An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Thirty-Seven

One of the weirdest changes for me as my dad and I left the magical world and made our way to the airport was suddenly being famous again. In the wizarding world, nobody gave me a second look. In the muggle world, nobody could stop looking at Tony Stark and his daughter. I didn't always love it, but it was my reality. The Wizarding World was temporary; once I was out of school, this was my normal again.

We got on the private jet (one part of the muggle world I seriously missed) and Dad and I just watched movies the whole way home. By the time we got back to the tower, it was 3 in the morning London time. Unfortunately for me, that meant it was only 10:00pm in New York and everyone had waited up for me.

"Welcome home Alexa!" they all yelled as I slouched in the door, my dad right behind me. Before I could react I got a tackle hug from Pepper, and then Uncle Rhodey, and then everyone else just kind of swarmed us and made one big group hug.

"Hey guys," I managed, my voice muffled by all the people surrounding me. After a second they all backed up, herding me to the couches and sitting down in a loose circle around me.

"How was the magic school?" asked Pietro, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

"Tell me you learned some curses," added Uncle Clint. "Like, at least five curses."

"Magic school was great. I learned a lot of magic. Like, probably ten curses," I said, giving my family a tired smile. Uncle Clint did a fist pump while my dad just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let's see some of this crazy magic then," said Aunt Nat. She gave me an encouraging look, and I was so tired I almost pulled out my wand and used it. Thankfully, I remembered the no-magic-outside-Hogwarts rule just in time.

"Ugh, I wish I could but I can't," I groaned, flopping my head back on the couch. "There's a stupid rule that says I can only do magic at school until I'm seventeen."

Strange scoffed. "That's a stupid rule." He conjured some glowing Mystic Arts thing that did who knows what. "And it's exactly why the Mystic Arts are superior to whatever you call that wand magic."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that when I'm seventeen, won't we?"

I didn't need to look up to know Loki was smirking and already planning to record that whole contest.

"Okay guys, enough talk. It's three in the morning for her, remember? Let's let her get some sleep," said Uncle Steve, standing and cuing everyone else to do the same. "We can give her the third degree in the morning."

Everyone grumbled and dispersed, and Pepper and my dad came over to help me up to bed. I shot Steve a grateful look on my way out. I was so tired I barely made it up the stairs, and I was out cold as soon as my head hit the pillow. Normally it was almost impossible to fall asleep in this house, since there was always something going on or someone to talk to. Now, it just felt like home. Nice, safe, and relatively calm.

Who knew a few months at Hogwarts could turn a house full of superheroes into someplace relaxing?

****************

When I woke up on Monday morning, everything that went with the word 'relaxing' disappeared in an instant. I went downstairs for breakfast to find everyone sitting at the table (Wakandans included—they must have gotten in this morning) waiting expectantly for me to come downstairs. I hadn't seen most of these people for almost four months, so it was nice to have the gang back together again, but at the same time the whole squad of almost twenty people was a lot to handle at one time.

Especially when they would not stop asking questions about Hogwarts.

Once I got some much needed coffee in my system, I didn't mind as much. We talked through lunch about everything that had happened at Hogwarts, and then we talked through dinner about everything that happened in New York while I was gone. While there hadn't been any massive, world-wide crises in my absence, I got plenty of stories about all the stuff Loki got up to and how many times the other Avengers had tried (and failed) to get him back.