How the hell did this happen to him? One minute he's fighting Kaecilius and saving the world from Dormammu, and the next he has a kid! Stephen Strange was not a kid person. He didn't treat them; their brains were in development and a needle in, say, the Locus coeruleus, could leave them in a permanent state of panic for the rest of their lives. He didn't like them; they were too loud and unruly. But now, there was a scruffy-haired British kid with broken glasses and clothes that were way too big for him silently sitting in the main room. Stephen rubbed his head and sipped his tea.

Flashback

Kaecilius and Strange were Sling-Ringing across the world, the dark-dimension-powered magician running from the enraged sorcerer, throwing bolts of magic and moving random things into Strange's way. Cars, bins, plates, a cream pug with a black face which landed on his head and licked his cheek. Stephen put the little dog on the floor and used his sentient cape to fly over Kaecilius and land in front of him, lifting the debris around him to form a circle around the two. "Why do you insist on stopping me, Strange?" Kaecilius waved at the little town. "All these people are doomed to die. The power of the dark dimension will enable us all to cheat death-AARGH!" Kaecilius and Strange both grabbed their heads in agony.

"What is this?" Strange groaned.

"How can this be?" Kaecilius yelled, using his inner eye to peer into the astral plane. He saw waves of unbridled energy coming from the house to his right. In a cupboard under the stairs, a young boy, probably 7 or 8, was lying on a ripped mattress, nursing multiple bruises and weeping. With every sob, another wave of magic convulsed out of his body, apparently unbeknownst to the poor soul. Kaecilius felt a pang of pity, which was quickly stomped down by his rage. "It's a child!" he shouted, forming a ball of energy to destroy the source of his pain.

"No!" Stephen shouted, gritting his teeth and taking them into the mirror dimension, saving the house. The explosion hit Strange, knocking him out. Kaecilius sling-ringed out of the dimension, leaving the sorcerer supreme unconscious.

When Strange came to, he exited the mirror dimension to see the townspeople staring at him incredulously. He looked around at everyone, before his eyes locked onto a small boy in oversized clothes, bruises dotting his arms. Strange tapped into the power of the Eye of Agamotto, turning back time to remove all signs of his fight with Kaecilius. People quickly started walking backwards into their homes, cars and debris flew through the air, back into their places, and a pug leapt backwards through a window and panted happily. Once everything was back in place, Strange cancelled the spell and sling-ringed back to Khamar-Taj, lying on the floor and panting after the expenditure of his energy. The Ancient one peered over him, smirking. "I take it he got away?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Do, 'huff', do we have, 'huff', a spare room?"

"Yes, why?" she crossed her arms. Stephen laughed weakly.

"After all this is done, we're probably getting a visitor,"

Back to present

"Petunia, could you get the door, dear?" the morbidly obese Vernon Dursley called over his shoulder to his physically opposite wife. "And get that freak out of the way," he smiled meanly. Petunia grabbed 8 year old Harry Potter by the ear and thrust him into his cupboard under the stairs.

"Absolute silence, boy. Do you hear me?" Harry nodded vigorously as the door slammed shut and the latch put on. Petunia opened the door with a fake smile on her face.

"Good afternoon ma'am, my name is Dr Stephen Strange. I'm here to discuss business with your husband. May I come in?" A man with a well-kept beard in a black pinstripe suit and a nice golden watch smiled at her with a hand outstretched.

Petunia almost choked. This man had to have been rich! She shook his hand and nodded. "Yes, of course. Please, come in!"

Strange looked around at the meagre house, unused to normalcy for most of his life, but still feeling a little unwell in the Surrey house, as if something was pushing against his soul. "A lovely house you've got here, Mrs Dursley," he remarked politely as he was sat in the kitchen and handed a cup of tea.

Petunia beamed. "Thank you, though I'm sure it's nothing compared to yours, doctor,"

Stephen laughed lightly. "You'd be surprised,"

Petunia laughed melodramatically. "Ah hah hah hah! You're too funny, doctor! I'll just go and get Vernon for you," she walked into the living room and whispered into Vernon's ear. "Vernon, there's an American doctor in the kitchen who wants to talk business,"

Vernon Dursley never moved faster in his life. He shot up from his chair, wiped all the crumbs off his sweatshirt, patted his hair down into a formal style and wiped his greasy hands on a nearby cloth. "Petunia, we just may be rich," he stepped into the kitchen, and the well-dressed man stood up and held out his hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr Dursley. I'm so sorry to bother you on a Saturday , but this is a matter of urgency,"

Vernon shook the man's hand and chuckled. "Oh, no bother at all, my good man. What can Grunnings Drill Manufacturing do for you?"

Strange laughed cunningly. "Nothing. Apologies, but I'm here on personal business,"

Vernon's face dropped. "Really," he almost growled.

"Yes, I'm here concerning a young boy I saw around here the other day. Small, thin, black messy hair, round glasses. Any of this ring a bell?"

Petunia went pale, and Vernon went red. "I assure you, sir, I have no idea what you are talking abo-,"

"I'm a rich man, Mr Dursley," Stephen lied. "Do you know how much power rich men have?"

Vernon balled his fists. "Are you threatening me?"

Stephen stood up, easily towering over the portly man. "Oh, you'll know when I'm threatening you. Why don't you stop lying to me and bring me the boy?"

Petunia sighed and buried her head in her hands. "Fine, I'll get him," she spat the last word, as if it was a dirty topic. She went back to the cupboard under the stairs and grabbed Harry by the shoulder. "Look presentable, we have a guest who wants to see you, freak," she whispered aggressively into his ear. She plastered on a nervous smile and lightly pushed Harry into the kitchen. "This is Harry Potter, our nephew," Stephen's eyes widened at the sight of this poor boy. He was in the same clothes as when he last saw him, and they didn't look at all washed. Bruises littered his arm, and the sorcerer had no idea if they came from this loud-mouthed family or bullying that they chose to ignore. His hair looked greasy and unkempt, as if it hadn't been washed in years. The boy was thin, almost anorexic, with bags under his eyes the size of an apple and an age behind his deep green eyes that he shouldn't have.

He knelt at Harry's eye level and smiled. "Hey there, Harry. My name's Dr Stephen Strange. I'd like to talk with you if that's OK,"

Harry looked at his shoes. "I'm very sorry, sir,"

Strange raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what?"

"People only come to see me if I've done something wrong, to punish me. Whatever I've done, I'm sorry and I'd be happy to fix it for you," Harry meekly explained.

Stephen turned on the Dursleys and had to use all of his self-control not to banish them on the spot. "Did you do this to him?" no reply. "This is disgusting. You do know that this is a human being, right?"

"He is a freak!" Petunia screeched. "He deserves everything coming to him,"

"Nobody deserves anything like this!" Strange retorted, rage filling his voice.

Vernon turned redder than a stop sign on a fire truck flying the Chinese flag. How dare you come into my house, yell at my wife, threaten me, and question our parenting skills! I have half a mind to call the police on you right now!"

Strange growled, then his face went neutral. "OK, go ahead,"

Vernon smirked. "I will. Right now," he picked up the phone and dialled the first 9.

"And while you're at it, you can confess to the child abuse and neglect you have put this child through," Strange crossed his arms and leaned on a door. All colour drained from Vernon's face.

He put the phone down and turned around. "What do you want?"

The sorcerer supreme smiled. He'd won. "I want to do everybody a favour. You clearly don't like the kid, he's clearly unhappy here. I'm willing to take him off your hands,"

Petunia Dursley's face went dark. "You're one of them, aren't you? A freak, just like him!"

Stephen shook his head and chuckled. "I assure you ma'am, the only freakish thing about me is my hands," he held his hands up to show the scarring from his car crash. "Now, do you accept my offer or not?"

Vernon and Petunia turned their back on him and Harry, and Strange caught a few frantically whispered words, like 'freak', 'wards', and 'waste'. He frowned, but looked down at the frail little thing stood next to him, who was looking up at him incredulously. "Are you really going to take me away?" he whispered.

Strange ruffled the boy's already messy hair, and knelt down to his level. "Well that all depends on what you want," Harry looked shocked. "If you want to stay here with your aunt and uncle, I won't stop you, but if you want to come with me, I promise you won't be treated like this ever again,"

Vernon coughed into his hand and Strange got back up, scowling into Vernon's scowl. "We have decided that you should take the boy,"

Harry's eyes widened and looked up at the bearded sorcerer. Stephen smiled. "Thank you for making the right decision. Harry, if you want to come with me, go pack your things, we'll leave in a couple of minutes," he felt something wrap around his waist, and looked down to see Harry hugging him tightly, before running to his cupboard and grabbing what little things he owned, stuffing them into an old backpack.

Vernon and Petunia looked at each other, and the long-necked woman nodded at her husband. "You should know," the fat man began, "that boy isn't normal. He does things tha-,"

"Things that can't be explained?" Strange finished, chuckling. "I know. That's how I find him. See I'm from a school in Tibet where we teach people how to wield and control powers beyond that of physical prowess. Harry has a lot of Power in him, and I want to show him how to control it so that nobody gets hurt," their eyes widened. "Don't worry, with any luck you'll never see me or him again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be getting back. You ready, Harry?"

"Yes sir," a small voice called, and Strange smiled at the terrified couple.

"Alright then. Goodbye, sir, ma'am," and with that, Stephen Strange put on his sling ring, formed a golden circle of magic, took Harry's hand and walked through, leaving a terrified Vernon and Petunia Dursley quivering in their boots.

Harry almost fainted when he walked through the orange arch, appearing in a Tibetan monastery, surrounded by three people in what looked like pyjamas with a belt. A bald Asian man looked at the sorcerer supreme. "When you said you would be bringing a visitor, I was expecting your friend Miss Palmer,"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Come on, Wong, there's a kid here,"

"I did notice," Wong replied, deadpan. "You know we cannot train children, Strange. They are still developing, it could harm them,"

"He's not here to train," Stephen replied as if it were obvious. "He-," he looked down at Harry and lowered his voice to a whisper. "He has a natural power, like our magic. I brought him here so he won't be able to hurt anyone," Wong didn't miss the glint in his companion's eye, he just chose to ignore it for his sanity's sake. He looked down at the little boy who had shrunk behind Strange's leg slightly. He felt a pang of pity for the poor soul.

"We will talk about this later. For now, you had best take him to his room," Strange nodded and walked away, little Harry in tow. "And change out of that suit!" he called after the former doctor, who waved his hand, his suit disappearing and revealing a blue Gi, similar to the clothes the others were wearing.

Harry's eyes widened in amazement. "Um, sir?" he meekly asked. Strange smiled down at him kindly. "Sorry, but what is this place?" he shrunk back the moment he asked, expecting to be punished.

Strange chuckled. "Right, sorry, I never explained it to you. This is Khamar-Taj, a monastery where we practice the mystic arts," he opened a door to reveal a spacious room with a double bed, a bathroom, a desk with a light, and a wardrobe. "This is your room. It's not much but it's a damn sight better than what you had before, so… yeah," he didn't think it would be enough for the boy, but Harry's eyes widened and he smiled wider than he had ever smiled before.

"All this… is mine?" Strange nodded, and Harry sat on the bed and pushed his hands into the soft mattress. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked, looking around his new room with wonder.

"You have an incredible power within you. The problem is, you don't know how to use it, so you'll get outbursts. Has anything weird ever happened to you, when you were angry or scared?" Harry nodded slowly. "We think that that's your power forcing its way out. I think that with some meditation and being in a safe environment, you'll have fewer outbursts, if any," Stephen noted the confused expression leaving the boy's face. "Any more questions?"

"Um, yes sir. What will I do about school?"

Strange stopped in his tracks. "You want to go to school?"

Harry shrugged. "I like to know things,"

Strange smirked. "I like you. As for tutoring, I'm a doctor and a genius. I can teach you whatever you need to know until then,"

"What about my, uh, power?" he blushed a little about referring to it without being called a freak straight after. "Will you teach me how to use it?"

Stephen sighed. "What we do is dangerous. I'm going to talk to other masters later to see if you are ready to learn, but it's not likely. Sorry, kid," he expected the kid to be sad or something, but Harry just smiled.

"Okay. Thank you for all of this, sir,"

Strange felt a tug on his heartstrings as the boy he saved from those… people… smiled up at him. "It's no problem. I'll leave you to get used to your new room," Strange left the young boy sitting on his bed. Harry lay back on the bed that was bigger than his whole room. He was in a whole new place, surrounded by whole new people who didn't seem to like him. It was weird, and a little scary, but something about the man who had saved him put his mind at ease. He sighed, and closed his eyes, and for the first time in 8 years, he slept without nightmares

Now, I know where I want this to go, but I'm not sure if I want to take it there until I've completed my other fics, so I'm going to put a poll on to see what you guys think. I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have, whether they are about my fics or just me, just hit me up with a PM and I'll see if I can get back to you! Please R&R, and I'll see you next time!