DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: "It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion."

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STORY NOTE: As with most of my newer stories, Hogwarts students start at age 14, not 11. Also, again this is set inside my Ironheart version of the MCU. Obviously to marry up with that, the HP parts have been moved up. So Harry was born in 1996 and Voldemort was cast down in 1998.

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CHAPTER ONE – WEIRD SCIENCE

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PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) – French Enlightenment Era philosopher, writer and historian – 1694 – 1778

LAST UPDATED ON: 05-20-2020

MRC LABORATORY FOR MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, LONDON – JUNE 11th, 2010 – MORNING

"Slow down Mary-Jane! We've got all morning to do this. Besides they did tell us a lot of areas require us to be escorted," Harry said with a sigh at the retreating back of his ginger friend.

Surprisingly his American friend actually listened for a change and she skidded to a stop and turned with a cute pout. "Harry Potter; human buzz-kill."

Harry chuckled, "Hey someone has to keep a wayward Colonial in line. Who knows what might happen if you run amuck? Tea thrown in the Thames?"

Mary-Jane made a face, "More likely I'd pull you out of another World War."

Harry waggled his finger at his friend, "True, but only after you show up late per the usual!" The pair had been making American vs. England jokes since then met in their first year at Stonewall. While coming from different worlds, they had a lot in common as both lived alone with their respective aunts.

Mary-Jane reached out and took his hand, "Come on Limey; I know we don't need an escort for the computer lab. You should like that, right?"

Harry sighed again but she was right. The University of London just had to have the latest computers and he was especially keen to see them.

Harry's mind wandered a bit as he let his friend drag him down the hall. A lot of people thought Harry as a bit of a shut in. He rarely left the house when he wasn't at school. Harry didn't play any sports and mostly ignored kids his age. Certainly, he helped around the neighborhood, mowing lawns and the like but most of the neighborhood around Privet Drive knew Harry could usually be found at home.

While the neighborhood gossips had many theories, they'd never grasp the truth. A truth Harry himself would have found hard to believe himself if he hadn't witnessed it firsthand. For all of his love of science and computers, Harry knew he had magic coursing through his veins.

A magic which had killed his own uncle.

Vernon had been gruff and maybe a bit too liberal with the belt when Harry was a child, but his uncle never treated Harry any different than his own son Dudley. Thus, it still haunted Harry that Vernon died because he tried to break up a fight between Harry and his cousin.

While Vernon might have had a short temper and even trended towards being verbally abusive at times, Harry knew Vernon had tried hard not to be like his abusive father. Dudley, however, seemed to channel not only his grandfather but his Aunt Marge as well. Affection, discipline, the belt and counselors did little to slow Dudley down. Worse, as Dudley became more anti-social, he quickly became paranoid that Harry was the favorite of his parents. This kicked off a year of sniping which grew into violence.

Harry watched as Mary-Jane chatted with a fellow schoolmate who was also looking for the computer lab. She had been a big help getting him over the tragedy even if she hadn't known him till he started at Stonewall a month after Vernon died.

He unconsciously fingered his neck. Harry sometimes thought he could still feel Dudley's hands around his throat as he tried to throttle him. The manic look in his cousin's eyes still haunted his dreams. Often times the eyes glowed red so similar to one of his oldest nightmares. The glowing red eyes with the screaming which ended in a green light which always woke him up.

Harry knew Aunt Petunia knew something about that dream but she kept telling him he'd learn more when he got his Hogwarts letter.

A letter Harry had thought he wouldn't get to see as his cousin seemed bent on strangling him. It might have been that thought, that feeling of regret about never learning about magic, the birthright of his parents, which sparked the accidental magical burst. It was just bad luck that Vernon had burst into the room and was trying to pry his son's hands-off Harry when it happened.

Harry looked away from Mary-Jane so she wouldn't see him wipe away the tears that always came when he remembered. While it had been magic, Dudley and Vernon might have well had grabbed an electrical cable. Dudley merely fainted but Vernon was obese. He'd been trying to lose weight but it ran deep in his family. With it came a weakened heart.

A heart Harry dealt the final blow to.

Worse was as Vernon lay dying, gasping for air as he clutched his chest, he hadn't blamed Harry. Only told him not to let this destroy him. How he had a power few had and that he shouldn't turn away from it because of an accident. Vernon had made Harry promise to do so before he died.

And yet here he was, three years later, mostly a shut in with his books and computers because of the guilt and the need to keep his aunt company. Petunia had taken Vernon's death very hard. This was made worse when her own son had to be committed. Aunt and nephew quietly worked to pick up the pieces of their life, but it had not been easy. As Harry wiped the remains of his tears on his trousers, he knew Aunt Petunia often cried herself to sleep.

"Harry!"

"Hmmm?" Harry looked back with a start.

Mary-Jane looked at him crossly, "Off in the clouds again?"

Harry tried to smile but he knew Mary-Jane knew he'd be remembering that day again. She always did. "Sorry…it just hits me sometimes."

Marry-Jane's face softened before she grinned, "Come on tiger! Let's go cheer you up. Now that I know where to go."

Harry smiled in return. He always liked it when she called him tiger. Even if it was because of his fondness for his cat Fizzgig. Mary-Jane had once said he must be part tiger to get Fizzgig to behave as he did. Little did his friend know that the tiger-like pattern on Fizzgig was the least of the oddities given how she was actually a kneazle. Mrs. Figg had gifted her to him after the death of his Uncle to help him deal with the grief. If anything, Fizzgig dumbed down around Mary-Jane.

The two followed the other student down the hall, but Harry came to a stop as they passed a corridor which led to another series of labs which apparently dealt with radiation given the signs. For some reason, Harry felt a tug. Something down there seemed to be calling him.

"Hey Mary-Jane, can we take a quick detour?" Harry asked

Mary-Jane looked at the signs and shrugged. "Sure, although I think we see this later in the day. But yeah, it looks cool. Dad would have loved this!"

Harry smirked, "Your dad was sort of paid to love this sort of stuff. I mean that is why he was on the plane with Dr. Parker."

Unlike Harry, Mary-Jane was much more over her parent's death and mentions of it rarely bothered her. "Yeah well I think even Mom would have thought this was neat. Sure wish Peter could be here to see it."

Harry laughed as they started down the corridor, looking through the windows at the various labs filled with working scientists. "I'm sure Peter is perfectly fine. I mean he got that summer intern spot in the Baxter Building project! While not a slot, there are kids worldwide who'd sell their mother to get a shot like that!" While never having met Mary-Jane's old school friend in person, Harry and Peter had become friends via emails, Facebook and Skype.

Mary-Jane smiled but it was tinged with sadness. "I hope he finds some new friends. I still feel like I sort of traded Peter for you after Aunt Anna got her London job."

Harry chuckled, "Oh you mean one anti-social, shut-in orphan living with his aunt for another?"

Mary-Jane made a face as she punched Harry in the arm lightly, "Don't go there, tiger! We orphans living with our aunts need to stick together…even when on different continents and…"

Mary-Jane never finished her statement as she stumbled into another student. The two almost fell but Harry quickly reached out to steady the pair.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going!" Mary-Jane cried out.

The bushy-haired girl just looked at Harry in surprise, "Wow! You have good reflexes! Thanks! And no worries; I wasn't paying attention."

Harry let go of both girls and held out his hand, Harry Potter, Stonewall High. This is my friend Mary-Jane Watson also of Stonewall."

The girl shook his hand, "Hermione Granger, City of London Girl's School."

"Oh, how is that? My aunt threatens to send me there all the time when I'm bad." Mary-Jane asked.

The bushy-hair girl laughed showing some large front teeth in the bargain. "Well it's not a penal colony but yes it can be strict. I think quite a few of the girls were sent to be 'reformed' but that's not likely to happen. The place is less reform school and a lot more liberal arts."

Harry turned to look at what had interested the girl to the point of not seeing Mary-Jane coming. "Whoa! Those are some big spiders!"

"Aren't they though? I'm glad they are on the other side of the glass!" Hermione said.

"Amen to that!" Mary-Jane agreed.

Harry looked at the lab with interest. One part of it was devoted to what could only be called a spider hive with various spiders, all large, which were crawling around. He wondered what they were doing to the spiders given that there were a lot of radiation warning signs. For some reason, that nagging feeling that Harry felt seemed centered on this room.

OoOoO

The acromantula was vigilant. For weeks, it had despaired ever returning to its home. For while fed and kept warm, this 'nest' lacked the power. A power the acromantula craved and missed from its home in the forest. Bad enough to be caught but to escape into such a powerless place! Worse was the hot light the powerless creatures who kept it captive sometimes shined on it.

But now, the spider could feel some of that power nearby. One was throbbing with power. Some of its blood would fill the empty space inside it. Maybe enough to escape to try and find home again. It had already escaped the nest and was just waiting for the powerless ones to leave. Then it would seek the power.

OoOoO

"I'll catch up in a second, okay? It looks like they're finishing up and I want to see if I can ask a question when they do." Harry said.

Mary-Jane shrugged, "Fine. Well Hermione and I will save you a seat. I'm betting a lot of people are heading that way."

Harry just nodded as he turned back to look into the lab as the girls left as they chatted animatedly. He had mostly ignored the two girls as they got to know each other. While Hermione wasn't an orphan living with her aunt, it was odd to find out she was living in a flat with her nanny. From the things Harry had overheard, it sounded like Hermione was practically an orphan given the amount of time she spent with her parents.

As Harry had hoped, the two scientists finished up with whatever they were working on and grabbed their coffee cups and made their way to the door. With a buzz of security, the door opened.

"I'm telling you Frank, that spider is trouble. It keeps getting out and we still don't know what species it is!" one of the scientists said as he fumbled with his security card in putting it back in his shirt pocket.

"And I'm telling you, Stanley that Mr. Osborne doesn't care. He wants results and I think the radiation protocols have shown great promise and we…oh hello! Can I help you?" said the scientist when he noticed Harry.

"Uh hi, I was just wondering, will this area be on the school tour later? It looks absolutely fascinating," Harry asked.

Frank and Stanley looked at each other. Frank shrugged but Stanley shook his head, "I don't think so kid. This area is pretty restricted. In fact, I can't understand why they didn't shut this wing down for today. You might want to try the 3pm lecture on radiation and mutations. That's about as close as I think you're going to get."

Harry's face fell but he nodded, "Thanks; I'll do that."

With a nod, Stanley turned to Frank, "I'm telling you Frank, we need to get into gear with this!"

Harry watched as the two went down the corridor arguing. It was obvious to him that their boss was putting the screws on them for results. It was also obvious that neither had noticed that the security door had failed to fully shut behind them.

Harry looked around but didn't see any security cameras or any other personnel. Odd given the level of security Stanley implied, but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? With a wry grin, Harry pushed the door open and quickly went into the lab.

Careful not to disturb anything, Harry moved around and read what he could. He quickly realized that the work being done was actually familiar to him. It dawned on him that he should have guessed when he heard the name Osborne. Peter had told him that his father had been working on a medical breakthrough dealing with radiation applied to various venoms. One of his benefactors was OsCorp. Obviously, this lab was trying to recreate whatever Dr. Parker had been working on prior to his death (with his wife and Mary-Jane's parents) in a tragic plane crash.

Harry noticed one part of the various spider hives was set well away from the others. Harry picked up a clipboard off the wall and read the summary. Supposedly the spider whose species the two scientists couldn't figure out had been found only a mile away at King's Cross Station of all places. The spider showed great intelligence and its venom was especially virulent.

Harry looked through the glass hoping to see the spider, but the hive looked empty. Just his luck! Get into a special lab to see a special creature only to have it taking a kip or something!

Harry went back to reading the summary and thus didn't notice the movement on the floor near him. Yet just as when his friend had stumbled into Hermione Granger, Harry had good peripheral vision and the reflexes to match.

Thus, instead of the spider leaping onto his chest or neck, it landed on his hand as Harry move to deflect the object which suddenly leapt at him from the floor. Unfortunately, this action startled both Harry and the spider. One yelped in surprise while the other did what startled animals do: it bit down.

Harry let out a strangled scream as he fell back against a desk. He tried to fling the spider off him but all this caused was the spider to bite down harder. This in turn made Harry's magic flare in a way it hadn't since the day Vernon had died. With a curse and a flash of magic, Harry once again threw out his arm and this time the acromantula flew away to smack against the glass of its one-time prison. It fell to the floor dead from the combination of the burst of Harry's magic and the impact.

Harry wasn't in much better shape. Venom was racing up his arm and into his heart. Soon the venom was spreading throughout his body. A normal human would have been dead in the time it took for Harry to pull himself off the desk he'd fallen on. But Harry wasn't a normal human.

Harry wasn't a normal wizard either.

Normal wizards didn't have a sliver of an evil soul trapped in a web of magical protection woven by his mother's dying sacrifice. Normal wizards did not have blood wards linked to his magic by a powerful wizard. Added to this was the magical venom of the acromantula had been mutated by the radiation therapy designed to create a curative substance.

All of these things began to interact. Harry's own magic and that of his family strove to keep him alive. His mother's protection added to this with the added intent that Harry thrive. Unknowingly this in turn led to the sliver of Voldemort's soul being used as a fuel to make this happen. The blood wards acted as a barrier which directed most of this into Harry's own blood. Blood where his own magic lay. The venom could not be destroyed but all the forces in Harry's body quickly did the next best thing.

It co-opted the venom into making Harry stronger.

Not that Harry could feel this. He was too busy trying not to scream in utter agony as it felt like every vein in his body was filled with lava. He blindly made his way to the door which still had not closed properly due to an as yet undetected fault. Harry managed to stumble down the corridor where he dimly recalled seeing a sign for a loo. He managed to make it into a stall before passing out.

OoOoO

Fawkes perked up as one of the many silvery instruments behind the Headmaster's desk began to shrilly warble as another began to puff out greenish smoke. The phoenix looked around but knew its master was away. None of the portraits were awake.

Within a few minutes, the warbling quieted down to a murmur before stopping. The smoke producing item also stopped after ten minutes or so. With the office returning to normal, Fawkes gave the phoenix equivalent of a shrug, preened its feathers for a bit before going back to sleep.

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LONDON BRIDGE HOSPITAL, LONDON – JUNE 13th, 2010 – EVENING

It was the steady beeping which finally woke him.

Harry opened his eyes and at first saw only white. This confused him until he realized he was seeing the ceiling. A slow turn of his head made him realize two things. One, he was in hospital and secondly, he was somehow seeing fine without his glasses.

He took in his surroundings. From the amount of equipment in the room, Harry worried as to what had happened to him. This thought made Harry pause. What had happened to him? His memory was fuzzy. He had been on a school science outing with Mary-Jane, he could remember that. Harry seemed to recall meeting a bushy-haired girl. Granite? Manger? Someone with chipmunk like teeth.

The rest was just searing pain.

A door opened to his left and a nurse bustled in, "Oh finally awake, are we? Good! You gave us quite a scare young man! Good thing the university medical facility was just across the quad from where you collapsed! They got you stabilized enough to be transported here."

Harry just stared at the nurse numbly as she talked as she checked various things. This would remain a constant over the next few hours as a parade of doctors, nurses, his Aunt Petunia and a university investigator all came and went.

Nobody seemed to know what happened to him and his hazy memory wasn't helping. Physically he apparently had been in a bad way and yet was now also alarmingly fine. This was saying something given that he'd been almost clinically dead when rushed from the bathroom where he'd been found. He had been transported to the private hospital when he stabilized only to have his body alternating between seemingly getting better on its own to once again crashing into a near death state. Yet this had stabilized by noon of the next day with him finally waking up a few hours later.

Now all the doctors could say was that whatever had happened to him seemed to have abated and they were simply waiting another day to keep him under observation.

For Harry's part, other than his vision, he felt fine. If anything, he felt great except for being very hungry. His appetite was seen as a good thing by his doctors and his aunt. Aunt Petunia was not only ecstatic that Harry was okay but that his care was being paid for by OsCorp at one of London's more elite private hospitals. Harry got the impression that while no one was sure what had happened, given where he was found probably meant the Lab had something to do with it. Harry figured the lab's lawyer's felt it better to pay the medical bills and move on rather than find out what really had happened which might lead to a big lawsuit. Not that paying for his care would be more than a small drop in OsCorp's large budget bucket.

Unknown to Harry, the two scientists he had met had been so upset at not only finding their specimen out of its enclosure but dead to boot that they didn't make the connection between the spider's death and Harry's incident. It helped that neither scientist realized the student in question had been the boy they had talked to. The broken security door had been found by another on the team and so the idea that Harry might have been in the lab never came up.

The incident did cause lab security procedures to be upgraded with OsCorp footing most of the bill.

All of this meant an incredible event had happened and almost every party involved missed it. Yet just as the spider venom was making mutagenic changes in Harry's body, his fate laid out by prophecy was also beginning to change.

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#4 PRIVET DRIVE, LITTLE WHINGING – JULY 28th, 2010 – AFTERNOON

Harry wondered for the hundredth time that day when the blasted owl would finally arrive. Aunt Petunia had told him how Lily had gotten her Hogwarts letter the day before her 14th birthday. The two sisters had been ready for it given that Lily's friend (which Harry could tell Aunt Petunia had not approved of) had gotten his letter a few days before his own birthday.

Harry was eager to get to Hogwarts but not for the same reason as most Muggleborn or Muggle-raised might. Harry wanted to find out why he was now, for a want of a word, amazing. Because amazing was the best way Harry could describe the after-effects of the incident at the lab the month before.

It had started with his vision. At first it had been great given how his vision had gotten better. Then as the days passed while his vision sharpened further, two things began to happen. The first was his brilliant green eyes, the one trait from his mother people would remark upon, were turning red. Secondly, his eyes had Harry became more and more light sensitive. So now instead of wearing glasses to see clearly, Harry wore sunglasses to protect his eyes and cover up the change in color. Aunt Petunia had ordered him some colored contacts, but they had yet to come in.

But major, those changes had paled to what was to come! Harry's appetite had stayed set on 'high' for a while and it soon became apparent why. While not a small child, Harry had always been lean. Aunt Petunia often had gotten the business when Harry had been next to Dudley because many felt she wasn't feeding Harry properly. In the last month, however, Harry had put on weight. Most of which, it seemed, was muscle weight. The image in the mirror was that of someone who hit the gym hard every day. And every day those muscles were making him stronger. He already could pick up his bed and raise it over his head.

This, of course, brought up one of the more startling changes. His hands and toes had grown retractable talons. Not something you'd see on a cat or something, but smallish claws which came out of almost invisible slits in the tips of his fingers and toes. Harry found items gripped with these talons allowing him to hoist his bed with ease. He also found he could climb up the wall if he didn't mind scratching it up.

Harry had also finally remembered enough to guess what had happened. In a dream…well more of a nightmare, he finally remembered the spider. From there it put a lot of his changes in perspective. The strength and the climbing claws certainly. He wasn't sure about the vision but a little research made it seem likely that the spider in question lived in a dark environment. This research also brought up the last interesting thing Harry had noticed.

Whenever Harry got near something which might be dangerous, he got a queer tingling feeling. A little reading and research had led Harry to an article about possible precognitive abilities in some spiders which warned them of danger.

So, as he stared out the window, waiting for an owl to bring him a letter inviting him to a magical school, Harry had to wonder what other changes his body might be going through? He had worried he might start growing more arms or eyes but except for some odd tingling in his arms and wrists, the changes had seemed to have stopped for now.

As he got up to go to the kitchen to get some juice, a photo of him and Mary-Jane caught his eye. As much as he was going to miss his best friend, Harry had to admit it probably was for the best. It was going to take time for him to learn how to deal with his new abilities. Abilities which, on top of his magic, just made the promise he had made to his Uncle Vernon that much more poignant. He had some amazing powers and he needed to use them responsibly. While it might seem a good idea to somehow cash in on them by being a wrestler or thief, Harry knew that there was evil in the world and had the scar on his forehead to prove it.

A scar which had noticeably faded since his accident at the lab. Aunt Petunia had kept this old motivational item Vernon had got at some trade show. It was a mirror with a caption asking, "Is this the reflection of a winner?" His aunt had said that challenge had kept her going during some of her bad days after Vernon's death and Dudley's incarceration. She had it mounted on the wall in the kitchen so she'd see it every day.

For Harry, it was a daily reminder of his changes as his red eyes stared back at him. Still, it was nice that the scar, the one thing which people always had stared at, had faded significantly. Looking at the mirror as he drank some juice directly out of the carton, Harry figured with a little of Aunt Petunia's make-up, he'd be able to hide it completely.

A hoot brought Harry's attention back to the window sill. A small brown owl with a piece of parchment sat there looking at him. Seeing Harry's attention on him, the owl stood on one leg and stuck the other with the parchment towards Harry.

At last! Harry took the parchment with a grin. If there was going to be a place to hide his new abilities, a magical school seemed to be the perfect place for it!

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A/N: Not exactly sure where this one came from but obviously elements would be from Power of the Flesh. While the idea may have been brought up by reading the new fics by kathryn518, I think part of the idea was JKR started as a kid's book and then forgot that if you keep time going on that your story becomes a "coming of age" story. Harry didn't get that. As I've pontificated at length at, Harry is a child soldier, little different than those pictures you see of young African boys with AK-47's.

Well Spider-Man's whole intent was a coming of age thing. So much so that it's an open secret that the 'web fluid' is a wink-wink, nudge-nudge nod to a boy's nightly emissions as they hit puberty. The organic style web-shooters as used in Spider-Man 2099 and the movies makes this even more implicit. And for those initial unbelievers who questioned this on my Pernicious Story Bunnies fic, watch Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. They take it that idea and push it up to eleven!

Baxter Building Project: For those who follow the Marvel Ultimate Universe, the BBP is a government funded project which takes prodigies and gives them a place to express themselves. In both the main Marvel universe and the MCU, Peter is shown to be one smart kid so it makes sense that he'd get picked. Also, I think that as the son of a noted scientists, there was probably a bit of nepotism as well as sympathy for him after his parents death.

Dr. Parker: Yes, in canon, Harry's dad did some cool stuff. I am changing Mary-Jane's dad to be an assistant to Dr. Parker instead of the failed writer and wife-beater of canon.

Spider-Man 2099: Harry's aversion to light and the claws are taken directly from the 2099 version of Spider-Man. One, I might add, made a lot more sense than the canonical Spider-Man given how much we're supposed to ignore that his 'sticking' power seems to magically work through his suit. For those who didn't make the connection, you see Spider-Man 2099 in the after-credits scene in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse