Chapter 10
Harry’s exhausted when he gets back to the portrait leading to the common room. He’s so not looking forward to the interrogation waiting for him inside by most of Gryffindor house or the one after that where Hermione will pry him open even further. If he’s lucky she may hold off until tomorrow when she sees how utterly drained he feels but his best friend is nothing if not persistent. She’ll get her answers somehow whether he’s ready or not. If there’s a singular bright side when it comes to this whole mess it’s that he doesn’t have to worry about hearing Ron belittle him and talk down to him since the ginger can’t even be in the same room as Harry he’s going to be noticeable absent from the common room. Harry takes a deep breath to steel himself before saying the password and entering the portrait to the common room.
As soon as he walks in every voice in the room is hushed, quieted by the sound of the only person who belongs in Gryffindor but isn’t yet there. Harry feels his mouth become bone dry before resolutely staring ahead and continuing into the common room.
“So Potter entering the goblet before being 17 wasn’t enough attention for you? You had to go and get Tony Stark involved? I don’t know what you think involving that dunce will accomplish everyone knows that he’s incredibly stupid, vain, and he steals the credit for technological inventions of people who work at his company.” That was Seamus, Harry could tell from the distinct Irish lilt in his voice that became more prominent everytime he was angry or self-righteous.
“Boy who lived? More like boy who lived for attention.” There’s one of the seventh years who entered, probably William Eckles or Timothy Chane if he had to guess but Harry refused to look over at them to see which person spoke.
“And to think you had all of us thinking you were some poor orphan for four years Potter. Turns out that was nothing more than a lie! I don’t know how you talked the hat into giving you Gryffindor when you’re so clearly a slimy snake!” Harry can no longer tell which voice is speaking. There’s a cacophony of noise surrounding him, scorching him and spitting at him like the fire in the hearth. All the voices blending together and settling deep inside of him, pulling at him like a marionettes strings trying to stop him from coming, from leaving, from staying, from from from…
“ENOUGH. All of you enough!” The voices all stop at once. It gives him whiplash going from one extreme all the next and he can’t quite recover his bearings between the two. He feels the breathe catch in his lungs, as if he’d been breathing this whole time and suddenly a pillow was placed in front of his face. He’s suffocating and surrounded by darkness, an endless void where all he is is feeling and not feeling at the same time wishing he could crawl out of his own skin and hide in it at the same time. “Can’t you see he’s just as surprised as we are? Can’t you see he’s not breathing? Harry, Harry listen to me, it's Hermione. I’m going to grab you and we’re going to sit down and everyone else is going to either calm down and sit down or get out of the common room. Unless they’d like to see why everyone calls me the brightest witch of our age.” He feels someone grab his hand, ‘Hermione’ his mind whispers, he feels her fingers tap a steady rhythm on his palm which he unconsciously begins to follow with his breathe. He’s pushed into a seat and Hermione's head soon falls onto his shoulder, her arms clinging onto one of his as his mind catches up with his breathing. He begins to hear the other sounds of the common room that his mind had muted before during the yelling. The fire crackling away, the shuffling of everyone’s feet hitting the carpeted floors and the soft squish of leather giving beneath the other students weight. He feels Hermione curls bounce on his face sticking his nose making him scrunch it up to avoid sneezing all over his dearest friend. The entire time Harry is getting himself under control Hermione is slowly running her fingers up and down his arm squeezing it at various intervals when it seems like he might be starting to panic again. Once he’s fully back to himself he raises the hand not currently trapped by her arm and squeezes her hand. Hermione lifts her head from his shoulder and turns her head to look at him, “You back with us Harry?”
“Yeah ‘Mione you fixed me right up as usual.”
She lets out a tiny smile before turning her head back towards the rest of the house. “Now one at a time if you have questions for Harry you can ask them but if any of you start spouting lies or demeaning his character in any way I won’t hesitate to show you the latest spell I learned during my trip to the restricted section.”
Angelina is the first to speak up, “Did you know that you had more family? I thought you lived with your muggle aunt and uncle was that a lie?”
“It wasn’t a lie I did live with them, and no I didn’t know I had anyone else in my family. Given neither did Tony until this blasted competition. He was all apologetic about it too.”
“Do you even realize the mountain of fame you just got dropped on?” That was Seamus again.
“No but also how do you know so much about him I know your dads a muggle but I didn’t think he cared overly much for technology to know that much about it?”
“Are you saying you don’t even know who your new guardian is?” Surprisingly this time it was Hermione.
“I know his name is Tony Stark. He has a couple of lordships and a decent amount of vaults in Gringotts. He lives in America. That’s about it why am I supposed to know more?”
“Harry he’s one of the most famous muggles to ever exist. Well not so muggle I guess considering he’s related to you but back on track he’s constantly on the television he’s the owner of the top energy and electronics company in the world. And he’s a superhero.”
“Superhero? Like those muggle movies and stories for kids?” One of the purebloods in seventh year asks. “Aren’t those all fake? Just stories to get kids to behave or teach morals and crap?”
“No there’s a lot of stuff that muggle studies teaches that isn’t true about the muggle world. Like exactly how far they’re advanced and how far behind them we are. And stories like superhero’s don’t really reach the magical world because a lot of people don’t believe muggles are capable of stuff like that.”
“Isn’t he endangering the statute of secrecy by going about being a superhero?”
“No because he’s not a hero that has powers he just flies around in a suit he created. I’ve been dying to ask him about the arc reactor for ages but my parents refuse to take me to New York until I’m 16 next September.”
“You’re telling me muggles know how to fly?”
“They’ve been flying for years. I mean Tony Stark is one of the most advanced minds of our time so he’s a special case when it comes to his suit but we’ve had planes and helicopters for decades now.”
“So what are you going to live in New York now? Leave Hogwarts? What about the tournament I bet you got all sorts of special treatment because of your new guardian didn’t you Potter?” Seamus sneers in Harry’s direction molten fire in his eyes.
“I’m living with him in the summer but I’m not leaving Hogwarts. And yeah Seamus I got some special treatments for the death tournament that I didn’t want to even be in in the first place because I’m a child and shouldn’t be held accountable for someone else wanting me dead. I’ve always known you all blow hot and cold towards me but that’s no excuse for how you’ve treated me since my name came out of the goblet and honestly I’m done. I’m done searching for friendships with people who turn on me at the slightest sign of bad weather. I’m going to the dorms now. It's been a long day and I refuse to talk to any of you for another second. Hermione, we'll talk in the library tomorrow after breakfast.” Harry heads up the stairs towards the dorms after nodding to Hermione and the Weasley twins, closing the curtains around his bed with a sticking charm so nobody in his dorm could open them.
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The next morning comes all too quickly for Harry especially considering he barely slept at all, too many thoughts floating around his head and concerns about the death games he’s now apart of. He carefully undoes the sticking charm and pulls open his curtains noticing that the rest of his dorm mates are still sleeping. He quietly shifts about the room collecting everything he needs for the day before slipping out of the room towards the showers. It’s almost a record time for how fast he takes his shower and gets ready for the day, heading out of the common room towards the library as soon as he’s done. He knows Hermione almost better than he knows himself at this point and she’s almost always first in the library before she even attends breakfast. He knows she’ll find him there because she knows him.
Once Harry makes it to the library he beelines towards the back corner where the biggest fireplace sits and sits in the fluffy chair closest to it. Within a few minutes of sitting down he hears footsteps skipping closer and smiles to himself despite the mood he’s in. “Hey Luna. I should’ve known you’d be here too. I’m guessing you’re not here to ask questions though you usually know everything before being told.”
“Hello Harry. The wrackspurts were in the dorms again so I came here. They don’t usually hang around the books the scent makes them itch. The first task is coming up quickly is your guardian coming back so you can learn what it is and prepare for it?”
“Tony should be here soon he’s got to meet with the other headmasters first and Bagman but that shouldn’t go too long Mrs. Bones said she was going to send them each a letter with the revised contract in it last night so it’s not like they won’t know ahead of time. I’m just waiting for Hermione because I know she’ll have question. Did the wrackspurts happen to see her on your way here? Or know when she’ll get here?”
“She shouldn’t be too far behind me we should sit and wait for her I like watching the fire it helps to concentrate.”
“Sure Luna let’s sit and watch then.”
It didn’t take long for Hermione to arrive. She appeared in a flurry of robes and bushy hair as she flung herself at him strangling him in some approximation of a bear hug. Harry will be pulling small hairs out of his robes for hours now but that’s fine at least he knows Hermione is still on his side.
“Oh are we hugging? I love hugging scooch over Mione.” Luna says before diving on Harry’s other side. He’s so touched by the movement of his two best friends making sure he feels loved that he notices wetness pooling in the corners of his eyes. He squeezes them again pushing his head closer to theirs as he lets himself fall apart briefly in the comfort of their arms like he never has before.
The three friends sit like that together for awhile watching the flames dance in the fireplace as Harry’s tears slowly came to a stop and he no longer felt like he was breaking apart from the inside out. He pulled back and wiped a hand down his face turning to face Hermione, “I imagine you have actual important questions Mia?”
“Is he nice? Do you think he’ll treat you better than the dursleys do? Nothing is more important to me than making sure you’re safe if you have another option away from them.”
“He seems nice. Nicer than the dursleys at least though the bar is on the ground there. He’s got a son a little older than us who seems to be well taken care of he was talking back and messing around and Tony didn’t do anything or say anything to him that had me concerned. We didn’t get to talk much though I guess he gets migraines he was sick most of the afternoon Tony had to bring him through the floo after we were done at the ministry because he couldn’t walk himself.”
“Oh that’s horrible migraines aren’t any fun I imagine he’s in a lot of pain. Hopefully you’ll get another chance to talk with him before summer since you’ll be living together.”
“They’re staying until after the tournament is done I think. At least Tony is I guess I’ll have to ask if it’s both of them or just him. I’d hate to keep him away from school for an entire year just to make sure I don’t die in some bloody games.”
“I wonder if Dumbledore will let him study with us if he has course work sent to him like what Durmstrang and Beouxbatons are doing.”
“I doubt it I don’t think Dumbledore is too pleased any of this is happening. He’ll probably look for the first excuse to send them both away that he can.”
“I hate it when you’re right Harry. But at least he seems good to you. Better than all the junky gossip rags have to say at least and none of them mention him having any children so at least you won’t be in the spotlight with him like you would be here.”
“I’ll cheers to that. If we want to make breakfast before the rest of Gryffindor wakes up we’d better get moving now. I’d like to get breakfast over with as soon as possible. Especially if that means little to no interaction with the rest of our house.”
“You can’t avoid them forever Harry. I understand and I respect your decision but you live with them it’ll be next to impossible not to interact with them at all in the next 3 years.”
“That sounds like a challenge. Which I accept. Luna are you eating with us today or are you sticking around here?”
“I am in the mood for some jam and toast let’s go together.”
Harry manages to successfully avoid the rest of Gryffindor house during breakfast and the few hours after that before the scheduled meeting with the other headmasters and Bagman. Hermione is pretty sure it’s thanks to his invisibility cloak and the map but she can’t really complain given how the rest of their house has treated him the entire time he’s been at Hogwarts. She hopes that everything works out for him this year but knows how unlikely it is given the entire history of their schooling here.