Disclaimers: I am not making any money off of this story so any mistakes are my own. Therefore, I cannot be the owner of the Marvel or Harry Potter universes, that honor goes to their respective creators.

A/N: A fair few of you have said in the way of reviews or PM's that you hoped that Tony would not pay off the Dursley's. I am sorry, but I did not listen to your input on this particular instance. I assure you that while I do value your input- very much-, it was never in my intentions for the Dursley's not to get paid. This is the direction I have always wanted this story to take. Again I do apologize to those of you will not necessarily agree with the course this story is taking or some of the actions throughout this chapter, but just remember this: nothing comes without strings attached.

I realise there are some holes in this chapter although I consider this chapter to be among one of the most important chapters in the story (as this chapter is propelling the story in the way I want it to go). This chapter is sort of busy but these holes will be filled in in later chapters. I promise.

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[Chapter Two] Strings Attached:

Whatever Tony had hoped or expected out of the Dursley's were quickly and efficiently lowered by the end of the brief meeting he had with them. In the span of thirty minutes, Tony had come to the conclusion that they were well and truly some of the most awful people he had ever met. And he had met some pretty awful people.

They were greedy, self-centered and downright appalling people who had an equally spoilt brat son who was becoming a replica of his father, both physically and verbally.

The Dursley's for those very reasons, were the very kind of people that Tony liked to hate because in some ways they reminded him of his own father. Far too concerned about personal gain than the things that truly matter in life. Sure they pet and pampered their son but they weren't doing him any favors in that regard either. And for all they did for their son, they equally did not do for Tony's and that was not something, Tony was sure, he would be able to forget or forgive easily.

Even though, Tony's upbringing had been far from perfect, Howard Stark- for all his faults- had at least cared enough about Tony to ensure that he managed to make something of himself and put him through university. Whereas, after meeting up with his son's former guardians, Tony got the distinct impression that nothing would have made them any happier than if his son failed at life and that they had done just about everything in their power to ensure that he did not have an easy path to success.

In spite of the fact that Tony would be the first to admit, that he did not have the foggiest clue on how to be a dad, he knew that he wanted his son to have a different upbringing than what his father provided him, or at least what was left of his child's youth.

And so when they demanded a not-so-measly amount of a million (in American dollars as the conversion would be greater once they swapped it for British Pounds) for all their troubles, he gave it to them without so much of an argue on his part. Tony knew that not everyone in his position would have so readily agreed to the payout without question, in fact Tony was certain that very few people would have just given to the demands of someone like the Dursley's, but then again Tony wasn't everyone. He was Tony Stark: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, and Philanthropist, at least that was what much of the world knew him as. A lesser extent knew that he was Iron Man of the Avengers. In other words, regardless, of what he was known as, it worked out to his benefit if he gave them the money, the less resistance on his part now, would most definitely pay off later.

Tony had also gathered that the Dursley's really didn't care about much of anything beyond their status. They didn't care that Harry was their nephew or how he had suffered in their hands. The Dursley's really didn't care that Tony was his biological father. The only thing they cared about was the money that was going to be lining their pockets at the end of this meeting. Yet somehow, in between all the hate, guilt and sorrow, Tony found himself rather uncaring as bad as that may sound. He didn't care what problems the Dursley's might've had with his son. No, Tony was dead set on making his whatever hardships his son might have caused them to look like a walk in the park once he got done with them. Tony would do everything in his power to ensure that Harry never came in contact with them again. He didn't care what he had to do, what laws he had to bend, or how it happened. So long as Harry never saw their faces again aside from in the police blotter in the newspaper.

He might not be so nïeve to think that just by removing his son all his problems would be fixed or magically disappear but, it would be a start, and that was what he cared about. Getting Harry on the road to recovery- although when he put it that way, it made it sound as if his son was going to be a recovering alcoholic or something- was the only thing Tony cared about now that he had met the demands of one Vernon Dursley and his wife, Petunia.

The Dursley's, on the other hand, would have no hope of recovering from the downfall he was planning for them.

After the drawn-out process of talking and making and meeting various demands, not that Tony had to meet anything, the Dursley's finally left Stark Tower satisfied with the money they had gotten, although angry that they had missed a small proportion of their vacation because of Tony's unavailability which they were convinced that the company's CEO and Tony were just fabricating.

Tony for his part, playing the part of a perfect host and an honest businessman, which he was… sort of, he lent them one of his aircraft carriers to take to Hawaii as a way to make up for the lost time. It was cheaper just to allow them the use of that, providing that they didn't trash it in the process, than having to buy three last-minute first class tickets which would have been a nightmare. Purchasing three first-class tickets was doable, certainly, with enough money thrown around, but it would have been a nightmare nonetheless and no matter what the Dursley's might think or say, Tony did not owe them anything but by providing them use of one of his personal aircrafts, he was able to get rid of them quicker, more efficiently and cheaper as they had already cost him enough particularly when he really did not have proof of their supposed efforts.

Also, he had given them the money because, in the end, for the most part, it put him in a position of power. Because for however smart the Dursley's thought they were, there was one major thing they had overlooked and that was that nothing- particularly money- came without strings attached. So in truth, he was the one that came out on top in this which is exactly how he had wanted it to be.

He walked leisurely to the floor where Connor was located asking that Bruce meet him there so that they could formulate a plan of sorts to help Harry with whatever Connor thought Harry might need help in.

The child obviously needs some help in confidence. He was too worried about putting someone out that he did not ask for anything and everything Tony had bought him so far had pretty much been forced upon him. It was if Harry thought he had to pay Tony back for everything. And when Tony refused to accept any payment, the kid thanked him non-stop. Tony thought it was nice the first time his son said "Thank you" for something but by the third or fourth time, it got old. And what made it so bad was that the kid, his kid, didn't seem to know how to act with him buying the stuff for him. And even though that would be remedied with time, it was worrisome and it bothered Tony more than he let on. When Tony had asked if he had ever had anything new in his life since had gone to live with the Dursley's, Harry had responded that they had never spent any more money on him than they absolutely had to. When Tony had frowned, Harry had been quick to elaborate that he had limited access to an one of the accounts his parents had left him, mostly for schooling purposes and that he had bought himself some school stuff with that. That did not endear the Dursley's to Tony any more.

Making it to Connor's office he was greeted by Bruce who was lounging in one of the chairs. Taking advantage of Connor's absence, Tony picked up the prior conversation without a moment's hesitation.

"You never answered my question from earlier."

"Which one? I believe you asked a few." Bruce said vaguely, knowing which one it was Tony was referring too but not having a factually answer formulated.
"You know which one. The one about Harry and the Dursley's." Tony refused to refer to them as the kid's relatives, otherwise, that would be insinuating that he was related to them. Or in the very least, had met, at least, Mrs. Dursley before. He hadn't, he'd checked and they had confirmed that it had been Mrs. Dursley's sister, Lily, he had spent the night with.

Thank heavens.

Finding out that he had a son was a surprise enough. To find out that he been so drunk that he had laid up with someone someone as...like Mrs. Dursley would have probably sent him into cardiac arrest if he didn't have the arc reactor, and although he did not have any remembrance of what the woman's sister had been like surely she couldn't be as bad as her surviving sister. He would have to ask JARVIS to pull up everything about Lily Potter, née Evans later when he could do it without Harry's knowledge. But he would like to think that the woman had had a charming way about her, at the very least been good looking, unlike horseface.

"I don't know, Tony. Really, it's just a hunch I'm having but…" Banner shook his head sadly while fidgeting with his hands, "I've never seen a boy Harry's age act the way he does. Not that I know much about kids or anything. But most kids are spewing off reasons why they can't wash the dishes and Harry was over there listing the reasons why he should be washing dishes, and cooking, and whatever other laborious jobs they've no doubt been forcing him into doing. He's too meek. Have you seen how he tries to avoid eye contact when certain topics are breached. How he acts like he has to pay for his keep through chores. I don't have to meet them to know what kind of people they are. But with saying that, I stress that these are nothing more than an observation on my part and I have no proof of anything. Dr. Fayge will no doubt have a more detailed perspective concerning Harry's time with those relatives of his. And we can act from there. How much did they ask for?"

"A million," there was a green tint to Bruce's eyes as he heard how much the boy's relatives had asked for but didn't comment.

The next few minutes were spent in silence, each deep in thought about what they would have to do as a team to ease Harry into his new lifestyle. It would be a team effort, as it did take a village to raise a child. But Tony had a team and so he figured, he hoped, that his back was well covered.

Connor came rushing in, absently apologizing for his tardiness. Sitting down rather heavily behind his desk, the middle-aged man rummaged through his desk looking for something.

"Sorry." Connor muttered again slightly out of breath, "I got busy there for a moment and couldn't get away." He handed Tony a copy of the results but Tony brushed it aside. One look at Harry and anyone could tell that he was Tony's kid. The paperwork was just a formality now.

So without delay he cut to the chase. "So, Pepper already gave me the results of the paternity test and I met Harry. Gotta admit, the kid looks a bit like me when I was his age, although I was never that skinny." Tony said with a chuckle before frowning at his observances. Leave it to Tony to find some sort of wry humor in a situation.

"That was one of the thing's I wanted to talk to you about. He's too skinny and if what I interpreted from the conversation is correct, then his relatives don't allow him to eat as often as he should. They insisted that he'd eaten a large breakfast at school and therefore could not be hungry, when their own child was throwing a tantrum over being hungry. All this occurred around eight-thirty, nine o'clock at night. They could not sit there and tell me that that child was not hungry."
"I kinda figured that out on my own. The kid didn't know what to do when I took him out to eat this morning. I ended up having to practically order for him. I am sure they made sure they ate, probably ate just so he would have anything to eat." Tony said recalling how rotund the man and son were.

Bruce chose that moment to speak up about his own observations, "Last night, presumably after everything with the family occured, Pepper brought him up to the common area and ordered pizza. Cap and I had eaten probably three slices to his one. I don't think I have ever seen anyone savor a piece of cheese pizza like Harry did, makes me wonder if he had ever eaten pizza before."
Tony chuckled humorously. "I wonder how many times that oaf he calls his cousin took food from him."
Connor nodded along listen to Tony and Bruce rehash some of Harry's more troublesome behavior's they'd observed.

"It's expected that if what we believe is true, that he is suffering from malnutrition but there is no telling how long this has been going on nor if they did anything else to him. But until I give him a full look over, I won't know for sure. My suggestion would be to bring him by in a couple of days once he's had a bit of time to get settled I can look at him properly. The only reason why I wanted to see you today was to talk to you and ask how last night and this morning went. How did he act when you introduced yourself?"
"He was surprised, but I thought he took it about as well as I did. Actually took him out to grab a bite to eat and then went to get him some basic necessities. Those people who call themselves his relatives didn't even have the decency about them to provide him with a proper coat. Now with the million I just gave them, they should have enough money to buy ten thousand coats. We happen to run into the Dursley's at the restaurant I took Harry too. He was surprised to see them and that uncle was prepared to say some pretty nasty things but I got it sorted out before things got too much out of hand. I don't know about you Bruce, but I think I will be in the mood to pay them a visit here in the upcoming weeks, just after everything with Harry and the upcoming holidays settle down." Tony mused more to himself than to the other occupance in the room.

"Good, good. Although I shouldn't be condoning any of this, that boy, from what I've seen so far, has suffered plenty in their hands. Could you at least make sure that they serve some years? I'd ask for more, but it really would go against my oath."

Tony chuckled at Connor's admittance, the Dursley's wouldn't know what hit them when the Iron Man came knocking on their front door.

"Sure thing, doc. There's a few things I want to tell them myself but I don't think words will serve justice."

There was a slight pause in the conversation before Connor spoke up again.
"Well, bring Harry down sometime, any time works for me. And we'll see what needs to be done. If you'll excuse me now, I've got things to do."

With that Connor picked up the phone and proceed dialing a number.

Getting up and walking out at the dismissal, Tony couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed with the meeting, here he had thought he might actually get some information on the Dursley's but all Connor wanted was to talk about how Harry had fared in the past few hours, most of them he'd probably been asleep for.

There was always tomorrow, but he wanted answers today. It was clear that Harry was unwilling to talk about the Dursley's so he couldn't get answers from him, so he would have to wait. Although it would be begrudgingly. He didn't like waiting.

Perhaps if he called Coulson then something could be arranged sooner. As much as he hated to get S.H.I.E.L.D. involved in such a personal affair, if anyone could cover up the tracks of someone it would be Coulson. And the Dursley's needed to go.

Perhaps when he managed to convince Coulson to see it his way, he would send someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. to watch the Dursley's while they were in Hawaii. Just to, you know, get a better feel for them.

After calling Coulson and giving just enough information to pique the man's interest but leaving him hanging and in want of more, Tony set about finding his son. If Coulson or Fury so much as thought that Tony or the rest of his team might so much as think of causing trouble, they would be there. And right now, Coulson thought that Tony was considering breaking a host of international laws for reasons largely unexplained.

Wondering the halls of his building rather aimlessly, lost in thought. He was a father. He had never honestly considered the possibility of being a father, yet he had been one for the past twelve years. What's more, was that he was the father of a child who everyone suspected to be a victim of abuse.

Kids Harry's age were usually trying to get into mischief with their friends or fake a reason to get out of doing something not treating everything with caution and suspicion.

When he did eventually manage to find Pepper and Harry. Harry looked more than a little overwhelmed at the sudden amount of information that had been dumped on him.

But Tony wasn't too concerned a lot of people looked the same way during their first few days in the Tower. Tony felt like Harry needed to know what it was his old man did for a living. Stark Tower, and its enterprises was just one of the things Tony meddled in and the rest could come later.

Iron Man would come a bit later, unless New York City needed saving now. Harry had been informed about the Avengers, but according to Bruce, he wasn't well informed on them. Tony had thought everyone had heard of them by now. But maybe they weren't as well known over their in Great Britain as they were here.

"So whatcha think? Like it?"

"It's, it's a lot to take in. I don't think I even understood half of it." Harry said with a small frown and a shake of his head. It was an awful lot, and considering that electronics did not always fare well around magic Harry wasn't sure he'd ever be able to understand due to his limitations.

"You will. I'll teach you, myself!" Tony looked excited at the idea of teaching Harry about electronics.

"Okay, I guess." Came the half-hearted response that was significantly less enthusiastic as they walked into the common area.

Harry felt like that would be the room where he would be spending much of his Christmas break at. It seemed to be the place he always ended up coming back to.

Harry glanced around noticing that everyone seemed to still be there from before, before anyone could comment or ask Harry any questions an owl came swooping into the room and landed gracefully on his shoulder.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed. He had almost forgotten all about her in the morning's excitement. He had asked JARVIS to open a window when he had gotten up, having been too exhausted last night from all the traveling and the news of having a father to think to do so last night. So he had asked JARVIS to open a window, when he couldn't figure out how to do it so that she could attempt to hunt in this concrete jungle and had left it open for her to fly in when she had finished. Harry had worried about whether or not she would find anything to hunt but if not, at least she was able to stretch her wings and he would feed her later this evening.

"Heya girl. Did you find anything to eat?" Harry asked softly while stroking her as she nibbled affectionately at his fingers.

The owl blinked at Harry before vigorously shaking her head as if she actually was responding to the question. Harry smiled faintly, it would be harder for her to hunt here in New York City but it would only be a couple of weeks. She would just have to make do with the sparse hunts that would actually yield catching a rat, but Harry felt that it could not be as bad as what they had to work with at the Dursley's where she had to survive off of soup.

"Is that an owl? How did that thing get in here? Harry?" Tony asked while eying the owl. When Harry didn't reply too focused on Hedwig, Tony tried again, "JARVIS?"

"The owl arrived at the same time young sir did yesterday. The owl left to hunt this morning and returned less than an hour ago."
"Where did you get an owl?" Tony asked still in a semi-state of disbelief.

"She was a birthday present. A friend bought her. Said he wanted to buy me something nice since Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hadn't." Harry said rather guard although Tony found his son's expression unreadable.

"You can buy an owl? Where? On second thought, don't tell us or Legolas, over there, will be trying to find a way to get his hands on one. But seriously, do you keep her like a pet? I know nothing on owls! How did you train her? Or did she come already trained? What kind of owl is she?"
"I do but mostly I kind of let her do what she wants but she mainly just hangs around wherever I am at, or if I am at school she comes and goes as she pleases. My friend found her at a petshop when he took me into town to go school shopping so I assumed they trained her or she was born in captivity. She's a Snowy Owl so she likes the cooler weather." Harry said about the same time as the man his dad must have been referring to as "Legolas" exclaimed "Hey!" loudly.

"An owl. Of all the exotic pets out there, my son goes for the obvious choice and buys an owl." Tony said again as if he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact.

"Is she friendly?" asked "Legolas" who had been looking intently at the owl asked as he reached out as if to stroke her. Harry was certain that Legolas wasn't his real name.

Harry nodded while trying to convince everyone in the room why Hedwig should stay. "I think so. She has never been any trouble, other than whatever my Aunt and Uncle say but that's only because she sometimes liked to bring back part of her hunt as a gift for me. But anyway she can keep so quiet that you won't even realize that she's even here! She used to being quiet for hours, even when she was locked in her cage for days on end 'cause Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't want her flying around and attracting attention. Sometimes I would have to share my food with her because I couldn't let her out to hunt but I brought enough of her food with me so she should be good until I go back to school, even if she can't go hunting."

"Whoa there kid. I think if you want to keep the owl, Tony will let you, no matter how noisy she might be or what trouble she causes." The man who was trying to pet Hedwig said somewhat alarmed at the information Harry had just shared. Harry watched Hedwig who looked at the approaching hand almost as if she was debating if she should snap at or not. Glancing up once he was sure Hedwig would be on her best behavior, Harry noticed the looks being passed between Bruce and Tony but before he could read into it, Tony exclaiming loudly.

"Of course he can keep the owl!" Tony said in an affronted manner at the idea of not letting Harry keep something he cared for so dearly. Or possibly because the Dursley's had also managed to mistreat an animal that his son so clearly loved. Either way, Harry felt that it was safe to say that Hedwig would be spending her next two weeks here in New York alongside him.

"You said her name was Hedwig? That's an interesting choice of a name, but the same can be said for keeping an owl as a pet." The guy commented idely, while stroking the Snowy Owl carefully remaining mindful of her beak.

"I came across the name in one of my school books." Harry shrugged off the comment about keeping an owl as an unusual pet. In his world, it was normal to keep owls, as they did serve their purpose.

"What school do you go to anyway? It must be pretty different from the ones here, if they allow their students to take pets such as owls with them. I'm Romanoff, but you can call me Natasha." The woman spoke to Harry for the first time but seemed to be sizing him up and reading him to gage his response.

"I go to a boarding school up in Scotland. It's the same one my parents, I mean my mum and adoptive dad, went to." Harry seemed to stumble over the adoptive part of the sentence before he could continue to talk about his school though, Tony cut in. Maybe it was for the best.

"Lily. Your mother was Lily and she married James Potter." Tony said, proud of himself for remembering both Lily and his son's stepfather's name.

"Yes." Harry confirmed slowly as if he was confused as to why Tony had just blurted out their names. "Did you know them? I mean of course you did, but I have never heard of you before yesterday...so I assume that..." Harry struggled to find the appropriate words. He wasn't too sure of anything right now other than he found himself really wanting to know more and understand the situation. He needed to understand why Tony hadn't gone a checked up on him. Why he had just left him at the Dursley's without so much as a call to check in. The excuse of his dad not knowing about him was becoming rather unsettling. How do you live ten, twelve years without knowing or even suspecting that you have a son?

Everyone in the room looked at Tony expectantly waiting to hear how he was going to answer the question without letting on that he had become a father after having a one-night stand with the boy's mother and how Harry had not been planned.

"I didn't know James and I hadn't known your mother for very long but, we met and got to know each other, uhh, well enough and then nine months later you came along." Tony said praying that the kid had finished asking questions. Tony had no idea how he would respond if Harry for specifics of how long he'd known his mother. Tony wouldn't have remembered that drunken night had he not had a son now to remind him of it and he had yet to ask JARVIS to pull up anything on Lily Potter so he had no idea what she looked like other than she must have had green eyes, because he sure didn't.

"So if you knew about me how come you never stopped by to check on me? Or after mum and dad were killed, why didn't you come and get me then? Why did I get sent to the Dursley's? I begged to Professor Dumbledore before summer term to let me stay at school during the summer. I didn't want to go back to the Dursley's. I didn't like it there."

"Uhh, I don't know kid. I actually just found out that you existed this morning- you were there. Why your mom didn't tell me about you I don't know. I guess, your stepfather didn't know? Your relatives said he and your mom were drunk and that he wrecked their car and died when you were fifteen months old. Said that was how you got that lighting bolt scar on your forehead. And had they had been cleaning out their attic last month and came across a diary Lily-" Tony said but instantly regretted it when he saw anger set in on his son's face and the boy clinch his fist as if to restrain himself.

Was Tony- his father- implying that James Potter, a man whole loved him like his own son and had made him heir of his estate in the span of less than fifteen-months, had been a random drunk? Who didn't know that Harry wasn't his son? His mum would have never done anything like that. He was sure. She would have told his father. Harry couldn't do anything about how his parents had died, but he was so sick of people treating his parents like they scums just because of his Aunt's jealous streak. That he could do something about. He could honor his parents (no matter what people said about James not being his dad) memory by setting the record straight.

"That's a lie! My father wasn't like that! He loved my mum and me more than anything! He loved her long before she loved him but she would never keep anything like this from him. They loved each other! Everyone who knew them says so. They told me stories about them. And I know that dad would have never done something so stupid as drink and drive! He died trying to protect mum and me! I was there, I remember To- I saw him kill my mum in front of me, after he killed my dad! And now he's apparently made it his life's mission to kill me! Even after my mum sacrificed herself so he couldn't! She didn't have to die, but she did because she loved me. And dad died trying to stop him because he loved us. I spent my whole life believing my dad was a drunk but he's not! He wasn't! He probably loved me more than you do! If you knew my mum so well, how come you never contacted each other after that night? How come she never told you you had a son?" Harry nearly exploded in a way that Tony or Bruce had not thought was possible for such a timid acting child.

Tony froze at his son's display of temper and at the accusations. Even Hedwig gave an irritated hoot as she flew from Harry's arm and onto the arm of the chair where Natasha was sitting.

"If you loved her that much why didn't you save me?" Harry whispered almost brokenly. Staring at Tony his eyes alight with tears but the anger was still very evident.

"Your fa- this James guy, was murdered? And your mother was- in front of you? And you remember?" Steve said. His face was hard and his eyes were cold. Harry seriously wanted to facepalm himself as he stared at Steve. Was that the only thing he got from his rant?

Pepper had actually come over and tried to hug Harry which he numbly allowed. Harry compared Pepper to Professor McGonagall with her no-nonsense attitude so for her to be hugging him now, she must have been upset with what Harry had just said.

"Geez, that's messed up, kid to live with the memory of your mother being murdered," Another voice bleeds into Steve's but it was Tony's voice Harry heard the loudest.

"What happened Harry?" Tony said in a deadly serious tone right as JARVIS interrupted. "Coulson is on his way up, sir."

"Thanks, JARVIS," Tony said while still staring at Harry.

"Who murdered Lily? Who is after you?" His father said again. He didn't remember the woman but they had had a son together and he was not okay with any of this.

"I-I don't know." Harry said softly refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Everyone knew he was lying, he had almost given a name earlier. He knew he just was afraid of something or something prevented him from telling them. But Tony wanted- no, he needed answers. Enough with the secrets. Tony had had enough of secrets he wanted the truth for once.

The elevator doors opened at that moment letting a man dressed in a dark suit stepped out and into the room.

His eyes roamed the room before landing on Harry. Giving what Harry thought was supposed to be a reassuring smile the man walked calmly over before stopping just short of him and Tony.

"Afternoon. I believe there was something you needed to tell me?"

"Harry this is Agent." Tony ignored the man in favor of introducing Harry to him.
"His name is Phil, Harry. Tony seems to think his first name is Agent and his last name is Coulson." Pepper said while looking at Tony who rolled his eyes. "I thought we had put this conversation behind us." She continued in a slightly exasperated manner.

"Why can't I call him Agent? That's what he is." Tony argued back childishly.
The man who Tony and Pepper were arguing about cleared his throat.

"You want to explain your call?"
"Not really, but I need your help. Or rather I need immunity from the law, which you and Fury can give me. Harry why don't you-"
"The boy can remain," Phil said firmly.

Harry suppressed a flinch at being referred as "boy" but perhaps he hadn't done as good of a job as he had thought because he felt Natasha's gaze on him and her eyes narrowed a little at him.

"But-" Tony started just as Pepper spoke over him, "Phil, I don't know if that's-".

But the man cut off their protest, "What you need to tell me will only take a minute. Now, what were you saying earlier about you going to break the law?" An eyebrow quirked here.

"Harry is my son who I just found out about this morning.-" Harry wondered if Tony got as tired of introducing Harry as Harry was of hearing it. "-is relatives live in England. I just need to be able to go over there and teach them what happens to child abusers without getting into legal trouble."
"They are on their way to Hawaii now Tony, just do whatever you want to do to them while they are here in the U.S. and leave Great Britain out of it," Pepper said.

"I know but I want them to get comfortable, and spend some of the money I gave them. They are, by definition, a millionaire now. Let them spend the money. If I do something about it now, then what's the use of me "reimbursing" them? I got what I want." Here he pulled Harry closer as if to emphasize his point. "Besides, if I go after them now then the press will likely get involved. They were right when they said that I don't want to make a big deal about having a son. I want us to get adjusted to living with each other before letting the world know and Harry doesn't need the Media hounding him. Plus when the Media finds out, whatever narcissistic killer killed Lily and James might come searching for him."

Harry didn't mention that the guy was already after him and the likelihood of the Death Eaters watching something as muggle as a TV was about as likely as Neville landing a position on the Gryffindor's Quidditch team.

"I'm sorry?" Phil questioned with an air of polite disinterest, although Harry suspects the man was anything but.

Harry glanced up at him trying to figure out why this man, agent, Phil, person was willing to become invested in something that he had no knowledge of. Harry sensed that the man was sort of like Dumbledore in the fact that he had more power than he let on but Harry had no way of knowing if this was true. But no matter what sort of power Phil had in the muggle world, it wouldn't carry over into the magical society, at least not that of Great Britain's, even if the man was a squib.

In truth the man looked like someone who might have worked in Tony's accounting department, but Tony had called him Agent. So he had to have some sort of, probably mundane, government position. Then again did anyone expect a warlock as powerful as Dumbledore who had been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class to remain content as a headmaster? Sometimes, Harry had come to realise, that the most powerful of people liked to take on the most unassuming of roles.

Even so, this man was a muggle and it wasn't like Harry could freely talk about his world as he was sure there was some international law about exposing his kind to muggles. If this is what his holidays were going to consist of Harry wasn't sure he would survive the two weeks without either exposing his kind or attracting trouble. But it was almost unfair to say the latter, as he did have a knack of attracting trouble, even when he didn't go looking for it, it somehow managed to always find him. So in a sense, Harry was almost sure something was going to happen in these upcoming weeks.

"Someone murdered his mother and stepfather in front of him when he was fifteen months old but was interrupted by something before he could kill Harry and has evidently been trying to finish the job even since," Tony said while fiddling with some bracelets he had snapped on either wrist. Harry hadn't seen where they had come from, but he had never seen them before.

Phil looked at Harry to see how he was taking all this but the boy remained almost stoic throughout the whole explanation.

"Tony. That's enough." Pepper said while reaching out, Harry assumed, for the bracelets.

With a great show of reluctance, Tony gave them to her. "Let's deal with the Dursley's first and then you can deal with the other things."
"But Harry-"
"Dursley's first, Tony."

"Capcicle, we need a plan of action. And Bruce I'm going to be digging it when the green guy comes out. I think the color will compliment the purple on that older male Dursley's face perfectly. He looks like a grape being squeezed in your fist. He likes to intimidate people so let's see what happens when the tables have turned." Tony said. "See Pepper, I am dealing with the Dursley's."

"Perhaps you could inform me of the Dursley's transgressions before releasing the Hulk on them and how you have come about having a son. Forgive me if I don't congratulate you on being a new father and all." The man's smile got a little bigger and his tone slightly more sarcastic.

"Do I need to really explain how I came about having a son or can you use your imagination? Assuming you know what that is and how it works."

"I think I have an idea, Mr. Stark," Coulson said drily.

"Good. Because that's not a conversation I want to have in front of my twelve-year-old son. As for the kid's relatives, well they're just all around horrible people and they deserve to be knocked down a peg or two."

"And who was Harry's mother?"

"Lily Potter, well, I remember an Evans, Lily Evans, but she married a Potter. We met up for- during one of my trips to London and had a connection." Tony was really going to have to watch it or he would slip up and tell Harry that he had basically just been sleeping around with his son's mom and had no intention of doing anything else.

"I am sure," Phil said in a tone that told Tony that he knew exactly under what circumstances he had met Lily.

"Right," Pepper said while throwing Tony a hard look. "No matter what happened between Tony and Mrs. Potter, I doubt Mrs. Potter is to be blamed. Tony can be quite… insistent, particularly in certain instances. What I do not understand, and maybe you could enlighten us Tony, is why the Dursley's gained guardianship over Harry once Mr. and Mrs. Potter passed away? Surely her Will would have mentioned you or someone more suited to take care of Harry as Mrs. Dursley hinted that her relationship with Harry's mother had always been a bit strained last night."

Tony was aware of everyone looking at him with the exception of Harry who seemed more interested in petting his owl than following the conversation, but Tony wasn't dumb enough to think Harry wasn't listening in thought about his response for a second.

"Horseface said that she and her husband were stuck with him after his godparents were deemed unfit to raise him immediately following their murder. She did not go into detail but the way she worded it, it sounded as if they had been forced to take Harry in. It is clear that they never wanted him or cared for him in the way they should. Harry said that he sometimes had to share his own food with his pet owl."

Harry noticed the man's smile had thinned a bit and his eyes were slightly harder as he looked at Harry.

"I will inform Fury of this development. Until then, do not do anything, or I will be holding you personally responsible Stark."

ⅤΛⅤΛⅤ

By God what had happened in the course of a few hours? That was the golden question that no one knew. Not even the ever insightful Albus Dumbledore, the same one that the Minister wrote to on a daily basis asking for advice, knew the whereabouts of Harry-bloody-Potter. The wards that were supposed to protect Harry-bloody-Potter had fallen and no one knew why.

So the Potter-and-Weasley-free holiday he'd been so looking for had abruptly became consumed with trying to track the boy down. The promise he'd whispered upon finding out that his old master was targeting his only love was how Dumbledore had managed to convince him to check on the boy. He did not need Dumbledore to remind him of that promise. While it was one he intended to keep he felt he had done his duty last term with Quirrell. Dumbledore, had, naturally, disagreed.

So here he was, appearing to Surrey in hopes to find the boy getting into whatever mischief he was sure to be getting into, give him a stern dressing down and get on with enjoying the rest of his Holidays without the Gryffindor nuisances that plagued him.

Of course, the Potter boy wasn't home when he arrived but it appeared neither was 'Tuney or her family.

Although he wasn't in the mood to go on a goose chase trying to find the Potter spawn, he figured Albus would just send him after the brat anyway and the sooner the boy was found the sooner he could return to his Holiday-making (not that he was keen on spending the Season at Hogwarts for yet another year).

After receiving no response after the nth knock, he was about to leave when he saw an elderly figure hurrying towards him.

"If you're here for Petunia she's not here. They left yesterday for Hawaii. Won't be back till after the beginning of the New Year according to Petunia."

"Speaking plainly woman! Have you or have you not seen Harry Potter?"

"What do you mean? Harry was supposed to come home?"

"He arrived at King's Cross yesterday, otherwise we would have been notified immediately."

"I didn't know he was coming home for the Holidays."

"So you haven't seen him." Snape grounded out. Merlin! he had better luck getting things out of first years than the squip in front of him.
"No. I told you." Arabella Figg said. "I talked to Petunia just… the day before yesterday, was it? And she said that they were all going to Hawaii. Something about wanting to go somewhere tropical and where the sun was shining for once."

"And she never mentioned anything about her nephew?"
"Not, that I can recall. Course, my memory isn't all what it use to be, but...no I am positive she just said that the three of them were going to Hawaii. No mention of Harry."

"Of course. Does she ever mention the boy?" Snape asked rhetorically. If his memory served him right, which it would considering he was still in his prime the woman wouldn't think twice about her nephew. She had hated Lily for what she was and would hate her son for being a wizard too.

"No. She never says anything about him if she can help it. She usually only complains about how lazy he is," Arabella remarked anyway.

"Why am I not surprised?" Snape said with a curl of his lip. "The boy's just as lazy here as he is at school."

"You cannot mean that!" The squib exclaimed a bit too loudly before looking anxiously around to see who might be watching them. "Why don't we take this back to my house. Can't do anything around here without the neighbor's gossiping and I'd prefer not to be the talk of the street just because I was talking to some stranger out in Petunia's front yard."
"So they are in Hawaii, are they? Never thought that I would be so fortunate to get away from his annoying friends for the break and now the Potter brat has gone on holiday. This has to be too good to be true." Severus mumbled to himself.

"Harry has to be one of the hardest working boys I have ever seen." Arabella continued as they quickly walked the short distance from the Dursley's house to her's ignoring Severus' grumble.

Snape gave a disbelieving grunt.

"He's always doing something for the Dursley's but mostly just keeps to himself, you know? He doesn't talk much, and when he does it's never about anything in particular. Doesn't appear to have any friends either, poor boy, probably because he's away at Hogwarts all year, but that cousin of his… I will tell you something Severus Snape: I don't know what you have against that boy, but I assure you the only lazy one of the two, would be Dudley. That boy can't find the energy within him to even walk to the kitchen to grab a snack. His parents ended up putting his telly in the kitchen so that they wouldn't have to listen to him complain about starving to death just because he's gone without food for longer than five hours."

Severus sneered at the thought of such an atrocious child. Petunia sure knew how to raise them, didn't she?

"I do not care about the muggle child, I am here to figure out the whereabouts of Harry Potter. If they have gone to Hawaii then I must depart and return back to Hogwarts and inform Albus."
"Severus…" But it was already too late, the man had taken the floo back to Hogsmeade.

"Well. He never was the most patient one. I just hope for that poor boy's sake…"
Back at Hogsmeade, Snape was dusting himself off, as there really was no clean way to use the Floo no matter how careful you went about using them.

Trudging through the streets and the snow he made it back to Hogwarts grounds and quickly made it into the castle and headed directly to the Headmaster's office.

"Liquorice Wands" The Gargoyle immediately sprung off to the side allowing him through.

Walking up the spiral staircase he quickly made his way to the office and found Albus gently stroking his Phoenix.

"Ah, Severus, lemon drop?"
"No, thank you, Headmaster." He said stiffly what was it about those muggle candies that enthralled the old coot so much? The man's golden boy was currently somewhere in Hawaii which was out of the Ministry's jurisdiction and the man was offering him a lemon drop.
"I trust you found Harry safe and well?"

"I found nothing of the sort."
The grandfatherly man peered over his half mooned spectacles with a grave look of concern.

"What do you mean Severus? You did see Harry didn't you?"
"It would appear that Petunia decided a trip to Hawaii would be nice and it would be my guess that they decided to bring the b- Potter, along."
Dumbledore frowned at the unwelcomed news.

"I warned them about taking the boy out of the country. It simply isn't safe. I'll have to write to the American Ministry and see if it is somehow possible for them to keep an eye on the family."

"Surely the child wouldn't be in any harm there? The Americans do not have to fear You-Know-Who's return."
"Voldemort, Severus, fear of the name can only increase the fear of the thing itself."

Severus ground his teeth together, he hadn't come here to be preached to.

"Perhaps they do not, but we have no control over there. If something were to happen then we would be powerless to stop it. It's better if we alert them now so that we can have someone monitor the situation."

"If you think it would be best, then go ahead. Let me know if you require my assistance again, I will be down stairs brewing."

"Severus, sit down. I wasn't finished yet." There was a command laced into the request. Severus sat down.

"I would like for you to go and personally check on the boy. I would go myself, but I am needed here."
"Send McGonagall then, she's his Head of House." Severus dismissed.
"McGonagall is visiting her sister, who has recently caught ill." Albus reminded gently.

Severus glared at the floor like an upset child, clenching his teeth together again. He would be in need of a mouth guard if he didn't find Potter soon. Finally grounded out a short. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Excellent my boy! I will arrange for a Portkey just as soon as I get finished contacting the American Ministry."

ⅤΛⅤΛⅤ