Harry Potter-Stark?

Harry was running.

He could hear the footsteps almost catching up to him, and that laugh, the laugh that turned his body cold. A shiver passed through him.

Voldemort was behind him. He could feel it. Even as he dodged through the tombstones in the cemetery, he could not put more distance between them.

The laugh started to sound closer, more intense. Before he could grab his wand properly from his tunic, the roots in the ground made him stumble.

"I have you now, boy!" A flash of green light.

Harry woke up with a gasp.

Suddenly, he was not in the cemetery anymore. Blinking hard in the dark, he tried to take in his surroundings. Without his glasses, everything was blurry, but he could see he was in a room. Whether it was nighttime or just dark here, he could not tell.

One thing he did know was that this was not his room on Privet Drive.

This was definitely a sort of hospital. The bed was really soft. He could hear something beeping on his left, and moving his right hand, he could feel something was attached to it. Everything smelled like the bathroom after he cleaned it at his aunt and uncle's house. To say Harry was confused would be an understatement.

Where was he?

Frowning, he tried to remember how he got here. The last thing he could recall was Uncle Vernon yelling at him and yanking his hair on the street before he could arrive at the house and then falling. Had he hit his head? If so, how come he was in the hospital? There was no way that Uncle Vernon would have thought of bringing him here. The most he would have done would be either just leaving him there or carrying him to the house and throwing him in his room, not really caring if he woke up or if he was okay (Aunt Petunia cared a lot about what people said of them, so probably leaving him on the street was not a good image). So, how had he ended up here?

He touched his forehead and was surprised to feel a bandage there. He had definitely hit his head. Moving his hand blindly, he found a little shelf beside the bed, and on it, some glasses. Harry put them on, and finally, his vision cleared. He remembered that his glasses had broken, but now they were fixed. He was wearing some pajamas.

Huh.

He looked around the room again. There was a chair beside his bed, as if someone had been there with him, and looking at his hand, he could see he was hooked up to something. Harry was sitting up, contemplating his next move, when he heard footsteps in the aisle outside the room.

"...ny, you have been in there beside him all this time. You need to rest more."

"Didn't you just drag me to the kitchen to eat? I rested then. I don't need more; now I can come back to keep an eye on him."

Harry froze. That voice was familiar. They had lowered their voices, so he couldn't hear very well what was said after that. Harry looked around again and realized he did not have anything to defend himself. His wand was in his room along with all his Hogwarts stuff. What was going on? What did "keep an eye on him" mean? Suddenly, Harry felt like something punched him in the gut. What if they were Death Eaters? What if they found him in the street and took him? Or what if Uncle Vernon gave Harry away to them? No, his aunt and uncle hated wizards; they wouldn't make any agreements with them. Right?

He had to get out of here.

With a surge of adrenaline, Harry removed the thing hooked to his hand and stood up from the bed. For a second, the sudden movement made the room spin. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and ran to the door of the room, but the moment he opened it, a voice from the ceiling spoke.

"Boss, it seems that the mini boss has woken up and has opened the door to his room."

There was a split second of silence where the only thing Harry could hear was his heart beating furiously. As soon as he heard the approaching footsteps, he ran in the opposite direction.

Shit.

"Harry! Wait!" They knew his name.

Oh, they were definitely Death Eaters.

Harry was running through a hallway, and at the end, he could see a door. If he could make it, maybe he could lock it behind him; at least that would give him time to think of his next move.

"FRIDAY, lock everything!" He heard the shout, and before he could open the door, a beep sounded. Suddenly, he was trapped; there was nowhere to go. He heard the footsteps stop behind him, and with a defiant glare, he turned to look at his captors. He was not going to surrender; he was going to fight if he had to. But when he looked at them, he saw three men that he immediately recognized from the TV.

There was a man with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a well-built frame. He was dressed in a plain grey shirt with a brown leather jacket and jeans. The other man had brown hair and brown eyes, wore glasses, and was dressed in a button-down shirt, brown jeans, and a white coat, as if he was a doctor. The last one was a little shorter than the blonde guy. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and a trimmed mustache and beard. He was wearing a black t-shirt with black pants, and he looked the worst for wear.

All three of them had panicked expressions, but the last one looked really rough. Harry could see his hair was a mess (just like his own, what a funny coincidence, huh), and there were bags under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept a wink in some time. When his eyes met Harry's, he felt something in his chest, but the man seemed to freeze and tense on the spot.

"Hey, kid, we are not going to hurt you." The blonde one raised his hands as if to show he had nothing to hide and smiled a little. That was definitely the soldier he had seen on TV.

Harry was in conflict with himself. A few moments ago, he was sure he had been taken by Death Eaters, but now that didn’t seem to be the case. Sure, there was Polyjuice Potion that could make anyone look like them, or they could be under the Imperius Curse. But why would Death Eaters use Muggles? Wasn’t their whole deal with Voldemort that they hated non-magical people? They wouldn’t use Muggles for their purposes unless it was only to kill them. Besides, why would Voldemort use these people? Harry sometimes read about them in the newspaper during his summer breaks, but nobody knew that. Not even Ron or Hermione knew he was curious about them.

What in Merlin’s name was going on?

“Why am I here? What happened? Where am I?” Harry asked, hoping he sounded confident instead of scared and confused like he was.

The man with brown hair and a black t-shirt made a choking noise at his voice. Weird.

“You are safe, kid. You are in a medical facility we have in the building. You’ve been unconscious for a whole day. Dr. Banner here has been looking after you.” At his name, the guy named Banner seemed to snap out of his stupor.

“Yes, you’re Harry, right? I’m Bruce Banner. Your d… uh, Tony and Steve brought you here. You had a nasty cut and a concussion. By the time you arrived, your nose wasn’t bleeding anymore, and thankfully it wasn’t broken. I could see you have other issues, but there’s nothing that time, food, and rest won’t help,” he cleared his throat, “and, well, some vitamins, but let’s not go into detail right now.”

Harry had been looking at Banner while he spoke, but he could still feel the other man’s (named Tony, apparently) eyes on him. He felt Tony’s intense gaze, as if he thought Harry would disappear if he blinked. Harry felt uncomfortable, and anger rose in him.

“What is your bloody problem?!” he snapped at Tony. “Do I have something on my face? And I’ve seen you guys on the telly. That doesn’t explain why you’re here in the UK and why you took me.” Tony flinched at his question, and the three of them looked at each other nervously. Finally, Iron Man guy spoke.

“I-I wanted to do this in a more peaceful way, but I can see it was stupid of me to think you would wake up in an unknown place and be okay with that.” He looked at his companions briefly and then turned to look at Harry again. The intensity of his glare made Harry feel anxious.

“Please, you have to believe me, kid. I have no reason to lie to you. The thing is, yesterday or the day before, I don’t know what time it is at this point, I received a letter from an owl, if you can believe that. I know it doesn’t make sense, but anyway—” He was rambling, and they noticed it. Harry felt his heart in his throat.

“The letter the owl gave me said something that...” He stopped.

“Tony...” the captain whispered reassuringly, and that was all it took for Tony. He took a breath, and suddenly, as if an idea crossed his mind, a nervous smile appeared on his face.

"Luke, I am your father," Tony said in a deep voice, as if imitating something. Harry saw both the captain and Dr. Banner roll their eyes in exasperation, but the tension in the room seemed to ease a bit. Was this a joke?

"Would it kill you to be serious for once in your life? This is a delicate matter," muttered Dr. Banner.

"Well, it seems to me you have the wrong guy here. I’m Harry, not Luke. I thought you knew that" Harry said. Three pairs of eyes looked sharply at him. Tony looked shocked.

"I thought... I mean... I know you’re not Luke. That was... it was a reference. I thought kids your age loved Star Wars, so I thought it would be funny to... you mean you don’t... but everybody knows those movies...." Tony couldn’t finish a sentence; he looked like a fish out of water.

Exasperated, the captain took an envelope out of his jacket and approached Harry slowly, seeing him tense at his proximity.

"Here, kid, this is the letter Tony was talking about. Read it, and maybe you’ll understand." Hesitantly, Harry took the letter, looked at the three of them one more time, and read it. The more he read, the more he started to feel his ears ringing. He felt a compression in his chest, and his hand started to sweat.

Sirius.

Sirius, his godfather, had written this. He knew? All along, he knew about this and never told him anything? Harry remembered Sirius asking him for a drop of blood, and he had given it without question because he trusted him. He had trusted him. Among all the adults in his life, he had thought Sirius was the only one who was always honest with him, who told him everything he could, but now...

Keeping something like this from him.

Harry felt the angry tears and tried to blink them away. Why had Sirius not told him? He looked up and his eyes connected with Tony’s (his father’s?) and recalled how he thought his hair looked like his. Now that he studied him, he could see his face held a similarity. They really looked related.

Once again, Harry felt numb. He was so overwhelmed that he didn’t know what to feel. Angry? Hurt? Sad? Hopeful?

It seemed he had been quiet too long because Tony approached him. Harry did not know this man at all, apart from what the Muggle newspapers said, but he could see it, that last emotion reflected in him, the glint in his eyes, the tentative smile. The man was anxious, but above all, Harry noticed the hopeful expression on him.

"Look, Harry, I know you must be feeling a lot right now, and it’s okay. If you feel angry, it’s okay. I did too when I first read it. I felt angry because 14 years of your life were taken from me. I did not get to see you grow up, to see your first steps or hear your first words..." Tony blinked rapidly at that.

"It's okay if you don’t want to have anything to do with me, but... I just, I want to be part of your life, kid. I want to get to know you. I’ve lost so much already, and if you just give me a chance... at the end of the day, it’s your choice what you want to do." He stopped and then frowned. "Well, one thing though, you will not go back to those relatives of yours, not ever if I can do something about it, and I can actually."

"So truthfully, you're not giving me much of a choice," Harry responded angrily. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he wanted to go back to his aunt and uncle. In theory, he should be jumping for joy at the thought of finally not living there, but for some reason, he felt the need to snap at someone. Tony looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, maybe you're right. Let me be more specific: as they are your only relatives apart from me now, and you are still a kid..."

"I am 14!"

"Like I said, a kid. The only option you have would be to live with me, but I meant it when I said if you want nothing to do with me, I will respect that. We will live in the tower or compound together, but you could avoid me until you are 18 if you want." Tony looked pained at that. Harry scoffed and then scowled at himself.

Why was he so angry at that?

Isn’t that what he wanted when he was a kid? For someone to come and take him from the Dursleys? Hadn’t he wanted that with Sirius? To live with him? It would be basically the same, right? And this was his father.

Merlin’s beard, he had a father.

Harry shook his head. Things had changed. Voldemort was back, Death Eaters could be looking for him. It was dangerous. Besides, this man who was his father, Tony, did not know anything about Harry and the wizarding world. Would it break the statute of secrecy to tell him about magic? But it was his father, so that surely did not break any statute. Harry looked at Tony once more.

His father.

If all the things the Muggle newspapers said were true, then this man had dealt with aliens and had a metal suit. Surely the knowledge of magic would not surprise him.

Right?

One step at a time, then. He would stay only for the time it would take him to get a hold of Hedwig and contact someone. Harry thought immediately of Remus; he was certainly his favorite adult at the moment. He could contact him, write to him that he needed to see him urgently or something. Maybe he could help Harry think about what to do with this situation.

"Okay, I want to stay," Harry said, and somehow, deep down, he knew it was true.

Tony beamed at him. He could see the other two behind his father smile at that. Tony raised his arms as if to hug him, but Harry flinched away.

And just like that, the little moment of contentment was broken. Tony's face fell, and Harry tensed.

"Sorry, I should have asked if I could hug you."

"No, it’s okay, I..." Harry stopped, feeling awkward.

"What do you guys say about going to the living room and grabbing something to eat?" Steve broke the awkward silence.

"Yeah! How does that sound, kid? We've been standing here a while now. We could grab something, and I can show you around if you feel up to it, show you your room." Tony sounded hopeful.

"Okay." Harry nodded. Tony smiled again and walked beside him while Dr. Banner and Steve walked ahead. From the corner of his eye, Harry could see that Tony had raised his hand as if to grab his shoulder and then retracted it.

"So, Bruce already introduced himself, but we practically haven’t. I’m Steve Rogers. It’s a pleasure to meet you." Steve quickly looked back at him and smiled.

"Oh shi...ooth, that’s right." Tony cleared his throat. "I think you already know, I’m Tony Stark, but you can call me Dad." He winked at Harry, but at Harry’s frightened expression, he quickly backtracked. "Or not, I mean, there's no pressure there. Whatever makes you feel comfortable."

The three of them arrived at the other end of the hallway to a metallic door that opened as they approached. Harry’s eyes widened at that, but he didn’t say a word.

Stepping in, Tony spoke to what appeared to be no one. "FRIDAY, dear, can you take us to the kitchen?"

"Please," muttered Steve, looking exasperated at Tony.

"On it, Boss," the same voice from before said, and Harry jumped.

"What is that?" Harry looked warily at his surroundings as the door closed and they started to move. Was that like a ghost? And how was this room moving on its own? It felt like the moving staircases at Hogwarts.

"It’s Tony’s AI," Bruce smiled at him. Harry just blinked several times and kept his blank expression. Steve chuckled.

"Don’t worry, son, I had no clue what that was either." Harry tensed at that word.

Son.

"Haven’t you heard about AI in your classes? Speaking of classes, where do you go to school? Because I tried to do some research, and weirdly all information about you stops at age 11. Did your relatives have something to do with..."

"Boss, Miss Potts left a message. She said she'll be coming to the compound in an hour, and if you avoid her one more time, she's going to talk to Rhodey," FRIDAY announced. Tony groaned.

"She also asked if you needed anything from Avengers Tower." Harry jumped at that.

Avengers Tower? That’s the one he saw on TV once, isn’t it? Isn't that tower in America? Or do they have another one in London?

"Tony, do you have a tower here in London too" Tony snapped his attention to Harry, shocked. It was the first time Harry called him by his name.

"No, we only...," he began, then suddenly his eyes widened.

"We forgot to tell him," Bruce said.

"What?" Harry looked at the three, confused.

At that instant, the doors opened, and Harry found himself flabbergasted at what was in front of him. There was a huge room with a ceiling that could only be seen if you looked up, and it had massive windows from floor to ceiling. Outside was a vast expanse of greenery with grass and plants all around, the garden was huge, and the day was sunny.

"We're in New York, son," Tony said.

"WHAT?!"