Sorry for the late chapter university has been busy, and still is, plus I had writer's block, argh.
A new week had started, and Tony was ready to interrogate all the teachers who were coming in today for interviews. Harry was also going to be present for them, but he wanted only the best for his son. Even if it meant he had to sit in on many interviews. The first one was coming at nine, and he still had half an hour to get ready for it. Harry was busy talking to Hermione in his room, she had gone over to see Ron and he wasn't too happy that Harry had left but was waiting for him to send a letter.
Tony didn't know what to do about Harry's gap of knowledge from not being at a regular school for the past two years. He was hoping that the teachers that stood out would know what to do, even if it meant doing crash courses in the subjects or, having longer 'school' hours to catch up on everything.
He also wanted to get the interviews out of the way so he could focus on Harry's birthday that were in a few days. He still had a few places to call and make sure everything was underway. He wasn't going too overboard, but he had some plans.
Harry came down to find his dad drinking coffee and reading on his Starkpad. He was excited to be meeting all his potential teachers, he hoped they wouldn't have any expectations of him, like the teachers from Hogwarts had. If it was being the chosen one, or because of who his parents were. Actually, it would just be his mom and adoptive father, but then he never knew them in the first place. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he grabbed a piece of fruit before going back to his room to wait.
Time passed quickly and the two sat in the tenth interview for the day, they had only come across one promising teacher so far, and that was only for maths. It was a man by the name of Lloyd Binion he had been a tall dark-skinned man in his late 50's, who had recently left his previous school because they didn't allow for any independence among the students. The interviews were lasting about 20 minutes each, and after this one, they were going to take a break, before they saw ten more people and calling it a day.
If they don't find enough teachers today, and Tony didn't think they would, then he would do more interviews the following Monday. They finished up the interviews after three, he was hoping that 4 out of the twenty people today would become teachers for Harry. The other three he had interviewed had been a British lady in her late 40's and would be teaching English, her name was Janice Bennetts. There was a young Asian man, Hwang Soen-Hwan who would be teaching Physics. The last person had been a Spanish lady in her 30's, Estela Linde, who would be teaching Latin.
Tony spent the last few remaining hours of the day calling into different places, making sure everything was perfect for Harry's birthday. Meanwhile said child had run-off and hang out with Natasha, where she told him the joys of knife throwing.
The next day Clint showed up, apologizing that his family hadn't been able to come with him, but they sent their best wishes and would come in the future. Harry spent the morning with Natasha again, who was showing him how to grip a knife properly.
"Hold it a little further down, otherwise it won't release from your hand properly." She told him. He followed her instructions. "Good, now watch me." She stood with her one foot behind the other, hold the knife above her before she brought her arm done quickly while releasing the knife. It struck into the padded walling and Harry was amazed. "Now you try."
Harry copied her stance, while she adjusted it slightly, when he was ready, he let the knife fly free from his hand, but the hilt bounced off the wall and fell on the floor. "That was good for your first try, but if you waited a little bit to let the knife loose, the blade would have hit the wall."
"I thought you would at least wait for me to be here before you started throwing knives with the kid," Clint said leaning up against the doorframe. Natasha clicked her tongue at him.
"It wasn't like you weren't watching from vents, you just chose to come down now."
"How mean." Clint pouted. The two continued to bicker with each other, and Harry just laughed at them. They had calmed down and Harry was getting ready to throw the knife again when his dad appeared.
"Nuh-uh. We aren't teaching the kid knife throwing until he is at least thirteen." Tony said glaring playfully at the three of them.
"I'm thirteen tomorrow, what difference does it make."
"What difference does a day make! A day makes a huge difference. In a day I could completely invent something new." Tony said with his hands on his hips but the grin on his face gave away his true emotions. "Clint, Nat, promise me you'll at least wait until after his birthday to start teaching him deadly skills"
He received playful smirks from the two of them before groaning. "We will wait for Harry's birthday till we start teaching him to protect himself, and next year I'll teach him something new."
"Okay I can deal with that, you can teach him something new every year, at least until he is sixteen. I don't want a mini-assassin running around the tower just yet." Harry slipped out the assassin duo around lunchtime to find Steve, who was going to help him bake some goods for the team.
Harry woke up Wednesday morning when there was a tapping at his bedroom windows, the window wall was a better word to describe it. There was a tired looking owl outside flapping its wings with no place to perch on. Rushing out of his room, and downstairs to the living area he opened the balcony door. The owl flew in, landing on the owl perch standing nearby. Harry got out some treats and made sure it had enough clean water before taking the letter from its leg. It was his letter from Hogwarts.
"What's all the fuss about," Tony said coming down the stairs.
"It's my Hogwarts letter"
"Well, there go all my plans for this morning. I even set an alarm." Harry chuckled at his dad's antics. Harry gave the letter to his dad. He looked over it briefly, before penning out one himself.
Dear Professor McGonagall
It has come to my attention that my son Harry has had his life in danger for both the years he has been attending your school. Therefore, I´m pulling him out of Hogwarts to give him a better education and a safer school experience.
With regards,
Dr Anthony Stark.
"Here, you can send it back after you rested up, it must have been a long flight for you," Tony said tying the letter to the owl's leg. "Come along squirt, I am trying to stick to a plan today." Tony marched into the kitchen. He smiled when he saw the food prepared by a chef on the counter. He turned to look at Harry and couldn't help but smile at his wide eyes. "Dig in kid, it's your birthday."
"Thank you!" Harry filled his plate with waffles, fruits, and anything else he enjoyed that was available. His dad joined in next to him and the two ate breakfast together.
"I hope you're ready for today kiddo. I've got lots planned."
"You didn't have to do anything for my birthday."
"I'm not having any of that today. You're a Stark and most importantly, you're my son, and I'll be damned if I don't spoil you. You're my son Harry, and to be honest, I never thought you would be a part of my life. But now you are, and I'm going to spoil you all I want, and extra to make up for the years I missed."
After finishing breakfast Tony lead Harry down to the common area. They noticed the owl had already left, while Hedwig had arrived back from her nightly adventures. Heading into the common area Harry could hear all the other occupants of the tower in the room chatting about. Walking in they turned to face the two.
"Happy birthday Harry!" They all said, in somewhat of a form of unison. Grins spreading across their faces.
"Happy birthday son!"
"Thanks everyone," Harry said smiling so widely his cheeks just about hurt.
"Come on kid, there's a pile of presents with your name on it." Clint gestured for him to sit amongst them all.
Harry had never been given so many presents before, but he suspected most were from his dad. He didn't rush to open them, rather he spent his time neatly opening each and every present, it caused Clint to groan and tell him to rip them open. He got some rather questionable presents from the assassin duo. He had received a bow and arrows from Clint in a similar shade of green that his eyes were, he also received a book on finding the best hiding locations from the man. He thought that Nat had a bit more since until he opened the last present from her. He had gotten a leather journal and a book on lock-picking, as well as a case of throwing knives that matched the colour of his bow. Bruce had gotten a cooking book on Spanish cuisine and a baking book specialised in making sweets.
He had laughed at the iron-man socks that slipped out of Steve's present but was happy to find that he hadn't gone overboard, and along with the socks was some candy and tickets to see a theatre production in Broadway with the man. His dad had gone way overboard
His dad had gotten Harry all available gaming stations as well as many games to go along with them. Harry was surprised when he came across a computer, that Tony had made for himself, for all his future projects and schoolwork.
"Thank you, everyone, it really means a lot to me." He said with tears gathering around the corners of his eyes.
"You're one of us now kid, and we're one big family," Natasha said petting his head.
"Come on, let's go get dressed, we have a long day ahead of us." The two got dressed quickly and met up with the rest of the team in the parking area, where they all stood around a van.
"Where are we going, dad?" Harry asked trailing behind him.
"You've been in New York for just over two weeks and have yet to be sightseeing or experience the joy that is New York City. So today is a trip around the city to the best spots known to the team and the famous ones."
Hoping into the van alongside The Avengers, Tony drove them out to the beginning of their adventure. Their first stop was the Statue of Liberty, as the boat ride would take some time, and it was the best thing to get done first. Harry had been amazed when they arrived at the island and continued to stare at the giant green lady in front of him. Once they finished up there Tony packed them into the car again before stopping off at a small bookstore turn café, one of Bruce's hid-away locations. They had a light lunch there before they went around again, stopping at tourist hotspots.
Come evening Tony had parked the van a block up from their final place for the day. Walking down the street, few people stopped to look at the famous group, and a few females were awed at the sight of Tony and Harry walking hand-in-hand. They were at an old Italian family restaurant.
"Anthony, it's good to see you again." The greying man behind the bar said with a slight Italian accent.
"It's good to see you too Roberto, how is Maria doing?" Tony said ushering the rest of the team, as the man, Roberto, came to greet them all.
"She is well, she is busy helping Juliet with their new baby." The man got out menus as he sat them down at the largest booth available in the almost empty restaurant.
"Juliet had another kid with Mark?"
"Sí, and I see you also have a child on your hands." Tony laughed at the old man.
"Harry this is Roberto, an old-time family friend of the Stark's, Roberto this is my son Harry, and today's it's his birthday."
"So that is why you made sure we had the special item in-store."
"Yes, it wouldn't be a birthday without it."
"Good, good, I will leave you and your friends alone for the time being."
The group sat talking with each other and Harry had never felt so at home before. Sure, the Weasleys had treated him like family, but he still had felt like an outsider. Smiling softly to himself he joined in on the conversations around him. They were left alone by the other groups in the restaurant for the most part. After having eaten supper, Roberto appeared with a large chocolate cake being pushed out on a trolley.
"Happy birthday Harry, we hope that you will spend many more with us at the restaurant. This was Tony's favourite cake as a child, my own children also love it, so please enjoy my wife's famous chocolate cake." He said placing the cake on the table before disappearing. This was Harry's best birthday yet, and he couldn't wait for what was to come in the future.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.