Tony was stuck in the doorway to Harry's hospital room. The pure vivid greenness of those eyes held him in his place, those that belonged to the Lilly Potter that he had met all those years ago. This was his son, he had known that for a long, but now he had undeniable proof in his hand that he was Harry's biological father, and no one could deny him that, and no could take Harry away. Something had shifted inside of Tony looking into Harry's eyes, he felt that his life was complete, this child was his, and he honestly had no clue that it would spark something inside of him, he honestly felt that he and Harry could face the world and come out on top, and all he could think of was those years he missed out on because he had never been told about the death of the Potters.
Tony was hesitant to say anything as it was like he stuck in his spot, and where was he to start anyways, 'hi, I know this sounds crazy but I'm your real dad.' Nope, he couldn't do it like that.
"Um, are you going to just stand there?" Harry had called out softly, he didn't want to be rude, but he may have come across as rude, the man that looked oddly like him had been staring at him for the last five minutes and he was getting anxious from it. He really wanted to know if it was just a coincidence that they looked like an older and younger version of the same person, or if there was something else, he hadn't been told.
"No. Sorry. I just got stuck in my thoughts there. You're Harry Potter, right? Is it alright if I can call you Harry?" Tony was a nervous wreck, this shouldn't be that hard, but just seeing the kid sitting there with those big eyes, with a little hope in them, had him feeling like he was about to sweat an entire river.
"Yeah, you can me Harry. Uh, do you want to have a seat?" Harry felt very awkward at the moment, he honestly had no idea what to say to this man. "Uh, if you don't mind, who are you?"
"Right, should have told you that from the start. I'm Tony Stark." Tony should have started with that, "and I honestly think the best way to get this over with is to give you the results." He might as well give it to the kid where he couldn't deny. Coming further into the room and sitting in the chair that had been left next to the bed after giving Harry the DNA test results.
Harry took the piece of paper from the man named Tony and read the top, 'DNA Results'. This was going to interesting for Harry, especially with the knowledge that he had gotten from the Goblins. The results contained a bunch of stuff that he didn't understand, he was all numbers and letters mixed together, one side was his and the other side was Tony's, a bunch of things were circled and ticked, and he had no clue what it could mean. At the bottom, it contained text that he could understand. It read:
"The results of the test done, on the inquiry of one Stark, Anthony Edward, show that there is a 99,98% match between one Potter, Harry James Anthony and one Stark, Anthony Edward. This can be concluded to Stark, Anthony Edward being the biological father of Potter, Harry James Anthony."
Harry was shocked for a better or lack of words, his dad wasn't his dad, but rather this man in front of him. He didn't know what to think, everyone said he was so much like his dad, James, but if he wasn't even his father then where was the proof for those statements. Harry didn't want to think, his whole life story was a lie. Harry felt lost and Tony could see the anxiety coming of the kid. He had been watching the kid and could the confusion in him as he read over the results, and then him stilling as he read the last little bit. Tony should probably explain how everything came to be, but it was probably best to let him come to terms with the knowledge first.
"So…. You're my father?" Harry asked what felt like an eternity of being lost in his own thoughts.
"Yes, I am." Tony was just going to answer the kid's questions directly, he wasn't going to give half-assed questions that might cause trouble later.
"You knew I was your kid?" Harry was not looking forward to the answers to the questions he was about to ask.
"Yes, I've known you were my kid since the moment you were born, I-"
"Then why didn't you take care of me after they died!" Harry shouted out. Tony was stunned, he should have expected that, but it never registered in his brain that Harry might be upset over the same thing he had been.
"I-" For once in his life Tony was speechless, He might as well tell Harry the full story now. "Can I tell you how you came to be, without me being involved in your life first, then I can answer your question."
"Fine," Harry bite out, he didn't understand how there could be any excuses for not looking after him.
"Back in 1999, I met Lilly and James Potter at some charity event, couldn't remember the name of it even then. I had spent most of the night talking to a young Lilly, I thought we had hit it off. When she introduced me to her husband James. They were having trouble with falling pregnant, said that James had been involved in some kind of accident in High School that left him unable to have children. So, because I looked similar to James they asked if I could help them out and I did, nothing physical happened, it was all done scientifically, and I only saw your parents twice in my life, the day I met them and the day I handed over my DNA to them." Tony told the kid. Harry had a contemplative look on his face. "Your parents and I decided that you would only meet me when you turned twenty-one and everything would be explained, as well as giving you the option to take over my business if I didn't have someone else. A few days after your birth I received a photo of the three of you along with your name and birth date, it was a shock to me when they gave you my name as your third name, I honestly wasn't expecting it." Tony took a pause giving Harry a chance to digest this all.
"So, you were never meant to be in my life? Did you not care when they died?" Harry shot back, still a little angry, but understood now, why the results said what they did.
"Harry, I may have never meant to be in your life until you were older, because I thought that James and Lilly would make excellent parents, and I wasn't a family man, back then, I couldn't look after myself, let alone a child. As far as I knew, I was just helping out a desperate family." Tony felt as if he should get that put before he went onto the next bit. "Now, I don't know what went into your parents will, but I wasn't aware that they had passed on. Last year, after New York was invaded, I started searching for you and your family, trying to get my priorities straight, but only until a few days ago, after the car crash you were in was in the news, did I learn of your parents' untimely death, and that you had been living with your Mother's relatives."
Harry was angry, not at Tony, but for all the things gone wrong in his life. He could have had a better life, he could have grown up loved by his own father, maybe he wouldn't think of himself as a freak most of the times. His angry was building up all around the room, Tony could even see it in the way Harry clenched his jaw and went rigid, he could even feel the air become static all around them. Harry's anger built up to the point where the air became hard to breathe, his magic building up, the lights in the room popped. Tony quickly moved to protect Harry from any falling sparks or glass, that might come from the breaking lights above.
Tony didn't know how he knew, but somehow, he knew that it was Harry's anger that has caused this, his gut has told him, and it had never been wrong before. He didn't know where to start comforting him, he had never had to do this before. Tony just wrapped his arms around the vulnerable child in front of him. He pulled Harry further into his arms as he sat on the bed. He started to rub his hands up and down his back while whispering to him that he was safe and that he was here now. It took Tony ten long minutes to calm Harry down when Harry started to cry softly into his chest. Tony was really starting to wonder what this kid's life had been like to cause such strong emotions from him.
"Harry, I'm here. I've got you and I'm never going to leave you. I should've stayed in contact with your parents, but I didn't see it as my place to, but now, I want to be your dad, but I never want to replace James. I don't know what you have been through, but I promise you, I won't allow it to go unnoticed anymore. I'll do my damn best job at protecting you, and when you are ready, I'll be waiting for you to tell me what has happened to you, and I'll listen to every word that you have to say" Tony told him as he heard Harry give a weak laugh to his words.
"I've never been able to trust adults, as they have never seen to care or believe me, but Tony I honestly hope that I can finally have someone to come to. Maybe one day I'll call you dad, but I don't feel comfortable about that yet. I have something that I need to tell you, but I'm not sure if I can. It's not just my secret to tell." Harry rambled on to Tony, he was feeling impossible overwhelmed, and being in an unknown place, wasn't helping at all. Tony let up on his hold on Harry and gave him a small smile.
"Why don't we get on out of here, get to know each other, I'm sure you don't need to be in the hospital for a broken arm this long." Tony moved back to his chair. He was starting to wonder why someone hadn't come to check up on them with the lights that had popped.
"The nurse said the still wanted to do some tests on me today," Harry told Tony honestly.
"Well then, let me go check what they wanted to do and if it's not too important, then we can head on out here," Tony said, getting up at Harry's nod of his head. As Tony headed out the room, Harry looked around at the mess he had made, and hope the ministry wouldn't be showing up like they did when Dobby did magic in the Dursley's house. He didn't even know if he could tell Tony about magic, but if Tony is his father, then surely, he would be allowed to. He didn't even know where Hedwig was, he had sent her off to the Weasley house, but he didn't know if she would stay put there, knowing her, she would have just known that he was hurt at the moment. He knew his trunk was safe and where it was, maybe he should ask Tony if they could go and fetch it when they left the hospital.
As Harry was busy lost in his thoughts, Tony went up to the small reception area that was in the Private ward section. He inquired about the tests Harry said they wanted to do, he was told that it was nothing serious, or even about Harry's health but rather, they wanted to test why he was healing so quickly. Tony very quickly shot that done, saying that Harry would not become a lab rat. He quickly signed Harry out of the hospital, paid for everything related to Harry, before realizing he didn't have anything to wear for Harry. He thought he might as well just shrug off his jacket and allow Harry to wear it, they would only be going to back to his apartment.
Tony walked back into the room, remembering he forgot to tell the person about the burst lights in the room. He saw Harry lost in his thoughts and decided to take a closer look at him. The longer Tony looked at Harry, the more he realised he looked like him when he was younger, a bit on the shorter and skinnier side, but the nose and lips, were the exact same as his. His lips being more in the plump side, kissable lips as people liked to call them, his nose was a more button-like his but otherwise it hard that sharp angle that his own one had. Harry's eyes were all his mother's, although they were even brighter then he remembered Lily's being. His hair was long and curly, just like his hair would be if he let it grow out, if Harry got his hair got cut short then they would look even more alike. Tony could tell that when Harry got older and lost the little bit of baby fat he still had on his jaw, then it would be just like his jawline.
"Um, can we fetch my school trunk, I know where it is, it was all my belongings in it."
"I'm not going to ask how that's possible, sure you have more stuff than just a school trunk?" Harry shook his head to that.
"My Aunt and Uncle have never liked me, I only got hand-me-downs from my cousin," Harry told Tony, hoping that maybe another adult might believe him, like the man from yesterday.
"Harry, did they do anything else to you, that an adult shouldn't do to a child?" Harry looked away from Tony at this question, and Tony knew there was a lot more to this story, then Harry may be letting on.
"I... There was a man here yesterday from the childcare services that I spoke to. He, um, knows everything, that, uh happened to me," Harry trailed off silently. "I… I'll tell you, but right now, I'm not feeling up to it." Harry felt like he could trust Tony, but after the emotions that overcame him earlier, he just wasn't up for it today.
"Hey kid, that's perfectly fine, I'm not going to rush you into anything, all in your own time okay. Just know, that when you're ready to talk, I'll be there." Harry looked at Tony for a moment, then slightly nodded his head. "Okay then, why don't we go fetch your belongings then and head back to my place. I had a friend of sorts come with me from America. I don't even know if you could call him a friend, we work together and he lives in the building I own, but hey he offered to come along." Tony rambled on as Harry got out the hospital bed where there was no glass on the floor, and Tony quickly swooped him up and carried him outside the room, before placing him on his own feet. He shrugged off his jacket and helped Harry put on before the two proceed to the elevator. Once out of the elevator Tony noticed the lack of shoes on Harry's feet.
"Kid, do you want a piggy-back rid to my car? You've got no shoes on, and I don't think you really want to be getting your feet dirty." Tony said crouching down to Harry's height. Tony was noticing now that Harry was standing that he was small for his age.
"Can I? I've never had a piggy-back ride before!"
"Sure kid, I wasn't going to offer if I wasn't being serious."
"Yes, please then!" Harry said getting onto Tony's back. Tony stood up and walked them to his car that was packed on one of the far sides, of the parking area. Once there Tony placed him into the back seat, sliding into next to him, and shocking Tony's driver that worked for the London side of Stark industries. Tony asked Harry for the name of the place were his school trunk was, before telling the driver. It wasn't long before Harry was asleep, after having such an emotional day, Tony wasn't surprised in the least. The issue with Harry's school trunk didn't take long, as it had been removed from the car, after arriving at the car repair shop, courtesy of whichever insurance Harry's other family had been with. He just had to pay a little extra to get the trunk back without being Harry's Aunt or Uncle and then paid a little more to keep him being in London a secret for a little longer.
Harry was still asleep by the time he got back into the car, they headed back to Tony's apartment, were Tony carried Harry into the elevator, before reaching his apartment. Once the doors opened, he saw Cap standing there. When Steve saw the little boy in Tony's arms, he just smiled at the two of them, then headed off to go run, after planning a route with Jarvis. Tony carried Harry into his room and placed him into his bed, before getting in on the other side next to him and sitting next to Harry. Tony thought it might be better if he didn't wake up in a strange environment with no-one besides him. Harry soon turned and cuddled into Tony's lap, preferring to use his lap as a pillow, then the actual pillow. Tony smiled softly at Harry before running his fingers through Harry's messy hair and pulling out the StarkPad next to his bed and doing some of the more boring work, like replying to emails, and reassuring Pepper that everything was alright. This moment for Tony was going to be the first of many, and right now he felt like he was in a little bubble of comfort and never wanted that to go away.
I'm looking for a beta reader if anyone can help.
How did you find this chapter? Was it what you hoped it would be, this is what I had first envisioned when I thought of this book. hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it.