Chapter Text
“All” Tony had to do was wait 20 years, and he could meet the Avengers again.
Of course, he wasn’t supposed to meet himself or anyone from his past (actually, explicitly forbidden) but if whoever put him in the past thought that Tony Stark would just sit down and shut up when he was told not to do anything, they were in for a surprise.
As Tony saw it, what he needed was a little research into hibernation and a failsafe mechanism that would wake him up exactly when he wanted. That way, he wouldn’t age and could be back in the game barely before New York, stopping Loki when he first appeared, or if not, taking down the main Chitauri ship right away with a suit that was designed to fly in space for a change.
Except, there were some complications. Like, how half of the tech he’d need for a cryo-chamber wasn’t invented yet, and the rest were extremely rare and expensive. Not to mention that Tony shouldn't have worried about getting old when he turned out to inhibit an 11-year-old body and was as good as a hostage.
He first appeared in Albus Dumbledore’s office, who made some kind of deal with some higher powers in exchange for taking Tony in, and the first thing Dumbledore did was to put some kind of spell on Tony called Trace, so every time Tony tried to leave, he was alerted, and “Apparated” Tony back right to the places he tried to escape.
At first, he had a spartan room in Hogwarts, but by his umpteenth attempts to leave, Dumbledore decided that Tony needed some “company”, which was - as far as Tony could tell - code for a baby-sitter.
But Remus was alright. The first time Tony escaped from his tiny home, Lupin could barely stand on his feet, and came after him, but made no attempt of taking Tony back by - magical - force as Dumbledore did, instead he asked.
“Where would you like to go so badly that you’d even resist the charms that were meant to keep you in place?”
“I’d say it’s none of your business,” Tony didn’t know about the said charms, but knowing Dumbledore, he wasn’t surprised. And, if he could overcome them, they didn’t matter anyway.
“And that might as well be true, but I still would like to know. The way I see it, if you’ll leave anyway, it’s better if I take you there, making sure you’re safe.”
“What did Gandalf tell you about me?” Tony had to wonder.
“If you mean Dumbledore, not much, to be honest,” Lupin laughed. “But I can draw my conclusions, and you seem like a good kid, who wouldn’t keep on trying to run away without a reason, and therefore I preferred if you didn’t get hurt in the process, if I can’t stop you, at least.”
“No offense, but how old are you?” Tony asked.
“31.”
“Then, as improbable as it sounds, I’m older than you,” Tony told him.
He had already tried to talk about his unique situation and “past life” to a couple of people, and it never went well. First, he’d just felt a slight pressure on his chest, an annoying buzzing in his ear, and then the more he was trying to reveal, he went mute, couldn’t breathe, and finally fainted. Except with Dumbledore who already knew everything, but was dead set on keeping Tony in his metaphorical cage anyway.
But, at least Tony could reveal some minor details like he just did with only minor discomfort. Possibly only because no sane person would believe him, but still. It felt good to talk about it.
“I’d say if it’s true it wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve known to happen in the magical community,” Lupin might have not believed him either, but he wasn’t dismissing, so Tony had found himself asking.
“Like what?”
“I’m a werewolf,” Lupin said.
“Cool,” Tony thought it was a joke.
“It’s truly not. Because it’s a full moon tonight, so as much as I’d like to get to know what’s going on with you, Anthony, I’m getting weaker by the minute. Can’t you just postpone your great escape with a couple of days and come back home with me for now?”
“I thought werewolves were supposed to be getting stronger with the full moon,” Tony didn’t know whether this was just a ploy to lure him back, but Lupin was either a very good actor or sincere.
“The mindless beast in me is getting stronger, so more and more of magic goes to trying to stop him from taking over.”
“That sounds… “ like pure fiction, that was what Tony was going to say, but Lupin flinched as if he waited for some insult, and Tony felt bad for him. “Just as inconvenient as my story, actually.”
That made Lupin stare at him for a brief second, but then he gave Tony a weak smile.
“I didn’t think it was a competition.”
“It’s not,” Tony announced. “But I’m curious. What would happen if you ever lost control?”
“Not if, but when,” Lupin sighed. “Every month, I turn to a wolf, losing all sense of who I am, and if not locked up, I could attack anything and anyone in sight.”
“Now I’m beginning to understand why you’re single despite probably being a decent guy,” Tony was just thinking out loud, but Lupin gave him a funny look. “What?”
“If you were 20 years older, I would be probably blushing or something,” Lupin admitted. “I’ve never heard a child talk like this.”
“That’s because I’m not one,” Tony was glad it showed, even if not in his mature behavior, but at least in his usual way of talking. “But don’t worry, Lupin, I wasn’t flirting with you. For one, I didn’t know you’re gay-“
“That’s because I’m not.”
“And second, I already have a special someone back home. I mean, technically I don’t ‘have them’ have them, because they are straight and in love with someone who died, so I’d never even told them how I felt, but I doubt I could ever find anyone like them, so I’m not looking for anything at the moment,” Tony babbled on longer than expected, a bit surprised that his curse didn’t yet kick harder in just yet.
The loophole seemed to be talking about general motives, or maybe how Tony felt, instead of facts and specifics that could prove he was who he claimed to be, and he made a mental note to do more experiments with this new revelation later.
“That’s more familiar than I’d like to admit,” Lupin carefully said. Maybe it was the first time he believed Tony, and not just humored him. Or, he was flustered even admitting to having feelings for someone?
“Which part? Him being straight, or in love with a dead person?”
“All three? For almost 10 years, I thought he was straight,” Lupin counted on his fingers. “So I’ve never told them how I felt either. And he is in love with a dead person too. But I raise you with the fact that he is the one responsible for our mutual friend’s death, and also for the death of a family, except a poor kid...”
“What? How? Why?!” Tony wondered. But when Lupin was about to answer, his knees buckled under his weight, and though he corrected that, Tony saw it better to say. “But, we should get back. I hereby officially promise I’ll only liberate myself later when you told me the full story of your man.”
“He isn’t my anything. After what happened, I rarely think about him anymore.”
Tony thought about Cap, and how Tony thought he’d never forgive Steve after what happened in Siberia, but finally, that only meant Thanos won - the first time around - while, try as he might, Tony’s feelings didn’t seem to diminish no matter how he was in denial about them.
For a brief second, he wondered if Lupin was currently at the same place emotionally as he was back then, but then he quickly reminded himself he wasn’t going to get involved in any wizard’s life if he could help it. He was still leaving, only choosing to do it later as a courtesy, given that Lupin looked half-dead after he “Side-Apparated” both of them back.
“I’ll be gone for a while,” he told Tony, and Tony only nodded. “But, if what you’re saying is true, and you aren’t just hit with a fairly bad confusion spell as Dumbledore claims-“
“I know who I am,” Tony thought that was the definition of calling someone crazy in the wizarding world without actually calling them crazy, and felt wildly offended how Dumbledore was spreading that about him.
“Then have you considered playing by the rules?” Lupin suggested. “For now.”
“Oh wow, what advice!” Tony didn’t think Lupin would try to push him this way, but it’s not like Tony could be pushed to do anything. “That would show him! Playing right to his hand with his evil plans and secrets and-“
“I’m not saying because I want a kid who is a model-student, I know I wasn’t,” Lupin put up a hand to stop him spinning out. “I’m just saying if you want to get rid of a wizard with the Headmaster’s caliber and connections to even America where I’m guessing you’d like to so desperately go, you’ll need to know more about how he operates.”
“Meaning?”
“You should learn magic,” Lupin told him with a shrug. “At least become knowledgeable of what spells can be used against you, and become well versed in wards so you won’t be just found and caught again. And waiting a couple of years until you look older wouldn’t hurt either.”
“Can’t you just cast a spell to make me older?” Tony had to admit, Lupin had some things right.
“I could, but it’s not a spell without huge risk. And I’d never take away years willingly from a kid.”
“But I’m not one!”
“Maybe not. And this might come off as strange from me of all people,” Lupin said. “But I believe that things happen for a reason. If you’re young again, couldn’t it be because you never got to have a real childhood the first time around? Maybe you’re in this predicament because meant to learn something you missed before, and it would be unwise of me to keep you from it?”
It almost sounded as if Lupin believed him (but then again, he would say the same thing if he didn’t, but want to convince Tony to stay put, probably), but still pitied him or something, so Tony felt provoked to say.
“Why, what is the universe trying to teach you by turning you into a mindless beast every single month?”
“I don’t know, but if I had to guess, something like how I always assumed if only I could hide the parts of me I didn’t want people to see, they would like me, when you can’t change your true nature, and people only see what they want to see when they look at you anyway.”
It was one of the very rare moments when Tony was rendered speechless. It’s not like he knew Lupin’s full story just yet - although he was planning on finding out if he had the time before leaving - but he could feel the wizard had been through a lot, and Tony appreciated how Lupin could be still so brutally honest about that.
“For the record, I’m still forming an opinion about you,” he told Lupin in what he hoped was a light tone and also allowing for Lupin to excuse himself wherever he needed to go to lock himself up for the night.
“That’s great news,” Lupin told him, and Tony couldn’t say how much of that was sarcasm and how much genuine sentiment. “In the meanwhile, if you want to consider my advice, or just find yourself bored, maybe you could start by reading this spellbook.”
It was a book that looked as ancient as Cap’s old books were in the Tower, and Tony frankly wasn’t convinced he’d found anything useful in such a dated thing.
“Sorry if it’s a little shabby, it used to be mine. But it’s not like they changed anything besides the cover in the new edition since 1802, so you might as well give it a try if you’re up for the challenge?”
Tony thought this was only a bait, so he just gave a look to Lupin.
“Although, if spell-casting isn’t your thing, I can always offer you books about Wards or Potions or Magical Creatures,” Lupin went on, unfazed. “But maybe you shouldn’t dismiss it before you’ve read a couple of pages.”
And, he left before Tony could get the last word saying he’ll just rather stare at the empty wall instead of reading a bunch of nonsense about a mystical power he couldn’t even use.
Even if Lupin was right, and it could be used against him all the same.
But, as Tony was aimlessly sitting still for only just a couple of hours, he realized he had already fallen into Lupin’s trap because he wasn’t Tony Stark for nothing. He always had some project to work on or some foe to defeat, and couldn’t stop even when he tried, so he ended up reading the whole book in one sitting.
Then twice more, making notes, and by the time Lupin came back, he was so immersed in the material that he jumped when Lupin appeared, looking both hurt and still frail.
“So, what do you think?”
“That I need an ally,” Tony was honest. “If Dumbledore can do all this with the wave of his wand, I’ll never leave the continent alive alone.”
“Dumbledore can do much more, even without his wand,” Lupin disillusioned him. “Nobody ever fought him and won.”
“Good to know,” Tony tried not to feel weary hearing that, because he had defeated even Thanos in the end, but learning the rules of magic was as if he now had to forget everything he thought he knew, and start from the very beginning all over again.
“What I wanted to say was how you shouldn’t think of trying to defeat him, because although it’s too early to tell, you probably won’t be able to win, no matter how many books you read,” Lupin took the book away now, and closed it. “But if you want to learn more on how to maybe get free of his influence, maybe I can give you some more books to study after we had a proper lunch. Which you need to prepare because I’m still just one step away from wobbly.”
And maybe he was manipulating Tony by claiming he was too weak to do any meal for an entire week after the full moon, even when he already looked better and more cheerful because this way Tony was forced to take regular breaks, but Lupin wasn’t completely wrong either.
Tony had no idea of the extent of Dumbledore’s powers before reading the very first book, and… while Pepper and Rhodey and even Happy took always good care of Tony helping him countless times and in many ways over the years, it felt embarrassingly different when you were just a kid, and a capable adult was trying his best to nurture you until you were considered of an age where you could fend for yourself.
Lupin let Tony read for hours and hours sometimes but always made sure that Tony had proper sleep and breaks by tasking him with the cooking.
Not to mention, how Lupin had always found some mundane task for them to do together around the house or when Lupin was getting rid of dark magical creatures of other people’s homes, (getting paid for it badly, as far as Tony could tell, but it wasn’t his place to question that), and Lupin had this magical ability to make even collecting a bunch of extremely nasty Pixies in someone’s attic fun, almost as if it was a game, but also letting Tony ask questions about magic as he learned more and more.
It was almost enough to make Tony forget what a disaster meeting his 21-year-old self was, when Lupin - true to his word - got both of them an international Apparation Licence, and took Tony to the US, even deactivating the Trace on him for 24 hours so Dumbledore wouldn’t know.
Tony expected if he could tell himself that he knew things - like what their life was going to become, where Cap was, and just things like you know, the entire future of the planet - then his 21-year-old-self would at least try to ask him a couple of questions, even if Tony would not be able to answer him directly, and figure they should work together or something.
Instead, he wasn’t believed - surprise - and what’s worse, couldn’t get even a cent out of the other Tony, when money was the very first thing he would need if he were to build anything. But who could you blame if it was yourself who was acting like an asshole towards you?
“If you need materials, maybe I can enchant some things for you, even if not to gold, for instance,” Lupin offered. “And what we can’t do with magic, I can still buy with magical money, you know.”
But Tony knew Lupin had barely any money because no one liked to employ somebody looking so… ragged as him, except a few people who needed someone temporarily and cheap, so Tony couldn’t rely on Lupin for that.
It was bad enough when they could barely pay for Tony’s wand and they had an argument about it (“why would I need one if I can’t do magic at all?” “we’ll never know if you really can’t until you’ve tried, and you’ll need a wand for school anyway, Tony, it’s no bother, really”), and Tony ended up in a robe shop, while Lupin probably went to pawn some of his belongings so he could pay for the rest of the stuff Tony didn’t even need, but Hogwarts required it.
“Another first year, dear?” the Witch was surprisingly kind given the influx of brats who must have come too often to her shop that day, while she made Tony stand in between two boys who were already there to be fitted. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for a little, but why don’t you say hello? You’ll all be classmates, after all, and I need to get some more materials from the back.”
“I’m Draco Malfoy,” the blond boy announced as if that meant something, even before Tony could swiftly ignore both of the kids, not having any interest to befriend anyone, despite what he was just told. “And I’ve been just saying I think it’s a stupid rule that they don’t let first-years take their a broom to school. What do you think?”
“Such a bloody shame,” Tony noted, his voice dripping from sarcasm, even using the word bloody which he thought was hilarious whenever he heard it. “How are you supposed to do the spring cleaning without them?”
Remus told him about Quidditch, of course, but flawless-looking blonds with arrogant attitudes had always brought the worst out of him. And he managed to hit the mark too, because the blond kid got so angry he went red, while the other child started laughing, only to shut up when Malfoy gave him a murderous look.
“You think he's funny, do you? Clearly, in America you don’t need manners,” he said, picking up on Tony’s accent, probably, before quickly seizing Tony up for another weakness and finding it fairly quickly. “Or proper clothes.”
“I like to be comfortable,” Tony shrugged.
“At least the likes of you will never get to Slytherin,” Malfoy went on. “It’s only for people with a certain sense of class. Take my family. Generations of Slytherins.”
“Well, I certainly hope that if I get to Slytherin you won’t,” Tony told him. “I wouldn’t like to go to classes with a kid who is not only a pompous ass but apparently can’t even think for himself, only following what his daddy says, just as his daddy before.”
He only meant it as a general playground insult, but maybe was too harsh given that he was talking to just an eleven old, because the blond kid’s previous bravado fell completely away as if he was on the verge of crying, and now Tony felt bad, no matter how it wasn’t him who started the whole thing with bragging.
“Look, all I’m saying is that your housemates will be your family far from home for seven bloody years,” there he was with the bloody again. “So you shouldn’t pick a house just by convention or what your parents want or based on what other people would think. I, for one, think was born to be a Ravenclaw because I love learning new things, and tend to be best friends with Gryffindors. But, given a chance, I’d sort to Slytherin if I can, because I could use it if I’d learned to be a little sly. My adoptive father thinks it’s the worst place to be, but I’ve told him that I can handle assholes, and I won’t let a house reputation deter me, while I wouldn’t mind befriending only a couple of people instead of a dozen who are a little bit different like I am.”
Tony didn’t plan on that speech at all, but it was also something they’d been discussing for weeks now with Remus, and while Remus usually let Tony do whatever he wanted, he was very pushy about Tony not ending up in Slytherin.
Even though Tony told him if any House was the opposition of Dumbledore and his type of thinking and therefore magic, it would be Slytherin. Remus by then cared for Tony so much, and he genuinely seemed to be under the impression that all Slytherins were evil or unhappy, or both, that he just couldn’t accept Tony going there, even if that was what Tony wanted.
“Maybe Ravenclaw isn’t that bad either,” the blond kid said then, but on a smaller voice now, and for just a second Tony waited for an insult that was surely coming, since it was the very house Tony just said he was probably born to, but when nothing came, he realized Malfoy was trying to extend an olive branch on his own way.
“Maybe,” Tony echoed.
“What do your parents think?” Malfoy made a 180, compared to his previous demeanor, and even prompted the kid with the glasses now.
“My parents are dead,” the kid said. “But I think I agree, and I can decide for myself.”
Malfoy was done with the fitting then, and Tony wondered how he should be careful not to become such a monster that he’d make 11-year-olds cry when he’ll be surrounded with them for a year now, but the boy with the glasses spoke up to him, even if still shy.
“I’m Harry, by the way, what’s your name?”
“I’m Tony Stark. Sorry about earlier,” Tony told him. “I went a little overboard there for a minute, I promise I usually don’t bully people like that, even if they may or may not deserve it.”
“I think what you said about the broom was brilliant,” the young kid smiled. “I wish I could be more like you, you know. And Malfoy seemed like a different guy after you did that, so I’m not sorry.”
“That was also on him, you know,” Tony admitted. “Usually if I escalate arguments it only turns things for the worse. At least Malfoy chose to be the bigger man and instead of using all the things I’ve said against me, he only offered a truce with that Ravenclaw comment.”
“I don’t know about the Houses, so I can’t tell,” Harry admitted.
“Oh,” Tony was so spoiled magic-wise under Remus’ care that he forgot that there were other Muggle-borns too, not just him who didn’t know about magic all their lives. “Well, there’s much more to it, but the general consensus is that Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw is for the smart, Hupplepuff is for the loyal, and Slytherin is for the cunning.”
“So that’s why your adoptive father wouldn’t like you to go to Slytherin?”
“That, and because dark wizards always went there,” Tony explained. “But, giants and werewolves are also considered dark creatures just because of who they are, and I happen to have a great friend who is the best and a werewolf, so if I get to Slytherin, I’m planning on making my way, and let that reflect on the House I’m in, not ancient history.”
“Now that you say that, I want to be a Slytherin too,” the boy told him, grinning.
“Haven’t you heard the bit where I said you shouldn’t be swayed by anybody’s opinion?” Tony couldn’t help but smile back, Harry was too cute. Reminded him of Peter for a minute, before Tony could shut that thinking down, knowing that if he got lost on memory lane as so often he did in the last couple of months, he’d only make himself feel bad. “Did you even mean what you said to Malfoy, or were you just repeating me?”
“I wasn’t! But you said you’ll be a Slytherin, and I’d go to any House where you are, you’re so cool,” Harry admitted and looked nervous now as if he shouldn’t have said that, and hearing it Tony would dismiss him or something. “I mean… compared to Malfoy.”
“Such. A. Compliment,” Tony decided the best way to ease whatever problem the kid with the dead parents had was to keep it light, just as Remus often did with him. “Go on then, tell me what you really think…”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” Harry was both looking apologetic and on the verge of laughing at the same time.
“Sure, sure,” Tony told him, faking mock hurt. “But I think you’re also done, and someone’s been waving at you from the window with some ice cream for like, the last twenty minutes.”
“So long? Why didn’t you tell me,” Harry basically ran out to greet the man, and that’s when Tony noticed Remus’ eyes malevolently twinkling at him from the corner of the robe shop.
“What’s with that face, Remus?”
“Nothing, Tony.”
“Yeah, yeah, and the last time you said that you sent me to investigate a room that had dozens of Boggarts in it.”
“For the record, I only thought it was one, and that the famous Tony Stark could easily handle a dozen, and I was there to intervene if you needed my help all along.”
He was, and it’s not like Tony didn’t face his worst nightmare already, but it still wasn’t funny when he first just only screamed a little when out of the blue, an invading Chitauri fleet manifested in a random room where he least expected it, and Remus had teased him for days after about his undignified response.
“So what are you up to now?”
“It’s just that the kid you were talking to right now… both of his parents were Gryffindors. So you aren’t even in Hogwarts yet, but you’re making friends with Gryffs, as you should be, as my son, probably ending up in my house anyways…”
“I’m not, and I’m not going to,” Tony told him, but he couldn’t help but smile when Remus was like this, even though he was still not going to be a Lion. But then, something occurred to him how the kid said both of his parents were dead, and how Remus mentioned an entire family being betrayed… “I… is he the kid of the family you mentioned?”
And, Tony managed to ruin Remus’ mood just like that.
“He is. I’m going to pick up your books next, meet me there.”
“Wait!” Tony hated how he was kept in the dark, but whenever the topic came up, Remus all but shut down about it, and Tony just couldn’t bring himself to push, but at the same time, he felt like everything Remus did - even adopting Tony - was somehow related how Remus’ friends died, and how that other friend betrayed them, and not knowing the details not only meant Tony sometimes stumbled into the topic by accident, but also made him worried how it might be used against Remus one day, and Tony didn’t know enough to protect him.
And, when Tony did sort into Slytherin, even when Remus said it was okay, Tony felt unsure. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what an absentee father was like from before, but he didn’t want that with Remus, so he stayed up after the Sorting ceremony for quite a while.
“What are you doing here, huh?” he could only ask when he noticed he wasn’t alone: Draco Malfoy was sitting just across him on the other green sofa.
“I couldn’t sleep,” the blond frowned. “You shouldn’t be up either, you know.”
“What I meant is that I thought you said Ravenclaw was also fine.”
“Father made it clear he’d disinherit me if I’m not a Snake and I panicked, and I guess it was a cowardly Slytherin of a move enough for the Hat to sort me here anyway.”
“Funny, ‘cause the way my adoptive father tried to reassure me that being Slytherin was okay after spending literary months trying to talk me out of it, I feel like I’m going to be disinherited for the opposite.”
“Look at that, it’s the whole gang,” Harry also appeared, sitting down. “We should get T-Shirts.”
“We have our robes, ties, and scarves,” Malfoy told him.
“Though I still think red and gold is the perfect combination of colors,” Tony added, even though obviously neither of the kids could know what he was talking about.
“Green does bring someone’s eyes out though,” Malfoy casually added, then went incredibly still as if he only just then realized he said that out loud.
“Why, you aren’t so shabby yourself, Malfoy,” luckily Harry had no clue what was going on, and Tony could only think of one thing to say to save Malfoy from his attention then, before the boy’s head blew up being so red as he got after Harry’s compliment.
“What, and nobody admires me?”
“Ah, but you’re the best,” Harry told him with no hesitation. “So much so that we’re both only in this House because you are.”
“My name was after both of yours,” Tony didn’t think it was funny. His lifestyle wasn’t anything any kid should aspire to follow if his lack of happiness was any indication of how he was doing. Even though it wasn’t so bad lately, learning magic, and spending time with adoptive father, it’s not like any of the long term goals of Tony had changed. If he was given a chance to get back to the Avengers from here, he’d do it in a blink, provided he could sometimes visit Remus or something.
“Yes, but that didn’t deter us, did it, Draco?” Harry asked, and Tony just stood, thinking he should leave the other two to talk, maybe, but then, he was followed by both of them when he decided to at least try to get a couple of hours sleep.
And, since he was the only one who could memorize the castle’s layout the first week, Harry and Draco seemed to follow him everywhere later too, which was both as if Tony had two new friends (even if it was just an illusion, and they were very Slytherinly using him as a map and for copying his homework no doubt).
While also sometimes annoying when Tony wanted to spend more time researching how he could spell himself back to his real age (if not just shaving off a couple of years because of vanity), and get back (in this case forward time-wise) to the country and family he belonged, but then Harry and Draco (just like Remus) would distract him ever so often by offering to go visit Hagrid together, literary going to every meal together, going to the library together, and so on and so on.
Also, classes were a giant waste of time after Remus literary teaching Tony almost everything during the summer that he’d need to know, but then again, that was theory, and some classes were like Charms or Transfiguration. You had to have magic for it, and Tony couldn’t even get a wand from Ollivander’s for what it felt like hours because he was sure even the wand-maker felt he didn’t have any magic, and wondered how Tony got to go to Hogwarts still.
Though flying was okay, because the broom was still doing its job with or without you, and both Harry and Draco were good at it, so Tony didn’t have to hold back either, as he did with some essays, thinking he didn’t want Dumbledore to get suspicious why Tony became so knowledgable so fast in some topics.
It’s not like he could deny he spent most of his free time in the Library anyway, even when it sometimes got hard to concentrate, like when Harry and Draco started their usual routine.
“I’ll have you know, Potter, I got an Outstanding on my Potions essay, and you barely managed an average mark.”
“That’s only because Snape hates me, I’m telling you, Malfoy,” Harry said similarly. “I’m getting top marks in Transfiguration despite not even knowing magic existed until I got the letter.”
“If Snape hates you for some reason, though he’d never said anything, so I think you’re just using that as an excuse,” Draco started with a very annoying tone. “McGonagall is just the opposite, you’re secretly her favorite. So it’s unfair for you to bring that up…”
“Just!” Tony couldn’t read like this, and sometimes dearly missed Jarvis who could lock people out he didn’t want to see from his workshop. “Just marry already, you two, or shut up! This is the library, you don’t need books for bragging to each other all day long!”
Thinking back, he might have overreacted just a tiny bit, because in the end he was thrown out - and banned for two weeks - from the library, and Harry and Draco couldn’t speak to each other normally for days next, not to mention how Tony might have offended them with his outburst (even though they had it coming for them for weeks by then), so…
Tony decided that if he snuck into the library unnoticed, everyone will be happier. Apparently, Hermione Granger wasn’t, when he found her crying in a corner.
“Sorry,” Tony said awkwardly. “I’m banned from here, and I was just looking for a place… I won’t tell if you won’t?”
“I’m not letting you copy my homework. Nor my notes, so you can leave.”
“Um, you can too,” Tony told her. “But I have some topics to research that are not in the curriculum and I’m not going to unless you want to call Pince to throw me out?”
She didn’t, and also stopped crying, and turned out she was quite smart too when one day Tony was writing an essay, and she stared for like half an hour, before snatching it from him, correcting a mistake Tony deliberately put in without a word.
“Thanks, but I rather get the actual grades I deserve,” Tony told her, writing it over with the wrong solution again.
“You made that mistake on purpose,” she was also good at reading people, not just books it seemed. “Why? When everyone is trying to get good marks and House points…”
“Let’s just say I already got too much attention just by sorting to Slytherin,” Tony felt compelled to tell her the truth, but it’s not like he could tell her much, so this was the best he could do. “So I want to keep a low profile.”
“By befriending Harry Potter?” she validly asked.
“For the record, Harry befriended me, not the other way around, and I had no idea he was supposed to be famous,” Tony felt defensive about it. “And when he isn’t flirting with Draco all day long, he can be great.”
“Well, at least you have friends,” she noted, her eyes already on the page, but also reminding Tony of Pepper when she was still very young, and much more insecure.
“You could visit Hagrid with us on the weekend if you want,” Tony offered to her then, and he didn’t just yet know how his - supposedly - friends going to react.
“She’s like… annoying!” Draco whined.
“You mean she’s smarter than you and you feel intimidated by her intellect?” Tony hoped that rephrasing the question would help.
“I’m not, but I certainly don’t know what to talk about with her,” Harry was just as bad. “I mean… she’s a Gryffindor. And a girl. And maybe secretly a cyborg learning everything so fast and well, that remains to be seen.”
“I learn everything just as fast as well,” Tony felt personally offended, it wasn’t just joking as he then portrayed it to be. “And she’s my friend so if you’re still mine, we’ll just have to all figure out a way we can co-exist.”
“The things you make us do,” Harry groaned.
“Like, say, teach you to have common decency?” Tony sometimes felt like he was channeling Remus when he talked to Harry and Draco like that, but it always worked, so that’s why it was also his secret weapon nowadays. “I’m telling you, she’s great.”
And maybe Hermione wasn’t at first, but that was just as much on her as Harry and Malfoy eyeing her cluelessly, truly at a loss what they were supposed to be talking about, but that luckily went away quickly when Hagrid started talking, and by the time they left Hagrid’s hut, at least Hermione didn’t even mention homework or classes all the way back, and the boys weren’t completely dismissive about her either.
By the time Christmas came, it was clear that out of the four of them, Harry was the only one who wouldn’t go home for Christmas, so Tony decided to offer to take him with to Remus’.
“It’s not at all glamorous or anything, but Remus threatened to cook something and I quote here ‘really nice but certainly something edible for once’, and he says he’d like to have you.”
“If any consolation, the Malfoy Manor is certainly glamorous no matter the season, but I’d still prefer to go with you two,” Draco told Harry.
“Were just humble bragging right now, Dray?” Harry was pulling Draco’s leg for sure.
“What? No, I’ve just told you something honest, and that’s how you react?”
“If I may,” Hermione interrupted them. “Both of my parents would love to meet all of you, so for next Christmas break, you are all welcomed to visit, even if I don’t live in a Manor.”
“I could use less time with my relatives for sure,” Harry said, and then luckily, it was time for everyone to leave, so he added to Draco. “Don’t forget to ask your father about Flamel! We’ll ask Tony’s dad, too…”
It was no surprise that Remus liked Harry better than Tony, but that’s why it was almost scary when he all but froze when he Harry and Tony were opening presents, and Remus came in with some tea, and Harry had this mysterious cloak on that somehow made him invisible, and Remus almost acted like another person, even worrying Tony.
“Where did you get that??!”
“I…uh, it was sent to me. As a present.”
“Who sent it?!”
“I don’t know. There was only a note to use it well…”
Tony was about to pull Remus to another room to ask why he was acting so weird when Remus took a look at the note and sighed.
“It’s Dumbledore’s handwriting.”
“Of course it is,” Tony realized. “That’s why it was so familiar. It matches the Hogwarts letter we got.”
“But why would the Headmaster give me an item that I can use to like, break a thousand school rules?” Harry maybe never talked to Dumbledore to know his tactics, but he was finding this suspicious as well.
“Because he’s planning to use you for something,” Tony told him. “And I don’t like the sound of that at all. Like, Remus could have adopted you just the same way Dumbledore made him adopt me, and you wouldn’t have to live with those horrible relatives of yours…”
“For the record, I’ve never said they were horrible,” Harry declared.
“No, but I got how they were anyway,” Tony told him, holding up Harry’s “present” from the said people. “And just as how Dumbledore chose to groom you by leaving you with them, keeping you away from magic, I think the cloak is also a ploy to push you to do something. Maybe he wants to kick you out for breaking the rules, but we’re generally so careful because we’re already perceived as trouble. After all, we’re Slytherins that he couldn’t get to you any other way…”
“Tony, Harry’s like an important person to our society. Dumbledore can’t just expel him. And even if he did, Harry could just go to some other schools of magic, like-“
“There are other schools?” Harry seemed to be floored.
“Ah yes, and if you ask me, Mahoudokoro is the best,” Remus told him with a smile. “Although both of your parents went to Hogwarts, so…”
“You knew them?” Harry’s eyes grew wide.
“Um, just a little,” Remus seemed to have realized he made a mistake. “But I guess everyone already told you how they were both brilliant and they loved you very much? Would be very proud of you now, no doubt.”
“You’re just being nice,” Harry shrugged. “You didn’t really know them, so how’d you know…”
“Actually, that cloak was your father’s. He used it to sneak out all the time, and put all of us in trouble…”
“So you knew him? Who’s us?” Harry looked confused.
“There were four of us who were really close. As you can imagine, four boys all from the same age and the same House,” Remus admitted. “And that didn’t change for years, only when your dad started dating your mother.”
“I’ll leave you two to discuss,” Tony slipped away because Harry seemed like he was going to cry any minute, hearing of his parents, and Remus finally seemed like he was ready to share about his past, even if not with Tony.
But then, when Tony and Harry woke the next morning like clockwork as if still in school at the same time, Tony had to ask.
“Are you okay?”
“Surprisingly better,” Harry nodded. “But you might not be, asking another human being how they are doing, when we both know that Tony Stark from Slytherin just simply doesn’t care for people.”
“Careful, I might not like you teasing as much as your boyfriend,” Tony hoped this would rattle Harry so he’d drop the topic, but his ulterior Slytherin plan fell face first when Harry only shrugged.
“You might be right. I was just thinking I miss him.”
But when Tony wondered if eleven wasn’t too early for Harry to start thinking of Draco like that, Harry also added.
“You know, if he’s not here, I’m easily the most annoying person in the room without trying so…”
“Oh I get it,” Tony nodded. “You only wish he was around because you want to make yourself look good, by comparison.”
“As any Slytherin would,” Harry agreed.
“How nefarious of you,” Remus appeared, a faint smile on his lips. “But let’s have breakfast first, I think we’ll need to discuss some serious topics later.”
“Like?” Tony couldn’t possibly eat after hearing that.
“Harry told me about the troll on Halloween, and the three-headed dog you guys found and you oh so conveniently forgot to tell me about, Tony.”
“I’ve faced worse,” Tony shrugged. “But why? Do you think they are connected somehow?”
“I hope I’m wrong,” Remus said. “But just in case I’m not… I don’t want you or Harry or any of your friends running towards danger instead of away from it. But, I’m also clear on how you can’t always get what you want, so I’ll settle on laying down some ground rules so preferably neither of you dies a horrible death, and owl me the minute you guys think you’re over your head.”
“Right, dad,” Tony was kidding, but also not. Howard never worried whether Tony’s life was in danger or not. He was only worried he wasn’t Stark enough.
Tony also did manage to stay out most of the drama concerning Flamel - both Remus and Draco’s father heard about him - but what he couldn’t do with now the four of them hanging out was doing his own research ever so often.
“Why do you have like… a book’s worth of notes on the Petrificus Totalus spell, Tony?” Hermione one day snatched it away from him, and Tony could only curse himself for not being fast enough.
“Because I’m an old man from the future, now stuck in a younger body, and my only love is in there, but I’ll go crazy if I have to age 20 years just to see them again,” Tony answered. “So I’m considering using an Ageing spell first, then a modified Petrificus Totalus that would keep me asleep until I could meet him again.”
The funny thing was how it was true and nobody was supposed to believe him, but all his friends were staring.
“What?”
“You said him, not her,” Hermione found her voice first. “And that’s fine I’m happy for you Tony, I guess I just didn’t realize before, you kinda act like a hermit sometimes, so…”
“But maybe that’s why he’s a hermit,” Harry gestured at him. “We’re just boring him instead of his wizard pal or something.”
“He isn’t a-“
“He does act like an old grumpy man sometimes,” Draco was now looking at him weird too.
“Okay, haha, very funny guys, cut it out,” Tony didn’t like the sudden scrutiny. “If you wanna know about my crush on this guy… wait until you’re at least 16, and I’ll tell you all about what it entails.”
“I’m starting to think he’s made up,” Harry teased him. “Or from a novel or something.”
“More like a comic book,” Tony corrected. It was his private joke once again, but it also made him sad. He wasted so much time and he was nowhere closer to even finding a spell that could substitute cryo-tech, let alone learn to cast it when he was yet to do any real magic. Not to mention, he’d either need someone to wake him up (just maybe not with a kiss), or he’d have to somehow extend the spell, but also time it to just run out of juice just when he wanted, which looked almost impossible. “But yeah, I generally like guys, so much is true.”
“Thanks for sharing, Tony,” Hermione hugged him. “And know we don’t care.”
“Speaking of, how do you know?” Harry asked, and for a while, Tony thought it was just another hermit joke soon, but Harry looked like he was asking then for real. “I mean, how can you be so sure? Can’t it be that someone likes a boy or two, but still maybe also girls?”
“Harry, what are you saying? Do you also fancy a boy? Is it Tony? You’d be a great couple together, you know,” Hermione asked.
“If Harry would ever consider dating a wizard, it’s going to be me,” Draco unsurprisingly said, saving Tony from the trouble of telling Hermione that Harry and he will never happen, while also trying to maneuver giving a credible reason why without insulting Harry, when he couldn’t just tell them the truth. “Anyone else from our group is simply not allowed.”
What Tony didn’t think he’d see was the faint blush on Harry’s cheek hearing that, when usually it was Draco who blushed easily around Harry, and not the other way around.
Then there was the little unfortunate trouble of Dumbledore leaving the castle when the Stone was vulnerable, but they acted as Remus told them to, even if Tony was 53, and secretly still terrified of Snape himself.
They were ready to tell him everything, but it was as if Snape expected something like this.
“It’s Quirrell. I have suspected him since he let the Troll in on Halloween,” Snape said. “I applaud you four for bringing this to me, but I’m afraid this is the part I shall handle myself. Go back to your respective Common Rooms, and don’t tell anyone.”
“We won’t,” it was Harry who spoke first. “But we can help. We want to.”
“How very like your f-never mind. I do not have the time to waste,” Snape turned, and cast a spell that sent everyone to a deep slumber, except Tony who just stood there the same, not even feeling a thing.
“I hope they’ll be okay?” Tony just asked, because they all had strong pulses, and were still breathing deeply as if in sleep, but he also didn’t trust Snape for some reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
“They’ll be fine. You, on the other hand, Mr. Stark? How do you know how to deflect wandless spells as a first-year?”
“Because I have my unique set of talents?” Tony bluffing, instead of telling his Head of House how he had no idea. “Which, coincidentally, is also how I know that Dumbledore planned to send Harry to fight Quirell or whoever’s behind all this, and so I’m kinda wondering what your thoughts are on that, given that you’re like, Dumbledore’s loyal employee…”
“I understand seeing your friends faint was an especially frightening experience for you, Mr. Stark,” Snape gave him a warning look. “But I’ll only tolerate this tone once before I’ll give you detention for it-“
“Yes, yes, but my question about Harry?”
“No matter how you seemed to think the Headmaster engineered all this, I know nothing of such plans. And even if I did, why you’d think I’d let an eleven-year-old unnecessarily put himself in such danger is beyond me.”
“Cool, so I’ll go with you as a backup,” Tony decided Snape might be hiding something, but at least he seemed almost as protective when speaking of Harry as Remus would have, so their goals coincided for the moment since Remus tasked Tony to protect Harry too. Truth to be told, he also told Tony at least five times not to dare to put himself in danger, but Tony figured he kind of missed being an Avenger, and this was the next best thing, given the circumstances.
“You would only slow me down,” Snape told him, but he was already on the move, his long cloak billowing after him as it was his signature move.
“I avoided your curse somehow, didn’t I?” Tony felt almost smug for no good reason since it wasn’t even his doing until Snape gave him a look while they were getting to the third floor, and he realized he’ll be not asleep but dead very soon if he didn’t shut up. “I’m sorry, Professor, but I mean it. I’d like to help.”
“Guard the door, then. Outside. If any of your idiotic friends wake up and come here, don’t let them pass,” Snape almost closed the door on Tony’s face, but Tony was faster, jumping too close to Fluffy, only noticing how he was waking up when there was nothing for either him or Snape to run but down on the trap door.
“I hate taking points from my House,” Snape only told Tony when he rescued Tony from the Devil’s Snare, though Tony knew he could have just relaxed and would have gotten free eventually himself. “But if you don’t just shut up and stay behind me at all times, doing as I say, I’m going to.”
Maybe it was because they just avoided being eaten by a three-headed dog, but Tony couldn’t contain the remark.
“Are you like this with all your partners, Professor, or is this way of making me special?”
Yes, Tony may or may not have been the culprit of coming up with the rumor how Snape had a very special dungeon at his house, and he liked to use discipline in it just as he did in his classes - tough the Weasley twins were the ones who thought it was a hilarious one-time joke on Tony’s part, and they started spreading it like wild-fire everywhere - but it’s not like Tony had a death wish trying to tell Snape himself something that was maybe not as bad, but referring to that?
“So I take it Lupin had told you about me,” Snape sneered at him. “If this is one of his jokes, I’m not-“
“You two know each other?” Tony wouldn’t have guessed in a thousand years.
“As if you didn’t know.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
Snape stared forcefully to Tony’s eyes with a menacing gaze first, but then only turned to enter the next room later with a less murderous tone.
“Well then, I trust you can comprehend British English up to a point when I say that we’re going to both die if you announce our arrival with the constant babbling of yours, Mr. Stark, so shut up, or I’m going to have to knock you out in the Muggle way, and I’m not sure how the big head of yours would take that.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t,” Tony admitted. He could have done the flying, he felt, but Snape just summoned the key, then Tony could have done the chess as well, but Snape told him to stand in for the King, and - you guessed it - ‘just shut up' and when they got to the room with all the potions, Snape just drank a vial from his pocket, and left Tony behind, ordering him to stay as if he was a dog.
Well, Tony could do the riddle, and follow him anyway, but by then, Snape was dueling the back of Quirrell’s head - nothing would surprise Tony anymore, seeing that, really - and was standing his ground too, quite well, but then, Tony must have been less low-key than he thought, because Quirrell saw him, and targeted him with a spell, that didn’t promise any good, since it was green, and though Tony didn’t hear what it was, he remembered reading that the Killing Curse was just that exact color, and…
Well, he didn’t even have his wand out, not that it would have done him any good, but just as he was almost certain he was about to die, a brilliant white light of a being appeared in front of him, and not only protected Tony, but almost squealed at Quirrell, reflecting the curse back at him, leaving Snape just as confused as Tony, but still cautiously walking next to Quirrell to check on him.
“Brilliant.”
“You’re being sarcastic, right?” Tony couldn’t tell.
“Yes. I was just going to arrest Quirrell, but now he’s dead too,” Snape told him.
“But the scary head-dude is also gone, which is a plus if you ask me, he wasn’t big on conversation,” Tony tried to say.
“Would you like to explain what I have just witnessed, Mr. Stark?” Snape asked him. “And don’t say nothing, because I’ve never seen a person resisting the Dark Lord’s Killing Curse, but especially not a first-year from America.”
“Are you implying Americans are stupid?” Tony felt insulted.
“Maybe not as much as I thought, if you managed to figure that out on your own,” Snape told him, and also had the audacity to smirk at Tony. “But you should tell me, so I know what to say when the Headmaster asks.”
“I wasn’t even here,” Tony declared.
“And, of course, I’ll have to write to your guardian about-“
“Nothing, because nothing happened. I’m still passed out in the Potion’s classroom with the others where you clearly left me, sir,” Tony was never this polite in his entire life, but Remus would skin him alive, and wouldn’t let him leave the house ever again if he knew, so…
“Then tell me, and get out of here before I alert all of the Professors,” Snape looked at him. “And just know, I’m an accomplished Occlumens, so I’ll immediately know if you lie.”
No wonder if Snape was on edge all the time if he knew when people were lying, and it wasn’t just a bluff either as far as Tony could tell, because Tony did read about the topic already elsewhere, so…
“I’m not who Dumbledore says I am. But I’m also cursed so I can’t talk about it to anyone openly but him, because he’s the only one who knows the truth. If he figures I was here, or that I’ve stepped a toe out of line, he’ll destroy me, and possibly Remus too in the process, not to mention he wants to set Harry on some kind of path...”
“Talk about only you, and do it fast,” Snape warned. “If you aren’t a student, who are you? What are you?”
“I’m an old Muggle, not even from this time,” Tony started saying, but his voice was already going away, indicating he said too much.
“How old?”
Tony could only shake his head.
“Older than 30?”
Tony nodded.
“Older than 50?”
Tony pointed.
“50 and a couple of years,” Snape confirmed. “And you thought I was interested if you flirted with me? Especially given that you’re from the Wild West or something?”
“I’m from… not the past, I let you know,” Tony felt irritated, but it also worked because when he had strong emotions, he could talk.
“So, a 50-year-old Muggle from the year 2000?”
“No.”
“3000.”
“Are you kidding with me?” Tony huffed.
“I was, nice of you to notice,” Snape told him. “2010.”
Tony pointed again, indicating it was close.
“And you crash-landed a time-machine on Hogwarts’ back lawn, so Dumbledore figured he could use you?”
“I died, and was… sent back,” Tony struggled quite a bit to say, but to more of his surprise than Snape’s he could manage. “But actually, you just gave me an idea. I could make myself an adult again if I pushed time through my body by incorrectly using a time machine, so there’s a way to turn me back, give or take a couple of years, but certainly old enough to drive and consume alcohol…”
“There are also spells for that. Intricate ones, and maybe taking a lot of effort and time, but they do exist. If you don’t enjoy your current predicament as a child, why didn’t you ask Lupin to fix you already?”
“I did, but he told me I should enjoy having less responsibility as long as I can.”
“And you’re certain you can’t do magic?”
“I’ve been trying to do it for months, and I can’t even levitate a feather,” Tony admitted.
“Yet, you negated my curse.”
“That wasn’t me. I just said it was so you’ll let me come along.”
“And the whole deadly light show we’ve just witnessed that protected you?”
“Your guess is probably better than mine,” Tony shrugged. “Are we done?”
“You may go. For now,” Snape told him. “But given everything that has happened, and you’ve just told me, and what the Headmaster is planning with your best friend, Potter, we should test these unexplained abilities you seem to have since cheating death, Mr. Stark.”
“Believe me, I haven’t cheated anything. I was ready to-“ Tony almost told none other than Snape that he was ready to die. What? Why even? Must have been the shock. “Never mind. We don’t want Dumbledore to find me here, so…”
“No, we certainly don’t,” Snape agreed, and Tony left quickly after that, taking the broom.
Only thinking how Snape didn’t even deny Dumbledore had some kind of plan for Harry then, and how he seemed to know something about it.
But when Tony tried to talk with Snape before leaving for the summer holidays after all the chaos and the exams and House Cup - Gryffindor won - and everything, Snape didn’t even look at him.
“I believe it’s soon time for you and your peers to depart, Mr. Stark, so whatever you’re going to say, I trust it isn’t so urgent that it can’t wait until the next school year?”
“Um, but you see…”
“Well, goodbye then, Mr. Stark.”
And when Tony took a step to talk, Snape just blinked at him, too fast considering how he always kept firm, non-blinking eye contact to intimidate students (and it was working too, though Tony found it sometimes funny, if it wasn’t directed at him), but too slow that it would have been obvious that he did that, if he wasn’t watched closely, or from where Tony was standing.
“I’m sorry I bothered you, sir,” Tony had a vague motion that Dumbledore was listening in, if not present, and disappeared.
Only to have Snape show up fully clad in black despite the summer weather, and bring Harry with him, surprising Lupin and Tony both when they showed.
“I have modified Harry’s Trace so he could secretly spend the summer with me, and I have information regarding the Headmaster’s plan with him,” he announced. “And I also think we have a lot to talk about your step-son, Lupin, so if you’re going to report my actions to Dumbledore, do it now, or I’m just going to assume you can tolerate my presence for the sake of both of them?”
“If you can tolerate mine,” Remus didn’t look happy, even though he tried to arrange for Harry to come live with them or at least be allowed to visit for some weeks, but Dumbledore firmly told him off, so much so that it would have been suspicious for Remus to push.
“I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see,” Snape similarly said.
“Well, let me warn you, a feel personally responsible for both Tony and Harry,” Lupin warned. “You can insult me, or act as you would with me, but with them, I won’t even warn you, just curse you if you-“
“They are my students as well,” Snape said. “If you think I’m not here because I want what’s for the best of them, you’re delusional, Lupin.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Remus all but called Snape a liar then, while also echoing Snape’s earlier sentiment, but then again, just when Tony thought they’ll kill each other next, he also invited all of them in for tea.
“So, it’s going to be an awkward summer, I guess?” Tony asked Harry. “You’re living with Snape, Snape and Remy hating on each other ever so often?”
“For the record, he was decent,” Harry almost whispered, afraid to be overheard. “Unlike when he cursed all of us so he could face Quirrell down himself, he not only rescued me from the Dursleys but also told them I was never going back, and still threatened them that if I did, and they just as much as yelled at me, he’ll personally curse them all in front of all their neighbors.”
“But Snape yells at all of us daily.”
“Well, I guess he’s allowed, but the Dursleys aren’t. And… when not in class, he barely talked to me, but certainly hasn’t even raised his voice, you know?”
Harry still looked intimidated by the Prof so Tony could only think Snape didn’t yell because he had no reason to yell, and so, maybe, that their summer wouldn’t be as bad as it could be?