Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

.oOo.

The spacious, high-ceilinged room was filled with the sounds of scratching quills and the rustling of parchment. Occasionally, fragments of conversation disturbed the quiet. The smell of old paper, leather, and wood saturated the air. A fire crackled merrily in the crate, and the handful of students who were left hanging around had settled in the soft armchairs around it, their noses buried in whatever book they were reading. Outside, snowflakes were dancing in the soft wind. The windows were frosted over, and dust particles glowed golden in the warm air.

Tony had missed this. He relished the peace of the Hogwarts library. It was the perfect atmosphere for studying, especially when -

“He’s back,” the voice to his left announced.

Especially when a certain quidditch idiot was not present.

Tony closed his eyes for a second before he refocused on his reading, trying to ignore his friend. 

-can only be found in the swamps of southern Brazil. The seeds of the poisonous pelargonium are used as ingredients for Lüdenscheidt’s potions. If collected under the full moon, the seeds are -

“He really is handsome, isn’t he,” Pepper mumbled dreamily. She had her chin in the palm of her hand and stared at a figure in the distance.

Tony reluctantly glanced up from the essay he was writing for Professor Strange. Three tall boys had stepped foot into the library. Their impressive figures threw broad shadows over the bookshelves. Heads turned when they passed, and whispering arose. In their wake, a group of giggling girls entered the scene, and the peaceful atmosphere of the library shattered like an icicle. Tony heaved a sigh as he watched the group proceed out of the corner of his eye.

A silver badge gleamed on the blonde’s chest. It identified him as the Gryffindor quidditch team captain. Behind him trailed a guy with his hair tied back in a bun and his hands deep in his pockets, and another with dark skin and a polite smile. He winked at a girl who waved shyly at him from behind her book. She held it upside down.

Tony rolled his eyes and went back to his studies.

“Please,” he said under his breath. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “He’s average.”

Pepper threw him a look. “Excuse you. Half of the school is in love with him.”

Tony scoffed and turned a page of Advanced Potion Making. He fought hard to keep his face straight. “They only like him because he’s famous.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “Well, he is. Steve Rogers plays at the Irish youth national team even though he’s still at school,” the redhead told him. Tony saw her watching the boys out of the corner of his eye. “Besides, I heard them say that he’s a real gentleman. And a good kisser.” She sighed.

Tony paused only briefly in his writing to give his friend a look. “He's famous because he can catch a ball, that's it,” he snarked. “I don’t know why he stayed at school for the holidays anyway, when there are hardly any girls around for him to impress.”

Pepper snorted, but somehow, she made it sound dignified. “Are you jealous, Tony? Your family is one of the most famous of the wizarding world. It’s just because you’re such a nerd that you don’t have your own group of fangirls trailing behind you.”

Tony gave an exaggerated full body shiver. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Pepper tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I heard there were a lot of rumors about the two of you a few years ago... that you were best friends, basically glued together. You know I wasn’t at Hogwarts back then. Why won't you tell me what happened? Did you fight? Did you break up? You know how much i love those stories.” She batted her lashes at him.

Tony flushed and bent low over his parchment. “Please, not this story again,” he replied. “I told you a dozen times already that the time when Rogers and I were friends has long since passed. Now he’s just another hypocritical Gryffindor. I’m surprised he can walk upright with that broomstick up his a-”

“Tony!” Pepper warned. The librarian, Professor Coulson, stalked by, and Tony scored himself a very dirty look.

“Rogers hates my guts,” Tony grumbled when the old man was out of earshot. “He’s got a problem with me, and at some point, he just…snapped.”

Pepper sighed. “You’re never sharing the good stories with me. And here I thought having a gay best friend would be fun.”

Tony looked up from his parchment and gave her the side eye. “Remind me again why I put up with you?”

Pepper snickered. She ruffled his hair teasingly. “I’m the reason you get to all of your classes on time. You wouldn’t survive a single week without me.”

Tony stuck his tongue out, but he knew that she was right, so he refrained from taunting her and attempted to get his hair back under control. Startled, he realized he’d forgotten to add the right way to collect the seeds of the poisonous pelargonium to his essay and went back to add the required information.

“Long story short: Rogers and I don’t get along," he said in the end. "That’s all there is to -”

“Tony!” Pepper gasped. She nudged his elbow, and Tony cursed when he spilled ink over his parchment. She didn't bother to apologize, distracted as she was. “Tony, he’s looking. He’s looking here.”

Tony looked up just in time to spot none other than Steve Rogers staring at him from across the room. When he realized that Tony had noticed, he quickly averted his gaze and signed the red and gold scarf a girl held out to him. Tony pressed his lips together. He clenched and unclenched his fists on top of the table twice for good measure.

"I wish he didn't come here all the time," he grumbled and fished his wand from the pocket of his green and black robes when he could be sure he wouldn't accidentally break anything. He gave it a wave. The ink he'd spilled vanished.

Pepper raised an eyebrow, smirking. "What? Is he making you nervous? You, the great Tony Stark, Transfiguration protégé? Son of the world-famous wand maker and professional know-it-all?"

Tony felt a treacherous flush crawl up his neck. "No," he lied and put his wand back. "His giggling fanclub is annoying. I can't concentrate on my studies. That's all."

"Sure," she drawled but went back to staring at Rogers. "Oh, you're lucky. He's already leaving again."

Tony didn't want to look but found himself unable to resist sneaking a glance again. Rogers had thrown his bag over his shoulder, ready to leave. He made an unnecessary detour through the room to return the book he hadn't even opened and left the library again, the group of girls hot on his heels.

Giggling should be illegal in Tony’s opinion.

The two Slytherins put their chins in their hands and watched Rogers’ blond head disappear around the corner of the hallway outside the library. Tony’s heart jumped in his chest.

By the Heaven's.

He wanted to either push Rogers up against a wall or down a flight of stairs.

.oOo.

White fluffy steam obscured Tony's vision. The floor beneath his feet vibrated gently. Through the thick glass of the window, he heard the faint sounds of the busy station. Platform 9¾ was still packed with people, even though the train was bound to leave any minute now. It was almost 11 am.

Nervous, he clutched the letter he had received for his eleventh birthday three months and two days ago. He bounced his leg. This was the Hogwarts express, wasn't it? He was at the right station, wasn’t he? He was sure those were school robes the other kids were wearing. Or were they?

Jarvis had assured him they were at the right station, and Jarvis was usually right about these things. Tony loved and trusted him, but Jarvis was also a house elf and had never laid eyes on Hogwarts before. Secretly, Tony had been both disappointed and excited when his father had told him that he and Tony's mom wouldn't be able to see him off, and that their old elf would be there to accompany him.

But had Jarvis really brought him to the right station?

Maybe Tony should get off and ask one of the adult wizards just to make sure.

Tony's thoughts were cut short when the door to his compartment suddenly rattled open. He jerked around. Startled, he forgot to breathe for a second as he stared at the newcomer.

Oh?

"Hi," said the strange boy, as if he had not just given Tony a small heart attack. "Can…can I sit here? Please?" He gestured at the free seat across from Tony with a trembling finger.

His voice was timid. He was even shorter than Tony, who was small for his age. A shabby looking trunk waited behind him, and his robes seemed to be second-hand. The boy's hair was a bright blond, and his blue eyes seemed too big for his thin face. He was pressing what appeared to be a sketchbook and a handful of pencils to his chest. Tony saw the corner of a drawing of a broomstick peek out from between the pages.

The boy looked as lost as Tony, and for some reason, that calmed Tony. He scooted over to make space for the other boy and pulled a bag of Bertie Bott's All Flavor Beans from his pocket. He offered them to the other and smiled. "Sure! I'm Tony Stark."

The other sat down. A shy grin appeared on his face, his eyes lit up. He offered Tony a slim hand to shake. "Steve Rogers. Pleasure."

.oOo.

“Good morning, everyone. It is a delight to tell you that I have a surprise for you for this term," Professor Wong welcomed his class back for the first lesson after Christmas. He smiled warmly at them all. His students only ducked their heads and continued to shiver.

The Forbidden Forest was a sea of white tree tips, and the Hogwarts grounds looked eerily blank. Snow had been falling steadily, and the temperatures had dropped significantly since the holidays. The castle was icy, and more magical fires than usual had been lit by the Hogwarts house elves to keep its inhabitants functioning.

The professor however didn’t seem to feel the cold. His smile only broadened as he looked at them.

"Partner work,” he announced happily.

Tony wasn’t the only one who slumped in their seat.

“You gotta be joking,” he groaned quietly.

Tony loathed anything resembling group projects. He worked best if left to his own devices. Partner work meant allowing his frankly brilliant ideas to be watered down for the sake of the group. While his classmates struggled to perform a stunning spell, he completed NEWT papers in his free time or invented new spells. He was this close to finding a way to cure the sniffles. He just needed to get rid of the nasty side effects. The patient's nose turned green. (He'd been running around with a green nose for about a week when he'd first tried it on himself.)

“No, I’m not joking, Mr Stark,” Professor Wong chided, and pointed his wand at the blackboard behind him where the instructions for their next Transfiguration project appeared. “This will be a good chance to prepare for the time after your NEWTs, where you will have to work with witches and wizards of all kinds and from all countries. The childish rivalry between the four Hogwarts houses throws a shadow over our beloved school and is deeply rooted in the minds of our students. It hinders you from exploiting your full potential.

Therefore,” he made a theatrical pause to ensure everyone was paying attention, and gave them the kind of smile that did not bode well, “we, that is to say your heads of houses, have decided to use this opportunity to bridge the metaphorical gap. House Slytherin and house Gryffindor will, quite literally, work together hand in hand.”

For a split second, nobody reacted. Then the classroom exploded. Peter Parker fell off his chair. Loki Laufeyson made a face like he’d bitten into a lemon. Happy Hogan looked blankly at their professor. Clint Barton nearly choked on his chewing gum.

Tony’s shoulders fell. He gave Pepper a withering look. She grimaced.

“That’s unfair,” Peter Quill piped up.

“Who decided this?” Johnny Storm demanded.

“It’s still over a year until we sit our NEWTs,” Barton, the Gryffindor quidditch team’s seeker, complained after he’d gotten his breathing back under control.

“This project,” their teacher continued, ignoring his students, “is the first of its kind. It is also your chance to make new friends and to leave behind those old-fashioned grudges. These teams will be working together in Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Arythmancy, Potions, and Charms."

More agitated chattering followed this announcement.

"Sir!" A blonde Gryffindor girl stood up, her hand raised high above her head.

Professor Wong nodded at her. "Yes, Miss Danvers?"

"Some of us didn't continue with Herbology or Potions after our OWLs," she said, sounding almost hopeful, and a handful of fellow Gryffindors, and a good part of the Slytherins too, nodded.

"Not to worry, Miss Danvers," Professor Wong said, and motioned for her to sit down again. "We have made arrangements. We have taken your grades and your classes into consideration. Read the parchment I will hand you carefully, and you'll see which classes you and your new partner will be joining forces in."

More murmuring arose, both excited and doubtful. People shuffled around and clutched their bags and wands. Wong gave his class a final moment before he raised his hands to gesture for them to calm down again.

As the head of Gryffindor house, one was quick to assume that Wong had his favorites, like most teachers did, but surprisingly, he didn’t. It was the main reason why Tony respected him, next to his great skill at Transfiguration. Right now, however, he wanted to strangle the professor.

He furtively glanced at the Gryffindors in his class. He knew hardly any of them by name. Only a handful of faces rang a bell. Janet, for example, a very pretty girl, was from an old wizarding family, and Tony had met her at some of his father’s business meetings before. She was nice enough for a Gryffindor, even though she was hopeless in Potions. Jane, on the other hand, was muggle-born but a natural at Astronomy.

“I’ll call out your names, and you’ll go and sit with your new partner,” Wong continued and looked at his notes. “Let's see who's first. Ah. Parker Peter and Wilson Wade.”

Peter, the youngest of the class, blushed as he collected his things and stood up. Wilson, a notorious troublemaker and two years older than the rest of the class, tried to stuff his messy books and papers into his bag to make room for his new partner. Even though Parker was a Gryffindor, Tony would have felt bad for him if he wasn’t so nervous himself.

He bounced his foot as he watched how his fellow classmates rose upon hearing their names, packed their bags, and began to look for their new partner. It was obvious on the students' faces that nobody was really happy about this new arrangement. The girls and boys stuck to their respective housemates most of the time, so a lot of awkward staring took place as nobody really knew how to approach their new teammate.

Barton, the guy with the chewing gum, was matched with Natasha Romanoff, the Slytherin prefect. James Barnes, the Gryffindor beater, joined T’Challa Udaku, who only gave him a regal nod. Janet van Dyne partnered up with Loki Laufeyson, one of the exchange students from Durmstrang, while his brother, Thor Odinson, now shared a table with Wanda Maximoff, Natasha’s best friend.

“Potts Virginia and Wilson Sam, please,” the professor called out next.

For a second, everyone stared at Pepper, whose face rapidly took on the color of a tomato. A heartbeat passed. Then she turned her head towards Tony, who mirrored her expression when he too realized who exactly her new partner was.

It was none other than the Gryffindor beater they’d seen in the library during Christmas break, the hunk of a sixteen-year-old with skin the color of chocolate. He rose and stepped forward to accept the piece of parchment the professor handed him before he turned to look at Pepper, who had frozen in her seat.

Tony nudged her under the table, and his friend jumped. She squeaked, grabbed her bag, and squeezed past their fellow Slytherins towards the Gryffindor’s table. She was dwarfed by the guy, but Tony saw her shoulders loosen a bit when the beater gave her a polite smile. He stepped aside to offer her his seat, and they fell into awkward silence.

“Next one is Stark Anthony-”

Tony’s head spun around. He held his breath. His heart was beating in his throat. And then everything happened in slow motion.

“- and Rogers Steven.”

The whole class stared at him.

Tony’s heart sank to the bottom of the Great Lake, where a swarm of grindylows began to squeeze it until he felt it shatter. He shrank in his chair, not making any move to join Rogers. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper give him a sympathetic look that he chose to ignore as he goggled at his teacher.

This…this couldn't be real, could it?

The Gryffindor quidditch team captain rose from his chair to accept the parchment the professor handed him and turned to join Tony, who still hadn’t moved. He stared resolutely at the burn mark on the table, determined not to meet the gaze of the one person he’d tried so hard to avoid since his return to Hogwarts.

“Tony,” Rogers said when he came to a halt in front of Tony’s table.

“Captain,” Tony answered flatly. He wondered how mad the professor would be if he transfigured himself into a dustpan.

Then, because he was a darn masochist, he looked up. There Steve was, blond and beautiful, towering above him, tall and famous and infuriating and -

Oh no, he thought as he met Rogers' gaze. His eyes were the color of the sky on a clear day, and still as breathtaking as on the day he'd broken Tony's heart.

.oOo.