Disclaimer: Do I look like J.K. Rowling to own Harry Potter? No. I also don't own Avengers. I just like writing them.

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At a precious age of four, Tony was left in the care of strangers.

His brown, curious eyes wandered over the people going in and out of the mansion, always watching, observing. There were maids in constant duty to keep the house neat and tidy. There were cooks never left the kitchen to serve food, to serve him food. In Tony's eyes, these people around him were basically strangers. One will replace the other over time once their contract was done. Even his father, Tony rarely saw him entering the house and if he did Howard would go straight to his room missing the longing look of his son.

For Tony, all of them were strangers. He had no clue on what makes the inhabitant of the house a person. He knew their jobs and responsible but not their personality. Well, except for three. Tony remembered Cynthia, his previous caretaker, the only one who stuck in his mind. Tony can't recall her face perfectly but in his mind she was the prettiest and had the softest voice among the females he encountered. The same voice she used every time Tony left out the vegetables on his plate.

"Potatoes and spinach are good for growing boys."

After a year Cynthia was replaced by Susan. Unlike the former, Susan was quiet. She never ordered Tony around, to stay put when he was too excited, to bother someone else when he was bored or to eat his vegetables. As a matter of fact, it was the opposite. Tony used all the opportunies he got and commanded the quiet girl with atrocious and impossible demands, but all was met with a smile which Tony secretly loved.

Sometimes he did it to see when she would snap and reprimand him. But for a year, Susan stayed silent. It was the day when she left the mansion that Tony learned her inability to speak.

At the age of six, Howard gave him free reign to various metals and tools. The man said it was a good time for his son to put his genius mind to work and Tony was delighted. Finally, a chance to be like his father.

His little hands were tinkering over a piece of machinery, trying to create the idea in his mind a reality when Harry arrived. Looking up to the guest who was following his father, Tony eyed this Harry. He seemed to be in his early twenties, quite younger than his former caretakers, with a bird's nest for a hair.

"Tony, say hi to Mr. Potter. He'll see to it you're taken care of. Mr. Potter, this is my son, Tony, he can be a handful sometimes. I hope you're ready for his mischiefs." Howard introduced and Tony felt warm at the proud remark. His father always left a note whenever the man wanted to speak to him but never got the time, and when he did it was the occasional tired greetings. This was the first time he heard father speak of him in such way and to be frank, Tony didn't know how to react.

So he just smiled sheepishly in return.

"You don't have to call me Mr. Potter, that's too formal for my taste. Harry is fine." Harry said, offering his hand for a shake.

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Halloween was just around the corner and the mansion bustling with activity and everyone was under stress and pressure as his mother barked orders here and there for the upcoming Halloween party. Something like this was new for the six year old but he refrained from commenting seeing his mother was currently a spitting angry dragon who wanted nothing but perfection, which the maids can't seem to handle well.

"Halloween is a good holiday to celebrate." Harry commented as he led Tony away from the chaos his mother was doing. In Tony's opinion, there was nothing good with Halloween, children get to dress up as a mythical figure and scare people to death, which was definitely not fun.

Or maybe Tony felt sour he never got the chance to enjoy the holiday.

"But that's the fun part Tony. You get to be magical."

Tony tilted his head to the side, his brown eyes searching Harry's emerald orbs as if the older male was kidding and said, "There's no magic in dressing up." For a moment, an emotion Tony couldn't name flashed in his caretaker's eyes but was gone after a second. It must have been amusement since he heard Harry chuckle softly.

Scowling, Tony huffed in reply, he knew Harry was again treating him like a child.

Just like everyone else.

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Harry Potter wasn't like everyone.

The raven haired youth was a weird individual, Tony concluded, but the oddness wasn't a bad trait to have so Tony welcomed it with open arms.

Harry was different, more unique if someone would ask him.

Although Tony was born in a place where everyone considered his father a man of science, the general public took their time to remind him faeries were fiction and robots were the real deal, Harry took his time to indulge his charge with tales of dragons and wizards. It was like Harry saw them true and lived in alternate world of magic instead of science. Once or twice, Tony would hear Harry speak Latin. Tony would ask what it meant and latter would always give him the same annoying answer "magic", sometimes his hands would gesture around the room to emphasize his point.

In return, Tony threw his best unimpressed face to his caretaker and drawled, "Please." The child genius was past his toddler years to be that gullible to believe in Merlin, or Santa, or whatever. But for Tony, this was a nice change no matter how much he denied it.

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It was winter and the season couldn't care more if piles of snow gathered around burying Stark's expensive rose bushes. Everywhere you look, the clearing was all white except for the two individuals wearing dark winter clothing as they sat on a bench warming themselves with a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

Inhaling the sweet aroma of his drink, Tony took a long sip, never minding the foam that stayed on the sides of his lips. The child wasn't one for long periods of silence and stillness and he wanted to cut off the calm atmosphere between them, but he couldn't think of anything to start a conversion. It may have been quiet on the outside, but inside? Tony's frustration was creating a whirlpool of topics it was like a storm raging in his head.

Suddenly, Tony blurted out, having run out of ideas, "Harry is kind of a boring name, don't you think?"

Jolted out from his concentration, Harry disapproved rather indignantly, "Hey." Tony either had limited knowledge on social cues or he completely disregarded his protest for the child shrugged in reply. So Harry continued, "It's a good English name."

"Nu uh." Tony shook his head, "There are a lot of names you could think of so why Harry?"

Harry paused and started to laugh which made Tony spun his head around so fast it could have broken his neck. "I don't exactly have the power to name myself when I was born, hence, my parents did it for me on my behalf."

"Don't you have a nickname?"

Harry shrugged, "My classmates call me scarface."

There was a short moment of silence, which Harry was grateful for. He knew that Tony's mind was whirling for whatever reasons and it'll be a shamed if he put a stop on it. That was his big mistake though. Tony suddenly perked up, his stance screamed determination as his charge beamed at him with a big, cheshire grin.

"I'll come up with a nickname better than scarface."

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Christmas was a day from now and the biggest problem Tony encountered during his six years of living was that he can't seem to come up with the perfect gift for Harry. Tony never really bothered giving others presents because he thought he was the child and he should be the one receiving all of it.

But deep inside, Tony felt bad. Sure, his dad was rarely around but Howard still had the responsibility of being a father and presented him with toys and anything Tony wanted, really.

During Harry's stay in the mansion, Tony gleaned the fact that Harry's relatives hated his whole existence with passion. While he may not understand why, Tony, proving that he really was a genius, concluded that only a few number people happily spent their money to give Harry anything.

As a result, Tony made it his job to find (or invent) the greatest, most awesome sciency gift in the whole world all for Harry.

He could ask his father for help, but that old man was too occupied in looking for the probably dead super soldier. His mother maybe? Nah, that banshee wouldn't have been helpful. Tony knew his mother would probably give him money and tell him to just buy something expensive so Harry would appreciate it more.

Harry wasn't like that. It wasn't money he was after and Tony wanted this Christmas gift to be special.

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Tony intently watched Harry's face, the child's eyes lit up in anticipation as he waited for Harry to open his heavily wrapped present. He was currently dying in excitement which put a giddy smile on his youthful features.

"What is this?" Harry mused curiously, his emerald eyes gazed over the metallic device, turning it around for further inspection.

Tony let out an exaggerated sigh and recited the description he got from the book, "It's a bird from the order Strigiformes."

"It's an owl." Harry replied, more like said it to himself, as he smiled to admire his gift. It was small, as big as his fist and had eyes with the color of steel that seemed to track his actions.

Tony felt his pride swallowing him whole. He was over the moon upon seeing the praiseful look on his friend and begun to gush out words too fast for Harry to follow, "The eyes have lenses which can adjust to your distance. I build it with camera sensors to trace your movements. Once you throw it up in the air, it will automatically activate and fly to anywhere you want."

There was a nostalgic expression on Harry's face when Tony finished talking and the latter saw it. It somewhat dampened his joyful disposition but it was covered by surprise when Harry crouched to his level, his hand went for his jacket's pocket to retrieve something.

"This isn't much, but this is all I have." Harry said lowly, offering the packet of sweets to Tony. It read: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Thank you Tony."

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Brown eyes glistened with unshed tears and Tony glared at the blueprints posted on the wall of his lab. Harry was fetching him his lunch while Tony waited by his lab. He felt weak at the moment as words floated in his mind, repeating itself as he forced himself to ignore it.

Harry's contract will expire soon.

His mind had been telling him that for days, but now he acknowledge it tears flowed freely down his cheeks. Cynthia and Susan's absence left a gaping hole within him but Harry filled it with his unusual quirks and mannerism. Harry by his side made him genuinely happy. He doesn't want Harry to leave, to see him part with a forced smile on his porcelain face as he stand by the door waving. He doesn't want his father introducing him to another person.

"I'm afraid they will all stay for one year and leave." His father said, "This is for your safety Tony."

Tony remembered his caretakers were being replaced annually and the child was getting tired of it. Sick of the situation he was in.

"Stupid contract", Tony angrily thought, wiping his tears roughly from his cheeks, "stupid father".

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Hi! It's been so long? I've had the chance to write the next chapter for my other story and uni is taking up most of my time and my precious sleep. But this is fic… Well, it's different. One second I was typing my 10 pages assignment and now I find myself posting writing this instead. Wow. Good job Alpas.

This is an experimental fic (I guess), I haven't got a single clue on where this story is heading. There are actually ideas somewhere lying deep in the pit of my mind, which I plan to recall and fit with this story. Haha! Suggest something? Let's see where it will go.