Author note: Avi's name is Avianera but she goes by Avi from family and friends while other people mostly call her Avian. Very few call her Avianera.

~o~

April 23, 2004

"Look at this one!" Gwen pulled a thin chapter book from the shelf.

"Monty and the tiger?" Avi read. Gwen shrugged.

"It looked interesting." She put the book back in its place.

"Hey guys, take a look at this!" Peter came rushing over with a white hard back book. "Check out all these cool bugs!" He opened it to a page dedicated to praying mantises.

"Whhooooaaa!" The girls leaned in closer to the book.

"I haven't even heard of some of these bugs!" Gwen said in awe.

"Pretty cool huh?" Peter grinned.

"So cool!" Avi agreed, turning the page. They all oohed at the twiggy creatures before stopping on arachnids. Avi suddenly felt a deep, cold ache pulse from the front of her head.

"Something wrong?" Gwen asked, noticing her friend's twisted expression. Avi could feel her pulse pounding harder and harder, right where her scar cut through her forehead like a lightning bolt.

"Scared of some spiders, Avi?" Peter teased.

"Nuh uh," Avi mumbled, holding her head. Suddenly, her head felt like it was splitting into pieces and she couldn't hear anything but cold cackling. She fell to the floor and began convulsing.

"Avi!" Gwen shrieked, Peter dropped their book and dashed off to find their teacher. Everyone and everything was blurry and sounded garbled before there was nothing but black.

~o~

"Does she have any sort of epilepsy or neurological issues? Any past head trauma in her medical history?" Avi heard who she assumed was the nurse ask someone. Her head still ached as she fluttered her eyes open. She saw her dad nervously rubbing his chin and her Uncle Remus sitting on the edge of the plastic blue bed she was resting on.

"Hello cub, how are you feeling?" He asked her, patting her leg. Avi stared at her uncle for a moment.

"My head hurts." She croaked, her throat dry.

"I'll go get you some water." The nurse said and left the room. Once she was gone, Avi slowly sat up with the help of Remus and curled her knees to her chin.

"What happened in the library, Avi?" Remus asked, concern on his face. Avi shook her head.

"I was looking at books with Peter and Gwen when. . ." She drifted off. Tony strode over and sat next to her.

"When what happened, owlet?" She hugged her knees tighter.

"I heard his voice, the scary man that killed mummy and uncle James." She whispered. Tony and Remus shared a worried look but before they could ask her any more questions the nurse came back.

"Here you go, Miss. Stark." She holds out the cup of water to Avi.

"Thank you." Avi replied softly as she took the cup. She sips at the cool liquid while Tony goes to the office to sign her out. Remus takes the cup and place it on the counter after she was finished with it. "Uncle Remi?"

"Yes, cub?" He looked to her with a soft smile.

"Why did I hear that man?" Avi asked him, her green eyes wide with confusion and fear. Remus pulls her into his arms and holds her tight.

"I don't know, cub. I don't know." Remus whispers into her hair. He looks up when Tony walks back in.

"Ready to go?" He asked them. Avi pulled out of the hug and hopped down from the bed. She took her father's hand in hers as they walked out of the school building. Tony helped Avi into her seat in the back of the car and headed to the driver seat.

"Wanna swing through Dairy Queen or anything? It can be our daddy-daughter-uncle treat." Tony said, looking behind the seat. Avi shook her head.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry." she sighed, clicking her seat belt. Tony tapped the wheel and looked in the rearview mirror at his daughter. She was still very pale and there were purple marks under her eyes while her scar was a bright burning red that stood out against her dark hair and pale skin.

"Alright." Tony replied as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot. He pulled out of the school parking lot and pulled out onto the road heading home. A few minutes into the ride home Tony looks back into the rearview mirror to check on Avi, only to find her asleep. He let out a soft sigh before shooting a glance at Remus.

"So, you wanna tell me what's going on with my daughter?" Remus turned in his seat, a grim expression on his face.

"I'm not entirely sure but there are. . .things happening in the wizarding world." he said.
"What sort of things, Remus? You know I don't know much about all of this." Tony replied.

"There have been. . .whispers, Tony. Rumors circulating that You-Know-Who is going to come back." Remus said softly, like he himself was sharing a secret.

"You mean Vold-" Tony was cut off by Remus' hand clamping over his mouth.
"Names have power, Tony. You can't just be flippantly saying his name." he hissed. Tony nodded and Remus lowered his hand.

"Next time don't do that to the only guy in the car with a valid U.S license." he said, turning to the left.

"I apologize. Anyway, there are whispers about his followers, Death Eaters they're called, trying to somehow raise him from the dead. They believe he wasn't actually killed, just put into a sort of limbo by Lily. . ." Remus trailed off. Tony took a sharp breath thinking about his wife, sometimes it felt like her death was a million years ago, other days it felt as fresh as though she was killed only yesterday.

"Go on, I need to know this." Tony swallowed hard, putting his focus back onto his daughter.

"Anyways, they've supposedly been trying some very, very dark spells. Avi was technically the last person to see him alive, she may be experiencing the effects of whatever horrendous things those evil people are casting." Remus said darkly. The car comes to a sudden stop in the middle of the road causing the cars behind it to slam on their brakes and honk their horns.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Tony all but shouted at his friend, pausing to look back at his still sleeping child. "What do you mean she might be experiencing their spells?" Remus watches him, warily.

"I'm not particularly sure, Tony. It's just a theory from what Avi told us. It could be a numerous amount of things that could be going on to cause Avi to react like this but I think that is the most possible theory." Tony grips the wheel tightly causing his knuckles to go white as he starts to drive again.

"How could this even happen? And what do they even possible gain from bringing Moldyshorts back from the great abyss?" Tony questioned as he turned onto their street. Remus turns to look out the windshield for a moment, thinking about what to say to Tony.

"From what Lily and James told me there was a prophecy about the Dark Lord, a child, and that child's parents." Remus began. "They didn't say much about the prophecy itself but from what I remember the parents had to refuse You-Know-Who three times and that the child was born at the end of the seven month with the power to destroy him." Remus sighed and looked towards Tony. "There were only two magical children born at the end of July, Tony." Tony furrowed his brow and shot him a look. "Avi and Neville, Alice and Frank's boy."

"Shit." Tony muttered as he closed his eyes for a second. He put the car into park once they were inside the garage. As Tony was about to open his door, he paused and turned back to Remus. "But the Longbottoms went insane about a year and half after Avi and Neville were born, how could that have anything to do with what's going on now? What does any of this have to do with us?"

"I'll tell you the rest when we get Avi to bed." Remus told him as he got out of the car. Tony nodded and stepped out then went to the back seat. He opened the door and carefully unbuckled Avi without waking her up. He picked her up while Remus shut the door quietly for him. Tony walked inside and headed up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom with Remus following after him to help. Remus heads into Avi's room first and turns down the sheets for Tony then leave for the living room. Tony walks over to the bed and gently laids Avi on it. He covers her up while placing a kiss to her forehead and shuts the door quietly behind him. They walked to the living room, Remus sat down on the couch while Tony made himself a drink.

"So, what the hell is going with my daughter, Remus." Tony said as he walked over to the man and handed him a can of soda pop. Remus took the can and held it in-between his hand.

"In the Wizarding world everyone believes that Avi is James's daughter." Tony stared at his friend with slightly widen eyes. "You and James looked so alike that people assumed that he was you and you were him."

"The only difference between us was the glasses." Tony muttered as he sipped his drink.

"And your accent." Remus added, "But since James was always watching the girls for you when you went out of town, everyone thought she was his. And Lily decided not to say anything because it was extra protection for you and Avi. That's why it took so long for You-Know-Who to find you. The whole reason Lily lived so muggle like was because of him."

"So your telling me my child was a target since she was born? And the only reason he didn't find us was because of me, basically. Because to you lot, she was Avianera Potter not Avianera Stark like she was in the muggle world. So that monster was looking for a Potter not a Stark." Tony replied.

"Yes, that's it exactly it." Remus said.

"Then how did he find them than?" Tony asked after draining his glass.

"Do you remember Peter Pettigrew?" Remus asked him. Tony ran a hand through his hair as he tried to remember the name.

"That's was the little chubby kid that used to follow you three around at Hogwarts wasn't it?" He said, "What was that nickname you gave him again?"

"Wormtail." Remus supplied. Tony snaps his fingers together.

"That was it, 'cause he could turned into a rat." He chuckled. "But what does he have to do with this?"

"He gave You-Know-Who the information to find them." Remus said quietly, staring at the unopened can in his hands. He snaps his head back up at the sound of glass shattering and stared at his friend's bleeding hand with wide shocked eyes. "Tony."

"Please, tell me you know where this son of bitch is, Remus." Tony grits his teeth together to keep from snapping at his dear old friend. Remus sadly shook his head.

"We believe he's gone into hiding but we've got everyone looking out for him, Tony. We will find that rat and he will be brought to justice." He told him. "We should take care of your hand."

"Forget about my hand," Tony replied, he'd take care of it later. "How do we find out if what you think about the connection between Avi and Moldyshorts is true? And what should we do to make sure that he never gets to her again?"

"I think I know someone who could help us." Remus said, "But I'm not sure if he'll be willing to do it."

"We have to try. I'm not going to let my daughter suffer if there's a way to stop it." Tony insisted, "Do whatever you have to do to get that man here, Remus. Please."

"I will, Tony. I promise."