His Father's Son FlamingLeaf
Chapter Management Edit Chapter
Chapter 3
Notes:
We are finally going to meet Tony. :D
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Young master, I have come across something that might be of interest to you."
Harry stopped in the middle of watering his favorite potted plant and turned towards his AI. "What did you find out?"
"I am replaying the recording."
The projected images of his aunt and uncle appeared.
"Vernon?" It was Petunia. She sounded worried.
"What is it, honey crumb?"
Harry snickered at the nickname.
"You know I was just decluttering the attic?"
Vernon hummed. "Yes?"
"I found something…from my sister. It concerns the boy."
His uncle's face darkened. "What about him?"
Petunia handed him a paper. "It's a letter to him from Lily, and it talks about the boy's true parents. They adopted him, Vernon."
Harry froze. What?
Vernon ripped the parchment out of her hands. His eyes widened. "What?!"
His eyes flew over the words. "Tony Stark? Is this a joke?"
"It's her handwriting," Petunia replied and wrung her hands. "And it explains the boy's intelligence. Stark is supposed to be a genius."
Vernon's hands trembled, and he suddenly looked like a cat that got the canary. "Do you know what this means, Tuny? We'll be rich."
"Vernon?" Petunia looked confused.
"Think about it, honey crumb," Vernon grinned. It was not pleasant."The boy's the son of one of the richest people around, and who took care of him? We! We can ask him to compensate for everything. "
"Is that safe, though?" Petunia looked torn. "What if he tells him something?"
"Tell him what?" Vernon grunted. "We fed and clothed the brat and allowed him to go to this special school of his. He should be thankful for it."
The recording ended.
Harry stared at the wall. His father was not his father? He was the son of someone else? Someone, who was alive?
"James," he whispered, "find everything you can about Tony Stark."
"I already did, young master," James replied, "I have sent the information to your tablet."
"Thank you, James," Harry repeated quietly. Then he started reading.
In the end, it was not a hard decision.
"Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, I am off to the IGC. I want to ask some questions about college application."
His uncle grunted. "Fine. As long as you don't do anything freakish."
Harry did something freakish. A soon, as he was out of sight of the house, he took out his chopstick and waved.
A loud popping sound resonated through the air and a big red bus appeared in front of him.
The doors swung open and lanky boy jumped down.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus! I am Stun Shunpike, your conductor. Where do you want to go?"
"Diagon Alley, please," Harry replied and followed the conductor in.
"Right away," the boy replied cheerfully. "Eleven sickles, please."
Harry paid and sat down.
His stop at Gringotts was short. He picked up a bag of Galleons and exchanged gold, a couple of several thousand dollars' worth – just in case he ended up stranded somewhere.
Then he entered the travel agency.
The travel agent looked up as he entered. "Hello, young man. How can I help you?"
"Hello, I need transportation to America, New York," Harry replied.
"Portkey?" the agent inquired and pulled out a form.
Harry nodded.
"Please fill this out."
"One-way or two-way?" the agent asked as Harry completed the paperwork.
"One-way," he answered calmly. He could always buy himself a second one later should the need arise.
"Five galleons, please."
Harry handed him the gold and the agent pushed a button and a passport over the counter. Harry glanced at the I love New York City printed on top of it.
The agent winked at him. "It's nice as a souvenir, too."
Harry grinned and pinned the button to his shirt.
"The activation phrase is New York. Goodbye, Mr. Potter."
"Goodbye, sir. New York."
The world spun around him.
"Identification," a monotone voice demanded as soon as he was back on his feet.
"Sure," he answered automatically and handed the document over.
The officer studied the passport and raised his eyebrows as he read the name. "Reason for the visit?"
"Just traveling. I wanted to see New York," he replied.
The officer nodded and stamped the document. "Everything is legit. Have a nice stay, Mr. Potter."
"Thanks."
He was in New York. Harry opened his bag to let James out.
"Can we please not do this again, young master? My circuits are feeling dizzy."
Harry laughed. "I hope we don't have to, James. Now, let's go and find my father."
"Miss Potts?"
Pepper raised her head to look at the guard. "Yes, what is it?"
"We have another one who wants to do a paternity test."
Pepper sighed deeply. "Again? When will they finally stop?"
She stood up. "Who is it this time? Another pregnant woman who claims Tony is their baby's father?"
"No, madam. It's a boy."
Pepper blinked. "A child? Is he alone?"
"Well, yes, and no," the guard replied, "He has no family with him, but something else…," the guard trailed off. "Maybe it's best if you see it for yourself, madam. It's unusual."
"I will," Pepper replied. "Where is he?"
"In waiting room three, madam."
"Good."
Pepper understood what the guard had meant with unusual the moment she entered the room.
The child waiting there was small and petite. His green eyes shone vividly and carried intelligence that reminded her immediately of Tony. Even their features seemed similar.
'This time it might have really happened,' she thought quietly, and her gaze fell on the strange mechanical owl floating around his head.
Unusual, indeed.
"Hello," she greeted him. "I am Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. May I ask who you are?"
"Hi, I am Harry," the child answered easily, "Harry Potter."
"So, Harry," she continued, "You are here for a paternity test? What makes you think you might be related to Mr. Stark?"
"James," the child replied quietly, "play the recording, please."
"Yes, young master," the owl confirmed.
Pepper stared. Was that…an AI?
A holographic recording appeared in the middle of the room.
"James recorded this video," Harry told her once the clip had finished, "I wanted to know if it's true." The overly casual look on his face reminded her once more of Tony. His expression was similar when he tried to downplay his feelings.
"I see," she replied slowly, still trying to wrap her mind around everything she had just seen. "Please follow me. We will do the testing right away."
"Thank you."
It was true. Harry stared at the test result. He was truly Tony Stark's son. It was hard to believe.
Pepper Pots was already on the telephone.
"Are you alright, young master?" James suddenly inquired.
Harry nodded. "Yes, just a bit stunned. It's one thing to suspect something and another one to see the proof."
"Understandable."
There was a soft cough from the door.
Harry turned around and saw Pepper Potts smile at him. "I will take you home now, Harry. Tony is already on his way."
"Thank you, Miss Potts."
"Pepper, Harry. You are family now."
Harry grinned. "Thanks, then, Pepper."
The living room was gigantic. Glass windows presented a 360-degree view around New York City and let bright light into the room.
"This is beautiful," Harry commented.
"Welcome home, Master Harry," a British sounding voice suddenly greeted him, "we are happy to have you here."
Harry's eyes lit up. "Thank you. Are you an AI?"
"Yes," the voice replied, "I am JARVIS. I detected an artificial system with you. What is it?"
"This is James. James, say hello to Jarvis."
James floated towards one of the cameras. "A pleasure to meet you, Jarvis."
The camera moved closer towards James. "Welcome, James."
"Thank you," James answered politely, "I must say I rather like the view from here."
"Oh?" Harry sounded amused. "And here I thought the castle was quaint and idyllic?"
"That was before I saw the gigantic squid, young master."
"You live inside a castle?" Jarvis sounded interested. "What does it look like?"
James immediately launched into a detailed description of the castle's interior, while keeping the magical parts out of it.
Harry shook his head and pulled out a book.
Tony was panicking. It had happened. The thing he feared most had finally happened. He had a kid. He, Tony Stark, was a father.
Nervous, he opened the file Jarvis had sent him.
Harry James Potter, age eleven. Well, at least he wasn't a toddler anymore. Moved to IGC shortly after starting school and graduated at age eleven by inventing artificial intelligence with humanlike behavior. Holy shit, his kid was a freaking genius. He grinned. Must be his genes coming through. Tony felt a flash of nervous excitement. He wanted to run up there and meet his kid, and at the same time he wanted to run away from this situation.
Taking a final deep breath, he left the car.
Jarvis greeted him the moment he entered the door.
"My son?" Tony inquired, and the word felt strange on his lips.
"In the living room."
Tony walked in.
He was not prepared for the picture that greeted him.
"You know," he commented, "when I was told I had a son, I did not expect to find him reading a book about molecular physics while my AI discussed the finer points of castle interior design with a mechanical owl."
The kid looked up and Tony inhaled sharply as he saw the vivid green eyes. "I guess my AI made friends with yours," the kid answered.
"Yeah, seems like it," Tony murmured. There was nothing in the kid's file about floating owls.
"Well," he walked over, "Tony Stark. Nice to meet you." He nearly winced. Great. That was all he could say?
"Harry Potter. Nice to meet you, too."
There was a moment of awkward silence. "So, who is this floating thingy over there?"
He really wanted to know what that was.
The owl interrupted his chit-chat with Jarvis and floated over. "Greetings, Master Stark. I am James. Just a moderately efficient secretary. It is a pleasure to meet young master's father."
Tony blinked as the owl bowed its head. A Moderately Efficient Secretary? Well, at least his kid had humor. "James?" he inquired dryly.
The kid grinned. "I am a Brit."
Tony laughed. "I hope you are not insisting on teatime. It's all coffee here, kid."
"Good," his kid – and fuck, he had a kid -, replied. "I always thought tea was quite bland."
Yes, they would definitely get along.
Harry could honestly say that Tony Stark was really cool. He seemed a bit nervous, but Harry was equally anxious, so it did not matter much.
"Um, do you know who my mum is?" he finally asked. The question had been bothering him the entire time.
Tony shifted. He looked pained. "I don't exactly have a stellar past, kid. But I still remember Mary. Mary Evans. She had eyes just like you. We were both going through a tough time, things happened, and you know." He shrugged and grinned a bit wryly.
"Where is she now?" Harry asked curiously. "Can I meet her?"
Tony's face fell. "Yeah, about that, kid." Tony brushed awkwardly through his hair. "She's dead. Cancer. She died not long after we had met."
"Oh." Harry lowered his head. He had hoped he could talk to her, too.
There was a moment of silence.
"Tell me about yourself," Tony suddenly prompted. "How the hell did a Brit kid land himself in America? Alone? How did you even manage that?"
"Nobody stopped me?" Harry offered. It was true.
Tony shot him a dry look. "So, I am not going to have the police on my head for hiding an illegal immigrant?"
"Well, the tower is big. How should I know what you are hiding here? But at least I am legal."
"Sure." Tony still sounded disbelieving.
Harry tossed his passport at him.
Tony snatched it out of the air and flicked through the document. "How the hell did you manage to get that?"
Harry grinned. "Magic."
Tony snorted. "Fine, keep your secret. At least it saves me the effort to hack into the government database."
"And he was worried about me being legal," Harry mock whispered towards James.
His AI nodded seriously. "Most baffling, indeed."
"Jarvis!" Tony complained, "they are ganging up on me!"
"I do understand where they are coming from, sir."
"Not you, too!"
They laughed.
Then a serious expression appeared on Tony's face. "I hate to ask this, kid, but I need to know. Your guardians are Vernon and Petunia Dursley, right?"
Harry grimaced. "Yeah." He did not like being reminded of them.
Tony's expression darkened. "Pepper told me about the recording. Can I see it?"
"Sure. James, play it, please."
"Of course, young master."
Harry observed his father's expression as the man watched the video with sharp attention. It was fascinating to see how Tony's mood seemed to sour.
The easy-going man was gone, and Harry could clearly see the hard edge to the man's character. The blatant derision on Tony's face when Vernon revealed his greed was unmistakable.
The video ended, and Tony Stark slowly turned around. "Harry, what exactly am I not supposed to find out?" His voice was tight.
Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "James, tell him, please." He could not bring himself to talk about this just yet.
"Young master's guardians were most neglectful, Master Stark," the AI informed him. "He spent most of his early years being locked into a cupboard unless he was called to do a servant's chores, while severely lacking nutrition. Young master was further denied access to educational means and had to teach himself. Things only took a turn for the better because young master's teachers noticed his inherited genius and young master's guardians could not deny him advanced education, least they draw unwanted attention."
"So, in summary," Tony growled, "they abused my kid and now want me to pay them for it."
"Indeed, Master Stark," James agreed.
"Fine," Tony grinned. It showed too many teeth to be pleasant. "They will get their payment." He turned towards Harry and his face softened. "They didn't hit you, did they?" Harry could hear the silent 'They'd better not' in his tone.
Harry felt a strange warmth in his chest. "Only once or twice," he admitted quietly, "Petunia swung a frying pan at me once – but I dodged," he added quickly.
Tony, his father, took a deep breath. "Okay, that's good. That you dodged. Not the frying pan thing, because that's making me freaking mad."
He reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "They'll not hurt you again, kid. I'll make sure of that." It sounded like a mixture of promise and threat.
Harry leaned into his touch. "Thanks." It was a strange feeling to have someone protect him, but he liked it.
"Now, is there anything else you need to tell me?" Tony inquired, half-joking, "I've got the feeling nothing can surprise me anymore. I mean, I found out I got a kid, saw Jarvis chatting with bird butler about castle interior designing and got new additions to my shit list. All in one day."
"Um, I wasn't lying when I told you about magic?" Harry offered.
Tony stared at him. "Eh?"
"I am a wizard. Look, I even have a wand." He brandished the object.
Tony gave him a dry look. "Harry, that's a chopstick."
"It's wooden and pointy. It works. Watch this: Accio Brandy!"
The alcohol bottle dashed into Harry's hand.
Tony stared from the bottle to Harry and back again. Then he snapped into action. "Jarvis, call the Chinese Restaurant. I want one of everything they have. Tell them not to forget the chopsticks."
He grabbed the bottle out of Harry's hand. "Now give me that. I need it."
A/N About Mary: I didn't want Lily to cheat, so I invented her cousin Mary who died of cancer. This way Harry still retained his eye color.