Luminescent

Chapter 4

Maria Stark P.O.V

Nick and Peggy ended their visit earlier as they saw that we had a lot to discuss. All of what happened today is too much for me. I am overwhelmed. I never wanted to involve my son in the world that brought me so much pain. I felt that my old scars that healed were torn open once again. Howard rested his hand on my back and slowly patted me, he was never one to express his emotions. This was his awkward way of confronting me saying that he would be by my side. Strangely, this small action made me feel relieved as always. His other hand grabbed the doorknob, I could see that he was also affected by his tight grip and hesitance to open the door.

Before he could open the door, the door opened by itself. Tony stood at the doorstep. He was already waiting inside the office looking desperate for answers. Howard guided me inside the office. The door snapped shut behind us. Let's do this. Tony deserves to know the truth. This family kept enough secrets.

"Mom, what is going on? Who are you? What are you hiding?" My son asks with the same blank face that I saw Howard many times, this made me nervous.

"Calm down Anthony. She is still your mother. Now give her time to talk. This is a difficult conversation that we were hoping to never need to have." Howard told Tony with a firm tone.

I took a deep breath and squeezed Howard's hand. I didn't even realise that I was holding.

"Tony, I will tell you everything but please leave your questions until the end of the story." I quickly spoke knowing my son too well. I see him nod. "Tony, you know how we never mention any family besides your parental grandparents. There is a reason behind this. When I was young I was disinherited from my family. You just learned that magic is real and that wizards have schools where they teach magic. However, they also have their government and laws. There is a whole world hidden from the eyes of non-magic beings or as they are called muggles. I was born into a family that is considered one of the Noble and most Ancient House, the Blacks. The Black are known for their dark magic and their inbreeding. Yes, they marry their cousins or siblings only to maintain the "pureblood". My birth parents are second cousins while my uncle and aunt are cousins. They hold blood in high regard. Unfortunately, my three sisters were blessed with magic but I was discovered to be a squib. Someone who cannot access the little magic that they have. So I was abandoned before I even turned 11. The only ones who even wanted to defend me were my older sister and my two cousins. It was ineffective, we were all kids, and here wasn't much that we could do. It was impossible to change my family's mind and if I had stayed with them I would probably be locked inside my whole life to not disgrace. So without a choice, I went to live in the muggle world. I found a good orphanage and tried to do the best of my life as a muggle. Andromeda, Regulus, and Sirius managed to secretly maintain contact with me until a war broke out. I haven't received a single message since I was 19, so I don't know what happened to them. So I was left all by myself until I met your father. I told him everything after our marriage and he believed me. Well, It was not that difficult because of what he saw in the war. He had some brief contact with magic, believe me, there are some interesting stories. So we stayed married and eventually, we had you. We always believed that you would be a squib like me until this changed today." I told Tony my life's story.

Tony stayed quiet the entire time despite me seeing that he wanted to interrupt me a lot of times. The silence was making me nervous. Is he mad at us for hiding? I blink, disturbed by that thought. When I opened my eyes, Tony was in front of me. He was wearing the same blank face but I could see that he was struggling to contain his emotions. His firsts we balled with such a force that his hands were white and his veins were apparent. His eyes were shut. I could see that he was trying to calm himself down. In the next second, he pulled me in a tight hug. Using the hand that I was holding Howard's hand, I pulled him into the hug.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that Mom." whispered Tony "If I ever met bastards..."

I felt relieved to finally be able to share that with my son. This is the first group hug that we had since Tony was a baby. I hoped that we could be just like any normal family. Maybe now that the secret escaped we could have a family without secrets. Well, at least to an extent.