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When Peter dies on Titan he doesn't think of what comes next.
Privately, he hopes that this is a lie and next moment he'll be back home, waking up, this day never having happened.
But when he does wake up, he's not in his bed. He's not even in New York. Not even in USA or his own time.
Reality, for that matter.
Peter doesn't put much thought in it, he figured the Infinity Stones had messed up the fabric of reality itself. And messed so bad he ended up in some kind of magic land. He wonders where Quill and Guardians ended up at.
He sometimes thinks of Tony's terrified expression as he was disintegrating in his arms and doesn't want to know what happened to him, alone and injured on that planet.
But what happened to him, Peter Parker, is that he, quite frankly, wakes up in an honest to god magic castle. To a Gandalf look alike peering down at him. And next thing Peter knew he was catered off to this morbid house full of wizards and kids his age, all wizards, right at the beginning of some kind of magical war.
Everybody acts like Peter should be feeling like a fish out of water, but truth to be told, Peter has been a fish out of water for a long while now, so his superpowers considered, he feels like he fits right in.
Also some of these kids are super smart and he loves learning about magic from them.
Somehow the owner of the house (his name is Sirius Black, you get it? SERIOUS BLACK, SERIOUSLY MOODY MAN) starts paying attention to him, for real, not like Mrs Weasley who apparently looks at everyone but doesn’t look too carefully, or like Gandalf-Dumbledore, who Peter suspects only looks at people like chess pieces, but Serious Man really looks at Peter and sees how genuinely Peter is terrified of the situation.
And it's not like Serious does anything, he mostly invites Peter to hang out with him and Mr McWolfe late at night and they talk about the whole fish out of water thing. Peter is happy to tell Lupin about Bruce Banner and Hulk, tho, once he learns that werewolves are apparently real. It seems to cheer Mr Wolfe MCWolfe a bit. Peter’s happy he cheered him, because the whole Werewolves Are Bad rhetoric makes his skin crawl, and he’s fast to inform him of that.
And then arrives him.
Harry's been a constant presence in the house even if he weren't physically there. Peter heard a great deal about his deeds from his friends, especially from Ron with whom he often played chess. Actually, after hearing stories about what Harry, Ron and Hermione got up to in their leisure time, Peter is amazed by these kids. Like. He only started doing superhero stuff two years ago and his biggest gigs were insofar Germany and Vulture guy. And Titan. But they've been straight up taking on dark overlords since age of eleven??? Spider-Man is just a tiiiiny bit jealous.
But yeah, then Harry arrives, and Peter is shuddering at the look of him, because Harry feels (and makes everyone else feel) what Peter realistically should be feeling as well, after, you know, fighting Thanos and almost dying, and yeah, watching other people die.
But when Peter is fine, Harry obviously isn't.
And being stuck in this morbid, grim (do yuo get it? Grim??? Grimmauld Place, how cool is that?) house, Harry and Peter end up spending a lot of time together, hiding from the bustle of the house.
"Do you have anyone waiting at home for you?" Harry asks one day, and it's the first time Peter has allowed himself to really think about what has happened. He thinks about Ned, about MJ, he thinks painfully about May. Did any of them survive? Are they waiting for him? What if they, like him, disintegrated? He thinks about Tony, who most definitely didn't disintegrate, but who was stuck on a barren planet, all alone.
"I don't-- I don't know," and he's choking on air, all of it weighting on him. It feels like he's back to the collapsed warehouse, stuck under broken mortar. It kinda feels like his fingers are turning to ash again.
Suddenly Harry's terrified face is in front of him: "Hey, I'm sorry, it's fine, you're fine!"
"No it's NOT," Peter answers vehemently, fighting back tears. "I don't know whether any of them is even ALIVE. I don't know what Thanos did to them! I only know what happened to me! Do you get that? I don't know shit and it's terrifying."
Harry gives him an odd look, but then he's standing up, oh god, did he offend him, how does he apologise when he can’t even breath in, oh, he’s pulling Peter up with him.
"Kitchen. Now."
And they quietly sneak down the stairs, past the portrait of the really mean lady, and into the kitchen, where Harry unceremoniously dumps a whole bag of chocolate in front of Peter.
"Eat. You'll feel better."
"Big expert, huh," Parker bites out, but there's no real sting in his words. He starts eating a wiggly chocolate frog, and thinks this is one step away from drinking alone and crying.
"I am, actually," Harry replies, and takes a bite of chocolate as well. "I don't think my problems consist of a purple guy who killed half a universe, but in June I watched a man who killed my parents come back to life, kill my friend before my eyes and declare a start of a new wizarding war. And also I've spent most of summer with my relatives who hate me, literally without any news, waiting for the said war to start. 'Harry, I wish we could write you'," Potter mimics Hermione's voice. "So I guess I get what you feel."
They are quiet for a while, Peter pondering over Potter's words. It's weird, this whole magic world. He's been reading History of Magic, and Daily Prophet, and asking questions about how this world works, and he still doesn't understand so many things. And it seems like nobody wants to question their world? Like, even Hermione, who was the only one with whom Peter could talk about normal life. They have so many means to change things, to improve things, and they decide to write snide articles about a teenager? And it’s fine, and whole nation thinks it alright?
But Harry's here feeding him chocolate and they are having a weird heart to heart, and he's wearing a ratty T, and Peter is so tired of constantly pretending it's fine , he's crackling along the seams.
Fucking chocolate isn't helping.
Peter starts crying. He's doubling over the chair, almost hiding under the table, hugging himself. It feels-- like when Ben died, but somehow even worse because he doesn't know if May and Ned and MJ and Mr Stark are dead, and he's got no way of knowing! "It's not-- it's not fair," he wheezes out, not really caring about his surroundings. He ends up sitting on the floor, and Harry's continuously rubbing his shoulder, seemingly at a loss of what to say.
It takes Peter a long while to calm down, and against what everybody's ever told him about feeling better after a good cry, he feels awful. But there's no judgement on Harry's face when he hands him a glass of water, and then helps him up.
And there's no judgement on his face, just a gut-wrenching understanding when at the door to Peter's room Peter grabs Harry's hand and doesn't have words to say what he means. Peter is older than Harry by almost a year, but somehow he ends up with Harry being the big spoon, and somehow it's significant for people their age. But Peter feels that Harry gives what Harry himself has no words of asking for himself: understanding and comfort. He wows to thank Harry. But now, he's comfortable and his eyes are getting heavy, Harry's weith at his back a soothing presence.
Maybe it could've turned awkward, but it doesn't. Peter still lives in the dark house, helps everyone to clean it, helps to listen on adult talk, his spidey hearing perfect for eavesdropping.
He spends a lot of time with other kids, and they all get along fantastically, and for the lack of anything else to do, he studies their textbooks and freaking loves magic, even tho some chapters in History of Magic make his hair stand on ends, how eerily similar the wars in wizarding world are to normal humans’.
Harry and he have crossed some invisible line, and there's warmth and understanding between them. The night before Harry's hearing they end up sleeping together again, but it's Peter now who's comforting Harry now, who's so terrified of being kicked out of the world that both loves and hates him so much. Peter feels that Harry doesn’t really believe he’s to stay in this world, like the other boy is constantly afraid they might tell him goodbye and close the door at his nose. Right now it’s a real possibility.
When Harry returns back from Ministry, both triumphant and angry, Peter kisses him. For a moment the other boy looks like he might flee, but then Harry is kissing him back, and they spend few minutes like that, until Serious opens the door to the room they are hiding in.
"I--"
"We--'
"What--"
But the look on Sirius' face is that of pure delight, and he laughs, ruffles Harry hair and says "I won't tell anyone". When he closes the door again, Harry is bright red but smiling a small pleased smile.
They leave the room soon after because the mood was ruined, but the rest of the day was still good. In evening, tho, Peter was approached by Sirius, looking, well, Serious.
Turns out Gandalf-Dumbledore wanted to talk to him. And Peter already knew the old wizard was avoiding Harry, so he bristled on his behalf at that.
"I think we should be looking for a less temporary solution for you, Mr Parker," the old man said. "You need to think what you are going to do."
"Oh, no need, sir. Tony will find me soon." As soon as Peter says that he regrets it. He doesn't know if Tony is even looking for him. If he's alive to look for him.
The look Gandalf gives him is all too knowing and Peter bites back an angry retort.
"Be as it may, I think we could try to pass you off as an exchange student."
"How?" Sirius and McWolfe say at the same time, and Peter is too busy thinking 'Great. Another kind of pretending'.
"How can you possibly make it work?" McWolfe asks incredulously.
"Why are you doing that?" Peter interrupts him, the magnitude of planning school year making him feel cold. It's too soon, it's too final, he's not-- "But-- But you said Hogwarts is invisible to muggles... How will Mr Stark-- How will I be able to even see it?"
He knows he's babbling nervously, but he's too far gone to care. Gandalf replies calmly "Mr Stark's inventions work on Grimmauld Place territory, which is a reason enough to believe they will work on Hogwarts premises. This is the reason why I think it would be possible to pose you as an exchange student. As for the seeing part, muggles who are uninvited cannot see it. Someone brought into the castle can see it."
"Wh-wh-why would I even need to go to your school?"
"Because, Mr Parker, I believe it would be safer for you to be amongst your peers."
"You just want to keep an eye on him," Mr Lupin grumbles.
"I do," Gandalf agreed easily. "But we do not have resources to send you back, Mr Parker, and you are already too exposed to our world, and to Order of the Phoenix, and setting you up in a muggle world is too much of a risk both for you and us. And I do not believe that locking a boy your age in this house is a good thing."
'You did not have a problem of locking Harry away at his relatives',' Peter thinks furiously, and by the look on Sirius' face he's thinking same thing.
But at that point Sirius agrees with Dumbledore, and Mr Lupin as well, and Peter is forced to admit he really would like to be with his new friends, rather with just Seriously Moody Man.
And so that is how Peter finds himself on Hogwarts Express on September 1st, as an exchange student from a small prival NYC school, with a fake wand, that he had made himself with help of Mr McWolfe and Serious, that can make most of basic “spells” work in case of emergency. It’s all intricate mechanics and hadn’t Peter worked with Tony at his workshop as much as he did, he wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. Still, Peter is not to attend any truly magic classes, only those classes where he doesn't need to wave wand in order to make things happen. He is told he should be in 6th year, but all of his friends are in 5th, so they’ll call it educational differences and he’ll attend 5th year classes so that Harry, Ron and Hermione can help out with the cover story.
Watching the castle appear from the horizon for the first time is breathtaking, and Peter is sure he's never seen a castle this big before, not even in Germany, but it's bitter and scary. Peter doesn't want to go to school. He wants back home, to May and Tony.
Instead he gets to sit in the Great Hall and listen to that... pink-clad woman prattle about changes. He's not dumb, and Hermione's words confirm his suspicions: she's not here to teach them. She's here as a government spy.
Come to think of it, she reminds him of that general Ross Tony keeps complaining about.
And that first night in Hogwarts Peter finally sees what effect Daily Prophet’s fear-mongering has done: Harry's classmate who used to be his friend for four years has turned on him.
In next few days, Peter sees people either vehemently supporting Harry, or turning his back on him.
All of them stare with curiosity at Peter, though, asking endless questions.
Peter chucks it all up to studying in a small school and tells them a lot of Weird Shit. It's one of things he really enjoys. That, and spending time with his friends, especially Harry.
And he's trying to ignore his grief and fear as best as he can. He’s Spider-Man, he can't have breakdowns every other week!
But then he's in class with the Umbridge woman for the first time, and she says these awful things, and predictably Harry is arguing with her, and Ron and Hermione are backing him up, and who’s Peter to watch a teacher bully a student? So the class descends into chaos and Umbridge cannot contain them, so she dismisses them early, Harry getting a detention with her.
That's how they roll.
Sometimes, when it really is bad, Peter escapes through the dormitory window and climbs the roofs, and sits hidden from everybody's eyes. He imagines a wormhole akin to the one in 2012 opening and Tony flying through it, sun shining off Iron Man's red and gold suit.
But it never heppens.
"Can you help me with ancient runes?" Peter asks Hermione, because she's best at them, and he's a little humiliated to sit with thirteen year olds in the class, and he wants to race the class and be placed in Hermione's class next term. It’s doable, he already did that with Arismathy: Hermione showed him basics during summer and by the time the fall rolled he was same level with her. He sees she's jealous of his understanding of numbers, but that's where he really has advantage over her. Aristhmathy isn't very different from trig and physics, except for results, off course. So it’s one of few classes Peter isn’t faking at. He really is just that good.
Other classes are not too bad either, but it's runes that get him the most. It’s a whole different language, you can’t fake it like you can Herbology.
He's an oddity in school that's for sure, but he's somewhat shaded by Harry's fame, and soon the whispers shift from "that american kid" to "that american kid who tags after Harry Potter." Peter is made fun of by Slytherins, and he gets sour faces and scathing criticism from potion master Snape, but it's nothing he hadn't dealt with before. And anyway, he's still in a magic school! Having a secret almost nobody knows about! That's exciting, right?
Peter gets a detention with Umbridge. He cannot stand by and just watch her slander Harry and every person who's so far helped him with such a blatant lie. So he gets a detention. He doesn't think writing lines is that bad, but apparently Harry didn't mention that writing lines means literally self harming.
Peter is so shocked, he gets up, takes his bag and walks out of Umbridge’s office, ignoring her yelling. He walks to professor McGonagall's office (the head of Gryffindor) and tells her what Umbridge is doing. But to his horror, McGonagall shakes her head and tells him she can't do anything. She knows about situation, she already went to Dumbledore, she wrote to Ministry, but Umbridge is Minister Fudge's right hand, she can. do. whatever. she. wants.
"But we are kids, right? They are letting them slice kids open? What kind of bullshit is that?" And apparently McGonagall feels very strongly about this as well because she doesn't even acknowledge Peter's foul language.
"Mr Parker, these children are my priority. Do you honestly think that if I were able to stop that-- woman I wouldn't? But if she fires me, who is going to look after you? Snape? Dumbledore?"
And she's making a convincing argument, so Peter thanks her for explaining the situation and goes back to Gryffindor common room. When he sees Harry he grabs his hand and with all of his enhanced strength drags him up the stairs to the dormitory, Ron hot on their hills.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Harry hisses back, trying to get his hand back free. No chance, because Peter once lifted a whole building, he won't let some scrawny kid go so easily. So Peter drags his hand up and rips off the sleave of Harry's robe, revealing thin scars "I must not tell lies" that decorate the back of his hand.
"About this! She's evil! She's making us cut words into our own skin and even McGonagall can't do anything about it!"
"You went to McGonagall?!" Harry exclaims and Ron chimes in: "Of course he went to McGonagall, blood quills are illegal! Good on you, Peter."
"Thanks, Ron."
"Why the hell you didn't go McGonagall?" Ron turns to his best friend, and Harry looks furiously at both Peter and Ron.
"And what, give her satisfaction of being weak?!"
Peter drops Harry's hand like it stung him. "I didn't go to her because I'm weak! I went to her because Umbridge is abusing her power over kids! She shouldn't be allowed to do that! That's wrong!"
"And are you going to fight every wrong thing?!" Harry is full on shouting, but Peter is having none of that and shouts back.
"YES, BECAUSE I GOT SUPERPOWERS AND SOMEBODY HAS TO LOOK OUT FOR THE LITTLE GUY AND IF YOU THINK IT'S SHAMEFUL TO ASK FOR HELP THAN IT'S YOUR FREAKING PROBLEM!" And with that he leaves. Through the window. Ron and Harry never seen him do that before and their screams ring after him as he's webbing his way up and away.
He doesn't know why Harry's reaction shakes him so much. But it does. And Peter realises that for all he feels like collapsing onto himself, Harry is collapsing. And Peter has read enough on mental health, discussed it enough with Ned and MJ to know that Harry silently taking Umbridge's detentions is a form of survivor's guilt.
In a moment of clarity Peter thinks back to Tony, to everything he knows about him, and realises that everything Mr Stark has done since his captivity 10 years ago is a form of survivor's guilt.
Peter doesn't know what to do with this revelation, so he quietly descends down to the main entrance and walks up to the Gryffindor tower like he hadn't left it through a damn window.
He's met with paper-white faces of Ron and Harry and a wide-eyed Hermione.
"I told you I am Spider-Man," he grumbles and pushes past them, but Hermione is having none of it. "You can't just leave through the window! You scared us!"
"Well. Harry and his issues should scare you way more," he answers and then successfully flees, having shifted blame and Hermione's scorn on Harry.
He'll talk with Harry in the morning, will try to help him, but right now he just wants to sleep.
Harry is a pain about accepting help, but at least Peter makes him promise to try.
"That’s more than either of us had succeeded over the years," Ron tells him quietly. Peter likes Ron; he reminds him of Ned.
But his stint with Umbridge doesn't go unpunished: the woman makes him to go to detentions for months, and by the time December rolls even his superhealing isn't helping anymore. It's the first scar he's had since being bitten and it scares him. But the words "I must not fight back" are now firmly etched onto his hand.
There's one more secret to Peter's collection: Dumbledore's Army. Of course he joins when Hermione rolls out the idea and Harry agreed and so many other kids show up, ready to fight and wanting to know how to. So many kids who won’t stand by injustice happening right in front of them.
But it's tough because, well, he can't do magic. And he's going beyond and above himself trying to modify his fake wand so that it passes for a real one. Privately, he thinks Tony should be proud of his clever engineering and inventions, because between managing to make it work most of defensive and assaulting spells and conveniently failing in everything else, nobody ever bats a wrong eye at Peter. They just figure he’s bad at anything that isn’t hit and shield.
And Peter teaches DA how to punch.
"If all else fails, there's no shame in going for the balls," he tells those kids who probably don't know how to use a regular phone.
And so it goes. The situation is... hard. There's so much pressure on Peter, so many hinges on him not getting caught. He doesn't want to imagine what happens if Umbridge finds out he's a muggle.
And Harry. Peter knows he's steadily falling in love with him, and it terrifies him, because this all becomes normal. He doesn't want this to be normal. He wants May! And Ned! And MJ! They are his normal!
But at the same time it's only Harry who's real comfort in the situation, probably because Harry feels so many similar emotions he can't help but try to both give and take comfort off Peter. Somehow, they make it work. And by Christmas everything is almost fine. Peter is almost happy.
And then Harry wakes up screaming, screaming about Ron's dad, and in few hours he and all of the Weasleys are no longer in Hogwarts, and Peter is, and he and Hermione know nothing. The following week is agonising because nobody tells them anything. The only solace is that Umbridge is angry as hell for being left of the loop too.
When Christmas break finally rolls, Peter... does probably the hardest thing he's ever had to do. He had talked a lot with Hermione, and they had worked on this project for quiet a few weeks. It helps that Mr Stark had told him all about B.A.R.F. project.
Peter goes with Hermione to her home and helps her erase her parents' memories of her. He doesn't agree with her decision, but. He understands her. And knows she can't do that on her own.
Later, when they are riding bus towards Grimm House, Hermione spends the whole ride crying on his shoulder, but by the time they reach the hidden house she's calm and collected, no hint of effect of what she has had to do. Peter both admires and resents her.
But then they arrive to the grim house.
Everyone is a mess. Mrs Weasley can barely hold a conversation from the worry about her husband, Weasley kids walk like ghosts, Serious is basically holding the whole household on himself, like he’s a trophy wife or something (he seems to be enjoying that, though). Harry is nowhere to be seen. Peter and Hermione take one look at the state of things, take a look at each other, then Peter grabs Ginny, Hermione grabs Ron and they drag them to where Harry is hiding at where they pull all the truth about what had happened out and why the fresh hell Harry decided it’s all his fault. But then Ginny grills Harry about her own experience with possessions (Ginny?? was possessed?? by an evil diary?? At this point Peter thinks he really should stop being surprised by anything) and Harry is reluctant to admit that he probably didn’t attack her dad in Department of Mysteries. Which is, you know, in a different part of Great Britain from Hogwarts. But that was Harry. Peter was used to this by now. Hell, to an extent Peter was just the same.
When the night falls and everyone should be sleeping, Peter and Harry spend the night talking in Peter’s dimly lit room, sharing their deepest fears and darkest secrets. It’s a nice Christmas Eve.
The whole of Christmas Day Peter spends busying himself with whatever he can, if only not to think about his family.
When Mrs Weasley takes everyone to the magic hospital to see Mr Weasley, Peter doesn't expect to be invited as well, but he is. Turns out he should've stayed at home. The image of Neville's parents shakes him, it reminds him of Mr Strange's screams, it reminds him of Germany, of Ben, of the fact he still doesn't know whether his family is alive. He feels bad about making it about himself, but when they are back home he has another meltdown, not even alone, but in the living room, while they are playing exploding snap. At least there are no adults, but he still feels ashamed about crying around so many of his friends. He doesn't think he has ever cried in front og MJ before. But Fred and George start to make jokes about each other, and Ginny starts remembering all the times she watched her brothers cry, making Ron’s ears turn red and the twins roar in mock offence.
And so after that, it's the first time he's using his Spider-Man wristbands not for fooling everyone into believing he's a wizard. It's late at night, and he's safely in Harry's arms, Ron and Hermione playing chess nearby, and Peter misses his real home so much he softly says "Karen, please show me May."
"Who's Karen--" Harry starts to say, but Karen is already projecting the video from last Christmas of him and May decorating the tree, May's soft laugh and mean Italian. Their bad rendition of “Last Christmas”.
"Show Ned and MJ," he says after he's watched his fill. Harry Ron and Hermione are barely breathing, watching his stupid videos with him. Karen shows the mock sith battle he had with Ned when he broke his lightsaber, MJ laughing, then taking out her own lightsaber and annihilating Peter, making an amazing yoda impression. It is a good memory.
"Show Tony," Peter whispers, and Karen starts one of the last videoblogs he made, in Tony's workshop. Peter had forgotten how easy it was to videoblog with Tony, and how fun it was to tinker with his tech. Somehow he had forgotten how untroubled Tony always looked when he was around, despite quite literally carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Karen, show Titan."
"No," it's the first time Harry spoke since Peter started playing vids. "Karen, turn it off. Don't show him how he almost died."
"Mr Potter, I wholeheartedly agree with you," Karen replies in pleasant voice and the hologram dissolves.
And Peter doesn't even get mad, even tho he wants to. But Harry is hugging him, and suddenly Hermione is hugging him from another side, and Ron joins the pile. "We've got you, Peter," Harry says. 'But I want to go home,' Peter doesn't reply.
They go back to school. It's... fine for a while. DA is going great, they keep away from Umbridge. When Umbridge sacks Harry, Fred and George from quidditch team, Peter tries out for a seeker and gets the place. No wonder. He does have super senses. "This way we do have chance at winning!" Ginny punches his shoulder in a friendly manner. She's their new beater now. Even Harry is happy for Peter, despite him having almost daily detentions at Umbridge's office.
It's fine, but sometimes Peter notices Snape giving him a strange stare. Like he's trying to see into him but can't quiet accomplish it.
"It's because the git knows we're dating," Harry says when Peter voices this. "Bloody legilimency. I can't get a hang of it."
It's a little terrifying that freaking Snape knows the are dating, but Peter doesn't think about it much. He doesn't care about his opinion, especially considering he will be leaving soon. Tony will find him.
When Umbridge learns of DA, leading to Dumbledore’s epic exit and Umbridge’s subsequent appointment as Hogwarts Headmistress, the dismantles DA lives through the dark times. Looking at his now-permanent scars and watching similar scars appear on every DA’s member hand, Peter cannot help but think that Marietta Edgecombe’s ‘SNEAK’ face decoration is a small punishment. The girl will have her face all cleared in a year or so, and had not Dumbledore taken all the blame on himself, it could have ended so much worse for them.
And yet, its a sucker punch for Harry, for whom DA became an outlet, a project he was very proud of. Peter tells him Harry’s done a lot nonetheless, that his work planted good seeds, that these kids now have a chance of survival when the war truly starts. Peter gives Harry all the comfort he can, all the comfort Harry needs. They spend most nights spooning in each other’s beds, and thankfully no one in their dormitory minds.
It’s not like Peter hadn’t noticed Dean and Seamus sneaking around.
When Fred and George triumphantly leave Hogwarts, Peter can't help but add to the general mayhem that begins. He keeps webbing things up and his formula is so strong magic doesn't cut it. Peter is very proud of it. And Umbridge can't trace it back to him! You take it, evil woman! Friendly neighborhood spiderling can be a vengeful menace!
Then exams roll.
Then exams roll and Peter keeps wondering why the fuck he's trying so hard. Is it a nerd in him that wants good marks that much? A perfectionist? A scared American teen who thinks that not having a 100 in every single class is a death sentence to his future? He's sitting through seven O.W.L.s (what a stupid name, but still better that S.A.T.), ancient runes included. Yes, he had learned 3 years worth of a class in one term and has been in Hermione's class since after Christmas.
It's so weird that he's really competing here with best students in the school, and he's not even a wizard! Peter is sure that a study on his case would make a fascinating paper, but he doesn't quiet hves time to study Muggle-wizard relations deeper than what textbook and everyday exposure give him.
But he also has been studying this hard to avoid thinking. Spring is full of Big Days for him. May's birthday, Ned's Birthday. Ben's death anniversary. First time he met Mr Stark. Titan.
The date he died on Titan and the date when he appeared in Hogwarts doesn't match, and despite being 25 years in the past, Peter can't help but think he's lost a month. That somebody robbed a whole month from him.
So on the year anniversary of Titan Peter trains until Angelina forces him down from broom, and then he studies until Ron and Harry drag him away from books. As usual, Neville, Dean and Seamus don’t mention a thing when in the morning they find three of them huddled on Harry's bed.
So Peter sits through exams. Somehow they feel so final, like so many things in the last eleven months. It's like his roots are starting to grow when all Peter wants is to cut them loose and run.
But he cannot.
Harry has a vision in the middle of History of Magic exam, and shortly after their gang of seven is making plans on breaking into Ministry of Magic nonetheless. Go big or go home.
When Umbridge takes Harry and Hermione into Forbidden Forest the fight between DA and Malfoy with his cronies is swift and dirty. Ginny's boogeybat jinx is amazing, as is Luna's technique to incapacitate the foe, and Peter webbs the other boys together in Umbridge's office for good measure.
When they find Harry and Hermione, Harry is nearly mad with worry. Peter can't blame him. He's seen Cruciatus results on Neville's parents and he doesn't want that fate to befall Sirius, a man who's shown so much support to him in the first few months here. Besides, Sirius means to Harry as much as Tony means to Peter and Peter knows that if it were down to him to save Tony he’d do anything. He’d take on Thanos alone.
So they fly to the ministry and successfully get inside. But the moment they enter the doors of Department of Mysteries, Peter's Spidey senses shoot off the roof. "This Moldywart guy is probably here," he says, and a shudder goes through their little group.
Voldemort isn't there. Nor is Sirius. But several Death Eaters are, and they are surrounding them rapidly.
Neville almost loses it at the sight of the woman who tortured his parents and her mad cackling at Neville's reaction is infuriating.
Draco Malfoy's father attacks them and Peter jumps high and fights from above. But he's forced to come down when he sees Ginny and Luna are in trouble. He uses his fake wand because he did put a lot of work in it and some of its features make it an effective assault weapon, but it's still not as good as if he were in a suit. He's wearing it underneath his robe, but he gets no freaking chance to put on the hood until they are falling down off one of the doors into the hall with the archway. While his friends fall down he shoots a web up and ends up on the ceiling, far above his friends being apprehended by remaining Death Eaters. He pulls on his hood and activates the Incapacitate Fast with Zippers protocol. But before he has change to act, Sirius Black himself, half of Order on hsi heels storm the room and Peter joins the fight, tazing Death Eaters and webbing them so they can't fight. Oh how he missed fighting in the suit!
He has his little moment of glory when he jumps in-between the duel of Lestrange and Serious, and ripping the wand out of her hands, webbs her to the weird archway.
"Merlin's balls," Seriously Moody Guy swears. "You really are good at this, Parker."
"Friendly neighborhood spiderling at your service!"
"Sirius! Help!" Harry's yell is resounding in the dying noises of the battlefield, and Sirius and Peter turn around and watch with horror as Malfoy's father bodily drags Harry away, wand to Harry's temple.
Later Peter doesn't know how Gandalf, who was behind him, was first at the atrium, but by the time Peter arrived there, he was already dueling Voldemort. With horror Peter watched Voldemort literally posses Harry, and as he dropped to his knees near his convulsing and screaming boyfriend, the wrong eyes were looking out of Harry's skull.
"Harry, please!" Sirius begged from right beside Peter. Together they tried to stop Harry's thrashing so he wouldn't hurt himself, but Voldemort's presence was too much of pain for the other boy.
By the time Voldemort left Harry's body, Peter's hood was soaked with his tears, and Sirius's hands were shaking as he was hugging Harry close.
And that's how Peter's battle in the Ministry went. It wasn't a totally pointless battle, even if Sirius had never been in any danger, but they did stop several Death Eaters, and prevented Voldemort from getting the prophecy and, most importantly, exposed Voldemort to the Dumbass Minister and several other ministry workers, making it impossible for Minister Dumbass to hush-hush the situation any longer.
And nobody was on the death's doorstep, which Peter counted as a huge win. Even Hermione's injury hadn't marred their tentative triumph.
In the days after they returned to Hogwarts, the first anniversary of Peter being in this weird magic world rolled.
Peter hurts, Peter wants to rage, because the whole year has passed and Tony was supposed to have found him by now. He's dead, then, because Peter doesn't see any reason to why Mr Stark would have left him for so long.
He moped the whole morning.
"I'm losing American accent," he tells at the Gryffindor table during lunch. Hermione is already healthy, Ginny's leg long healed, and Luna is sitting with them. Out of all his friends only she and Neville don't know about where he came from, but Peter thinks they probably suspect something.
"Come on," Harry gets up and offers Peter his hand. They leave Great Hall holding hands, uncaring of who sees them.
Harry leads them up, up, to the seven's floor, but instead of turning to Gryffindor tower, Peter realises that he's leading him to the Room of Requirement.
Peter and Harry lose their virginity on anniversary of Peter waking up in a strange world.
Somehow it isn't as groundbreaking as movies make it look.
And then the school year ends. Harry goes back to his abusive family, and Peter goes to the Grimm House, where Seriously Moody Guy isn't as Moody now, on account of having his name being cleared. It's a long process, tho, which is why Harry has to go to the Dursleys for a bit.
So for the first time in who knows how long Peter is pretty much left to his own devices. He's tinkering with his fake wand, and works on his Spider suits, but it's hard, with no computers. Sirius isn't much help either, but at least he knows more about mechanics than, say, oh, literally everybody else.
The wizarding world has turned on it heels: suddenly the Daily Prophet is no longer bullying Harry but sings anthems about him, publishes articles on self defence etc etc etc. It’s everything Order of the Phoenix has waited for during whole last year. For the world to believe that Voldemort is back.
The wizarding world is panicking big time, and Death Eaters are using their fear and apparent total unpreparedness to face the threat they pose. Peter with horror reads about what Moldywart the evil overlord is doing. A destroyed bridge? Gas explosions? Surge in depression levels and ergo suicides? It's all his doing.
At the same time when two weeks later Harry arrives to Ron's home, and consequently so do Peter and Sirius, the overall air is lighter. The whole past year was spent fighting everything from the shadows, knowing government was hell-bent on making them shut up. The scars on Peter's hand are still there, no less stark than the last time he went to his last detention.
"I must not fight back", pfft, Peter wants to laugh every time he reads them.
Summer goes on. It's way more fun to be able to go out and play quidditch, or just hang upside down from trees, which he does to great delight of everybody, except of Mrs Weasley who worries about him getting headache that way. He never does. He used to swing in Manhattan with its skyscrapers and was just fine.
It's fun and Peter doesn't even feel bad for thinking less and less about his former life, having figured out everyone he loves is either dead or lacks resources to get him back. Or thinks he is dead.
One day Peter writes letters to May, Ned, MJ and Tony, and burns them in a small fire in Weasley’s home garden. He sits, watching flames, for hours, until Harry finds him and wraps himself around Peter, saying nothing, just being there. Peter appreciates his silence, because what Harry can say? Yes, his parents are dead, but he had never lost his family like Peter did.
They celebrate Harry's birthday, and for a few weeks he and Harry are the same age. They are happy together and Peter loves him, Harry's apparent destiny to destroy or die trying to kill Moldywart not worrying Peter. But Peter is itching to go back to being a Spider-Man again. He figures he cannot pretend to be a wizard forever and somewhen in the future he'll be able to go back to being a friendly vigilant again. In England now. There’s no way he’s stepping on USA soil ever again. Butterfly effect and all that.
Last year Peter didn't celebrate his birthday, not caring enough about it in the wake of Titan. But he's turning 17 and as soon as Mrs Weasley learns about that she insists on throwing him a celebration: 17 is a big day for wizards. It annoys Peter to no end because 17 is a stupid number, and he doesn't even have a driving license yet.
Nor any kind of ID, for that matter. He wows he won't do it like wizards do, and confound every Muggle who wants them to comply with their rules. Both because it's unethical and because he's a Muggle himself and it’d be terribly hypocritical of him.
So it's August 11th and it's evening and everybody Peter has come to care about in the last year is here in, what Peter privately calls, Weasley Hobbit hole. It's a good affair, and Harry is laughing by his side. Sirius gifted Peter a watch, and for a moment everyone went quiet as if something significant had happened, and not just a gift exchange.
It's almost dark and the sun is setting, filling everything with golden lights when it happens. Peter's Spidey senses shoot off the rocket and he throws his head up, and sees it: a wormhole, just like in 2012, and just like he dreamt, Iron Man is swooping through it, golden twilight shining off the red and gold armour.
Before Peter fully realised what he's doing, he's speeding through Burrow premises, because the house is protected with the multitude of protective charms and spells which make it so that Tony CAN'T see him, CAN'T hear him. He sees it in the way Iron Man is hovering uncertainly over where the Burrow territories start.
Peter's fast and his friends are long behind him when he passes through the stretch of air that is cold and thick with magic and knows he's in the open, finally, FINALLY.
"TONY!" He screams, and Tony all but shoots towards him, landing only couple of paces before Peter. By the time Peter barrels into Tony's arms, the man has already shed his suit so it’s not the unforgiving metal that Peter runs into headfirst.
"Tony, Tony, thank god, I thought-- I thought," Peter's crying, clutching onto Tony desperately, and Tony is Real, he is Here, and he's hugging him just as strong.
"Peter, Peter, look at me, come on, buddy," Tony's saying and when Peter looks up at him he sees that the man's crying as well, but despite it, Tony cups Peter's face and thumbs the boy’s tears away. "I found you, I finally found you," he says as he kisses Peter's forehead before bringing the boy back into a warm, safe, embrace, tucking Peter's head under his chin.
"I thought you died, I thought-- I didn't know if May is alive--"
"She is, buddy, she's fine, everyone is fine, we defeated Thanos, and I Found You."
"What's going on?" Mrs Weasley's voice interrupts their little world, and Peter turns in Tony's arms to see everyone had caught up with him, and various adults are drawing wands.
"That's Tony Stark!" Ron exclaims and places himself between everyone and Peter and Tony. Hermione and Harry quickly follow suit. "Peter's told us about him, remember?"
The adults are still suspicious, but Peter doesn't care.
"How did you find me? How do we get back?"
"The wormhole will be opened from the other side in two hours," Tony answers. "I wanted to have a window in case I'll have to search for you."
"So you're leaving?" Now, it's Harry who speaks. Harry whom Peter had come to love.
"This is not my world, " he says softly. "I was never meant to be here."
Harry nods, hard resolve on his face. Peter is sad to leave him, but he means what he said: there is no place in this world for him.
"Who are these people?" Tony asks the crowd in general, because he doesn't know anyone and Peter feels protectiveness rolling off of him in waves.
It's so fucking funny, though, and Peter can't help but laugh, although his laughter dies when Tony's face is awashed with horror as the boy informs him he had crushed his seventeenth birthday party.
"But it's been only a few months in our world," Mr Stark whispers and when he's hugging him again the hand that is carding through Peter's hair is trembling. "I'm so sorry, Pete, I am so so sorry."
"It's fine, no, it's fine," it's so wrong that Mr Stark is apologising, and Peter won't have him do that, not now, not right now when the time with his friends is trickling through his fingers like sand, and Tony is here . "You said two hours? Come on, let's get back to the house, Mrs Weasley, do you have another chair?”
Of course Mrs Weasley has another chair and that's how Peter's party resumes, with Tony at his side, smiling brilliantly at everybody and thanking them for looking out for Peter when he couldn't.
It's all great, but then Tony notices scars on Peter's hand.
"What's this," he demands harshly, fear evident in his eyes. For Peter, it's a situation reversed, because many months ago he had asked Harry the same question and later that day had a revelation about Tony and his issues.
But unlike Harry, Peter fought against getting his hand sliced open every time. He tells as much Tony, who looks ready to kill, and Peter is fast to assure him Umbridge won't hurt him or anyone again. Assures Tony that had it been his choice he would never self harm.
And then the last hour comes, and it's a continuous goodbye, it's Peter getting his things packed, it's him hugging each of his friends, telling Ron he's the greatest friend imaginable, telling Hermione she's the strongest person his age he knows, kissing Ginny's cheek goodbye and highfiving Fred and George. It's taking out his fake wand and giving to Harry.
"In case something happens with you, you can always have this," he tells Harry because Harry is destined to kill an evil overlord and Peter had started coming to terms that he would be by his side for it. But he won't be. "Please take care of yourself," he begs his boyfriend instead and Harry nods curtly before kissing him, to surprised exclamations from those who didn't know they were together.
Harry gives him photos. The moving pictures they had made during Peter's stay in their world, a proof this was real. Peter looks at the photo of him, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Room of Requirement and his heart aches.
When the wormhole opens again, Iron Man and Spider-Man are both suited up, Peter in the brand new nano-tech suit. He waves at his friends for last time, and as Iron Man grabs him and speeds up he shouts: "Spider-Man loves you all!". Harry's crestfallen face is the last thing he sees before the fabric of the world closes and he and Tony are flying over New York city. Peter closes his eyes and doesn’t open them until they land on Stark Tower, May waiting by the control panel. Peter falls in his aunt’s arms and smiles.