AN: Eventually this is going to be a Harry Potter crossover but for right now its just background on my OC and the X-Men leading up to the Harry Potter part. I will warn you that I have never read the comic but am including a few characters from the comics who do not show up in the movies so I'm sorry if they aren't 'in character.' Please review, I'm trying to get it written a lot in advance but its kind of hard, reviews keep me motivated.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, the X-Men or Harry Potter and his friends whenever they show up, just Ashlyn.


Only This - Ashlyn

"There's only us, there's only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way, no day but today." RENT

Ashlyn Marlowe could never boast a perfect life. Her father was an abusive drunk and her mother was kept so cowed by him that Ashlyn grew to resent her. She never stood up for either herself or her daughter, so they both endured the beatings. When Ashlyn was thirteen she came home to find both her parent's dead, blood puddle around both bodies. The police quickly ruled it an obvious murder/suicide and the burials were arranged by the city. There were no relatives and the child would have to go into foster care.

The day of the funeral, Ashlyn slipped away and back to her house where she collected a few belongings and what money she could find and left, never looking back. She already knew that she was different, others hadn't noticed the things that happened when she got mad but she knew. The ground shook, the wind howled and it was all because of her. She was one of them and no family would want her, she was a mutant and she had to hide.

She was on the streets for two months, living scantly off of the money she had taken from home. The day after her fourteenth birthday a man named Joe Walker took her to his house to live. She was a trusting, innocent, and naïve fourteen year old and went with him, believing that he would take care of her. It turned out that he did take care of her and teach her things, he was a master swordsman and martial arts champion and taught her his own skills. But teaching her to fight was not all he did; he had a special liking for young girls and used her in ways that she knew were wrong.

She did not leave until she was seventeen. He finally did something so abase that she left in the middle of an earthquake and dramatic howling winds, she took a sword, a small bag of her clothes, and walked away. Later she couldn't be sure if it was her disgust with what he had done that drove her away or if she had finally come to her senses.

She was not free from him for long before she met up with a couple of particularly nasty mutants triggering intense self loathing. A man who looked more beast than man stood in the middle of the forest path that she was walking along. She knew immediately that he meant no good; she pulled the sword from her pack that was slung across her back and swung it once. He laughed at her, something that didn't sound so much like a laugh as a growl then from the woods beside her she heard a metallic sounding cackle. From the corner of her eyes she saw a blue figure step from the trees, she stepped back to keep them both in her field of vision.

The blue woman approached her gracefully but Ashlyn stopped her holding the sword out in front of her. Before she knew what was happening the woman leaped into the air and landed without a sound behind Ashlyn. The blue woman grabbed her from behind as the wind picked up; she wrapped her scaly fingers around Ashlyn's throat as the man walked up to them.

He swatted the sword out of her hands and grabbed her chin, the blue woman let go of her as the huge, hairy man grabbed her throat and let loose a roar that caused her hair to stand on end and the ground to begin rumbling ominously. She didn't flinch even as he raised her off of the ground and threw her to his left. She rolled down a steep hill bouncing off of rocks and landing with a splash in the shallow water of a pond. She felt the air turn dangerously cold and the wind began howling but she knew this time that it wasn't herself.

She couldn't get up; she was battered form the tumble down the hill, her vision blurred by the bump on her head and the mud that she lay in, her head aching with every move. The man-beast roared again as Ashlyn saw what appeared to be a flash of red. The world around her began to take on a gray tinge as she heard someone stumbling down the hill and lightning began to fork across the sky.

Suddenly the person was there and she was blinking furiously to keep herself conscious. A woman with kind eyes and reddish hair came into her view, "Its ok, you're safe now." She said softly, taking Ashlyn's hand gently.

Ashlyn passed out then, not able to keep her mind in the present any longer. When she awoke she was in a comfortable bed, in a nice warm room, the redhead with the kind eyes was holding her hand. She instinctually tried to sit up when she awoke fully but a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her from rising. "You're safe. You are at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted. I'm Jean."

Ashlyn lay back not relaxing, still tense, anxious to get somewhere she felt safe. The thought flitted through her mind that she didn't feel safe anywhere anymore. She looked at the woman who had called herself Jean, she looked safe, this room felt safe, but so had Joe Walker. She knew that she would simply leave as soon as she saw the chance, she would not stay somewhere that felt safe only to be used as she had before.

But Ashlyn let the first chance to leave pass her by; she was intrigued when told of the nature of this school, she wanted to find the catch, it seemed too perfect. A school for people just like her, where she wasn't a freak or different. Her second chance came but she had heard about a group of adult mutants that fought against mutants like the ones who had attacked her. It was like a team of superheroes and that was definitely intriguing. She even stayed when Professor Xavier offered to help her leave and find a job.

She had decided that she needed to stay, she needed to learn and she wanted to help. She was still a wanderer and left the grounds many times but never once did she think about not going back. She had finally found a place to call home. When she turned nineteen she became a teacher, she taught fine arts and self defense classes at night. Every night as she tried to get to sleep she wondered at the turn her life had taken. She had good friends that she would do anything for and she was certain they would return the favor.

When she turned 21 she began to get restless, she got a job in a town near the mansion and began saving up money. She needed to wander, to see the world through her own eyes. A year later she had saved enough money and went to the Professor with her proposal. She wanted to travel but she wanted him to know that she wasn't leaving the school; she only wanted to further her education. She persuaded him to send her assignments about the different places she went, and even to pay for all of her room and board. The Professor had always allowed her more leniency than the others due to her age and the fact that he held a soft spot for her as he did for all of his lost children.

She began planning the trip and soon was to be accompanied by Peter, who had become a good friend and a rock hard shoulder to cry on if ever needed. He was about her age but seven feet tall, with some sort of metal exoskeleton that he could form like armor, quite an interesting mutation. He was like a gentle giant and she found that she was happy he would be coming with her; he was like the brother she had always wanted.

They left on their world tour in April, completing assignments for the Professor, sending letters back to the children at school, and exploring everything. After almost a year Peter decided it was time to go back to Professor Xavier's but Ashlyn could not pull herself away from Italy. She had fallen in love with Sorrento, a small town on the Bay of Naples not far from Capri. She was a quick study with the language and got herself a job at a small flower stall; it paid enough for some food and her room and board with the old man that owned the stall. She was happy, she was in a beautiful town, she had people that missed her and that she missed.

After another year she heard about trouble back home, a revival of the Mutant Registration Act, an attack on the president, and a raid on a school covering for mutant terrorists. Angel, her good friend had heard about the trouble and wrote to her, he was not at the school but rather navigating his way through the maze of politics. He asked that she check on the school, find out if everyone was alright, he couldn't leave for fear of the politicians finding out his connection to the school. She immediately headed back to the States, concerned about the outcome of this so called raid and the students and professors from the school, determined to find them in one piece. Her surrogate family was in danger and for the first time in her life she was afraid of being left alone without the support group that she had grown accustomed to and so needed now.