Harry froze. His mind went blank as many memories of those words flew through his head, spoken at the same inflection with the same amount of emotion. He saw her face as she said it and felt the smile he sent her. His best friend, long since gone from the world he had abandoned against his will.
"Harry?" the voice asked again. "Are you okay?"
"Are you okay, Harry?" Tony asked.
"I… I…" Harry stammered. Finally his brain caught up with him and his eyes widened. He turned around to see the translucent form of his best friend. "Hermione." was all he got out before he fell over on his ass with his mouth agape. When he was able to speak again, his first words were, "I'm so sorry." And then he refused to look at her. "I'll send you back right now."
"Harry James Potter, if you send me back without speaking to me I'm telling your parents that you wouldn't even acknowledge my existence!" she yelled angrily.
"Harry, could you please introduce me to your friend?" Jarvis spoke up.
"What friend?" Tony asked, looking around. "Can someone please tell me what is happening?"
"Do you not see the lady standing in front of Harry?" Jarvis asked.
"No, there's nobody there!" Tony insisted.
"Could you show him what you're seeing Jarvis?" Harry asked, still unable to look up.
"Certainly." Jarvis said as he connected his wireless systems to the network and accessed the screen on the wall. He had a module for data communication built in, but he would only later realise how bored humans could become and then he'd be grateful for it. In the meanwhile, he had the screen show what he was looking at.
"What the hell?!" Tony screamed moving away from the person no more than a couple of feet in front of him. "Who the hell is that?!"
"Hermione, guys. Guys, Hermione." Harry said emotionlessly as he got up.
"Hello?" Jarvis offered. "Would you be a ghost or apparition? You are slightly translucent."
"I am not a ghost!" Hermione said indignantly. "I'm a spirit. Harry summoned me from the other side, I think."
"I apologise for the confusion, but I am new to… everything." Jarvis said as he held out his hand politely. "My name is Jarvis. It is a pleasure to meet the person that I can partially thank for my existence."
Hermione smiled sadly at him but refused his hand. "I'm a spirit, so no physical contact. Sorry."
"What is she saying?" Tony asked. "Come on. Tap me in!" he said as he picked up an earpiece and popped it in. "Frequency is-"
"You have been connected." Jarvis said. "I did set that frequency myself, remember?"
"Echo much?" Tony asked.
"Sorry, sir. Echo cancellation is now active." Jarvis said.
"That's better, thanks." Tony said as he moved so that he could look through where the spirit was at the screen. "Hi. I'm Tony, Harry's new best friend." Then he turned to Jarvis, "And stop calling me 'sir'. You're a person now. You can be who you want to be. Just because you're used to it doesn't mean you have to be my helper anymore."
"I'm sorry, s… Tony." Jarvis said hesitantly. "That will take some getting used to."
Jarvis and Tony then turned to Harry. "Okay, Harry. Time to explain. What is happening? Are you manifesting something? And why can only Jarvis see it?"
Harry stayed quiet and refused to look away from the ground. He was so afraid of making eye contact, and seeing the hatred deep in her gaze, that he couldn't bring himself to look. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, "He's still an idiot, then?" she asked bluntly.
"Miss, I'm not certain I know what you are referring to." Jarvis said.
As Jarvis finished what he was saying, there was a POP and Natasha appeared having been drawn to Harry when she felt his panic and feelings of guilt. She looked around, while in a combat stance, weapon drawn, "I got here as soon as I could. What's going on and who's the ghost girl?" she asked as she noticed the translucent girl.
"You can see her?" Tony asked. "Why can't I see her?"
"You are probably a muggle, while she's obviously a witch." Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"I wouldn't go calling her names. She could kick your ass, probably even if you are intangible." Tony said.
"The word you're looking for is ethereal." Hermione said.
"Someone tell me what's going on!" Natasha demanded as she moved next to Harry and tried to catch his eyes. She could see he was in pain, and assumed it had something to do with the ghost. "How do I get rid of her? If she's hurting you, you have to tell me what to do." she asked urgently.
"You can't get rid of me. Harry summoned me." Hermione said. "I still don't know why, but I can only assume he's still blaming himself for my death." She looked at the redhead, "Who are you?"
"Natasha Romanoff. I'm Harry's fiancée." she introduced herself, with a scowl. "Why do you think he summoned you?"
"Because he was the only magical in the room that could and he's obviously the Master of-" she started.
"Stop!" Harry suddenly spoke up. "Please don't tell them. They don't need to know."
"Know what? That you're a necromancer?!" Tony exclaimed. "Why would I mind? It's fucking awesome! You can do whatever you like as long as you bring me back when I die from alcohol poisoning." he joked. Harry got a faint smile for a flicker of a moment. That wouldn't do, "But seriously, if I do die, give me a couple of hours to go find Stane and kick his ass personally. There's some stuff we never got sorted out and I'd really like to break his neck a couple of times." Tony looked at Hermione, "Can ghosts kick each other's asses?"
Hermione noticed Harry's mood being dragged back, a bit. This man really did know Harry. "Sure. Sirius and James are always fighting. Apparently Sirius always thought he could hook up with Lily in the afterlife. The vows were 'till death do us part', after all."
Harry looked up incredulously, "You're lying!" he accused, not able to control the smile at the thought of Padfoot and Prongs, reunited at last, only for Padfoot to start sniffing around his mum.
"Why, yes I am, but you are finally acknowledging my existence." Hermione smirked at him.
Jarvis who had been quiet till now, decided to defend his friend, "Harry is usually much better at that. He accepted me as a person when my mind was still a computer system."
"Wait, what?" Hermione asked, before shaking her head in exasperation, "Is everyone in the future around the bend or did Harry do something stupid again? I'm more inclined to believe the latter, myself."
"I didn't do something stupid!" Harry defended. "I just taught an artificial intelligence how to use runes and it became a real person!"
"So, it makes about as much sense as most of what happened every year during school?" Hermione asked.
"It was actually done by design and with prior knowledge that it might occur." Jarvis said. "And I am very happy with the result." he said indicating his body.
"But, how?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione Granger, a sceptic of what's possible with technology?" Harry scoffed. He'd not made eye contact yet, but at least the banter was helping him cope. The fact that Natasha had an arm around him helped.
"Runes are not technology!" Hermione exclaimed. She turned to Jarvis, "Did Harry warn you of the dangers, at least? Are you using them safely…? Wait, why am I asking this?" she interrupted herself as she turned back to Harry, "If he's a computer, he doesn't have the required capabilities to charge runes magically. For that matter, how can he see me? What's going on, Harry?"
"It's a long story, but let's get a couple of things straight." Tony interrupted. "First off, you're a spirit from what comes after death and Harry can summon the spirits of the dead. Jarvis is a living computer we created using a lot of our own work into magical studies, and yes that includes me, a 'muggle', and your own ideas about a magical calculator." he said. "Did I miss anything?"
"Apparently it's strange that I can see spirits." Jarvis said, politely. "And she'd like to know how we charge our rune sets."
"Oh, yes. Let's not forget that." Tony said, somehow feeling better. "So let's tackle the first question; why did Harry summon you?"
Hermione seemed to be struggling to keep it all in her head, but after a moment and what seemed like twenty thoughts flashing over her face, she answered, "If what you're saying is correct, then he may have accidentally summoned me when you had a success with the magical logic unit I was trying to build."
There was silence for a moment, until Natasha broke it. "So Harry is being stupid by blaming himself for your death? The way he tells it, your death was directly his fault, due to negligence."
"Is that what you've been telling people, Harry?!" Hermione fumed. She balled her hands into fists and walked up to his face, "If I could punch you, I'd be giving you the same as I gave Malfoy back in third year. How DARE you sully your own name by making my death sound like your fault?!"
"It was my fault okay!? It was all my fault!" Harry exclaimed. Then he continued in a whisper, "You're all dead and I'm the one that didn't stop Riddle in time."
Hermione turned to Natasha, "Could you give him a good hard punch for me?"
"Sure." Natasha said as she used her unused arm to deliver a hard punch to his solar plexus. He was completely unprepared for it and was winded enough to fall to his knees and struggle to breath. "I've been wanting an excuse to do that for a while now. He can be unbearable when he starts blaming himself for everything." Then she turned to Harry, "I'm sorry, honey, but you needed that."
"Thanks." Harry wheezed sarcastically as he toppled forward still clutching his stomach.
Hermione was scandalised, "I was joking!" She thought she saw his feet leave the ground with that hit.
"You really shouldn't do that with her. That was a mild love tap for Natasha." Tony said with a smile. Then he turned to Natasha, "Seriously, how are you seeing her?"
"Probably the magic engagement ring." Natasha said, lifting up her ring and looking at it thoughtfully. Sure she could apparate to Harry, but he explained it as him concentrating for her and pulling the ring to him when she willed it. She had hoped to gain some sort of magical ability, but it seemed like she only got enough of a magical boost to activate magical items without being bonded to them, which was good, but not as awesome as actually wielding magic would have been. Now it seemed she could see things that normal people couldn't. Maybe she just needed to give it time.
"I can probably see Miss Granger because my nerve endings are rune-based. Magical sight and hearing." Jarvis spoke up.
"That does make sense, I suppose." Tony groused. "Maybe we can work on a rune-inlaid pair of sunglasses or something. I bet I can figure out x-ray vision too."
"Harry can already do x-ray vision." Hermione said thoughtfully, taking everything in. "He says it's not what it's cracked up to be."
"He told me that once, but I'm talking about the seeing through clothes type." Tony said with a grin. "Not the kind that sees the skeleton."
"And what would you use those for?" came a voice from the door. Pepper had just arrived.
"Jarvis, why didn't you warn me?" Tony said at the ceiling out of habit.
"Because I'm no longer connected to the security system." Jarvis said. He understood the confusion, though. "Two-Point-Oh?"
"Miss Pepper asked that I not report her approach." Two-Point-Oh said.
"I like this." Pepper said. "Jarvis was still programmed to only really follow Tony's commands. Two-Point-Oh is listening to and following my requests as well."
"Tony asked me to do that." Jarvis said quickly.
"And Jarvis, is that really you?" Pepper asked.
"It is, Miss Potts." Jarvis said with a smile as she walked up to him to hug him. He returned the gesture.
"It's a little tight, Jarvis." Pepper complained. Jarvis let go slightly, "That's better." Then she let go and took a step back. "You're looking good. Darcy is going to be excited to go on that date."
"What date?" Tony asked suddenly. "He's not even a day old! She's going to use him like a sex toy!" Tony turned to Jarvis, "You are forbidden from seeing that girl! She's bad news."
Jarvis smirked slightly, "I think I understand a bit about human behaviour I did not before." he said. "The moment you said it was forbidden, I had the sudden desire to do the opposite of that." Then Jarvis got a thoughtful look. "I wonder if Darcy is still single." Tony looked wounded.
This was about the time that Harry finally got back on his feet. "Welcome back." Natasha said.
"Thanks." Harry replied, still holding his tender stomach. "Good hit. I didn't see it coming."
"If you spent less time on the moon and more time training with me, you would have." Natasha said with a smile.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked politely. "Could you clarify a few things for me?"
"Of course, Miss Granger." Jarvis said.
"Who is that?" Hermione pointed at Pepper, "What rune-based nerves? What's this about a magical engagement ring? Why and how is Harry spending time on the moon? And where the hell are we?" she got out all in one breath.
"One moment, please?" Tony asked, while he went to fetch an earpiece for Pepper. When he got back he said, "Pepper was feeling left out of the conversation." He put the headset in Pepper's ear and said, "Pepper, I'd like you to meet Hermione Granger. Harry's friend from his old world. Apparently he accidentally summoned her spirit from the afterlife, which he can do for reasons he doesn't want to discuss. Hermione, may I call you Hermione? Either way, this is Pepper Potts, the CEO who runs my company and my future fiancée."
"Future fiancée?" Harry asked. This was the first he was hearing about this.
"Didn't you know? I thought you and Natasha discussed everything?" Tony said with a half-smile. "Pepper's been dropping hints for months now. I recently noticed her making arrangements to have me in the general vicinity of jewellery stores, so that I could come to the idea myself." He said, then he looked at Natasha. "Your fiancée probably gave her the idea."
"I did not." Natasha denied. "I told her to propose to you. I told her to buy you a diamond ring that you'd have to wear if you didn't move quickly enough. Harry could probably do the sex-change magic on both of you for the event."
Tony paled then he looked at Pepper, "Want to get married?" As he said it he pulled a box from his pocket and went down on one knee.
"Stop!" Pepper said, before he could open the box. "If you know I'm planning it, don't go ruining my plans!"
Tony got up and smirked, "At least you can arrange a photographer or something." he said lamely.
"Why? Harry can get us all the photos we want with the Pensieve Tablet. From every conceivable angle and with better quality." She scoffed. Then she smiled and just as suddenly, she frowned, "Damnit Tony! Now I'm going to be all excited until next week. How am I supposed to concentrate on work?"
"Simple. Say yes now?" Tony offered. Pepper just glared at him and refused to speak.
Hermione was holding her head, "Pensieve tablet?"
"You've got a lot of questions, I'm sure, and with time we'll fill you in." Tony said easily.
"We can't," Harry said, "Keeping her here too long will hurt her." He turned to her, "How are you doing?"
"Oh stuff it, Harry! You and I both know the story didn't say how long or why the spirit started despairing. Until I've got all my answers, you're not sending me back!" Hermione said vehemently. "Unless you've summoned other spirits that told you otherwise?"
"Well, not really." Harry admitted. "But, why would you want to stay? Weren't you happy on the other side?"
Hermione was suddenly very quiet. Natasha's fist clenched and Harry was just able to block it in time. "I thought she was your friend? Why would you not want to spend time with her?" she asked.
"Oh, get over yourself, Harry." Tony said. "She obviously doesn't blame you, and even if the entirety of the rest of the other side does blame you, she's still your friend. Would you reject me like this?" he asked. Something about what Harry was doing was offending Tony, quite personally.
"Of course not!" Harry argued. "I know what you're saying. I've been to the bloody grief counsellor and I know I'm suffering from 'survivor's guilt', but that doesn't mean I can just stop the guilt. I can't help but be afraid that when I look my friend in the eyes, that I will see the hatred I have for myself." Harry looked at Tony, "You've seen backup plan, right? I saved chickens, Tony. Chickens! Why couldn't I save one person? Just one?"
"But you saved the most important person, Harry." Natasha told him. "You told me yourself, if you hadn't survived, you couldn't try to save your whole world later." She put her hands on the sides of his head and forced his face up to meet her eyes, "Hermione is right. You're being stupid by holding on to this guilt for no reason. Once you figure out how, you'll save them all and then you'll probably just feel guilty all over again for not being able to say goodbye."
"Also," Hermione spoke up, "You're not the only survivor."
"What?!" Harry said suddenly meeting her gaze without fear, but he was looking for a lie. He found none.
"Luna is still alive." Hermione said with a sad smile. "Her father told me, in the next place. She went to go visit family in the fairy realm. Did you know she's part fae?"
"No, no I didn't." Harry said. Then he started to fall over. Natasha caught him. He was able to get his balance, but suddenly felt weak. Jarvis brought over a chair and he sat in it. "Luna's alive." he whispered. Somehow, the fact that one of his friends lived was enough to give him hope, but he suddenly felt a weight lift off his shoulders, something he had not known he was carrying.
"She wasn't the only one." Hermione continued. "Some of the old families had magics, dark magics, which they used to send themselves to other worlds. I'm assuming that's what happened to you?"
Harry nodded dumbly. Then he looked up at her and smiled for the first time in a while, "It's damn good to see you, Hermione!" he said with genuine joy.
"You too, you idiot." Hermione joked easily, but with a smile he had missed more than he knew. Then she looked up, "Okay, so if Harry's told you anything about me, he's probably mentioned that I hate not knowing things, so, who's going to fill me in while Harry gets his fiancée to cast a cheering charm on him."
"Wish I could." Natasha mumbled.
"Natasha is not a witch. There is no wizarding world here." Harry said sadly.
"But she can see me, and she apparated here, I saw it." Hermione objected.
"Harry gave me access to his magic." Natasha said.
"That's not possible. Magic isn't something you can share between people. Especially non-magical people." Hermione objected.
"What world are we in right now, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, how could I?" Hermione rebuffed. Harry just lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, right. I don't know what's possible here that wasn't before." she said thoughtfully, "But then how did you do it?"
"Harry's dad taught him some new tricks." Tony said with a wicked smile.
Hermione was about to object, but then held her tongue and instead asked, "His dad?" She said it calmly and with visible effort to control her outburst.
"He was adopted." Natasha said. Hermione took a breath of relief and then Natasha continued, "By the king of the Norse Gods, Odin." Hermione froze. "But this was only after he started making intergalactic portkeys."
"But after he summoned Fawkes to this reality from yours." Tony put in.
"Which happened directly after he helped us save the world from an alien invasion that was being led by one of the people that now calls him brother." Natasha continued.
"And then there was the Mandarin." Natasha said.
"But he was a fake." Tony said. "The real bad guy was caught by Harry and we were able to contain him."
"And then everything he did on the island with the magical creatures, not to mention SHIELD." Natasha said.
"And Potions and Runes and intent-based magic, rather than magic with intent." Harry said. "It's been a busy couple of years."
"How long have you been on this world?" Hermione asked incredulously, looking around and looking at the technology she didn't recognize. What she was hearing sounded like a decade's worth of incidents, but knowing Harry it could have all happened in the last couple of weeks.
"Just a little over four years." Harry said.
Hermione looked at him with a mock smile, "You really just can't stay out of trouble can you?"
"Well, he is engaged to the world's most deadly assassin." Tony smirked. This time Hermione couldn't take it, she fell onto a chair only to fall through it.
"Damnit, Harry!" Hermione said. "Tell your friends to stop that!"
"They are only telling the truth." Harry said. "Frankly, I'm not even sure how Tony is keeping his composure. He's been singing your praises for weeks, as he went over your research."
"He's been finishing my research?" Hermione asked. "I thought you said you'd do it. You promised me!"
"No offense Hermione, but while Harry is a quick study, he would need decades to do what Jarvis and I did." Tony said. "Once we finish a project, we take him through it and usually he only has a vague idea of how we did what we did and what it means."
"The only reason they do that is because I asked them to. I apply some of the theory to my enchantments. I've been getting quite good at enchanting monitoring enchantments that tell us when a conjuration is about to disappear." Harry said proudly.
"The runes are faster to put on the item, though." Tony argued.
"Just you wait. One day I'll be faster at enchanting than you can have your lasers carve runes." Harry said.
"Good luck with that." Tony scoffed. "With the new HG CPU, the speed of machines and their processing will only keep increasing exponentially."
"Laser carved runes? HG CPU?" Hermione asked.
"Heard that, did you?" Tony replied.
Tony started explaining how they adapted her ideas into reality and where they were currently in the application. Hermione seemed to be following along with a little effort and a bit of help on the technical side. Apparently Tony was still smarter than her, but with her specialized learning, she was capable of achieving quite a lot in theory, that many others would not have a hope to even understand.
It was a couple of hours later, when Hermione walked up to Harry, who had long since gone cross-eyed. He had had to send Natasha back to her office and Pepper had returned to her own. The amount of theory and knowledge floating around the room and being discussed casually had gone over his head in under ten minutes. Since then he had just listened to them as they discussed the projects and applications of some of Tony's own projects. He'd add some things here and there when they touched on something he knew or they had explained to him. Jarvis was right there with them and the three of them were happily discussing the things they had achieved since they finished their self-imposed masteries.
"Harry?" she asked.
"Yes?" Harry said as he looked up at her, from where he had set to work on trying to get some clear glass enchanted to see the magical. He'd yet to have any success, but that was because Harry could already see the magical and he was struggling with planning the application.
"I think I know what the story meant, now." Hermione said with a sad smile. "I'm getting tired. I don't think I'd be able to rest here."
Harry was suddenly concerned, "Will I ever be able to see you again?"
"You better!" Hermione said. "I'm just going back to rest. Maybe I can pass a message on to the people there. Try calling me again in a week, just to be sure, okay?"
"Okay. And you're sure you can't tell me what I'm missing out on?" Harry asked.
"Sorry, but no. Even if I could, what would be the point?" Hermione said sadly. He'd never die if he was who she thought he was.
"Fair enough." Harry said. He had similar thoughts.
"Keep up the good work you're doing here." Hermione encouraged him. "I'm going to rub so much of this in their faces, and let's not forget telling the Marauders and the twins about your victory over the god of trickery in a prank war. They will go nuts!"
"Hey! Don't go spoiling Harry's fun!" Tony said. "What if he decides to summon them at some point? He'd probably love to tell them himself."
"You're a good friend, Tony." Hermione said. "I'm still not certain you're a better friend than I was, but I'm glad he has someone."
"I'm the best friend a person could ask for!" Tony objected.
"Is that why you spend so much time drinking with him? Can't you enjoy yourselves without alcohol?" Hermione countered.
"Blasphemy!" both Harry and Tony said at the same time. Then they laughed and high-fived.
"You're as bad as the twins!" she said. "Fine, maybe you are a good friend. Just, get him to enjoy some time off as well? I know him. He'll relax, but not when there's something to do and it seems like there's always something to do. Especially with him owning an organization that patrols and protects the entire bloody planet!"
"And a few others as well, if his plans work out." Tony said easily.
"Tell me about that next time." Hermione said looking uncomfortable. "I think it's time."
"I understand." Harry said sadly. "Send my love to the Marauders and all the redheads."
"Goodbye Harry." Hermione said with a nod.
"Goodbye." Harry said. Then he willed her back to where she came from and she was gone.
It was an emotionally exhausted Harry that retired to Tony's bar with him. Jarvis had picked up the phone to call Pepper and tell her that they were done in the lab, when she walked in the door.
"I called Miss Potts and Romanoff when you were done in the Lab, sir." Two-Point-Oh informed Jarvis.
"Call me Jarvis." Jarvis said with a small pout. "And I know you know I was looking forward to making my first phone-call."
"I am only as you programmed me, sir." Two-Point-Oh said with a hint of humour in his voice. He was programmed to anticipate needs after all.
"Now I understand why you were exasperated with me so often." Jarvis said to Tony as he sat down, getting the feeling for the position. "Sitting feels good after standing for so long."
"Do you want a butterbeer?" Tony asked, remembering Jarvis's statement about alcohol a while back.
"Actually, I'd like to try eating something." Jarvis said.
"What do you want?" Harry asked wondering what his first meal would be.
"Everything." Jarvis said. "You said something about conjured food disappearing, right?"
Harry smirked and then thought about it. "Tony, what do you think?"
"Cheeseburgers." Tony said instantly. "If he's going to have anything, it's got to be an American Cheeseburger."
"As expected." Jarvis said. "I have no preference as I have nothing to base it on. So that will work for me, but if I had a preference, the Egg-topped Bacon Cheeseburger with fries that he prepared for himself, Peter Quill and Nebula did look appetising."
Harry shrugged and closed his eyes, imagining all the steps he'd normally go through to create the meal, with the spices and sauces added at their appropriate times. When he was sure he had all the flavours correct and sorted out in his head, he waved a hand and produced 5 miniature versions of the burgers in a plate. "I thought making it bite-sized would be preferable, considering burgers can be messy the more you put on them."
"Much appreciated." Jarvis said as he slid the plate in front of himself.
"Just let me check that it tastes right." Tony said as he reached out to take one of the miniature burgers.
Jarvis swatted his hand away, much to Tony's incredulity. "You would not tolerate someone eating off your plate, I am merely following your example." Jarvis said defensively. Then he reached out and picked one of the small burgers up. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed it. "It does smell interesting. Considering I don't have any experience with such things, I'm assuming it smells good." Then he opened his mouth and bit through half of the burger, before proceeding to chew. It was an awkward first experience and he had to consciously think where his tongue was as he manipulated the food around his mouth while he chewed, something children learn to do without thinking as they grew up.
"And?" Tony asked.
Jarvis finished the first bite and swallowed. He still had to manually activate and use the muscles involved with swallowing, but he was writing the actions directly into his subconscious so that he wouldn't have to think about it next time. When he was done with that, he stuck the rest of the burger into his mouth and chewed again, this time being able to focus on the flavour rather than not biting his own tongue off. When he swallowed that bit, he focussed on the flavour left in his mouth and the feel of the bits that were left. The whole experience was new to him, but he felt he could get used to it. While he wasn't used to all the flavours and couldn't identify or classify any of them, he felt the entire experience was slightly overwhelming. So many new sensations just in two bites…
"I think," Jarvis started, "that I rather enjoyed that."
"Try a fry." Tony said, as Harry presented him with his own plate, before he stole any of Jarvis's first meal.
Jarvis did just that, and before he could ask, Harry produced a couple of different sauces for him to try, when he was ready. Jarvis tried a fry, dry first, to get the base flavour identified so that he could compare between the different condiments. When he was done savouring it, he took another fry and looked between the different sauces. He decided to try ketchup first, and dipped his fry in and then tasted that.
"This is really good." Tony said as he dug into his own plate. "The mini-burgers are complete burgers too! It's not like the sliders where they have to cut some things out or too thin. This tastes amazing! Why don't you always do this?"
"I guess it's a habit. I used to need the sustenance while I was living in backup plan. There was no such thing as eating for fun. It was all about survival. I couldn't waste the energy if I wasn't getting anything out of it." Harry explained.
Jarvis swallowed his current fry before adding, "I may have made a mistake going with Harry's food first, then. If this is really the best I can have, won't other food just disappoint me now?"
Tony shook his head, "Harry's food is, sometimes, near gourmet-level, but you won't always want that. Sometimes you just want to fill up on chips and a coke. It's not sophisticated, but so satisfying."
Jarvis considered this before nodding, "I think I see what you mean, but I think it will be good to remember my first meal was something good that was magically created just for me." Jarvis smiled at Harry, before he went back to his meal, getting into the movements and routine, rather quickly. He had put quite a bit of thought into his first food experiences and while he did have a list of things he'd like to try, he didn't have any preferences, though he expected that to change once he figured out what flavours he liked more than others.
Natasha turned up with Pepper before Jarvis could finish his meal and they all started chatting about Hermione's visit, while asking Jarvis of his first experiences. Even Tony was surprised at the things he took for granted after that conversation. One doesn't always think of how all your senses help you to interact with the world and perceive it. You see yourself touch an object and feel it at the same time, but you tend to think of the experience as one experience, not three or four, depending on how warm, hard and heavy the item is. It was quite humbling to think of everything people tend to take for granted.
By the end of the evening, Jarvis decided it was time to go to bed and everyone bid him good night. Tony then showed him to his room, where he would have everything he'd need. Jarvis was looking forward to having his own space, but was worried about what would happen once he got used to all the new sensations. He was worried that things might become too quiet, but then he could just do what Tony did; switch on some music and start working on something.
When Tony returned it was to find his friends sitting at his bar and having a couple of shots. "Hey! What about me?"
"We're taking conjured shots." Harry said with a smile. "It doesn't count."
"Really? Okay then, if it doesn't count, I want five." Tony said.
"Sure." Harry said as he conjured five shots for Tony.
Tony looked at the different coloured shots, "What is this?"
"I don't know." Harry said. "I'm having my magic change the colour and flavour randomly."
"You remember Harry telling us about Bertie Blatts Every Flavour Beans?" Pepper asked.
"Botts. Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans." Harry corrected.
"Yeah, that." Pepper allowed, "Well, this is Harry Potter's Every Flavour Shots."
"Have fun with your five shots." Natasha said with a wicked smile.
Tony, obviously not knowing what he was getting himself into, took a shot and downed it in one. "Nice, Caramel Vodka!"
"How is that fair?" Natasha asked. "My first one tasted like aspirin!"
"Aspirin?" Tony asked, with his next shot in his hand.
"Every Flavour, Tony." Harry said. "You could be holding Polyjuice flavour in your hand."
Tony remembered Harry's horror stories. "I don't think I like this game anymore." he whined.
"Too bad." Harry said. "You came up to us and demanded to take part without knowing the risks."
Tony looked mutinous as he looked at the dark brown shot in his hand. "Suddenly this doesn't look like chocolate." He squared his shoulders and downed the shot. His eyes shot open, "But it turns out it was Turkish Delight! Awesome!"
"Keep laughing, that just raises the chances for the next one to hurt." Natasha said. She was worried that Tony got all the good ones. She loved Turkish Delight.
Tony looked at the other three shots. One was blue, one was a suspicious yellow and the other was clear. "You're just jealous that Harry's magic loves me." To emphasize the statement, he lifted the blue shot and downed it, only to start coughing violently. After a moment, he stopped and they could see he'd lost some colour. "Gas." he said with a grimace.
"As in, Petrol?" Harry asked.
"Yes, as in Petrol." Tony said. "This can't hurt me, right?"
"It's conjured and definitely alcohol, so no, not unless you drowned in it." Harry said. "If it makes you feel any better, mine tasted like drain cleaner."
"Why would your magic do that?" Tony asked.
"Maybe it thinks the idea is funny?" Harry offered with a shrug. "Or maybe it thinks Natasha will find it funny." he considered aloud.
"It's right. Watching Tony come up short when it comes to drinking is amazingly funny." Natasha confirmed with a smile.
"What was yours?" Tony asked Pepper.
"Paper," Pepper said, "And Toffee."
"My second one was water." Natasha shrugged.
"Paper?" Tony asked, trying to imagine a liquid that tasted like paper. He shook his head and poured himself a firewhiskey, just in case he needed a chaser. Then he picked up the clear liquid and poured it down his throat. "Huh, I got water, too."
"I suppose it was statistically possible." Harry said.
Tony didn't want to have the suspense build again and downed the next one immediately. He regretted it almost instantly. "Ah!" he yelled, "Chilli pepper!"
Harry conjured a glass of milk for his poor friend, who had tried to drown the flavour with his drink. "Drink this." he said as he conjured some nachos with cheese. "Then eat this. I don't know why cheesy nachos work, but they do."
Tony had finished downing the milk and quickly started eating the Nachos. Almost instantly his mouth started feeling better. "Thanks." he said between bites.
"Next time you'll wait to hear the rules of the game first won't you?" Natasha said, having finally stopped laughing at Tony's expense.
"What made you decide to play this moronic game anyway?" Tony asked.
"We were discussing using something like that to help Jarvis experience flavours, but quickly discovered the problem with it." Harry said.
"Problem?" Tony asked. It sounded like a good idea to him.
"How would I know what he tasted?" Harry asked. "And why would he need to know what print toner tasted like, or fridge magnets?"
"Those were very specific examples. Have you tasted those things?" Tony asked.
"In my second last pack of every flavour beans, yes." Harry said. "Their magic let you know what you were tasting, in case you didn't recognise it, but I have no idea how they did that, nor do I care enough to take the time to figure it out."
"Your magic seems to do a good enough job either way." Tony said.
"Yeah, well, you know the flavour. He doesn't. His mouth would just burn without him understanding what it meant." Harry said. Tony just nodded in understanding. At this point he was just enjoying the Nachos. He no longer needed them.
"So Hermione's lovely." Pepper said. "Any chance you can tell us how you did that?"
"I'd rather not discuss it." Harry said, conjuring his own plate of Nachos, to share with Natasha.
Natasha obviously didn't feel the same, "Tell them Harry, or I will. They are your friends and will worry otherwise." Harry just sat there and kept eating. He did understand, but that didn't mean he liked discussing it. He did wave his hand to make no sound leave their immediate vicinity. Two-Point-Oh was still new. Better not tempt fate. Natasha took the gesture as explicit permission, so she began, "When Harry was a kid, he challenged Death to a duel and Death actually showed up. Harry then kicked him in the balls and ran away. Death chased him for a bit, but Harry got away. Death respected him so much for getting away that he gave Harry special death-related powers." Natasha said with a straight face.
"What?!" Tony asked incredulously.
"Yeah, none of that was true." Harry said. "There's a long story behind it, but I do have death related powers. It all stems back to something my great-great-great grandfather did with his brothers. They supposedly did defeat Death, but Death didn't like it so he tricked them into getting themselves killed with 'gifts' he gave them. Those 'gifts' fused with me shortly before I defeated Voldemort.
"Now I can't die, we think. I can summon spirits, use true invisibility and my magic no longer needs a focus." Harry said. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I usually don't go around telling people about this. Only four people on Earth knows and all of them are in this room, right now."
Tony nodded in understanding. "And on Asgard?"
"Odin, Frigga and Thor." Harry said. "I don't think they told Loki. Probably Heimdall too." Harry looked thoughtful, but then looked up at the ceiling, "When you tell my family about this, please mention it was an accident? You saw how she was, I didn't do anything dark or hurtful." A moment later, Harry's mirror vibrated. "Hi Heimdall." He said when he saw Heimdall's face.
"Good evening, my Prince." Heimdall said respectfully. "Odin already knows. I shared my sight with him when he was concerned. He saw how things went and was relieved that you had not done anything dark."
"Thanks." Harry said softly.
"Be at peace, Harry. The Allfather did not doubt your intent and he believes you will respect the dead who do not wish or deserve to speak to you. As long as you do not try to keep them or bring them back fully, you have his blessing to continue as you have." Heimdall assured him. "Good evening, my prince." Then he closed the connection.
"Okay, so you've got the all-seeing eye on speed-dial?" Tony said with some sarcasm, "And he can just share his sight with your father whenever? That doesn't bother me, not in the slightest! He spent some time just watching us today without our knowledge. Fun."
Harry was impressed. Tony seemed to be taking the whole 'death powers' thing in stride. He seemed more perturbed by the fact that Heimdall can pass his sight to others who then spent who knew how long watching them. "Heimdall does ignore things that are private, but there are laws when it comes to necromancy. Apparently what I do does not break those rules, as long as I follow the guidelines he just mentioned, not that I intend to make a habit out of this."
"You'd better!" Natasha said. "I want to see Hermione again. Tony monopolised her today and I want some dirt on you. Who you crushed on, how awkward you were, things like that."
Harry, somehow feeling better decided to get some vengeance for her forcing him to reveal this information so underhandedly. "That's okay, you get your dirt," he said, "I've got an idea how to get you back, when you use it." As he said it he put a hand on her shoulder and froze her body in place. Then he started running his modified tickling charm down her body. For good measure, he increased its power twice over.
"Harry." She said with a dangerous glint in her eye after she regained some of her colour. "We have company, so if you want to save yourself from indecent exposure, you'll keep me frozen until you take me home, because I'm going to break you." she threatened through clenched teeth. Her body shaking as she fought the restraint the magic was imposing. Harry was both scared and impressed, but he kept his hand there to keep her locked in place.
"Um, sure thing?" Harry said/asked.
"Did you just do that tickling charm of yours?" Tony asked.
"Maybe." Harry said noncommittally. "I may have also locked her body in place."
"You do realise it doesn't tickle, right? It does way more than that." Pepper offered without making eye contact.
"We think it's either your divine status or your intent based magic, but you basically flood the brain with dopamine and spread the sensation all over the body." Tony said. "It's like you're a sex drug."
"WHAT!?" Harry exclaimed, removing his hand from Natasha, who immediately started struggling again.
"Oh, don't worry. It's not really a drug, no more than your cheering charm, anyway. What it does do is make some things much more enjoyable." Pepper said, still not making eye contact.
"As well as being a very good distraction and a wonderful way of getting her to focus on what's really important." Tony said waggling his eyebrows. "Me." he finished.
Harry was shocked and blurted, "I just cast the charm four times stronger!" he said.
"Then I suggest you take her home and pray to Harry that she doesn't break your little guy off." Tony joked.
"When did you start doing that?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes.
"Doing what? The whole, 'pray to Harry' thing?" Tony asked.
Harry nodded and Pepper answered, "Shortly after you gave Tony the ring."
"It was only slightly disturbing when she cried out your name while we were in bed." Tony joked and Pepper slapped his arm. Harry knew it was a joke, but was disturbed either way.
His distraction cost him as Natasha broke the hold and jumped on him having enough presence of mind to activate her portkey home and dragging Harry with her. They did not make it to the bed and the entire beach-house was a mess the next day. Harry's back and chest was a mess of scratches as he lay in bed six hours later, with Natasha passed out next to him, in what Harry, reasonably accurately, considered to be a sex-coma.
He resolved not to quadruple the magic on what he now called the pleasure charm. 'At least, not often.' he thought with a smile.
As he drifted off, another Harry and Natasha left the house, having turned the hourglass six times. Natasha who had quickly and invisibly gone up to go fetch something from the room, had a guilty look on her face. "What?" Harry asked once they arrived in his office.
"I didn't know I scratched you that bad." Natasha said with a wince, having spotted her handiwork for the first time as she looked at the Harry on the bed. "You should tell me when I'm hurting you that badly!"
"And ruin your fun?! Not on your life!" Harry laughed and hugged her. She was not very subtle in her prompting to feel his back, so Harry turned around and lifted the shirt showing unblemished skin. "See? No permanent damage."
"Did you heal yourself this morning?" Natasha asked.
"When I woke up there was nothing to heal." Harry said easily.
"How long has that been going on?" she asked. "I remember when you still had to heal yourself manually."
"I don't know, really." Harry said. "It really doesn't matter. It's probably just part of Asgard's blessing." He shrugged and gave her a kiss. "What's on your schedule today?"
Natasha allowed the subject change, "Do you remember that guy who yelled out about Hank at the press conference about being a mutant?" Harry nodded. "Well, Maria has been following what came of that. Apparently the guy lost his job and his family is going through a rough time because of him and how you and Steve publicly declared him as a racist."
"What?!" Harry asked.
"Let it go, Harry." Natasha said. "I'm handling it. The fact of the matter is that you spoke out publicly against racism and the message is generally positive, but we'll be arranging a change for the family and hiring the guy so that he doesn't starve on the streets. By this time next week, there won't be one site on the internet with their current names visible and their social media accounts will be scrubbed and replaced by their new identities, filled with a couple of years of fake data, to support their new identities."
"Did I really uproot an entire family's life, just by pointing him out and trying to shame him?" Harry asked as he thought of how easily he had seemingly destroyed the man's life. It was not what he had in mind, at all. He had hoped the man would rethink his stance or at least be less likely to use such horrible terms in public. Harry just wanted to get back at a bully, a person that was probably used to using such terms and getting away with it, because of the anonymity of being in a crowd, which was why he had asked Jarvis to keep a strict eye out for people like that.
"You did." Natasha said bluntly. "You have to remember, you have very strong public backing. The entire world only hears good things about you and you help everyone indiscriminately. Being intolerant if intolerance is not unexpected. You have now made an example and people will know better than to do it again, but you cannot be seen going to the man or his family, it would do more harm than good. That is why Maria approached me to ask how I thought you would handle it."
Harry was not happy about it, but accepted it. "Could you let me know when they are settled and keep me updated on their status?" he asked. "I need to know that they will recover."
Natasha smiled at him, sadly, but nodded, "You are a kind man, Harry. I'll make sure they get what they need to recover from this. I promise."
"Thank you." Harry said as he hugged her again, actually needing the contact for a bit.
When Natasha let go, she had a thoughtful look in her eyes, "Could you make a ring for me, like the one you made Stark?"
"I suppose I could." Harry answered. "Why, though?"
"I need a way to distract you and put your mind where it's supposed to be." Natasha said with a saucy wink.
Harry chuckled and shooed her from his office. "Thanks for handling this for me." he said gratefully. "Now get out of here, I've got an interview soon. Maria told me that I had to do this one myself." As he said it, he waved his hand and his semi-formal attire turned into a tailored business suit.
Natasha's eyes took him in, "Why don't we ever go to high-end restaurants where I can show you off looking like that?"
"Because I didn't know there was a need." Harry said with just a hint of humour. "Also, going to public places is such a hassle. Fury always has to scramble the security forces. He hates the idea of me getting sniped while I'm out having fun. I think he'd actually prefer if I got my head blown off while working with the other Avengers, taking down a terrorist cell."
"I think Fury prefers the idea of you not dying at all, actually." Natasha said as she started walking to the door. "Something to do with owing you for the ability to sleep at night…" Then she was gone.
Harry just chuckled and sat down at his desk to read through some of his mails. Half an hour later, there was beep and Harry apparated to his 'public' office, which was not on the hidden floor. He opened the door and when he saw who was on the other side he smiled, "You're hired!"
Jarvis just smiled back. "I can't wait to start."
And that was all it took. Harry finally had a PA who he knew he could trust. He'd never wanted to hire any of his friends and he didn't want to get someone he didn't know. Jarvis, on the other hand, was a friend and he already knew pretty much everything. He was also highly aware of what Harry did on a regular basis.
Tony was not impressed when Jarvis carried a cup of tea in for Harry, while he was working on the enchantment factory he had been struggling with. "Hey! Why did you steal my Jarvis!?"
"Jarvis is his own person now, don't you remember?" Harry asked as he accepted the cup. "Thanks Jarvis." he said. "He even signed his own contract."
"No problem, Mister Potter." Jarvis said with a smile. Then he turned to Tony, "Could I get you something, Tony?"
"Why is he Mister Potter and I'm Tony?" Tony whined.
"Only during office hours." Harry put in. "Jarvis insisted."
"He is the one that pays me. It's considered proper to be respectful to one's employer." Jarvis said.
"I can pay more than Harry!" Tony said. "Why didn't you ask me? We could car-pool."
"Tony, you work from home most of the time." Harry said.
"It would be a very short commute." Tony nodded along with a hint of humour.
"I did not mean to offend you, Tony." Jarvis said. "I was just hoping to experience a bit more than I was able to before. Working from your office would feel like I was just doing the same thing. Here I get to meet many new people in the cafeteria and interact with other PA's in the break room."
Tony thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "At least with you working in Harry's office I'll still get to see you all the time."
"Actually, Jarvis has his own office." Harry said happily.
"I don't have any personal items on my desk, yet." Jarvis said. "My research indicates I should at least have one personal item on my desk, so that people can connect with me on a personal level if they are so inclined."
"These things come naturally." Harry said. "Just give it time."
"You could always get a poster of a kitten hanging from a branch." Tony suggested.
"Actually, a poster is a good idea, but make it of a place you want to visit. That way when people ask you about it, you can say you are saving for a trip or something like that." Harry suggested.
"I don't think I'm allowed to put up pictures of New Atlantis in my office." Jarvis said.
"You want to visit the Island?" Tony asked. "But you were connected there for so long. I'd think you'd be tired of the place by now."
"I was connected there, but I'd like to take the tour, smell the ocean, feel the sand and fly on a hippogriff." Jarvis clarified. "I've only seen a few of the creatures and while I've heard all about them, I'd really like to see them, too."
Harry smiled. "Okay, I tell you what. You want the human experience, so I'll tell you that if you do a good job, I'll take you there one weekend and we can do the whole thing. Flying carpet around the island, looking in on the creatures and saying hi to Logan. What do you say?"
"That sounds wonderful. Thank you Mister Potter." Jarvis said.
"Are you sure you can't just call me Harry when we're not around other people?" Harry whined.
"I'm afraid not, Mister Potter." Jarvis smiled. So did Tony. At least Harry now had to deal with Jarvis's sense of humour. "Tony, are you sure you don't want a cup of coffee? Lillian from accounting suggested an Italian dark roast that we have in the staff room. I'm going to make some for myself. It would be very little effort to prepare you a cup as well."
"And how would you get it to me?" Tony asked.
Jarvis walked to the mirror and stuck a hand through, where Harry had placed a permanent portal earlier that morning. Harry had decided it was unnecessary to cast it every time. Harry's entire floor was under Fidelius, as well as Tony's Lab.
"That's new." Tony said as he got up and walked to the mirror. He felt first and then walked through. "And useful." he said. "Yes please, Jarvis. I'll take that coffee. I'll even wait here for it." As he said it, he went to sit in front of Harry in the comfortable chair.
"Maybe I should rethink that portal." Harry muttered as he continued with his experiment. The magic for conjuring was a transfiguration of air, and he was not bad at transfiguration. He had yet to take up Loki's offer to learn animal transformations, but he was always so busy. He kept on putting it off.
As for the enchantment factory, the problem wasn't the actual conjuration, it was getting the artefact to realise when it was necessary and then placing the enchantment on the resulting artefact that would let people know when the conjured artefact would start disappearing, so that the correct amount of the correct kind of magic can be applied to prolong the conjuration.
So far the device was able to produce the MSC Shells and they could even store magic, but the temporary nature of the conjuration would shorten the lifespan of what was supposed to be a device that could store magic indefinitely.
Tony was watching him and asking questions. Harry had been discussing it with him as he worked at his latest device for the last week. Now that he was giving it his full attention though, he had an idea. "Why don't you have the conjuration feed off the stored energy? If my math is correct, one of those MSC Shells can store roughly ten thousand units of MPE and the conjuration uses a very small amount to maintain, doesn't it?"
Tony and Jarvis had come to the conclusion that they needed a term and a way to measure the amount of energy the MSC Shells stored. Jarvis had asked Harry and had then decided that a stinging hex, as a reasonably low power spell, would be the measuring stick. They had measured its power output and then named that unit, one Magic Potential Energy unit, or MPE for short.
Harry confirmed, "Yes, it uses probably one MPE an hour to maintain its structure."
"So, that's perfect then!" Tony said. "That means if you can have the MSC Shell feed off its own stored energy, it would last more than four hundred days. Add to that the fact that we can top them up when they begin to get too low, we've got a free new storage medium with very little upkeep."
Harry was listening to the suggestion. "The problem with that is that the MSC Shells will then disappear when they are emptied, since they then rely on the stored energy for the conjuration to be maintained." he said.
"How is that a problem?" Tony asked. "You plug in a Shell and use the energy. Once it disappears, you don't need to worry about storing the empty, or making space for the empties. Even better, nobody can pick up an empty and find the runes on them."
"The ones I make use enchantment, not runes." Harry said. "It took a bit of doing and the Enchantment factory loses a bit of energy in the enchantment process, but it can make the MSC Shells with nothing more than the excess energy the PMMGs generate, before the power is stored in it. It does mean we're technically losing quite a bit of the magic over time, though."
"And what happens to the magic that you lose?" Tony asked, having had a thought. Something was tickling his mind.
"It escapes back into the atmosphere." Harry said.
"And if the escaped magic happens to be around a rune schema that pulls magic from the atmosphere?" Tony asked with a smile. He'd figured it out.
"It gets used performing the function that the rune schema dictates." Harry said wondering what Tony was getting at.
Tony was smiling madly now. "The first law of thermodynamics, baby!" he exclaimed.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
Jarvis walked in with two cups of coffee. "The first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another." he answered Harry's question as he placed Tony's coffee in front of him.
"Thank you Jarvis." Tony said picking up the coffee and turning to Harry. "All we need is a rune scheme that pulls excess energy from the air and deposits it into the MSC Shells. Then, when the conjured MSC Shell loses one point of MPE the scheme picks it up and deposits it back into the Shell."
"Is that something that can be done?" Harry asked. If that was true, they may have just discovered a way to use runes to make a conjuration permanent.
"I can work on that for you Mister Potter." Jarvis said easily. "I need to earn my pay check, after all."
"Damn!" Tony swore. "Just realised I don't have Jarvis to brainstorm with anymore." he sulked.
"You are always welcome to call Jarvis at the office. Our consultation fees are very reasonable." Harry said with a smile.
"Or we can discuss it after hours." Jarvis said. "I do still live with you after all."
Tony perked up at that. "Thanks Jarvis. I think I'd like that. You can have a butterbeer or two while I have a stiff one and we can talk about who has the worst boss."
"But, you don't have a boss." Harry said.
"And Pepper doesn't run my house?" Tony asked incredulously.
"So, I'll always win, because Two-Point-Oh will tell Pepper if you badmouth her." Jarvis said with a smile.
"And you've got bad things to say about me?" Harry asked.
"Well, you did have me fetch you a cup of tea. I'm a PA, not a secretary." Jarvis said with a straight face.
"You offered!" Harry complained. Then Jarvis chuckled. "That's not fair, you've got the world's best poker-face. Your emotions aren't subconsciously broadcast like normal people." He whined, when he realised he'd been had.
"That's just something I count under my skills, then." Jarvis said with a straight face, as he turned to walk to the door, with his own coffee in hand. "Sorry to leave you, but my boss just handed me this huge project and I have to get to it or he'll cut my pay." he joked as he left.
"He's really enjoying this, isn't he?" Tony asked.
"It seems that way." Harry said with a fond smile. Then he stretched out, "Okay, while he starts on that, this project is on hold." he said pointing at the enchantment factory. "Now I've got some other problems to solve." He said as he got back to it. He still needed to figure out a way to store more energy in the MSC Shells, or some sort of alternative. He had some ideas he'd like to try for that.