AUGUST 7

It only took JARVIS prompting him three times for Tony to set aside the plans he was working on - nothing to do with energy or combat safety and preparedness today, but rather improved breathing apparatus for patients with lung disease - and stumble out of his workshop and into a hot shower before his meeting with Crispian Paddington.

Ten minutes later, showered, shaved, and wearing jeans and a grey MIT T-shirt, Tony wandered up to the residential floor, where he found Steve watching as Sirius and Harry played some kind of magical game that involved a stack of cards - that sometimes exploded, to judge by the bang he heard as he stepped off the elevator.

"You're not trying to bring down the tower, are you?" he asked as he drew closer to the table.

"There's very little danger of that happening," Sirius replied without taking his gaze from the stack of cards which was steadily growing between him and Harry as they took turns dealing cards from their hands.

"It's like regular Snap," Steve said, "except if nobody realizes there are doubles, the cards explode."

"Seems counter-productive," Tony observed as Harry collected a pair. "Potentially losing your cards every time you play. Unless they explode and re-form?"

"No," Harry said. "You have to buy more - unless you win so much it doesn't matter if you lose a few cards now and then."

"Huh. I don't know whether to be impressed or annoyed by that."

"Why would you be annoyed?" Sirius asked, and he made the mistake of looking up when he did, and so did Harry, just as they dealt doubles and missed the time to call it, so the small pile of cards exploded, leaving a fine dust of ash where they had been.

"Because it makes the game more difficult for everyone to enjoy," Tony said. "I wouldn't care if I lost a few cards, and Harry wouldn't either, but there are some people who couldn't afford to lose any. I assume that holds true in the magical world, too."

"There are," Harry replied, focusing again on the game. "Like my friend Ron's family. When we went to get money for school supplies last year, I accidentally saw inside their vault, and they only had a single Galleon and a few Sickles. I don't know how Ron could buy so many Chocolate Frogs he had five hundred cards."

"Cards?" Steve asked, saving Tony the trouble.

"Each frog comes with a trading card featuring a famous witch or wizard," Sirius answered. He grabbed the doubles that had just been played, then started to gather the cards. When Harry made a noise of protest, Sirius said, "It's almost time for your father's meeting."

Tony hoped he concealed his surprise at how easily Sirius referred to him as Harry's father. He'd half expected that Sirius would be angry with him over it, and despite the man's behavior, that expectation hadn't faded entirely.

"His meeting," Harry said. "Not mine."

"All of us," Tony said. "He's going to be working for all of our benefit, so we all need to like him."

"And he needs to like us, too," Steve said. "Or he won't do his best for us."

"But you like him," Harry protested. "That's good enough for me."

"It shouldn't be," Sirius said firmly, then shot an apologetic look at Steve. "No insult to Steve, but you need to remember this, Harry: nobody cares more about you than you do, so you need to feel comfortable with this, too. It won't do any good if the three of us like him but you can't stand him."

Harry looked like he wanted to protest again, but JARVIS spoke first. "Mr. Paddington has just gotten onto the elevator on the forty-seventh floor."

Tony didn't even have to glance at Steve before he was heading toward the elevator.

The door slid open, and Tony heard a brief exchange of greetings before Steve said, "Your wand, please, Mr. Paddington."

There was a brief silence, then a pleasant baritone voice said, "I thought we were getting on rather well yesterday."

"We were," Steve agreed readily enough. "And I hope we continue to. But as a matter of safety, until you've sworn an Unbreakable Vow, I'll need to keep your wand."

There was another, equally brief, pause before Tony heard a chuckle. "I'm glad someone takes magical security seriously around here. What's the vow?"

"First not to reveal anything you learn here today without permission," Steve repeated the condition Sirius had suggested. "If you take the position, we'll modify it so that you can perform your duties."

"All right."

Now there were footsteps and a moment later Steve led another man into the kitchen. The newcomer appeared to be in his late thirties and stood as tall as Steve, with close-cropped medium brown hair and blue-gray eyes - which widened when he saw Tony. Or, more probably, the two wizards with him.

"Tony Stark," Steve said. "Crispian Paddington. Mr. Paddington - Tony Stark, Harry Potter, and Sirius Black."

Tony watched Paddington's expression shift from polite neutrality at his name, to astonished curiosity at Harry's, and finally to controlled anger at Sirius'.

"Do you know-" he began, but Sirius held up a hand. Paddington paused, but his fingers twitched, and Tony was grateful Steve had taken his wand.

"Before you finish that sentence, please take a look at this." Sirius pulled a parchment from a pocket and held it out to Harry. "Give this to Steve, please. He can pass it on."

"You never told us what that actually says," Tony said conversationally as Harry did as he was told.

"Mr. Paddington, would you read it aloud?" Sirius asked, his expression lacking any of his usual mirth or mischief.

Paddington glared at him but took the parchment from Steve without comment. He opened it and glanced over it, his expression changing to a puzzled frown as he did.

"Well?" Tony said. "Don't keep us in suspense."

Paddington cleared his throat and began to read.

From: Andrea Thomas, Chief Investigator, Hit Wix Division

To: Ardeth Bay, Deputy Mugwump

Subject: Sirius Black

At your request, I have questioned both Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew under Veritaserum and have retrieved copies of their memories of the events of 31 October through 3 November 2001. The results are conclusive and have been independently verified by Aurors from France, Germany, and Turkey.

A full report, including copies of the memories and transcripts of the interrogations, will follow, but the salient points, arranged in chronological order for your convenience, are:

1. Sirius Black was not the Secret Keeper for James and Lily Potter.

2. Peter Pettigrew was the Potters' Secret Keeper. No Unbreakable Vow was required of him.

3. Pettigrew revealed the Potters' location to the wizard styling himself Lord Voldemort in hopes of advancing himself in Voldemort's terrorist organization, the Death Eaters.

4. On the night of 31 October, Pettigrew accompanied Voldemort to the Potters' house, but was not allowed inside during the attack.

5. After the attack, Pettigrew retrieved Voldemort's wand and escaped by shifting into his animagus form, a rat.

6. Sirius Black had added himself to the protective wards at the Potters' house and arrived as quickly as he could via flying motorcycle. He had been in the Muggle world, and there was no safe place to apparate from nearby.

7. Upon arriving at the Potters' house, he retrieved Harry Potter (then aged 15 months) from his nursery and intended to take him to safety.

8. As he left the house, he encountered Rubeus Hagrid, then the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, who claimed to have been sent by Albus Dumbledore to look after Harry.

9. Black handed over his motorcycle and the child to Hagrid, told him that Pettigrew had betrayed the Potters and that he (Black) was going after him, as he had the best chance thanks to his own animagus form, a large black dog.

10. Black then tracked Pettigrew for two days and confronted him. The reports of that confrontation are generally accurate and will suffice.

11. Black was taken into custody by British Aurors and summarily sent to Azkaban. He has no memory of being questioned, nor of having a trial.

Tony's hands hurt. He looked down and saw that they had clenched into fists. He knew most of what the letter had said already, thanks to Sirius himself, but hearing it laid out so neatly, so clinically, just made it more real somehow.

To his credit, Paddington looked ready to kill - and that look wasn't directed at Sirius. He controlled his expression after a moment.

"The rest," Paddington said, "is a recommendation to summon the British Ministry before the ICW to answer for this."

"I also have a pardon and ICW-issued travel documents," Sirius said. "And documentation for the Muggle - sorry, mundane - world, too. I probably shouldn't go into magical Britain at all, but that's not much of a hardship."

Paddington took a long, slow breath and released it equally slowly before looking at Steve. "I'll make that vow now. I presume you needed to tell me this much so that Mr. Black can act as bonder?"

Steve nodded and offered the man his wand back. "I'm sorry to have had to do it."

"I understand completely," Paddington said. "Have you drafted the wording of the vow?"

Paddington reviewed the paper Steve handed him quickly and then turned to Tony and offered his hand. Tony bit back a wince - he hated shaking hands, but this was necessary - and stepped forward. When he would've clasped Paddington's hand, Paddington shifted so they were grasping each other's wrists.

Steve and Harry watched, wide-eyed, as Sirius drew his wand and touched it to the joining. A thin tongue of actinic flame snaked from the wand and surrounded their wrists. Tony supposed he shouldn't be surprised that he felt no heat.

At Sirius' nod, Tony recited each question in turn. "Will you, Crispian Paddington, keep secret everything you learn today, unless permission to reveal it is directly given or keeping the secret would interfere with your duties?"

"I will," Paddington replied, and a second tongue of flame surrounded their wrists.

"Will you, Crispian, protect Harry Potter and his secrets from this point forward, unless permission is directly given or doing so would interfere with your duties?"

"I will," Paddington said, and a third flame circled their wrists.

After a moment, the flames sank into his and Paddington's wrists, and Tony felt a tingle up his arm.

Paddington let go of Tony's wrist immediately and blew out a breath. "Before you get started, I have two questions, if I may?"

Tony glanced between Steve and Sirius. Neither man appeared to object, so he nodded once.

Paddington fixed Sirius with an even gaze. "Mr. Black, may I have your permission to forward a copy of the ICW report to my father? He sits on the Wizengamot and can begin an inquiry."

"Sirius. Unless you're going to insist on Mr. Paddington?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow at him and received a grin in response. "Right. Then yes, please do."

"Thank you. The second question - how the hell did you get Ardeth Bay, High Chieftain of the Medjai, to launch an inquiry at the ICW?"

Sirius shrugged. "Called in a favor."

Tony really hoped JARVIS would let him look at the expression on Paddington's face whenever he needed a laugh. The man's jaw had dropped open and he was staring at Sirius with eyes almost as wide as Harry's had been during the Unbreakable Vow.

He also really hoped he could get Sirius drunk enough to tell him the story. He might not know who exactly Ardeth Bay was, but Paddington's reaction suggested it would be a story worth hearing.

"That all your questions for now, Paddington Bear?" Tony asked, and that was another expression he'd want to look at again and again.

"For now," Paddington agreed, then looked at Harry. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Mr. Potter." Harry blinked, and Paddington smiled gently. "Your parents. Whatever happened that night, they didn't survive, and the magical world is poorer for it."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said quietly.

"Well, then," Paddington turned his gaze to Tony. "Perhaps now you can explain why Iron Man wants to talk to a wizard."