Chapter 13
Summer 2023
After everything has settled down Peter and Harry decide to sit by the canal and wait for Pansy to arrive. She finds them mid conversation.
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"You might have been right about that but-"
"Might have? He abducted me and tried to kill us both.'
"but you do need to lighten up man.”
"ooh," Pansy claps her hands. "Are we talking about Potter's ridiculous paranoia and inability to make meaningful connections?"
"I make meaningful connections, we,” he gestures broadly to the three of them,” connected."
"Only after I helped save the entire wizarding world and Peter saved your life. Honestly if you were anybody else your whole friends by fire shtick would've made you even more of a friendless weirdo. What was it with Ron and Hermione? A Troll?” she laughs and ruffles his hair, “and a horde of dark wizards for everybody else. "
Harry grumbles, "Pepper didn't save my life."
Pansy laughs and the sound is tinged with bitterness, "yes she did, your relationship with her is forged in stronger stuff than fire and brimstone."
She gives him a fierce look before turning to gaze at the water, "When you left England I thought- well it doesn't really matter what I thought. All that matters is that Pepper Potts deserves all the awards for turning you into somebody who leaves the house. Merlin knows I wouldn't have survived a summer of coaxing your hermit arse out of the house."
Harry squints, "who says it would be your job?"
Pansy's gaze goes murderous, "Why Potter? Would you prefer your Weasleys? Or a twelve year old Granger perhaps?"
Harry grins and puts his hands up, "I wouldn’t want anybody else in the world."
Pansy sniffs disdainfully but Harry can tell she's pleased.
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Pansy leaves the boys alone and goes to catch up with Pepper.
Peter turns to Harry, “So… Pansy is-”
He guffaws, “Pansy is a lot and we categorically did not get along when we first met but she grows on you.”
The other boy grins, his young boyish charm shining through in sharp contrast to the grim determination from minutes ago,
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"So," Pansy drawls mischievously, "how was your summer."
Harry frowns at the tone, "adventurous, stressful, for once in my life I got attacked for being Tony Stark's son rather than the boy who lived."
"Good to see you're keeping things fresh Potter, the whole Riddle thing was starting to get passe."
"and you, Pansy, How was your summer?"
"Interesting, to say the least. I forgot how obnoxious Malfoy was at twelve years old."
Harry laughs, " Hermione too. Seventeen doesn't seem that old but the amount of enthusiasm that girl has for anything and everything made me feel it."
"It's so odd, it's like half the population are walking time capsules. Sometimes Draco would say something and at one point I would have said the same things myself but now they just seem unfathomable, either because they're honestly horrific, or because they're horrifically childish."
Harry nudges her in the side, "you've come a long way."
Her eyes are a little misty when she turns to you, "You too Potter, you're looking less skeletal by the day."
"Come to America with me," Harry offers on a whim," I know things are difficult for you, with your parents and their politics and their reputation. Come to America with me, enjoy a fresh start."
"Come on Potter, you know I don't do sun, and everything that I hear about Americans makes me think they're more similar to cavemen than the British."
Harry laughs, " but America also has celebrities and fashion shows and both my mother and my grandmother's notes on ancient runes."
"Fine, but you're paying for everything, mister so rich he could run the entire world."
"I could, if it weren't for Walmart."
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Sometime after the battle in London Pepper and Harry sit down and have a heart to heart
They're watching Gilmore Girls again. The addition of Jesse's character has greatly improved Harry's enjoyment of the show.
"Pepper?" Harry asks.
"Mm?" she hums as she shovels a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
Harry waits for her to finish her mouthful before he continues. He swallows heavily, "why did dad leave EDITH to Peter."
Pepper sets aside her Popcorn and lifts her arm so Harry can press against her side.
After they settle in she begins to absently run her hands through his hair. "He wanted you to have the chance to be a kid. After all the ugliness in Britain, after half your life at war, he wanted you to have some peace. He knew that as his kid, you would never have that and if he gave you the tech Fury and the rest of the world would never leave you alone."
Harry inhaled sharply. "Don't you think that should have been my decision? You know that I already had a lifetime of people making decisions for me."
Pepper smiles brittlely at him, " I know, sweetheart. That's why he did leave you stuff, well, stuff apart from a substantial fortune."
Harry brightened, "Really?"
Pepper stroked his cheek, "of course he did. He would smack you for thinking otherwise."
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Easter 2023
They'd spent the morning organizing an Easter egg hunt for Morgan and Clint's kids. They were lying in the sun a few meters away from all the adults, with Harry's head pillowed on Peter's stomach.
"This is nice," Harry says, eyes closed.
Peter hums and cards his hands through Harry's hair.
"With everything so peaceful I keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far the most dramatic thing in my life is trying to keep up with muggle curriculum."
Peter sits up, knowing that Harry means more than he's letting on when he mentions 'waiting for the other shoe to drop.' As he begins to move Harry sits up and turns to face him.
Peter reaches out and runs a hand down his cheek, "you doing okay?"
Harry offers a weak smile, "sometimes."
'And other times?"
Harry shrugs, "Other times it's all I can do not to send Kingsley an owl begging him to take me back to the Aurors. It makes me restless, sitting around doing nothing. "
Peter presses his forehead to Harry's, "what does Margaret say."
"Margaret says that PTSD comes with a hair trigger fight or flight response and that what I'm likely feeling is the fight instinct, " Harry sighs and puts his arms around Peter's shoulders, "she says to practice my grounding techniques and to remind myself that I'm no longer at war."
"Do you want to do one of your breathing techniques?" Peter asks
Harry shakes his head, "I'm okay right now. The tactility is pretty good at keeping me grounded."
"In that case," Peter maneuvers them so Harry's on his back and Peter is hovering above him, "want to make out?" he asks tilting his head.
Harry laughs, "sure."
Peter presses forward.
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On the anniversary of Tony's death Harry takes Peter up to the attic. He breaks his mum's no closed door policy and pulls out the resurrection stone.
He holds Peter's hand as the two figures appear in front of the.
"Hi mum, hi Dad."
"Harry James Stark, you better have a good reason to be using that stone, I won't have you wasting your life chasing dead people."
Harry tilts his head to the side, laughing at the use of an iteration of his full name," I thought you might like to meet someone."
He turns to Peter who is staring at his Dad with no small amount of awe.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies,"
"Dad," Harry admonishes.
"Harry," he mimics.
"Honestly boys, must I do everything," she rolls her eyes before smiling kindly at Peter, "Hi Peter, my name is Lily Evans Potter, I'm Harry's mother."
"Er, Hi Ms Potter."
Lily laughs, "just Lily is fine. It drives Tony man when people refer to me as Potter."
Tony mutters under his breath, "hey Peter, I'd introduce myself but I'd be pretty offended if you forgot who I was already."
"Never," Peter breathes with a sincerity that is so him it makes Harry's heart skip a beat.
Tony ducks his head. "It's good to see you kid, I'm glad you're doing okay."
"You too, Mr Stark," Peter beams, "it hasn't been the same without you."
They exchange weighted glances.
"Now," his mother interrupts, "it's my understanding that you had something to share with us."
"Oh," Harry blushes, "right, Mum, Dad, I'd like you to meet Peter Parker," he takes a breath, "my boyfriend."
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Sometimes Harry feels as if he has been a million different people. There's Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, well loved and highly anticipated. That person, he knows now, is a fabrication, but there was a time in his life where it was all he could think about.
There's the-boy-who-lived; the well loved celebrity protégé that defeated the dark lord as an infant. This title has always felt false, and has often made Harry want to escape.
There's the boy in the cupboard, who worried he might never be loved.
There's Harry Potter the triumphant, who defeated The Dark Lord at age eleven with the help of his two best friends. A persona that existed when things were interesting and thrilling, untainted by death. A persona that did not last long.
There's Harry Stark, who in another universe grew up with two genius parents, an inability to arrive to anything on time and the whole world at his fingertips.
There's Harry Stark that really did exist, if only for a short while. Harry Stark, who got a space suit for his birthday, loved his father awkwardly but sincerely, who had an abundance of not quite family that were constantly getting themselves into trouble.
There's Harry Potts, the public façade, who is both resented for benefitting from Tony Stark's fortune despite a lack of biological relation and adored for his pretty face and his relationship with his half-sister.
Then there's Harry. Just Harry. The only constant part of him that has been through it all. Whose life has been clouded by grief and missed opportunity. Who finally, after seventeen years of fighting is more than happy to hang up his weapons, and spend some time figuring it all out.