Marvelous Return

Wisdom of the… Well, Tony.

Tony was silent, which amusedly seemed to stress out Natasha more than anything she ever witnessed him doing. He was observing. He had to go back to Malibu for a week as Pepper threatened to come to New York if he didn’t come back to work. He figured out what was wrong with the arc concept R&D was working on in the first hour, and spent the rest of the week creating two new phones and a miniature Iron Man “For the kids, Pepper, for Christmas,” he told her when she simply raised her eyebrow at him, and escorting her to a ball. Once his work was done, Tony told her he was moving to New York early, it was closer to most of his SI partners, Fury couldn’t fly to Malibu every time he needed a consult and he planned on testing the Tower’s layout to make sure what he designed was actually livable, not just fancy. 

He promised to stay in contact daily and to keep working. JARVIS promised Tony would eat, sleep, and drink water regularly. Pepper let him go. It wasn’t as if she needed him on the West Coast, and they were planning on moving to New York in a few months anyway. She should have known Tony would change the schedule on her, he always did, she simply predicted he would whine about moving and delay it. 

This was why, after a week away from everyone, Tony was sitting in his favorite armchair, observing everyone. 

Remus looked relaxed and carefree teaching JARVIS, Bill, Charlie, and Percy about magical beasts, animating the images in the books they had on hand for JARVIS to scan. Clint was trying to catch the twins off guard as they followed Natasha around the tower, listening attentively as she showed them the best hiding spots. Apparently, she’d decided they would become the best spies SHIELD ever had, their joke shop would be their cover, she was convinced they were naturals, though she would train them through games and prank wars, not guns and combat training as she was. Natasha smirked, and Phil scowled when later on the day she announced her super spies plan Fury called to announce an unprecedented number of resignations that day. Tony kept it to himself but decided to trust his gut and tagged them all as potential HYDRA agents. 

Phil and Sirius were sitting on the couch, going over papers, each with one of the little ones in his arms, the very picture of domestication. Tony briefly wondered where Arthur was when the man walked into the room to his sons’ enthusiastic cheers. He sure wouldn’t have welcomed his father this way when he was that age, or any age really. The only missing member of their little team was Severus. 

“He is down in the labs,” Clint said from where he suddenly appeared beside him. Tony raised an eyebrow, “he said something about Pepper-up potion and disappeared hours ago, Sirius thinks he is planning on giving it to Steve.” 

“Why would he do that,” Tony asked surprised. They agreed before he left that they would leave Cap alone.  He was in no danger and would wake up on his own soon, so there was no need to take such a risk. 

“He says it’s for Harry, but I think he’s doing it for Sirius,” Clint said with a shrug. 

“What happened,” Tony asked as he looked back to Sirius, realizing suddenly how tightly he was holding Harry. 

“Nothing happened,” Clint assured him, though Tony gave him a doubtful look. Clint dragged him to the kitchen and explained. “Look, nothing happened, but I think, we think, the daily visits to Cap’s sleeping body is scaring Sirius. Harry knows exactly when the time comes to go there and Sirius better not be late, he was in the bathroom that one time and ended up with his pants down in Cap’s secure room because Harry popped them there at 3 on the dot.”

Tony wanted to laugh, but he knew Clint would just glare at him. 

“I don’t see why that scares him,” Tony told him. 

“The theory, as childish as it may sound, is that he’s scared Harry likes Cap better,” Clint said. 

Tony sighed and went back to the main room. He knew Clint was close behind. He grabbed Harry from Sirius’ arms kissed his forehead when he made kissing sounds patting his little hands on Tony’s cheeks, then handed him over to Clint. As Sirius was about to protest, Tony silenced him. 

“Come with me,” Tony told him, and all but dragged Sirius out of the room and into the lab, ordering JARVIS to go into a complete blackout. 

“Tony,” Sirius started with a seductive smirk, that was clearly fake. 

“Keep it for Agent, will you,” Tony told him and watched as Sirius blushed. “Harry isn’t going to abandon you for Cap, or whatever crap you managed to come up with.”

“You were gone for a week, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius protested. 

“Yes, I do,” Tony snapped at him. “Look my parents were absent at best, while my mother at least tried to pay attention to me, there was always the next party, the next boarding school I needed to go to, or the fact that she didn’t understand half of what I was saying standing in the way. I only recently found a message from my father saying he was confident I’ll be able to succeed him. I’ve had surrogate parents all my life, first, it was Jarvis, the original one, he was my father’s butler, best friend, sometimes conscience, he was feeding me, making sure I took a shower daily, driving me to school in the morning,” Tony sat down with a sigh. “It took me a long time to realize that was a parent’s job as I went to school with older children who all came from wealthy families with nannies and butlers doing the same for them.” 

When Tony saw Sirius was about to speak he shook his head and went on. 

“Trust me, to Harry, you’re his daddy. You’re taking care of him now, you took care of him when his parents were alive, and in the future. Even with his memories as confusing as they could be, that’s how he sees you, that’s not going to change.”

“That’s not how he saw me in the future, he just wanted out of the Dursleys, he barely knew me before I died,” Sirius told him angrily. 

“If you really believe that, then you need to read the books again,” Tony told him. “Harry agreed to live with you because he knew you loved him.” 

“Of course, I love him!” Sirius snapped, started to pace. “But he barely knew me!”

“You know what I kept from that book?” Tony asked him calmly. 

Sirius took some time to think it through but couldn’t choose one event over another, the year was a mess but it had less dangerous moments than the others. 

“What is it,” Sirius asked. 

“You came to him,” Tony said simply. 

“What,” Sirius asked surprised and looking utterly lost. 

“When you escaped, you didn’t go after Pettigrew, you knew where he would be, with the Weasleys, everybody in your little community seems to know where they live,” Tony commented, “instead in the week between your escape and Harry fleeing from the Dursleys you made your way to Private Drive to see him. Sure it freaked him out all year long. But trust me, as soon as everything was explained the only thing on Harry’s mind was that you came to him. Remember before he knew about Hogwarts, he dreamed of a long lost family member coming to save him, and that’s exactly what you did. He had to save you in the end, but you came. That’s just as important.” 

“I…” Sirius was close to tears and Tony decided to go on. He was all for helping him understand Harry, but he was uncomfortable enough with the topic - no need to add tears to the mix. 

“Steve Rogers and Harry share a similar history,” Tony kept going, “I can guarantee from what the twins wrote in the journal that if Harry charged into battles that could drain his core, Cap was right by his side. Except, Cap isn’t an all-powerful wizard. He probably died. And I’d bet he died trying to protect Harry. Someone did that for me once,” Tony said, his hand automatically going to the Arc Reactor, “when I learned the city he came from was under attack I flew there in the experimental version of the Iron Man suit and destroyed every last one of them.” 

Tony sighed heavily, he wanted a drink, but he knew with the kids around, it was a bad idea, he didn’t want to become his parents. Suddenly he had a Sirius shape limb attached to himself, in a tight hug. 

“I am not saying I’ll be reasonable about it myself, in fact I know I won’t be. But I can recognize the survivor’s guilt in Harry. If we could go back in time and save myself from the cave, even knowing what I do about his life and all the good I’ll hopefully do as Iron Man, I’ll sacrifice myself for that man,” Tony explained, trying in vain to get Sirius to release him. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot since you all stumbled in my life.” 

“You think Harry will do the same,” Sirius affirmed. 

“I think Harry is too little to understand what he feels,” Tony corrected, “Hugging Cap daily for an hour is his way to say thank you, to make sure Cap knows he isn’t alone, but also to assure himself the man is really there and alive. He doesn’t react this way with any of us because we are around, he had you call me daily while I was away, it’s the same. Just a tad more physical.” 

Tony looked down at Sirius still hugging him, “I guess he learned that from you.” 

“What,” Sirius asked and then released Tony. “Oh, sorry.” 

“That’s okay,” Tony told him with a true smile, shy and small, but still real. “Harry is still a baby, we can teach him differently.”

“How do we keep him from doing it with every person he was attached to in the future,” Sirius wondered aloud. 

“I’d say we save them, but I feel like JARVIS would call me out on it,” Tony told him. 

You are growing up, Sir, it’s a pleasure to witness such a pivotal point in your life. I do wonder how long it will last.

“I’ve got to tell you,” Sirius said between bouts of laughter, “I love him.” 

“Any suggestions, smartass,” Tony inquired. 

None at the moment, but I will do my best to keep myself informed on all psychological research on the matter in the hopes to keep Master Harry from derivative behavior as he grows up. 

“Thanks, JARVIS,” Sirius told him. 

Of course, Lord Black. 

“I still can’t believe Petunia told him it was his fault his parents died,” Sirius growled. 

“Dumbledore too,” Tony added. 

“I can’t do anything about Dumbledore yet,” Sirius said. “If we attack him now, he will push for my arrest and send me to Azkaban without a trial, or worse if he finds out I have Harry, Remus and I will end up very dead, in what will look like the Order defending itself against our attack. If we lay low for a year, he will get confident, think that even if Peter gets caught I’ll never get custody of Harry because I abandoned him. Harry is vital to his plans, no matter what we take away from him, as long as he believes Harry is on his side, he will think he can fix everything. Even without official guardianship, many students and ex-student see him as a caring Grandfather because that’s what he masquerades himself as. He would call Harry to his office at the end of the first week, ask how he was adjusting to Hogwarts and his new life, making sure to tell him he can trust him and that if any Slytherin was to attack him because of his past with Voldermort, he needed to report them. Managing to manipulate him into trusting him, and distrusting the Slytherins in one move. Of course, he would serve tea full of potions too.” 

“I thought Gryffindors jumped headfirst? I was kind of digging the fact that my suit was Gryffindor colors,” Tony told him with a grin, as Sirius blushed at his outburst. 

“Phil forced me to sit down with Severus and talk things through,” Sirius said with a pout. 

“Did he threaten to taser you and watch Super Nanny as you drooled on the floor,” Tony asked. 

“Yes.” 

“He did it to me too,” Tony explained. “So, we can destroy the Dursleys, right?” 

“Nothing too obvious that would force Dumbledore to look into it, so they basically need to stay where they are, and not murder anyone, otherwise yes,” Sirius told him. 

“Great, I already bought Grunnings, I was waiting for the okay to fire the fat blob,” Tony informed him. 

“Nothing that could injure Dudley, okay,” Sirius asked worriedly. 

“Who do you take me for?” Tony said but waved off the answer. “I’ll make sure the only job he can find is with a company I own where he will be kept at the lowest of the lower post. He will earn enough to feed his family, keep his house, own a simple car, and I will make sure Dudley goes on vacation, they have a summer camp in England, right? And is sent to a good school when the time comes.”

“You’re a good man, Tony,” Sirius told him with yet another hug. 

“You’ve been watching the news again, haven’t  you?” Tony asked suspiciously. 

Lately, every time the news would say something bad about Tony someone would try to cheer him up. 

He was late to a charity thing earlier in the week, and the gossip mongers were trying to find proof he was either drunk or with a woman. During the drive back to the mansion JARVIS played a video of the kids telling him they missed him and they knew he was working hard so he could come back home where they were waiting for him. Before he left, as Pepper was telling him it was irresponsible to just disappear as he did, he ended up at the bottom of a dogpile, being hugged by Sirius, Arthur, the kids and Remus who was telling him he was part of the pack now and that was a big responsibility. 

Let’s be real, neither spies or Severus joined the pile, but the Pack thing had everyone nodding. Apparently, Remus’ pheromone converted everyone. He needed to contact Nathan, Remus’ wolf had powers like he never saw before. 

“We thought we should visit the school before Steve wakes up,” Sirius interrupted Tony’s reflexion. “It will be busy trying to get Steve on board with everything, and most of the children should be at school already. While none of us are used to children starting their education so young, Arthur doesn’t want to let them stay behind when he could just enroll them now.”

“And you want to see if they have someone who can help with Harry,” Tony said after Sirius stayed silent. 

“Severus thinks the reason Harry had so much trouble with Portkeys and Floo-travels in the future was his power level,” Sirius admitted. “Both have runes meant for the power of the traveler to fuel them. It is why No-Majs have to travel with a wizard. It’s meant to draw power from average wizards. Clint and Phil were listening and they compared it to a washing machine on spin cycle. The usual travelers go through a Delicate spinning, but Harry’s power level means he goes through a centrifuge spin, or close to it. Severus admitted he isn’t eager to experience Wizarding Travels now that his own powers are unbound. But he says it explains why Dumbledore prefers to apparate. Apparition is a spell you cast on yourself, as for every spell, you can control the amount of power you use.” 

“Maybe there is a rune to counter the existing one,” Tony said humming to himself. “We could create a new traveling way for powerful wizards and creatures... Yes, a portal of some sort you’d have to power yourself…” 

And just like that, with JARVIS taking notes on the side, Tony was lost to the world, until two hours later when Bill came to drag him out of the lab for lunch.