Title: Harry Potter and the Horcruxes' Quest

Genre: slight AU, crossover (HP/X-men), slash

Characters: Harry/Scott, cast

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine; they belong to their respective creators

Summary: After OotP, Harry decides to run away in order to train to be ready to face Voldemort. He goes to find the one person he trusted as a child: Scott Summer. Sparks fly. Spoilers for HBP and DH.

Note: This chapter has not been beta-readed and English is not my first language. I hope it's still readable.

Thanks to all of those who reviewed!

Chapter 12

Of course, by the time they were back from Diagon Alley, Harry determined that he had waited long enough out of the infirmary and, after a quick change of clothes, he directly went there, where Hank assured him that there was nothing wrong with Scott and that he would probably wake up soon. Harry was, of course, more than welcome to stay if he wanted to.

Harry took a chair and sat down beside the bed. It was strange, being in this position. Usually, he was the one playing Sleeping Beauty while his friends patiently stood at his side, waiting for him to wake up. For this, he began to have a newfound respect for them; it wasn't fun at all to be on that side of things.

After a few hours, he was more than willing to do anything it would take to be distracted and that was the reason he was awfully welcome to see Logan enter the place. He still was a bit surprised, though, with Logan hating being in a hospital wing ever more than Harry did; and knowing Harry's love for the place, it was saying something.

"Heard ye were back, kid," he said gruffly. "Things went okay in that world of yers?"

He was leaning against a wall and, for once, without his usual cigar in his mouth. That could have been because the last he had dared to bring that thing with him, Hank had had some very inventive threat for him, should he once again decided to show up with that damn cancer-inducing thing of his and, yes, these were his own words. Harry had had a good laugh when Logan had done nothing save put off the cigar and growl something about doctors and their abusing their powers.

"Sure. The horcrux is probably destroyed by know; I just have to wait for Griphook to send an owl in confirmation. I've had some words with my Headmaster, though. I don't think he's very pleased with me," Harry added with a sly grin.

"Ye think? It's not as if ye've been messing up big time with his plan for ye," the man said ironically.

He finally unglued himself from the wall and took a few steps to stand directly beside Harry.

"How many of these horcruxes left now?" he asked.

"Two," Harry said in a calm voice. "Nagini and me."

He wasn't looking at Logan anymore but at Scott, who was still not awake. Logan followed his gaze and observed Summers too.

"Ye know that yer death will be the last straw for him," Logan said quietly, for once.

"There is no other choice, Logan," Harry said, turning to look at him. "Voldemort can't be allowed to live and there is no other way. Trust me, if there was one, I wouldn't hesitate."

"I know kid," the man answered. "Ye proved that ye were ready to do whatever it takes to protect the ones ye love. If ye need to talk about it, ye know I'll be there. Not anyone understands what it does to kill."

Harry smiled at the offer, knowing how much Logan hated all that touchy-feely kind of stuff and, yet, was offering him a shoulder to cry on. However, he just shrugged.

"Techically, I did kill before even if it wasn't intentional. I wasn't the only one responsible, though," he said, remembering Quirell and how he had killed him with his bare-hand by forcing Voldemort out, turning his body to ashes. "I would have said that it was proof that I could kill intentionally and, therefore, taking Voldemort out but it seems I won't be the one to do so in the end so I guess it just doesn't matter."

Logan nodded silently and stayed for a little while, looking intently at Harry, trying to see if the boy was really alright with all of what he had say. When it became clear that Harry wasn't on the verge of breaking down, he simply headed out without as much as a goodnight.

After a while, Harry finally fell asleep, half-sitting on his chair, half-lying on Scott's bed. He didn't know how long he had been out when he felt a hand in his hair and woke up to see his lover looking at him, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Hey! You're awake!" Harry exclaimed before climbing on the bed, still being careful about doing anything too brusque.

He knew that Hank had said that Scott didn't have any other injury than the one Harry had healed, and that the unconsciousness wasn't the result of something that would still be hurting him when he woke up, but he preferred not to take any chance.

"You scared the hell out of me!" he chastised and Scott grimaced.

"Sorry," the mutant apologized. "How long was I out?"

Harry looked around to find a clock and saw that it was the middle of the night.

"About a dozen hours," he said, calculating mentally how long it had been since they came back. "Oh… I thought it had been longer."

Scott smiled.

"I bet you did. Tell me you didn't sit around here for twelve hours."

Harry shook his head.

"Okay, so I probably would have but Hank refused to let me enter the infirmary for a few hours so I read the letter I received before – and Remus says hi! – and went to destroy one more horcrux and," he added when he saw Scott ready to reprimand him for taking risks. "I took Ororo with me so don't even think about it!"

"Alright. So there is only one horcrux left. That snake you say Voldemort possess."

Harry nodded. God, he hated the lies but he had to follow through them.

"Yeah, that's right. Soon it will be totally finished."

"And when it is, you can show me your world," Scott said, already looking forwards to seeing all these magical things that Harry had grown up with.

Harry smiled at him, making it seem like he was excited about it too but, on the inside, his heart was breaking because he knew that it was never going to happen.

"Yeah, I will. But, for now, just sleep already because, if you don't, Hank will have my head on a platter and how am I supposed to defeat a dark lord if I'm already dead, huh?"

Scott chucked at that and acquiesced. He wasn't too keen on having to sleep in the infirmary but he knew Harry was right. Plus, he was really tired, even though he had basically spent the last twelve hours sleeping. God, he hated it when he was unconscious. Thankfully, it didn't even take him ten minutes to be back into dreamland.

Harry went back to his room and settled for the night. He was finally going to have a good night of sleep. Was it strange that it would be easier to sleep knowing that his impending death was even closer than the day before? Because, now that he knew where all the horcruxes were and that all of them save for the last two were destroyed, it was easier for him to find sleep.

The night passed quickly for Scott and, when he woke up, it was still very early morning. Harry wasn't there yet, so he assumed he had to have gone back to his room after he fell asleep and, seeing that he was fine, he would be going too.

He quickly left the hospital wing, knowing that Hank wasn't going to be very pleased with him but, seeing that he didn't have any injury left, he saw no reason for the blue man not to want him to go.

It was maybe early but it didn't mean that everyone was still asleep. As it as, a lot of the X-Men were already up and about, having been to bed earlier than usual the night before, because they were exhausted from their adventure.

When he passed by, he heard Harry's name coming from Rogue and Kitty's room and, knowing that he shouldn't do it but letting his curiosity get the better of him as he didn't know what had happened the day before, he edged towards the slightly open door to hear what they were saying.

"How do you think Harry is feeling right now?" Kitty was asking.

"What do you think, Kitty," Bobby interrupted – and maybe he ought to have a chat with that boy about being in his girlfriend's room so early in the morning. "After what he did… god, I know I would feel pretty awful if I was him."

Scott frowned. What were they talking about?

"I don't know how he feels," he heard Marie say. "But I think that Logan went to talk to him last night, to make sure he was alright you know so I think he must be… well, maybe not totally okay, but at least that he will be in time."

"Still," Bobby took over again. "I can't believe he killed Sabertooth."

Scott nearly gasped at that, which would have given his presence away. He just couldn't comprehend what Bobby was saying. Harry couldn't have killed him, could he? He had said nothing to him when he had woken up but it couldn't be true.

"I was surprised too," Rogue told him. "But he didn't hesitate. He pointed his wand, said two words and Sabertooth was dead. I don't think that he could believe it."

Deciding he had heard enough, Scott left, not wanting to hear the rest of the conversation, still unable to understand that Harry could have killed someone in cold blood. He didn't hear Rogue say that he hadn't had a choice, didn't hear her say that it was the only thing to do and didn't hear her say that it was the only way to save Scott's life.

Scott went into his room and dropped on his bed, the echoes of the conversation he had just eavesdropped still fresh in his mind. He just couldn't conciliate the image of Harry, his Harry, with the killer Rogue had described. And yet, yet he knew that she hadn't been lying. After all, why would she? It wasn't as if the others hadn't been there. They may not have seen the scene like Rogue, but they would have known that Sabertooth was dead and that the wizard was the one who had done it.

He was left alone for a while before his door opened, revealing none other than the boy who was occupying his thought at the present moment. He took a second to take in the joyous demeanor and nearly had to bit his lips to avoid screaming.

"Hey!" Harry greeted. "Hank told me you had slipped away so I thought I would find you here."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Scott asked in a cool voice.

He wasn't sure about why he was reacting like that. He knew that sometimes they were forced to do things, things they would never have done otherwise, but knowing that Harry had killed someone… he just couldn't stand the thought. It was strange; he knew that Logan had killed more than one person in his past and it didn't bother him at all, but that wasn't the same.

"Tell you what?" Harry asked tentatively, stopping his progression when he gathered that Scott was mad at him for some reason.

"That you have killed someone!" he exploded.

Harry bit his lips. He did have the intention of telling him, but he hadn't wanted to do so when they were in the infirmary. Besides, it wasn't as if he had had a choice. Of course, Harry supposed that Scott hearing it in the mansion wasn't all that surprising after all; lots of people were talking about that.

"Sabertooth? I was going to tell you sometime today."

"Why the hell did you decide that killing him was a good idea?"

"When there was no other choice!" Harry said, his voice rising too.

"There is always a choice, Harry," Scott said, his voice dead quiet. "You chose to put an end to a life. How could you do that?"

So that was it? He was responsible for Sabertooth's dead because he had wanted to do it? That was what Scott thought? He thought that he had willingly chosen to kill someone, even though there were other choices? Tears rose in his eyes but he kept them at bay for the moment. He wasn't going to cry in front of Scott.

"I never thought you would judge me like this," he said softly.

"And I never thought you would kill in cold blood," Scott countered.

Harry held his star for a few more seconds before giving an imperceptible nod and leaving the room, hoping in vain to be called back. When that didn't happen, he closed the door behind himself and, without being able to keep his tears from falling anymore, he made his way to his room. He didn't stop when he passed in front of his friends, not even when they called after him, worried, but he locked up his room.

He heard the others try to open it but they soon realized they weren't able to. However, in his distress, he had forgotten all about Kurt and Kitty's powers and the young girl phased through his door, only to come to a halt when she saw the states of the room.

"You're packing?" she asked incredulous. "Harry, you're not going to leave!" she exclaimed.

He turned to her, his face damp with tears, and stopped what he was doing to sit down heavily on the bed.

"Then what am I supposed to do, Kit?" he asked, sounding so lost that she quickly ran to him, sat down at his side and took him into an embrace.

He went willingly and was soon weeping his heart out, holding onto her like she was his safety boat.

"Why do people keep turning on me on a whim? I thought he was different," he sobbed out and Kitty was barely able to make out the words.

The pain in his voice, in his heart, however, was so easy to read that she understood at once what she and the others had been missing for a while.

"Honey, when you said that you had someone, you were talking about Scott, weren't you?" she asked quietly and, regaining a bit his composure, he looked at her through the water in his eyes.

Silently he nodded and she closed her eyes for a second.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie."

Harry shrugged, finally able to breathe normally again and not crying anymore. He was still hurting like never before but the storm had passed. Kitty let him be for a little while, knowing that the last thing he needed now was to be crowded, but she still had to ask.

"Harry, you're not leaving, right?"

Harry saw the hope shining in her eyes and he smiled sadly at her.

"I need to get out for a little while. But," he said as she was going to talk again. "I'm not packing. I'm leaving all my stuff here so I have to come back at least to take it. And if- if I decide to leave, I promise you that I will come and say goodbye and not just leave without saying anything, alright?"

She didn't look all that convinced but she could understand where he was coming from. Scott had hurt him pretty badly and, considering their relationship, it was really bad. However, she had a feeling that, if Scott had turned on him like Harry said, it meant that the other man had no idea of what really happened, that he had only heard bribes of it and made his mind without having all the facts; he would probably have been more rational and looked at all the pieces if it hadn't concerned Harry.

She made him promise that he would do as he said and left the room first, telling the others to get out of the hallway. Harry needed to take some time alone, outside, to think and he didn't need to be questioned. Then, she told them what had happened – letting out the fact that both men were lovers, as it wasn't her place to tell – and they decided that Scott needed a wake up call before it was too late.

"We can't all go, he will think we're ganging up on him," Kitty said.

"Shouldn't we?" Bobby asked, not very happy with the turn the events were taking.

Rogue shook her head. No, it really wouldn't do. Their leader wouldn't want to explain himself in front of a bunch of kids. It was a one-person job.

"Rogue should do it," Kurt intervened. "He would be more willing to listen to her than any of us."

Even though the young woman in question wasn't exactly convinced of that, she accepted to do it because she wanted to help Harry and the last things all of them needed was a fallout like that in the team. Especially since they would have to act against Voldemort very soon and that the wizard would probably go alone if he was at odd with Scott.

Determinately, she knocked on the door and heard the field leader's voice telling her to enter. She did, took one look at him and realized that he didn't need anyone to scream at him to make hum understand he had messed up big time. He was apparently already aware of that particular fact.

"How much did I fuck up?" he asked and Rogue took it as a testament of how upset he was for him to be willing to swear in front of one of the student.

"Let's just say that you're very lucky Kitty was able to stop him from packing and leaving," she said bluntly.

Scott took the blow without flinching. He wasn't overly surprised that his lover would simply leave without telling him, not after what he had said to him. Still, he couldn't understand what had happened that day.

"Why?" he asked the Southern belle. "Why did he do it?"

Rogue understood the question without needing anymore explanation and looked at him, sadness written in her eyes.

"Because it was the only way to save you," she told him gently. "Sabertooth was going to kill you and Harry didn't have any other choice."

"Oh," he said, biting his lips. "What do I do now?"

"Now?" Rogue repeated. "Now, you wait for him to come back and you grovel. He's going to forgive you but god, fearless, next time, talk to him before jumping to whatever conclusion alright?"

Scott nodded and thanked the young woman. He watched her leave and stayed a few more minutes on his bed, trying to figure how he was supposed to apologize but, quite frankly, he didn't know if anything would be enough. So, instead, he made his way to his lover's room, swallowing with difficulty when he saw the bags and clothes everywhere, some of the latter already inside of them, and sat down on the bed. Now, he just had to wait for Harry to come back and hope that the young man would once again forgive him for hurting him.