One fine spring day Severus was trying for the goodness knows how many times to make a fully working remote controlled explosion. One that he could set off at one end of the beach and steer straight into James' perfectly horrid face.

As he was adding just a dash more gunpowder his cauldron gave a rumble, then a started to shake. Severus knew what was going to happen next. He started to make his way over to the small bomb shelter he had constructed nearby. He didn't need to rush; he had exactly 32 seconds before the explosion.

Severus assumed the position in the shelter. Curled up in a ball. Head between his knees. 28. 29. 30. Brace. 31. 32. 33? BOOM!

Severus sighed. Why must it always end this way? No matter how much research I do. No matter how many books I read. I can't get it right. It just blows up in my face.

The small boy let a single tear fall to the floor before crawling out of the shelter to inspect the damage. As the dust settles the boy could make out the dark outline of his beloved cauldron. At least that wasn't broken. He could trust his cauldron to still be there. The familiar cold black metal brought a small smile to his lips.

The smile faded as another shape began to appear. It looked worryingly humanoid, but at the same time not. Severus unsheathed his wand from the folds of his shirt and cast a quick protection curse. He wasn't taking any chances. Not after last time.

Severus took a small step towards the shape. A slight glow seemed to come from what he imagined to be the chest. What unearthly creature is this?

The Slytherin boy froze as the creature started to move with a mechanical hiss. It was at times like this he half wished he was in Gryffindor; maybe then some braveness would have rubbed off on him.

The creature started to stand. As it did it grew until it stood almost twice as high as the quaking boy. Well at least he hadn't killed it. Whatever it is.

Severus couldn't be sure but he thought he could hear the creature talking to itself. In English. Was that a faint American twang? It seemed to be communicating, or trying to communicate with an entity called Jarvis.

It stared to turn around. Severus was in conflict. Should he try and confront the beast, or climb back into the shelter and hide.

"Jarvis? Jarvis come in. I need you to look over a few readings for me. There seems to be some kind of primitive bomb device."

Primitive?! How dare it! That potion was far from primitive. I was extremely complicated. That's why he couldn't get it right. And what did this creature know about explosions?

"Jarvis I am detecting gunpowder, sulphur and iron. However there are traces of several elements that need a few tests to work them out."

This creature has the nerve to call this primitive, yet it cannot recognise dragon weed when it is staring it in the face. Hoping of course that it does indeed have a face. Severus now no long felt afraid. How could he be scared of something that couldn't recognise the most basic of potion ingredient. He even let out a small chuckle.

"Jarvis I seem to be picking up some signs of life." The creature stopped abruptly as it laid eyes on a small boy armed with a stick. The creatures hand began to glow as it moved it up into the boy's face.

All the possible spells that might be useful in this situation seem to have packed their bags and ran away. So when Severus opened his mouth all that came out was "Aguamenti" and a small trickle of water came out of his wand, and onto his trousers. This had the effect of making the creature laugh, and the light in it's hand faded.

There was another strange hissing sound and the creature's whole face began to move forwards and upwards to reveal a human face underneath. Seeing the look of pure terror on the boy's face the creature spoke.

"Greetings! I am the amazing Iron man. I am sure you are aware of me and my suits of iron!"

It took what seemed like hours for Severus' brain to get the concept of an iron suit. And to then realise that under the creatures flesh there was a just a muggle. For what use did a wizard have for a suit of such kind.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Severus in the loudest voice he could muster.

"I was just doing a quick fight test for the mark 37. So far so good, got into a bit of trouble about a mile back. Short circuiting the suit and causing me to vaguely crash land into your exploding pot, which has completely ruined my communication system."

"Well it isn't my fault that you are trespassing on my land. And I use my CAULDRON at 3:00 every Saturday whilst my mother is at her charity meeting for flightless owls."

Stark thanked his lucky stars that this boy seemed to have a small IQ than birdbrain, and he seemed not to know who he is, so that was a good sign that at least this little test wouldn't end up in the public domain. "What is a small boy doing with gunpowder anyway?"

Severus blushed; he was never very good at lying. "Just making a firework to celebrate my father's birthday."

Tony tilted his head to the side and looked at the cauldron and took in a sharp intake of breath. "Not with that much gunpowder you're not. That" He indicated the mixture. "Is going to do some serious damage to a hedgehog."

"Less of a hedgehog. More of a stag." Muttered Severus.

"Ah! So you are after a prize stag. That was my first target too, though not by choice."

"What do you know about rockets?"

"Enough" Start replied as he fired a round into the earth to the left of the boy. Both their faces lighting up with excitement.

"Bet you didn't make those yourself!"

Something visibly changed in Tony's face as he switched into full bragging mode. "Those ones were the first to be properly perfected. However this" he fired off his favourite weapon "was the first one I ever patented. Back when I was just 13."

Severus' eyes light up with ideas. This was a man who knew his stuff. He maybe a muggle but he could be useful. "My mother won't be back for at least another hour. Do you want to stay and help me with my little project?"

Tony flinched anticipating a protest from Jarvis. When it didn't come he beamed. "Projects?! I love projects! Bring me the schematics!"

"The whats? The cauldron and ingredients are right in front of you. I have my reference books in my bag."

"And what is that?" Stark pointed at the shelter.

"Oh that. That's just my den. You know in case it rains" Severus answered, more to the ground that to Stark.

"Funny looking den, but we may need it as a bomb shelter if we are to test these things." Stark remarked with a smile.

Severus smiled, embarrassed. "Before we start I will need to get some more pond weasel snot, I used it all up."

Tony screwed his face up in disgust at the thought of collecting snot. "I have no idea what that stuff is, but you sure as hell don't need it to make explosives. But you will need a capsule, something like a drink bottle?"

"Um I think I have a few in the bin. But wouldn't the glass just shatter?" Severus shrugged as he got ready to disapparate.

"Yerh! You never heard of plastic?!"

Severus paused "Is that a wart or a fungus?" He watched as the strange man hit himself in the face, and stagger backwards as the glove made contact. "If you tell me where to get some I can collect it in an instant."

Tony sighed, this was going to take more than an hour, this was going to take several weeks of science lessons for this boy to even understand the basic components. This of course he did not have time for that; he was far too busy saving the world.

Severus stared up at Tony, in the same way he did when a teacher pauses to see if the class can finish their sentence. His big black eyes looking deep into Tony's face, trying to read the answer before he spoke it.

Tony looked down at the boy, and something about those big eyes, searching for answers, reminded him of himself as a child. He remembered how he longed for his father to answer his questions, and he couldn't. He just couldn't deny this boy the knowledge he was clearly seeking.

"Here" Tony handed over his travel tablet device. "This will answer all the questions you might have. Just remember to plug it in at night." And with that he took off, with a bit of difficulty and soured off to America.

Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter or Iron Man