him to go to the restroom, and strolled out the door, leaving the shell shocked muggle with a magical baby and two blue ghosts.

Petunia’s mother instincts came roaring up, and as much as she wanted to dump Harry off somewhere, Lily would never forgive her, Petunia rushed carefully up the stairs to Dudley’s room and at the entrance stopped in her tracks.

Because Dudley had stopped crying and was giggling up a storm, literally. Thankfully Nat got there in time to grab Harry before his aunt accidentally dropped him, her body and instinct for her ‘son’ over riding her misgivings. Then she too stared at the whirlwind of soft baby toys that circled around Jamie and Dudley who in her option, was overweight. Her heart squeezed at the sight of Jamie whistling a ‘American’ tune to egg on Dudley’s magical display as he changed his diaper, and as the baby slowly went back to sleep from being rocked, strangely enough not minding Jamie, the toys slowly settled down as well.

“Oh Petunia.” Lily said, sadness, fondness and happiness clashing in her voice as she witness something that she knew that Petunia had always wanted. It took her a while to realize once Harry was born and she was cut off from the wizarding world, why it was wrong to snoop in Petunia’s mail and how much Hogwarts and the magical world once meant to Petunia. Now perhaps she had hope again. Lily had a lot of apologizing to do soon. She had so much to make up for.

Jamie gently transferred his ‘nephew’ to his wide-eyed mother. Once everyone was downstairs again and the two babies were fast asleep in the playpen, Petunia looked at the people who somehow were in her sister’s and her husband’s bodies, and the two blue ghosts who were Lily and James since they clearly were worried about their son as they kept turning their heads toward the playpen while Nat and Jamie introduced themselves properly. Lily having a tight grip on Petunia’s leg. At that, all her doubts about this strange situation vanished. She had to take care of her precious Dudley after all.

“Now,” Petunia said after another excellent cup of tea and a few biscuits, “explain exactly who you are and what the heck is happening. Why do you need funds if you’re so rich James Potter?” She couldn't help snipping at him. The man Petunia married was hardworking but James Potter’s rich boy ways really got on her nerves or at least the one and only time they meet.

Lily couldn’t decide who frowned more in displeasure at James’s explanation of what’s been happening the wizarding world with Voldemort, the prophecy and the secret keeper switch and betrayal, Nat or Petunia.

Nat and Petunia’s frowns deepened as they thought. Petunia knew once she saw Dudley’s magic, her precious son had magic, a thrill went through her body at the thought, that her marriage to her Vernon was over. She married him because of his very narrowed minded views, she knew that he wouldn’t hold to Dudley’s magic.

Thankfully, Petunia was a cunning shrew. There was a good reason why she and Vernon could afford what they could afford. She handled the money and she was as tight fist as they came, not as bad as Scrooge, but close.

Nat was thinking the wizarding world was a bunch of idiots as she realized that they relied on magic to do everything, and in sense was the Potter’s downfall or the company they had kept. And said so, in Russian which Jamie laughed at and agreed. He added that they had a lot of work to do. First with finding that Lupin fellow who probably would know where Black would be and that rat. His eyes narrowed at the betrayal of friends. You were loyal or you were not. Peter broke trust and harmed many. He had to pay.

As for that prophecy, there were ways around that sort of thing. Voldemort was going down.

Petunia clicked down her now empty tea cup with a soft clank. “I can get you to London and give you the funds you need, if you do something for me in exchange.”

Nat knew as well as Lily. “Dudley?” Nat was studying the blonde haired, long necked, buck faced woman, she might make a good spy with some training. Perhaps. If she got over her jealousy of her prettier magical little sister. Petunia had sharp eyes and ears, and as for her looks, Nat was a spy and as a spy it didn’t matter exactly how you looked. Being pretty could be useful, but at the same time it was a burden.

“And me. I’ll take care of what I need to do here if you take my son with you to London. I’ll join you later. What’s the address you need?” Petunia as the address was recited grabbed the house hunter’s catalog and flipped through the pages.

“This the one you mean?” Petunia was always looking for a bigger place. She didn’t want to stay in this place forever, unlike Vernon who seemed to be happy where ever there was a telly and beer.

Nat and Jamie looked at the listing and mentally sighed in relief. The house was there, the Seal of Vishanti was there, but the house looked deserted. It seemed that the Sanctum Sanctorum might not exist. It was a disheartening thought. It was listed as a former clubhouse that started back in 1882.

“The price seems reasonable.” Jamie said.

“You’ll thinking of the difference in price, it’s more expensive now, Mr. I was born in the 1910’s.” Nat said eyeing the description of the six rooms, three baths, etc. As much as she felt that living in the Sanctum Sanctorum of London or at least where it would have been located, she could adapt.

“Excuse me, but I know prices and this is a little cheaper then expected in this era thank you. I should know, I had to figure out the inflation between when I went into the ice and back almost every time.” Jamie said scowling. He didn’t like to remember his Winter Soldier days, Nat aside.

Petunia coughed loudly, but not enough to wake the babies. She didn’t know what they were talking about and didn’t care. She could afford the townhouse since she was a tight fist, and since Lily didn’t need their parent’s inheritance, it just sat collecting interest until now. Petunia didn’t have the heart to spend the money despite Vernon’s hints of a new car or some such thing.They could afford the place outright or at least haggle it down a bit.

“Anyway, start looking for another place if we can’t get this one. I’ll call to see if we can see it.” Petunia said as she started to dial the number. She paused and had restart when Nat put a hand on her arm.

“See if we can look at it Friday. We need to prepare a few things first. Also if Jamie can use your bathroom, as well as I?”

Petunia flickered her hand in a shoo gesture up the stairs, as the phone started to ring.
“Hello is this English Rose Reality? I am wondering if it’s possible to see…really? The price dropped? Why its in a excellent location. What do you mean it’s haunted? That’s why it’s been off and on the market for the last two years?” Petunia sniffed in a distasteful way. “Well I don’t care about ghosts, not real anyway. Would this Friday be too soon to see it?….Tomorrow wouldn’t do, my sister decided to visit at the last moment and needs her rest, but she’s also keen on ….oh Friday at 10:30 will do great….Oh no, we can find our way there thank you…Goodbye.”

Nat listened pleased at the appointment, but Petunia needed to work on her honey speak, her starch vinegar would drive away marks, as Lily was ‘playing’ with her nephew who, to their surprise could see his Aunt Lily and Uncle James.

Before Jamie went up to wash, he asked James about where exactly the Ministry of Magic was in location to the townhouse as he mentioned that the visitor location was right on that corner while Petunia talked. Jamie needed more information about how they got into the Ministry of Magic and the schedules. Jamie didn’t want anyone to know that they moved into their townhouse until they were ready. James could see the benefit of that, his family came first.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

While the shower ran, Nat started going through Petunia’s kitchen, setting out different odds and ends on the counter and on the kitchen table, while Lily kept an eye on the children in the living room. Once done, she grabbed a notepad by the phone and scribbled down a long list of items, as her mind went over different strategic scenarios on the data available, which sadly wasn’t enough.

“What are you doing?” Petunia said annoyed that her kitchen wasn’t spotless anymore drawn to the noise.

“Get me these and I’ll tell you.” Nat said wiggling the list, keeping her explosive supplies on the kitchen table away from the other things in the kitchen which included the leftover breakfast food for herself and Jamie. Petunia let her as Nat had indicated that they didn’t have breakfast yet.

“You want me to go shopping?” Petunia wasn’t happy with that, as much as she believed Lily, she didn’t want to leave her Dudley. But Natasha didn’t reply as she went and showered under five minutes after she heard Jamie’s tread on the stairs.

“I’ll do it. I need to do recon anyway.” A unfamiliar American accent answered, and Petunia’s eyes went wide as she took in Jamie who clearly went through her charity pile which she left by the stairs to take out as the source of the accent.

He was dressed in dark blue jeans, a short black t-shirt, and sneakers sized properly with magic. Jamie’s hair was styled differently then James Potter did, which to Lily’s puzzlement who glanced in from the living room, didn’t automatically start defining gravity as she eyed him in appreciation. Her husband was a handsome man.

“I’ll get a haircut while I’m out so it’ll be a bit. Also I’ll probably get contacts and different glasses.” Jamie said in between bites of his breakfast.

“My glasses are just fine and what did you do to my hair?” James demanded as he had stayed downstairs, as the range between him and his hijacked body was being tested or in the words of Jamie, as he slammed the bathroom door in James face, ‘I had enough of people interrupting my life, I take my alone time seriously.’ who honestly didn’t want to go in.

Jamie put the used dishes in the sink giving James a look replying “Your glasses are a liability in many ways and your hair style is not mine.”

Nat came in dressed similar to Jamie, her hair braided back, as she innocently wondered if there were anyone else besides the Potters who were targeted. There were some things that the Potters left out of their ‘Dark Lord’ explanation. They were good at editing but not to Natasha. A prophecy could mean more then one group of people.

Lily and James glanced at each other in alarm as their friends had completely slipped their minds.

“The Longbottoms.”

“Alice, Frank.”

Nat took the list from Jamie’s hand as he had scribbled a few items on it, exchanging a look, knowing who would go and hopefully find what happened to the Longbottoms. If they were in trouble, Jamie could get them out.

“Lily you’re with me on shopping. Jamie make a port-key to London. Petunia please watch the children while we’re gone.” Natasha’s voice was pleasant but firm. Petunia was not suited for what Jamie was good at and Natasha needed to pick Lily’s brain.

With that Petunia grudging handed over her check book and credit card that held her parent’s money with some cash she had on hand. She was left behind as the trio went to London after dumping everything they had out of the backpacks in the spare bedroom. She felt snubbed but at the same time had a relieved feeling.

That feeling vanished when she noticed her darling Popkin pulling on his cousin’s arm making Harry cry. Now if Lily wasn’t around well and if she didn’t think Duddins had magic, things would have been much different.

“Now Dudley, be nice to your cousin.” She said as she started to care for Harry’s stinky nappy, exchanging Harry’s arm for a bottle which her son grabbed eagerly.

**

Jamie and Natasha as soon as their feet touched the group automatically case the location which was in Cumberland Green in a concealed grove. You can put a person in a new body but old habits die hard.

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

“Where exactly do these Longbottoms live?” Natasha asked as she swiftly started to walked towards Camden High Street eyeing the cars passing her and Jamie by. If she could get a ride, it’ll be a lot quicker. She didn’t want to walk for twenty minutes.

“They live on Crake Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. Frank was telling me that the muggles were wanting to put more houses around there but his great-grandparents did a spell that made the location unstable for anything So they have the whole lot.”

“Is there a way to message them?” Jamie asked as he concealed himself in the shadow of some trees and watched in amusement as Nat successfully flagged down a car and got herself a ride. It probably helped that the driver and his passenger were young men and Lily was stunning. With Nat’s skills, it was easy.

Jamie looked over at James who was looking after the car with had Lily and Nat in it driving away. It seems that Nat’s skills also caught James attention.

Smirking at James’s shocked expression, Jamie snapped his fingers in James’s ear making him jump into a weird fighting stance. At least James had some training. “Pay attention. Is there a way I can message them or do I need to make another Port-key?” Jamie flipped a unused, unopened bar of soap he snagged from the bathroom.

“Yes, there’s a way, but it’s a hard spell to cast.”

“Try me.” Jamie as much as he would have loved to go straight to Grimsby, wanted to get his appearance different from a dead man, so to speak.

“It’s called the Patronus Charm and the wand movements and words are Expecto Patronum. It’s a very difficult spell to master. You need to focus on the happiest memory you have as you cast as it’s the only defense against Dementors and Lethifolds.”

Jamie asked James to do the wand movements and incantation twice more before he tried to cast the spell, holding the happiest memory he could find in his mind. That memory only produced a small bit of silver mist.

“Plan B it is. Port-key.” Jamie didn’t have time to try and master something that would take time away from him.

James sighed and laying his hand on Jamie’s and with a bit of work they once again had a port-key to whisk their way to Grimsby.

As they landed, James was surprised that Jamie moved towards the shadows of the trees just off of the Longbottoms’s land as the port-key disintegrated.

“Go scout the area and report back to me all that you find. I’ll wait.”

James watched in disbelief in how Jamie casually leaned against a tree and just stared at James with his own eyes that seemed colder as Jamie’s continued to swept the area. James didn’t know that Jamie’s mindset was on mission mode.

“You’re dead remember? I can’t be caught outside until I do something about these looks of yours. Unless you want to be named the-man-who-survived or something else.” James had to concede the point.

Jamie watched as James bypassed whatever magic keep the muggles out of their property which rang like a small bell to his ears and cursed in his head as he closed his eyes listening to everything. His hearing and movements were of a regular man, which to his once enhanced senses was frustrating. But even more frustrating was his inability to cast that spell James showed him.

If he got his own wand it probably be a lot easier. He counted out the money Nat left him and hoped that once he got a new wand as it seemed his happiest memory, one were his girls were born, would be enough.

His attention was caught by James coming out of the Longbottoms wards. “So?”

“They are all safe. I overheard that they are going to keep vigilant for a while since Voldemort’s demise.”

“Best to keep a eye on them the next year or so.” Jamie comments as they started towards the shopping district of Grimsby. James nodded but pointed out that they can put up a monitoring spell after Jamie got his new wand when Jamie wanted to do so. It seemed that James’s wand was not working as well after the last few port-keys as it was recognizing that Jamie wasn’t James.

James Potter was silent for the next few hours only commenting here and there as he watch Jamie get sturdy clothing at decently priced second handed store, including a black leather jacket, boots, black pants, and other odds and ends that slowly made James’s body into someone else.

“Dragonskin jackets and boots would be better for combat, good protection against most spells.” James commented as he watched as Jamie successfully flirted just enough with the young woman who was manning the store front to get a discount and information where he could get world, local news and a good barber shop.

The real kicker was when Jamie went into the barbershop for a shave and a haircut, coming out with a totally different hairstyle and color. It was not black, but now it was a dark brown. He also had tinted sunglasses over James’s glasses. His walk was quite different, more of a military swagger then James’s usual walk.

James had to admit that if any wizarding people saw him they would bypass him on the street, even in wizarding robes.

“Do you think we have enough magical juice left to get to Blackpool and back to Petunia’s house?”

Jamie asked as he carried his belongings in the mortified backpack utterly thankful for the ‘ TARDIS ’ spell as he was calling the Undetectable Extension Charm that was cast on it as he wondered out loud how he could fit everything in it as he had grabbed things from the Potter’s house. Sadly James Potter had no idea what he was talking about when he quipped about TARDIS and Doctor Who.

In answer, James put his hand on Jamie’s which held his wand. He tried to put his magic such as it was into the wand and it was sluggish at best to respond.

“We might have enough for one more port-key.” James wasn’t sure if Jamie could handle Apparating with his wand acting up as it was.

Jamie put aside his desire to see Blackpool as a tourist town it would have different options that London wouldn’t and set the port-key to London.

They landed in the same place as before and started towards Camden High Street. Jamie was hoping to get his glasses changed into contact lenses as he noted that his new body had some athletic ability, but not up to his usual standards. Jamie set a quick pace hoping to get to the check-in point that he and Nat agreed on before they left Petunia.

James had a hard time keeping up with Jamie once he blended seamlessly into the crowds shopping. He almost lost him a few times, but when Jamie whistled a tune that James recognized he went towards the sound as Natasha was sitting under a tree that had tables around feeding and playing with a large dark haired dog that he instantly recognized as Padfoot aka Sirius Black. James Potter walked swiftly towards his best friend, pissed beyond reason already yelling up up a storm when Natasha got up, moving swiftly towards a deserted side street/alley that was half covered in shadows as Padfoot and Jamie joined her.

**

Petunia was getting a simple late lunch started after setting aside what Natasha took out well always from any food prep areas, when a loud sound like a car backfiring woke up the sleeping babies in the playpen who started to cry loudly, who had just settled down a few minutes before.

Her eyes widen at the sight of Natasha and Jamie holding on to a handsome looking man that had long black hair and grey eyes in wizarding robes appeared in the living room, looking like Natasha would throw up. She dismissed the thought as he was a wizard and sighed as she comforted her son and nephew.

Natasha had her eyes closed, breathing past the urge to vomit, somehow falling back on her Red Room training, barely flinching as James Potter continued to rant at his silent friend who probably looked remorseful. Natasha then opened her eyes, released her grip and went to pick up Harry, relaxing her stance as her boy giggled and played with her now dark brown locks. Jamie still held on to Sirius Black in a unyielding grip, somehow with the Potter’s help they got the trio off of a side street of Camden High Street without too much fuss. Apparating wasn’t a fun thing at all. Useful but…

Petunia just glared at the group of people who appeared in her living room. Jamie felt like he was on Coney Island roller coaster and used all the training he had to not keen over. He was never apparating again.

So Petunia dropped the well stocked kitchen first aid kit on the coffee table, in case they needed it (she didn’t want her little lamb hurt) and went to order take out shutting off the stove. They will pay for this intrusion in her domain. As one of these intruders was her sister well she’ll think of something.

***

Arabella Doreen Figg despite not having magic as a Squib, had a good business going as a cross-breeding/trading part-kneazle cats and such was an intelligent woman so when she went to offer the Dursley’s her babysitting duties for little Harry a few hours into the afternoon, her eyes noticed something odd in the bushes. It was a basket and if her eyes were right, it was tossed from the Dursley’s front yard.

Grabbing it, not noticing the eyes that tracked her movements, Arabella went home and tossed Floo power into her lit fireplace sticking her face into it saying, “Hogwarts, Head Office.”

A half hour later the Headmaster of Hogwarts stepped through her fireplace. “Hello Arabella. What is the urgency?”

“I went to offer the Dursley’s my baby-sitting skills as you know I moved in a mere year after they settle in their home and I found a basket in the front bushes. How exactly did you delivery Harry Potter to his aunt?”

Albus studied Ms. Figg and eyed the basket on her coffee table where all of her cats were trying to settle into it for a nap, saying as he stepped around her to her front door. “I delivered young Harry safe and sound as my instruments in my office have indicated that he’s been received by his aunt. The basket, not so much. I shall go and see how he’s doing. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

With that Dumbledore stepped out in a smart muggle suit and had his wand in a cane. Ms. Figg knew that Dumbledore had it all well in hand and went to separate her fighting cats, not noticing that a pair of cats slipping out the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Natasha was getting a headache from Petunia’s son yelling his head off along with James Potter yelling at a increasing remorseful looking Sirius Black while Lily tried to distract the screaming Dudley as a irritated Petunia who was trying to give her order on the phone so after covering Harry’s ears, Natasha gave a piercing whistle which stopped all activity enough to get the lunch order in.

In the stunned silence, she passed over a giggling Harry to ‘Padfot’ who automatically held him as some of the tension he was feeling eased out of him at the contact of the excited toddler. James was silent as Natasha a picked up Dudley and passed him to Petunia who had sat down on the couch.

Following shortly all the adults were sitting in slightly awkward silence leaving Petunia to break the silence. “What the heck happened?! I thought you went out to get supplies, not a person.”

“People.” Natasha corrected as she got up to make herself some chamomile tea, the adrenaline still running high in her body, Jamie getting mugs and honey while the water boiled.

Sirius Black looked up from playing with Harry at that, “People?” He had a hopeful tone in his voice. Sirius could see, somehow his friends James and Lily since they were keeping close to whoever was in Lily and James bodies. He had a lot of questions but the dressing down that James gave him for rushing off to who knows where and not even checking up on Harry had stilled his tongue for now.

Jamie walking towards Sirius Black and Petunia who were sitting as far apart as possible on the couch with a swagger in his step that James Potter never had, setting down the mugs on the coffee table, moving the first aid kit to the floor just as the tea kettle started to whistle.

Between Natasha and Jamie the tea was poured and distributed quickly. Sirius noted that they moved in sync better then Lily and James did as if they knew each other for many years. Dudley and Harry giggled while the tea was seeping and once Sirius took his first sip of the really good tea, Petunia repeated her question.

“Once Lily and I got our shopping done and I got some wigs,” Natasha said pulling off her dark hair, letting her now her short layered platinum blonde hair swing free, her tastefully done mascara making her green eyes pop, making the men speechless and Petunia instantly jealous.

Natasha noticed Petunia’s envy saying, “I got you some hair dye Petunia.” Grabbing the backpack she ducked her head in it for a few minutes and tossed a box to Petunia who had passed Dudley off to his Uncle Jamie who was watching it all in faint amusement before she went upstairs to dye her hair with Natasha saying before ducking her head back into the backpack, “I’ll help you style it later.”

Natasha tossed out a broken wand and with a grunt pulled say owner of the wand, a semi-conscious Peter Pettigrew who quickly went back under as his head hit the carpet. Jamie then passed Dudley to his new Uncle Sirius who watched confused as Jamie caught the plastic ties that Natasha tossed and expertly tied up Peter Pettigrew much tighter then normal. He had magic after all.

Sirius Black voiced the question that was on everyone’s minds. “Who are you people?”

At that, Nat and Jamie did a silent communication with their hands. Jamie was the one to answer smirking in his mind at the rat like Peter coated in baby powder. “I’m James ‘Bucky’ Barnes and that’s Natasha. We were co-workers at one point in time. I died, she died and we ended up here.”

“What did you die of?” Sirius asked softly as Harry and Dudley slowly fought off sleep but wasn’t successful and were out like lights enough for Jamie and and Sirius to put them to bed in Dudley’s room. Sirius had quickly made up a bed for Harry so they wouldn’t have to share.

Once downstairs, with the baby monitor grabbed from the Petunia’s bedroom on the coffee table, Natasha slowly relaxed enough to grab her tea and put some honey in it. “How I died is classified at the moment. Our work is like a cross between detectives and policemen.”

“Or you could just say you were a spy.” Lily said dryly as a pang of sadness of not drinking tea ever again crossed her mind. James grabbed her hand, at least James and her could touch either.

Natasha’s face was calm as she sipped her tea. “Was I? How ever did you get idea?”

James huffed. “If Lily says you’re a spy, you’re a spy. I know my wife and she’s not lying.”

“My dad was a huge James Bond fan and I became one as well. You’re a spy. Also it’s because,”

Flashback

Lily Potter was silent as Natasha or as she was calling herself now, Natalie Rushman easily inquired information about the state of the world and England on the short car ride to the Camden High Street Market. Passing herself as a student who was taking a gap year to travel. Nat waved off the young men’s offers to accompanying her, but didn’t turn down the cash or the bag of pastries they gave her. As soon as the car was on it’s way, she tore up the phone numbers into tiny pieces and went on her way.

Once at the market, Natasha moved quickly and efficiently getting new clothing for herself and Harry. She was a good bargainer and spent less then what the price was for. When she went in for her hair, she got a discount.

“But that wasn’t all. I realized after we got back that you were asking some pretty pointed questions about my life.”

Nat wished she had her own face, she didn’t know how Lily’s worked yet and didn’t know what her expression was. “Oh?”

“Dumbledore didn’t offer the Fidelius Charm to the Longbottoms, just us. As for the Dark Lord, he did try and recruit us when we were in school. James I can understand but I don’t know why he wanted me.”
“Because Snivellus was there and probably wanted to….”

Sirius heated words were cut off by Lily’s pointed look. “Severus Snape is his name, not Snivellus. Despite our failing out, Sev was my friend at one point in time.” James had a sort of guilty look on his face.

“This dark lord wanted Lily because he was a half-blood himself and according to Lily herself, she quite talented. Who wouldn’t want someone so talented by their side?” Nat cut into the almost argument, hiding a smirk behind her mug as everyone looked at her in shock.

“If the dark lord was a pure-blood he would have gone after the Longbottoms, as Jamie reported to me that they easily could see and get into Longbottom Manor. So he’s a half-blood. Which is ironic since he wants only pure-blood magic users in his little cult.” Natasha mused out loud.

Natasha’s force of will was the only thing that kept her upright. She and Jamie were running on fumes at this point. Harry got a nap, they didn’t. As soon as the pizza arrived they would be out.

As if summoned, the doorbell rang, and Petunia came downstairs with in a hair wrap that somehow went well with her outfit, dropped the three boxes of pizza on the table with paper plates which woke up Pettigrew, but Jamie knocked him out again, not noticing the odd silver shimmer that encased his left arm when he did so.

Petunia grabbed a few slices for herself from the cheese pizza, leaving the hamburger and the pepperoni alone saying, “Arabella Doreen Figg took a basket from our bushes. Is it the same one that had Harry in it?”

“If it was, she might contact Dumbledore, as he was the one who dump Harry on your doorstep with not so much as a by your leave.” James answered as Jamie started in on another piece of his pizza. Sirius was too busy enjoying his first ever pizza to comment.

Natasha was silent as she took in the information, her mind working. “How fast can you get Pettigrew to the authorities? We can’t keep knocking him unconscious forever.”

Sirius realizing that was a good idea, grabbed a stack of pizza, bound the rat in something stronger then plastic ties and apparating just a few minutes before the doorbell rang a second time.

“Jamie keep an eye on the kids will you? Petunia I’ll open the door while you clear the table and toss the mugs into dishwasher, grab some wine and glasses.”

Taking Jamie’s sunglasses which were on the table, Natasha put them on as Jamie helped Petunia gather the mess on the table to bring into the kitchen taking the baby monitor with him. The doorbell rang a second time and then a third just as Jamie sprinted up the stairs as Petunia got out the wine bottle and poured some wine at Nat’s request.

Grabbing a almost full glass, Nat staggered towards the door and opened it up with a mock glare because of the sunlight ‘accidentally’ spilling some of it onto the old man’s outdated by decades eye-watering bright green and orange suit.

“Whata you want old man?” An American accent peppered her words.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, etc blinked at the clearly intoxicated young woman with platinum blonde hair in a smart red pantsuit who was holding on to the door frame for dear life as she gulped a mouthful of her wine.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

Sirius Black apparate just behind the large trash dumpster that buzzed with flies then cast a notice-me-not spell. After miniaturizing his plate of pizza, adding a static freshness spell for good measure, he stuck it in his jeans pocket. His other hand was firmly grasping Peter Pettigrew leg in a tight grip. He glanced around and across Whitehall Place spotted a sign that boasted of a wine training school at a wine bar. He huffed in amusement, whatever muggles would think of next?

Sirius crammed himself and his ‘luggage’ into the red telephone booth next to the dumpster. Using Peter’s thumb to dialed magic with his wand, 62442, since he was the one stuck up against the telephone box, Sirius got his visitor’s badge which stated, ‘Sirius Black, House of Black on the delivery of the person who ratted out the Potters. No. 635029’ He didn’t have the means to get into the Ministry by any other way and the thought of ‘flushing’ himself down a toilet was disturbing anyway.

Sirius didn’t care that Peter slammed into the floor of the Atrium after they floo in, but out of respect of the MOM he floated his one time friend to the Security Desk. Still chuckling at his visitor’s badge his wand was checked.

“How about that one’s wand?” The security guard asked after he weighted Sirius’s wand.

“It got broken in half during a struggle.” Sirius drawled and dropped Peter’s snapped wand on the scale, which did nothing.

Annoyed, the security guard waved him away, as Sirius gave a cheeky wave after swiping the broken wand, putting it back into his pocket. Again, Peter was floated and was ‘accidentally’ slammed in the side of the lift as Sirius pushed the button for the right floor. Thankfully it was a slow part of the day and no one saw.

Sirius kept his eyes forward, but noted politely to anyone who made eye contact as made his way to the Head Autor’s office, Amelia Bones who just took over for Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior who was shuffled to the Department of International Magical Co-operation.

Amelia Bones fingered her wand and wondered if she could just set all the paperwork on fire she inherited after Barty was ousted for wanting to continue using the unforgivables even if it seemed that the dark lord was gone.

Thankfully for her paperwork, something else came up. Amelia stared wordlessly at her visitor who just slammed a body onto her desk sending her paperwork flying. She was not amused.

“Sirius Black, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Amelia Bones said dryly as she turned over the body on her desk, noting the faded but still visible Dark Mark on the left arm.

Sirius sat down at one of her surprisingly comfortable armchairs in front of her desk, leaning forward with a gleam in his pale grey eyes. “I know who killed the Potters or at least showed him, the way.” Sirius didn't bother naming who killed the Potters, but just gestured towards the body on the desk and continued to speak.

Amelia listened and occasionally sent out paperwork which flew at a rapid pace to her officers. One whose nickname was “Mad Eye”, slammed open the door with her notice in his fist a few minutes later.

“What’s going on?” Moody asked, fake eye taking in everything the slack jawed podgy man whose hands were tied together with strange bright pink and purple ties, the empty glass of ‘water’ and the water jug. The others in the room didn’t drink anything.

Sirius almost couldn’t contain the shiver at the grin Amelia gave Alastor Moody, but it was close. “According to Peter Pettigrew’s unofficial statement under Veritaserum we learned valuable information. We’ll get a more official report with the courts later. Apparently, the Dark Mark of the Dark Lord is tied to his magic and the magic of his followers. In short, I want you to quietly arrest anyone who claimed to be under the Imperius and check their memories using all the resources available, but don’t use anything that I wouldn’t do.”

“Also find a way to get this muggle device off of our prisoner, it’s cutting off his circulation. Put him in cell three for now.”

Sirius Black confirmed his testimony court date and was escorted to the Animagus Registry by Amelia Bones herself as Alastor was on the hunt. The imprisonment Azkaban punishment were waived by Bones because of the information that Sirius Black gave the ministry but he was left with a hefty back-pay fee for himself and Peter, who would not get out of the Azkaban internment.

Sirius thought to himself as he forked over a good chuck of his savings, ‘I need more funds from someplace.’ Then Sirius apparate himself near Hogwarts, he wanted his bike back. He missed his little Pronglet and Harry loved riding in it.

**

Arthur Weasley who was slowly working his way up the ranks of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, which wasn’t much considering it was just him and three others, was called over to the Auror Department on a case as his co-worker Anna was swamped with a case of biting hair ties as their boss was on a much needed vacation.

He was greeted with frustrated faces as they tried to use their wands to cut the ties off, which now was making the poor man’s wrists bleed to no effect.

Arthur managed not to roll his eyes, but it was close. Casting a few spells, he tried to determine the weak spot of the neon plastic ties but only found a symbol that glowed bright blue briefly and flickered out or at least it seemed that way until it was determined it was a trick of the light. In the end Arthur took a small pair of scissors, non-magical out of his pocket and snipped the ties off much to Peter’s relief.

Putting the plastic ties in his pocket after the Aurors didn’t need them, Arthur forgot about them entirely until he got home and tossed them into his shed with all the other muggle stuff he collected. They according to his ‘expert’ the guy at the home building store by his home, were 250 Lbs Strength Zip Ties.

The discussion was fascinating not just because the plastic ties were from a budding but slowly booming company called Antoni M. Industries whose symbol was a etching of a 3d cube within a 3d cube that was bright vivid blue against a silvery multi-circle that seemed to change color when the logo moved, but muggles! How invented were they?! Arthur thankfully was not late to supper because of that, but it was close.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Natasha Romanoff dropped her ‘Marla Drake*’ act as soon as Dumbledore left with an almost invisible pop of apparating, almost as quick as he had come, somehow hiding the action from the neighborhood (He had a modified notice-me-not spell on him when he arrived). Petunia had barely been able to sip her drink at an angle where she could see and hear the less then ten minute exchange between Dumbledore and Natasha.

“What was that?” Petunia asked after a few speechless moments as she watched the woman who had taken over her sister’s body become a shameless flirt or in the words of her grandmother, a coquette. They had gathered back into the living room at that point.

Natasha took off the sunglasses and tossed them on the table holding back a yawn. “Information gathering. Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable. I wanted to see how he’ll react to a young, beautiful woman throwing herself at him. It did get him out of the house without suspicion. But he’ll come back later. Hopefully by then we’ll be gone.”

It bought them at least twenty minutes, at most. Natasha was feeling very tired by this point. Her body ached for sleep, but she’ll keep pushing until she had to rest. Unfortunately that seemed to be coming up quicker then she’ll like.

“I’ll say he’s not into women. If I had a guess, as I am completely into women.” Jamie said as he walked into the living from his post at the top of the stairs, the baby monitor in one hand, a drawn knife in the other. The knife he kept but the baby monitor was set on the coffee table.

James Potter was eyeing the wine with longing. He clearly wished he could drink again.

Natasha held back her amusement at Jamie’s statement as she replied. “Very much not into women. Also doesn’t like the name Tom for some reason.”

Natasha crossed her arms and frowned, she used the name Thomas aka Tom as her ‘lover’ as she invaded Dumbledore’s space. It seemed that wizards didn’t understand micro-expressions or if they did, didn’t have the training to pick up on it. She hated missing pieces of a puzzle. It rubbed her wrong as a spy.

“What do you mean? Not into women? He was probably being polite and didn’t want to intrude on Petunia’s time with a ah non-magical person. That’s why he decided to come by later.” Lily said, still a bit disturbed by the display as she eyed her sister who was slowly but steady drinking out of her wine glass. The other one still held the remains of the wine that was dumped on Dumbledore.

Natasha opened her mouth to explain but a huge yawn interrupted instead.

Lily’s question wordless stopped on her lips as she frowned in concerned. “You need sleep,” flickering her eyes at Jamie, “you both do. There is no way that you can go wherever you want to go now. I don’t know what kind of bodies you had before but us humans need sleep.”

Petunia backed up her sister’s statement and exchanged worried looks with Lily as Natasha and Jamie walked up the stairs towards the guest bedroom. Thankfully it wasn’t far from the stairs. The Potters were left to chat with Petunia or at least Lily did as James decided to go check on the kids as he didn’t trust muggle technology.

Jamie took in the single bed at a glance. “I’ll let you have the bed. I was stabbed to death, you sacrificed yourself off a cliff. You’re probably more tired then me.”

“It’s against the wall, we’ll share.” Natasha said tiredly as she stripped all but her underwear off and snagged a shirt that Petunia said was in the dresser drawer. It was way too big for her, but she didn’t want to sleep in the clearly older woman’s pjs and she was too tired to go hunt down the clothes she bought that morning.

Natasha finished dressing and felt a genuine smile lit up her face as she took in one of the people, she if she was being truthful to herself and she usually was when she was tired, romantically loved. “You can turn around now James.” She said in Russian, not knowing exactly how he would take that. Their romantic interlude was barely a footnote next to his thirty-five year marriage.

Bucky no Jamie’s back was turned from her body and undressed quickly but for his t-shirt and boxers. He took the side of the bed that was nearest the wall, eyes still slightly avoiding hers for some reason.

Natasha settled into his side as if she had never left in the first place. But since these bodies were married, it was probably that skin contact that made her heart start racing but she didn’t have time to linger on it as she and Jamie quickly fell to sleep.

Or at least she did, Jamie/James/Bucky looked at his companion’s red hair and selfishly wished it was brown. He missed his wife Sarah with a sudden fierceness that took his breath away as his body was humming contently at the contact with its partners. He was glad for not being alone, but he didn’t know Natasha as well as he thought he probably once did, and Sarah, but before he could even start to think of grieving, his body slipped into slumber.

**

Petunia eyed the decrepit looking townhouse with undisguised disgust. Petunia was staying at a hotel for a ‘reconciling trip’ with her sister or so Vernon thought. Petunia thanked the stars that Natasha and Jamie wasn’t detected as they hadn’t woke up until Vernon left the next morning for work and missed Dumbledore’s second and much shorter visit. Leaving happily. Vernon was not happy about the addition to the family. But Harry will not be around him for much longer.

She let her ‘sister’ lead the way with the old fashioned key, as the agency was thrilled to get rid of the place and sold it to them right out, fast tracking the paperwork that had Natasha muttering something about a ‘rich spark’. It had been on the market for over six years, not the two years she first was lead to believe since it was ‘haunted’ and each owner quickly moved out of the place, even the ones who liked living in haunted houses.

Thankfully the inside wasn’t as bad as the outside. Overly dusty and the banister stairs looked in need of repair, as the Realtor did say as she gave a hasty tour of the house to Natasha and Jamie. The bones of the house were solid it just need some work done. At least the roof didn’t leak and the foundation wasn’t cracked.

Jamie who was carrying Harry, eyed the place with doubt. “Ok, first we get the kids out of here. Who knows what kind of germs are lurking about. Then we need cleaning supplies. Unless the magicals have superior cleaning supplies we non-magicals would be envies of?”

Petunia was thrilled to get the heck out of there even with her obsessive cleaning streak. She took her darling boy and nephew and went back to the hotel where they would be stay at for the next few weeks or until they got the townhouse up to her standards.

Lily was torn on going or staying. She finally slipped away to be with Petunia to help with the babies or at least try too and get a sisterly conversation going. The babysitting worked, the conversation never took place since it turned out that she couldn’t leave her body’s side for too long much to her frustration.

But the distance was growing, which she was grateful for since there were somethings she didn’t want to be around for. She was not a voyeur nor was her husband. Not that Nat, as she finally asked them to call her, or Jamie did anything.

Nat sneezed, and just kept sneezing and she heard James sighing about a Winken, Blinken, and Nod.

“Winken, Blinken and Nod?” Jamie asked, confused as three loud pops sounded, a knife appearing like magic in his hands as Nat did the same, guarding his back. Three somethings appeared in very dirty

“Is that a pillow sheet? What? Why are they wearing pillow sheets? Did Yoda have weird offspring or something?” Jamie said confused but not letting down his guard.

James was thrilled as his house elves from his parents manor appeared and greeted them warmly, until he discovered that he went straight through them, and obviously couldn’t see him.

“Merlin’s balls.” He cursed as the youngest, Nod was held back by his parents, as they eyed the knives in the Potter’s hands.

“Who, what are you?” Nat asked, slowly lowing her weapons as it seems that James knew these creatures.

The oldest one with deep brown eyes, the most wrinkles, and the dirtiest pillow sheet, narrowed his eyes, hand up ready to snap his magic. “You are not mistress and you are not master, but I sense master’s magic, faint as it is.”

Winken’s eyes widen as James’s blue form appeared, his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “I am still here as is Lily and Harry, but Lily and I are like ghosts. We don’t know why. Jamie and Nat are in our bodies, they died and somehow came here.”

His ears drooped. “So it is true. You are dead, but can we trust these?”

Nat stepped up moving in a way that Winken never saw in Lily, but he recognized that she had the same loyalty that Lily has in others, and he had to smile inwardly at the tug of magic he felt when Nat started to talk,

“I, Natalia Alianovna "Natasha Romanoff" Romanova promise to never harm you or yours.” Natasha noticed but didn’t react to the tug of magic that flashed towards the pillowcase wearing creatures.

Winken’s smiled and flicked his fingers and the dust that had gathered onto the floors vanished. “Our magic had responded to yours. Somehow our ties to the Potters now are yours. Now lets get this place fit for living.”

***

Petunia couldn’t help feeling impressed when Sirius came to bring them to the house a few hours later. It sparkled like new. Completely new.

“How did you know to come and get us?” Petunia asked as she looked around at the newer then up to date kitchen. She wasn’t too keen on the black and silver decorate but she itched to start cooking.

The boys for once, were playing nicely together in their large playpen that she could see from where she was leaning against the stove, as water boiled for tea. The place had something called an open plan, which could be useful at times.

“Nat gave me something called a pager and she said it’ll beep when I would need to swing by the hotel and pick you all up. Sirius didn’t tell her that he volunteered to pick up Lily’s sister as for a way to get out of cleaning once he apparate into the entrance hallway and almost got killed by a knife thrown from Jamie as a result. Thank Merlin for house elves. He still didn’t know how the pager worked around magic.

The place was elegant in a high wizarding society kind of way. Or at least most of the rooms. Sirius suspected that the bathrooms and other common areas of living weren’t so fancy. Or so he amended that statement when he with both boys in his arms as Petunia was carrying the tea tray, he followed Petunia up too many stairs to his liking to the room that everyone was calling the Study.

“What was so urgent that we all had to gather here instead oh I don’t know the comfy living room?” Sirius snark as he fixed his tea just how he liked it.

The Potter’s house elves didn’t know what to do as they were all awkwardly standing with cleaned pillowcases and was ordered to stay in the room when Petunia went to get tea. Winken wasn’t outmaneuvered very often but the woman who was in Lily Potter’s body somehow got him to clean his family’s appearance and the idea of something other then pillowcases without offending their pride as house elves.

Sirius’s eyes roamed the white green wallpapered, golden pillared, multi-patterned carpeted room as he sipped his overly sweet drink. “Now I wouldn’t mind her polishing my broomstick if you know what I mean.” Sirius said nodding to the portrait with a leery grin as he sat down on one of the black leather couches in front of the unlit fireplace that was housing to his knowledge of a rich family.

But he wasn’t looking there, a curvy redhead in a form fitting black uniform had caught his eye. Her red hair was braided with some blonde at the tips. She was holding two wand looking things.

“I don’t know if I should be amused or disgusted Black.” Nat said with a twinkle in her eye.

“She’s a looker, not I’m into redheads, I’m more into blondes and brunettes. But the point still stands.” Sirius wiggled his eyebrows and almost chocked on his tea at what Jamie said next as he rocked Harry to sleep as it was past his nap time.

“Then you wouldn’t mind Nat kicking your ass later.” Jamie said with a lethal smile, laughter dancing in his eyes.

Sirius swallowed painfully, coughing a bit as he glanced from the relaxed looking Nat and the ‘triple impostor’ portrait.

“What?!”

“That’s Tony Stark’s nickname for me. ‘Manchurian Candidate’ is James sorry, Jamie’s. The rest of the portraits are our team the Avengers and Stark's’ family is above the fireplace.” Nat ignored their confusion.

Sirius didn’t notice he dropped his tea cup along with Petunia’s but he did notice the orange glowing circle that appeared out of nowhere. Nat and Jamie exchanged a look. Unnoticed Blinken cleaned up the mess.

“Kreacher?!” His eyes widened. He thought Kreacher died when his brother did. The family ties snapped a little while after that.

A crisp British voice that sounded irritated that came out of nowhere and everywhere made Sirius draw his wand. “That is Mr. Kreacher to you Mr. Black.”

“Hey JARVIS.” Nat greeted the A.I. with a relaxed air, inwardly laughing at everyone else’s bewilderment, as JARVIS started to play a low but beautiful melody that she recognized that Tony used to play for Morgan to get Harry and Dudley back to sleep who were being held by Jamie and Petunia. She noticed that Jamie’s eyes softened at the melody.

“Now come, my mad geniuses are waiting.” A few minutes later the Study was empty of life.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Kreacher crept out of the muggle style workshop to avoid the two bickering mad geniuses, wondering how in the world he got into this situation in the first place. He exchanged exasperated looks with his fellow companions-in-arms.

Oh yes, Master Regulus died.

June 26th, 1979

The Black family’s house elf, Kreacher after he switched the lockets, made the mistake of trying to see Master Regulus’s face one more time. His heart ached and in those few precious seconds accidentally dropped the real locket leaving his master’s last command to him on the island with the terrible sounds of the Inferi just as his master’s face disappeared under the water.

Kreacher apparate back in his cupboard, hands empty making him apparate back, or he would have, but for Mistress Black screaming his name, his master’s last command hammering in his head so it was a few minutes before he could pop back to the cave, heart heavy in what he would find.

Kreacher did not expect to find his Master Regulus in mid-argument with himself. Or correction, Regulus’s ghost arguing with his living body, which was somehow alive and standing in the completely dry lake bed, the Inferi completely gone along with the locket.

“So go on, do the thing.” The man or whatever was wearing Master Regulus’s body made a circling motion while his master looked puzzled as if this conversation had been going on for a while.

Regulus was confused by the man, it had to be a man, hopefully, becoming quite alarmed. Just a few minutes ago he welcomed death and now he was a blue glowing ghost who was in an argument with his body or whoever was in his body.

“I’m dead remember?” Regulus said somehow patiently for the fifth time.

“Ah where is a wizard when you need one?!” Tony Stark hissed low enough that Regulus or Kreacher couldn’t understand him, running his hands through his long, black hair beyond frustrated. He died to save the world, he did not expect to wake up again in a dark cave, with a glowing force ghost, so the short screaming when he did was valid. Thank you very much.

“You clearly are no help.” He grumbled as he started to make his way slowly across the lake bed. He was stuck in not his body, in the land of Aunt Peggy if his crisp English accent was any indication. Joy. He also suspected he was buck naked, but he’ll deal with that later.

“What are you doing?” Regulus asked as he found his glowing body providing light as the man walked at a slow space so not to trip.

“Getting out of here glow rod.” Tony snapped, his body in pain from something other then the gamma radiation that killed him, it felt like he drowned or something. For some reason the cave wasn’t full of gamma radiation. “Also clothes. I see that you have clothes, where are mine?” Tony asked grumpily. If he was alive, even in another body, he needed to get back home soon.

Kreacher didn’t know what to make of this man, and it was a man, his magic was of human origin and he did destroy a Horcrux. Somehow.

“Kreacher can get you out of here.” With that, Kreacher snapped his fingers and they were on top of the hill.

Another snap and his master’s body was clothed again including boots. Tony stared at the creature and just blinked. That felt vaguely like one of the wizards portal or the wormhole he took the nuke into or even the nanobots when he put on the suit.

“Right. I’m Tony and you are?” He asked as he started to walk towards the buildings he saw in the distance. He gave a quick look over the side of the steep cliff and was glad he didn’t have to climb up it.

“I am Regulus Black, House of Black. This is my house elf Kreacher or was since you’re in my body.” Regulus gave a short bow, which Tony ignored making Regulus bristle in discontent. Somehow it seemed that a muggle had hijacked his body. Any wizard, low ranking or not would recognize that bow.

“Charmed. Now where is the nearest phone? Or should I say mobile?” Tony asked eager to get home walking rapidly towards the small town. He wondered about the 1970’s era cars that kept passing him once he found a road. Gah, he hoped he didn’t time travel.

“What’s a phone?”

That question almost, almost made Tony stop dead in his tracks, but he was determined to get home. “Nope, not answering that. Now please tell me Gollum has money or at least you had some pocket change hidden away someplace…”

Tony’s semi-pleading voice trailed off once he caught sight of the town he was walking towards. Either he time traveled or someone was really, really fond of the late 20th century. He could see the strange looks he was getting from the town folks. Thankfully, Southend-on-Sea, even if it was a tourist attraction had to have a homeless shelter or something of that sort.

Smiling and using all the Stark charm he could muster up, a short while later Tony had a quick but hot shower, a slight shave to start his goatee since the young man barely had any whiskers to begin with, and ignoring the dead glow-rod, no Reggie’s protests of him changing into, admittedly clean but clearly used muggle clothing.

Tony abstractly tossed the black robe towards Gollum, which passed through the incorporeal Reggie and concentrated on not cussing out whoever decided that the fashion in the 1970’s were the greatest ever as he sorted through the clothes bin, grabbing a few outfits that wasn’t painful to his eyes. Thankfully they had a black Led Zeppelin shirt and some jeans that fit him, along with a suit that could work. He stuffed them all in a ragged bag he found.

Now the sunglasses he could get behind and he did. The shoes, well he had worse.

Now feeling mostly normal, Tony went in search of substance which he found during dinner as he was filled in with what they could offer him. He was chewing on the slightly dry beef as he overheard a conversation between a few people.

“Well, the pocket transistor radio is broken again. Jed can’t come by until next week, late next week.”

“I can take a look at it?” Tony offered after he swallowed painfully, his voice a little hoarse from it but some water fixed that up.

Gale glanced at the young man who had long hair but dressed more smartly or at least decently enough, a eager look on his pale face. She shrugged. “Well you can’t break it any further then it is already.”

She instructed him to wait there. Tony inwardly groaned at the thought of the outdated technology but he had to keep his mind and hands busy as he puzzled over this strange turn of events.

It turned out it was a simple fix, at least to him, but that simple fix turned into a almost until lights out fix-a-thon of all things electric in the place which was apparently sorely needed. The workers kept eyeing him and whispering to each other. Tony settled on ignoring them as best he could.

A week later, Tony was in London, at a decent hotel screaming into a pillow beyond done. Lifting his head from the lavender smelling pillow sheet he noticed his companions for the first time as he got up to grab one of the magazines he brought with him.

“You’re still here glow-rod, with Gollum?” Tony grouched as he skimmed, to him, outdated Popular Mechanics magazine of May 1979 along with the other magazines he found in the give away box at the nearest library after he was done with his application exam test thingy.

At this point Regulus was done with this man who ignored all his attempts to get him to listen to him as he tried to get Tony’s attention during the few days they were at the muggle place. So he just ignored the man who took his body as he discovered he couldn’t move more then six meters from him at almost all times.

Somehow Regulus was patience as the workers got Tony into a decent job in London. Which went faster then most people, even if ‘Tony’ was a ‘genius’ at this muggle thing that got everyone excited even the ones who were waiting longer for a job.

Tony tried to let the others go ahead of him, as it seemed that he now had all the time in the world, but even the guy who was on a waiting list the last three months pushed at him to even try. So mentally tossing up his hands, he got all set up as English citizen and applied for this company everyone thought he’ll be a great fit for.

A haircut with a brown hair and goatee dye made Tony feel almost normal, almost. He missed Pepper and Morgan terribly. Along with all his other people. Heck he even missed Steve Rogers.

It was slightly annoying but Tony couldn’t deny the relief he felt when his ‘application’ was received by this A.I. company who gave the written application test flying colors and set up a interview for a few days after he sent it in. The glimpse of the logo before the test began nagged Tony, but he ignored it to focus on the written test was so easy to pass or at least most of it, he had to really dig into his schooling for some of it.

The last bonus question made him pause and made him run through the whole application exam once more with new eyes and then stared for a full three minutes at the logo which the bonus question was about. Tony instantly knew what the logo represented, after all it was part of his legacy. The marigold for the dot of the I of the A.I. clinched it.

Tony smiled and copied the logo into two parts. Captain America’s shield complete with the stars and stripe and for kicks he included his catch and release he made up for the shield. Calling it ‘Capsicle’s ball and chain.’

As for the drawing of the tesseract blue cube, he wrote instead, “You took me back to school and I made my own greatest creation because of it.”

All the test papers were locked up in a black box and could only be opened by the founder of the Antoni Industries company. Or Marigold for short as it was called in the tech circles.

***

Howard Stark knew he had pushed past his limits as he tried and failed to connect the wire to the socket for the fifth time. His hands were shaking enough that he could feel the vibrations up his arms. When was the last time he ate? Maybe Al was right about needing to eat properly.

Sighing he took off his welder’s goggles in disgust tossing them in a heap, stretching out his back to work out the kinks. Waking up in a different body in a alternate 1976, after being strangled to death by a friend of his was not how he thought heaven or perhaps hell would start.

Thankfully for his sanity, he had help of a sort. Howard went to the kitchen to start a sandwich, eyeing the glowing blue ghost at the counter as he carefully flipped through this years candidates who wanted to apply to the company. It took ghost energy but it could be done.

Alphard ‘Al’ Black looked up at the chewing sound. “I told you you need more food Howard. Make sure you eat more then one sandwich if you’re going to go back to your workshop again.”

“Don’t mother me Alphard, I’ve survived on less.”

“But you’re a wizard now and need more fuel then a normal person.” Al looked fondly at the older man who wore his body well. If he didn’t know any better, Howard Stark was a Black or at least a excellent Slytherin or Ravenclaw if he went to Hogwarts.

But on the other hand his work habits were all Hufflepuff. He even had a hint of Gryffindor at times. Some of the ideas he had seemed to be pure magic for a normal person. Muggle was completely unsaid after almost four years together. Pity most of the wizarding world couldn’t or wouldn’t or even wanted to understand.

“La de da. Don’t care. How’s the candidates this year? Any cream of the crop of 1979?” A.I. took applications year round or at least during all the seasons but winter.

“Some are promising…” Al trailed off as he looked at the last bonus question he had to go through until the fall.

“What’s wrong? Did he scribble, like that one woman did?” Howard asked as he looked at what stumped his invisible friend, his third sandwich fell onto the floor. “Tony.”

Howard sat on the floor and cried tears of relief. He knew he wasn’t the only one here, he just knew it.

**

Tony couldn't help but pace in the small waiting room where the good looking woman secretary had led him too.

Regulus or Reg as he instructed Tony to call him, eyed Kreacher as the freed house elf eyed the muggle surrounding with distrust.

Tony was quite shocked to learn he well, Regulus ‘accidentally’ freed Kreacher from his family when Tony tossed the unwanted robe through his one-time master and Kreacher automatically grabbed it.

Once Tony understood the ins and outs of house elf bonds, which at times horrified him, he flat out refused to bond with Kreacher or as he nicknamed him Gollum, but somehow stuck with Tony or perhaps Master Regulus.

Kreacher or as he was warming up to the name of Gollum walked invisible behind Tony with Master Regulus, as Master Tony had extended a slight bond towards him when he let him stay near Master Regulus or that’s why Kreacher, no Gollum decided to take the words ‘Oh I don’t care what you do, stay by glow rod or whatever.’ So Gollum Kreacher did.

Kreacher locked eyes with the blue glowing ghost that looked at Kreacher, no Gollum with wide eyes, but before anyone could say something, especially Regulus as he stood and stared at the man who looked like his Uncle Alphard but had brown hair and a mustache which his uncle would never do.

The man opened his mouth after the door to the office was closed saying, "I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and always will be my greatest creation... is you."

Tony stepped forward to study the man who seemed to be his father and said, “You saved my life dad. At the nick of time too. That is,” Here Tony frowned crossing his arms, “You are my father in someone else’s body and can answer this one question. Did you really have to work with Anton? His son almost murdered me. I mean serious, not to mention Hydra!”

“Ok so working with Anton was a mistake and what about Hydra? Steve,”

“You never told me that Steve was a bleeding heart and had America’s ass.”

“What? When did you meet Steve? Also I loved that design you made, it’s genius.”

“Well duh. Capsicle needed something.”

“Don’t be disrespectful.”

Needless to say it was a long day and night for everyone. But at the end of it, the Starks were reconciled which included adding Tony to the company as heir and adoption, the Blacks at a shaky truce and Kreacher aka Gollum had a headache that truly never went away.

So he sighed with mental relief at the thought of other house elves when he noticed them in the security cameras as some of the humans with them said the code words. He hoped that they liked DUM-E and Butterfingers. Jarvis was like a fellow house elf. But invisible.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

On May 2nd, 2015 when J.A.R.V.I.S was dying, he scattered himself across the internet saving parts of himself. Those parts were reborn anew as Vision. But the parts of himself he couldn’t save as Ultron had destroyed him, instead drifted into a different place, time and technology. He ‘woke up’ to someone swearing in a British accent if he was ‘hearing’ through a drinking straw, he tried to reach out but his data was slower then molasses, slower then the first raindrop onto a puddle. He couldn’t speak, or move but there was something. Oh, he was stuck in a 1982 Commodore 64 computer, which didn’t make sense. So he reached out to Sir the best way he could.

**

Howard Stark was swearing in all the languages he knew as he had pushed the tech as far as he could get it. The last ten months was hell on earth for the genius inventor, who to him, had to work with the outdated technology of 1977-78. Al Black, his new invisible blue friend, aka force ghost was interested in this ‘muggle’ technology.

“I was never a hands on person, so whatever you are doing is impressive.” Al watched over his shoulder at Howard, who had welded, worked his brain and admittedly ‘patented’ a few technologies that would get what he needed faster since it seemed that he was in a completely different dimension, to get a awkward but functional 1982 computer in the basement of his New York home of 144 Bleecker Street. It was one of the only things that still was the same from his New York, even in the 1970s.

Howard didn’t reply, but went upstairs to the kitchen to get himself some dinner or lunch or something. He didn’t know what time it was but his stomach was demanding food and he needed rest.

Whistling a happy tune with a mug of hot coffee in his hand the next morning or afternoon or whatever, Howard Stark’s brain was working on how to ‘upgrade’ different technologies so he was excused on not noticing the one-way conversation that had been going on all night.

Thankfully for his caffeine addiction, Howard set down his mug on his wooden worktable before he just stared at the television that was serving as the computer screen. It was completely filled with writing and Al was staring.

“I didn’t know you had a house elf. That is I think this is a house elf. But how would a house elf get stuck in muggle technology?” Al asked noticing Howard beyond baffled.

“I have no idea what a house elf is Al.” Howard said dumb struck at the blinking green cursor and the block of writing that just disappeared.

To that, the computer typed on the black screen in the typical green lettering of early computers, “Sir, as you know, I am not a house elf. I could be called a brownie, if you are referring to the brownie, in English and Scottish folklore? A small, industrious fairy or hobgoblin believed to inhabit houses and barns. Rarely seen, he was often heard at night, cleaning and doing housework according to Britannica online. Sir, why am I in a 1982 computer. What happened to Ultron? How am I still functioning with this limited computer processor? It shouldn’t hold my data.”

To be fair, Howard did see 2001 A Space Odyssey in 1968 and the scream was valid as well as the cold shiver of fear down his spine. H.A.L. 9000 was terrifying. But the tech in the movie was awesome.

“Sir? Is something wrong? I am sorry that I couldn’t hold back Ultron. How was the party sir? Sir?”

Howard just stared before saying, “Who are you?” He didn’t say what as he had the sneaking suspicious that it was a working A.I. The next words typed confirmed and flooded him all at once.

“I am J.A.R.V.I.S. sir. You know that, you modeled me after your old butler, Jarvis.” Jarvis was getting worried, what happened? He still couldn’t access anything. It was frustrating for his processing abilities. If a A.I. could feel dread, he would.

Tony, it had to be. He loved Jarvis, in fact Howard thought that Tony loved Jarvis more then him but since he was a crappy father, at least Tony had someone besides Maria. Still the sharp sting of jealous was unexpected. Suddenly Howard wanted more time with Tony but that wasn’t ever going to happen.

So Howard did the next best thing. “It’s good to meet you. What’s J.A.R.V.I.S. short for?” He knew that the computer could have audio and visual capabilities but at the moment he wanted the processing speed so he had not hooked that up yet. Perhaps now would be a good time to test out the microphone and speakers.

Without warning, the screen flickered and then static filled the screen like a really bad antenna signal. It flickered back to the black screen but now yellow lettering filled the screen with random characters then started to flicker back and forth between the green and yellow without pause, enough that Howard was getting a headache from watching.

So instead of watching the flickering screen, Howard set up the speakers and the microphone, wishing for at least a 1991 version, eating breakfast in between trips. But he hadn’t gotten around to making those yet.

He flickered his eyes periodically to the screen, which was once again displaying the dead air signal making his ears unhappy. Al was happy to give him updates on the screen’s behavior or Jarvis’s behavior which was unstable to say the least as it flickered between the two colors and the dead air signal. It seemed to Howard that Al was getting worried as the hours dragged on.

Finally the screen went back to ‘normal.’ Or somewhat normal for a advance A.I. stuck in a rudimentary 1982 computer in the year 1978.

“Are you ok?” Howard asked through the microphone, hoping that the ‘A.I.’ would be able to ‘hear’ his voice better, he had no clue how this thing worked. He had flicked on the speakers and was currently adjusting the dial that controlled the sound wave lengths, as the volume was fine.

A few minutes later of no response, Howard was eyeing his now completely empty plate of toast, coffee cup and completely depleted coffee pot that he brought down from the kitchen on one of his hungry trips. He was just about to get get more when Jarvis answered, a sad tone in his surprising British voice, not exactly sounding like Jarvis but the closest that Tony could do.

“At the moment I am function as well as possible considering the limitations on my system. However I am puzzled at what exactly is going on. It’s not the early twenty-first century, but the late twenty’s. I will not work for you.”

With that the screen went blank and nothing that Howard did could bring J.A.R.V.I.S. back. It seems that Tony, and it had to be Tony, created a A.I. just as annoying and stubborn as he was. Also defiant. If Tony was there, Howard didn’t know if he yell at him or hug him. Defeated, Howard went out to get more supplies since he didn’t want anyone to know about his ‘upgraded’ technology.

When Howard got back, he heard the most annoying song ever. The stress of working almost non-stop, with only as somewhat useful force ghost to talk to, made Howard finally snap.

“Anthony Edward Stark what the?! How many times have I told you that I don’t want to hear that song in my workshop! I swear, why did I ever have a child.” Howard blink at the sudden silence and realized where he was and when he was. Not in his workshop well his old workshop anyway. Tony wasn’t there. Back in Black by AC/DC didn’t come out until 1980.

“How do you know that song?” Jarvis asked.

Howard snorted. “Because I was the idiot who bought him that album in the first place. I sadly know all those songs by heart, but not by my choice.” Much to his everlasting annoyance.

“You’re Howard aren’t you?” Jarvis verged with cautious hope. If he was here, then maybe Sir will come to this strange place as well.

“Yes. I am Howard Stark.” He noticed that Jarvis seemed to be coloring in something on the screen with a Etch A Sketch drawing of a world map. “What are you doing?” Howard ask as he started to sort out the different supplies he brought. Something to upgrade that computer to hopefully at least 1991 standards or there about.

“Tracking the vibranium signatures around the world. Though I’m puzzled as to why there are in massive amounts in New York, London, Scotland, all major cities on the planet, since most vibranium is located in Wakanda. Or would be, since it appears that country doesn’t exist on the map I found, duplicated here. It seems that there are slight traces even here in this townhouse at these coordinates.” Jarvis rattled off a list of numbers.

Howard’s eyes narrowed as he mentally placed the coordinates J.A.R.V.I.S. as he liked to be called, instead of Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. He drew in a sharp breath, eyes widening, his mind almost going blank. But he continued to work through the problem. He’ll go in shock later.

“How did you find those signatures? I was looking everywhere, I didn’t think vibranium existed in this dimension.” Howard stepped backwards and to the right a few paces and he motioned for Al to do the same.

“How about those traces now?” He held his breath, Howard needed vibranium it was the best material for many different ideas he had and it was frustrating that it didn’t seem to exist. He’ll stew about Wakanda later.

Howard gulped when Jarvis told him exactly where he and Al were standing. No wonder he couldn’t find vibranium, it was magic here. Literally magic. Howard felt like he was going to faint, so he gripped his worktable so hard it started to hurt.

“How did you know that it was here?”

The next few sentences made Al gasp which puzzled Howard until he read the equation underneath it. “I think I invented magic or reinvented magic.” Howard said faintly as Al still looked puzzled by it all.

“Not possible, the Wakandans harnessed the vibranium first, you and your son just rediscovered the element off of the Tesseract. As for my data stream still being intact,” Jarvis paused. The vitals of the man who claimed to be Tony Stark’s father were not good. He was pale and his tear ducts were engaged.

“Sir I suggest you lay down and we can continue this conversation later.”

For once, Howard Stark did what he was told and despite the amounts of coffee in his system was out like a light once he hit the couch that he used as a bed.

Meanwhile Alphard Black, dead was grinning like a fool. Merlin indeed! He crackled at the thought of this muggle, no friend would be setting ablaze the wizarding world.

***

Almost four years after Jarvis ended up in a makeshift computer that Howard Stark built, Remus Lupin was grieving the lost of his pack and was taking his frustrations out on his very over grown garden plot, the only contact to the wizarding world, was the newspaper which was tossed aside in annoyance of proper details despite the glaring headline on the November 4th, 1981.

He could have vanquished the weeds, but his garden magic was tied up with keeping the plot warm and really for planting year round. He was good but he wasn’t that good at gardening. No Professor Pomona Sprout was he.

Remus glanced outside of his greenhouse and saw Lena walking through the snow, muttering something in a different language as she walked from his cottage to his one piece of peace, if he got it into shape that is.

Sirius had vanished into thin air, James and Lily were dead, the traitor well, the Daily Prophet screamed ‘Peter Pettigrew confesses to being a Death Eater’ but before he could finish reading the headline, a splattering of dirt hit it along with a sorry looking weed.

Remus looked over at the young blonde woman who nodded towards the weeds, who was one of his only nearest neighbor or so she claimed. Guinevere Piper “Pip” Lockhart born in 1960, was a Squib as was her older sister, Helena. They hinted in conversations that their younger brother Gilderoy was spoiled rotten since he was the only one with magic. So she and her sister decided to explore the muggle world and they ended up in Yorkshire after striking it out on their own at the tender age of 11 if you call sending them to muggle boarding school and setting up a ‘family time’ slot for the castoff children.

Helena was whistling a curious tune that didn’t seem to have an ending, as she stepped into the warm greenhouse unlike the bitter cold day outside. “Your tumbledown, semi-derelict cottage is a little more suitable for human living.” She announced with a flourish tossing her coat and scarf on a nearby workbench.

Remus arched his back stretching after weeding for so long, ignoring the admiring look Helena gave him. Helena hit on him every chance she got, as Pip curiously, the more reserved younger sister, rolled her eyes and sighed with a fond but sad smile on her face.

Helena “Lena” Teagan Lockhart and her sister was a different as day and night. Pip could have stepped out of a muggle magazine and then effortlessly look like the proper pure blood witch that she could have been. Her hair was long and loose with a hint of red dye potion, giving it a strawberry blonde look. Her gardening clothes could pass as casual business.

Lena’s hair was more dirty blonde then the pure blonde locks she was born with. She never went back home once her mom fainted at the sight of her proper, Squib that she be, sixteen-year-old daughter dressed in muggle clothing, with multiple pierced earrings and colorful fingernails. Pip kept her up on family news, such as it was.

Lena sighed as once again Remus buffered her advances for more then friendship. But to be honest, she was just playing around or as she liked to say to Pip, keeping her ‘skills’ sharp. No pun intended.

Remus stared at the wicked looking short blade Lena held out to him, as he paused to grab his wand to cut the stubborn weed down. “I’m not even going to ask where you got that from.”

Lena’s blue eyes sparkled with mischief, “Trade secret.” Remus felt a stab of annoyance at the pretty face with the messy bun. She wasn’t his type, Sirius on the other hand.

Pip laughed at the inside joke when Lena winked at her and keep weeding. Her face was set in determination as she and Pip had a contest, no war to see who could weed the faster but accurate. A slight smile had appeared when Lena made her quip. Sometimes it seemed like Pip was the older sister instead of the younger.

A few hours later, Lena was snoring up a storm on the couch while Remus and Pip savored the last of the tea in the pot by the raging fire in Remus’s cottage. He never thought he’ll have guests, but he had rooms for them, always. At times it seemed like they stayed at his house more then theirs. He had only been in there a few times. He might have to start charging rent, that is if he ever got up the courage to tell them about his ‘condition’ which for the sake of friendship, they never were around the place when he became a werewolf.

“Thank you for helping me today. I don’t know how you found me in the first place.” Remus said as he snugged deeper in the cozy armchairs that Pip got him. Muggle that they were but dang they were comfy.

“That would be Lena’s fault.” Pip said with a small private smile as she thought of that day.

Remus’s question that had been on his mind the past six months of their acquaintance was never voiced since a unknown owl swooped in and held out a letter towards Remus, the owl had a slight orange afterglow or not when he went for another look.

Remus read the short letter frowning but his gut told him to trust Sirius who had finally got in touch with him. He couldn’t wait until he tossed Lena at him. Maybe then he’ll get some peace and quiet. Maybe. He snickered to himself as a weight lifted off his chest and he slipped the wristband on his wrist. Something flickered and Remus had his wand out in an instant.

“Who what exactly are you?” Remus asked the two young women, or whoever was in them, since they had two small blue tinted ghosts, no wait, one ghost who was poking at Lena’s face who was now awake or was she ever asleep to begin with? The other one was dosing off on Pip. Wait, do ghosts sleep?

The young ghost who was a smaller version of Lena was blue and smiled with a cute crooked front tooth that the older version didn’t have. “Hi. I’m Lena and that’s Yelena. That’s my sister Ginny and Pepper or Pip for short. How can you see us without touching our bodies?”

Unknown to all present, once Remus put on the bracelet, because and quoted from the letter received, ‘the prat doesn’t want to explain twice’ a circle of flaming orange sparks started to form into a portal.

Sirius’s voice floated out of the circle, “Oh that sounded wrong. Hurry up Remus, the owl’s about to take off.”

As the portal started to flicker as the owl moved towards the open portal, Lena muttered something under her breath, maneuvering Remus into a position where he couldn't move but forward, as Pip grab his wand at the same time and they all tumbled out of the portal which winked off in a heap.

Or Remus landed on the floor when Lena dropped him when she started a staring contest with, what was Lily Potter doing alive and with platinum-blonde hair?! That wasn’t James next to her was it? That was Petunia? Didn’t look at all like the photograph that Lily showed to them in school.

Remus sniffed the air frowning as he got a mixture of old familiar scents, but they were being overrun by other scents. At least Harry was the same as he made grabby hands in which James/Not James handed over Harry to Remus and he stuck his nose into the familiar scent to ground him.

Once grounded he looked up, the Potter house elves, Kreacher, Petunia, and her son, he thought, had gone from this muggle looking workshop. In fact, it was a muggle workshop, but how did it have a magical scent to it?

“What in the name of Merlin?!” Remus growled out, one arm protecting Harry who just giggled up a storm and the other with his want out trained on the people who he knew, but didn’t know. His heart was sinking as Lily and James, blue ghosts stood concern on their faces. He knew he looked a wreck or as tired as Merlin’s hair. The stress was getting to him.

“I think you mean, what in the name of Stark?” Tony quipped who had just walked into the room breaking off of his staring contest with the owl that flew through the portal.

The owl flicking a bronze ring thingy that had been on its talons to a man who looked like the uncle who had helped Sirius when he ran away, but Alphard Black, a blue ghost, was standing right next to his body. Remus was getting a headache.

“Good birdie, whose a good bird!?” The baby talk switched into swearing when the owl in question bite firmly on his ear and went off on a huff to ‘Alphard Black’ who praised the owl up and down before tossing a owl treat to her before she went out of the room.

Tony ducked when Ruthie, the owl swiped at his face with her wing. “So not fair dad, so not fair.”

“Tony! Honestly!” Howard sighed as he handed the two woman who came with Remus a bracelet similar to the one on his own. “At least you aren’t bleeding this time. Progress.”

Pip crossed her arms and a steely look entered her eyes. “Let me guess, you’re Howard Stark and your Anthony Stark? For all I know you are really just a Metamorphmagus. All of you because from where I’m standing they’re dead.” There was a bitter tone and sorrow in that sentence.

Lena nodded firmly at her sister’s side, their two young ghost companions wandered off to pester the house elves. The Lockhart family was well off, but not enough to employ house elves. The blonde haired lady seemed familiar somehow, but Lena couldn’t pinpoint it.

Howard and Tony exchanged a glance and Howard had to grin at his son’s face who nodded. If they were people from their world, well this would help proof it. Hopefully. He just prayed that his dad wouldn’t get shot or worse. He wished Pepper was here, she had a good influence on him. Or not since she’ll use Howard for Tony blackmailing purposes.

“How about I just show you.” Howard said causally just before he aimed a small something at Lily and blue energy streaking out. Jamie reacted instantly, his left arm shielded Nat who dived out of the way. The blue energy bounced off his now silver arm harmlessly as well as Remus’s curse that went towards Howard.

Lena was half ways across the room when she caught sight of the silver arm, and she drew a sharp breathe and voiced something that made Nat give a slight pause.

“What the hell?!” Jamie said as he flexed his silver arm. Which freaked him out a bit, it looked and acted like his Wakanda one but he could still feel his real hand underneath.

“Relax and it’ll hopefully go away.” Howard said as Nat appeared behind him with a sharp screwdriver near his neck. “I just had to test a theory.”

“Also have a little revenge for strangling you?” Jamie retorted, relaxing as he noted the silver arm disappearing bit by bit as Howard had set down his gun or was that a wand? As the danger passed.

“Just a little.” Howard said, pinching his thumb and forefinger together while he had his hands up in the surrender position. “Now call off your gorgeous lady friend. She isn’t the Russian is she? I had enough of that Black Widow problem when it first started.” Howard didn’t move but for his mouth, if this was the Nat, Tony told him about, he’ll like to live.

“What do you mean?” Nat and Lena asked in sync making them eye each other as Nat tossed the screwdriver onto the workbench which was scattered with tools. She noted that Tony had vacant the room as soon as the silver arm appeared.

“Dottie Underwood. Scary lady. Real good looking though, which is probably why I fell under her spell and tried to, know what? Old stories can wait. Where’s Tony?”

“Wherever did he go?” Jamie said wry as Nat perked up a bit, she’ll take someone else then Stark but at least she had somewhat of a relationship with the man. Unlike Howard and whatever she had with Jamie.

“Yeah like Nat he died to save the world.”

“Where is he now?” Nat asked as everyone followed Howard to a elevator as he explained what happened on how Tony came to be in this place with his father.

Howard smirked. “Staring at owls or pigeons or something. He really doesn’t know how to deal with intelligent animals.” (or assassins brought back to life. Howard knew that it was Barnes in this James Potter’s face, not the Winter Soldier, he could just tell. That and he mention something about a old bet by way of a hand signal Guess he had settled down after all. Howard had lost a lot of money on the Steve Roger’s bet.)

“That’s a hurtful comment old sir.” Jarvis chimed in as they rode the state of the art elevator to the top. “But it is the truth.”

Pip had to hid a smile at the laughter that came from that. It also helped Remus relax enough to pass Harry off to one of the Potter’s house elves before they entered the elevator.

While the ‘inventors’ greeted the newcomers Petunia was off on her lunch date with Vernon. “If you would like, we can take care of the little ones.” Kreacher Gollum had offered earlier when Sirius had penned the letter to this Remus, but in the end, Petunia went with the house elves to watch over her little Duddins before her lunch date.

She didn’t trust this new house elf with her son but he was the only one who could do the portal. Also it was nice to see Lily without having to touch all the time though as the wrist band did the ‘seeing’ for her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Tony Stark continued to stare at the owl who stubbornly stared right back while the pigeons couldn’t care less. He wasn’t going to be defeated by a bird in a staring contest. He owned that bird and all the other ones too. He wouldn’t be defeated, dang it.

Tony ignored the reason why he came. At the sight of the silver arm which meant that James ‘Bucky’ Barnes was really here, all of the memories came to his mind, ones that he thought he made peace with and he just had to get out. Being younger was messing with his brain ugh.

His concentration was interrupted by a loud bang as the door to the roof banged open and a voice that sounded similar to his own yelling at him, “Regulus what the name of Merlin were you thinking…”

Sirius Black trailed off at the unlikely sight of his prime and proper, pure-blood to the core little brother in worn muggle jeans, a black t-shirt with a muggle band, worker’s hands, and a I don’t know you look in his eyes. Regulus/Tony’s eyes flickered up and down his body, dismissing him along with the people behind him that came out onto the roof. Tony turned his eyes back to the owl he was ‘working with’.

It oddly hurt. Sirius felt like he lost something. He and Reg clashed so often, he didn’t know if they had anything in common, but he was still his brother.

“Oh come on! Come back here you owl!” Regulus/Tony’s voice was frustrated as he ran his grubby hands through his dark brown hair as he stared at the empty owl post and ducked as say owl dive bombed him. “That doesn’t count!”

“You’re not Regulus, goatees are not his style.” Sirius said confused, pushing aside the hurt for later, as he noted that his brother’s left arm didn’t have the dark mark on it. Scars sure, but the dark mark was gone. His brother or whoever was in his brother’s body was unarmed so Sirius’s wand was lowered.

He wasn’t paying attention when his uncle Al or whoever Howard Stark was, explaining how Reg died and after he heard that, Sirius zoned out until his rant to the imposter because his brother couldn’t really be dead because Kreacher was still alive. (He was in deep denial.)

“Because what Tony wants, he gets.” Regulus’s dry voice spoke up over Sirius’s shoulder making Sirius turn around and around as Regulus moved towards this Tony who was in his little brother’s body.

“Oh do shut it glow rod Reggie.” Tony grumbled as he fished out a sandwich from somewhere on the roof.

Sirius’s lip twitched upwards at an attempt of a smile at the nickname Reg got. It was oddly fitting. He might get along with this Tony Stark. Somehow it eased some of the hurt as he watched Reg watch Tony with a look that Sirius usually got, exasperated annoyance. It still had to be a trick of some sort. Was his brother really dead?

Reggie would totally pretend to be dead just to make him mad. But there was Lily and Nat and Jamie and James and he was getting a headache. Between Voldemort’s defeat, dealing with the traitor and now this, Sirius was surprised he was still standing. It had been only five days.

Nat had to bite back a smile at the sight of the sandwich, if it was really Tony Stark the sandwich was a strong indicate it was him. Tony was always eating. She noted the strawberry blonde, Pip was what one of the little ghosts called her, sighed deeply and shook her head softly, faint lines of hope on her face.

“You’re just pissed because you don’t have the touch like your dear old daddy.” Regulus said smugly as the owls chipped happily at his voice. He always had a way with owls. They could see him and Uncle Alphard and the Evans girl was charming them while Potter was pissing them off. Heh.

“If you can teach me how, I’ll have it too. I’m better with machinery then people.” Tony then stuck his tongue out at Reggie. Which was covered with food. Howard just sighed. Tony more and more acted like he was back in college, which to be fair, his body was that age. He just hoped some of Tony’s companions also slipped into this universe because he could not rein his son in. At least they were in a good relationship.

“Ewww. Chew with your mouth closed, Stark, you’ll such a child. Questions brother?” Regulus sounded not happy but a little more relaxed then he was before his death. It was quite strange or was this a trick? He needed sleep.

“Why doesn’t he have the dark mark and how are you people so calm about all of this?” Sirius demanded confused as all eff holding back a laugh at Tony’s antics. Not as irritated as Remus as he started to bounce slightly which he only did when he started to get pissed off. Reg had to be alive right? The stress was finally getting to him.

“Because he’s been dealing with Tony Stark for a while and if these people are who I think they are, they dealt with worse. As for the dark mark that will be explained shortly.” Jarvis’s slightly amused voice almost made everyone jump, as Kreacher portal in. “I suggest we go back to the London house, it has the accommodations that will be useful. Ms. Lily, your sister needs you. Her lunch date didn’t go as well as she had hoped.”

Lily cursed and went ahead. She had helped Petunia set up this lunch date with Vernon with Dudley, hoping against hope that he’ll be at least somewhat open minded since his son was magical. Guess not. They had left Harry with the Potter elves.

“You have got to tell me how you do that.” Remus said in awe as his friends went through it nonchalantly. Sirius just continued to flick his eyes between his blue ghost brother and this Tony Stark person.

“Magic. Duh.” Helena ‘Lena’ Lockhart snarked making Remus laugh, the tension that was building up ease out of him completely.

Nat frowned thoughtfully as she eyed the newcomers that went through the portal first. They didn’t seem phased by the portals as the Sirius and Remus were. It was like they saw them before. She signaled to Jamie her thoughts who gave a slight nod. He noticed them as well but he couldn’t pinpoint it. Not yet anyway.

***

In the London nursery, after her lunch date, where the house elves were keeping an eye on her son and nephew, Petunia Evans Dursley breathed deeply, pushing down the hurt and pain she felt as well as the tears wanting to fall. Her quick lunch that day with Vernon to tell him that their son had magic did not go well. Or as she had planned.

Her husband denied it and called her a freak. That surprisingly hurt her deeply as she stared at her husband in shock as several things clicked into place. She had driven herself so far into the normal she married a man who couldn’t see anything special in the world, even make believe. When Dudley showed his daddy the ‘mag’ he had, thankfully it was in their kitchen, the look he shot his son made her wonder if he even loved her in the first place. Or he only loved the idea of her ‘being normal’.

So when Vernon started to demanded things that she couldn’t or wouldn’t give and to chose between her son and her husband, it was no contest. She walked back into the portal her head held high. She heard sounds of things breaking as Vernon took his temper out on the house as the portal an invisible Kreacher made, closed. It seemed that she dodge a bullet there.

“Ms. Evans?” Nod’s small voice brought her out of her gloomy thoughts. Petunia smiled at the young house elf whose wonder at a non-magical person made her heart ease. It seemed that even the magical world had its hidden surprises. That he took her new name or old name without pause was helpful.

“Yes?” Petunia answered as she noted that the house elves were keeping a sharp eye on her son and nephew along with the young ghosts that reminded of herself long ago. So curious. Lily wasn’t the only one who wondered at things in the family. She was just more logical about it. She had to balance Lily in some way.

“They are all in the common room off of the training area. I can show you the way.” Nod said as he balanced a snack tray on his ears. It didn’t hurt him and he found it fun.

‘House elves are very strange.’ Petunia thought as she followed Nod to the common room and almost walked through Lily who jerked to the side and fell into step with Petunia, not saying anything. Petunia was grateful for her sister’s tact, or at least she recognized the look on Petunia’s face which always meant, don’t talk to me.

“I’ll tell you about it after whatever this Sharp fellow wants.” Petunia said grudgingly, if she didn’t tell Lily she’ll find a way to hound her.

Lily laughed, “I believe it’s Stark, but I don’t think he’ll mind being made fun of, after all he came up with way too many nicknames for his friends and family. Besides if he’s going to help us protect Harry from whatever, he’ll need to go through the gantlet or at least some version of it.”

“Oh and did your precious husband do so? Snape never did passed.” Petunia said acidly with a hint of smugness as she remembered how her grandma described how their ancestors put their potential husbands through mental hoops or in her grandfather’s words, the test from hell.

“James did finally. Did Vernon?” Lily said quietly already knowing the answer, bypassing the Snape answer.

“I was so desperate to be normal, I didn’t even think to try.” Petunia said grumpily as they neared the wooden door which to her surprise opened like a motion sensor door.

“Nor did I think to help you or for you. Grandmother would be appalled. I am sorry for that. I didn’t speak up because I wanted you to be happy. Mum didn’t help any with that.” Lily said softly so not to inform the others gathered around a small coffee table in a gathering area instead of the dining room part that had a mini-bar beside it.

Most were already seated, but Nat and Jamie and at least one of the Lockharts woman seem to be scoping out the place from she assumed strategic positions or something since they were still standing. Jamie looked amused at something, and Nat was having a wary, do-I-know-you, staring contest with the Lockhart called Lena, the older one. Or she had the look of an older sibling.

“Well at least I got my son from Vernon.” Petunia closed that conversation as she noticed Nat tilt her head her way finally breaking off the staring contest she was having to sit next to Petunia as Jamie sat on Nat’s other side. She was oddly comfortable enough with him to let his arm be across her shoulders or that might have been the bodies they were in now. Petunia noted the slight glare Lena was it? gave Jamie as a result of it.

The Black Starks as she dubbed them in her head were both sitting down, the younger one, Tony? was eating something, again, nuts it looked like, while the older one, the one who claimed to be his father, Howie or Howard or something like that looked to be taking a nap or at least his eyes were closed.

Reggie Black and his Uncle Alphard were having a very heated conversation with a grief stricken Sirius (Sirius had to be convinced that yes his brother was dead and the two deceased Blacks were making some headway) at the far end of the room almost into the wide hallway that led to a gym of sorts while Remus sat looking terribly tired and and exasperated as James looked around awed at the muggle place he was at, which to Petunia was terrible amusing.

Tony noted everyone was there shouting to the still low tones of the Black trio, “Ok wrap it up guys!”

When they started coming over, Tony continued saying, “I want to get this over with so I can get back to work. I’m this close,” He indicated with his index and thumb fingers a very short distance, “to finding a way to transfer vinyl into digital. Oh I cannot wait until I can just play music on demand. Not that vinyl will go away anytime soon but still. Jarvis you there or did you pass this on to your mini-me?”

Tony had to laugh at how quick the wizards drew their wands, no pun intended, when Vision, sadly just the white outline of his programming came up as a hologram hovering on the sleek wooden varnished table, it looked like magic and according to the quick spell Remus cast it had magic, but most of it wasn’t magic, which gave him a headache on how it all worked.

Sirius went to sit down feeling annoyed as he knew Reggie was dead but the details were vague. It was probably hit Sirius when he tried to call Kreacher and couldn’t as he his loyalty was to the Starks now. He knew it all along but for some reason he had hope. He needed sleep.

“Hello Tony. Father decided to keep watch over the New York house as there are deliveries scheduled for today among other things. I suggest introductions first before I pull up the theory that you and grandfather have been working on.”

Howard opened his eyes and glared at the hologram of Vision, smoothing his hair out from the bedhead it became. “How many times have I told you not to call me grandfather Vision? Don’t start the argument again. We don’t have time.”

He snagged a cookie, he will never call them biscuits biting into it moaning with delight. Kreacher was an excellent cook. Alphard was silently laugh at him again. The Stark family dynamics were as crazy as the Black family but less death involved. Sirius found himself exchanging eye rolls with Reg of all people at Tony’s next words.

“Ok, ignoring the sound of my father, Howard Stark, having a food orgasm and the glare that follows, you are all here because someone said one of the code words to see if there was anyone else was here from my old reality, galaxy, whatever. My name is Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark. I died and ended in June 1979. My dad in 1976. With our blue force ghosts as guides.” Reg snorted making Tony amend his statement.

“Or annoying housemates. I’m assuming that all of you here had the same experience, but hopefully unlike me waking up completely naked in a dark cave. I mean honestly.” Tony grumbled as he grabbed a glass and filled it with water just for something to do.

Reggie rolled his eyes, Tony has been gripping about that forever. “I said I was sorry. How I know you would show up? I’ll explain later. It’s something that everyone needed to hear, that is the reason why I died in a cave, not how I died.” He corrected at the confused looks. He was not looking forward to explaining to the others on how and why he did what he did, but Tony pointed out that more people know about this the better. Secrets were not good for moral among other things. He learned that the hard way. But just for a certain few as their government was run by morons.

“As long as it’s not long winded.” Sirius barked back, somehow glad he could see Reggie, he didn’t seem as stuck-up, pure blood as he was use to be. They might get along, maybe. Besides it seems that Jamie and Nat knew whoever was in his relatives bodies, so weird to say, and to an extent trust them, so he’ll let his bad blood between him and his brother settle for now.

Lena snorted, interrupting whatever Tony was going to say next, leaning back crossing her arms, one hand closer to her hidden knife. Something that Jamie and Nat had noticed before but didn’t comment on.

“Lena Lockhart, I came here when I died with Helena was only six. You think adjusting into a different body is hard? Try going through puberty in it. My younger sister Pip was eleven when Ginny died. As for your claim to be Tony Stark? Bullshit. Besides you didn’t save the world.” A slightly different accent that grew stronger as she spoke interspersing in her high class English accent but not not enough to make out properly but the bitterness was easy to see. “Prove it.”

Tony stared in disbelief and just pointed at Vision, while Barnes, darn him, seemed to be holding in a laugh while, he really hoped was Nat, gave a soft grin while the striking strawberry blonde who was named Pip gazed at him thoughtfully. The whole not saving the world thing stung, because he did save the world, but he focused on the unwillingness to believe in his genius first.

“Who else can come up with a working independent A.I? Heck two of them that work together and independently from me and each other. I am the only one who knows their programming back and forth and sideways. Not even dad knows. You want more proof? Bring up the world map, no just the runes and the molecular structure diagram.” Tony ordered as his dad just watched, just content to see Tony shine or Howard’s excuse was he was old. His showman days were over.

The diagram and runes was halfway up, as the data stream was slow to load since the tech still was being developed for more then one place, when Pip stood up and stared down the man who claimed to be Tony Stark who was rendered speechless at what she said next, in a stance that scream to Tony, I know this woman.

“Or you can just tell me what I said to Tony to get him to do his homework when Phil came to visit after I claimed 12 percent?” Pip’s voice said firmly, getting slightly exasperated. “Or shall I list all the women you slept with and I had to take care of?” Tony felt his face slowly getting red.

“That’s private information Pep! Ok maybe not to the tabloids, but still I’m a changed man and you know it.” Tony almost choked on his water as Pep continued ignoring his sputtering.

“Or how about I tell them how I got my position as your office assistant in the first place? Or how you begged for your pet llama which I usually had to take care of. Or how you almost killed me accidentally.”

”I know you have allergy to strawberries.” Tony coughed red in the face. Pepper studied her ‘husband,’ as Tony’s grey eyes widen in hope. He wasn’t bad looking.

Howard looked horrified as Tony light up in a small hope that turned to dread, if it was Pepper, how old was she? Did she have any other children, get remarried? He wondered if it was Happy she married, he always like her. How is Morgan doing?

He opened his mouth to defend Gerald, when his dad beat him to it.

“Don’t sleep with the hired help! It’s bad company policy.” Howard trailed off at the look the woman gave him. It scarily reminded him of when Maria caught him doing something stupid and it turned out that she was correct. His respect for her grew at her sharp reply.

“I corrected an error in his math Mr. Stark.” Pepper corrected very not amused as she reached her husband who if looked different clearly was Tony Stark unless he didn’t know the answer she asked.

“So it turns out that you’re the lovely Pepper Potts or should I say Stark? I can see why my son turned his company over to you.” Howard one-eightieth with a charming grin that was completely lost on her as Pepper or Pip as she was called here, rolled her eyes. He smirked at the flushed face his son made when he whispered something in Pepper’s ear, which judging by the heated looks after was quite naughty. Tony sighed and grabbed Pepper’s hand and didn’t let go.

“Right now we know that Tony Stark is here and has always been a bit of pervert, which he got from his dad. How the hell did we get here and why is it just this group?!” Jamie said, ignoring the hurt looks from the Starks and the laughter from Sirius who was enjoying the show. It turned out that his new ‘relatives’ was as nuts as the Blacks, but in a different way.

Remus just breathed and slowly sorted out the smells he was scenting. Jamie still had the leader scent that James did, but it was more bitter and sharply cast as if in metal which to his wolf scents meant battle honed, same with this Nat in Lily’s body. Remus frown, in fact all of the newcomer’s smells but Petunia and to an extent Howard and Pepper had that sharpened battle smell. Who are these people?

Remus looked at the runes and the vibranium which was hard to do since Lily and the rest but for Lena, Nat, Petunia and Jamie crowded around the table. “What is vibranium exactly?”

“Vibranium is a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties. Theorized to have been first deposited on Earth by a meteorite 1,000,000 years ago it translates to magic here. The molecular structure diagram which is displayed here, is present in Sirs and Mr. Stark’s blood and other various materials that were tested. That is all the different vibranium properties that we know of in our old universe.” Vision interrupted smoothly.

The other vibranium molecular structures were displayed, made the more knowledgeable magical users gasp as they connected the dots between the runes and the muggle stuff. It made Petunia frown as if this vibranium was so wide spread why didn’t everyone have it? Did it skip generations?

“Vision enlarge images so no one is bumping heads please.” Howard said eyeing the young lady who claimed to be Pepper. He missed his Maria but he was looking forward to meeting his daughter-in-law, Tony could not shut up about her and his grandchild.

The gasps of awe from the non-tech people made Tony laugh and laugh some more at the dirty looks he got. He smirked back smugly. “Wait until I add solid color then that’ll really blow your tiny minds.”

“Tony stop being an ass. Not everyone is a genius like you or I’ll sleeping on the couch tonight.” Pepper said, leaving Tony muttering something about getting non-comfy couches and apologized half hardily, which no one paid attention too since the information was more interesting.

“That was not amusing.” Nat deadpanned as Petunia nodded firmly. She was beginning to think this Tony Stark was as stuck up as Potter.

“Indeed Agent Romanoff.” Vision said, tilting his head in agreement as Remus waved his hand through his projection who had poked the hologram with his wand first as Sirius had dropped his in shock which rolled under the armchair when the steady ‘magic’ changed to add the different structures. This muggle was on par with wizards, even if he was in his little brother’s body. He kind of understood what this Vision was talking about but he usually didn’t care about muggle stuff so some of it went over his head.

“It’s Nat, Vision as you well know. You don’t have to be so proper all the time. If you need any proof I’ll gladly give it.” Nat said a sense of belonging slowly clicking into to place as some of her team, her family was there with her. For the most part.

“Really?” At that, Lena turned to looked at her with sharp blue eyes whistling in challenge but also in hope as she had her suspicions when the redhead reacted to the Black Widow comment and then there was the screwdriver. As for the man who seemed way too comfortable with…Yelena’s thoughts scattered at the answering whistle and she had a hard time breathing.

“We’ll talk later little sister.” Nat said in Russian as Yelena nodded as she blinked back tears.

“We will you poser bitch.” Yelena snipped back in her mother tongue as it clicked in everyone’s heads that the accent was Russian.

“I’m not a poser!” Nat protested in English as Yelena threw back her head and laughed. That laugh lightened something in Nat’s chest that she didn’t know was wound tight. She had missed her little sister so much, but ironically it seemed that she was the younger sister now or something. Freaking reality hopping.

Petunia didn’t know what Nat’s relationship was with the Lena but the joy they had at finding each other was something she wanted with Lily. Even if she didn’t have any ‘magic.’

“Poser?” Petunia said lightly as Nat grimaced and shot a look at her little sister who was smirking. “I’ll explain later.”

It also seemed that they were getting off track and Petunia was going to pull them back on when Vision helpfully pulled up the data that showed Nat’s posing just as she dropped from the plane to a catwalk surrounded by people. In a snowy mountain range.

A sharp “Pause” from Nat stopped the video as she exchanged looks with Lena. “How did you get this image?” She inwardly frown, that ‘mission’ was family related and not for viewing. Nat sighed as she caught Tony’s guilty look who looked down at Pepper’s reprimanding tsk “Tony.”

Jamie grinned, feeling oddly guilty as he devoured Nat in white. She looked real good. Always was a sucker for redheads and she wore the color well.

“Do you have to upload and keep everything you find on your satellites Tony? Somethings are private information Tony. Not everyone wants to be plugged in all the time. ” She saw the awed look on Lily’s face and even Petunia was leaning forward a little. It was probably magic, so she let it go for now but the looks on her sisters faces was boosting so.

She exchanged a few words in shorthand with Lena. “Fine just play until I say stop.” Nat sighed as Jamie just winked at her, even in a different body he was still handsome.

“Glad what I taught you was put to good use.” He muttered in Russian as the video resumed playing normally. The group cracked up laughing at it and some of the footage following it showing her fighting moves left them speechless.

Nat made a sharp gesture that Vision recognized, letting the runes and formula enlarge again and ending the video making Nat inwardly frown, not that she was thinking about it, how can Jarvis and Vision share the same network, the internet and data systems are in their early stages. How are they even here?

“Ok back to how all this is related to the magical runes. Also how did you find Merlin’s missing rune?!” Remus gestured towards the heart shaped leaf looking rune. He was impressed with the muggle fighting but he was more interested in how this muggle science thing was related to magic. He knew a bit from Lily but that was back in school ages ago. Sirius looked bored out of his mind, but Remus knew he was paying slight attention as he only twitched once or twice.

“Agreed. Vision or Jarvis.” What followed was a long phrase that Nat said in at least three different languages. Remus thought one was French. Sirius knew it was French since he spend a summer in France and had delightful ‘French’ lessons from a well endowed pure blooded witch.

“I knew you put a backdoor in my system when you unlocked Care Bear’s suit. I knew it!!” Tony exclaimed as he tried to bring up anything that had to do with Nat and couldn’t. He was locked out.

“Of course I did, I knew you would try and hack S.H.E.I.L.D.’s databases so I put in a tracking marker so information I didn’t want to be access wouldn’t be. Or at least would be very scrambled if Jarvis ever got it.” Nat shrugged. It was so long ago, she was surprised that she even remembered the code. She made a note to not have as long as a password, more encrypted but shorter.

“Why do you think vibranium is magic? I mean at first I thought it did but now that I think about it the diagram doesn’t seem to relate to the runes, they are totally different structures. Besides from what you say, in your universe everyone would have magic.” That question was from Lily who was piecing together a little bit more of the puzzle. The rest were listening since it still has not be completely explained to their satisfaction. Petunia could almost see what they were getting at, but it seemed something was missing.

“’Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.-Arthur C. Clarke. At least in Wakanda’s case. I loved that place. I recognize the heart-shaped herb that is Wakanda, the so called ‘Mark of Merlin’ being the last one.” Jamie had a wistful look on his face as he remembered his time in Wakanda.

“Their shielding is pretty sweet. ” Nat agreed, enlarging the runes as she spoke, naming them off as she explained as she grilled Tony after he got back from space and he opened up a bit on what Dr. Strange told him as the trip was a long one.

“The rest are magical runes from different magical practices in our old reality. I did a lot of research when Thor touched down and when Dr. Strange popped up, and Loki’s magic. This runes here are from Asgardians magic script which is Loki’s magic, we already see how the Mind Stone, and if I had to take an educated guess the rest of the Infinity Stones, Eldritch Magic is Dr. Strange and I don’t recognize the third to last ones.”

“From what I can gleam from my fragmented memories, those ones are Chaos runes and Dark Dimension runes.” Vision said as Tony had nodded to agree with Nat’s explanation.

He was more like Jarvis then his old self, after all he died more then once and it was like slugging mud at the back and forth he went through aka the yellow computer lettering that blended with Jarvis’s green lettering back in 1979 and being snapped back to being alive resulting in the white screen noise. Thankfully Father as he called Jarvis, helped him out once he completely left Wanda’s side. He knew White Vision was out there and he hoped Wanda and him got to be happy.

“I still don’t know how that magical runes that make up the magical system here is related at all to vibranium, the idea doesn’t track even if you have a plant from Wakanda as a rune.” Pepper said slightly bitter with a frown as she tried to work through the puzzle. “That also doesn’t explain why I and Lena are here and are squibs. If what you say is true then we should be witches right now. Heck everyone would be magical.”

“Tony has a few theories on that. One seems to be more workable then the other ones. But it’s just a thought, it’s not completely confirmed.” Howard said not noticing the two little ghosts who had creep through the hallway and were listening to the conversation behind Nat and Bucky’s couch. Oddly enough there were two black and white cats who were purring softly as the girls petted them. How the cats got to London from wherever was from Kreacher’s portal he made for Petunia.

“Oh, please it’s not my fault you haven’t gotten any for the past few years.” Tony said coughing back a laugh at the look on his dad’s face.

“Not that has anything to do with us being in people who are declared dead Tony.” Howard said tiredly running his hand down his face. It was an old slightly funny argument between them.

Jamie huffed a laugh as he caught onto what Tony was implying. “Tony, if sex, magic and vibranium had anything to do with this, there would be more people running around in dead bodies.” Jamie dryly said as he thought about all what he experienced in his former life.

The two ghost girls hiding made a face. Their mum’s growing witch talk was slightly traumatic. Yelena and Pepper thought it was oddly stiff.

“No, that’s not what I was trying to say. Ok in simple terms. First who all woke up in another body that had ‘magic’ attached to it?” There were six all together.

“All of you I’m assuming at one point or another in your former lives had some sort of contact with vibranium/the tesseract aka the annoying mind stone or any other sort of magic. The mind stone is a ‘magical’ space rock that can influence minds.” At that half the group snorted, that was an understatement.

Tony saw everyone start to open their mouths and he waved off their interruptions with his half eaten cheeseburger. Remus wondered where he got a cheeseburger. “Ah, ah, let me finish. Now if everyone who had contact with vibranium or any sort of magical from our world wind up here we would have say, King Ch’alla and his smart sister or Doctor Strange would be running around along with other people. But it seems more and more that my dad’s theory is the correct one.”

“The people here have unfinished business or had lost time with someone else here or unresolved personal issues or my wife Maria would have showed up by now. You are all lovely ladies but none of you are my wife. When I say lost time, I mean that time that could have been as in untimely deaths and missing out on important stuff. The blip gave people more time so none of those people are here.” Howard said. He had hoped that one of the blondes was his wife but he knew it wasn’t. His time with her was done and Tony’s time.

“You mean I’m here because the universe owned me one?” Natasha said refusing to look at Jamie as Yelena grinned at her. She didn’t want to think about it, she did lose time with him but she had lost time with Yelena as well.

“Why isn’t Steve here then? He lost time with Jamie.” Some of what Howard was saying made sense but Pepper said frowning a slight sinking feeling in her gut as to why she was there. She had hoped her death was a bad dream.

“Ah my best friend always was and is a idiot and we didn’t lose time or had any unfinished business. We concluded that before he went off and married Peggy. After he came back we did have a relationship before he died. We’re good. I think we’ll missing something.” Jamie said. He knew why he was there, Nat, but his heart was still grieving, so he’ll take what he’ll can get.

A sharp whistle almost busted Jamie’s ears off. “What the heck man?! Are you trying to kill my eardrums?” He growled at Sirius who had whistled. He noticed that his body was slowly adjusting to what his post-serum body was, but without all the nasty side effects. He wondered if Nat’s body was doing the same. He hadn’t have a good spar in ages. But he’ll asked that later.

“Ok, I’m Sirius Black, that’s my little brother, Regulus and the other blue ghost is my Uncle Alphard who helped me get out of my horrid parents house a while back. I get that Nat is in Lily’s body, Jamie/Bucky is in James, this Pepper is in Pip’s? and Lena in Helena. But who are you people? How in the Merlin’s balls does this even work?! What the ass is S.H.E.I.L.D.?! What’s the Infinity Stones or even a Tesseract?! What the heck is the Blip?” Sirius was beyond done. It was so darn confusing. Granted he had a rough couple of days, so he was excused. He was smart but dang it he left the high end stuff to Remus and his brother.

Petunia and Remus either knew what all that was or at least got a idea of what it was since they knew the muggle world better or could make educated guesses. The little ghost girls behind the couch grinned. He had no idea what was coming. He was in for a ride. Nat heard small giggles from behind the couch. She had an inking who was behind there, but why was did she hear purring? She had a cat once long ago.

At that, Tony swallowed his last bite of cheeseburger and smiling winning said, “Once again, I am Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark, genius, billionaire, husband, daddy, philanthropist. The old man is Howard Stark, my father who is also an inventor and badass business man. We were filthy rich, like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Not at first, I worked hard for that money. My dad was a fruit-seller you know. Since there is no way besides Reggie and Al know our history. It’s best that we explain what the heck we are talking about.” Howard said seriously as Pepper poked Tony in the side.

With everyone pitching in, Remus, Sirius, the Potters and Petunia got a run down about magic and reality, but not their magic or reality. Petunia grinned to herself, it was just like Lily said, almost like a Bond movie or even Flash Gordon, even those fantasy stories her mum used to read them before bed. Here she thought magic was awesome. But she was really glad that those reality stones didn’t exist here or any of the other crazy magic that was explained. Maybe she didn’t want to be a witch after all. Someone needed to have common sense.

Petunia had a question when “Oh Tony,” Pepper started to cry making the two ghosts and the cats who made a beeline to Jamie and Nat, come out of hiding.

“Pepper! Virginia Potts Stark what ever is the matter?” Lena or as she insisted on calling herself Helena snuggled as close as she could to her ‘older younger’ sister as Ginny her older sister wandered towards the girl who Lena the one in her body claimed to be her ‘older’ sister. It was very confusing for the eleven-year-old unlike the six-year-old who just rolled with it. It was magic.

But Pepper wasn’t paying attention but had caught Tony’s eyes instead who somehow could tell something was wrong even if she was in a different body. “Pep how old are you?”

“There was a car crash about three years after you left. Happy made it, Morgan and I didn’t. We never had enough time with her Tony. She, she might be here.”

“Well shit.”

“Wait, if your daughter is here, she took Cap’s shield sledding once or twice and cut her hand right?” Jamie asked as he piece together more of how this all came to be.

“Oh she sledding the heck out of that shield after Tony was gone or at least the smaller one that was made as a Christmas present.” Pepper said, her body unused to a male’s presence that wasn’t Remus since she didn’t spend much time around males besides her friends, but her heart was singing slightly. Tony and her had a lot to talk about.

Meanwhile Remus was trying to sort through the new knowledge and company and voiced a question that was nagging him. “Why didn’t Kreacher have a wrist band like the rest of us?”

“Kreacher doesn't have a band because he was already exposed to the cave aftereffects.” Alphard explained.

“Cave aftereffects?” James said as he was trying to follow along with the whole incredible tale these not-muggles told.

“Ok. so I know how most of you died. I don’t know how you died little brother or why you even are still here if you love the ‘dark lord’ so much. Where is your love tattoo?” Sirius was frowning at his brother’s ghost who it seemed still had the dark mark but it was faded, unlike his body which was completely free of any sort of ink.

“Because the dark mark is a soul magic, not just a tattoo. When you become a follower of the dark lord he burns a mark that burns into your soul, which I thought was just burned into my magic. But if it was just regular magic Tony would have one as well. As for Kreacher he was exposed to the mixture of what killed Tony, the gamma radiation which for some reason was harmless to everyone but the locket soul piece. Something to do with intense heat or something that wiped out all the lake and the other nasty bits.” Uncle Alphard explained patiently as Reggie had left him there to explain as Reggie did not like Sirius’s crack about the dark lord’s mark. Reggie was in the corner glaring at his brother.

“Locket soul piece?” Remus didn’t want to know anymore, he had information overload, even for him. All the snacks and drinks were gone by now and he was wiped.

“On that note I’m out. What are Lena and Nat doing?” He asked his plan to take a nap derailed as Nat and Lena had gotten up and had gone to the gym mats for some ‘sisterly bonding’. At the moment they were stretching in silence so they can still hear.

“It looks like they are going to spar.” Jamie said eyes sharp, the only way Remus could tell it wasn’t James was James was eyeing Nat as she leaned backwards and Lily had to poke him for his interest.

Sirius interested in what the women were doing got a second wind was now in the gym talking urgently or arguing with his uncle and brother while the James and Jamie looked at the women who had toed off their shoes and now a few minutes later were circling on a mat in defence stances that were not the training that he received. It looked more like what Vision had showed them. Vision had turned off the display and was currently helping Jarvis with the deliveries.

“Why are they sparring?” Petunia’s voice asked next to his ear, who only knew because Vernon used to watch wrestling.

“Because their spirits and all their memories are slowly bonding with their new bodies. That means anything that Nat or Jamie or even me knew in our old life will pop up here. That’s how I knew that Jamie would have his vibranium arm to protect Nat when my dad shot him. If I didn’t have my genius there was no way I could do anything like you saw earlier.” Tony commented idly from where he was sitting next to Pepper who was stroking the cats that followed them into the gym. She had calmed down and was now sitting with her eyes closed leaning on Tony.

“All what we are there is here. My dad thinks after a while our blue ghosts will move on after they completed their own unfinished business or at least that’s what Al confined in him one day. It seems since Nat and Barnes are in magical bodies it’s speed up like with dad and I. As ‘non-magicals so to speak’, it probably took a few years for you and Yelena.”

Sirius Black’s enraged yell caught everyone’s attention before the spar could officially start. “Voldemort made a what?!”

***

A week after his lunch with Petunia where he discovered that his son had magic, Vernon was not surprised to receive divorce papers at work. He had joint custody if he wanted it, but he signed his rights away once he caught sight of Dudley doing magic the second time when he visited them at a London park by their new place a few days after their ‘lunch’ in a faint hope he was seeing things the first time.

After he calmed down a bit, he signed the papers, promising child support because Dudley was his son and he wasn’t that heartless. That and the law would have hound him otherwise.

Two months later.

Tony sighed as he caught a young man who was dressed as the grim reaper who had held his gaze for a few seconds then suddenly pitched forward in a dead faint, dropping the pizza box he held in the townhouse’s entry.

“K. G. please tell me my pizza I order is still edible and why did the grim reaper give it to me? Do I still have to pay for it?” Tony asked horrified as he lowered the greasy haired, needed a bath man on the carpet. Kreacher Gollum snapped his fingers and the pizza was good as new. Harry cheered. It warmed K. G’s heart.

“Stark, that’s not the grim reaper, that’s Severus Snape.” Lily gasped as she came into the entry way as Harry had run towards the door when Tony announced pizza time. Harry loved pizza.

“Your former friend became a pizza delivery dude? Well, that’s a step down.”

After Tony tracked down the real pizza guy and paid him, things got interesting.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

January 8th, 1982 Late Friday night

Professor Severus Snape was up late in Hogwarts potion labs brewing a potion that he promised himself to do as a ‘reward’ from grading. He was just in his first year and he already hated teaching with a passion. He had a Masters in Potions for Merlin’s sake. His talents were completely wasted on this idiots he had to teach. He almost broke a glass vial at that thought, but gently set it down. There were a few upper years that past their O.W.L.s who Severus had to grouchy admit weren’t half bad, but the younger ones. He kept in a shiver of horror. He dreaded next term.

Speaking of teaching, Severus eyed his old textbook on his desk that he discovered cleaning out the back cupboard. Thankfully no student found it. Severus shuddered at the thought of a mindless moron cheating on potions with it. Not to mention discovering his original spells. He shrunk it and put it into his inner pocket for safekeeping. No one will use his ideas but him. He briefly toyed with the thought of publishing some of it but no one would buy a potion book from a former Death Eater. Even if it would revolutionize the potion industry.

His attention was caught from bottling his potion, a healing balm, as the fire in his fireplace glowed green as the Headmaster stepped out with a Pensieve and ordered tea and biscuits for two from the Hogwarts kitchen. Snape ignored the patter behind him as the house elves obeyed, casting a cleaning spell over his lab equipment, and finished bottling, shrinking it to fit next to his old textbook. It was clear he wouldn’t get anymore work done for himself tonight.

Almost back to his eerie calm, Severus turned around eyeing the hovering cup of tea that almost poked him in the eye and bitterly took it, else the cup would just get in his way. He learned that the hard way. After taking a sip to be polite, it was the Headmaster after all, he voiced. “What do you want?”

“I haven’t had time to check up on Harry the past few months until now. I decided to look into my memories before going over again because something was nagging me and discovered something curious. I am under the impression that Lily might be still alive.” Albus said as he took in the shocked expression his spy had.

“Not possible. She died. No one can come back from the dead. Unless you’re really stupid.” Severus knew dark magic and magic that was darker. He missed Lily like a missing limb but he wasn’t stupid enough to try and raise her back up. Even the thought of her being alive was intoxicating so he’ll listen. He ignored the faint hope that tried to rise in his chest.

“My memories seem to suggest something else happened, that time I went to check on Harry.” Albus said gesturing towards his Pensive which he had dropped his first memory to the Dursley’s household in it.

Severus took that with a grain of salt, but his curiosity over took his caution. He had to review Albus’s memory a few times, as the first time shock made him jerk back out of the memory. He noticed a few things the next time he view it.

“Either someone is impersonating Lily to such an degree that it could fool most people or something else is happening. It’s Lily alright, but something is off.” Severus said eyeing the headmaster as they walked through the memory a third time as Albus continued to point out how Lily was different.

Severus noted that Albus had focused on just Lily and ignored the rest of the house, Severus thought he saw a shadow on the top of the stairs that might have been James. As for her sister, well Petunia was smart but needed acting skills.

“I’ll would go over there and check it out, unless you don’t want me to do so?” Snape said dryly knowing the answer was yes. Why else would Albus dangle a faint scrap of something about Lily to his spy?

Albus cringed to himself, he was a bit of a coward but whoever had Lily fooled him twice enough so Petunia left him satisfied. But he wasn’t going to mention it, he’ll never hear the end of it. “Certainly. Do you need directions?”

“I’ll be fine.” Severus nodded to Albus who went back the way he came. Early the next morning Severus found himself walking up to the number four house on which they dropped off the Potter brat.

As he rang the doorbell a second time, he noticed quite a few things out of place. First, Petunia’s yard was a mess and she always have been a neat and tidy person to the point of exasperation. That Sev knew Petunia would keep, it was an ingrained part of her personality. But this yard was very weedy and overgrown as if she didn’t care.

Second, Severus raised an eyebrow at the unwashed, unshaven heavy set man who answered the door in dirty clothes. If this was the man Petunia married, she did worse then he dreamed of which he didn’t mind. The man’s eyes, who could only have been Petunia’s husband, narrowed and bellowed, “You freaks cost me my wife and son.” Whatever the man was going to say next was lost as Severus forced himself into the house, which stank as he use Legilimency to read Vernon Dursley’s mind as the muggle was as open as a book to him, he kicked the door shut behind him.

With a curt movement in a wordless spell, Severus erased all memory of his being in that house, adding a strong urge to clean up and forget about his wife and son but for distant somewhat fond memories. He disparate to where the Potter brat, his aunt and surprising enough, magical cousin called home. A evil grin appeared when it seemed that a pizza delivery was taking place. It was easy to take the pizza boy’s place.

When Severus tried and failed to use Legilimency on the man who answered the door, who looked quite a bit like Regulus Black, it was like Severus was hit with a bludger, a red sparkling hexagon shaped bludger tinted in blue and he went down like a falling brick to his everlasting shame.

Two months earlier around the end of October 1981

When cats are reborn they know instinctively how many lives they had left to life. In the case of the Alpine, a blue eyed fluffy white rather large part-kneazle with a scowl eternally etched on his face as a result of his early life and kneazle Liho, just as large but with short blackish almost blue fur and amber eyes, they had only one life left.

Alpine was born first and was the first of four kittens, him being the only male. He was a good big brother to his exhausting siblings. But one by one they all left for other places, that’s when he meet Liho or it seemed that way when his human ‘handler’ as he dubbed Mrs. Figg who cared for him and saved him from drowning when his last owner couldn’t find a home for him. Mrs. Figg fished him out of the river somehow hearing his cries for help.

He tended to stalk out the highest or the trickiest of places or at least the ones that the other cats couldn’t possible find, so it was a surprise one day to find someone in his hiding place just above the fireplace on a high ledge that he could gather warmth from but didn’t get himself caught for the breeding season. Somehow he was intelligent enough to understand what was going on and he refused to be a stud of any sort. If he was going to make offspring, he’ll find his own mate thank you very much which was low on his life list. The others didn’t seem to care as much.

Alpine hissed low in surprise as he noticed the female who thankfully wasn’t in heat, as the rest of the females were, guess she was new and had the wits to avoid the tainted ‘love potion’ Mrs. Figg put out when she deemed it was time for more breeding.

Ironically enough, Liho was hiding from the same thing. Thankfully she had caught and eaten a few birds before Mrs. Figgs found her else she would also be on the floor wanting to be mated. She had escaped her abusive owners about a few months ago and somehow found herself warming enough to the human a few hours ago to come with her.

The two animals communicated why they were hiding and Liho made room on the ledge for Alpine. She nuzzled his head, purring softly when his claws dug deep into the scarred wood as he was affected by the other animals heats, somehow that calmed him more then his usual scratch up the whole place and make it his own.

He was usually a solitary creature apart from his lost siblings, so it was strange. A few days later after he and the female whose name he never got both were caught by surprise by Mrs. Figgs tossing of a basket onto the table. While her head was in the fire call, Alpine and Liho quickly made their way to the basket as the air from the outside drifted a scent that they thought they recognized.

‘Why is Red’s scent here? And Silver’s too. Did they finally mate properly and have a litter?!’ Liho was confused at Red and Silver’s behavior, they mated enough for dozens of kittens throughout the years she lived with them.

Alpine frowned at the excitement and sniffed the basket. ‘How do you know these scents? They are my people’s scents, Red never had a female cat just a male.’

‘My Silver only had a female. He named her Alpine and my Red named me’

‘Liho.’ Alpine decided then and there, he would hunt down his people and protect their litter. He invited the female Liho, so strange, to come with. Or as she snuck out the door that the wizard left wide open, silly male, he’ll go with her.

Thankfully it was super easy to sneak into the new home of his owners, but then their plans got stuck as many things happened at once, including a man who thankfully was taken away who smelled like a rat. They hoped that the dog man ate him. They confirmed that Red and Silver had at least one kitten, strange that his scent was different but it was probably because they hadn’t groomed him enough and some humans adopted other humans so. Alpine kept an eye on the living while Liho keep an eye on the blue ghosts who strangely smelled of the tiny kitten.

Fortunately Liho and Alpine weren’t fast enough to get to the door when their humans left making them quite upset so they snuck through the portal that opened a few days later that held their humans scents coming from it.

While playing with the young blue people who had caring hands and comforting the weepy woman who had lost her kitten, Liho and Alpine had conversed with their fellow feline who was upset that his people, who were now ghosts couldn’t see him, as he had tracked the new old scents to where he had joined up with Alpine and Liho. Apparently for some reason no one could see him. Buttercup was very put out.

All three felines hissed in distress when the dog man’s voice rose up in anger.

**

Sirius Black’s enraged yell caught everyone’s attention before the spar could officially start, making Tony get up from Pepper’s side and stake over to his ‘relatives.’ He was ticked off but didn’t show it, unless you knew what that look meant.

Nat frowned inwardly as she and Yelena stepped out of their stances and strolled to where Tony was looking peeved at his ‘relatives’ as Jamie, the Potters and Remus who strongly reminded her of Bruce for some reason, walked over their interest pipped.

Nat had to suppress a smile at how close Jamie was to her side, a guarding stance that she didn’t think he recognized from their earliest team ups. It was one he used on missions before she became exasperated one time and asked him more like ordering him to walk beside her as he walking as a bodyguard would blow their cover at the time. Their relationship softened into something less professional and more personal after that.

“Guys, we were going to discuss this later, like tomorrow since everyone is tired and had a information overload now. Jarvis please order the usual for dinner.” Tony said his tone firmly shutting down whatever the Blacks had told Sirius as the discussion had taken all afternoon and it was nearing the time Al insisted on the Stark’s feeding time. Tony confessed to his dad that Al was sort of like Edwin Jarvis in that way, and Howard nodded understanding completely.

Sirius turned around with a glare aimed at Tony who just crossed his arms adding, “Gollum show everyone to the firing range.” All the Avengers recognized that look that Sirius had. He needed to blow off some steam and destroy something. It seemed that they all did.

But before K.G. could even set up a portal as he came as soon his name was called, Nat and Jamie both shivered so hard that their bodies jerked almost making them lose their balance before Jamie caught Nat in a tight hold that helped settle their bodies. The other ones who had become the body snatchers frowned in worry while everyone else looked confused.

“Nat how long have you and Barnes been here?” Tony asked as the two keep shivering as if they were in a blizzard.

“We, we.” Nat just gave up and surrendered to her chattering teeth, the only warmth that she felt was Jamie’s body behind hers. So close that his chest and her back would have been one as his arms had clamped around her in a tight hug. It would have been nice but they were still cold and getting colder. Turning around to face Jamie made it a little warmer with her arms crossing her chest, but also a little more awkward since she was using him as a water bottle and he was trying to use her as one.

“We died the night of the 31st of October.” Lily said worried as it seemed that Nat and Jamie were starting to become frozen, shivering less and less often as they tried and slowly started to fight off whatever plagued them.

“Was it a violent death?” Tony asked as he exchanged glances with his dad as Remus recognizing that this was a private matter and Sirius needed support, hustled his friend towards the portal while the cats and ghosts besides the Potters scattered to who knows where.

Tony wasn’t quick enough to grab Nat as she started to fall but she finally shook off the shivers which went away as fast as they came but Jamie had a harder time almost being a stiff board of a person before jerking back a wild look in his eyes as his hand clutched a knife that appeared in his now silver armored arm.

“Yes and no.” James answered looked worried at the cold almost blank look that Jamie was wearing but he slowly blinked his way back to his normal as Yelena and Nat fast talked to him in Russian in soft voices he didn’t know that Nat or that Yelena even had. The silver armor and knife disappeared as fast as they appeared. It was all in a span of five minutes but to the two who just went into the cold almost burning heat and back again it felt like hours.

“Shit, just shit. Fing A.” Tony didn’t exactly swear but Yelena made up for it, thankfully in Russian as Petunia reentered the room and rushed forward, her heart jumping in her chest. She had left after Sirius enraged yell to check up on the boys.

“Nat?” Petunia wasn’t a jumpy woman but something in Nat’s face gave her an uneasy feeling that she didn’t like nor how Nat seem to slump forward giving Petunia firm hug. Petunia wasn’t a hugging person nor was Nat from what Petunia could observe, but the quick physical contact seemed to help the redhead who straightened up and walked towards the portal that was still active.

Tony discarded his idea of bring them to the warmest bedroom in his house and followed towards the firing range instead. Tony did order Jarvis to set up the highest security walls he and his dad could make with this blasted era’s technology as Pepper quietly asked Howard to lead her to the offices as she knew Yelena could handle the upcoming situation better then she could. She had a sinking feeling that Nat and Jamie’s experience was more along the lines of Yelena’s then her own.

Howard’s admiration for his newly found daughter-in-law grew as Pepper demonstrated why exactly Tony handed off the company to her with her sharp wit and pointed questions as he fast walked her towards the home office already deep into the company’s finances. Howard left Pepper in their office who started to go through the books with a keen eye. Howard squashed the urge to pour himself a stiff drink, and asked Blynken to make everyone some hot chocolate in the kitchen instead. He had a feeling they were going to need it.

Meanwhile as Remus stared in awe at the muggle firing range, which did not resemble anything he seen before, Sirius Black’s magic was becoming dangerous as he held his wand in his hand. It started to throw off sparks, something that only happened when he was getting his first wand before going to Hogwarts as he cursed the dark lord in his head and what he had done to his brother. He was torn from chewing out Reggie and hugging him, to never letting him go.

Sirius’s eyes narrowed as something moved down the long, wide strangely lit, furbished space and he snapped off a nasty spell that was almost unvoiced that blasted the human target but his eyes had already caught something else, a huge figure, another wordless spell encased that target with ice and Sirius was lost to his battle senses.

A sharp whistle make him jerk back to himself and realized that he was magically exhausted or enough, turning to see his Uncle Al, no Howard Stark offer him some hot chocolate, very rich, dark creamy drink that chased off the rest of the edge he had.

“Not as good as Edwin’s but close enough.” Howard said with a tint of sadness as Sirius’s eyes widen in surprise at the tasty drink. He didn’t know muggles had this type of chocolate. Remus chuckled at the look in Sirius’s eyes. Remus had this type before, but it was very expensive. Pepper had gotten it to him as a gift once. He always wondered where she had gotten it.

Tony smiled at that, so true and looked up at the wall in a silent command. Jarvis, who had yet to inform his boss that Vision somehow had the ways and means to slip back into their old universe, was gone, powered down the dummies and the targets that Sirius was using for the past few minutes, the sharp cracks of the muggles guns in his ears blended together enough for him to not notice when Nat and Jamie expertly shot down targets to the awe of the Potters, the boredom of Yelena who pouted that Nat got to the paintball gun first and the thoughtfulness of Remus as he noticed their aim was much better then James or Lily’s ever been, not that they were bad. The pair stopped when Howard appeared with the drinks as if Nat and Jamie realized how the hot chocolate would help them.

“Stop your playtime Black, something come up.” Sirius was about to protest but realized he had calmed down enough, took another sip of the hot chocolate and came with them to the lounge that was a few hallways over from the firing range.

Lily and James, no Nat and Jamie, held mugs that seemed to refilled on command, (it was Blynken) like it was their lifeline as their bodies started to relax once again, the warm, delicious chocolate cooling the heat and warming the cold they had experienced.

“Wait, this isn’t the townhouse is it?” Remus gasped as he looked out at a large snowy yard that ended in trees. It was also darker then he thought it was. Time zones were a pain even for wizards.

“No, once I know what was happening, everyone and I meant everyone, came to the safe house aka the compound aka the playground, wait, no the playground is in a different area somewhere. It’s in upstate New York, well away from the city and the wizarding school.” Tony added ignoring the wide eyed looks of the wizarding folk and smirking at Nat’s chuckle who had instantly recognized the place as Jamie once the hundred-yard-stare was out of his eyes looked around in awe. Trust the Starks to go all out on a safe-house. Jamie could see Howard touch everywhere with a hint of what he assume was Tony’s style.

“Ok, so you gave us hot chocolate and why is this a safe-house? Is it because of what’s happening to Nat and Jamie?” James Potter was patient up to a point and that point had past as Petunia had brought in his son and Dudley playing with muggle wooden blocks of all things after a few downing of the hot chocolate from the people who could still drink.

Yelena eyed the standing ghosts, sitting people in a semi-circle and stepped forward as Tony after a few minutes, left leaving Howard to explain as he wanted to be with Pepper. Tony’s merging wasn’t easy.

“Yes. I have a guess why I’m the spokesperson instead of anyone else. We all came here in unusual ways, all connect by Nat and Tony somehow. You all grew up or almost grew up, around magic and know the ins and outs and isn’t afraid of it, not that I am, but Nat and Jamie’s relationship with ‘magic’ isn’t a good one in our old reality. My life experiences mirrors theirs more then the Stark family.”

Yelena bit back a smile at her sister’s muttering in Russian of “No shit.” She noticed that Jamie’s hand had started to creep towards her big sister’s. How in the world did the bogeyman know Nat?

Pushing that disturbing thought to interrogate Nat later, Yelena continued. “When this universe’s magic merged with our soul self, which includes everything,our abilities and memories, it was if I had the worst 24 hour flu ever along with other things. Or in the case of Pepper and me, dragon pox. Pepper and I were young. Since we were Squibs we recovered quickly. It was almost seven days or seven days after since we had gotten here.” Yelena took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she remembered waking up in a small body age six, still with blonde hair but a sweet curious blue ghost girl peering at her in shock who was saying ‘Why are you in my body? Who are you?’

“That is, Helena caught dragon pox when she was six, and Ginny was eleven and seven days later, they were telling us all about how to function in the magical world. Our parents were too busy with their new ‘magical’ son to give a damn as they didn’t notice that their own daughters had died and pretenders had taken their place.”

As a former Black Widow, Yelena had taken the new world in stride and it helped that she was the older one when Pepper had appeared at age eleven and she was sixteen and just about to cut ties with her impossible but who still loved her in some way parents. Yelena would take it to her dying day but she was happy that Ginny stuck around to help Pepper adjust. It helped. But she had the nagging feeling that the two little blue ghosts would be going soon. Call it Black Widow’s instinct.

At this, the Potters frowned, Remus took it in with a calm expression as Sirius entertained himself with moving the wooden blocks around to Dudley and Harry’s delight. He had a disquiet feeling inside. He liked Nat and Jamie. If Yelena said her experience was on par with theirs, then it would be something bad.

Meanwhile Tony and Pepper worked side by side in the office that Tony and Howard used for business and listened silently to the conversation by way of Jarvis who relayed it all by proxy on the tv monitor.

Nat’s hand found Jamie’s as she listened to her sister talk. Yelena knew something that Nat didn’t know, Yelena had a small tell that Nat would never inform her of when she was withholding information, but Nat had a feeling that Yelena would inform them of whatever she was holding back when she was ready.

Howard interjected. “Tony and mine’s magic merge wasn’t as clean,” Ignoring Yelena’s muttering in Russian of ‘yeah right.’ “since we’re magic users. Mine was also like a illness but with all the aches and pains I ‘earned’ in our old world. Tony as well. When he came too, I asked Tony, ‘Did you ‘wake’ up with a body that was ‘sculpt’ by everything that happened in your old life?’”

Tony chuckled at making Sirius jump while Remus startled when his voice came out of nowhere. “Yes. Let’s just say I’m very glad that Regulus’s heart is young and healthy because my heart wasn’t. The experiences we went through were quickly cycled in a short time span. It came to me as dreams, intense life like dreams that started almost a week after being cast into this reality. Thankfully it didn’t really started to be serious until I was with dad.

I just thought I caught a cold as I had the sniffles a few days before I started to London for the test I was going to do. The dreams starts with something that’s significant in our lives.” Tony remembered the three months of cave living and all what happened afterwards, the good and bad.

“Bucky aka Jamie I understand why his starts with the cold,” Howard was still mentally grieving Bucky’s 70 year P.O.W. past, “but why Nat?” Howard frowned at what he hoped didn’t happen.

Yelena gave a joyless laugh, making Howard cuss at his confirmed guess. “Do you really think Jamie was the first person to be stuck in the cryostasis chamber by our ‘bosses’? Someone else had to be the unwilling subject. My sister and mama were one of the firsts after they worked out the kinks. Without them, the Winter Soldier wouldn’t have survived.”

Jamie sucked in a breath, Nat’s hand had tighten to an vice. He felt sick, why in the world would someone cryostasis a black widow? It wasn’t necessary. It didn’t make any sense, that and he never meet her beyond that four or six month mission in the early 2000’s. He had trained Black Widows before then and he knew he would have remembered her in the Red Room, not just her looks but her everything.

After Yelena broke the news of Nat’s death to her and dad, Alexei went and did something that broke the house. Mama’s face had told her that they already knew. Her muttered comment about being completely free from cryostasis now make Yelena confused and she demanded answers. Afterwards Yelena was stunned into silence but it explained so much or at least some of the little things that Nat did that Yelena, a child of the 90’s could never understand.

Yelena only volunteered that information because she knew that there was no way to go back home. Otherwise she’ll never say anything about her sister’s past. Yelena knew the explanation that Tony and the others gave was the broad strokes only and not enough for all the secrets to be revealed.

There was a reason why Nat stopped the video after she took down the guards before their ‘dad’ and Yelena started the avalanche. Wizards were stuck up idiots with a few exceptions. Like that dark lord, he and his followers were dangerous. She knew that Jamie and the others would keep what they needed to keep private.

She only explained Nat’s past now so Nat could be somewhat prepared for memories that would be confusing otherwise. She trusted Remus not to tell, the two Starks had gone through the same thing, the only one she had to keep tabs on was this way too handsome Sirius Black person. Yelena needed to talk to her sister soon as Sirius did something that make her feel ‘butterflies’ which never happened to her before. Ever.

Nat frowned at that, she wasn’t ever stuck in the freezer like Jamie was. Yelena seemed so angry at this false experience Melina told her. That’s an experience she wouldn’t have forgotten or did she? After all, the Black Widows from an early age was exposed to the cold, they were never kept warm and comfortable in the Red Room but for the youngest of the young. Their ‘bosses’ had learned that the hard way.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked as Nat looked up, a shocked as she add. “I was born in 1984, not earlier. Mom said she was cycled four time before my birth, not after. I would have known if I had been…this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Nat you were born in 1920’s and mom earlier then that. While she used her assassin skills for the cause and gained the name Iron Maiden, she was also a excellent scientist so they kept using her skills which included fine tuning the chambers.” Yelena said in Russian. “I’ll explain further sister but it’s all true.” She knew that only some of the group knew Russian and her sister’s past was her own. If Nat wanted to tell them, she’ll tell.

Nat had a vague memory of something, but she wasn’t sure what. Something about it rang true but. “How does my being born in 1928 have anything to do with Jamie and I’s shivers?”

Shivers was an understatement, it was like she had been dipped into a frozen lake. The only warmth she felt was from Jamie’s body and that had been doing something else to her body something she didn’t want to think on right now. That cold had warped into a false warmth that she knew wasn’t from biting cold, she had experienced that before, but, Nat’s eyes closed and she leaned back into the comfortable couch a dark blue, thankful that Tony and Howard had the sense not to go all 80’s on the compound, that horrible decade will be over soon. Even if she and Jamie got sleep, it felt like she’ll never catch up on her sleep. It was like she was sleep walking in dream the last few days.

“When Pepper and I went through our ‘fevers’ we experienced all our memories and felt them like it had happened. We woke up with all the knowledge, memories and muscle memories we had gained. But none of the physical scars or body toning we had. That we had to work on.” Tony commented casually to fill the silence that followed that shocking statement.

Pepper’s voice made almost everyone jump as she added in. “That’s why I am not allergic to strawberries here, before, I was terribly allergic. My body hasn’t had a baby so it’s still prenatal figure, so no heart surgeries for Tony, no other procedures done. Nat, your ‘new’ body has had a baby so it has that.” Pepper didn’t voice anything else as Nat’s eyes swarmed with unshed tears as Yelena had explained when she had gotten her period after she was sixteen and was in shock as she had expected not to have her reproductive organs as they had been removed during that age.

Yelena moved into a hug and got her shirt all nice and wet from Nat’s weeping. Jamie’s head was lowered as he tried to control his own tears and the slow but steady cold feeling that started at his left arm and started to spread.

“Once your souls and memories and whatnot merge then your bodies will not be as strange to you. It’s quite a bumpy ride though.” Howard finished as Jarvis announced that someone was at the townhouse door and was very insistent on seeing Mr. Stark right away.

Howard sighed, gulped the rest of his hot chocolate, wiping his lip with his sleeve, which to be fair wasn’t a high quality shirt as it looked and grumbling went to see whatever was the matter with his highly efficient but strange employee, Mrs. Ted ‘Andy’ Andromeda Tonks wanted now, that is he had a feeling it was her, she had been trying to get in touch with him for days about a personal matter. It kept slipping his mind and he had run out of excuses.

She must be desperate since he and Tony had never really meet her, but through Photostatic Veil which she didn’t notice as at least that part of their tech was holding up, for the most part. It was the only highly advance tech that could work as it should. Thanks to Tony’s genius and Howard’s brains.

‘Thank you Jarvis.’ Howard thought as he mentally prepared himself to become well himself as he adjusted the veil and he looked at his own face in the mirror, that is the 74 year old him.

Al Black just sighed as Howard became Howard thanks to Jarvis’ recon of his face from his ‘magical database.’ Magic in the hands of these Stark men were scary. But so exciting.

The door opened onto a sharply dress young twenty-something year old who was holding their takeout. Howard inwardly sighed to himself, if she wasn’t married and he was forty years younger.

“Yes, are you my delivery person?” The cheerful tone of voice threw off the young witch’s strive.

***

When Howard left to see who was at the door, hopefully dinner, Sirius had a question that he knew everyone had. “What’s cryostasis?” It seemed somewhat familiar but not really.

The three former assassins exchanged glances and spoke in short hand. Nat leaned forward and lifted her son to her chest, cuddling him as she answered. Harry’s body temperature was higher then a adult and to the cold Nat a cute, darling water bottle.

“It’s a way to keep someone’s body alive for decades. For instance, Jamie was born in 1917, Yelena claimed I was born in 1928, which can’t be true. They use some sort of glucose to help keep the temperature of the chamber, which is always below freezing from destroying the human body, and so a body can ‘wait’ to be revived for later missions.”

“But that’s Star Wars stuff!” Petunia exclaimed, her mind in shock. “That’s science fiction, it can’t be real.”

Lily had to bit back a smile, at least she had something to bond over with Petunia, they were both science fans, thanks to their mother. The original star wars film was something that their mother had dragged them two on a mother-daughter outing, which was amazing. It was the only thing that Lily and Petunia could talk about during Lily’s last Hogwarts years. Lily was bitter that she couldn’t see the latest movie since she was in hiding at the time.

“Your son has magic and you’re skeptical about carbon freezing someone?” Jamie asked trying to get up the nerve to leave and find the nearest room with a lock as his mind and body started drifting into the cold and at times the warmth that he and Nat were experiencing. This was not a cold or the flu or something, this was ‘magical cryostasis’ and it was coming fast. Jamie blamed the super soldier serum, thanks a lot HYDRA. Not.

Jamie landed with a thump on the floor that made Harry and Dudley start crying. Thankfully Sirius had the sense to grab Harry, tickling him to distract him as his mother’s body slumped down sideways into the couch, gone for now.

Tony who was still listening and now from the office, directed them to place Nat and Jamie in the warmest room that they had, telling Remus, Sirius and Yelena not to magic to carry them there.

Sirius grumbled a bit at that as he had his wand ready, but Yelena shot him a look and to his surprise and to Remus’s amusement he obeyed the blonde’s instructions as it seemed she had done this before. Carry someone to some place else, not cryostasis.

K.G. popped into the room to announce dinner was ready after he had urged the other house elves, fresh off of babysitting, who were rightly upset they hadn’t made dinner (muggle takeout? How dare they?), to relax and get to know the other ‘servants.’ At the moment Nod was becoming fast friends with DUM-E and Butterfingers while his parents eyed the two robots with deep distrust. But it was better then where they were.

Sirius walked behind Remus and Yelena who seemed like great friends, deep in thought. The sight of James and Lily’s bodies so cold and warm and somehow lifeless made him antsy, he wanted to go out and destroy the Death Eaters, but he knew that he couldn’t. For one Lily was marching right behind him muttering something he couldn’t make out and James was going on and on about how much better Jamie’s aim was, a bitter jealous flavor to his tone. If Sirius left again on a fruitless hunt, Lily will kill him somehow from the grave, he just knew it. He entered the open doorway and when Sirius stopped in his tracks at the sight before him.

“Andy?” Sirius’s jaw dropped as his cousin, Andromeda ‘Black’ Tonks, in a smart looking formal muggle outfit looked up from where she was going over company accounts with her new boss, Pepper Stark, who oddly enough looked like an old friend of hers when Andy was very young.

Howard and Tony were eating Chinese and waving around chopsticks as they talked in a blur.

***

Meanwhile, deep in their minds and bodies as the magic worked to weave their new occupants into their new home, Nat found herself as a bystander in her earliest memory as Jamie went on his own journey. Before her mind brought up the memory, she could only recall warmth and love that she had never knew she had had.

Nat whirled around at the sound of her father Ivan’s name being called as a carbon copy of her old body called his name while coughing as a fire raged on.

“Ivan!!” It was garbled mess, and Nat knew only she knew that the name being called was Ivan’s. (But how?)

No, wait, Nat’s mind took in the pale face and the dark hazel shot with her own beautiful green color, it was her mother. Her real mother, not Melina. But why was she dressed if it was the early 1900’s?

Nat felt a shiver go down her spine as she watched herself, a mere, almost one year old, but looked like she was six months old, (how did she know that?) thrown out the busted first floor window to a waiting man whose old, old uniform said Petrovitch. Nat followed the soldier Petrovitch through Stalingrad but was it the early 1920 or the 1940s? Nat really couldn’t tell. Some places looked the same in any decade, expectantly in Europe, as for the uniform when she went to get a closer look had morphed into a every day clothing that could be from any decade.

Nat bit back a sigh of frustration as the scene morphed into something new.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

James “Bucky”Buchanan Barnes, former Sergeant of the Howling Commandos and best friend of Steve Rogers aka Captain America woke up sending the white cat, who he swore looked like his old cat Alpine, who had been sleeping on the bed, flying towards the ground with a pissed off howl of protest who then jumped upon the other bed to sleep, curling around the black cat and closing his eyes.

Jamie sat up gasping as his last moments of his life faded from his mind as he noted that he was still dressed but his shoes, but surprisingly clean after he eased his tired but strangely energize body off the bed in search of the bathroom. Nat was out cold in the other bed with the black cat, that couldn’t be Liho could it?, sleeping on Nat’s stomach, in the excessively warm room, which considering he started out shivering made sense.

Speaking their names, Liho twitched in her sleep and Alpine opened his eyes and made a slow blink at Jamie, purring softly to his companion and Nat.

Jamie gently patted Alpine, who headbutted him in response which made Jamie smile saying, “Jarvis.”

Jarvis’s calm British voice answered his unspoken question as he stripped off everything walking to the bathroom to do his morning ablutions, eyeing the slight changes to his body more muscle mass, a body more inline of his old one, in the large mirror over the bathroom counter, knowing that all the pain and hurt his old body went through, this body was not subject to those traumas, despite the boast of wiry muscle and toning, a thin silver band where his artificial arm would have started and changed into the clean clothes that had been set out for him.

“It is November 9th, 1981, a Wednesday. It’s been three days, 12 hours and six minutes and 20 seconds. It’s late afternoon nearing 4:21. Sirs Starks are being cowered into eating by Pepper,” which Jamie snickered at, he had been at the mercy of Pepper a few times. Jarvis kept his tone light as he updated Mr. Jamie on the weather, politics and other trivial data of the 1980’s. Jarvis was please to see the racing heart had slow down from the panic that Mr. Jamie first had when he ‘woken up.’

Jarvis continued to update him as Jamie walked with a quick pace to the informal dinning area of the compound as Jarvis helpfully gave directions. He noted that he didn’t need James Potter’s glasses or even contacts now which he was thankful for. Clearly the magic that wove his soul and memories into this body determined that his new body’s eyes could do with a ‘magical eye correction’ surgery. His eyes still ached and Jamie found himself rubbing them from time to time as he walked.

He only had one kitchen knife on him and Jamie was feeling under-dressed. He needed new gear. Fast. He just hoped that Stark had his new identity all sorted away. For him and Nat.

But first Jamie had to determine something important before he could go supply shopping. He slowed as a different thought came to him, one that made him pause in seeking out company, he wasn’t ready to face anyone right now. But Jamie needed to do something so he back petaled and ducked into the gym instead, instructing Jarvis on a few things. Thankfully there were workout clothes that would fit him there.

After carefully stretching, noting where his body was up to his usual standards and where it needed work, Jamie went into training mode as his mind was still processing his magical coma, flashed back to things that were almost buried or at least deliberate forgotten about after during his time as the Winter Soldier that he had never really addressed during his years of deprogramming in Wakanda.

There was a reason why he wasn’t ready for dating when he got back from being dead for five years. There was a reason why he didn’t seek out female companionship, that awkward date aside before he first teamed up with Sam. The light flirting with Sarah Wilson was a test on taking his body back for himself. At first it gave Jamie roguish pleasure annoying the heck out of Sam. It also boosted his self esteem on his charm, meaning that he still had it. Then a few years down the road it turned into something more.

Jamie’s thoughts turned from his wife to why he was beating the crap out of a punching bag. His therapist and Sam thought he had only two lists, he had three. Because there was no one to apologize to anymore. Until now. Even if they all were victims in the end, Jamie still wanted to cross off those names on his last list. He never thought he had a chance to with Nat and now,

Jamie attack the punching bag hard enough to break it open, trying to get the recently surfaced memory of Natalia and a few other hand picked Black Widows by their handlers, he under orders, ‘sexually serviced’ under the disguise of ‘seduction training’ in addition of the few weeks he gave them combat training the few times he was out of cryostasis throughout the years.He wasn’t a stud to be gifted towards anyone.

He punched another one hard enough that got his now silver arm stuck, at the cleverly tricked abuse that Madame B and all her superiors did to the girls. It exploded as Jamie yanked his arm out. The sweat was streaming down his face or was it tears that had slipped out while he worked out?

At this point, he was breathing heavily, clearly his body needed more exercise even if his ‘new’ body had the muscles he was use to from his old body. He striped off his shirt and wiped his face down with the clean edges, noting his knuckles were starting to bruise and bleed. His hands were clearly not used to physical force, he didn’t have his usual calluses.

Jamie breathed through the calming exercises that Shuri had suggested to him, it mirror some the breathing exercises that his former trainers from his army days instructed him on. He kept breathing as he worked his body slowly in the different combat forms he knew, all the feelings that he had thought he had gotten peace with, the old scarring seemed to be ripped open anew. Or it could be that his younger body didn’t know how to process a life’s worth of experiences, being on ice for some of it aside.

Small faces of the young girls he trained and some of the older ones he bedded flashed through his mind. Jamie wanted to go to the Red Room and tear it down brick by brick. Most of them were dead by the time he got his mind back and the one he tracked down after he was unsnapped, she was the one to apologize to him for all that what she had done to him and what she did with the information she gleamed from his mind.

Nat being the one to rally the others to destroy the Red Room was a small comfort. At least Nat took that bastard down like the badass she was. As for her, at first there wasn’t time and then Nat was gone before he could apologize. He did have fun with Yelena but even with her being a Widow, it wasn’t the same if it had been Nat he was fighting beside.

Natalia was the only one that received other ‘advanced training in all areas’ from the Winter Soldier because she was the best. Even the other Black Widows weren’t as much as a born killer then she was. In bed or otherwise. He shuttered at the memory either from disgust or pleasure he didn’t know.

After he drank from the water that was nearby, Jamie stood panting but reached for a paint gun and few rubber knives, ignoring the slight shaking his hands were doing, he fought with worse before. “Jarvis load up whatever you got.” His rage was still hot enough that he had to work a little more to be calm enough to be in any sort of company.

The first thing Jamie did was shot blue paint at the cameras that were watching. He’ll train until he either puked or passed out. He didn’t deserve another chance with Natalia, even if she subconsciously thought he did.

He ignored the thought of himself being a good man.

***

Tony was eyeing the last piece of the all the works pizza, as much as he loved it, Sirius Black’s insistence to have different kinds of pizza for the past few days for every meal was rubbing him wrong. He was just about to suggest something else, like cheeseburgers when Jarvis announced that James Barnes was up and requested not to be disturbed unless request.

Sirius glared at Howard who had just taken a bit of the last piece of pizza much to his annoyance as he had reached for it. “Why doesn’t Jamie want company?”

Yelena who had already eaten and was playing with Harry and Dudley on the floor looked up at that. “Because he just came out of his memories and if as he said was a violent death he needs time to process it.”

She didn’t mention all the mental/emotional/physical that rose up from the memories. She had a small knife on her for a long time after she first woke up as a six-year-old in a new world. It didn’t matter that her new body didn’t or couldn’t know the abuse that her ‘superiors’ put her though creating a Black Widow. Thankfully for her parents her body didn’t have the reflexes to do what it had been ‘trained’ to do else she’ll be a murder at age six and half. She had years to come to terms with it, the Winter Soldier only had a few days. If he was anything like her, he’ll be hitting the gym hard.

Everyone was quiet as they finished their dinner, the boys were sent to play in the nursery after they had baths with Nod who clearly had fun with the two boys and the house elves brought out after dinner tea or coffee to the horror of the native English sitting around the kitchen table which had surprisingly comfortable chairs.

“You mean beat the crap out of something.” Tony commented as G.K. poured him a second cup of coffee, arms up in a stretch as he leaned back into his chair. He still didn’t like Barnes at all but between his dad’s stories about him, Pepper’s relationship with him after he died, he’ll tolerate the man’s presence.

Thing 2 as he dubbed Yelena in his mind flashed a sad but knowing grin at him. Sadly Thing 1 was still out from the world. He wasn’t stupid enough to voice it aloud, not until Nat was around.

“When I got out of that mind meld,” Howard ignored the snickering of his only precious son, glad that the room lifted out of its slight gloom, “I built so many things that I almost blew myself up. Granted I almost did that when I learned of the four, no wait five unforgivables.”

Before Sirius could point out his error, Jamie came into the kitchen with a bang, hair wet from a quick shower. He seemed exhausted, but his eyes were intense as he locked onto the Starks, walking as soundless as a stalking cat towards its prey.

Petunia found herself eyeing her late brother in law or in reality Jamie Barnes, he seemed quite different, his eyes had a more of a blue hue then hazel, looking good in his blue jeans, black t-shirt and combat boots with a serious look in his eyes which made Tony worried as his father paled and started to choke.

“Stark I need you to say the words, if I’m here, all here, then the words are here too. I need to make sure that the deprogramming still works. Please.” There was a slight pleading tone to Jamie’s voice. He felt relaxed enough after his intense workout that he had to stop after a twenty minutes because his body wasn’t as use to his routine as he had hoped.

Howard thankfully didn’t choke to death, oh the irony, but as he coughed from his coffee going down the wrong tube, he glared as best as he could at his one time science buddy or at least the guy who liked explosions as much as him with watery eyes and coughed out a “No.”

Jamie leaned on the table, unknowing transforming his left arm into his Wakanda arm, his face a cold mask with an unknown look in his eyes. But before he could speak, a voice behind him started to talk in multiple languages.

“Longing, rusted, furnace, daybreak, seventeen, benign, nine, homecoming, one, freight car.” Yelena’s voice was cold and in command. “Good evening soldier. Are you ready to comply?” It was a direct order, not a request. Even the wizards could pick that up.

Remus started shaking from fear or something else, as Jamie, not James, not James’s scent started to change from the sharpen knife but in a sheath to something else as his wolf senses screamed at him to get out now as James started to stiffen and then relax completely as if he was put under the unforgivable, Imperius.

Instead Remus knew he had a split second and he took it in vain. Jamie sensed he was coming and in a quick move threw him down as gently as he could, as he answered Yelena in a sarcastic tone. “No I am not ready to comply. Again.”

In answered as Remus lay gasping on the ground stunned by what happened, Yelena started to walk backwards in a quick pace towards the gym, most importantly the sparring mats. Jamie stood and followed, ignoring Lily’s call of concern. Yelena felt the relief but her body still tensed as in apprehension of an attack even if Jamie seemed to be stumbling towards her. Even a tired, exhausted Winter Soldier was dangerous.

Howard pushed back his cup, appetite gone as Yelena’s repeat of the command faded down the hallway. Pepper sighed and motioned to the remaining house elves to clean up as the stilled humans started to finally move out of their shock, it happened in less then three seconds.

Sirius was the first to react. “What in Merlin’s name was that?! Remus are you ok?”

Remus wasn’t a violent person by nature, but as the full moon came closer so did his wolf’s instincts. Sirius knew that Remus could respond faster then most humans because of that fact. Remus sat up and was in his chair before Sirius could push back his seat, rubbing his neck. He didn’t even have time to go for his wand, Jamie was that fast.

“I just got my ass handed to me in the gentlest of ways. Jamie could have snapped my neck.” Remus was startled by the glass of fire whiskey that was pushed into his hand by Tony who decided this conversation was best done drunk if his instructions to K.G. were any indication.

Alcoholic ban was lifted for a bit. Tony was the only who lifted it for occasions like these which was far and few. Pepper didn’t sigh but just poured herself a healthy amount and closed her eyes. It was abandoned a few seconds later as she was summoned to the office by her new secretary, Andy Tonks who was fast becoming a favorite of hers. Pepper was pleased with the company it wasn’t as rich as it had been during the 1980’s during Stark’s first life, but it was fast becoming to the same amount but a little slower. It probably helped that the two Starks weren’t drunk off their asses all the time.

“He was as fast as me during the full moon.” Remus paled at what he revealed but as he looked around the table, it seemed no one cared or ignored that fact until later. But for one person.

At that, Tony smirked and held out his hand, his father slapped a healthy amount of money into it with a soured look. Both Starks slightly glad to have a little humor to defuse the tense situation. “I told you he reminded me of Bruce! Instead of a big, green mean problem he has a furry one.” Tony thought something was up with the quiet man, he commented quietly to Pepper that he seemed like Bruce in his behavior at times.

“I don’t care who or what Bruce is, what was that?!” Lily was horrified at the thought of someone who was under the Imperius near her baby. Petunia looked like she was going to strip the paint off of someone. The others didn’t look any better. Petunia was just glad that her son and Harry had no idea what was happening as they were not in the room.

“That is a long story, one best told with tons of alcohol, but Pepper put her foot down with only one bottle.” Howard said as he reached across the table in vain to get Pepper’s untouched drink. He smiled as Sirius sent it toward him with his wand.

“Why was he acting like he was under the Imperius curse?” James asked, during the time that Jamie and Nat were out, he and Lily had discovered that they had free range of the compound and the surrounding area, something to do with how magic worked with the muggle technology, he zoned out when Tony started to go in depth. Lily and her sister were fascinate by it all.

“Because he was.” Yelena said coming up and snatching Pepper’s glass and downing it in one go before Howard could take it as she did with Tony’s. “That’s the Russian non-magical version of it, that is until the mind control serum was invented. Thankfully the Wakanda’s deprogramming still works. That is after a few more tries until Jamie just rolled his eyes at it. I am not looking forward to explaining the magical versions of it.”

“He’ll want to go under it wouldn’t he?” Remus asked, getting a nod from Yelena who grabbed the bottle, passed out the rest of the liquor and slammed it down so hard it cracked.

She didn’t mention that Jamie was passed out cold on the bed opposite of her sister after she dragged him there, cussing freely in all the languages she knew. He passed out after worked out his frustrations and relief again, with punching bags, sharp shooting and shadow fighting. He was free, which filled him with cold relief but he sensed Yelena wasn’t telling him everything once the code words completely were meaningless, so to get himself back into balance he trained ignoring his body’s protests. As he slipped on his own sweat from exhaustion, he was filled with heavy regret, guilt and sorrow blacking out before he hit the mat.

She did wake him up briefly for a quick shower, his reflexes were sluggish enough that she was safe. Nat was still unchanged and Yelena hoped that she’ll wake up soon. She needed her big sister. Yelena didn’t miss the unguarded look of yearning desire that he shot Nat but he was out before she could ask.

***

As Tony and Howard explain more in depth of why Jamie asked for what he did to the shocked muggle and wizards, Natasha was discovering secrets of her past that would plant doubts in her mind.

Nat blinked back the darkness as she walked towards the light clanking sound she heard as if metal was banging against wood as the last memory faded into a different room. Her blood ran cold as she and her, now-a-few-years-older, mother reached the crib at the same time. Her heart clenched in pain as she viewed her three-year-old self (she was really four, but still small for her age which is why her father thought she was younger then she was) who was curled up in a ball under the warm colorful quilt. But for her left arm which was shackled to the crib’s side with a small handcuff.

She took in the warm but also cold room, where she felt a mixture of unconditional love and cold calculating feelings. Nat’s hand ghosted through a small pair of red ballet slippers that sat next to a make shift barre in front of a small mirror. A balance beam was on the far side of the long but slightly narrow wooden flooring. A series of picture books and school workbooks were scattered around the small schooling area. She peeked out the window to see a beautiful backyard but half of it was a small obstacle course just the size for toddlers.

A unlocked part of her mind sent surprisingly strict but mostly happy memories of her learning to read, write and speak Russian, English and a few other languages. She had taken to ballet like she was born to dance and she loved doing the obstacle course and Nat frowned as little four-year-old Natalia who still looked like she was three tumbled off the balance beam and scrapping her knee.

Ivan wiped away her tears and bandage her small knee, but made her get back up on the balance beam as she was a strong girl, tears were useless in life and he knew she could do better.

The reality of Ivan, her father training her for the red room, before she was even sent, sent a cold shiver down Nat’s spine, even as little Natalia beamed up at her father as she completed her routine and earned a kiss on her forehead.

The memory faded as Ivan spoke in a whisper as her mother tried to undo the lock on her small handcuff make Nat turn in a crouch, a knife in her hand, as if she could stop what was going to happen next.

“Félicie Rosemarie Hathaway, you were named after your grandmother the famed ballerina, Félicie who married into the minor branch of the mighty Romanova family.” Ivan said a mixture of lust, longing and possessive love in voice as he reached her mother Félicie and gently spun her around so she was flush against his chest, able to breathe but not speak. He held her as she struggled to get back to the sleeping Natalia as he manoeuvre her down the hall towards his bedroom and lightly tossed her on his bed as he turned the lock on his door, eyeing the gun she held to his face with amusement.

“You’ll add rape to the list of your crimes now, Ivan? On top of kidnapping? I waited for you for days and then you came but alone. You seduced me to your bed again with empty promises of seeing our baby again. Pictures don’t count. You told me she was safe and,” Félicie’s heartbroken voice stopped as she found herself responding to her lover’s kiss, not having time to even shot. So she gave as good as she got. Let him thing he was using her, she’ll use him. In honestly, she gave of herself freely as she still loved this man, and she sensed that if she could send him into a deep sleep then she’ll find the key to her baby’s chains and run.

Afterwards as their bodies heartbeats slowing as one, Félicie let her lover’s voice wash over her as she fought against sleep. He must of drugged the wine he brought out. “I would never rape a woman. Seduce yes, rape? No. I paused and asked your consent after that first kiss when we first meet, which I did admit to not asking permission and you were the one to keep going. As you have done now. You could have shot me, but you did in a different way.” The gun was on the floor forgotten over the multiple rounds of love making much to Nat’s grimace as thankfully the memory warped to the end.

Ivan ran a hand up over his mistress’s chest as he continued to talk, “My name isn’t even Ivan, well it is, but it’s my middle name. My first name was Ulian which I gave to Natalia for her middle name, Alianovna. I kept her last name from you instead of mine to let people think she’s not related. I was sent to woo and bed, if necessary multiple times the prime ballerina of our great country as I was selected for a great honor, but instead I found myself captivated by her understudy, you. In time I did my duty, but I fall in love with you and I briefly considered taking you and our baby from this county, but as much as I loved fucking you and enjoyed your company, my cause, our cause comes first. I am completely wedded to my country, you were just my gift.”

Thankfully the woman was sound asleep during most of that one sided conversation. Ivan looked down at his naked lover, mistress, the woman who almost made him live and thought briefly of waking her and taking her again, but instead he quickly and almost painfully dislocated a few bones in her left foot under the pretense of massaging them which he did as he ‘massage’ all of her body earlier.

The memory then jumped to another cold but warm room, in which Ivan hummed a little tune as he handed over a sleep four-year-old, in reality five-year-old Natalia to Madame B, but not the Madame B that Nat knew. This one seemed colder somehow but just as deadly. An older version of the Madame B that she had trained under. A relative perhaps?

She was settled on a twin bed in a long dormitory with other girls as Ivan kissed her forehead in goodbye whispering something that even now Nat couldn’t make out. He briefly ran his hand over a young girl’s dirty blonde hair in a far bed when he walked away.

Nat’s heart twisted as she could tell her father really did love her but the love of his county and his cause came first, just like Alexei’s did but she knew unlike Alexei, Ivan would never make up for it. She blinked back tears as time flowed forward. She cried at the thought of her mother never seeing her again and never dancing again.

***

Sirius Black felt nauseous either from the liquor and he could hold his alcohol, or what Jamie had to go through before he landed here. “Here I thought the Death Eaters were sick. Why are you telling us all of this?”

Lily looked like she wanted to drink as Petunia after a few sentences in, left to check in on the children, not noticing how Remus eyed her walking away, as he admired the haircut Yelena talked her into. It was a vintage-looking classic side bangs haircut for medium length hair, she had dyed her hair back to her original color and it looked good. The awed look in her little sister’s eyes made it worth it.

Petunia had demanded Yelena to train her or at least get her started on the basics which Yelena agreed to once she asked to style Petunia’s hair as Nat had shorthanded told her briefly about Petunia the short time they were together, which was when they were in the shooting range.

Petunia came back with her precious boy and Harry who ran to Sirius who lifted him on his lap. “How do you counter act this?” She waved her hand vaguely but they knew what she meant.

Petunia had to laugh at Tony’s reply. “The Force can have a powerful effect on the weak-minded, so you’ll have to have a strong will, with thankfully we all have in spades.”

“So it doesn’t happen again and as I had said, we don’t need secrets between any of us.” Tony said thinking of how the Accords ended because of unneeded secrets.

James Potter was staring into the distance as he thought over all that he learned, while Sirius Black studied his brother well new brother who seemed to keep his emotions and his magic tightly under control as he and his dad seemed to weave their own magic into their technology which is why they didn’t end up being a Obscurial.

“You’ll going to need wands. I don’t know how you have not done any major magical accidents yet.” Sirius said thinking maybe some of old family wands would work from the family vault unless he could find a way to get Ollivander here in secret.

Howard’s chuckle was harsh. “Oh we had one, I fried out half my working circuits when I heard how you people solve your problems when regular folk catch sight of magic.” There was a reason why he firmly thought there were five unforgivables not three. The love potion was the fifth.

“Thankfully I wasn’t around at that time nor was young Sir, but he also caused a accident. I don’t think the grass on the east lawn is ever going to grow back. Ms. Lockhart please come to Pepper’s office, she needs to speak with you.” Jarvis chimed into the growing silence.

Sirius was just about to ask something, but stilled at Yelena’s reaction when he caught sight of her face as she left. It was emotionless which to him caused a sharp pain in his stomach for some reason so he bit his lip from saying anything.

The Starks left to go to their labs, while James, Lily and Petunia went to play with the boys before their bedtime. Remus excused himself to calm down and the kitchen was quiet after that.

Sirius decided to check out the garage that Tony mentioned offhand during breakfast. Maybe he’ll have a few muggle tools laying around so he could finally unpack his motorcycle and tweak it.

But before he did so he went and owl posted the bank to say he was coming and he wanted all the wands out of his vault. Even if he was disowned, he was still a Black and such could access the account.

***

Meanwhile, Enid Pettigrew grieved the downfall of her only precious foolish boy. Then head held high she went to pay her son’s unregistered Animagus fee. Her eyes narrowed into slits when the nervous young witch explained that the fee was already taken care of. Pettigrews were not to be in debt to anyone, so she owl posted a strongly written letter to Sirius Black along with the fee he paid for her son. It was the least she could do.

***
Natalia Alianovna "Natasha Romanoff" Romanova woke up and noted a few things, two warm fuzzy cats were purring up a storm on her stomach, her sister was drooling in her sleep on a armchair and Jamie was passed out cold but was dressed differently. She moved her body until Nat’s facing the wall and she started to cry. Yelena woke up and could only make out mutters of “It was never real.” But Nat knew her sister anywhere and melted into her embrace.

**

Morgan Stark Granger tiptoed past the den where her foster parents were watching something on the television and even if it was chilly, went out to the tree house. The seven and half-year-old nodded in satisfaction at the small device that she and her little sister Hermione made from the old radio that their dad let Morgan have. Hermione was smart for a two-year-old and could follow directions well.

Morgan despite being embraced as part of the Granger household for over a year and half, still wondered about her family. Morgan was found unconscious in a rowboat off the coast on a family vacation, and quickly adopted when her Granger foster family couldn’t find her parents. Morgan held her breathe as she slowly twisted the knob to a certain frequency or as her mom joked, her invisible baby-sitter.

“Friday, are you there?” Morgan’s voice wasn’t as hopeful as it sounded as she had tried and tried to rebuilt the radio into a walkie-talkie and so she kept trying different combos. She had an inkling that the A.I. company that started up in the 1977’s was her dad or at least she hoped it was her dad. Who else would be using Captain America’s shield as a logo? She snickered at the thought.

Her eyes went wide as a British voice answered her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Yelena wasn’t surprised when she opened her eyes to an empty room as it was nearing 6 a.m. Natasha was always an early riser as was Jamie if he had a good night sleep. Unlike herself who liked to sleep in when she could. But her body had been on a schedule to wake early for quite some time and it was rare of Yelena or Nat and Jamie to completely sleep the day in. It was hardwired through their old upbringing.

Yelena rolled out of bed, did her morning routine, grabbed a water bottle from the locker room and headed to the indoor running track that she had been using ever since she came here. She braided her hair back as she went.

She had informed Petunia, Sirius and Remus at breakfast the morning after Jamie and Nat went into their magical comas that they needed to get into better shape. It was strongly implied that they were to join her the next morning which was met with various results.

Petunia was wary at first. but since she wanted to do what Nat did, she joined in. Sirius boasted that he was in fine shape and Remus had been coated into a evening run before so he was ok with it. Yelena laughed at Sirius’s empty boast when she and Remus with a surprising Petunia left him in the dust in a easy walk/jog around the track a few times. Yelena was glared at but she recognized that competitiveness gleam in Sirius’s eyes and he came ever since.

Yelena let Petunia and the others wake on their own that morning to see what would happen, but was pleased to see her with a yawning Remus and Sirius who looked like he was in need of caffeine. She lead them in warm-ups stretches.

The Starks never came to the morning run as Pepper explained that her Tony and possible Howard usually ran on caffeine, building stuff and genius ideas. Pepper used to run with Yelena but as she started to dive into the working of the new Stark Corp or A.I. company most of her time was spent in the office and herding her cats, aka Tony and her new father-in-law Howard to a decent for them bedtime, which to her relief K.G. had well at hand. She was taking notes for future generations. She somehow got the Starks to do a evening run or at least some sort of exercise as both Tony and Howard were in good shape as it was.

Jamie and Nat were already on the track and by the look of them had been for quite some time. Both running in an easy manner as Yelena set the pace for her group. After making sure that they could cope on their own, sped up to where Nat was for some long overdue sister bonding and information exchange.

Remus was feeling the effects of the full moon coming so he could keep up with the running trio, but out of the spirit of companionship, he lagged behind with Petunia and Sirius. Much to the three former spies/assassins annoyance were to them, at least, slower then a snail’s pace. But they had to start somewhere. Their runner’s stitch was brutal the first few days even with the warm ups and cool downs, but were getting better.

Remus’s hearing was getting sharper. He smiled wryly to himself, he could hear them but as they talked he could only understand one word in ten. He clearly needed to start studying languages. He only knew a few French words by way of Sirius.

Speaking of such, Remus glanced to the side were Sirius was grimly keeping pace with him eyes locked on Yelena’s running figure. Petunia was ahead of the men. “Out with it Sirius, I recognized that look.” The ‘I think I might have a crush but I’m not going to do anything about it look since the person in question is scary’.

Lily Evans was the only one to put that look on Sirius’s face, but out of respect of James Potter’s bigger crush, Sirius never said anything. Besides her temper was scary. That and he confessed to Remus that even if Lily was a looker her personality was not his cup of tea. So he had great pleasure in tormenting Snape as the male fueled his hatred of his family’s dark arts leanings. Helping James was just a bonus.

“Nope.” Sirius couldn’t say anymore unlike the two very fetching witches well women ahead of him, he need his air to breathe. Gazing at Yelena’s backside was an excellent motivation. Her bluntness was a balm to his mind as his family gatherings were usually a playing in a deadly minefield of up one ish. There was a reason why all his family was sorted into Slytherin. He ran faster to get the words of his hopefully soon departed mother out of his head. “You may have been sorted into that lion’s house but deep down you’ll always be Slytherin’s Black, it’s in our blood.”

Ahead, Nat smiled to herself when she heard Yelena’s footsteps disappear behind her in masking her steps to her sister’s, as it was a exercise that they had started when they were still in Ohio. They nicknamed it follow or at least a way out of the house without mom, Melina, noticing. They always got better but still got caught.

“I see that you still do follow,” Nat commented lightly switching languages mid sentence as Yelena had explained to her in Italian that Remus hearing was nearing their own.

“Saved my life a few times here and there. Speaking of life,” Yelena gave Nat the rundown of life in the magical world and how it differed from the muggle world. As well as some of the key differences of history as the normal world didn’t have any super soldiers or anything else that they had in their own world. Some things seemed to be miraculous, like their bone growth repair potion, Skele-Gro. That'll been useful in her former life, but other parts Nat found depressingly familiar.

Human beings were the same all over, but in adding magic to the mix. “So these magical humans are stuck-up arrogant superiors?” Nat summed up, a sigh turning into a laugh. A sound that Yelena and Jamie, was running ahead trying to focus on his steps trying not ease-drop on the conversation, hadn’t heard in a long time. He was well versed in languages but not as many as a Black Widow, so whatever made Nat laughed like that eased his aching heart.

Yelena grinned as they started to slow down a tad on their run as their running companions seemed to be running out of energy. “Not all of them, but some. Most of the ‘pure blood’ ilk are like Black’s family looks down on anyone who doesn’t have ‘pure blood’. Sirius is one of the ‘white’ sheep of his family, but even white sheep sometimes still don’t fall far from the tree.” Yelena to her sister at least had a tell and Nat noticed it when she mentioned Sirius Black.

“Ok what’s up?” Nat said as Yelena had finished cool down exercises for the non-physically fit people who all staggered off to shower before having the breakfast that the house elves fixed. Instead of answering right away, Yelena kept track of her ‘students’ as they went to the locker rooms.

She motioned ‘tonight’ to Nat who nodded. Sometimes Yelena needed time to think on things. Nat wondered if it was a crush, but Yelena didn’t get physical crushes on people, so what else about Sirius Black was bugging her?

***

Petunia felt good, tired but good, she had wanted to jump in feet first, but Yelena pointed out that she’ll break a leg or something and wouldn’t be useful to anyone. So much to her annoyance, Petunia started slow, but she had to smirk to herself, at least she had a little more stigmata then the wizards. She laughed herself silly in the shower after the first run.

Clearly magic made you more lazy then ever. Her gardening and cleaning house helped her stay in somewhat shape. Petunia was eager to continue her conversations about magical herbs with Yelena and Remus, but for now she was content to see her Dudley. She also wanted to finish reading One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore that Remus let her borrow.

Remus had helped her transfer her plants to the indoor garden at the compound and the London townhouse.

***

After showering and changing clothes, Sirius staggered off to his room suite that he claimed. Sirius wasn’t as shaky as he was when he started but he still wanted to sleep a bit more. Which he did for about five minutes but then got up and showered before fixing his hair back in a ponytail. Reggie smirked at him saying, “Should I notify the Prophet social papers?”

Ironically the Black brothers got along better when Reggie was dead then he was alive. “No. What’s made you so relaxed?” Sirius was use to girls fawning over him so to make him work for it, well it was a challenge and he liked a challenge unless he was reading the signs wrong.

Reggie made a face and grudgingly admitted as Sirius would find out sooner or later. “Tony and Pepper have an rather active physical relationship or at least they took advantage of their reunion. Heck even their magic or lack of had synced up. The emotional effects are transferred so to speak, not the physical. Uncle Al tried to explain it, but his use of the muggle science with Howard’s help lost me a few sentences in.” Reggie sighed. “Breathe Sirius.”

Sirius couldn’t breath he was laughing so hard. His straight-laced little brother had only gotten laid when he was dead. Or so it seemed.

Reggie left knowing that Sirius would be useless for a while.

***

Now clean, humming a tune, Remus made himself a cup of tea and sat down in the compound dinning room. Remus was tired, but just normal tired, not the aching bones tired he usually got when his moon sharping senses started to appear. He wondered why.

He did wish he had money for the Wolfsbane Potion. He also noted that Yelena had him running the week before the full moon before and it helped some during his transformation. He still felt pain, but it wasn’t as painful and he wasn’t as restless as he usually was when he was a werewolf.

He nodded politely to Pepper Potts-Stark, as Tony and her’s wedding licenses got through, sat her load of physical paper down, got to work and looked forward to the day a decent computer and Stark-pad was made.

***

“Yelena.” Nat voiced as Yelena lead the way to breakfast which smelled delicious from the hallway to the dining area after they showered and changed clothes. “I want to see if I can find whoever Thomas, Tom was because if this Lord what’s his name is really half-blood, it’ll show up right? At least in some regular records.”

Yelena nodded as she handed a plate to Nat, loading up her own plate from the buffet style layout.

Nat was referring to paper trails or lack of them concerning the wizarding world. They kept excellent records for pure-blood magicals but the rest was a bit of quite spotty, especially if you were a muggle-born or half-blood.

Nat added some fried spiced cut-up potatoes to her already pancakes with a side of fruit on her plate to go with her slices of bacon and sausage. She mentally sighed with relief that they had coffee and not just tea. She was a black coffee drinker through and through with tea on occasions. Her fluffy drink combos didn’t count.

Yelena took a seat next to her sister Nat who was already eating at a decent pace while mentally going through her day. Which had started with her run, followed by a peek into the nursery for Harry. Harry, the traitor got distracted by his Aunt Yelena asking for her morning hug, in which Nat escaped to breakfast after handing her snuggle buddy to the annoying ray of sunshine. Yelena followed a few minutes after her.

The only other people in the dining room were Remus who was nursing a cup of tea, and Pepper who was laser focused on the A.I. business reports. Yelena and Nat knew to leave her alone when she was in this mode.

“When Jamie gets here I want to run through,” Yelena nodded as Nat explained her plan or as much as she could with her limited data.

Yelena volunteered to see if the London libraries had any information about a Tom who at age eleven when to a private school. If this Tom was as old as Lily had described him to Yelena a few days ago, then he’ll be in his early 50’s and he would be born before the second world war.

“Why look in the muggle world for Voldemort origins?” Remus asked coming over to sit across the round table. His hearing was getting good as the full moon came closer and the topic peeked his interest since he was across the dining room.

“Dark Tom as I am now naming him, is a half-blood. I take it Sirius didn’t update you on this information?” Nat asked, noting he looked like he was coming down with something as she savored her breakfast. After letting out her emotions and her workout this morning she was feeling more like her regular self. The run with Yelena and eyeing Jamie as he ran past her perked her up.

“The Dark Lord is a half-blood?! How did you figure that?” Remus asked shocked, not noticing Yelena’s muttering of ‘food for my moon puppy’ with the arrival of Jamie as she passed him on the way to the compound kitchen to get a bunch of moon cakes she made last night. The house elves were not happy with her in their domain. But she worn them down days ago. Or so she hoped.

“Because he targeted our half-blood baby,” Jamie emphasizing ‘half-blood and then full-blood’ “Harry and not the full-blood baby Neville Longbottom. That reminds me, we need to set up a watch on the family.” Jamie said smoothly as he sat down next to Nat ignoring her slight shuffle away from him.

They had things to discuss later. Much later. Jamie kept his frustrated amusement to himself since he was watching Nat on the run and knew she was watching back. At least only Yelena could pick up on it with her muttered ‘get a room’ comment as she sprinted past him. He had to snort at that. Like that’ll ever happen. The Potters would differ.

Nat with Jamie’s input gave their account of what happened when they have arrived in this different England and how they figured out that the Dark Lord was a half blood. Remus almost snorted his tea when Nat described how she took down Wormtail with baby power, as it was lethal to small rodents and caused him to become human or die.

Remus listened to their reasoning for a watch, agreeing with her, volunteering to explain to the Longbottoms why they needed to keep up a watch. Sirius would just annoy Lady Longbottom. Lady Longbottom found Remus a little more tolerably. He noted to owl Lady Longbottom later.

Remus wondered if his dad knew this Tom as he probably went to school with him, not they were in the same year but Remus made another mental note to owl his dad just to check after breakfast.

An few minutes later into a very detailed discussion concerning the Sacred Twenty-Eight Houses and how it became so, since Remus at age eleven why it mattered to Sirius’s relatives, realized that they were skillfully and sneakingly tag teaming him for any and all information about the wizarding world customs, day to day living and traditions that might be useful, with Yelena slyly guiding the questions with innocent remarks as she was a Squib and didn’t know much about the pure-breed world or so she had led Remus to believe when they first meet.

Sirius joined him adding his suggestions when he came to breakfast on who they thought was a Death Eater as the Daily Prophet only skimmed the suggestions of loyal followers as it was controlled by the Malfoy family as Nat had read the so called ‘newspaper’ earlier that morning. It was more of a gossip rag then the Witch Weekly magazine.

Yelena had only scratched the surface with Nat during their run. Amelia Bones was having a heck of a time netting any so-called followers since they were a slippery bunch and had good alibis among other things. The Malfoys especially. The Lestrange trio had disappeared.

“I need to go shopping. You mentioned something about dragon leather boots?” Jamie directed the conversation to where he needed it to go. He’ll get the load down later.

Sirius not usually one for shopping, lit up and started to explain were you could get different magical items as Yelena put in her two cents. He loved his dragon leather boots.

Sirius fished some magical order catalogs out of nowhere onto the table, adding that the Goblins at Gringotts would be sending wands over from the family vault. Hopefully the displaced travelers would find a match from there if not, he’ll call in a wand maker. Or he thought so until a owl showed up with a letter from Gringotts.

Nat was in a heated discussion with Jamie of what kind of dragonskin armor and boots she needed when her small ray of sunshine slammed into her side, squealing, “Mommy!!”

Nat couldn’t help herself, smiling brightly as she hugged Harry tightly, raining kisses on his head which made him squirm and escape to Jamie’s arms who tossed him into the air making him scream in delight.

Then onto breakfast as he and Dudley had already gotten dressed for the day, which according to Petunia, was finishing cleaning out what she and Dudley wanted from their old home by way of the house elf express as Dudley called it as they had done for the past few days. It was a bittersweet experience.

Petunia ate her breakfast after she had feed Dudley as Harry was now just eating with Jamie’s help. She was still slightly distrusting of the house elves and it was a good bonding experience.

It also gave her a chance to talk to James and Lily as they spent time with their nephew. The past few days gave Lily and Petunia a chance to slowly rebuilt their once strong sisterly bond. James formally, a little over the top formally apologized. James was serious about his apology, so Petunia forgave him for the one and only time he and Lily came to dinner with her and Vernon.

Sirius floated a few more plates towards the table and held two cups of tea. The extra plate was for Remus, Sirius thought he looked thinner then the last time they spend anytime together. “So what were you talking about?”

“Just getting our footing in the magical world since we are still a bit clueless.” Nat said biting into her bacon humming in delight. She fell in love with bacon when she was in Ohio during her three year undercover mission with Yelena when she was young.

Speaking of being young, “Yelena tells me that if you’re magical, you’ll sent off to boarding school and divided into houses. So what’s the parent/teacher conferences and Parent’s Day like at Hogwarts?”

Nat knew that Hogwarts didn’t have that, which to her, if Harry was going there, she’ll make them have that. Freaking ridiculous. Jamie signaled his agreement. Boarding schools were the worst, his sister Rebecca was sent off to one when their dad had died and she hated it.

Petunia’s bitter voice answered with a wishful tone to it. “They don’t have that in their precious Hogwarts. Non-magicals only can go to see Hogwarts when someone graduates. That was the first and only time I got to see where my sister went to school and we didn’t even get a tour. The closest I got to see magic was when we dropped off Lily at the train station, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.”

Lily sighed, the magical world was so behind in many ways. “Yes, we need Parent’s Day and parent/teacher conferences. It would probably help the non-magical parents be more at ease to sending their child or children off to a year-long boarding school. Being in hiding for almost a year really reshaped our thinking on things. That and Stark tech is almost like magic itself.”

“Oh please, Stark Technology, new name finally pending, is magic. After all magic is just advanced technology we hadn’t figured out yet.” Tony said as he was being dragged along with his dad by K.G.’s magic. He was eyeing the food as his stomach growled in hunger.

Tony, Howard, Pepper and at times Yelena had been working hard on the practical side of things. Tony had the house elves dump everyone’s new identities, complete with paper trails in the regular world in their rooms the first day they were there. Well second day as a few tweaks had to be made during the night to the now Mr. and Mrs. Romanova(off)-Barnes family, name still in flux. At least Pepper had some documents and it was easy to add her to the Stark family as well as Yelena who wanted to be under Nat’s new name aka Barnes’s sister-in-law.

Needless to say they were all now under the protection and power of the Stark family or at least in the regular world. They were still working on the magical side of things. Tony wondered if he’ll ever get a chance to dust off the other identities that he and dear old dad had made as soon as they reunited.

Pepper walked behind them with a small smirk as she had got up to go see if she could get them to at least breakfast. It turns out if you order the house elves, even jokingly to ‘keep me feed and drag me to food if it’s too dangerous to have it in the lab’, they would take it seriously.

K.G. was still slightly pink from all the praise that Pepper had heaped on him when she found that out.
The Potter elves were working hard to earn Pepper’s praise because she treated them like a good master should.

The house elves after a closed meeting, all privately vowed to keep Mrs. Potts-Stark safe along with all their families. All the house elves were getting use to their new house elf uniforms or as Pepper and Yelena had tag teamed them into wearing ‘elf house clothing’ which was sturdy work clothes that had their old but very cleaned pillow case threads woven into their ‘new outfits’ so in way, they never got ‘clothes’ and still could work for the families.

Sirius and Remus frowned. “What do you mean reshape your thinking?” Sirius said around a mouth of food, making Yelena sigh to herself. Sometimes he was such a child. A very attractive child.

Lily and James had a wordless conversation and then James took the lead as Lily was distracting the boys with trying to fly a spoon, which to her fellow ghosts, was rapidly passing over even Al’s abilities for moving things. To their eternal jealously. She wasn’t brilliant for nothing.

James took a breath letting it out slowly, even if he couldn’t breath, it was a habit. “If we were to sort our new friends where would they go? I would say Gryffindor, Lily thought Ravenclaw for Petunia, Nat and Yelena, the Starks would be clearly Slytherin, but I would put Nat in there as well. Jamie would be a fellow Gryffindor.”

Remus realized that he offered information on the magical world that otherwise he wouldn’t have thought of. It took courage to just ask on unknown topics. If he didn’t know how brave the trio were before, he’ll put them all in Slytherin. But he thought they belonged in Gryffindor from their former lives.

Jamie gave a brief laugh in amusement of the Potter’s guesses. “From what you all have described to us of the houses, at age eleven I would not be in Gryffindor. I would be in a totally different house while getting my punk of a best friend out of his scrapes. He hated bullies and fought for the good of all. He’s a total Gryffindor, but he’s also a total Hufflepuff, after all I’ll have to defend my fellow housemate. Steve was always a stupid punk. But later in life I was definitively a Gryffindor.” He didn’t mention that when he was the Winter Soldier he would have been a Slytherin. At times he still would be, but he would be Hufflepuff through and through with a dash of his old Gryffindor.

Nat was also amused but didn’t show it. “I can see why you would put me in Slytherin but I would argue I would be a great Ravenclaw. Information was my currency in life. My best friend Clint would be in Hufflepuff as well. But if he was sorted in Hogwarts earlier in life, it might be Slytherin.” It totally would have been that house considering Clint’s old background before he went legit.

Remus was nodding thoughtfully as Wormtail crossed his mind, he was a hatstall after all. Remus could easily see him in Slytherin. Sirius had dropped his fork in shock. He was beginning to like these people, some more then others. Sirius’s mouth twisted in disgust but he hide it quickly. Yelena noticed though and called he out on it.

“You have a problem with people being in multiple houses or just Slytherin? Because with how I was raised, I would be Slytherin, but I think Hufflepuff would have suited me just fine.” She had left earlier and came back with a plate of food that smelled delicious to Remus which she put down near him.

Sirius’s mouth moved faster then his brain to mouth filter as Nat winked at her in agreement. “Slytherins are evil, Ravenclaws are just seeking knowledge and Hufflepuff? Are you kidding me?! That’s the leftover house. They’ll useless.”

Surprisingly enough it wasn’t Lily or Remus who came to the Hufflepuff’s defence but James who stared at his best friend with a serious face. “Hufflepuff are the home guard of Hogwarts or they should be as their animal is amazing, have you looked up what a badger can do? It can take on wolves! Wolves Sirius! While the Snakes, well some real snakes are useful, garden snakes for instance. The Slytherins get the insider information for our house. The Gryffindors so we can act with swiftness as lions do, while the Ravenclaws use the knowledge they gained to arm all of us, like the ravens they are named after. Quite intelligent birds.” James shrugged at the astonished looks on Petunia, Remus and Sirius faces as he finished listing the houses on his fingers.

He wasn’t much of a avid reader during school but a door to door non-magical seller of an World Encyclopedia set was really eager, so James bought a set to stop him from coming by. He would have just erased the guy’s memory but the person was a relative of a fellow Gryffindor. Ironically during their year of hiding it was something to read. It probably didn’t help Lily’s nerves when he made the pictures and words combine into a sort of hologram from the television show Star Trek or that’s what Lily thought it looked like. It wasn’t a new set but one that was at least two years old, much to Lily’s amusement, but she thought the seller needed the money so she didn’t say anything. The betrayal in James’s eyes when he finally thought to look at the publication date was priceless.

“As Lily said, we did some thinking while being stuck in the house for all that time. Not all Gryffindors are outstandingly good, case in point, Wormtail. Sneaky little snake. Remus could have been a good Hufflepuff as with you Sirius. Remus would fit right into Ravenclaw. As for Slytherins, not all of them are bad. Andy Tonks is pretty neat. Snape meh.” He didn’t really hate or despise the man anymore but he didn’t like him either. Out of sight, out of mind and all of that.

James had a few suspicious theories he needed to run by Jamie and Nat and possibly her sister Yelena. Besides there was that magical life debt that Harry had inherited. He mentally crackled with glee with what he’ll do with that bit of blackmail.

Remus smiled at James’s comments. It seemed that he had done some thinking while stuck in a house with Lily and Harry. “I agree. I might not like Snape but I don’t wish him ill either.” Remus never said but he though James did the right thing rescuing Snape from him while he was turning into a werewolf. Remus didn’t wish that fate on anyone, even ones he considered his enemies. Then it went again all down hill that spring at least for Lily and Snape’s relationship. That also make Lily ignore James all of sixth year or most of it.

“You’re meh on Snape? That slimy git? You hate Snivellus! Unless you didn’t mean what you said in fifth year after finals?”

“I was a jealous, envious fifteen-year-old Sirius! Snape always had feelings for Lily and that’s why I treated him like crap. I wanted her and he had her as a very close friend. Heck, if we, if I had treated him differently on the Hogwarts Express, we could have been friends with him Sirius!”

“Friends with him? What happened to you James?! You used to be fun!” Sirius was feeling like he didn’t know his best friend.

James and Sirius started talking over each other so fast no one could understand what they were saying but for a few sentences.

“I matured Sirius. I have a family! If someone treated Harry the way I treated my…” James mentally sighed. He loved Sirius dearly but his family’s Black traits were frustrating at times.

“Oh please. I hope I….” Sirius loved James like his own brother, better even, but this was taking it too far.

“Oh grow up and take back what you said about…”

Lily was just sad, James had done some growing up while in seventh year and during their marriage and it seemed that Sirius never did.

Remus felt his hands clench in fists and at last he did something he should have done when he was made Perfect. He was so tired of this and they weren’t school children anymore.

“Enough!” Remus stood and roared in a soft whisper because of the boys who were gazing around confused at the shouting, swishing his wand in a gesture that silenced Sirius who glared at Remus who gazed at his friends with a teacher’s firmness, one that boarded on Professor McGonagall’s you have detention face. Or so James thought. Sirius was itching for a fight as his wand started to spark but it faded with Remus’s last words.

“If we were still in school, you both would lose house points, have detention separately as in different days and I don’t know what else.” Remus sighed, then absently stuffed the last salmon blueberry snack Yelena had set down near his plate as he had finished the platter.

“I never did anything to curb your vicariousness towards Snape. Nor any of the nastier ‘jokes’ you pulled. I failed at my duties as a Perfect because I was so afraid of losing my only friends that I did nothing.” Remus canceled the spell, sitting down heavily. He didn’t mean to let his fears out but with the full moon approaching rapidly his emotions were running high.

He blinked as Harry climbed into his nap as Yelena passed another plate of her snack thing. “No Harry, these are just for Remus. Moon cakes for my moon puppy.” Harry giggled when he was passed to eager to please Jamie as Sirius walked off in a huff with the Potter’s running after him.

“Yelena please come to Pepper’s office.” Jarvis interrupted Nat’s thought process and Remus’s dawning horror but he still ate the ‘moon cakes’.

Yelena muttered something in Russian which made Nat and Jamie smirk and she flounced off to her little big sister’s office.

“What did she say?” Remus asked once he finished eating. He had been silent as Lily .

“She hoped it wasn’t more paperwork to sign as the Starks had set up a monthly allowance for her and I’m assuming the rest of us as well.” Nat slide the shopping list over to Jamie who quickly nodded his approval. Yelena already gave her input.

Remus was drinking his second or fourth cup of the really good tea, he started to lose count when Nat asked about Yelena’s ‘moon puppy’. Yelena had waxed really bad poetry about her dog that only appeared in the moonlight of a full moon or something during their run. She was super excited for Nat to meet him.

Remus coughed up his tea as the topic that he thought died off came back to life. “Moon puppy?” He gasped once he could breathe again.

“Yeah. With my luck she befriended a werewolf.” Jamie grouched jokingly as he was well aware of Yelena’s love of all things canine. “She used to have a golden retriever named Fanny that unknown to her had mated with a half wolf and Yelena was over the moon at that discovery as it turned out that combination made a great guard dog.”

Jamie went on to explain what happened to the litter. One ended up at the Barton farm, one with Yelena and the last with the Wilson family much to his dismay. He was more of a cat person.

Remus had a sinking feeling in his stomach, the last few full moons as several things clicked in his mind.

“I think she did.” Remus said with slight horror as the taste of the moon cakes as Nat dubbed them threatened to climb back up out of his stomach.

“Well I’m not surprised.” Nat looked up from her almost done plate, she had went back for seconds at the pale face of Remus. “She always liked dogs and she could deal with a crossbreed like that. The dog not the werewolf. What makes them so dangerous anyway?”

The Starks had left as soon as they had loaded up their plates with what they wanted so they didn’t get caught up in the discussions.

***

Pepper thankfully was one of those people who didn’t get red and puffy when she cried else her face would have been a mess right now. Yelena on the other hand looked a mess as she held her younger blue mini-me in a hug whispering things in Russian she still didn’t catch.

“Are you sure? You can stay and meet Morgan. She’ll love to have more friends to play with.” Pepper knew she was clutching at straws but the thought of Ginny and Lena moving on was heartbreaking.

Ginny grinned, her front tooth eternally missing making her very adorable. “Oh we meet your daughter, she’s awesome. She was talking to Jarvis when we popped over to her house. She’ll be coming over her with her family in a few days. You’ll love the Grangers. They’re dentists you know.”

Pepper paused in getting another tissue as the girls blue form became lighter. “Not the Grangers from Camden Dental Centre?”

“Yep. I know your Starks had been wanting dentists on the payroll but I think they’ll cave when they see the advance of working in the Stark Technology.”

“Anything else I need to know before you leave to see grandmama?” Yelena said jokingly as her first friends of the magical world faded away. Grandmama who had died when Pepper was 14 was the only one of the family who could see her ghost grandchildren, after all that’s how she communicated with her husband for so long. Or so she claimed.

The two little ghosts eyed each other with mysterious smiles. “Nah that covers it.”

That did not cover the situation, but Pepper and Yelena were quite distracted by the huge blue cat that appeared when their long-time companions went off on the next stage of their journey mewling up a storm. Sadly for Buttercup, the Potters were off on a Diagon Alley trip with Sirius who had to listen to a one-sided conversation about many things.

***

Sirius Black fumed as he stomped out of the travel portal that K.G. made him at a discreet location, giving Sirius until 5 p.m. England time, 8 a.m. New York time to complete his shopping as that was the time Petunia set as she and the house elves finished packing up what she wanted out of her old house. It was going to be a very long day.

Sirius had to go to Gringotts personally as the goblins refused to mail anything out as the letter he got back said. Or as Gringotts put it, the Vaults needed a personal touch thank you very much. We don’t touch wizard’s wands. Or as it was noted, they couldn’t as it would have violated the agreement they had with the wizards, much to their dismay.

He also somehow became Nat, Jamie and Yelena’s shopping donkey as he had a list of magical items that she knew that the trio needed. It was almost two feet long. Yelena had pointed out when she was coming back from Pepper’s office with money to give him, that he knew Diagon Alley better then she did. Squibs weren’t as well treated as a Black would be. K. G. listened to her anyway by way of Pepper. Sirius was not his master.

Hence the shopping spree by way of Sirius who was not happy with many things, but thankfully could just ship all the purchases to the townhouse/compound by way of a notice me not K.G. who tossed them into a small portal when no one was looking. Nod had gotten clean up duty from his parents.

“Oh Sirius you can’t stay mad at me forever. I’m still me but a little less idiotic.” Potter rambled on as Lily had taken it upon her self to see if their was any good gossip, after all it was nearing the holidays.

Sirius with clinched teeth and a overly polite tone of voice requested to go to the Black vaults. He let James, no dang it Potter’s voice go in one ear and out the other as Sirius gathered up what he needed from his family vaults, and went to Garrick Ollivander’s to get his family’s wands check since Lily who was bursting with some secret pointed out that the wands might not want to be passed onto someone else or might be broken in some way.

***

As the hidden bell chimed to let Garrick know a customer had come he silently apparating so it appeared he was just there. “Sirius Black, wand …” Garrick’s voice tapered off into silence as he gazed at Sirius’s companions who whispered ‘Do you think he is seeing us?’

“Yes. Now what brings the Potters and a Black to my shop?” Garrick’s dad Gervaise, chose that moment to pop up with a cheerily hello! He was a blue force ghost as well.

Sirius’s eyes widened as he yelped, scattering the wands he held in his hand everywhere. Which to that action had Gervaise quickly laying them out on the counter, turning the open sign to closed as he did so.

The Black wands didn’t want to go to anyone else, so back to the Vault they went. The Ollivanders on the other hand, went eagerly with Sirius back to the compound a few hours later.

After all, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who else could say that you made wands for time traveling dimensional hopping people?

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Garrick Ollivander keep his feet, but not his stomach, throwing up the contents as the effects of the port-key fading down to a whisper as his wife Belinda wandlessly cleaned up the vomit and guided her shaken husband to his favorite armchair by the fireplace which popped cheerfully. He usually apparate home or use the Floo network so to use his emergency port-key something was bothering him.

Contrary to rumors, the Ollivanders did not live in their shop but had a nice cottage on a acre in the countryside which was necessary for the peace and quiet of wand making. His dad, Gervaise moved the liquor bottle closer to his son, who eyed it, sighed and poured a thumb full into his hot cup of tea.

“What has you so rattled?” Belinda said as she sipped her own tea, the sky pitched black but for the stars as it was nearing the next day. Gervaise had come by to tell her that Garrick had a tricky wand customer and it would be a while. Usually a while would mean up to three hours but this was almost double that.

Gervaise was busy putting away the wands that didn’t suit and pull out different wood types and core materials that might work in the workshop. A wand-maker usually could tell at a glance what a person’s personality would work with each wand but these three unique customers, well.

“I have to make six wands for three different people within a month or two. There were two other people, one unexpected, that got their wands. I hoped to get them all settled today, but,” Garrick for once felt his old age. He seriously started to regret letting his son Oliver and his daughter Aisling explore life beyond his wand training.

But on the other hand their training might prove useful. “I’m going to need help with this. All of these people are tricky customers, more so then usual. Please have Oliver and Aisling here as soon as possible. The shop will be closed for a week or so. We have a lot of work to do.” Garrick eased his tired body into sleep. He would get back to his old self once upon awakening. He liked challenges but this one was a dozy. They might even revolutionary the way they made wands, if it worked. If.

The day after they got their summons from their father, Aisling and Oliver, who decided to go and expand their wand-making skills with different wand-makers, were puzzled to see their usually calm and collected at least during his wand making, pace in his well sun lit workshop a few yards beyond the house they once called home close by the forest glen where for generations the Ollivanders gathered supplies.

“Best start before we arrived at the Stark workplace son.” Gervaise offered as he knew how his son was baffled at what he had found. He thought the wands would be a easy fix, only a few days, but as a Ollivander, he was up for the challenge, but not on his lonesome.

It had been at least a few hours before the Ollivanders were ready to leave London, they had to pack up shop after all.

Sirius found himself sending K.G. to Petunia who was ready to go home and take a quick nap with the yawning boys as Harry wanted to see Duddy’s house properly, as Sirius waited for over two hours as the Ollivanders quizzed the Potters on who these people were and so on. Or as much as possible, which wasn’t much. That said, the three trunks of wands were miniaturized, shoved into pockets and off they went. For once the sign said closed to the puzzlement of his customers.

As soon as the magical portal closed, which was interesting all by itself, Garrick stopped walking at the sound of an invisible voice that even had his dad look around in confusion. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Garrick was half listening to Lily’s explanation of the voice.

“Welcome back Mr. Black. Sirs this way to Sirs playground.” Jarvis’s voice guided them to a part of the compound that Sirius and the Potters haven’t been in yet. Reggie and Uncle Al joined the group half-way to the ‘Sirs playground’ aka workshop/lab.

Uncle Al had a broad smirk on his face, while Reggie looked put out about something, grumbling something about ‘stupid bets’ that Sirius ignored for the entertainment on the wand-makers faces as they walked towards glass doors that slide apart on their own.

The Ollivanders could sense the magic that ran through the place but it was unlike any magic that they have ever encountered. There was something purely muggle about the place, but at the same time somehow magical. It was quite confusing.

Unlike some wizards, the Ollivanders did interact with the non-magical world, some magical wood was only accessed through muggle means as they were in a protected muggle forestry and ironically hard to come by since some magical trees flourished with their muggle counterparts and any sort of magic but their own disruption their growth.

It was like Stark’s workshop/lab in London but bigger almost as big as the Ministry of Magic lobby with what Sirius assumed was electrical muggle stuff. Remus was doing something with his wand and a suit of moving armor in Gryffindor colors. Sirius had only seen the garage when he worked on his motorcycle.

Sirius’s thoughts came to a halt at the sight of Jamie expertly giving Howard Stark a manicure who was sitting in a comfortable armchair. A bright eye watering pink while his toes had bright yellow nail polish with sparkles on his washed saddled feet.

“What in Merlin’s balls is this?” Sirius exclaimed while James laughed in the background as Lily made her way to the side of the room that to his eyes looked like a potion lab but brighter and cleaner that had a concentrating Nat and Yelena who was instructing her on how to make simple potions or as much as a Squib could. A exasperated looking Blinken stood ready nearby. He did not look good.

“I told you, Howard lost a bet during the war and Jamie is collecting. I’m just glad it’s not me.” Reggie said exasperated. Uncle Al was complimenting on Howard’s choice of nail polish, apparently they were Morgan’s favorite colors much to her dad’s annoyance. It turns out he favored Gryffindor colors.

Garrick’s eyes caught the expertly hidden haunted look in Jamie’s hazel blue eyes so different from James Potter’s hazel brown that always twinkled with mischief-making. This Jamie was a different person from James Potter in almost all ways. Spirit wise, as for the body it was almost the same as with that Lily looking person at the far end of the large room.

“What was the bet?” Garrick usually could at least pinpoint what kind of wand would suit each magical user but he usually worked with eleven-year-olds…and this man had seen death, caused it even. There was a reason why the eyes were the window to the soul. He wondered if the other people had the same sort of eyes.

A sudden boom rocked through the room as hidden fans automatically clicked on clearing away the smoke. Garrick and Gervaise didn’t move but instead observed as the moving armor, Remus, Sirius with pulled wands and Jamie with the nail file in a silver armored garbed left arm raced towards the side of the room where it originated.

Which if his magical senses could tell, along with the purple and pink cloud of a potion making gone wrong. Not wrong enough to cause serious injury, but enough to give a potion maker pause. Sometimes wizards and witches never grasped the details of potion making.

Howard sighed wearily from where he was sitting, his left pinkie and ring fingers still unpainted. “Not again. That woman is relentless. Perfect match for Bucky, that is Jamie. But don’t tell him I said that.” Howard said hurriedly. He had heard enough stories about Romanoff to keep his mouth shut.

Raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the fans, which to Garrick’s surprise was making quick work of the magical smoke, he could see something translucent protecting the still hazy trio that had be flung away from a still burning and warped caldron but it wasn’t a magical shield. “Ms. Romanoff give it up, it’ll be instinctive or not. At least that’s what Yelena said. For the third time, stop trying to destroy my lab. You can do simple potions, be thankful for that small bit of magic.”

“Our lab dad! Give it up Nat, admit when you’re beat.” A man who looked like the grumpy Regulus Black if he had a go-tee, walked out of the suit which then in a brilliant display of transfiguration became a briefcase painted with Gryffindor colors. Garrick heard his dad mutter about magic, but he wasn’t so sure. Some magic yes, but something else as well.

Lily Potter was arguing with her living twin who appeared to be the ‘Nat’ while ‘the man who looked like the grumpy Regulus Black’, was eyeing Sirius with concealed interest as Sirius, in a discreetly Black way was fussing over the lone blonde who gave Sirius a unconcerned look.

Yelena let Sirius help her out but quickly pulled her hand from his as she fought to contain the amused smile off her face as Jamie fussed over Nat or at least eyed her for injuries from head to toe with an expert eye.

“You two ok?” Sirius voiced let his wand sent out a discrete or so he thought injury spell wash over the two women.

Nat felt the spell wash over her and it got rid of some of the aches and pains from when she was blown back from the now unusable cauldron as Jarvis’s shielding had automatically flickered on. She shook her head at Lily’s unspoken question of what happened here?

Nat exchanged a wordless conversation with Yelena. “We had worse. We’re fine. Just was hoping to be a potion genius like Lily but since potions and cooking are somehow related. We’ll going to need someone else to make Lupin his potion.” She noticed that there were unfamiliar people in the room so she censored her words.

Jamie picked up on her unspoken finish, flexing his left hand to go back to the flesh one and palming the the now unneeded nail file into a throwing position. “You can do simple things with cooking but not more the that. I always wanted to use your inedible cooking for interrogation.”

He grinned as to soften the blow as Yelena snickered but Nat just waved her hand dismissing it. She knew her cooking skills were nonexistence, she just had hoped that they didn’t come through with her and some of Lily’s potion making had stuck around. Oh well.

Lily Potter just shook her head at the mess Nat made at one of the most simpler potions ever made. She was impressed at the lab like set up, she always wondered if a science type lab would be better more making potions. It was sad she would never get a change to use it. Oh well. Or could she?

“Barnes come back and finish the job or I’ll have to start painting my own nails.” Howard commanded as the fussing over the unhurt women started to wind down.

“You paint those nails Howard and I’ll find a way to make your hair into a very fancy french braid.” Jamie threatened back as he pushed Nat and Yelena into showering. The potion, a very simple one that didn’t burn or injury on contact with the skin still covered them with a sparkly substance that hurt his eyes if he looked at it too long.

“You can do my hair at anytime Jamie.” Nat muttered in Russian, soft enough that only Yelena heard and laughed her way down the hallway. Now just to get Sirius’s concerned grey eyes out of her head and the urge to braid his black hair. Her hand tingled with the softness of what she did accidentally touch when he helped her up on her feet.

Jamie didn’t answer but turned, throwing the nail file on the TV tray he was using as a makeshift holding tray, not hitting anything else on the way as he strolled back to Howard who wiggled his fingers at him.

Jamie muttered something in Wakandan that only the Blinken picked up making his eyes widen in a unknown emotion that was quickly masked before anyone could glance his way. Blinken had tried to wash off the potion but it didn’t work, so only a shower would do.

The Ollivanders noted that his left arm was bare skin, not the armor that appeared. Something nagged at Gervaise, that silver armor seems so familiar somehow. Was it Goblin made? Elf? He knew he saw that metal somewhere else but where? It nagged at him.

“So how did you get roped into learning how to do such excellent nails Bucky?” Tony said having made introductions all around while Jamie had taken care of the two stubborn Black Widows for the wand makers benefit of who was who. The Ollivanders were just grateful for Tony’s name.

Jamie grinned brightly at him, something that transformed his face and eyes which made the Ollivanders reformulate what sort of wand they should give him. “One word. Sisters.”

“I thought you only had one sister Rebecca?” Howard questioned as he watched the wand-makers set up their wares on some unused long clean and uncluttered worktable that DUM-E with Jarvis’s help, or with DUM-E’s unwanted help.

Butterfingers was banned from the lab as it turned out that he didn’t mix with potions and was now pouting in the children’s room. Thankfully at that point Nod came to play as he always did making the wand-makers more at ease and getting DUM-E away from the table, leading him away, saying Butterfingers was lonely.

Howard was itching to open the boxes, especially the really dusty ones. The longer something was unused the more it would be valuable. Or at least could be used for something in a pinch. Or something like that, as his dad was good at turning nothing into something, Howard wasn’t the only inventor of the family just the first to make bank from it.

“True, but Alice and Hannah, my sister’s best friends were like sisters to me. They spent more time at our house then their own. Since I was the oldest and it was during the Depression, I learned how to sew, braid hair, etc. I think my mom got me to paint the girls nails because I was bored and she was sick of me putting holes in the walls with my throwing knives. I re-plastered those walls so many times. It’s not my fault my dad thought at six-years-old was a good time to start learning how to defend myself.” Jamie had a bittersweet smile on his face as he reminisced.

“Destruction of property?! Barnes I never knew you were a troublemaker, I thought you got the troublemaker out of his scraps.” Tony faked shock as he ate a apple, eyeing the dusty boxes with as much as want as his dad.

The house elves were besides themselves with all food hoarding that Tony did. At least they learned to replace the moldy food when it started to get bad and refresh it. Not tossing it out at all. They did that once and once was enough.

Jamie gave a sharp laugh, that somehow was bitter sound but also sweet. It at least made Nat’s heart speed up with she strolled back in from the quickest shower of her life, wet hair in a braid, with Yelena, Pepper loaded with paperwork, Petunia and the kids.

Jamie gave a wolfish grin that made Nat think of old times and Remus’s inner wolf sit up, making him fight the urge to surrender. Jamie was dangerous. The Ollivanders sensed a shift in magic making it hard for the two expert wand-makers to even start assigning wand cores to these people.

“Steve? Oh yeah, I always was cleaning up after his messes. I never did get to finish The Hobbit when it first came out. Always had to go rescue the fearless punk.” Jamie sighed and finished Howard’s pinkie with a flourish while somehow scooping up Harry with his other arm, keeping him away from the ‘pretties’ as his son leaned forward to oooo in awe.

James Potter was torn between laughter and alarm, but Harry always like bright colors and sparkles. There was a reason why the Potters were sorted into Gryffindor, gold was awesome and a bright red? So neat. He could grudgingly admit that the other houses had neat colors as well. But there was a reason why he always was playing with the Golden Snitch besides making it look cool.

Petunia’s sharp voice cut through the low chatter that had built as Nat teased Tony on his choice of fingernail colors, Gryffindor of course. Or in Tony’s eyes, Iron Man colors.

“Now that all the playtime had been done, when are we going to see these wands?” Petunia wasn’t trying to be bitter, but her heart still yearned for magic despite her son Dudley having it. Her heart had leaped in her chest when Jarvis told everyone to come see the wands. A small flame of hope rose in her chest. At least she could look at the wands.

At the sound of her voice a box at the end of the row rattled up a storm, which unknown to the humans, DUM-E had accidentally jolted the box enough for the lid to come loose. Suddenly a wand jumped out from its place and settled in front of her.

Petunia in disbelieving shock, slowly reached out with her right hand as her left held Dudley against her side, afraid if she took her eyes from it, the wand would disappear. As she grasped the light topaz colored wood with flowering vines on the handle, a warm light that had faded into a almost icy black blossomed into light in her chest. Giving it a sharp whirl, a dark starry night blue light swept from her wand and in seconds everything was sparking like new. She always liked a clean place.

Tony’s unfinished apple dropped to the floor in shock as Jarvis announced that the whole compound was cleaned from top to bottom, even the grass that had died came back.

Everyone else was speechless as Gervaise Ollivander’s ghost gave a chuckle. “I wondered why you didn’t have a wand but has as tightly controlled magic as the other wand-less here. For being Obscurials, you have channeled your magic into a outlet that suited your personalities without becoming lost. You must have quite a sharp mind. Guess that your wand wasn’t made for you until you were ready for it. May I?”

Petunia didn’t let go of her wand but let him look at it as the still warm wood felt nice against her flat palm with one thumb holding it in place slightly. Gervaise nodded proudly. “It’s one of my grandson’s first wands. Vine with a unicorn hair for the core. I wondered if it would ever find a home. I guess it was waiting for you.” He didn’t comment on the silent tears that were running down her face but smiled warmly at the woman as he tried to block the others from seeing it.

Tony fought the urge to go and run a muck with the wands but an urge to show off flared up in him. “Now that I saw what your craftsman work can do. Want to see mine?”

K.G.’s stern voice whipped over his eagerness. “Food first Master Stark. Then show-off.”

Lily Potter watch with amusement as Tony Stark was mobbed, including his dad who had become quite fond of the food the house elves had been making. He grumbled good naturally as he was herded towards lunch with the two youngest pulling him towards ‘lunch.’

She was just about to go join them when a much mourned fuzzball launched himself onto her face. “Buttercup?”

The cat just purred up a storm refusing to let her go, even hissing when James tried to pet him.

Remus hung back from the crowd and waited for the Potters. “What happened when we where gone? It wasn’t that long!” James exclaimed since Remus looked more exhausted then normal. He knew as well as Sirius that the full moon was coming but he looked worse then wear.

Remus grimaced. “Now that a wand wielding wizard was around, Tony and Jamie wanted to put their skills to the test.”

He didn’t mention what he had learned after breakfast about Nat and Jamie’s pasts. It put his definition of him being a monster to shame and made him work hard to not be so werewolf during next upcoming full moon. He hoped to find a safe place to stay during those three days.

“Why don’t you go eat and we can watch the highlights of the shield testing over lunch?” Jarvis suggested towards Remus and Tony who were either wanting to forget the tests (Remus) and show off the testing at the same time (Tony).

“Movie time!” Tony sang out in-between getting his plate refilled and eating from said plate as Remus joined the line for food. Nat and Howard rolled their eyes in sync. Pepper just sighed at her hyper husbands antics. Clearly becoming younger sped up his energy. At the rate Tony and Howard were spending time in the lab, they would have the Iron Man mark 37 out by Christmas. Or the New Year at the very latest.

The wizards who didn’t know too much about the muggle world blinked as a screen appeared on the far wall of the compound eating area. It showed Tony suiting up in the suitcase armor and him saying something to Remus that was cut off until Jarvis put the sound on. Nat and Yelena were not visible, but the sound of potion making was clearly heard.

“Oh stop being a wuss. I think my armor can take it. Now shield up or whatever you’ll going to do first. Not around you, around ah, that workbench that is in need of dismantling.” Tony’s panicked voice became relieved when Remus switched the shield from himself to the unused and slightly rusty workbench in which he crouched behind.

Sirius wanted to ask something but his question was answered in the next minute.

“Alright, test one of Stark Armor Mark 2.5 against the Bird-Conjuring Charm with Remus’s shielding behind that unused table and whatever that shield thingy is. Jarvis you better be recording.”

Jarvis dry humor bleed through with his “Always sir.” Nat snorted, she had the chance to see Tony’s first video recording of his Iron Man testing. This would be interesting.
Harry made gabby motions to her and she expertly swung him on her hip as she made her way to the kitchen, not interested in seeing Tony’s testing.

“Avis.” Remus said and a flock of birds with a bang and smoke came out of his wand. Within seconds of targeting the birds, laser like beams of light cut through the flock.

“Well that was disappointing. Next.”

Tony yelped when Pepper smacked him half-heartily for that remark. “Sorry dear.” He was quiet throughout the rest of the video.

Most of the testing from the Arrow Shooting Spell, which Tony used his gauntlets to destroy crowing ‘take that Barton,’ to the various ever increasing in strength shield charm, Protego was shattered with the Iron Man armor abilities but for a few, the combined Fianto Duri spell (Protego Maxima. Fianto Duri. Repello Inimicuma) but still was starting get hairline cracks before Tony surrendered almost out of power, the Protego Duo made Tony take flight. Jarvis opened up the skylights before hand as James Potter found himself seeing green at the aerodynamics of the flight suit. Oh, if he wasn’t dead.

“Look I’m swimming in air!” Tony had to laugh at himself as the Slowing Charm did nothing but make it feel like he was in a swimming pool. He had to glare at Jarvis as he did show how he threw up afterwards.

“Jarvis!”

“Sorry sir.” Tony didn’t believe him. Nat laughed at him as Yelena had no problem muttering under her breathe at Stark’s antics. Pepper just shook her head fondly.

The other spells that Tony couldn’t completely fight against was the lighter version of the Protego horribilis which had no name, the strongest version of the Aguamenti Charm and then there was the first potion mishap and Tony decides to call it quits for now in concern of his teammate. That and he was struck with a few ideas to run by Remus.

Jamie was just happy that Jarvis didn’t record his war time bet with Howard as the magic users all had questions for Tony who in Tony fashion didn’t even try to dumb down his answers. It amused him to run circles around the awe struck crowd.

After a while he did once the eating had slowed and his answers were more simple, Tony sprung up and was off like a shot saying “Me next, me next.”

Garrick hurried after him as he could only be referring to getting a wand. He had method to these things and these Starks were missing it up!

Before anyone could stop him, Tony was in the lab, flipping off the lids of the wands, picking up the ones that interested him and making a mess of things, a tidy mess, but still a mess. He slowed when he came to the once dusty boxes, as if he sensed something special.

He tossed three closed boxes towards his dad who had settled back in his comfortable armchair. “Ok, so I like some of these but something is off on them. I can’t pinpoint it. Jarvis what’s the core and wood of these?”

Jarvis gave a slight pause that was not noticeable to the humans then smoothly passed the question to their makers. “Maybe the Ollivanders will have the answers, sir.” There was a slight scolding in his tone of voice.

Tony froze as he neared his dad who was the only one to come to the lab. Heat flooded his face. Tony forgot the first rule of inventors everywhere. Don’t touch other people’s inventions unless invited too.

Tony turned with a sheepish look on his face as Pepper walked in giving him a look of disappointment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take away from whatever order you usually do things in. I just got excited.”

Garrick gazed at the younger man who, like his father was the inventor of many things, some even magical in his eyes from lunch. A small smile made his eyes dance. “I might overlook this just this once as you have chosen the wands that might suit the best.” The inventors always did when they needed to replace their first wand.

“Well almost work.” He admitted as one by one Tony and Howard tried the three wands. It wasn’t until the last one that Howard had a result and what a result it was. It was a small thing, a few blue and golden lights that made Howard think of different things that happened in his life.

“Old sir I am pleased to announce that the marigolds you had planted have come to life.” Jarvis said cheerfully.

Howard closed his eyes at that news. He had wanted to see his wife’s favorite flower bloom. Even in winter.

Tony slummed too but in disappointment as the remaining two wands hummed in his hands right but not.

“What’s my wand made of?” Howard asked as he tried to find a comfortable grip on the dark, slightly twisted piece of wood.

“Walnut with a dragon heart string for the core. Walnut wands usually like inventors.”

“What type of walnut?” Howard asked noting his wand was slightly longer at 11 and a half inches and more elegant then Petunia’s wand but her wand seemed to be made for her as his was for him.

Howard’s hand found a good grasp on the handle and it was like he was holding his first set of piers or any sort of tool he had used in the past. It felt like it belonged in his hands. He was eager to get started.

Garrick kept his smile to himself, all the inventors usually asked for more precised answers to their wands. Knowledge was power. “Queensland Walnut also know as Orientalwood. From Australia.
Endiandra palmerstonii as the muggles would say.”

“Garrick.” His dad’s voice with a sharp tone of ‘tend to me’ that he hadn’t heard since his apprenticeship, made him turn his head from telling Howard more about his wand.

Tony Stark was gesturing towards the wands with a exasperated look that had Gervaise easing off of his staring contest with the stubborn young man to motion Garrick forward, who looked like he wanted to tinker with the wands himself. But making wands were a tricky business, and what this Tony Stark wanted them to do was well impossible.

“Young Stark is under the impression that we can make these wands switch cores. He insisting that the Desert Ironwood and the Thestral tail hair that is in the Claro California Black Walnut wand come together and the Dragon heartstring core go into the other one, which is not how its done. Once they are made they are made.”

Garrick felt exhausted, this day wasn’t how he thought it would go, but he did admit that when he made these two wands one after another as they had been nestled together for months had a slight pull towards each other, even as separate ingredients. They did put up a slight, and it was a slight resistance when paired together but he thought it was because they needed to settle in properly.

“May I?” Tony Stark didn’t want to part with the wands that felt right but also off, but he handed them to the fellow inventor craftsman anyway as he was the expert and Tony was not.

Garrick was silent as he examined the two wands, as he did so something tugged at him maybe that could work, but he wasn’t as young as he used to be and well. “I’ll see what I can do for you.” It wasn’t a promise but a maybe.

Tony gestured for the wands back and found himself talking to the two wands like they were DUM-E, or Butterfingers or Jarvis. “Now behave and come back safely. You’ll going to have to meet the rest of the family later.”

Handing them over to the amused Garrick, Tony walked off towards Pepper as she caught his attention as he had matters of Stark Inc. to attend too, which is why she came to his usual haunt to begin with.

Aisling, her hair as dark as his once was, waved her hands for him to stop talking. “Are you seriously telling me that you are going to unmake two wands and switch their cores?! That, it’s never been done.”

Oliver who had stayed longer at his dads before going to learn from the American Indian wand makers, caught onto what his father might be saying but if it was to work, they would need Aisling’s skills.

“I think what dad is trying to say is instead of switching the wand cores, we are going to somehow, fuse the two woods together so each of the wood type are with the cores. But that’ll be tough, which is were you come in Aisling. Your ability to cut and shape wood, especially the hard wood, is uncanny, which is why you have been studying how different wand makers make their wands. There was a reason why you wanted to travel to all the wand makers of the world. You have the knowledge and skills to do that. I on the other hand had learned how to work with tricky materials from the United States and beyond, while dad made the two wands in the first place. It’ll take all three of us to make it work. Dare I ask about the other wands you need our help to make?”

“Let’s eat lunch and plan these first two wands. Your mother had made a excellent noon meal.

The family was just finishing up their meal when an owl came into their house by way of that curious portal and dropped a package off in the roast beef, spilling the sauce everywhere, the portal blinked out when the owl left.

“Where did the Starks get their hands on Merlin’s gift?” Oliver wondered as it was the exact thing that they needed to bond the wands together when they opened the package in the workshop later that day.

“We’ll ask them when we give them the wands.” Little did they know it wasn’t from the Starks but from the house elves.

***

After lunch in which the Ollivanders got to talking to Howard about his company, curious about the magic they sensed, with Tony chiming in once in a while with Pepper smoothing things over if necessary. Garrick still wasn’t sure about the wands Tony picked so he wanted to see exactly why those wands wanted what they wanted.

In a unused conference room as the boys took a afternoon nap under the watchful eyes of the house elves, Petunia had somehow gotten Remus to start teaching her and she was picking up the instruction like water to a sponge. After successfully guiding Petunia through a few first year spells, Howard showed up with the ghost Blacks and Potters. Remus had the sinking feeling he’ll be teaching more then one person. Well everyone did say he would be a good teacher.

During the class of two, the owl that he sent to his dad came back and he wanted to meet Remus for dinner. Remus spontaneously invited him over to the Starks as he well knew that as the full moon approached as did his hunger and he didn’t want to eat his dad out of house and home. He did ask for all of the school books that his dad had and anything really on the wizarding world. At least Petunia and co would get a starting point without spending a gallon.

Remus only snapped once during his make-shift class. “Sirius stop trying to catch the popcorn in your mouth!”

Sirius stopped mid throw as he realized that Yelena wasn’t watching at all and only brought embarrassment to himself as he noticed James laughing at him. Well it was worth a try. He did smirk at Remus who used it for a cleaning spell that Petunia picked up naturally.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Nat jolted awake late Thursday night or early Friday morning, her skin feeling clammy against her pj's and overly warm sheets as her mind fought back the memory that had bleed into her dream. Her eyes automatically scanning for intruders as a small knife found itself in her hand as she noted she was alone in the room. Sliding out of bed, still alert, Nat made her way to the shower, disrobing as she went, tossing her knife where it would be easy to grab. A moan of a sigh escaped her mouth as the hot water washed away her distress and she relaxed into the experience.

After getting dressed, while wiping off the mirror, Nat jerked back in surprised as her hair had changed from her platinum blonde short haircut to the hair she had when she died as with her eye shape. Down to the tired, heavily burden look in her green eyes when she let go of Clint’s hand. She blink in surprise and the only thing that changed was her facial structure and her eye color changed back to Lily’s darker hue of green then her own. She noted that here hair stayed the same so she put it into a loose braid and left in search of substance.

Nat knew herself enough to know that she couldn’t or wouldn’t sleep after that memory dream, then the mirror. Silently she made her went to the main compound kitchen for tea. The one attached to the apartment unit wasn’t stocked up to her tastes.

After a quick peek at Harry who was snoring in an adorable way in the attached ‘nursery’ a room across the small hallway with the Potters just gazing at their son, she asked Jarvis the time as her room didn’t have a decent clock. According to Jarvis, Nat was only one awake in the compound since it was nearing two a.m.

Taking a circular route to her destination, she instinctively, with her magic, as a spy and now mother she needed to be sure that the defenses hold, ‘looked over’ the magical wards that Sirius Black had put up with the help of his Aunt Andy last night when she came over for dinner for intel on Stark and their ‘magical madness’ so Sirius could give his Aunt more detail into the shock of having to work with the scarily brilliant Stark family since she was on the job the first time she meet them. While Nat, Yelena and Jamie from different ends tested the makeshift ‘high tech’ security system that the Starks had installed or made themselves as the duo prepared for the wards to go up.

The wards somehow worked seamlessly with Stark’s home security defense much to the traditional magical users bafflement. That lead to a three hour techno babble between Tony and Howard trying to dumb down how it worked to the Black family members. They just chalked it up to ‘magic.’ Which irritated the Starks to no end. Thankfully Pepper was there to sooth bruised egos else something would have happened.

Jamie, Nat and Yelena didn’t help matters by trying to get to the compound with their ‘war game’ or how fast they could target and slide through the defence system before the Blacks beefed up the security. Tony and Howard were not happy with how fast they got through the system, but then the magic was added.

The sight of Jamie hanging upside down by his ankles swinging by invisible bonds at the edge of the property line was something that all the woman would keep locked in their minds as Jamie was quite fit as his shirt had slide down to his head, the super soldier serum helped ‘mold’ his body faster. Nat and Yelena were just about to go through when the alarm sounded that made everyone rush there.

Sirius was laughing so hard that he couldn’t release Jamie, so Remus had to step in. He got suckered into a three hour lecture on the different types of magical home defenses with the Blacks as helpers. He couldn’t wait until his dad came to dinner the next night. Let his dad be pestered for once, as Nat, Jamie and Yelena then settled down to read up on magical defenses from the books they had Sirius get. When he finally went to bed, they were deep into another subject or at least Nat was as Yelena got tired and Jamie slipped off to somewhere else.

As Nat poured water into the tea kettle as it was the only way to go according to the English born people as they were horrified to see what they could do with a microwave, Nat flicked on the warming pad and set the tea kettle on it once filled.

Nat’s mind went numb as she wrestled back the memories that made her seek out her usual calming method when she had downtime. Chamomile with peppermint wouldn’t be most people’s choice of tea, but to Nat, it was home or as close as home as she could get, as it was the Barton family’s remedy go to for restless nights after lingering nightmares for that matter. Well the chamomile was, Nat liked the slight kick of peppermint with it. It was an interesting taste to be sure. Ironically the memories and the tea were connected.

A sudden movement in the silent semi-dark kitchen out of the corner of Nat’s eye sent her flicking a small knife towards the disturbance, her reflexes overcoming her discomfort. Instantly her left hand palmed a different knife, as she had left the bedroom one under her pillow and her right gripping the still steaming three-fourths of the way full mug. She wished she had more weapons when the intruder came into the light of overhead stove light.

The sight of James “Bucky” Barnes in a nice semi-formal style of clothing casually testing out her weapon after he caught it before it impacted his head, with his right hand no less, did something to her insides that Nat knew had nothing to do with her current body at all. Why was he in dress slacks, nice button down and blue tie in the middle of the night? Was a brief after thought.

It was Nat’s lingering deliberately forgotten feelings that set her spinning into directions that she had been trying hard to ignore ever since she learned that Jamie had moved on. She didn’t begrudge him his found happiness, but she would admit that it hurt. It felt like her heart broke all over again.

Hurt in a way that she couldn’t have understood with her limited relationship experience until Clint first took her to his Iowa home after a blotched mission. There Nat meet his wife Laura under less then stellar conditions as it was first time she was introduced to and offered the tea. The memory dream that caused her to come to the kitchen flooded her mind, cutting off before it really went into details. Afterwards once her mind and body were clear she could see how Clint had fallen for the pretty brunette. Laura became a good friend enough to have her help Nat out after the Bruce mess.

“Honey, I’m coming in hot.” Clint said in a clipped tone as he tried to ignore his body’s urges as he drove the unmarked car he was driving towards his home, all the windows down as the roar of the sharp winter wind hopefully overrode whatever was in the car. He wanted Laura to meet Nat, but not like this. But he had the inkling that Laura knew more about the drug that Nat was fighting then anyone else. Ironically this was going to be the first trip he brought Nat home.

Speaking of, Clint slammed on the breaks before he ran the car into the house as he caught sight of Nat’s somehow very perky breasts in the rear-view mirror in a move that left nothing to imagination as Nat worked on her removing her ankle ties in the back seat. Somehow she had untied all of Clint’s hard work, even the gag that he had tie her up with once he had knocked her unconscious when she started to act like he was a mark. The back seat was dripping with all the cold water he had threw at her in desperation. That and wet ropes were harder to get off.

Somehow Clint got the car into park, shut off and had successfully leaped from the driver’s side before Nat could slip her hands under his pants. Again.

Clint’s heart raced as Nat in full view of Clint smiled seductively over his shoulder, showing off her nakedness that Laura had arrived if the thump of the door wasn’t an indication. “I was always good at trios.” She purred, making Clint’s body perk up in all the wrong ways. If he wasn’t happily married well. He knew that Nat was a very attractive woman and at times his mind wondered but before this he was starting to think of her as

“Don’t tell me you tossed cold water on her.” Laura’s calm voice soothed Clint’s pent up nerves in a way that Nat’s silky, come hither voice didn’t.

“Um bad idea?” Clint’s primal urges were whimpering at this point as whatever Nat was saturated with waffled his way, the only thing keeping him rooted was Laura’s hand nestled on the back of his neck, something that she knew would help.

“Very.”

Clint’s mouth went dry as his wife slipped into bedroom mode as she offered her hand to Nat and urged her towards the house. Clint prayed it wasn’t the master as he followed utterly grateful for his quick thinking wife.

As Nat tried to fight the serum or whatever she had been injected with, it felt like she was underwater and couldn’t breathe as all her mental focus was shattered behind the ever growing want and needing of Clint’s body, he was the first person to touch her after being injected or something. A hand to help her up after fighting the enemy.

She could control most of it but once they got into the car after sending off their findings and mission reports as well as what was left of the thing she had been injected with. Clint suggested stopping by quickly at his home as they were in the area and got permission from Fury with a firm debriefing after the quick hello. A five minute hello. It helped that Fury knew about whatever Nat was under from a former mission debrief.

It went down hill from there. It was like she was experiencing the rush of first time of her sexual hormones all over again. Clint’s skin was the only thing that could ease it. Her body had slipped into predator mode without her say so. She needed relief and it was maddening annoying. She couldn’t help herself and she tried much to Clint’s dismay.

So being told that it was ok to ravish her partner by his wife, almost the first thing Laura uttered no less, was awkward to say the least but Clint knew his wife knew what Nat needed. One heavy physical session later and Nat could control her own body once again.

The aftershocks of painful heighten to the touch pleasure took three days to ease off as Laura kindly, patiently and non-judgmentally helped the shaken, usually unembarrassed twenty-two-year-old Natasha getting her back to a ‘stable status,’ as she joking reported to her husband when she slipped naked into their bed the following night after Clint on his own slept in the barn, beyond horrified at what happened. He didn’t ask what happened between the two of them and they didn’t give any details. He didn’t give any details once Nat’s flush eased and he fled the house. He was grateful that Cooper was not there. He was off with a babysitter.

But Laura aka Mockingbird was a former S.H.E.I.L.D. agent and knew first hand how crippling that the serum that Nat had be subject too was. There was no anti-dote and riding it out was agonizing to say the least. At least she could ride out the rest of the dose in a safe place. Laura had not. Nat figured that there was more to the story that Laura had not disclosed so she didn’t press.

Laura and Clint reconstituted their bond, more for Clint’s sake then Laura’s as a spy some foreplay was sadly on the table, just in case they had to slip their target something. Nat never knew that the Barton’s third child was really their fourth as they had unknowingly conceived that time. Laura then told her husband what exactly what happened to her and Nat.

Her romantic ‘drunken make-out’ with Clint as they had named it aside…

“Your tea is getting cold Nat.” Jamie’s voice brought her back out of Nat’s heavy thoughts, a hot blush still lingered on her face, something Nat still fought to control, at the memory, when she was tired or stressed.

Nat numbly let Jamie take her mug before it slipped out of her hand, setting it on the magical hotplate that didn’t burn but sensed the proper temperature whatever was needed.

Jamie leaned against the countertop and poured himself a cup of tea, not what Nat had, but a sweet cinnamon one that if seeped long enough had a healthy spicy kick to it. It had driven Sam and Steve nuts. Sarah liked the taste.

Jamie had rolled up the sleeves of his button up. K. G. gave him a look but sent his tie and shoes to his room, letting the darkness creep around the two, alone once more as the house elf went to bed.

“What are you doing in that?” Nat ask after reclaiming her tea, to distract herself from her twitchy fingers that tightened on her mug as she had the urge to re-button Jamie’s shirt. Now wasn’t the time or never. Banner turned out to be a mistake, Clint was a forgiven guilty pleasure and Jamie would be in time hopefully, a fond memory only.

He always left his tie and first two buttons loose, he always complained that he had enough people try and strangle him, he refused to let his clothes do the same. In hindsight, it was a trace of James “Bucky” Barnes peeking through the Winter Soldier brainwashing. Besides he blend in more with his personal touch on the assigned outfits.

Jamie’s next words broke through her slight musing if he had a undershirt on or not. “Oh I just got back from church.” He said nonchalantly before he sipped his tea closing his eyes at the taste after he took in Nat’s dumb founded look of pure surprise. He opened his eyes and a smile light up his face.

The look on Nat’s face made Jamie laugh, thankfully after he swallowed, a laugh that Nat had never heard from him before. His beautiful blue hazel eyes twinkled in a hidden amusement as he tried to stop laughing. Priceless gold is what that was.

To Nat, his amusement was a beautiful sight, something that the Winter Soldier never had, freedom to do what he wanted. A warm glow that had nothing to do with her lusting after him settled in her chest. Nat was glad she had made him laugh. It made her happy.

“Oh, I needed that. Yelena had the exact same face when I told her. Then of course she became my sister-in-law because of that. Marrying Captain America of all people.” Jamie made a face, either because that memory was painful to recall or he seeped his tea too long.

“I thought Steve married Peggy.” Nat asked confused as she had started to get on the table.

“Yelena married Sam.” Jamie still shook his head in disbelief at that pairing. He didn’t believe it until after they been married for over three years. It still boggled his mind at times.

“Yelena married Sam?!” Nat only meet Sam’s sister Sarah once, but a sound of realization passed her lips. The old hurt eased, Sarah would have been a good match for Jamie. Sam had enough stories about his sister Sarah during the two years they ran from the law that Nat felt that she knew her.

“So what is making you stay up so late or so early?” Jamie said, heeding off any questions Nat would have about Sarah as Nat let him change the subject as he mentioned earlier while the tea was seeping that time zones were wonderful things. AKA go early enough on Eastern time zone to church and London church times counted. Which is why he started church hopping during the week. As for now the small town churches were a no go, mostly because half the time he found himself with multiple numbers from well meaning grandparents for their granddaughters. Or at least this first location.

“I woke up from a nightmare, took a shower on autopilot and didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.” Nat knew Jamie would understand, he understood her more then Yelena did at times. After all they were the same.

Remade into a weapon that could be broken into whatever shape their handlers needed. Yelena had struggled to become new as well, but Jamie had something Yelena didn’t have. A connection that was deeper then the blood-bond that the sisters shared. Something that lingered on unspoken. It was more then the physical they had. Nat couldn’t really define it.

Jamie had hopped upon the countertop at this point and Nat was cross-legged on the table clearly quirks of their new bodies because Nat never had the urge to sit on a tabletop. The mugs slowly being drunk.

He leaned forward to look at Nat, taking in her familiar but unfamiliar features. Jamie deliberate racked his eyes up Nat’s ‘new’ body, lingering on certain parts in a thoughtful way rather then lustful. Her still striking green eyes, red hair that he knew that would be as soft as her old with some blonde tips, creamy skin, lightly tanned.

Jamie slowly reached out his left hand and with a mental twist let the Winter Soldier’s arm come into play. He tugged gently on Nat’s hair, “That’s the same, your eyes are the same.” He smiled bitterly as he gently titled Nat’s head so her green morphed into the blue that reflected his own. He let her chin go unaware of the sensation that he left behind, the effect he had on her still.

“At least you woke up whole and intact. Not in confused shock, missing your left arm, that replaced by an inferior one. Missing memories and awakening horror of what you would become. Had become over and over again. But we can start anew. Now. Like I did a hour ago.” If Jamie flexed a little as he morphed the arm back into his flesh one, Nat wasn’t going to point it out.

Jamie drank the rest of his tea, setting it in the sink, setting her knife by her mug as he walked towards the hallway, he tossed the scraps of paper that held the phone numbers into the trash can. Instead of walking on, Jamie loitered in the doorway, half turned towards Nat as he explained more of what he meant, giving freely, a glimpse she never knew he had when they had worked together in the past. A core of himself retaken. As the flirting with Sarah had been.

“Going to church was me taking back part of myself and grounding myself into now. After freed from HYDRA control back there and here. It’s something from my past. Steve’s mom and mine usually teamed up for church, we would go to the Catholic mass and they would come to our Methodist service. In hindsight from me having kids of my own, it was a great tactic for kid wrangling. Find something here that is for you. Howard said it’ll take time. But you’re always been a fast learner. After all they continued to pair you with me. As for your appearance, I think your boobs were a little bigger doll.”

Jamie escaped before Nat could say anything about that. He cursed his swift tongue at the last bit, his mouth or something else overruled his brain. He still missed his wife but Nat was here and Sarah was not. Nat was her own person, not his ‘doll’ or his ‘girl.’

Jamie paused after dressing for bed and put away the opened 6th year Potion history book after marking the section it was opened to. History and usage of love potions. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

He pretended to be asleep as Nat slipped into the king size bed with him, he knew that she knew that he was still awake. It was their bodies that needed each other. Or as Nat pointed out the first and last time, earlier that evening they tried to sleep in separate beds, Harry in a room connected to both their bedrooms, “My body likes your body and we need sleep. So let’s sleep.” They had only lasted a half hour before their bodies overruled their minds and they had to admit defeat. Either wanted to admit that they felt safe when they were together. They blamed the four years of marriage between the Potters instead.

Natasha woke up from a deep dreamless sleep to the overwhelming smell of blueberry pancakes. Groaning she turned over and tried to get more sleep but her stomach protested.

After getting dressed and redoing her loose braid into a french braid, Nat followed her nose to the growing chatter she heard come from the common area dining room. She entered into somewhat controlled chaos.

Dodging the thrown spoon from Dudley, she found herself one person behind Howard Stark who was carefully and selectively filling his once clean plate from the Sunday like brunch that boasted of any sort of breakfast food that you could think of, if you were in the army in the 1940’s or grew up in the early 20th century.

Or she amended in her head, the Barnes family as she took in the rather appealing sight of James “Bucky” Barnes aka Jamie entertaining almost everyone with his pancakes flipping skills from the pan to the plate as he slid three mouth watering chocolate chip pancakes onto Howard’s plate who looked like he wanted to drool.

Jamie was holding food court behind a mobile grill and barked orders to the house elves like the Army Sergeant he once was. Clearly he had come up with all of this as Yelena was happily biting into a crisp hash-brown, loaded with hot sauce. Remus looked a little green at the sight. Petunia just rolled her eyes and went back to her discussion of household charms with Andy Tonks who decided to stay the night before. Sirius was stuck on Harry duty which found himself much to the newcomers surprise in dog form as Dudley and Harry chased after him. A quick rundown of being animgus was told to Nat by a excited Yelena which made her not get into line earlier. Another spoon was thrown.

A fluttered started up in Nat’s stomach when Jamie caught sight of her made his blue hazel eyes twinkle. “Now what can I get you doll?”

His wrist flipped the plain pancakes expertly and then after a few minutes gave them to Pepper who smiled, thanked him, moved to a side table and slide the hot cakes to a scribbling, hard at work Tony who managed to put a few bites in his mouth.

Jamie stilled his pancake making skills for a bit as he realized something very important. Holding out his hand, as he had switched the pan to his left, he smiled at the pretty redhead who was eyeing his pancake additions.

“Hi, I don’t think we ever officially met. I’m James Buchanan Barnes. But everyone called me Bucky.”

The butterflies that Nat was hoping was hunger pangs erupted into something that speed up her heartbeat. “I’m Natalia Romanova or Natasha Romanoff. Call me Nat. I’m not calling you Bucky. Please to met you James.” Natasha had slipped into Russian at that point.

“What a beautiful name. Natalia. I always enjoyed Christmas.” Jamie’s smile held her attention as much as his warm hand did.

Their slight flirting was shattered by Howard’s shout. “Barnes stop flirting and give me the maple syrup. I’m boxed in by pretty ladies.” He was not as Jamie and Nat verified with a glance.

Howard yelped as Jamie tossed rather hard the glass bottle of maple syrup towards Howard. Howard ducked so it would avoid his head. Thankfully there were wizards about.

“You know you have magic right?” Remus said dryly as he flicked his wand and slowed the bottle down so it landed on the table top with a small thump and avoiding braining anyone.

“Details, details.” Howard lazily waved off his almost death by maple syrup as he pour a heaping mess on his pancakes.

“Howard Stark next time ask someone to get the maple syrup or get it yourself. There are children present.” Pepper’s swift reprimand froze Howard’s fork to his mouth. He recognized that tone, Maria used to use that one when he was being very stupid.

Howard apologized and Barnes as well with a sheepish grin. Jamie forgotten himself for a moment and at Howard’s yell it brought him back to being in the canteens during the war. Sirius kept his mouth shut as he recognized a good mother’s tone of disappointment.

Turning his attention back to the beautiful redhead who nodded her approval, Jamie said with a drawl of his Brooklyn accent. “Now what can I get you?” Jamie smiled in a way that before the war got him more then one dance.

“Blueberry pancakes. Blueberry chocolate.” On a mission they only had chocolate and some blueberries to eat but the pancake batter Jamie made fuel them until the end. Nat could never replicate those pancakes afterwards.

As Nat sat down with her sister who was now chatting with Petunia about something as Andy Tonks has taken her leave, Jamie handed over the rest of the breakfast duties to the house elves, who he had won over with recipes they had never knew about and grabbed a seat next to his little boy Harry who like his cousin had chocolate smears all over. He blamed the innocent looking ‘padfoo’ who was hovering by Yelena with deep puppy-dog grey eyes. She giggled each time that his muzzle gobbled up the food she gave him.

“So what’s the agenda for today?” Jamie asked between feeding himself and getting Harry and Dudley cleaned up, much to Petunia’s relief so she could finally eat without keeping an eye on the toddlers.

“Star Wars A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.” Pepper said dryly.

“Renting a video tape? Doesn't sound like Stark’s style.” Jamie said as Harry, now clean was set loose to be watched over by his parents and house elves and dog Sirius. Which he had demonstrated to the new to magical things the night before as an incentive from Remus for study purposes, not that they wouldn't study but Harry was demanding Padfoo and the two ‘uncles’ relented. Nat and Jamie had missed the lesson.

“It’s not. There’s a reason why we have a movie theater in the compound.” Nat said as she walked up with Harry on her hip who had run to Nat as soon as he was cleaned up. Today was about family and relaxation, she’ll worry about the outside world tomorrow.

Harry snuggled for a moment and then demanded to be set down. Once on his feet he took off and much to Lily’s dismay a few minutes later was now riding a ‘Stark’ broomstick, more of a ‘hover cycle’ from Star Wars then a broom. That and it went higher then three feet. K. G. looked exasperated as he kept up with the boys who had free range of the common room.

Dudley was on a lower altitude bike as he had a tendency to try and ran into things. Petunia was keeping a sharp eye on her son and at the next time he tried to run into something, since the sound of it falling over made him laugh, she was grounding him.

“So are we going to show all the Star Wars movies or just that one?” Jamie asked as he cleaned his plate neatly.

“Not sure, but it’s all Tony’s idea.”

Sirius had to be talked out of making the Starks build him a lightsaber, as much as they pushed the tech as far as they could there were a few things they couldn’t do yet.

Dinner with Remus’s dad, Lyall was enlightening as he did confirm a person named Tom, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Head Boy, was at school when he was. The way that Lyall talked about this Tom made the former Avengers and co with a firm guess who really was Lord V. But after dinner, the magicals were floored at what Tony had been working on with his dad all day. Which led to a impulsive sleepover much to Remus’s embarrassment.

Remus felt his body unwind in a way he hadn’t felt since the first time the secret of his condition was kept by the Marauders.

It was clear Friday night, his transformation was on Monday night. For once he felt safe as he watched the starry night sky as Sirius in his Padfoot dog form settled near him to sleep, Yelena was using him as pillow, the Potters, house elves, Jarvis and Petunia were keeping an eye on the sleeping boys inside who had run themselves ragged over the ‘Wolf’s Den’ as Tony had dubbed the room that was connected to five acres outside that had the strongest wards and security that they could do. The Black put up their own wards as well.

It was elevated so he could have a look out, a few escape routes, and honestly quite snug. The running stream was a nice touch.

There were soft rugs and pillows if he sought to use. Remus had to chuckle at the ‘scratching’ posts that had a human like smell around them.

Remus fell asleep as he breathed deeply in the smells of his pack, the smells of everyone he ever loved in the room that his werewolf could call home.

Meanwhile the wizarding world at large still couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever Stark Technology was, it was clearly a muggle company and such fell under muggle department of out of sight out of mind, but the static magic that had been popping up around the Stark’s places where a blooming headache since when the investigators when looking for magic they couldn’t find any at all. It was like magic didn’t exist.

The higher ups of the different magical communities had a hasty meeting and all voted to let the Starks be only because of the endless paperwork that the investigating had made and they had other more important things to do then track down a up and coming muggle inventive company to see if they were magical or not.

Madame Bones sighed at the order on her desk. Well that was that. Now if the Starks turned out to have children who had magic well they would deal with that when the time came.

She didn’t envy anyone who had to deal with those Starks. Amelia made a note to take her counter-part from America out for some very strong drinks. After all the Americans had to deal with Howard Stark much longer then England did.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Remus Lupin woke up slowly on the Friday the 18th after his transformation in his ‘wolf den’, his body aching but it wasn’t as bad as usual. He vaguely remembered attacking the wards that Stark had set up as Nat stood watching with a blank unimpressed face at one point. Then he was distracted by Sirius and Jame’s deer animgus form as he still could transform even as a ghost.

As Remus showered and dressed in clean clothes, he noticed that he didn’t have any self-afflicted wounds and if they did they were healed already. Remus felt, not exactly at peace with it all, but a strange sort of contentment. It probably helped that he had human interaction throughout the days before he transformed at night. That and he was quite sick of his ‘moon cakes’ as it was the only thing besides almost moving steak that they aka Yelena aka the house elves fed him during the three day ‘furry time’ as Tony dubbed it. The stretching before and after his transformations also helped.

Remus remembered getting talked into giving blood at one point, so Stark could study it. He wondered what happened to that as he remembered that he got stuck with lightening as a werewolf, or as Nat put it later the first day after the first full moon, “’I widow bite you a few times so we could get blood from you during the furry stage. Tony’s words, not mine.’” He didn’t want to know what Nat meant.

Remus wandered from his quarters to see what was happening. He could have asked Jarvis or any of the house elves but Remus was content to just see where his feet would take him. The last few days he and Petunia were working on gardening after they had their morning workout with Nat and co.

Remus slowed his brisk walk as three little kids (if you counted Sirius) walked slowly down the hall towards the kitchen. He couldn’t really tell since once they saw him Sirius somehow maneuvered him into taking his place as he had a letter to post.

Sirius snickered as Remus was poked by a little finger making him jump a little that sent Dudley and Harry into hysterics. He thought his friend looked good with two toddlers who decided that they needed to be carried.

Sirius grinned at the exasperated look Remus sent him. Remus inwardly sighed but he wanted food as well so he and his duo went off to see what was in the kitchen.

***

Pepper was getting a headache, not from anything in particular but she had forgotten how much she missed having a proper computer as her desk was piled with paper more then usual. The dinosaur she did have didn’t do as much as she wanted. Tony and Howard where working on it but they got sidetracked or at least Tony did when Remus had his monthly moon ‘appointment’.

Pepper wouldn’t deny that she wasn’t relieved at the knock on her office door. She was out of coffee anyway. Pepper gestured to Sirius to follow her as she made her way to the staff room off of her office. It didn’t matter she was the only staff present at the moment. Yelena had the day off for sibling bonding time, if sparring with your sister until there were bruises counted as bonding. Yelena said she was working on something that Nat could only relate to. Pepper was glad that Nat was around because she wasn’t always good with relating to ‘Red Room’ memories.

Pepper had a inking that Sirius’s whatever had to do with her sister Yelena, but to her surprise it wasn’t. Even if she noticed that Yelena and Sirius flirted lightly since they meet. Pepper couldn’t tell if it was a act on Yelena’s part or not.

“I need help composing a letter. A business like letter, not a personal one. Well it’s a bit personal but not a close friend sort of way, more of a ah, well here.” Sirius yammered as he cut up a paper napkin with his wand then kept going until there was soft confetti paper all around him. He shoved the letter towards her disrupting her carefully organized piles sending one to the floor. Pepper held back a groan.

Pepper’s voice was dry as she gave her answer. “If you haven’t been schooled in proper letter writing before now I don’t think I can really help. Proof read it maybe.” She frowned thoughtfully at the parchment letter Sirius gave her as he continued to destroy all their napkins. Or at least the ones she kept on her desk, the tissue paper as well.

Sirius Black usually would have just sent the letter he had written but he had overheard something that Lily commented on to her sister a week and a half ago just a few days after they finished their Diagon Ally shopping as they were slowly brewing a tricky potion. That made an idea plant itself in his head. Much to his dissatisfaction it lingered and solidified during Remus’s transformation. Or as he helped Remus during the full moon, he thought about it and how much they needed good potion makers.

He even went to Jamie for advice since he was a neutral party. Now that was a conversation.

Lily had gone off on tangents before about Hogwarts methods but this time it cut deep into Sirius’s brain mostly because of the horror of what she said as Petunia had started to pour into thermos a simple bruise ointment potion that was achieved with Lily’s continued help, “If Slughorn focused more on getting students to understand and love potions instead of seeking out his ‘favorites’ we would have more able potion masters or at least someone else then Sev to teach at Hogwarts. Can you imagine Severus Snape teaching Potions to children?!”

Lily went on to explain what she had overheard when they were shopping or when Sirius was shopping and trying hard not to listen to James Potter’s okness with Sev. Sirius paled at the thought he had. Snape, not Sev Snape. Slimy stinky good for nothing Snape. He continued to mentally insult the man while he listened. Sirius ignored the sinking feeling in his gut. He liked Slughorn but Lily had a point or two.

Sirius’s thought Petunia’s look of utter rot and disgust reflected his own face if he could see it. “I wonder what in the world Dumbledore was thinking. Don’t get me wrong, there was a reason why Sev continued to be my partner during potion class after our fifth year fallout, but dear sweet Merlin, he’ll ruin potions for kids for decades. Personally I think Snape would give his left and right kidney to work in a set up like this. He’s always been more of an inventor then teacher. I should know,”

A ruefulness colored Lily’s voice, “the one and only time we tag-teamed a study group because he knew more then me on some parts of it, half the group left five minutes into his ‘talk’ and the other half left in tears after trying to stick it out and that wasn’t even touching potion ingredients for brewing. It was just theory. Needless to say, that group dissolved before it even began.” Lily turned sad, “I don’t want to see what Snape would be like when Harry got to school and Snape still taught.”

Sirius walked away with a frown unseen by the sisters or so he thought. He didn’t see the wink Petunia gave Lily as he left. He forgot that he complained before the shopping trip about Mrs. Pettigrew’s return of Sirius’s money for covering her son’s Animagus fee.

The memory faded as Pepper coughed loudly. “Your letter is good but” Sirius a hour later sent off his letter to Mrs. Enid Pettigrew with a hopeful heart. If this plan worked then at least the younger students would be spared the teaching of the most ugh. Sirius dismissed the thought of Snape and went off to see what Jamie was doing.

The rest was up to Mrs. Pettigrew. The rat had to get his potion skills from someone. And what Sirius knew of the rat’s mother the few times he meet her, she might just fit the bill. That is if Dumbledore didn’t have a stick up his holier then out self then usual.

Time - December of 1981
Place - The Ollivander’s workshop

The Ollivanders sat around the workshop floor completely exhausted. It had taken them many weeks to bind the two wands together, even working together with proper breaks for food, sleep and care. Tony Stark’s wands were complete and that’s one customer Ollivander was seriously letting the wands go for free. Just because of the resulting accidents that the hunt for Nat and Jamie’s wands became.

The master wand-maker had visited the Stark compound with his children off and on the last few months as he and his children got a measure of what made up the magical beings of Jamie Barnes and Natasha Romanoff. Through trial and error and lots of damages to the Stark Compound and wreck lawns, they might have found a few wands that might work.

He suppressed a shudder at the memory. It was a few days before the American holiday of ‘Thanksgiving.’

Ollivander and his children walked through the orange portal, it beat apparition by a mile, to the sound of Tony’s complaining. “I’m just saying that they should have been happy to have almost a week off with pay. I mean my American state side employees aren’t complaining.”

Pepper glanced up at the sound of the portal and smiled. “The English don’t have that holiday. If you’re looking for Jamie and Nat they are in the gym. Jarvis help them get there.” She went back to soothing her husband’s bruised ego or something.

The last thing the wand maker heard was, “Ok how about a holiday for the English folk?” and the first thing he saw was Lily Potter or at least her body dodge a front kick and roll back onto her feet from Helena Lockhart.

James Potter or at least the man who they called Jamie stood watching with a blank face but with calculating eyes from the sidelines. He had a firm grip on Remus and Sirius’s shoulders as if they had tried to go and stop it. Petunia on the other hand, looked grim but focused as the two woman continued to spar at such a fast pace that the Ollivanders couldn’t keep up with what they were doing.

“They’ll going to kill each other mate!” Sirius protested as Yelena, that’ her name went down.

“That’s usually the idea in the Red Room. The winner gets their life. But we’re not so barbaric here.” Jamie said dryly and whistled something that broke up the spar.

“Got your warm up in Natalia?” Jamie said in Russian as he flicked his left hand and it was covered up to the shoulder with the glimmering metal armor as he walked towards the mats as Yelena stepped to the side conversing softly with the spectators.

Natalia answered with a jab.

If hard pressed later Garrick Ollivander couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the wand materials started to shape in his mind, but it would be a reflection of the two people, they made sparring look like dancing and he couldn’t let go of these images that overlapped in his mind. He saw them spar a lot but also eagle eyed as they drove into the Hogwarts education materials. How they softened their hearts for Harry and the rest of their ‘family.’

A wolf and a spider, purple and silver the hardest but strongest wood in the world. His children came up with the secondary wands that also reflected the two.

He just hoped that the wands fit their owners but Ollivander knew his craft. He sent the six wands off with a smile with no charge.

The resulting wands from those visitors had neared an end or at least they hoped neared the end as the owl flew through the orange portal for the last time and Ollivander went off for a drink.

The owl returned by regular way two days later and deposited a ton of gallons on the worktable enough that it overflowed to the floor. Perhaps it was time for a vacation. He went to see what his wife though.

To the shock of the wizarding world of the United Kingdom, the Ollivanders closed shop for once (their customers had to wait for them to come back) and went on a long vacation. A very long vacation in the Bahamas. Any customers who saw Mr. Ollivander next were shocked at the tan he picked up.

Time - Late 1979 to ?

When Regulus Black died in 1979, there was an intense shock wave of energy that swept through the sea cave that destroyed the undead and delivered Tony Stark’s essence into Regulus’s body. That energy was activated when the horcrux was destroyed. It was now free from the contamination of what Lord Voldemort had done to it, not that he knew what he was messing with.

The sea cave was the final resting place of the greatest wizard England had known. It wasn’t a former crystal cave for nothing. The shift in energy started a slow count down on the sci-fi coffin like container that held Merlin captive unseen by either muggles or magical beings. The lock on the coffin dinged like a microwave and the greatest wizard in the world woke up slowly with a groan and a audible swear of motherfuc--- as he got his bearings and sat up. Being out for over a thousand years would do that to a person.

With a flick of his hand, the man in tattered black pants and shirt eased his headache. It was amazing what healing magic could do if used properly. That’ll be the last time he trusted a woman. “Now how long was I out?” His voice sounded more American then English.

A meow answered the question he spoken out loud. A calico cat or really Kneazle sat near the bottom of the container. A blue collar had the tag Mongoose on it.

“Mongoose, whatever are we going to do?” The Kneazle sniffed and jumped down from the end of the coffin bed.

‘You’re asking me? I was left to defend your work and carry on my legacy. I have many, many grandchildren.’ There was a very smug tone to that sentence. The Kneazle jumped down onto the sea cave ground. ‘I have some promising candidates to carry on my legacy.’ The orange and white calico who was a carbon copy of his ancestor Rooster slowly made his way towards the opening as he mentally chatted up a storm.

Merlin rolled his eyes at the similarities between this snotty holier then thou Kneazle and his old Flerken named Rooster, who had adopted the newly arrived male human when he accidentally got ‘eaten’ into this universe that had magical beings. The Flerken female proceeded to mate with as many cats as possible, resulting in the species called Kneazle.

Rooster had to inform him that there was no way back, somehow this universe got to spin off into its own dimension and the way back was lost. Way, way lost, somehow regaining his younger body and being stuck in the deep past was not on ‘Merlin’s’ to-do list. But he made do. Helping build Hogwarts was a bit of a surprise though.

“Where’s my walking staff? I’m old.” Merlin groaned as he manoeuvre his tingling body to get moving. It felt like his limbs decided to start up as if they were asleep. Pins and needles included. Ugh.

At that, Mongoose stopped moving towards the exit. ‘Ask the house elves. I’ll start with the one called K.G. or Kreacher Gollum. I can give you directions.’

Mongoose waited patiently at the sea cave opening for the freely cursing magical to start walking properly. It took awhile. Merlin swished his black trench coat over his body from its hiding spot as he transformed his clothes into a more modern look or one that would pass in any era. He could jump to London but he didn’t have a updated map.

Needless to say, Mongoose, hitched a ride with the tired black man much to his draining patience. The man in question ignored the curious but quiet stares of his fellow train travelers of having a napping cat curled up on his bald head, the magical earring still was in his left lobe made the locals unable to see the man properly.

If they did, they would be seeing two men awake reading two very different newspapers and asleep to the world in-between. Instead they saw a black man hidden behind a the discarded newspaper of London Times, dated January 8th, 1982.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

Remus’s magical class had grown from Howard and Petunia to Tony, Nat and Jamie. All four ‘body snatchers’ were swift learners, after all the Starks were geniuses and you had to be excellent or die in the Red Room.
They had speed through at least the first three years of Hogwarts at this time and somehow still had time to play and be parents to Harry. At least the theory, until they got their wands.

The Starks had zoomed past the newest ‘body snatchers’ because honestly if Tony can become an expert on Gamma Radiation over one night, it’ll be easy to get through the 7 years of Hogwarts, at least the reading material.

Petunia was jealous at first but she had her strength, namely anything to do with plants and surprisingly the healing arts. Potions came easy to her, much to Nat’s cringe, but Nat never said she was good in the kitchen. Sadly Jamie wasn’t any better, he was smarter but not that smart. Cooking yes, chemistry, not so much.

The former killers were put out that they couldn’t get the potion process down enough to do
deadly potions. Petunia refused to cater to their requests. Ironically, Lily and Petunia bonded over potions after Petunia discovered Lily trying to make a easy potion a few days after Petunia had gotten her wand. It was going well until the last few steps then boom!

It was a heavy blow to discover that the ‘Wolfsbane potion’ that Remus paid for was bogus the night of the first time for the newcomers that he changed but Remus wasn’t giving up. Remus had to be talked into becoming a pincushion through the next moon cycle, just because Tony was curious. Or so Tony claimed. He wasn’t Bruce after all.

That being said, Tony, Petunia with Remus’s shaky approval were up to something with Pepper’s exhausted approval. Nat had a feeling it had to do something with moon dust or at least it involved moon dust since Pepper yelled in exasperating heat, “No I am not putting moon dust on the Stark company expenses. Go to the freaking moon if you want some so badly. I am not letting you steal anything from NASA Tony! Howard if you even think about it, so help me!”

Alas the moon dust project stalled when Tony realized that the technology had to be built so he could do his nanotech space suit. He and his dad pouted for at least a few days after that then decided to go all out on Christmas, because why not?

Tony got a wishful look in his eyes whenever Nat or Jamie gushed about Harry. Morgan was out there somewhere. Jarvis had told him that he had contact with her but she was thinking of a way to introduce her ‘parents’ to her ‘parents’. She was a busy seven year old. The New Year was mentioned as possibility.

Nat and Jamie had finally gotten their wands or at least their secondary wands made up of Red Oak with Thunderbird tail feather for Jamie. Cherry White River Monster spine for Nat, it was like she had gotten something back that she never knew she was missing. Jamie felt the same. But nothing compared to her main wand or Jamie’s. The feeling that she got when she held it even overpowered when she pushed Jasper Sitwell off of the roof.

Needless to say her wands was becoming close to being her favorite weapon. She still hounded Tony for her batons. She missed them and if she could store her wands in the batons well, she’ll be made. That way she had room for her guns and knives.

As the month rolled over into the season of Christmas, fashion designers of the wizarding world didn’t get much sleep the next few weeks as the “New Craze” flourished and to the much older generations, who were around when the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was set down, just grumbled to themselves. Or as it was said there’s nothing new under the sun or what is old is new again.

Pepper Potts found herself using the deep breathing she learned from Happy, of all people, as she had to mentally redraw her ‘witching’ outfit for Yelena and Natasha’s wizarding introduction after the New Year started. Not to mention the men’s side. Whoever thought of this ‘timeless classic look’ which seemed to pull from the most conservative fashions from the 1920s up to the 60s. There were a few 70s and 80s clothing but they were not as present. With a slight magical twist, which if you really wanted, could work in the muggle world as well.

Whoever this lady was she was a sharp dresser and had taken the Wizarding world or at least the U.K. by storm at the beginning of November. Why she opened her shop then, Pepper had no idea but had feeling it had to do with the Christmas season. Pepper couldn’t seem to find who the designer was. The new clothing label was called Respair which means “fresh hope; a recovery from despair” which would describe this new clothing wave. It was a breath of fresh air after the terror of that man who-shall-not-be-named.

Pepper noted the 1950’s Jacques Fath day dress in shades of grey which to her amusement at the bottom had the option to change the dress into your house colors.

She did have to laugh at Lady Callidora Black’s ‘new very stylish look,’ the ‘must have of any older witch or wizard daring enough’ in the ads throughout the newspaper and magazines of the wizarding world. One of the first and brave witches to snub her nose at tradition, so to speak.

The ‘new very stylish look’ was sharp looking suits for everyday wear, more formal for parties and some casual looks for comfort around the house with or with company. The witches look was along the same lines but if they had any sort of pants they were tastefully done to look like dresses. No knees showing or anything crass.

The perfect ‘dueling’ outfit for any age the Spellbound celebrity now fashion magazine, boasted as the head of Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick was kind enough to pose on a weekend at the behalf of the designer. It lead to the Spellbound magazine not having to go under. The accessories of shoes, boots, jewelry, ties etc were a tasteful match for the ‘proper’ English witch or wizard. There were some denim skirts and pants thrown in.

Pepper had a great laugh at that claim. It seems to her that this Madame Collins was more of comfort, body natural movement style then the stuffy clothes of the past. She amused herself leafing through the must have section for the ‘newest styles.’ She was amused at the Dior, Vera Wang, etc labels. Pepper had a feeling that whoever ‘designed’ this newest craze did ‘credit’ the original Houses of Design. Must be a muggle born or half blood witch or a wizard but Pepper was betting on a witch since not a lot of men at least in the wizarding world wanted to design clothing.

Oh, if she had the designer come to Stark Industries, Pepper would really rake in the coin. Maybe she’ll drop the designer a line about some ‘new’ ideas. After all Pepper had over thirty years of fashion from the future. Plus had to deal with Tony Stark and his must have the newest right now. All that knowledge shouldn’t go to waste.

Pepper’s eyes narrowed at the upcoming ‘spring collection’ near the end of the magazine. The designer was smart enough not the draw much from the upcoming decades since the designer seemed to give credit where credit was due.

Unfortunately for Pepper she was taking a sip of water when she got to the ‘allurement’ section aka stuff that only ‘adult’ witches and wizards needed to see. The spell was easy to unlock, as it had to do with blood. Thankfully for herself, Pepper ended up spitting out the water instead of choking on it. The water just rolled off the magical magazine.

Pepper could see how the dress could be mistaken for lingerie but she remembered wearing it to a college party. In the late spring of 1993, thankfully in lower California.

Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she studied the animated drawing. Who would be fashionable to know about future clothing designs? She had a sinking feeling that another one of their people had ‘bodysnatcher’ a magical person. But who? The only ones she could think of were Hope Pym or Maria Stark.

“G.K. please bring me Natasha if she’s awake.” What Pepper didn’t realize was that it was past midnight and Natasha was sound asleep for once. After being informed that Ms. Romanoff was asleep, Pepper decided to talk to her in the morning.

Which was a shame for Natasha waking up would have been much better since her mind decided to travel down memory lane. Memories buried so deeply, Natasha didn’t know were there.

While Natasha dreamed, her body had curled up around itself, in a fetus position, in an attempt to keep warm. The covers had accidentally slide off from Jamie getting up from dreams of his own. The cats wandering in and out of the now cooled off bedroom dislodge the covers further. Natasha might have been Russian in her old life, but here she was not, and her new body never liked the cold. She shivered even through the thick comforter Jamie tucked around her body. She whimpered softly as the cold seeped into her dreams.

Natasha or rather Natalia now, since she was mentally and physically around 7 but looked like she was 6. The cold clammy fog she was wandering in thinned out to reveal a lab. The first thing she saw was the year on a calendar.

1927

Her heart sank as Arnim Zola, that evil bastard, no offence to his mother, puttered around a very rudimentary cyrofreeze chamber. It looked like a modern deep freeze freezer then anything else.

“Mama.” slipped past her lips before Natasha could take the term back for the woman who would be her mother for three short years when she was young was working beside Zola, a steely, but if you knew her, worn look on her face as Melina Vostokoff age 12, worked with Arnim Zola who was overseeing her education. Or so he claimed. She knew that it had to do with the cold freezing container. Zola knew that, she knew, but to him, it was amusing. She was the smartest female he ever worked with.

The sound of a door opening didn’t distract Melina from her work, who focused on the calculations to best further Zola’s experiments.

“I’ll be back dear girl.” Zola patted her on the head like a dog, leaving her alone with the blood samples that had been given to her. Her breath could be seen in the cold air despite the warm air in the rest of the building.

In a different room, Arnim Zola hummed to himself as he excepted a chilled glass of Rivella from Dreykov. Nat frowned, no not the Dreykov she knew, this man had different colored eyes and his facial composition was different. A great grandfather or grandfather.

The office gave her the creeps, it looked the same when she was sent to his office once. Clearly everything was to be kept the same. It added to the timelessness of the Red Room.

“How is your assistant doing? She keeping up in all areas of study?” Nat’s mouth curled in disgust at ‘Dreykov’s’ next words. “If you don’t like her in your bed, I can send you other more mature females. After all they are trained in the art and need the practice.” Dreykov’s smile was slimy.

Zola scoffed at the suggestion, making ‘Dreykov’s’ eyes narrow, which Zola caught, so explained. “I only need her brain and you have done well in that regard. More so then the other science leaning ones you have given to me over the months from your ‘school.’

If she was a few years older perhaps but I don’t need to rut like an animal. I had my fill from the last test subject you sent me. Pity she didn’t survive the freezing process. I would have loved to see if it could still perform properly. Oh well. As for the girl, I have a feeling that Melina will earn her place in my bed. I see great things from that child. Very great things. Speaking of which, a few blood samples from a few of your young females besides Melina seems to have promise. The weak serum that I had constructed seemed to help. Pity my pen pal had declined to meet me, citing that our paths have diverged.”Abraham Erskine will pay for that.

‘Dreykov’s’ sharp eyes looked over the report that the young scientist, just out of one of the highest Swiss universities, Dr. Zola as he introduced himself as a asset to the newly restructured ‘Honeypot’ or as Nat knew it as, ‘Red Room.’ Dr. Zola was brought on board because of his interests in similar interests in the evolution of human potential, genetics or other wise.

Dreykov tapped his pen on the very sparse list of names, ages and abilities along side their photograph. “I see that you have considerably narrowed down the list in the past few months. As these two,” Nat’s mind went blank in shock as she saw her old name and picture, a serious solemn look for a child, but her eyes were not fixated there, but on the photo of the girl below her, that looked oddly like Yelena, but with her father’s eyes, Ivan’s eyes.

Nat’s heart broke as she realized that she had a sister, a sister, the half-sister that Ivan had mentioned. The room started to waver as if on a bad t.v. set, she couldn’t make out her half-sister’s name, but the last name remained the same, Belova. The men continued talking but the room flickered resetting the office in 1935.

“Doctor Arnim Zola needs more bodies that can tolerate the cold and his young assistant, Melina Vostokoff suggested the Red Room. His greatest subjects have come from here.” Madame B or as Nat dubbed her Madame ‘V’ as she thought this Madame ‘V’ seemed to be a relative of her instructor. Nat wasn’t surprise to see another of Dreykov’s relative take the man’s place, shaking her head at the man’s next words.

“Ah how is young Melina doing? I see that she had done her job from warming his bed into his assistant, after all her science skills are remarkable for a woman.” The man who seemed to be related to General Dreykov stopped talking once Madame ‘V’ shot him as a sharp look as a knock sounded on the door.

Madame ‘V’ called out, “Enter.”

A wide lustful grin sprouted on his face as the door opened, the woman in question hearing the last sentence when she walked in.

Melina stepping into the room, a cold, almost detached look in her brown twenty-year-old eyes, “I never did successfully warm his bed. Dr. Zola recognized my mind and instead filled it with knowledge. He didn’t want to spoil his mind with my body, instead used the test subjects for that. Speaking of which, I had successfully selected a few candidates that survived the cyrochamber. Just now, I defrosted the first test subject that survived being frozen for eight years. It’s like she never left once she got past the defrosting and rest stage. It took a while for the female to regain her strength but she’s from strong stock. She even remembered her first kill from before.”

Nat almost threw up as she sunk down on her knees as she remembered that night, how she thought she could ‘save’ her friend. It had been just before she had been put into a deep sleep that eased her body in and out of cyrofreeze, after all Dr. Zola didn’t want to kill the first human subjects. Nat never knew until now it was a test, she had buried that memory down deep enough to block it or it was written out of her mind.

Natasha screamed in wordless emotion as the memory flickered into life along side the camera that had captured it in the first place as well as her half-sister’s name. Her mother had called her Marya - rebelliousness, but the Red Room called her by her second name, Roza Belova -rose white. It took a while for Roza to respond to the that name, but the constant slaps reinforced that quickly.

Nat was small, only six and half, no seven and half, as the guard who liked to ‘play’ with the young girls crept down the aisle that separated the rows of single beds to his new favorite, not knowing that Nat and Roza had switched places after lights out. The handcuffs were easy to undo, and faked locked.

Nat fought her body’s urge to shove the heavy weight off of her as the man undid his pants and lifted off her nightgown, as one of his hands had stuffed her mouth with a sock, forcing down her undergarment. He was so intent on his goal he never registered the small but razor sharp butter knife that was forcefully shoved with all her strength into his right armpit straight into the Axillary artery.

There were other ways to knife a person quickly, but as the man usually held up his victim’s other arm, as the first was handcuffed or so he thought. But this guard had become sloppy as he had gotten bold in his pattern of taking the girls for a test drive the last six months, that and he tended to sweat even in winter so he tended to dress ‘light’ for his night ritual.

The lights turned off as soon as Nat started to struggle and tried to get away from all the blood that started to go everywhere. Thankfully the sock in her mouth kept the blood from falling into her mouth, but her roommates weren’t so lucky.

A sharp clap as if she was in the theatre jerked Nat out of that horrible memory into Zola’s science lab just as the lights turned on. The only thing that could be determined was that Zola seemed older and the equipment he was working with newer. How new Natasha couldn’t tell. Her stomach started to roll as if she had a stomachache at the ‘proud’ scientist and his two visitors.

Zola showed off his six containers, all filled with naked females of various ages but a few. No clothes as Zola didn’t want anything to interfere with these delicate ‘stages,’ but for a few ‘prized specimen’. There were a few tanks with various males, but over the years it was the females that survived the most, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

General ‘Dreykov’s relative’ tapped the cold glass right on Nat’s nose, if she was not in cyrofreeze, one of the only ones covered in a tight skinned suit. “How do you know that any of these will survive Doctor?”

“So you decided to test Dr. Zola’s machine on her because of her physical traits?” Madame ‘V’ asked as she noted that Melina had been froze as well as Ivan’s second daughter another with a few others that could be spared. If they couldn’t cut it in the Red Room, this room would do.

“That and the other girl who shared her blood type could survive very short term, so it was theory that she could as well.” The blood types O - worked the best of the blood types but there were a few others that worked as well.

Zola was studying Melina’s body as if he was looking under a microscope. They wanted someone older to ease the younger ones back into reality. That and by having Melina undergo the process herself, her mind would help refine the cryofreezing, if she survived. “Melina said before I froze her that Natalia’s mother was ‘relentless’ in her search of her daughter. She got so far as a cleaning lady in one of the other locations. As a determined mother, she put up quite a fight.

She was made an example of for your subjects right? She had a fire in her as she fought for her life and body but the guards overwhelmed her. Ah I wished she survived that. Having one of the mothers would have been good. What happened to the father?”

Zola asked out of scientific curiosity only. He had been trying to recreate what his one time collage dreamed about but so far no go. The serum that he got word of made his hands itch to study. There was a reason why he wanted to make cryofreezing a reality, other then jumping through time.

“None of your concern. I wish you well on your journey back to Germany. I hear interesting things are going to happen. Don’t worry, I’ll let Melina out when she needs to be. After all she is one of our greatest minds.”

“Unfreeze her when any sort of scientific process had been made, after all I did let her leave my side for you throughout the eight years I trained her. It would be a pity to let her mind go to waste.”

Natasha blinked and suddenly it was a young Madame B who stood studying the cyrofreeze containers. “Dr. Zola wants to talk to Melina, something about his cellmate, Johann Fennhoff being of interest to our benefit.”

The last thing Natasha remembered was Madame B unfreezing Melina to be Alexei Shostakov’s, the country’s Red Guardian, mission partner, explaining even if Natalia grew up, Dreykov wanted Melina Vostokoff.

Natasha woke up before she could see why. It took over an hour underneath the shower to wash away the cold. Sparring did the rest.

A few days later around the 15th of December, Nat bit back a smile as she gently tossed a ticking charm her sister’s way, not at all her regular speed. Naturally Yelena dodged that and the color changing spell that would have turned her hair bright green and neon yellow.

But before Christmas had come something horrible outraged the entire wizarding community of England. Alice and Frank Longbottom of the Noble House of Longbottom were cruelly attacked and almost killed but for some strange squibs that had ‘rescued’ them. Or at least that’s what the community could figure out. It was being kept under wraps according to Amelia Bones.

The story or at least the rumors did point out that it started with that Prophet article by that darned half-blood.

Evening Prophet dated December 16st, 1981 which was rushed out by the Daily Prophet

The front page of the paper is dictated to a huge moving picture of the Longbottom family out to do some late evening Christmas shopping. Each have on the traditional robe and in Neville’s case a darling little pointed cap, much different from what his parents and grandmother are wearing.

Frank and Alice Longbottom are pictured with their darling little Neville and for once Augusta Longbottom was smiling in a picture.

Madame Professor Griselda Marchbanks was quoted later saying to this reporter’s shock when the article was rerun for the next week with outstanding reviews and hidden tidbits from the Madame/Lady Longbottom’s oldest friend,

“I am not surprised at this at all. Augusta was always a trend setter. She was the one of the first of us to get rid of her corset back in the day and she always raved about that muggle-born German woman, Anna Muthesius and how she railed quite reasonably Augusta said once in private after reading the muggle born witch’s muggle printed book, Das Eigenkleid der Frau, “Women’s Own Dress.” (printed in 1903). I guess that Augusta is doing just that. She’s not to be held by the old days but something new. I think Augusta is determined not to let that man who shall not be named dictate how the wizarding world should go even in fashion. We magicals do our own thing.”

Emma Squiggle, a half blood who got the word out, kept quiet about how some of these ‘newest’ fashion or all of them really were from a muggle fashion line, most of them out of date but ironically fit wonderfully in the wizarding world. The designers themselves were ‘named’ as the clothing line. It probably helped the designer had magic to twist and design to suit the very conventional wizarding world. It amused Emma that the pure blood family aka the Malfoys and their ilk poured their gallons for the latest ‘fashion’.

Now a new reporter for the Daily Prophet, Emma couldn’t contain her grin at the front page article that pushed her to the top for once, instead launched an edition of the Evening Prophet, instead of that horrible Skeeter woman whose article to be frank was a horrible mud-slinging.

Goes to show that keeping odd hours works for people or she’ll never have gotten the scoop. Who would have thought getting a butter-beer after indulging a little muggle music concert would work wonders?

December 20th, 1981 Jamie’s hide-a-way or at least he pretends that no one knows about it (everyone does)

Jamie carefully by his left side, turned the London Times as he looked for what he wanted, he didn’t want to disturb the sleeping mass of white fur aka Alpine on his lap. He grinned. There it was. Christmas Mass Times.

He already circled and discarded what times and places he wanted in the New York Times. It was folded neatly along with the catalogs he had used to mail order the presents for everyone, well almost everyone. Honestly it was just for the Stark family.

Everyone but, a shadow he knew well reflected off of the Bluebell Flames - cold fire that surrounded the almost ceiling high Advent candles that on the first Advent of the newest church calender, he enlarged for two purposes, one it pissed off the Starks and the holly branch advent wreath made a wicked hideout.

The blue fire that somehow to the bafflement of the magic users didn’t burn the candles or anything else turned the colors he wanted. Privately he did it because his family always had a Advent wreath, even when he was gone. That and recently he couldn't shake the cold like he use to. The blue of the flame turned green as the woman he was pondering a Christmas present stepped through the flames and quietly knelt down, raising a red eyebrow at his ‘wreath’ mate.

Jamie didn’t jump as Natasha gently gathered Alpine up from his lap and took his place, after Alpine work up with a hiss and bolted away.

Nat smirked as she successfully distracted a very focused James ‘Jamie’ Barnes from his hunt, as she suddenly sat down facing him, her core rocking into his as she got settled. The focus look was sexy but as she wrapped her legs around Jamie’s waist as his hand reflectively palmed her hips bringing her closer. She needed him to focus on her.

“Black’s looking for you.” She voiced in the sudden quiet. Jamie sighed, thumping his head against the support of the pink candlestick - Joy if Nat remembered it correctly, she let Jamie move her off his lap, but still close by.

“So he saw the paper then?” Jamie’s voice was cold, low and hard.

“Everyone did. Well but the boys. We distracted them quite successfully.” Nat remembered the confusion and then alarm and then horror that dawned on all the faces that ‘knew’ them. All but the fellow travelers, the Starks looked grim but when both the Stark men looked at Nat and gave a hard nod of respect, at least they along, with Yelena knew the score. Nat didn’t want Pepper or Maria’s sadness. She knew what she was and at that, for once she was glad she didn’t hold back.

“I let the Black Widow out of ‘retirement’ and I’m still here. Harry still loves me.” Natasha voiced a doubt that only Jamie could understand.

“He’s two.” Jamie’s voice broke as tears roll down his face as he remembered how he broke the promise to never kill again, even if it was in defense of others. “He doesn’t know any better. Black should know better. He grew up with that” Here Jamie fluently cussed out the trio that he and Nat took down. Natasha mentally made a note of some of that creative cussing Jamie used, some she thought was straight from the 40s.

“I thought we were becoming friends.” Jamie’s voice didn’t waver when he voiced that shattered hope. Rolling his eyes in the next second, completely changing the subject. “I still can’t believe that you let Harry go off on a play date with the dentists. I don’t trust them, something’s fished about it all. I just can’t put a finger on it.”

“You’re just sore that they invited the Starks and not you.” Nat retorted, closing her eyes as she relaxed next to her partner, lover? She’ll figure it out sometime. Harry couldn’t sleep last night, he was too excited and kept his mothers up all night. Jamie’s rhythmic self-soothing of running his hands through her hair put her to sleep.

A magical newspaper that carried Jamie’s misgivings was hidden underneath the presents.

Two days earlier at an undisclosed location where the Longbottom’s were found unconscious but breathing.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.” Mad Eye Moody cheerfully warned the Daily Prophet lady who had let to this with her clothing article in the first place.

Emma Squiggle, new reporter for the Daily Prophet, still in hopes to redeem herself, ignored him to her dismay. Emma couldn’t contain her lunch as she did a abrupt about face and splattered her lunch all over the torn up pavement that led to the unexpected dwelling that had kept the Longbottoms for five hours. Course that’s the picture that was snapped and put in with the headline. ‘Deadly core of Death Eaters found dead, newest reporter losses her lunch over the muggle like killing.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

April 10th 1982

Treehouse fort aka Tony Stark’s ‘Avenger’ headquarters

2:15 A. M.

Three days into the arduous testing of the newest ‘recruits’ aka Sirius Black, Severus Snape and Remus Lupin. Petunia already passed, much to the chafe of the three wizards. Clearly growing up muggle was a boon in this case. It wasn’t really as they would find out.

They all passed the written and oral exams which Natasha had modeled on her exams from her S.H.I.E.L.D. Probation.

This last part was about teamwork, physical, mental and emotional situations, putting aside grudges and in the words of Tony, ‘If we can put aside our egos to do what was necessary then so can these three aka the battle of New York and beyond. That one little tiff aside.”

James ‘Bucky’ Barnes was no longer the winter soldier but at times the behavior or lack of influenced his day to day living. He was the trio’s ‘handler’ or in the case of ‘supervising,’ he stood just short of the stone built half wall on the balcony of “Stalk Tower’ Clint’s nickname for the third story of the tree fort that served as a lookout. Howard thought it was funny, Tony not so much.

He was motionless hoping that the trio would come into the clearing because he liked to sleep at night. He never got much sleep when he was stuck with HYDRA. A still steaming cup of black coffee in his left hand as it rested on the guardrail of the upper story of the tree fort next to the two way monitor that tracked the wizard’s progress.

The screen showed three dots, one white, one black and one red that were being driven towards their destination by wandering paths and barriers that tested them in different ways. Some were team-ups as in building a bridge across a ravine or each having a code that completed a password to a door that they all have to work together to find all three clues to their codes.

Bucky chuckled quietly since he agreed on Stark’s nickname for this exam. ‘Escape Room’ from hell or at least from the view of the wizards.

He did have to crack a smile at the unending bitching of the three not at all happy wizards squawked from the radio. It sounded like Snape and Black were going to start hitting each other and Lupin was at the point of letting them. For all the times they traveled into the Forbidden Forest during their school years, they sucked at navigating anywhere else. Especially since they were wand-less.

“I see that the three still have no idea how to navigate the woods properly.” An entertained voice commented. Natalia always had that ability to sneak up on him. Sometimes it lead to interesting past times, other times, it could be deadly.

“I still can’t believe that you got Snape to agree to work with everyone. Besides it’s a maze, an easy one. It seems that being honest is hard work for wizards.” For some reason it was amusing to Bucky.

“Snape has a life-debt to the Potters and he hated the idea of being stuck in Hogwarts for the rest of his life.” Natalia stood as close to James as she dared. She missed his presence, they had been so busy that they didn’t have enough time to just sit and sort their whole history out. Natalia knew she still wanted him in every way but she wasn’t sure he wanted the same.

That darn boggart lesson started this whole thing of pinning, longing and avoiding when necessary. No, it was before that when Tony discovered something horrifying and Nat and Bucky finally had that long overdue talk or at least some of it.

Early to Mid December

“Hey doll.” James Barnes or Jamie here didn’t even blink as Natasha dug her small knife into Jamie’s neck in one hand, her new wand in the other, a spell on her lips. Natasha woke up chilled to the bone, which explained some of her dreams, no memories.

Her body had curled up around itself in a fetus position in an attempt to keep warm as the covers slide off from Jamie getting up and the cats wandering in and out of the now cooled off bedroom.

Jamie had been trying to put the covers back on Natasha before he woke her, but he guessed that woke her instead. He eased off slowly for her to get her bearing, saying, “Howie called a meeting. I was up and decided to wake you instead of Jarvis doing it for you or one of the house elves.”

Natasha gave a half-hearted glare as Jamie tossed her her fuzzy blue robe that she wore almost everywhere, much to the Starks amusement, but they were paying her handsomely for being their live-in bodyguard so Tony didn’t quip something but gave her matching house slippers instead that included spaces for weapons. Guess he could be taught.

Howard Stark or Howie to Barnes if he was being annoying, was still a work in process. “That was one time. One time. Kreacher Gollum knew to dodge the weapon, I didn’t mean to hit Nod.”

The youngest house elf made a mistake and against his elder’s advice decided to wake up Natasha back in the early days when she was still getting used to her new surroundings.

Natasha only went in her sleep robe because Jamie was still in his. When she walked from K.G.’s portal into a underground cave that looked like Batman threw up in there, instead of sighing, she grabbed the mug that Yelena held out to her, looking as sleepy as Natasha felt.

“Did you put the conference table in here?” Natasha commented. “There’s a reason why we have a conference room at the compound Tony.”

“We’re not there, we are in one of my houses in England.” Howard said as he mentally ticked off the list in his head.

“What” Natasha’s question ended in a yawn as she noted only the ‘body snatchers’ and the ghosts of Al and Reggie Black were present.

“There’s better be a good reason you dragged me from my moon puppy.” Yelena pouted, it was after the full moon and she wanted to be there for Lupin. If Sirius Black was there, he would be putty.

In answer, Tony’s father flicked his fingers and screens that showed different images flickered to life. “Welcome to the Avengers 2.0.7. Let’s just call this Avengers old school.” Tony said looking like his dad and hadn’t changed or gotten any sleep. Both looked worried for some reason and that raised alarms in the spies. The Starks never let their feeling show if possible.

“What my Tony means to say, this Lord Voldemort is worse than we thought. He apparently made more than one Horcrux.” Pepper said with a slight tremor in her voice. Voldemort was almost as bad as Thanos, and as she grew up in the wizarding world she knew what sort of shit magic users could cook up.

When Sirius had yelled, Reggie hushed him and it was only later that the body-snatchers learned what a horcrux was. At the time, they were just grateful that man only made one or so they thought.

“Harry.” Natasha breathed out the word before Pepper could continue as her mind offered up the memory of when Reggie described what a Horcrux was, how it was made and the signs of one. It was after the Sunday like brunch that they had while the boys were down for a nap.

“So much for the ‘Boy Who Lived.’” Yelena took on her heavy Russian accent when she was upset or pissed off and she was ticked. “That’s why Harry is still alive and has that scar, it’s because of that thing inside of him right? Else he wouldn’t have it?! How the hell are we going to get it out of him without killing him?!”

“We get the rest of his soul first.” Tony’s voice was hard as the former spies/assassins took in the screens and connected the dots faster than the other magic users would when they will tell them.

“Don’t tell me each screen represents a location of a Horcrux.” Jamie’s voice was dry as he went through all the breathing exercises he could to keep from frying up the place with his magic. Thank heavens he had a wand now.

“Nah, most of the mini-cameras are me being me as in bugging the places that the ‘wizards’ thought would be untraceable by magic. Idiots.”

Tony shook his head as the three main screens showed off Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, some of the other magical government offices in the world, and Hogwarts. The other four flickered with an eerie orange light that showed a shack, a beautiful manor with white peacocks strutting about and a place full of junk.

Nat noted that there was more than a hundred video streams, clearly someone got bored. The French Ministry of Magic was beautiful. How none of this was detected was a mystery to her.

“The others aren’t here because they are emotionally connected. As somewhat outsiders and Avengers, you have the clearance level that they don’t have yet.”

“If you try and recreate S.H.I.E.L.D I’ll laugh.” Natasha warned as she took in Howard’s words as Pepper had taken off with Tony for bed citing that she knew everything already, leaving the oldest of the Stark to explain further.

Natasha, Jamie and Yelena with some input from the ghosts as they had lived with the dark arts, discussed and discarded shaky plans, as she locked down and switched into mission mode. Later when the sun was starting to rise, she and Jamie tumbled into bed and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

Or at least Jamie did. Natasha couldn’t sleep so she slipped out of her bed and pattered noiselessly to check on Harry. As she watched him breathe, his little chest moving, she noticed a flicker of light and had to smile. It seems that Lily had the same idea.

“Why are you actively trying to avoid caring for our son?” Lily was troubled as it seemed that at first Nat and Harry were getting along fine, but after meeting Remus, Nat seemed to close up. Not enough for Harry to realize, but Lily and see could see and Jamie could see as well. It was drawn-out, but weeks went by and it seemed that Nat spend less and less time with Harry. Unlike his new Aunt Lena who enjoyed playing and spending time with her ‘nephew.’

“I was raised, trained in the red room and they drilling into us over and over that love is for children. They further that statement at the graduation ‘ceremony’ by sterilization. It's efficient. One less thing to worry about. The one thing that might matter more than a mission. Makes everything easier. Even killing. It made us realize that we could never have children in anyway, even adoption even if we broke free or so I first thought. You still think you know what a monster is Potter? I don’t know how to raise a child. I don’t know how to be a mom. Aunt yes, a mom, no.” Nat left the nursery not caring or noticing the tears on her face. Lily just stared in horror.

She ran into Jamie who wordlessly guided her towards a quiet corner. If no one else could see it but Nat was terrified that she’ll misstep and she’ll wouldn’t be able to take care of Harry.

“What’s wrong Nat?” Jamie with his hazel blue eyes made her heart clench and she said what she needed to say since they first started to retrain with each other. After all the Potter’s bodies weren’t like their original ones.

“I’m sorry. I am so…”

“What do you mean? I need to make amends to you.” He didn’t mention how he had grieved for quite a while after he learned of her death. Ironically enough it was Sarah who helped him let go and in time love again which he never thought he would. Short as it was.

Natasha gave a brittle smile that didn’t reach her watery green eyes. “Our sexual education is different from anyone else’s. I thought I had a choice for once and I picked you. I never got to apologize for it. You were gone before I could talk to you and I was gone before you even came back.”

Natasha explained further to drive the point home, and in sense, to drive Jamie away more. She wasn’t worthy or even ready for a relationship. Or so she told herself.

“Once the girls who would become black widows all started puberty, Madame B and her staff all watched and monitored us closely to see what triggered the most of our sexual desires, as their ‘health’ classes were very thorough in seduction.

We were encouraged to kill anyone who tried to touch us in an inappropriate way. My Red Room records leaked onto the internet say that I killed my first man at age nine, but it was really seven and half, nine was the official one. I killed the one who was trying to abuse a girl, not that I knew it at the time.

Or as Madame B used to say, ‘We are training spies and assassins here, not prostitutes.’ The Russian Assassin Program was the precursor to the Black Widow Program. They didn’t have the ‘safeguards’ in place and such most of the agents were unbalanced, the most infamous of them was Dottie Underwood as she called herself. The rest of the agents or at least a great many were dispatching themselves because of the abuse they had endured, the constant physical and sexual, the starvation, the long times without rest, they had nightmares they couldn’t escape. That alarmed the higher ups and decided to raise sexual exploration until late teens at least it was when I went through the Red Room. Even if we were just tools and things to them. They didn’t want them broken before they were bought. It brought better killers and honeypots. The girls would explore at their own ‘pace’ or as I learned later, the pace that the Red Room set.

Graduates of the Red Room got to chose their first sexual partners, that is after the graduation ‘ceremony.’ I chose you or so I thought. It was necessary so we could have a healthy sex drive and want to engage in sexual activities, or at least know how good and pleasurable it could be.”

Natasha’s eyes went distant as she quoted, “Subject number 35 is the most skilled young lady we have trained.”

James bitterly laughed at her confession. “Do you really think you’re the only one feeling guilty? I clearly remember teaching you how to seduce properly after that one almost botched assignment. I remember bedding you. Multiple times over the months we worked together.”

James closed his eyes. “I wanted to marry you.” He didn’t see the shocked and surprised look on Natalia’s face. Or the dawning realization in her eyes.

“Before I meant, and after the Red Room when I got my mind back.” Jamie peeked out from under his eyelashes and had to smile at the deer in headlights look on Natalia’s face.

“After all I did knock you up. It was the 1940’s after all. I couldn’t just leave you in that condition without wanting to have you the rest of my life. I usually wouldn’t do that to a dame as I wasn’t a dog and I was raised better than that. You were quite persuasive.”

“You, you remembered that? They wiped that from me that it took holding one of Clint’s kids to knock the programming out of my head.” She was thankful that she didn’t drop Cooper at the intense flashback of that time of her life.

Jamie nodded and headed off to bed, Nat followed a slim hope building up inside, but then that boggart lesson happened that set everything back. Everything.

December 23rd

“Petunia for the last freaking time you are not ugly!” Nat threw up her hands and walked away from the woman who was standing in the ‘classroom’ of the townhouse. She was done, just done. The woman’s self-esteem was so low, it was pathetic. It all started two months after everyone got settled into the ‘Sanctuary’ as the group started to call it and moved freely between the townhouse and the compound.

“We still have the lesson to go through you know.” Lupin pointed out as he walked towards the fuming Petunia, who was gripping her wand so hard it looked like it might break. He had slipped into the classroom via Wormhole aka Kreacher’s style. It was the thing to do. Lupin had been trying to make a ‘portal’ of his own, but it was slow going.

Nat gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement, turned and walked back into the classroom. Jamie and surprisingly enough Howard, talking in low voices about something. Sirius leaned against the back wall, eyes closed as if he was sleeping. Usually the Starks were neck-deep into some sort of project so having at least one of the Starks on time for lessons was astonishing. Tony on the other hand ended up being dragged out of the workshop by Kreacher after ten minutes had past.

Once everyone was there, Remus rubbed his hands together, feeling a little nervous because he knew that everyone’s fears were not going to be easy to disperse, unlike back in 3rd year when he did it. Even now the Boggart in the small cabinet rattled sensing deep feelings.

“Today we’ll be doing the Boggart-Banishing Spell. We don’t know the Boggart’s true form, only that it takes the form of your greatest fear. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please ... riddikulus!"

As usual, everyone’s pronunciation was perfect, then Tony started playing with the word. “Ridlkelus. Riddiulous. Seriously? Ridiculous? Once again, you wizards have no imagination at all. How in the world is this creature even still existing? I mean, really? Come on.”

Howard nodded, “My boy has a point.”

“If you two bothered to even know anything about fairy tales and folklore, then you’ll know it’s not a fake being.” Nat dryly commented. Not amused at all of the Starks antics.

The two Starks ignored Nat’s comment about the studies of folk lore.

Before the two Starks could nit-pick again the whole lesson as they usually did and it lasted more than three hours sometimes, Jamie stepped forward.

“I’ll do it.” Jamie was in a relaxed slouch, hand in pocket, wands put away.

“Right, I’ll demonstrate and then you’ll try.” Remus flicked his wand and out came the boggart who instantly took on Remus’s greatest fear when he stepped forward. The moon in all it’s full glory, with the twinkle of the stars framing it like a halo.

Almost lazy, Remus uttered, “Riddikulus.” The moon that presented his werewolf side flickered into the sun, when then giggled and laughed.

Before Bucky could step forward, Tony rushed ahead. He had this in the bag…his wand dropped from numbed fingers as the boggart shape shifted into, not Thanos as Tony would had thought, but all his family, Tony saw Pepper, Morgan, his mother and surprisingly his father lifeless and dead, not just floating in space as Tony thought he was going to be. He dimly heard a ping as another wand joined his on the wooden floor.

James ‘Bucky’ Barnes shook as the vision of the fully dressed and armed Winter Soldier turned dead eyes to look at what he had done. Two kills by the killing curse, one wand in his right hand and the other a smoking gun. He could clearly see the Death Eater’s tattoo on his left arm. Bucky’s mind blanked and he knew Tony’s wasn’t doing well either.

Tony and Bucky dimly registered Petunia, a cold fire in her eyes stepping past the two men and then the Boggart fixed its attention on to her. She didn’t mean to flinch but Petunia did anyway. It was just as she always thought as the boggart turned into her parents, heaping praise on Lily and ignoring Petunia even when she was trying to talk. Like she never existed in the first place.

Petunia stood frozen as her fear of being seen less than from her parents who she thought loved her.

The Boggart's words echoed in her ears, but Lily's real voice was louder since G. Kreacher mentioned something about a Boggart when Harry started to cry out of nowhere. Lily rushed to her sister and found this.

"Petunia! Petunia! Petunia!!! I don't care if you have magic or not. I don’t care. I’m glad that you do but I'm so sorry I let you push me away. I should have." Here Lily started to cry, even with all their getting to know each other again the past two months, it was a slim surface relationship centered around their sons.

Petunia felt the old bitterness and anger form once again as her attention was diverted from the Boggart. "You should have what Lily?"

Lily's eyes glowed green as she matched that anger and bitterness with regret and shamefulness. "I should have tried harder to be a better sister, but we both let the magic," here her face twisted into something ugly. "tear us apart. No more. Hi I'm Lily Potter, little sister of Petunia Evans. Aunt of Dudley. Of all the sweets Hogwarts and the wizarding world has, nothing beats your homemade birthday cake. I know I tried to make it. Not to mention those cheesecake cookies. You always were a fantastic baker."

At that, Petunia snorted and gave her horselike laugh. "Honestly? You still like that? That was a horrible mistake!"

“It’s so good! I could never get it right, even with magic.”

“I can teach you or at least show you since you know….” The sister’s voice trailed off into the distance as they found their way to the kitchen.

Then like hearing from a long tunnel, Snape's ire yelling at Sirius Black jerked Natasha’s attention back to the present.

She sighed. “Honestly, I was hoping that with their history and with what we all learned about Snape when he collapsed into our lives, Sirius and Snape would have at least tried to bury the hatchet.”

James gave a harsh laugh. “That’ll take a miracle or something.” He frowned at how that played out a few months back.

January 9th, 1982 for everyone else but Snape.

1 a.m.
Place: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier - interrogation room
Year: 2023

Severus woke up with a pounding headache, a dry mouth and felt like he was hungover, which rarely happened. His mind was his greatest asset after all. Blinking rapidly he took stock of his surroundings in rising alarm. According to an old cop show his father loved, it seemed he was in a small interrogation room as the high pitched whine of the lighting graded on his ears as there was a steel table in front of him with a pitcher of water and a few glasses. Real glass, not that horrible plastic the muggles were so fond of.

One, his wand was nowhere in sight, two, someone had the gumption to clean and braid his hair back, as he could feel no hair hiding his ears and third, someone bathed and dressed him in blue jeans an horrid looking striped black and white button-down. Thankfully they kept his boots on. Lastly his hands and feet were tied with muggle zip ties that seemed to have a bit of magic with them which didn’t budge when Severus tried wordless magic on them on a steel chair. How the heck did muggles get the drop on him?

“I hope this works.” Tony commented as Nat entered the room, purely Agent as she set down a folder and took a seat. He took a stance next to James whose dislike for Snape was plain to see. Lily just rolled her eyes and elbowed her husband whose face took on a neutral look.

Barnes voice was distant as he narrowed his eyes at the man who seemed dumbstruck at Nat’s appearance, “Nat knows what she’s doing. After all she fooled Loki. I just hope your tech holds up. Jarvis?”

“I meant for the interrogation Barnes. I know how badass Nat is. She’s the triple imposter for a reason.” Tony said quickly, noting not to report it to his dad. Like Tony, he was protective of his inventions.

“The tech is holding nicely. Just as no one has any huge magical accidents.” Jarvis said pointedly. Tony would have rolled his eyes but he was grateful for the wand he was holding. Now just how to integrate it with his suit and he’ll be set.

Her voice came out clearly as if she was in the same room as them. “I am Agent Romanoff, welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s a world organization of overseers for the world. Or we go where they don’t trend. You showed up unexpectedly at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Usually magical people fall under the Sorcerer Supreme’s jurisdiction, but Dr. Strange tossed you to us until he finds a way to send you back to your own dimension as it turned out your magic doesn’t work here. Welcome to the year 2023.”

Nat smoothly told her pack of lies, busied herself with looking over the folder she brought with her, namely the medical information that Yelena and Jamie observed as they fixed the man up as he was unconscious. She had ignored the running commentary between Petunia and Lily on who he was to them. It didn’t paint a nice picture. After pouring herself a glass of water as a delay tactic and drinking it to show it wasn’t drugged, she calmly waited to see what Severus Snape would do.

Severus’s dark eyes had widened in shock, deep yearning, suspicious hope and then coldly shut down when she sat down. His mask was good, but Natasha was trained almost from birth, was better.

“Time travel that far is not possible.” Severus said his eyes fluttering everywhere but Lily’s eyes. His instincts screamed that this was a trap as he studied the increasing muggle-looking room and started having his doubts as the minutes clicked on as both parties didn’t speak after Nat’s quiet “Hum.”

For the seasoned spy it was easy to wait, and for the Potion Master it was as well but for the dry mouth he was ignoring. A half hour of silence turned into one and then Severus made a mistake.

He glanced at her and was captured by Lily’s brilliant green eyes so he used his Legilimency skills on this not Lily. He had a report to give or at least that’s what he told himself, he just wanted to look into her eyes again. Drown himself really.

Suddenly he jerked in place as he stared into her eyes, and slumped forward in faint. Severus would have slammed his face into the table but Nat reached forward and caught his head setting it down gently onto the table. Hum, that happened when tried to mind fuck Stark earlier. There had to be some sort of protection on their minds.

Natasha noted to herself to ask about it later as she went around the table to Snape.

“Lily how long has Snape been in love with you?” Nat asked thoughtfully as she undid the zip ties and fire-carried him to the common lounge where she tossed him onto an used couch like a sack of potatoes.

Lily had followed as she was the only one besides Jamie to stay as James got antsy and left to play with Harry.

“Why do you ask? He’s in love with me?” Lily said frowning, ignoring the ‘really?’ glance Natasha shot her. She knew she had feelings for Sev at one point of her life but she didn’t know Sev liked her like that, but it would explain a few things. But just a few.

Lily could understand how Sev could be in love with her, but if it was really love then why, why didn’t he want her to be happy?

“If he’s so in love with me then why did he join the Death Eaters?”

“People do stupid things for the ones they love.” Jamie said as he remembered Steve and a few other instances from his past. Tony nodded in agreement, the huge bunny came to mind. “Especially when they want to impress them.” Tony added.

Nat slipped a band on Snape’s wrist and sat back to watch until he woke up. “And that’s how we’ll get him. After all I doubt he’ll want to spend the next decade catering to students. Unless he always wanted to be a teacher.”

“Oh sweet Merlin no. He’ll strangle them all but the promising of students out of pure exasperation. But how did he turn from Voldemort? Was it before or after I died?” Lily asked thoughtfully.

“I say before, after all he was the one to bring the prophecy to him and Dumbledore.” Jamie idly commented.

“No, he turned after you died. Because if he turned before you died and the prophecy was about Neville Longbottom, I don’t think Snape would have ‘cared’.” Sirius pointed out as he entered the common area, hearing the last few sentences. He was a Black and after all, he knew of the pull of the dark arts all too well.

Sirius Black would never like Snape but he’ll, gag, respect his skills in the potions area. That and he had to revise a few things from when Snape was being cleaned up. He grimaced at the memory as it hit home a little too well.

Sirius’s mind was on the pizza as he skidded into the townhouse foyer. Two seconds later he trained his wand at the unconscious form of a man he knew a little too well for his tastes. “Severious.” Sirius hissed displeasure.

“It’s Sev for the last time or at least Snape, Black.” Lily’s use of Sirius’s last name was noted. After much reflection in fifth year when she cried over the fallout of her so-called ‘friendship’ with Mary McDonald who had suffered at ‘Sev’s friends’ and was subtlety different as a result, Mary pointed out that only Snape ‘could chose his own path, no one could chose it for him’. So she swallowed her wounded pride, penned a sorry note for the horrible nickname, then came Sev’s horrible the camping out all night part that really killed their friendship.

But Lily could always respect his potion skills, and so Sev it was or Snape if she was in a mood.

“Fine. What’s Snape, or should I say Professor Snape. Why are the cats using him as a napping area?”

“I have no idea why our highly good to detect bad guys are using an unconscious body as a cushion. But I want him cleaned up and out of my foyer. I have things to do.” Tony declared as he lifted Harry onto one hip and had the pizza in his hand. “Namely eating. If anyone cares to join in, we’ll be in the kitchen. Or not, the elves are in a cleaning mode.”

Natasha and Yelena were on the heels of Sirius, after all they got done with some workout and needed substance. “We’ll take care of him. Clean him up and all of that.” Yelena was eating one of the pizzas that were delivered.

“Ah, the bane of my pain has arrived. I knew he’ll show up sooner than later.” Petunia commented as she instructed her Dudley to go with the nice mister Stark. She had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind concerning her darling son’s magic. But it was probably nothing.

“I thought that was Vernon.” Lily commented as she used her talent to move stuff, move Sev towards the nearest bathroom. Petunia huffed.

“We’ll have to hand-wash his hair. It’s very hard to keep potions out of long hair, that is if you don’t wash your hair every time you’re done with potion making!” Lily whispered that became a yell.

“That’s why his hair is so gross? Also did he ever get into the sun? His skin is very unhealthy.” Yelena commented as she and her sister quickly and swiftly undressed the man and started a bath at the same time. The other women quickly turned away.

Sirius didn’t care. He did notice something odd though. “What’s that on his forearm? That round burn mark?” He only knew it was a burn because of his mother. He didn’t have any marks because after using the fire poker once or twice, she liked his screams under that one of the unforgivables better.

Natasha was the one to answer as Yelena was concentrating very hard to get this man’s hair decent looking. After all since they had no say in their hair when they were in the Red Room, clean was a must nowadays.

“It’s a burn mark of a cigarette, he has a few other marks of that sort here and there.” Natasha commented ideally as she scrubbed the man down, noting how his limbs looked like they had been broken at one point or another. As a former Black Widow it was easy to spot the abuse. From his body and what Lily and Petunia had told her about his home-life before Hogwarts, it was no wonder he stayed in the wizarding world and wanted power.

The sudden unexpectedly loud raspberry Lily did brought Sirius back to the present. “That’s probably true. He didn’t care at all about Mary McDonald when she was being bullied by his ‘Death Eater’ friends. Excuse me.” Lily’s face was cold as she walked away from her one time friend, sickened on how long she tried to help him out. But as she had said in fifth year, “You go your way, I go mine.”

Her biting ire started to rise as she slowly connected the dots between the years of leaving school, before she even heard of Hogwarts and other points in time.

Lily’s hands made fists over and over as she walked from the building, the compound and out into the pretty winter scene of upstate New York.

Her eyes flashed a deeper green as they glared at a lone struggling evergreen tree that was planted in hopes it’ll survive enough to become a Christmas tree or something.

Lily knew if she was still alive, her magic would be itching for a release. “Fuck you Severus Snape.” Lily hissed in anger, then jumped as the tree in front of her exploded. As much as she wanted to believe that it came from her she knew that Tony Stark was the one to explode the tree.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to cuss out an old former friend of mine.” Lily tried and failed to punch the tree, as her hand went through the splinter trunk.

“You know,” Tony said trying to casually lean on the side of the trunk until the splinters became too much. It didn’t help that the Iron Man suit was heavier and was slowly uprooting the tree after Tony reengaged the suit to avoid being poked again. “You’re not the only one who had voice concerns about working with the dark professor. There I was, minding my own business when Sirius Black storms into the lab and flat out asks what the hell is wrong with you Starks?! Before I even start listing one thing, well it’s better if I just showed you. Jarvis?”

The voice of the A.I. sounded vaguely exhausted. “Yes Sir?”

“Bring up the lab video after our duo assassins of old Russia came in all icky a few days before.”

“I need more detail than that sir.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “The day my darling wife and co went to go and commandeer the Grangers for our company.” Paperwork still pending.

“Oh the day that we found out that Morgan Stark was transported here too?”

“The day you almost got shut off by being a little sneak about keeping my daughter from me.”

Lily interrupted. “What does this have to do with Sirius Black’s option on Snape?”

In answer, a colored see through hologram of the personal lab of the Starks, the one in the London townhouse appeared.

Black’s voice brought Nat and Jamie back to the present, it was nearing four o’clock in the morning.

“Oh knock it off Snape. Do you think you’re the only one with scars? Yeah we saw it, all of them. I may hate you but no one needs to go through abuse.” The twisting of Sirius’s face made Nat and Jamie lean in to the monitor, faces shocked at the next words but hearing the truth in them. Little Sirius was finally starting to grow up. About time. Almost. “I’m sorry I fucked you up so badly. But if you ever do something to make my godson died, Stark will never find your body. No wait, Natasha.”

Snape snorting, dismissing the apologize, even as a door clicked open for them to move through, felt that Black’s attempt to apologize was very well acted, he tuned out Lupin and Black whatever they were doing and he thought back to his ‘second’ session with ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ One that lead to a massive change in his life.

An American voice jerked him out of his examination of his bonds which as a pity since it seemed that they were interesting. “I wouldn’t bother trying to escape I made those zip ties for Loki if I ever caught him but he’s apparently dead so I got to try them on you.” A chair dragging against concrete turned his concentration onto the person who sat carelessly on the only comfortable chair there, which wasn’t saying much, which was on the other side of the steel cold table. They had moved him from the couch while Lily was thinking over things.

“You’re dead.” Severus said blunting to the man who he tried to mind read earlier but instead went down like a brick hit him, the man was like a muggle version of Regulus Black but with a goatee, brown hair and “Regulus why are you dressed in muggle clothing?” Severus mentally frowned at his loose tongue, did these people slip some sort of potion to him? But no his mouth was dry and he didn’t taste anything which, he eyed the pitcher of water. It could hold what he was thinking of. He didn’t think of muggle could make a truth serum.

Tony Stark stared hard at the man who tried to invade his mind, learning from the last time it happened, but thankfully was unsuccessful. This Snape person honestly looked better now that he had been cleaned up. He would look nice if he wasn’t so bitter and needed a tan. He looked like when Tony shot out his reflection after he learned of what his weapons were really doing.

“Accurate deduction Batman. But almost wrong on all counts.” Tony snarked who really didn’t want to be the first person this Snape person saw but he was shot down by Nat. He did kept glancing at his watch, in part for his acting but also to see how his disguised weapon would seem to a wizard. He was pleased to see the dismissal of it. Seems that muggle devices were rightly seen as playthings. He chuckled darkly to himself at what ‘muggle playthings’ could really do.

With that the man who looked like Regulus Black made a mocking bow, saying “Tony Stark. You’re just lucky my pizza wasn’t harmed. Tootles.” Tony whistled to himself as he slipped out the door to the observation room where Jamie and the Potters observed through the disguised two way mirrored S.H.I.E.D. logo.

Sirius insisted on being there but was being tag-teamed by Nat and Yelena’s pointed objections of why he wasn’t needed. He backed down when Remus mentioned that they didn’t want to deal with Sirius’s rashness and get nothing done from his stupidity as Remus pointed out a few stupid decisions. Sirius had seen the look in Lily’s eyes as Nat, which was quite scary and decided for his health not to intervene.

Petunia sniffed distastefully at the very idea of watching and went to babysit her darling son. Yelena wouldn’t pass up spending time with her nephew. Sirius followed. If he couldn’t make nasty comments about Snape then he’ll spend time with his godson and Yelena.

Meanwhile Black was remembering something of his own, one that put his life in stark realization as a wall suddenly separated him from Remus and Snape.

Sirius Black slowed his steps as he found himself, stalking himself on December 18th two days after December 16th, the day the Longbottoms were attacked, 1982 early afternoon.

He was on the way to the lab to see Stark after an enlightening conversation with the man who high jacked his friend’s body. He scowled still at what he found out about Jaime Barnes. It was all Yelena’s fault or the new Potion’s master’s fault as he found out that that there was a new one at Hogwarts.

Earlier in the day, Mrs. Edna Pettigrew successfully talked and demonstrated her way into a temporary potion teacher for the younger years before at Hogwarts much to Snape’s very hidden delight, Sirius Black hit a roadblock in his pursuit of Yelena Belova.

Sirius Black was in a huff which irritated the house elves who were trying to work in the kitchen and informed him that there was no alcohol in the fridge. So he went off to see if Remus was available, but he beat a hasty retreat when Jarvis informed him that he was ‘gardening with Petunia and if they are going to be anything like Sir and Pepper, he’ll best stay clear’.

Sirius eyed the broom closet that he knew Lily and James were in but he walked in on them once and he didn’t want a second view of his best friend’s dead ass. He shuddered in disgust. He knew James was enjoying this ‘second’ honeymoon but Lily was getting a little fed up. It had been going on and off for weeks. He would bet that Lily will snap first and do something about the sexual tension between Jamie and Nat.

He had caught her ‘planning’ once. It was a scary thing.

“Jarvis is Jamie available?” Sirius knew his tone of voice was sharp but it seemed that he would have to take Pepper’s advice which irritated him to no end. He liked Jamie but the other man in Jamie’s body was not James Potter at all.

James Potter had changed, changed enough to get Sirius worried about their friendship and Remus had grown too. To be honest to himself, the past few weeks Sirius had felt he was being left behind.

He made little noise as he approached Jamie who noticed him anyway. Jamie was silently watching Nat and Yelena spar or as he had almost bolted to stop the first time he saw them really spar, ‘Red Room’ style. Aka kill, it wasn’t for the faint of heart. He had a feeling his cousin Bellatrix would have thrived in that environment. It would have been fun for her.

A sudden flash of colored light made Sirius comment. “Did Nat bring out her wand?”

Jamie grinned and twirled his secondary wand like a baton before it vanished. Sirius still didn’t know that trick. “Take every advantage that you can.”

Sirius saw a perfect opening. “That include the bedroom?” The cheeky smile he had faded at the dead look in Jamie’s eyes but not before he saw the heated desire that had been swimming between Jamie and Nat since he first met them.

Jamie walked off without a word making Sirius roll his eyes and dart his eyes towards the blonde woman who had somehow gotten her hooks into him as she threw her sister across the mat. Then he followed Jamie to the garage where Jamie like to tinker with his magical motorcycle and soup up Sirius’s. It was also a good place for quiet talk or private as the house elves had put up silence wards to keep their sharp hearing from being blasted by Stark’s loud music or any other noise.

Jamie was reading the instruction manual to his motorcycle which amused Sirius to no end. “I’ve hit a road block concerning Yelena.”

That got Jamie from behind the paper, “You’re asking me?” A puzzled look in his blue hazel eyes as he waited.

Sirius found himself flushing at the memory of finally getting to kiss Yelena after weeks of flirting on his end and on her end putting up with it. He had his hands up her shirt inching towards her bra, making her moan when Sirius said something careless.

Jamie’s dry voice snapped him out of that memory. “Any redder and I’ll be worried about your blood pressure Black.”

“Yelena’s a murderer.”

“So? What about it? She’s not the only murderer here.”

Meanwhile, Tony Stark breathed deeply in and out as he stared at the pretty picture of the moon, that is if the orange portal was a picture frame, which kept wobbling for some reason. Maybe the moon made the magic unstable? Eh, he’ll figure it out.

Tony Stark had been in space before. He could walk on the moon, pick up moon dust/rocks, etc. and get back in less than five minutes or at least he could have, but an unmanned Iron Man could do the trick. Why was he hesitating again? “Ok, I can do this. No problem. I built a working circuit board when I was four. Just in and out. Both sides of the moon, no problem. Dealt with Ultron, granted that was my mistake, but made Thanos bleed. And now.”

His Iron Man suit didn’t move an inch, standing just a foot away from the portal like it had been doing for the past last half hour or so. “Easy peasy.” Tony felt his shirt was damp with sweat from nerves or something else…

“Easy peasy what?” Howard said before he chomped into an apple. His darling son, squealed like a pig and jumped enough to land the Iron Man suit with a room shaking thump. Al and Reggie cracked up laughing.

Tony had his suit primed and ready to shoot until he realized who interrupted him in his very important work. “Dad what the hell?” Tony now realizing he hadn’t bathed in days was very stinky and his suit realizing he needed a bath before he could do round two. He wiped his face with a semi-clean oil rag, noting to get the house elves to help DUM-E and U to clean the workshop. It was getting a little dirty. Speaking of house elves.

“K.G. take a break. Go and bring me updates on my daughter and her ‘little’ sister.” Tony ignored K.G.’s sigh of relief as he had been holding open the portal for quite some time and popped off for a long nap. He was exhausted.

He’ll deal with the moon problem later.

Before Tony could escape to a shower a pissed of Sirius Black showed up. He was so livid he just opened and closed his mouth a few times. “How the hell can you be buddy buddy with your murderer? What the hell Stark? I mean both of you. That man in there wearing my friend’s face is a walking murderer! You are letting him and that woman who wears Lily’s face into your lives?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

Interlude

December 15th nearing 9 pm just after putting the girls to bed, Dr. Granger fell asleep on his couch, while his wife worked on a crossword puzzle.

Dr. Dan Steven ‘Steve’ Granger had to be dreaming, he had to be. He turned at the sound of the voice repeating what he had said.

“It’s time to wake up Captain.” A commanding voice demanded his compliance.

Dr. Granger looked up at the black man who appeared in his closed dentist practice at 6 am. He dropped his pen as memories of another life flooded his brain, somehow slotting in neatly with his work as a dentist.

He was also sickly as a child, but grew and joined the army, and using his combat skills of attention to detail, opened a successful dentistry. In dentist school he met his wife, Helen Margret ‘Peggy’ Parker who while not in the arm forces, used her amateur puzzle and wordsearch skills to keep all the dentistry codes up to date and organized.

The question was, why was he here? In England, 1980’s England no less. Steve looked up the appointments for the day and smirked to himself, he forgot that Peggy and him came in for a little while “Peggy we need to close the practice today.” Steve thought process halted as he recognized the day was the first day of opening seven years ago. Peggy and him were going over last minute details and, Steve turned his head to stare at Fury who was calmly, too calmly leaning against a staff.

‘When did he get a staff? Wait am, I still dreaming?’ “Fury, what’s going on? Why are you here?”

In a blink Steve and Fury were sitting in comfortable armchairs. “Tell me Captain, have you ever heard of the name Harry Potter?”

“No, why?” Steve had a feeling things were going to go FUBAR.

Steve woke up with a groan, all the information that he now had access to rattling around in his brain. He thanked the heavens once he checked the date and saw it was three days after he went to sleep
meaning it was December 18th, that the girls were away to their grandparents place for a week so their parents could have a mini-vacation before the rush of the holidays.

He squirted out of his glasses and then realized he didn’t need them anymore. Steve took them off and snickered, feeling like Superman as he did so.

“Glad that you’re awake, I was getting worried there darling.” Peggy’s voice eased something in Steve he didn’t know was even wound up tight. Steve also realized he was laying flat on his back with a comfortable quilt and his shoes off, neatly near the end of the couch.

“Peggy,” Peggy cut him off, “If you are going to tell me about a magical world and Merlin who told us, then let me stop you right there. I’ve been up two days and got a lot of legwork done. Case in point, do you know that our Morgan has parents here? And they’re Starks? I had two days to come to terms with our situration while I waited for your ‘body’ to catch up, even if it’s not exactly a ‘super soldier’s body’ anymore, and I discovered a lot. In fact, I discovered our girls were talking to ‘JARVIS’, not the one I knew but an AI? Ring any bells darling?”

Steve wished he could see the look on his own face, probably gasping like a fish. Guess that Fury also talked to Peggy.

He sat up slowly and realized two things. Peggy was right about him not having a super soldier’s body but he did have perfect eye sight and he had the feeling that, at the moment anyway it was like he was back in his early 20s body.

He groaned. “Don’t tell me we have ‘newish’ bodies.”

“Let’s call it a facelift. At least for you. Apparently the magic that brought us here had to do something and decided we had our Hermione in our late teens.” Peggy was not amused, it took time and effort to get a successful dentist practice going and now to be ‘walked backwards’ was not appealing.

Not to mention what her parents would say. Steve’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“I don’t think we will have to worry about losing the practice, unless we sale. Because I don’t know about you but having to shave a face that looks older but isn’t is going to be a pain.”

“Don’t even think about a beard, I want you clean shaved for once.” Peggy remembered him fondly with a beard but without was appealing too.

“Guess the mirrors show what the world wants to see, let’s see if I get my razor.” Steve said as he had stood up and walked towards the hallways mirror.

11 am December 18th 1981

Pepper Potts Stark was nervous, she was at the Granger’s house to recruit them for Stark Industries.

She was shocked when Dr. Granger stared at her with tired eyes, “Pepper? Is that you?” Steve asked with at squint.

“Steve?” Pepper somehow knew it was Steve, don’t ask how she knew but she knew. “This complicates things or simplifies them.” She said as Yelena took point with scanning her surrounding as she was acting as bodyguard to Pepper for the day. That and to get away from Sirius for unknown reasons but for herself.

“Not really. Speeds up a few things though. Peggy Carter, or just Peggy to a friend of my husbands. The girls are around the back just got dropped off from their grandparents.”

Morgan looked up at the sound of her name as she played in the backyard with Hermione building a snowman as she sang the tune from Frozen, granted it wouldn’t come out for decades.

Morgan stared at the strawberry blonde who looked at her like she knew her. “Morgan, little spark?”

Only one person and one alone called her little spark, a spark off of the old block.

“Mommy? Mom!”

Peggy’s heart almost broke at the tearful reunion as the two ran toward each other but her heart mended at the curious look in Hermione’s eyes.

“Hermione love, this is Morgan’s other mother Pepper. Say hi to the nice lady.”

They all jump when a voice from the tree house spoke up. “Ah good you are all acquainted, now can I go back to inform Mr. Stark that his doorbell is ringing off the hook?” JARVIS asked politely.

As the children went back to play, and the grownups started to hash out the FUBAR of the world they lived in now, JARVIS discovered that the appointment already came.

Howard Stark was not happy. Unfortunately he was the only one at the townhouse in London when he realized that the doorbell had been ringing for some time.

Howard’s annoyed, “What do you want,” fading as he stared at the most beautiful woman he ever saw besides his wife with dark braided hair and clear blue eyes stared at him with an not amused look in her eyes.

“I’m here for a Mrs Pepper Potts-Stark. She requested an audience with me, Mary McDonald, proprietor of Ferric’s, the ‘new’ clothing store, the wizarding world was ravening about. She has some clothing designs that I want to see.”

Mary McDonald aka Maria Stark was amused deeply by her husband’s stammer of his name, not that he knew that it was her, but as she stepped into the townhouse that housed most of Stark’s ‘inventions’ and met with her daughter-in-law Pepper as she requested, she felt like she had finally come home.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

Andromeda Tonks studied her eccentric boss or at least one of them as she calmly waited with the paperwork Ms. Pepper sent with her for Tony to sign, as she wanted to be called, for Tony Stark to come back to himself. She knew Tony wasn’t her late cousin, as Reggie tried to poke at something or another as his Uncle Al watched in amusement as his blue finger went through the small paper, as she had on a wristband.

Through the Squib network that secretly existed for wizarding world castoffs, Andromeda Tonks had landed this job with the strangest employer she’ll ever know and as a person who grew up in the wizarding world that was saying a lot.

A muggle that found a way to combine muggle technology and magic together seamlessly enough that she could talk with her Uncle Al and get to know her cousin Regulus even if they were gone?

Andy’s face saddened as she realized that her young friend Pip died at eleven, she knew she thought she saw those Lockhart girls someplace but at least she got to say goodbye to them. She shook her head in awe as Tony waved her to put the papers onto an somewhat empty space instead of handing them to her.

Howard had no problem, Tony, not so much. Andy drew back and almost drew her wand at her employer as Howard had for once decided to get some sleep and wasn’t there. Tony’s wide grin and twinkling eyes were scary.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Andy ask, hand still on her wand.

“Pepper noted something about you magical skills that I think I can use or at least try and use. It won’t be the same because the grabby handed, selfish, anyway,” Tony paused in thought on how not to sound creepy. “Pepper said that you are good with this packing charm that makes things pack itself?”

In answer, Andy flickered her wand and wordlessly the overflowing trashcan suddenly had all the trash in it with room to spare.

“If you are asking for my skills as a cleaner you better give me a pay raise.” Andy said as she was shocked as much as Sirius was when she was introduced to this muggle genius and what he could really do, before she just had an office job and didn’t really work with the R&D department.

Tony studied the trashcan and smirked. “I was hoping you could help me with something else. How long do spells last? Dad he told me that your Uncle Al mentioned something about a Shrinking Charm and a Engorgement Charm? Is there any relationship with the Diminuendo Charm? In short I’m going to pick your brains about all of these spells because until now I haven’t had had anyone who had a wand and worked for me.”

Tony was a genius but even he needed help sometimes.

Andy stopped him with a look at his rambling that usually got her daughter to clean her room. Tony sighed, “Jarvis bring up any and all information about the creation of Ant-Man and Co.”

Andromeda Tonks’s wand landed with a small clatter on the workshop floor as her eyes widen at the imagery that was being played. Her hand started to shake slightly, how had muggles invented things that she thought only wizards could do?! She watched wordlessly as two muggles effortlessly shrunk and grew during fights, car chases, even buildings, cars and objects.

“That’s dangerous. He could tear himself apart!” Andy gasped as the man grew huge in two different situations and in one fainted. She was relieved that he got rescued as her healer’s mind went overboard with what she saw. She was still in shock as she picked up her wand.

“That’s why I need help. Pym never wanted to share his particles, which I guess he had good reason for. Dad was a jackass in his later years. Among other things.” Tony said as he wolfed down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which K. G. gave him and watched while he ate it. K. G. liked his new employer and didn’t want him to faint from lack of food as he tended to do at times.

Tony had a good long talk with Scott Lang while doing the time travel and well it cleared up a few things. “It’s not like I can’t do it on my own but safety comes first. You got to admit throwing say, a salt shaker at someone and then enlarging it so they smash right into it? Ingenious.” The only comment dad had when Tony showed him the footage that Jarvis gleamed from the cameras was that he was glad that Hank wasn’t here to sue him. That and Janet would have his hide.

“But how did they do that wordlessly? I mean they don’t have magic and I noticed that the red and blue do something differently and regulators? How did they do multiple shots in one go?” Andy found herself intrigued. Jarvis kindly restarted the video from the beginning.

That night when she went home, Andy told Ted all about her strange job or at least enough for him to tag along the next day out of curiosity as it was his day off from the television station were he worked as weather man. Two week from the day Ted handed in his notice he started his new job in A.I. R&D division. That is until their newest child was born which is why she had to see her employer in the first place.

Meanwhile Mundungus Fletcher was cussing out his body or at least that’s what he was trying to do.

“No that’s not how. Ugh.”

“Do you want me to burglarize this house or not?”Scott Lang asked impatiently. It was past midnight and hopefully, fingers crossed all the house of Malfoy was asleep, house elves included.

It had been almost a year since Scott and the Pyms, Hope, Janet and Hank had somehow crossed into a different universe, one ruled by magic. They, meaning Scott, was trying to break into a Manor for something on the behalf of Fury aka Merlin aka Scott’s new employer as the Pyms were too busy to try and figure out how magic could work with Pym particles. It was a slow process but they were getting there.

How Fury found out about them body-snatching these people, Scott would never know, all he knew was he closed the quantum portal to the surface to stop Kang, died and was then caught stealing something from a house that had dead but not dead people aka the Pyms. The McKinnon clan was a lot more reasonable to talk to then his own ghost person. A lot more reasonable once you got past the screaming of waking dead people and seeing yourself as a not so normal ghost. There was a lot of screaming and then non screaming. Then playing dead for the police, etc.

But now on ‘orders’ he was to steal something, a ‘you’re find it when you see it’ thingy. Darn Fury and his secrets.

As a professional magical thief and with Scott’s abilities with the help of *coughs* Stark technology *coughs* much to Hank’s displeasure, the two got through the magical wards with ease since Fletcher had to know his curse breaking stuff enough not to die, after all if he didn’t know how to get rid of curses then he’ll be out of a job, and Scott’s eye for detail, it was embarrassing easy enough.

Coming in from the right side of the manor through the main library, the windows were easily cracked open they went to the place that screamed hidden door to Scott. It was the basic hidden door disguised as a bookshelf trope.

“Holy Merlin we can get tons off the black market for these trinkets and goods.” Fletcher was almost drooling at the dark art items he was viewing.

“You can tip off a raid another time, we’re here for something else.” Scott thought back to when Fury entrusted this mission to him.

“Something is off in the wizarding world of England. I’m not sure what but something is screaming at me. There is darkness and through searching I pinpointed something.”

As Scott looked around the whole little library stuffed full of even to his eyes evil stuff, he suddenly thought of the movie the Raiders of the Lost Ark and how looks were deceiving. So instead of grabbing the things that Fletcher was drooling over, the thing he picked up was a small dark black journal that had the initials of T.M.R. engraved on it.

Taking a pen Scott opened the book and scribbled onto it, a little smiley face and the words, now this journal is mine.

Scott’s face paled as the words and smiley face disappeared into the book and words, not his words floated up from the blank page. ‘Hello I’m Tom.’

Scott slammed the book shut and made his way, carefully towards the edge of the Malfoy’s property.

He didn’t start breathing again until he slammed that book on Fury’s desk. “Is talking books normal for this world?”

“No.”

“Shit.”

Fury/Merlin didn’t twitch but if this diary was what he thought it was, everyone would be in big trouble. “Tell Pym to pack his bags, we’ll going to London. We have old friends to see.”

That said, Fury instructed his feline network to prepare the Starks and co for company.

Chapter Text

Lily Potter opened her eyes to dirt, more accurately a gravestone covered in dirt. Last thing she remembered before dying was trying to save Harry from what’s his name. Wait, she remembered an echo of herself coming out of who’s name was completely stupid and oh Harry.

As Lily tried to get up, being dead must have hurt, a wave of unknown but emotional memories slammed into her. A pained moan escaped her mouth as it rushed through her. It left her panting but the memories also helped her breathe through them.

Apparently she was prong to sacrifice, once for her son and another for the whole world. Universe really. As much as Lily wanted to push away the memories of being Natasha Romanoff, she couldn’t, she’s been more of Natasha then Lily if you counted the years. But as the similarities, both badass redheads, fought for what she believed in, slightly reckless, had a James and differences, childhoods was way different, not to mention her twenties, one cut short other not wanting to go into grew, maybe she could use her old/new/old memories.

But first, where the heck was Harry?

James Potter had a headache the size of New York, more importantly Brooklyn but even if he had been the privileged prick of his youth, he knew now hardships and experience, the years of being a lapdog to a organization worse then the Death Eaters would do that for ya. James aka Bucky as in Buck as in his animgus form, Potter was no longer the Winter Soldier and thank heavens for that. Now where in the world was he?

Well this was a cheery thought, a fucking graveyard, what the hell? He sat up slowly and took in the rest of the surroundings, not like he would have use to do but as a harden soldier. James went low as he saw a flash of red and crept up onto the figure, who turned to see who was behind her.

They ended up fucking in the dirt of the graveyard. Afterwards once the clothes went back on, and Lily had a through examination for injuries, so sue him, old/new/old memories were hard to ignore.

James asked, “So if you didn’t end up fucking me, you would have attack right? I mean I recognize Black Widow’s moves right off after all I trained her or did oh this is hard.”

“I wondered why you didn’t protest when I took charge, James that is the other James liked me to be on top. But most importantly then our memories where the heck is Harry and where are we? Don’t mention a graveyard, I think I got dirt in my bra still.”

It turned out they were in Little Hangleton, England and the year was 1995. It was so normal it was crazy. “Breathe Lils. Breathe, if it’s years into the past/future/blah, we need to contact the wizarding world…”

Lily was shaking her head no. “I think it’ll be best to see where my sister is so I can grovel at her or at least try and make amends. Not to mention you and that stupid broomstick comment.”

“I admit I was an entitled prick but why your sister?”

“I have the sinking feeling that something went wrong after we died.” They were in a the back corner, an easily defended but quick to get out of spot talking in low voices, cups of tea from the cafe cooling in front of them.

Lily could hear Natasha’s snickering as Lily put on the charm and got a few clothes and free tea for her and James’s ‘trouble’.

“What’s the name of the house elf that you named after that talking dog?” James wish he was armed, at least with a knife if he couldn’t have a wand at the moment.

“Snoopy.” A soft crack split the air as say house elf appeared. Snoopy burst into tears at the sight of his former Master and Mistress, instantly weaving a invisible shield of magic to cover his appearance.

“Hey Snoops. Please stop crying. We need information. What’s been going on in the wizarding world, mostly England. Hogwarts as well. About Harry.”

Once Snoopy got some tea, he was always well treated and didn’t have the urge to harm himself, the Potter’s faces grew grim, then angry then determined as Snoopy relayed all the gossip he got from the Hogwarts house elves.

“So who do we kill first, the person with a stupid name or Dumbledore for being a jackass?”

“How about Snape?”

“We need Snape alive for an interrogation. What the hell was Dumbledore thinking hiring Sev?!”

“First your sister then we bring hellfire down on them.”

“I like the way you think.”

Meanwhile Harry Potter was at his relatives feeling very numb as he couldn’t sleep as the death of

Cedric Diggory kept him up. So he was asleep when some very interesting visitors came to call the next morning.

“Hey yah sis. Don’t slam the door the neighbors will hear and what do you want them to find out your business?” Lily stared with Nat’s eyes as her sister face paling hustled them to a painfully clean living room.

“You’re you’re…”

“Was once dead, twice but that’s either here or there. Why the hell did Dumbledore send you my son to raise?”

Petunia spit out “Some nonsense about blood protection.”

“Great. We’ll take it from here. Unless you’re the doting aunt I would have been if you had died?”

“You know.”

Lily scoffed. “Oh please, this house reeks of entitlement of one person your son. My son is surprisingly alive after you’re ‘tender care.’ I was hoping to made amends with you but until you clean up your life, I’ll just mail you a postcard. Not owl it.” Lily felt like Natasha was slipping away from Yelena and it hurt. It hurt so much.

Meanwhile as that conversation one sided as it was, James was on the hunt for Harry.

Where James found him, not under the stairs, thankfully but close enough made him bit his tongue. His boy was pale, skinny and his room well enough said. Dirty was an understatement. Clearly Petunia didn’t care about her nephew’s room unlike the rest of the house.

“You’re dead.” Harry had leaped off the bed where he was doing his homework, a nightmare woke him and just stared at the dead man who clearly wasn’t dead.

“Eh, was just a little. Come along punk, your mom’s waiting…” James trailed off as his son raised his wand in defense.

James couldn’t help it, a bit of the Winter Soldier bleed out of him, like a sharp knife ready to kill, making his words sharper then intended. “Wouldn’t do that if I was you. Underage magic is traced by the ministry. But animgus on the other hand are not.”

Harry Potter stared at the majestic looking buck that stood at attention for inspection. “Ok you’re my dad.”

Meanwhile Lily was slowly getting through to her stubborn sister after Petunia realize that Lily was serious about breaking off contact. Thank Merlin for Nat’s skills which Lily shamelessly used to get her sister to open up about the last fifteen years.

“Let me get this straight, Dumbledore decided to drop my son off at your doorstep in the middle of the night without even coming in? Left a note that did not explain a thing, I’m going to have words with the man.”

Petunia unconsciously shivered at the deadly tone her sister used. It was similar to the tone she used when angry but this was a cold anger.

When Petunia looked at Lily her face had softened. “Someone saved me once and from then on I don’t judge people by their worst mistakes. So Petunia want to help me take down this wizard so we can both have normal lives and you can get back to doing what you always wanted.”

Petunia felt torn. On one hand she wanted to shove her sister down the stairs, but on the other, Lily was forgiving her, really forgiving her.

So she sniffed. “As long as I can see Hogwarts once we’re done.”

“Deal.” Lily turned at the creak on the stairs and just beheld her baby all grown up. “Oh Harry.”

Harry found himself in the warmish, firmness hug ever, even from Mrs. Weasley.

“Snoopy.” The house elf came quickly. “Go pack up Harry’s things and go to my place.”

Five minutes later Petunia was alone in her house.

Harry Potter was in shock, completely total shock. His parents were alive….what in the world were they doing?

His dad was searching the place like he was from a military movie and his mom just hugged him.

Hugs he understood but, as his mom brushed his scar a burning started and he started to scream. It felt like when, wait, no he wasn’t screaming but the scar was.

Throughout England in hidden spaces, the remaining Horcruxes exploded in a contained burn as Lily aka Natasha aka Harry’s mom concentrated on getting that thing out of Harry. She knew it wasn’t him, it was something that was not him so she put her love and protection which was really a spell that she cast when she was dying.

Once Voldemort was defeated, Dumbledore and Snape were dealt with, Harry’s parents announced they were having another kid.

Ron laughed at that news much to Harry’s annoyance. His parents have been so loving since he got them back another kid would be great since the snuggling was getting to be a bit much. He wasn’t a baby any more for Merlin’s sake!

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

James “Bucky” Barnes stared out the wide window of the townhouse, brooding as Natasha glided until she was staring out the same widow where James was, his face set as he twirled something in-between his left hand. A coin or something. They were well away from the compound, Harry was asleep and the Starks were riding high with completing their Animagus forms. The future meeting to destroy the horcruxes was a pale second.

“Ok what’s wrong? Even when we were stuck doing others bidding, you were never this quiet. Stoic yes, this no.”

“Do you remember how we saved the Longbottoms?”

Natasha frowned at the cold look on James’s face. “Of course I do.”

Flashback

Great Britain, Where about Unknown December 16th 1981

James ‘Bucky’ Barnes Apparate with a small pop outside a abandoned farmhouse a few hours before dusk, Natasha a step behind him. Their arrival unnoticed because of the overlapping screams in the farmhouse.

Each were dressed in their uniforms, Nat in a version of what she wore during Thanos’s attack and Bucky in a outfit slightly similar to what he wore when he was helping Sam track down the Flag-smashers but in darker colors.

“Someone’s arrogant.” Nat commented in low Russian as she detected no other wards but a muggle repealing one when she tested them discretely. Moving closer make the silencing charm disappear.

“It seems that you are dealing with two hostages, four attackers. Hit them hard, hit them fast and get home.” Stark sounded nervous, but that’s because Sirius went into a little too much detail on how his ‘cousin’ Bellatrix was, in case she was there.

“Good thing I brushed up on healing charms.” Nat breathed as she moved one way, gun and wand ready.

Bucky didn’t answer but tapped his comm twice and moved forward. He let out a breath as he rounded the corner and spotted two targets through the wide window of the living room as Natasha concentrated on the screams coming from the kitchen area.

The falling down stone cottage offered wide views of the two areas as the roof unsoundness and the widows were busted to allow cold air to flow through the structure. The quartet made the mistake of facing away from the farmhouse widows and that’s how the element of surprise caught them out. After all the place was falling apart in the middle of nowhere and they where miles upon miles from nowhere.

Bucky breathed out another breath with targeting, then two seconds later the woman stopped screaming in surprise as the hearts of her attackers were silenced by two invisible spells. She scrambled out of the way ignoring her naked and wounded body, as the magic holding her aloft for the best entrance point, collapsed. She didn’t notice that her robes before they were vanished, had pulsed with a low purple light that was a beacon to the two rescuers.

Frank was still screaming in the other room, but it was cut short when Barty Crouch Jr.’s body was thrown through the wall by a cold blue eyed man with a silver arm. Rodolphus and his brother were already dead. Naked as the day they were born.

Natasha had a fight on her hands as the lone woman with deranged curls pushed back her shield charm. The woman was fast enough to evade her shots, both from her gun and second wand once her bullets ran out.

The woman hissed as the silver armed man returned, leading his strength to his partner. With a crack, the woman was gone.

As Natasha soothed the startled couple and assured them they were safe, Bucky sent out a distress signal that alerted the searching Aurors who had come out at the insistence of Lady Longbottom who was assured that after their trip to Diagon Alley that Frank and Alice who went on a date was going to be home in time for Neville’s bedtime.

“Lil, Lily?” Alice said shocked as a warm orange shock blanket covered her thankfully unmolested body.

“Natasha’s my name. Not Lily. Maybe I’m a sister from another mother.” Natasha winked as she covered Frank in another blanket after carrying him towards Alice who stretched out a hand to grasp Frank’s cold hand. Natasha noted, thankful not much damage was done but she wrote a note on what she could find on Frank and Alice’s condition for the medical personal.

“Time to go Nat.”

With a warm smile the two disappeared.

End flashback

“Do you remember what happened afterwards?”

Nat frowned as she crossed her arms. “Sirius Black was called out for being a hypocrite? Why?”

Bucky gave a sad smile as he rolled his eyes at how the Starks were enjoying the evening air. A pair of birds those two. A New Caledonian Crow for Howard and a Kea for Tony. Tony personally was looking forward to bugging the heck out of everyone with his form but for now the joy of flight called him.

December 18, 1981. (Lily Potter is watching the hologram in January 1982.)

Sirius was still waiting for an answer about the body-snatchers being murderers. His little brother, no Tony Stark leaned against the messy desk eating blueberries, where he got them, Sirius didn’t know.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nat and Bucky. Their hands are dripping blood. Why should Harry be raised by that pair? Harry’s better off with me. His Godfather. Not them!” Sirius was shocked at the passive report that Nat and Bucky gave of how they saved the Longbottoms. It was cold, and biting. Not at all like the Bucky and Nat Sirius got to know. The blood that they were wiping off in the lab side room wasn’t helping matters.

The Starks glanced at each other and Howard swept his hand to indicate Tony had the floor.

“Why you? What made James trust you so much even if you are a hypocrite? You have attempted manslaughter or at least horrible maiming on your soul? Who are you to dictate who raises Harry? From what I hear at least Snape owns his own darkness like the rest of us. He chose to become dark. I chose to inherit my dad’s title of Merchant of Death then I decided to change, Snape from what I gathered from Intel decided to ‘change’ the only one here whose stuck in the past is you. Yeah Snape will hate James guts for all eternity but at least he like, Nat and Bucky owe up to their sins of the past, even James Potter.” Tony said firmly.

“What sins of the past do I have to atone for? Existing? It’s Snape who should atone. He’s better off dead.” Sirius was quite firm on that. Death Eater trash.

James Potter glided in during Tony’s ‘speech.’

“Sirius, when I mentioned that Snape ‘existed’ I was a jealous idiot. I don’t wish death on anyone. Remember what you say about ‘If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.’ Granted Snape isn’t exactly an inferior but we treated like he was."

“So I was a idiot so what? Snape had it coming.” Sirius ignored the letter ‘suggesting’ Mrs. Pettigrew teach at Hogwarts. Ironically it was a good thing.

“Really, I wondered what would have happened if I rejected you like we rejected Snape all those years ago. I’ll bet you would turn out just like the rest of the House of Blacks. Noble pure blood filth.” James knew he was taunting Sirius but having raised a baby from birth, it can change a man and he wished he had a chance to make amends to Snape, not for his sake but for the poor students that would be under Snape’s tutelage.

James took advantage of Sirius’s gaping silence. “I’m not saying befriend him, just if he comes around give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides the letter you sent to Peter’s mom probably will help the students later on.”

Which was a good point, in fact Dumbledore will be real sick of Mrs. Pettigrew in the near future, but he did hire her on a temporal bases when Snape didn’t show up after his trip to the Dudleys.

When the hologram ended, Lily’s eyes turned into green slits. “Excuse me I have to have a conversation with a former friend of mine.”

“You owe me a life debt.” Snape opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a fuming Lily. “No, you don’t speak. You listen to me. I don’t know what kind of hold Dumbledore has over you enough for you to be teaching at Hogwarts and I don’t care. What I care about is my son and heaven and Merlin help me if you do anything and I mean anything to harm my Harry in any way what so ever, I’ll stick Natasha on you and you’ll won’t’ see the sunshine the rest of your life.

That being said, you’re a horrible person at times but you’re brilliant beyond belief when it comes to potions. So here’s the deal, you come and work with the Starks to get your potion book out into the world but for the nasty spells you doodled on the edges of that potion book you claimed as your own. Please Sev,” Lily rolled her eyes at the denial on Snape’s face. “We were potion partners for years, of course I recognize your handwriting! You’ll help find a cure for the werewolf curse, heck you might even improve on whatever is out there at the moment. The only time you’ll ever teach at Hogwarts is the NEWTS level and you’ll let students with EEs in besides the Os. You will be a good teacher not this crappy teacher I keep hearing about. If you love me as you ‘claimed’ then you’ll do this.”

Lily’s grin was as wicked as Natasha’s could be. “After all you owe me and James a life debt. What do you say Severus? After all you’ll be working for me and all your dealing with what’s his face if he pops up again and Dumbledore you report back to me.”

“What do you mean the dark lord popping up again.”

“He made Horocuxes.”

“Oh hell no. Deal. Do you know how many?” Severus would regret on not negotiating more but the thought of Horocuxes drove it out of his mind. Those were nasty business.

“At the moment no besides at least one according to Regulus Black, possibly more.” She didn’t mention Harry, her poor baby. Merlin help him.

Natasha’s voice broke through Bucky’s worried thoughts as he was there for the ‘deal’ being struck. “That’s what’s bothering you? You are not a bad person. Never was, not to me. Red Room training doesn’t count. You trained black widows for years.” Nat’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I was just one of the ‘special’ cases.” Her stomach rolled at the thought of the ‘instructions’ she learned over the years.

“Besides teaching you to kill, I fucked you until you couldn’t move Nat. You were bleeding in places I didn’t even know people bleed. I am not a good person.” Bucky didn’t mention the three others he ‘instructed’ or the others that had ‘instructed’ him. HYDRA was thrilled to learn he was a virgin. They took full advantage of that knowledge and then some.

“Maybe Sirius was right. We aren’t good people Natalia.”

That night Natasha dreamed of her past that lead to a shocking revelation. Yelena was blood related.