Chapter 1
Second Year
At the end of Harry's second year half the population turned to dust and floated away in the wind. At twelve years old Harry had coped with more than most, from sleeping in a spider infested cupboard, murderous or dangerously negligent teachers and the apparition of a serial killer attempting to drain the life from his best friend's sister. However, for all that Harry had seen more than most, nothing could have prepared him for the gaping whole left behind by the people who were there one moment and gone the next.
---
At first, nobody was sure what had happened. In one moment a tearful Mrs Weasley was embracing her daughter in a hospital bed, in the next they had both floated away in the wind.
A startled and confused Ron sunk heavily into Harry's hospital bed, and the two boys watched in wretched bewilderment as the adults frankly searched for an explanation.
---
There was much speculation about what might have happened. Words that Harry didn't recognize such as apparition or discorporation were thrown around. Hours of hope ticked by, and with them so did the last vestiges of people's pragmatism and determination.
In the end, an article in the morning edition of the daily prophet is what broke the news to the wizarding population of Britain. A muggle-born Auror dispatched from MACUSA explained the nitty gritty of the situation.
With the information that the problem was muggle, not magical, in nature and seemed largely permanent; England wept.
---
Mass grief was a strange and awful thing.
There were obviously many casualties. People lost parents, best friends, siblings and lovers. Sometimes whole families disappeared.
Hogwarts held an early end of year assembly in which they read out the names of all the students and faculty that were lost before frantic parents swept home with their children. Luckily, or perhaps wrenchingly, with so many people missing, the great hall had no problem accommodating the parents of the students that remained.
With a heavy heart, Harry sat with the newly orphaned Lavender Brown and watched as other children clung to their distraught parents.
---
Summer after Second Year
The summer after half the population floated away in the wind starts off slow and miserable. With the heavy weight of the loss of Hermione, Seamus and so many others, all Harry wants is to be close to his remaining friends. Instead, like always he'd been put to work.
Aunt Petunia, in her infinite wisdom, had decided that it was high time to sort through the junk in the attic and Harry had been lumped with the task. After a few days of helpless 'sorting' on which Harry relied on instinct and Merlin to guess what Petunia would want to keep or throw out Harry stumbled upon a red leather journal that instantly piqued his interest.
Written in that journal was a letter that would change Harry's life. It went like this.
--
Dear Tony,
Of all the letters I have written and never sent I think that this is the one I will regret the most.
We have a son Tony. A beautiful, green eyed, raven haired son. Harry Of all the revolutionary work we've done together, he is the best thing we've ever done. I wish for nothing more than to share this with you. If things had been even slightly different, there would have been nothing that could keep me away from you. If it weren't for the war, or your fame, or my fame or the statue of secrecy, if only anything in this life had been that easy.
Instead, I am writing this to you in the hopes that, one day, we might find our way back to each other.
---
Harry reads it five times before he reacts. Not that he really reacts. His first instinct is to tell somebody, but he imagines telling any of the Dursleys would just scar him for life and Mrs Figgs’ reaction would only be slightly better.
In reality, the letter isn't nearly as life changing as Harry would have thought. In the end a father with no contact details is just as unreachable as a father who had died.
He could write somebody a letter, but the news feels all at once too big to squander and too little to share when everybody is already dealing with so much.
In the end the letter in itself doesn't change much; it just makes Harry think.
----
Summer after Third Year
The Summer after Harry’s third year, Harry has been at the Dursleys for two excruciatingly boring days when the doorbell rings.
Harry, who is in the middle of cooking breakfast, switches off the stove-top before hastily going to answer the door. Merlin knows nobody else will.
He opens the door, expecting a sales person or one or Aunt Petunia's sour-faced neighbours, but is instead greeted with an emaciated and shaggy Sirius Black.
"Um," Harry blinks dumbly.
Sirius grins, "nice to see you too."
Harry smiles and ducks his head, "Hi Sirius."
"Hi, Harry," he peers inside the house. "Are your relatives home perchance?"
Harry squints, "Yeah, they're upstairs- listen Sirius, not that I'm not happy to see you but is there any particular reason you're here? I thought you were, uh, on the run."
"That's sort of why I’m here. Is there anywhere we can go so we can talk?"
----
Harry finishes breakfast and plates it up before leaving. The Dursleys won't notice his absence, but they will notice a lack of food. He and Sirius then walk a bit until they come to rest on a park bench.
"Listen Harry, Remus told me that you'd had a couple of phone calls with Stark and that they went well?"
At Sirius' expectant silence Harry nods his assent.
Sirius rubs a hand over his face. "How well? Well enough to live with him?"
Harry blows out a breath, "live with him? Is that an option?"
"You seemed pretty keen on the idea of living with me before the whole dementor ordeal, and obviously with the law enforcement after me I can't quite provide you the care you deserve. So when Remus told me you were in touch with Stark I figured it might solve two problems. Law enforcement in America isn't nearly as interested in me as Auror's here so I wouldn't need to hide as much and you could spend your summer with Stark and I"
---
From there, things went at lightning speed. Later, Harry would admit that leaving the Dursleys, being at the airport and arriving at the avengers facility felt like a very vivid dream. Admittedly, he was sleeping for a large portion of the journey, but the situation was so bewildering, Harry had a hard time believing he ever woke up that morning.
On the plane ride over Sirius explained that they took muggle transport to avoid magical authorities, and that Remus had organised for them to go to Stark's over the phone during the school term.
"We didn't think you'd say no, but we figured we could call and cancel if you did."
----
When they arrive at the avengers facility Harry is, understandably, intimidated. The building is like nothing Harry has ever seen before (as somebody who has only been to Surrey, Hogwarts and wizarding London, there is plenty Harry hasn't seen). There are lush green hills and forests that go as far as the eyes can see and actual roads connecting the different parts of the building, making it resemble the airport he and Sirius just came from. Behind the building is a wide river that glitters in the evening summer sun.
Sirius had needed a special pass to even be allowed on the premises and now a small, vaguely menacing robot is showing them to the front door.
Harry understandably feels more than a little intimidated. He stares at the large sprawling buildings and then looks down at his ragged hand-me-down clothes and is struck by self-consciousness.
"Sirius?" Harry asks tentatively.
"Mm," Sirius hums, eyes distant and flitting from one building to the next.
"Do you think I might be a bit underdressed?" He whispers, hands smoothing his faded black pants.
Sirius blinks before coming to an abrupt stop. He focuses uncomfortably on Harry's face and takes his hands in his. "Listen Harry, I want you to know that this isn't like the Dursleys. Stark, Remus, and I, we're blessed to have you in our lives. The only reason any of us would worry about what you're wearing is because we're worried about your comfort. Stark's going to be blown away by you, you don't have to worry about a thing."
"You don't even know me- or him for that matter."
Sirius shakes his head. "As somebody who changed your diapers and had you spit-up on me, there isn't much you could do to scare me away. And whilst it's true I don't know Stark personally, I knew Lily and I don't think she would have put up with the kind of person who wouldn't be impressed by you.
---
The person who opens the door has Weasley red hair and a kind smile.