Hiya :D

Someone pointed out to me the difference between life and live. Thanks! While I do now this (somewhere in the back of my mind) I tend to mix them up, while writing. Even though I proofread my texts I don't find all my mistakes (but rest assured that I do find a lot!) but I promise to pay special attention to this from now on. :)

And while I like all you reviews and am thankful for your continuating support I like to give special thanks to KK. Your review was just ... wow! You really don't sugarcoat anything, do you? But I really like it because it was the cold hard truth. But your review was more than that, you called it like you saw it: the bad, the ugly, the flaws and mistakes but also some good and even though this is not the type of story you are currently looking for you managed to find encouraging words for me.

I admit that the diary issue was a bit thoughtless on my part. You are right I could have paid better attention to the details on it. I only saw it as a means to an end, I'm afraid. I apologize and try to keep this in mind for later chapters.

Anyway, on with the story!

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Chapter 6

After a good nights sleep Harry felt definitely more rested than he had in a while. Looking at his reflection in the mirror in the bathroom he noticed that the dark rings were very much still there but at least they weren't that prominent anymore.

Apprehensively but also a little excited Harry left the bathroom to find his father patiently waiting in ther personal living room.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?", Clint asked, an easy going smile on his lips.

"Yeah thanks." The slightly more healthier looking complexion of Harry told Clint that he was indeed telling the truth.

"Let's get breakfast then. Some of the others might be up already." It was still early morning after all. Tony would surely be still asleep, but Bruce, Natasha and Steve were early risers. Pepper most likely was already gone, having to manage a multibillion dollar firm.

They had a pleasant breakfast, after which Clint decided to brave the subject of giving Harry an exam.

"So Harry, Bruce and I thought that he should give you a medical check up. He is a certified doctor, you know."

"Why would I need to have a check up?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Well we didn't find any medical records of you and we just want to know that you're alright and up to date with your vaccines or if you have any allergies, stuff like that. It's no big deal." Clint said frowning. Why was Harry so adversed to this?

"I don't have any allergies." Harry bit out. Inside he was freaking out. How was he to explain all the scars he had accumulated during his Hogwarts years. He could tell, that Clint wasn't one to take these events lightly. What if he pulled him out of Hogwarts?

"We just want to be sure. And what about your vaccines? Look Bruce will be gentle and it wont hurt."

Seeing no way out of it without flat out refusing which would lead to even more questions, Harry acquiesced.

Looking apprehensively around the lab, Bruce had led him to, he was amazed at all the technology. He couldn't even begin to guess what all the machines were supposed to do.

"Ok Harry, I will draw a little bit of blood. It's needed to tell if your behind on any of your vaccines and if you are in need of any vitamins and so on." Bruce explained what he was doing to Harry.

"And of course to determine if I am indeed Clints son." Harry observed drily.

Sputtering for a moment Bruce confirmed after a few seconds of stammering, not wanting to lie to the teenager they were trying to get to trust them.

"That's ok. I kinda want to know for sure, too."

After that there were many tests, including x-ray, testing Harrys eyesight, reflexes, hearing, heartrate and stamina under pressure and many many more.

"Harry I noticed a few scars. Care to tell me how you got them?"

"Do I have to?", Harry asked sullenly. This was what he was afraid of.

"Well you don't have to give me all the details, but I need to know what caused them. Especially the one on your inner elbow. It looks quite deep and recent, too."

A shrug of one shoulder was the only answer he got.

"Harry ... Did you cut yourself?" Bruce asked, afraid of the answer. If the boy did indeed cut himself, then there was a chance that he was suicidal and would try again. If he didn't that meant that someone else did this to him, which screamed abuse to him. There was no chance that he got this kind of wound on an accident.

"Gods, NO!" Harry exclaimed shocked. "I don't try to end myself, infact all I ever did was trying to stay alive." Realizing he had said to much, Harry quickly closed his mouth looking away.

"Ok I believe you. But then who did this to you? Was it your relatives?"

„No, they didn't do this. They may not have liked me all that much, but they never cut me." Realizing the peculiar way Harry worded his answer, Bruce assumed that while they may never have cut him that didn't mean they haven't hurt the teen.

"Look I don't wanna talk about it" Harry crossed his arms.

"Harry if someone hurt you we need to know, so he or she can face the consequences." A bitter laugh escaped Harry.

"I doubt Voldemort would be very impressed of these 'consequences'"

"Wait wait, Voldemort? Didn't he die about the same time your parents died?" At this Harry refused to answer any and all questions. Bruce was far to adept at provoking him to rash answers.

"Ok well, you can go up now. Lunch should be ready soon and after that your father wanted to take you shopping for your new room." Bruce told Harry, giving up on questioning him for now. He didn't want to interrogate him after all.

Tony joined Bruce in the lab a little time after Harry had left and found him brooding over the blood results.

"What's the matter? You know frowning leads to creases." Tony teased Bruce. "Don't tell me Harry isn't Clints son?" That would crush them both. And himself if he was to be honest. He liked Harry already.

"Oh no, he is Clints son alright, but what puzzles me is that he is James' son as well, and Lilys." He had run the test at least a dozen times but he couldn't for the life of him come up with a likely theory as to how this was possible.

"He has three biological parents? Are you sure?" Tony asked even while taking another vial of Harrys blood and running the test again - with the same results.

"Have the vials been tempered with?" he asked.

„No absolutely not, the were still wrapped in steril packaging when I opened them. I didn't compare Harrys DNA directly to Clints but had Jarvis compare them to the database. Imagine my surprise of finding three results instead of one. They all have the same percentage of probable first grade relationship. SHIELD kept blood samples of Lily and James all these years."

"Well that would explain why he looks so much like James Potter" Tony mused, stroking his goatee absently. "Well what do we really know about magic? Maybe this was some kind of magical ritual?"

At a loss, they decided to ask Clint later, if he ever heard of a ritual that could cause these strange results.

Meanwhile Clint took his son shopping, Natasha tagging along because she claimed they needed some womanly advice.

At first Harry was rather reluctant to choose anything for himself, telling them that they had given him so much already and that he could never repay them.

Clint stopped his son and said "You don't have to repay us, I am your father I am supposed to care for you and cover all expanses. Furthermore I have nearly 15 years to make up for, don't I?"

In lack of an appropiate argument against the reasoning of his father, Harry finally managed to choose a bookshelf, a comfortable two-seater couch in dark brown leather with a matching side table, a desk and a chair. Clint insisted on a sound system and a small TV, but not allowing a Laptop or a phone, declaring that Harry would get those from Tony and that Tony would be most insulted if they were to buy 'low class technology'.

Natasha dragged them into several other stores so Harry could pick up some things to fill his new shelves, like books and DVDs and whatever else he liked.

After that they decided Harry needed a new wardrobe. No son of Clint would wear rags, not now that he received a great salary, in past times from SHIELD, now from Tony. He sure remembered his own childhood wearing hand me down clothings at the circus. But at least his clothes had fit him at least somewhat.

Tired from the long afternoon of power shopping they headed back to the tower. Their purchased items would be delivered tomorrow, save the clothing and some of the books Harry wanted to read in the evening. He was thanking Clint and Natasha over and over again.

"You're welcome Harry. I want you to be happy!" And Harry realized that he was indeed happy. He never before shopped to his hearts content. He always bought just what was necessary for the coming school year and nothing more. But now he could choose something for his own leisure. He had purchased his first fictional books. The weren't relevant for classes and while he wasn't a bookworm like Hermione he was looking forward to reading them.

Grinning up at his father he assured him, that he had had a great afternoon.

Dinner was a quiet affair with Thor being at Janes, Steve off to look for Bucky and Tony and Pepper probably out on a date. So that left Bruce, Clint, Natasha and Harry. There was some conversation going on but mostly it was quiet, everyone lost in their thoughts.

After dinner Harry excused himself to start on one of his new books. Quickly coming engrossed in the story of a teenage spy, named Alex Rider.

"Clint do you know of a ritual or any other magical means that can alter a persons DNA?" Bruce asked Clint once they cleared the table and were sitting comfortably on the couches.

"Why would you ask that? Are there any problems with the paternity test?" Was Harry not his son? But how could this be true? He already loved him like a son, and he saw himself in him. He had to be his son.

"Well, I ran it against the old SHIELD databases to find a match. It did match you and Lily to him, but also James Potter. According to the test you three are Harrys parents, and there is no explanation for it, other than it being magic." Bruce said.

"Oh ..." Stunned for a moment, Clint was relieved. So Harry was his son after all. "I don't know how it's done or if it even affects ones DNA but Lily mentioned a blood adoption once. A child would inherit some of the magic of the adopting parent and sometimes even looks." Clint tried to remember more about what Lily had told him about it, but it was simply too long ago.

"Do we have any way of finding out?" Natasha piped in.

"Not unless we ask a wizard, or some of James old friends but they were gone just as Lily was. I tried finding anyone who could tell me Lilys whereabouts but I found noone. They all vanished with her. So our only option would be to ask Harry."

"Yeah well we have a lot to ask him. The physical showed some serious scars on his body and after asking him about it he let slip, that Voldemort had caused them. After that he closed off completely. And I am not sure that the Dursleys didn't mistreat him. At the very least he was neglected. He lacks several vitamins and is malnourished. With the right diet we should be able to get him back on track however. I will oversee that. And it seems he never received any vaccines at all. I have already begun to rectify that. Furthermore his glasses aren't right for him. I am hoping to be able to repair his eyes with a laser, so he won't need glasses at all. It's highly probable that his eyesight is so poor because he was starved from a young age." Bruce informed them of the results.

There was fire in Clints eyes at hearing about the possible abuse. Clenching his hands into fists he tried to stay calm and not go straight to the Dursleys to rip them apart with his bare hands. No they would suffer, long and slow. They would get what they deserved and he would drag it out and enjoy it. Nobody mistreated his son and got away with it.

And regarding the disturbing news about Voldemort apparently causing pain and fear again, well he had fought against this madman and his followers once before, he could do so again, especially if it meant protecting his only son. And by god, did it have a nice ring to it. His son. Now he knew it without a doubt. So James was his father too, but it didn't bother Clint too much, having been close friends with the man. He was grateful to James for trying to protect his precious Lily and their son, even if it was in vain in the end. At least for Lily. But Clint would be forever grateful to James, that he still had the chance to get to know his son.

Clint was resolved in finding out what happened to James and Lily and what his son had to endure. But it could wait till tomorrow. They all had had a long day.

...

I hoped you enjoyed it, till next time!