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Tony Stark was a wizard. No one knew that though.
His parents had known, of course. While Howard was a Squib from a long line of American Squibs, Maria had been born Maria Bianca Carbonelli, a witch of the ancient pureblood House in Italy. She’d changed her name to Maria Collins Carbonell after coming to America to become an actress, taking her English mother’s maiden name of Collins as her middle name and dropping the ‘i’ from Carbonelli so she sounded more American. Maria met Howard Stark in 1970, at her first big premiere working for Stark Pictures. Despite the thirty-year age gap and their differing magical statuses, they’d fallen in love, gotten married, and had him.
His magic had been a surprise. Howard had been sure he’d be a Squib too, just as all the Starks had been since they’d gotten the name Stark, despite the occasional witch or first-generation Squib marrying into the line. He had never approved much of his son messing around with magic instead of technology. Tony liked technology more than magic anyway, but he suspected part of that had to do with his father’s early dislike. His childhood had been split between his father’s labs and learning magic with his mother. Howard didn’t want to send him off to magic school and out of the public eye, so he’d been homeschooled in his magic, and quite successfully. He’d passed his Wizarding International Standardized Tests at twelve, before he’d started MIT.
The only other people to ever know were Edwin, Ana, Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy. Edwin and Ana Jarvis practically raised him, and it was therefore next to impossible to hide childhood accidental magic from them. Rhodey had learned after a drunken night at MIT, in which Rhodey had been his designated driver and too sober to think the glowing lights Tony kept summoning were his imagination. Pepper had been the only person Tony intentionally told, since he trusted her more than anyone. His PA was the best person on the planet, as far as he was concerned, and he knew he didn’t deserve her loyalty. Happy was a wizard himself, which was how they’d met, as Tony recognized the former boxer after running into him in Los Angeles’ magical shopping district, Mageo Drive. He’d hired him as a bodyguard less for his boxing abilities and more for his Auror-level WIST scores. The boxing abilities were bonus, though.
But other than that, no one knew Tony was a wizard. Tony forgot about it himself a good portion of the time, since he almost always defaulted to technology over magic, and had barely used his abilities since his mother’s death. That was why it didn’t occur to him to cast a shield charm when a missile with his company’s name on it landed next to him.
Everything after that was a haze. He remembered seeing blood leaking through his shirt, and faintly recognizing that the shrapnel must have penetrated his bulletproof vest, just like the missile had been designed to do. He was too good at his job sometimes.
He remembered a burlap sack being removed from his head, and hearing someone speaking in a different language towards the blurry camera pointed towards his face.
He remembered screaming. He was tied down, and his chest was on fire, and he couldn’t see anything over the pain, or hear anything over his own screams. Something was pressed over his nose and the scent of chloroform filled his nostrils, but that wouldn’t work, his father had trained him to be resistant to chloroform after the third attempted kidnapping, so there was nothing chloroform could do, and he could still smell blood over the chloroform – his blood, he realized – until a female voice shouted, “Go to SLEEP.” Then, blissful darkness.
He dreamt of Italy. He’d spent several months there between graduating with his third doctorate the May after his parents died and taking up the role of CEO in January. He’d spent those seven months in the Italian Wizarding World, trying to connect to his mother’s roots and investigating the part of his heritage he’d spent most of his life ignoring.
“You know, if you used the derivative of that equation instead, and cube variable x instead of squaring it, the Arithmancy would go a lot faster,” he pointed out to the redhead who was furiously scribbling notes at the table next to him.
She glanced up at him in surprise, looked back at her math, and her eyes widened.
“Thank you,” she said, scratching out her previous work and scribbling a new equation in. Her male companion – husband, judging from the matching wedding rings – broke out into a smile.
“You speak English!” he crowed. “My Italian is terrible. We’ve only been here a few weeks, and I’ve pretty much only talked to Lily.”
He slid over from his table to sit across from Tony and offered his hand. “James Potter. And the woman furiously redoing her math is my wife, Lily.”
“Antonio Carbonelli,” Tony replied, shaking his hand. “You can call me Tony. What brings you to Italy?”
“Well, we originally came here as part of the Grand Tour we were doing after getting married, but then Lily got distracted by research, so we’re still here for that. I admit, it’s nice being out of Britain though, with everything that’s going on,” James explained.
Tony nodded.
“I read about your Dark Lord problem. I don’t blame you for wanting to avoid it. We’d even heard about him over in America.”
“You’re American?” James asked.
“Born and raised,” Tony confirmed. “My mother was Italian though, and after my parents died a few months ago, I thought I’d come over here to try to connect to her roots before I have to take over the family business.”
James looked sympathetic, but not pitying.
“I understand that. My parents died of Dragon Pox within days of each other last year. I’m just glad they lived long enough to see me marry Lily.”
“Mine died in a car accident, just before Christmas.”
They were both quiet for a moment, before James asked, “Would you like to get dinner with us? I’m sure Lily would love being able to talk Arithmancy with someone. I’m pants at it.”
“Sounds great,” Tony agreed. “I love math.”
“Speaking of, did you mean I should cube x before or after I change the equation to the derivative?” Lily interrupted.
“No, it should be to the third power after the derivation. Before, it needs to be to the fourth power, so your derivative equation ends up with 4x3,” Tony corrected, which led to him spending the rest of the afternoon alternating between discussing math with Lily and the differences between the English, Italian, and American wizarding communities with James.
They’d ended up spending months together. James and Lily’s friendship was exactly what Tony had needed to heal from the grief of his parents’ untimely deaths. He’d even managed to help them in return, and for more than just Lily’s research and Arithmancy calculations.
“James?” Tony asked. “What’s wrong?”
His friend was slumped over the hotel bar, a drink in hand.
“We’ve been trying to have a baby,” James admitted. “But nothing’s worked. We’ve tried everything. I finally went and got some tests done, and…well…I’m infertile. I can’t have kids.”
Tony laid a comforting hand on James’ back.
“It’s not the end of the world,” he pointed out. “There are still options. Blood adoption, for one.”
“Kids aren’t usually blood-adopted until after they get their Hogwarts letters and someone finds them in an orphanage,” James pointed out. “I don’t want a kid that’s about to go off to school anyway. I want a baby to raise.”
“So let Lily get pregnant and blood adopt that baby,” Tony said.
James shot up.
“I’m not letting someone else sleep with my wife!” he shouted, causing everyone else in the bar to turn and stare at them.
“I’m not saying that,” Tony said soothingly, trying to calm James down so they didn’t cause a scene. Normally, neither of them had a problem causing a scene, but this wasn’t the sort of talk that should be aired to everyone. “I know you don’t spend much time in the non-magical world, but have you ever heard of artificial insemination?”
“Huh?”
“Artificial insemination…it’s a fertility treatment method. A doctor medically inserts semen into a uterus for the purpose of getting pregnant. I’m pretty sure it can be done at home too, if you don’t want doctors involved. Lily doesn’t have to sleep with someone else. You just need someone else to donate,” Tony explained.
“Yeah, because that’s a fun conversation to have with someone. ‘Could I have some of your sperm so my wife can get pregnant?’” James scoffed.
Tony rolled his eyes.
“Just get a friend to donate. Hell, I’d do it if you wanted. Then you’d be sure the baby has two magical parents, instead of just getting some non-magical guy’s sperm from a sperm bank.”
“What’s a sperm bank?”
Lily had been ecstatic about the idea. A way for her to still get pregnant and carry her husband’s baby, even if the baby wouldn’t actually be her husband’s until after it was born and blood-adopted? It was the perfect solution. They’d also accepted Tony’s donation offer.
“We don’t want anyone in Britain to know,” Lily admitted as they prepared for the procedure. It was December 16, 1997, two days before they all went home: James and Lily to Britain to return to the war effort there, and Tony to America in order to host the Stark Industries Christmas Ball before taking over Stark Industries on January 1.
“It’s too likely to get out somehow, and with the Death Eaters and all…we don’t want them to have anything else they could hold against us,” James added.
“Besides my blood-status, and the fact that James married me instead of a Pureblood heiress,” Lily pointed out.
“And the fact that my family has been considered ‘Muggle-lovers’ since my grandfather spoke in favor of aiding the Muggles during World War I,” James said.
“I’m happy to help,” Tony said firmly. “You’re my friends. I want you to be happy.”
He’d gone home just after that, hosted the Stark Industries Christmas Ball and successfully taken over as CEO of Stark Industries at the New Year. Obie had done a great job of maintaining the company after his parents’ deaths, but he knew that he could do more. He was the youngest person to ever become CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and he was going to prove just how good he could be.
The night of August 1, 1998, an owl landed at his window. The letter it carried was just a picture with a short note scribbled on the back of it.
The picture was of Lily in a hospital bed, looking exhausted, but with a wide grin on her face. There was a small bundle of fabric in her arms, with a face barely sticking out. A tuft of black hair was visible at the top of the baby’s head.
Bianca Euphemia Evans Potter, born at 11:58 p.m., 31 July, 1998. 4 lbs., 5.8 oz, 16.75 inches long. She was really early, but the Healers say she’s in perfect health! The blood adoption was successful as well. We named her for your mom and mine. The note read in James’ handwriting. Lily’s neater script followed it. If she were a boy, we would have named her Anthony James. Thank you so much, Tony. We’ll never be able to repay you for this.
Tony smiled at the picture before hiding it away in his sock drawer.
The next year resulted in several more pictures of the quickly-growing baby. Tony ended up purchasing a photo album specifically for the pictures, though he still kept it hidden in his sock drawer. He also kept abreast of the news in Britain, wanting to make sure his friends were safe.
A week before Halloween, Lily sent him a letter with a large array of photos included.
Dear Tony, it read.
Things are getting dangerous over here, even more so than before. There was some sort of prophecy given that may implicate Bianca, so we’ve decided to go into hiding under the Fidelius Charm. Professor Dumbledore explained that it is an immensely powerful charm that can conceal any secret, and the only person that can reveal the secret is the designated Secret-Keeper, who must reveal the information willingly. We’ve decided that it’s the best way to protect Bianca, so we’re moving into a new house that the charm will be cast on. We’re not sure how much mail we’ll be able to receive while under it, so I wanted to send you as many pictures as I could now, in case it takes a while before we can send more. I promise that we’ll take pictures though! I want you to be able to see Bianca grow up.
All our love,
Lily and James Potter
Tony smiled at the signatures. The handwriting in the letter was all Lily’s, but James had added a post-script after his signature.
P.S. Hope the job isn’t getting you down too much. If you need some extra entertainment, trying pranking the toilets. No one ever expects the boss to have set the pranks. If you’re lucky, one of those stuffy old people will get hit. ~JFP
P.P.S. Don’t listen to James. Just fire them if they’re that annoying. ~LEP
A week later, he woke up to a newspaper announcing the death of Lord Voldemort due to the Potter family’s sacrifice. He hid the photo album away at the back of his closet, buried his wand and everything magical he owned in the depths of the New York Mansion, and went on a drinking and partying binge that firmly cemented his reputation as an alcoholic playboy. Why should he care about magic anymore? His mother was dead. James and Lily and their daughter – his daughter – were dead. Magic couldn’t save them. Magic couldn’t save anyone.