As the Night Falls
[A Harry Potter and Avengers Crossover]
Disclaimer: Ownership goes to their respective creators.
Summary: Harry knew that there would be massive ramifications for blowing up his aunt. He just hadn't expected it to involve being abandoned in the middle of New York City by his relatives while they enjoyed all the city had to offer thanks to his uncle winning the office Sweepstakes.
An AU crossover where Tony is Harry's father.
Set in PoA.
Mentions Abuse.
Rated T for Abuse.
Chapter One: The Boy in the Night
So it had come down to this.
Reduced to sleeping on a park bench in the middle of Central Park or on some back alleyway because he was lost in the middle of some large metropolis and had no way of getting up with his relatives. (Not that he had been trying too awfully hard, mind you.)
He knew that the whole situation sounded very cliche, and like it came straight out of a movie but it wasn't some Hollywood production when you were experiencing it first hand. The uncertainty and hardships were very much real right now, as Harry found himself wandering around in a densely populated city with no bearings whatsoever of where he was at and where he should be at.
What he did know was that his relatives had won a four-person, all-inclusive stay at some ritzy hotel in New York City just weeks before Harry was supposed to leave for his third year at Hogwarts. The trip included four all-access passes to some technological convention that Harry had forgotten the name of as well as the hotel they were supposed to be staying at. More because his relatives never bothered to tell him and less because of a lapse of recollection.
The only other details he had was, that it had been some sort of Sweepstakes his uncle had entered at work and somehow, out of all the other contestant entries, his uncle had won the drawing. And that was only because it had been that night, that he hadn't been yelled at or pushed around by his uncle. It had been the only night he managed to get by without his uncle adding to the already numerous cuts, welts, and bruises.
Of course, the moment he had inflated his aunt by accident, his uncle more than made up for that one night's reprieve.
His relatives, so furious that he had gone and "blown up" his Aunt Marge, had really wanted to leave him behind but couldn't once Mrs. Figg told them that she couldn't keep him on the account that one of her precious cats had gotten sick and needed constant care. So out of fear that the magical community would be keeping a closer eye on him than usual, his relatives had no choice but to use the fourth and final airplane ticket on him.
They, naturally, had exhausted all other options prior to this, asking everyone from Dudley's friends to Aunt Marge if they wanted to come, but all of them had some excuse or another as to why they couldn't go.
While Harry hadn't been looking forward to spending the long hours near his relatives on the plane ride over, supposed it was better than being locked up in his room with bars on the window and a mere cat flap on the door as a way to pass food in and out of the room, or being forced into the cupboard under the stairs. And while most people would not see any improvement in sleeping on a park bench in the middle of a thunderstorm could hardly be called an improvement- if any- at least his relatives were nowhere in sight. Anything to get a small reprieve from his relatives who were still furious at him blowing up Vernon's sister. They hadn't accepted the explanation that things like this did happen to magical children in extreme situations when Fudge had brought him back home, and they wouldn't accept the fact that Harry had no control over his 'freakish and unnatural behavior'. His uncle had threatened to help him reign in control of his magic if he didn't learn to do so.
Harry kind of wanted to remind him that that was the whole purpose of him going to Hogwarts had the situation not been so serious.
It had been night time then too. And now, not quite two weeks removed from the incident, Harry found himself in an equally serious situation at around the same time of day.
While his aunt never bothered to take the time to warn him about the dangers of wandering the streets alone, as she had done with Dudley, it did not take a whole lot of street smarts to know where he should and shouldn't be wandering, even if it was in a city he had never been to before.
There were all sorts of unspoken dangers that lurked and prayed on children and teens who wandered the streets alone, Harry had recalled hearing his Aunt tell his cousin one day while he was clearing the table after being made to serve an elaborate lunch for his cousin. He could almost feel the eyes burning into the back of his head as his aunt spoke of the "unsavory sorts" that were making a living on the streets.
Harry had not missed the whispered hiss from his aunt as she had caught him by the arm once Dudley was sufficiently distracted by the telly again, telling him that she believed that it was his kind that deserved to be on the streets.
And so here he was, just like his Aunt had said. Walking along the busy pavements of New York City without a cent to his name, a clue as to where he was or where his relative's hotel was at just like the rest of the city's homeless population.
Harry had hoped that in the couple hours or so that he had been away from his relatives would have given his relatives enough time to cool down and that they would be looking for him. But he had given up that idea hours ago when the first drops of rain began to fall from the sky.
Of course, they wouldn't be looking for a freak like him, Harry couldn't help but think bitterly.
Goodness, no!
And outside in the middle of a thunderstorm? You could not catch the Dursley's out on a nice day much less during a thunderstorm that brought torrential rains with it. Had Harry not been so concerned about his current situation, he might have laughed.
Still, for whatever it was worth, Harry held on to a sense of hope that the Dursley's would eventually realize that they had left him behind somewhere (even if it was intentional on their part) and come back looking for him sometime before they boarded the plane in a week's time. He was not looking forward to going back home as his uncle was sure to have something to say about him "getting lost in the first place and he couldn't have stayed lost and why they had to take him back to England with them" but it wasn't like they could just leave him behind in New York City, no matter how much they might have wanted or threatened to but at least it would be just a matter of days before he returned to Hogwarts and then he would be out of the Dursley's way for another ten months.
Not that Harry had any strong desire to spend the rest of his summer around his relatives, he would like to at least find the hotel in which they were staying at.
As it may be though, continuing to search for the Dursleys was becoming more and more out of the question as the rain continued to pick up and the darkness of night began to settle prematurely upon the city. Coupled with the fact that Harry was getting tired, he knew that he wouldn't be finding the Dursley's tonight and that he had better start searching for a place to sleep instead. He could worry about finding the Dursley's tomorrow.
The familiar deep ache in his bones as the chill began to set in had slowed him down a bit anyway and he knew from experience that it wouldn't be long before the numbness also began to set in making it near impossible to function or focus fully on his task. While it might sound extreme, this level of exhaustion was nothing new, particularly in the summer months when he was forced to do all the gardening and lawn work for hours on end without a break to cool off or a glass of water to quench his thirst.
Even so, Harry pushed forward and walked aimlessly around a bit longer until his feet also began to ache and his shirt, which usually hung off of his bony frame, stuck to his skin in an odd wrinkled fashion that only clothes much too large for you could do all the while shedding the excess water every time Harry moved. But perhaps the worst of it for Harry was the blisters he felt coming on as his waterlogged socks slid uncomfortably in his equally soaked shoes. He was in a miserable state but he continued on a little further even though he knew the odds of him running into the Dursley's in a city that was more crowded (although less populated) than London were next to nothing.
He tried to tell himself that he wasn't trying to find them anymore, and was looking for a place to sleep, but he couldn't quite convince himself just yet.
Some part of him knew he needed to be thinking seriously about finding a place to sleep but it was hard.
Everywhere Harry went he could feel eyes on him. Women in dress suits and heels clutched their purses just a little tighter and pressed them a little closer to their chest as they wrestled with their umbrellas and men giving him the "beat-it-kid" look or bump into him as if he didn't exist as they hailed taxi after taxi in order to get out of the rain.
Somewhere deep down inside of him, Harry felt ashamed of the wary, distrustful looks he received of those he passed by.
He knew that rationally, he should be used to these looks. The neighbors all looked at him like he was some common criminal, but of course, their opinions on him had been fueled by his aunt. These people on the streets knew even less about him but making judgments on appearance alone.
He probably did look like some thrown-away anorexic kid mixed with a half-drowned rat, but it didn't mean he liked the looks he was receiving.
He wasn't homeless, (no matter how much the Dursley's wished it to be true, particularly after a bout of accidental magic) an orphan, who did not like his living situations, maybe, but he wasn't homeless. He might not receive love and positive attention, but he did have a roof over his head, well at least back in Surrey he did. Even if it was just within the confines of his room.
And whether the Dursley's knew it or not, he had money to his name. Lots of it apparently if his vault at Gringotts was anything to go by. But still, appearances spoke louder than words sometimes and based on the looks he was currently getting he was sure they weren't mistaking him for the heir and Lord that he was.
Trying to battle the crowded pavements of New York City while trying not to get in the direct line of the rushing cars and buses that would spray him with puddle water if he got too close was difficult. Not that it really mattered considering he was already dripping from head to toe. But still, why would he want to be splashed with a watery, car-fluid, asphalt mixture if he didn't have to?
Meandering through the streets that had no name, Harry tried not to think about the off chance that he had been permanently abandoned by his relatives at the young and tender age of thirteen. It was a long shot, but he hoped that if it ever did come to the Dursley's abandoning him permanently rather than losing him "temporarily", that Dumbledore would talk sense into them. That thought brought slight comfort to him and he continued to trudge on as he tried to find a relatively safe place to sleep.
Even after the sun had set for good, and the temperature dropped, the rain continued to pour down and one very miserable Harry found himself becoming slightly more desperate for a safe place to sleep. He had tried several business lobbies and a few hotel lobbies but they had either attempted to escort him out by security or threatened to call the Police.
Even though Harry did not really have a reason to fear the Police, he would rather that they not get involved. He knew he could have always approached one of them on the streets at any point during the day, but Harry did not want to answer the questions they would have when asked, why he wasn't with his family. And the questioning looks he would get when he couldn't give them his Aunt's contact number, or why he couldn't provide the name of the hotel they were staying at.
Feeling that he would collapse soon from exhaustion, he decided he would try one more last-ditch attempt at to sleep in some unused corner of a lobby before resigning to the reality that he would be sleeping out in the pouring rain. It had to let up at some point, Harry reasoned, so it wouldn't be too bad, although it wouldn't be much fun sleeping until it did.
He supposed it could be worse though, at least it wasn't snowing. He had heard from somewhere that it wasn't supposed to be too awfully cold tonight. He might be going to bed wet tonight, but at least he didn't have to worry about his clothes freezing on him overnight and run the risk of suffering from frostbite.
The numbness had long set in and at the next set of doors, Harry knew that if he was going to make one last attempt, it would be here, because he honestly wasn't sure how much further he could go on at this point, he was so emotionally and physically drained.
Haggardly after having walked for hours in the rain, on his third straight day with no food and clothes still dripping, Harry walked through the revolving doors and into an insanely modern looking lobby. And had Harry not been so careworn, he might have stood back in awe of the place.
The lobby was so different than the other ones he'd be kicked out of. It was slick in design, to the point that it looked as if it had come straight out of the future. But Harry didn't notice its appearance any more than he had noticed what building he had stumbled into.
The only thing he was watching out for was the burly guys (who weren't always dressed in suits as he had learned first hand) to appear before him and demand that he gave a reason for why he was hanging around before being tossed out the doors and back into the rain with a threat of legal action if he came back in when he failed to provide an adequate answer.
When Harry felt sure that no one was going to approach him because no one even realized he was there, Harry scurried to a corner, not caring about the trail of water he was leaving on the polished floor.
His teeth chattered so loud in response to the sudden drop of temperature as the Lobby he had entered was frigid, that Harry wondered if he would be able to even hear anyone approach over the noise.
As he laid there shivering, trying to keep an ear out for anyone approaching, Harry succumbed to his exhaustion on the cold, shiny floor of the lobby of Stark Towers.
It remained unknown to him for some time, the impact of his decision to sleep in this lobby on this particular night would have on his future.