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After Hogwarts, he started curse-breaking with Natasha Romanov. Thanks to Professor Stark’s recommendation, Gringotts employed him without a fuss - there is no real apprenticeship to finish, he just accompanies Madam Romanov and learns as much as he can. Which was a lot.
They already have travelled through various countries; Morroco, Rwanda or Bolivia. For their newest mission, they needed to break into a hidden cave in Nepal.
They climbed on the Mount Kanchenjunga, the third-largest mountain in the world – thank Merlin only to half it’s height. Peter was already at his limit, it was way too tiring, breathing became difficult hours ago. Embarrassingly, Madam Romanov still was acting totally normal, she was not out of breath at all.
His panting was humiliating, but she made no comments of it.
Inside the cave, they were able to break the curse hiding the chest. Before, they had to defeat two Inferi which had looked very weird. Their bodies were kind of white instead of the normal ash grey, black color. Madam Romanov said they probably were killed with a dark curse, altering their bodies.
“If I am honest, I do not really want to know.”
Some dark spells were so abysmal evil a good magical being couldn’t even engage in them theoretically.
They retrieved the chest with its treasures and made it out alive, that’s all that concerned Gringotts’ client Mr. Bakar.
But only because he needed them alive to obtain the chest.
Meeting the man had been unpleasing, he was quite rude, wherefore Peter was relieved to get back in his apartment in Bristol. At least for a short moment he wanted to relax before he travelled to Martinique tomorrow with Madam Romanov.
At least that’s what he thought he would do – until he emptied his post box:
in there was a letter from Tony Stark.
☼
Multiple times they had exchanged letters, but yet they had to meet again. When Peter had left Hogwarts, Stark did as well. He started to work again as a curse breaker for Gringotts – even got promoted to Head of Department for curse-breaking in Africa.
Although they now had theoretically the same employer, Peter had never seen Tony. He always had travelled with Natasha; one or two times accompanied by Dr. Banner or Mr. Barnes, but most of the times it was just the two of them.
They did not let him handle the real dangerous cases.
In December he had to take a “vacation”, because Natasha, Tony, Barnes and Rogers needed to lift a secret curse, which breaking was so endangering that wizards in their first working year weren’t allowed.
Peter had been quite jealous. Because of the curse. Not because of Tony, of course.
Nevertheless, he had gotten quite a lot of details to that case – what exactly had been in the found treasure chests, which curses the dungeon had been secured with.
Naturally, not from Madam Romanov. These kinds of information were put under highest secrecy levels and other curse-breakers also hadn’t any access to them.
Thanks to Merlin, he had Tony. After Natasha’s return from this mission Peter had written him a letter – not really inquiring any information, being very discreet.
And Tony had given him a lot of information voluntarily, much more than he had expected. Obviously, he really wanted that Peter to learn something.
Therefore his newest letter.
The last two weeks Peter hadn’t been able to write, but luckily, the letter was dated to yesterday, so not very old yet.
It was an invitation to the curse-breaking of a crypt in Gabon. Actually, Tony was able to do it himself just fine, but Tony suggested to get a little bit of change to working with Natasha.
They needed to go there ten o’clock in the morning, travelling via port-key. Tony would pick him up in front of his house – for a short moment Peter asked himself how he knew his address, then he remembered they exchanged LETTERS. With their addresses on front of the envelopes, obviously.
Peter tried not to freak out about the fact he knew where Tony lived.
(He remembered how he already did at Hogwarts, but that was long ago, new delight about the fact was appropriate now.)
That meant he surely would miss Madam Romanov’s mission in Martinique. Maybe he was lucky and she would forgive him.
He took some floo powder and used his chimney to travel into her flat. She was surprised to see him that late and unannounced, especially because they would see each other just the next day.
She was also surprised to hear about Tony’s invitation.
For a moment she seemed to think about it, but after a sigh she agreed.
“This time. I do not want to lose you permanently. Don’t get yourself wrapped around Stark’s little finger.”
Peter nodded – secretly, he thought she had no idea it was already far too late for a warning.
☼
On the next morning, despite the attractive fact of working with Tony, it was hard for Peter to get up. The sun hadn’t risen properly yet, but he needed to take a bath and have some proper breakfast before Tony arrived.
He just nearly tripped over his rug while walking to the bathroom (his eyes were still halfway closed because it was way too bright with these lamps) and got into his bathtub at least without any accidents.
His bread was eaten in two bites, just in time, because then he heard a knock on his door. Even though he hasted into his hallway to open it, the impatience of his guest was proven by the fact they knocked three more times without letting much time pass by between the knocks.
Tony Stark entered his flat without any hesitation, with his usual confidence.
“Good morning. Get your things, our portkey awaits us.”
After greeting him back, Peter grabbed his backpack which he prepared beforehand last night. Obviously, he didn’t want to waste any time he had with Tony.
“How did you convince the goblins to let me go to a mission with you?”
“You do not need to convince someone if you don’t tell them about it. This isn’t official. It’s a little private favour,” Tony answers while going into his living room. Suddenly, Peter feels a bit intimidated. What if the colour of his couch was ugly?
Turning back to him, Tony winked. “These goblins have no view for talent and potential. They would think this is too dangerous for you, but I know better. It’s important to give you opportunities to watch and learn.”
The compliment made Peter blush once more; he did way too often in Tony’s presence.
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Don’t you dare to call me Sir again. We left these Hogwarts days behind us. First-name basis only, thank you.”
The blush only deepened. Generally, it wasn’t a problem for Peter to call him Tony in his head (he already had imagined the most ineffable things with him, calling him Mr. Stark would be ridiculous or kinky), but it was different out loud.
“After all, I already got my letter which I read while drinking firewhiskey. Our relationship advanced.”
Suddenly the mood changed into something serious, because Tony took his hand.
“I will apparate us to the portkey. But first, some facts.”
Peter tried not to think too hard about the fact Tony could have waited till he finished his speech to take his hand.
“Like I said, it’s a private matter. Madam Gamal asked us to open up the tomb of her great-great-great-grandfather.”
Peter didn’t want to do the math.
“The bones of him lay there, obviously, but more importantly: several family heirlooms. Originally, they made his journey to the afterworld easier, but now Madam Gamal wants them back. She has three children; they should get them. A reminder to the family of their mother. She does not want any attention, that’s why she instructed me personally, not through Gringotts.”
Something in Peter tingled. “Sounds kind of suspicious.“
„Her husband, soon ex-husband, is greedy. She suspects he wants to get anything valuable out of this divorce.”
With a huff he shook his head – Peter vaguely remembered having read something about a marriage and divorce in his twenties, but thought better of it than to mention it.
“After retrieving the jewellery, we need to go to Egypt to meet Madam Gamal.”
“Do we apparate there?”
“No. Flying carpets. With this distance, it’s way safer. No unnecessary risks.“
Looking urgently to Peter, he repeated it. “NO unnecessary risks. Important learning in the job.”
Hastily, Peter nodded. Tony didn’t seem to be satisfied by it – Peter did not really understand why – but didn’t comment any further.
“Did you look up where Gabon is?”
Daunted, Peter negated – hopefully Tony wouldn’t interpret that negatively.
Luckily, Tony obviously had more important things in his head than dwelling on that. “Central Africa. It’s quite a bit till Egypt – it will take one day; two, if you take some longer breaks in between.”
Amused, Peter asked since when Tony took breaks.
“Since I have such nice company. I hoped for enjoyable breaks.” The suggestive tone was undeniable.
There was no way to get under Tony Stark’s skin. He always got under yours first.
☼
Their portkey brought them right in front of the entrance of the grave. From the outside it was quite simple, a few stairs led to a subterraneous wall. Only when you stepped closer to it, the strange symbol engraved into it became obvious. A layperson would touch it, but Peter wasn’t suicidal.
“Alohomora.”
Aghast, Peter looked at Tony. Of course, the wall didn’t budge the slightest bit.
“Once it worked und since then I prefer to play safe,” he answered dryly.
Peter tried to use the spell Reverte, which didn’t work as well. But that hadn’t been surprising – the wall hadn’t moved yet and the last time it had was surely way too long ago.
Tony nodded while saying his idea wasn’t bad. Continuing, Peter tried to use Patere to open up the wall, but as that didn’t work, Tony took a note out of his coat pocket and handed it to him.
It was another message from Madam Gamal with a hint written down – there is a spell which was passed through her family in the last decades. It was a weird word Peter hadn’t ever seen before: Aperouvert.
“It’s French and Latin combined. French is one of the main languages in Gabon,” Tony said, standing closely behind him. “Look at me.”
Tony raised his wand and made an a-shaped movement while saying the word – immediately, one part of the wall disappeared into the ground.
“Wasn’t that difficult,” Peter said what earned him an annoyed eye roll from Tony.
“Please, do not jinx it.”
After having climbed down the stairs of the vault, there were no special obstacles on their way. No more curses which block their way. Exactly that was strange: they went on and on, the pathway being straight and flat, but no sarcophagus could be seen.
Every few seconds they checked their surroundings for any curses, but there was nothing. Neither Tony nor Peter found anything extraordinary.
Till they reached a cavity. It was just as big so both of them could stand straight, way lower than the hallway they’ve came from. A dead end with no casket or dead body far and wide.
Once more Tony said the spell they used to open the tomb, but this time, it stayed useless. All other common spells were not showing any effect either. But Peter had an idea – it was quite weird this cavity was suddenly that much smaller than the corridor.
“Engorgio!“
The walls around moved away from them, maybe two meters, which made the room considerably larger and matched its size to the hallway. Now, they did not have any trouble standing. Suddenly, there was a hole in the wall which looked like the continuation of the hallway.
“Well done, Peter.”
“It was quite simple.” Peter did not know if he said that because he couldn’t handle the compliment or because an engorgement charm really was just a way too simple solution.
“Nevertheless a good idea.”
They continued to walk down the corridor – no creature, no weird objects were on their way till they faced the sarcophagus. It was in a room, but behind some weird things that looked like bars on the first glance… but they moved.
Tony tried to destroy them with Incendio, however, it had no use.
“Not a weird mutation of a Devil’s Snare then,” said Peter with a frown. They tried two, three simple charms – none worked.
Peter wanted to suggest a transforming charm, but as he opened his mouth, Tony took one of his rings off. He laid it in his flat hand and turned it while swivelling his wand into a dagger.
It glistened silvery, more, than every other piece of metal Peter had ever seen.
“Goblin silver,” he asserted, it was no question.
“Indeed.”
As Tony jabbed into the strange plant (Peter still did not know if it was a plant, but it didn’t matter much anyway), it turned jet-black, then into ash.
“Amazing.” Because they still did not know what exactly had been in front of them, Peter collected some of the ashes. Maybe they could find out later what it had been – hopefully they haven’t killed the last specimen of an extinct plant.
“I’ll give you your own after we returned home.”
Goblin silver was incredibly precious and difficult to get. Peter wanted to shrug it off as a joke, but he knew Tony for too long.
They entered the room without anything suspicious happening – inside was just the sarcophagus, right in the center. A few nooks were spalled and in them were the usual grave goods, like painted bowls made out of ceramics. Probably they were valuable – for archaeologists. Not for them.
Peter hadn’t spotted the jewellery yet.
Tony lifted the lid of the sarcophagus with Levioso with a bit of distance for safety – who knew, maybe something would explode.
No such thing happened. Everything was calm, Tony and he already went to the coffin with way too much confidence. The jewellery would be inside for sure.
When Peter discovered a glistening necklace, they heard a noise. Like a crack.
He was already ready to fight off weird creatures which somehow appeared right behind them, but the danger wasn’t behind them. It was above.
Little stones started to drizzle down from the stone ceiling, but they were getting bigger and bigger. The noises got louder, got more dangerous.
Peter felt how one of the stones roll down his shoulder, however, before he could start to worry, Tony grabbed his arm rather roughly.
☼
The apparation took him so much by surprise Peter nearly threw up. By now he had a bit of experience with apparating – especially since he was able to do it himself, but all out of sudden it still made him sick.
Which was of course better than being crushed by rocks in the vault.
“Hey. Everything alright?” asked Tony, and he nodded quickly. Despite, Tony did not seem to believe him. He took Peter’s face in his hands and he felt himself blush, but Tony probably didn’t see it – he was too busy looking at his hairline.
Thank Merlin for his genes, it wasn’t receding yet. Even though that presumably wasn’t one of Tony’s worries.
“A stone hit you, it’s not bad though,” he said, pulling his wand up to Peter’s head to use a nonverbal spell.
“What did you do?” Peter whispered.
“Just closed the little wound.”
Out of the inner pocket of his coat Tony took a piece of cloth – apparently a handkerchief, hopefully unused. Tony rubbed it against his forehead, maybe to wipe away the blood – Peter refrained to ask why Tony didn’t use a spell for that too.
When Tony finished his little nursing, Peter looked down on his hands to look at the jewellery he managed to save from the tumbling tomb. Two rings, one decorated with a brilliant sapphire; one pair of earrings; one necklace which glistened in the sun even though it must have been down there for decades.
“Madam Gamal said they were seven pieces. The rest is lost, I fear. Let’s change our plans. We stay in a hotel tonight and will set off tomorrow morning. That was quite the adventure.”
“I like those, remember?”
“Of course. Let’s take a nap like little adventurers.”
Once more Tony took his arm, but before they apparated to the nearest city, Tony looked at him in a serious manner again.
“Saving them was an honourable thing, but certainly very reckless. Never do that again.” Still, he looked a bit proud.
Peter beamed.
☼
At the hotel, they got a room with two beds. Peter hadn’t interfered in the conversation with the receptionist because fatigue was taking up to him (and he didn’t speak French). Maybe there was only one room available.
Perhaps Tony wanted to save some money. As if he didn’t have more money than anyone ever could spend. His pureblood family per se had been wealthy and who knew how much one earned as the most successful curse-breaker of the United Kingdom.
After arriving in their room, Peter immediately threw his backpack in a corner and laid down on the left bed. Even though he had said everything was alright, the collision of his forehead and the stone had caused quite the head ache. Furthermore, the adrenaline slowly receded and the obligated tiredness of waking up that early and breaking crazy curses in a vault, while nearly being crushed, began.
“Are you alright?” asked Tony once more.
“You are repeating yourself. I said so.”
“No, you nodded. And you probably just nodded to make me not worry. Didn’t work, by the way.”
“How surprising,” Peter muttered under his breath. He didn’t want to be mean, but the exhaustion took its toll.
“Come again?”
“Everyone treats me like I’m still too young to work. These dangerous missions you went to; with Madame Romanov. You all forbid me to accompany you.”
“Because it was way too dangerous. Nobody wants you to lose your hand. Or head.”
Peter threw his head back into the pillow – this conversation wouldn’t lead to anything.
“And I told you everything about it after. You still learnt something.”
“I know. Sorry. I do not mean it that way; it’s just so damn frustrating I’m not allowed to do everything.”
“It must be. You are too ambitious for your own good.” Tony sat down on his bed, right next to his thighs.
“Of course, I don’t know everything yet. And deep down, it’s only reasonable that I cannot accompany you all on every of your missions – probably I would only pose a bigger risk. With my luck I’ll destroy some ancient artefacts.”
Tony didn’t answer to that, maybe he sensed Peter hadn’t finished his ramble yet.
“I just want to prove to you that I am capable of all of this. That writing me this recommendation letter was not a mistake, but something useful and justified.”
“There is no need to prove it. I know you are. I know it was.”
There was something in Tony’s eyes while he said that and Peter was a lot – clumsy, sometimes a bit inattentive, but not foolish or naïve.
He had known what the letter back at Hogwarts meant; truly. Until now he just hadn’t known how to act on it, because Tony hadn’t done anything.
Now he knew what to do. He sat up, laid one hand on Tony’s neck to pull him in.
He kissed him and Tony immediately reciprocated, cupping his left cheek with his hand while the other pulled him closer. For Peter, it felt like they kissed for an eternity – of course they didn’t, because there came the moment when Tony’s lips detached from his.
“I’m embarrassed by the fact how long I’ve wanted this.” Tony said, but he was still close to him, didn’t move away a bit.
It looked like Peter’s courage was rewarded. “We can just repress our thoughts about it.”
“Nice. I’m quite good at repressing.” It was terrible, not healthy; Peter still laughed.
His laughter was stopped by another kiss and a hand on his left thigh.