Like any good second in command, Minerva McGonagall knew when to support her superior and when to call them out.

"Albus, you're mad." She crossed her arms and looked at the image over Albus Dumbledore's desk. "No, you're a bloody idiot. This will never work. It can't work."

"She is related to the boy. " Tall and thin, with a beard long enough to tuck into his belt, Albus Dumbledore looked up at her from his desk. "And that is vital."

"Distantly. Surely someone in our world . . ."

"I have already explained why he must be raised with the Muggles." Albus said gently.

He had, and despite all her misgivings, Minerva could privately admit he might even be right, but she had never been one to back down. "It's not right. What about Molly and Arthur? They'd be only too happy-"

"They have six children, Minerva, with a seventh on the way. I cannot ask them to take him in. And Remus would never be able to keep him. No, if the Dursleys will not take Harry, this is the only choice."

"Well yes, but she's . . . she's . . .a . . ."

"A Muggle?" Dumbledore asked. There was a tone in his voice that suggested that the life and career of Minerva McGonagall hung on her response.

"No, American." McGonagall shuddered. "For Merlin's sake, Albus, at least keep him in Britain."

"He will always be British, Minerva. However, Mark Twain -who was American - noted that staying in one corner of the world causes one to stagnate and brews hate. I have rarely found him to be wrong."

"Oh fine, but what does she even do? Can she afford to care for the boy?"

"Didn't you notice who she works for?"

Minerva looked.

For the moment, silence reigned in the room.

Then, "Albus, no."

Ten years later . . .

Harry bolted into the house the moment Pepper opened the front door. She smiled ruefully and followed him in, pausing to snatch the clothes from the wall hook. Harry was ten years old, almost eleven, and seemed to have two speeds; running and climbing.

As she approached the living room, she heard him yelling. "Hi, Jarvis! Hi, Naked Lady!" Then the sound of shoes pounding down the stairs to Tony's workshop. Rounding the corner, she saw a tall thin blonde dressed in panties and one of Tony's shirts standing near one of Jarvis' control panels. In the past, Pepper had wondered who these women were, but she'd long since stopped that. As far as she was concerned, they were all the same person and it was a miracle Tony hadn't picked up an STD.

"Tony!' She heard Harry yell from the bottom of the stairs. There was a blast of rock music and then that cut out.

"So," the blonde said turning to look at her. "You must be the famous Pepper Potts."

Pepper reassessed the blonde. Long legs with muscle tone, alert blue eyes and slim fingers with the slight callous of a typist. A journalist. And a smart one at that.

The blonde turned back to the panel and Jarvis promptly flashed a warning as she reached up to touch it.

"That's Jarvis," Pepper explained. "He runs the house." She held up the clothes. "Your clothes have been dry cleaned and there's a car waiting outside to take you anywhere you want to go."

The blonde smiled, and Pepper saw the warning signs. This one wanted to be catty. "After all these years, he still has you picking up the laundry."

Pepper merely smiled. "My job is to do anything Mister Stark requires. Including, occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?"

Score.

Tony distantly registered the sound of shoes, but it wasn't until a mess of brown hair and bright green eyes appeared in his field of vision that he'd realized that he wasn't alone in the garage anymore.

"Hi, Tony!' Harry shouted over the music. Jarvis lowered the volume.

"Hey, Mop," Tony said with a grin, ruffling Harry's hair with one greased stained hand. "Knock over any little old ladies while running around?"

"No." Harry looked down at the engine of the Hot Rod and then at the monitor screens. "You're not going to get any more compression out of that."

"Sure I will."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes-uh," Tony shot back.

"You're gonna have to replace the coil!" Harry called out in a sing-song voice. "You're gonna have to replace the coil, the coil!"

"Okay, you!" Tony snapped, rising from his stool and grabbing Harry around his waist. Harry was small for his age, though the doctor seemed to think that a growth spurt was in the wings. "That's it!" He pulled Harry off the hood of the Hot Rod. "Tickle fight!"

Moments later, carrying a cup of coffee and a clipboard, Pepper walked into the garage, absently ordering Jarvis to turn off the music and stared as Tony stood in the middle of his workshop, Harry half draped across his shoulders and both of them laughing.

The sight made her flash back to her kitchen, ten years ago. After Dumbledore had given her custody of Harry, she'd called in sick to figure out what to do. Tony had shown up a few hours later to check on her.

"A kid, huh?" Tony sniffed. "Well, at least he's a cute little poop factory." He reached into the basket and waggled his finger in Harry's face. Harry, had stared at the finger and then grabbed it, pulling it down to his chest. "Whoa! Nice grip there."

Harry burped and then went to sleep, still holding Tony's finger.

"Hey, Aunt Pepper!" Harry called out. "Tony's gonna have to replace the compression coil!"

"Am not!" Tony said, indignant. Harry's response was to scramble around until he was sitting on Tony's shoulders.

"Are too!"

Pepper smiled and snapped a photo with her phone. Since that day in her kitchen, Tony and Harry had formed some unshakable bond. It had paid off, but Pepper had had to keep a close eye on Tony to prevent him from spoiling Harry rotten. Dumbledore had been very clear on that; When the time came, Harry was supposed to be safe, and preferably not one to give himself airs. Pepper still wasn't clear on exactly what made Harry so special, and Lieutenant Dallas, her contact with the Magical World, neither knew or cared. Apparently, the wizards of Europe and the wizards of America each refused to acknowledge that the other existed except in the most general way and on the West Coast, this refusal doubled. About all she knew was that some very bad people held Harry responsible for the death of one of their own and that somehow, the fact that they were distant cousins kept Harry safe.

"Harry, cartoons," Pepper ordered. Harry let out a whoop and leapt from Tony's shoulders to a table, then to another table before making it to the floor and charging upstairs.

"Have you considered putting him in a free running class?" Tony asked.

Pepper held up one finger. "Jarvis, where's Harry right now?"

"Mister Potter has retrieved a box of cereal from the kitchen and is presently on the couch watching Naruto." Jarvis replied. Harry, among other things, had developed a habit of popping up where he wasn't supposed to and hearing things he shouldn't. Fortunately, he could not hide from Jarvis, who had turned out to be a fairly effective babysitter.

"Naruto, huh? Man, that's a hilarious show." Tony pointed at Pepper. "Believe it!" Pepper gave him a death glare. "He watches it a lot?" Pepper's glare became cranked up to somewhere around fifteen. "Never mention it in your presence again?" She nodded. "You are very scary when you're in Mom mode, you know that."

Pepper pursed her lips. "There's a million things I need to talk to you about before you leave."

"There's no hurry. It's my plane and-"

"The commencement speech at Madison is in three weeks and-"

"Plenty of time."

Pepper huffed. "And the owner of the Jackson Pollack Piece called back. He wants a final bid."

"Is it a good representation of his spring period?"

Pepper bit her lip. She had long since begun to suspect that Tony's interest in modern art was either because he felt like he had to, or to mess with her. The first one was a sign of deeper problems, the second made her fingers twitch into claws because she was already dealing with one child as it was. "He didn't really have one, he-" Tony looked at her and she sighed. "I think it's a fair representation, yes."

"I need it," he replied flatly. "Buy it, ship it, store it." He picked up a rag and began wiping off his hands. "So . . . Harry leaves for that school . . . when?"

"A couple of more months," Pepper replied. After Harry had set all of Tony's curtains on fire at once during a tantrum, Pepper hadn't seen any choice but to let Tony in on Harry's unique nature and why she was caring for him. Thankfully, aside from spending the next year or so building a variety of scanning devices and waving them in Harry's direction, Tony had continued to treat Harry as he'd always had. "September First."

"How's he gonna get there? I mean, it's England. Or is there some kind of secret magic portal thingy?"

"Tony, I have no idea. I'm lucky if I can pry the time of day out of Dallas, much less any information about the Wizarding World."

"Then why the hell is she helping?"

Pepper sighed. "I've told you Tony, she's someone to call if something goes wrong and she owes Dumbledore a favor, which is the only reason she's helping in the first place. Beyond that, she couldn't care less if every Muggle in Los Angeles dropped dead."

"Have you told him the truth yet?"

Pepper winced. She hadn't told Harry the truth about his abilities or what had really happened to his parents. She hadn't lied per se, but as far as Harry knew, his parents were dead and Pepper was taking care of him. As for his abilities, she'd told him that Harry was special, but he should try to control them to keep other people from getting hurt. Ironically, perhaps, Tony had been telling her for years to tell Harry everything and let the chips fall where they may, an idea she'd been opposing since Harry was still young. That, and Dumbledore hadn't really told her that much to begin with. "No. I mean, I know I need too, it's just, with everything, I don't have the words to explain something I don't even understand."

"So? Tell him that. He's not a dumb kid, Pepper."

"Yeah . . . I mean . . . no, you're right. I'll do it when you get back."

"Why wait? And why me?"

"Because . . . I need you to be there . . . okay?"

Tony locked eyes with Pepper and in that moment, he saw a thousand different possibilities stretching out between them, a thousand different ways this conversation could go. "Okay, when I get back. And when the time comes, we'll take the jet. Jarvis, log that in. Reserve the jet for August Thirty-First, -no- make that the Twenty-Ninth, to London."

"Done, sir. May I inquire how long you plan to stay?"

"Just until September 2nd, Jarvis," Pepper said. "The usual accommodations."

"Of course, Ma'am."

"And you," Pepper said to Tony, "have a plane to catch."

Harry woke up to see Aunt Pepper standing in the doorway of his room. Seeing he was awake, she turned on his bedside lamp and sat on the bed.

"Aunt Pepper? What's wrong?" Harry rubbed the sleep from his eyes and fumbled for his glasses.

"Harry, it's . . . Colonel Rhodes called. Tony showed off his missile, but on the way back, they were . .. attacked. Tony is . . . he's missing, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened. "Missing?"

"Colonel Rhodes is searching for him," Pepper soothed, "and he won't stop until he's looked under every single rock, tree and every where else in the whole wide world. We'll find him, Harry." She pulled him close and he wrapped his arms around her. "We'll find him."

Tony shook the can and then emptied it over the board.

"Nice move," Yinsen said approvingly.

"Like I said," Tony replied smugly. "Three time Backgammon champ at MIT." Yinsen chuckled and Tony eyed him. Yinsen had saved his life, and Tony had elected to enlist him with the escape plan, but he didn't really know the guy. "So, you got a family?"

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"

"No."

"So you're a man with everything . . . and yet nothing."

Tony gave him a look and then a picture of Harry flashed into his mind. "Well, there's this kid. My assistant's kid. I do the dad thing here and there."

"I see." Yinsen nodded. "Then this isn't just an important week for you, Stark, but for him as well." He shook the can and emptied the dice onto the board.

Tony had a small smile on his face. Not him, but Harry. Yinsen was right. He had to get out of here. For Harry.

God help anyone who got in his way.