Iron and Magic

CHAPTER NINE

Page count: 30

"Want a bite?"

Hermione grimaced and leaned away from the half-eaten cheeseburger Tony held before her face in offering.

"I don't understand how you can eat that so early in the morning, the last thing I want before ten o'clock is a cheeseburger. What's wrong with a good old fashioned McMuffin or a bowl of porridge?"

"Well, that's the last time I offer you something," Tony griped, taking a large, unnecessarily aggressive bite from his cheeseburger.

She rolled her eyes and pressed her cheek against the cool, tinted window of the privately rented armoured SUV that had been waiting for them at the private landing strip. She brought her hot tea to her mouth, happily sipping from it. It was the first British-made cup of tea she'd had in months, well, aside from herself, of course, and she was going to enjoy it.

Surprisingly, she'd slept through the majority of the flight and she'd only woken because Tony had thrown a cushion at her as they were preparing to land. She'd almost hexed him at the sudden and unexpected movement.

When she retook her seat and fastened the belt securely, she'd glared at Tony throughout the entirety of the jet landing, both for his rude method of waking her and his annoying commentary as he poked fun at her fear of flying. When they'd safely landed, he gave her a smug smile and demanded a thank you. It wasn't until that moment that she'd realised what he'd done. She'd been so annoyed with him (and had been seriously contemplating outing herself by hexing him) that she'd been distracted from her fear. Well, that and she was still a little groggy with sleep.

After Sally was caught and put in her carrier, Hermione had gladly been the first one off the jet, having to restrain herself from being one of those people that got down onto their knees and kissed the ground in relief.

Happy ushered her and Tony into the car, collected their luggage and off they set away from Heathrow Airport, successfully avoiding any potential fans or press that may have gotten word of the jet being spotted landing, and it was hard to miss with Tony's name being adorned on the jet. Tony being desperate for a cheeseburger and coffee, had Happy drive to the nearest McDonald's, even though that meant they'd gone out of their way, added thirty minutes to their already one hour journey into the London City Centre and they had to double back on themselves.

Still feeling queasy, she hadn't complained and gladly took the tea Happy had ordered for her, as well as the fruit bag and pot of porridge.

"How'd you even convince them to serve cheeseburgers? They only serve the breakfast menu before half-ten."

"Billionaire," he shrugged, balling the empty wrapper up and putting in the paper bag before removing a second cheeseburger and making a start on it.

Hermione was just grateful they'd managed to escape the drive-thru without them being caught on camera, only now, she was certain word would spread across social media that Tony was in the country, which meant she was expecting the press to catch them at some point.

"It's good for you."

"You're talking to a doctor," she deadpanned. "Cheeseburgers are not good for you, especially the amount you eat and certainly not for breakfast. I dread to think what your cholesterol level would be."

"It's fine."

"I seriously doubt that," she argued.

"Cheeseburgers are brain food."

"Porridge is brain food," she corrected. "Cheeseburgers are heart attacks."

"Don't be so dramatic," Tony rolled his eyes.