AN-Thank you for all of the awesome reviews and follows and favorites. Mucho thanks to njchrispatrick as usually for helping nudge this chapter along.

Warning: This chapter sets up the major differences in book two. Please don't scream "That's not how it happened". This isn't canon, and this is how it's happening in this fic.

Disclaimer-I still own nothing.

Chapter Four

Tony tapped his foot distractedly as he stared across the back of the Town Car at Harry. The boy was looking anywhere but at Tony, and it wasn't like Tony could blame him.

This hadn't gone anything like he had expected. He had expected (hoped? dreamed?) that Harry would run into his arms and let him make everything all right, but that...hadn't exactly happened.

Harry wouldn't look at him, he'd been threatened by a Walrus in a man suit, and Harry had no idea Tony was his father. The letters hadn't come through, and the big reveal Tony had thought would have time to sink in, hadn't.

He wasn't sure how this could get much worse.

"Boss? Do you want to go to the airport, or back to the hotel? Pepper said she would have the jet waiting if you chose to go that way?" Happy asked quietly, rolling down the divider between the them. Harry didn't look away from the window, and Tony considered the question.

If they left now, they would be able to get all of this awkwardness behind them quicker, and move on. Tony wouldn't have to deal with the Dursleys, he would be able to sic his overtrained and overpaid Lawyers on them and never have to think about the wastes of space again. That was the plan that Tony wanted to go with.

On the other hand, if he just left with Harry, without securing any kind of legal custody of him, this would all explode into something that he just didn't want to deal with, a point against him. And Harry..would Harry want to be pulled away from his life, and his country without even being given the chance to agree or disagree? Could Tony be one more in a long line of people that didn't take his opinion into consideration?

Tony hated being a grownup.

"The hotel, Happy, thanks." The divider rolled up smoothly without saying anything else, and Tony shifted in his seat again. Harry didn't react. "Harry? Have you ever been to London?"

It was a stupid question, Tony knew that as soon as he said it, but he couldn't help himself. Harry just nodded slowly.

"This is awkward isn't it." Tony stated, and finally got a reaction out of Harry. The boy giggled slightly, flicking his eyes towards Tony before shooting them back towards the road outside the Town Car. Tony smiled at the sound, at least his son was paying him some sort of attention now.

Not that Harry knew he was Tony's son, but the thought still counted.

"Just a little." Harry said softly, pulling his legs up off the floorboard of the car and pulling them tightly to his chest. "Did you really send me letters after I left school?"

Tony nodded quickly. He was sure that he was doing his best impression of a bobble head, but he couldn't help himself.

"I sent at least four, I may have gone a bit overboard when you didn't reply to the first. I thought you were angry with me," Tony rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "But I guess Hedwig just didn't get them to you."

Harry looked at him fully for the first time, biting his bottom lip. Tony tried not to squeal at how cute Harry was, but it was a close thing. The Billionaire didn't think that he had ever felt this out of control, but he didn't care.

"Hedwig had no letters at all since I got back, she went in and out, but no letters." Harry said, "I didn't think anyone could…keep owls from delivering letters."

Tony shrugged, settling more comfortably in the leather seats now that he had his son's attention on him. "We'll look into it, she may have just delivered them to Hogwarts." Tony doubted it, but he wasn't going to let Harry know what he really thought, not yet anyway.

Harry looked like he doubted what Tony was saying, but he didn't question it.

"Why did you come get me?" Harry asked, studying Tony closely. "You've never said in your letters. Even when I was small."

"I hate to tell you, you're still small kiddo," Tony said, smirking as Harry frowned. The boy was about as intimidating as a wet kitten, "I…knew James and Lily."

Tony couldn't say "Your Parents", the title capitalized in his head. They had raised him, they had the chance to know Harry when Tony was too cowardly and too afraid of himself to raise his son like he should, but he still couldn't call them his parents.

"Really?" Harry perked up, leaning across the space between them, his green eyes bright. "What were they like? Hagrid was the only person I've met that really knew them, but all he had to give me was a photo album. He couldn't really tell me stories."

Tony smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. He only hoped that Harry wouldn't hate him when the truth finally came out. If the engineer could work up the courage to tell him now that they were face to face and not over letters.

"They were…really good people," Tony tried to find the words, "Lily and I were friends from childhood. Mrs. Evans, your grandmother, worked at the Stark Industries office in Sussex, and brought Lily and Petunia," Tony sneered the word, "to work with her one day when the babysitter backed out. Lily was a few years younger than you, completely fearless."

Stark Industries

Sussex, England

March 15th, 1985

Tony Stark was bored. Bored with a capital 'B'.

The small genius kicked his feet idly against the legs of the chair he'd be stuck in for the last hour, the rhythmic thumping getting him a few looks from the scientists clustered around his father like dogs begging for a treat. Howard Stark never looked up. The owner and CEO of Stark Industries was well used to his son's childish tactics, and had learned long ago that giving him attention just made things worse in the long run.

That wouldn't do for Tony Stark. If he was going to be stuck here, pulled away from school and his mom to "Learn what the business is like, since it looks like you'll be the only one I can leave the company to', someone was going to pay him attention. It didn't matter if it was his father, or one of his lackeys.

Tony was a diva, and a diva had to have an audience.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark," a woman raced into the lab, holding the hand of a small redhead girl with another girl following her. The blond was skinny, with a pinched face, and while Tony didn't get what everyone's obsession with girls was, knew that this particular girl would never grow up to attract the 'right type of man' as his mother was always going on about. "I didn't think I would be this horribly late."

Tony watched with wide eyes (his mind was whirring on how to turn this situation to his advantage, as it always was) as Howard looked up from the pile of gears and detris in front of him to pin the woman with a deadly stare.

"Mrs. Evans, was it?" Howard asked softly. The scientists around him began shifting, giving each other wide eyed looks. Tony could tell they all thought a colleague was about to fired, and he had to agree with them. That was never a tone of voice that meant good things coming from Howard Stark. "Has Stark Industries become a day care and no one told me?"

Mrs. Evans narrowed her eyes at her employer, grip tightening on her daughter's hand. "Dr. Evans is my proper title, not Mrs.," She stressed the title, eyes flashing, "I am sorry, Mr. Stark, but your arrival was completely unannounced and today was my day off. I was unable to get a sitter." She wasn't intimidated by Howards glare, and the billionaire was taking closer notice. "If you would rather not see the advancements in the Gamma project that we've made, I can certainly take my girls and go back home and you can see it another time."

Tony snickered into his hand. The Gamma project, yet another attempt of Howards to find the long lost Captain Steve Rogers, Captain America, was the whole reason they were in England to begin with. There was no way Howard would leave without seeing what he came to see, and Dr. Cecily Evans was the only one who knew the project inside and out.

"No…no, that won't be necessary," Howard finally said, looking away from the woman's green eyed glare. "Just…do not let them get in the way." Dr. Evans nodded once. The redhead girl looked around the room with wide eyes, before pointing at Tony and saying something he couldn't make out. Before Tony knew it, the girl was grabbing her sister by the hand and tugging her over to Tony's corner. He stopped kicking his feet against the legs of the seat and stared at her.

It wasn't often that people weren't scared of him, if not because of him but because of who he was.

"Hello?" Tony said gingerly, not sure how he was supposed to react. She just smiled at him and stuck out a hand.

"Hi! I'm Lily Marie Evans, this is my sister Petunia Denise Evans," the girl, Lily, said. Tony shook her hand gingerly and dropped it just as quickly. Lily Marie Evans frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring. "Well?"

"Well what?" Tony asked, flabbergasted.

"What's your name? We've told you ours, it's only polite you tell us yours."

"Lily!" Petunia hissed suddenly, pinching her sister's side quickly, "You know who he is!"

Lily glared at her sister, shaking her head wildly. "No! Mummy always said that you must introduce yourself, or you're rude. He hasn't introduced himself."

Tony couldn't help himself, he started laughing.

"I'm Tony," he said cheerfully, kicking the bottom of his chair again, "Tony Stark, and I think I like you Lily Marie Evans."

Harry blinked, a grin crossing his face as he leaned even further across the car. Tony thought absently that it was lucky Harry was so small the seat belt would have snapped a long time ago. "My grandmother was a Doctor? That's brilliant! What was her focus?"

Tony blinked. He knew Harry was smart, he had seen the grades and talking to Harry's teachers behind the Dursleys back made sure that he knew the true story, but for some reason it had never sank into Tony's brain that Harry was most likely on the road to being a genius…if he wasn't already. It was in his genes, after all. (Tony would deny to his last breath that he preened at the thought.)

"Physics and Biology, she was an expert in the field of gamma radiation," Tony said slowly, wanting to see how much Harry understood on his own.

"So she focused on..." Harry got started, his eyes lit up, before the divider between the front and back was rolling down and Happy looked at them in the mirror. The car was coming slowly to a stop. Tony glanced out the window, seeing the press lined up and waiting, and cursed under his breath.

He wasn't ready for Harry to go through this, the boy didn't even know what was going on and he was about to be hounded by the Press.

Maybe...just maybe that press conference had been a bad idea. A small one, but a mistake none the less.

"Do you want me to go around to the back, Boss? I didn't think they would be here this soon." Happy asked quietly, and Tony knew he was ready to gun the engine and get them away from there at Tony's word.

But there was no point, they had been seen, and Harry had seen them.

"Tony?" Harry asked shakily, sliding back away from the windows and the undecipherable questions that were being thrown at him. Tony cursed again.

"Sorry kid, I should have warned you," Tony sighed, sliding his sunglasses over his nose and wishing he had thought to bring a pair for Harry. That (and new clothes, Tony told himself) was the first on the long list of things that Tony was going to shower down on Harry's head the first chance he got. Tony knew that flashes from a dozen reporters could blind you for a few moments if you weren't ready. "They...kinda follow me wherever I go. Even more since the whole Iron Man mess." The car stopped completely, and Happy jumped out of the front seat to open the door for Harry. "Just, stay close to Happy and keep your head down. Ignore what ever the vultures say, none of it's important and they'll just turn your words around anyway. Okay?"

Harry nodded, though his face was white, and took a deep breath.

"Okay."

Happy opened the door, and they stepped into the crush. Harry grabbed his arm for a moment, fingers tight in his suit jacket before they fell away, and Tony wished he could turn and hustle him back into the car and away from all of this, but that would be worse in the long run.

"Happy." Tony snapped, glaring as one of the reporters got too close to Harry, shouting something that couldn't be understood in the kids face.

"On it, boss." Happy blocked Harry in, pushing the reporter back with his bulk. Hotel security guards, well used to the fame and fortune set, were swarming down the steps until they were encased in a wall of black, and Tony glared at everyone who shouted a question at him until they were safely inside the elevator and on the way to the penthouse.

"Is...is it always like that?" Harry asked shakily, leaning against the wall of the elevator. He was blocked into the corner by Tony and Happy. The billionaire admitted to himself that he may be being just a little bit over protective, but he couldn't help it.

"Unfortunately yes, kiddo." Tony said. He was furiously texting Pepper, and he knew that the redhead would have the press in a vise within a few hours, but it was too late. "But things will die down, they always do."

Tony hoped.

The hallways cleared as Lucius Malfoy made his way towards Minister Fudge's office. His cane clicked with every step, and he smirked as eyes inevitably moved towards it.

It was good to be feared.

It was very good to be feared.

"Good morning, Dolores," he smiled at the Minister's Undersecretary, hating every inch of her but she was a necessary evil. Third daughter from a small, and insignificant Pureblood family, she was nonetheless the easiest way for him to gain access to the minister whenever he needed to.

"Lord Malfoy," Umbridge simpered, closing the file and fixing him with a smile she undoubtedly thought to be charming. He thought she looked like a simpering toad looking for a particular fat fly to gobble up. "What can I do for you today?"

"I need to see Cornelius, as soon as possible. Is he in his office?" Lucius didn't smile, and it wasn't really a request, which is why when the smile faded from Umbridge's face like it had never been, he was surprised.

"I'm afraid the Minister is not available at the moment. " She turned her attention back to her desk, pulling a scroll towards her and beginning to unroll it like he wasn't there, "I can inform him that you wish an appointment when he returns, but I am unsure as to when that is going to be."

"Where the bloody hell is he?" Lucius exclaimed, cursing himself under his breath as eyes bored into his back. Everyone would love to see the Head of the Malfoy family lose his cool in public, and he couldn't risk that. "I am sorry, Dolores. It is just this matter is particularly close to my heart and I was hoping Cornelius could help...spearhead things a bit."

Umbridge sniffed, and Lucius didn't know where this new attitude was coming from but he did not approve of it in the slightest. She was insignificant, she should be bowing in the face of a Lord from a Most Ancient and Noble House. Cornelius needed him, he needed the backing that only Lucius and others like him could give, and if Umbridge wasn't careful she would find herself lacking. Secretaries could always be replaced.

"Minister," She stressed the title, "Fudge is dealing with an urgent matter that will be announced at the appropriate time. Unfortunately, he will not be able to handle other matters until further notice."

It was a clear dismissal, and Lucius growled, tightening his grip on the handle of his cane.

More people were gathering, and if it wasn't for that, she would have found herself a smear on the back wall, but Lucius reined himself in.

"Thank you, undersecretary. If you could let the minister know I would very much like to speak with him at his earliest opportunity, I would be eternally grateful." Giving the woman a small bow, he backed away and turned around on his heel.

'Ungrateful blood traitor," Lucius hissed to himself, throwing glares at anyone who dared to try and speak to him, and practically stomped into the lift.

"Malfoy."

Closing his eyes, Lucius wondered if today could get any worse. The way things were going, he would arrive home to a ministry raid and Narcissa having one of her episodes.

"Weasley." The lift started, and the two men tried their best not to speak to each other as it moved them towards the top level and the floo points.

"The Minister not at your beck and call for once?" Arthur Weasley said suddenly, a cruel smirk on his face. Arthur Weasley was generally a nice man, at least that was the gossip around the halls, but Lucius knew better.

There was a reason there was a blood feud between the two families, and it wasn't just one sided.

"Oh Arthur," Lucius sneered the name, "you are just jealous your family no longer has the contacts it once had. It must have been hard, taking the blame for all of that...nasty business. The minister has to concern himself with...important people." Lucius looked the other wizard up and down, sneering at the clearly hand mended robes and shabby shoes.

"I would much rather be unimportant than in the Dark Lord's pocket, Malfoy."

Lucius flinched, wanting to clap a hand over the mark on his arm, but unwilling to give the man the satisfaction.

"Oh Arthur, you know I wasn't in my right mind. No one could resist an Imperious by the Dark Lord, after all. Better wizards than you have tried."

"All that says is that you are good at lying," Arthur sneered, still not looking at him. "Even at school, you hung on his coat tails."

There was nothing Lucius could say to that, that wouldn't incriminate himself anyway.

"Suit yourself Weasley, we all know what your opinion is worth."

Okay, so maybe there was something that he could say.

Lucius shifted in the lift, trying to put as much space between the two of them as he could, and bumped into the side. The book, the very important book, slammed into the side of his thigh and Lucius had an epiphany.

It was petty, and if the Dark Lord ever came back he would be in more trouble than this was truly worth, but...it would be very gratifying. If he could finagle a raid...even better.

Lucius moved quietly, watching Arthur's eyes never leave the numbers slowly clicking down as they headed towards the surface, and pulled the diary out of his inner robes as quickly as he could. He would have to time this right, make Weasley think he dropped the journal from the large pile of files and scrolls that he was carrying.

But if he did, he would find much more amusement than just simply hanging on to it.

The two wizards competed to be the first out of the doors as they whooshed open, and Lucius deliberately knocked into the other man, sending the stack of files he was carrying flying.

"Oh, I am sorry, Arthur." Lucius sneered, bending over and picking up a few files, sliding the journal in between them and handing them all over. Arthur took them distractedly, clearly trying to get away from Lucius like he carried the original strain of Dragonpox. "My best to Molly and your...brood."

Smirking to himself, Lucius strode down the hallway towards the apparition point, if he was anyone else he would be whistling.

Arthur turned the journal over and over in his hands as he headed up the stairs towards Ginny's room. He wasn't sure where it had come from, it was in the stack of files and paperwork confiscated from a raid a few days ago, but none of the spells he'd cast revealed anything other than it being a journal.

"Ginny?" Arthur knocked on his only daughter's door, waiting patiently for her to open it. She was eleven, ready for Hogwarts, but he wanted to make sure she was going to be okay. There hadn't been a Weasley daughter in over four centuries, and sometimes Arthur felt like he was in over his head with her. Molly could talk to her, but it was like there was something keeping Arthur himself from understanding her.

He hoped, since she couldn't talk to him and she couldn't talk to her brothers, the journal would give her something she could talk to at Hogwarts.

"Yes, Dad?" Ginny blinked at him, her red hair pulled up in a sloppy ponytail, sleepy eyed. It was late, and he probably should have waited until in the morning, but he wouldn't be there and he wanted her to have it now.

He didn't know why, but he knew it was important.

"Hey honey, are you excited about Hogwarts?"

She nodded, looking at him like he had grown three heads and six arms, as always.

"Yeah, but that's not until September. I haven't even gotten my letter yet."

Arthur shook his head. "You'll get it, love, anyone who has been on the end of your bat boogie knows you deserve a place at Hogwarts," He shifted on his feet and held out the journal, "I wanted to give you this. You know, so you can...write in it, or whatever it is girls do with journals."

She took it, tracing the leather front cover with a finger for a moment. It was nicer than he could have afforded on his salary, and it was worth not knowing where it came from when she looked up at him with a blinding smile.

"Thank you daddy!" She flung her arms around his neck and squeezed, "I love it!"

Arthur watched her race back into her room, flopping at the second hand desk in the corner and opening the journal to the front page, as he leaned in to pull her door shut.

Well, it looked like he wasn't a total horror of a father to Ginny after all. At least, not until she started dating.

His wand hand twitched at the thought.