Standing under a glass awning to escape the early summer rain showers Harry felt dread pool in his stomach as he watched his uncle's car pull up next him. His friends had already been picked up at Platform 9 ¾ leaving Harry on his own.

The car pulled to a sudden stop next to Harry, splashing water on the boys' shoes. Uncle Vernon was quick to exit the vehicle and grab Harry's truck from him before shooing the boy in the car. Thrown off by the lack of obvious hostility Harry did what he was told, nestling Hedwig's cage in his lap carefully. Another thing that was strange. Why wasn't his uncle insisting that Hedwig ride in the boot with the luggage instead of in his pristine car interior?

Before Harry could wrap his brain around the sudden weird development Vernon was in the driver's seat and pulling out onto the street. The car's stereo was turned on loudly which Harry took as a signal to stay quiet. Not that he would have talked given the opportunity to anyways. He'd learned long ago that the safest option for him around his relatives was to stay a mute as the grave. The weird thing was Vernon wasn't making nasty comments about the news on the radio as he so loved to do. Not even mentions of Brexit could loosen his tongue.

After about five minutes of driving Uncle Vernon broke the silence. The stereo was turned off and Vernon's hands clutched the steering wheel tightly as he considered what he was about to say. He hadn't even started talking and his face was already going purple. Harry twiddled with the folded piece of parchment Hermione had slipped in his pocket at the train station nervously as he waited.

"You are to stay silent as listen to what I have to say. No objections," Vernon spat as he glared back at Harry through the review mirror. Harry nodded along nervously.

"While you were away, your Aunt and I discovered that your mother had an affair."

"She would nev…" Harry started angrily.

SILENCE!"

Hedwig started in her cage at the sudden noise causing Harry to almost drop her and Vernon to swerve the car. The resounding look of fury Harry received for that was enough to cause him to angrily clamp his lips shut. He knew if pushed far enough Uncle Vernon wouldn't hesitate to toss Hedwig out the moving car and he was certainly already close to reaching his threshold.

"Choose to believe what you want but the best DNA tests available on the market have already been conducted and all show the same results. The woman your mother married isn't your father and your real one is picking you up today. Custody papers have already been signed and Petunia and I have received a good sum of money for putting up with your hooligan ways all these years. What's done is done and you can't change it."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. His aunt and uncle had sold him! To who? Had supporters of Voldemort tricked them? Or maybe they had just pawned him off to anyone who would be willing to pay. While the thought was frightening it wasn't at all surprising after the scare Hagrid had given his relatives that summer.

Or maybe, just maybe, was Uncle Vernon telling the truth.

Harry was a smart boy. He was placed in Ravenclaw for a reason. After pouring over as many pictures of his parents as he could get his hands-on Harry would admit he'd had his own suspicions for a while now.

Harry had inherited his mother's eyes and the majority of her facial structure. But his wide smile and wavy brown hair didn't quite add up to James Potter's mischievous smirk and untamable wind-swept black locks.

It didn't help that no one could tell him about the years after his parents left school other than the first thing they did was get married after only ten months of dating and dove headfirst into the war. And apparently his mother had hated his father with a passion up until the end of their sixth year. None of which was confidence inspiring.

But to have Harry's own private dark thoughts confirmed and then rubbed in his face by Uncle Vernon was slathering salt into the wound. Who was apparently also completely ignorant to Harry's inner turmoil and he carried on without hesitation. Or most likely he just didn't care.

"All things considered this is a good deal for you to. Your dad and his husband might not be the same brand as freakish as you, but they are still freakish all the same. You should all get on well. And they have plenty of money so you can have a nice fresh start in America away from all the rabble your mother loved so much."

"That being said I'm not afraid to ruin things for you if you so much as peep that you had anything less than a perfectly normal childhood. One hint that Petunia and I didn't treat you well and that Headmaster of your finds out where you are. And all your mothers old friends learn what a slut she was. Understood?"

"Understood," Harry ground out angrily as he glared ahead. He could already feel his magic bubbling dangerously close to the surface, only needing a spark to ignite it.

So, he was headed to America. A foreign county on a different continent. That would make things a lot harder to get back home. He couldn't just run away. There was an entire ocean separating him and the magical community of the British Isles. And what did it mean that his dad wasn't the same kind of freakish as him? Was he a wizard or not?

A traitorous part of him questioned if he really wanted to run away. If he really wanted to come back. He had dreamed of a mysterious relative coming and whisking him away for as long as he could remember. Now here one was, and he was angry because they held the wrong kind of connection to him? Even an infuriated Harry could admit that was childish. Plus, he hadn't even met the man. The least he could do for the person that was going to revoke his status as an orphan and take him in was give them a chance and hear their side of the story.

The only thing holding Harry back was his friends. He had exhausted all there was to learn at Hogwarts about his parents and in the process had nearly been killed multiple times. While it was true no place had felt more like home to him the castle didn't have much competition considering who he would be going home to at the end of the year. But that was changing now. And there were plenty of different schools of magic in North America that he could go to without Voldemort and his parent's legacy dogging his every step. He could be Harry, just Harry.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts as the car came to a stop and Uncle Vernon put it into park. But why were they stopped? They were still easily an hour away from Private Drive.

"Out! Out boy!"

Clutching Hedwig's cage close Harry stepped out into the drizzle. Uncle Vernon quickly grabbed his truck and ushered them to the front of what looked to be a ginormous hexagonal shape glass skyscraper.

Waiting for them by the door was a tall man who looked vaguely familiar. His dark brown hair was accented white stands of hair by his temples and a perfectly trimmed goatee. The man's steely light blue eyes pinner Uncle Vernon down and refused to stray. He wore simple fitted dark jeans and a gray button down. Though Harry couldn't place him the boy was sure he'd seen the man somewhere before.

"Do you need someone to park your car in the garage?" the man asked in a deep American baritone voice that cut Harry to the very bone.

"No, no," Vernon answered quickly as he wiped sweat off his face and refused the look the newcomer in the eye. To Harry's shock he realized his Uncle was scared of the newcomer.

"I-I did my part. I dropped the boy off. We already signed the papers. What more do you need from me?"

"Nothing. I just thought you would want to say goodbye to the child you raised. Though of course I'm not sure why I expected anything less from someone who seems so eager to be rid of this fine young gentleman."

"W-we already said our goodbyes in the car. Right boy?"

"Right," Harry agreed as quickly as he could. When Uncle Vernon left there was a good chance Harry would never see him again. Uncertain as the future was Harry wanted nothing more than for the moment to come where he would never have to see his uncle again.

Uncle Vernon nodded frantically and without another word turned his back on Harry to climb into his still running car. Neither Harry nor the stranger took their eyes off the vehicle until it vanished around the bend.

Watching his Uncle leave made Harry feel lighter in a way he never had before. For good or for bad the chapter of his life that was the Dursley was officially closed. No more unless chores that were made impossible to finish on purpose. No more being the scapegoat. No more Harry-hunting. At least not by the Dursleys hands.

Turning to face the stranger Harry noted that the man standing next to him looked like a weight had been lifted off him also. His stony face softened, his hands fell to his sides from where they had been pressed behind his back and the mans icy eyes seemed to melt into crystal clear waters as they shifted to meet Harry's.

"Did that nitwit actually tell you what's going on?"

Unable to help himself a small hesitant smile crept along Harry's face. It seemed he and the stranger shared a common enemy. It quickly vanished though as reality set in about who he very well could be facing. It had been a long time since Harry felt this shy or self-conscious.

"Are you my dad?" Harry asked hesitantly as he chewed on his bottom lip, unable to look the man in the eye.

"Step-dad," came the gentle correction. "My name's Stephen."

"Ow."

Right. His dad was gay.

"Is…that a problem?" Now Stephen wasn't the one who could meet Harry's eyes. Instead of looking like the unmovable force he had earlier in front of Uncle Vernon, Stephen now seemed fearful. Like Harry was about to sentence him to death. Stephens hands were shaking like leaves in a storm that Harry only now noticed had diagonal scars running along each bone finger from the wrist to his last knuckle.

"No!" Harry reassured Stephen swiftly, almost shouting in his haste. Coming off as homophobic in front of his new LGBTQ family was the last thing Harry wanted.

"…Everything is just happening so fast and…it's a lot to take in."

"Of course," Stephen breathed. "I'm afraid I got one last large surprise for you today and then you can have some time to adjust. Why don't we head upstairs and meet your dad?"

"Yeah. Yeah let's do that."

Even though pulling Harry's truck seemed to be painful for Stephens scared hands the man refused to let Harry take it saying that he trusted himself even less with Hedwig and refused to let Harry carry both. So, Harry awkwardly followed his new Stepdad as he lugged Harry's things into a private elevator before swiping his key card through the lock and requesting the top floor.

The room the lift left the duo in took Harry's breath away. It screamed modern and luxury while still coming off as cozy and comfortable. To the left was a small chef's kitchen with island seating. To the right the open concept room expanded first to a modest wooden live edge dining table that could sit six. To the far right of the room was the living space. The couch and loveseat were made of a plain white fabric that a bone dead tired Harry wanted nothing more than to sink right into. In the corner was a brown leather recliner. The space was given life by the accompaniment of bold colored blue, green, yellow, orange and red pillows, wall art and an enormous rug. The entire wall facing the elevator was made of glass that opened up into a large balcony that had views of downtown London that included the River Thames and The Shard.

"That was fast," Came a new voice from down the hallway to the right. "I wasn't expecting you guys for another ten minutes."

"Dursley was early and only stuck around long enough for Harry to get out of the car." Stephen answered curtly.

"Why couldn't we have just gone and picked him up ourselves? It would have saved us all from having to see his ugly mug again."

"Because you would have attracted to much attention," Stephen deadpanned as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because the new voice, Harry's dad, had finally come into view.

Suddenly Harry knew where he had seen Stephen before. Suddenly his conception made sense at least from his dads' side. His dad had been an infamous playboy more than a decade ago before giving that lifestyle up shortly after Harry would have been born. It made sense why Uncle Vernon had claimed his dad was just as freakish as Harry but still not a wizard.

Because across the room, hopeful bright brown eyes fixed on Harry, with a large infectious smile Harry himself had inherited, was Tony Stark.

Authors Note:

The moment you guys have all been waiting for is finally here! Was it worth the wait?