Story Title: RIPPLE EFFECT

"speech"

'thoughts'

Chapter Ten (Friday July 4th - Saturday July 5th)

It didn't take long for Stark to find and narrow down where the wizard from the letters lived. His assistant had relayed the Yorkshire address to Petunia, having already agreed that it would be best if she were the one to contact him. The letter took her most of Friday to compose as she hadn't known what exactly to say to him. She and Vernon had agreed that bribing the man with his being able to see the boy would work best to get him to agree to their terms. According to her sister she had felt bad for the wizard saying that because of his condition he wasn't allowed steady work. As such hiring himself out to 'regular people' would help supplement his income when he wasn't tutoring wizard children. That was what he had intended to do so that Lily's husband James wouldn't be supporting him as well.

After Petunia had finally composed the letter and read it over, she called the boys to go with her to the post office. Their friend Justin would be over for the weekend as his parents were going away for their anniversary. It wasn't as if the Dursleys would refuse the Finch-Fletchley's. The boys were good friends and the parents were friends as well. When they were told about him coming over Ned was excited and wanted his friend to stay in his room while Dudley had put up a token resistance to that idea since he was the one that had bunk beds in his room. Petunia settled the matter by saying that all three boys could sleep in either room if they wanted to.

Friday was spent going over the weekend's menu to be sure that there wouldn't be anything that Justin might be allergic to. The Finch-Fletchley's nor Dudley or Ned had ever given the implication that Justin had any allergies, but Petunia wanted to err on the side of caution until she got confirmation from the boy's parents. Thankfully, the Finch-Fletchley's weren't fastidious when it came to food choices so the Dursley's didn't have to go out of their way to pick up special items for the boy.

Ned had been a bundle of energy stuck on the fact that his friend was going to spend the night and was going to meet Tony. That had been another thing that drove the woman a bit sparse and tried her patience. All day Ned had come to be reassured as he kept asking over and over throughout the day if Tony was still coming. She only got a reprieve when Justin's parents dropped their son off that evening after supper. Justin brought his own sleeping roll, pillow, and bag. The Finch-Fletchley's left their contact information as well as a form stating that the Dursleys had permission to see to Justin in case of an emergency. Just as the Dursleys had done when they had dropped the boys off for their Valentine date.

Of course it would be a bit harder trying to get the kids to go to bed as they were all wound up. They had driven Vernon to distraction when they had had been first going around chasing each other and fighting with their lightsabers. It seemed each boy was taking a turn at being the bad guy and the hero. They had been sent to the back yard to get rid of some of the energy and not destroy the house in the processes. When it was time to come in they were on some type of pirate game. It seemed that Justin had badgered his parents to let him see the Pirate movie and had told his two friends all about it. As the only pirate film that either Dudley and Ned had seen was Peter Pan at Malcolm's house they eagerly listened and hoped they'd be able to get the Dursleys to take them to see it too. In the meantime they had fun pretending.

The boys ended up making a fort in Ned's room where the thrio mainly stayed talking and giggling as they played everything they could think of without leaving the room. They played with Ned's Lego and of course that had gotten him to tell Justin about the tower he and his dad had been working on before Dudley had ruined it. That of course instigated an argument that was only broken up by Petunia threatening to separate them and have them immediately turn into bed. Of course when it came time for lights out, Dudley had decided he wanted to sleep in his cousin's room as well. The three boys tried to keep their voices down but they could still be heard until Vernon gave them a 'stern' warning that it was bed time but couldn't help the smile on his face as he left the boys, knowing they likely wouldn't be settling down any time soon. It was no surprise that when he went to fetch the boys for their toilet run, all three were still awake even if they were yawning and fighting sleep. When it was Petunia's turn all three were asleep. Petunia had to stifle a laugh as she saw the picture that the boys made. They had apparently fell asleep midplay with their action figures. Ned was asleep on the floor, Dudley had been using his cousin's back as a pillow and Justin had curled up near the cousins' heads. Dudley and Ned used to getting up in the middle of the night but not remembering, basically sleepwalked to the toilet and crawled into their own beds. Justin's bag had been set up while they children had been playing outside and so the boy could get into hit when he'd come back to Ned's room.

All three were still in their pajamas when they came down for breakfast still a bit sleepy and not completely awake yet. Ned actually had his head on his crossed arms on the table with his eyes closed. Dudley made sure his mother was busy cooking breakfast before he took one of the plastic cups and placed it on his cousin's head. Justin at first had gone wide eyed quickly glancing at Petunia before darting to Dudley then Ned who hadn't moved and hid his smile behind his hands. Dudley then took another and tried to balance it atop the previous one. The boy was debating if he dared try a third cup when his mother turned to ask the boys a question and saw what her son had done. While wondering how late the boys had stayed up that her nephew was asleep at the table, she gave her son a stern look and sharply stated, "Dudley."

The boy unabashedly looked up at his mother. "Please take those off your cousin's head." Just because they were plastic didn't mean they couldn't crack and break. The cups had been gotten for the boys so it would be easier for them to lift when they drank until they got older and they didn't have to worry about them accidentally dropping them. Naturally, that was when Ned decided he would join the waking world and sat up only to have the cups clatter to the floor. Giving his mother a guilty look at her expression, he quickly retrieved the drinking containers and gave them to his mother who placed them in the sink to be washed and got out two new ones. Ned blinked in confusion.

Vernon came down and breakfast went without incident. After the boys got dressed, to give Petunia time to clean up he took the boys to the park. They had taken a packed lunch with them which they had taken a break from the play for before they were back at it. It was there that Stark and his assistant found them. They had gone to the house to be told by Petunia that she was the only one home. It had been Stark's idea to come to the park rather than waiting at the house. The duo approached Vernon who was sitting contently at a bench reading the newspaper glancing up from time to time to keep on eye on the boys. At the moment he saw that Justin was laughing while trying not to as Dudley sat on Ned because of some disagreement. The two boys had been arguing before they began to rough house and the slighter boy ended up in his predicament. He could hear the children but pretended he didn't for the moment even though he was keeping a sharp ear out in case he had to intervene. From what he could hear it wasn't that serious and neither boy had really been trying to hurt the other.

"Shouldn't you stop that?" Pepper asked him as they heard Ned say, "Get off! You're heavy!" Only for Dudley to bounce on his cousin to put more pressure on his chest.

Shaking his head Vernon asked, " Do you really want to get pulled into that?"

Stark seemed to consider it before he replied in the negative. "Good point." The three adults watched as Ned tried to dislodge his cousin to no avail before he told him he'd give up a day of Thomas for Dudley to let him up to breathe. Dudley seemed to think about it before he nodded and began to laugh when Justin took advantage of his downed friend to begin tickling him. Justin had found out the other boy was ticklish but Dudley wasn't. Or at least his sides weren't like Ned's were. Justin soon had his friend gasping out "Traitor!"

"Ha!" Justin cried in triumph when Ned finally begged off. He and the blond slapped hands as they grinned down at Ned who lay where he was for a moment to catch his breath before he sat up. A bright grin lit his face as he saw who was with his uncle. "Tony! Ms. Pepper!"

Jumping up and running towards them he stopped just before them and nearly bounced as he looked up at the man. "You came!"

"Sure did. I promised didn't I?"

Nodding, he grabbed the man's hand and tugged him towards where Dudley was telling Justin who Tony was. Tony went along with the boy who excitedly told his best friend, "This is my dad, Tony. Justin's my best friend!"

"I thought Malcolm was."

The green eyed boy gave his cousin a look as if he thought he was silly. "He's my other best friend."

"You can have more than one?" Dudley was genuinely confused and hadn't known that you could have more than one.

"Duh." It was a phrase that Ned had heard from a classmate's older sibling. Neither Dursley adult had been happy with this and so the boy had learned to curb that reaction when he was at home. Vernon snorted and shook his head giving the boy a pass this once.

Dudley retaliated in the mature fashion of sticking his tongue out at his cousin rather than shoving him. Neither boy noticed that Tony had an amused expression on his face. Justin was watching the duo with a bemused look. Soon enough, Ned had talked his father into playing with them. Vernon coughed to keep from chuckling when it looked as if his nephew was seriously considering whether or not he wanted Stark on his side. Pepper didn't bother to hide her amusement at her bosses mock hurt expression when he wasn't immediately chosen.

"Ned takes soccer very seriously," Vernon explained to the watching woman.

"I can see that."

The boy had apparently decided that his father would do for a teammate, but only after Dudley had said he'd give him his dessert if Tony was on Ned's team. Pepper turned away trying to hide her laughter as Tony pouted. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

The boys all looked at the man and blinked. Ned replied, "I like liver..."

"With onions!" Dudley added.

"I like 'em mixed in my mash," Justin added in.

Tony stared at them and shuddered. "Okay, seriously, you all need to have your taste buds examined."

Grinning from ear to ear the boys began to make up other things and combinations they didn't think the man would like and laughed whenever they got the reaction they had wanted. Soon enough they had decided to start kicking the black and white ball that they had brought to the park. Watching her boss and the boys, Pepper realized, "Edward is good."

Vernon nodded in affirmation. "He practices enough. Loves playing it with his mates."

Apparently at one point the boys had declared that Tony had committed a foul and had decided his punishment was to tackle him. Thankfully he wouldn't end up ruining a suit since he'd brought a pair of jeans with him. Tony's excuse had been that he wouldn't be as well known in England just yet even if Stark International wasn't as expansive as he wanted. It would be good to 'blend'. In this case, it was good not to get grass stains on his clothing before he had s chance to grab the ankle biters off of him.

On the way home Ned kept up a steady stream of chatter and questions with Dudley and Justin chiming in. They told him all about what they had done last night and about pretending to be Jedi and Sith and then pirates and did Tony know anything about pirates? That led to 'Justin said,' and 'but in Peter Pan.' Tony seemed a bit overwhelmed and Pepper intervened where she could to give her boss breathing space. They boys seemed to be just as happy talking to her as they did Tony. Everything was going well until they were actually back at the house and the subject of Ned spending time in California came up.

"We're moving?" Dudley asked unhappy with a bit of accusation towards his parents. "I don't want to move!" He had friends and swimming, and he didn't want to move!

"What?" Ned asked with an expression of not understanding. Justin didn't know what was going on but know he didn't want his friends to move away either. Dudley was working himself up for a tantrum and the Durlseys' expressions and pointed looks clearly said they blamed this whole thing on Tony. Vernon took his son and Justin into the kitchen so that the others could have some privacy. While Petunia set Stark straight, he was going to assure his son that no one was moving.

With pursed lips Petunia had gotten her nephew to sit as she stated, "No one is moving! What Mr. Stark meant was just a visit. Like a vacation."

"Exactly!" Tony stated having already agreed with Pepper that this would be better. It would give both Tony and Edward both a time to get used to each other. With either of the Dursleys there it would ease some of the pressure off. During that month they would see how it would go and Tony would have a little bit of a better understanding of what he was getting himself in for.

"We're not moving?" the boy questioned just to be sure. He didn't want to move away from his friends and it had never entered his mind that it had been suggested that he would be the only one moving and not his family.

"No," his aunt reassured him.

"Tony's inviting you to spend some of your summer at his home," Pepper explained. All three adults watched as Edward seemed to think about it before he nodded and asked if Dudley, his aunt, and his uncle were coming too. Pepper looked at the thin blond woman which clearly asked her a question. Petunia replied to both stating, "Vernon won't be there for the whole visit."

"But why?"

"Your uncle needs to work."

"Why?"

"If he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid. That means no soccer for you or swimming for Dudley."

Nodding in more understanding since he knew that they had had a talk before about money. The Dursleys had wanted to be sure they boys understood a little about saving money and had talked to them about their pocket change. Both boys had learned that sometimes it was good to have saved so they could afford something like a toy they'd wanted or candy. Most times they ended up spending their chore money but had once saved and put their money together to buy and share a board game they had wanted.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Tony asked and the kid nodded.

"When we going?"

"Next month," Tony informed him. The Dursleys had wanted to spend their nephew's birthday here so he could have his friends over for his party. It would also give the Dursleys time to get their passports and for Tony or rather Pepper to arrange for their stay in Malibu. Over the coming weeks Pepper and Petunia would be sure to arrange times for Tony and Edward to speak to each other.

AN – The thing about James supporting Remus is true as far as I could find with Rowling's wrtings. I made up the bit about him tutoring kids because it made sense in my head.

Apologies for the short chapters and taking so long between them, but my concentration has been even worse lately because of pain. Pride is the only thing that had kept me from using my crutches which I am now back on in order to walk. Because of the Covid-19 thing some of my physical therapy has been canceled. As always, thank you for reading and apologies for any mistakes. Creative criticism welcomed.