Faultlines

Magical Manhattan

Magical Manhattan

Ginny Stark was sure her life was completely different from what people expected it to be. And it had been for a long time. When Harry and she first got together, she was 14 and had somehow, inexplicably bagged the school's most famous boy. Granted, many thought him crazy back then, but still people wondered what made her so special. It got even worse when they decided to get married. What most people didn't understand was that Ginny loved Harry despite his fame, not because of it. That was also one of the reasons why she had always prefered to call herself Ginny Stark.

People didn't seem to realize that with all the money and power came a whole lot of issues. Dead parents, torture, darkness. She had suspected that maybe that was what had drawn Harry to her: she had been possessed by Voldemort. She had felt the darkness. She understood that it changed a person. Harry never had to hide his injured soul from her.

"Nothing!", Emmy called out from the next room.

Odd, thought Ginny. Tony and Pepper had invited them weeks ago to see the finished Stark Tower. Harry had work to do in Washington, but had used his still considerable influence in the wizarding community to get them a portkey directly to Stark Tower. Ginny wasn't keen on the now omnipresent press seeing her or her children.

And now? Neither Pepper nor Tony were anywhere to be found and JARVIS seemed to be offline. Something was definitely not right.

"Emmy, get back here. Now!", Ginny bowed down to her younger kids and picked Lily up. Emmy came to a scattering halt in front of her family.

"Okay, kids. I think for now it might be best, if you guys go back to Washington, okay? I am going to reactivate the portkey."

"Is Uncle Tony all right?", Emmy asked carefully.

"I don't know yet, honey. But don't worry. He probably just forgot us."

"Uncle Tony doesn't forget us.", Alec declared.

Ginny just smiled lovingly at her son's devotion.

"Alright. You know the drill.", there was a crashing sound coming from upstairs. Ginny decided to really hurry now. Her four younger kids huddled around the coathanger and all grabbed a small piece of it.

"Be good. I love you.", Ginny smiled, as Emmy watched her in worry. In a flash of blue light they were gone.

Ginny took a moment to breathe, before tightening her grip on her wand and moving upstairs towards the noise.

There was a man standing in what Ginny recognized as Tony's new living room. A man that was very clearly not supposed to be there. He was tall and slender, with long black hair and a pale face. What really worried her though, was the glowing staff and the leathery black and green armour. That was not Muggle attire, that much was obvious.

She was quietly debating if she wanted to make herself known or try and attack him, when the man noticed her already.

"You. What are you?"

"I can tell you what YOU are: rude.", she informed him with the sort of calm poker face she had perfected as the constant object of gossip.

For a second there it looked like the stranger might laugh, but instead he tightened his hold on his staff and came closer. His eyes narrowed.

"You have magic.", he told her, studying her closely.

"Judging from your outfit, I'd say you aren't exactly an accountant either."

Ah. There it was. Not exactly a smile, but at least a smirk.

"I wasn't aware the magical community on this little realm was even still existing. You are more resilient than I gave you credit for."

Oh, oh, Ginny thought, realm? That did not sound good.

"I would love to have a nice, long chat about magic, but what exactly are you doing here? I know for a fact that Tony is VERY particular about the people he lets into his home."

"Are you his lover?"

Ginny made a cross of a gagging and a laughing sound.

"No.", she told him simply, getting increasingly uncomfortable. She'd feel better, if Harry could apparate already. A trained Auror would be nice right about now. The stranger might be talking to her civilly now, but he gave off such an aura of danger, Ginny was almost afraid to blink, "He is my brother-in-law."

"Harry Stark. There is not much known about him. The Iron Man had magical kin. Interesting, very interesting. Tell me, Lady Stark, what do you think of this stinking little world. Wouldn't it be better with more order? Shouldn't your people rule over those too weak to even protect themselves against the cold."

Oh no, Ginny thought, a crazy asshole set on world domination. Naturally hard to reason with.

"A bit of a waste, really. They come up with some great ideas. You have no idea how useful a kids movie is, if you want to sleep in on a sunday. Lovely."

"I like you, Mortal. You are more amusing than anything I expected to find on the stinking place. Sadly that won't save you."

Ginny raised her wand as soon as the words had registered, but the stranger was quicker. He raised his staff and Ginny crashed into the wall behind her. All the air left her lungs, there were stars in front of her eyes.

Stay calm, she thought, trying to remember all those lessons Harry had given her, both in the DA and later.

Wand still firmly in her hand, she didn't get up before sending a stunning spell his way. He blocked it without too much effort, but it gave Ginny time to catch her breath.

"Uhhhhhh, she knows how to fight.", he taunted and Ginny felt anger rush up inside her. She tried a disarming spell that he did indeed block again, but when he raised his staff to send her flying again, Ginny remembered Harry's lessons on the unforgivables: you can't block them with magic. Use everything else.

For about five minutes the pair fought, with Ginny using Tony's expensive furniture to block the intruder's magic and him playfully blocking her curses. The room already looked like the battleground it was, with most of the windows magically blown out. It was obvious he was just toying with her, as they moved through the room.

Finally Ginny was too slow to block her attacker, maybe he had just run out of patience. Her wand scattered across the smooth floor. There was nothing left to do, as he raised his weapon again and Ginny was thrown through one of the empty window frames. She was falling, she realized almost in an after thought. Falling towards the ground. She hoped Harry wouldn't run into the stranger unprepared. She hoped the kids had made it to Washington savely. Then everything went dark.

.