Rogue sat quietly with her hands in her lap while Jean and the Professor discussed the best course of action. Apparently whenever she had bad dreams of that night on liberty island, or of the Stryker invasion they were awoken from their peaceful slumber. They hadn't said anything about the nightmares she would get from people she had absorbed and she was thankful. She actually preferred her own terrors over those of the others, it was always worse waking up as someone else. And personally rogue was starting to forget her life before she had come to Xavier's.

"Rogue?" Jean asked, bring rogue from her inner thoughts.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Were you paying attention?" she asked and rogue suddenly felt like she was back in class and had missed something important. She shook her head as Jean continued. "I had just suggested to the Professor that you and I take a trip, a vacation of sorts. We think a little time away from the hustle and bustle of the school would do you a world of good."

Rogue bit her lip as she thought about it. it couldn't hurt really, she might as well give it a try. "Where would we go?" she asked hesitantly, hoping it wasn't some tropical island. Ever since her curse had manifested she had had to keep covered at all times and it got quiet uncomfortable in the summer.

"Well I have a cousin in England who wanted me to come visit and Kurt expressed his wish to see you again, does that sound good to you?" she asked.

Rogue had always dreamed of touring North America after high school, but a chance to go to England and Germany was too good to pass up. plus she did miss Kurt, it was good to know they were in the same boat. They were both shunned, even from the mutant community, rogue for her life sucking powers and Kurt for his demonic appearance. She was even kind of excited that she had a brother, even if their mother was Mystique.

"Ah'd like that." she said with a small smile.

Jean and Xavier beamed. "Good, I already have your passports ready, you leave tomorrow." Xavier said. "Why don't you go ahead and pack?" he suggested.

Rogue took her cue and exited the office, shutting the door gently behind her. ever since Logan had left again she had been practicing her stealth and had even managed to sneak up on the Professor once, which was saying something. though if she were going to be honest with herself, he was busy scolding a multitude of Jamies at the time.

She made her way quietly down the hall to her room. about a year ago, after Stryker's attack, she had been given her own room due to her violent night terrors. She walked in and shut the door behind her as she surveyed her little sanctuary. It was actually one of the spear teachers rooms that they had allowed her. of course there had been an uproar among the students, each wanting their own room like hers. It had taken much reasoning and finally threats before the rest of the student body stopped lobbying for their own rooms.

She began packing her bag, deciding just one large suitcase would be enough. After all they probably wouldn't be gone that long; it was only a vacation, not a sabbatical. It didn't take her long to pack since all she really had were cool weather clothing, perfect for autumn in Europe. Rogue bit her lip as she wondered what she would tell her friends. after her nasty break up with Bobby she had been distanced from them. Apparently she had lost the break up, because as she looked out the window she saw them all lounging in the court yard. She decided she wouldn't tell them anything, if they wanted to know where she was they could ask Xavier.

She zipped her bag and sat on the end of her bed as she watched her supposed friends laugh and lounge in the remaining summer sun. it was almost November and thanks to Ororo, there was still nice and mild weather. Rogue on the other hand didn't have a chance to enjoy it with her need to be constantly covered. She looked away as her former boyfriend slung an arm around her former friend Lorna Dane. It wasn't widely known but Lorna was actually one of Magnetos three children. After rogue had found out from one of his random memories that she had absorbed, rogue just couldn't force herself to be around her. she could still feel the same magnetic pull her father created from her, though when she explained this to others they claimed they couldn't feel it. Xavier had said it was probably just a side effect of her absorption of the mutant terrorist.

Rogue spent the rest of the night in her room writing Logan another letter. She never actually mailed the letters partly because she didn't know where to mail them to and partly because it was more like a diary. The things she wrote in the letters were things shed have liked to tell him but didn't have the courage, she was a solitary person and preferred to keep her problems to herself. Logan had a tendency to want to solve her problems for her instead of her doing it on her own. She appreciated the effort but was put out when he missed the point of her telling him in the first place.

XxX

Rogue woke up to the insistent beeping of her alarm clock the next morning at four a.m. on the dot. Hers and Jeans plane left at seven and she wanted to be showered and fed by then. She threw her covers off of her and trudged her way to the attached bathroom. Rogue loved the feel of the scolding hot water on her skin, she liked to think maybe if the water was hot enough and she scrubbed hard enough that maybe her poison would just wash down the drain. She knew it was an impossibility but that didn't stop her from trying none the less.

After her shower she dressed and lugged her suitcase out into the hall and down the stairs to Jeans car. She loaded it in the trunk before going back into the mansion and into the kitchen. There she met Dr. Hank McCoy, he had come to join the staff about six months ago and helped Jean in the Med Lab.

"Why good morning young Rogue." He said merrily over a cup of coffee. "I see you are all ready for your trip."

"Yep," she said popping the p and walking over to the fridge. "Ah already loaded my stuff in the back of Jeans car."

Rogue pulled out the cream cheese and orange juice before setting them on the counter to retrieve a bagel, plate and a glass. It didn't take long to put her breakfast together and eat it. in that time, hank had left only to be replaced by Ororo who made herself a cup of tea before sitting down across the table from rogue.

"I hear you and Jean are going to Europe for two weeks." She said trying to start a conversation.

Rogue allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "Yeah ah'm excited ta see Kurt again." She admitted to the weather Goddess. Rogue always enjoyed seeing her smile, it was always warm and almost motherly sometimes. "So what are ya doin' up this early? Usually ya sleep in on Saturdays." She commented.

Ororo's smile disappeared only to be replaced by exasperation. "A friend of mine from New Orleans came in yesterday afternoon and decided bar hoping would be a good way to start off his stay here. I'm up early hoping to catch him before he stumbles into bed."

Rogue smiled as she imagined some poor soul trying to drunkenly doge lightning bolt from the angry wind rider.

"Rogue, are you ready? We need to get going if we are going to catch our plane." Jean said as she entered the kitchen with Scott in tow, carrying her bags.

"Yeah, ah'm ready, just let me grab my mp3 player real quick." She said as she deposited her dishes in the sink and darted toward her room.

She grabbed her mp3 player before rushing back out of her room. she was in such a hurry she ran straight in too a very hard and warm wall. she felt herself falling back from the impact but before she could land on her butt in an undignified manner, a pair of arms shot out and caught her. rogue let out a gasp of surprise at the sudden contact and looked up to see that her rescuer had the most strange and beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The Greek God carved from tan marble had red iris' and black scarla, they were hypnotizing almost.

"Desole chere, ah didn' mean ta knock ya over." He said and rogue realized he was incredibly close as she could smell the alcohol on his breath. He must be Ororo's bar hopping friend.

"It's okay, no harm done." She said trying to pull away.

He gave her a weird sort of smirk before leaning in and placing a kiss on her lips. Rogue tensed every muscle in her body before realizing that her mutation wasn't working and pushed him away. He stumbled into the other wall and gave her a confused look before she rushed off down the hall. rogue didn't look back as she ran through the mansion and into the garage where Jean and Scott were waiting.

She must have looked disoriented because Scott asked if she was okay. "Yeah ah'm fine." She assured him, putting on a fake smile. He nodded and gave Jean a kiss before she and rogue got into the car.

As they drove out of the gates and down the road, rogue wondered if she should tell Jean about her encounter this morning. Had she finally succeeded in washing her life sucking powers out of her skin? No, she couldn't. maybe it was his power, maybe he could turn off other peoples mutation. But she had never met him before so how would he know to turn it off in the first place. Did her powers just have a little quark in them this morning? Was she finally starting to gain some control?

She glanced out of the corner of her eyes at Jean who was concentrating on the road. It was times like this that she was thankful that she was a telepaths worst nightmare when it came to reading her mind. Something's were best kept to herself until she decided she wanted to share. Jean seemed to sense she was being stared at and turned to rogue who blushed at her rudeness.

"So there are a few things I need to tell you before we get to London." Jean started. Rogue suddenly had the horrible suspicion they had actually planned on leaving her in an institution. "My cousin is not a mutant," she started hesitantly. "But she isn't a human either."

"Is she a witch?" rogue asked.

Jean looked startled. "How do you know about witches and wizards?" she asked after a moment.

"Irene was a squib but she was also a mutant." Rogue told her. Jean was one of the very few people she had told about her life before Logan found her and Irene had been her guardian under Mystiques orders.

"Oh, well that makes this much easier doesn't it?" she said with a look of relief on her face. "Well we are going to visit her for just a few days before we go to Germany to meet Kurt." She explained.

"Cool." Was all rogue could think of to say.

It was a few more minutes before rogue decided it couldn't hurt to ask about what happened this morning, in a roundabout way of course. "Do you know who Storms friend is?" Rogue asked.

"Oh, Remy? Yeah, he is the son of one of her friends in New Orleans. She's upset with him because he went to a bar late last night and hasn't come back yet." She explained and then sent rogue a questioning glance. "How do you know him?"

"Ah saw him this mornin' before I met you and Scott ta get my mp3 player." She explained quickly, for some reason she was feeling guilty about it. "What's his power?" she asked trying not to sound too interested.

But Jean caught on that something had happened. "Rogue, did something happen this morning?" she asked carefully.

Rogue felt her face heat up and was sure she was beat red. "Well, um, ah." She stumbled over her words not sure how to tell her. "He kissed me, an' nothin' happened." She finally managed to spit out.

This was apparently the least likely answer Jean had expected. "You didn't absorb him at all?" she asked a little startled. Rogue just shook her head no, suddenly very embarrassed. "Oh well we are officially on vacation now so this can wait till we get back, right?" she said, obviously sensing rogues discomfort.

Rogue gave her a small thankful smile. "Right." She said.

A/N

I seem to be obsessed with x-men/harry potter crossovers. So please enjoy my sickness and review!