Chapter Three:
Harry was trying to ignore the pain in his arm as he watched the telly. It was a rare occasion that he could just watch a program without having someone yell at him, and as bad as the pain was in his arm, he didn't care, at least he wasn't with the Dursleys.
He would probably be beaten anyway for landing in the hospital and costing them more money. There was no way Uncle Vernon was going to ignore the fact that Harry was going to cost him money. He kept a running ledger of how much money Harry was going to have to pay them back for his upbringing. Harry had heard it all his life on how he was nothing but a burden and a drain on their once happy family.
Why did his parents have to die? Why did his dad have to be a drunk?
Harry looked out the window and saw a star in the sky. His eyes zeroed in on it, and as he focused on the star, he could hear a kind male voice telling him about the stars, pointing out all the stars in the sky. He didn't know if it was something that he was remembering, or if it was something he desperately wanted to happen. He didn't remember anything from before the cupboard, no matter how hard he tried to remember his parents.
All he wanted was for someone to care. Ms. Aberdeen was a god-send, but there was nothing really she could do, he knew that.
"Star light, star might, first star I see tonight . . . wish I may, wish I might . . . . have the wish I wish tonight, I wish for a long lost relative to come and rescue me from the freakin Dursleys," he muttered staring out the window at Sirius, the dog star.
Sirius, why did that seem so familiar? A long forgotten memory was trying to resurface, but it just wasn't strong enough . . . so it was quickly pushed back down while he wished with all his might on the star.
Not like it mattered, his wishes and prayers have never been answered before, so why would it happen now?
Tony stood outside the door, listening to the kid, no his son, wishing to be taken away from his family. His heart broke, and anger simultaneously flared inside of him. He peered into the room. Harry's face was turned away from him, but he could see faint bruises on his neck and on his good arm.
Tony had inquired about him, stopping the pediatrician and orthopedic surgeon. Both had little to say with him, as Tony wasn't listed as Harry's guardian yet. Yet . . . yet was the operative word. There was no way he was letting his and Lily's baby stay with her sister any longer. The lawyers were working on it and an independent genetic testing lab had already confirmed that Harry Potter was indeed Harry Stark.
He remembered what Lily had told him about her sister. Petunia hadn't bothered in the 4 months that Tony had stayed with Lily to check in on her, even though he saw her send Petunia several letters asking her to come to London.
Tony turned away from the door walking back into the waiting room where Pepper was working on getting everything they needed to claim custody of Harry. Pepper looked up and quirked an eyebrow.
"You weren't very long with him," Pepper looked up.
"Didn't make it in there yet," Tony looked down at the ground and ran his hand through his hair.
"Did the famous Tony Stark, the Merchant of Death, the Davinci of our Time, get scared of a little boy?" Pepper teased him a bit.
"Pep, I'm not any of those things right now. I'm just Tony."
Pepper put down the tablet and stood up walking over to her boss.
"What am I going to do Pep?"
"You are going to go in his room and be the Tony Stark that he wanted to meet today. He knows everything there is to know about you that is in print, now let him meet you. You are going to sit by his side and talk to him. He is a nine year old boy who has just had a pretty rough day."
"I just heard him wishing for someone to take him away from the Dursleys. Pepper, he isn't just a normal little boy, he is at best neglected at best," Tony whispered, pushing down the rage that was building up just at the thought of his kid being hurt in any way.
Pepper stood silently, waiting for Tony to calm down. She had already started researching abuse and neglect and doctors who could handle this case. They were going to need help. This was new territory for the both of them, and she didn't know what to do for him. A first in the seven years she had been working for him.
Tony's stomach rumbled, a sign that Pepper had forgotten to tell him to eat. "Pepper, you didn't remind me to eat today. All I have had has been a bagel and an apple today."
Pepper shook her head. "I was too wrapped up with the ambulance and with Harry today."
"If I'm hungry, my kid is hungry. Call for a pizza, get a couple of pizzas, I don't know what he likes. I'm not going to let my kid eat hospital food."
"He might not like it," Pepper told him.
"What else do kids like?"
Pepper was quiet for a minute. "I don't know, I don't have kids."
"Jarvis?" Tony tapped into is AI from his watch, it was a prototype and he had no idea how far Jarvis would reach.
"Yes Mr. Stark?"
"What kind of food do kids like?"
"I believe the latest poll out says pepperoni pizza."
"Then that will do," Tony said as Pepper started looking up places to order pizza. It wasn't going to be as good as New York pizza, but it would have to do. Maybe when all this was done, he could go get fish n chips with his kid, or maybe bangers, or whatever food that England people where known for. "And find some good coffee, English coffee is horrible."
Pepper shook her head, infamous Tony Stark was back.
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"Hey Kid," Tony said, knocking on the door.
Harry turned toward him, his eyes going wide at the site of the famous Tony Stark coming to see him at the hospital. He tried to sit up further in his bed, but could barely move with his arm. Why would Tony Stark be at the hospital? He looked at the man, and saw a small blood stain on his shirt. Harry frowned, causing Tony to stop in his tracks.
"What's wrong? Tony inquired, wondering what caused his son's face to go from wonderment to frown in the blink of an eye.
"I bled on you, I promise, I will try to pay for the damages to your shirt . . . it might take me a little bit because I owe the Dursleys so much," Harry started to ramble, apparently forgetting the rules that the Dursleys had set out, basically forbidding Harry from speaking about his home life at all.
Tony looked down at his shirt, and saw a little blood stain, something that had been covered up by his suit jacket during his presentation, so nobody else saw it. He didn't even give it a second thought.
"No, don't worry about it. You can't help who you bleed on," Tony told him. "You had a pretty nasty bump on the head, and that gash on your arm, man it looked bad. I'm just glad I could have helped a little. How are you feeling?"
Ha Obi, I can do caring father. Tony thought to himself. Obi was beside himself, finding out that Tony had a son. He kept telling Tony just to leave Harry be, that Harry wouldn't fit into his lifestyle, but Tony wouldn't hear of it. He wasn't going to be like his father.
"It hurts a little, but I don't want to get addicted to pain killers. Did you know addiction runs in the family, and my father had an addictive personality."
Fair assessment, Tony thought, listening to little Harry talk about the different pain killers and the effects of addictions on families.
"Yeah, and my aunt told me he was a drunk, and that was how he killed my mother and him in a car crash."
Tony shook his head, knowing that was far from the truth, but now wasn't the time or the place to broach this with Harry.
"Well, don't worry about the shirt, I'm like a billionaire, and own so many shirts that I won't even notice throwing this one in the trash," Tony told him, pulling a chair up to his son's side. He could see traces of him in his son, but his features were primarily from Maria Black herself.
Harry had high cheek bones and the aristocratic nose of the Black line. Tony had the nose himself, something that he shared with James and Sirius. Harry's complexion had a slight tan to it, left over from the summer, Tony supposed. His skin tone was the same as Lily's when he first met her. She was light, but not overly so.
Then there was his hair. Harry had unruly, dark brown (almost black) hair much like his own. Tony's hair naturally curled, and Harry's hair didn't, but he supposed that he got the messiness from him and the straight hair from Lily.
He was the perfect blend of the two of them.
Hell, he was perfect.
"Mr. Stark?" Harry's voice cut through Tony's thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Why are you here? Not that I'm not grateful or anything," Harry rushed out.
"Because you were hurt, and I care," Tony told him. "I saw your cousin push you, and I saw how hard you hit your head. When I was a little older than you, I got hurt at the expo here in London. I didn't get hurt as bad as you, and in fact I made a wonderful friend that day, but my dad was too busy to make sure I wasn't hurt."
Harry listened, sitting straight in his bed.
"I just didn't want that to happen to you, so I am going to sit with you for awhile, if that is okay with you. I figure we could get to know each other and have dinner together. Pepper, my PA, is ordering us pizza. Do you like pizza?"
"Never had it," Harry answered honestly. It had been a food that Petunia wouldn't often order, not liking cheese, but when she did cave into Dudley, it was something that smelled heavenly and it was something that he very much wanted to try.
"Well I hope you like it," Tony told him, making a mental note to stock his London apartment with food. It seemed like with Harry's injuries and legal issues, he was going to have to extend his stay in London. It wasn't a problem considering Stark had a couple of offices in the area.
"Thank you," Harry whispered.
"So, tell me about yourself," Tony said, wanting to know everything there was about his son.
"I'm Harry, just Harry." He flicked his bangs out of her eyes with his good hand, and Tony saw a scar on his child's forehead. It looked like a lightning bolt. "There really is nothing special with me. I don't do well in school, I'm no good. You don't want to waste your time with me."
Tony looked at his son, and placed his hand on his son's cheek. "I believe you are special, and you are someone I want to get to know. Ms. Aberdeen could do nothing but sing your praises, so you have to be doing something right, and I don't consider this a waste of time."
Harry unconsciously leaned into the touch, no realizing that he was doing it. He had never been touched like this before. Sure, he had seen it with his relatives with Dudley and he had even tried once to hug his aunt, but for someone to touch him, it was almost too much.
"You are special," Tony whispered to him. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Ms. Aberdeen told Pepper and me how good you actually do in school, and how smart she thinks you are."
"Really? I thought she was just being nice to my face. You know, people aren't always what they seem," Harry told him.
Tony filed that piece of information away. He knew that it was Harry dropping hints about his relatives.
"But, of course, you would know that. You are Tony Stark, billionaire, boy genius. You didn't raise the stocks in your father's company by playing nice. I was reading that you are a real cut throat business man," Harry said, quoting Business Week. "You know what you want, and you get it."
Tony smiled, listening to him. "You read Business Week."
Harry nodded. "I wanted to learn about you before coming to the expo. You have accomplished so much, and you are still young. You Mr. Stark are my role model."
Tony scooted his chair closer to Harry, smiling at his son. He still hadn't told Harry what he discovered, and he didn't quite know how to broach the topic with him.
Pepper walked in a couple of moments later with pizza, and Harry's smile reached his eyes as Tony explained to him the intricacies of eating pizza, and the best way to fold it so it would not drip all over the place.
A nurse came in a while later as they watched Sherlock Holmes on BBC, giving them the five minute warning. Harry had to go to surgery in the morning, and visiting hours would be up soon. Tony didn't want to go, but knew that right now he had no pull with the hospital while Petunia was named his legal guardian.
"Well, I guess we have to get going now," Tony told Harry as he squeezed his good hand. Harry was looking pretty tired anyway from the pain meds and would be out in a couple of minutes.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stark."
"Please, call me Tony," he told Harry. "I will be by tomorrow after you get out of surgery to see how you are doing."
"You don't have to."
"I know," he smiled at his son, "But I want to. So I will see you tomorrow."
Harry nodded, and closed his eyes giving in to the pain medications.
Tony watched as his son nodded off into dream land before he left to meet Obi and Pepper at his apartment in London, and as he turned down the television and turned to leave, a familiar flash of sandy brown hair speckled with gray came into view.
"Remus."
"Tony."
AN: So I am having a hard time figuring out how Tony will tell Harry that he is his son. It has to be handled delicately (maybe) and with some thought. I brought Remus into the picture right now. Give me some thoughts, ideas on how Tony should tell Harry. How big of a influence should the remaining Maruaders have in Harry's life? Should they stay in England or go to California? Give me some feedback, chapter four is being written, but nothing is set in stone.
