Chapter 4: SHIELD and Paternity Claims
The next morning, Harlow woke before the two men and decided to go for a walk to clear his head. He was uncertain of his "father's" reaction to him and wanted to meet him without all these thoughts cluttering his head.
As he walked, he found himself in a park. He looked at all the people running, having picnics, and spending time with their families.
He ended up walking along the path as he circled the giant park.
As he breathed in the fresh air, he felt himself relaxing. He closed him eyes and felt many of his worries dissipate. Harlow smiled and stopped walking abruptly.
Crash!
Harlow toppled to the ground, smacking his head on the hard concrete along the way. He groaned as his entire side was probably bruised from the fall. What a great way to start the day!
"I am so sorry. Here let me help you" A man reached a hand out to pull him up.
Harlow opened his eyes and turned towards the man. His glasses had fallen and broke during his fall so all he saw was a very blurry outline.
Harlow grasped his hand and let the man practically lift him off the ground.
"Are you alright? I didn't mean to crash into you."
"I'm fine." Harlow muttered while clutching his broken glasses.
The man looked over the young teen in front of him. The boy may not realize but he had blood slowly staining his shirt and the rest of his side had to be hurting pretty bad by now.
His eyes were also unfocused and the man really hoped he didn't have a concussion.
"I don't think you are. Here I will take you somewhere that can help you. One of my friends is a doctor and could fix you up right now"
"And why would I go off with a stranger I only just met?"
The man blushed, not that Harlow knew.
"Sorry. I'm Clint Barton."
"Harlow"
"No last name Harlow?"
"Not one I want to share."
"Alright then. Come on, I'll help you to my friend's place."
Clint hoisted the boy closer to him and slung an arm around his waist. Together they slowly walked from the park and to an imposing building.
As they walked inside, Harlow saw everyone was wearing a uniform of some kind. Bis brows furrowed in confusion. He had never seen any symbols like this before and SHIELD sounded very military-like.
They entered a room where Clint lowered the boy onto a table.
"I'll be right back. You stay here."
At that, Clint stalked away. Presumptively to find his doctor friends.
As he waited, Harlow looked around the barren room. It was remarkably similar to the infirmary at Hogwarts.
The walls were the same blinding white color, with little to no decorations around.
As he was looking as the surprisingly large ceiling grates, the door opened.
"Hello there. Clint tells me you took a fall"
Harlow scoffed. "More like he bulldozed me over in the park"
The doctor turned towards Clint disapprovingly.
"You knocked a child to the ground?" the doctor sighed.
"I was running and the boy just stopped in the middle of the walkway" Clint defended himself.
The doctor and Harlow rolled their eyes.
"Well, let's see here. Can you take off your shirt for me?" the doctor asked Harlow.
Wordlessly, Harlow drew his shirt over his head and crumpled it between his hands.
The doctor approached and examined his side.
Clint, at being ignored, pouted and left the room dramatically. He threw open the door and stalked down the hallway. Harlow rolled his eyes. Why were men always so dramatic?
"It looks like there is just some bruising and a gash on your side. These are easily fixed. You head, on the other hand, may be concussed."
He pulled out a pen light and began shining it in his eyes.
"We do need to run a few tests to be sure, but based on how hand you must have hit the ground, I'm almost certain that you have a concussion. Is there anyone we can call that will take care of you? Your guardians perhaps?"
At that Harlow paled. If he was on file with the government, then they could call Vernon and Dumbledore would be informed.
Harlow sucked in a breath.
"I'm here visiting with my uncles. I'm sure that they're worried about me by now."
"Alright, I'll give them and your guardians a call."
"No! My guardians don't believe in having phones, and my uncles don't either. I'll be fine. I'll just walk back to our hotel."
The doctor raised a brow in disbelief, but he could see the child was working himself up.
"Alright. If you give me the name of your hotel, I'll call and they'll get in contact with your guardians. I won't let you leave, however, until they are here and I can go over your limitations with them. Concussions can be dangerous and they need to know how to take care of you." The doctor said sternly.
Harlow nodded. This was much better than he thought and there was no mention whatsoever of his guardians.
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Meanwhile, Severus was panicking. His godson was missing!
After hours of watching Severus stalk across the room, wringing his hands, Lucius had enough.
"The boy is fine. He probably got bored in this tiny room and went to explore. You know how he is. He never thinks before acting but everything always turns out fine for the golden boy."
Severus stared at Lucius in shock. After last night, he thought Lucius was accepting Harlow.
He opened his mouth to deliver a cutting remark in defense of Harlow.
Buzz! Buzz!
Severus spun to locate the noise. There! He stalked towards the nightstand and plucked up the phone.
"Hello"
As the conversation progressed, Severus's glower worsened. His foolish godson had already gotten hurt!
Severus placed the phone down.
"Harlow had been hurt."
Lucius got up to follow Severus out of the room.
"No. You stay here. You've made your opinions clear enough."
At that Severus left for SHIELD headquarters.
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After finding Harlow and hearing the doctor's unnecessary instructions, the two left. Neither saw Clint following them along the rooftops.
"Well, you already found yourself in trouble young man. But that is not surprising knowing you." Severus said with no heat.
Harlow blushed and looked down.
"I'm sorry but it wasn't my fault. Clint ran into me!"
"Ah. But it was you who decided to leave the hotel by yourself without telling us where you were going."
"And where is Lucius?" Harlow questioned.
"We had a disagreement. He will be staying in the hotel today."
Harlow was confused. They had only just arrived. What could have happened for them to be at odds already?
"Do you still want to meet Stark today?" Severus questioned.
At the abrupt change of topic, Harlow's head whipped up. He winced, that was a bad reaction to have with a concussion.
"I think I want to get my glasses fixed first. I can't see anything."
Severus turned abruptly. He hadn't noticed the lack of glasses. Harlow was practically blind without them.
After visiting an eye store. Harlow was the proud owner of new glasses and a box of contacts.
Now they were off to Stark tower, their shadow following in their wake.
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As they approached the imposing building, Harlow felt the nerves from this morning return. He knew that he couldn't control his father's reaction but he couldn't crush the hope that he would want him.
They approached the front desk. Not one for pleasantries, Severus quickly got to the point.
"We are here to see Tony Stark"
The receptionist looked up.
"Mr. Stark is a busy man. Do you have an appointment?"
"No. We are here in regards to his son, Harlow James Potter-Black-Stark"
The receptionist was startled. Many people came in here every day claiming to have Stark's mysterious child. They all wanted a piece of him so the staff was accustomed to paternity tests.
"Wait here, I'll find a suitable person to help you"
She quickly called Pepper Potts. She was the person that dealt with many of the claims.
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As Mr. Potts traveled in the elevator on her way to the lobby, she sighed. The day had been going great so far, but now there was yet another paternity claim coming her way.
When the doors opened, she put on her friendly but not too friendly face to greet the people who were wasting her time.
"Hello there, I'm Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries." She extended a hand.
Severus reached out to grasp her hand firmly.
"Severus Snape and this is my godson Harlow Potter-Black-Stark"
Harlow turned and smiled at Ms. Potts.
"Hello Ms. Potts. You can call me Harlow" he introduced himself.
Pepper looked at Harlow and gasped. He had many of the Stark features. It looked like this paternity claim might actually be true for once.
"Come with me. We receive a lot of paternity claims so we're always equipped to handle them."
Severus and Harlow glanced at each other. It didn't seem like Stark was very responsible.
They took the elevator to a small lab a few floors above. Ms. Potts sent Severus and Harlow to wait in the lab while she fetched a doctor to run the tests.
Although she had witnessed many done, she was still not comfortable running the test herself.
When she came back with a doctor in tow, Harlow was sitting on one of the tables while Severus had wheeled a chair in front of him.
Harlow had gotten a headache from the bright lights and was currently burrowing his head into Severus's dark clothing.
"Alright, the doctor will take some of your DNA to compare to Mr. Stark's and we will see if you are his son." Ms. Potts stated.
The doctor approached Harlow, who had lifted his head after hearing a voice. He swabbed the inside of his mouth and retreated to the many machines in the room.
The three were left to awkwardly try and fill the silence as they waited for the tests to be complete.
Pepper spied the bandages peeking out from the top of Harlow's shirt.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Harlow was confused. But then he saw her pointed glance at his injured side.
"Oh, yes. I was walking this morning in the park when a man ran into me and I fell. But I'm fine. A doctor fixed me up earlier." Harlow answered.
Pepper nodded. At that, the three sat in silence again.
Several minutes later the doctor returned.
"Stark is the boy's father" he stated and turned to leave.
Pepper turned towards Harlow and Severus.
"Well, it seems you were right. I would have you meet Tony but he's in another of his work phases. He delas with very dangerous machinery and should not be disturbed until he leaves him lab."
Severus sneered. Stark's son was here and wanting to meet him for the first time, but he was too busy to see him.
Harlow deflated. Already this meeting with his father was not going at all how he pictured it. First, they didn't believe that he really was Tony Stark's son and now he didn't even want to meet him.
They turned to leave.
"Whenever Stark decides to crawl out of his lab and meet his son, contact me." Severus sneered.
Pepper nodded and the two left to return to their hotel. It seems meeting Stark would have to wait.
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A few days later, Severus finally got the call he had been waiting for.
Stark was ready to meet his son.
Severus had made up with Lucius the day prior and so all three of them would go to meet the famous Tony Stark.
Lucius had apologized for his words the day Harlow got hurt and spent much of his time helping Severus look after Harlow. They took turns waking him every couple hours the night he returned and Lucius even attempted to cook. Not that it ended well of course.
But his efforts were not in vain, and Severus ended up tentatively forgiving him.
So, now they were going to see Stark.
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They entered Stark Tower and were ushered into a small conference room to wait. Several minutes later, Pepper Potts entered looking apologetic.
"Mr. Stark is running a tad late and will be here soon." She said.
So, they settled in to wait.
After a few minutes, Pepper sighed and excused herself to try and find Stark. Half an hour later, she still hadn't returned and the wizards were getting impatient. How hard was it to show up to a meeting that you set up?
After an hour, Severus stood.
"Come Harlow, we will come back another day." He extended his hand to pull Harlow up.
Harlow was disappointed. His father didn't even have the time to meet him.
He stood and took Severus's hand. Severus pulled him towards the door as Lucius pulled it open.
The three wizards left the conference room and began walking down the hallway towards the elevator.
All of a sudden, a man appeared from one of the many doors along the hallway and stumbled into Severus.
Severus sneered. Some people had no decorum.
"Watch where you're going" the man snarked.
Severus glared. The muggle had the audacity to run into him and then blame him for the incident. That would not do at all.
"Ah, I see you found them. Hello, this is Tony Stark. Tony this is Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, and your son." Pepper exclaimed.
Tony looked them over. He had been told that his son would be coming to visit today. Despite the paternity claims, Stark wanted nothing to do with a child.
"Hadley, was it? Well, I would say it was nice to meet you but I won't bother lying to you. I didn't want anything to do with you when you were born and I certainly don't now." He turned towards the men. "So, what do you want from me? Child support?"
Harlow reeled back. His father wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn't even bother to remember his name.
Severus stepped towards Stark, his famous sneer in place.
"I see our time was wasted here. But what can you expect from scum?"
At that, he turned towards Harlow and tucked him under an arm.
"You don't know what you just gave up Stark" Lucius said as they turned to leave.
Stark scoffed. Oh, he knew what he gave up. He gave up having to raise a brat. To him that was the obvious choice to make.
As they walked away, Harlow felt his darker side rise to the surface. Tony Stark would pay.