Chapter 3
"Hi, my name is Tony, and I have had the pleasure of meeting Harry this morning. Can I come in?"
*
Aunt Petunia narrowed her eyes at Harry, but she opened the door for Tony and escorted him inside. As soon as he was inside, she motioned for Harry to come inside as well.
Harry glanced up at Pepper, who was now standing right beside him. She gave him an encouraging nod, and began following him into the house.
Pepper was just itching to wrap her arms around Harry, march him right back into the car and take him back to New York with them. She could tell that these were the people that were responsible for Harry's suffering, but unfortunately she couldn't make any accusations without actual proof.
"Petunia! Who's at the door?" Vernon boomed, heaving himself off of the couch and stomping into the hallway.
"Who the hell are you?" Vernon barked, frowning at the unfamiliar man in his home. "We're not interested in what you have to sell, and I'll be sure to tell your employer that you're barging into people's homes!"
Tony couldn't help but chuckle at the morbidly obese man standing in front of him. He would have been more intimidating, except for the fact that he was as tall as he was wide, and his mustache reminded him of one of a walrus.
"He's not selling anything Vernon, he's here about the boy," Petunia hushed, widening her eyes at her husband.
Harry wanted to cry when he stepped inside and saw Uncle Vernon glaring at him, his face turning a nasty shade of purple with rage.
"Uh, yes," Tony interrupted, seeing how upset the man after the strange interaction he had just had with the horse faced woman. "I was just at the market and I met your son-"
"Son!" Vernon spat, making the word sound as if it was the most revolting thing anyone had ever made him say. "That boy isn't my son! He's the son of my wife's good-for-nothing sister!"
"She and her husband were drunks. They died when he was 15 months old- drunk driving. Found him on our doorstep the next morning. Been raising him ever since," Petunia told Tony. He could tell just by the strange amount of pleasure she had from telling the story that she loved to gossip about anything and everything.
"Well, um, yes," Tony cleared his throat. He glanced over at Harry who looked as pale as a ghost. Pepper was standing next to him, assuming an almost protective stance. A strange sense of joy bubbled in his chest when he thought about his fiancé taking a liking to the boy, but couldn't place why.
"So I was at the market this morning and I saw Harry. He wasn't looking too good, so I approached him to see how I could help, and then he collapsed. I helped him to a shady area, because I figured maybe he got overheated, wearing all that getup-" he motioned to Harry's sweatshirt and sweatpants, "and he passed out again. So I called my fiancé to come help me take him to the hospital, and he passed out again in the car, but when he came to, he refused and asked us to take him home.
"So we brought him here, and I figured I would want to know if he was my kid- nephew-" Tony quickly corrected as Vernon's began to open his mouth to speak. "I just wanted to make you aware of the situation."
"Oh he has fits like that all the time," Petunia said shakily, waving her hand. "Some head trauma from the car accident as a baby."
"That's right," Vernon said, stepping up beside his wife. "And we try to live life as normally as possible with it, so we would appreciate it if you'd drop it and allow us to live our lives. Have a good day now."
It was all Tony could do to keep his mouth from dropping open. He glanced at Harry, knowing that these horrid people were lying. Sure enough, he could see the tears welling up in Harry's eyes, despite the kid's attempt to keep his head down and face hidden.
"Boy, go upstairs to your room. We will discuss this later," Vernon warned. Harry nodded, knowing that he just wanted him to go upstairs to the spare room so that it appeared as if he was taken care of. But Harry knew what was coming. He knew that Uncle Vernon was going to storm up there as soon as Tony and Pepper left, and take off his belt and...
He didn't even want to think about the punishment. Without looking at Tony or Pepper, Harry slipped through the group of people standing in the doorway, and treaded upstairs quietly.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Vernon said, closing in on Tony and Pepper, giving them no choice but to walk backwards out the door. As soon as they were fully outside, Vernon slammed the door shut, the noise echoing through the house and all the way down the street.
Harry could hear Uncle Vernon slam the door and immediately begin stomping up the stairs, the floorboards quaking underneath him.
"What are we going to do?" Pepper asked, grabbing Tony's arm as they stood, staring at the door, shocked.
"We're going to go get some groceries from the market, claiming Harry forgot them, and then bring them back and demand to see Harry. If he has more, fresh, marks on him, then we take him with us," Tony responded darkly. He had met a lot of vile, horrendous people in his life, but these two had to be the absolute worst yet.
He just hoped that Harry was alright.
*
Harry had just learned to stop struggling. The more he struggled, the harder Uncle Vernon went, and the more it hurt.
His entire body ached. His uncle was standing over him, rebuttoning his pants, wearing an evil grin.
"Have a fun outing this morning?" Vernon asked, his voice sickeningly sweet. "You were a bad boy. And you know what we have to do to bad boys..."
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, waiting for the first sting of the belt buckle. Instead, what he felt was much worse.
As soon as the electric whip made contact with his bare, bleeding and blistered back, Harry's mouth twisted with a silent scream. His back arched away from the source of the pain, pleading for it to stop.
"Please," Harry gasped, willing for anything to take away the pain. He would have preferred the Cruciatus Curse over this.
"Not a fan are we?" Uncle Vernon chuckled, flogging Harry's back three more times in a row. This time, Harry couldn't silence his screams. He turned his face into one of the pillows underneath him on the spare room's bed, muffling his cries.
Five lashes later, and Uncle Vernon let up. Harry couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped his lips.
"Oh you're not done," his uncle grabbed him by the neck. Harry wished so desperately he had his wand on him, but it, along with the rest of his stuff, was downstairs.
Uncle Vernon opened the door to the bedroom, carrying a still shirtless Harry to the top of the stairs.
"You like taking tumbles in public, yeah? Well tell me if you like this!" Uncle Vernon shoved Harry as hard as he could, watching with satisfaction as the boy flipped and pinballed down the stairs, landing with a horrific thud at the bottom.
Harry had never felt pain this excruciating before. He knew without any hesitation that his ankle was broken, along with his wrist and several ribs. He had smashed his head against the banister on the way down, and even breathing was incredibly difficult.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, jerking him out of his half conscious state. Uncle Vernon scowled as he descended the stairs.
"Stay here," he growled, kicking Harry as hard as he could into the corner. "Don't make any noise."
Harry couldn't breathe. It hurt too bad to move, and he felt as if every breath he took, he wasn't getting any air.
From outside, Tony could hear a loud crash from inside. Quickly, he rang the doorbell, praying that it had just been the fat man falling and nothing worse.
"What the bloody hell do you want?" Vernon snarled, answering the door. The same man from earlier was standing there, holding a sack of groceries.
"Harry forgot his groceries earlier, and I figured I'd drop them off. I also needed to speak with him," Tony responded coolly as the man snatched the bag out of his hand.
"He's not available at the moment," Vernon growled, beginning to close the door on Tony.
Harry recognized the American's voice immediately, and he heard Tony mention his name.
"He's not available at the moment," he could hear Uncle Vernon say. No! Tony was his only chance at getting help. He had to do something, or there was no doubt in his mind that Uncle Vernon was going to kill him.
"H-h-help!" Harry wheezed, as loud as he could. "T-Tony!"
"Tony," Pepper said, nudging her fiancé. Vernon spun around angrily as he heard Harry calling for help.
"T-Tony!" Harry wheezed again, aware of his raging uncle who was staring straight at him.
"What the-?" Tony shoved the door open and barged past the fat man, looking frantically through the house for Harry.
"Harry!" Pepper cried, her eyes landing on the small figure, curled up in the corner. There was blood trickling from his mouth down his chin, and several of his limbs were twisted to odd angles. Tony flew to his side as soon as he saw the condition Harry was in.
"I'm calling the police! You have to leave!" Vernon roared, his face crimson with rage.
"Oh yeah, call the police! I'm sure they'd love to see what you've done to your nephew!" Pepper spun around, getting within inches of Vernon's face. "Me personally? I'd like to see how the likes of you rots in prison!"
If he hadn't been so worried about Harry, Tony would have loved to see the look on the man's face. He knew Pepper could handle herself way better than he ever could, but this only emphasized that.
"Hey kid, it's okay," Tony knelt next to Harry, he immediately began assessing his injuries.
"T-To...Tony," Harry gasped, eyes wide with fear. "Hurts."
"Shh, I know. Don't try to talk," Tony hushed, grabbing Harry's good hand with his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You're gonna be okay. We're going to get you fixed up."
"Like hell you will!" Vernon boomed. "That boy is not leaving here!"
"Yes he is, and you are too!" Pepper cried, her knee making contact with Vernon's crotch. As the man cowered on the ground, clutching at himself, she pulled out her phone and called the police.
"Pep, we've got to get him to a hospital. ASAP," Tony turned to her, eyes wide with concern.
"N-no hos...pitals," Harry breathed painfully, his eyes slowly drifting shut.
"Jarvis, get my private helicopter to the hotel immediately, and make sure Clint and Banner are in it!" Tony ordered, tapping the side of his glasses. He turned back to Harry. "It's alright kid, we're going to get you help. No hospitals. Just do me a favor and stay awake, okay?"
"What in the-?" A voice came from the doorway. Pepper, Tony, Vernon and Harry all glanced towards the door where Petunia stood with Dudley, arms full of groceries. "Vernon!"
"Stay where you are!" Pepper ordered. Petunia's eyes flew to Harry, widening at the pitiful sight.
"Vernon," she gasped, "did- did you do this to him?"
But before he could answer, sirens sounded from outside.
Harry wanted so badly to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he needed to make sure he was safe from Uncle Vernon before he could.
"Harry," Tony said, noticing as Harry's eyes began fluttering shut. "Harry!"
Harry's eyes snapped open, looking around wildly, his breathing becoming more labored.
"Shh, hey. It's okay, calm down," Tony commanded. "Harry, look at me."
Harry looked up into Tony's big brown eyes.
"Harry, I'm going to pick you up and carry you to the car, and we're going to get away from here. But I need you to stay awake. Can you do that for me kid?" Tony asked. Not wanting to move, but also not wanting to stay where he was, Harry gave a barely noticeable nod. But it was enough for Tony.
Carefully, he gathered Harry in his arms and hurried out the door.
"Sir! Please stay where you are!" A police officer cried, rushing towards them.
"I'm getting him to a safe location, and we're going to treat him there," Tony said, his voice like steel. There was no way they were making him wait any longer to get Harry help.
"Is this the boy?" The police man asked. Tony didn't miss how Harry flinched at the use of the word 'boy'.
"Yes, but I really need to get him stabilized," Tony exclaimed, continuing towards the car. Harry could see through blurred vision that half the neighborhood was outside, watching everything unfold. He could care less if they saw what Uncle Vernon had done to him, but he found it almost humorous-- as humorous as this situation could be-- that for once, the neighborhood was watching the Dursleys instead of the other way around.
"Sir, we appreciate you trying to help, but we will take the boy to the hospital now," the officer said as Tony carefully laid Harry on the seats in the back of the car, scowling as Harry flinched at the use of the word again.
"Okay, first of all, that's not going to happen," Tony cried, whipping around and flashing an ID at the officer. "Tony Stark, Stark Industries. I'll be taking him from here. And second of all, his name is Harry, so call him by his goddamn name."
The officer's face looked shocked, and he took a step back.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stark. My apologies," he bowed his head, and began to say something else, but Tony had already hopped into the car and was half way down the street.