Chapter 4
"You got a family?" Tony asks of his prison mate, Ho Yinsen.
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"
"A son."
"You have a son?" Yinsen asks in shock.
"He's 11, off at a school for the gifted and talented right now. Poor Harry." Tony says, rubbing his face.
"You are trapped and being tortured and yet you worry for another."
"He's my child, don't you worry for yours?"
"No. I don't worry for them."
"We are very different people."
"Indeed we are."
"I-I...we need to get out of here. I need to get to Harry." Tony says, picking up the car battery as he begins to pace.
"How do you propose we do that?" Ho Yinsen asks. Tony is quiet for a moment before meeting Yinsen's eyes. "If you do this for them, he will let you go free."
"No, he won't."
"No, he won't."
"So we just have to be smarter." Tony says thoughtfully, looking around as he thinks.
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"You have to eat, Harry." Hermione tries to coax of her best friend. It has been three months and Harry has barley eaten or slept and his grades have slipped dramatically.
"I'm not hungry."
"The fact that you look like a Holocaust victim tells me differently."
"A what?" Ron interrupts.
"Later." Hermione snaps before turning back to Harry. "You need to eat."
"Do you think my dad is getting food?" Harry asks honestly.
"I...I don't know, Harry. You know for a fact that he wouldn't want you to be doing this to yourself." Hermione says.
"Potter-"
"STARK! STARK-POTTER! He's not dead! He's not gone!" Harry bursts out at Draco Malfoy. The blond looks insulted and taken aback at the outburst.
"Go sit down, Malfoy." A third year Hufflepuff nudging Malfoy away from the Gryffindor table.
"Mental." Is heard from Malfoy as he walks off. Harry moves to follow after him, but the Hufflepuff catches him.
"He's not worth it, Harry. Let him go."
"No! Let me at him."
"We can find your dad."
"What?" Harry asks, stilling and immediately focusing on the older boy.
"It's a spell from the restricted section. Took a bloody long time to find it, but we managed. We need a map and your blood. When we've got a location we can send it off to my dad. He works at the ministry and with how high profile you are-"
"They'll save my dad."
"Exactly. I already got a promise from him, although I don't think he knows what he was agreeing to when he promised."
"What'd he say?" Ron asks with a snort.
"That the ministry will stand behind Harry and will help in anyway possible." The boy says. Ron and Hermione both make noises of amusement.
"He was taken from Afghanistan."
"Ced! I've got the maps. Hey, Stark-Potter. Ready?"
"Hell yeah." Harry says, beginning to follow the older boys. He pauses and looks back at his friends. "Are you guys coming or not?" Ron and Hermione jump up without hesitation and run to catch up.
Thirty minutes later a map with the location of Tony Stark on it is being sent off to Amos Diggory in the ministry of magic.
"Thank you, all of you, for helping."
"You're alright, Stark-Potter." One says.
"Even if your last name is a bit of a mouthful." Another teases. Cedric, the first boy from breakfast, just rolls his eyes in amusement at his friends.
"I'll keep you updated, Harry."
"Thanks, Cedric." Harry says and the three older boys walk off.
"They found your dad, Harry. The ministry will get him for you." Hermione says, hugging her friend's too thin arm.
"You think?"
"Yeah. I do. Now that we have a destination will you please eat?" Hermione begs.
"Yeah, that reminds me, what's the Holocaust?" Ron asks. Hermione and Harry share an eyeroll.
"Wizards." They say in unison before Harry goes into an explicit detailed explanation of what the Holocaust was, how and why it started, what went on during it, and how it ended. Ron looked green by the end of the explanation.
"That's just...disturbing. Is that Hitler bloke still alive?"
"No. He committed suicide with his wife, who was his niece by the way." Hermione answers.
"And I thought the Slytherins were inbred." Ron says in shock.
"What happened to Ronnikins?" Fred asks as the twins join the trio.
"You two can get into the kitchens right? We're trying to get Harry to eat."
"Sure, no problem." George says and the twins begin to lead them to the kitchens. "So what'd you do to Ronnikins?"
"He asked what the Holocaust was." Harry says. The twins shake their heads.
"Rookie mistake, baby bro." The twins say in unison.
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Harry is nervous for the next three days before his watch vibrates again.
Pepper: They found him! He is on his way home now.
Just as Harry finished reading that Dumbledore calls for him. A portkey was arranged for Harry to return to Malibu for a week.
Harry ends up landing in the middle of his living room with Happy and Pepper waiting for him. The two are already moving to help him off the floor by the time Harry is on his feet.
"Where's my dad?"
"Rhodey is in the plane bringing him back now." Happy promises. "Let's get to the airfield so we can greet him."
Harry beats the other two to the car.
"Take off your school robes, honey. It's too hot for them." Pepper insists from her seat next to him. Harry hadn't even noticed.
They're waiting on the airfield for thirty minutes before the plane finally lands. The most Harry waits is for the hatch to fully open. After that he is running.
"Harry." Tony breathes before struggling to get up. Rhodey helps him and Tony meets his son on the hatch. "I missed you, little Raven."
"Don't leave me. Never again."
"I promise." Tony says, holding his son close. His son, the one thing that kept him going. His Harry. "I love you so much."
"I love you too." Harry says as he cries.
"Don't cry, Raven. I'm home now."
"I'm not crying, you're crying." Harry opposes as he wipes his eyes. Tony chuckles and kisses his son's temple.
The two walk back to the car.
"Your eyes look red, tears for your old boss."
"Tears of joy. Job searing sucks."
"Yeah, well, vacation's over. Time for the real work to begin. There are three things I want: an American hamburger, to spend time with my son, and-"
"Tony." Pepper chides.
"And a press conference."
"Really?" Happy, Pepper, Rhodey, and Harry all ask in unison.
"Really. So, let's get on it. Chop chop." Tony says. In the car Harry sits between him and Pepper, Tony's arm wrapped tightly around his child.
Tony doesn't let Harry leave his side, even at the press conference.
"Let's all sit down. Yeah. Everyone knows my brilliant son, Harry. He's been overseas at school and clearly didn't take my kidnapping well." Tony says, eyeing his son with concern. Harry looks down at his hands and shakes his head. "I'm home, Raven." Tony whispers so only Harry can hear.
"I have a question for Harry!" A reporter calls.
"I give him the right to deny answering it." Tony says and Harry looks at the woman.
"How have you been handling the disappearance of your father? No one has been able to get ahold of you to ask."
"I should give Pepper a raise." Tony says and Harry laughs.
"Um, I haven't really been eating or sleeping. I've been studying, but not what my professors want me to. I went from having perfect grades to barley passing." Harry says. "I just wanted my dad back."
"And now that I'm back?"
"I'll get my grades back up. I promise. The professors all know what was going on. They're being helpful."
"Good. Now, on to the reason I called for this meeting." Tony says, keeping his arm around his traumatized son as he tells everyone that Stark Industries will no longer be selling weapons. He takes no questions, but does leave the room with his son.
"What happened, dad?" Harry says, holding onto him tightly.
"I saw what destruction Stark Industries has been causing. I can't...no more." Tony answers as he holds his son's hand. Both know he is far too old for this, but they both need the comfort at the moment.
Harry just stands there as Tony goes into the more business answer to Obi. Harry can tell that his dad made a mini-arch reactor and put it in his chest the second he unbuttons his shirt. Knowing what his magic can do, he pulls away. Tony looks heartbroken. Until he sees what Harry's eyes are on. He then understands immediately.
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That evening Harry is curled up in his dad's lab as Tony makes his arch reactor magic proof and not made out of scraps.
"Pepper! Good you're here, you've got small hands. I need you to do something."
"Harry's got small hands."
"Yes, but this is a machine that is keeping me alive and Harry has magic, therefore-"
"Harry can't do it. Okay, what?" Pepper says just to be disgusted as she changes out the reactors. "That is disgusting. Never ask me to do that again."
"Don't need to. Now that it's safe, I can do it." Harry says, going to his dad's side.
"My side kick can do it while he's here."
"Those last three words were not lost on me." Pepper says bitterly. "I came to remind you of Harry's return date. This was sent to us." Pepper says, putting down a small piece of rope.
"Oh." Harry says, smile falling.
"How long?" Tony asks.
"He leaves Sunday afternoon."
"That gives us a week!" Tony says happily.
The two Stark men spend the week designing the new and improved Iron Man suit.
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"You know how Papa had you and mom as his soulmates?" Harry asks Tony as he hands him a screwdriver.
"An he fell for Lils damn near instantly." Tony says with a nod of his head. He then freezes and looks up at his son. "You met yours?"
"And I only have the one."
"That's great, Raven! Who is it?"
"His name is Cedric Diggory. He's a few years older than me-"
"How much is 'a few'?" Tony asks in a dark voice.
"Two."
"Oh. Not great, but could be worse. Continue."
"He's a pureblood third year."
"Damn." Tony says and Harry smirks.
"Sorry, JARVIS." Harry says, knowing the AI was already running to find everything he can find on Cedric.
"It was worth a shot, sir." JARVIS says.
"So, he's a third year." Tony prompts.
"He plays Quidditch like me, he's also a Seeker, and he's top of his class. Cedric and his friends are actually the ones who helped me find you."
"What?" Tony asks in confusion.
"Yeah, they found this spell in the restricted section that lets you find who your blood related to. We specified it to you and sent it to his dad who works in the ministry. His dad said that they passed the information on to the military that was looking for you. We did the spell four days ago."
"You and your friends found me." Tony says, putting his things down and hugging his son close to him. He frowns at how skinny he feels. Putting him down he orders their favorite pizza through JARVIS. Harry looks at him with an amused questioning look on his face. "You feel too skinny."
"Ron and Hermione have been having to force feed me when they can. Hermione said I look like a Holocaust victim the last time."
"She's not wrong. You are a growing 11 year old boy. You need food." Tony says, cupping Harry's face. "You know I have enemies out there, Raven. You can't do this every time."
"I'll try, but I make no promises."
"I'll settle for trying." Tony says, knowing that's as good as a promise from his boy.
"Anyway, Ron is also a pureblood and had no idea what the Holocaust was, so-"
"You went into insane detail from beginning, middle, and end as an explanation." Tony finishes with laughter.
"Yep! And then Hermione pointed out Hitler married his niece."
"Why?"
"Ron asked what happened to Hitler. He committed suicide with his wife-"
"Who was then pointed out was his niece. I love your friends."
"So do I." Harry says, smiling.
"JARVIS, call Mr. Dr. Granger and the Weasley in a group FaceTime call."
"Right away, sir." JARVIS says. Harry looks at his dad curiously as they both continue with their experiment. It doesn't take long for both to answer.
"Mr. Stark! We just saw the news. It is such good new that you were found safe and sound. Hermione was so worried." Jean Granger says in greeting before her husband can get a word in.
"Thank you, Jean."
"Ron would constantly calling and writing on these to us and writing letters to his brothers asking for help, if they knew anything. Our oldest was actually one of the men who found you." Arthur Weasley says.
"Long red hair with an earring?"
"That's our Bill." Molly says.
"He was a nice guy. Yeah, he said Ron was his little brother. I wanted to talk about this summer with the four of you. I know Harry would love to spend time with his friends, so I figured we could find a way to split it four ways: time with our kids without friends, the Grangers, the Weasleys, the Starks."
"I'm sorry, but Jean and I have our practices. We won't be able to host." Nicholas apologizes.
"We would be happy to host Hermione and Harry." Arthur assures him.
"And I would be happy to host Ron and Hermione." Tony agrees.
"Will you be up for it?" Jean asks worriedly.
"We're already experimenting and he's only been home for a day." Harry says, aiming the thruster at the wall.
"Is that safe?" Molly asks just as Harry sets off the thruster perfectly.
"Nope, but it worked."
"Harry will be the only one allowed in my lab. I raised him as a mechanic." Tony assures the parents.
"I know Hermione would love to help you experiment."
"And Ron's loved watching me tinker with my muggle things since he was little."
"Then it will be much safer than putting weapons in a metal suit."
"Thruster is off by 10%." Harry mutters to himself before working on it. He continues to work as the parents iron out the details. Once that's done the call ends and the father and son enjoy a week of alone time.
On Sunday afternoon Harry hugs his father tightly, not wanting to let go.
"I'll be fine, Raven. We'll write constantly and text everyday." Tony assures him.
"I love you, dad."
"I love you too, baby boy."
"I'm not a baby."
"You're my baby." Tony says, smiling into Harry's hair at their continuous banter.
After hugging Pepper and Happy Harry hugs Tony again and then heads back to school.
"You look happier, Mr. Stark-Potter."
"And like you've gained much needed weight." McGonagall tacks on.
"My dad's back!" Harry says happier. "I have a lot of homework to catch up on. Thank you for your understanding and patience, professors."
"Of course, Mr. Stark-Potter. Off you go." Dumbledore says, and the young boy runs off to bring his grades up from the high A they are currently back to their high O that they used to be.