“Best day ever.”
“You’re in a good mood,” Remus said, his voice heavy with suspicion as he joined Sirius in the kitchen one morning for a cuppa.
Sirius tried to keep the smile off his face. “Am I?”
“You are.” Remus added a spoonful of sugar to his tea and stirred it while staring at Sirius with narrowed eyes. “You have been for days.”
Sirius hummed noncommittally.
Of course he was.
Because three days ago, he’d broken out of his personal prison to break his godson out of his prison and ship him off to America.
And Sirius was still basking in the joy of it.
Harry was safe. Harry was out of the war. And Harry was with someone that Sirius was pretty sure would burn the world for his family.
The Tony Stark that Sirius remembered had been a pretty party boy. Of course, Sirius, James, Lily, and Remus had all been pretty partiers at the time, so he’d fit right in with their group when they met him. He’d been a cocky little shit, brilliant and good looking, and he knew it too, but he was also passionate and fierce.
Something James had commented on multiple times in the most disturbing manner possible.
And Sirius had done a bit of traveling between the time that Harry’s name came out of the goblet and before he bought Harry a ticket to New York. Mostly to the muggle library where he’d done as much research on Tony Stark as he could.
And good Merlin, the things he found.
Sirius spent hours in the library watching clips about Tony Stark and his metal flying machine. Tony Stark and his brilliance. Tony Stark and his multibillion dollar company he ran. Tony Stark used to develop missiles for military use then changed the company focus to something about energy that Sirius didn’t quite understand. Tony still seemed like a partier, live fast die pretty kind of bloke, but the articles called him a hero.
Nobody needed a hero more than Harry.
There were also photos- thousands of photos.
Sirius had a kind and young library worker help him print out the ones of a younger Tony, the ones that looked just like Harry. He added a few recent ones of Tony, admirable, amused, and envious in equal amounts at how Tony kept his good looks. Seemed like he kept his arrogance and disdain for monogamy too, which was a riot in Sirius’ opinion.
In every photo though, Tony looked strong, powerful, confident, and in charge.
And that was exactly who Harry needed in his corner.
Sirius was a worthless godfather thanks to a mistake he’d made almost fourteen years ago. He couldn’t outright claim custody of Harry and hide him away from the war that was undoubtedly unfolding. He couldn’t keep Harry from being targeted by Voldemort or used by Albus, but Tony Stark could.
There wasn’t a doubt in Sirius’ mind that Tony Stark, that brilliant and fierce, passionate and caring, powerful muggle man wouldn’t do everything in his power to protect Harry. Especially when Harry surely showed up at his place, looking just like the bloke, but with Lily’s eyes and obvious signs of abuse.
‘Can’t we heal these before I go?’ Harry had asked Sirius pleadingly, referring to the marks that Lily’s disgusting fucking brother-in-law had left on Sirius’ godson.
It had hurt Sirius to glibly brush off Harry’s insecurity and worry, but Harry was a reclusive bastard. If Tony didn’t see the signs of abuse, he might never figure it out, and Sirius was planning on Tony wrecking vengeance on Harry’s behalf for Sirius.
Harry might be under the impression that the goal in him going to New York was to find a way to help Sirius follow him, but Sirius’ plan was much more simple:
Get Harry the hell out of the country and force him to find a family that could protect him.
And, as far as Sirius knew, he’d done it.
So, yeah, Sirius was pretty smug and happy the past few days. He couldn’t wait for Albus to find out that Harry was out of his hands— he was going to be furious and Sirius might throw a party afterward.
Sirius used to have nothing but respect for Albus, then he gave James partial information on a prophecy, forcing them into hiding, putting the Potter family in the position to be murdered, and didn’t even give James or Lily the respect to tell them the full prophecy. If either of them had heard what Sirius did, the bit about the child being born to parents who thrice defeated the Dark Lord, Sirius didn’t doubt that they would have had Harry’s parentage and DNA test on the front page of the Prophet by the next morning.
But Albus kept his cards close to his chest and gave Voldemort his chance to mark Harry as his equal and start a powerful obsession with Harry that had only grown since Harry first defeated him.
Less importantly, but still rather disgustingly, Albus never even bothered to push for Sirius to stand for trial after he was arrested. Despite all the things Sirius had done for the order before his arrest, Albus left him to drown in Azkaban and he dropped Harry off with some abusive muggles and never looked back.
So, in Sirius’ very mature opinion, Albus Dumbledore could go fuck himself.
Sirius refocused on the conversation with Remus and quit grinning in his tea. “It’s nice weather,” he lied easily. “Sunshine boosts happiness, yeah?”
Remus snorted and sent a pointed look out the grimy kitchen window to the grey sky. “You’re a shit liar, Pads. What are you up to?”
Sirius wished he could trust Remus, but when it came to Harry’s safety, Sirius trusted no one. Well, he was putting a hell of a lot of trust into a bloke who once took a body shot of tequila off James then licked a line of salt off Lily’s neck in the middle of a crowded pub, but… but Tony had also gotten them kicked out of that same pub an hour later when some bloke got handsy with Lily and Tony knocked him out with a single right hook.
Also, Harry was Tony’s flesh and blood son, something Tony didn’t have, and there was just no way he wouldn’t love and cherish the kid.
Once you pushed past Harry’s understandably defensive exterior, he was the best kid in the world. Very lovable, in Sirius’ unbiased opinion.
Sirius beamed at Remus from his comfortable spot at the kitchen table. “Absolutely nothing, Moony. Absolutely nothing.”
Remus looked skeptical, but frankly, Sirius didn’t give a shit.
Sirius whistled cheerfully while he worked alongside Molly, her brood, and Hermione that day. He mopped floors while he wondered what Harry was up to, he dusted curtains while he chuckled about how much Harry resembled Tony, and he even ignored Kreacher pilfering heirlooms when he remembered how upset Harry had been to find out James wasn’t his dad. Not because Harry had any true attachment to the man who raised him for a year, but because he thought Sirius would somehow love him less.
Harry was adorable.
~~~~~
The day Sirius broke out of Grimmauld, he’d done so with his stack of photos of Tony Stark, and fought with himself the whole time he traveled to go check on his godson.
It was time for Harry to get the fuck out of the country, but…
But he’d just watched his classmate die, he’d had his blood stolen by the rat that got his parents killed, he watched Voldemort be reborn, and he found out it had been his professor behind the entire stunt with the tournament.
It wasn’t like Harry was living the best life, or had the greatest mental health already, so Sirius wasn’t real thrilled about dropping some more shit on the kid.
After he slipped right into Harry’s house, Dung was a lazy piece of scum, Sirius knew he had to tell Harry that night. He’d rather emotionally scar his godson than ever see bruises mark his young face again.
“Maybe you should sit?” Sirius suggested to Harry once he told him that they’d be escaping that night. He couldn’t exactly rush Harry to New York without spilling the unintentional secret.
James and Lily never planned on keeping it from Harry, they just… they just died before they could tell him. And it wasn’t like Sirius had any chances to send an informational letter from Azkaban.
Harry looked nervous almost instantly and he shook his head. “I’ll stand, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” Sirius was anxious as he pulled the photos out of his pocket. He held them out to Harry silently and watched as Harry inched forward, snatched the papers, and retreated back to the wall.
Sirius watched Harry’s one good tell, his eyes, while he slowly looked the pictures over. His eyes narrowed, then widened, then snapped up to Sirius.
“What’s this?”
Sirius swallowed harshly, but he kept his eyes steady as they met Harry’s. “Your father.”
Harry didn’t blink, Sirius didn’t think his chest was even moving.
“Breathe,” Sirius said. He jumped to his feet, panicked, when Harry’s chest didn’t move after a full sixty seconds.
Sirius’ movements must have spurred Harry’s little trance, because he jolted backward and Sirius heard the sudden whoosh of air in his lungs.
“You’re lying,” Harry said, his voice was rough and his entire body was trembling. Harry flung the papers right at Sirius but they fluttered weakly halfway between them and landed on the floor. “YOU’RE LYING! We swore to not do that, Sirius!”
Sirius knew that Harry must know he wasn’t lying, otherwise he’d never be so upset.
“And I’m not lying now,” Sirius said calmly. “His name’s Tony, he’s—”
“James.”
Sirius waited, but when it didn’t seem like Harry was going to say anything more than James’ name, he tilted his head at him. “What about James?”
“He’s your best mate,” Harry whispered. “He’s my dad.”
Sirius backed up against the bed again and sank down on it. “James is my best mate, my brother, and he’ll always be your dad, kiddo. It’s just that Tony,” Sirius gestured slowly toward the paper, careful not to panic Harry in his currently delicate state, “is also your dad.”
Harry glanced quickly toward the photos, then up to Sirius. At the photos, Sirius.
“I look like James?” Harry said uncertainly.
Sirius snorted, probably a tad insensitively. “Do you have untamable black hair like James did? Sure, but so does Tony. Trust me, James knew exactly whose kid you were when you were born.”
“So he knew my mum shagged some- some random guy?!”
It was definitely insensitive when Sirius outright laughed at the hot indignation in Harry’s voice. “Be a bit hard for James to miss, since he shagged him too.”
Harry’s fidgeting fingers stilled and he finally sunk down to the floor. He curled his arms around his bent legs and propped his chin on his knees as he stared at Sirius incredulously. “What… the fuck… did you just say?”
Sirius grinned and leaned his hands back on Harry’s lumpy and bare mattress. “Let me tell you a story about a wild winter in London, after James and Lily were married, during a lull between battles while both sides were drawing up new plans… I’ll start with the night my best mates and I met a good looking stranger and how that led to the wildest week of our lives…”
It was a different time, a better time really; everyone was shagging everyone. They were all young, attractive, and worried they wouldn’t live to see thirty. James and Lily were more in love than Sirius had ever thought possible, something he assured Harry of, but they both wanted to experience as much of life as they could, while they could.
By the end of it, Harry was glaring at the photos of Tony that were back in his hands and he had a distinct green tint to the pale parts of his face.
Sirius knew Harry was still young, still relatively innocent in some adult topics, but he still gave him as many details as he could remember about the polyamorous love affair James and Lily had shared with Tony.
He kind of hoped that it would help Harry understand that being gay wasn’t ‘freaky’, as his piece of shit uncle had drilled in his head. Hell, Sirius didn’t know hardly anyone who wasn’t at least partially interested in the same sex. It would be more abnormal to be straight, in his opinion.
“You’re sure?” Harry asked Sirius after a quiet few minutes that were only interrupted by the ticking of Harry’s wristwatch.
Sirius nodded, “He can do a test when you get there, but look at the photos, kiddo. James knew, Lily knew, I know, it’s time Tony did too.”
“So…” Harry clenched the photos in his hands hard enough to crinkle them and carefully avoided looking Sirius in the eyes. “What’s that mean for… for you? I mean… I mean you and James were friends, pretty much brothers, and this bloke wasn’t really your friend…”
“Well we certainly weren’t as close as he was with your parents, but I wouldn’t say we weren’t friends at all,” Sirius grinned. “Tony’s a real laugh, you’ll like him.”
Harry still refused to look up at him, choosing instead to talk quietly to his lap. “But James made you my godfather, and you accepted because he was your friend.”
It took Sirius a moment to puzzle together what Harry was implying, and he slid to the floor to scoot over by him the moment it clicked.
“Hey,” Sirius reached out slowly and put his hand on Harry’s ducked head, “I accepted because I love you, kiddo. I loved James and Lily, they were the best friends a bloke could have, but you’re my godson. It’s you and me forever, Harry, you’re stuck with me.”
Harry looked up at him through his messy black fringe and his eyes were pleading. “This doesn’t change anything?”
“This changes nothing,” Sirius said firmly, meaning every syllable of what he said.
~~~~~
And it didn’t.
The only difference now was that Sirius was eager for Harry to write, not anxious.
At least in New York Sirius knew that Harry wasn’t in danger from the magical world. He wasn’t being struck (and god help Tony Stark if Sirius discovered otherwise), he was being fed, and he was probably finally being properly spoiled if Tony was still in the habit of throwing money around like a king.
So Sirius could wait patiently to hear from his godson and feel giddy over pulling off the ultimate prank on Albus and Voldemort both.
A prank that was revealed that same night at the next Order meeting.
Sirius had been pretty sure he knew what the topic was going to be when Albus rounded up the entire Order and stood before them with a grim face.
“I have troubling news,” he said, his blue eyes glancing toward Sirius’ practiced and perfectly blank face with a hint of fear in them.
He should be afraid. If Sirius weren’t the one who kidnapped Harry, then he’d be dueling Albus to the death for losing him.
“Harry is missing.”
The Order immediately burst into shouts and accusations, wails and confusion. Sirius played his part to the best of his abilities. He stood on his feet and screamed at Albus, he cursed at Mundungus (who admitted to sleeping during the night Harry went missing), and he pointed his wand furiously at Snape when he suggested that Harry probably ran off ‘having a tantrum’.
Actually, that last part wasn’t faked at all.
“Quiet!” Albus shot a bang in the air with his wand, effectively silencing all the members. He turned to Sirius, “Has Harry been in contact with you?”
“No,” Sirius growled. “And I’ve sent over a dozen bloody letters.”
Snape took the chance to mutter something about Sirius not following orders, as if Sirius were a child who needed Albus’ permission to write to his godson, and Sirius took the chance to hex him.
Honestly, it was the best day that Sirius had in ages. He even got to storm away dramatically when Albus started setting up search parties and refused to allow Sirius to join them. Which, truthfully, Sirius got to storm away dramatically loads of times, he just usually got eyes rolled at his back instead of sympathetic looks.
Sirius grinned and clicked his tongue up at Hedwig when he slammed his way into his bedroom to spend time with Buckbeak and Harry’s owl. Hedwig hadn’t cared much for Sirius at first. He’d taken her from her owner and then immediately shrunk her a little and charmed her feathers to a deep calico color, disguising her as Harry’s well-known pet. After the first night with Sirius though, she’d finally quit pecking him, and he was bribing her with bacon (something Harry assured him that she adored) to eventually make them the best of friends.
“Best day ever,” Sirius whispered to Hedwig after she flew down from her perch to take the strip of bacon he brought her.
Hedwig hooted in a decidedly agreeable way.
The next morning though, Sirius’ mood only elevated. He had been laying on the front stoop as Padfoot, waiting to see if the muggle postman would bring him a letter or not.
Sirius knew that Harry was concerned about sending letters through the post, but Sirius had carefully unwound one of the ancestral wards on the house that had left it off the post route for so long. Albus had no reason to block muggle mail, not like he so obviously had Harry’s owl post, and so Sirius had taken to having morning doggy naps on the stoop while he waited.
It was nice sometimes, being underestimated for his brilliance.
Sirius was daydreaming about whatever fun things Harry was hopefully up to when he heard someone approach.
“Hey, boy.” The muggle man was wary as he walked up toward Sirius with his hand out. Sirius perked up and let out a soft woof at the unassuming white envelope. “Good doggy, I’m just going to leave this for your owners, okay?” He slowly opened the mailbox and Sirius let out a quick and ferocious bark, causing him to drop the letter and back away quickly.
Sirius was still laughing about the look of terror on his face when he made it back up to his room, letter safely clenched in his hands.
“Let’s see what Harry’s up to, hmm?” Sirius shared a grin with Hedwig (in Sirius’ entirely sane opinion, it looked like Hedwig had grinned at him) when she flew to his shoulders, no doubt recognizing her human’s smell on the envelope.
If Sirius had been hoping for pages and pages of information, he’d have been disappointed. Luckily, he was a professional at that point at reading through Harry’s curt and coded words.
‘I’m fine,’ meant he was safe.
His ‘friend’, Tony no doubt, was fine, which probably (Sirius traced the marked out word ‘nice’) meant that Tony was treating him well.
Harry having a phone meant that Tony was at least buying Harry some things. Harry requesting that Sirius get one as well and call him meant he still didn’t trust muggle post.
And Sirius chuckled at Harry’s signature.
Cheeky little pest.
“What d’you think, girl?” Sirius stroked Hedwig’s wing thoughtfully as he looked at Harry’s ps at the bottom of the sheet. “Do we send him money or try and force him to create a relationship?”
Hedwig twisted her head around and ruffled her feathers.
“That’s because you’re not thinking it through,” Sirius tsk’d at her. “It’s like when Effie and Fleamont took me in. I didn’t have any money at the time, so I had to depend on them for basic necessities. And eventually, it made me realize that I could count on them for other stuff too.” Sirius shook his finger playfully at Hedwig, “Too much independence can isolate you.”
Hedwig nipped his finger gently and hooted.
“So we’re in agreement? Make sure Tony’s providing for him and then pretend we can’t send him money?”
Hedwig’s next hoot and quick return to her perch was all the encouragement Sirius needed. He got to his feet with a wide smile and tipped an imaginary hat at Hedwig and the lazily sleeping hippogriff in the corner both.
“Forced dependency it is! I’m off to buy a phone then, wish me luck!”
Sirius shifted into Padfoot just as he heard Hedwig’s derisive hoot.
He didn’t care if Hedwig didn’t believe in his abilities to go purchase a muggle phone, he’d clearly already pulled off much more brilliant schemes recently so getting a phone was nothing.