#peter grabbing that tid

[reachforstars1]

seven devils / chapter one

‎✧ pairing : edmund pevensie x original female character (but not in this first book y’all, they are 11, i need y’all to be so serious rn)

‎✧ summary : the first and only prophecy aslan ever had to amend in narnian history was the golden age prophecy of narnia. elaine florence woodard was an anomaly. an unexpected amendment that had aslan and his followers on guard for her arrival and what would come with it. for no one could be entirely sure of what exactly her future entailed, not even aslan.

elaine woodard wasn’t supposed to spend the summer at the professor’s, and she certainly wasn’t supposed to end up in narnia. but war had taken a toll on them all, and the five children would do anything to keep each other safe. even if it meant breaking a few rules along the way.

‎✧ rating : 18+ for the series as a whole due to mature themes later on (way later on) such as sex, alcoholism, religious themes, violence, etc. that all will be explained further (when we get there). teen and up for seven devils, specifically, due to explicit language and canon-typical war violence (and a lil extra violence). various mental health issues will also be explored in this body of work. if it any point, there’s a tag i missed pls don’t hesitate to comment and inform me so it can be tagged correctly! i’m still new to all of this and learning!

‎✧ disclaimer/warnings : aslan is lowkey an antagonist in this series as a way to cope with my own religious trauma, so if you don't fw that, that is 100% alright. i know he's a nostalgic character for most of us, and it could be hard to see him in such a harsh light.

A/N : hi so this fic is, in all honesty, a way to atone for the atrocious sins i committed as a child when i wrote a horrible god awful edmund fic (i was eleven and it never saw the light of day thankfully and stayed confined to my little notebook). the atrocious sin i have chosen to commit with this story is typing it all in lowercase simply because that is my preference. forgive me.

there is a playlist you can listen to alongside the fic that i will have linked below. i timed it the best i could with the story, so you can listen to the playlist in order as you're reading if you so choose.

this is my first time publicly posting my work on tumblr and ao3, and i am, of course, absolutely terrified (: but i hope this story brings you all happiness as silly as it is, and is at the very least, a semi-enjoyable read.

i'll stop talking now, thank you - reach <3

♡ ao3♡ .

♡playlist♡. pinterest♡. series masterlist♡.

“lucy, wait up!” elaine shouted, running through the halls whilst trying not to knock anything over in order to catch up to the younger girl. they had been playing with lucy’s dolls upstairs when mrs. pevensie had called for dinner.

elaine woodard found herself spending quite a bit of time at the pevensie household ever since her dad went off to fight in the war. her mother had since shut herself away to cope, becoming a shell of a woman, and while she never hit elaine or yelled at her, she didn’t do much of anything else either. “absent” was how peter had described her mother to susan.

elaine had admittedly been eavesdropping when she heard that tid-bit, but she didn’t understand peter’s harsh tone or his words. her mother wasn’t absent… she was there. she just didn’t have much to say… and didn’t care much about… well, anything going on with elaine. but in elaine’s mind, peter had just been being an ass yet again, speaking poorly of her mother when elaine knew her mom was just… going through a hard time.

elaine missed both of her parents, and sure, perhaps part of her did wish her mom paid more attention to her, but it was okay, really. it meant she could spend as much time with the pevensies as she wanted, and their mom paid attention to her, and so did susan, and that was almost the same as having her mom pay attention to her.

a door opened to her left as a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her body to a harsh stop. she turned her head only to be face to face with edmund, her best friend. due to being the same age, the pair had instantly hit it off when elaine’s family had moved into the house next door back in 1934.

there was a stern glare plastered to his face as he kept her wrist tight in his grip. he had taken up to trying even harder to be like peter ever since their dad got drafted.

“stop being so loud.” he grumbled out.

elaine rolled her eyes and bit a grin at him, “stop being such a whiny loser.”

she then stuck her tongue out at him and ripped her arm out of his cold hand.

edmund watched as she ran off to the dining room, unable to help the smile that came over him. throughout all of this, it was thanks to her that he was able to have a positive attitude at least some of the time.

edmund shot off after her, determined to catch her before she could get caught up with lucy. she looked back at the sound of his quickly approaching footsteps and grinned at him, not realising she was running straight into peter.

it's like he has a permanent scowl on his face lately, elaine thought as she rebounded back into edmund, who had just caught up to her. his hands gripped the tops of her arms as they awaited peter’s inevitable scolding. lucy and susan, of course, were already seated at the table.

“what have i told you two about running in the house?” peter bit out, that annoying condescending tone taking over.

elaine’s fists tightened, and edmund felt her arms go tense in his hands. they both tended to get irrationally angry with peter anytime he tried to parent them.

“but lucy was running, too!”

the words came out before she could stop them, and she instantly felt bad for bringing the younger girl into it. it wasn’t lucy’s fault that she was in trouble with peter.

as expected, lucy instantly dropped her doll on the table and glared at elaine, causing the older girl to shrink into her friend once more. edmund tried to hold back a chuckle, but elaine still felt his chest rumble a bit against her back. quickly and quietly, she elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

“susan already scolded me, so leave me out of it!” lucy snapped before going back to brushing her doll’s hair.

she’d much rather have susan scold her over peter. susan was so gentle and kind, elaine thought to herself dreamily, before peter’s nasally voice brought her back.

“i’m serious, you two. if i catch you running in the house again, you’ll really be in trouble.”

elaine peeked around peter and saw mrs. pevensie coming out of the kitchen with her hands full. she broke free of edmund yet again- although his grip wasn’t nearly as tight this time- and stuck her tongue out at peter before running over to mrs. pevensie’s aide.

“let me help you, mrs. pevensie!”

there was a big bowl of fruit balancing precariously in one of mrs. pevensie’s freshly manicured hands that elaine swiftly took from her before it could topple over onto the floor. she silently took notice of the way that their mother had done a significantly better job of taking care of herself in comparison to her own mom. she had no idea how mrs. pevensie kept herself sane enough to do so when she was taking care of four children on her own.

“you are such a sweet girl, elaine, thank you.” an exasperated sigh left her dark red lips as she set the other bowl of food on the table. she truly may as well be taking care of five children, and elaine never wanted her to forget how thankful she was for her love and care.

“suck up” peter coughed to susan as he took a seat at the other head of the table, but the brunette just rolled her eyes in response and smiled supportively at elaine.

susan knew she was always just trying to show her appreciation. they were the closest thing the poor girl had to a family at this point, and despite peter’s griping, she knew he saw her as family, too. albeit, the young girl was certainly trying to get out of trouble with peter right now.

elaine took her usual seat between edmund and peter, facing lucy who was still upset about being dragged into the scolding.

everyone began loading up their plates while a harry james record played at a lower volume to fill the silence as they ate dinner. elaine realised she was beginning to know their dining room better than she knew her own.

the pevensie home had multiple large windows and because of that, there was always such a comforting ambient glow, whether it was from the sunlight shining in or from the street lamps after dark. she stayed over as often as she was allowed because the pevensie home never felt empty. meanwhile her own mother kept the curtains drawn all day and night, making their home feel so dark and desolate, which, elaine guessed, matched how her mother felt, so who was she to take that comfort from her.

lucy and susan chatted with their mom about the things they had seen on their walk earlier today while elaine got lost in her head, nodding along to the music mindlessly.

edmund watched her and wondered where her mind often wandered to… assuming it was probably the same place his went to. the war. their parents. how things had changed. he knew it was harder on her than it was on him. he had his siblings… his mom. she didn’t have anyone anymore… not really. hence why she clung to them — and god knows they all tried their hardest to help her forget… and to help themselves forget.

he gently nudged her knee with his own in an attempt to bring her back to the present moment here with them. at the action, she looked over at him and smiled gratefully. they had always been somewhat connected emotionally, it was another reason they got along so well.

“would you mind helping me put up the dishes elaine?” susan asked gently, interrupting her and edmund’s little moment.

a light blush took over elaine’s cheeks as she stood up a little too fast, the floral wooden chair teetering behind her before edmund swiftly caught it, pushing it back onto the floor.

“yes susan!” she practically sang.

edmund chuckled quietly as he stood up to help alongside her. he leaned closer to elaine, whispering “yes susan!” in a mocking tone.

it hadn’t taken edmund long to figure out that elaine had developed somewhat of a crush on susan. while many would pass it off as a simple adoration in a sisterly way, and it surely was that way for susan, he knew it wasn’t like that for elaine. edmund paid close attention to his friend, recognising the signs of a childish crush as soon as they began.

it had been hard for him to process at first, but he knew now, without a doubt, that she was attracted to girls, just like he was. and hell, for all he knew, maybe she liked boys, too. so far though, she seemed to have only developed a crush on susan.

but susan was too old for her, and they were far too young to fully process and act on feelings like that anyways. and so while that would pass, he understood that her attraction to girls probably never would, and that was a secret he would take to his grave for her. he knew the general population wasn’t exactly accepting of people like elaine.

a lot of this acceptance came from the fact that they had talked about her attraction to girls before. elaine eventually realised her adoration had twisted into a crush a couple of weeks after edmund had figured it out, and she had run into his room crying when he was in the middle of playing chess with himself.

she was terrified and in that moment, even though he didn’t understand everything regarding her feelings, and wouldn’t for a very long time, he decided no matter what, she would always be his best friend. and he would always stay by her side.

the realization that they would do anything for each other was mutual that day; they trusted each other with their lives. so while edmund teased her about her crush relentlessly, she knew it was never malicious, and it almost made her feel like her feelings were normal. and for that, as embarrassing as it was, she was thankful.

the rest of the night had gone by smoothly. lucy had forgiven elaine when she ended up giving lucy her piece of coconut cream pie as an apology. they ended the night with the oldest children playing a game of cards while lucy sat in their mother’s lap, trying not to fall asleep.

a bit after ten, mrs. pevensie told them all to get to bed, and elaine brought lucy upstairs to her bedroom.

elaine was supposed to sleep in lucy’s room when she stayed over, but usually she just read the younger girl a story until she fell asleep, and after that, elaine would quietly sneak off to edmund’s room and stay with him until his alarm went off. then she would sneak back to lucy’s room before anyone else woke up.

they had yet to be caught and it had started shortly after the bombings did. while none had hit close enough to them, she and edmund were so terrified of it happening, they had trouble sleeping, only finding comfort in having the other next to them.

this night was no different. she snuck off after lucy fell asleep, and gently got in bed next to him. he turned to face her, assuming their usual position. their fingers were interlocked beneath their faces, and they whispered quietly about anything that came to mind until sleep finally overtook them.

normal.

until they woke up to the sound of the air raid sirens.

“shit!” elaine cursed, jumping out of bed and pulling edmund up with her.

peter bursted into the room and raised an eyebrow at elaine, who was supposed to be in lucy’s room. edmund gripped elaine’s hand tight enough to cut off their circulation. her teeth were chattering. their worst fear was happening.

“we’ll discuss this later, bunker now!” peter shouted, fear dripping off his words.

elaine held onto peter and edmund’s hands as they all ran downstairs. once they made it to the den, peter quickly let go of her hand to help their mom grab supplies.

together, edmund and elaine slowly walked to the window, captivated by the fires burning outside. the bombs falling from the sky. the debris. terrifying, like nothing they had ever seen before.

“edmund! elaine! get away from there!” mrs. pevensie shouted as another bomb dropped outside. she grabbed both of their shoulders and pulled them away from the window before closing the curtains. it was pointless. it’s not like either of them would forget what they saw.

“peter!” she shouted in a panic, as the older boy came running. frantically, she pushed the two of them towards him. “what were you two thinking?!”

elaine’s brain was overloaded, not even processing that the normally gentle lady was yelling at her.

“peter, quickly, the shelter, now!”

more shouting.

elaine was in a daze. she hadn’t even realised that she and edmund’s hands had fallen apart when they’d been pushed. she was in shock.

peter grabbed her face and bent down to her level.

“elaine! come on, pay attention! lock in!”

a light pat to her cheek and her green eyes flashed in panic.

edmund.

she reached out to grab his hand, effectively pulling him out of his own shock. his wide eyes met hers. peter knew they were running out of time. he grabbed both of their arms and pushed them towards the den door.

edmund desperately tried to pull back.

“mom! wait!”

but his pleas were ignored as peter kept shouting and pushing them out.

elaine’s sense of urgency was quickly returning to her as her bare feet slammed on the patio pavement painfully. somehow peter had ended up ahead of them, but she and edmund still had a tight grip on each other. lucy’s cries mixed with the sirens and elaine felt like her head was going to explode next.

“run!” peter shouted, but edmund suddenly pulled out of elaine’s grip, sprinting back towards the house.

“edmund!” elaine screamed at the top of her lungs, but it was covered up by the sound of another bomb hitting nearby. peter turned at this and gripped the back of elaine’s nightgown to keep her from running after him, but she wriggled out of his hold and ran towards her best friend, her pace faster than before.

edmund turned back and shouted, “we forgot dad!” before slipping back into the house.

mrs. pevensie screamed their names, frozen at the top of the bunker whilst keeping a tight hold on lucy.

“damn it!” peter cursed before running after the two, “I’ll get them!” he yelled back to his mom in a last attempt to reassure her.

susan pulled her cardigan tighter against herself like it would shield her from the nightmare unfolding before her eyes.

as the pair made it into the den, elaine had finally caught up to edmund. clutched tightly in his hands was a black photo frame holding a picture of his dad. tears were streaming down both of their cheeks.

“you got him.” elaine whispered, “now let’s go.”

edmund mindlessly nodded, but as he began to turn towards her, he heard peter yell at them to get down.

elaine heard the explosion before she processed peter’s words, but thankfully he tackled both of them down to the ground, shielding their bodies with his as the window shattered around them. her ears were ringing. peter was pushing them off the ground.

“come on you idiots! get out!”

she took edmund’s hand in hers once more, keeping a tighter grip this time as peter pushed them out the patio door yet again.

she didn’t even notice that she had stepped in the glass shards from the window as they ran. feet pounding on the pavement. sharp stabbing pain masked by shock. before she knew it, edmund had ripped their hands apart and lightly shoved her ahead of him, down towards one of the bunker beds.

peter pushed edmund through the door harder than necessary and the younger boy couldn’t stop himself from falling right on top of elaine, knocking the breath out of both of them as his back slammed into her shoulder.

he quickly rolled off of her and laid back to catch his breath as peter stormed into the bunker, forcefully pulling the door shut behind him.

elaine was full on sobbing now, the night’s events catching up to her. her cries brought edmund out of his head and he tuned out peter’s incessant scolding. after all, it was just the usual “oh ed, you’re so selfish blah blah blah”. it wasn’t important now. making sure elaine was alright was far more important.

edmund quickly turned towards her as he sat up and pulled her into his arms, her body shaking with her gut-wrenching sobs. he pulled her tight into his chest with his own cries unconsciously beginning to form as he tried desperately to reassure elaine- as well as himself- that they were all okay.

peter was still yelling, only making things worse.

“peter, stop it!” susan and mrs. pevensie shouted at the same time.

they both joined edmund and elaine on the bed, their hugs shielding the two kids from everything they had just experienced together. susan tended to elaine’s wounds as mrs. pevensie continued to comfort edmund.

peter was still more than pissed off at the pair’s recklessness, but he took to lucy regardless, holding her close as they all rode out the night in the bunker.

[ottoctavius]

Some Sketches of Ottomobile

[anarmorofwords]

Okay since I’m emotional about baby Matthew interacting with his parents, Charlotte having to leave Matthew for the first time since she’s had him (Henry is there so he’s not alone but you know what I mean) and she sneaks into his nursery and lets rubs her finger on his little chubby baguette arm and tells him to be good for papa and Charles and she loves him before she goes to Charles room and kisses him goodbye too. She did this for a long time, every-time she left until her babies weren’t quite babies anymore.

Henry positioning little Matthew on his lap so he can hold his fingers and just bounce before he can walk. Tbh? I think Henry was the one who really liked seeing his kids firsts, like he’s the one who wanted to see them walk and tried to contrive ways for them to have the chance too.

Matthew gave Charlotte a heart attack once because she tried to cut his nails as a baby and everytime she get close he scream and she jump away but then he laugh, he thought they were playing, he is the reason for her first grey hairs, she swears.

Charles and Matthew where the “he’s touching me” / “I’m not touching you” type of siblings. Matthew has pushed Charles into a fountain and Charles has cut Matthew’s doll’s hair off. But Charles would also kill spiders in Matthew’s room if he asked and held his hand to cross the street as a kid unprompted.

Henry did perfect his mobile rocking crib from clockwork princess by the time Matthew was born

Charles once took Matthew out of his crib as he was crying and walked into a room of small party his mom and dad were hosting at 7 and matter of factually told them “make him stop crying, please” and since he’s 7 and has no idea to hold a child the parents in the room all to rush to get the kid out of his arms.

Matthew actually was the tantrum Haver of the two Fairchild children and like he says, if he was going get angry he was gonna make it in eventful, baby fists flying (Charlotte and Henry grabbing his hands and telling him “no, no hitting, violence is not the answer” but he craves violence) screaming like a victim of a slasher film but after he did it a lot of times he Peter out and feel bad about it, after everything is said and done he usually said sorry. But he also tire himself out. Similarly? If Matthew was a screamer, Charles bit people. Horribly teething phase. No one will ever let him live down when he was five and he bit Gideon. All I’m saying is that Charlotte gave birth to hellions while Will have births to angels was the common joke back in the day

Matthew can do pretty good impressions of his parents that actually make Charles laugh, but he denies it. Matthew can do a good Charles too, but Charles finds it less funny.

Charlotte introduced Matthew to Oscar Wild, when she bought home a copy of Dorian Grey, Will insisted she read but “when do I have to read?” But she ended up reading it to Matthew as a bed time story not recognizing it may be a little scary for him but LUCKLY he just ended up stanning him.

Matthew had a little bit of Anna from the first half Frozen energy when it came to the Fairchild Manor. Change my mind.

Charlotte has a pictures of both Charles and Matthew as babies in a locket she keeps in her pocket. Henry has a family portrait as soon as photography was available.

In a similar way, in some ways to his son’s fears, Henry fears Matthew thinks he’s boring and prefers Will who more fun (Oh the irony right?)

Matthew and Charles have only met the Branwell side of the family a number that can be counted on one hand but even that is too many for them.

The academy explosion was the one time Charlotte truly blew up at Matthew over.

Both Charles and Matthew had quite a bit of freedom as young teens that maybe they shouldn’t have had.

hi anon!!!

so sorry for taking so long!

hey I'm emotional now too, was that your plan? :')

*le cry*

Charlotte kissing them goodbye is currently almost making me cry when I'm wearing a mascara, bad idea

yes?!! i totally see him being obsessed with their milestones and firsts (again, his kids are what he's most proud of, and I'll die on that hill)

lil Matthew being a lil shit like that has my heart breaking, thanks

they were. though, aren't most siblings like that??? it's really breaking my heart, because I assume this was very much their dynamic at first, the typical "wanna push you into a hole but I'll hold you while you're afraid of the dark" thing.

mobile rocking crib yes please!!!

the mental image of the entire TID gang scrambling to their feet to take Matthew from Charles' arms is currently killing me, thanks

he was and he would apologize after tiring himself out, yes. i kinda wanna imagine that if it happened during dinners/parties Will was at, he would try to take care of him by redirecting his attention, kinda like Jace urging the baby to fight demins

plz imagine Charles trying to boss Gideon around in TLH (in a political setting) and Gideon just looking at him unimpressed, like, "kid, you bit me when you were 5, shut the fuck up"

Omg yes?!?! acting skills, baby!! (Charles is pissed when he's doing the impression of him, but he's also equal parts impressed and unsettled by the accuracy)

I wouldn't say "luckily" about a 12-13 year olds stanning Oscar Wilde lol (especially that I remember my own existential crisis phase when I was that age and read it), but I like that scenario!

yup!

she absolutely has. also does she have like am office or something? because she so would have them there as well

Matthew being insecure about Kit and Henry being insecure about Will,,,,woah, pain. Though I'd say Henry only started thinking so when Matthew became a teen and started to be more distanced (aka mentally ill lol) and all that. Earlier, I think he was very vocal about his adoration for Henry, if NBS is anything to go by.

I imagine she was really really mad and definitely lost it

i think so too! perhaps it wasn't a bad idea in itself, but so it happened that it ended the way it did...

thanks for sending this dear! have a nice day/evening/night!

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 48: The Patronus

The place was not even lit, which hadn't boded well the past few times for them, so Remus was quick to wave his wand and light the candles along the wall. It revealed nothing more than a desk with a suitcase on top, the rest of the room was cleared.

At first they all relaxed, recognizing an unused Hogwarts classroom, the view outside a crystal clear night, the moon newly waning. Then they heard the suitcase rattle.

"I swear to Merlin's sack if it's another three headed dog, I am out!" Frank hissed to no one.

"Thankfully we didn't have to deal with that one," Peter tried to offer, his voice too high pitched to convey any real comfort. "Plus, I've got a nice falsetto-"

"Someone summon the damn book and get us out of here before we have to find out!" Lily snarled, their wands all pointed either at the suitcase or at the door for the threat, but none seemed willing to activate anything. Finally Lily took a breath and followed her own advice, the suitcase went sailing into her hand.

She dropped it as if it had burned her.

"Evans?" James at once asked in concern, but too late, it fell open right in front of her.

A new girl now stood before them all, carefully set blond hair and pale fishy eyes in a neat pink dress, her face scrunched up in pure disgust. Eyes locked on Lily and storming even closer with a ranky, perfumed air she sneered, "I can't believe you did that freaky magic again Lily, mum and dad will kick you out for sure this time-"

James froze with no idea of what to make of this, even as the red heads eyes filled with tears and her wand began to lower, but Remus leaped forward and shouted, "Riddikulus!"

The image flickered for a moment, eyes still locked in on Lily. For just a moment, a boy now stood before them with long greasy hair and a hooked nose, but then it changed to a cartoonish looking dog trying to balance a bone on its nose.

Sirius could only muster up a very small laugh in surprise, but that only drew the boggarts attention onto him next, blank eyes focusing in and already beginning to change into a woman, except this time with haughty dark features and claw like hands as she shrieked at her eldest son what a disgrace he was, in a voice they all recognized from frequent Howlers in the Great Hall.

Padfoot blanched in disgust and tried his own form of the banishment, but then it only grew worse again at the weak attempt, flickering to Prongs, then Moony, and then Wormtail all with looks of horror and disgust upon their faces and spewing even worse things of betrayal and a friend they couldn't trust, all words they'd already said to him.

James pushed him out of the way and, ignoring the change to a skeletal snake-like face appearing from nothing, this time said with purpose, "Riddikulus!"

It changed to a yellow balloon and made a farting noise drifting lazily around the room. Peter made a forced attempt at laughter and they all tried to join in this time with understanding. It landed, flickered feebly between a rat, a pool of blood, a griffin, then settled on an erumpent, rearing onto its hind legs and horn pointed at Alice.

She shrieked and backed away in surprise, but gathered her wits back just as quick, all of them on guard now. She repeated the incantation and watched it shrink down to a fuzzy kitten chasing its tail. They all laughed this time with feeling.

It tried one last feeble attempt, rolling onto its back and nearly locking eyes with Regulus who backed quickly away with a truly horrified expression. Lily stormed forward with a vengeance. The image blurred, taking the shape of a person once more before she shouted at the top of her lungs, and then there was a fish flopping on the floor and singing some tune none of them recognized, but they all laughed anyways in surprise.

Finally, it vanished, the silence left behind though labored with still startled breaths was almost calm thanks to the way it had ended.

Lily very cautiously peeked back inside the suitcase, to find the book sitting innocently inside. "Well," she whispered, still breathing the heaviest. "I guess Harry gets those lessons from Professor Lupin."

They all shuffled for a moment back into more casual stances, everyone looking at someone with worry for this experience.

"Err, Evans, you sure you're okay?" Potter still asked her even as he was looking at his best mate, expression sallow to the extreme and twisted up, still glaring where the boggart had vanished.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and scooped the book up without comment to get to her place.

"An erumpent?" Frank put his arm around Alice and politely asked her. "I feel like there's a story there."

She made an awkward attempt at a giggle to fight off the full memory. "My dad took me to a sanctuary once, it did not end well. What's with you and griffins?"

"A wild one went onto our property once," he grimaced. "I'd be cat chow if my mum hadn't stepped in. Needless to say, I'm quite proud I didn't wind up in Gryffindor for that alone."

She did laugh that time, but both were now done soothing each other and watching Lily with still more worry. They wanted to say something to her, find some way to really make her laugh this off like they had, but she'd just found her place and read out the chapter title, causing an inadvertent but welcomed distraction. "That's not really the way Harry's going to stop this dementor problem." She turned accusing eyes on Lupin, who looked politely puzzled himself. "That's a seventh year charm, I only know of it because I accidentally did a practice quiz for a N. E. W. T. instead of an O. W. L last week. You can't expect a third year-"

Three Marauders decided to keep to themselves they did in fact know that charm, even if they weren't dementor tested, because there had been a study done on correlations between the form they took and similar animagus'. One, did not think that through.

"Do you know any other way to make a dementor piss off?" Black snapped at her, visibly swallowing but puffing up and nearly shouting. "You want Harry to be hearing you scream in his head for the rest of his life? At least Moony's trying something, I don't see any other Professor-"

"Padfoot," Potter placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Breathe mate, she didn't sick that boggart on you, or what came out of it, which was complete bollix."

He took a deep breath and blinked a few times, whatever he'd been yelling at in his mind finally being replaced with her vivid red hair. "Right, sorry Evans."

She just nodded without comment and tried to read on, putting the tid-bit away for later on how, interesting, it was Potter always seemed able to calm all his mates down. What would they be like when he wasn't around to do that?

Sirius had even less interest hearing Harry arguing with his friends, as if he hadn't lived through that enough. So he grabbed Regulus by his shoulder and began towing him to the farthest corner away.

He went stumbling along, but willingly, and straightened his robes and drew himself up imperiously when released. "The hell Sirius? You know you can just ask to have a word with me like normal?"

Sirius huffed and muttered for a moment about the kid before he asked in an almost gentle voice, "your class done boggarts yet?"

Regulus sucked on the inside of his cheek for a moment before answering, "no, at least, not like that. None of my Professors have ever mentioned them, certainly not Liz if it was supposed to come up this year, but Dad actually found one in his desk the day before Christmas Holiday ended. Told me I was going to practice on it this summer," he finished in a small voice. "Guess, now I'll be better prepared for it?"

Sirius had only wanted to somehow brush off the horrible things that boggartWalburga had said if his little brother had questions, but now he felt like he should ask more, for once. He'd flat refused anymore lessons like that with his parents after fourth year when they'd given him several dozen different lectures on not just how to do certain spells, but who they should be targeted towards, and that wasn't even getting into how they talked about beasts like trolls, goblins, and werewolves.

He'd tried to convince his little brother to join him and stop going to these as well, but the little brat had refused and told Sirius he wasn't going to disappoint his parents like that, then asked him to go outside and play a game. It was pure insanity! How long did Regulus think he could keep walking the line between appeasing their disturbed parents and keeping whatever moral compass he still claimed he had?

There was a small distraction from the discourse James was serving by Wood trying to work Harry off the team because of this dementor problem, his best friend shouting loud enough for the whole castle to hear, "Moony, if you don't get Harry a solution to those dementors, I'll banish them all from Earth myself!"

Wormtail gave a wild laugh for his usual antics, the both of them discussing loudly how they'd go about doing that when classes swung around to mentioning said professor again. Sirius looked up and around properly in concern when Hermione displayed, well, not a response they appreciated.

Regulus watched his brother eye Lupin with concern when the little Muggleborn girl seemed to know what was wrong with their newest teacher. Regulus felt affronted for a moment, he hadn't a clue if it was some disease he had or he was just consistently under the whether, but he also hadn't spent much time looking into it. Seemed the nosy little girl had done so and was now lording it, typical behavior of those less fortunate. He shifted his weight uncomfortably to the Muggleborn reading all this, the image of her fiery hair jumping to his defense and tackling the creature, and without permission guilt flooded him for the vicious thoughts. He slumped away from Sirius in confusion and sat by the desk as he tried to sort out all these conflictions in him. The boggart's shape for him, everything he'd thought he'd known being a lie, and still who to believe.

Sirius let him, as he didn't have a satisfactory answer for his own problem yet, and turned to enthusiastically egg Evans on with 'interest' of this new spell they clearly hadn't heard of!

Lily ignored their idiocies, but did stop curiously when the name of the incantation was given and how to invoke it. She hesitated, searching through her mind for something that might work.

Frank didn't have to think twice, summoning forth when Alice had agreed to go out with him and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" A white burst of light did indeed spew forth, but to his disappointment it merely faded away just as fast.

Alice waffled on anything to use. Her life had been quite mellow, nothing would really stand out in her mind that would give her much of anything to work with. She got more frustrated the longer she tried, thinking there must be some high point in her life as she flickered through memories with her parents, friends, and even Frank, but there was no peak producing silver to be found.

The Marauders all, 'gave it a go.' They all had great bruises on their prides to only produce very thick and consistent vapors of smoke without letting their true patronuses take shape, but they'd resisted the urge to brag to the world about their years too early practice in becoming animagus', they could hold off bragging on this too. Sirius turned to Regulus and called, to try and push some attention away, "come on then, give it a go! See if you and Harry are on the same level?"

'I'm nothing like that half-blood' he wanted to snap back, instinctively insulted, but took a deep breath and instead tried to respond to his brothers enthusiasm. He recalled the time he and Sirius had built a fort out of blankets in the study and Kreacher brought them snacks all night, the two whispering about all the adventures of the future, home alone as their parents went to a dinner party all night. A very substantial silver something began to materialize before him, but he was so surprised it faded away just as fast. He looked wildly over to see his brother beaming with pride.

James was watching Evans sadly, advice or something to help on the tip of his tongue. She was red in the face and muttering the enchantment with purpose, but barely a whisp was visible. Usually the ruler of the Charms room, he'd half expected her to be able to flawlessly enact this one, but she was clearly struggling with some aspect. When she opened her eyes and saw him staring, she looked even more angry and frustrated, turning back to the book with a despicable look, muttering about practice later.

She didn't exactly feel better that she was doing worse than Harry, or the fact that the boy had to create a fake memory just to produce results! She flushed with shame as she suddenly realized she may do better trying the same, nothing she'd come up with seemed to be working. Not the earliest ones of the first time she'd done magic, nor the more recent of her and Sev trying to create spells and jotting them down in his mums old potion book. She stamped her foot in frustration of what she was doing wrong.

The lesson was going brutally, and Evans' clear displeasure at her inability to do the spell wasn't helping things along. Constantly having to hear of your last dying words on top of lacking in magic her son was getting only half decent results in this same spell, more than her. At least Harry had an excuse for his lackluster work, his secret desire to hear his mother's voice, the only time in his life he would.

Then Peter fell back against the wall, clutching his ears in pain rather than keep hearing her stutter in surprise over James' last words. You-Know-Who closing in, and his brave, loyal, stupid friend standing his ground against everything. He should have ran, why didn't he run? This wasn't some animal that could so easily be tricked and fooled, this was a tyrant even Prongs couldn't face!

He watched his friend for several long moments, looking as if he were seeing a ghost in Evan's hands, but then his chest puffed up and he drew himself to his full height as if fixing to go ten more rounds with everyone in the castle. "Damned right!" He declared with actual pride.

Sirius and Remus looked on the verge of tears hearing of this, but then they too threw their shoulders back in pride for such a response. Peter wished the castle would swallow him hole in shame as he couldn't bring himself to do the same. His eyes flickered to where the Boggart had vanished, the tiny little rat that had appeared mocking him. He'd always been weak and small compared to them, even his fears, and the self-loathing only grew stronger for what he was, what his first reaction would always be.

Lily had just been given a whole new perspective of this future smacked into her face. There was still the loathsome image of being married to Potter for all of this to even be occurring, but for once that was the most insignificant bit. She held, in her hands, proof that James Potter, cared for her. Like she'd watched him do for his friends in the past few days alone, like she'd seen him even trying to do for her, now magnified in an action he clearly had no regrets for. For this one second, his last breath, he was not some arrogant prick trying to win her affections.

"Lily?" It was the quietest, most gentle way he'd ever called to get her attention. The reason he called her Evans was too rile her up and see her face him with that challenging look ready to go, but that's not what she needed now. "I don't regret it." The calm he infused into that, spluttered something out of her.

"How do you manage to- I don't even like-"

"That's alright," he actually shrugged, still looking like this of all things was a casual conversation. Not the birk that was blindly defending his friend, the arrogant idiot who couldn't see any opinion but his own, just his declaration this was a satisfying enough end. She didn't understand it one little bit. She turned slowly back to the book, because for once she didn't know what to say to him. Thank you didn't seem proper enough, when she couldn't return she'd do the same.

She almost, sympathized with Harry coming to tears over hearing of this. She'd tried, and failed, to put distance between the idea of this child being hers, and for the first time was again struck by just what the boy would think watching this. The first thing he'd ever heard in his parents voice was their life ending for his, and here the two of them couldn't even hold a civil conversation! The lad would probably cry ten fold if he was forced to hear this instead.

Some of James' confidence wavered when Remus, or Professor Lupin whatever, refused to elaborate on their friendship. He had no idea why his friend had been going out of his way these past thirteen years to not care for Harry, and dancing around the answer now was making him feel sick. Just what had happened?

Sirius and Remus exchanged terrified looks for the same, now watching Prongs as he finally looked worried about this future like hearing his own last words hadn't managed. Sirius roused himself, and in a fit of solidarity to chase that away shouted, "oi, who's up for round two with that Boggart! Professor Lupin's slacking, only letting Harry have three goes!"

Remus swallowed uncomfortably rather than admitting he wanted to quit again from this bloody story, but the other two looked relieved and laughed just like Padfoot had been hoping, even if both sounded extremely forced.

There was rising hope in everyone now as Harry finally got a good attempt off! Professor Lupin still had to step in, and it didn't seem encouraging the man who was teaching this couldn't even produce his own patronus to do it, but they'd take whatever they could get at this point.

Professor Lupin's even more cryptic comments about Sirius had the two shuffling closer to each other with unease, wishing more than ever there was some way to just get an answer already rather than all of this foul run around nonsense. Harry pausing to reflect on all of this was making them sicker by the moment, it took everything they had not to grab each others hands in front of everyone just for some comfort in this dreadful situation.

Thankfully the book lightened up from there and the moment passed without either having to acknowledge it. More chats of Quidditch and fond laughter at the little third year whining about homework between all the OWL students was really what everyone needed.

Time dragged on for Harry, Frank and Alice looked out the window curiously as if they were going to see the sun zipping by along with Lily's words, though thankfully they were saved from that experience. When the book did go back to talking about Harry in those lessons, Lily couldn't help her voice shaking again, not needing a repeat to know how much Harry needed this, and yet finally understanding why he'd never want them to stop. Her dismay at this was nothing to the Blacks reaction of finding out the oldest one was to be Kissed.

Sirius would have fallen if his friends hadn't caught him, his face a silent scream of fright, which set Regulus' blood boiling. No one and nothing made his brother look like that! "They can't do that! It's been outlawed- it's never even been allowed it's so beyond words! Just who the bloody hell is trying to hide what doing this to him!"

Hearing his little brother throwing a fit, over him, snapped Sirius out of it like nothing else could have. He'd stood there and watched in wonderment for a moment like everyone else before finally going over to him and wrapping a reassuring arm around his shoulders. Regulus immediately tried to shake him off, still muttering profane things Sirius was a bit proud to hear coming from his young mouth, but held tight. "I want you to remember this moment Reg," Sirius said with conviction. "Purebloods are not any more safe than anyone else from the bad things they do, or are framed for doing." He'd only been trying to distract the both of them from this future horror, but now his kid brother looked even more aghast.

"-But, Sirius, don't you see! This is why the Dark Lord's plans should be followed! He wouldn't let this happen to you!"

Sirius flushed in anger, his arm tightened painfully around the kid, but he remembered how shocked and afraid he'd been when hearing the news of You-Know-Who's real name and birth and forced himself to keep going reasonably. "No, Regulus, it wouldn't. I'll never follow him or what he wants, and he'd do much worse to me because of it. You've got to stop letting others tell you what to do-"

"Like you're doing!" He snapped, finally pulling away. "Both you and our parents just keep saying things, how about giving me a chance to see it for myself? All I've seen so far is someone deciding you're going to get your soul sucked out because you killed a bunch of Muggles! Who cares about them, but under the-"

"Shut up!" Sirius snapped back before he could say it again. "Do you even hear yourself? Murder's okay now, so long as it's not someone who can do magic? What next then, killing Muggleborn's will be okay because it's not you?" To his surprise, Regulus' eyes flinched to Evans and away, it was the first time Sirius had seen him even acknowledge her. "Then who, hum? Wizards without pure blood lines can go to? Then there will just be You-Know-Who's minions, and even those might some day choose to not agree with who goes next, and there won't be anyone left to stop him!"

He took a deep breath and tried to keep himself calm when Regulus just stood there, pale faced but with that insufferably stubborn look still set. He didn't seem to have a rebuttal for that though, for once. "Fine, think whatever you like," he muttered, stamping back to his friends.

Lily felt like backing slowly out of the room so as not to draw attention towards her and invoke another fight like that, even as she'd been unable to look away from the whole thing, completely riveted. The brothers were much more of a spectacle than her and her sister were, she was sure, but still she couldn't help but find herself sympathizing with Sirius Black of all people. She was full of that today apparently, as she wanted to consul the sibling who couldn't get through to the other. It made going back to reading feel ten times more awkward as she kept shooting him anxious looks, an apology or words of understanding on the tip of her tongue for him that he was clearly ignoring even from his own friends.

They were all so distracted it took a few moments for McGonagall's words to sink about Harry's Firebolt being returned to him, than Lily's good mood vanish as fast as it was back for those Marauders. They were a ball of pure energy and excitement Harry got the broom back while she just wanted to chuck it in the trash, considering Harry and Ron even went so far as to rub it in their friends face they'd been right all along. She still remembered Harry nearly being thrown from a broom once, was it beyond her son to admit it could have happened again and better safe than sorry?

She'd thought they were going to end on that high note for Harry, for once, but then another bomb was thrown into the mix for all parties. Hermione's cat had finally eaten Ron's rat. More than one relationship might be irreparable now.

[lurafita]

Petvengers Chapter 3

Read chapter 1 here: Chappy 1

Read chapter 2 here: Chappy 2

:-) Guess now what kind of animal Stephen gets, and see if you guessed right later in the chapter! Cookies for everyone who knows who Detective Davis is. :-)

To stave off any confusion that might come, MJ's parents are divorced, and Michelle has no blood-related siblings. *Insert name here* has no blood-related siblings, and his mother died.

Regarding the pet introduced in this chapter, please remember that this is a fanfic. I therefore take some liberties with the laws on which animals can and can not be held as pets. 

Dr Strange

America may be the land of the free, but it was sadly not the land of good tea. Not if you asked one Dr. Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts.

He could have sworn he still had a stash of the fine leaves he had brought back from his last visit to Kathmandu, but he hadn't been able to find it anywhere. His quest to find a vendor that sold decent tea, had taken him almost all the way to the ends of Manhattan, but at least he now had something to tide him over with, until the next time he was due to visit the monastery. If it weren't for the almost unbearable summer heat outside, the trip might not have been so bad.

Since he was in his civilian clothes, he headed for the nearest alley to open a portal to the Sanctum. No need to draw attention to himself, after all. He wasn't Stark.

He had barely stepped foot into his home, when he heard the voice of the boy, Peter, coming from the sitting room.

"-which is why MJ is currently getting ready for a 'get to know you' dinner with her possible new stepfather and brother. Ned and I researched the guy beforehand, of course, but he checked out. He is a police detective with the Brooklyn devision, and so far we haven't found anything that would point at him being dirty or the likes. No shady connections to the Mob, no underhanded courtroom deals, no crooks or witnesses that vanished under suspicious circumstances while connected to any of his cases, and no secret Swiss bank accounts."

Stephen could only shake his head at what he heard, even as a fond, little smile stole itself across his lips. Kid was watching too much TV. It seemed Wong shared this perspective, as he could hear the other man next.

"While your devotion to assure your friends safety is admirable, don't you think that hacking into the police stations database is taking things a little far?"

How Wong could say something like this, and still sound completely relaxed, was a mystery to Strange. He himself was contemplating to inform Stark of his ward's latest shenanigans, so that the man could perform some damage control.

"One can never be too certain. But don't worry, we made up for the hacking by strengthening the departments firewall. Their data was almost as easy to get to as the hospitals. I actually think I met Detective Davis as Spiderman once, and he seemed like a pretty nice guy. I'm not actually too worried, but I will be keeping an eye on things."

By then Stephen had made his way to the room, where Peter and Wong were talking, both had a glass filled with cold water before them on the table, while the Cloak of Levitation had draped itself beside the teenager on the couch, apparently listening in on the conversation as well.

"As long as you don't commit any more felonies while 'keeping an eye on things', Spiderman, that's perfectly alright."

The boy immediately grinned at him.

"What's up, Doc?"

Stephen sighed. Sometimes he really despised Bugs Bunny. Wong nodded at him in greeting and the Cloak fluttered one of it's corners, which was it's way of waving hello.

He continued on to the connecting kitchen, and started boiling the water in his teapot.

"What brings you here, Peter? And how come your canine companion isn't with you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Peter pout.

"It's too hot for Hope. We went for a walk yesterday morning, and he burned his paws on the asphalt. Colonel, too. Tony sectioned off a few yards behind the tower, and had a company deliver some soil and fast growing grass seeds. And pavilions for some shadow. So any outside activities for the animals are restricted to the new backyard, until this heatwave passes. But it's just as well, because Arthur is still getting used to his new leg Dad and Bruce built him, and he still needs to take things slow. And Eames can more easily stretch his wings there, without bumping into anything and having to maneuver around walls and stuff."

Stephen, thanks to Wong, knew all about the little arachnids efforts to turn Stark tower into a zoo, and could deduce that Colonel, who had also burned his paws, was one of the pets that Peter had coerced someone into adopting. 'Eames', likewise, must be an avian type of animal that now belonged to one of the Avengers. But he had no idea who or what 'Arthur' could be.

"Arthur? Did the Avengers get a new member?"

To his surprise, Wong answered the question.

"Arthur is Sergeant Barnes adopted, young raccoon, who lost his hind leg to a hunter trap. He is very cute. Peter sent me pictures."

Said teen scowled at the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Which you would have gotten, too, if you finally accepted my friends request on Whatsapp."

Thankfully that's when the kettle let out a shrill whistle, and Stephen could finally start brewing himself a cup. He would not be able to get through what was to follow, without a nice cup of tea.

"Peter, you have my number for emergencies and other important things, not to spam my phone with pictures of every cute, little critter you come across. I remember the day you adopted Hope. Wong's phone vibrated so much with received messages from you, it fell off the table. Also, I don't have Whatsapp."

Completely ignoring everything else the man had said, Peter zeroed in on that last statement.

"What about twitter?"

"No."

"Instagram?"

"No."

"Tumblr?"

"I don't even know what that is."

"You gotta have Facebook at least! Even Steve has a Facebook page, and he uses a flip-phone!"

"Definitely not."

Peter, seemingly beyond shocked, turned to the older monk beside him.

"How do you live with him?"

Wong sighed, shook his head, and took a sip of his water.

"'Tis the cross I must bear."

Thank the Ancient One that his tea was done! He took a long drink, disregarding the scalding temperature, and sighed in relief. Better.

"Why don't we get back to my first question, shall we? What brings you here, Peter? Do the Avengers need assistance?"

Peter grinned and dove for his backpack.

"Nope! I just brought over the next part of the Harry Potter movies for Cloakie!"

He quickly yanked the movie disk out of his backpack and held it aloft triumphantly. And then the Cloak of Levitation, an ancient, magical, powerful artifact, that was revered by many, fluttered in absolute excitement and tackled the teenager in a hug, while also grabbing the movie.

Peter laughed, Wong smiled, and Stephen resisted the urge to burrow his head in his hands, and instead took another sip of his tea.

After he had managed to untangle himself from Cloakie, Peter downed the rest of his water, thanked Wong for the beverage, and stood up.

"Alright! I should be on my way now."

"Do you want me to open a portal into the tower?" Stephen offered, remembering the sweltering heat outside. Peter shook his head.

"Thanks, but I wanted to fit in a little patrol before going back. Though I don't expect a lot to be going on, with the temperatures outside. Thank God the suit has air conditioning. Bye Doc, bye Wong, bye Cloakie!"

Two "Bye Peter"'s and a full body flutter from the Cloak, and the young superhero was gone. With the closing of the front door, Strange sat down on one of the couches and relaxed. He liked Peter a lot, but the boy could be a bit taxing at times. As he drank his tea and watched the Cloak fly off in search of his laptop to watch it's new Harry Potter movie, he never noticed the deeply amused, knowing and conspiratorial little grin Wong was wearing.

                    -------------------------------------------------------------

"So, MJ said the dinner went really well. She likes the guy, said she had a good feeling about him."

Ned told Bethany, the shelter worker who had been there when Michelle and Peter had guided Sam and Bucky into pet adoption. Peter had boosted himself up on the reception counter, and was carefully stroking the soft feathers of the big snow owl perched on his arm. While Bethany wouldn't normally allow a visitor to have one of the animals in the open like this, and in the buildings lobby to boot, she had made an exception for Peter. Not only was the boy extraordinarily good with handling the animals, he had also needed a little pick-me-up, seeing as the persisting hot weather had not allowed for his dog to accompany him to the shelter.

Peter added his own little tid-bits.

"The son had apparently been a bit quiet, but she said he seemed very sweet."

Bethany nodded.

"Well, I believe anyone would feel a little awkward, meeting their father's new girlfriend, and girlfriend's daughter. How old did you say the boy was?"

Since Peter was very busy smiling over the cute faces the owl was making as he pet it, Ned answered the question.

"11. Though MJ did get him to talk a bit about hobbies and stuff. She said he has a real interest in art, especially graffiti painting."

Peter chimed in then.

"Which means he and MJ will have plenty to bond over. Hopefully she doesn't make him take up her 'painting people in distress' thing. Otherwise my frowning face will likely be the first of many, to one day appear on walls all over the city."

Ned paled visibly.

"Dude, that's horrifying."

Bethany laughed softly.

"Now, now boys. You shouldn't fret about things like that. My wife always says that artists carry old souls. Anything they draw, is worth drawing. Even a frowning face."

She winked at Peter. Bethany was totally cool. She was 58 years old and had been together with her wife since they were both 20. When America finally lifted the ban on gay marriage, they had been one of the first same-sex couples to tie the knot in 2015. Peter opened his mouth to reply, when his ears picked up the distant (though rapidly closing in) sounds of screaming and cursing. He grinned.

"Ned, get your camera ready. Operation: Harry Potter, is about to begin."

The other boy obediently pointed his camera towards the entrance, and before Bethany could ask what the boys were talking about, she heard a male voice screaming at someone or something to: "Stop it, goddammit! You insufferable piece of magical cloth! If you don't let me down this instance-"

And then suddenly the doors burst open and what looked to be a man, swaddled in... a red cape?.. came literally flying in.

Peter jumped from the counter (carefully though, so as not to unsettle the owl still perched on his arm), and took a few steps forward.

"Cloakie, you made it!"

Then the cape seemingly unraveled itself from the man (giving the poor guy quite the spin in the process), and came floating over to the teen and owl.

While Bethany was still trying to cope with the fact that there was an apparently living article of clothing, hovering in front of Peter and seemingly ogling the owl (which ogled back just as much), the man the cape had dragged into the shelter (and boy, that was definitely a line of thought she never expected to have) was slowly getting his bearings again. Then he pinned a very pointed gaze at the two teenagers, and made a notable effort to keep his voice calm.

"Peter. Ned. Would it be correct for me to assume, that you are to blame for my unwilling journey through the streets of Manhattan?"

As Ned tried to shrink back behind his camera (that he still kept resolutely focused on the sorcerer), Peter just grinned brightly at the man.

"Absolutely. Very astute of you. Guess that's why you are the Sorcerer Supreme."

 (Oh, so that was that magical superhero that her wife had told her about. Really, her love was such a fangirl where New York's hero community was concerned. Well, at least that entrance made sense now.)

The man, (Dr. Strange, if Bethany remembered correctly), narrowed his eyes at the teen.

"And for what possible reason, do you require my presence?"

Cloakie had extended one of it's corners to lightly pet the white owl on the head. The owl seemed to like it.

"We need a designated adult to sign the adoption papers for Hedwig. She is a 9 year old snow owl. Her owner was a huge Harry Potter fan, which is why he named her Hedwig. He sadly died in an accident not too long ago, and his remaining family didn't have the kind of space to take Hedwig in."

The eyes narrowed further.

"If you want to adopt another pet, then get your aunt or Stark to sign the forms."

Peter shook his head.

"But Hedwig isn't for me."

Bethany looked on intrigued as suspicion formed in the sorcerer's eyes.

"Peter, I'm not getting a pet."

The teen rolled his eyes.

"I know. Hedwig isn't for you, either. She is for Cloakie!"

As if to underline his point, he lifted the arm with the owl a bit, drawing all eyes to the way the Cloak of Levitation cooed (could a cloak coo?) at Hedwig.

The look on the doctor's face right then, was one that Bethany had seen many times on her sister in law, when she had to explain to her 4 year old daughter why she only got one birthday every year.

"Kid, the Cloak of Levitation may be a sentient being with it's own will, but it cannot adopt an animal."

Peter gave the man the most deadpan look that Bethany had ever seen him make.

"I. Know. Which is why we need you to sign the paperwork. Didn't I say that? I thought I said that."

He looked questioningly at Cloakie, who nodded in agreement, and then went right back to petting the owl.

Stephen decided not to suffer any more of this lunacy, and waved his hands to open a portal to the Sanctum. Before he was able to fully step through, however, the Cloak had settled around his shoulders and dragged him back into the shelter's lobby. He directed his stern gaze at the Cloak.

"I don't care how much you love Harry Potter, you will not keep an owl in the Sanctum."

The Cloak folded both of it's lower ends together, in an imitation of a human folding their arms over their chest. Stephen pointed a finger right at it.

"Don't give me that look. We are not taking that owl home, and that is final."

Hedwig, (with a little whispered encouragement from Peter), took matters into her own hands (claws? Wings?) and gave the teen an affectionate headbutt, before flying off his arm and right through the still open portal, into the Sanctum. While Stephen was still trying to process this fully, his magical cloak fluttered in excitement and dove right after it's owl. The portal closed right behind them. Stephen stared.

Before he had the chance to chase after his wayward magical artifact, Peter was suddenly before him, shoving a bunch of papers and a pen into his chest.

"Great, doc! I knew you would come around, though there was really no need to get Hedwig to your home in such a rush! Now, let's just quickly take care of the formalities. You wouldn't want Bethany to think that you were kidnapping her animals, right?"

The wide, brown eyes looked meaningfully first at him, then at the older woman behind the counter, then at a still filming Ned.

Master of the mystic arts, Sorcerer Supreme, protector of the magical realms, Doctor Stephen Strange, let out a long suffering sigh, and grabbed for the adoption forms.

                       -----------------------------------------------------

When roughly twenty minutes later, a portal opened up in the sitting room of the Sanctum Sanctorum, through which stepped a thoroughly annoyed Stephen, Wong was already prepared with a cup of steaming tea.

"The Cloak and Hedwig are in the upper level, playing a game of tag." He quickly handed the cup over, completely ignoring the calculating eyes his friend was bestowing him with. "I have already placed different perches for our new roommate all over the house. The special bird feed is in the kitchen."

Then the older monk calmly sat down in his armchair, and resumed reading the thick tome of incantations before him.

"You were in on this, weren't you?"

Wong casually turned a page.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Stephen swore loudly, took a sip of his tea, and vowed to find a way to get revenge.