The Father
Chapter 4: The Father
Tony jolted awake with a gasp. He frantically clawed at his helmet, needing to breathe. He was alive! Well, he thought he was.
”Jarvis, you there.” He asked, blinking hard, trying to clear the bright spots clouding his vision.
”Yes sir.” He breathed a sigh of relief.
”And I’m still here?”
”Yes sir, despite your very best efforts.” Everyday he regretted programming sarcasm into his AI. Realism be damned.
Tony let his head fall back against the pavement. He really thought that he was dead, for a second he even thought he saw…No it wasn’t possible. Looking up, he saw his team of misfits standing over him, as well as two teens. Damn, that orange hair may just blind him all over again.
”Hey, guys.” he said with a smile, waving his arm weakly before it fell back onto the pavement. “We’re alive, that’s awesome. Go team, even you Romanov. You get a gold star.”
”…and he’s back,” someone said, probably Cap. Tony couldn’t really tell, he was too busy appreciating the fact that his lungs could still fill with air.
”Are we done? Did it close?”
”Yes, it's done. Clint is supervising transfer of the tesseract and prisoner now. You did good Iron Man.” said Natasha, a small smile on her face.
”Eh,” Tony waved his hand, smirking a little, “It was a group effort.”
“Actually, more of a one man show towards the end, thanks to Merlin over there.” Natasha said, gesturing besides him.
What was she talking about? Tony turned his head to the side and felt his heart stop.
A teen lay next to him, his head cradled in the ginger’s lap as another waved a wand (if his suspicions were correct) over his unconscious form. Tony went blank, as scenes of black hair, laughter and a crooked grin ran through his mind. Remembering the warmth of auburn hair and green eyes left him feeling cold, as he took in the person beside him.
His face must have shown his shock, because Thor approached him, concern in his voice.
”Do you know this sorcerer, Stark?”
”I..i..” Tony didn’t know what to say. The kid wasn’t James, that much was clear, but a deep sense of familiarity and sadness settled in his chest. He looked so familiar, but Tony had never seen James look so thin, so gaunt. Something was very wrong and he could feel his stomach start to sink.
“He does not.” A tight voice rang out. It took Tony a few seconds to realize that it came from the girl crouched near him, bushy brown hair hiding her expression.
She looked up at the other teen. “I can’t find anything wrong with him besides magical exhaustion, which is not surprising considering the idiot used wandless magic to close a literal hole in space.”
”He closed it?!” Tony said, still in shock. The girl ignored him, still looking at the ginger.
”Do you think he needs a healer? Maybe MACUSA could …”
”No Ron, he just broke the Statute of Secrecy in front of the entire city, not that they were really paying attention, but he would probably be arrested. And even if he wasn’t, the attention would be the last thing Harry would want. It would be all over the prophet by morning.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes, revealing an expression of pure exhaustion. “He just needs rest I think. Besides, I’m not going to let any auror or healer stop me from giving him the chewing out he deserves right now. When he wakes up, I’m going to kill him.” Tony couldn’t tell whether she was joking or not.
She glanced sideways at Tony, looking like she was about to say something, before she shook her head. “We should get him back to the hotel.”
“Wait!” Tony said, just a bit too loud, sitting up despite his head rush so he could look the girl in the eye. “I mean, we have better facilities at Stark tower. Top of the line. The kid just saved the world so..”
”And you.” Natasha cut in.
”What?”
She looked between him and the sleeping teenager, something unidentifiable in her gaze. “I just told him to close the portal, but he somehow managed to do that and catch you at the same time.
“Can’t seem to shake the habit, can he.” Ron said, looking at Harry with complete exasperation.
Tony spared him a glance before focusing back on the teen girl. He got the impression that she would be making the final decision. He didn’t fully know why he was rearing to fight this, why the thought of the kid disappearing set him on edge. But, he could feel the determination settle into his very skin, the kid would be coming back to Stark tower with him.
“Listen, I don’t know what you did to examine him, but if he fell as far as I did, magic aside, he needs better medical care than he could get at a hotel. At least at the tower, we could monitor him until he wakes up.” The girl met his gaze, unblinking, and he could almost see the gears turning in her head. She crossed her arms and said nothing as Tony clambered to his feet, placing a steadying hand on Steve’s shoulder.
“Also, I heard you mention something about attention? Well, I can guarantee there will be a whole lotta that heading our way after this fiasco. Do you really think you could keep him out of that in a public hotel? Let us help protect him, I mean we certainly owe him one.” Tony could see the ginger bristle out of the corner of his eye.
“Listen mate, you don’t know a damn thing. We can protect him ourselves, as we always have. We know better than to trust some gang of weird ....”
“Fine.”Hermione said quietly, not lowering her stare. Ron looked at Hermione, stunned.
“But Hermione, they’re muggles. We should be obliviating them, not moving in!” Hermione’s eyes flicked to the sleeping Harry.
“I think he has already known about magic for some time, haven’t you Mr. Stark?” She looked at him knowingly. Tony swallowed and looked away, the pain of loss shooting through his chest. He looked at the rest of his team, who were watching the interaction play out, clearly confused.
He nodded slowly. She crouched back down beside her friend.
“Let’s continue this conversation once he’s settled. No offense, but you all look like you require some medical attention as well.” She wasn’t wrong, Natasha had a nasty cut above her eyebrow that probably needed stitches and he didn’t like the way Cap was clutching his ribs.
“You’re right.” Tony clapped his hands, trying to regain some control. “Let’s all go inside. Would you like to bring the kid, little lady?”
Hermione sighed, “I don’t think I should apparate with him like this.”
“I’ll bring the sorcerer.” Everyone turned towards Thor, mouths hanging open in surprise. Hermione sized him up before nodding. Thor bent down, gathering the young man in his arms gently, before straightening up again.
“Alright, let’s go.”
…
An hour later, everyone had found rooms (ones not destroyed by Hulk and Loki’s playdate) and were resting. Tony had a delivery order in for shawarma for everybody, but he had a feeling the wait would be a bitch.
After Bruce de-greenified, he helped Thor and Tony get Harry settled in the room he used whenever he got hurt in the lab, Hermione watching like a hawk the whole time. It already had enough basic equipment to last them until Pepper could fly in their personal doctor from DC. Harry had been hooked up to a heart monitor and oxygen, before Bruce took a blood sample, just to cover all their bases. It appears that flying out of the troposphere can leave you a little short on air. At least Tony had a helmet on for god's sake.
After Bruce left to stitch up Natasha and the red-head went to pick up their stuff from the hotel, Tony was left alone with the teen witch, watching Harry sleep comfortably, the only sound in the room being the soft beep of the monitor and his steady breathing.
“Dr. Banner told me he’s underweight.”
“Yes, well. Harry has had a hard life. Getting him to eat can be…difficult.” Hermione looked pained.
“What happened to him?”
“That is not my story to tell.”
Silence descended again.
“They are dead, aren’t they?” Tony knew the young witch would know who he was talking about. She was the only one not shocked by his reaction to Harry, the one who knew that he had encountered magic before.
“Yes…I’m sorry. They died 17 years ago.”
“I knew … When they didn’t come back after a year, I had Jarvis search for them. He never found any trace of them except for the title to a grave plot labeled Potter. I knew it was a common name so I never really let myself believe but …. I think I knew in my heart that they were … gone.”
“...I’m sorry.” The worst thing was that she looked like she meant it. A tear slowly ran down her face as she kept her eyes on Harry. Tony wished he knew what was going through her head.
“He’s their son, right? I never saw any record of a kid but … God, he looks so much like them…”
Hermione grimaced before saying carefully, “In one way or another.”
Tony glanced at her sideways, noting her vague answer and making a mental note to have Jarvis run that blood sample through a DNA test. Was it ethical? No. Was it legal? Maybe. But when did Tony ever let that stand in his way.
Tony needed answers. It had been almost two decades since the only people he had ever seen a future with went missing. Since then, he went crazy with the loss, checking in and out of rehab, sleeping with anyone that could make him forget, even if it never truly worked. He needed to know what happened to the loves of his life all those years ago and he needed to know if this was their son. But he felt like he already knew the answer, and either way, Tony could already tell that he would move mountains for this brave soul, who caught him as he fell from the sky.
That night, after everyone was patched up and had at least 5 servings of shawarma (10 each for Thor and Rodgers), Tony escaped to the privacy of his own room. He settled down on an armchair and finally let himself go. Tremors racked through his body as his brain finally caught up with the fact that he nearly died today. He didn’t even second guess it. He knew he would make the same choice again, but honestly, Tony had had a bit of a death wish for a long time now. Then he was saved by a person who…
Tony buried his head in his hands. He didn’t know how long he was sitting like that, shaking, before Jarvis gently broke the silence.
“Sir, are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine Jay…”
“I have the results of the DNA test you requested. Would you like to hear them now or wait until a better time?”
Tony took a deep breath. “Go for it Jarvis.”
“The patient is indeed related to the Evans family through the maternal side. Lacking a direct DNA sample from Lily Potter N.E. Evans , it can be assumed that she is the mother.”
He just nodded. Tony knew it from the minute he saw Harry. But why didn’t Lily and James tell him she was pregnant? She could have gotten pregnant while in hiding, but if Jarvis’s age estimate is to be believed, the timing doesn’t match up.
“Thank you Jarvis.”
“I am not done yet sir. I was able to get a direct hit on the paternal side.” The AI paused, as if hesitating to finish the report. That should have been a sign, but Tony was already at his wits end after everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.
“Not getting any younger here Jay.”
“Sorry sir. His closest paternal relative, with 99.8 percent accuracy, is Tony Stark.”
Tony felt his heart crack.