Congratulations, it's a boy!

•°•CHAPTER 6°•°

"Sir, Miss Potts is on her way."

"Shit."

This was the first time Harry witnessed Tony panic.

He was so self-assured and confident before this. What happened? Who was this Miss Potts to instill such a fear in his… father? Merlin, that was such a weird thing to say.

"Oh man. She's gonna kill me. No, not literally," Tony was quick to reassure Harry after seeing panic entering the kid's eyes. "Although, who knows? She just might."

"Who's Miss Potts?"

Ding.

The elevator door opened and a beautiful woman hastly walked in, pausing just for a moment when her eyes landed on Loki and Harry, before she continued on.

"Why do you have a child and mass murderer in your apartment?" 

Harry's eyes snapped to Loki, who simply shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

"And why in god's name is your hair bright orange?!"

Tony's hands flew to his hair, but he had no way of covering it.

"Oh, it's a very interesting tale, Pepper. I'm sure you'll love it, perhaps over dinner or we could just-"

"Harry is Stark's son," Loki quipped helpfully, earning a shocked expression from Pepper, which was tons better than the glare Tony received.

"How long have you known and didn't deign to tell me?!"

Tony started backing away from the seemingly furious blonde.

"Uh, just found out today, really, it's not a big deal-"

"Not a big deal?! You having a childis a big deal, Anthony Howard Stark!"

"Well, now you know! Harry, meet Pepper! She's a force of nature so don't anger her."

Pepper glared at Tony one more time before offering a genuine warm smile to Harry, who was, quite frankly, more than a little shell-shocked and wanted to flee.

"Hello, Harry, my name is Pepper and I'm sure you're a charming young man, but Tony is an impulsive idiot. I assume you have the DNA results, so we can get the paperwork started?"

Harry was dumbfounded. "Uh… what paperwork?"

"I performed a spell to determine one's paternity. Trust me, Miss Potts, the results were a shock to everyone in this room." Loki offered graciously. 

Pepper wasn't so easily placated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tony sighed heavily and offered her some coffee while he filled Pepper in on what transpired during the last few days.

"Magic," Pepper whispered. "You're magical."

"Yes. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't go telling that to anyone else. I'd rather not get in trouble for breaking the Statue of Secrecy." Harry glared menacingly at Tony, because if that idiot will keep telling every single person that Harry has magicalpowers, it will get him into a serious fucking trouble.

Harry wasn't keen on going down in history as a man who exposed the magical world and restarted witch trials. No thank you, being known for not dying was bad enough. 

"The what?"

Harry closed his eyes in despair. Maybe this was a mistake.

"Laws prohibiting us from speaking a word about magic to anyone muggle, as in, those who aren't part of the Magical World. They could easily throw someone into prison for doing such things, and oh, there's also people called obliviators who will wipe your memory clean of what you learned. Fair warning."

"Can they do that?" Pepper looked worried.

"Hey, but I'm your dad! I have rights!" Tony argued, pursing his lips and looking more like a petulant child than an adult. "And there's also Jarvis who recorded everything so even if they make me forget, I'll just watch the videos. No biggie."

Pepper was nodding along. "Which reminds me, we have to get Harry’s custody transferred. I'll contact your lawyers."

Harry was silent.

Too silent, Tony noticed. 

"Is something wrong?"

Harry shook his head, but he still looked worried. "Why would you want to take on custody?" He asked, a small tremble in his voice being the only thing that betrayed his true feelings. "I only have two more years until I'm of age and can never see Dursleys again. It's just more hassle for you and it's obvious you've got other things to worry about than some random kid popping into your house."

"You're not just some random kid. You're my son," Tony said with so much conviction that it left Harry reeling. "I've already lost over a decade of time with you and I refuse to lose more."

"Besides, if you're worried about your aunt and uncle, you don't have to: our lawyers will take care of everything quickly and quietly," Pepper added gently.

Harry smiled bitterly. "I have no problem with them, rather with Dumbledore - the headmaster- who's hell bent on forcing me back there for some bloody reason." Which was shady as fuck. Dumbledore claimed its because of the wards, but what fucking wards could a muggle house have that the ones in the Magical World didn't? It was stupid. Dumbledore was hiding something, and Harry had no idea what.

And when he asked he received no answers.

It was frustrating, nobody telling him anything.

"What does a headmaster have to do with you and your living arrangements?" Tony asked, genuinely confused. 

Harry shrugged. "No clue, to be honest. He just pretty much orders everyone around." But seriously, why did a fucking headmaster of a school have so much power?

There were hundreds of students at Hogwarts and Harry didn't see Dumbledore telling them where to stay over the summer. So what made him so special? Dead parents? Dumbledore never told Susan Bones what to do.

"What did your parents wills say?" Pepper asked, hiding her concern well.

"I-" Harry frowned. "As far as I know, they were never read. I was shipped off to Dursleys the same night they were killed."

"Killed by who?"

Ah, and here comes the question that will change everything.

Who would want to be saddled with Harry who had a giant red target on his back that put everyone around him in danger?

"The Dark Lord," he whispered.

Tony laughed with a slight edge of hysteria in his voice. "You can't be serious."

"No, that's my godfather." Harry shook his head at the questioning looks. "Nevermind. Yes, I'm serious. There's a Dark Lord who wants me dead, personally. Actually, before popping into your house, I was trying to get away from him and his minions. So-" Harry smiled ruefully. "I'm sure you understand I have a target on my back and I'm well aware that this isn't something you'd want or need in your life, which means we can all forget this custody nonsense and I'll just fuck off and leave you be, yeah? Great." Harry started to stand up, taking the silence as an agreement, and was planning the best way to get to Gringotts when Tony stopped him.

"Kid, wait! Where are you going?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You don't actually think that you can just drop a bomb of some nutjob trying to kill you and then think we'd let you leave, would you?" Harry shrugged. That's usually how it went. "Jesus, kid. Sit down."

Harry wearily sat back down, wondering what else could they want.

"Listen," Tony spoke up. "I'm not sure what shit you've been fed your whole life, but you don't have to deal with any Dark Lords or whatever other nonsense there is alone. Or at all. You're a child. You're fourteen. It's the adults job to take care of serial killers, okay? It's not your responsibility, and if that nutjob shows up here, well…" Tony smirked smugly. "He'll be shipped off in body parts."

Harry wasn't convinced.

"Everyone says it's my job to kill him. You don't know my history, Tony, and this isn't something that I would burden you with."

"I don't need to know," Tony cut him off. "And this is the biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard. Who in their right mind can expect a child to kill someone?" Which was a good question, in Harry’s humble opinion. "Well, that's not happening. I've heard enough and I don't like it. You're staying here and it's final."

"You can't force me," Harry snarled. "And I refuse to be responsible for putting all of you in danger."

"Kid," Tony leaned forward and Pepper was amused to see two identical stubborn expressions on their faces. The resemblance was staggering. "I'm an adult. You are not. This isn't your responsibility to deal with. In fact, you mentioned law enforcement. Where are they in this?"

Harry shrugged. He had no idea.

"Well, you said you need a map. Then we can get in contact with these MACUSA people and sort it out, because one thing is clear to me: you are not fighting some murderous nutjob and you are not going back to your relatives or even England before we sort this out."

"You can't-"

"You will find that I can." Tony snapped. "I'm not about to let my kid that I just found out about to be forced into some savior role while everyone else sits on their asses doing nothing." Harry’s jaw snapped shut, eyes wide at just how angry Tony looked. But not at him. At the adults who failed him. "You will be in my custody by the end of tomorrow the latest, which will grant you an immediate American citizenship. And-" Tony raised his hand when Harry was about to argue again. "I'm the Iron Man. There's a literal God sitting in the next room, pretending he's not eavesdropping. I have a whole team of Avengers to back me up and trust me, Dark Lord or not, he doesn't stand a chance against all of us."

Harry had no idea who these Avengers were, but Tony seemed convinced.

"You can't fight against magic," he whispered, feeling more than slightly hysterical. He wanted this so bad, but he knew this would never work. Voldemort will follow him anywhere.

And no matter how good, rich, or well connected Tony is, he stands no chance against the killing curse.

"Kid, we already did."

"Your Dark Lord will be mo match for me either!" Loki shouted from the other room. "My magic is more advanced than yours."

Harry still wasn't convinced and was mortified to find his eyes teary.

Merlin, the last few days were too much from him.

The maze, then witnessing Voldemort’s return, fighting him… seeing his parents. Meeting his last living surprise parent. It was all too much.

"We can speak more about this tomorrow, yes?" Pepper intervened, noticing that Harry was beginning to spiral immediately. "Let's go grab some… ice cream, hm? Do you like ice cream, Harry?" The boy nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. "Wonderful! Come, let's go to the ice cream parlor. It's just at the end of the block. What do you say?"

"Go ahead, kid," Tony urged after a pointed look that Pepper shot him. "Bring me some as well. Mint chocolate, preferably."

"We will. Come on." Pepper stood up, motioning Harry over, who looked even more unsure than before. "We'll be back soon."

"Take Happy with you!"

Pepper frowned. "I think we got it. Come, Harry. Let's show you a little bit of New York."

Harry nodded, following the happily chattering Pepper into an elevator, confused on how he got to this point.

Perhaps Voldemort landed a curse and he's deep in a coma, living up some bizarre dream where he has people who act like they care for him.

Or maybe he was portkeyed to another universe.

Who knows?

Certainly not Harry.

"That boy is a flight risk," Loki drawled, coming to drape himself in Harry’s place. "And you just let him go."

"No I didn't." Tony looked at the God as if he was stupid. "His shoes and sweatpants have a GPS tracker each. Just in case he teleports somewhere else. I don't feel like losing him if he decides to ditch at a moment's notice."

"Smart move." Loki paused. "Tell me, Stark, what is your plan here?"

The Iron Man shrugged.

"Get custody of my kid, get to know him, sue everyone who thinks it's okay to force a child to compete in tournaments full of deadly huge spiders and fight Dark Lords? Yep. Sounds about right."

Loki stared at the ceiling, asking Allfather to grant him strength.

"Actually, Jarvis! Get my lawyers here ASAP."

"Right away, sir. Should I point them to the Meeting Room for Dummies?"

"Yes."

"Good choice, Sir."

Tony nodded. "I may have never wanted children, but since I have one, there's no way in hell I'm giving him up. Lily wou- actually, both, Lily and James would kill me if I did."

"It's weird how you still remember them. Its been a long time and you're not exactly… celebate."

Tony snorted. "They're hard to forget. I looked for them before, but considering they were a part of a secret fucking society, it's no wonder I couldn't find any records. They probably had to lie to me as well."

"What I find interesting is that they knew you were a father and yet, the boy was dumped with his filthy relatives." Loki couldn't wait to get his hands on them. To hurt a helpless child… it was unforgivable. "This Dumbledore character the boy mentioned seems to be at the center of it all. A headmaster who does whatever he wants…"

"Shady, isn't it? I'll need to get Harry to tell me everything first, before I go suing everyone." He looked at Loki sharply. "Will you be staying here?"

"Sure. Not like I have anything better going on right now."

"Don't go corrupting my kid, Reindeer Games. And no mind games. I mean it."

Loki threw his hands up in the air and grinned. "I wouldn't dare it. I swear."

"Good. You can stay in the apartment a few floors down, the one where Thor stays when he's here, but there's an extra room you can stay in."

"Thank you. Your hospitality is much appreciated."

"Oh, shut up. You're only here because you can wield magic and I don't fancy dozens of wizards descending upon me and trying to wipe my mind clean."

"Whatever you say, Stark."

"Yes. Now kindly get out. I need to research some shit before Harry and Pepper get back."

"What about ice cream?"

"You're not getting any."

"Rude." Loki pouted and strolled towards the elevator. "This is why I will not help with your hair situation. Tell the boy he can speak to me if he wishes."

"Yeah, yeah. You're not that important, Loki Bear. Now get out."

Loki was about to retort something nasty when the elevator door shut in his face and he was gone.

Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Father.

He was a father.

And now he has an enormous responsibility not to fuck it up and not turn out like his own dad.

Which starts with research.

"Jarvis, I need a… parental guide. Yes. Send me everything on how not to traumatize your own kid and- help them with recent trauma. I mean, kid will clearly need help if he has a psychopath after his head. That messes people up. Just… send everything."

"I will be uploading files to your cloud, Sir, under the name 'parental guidelines'. Would that be all?"

"Yes, for now."

The files started pouring in moments later and Tony spent the rest of his time skimming through most of it so he'd have some idea on what he was doing.

He should probably just ask Pepper. She seemed to be born with answers for every single instance of life going wrong.

Perhaps she'll even be able to convince his son to give him his dashing looks back.

Who knows? Certainly not Tony.