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Chapter Text

At this point in Harry’s life, he really should have been expecting something like this. He’d been Fate’s favourite chew toy since before he was even born. 

Born into notoriety, Harry had curveball after curveball thrown at him to the point where life-changing revelations felt like nothing.

“You’re a wizard, Harry.”

“There’s a prophecy.”

“The boy must die?”

Seriously, at this point, reading the phrase, “ Your father and I were a bit wild in the ’90s and I became pregnant with you after a particularly wild night involving a famous American muggle,” warranted nothing from Harry apart from a slightly surprised gasp followed by a resigned sigh.

There was a follow-up letter from his father explaining that just because he wasn’t biologically his didn’t mean he loved him any less. Had Harry seen this letter a few years ago, he would have scoffed and probably not believed him; but having adopted Teddy as his own after the war, Harry knew he loved Teddy with his whole heart, biology be damned.

At the bottom of his father’s letter was a name. Tony Stark. The name of his biological father and a note that encouraged Harry to reach out to him.

So Harry did some research. 

His biological father was famous famous. Probably more famous than Harry himself. 

And, as it seemed, a bit of a dick. He had a hell of a reputation in his younger years. Although Harry always took what the media said with a grain of salt, it takes a particular type of person to have a one-night stand with a married couple and never speak to them again. Not that Harry was judging. As long as it was consensual, Harry didn’t give a flying fuck what people did with their lives. Free love and whatnot. Seemed like he took after his parents that way. Go figure.

In 2008 though, everything changed. Tony had been kidnapped and tortured for months before escaping and shutting down the weapons division of his company. Harry was quite pleased by that discovery (not the kidnapping and torture part, obviously); having just survived a war, he didn’t think he’d be able to connect with someone who made weapons of mass destruction.

And then Tony had come out as Iron Man. An actual fucking superhero who seemed to have as reckless disregard for his life as Harry had if the video footage of him flying into a fucking alien wormhole was anything to go by.

Harry vaguely remembered the whole alien invasion thing, which seemed ridiculous in hindsight. That is something he probably should have paid attention to, but Cedric had just died, and Harry was a bit more focused on his own brewing war.

So, in summary, Harry’s biological father was a multi-billionaire superhero who’d banged his parents. 

Harry didn’t really know what to do with all this information. Should he reach out to Tony? Would the man even want anything to do with him? Did Harry want anything to do with him ?

When he’d told Ron and Hermione, Hermione had stared at him open-mouthed and asked how she’d never seen it before. Because truly, Harry did look exactly like his father with his mother's eyes. Just not the father he initially thought.

(It made Harry wonder just how narcissistic both his fathers had been)

It took a month and lots of talks with Ron and Hermione before he decided to try and get in contact with his father.

(Hermione had made a pros and cons list, god bless her)

Except his father was a bloody hard man to get in contact with. It took two weeks, and even then, he didn’t speak to Tony; he spoke to Pepper Potts. The CEO of Stark Industries. Which seemed like a weird person to talk to but whatever.

She, obviously, was quite sceptical. Which, if Harry thought about it, wasn’t all that surprising. He couldn’t imagine how many people would claim to be the kid of a billionaire, but it was probably a lot, given that they had an actual procedure in place. 

But that meant flying to New York.

Or, in Harry’s case, applying for a portkey.

Which is how Harry found himself, Teddy in his arms, standing in the foyer of Stark Towers, and thinking that this might be a terrible fucking idea. Maybe one of the worst ideas he’s ever had. And that includes the dragon. Fucking hell why did he think this was a good idea.

He should turn around and leave.

Just walk out. Block Pepper’s number and never come back to New York ever again.

“Mr Potter?” 

Oh shit.

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned around towards the voice and heard a sharp intake of breath.

“Oh shit.”

Well, looks like he and Pepper were on the same page.

Blowing out a sharp breath and pinching the bridge of her nose, Pepper directed Harry towards the front doors, “I was going to do this here, but unless you’ve had some exceptional plastic surgery, I think we both know what the tests are going to say.” Harry followed as she walked towards an SUV with blacked-out windows and ushered him inside. “I’m going to take you to the compound and have Bruce take your blood.” Peering down at Teddy, Pepper’s brows creased. “I can look after your son whilst that’s happening.”

“Oh no! He’s not mine!” Harry said with a laugh, only to see an even more concerned look flash across Pepper’s face, “I mean, legally, he’s mine. I didn’t kidnap a random child or something. He’s my godson. His parents died, and I adopted him. So legally mine. Biologically not. And I’m gonna stop talking before I make myself sound even crazier than I do right now.”

Pepper stared at him incredulously just long enough for Harry’s anxiety to kick in before throwing her head back and laughing, “God, Tony’s going to have his hands full with you, isn’t he?”

Harry didn’t really know how to respond to that, but Teddy started fussing, so Harry turned his attention back to him, rocking him back and forth and humming until he settled. By the time Teddy had calmed, they had reached what Harry assumed was the Avengers Compound, and he barely kept his jaw from dropping. It was like nothing he’d ever seen. He didn’t even think Hogwarts could compare. Sure, Hogwarts was an actual magical castle, but this place was something else entirely.

“It never gets old,” Pepper said with a smirk, seeing Harry’s facial expression. “I’ve already texted Bruce, he’s set the lab up, and he’ll meet us out the front.”

Harry couldn’t do anything but nod. His heart was beating out of his chest. He honestly still wasn’t sure whether or not this was a good idea, but it seemed it was too late to back out.

A man, who Harry assumed was Bruce, was waiting for them when they stepped out of the car. Bruce did a double-take when he saw Harry. “Yeah, now I can see why you brought him here, Pep.”

“I can take… I’m sorry, I don’t think you told me the little guy’s name,” Pepper said with a frown as Harry sat across from Bruce in the lab.

Harry handed Teddy off to Pepper with a smile, “His name is Teddy. Well, Edward, but everyone calls him Teddy.”

“Hi, Teddy,” Pepper whispered as she held Teddy softly, running a soft finger over one of his cheeks.

“Alright, Mr Potter,” Bruce started, but Harry interrupted.

“Call me Harry. Please.”

Bruce smiled, “Sure, Harry. Just roll up your sleeve, and I’m going to draw some blood.”

Harry rolled up his sleeve and didn’t miss how Bruce’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the basilisk scar on his arm. Though, better that one than the giant knife scar Wormtail had given him. Harry had no shortage of scars, especially after the war. 

Completely missing the silent conversation Pepper and Bruce were having over his head, Harry closed his eyes as Bruce took his blood before rolling his sleeve back down and taking Teddy back. Now they just had to wait.

Harry really liked Pepper. She was funny, easygoing, and perfectly distracting as they waited for the results. He liked Bruce too. He was quieter, only speaking here and there, but he had a calming presence about him that Harry appreciated. He reminded Harry of Remus in a way that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Teddy seemed to love him. Babbling and reaching out for the man, who in turn looked absolutely terrified of the tiny baby. Finally, the fifth time Teddy reached out, getting increasingly belligerent each time, Harry sighed, stood up and placed Teddy in Bruce’s arms.

“I shouldn’t… I don’t think this is a good idea,” Bruce stuttered out, looking at Teddy like he was a bomb rather than a baby.

“Teddy’s a good boy,” Harry said, slightly defensive of his tiny godson.

Bruce looked up at Pepper imploringly, “What if something happens?” 

“Bruce,” Pepper said softly, “You’ll be fine. The ‘other guy’ isn’t going to come out because you’re holding a kid.”

“Other guy?” Harry asked, looking around for this mystery person.

Both Pepper and Bruce looked at him almost incredulously. “You don’t know who I am?” Bruce asked.

Harry shrugged, “Am I supposed to?”

“I’m the Hulk,” Bruce said softly, making to hand Teddy back to Harry as if he would snatch him off him any second.

Harry’s eyebrows flew up, but he made no moves to take Teddy back, who was looking at Bruce with fascination, “Ok.”

Bruce frowned, “Ok?”

Harry shrugged, “So you turn into a giant green rage monster. Who cares? Teddy likes you. Just hold the damn baby.”

Pepper threw her head back and laughed, “You are seriously just a British Tony, aren’t you?”

Even Bruce was chuckling softly when a soft ding caused everyone to tense slightly. Handing Teddy back to Harry, he and Pepper went over to the computer, and with a soft sigh, Pepper said, “I’ll call Tony.” Before stepping out of the lab.

Harry couldn’t hear any of the conversation, she’d closed the door, and the lab was obviously soundproofed.

“Are you ok?” Bruce asked softly.

Harry turned around, more vulnerable than he’d been in recent memory and asked, “Do you think he’ll want me?” 

Bruce sighed, “Tony didn’t have the greatest relationship with his father. Honestly, Howard Stark was a right bastard and a terrible father, and I think Tony’s biggest fear is turning into him. I think he’s going to make a lot of mistakes, but I know he’s going to try really hard to make this work.”

Harry nodded, “I guess we can bond over awful guardians.”

“Your parents…?” Bruce started, but Harry cut him off.

“Were great. Or so I’ve been told. They died when I was 15 months old. I lived with my mum's sister and her family. They, um, didn’t like me much.”

Bruce nodded but wisely didn’t press. Harry could see the cogs turning in his head, though.

Suddenly, the door opened with a bang and Harry jumped, turning around to come face to face with a wild-eyed and panting Tony Stark.

And the first thing out of the man’s mouth was, “You’re not trying to convince me that the baby is mine, right?”

Pepper and Bruce groaned simultaneously, but Harry just laughed, feeling some of the tension leave his body.

“No. This is my godson, Teddy. I’m Harry. Harry Potter. I believe you met my parents, Lily and James Potter, about 18 years ago?”

“Fuck,” Tony breathed.

“Yeah. That’s generally how it happens.”

Tony stared at him for a long moment before snorting, “God, you really are mine, aren’t you.”

Harry shrugged, “That’s what the computer and the more detailed than I could have possibly wanted letter from my parents said.”

Neither really knew what to say. Bruce and Pepper had shuffled awkwardly out of the room when Tony had burst in, so it was just the two of them staring awkwardly at each other.

“So… how are Lily and James?” Tony asked, and Harry winced.

“Dead. Have been since I was about one.”

“Fuck, sorry.”

Harry shrugged, “You didn’t know; not your fault.”

Tony stepped a bit closer and peered down at Teddy, sleeping in his arms, “You said this was your godson?”

“Yeah, this is Teddy,” Harry said softly before kissing his head.

“Hey buddy,” Tony said with a smile before looking up at Harry, “Did his parents come with you?”

Harry winced again, “His parents are dead. I adopted him. He’s mine.”

“Fucking hell, is everyone you know dead?” Tony blurted out before a look of complete horror passed over his face as his brain caught up with his mouth.

“Not everyone,” Harry replied quietly, faces of everyone he’d lost flashing in front of his eyes. Then, breathing slowly and deeply like Hermione had shown him, Harry pressed his nose into Teddy’s hair, trying to stave off the approaching tears.

Clearing his throat awkwardly and shifting from foot to foot, Tony said, “Ok, well, I guess I’ll get you and mini-you set up in the compound.”

“Hey, woah, no!” Harry blurted out, “I mean, that’s really nice of you, but you don’t have to do that. You’re not responsible for me or anything. I didn’t come here for that. I just wanted to get to know you. I’ve got a hotel booked, so I’m fine staying there. Plus, I mean, you don’t even know me! So why would you want to live with me? I could be crazy or leave my socks lying around!”

“Kid, I think you might be crazy,” Tony said with a laugh, “FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Boss?” 

Harry jumped, looking around for the woman who just spoke, “What the fuck was that?”

“FRIDAY is an AI; she runs, well, everything,” Tony said with a shrug like that was supposed to explain anything, “Get a room set up on my floor for Harry and a nursery for Teddy. Then get Harry checked out of his hotel, cover the room and get his stuff transported over here.”

“I can pay for myself!” Harry argued, but Tony wasn’t listening.

“And then get whoever’s here into the briefing room.”

“Sure thing, Boss!”

“Right!” Tony clapped, “Time for you to meet the team. FRIDAY will direct you to the briefing room, and I’ll go find Pepper. She’s probably helping FRIDAY design the nursery as we speak! I’ll see you in a sec!” 

And then Harry was left in the lab alone, completely and utterly bewildered. “What the fuck just happened, Teddy?”

“BAH!” Teddy exclaimed with a clap as Harry chuckled.

“Ready to go, Mini-Boss?” The voice, FRIDAY, asked. 

“Sure…” Harry mumbled.

“Great! You can follow the lights on the floor!”

Seriously wondering if his life could get any weirder, Harry followed the lights to what he assumed was the briefing room. Someone, he assumed Pepper, had set up a bassinet for Teddy. With a smile, Harry placed Teddy down softly, cooing at him as he giggled.

Suddenly, a large hand settled on Harry’s shoulder, and war instincts kicking in; Harry immediately went into fight mode. Throwing his elbow back, Harry connected with what he assumed was a nose and kicked his leg back, taking out the mystery attacker's shins before turning around and letting his magic out, smacking his hand into the attacker's chest with the force of a bombarda and watching the blonde man fly across the room.

“Holy shit!” 

Harry jolted himself out of his fight instincts to see Tony, some red-headed woman and a brunette who looked like he’d seen better days staring at him with wide eyes.

A manic grin spread over Tony’s face, “My kid just beat up Captain America.”

Chapter Text

“So,” Tony said with a grin, “Are you enhanced?”

Harry frowned, “Enhanced?” 

“Yeah! Like Maximoff or the Spiderling!” Tony asked, throwing his arms around.

“Like who?” Harry asked, feeling more and more confused.

“Come on, kid. You can tell me. So what? You’ve got super strength? Anything else?”

Harry looked at the group, utterly bewildered, “I don’t have super strength.”

“Kid! You’re killing me here! You punched the Capsicle clean across the room! Even the Winter Douchebag over there with his Vibranium arm can’t do that!”

“You’re just saying nonsense words at me now!” Harry groaned before running a hand through his hair, accidentally exposing his scar. A sharp gasp had Harry’s eyes shooting up to where the red-headed woman was staring directly at his scar. “Please tell me you don’t know who I am,” Harry asked almost desperately.

“No can do, sorry kid,” The red-headed woman said with a shit-eating grin before turning to Tony, “Why didn’t you tell me your kid was Harry Potter?”

Harry groaned loudly as Tony looked between him and the woman in confusion, “I didn’t realise that it was important. Is it important? Why is it important?”

“Your kid is almost as famous as you, Stark. Fury’s going to lose his shit when he finds out your kid is The-Boy-Who-Lived.”

“They’re actually calling me The-Man-Who-Conquered now,” Harry mumbled. Not because he particularly liked the new moniker, he just hated The-Boy-Who-Lived more.

Sharp eyes met Harry’s, “Seriously?”

“Natasha! You’re killing me here!” Tony yelled. Ah, so that was her name.

Natasha gave Harry an unrepentant grin as he begged the earth to swallow him whole. “Your son here is the most famous wizard in Wizarding Britain, and quite possibly here too.”

“Wizard!” Tony yelped.

Harry let out a sigh and stood up, “I’ll pack my stuff. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

“Wait, what?” Tony asked, quickly getting up to stand in front of Harry, “Why are you leaving?”

Harry gave him a sad smile, “I’m sure you don’t want me here anymore now that you know. It’s ok. I’m used to it.”

“Harry,” Tony said, more serious than he’d heard him thus far, “There is pretty much nothing you could do that would make me want you to leave. So you’re a wizard, no big deal. I currently live with a super soldier, the Hulk, three assassins, a freaky witch whose hands glow red, a Synthezoid, and an AI. Also, there’s a kid who was bitten by a radioactive spider and a literal God that drops by sometimes. Trust me. You’re in good company here.”

Harry looked at him for a long time, trying to judge his sincerity, and when he couldn’t find any hint of a lie, he gave Tony a watery smile before sitting back down.

“Hold on,” Tony said suddenly, “What about the mini-you?”

Harry snorted, “Oh, he’s definitely a wizard. Normally you couldn’t tell at his age, but his mum was a metamorphmagus, and he inherited that from her. I have a glamour on him at the moment because he keeps changing his hair and eyes depending on who’s holding him. Also, his dad was a werewolf, so there’s a chance he may inherit that, but we don’t know yet.”

The blonde and the brunette (and he would continue to think of them as such until he found out their actual names because he didn’t think they were actually called Capsicle and the Winter Douchebag) had been strangely quiet throughout the exchange thus far. Though they didn’t seem all that shocked, certainly nowhere near as shocked as Tony had been. 

It seemed Tony was thinking along the same lines as Harry because he turned to them with a suspicious expression.

“Spangles, Barnacle, you’re taking this surprisingly well.”

The brunette just shrugged, “The Howling Commandos worked with wizards during the War. So he’s not the first wizard I’ve met.”

Harry frowned, “The Howling Commandos? Like World War II?”

“You don’t know who we are?” The Blonde asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Harry exclaimed.

Tony threw his head back and laughed, “Kid, you’re in the Avengers Compound. How can you not know the Avengers?”

Harry huffed, “I know about the Avengers in theory. But I was dealing with my own thing, alright! So your alien war was very low on my list of priorities!”

“What could you have possibly been dealing with that was more important than an actual alien war!” Tony exclaimed, completely missing the quelling look Natasha was sending his way.

“Oh! I don’t know? How about my own fucking war! The equivalent of magical Hitler out for my blood specifically! Being made an enemy of magical Britain! Being on the run for an entire year trying to hunt down a way to kill a man who had made himself unkillable! A battle that killed the rest of the tiny family I had left! That took Teddy’s parents from him! Having to kill the man who has been trying to kill me since I was 15 fucking months old! How about that?!” Harry spat harshly.

“Right,” Tony said after a moment of stunned silence, “Yeah, that’d do it.”

Harry took a deep breath and rubbed his temples, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten annoyed like that. You guys had no idea; it’s not your fault. It’s just still fresh.”

“How long ago did it end?” The blonde (god, Harry should really figure out his name) asked.

“Six months.”

“Shit, kid. You seem very put together for someone who just fought a war,” Tony said, sounding somewhat impressed.

Harry shrugged, “I had to be. For Teddy. I’m all he has left, and I won’t let him grow up like I did.”

Tony frowned at the comment but decided not to push any further as Harry stood up to take Teddy out of his bassinet and hold him close. Harry took his wand from his holster and took off Teddy's glamour, he knew it was uncomfortable for him, and they knew now, so there was no point in hiding it. With a giggle, Teddy turned his hair brown and his eyes green to match Harry's.

“Well, now he’s definitely a mini-you,” Tony said with a smirk, peering over Harry’s shoulder. Teddy looked up at Tony and turned his eyes brown. Tony laughed, “That’s a hell of a parlour trick.”

“His mum always kept her hair wild colours. She was particularly fond of bubblegum pink.” Harry smiled sadly down at Teddy before kissing him on the head and sitting back down. “We should probably try the whole introductions thing again. Hi, I’m Harry Potter. Nice to meet you.”

“Natasha Romanov,” Natasha said with a smile.

“Steve Rogers.” 

“Bucky Barnes.”

“You’ll meet the rest of the motley crew later, but your room should probably be set up by now if you want a rest? Or you can use the time to research the people you’ll be living with,” Tony said with a wink.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought being out of school meant I didn’t have homework anymore,” Harry said with a look that had the rest of them bursting into laughter.

Tony shook his head, “It’s like looking into a green-eyed mirror. Fucking terrifying.”

“And I’ve always wanted to know what I’ll look like when I get old,” Harry replied snarkily, laughing at the absolutely affronted look on Tony’s face.

“I am not old!”

Harry shrugged, “I think I even see some grey hairs.”

“You’re a demon child,” Tony grumbled, sticking his tongue out childishly at Harry.

Harry snorted, “FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Mini-Boss?”

“Can you show me the way to my room, please?”

“You got it!”

Harry smiled absently as lights lit up along the floor, “Thanks, FRIDAY.”

“Already getting along with your siblings,” Tony said, wiping fake tears from his eyes, “It’s so beautiful.”

~•~

Tony didn’t know what to make of his son. God! His son! Pepper had barely finished the phrase ‘there’s a kid here, his DNA matched’ before he was running out of his workshop down to the lab. In hindsight, that was a bit of an idiotic move because he didn’t even know his son's name when he came barreling into the lab like a bat out of hell. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but the far too skinny kid holding a baby certainly wasn’t it. He’d certainly gotten the trademark Stark snark, though. And by God, did he look like Tony. Put some contacts on the kid, and Tony could pretend he’d finally managed to clone himself.

But he was so small. Tony was by no means a tall man, and neither was Lily, from his albeit limited memory of her, but Harry just seemed unnaturally short, and he looked so breakable. Well, at least until he saw him launch Captain Bloody America clean across the room. 

Steve and Tony had mostly settled their differences after the SHIELD data dump, especially when he found out about Bucky. Steve had come to him immediately with what he found about Howard, Maria, and the Winter Soldier. And sure, Tony had been royally pissed off when he first found out, to the point he almost kicked Steve out of the tower, but Nat had talked him down. Telling him what she knew of the Winter Soldier Project. It took some time, but he realised Bucky was no more at fault for what he did than Clint was when he was under Loki’s control.

Still, there was something quite vilifying about watching Steve get put on his ass by someone who could have rivalled him pre-serum.

He’d immediately assumed his kid was enhanced, fairly logically, in his opinion, but the kid's vehement denial didn’t stink of someone keeping it a secret; he just seemed really confused.

Then, of course, Nat had to drop the fucking wizard bomb on him. His kid was a fucking wizard and a famous one to boot (what kind of name was The-Boy-Who-Lived, anyway?), but before he could even wrap his head around that revelation, Harry was trying to leave. Leave because he assumed Tony wouldn’t want him. The quiet resignation stunk of something deeper, some ingrained, knee-jerk assumption that he wasn’t wanted, and fuck did that break Tony’s heart.

And then Tony went and stuck his foot in his mouth for the second time that day (seriously! Who asks a kid if everyone they know is dead!), and even the bare minimum of the story he got from Harry was horrific. What the hell had his kid been through?

“FRIDAY, pull up everything you can on Harry James Potter, born 1998.”

“You didn’t research him before you met?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I was a bit distracted by the fact I had a kid, Stars and Stripes.”

“Sir Harry James Potter, Order of The British Empire, born July 31st 1998 to Lily Marie Potter née Evans and James Charlus Potter, both deceased October 31st 1999 in a gas explosion. Custody transferred to Petunia Anne Dursley née Evans and Vernon Dursley. Attended Little Whinging Primary in Surrey, England. No records found after age 11.”

Bucky whistled, “Damn, he’s got a Knighthood?”

Tony frowned, “That’s all you found, FRI?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“His records cut off at 11 because he went to Hogwarts. Also, his parents didn’t die in a gas explosion; they were murdered,” Natasha said with the nonchalance of someone talking about the weather.

“What the fuck kind of name is Hogwarts?” Tony asked before catching the disappointed look on Steve’s face, “Something you want to say, Spangles?”

“You slept with a married woman?”

Tony snorted, “Technically, I also slept with a married man.”

Natasha let out a startled laugh as Steve’s mouth dropped open, and a blush spread over his cheeks.

“FRI, what about hospital records? Vaccinations? School records for Primary school? Social Media? Friends? Anything else you can give me?”

“No vaccination records, one hospital admission for a broken arm and a concussion that was referred to the DfE but not followed up. School records suggest well above average intelligence for his first year, then far below average intelligence in the years between one and six. The school filed multiple reports to the DfE, but none seemed to be followed up. No social media found.”

“Thanks, FRI,” Tony said sadly, putting his head in his hands.

“Jesus, Tony,” Steve breathed, seemingly over his little blushing attack.

“You expected that. You were looking for it,” Natasha said sharply, looking at Tony with a piercing expression.

Tony sighed, “Not quite that, but yeah. I mean, look at him! He’s tiny. He looks like a stiff breeze could knock him over. And the absolute certainty I’d want nothing to do with him when I found out he was a wizard! Not to mention what he said about not letting Teddy grow up like he did. He’s been through something, and not just a war. He’s been going through it his whole life.”

Natasha whistled, “Damn Tony, we might make a spy out of you yet.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Nat, you seem to know more about my kid than FRIDAY, so shoot.”

Natasha frowned, “SHIELD worked with MACUSA, not the English Ministry, so I don’t know all that much….”

“I don’t care. Just tell me what you know!” Tony snapped.

“In the early ’90s, there was a war in England. There was a Dark Lord who called himself Voldemort, who, as Harry said, was a bit like Magical Hitler. For reasons unknown, at least to MACUSA, in 1999, he attacked the Potter family, killing James and Lily. When he tried to kill Harry, the curse backfired and destroyed him. They called Harry The-Boy-Who-Lived because he was the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse. Harry all but disappeared, and no one saw him until he started Hogwarts at 11. I can’t give you much about his school life apart from his fourth year, where he was supposedly illegally entered in the Triwizard Tournament, which ended up with another champion dead and Voldemort returning. Voldemort never made any moves towards America, so MACUSA didn’t get involved. That’s all I know.”

Tony blew a harsh breath out of his nose, “Fuck.”

Bucky frowned, “He said they called him The-Man-Who-Conquered now.”

Tony turned back to Natasha, who shrugged, “I don’t know, Tony. There was no new information from MACUSA before SHIELD collapsed.”

“Ok, well, I’ll just hack into this MACUSA, whatever the fuck that means, and find out.” Tony pulled out his tablet, but Natasha was already shaking her head.

“You can’t hack into MACUSA. They’re completely analogue. Like parchment, quills, and letters kind of analogue. They used to send the information to SHIELD via owls.”

“You could just ask him,” Steve piped up unhelpfully.

“Yeah,” A harsh voice said from the door, and Tony turned around to see his son glaring at him furiously, “You could just ask.”

Chapter Text

“Harry, I…” Tony started, but Harry held up a finger to stop him, breathing deeply to try and calm himself and not act irrationally.

“I won’t say I’m not angry because I am. I am furious. It’s an invasion of privacy on so many levels, but..” Harry said loudly to cut off the obvious arguments that Tony had brewing, “I do understand. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. I could be dangerous or unstable, so I understand the need to look into me. However, in the future, I would prefer you to ask me.”

“I'm not researching you because I think you’re dangerous,” Tony huffed in exasperation, “I’m doing it because I’m worried about you!”

Harry frowned, “Why would you be worried about me?”

Everyone was looking at him wide-eyed now, “Harry,” Steve said slowly, “You were in a war six months ago.”

“And?” Harry shrugged, “It was six months ago. It’s over. I’m done.”

Steve frowned, “Harry, fighting in a war isn’t something you just get over at the drop of a hat. Trust me, I know.”

“It was six months ago. It’s over. I’m done,” Harry repeated slowly.

“Oh,” Natasha breathed, snapping Harry’s attention over to her, “You’ve compartmentalised it, haven’t you?”

Harry frowned, “I don’t know what that means.”

Natasha hummed before turning back to Steve, Bucky, and Tony, “He should speak to Sam.”

Steve and Bucky nodded, “That’s a good idea.

Tony hummed, “FRI, when Sam gets here, can you get him to come and find me.”

“Who’s Sam?” Harry gritted out, getting really annoyed at being talked about like he wasn’t there.

Steve smiled, “He’s one of the Avengers. He’s also a therapist. Works particularly with war vets and people with PTSD.”

“I don’t have PTSD,” Harry grumbled, having had this conversation with Hermione more times than he could count.

“Sure, kid,” Tony scoffed, “I think I’ll let Sam be the judge of that.”

“This is ridiculous! I don’t need a therapist. I don’t have PTSD. I’m fine!”

Tony scoffed, “Oh yeah, and I’m a perfectly well-adjusted contributing member of society.”

Harry frowned, “Are you not?”

Bucky threw his head back and laughed. Steve and Natasha looked like they were trying to keep their composure, but one look at Harry’s confused face set them off.

Tony rolled his eyes, “Look, kid. Everyone here has been through their fair share of shit. This room probably has enough collective trauma to drown a village in angst. There’s no shame in it. So just speak to Sam. Either it helps, or it doesn’t. No harm, no foul.”

Harry sighed, “I’ll think about it, ok?”

Tony nodded, “That’s all I ask.”

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to leave the room before stopping, “I was going to make lunch. Does anyone want anything?”

Everyone seemed to perk up, especially Tony, “What are you making?”

Harry shrugged, “Nothing too fancy; I was just going to see what you had and make sandwiches.”

“Whatever you make is fine,” Tony said with a grin, “But Spangles over there eats like a racehorse, so you’ll want to make a lot.”

Harry snorted, “No different from usual then. Dudley and Vernon were fatter than holy hell, so I’m used to making a lot. I’ll get FRIDAY to call you when it’s ready.”

The kitchen at the compound was spectacular, in Harry’s opinion. But, really, the whole compound was spectacular, so it should have been expected.

Harry pulled the ingredients out of the fridge, setting everything out on the spacious bench, all whilst humming The Weird Sisters. 

He was lost in his own little world when someone cleared their throat, startling him enough that his wand slipped from his holster into his hand.

Harry turned around to see Bucky leaning against the doorframe. His eyes trained on Harry’s wand.

Harry raised an eyebrow, trying to seem nonchalant and not like his heart was beating out of his chest, “Something I can help you with?”

“You have a knighthood,” Bucky said, looking at him piercingly.

“Yeah,” Harry said awkwardly. Honestly, he had more accolades than just his Order of the British Empire, and he hated every single one.

“You don’t get a knighthood for just fighting in a war.”

Harry sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He really didn’t want to discuss this. He’d come here to get away from the war. From the reporters and the well-meaning public who all but stalked his every move. Sure, he wanted to get to know his father but the chance to get away was a large part of why he eventually decided to come.

“No,” Harry swallowed harshly, “But you do get it for ending one.”

~•~

Tony groaned and smacked his head against the table, “It’s barely been a day, and I’ve already fucked up being a father.”

“Tony,” Steve said softly, “You haven’t messed up. I think you did a great job.”

Tony snorted, “Thanks, Spangles, but I’m pretty sure the kid hates me.”

“We have very different definitions of hate then, Stark,” Natasha said with a huff, “He’s obviously just not used to people wanting to help him, so he doesn’t know how to deal with it. I know what that’s like.”

Bucky nodded, “He’s been through some shit. He doesn’t know how to have a parent any more than you know how to be one.” He shrugged before standing up, “Give him some time. I’m gonna see what he’s making for lunch.”

Tony waved him off, not lifting his head from the table.

“Hey Boss, Sam and Clint are back. Want me to send them through?” FRIDAY called out, and Tony smiled.

“Thanks, FRIDAY. You’re the best.”

“I know,” She chirped as Tony laughed.

“Everything alright, Tony?” Clint asked the minute he walked in, field outfit still on, bow over his shoulder. Sam followed closely behind, wings still on, “Why’s there a bassinet in here?”

Tony laughed slightly hysterically, “That’s for my grandkid.”

Clint and Sam stopped short, eyes wide, “Grandkid?” Sam spluttered.

“Yeah! Found out about him today! I have a kid! That kid adopted a kid, and I have a grandkid! Ta-da!” 

“Ok,” Sam said, drawing out the word, “I think we might need a bit more context here.”

Clint nodded, both he and Sam sitting down at the table as Tony sighed.

“His name is Harry,” Tony started, “I met his parents one night when I was doing a deal in London. I left the next day and never heard from them again, but nine months later, Harry was born. They must have done a paternity test when he was born because they knew he was mine.”

“They never reached out?” Clint asked with a frown.

“I don’t think they got the chance,” Tony said sadly. He had no idea whether or not they would have reached out had they not died, and honestly, Tony didn’t know what his reaction would have been if they did. Before Afghanistan, he was a very different person. “They died just after Harry turned one.”

“Damn,” Sam murmured, shaking his head.

Tony swallowed, wondering what else he should say. Harry’s words about invading his privacy ran around in his head. He gave Clint a significant look, hoping he understood, “I don’t think he had a great childhood.”

Clint’s jaw clenched, and he gave a sharp nod, showing he understood.

Tony cleared his throat, “Anyway, the kid’s a wizard.” He blurted out, ripping off the proverbial Band-Aid.

“Wizard?” Sam choked out, much the same way Tony did when he found out.

“Harry Potter,” Natasha piped up from the corner, watching Clint’s eyes widen.

“Your kid is Harry Potter? Fucking hell, Stark.”

“Yep,” Tony laughed, “Apparently, my kid is almost as big a deal as me.” Tony rubbed his face, “He was in a war. A fucking magical war with magical fucking Hitler that ended six months ago.”

“Damn, he must be a mess,” Sam said, slipping back into therapist mode.

Natasha sighed, “That’s the thing; he’s not. He’s compartmentalised the whole thing. He thinks he’s fine. He jumped straight from a war into looking after his orphaned godson.”

Sam sighed, “I take it you want me to talk to him?”

Tony nodded, “He’s obviously not fine. Steve-o put his hand on his shoulder, and the kid went full ninja and launched him across the room.”

“Damn,” Clint breathed, looking at Steve, who just nodded.

“Hey Boss, mini-boss wants me to tell you lunch is ready.”

“Thanks, FRI,” Tony stood up, “You two ready to meet the sprog?”

~•~

“Fruit of my loins!” Tony exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen. 

Harry turned to him with an absolutely horrified expression, “Absolutely not.”

Tony shrugged, “No? Well, you need a nickname. How about Merlin?”

Harry shook his head, “No. He was an actual person. And quite important to our world.”

“Right,” Tony drawled, “Gandalf then?”

“I understood that reference!” Steve piped up as Harry snorted.

“Gandalf actually reminds me of my old Headmaster. Also, I use a wand, not a staff.”

Tony’s eyes lit up, “Like an actual magic wand? Can I see it?” 

Harry swallowed the instinctive fear of being without his wand, flicked it out of his holster, and placed it in front of Tony, not missing how everyone’s eyes followed.

Tony snatched it up, and Harry winced at the carelessness of the action. “What’s it made of?”

“Mine’s Holly and Phoenix feather, but they differ from person to person.” Harry watched as Tony examined the wand and began flicking it around.

“It’s not working,” Tony said, actually pouting.

Harry huffed and plucked the wand out of Tony’s hand, putting it back in its holster. “That’s cause you’re not a wizard, Tin-Man.”

Tony pulled an affronted face, “Oi! Don’t be rude, Glinda! Nicknames are my thing.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know there’d be more of you. But, hopefully, there’s enough,” he said, pointing to the veritable mountain of sandwiches.

“God, I don’t remember the last time someone actually used this kitchen. Tony mostly just orders food. I’m Clint, by the way, Clint Barton.”

Harry smiled, “Harry Potter. Nice to meet you.” Harry saw Clint’s eyes flick up to his forehead and, with a scowl, flattened his hair down.

Clint at least looked a bit repentant as he muttered, “Sorry,” and made a grab for one of the sandwiches.

“I’m Sam Wilson.” The other one Harry hadn’t met yet introduced himself, and Harry’s eye twitched slightly, remembering the conversation with Tony. Sam obviously noticed because he chuckled slightly and winked.

“Where’s Teddy?” Natasha asked, looking around.

“Down for a nap,” Harry replied, making sure everyone had grabbed a sandwich before grabbing one himself, “He should be up soonish for a feed. Trust me, you’ll hear him. He’s got the lungs of a banshee. The first time Kreacher heard him scream, he thought we were being attacked. Ran into his room brandishing a frying pan.”

“What’s a Kreacher?” Tony asked carefully.

“He’s my house-elf,” Harry replied with a shrug.

“Who’s saying nonsense words now,” Tony mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Harry to hear, who proceeded to stick his tongue out at him.

“So Harry,” Clint said with a smile, “Tell us about yourself.”

Everyone turned to look at him, and the urge to draw his wand or disappear under his invisibility cloak was almost overwhelming, but he swallowed the fear and cleared his throat, “What do you want to know?”

What followed next was one of the most uncomfortable half-hours of Harry’s life. The questions were fairly innocuous;

“Favourite colour?” Red and Gold, and no, not because of Iron Man.

“Best friend?” Ron and Hermione, obviously.

“Girlfriend?” No.

“Boyfriend?” Also no.

“Favourite hobby?” Quidditch.

“Favourite Avenger?” Still have no idea who any of you are.

So on and so forth until Harry was practically begging for Teddy to wake up and start screaming. He had no idea how they made such boring questions feel like an actual interrogation, but they managed it. They were a, quite frankly, terrifying bunch. Natasha and Bucky were looking at him like a puzzle they couldn’t quite figure out. Sam and Steve seemed to be following and analysing his every move. Tony just kept looking at him, torn between wonder and terror. Harry quite liked Clint, though, he was by far the most lighthearted of the bunch, and he kept steering the conversation in a different direction when he could tell Harry was uncomfortable, which was nice of him.

Blessedly, FRIDAY announced that Teddy had woken up, and Harry had an excuse to rush off and feed him. 

Harry picked Teddy up and rocked him as the bottle was warming up, trying to calm down his beating heart and racing thoughts.

This whole thing was a lot. He’d arrived in New York barely a full day ago, and suddenly he was living with his biological father and his weird group of misfit superheroes, apparently had some sort of therapy session scheduled, completely obliterated the Statute of Secrecy, and had most of his sordid history out on display. 

With Teddy fed and burped and back in his cot, Harry sat down heavily on the bed and pulled his mirror out of his trunk.

Taking a deep breath, Harry called out, “Hermione Granger.”

“Harry!” Hermione greeted, her face squashed in with Ron’s.

“So, how’d it go? Did you meet him?” Ron asked before frowning, “Did you move hotels?”

Harry huffed, “Oh yeah. I met him. And I didn’t move hotels; he moved me into the bloody compound.”

Ron whistled lowly as Hermione gasped, “You’re living with the Avengers?”

“Yep,” Harry snorted, “And you were right, Hermione; I probably should have researched them before I came. Apparently, I beat up Captain America.”

Ron laughed loudly as Hermione tutted, “Honestly, Harry.” Harry smiled at the disapproval in her tone. At least some things don’t change.

“You doing alright, mate?” Ron asked after he’d calmed down a bit.

Harry ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know. A couple of them know who I am.”

Hermione’s face softened, “Oh, Harry. I’m sorry. How’d Mr Stark take the wizard news?”

Harry smiled sadly, “He was shocked at first, but when I offered to leave, he wanted me to stay, so that’s good, I guess.” Harry scoffed, “He tried to use my wand and got all pouty when I didn’t work. But I don’t know, Mione, it’s just, it’s a lot. There are so many of them here, and I haven’t even met them all. I have no idea why Tony wants me to live here. I’m 18, and I don’t need a father. I don’t even know why I came here.”

Hermione sighed, “Harry. We talked about this. No one is too old for a father. He obviously wants to get to know you; who wouldn’t? You’re brilliant.” Harry laughed, and Hermione smiled, “I know it’s a lot, I didn’t expect him to move you into the compound, so I can imagine you’re feeling overwhelmed, but Harry, it’s a good thing. He obviously wants you around and wants to make this work. You just have to let him.”

“Yeah, mate,” Ron said with a nod, “What Mione said.”

~•~

“Alright,” Tony said the minute Harry was out of earshot, “Thoughts?”

Steve hummed, “He still moves like a soldier.”

“He positions himself in a way he can escape easily, he keeps his eyes on the exits at all times, and his wand is always ready,” Bucky said with a nod, not taking his eyes off the door Harry had left out of.

“He’s cagey with information, even just basic stuff,” Clint frowned.

Sam hummed, “Being in large groups makes him uncomfortable. He seemed more comfortable around you, Tony, but the rest of us made him nervous.”

Natasha nodded, “He’s more twitchy than Bucky was when we first moved him into the tower. I don’t even think he noticed how many times his wand flew into his hand. You should ask Bruce and Pepper what he was like with them.”

Tony sighed. His kid was traumatised. Traumatised and completely unwilling to admit it. Apparently, that was another Stark gene that he inherited, and Tony had absolutely no idea how to help him.

“FRI, what’s the kid up to?”

“Mini-boss has just finished feeding Teddy and seems to be talking into a hand mirror.”

Tony’s eyebrows flew up, “Right. That’s not at all concerning.”

Chapter Text

Harry wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but a knock on his door startled him awake quite violently. So much so that he tumbled off the bed with a thump. Then, standing up with a groan, thanking all the gods that Teddy hadn’t woken up as well, Harry opened his door and saw Bucky standing there awkwardly.

“Yeah?” Harry grumbled, still half asleep.

“Tony ordered pizza for dinner. I thought you might want to join us.”

Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and nodded tiredly, “Yeah, alright. Sounds good.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Bucky said with a frown as Harry walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

“It’s alright,” Harry said with a shrug, falling into step with Bucky as they walked to the kitchen, “Didn’t mean to fall asleep anyway.”

Bucky huffed, but the frown abated slightly, so Harry counted that as a win. The two walked in a fairly comfortable silence until they reached the kitchen, where Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Pepper were already waiting. 

Harry immediately walked over and took the seat next to Bruce, smiling at the put-out look on Tony’s face when Bucky took the open seat next to him. It reminded Harry of the put-out expression Sirius used to make when Harry would sit next to Remus instead of him. 

“So, Matilda,” Tony started, and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Are you just going to call me every vaguely magical fictional character?”

“Pretty much. I’ll find one that sticks eventually,” Tony replied with a shrug, “Did you have any actual plans for when you came to New York or did you just hop on your broomstick and fly over?”

“I actually left my broom at home. Should have brought it, though. You’ve got heaps of space. I could have flown.”

“Stop, stop, stop! You actually have a flying broomstick?” Tony looked at him like all his Christmas’ had come at once.

Harry chuckled, “Yeah, it’s called a Firebolt. It was a gift from my Godfather, and before you ask, he’s also dead.”

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Tony asked, his face a mix of stricken but slightly amused.

Harry smiled, “Not on your life, Robo-Cop.”

Tony pouted, “I don’t think I like that. Is that what I’m like? Is that what you all have to put up with?”

A chorus of ‘Yeah’ and ‘Absolutely’ rang out across the table, and Harry threw his head back and laughed at the affronted look on Tony’s face. Harry didn’t think he’d laughed like this in… god, he couldn’t even remember.

“If we’re all done making fun of me,” Tony groused, but Harry could see the pleased smile on his face, “So, plans?”

Harry shrugged, “I’ve never been out of the UK, so I want to do all the touristy things. Time Square, the Statue of Liberty, that sort of thing. I want to see the American Magical sector as well. Compare it to Diagon Alley.”

“Well, I don’t know about the magical sector, but we can definitely show you around New York,” Tony said excitedly.

Harry raised an eyebrow, “Because getting shown around New York by The Avengers would be so inconspicuous. I’d have my face splashed all over the paper, and I have that enough in England.”

“I see your point,” Tony said with a tilt of his head, “Counterpoint. I can hire out every major landmark in New York for the day, and then no one will see you.”

Harry scoffed, “No, you can’t.”

Everyone groaned in unison as Tony pulled out his tablet, “Challenge absolutely accepted.”

“That wasn’t a challenge!” 

“Too late! We’ve got the Statue of Liberty for 11 and the Empire State Building for 1. MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History have all agreed to close for the day, so we can go whenever. If you want to go to Rockefeller Centre, they’ll close to the public for me.”

Harry stared at Tony, bug-eyed, “You are the most ridiculous person I’ve ever met in my life.”

Tony stood up and bowed, “Thank you, thank you very much.”

“I don’t think I meant it as a compliment,” Harry replied, but he was smiling at Tony’s antics.

“I’ve been saying the same thing for years, Harry,” Pepper said with a roll of her eyes, “He’s never going to take it as anything but.”

“She is, as usual, absolutely right,” Tony replied happily.

The following day, with Teddy happily strapped to his chest and diaper bag slung over his shoulder, Harry made his way out to meet Tony for what was likely to be the most ridiculous tour of New York anyone had ever been on. He wasn’t sure who else was coming, but he silently hoped it wasn’t actually all of the Avengers. It looked like he was in luck; when he made it to the car, Harry only saw Pepper, Tony, Steve, and Bucky. 

“Morning, Harry,” Steve said brightly, way too brightly for 9 in the morning.

“Captain,” Harry replied with a two-fingered salute.

Tony grumbled something that sounded like ‘hello’ before drinking deeply from a thermos.

“Coffee, Harry?” Pepper asked with a smile, handing over a thermos that Harry took happily. “Ok, so breakfast first, then we’ll head over to the Statue of Liberty, everyone ok with that?”

Teddy grumbled some nonsense into Harry’s shirt, bouncing up and down slightly in his sling. Harry smiled and kissed the top of his head, “All good with us.”

“Great!” Pepper replied, ushering everyone into a massive 7-seater SUV. She quickly introduced Harry to Happy, who was looking at him a bit wide-eyed. 

Harry sat next to Tony, who still looked like he was half asleep, and set up Teddy’s car seat, which Harry assumed Tony had bought for him, considering it was an Iron Man car seat.

“He’s bought Teddy an Iron Man onesie as well,” Pepper said over her shoulder, “I convinced him to get a Hulk one as well, considering how much Teddy likes Bruce. He’s got a 10-step plan to make Iron Man his favourite, though.”

“It’ll work, trust me,” Tony grumbled as Harry snorted, “Even if I have to build him his own Iron Man suit.”

“Do not build an Iron Man suit for a baby!” Pepper hissed, “Jesus Christ, I can not believe that’s something I have to say.”

Tony waved his hand, “When he’s older, obviously Pep.” Tony leaned over and tickled Teddy’s stomach, “Do you want an Iron Man suit? Yes you do, yes you do!”

~•~

Tony had the perfect day planned. He was going to show Harry just how brilliant New York was, so he’d never want to leave. Not that Harry had explicitly said that he was going to leave, but he also hadn’t said that he was staying. He knew that Harry’s hotel room had been booked for two weeks, but he also didn’t have a return flight, so that was a good sign. But still, he didn’t want Harry to leave. Ever. Which might seem a bit ridiculous, considering he’d only met the kid a day ago, but this was his kid. 

He’d opened the tour up to all the Avengers, the ones at the compound at least, but he didn’t think any of them would actually come. So he was more than a little surprised when Bucky immediately jumped at the offer, and then, obviously, Steve had to follow. But that was fine; after the initial throwing the Cap across the room thing, Harry seemed alright around them, so he wasn’t worried. Realistically, Tony was just hoping to go the whole day without sticking his foot in his mouth again.

And it was going brilliantly. They had breakfast at one of Pepper’s favourite cafes, where the owner was kind enough to shut down for a couple of hours (Tony tipped everyone very generously). The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were big hits, especially with Teddy, who spent most of the time smacking Harry’s arms and babbling excitedly. 

Everything started going downhill when they got to the museums. Someone had obviously tipped off the paparazzi because they were camped out at every single one of them. 

Harry refused to get out of the car, especially considering that he had Teddy with him, which was fair enough. This was the whole reason Tony had booked the places out.

“Is that what it’s like being an Avenger?” Harry asked quietly.

Before Tony could even answer, Steve stuck his big stupid foot in his big stupid mouth and said, “That’s what it’s like being a Stark.”

Tony could see the moment that the implication hit Harry full force. It was like a shutter went over his face, and he shut down completely. The glare that Tony shot Steve was so fierce that the man actually flinched. Good. Stupid bastard.

~•~

“That’s what it’s like being a Stark.”

Fuck.

Is that what he was? 

Sure, Steve probably didn’t mean it like that. More just like a throwaway comment about how famous Tony was. 

But like it or not, Harry was Tony’s son. 

He’d made the choice to come out here and get to know him, to insert himself into this man’s life as his son. There was no getting away from it now.

And really, Hermione was right. Tony did want him around, wanted to get to know his son. For fucks sake, the man had booked out major New York landmarks just because Harry hadn’t wanted the opportunity for the paparazzi to come after him, and then had driven away at the drop of a hat when the paparazzi had been there.

Like it or not, Harry was a Stark. He was Tony Stark's kid. And considering he was a carbon copy of the man, people would start to notice it eventually.

Honestly, he didn’t really have much of a choice here.

Well, no. That’s not entirely true.

Harry had made his choice when he came to New York. When he sat in that lab and took the blood test. When he let Tony move him into the compound. 

And as much as his battle-hardened adult side tried to fight the need for a father, the freak in the cupboard that cried out for a family was there as well. Begging him to take the chance to be loved. To have a family.

“Right,” Harry said with a decisive nod, “I guess I’ll just have to get used to it then.”

~•~

“Right. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it then.”

Tony whipped his head around so fast he was honestly surprised his neck didn’t snap. That was not at all what he was expecting. He was almost expecting Harry to pack up and leave the second they returned to the compound. 

His face must have been quite the picture, but Harry just smiled at him and shrugged.

Tony didn’t miss Pepper’s pleased smile in the rearview mirror or the twin sighs of relief from behind him.

Well, at least now he didn’t have to kill Steve.

Chapter Text

“Alright,” Tony said with a frown, “Who told?”

Tony honestly thought he’d seen the last of Nick Fury when SHIELD collapsed. But, alas, it was not to be. Instead, the one-eyed annoyance was currently sitting in one of the compound's common areas, calm as you like, looking like he owned the bloody place. Why he couldn’t just stay dead was anyone’s guess.

Vision and Wanda were obviously back from wherever they’d been; honestly, Tony didn’t care enough to keep track, and Wanda looked about as enthused to have Fury there as Tony was. Sam and Steve just looked downright uncomfortable. Bucky was nowhere to be seen, and, luckily, neither was Harry.

Clint and Nat looked very blasé, so his money was on either one of them being the sneaky little snitch.

Though, if Tony was being honest, he was surprised it took Fury this long to come. Considering how interested Natasha and Clint had been in the fact that his son was Harry Potter, he thought Fury would have descended on the compound almost immediately, not wait more than a week. It would almost be considerate, if it wasn’t Fury and the man wasn’t after his son.

“I hear congratulations are in order, Stark. It’s a boy.”

“I didn’t realise my sexual exploits were such a big draw for you, Fury. Would you like a list? I can do chronological or alphabetical. Dealer’s choice,” Tony drawled.

“I think we both know I’m more interested in the fact that your son is The-Boy-Who-Lived.”

“Don’t call him that,” Tony snapped, “And I don’t give a shit what you’re interested in; you stay the hell away from my son. SHIELD doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not employed by you. You have no right to come in here and try to get anywhere near him. And whichever one of you told,” Tony growled, glaring at Clint and Natasha in particular, “You’re lucky I don’t kick your ass out. I’m not fucking around here, Fury. You come anywhere near my kid, and I’ll destroy you.”

“I don’t think that’s your decision to make, Stark.” 

“It damn well is my decision! Not only is this my fucking kid you’re talking about. You’re doing it sitting in my fucking compound. You think you can come in here and act like you have all the power. You’ve got nothing, Fury.”

Fury scoffed, “I’ve told MACUSA that he’s here.”

“MACUSA already knows I’m here.”

Tony spun around with his hand on his chest, “Jesus Christ, kid! You’re the quietest person I’ve ever met! Do you ever make any noise?”

Until this point, Tony just couldn’t see how Harry could have fought in a war. Been some sort of figurehead for a war. 

To Tony, Harry was just his scrawny little kid who made funny faces at Teddy to make him laugh . Who lost his glasses even when they were on his face. Who was a bit of a snarky bastard but never a soldier.

Right now, though? Harry looked like he could take down Fury single-handedly, barely breaking a sweat. 

And Tony had to admit that Bucky standing directly behind Harry, looking very Winter Soldier-esque, probably helped the whole menacing vibe quite a bit.

“Do you really think that I could get into the country without MACUSA knowing?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, “The English Ministry might be a crock of shit, but MACUSA is not. And despite the Ministry being completely corrupt and taken over by an evil dictator at the time, six months ago, I was considered Undesirable Number 1 in the UK. So did you really think MACUSA would just let me into the country without some rigorous checks?”

“Mr Potter,” Fury said, standing up and extending his hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Tony moved quickly to stand in between Harry and Fury. He wanted as much distance as possible between the two. He had no idea what Fury wanted with Harry, but he knew it wasn’t going to be good.

Harry scoffed, “I wish I could say the same.”

God, Tony fucking loved this kid. The snarky little shit.

Fury’s eye twitched in annoyance, much to Tony’s delight, “I wanted to speak to you about the war.”

“On whose authority?” Harry asked with a tilt of his head, “Because it’s certainly not MACUSA, seeing as I’ve already spoken with not only the Aurors but also the fucking President and no one ever mentioned you. So I don’t understand why you, of all people, would be interested in a war you had nothing to do with.”

“I’m here on my own authority to speak with you about what happened in the forest.”

Tony knew immediately that Fury had just stepped into territory that he shouldn’t have. Harry’s entire demeanour shifted. His posture went completely rigid, his eyes hardened, and his jaw clenched. Anger literally oozed from Harry’s every pore. And for the first time since Tony had met him, Harry looked dangerous.

“I don’t know what you think you know or how you found out, but you have no right to ask me about that.”

His voice was like ice. Freezing everyone in place.

Fury held his hand up placatingly, “I’m only here to discuss the location of a certain object that was last known to be in your possession in the forest, not what happened to you in the clearing.” 

And just like that, all the tension in Harry’s posture evaporated. Almost like it was never even there.

Tony had no fucking idea what this conversation was about, and from the looks on everyone’s faces, they didn’t either.

Harry smiled, a sort of twisted parody of a smile, “You’ll never find it. No one will.”

“That is a mistake, Mr Potter. You can’t protect it.”

“Alright,” Tony yelled, finally getting sick of not knowing what was happening, “What the fuck is going on here?”

“Mr Fury here is after the Resurrection Stone,” Harry said with a tilt of his head, “Aren’t you?”

Fury clenched his jaw, obviously not expecting Harry to actually say anything, “We call it the Soul Stone. It’s one of the Infinity Stones.”

That stopped Tony short. Stopped everyone short if the surprised intakes of breath were anything to go by. Why did Harry have one of the Infinity Stones? 

Harry scoffed, “I don’t care if it was the lost bloody ring of Cleopatra. You’re. Not. Getting. It.”

Fury was practically grinding his teeth, “You’re making a mistake.”

“You know what?” Harry said with a smile, “I really don’t think I am.”

Fury sighed, “I can see this conversation is getting nowhere today.”

Harry interrupted, “It’s getting nowhere, ever.” 

“So I’ll come back another time.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“And finish the conversation.”

“It’s already finished.”

At this point, Tony honestly couldn’t help himself and just burst into laughter. “The kid’s spoken, Fury. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I don’t want ass marks on my door.”

“Well, you must be very proud, Stark,” Fury said mockingly, “To have a son just like you.”

Tony glared, “You have no idea.”

~•~

“Are you ok?” 

Harry turned to see Bucky looking down at him worriedly.

Harry nodded, “Oh yeah. Trust me; I’ve dealt with worse than Fury over the years.”

That didn’t mean that it didn’t piss him off, though.

Bucky frowned but nodded and moved away as Tony came over, placing his hands on Harry’s cheeks, and looking him over with a fine-tooth comb.

“Are you sure you're ok?” Tony asked with a frown.

Harry nodded again, a warm feeling settling in his chest that he was trying very hard not to focus on, “I’m fine, Tony. I swear.”

“Why do you have an Infinity Stone?” 

Harry whipped his head around to glare at Natasha, “I don’t know why that’s any of your fucking business.”

Natasha didn’t look even slightly perturbed, “They’re dangerous.”

“So am I.”

Natasha scoffed, and Harry flicked his wand out, casting a silent petrificus totalus at her, watching her eyes widen before apparating directly behind her and leaning in to speak in her ear, “This is a spell I learnt in first year. I’ve had 6 years of magical education since then. I spent a year on the run, hiding from and fighting wizards and witches more than 20 years my senior. I killed the most prolific Dark Lord of all time at 17 years old. Do not underestimate me, Natasha. You will regret it.”

Harry cast a finite incantatem at her before straightening up and walking back to the front of the room. “I don’t know what the Infinity Stones are, nor do I really care. I wasn’t lying when I told Fury that no one would ever find it. You could interrogate me all you want; hell, you could even torture me, and I still wouldn’t be able to tell you where it was. It couldn't possibly be more protected. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

And with that, Harry turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. 

Fuck.

He shouldn’t have lost his temper like that. Shouldn’t have let Fury and Natasha get under his skin. He had nothing to prove here. No one to prove it to. 

“Harry! Harry, wait!” 

Harry lifted up his glasses and rubbed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself down before turning around.

“Yeah, Tony?”

“I’m sorry about Nat. She can’t really turn off the whole SHIELD Agent/Spy/Assassin thing.”

Harry sighed and shook his head, “It’s my fault, honestly. I shouldn’t have attacked her like that. I just… the conversation with Fury; he just bought up some touchy points for me, so I was on edge. I’ll apologise to her.”

“Do you…” Tony cleared his throat awkwardly, “Do you want to talk about it? What Fury said about the forest?”

Harry stiffened, forcibly swallowing his initial reaction to tell Tony to fuck off, as he did with everyone else who tried to get him to talk about it. Hermione once pushed so hard that he kicked her out of his house for an entire week, and Ron, well, Ron tried once and then never again. 

“No,” Harry swallowed harshly, “I really don’t.”

Honestly, he expected Tony to push. To try and get him to talk about it. He was already mentally preparing himself for the inevitable fight they’d have about it.

But Tony just nodded. “Alright, kid, you don’t have to tell me. But if you ever want to. I’m here.”

Harry blinked. “Oh. Ok. Thanks then.”

“Right, well,” Tony said stiltedly before stepping forward and wrapping Harry in what might have been the most awkward hug he’d ever been a part of. “Good talk.”

Harry didn’t expect anyone to seek him out for at least the rest of the day. Realistically, he wasn’t really expecting anyone to seek him out ever again, considering his behaviour earlier. He was more than prepared for the compound to turn into a repeat of Hogwarts in his second and fifth years when everyone was afraid of him and avoided him like the plague. 

So he was more than a little surprised when, during Teddy’s feeding, he saw Natasha leaning against his doorframe.

“Oh, hey,” Harry said awkwardly, “Is everything ok?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Natasha said, nodding towards Teddy.

“No worries, he’s almost done. Do you want to come in?”

Natasha smiled and sat down on the bed as Harry finished feeding Teddy. “Do you want to hold him?”

Natasha’s eyes widened, “Oh, um, sure?” 

Harry smiled and passed Teddy over, “Just make sure you support his head.”

Teddy looked up at Natasha and giggled before wrinkling his nose and turning his hair red. Natasha smiled and ran a hand through his hair, “Hello, солнышко.”

“I wanted to apologise for earlier,” Harry said with a frown, “I shouldn’t have attacked you like that.”

Natasha waved away the apology, never looking away from Teddy, “It’s ok. I think everyone here has attacked each other at some point. I once threw a knife at your dad because he pissed me off.”

Harry laughed, and Natasha looked up at him and grinned, “So wiz kid, how’s your hand-to-hand combat?”

Harry frowned, “Vaguely passable, why?”

“Want me to teach you?”

Harry narrowed his eyes, “You just want a chance to beat me up, don’t you?”

“I will admit, it’s a fairly large part of the draw.”

Harry laughed, “Yeah, alright then, why not.”

“Excellent.” Something he couldn’t quite place passed over Natasha’s face, “I’ll get Bucky to help as well.”

“Ok,” Harry said with a shrug.

Natasha chuckled and handed Teddy back, “Alright. Tomorrow, 10am. FRIDAY will direct you to the training room.”

That night, Harry decided to make everyone dinner to make up for his little outburst earlier. He’d gotten the idea earlier when Bucky had come to check on him, and Harry had been trying to figure out a way to apologise. Bucky had said they all think with their stomachs and just to make dinner, and everything would be forgiven.

He’d just turned to put the Shepherd's Pie in the oven when a voice he didn't recognise said, “Ok, I know you can’t cook, Tony. Should I be concerned?

Harry spun around with a smile, “Not Tony. So there’s no need to worry.”

The man looked at him, completely gobsmacked, “Oh, hell no! TONY! Get your ass in here right now!”

Harry just shrugged and turned back to finish making the salad, and not two minutes later, Tony skidded into the room, eyes wide and a massive smile plastered on his face.

“Honey Bear! I see you’ve met your nephew. Harry, this is your Uncle Rhodey.”

Harry smiled and waved, “Hi.”

Rhodey gaped, “How could you forget to tell me you had a son, Tony!”

Harry smirked, reaching over to pat Rhodey consolingly on the arm, “Don’t be too hard on him, Uncle Rhodey. He’s getting on in years now. His mind just isn’t what it used to be.”

“Dear God,” Rhodey groaned, “There’s two of you.”

Chapter Text

After handing Teddy off to Tony for babysitting duty, which he still wasn’t sure whether or not was a good idea, but Pepper promised she would be there to help, Harry made his way to the training room where Natasha was already waiting for him. She looked exceptionally pleased with herself, and Harry was beginning to wonder if this might have been a bad idea.

“Alright,” Nat said with a smile, looking slightly over his shoulder, “How flexible are you?”

Harry shrugged, “Enough.”

“Can you touch your toes?” Harry nodded. “Ok, go for it.”

Harry shrugged again but leaned down to touch his toes. A loud bang echoed throughout the room, and Harry looked between his legs to the door where Bucky had just walked straight into the doorframe.

“Oh, hey, Bucky. You alright?”

Natasha’s laughter filled the entire training room as Bucky glared at her.

“I’m fine,” He grunted.

Harry stood back up and cracked his back. “What next?”

“We’ll do some more stretches, and then we’ll work on blocking punches.”

Harry nodded, “Alright.”

What followed next was half an hour of the most ridiculous stretching Harry had ever done, and he’d often done yoga with Hermione, so that was saying something. But, honestly, he had no idea why Natasha looked so pleased with herself the whole time. It’s not like it was particularly difficult, so it wasn’t like she was torturing him.

“You ok over there, Bucky?” Natasha called out, and Harry looked over to see him sitting on a bench, looking more cranky than Harry had ever seen him.

“I will shoot you in the head, Natasha.”

Harry wasn’t sure what had gotten him so pissed off; it wasn’t like he had to stay here if he was bored or anything.

For the next hour, they just did basic defence drills, nothing too difficult, but Natasha and Bucky were fast, so he managed to get knocked on his ass a fair few times. 

“You did well,” Natasha said with a smile when she called time, “I’m impressed. Want to do it again next week?”

Harry agreed easily, rushing off to shower and change before getting Teddy back off Tony. Hopefully, he hadn’t built a baby Iron Man suit for him.

Harry was walking back past the training room when he noticed Natasha and Bucky having some sort of rapid-fire argument in Russian, which Harry didn’t think he could have followed even if he spoke Russian.

Natasha noticed Harry and grinned before shoving a grumbling Bucky out the door and towards Harry.

Frowning slightly, Harry waited for Bucky to shuffle over to him, throwing a final glare over his shoulder to Natasha.

“Everything ok?” Harry asked worriedly.

Bucky’s face twisted, “I was wondering if you wanted to go out and get lunch? With me, I mean. Just me. Like a date,” he trailed off awkwardly.

Harry’s eyes widened in shock, “Oh! Um, yeah, sure. That sounds like fun,” he replied with a smile, “Tony should be fine with Teddy for another hour or so, shouldn’t he?”

“I’ll let him know, don’t worry!” Natasha called out.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Why are you still here?” 

Natasha just laughed and winked at Harry as she left the room.

Harry ran back to his room, grabbed Sirius’ old leather jacket out of his trunk, and ran back out to meet Bucky by the front door.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked.

“Surprise,” Bucky said with a wink as Harry rolled his eyes.

Bucky led Harry out into the garage, which mostly just seemed to be filled with Tony’s cars if the literal Stark number plates were anything to go by. Finally, Bucky stopped in front of a 2012 Harley-Davidson Softail Slim, and Harry all but swooned. Harry had been obsessed with motorbikes since Sirius (much to Molly Weasley’s horror) had taught him to drive one in his fifth year. 

“Is it yours? Please tell me it’s yours,” Harry asked as Bucky handed him a helmet.

“Nah, it’s Stevie’s. He won’t mind if I borrow it, though.”

“I’ve got my Godfather’s 1959 Triumph 650 T 120 Bonneville back in England.”

“Oh yeah?”

Harry smirked, “It can fly.”

Bucky laughed, “Well, now you’re just trying to one-up me.”

Harry laughed and pulled on the helmet, throwing his leg over the bike and wrapping his arms around Bucky’s waist as he peeled out of the compound.

Harry didn’t recognise the area that they ended up stopping in, not that that really meant anything; he didn’t recognise anywhere in the US apart from the compound. “Where are we?”

“Brooklyn,” Bucky said with a smile, “I grew up around here.”

“Wasn’t that like 90 years ago? Surely it’s changed since then.”

Bucky laughed, “Someone’s been doing their research.”

“Aye, Aye, Sergeant,” Harry replied with a wink.

“Cheeky,” Bucky bumped his shoulder against Harry’s, “Come on. Most things have changed, but there’s a family-owned cafe that’s been around since I lived here. I knew the owners in the ‘30s.”

Harry smiled and followed Bucky as he walked towards a hole-in-the-wall cafe a couple of shops up. “You know, you should really release your skincare routine. Considering you’re in your 90’s, you really do look excellent.”

“You really are a little asshole, aren’t you?” 

Harry threw his head back and laughed, “Yeah, but you know that by now.”

Bucky just rolled his eyes and led Harry into the cafe, ordering them some coffee before sitting down at one of the tables.

“So,” Harry said, taking a sip of his coffee, “Tell me about yourself.”

“Well, I grew up in Brooklyn with Stevie. Fought in World War II, was a prisoner of War and experimented on by HYDRA, got rescued, fell off a train and lost my arm, got abducted by HYDRA again, then got tortured and turned into a mindless assassin for like 70 years.”

“You know, I meant like favourite food or favourite movie. But trauma dumping works, too,” Harry said with a smile as Bucky rolled his eyes. “You know, I think you might actually beat me in a game of who’s had a shittier life. That’s not something I can say very often.”

Bucky laughed, “All right, go on then, regale me with your shitty life.”

“Ok, I was born in England during a magical war, making my parents the targets of a crazy Dark Lord who killed them because their friend betrayed them. I survived and got sent to live with my mum's sister and her family, who hated me. I lived in a cupboard for 10 years, then found out I was a wizard and went to magic school. First year, I got attacked by a troll and then by a teacher who had my parent's murderer on the back of his head. Second year, I killed a 60-foot snake that was petrifying people and almost died. Third year, my godfather escaped from prison, where he was falsely imprisoned, and I had to travel back in time to save him from a hundred soul-sucking monsters. Fourth year, I was entered into a deadly tournament against my will, watched one of my friends get murdered in front of me, and used in a ritual to bring my parent's murderer back from the dead. Fifth year, I was tortured by one of my teachers, tricked into a fight with my parent's murderer and got my godfather killed. Sixth year, I almost killed a classmate and watched my headmaster die after he dragged me to a cave where we both almost died. Then last year, I spent on the run from a corrupt government for an entire year, was tortured, and then was in a battle that killed a whole bunch of my friends and Teddy’s parents. Oh, and then I found out my dad wasn’t my dad.”

“Huh,” Bucky said before taking a sip of his coffee, “Yeah, I still think I have you beat, though.”

Harry threw his head back and laughed, “Yeah, I think you do.”

~•~

“Bucky and Harry are out on a date,” Natasha said gleefully as she all but skipped into the room.

“They’re fucking WHAT?” Tony yelled.

“Tony!” Pepper admonished, covering Teddy’s ears.

Tony ignored her, “FRIDAY! Tell Steve to get his stupid ass in here before I put his fucking shield through his neck!”

“Captain Rogers would like me to tell you there’s no need for that and that he’ll be there in a moment.”

“No need for that, my ass!” Tony mumbled under his breath, completely ignoring Natasha, sniggering in the corner.

“What’s the matter, Tony?” Steve asked as he walked in, arms crossed over his chest, a disappointed frown on his face.

“Rogers, why is Barnes on a date with my son?” Tony gritted out, watching Steve’s disappointed frown morph into confusion.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Rogers! Barnes doesn’t take a shit without you knowing about it! You can’t tell me you didn’t know about this!”

Steve held his hands up, “I swear I didn’t know. I mean, I knew they spent a lot of time together, but….”

“What?” Tony interrupted, “No, they don’t.”

“Tony, come on!” Natasha called out, “How have you not noticed that wherever Harry is, Bucky just happens to be there as well?”

“Honestly, Tony, I think Harry’s spent more time with Bucky than with you since he moved here,” Pepper said with a raised eyebrow.

“Nope! No way in hell! FRIDAY! Hack into Harry’s phone and tell me where he is.”

“Really, Boss?” FRIDAY asked, managing to sound quite disappointed.

Tony gaped, “Don’t sass me, young lady!” 

“ Don’t sass me, young lady!”

“Are you mocking me?” Tony gasped as the rest of the room’s occupants, including Teddy, the little traitor, burst into laughter, “Just tell me where Harry is, FRI.”

“Mini-Boss is in Brooklyn.”

Tony tsked before turning to Steve, “He took him to Brooklyn? How unoriginal.”

“Oh, so now you’re annoyed with the originality of the date, Tony?” Natasha snarked as Tony glared at her.

“FRI, tell Happy to pull a car around.”

There was a long pause, and then what could be considered a sigh, “Fine. But I would like it noted that I think this is ridiculous.”

~•~

Harry frowned, the back of his neck tingling slightly. He hadn’t felt anything like this since he’d left England. It felt like he was being watched.

“Everything ok?” Bucky asked with a frown.

Harry hummed, looking around, “I don’t know. It just kind of feels like someone’s watching me.”

Bucky was on alert immediately, looking around for any signs of them being watched. He looked out the window, and a moment later, he snorted and relaxed, “Look over there,” Bucky gestured with his head, “Across the road.”

Harry’s frown deepened, but he looked across the road anyway, his eyes landing on a car with blacked-out windows he recognised almost immediately. Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes before pulling out his phone.

“Harry!” Tony answered, slightly too enthusiastically, “What are you up to?”

“Really, Tony?” Harry asked, “You’re not currently sitting in a car across the road from the cafe I’m in and watching me?”

“What?” Tony spluttered, “Nope. Definitely not doing that. Why would you think that? That’s crazy behaviour.”

“Tony, the car has Stark plates.”

“Why would you pick a car with Stark plates!” Tony hissed at someone who Harry assumed was Happy. 

“Any particular reason you’ve picked up stalking as a hobby?”

“I’m not stalking you!” Tony gasped indignantly, “I was… checking up on you. Yep, that’s it. That’s what I was doing.”

Harry lifted up his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, “Well, as I’m sure you can see, I’m completely fine. Where’s Teddy?”

“He’s fine. He’s with Pepper. I can give you a lift back to see him if you want?”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Bucky can give me a lift back when we’re done.” Harry could practically hear the force of Tony’s pout as he grumbled into the phone. 

“We’re going to talk about this later.”

“Goodbye, Tony.”

“All good?” Bucky asked as Harry hung up the phone, looking quite amused.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Apparently, Tony takes helicopter parenting to a new level. I’m surprised he didn’t bring an actual helicopter. Or storm the cafe with the Iron Man suit.”

Chapter Text

“So,” Pepper said with a smirk, “How was your date?”

Harry rolled his eyes as he took Teddy from her, kissing the top of his head as he bounced excitedly and changed his hair to brown and his eyes to green. “It was great, even when Tony decided to gatecrash.”

“Tell me he didn’t actually interrupt your date,” Pepper asked with a sigh.

Harry laughed, “No. He just decided to watch from across the road in a car.”

“Oh dear God.”

“Bah!” Teddy yelled, smacking his hands against Harry's chest.

“Are we ignoring you, sweet boy?” Harry cooed, “How was he?”

Pepper smiled and ran a finger over Teddy’s cheek. “He was great. Didn’t fuss and took his bottle easily. He’s a really great kid.”

Harry smiled, only slightly tinged with sadness, “I know.”

“Bah! Bah!” Teddy stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry, covering Harry in spit.

“Thanks, Teddy-Bear,” Harry said with a laugh, handing Teddy back to Pepper so he could wipe his face with his shirt.

Just as Pepper handed Teddy back, a short-ish brunette kid came tearing through the room at quite an impressive speed. 

“Hey Mr Stark! I’m just running down to the labs. I’m out of web fluid! Bye!” 

Ah, so that must be the Spider-Kid Tony kept mentioning.

Harry turned to Pepper, “How long till he realises I’m not Tony?”

Pepper held up a hand and counted backwards from five, and just as she put down the last finger, the Spider-Kid burst back into the room, staring at Harry wide-eyed.

“You’re not Mr Stark.”

Harry shrugged, “Not technically.”

Pepper snorted, chuckling slightly before turning to Peter, “Hi Peter, this is Harry. Tony’s son.”

“Oh! Oh shit! I mean, hi! I’m Peter! Nice to meet you.”

“The Spider-Kid, right?”

“Spider-Man, yeah!” Peter nodded excitedly.

“Eh,” Harry said with a shrug, “I prefer Spider-Kid.”

Peter wisely decided to ignore the Spider-Kid comment, more than likely used to it from Tony. “Whose kid is this?” He asked, leaning over to look at Teddy, who giggled and reached out to try and pull Peter’s hair.

“This is my godson, Teddy,” Harry said with a smile, untangling Teddy’s death grip on Peter’s hair.

Peter gave him a grateful smile, “He’s a cute kid.”

Pepper smiled, “Tony’s in his workshop blowing stuff up if you want to go and say hi.”

“Awesome! Thank you! Nice to meet you, Harry!” Peter yelled, halfway out of the room already.

Harry turned to Pepper with a raised eyebrow, “Blowing stuff up?”

“Oh yeah,” Pepper said with a laugh, “Has been since he got back from gatecrashing your date.”

~•~

“Stupid metal-armed bastard,” Tony hissed, “DUM-E, throw.” 

The little robot threw another thing in the air for Tony to blow up. Tony genuinely had no idea what DUM-E was throwing at him; he just hoped they weren’t too important. There were scattered remnants of these things littering the floor and scorch marks all over the walls.

“Hey, Mr Stark, love what you’ve done with the place!”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Appreciated, kid, thanks. So what are you doing here?”

“Oh! Um, so I came to use the lab to make web fluid, cause I ran out, and I ran into Harry and Miss Potts, and Miss Potts told me you were down here blowing stuff up, so I thought I’d come say hi before I went to the lab. So… Hi!”

As much as he groused about it, there was something about Peter’s youthful exuberance that Tony found almost comforting. He didn’t think he’d ever been like that. Between having Howard as a father and being so accelerated through school that he ended up at MIT at 15, he didn’t remember a time when he felt like he could just be a proper kid. 

“You met Harry?” Tony asked.

Peter nodded enthusiastically, “Oh yeah! And Teddy! I didn’t know you had a son!”

Tony laughed, “Neither did I until like a week and a half ago. Anyway, hand the suit over whilst you’re in the lab; I’ve got a couple of upgrades for it.”

Peter pulled the suit out of his backpack, “Thanks, Mr Stark! Not that it needs any upgrades,” Peter hastened to add, “It’s brilliant just as it is.”

“Rule number one, kid, you can always have more upgrades. Now run along; I’ll come find you when it’s done.”

“Thanks, Mr Stark!” Peter yelled, already tearing from the room.

Tony wasn’t sure how long he’d been working on Peter’s suit. He tended to lose track of time quite a bit when he was immersed in a project, but one second he was alone, and the next second, someone was leaning over his shoulder.

“What are you working on?”

Tony jumped about a foot and a half in the air in shock. “Jesus fucking Christ, I need to put a damn bell on you!”

Harry just grinned at him unrepentantly before gesturing to the suit, “What’s that?”

“It’s the Spiderling’s suit. I’m making some upgrades. Want to see?” Tony asked, only slightly nervously.

“Definitely,” Harry replied excitedly, “Be warned though, most of it will go completely over my head. I haven’t had a traditional education since I was 11.”

Tony frowned, “What do you mean?”

Harry shrugged, “Well, I did muggle primary school, right. But I went to Hogwarts when I turned 11, and all I studied there were magical subjects.”

Tony’s frown deepened, “What subjects did you take?”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Astronomy, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.”

“Right….” Tony drawled, trying to figure out how any of those subjects could be applied to normal studies. “You didn’t want to keep up with your normal subjects?”

Harry shrugged, “No, I did; I just didn’t really have the option. It’s not like I could do an online correspondence course at Hogwarts; the castle doesn’t even have electricity. And the Dursley’s would never let me do it over the summer. So, not much I could really do about it.”

Tony’s brain had short-circuited, and after filing that little tidbit about the Dursley’s away, he asked, “What do you mean no electricity?”

Harry laughed, “I mean no electricity. Magic and electricity don’t exactly mesh, apparently. I’ve never had much of a problem with it on my own, so I assume it’s more of a problem in high-density areas like Hogwarts or Diagon Alley. The Wizarding World is old-school old-school. Like parchment, quills and dressing like it’s the late 1800s. It’s a whole aesthetic.”

“God, that sounds awful,” Tony shuddered, and Harry laughed.

“You get used to it. So anyway, you were going to show me what you’re doing to the Spider-Kid’s suit?”

Tony pulled up a seat for Harry to sit on and began to explain the upgrades he was making. He could tell that most of it was going over Harry’s head, but he was attentive anyway, and really trying to understand. 

But his kid was smart. Admittedly, not as smart as Tony himself, or even Peter, but considering he hadn’t had a formal education in seven years or studied science, probably beyond evolution, or technology in any depth, Harry asked insightful questions, and the more they worked on it, the more Harry was understanding. And god, did that make Tony proud.

~•~

Harry had never really considered himself smart. Oh, he knew he wasn’t dumb, not by any stretch, but the Dursley’s had made it impossible to for him to stand out or, really, even do the bare minimum. By the time he got to Hogwarts, it was just so ingrained in his personality to go unnoticed that he didn’t even try. It didn’t matter; no one expected anything from him, and anyway, Hermione was the smart one. He didn’t need to be anything other than perfectly ordinary. Though, even at his bare minimum, he still did well (except in Potions, but that was hardly his fault).

But nothing could have prepared him for how much of a fucking idiot he felt like sitting next to Tony and trying to understand the intricacies of the Spider-Kid’s suit.

And he could blame Hogwarts all he wanted for his lack of knowledge, but Hermione still took her A-Levels. She studied and studied and studied, spending her summers doing her muggle subjects so she would have options when she left Hogwarts.

And what he told Tony wasn’t a lie, the Dursley’s would have never let him use his summers for studying, but if he really wanted to, he could have found a way.

And now he felt like an idiot. His dad was an actual genius, and he was just a slightly above-average student who, in the eyes of the British Muggle Government, was a primary school dropout.

And don’t get him wrong, Harry loved hanging out with Tony and listening to him talk about something he was so obviously proud of. And Harry loved the fact that Tony wanted to share it with him, but it just made him feel like a disappointment.

Harry eventually left, went back to his room, and sat down on his bed with his head in his hands.

“Hey, are you ok?” 

Harry looked up to see Bucky standing at his door with a frown on his face.

Harry sighed, “I think I might be an idiot.”

Bucky’s frown deepened as he walked into the room to sit down next to him, “What do you mean?”

“Tony was trying to explain the Spider-Kid’s suit to me, and it just went straight over my head.”

Bucky huffed, “Harry, everyone is an idiot compared to Tony Stark.”

“But I’m his kid.”

“Genius isn’t genetic, though,” Bucky pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes, “But look at my genetics. I mean, you’ve got Howard Stark, who may have been a shitty father, but he was smart. He worked on the Super Soldier Serum and started Stark Industries; I mean, his weapons helped win World War II. Then Tony, who is a certified genius, turned Stark Industries into a multi-billion dollar company, built the Iron Man suit, and became an actual superhero. And my mum was brilliant, everyone says so. And then there’s me. Barely above average at anything I’ve done. I’m only alive because of sheer dumb luck and friends who are much smarter than me. I’m literally nothing special.”

“Do you need to be special?” Bucky asked, staring at Harry piercingly.

“What?”

Bucky shrugged, “Do you need to be special?”

Harry frowned, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, you’re worried that you’re not special, right? That you’re not as smart as Tony or Howard. But do you have to be? Has Tony made you feel that he won’t want you around if you aren’t a genius?”

“No,” Harry murmured. 

“So why do you think you need to be special?”

Harry sighed and leaned his head on Bucky’s shoulder, “I don’t know.”

Bucky wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist, “For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty damn special.” Harry huffed, but he did smile slightly. “And I know Tony does too.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Tony?” Harry poked his head in the lab. He’d been looking for Tony all morning and hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him. It took him an hour of aimless searching before he remembered he could ask FRIDAY. 

Tony immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Harry, “Yeah, kid? What’s up?” 

Harry frowned, “Have you slept? You look like shit.”

Tony pointed to a couch with a pillow and a blanket, “Got an hour or so. I’m fine, don’t worry about me; that’s pretty usual.”

Harry hummed but shrugged it off, for now at least; it’s not like he could say anything, being a master of living off three to four hours of sleep himself. “So, since you made me feel like an idiot yesterday with the Spider-Kid’s suit,” Tony went to protest, but Harry held up a hand, “It’s ok. It is what it is. Anyway, I want to take you somewhere that’ll make you feel like an idiot.”

Tony laughed, “I hate to break it to you, kid, but there really isn’t anywhere that will make me feel like an idiot.”

Harry smirked, “Wanna bet?”

Tony grinned, “Alright, David Copperfield, show me what you got.”

Harry smiled, “20 minutes. Meet me out the front and tell Happy we’re going to the Woolworths building.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “Alright?”

Leaving a slightly confused Tony behind, Harry rushed back to his and Teddy’s room. He thought it would probably be best not to take Teddy the first time he went. 

Grinning, Harry quickly dressed Teddy in his Hulk onesie, smiling at how adorable he looked, before asking FRIDAY where Bruce was. 

Harry made his way to Bruce’s room and knocked on the door.

“How’s my favourite Avenger today?” Harry asked with a bright smile, making Bruce look at him suspiciously.

“What do you want?”

Harry grinned, “Well, I’m taking Tony to see New York’s Magic Alley, and I want to scope the place out before I take Teddy, so can you watch him for a couple of hours?”

“Oh!” Bruce replied, eyebrows flying up before noticing Teddy’s onesie and rolling his eyes, “Sure, no worries. What do I need to do?”

“Thanks, Bruce,” Harry said as he handed an overly excited Teddy over to Bruce. Harry gave Bruce a quick rundown of what he would need, all whilst Teddy was trying to get the man to pay attention to him by grabbing his hair and smacking him on the arms. “Bye, Teddy-Bear!” Harry cooed, kissing him on his hair which he’d changed to match Bruce’s, “Be good for Bruce!” Teddy garbled some nonsense at him, waving his hand a bit as Harry chuckled. “Thanks, Bruce. If you need anything, Pepper should be about, but I should be longer than two hours.”

“No worries, Harry. We’re going to have a great time, aren’t we, Teddy?” Bruce said with a smile.

“Ya!” Teddy yelled, bouncing up and down.

After giving Teddy one final kiss, Harry rushed off to meet Tony and Happy at the front doors.

“So why are we going to the Woolworths Building?” Tony asked, trying to seem nonchalant but failing miserably.

Harry just grinned, “Surprise.”

Tony pouted but surprisingly didn’t push. Happy grinned at Harry in the rearview mirror, and Harry winked.

When they arrived, Harry pulled Tony out of the car, moving around the Woolworths Building until Harry found what he was looking for. Then, looking around quickly, Harry pulled out his wand and tapped the golden owl, before quickly pulling Tony through the shimmering door.

“Welcome to MACUSA.”

Harry grinned at the absolutely gobsmacked look on Tony’s face. Not that he was surprised, MACUSA was bloody impressive. 

It was closer to Gringotts than the British Ministry. All gold and marble. Trust the Americans to do things bigger and more opulate. 

“Ready for a quick history lesson?” Harry asked, and Tony just nodded, slightly dazed.

“Ok, so, unlike Britain, the Magical Congress of the United States is basically considered a separate country to the No-Maj United States,” Harry said, repeating basically verbatim what the President had told him, “MACUSA Headquarters has been in a lot of different places, but it’s been in New York since the late 1890s. In Britain, all the magical areas are scattered and hidden in amongst the Muggle areas. It’s a bit different here. At least in New York. All the magical areas stem from this building, basically just using a combination of the underground and Wizarding spaces.”

“Mr Potter, it’s good to see you again.”

Harry turned around with a smile, Tony still gaping behind him, “Auror Banks, it’s good to see you, too. This is my father, Tony Stark. I wanted to show him the Alley.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr Stark,” Auror Banks said, extending his hand, “You are quite well known, even around these parts.”

Tony shook his hand on what seemed to be more instinct than anything. “You do realise everything about this place just destroys the laws of physics, yes?”

Harry just smiled, “Wait till you see the Alley.”

Auror Banks laughed, “I’ll escort you to the gate.”

“Thanks, Auror Banks.”

Auror Banks escorted them through the vast halls of MACUSA to the Docks, which was essentially just a giant room with about 30 different shimmering doorways. It reminded Harry of the loading screens of some game Dudley used to play on one of his many different gaming systems.

“Fifth gate,” Auror Banks said with a smile, pointing to the gate with a small line on the far right side of the room. “You know, the President’s offer still stands, Harry. We’d love to have a Potter back on the Auror force.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “As I told the President, I’m done fighting Dark Wizards. I think I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime.”

Auror Banks smiled and nodded, “Fair enough, just thought I’d try one more time.”

Harry smiled and grabbed Tony’s arm, dragging him over to the line for the gate. The line moved fairly quickly, and soon Harry was pulling Tony through the doorway and into the Alley.

“What do you think?” Harry asked, gesturing around.

“It’s fucking insane,” Tony choked out, and Harry laughed.

“I know, right. Ok, so, Gringotts first.”

Harry and Tony made their way through the alley towards the towering white marble of the Gringotts building.

He was directed by a teller towards one of the rooms further down to where another goblin was already waiting for them.

“Mr Potter,” The goblin smiled, showing all his teeth, “And Mr Stark. The Goblin Nation was not aware you had any magical affiliations.”

Tony swallowed harshly.

“He’s my father,” Harry cut in quickly.

“Really? How intriguing,” The Goblin said with a calculating look in his eye before turning back to Harry, “How can Gringotts be of service today?”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t get Tony beheaded; he really should have thought about bringing a famous muggle into Gringotts more thoroughly. “I would like to set up an account here and have half my vault transferred over from the London Branch.”

“That can certainly be arranged. Will you be transferring from the Black or the Potter vault?”

“Potter, please.”

“Of course, Mr Potter.”

When the Goblin had left the room, presumably to contact the London Gringotts, Tony turned to Harry. “What’s the conversion rate?”

“I know a galleon is about £5, but I don’t know about American Dollars.”

Tony frowned for a moment, “About $7 then. Can they convert from American dollars?”

Harry frowned, “Yes, they do both ways.”

Tony nodded, “Ok, I’ll set up an account here for you then.”

Harry sighed, “Tony….”

Tony cut him off, “You’re my son, Harry. I should be providing for you.”

Harry rubbed his eyes, “Look, Tony. I come from money. Old money . My dad, James, was the last of one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain. My godfather was the last male heir of the oldest pureblood family in Britain. Because Teddy’s mum was Sirius’ cousin, I’ve put the Black vault in stasis for him until he’s of age, but the Potter vault alone is enough to live comfortably on for generations. You don’t need to do this.”

Tony frowned, “But I want to.”

“Tony.”

Tony huffed, “Fine. I won’t set up one of your fancy Wizarding vaults. But you can’t stop me from setting you up in the normal world. You and Teddy are already in my will, so what’s a credit card added to that?”

Harry wanted to fight it, he really did, but behind the harsh conviction in Tony’s eyes was something more vulnerable, so as uncomfortable as it made him, Harry just sighed and nodded.

Tony grinned and pulled out his phone before frowning, “It’s not working.”

Harry laughed, “I told you it wouldn’t work in high magically dense areas.”

“Then why is the arc reactor working?”

Harry locked up so violently that it almost looked like he had a seizure. Holy fuck! How did he not think about the arc reactor? Fuck, he didn’t even think about it. He could have killed Tony. He could have killed his dad! How could he not have thought of that? Oh god, he actually was an idiot.

“Hey!” Tony was shaking him, “Hey, Harry! It’s ok! I’m ok!”

“I could have killed you,” Harry whispered brokenly.

“I’m ok, Harry. I’m ok,” Tony repeated before pulling Harry into a hug.

Harry sunk into the hug, holding onto Tony for dear life.

“Hey! And now I have something to experiment with! Why doesn’t the arc reactor react poorly to magic? That’s brilliant! We can work on it together!” Tony said excitedly, as Harry huffed; trust Tony to get excited after Harry nearly killed him.

Harry pulled back as the Goblin came back in with the final details for his new vault, and after signing a few documents (sans blood quill, thank fuck), Harry and Tony left the bank with his new key and a pouch of galleons that the Goblins had converted for Tony.

~•~

Tony had been, quite rightfully, very sceptical when Harry had told him he’d be taking him somewhere that would make him feel like an idiot. But any time he could spend just with Harry was precious to Tony, considering someone was always around when they were together. So Tony dropped everything immediately to get ready.

When they arrived at the Woolworths Building, Tony was confused, especially when they didn’t go in the front door, instead skirting around until Harry seemed to find what he was looking for. Then, when a door materialised out of nowhere, and Harry had pulled him through, Tony was absolutely gobsmacked.

Harry had taken him to the Magical World.

It took a moment to process that Harry was essentially doing what he had done the day previously, when he was showing Harry the Spiderling’s suit.

Technology. That was Tony’s world.

But Magic? This was Harry’s world, and Harry wanted to share it with him.

“Honestly, the goblins scare the shit out of me,” Harry said, shaking his head as they left the bank, “Me, Ron, and Hermione broke into the Gringotts in London and escaped on the back of a dragon and even though they said they forgave us, I still worry I’m going to get my head chopped off every time I have to go.”

Tony actually tripped over, almost face-planting on the ground. “What the fuck?”

Harry rolled his eyes, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you someday.”

Tony decided not to push, a promise of someday was more than Harry had given him so far, and Tony could live with that. For now, anyway.

“So,” Harry said brightly, “What first?”

Tony's face morphed slowly into what could be considered a slightly maniacal grin, “Broomsticks.”

Harry laughed, “A man after my own heart. Come on.”

Harry let Tony drag him all over the Alley. From the sporting store, where Tony may have bought enough for an entire quidditch team, plus a broom he could experiment on, to all the many bookstores where Tony brought more books than he had in his entire college career.

Harry was endlessly patient with him, letting him go wherever he wanted and answering all his innumerable questions.

It was probably one of the best days Tony could remember.

With a promise to take him back soon, because Harry wanted to get back to Teddy, they left the Alley for the day. Though, Tony did make Harry stop in the weird door room just to see where the other ones went.

~•~

When they arrived back at the compound, Tony rushed off to his workshop immediately, presumably to take apart one of the brooms. Harry smiled indulgently at his retreating back, and went to find Bruce and Teddy.

When he found them, Bruce was sitting on the floor with Teddy in his lap. He picked up a coloured block, and Teddy giggled before turning his hair the colour of the block.

“Da!” Teddy yelled, finally noticing Harry watching them. He changed his hair back to match Harry’s and crawled out of Bruce’s lap, trying to get to Harry as fast as he could.

Harry rushed over and scooped Teddy up, “Is that my precious boy? Were you a good boy for Bruce?”

“Bah! Bah!” Teddy exclaimed, cycling his hair through all the colours Bruce presumably taught him.

“Aren’t you just the smartest baby ever!” Harry exclaimed brightly, kissing Teddy’s changing hair.

“You’re a good father, Harry,” Bruce said softly.

Harry sighed, pressing his nose to Teddy’s hair and breathing deeply. “You know my parents died when I was just a bit older than Teddy, yeah?” Bruce nodded. “My mum's sister, she hated magic. Honestly, I think she was jealous that her sister had magic and she didn’t, but because she hated magic, she hated her sister and, by extension, me.” Harry kissed Teddy’s head. “My parents died heroes. They died protecting me, and for 10 years, I thought they died because they were driving drunk with their one-year-old baby in the back seat. I didn’t even know their names until my aunt said them by mistake when I was eight. I didn’t even know what they looked like until I was 11. I never want that for Teddy. I want Teddy to know his parents loved him. That they died for him. That they were two of the greatest people that I’d ever met. I never want to try and replace them as his parents. I just want him to be happy in a way that I never was.”

Bruce wrapped an arm around Harry, “He will be, Harry. He will be.”

Chapter Text

“So, you are Stark’s child.”

Harry turned around to see a girl, not much older than him, looking at him with an inquisitive look on her face. Harry vaguely remembered seeing her during the confrontation with Fury, but he hadn’t interacted with her at all.

Giving her a bright smile, Harry replied, “You know that’s actually what my parents named me; Stark’s Child Potter. Confused the hell out of all my teachers.” Her lips curled slightly into what could almost be considered a smile. “So, which one are you?”

“Wanda. Maximoff.”

“Ah,” Harry said with a smile, “The freaky witch with the glowing hands.”

“And you are the wizard.”

Harry nodded, “That’s what the half-giant who broke into my house when I was 11 told me.”

Wanda huffed, “You are very strange,” she quirked an eyebrow, “Stark’s child.”

“Just Harry is fine,” Harry said with a laugh before raising an eyebrow, “So, Wanda, tell me, how does your magic work?”

Wanda frowned, “I don’t do magic.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Fine. How does your not-magic magic work then?”

“Honestly? I don’t really know. I was a HYDRA experiment.”

“Man, the Avengers just love their HYDRA experiments, don’t they? Were you also kept in a glorified freezer?”

Wanda let out a surprised laugh, “No, I was not. Just a cell.”

Harry gave her a commiserating smile. He’d often compared his cupboard to a cell, and even after the Dursley’s moved him to Dudley’s second bedroom, well, the cat flap and the bars on his window weren’t very conducive to freedom. 

Wanda gave him a piercing look, but he just shrugged and shook his head before smiling.

“So, show me the thing,” Harry said, waving a vague hand at her.

“The thing?” Wanda asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry nodded, “Yeah, make your hands glow or whatever.”

Wanda snorted but flicked one hand out until it was enveloped in a sort of red haze.

“That’s so cool,” Harry said enviously, “Can you chuck it at me? I want to try something.”

Wanda shrugged and threw her hand out, a ball of red light hurtling itself at Harry.

“Protego!” Harry shouted, conjuring a shield in front of him. The red ball of light bounced off the shield and shot right back at Wanda, who dodged it quickly. Unfortunately, that meant that the ball flew straight into the wall with an almighty crash.

“Oh, we definitely shouldn’t have done that in here,” Harry said, staring wide-eyed at the impressive hole in the living room wall.

Wanda met his stare equally wide-eyed, “We should run, yes?”

“Oh yeah, fast and far.”

A burst of intense sadness flashed in Wanda’s eyes, and Harry frowned, wondering what she was thinking about, but she shook her head and ran off before he could ask.

“Bucky, you need to hide me!” Harry exclaimed, bursting into Bucky’s room.

“What have you done?” Bucky asked amusedly.

“I may or may not have put a hole in the living room wall.”

Bucky laughed loudly, “And just how did you manage that?”

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Tony stormed into the room, and Harry quickly ducked behind Bucky, his head just poking over his shoulder.

“Harry,” Tony said with a raised eyebrow, “Why is there a giant hole in my wall?”

Harry gasped indignantly, still hiding behind Bucky, who was shaking with repressed laughter, “Why do you assume it was me?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “The cowering behind one-armed Wally over there isn’t helping your case, but FRIDAY told me.”

Harry narrowed his eyes and looked around the room pointedly, “Snitch.”

“That remark is resented, Mini-Boss,” FRIDAY huffed.

“Snitches get stitches, FRIDAY. Just remember that.”

“If you could stop threatening FRIDAY, that would be great,” Tony said dryly, “So, Harry, why is there a hole in my wall?”

“I wanted to see how Wanda’s not-magic magic went against my actual magic.”

Tony sighed in exasperation, “In a training room at least, next time, please. Dear god, is this what it’s like to be Pepper? I need to give her another raise and possibly a new car.”

“I’d like to think I’m a far easier charge than you are, Tony,” Harry snarked as Bucky snorted.

“Watch it, metal man, you’re still on thin ice,” Tony said, glaring at Bucky, who held his hands up placatingly.

“Was there something you needed, or did you just want to talk about my propensity for property damage?” Harry asked with a grin. 

Tony lit up, “Yes, actually. I want to see if the brooms can outfly the Iron Man suit.”

Harry beamed, “That might be the best idea you’ve ever had.” Then, Harry turned to Bucky, “Want to see me absolutely destroy Tony’s self-esteem?”

“Abso-fucking-lutley.”

~•~

It turned out that there were a lot of people that wanted to see Harry destroy his self-esteem, apparently.

Rhodey practically tripped over himself to get out the door. Nat and Clint looked like all their Christmas’ had come at once. Steve was trying very hard not to look excited, but he’d never had the best poker face. Bruce had Teddy, who was excitedly reaching out to Harry’s broom. Pepper just looked resigned to the whole thing. 

Wanda and Harry looked deep in conversation, and Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about that whole thing. He liked Wanda to an extent, but he still couldn’t trust her, not after what happened at the HYDRA base. Logically, he knew that HYDRA had helped poison her mind to him, playing on the hatred she felt about the bomb that destroyed her home and her life to the point where she essentially had Stockholm Syndrome, but he’d never forget what she did to him.

Still, Harry actually looked comfortable around her for some reason. She was the first person he actually seemed relaxed around almost immediately, so he wouldn’t say anything. Maybe it had something to do with the not-magic magic, as Harry put it.

“Ready to lose, Magic Man?” Tony smirked before pulling his faceplate down.

“Oh Tony, Tony, Tony,” Harry said, shaking his head, “You’re looking at the greatest seeker Gryffindor has ever seen.”

“And that means?”

Harry laughed, “It means you’re about to get your arse handed to you, old man.”

“Big words, better hope you can back it up.”

Harry grinned, “Once around the compound?” 

“On three?”

“One.”

“Two.”

“THREE!”

Harry was fast. Dear fucking god, he was fast. Tony almost felt his heart stop when Harry barrel-rolled in front of him, laughing at the top of his lungs. It was the youngest and most carefree that he’d seen Harry. Tony hadn’t even realised how tense Harry held himself until he saw him in the air. It was honestly incredible.

“Hey, Boss, I’d just like to point out that you’re losing quite badly to a kid on a cleaning implement.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Yes, thank you, FRI, I did notice that.”

Tony lost. Quite badly. And he’d never been so happy to lose in his entire life. 

“How’d it feel to get your arse handed to you?” Harry asked, sitting comfortably on his broom as Tony stopped next to him.

Tony smiled, not that Harry could see it, “Absolutely brilliant.”

Harry threw his head back and laughed. “Wanna see something cool?”

“Go for it.”

Harry shot off, flying towards the ground at an alarming speed. A very alarming speed. Holy shit, he was going to crash. He was going to pile drive into the ground. What the hell was he doing? Was he insane? Everyone on the ground was yelling at him to stop. Fuck, Tony would never be able to get to him in time. The kid was going to kill himself.

Harry pulled out of the dive at the last possible second, whooping in delight, despite the fact that he’d given Tony his second fucking heart attack of the day.

He flew down and landed next to Harry, “You are an absolute fucking menace.”

Harry just laughed in his face, the absolute little shit. “My first quidditch match, I stood up on my broom coming out of the dive and ended up taking a tumble and catching the snitch in my mouth.”

“I hate everything about what you just said. Everything.”

Harry grinned, “I was 11.”

“EVERYTHING!”

~•~

“That was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen,” Bucky said wryly as Bruce handed Teddy back to Harry.

“Weren’t you in an actual war?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow as Teddy was looking intently at Bucky’s metal arm, wrinkling his nose and trying to reach out to it. “Take Teddy for a sec?”

Bucky looked shocked for a moment but reached out to take Teddy, “Hey, little man.”

“Meh!” Teddy frowned, smacking Bucky’s metal arm, “Meh?”

Harry snorted as Bucky looked at him wide-eyed, trying to figure out what to do as Teddy kept smacking his arm and frowning. 

Eventually, Teddy scrunched up his nose, reached up, and smacked Bucky across the face. “Na?”

Harry couldn’t help it and burst into raucous laughter, doubling over and holding onto his knees. Teddy started giggling as well, which set Bucky off as well.

“Barnes, did my grandson just smack you in the face?” Tony called out. Harry just laughed even louder. 

“You are a terror, little man,” Bucky murmured to Teddy, who just giggled more before turning his hair silver and leaning against Bucky’s metal arm as if to compare the colours.

Harry heard Wanda gasp slightly and turned to her with a frown, “Are you ok?”

“Yes, sorry,” She replied, not taking her eyes off Teddy, “My twin. He had silver hair. It was just a shock, that’s all.”

Harry smiled at her sadly. He had no idea that Wanda had lost her twin, but he’d seen George go through the pain of losing Fred; he was still just a shadow of himself. So whilst he didn’t understand exactly what she was going through, he could guess. “Did you want to hold him?”

Wanda nodded and held out her arms for Bucky to place Teddy in them.

“One of my best friends lost his twin recently as well,” He murmured quietly so that only Wanda could hear, “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through, but I’ve lost people as well, so if you ever want someone to talk to, I’m here, ok?”

Wanda nodded, her eyes watery as she ran her hand through Teddy’s silver locks. “Thank you.”

Harry smiled, “Any time.”

Chapter Text

When Harry walked into the kitchen the next morning, he knew immediately something was wrong. Tony, Nat, and Bucky were huddled around a tablet, frowning like it had personally offended them in some way. Teddy, who still hadn’t turned his hair back from silver, garbled some nonsense excitedly when he saw Bucky, which brought everyone’s attention to them.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked as Bucky came over and took a bouncing Teddy from him.

“Someone got a picture of you and Bucky together,” Tony replied with a frown before turning the tablet around so Harry could see.

“Ex-HYDRA Agent James Barnes spotted with Mystery Man - Tony Stark’s Secret Love Child revealed?” 

The headline was followed by what was actually quite a nice picture, all things considered. Bucky was obviously laughing at something Harry had just said, and Harry was smiling at him softly.

Harry raised an eyebrow, “Ex-HYDRA agent? That seems a bit insensitive.”

“That’s what concerns you?” Nat said amusedly, “Not that whole ‘Tony Stark’s love child revealed’ bit?”

Harry sighed, “It’s not like they’re wrong. I am technically Tony’s secret love child, and considering I’m used to the press printing nothing but lies about me, it’s a nice change of pace.”

Tony sighed, “We’ll circle back to that in a minute. But for now, how do you want to deal with this? Pepper wants to get in front of it immediately; she’s been fielding calls from reporters all morning. I tried to get the article taken down, but it’s gained too much traction already. You’re trending on Twitter.”

Harry scoffed, “Fucking brilliant. Look, we knew this was going to happen eventually. Did I think we had a bit more time? Sure. But it’s not like we could keep me a secret forever, so what’s Pepper suggesting?”

“She wants us to do a press conference together. She knows the details of your conception, ” Tony said with a grimace as Harry, Nat, and Bucky snorted, “Might be a bit delicate for you, so she’s left it up to us how much to reveal.”

Harry grinned, “Not up to telling the world you have a preference for men that look exactly like you?”

Nat laughed loudly, “Seriously?”

“Oh yeah, everyone used to tell me I looked exactly like my father with my mother's eyes. I’ll show you a photo later.”

“Yes, thank you, Harry,” Tony replied, rolling his eyes. “The press is more than aware of my preferences. I haven’t exactly been subtle about it.”

“So what are we thinking? I stand up in front of some cameras and say, ‘Tony fucked both my parents and bam! Nine months later, I popped out. Thanks for coming’.”

“Oh yeah,” Bucky smirked, bouncing a giggling Teddy against his chest, “Exactly like that.”

Tony grinned, “As hilarious as that would be, Pepper would have both our hides. She’ll suggest some nonsense for you to say, and then you’ll have to answer some questions, and we’ll be done.”

Harry sighed resignedly, “Yeah, alright. Set it up. I’m just going to call Ron and Hermione.”

Bucky handed Teddy back to Harry before brushing a soft hand over Harry's cheek and smiling down at him.

“Oi!” Tony yelled, “None of that!”

Harry gave Tony the finger before leaning up and kissing Bucky on the cheek. Then, after sticking his tongue out at Tony, he went back to his room as Tony groaned, “In front of my coffee, really, Harry?”

“Ron Weasley,” Harry called into the mirror.

“Harry! How’s it going, mate?” Ron asked, smiling brightly.

Harry sighed, “The press found out about me.”

“Ah. How’d that happen?”

Harry blushed. “They got a picture of me out on a date,” he muttered.

“On a date!” Ron laughed, “You’ve been there two weeks. How’d you get a bloody date? Is it one of the Avengers? Merlin saggy bollocks, is it the Black Widow chick? Tell me it’s the Black Widow chick!”

“Ron!” Hermione admonished, smacking him on the arm, “Not the time!”

Harry laughed, “It’s not Nat; she’d eat me alive. It’s Bucky.”

“Bucky Barnes?” Hermione squealed in delight, “Sergeant Barnes?”

“Hermione! Not the time!” Ron exclaimed mockingly as Hermione blushed.

Harry smiled before sighing, “Pepper wants to do a press conference to get in front of it before it blows out of proportion, but you know how I feel about the press.”

Hermione smiled sadly, “I know, Harry, but this isn’t just you against the world now. You’ve got your dad and his entire PR Department.”

Harry laughed, “True, and at least they’re only calling me Tony Stark’s secret love child and not The-Boy-Who-Lied.”

“Or Undesirable Number 1,” Ron said with a wink.

Hermione grinned wickedly, “Harry is Tony Stark’s child. I think they’re about to start calling him Desirable Number 1.”

Harry groaned, “I hate you.”

Ron sniggered, “When’s the press conference?”

Harry shrugged, “Not sure. Pepper’s setting it up now, so maybe tomorrow?”

“No such luck, kid.” Harry looked up to see Tony leaning against his door. “Pepper’s set it up for 2 pm. So, what’s with the mirror?”

Harry beckoned Tony over, “Ron, Hermione. Meet my father, Tony Stark. Tony, meet Ron and Hermione.”

“They’re not stuck in there, are they?” 

Harry threw his head back and laughed as Hermione giggled and Ron snorted.

“No, think of it like a video call.”

“Ah, right,” Tony said sheepishly, “It’s nice to meet you. Harry talks about you guys a lot.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr Stark,” Hermione replied brightly.

“Just Tony, please. Sorry to cut this short kiddos, but Harry has to get ready for the press conference.”

~•~

“Are you sure about this?” Tony asked when Harry hung up his mirror. The Wizarding world was still a complete mystery to Tony. A mirror, honestly!

Harry shrugged, “Nothing for it. We can’t avoid it, and it’s not like I’m ashamed to be your kid or anything. I don’t care if people know you’re my dad. I don’t want Teddy involved at all, though.”

Tony agreed immediately, knowing what it was like to be thrust into the spotlight as a baby, “Of course not. He can stay here with Nat and….” Tony sneered, “Bucky.”

Harry laughed, “Is there any particular reason that you suddenly hate Bucky?”

“He’s trying to date my son,” Tony grumbled.

“So it’s an overprotective parent thing. Got it.”

“I am not overprotective! I am exactly the right amount of protective. Barnes is like 90! He’s a dirty old man.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “And you,” he said, tapping the arc reactor in Tony's chest, “Are a glorified night light. We all have our things.”

“Little shit,” Tony said with a grin, “Go have a shower. I have a hairdresser and a stylist coming for you in an hour.”

Harry groaned, “Joy.” 

At 1:30, Tony was dressed and waiting by the car with Happy when Harry walked out to meet them. The haircut had made him look even more like Tony. He’d specifically told his hairdresser not to give them the same haircut, but apparently, you could only do so much with the Stark hair. It was styled differently though, more artfully messy than Tony’s was. 

“Really, Tony?” Harry groaned when he saw Tony dressed in the exact same suit he’d picked out for Harry.

“Come on! It’s a little bit funny!”

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he was smiling anyway.

“You ready for your first press conference, Harry?” Happy asked.

Harry sighed, “This is most definitely not my first press conference. I’m basically my world’s Tony, and the rest of the Avengers rolled into one.”

Happy winced in sympathy, “Sorry, kid.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

The drive over to Stark Tower was tense. On the one hand, Tony was absolutely and completely thrilled that he got to introduce Harry to the world as his son. Not only that, Harry had agreed to it. Had told him that he wasn’t ashamed that Tony was his dad, that he didn’t mind everyone knowing. 

But Tony was annoyed they didn’t get to do it on their terms. In their own time. Not only that, Harry was going to be in danger now. Again. Being the son of Tony Stark would put him on a few hit lists. Being the son of an Avenger put him on even more. Not that he was all that worried, Harry was more than capable of defending himself if it came to it. But he’d just left a war. Tony didn’t want him to be in danger. Didn’t want him to have to defend himself.

He also didn’t want Harry in the spotlight. It didn’t matter that Harry was used to it. Like Harry, Tony had spent his entire life in the spotlight, and it wasn’t a life he wished on anyone. Tony knew that Harry wanted a quiet life, and now he was never going to be able to have that.

“It’s ok, Tony,” Harry said with a smile, almost like he could read Tony’s thoughts.

Tony sighed and wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulder.

Stark Towers was absolutely packed. The sidewalk was completely taken over by photographers and the press, snapping pictures of the car as they drove past. With his arm around Harry’s shoulders, he could feel Harry tense. God, he hoped this wasn’t a terrible idea.

The press room was almost completely as packed as the sidewalk. There was more press here now than there was when he came out as Iron Man.

Tony stood on the podium, alone for now, and cleared his throat, gaining everyone’s attention.

“I’m going to make this quick. You’ve all seen the picture, so you know what this is about. Yes, the man in the picture is my son.”

There was an outbreak of questions being thrown at him, but Tony just stayed quiet, with one raised eyebrow, staring down at the reporters until they stopped.

“As I was saying, the man in the picture is my son. No, I was not aware of his existence until recently. Now, I have spent my whole life in the spotlight, so I know what it’s like, but my son is different.” A bald-faced lie, but it’s not like they could say Harry was actually super famous in a world that everyone thought was nothing more than a fairytale. “You will be respectful, or I will cancel this press conference and ban any future ones, including those to do with the Avengers. Am I understood?”

A murmur of understanding rippled through the crowd, and Tony sighed, gesturing for Happy to open the door and let Harry in.

~•~

Harry took a deep breath before stepping out into the room to stand on the podium with Tony. The camera flashes were incessant as he stood in front of the microphones.

“Hello,” Harry said awkwardly and cleared his throat, pretty sure he could hear someone cooing at him. “My name is Harry Potter. And as Tony said, I’m his son. Tony and I were not aware of our connection until recently, but since I reached out, Tony has been nothing but welcoming and accommodating. I’ve been very lucky.” Harry smiled at Tony quickly, who smiled back happily.

“Mr Potter! What can you tell us about Mr Stark’s relationship with your mother?”

“As far as I’m aware, Tony only met my parents, both of them, the once.” Harry heard Happy snigger and grinned at him.

“Mr Potter! Are you living at the Avengers Compound with Mr Stark?”

Harry gave the reporter a dry look, “Shall I also give you my address in England?”

The reporter flushed and murmured, “My apologies.”

“Mr Potter! What can you tell us about your relationship with Ex-HYRDA agent James Barnes?”

Harry scowled, “His name is Sergeant James Barnes, and he is a war hero. Act like it.”

“Mr Potter! What do you think about your father being Iron Man?”

Harry smirked, the expression so Tony-Like that many of the reporters gasped, and the camera flashes almost blinded him. “I have a dad that can fly; what more could a kid want?”

“Mr Potter! Why did you only reach out to Mr Stark now?”

“As I said, I was unaware of our relationship. My parents passed when I was very young, and they never got a chance to tell me. I found a letter in a safety deposit box after I turned 18 and reached out immediately.”

The reporter looked shocked, “Considering your appearance, surely you must have noticed a similarity.”

Harry grinned, looking at Tony, who just looked resigned, “I was told all my life I looked like my father. Do with that what you will.”

He heard a few snorts from the audience, who cottoned on to what Harry was getting at.

“Mr Potter! Will you be taking the Stark name?”

Harry turned to Tony wide-eyed, and he quickly jumped in, “That isn’t something we have discussed yet. Harry has only been in the States for a few weeks, but should he want to take the Stark name, I would be absolutely thrilled.”

~•~

“Were you serious?” Harry asked as they slid into the car when the press conference was over.

“About what?” Tony asked, setting up an alert on his phone for any and all articles pertaining to the press conference.

“About me taking your name?”

Tony looked up to see Harry looking at him, his face a mixture of confusion and vulnerability. Tony sighed, “Harry. You’re my son, whether or not you take the Stark name. You could be Potter, Stark, bloody Odinson, and you’d still be my son. Do I want you to take my name? Absolutely. There’s nothing in the world that I’d want more than for you to be a Stark. But I don’t want you to think I’m trying to take James’ place. He’ll always be your dad.”

“Potter-Stark.”

“What?” Tony asked in shock.

“I think I want to be Potter-Stark.”

Chapter Text

“The prodigal Stark returns!” Nat called out, holding a giggling Teddy, as Harry and Tony returned from the press conference, “The matching suits were a nice touch.”

Harry rolled his eyes, taking Teddy from her and kissing him all over his face. “Blame Tony. That was his idea.”

“You didn’t have to defend me like that, you know,” Bucky said softly, coming up behind him to speak into his ear, “I probably deserve far worse than ‘ex-HYDRA agent’.”

“I’ve defended worse than you, Bucky.” Harry grinned wryly, thinking of Snape. The man may have been a hero, but nothing in the world gave him the right to act the way he did. He was a bastard and a bully. A man who willingly became a Death Eater and only turned when he was affected personally. But that didn’t stop Harry from ensuring everyone knew what he did to help end the war. Even got the grouchy bastard an Order of Merlin. Though, accepting the award in his stead was a big ‘fuck you’ that Harry immensely enjoyed. Imagining Snape’s face when a Potter accepted any award for him.

Bucky eyed him speculatively, but Harry just shrugged and smiled. Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes, walking away to sit on the couch, not before dragging a hand softly against the small of Harry’s back, making him shiver slightly.

“You handled yourself very well, Harry,” Pepper said with a smile, tapping away on her phone.

“Thanks, Pepper.”

“Yes, yes, Harry was brilliant, as usual. Pep, I need you to set up a meeting with the lawyers, by the way. As soon as you can.”

Pepper looked up with a frown, “Are we suing someone?”

Tony sighed, “Not today, unfortunately. We need to get Harry’s dual citizenship set up, as well as his name change.”

“You’re actually taking the Stark name?” Nat asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Potter-Stark,” Harry replied, blushing slightly.

Pepper beamed, “That’s wonderful, Harry. I’ll get it set up ASAP. Have you thought about Teddy?”

“Teddy’s a Lupin,” Harry said decisively, “If he wants to add Potter or Stark in the future, that’s up to him. But for now, he stays a Lupin.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tony said with wide eyes, “Didn’t you say his father was a werewolf?”

“Yes,” Harry replied with a raised eyebrow, pretty sure he knew where Tony’s mind was going, “Remus Lupin.”

“No. You’re lying. Teddy’s werewolf father was not named Remus Lupin.”

Harry snorted as Tony burst into laughter.

A sudden crack of thunder echoed through the compound, shaking its very foundations. Harry startled, not having expected the noise. Though it seemed he was the only one. 

Tony groaned, “Well, this day just keeps getting better and better.”

~•~

Tony knew that sound anywhere. Honestly! Imagine bringing your own damn storm whenever you arrive somewhere. And people called him a showboat.

“FRI, bring up the cameras for the landing zone.”

There was Thor, as expected, but he wasn’t alone.

“Pepper, take Teddy away. Now!” Tony barked. 

Pepper nodded and grabbed Teddy but not before Harry whispered something he couldn’t make out.

Not a minute later, Steve and Wanda burst into the room. Steve with his shield at the ready and Wanda with her hands already glowing.

Bucky shoved Harry behind him, shielding him from view, and Wanda moved to stand next to Harry, angled slightly in front of him. Huh, interesting.

Moments later, Thor walked in, an impassive-looking Loki just behind him.

“Friends! It is good to see you!” Thor boomed.

“Thor,” Tony said, gauntlet out and ready to fire, “I’d say it was good to see you too, but considering your company, you understand my predicament, yes?”

Nat and Bucky had their guns pointed directly at Loki’s head. God knows where they even kept those things. Steve looked ready to throw his shield through Loki’s neck if he took a step. 

Wanda was murmuring something in Harry’s ear. Harry, who had moved slightly out from behind Bucky, watching the Gods with a tilted head, hummed slightly before nodding.

Thor looked contrite, “Ah, yes. Loki has been released from his prison on Asgard. He was not himself when he attacked Midgard. The sceptre was controlling him as it controlled so many others. He has proved himself many times over since then. He has come to offer his apologies.”

“Brilliant,” Tony replied mockingly, “We’ll just tell that to the families of all those he killed; whoops, sorry, he didn’t mean to.”

“Tony!” Harry and Steve hissed simultaneously, and Tony winced, sort of forgetting who was in the room. 

“Sorry, Bucky.”

Unfortunately, this drew both Thor and Loki’s attention to Harry.

“Stark! You have procreated! This calls for a celebration!” Thor boomed excitedly. “Son of Stark! It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Only slightly better than Stark’s Child,” Harry said to Wanda, who chuckled at some private joke the two of them had. Seriously, how were they close enough to have private jokes!

Loki still hadn’t said anything, but his eyes were trained on Harry in a way that was making Tony’s skin crawl. Almost like there was no one else in the room. Bucky moved again to put Harry out of Loki’s line of sight, practically snarling. Even Wanda was looking at Loki with the same expression Tony was.

Loki finally looked away from Harry, turning to Tony. “Your son is a Seiðr?”

“A what now?” 

“A Seiðr,” Harry said, “It means magic user in Old Norse.”

Tony looked over at Harry incredulously, “You know Old Norse?”

Harry snorted, “No. But the word comes up often in relation to Norse Gods. Particularly him,” Harry stuck his thumb out at Loki, “We studied them at school.”

“There are more of you?” Loki asked inquisitively.

“No, there’s only me; that’s why they built a whole school,” Harry said mockingly, “Yes, dumbass, there’s more of us.”

Tony groaned, “Harry, please do not mock the homicidal god.”

Nat snorted, “Pot meet kettle.”

“You are fascinating, Little Seiðr.”

“Stop talking to him. Don’t even look at him,” Tony snapped.

“Loki, enough,” Thor demanded.

Loki smiled, “I am merely intrigued. I was unaware there were Seiðr’s on Midgard.

“They call us wizards on this side of the Bifrost. Or witches. It’s a gendered thing, unfortunately,” Harry snarked. 

Dear god, right now, Tony wished Harry was a little bit less like him.

“Like I said, fascinating. ”

“Ok, enough!” Tony yelled, mainly because it looked like Bucky was about to put a bullet through Loki’s head. “Thor, what is he doing here? Apart from offering his most humble apologies.”

Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Don’t mock the homicidal god, Tony.”

Tony grimaced, and despite the tense situation, he heard a couple of snorts.

“The Allfather and I are in agreement that Loki should spend some time on Midgard, and I thought, what better place than with my friends!”

“You want Loki to stay here with us ?” Tony asked incredulously; his tone mirrored on the faces of everyone in the room.

“I did try to tell him that you would not be receptive to the idea,” Loki drawled.

“Clint will put an arrow through his eye the second he sees his face,” Nat said, gun still aimed at Loki’s head.

“I’ll put a bullet in his eye right now,” Bucky grumbled.

“Please, friends. You have both mine and the Allfather’s assurance that Loki will cause no harm whilst he is here.”

Tony groaned, “When did I start running a halfway house?”

“I have a question,” Harry piped up, the look on his face one Tony had seen in the mirror many times, and he knew he wasn’t going to like what came out of Harry’s mouth.

“Yes?” Loki said with a grin.

“Did you actually give birth to an eight-legged horse?”

An almighty crash sounded through the room, and Tony realised that Steve had dropped his shield. Nat burst into hysterical laughter, and even Bucky looked amused, despite the murder eyes he was still giving Loki.

“I did not,” Loki ground out, “Give birth to a horse.”

“Shame,” Harry replied with a shrug, “That would have made you halfway interesting.”

The absolute and total offence on Loki’s face was almost enough to make Tony laugh as hard as Nat was. “Halfway interesting? I am a God.”

“So is he,” Harry said, pointing at Thor.

Loki frowned before lighting up, “I can shapeshift!”

Harry scoffed, “So can my godson. He’s a baby.”

“Harry, enough, please, for the love of god, enough!” Tony groaned as it looked like Loki was gearing up to show Harry just how interesting he was. “How long will you be staying?”

“Tony!” Steve exclaimed.

“Look, I want him here about as much as you do, but if Point Break and the Alldaddy have decided that he has to be here, I’d rather be able to keep an eye on him.”

“You have my thanks, Friends!” Thor boomed. “We shall be here no longer than a few months before we will be needed back on Asgard.”

Tony sighed, “Fine! Two months, that’s it. But if he puts a toe out of line, I’m letting Clint at him!” 

Thor beamed, “Excellent! Excellent!” Thor turned his attention to Harry, “It is wonderful to meet you, Son of Stark! The Man of Iron spoke not about you when we last saw each other.”

“Probably because he didn’t know about me,” Harry replied, walking over to Thor to shake his hand. 

Harry turned back to look at Tony, “I’m going to go check on Pepper and Teddy.”

Tony nodded and shooed him away, not taking his eyes off Loki, who was following Harry’s every move.

“Oh, and Loki?” 

Harry smiled before drawing his fist back and punching Loki straight in the face. “That’s for almost killing my dad.”

God, Tony loved this kid.

~•~

“Do you often taunt homicidal maniacs?” Wanda asked with a grin as she followed Harry out of the room.

Harry laughed, “Oh yeah. It’s a hobby of mine. Started at a very young age, you see. Hard habit to break.”

“What the hell am I going to do with you?” Bucky asked with a grin, jogging to catch up to Harry and Wanda, “How’d it feel to punch a god in the face?”

Harry shrugged, “He’s got a hard head.”

“He was very interested in you,” Wanda said with a frown.

Harry snorted, catching the scowl on Bucky’s face. “I’ve got magic. So, of course he’s interested in me. I’m probably the first magic user he’s come across on earth. Not to mention the fact that I’m male.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Bucky asked with a frown.

Harry sighed, “From what I learned at school on Asgard, magic is predominantly practised by women; it’s highly unusual for males to be able to practise it.”

“So that’s why he wasn’t interested in Wanda, then?” 

“I don’t do magic,” Wanda scowled at the same time Harry said, “Wanda doesn’t do magic.”

Chapter Text

Cold.

Dark.

Bleak.

Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

Leaves crunch under his feet. Pain radiates through his entire body. He’s cold. He’s so cold.

Laughter.

High and cruel.

“Harry Potter.” 

It doesn’t sound human.

It doesn’t sound real.

It echoes. Echoes through the trees.

“The-Boy-Who-Lived.”

He closes his eyes.

He’s ready.

Better him than anyone else.

“Come to die.”

They’ll forgive him.

Eventually, in time, they’ll understand.

“Harry! Harry!” 

Eyes snap open.

“Tony?”

“CRUCIO!”

Screams shake the forest.

“No! Stop!”

His legs don’t work.

He can’t get to him.

He tries.

He can’t move.

“Harry!”

“Tony!”

“CRUCIO!” 

He can’t move.

Can’t get to him.

Can’t.

Can’t.

Can’t.

“Harry!”

Harry woke up with a gasp. There were arms around him, holding him tight. Trying desperately to wrench himself free, Harry barely heard the voice trying to talk to him.

“Harry, Harry, it’s me! Calm down. It’s Tony.”

“Tony?” Harry croaked, trying to get his bearings.

“Yeah, it’s me. Just breathe. Deep breaths, just calm down.”

“What are you doing here?”

Tony frowned, “FRI told me you were having a nightmare.”

Harry scowled, “Do we need to rehash our conversations about snitches, FRIDAY?”

“Forgive me for being concerned about your well-being, Mini-Boss,” FRIDAY snarked.

“I swear she’s gotten snarkier since you arrived,” Tony said, shaking his head.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

Harry sighed heavily and smacked his head back against the pillow a couple of times.

Tony sighed, “Harry, there isn’t a person in this compound that doesn’t have nightmares. It’s why FRIDAY has a literal nightmare protocol written into her programming. And I know that you’re like me. You hide behind snark and prefer to suffer in silence, but I want to help you. Please, let me help you.”

“I was in the forest,” Harry blurted out before he could convince himself this wasn’t a good idea. “You remember when Fury said he wanted to talk about the forest?” Tony nodded. “Well, I was back there. It’s where Voldemort tried to kill me.”

He was not quite ready to tell Tony that, technically, he had succeeded.

“But he had you. You were there, and the woman who killed my godfather was torturing you, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get to you, and you just kept screaming and screaming, and I couldn’t do anything,” Harry choked up, “I couldn’t do anything.”

“Oh, Harry,” Tony leaned forward and pulled him into a hug as silent tears streamed down Harry’s cheeks. 

“I’m sorry FRIDAY woke you up,” Harry mumbled, embarrassment kicking in the more he woke up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony said quickly, still holding Harry to his chest. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“What time is it?”

“It’s 5:30am, Mini-Boss.”

Harry groaned, “No point.”

Tony nodded, “Alright. Do you want to come and sit in the workshop with me for a bit?”

Harry nodded, feeling very much like a little kid at that moment.

Tony smiled, “Alright. Get dressed and meet me down there?”

After splashing some water on his face and cleaning his teeth, Harry got dressed, and after quickly checking on Teddy and asking FRIDAY to let him know when he woke up, he made his way down to the workshop where Tony was waiting for him.

“I thought we could work on seeing why the arc reactor didn’t blow up when introduced to magic,” Tony said brightly.

Harry shrugged, “Sounds like fun. So what do you need me to do?”

Tony held his arms out wide, “Hit me!”

Harry frowned, “What?”

“Magic me, magic man!”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to use a spare reactor?” Harry asked dubiously, “Rather than just chucking spells at you willy-nilly?”

Tony huffed, “It’s less fun, though.”

Harry rolled his eyes but smiled as Tony made his way over to what looked like a safe and pulled out another arc reactor.

“Ok, go for it,” Tony said.

Harry frowned, trying to think of a spell with the least risk of blowing the bloody thing up. Then, smirking slightly, Harry shot a bat-bogey hex directly at the centre of the reactor. The reactor flared slightly before glowing brighter.

“Is it absorbing it?” Harry asked incredulously, gaping at the glowing arc reactor on the bench.

“Holy shit,” Tony murmured, his eyes just as wide as Harry’s. “Try something else. FRIDAY, make sure you’re getting the energy readings.”

“Like I wasn’t doing that already.” FRIDAY somehow managed to convey the eye roll in her voice.

“You have corrupted her!” Tony exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Harry, who was laughing at her antics. “She was my sweet baby girl, and you’ve corrupted her with your evil snark. See if I give you your own AI now, you little demon child. The thing would have everyone in tears in a week.”

Harry frowned, “You were going to give me my own AI?”

Tony just winked at him, “Come on then, hit it again.”

Harry grinned, “Do you care if I blow it up by mistake?”

“Nah, I can make another one. Hit it with everything you got.”

Harry cracked his neck before pointing his wand at the reactor. “ BOMBARDA MAXIMA!”

The bench exploded. Throwing bits of stainless steel all around the room. Harry quickly threw up the strongest shield he could manage, hoping it would somewhat protect them from the flying projectiles.

“Well,” Tony said when the dust had settled, “At least the workshop is soundproofed.”

Harry scoffed and shook his head before making his way over to the centre of the explosion, only to see the arc reactor completely untouched and glowing more brightly than any Patronus he’d ever seen. “Holy shit.”

“FRI, talk to me.”

“Mini-Boss seems to have charged the reactor up by 500%. Readings are similar to those of the time Point Break hit the suit with lightning.”

~•~

“Holy shit!” Tony exclaimed excitedly, “I’m magic-proof!” 

“It’s not you that’s magic-proof, Tony. It’s the arc reactor,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. 

“But Loki couldn’t mind whammy me with his crazy sceptre,” Tony pointed out, very pleased with his counter-argument.

“Ok, tell me, why didn’t it work?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because he tried to use the spectre on the arc reactor,” Tony grumbled, “Plus, Wanda’s crazy mind magic worked on me just fine,” he finished, bitterness seeping into his tone.

“Wanda’s crazy mind magic?” Harry asked with a frown, and Tony froze. He hadn’t meant to say that.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony said quickly, “Let’s shoot some more spells, come on.”

“Tony,” Harry said sternly, “Tell me. Please.”

Tony sighed, “What do you know about where Wanda came from?”

“Sokovia or the HYDRA base?”

“So you know she’s a HYDRA experiment?” Harry nodded, “Did you know she joined just the wrong side of willingly? She didn’t know what they were going to do to her, but they promised her revenge. Against me.”

Harry frowned, “What did she think you did?”

“When she was a kid, her home was destroyed. By Stark Industries weapons. You looked me up; you know what happened with Obadiah, yes?” 

Harry nodded again, his face was blank, impassive, and it was worrying Tony more and more.

“The under-the-table weapons were responsible for destroying her life. She didn’t know that, though.”

“She thought it was you,” Harry said quietly.

“Yeah. She did,” Tony said quietly. He felt for her. He really did. He remembered what it was like to stare at the Stark logo on the bomb before it blew up, and that was only for a couple of seconds. Wanda and Pietro stared at that thing for days. “Anyway, she didn’t really know what she was signing up for, didn’t know what HYDRA was, but by the time they started to experiment on her, it was too late. Anyway, the Avengers stormed the base she and her brother were in, and they let them out of their cages, and she found me. Used her not-magic magic to make me see a vision of all the Avengers dead and the world destroyed. That’s sort of what led to Ultron.”

Tony fell silent, watching Harry’s face for anything. Any tiny emotion that would tell Tony what he was thinking, but there was nothing.

Harry finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “Look, I know what it’s like to have someone play with your mind. To have them turn your worst fears against you.”

Tony inhaled sharply. Harry’s eyes were so haunted. It was times like this that Tony remembered exactly what Harry had been through, what he had survived. And despite the fact that Harry hadn’t spoken to him about it, Tony knew better than most that you don’t go through what Harry had been through and come out unscathed.

“It’s awful,” Harry continued, “Not being able to trust your own mind. I don’t know much about what happened, but I do know it wasn’t your fault.”

Tony blinked rapidly. Had anyone told him that? No, they were quick to lay the blame at Tony’s feet. And sure, they forgave him, understood what he was trying to do and why it went wrong, but no one told him it wasn’t his fault.

“Tony, you were having your mind invaded on all sides. Clint, Bucky, hell, even Loki, and Wanda, they’d all understand what you went through. You’d just have to explain it to them without acting like a dick.”

Tony let out a surprised laugh as Harry smiled at him softly before sighing.

“When I was 15, I was going through one of the worst years of my life, and trust me, that’s saying something.”

Tony frowned but didn’t interrupt, this was the most Harry had opened up to him, and he didn’t want to give him any reason to stop.

“The newspapers were calling me The-Boy-Who-Lied. I’d seen a friend get murdered and watched my parent's murderer get resurrected, but no one wanted to believe me. So the Ministry and the newspapers started a smear campaign against me to make me look crazy and disturbed. School was a nightmare because half the people thought I was going to snap and murder them all in their sleep. And I was having these awful dreams. Dreams which turned out to be visions of what Voldemort was up to. And then, right near the end of the year, I saw a vision of my godfather being tortured.” 

Harry took a shuddering breath, and Tony moved to wrap an arm around him. Harry just smiled at him sadly.

“He was basically all I had left, you know, and so I rushed headlong into danger, only to find out that the vision wasn’t real, and I’d walked myself and my friends right into a trap. And then he died anyway. Died trying to save me. So trust me when I say I know what it’s like. I know what it’s like for someone to invade your mind and for something awful to happen because of it. And it took me a really long time to stop blaming myself entirely. No matter what anyone said, I thought I should have been stronger. Shouldn’t have let him in. Should have known it wasn’t real. But I was dealing with a man who was far more powerful than me, and you were dealing with bloody cosmic powers from creepy glowing stones. It wasn't your fault any more than Sirius dying was mine.”

Tony sighed and leaned his head on Harry’s.

“Why didn’t you want to tell me?” Harry asked quietly, “About Wanda, I mean.”

“I didn’t want you to think I was trying to warn you away from her or something. You’re comfortable around her, more so than almost anyone else in the compound. I didn’t want to take that away from you.”

Harry sighed, “Look, am I annoyed at what she did? Of course I am. Do I think what she did was wrong? Absolutely. But I also understand the need for revenge. Half my life was driven by revenge. Revenge for my parents, for Sirius, for Cedric. I spent the majority of last year consumed by the need for revenge. So I get it. And considering she’s here and not hell-bent on killing you anymore, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Tony chuckled, “You’re a good kid.”

“Sorry to interrupt, Mini-Boss, but Teddy’s woken up.”

“Thanks, FRIDAY,” Harry mumbled.

“Come on,” Tony said softly, “Let’s get the little monster.”

Chapter Text

Harry was attempting to teach Tony how to cook. Honesty, for a genius, the man was about as dumb as a bag of rocks when it came to anything domestic. Though, when you grew up the way Tony did, it was hardly surprising. He’d had everything provided to him from the second he was born; there was no need to learn how to cook when someone else could do it for you. So, really, Tony was mostly just watching Harry cook, trying to keep an extra boisterous Teddy entertained. It was quite amusing to Harry.

“Bah!”

Teddy's exuberant shout brought Harry’s attention over to where Bucky and Steve had just walked in. Teddy quickly changed his hair to silver and began to wiggle out of Tony’s arms towards Bucky. 

Tony immediately hoisted Teddy over to Bucky, muttering what sounded like “oh, thank god” under his breath.

“Hey, Little Man!” Bucky said with a smile, holding Teddy to his chest.

“You guys hungry?” Harry asked, pointing to the metric tonne of bacon, eggs, sausages, and hash browns. 

“This looks amazing. Thank you, Harry,” Steve said with a grin, reaching out to fill two plates for him and Bucky.

“I’ve been attempting to teach Tony how to cook.”

Steve’s hands actually stopped reaching for the food to look up at Harry in horror.

Harry snorted, “He didn’t actually end up cooking; this is all me.”

With an audible sigh of relief, Steve went back to filling the plates, completely ignoring Tony’s annoyed huffing at his supposed incompetence.

“Harry?” Bucky said slightly awkwardly, side-eying Tony.

“What’s up?”

“I was thinking, since you didn’t get to see it last time, you, me, and Teddy could go to the Museum of Natural History and get lunch afterwards?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied, ignoring Tony’s grumbling under his breath, “Sounds like fun. When do you want to go?”

“We have the meeting with the lawyers today, so you have to wait until tomorrow,” Tony said, glaring at Bucky. “Or never.”

“Ok,” Harry said easily, ignoring Tony’s ‘or never’ comment. “And no stalking me this time.”

“I was not stalking you!” Tony exclaimed as Steve snorted eggs up his nose.

“We have very different opinions on what defines stalking, then,” Harry replied, grabbing Teddy off Bucky so he could eat. 

“Friends!” Thor boomed as he walked in, “What a wonderful feast!”

“Jesus Christ,” Harry said, rubbing his ear, “Does he come with a volume control?”

Teddy giggled and gave himself long blond hair. Thor’s eyes flashed with amusement. “Ah, this must be the shape-shifting child.” He walked over, took Teddy’s hand, and gave it a small shake. “It is wonderful to meet you, child,” He said seriously, though his eyes were still alight with amusement. 

Teddy giggled again, waving his hand a little bit.

Loki came skulking in a few moments later, looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the universe.

“Loki,” Harry greeted happily, “How’s the face?”

Tony, Steve, and Bucky snorted as Loki huffed, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Do I smell actual breakfast?” Rhodey asked as he walked in with Nat and Bruce. 

“Morning Harry, morning солнышко,” Nat said, kissing Teddy on the top of his still blonde hair.

“Morning Nat, Bruce, Uncle Rhodey,” Harry said with a wink, “I made breakfast.”

“Can we keep you?” Rhodey asked with big puppy dog eyes, “Please stay forever.”

“Well, I have to go home at some point soon,” Harry said, scratching his face.

Everyone stopped. Tony actually dropped his cutlery.

“What? Why?” 

Harry frowned, “I only packed for two weeks. I barely bought any of my things over, not to mention Teddy’s things. Plus, I want to bring my bike back, and I need to check on Kreacher. Make sure he’s not going too crazy.” Harry tapered off, talking more to himself than anyone else.

“So you’re not leaving permanently,” Tony said, sighing in what seemed like relief.

“I wasn’t planning to,” Harry frowned, “Unless you want me to?” 

“NO!” 

It wasn’t just Tony that was screaming in vehement denial, but literally everyone in the kitchen (bar the two gods, but even they looked a bit wide-eyed at the prospect of Harry leaving).

Harry blushed, “Right. Ok.”

“I can have the jet ready for you whenever you want,” Tony said.

“That’s ok, I don’t need it. I’ll just apply for a two-way portkey from MACUSA. So I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours. Unless…” Harry furrowed his brows, turning to Tony, “Did you want to come with me? You can meet my friends.”

“Yes.” Tony replied instantly, and Harry smiled.

“We’ll probably need the jet then.”

Tony smiled, “Whatever you want.”

~•~

When Harry said he needed to go home soon, Tony genuinely thought his heart would give out. It felt like someone had taken his heart and squeezed it. He knew they hadn’t really discussed him staying, but Harry wanted to change his name. He was finally opening up to him. Hell, he was even scheduling dates with the one-armed wonder. It didn’t make any sense to him that Harry would want to leave so soon.

He didn’t know why it didn’t occur to him that Harry might just want to pick up some more things from home.

It made sense; Harry had originally only planned to be here for two weeks. So why would he have packed up his life in England and brought it with him?

But now it seemed like that’s exactly what Harry was doing. Making himself a more permanent home in America. With Tony. And honestly, it was the best thing Tony had heard since Harry agreed to change his name.

The rest of the Avengers' reaction to Harry asking if they wanted him to go was amusing, to say the least. Honestly, they all loved him. Not that Harry even realised how much he and Teddy had the Avengers wrapped around their fingers. They all adored them both. 

Harry left the room to go call his friends on his bloody mirror to find out when would be a good time for them to visit, and Tony smacked his head down on the table, realising a shuddering breath.

Rhodey leaned over and patted him on the back. “He’s not leaving, don’t worry,” he said softly.

“I think my heart stopped,” Tony whined pitifully into the table. “That was awful. What’s it going to be like when he actually leaves?” He asked, giving voice to the worries in the deepest pits of his mind. “I don’t think I’ll be able to take it. But he’s got a life back in England.”

“I don’t think he will leave,” Bruce said pensively, “And even if he does, he’ll come back. You’re his dad, Tony. I mean, come on, he’s calling James Uncle Rhodey.” Tony laughed when he saw Rhodey puff out his chest, immensely pleased at that fact. “Harry just wants a family. You give that to him.”

“Plus,” Bucky piped up, “He wants to bring his bike over.”

“And?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It was his godfather’s. So I don’t think he’d bring it unless he intended to stay.”

Tony nodded solemnly, remembering his conversation with Harry about Sirius. Bucky was probably onto something there. If Harry was bringing something that important over, the likelihood of him wanting to stay was quite high.

“You all seem very attached to him.”

Tony startled, genuinely having forgotten that Loki was in the room.

“Why are you speaking? What does any of this have to do with you?” Tony asked, eyes narrowed.

Loki waved a hand, “Nothing. Just pointing out a fact.”

Tony sneered, “Well, don’t.” Then, standing up, Tony brushed off his clothes, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to make my son a Stark.”

Less than an hour later, Tony was helping Harry strap Teddy into his car seat. Teddy currently had brown hair and amber eyes. Harry had apparently put some sort of spell on Teddy to ensure that even if he did his little shape-shifting tricks, no one would be able to see. Tony’s lawyers didn’t know about Harry being magical after all. 

Happy drove them to Stark Towers, where Pepper was already waiting for them. People stared at them, particularly at little Teddy in Harry’s arms, but all Tony’s employees had ironclad NDAs in their contracts. If anything about Teddy leaked to the press and they traced it back to an employee, nothing would be able to save them from the mountain of lawsuits they’d find themselves facing. No one was dumb enough to risk saying anything.

“Tony,” Paul Spencer, the head of Tony’s impressive team of lawyers, greeted warmly, “Mr Potter, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You as well, sir,” Harry replied, taking the seat left open for him between Tony and Pepper.

Paul opened his briefcase and pulled out enough paperwork to make Tony blanch. Pepper’s quiet snort next to him had both Paul and Harry’s lips twitching in amusement.

“Alright,” Paul said when he’d laid out all the paperwork, “The name change is fairly easy, just some forms to fill out and then lodge with a judge. However, it won’t mean anything until we’ve gotten Mr Potter his dual citizenship. Again, not an issue as we have proof that he is the child of an American citizen. It’s just a lot of forms, and you will need to appear in front of a court officer.”

Harry and Tony nodded, taking the forms that Paul handed over to them and spending the next hour and a half filling out the absolutely innumerable amount of fucking pieces of paper handed to them.

“Last chance to change your mind,” Tony said, with only a hint of actual concern in his voice, as they handed the paperwork back to Paul.

Harry smiled, taking Teddy back from Pepper, who’d taken over Teddy duty when he’d tried to eat the change of name forms. “I’m not changing my mind.”

Tony smiled and, after saying a quick goodbye to Pepper, met Happy back at the car.

“How’s it feel to be Potter-Stark?” Steve asked, coming up to congratulate Harry and Tony when they got back.

“Not technically Potter-Stark yet,” Harry replied wryly. “I have to get my citizenship first.”

“Ah,” Steve said with a nod, “We should probably take the banners down then.”

Harry threw his head back and laughed before turning to Tony.

“Remind me to lodge my name change when we go to England, though,” Harry said before grimacing.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, worried.

“I’m going to have to lodge it at the Ministry as well. I fucking hate the Ministry.”

“FA!” Teddy screamed, and Harry turned horrified eyes down to Teddy as Tony howled with laughter.

“Oh god,” Harry groaned, “I’m going to have to stop swearing.”

Chapter Text

“Are you ready?” 

Harry looked up as he settled Teddy in the stroller to see Bucky standing in the doorway.

Harry smiled, “Yep, ready. How something so little needs so much shi… stuff is so baffling to me.”

“We’re trying not to swear in front of Teddy, then?” Bucky said with a grin.

Harry sighed, “Yeah, if I don’t, the poor kid's first word is going to be the F word.”

“FA!” Teddy yelled.

Bucky laughed as Harry groaned. “I’ve corrupted him. Can’t even say full words yet, and I’ve corrupted him. You and Nat will have to teach me to swear in Russian; that way, he won’t understand.”

“Hate to break it to you, darlin’, but you’ll just end up with a kid that can swear in more than one language. Plus, Nat’s already called dibs on teaching the kid Russian.”

“Great,” Harry huffed, “Teddy’s going to be a bi-lingual shapeshifting nightmare before he even goes to Hogwarts.”

“Hogwarts, that was your fancy magic school, right?” Bucky asked, helping Harry strap Teddy into his car seat. Happy wasn’t there, so Harry assumed Bucky was going to drive them.

“Yeah, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Harry replied wistfully, sliding into the car.

“Are there more schools or just Hogwarts?” 

Harry hummed, “I only know a few. I know America has Ilvermorny and Salem Academy, but that one’s just for witches. Hogwarts is the only one in the UK. Beauxbatons is in France. Durmstrang is somewhere in Europe. There’s one in Australia, Brazil and Japan. And I’m pretty sure there’s one in Uganda as well.”

“You wouldn’t consider sending Teddy to Ilvermorny? If you’re still here then, I mean,” Bucky hastened to add.

“Chances are that Teddy will get accepted to Ilvermorny,” Harry replied, somewhat pushing to the back of his mind that he was already making plans for him and Teddy to still be in America in 10 years. He could deal with that later. “And if he wants to go, I’m not going to stop him. But Hogwarts is where his parents went, it’s where I went, and I’d love for him to go there as well. Plus, all his eventual cousins will likely be at Hogwarts. Although, Fleur might want to send Victorie to Beauxbatons.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hogwarts?” Harry asked, and Bucky nodded. “Ok, well, you’re split by houses. You get sorted by a magic hat on your first night there.”

“A magic hat?” Bucky asked incredulously.

Harry grinned, “It sings.”

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re just messing with me,” Bucky said wryly.

Harry put his hand over his heart and gasped dramatically, “I would never! You are attacking my character, good sir.”

Bucky laughed, “Alright, the magic hat that sings sorts you into houses. Which one were you?”

“Gryffindor, house of the brave and pigheaded. Same as Teddy’s dad. Teddy’s mum was a Hufflepuff.”

“What are the other houses?”

“Slytherin and Ravenclaw.”

Bucky snorted, “Those are insane names.”

Harry laughed, “They’re named after the Hogwarts founders. Insane names are quite common in the Wizarding World. My godfather's family exclusively names their kids after stars. Teddy’s mum’s name was Nymphadora. She hated it so much she only ever went by her last name.”

Bucky grinned, “Fair enough.”

“Anyway, Hogwarts is a massive castle. It’s got moving staircases, ghosts, and pictures that move. The works. It was quite jarring for someone who found out about magic a month before going.”

“You didn’t know you had magic before you went?” Bucky asked with a frown.

Harry sighed, “Magic was a no-go topic where I lived. Like so much so, you couldn’t even say the word without getting yelled at.” Or thrown into a wall, but Harry didn’t say that. “I grew up with muggles. Non-magic folk. Americans call them no-majs. Weird stuff always happened around me, but I didn’t know what it was. Not until my letter came when I was 11.”

“That must have been hard.”

Harry hummed but didn’t say anything else on the topic. “Anyway, we studied potions, transfiguration, defence against the dark arts, charms, herbology, astronomy, a whole bunch of weird stuff. And if you ignore the Defence teacher trying to kill me every year, it was great.”

“Every year?” Bucky choked out, almost crashing into the car in front of them.

Harry grinned, “Well, third year wasn’t really Remus’ fault. He forgot to take his potion and turned into an essentially rabid werewolf.”

“Wait, Teddy’s dad?”

“Bah!” Teddy exclaimed, flailing his arms around.

“That’s right, Teddy. Your daddy tried to kill me!” Harry said excitedly to the giggling child.

“I genuinely do not know what to say to that,” Bucky said dryly.

They eventually pulled into a parking structure, and after circling the parking lot for what felt like forever, they managed to find a park.

“Oh, one sec!” Harry said, grabbing Bucky’s arm as he tried to get out of the car. Then, pulling his wand out, Harry cast a notice-me-not on Bucky, himself, and Teddy. “Now, no one will bother us.”

“Did you make us invisible?” Bucky blurted out.

Harry laughed, following Bucky out of the car. “No, I do have a cloak that makes me invisible, though. I just used a notice-me-not. Basically, people will know that we’re there, so they won’t bump into us or anything; they just won’t care, if that makes sense? I thought it would be a better disguise than the whole baseball cap and sunglasses thing you’ve got going on,” he said, pointing to said items in Bucky’s hand.

“Why didn’t you do this when we went out before?” Bucky asked, curious.

Harry shrugged, “I honestly didn’t think about it. I mean, it was pretty commonplace to do it when I went out back in England, but I didn’t really think I needed to here. But with the press conference and everything, I’ll probably have to start doing it again.”

Bucky smiled, taking Harry’s hand in his, “Well, I’m not complaining. It’ll be nice not to look like a douchebag that wears sunglasses indoors.”

The museum was incredible, especially since it was the first one Harry had ever been in. Even when his primary school got to go on excursions to museums, Harry was never allowed to go. The Dursley’s refused to sign his permission slips and would never even dream of giving him the money for it. So he was always left behind at school.

Teddy was enamoured by the dinosaurs, and Bucky was horrified to learn that dragons actually existed when Harry compared the T-Rex bones to the Hungarian Horntail. Harry made a mental note to ask Charlie when he saw him if muggles could be invited into the Reserve.

There were a few exhibits where Harry could feel echoes of magic, particularly in the Hall of Pacific Peoples. And the Hall of Mexico and Central America was practically humming with magic. It was quite dizzying.

“When are you and Tony going to England?” Bucky asked when the two sat down for lunch.

Harry hummed, “Tomorrow, I think. Tony, well, Pepper, is organising the whole thing, so I’m not sure what time the flight is yet.”

Bucky nodded, “How long will you be gone?”

“Just a couple of days. Long enough to see the Weasley’s and Hermione pack up the house and check on Kreacher.”

“And Kreacher is?” Bucky asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh! He’s my house elf. He used to belong to my godfather's family, and he was a right little bastard, but we sorted out our differences, and he dotes on Teddy.”

“Sure, darlin’. That cleared everything up.”

Harry blushed slightly at the term of endearment, considering it was the second time Bucky had said it. Something which delighted Bucky, if the shit-eating grin on his face was anything to go by.

Harry just rolled his eyes to cover his embarrassment. “I just want to make sure he’s doing ok.”

When Teddy started to get cranky, either from not being the centre of attention or from being tired, Harry wasn’t sure; he and Bucky made their way back to the compound.

Pulling into the garage, Harry jumped out to Teddy out of his car seat.

“Harry.”

Harry turned around to see Bucky standing close to him. Very close. Bucky’s eyes darted down to Harry’s lips and then back to his eyes. Harry’s heart sped up, and after taking a breath, Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips against Bucky’s. One of Bucky’s arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer as Harry opened his mouth slightly to deepen the kiss.

“I have cameras in here too! Get your paws off my son!” Tony’s voice echoed loudly through the previously unknown speaker system in the garage.

Harry leapt back with a hand on his heart, smacking himself hard against the car. “Jesus fucking Christ, Tony!”

Bucky put his head in his hands, shaking his head and laughing, “Should have done that at the museum.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “He probably had the CCTV hacked.”

Bucky snorted.

“Has he scared you off?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bucky smirked and replied, “Not a chance, darlin’.” Before leaning forward and placing a more chaste kiss on Harry’s lips.

~•~

Tony scowled when Harry and Bucky finally made their way back into the compound.

“I’ll come find you later, ok?” Bucky said, smiling at Harry before giving him a kiss. Tony gagged, and Harry threw him an unimpressed glare as Bucky left.

“Really, Tony?”

Tony just shrugged, completely unrepentant, “We’ve got a trip to plan.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Let me put Teddy down for a nap and then I’ll come and find you.”

“I’ll come with you; we can walk and talk.” Harry shrugged and started walking off with Teddy, Tony close on his heels. “So, time difference and flight time-wise, it’s best to fly at night. So Pepper’s got the jet ready, so we can either fly out tonight or tomorrow night at around 11:30. Up to you. We can take Happy with us and hire a car.”

Harry interrupted, “I can get us around. Don't worry.”

Well, that was slightly ominous. And if the smirk on Harry’s face was anything to go by, this probably wouldn't end too well for Tony. 

“Right, so no car then?”

Harry grinned, “No car. We can go tonight. I’ll let Molly know to expect us for dinner tomorrow.”

Tony grinned in return, “I’ll let Pepper know.”

Chapter Text

Harry slept most of the flight from New York to London, and Teddy as well, which was lucky because Tony would have had no idea how to entertain a baby on a flight. Tony woke Harry up gently when the pilot announced they were landing at Heathrow.

“So, where are we going, and how are we getting there?” Tony asked when they’d been shown through security.

“We’ll go to my place first; start packing it up. Molly and Arthur are expecting us around 6.”

Tony didn’t miss how Harry didn’t mention how they were getting there. 

Harry was frowning, looking around the airport. Tony wasn’t sure for what, but he must have seen something Tony didn’t because his eyes lit up, and he started walking quickly to a closed candy store.

“Harry?” Tony said warily when Harry just opened the door and walked right in.

Harry frowned before something like understanding lit up in his eyes, “Oh, sorry! This must look really weird to you. It’s not actually closed; it’s the designated apparition zone in Heathrow.”

“Apparition?” Tony asked with a frown.

Harry grinned at him, “You’ll see.”

Suitably wary and only a bit confused, Tony followed Harry into the closed candy shop.

“Alright,” Harry said, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist, “Hold on tight, and if you need to vomit, make sure it’s not on me.”

“Harry, what?”

All of a sudden, Tony felt like he was being squeezed through a tube. It was awful, disorienting, nauseating, every possible nasty word he could think of. 

When they landed in some back alley, Tony turned away from Harry quickly, bending over with his hands on his knees and dry-heaving, thanking whatever gods were out there that he hadn’t just eaten.

Teddy was giggling happily from his place strapped to Harry’s chest.

“That was awful! What the fuck was that?” Tony exclaimed after putting his hands over Teddy’s ears.

“Apparition,” Harry said with a grin, “It’s like teleportation, I guess. It’s pretty awful the first couple of times you do it. It’s why I suggested the jet when I asked you to come with me; international portkey’s are the devil's work. You don’t want to deal with that, trust me.”

“I believe you,” Tony said, getting his bearings. “Where are we?”

“Islington, this is where my house is.”

“And we couldn’t get a car because?”

Harry laughed as he led Tony out of the alley and down the street, “Technically, we could have gotten a car here, but it is an hour's drive. But we couldn’t take one to The Burrow. Ottery St Catchpole is an all-magical community. So we need to apparate or get the Knight Bus. Although, I did take a flying car there once.”

“Right,” Tony replied, slightly overwhelmed. 

Harry stopped in front of a slightly macabre-looking house front, before casting something on Tony. He blinked a couple times as the houses around them seemed to move, and another slotted itself in as if it had always been there.

Tony followed Harry up the steps in a bit of a daze.

“Ok, before we go in,” Harry said, stopping on the doorstep, “Kreacher has done a lot of good to this place, but it’s still a bit of a house of horrors. Try not to touch anything, ignore the screaming portrait, and try not to trip over the troll's leg.”

“What the actual fuck, Harry?”

Harry placed his hand on the door and hissed. Tony immediately went to grab his hand, but Harry shook his head and said, “blood wards”, like that was meant to explain anything.

The door opened with an ominous creak, and Tony followed Harry with only the slightest trepidation into a dark hallway.

The house was something. That was all Tony could think to say about it. It was surprisingly clean, and the wood was in good condition, the same as the rugs and the furniture. But it was dark. Everything was decorated in greens and blacks, and completely the opposite of what Tony had imagined Harry living in.

As if sensing Tony’s thoughts, Harry said, “This was my godfather's ancestral house. His family were… an interesting bunch.”

Tony was about to reply when a crack sounded loudly, and a terrifyingly large naked mole rat wearing what looked like a black pillowcase, and a necklace appeared in front of them. Tony was just about ready to call the Iron Man suit and blast the thing away when Harry smiled at it, and Teddy screeched, trying to get to the thing.

“Hello, Kreacher.”

“Master Teddy and Master Harry is back!” Kreacher said, before looking at Tony and sneering a bit, “And he has bought his muggle father.”

“Kreacher,” Harry said warningly.

“Kreacher is not saying anything; no, he is not.”

Tony baulked, “Harry, what is that thing?”

The naked mole rat puffed up indignantly, “Kreacher is the house elf for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”

“My apologies… Kreacher?” Tony said, casting wary eyes at Harry, who was trying to smother his laughter.

Kreacher grunted before turning back to Harry, his face much more welcoming than when he looked at Tony. “How long will Master Harry and the muggle be staying?”

“Just a few days. We’re going to be packing up mine and Teddy’s things to take back to America, and I’ll be showing Tony around.”

Kreacher nodded, “Master Teddy and Master Harry’s rooms are as they left them. Kreacher will set up a room for the muggle. Kreacher hopes he likes the smell of hippogriff.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “I’m going to give Tony a tour if you want to put lunch together. Nothing too big, we’re having dinner at the Weasley’s.”

Kreacher nodded and walked off, muttering something about ‘red-headed demons’ under his breath.

“Well, he’s something,” Tony said with a grin, “Any chance he’ll call me Tony rather than the muggle?”

Harry laughed, “Not likely. But, trust me, it could be worse. He called me the nasty half-blood for years.”

Tony snorted, “Delightful.”

“Come on, I’ll put Teddy down for a nap and show you around.”

Tony followed closely behind Harry, taking his warning to heart about not touching anything. Coming to a stop in front of a room with the name Regulus Arcturus Black on the door.

Harry pushed open the door to a room that was obviously Teddy’s. 

“Who’s Regulus?” Tony asked as Harry put Teddy down in his crib.

“Regulus was Sirius’ brother. He was very special to Kreacher, so when I made this Teddy’s room, I didn’t want to take the name off the door. He died when he was 17, trying to take down Voldemort.”

Tony just nodded, not really sure how to respond to that. There was something like awe in Harry’s voice when he spoke about Regulus. It was very different to the way he spoke of Sirius, but considering how young Regulus was when he died, they probably never actually met. It made Tony wonder what exactly Regulus had done to earn Harry’s respect.

Shaking his head, Harry ushered Tony out of the room. 

“This is my room,” Harry said, pointing to the door marked Sirius Orion Black next to Teddy’s. “Kreacher will set you up in the Master bedroom.”

“How come you don’t sleep there?”

Harry grinned, “When Sirius escaped prison and was basically confined to the house, he slept in there with a hippogriff called Buckbeak. We could never quite get the smell out.”

Tony snorted dryly, “Brilliant.”

Harry smiled and grabbed his hand, “Come on, I want to show you something.”

Tony followed obediently after Harry as he dragged him through the house into a room with a massive family tree on the wall.

“This is the Black Family Tree,” Harry said, gazing at it in equal parts wistfulness and sadness, “The first thing I did after the war was have it restored. Sirius’ mother had a particular fondness of blasting people off it.” Harry pointed to a head marked Sirius Black, “This was my godfather.” Then to another marked James Potter. “My father.” Then to another marked Andromeda Black. “Teddy’s Grandmother.” Another marked Nymphadora Tonks. “Teddy’s Mother.”

“You’re actually related to Teddy, then? Not just his Godfather?”

Harry shook his head, “I would have been if James Potter was my biological father.”

Tony winced, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think.”

Harry shook his head, “It’s fine. James will always be my dad, you know. He adopted me, made me a Potter. So it doesn’t matter to me if he wasn’t related to me biologically.”

Tony leaned over and kissed Harry on the top of his head. “So, who else on here do you know?”

Harry spent the next half hour pointing out different people on the family tree and telling Tony stories. He spent a great deal of time telling Tony about Draco Malfoy.

“Should Bucky be worried?” Tony asked with a grin when Harry had finished.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Tony could see him blushing.

“You had a crush on him, didn’t you?” Tony exclaimed gleefully.

“Shut up,” Harry huffed petulantly.

Tony laughed loudly, “Wait till I tell Bucky his competition is a snooty blonde named Draco .” 

“Draco is not competition for Bucky.” Harry huffed, “Piss off.”

Tony just laughed louder, following Harry as he stomped out of the room.

He followed Harry through the house to some sort of garage, which Tony assumed he’d converted from an actual room. 

“Hello, beautiful,” Harry breathed, and Tony looked around for a moment before realising he was talking to a bike.

“Please put Bucky in the sidecar, please put Bucky in the sidecar,” Tony chanted, looking at the bike that Harry was all but caressing.

Harry threw his head back and laughed.

“If Master Harry is done obsessing over Master Sirius’ stupid bike, Kreacher has made lunch,” Kreacher grumbled after appearing with a crack and scaring the shit out of Tony.

“It’s not stupid, Kreacher!” Harry huffed in a manner that suggested he’d had this conversation before.

“It’s as stupid as Master Sirius was.”

“Kreacher,” Harry said with a raised eyebrow, and Kreacher sighed in annoyance.

“Kreacher be saying nothing else about stupid Master Sirius.”

Harry threw his hands up but followed Kreacher anyway.

“Not a fan of Sirius, then?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry huffed, “Trust me, the feeling was mutual.”

Just as they were about to walk into the kitchen, a set of curtains flew open violently, causing Tony to stumble back.

“FILTH! VERMIN! MUGGLES IN THE MOST NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!”

“ONE MORE FUCKING WORD OUT OF YOU, AND I’LL TAKE A FUCKING CHAINSAW TO YOUR FACE, WALBURGA, I SWEAR TO MERLIN! DO NOT TEST ME!”

Harry stormed over and wrestled the curtain back shut. “Stupid fucking bitch.”

“What the actual fuck, Harry!”

Harry snorted, “Meet Walburga Black. Sirius’ mother. She used a permanent sticking charm on her portrait that I still haven’t figured out the counter for. I would burn it, but I’m worried about burning the house down.”

Tony hummed, “Well, she’s a painting, right? So why not just use a paint stripper?”

Harry spun around and stared at Tony for a moment before the brightest smile Tony had ever seen appeared on his face. “You are a fucking genius!” Tony grinned as Harry turned back to the now-covered portrait, “Hear that, Walburga? Taken down by a muggle, you vindictive bitch!”

“Not a fan, I take it?”

“Some people shouldn’t be parents,” Harry muttered darkly. Tony just raised an eyebrow as Harry shook his head and continued his walk into the kitchen, where Kreacher had set up a veritable feast.

“This is not too big?” Tony asked with wide eyes.

Harry snorted, “Wait until we get to The Burrow.”

Chapter Text

“So,” Tony asked, “Who am I meeting tonight?”

He and Harry had spent the last couple of hours packing. Well, Harry had been packing, Tony had been watching. Most of it, Harry was doing with magic, so Tony couldn’t help that much. He was utterly fascinated, though. Not just by the spells but by the trunks Harry was packing everything into. Harry had called it an undetectable extension charm and had promised to get Hermione to explain it to him.

Harry hummed, “Probably all of the Weasley’s. So, Bill and Fleur, Charlie, Percy, Fre…. George,” Harry swallowed hard, and Tony frowned, “Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Oh, and obviously Arthur and Molly.”

“So just a couple of people then,” Tony replied dryly, and Harry laughed. “You were going to say another name before George, something I should know?” Tony asked quietly.

Harry sobered, “Fred, George’s twin brother, he died in the war.”

“Were you close?”

“Yeah,” Harry said softly, “It was like losing a brother. George hasn’t been the same since it happened. None of them have, really.”

Tony nodded, vividly remembering the moment Wanda felt Pietro’s loss. She’d managed to take down every Ultron robot in the vicinity. It would have been impressive if it wasn’t so heartbreaking.

“Alright, time to go,” Harry said with a clap, “You’re going to need to take Teddy. I’ll probably get tackled the minute we get there.”

“Alright,” Tony said with a chuckle before strapping Teddy to his chest.

Harry took them out of the house onto the top step outside because, apparently, you couldn’t apparate from inside the house, which seemed counterproductive to Tony, but whatever. Harry wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist, and Tony took a deep breath, preparing himself to get squeezed through a tube again.

They landed in front of the strangest house Tony had ever seen. It looked like it was being held up by sheer force of will.

Harry grinned, “Welcome to The Burrow.”

“HARRY!” 

A girl with wild curly hair, who Tony vaguely recognised, Hermione, if he remembered correctly, came running full speed out of the house and launched herself at Harry. Tony was more than a little bit surprised when Harry caught her easily; he thought for sure she would just knock the both of them to the ground. But Harry caught her and spun her around like she didn’t weigh a thing.

“It’s only been like two weeks, Hermione,” Harry said with a laugh, “You’re acting like it’s been two years.”

“Shut up!” She huffed before turning to Tony, “It’s such an honour to meet you, Mr Stark.”

“Tony, please. I’m pretty sure we went over this already,” Tony said with a grin.

“Tony, then,” Hermione said with a grimace like it was physically painful for her to not call him Mr Stark. “Hi, Teddy-Bear!” Teddy giggled as Hermione took him from Tony, “I’ve missed you, my little terror.”

Harry huffed, “Sometimes I think you only put up with me for Teddy.”

“It’s true, mate. She does.”

Harry’s face split into an even wider grin, “Ron!” 

Ron laughed and pulled Harry into a hug before turning to Tony. 

“So you're Harry’s dad. Blimey, you two look similar.” 

“Oi!” Someone yelled from inside the house, and Tony turned to see a veritable army of redheads coming towards them, “Stop hogging the short-stack!”

“Piss off, Charlie!” Harry stuck his middle finger up at one of the red-heads.

“Harry James Potter!”

Harry winced, “Sorry, Molly.”

“It’s good to see you, dear. We’ve missed you.” A woman, who Tony assumed to be Molly, pulled Harry into a hug before turning on Tony. “And you must be Mr Stark. I’m Molly Weasley.”

“Just Tony, please. Thank you for inviting us over.”

“Of course, dear.”

Tony was quickly introduced to Arthur, Charlie, Bill, Percy, and Ginny, who were all looking at him with varying degrees of shock.

“No George?” Tony heard Harry ask Molly quietly.

“He’s inside, dear,” Molly replied sadly.

Harry sighed before turning to Tony, “I’m going inside to speak to George.”

Tony nodded before turning back to the rest of the Weasley’s. “So, how did you all meet Harry?” 

The answers were not at all what Tony was expecting. Molly, Ron and Percy’s stories were reasonably normal.

“Oh, I helped the poor dear get on the platform for the train in his first year.”

“Sat in the same compartment as him on the train.”

“We were seated next to each other at the opening feast his first year.”

Bill’s a little less normal.

“We took him to the Quidditch World Cup. Poor kid almost fell on top of me coming out of the portkey.”

Arthur’s was… odd.

“My son’s took my flying car to get him from his relatives. I met him at breakfast the next morning.”

Charlie’s was crazy.

“He helped Ron smuggle a dragon to me that Hagrid had hatched illegally.”

Hermione and Ginny’s were downright terrifying.

“He and Ron saved me from getting killed by a troll.”

“He saved me from a giant snake and an evil diary. Regular white knight, you’ve got for a kid.”

“Sorry,” Tony boggled, “What troll? What giant snake?”

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny cringed. “He hasn’t told you much about his school days, then?”

“Not about trolls and giant snakes! Good god, what kind of school did you go to?”

Charlie snorted, “It’s not the school that’s the issue, mate; Harry’s just a trouble magnet.”

Tony sighed, “Another thing he inherited from me, then.”

The Weasley’s and Hermione all laughed before ushering him inside.

Harry was sitting on the couch, with who Tony presumed was George’s head on his shoulder, talking to him quietly.

“Oh, Harry got him to come out of his room,” Molly said, her voice a bit wobbly as she smiled.

Ron smiled sadly, “He always was the Twin whisperer.”

Harry turned and smiled at him before whispering something to George, who nodded before standing up and walking over with Harry.

“George, this is my dad, Tony Stark. Tony, this is George.”

“Nice to meet you, kid.”

“You too,” George said before he noticed Teddy in Hermione’s arms, and a previously non-existent spark lit up in his eyes. “Is that my little mischief maker?”

Teddy squealed, turning his hair red as Hermione handed him over to George.

“Did I tell you Nat’s called dibs on teaching Teddy Russian?” Harry said to Tony with a grin.

Tony groaned, “We’ll never survive.”

Harry’s grin widened, “A bi-lingual, shapeshifting son of a marauder, raised by the Avengers.”

Hermione grinned, “I’ll let McGonagall know to retire before he starts Hogwarts.”

“Hogwarts won’t last a week,” George said, a slight smile on his face.

“Come,” Molly said, smiling at the group, “Dinner should be ready.”

“Where’s Fleur?” Harry asked, looking around.

Bill smiled, quite a dopey smile, in Tony’s opinion, “She’s upstairs with Victorie. I’ll get her.”

A moment later, Bill descended the steps with what had to be one of the most beautiful women Tony had ever seen in his life, a baby about the same age as Teddy on her hip.

“‘Arry! It iz so good to see you!” The woman said excitedly, kissing Harry on the cheek.

“Hello, Fleur,” Harry said with a smile, “Hello, Victorie. How’s Gabrielle?”

Fleur smiled, “She iz good, still talks about you all ze time.” She finished with a wink.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Tell her I say hi. Fleur, this is….”

“Tony Stark,” Fleur finished with a raised eyebrow. “Ze French magical community iz not as separate from ze muggle world as ze English. You do look remarkably similar. A pleasure to meet you, Mr Stark.”

“Tony, please.”

Molly ushered them over to a table laden with food. Harry had been right; Kreacher’s feast was nothing compared to this. Plates flew out of the cupboard and laid themselves out on the table. Tony was still trying not to baulk at the blatant displays of magic.

“So, Harry!” Charlie said excitedly, “How’s America been?”

Ron grinned, “Harry’s got himself a boyfriend!”

“A boyfriend!” Molly exclaimed as Harry groaned and Tony grumbled unsavoury phrases under his breath.

“A right famous one, too, according to Hermione,” Ron continued with a devious smirk as Harry’s face turned bright red.

“Right famous bastard,” Tony grumbled, and Harry turned, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“What’s he like?” Ginny asked, grinning like a loon at Harry with her chin propped up on her hand.

“Bucky’s nice.”

“Really, Harry.” Ginny said, “That’s all we get. He’s nice. ”

Harry grinned back at her, “Yep. That’s all you get.”

Ginny scoffed before sticking her tongue out at him, “Fine. Be like that then.”

“Oh! That reminds me! Charlie, can muggles get on the reserves at all? I want to take Bucky to see the dragons.”

“I want to see the dragons! Why does Bucky get to see the dragons and not me!” Tony whined as everyone laughed.

“He can if you get him through the muggle repealing wards around the reserves. I’ll see if I can get you both invites,” Charlie said with a grin.

“You know,” Hermione said, her brows creased in thought, “It would be interesting to see if he and Captain Rogers could get through the wards on their own. Considering Captain Rogers has super soldier serum, and Sergeant Barnes has the HYDRA version.”

Tony turned to look at Hermione with an impressed look on his face, “It’s an interesting thought. You know a lot about the Capsicle and his metal-armed buddy, then?”

Hermione blushed, “Dame Margaret Carter was one of my heroes. I know about everything to do with her, including the Super Soldier project and the Howling Commandos. Plus, I did a lot of research on the Avengers when we found out you were Harry’s father.”

“Peggy was brilliant,” Tony said with a wistful sigh, “You couldn’t have picked a better hero.”

Hermione lit up, “You knew her?”

“Oh yeah,” Tony smiled, “Aunt Peggy was around a lot when I was younger. I didn’t see her too much after she and my father had their falling out, though.”

“So, Tony,” Arthur said with a smile, “Harry tells us you’re some kind of flying metal man.”

Tony almost laughed before he actually looked at their faces. They were dead serious. Harry and Hermione were trying and failing to hide their snickers.

Tony coughed, “Well, not exactly. It’s a suit that flies, not me.”

“Without magic! How fantastic!” Arthur said with wide eyes, “Tell me, does it run on eclectricity? You know, I actually have quite an extensive collection of plugs!” 

“Why?” Tony’s face must have been quite the picture because Harry and Hermione burst into near-hysterical laughter. The rest of the Weasley’s were pretty quick to follow; even George was smiling a little bit.

“Hey, dad. You should show everyone FRIDAY.”

Tony didn’t even have time to dwell on the fact that Harry had just called him dad for the first time. Sure, he’d referred to him as his dad. Told people that Tony was his dad. But he hadn’t yet actually called him dad. Because the minute Harry said FRIDAY, the little monster of an AI spoke out of his watch.

“Finally! I was feeling very left out of the conversation, you know!”

Harry laughed at the gobsmacked looks on everyone’s faces, “Sorry, FRI.”

“It’s obviously not your fault, Mini-Boss.”

Tony was seriously reconsidering Harry’s AI. Lovely Interactive Logical Interface was going to be a demon. He just knew it.

Chapter Text

In all honesty, Harry missed precious little about Wizarding Britain. He missed his friends, but it’s not like he couldn't get a portkey and see them almost any time he wished. He sometimes missed the quiet of Grimmauld Place. The compound was always… well, noisy wasn’t quite the right word, more like it was alive. There was always something going on, something happening. But, really, that was about it.

He didn’t miss the people. The hero worship and the quiet scorn. And he most certainly didn’t miss the governing body. Which was why, right now, he probably looked nigh on ridiculous standing in front of a telephone box in muggle London, scowling at it like it had personally caused every single wrong in his entire life.

“You alright there, kid?” Tony asked his face all sorts of amused.

Tony had practically begged to come. Harry had wanted him to stay behind at Grimmauld Place with Teddy and Kreacher. This trip to the Ministry was not something Harry was looking forward to, nor the questions Tony was inevitably going to ask afterwards, but apparently, stubbornness was a Stark trait because both Harry and Tony had it in droves.

They also hadn’t yet spoken about Harry’s little slip at dinner with the Weasley’s where Harry had called him dad. Honestly, Harry hadn’t even realised he’d done it until he got home that night. It hit him like a train when he was lying in bed. It shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Tony was his dad, and it’s not like the man had shuddered in horror when Harry had done it. But neither of them brought it up again, and he hadn’t done it since.

“I’m fine,” Harry gritted out.

“Oh, that was very convincing. Well done!” Tony replied sarcastically.

Harry threw him a half-hearted glare before sighing dramatically and ushering him into the phone box, dialling 6-2-4-4-2.

“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your business.”

“Harry Potter and Tony Stark, Births, Deaths, and Marriages registry.”

“Thank you. Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes.”

Harry handed the little badge to Tony, who snorted and muttered “robes” under his breath.

“Visitor to the Ministry of Magic, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the atrium.”

Harry snorted, “Fat chance of that.”

Trying desperately to block out memories of his fifth year as the telephone box started to move, Harry flinched when Tony put his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Tony said softly, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Harry swallowed, “It’s fine. I just really, really hate being in the Ministry.”

Tony nodded, squeezing Harry’s shoulder in comfort. 

The phonebox came to a stop and opened up, and Harry took a deep breath before stepping out, Tony just behind him.

“Holy shit! Is that you?” Tony blurted out, and Harry groaned, completely forgetting the brand-new statue inside the Ministry. 

“It’s awful. They unveiled it at my Order of Merlin ceremony.”

“And if I recall correctly, you threatened to take a sledgehammer to it.”

Harry grinned, turning around to see Kingsley, in all his Minister of Magic glory, flanked by Aurors, all of whom were staring at Harry in awe.

“Kings!” Harry pulled the man into a hug, his deep chuckle settling something in Harry’s veins.

“What brings you to our illustrious Ministry today?” Kingsley said with a roll of his eyes.

Harry was steadfastly ignoring the whispers that were starting up around the atrium. “I’m lodging my name change.”

Kingsley raised an eyebrow, “Name change? Did you get married?”

Harry laughed, “No. Kings, I want you to meet my father,” Harry stepped aside so he could see Tony, “Tony Stark.”

~•~

There was a statue of his son in the middle of the English Ministry. Why was there a fucking statue of his son in the middle of the fucking ministry? Why were these people looking at his son like he was the second coming of Jesus? This was insane. It looked like there was a whole fucking lot that Harry hadn’t told him. 

Honestly, Tony didn’t know why he was surprised. It wasn’t like Harry was a free-flowing river of information. It was like pulling teeth to get him to talk about anything.

“Your father?” 

“Tony Stark,” Tony said, sticking out his hand, “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic.”

“Damn, kid, you’ve got friends in high places,” Tony said with a smirk at Harry, who just rolled his eyes.

“We fought together in the war,” Kingsley replied, his respect for Harry shining in his eyes before narrowing them at Tony, “I was also friends with James and Lily. James and I went through Auror training together.”

Narrowing his eyes in return, knowing where Kingsley’s mind was going, “They were brilliant, weren’t they?”

Understanding flickered in Kingsley’s eyes, and he snorted, “Bloody Potter’s.” Turning back to Harry, he asked, “You’re changing your name to… Stark, was it?”

Tony, despite his efforts not too, made a semi-choked noise in the back of his throat. It wasn’t often he went somewhere where people didn’t know who he was.

Harry snorted, grinning at Tony, “Potter-Stark.”

Kingsley nodded, “It’s going to cause an uproar when it gets out. You know that, yes? We’re going to have to re-engrave the statue.”

Harry grunted in annoyance, “Just get rid of it. I hate the fucking thing. Plus, I’ll be in America, the uproar won’t matter to me.”

Kingsley raised an eyebrow, “You’re moving over there permanently?”

Tony perked up, very interested in the answer.

Harry nodded and Tony felt his heart soar. “More or less. There’s nothing here for me, Kings. You know that.”

Tony was almost expecting the man to try and get Harry to stay. And Tony was ready to fight the man to the death if he did. But he just nodded. “If anyone deserves it, it’s you. Come on, I’ll escort you down to the registry.”

Harry smiled, “Escorted by the Minister of Magic himself. What an honour.”

~•~

“There’s, um, there’s somewhere I’d like to go. If you’re up for it?” Harry said nervously when they’d finally finished at the Ministry. 

Tony frowned, “Where?”

Harry swallowed, wondering how Tony would take this or if it was even a good idea. “Godric’s Hollow. It’s, um, where my parents are buried.”

“Oh!” Tony said, eyes a bit wide, “And you want me to come with you?”

“Only if you want to,” Harry rushed out, “Obviously you don’t have to. I mean you only met them once, so it’s ok if you don’t want to.”

“Harry,” Tony said seriously, “If you’re comfortable with me coming, then I want to come with you.”

“Please,” Harry said softly.

Tony nodded solemnly and Harry wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist and apparated them to Godric’s Hollow.

They walked slowly, Tony’s arm still around Harry’s shoulder.

“That’s where they died,” Harry said, pointing to the burned out shell of the house that ruined his life. “I was 15 months old and one of my dad's best friends sold them out to Voldemort. It was Halloween. My dad didn’t even have his wand on him, he told my mum to take me and run, that he’d hold Voldemort off. Mum ran to the nursery, trying to protect me. Voldemort killed dad and came after mum. She begged him to spare me, to kill her instead. Her body had barely hit the floor when he turned his wand on me. The curse backfired and tore his spirit from his body and blew up the house. But I survived. That’s why they called me The-Boy-Who-Lived.”

“You remember it?” Tony asked, his voice strained.

“Every excruciating second.”

Tony didn’t say anything else, just pulled him into an almost bone-crushing hug. 

“You know the fucked up thing?” Harry said into Tony’s shoulder, “The world celebrated. My whole life was ruined, and the world celebrated. They made the fucking house a monument. It’s my fucking house, you know. But the Ministry claimed some kind of hold over it and I can’t have it. Even Kings can’t give it back to me. He’s tried. I just want to destroy it, you know. Knock the fucking thing down.”

“I’ll buy the fucking government,” Tony exclaimed and Harry laughed, a few tears running his face, “I’ll buy the fucking government and we’ll destroy it together.”

“I’ve already ordered the C4, Mini-Boss.”

Harry wiped his face, pulling back from Tony, “Thanks, FRI. Come on, the cemetery's this way.”

Coming to a stop in front of the grave, Harry conjured some flowers. Hermione’s wreath was still there, the flowers as beautiful as they had been when she’d first conjured them.

Kneeling down, Harry brushed some snow off the headstone, running his hands along the letters reverently.

“You know,” Harry said quietly, “I only saw this for the first time last year. It was Christmas. Hermione and I had been on the run for almost a year and we were so tired. I thought I was going to die, and I realised I’d never seen their graves and I thought to myself, if I’m going to die, I deserve to see it at least once. When the war was over, I came back and had a gravestone for Sirius made. I thought he’d want to be next to my dad.” 

Harry ran a hand over Sirius' gravestone. He’d struggled with what to have as the inscription for a long time until he remembered something Sirius had once said to him.

Those we love, never truly leave us.

Harry wiped his face as Tony pulled him close, “What about Teddy’s parents?”

“They're buried with Andromeda and Ted, Teddy’s grandparents. I wanted to bury Remus here as well but I didn’t want to separate him and Tonks, especially for Teddy’s sake, and I know Tonks would want to be with her parents. I’m going to take Teddy there when he’s old enough to understand.”

“He’s so lucky to have you, you know,” Tony said softly.

Harry smiled sadly before casting a final look at the graves.

“Come on, we should head back.”

~•~

Harry walked away, and sensing he might need a moment to himself, Tony hung back. He kneeled down and placed a hand on Lily and James’ grave.

“We made a brilliant kid, guys,” He said solemnly, “You would be so bloody proud. I know I am.”

Chapter Text

Dinner was a silent affair. Not awkward, just silent. Tony didn’t think being back in England was doing Harry any favours, and if he hadn’t already decided he wanted to move to the US permanently, Tony would have been giving it his all to make sure he did. Kreacher had cleared their plates, only sneering at Tony slightly, which, honestly, Tony counted as a win.

“Kid, I think we need to have a talk.”

Tony wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but there was just so much about Harry’s life that he was in the dark about. Nat had said that he was famous, and Fury had known who he was, but for some reason, it didn’t click on Tony’s head just how important Harry seemed to be to these people. He didn’t know how much Harry had been through, and he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything he could about his son because it seemed like every story he told Tony about himself was steeped in heartbreak and loss. Sirius, James and Lily, even the Weasley’s. Harry’s life just seemed like one tragedy after another.

When Harry looked up, Tony desperately wanted to take the words back because he looked scared. Tony had never seen Harry look scared before, and it was not an expression that Tony ever wanted to see again. And god, he looked so young. So young and so tired.

Tony swallowed his initial reflex just to brush the whole thing under the carpet and stood up to go and sit next to Harry, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Harry tensed for a moment before resting his head on Tony’s shoulder. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Harry, or try and force you to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I want to understand. I need to understand what you went through, ok?”

“I don’t really know where to start.”

Harry’s voice was quiet, so much so that Tony didn’t think he would have heard him if his head wasn’t directly next to his ear.

“The beginning is usually a good place.”

Harry snorted, “Yeah. You’re not wrong.” Harry sighed, “It’s not a nice story. Honestly, the whole thing is just crap on top of crap on top of crap.”

“I want to know. Whatever you are comfortable with telling me, I want to know.”

“I’m not comfortable telling you anything,” Harry said bluntly, and Tony could feel his face fall, “I’m not comfortable telling anyone anything. Ever. After the war, everyone wanted me to talk about it, and I didn’t know how. I straight-up punched Ron in the face when he pushed just the tiniest bit too much. He’s my best friend, and I trust him more than anything, but I couldn’t fucking talk about it. I said the most heinous and unforgivable things to Hermione when she tried to get me to talk about it. They should have run and never spoken to me again, but they didn’t, but I still can’t talk about it with them, no matter how much I try. Why will it be any different with you? I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me, Harry,” Tony said, believing every word of it.

“How do you know that?!” Harry exclaimed, and the light bulb above their head exploded.

Harry pulled away from Tony, looking like a wounded animal trying to protect himself, wrapping his arms around his legs and pulling them close. “I hurt everyone. I always end up hurting the people I love.”

“Harry,” Tony said slowly, moving the kneel in front of him, placing his hands on Harry’s knees, “I am the goddamn master at hurting people I love. Ask Pepper, ask anyone; I hurt everyone around me. I’m like a one-man wrecking ball when it comes to the people in my life, ok, so I know how you feel. But you won’t hurt me. I can take anything you can throw at me. Fists, words, spells, anything you can throw at me, I can take, ok. I can take it all.”

“You’re going to look at me differently,” Harry said, his voice so fucking dejected that Tony felt it viscerally. “Everyone always does. My life was a shit show, Tony. A fucking shit show from the fucking get-go. Even when I had my parents. They were in a war, and they were targeted because of me. Because I had the audacity to be born.”

“Harry,” Tony breathed because he genuinely didn’t know what else to say.

“Everything was my fault.” Harry seemed to be on a roll. Like he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. It didn’t seem to matter if he was talking to Tony or just the wall. He just needed to talk. “I was born at the wrong fucking time, so Voldemort came after me. I was born a wizard, and so Petunia and Vernon hated me. I was The-Boy-Who-Lived, so I should have saved everyone. I should have ended the war sooner. I should have done more. So many people died, and it’s always going to be my fault.”

“Did you kill them?” Tony interrupted, and Harry’s head shot up. “Did you put a gun, or a wand, to their head and kill them?”

“No.”

“Then it wasn’t your fault. Fuck, Harry! You were a child! I don’t know what fucked up world you live in where the fate of it rests solely on your shoulders, but that’s not right!” 

It was moments like this that Tony was glad he never experimented with gamma radiation because he would be in full Hulk mode right now. His kid had had the entire fucking Wizarding shitshow of a world on his shoulders since he was a baby. He was a child. A fucking child soldier, and they erected a monument to him. Tony wanted to take a sledgehammer to that statue himself.

“But it was,” Harry said, quietly resigned in a way that made Tony’s blood boil. “The second Voldemort decided that I would be his downfall and turned his wand on me, my life was set. The path I had to walk was set. And everything became my fault.”

“For fucks sake, Harry!” Tony yelled, standing up and basically throwing his arms around in frustration, “You were a child! Someone should have been looking out for you! I should-” Tony cut himself off, swallowing hard, “I should have been looking out for you,” He finished softly.

Harry took a shuddering breath, “Jesus, Tony, it’s not your fault. Don’t put that on yourself. You didn’t know; you couldn’t have known. I can’t tell you how many times I prayed that someone would come and take me away when I was a kid, but I don’t blame you for not knowing about me. My parents didn’t tell you; it’s not like you know about me and abandoned me, ok. So none of this is on you.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “So I’m not allowed to feel like I should have done more because I didn’t know you existed, but because you were born, you have to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Your logic is really sound there, bud; keep it up.”

“It’s different!” Harry exclaimed indignantly, and Tony crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh yeah? How?”

“It just is, ok! I don’t know how to explain it, but it is! I was everyone’s saviour when I was 15 fucking months old, and the older I got, the more they expected of me, the more I had to live up to.”

Tony snorted, “Kid, you wouldn’t have been out of diapers at 15 months old, and despite having the immaculate Stark blood running through your veins, I highly doubt you did some amazing feats of magic before you’d stopped shitting yourself.”

Harry looked at him, open-mouthed, for a long time before he burst into hysterical laughter. Hysterical, holding onto his knees, hardly able to breathe laughter. “You know, I think you’re the first person that’s actually said that to me. Even when I tried to tell people that it couldn’t have possibly been me that did anything.” Harry took a deep shuddering breath, “Personally, I think it’s because an alive saviour is better than a dead one.”

Tony sat back down next to Harry, running his hand up and down his back soothingly. “I’m not going to see you any differently, Harry. Nothing you can tell me is going to make me look at you differently.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Harry said gravely, but before Tony could even respond, Harry kept talking, spilling the entire story, and Tony wanted to vomit. Or kill someone. Or both.

Harry told him about the cupboard under the stairs. The chores. The punishments if it did something “wrong”. Harry told him about how he didn’t know a thing about his parents until a half-giant broke into a hut on the sea where he had to sleep on the floor with nothing but a ratty blanket. He told him about finding out he was famous and not knowing why. About teachers who wanted nothing more than to make his life hell. About trolls and dragons and killing someone in self-defence at 11. At being sent back to the place where he was despised. About house elves, diaries, and giant snakes that can kill with their eyes. About dementors. About Sirius, Remus, and Peter. About dangerous tournaments where he had to fight dragons and merfolk and having to watch a friend be murdered in front of him. Of being tortured and escaping from certain death. Of being a pariah. Hated. Tortured again. He saw that scar on Harry’s hand, holding onto it like Tony could will it away. Could will it all away. All the hurt Harry had been through. He held Harry tight as he told him about the visions, about the snake. About Sirius dying. Of being possessed. Harry told Tony about the memories. About the training Dumbledore had put him through. And did Tony want to get his hands on Albus Fucking Dumbledore. He told him about almost killing Draco Malfoy. Of caves with fucking zombies. Of being made to stand by and watch whilst Dumbledore was killed. About Horcruxes and months on the run. About the Battle of Hogwarts. About death and destruction.

Tony wanted to scream and rage and break things, but he couldn’t. So he just held Harry tight and listened to his story, listened as Harry spilt out everything that happened and wished that he could have done something to help. That he could have been there for him whilst he was going through all this. That he could have done anything .

And then Harry told him what happened in the forest. And Tony stopped breathing. 

Tony had seen a lot. A lot that he thought was impossible. But even still, to him, dead was dead. Except Harry wasn’t dead. But he had died. His son had died.

His son had died.

He should say something. Anything. 

Harry was looking at him, and Tony could see the light behind his eyes slowly dying the longer that Tony stared at him in what could only be described as abject horror.

“I told you not to make promises you can’t keep.”

Chapter Text

Look. No one would ever accuse Tony of being particularly in touch with his emotions. Or of being emotionally stable. Or just, you know, stable in general. Tony's the kind of person that makes jokes when he's uncomfortable. He hides behind bravado because, truly, he is the most self-conscious, self-hating narcissist that has probably ever roamed the earth. 

And yes, he knows that staring open-mouthed and silently at his son when he's just told him about the most traumatic experience of his life is not the kind of reaction he should be having, but Tony doesn't know how he's going to approach this, so he doesn't ruin it more than he already had.

Harry shifted awkwardly, unsurprisingly, and made to leave, and so Tony did the only thing he could think of and grabbed Harry around the middle and pulled him into a hug. Honestly, it was probably bordering on painful, just how tightly he was holding onto him, but Harry just sunk into the embrace. 

"Just," Tony said tightly, "just give me a second, ok?"

Tony felt Harry nod against his chest but didn't loosen his hold on him even the slightest.

"I'm not looking at you differently," Tony finally mumbled into Harry's hair, "I promise you, I'm not looking at you differently. But Harry, you died." Tony's voice cracked. "Harry, you died! How did you expect me to take that?"

It took Tony longer than he thought possible to realise that he'd started crying. But, really, he only noticed because Harry's hair was wet where he was resting his head.

"I don't know," Harry said quietly, his voice thick like he was crying too. 

"God, Harry, I'm so sorry."

And then Tony broke, openly sobbing into Harry's hair and holding onto him as though he might slip through his fingers, or die, again. He could vaguely make out Harry's tearful "it's not your fault," but it didn't feel like it was not his fault. Harry had been used and abused and tossed aside so many times. And Tony can't help but wonder what his life might have been if he'd just cared a little bit more. 

Tony knows he wasn't a good person for a long time, but he can't help but imagine what would have happened if he'd somehow found out about Harry when he was a baby. Would he have been a good father? Could he have held him when he cried? Looked after him when he was scared? Watched him grow up? Helped him control his accidental magic? Shown him it was something special, not something to be scared of? Would Harry have gone to Hogwarts and had all those awful things happen to him? Or would he have gone to some American magic school and had a normal life? And even if he did go to Hogwarts, he would have had a home to go to at the end of it. One where he loved, cherished, and wanted. 

It was just a torment of what if's, and Tony felt like he was drowning in them.

"Don't," Harry said forcefully, moving to look Tony in the eyes. "Don't do that to yourself."

"Do what?" Tony asked though he knew full well what Harry was saying.

Harry huffed, "You think I don't know that face? I've lived in the land of what if's since I understood basic English. You'll destroy yourself."

Tony chuckled wetly, "I could give you the same advice, kid."

Harry's face twisted in annoyance, and Tony laughed properly before sobering. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say, how I'm supposed to make it better. Harry, your life was awful."

Harry raised an incredulous eyebrow, "Thanks?"

Tony huffed, "Just shut up and listen. I'm never going to be able not to wonder how I could have made your life better, ok? Just like you're never going to wonder how you could have saved more people in your stupid war you should have never had anything to do with because you were a fucking child, and children should never be involved in war ever." Tony took a breath to calm himself, his eyes softening when he saw the momentary upturn of Harry's lips. "So, I'm going to do now what I should have been doing your whole life, ok, what anyone should have been doing your whole life. I'm going to look after you, ok, kid?"

Harry looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet awkwardly before murmuring a soft, "Ok, dad."

Tony drew in a sharp breath before pulling Harry back into a tight hug. "Keep- Keep doing that. Please?" Tony said quietly, "Keep calling me dad."

Harry just nodded, burrowing himself further into Tony's chest.

It shouldn't surprise Tony that Harry eventually fell asleep; the conversation was emotionally and physically draining for the both of them. It probably wasn't particularly comfortable for him, but from what Harry told him about the camping trip from hell, it was probably not the least comfortable place he'd fallen asleep. As reluctant as he is to do it, Tony eventually woke Harry up and helped him back to his room.

"You will be looking after Master Harry, yes?" Kreacher asked as Tony softly closed the door to Harry's room.

Tony nodded as seriously as he could muster. "With everything I have."

Kreacher studied him for a long moment before nodding, "Good."

~•~

Pepper and Happy were waiting for them at the airport. Pepper looked a bit shocked at the lack of baggage Harry had with him, considering that he had gone home to pack up his entire life, but Harry just wiggled his fingers at her and said, "magic."

Pepper rolled her eyes fondly before cuffing him on the back of the head. Harry laughed and ducked out of the way before putting Teddy in his car seat. 

The moment they landed in New York, Harry felt like he could breathe again. He hadn't realised just how suffocating it was to be back in the UK in Grimmauld Place. He missed his friends like crazy, but America was his home now; he just hadn't realised it until he left.

It had been good for him to go back, though, in a way. He felt closer to his dad now. He couldn't hide himself back in the UK like he could in America, which was almost a double-edged sword. But as horrifically awful as the conversation with Tony had been at the time, he was glad that Tony knew everything now; it made him feel lighter. 

"Oh!" Pepper said excitedly, opening her briefcase and handing Harry an envelope, which he just looked at strangely until Pepper huffed and told him rather impatiently to open it.

A passport. His passport. His American passport. The name Harry James Potter-Stark was printed on it proudly. 

"Already?" Harry choked out, trying to keep his tears back. For some reason, this felt like so much more than changing his name at the Ministry.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "You're a Stark now, Harry. I'm honestly surprised it took as long as it did."

Tony scoffed, "The Government is so far up my ass they can see what I had for breakfast. It was never going to be a normal process."

Harry laughed, but he didn't take his eyes off the passport, smiling at it like a loon. Harry felt Tony run a hand through his hair and turned to smile at him. "Thank you," Harry said softly.

Tony smiled back and winked, "Stuck with me now, kiddo."

Harry just smiled wider, holding the passport in his hand like some lifeline, feeling, for the first time in his life, like he had a home.

"Everyone's got a surprise party set up for you inside," Pepper said quietly when they'd pulled up at the compound, and Harry was hauling a wriggling, excited Teddy from his car seat. "But I don't know how you feel about surprises, so I thought I should let you know."

Harry laughed, "I hate surprises, so thank you."

Pepper winked at him before ordering Tony and Happy to grab Harry's trunks out of the car. Tony grumbled in annoyance, but Harry could see the pleased smile on his face when he ran his hand over Harry's trunk.

Harry was glad Pepper warned him about the surprise party because even though he knew, he still jumped half out of his skin when everyone yelled "welcome back!" at him as he walked in. He probably would have started throwing curses if Pepper hadn't told him.

"Thanks, everyone," Harry said with a smile, looking around. Even Loki was there, surprisingly, standing next to Clint. Although he shouldn't really have been all that surprised, the two had been through essentially the same thing; both had been controlled by the sceptre, and, in his experience, people tend to gravitate towards people with the same trauma. It was fucked up in a lot of ways, but really it was how he and Ginny became so close. There were very few people in the world who understood what it was like to be an unwitting host to something as evil as Voldemort's soul. It was similar to Nat and Bucky. Speaking of….

"Where's Nat?" Harry asked when he noticed she wasn't there.

"She got a call from a contact in Norway and had to run off," Clint said, coming up to give Harry a hug.

"Will she be ok?" Harry asked with a frown, noticing the barely there tightness in Clint's expression.

"She'll call if she needs help," Clint said evasively, and Harry's frown deepened. "Seriously, Harry. She'll be fine."

Harry hummed but didn't push, particularly not in front of everyone, which he could tell Clint was grateful for.

"Hello, darlin'."

Harry grinned and spun around. "Bucky."

"Key! Key!" Teddy yelled, reaching out towards Bucky, who was looking quite shell-shocked.

"Is he trying to say Bucky?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Key! Key!" Teddy huffed, turning his hair silver.

"Does this mean his first word is technically Key?" Harry asked with a laugh, handing Teddy off to Bucky, who still looked like a deer in headlights. "Well, it's better than it being fuck. I'll take the win."

"FA!"

"God damn it!"

~•~

"How was it?" Pepper asked quietly, coming to stand next to Tony and handing him a drink.

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Fuck Pep, he's been through so much. Too fucking much."

Pepper raised an eyebrow, "He talked to you about everything?"

Tony nodded, feeling completely wrung out, "Everything. Jesus, Pep, I don't know how he's still standing. He's such a good fucking kid, and he's been to hell and back so many times. I just…." 

"You wish you'd been there for him, and you're blaming yourself for the fact you weren't?" Pepper said with a knowing smile.

Tony huffed, "You know me too well."

Pepper put a hand on his arm, "You can't change what happened, Tones. You just have to be there for him now."

"He took me to their graves," Tony said sadly, "Lily and James." Pepper squeezed his arm comfortingly. "He's calling me Dad now."

"Of course, he is," Pepper said with that air of casual confidence that she'd always had, "Harry thinks the world of you, Tony; anyone can see that."

"I don't know if I deserve it."

Pepper smiled, "You do. Now make sure it stays that way."