The Dinner
Chapter 7: The Dinner
Since Tony left, Harry had just sat there on the bed, staring into the distance. He didn’t know what to do at the moment. He knew that Tony deserved to know what happened to Lily and James, but telling him that would require telling him that Harry was his son. Tony didn’t deserve to have a kid thrown at him out of nowhere, especially not a broken 18 year old who couldn’t get through one conversation normally. Harry just wanted to escape.
He had spent his entire life fighting, but for the first time he truly wanted to run away. Run away from the sorrow, the disappointment, and the hope that was filling his chest for the first time since Hagrid burst through his door with a squashed birthday cake. So Harry sat back against the headboard and tried to float, trying to reach the state of numbness that had been keeping him alive from the moment Voldemort’s body hit the floor. But, he didn’t succeed.
There was a short knock on Harry’s door, giving him enough time to come back to himself, before Ron and Hermione stepped in.
“Hey mate, you ready for dinner? You have to come try this muggle food, it's amazing!” Ron said, grinning, any residual anger from their prior discussion apparently forgotten.
Hermione on the other hand walked in with her arms crossed tightly across her chest, lips pursed, disturbingly reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. Harry gulped, trying not to meet her eyes. Luckily, she had obviously decided to put a raincheck on the verbal lashing that he could see building behind her tightly closed mouth.
“I’m not very hungry, but you guys go ahead.” He said, smiling weakly, “Anyway, getting out of all of these..whatever they are.. seems like a pain in the ass. Not worth it.” He raised his arm, swinging his IV tube and a truly impressive number of wires to highlight his point.
Ron’s smile faded slightly and Hermione’s eyes narrowed.
“Harry, please tell me what is going on.” Ron whispered. Harry startled a little at the look on Ron’s face. He thought he was familiar with all of his best friend’s expressions. He had seen Ron happy, he had seen Ron grieving, he had seen Ron terrified. But now Ron looked heartbroken as he sat down on the bed by Harry.
“Hermione told me that it was something that you had to deal with on your own.” Harry glanced quickly at Hermione, seeing her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Ron continued. “But, I used to know everything about you, before I…I walked away…before.”
And Harry’s heart dropped as he understood what Ron was getting at, why Ron looked like that. Ron thought he was keeping secrets, keeping distance because he didn’t trust him anymore. Looking back, they never had really spoken about it afterward, but it must have been eating away at Ron all this time.
“Ron, no, it has nothing to do with that. I just…” Harry gulped. He needed to do this, Ron had been with him through hell. “It’s just, I haven’t really said it out loud yet ..to anyone. It’s just, telling people means I have to face it, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Or if I ever will be.” Harry said willing Ron to believe him.
“Okay mate, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Said Ron, still looking a little bit like a kicked puppy. Fuck it.
Harry swallowed past the knot in his throat and whispered. “Tony Stark is my father.”
Ron obviously heard him, as his eyes widened, jaw dropping. The anger on Hermione’s face bled away, replaced by sympathy as she looked at Harry.
“Blimey, but James Potter...but…what?” Hermione held up the letter Harry had stashed in his hotel room, forgotten in the adrenaline rush of the battle. He nodded at her, unsurprised that she had found and retrieved it. Hermione handed it to Ron, who grabbed at it frantically, mouth still open in shock.
Harry watched Ron’s eyes flit back and forth across the page. After he put the letter down in his lap, nobody spoke, anxiety built in Harry’s chest as Ron processed the information. After a few tense minutes, Ron chuckled, rubbing his hand across his face.
“Damn, your mom really had a type.” Harry slapped a hand over his mouth at the surprised laugh that fell out. Trust Ron to point out the obvious. Even Hermione couldn’t hold back a smile.
“So, why don’t you want to come to dinner? Don’t you want to get to know your dad?”
Harry looked down at his hands. He could feel tears gather behind his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
“I don’t know if he would want to know me.” He said, trying to keep his voice level. “Or even if it would be safe for him.”
Understanding crossed Ron’s features. “Mate, he’s Iron Man. I don’t think you could scare him off.”
Harry said nothing. Hermione finally broke her silence, crossing the room to sit on Harry’s other side, she placed her hand on Harry’s.
“Harry, you always did this, ever since I first met you. You assume that people are less than they are.” Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione squeezed his hand, silently asking him to let her finish.
“First year, you truly believed we would leave you to go after Quirrell alone. Fifth year, it was with the D.A. and last year, you tried to leave us at Burrow, deciding for us that it was too dangerous, that you would be better off on your own.” She said, her hard tone softened by the gentle way she held his hand.
“Maybe it’s time to give people a chance to decide for themselves what they can handle and what they want, before you write them off.” Her tone became clipped, “Besides, the lone wolf act if really getting old.” There it is. Harry still couldn’t look at her.
“I meant what I said, this is not something we can force you into, but Harry…you deserve to give yourself a chance.” She sighed. “And maybe Tony Stark could deserve a chance as well. Come to dinner with us, please.” Harry was focused on holding back tears. What could he say?
He gave a stiff nod, and let Ron pull him to his feet. He gathered himself and Ron handed him back the letter, his eyes looking suspiciously wet as well. Harry took a deep breath and the three of them walked through the door.
…
Tony was panicking, as Happy walked in with a truly sickening amount of chinese food. He knew it was necessary, the side effects of hosting a super soldier and a literal god, but he was struggling.
With Fury’s encouragement, everyone agreed to stay in the tower, at least until the media frenzy died down. Tony was rather adept at dealing with the vultures and therefore was uniquely situated to handle this situation without relegating the team to dingy SHIELD barracks or safehouses. Even Point Break decided to stay instead of following his brother back to Asgard. Something about a brotherhood of warriors and post-battle revelry…Tony had no idea.
But as terrifying as his grocery bill would be in the coming months, the cause of his current panic attack was the skinny, green eyed teenager sitting in bed on the floor above him. Harry would come to dinner, right? His panic just continued to build as a steady stream of people started to come into the living room.
Eventually paper plates were distributed and there was the cacophony of wooden chopsticks being unevenly broken. If he was any less stressed, he would have laughed at the sight of Thor looking at the thin, fragile utensils as if they had personally challenged him. But, the absence of the great and magical trio was weighing on him.
Just as he had given up on hoping to ever see his son again, that his son would ever like him and whether Thor would ever learn how to use chopsticks, a mess of black hair walked in.
…
Harry walked into the living room, a step behind Ron and Hermione, and was hit with noise. Scanning the room, he saw Clint and Natasha arguing above the merits of knives versus arrows, Dr. Banner was attempting to teach Blondie how to use chopsticks, and Captain America was shoveling food into his mouth at a rate that would put Ron to shame. His eyes slid over the chaos and landed on Tony. Tony was sitting on one of the huge couches (Merlin, one of those was the size of the Gryffondor common room!), looking much less at ease than he had earlier.
Tony’s head whipped up as the trio walked in and he visibly froze. He just stared at them for a few seconds before he smiled widely.
“Come in guys, grab a plate and sit anywhere! I hope you guys like chinese food. Or, well, what counts as Chinese food on this side of the pond.” Tony said, waving around a piece of orange chicken.
After getting some food (a mountain in Ron’s case), they all took a seat side by side on an empty leg of one of the couches, front facing the chaos, back facing the exit. Sitting nearest the exit was a habit none of them had quite been able to break. Slowly, the conversations around them came to a close as everyone took in the newcomers. Harry squirmed in his seat as all eyes eventually turned to him.
“Steve Rodgers.” Captain America broke the ice, holding out his hand to Harry.
“Harry.” He said, shaking the outstretched hand.
“We’ve introduced ourselves to your friends earlier, but I wanted to get the chance to thank you. You really bailed us out earlier, closing that portal.” He said, with an earnest look on his face. Harry had rarely met someone he would describe as earnest, but Cap certainly fit the bill.
Harry blushed and shook his head. “No, I didn’t really do anything.”
Natasha snorted, “Sure kid. We must have been hallucinating when you dragged your skinny ass a mile into the sky and lit the place up.”
“Language,” interrupted Cap. The room gave a collective groan, before Thor spoke up.
“She is right, sorcerer. A warrior should not downplay their achievements, for it downplays their impact on others.” Thor said, looking at Harry with something unidentifiable in his gaze. Eventually, he slammed his cup down on the table, soda spilling over the sides. “No, they should be celebrated, with tales and revelry!” A grin spread over Thor’s face as Clint gave a whoop from the sidelines. Everyone laughed, even Harry let loose a small chuckle.
“So what brought you to New York in the first place? Considering your friend's shock, I’m guessing it wasn’t to give us a hand.” Bruce said, smiling gently. “And by your accents, you guys are a long way from home.”
“We are just tourists, you know Time’s Square, the works.” Harry grinned as Ron pointed to his obnoxious ‘I Heart NYC’ shirt. Merlin, Harry wished he would burn that thing.
Clint whistled. “You three have shit timing.” The trio looked at each other before bursting into laughter.
The gentle buzz of conversations fell back over the room. This time, Harry relaxed a little bit more, and with a glance over to the side, he could see Tony doing the same. After about ten minutes of comfortable silence, punctuated by sporadic jokes and the sounds of food being devoured, Harry was spoken to again.
“So, Harry.” Clint said, taking a long slurp of noodles. “What are you?”
Harry nearly spit out his food and started coughing. Ron, ever a pal, slapped him hard on the back.
“W…what?” He said, rubbing the bruise forming on his back.
“You know, not just anyone can Merlin their way through an alien invasion.”
“He’s right,” Thor said, eyes narrowing slightly, “You appear to be some kind of sorcerer, but I was not aware they existed on Midgard.”
“Uhhh.” Harry stuttered, eyes shifting towards his friends, before settling on Tony who was looking at his hands. Just how much shit would he be in if he said the truth? It’s not like they hadn’t already seen him do magic. Harry shifted in his seat, unaware of how to respond.
He heard a sigh and turned his head towards Tony. Tony held his gaze, as he said quietly, “He’s not a sorcerer … he is a wizard.”
The shock on Harry’s face must have been obvious, because Tony looked at him, consoling. “It's okay, I’ll take the blame for telling them. What are they going to do to a ‘muggle’ like me?” he said, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice, ignoring the way Harry’s jaw must have dropped to the floor. Tony shifted his eyes around the room, a clear warning in his gaze. “Besides, they will keep it to themselves. I trust them.” Sounded more like a threat than an assurance but okay.
“There are a bunch of wizards around, but they just mostly keep to themselves. It’s easy enough with magic and memory charms.”
“Memory charms..” Clint repeated, looking slightly nauseous. Natasha narrowed her eyes at Tony.
“‘Keeps to themselves’ is a nice way of saying fucking secretive.” Natasha said. At Tony’s questioning look, Natasha continued. “SHIELD has had some dealings with them, but I was never directly involved. But I’m a spy, sue me, so I always kept an ear out. The big question is how a civilian playboy such as yourself knows so much about them.”
Harry saw Tony flinch at the word playboy.
“I… I just..” Tony took a deep breath, determinedly not meeting Harry’s gaze. “I used to be in a relationship with a witch and wizard.” He stared into his hands. “... a long time ago.”
The room went silent. Harry felt Hermione squeeze his shoulder.
The tension lasted for a while longer as everyone processed the information. Noone asked any more questions, but Harry was sure they would come later. It definitely said something about the room they were in that nobody was in disbelief, just shock and acceptance.
Harry began to panic as the silence drew on, and Tony didn’t move. He just kept staring at his hands, shoulders tense, not looking at Harry. Hermione’s hand on his shoulder became painful. He looked towards her. Hermione nodded towards Tony and to the door.
Harry took a deep breath, trying to steady his shaking hands. Before he could think too much, he blurted out, “Tony, can we…talk.”
Tony looked at him, eyes wet with sadness, but Harry could see a seed of hope. He nodded frantically, jumping up.
“Sure, of course! Let’s talk in the lab. It’s right through there.”
…
The dim lab was covered in various bits of machines. Tony brushed some spare metal parts off of a stool, just letting them clink to the floor, before gesturing for Harry to sit. Tony pulled up another stool for himself.
Tony clasped his hands and leaned back, “So…”
Harry chuckled weakly, “So…”
There was a pause before they both spoke at the same time.
“I’m your father.”
“You’re my father.”
They just stared at each other for a few seconds in shock. Harry just gaped at him, not knowing what to say. Tony watched his stunned silence with panicked eyes and started rambling.
“So you look a lot like James and I just wanted to know what happened to him, to him and Lily, so I may have given you a DNA test, but I wasn’t expecting to be on it. I didn’t know before the test, but God I wish I had. I’m so sorry, I should have found you or at least said something earlier, I just..”
“Wait,” Harry could feel his brain do a hard reset, as he just continued to stare at him in shock. What the hell? “Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault you didn’t know. They didn’t tell you…”
Tony just stared at him sadly, word vomit successfully interrupted. “But I should have known. I looked for James and Lily for years, but I gave up. If I had just kept looking or looked harder, I could have found you, I should have found you.” Tony had such a devastated look on his face that Harry could feel his heart break.
“It wasn’t your fault.” He repeated, hesitating, before he pulled the letter out of his pocket. He set it on the table next to Tony, who picked it up with shaking hands. Harry watched carefully as Tony read through it, watching a tear run down his face. Harry lifted a hand to his own cheek, surprised to feel wet there as well.
Neither of them said anything for another five minutes as Harry watched Tony try to pull himself together.
Eventually, Tony straightened and looked Harry in the eyes. “Are you safe?” Harry was not expecting that to be Tony’s first question.
“The letter says that they were in hiding and that they needed to keep you safe. Are you safe?” Harry tried to think of how to respond. Was he safe? Probably less so than the average person but definitely more so than any other time in the last 18 years.
“More or less.” Tony rubbed a hand over his eyes, discreetly wiping away the tear tracks.
“Can I ask… how did they die? I just…need to know.”
Harry looked down, feeling his chest clench the same way it had when Hagrid explained it to him, what felt like a lifetime ago.
“They were killed by a dark wizard, a terrorist. The spell helping them hide didn’t work and he found them.”
Harry didn’t want to tell him the full story yet, it would be too much, for both of them. And honestly, Harry didn’t really know where to begin. Harry looked Tony straight in the eyes, knowing there was nothing he could really say but he tried, “They fought him. They fought like hell.”
Tony smiled weakly, “I expected nothing less. James and Lily were the bravest people I have ever met…a trait it seems you inherited.”
Harry shook his head, expression going blank. He wasn’t brave. He remembered how terrified he was walking through the forest and how scared he was to return to the world. If he had just been braver, if he had gone sooner… No, he wasn’t brave.
Tony looked at him concerned.
“So, do you want to stay in the tower, or I could take a vacation to England, let Pepper handle the company. We could talk and just…”
“Wait, you want to talk?” Harry felt the hope in his chest continue to grow, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. A dark part of himself thought that Tony would kick him out, get his answers about Lily and James and just…let him go.
Tony looked confused. “Of course, I want to talk. I would like to get to know you. You are my son.”
Harry never thought he would hear those words, and looking at Tony’s tear stricken face, now full of determination, he decided. He would give this a chance, give himself a chance.