(Author's Note): Thanks for the support. Didn't expect to get so many favorites and follows for the first chapter of my first fanfic. Hopefully some of you will leave a review after this as well.

Harry was trying his absolute best to implode through sheer force of will, being under the scrutiny of five people after three months with nothing but newspapers and his increasingly manic thoughts for company was just as awful as he expected. They were all currently sitting in silence in a diner that was mostly empty. One of the four kids, Sofia believed her name was, was currently visiting with a friend of hers or something based on the interactions he had seen with her and an older black man named Derek. The other five of them, Harry had been doing his best to be a non-entity, torn between trying to give them the slip and maybe being a person again, had decided to get something to eat. Currently they were waiting for a waiter to take their orders, trying to coax Harry into a conversation.

"So where are you from Just Harry?" The question came from a woman who'd introduced herself as Danielle Moonstar, she'd insisted on him calling her Dani though. This was also a question she'd asked earlier, to which Harry responded with "here and there. Mostly there."

Harry let out a long sigh as he finally gave in, there was no point in being clammed up like this. He could tell Dani wasn't going to stop talking to him till he gave in and he supposed it was rather rude of him to neglect the other kids, all of who were a little older than him. Especially since the tall black one, David, had given harry his hoodie, insisting Harry couldn't be comfortable in the rags he was in.

He took a drink of water and cleared his throat, trying to clear away some of the rasp before speaking. "I'm from England. Surrey. South of London. Well I was from there. I think it's more appropriate to say I'm from nowhere now. No one really wanted me there." The rest of the people at the table were a bit surprised that Harry had willingly replied, they'd all tried and got little more than yes, no, or a thank you.

The Asian woman, Shan she said her name was, chimed in, "I take it that your parents didn't take well to you being a mutant then?"

Harry took another drink of water, suddenly realizing how dry his throat was. When was the last time he'd had something to drink again? A few days ago?

"Aunt and Uncle. My parents died when I was a baby." Harry thought carefully about how much more he was willing to tell them all for now, opting to simply tell only part of the truth.

Laurie, the blonde girl quickly responded, "I'm sorry Harry. That's awful"

"It's fine. I made my peace with it a long time ago." He looked down at the table before turning back to Shan. "To answer you question, no they didn't. They like being "normal." I was anything but that in their eyes. I didn't spend much time with them the last few years though. Just summers. My parents had set up for me to go to the boarding school they went when I was eleven."

David asked the next question, "What school?"

Harry almost hit himself, regretting mentioning Hogwarts even vaguely. "You've probably never heard of it. It's a school that provides for a very specific group of people and doesn't teach anything other schools do." Harry's mostly solemn expression faltered as he spoke, his eyes sinking in and taking on a haunted look. Everyone could tell that line of questioning was done.

Kevin, the boy Harry thought was "Goth" but didn't seem to completely match the gloomy demeanor Harry thought was associated with them, spoke next. "So how long have you been…"

Just as he began trailing off Harry replied in a surprisingly chipper manner, "Living like a hermit that dresses in filthy rags, eking out a meager existence by foraging from the dumpsters behind supermarkets, slowly descending into newsprint fueled madness? About three months. Give or take a week or two." The rest of the table froze for a moment, taken aback by the sudden liveliness the boy was showing, before bursting into mild chuckles at his rather candid description of his living conditions. "It's not that bad by the way. Sometimes you find apples that aren't those disgusting red ones. Sometimes you wind up sleeping in places like behind concert venues. Though I wouldn't recommend my policy of not talking to people whatsoever unless you absolutely can't avoid it. You wind up fixating on odd things looking for human comforts. Personally, I've developed a rather unhealthy connection to a pile of newspapers I was using as a bed." More chuckles came and went quickly as they fell into an awkward silence at the fact that there really wasn't much to laugh at in Harry's words.

Shan spoke up again, "So, do you know about the Xavier Institute"

"For higher learning? Yes, I do, read about it in my pile of newspapers. Is that where you all are from? Would make sense as I don't normally see groups of mutants be accosted by men in funny body armor or rather slimy looking men that have razor blade attachments on their wrists."

Dani shot an irritated glance at Shan and leaned over to whisper, "Come on Shan, be careful. We don't want to spook him." She turned to Harry and smiled warmly. "Yes. We were here looking for a possible student and for Sofia to meet with her guardian."

"That's nice…" Harry knew what she was going to ask next.

"Would you like to come with us to the school? It's a place for people like us to be safe. Where you can learn how to use your powers safely." Harry nearly laughed at the irony of his situation. Freed from Hogwarts just when the school had gone from a home to a prison only to find himself at the doorstep of a school quite similar-to it not too much later.

"…Would I have to stay? If I didn't like it?" Harry decided that it couldn't be as bad as Hogwarts and if it was really his choice to be there then there's no reason why it wasn't worth a try, right?

Dani's smile seemed to brighten a bit, "It would be your choice entirely. Even if you didn't like it there I'm sure we could find you somewhere to live at the least."

Harry looked down, trying to decide if it was worth taking the chance.

Laurie spoke up, "You should come Harry. We'd help you get used to things. Right?" She looked to Kevin and David who both nodded and spoke in agreement.

"Definitely."

"For sure."

Before Harry could respond the waitress finally arrived to take their orders, leaving Harry a moment alone with his thoughts to try and work through his options. He sat for a few minutes before Dani put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, the waitress was giving him an expectant look. After apologizing several times, he ordered a hamburger and tried not to let his embarrassment get the better of him. When the waitress left them, Harry took the opportunity to change the subject from him coming with them.

"If you all are mutants that means you have mutant powers, right? Or is that rude to ask about? I'm not well versed in the do's and don'ts of this."

Shan responded, "No, you're fine Harry. It's a fine question to ask. My power is psychic possession, it lets me take control over people's bodies and treat them as extensions of my own. I also have some more general telepathic abilities as well."

"Handy." Harry tried not to react strongly to the idea of someone not only being able to read his mind but also put him under what sounded like an even more powerful Imperius curse. Shan didn't seem like people he'd associate with either of those anyways. She seemed nice. Inviting.

Dani went next, "I can project mental illusions from people's minds. Usually their greatest fears. Sometimes greatest wants. I can do a few other illusions."

"I wouldn't recommend doing that to me in front of others then, assuming other people can see them. I have some rather dark fears." Harry kept a smile the best he could, this was another power that brought back harsh memories. She could generate the same effect as a boggart at will. While they weren't capable of everything he could do, assuming he still had his wand, they had access to abilities that were still incredibly dangerous. Joy.

Dani's smile faltered a bit and gained visible concern, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

Kevin went next. "I have a death touch that I can't turn off. I touch anything organic and it starts turning to dust."

"Oh, that must not be very fun. I'm sorry." Harry felt genuinely awful for Kevin, if he couldn't turn off a power like that there's no way he could touch people. It also explained how he didn't have any bare skin at all besides his neck and head.

Kevin gave a grimace, "It's okay. I try to think of it as a gift. I'm gonna learn to control it and become an X-Men." There was a weight to his words that Harry knew meant that he had a history.

"Something tells me you will." Harry gave the best smile he could muster. He wasn't the only person at the table who'd had struggles obviously. That made him relax a bit more. Misery loves company after-all.

Laurie explained her powers next. "I have pheromones that let me control people's emotions. I don't have great control over them right now though, so I usually just make people feel what I'm feeling on accident." Harry took note that like Kevin, Laurie obviously had some history with poor control over her powers or something with the way her expression changed as she kept speaking.

David went last, "I have a sort of telepathy that let's me know everything that the people around me know. Makes figuring out what I know and what other people know pretty hard sometimes."

"…Seems like all three of you have it hard with your powers." He turned to Dani and Shan, "And I imagine that both you must have had issues at first. Mutant powers don't seem to be something very fun for anybody. Harry felt awful, he'd been more concerned with the implications of Shan and Dani's powers as destructive forces and not how they struggled with them. Hearing the three people his age detail the fact that it wasn't all fun and games and their abilities could hurt them just as much as others. He'd been alarmingly quick to worry about the possible dangers two of the people who seemed to be genuinely concerned for him posed to him. If he was foolish he'd chalk it up to his current state from living on the streets for so long, which he knew wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things and in comparison to the years others had found themselves homeless for. If he was honest he would blame it more on the last year of his life and his ever growing disconnect from other people.

Dani and Shan shared a look. The kid they'd happened upon had some obvious baggage. Dani spoke next, "So how about you Just Harry? What can you do? Kinetic blasts?"

Harry thought for a moment, trying to find a way to word things that wouldn't lead to questions he couldn't easily avoid. "No. Well, yes. Seeing as you saw me do that. It's more that I can… do things." Harry once again felt a need to hit himself, this time for making himself look so stupid.

Laurie giggled in response, "Do things? Like what exactly? That's not much of a description Harry."

"I know. Sorry. I just didn't know how to sum it up so easily like you all did…" Harry figured he'd continue telling only partial truths as that seemed to be working so far. "When I first started having things happen I thought it was magic. I turned my teacher's wig blue when I was in grade school. Another time I was being chased by… a group of other children who weren't very fond of me and suddenly found myself on top of the school roof. The best way I can describe it is that when I'm particularly emotional or want something done with all my being then it happens. At least that how it was for a while. It's different now. I'm not sure how to describe it to you all as I don't perfectly understand it myself."

Before anyone could respond their food had arrived and Harry was quickly scarfing down everything on his plate, much to the amusement of everyone around him. Dani turned to Shan and motioned for her to follow her to the bathroom before excusing herself.

Shan quickly stood to do the same before turning to the three students watching Harry eat, "We'll be right back. Try and make sure he doesn't choke okay?" Harry barely noticed any of the interaction, too focused on eating food that wasn't overripe and actually cooked.

Dani was leaning against the bathroom door waiting for Shan, "I think he's a reality warper. Like Wanda Maximoff."

Shan nodded in agreement, feeling the assumption was warranted. "It's pretty lucky we found him like we did then. Powers like what he described are incredibly dangerous in untrained hands, let alone a teenager." She then turned to see Harry coughing as David was patting him on the back, Laurie and Kevin unable to suppress their laughter. "He's a good kid though. Perceptive too."

"Were you reading his emotions?"

"No, not consciously. But he's putting out a lot of heavy emotion it's hard to block out, which is weird as I'm not that strong an empath… Whatever he's been through Dani, it's a hell of a lot more than what a kid his age should have experienced."

XXXXXX

Several hours later, Harry found himself outside the gates of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The four kids had run ahead and were speaking to a woman that Laurie had called mom. Dani wasn't too far behind them. Shan had stopped with Harry in front of the gates, waiting for him to pass through with a smile.

Harry turned to her and let some of the doubt that was swarming in his head show on his face, "Dani wasn't lying right? I can leave anytime I want?"

Shan put a hand on his shoulder, noting that he was trying not to flinch as she did so, and spoke warmly. "This school is a choice Harry. Your choice."

Harry looked away from her and towards the school, "I don't think I've ever gotten to make a choice like this before." He took a deep breath and walked through, quickly being noticed by the rest of the people he'd arrived with.

Laurie stepped forward as he approached and gestured at him while speaking to her mother. "This is Harry mom. The boy we met."

Harry smiled as the woman extended her hand for a handshake which he reciprocated. "It's nice to meet you Harry. My daughter was telling me you got her and everyone else out of a sticky situation."

Harry scratched at the back of the head and tried not to blush, he was still so awful with praise at all. "It was nothing ma'am. I just did what anybody else would do in that situation."

Sofia chimed in in response, "I do not know about that Harry. Not many people other than mutants can send a grown man flying like you did."

Harry shrugged in response, "Probably a good thing that's the case."

Everyone present made small talk for a moment when a man and two children came through the front door quickly followed by a bald man. The two children quickly ran to Shan who gave them both a hug as they started rambling on about a million things at once. The man instantly reminded Harry of Dumbledore. He wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Good to see you all back." He then turned to Harry, though he seemed to be speaking to Dani at first when he opened his mouth, "I see you managed to find a prospective student after-all? My name is Charles Xavier. This is my school."

Harry was uncomfortable. Something about this man set him on edge. "It's nice to meet you sir. I'm Harry. I was told that… this is a place for mutants. To be safe. And learn." Harry was once again forced to remember the irony of his situation.

"It is. Why don't we go up to my office and discuss this further there?"

Harry turned to the rest of the people gathered, his anxiety suddenly feeling like it was going to swallow him.

David spoke with a smile, "We'll see you later today, alright Harry? I need my hoodie back after all."

"We'll give you a tour!" Sofia's exuberance was instantly infectious, making Harry felt a bit better, even more so when everyone else he'd met earlier nodded in agreement.

"Dani, Shan, would one of you mind coming with us? I imagine Harry might be more comfortable if he has at least one somewhat familiar face around."

Dani nodded in affirmation and followed with Harry in tow. Shan and her siblings followed soon after that. leaving Shan with her younger siblings and the other teens with Laure's mom.

XXXXXX

Later, Laurie, David, Sofia, and Kevin sat watching the stars on the lawn near the gate to the school.

David broke his gaze from the sky and turned to his left to look at Laurie, who was blowing dandelions. "So, Laurie, I didn't know your mom lived nearby."

Laurie picked another dandelion as she spoke, "She moved here when I came to the school. She gets worried about me."

Kevin chimed in from his spot next to her, "That's really awesome of her."

Sofia spoke next, "I agree. Having family nearby is a great thing." She picked a dandelion herself before focusing a bit and causing a small gust of wind to blow through the weed. "Do you think Harry is going to actually wind up going here? He seemed so conflicted about it."

"I hope he does. Seems like it would be good for him. He looked so scared a few times when we talking to him." Laurie was twirling the stem of one her already blown dandelions as she spoke.

"I think he will. Besides, he was talking to us quite a bit when we on our way back here." Kevin was watching Laurie rather intently now as she twirled the dandelion.

"Did any of you notice how he barely said anything about himself though? Whenever we asked a question he'd either not answer it or give an oddly vague one that only seemed like part of the truth." David was looking back up at the stars now, a contemplative look on his face. "He seemed like he was trying his hardest to say as little about himself as possible, even though it seemed like he wanted to say more at times."

Sofia's face took on a doubtful expression, "Maybe you are just over thinking things David. He was living on the streets in New York City of all places. He probably just needs some proper rest and will be much more open about himself."

"He probably just needs friends more than anything. People that make him feel comfortable." Laurie was still messing with the same dandelion stem, trying to hide a blush from noticing how often Kevin was sneaking looks at her.

They all sat in a comfortable silence before Shan walked up to them. "The Professor was hoping to see you all. He wanted to speak to you about something."

The four of them stood and began following her back into the school, Kevin running up beside her. "So, is Harry going to stay?"

Shan smiled, "You can ask him when we get to the professor's office."

They all walked in silence till reaching the door to the professor's office. Inside Harry was speaking with Dani and the professor, who all turned to look at them.

"Ah, good. I have two things to speak to you all about. First, I thought you all might be interested in knowing that Harry has officially decided to enroll here." The adults in the room watched with a smile as the four of them crowded around Harry, speaking animatedly about how glad they were he'd decided to stay.

"Second. I've also decided to institute a new policy of sorts, where every student has a faculty member act as an advisor of sorts for them all. Shan here recommended, and I happened to agree with her, that the students should choose their advisor."

The five of them quickly made clear they wanted Danielle as their advisor. "Alright, alright. I get it Charles. I'll be a teacher here."

"Excellent. Just one more matter before I let you all go. David, would you be willing to have Harry as your roommate?"

David smiled and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "No problem professor."

Harry quickly interjected, "You don't have to do that David, really. You're not obligated to me or anything"

"Harry, it's fine. I said yes right? C'mon, let's go get you settled in. Maybe see if we can find you some clothes other than those rags and my hoodie." Harry blushed in response as he nodded.

Kevin opened the door for them and spoke, "I might have some things that fit, or at least fit better than what you have David, you're a lot bigger than Harry or me. We can stop by my room." David lead Harry out the door with Sofia and Laurie close behind before Kevin walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Dani, Shan, and Charles alone in the room.

"They seem to have bonded quite quickly." The professor leaned back into his chair and sighed. "I suppose we should discuss how we're going to get him to open up more. He was very sparse with the information he was willing to give me. He almost seemed like he was going to absolutely insist on not giving us his last name."

Dani folded her arms and responded dryly, "We should give it time professor. He's probably exhausted and probably will be trying to get used to life here. The kid was on the streets and seemed like a deer in the headlights a lot of the time I've talked to him."

"I'll trust your judgement Dani. I just hope he realizes this is a good place for him to be. If he really does possess abilities like Wanda's as you suspect, then I have no doubt the name Harry Potter is going to start attracting attention from the wrong sort of people."

After that the professor said his goodbyes to the two of them, leading to them starting to walk back to their rooms. Shan spoke up soon after they left the office after noticing the look of deep thought on Dani's face, "Harry will be fine Dani. He's already made some great friends and we'll be sure to help him out. Just give him time, like you said."

"I know Shan. There's just something about him though. He went through something, something awful, recently at that."

Shan stopped in front of Dani and put her hand on her shoulder, "Lot's of kids here have Dani. A lot of the adults too, us included."

"I know Shan, but I think it's something much worse than what even Kevin went through. Something on the level of what we went through when we were in the New Mutants."

Shan's eyes widened, "Dani, he's definitely got some baggage but he's just a kid from England. Not some refugee from some hellscape."

"Dani, you're the one with empathic ability. Watch him a bit closer, when he thinks people aren't looking. There's this look in his eyes. He's haunted."

XXXXXX

Later that night, Harry lay in a bed that was all his own, reveling in the feeling of just having taken a shower after months without one. David had insisted he keep the hoodie and Kevin had given him a pair of pajamas to wear and some clothes for the next day, Harry hadn't tried to protest, knowing at this point the two of them were rather tenacious. David was in his bed on the other side of the room, reading a book. Harry crawled under the covers, still praying that he wouldn't suddenly wake up in his pile of newspapers any moment. There were definite complications that awaited him being at this school, but even after just mere hours of interacting with people again he quickly realized that he couldn't go back to how things were just this morning. Especially now that he'd taken a shower.

Harry lay still for a bit longer before speaking up, noticing that some of the rasp in his voice had cleared up, "Hey David."

David lowered his book and looked at Harry. "Yeah Harry?"

"Thank you."

"I feel like I should be the one thanking you Harry. You're the person who saved Laurie and helped us all out big time." David had sat up and turned to face Harry now, prompting him to do the same.

"I know… but thank you nonetheless. It might sound weird, but you all did a big favor for me today. I don't know how much longer I could've kept living like I was to be honest. You all really helped me." Harry was trying hard to keep eye contact, David deserved at least an attempt from him to remain engaged.

David smiled. "It's no problem. That's what friends are for right?" He laid back down and went back to his book, leaving a wide eye Harry to himself.

"You're right… that is what friends are for…" David quirked an eyebrow from behind his book and shot a glance over at Harry.

He was staring at the ceiling, fists clenched tight and tears streaming down his eyes, a few catching on his scrap metal glasses.

(Author's Note): Another chapter down and Harry's officially part of the school. Next chapter will be entirely original material and will start exploring all the implications of Harry being the person to save Laurie and not Josh. Speaking of which, all you Elixir fans don't have to worry. He'll be in the school soon, but things are going to be very different with Harry currently firmly cemented in the place he normally fills and Kevin still around. Butterfly effect and all. A few other surprises will be in there as well.