Chapter Text
Notes: sorry for the delay in writing this story. There were triggers for me here due to what I went through in my life with my nephew.
Please note that for Harry in this chapter, I am writing from experience, my nephew had a bad childhood and when I got custody of him when he was 5 going on 6, he was traumatised.
All kids react to trauma differently and this is not the exact way my nephew reacted as he was far more violent than I’m making Harry, there are similarities.
This is also a Fanfiction that is AU… Harry is OOC as he is not following the same path as the HP universe so don’t come after me saying it’s unrealistic, please, as I have lived it.
ALSO: I went on a TWD bend and have not come out of it yet, but I thought I’d update to give you all the next chapter.
Please enjoy.
Chapter 9
Steve had been gone for far too long now and Bucky was in a constant state of depression and worry.
Harry wasn’t faring much better than the ex-assassin, moping around, he no longer wanted to read or draw, he was almost lifeless as he wandered around.
The young boy had become clingy to Bucky and was acting like a young toddler, causing much concern for the worried adults as the child reverted to baby talk and wanting to be snuggled the entire time.
Bucky and Harry were just going about their days in a daze, trying to give comfort to each other as best they could.
Tony had become more worried as time went on, at first, he felt like it was all going to be ok, Steve was gone but he would show up after finishing his mission and then everything would go back to normal.
But as time continued, and the older man didn’t return Tony’s worry increased. His son was withdrawn and acting like he had lost a family member to death. No amount of consoling helped, it was impossible to distract the child from the missing man.
Bruce gave him a list of child psychologists, prompting the genius to begin his search for someone who could help him with his son’s current situation.
It had been a tense month-long wait for the return of Steve when Fury called Bucky in.
Harry was inconsolable the day Bucky left to go find his long-lost friend. The child cried and pleaded to not be left, Tony felt like a horrible person for picking his son up and walking away with him so the winter soldier could just leave already. The sooner he left the quicker he would return with the lost member of their team, and hopefully, with his return, everything would go back to how it was before.
Communications had been lost two weeks ago causing Bucky to go into a fit of rage, he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t called in sooner, anything could be happening to Steve, and they might never know.
Bucky didn’t hesitate to leave, accepting the mission to return Steve to them safely.
He promised Harry, he would find him and bring him back to them.
It was several hours later when Bruce brought in the first child therapist to assist, Harry had stopped eating and tendered to curl up in small spaces to hide away in, most of the time in Steve’s room, Tony was very worried for his son’s heath, he was still such a fragile little thing and there was a possibility he might not recover from this.
Dr. Shay Cho was a world-renowned child psychologist and was at the top of the list for the best in the business.
She advised Tony to take it slow, maybe try to engage Harry in some of his favorite things, leaving snacks out for him to have as he feels like it, making sure to act completely normal and not show his anxiety.
It was a tense time for members of the compound as they tried to get Harry to eat.
The tiny boy was incredibly depressed, he just wanted Steve to return safely.
Harry managed to snack once Tony had given in and tried to guilt trip the kid into looking after himself for Steve’s sake, Tony thought it was better for Harry to be angry at him now than to harm himself in the long run.
To have his little boy in such emotional distress was heartbreaking, Tony just wanted to make it all better.
Oh, how he wished Pepper would just drop everything and return, he could use the level-headed woman’s support. The company could damn well wait a few days while she came to help him, but she was so focused on her tasks at Stark Industries that she wouldn’t answer the damn phone.
It was now day 49 of Steve being missing and Bucky had left almost two weeks ago, Harry was fighting with Tony when it came to everything, making the genius more distressed as time went on.
Today they were going to try to engage in play therapy, a method used for young kids who couldn’t engage in the type of therapeutic activities that older people could.
They had set it all up in a small space in the compound, with bean bags and soft toys, a table, and chairs for sitting at while playing, and even some squishy crash pads for more intense play. Tony also made sure it had snacks and drinks available for Harry to have, Dr. Cho recommends crunchy food as it was proven to help with stress and calm anxiety in children.
Tony had never done anything like this before and was worried he would stuff it up completely.
Dr. Cho assured him it was going to be beneficial for the both of them in the long run as long as they continued to work together.
Harry was easy to get to the room, he didn’t fight when he was picked up and carried around, and the sensation of being wrapped in someone’s arms was calming to the child.
Dr. Cho said it was all about sensory stimulation.
Tony could tell Harry was curious about what was going on, the child would never ask questions though, something that had come from his time at his relatives it seemed.
“Ok buddy, today we are going to do something different” Tony stated as he put Harry down to allow the child to explore the space.
“Dr. Cho thought that since you like small spaces, we could make you a fun room with lots of nice things to play with” Tony explained.
Harry looked around the room curious, not only was it new to Tony but so was Harry, it would take time for them to get used to this type of therapy.
Tony decided to take the leap of faith and jump right in.
“So, I’m going to sit here in the big chair, why don’t you sit next to me here” Tony indicated to the chairs.
Dr. Cho had walked him through the first session beforehand, and they were going to try to establish Harry’s emotional responses to play situations.
Tony hoped Harry would be able to play after the childhood he had suffered with, so far all he liked to do was read and draw, and they were good things, great even.
But they wanted him to have all the normal experiences and learn to express himself like kids should do.
Tony had pulled out the blocks and was building up a tower.
“I had a lower like this one, well actually it was much better, but these blocks are great for building a basic model, so you want to build a tower, Harry?” Tony asked after he had stacked a few red, green, and blue blocks up.
Harry didn’t respond he only stood next to the older man and watched.
“What color should we add next do you think?” Tony asked trying to get Harry engaged.
The young boy once again didn’t respond, instead, he had grabbed a hold of Tony’s shirt and clung to it like a lifeline giving a small whimper of distress.
“How about a red one? red is my favorite color” Tony commented while he wrapped an arm around his son to hug him in comfort.
“It’s getting mighty tall now, I think it will fall over if I add two more blocks, what do you think?” The tower was just over his head now, Harry was watching what was going on with curiosity.
Tony paused to check the tower and it allowed Harry to pick up a yellow block and hand it to the genius.
“Yellow, yes that is exactly what this tower needs, thanks buddy, do you want to put it on the top?” Tony asked as Harry held the block out to him.
Tony watched as Harry assessed the height of the blocks, the child knew he couldn’t reach the top of the tower himself while so low.
Harry decided to climb into Tony’s lap to put the block on the tower and Tony was very happy Harry was participating.
They continued to play for an hour, just small games but it all went wrong when Tony tried the last game Dr. Cho had taught and explained to Tony.
They were using the same blocks and instead of building with them, they were going to use them to make a block family, the different colors representing a different member of a family unit.
Here Harry had claimed up and had begun to show disinterest, Tony wanted to go on, hoping that by showing Harry that there was nothing wrong the child would come back and play.
Instead, when Tony was holding the block, he dubbed as a dad block and a mom block, Harry began to panic.
Something about the block family was setting him off and Tony was at a loss as to what he should do.
Harry had always been quiet, never loud, and boisterous, so when he grabbed the red mom block and threw it across the room with a scream Tony jumped up in worry.
Harry was in complete distress as he knocked the blocks down onto the floor and pushed over the chair, crying, and yelling the entire time.
Tony tried his best to soothe the young boy, but it was having no effect.
Bruce suddenly burst into the room and frightened Harry quite badly, he toppled over and skidded back with his arms raised as if to ward off an attack.
The sight broke Tony’s heart.
“What happened?” Bruce asked as he stood staring at the mess that had been created.
“I don’t know, we were just finishing up with the family block scenario and Harry was triggered by it” Tony explained.
He bent down to pick Harry up only to be hit and kicked by Harry’s tiny limbs flailing about.
He was still panicking.
Bruce moved to help only to make it worse as Harry began to scream long and loud.
Tony was astonished when the lights overhead all burst simultaneously, both adults were so shocked by the sudden loss of light and glass falling that they weren't quick enough to stop Harry from running to the door and taking off further into the now-dark compound.
“Friday what happened to the power, did the arc reactor surge?” Tony asked his AI as they made their way out of the room, trying to locate where Harry had taken off to.
“Friday?” Tony called, but the AI didn’t respond, something was up with the system.
As they continued to search for the missing child, they found the power was malfunctioning across the whole compound. Tony was both anxious about Harry and baffled by the mystery of the power.
“Well find him Tony” Bruce assured his friend.
“God, I hope so, he was so scared Bruce” They continue to search, pulling other employees in to help.
But the young boy had hidden himself well.
—————————————————————
Steve was not too sure how long he was locked in the underground bunker, he had been taken down by members of an elite secret group, they were well-trained and seemed to have come up with this plan to have him specifically captured.
He was tired and weak, they didn’t feel the need to feed him much like they were experimenting to see how long he lasted, water was the only constant sustenance.
He had searched for what felt like days to try to find a way out of his metal cell only to discover that it was made from the toughest material, and it had to be incredibly thick-walled, no sound entered from the outside and he was sure if he began to yell, it wouldn’t be heard by anyone.
Not that he had seen anyone the entire time he was there, being kept isolated was doing his head in but he refused to let it show.
Steve was cursing his bad luck, he could only imagine what Bucky was thinking right now.
His best friend was only coping by the skin of his teeth, he could picture the surly man pacing the compound and glaring at everyone who came close.
He only hoped that excluded Harry, the tiny boy needed them all still and Steve felt so guilty that he wasn’t there for him when he was at such a fragile stage in recovery.
At least he had Tony and Bucky, the child would be able to still have two trusting adults around to care for him.
He was sure it had been well over a month at this stage, time was almost meaningless, the lights were kept on the whole time, and nothing gave any indication as to what time of the day it could be.
He was currently sitting with his back to the wall, boredom was like a long-time friend at this stage.
He was contemplating getting up to pace the cell when he suddenly heard the scraping of metal, the sound was so sudden and unexpected from the dead silence he had been surrounded by over the time of his capture that he first thought he was imagining it.
The door to his cell opened for the first time since he first was thrown in and he was so surprised to see his best friend all suited up and surrounded by a team of soldiers from Shield.
“Steve?” Bucky called as he ran to him, he threw his arms around the other man and embraced him, never wanting to let him go.
He was so relieved to see his best mate that he was almost brought to tears.
He held Bucky tightly, one arm around his back and one buried in the soldier’s hair.
“I’m so damn glad to see you Bucky” Steve croaked, his voice a bit hoarse from disuse.
“Let’s get you home, everyone has been worried” Bucky informed Steve.
He was led out of the cell with a little assistance needed. Bucky kept a hold of him as they walked out of the underground base.
He was looking forward to sitting down and enjoying a nice hot meal.
“How is Harry?” Steve asked once they were in the Quinjet and headed to the Shield base.
Bucky grimaced and it was telling enough for Steve to become more concerned for the small boy.
“Things have been tense, Stark has been holding it together for everyone, acting like everything is just dandy. Harry has been struggling, I’m not going to lie, we both were.” Bucky signed.
“I’m sorry Buck, this mission went south so quickly,” Steve murmured, he regretted taking this mission, the lack of information alone should have been a bit of a red flag for Shield.
“It’s not your fault, Fury should have called the team in sooner.”
Steve took a good look at his friend and noticed the dark bags under his eyes, indicating a lack of sleep, the nightmares had gotten bad again.
“How long?” Steve asked in concern.
“Seven weeks” Bucky answered reluctantly.
Seven weeks, holy shit it had been that long.
Sure, time felt like it was dragging on forever, but he seriously didn’t think it had been that long.
God, Harry must be in a state, the poor child was so clingy to the few people he trusted, and now with Steve being missing for so long and then Bucky leaving to come to rescue him, he just couldn’t imagine what the poor boy was going through.
“God, he is going to hate me” Steve groaned.
“He is worried, upset but I don’t think he could ever hate you, just be prepared to not put him down for a while, he became super clingy and a bit regressed, he tends to act a bit baby like” Bucky informed him.
“What do you mean by that?” Steve questioned, worry clear in his voice.
“Dr. Helen and Bruce said it was normal for children who suffered trauma to regress into a younger child persona, Harry began to use baby talk, he was having nightmares bad enough to cause bed-wetting and he was having what Helen called the terrible two-stage of development,” Bucky informed Steve.
“He never once wet the bed when he was with us” Steve mentioned he was shocked things had changed so much and his heart went out to the scared little boy.
“Dr. Helen said it was pretty normal and was surprised he wasn’t already when he was with us, it was more than likely part of the abuse he suffered when younger, Harry doesn’t talk about it, so we don’t know” Bucky lamented.
“I bet Tony is going sparse with worry” Steve mentioned.
“He is doing everything he can to help Harry” Bucky assured his friend.
“What more can go wrong for that boy, he had been through enough Buck, and we added to that, he probably will have severe separation anxiety from this” Steve bemoaned.
“He already does, nothing new there” Bucky responded.
He just wanted everything to be alright, he hated that he left, and he promised himself that he was not going to allow work to come between himself and Harry from now on, the child needed him, he needed them all, there together to help him in his recovery.
“It will all work out Steve, we’re going back, and it will all work out” Bucky assured.
Steve just wanted it to be true, for once they needed things to go their way.
—————————————————————
Severus was a very irritated man even on his good days.
He had been ordered by the headmaster to find out what had happened to his once best friend’s child, the same child who was also his worst enemy’s child.
With a sneer of disgust, he made his way into the muggle prison, he had tracked down what he could about the case involving the Dursley family.
Not once did it mention the child he was searching for, that alone was quite suspicious to Severus.
The prison was grey with large concrete walls to keep the female inmates inside, it was a vast contrast to the Wizarding prison, Azkaban.
Upon entering the building, he made his way to the reception and spelled the lady behind the desk to allow him entry to visit Petunia Dursley.
He was guided to an open hall-like room with bright lights, tables, and chairs for visiting with family members.
He had to wait while Petunia was brought out for him to speak with. He took the time to get his thoughts in order for the conversation he was about to have.
“YOU!” A woman yelled from across the room, Severus turned to see the woman he was there for.
She was not looking well, dressed in grey that matched the boring walls, and her hair was a mess, not all neat and tidy how she liked it.
“Good evening, Petunia” Severus drawled.
“What do you want? Haven’t your lot done enough to us normal people” The woman asked in her shrill voice that was like nails down a chalkboard.
“Where is the boy?” Severus asked getting straight to the point.
“How should I know what they did to him, he’s probably dead from how the officers reacted to me” Petunia huffed, Severus was shocked though he didn’t let it show, Albus said the child was well cared for and loved, this attitude didn’t match that statement.
“What do you know” Severus asked the woman in a bored drawl.
“My wonderful husband was accused of all sorts of horrible things he simply couldn’t have done, that boy was a terror, if my Vernon saw fit to be rid of him, then it had to be the boy’s fault for it” Petunia confessed.
Severus was not happy with the information and decided to leave the conversation there, he could get what he wanted from her mind far easier.
When they made eye contact, he was bombarded with the scenes of Petunia and her horrible husband beating a tiny black-haired child, calling him Freak and making him work like a poor abused pureblood’s house elf.
The child wasn’t fed much but was forced to cook every meal, taunted by the horrible family that he was forced to serve.
She had hit the child with a stick and a frying pan on numerous occasions, it sickened Severus to witness the memories play out.
The woman showed no sign of regret or compassion for the small boy that was her sister’s child.
How could Albus leave his previous Boy-Who-lived in these conditions? He was just a child and no matter what he didn’t deserve this life.
The child only showed magic when healing himself for the copious injuries he sustained at the hands of his so-called family.
Not once did Severus see this terrorizing behavior Petunia seemed to always see in the child.
He searched passed the abusive memories and located the ones he was searching for.
The interrogation about what she knew regarding a terrorist group out of Romania, her husband had some connections to them, and the magical child was sold to the group.
What astounded Severus was the prof they had that the child was not a Potter at all, but someone named Stark.
Severus recalled the name mentioned in the muggle news from America when he was growing up.
Severus pulled out of the disgusting woman’s mind not too gently before he turned and made his way out of the building.
Several things were going through his mind all at once.
The child wasn’t a Potter, he was his best friend’s child and he had vowed to protect him, he had failed, believing the words of a senile old goat. He believed that he was treated like a prince and was being pampered, Severus had been preparing himself for a carbon copy of the boy’s father.
Instead, he saw in the memories a child so much like himself.
He was greatly unsure what to do with this information,
Dumbledore wanted the boy found so he could be placed back with his aunt and under the blood wards. Still, if the child had been rescued from the terrorist group, which was implicated during the interrogation then there was a possibility he could be with his real father.
The blood ward could have transferred and was now protecting him once more. It was the only thing Severus could think of that would explain the disappearance of the wards that Albus put up himself.
Severus was going to have to wait and search some more for any information he could before he made his decision.
He just hoped he was able to make the right decision.