Chapter Ten

Note: I recently got a guest review on chapter nine and I wanted to answer it here; the reviewer said that they enjoyed the story, though it "bugged" them that I don't use quotation marks. I'm going to assume that the reviewer meant that I use single quotation marks in regards to dialogue instead of double quotation marks.

In Australia, where I'm from, we use British English, not American English, and we use single quotation marks for dialogue. No, it is not wrong; I am not using the wrong marks. You'd be surprised how often I'm told I'm doing it wrong. So please keep in mind that different formatting is used in different countries.

If that's not what you were referring to, dear guest reviewer, than ignore me. Now, on with the story!

{Dreamer}

Ron was in his room when Hedwig returned which, after reading Harry's letter, he realised was a good thing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the letter to Harry's familiar scrawl, and his eyes bugged when he read over the lines. He turned to stare at Hedwig incredulously.

'James Potter's alive?' Hedwig, of course, just hooted at him. 'Blimey,' Ron breathed. 'I can't... that's just mad! Madder than You-Know-Who coming back to kill Harry!' Hedwig ruffled her feathers; she was no help. 'I've gotta tell someone! Mum'll...' Ron trailed off, frowning to himself. He read the letter again and then sat against his small, crooked window-sill.

No... he couldn't tell Mum, could he? She'd go straight to Dumbledore and want this... this Loki and Tony Stark investigated. His mum was great, Ron knew that, but she could be smothering and stick her nose in where it didn't belong. Despite being a few months younger than Ron himself, Harry wasn't a child, he'd never been a child. Ron had seen the bruises and scars Harry's uncle had left on his body. The emotional scars popped up whenever Harry was faced with people actually caring about him. And Ron remembered Christmas, remembered Harry staring at the fire, alone, 'cause he didn't have a family, not really. He never had, not until he'd met Ron and Hermione.

If Ron told his mum, she'd tell Dumbledore, and... Ron didn't trust Dumbledore, at least not completely. Ron had convinced Harry to tell the aging Headmaster about how his relatives were treating him, and Harry had. What had Dumbledore done? Patted Harry on the back and told him that he had to stay, for protection against You-Know-Who. And Harry had gone home at the end of the school year, and hadn't replied to any of Ron or Hermione's letters. What had they done to him after Ron's failed tephelone call?

Ron wanted to tell his mum; he wanted his parents to make sure that Harry was okay, that Tony Stark and Loki, Harry's apparent father, were taking care of him. But what if they took Harry away from a loving family? What if they sent him back to his relatives?

Ron just couldn't do that. He wanted his best mate safe and, at the end of the day, it wasn't really Ron's call, was it? It should be up to Harry.

Ron read over the letter again and again, it was the most he'd read all holidays. A few months ago, before going down into those rooms beneath Hogwarts, Ron had told Harry that he'd follow him. Well, he'd follow him now, too. He'd trust that Harry was safe and knew what he was doing. Hopefully it'd all end well.

I should write 'Mione, Ron thought, she'll know what to do. She's smarter than me. Ron looked up at Hedwig, who appeared completely unruffled and... happy. If Harry was being mistreated by these people, they wouldn't let him contact Ron, right? Hedwig would let him know if something was wrong; she was a smart bird.

'Harry's safe, right, Hedwig?' he asked her. Hedwig hooted, and then nipped at Ron's fingers when he reached over to scratch her. 'Right,' Ron nodded. 'So that's decided. I'll contact Hermione, and I'll send a letter back to Harry.' Harry had told him not to write back, but honestly, how could Ron not? This was too big!

Ron quickly went over to his trunk and rummaged about until he'd found a quill, ink and parchment. His homework and textbooks stared accusingly at him from beneath a pair of robes, but Ron ignored them; homework could wait!

It didn't take Ron long to scratch out a short letter, and when he fixed it to Hedwig's leg she hooted and took off, disappearing through Ron's window. Ron watched her fly across the paddocks surrounded The Burrow before sighing and sitting back. Before he could think any more, his bedroom door flew open.

'Ronnie,' Fred- or George, they were wearing identical clothing again- called.

'Was that Harry's owl we saw?' the other twin- George, Ron realised when he spotted the small mole on his neck- asked.

'What?' Ron blinked. 'I mean, yeah.'

'Is he okay?' George asked, looking worried, while Fred was frowning.

'Yeah, he's fine,' Ron nodded, and the twins breathed out sighs of relief. 'He got into, ah, trouble,' Ron said quickly, 'after my, uh... tephenone... thingy- call. His relatives wouldn't let him answer my letters or Hermione's.'

'Well, that's good,' Fred said.

'Yeah,' George agreed. 'Although now we can't steal Dad's car.'

'Was lookin' forward to that,' Fred sighed. 'And mounting a prison escape!'

'You were gonna steal Dad's car?' Ron asked, eyes wide.

Fred snickered, and George said, ''Course we were, little brother. Dad reckons it can fly!'

'Mum'll kill him when she finds out,' Ron said.

'We aren't gonna tell her!' Fred said.

'And you aren't, either!' George added.

'Of course not,' Ron snorted. That last thing the family needed was their mum behind bars for trying to murder their dad.

'Well, now that little Harry's alright,' Fred said.

'We'll be off,' George said.

'Places to go-' Fred began.

'- pranks to plan,' George finished.

They both grinned toothily at Ron, who wilted under their stares. He really hoped that they weren't planning on pranking him.

'Seeya, bro!' George called and Fred waved. Ron just watched them go, his older brothers slamming the crooked door behind them. Ron sighed and went to sprawl out over his bed. But before that, he decided to crawl under his desk and hide Harry's letter under the one loose floorboard; he didn't want Molly coming across it when she was cleaning.

'I hope you're okay, mate,' Ron mumbled and fixed the wood back into place.

{oOo}

JARVIS had directed them to the closest mall, and Harry looked around at all the stores as Loki and Tony walked either side of him.

'So, shopping,' Tony said and clapped his hands together. Harry glanced up at him; he looked a little... eh, manic. 'What do you wanna get first?' Tony asked, looking at Harry.

'Um...' Harry shrugged his shoulders. He really wasn't sure what he needed, or what he was allowed to get. 'Clothes?' he offered after a beat when Tony just continued to stare at him. Loki was looking around at the crowds, a sneer on his face.

'Clothes,' Tony nodded, 'good choice, kiddo. So, uh... where do we get kids' clothes?'

''m not a kid,' Harry mumbled, but neither adult heard him.

Eventually Tony called JARVIS- apparently the AI really did know everything- and Tony followed the computer's instructions into a large store that sold what looked like everything. There were big signs hanging from the ceiling, and Tony and Loki herded Harry towards the kids section.

Harry had honestly never been shopping before. He'd been to a shopping centre once when he was really young; Dudley had wanted to spend his birthday money and the Dursleys hadn't trusted Harry alone in the house with Dudley's birthday cake, so they'd had to take him with them. Harry hadn't been allowed to go again because the Dursleys had left him in a bookstore after Dudley got bored, and when Harry found a security guard he couldn't give the man his name; it wasn't like the Dursleys had used it all that often. They'd always preferred "freak" and "boy".

'Shirts, jeans, PJs...' Tony hummed as he walked along the rows. Eventually he stopped and looked at Harry. 'You need everything, right?' Harry nodded. 'Well go on, then, have a browse.'

Harry hesitated, but when he felt Loki's cool hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, he took a short, soft breath and stepped forward. At first he just looked; there were so many different things! Jeans in different colours and shirts with colourful graphics and plaid pull-overs that looked like they'd actually fit! A black shirt eventually caught Harry's eyes, and the wizard walked over to it. It had a large graphic of the night sky printed on the front, and Harry touched the small white stars.

'Do you like it?'

Harry jumped and turned around. Loki was standing behind him, while Tony was at the end of the aisle talking to a lady who looked like she worked there.

'Oh, um... yes?' Harry tried.

Loki chuckled softly and reached over Harry to grab the shirt. He hummed as he looked it over, then held it up against Harry's torso. 'I suppose that you don't know what size you are?'

'No,' Harry shook his head. 'The only new things the Dursleys ever bought me was underwear, 'cause once at school I tripped over and they fell down. I got in trouble for, um... you know...' Harry was mumbling by the end, and his cheeks felt hot. Loki didn't laugh, though. When Harry risked a glance up he saw that Loki was scowling slightly, eyes hard on the t-shirt he was still holding.

But... Harry was pretty sure that the god wasn't angry at him; that was the look he got whenever Harry mentioned the Dursleys' poor treatment of him. So he was angry at the Dursleys, not Harry. Harry was getting better at reading his father.

'We will pick a few different sizes and you can try them on,' Loki decided after a beat of silence. 'Come, you can do that before picking out any more clothing.'

Harry nodded and let Loki lead him through the store. He was told to pick jeans and pyjamas, and when he did Loki grabbed various sizes before ushering Harry along. They met up with Tony again, the Muggle fiddling with his StarkPhone and looking every which way. He still had his sunglasses on, and his hair was messy. Harry hadn't understood why until Tony had whispered something about the media; Harry figured that Tony didn't want to get spotted.

Eventually they found the changing rooms, and Harry was able to figure out what size he was in shirts and pants. He pulled on the star-print t-shirt, a pair of dark-wash denim jeans, and stepped out of the room to show Loki and Tony.

Loki smiled, looking pleased, while Tony whistled and clapped.

'Looking good, Harry,' the billionaire grinned.

Blushing, Harry mumbled, 'Thank you.'

'Would you like to keep those clothes on, or find something else to wear when we're done here?' Loki asked. 'I'd prefer you change out of those... rags.'

'Um, these are fine,' Harry nodded. His underwear was still clean as far as he knew, and his socks... well, Loki had turned his socks into shoes, which had been amazing; it was so much cooler than any transfiguration Professor McGonagall had done at Hogwarts.

'Come here, kiddo,' Tony said, and Harry stepped forward. He was made to turn around and Tony pulled the tags from his clothes before folding them up and slipping them into his pocket. 'We'll pay for them when we get to the front,' Tony continued. 'Uh, Lokes, I think we might need a shopping cart.'

'What is a shopping cart?' Loki asked.

Harry smiled. It seemed that he wasn't the only one ignorant of the Muggle world.

'It's a, uh... cart,' Tony said, staring at Loki, who smirked. 'And carries your...'

'Shopping?' Loki suggested.

Tony scowled. 'Am I gonna go hunt for one or are you?'

'Do you really trust me to be alone with all these innocent mortals?' Loki asked.

Tony snorted and said, 'With Harry here, you'll be on your best behaviour.'

Loki glared at that, then huffed and waved Tony away. The Muggle snickered and threw Harry a wink before he disappeared.

'He's an odd man,' Loki mused, eyes soft as they stared after Tony.

'But you love him, right?' Harry said.

'I do,' Loki agreed. Then his eyes widened and he turned to stare at Harry.

'Um... did I say something wrong?' Harry asked, hunching his shoulders a bit. Tony had already told him that he and Loki were together...

'No,' Loki said after a few seconds, 'no, of course not, Harry. I just didn't realise that you knew.'

'I'm good at reading people,' Harry said.

'You either got that from me, or learned it by necessity.'

'I don't care, you know,' Harry said, smiling slightly when Loki looked at him. 'I like Tony, he's really nice and funny. And he clearly loves you.'

'Yes, he does,' Loki agreed, 'some days I still question why. And then I remember that he's insane.' Harry giggled and Loki smiled down at him. 'He loves you, too,' Loki added.

Harry blinked. 'He does?'

'Of course he does,' Loki said. 'If we were on Asgard, Tony would be considered my consort; a husband-to-be, if you will. Therefore he would be your step-father.'

'Oh,' Harry said. First he'd found one parent, and now he had two. Harry couldn't stop the flare of hope that ignited in his chest. He'd never felt like this before, it was like his first time on a broom only five million times better. Loki loved him and Tony loved him and they were buying him clothes and spending time with him and-

This was even better then finding out that he was a wizard, Harry decided. Because while that had been amazing, the wizarding world was dangerous and he was famous for his mum dying. Here, with Loki and Tony, there didn't appear to be any downside. Loki loved him. Tony loved him. That was it, end of story. Harry didn't have to do anything, or lose anything, to have their company and affection.

'Harry?'

Harry sniffed and looked up. Loki had crouched down a bit, moving until he and Harry were almost at eye-level. Loki was really tall.

'Are you okay?' Loki asked, concern thick in his voice. 'Did I say something wrong?'

'N-No,' Harry stuttered and sniffed again. He wiped at his eyes and said, 'This is just the best day of my life.'

Loki's eyebrows jumped in surprise.

'It was amazing, finding out that I was a wizard,' Harry continued, 'but this is better. Because I didn't lose anything to get you; you want to take care of me just because.'

'You are my son, Harry,' Loki said softly, 'and nothing I ever do will make up for leaving you with those... people, for so long. But I will spend the rest of my life making sure that you are happy and safe.'

Harry hesitated briefly before jumping forward. Loki jolted in surprise when Harry wrapped his arms around the god tightly, but soon enough he hugged Harry back. Harry sniffed back his tears and focused on the happy feeling bubbling in his chest and stomach. It'd be okay, he was sure of it. Loki and Tony wouldn't get tired of him and they wouldn't leave him. They'd take care of him, and nothing bad would ever happen again.

Harry was finally safe.

{oOo}

Tony wasn't sure he'd ever been inside an average mall. He usually shopped at the fancy stores that catered to his every whim. He felt weird pushing a shopping cart down the aisles, but thankfully nobody seemed to have recognised him yet. And if they did, he hoped that they ignored him; after all, what would Tony Stark be doing in England?

He eventually found Loki and Harry again. The kid's eyes were a bit red, and Loki looked upset, but both smiled when they saw Tony so the genius let it go.

Harry had to be talked into getting multiple pairs of clothing; he'd clearly never had a lot of stuff, even simple things like clothes. It made Tony hate the Dursleys that much more. Whenever the kid picked something up but put it back, Tony or Loki would grab it when Harry wasn't looking and stuff it into the cart. Soon enough Harry had a dozen pairs of jeans, shorts, trousers, shirts, plaid shirts and sweaters. He seemed to favour hooded sweatshirts and plaid, so Tony made sure to grab a heap.

They let Harry pick his own underwear; at least Harry grabbed multiple packages of them, as well as socks.

Shoes were next, and Harry picked a pair of fake, black Converse sneakers, followed by a pair of white sneakers. Tony also got him boots, because he was pretty sure that Harry would need them if he ever wanted to join Tony in his workshop.

They headed to the bedding section next, and Tony stopped the cart just before the sheets. 'Okay, short stuff, listen up,' Tony said, and grinned when Harry snapped to attention. 'I've already ordered you a bed and furniture; it'll be delivered and set up by the time we get to New York.'

Bruce, Clint and Steve had all vowed to put everything together in the guest room just down the hall from Tony and Loki's bedroom in the penthouse. Bruce had mentioned that Thor wanted to help, too, but Thor wasn't good at moving furniture. He tended to break stuff. He was excellent at putting together the crap from Ikea that made even Tony's head spin, though, so he'd been put in charge of that.

'You've just gotta pick out sheets, a few quilts, pillows, and a bedspread,' Tony said, 'okay?'

'Uh... okay?' Harry offered, like he wasn't quite sure what he was agreeing to.

Tony grinned again and clapped the boy on the shoulder. 'Excellent. So, what's your favourite colour?'

'Um...' Harry frowned and looked around at the shelves of sheets, all packaged in plastic. 'I don't really have one,' he admitted. 'I like red and gold.'

'Hey, that's my colour-scheme,' Tony smiled.

When Harry looked at him, Loki said, 'Red and gold are the colours of the Iron Man suit.'

'Oh, yeah, I remember that,' Harry said, clearly recalling his brief glimpse of Tony's suit back in the Dursleys' kitchen. 'Well, red and gold are Gryffindor's colours.'

'Really?" Tony asked. 'Well how about that. Maybe I'd be a Gryffindor if I was magic.'

Loki snorted. 'You're certainly pig-headed enough.' Tony pouted, and Loki said, 'No, Stark, you'd be a Ravenclaw.'

'I would?' Tony asked.

'Ravenclaws are really smart,' Harry said. 'They value intelligence above all else.'

'Huh.'

'I would have been a Slytherin if hadn't been James Potter,' Loki said. He glanced around at the sheets and said, 'Stark, what do the sizes mean?'

Tony hopped to, and explained to both Loki and Harry how he'd ordered the wizard a queen-sized bed, so they had to pick queen-sized sheets and quilts. They went up and down every aisle, Harry favouring the simple prints rather than the very colourful kids quilt-sets; he eventually settled on green sheets and a black-and-grey patterned bedspread, and Tony made sure to fill the cart with three or four of the packages. Which kinda filled the cart up, so Loki sent him off for another one.

Harry kept giggling whenever Loki ordered Tony around, and Tony was used to it so he just went along with Loki's orders.

When Tony got back Harry had picked a pillow he liked, and when Loki tossed four of them into the cart Harry frowned and tried to talk him out of it.

'Stark's paying, Harry, so you can choose as many things as you like,' Loki said.

'Yeah, kiddo; billionaire, remember?' Tony said. 'It'd seriously take me about twenty life-times to spend all the money I have. And I make more every year.'

'You'll have those lifetimes, Stark,' Loki murmured as he inspected a quilt.

'I will?' Tony asked. Loki just smirked and told Harry to pick a blanket.

With Harry's bedding done, they moved to the book section. Harry was practically vibrating with excitement, as was Loki, and Tony smiled as he watched father and son look over each and every book on offer. Tony wondered if Harry was like Loki; did he like sitting up and reading? Did he lose entire afternoons with a good book, forgetting to eat and sleep and generally do anything else? He couldn't picture the Dursleys buying Harry books, and that Dudley kid didn't seem the type to read. Maybe Harry had never had the opportunity to fall in love with reading.

Loki found a stack of books that he wanted, and Harry picked at least a dozen novels himself; he blushed when he realised how many he'd chosen, but Tony just smiled and put them in the cart beneath the pillows.

'Entertainment!' Tony cheered when they were done, and Loki sighed when Tony pushed the cart quickly and leaned over it so he could ride the thing down the aisle. They got a lot of looks that Tony ignored, and Harry laughed loudly as he jogged to keep up with Tony and Loki. 'What games do you want, Harry?'

'Oh, um, none,' Harry said.

'Seriously?'

Harry nodded. 'I never got to play any of Dudley's games. Well, I did a few times when the Dursleys went out for dinner, but it was only ever for a few minutes.'

'Seriously?' Tony repeated. 'Kiddo, you haven't lived until you've screamed at Mario Kart.'

'Mario Kart?' Harry echoed.

'It's a game that brings out the very worst in people,' Loki sighed.

Tony snickered. 'Loki blew up my Nintendo Wii when he kept losing, so I had to buy another one. And then I got a Wii U and Mario Kart 8. I've also got Play Stations and X-Boxes and an old Nintendo 64.' Harry just stared at him, clearly having no idea what any of the consoles were. 'Anyway, the Wii U isn't actually out yet, but I'm Tony Stark.' Tony grinned. 'I'll show you how to play when we get home, you'll love it.'

{oOo}

Harry was sure that Mario Kart was one of the games that Dudley had smashed with a hammer when he kept losing, so he'd never got a chance to try it when the Dursleys went out and left him at home. Tony was clearly a fan of Mario- which he said was an entire franchise of games and toys- and immediately disappeared to go buy... whatever was needed to play the game.

Harry wasn't sure what he could say or do to get Tony to stop. The man was like Hermione during exams; completely insane and unstoppable. Loki was clearly used to it, because he just pushed their two trolleys up against a shelf and stood looking at the many different games on display. Harry decided to browse, too, letting his eyes wander over the many plastic cases with brightly coloured covers. He had no idea what games were considered good or fun, so figured he'd let Tony buy what he wanted; the Muggle clearly couldn't be stopped.

A few minutes passed, then ten, then twenty, and Loki grabbed a book from the trolley and started reading. Harry followed his lead and picked out The Lightening Thief. The blurb on the back said that it was about a boy who discovered one of his parents was a Greek God, and it fit so well with what was currently happening in Harry's life that he just had to read it.

Harry had always liked reading, he'd just never really had a chance to read a lot. When the Dursleys had moved him into Dudley's second room he'd been allowed to read the old novels that Dudley had never touched but that was it. At Hogwarts he'd been too busy trying to figure out the Philosopher's Stone that he hadn't really paid all that much attention to his school books. Now he actually had books and an entire summer to do his homework! Harry smiled, wondering what Hermione would say when she realised that Harry was choosing to read instead of goofing off.

Harry was a few chapters into his book when Tony finally came back.

'Dear Valhalla, Stark, did you buy every game console they had on offer?' Loki asked.

Harry's jaw dropped when he saw the two bulging bags Tony was carrying.

'Not all, no, just a lot,' Tony said. He dumped the bags into the trolley and grinned. 'I bought myself a few things,' he admitted. 'I demanded to try out the new Nintendo 3DS and the guy behind the counter let me when I told him I'm Tony Stark. I kinda got addicted to it,' he admitted with a sheepish smile. 'Anyway, I'm totally gonna go into the gaming industry. I could build heaps cooler game consoles than Nintendo. I'm gonna make billions, Loki!'

Loki rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the trolleys. 'Take a shopping cart, Stark, and walk ahead of me. If you touch anything I will hit you.'

Tony pouted and Harry grinned as he memorised his page and put the book back in the trolley.

{oOo}

There wasn't much else that Harry needed. Tony asked if he wanted any toys, but Harry had never had any and didn't see the need to have any now; the books and whatever electronics Tony had bought him was definitely too much.

They ended up staying in the shop for another hour or two, because Tony wanted to do a circuit and make sure that Harry had everything he'd need. When they were done Loki and Tony piled all of Harry's new things into the car Tony had hired, including the travel suitcases that they'd bought him.

'I feel like something greasy,' Tony decided as they climbed into the car. 'Do you lot have McDonalds in the UK? What am I saying, there are McDonalds' everywhere.'

Harry had clearly never had McDonalds before and let Tony order for him. He got the kid a cheeseburger meal as well as some nuggets. Loki got a few burgers and fries, Tony the same, and they sat outside in the sun to eat.

'Thank you,' Harry said quietly as they started eating, and Tony looked up, mouth stuffed with burger. Beside him Loki did the same. 'You really didn't have to buy me all this stuff,' the wizard continued, and gestured at his new clothes, 'but I really appreciate it.'

'Think nothing of it, kiddo,' Tony said after swallowing his mouthful. 'Couldn't keep you in those rags, could we? And I like spending money. I've got enough of it.'

Harry smiled, while Loki said, 'We'll take you to Diagon Alley as soon as you get your list. I know that there's similar magical communities in America, but I'm not sure where. It would be best to stick with what we both know.'

'And I can go when we figure out how to make my arc reactor magic safe, right?' Tony asked. He really didn't want to be left behind. The magic world sounded fascinating- he still laughed every time he thought of flying brooms- and he didn't want to miss out on Loki bonding with his son.

'Yes,' Loki nodded. 'It shouldn't take me long, once we're home and have access to your lab.'

'Awesome,' Tony grinned and tore back into his food.