Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“I’m too young to be a grandpa.”

Harry, who was standing in front of him, stiffened, his expression darkening for a second, before the exhaustion won out again. 

Tony wanted to kick himself. Really? That was the first thing he told the possibly kidnapped teenager? Who apparently had a kid of his own? Which would actually make sense if it was a cult - would it?

It would also make sense why Harry had left the country - if something was with the mother. Or if the cult had found him out and he had to get back to protect his kid.                                  

Before he could do anything - and he had no clue what he would have done because he was so far out of his depth he didn’t even know what he could even say to him. And his last attempt had not only sucked, it had been borderline offensive- Harry interrupted him. 

“Just come in.” It was said on an exhale, all of his obviously considerable amount of exhaustion pressed into those three words.

The slim teenager turned, either trusting them to not attack or just not caring any longer. He walked inside the home, both arms wrapped securely around the baby in his arms.

Glancing back, Tony met Steve’s bright blue eyes. There was a smile on the other man’s expression, almost belying the crease of worry on his forehead. Then he nodded. 

Looking back towards the open door, Tony followed Harry into what was obviously the living room. There were pictures everywhere, showing a woman with dark locks and a rather unassuming man for at least thirty years. There were also pictures of a girl that must have been their daughter who had grown up to be a young woman with pink bubblegum hair.

And the pictures moved. Or more precisely, the people in the pictures moved. Waving happily to the outside world as if it were mini-screens showing video clips.

Breathing in, Tony, very hard, ignored every and all implications for the world, physics and his own sanity and turned his gaze back to the kid.

Harry was looking at him, his green eyes guarded. 

“Do you want tea?”

“No, thank you.” Steve said, his voice quiet and calm. As if they weren't standing in a room with fucking moving photographs. And yes, one of the worst things of all was that he sounded like someone from the late 19 hundreds. Sometimes Tony hated his brain and how it worked. “We weren’t introduced yesterday, I’m Steve Rogers.”

“Harry Potter.” Adjusting the baby in his arms, Harry glanced down at it before meeting Tony’s eyes again. “This is Teddy.”

“He looks like you.” 

Tony glanced first at Steve, whose voice had been even softer if that was even possible, before seeing the pained expression on Harry’s face. 

“I’ll get us some tea.” Without another word, he left the room.

“I didn’t-” Steve started but Tony just shook his head sitting down heavily on the couch. 

Harry was clearly exhausted, most likely pushed far past his limits and probably just done with everything. And considering all that he was almost too polite. 

He had been raised British, though.

A troubled look on his face, Steve sat down right beside Tony and although the couch wasn’t actually small, it certainly felt like it to Tony now. 

“What do you think of this?” Tony nodded towards the room, his voice barely even a whisper, trusting that the enhanced hearing of Steve would pick up on it anyway.

The sharp blue eyes wandered around the room before landing back on Tony.

“There are no pictures of him or the kid.” He stated bluntly, either not realizing that moving paper-pictures in frames weren't normal or ignoring it as Tony had decided to ignore it. He was right, of course. Aside from that fact the house looked almost boring. There was nothing out of the ordinary, aside from the missing TV.

“Jay?”

“Nothing suspicious I can detect, Sir.”

Nodding, he looked back at Steve, who also wore an earpiece. 

He had prepared himself for almost anything from an open firefight to using his immense skills in subterfuge, persuasion and good old blackmail. It had never even occurred to him that it might not end in an altercation. 

Or that Harry could look worse without even being injured.

Or that he might have a kid of his own which he clearly loved if the way he all but hid the baby behind his arms was any indication.

Quiet footsteps let both of them look back to the door, Steve moving in his seat, pressing his knee to Tony’s. Possibly to calm him down. 

That did not calm him down. At all.

Walking back into the room, Harry hadn’t brought tea, but was feeding the baby a bottle of milk, a kitchen towel over his shoulder.

Sitting down across from them on an armchair, he situated himself and Teddy before looking back up again. His green eyes were set and calm. The exhaustion almost hidden behind his calm mask.

He had come to a conclusion. And he was going to fight them on it.

“Teddy isn’t mine. I’m his godfather. I flew back to England because his grandmother, who is- was raising him, was attacked.” Worse than what he was saying was his detached voice that Tony knew all too well. 

“She died a couple of hours ago. I already filed for adoption.” At that, he looked Tony directly in the eye, not flinching. Almost provokingly, as if he thought Tony would tell him he shouldn’t or couldn’t do that.

Or maybe it was more of a dare. Daring Tony to explain himself, why he hadn’t been able to do that for Harry.

Hell, the kid was almost two years younger than Tony had been when Harry was born and was clearly in a worse position than he had been - and most likely it wasn’t self-inflicted.

The teen was already a better person than Tony would ever be.

“Do you need help with that?” He had no idea how the adoption process worked (even if he might want to look into that. Was it adopting if the kid was your blood?) but he was able to hire the best lawyers and if worse came to worst he would ask Pepper to handle it - who he hadn’t told about Harry yet.

...that could be a problem. As it might become a problem that he left the continent without telling anyone. 

He might have to send a mountain of shoes and a picture of Harry (non-moving!) with the baby in his arms to Pepper before he flew back. 

Harry blinked once, before glancing down towards the baby… Teddy in his arms. He moved his arm a little without dislodging the infant from the bottle, rubbing his thumb over his small cheek. When he looked up again, his eyes were a little more guarded but also not as confrontational. 

“Thanks. A friend of mine is taking care of it.”

That actually didn’t inspire much confidence in Tony, even if Harry’s whole demeanor spoke of trust. That wouldn’t mean much though if he was a part of a cult.

“Hermione Granger?”

At that, Harry froze, all the light going out in his eyes and even though he was still feeding a baby in his arms, Tony felt a chill wander down his spine. There was no doubt in his mind that Harry would fight if he had too. He had no doubt in his mind that he could do damage. And if he was even a little bit like Tony, he wouldn’t give up.

Worse still, he knew that that kind of look was a sure sign of someone who had been fighting for their life. Who had paid for every single lesson with blood and sweat and tears. Of someone who had learned to trust only themselves and a very select few people because they had been betrayed and had paid for those mistakes. 

“How do you know that name?” The teenager's voice was quiet and calm, probably to not startle the baby in his arms. Although he obviously didn’t need to raise his voice to command a room. Or in this case the Tony Stark™ and Captain fucking America.

“She booked your flight.” Leaning forward and putting his arms on his knees, Tony met the teenager’s eyes head on. If he would be in the kid’s shoes he would want the truth. All of it. Without any bullshit.

“She also vanished the same summer as you did.”

Watching the kid in front of him - his kid - freezing up, his eyes narrowing dangerously, Tony forced all the fear and fury down, keeping his calm mask. He couldn’t change what had happened but he could make sure Harry, and Teddy too, were taken care of. He could make sure they were safe. That they wouldn’t be alone.

And he could find whoever had hurt them and make them pay.

“A lot of kids vanish each year on the first of September.”

Slumping down just a little, Harry nodded, his gaze back on Teddy, who had finished with his bottle. Without ceremony, he put the bottle down and then placed the baby to his shoulder, gently patting his back until he burped. 

Every movement seemed deliberate. The way he took the towel from his shoulder and cleaned the chin of the baby up, the way he carefully moved him in his arms, until Teddy rested against his chest again.

Seemingly unconcerned with the whole situation, even if the exhaustion clung to him like a second skin.

“What happened to you?”

Biting down on his tongue, Tony wasn’t sure whether to glare at Steve for asking that question as he knew how well he would have reacted to it or to thank him because he wouldn’t have been able to ask that. And he wanted to know. He needed to know.

“What didn’t?” Harry asked back, his voice just a shadow of the confident men Tony had met yesterday. 

When he looked back up again, Tony felt something in his chest shatter. 

He knew that expression. Had seen it in the mirror more often when he cared to admit. Even if he had gotten better in the last couple of years, he remembered that feeling of overwhelming exhaustion, of bone deep tiredness. Of knowing you couldn’t keep fighting. You couldn’t win. 

You also couldn’t give in. There was almost nothing left of you aside from the stubbornness and the last shards of your will that were still ripping at your insides. That wouldn’t let you give up because holding on was literally the last thing that you had.

The silence was long and heavy until Harry inhaled, slowly.

“I grew up at my aunt’s. We weren’t exactly close. Turns out my pa- James and Lily had been magical. Long story short, my aunt and uncle thought they could suppress my magic. Didn’t work.” 

Holding back the growl that was steadily building in his throat got harder and harder. Even if he hadn’t already hacked into the- his kid’s past, listening to this, to his detached voice, he would have known something was fundamentally wrong.

And that didn’t even take the whole magic shit into account and whatever that was supposed to mean.

“On my eleventh birthday I was… found.” The slight hesitation in that sentence made the hairs on the back of Tony’s neck stand up straight.

“I was informed about my magic and told that I would attend… Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry.”

There was no excitement in his voice, even if that would have taken him away from his abusive relatives. It just confirmed what Tony had feared all along: wherever he had been, it had been even worse than where he had been.

“It was the school my- Lily and James went to. I was there until last year.”

“Full year?” 

“No. I had to return to the Dursleys every summer. At least for a few weeks.”

Biting back another curse, Tony tried to breathe. Whoever had taken Harry had forced him to go back to his abusive relatives? Why? And if they really were a cult, why expose him to influences from the outside?

Although that could actually be the answer: Harry had been abused by his relatives, possibly learning that the alternative to the magic cult was even worse than whatever had happened to him in that supposed school.

“Where were you last year?” Steve asked, his voice a lot warmer than Tony’s had been.

Harry looked at the Supersoldier before glancing back down to the baby in his arms. For a moment Tony was sure he would keep his eyes trained on Teddy, but of course, Harry wouldn’t take an out like that. 

Meeting Tony’s stare, he almost unnoticeably squared his shoulders. As if readying himself for a fight. 

Whatever he was about to say, Tony had to react understanding or at least as if it wasn’t a big deal. 

“There was an evil wizard, years ago. He killed a lot of people, James and Lily included. He was believed to be dead. He wasn’t and came back. Last year-” he moved a little on his seat, clearly uncomfortable - and possibly lying - “he overtook our government and forced me and a lot of other people on his hit list into hiding. There was a battle, two days before the battle of New York. We won. But not everyone survived.” His arms around Teddy tightened and Tony wanted nothing more than to throw up.

There was no doubt in his mind that Harry believed all of this. It would actually explain the way he moved: like a soldier returning from the battle field. Like someone standing his ground even if he had no ground to stand on. Probably with PTSD and a heavy portion of survivor’s guilt. 

At fucking eighteen years old.

“I’m sorry.”

Harry’s eyes flickered over to Steve, giving Tony a moment to close his own and regret. Regret that he hadn’t been there for Harry. That he hadn’t known. That he hadn’t been able to protect him from everything.

“You believe me?” 

Opening his eyes again, he saw the green gaze jump between him and Cap.

“Yes, we believe you, Harry.” There was Steve’s earnestness again. “I can’t say I know a lot about magic or what you mean by that but-” Before he could finish the sentence, Harry moved. One arm still held Teddy close and secure, while the other had produced a long thin stick.

A wand , Tony’s mind supplied, although he was definitely not going to acknowledge that thought.

Seemingly without any hesitancy, Harry moved the stick through the air producing a silver light that formed into a stag that not only took a step forward to Harry, it also turned to look at Tony.

There were about six plausible ways to explain that this, in fact, was a light show. It wouldn’t even be difficult to install the needed technology in the home. Hell, Tony used similar projections to work with. 

The shiver running down his spine didn’t seem to give a shit about all the plausible explanations. 

“I have visitors.” Harry told the stag without any infliction. “I’m explaining the bare bones of the situation. Do not attack when you come here.”

At his voice, the silver stag turned towards Harry, lowering his head just a bit, before walking over to the wall and vanishing.

“Do not attack?” Steve asked, his voice almost neutral.

“My friends can be rather protective.”

Thank fuck. This was the first time Harry’s voice held any kind of warmth. That his eyes softened. Aside from looking at his soon to be son.

“I think you wanted to see some more magic, didn’t you?” He made a distinctive movement with the wand - with the stick. Because it had to be a stick and even if that would mean probably very costly bills from a psychologist, it was better than the alternative. And that didn’t even include the horrible implications for physics and logic in and of itself. 

Tensing even further, Tony almost missed the coffee table vanishing into thin air, before returning just a moment later.

Oh, holy physics, what had they done to you? (Not that the vanished table couldn’t have been a trick of the light. Because it could have been.)

Harry didn’t stop the movement though, flicking it with a familiar ease. The coffee table and all of the items on it, coasters, a book and a vase with some white carnations, floated separately into the air, hovering seemingly weightlessly over the carpet that showed the prints where it had stood just seconds ago.

Staring at it and trying to find some kind of wirework he was almost certain wasn’t there, Steve beside him reached up and tapped against one of the coasters that floated freely through the room.

“You don’t need incantations?” Steve asked, obviously trying to keep any kind of conversations going while Tony, the king of conversations, who was famously proud of being able to out-talk any- and everyone was still wordlessly gaping at something that was definitely less impressive than an attempted Alien invasion. 

Then again, it wasn’t every day that you found out your former child soldier son, who was about to adopt a war orphan was also magic.

Thank fuck for that.

“Not anymore.” There was something close to a smirk dancing over his lips before the exhaustion won out again.

What the hell was Tony supposed to do? The tesseract had been bad enough but that had been one artefact. If there was a whole fucking subcultur - or cult, because all of that still sounded worryingly like a cult - out there, what the hell could he do? Would his technology even work against magic? If this evil magician had been able to overthrow their government - something he had a shit ton of questions about - and Harry had been forced to go into hiding, were there still people out to get him?

How the fuck would he be able to protect Harry? And Teddy, because it was obvious enough that they were a two for one deal. Which wasn’t the problem, of course not, but apparently the baby’s grandmother had been attacked, most likely by people with magic, so what would he be able to do to keep them safe?

Lowering his wand, Harry made another small flick with it and the table and all the other flying objects lowered back to earth. 

As if they hadn’t just disregarded everything Tony stood for.

“Magic is real.” 

Blinking towards Steve, Tony wasn’t sure what his tone meant, there was wonder in it, but also worry and even a little bit of dread. It was also an incredibly stupid and obvious observation. Any other day he would have teased the hell out of Steve for that. Right now he was almost impressed that the Supersoldier was still talking while he was still uselessly sitting there and panicking.

“Yeah. Was a shock for me too.” The teenager almost smiled at Cap.

“And no one knows about it?”

“Few do. Like the parents of the kids that go to Hogwarts. They are not being kidnapped. Most just decide to stay in the wizarding community.” Moving the baby a little higher on his chest, Harry leaned back in the arm chair, either because he finally gave in to his exhaustion, because it would be more comfortable for the sleeping baby or both. 

It was probably both. 

“The statue of secrecy is a real thing, meaning that wizards and witches aren’t allowed to tell Muggles, the non-magical people, that magic is real.”

There were about a hundred things that came to mind why that was a good idea. And also why it was a horrible idea. But judging by the results it seemed to work. Disregarding the whole an evil wizard got loose and decided to hunt down his kid and the there was an Alien Invasion and the Magical Folk didn’t seem to be inclined to help parts of the story. 

Aside from that it seemed almost logical.

“Then why are you telling us now? Aren’t you putting yourself in danger?” Almost groaning at his own hard voice, Tony tried to soften his words by looking compassionate. Although that had never been his strong suit.

Evidently, nothing of this was.

“As you’re… we are allowed to tell… It’s not going to be a problem.” Harry finally settled on, and he definitely didn’t seem worried.

Not that that had to mean anything. Tony could look relaxed while slowly dying on the inside or with a loaded gun pressed to his temple. 

“That-”

There was a loud bang, sounding a little like a backfiring car, startling Teddy, who started crying, while Steve and Tony were already on their feet, Tony raising his gauntlets.

“Harry!”

“I’m here, Mione. Everything is fine.” Said teen added, looking at Tony and Steve, his body language not worried in the slightest but that wasn’t as much a reassurance for Tony as Harry might have hoped for because of the reasons explained above and especially since his focus was almost fully on the now crying baby in his arms.

“You said-” A young woman, probably around the same age as Harry, stopped dead in her movements when she saw Tony and Steve in the living room. Right beside her was another teenager with red hair. Both of them held wands in their hands, their postures ready to defend. 

Or at least Tony hoped so. 

“Harry?” The redhead asked, his voice calm but with enough infliction to make sure everyone knew it wouldn’t take more than a word for him to escalate the situation. Which was equally sweet and concerning. 

“We’re just talking.” He glanced at the two teenagers, his expression calm and insistent, before focussing back on Teddy, who was still crying, even if softer.

“Do you want to lay him down in his crib?” The girl asked, her eyes focussed on Tony, a calculating glint in her brown eyes, which was probably the reason she didn’t see the way Harry stiffened.

“No.” Rearranging the small body on him, he put his mouth right beside the small head, whispering calmingly to the baby. 

Surprisingly, it worked. Only moments later Teddy quieted and possibly fell back asleep.

“You’re really good with him.” 

Tony did not have enough data to know that, but the fondness in Steve’s voice was enough to make him believe it. And even if he couldn’t assess the quality of the care, he saw the tenderness, the obvious love and worry Harry had for the small person in his arms. 

“Yeah, no one can calm Teddy like Harry.” The redhead said walking farther into the room and dragging the other armchair closer to Harry’s, seemingly undisturbed by the whole situation.

“Why are you here?” 

“Mione.”

Ignoring Harry, the girl, Hermione Jean Granger, took a step closer to Tony and Steve, still standing in front of the couch, one of her eyebrows raised, her wandhand lowered, but she hadn’t let go of it.

Tony was not known to easily cave in and he definitely wouldn’t here, no matter that the unassuming stick was basically a loaded gun. The crucial difference in all of this was that he saw the worry in her eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that this young woman would protect Harry. That her worry was her only motivation and that he could understand- even if he seldom acknowledged it. 

“We were supposed to have brunch. He didn’t show up, so I got worried.” Looking straight into her eyes, Tony didn’t have to focus to be calm. This was a kid in front of him, trying to protect someone she cared for.

“Why?”

“Mione, stop.”

Tony glanced at Harry, who was glaring at his (girl?) friend, before looking back in her hard eyes.

“Quite frankly, after learning the little Harry told us and what I could dig up, I was sure something fishy was going on. Then I learned that someone, who had vanished the same summer as he had, bought him a plane ticket. Considering the fact that neither of you have any legal documentation after the summer of 2005 and I didn’t find anything on him” he nodded towards the redhead ”even after running his face in all databases, I was concerned.” 

Miss Granger kept glaring at him for a moment longer, before lowering her wand to the ground. “What were your theories?”

“Cult.”

She and Harry huffed a laugh while the fire-head frowned.

“We’re not a cult.”

“Close enough.” Miss Granger relaxed some. “I’m guessing you hacked Harry’s phone to find out where to find him?”

“It’s turned off.”

Looking  towards Harry, the young woman appeared to be almost embarrassed for him. “He is the tech genius of this century, Harry, do you really believe a turned off phone can stop him?”

“Shouldn’t it stop him?” The redhead asked, his gaze on Miss Granger as if she held all the answers.

“Not really.” Sitting down again (and dragging Steve with himself), Tony leaned back while trying to not sound too superior. “There are a lot of ways to get your location if Harry wouldn’t have one of my special Stark phones, meaning that no one can find him - aside from myself, of course.” And Jarvis, but who was splitting hairs here?

“How does that even work?” The redhead asked, looking skeptical.

“Not now, Ron.” Miss Granger cut in before Tony could even answer, her eyes back on Harry. “Anything we need to know?”

“I told them the… short version. What about the adoption?” 

More even than the admittance that what he had told them was probably less than the key data they needed to have even a clue what had happened to him, it was Harry’s insistence when he asked Miss Granger about the adoption that solidified Tony’s suspicion. 

Harry hadn’t lied. But he hadn’t told them anything important either. Or at least he believed it was of no real importance. Which also meant that everything else was even worse. Probably far worse. 

Fuck.

Neither of the two other teens said anything. Most likely knowing exactly what that meant. Hell, the way they all seemed to be able to read each other, he wouldn’t be surprised to find out they regarded each other as family. Like he, Rhodey and Pepper did.

“The adoption should be through tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Tony asked, incredulously. He had no clue about adoptions but he damn well knew the process could take months or even years.

“I’m sure you know that better than us, Mr. Stark, but friends in the right places and money can make bureaucratic processes work a lot faster.”

“Mione!”

Raising his eyebrow at the teen, Tony couldn’t help himself. He smiled. 

“And you have that, Miss Granger?”

“We do.” Taking a step closer to Steve and him, her eyes became hard as diamonds. “And we’re not going to hesitate to-”

“That’s enough!”

All eyes flashed to Harry, who had jumped up from his arm chair, Teddy still safe in his arms and barely jostled. As his words had been a quiet hiss, the baby was still sleeping. Even if Tony didn’t know how he could sleep while his pillow was seething.

Glaring at each other, neither teenager seemed to be willing to beg down but as the otherwise nameless Ron didn’t even bat an eye, it was probably no grounds for worry - even if Tony’s hair were standing up as if a lightning storm was about to wreak havoc. 

“I’m Ron Weasley by the way. And you didn’t find me because I’m a pureblood wizard.” He said conversationally to both of them.

“Pureblood?” Steve asked back, his eyes flickering over to the still glaring teenagers, before settling back on Mr. Weasley, as if he wanted to save the situation.

“My whole family are wizards and witches. Mione is a Muggleborn meaning that she is the first in her family that has magic. Harry is mixed because his- his mother was a witch.” Blinking, he looked at Harry, something on his lips that he didn’t say. He met Miss Granger’s eyes, who shook her head hard, obviously breaking the spell.

“I think it would be a good idea, if you took Teddy with you, Harry.” 

“Of course, I-”

“To America.”

The silence that followed was all encompassing. 

“Not that I wouldn’t love to take you both with us back to the States and to get to know you just because, but I feel there is also a different reason for Miss Granger’s suggestion.” 

Harry, once again, didn’t hide but met his eyes head on, an intensity in his gaze that was almost startling. And far too familiar for Tony.

“Who attacked Teddy’s grandmother?”

Now, everyone’s eyes were on Harry. The other two teenagers clearly waiting for his decision on what to tell and what to keep quiet. Tony (and probably Steve as well) waiting for all of their reactions. Waiting to learn more because all he got here were more and more questions. 

And suspicions. A shit ton of them. Like the fact that the other two kids looked marginally better than Harry, even if he could clearly read the battle readiness in their postures. And the experiences marking their eyes. But they did look better. 

Or the fact that Teddy looked suspiciously like Harry. 

Or the fact that none of them even tried to hide that they were hiding things. As if that was just a normality to them.

Or that they clearly accepted Harry as their leader. And that was a line of thought Tony didn’t even want to acknowledge crossing his mind at all. 

“Getting rid of the… evil wizard created a power vacuum.”

The silence that lingered after those careful words was almost comical if you disregarded the heaviness in the teenagers’ eyes.

“Did you get an anti-interrogation training? I swear it would be easier to get some top secret information out of Cap here before you give a straight answer.” Patting the super soldier condescendingly on his knee would hopefully take some of the sting out of Tony’s words.

Instead of an annoyed frown, Harry actually smiled. “Nope, just raw talent, I guess.”

“Yeah, I know that kinda talent.” Steve murmured, loud enough for all to hear. Tony didn’t even have to turn his head to know he would be glaring at him, probably remembering one of the many discussions Tony had had with Fury in which he hadn’t given one straight answer. Just because.

“And you stand in awe of it.” He smirked back at Steve, momentarily losing his train of thought when instead of the glare he found Steve smiling almost softly at him. Which he probably did to calm Harry.

“I do.” Steve blinked, looking back at the teenagers as if just remembering they were there - which was impressive. Tony had forgotten where they were entirely - at least for a heartbeat in which his overeager mind had played tricks on him. 

“I’ve never seen anyone say so little with so many words.”

“Harry is brutally honest but there is no way in hell that he tells you something he doesn’t want to tell you.” Mr. Weasley said, a smile on his face as he looked at the dark haired teenager that reminded Tony a lot of the smiles Rhodey would send him. Kind of indulgent, definitely teasing but with a thick underlayer of brotherly love. 

“He will tell you that you’re wrong though. Explicitly.”

“Look who's talking.” Glancing at the young woman, Harry smiled. It was a small and fleeting one but real nonetheless and made him appear even younger. And even more tired.

There was no doubt about it. This would kill Tony. But before it did, he would do anything to help and protect him. Them. Harry and Teddy. No matter whose kid the baby was by blood it was glaringly obvious he was Harry’s either way.

“I never told-”

“Oh please, Mione, you said-”

“Don’t let them fool you, they are bloody proud of telling any and all officials to go fuck themselves.”

“Ronald!”

“He is right, Mione and you know it.” Harry smiled, tiredly, before pressing a kiss to the sleeping baby’s head, seemingly unconsciously.

The innocence of that action felt almost like a blow to Tony’s already damaged chest. 

“I’m glad to know the next generation keeps that honoured tradition.” Leaning forward, he tried to breathe calmly. To ignore the maelstrom of emotions trying to rip him apart.

“Let’s get back to the part where you, Miss Granger, want Harry and Teddy to stay in New York to keep them safe.”

Her clever eyes pierced his own almost as efficiently as Harry’s did. Her expression more searching, almost desperately so. 

Still, she didn’t say a word.

“What hoops do I have to jump through for the adoption?”

Biting back his first reaction, Tony had to admit he was almost impressed by Harry blatantly ignoring all the questions and carrying on with his own conversation. Was this how others felt while talking to Tony when he wasn’t in a mood to answer their questions? Because if that was the case it was surprising that he didn’t get shot at more often.

Miss Granger, obviously relieved with the changed topic, turned back to the teenager with the baby in his arms and an expression an eighteen year old shouldn’t be able to wear and began to explain their next steps.

The process was fairly easy, even if Tony did see the winces all around. 

That the process was as easy as she explained it to be was either a lie, they really had very close friends in very high places and enough money to grease the whole damn machinery, their government was basically in ruins and they knew the right people to make it happen regardless or it really was a cult with magic and they would, in fact, kidnap an infant. (In which case it was good that he had damn good lawyers.)

Either way the whole thing was suspicious as hell. Even more so when Harry didn’t even ask one question. When he didn’t ask for clarifications. For a name. For anything.

Tony might not know much about the… his kid but he had seen the suspicion in his eyes, the wariness in his movements. No way in hell was he trusting the authority of anyone blindly. 

“As soon as the papers are signed, he is yours and you can leave.”

“You’re sure they won’t find a way to charge me with kidnapping?” It almost sounded like an inside joke. 

Almost. 

“No. Burtock will probably want to know where you are to be able to drop in on you but I’m sure we can find a way around it.”

“And why would that be necessary?” Two more questions and they could sit a parrot in his chair asking the same question over and over again.

All three of them turned towards him, their expressions too calm and way too neutral. 

“Up until three months ago our government was run by a fascistic group following a mad man. All of us were fighting against them. We were on the run for almost a year. We might be young, but we are not stupid, Mr. Stark. We do not trust the authorities.”

The or anyone else wasn’t so much implied as Miss Granger’s whole demeanor screamed it at them.

“Good thing I have a high security Tower then and world's Greatest Heroes as roommates.”

In the desperate hope that they could do anything against magic. And that Harry would accept his help.