This chapter was planned out in my head from the moment I decided to write this story. I hope it lives up to the expectations because I loved writing it!
"Did he just call you Jesus?!" Tony exclaimed, then swung around to face Harry. "Why did he call you Jesus? How the hell does Fury know a single thing about you?"
Tony must have heard Fury wrong; no other explanation made sense. Otherwise, he'd have to admit how a reference to Jesus led nowhere good. Suddenly, images of cult members bowing to his kid, or worse Harry being sacrificed, forced their way into his head. Had someone tried to sacrifice the son he'd only recently discovered? Were there people out there looking for him, itching to finish the job? Over Tony's dead body.
"Really, Stark? That's the part you focused on?" Fury taunted him. "Jesus?"
"Stop calling me that!" Harry spat, running his hands nervously through his mop of dark hair. "I am not Jesus!"
Fury let out a sarcastic laugh, and Tony wished he had his gauntlet to blast the asshole out of his kitchen. How dare the man burst into his home and put his kid through whatever mental breakdown Harry looked to be having over this information. Despite how badly Tony wanted to hear it, knowing deep in his gut that it was the last piece of the Harry Evans-Potter puzzle, it killed him to see Harry in such emotional pain.
"The Savior of your people who came back to life?" Fury took two lumbering steps toward Harry. "Sounds a lot like Jesus to me."
"I knew it was a cult," Tony muttered as his mind raced at a million miles per hour. Getting away from a cult was difficult, and if they — whomever they were — looked at the fourteen-year-old as their Savior, it'd be damn near impossible to stop them. But Tony had nearly infinite resources at his disposal and he damn well planned to use anything necessary to keep his son out of their reach.
"I didn't come back to life!" Harry yelled back, his voice now the loudest Tony had ever heard it before it fell again. "I just didn't die… there's a difference."
If Tony were wearing the treadmill monitors, he was certain they'd show his heart skipping several beats while he struggled to rationalize Harry's words… on top of the fact that he'd said them to Fury, of all people. For two damn weeks, Tony had been working to get the kid to open up to him, then Fury strolled right in, knew exactly which buttons to push, and poof… less than two minutes later he learned his kid either pulled a resurrection — implying he died at some point in this story — or had been in a position to almost die. Neither option was good and neither of which Tony knew anything about.
"What about being used to resurrect the dark wizard who plans to eliminate all no-majs?"
"T-that part is true," Harry replied so quietly, Tony wasn't sure he'd said it out loud until Fury condescendingly nodded, the silent 'I told you so' expression meant for Tony. "It wasn't my fault, though! I t-tried to get away. I swear!"
Head spinning, and torn between grilling the super-spy who barged into their home with a clear agenda that should have gone through Tony first, demanding Harry tell him what the fuck was going on, or just leaving for his lab to help calm the tightening in his chest, Tony paced. Pacing wouldn't help his chest at all, but it'd help his brain process the information that had, almost literally, been thrown at it. To their credit, no one bothered him as he sorted through what he'd heard: wizard, Jesus, gnome-maj… whatever the hell that meant.
At last, he paused and looked around the room, his expression changing from scowl to soft as soon as he laid eyes on Harry. With a paler complexion than usual, even for a Brit, two heavy dark circles under his eyes, and perspiration forming on his forehead, Harry looked far worse than Tony felt. Not wanting to be the one to send Harry over the edge, especially considering he seemed to be one bad move away from permanently disappearing from Tony's life, Tony pulled up a chair close enough to Harry's that their knees were touching, effectively blocking Harry's line of sight to Fury.
Clearing his throat to ensure he sounded more stable than he felt inside, Tony asked, "What is he talking about, Harry? No more lies or half-truths, ok? So don't say it's nothing because, for one, I have ears and heard a lot of new shit thrown around. For two, the very large man who broke into our house obviously knows whatever it is you're trying to hide, anyway. So if you think you're going to get out of this without him saying anything, you are absolutely wrong. And if you don't tell me, I guarantee you he will.
"But most importantly," Tony let out a shaky breath, proud of himself for keeping his composure so far, "it sounds like whatever you're hiding is as dangerous as it is important. Like I've said from day one, I want to help but I can't help you if I don't know what I'm up against… what you're up against. Because whatever it is… a cult, your relatives, those majie things, a wizard… I'll do whatever I need to do to keep you safe."
No one moved while they waited with bated breath for Harry to decide what he was going to do, and Tony continued to stare into those bright green eyes — Lily's eyes that he hated himself for forgetting throughout the years — practically willing the kid to say something. But Harry remained silent, unwilling, or unable if a cult was actually involved, to speak. A tapping behind him reminded them of Fury's presence. Tony tried not to let it affect him, he wanted to give Harry as much time as he needed, however at some point Fury would grow impatient and the last thing Tony wanted was to leave his son in the Director's grasp.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here… are you enhanced?" Tony offered in a low, calm voice. It was the only conclusion that made any semblance of sense. "That's the wizard part of the 'wizarding Jesus' comment, isn't it?"
"Enhanced?" Harry asked, his brows knitted together in confusion. "What exactly does that mean?"
"Someone with special abilities. Like Steve Rogers," Pepper said, from behind Tony. She had a deep sympathy laced in her voice, like she couldn't imagine a kid going through what Rogers or Banner did, and not for the first time Tony appreciated her help. If anyone could get the kid to talk, it'd be Pepper. "Did someone, or something, enhance you?" She softly asked. "It's alright if the answer is yes, we won't think any differently of you. We just need to know how to help you with it."
Harry shook his head, although to Tony he seemed to be trying to convince himself more than any of the adults watching his every move, or lack thereof. When he looked up again, Fury had approached them without Tony realizing it.
"No," Fury began, no longer waiting for Harry to spill the beans, "it's nothing like Rog–"
"Don't," Harry pleaded, bravely interrupting the man. "I-I'll tell you everything. Can you just give me a minute? I need to make a quick call to someone."
"Yes," Tony firmly answered for Fury. He refused to hold Harry hostage in his own home, which was exactly what it sounded like Fury wanted to do. Plus, he fully planned on tapping into the hallway speakers and having JARVIS listen in. So once he heard Harry's door close, Tony pulled out his phone and said, "JARVIS, amplify the hallway microphone to reach into Harry's room. Transcribe everything you can to my phone. If you can hear the other person on the line and Harry hasn't identified him or her, use Caller Two as the identifier."
At his command, his screen darkened, and lines of white text appeared across it. Harry hadn't made the call yet. Instead, he was debating with himself out loud on who to call, Snape — the professor Tony regrettably would never forget — or someone named Serious. Tony assumed the name had to either be a misunderstanding from JARVIS listening through the door, or an error caused by Harry's accent, because who in their right mind named their kid Serious; not that the name Severus Snape was any better. Whoever he was, Harry was clearly trying to justify calling the Serious guy because he thought Snape would 'skin him alive for calling'.
Who the fuck threatens to skin a student alive?
It took a few more pros and cons thrown around, and a long pause where Tony could almost see Harry holding his new cellphone in his hands while debating which numbers to push, before Harry decided that, verbatim, "Serious probably wouldn't be much help here."
As soon as the word "Snape" popped up on his screen, Tony settled into his chair, finally ready to get to the juicy stuff. Except nothing else followed. He waited a full minute, just in case Harry had mis-dialed, but still, nothing came up on his screen. A quick mental calculation confirmed that it was, in fact, evening in London, the place Harry likely called, and yet Harry neither left a message, called the Serious guy or anyone else, nor abandoned the idea altogether to return to the living room.
"Stark?" Fury warned. His heavy footsteps got louder as he came up to Tony from behind. "What's going on?"
Whipping around, Tony raised his hand at Fury, stopping him in track. "Let's be clear here. The only reason you're still here is because you intimidate Harry, and I'm using that to my advantage. The moment you cross a line, I will not hesitate to blast you out that door!"
The two men stared off at each other for a moment longer than Tony wanted to keep his attention off his phone and only when Tony felt comfortable he'd gotten his message through he mumbled to JARVIS, "Gimme something here, Jay. There's nothing on the transcript. Did he go to the bathroom or something?"
"Master Harry is talking to the professor." Definitely not what he expected to hear. Before he could ask the next obvious question, the AI added, "The transcription is failing."
"Connect the audio through my phone."
"An error of unknown origin occurred." JARVIS sounded as confused about the situation as Tony. "All outgoing functions around Master Harry's room have been disabled."
Fuck.
Without a word to Fury or Pepper, Tony darted down the hall. The click-clacking of Pepper's heels following him slowed before Tony reached Harry's bedroom and he heard her stern voice talking to Fury. Good. She could handle Fury's bullshit and keep him at bay while Tony figured out what was going on.
Of course, of all the things Tony had mentally prepared himself for, walking in on Harry talking to a small, square mirror he was holding tightly in his hands with the vampire's angry face reflected back, wouldn't have made the top thousand — and Tony flew a nuclear warhead through a wormhole into space a year ago. Instinctively, Tony slammed the door behind him, locked it, and leaned against it for extra security and support.
"That… is not… your cellphone," he stammered like an idiot. "What… uh… what is it? I mean. I can see it's a mirror but how is Dracula's ugly face talking to you through it?"
Harry's obvious panic at seeing Tony burst into his bedroom vanished with the insults hurled at the professor and replaced with a smile. Given their chaotic morning, Tony considered it a win, albeit a small one.
"It's… a long story." Harry exhaled in defeat. "Just… give me five minutes? I promise I'll meet you in the living room and answer every question you have."
"You bet your ass you will," Tony snapped, regretting it immediately.. His aggression wouldn't get him anywhere, no matter how badly he wanted it to. "You get two minutes and the door stays open."
Unsurprisingly, Pepper met him as he crossed the threshold of the living room.
"Is Harry okay?" She asked, concerned. Peeking over her shoulder at Fury watching them from the breakfast bar, she scowled. "I almost had to call security. Not sure how much longer he'll wait."
"God, can this day get any worse?" Tony sighed. "You know what, don't answer that."
"I wasn't going to."
Wrapping his arm around Pepper's waist, Tony led them past Fury on their way to the living room — not so much as glancing at the man in the process — and deposited them both on the couch.
"I gave him two minutes to talk with his professor," Tony said directly to Pepper, although loud enough for Fury to hear. "He was, uh, video chatting with him when I walked in…" he hesitated, briefly debating on how to deliver the next part. Then, figuring it didn't matter much, he said "...using a mirror."
"Did you say a mirror?" Pepper asked in disbelief. Her forehead crinkled in concern; for his sanity or Harry's, Tony wasn't sure.
"Yeah," Tony replied, unfazed by her reaction. After all, if the roles were reversed he wouldn't have believed it either. It was the definition of a 'see it to believe it' situation. "I know it sounds crazy—"
A loud cracking noise from the direction of Harry's room had Tony up on his feet in an instant.
"What was–" he asked until Fury cut him off.
"Speak of the devil," the director stated, nodding to the hallway where Harry came into view with the professor — who had not been in Harry's room — trailing behind him.
"What the hell is this?" Tony yelled, no longer even trying to keep himself calm. "You were in London… the security breach alone…it's impossible… how did you…"
"He apparated," Fury offered, in a far too casual way, for the shit going on, almost like he were telling Tony the score of the last baseball game.
"Appa, what?"
Looking at Harry Fury said, "As your biological parent, you know he's allowed to know, right? I'm sure it would have saved you a lot of grief this past week or so." He didn't wait for Harry's answer before gesturing to the couch. "You all should sit down for this."
Tony wanted to refuse, both on the principle of being ordered in his own damn home — one that obviously had several security holes to plug — and that he hated sitting still with a ball of nervous energy building inside of him. He hated it during long briefings and board meetings, and even interviews saw him finding some odd reason or another to wander the stage. Like a shark, Tony Stark had to stay moving to survive. Nevertheless, Harry led the Professor to the far end of the sofa so Tony and Pepper followed suit, sitting on the opposite end and leaving Fury to stand in the center.
"There is a small subset of the population where magic exists," Fury started, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. While his words — specifically magic — sent an icy chill throughout Tony's body, it was nothing compared to what followed. "Your son is a wizard. A rather famous one too. In fact, he's as famous in his world as you are in this one."
For the first time in his adult life, Tony listened in total silence — not once interrupting to ask a question or give some witty comment — as Fury and the Evil Professor took turns telling him all about a hidden community of magical beings and how SHIELD created a small, equally hidden, division within them when the magical community began targeting the non-magical people during a war that ended shortly after Harry was born.
Unfortunately for Harry, though, the concept of magic users wasn't an unfamiliar concept for Tony, and the mere thought of Loki triggered a twitch in his eye. Now he had a son with magic… who was magical, since as he understood it someone was born with magic rather than acquiring it. As much as Tony wanted to be cool with the situation, in reality, it terrified him to his core. Having seen the path of destruction Loki caused, the thought of the things Harry could do — the things someone evil would do — scared him. To help balance his increasing fear, Tony focused on how this new knowledge filled in many of the blanks Tony had been searching for in these last two weeks. Tony hated having unsolved problems and a secret world meant secret records, records Tony eventually planned to unearth using any means possible.
Harry remained quiet throughout the entire explanation. His gaze remained firmly locked on his feet while the other two men spoke until they reached the parts about the war. At the first mention of the war, the teen became physically uncomfortable; shifting his weight between his sides and picking at his nail bed, almost as if he'd been personally involved in it. Tony was just about to scoff at the notion when the professor told them how Harry Potter, a toddler child who did not know what the hell was even going on around him, somehow defeated the leader of the war against the non-magicals, earning the title of–
"Wizarding Jesus," Tony supplied, seeing exactly where the story was headed, and feeling physically sick from it. A kid hailed a hero because he didn't die? Then he got dropped off at relatives his mother never spoke with? Tony was already not a fan of these people.
"Actually, no," Fury corrected him. "I called him the Wizarding Jesus. He became known as The-Boy-Who-Lived."
Harry physically flinched at the moniker.
"As if that's any better," Tony grumbled, massaging his temples.
"Sorry if this is a stupid question, or you were eventually going to get there, but why are you here now?" Pepper asked Fury. "I mean, Harry's lived here for two weeks and no one seemed to care."
"That was the plan," Snape muttered.
Pepper ignored him. "Did something happen recently? O-or is Harry in danger?"
"Yes," Fury and Snape answered together. Tony suspected they were answering separate questions, and he didn't particularly like that both of them were yes.
"Usually," Fury jumped in to tell his side first, "the magical division of SHIELD works deep in the shadows. As long as the wizards stay on their side, we stay on ours. It's why they didn't step in to help with the Chitauri attack and why we aren't getting involved in their war.
"However, I received a concerned call from the Magical Congress of the United States this morning notifying me of a disturbance of the magical variety in the Tower. You see, Thor's hammer emits a similar signature as a Wizard's everyday magic, so the Tower is exempt from any continuous monitoring. But whatever happened here reached a Loki-esque level. They asked me to check it out–to make sure we had no unexpected visitors. Imagine my surprise walking in and seeing the Savior of the British Wizarding World, who went missing two weeks ago, having breakfast with Iron Man."
"Hold up! Did you say he's missing?!" Tony's head whipped over to Harry. Whether or not the kid liked it, the time had come for him to come clean. No more secrets. "You specifically told me you did not run away!"
"It's complicated," Harry retorted.
"That excuse isn't cutting anymore. Uncomplicate it for me."
Harry glanced up at the professor, now standing behind the couch with his arms tightly crossed over his chest. The man gave a subtle nod of his head; the permission Harry had been waiting for.
"Ok. So technically I ran away because my aunt and uncle didn't know I was leaving. You have to believe me, though, it was the only way," Harry's voice cracked and Pepper got up to hand him his glass of orange juice from the table.
"Why don't you start from the beginning," Pepper suggested.
Harry passed the glass between his hands before taking a tentative sip.
"I guess I was born Harry Evans, but until a few weeks ago I thought I was only Harry Potter…"
If Fury's story of the hidden wizarding community and civil war blew Tony's mind away, Harry's life story was almost flat-out unbelievable. Including things like giants, a magical castle, and soul-sucking demons, Tony's heart sank further and further into the couch as his kid's life went from bad (living with his unloving and neglectful family) to worse (a deadly tournament with his friend's death and Harry resurrecting the dark wizard who killed Lily and James), and somehow even worse with Harry learning of Tony's existence and choosing to hide from the dark wizard who planned to use him in some other awful ritual. The whole thing felt like a fever dream, except whenever Tony pinched himself it hurt and he remained planted on the sofa.
When Harry finally finished, the room fell into an odd, somber silence. Tony struggled to keep his raging emotions in check. If he understood at least half of it correctly, his son was essentially being used as a tool for both sides of a war he literally had nothing to do with. As far as Tony was concerned, he needed to keep him from the entire community. He was midway through a list of remote islands to buy — why the fuck didn't he own an island already?! — so they could chill on a beach while the wizards figured their shit out, when the professor finally broke the silence… going somewhere Tony was not prepared for.
"I should have known you'd blow this whole thing in a matter of days," the professor snapped. "I don't know why I dared to expect so much from you."
Faster than Tony had seen him move, Harry was out of his seat, prepared to stand his ground, face-to-face against the other wizard. "I can't help it if I did accidental magic in my sleep!"
"You are a fifth year!" Snape shouted, entering a yelling match he'd instigated. "No fifth-year wizard of any decent caliber still has accidental magic incidents. I'm willing to bet even pathetic little Longbottom doesn't."
Tony didn't have to understand a word of what the professor said to know he had insulted Harry; the teen lunging at him more than showed it.
"Whoa, back up there Merlin," Tony said to Snape as he physically separated Harry and the professor. Obviously, the whole 'please take care of my dead friend's son' had been some sort of facade and they both literally hated each other. "Someone care to tell me what accidental magic is?"
He expected the professor to walk him through it like he had with the magical history, but Harry spoke up first, "It's magic that's done unintentionally." He shot a glare at the professor which made Tony proud. "Usually by kids before they learn how to control their magic, but it can happen during any large emotional event."
Ah. Things were becoming much clearer now.
"Like a nightmare?" Tony offered, and Harry confirmed his suspicion with a slow nod. Feeling he had enough of a handle on things, Tony took Harry's place to confront Snape — the only adult in the room who had enough information to have actually helped Harry. "So you're telling me you expected a not yet fully trained, traumatized–because, just so we're clear, that's what happens when a child is forced to confront and fight against his parents' murderer right after watching his friend get killed in front of him–wizard not to have slip ups? Hey, that's on you buddy, not Harry.
"You know what could have prevented this?" Tony rhetorically asked in a low, threatening voice. "Telling me the truth when you dropped Harry off here like a sack of groceries! Imagine how difficult these last few weeks had to be on him? He sees all that shit at school, a place he's supposed to feel safe and protected, then he learns he has a father still alive on the other side of the world, and… oh yeah… the madman he faced is now trying to kidnap him for God knows what heinous purpose so he needs to hide! He has to completely upend his life, not talk to his friends or new family about it all, and pretend everything is hunky-dory. Oh, and not do any accidental magic in the process."
"We couldn't tell you," Harry blurted out.
"And why the hell not?"
Fury let out a humorless chuckle. "The magical community has strict rules on who can and who can't know about magic. As I mentioned before, parents are exempt from it."
"Told you. Like a cult." Tony lifted his hands in feigned celebration.
"No!" Harry and Snape replied at the same time Fury said, "Yeah, kind of."
For the next ten minutes, they bickered back and forth, alliances changing depending on the current topic. Tony and Fury teamed up against Harry and Snape about the derogatory terms used for non-magical people — no-maj was the word Fury had used, although Harry said they're called Muggles in the UK. Both sounded equally degrading to Tony. Then Tony sided with Harry in trying to convince Snape to let Harry contact his friends again. Fury agreed with Snape forbidding Harry from using magic even though the tower wasn't being closely monitored. Harry tried saying he needed to practice over the summer; a solid attempt on the kid's part that Tony would have outright supported until then Snape corrected him about the official 'no magic outside of school' policy, then Tony just figured they'd have to do it with no one knowing. Pepper took no one's side in any of it, and midway through kindly excused herself from the mess to deal with the fallout from yesterday's break-ins.
They ended this part of the discussion with Snape explaining a mind-reading magic called Legilimency. It sounded too close to Loki's magic for Tony's liking but he finally, albeit grudgingly, understood why Snape and Harry's Godfather, Sirius — a marginally better name, having come from the constellation — had chosen to literally hide Harry away in the non-magical world and not tell Tony anything. According to Snape, the evil, highly prejudiced, maniac wizard was one of the best at this mind-reading magic and he would literally tear apart all of wizarding Britain to find Harry. Since the professor was supposedly the best at protecting his mind, having him be the one to hide Harry in a place the evil bastard wouldn't think to look was the ultimate way to protect Harry.
But just because it made sense didn't mean Tony had to like it.
"Ok, so let me make sure I understand the most relevant part of all of this," Tony said, snapping his fingers as he spoke. "Harry, who is a young wizard, needs protection from a very bad wizard trying to kill him?"
"An oversimplification if I've ever heard one," Snape scoffed.
"Yeah." Harry shot another glare at his professor. "That's basically it."
"Done." Tony pretended to wipe his hands clean as if it were that easy of a task. When had Tony turned down a hard project? Never. "Now that that's solved, what's next? Deciding on a school, maybe, because after all the stories I've heard of giant killer snakes, imposter werewolf teachers, and poltergeists, I'm not sold on sending you to this Hogwarts place. Pretty sure I can do better protecting you with my eyes closed, right here."
A snort from the professor's direction had them all glaring his way. It took all of Tony's willpower not to send his fist through the man's crooked-tooth, sinister grin. "I see I was right about your arrogance coming from your father, despite having the wrong father."
"Oh, I'm not even close to done with you yet," Tony spat out at the other man. Without realizing he'd moved, they were face-to-face with Tony's finger pressed into his chest with his next words, "It takes a very special sort of asshole to just leave a vulnerable teenager in need of protection without disclosing the situation to the person who can actually protect him! Were you hoping he'd get attacked here? Was it all part of your grand plan?"
Harry pulled at Tony's arm, separating him from the professor in the same fashion Tony had done for him earlier.
"I hate to say it but Snape has a point," Harry said with a grimace. "Magic… I-it doesn't mix well with technology. Or at all, really–"
"Guess that explains JARVIS' issue in your bedroom."
"–And Vold– You-Know-Who–" Tony rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nickname Harry used, "–is the most powerful wizard alive right now."
"So?"
"Your tech can't stop him."
"Harry." Tony gently placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, removing the distraction of Fury and Snape away from the teen. "You will learn quickly that can't is not part of my vocabulary. As long as I know all the variables, I will find a way."
"What about Loki?"
Harry had unknowingly hit Tony's one weakness regarding magic. As much as he'd love to never encounter another magical being in his life, that ship sailed when he unknowingly had personal relations with a witch over fifteen years ago. So Tony refused to let his anxiety about the situation show. He didn't want Harry to doubt him and he refused to let his kid down in the first month. He had years ahead of him for that.
"We beat Loki," Tony pointed out.
"You had to fly a nuke into space."
"Semantics," Tony flippantly stated, then turned his tone more serious. "That was with no time to study or prepare for Loki's attack. If you give me the rundown of your magic–books I can read, places we can work and practice, the whole shebang–trust me, I'll take him and his army of clowns down. I'll keep you safe here, I promise."
"Alright," Harry eventually conceded, although he didn't sound at all convinced. Tony would just have to show him how much he could fix if given the right motivation. And, despite only knowing his kid existed for two weeks, he was more motivated than ever before.
Fury, of all people, brought up a magical district in New York where Tony could find the resources he'd need to start his planning. Snape aptly pointed out how being a muggle, Tony couldn't actually access the district and Harry immediately offered to take him. That started yet another argument about Harry needing to stay out of the public's eye, and who else could help Tony. Harry mentioned some kind of juice to help hide his identity, which was the moment Tony stopped listening. It was all too much to take in. After the early wake-up call, making breakfast, and the revelations he'd learned, Tony figured he'd let them sort out the details — where and how he got the materials he needed didn't matter to him — and snuck into Pepper's office to clear his head. Unlike Tony, who couldn't deny how he'd constantly be in his lab if it were literally next to their bedroom, Pepper seldomly worked at her home office; preferring to do any of her late-night work on her tablet or laptop in the living room, or going downstairs to her actual office rather than hide away here. She mostly used this office to take international conference calls at odd hours of the night and to store her books and other files she was currently working on.
Tony passed by the tall bookcase lining the right and left walls and scooted around the sleek white desk holding her computer and a few files on the properties they were vetting to pilot the new Arc Reactor sustainable energy program — a program still in its infancy requiring both his and Pepper's hand holding — until he stopped in front of the floor to ceiling windows. With his forearms folded against the glass, he leaned forward, resting his forehead on top of them, and peered straight down the side of the building.
In moments like this, Tony missed Malibu. He missed the vast openness and calm quiet the ocean provided to help him make some sense out of the chaotic mess of thoughts in his head. With the wide-scale launch of their sustainable energy project Pepper needed to be in New York, and the Avengers and Peter were in New York. Tony had poured himself into the repairs to the Tower, expanding the tech for the team, and mentoring Peter as a new superhero, using them as the perfect distractions from dealing with the Battle of New York, where he had been forced to come to terms with his own mortality and was introduced to aliens and Gods and magic; all things impossible to rationalize in his science-driven brain.
The distractions had worked, at least for a little while.
He had just about felt grounded and normal again when Harry showed up. And although Pepper… and Rhodey… and Steve — not that his opinion mattered — thought he hadn't been taking the whole "parenting a teen" thing well, he thought he had been doing alright. He'd be the first to admit he never wanted to be a father. He never wanted to risk becoming Howard or passing down the generational trauma to an innocent kid. But once he learned about Harry, he stepped up to the plate, at least in the best way he knew how, and took responsibility for the kid. For his kid. Now… learning about the magical world of Earth, and how his kid played into it all, seemed to dig up a bunch of emotions Tony had worked hard to bury.
"Tony?"
Tony spun around, ready to bury Fury in insults for entering the very private room. Thankfully, for once he had enough sense not to say the first thing that came to his mind because Fury wasn't the one standing halfway into the room already. It was Harry, looking every bit of nearly fifteen he tried his best not to seem.
"Sorry if I interrupted," Harry went on before giving Tony a chance to answer. He reminded Tony of Peter in that way. "That Fury guy got a call, so Professor Snape left. Then I was just standing there and Fury gave me a look that clearly said I'd regret it if I didn't bugger off out of listening range. JARVIS said you were in here. I hope it's alright I came to find you."
Tony hummed his response and gestured to Pepper's empty seat chair behind her desk. Harry shook his head, turning down the silent offer, and met Tony at the window. The duo stood side-by-side, pretending to take in the New York atmosphere, for what felt like minutes, but was probably closer to only one.
Harry finally broke the silence. "He fixed the window, by the way." His eyes remained on the horizon as he spoke, not once turning to Tony's face. "Professor Snape, I mean. He repaired it before he left, seeing as they don't really track magic here."
Of course, the other man fixed it. If Tony learned nothing else in the last six hours, he learned how easily magic could crumble his world; such as breaking apart an unbreakable window and entering an impenetrable Tower like it was a public library. Therefore, fixing a structure almost a hundred stories in the air with a wiggle of a nose… or a wave of a wand in this case… felt totally reasonable.
Tony didn't say any of that out loud. He couldn't unless he wanted to push Harry away, so he simply nodded and absentmindedly ran his finger around the edge of his arc reactor as he continued to watch the world outside, wishing he could go back to yesterday. Maybe if he had tried harder to get through to Harry, he wouldn't have had the nightmare and the awful morning wouldn't have occurred.
"So, you're a wizard. That's…" he trailed off, unsure of the proper word to use for a moment like this.
"You know?" Harry whispered beside Tony. "You're taking this really well, considering."
That got a small laugh from Tony, breaking some of the forming ice between them.
"Glad you think so, kid, because I'm actually freaking out inside right now."
He'd meant it as a joke, but the way Harry stiffened and his eyes widened with fear told him he didn't see it as one.
"Relax! It was an ill-timed, semi-serious, joke. What did you expect? For me to pull a Quasimodo and expect you to stay in the bell tower?" He wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder, hoping the move would ease his kid. Except the teen didn't relax, and it suddenly dawned on him. Harry's relatives hated magic, so his abuse… As a literal genius, he really should have connected the dots much sooner.
"That's why they abused you."
"I wasn't abused," Harry quickly refuted.
"We already talked about that, remember?" Tony rhetorically asked. He lightly gripped Harry's shoulders and turned to face him. "Neglect is abuse."
Harry shrugged. "Semantics."
Tony let the comment slide. "Choice of wording aside, did they treat you… negatively… because of your magic?"
Harry nodded. Now they were getting somewhere.
"Did they physically hurt you?"
Another shrug. Tony resisted the powerful urge to push for a solid yes or no answer. He already knew he'd hate it.
"Is there anything else I need to know about them?" He asked, instead.
"Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Tony waved his hand, pretending he didn't already know the example he planned to use. "Say like… locking you in your bedroom."
His suspicion was confirmed as soon as Harry's cheeks flushed bright red. Those bastards had actually locked his kid up for something he had zero control over. It'd be like Tony hiding him away for having green eyes. Sure, perhaps he had done something similar by keeping Harry in the Tower these past two weeks, however that felt different. It was for Harry's personal safety, not Tony's embarrassment of him, and would, hopefully, be temporary. Or whenever they figured out how to keep him away from this new wizarding threat.
"They locked you in your room, got it." Tony curtly commented, trying to sound as casual about it as possible. "And they…"
He trailed off hoping Harry would pick it up and fill in more of the blanks; both for Tony's knowledge and Harry's benefit of getting it off his chest. Likely not the most mentally sound path to take, but when was Tony known as a mentally sound person?
Tony repeated, "And they..." with greater intensity when the teen failed to reply.
"They made me do all the chores," Harry finally spit out almost in a single breath. "I had to do everything. It's where I learned to cook. I actually enjoyed that part and it's become like a hobby, especially when I don't have the Dursleys breathing over my shoulder doing it. I wasn't allowed to eat a lot, either. And my room…"
Tony watched with intrigue as Harry paused, clenching his jaw in the same way Tony did in difficult situations, and waited for him to collect himself. Just when he was about to open the window, preferring the distant sound of the city to Harry's nervous breathing, the teen spoke.
"And yeah, they put bars on my window one summer," he admitted with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "At least, I had a window by then. It was loads better than the cupboard I used to sleep in."
"What did you say?!" Tony's head snapped up. His vision filled with images of a small boy living in a linen closet, covered by blankets, and his nostrils flared trying to keep his emotions in check. No kid, especially his kid, deserved to sleep in a cabinet, regardless of what they did. "They put you in a cupboard?!"
"It was under the stairs," Harry quickly added, as if that somehow made it better. "It's not a big deal."
"It's not a big–" Tony pinched his eyes closed and focused on his breathing — in, hold, out — to prevent him from grabbing his suit and flying all the way to Surrey. Once semi-in-control of his rage, he peered down at Harry. "It is a big deal. It's an enormous deal and one I'll be taking care of from here. Is this why you've basically locked yourself in your room while I've been home? You know what–" He held his hand up to stop Harry from answering, "-don't answer that. I think I can confidently assume you'd say no, and you'd be lying."
"You know what they say when you assume."
A small smile tugged at the edge of Tony's lips, simultaneously wanting to laugh at how alike they were and admonish Harry for making light of a serious situation. Tony lucked out, he wouldn't have to choose which reaction to use because the door burst open revealing a pissed-off-looking Fury standing at the threshold.
"As much as I hate to break up this little getting-to-know-you moment, I was actually on my way here for an entirely different reason when MACUSA called," the director said, sauntering into Pepper's private office, not looking at all regretful for interrupting them. He looked right at Tony. "It's time to suit up. Captain Rogers will brief you on the Quinjet."
"Now?!" Tony exclaimed. Whatever needed his attention — and Tony had a few educated guesses — it seriously could not have come at a worse time. He tilted his head toward Harry. "Can't you see I'm a little busy? Isn't paternity leave a thing now? You and Hill better get on that. If you need a place to start, SI has one of the leading paternity policies in the country. I'm sure Pep can walk you through it."
Fury didn't take the bait, not that Tony expected the man to.
"I understand it may be a new concept to you, Stark, but the world does not, in fact, revolve around you," he said. "Nor does it stop for family matters and this requires your immediate attention."
I know it might seem like we're moving on from this topic quickly, but I promise it ties into the overall plot. Tony needs to be in a more fragile mental state, with Harry top of mind, as we move into the next few chapters. Harry and Tony have another heart-to-heart (or as much as either of them can) in the next chapter before Tony is shipped off on his mission.
Also, Chapter 17 won't be posted for another 2-3 weeks because Chapter 18 is not done yet. I got some serious writer's block writing the action sequence in the first draft, so I skipped it. Now I have to finish it and that needs to be done before the end of Chapter 17 can be posted just in case any subtle changes need to be made. If I get that done quicker than expected, then I'll post sooner - just giving myself some extra time one it.