Muir Island
One Week Later
It had been a very busy week for Harry. At first they were obviously just easing him into things, living at the Research Center, adapting to the idea of being both a wizard and a mutant, and the daily check-ups as they were called, to make sure he was healthy. He was still, as Beast kept pointing out, a scrawny little git, but he wasn't in any danger of keeling over from starvation any time soon, especially not with the three square meals a day they were all feeding him.
The day after they got back from Diagon Alley, Wanda sat down with him and began to explain, in more detail, about the Wizarding world, and magic in general. He was allowed to ask questions, and he did quite often. To his everlasting surprise, Wanda never got upset over his questions, and she treated each as a serious and valid inquiry, never dismissing his question as being stupid, or not worth answering as a lot of his teachers from primary school treated him.
That afternoon, the books from Flourish and Blotts arrived, and Harry discovered the other side of the coin, as Wanda soon had him reading cover to cover all of the books that she called the "bare minimum basics, at the least" and wouldn't let him quit until he could give her a satisfactory summary of each book. She didn't expect and did not ask him for quotes or anything like that, and while he wasn't thick in the head, reading was not exactly something he could say he really enjoyed all that much.
Still, so long as he demonstrated that he understood what the book was trying to teach him, she let him stop for a while. During the breaks between books, she demonstrated more magic, most often the very thing he'd just been reading about so he would associate with it better. Harry Potter was more of a practical person than a theory-based wizard, she was discovering.
The day after that, Beast and Moira announced that Harry was fit enough to be tested on his control and the limits of what his powers were capable of. Which meant that after breakfast and his check-up, he spent an hour with Wanda on another book of magic, and then another hour trying out the practical for himself with his new wand. Then, lunch, which usually lasted about fifteen minutes, even with all the teasing and food-fights between the child and the childish. And after lunch, Professor X, Beast, and Moira approached Harry and asked if he wanted to test out his powers in the Danger Room prototype they had on site.
Harry quickly agreed, and soon found himself trussed up in a dark blue, skin-tight uniform with yellow boots, belt, and a pair of specially made goggles that Beast assured him was matched to his prescription. He entered the Danger Room alone at first and was told to walk to the center of the room, from where he could see the control room and they could see him as well.
"Now, Harry," Charles' voice came over the loudspeaker, "Our first test is simply to get a better reading on what your power can do. So for right now, I'd like for you to see if you can just figure out how to activate your powers at will. We'll try additional tests later on, but for now we'll start simple, all right?"
"All right," Harry nodded, and tried to concentrate.
It was actually simpler than he'd expected, half worried that he needed to build up to another towering rage, like he was against his... against Vernon when his powers had manifested. Instead, all he had to do was think about it and then it was just like moving his arm or clenching his fist. At first, it started slowly, the slow build-up of plasma around him, until the sparks started, which quickly evolved into electric arcs, and then the misty aura showed up, which soon reappeared as the same electric-fire aura that surrounded him completely.
"Incredible!" Beast remarked from the control room.
"Radiation spike," Moira commented from her own station. "But localized, and not spreadin' at all. Ah think tis just a reaction te the free-floatin' electrons Harry's plasma is sparkin'. Seems te be all across the board. Electromagnetic, Thermal, Visual, Ultraviolet, Particle, Beta, even a touch of Gamma radiation in there. Tis like he's stripping apart every atom of everythin' around him an usin' it te create a broad-spectrum plasma."
"Most unusual," Beast agreed.
"How do you feel, Harry?" Charles asked.
Harry shrugged, and answered, "Fine Professor. At first I thought I'd have to do something, but really, at this stage, it's like using another part of my body. I don't really have to do anything, I just do it."
"Radiation spike is climbin' the rads," said Moira urgently, "but stayin' localized. Amazin!"
"Harry, see if you can turn off your power now," Charles suggested.
Harry shrugged, and then willed the effects to stop, and just like that, they did.
"What the...!" Moira exclaimed.
"I know, I saw it too," Beast was just as startled.
"The radiation spike, all of it, everythin'... just gone!"
"The atoms reverted to their original state the moment Harry was no longer exerting his presence on them," said Beast. "Not even any trace left over. Extraordinary! Harry's using, for lack of a better term, clean plasma! I'll need to run further tests to be sure, but I can hypothesize that Harry is exuding some manner of aura, or force from either his body or his mind that is purposely exciting the particles and atoms of matter around him, creating the plasma almost as an after effect."
Professor X smiled, and turned back to his newest pupil, "Harry, we're going to try a few more tests, so if you would, please bear with us a little while longer." Harry just shrugged. After all, it wasn't like he had anything better to do, other than study magic with Wanda, and while that was fun some of the time, it wasn't all that he wanted to be doing day after day.
Soon he was learning more than just controlling his powers, but also learning how to use them, disciplining his control until he could control every spark, form a plasma mist, the full plasma flame, and he was even able to formulate a specific type of plasma, or rather radiation as Moira and Beast called it.
Before the afternoon was completely out, Wanda stole him away for some more magic tutoring, and then Beast and Moira had finally devised the tests they wanted to run on Harry, so he went back to the Lab for a bit more of that, and they learned a little bit more about his physiology and how his powers worked. Then it was dinner time, where those in residence, despite already knowing most of the answers, asked him how his day went and answered any questions he still had about things. They also told stories, some embarrassing, some terrifying, and some just plain funny.
In short, they did everything in their power to give Harry the family that he'd been denied for most of his life, all while helping him to better himself and take control of his destiny.
That was the pattern for the next week or so; waking up, breakfast, magic, lunch, Danger Room, magic, Lab, magic, dinner, going to bed. Then, something happened over in the States, and Professor X and most of the present X-Men had to leave one day. Wanda stayed behind, however, to continue his magic tutoring and to make him as fully prepared for the world of magic as possible.
Only those that either lived or worked at the Center were left, meaning Banshee, Madrox, Kitty, Forge, Dr. MacTaggert, Wolfsbane and Nightcrawler. Beast and the others had to go back with the Professor and the Center was much quieter for a time, though Harry's schedule remained the same, and Wanda's lessons grew more and more complicated as he slowly advanced in knowledge.
A week after his arrival, Harry was spending some time after his early afternoon lesson with Wanda walking along the beach that was a short walk from the Research Center. It wasn't exactly a prime vacation spot, as the stretch of sand didn't even reach a full mile, and it was more a collection of eroded rocks than an actual beach, but it was still a place of peace and quiet amongst nature, where Harry could be alone with his thoughts and try to work everything out in his head.
It was while he was tossing stones into the crashing waves that he finally took notice that he wasn't as alone as he thought he'd been. "Oh, sorry," he apologized the moment he noticed the rather striking barefoot woman standing a few feet away from him.
"That's all right," she replied with a soft British accent, picking up a stone herself and tossing it the same way he did. "You looked like you were thinking very intently."
"Yeah, guess I was a million miles away there for a second, wasn't I?" he grinned.
She looked at him, an expression of pure confusion contorting her face for a few moments as she replied, "No, you were right here. I was watching you. What were you thinking about? It seemed to make you sad... and lonely."
Harry looked at her, and for a brief moment wanted to scream at her that it was private and none of her business. Seeing how her hair seemed to almost wilt and her skin tightened up a bit, the impulse left him, and he sighed, turning largely back to his own thoughts.
"Mostly I was just thinking over how weird my life's gotten lately," he finally answered her, chucking a stone a bit harder than previously, sending it flying in a high arc.
"One day, out of the blue, I get my first letter, ever, from somebody I don't even know, even if it was just a school letter... it was mine. Then Vernon had to go and tear it up, and my mutant power manifested, and before I know it, I'm in a beautiful, wonderful place where the people are kind, they care about me, they want me to better myself, and to top it all off, I find out that I'm a wizard, and not just any wizard, but one of the most famous wizards there is. All because of something that happened when I was a baby, something I can't even remember, except through half-forgotten nightmares!"
The woman was silent for a time after Harry stopped talking, he continued to throw stones into the sea.
"And thinking about all that, it makes you sad?" she asked him.
"It scares me," he finally admitted. "I'm almost eleven years old... and all this has already happened to me. What's going to happen to me next? Will I find out some other great secret about myself that everybody but me knew? Am I an alien too? It's just... It's all just too much."
"You are... overwhelmed?" she seemed to be asking herself as much as him.
"You could say that," he sighed.
Looking at her again, he felt a sense of gratitude suddenly, and casually noticed how her cheeks grew rosy and her long hair shone with golden brilliance. "Uh, thanks for listening. I guess I just needed to unload a bit there. Where are my manners? Here I am, telling you all my problems, and we haven't even been properly introduced." He held out his hand, "I'm Harry Potter."
"I am Meggan," she answered as she took his hand with a smile. "You are a good person."
He blushed, and shrugged. He wasn't so used to getting compliments from beautiful women that he never quite knew what to do or say to them when they gave him one. Offhandedly, he couldn't help but notice that even as he looked at this strange woman, she seemed to grow even more beautiful.
"Uh, thanks, I guess," he finally mumbled. "You live here on the island?"
She nodded, smiling energetically at him.
"Well, I'm staying at the Mutant Research Center, at least for the time being. You ever been there?"
She nodded again, before answering enigmatically, "Yes. Moira is a good friend, and Brian likes to help her and her other friends out every now and again."
Feeling a momentary flash of jealousy that this beautiful girl already had a boyfriend, not that he was old enough for that kind of thing yet, he asked curiously, "Who's Brian?"
"Meggan! There you are!" a loud British voice called out from behind them. They turned and Harry saw the tallest, strongest-looking man he had ever seen walking towards them. He was almost as tall as Hagrid, but Hagrid was big all around, whereas this man mostly had big muscles.
"Hi Brian!" Meggan squealed before lightly leaping into the big man's arms. "This is Harry Potter."
"Ah, the infamous Mr. Harry Potter. We meet at last," the man smiled warmly, putting Meggan back on the ground as he held out his hand to Harry, who immediately took it, despite his own being dwarfed by the man's. "My name is Brian Braddock. I see that you've already met Meggan. I've heard a lot about you, from multiple sources. Wanda is quite taken with you actually. If you're not careful, she might adopt you some day."
"Can't really see that as being a bad thing, sir," Harry casually retorted.
Brian laughed.
"Please, call me Brian. So what brings you out here, this beautiful day?" he asked the young wizard.
Harry just shrugged, then finally answered, "Just needed some place quiet to think. About things."
Rather than warning him off, rebuking him, or even asking him about what he was thinking about, Brian just nodded his head, understanding, and said, "I see. Well, sometimes we all need a bit of time by ourselves to think things through. Especially after a traumatic event, like say being uprooted from the home you've known all your life and finding yourself here. Learning your a mutant and a wizard, all in the same day. And who knows what all else. If you would like, we can leave you be..."
"No, it's all right. Meggan and I were just introducing ourselves, and it's not like I claimed a stake at the beach or anything. Are you two living at the Center too, or are you just here on the island?" he asked. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"That's all right, Harry," Brian laughed again. "Fair's fair, I say. And actually, we're more... leasing here at the Center. It's not really our home, but it's where we're staying for right now. And we like to help out Dr. MacTaggert every now and again, when she needs it. OR sometimes it's Professor Xavier and his X-Men that we'll be helping out. Mostly, we just like to be available for whoever does need our help, when it's needed."
"Sounds brilliant," Harry commented as they began the trek back to the Center.
"Ah, Harry, there ye are," Moira exclaimed when she saw the young mutant walking in with two of her more powerful guests, "Ah was wonderin' where ye'd gotten yerself off to. Ah see ye've finally met Brian and Meggan. They're... guests I s'pose, here at the Research Center."
"Yeah, Brian told me all about it here. Did you need something Dr. MacTaggert?" Harry asked.
"Sorta," the auburn-haired doctor shrugged mysteriously. "Ah was wonderin' if ye'd care to come for yer afternoon session a bit earlier than usual. Ah've got somethin' that might impress ye."
"Cool," he said, trying out something he'd heard Nightcrawler use a few times, "Is it OK for Brian and Meggan to come along? If you guys want to, that is?"
Brian just shrugged and looked questioningly at Moira, while Meggan and Harry both had on their puppy-dog pouts. Moira just laughed at their antics, and nodded her head. "O'course they can come. 'Specially since it's yer session, and ye just invited them. They have te stay in the Control Room, though."
"Great!" Harry enthusiastically ran ahead on the path to the Danger Room.
Danger Room Prototype
"All right Harry," Moira's voice came from over the speakers while Harry himself stood in the middle of the floor, "This is mostly te test yer concentration. Remember when we had ye firin' plasma bolts the other day? Well this time, ah want ye to focus on hittin' the targets. Think of it as a shootin' gallery."
Harry frowned and asked, "What's a shooting gallery?"
The speakers suddenly cut off and he thought he saw some furious motions coming from the control room, but he couldn't make it out clearly. Finally, the speakers came back on, but this time it was Brian who was speaking.
"Don't worry about it, Harry. Just have fun and hit as many of the targets as you possibly can. It'll get harder the further you get, so be ready, all right? OK, here we go."
Moments later, a large holographic target appeared in front of Harry. Without hesitation, he formed and shot off a bolt of plasma from his hands, hitting the large target dead-center. It immediately disappeared and another target, a bit further away, took it's place. He quickly shot it out too.
"Here's where it gets harder, Harry," Brian warned him. "Now don't get frustrated if you miss. Each target will remain until you hit it, but also each target will be getting smaller and further away and generally just harder to hit."
Brian was right, Harry noted, as the targets grew progressively smaller and further away. He still had a bit of an issue with distance, as the plasma bolts would sometimes fizzle out on him before reaching a distant target. When that happened, he grew frustrated and concentrated harder, pushing more power into the bolts. Sometimes it helped, allowing the bolt to last long enough to hit, other times it made no difference as it just blew up instead of fizzling, still not reaching the target.
The fifth time this happened on a single target, Harry stopped. He realized that just pushing more plasma, more power basically, into the bolts wasn't working. He needed to think this through, like when dealing with Dudley and his gang. Sometimes just running away worked, other times avoiding them was best but not always possible. Yet other times hiding was the only option, and therein one had to do a lot of thinking.
After all, finding the perfect hiding spot is useless if the bullies see you going into the hiding spot, and some hiding spots were completely the wrong sort given a certain situation, so Harry often was forced think on his feet and to use his brain in such situations and rely upon more than just gut instinct as well.
Right now, the way his bolts worked, he just formed balls of plasma, and then threw them, somehow making them self-propelling too. While that could make for a big explosion he'd noticed, it wasn't good for target practice. In fact, the only thing that he was aware of that was good for target practice, was a bow and arrow. Safe to say any bow he picked up wouldn't last long, but maybe he wouldn't need to.
Arrows fly through the air because they're aerodynamic, the shaft and arrowhead allowing less wind resistance than a giant ball. His bolts were already self-propelling, so they perhaps could be self-guiding too?
"Everything all right, Harry?" Brian asked after the boy had been still for over a minute.
"Yeah!" he called back. "Yeah... I think I've got it now."
Then he raised his hand again, but this time instead of a ball of plasma, he began to focus it down into a thin arrow shaft, coming to a point at the tip. It was a bit different, not harder, just different, but pretty soon he fired his new type plasma bolt and it moved almost five times as fast, hitting the target he'd been missing before, almost as soon as he blinked. It switched out with a much harder and distant target.
"Cool," Harry decided that he liked Nightcrawler's word, and he fired off his new plasma bolt again.
Up in the control room, Moira was only just beginning to calm down, especially after she saw how Harry had demonstrated that he was beginning to learn how to use his powers more effectively all on his own without them having to come up with exercise after exercise and telling him exactly what to do. She almost allowed herself to feel a mother's pride, but restrained herself.
"He's doing very well," Meggan said to the auburn-haired doctor.
She nodded. "Aye, he is. He's also figured out how te increase the accuracy and speed of his bolts already. Ah was afraid he'd need somebody te go in and show'im how te do that. And he's made this kind of progress, on his own, within a week! And he's not even officially eleven years old yet!"
"It is impressive," Brian 'Captain Britain' Braddock was forced to admit, "but I think he can do much better. Harry," he clicked on the speakers while he made some further adjustments to the controls, "I'm going to move you up to the next level, this time there will be two targets, and you have to hit them simultaneously, all right? If you hit one and miss the other, they'll remain there until you do. Ready? Begin!"
"What are ye doin'!" Moira shouted. "He's not ready fer that! Ah wasn't plannin' on him doin' this kind of thing until tomorrow! At the earliest!"
"He's ready for it," Brian replied, pointing down at the Danger Room, where Harry was now blasting away with both hands, twin targets disappearing almost as soon as they appeared.
Soon, Harry began to sweat a bit, as his concentration was taxed beyond anything he'd ever had to do before now. Forming the arrow-bolts had been a mild challenge, but nothing to strain over. Firing them from both hands so that both targets were hit at the same time was a bit more of a challenge, but more in having to do it over and over again rather than doing it at all. Still, pretty soon he was actually improving his score as he never missed the target. He might miss the center, but he always managed to hit the target. After about ten minutes, a chime went out through the Danger Room and no more targets appeared.
"Nicely done Harry!" Brian complimented the boy, making him blush just a bit. "Ready for the next level?" he was asked. Harry just grinned and nodded his head, expecting three or four targets this time.
"This is going to be a bit different, and there's no time limit, as the objective is to do it right, rather than quick. It's still just two targets, but they're not going to appear next to each other every time. In fact, they'll be appearing randomly all over the room, but you still have to hit them simultaneously, all right?" Brian explained the level of the exercise.
Harry just nodded, setting his stance and sparking his plasma flame, the bluish-white aura that appeared around him whenever he was manipulating plasma fields. Soon, the targets appeared on either side of him. Pointing out both his arms, he fired and hit both dead center. Then the targets appeared in completely different locations, and it got progressively harder after that, as they did not always appear in his line-of-sight, so sometimes he spent minutes just looking for both targets and ways of hitting them at the same time.
Still, he managed to complete the course before too long, and he'd been getting ideas for a new way to fire his bolts that he wanted to try out. After the chime sounded, he asked, before Brian could even speak, "Can we try the next level? Please? I want to see how good I can be!"
Chuckling, the large blond man shrugged and looked over a Moira, who smiled wistfully down at the young boy, who was probably having the time of his life doing exercise! Finally, she nodded at the man, and he clicked on the speakers.
"Sure thing, Harry. There's one last exercise that doesn't have a time limit for it. We'll get that out of the way now, what d'ya say? All right, here we go. This time the targets will start off few, but they will exponentially increase for each one that you hit. First will be one, then two, then four, then eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on, got it? It's not a requirement that you hit them simultaneously, but see how close to that you can get, all right?" Harry nodded to indicate he was ready.
The first target was rather large and right in front of him, he didn't even bother and threw an "old-style" plasma ball at it, making it vanish. Then two medium-sized targets popped up, and he extended both hands and blasted them with arrow-bolts. Then, much smaller, four targets hovered a short distance away. Harry smiled as he tried out his new version plasma bolt that he'd just come up with.
It was actually two arrows twisted around each other, formed from one hand, and then fired so that about halfway to the target, they would split off and hit another two targets. Forming two of these 'twist-bolts', he fired at the four targets, and was pleased at how well his new technique worked out as all four were hit. Then eight targets appeared all around him.
Another thing he'd been thinking over was, did he really have to use his hands to shoot out plasma bolts? After all, the plasma was surrounding his entire body, so why couldn't it come out of his back, or his elbows, or even the bottom of his feet? Focusing on exactly where each target was in relation to his position, so he knew where to aim, he focused on the plasma field around him, until there was a corona of electric fire around him, and from there, numerous plasma bolts shot out and hit each target dead-center at the exact same time. The same happened with sixteen targets. When thirty-two targets appeared all over the room, he did the same thing again, but this time with the twist-bolts, and again, each was hit at the same time.
When sixty-four targets appeared, Harry took a moment to take a breath. He had little doubt that it could be done, but he wasn't sure of his ability to do so. Dudley's grades were a lot worse than Harry's in school, who usually brought home A's and B's, where as Dudley seemed to like his initials a little too much by bringing home D's and an occasional C in Sports. As such, Harry had always been punished for outshining his dimwitted cousin and never received any praise for doing well in his studies. Furthermore, the few times he did get compliments they were only from teachers, and it was when he disappointed them by not turning in homework, or missing a question that had been on the test, it was then that he felt the worst of all as he felt that he'd let them down in some way and that it was all his fault.
The X-Men, Dr. MacTaggert, even Brian and Meggan who he'd just met, they'd all been so wonderful to him, and he did not want to let them DOWN!
With a scream of effort and mixed emotions, Harry hunkered down and the plasma flame around him increased to five times the strength he'd had it at earlier. Then, with an effort of supreme will and concentration, individual lightning bolts shot out from the sun that was Harry Potter, and each and every one of the sixty-four bolts of lightning/plasma shot out and struck all sixty-four targets at the exact same moment. The same happened again for the next 128 targets, and then the 256 after that, and even the 512 after that! Unfortunately, when the counter hit 1,024 targets, Harry faltered again, not making to strike a single one until the plasma field around him ignited so bright and so hot that the automatic shutters around the control room blinded those inside to what was happening in the room. The radiation meter inside also detected that Harry's plasma was approaching readings to those of solar winds during a Solar Flare storm.
The cameras, thankfully, were still working, and seeing as they were holographic and made to work in outer space in a Solar Flare storm, the occupants of the control room were still able to view what Harry was doing, which seemed to be creating almost a thousand bolts of ball-lightning and then sending them out to each target before simultaneously striking them all once again. Then the targets increased to 2,048, and he did that again, but after that with 4,096 targets, filling almost the entire room with nothing but holographic targets, he could do only one thing, which is exactly what he did.
He blew up the Danger Room the same way he blew up his Aunt's house. As a result, no more targets appeared because all the holographic generators had been overloaded and blown up.
"What is this kid?" Brian asked, in awe as he watched the read-out.
"First things first, Braddock," Moira shouted, "Let's check on Harry, make sure he's alright!"
Together the three rushed into the Danger Room itself, and were more than a bit stunned to see just how badly it was damaged. Not that the Danger Room being damaged was a new experience, in fact it usually broke at least once a week, either from an over enthusiastic user, or from the general wear and tear of shooting out missiles and lasers and everything as the standard obstacle course.
Thankfully, as when Kurt found him in the crater that had been his Aunt's kitchen, Harry was completely unharmed, barely even dirty beyond a little sweat. As proof that his control was much improved, he was already conscious, where he'd been out for over two hours the first time he'd gone 'supernova', however the first words out of his mouth were more than a bit disconcerting.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"Harry, it's all right," Brian spoke first.
"Aye, he's right Harry," Moira added, "Tis nuthin we haven't had te deal with a hundred times over by now. Ye should see how the place looks after Wolverine gets done with the place."
"I... I-I'm sorry..." he said one final time, sitting up, looking around. "Did I... did I fail?"
Moira's heart was on the verge of breaking, but Brian started laughing, sparking a moment of fury at the callous Brit. Until he explained why he was laughing, "Harry! Fail? Are you having me on? You're the first one that's passed that exercise with the maximum score possible! Not even Cyclops, Xavier's first student, after his years of experience could do what you just did! You actually overloaded the system! Harry, you're some kind of whizkid to be able to do all this!"
"But..."
"Brian's right," Meggan chirped, smiling as means of making the boy not be sad anymore. "You did not fail. There was no fail. You also did not destroy the place, which you could have, but did not. You demonstrated your control and ability to use your powers in different and imaginative ways. You did not fail."
"Oh," Harry blinked, a bit stunned as he'd tried so hard to not fail, and where he thought he had, he suddenly found out that he did not fail, in fact he'd blown out the top record on his first try.
"C'mon, whizkid," Brian helped him to his feet, "I owe you an ice cream or two. Tomorrow, if you want, we'll start up on some physical exercises. If you're able to control your powers to this degree now, I look forward to when you're older and in better condition."
"Hey! I just got here a week ago! Why is everybody calling me a scrawny little git, anyway?" Harry mock-protested. Brian gave him a weird look, then laughed at the 'That was a joke' face the kid wore.
"I meant condition of your muscles and body. With the proper conditioning, we could have you ready for the Olympics before puberty sets in! Which reminds me, I need to get together with Steve, Logan and Thor for our monthly arm-wrestling match."
"Who're they?" Harry asked.
"Oh, just some friends of mine. I'll be sure to introduce them the next time they're on the island," Brian promised. "In the meantime, since Forge, Beast and Moira are no doubt going to be busy for the rest of the day, how about we sneak out of here to have a run on the village ice cream parlor?"
"YEAH!" Harry and Meggan both cheered.
Mutant Research Center Lab
Later that night
Moira wasn't sure if she needed it or not, but just to be on the safe side, she took a couple pills of aspirin and washed it down with a chug of the pink stuff. She was looking over the results of the testing on Harry Potter's Danger Room exercises.
Theoretically, with every other case of 'plasma' that the entire world had with it being biologically created, it more often than not had the habit of bursting into flame when brought into contact with open air, usually creating a variation of the 'Human Torch' effect as many called it. Even those that created plasma through various means of technology, if it was directed down the barrel of a gun or cannon of some kind, if exposed to an open atmosphere, it burst into flame.
Then along comes this ten-year-old kid, young for a mutant but not unheard of, and instead of generating the plasma internally, he converts all the matter around him into free-flowing ionic and non-ionic plasma that is comparable to star plasma! He creates his own personal Aurora Borealis and bolts of lightning and just an hour ago, he nearly turns himself into his very own astronomical star!
Thankfully, the damage was minimal. Forge and Beast were both hard at work repairing the prototype, and last she had seen of them they were both talking about adding in a few extra features they'd been thinking over since the last upgrade. There was a reason that Moira got the prototype Danger Room, while Charles got the working and tested model over at his school.
It wasn't the scientific impossibility of Harry's powers that had her so stressed, however, as when dealing with mutants, one had to come to expect the unexplainable as normal. It wasn't even how he seemed so dejected and ashamed of himself afterwards, though that was admittedly part of it. It was how developed his powers were! Most mutants, especially after manifesting the first time, usually have an adjustment period to go through, sometimes a week, sometimes a few years, time for them to get used to their powers, how they work, even how to control and turn them on and off, if that's even possible.
Harry had moved through that adjustment period in less than a day.
He'd manifested in the early morning, blowing up a house in Surrey. He woke up a few hours later in the observation ward, discovered he was a mutant and shortly after a wizard as well. Instead of denying either, he embraced both wholeheartedly and displayed a healthy amount of enthusiasm in wanting to learn more about both, the former in controlling his powers, the latter about learning more of his heritage and magic. By the evening, when they were giving him his check up, he was already demonstrating fine-control by creating a single spark between his fingertips and was starting to experiment on his own with what he could do.
Now... a week, a week after his powers manifested and he'd come to the Center, he was demonstrating full control over his mutant powers and was beginning to think outside the box and was displaying an innate ingenuity in how to further his mastery of them without any prompting from them!
According to Wanda, his magical studies were equally impressive, but nothing to make noise over. He read and understood as was typical for any boy of his age group and power level. He'd even done what she called, "A few basic spells." Spells that, as far as Moira was concerned, mimicked the abilities of telekinesis, psychokinesis, and transfiguration!
She needed to talk to Charles about this.
Turning from one computer screen to the next, she opened the line and within a minute, she had a live video conference connection with Professor X.
"Hello Moira, what can I do for you? Is Beast ready to come home yet?" Charles greeted her warmly.
"No, ye cannae have him back, I'm keepin' him all to meself!" she joked back. "This is actually about Harry, Charles. I want ye te have a look at somethin here." She then switched back to the first screen and transferred a few files over the secured connection. "These are the results of his latest Danger Room session."
"Top scores, not bad," Charles read.
"Not bad? Not bad! Charles, he damn near destroyed every record that was ever set fer the Target Exercises! We took him up te Level Thirteen, Charles! Thirteen!"
"That's not possible," Charles argued back.
"We dinnae run him through the Timed courses, only the actual Target Practice set. He hit every single one of'em dead center. Every bloody one! Now I'll admit, stationary targets don't happen very often in real life, but he still hit every single one in the bulls eye! Charles, the boy's a bloody natural."
"I'm forced to agree. Usually progress like this, even without the timed portion, isn't seen until the person has had almost a year to get used to their powers. Did Harry say or do anything unusual after?"
"Aye, ye could say that," Moira groused. "He apologized. Profusely."
"Well, I'm sure that..."
"We told him it wasn't his fault, and the next words out of his mouth was he wanted to know if he failed," she interrupted him. "Failed! Look at those scores, Charles. And he was tryin' so hard, and the first thing he does is apologize fer disappointing us and then askin' if he failed."
"I see that our young Mr. Potter has invoked your maternal instincts, Moira," Charles teased. "In the mean time, while we have him with us, we need to make sure that Harry has full control over his abilities. He leaves for school on September 1st. Much as I wish I could bring him to my school, both Dumbledore and Wanda insist that he needs to go to Hogwarts for his magical education, and I'm forced to agree. Wanda herself went to Hogwarts and nobody can deny her talents."
"That's the thing, Charles," Moira said, exasperated, "Harry's not just in control of his powers, he's almost advanced in their use! Ye said it yerself, those scores are of somebody with a year of experience. I don't know how he's doin' it, but tis clear that he's got control. Unless he wants te, or loses his temper somethin fierce, he won't be killin' or hurtin' anyone. I'm more concerned about his mental capacity, te be honest."
"Mental capacity?" he repeated, growing concerned.
"Charles! It's just not right fer somebody te be this beat down! Ah dinnae care what ye say about me feelin's fer the boy, but the way he's been actin', like he's waitin' fer the other shoe te drop, ah just don't know what te do about that," Moira confessed.
"I have a feeling," Charles comforted his friend, "that Harry is a lot more resilient than either you or I am fully aware of. I know there aren't a lot of other guests there that are the same age, but that doesn't mean we can't still be Harry's friends. Now, on another matter... is everything prepared?"
"Cake tis on its way, and presents are bein' bought, or made, all around. Have ye taken care of the guest list?" she asked.
"I've cleared everyone's schedule, and called in a few reservists to fill the vacuum for the day. Does he suspect?" he asked in return.
She snorted, before her temper flared once more. "Are ye kiddin'? It'll be more of a surprise te him than everythin' else we've given him already. Ah know of yer pacifist views, Charles, but isn't there somethin than ye can do, or maybe drop a line te somebody willin' te do somethin about those damned relatives of his?"
"Moira," Professor X chastened the doctor.
"All right, all right, ferget I asked. Spoilsport."
"Love you too. See you in a few days time." With that, the connection was closed.
TBC...