“Free!”
The team had been quiet and subdued on the flight back from Spain where they’d tracked Ultron to.
In layman’s terms, they got their asses handed to them and nobody was happy about it.
Tony had been tapping away on his phone, trying very hard not to check Harry’s texts, when Wanda, who had actually helped them, much to his surprise, moved to sit across from him.
“Will your son be returning to his school for magic?” she asked, completely out of the blue.
Tony snorted and didn’t look up from where he was clearing out his inbox. “Over my dead body.”
“He is finished with learning magic?”
Tony dragged tired eyes up to look at Wanda and sighed as loudly as he could.
“He’s done with magic boarding schools,” Tony said firmly. He flipped his hand irritably at Wanda’s surprised expression. According to his bank alerts and GPS pings on his cars, Harry was already behaving like a normal fifteen year old left home alone, he didn’t need a magical school - he needed normalcy. And if he wanted to be a wizard too, then there was no need to be hasty with it.
“I’m sure I can find a magic tutor or something,” Tony mused. Everyone had a price; maybe the witch with the bun wanted to take her talents in the private sector.
“Why don’t you have Black teach him?” Clint asked, shamelessly eavesdropping. He leaned against the wall of the cargo carrier and shrugged his shoulders when everyone looked at him. “What? He knows magic.”
“Loki knows the ways of magic!” Thor said with a clap to Clint’s shoulder and a broad smile for Tony. “I could bring him, have him teach your son the ancient arts of sorcery!”
“The ancient arts of mind control and evil, you mean,” Nat scoffed from the cockpit.
Tony nodded in agreement with Nat, and Thor’s sensitive ass frowned.
“Loki is truly apologetic,” he said. “If his assistance was required, I’m sure I could convince our father to release him.”
“Yeah, maybe not,” Tony said swiftly. No need to release Reindeer Games while Ultron and Darth Vader were still loose. The last thing they needed were the three of them teaming up to take over the world. “And Sirius can’t stay, there’s the whole traitor business that needs dealt with first.”
“So deal with it,” Clint said bluntly. He lifted his chin arrogantly when Tony looked toward him. “What? Mister ‘I Hacked in the Pentagon’, I thought you could do anything.”
“Oh I can,” Tony said confidently. He was Tony Stark, he could do anything with five minutes, a decent tech setup, and enough money. Not defeat Ultron, or find Darth Vader, or go kill the witch that scarred his kid, but he could probably clear Sirius’ name or get him a damn good plastic surgeon and a whole new identity. Actually…
Tony tapped his chin thoughtfully while the others fell in separate conversations.
Sirius had no reason to be a wanted man in the US. Not when the man in charge of the magical sector seemed much more intelligent than the one in charge of the British side. The MACUSA President had a cell phone and used an ink pen, for crying out loud. If Tony played his cards right, maybe they didn’t need Peter Pettigrew to clear Sirius’ name.
“Christmas is coming early, Harry,” Tony murmured before whipping his phone right back out and calling the number he’d gotten before.
It only rang twice before President Quahog answered with a politely puzzled greeting.
“Mister Stark? How can I help you?”
Tony reclined back in his seat, ignoring his curious team, and chose his words carefully.
“First off, Hogwarts didn’t exactly pan out for Harry, any chance you have a list of tutors who make house calls?” he asked, going with the easy request first.
“Of course, Mister Stark, I can send you a list of witches and wizards who work outside of Illvermony to teach magic,” the President said swiftly. “A great many people would consider it an honor to teach Harry Potter magic.”
“Knock those ones off the list,” Tony said firmly. “If they’re going to gush over him, we’re not interested.”
President Quahog chuckled amicably. “Understood. I can send that list to you on Monday, if that works?”
“Works great,” Tony said genuinely.
“Was that all?”
“No.” Tony spoke slowly, aware that a single wrong step could ruin Sirius’ life, which would ruin Harry’s. “Is there a way to determine if a person is telling you the truth or not?” he asked. “A magical lie detector or something?”
Quahog sounded equal parts confused and intrigued at Tony’s question.
“There is a highly regulated potion we use, but I’m afraid we keep it for criminal cases, not for a parent to use on their child.”
Tony laughed and imagined how much his kid would hate him if he drugged him to get some straight answers from his mouth.
“No, no, Harry’s perfect,” he said, thinking of the speed his cars had been traveling the day before. “I met someone interesting on a mission I’m on, someone magic who said they were framed for a crime. I don’t have the person who framed them, but I’d think you’d like an opportunity to clear an innocent man’s name.”
The President was quiet for a moment, contemplating Tony’s words.
“And who is this magical criminal you’ve happened across?” he finally asked.
“Sirius Black.”
A pause, and then—
“Sirius Black?” The President sounded disturbed, which was totally fair considering Sirius’ crimes. “Mister Stark, I must advise you to bring him in at once. Having him anywhere near your son—”
Tony cut him off, uninterested in parenting advice by a politician.
“Look, he says he didn’t do it, can you prove that or not?” he asked bluntly.
“There is a kiss on sight order for Black, he’s incredibly dangerous.”
Tony smiled wryly and crossed his legs at the ankle. He didn’t like to play politics, but it didn’t mean he was unable to either.
“So you give him the magical lie detector potion and either I’m wrong and you get to be the man who captured a dangerous criminal that Minister Fudge was unable to.” Tony paused, letting the idea sink in before adding the shining flip side. “Or I’m right and you get to pardon a wizard who was wrongfully convicted by your British counterpart. I’m not exactly seeing a downfall for you either way, Mister President.”
Quahog was silent for a moment as he let Tony’s words permeate his brain. Tony could practically see his perfectly political smile in his mind when he finally responded.
“I expect to see you and Mister Black first thing in the morning then, Mister Stark.”
Tony pumped a fist in the air and let out a whoop. He didn’t capture Ultron, but damn if Harry wasn’t going to be thrilled anyway.
“A trial!” Tony crowed. “This calls for champagne!”
Tony began bustling around, pouring glasses of champagne in flutes, whistling cheerily as he imagined Harry’s face when he got home.
Maybe he’d get another ‘dad’ or maybe even an ‘I love you’ or—
“I don’t know why you’d try and clear Black’s name,” Nat said scathingly as she accepted her glass, her feet propped up on the steering wheel. “The kid won’t need you if he has his godfather back.”
Tony frowned at her and playfully swatted her head.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “I’m Harry’s dad, Sirius can be a fun uncle or something.”
Nat hummed and gave him a pitying look before draining her glass, but Tony ignored her and chose to remain optimistic.
There were a lot of things he couldn’t fix, a lot of mistakes he’d made that were a pain to correct, but he could do this.
And Tony had been optimistic all the way up until Sirius was led into an interrogation chamber and Tony hadn’t been able to follow him.
Tony paced anxiously outside the room where Sirius was being interrogated. If he had been wrong, if Sirius had done the crime he’d been accused of, then that was it.
Either Tony would have to single-handedly fight the wizards to whisk Harry and Sirius right out of the country or Tony would have to go home and tell his son that he’d let his godfather get locked up. And neither option sounded real enticing.
Harry was as anxious as Tony was, and he kept sending texts that Tony couldn’t bear to look at. His mind kept replaying the desperate look on his son’s face when he told his godfather goodbye that morning.
This couldn’t get fucked up. Sirius had to have a happy ending so Harry could have a happy ending.
Harry would never forgive Tony if he delivered his favorite person directly to the authorities.
It seemed to take an eternity, but part of Tony’s mind kept perfect track of time and knew it had only been seventy-five minutes and nine seconds when the large oak doors opened and President Quahog stepped out with a frown.
“Mister Black will need to return later this week to obtain citizenship and register his animagus form. I’ll send a list of reputable tutors with him,” he said. Tony’s heart soared and he began to smile before Quahog raised what seemed to be a supremely unimpressed dark brow at him. “I’ll be sure to list your address on Mister Black’s documents, as he claims he’s been a frequent guest there.”
Tony remained glib while his insides were giddy. He did this. He got Sirius’ freedom in the United States.
He got Harry his godfather back.
In the face of all of Tony’s recent and spectacular failures, he finally got a win.
“Did he? Wild,” Tony said. He offered the President his hand and a genuine smile. “If you need anything, you have my number.”
Quahog smiled politely, but Tony sensed that it was a rocky bridge between them. Not that he cared, because Sirius strode out of the room with a smile so wide it seemed to knock years off him. Standing there in Tony’s suit with his hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, looking like he won the lottery, Sirius looked more like he had when Tony first met him than he ever had.
“Free!” Sirius cried. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Tony’s torso and laughed until his chuckles turned to sobs. “Free! I never—”
Tony patted Sirius’ back awkwardly and felt his neck itch at the unrestrained tears soaking Tony’s own shoulder. God, emotions were… were really messy.
Sirius must have sensed his discomfort because he pulled away and chuckled after wiping his face with his sleeve.
“Sorry, mate,” he said apologetically. “I just…” Sirius smiled again and shook his head. “I never really thought I’d be free.”
“Only in America,” Tony reminded him. “If you go back to London you’re still a criminal.”
Sirius snorted and looked straight on at Tony with grey eyes filled with so much happiness.
“I am never going back,” he swore. “Don’t tell Harry yet, let’s surprise him.”
Tony read Harry’s increasingly panicked, and colorful, texts on their way back to the Tower while Sirius bounced in his seat and kept running his fingers over his wand.
And Tony felt great about it, he felt like he’d managed to snatch the moon from the sky for his son. He’d gotten an innocent man an official pardon, he cleared Harry’s godfathers name. Tony felt ten feet tall.
Then Harry ran directly to Sirius and clung to him tightly when they stepped off the elevator and Tony’s heart sank while Nat’s words replayed in his mind.
“The kid won’t need you if he has his godfather back.”
Tony excused himself to his lab and neither Harry nor Sirius seemed to even hear him while they laughed together.
And Tony shrunk right back down to his normal height of 5’11”.