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Peter blinked at the sight of the castle on the hill in front of him. He’d never seen a castle outside of movies before and for one whole disorienting moment he wondered how on earth he’d managed to arrive at this one.
“Who are you?”
He spun at the voice, coming face to face with another boy. He was shorter than Peter; with messy black hair, bright green eyes behind round glasses, and a complexion so pale Peter worried if he’d ever seen the sun.
“Peter. Parker. Peter Parker.” he finally managed. Then, “Is that a real castle?” he couldn’t help but blurt out. The other boy looked past him, and for a moment he blinked, a look of longing so sharp on his features that Peter almost felt like he was intruding for looking.
“Yeah, it is.” He moved forward then, moving to stand beside Peter, and he took back his thoughts of the other just being a kid too. Not that 17 was a kid really, but it kind of was. Or at least, Peter knew he certainly wasn’t a full adult. But this guy, while his body was probably the same age as Peter’s, his eyes told a different story. They were tired. Then the guy looked over at him, expression one of curiosity. “How did you get here?”
Peter opened his mouth to answer before he realized he couldn’t.
“I don’t - I don’t know.” he admitted, dread pooling in his stomach. How the hell had he gotten here? How was he going to get home? The panic must’ve showed on his face because the other guy interrupted his spiralling thoughts.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.” and Peter blinked in surprise.
“How do you know?”
“You’re not really here.” and that sounded even worse -
The guy huffed out a laugh.
“This is a dream. You aren’t really here.” and even as Peter processed that, he realized the longing look on the guy’s face made so much more sense. This castle, wherever it was, was somewhere he missed. Then he realized the implication of what the guy had said.
“But if this is your dream that means we’re soulmates.” Even as the words left his mouth he felt himself flush bright red, and the guy turned bright green eyes on him. Peter saw him start to answer, but before he could so much as utter a word the world started to blur around them. Peter reached out in alarm, not wanting to go yet - not so soon - but then he was blinking up at his bedroom ceiling, his phone ringing in the darkness. He groped for it, and didn’t even bother to mutter a greeting when he answered, because Mr. Stark was speaking the moment the call connected.
“Come on, kid, up and at em. Need you in the field.”
“Already on my way.” he promised, rolling out of bed, but he couldn’t help but wish he was back in the dream, even as he slipped the suit on and headed for the window.
>>>
Peter didn’t find his way back into the dream for days. No matter how hard he tried, how often he’d nap, he didn’t see his soulmate again.
Now that he understood the nature of the dream he’d had, he couldn’t wait to get back, but life certainly wasn’t making it easy.
He’d been worried for a while that he didn’t have a soulmate - after all, most people dreamed about their soulmate from the moment they both existed in the world. They were tied together in dreams from the moment of their birth to the moment of their death.
Since Peter had never had the dreams before, he’d been worried that maybe he would never have a soulmate. Now, he couldn’t help but worry about why it’d taken 17 years to share dream with his soulmate when the other guy looked to be about the same age as him.
It made him worried that he was the backup soulmate; that maybe the guys first soulmate had died and Peter was like the consolation prize.
He shook the thought off. There was no point thinking that way, but the niggling worry remained.
>>>
Harry watched Peter appear out of thin air in the courtyard ahead of him. It’d been nearly a week since he’d last seen him, and it hadn’t been entirely by accident. It’d been more than a bit of a shock to find someone else in his dreams after all this time; someone who wasn’t the one trying to kill him that is; and he hadn’t been entirely sure how to feel.
He’d dreaded for a long time that maybe Voldemort was his soulmate; after all he was the only person Harry had ever encountered in his dreams; but with everything he’d heard and read about soul bonds, it became clear that how he and Voldemort interacted wasn’t how the dreams were supposed to work. It’d been more about witnessing each other’s dreams rather than sharing them.
That had been more that a little relieving.
It was Luna who found him a few days after he met Peter, and who’d told him that he must be relieved to no longer have his mind blocked by the Dark Lord, that Harry truly realized just what it meant.
Even still, it’d taken a few tries to find himself asleep at the same time as his soulmate.
They were in his dream again, in the main courtyard at Hogwarts, and he wondered why they kept meeting here; wondered if it was because he needed the comfort and it was an easy way to tell Peter about his life. He couldn’t help but dread how Peter would react when he found out the truth.
“Welcome back.” He greeted, watching Peter spin around in surprise.
“Where are we now?”
“In the castle. From before.” Then he decided he should probably share a little more if Peter really was his soulmate. “It’s called Hogwarts. It’s where I went to school.” Peter’s eyes went wide with shock and awe and he grinned.
“Awesome.” Harry couldn’t help but share the smile.
“It was, rather.” He took a breath. “I’m Harry. Harry Potter.” And there wasn’t a hint of recognition in Peter’s gaze. It relaxed him immediately. He dropped onto one of the benches, gripping the edge with his hands. Peter ambled over and sat next to him, smiling brightly at him.
“Nice to meet you, Harry.” And he didn’t really know what to say to that. He’d always been a bit awkward at this sort of thing, and the fact that this wasn’t going how it was supposed to it made him feel even more awkward.
“I’m, er, sorry that it took so long to meet.” And he could feel the flush in his cheeks.
“That’s okay. I’m sure there’s a good reason.” And Harry could hear the silent question.
“It’s complicated.” He admitted, “But I promise it wasn’t on purpose.”
Peter nodded but didn’t push. Harry felt his shoulders loosen and lower from where they’d hunched up.
“So what kind of school was this?” Peter asked, looking around. “It looks like it was probably a boarding school, right?” Harry blinked.
“It was.” And even he could hear the surprise in his voice. “To be honest I’d never really thought about it.” He admitted. “I was always just so excited to be here.” up until the end, but he didn’t want to admit that yet.
“That’s super cool. I just go to school in New York. Not that that’s not cool or whatever, but not as cool as castle.” Peter rambled, and Harry found himself grinning despite himself.
“I’ve never been to New York, but I’ve heard it’s not boring.”
Peter’s laugh wooshed out of his lungs on a breath of relief.
“No, definitely not boring.” he glanced over at Harry in time to see the sparkle of mischief in the other’s eyes.
“Probably not as interesting as magic though.”
Peter blinked. Then blinked again. Then he found himself grinning from ear to ear.
“You’re kidding.”
He watched Harry pull a stick out of his pocket, and with a flick of his wrist, the bench they were on started to float. Peter made a sound that was definitely not a yelp of surprise, hands and feet immediately shifting to stick to the surface, clinging.
When the bench set back down, he realized he was grinning like a loon.
“That’s - that’s super cool.” He rushed out, and Harry laughed.
“It is rather cool, isn’t it.” his smile was wistful and Peter wanted to ask why. “When I first found out I was a wizard - I don’t think I’d ever felt as happy.” Harry admitted, and Peter ducked his head to catch his eye.
“Hopefully we can top it.” and he wasn’t sure where the bold words came from, but it had that wistfulness sliding off Harry’s features to be replaced with that mischievous light once more.
“I’m sure we can.” He watched Harry stand and turn, taking a deep breath of his own. His jaw set and Peter recognized it as determination. “Just where in New York are you?”
Peter could only blink, but then he was also on his feet.
“Brooklyn. Um. But I’ll meet you at the airport.”
Harry’s grin grew impossibly wider.
“Oh, I won’t be taking a plane.”
>>>
Peter woke up with a jolt, and found himself staring blankly at his ceiling. How was Harry going to get here if not on a plane? He felt the silly grin on his face and launched out of bed, running his hands threw his hair. He looked around at his room, at the mess, and immediately got to work cleaning it.
As soon as it was spotless, he found himself restlessly pacing his room, and realized it was no use.
Glancing at his closet, he immediately went for his suit.
>>>
“So you’re telling me magic is real.” Mr. Stark said, and Peter groaned. The sound earned him a smirk as the man reached over to ruffle his hair. Peter didn’t duck out the way, though he did feel his cheeks warm at the casual touch.
“Come on, Mr. Stark. I met my soulmate.” The hand in his hair slipped down to grasp his shoulder, pulling him in so he was tucked under the older man’s arm.
“I know, kiddo. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Tony?” Peter just wrinkled his nose which earned him an eye roll. “So you think he’s going to show up with magic?”
Peter shrugged, careful not to dislodge Mr. Stark’s arm.
“I dunno, really. He just said he’d come find me. That he wouldn’t be taking a plane.” that earned him a hum and finally Mr. Stark pulled away, wandering towards a work station.
“Jarvis, what do we know about a magical community? More importantly, why didn’t we know about the magical community?”
“Technically, sir, you were already aware of magic, though the existence of a community was undocumented.”
Peter felt a sudden rush of guilt.
“You know, it’s probably a secret. I probably wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.” he admitted, and Mr. Stark glanced back, brows scrunched. The moment he met Peter’s gaze though, his expression smoothed, and he gave a wry grin.
“Don’t worry, kid. I’m not going to yank back the curtain or anything.”
Peter nodded, hopping up on one of the tables and bringing a knee to his chest, the other swinging freely. He glanced at his mask, sitting by his hip, and sighed.
“Are you going to tell him?” Mr. Stark’s voice interrupted, and Peter looked up sharply.
“I probably shouldn’t. Should I? He told me about magic - but I’ve got villains and things. And what if he got into trouble because he found out and then I wasn’t able to protect him and-”
“Whoa, kid. Slow down.” he was interrupted, Mr. Stark coming over with his hands up in surrender to stop the onslaught of words. “Look, he told you about magic pretty quickly. That obviously means he trusts you, right?” Peter nodded, because that was probably true. “Trust your gut, Peter. It hasn’t let you down yet.”
Peter ducked his head, cheeks flushed from the praise, but he didn’t find the smile.
The crack was like thunder and it had him on his feet, mask in place, and standing in front of Mr. Stark in an instant.
He heard the hum of the Iron Man armour forming around Mr. Stark behind him, but he didn’t move.
Then the reason behind the crack stumbled to their feet from behind a table, and Peter found himself straightening in disbelief.
“Harry?” he asked, and the boy in question jerked around to look at him, glasses askew, hair a birds nest on top of his head, and a teacup clutched in his hands.
“Er. Yes. Hi. That’s me. Who are you?” and then Harry was squinting at him, head cocked. “Peter?”
Peter pulled off his mask before he could think twice of it, and felt the blush staining his cheeks. This was not how he’d intended to reveal this, but it looked like he had no choice now.
“Uh. Yeah. Hi, Harry. I’m - um - spiderman?”
Harry blinked at him, before his gaze darted to Mr. Stark behind him.
“Alright, and who’s that?”
Mr. Stark’s mask opened up and when Peter looked back at him, there was a look of disbelief on his face.
“You seriously don’t know who I am?”
Harry frowned, looking back at Peter, before he squinted, and the faintest of recognition sparked.
“Oh - you’re that billionaire, right? Tony Stark?” He met Peter’s gaze again, frowning. Peter was pretty sure this was just his luck that this would be when Harry showed up.
“Wait. I know you.” Mr. Stark cut in, any offence he’d felt slipping away behind his surprise. Peter nearly jumped at the explanation, but he didn’t miss how Harry flinched back.
“That’s highly unlikely.”
“You were recently knighted.” Mr. Stark pointed out, and Harry actually blanched. The reaction earned him a frown. “You didn’t know?”
Harry shook his head, looking nearly ill.
“They shouldn’t have done that.” and Harry looked nearly panicked as he turned his attention back to Peter. “It’s not that big of a deal, really. I was going to tell you about it but you didn’t even know about magic yet-” Harry began, and Peter found himself rushing forward, hands up.
“Oh man, please don’t worry about it. I didn’t tell you I was spiderman to be fair and I wasn’t even sure when I was going to so it’s totally fine. Please don’t freak out cause then I’ll freak out and we can’t do that to Mr. Stark.”
Mr. Stark let out a disgruntled noise behind them, but didn’t intervene. It seemed his own outburst had Harry smiling, even if it was tired.
“Let’s start again.” he offered, and Peter nodded emphatically, offering a hand.
“I’m Peter Parker. I’m 17, and I was bitten by a radioactive spider 2 years ago and I’ve been a superhero ever since.”
Harry blinked once before a brilliant grin spread across his features.
“I’m Harry Potter. I’m also 17, and there was a prophecy made about me before I was born saying I was the only one who could defeat the Darkest Wizard of our time. 2 months ago I died in order to defeat him. Turns out, the prophecy was right.” He took Peter’s hand in his own, and Peter noted the callouses, and the firm grip. “It’s a pleasure to properly meet you.”
Peter just stared a moment, brain scrambling furiously to catch up with everything Harry had just said before deciding it was something they could deal with later. He tugged Harry closer instead, throwing an arm around his shoulder before turning towards Mr. Stark.
“Mr. Stark, this is Harry, he’s my soulmate. Harry, this is Mr. Stark, he’s-” he hesitated for half a second, but then that boldness that Harry seemed to bring out in him reared its head. “He’s my mentor. He’s like a father to me. He’s helped me through all of this.”
Harry leaned into his side, and when he glanced down at the shorter boy, there was an understanding there he hadn’t expected. Then Harry turned to Mr. Stark.
“It’s really great to meet you, sir.”
Mr. Stark was staring at them for a whole moment before the suit retracted back into the reactor on his chest. His own smile was soft and proud.
“Good to meet you too, kid. Now come on, Peter tells me you have magic. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Harry beamed.
“You’re on.”