A Third Path to the Future

by Vimesenthusiast

Rescued from the Negative Zone by the Fantastic Four, Harry Potter discovers he is a mutant and decides to take up the cause of equality between mutants and humans (among other causes). How will a dimensionally displaced Harry Potter, one who is extremely intelligent, proactive and not afraid to get his hands dirty effect the marvel universe? Pairings: Harry/Jean/Ororo/others pos.

12. You To Are Human

I don't own marvel or Harry Potter. One is far too addicted to not killing the bad guys, and the other had Hermione marry Ron Weasley. Nuff said.

Though on that note I found a little interview with Rowling that says she regrets that pairing now, and admits Hermione and Harry would have been happier together. HAH! So there!

Some Reviews I'd like to mention:

Cloudsend: I'm sorry you feel that way… oh wait no I'm not. If you don't like my fic go write your own.

Separ: Will Kitty follow lance to SHIELD? That is up in the air right now. They're still young, and their relationship isn't a permanent one just yet, they aren't that serious about one another. Will she be involved with them at some point later on… Maybe. As to what I intend for the Stark stocks you'll see that in this chapter.

KGB, Trinel: I hope you both like this chapter, as a lot of the points the two of you raised will be resolved here, as my chapter title should tell you. Oh, and KGB, Harry is going to be very mad indeed at the Celestial.

MWRANDOM: thank you for pointing that mistake out, I went back after reading your review and corrected that issue. Sorry it sometimes crops up, it hasn't become second nature yet to look for that mistake. Melody will make frequent appearances but not as one of the movers and shakers of the story.

Doombug: They were small so I'm not surprised. The door to Hogwart's hearthstone was one, its description was taken in part from the forbidding door to the Secret Brotherhood in Guards, Guards! By Terry Pratchett. As my online name suggests, I've always been fond of the Discworld. The other was the 'I want to run on both legs' line, and was taken from Komarr, by Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan series, which I highly recommend if you like more cerebral heroes.

KasumiKeiko: Dude, just dude please, or was that a reference to all my Ranma 1/2 fics?

Libri Ignis: thanks for the great review. Actually the satellite hacking was done by Magneto, so not magic, just unexplained.

Appreciative: the Potter family spells are lightning based and yes the runes can be used as a power source for a short amount of time, magic and tech just don't mix that close together. Yes there is a limit to what he can drain, it is based on how much he can control. If he had kept draining Cytorrak for example he would have lost control and possibly his physical form at the same time. Sorry for being vague but I will be using that as a point in the story later, and don't want to give too many details. He cannot absorb active magic like wards (unless he's touching the array itself), or spells. If the magic has a 'flavor' or a shape, he can't drain it. He could drain magic from a ley line, but wouldn't except in a dire emergency, and even then he would have to be actively touching it somehow.

Naidoga: Thank you for the great review! Magic does have limitations, but power can overcome a lot. And the 15,000 sounds impressive until you realize the rooms were not huge to begin with. Say each was a half of a mile (big for rooms I'll admit but not for structures or farms) then times that by 15,000 and then that by three, So 22,500 miles, still a hell of a lot, which is why even now it drained the hell out of him. If he had tried to do that before taking in the two gems of Cytorrak and a bit of the god's own power, attempting to do that would have killed him. Harry is powerful enough to keep up the hearthstone, which in turn powers the wards. Eventually if he's away from High Note for extended periods of time (more than two days), then he may need to look into alternative power sources, something that will be noted by him in this chapter. The BI spells won't have long back-stories, but maybe a paragraph or two. After all he's not the only one with powers like that. I bet Magneto could fuck the world up if he wanted to, as could Doom, and don't get me started on the cosmic level threats. House elves reproduce like other created beings. After all they are based off living creatures, so of course have the ability to breed (and that's enough on that topic, ugh). I think Tony is arrogant enough to think that if he couldn't reproduce something then no one else could, but he is due for a wake-up call. While I intend to keep some aspects of the second movie most of it will not occur. The Avengers movie on the other hand…

KrisB-7184: Thanks for the great review! Remember though that in this dimension 'core' using magice began during the time of King Arthur, in Harry's dimension it began well before that and absorbed/wiped out all other magics. Here that didn't happen.

Joe Lawyer: thanks for the great review: I initially thought about the crysis suits as being Harry's major money maker, but as time went on, I saw reviews about them and researched Iron Man (never my fav if I'm honest) and I decided against it. He'll still sell a few, but only to trusted individuals, not on the open market. He might create something far weaker for the open market, especially for police, but that is yet to be decided on. Harry sold those stocks because he wanted to give Emma something visible to show for her trip, and as an act of trust. In the long run he intends to move out of the US entirely, it hasn't been shown yet but he has become rather disillusioned with the US. You aren't alone on thinking Harry was being too harsh on the magicals, and that will be expanded on in this chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Cj-cold: Thank you once again for a fantastic review! Emma hasn't asked for help to deal with her family because she wants to deal with it on her own, which will start in this chapter. You are correct that actually building the arc reactor is going to be much more difficult than the idea of it on paper (it will involve quite a few explosions) and they will find it is easier said than done even with Orihalcum. Jean couldn't afford to skip because it's the end of the year and tests are coming up next week (I think I have the timing right, two months and a bit after spring break…) and her physics teacher is an asshole.

Thanatoss: Plums called this the story without end, and that is essentially true. I just don't see this story ever ending, not for a damn long time at any rate. Moving forward I do have a plan for what I want Harry's place going forward into the world to be, but you're right when you say a lot of stories peter off. That's not to say a few of them aren't excellent despite this, but I do have plans long term, and hope to see them through. It would take a major RL upheaval for me to stop writing this story.

Thracer: I've been vague on how powerful Harry is now because he's been far too busy to really take stock of it himself. That will happen in this chapter or the next. Harry ahs had it easily in a combat sense outside of his battle with Magneto, but that will change in the future.

Narsil: Thanks as always for the great review, and I hope the Emma portions of this chapter don't disappoint. Some of them were really hard to get just right.

Want to give a shout out tokathryn518 for her work on beta-reading this chapter for me, it really helped a lot!

Before any of you who read my first chapter of my Mass Effect/Ranma cross ask, I have gotten a new job online as a ghost writer for an education website, so no long term harm done for losing my job. Not going to say anymore here about it, but my new job and my ongoing work in the masters program have cut into my time as you would expect.

I will say again, just for the record, Harry didn't kill a Celestial permanently in his run in with one in the Negative Zone, he destroyed its physical form. As I understand it most of them can regenerate from nothing, so that would have been painful but not fatal. I intend for them to be some of the BIG BADDIES in the story as they appear to be in the original marvel universe. I was surprised that no one mentioned a mistake I made, calling the last chapter 12 instead of eleven, kind of funny, but that and the Rogue/Rogue thing which I seriously need to remember to look for have been corrected.

I also want to be clear that Harry bought 33% stock in Stark Industries, and gave Emma 11. Money is only a tool for the most part to Harry, and friendship, in this case helping Emma, is much more important to him than his ongoing attempt to create a power base for himself. Now on with the show!

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Chapter 12: You Too Are Human

Emma leaned back in the backseat of one of her family's limos, and if she had been alone she might have allowed herself a small smile of triumph. She wasn't alone of course, her father was sitting in the chair across from her reading the Wall Street Journal. Yet his oppressive, controlling presence didn't impact the small bubble of good humor hidden inside her.

Adrienne knew something was up, and Emma could see it. Of all the family Adrienne was the easiest to read up to a point and Emma could see the frustration building in her dear sister. Emma was going along with being introduced (more like sacrificed really) to the Hellfire Club too easily. Adrienne had used her powers on everything the younger girl had touched (except her new jewelry, which Emma never took off) in an effort to find out where Emma's new attitude came from, but hadn't been able to find anything but the fact that Emma had made a friend named Jean who she had exchanged two emails with since coming home.

Jean sounded intelligent enough, and there was a subtle flirtatious overtone to the emails that Adrienne found interesting in relation to figuring out her sister's inclinations, but nothing that could explain her new-found confidence. Having evidence Emma was a lesbian might be useful down the line to embarrass her, it wasn't actionable enough to move against Emma now, which Adrienne really wanted to do. All of her instincts were telling Adrienne that if she didn't move against Emma now, she would be on the defensive from now on. But with Emma becoming the family face at the Hellfire Club, simply trying to have her assassinated (again) was no longer in the cards. If it happened now it would make the family look vulnerable in front of their allies, which her father would never stand for.

Indeed Winston was well pleased with the outcome of her little sojourn over the weekend. While Emma hadn't returned with Forge, the stocks were a good idea that he almost wished he had thought of. In fact he had thought of ordering her to transfer them to him to look after but he had decided against it.

Winston didn't want to deal with Stark the younger or even appear on the man's personal radar. Stark the elder had known some things about Winston, and Winston was… concerned about what he might have left his son. Tony the younger was much brasher, much more prone to acting out in the open than his father. Howard Stark was a businessman first and an inventor second, his son Tony was the reverse. The older Stark had agreed to not share certain information about Winston in return for the same consideration. Tony wasn't the sort to go along with that kind of thing. Indded, any neutral analysis of the eccentric inventor came back with really only one result: unpredictable. So using his daughter to control the stocks in his stead was a good buffer.

What Winston didn't know was that Emma had already subverted her investment manager and several others that handled the family's investments. They wouldn't act to aid her directly, but they would stall and even omit information to keep her father from controlling her further. This was only a single part of her long term plans for her so-called 'family' however. Most of those plans were aimed at Adrienne and Winston of course, as the most dangerous of her family, but she hadn't forgotten her mother or younger sister, and even had a plan to get her brother out and get him some help for his many addictions.

Emma had very good observation skills and had studied her sister's comings and goings carefully. She had begun by scanning the mind of one of the bodyguards assigned to her. Emma had never wanted any herself, preferring to use anonymity and her own abilities to protect herself. But in Adrienne's case the bodyguards were there not only protect her but to keep her from indulging in her normal cruelty towards others. Luckily the family's retainers had none of the family immunity to her powers. The man was surprisingly more observant and far more intelligent than his outward appearance or the information on him suggested, and Emma had already decided to keep him on her staff after… certain changes occurred.

She had seen enough to come up with a plan over the past few days as well as finding out how her sister had been behind the attempted kidnapping Emma and Harry had successfully thwarted. Twice in the month leading up to her trip to Europe Adrienne had met up with a man in her jaunts into New York. These meetings were small, but always seemed to happen in such a way that the two brushed against one another. The guard's observations skills came in handy here, as he had seen a glimpse of a piece of paper changing from Adrienne's hands to the man's pocket, and vice versa.

The image of the man's face was enough to let her figure out his identity from her knowledge of the family's business opponents. His name was Robert Hildebrandt, a name Emma knew from several intelligence updates on their corporate enemies. He was a native German who was part of the staff at Hammer Industries American branch, a very low down computer tech apparently, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact he was number two in Hammer's corporate espionage branch, and answered solely to Justin Hammer.

He was a spy of the first order, good with technology and spying as well as the more overt skills of that trade, and lead a cell of fifty other men in New York alone that were similarly trained, though he was also known for being as hands on as he could, and a bit of a womanizer. They were careful to never do anything that could be traced back to them, and indeed preferred to work through third parties as well as on foreign soil. This kept them safe from the American spy agencies, and let them have a degree of anonymity to their actions.

Robert would have easily been able to plan fund and launch the kidnapping attempt against her, and he might not have even needed to get any kind of okay from his superiors for it, though it was doubtful that the man she had seen meeting with the team of super-powered villains was supposed to have worn his Hammer logo. That was a mistake Robert had probably crucified him for. Well, not crucified really, that would be too messy. A knife in the back and evidence pointing to a violent robbery would be much better from Robert's point of view.

This allowed her to know that her sister had upped the ante and Emma was sadly not surprised to find that she was more than willing to match Adrienne. There was no love lost between Emma and anyone in her family other than her older brother. Adrienne and Emma had hated one another ever since Emma was six and found her older sister mutilating her stuffed animals. Cordelia, the youngest daughter, had thankfully been packed off to boarding school, which their father hoped would beat some of the rebelliousness out of her. Her mother was nearly as bad as Christian in her alcoholism, and had practiced the way of remote neglect so well she was practically a nonentity. Emma had learned early on that her mother would never do anything to gainsay her husband.

And as for the patriarch himself, Emma had been thinking of ways to remove him since she was thirteen, and had given such thoughts more and more serious consideration recently, when she found he intended to pimp her out to his business allies in the Hellfire club. The way he treated them all, his aloof cold manner and the beatings both verbal and physical (but never anything that could leave a mark, oh no, appearances must be maintained) had killed any kind of family love there. No, both Adrienne and Winston had to die and her mother and Cordelia marginalized, removed from any chance of taking control of the family.

Christian she hoped to help kick all his addictions. Except for sex of course, if he was gay and wanted to be a gay whore that was fine by her so long as he kept it out of the public eye. The American public was about as hateful toward gays as they were slowly becoming toward mutants.

She wasn't quite ready to move against her father, but she already had plans underway to take care of her sister, and with the information about her movements she had a perfect scapegoat too. All she was waiting for was the right moment to strike. Winston would take a bit longer, but her introduction to the Hellfire club, where she replaced him as their family's representative wasn't going to be another way for him to control her. Rather, it was going to be the second stage of her plans to build her own power base.

Now that she had protections against the worst that could happen, as well as at least one proven ally and even a friend that she felt she could count on, she could handle anything else the club could throw at her, and would do so with her head held high. As the limo slowed and her father put down his magazine, Emma idly wonder what her ability to think of murdering her father and sister in cold blood (how else for a Frost after all) said about her.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the limo driver walked around to open the door for them and her father looked at her in his normal cold fashion. "Remember how you are to comport yourself. Here, you represent our family, and anytime you perform poorly will reflect on our name. I expect you to perform well whatever is required of you."

The way he emphasized the word 'whatever' carried its own meaning and Emma scowled inside, though merely nodded her head in response to this as her father again showed no remorse in using her daughter as a trading chip, a whore for his own purposes.

I am what you made me father, she thought, her thoughts like ice, cold and purposeful, and soon enough you will learn how well you have done your job. The fact I feel remorse at all makes me better than you, and that is enough for now.

Emma stepped out of the limo, and even in this upscale area of the city her looks drew several glances, not all of them flattering. She wore a tight white bodice that only covered her chest and a bit of her stomach, letting her navel and stomach uncovered, a tight white skirt slit up one side, and a white cloak open at the front billowing around her. Her father had 'helped' her choose it. In his mind it was possibly seen as showing off the merchandise. To her it was something different, more akin to priming a trap than anything else.

They passed through the doors and past the guards there after a cursory inspection, her father being well known here, then passed into the hall beyond.

Emma looked around, keeping her disgust off her face with ease at what she saw all around. The room was set up like a high class gentleman's club expect for the raised dance floor in the center complete with a pole and a stripper. It was early yet, but she was not surprised to see several dozen men, many of whom she recognized from her briefings on their corporate opponents sitting or standing around with drinks in hand as they watched the show, murmuring to one another. There were little alcoves along one wall with curtains, and as she watched a young girl and a tallish man with a beard entered one, closing the curtain behind them firmly. Along another wall was a very well stocked bar, and under a winding staircase leading up to the second floor were several tables and other people there. At each table was a different kind of narcotic, and several of the patrons were already high judging from their glassy-eyed expressions.

Everywhere she looked were scantily clad women moving around, and guards stationed here and there. Unlike the three at the entrance none of them were visibly armed, but simply moved around, visible reminders that there were rules against rowdiness, of which there was strangely little. Christian would love this place, she thought whimsically as her father led her through the crowd, if you replaced the female stripper with a male one anyway. I find it amusing that these vices are much the same as the so-called plebs use. These people and father always seem to think their wealth makes them so much better than anyone else, and I know I do as well to a certain extent. Yet the only thing I can see is that this crowd is much quieter than it would be at a similar workman's class club, well that and the openness of the drug dealing. So much for being their betters.

Emma noted yet disdainfully ignored the leering and ogling glances sent her way. These people were the lower class club members, those who were rich enough to be in the club yet not the real movers and shakers. She noticed one blond young man looking at her appraisingly from the crowd by the bar and was amused when she realized he was Warren Worthington the third, heir to the Worthington Industries. Yet the oddest thing was that his thoughts weren't on her, not only on her anyway, but about some personal issue, and for some reason she got the impression of flying under his own power. She could have peered deeper if she wanted to, but decided against it for now, she had other things on her mind.

So far however the charms seemed to be working, although that might also be her father's presence. The real test of them would come in a few minutes, and she mentally squared her shoulders and readied herself when they reached the stairs to the second floor. The second floor was only used by the Inner Circle of the club, the three Kings and the ones designated as their courts. They walked up those stairs and through another, far more serious security station, then down a hallway and into a circular room lit by torches of all things. The room was made out of stone, and the circular table and the chairs around it oak, all of it made to hearken back to the early days of the club in the Middle Ages.

The places around the table were set so that even when someone entered the room there was no real head of the table, an interesting trick, but one Emma felt was deceiving in the extreme. In this case there should really have been two ends to the table, each one dominated by one of the Kings of the court. Normally there would be three King/Queen pairs as well as two Bishops of each color, to keep internal order in the circle, with all three at odds but equal. Now however there were no white pieces other than her father and subsequently her once she was allowed to take her place, and only two bishops, though that might change in the future according to her father, who said that there were a few names under consideration for elevation to the Inner Circle.

Yet right now it was obvious to her the group was badly out of balance, and that was a situation that she would try to take advantage of, She looked around at the people assembled here, going over the information she had on them.

Edward Buckman, one of the ten richest men in the world, who controlled dozens of companies behind the scenes devoted to technology and computer sciences. A well-known philanthropist, who gave money to colleges for science scholarships, then swooped up the people who used them for his companies. 'Call me Ed' was a soft sell on the surface, good with PR and he treated his people well, but was known to be utterly ruthless to his corporate opponents, and dealt harshly with any worker who tried to leave his company after a certain amount of time.

He was a thirty-something man with blond hair and bright intelligent eyes and quick, strong hands. The Red King, most senior member of this circle, having taken over for his father, his family had been in the Inner Circle since well before there was a New York branch of the club.

His lover, Paris Seville was a former model who had retained her looks after leaving the circuits and made her fortune in advertising and news media, rising to control several news outlets worldwide. That didn't make her as rich as the others, but in a way she was far more dangerous to cross, as her face was well known the world wide, and she was known even more then Buckman as a philanthropist.

Another blonde, she was known to let her hair flow loosely down to her rear, it was almost her trademark in fact. Now however it was up in a tight bun on her hair, and her light green dress was much more severe and old-fashioned than normal. The Red Queen, recently risen to that position due to her relationship and possible (if you believed public gossip) marriage to Edward, and it was obvious the two did have real feelings for one another, if their clasped hands were anything to go by. Emma hadn't honestly expected the other woman to be here at all for her debut knowing how such things went here, but was glad to see Paris even with the charms Harry had given her protecting her.

Sebastian Shaw, owner and founder of Shaw Industries, a major name in construction and small arms weapons both high tech and low worldwide, though nowhere near the level of Hammer or Stark Industries which he had created almost from scratch, as well as owner of several mining and metal-works companies. A somewhat recent inductee to the Hellfire Club, his power and wealth made his placement on this council automatic. Even if it wasn't quite up to Edward's level it was gaining quickly. He also had connections to arms dealers, providing them steel and other metals in return for backroom agreements and their latest toys for his own purposes. He added a lot of the physical muscle to the club.

He was a brooding sort of man with wide shoulders and short brown hair with matching eyes and certain dark twist to the mouth that told people he was a bad one to cross. Right now he leaned back, one glass of red wine in his hand as he watched her, first with a well concealed desire in his eyes, which faded into a more artistic appreciation. He was one of the two members that knew about her powers. The Black King, having earned that position in the past three months thanks to his business acumen and personal charisma.

Not much was known about his lover, a woman named Lourdes Chantel. She wasn't part of the club, and her own company, a transportation and train/boat/plane supplier based company, had its headquarters in France. It was unknown whether it was a personal choice on her part or the rules of the club (she didn't live in New York so probably would have to join the branch nearest her business which was in London, though that club had been losing influence for many years now) but her existence was a closely guarded secret. Emma only knew about her because her father had informed her that if Sebastian took her as his queen she would obviously have to either be discreet or take steps to put the Frenchwoman in her place. It was well known in the club that Sebastian availed himself of the girls downstairs regardless of his relationship with Lourdes.

The last two men at the table were Harry Leland and Donald Pierce. Minor in terms of money and influence in comparison to the others, they were both labeled Bishops of the court. Officially they were unaligned, but unofficially Peirce was Shaw's man, and Leland was Edward's according to her father. Leland was a corporate lawyer kept on retainer by the rest of the club and was very good at national and international laws, as well as being a financer that had previously owned a weapon's R&D team and was heavily into the production and distribution of foodstuffs. He was the other person who had 'purchased' her services from her father. Though his part of the deal was far smaller than Shaw's, his inclusion of his R&D team couldn't be overlooked.

The sight of the overweight man's bearded face leering at her nearly caused Emma to lose control of her power and lobotomize him on the spot, but then much like Shaw had the man ran into Potter's charms and his look faded to mere interest rather than desire. At the same time the thought that her Harry was much more handsome flitted across her mind, but she dismissed it easily. After all, he wasn't 'hers' in any way shape or form, and this was not the time to think such things, though her observation on who was more attractive was certainly correct.

Owner and president of Pierce Consolidated Mining Donald Pierce had worked on several joint operations with Shaw. He wasn't up to one of the kings in terms of influence or money, but Emma suspected that he might be a little richer than Paris. He was another blond, though his hair was darker than the other two and far darker than Emma's own. He should be one of Shaw's firmest allies, but for some reason Emma's instincts were telling her there was more to the man than what was on the surface.

He too leered at Emma at first, but again it faded swiftly to mere interest rather than lust, and Emma reminded herself to thank her Harry properly the next time she saw him. It was obvious that none of them had any immediate interest in approaching her.

There had been a Black Queen, but for some reason she had moved back to the London Branch of the Club, and Emma had been unable to find anything about her. Winston had not helped matters either, not able to tell her much other than the name 'Selene' and that she had been on the club well before him.

With her knowledge of them brought to the forefront of her mind Emma sent out little telepathic feelers, trying to get a feel for them before her father could throw her to the lions so to speak.

Shaw had strong mental defenses, not strong enough to keep her out if she really tried, but he would be able to feel her intrusion. Leland had a bit of the same, nowhere near enough to keep her out, but she ignored him for now. Seeing his loyalty to Shaw over Edward was a surprise but wasn't important by itself at the moment. As part of her ongoing plans for the club however, it might prove very important later on.

Paris had no mental defenses but a very organized mind and Emma tentatively labeled the woman as an ally in the future. She felt sorry about what Emma might face here, was almost fiercely independent herself, and honestly attached emotionally to Edward, who she had a dream to start a family with, and oddly enough the image of becoming a housewife (albeit a very rich upper-class housewife) with at least two children in her mind. It looked as if Emma could maneuver Paris into looking at her like a protégé or her successor as the token Queen of the club, which was good.

Peirce and Buckman surprised her however. The two had some kind of mental defense, not natural more like it came from some kind of device, very crude but they thankfully didn't seem connected to any kind of alarm. That had made her attempts to get into their heads more difficult but not impossible for someone as subtle as Emma. It would have kept out Jean for as long as its power lasted, but it had no chance against Emma, it wasn't nearly complete enough for that. In physical terms it was an artificial wall of energy blocking out the majority of their minds, but not all of it, and Emma was able to sneak in through a crack in their walls.

For just a moment the thought of her redheaded friend filled her insides with warmth, and more than a bit of courage, but she kept that off her face with ease.

She had only done a cursory examination of Pierce but that had been enough to tell her about the man. He was a rabid anti-mutant hater for some reason which had a personal taste to it and there was a strange sense of almost self-loathing there as well, but it was nowhere as overpowering as his hatred for all mutants. Indeed he already had a dedicated kill squad training to combat mutants, but it was something he had kept secret from everyone. Still that was enough to make her think of changing some of her plans for her sister, so long as she could think of a way to point the man toward Adrienne without having it come back to her.

Edward too hated mutants and feared mutants and also kept it hidden. It didn't seem personal like it was for Pierce, but his plans were not to take personal vengeance, but to wipe out mutantkind somehow. I might have to nip that in the bud, or perhaps point that goody-goody Xavier his way somehow, or maybe even Harry. His pride at the budding 'Sentinel' program, and how it would end the 'mutant threat' before it could really begin was at the very surface of his mind since he had just had a phone call with someone who was the leader of whatever it was.

Still I pulled enough of his memory of the voice to maybe find a match for it, despite their use of call-signs. The fact Edward even thought of the man in terms of his call-sign rather than name is irritating, but not an issue. Unfortunately Edward had deliberately kept his distance from it, so she couldn't quite get a read on what the program really was. She really didn't want to attempt to probe either any deeper at this point.

Still what she had got was enough for her to begin to put together a plan for her hear in the club, as well as incorporate some of it into her plans for her family.

As she stopped probing the others her father stepped forward, standing behind his former place at the table. It was only then that Emma really noticed that he was by far the oldest there, and she wondered if that was part of the reason he was willing to retreat from the club. Could her father have a secretly vain streak, or did it just never occur to him that she could build personal connections here that could override the ones he had already?

Whatever the case he looked around at his fellow members of the Inner Circle and waved one hand toward Emma, who moved forward, her head held eye, her face cold and poised but somehow regal. Her father didn't so much as glance at her however merely intoning, "Ladies and gentlemen of the Circle I present my daughter, unsullied by any, to take my place in this court should she prove worthy and thus further the interest of the Hellfire Club and the Frost family."

Whatever response any of those seated might have made was interrupted by the strident ringtone of her cell phone, the sound of one of Bach's concertos ringing out. Everyone's face darkened but Emma's whose control didn't falter for a second, her mind already racing and figuring out a way to turn this to her advantage just like all the information she had already gleaned from her opponent's minds. She simply reached into her purse, white of course like the rest of her outfit, and pulled out her phone before turning toward her father. "I did not bother to turn it off because you are the only one who is supposed to know the number, and I never gave it out to anyone."

That statement made many of those frowns turn more thoughtful and none of the Inner Circle spoke. Her father stared at her for a moment then down to the phone and nodded sharply. It was one of the emergency phones that all of the family members were supposed to have on them at all times. The number was not one that he or his daughter would ever hand out.

That nod seemed to dissipate some more of the sudden anger in the room and the two Kings shared a glance before Edward nodded. "Then I suppose you better answer it my dear. It should be most informative."

That is true on many levels of course, Emma thought, then lifted the still ringing phone to her head. "This is Emma, who are you and how did you get this number?"

"Emma Frost, this is Obadiah Stane of Stark Industries how're you doing?" The phrase and voice was friendly but forcefully so, almost painfully obvious as false to someone like Emma.

"Obadiah Stane, I recognize the name but not the voice, but you still haven't answered my second question." Emma stated, her voice smooth.

Eyebrows rose all around the table at the name and many of the people around that table leaned forward. Stark Industries was of interest to everyone there. It was one of the few companies in the world that was larger than any of their own, and Stark was richer than even Edward. Any information they got, particularly from someone so high up in the company, was important. Edward immediately tapped a hidden button on his chair arm, and small screens popped up at each place along the table. It showed the words being spoken as well as some information about the signal and where it was coming from though both Edward and Shaw frowned at seeing how little information their systems could glean from the signal. Emma noticed this and sat down at the White Queens place, not even looking up at the others as she looked at the information.

Edward and Peirce both frowned at her presumption but Paris nodded approval and Sebastian kept on looking while Leland didn't look up from the readouts, wondering what Stane was up to.

"Oh I have my ways my dear, I have my ways. Listen, I understand that you bought some of my company's stock recently." Stane's tone made it clear that he was fishing for information.

"If by some you mean eleven percent of the stock in Stark Industries then you are correct." Emma said, her voice crisp, but letting some humor into it. "And last I looked Tony Stark still owned his company, so it is technically not yours. Nor do I see what business it is of yours if I have bought that stock, unless you are calling me to tell me of some shareholders meeting?"

Paris actually chuckled at her tone, and some of the others nodded at one another in approval of her professional handling of the lout on the other end of the line.

"Ah, no nothing like that. I was just wondering if I could buy those shares off you, I'd be willing to pay you… say twice the amount you spent on them?" Stane's voice sounded like he was offering her some fantastic deal.

Emma's eyebrows both rose in surprise, though it was more for the people in the room watching and judging her than any real surprise to her. "Why in the world would I do that? I am not like those idiots who abandoned ship at the first sign of trouble Mr. Stane, I fully believe this is but a bump in the road. We both know that Stark is a genius after all, and I am confident that he will be able to turn it around. I am uncertain how, but the private sector has many needs at present that Stark and his genius could fill."

She and the others all watched in amusement as the computers picked up the sound of teeth grinding when she mentioned Stark's genius and the two kings looked at one another, eyebrows raised.

"Emma, this is a very dangerous time right now, and not just fiscally. I'm just worried that you having those stocks could make you a target. I really think you should sell. After all you can't make money if you're dead." His voice kept its polite tone but lost all sense of warmth or pleasantness.

Emma's voice became even colder, so cold it actually sent a shiver through the two unaffiliated bishops, though the others were made of sterner stuff. "That sounded very much like a threat Mr. Stane. Did you think my last name was a coincidence? I am a Frost, and we do not scare easily. I would think you would be more interested in protecting yourself from any allegations of insider trading, after all didn't you buy up quite a bit of stock after it hit the market?"

Leland looked up almost hungrily at that, and now everyone was looking at one another wondering where this was going.

"I don't react well to threats either Miss Frost, especially spurious ones like that." Stane's voice had lost even its polite tones now, and was deadly serious.

"Then we understand each other. I believe there is a gala of some sort hosted by Stark Industries in two weeks in Los Angeles? I have plans to be there. Perhaps our path's may cross and we can continue this discussion in person in such a manner as people of refinement should."

Sebastian's eyes narrowed and he raised his glass of wine in her direction slightly, while the others looked amused. Emma saw this and almost smirked despite her habitual self-control, taking it as confirmation that Shaw hadn't shared the knowledge of her powers with the others, much like her father had indicated.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment then Stane's voice came through rigidly controlled "Very well Miss Frost, I will send you the standard invite. I hope to see you there, and that our discussion at that point is more fruitful than this one."

"Oh, one final thing Mr. Stane." Emma spoke quickly, able to tell that he was on the verge of hanging up. "Since this was an emergency line, it has automatically recorded this conversation, and as a matter of course I will make sure there are several copies. You know… in case of any pesky investigations or of anything… untoward happening."

There was silence for several long moments and then a click and the call ended.

Emma closed the phone and handed it over to her father. "Get rid of that and all the other emergency phones. If Stane can call us on them, he may be able to track us too. Whatever he's planning he wants controlling interest of Stark Enterprises. The question is what and how do we profit from it."

She was interrupted by a series of gentle clapping from the Inner Circle and she turned, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. Edward nodded in approval. "Very well done girl, you certainly put that upstart in his place. I assume you have proof that he might be insider trading?"

Emma nodded firmly, leaning back in the White Queen's chair as if she had been there for years, steepling her hands on her knee and looking around at them all, her face calm and analytical. "Indeed I do. Of course I won't be sharing how those stocks came into my possession, but there were indications at the time that Stane was buying out the other shareholders even before Stark's surprise announcement, something I'm sure you've all heard mentioned in the news a time or two." She said her voice droll.

"Insider trading like that would be hard on both the individual and the company," Leyland mused, looking nothing so much as a well fed shark contemplating his next meal. "You know it would be better if he was doing this with Stark's approval…"

"Unlikely." That statement came from three different three different throats. Edward, Paris and Emma all looked at one another and Emma nodded graciously at the other woman.

Edward did as well and Paris smiled. "I've actually met Tony Stark and he is a cross between a playboy, a mad scientist and a Boy Scout. He barely has any input in the day to day running of his corporation, and in terms of business he would never try to get away with something like that. In fact since his brush with death the Boy Scout aspect of his character has expanded as we've seen by his unilateral decision to halt all weapons sales, design and creation, not a chance." In point of fact Tony had made a play for Paris months into his time as president of the company, and she had firmly rebuffed him.

Edward went next. "I would also say that Stark is too smart to play with house money like that. He and I actually went to school you know, and he was always far too smart for his own good. Incredible people skills, but little to no interest in the actual nuts and bolts of running a company. Somewhat like Reed Richards but to a lesser degree."

He actually shuddered as did Winston and Leyland. Reed was the quintessential scientist, interested in business only so far as it gave him money to keep making his toys and fund the FF. The idea of him partnering with someone that actually had some business sense was terrifying. There was literally no field of scientific endeavor that that man could not come to dominate given time and inclination. Stark had been bad enough, limited as he was to weapons and energy, heaven forbid if he actually applied himself. If Reed or Doom, his only real equal in the brains department anywhere in the world, ever went into business in a big way it would be disastrous for everyone else.

They all turned to Emma, even her father, all of them wondering what she would add to the discussion. She simply smiled faintly, as if she didn't feel any anxiety under their stares replying simply, "Stark mentioned in that rant of his that his own weapons had been used to kill his escort. There were no sales of Stark weapons to anyone in that area of the world, but the damage found in the battle zone from which he was taken matched that done by his weapons. Who could authorize sales of weapons to a place like that? Either someone in the military procurement office, or from within his own company. Those are the only two places the weapons could come from. As they were the latest models the idea they came from his company makes more sense."

At their looks of surprise she shrugged. "Frost Enterprises has sources in the US government who were part of that investigation, which is 'ongoing.' She raised two fingers in both hands to make quotes in the air, and they all actually chuckled a little save her father. They all knew that meant the government was stumped but didn't want to let onto that fact.

Emma looked at her father and shrugged. "That report was compiled this morning, while you were having that meeting with our cosmetics scientists."

Winston nodded back his sudden spike of suspicion fading for now. That would be easy enough to check on after all, but he decided to keep a closer eye on his second daughter from now on.

Emma might not be able to read his mind but that didn't mean that she didn't what he was thinking, and had in fact hoped to place the seed of uncertainty in him, which was why she revealed so much. He would be assuaged slightly when he saw that report, but then would spend time trying to find out what she had been doing, rather than trying to control her actions from this point on. He would wish to remove her present support rather than block her from gaining more that was simply the way he thought when he was surprised.

That's right father, try to keep an eye on me, dog my steps however you wish. Spend so much time looking over my shoulder you won't see the pit in front of you, she thought coldly.

She went on. "I must confess that I also initially thought that Stane was too close to Stark to have anything to do with it, but after if found out about him buying up Stark Industries stock, I went back and looked at everything I could about Stane. At first he was a sort of mentor to the younger stark, but as Tony Stark took center stage Obadiah Stane was pushed aside, running more and more of the mundane day to day work while Stark partied and played with his toys. Yet it was still Stark getting the credit for not just the new weapons, but everything including the success of the company. You can see how something like that would infuriate him."

Her audience nodded thoughtfully. "In the last few years the two have very rarely been in the same place at the same time, and a distance seems to have sprung up between them. The conclusion is that the man behind the scenes wants to step back into the spotlight. Whether or not he can handle it as well as Stark is of course doubtful. When you buy Stark products, you're buying from the man, not just the company. But Stane seems to think he can do it."

When she finished, the members of the Inner Circle looked at one another and Sebastian smiled. "Well I think that worked rather well as a way to show what you can bring to the table. Much better than our normal series of tests and mental games at any rate. As Black King I approve Emma Frost's inclusion into the court of the Hellfire, to take up the mantle of White Queen." As the King who didn't have a queen, by the rules of the club he had to be the one to approve her placement. But as he had a long standing relationship with someone else who might take the now vacant mantle of Black Queen he could nominate her to take up the dormant crown of the White Queen.

By tradition this formal nomination would have been paid back with a physical relationship, but in this instance Shaw decided to forgo that for now. It somewhat surprised him, as he had been looking forward to bending Winston's strong-willed daughter to his will, maybe even supplanting his current lover with her, since Lourdes decision not to join the Hellfire Club rankled. But now that he saw her in person it didn't seem such a good idea for some reason. She was like an epic painting, something nice to look at, but he had no desire to touch. He almost thought it might be her power somehow getting through his mental shields, but he had met a telepath before this, and knew he would be able to tell if someone had gotten past his blocks. Besides she might be more useful as an ally than as a vassal, he thought, though I may need to choose which Frost to back at a later date. There is obviously no love lost in this family, even more so than I realized.

Edward nodded. "I agree to this nomination to the court, and accede that the lady in question be well worth the nomination and be of birth to merit it." Paris nodded agreement, quietly glad to have another woman around and also amused that Emma's cold as ice hauteur seemed to have put off Sebastian from his plans for the younger woman, for the moment at least. She had always thought that some aspects of the club's rules were vile and incredibly out of date, and had been extremely thankful that she had already been in a relationship with Edward before her own nomination.

Her fiancé stood up from the chair, putting a hand out in a courtly manner to help Paris to her feet. "Now, Harry will walk you through the legal minutiae of the club, some rules and regulations your father couldn't share with you before your induction into the club. Then I trust Sebastian will show you around. But I wished to have a moment of your time before you go Winston."

The older Frost frowned for a moment, as if almost disappointed Sebastian hadn't already started to break his daughter, but nodded all the same. The laws of the club were absolute, there could only be one representative from any family in the Inner Circle at a time. And with Emma in place to watch after the family's interests here, he could devote more time to his own secret affairs. Things were coming to a head there, and he needed to keep a handle on it now more than ever before. Despite this he decided that Emma was acting far too independent even now, and he decided to put a certain plan in motion to knock the starch out of her later.

The trio of blondes left followed by Pierce who muttered about seeing a girl downstairs he wanted to sample, leaving only Leland and Shaw. Emma looked at the Black King, one eyebrow raised in query. Sebastian shook his head for a second, then hit a button on his chair's arm. A faint hum began in the air and he nodded. "We can only keep this field up for ten minutes, but we are now cut off entirely from the rest of the world." Emma nodded and Sebastian's face hardened, now looking at her even more grimly. "Your father mentioned your powers to us."

Emma looked over at the fat Harry and he chortled. "Don't worry my dear, I too am a mutant. My power deals with making things heavier and it is much more useful than they sound I assure you."

Shaw nodded. "I'm a mutant as well, though I will keep my powers a secret." Emma nodded, she too would like to keep her skills a secret. After all, the moment someone knew you had a dagger it stopped being useful for knifing them in the back.

"In regards to your question I am a telepath, able to see into other people's minds so long as I can see them and they are within a few meters of me." That was a lie of course, but she had never told her father the true extent of her powers, and it matched up well with what she knew her father knew. Shaw might suspect that she was downplaying her power, but he would have no idea how much. Her ability to actually take control of another person for example or to blind/confuse a person's senses would be a powerful tool only so long as no one here knew she could do it.

"And what did you get from our fellow nobles?" Leland asked one eyebrow raised in inquiry, wondering how powerful her powers were.

Emma looked thoughtful, "The two of you have decent enough mental defenses, enough to know I'm trying to break in at any rate. Paris was an open book, but her mind had nothing if interest except for the fact she might be retiring after she and Edward marry both from the Club and her businesses to devote her time toward the family she wants to start up."

The two men looked at one another surprised by that and a little worried. While the Inner Circle was supposed to work together, there was a distinct amount of 'friendly' competition. But Edward having that much money and influence would tip the scales at the moment where Shaw had plans of his own to do the same thing his way.

Emma continued. "Edward and Pierce both have some kind of block that kept me out. It wasn't a mental defense or anything like that, it almost felt like some kind of field protecting them, something mechanical." She shook her head deliberately letting one mask fall to show them a flash of frustration and laying the foundations of the plan she had thought up earlier into motion. "I have no idea why, maybe they are that paranoid or have run into a telepath before, or possibly got wind of my powers somehow. All I could get was that they are both keeping secrets from the rest of the Club and something about the mutant issue. They aren't working together I don't think, but they might be. Their devices are similar enough for that to be the case."

Shaw's face blanked completely at her words, and Emma allowed herself a mental smile of victory. This was but the first step in breaking the club into two distinct factions. After all, a house divided would be much easier for her to take control. She had told them just enough to get them to be wary of their fellows, not enough to act on or truly worry them, just planting a seed right now, and had downplayed her own abilities in relation to the power struggle within the Inner Circle.

Sebastian frowned internally, wondering when and how Edward had come up with something like that, but realizing it was well within his companies capabilities. He resolved to watch his fellow King more closely from now on, but put it to the back of his mind for now. He stood up, motioning Emma to her feet and taking her arm in his, and even as he did so had no desire to subtly cop a feel or anything similar. "Enough of that for now, we of the Inner Circle don't need to trust one another to work together. I'll show you around my dear, then you can mingle with the other members, and you can start your two months working for the two of us."

Emma nodded, cautiously pleased with how well this had been going so far. Still this was the easy part especially with that bore Stane's interruption. From now on the real work begins.

OOOOOOO

As Harry led Ororo through the castle he called Hogwarts, the weather goddess took a moment to analyze her lover. While on the surface he seemed to be getting past his grief, the change was far too quick to actually be real. He was trying to put on a brave face, 'a stiff upper lip' as the British would say but it was obvious to her that he was wounded deep inside. That was understandable, but what wasn't so understandable was the stark, black rage that she could sense boiling underneath the surface of that sadness. She had a feeling of where that rage was coming from, but how to deal with it was the question.

The tour was slowed slightly by Harry stopping here and there, running his hands over a portion of the outer wall of the corridor. When he passed, those places he touched slowly changed into windows, created by the castle at the will of its master, opening it up further after being on a wartime footing for nearly its whole existence.

They just finished a tour of the sixth floor of the Castle when two of the house elves suddenly popped into existence in front of him, wringing their hands in distress. "Master, we's set the kiddies aside, and we's got the masters an mistresses remains gathered. We's know you said to, to tosses 'em into the lake, buts…"

Ororo could feel her eyebrows twitching at the elves mangled speech, but kept most of her attention on Harry. When the elves had begun to speak Harry had nearly broken down again with grief, but that grief was swiftly replaced by rage at the reminder of the adult wizards part in what happened here and he nearly snarled at them. "I told you to throw them into the lake!"

"That is about enough of that!" said Ororo almost glad for the opening. She swiftly grabbed his arm before looking down at the little creatures. "Set them aside for now and continue to work on cleaning up the castle please, if you see anything with writing or anything like that on it leave it where it is please."

The two relieved elves popped off to carry the news to their fellows. Once they were gone Ororo turned to her lover. "Why in the world would you make those little creatures throw out the mortal remains of their masters like that?! Not only is that disrespectful of the dead, it is disrespectful of their memories and doesn't take the emotions of the house elves into consideration."

"I doubt it," said Harry angrily breaking away from her. "You have no idea how elves were treated by their masters. I bet most of these were mistreated."

"Yet many of them might not have been," she responded calmly, knowing he wasn't angry at her just the situation and some old memories resurfacing that he had never really dealt with properly. "Yes they might have been badly treated where you came from Harry but surely even there it wasn't so unusual to find that they weren't."

"Well," Harry said slowly, a bit of his anger leaving him at her calm assurance, "no but..."

"But nothing," she said lifting one finger up to close his mouth, thinking of what to say for a moment before going on. "Harry you seem to have the idea that these wizards he chose to be stupid or something, you're looking at it as if they had a choice rather than a true sacrifice."

Harry blew up at that. "Of course they had a choice! They simply came up with something that would make them look noble and went with it! You don't understand! There's something about most magic users, it's as if when you add magic somehow it removes their common sense! 'Oh if you remove the leader that means the problem goes away', 'oh, you're marked as his equal and the chosen one even if you're decades younger and less experienced because a prophecy makes it so'! 'We figured out a way to catch the dementors, but it's too late for us, so let's go down in a blaze of glory rather than break our self-imposed exile to ask for help!'"

"It doesn't just look noble" said Ororo coolly. "It was noble, a true self-sacrifice. I have no idea what Mr. Strange or other sorcerers could've done against dementors, but I doubt anything myself or any other mutant I know has a power that could fight these dementors., and mutants haven't been around that long. Besides which, how many sorcerers were there back then, and how would normal people have tried to combat them? We don't know the answer, but I doubt it was a good one. There is no telling how many lives their sacrifice saved."

"What about the kids then?" Harry challenged angrily. "There had to be some other place to hide them!"

Ororo kept her cool however, responding "And if they had maybe the dementors would've somehow sensed them and gone after them?"

Harry faltered a moment then rallied. "They could have gotten the kids out at any point after the dementors had entered the castle then trapped them here! Even without the ability to have children of their own, hell even entirely alone they could have made a life for themselves!"

"Did they all enter at once, or was it over time? Is there any guarantee that even if they had been able to get the kids out that the dementors couldn't have figured out some way of following them? Could taking down the anti-teleportation ward that you say is around here have interfered with the trap for the dementors?"

"I, I don't know," he said slowly, a bit more of his anger leaving him. "I'd have to look up the ward scheme around here and see, but there had to have been!"

"How do you know that?" Ororo reached out taking his shoulders, and making him look at her squarely, her face compassionate but also stern. "Harry, I realize you had bad experiences with your fellow wizards back where you came from, especially with those in power. But you've also talked about all your friends who were also wizards do you think they would have gone to these lengths if there was any other choice?"

Harry blanched a little, looking away. He was angry, very angry. That face in the portrait, his resemblance to Dumbledore had brought all of his anger and rage at the old man back, and he was only now realizing that had probably made him lash out.

Ororo took his silence as a good thing, and went on. "You cannot project your own interaction with your wizard government and Dumbledore onto these people. You were not there Harry! If you were I have no doubt things would've been better for them, on many levels. But …you … weren't… there. Do not second guess the people on the spot like that, do not project your own anger against the people who drove you out, who derided and downplayed the sacrifice of you and your friends on the people here. Do not malign their sacrifice that way. Remember them for what they did, not for what you think they should've done or the mistakes they made before this. Let their final stand be what your remember them by, this last shining example of what they could have, should have been."

Harry was at war with himself. He wanted to believe Ororo, he wanted to think that at least in this dimension the wizards had done something to redeem themselves, to prove they all weren't just pathetic sheep. That was the crux of the matter. He had been angry with the Ministry for not really taking part in the war and trying to blame him for everything that happened, sticking its collective head in the sand and refusing to believe that Voldemort was back. Yet it was the people that had allowed them to get away with it that he had really been furious with. They didn't question anything they just simply went along with whatever let them keep their heads in the sand which pissed him off no end.

But Ororo was right he really was projecting what happened to him and his friends onto the wizards here. This wasn't the same as Dumbledore ordering some kind of final stand, then hampering his own defenders by saying they would have to use stunners another things like that. The wizards here had fought hard, the scars of their last stand were even now being cleaned away by the house-elves. They had fought the dementors every-time they showed up. Harry still had issues with their culture with the fact they had cut themselves off completely from non-magicals, and the way they had warred against one another and still thought they were somehow superior thanks to their magic. Yet none of that could take away from the fact that, at the very last, they decided to sacrifice themselves for others to contain the dementors.

"I'll, I'll try" he said, taking one of Ororo's hands in his and bring it up to kiss gently. "I can't promise that I won't blow up again love, but I'll try to keep an open mind. I'm sorry love," he said looking at her and shaking his head.

"That's all I ask Harry, I don't expect you to never make mistakes or never be wrong. You are human too you know, and it is human nature to project our personal experience onto others. And despite your power, despite everything that has happened to, you're still human."

Harry took another deep breath and brought himself under control, gathering himself visibly. "All right, I think I'm good to go now."

"Good," said Ororo pulling him into a kiss for a moment. "However I think I have seen plenty of schools before and two or three castles as well though admittedly seeing a castle that is designed as a school is original. Still, shall we take that as a given and move on to the oddities and strange differences you mentioned between this castle and the Hogwarts you once knew?"

Harry nodded, and led the way down to the fifth floor, where the entrance to the Ravenclaw dorm was. He told her about how a person had do answer a riddle to enter, and mentioned the fact that the riddle came from a knocker shaped like an eagle.

"That seems strange to me, why wouldn't it be a raven?" she asked, head cocked to one side. "That would make more sense given the house's name, would it not?"

"I thought so at the time," said Harry nodding. "Right now though there's something odd about this section bothering me. Something I can't quite put my finger on."

"There doesn't seem to be anything here to me. I assume you tried some spells to reveal hidden things and what-not. Is the tower still there on the outside?"

Harry paused looking over at her in shock. "Could you say that again?"

Ororo stared at him, one eyebrow raised in surprise. "I simply asked is the tower for Ravenclaw dormitories there on the outside? I haven't seen the exterior of this place yet after all."

"I'm an idiot!" Harry shouted suddenly, smacking himself and the forehead then leaning over and kissing her deeply. Ororo responded to the kiss quickly, though she was still at a loss as to what she had said that set him off. "Of course!" he exclaimed, as soon as he pulled away wrapping one arm around her and pointing the other at the empty space of wall where a door should have been. "If there's anything in there other than a solid tower frame rather an echolocation spell should do the trick."

Rather than a flat 'thunk' sound or anything that would indicate a heavy wall there, there was a 'bong' kind of sound, and he grinned, his ongoing grief leaving him for the moment. "Step back."

Harry pointed one hand firmly at the blank area of wall and sent out a weak Shatter-Shaker, which impacted the wall and rattled and broke it apart. It was slow going as he didn't want to risk damaging anything on the other side, but it was easily controllable. It took a few more spells but soon enough there was a hole there. Another spell shot out, and lifted the rubble into a wide archway, and a moment later the magic of the castle flooded over it, making it permanent.

They waited a few seconds, then Harry and Ororo entered the archway and looked around then up and up and up again. Harry stared, shaking his head. "So this is why I didn't see any kind of library anywhere else."

All around them in a circle of the tower were stacks of books reaching from here all the way to roof of the tower, seven stories of bookshelves. There weren't nearly as many books for that amount of space, nowhere near the amount of books that were in Hogwarts when he was a student. But that made sense in a way, after all the wizards here only started in the time of Camelot and didn't last for nearly as long as they had back there. Wizarding kind in his own world started well before the Punic Wars, how far was lost to history, but they had spread out almost everywhere. Here they had only begun as an offshoot of more traditional magics, and their self-imposed separation hadn't helped matters.

Ororo too was looking around. "I notice there aren't any stairs or anything to allow anyone to get to the second level or above."

"Of course there isn't," said Harry waving his hand and gesturing at one book which shot towards them almost like an eager puppy. "Why would they need such a thing when they had magic?" He shook his head. "Wizards, find a single solution to a problem which usually involves throwing magic at it and then ignore any other solution."

Ororo simply nodded, not wanting to bring Harry's attention back to the wizards in his memory any further. "And what do you think the giant book on the pedestal is for?"

"Only one way to find out," he replied, sending the book he grabbed back to its place. He first used some diagnostic spells on the book, making certain that it wasn't booby-trapped or anything like that, after all with magic you couldn't be too careful. It wasn't, and the two of them moved towards it. Harry lifted the cover, and saw what looked like a forward there. It was written in Latin and for some reason, and he shook his head amused. Even here, where Wizard kind had begun in Britain and never moved beyond its lands they still used Latin in their spells and for things like this. Odd for a group of arrogant, inbred and xenophobic arseholes he thought that was rather amusing.

After a moment he translated enough to begin and he spoke aloud as he went. "'To Whom It May Concern, this is The Big Book Of Students, not a momentous, magical or serious name we know, it's simply a name that states what it does. This book is tied to the ley lines below the castle, and then out into the lay lines of all of Britain. Through various portions of the ward scheme of the castle it is able to discern the location of any wizard child on any of the Isles. We of the Welsh enclave of Caer Duchairn , developed this for two reasons. One was to fulfill our obligation to produce something for the new wizarding center of learning, and the second was for our own reasons. We were one of the enclaves that felt we should reach out peacefully to the muggles to help solve the problem of our declining population. While they might not have had magic, there was research that showed any children of a muggle and wizard or witch would have magic, and we hoped that eventually this book could be used to find such students. Yet we could never convince anyone else of this, or at least the 'peaceful' part.'"

"'It took us years to create the spells for this book and figure out a way to connect them to the ley lines rather than the wars around our magical enclaves. And by the time we finished and finally got up the courage to go our own way it was too late. The dementors were already here. We have sent this with our children in the hopes that this castle may last longer than our enclave against the tide of dark, but hope these days is few and far between, and we leave this message for any who may find it. Use it well stranger, and remember us in your prayers.' Gavyn Crochenydd, last leader of Caer Duchairn."

Harry gently traced the words one more time as tears began to spring into his eyes again. Ororo hugged him from behind, nestling her head against his neck as he turned the pages. Each year the school had been there a page had been added by the wards to this book, and every page was empty. In this dimension there had never been anything like a muggle born, something Harry had several nasty thoughts about to explain the lack, most of which dealt with the big red arse that had created the dementors and sent them on these wizards, but that was for later. For now he simply turned page after page of blank parchment, each page with a single year date on top, and began to cry. He cried for the students who would never have a place to go and he cried for the people whose hope had barely lasted longer than they had.

After a moment he composed himself and the two solemnly left the library, leaving the book where it was. Harry already had ideas of how to use that book. After all, I'm already connected to the wards. It should only take me a few days work to create an inventory that could list all the people on the grounds, especially those designated students, modifying something like this is much easier than coming up with it in the first place after all. Though, it might take me longer to set up the wards to read their bio-signature rather than their magical cores. Then I could add charms and spells to that like that old Weasley clock that the twins had mentioned a few times, the one that pointed at different states of being rather than time, but changing it from pointing at something to color coordination somehow.

He smirked internally, thinking how the twins would have been appalled at the very idea. In the hands of their mother it had been a thing of dread to them which allowed her to know if they were out, in danger or, in later years, plotting pranks. But in this case he might be able to do something different with it. And maybe I could come up with some way of mixing it with the Marauders map. Of course for that to be necessary I'd actually need to have students here in the first place. Let's not get ahead of ourselves Potter.

From there the two made their way to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Ororo sighed sadly stopping and looking at where the house elves had gathered the remains of their former masters. Decomposition had caused most of them to turn to dust over time, but here and there a bone was still visible and their clothing was there as well. "How many do you think?"

Harry paused choking a little as he looked down the bodies, the tragedy once more threatening to overwhelm him. "Um, A-about 65 adult wizards I think, about 70 or so odd children. Thank you for doing this," he said looking over at the elves. I," he shook his head. "I'm sorry I had to ask you to do it I should have been more mindful of your feelings."

Dilly looked at him in shock. "We's be born to serve master, you asked and wes do!" He looked a little to the side as if thinking and then said hesitantly, almost as if he were afraid of what he was about to say. "Most weres not good Masters, but even they's not deserve the dark meanies."

Ororo's eyebrows twitched spasmodically again but Harry didn't notice. "No," Harry said leaning down and touching the one fully intact skull that the elves had found. "No, no one deserved the dementors."

He looked up at the elves. "I, I still haven't figured out what I want to do with these," he said waving his hand at the pile of debris that had once been dozens of bodies of adult wizards. "Were you able to all keep the remains of the children apart and stick them into graves?"

"Yes master," said a few of them sniffling audibly. Most house-elves, especially the females, had a soft spot for children, and loved to take care of them whatever their age. Seeing so many dead like this struck all of them deeply.

Harry nodded and wordlessly reached to ruffle their ears one after another. "I'm sorry, I know that would have been hard even for me. But you all could do it much faster than I could."

"Of course master," they all chorused smiling bravely.

One of them a female simply shook her head sadly looking down. "It's just bes… they was children master. Little kiddies. We's was so looking forward to taking care of them, and makings them food and cleaning up after them and…"

"I know," he said kneeling down and actually pulling her into a hug. She squeaked in surprise, but smiled tremulously. Their new master was a good master, despite his anger at their old masters. He was a little too soft on them according to some of the oldsters, but she and the other youngsters didn't think like that, and she liked the fact that their new master sort of wore his emotions on his sleeve.

"Is there anything you want to say over the bodies of the children?" said Ororo looking down at him.

He almost looked panicky for a moment. "Er, what do you say over graves like that? I mean, I never went to any funerals or anything in the wizarding world, and they didn't believe in God or anything."

Ororo shook her head reaching down and pulling him to his feet and then into a hug. "Harry, it doesn't matter what the words are or what the religion is, you're not talking to the bodies but their souls."

He opened his mouth and she produced her hand over it quickly. "I know you say that dementors ate their souls, and I even agree with you that it certainly sounds as if that's what happens, but there still might be something there that listens, and it is for you as well. It is a way of saying goodbye, a final farewell."

Harry shook his head. "Well, the time, I buried my friends, after Voldemort called up those demon, it wasn't a religious thing or anything like that, I just said farewells to them, and even that wasn't much." Harry wasn't certain if he agreed with Ororo that there was still something there that might be appeased or react to the words, but he wasn't about to say no to the idea either.

Ororo nodded. "What time is it here?"

"About four in the afternoon I think why?"

"Then let the remains reside in their graves uncovered for now, have elves standby to protect them from the elements as needed, funerals should be held as sunset.

Harry nodded, and the two of them made their way down to the living area that Harry had spotted, and Harry watched in amusement as Ororo's right eyebrow began to twitch in response to the furniture, which reminded her all too well of a brothel she had once stolen some food from when she was living on the street. "I guess this guy was a bachelor or something," he said rather lamely.

"I require a house-elf," said Ororo sharply.

In an instant one appeared in front of her looking a little startled. "Yes mistress?"

Ororo kept her tone level as she spoke "I would like all of this stuff removed please, leave anything that looks as if it might have writing on it but otherwise it's all kindling do you understand?"

"Yes mistress I's be doing that," the elves said and began to snap his fingers. With each snap a piece of furniture disappeared, and eventually all that remained was what looked like a journal, dropping to the floor from where it had been on one of the dressing tables.

Harry again used some diagnostic spells, and again there was nothing on it. There were some residue there, indicating there might have been some spell on it but as the spell hadn't been tied into the wards or the Ley lines underneath the castle it had long since faded. Indeed for there to even be a bit of residue left after so long whatever had been on it must have been incredibly powerful.

He opened it gingerly and looked at the words inside which were in old English this time. As he read them he began to laugh quietly. Before Ororo could ask what was so fun he said began to read aloud, translating into modern language as he did so. "'Welcome to Salazar's Superb Shack, I know silly name but with a first name like Salazar it was the best I could do. And it wasn't as if I actually had any chance to use this as a bachelor's dwelling. By the time construction of this castle was done there were very few eligible females that were still single after all, and the bachelor years that I had so looked forward to were never really realized.'"

Harry chuckled again shaking his head. "He really does sound like Sirius, it must been really frustrating for him."

"Indeed," said Ororo drolly shaking her head and waving one hand to indicate he should continue the worries of one bachelor unable to date bothering her not at all.

Harry chuckled again and turned back to his reading. "'Since you found this journal, that means you're either magical or something else very odd. If you're very odd I apologize simply because I have nothing to say to the simply odd, well done for finding this place etc. but otherwise go away. If you're still reading this that means you're a wizard congratulations. You may well be the last of us.'"

"'This is not to make you feel bad nor is it intended to put us in as good a light as possible. If there was ever a people that made their bed and were forced to sleep in it to a greater extent than we were, I have never heard of them. Yet in the last we wanted to do something for the mundane's, a people that we had derided for our entire history. We were raised to look down upon and despise them, not just because of the fact that they were so dirty, but because of their religion which saw us as fiends from hell and the simple fact they didn't have magic and we did."

"'If you've talked to that old codger in the painting, burn it. The Dumbledore's always had a way with words, and were able to get people to agree to anything so long as they kept talking, and it was his idea to make a final stand. It was his idea to keep to ourselves even at the last, not even trying to reach out to see if there were still sorcerers out there, the god bothering morons, who shot down even the idea of looking for a way to contact them. Yet it was my ward scheme that let us trapped in dementors in here, who gave us the ability to make our final gesture. It was I who figured out that the children could not be taken out because if we took down the anti-teleportation portion of the ward array, it would interfere with the anti-dementor ward enough for them to escape. Was there another way to get the children out? Possibly, a question that haunted me until now, my dying day, but at least it was one I thought of, that contemptible asshole Douglas didn't even ask, he simply decided the children should die with us! Yet I had a final laugh or two.'"

Harry's eyes narrowed as he went on. "'I designed the wards to protect our house-elves, because unlike we humans, when they had their souls sucked out, it was an extremely painful process. At least for humans it was quick. It never occurred to Douglas that I could do that, and it never occurred to him that myself and a few of the others could come up with another ward array for the children. We put them into a magical sleep, yes, but after that myself and ten of my fellow warders just spent the last two hours putting up a similar ward around them. Our children will not have to die, their souls sucked out to feed the dementors. But they never had as much magical power as we all adults did, every generation had less than the one previous in the main, and the wards would not have survived long before they were drained. At least in this way they would die cleanly.'"

"'The Dementors are here, even as I write they are climbing the stairs, shrugging off all the offensive spells that my fellows can hurl at them. I'm going to leave now and go die nobly fighting the dementors. I hope they choke on my soul, but evidence has shown so far that that is not likely… Remember us stranger, remember us for what we tried to do, for our last stand, for this single moment when we truly were as great and as mighty as we thought we were. Salazar Hufflepuff.'"

Harry had begun to cry softly, his tears falling down his face and on to the book as he read it aloud and Ororo simply hugged him again, not saying anything simply giving him wordless relief, and he turned as he finished reading burying his head into her neck and just letting the tears flow silently for a time.

OOOOOOO

Nick Fury glared through his communication screen, not quite believing what he was hearing. "So let me get this straight, you returned to a safe house, a house that only your team should've known about, and you find them dead and upwards of 12 terrorists there?"

"That's what I said boss, and half of them looked to have been physically modified somehow, like cyborgs or something. No way someone is that big and that fast and durable naturally." Clint shrugged.

Nick rubbed his face angrily. This is not what they needed right now, not with the way things were heating up elsewhere. For one thing, they now had a name for the new terrorist group in the Germany and other European Countries, Hydra. For some reason, the more he heard about it the more he had flashbacks to some of his missions with the Howling Commandoes during World War II, and he was beginning to be very worried about what the group's agenda was. To say their doctrine was like the Nazis was understating things in the extreme, it seemed to hate everything that was different than them, not just Jews and gays but anyone. He was tempted to take personal control of their assets in that area, but no. SHIELD's oh so secret backers were still bothering him about finding Magneto, as if that was the biggest issue he had to deal with, as well as some domestic issues.

They didn't know about Hydra, or that new other group whose uniform looks like a radioactive suit called AIM. They didn't know about the army clashing yet again with the Big Guy, despite the fact that he had been told that he would be handling it. No, all they cared about was the fact that he had missed his chance to take one terrorist whose powers utterly terrified them. To be honest Magneto's powers terrified Fury as well, mostly because the giant heli-carrier which was going to be SHIELD's headquarters was a flying carrier, and with Magneto around it would become pretty much a long spear that the mutant could hurl at a city whenever he wanted to. None of their scientists had figure out a way to block his control of metals, which was another reason why he had some against trying to open up talks with Tony Stark. He would have gone to the FF, but if his backers ever found out about it, they would have pitched nine kinds of hell about it.

He ignored all that for now and concentrated on what Hawkeye had told him. "Did they say anything that could give you a clue as to why they attacked you?"

"No boss, they didn't say anything. They didn't even shout most of the time when I shot them, hell I thought they were robots most of the time, still would if I hadn't seen them bleeding out after a shot a few of them."

"And you only got out of there because this Alvers kid helped you? And you compromised a second safe house by bringing him along." Nick shook his head.

"Yeah he's a good kid and pretty good in a fight. His powers are something else to see too, and he said he might want to sign up with us, I told him he'd have to graduate high school at least first."

Nick frowned thoughtfully tapping his fingers on his chairs armrest. He was tempted to sign the kid up now. It would give him a good in on the growing mutant community, and would give him a leg up on creating a super powered unit for SHIELD. The Avengers initiative had been shot down the moment he tried to raise the subject.

The reason was simple distrust. There were enough super-powered people appearing now that the idea of a group to police them was a good one, but to do that you has to trust the group doing the policing. The people who provided the cash for SHIELD were not trusting and it was as simple as that. They didn't want to trust superheroes at all, and if they were forced to work in a world where they existed they certainly didn't want to train them to be better than they already were. They still didn't trust the Fantastic Four even after they had been in operation for a year and a half, and faced dangers that could have destroyed the whole world, they weren't about to fund a similar group. No they wanted ways to control or simply eliminate the 'super' threat.

Fury however wasn't so narrow minded, and the idea of having an agent that could infiltrate the growing mutant community appealed to him. "All right Alvers can stay with you for a time, and tell him that we'll recruit him once he's out of high school. He'll have to go through boot camp and basic training of course, but that shouldn't be too tough with his Brotherhood training." Indeed Lance would later ace the training courses that would be thrown his way by SHIELD, though at this point in time it remained to be seen if he truly was willing to join up. "I might have another job for you in a few days though I think we might want to station you there permanently to watch him and the X-men."

Clint signed off after that and frowned thoughtfully. Nick was a fantastic leader, a great motivator and an even greater fighter, but often times Lance felt he somehow lost the thread of things, looking at the big picture rather than the people involved. Clint liked Lance, he could see a lot of himself in the kid and was more than willing to take him on as a sort of apprentice, but he was going to make damn certain that when the kid was able to join up that he did so with open eyes and mind. "Hey kid, is that pizza ready yet?"

"Hold your horses old man," Lance's voice came from the small kitchen. "The microwave is taking its sweet time. By the way, are there any rules about bringing girls over here?"

Lance paused at that, wondering when the last time he had brought a girl over to his place (wherever he was staying at the time really) for some fun had been, then began to laugh, and didn't stop until he sat down at the dinner table.

OOOOOOO

It took Harry about an hour and a half to control himself again, by which time the elves had finished digging the graves for the children. It would have only taken them an instant if they had used magic, but for some reason they had used their hands, they felt it would be sacrilegious or something.

Harry joined them outside and stared at the graves shaking his head sadly, but didn't break down again. He was still a little ragged, but he could continue for now.

Ororo had stopped by the doorway with two of the female elves and had gone into one of the classrooms. Now she strode towards him, and rather than the normal casual suit that she had been wearing, she wore white silk wound around her body intricately, sort of like a sari but not quite, with the ends fluttering in the breeze behind her. The sun was setting as she took her place in front of the double row of graves, and after lowering her head in reverence for a moment began to speak. It was in the language of the tribe that had worshiped her as a goddess, and she began to speak in the same way she had seen done a few times for them. "Goddess of wind, Goddess of water, God of Earth and Sun and Star, before you are children, struck down before they could live, before they could do and leave their marks on the earth. We who remain will remember them, but we ask that you guide these souls back into the great wheel so that they may come again, so that we may know them again. Guide their way in the darkness of the great journey, give them wings for them to dream by, and let them return from the darkness to the light to walk amongst us again in some bright day in the future."

She looked down and nodded at the elves, and they all, all of whom have been staring at her nodded and began to slowly fill in the graves.

Harry shuddered a little him shaking his head. He was in no way a religious man. The ancestor worship of wizard-kind had never appealed to him, and the Dursley's and the way they treated him had killed, while still calling themselves god-fearing Christians killed any kind of belief in regular religion. Yet for all that, he could honestly say he felt something had passed there, something was not here that had been and he could almost feel gratitude in the air, though why that was he couldn't say.

He shook it off, and looked over at the pile of remains from the adult wizards. The house-elves had found so little of them, and most of their bodies had been found jumbled together, they couldn't separate them into separate wizards.

Harry still wasn't completely certain that he agreed with the decision that they had come to, to sacrifice their remaining people to trap dementors, but nor was he going to denigrate their sacrifice as he had earlier. They weren't Dumbledore and his idiots, who had died nearly to a man trying to fight in a way that children could've handled, they had gone down swinging hard, and had succeeded in capturing their opponents and ceiling them away free millennia until Harry arrived to destroy them. He couldn't blame them for the problems their society had foisted off on them. He could only judge them by their own actions, just like he would want to be judged by others.

For that they would be honored, and he felt he knew how they would prefer it be so. He concentrated, raising his hands as he envisioned what he wanted to do, and then with the pulse of magic he began. A second later where the remains of the wizards had been was a statue about 7 feet tall. It featured one Wizard kneeling on the ground, bleeding, one hand torn off almost, but still defiant, with his wand raised and pointed as his opponent. In front of him was the dark grim visage of a dementor, swooping down towards him, larger than the wizard with its arms outstretched, it's very featurelessness adding to the terror of it. On a small plaque at the bottom the word "Defiance" was cast in large letters. On the side, were two names Salazar Hufflepuff and Gavyn Crochenydd with room for more.

Harry hoped to eventually find the names of the other wizards and especially the children who had died here, and inscribe them there. The name Dumbledore however was not going on there. He might have come up with the idea, but he also didn't even think of saving the children after finding out they were infertile, and by his own admission the man had been part of the problem of the wizarding world, not the solution.

Behind him he heard a gasp from Ororo and he looked over at her, smiling softly. "I'm sorry. You were right. I was projecting my own past experiences on these guys. They didn't deserve that. I won't say that I wholly agree with the decision they reached, because I don't, but they did one truly fantastic thing here, and for that we will honor them. This statue will remain here as long as the castle remains. And we will never forget their sacrifice."

And I won't forget the bastard in red who started it. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but you will answer for this, whatever the hell you are, I promise you that, Harry thought grimly.

Ororo nodded leaned in and kissed him gently and the two stood there staring as the sun finally descended.

OOOOOOO

At the same time Harry and Ororo were quietly watching the sun set, Kitty sat down across from her boyfriend on a date after school. "You look tired, did something happen last night?"

Lance shook his head tiredly. "Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. On the other hand, I have a new place to live, you want to come over this weekend?"

OOOOOOO

After a moment Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Enough, enough, time to move on. I'm going to go get Melody and bring her down here. With the castle open like this it'll be better for her to live down here, especially with the house-elves around. More room to roam, much more songs for her to listen to. I'll have one of the house elves return you to the mansion and you can go and grab some furniture for a room for her and us. I know you prefer that to my just conjuring or transfiguring things."

He called for Dilly, and asked him how many elves here had any knowledge of farming, and all of them did, causing the entire complement to appear all around them. Apparently elves shared knowledge of jobs almost on a subconscious level, what one knew how to do they all and learned how to do, but it didn't affect their job preferences. He picked out ten of the crowd that liked to farm and told them to grab onto his clothing.

"Why's master, can't we's just pop there?" asked one of them.

"Because this place is up there," Harry answered, pointing up, "and it's got a few wards on it to keep people from popping in except for me I can't take it off until I'm there, and I don't know what it will do to house elves." He also didn't know what the limitations on house elf teleportation (or even their powers) was, no one had ever made a study of them as far as he knew. He knew they couldn't teleport to places where their master had never been before, but that was all the information he had.

Ororo waved as the 10 elves and Harry disappeared in and then turned to look at the others. For some reason they all felt a sudden shiver go down their spines. "Now," she said pleasantly. "We're going to talk about diction and pronunciation, and why they are important."

OOOOOOO

Harry and the elves appeared, and almost immediately the elves began to make little squeaking noises of distress. Harry frowned then remembered the fidelis spell. It actually seemed to bother them just as much as it had Hedwig, which was odd. Humans weren't as bothered by it, confused yes, and a bit jumpy, but nowhere near this extent.

In a loud voice he shouted. "Harry Potter owns the asteroid base called High Note." He had slightly modified the spell after Melody had chosen the asteroid's new name, but that had been simple enough.

The squeaking subsided, and they look around. "Master where's be we?" Asked one of them

"In an asteroid which is a large chunk of rock presently in orbit around Earth. I can say unequivocally that you are the first elves in space." He chuckled a little at his own joke, though the elves didn't seem to get it and he opened the door to the rest of the asteroid. "First let me introduce you all to Melody. One of you is going to be assigned to her full-time."

They all looked up in wild hope and he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry to say Melody isn't a wizard or witch, so she won't be able to bond with you. However she is a child and you will be looking after her. And by looking after I mean cooking and cleaning and possibly protecting in case someone else comes looking for her, possibly wild animals, not certain about that one. Once she joins us down at Hogwarts I'll assign one of you as her permanent guard just in case. She'll have the run of the place as well as the woods if she wants, but I definitely want one of you to watch her at all times."

All the house elves squeaked agreement at that, and Harry nodded and moved on. Five minutes later Harry opened the door to the arboretum and found Melody where he knew she would be, singing softly to a group of birds, including Hedwig at the moment. That amused Harry, as Hedwig normally didn't join the other birds for this, looking down on her fellow avians. Still it looked as if she had needed some cheering up too and Harry had been in no condition to help her with his own depression crushing down.

As Harry walked up Melody stopped singing and looked at him with a bright grin on his her face that faded into a sad frown. "Oh Mister Harry, all your songs are so sad!" She jumped up and ran to him hugging him around the middle. "Don't worry, it'll get better. You'll make it better."

For some reason this act startled Harry more than it should have and he slowly put his arms around her in a hug, asking, "But how do I make it better?" He wondered how much her ability to see shifting things in song form had told her about what he had seen today, or if she was just speaking in generalities.

Melody looked up at him with wide trusting eyes and said, "By being who you are Mister Harry. Simply by being who you are you make the world a better place. Because that is what you live for, to teach and to protect. If you keep being who you are, being true to yourself, you will make it better."

Harry laughed a little wetly and simply hugged her for a moment then slowly released her and turned around. "May I introduce your new roommates, these are house elves, one of them will be a cook up here, and one of them is going to be your guard when we move you into our new home. I think you like Hogwarts, it's a huge castle with a lake and a forest and lots of things to explore."

With every word Melody's smile turned upside down and became wider, and she looked around his waist at the elves and waved. "Hello." And then she gasped and went down to one knee in front of them. "This is so marvelous! They're so cute! And their songs are like children's songs and nature songs all mixed up!" She began to hum along to a song only she could hear, and the elves looked at her with wonder.

Harry laughed a little at that, banishing the last of his sadness for now. He wasn't so naïve as to think it wouldn't come back, but right now, he could ignore it. He looked over at Hedwig who hooted softly and folded her head against her wing to indicate she was going to take a nap and he nodded.

"We'll be going down shortly, though I'm afraid that you're going to have to go to bed soon so you won't be able to explore it right away."

Melody shrugged unconcerned at that, and he gently pulled her to her feet and lifted her into his arms. The two humans showed the elves the enlarged farming areas, which caused them all to gasp. One of them called Boffin said "Masters, if yous wants us to farm this fast wheez be needing more elveses maybe thirty more!"

Harry asked, "How about fifty of you all told for safety reasons? I told you I don't want any of you to work yourselves into exhaustion, and that'll give you a good buffer, in case I have more friends up here at the same time."

All the elves nodded agreement, thinking ti would also spread out the workload so they could all have real work rather than sharing too little. "Good now I'm afraid I'm going to ask one of you to try and pop back down Hogwarts to see if it's possible." He said seriously looking at the mall. With a wave of his hand he conjured up a elf sized suit of armor, and he began to inscribe runes of protection on it. "These are just in case, I hope they're not necessary but I this is the first time any of you are going to pop that far a distance, and I have no idea if popping that far is like apparating is for me."

One of the males, the youngest one there hopped up and down eagerly. He always liked popping to new and different places, and this would make him the first elf to pop from space and back. Harry helped him into the armor and Melody and Harry watched as the little being popped away. A second later he was back a little breathless but not harmed. "It's hard master Harry, if we's didn't bond with youse it not be possible, but we's be able to do it now."

Harry nodded thoughtfully at that but also knew that it was probably going to be impossible if he moved the asteroid out of its present position which was right above Scotland. "Okay, let's go."

The 10 elves popped with him, and the twelve of them appeared on Hogwarts grounds. The ten elves each grabbed one other elf quickly explaining what was going on and Harry intoned the magic words to break the Fidelis charm. They all listened intently at as Harry explained what he had planted. He then asked if any of them could read and was pleasantly surprised to see that five of them could. He told the five where he had left some of the books to tell them about farming these plants and what would be necessary. After that the twenty popped up to High Note and set to work, some of them beginning to water the plants, others cleaning, the five who could read heading to his books, and others creating elf-houses with Harry's permission.

While this was going on Melody had been staring up at the castle, alternating between singing 'Castle on a Cloud' and 'Flower of Scotland'. It made for an odd melody, but it worked.

Harry looked at her and chuckled a little then reached down and picked her up. She let out a whoop as he put her on one of his shoulders, and walked towards the castle, starting to sing along with her. "Oh Flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again. That fought and died for…"

OOOOOOO

There must be some rule or law about how the number of rumors around a school is inversely proportional to the intelligence of the schools population, Jean groused to herself, sitting in the free space between Kitty and Kurt at a table in the cafeteria, nodding at the others all around them.

The last two days had been rather trying for the redhead. First, finals were around the corner. Not a problem on its own, but she had to keep dealing with the rumors that had spiraled out of control since her breaking up with Duncan, and they were taking a toll on her psyche and self-control. In fact they were so bad the teachers should have stepped in by this point to try and control them, but Principal Darkeholme's absence, now well overdue to return, had them scrambling around doing her job (paperwork) on top of their own and so had no time to spare on running crowd control.

The rumors were made worse by her friendship with Taryn ending abruptly, and Jean distancing herself even further from the cheerleader squad. She had fully embraced the fact that she was leaving high school after this year, where many of her fellows hadn't.

Taryn for one was only going to college because her parents were making her, though that wasn't why their friendship had come to a halt. Taryn was still of the opinion that Jean was stringing Scott along, which was why Scott had broken up with her. Surprisingly Scott didn't believe that any longer, yes he still had his pining moments, but he was getting better, which was all Jean could ask. Taryn unfortunately felt that Jean was using him, and refused to see reason. She hadn't begun any rumors about Jean, but she hadn't helped quash them either.

The rumors Duncan had started had gotten downright nasty. There were rumors that she was sleeping with one of the professors from the institute, thought the gender oscillated wildly, not going out, just sleeping with them for some reason. Then there was the rumor she was a lesbian, which was why she dumped Duncan and was going out 'with some blond slut she picked up at a bar'.

Jean might have given that one some more validity by verbally laying into a boy who muttered that in her presence. Jean could call Emma anything she liked Emma was her friend and knew she really didn't mean it. Hearing some random junior grade jock wonder where her pimp was so he could buy some time with the 'leggy blond Duncan mentioned' had roused her ire, and she had left him a whimpering wreck with words alone.

To top it off more than half of the male population continued hitting on her now that she was fair game. They simply could not understand she wasn't interested in anyone there. The fact she was turning them all down left and right added to the rumors that she was a lesbian, and that she was sleeping with one of her teachers at the institute, which only made her angrier.

Still, she was dealing with it, and without the need to run to a teacher to get the assholes to back off. Or, you know, frying their little brains with a telepathic assault that would turn them into catatonic zombies. The image of that actually helped a little and she leaned back in her chair slurping at her soda, the faint, dark smile on her face warning off several boys who had been making their way toward her. Even Kitty and Kurt moved just a little ways away from their friend.

Seeing their reaction Jean just waved her hand, banishing the image. She was really missing Ororo and Harry's support, but Kitty at least was supportive. However Kitty didn't really understand Jean's need for independence and felt she should have long complained to the teachers and gotten them to step in to stop what amounted to almost school wide harassment. Jean wanted to handle it herself however, and had been doing a decent job of it, or as decent as she could.

Come on Jeanie, you can get through this, it's only been four days since your broke up with Duncan, give it a while and the sheeple will grab onto something else in a bit to gnash their mental teeth on. Jean thought for about the tenth time since breaking up with Duncan. Just deal with it until then, don't rip anyone to pieces physically or mentally, and remember in two weeks you can kiss this place goodbye. Of course what you'll do after that is still up in the air isn't it?

She was broken out of her reverie when a shadow fell over her. "Hey babe, since ya broke up with Duncan that means you're free this weekend right?"

Jean groaned aloud as she looked up at one of the linebackers from the football team. While the season had ended a while ago he really didn't have anything memorable about him other than that, and the fact he didn't like Duncan. "I'm sorry do I know you? More importantly, no, I'm not interested. Goodbye." It was only because she was feeling slightly mellower with some food in her now that she didn't turn him down much harder than that.

The boy shook his head, ignoring the glares he was getting from Summers and the rest of the geek squad deeming them beneath his notice. "Oh come on babe. I mean I know the rumors say yer a lesbian and all, but that just means ya haven't seen what a real man can do."

Rogue and the others rolled their eyes at that while Scott and Evan made to get up and make the other boy leave. Jean's reaction however surprised them all when she began to chuckle. There was something immensely condescending about that sound, and something else that actually sent a shiver down their spines. She stood up, tossing her hair back and staring across at the boy who had so blatantly hit on her in such a vulgar manner.

Her voice was soft, yet it carried easily, and around them everyone turned to stare at what was going on. "Really? You really think you're the one to 'show me what a man is like'? But if being a man is defined by that little thing that dangles between your steroid enhanced legs, is it really such an amazing thing? Let me make this as clear as possible you slope-headed troglodyte, I'm not interested in you. I'm not interested in anyone here, regardless of their little clique, their money, their status, or gender. Do you understand?"

The boy, who actually was in the senior class like her and Scott, nodded almost hypnotized by the jade eyes spearing into him. It was almost like she was staring into his soul, and had found him wanting (which obviously she had). "No matter how many of you ask, the response will be the same. I'm not interested, period, full stop. Now, I'm going to walk away, and you're not going to hit on me again, because if you do, I will be forced to make an example of you, and afterward, you will have no desire to hit on a girl ever again because I will rip off that tiny thing you're so proud of and feed it to you. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded and she looked away, letting him stumble. He turned away in a daze his face green around the edges, and every other boy in the vicinity was looking the same. Jean sighed and picked up her tray of dishes, moving away and hoping the rest of the day went better than this.

It didn't, but then again it didn't get any worse either, and she was able to make it home without emasculating anyone else verbally or physically. Jean just knew the last was going to happen at some point, it was just a matter of time. It was a tossup though if her first victim would be a random boy at school, Scott in one of his weak moments (thankfully becoming fewer daily), Logan with his disturbing glances her way at times or Duncan for starting so many rumors.

Jean came out of her room and made her way down the stairs intent on challenging Rogue or the others to a match to get some of her anger out. While none of them could match her one on one, together they were a devil to fight and pushed her hard.

She stopped when she heard a pop and saw Ororo and what had to be another one of those house-elf creatures appearing out of nowhere on the third floor. "Ororo!"

The older woman turned and looked at Jean, noting her attire and her harried appearance. "Still having trouble at school?"

Jean nodded looking closely at her friends face. She looked to have been crying at some point, and she looked tired as well. Jean set aside her own issues and moved to her friend, laying her hands on her shoulders. "Never mind that, how are you? And how is Harry? You look wrung out."

Storm sighed, letting her head fall a little. "Harry found out what happened to his kind of magic users in this world. It wasn't pretty."

Jean pulled her into a hug comfortingly. Ororo leaned her head on her friend's shoulder, thankful for her support. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ororo shrugged. "I think we're past the worst part. I'm actually here to transfer some of my furniture, and to shop for more. For Harry and… someone else."

She filled Jean in on Harry's rescue and what amounted to his adoption of Melody, which made Jean smile and frown in turn. She smiled because it was such a quintessential Harry move, and showed the caring nature she so loved about him, and frowned at the idea of Melody having so little contact with other people, as well as wondering where Harry had housed the girl before this. As Ororo wasn't the secret keeper she couldn't tell her friend about High Note just yet.

"Well I can help you with the shopping at least. But why in the world did you come back here for that? Couldn't you just shop somewhere in the UK?" Jean asked with a puzzled expression.

Ororo shrugged. "I suppose I could, but you know I'm not that interested in shopping my friend."

Jean smirked suddenly, seeing a way to pamper herself a little rather than get out her anger. She looked down at the little house-elf, noting the long hair and the smock that looked like a skirt, which hopefully denoted that the little being was female. "Do you think you can transfer us both back to wherever Harry is from this distance? And what's your name?"

"I's be…" the creature stopped talking looking up at the frown on Ororo's face and went on more slowly. "I'm Mipsy miss, I's… I can do that yes miss." Ororo nodded approval and the house-elf breathed a sigh of relief.

Jean chuckled looking at her friend's face. "Trying to correct their language already Ororo? "

"You have no idea," said the language expert said in exasperation, shaking her head. "Anyway, what do you have in mind?"

"Well wouldn't it be simpler, and better for this Melody girl, if we took her along with us on this shopping trip?" Jean asked curiously.

Ororo nodded. "That does sound sensible, and I have yet to pick up any clothing for her in any case. And Harry mentioned something about getting her a teddy bear,"

Jean nodded. "Every girl needs to have a teddy bear my friend. And I have heard of this lovely store called Harrods…"

Within minutes the trio was gone, but Jean had thoughtfully left a message behind once again to explain where they went. 'Gone shopping with Ororo, she and Harry are fine, may bring back something from Harrods. - Jean.'

OOOOOOO

They teleported in front of the castle this time, and Jean looked around her with interest. The castle was breathtaking even when it was dark out, lit as it was from hundreds of windows, and the lake looked pristine and inviting even now. She shook off her wonder swiftly however and followed Ororo inside.

When they entered they found Harry and a young girl of maybe twelve, fourteen at most, in what must have been a dining hall. In Jean's opinion the younger girl was more elfin than the house elves for certain, with slightly pointed ears, thin but healthy figure, white skin, and big luminescent eyes that dominated her face.

Melody was sitting in a large fluffy chair that Harry had probably conjured, watching as Harry prepared beds for her, him and Ororo. She turned and waved merrily at Ororo. "Hello Miss Ororo, how are you? And um…" She looked closely at Jean, seeing who knew what. "Hmm… her songs are a little muddied, but the loudest one's deal with raising your flag, and sacred fire, hmm."

Jean chuckled. She easily could see what songs the girl might be seeing in her and could see Melody mentioning them like that as a compliment. She bent down and held out a hand for the younger girl to shake. "Hello Melody I'm Jean Grey, but you can call me Jean."

"Hello!" Melody chirped, grinning and shaking the older girl's hand. Harry had mentioned Jean a time or fifteen, and Melody was happy to have some songs to put to the name.

"Hey Red, good to see you." Harry grinned over at her. He had in fact felt Ororo and Jean return with Mipsy through the castle's wards. The information they relayed to the official headmaster, was pretty detailed already, which was good.

Harry had known there were two people on the castle grounds, that one of them was Ororo, and that the other was a stranger to the wards, but held no Dark objects or ill intent. There was something about the reading he was getting from his lady that bothered him, but he would look into that later.

It hadn't taken much intelligence to guess who Ororo would invite to join them here. The castle wards had given him some odd readings from Jean too though in a very different way, but he put that down to her still poorly understood dual nature as young woman and as physical avatar of the Phoenix. "I take it my lady roped you into joining the refurnishing project?"

"I don't recall needing to be roped into anything when my friends need help, Potter," Jean replied, walking over to him and pulling the somewhat older man into a hug. Harry returned it looking over her shoulder for a moment at Ororo, who simply smiled at him, before closing his eyes and enjoying the younger girls support, as well as the feel of her against him. After a moment Jean rather reluctantly backed away to look Harry in the eyes. "How are you doing? Ororo told me you found what happened to your fellow wizards here. I take it this castle is this universe's version of that Hogwarts place where you went to school?"

"Yes it is." Harry looked around him, his eyes far away mind lost in memories of good times and bad for a moment before he shook his head, sighing sadly at what had happened here. "I'm doing okay I guess. But it was bad Red, really bad." He swallowed and then gave her a brief description of how the wizards here had died.

Jean shuddered at the tale of horror and heroism, wondering what the hell would have happened if the dementors had gotten out back then. While she didn't have any real handle on Dr. Strange's abilities, who was the only sorcerer she had met even monetarily, she doubted even someone like him could have battled the horde of soul-sucking monsters Harry described.

This was in fact true, even the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme could only be in one place at a time, and there hadn't been enough sorcerers around to combat the dementors if they had started to prey on the regular population. Other groups could have done something, but not in time to keep hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions from having their souls sucked out.

However there was another aspect of the story Harry related to her, part of what he had heard from this portrait. "This big red thing that somehow created the dementors, it mentioned they were an experiment, and continuing with the alpha rather than the beta? I have a really bad feeling I know what the alpha experiment could be."

"The thought had occurred to me too, but given the timing I don't know. And before you decide to grab onto some kind of conspiracy theory Red, remember that scientists also study things in the wild. There's no way to know if the mutations that gave rise to mutants like you were created or not. And even if they did, so what? Would that knowledge change the problems mutants face? Would it change how you act, who you are?"

"Hell no," Jean answered immediately. "It would just give me another reason to find this asshole and see what my phoenix fire can to him."

Harry smiled but the expression was grim instead of happy. "I tangled with something similar in the Negative Zone Red. Trust me these things are on a whole other level, much like the phoenix entity that was in your head." He paused looking at her shrewdly. "You might be able to fight one eventually at that, but I wouldn't go looking for that kind of trouble."

"Will wonders never cease?" Ororo said dryly, "You not wanting to rush off into danger."

"I killed a planet to finish off the fucker I faced that was like this one luv," Harry replied grimly. "And I'm not certain it worked. Mind you, there wasn't any intelligent life on that planet at the time, but that kind of trouble is something even I want to steer clear of if I can help it."

Both women looked at him trying to figure out if he was joking or exaggerating and shuddered when they realized he wasn't. Melody butted in at that point, deciding that they were all too serious at the moment. She began to sing 'Firework', one of her favorite songs to lighten the mood, and eventually she had gotten everyone into a better mood.

Harry conjured up a fourth bed and the four of them bunked down there. A round of mild sleeping potion to offset the time difference sent them all off into dreamland swiftly.

OOOOOOO

Emma stretched luxuriantly as she got out of bed. The past two days had been good. She had started to establish herself at the Hellfire Club, not just as an extension of her father but as her own person. Her analytical skills seemed to be a hit, and she was a little more approachable to the normal club members than her father, and not just because of her looks. Winston had never bothered getting to know any of the Clubs members outside the Inner Circle on a personal level, and on a professional level he was far more likely to undercut, take over or simply run them out of business if it would help Frost Enterprises. She however saw them as useful sources of information, money, and possibly influence.

On top of that Emma and Sebastian had worked out a schedule for her to use her powers for him and for Leland (she refused to think of him in conjunction with the name Harry) in payment for backing her placement on the Inner Circle.

Leland in particular was interested in using her power to figure out which of his clients was able to pay for his services. Two of them had been saying that they couldn't, and that they had no money available to pay his fees after he had already begun to work with them despite the fact their holdings should have allowed them to. After that he wanted to use her powers in some of his court cases to find weaknesses in the prosecutor's case and their star witnesses he could exploit, legal or otherwise. Leland was a very, very good lawyer, and made certain that any client he defended that paid him for his services got off whatever it took.

This of course made him perfect for the Hellfire Club in general.

To Emma however it made him a leech in a good suit. Working for him would be tedious and boring, but possibly informative depending on his clients. Shaw however, had something more interesting in mind for her.

Two of his companies had been leaking secrets to some of his competitors, and his internal security teams had been unable to find the spy. Under the guise of showing her some of his factories she would winnow through the workers and managers until she found the spy. After that of course Shaw would deal with it in his own manner. This would take at least a month, considering all the places that she would have to go through, but Leland's job wouldn't take nearly as long. They would have to find some other way for her to pay him back for selling the R&D company that he had financed to Frost Enterprises on the cheap.

Emma got up, and thankfully did not meet any of her family members while she had a Danish and coffee for breakfast and then headed out to school. There she talked to her teachers, who were fine with her skipping out on school for the next few weeks, so long as she returned for the finals. Her grades were in the upper 1% of the school, and it wasn't like it was the first time she had to take time off for family business. All of them knew that she was heavily involved in her family's businesses. They didn't censure her as long as she kept her grades up, which was pretty easy for her. Besides her native intelligence she could use her powers to pick the answers to tests out of her teachers minds, but only as a last resort of course.

After that she had her driver for the day drive her over to the Hellfire Club. She had decided early on that she was going to spend as much time as she could at the club to better her chances at creating personal connections there, and it was already producing results.

Her day went downhill however when she sat down and ordered a copy of all the daily newspaper. About two hours later she was about halfway through the stacks, and had come up with several ideas that she would have to raise once she was on the board of stockholders for Stark Industries, as well as when she had control of her family's company. There was a lot of potential in selling to the private sector these days, but those thoughts flew out of her mind when she saw an article about an accident.

Normally this kind of thing wouldn't have interested in her all, except for the headline which read 'Black Sheep of the Frost family dies in accident."

She paused for just a moment, her eyes fixed on the picture of a mangled car wreck accompanying the article before actually reading it. According to the article Christian had been heavily inebriated and had been driving himself and four other boys back from a party and had tried to run a train safety area and been run over by the train. The family had not released a comment yet, as some of the deceased's interests had come out recently.

But she knew two things that the article apparently didn't. One was that her older brother Christian never drove himself anymore. Ever. Her older brother knew himself well enough to not trust his abilities behind the wheel, even when he was stone cold sober and not high, which was not exactly a normal frame of mind for him to be an these days, or hadn't been. And she also knew that the family had been able to cover up his sexual orientation up to this point. The only way it would get out was if they deliberately released it to smear his name.

Behind her calm façade, underneath her sudden overwhelming grief for the only family member she would willingly admit to sharing blood with, was a cold vengeful certainty that her father had done this. And she also knew why. You wanted to send me a message didn't your father? Was I acting to independent still? Did I let too much of my mind show for you?

She leaned back, the only outward emotion she showed simply breathing in deeply. Oh father, you hope to use this to break me, but I am stronger than that, and I will persevere. This just moved up my plans for you a little.

OOOOOOO

The next morning the inhabitants of the castle woke up to the sound of one of the house elves popping in. "Master and misseses, asked to be woken up early, breakfast be ready, I's be Nippy." The house elves had all been asked by Harry to introduce themselves over time so that Harry and the others could memorize them more easily.

Harry got up out of bed, not noticing the appreciative looks that Jean and Ororo sent his way as he stretched, the shirt he had worn to bed lifting up to show his well chiseled abs, or the glances Jean shot seeing a few of his collection of scars again. "Thank you Nippy," he said looking at the house elf and shaking his head internally. Whoever started naming house elves like this has a lot to answer for.

The house elves had procured some ingredients for bread, as well as having come up with some cream cheese from somewhere (Harry had no intention of looking into where just yet) as well as fresh fruit. They had even somehow procured and created some fresh grape juice, which Melody grabbed eagerly.

"Ahh," said Harry looking over at her with a small smile on his face. The night's sleep had done him wonders. He was still a little shaky emotionally, but being around Melody was good for him, as it forced him to put on up a happy face and not brood. "So it's not just grape soda that you like?"

Melody giggled and shook her head before sipping her drink eagerly and then chomping down into a bagel. In many ways she was still getting used to the fact that the food she had access to since Harry had decided to spring her was so good, and she liked all the new things. When she had lived with her parents it had been cereal most mornings, and at the sanitarium it had simply been a larger variety of cereals. They had bacon and some sausage at times too, but she had tried Harry's bacon and could tell that it was simply better than the ones they had served at the sanitarium. And that was only breakfast, it didn't consider the variety of foods available for lunch and dinner.

What she didn't know was that the house elves, delighted to have a child to watch over, had all taken one look at her and decided she was far too thin for it to be healthy. All of them were going to make it their mission to see she was properly fed.

Hedwig flew in, landing lightly on Jean seat and rubbing her head briefly against the redhead's cheek. Jean put up a hand and gently stroked the bird's plumage for a moment then Hedwig flew down to the plate of bacon that the house elves had prepared specially for her. She had actually woken up 20 minutes ago, and gone to glare at them in the kitchen to make certain they understood her desires. Eventually they got the idea, which was good for them. They might be too large for Hedwig eat, but they were just the right size for her to maul.

Harry smiled at his familiar, still grateful that she had thought of getting one of the elves to bring Ororo to help him through his grief. He gently stroked the back of her head, as he watched Jean and Ororo talk with Melody about what kind of furniture she wanted, whether she wanted the same kind as in her room up in High Note, or a different style. It turned out she loved her bed, but that she wouldn't mind looking around at different styles for the rest.

As this technical discussion wound down, Harry asked, "By the way Red, have you had any further thoughts about what you wanted to do when you left high school?"

"I don't know," said Jean looking over at him head cocked to one side. She had a sudden thought and put it forth quickly, despite her internal tension going through the roof. "How far along are you with your plans to start up your own company?"

Harry smiled, feeling something in him somehow lighten at her words. "I take it you'd like to work with me?"

"I believe the answer to that is hell yes," said Jean laughing in relief at his response. "I don't know all your plans, but I know enough to agree with most of what I know, and I want to work for you."

Ororo stood up and moved around the table to pull Jean into a hug. "I think I can speak for both of us when I say welcome my dear."

Jean looked over her shoulder as she hugged the other woman back and her own smile widened into a grin as she saw Harry give her a thumbs up. Melody too was giggling and laughing saying something about a song called 'Lean on Me'.

After a leisurely breakfast Hedwig launched herself from the table disappearing to reappear somewhere in London. Harry had actually sent her to the top of a familiar shop in Surrey. It had been the sight of his most memorable childhood wild magic attack. At the time he had been running from his cousin who was playing his favorite game of Harry Hunting, and had somehow apparated to the top of the building.

From there it was easy for the bird to wing her way into London, though she received several admiring glances from the people below as she went, which in her opinion was merely her just due. After she reached the center of the city it took her about an hour to find a place that was big enough for the three people to pop into that wasn't observed by a camera or other people.

She then popped back, and communed with Harry for a moment while Ororo and Jean debated what they wanted Melody to dress in. The bright happy grin on the younger girl's face as they did so showed she wasn't against this at all, literally basking in the attention.

As soon as they had decided to put her in a sundress with blue and red flowers on a white background Harry transfigured her clothing into it, causing her to gasp a little in pleasure as she looked down at her new dress. Harry had transfigured the clothing she had worn at the institute to jeans and a shirt, and Ororo had given her the first new piece of clothing she had in years, and it was also the prettiest she had ever owned.

"Alright ladies, I need you to grab hold of me, then I'll apparate us all to the landing point Hedwig's found for us." Before Ororo and Jean could move Melody had hugged him around the middle from the front, and he looks down at her.

She looked up at him with bright eyes and he slowly smiled down at her putting one arm around her head gently. Jean and Ororo shared a glance and both of them smiled at Harry's loving nature. The two grabbed onto Harry's arms, and with Hedwig taking position on his shoulder they all disappeared.

The place that Hedwig had finally found was in a parking lot on the third floor which didn't have any cameras, the few it did have, being down for maintenance. After a moment looking around with his own eyes Harry nodded and Hedwig. "Good choice Hed, you can head back to Hogwarts now. I know that you still want to explore its territory a bit."

Hedwig nodded her head, and disappeared from his shoulder. She did indeed want to explore the territory around Hogwarts and once more make it her own. She would teach all the other animals who the real apex predator was.

Harry led the ladies down the flight of stairs and out onto the street, orienting himself quickly. While he had never actually been into Harrods, he had been involved in a fight against Death Eaters nearby. It hadn't been that bloody a battle in comparison to others, but he had been impressed with the speed and competence of the police response, which had helped nail the DE's in place and let him and his friends wipe them out easily.

Melody held hands with Jean as the two of them looked around Harrods in bemused amazement. The place was amazing inside, and practically sold everything in various separate departments in the six-story tall building, which was as wide as it was tall. Harry too looked on in amazement, the size and diversity shown here were amazing.

As the ladies went off to look at furniture and other things, especially clothing for Melody, Harry first stopped in the bath/spa area for a few things which he hid in a pocket after purchasing, then made a beeline for the toy section.

One of the workers assigned there took one look at Harry and walked over with a bright smile on her face, a light blush around her cheeks. Harry may have dressed simply in jeans and a good dress shirt, but he had a presence to him that drew the eye. Indeed many of the other shoppers had also noticed him, and wondered who he was.

"May I help you find anything specific sir?" Harry turned to her and she nearly fainted as those bright emerald eyes turned to her. He was even better looking up close.

The next words Harry spoke however had her plummeting her down to earth again. "Yes I'm looking for a teddy bear for a little girl about 12 or so, the adoption papers said her age was undetermined for some odd reason."

Shucks, the young woman thought, why would a handsome bloke like this cage himself down with a kid? On the other hand that means he's got a job and money,

The worker showed him to the teddy bear section, and asked about if the girl had a preference for soft versus hard or any allergies to furs and eventually Harry scooped up a teddy bear about as big as his forearm, its arms up in a hug position with a bright smile, dark eyes and soft light blue fur covering it.

He turned back to the salesgirl with a bright grin. He went around the rest of the store with the girl trailing after, talking to parents and children of both genders and all ages, trying to get a feel for the kind of toys he should be buying, both for fun and educational purposes.

The saleswoman's final hopes (as well as that of a few single mothers) were dashed however when a gorgeous black woman met up with the emerald-eyed man kissing him fondly on the cheek as she took in the amount of toys he had gathered. With the help of a few of the mothers she winnowed through the pile of toys swiftly, cutting it down to about a third its original size. Even so it was still a large purchase, and the tip Harry left had the girl thinking fond thoughts of him all over again.

About three hours after they entered the sprawling store, the group left Harrods weighted down with several dozen bags of clothing and toys, receipts for several pieces of furniture, and one little girl holding her new teddy bear.

As soon as they were out of sight of everyone, and in a place that didn't have a camera Harry called in one of the house elves, who gleefully took all of their packages as well as Melody and Jean back to the Castle. Ororo and Harry stayed to finish purchasing the furniture that decided on.

Besides furniture for Melody they had picked out several other bits and pieces of furniture for the castle, including a rug that Ororo felt would do great in the main entrance way and several large beanbags for a TV room, and various other things. Adding appropriate furniture and other things to the castle would take more than this one shopping trip however.

They also bought a few electronic devices that Harry wanted to experiment with to see if they worked on Hogwarts ground. In his old dimension that hadn't been the case, but he didn't know yet if that was true here. If it was the case, he'd have to ask how Steven stopped magic from interfering with the electronics stuff he had seen in the sorcerer's house.

After that they rented a van and stored all of furniture they had bought in it. Once the back of the truck was closed one of the house elves popped into the back of it and popped it all back to the castle.

The two did then went and bought food before transporting it in the same manner and Harry wondered idly when and how he would go about purchasing a farm or two to provide food long term. Right now of course with only the three of them in the castle along with the house elves they were well supplied with food, but eventually the castle would fill up at which point more food would be needed. He wanted to keep High Note separate from his more public works, which the castle and whatever he planned with it would be part of. This made having a visible source of food necessary. He also would be keeping the house elves as secret as he could from the public.

OOOOOOO

Jean looked around the former classroom on the seventh floor that had been designated her room for now. Harry was adamant that no one was going to be living in the dormitories for a while, the memories were still too fresh of the children and how they had died in bed in their dormitories. Jean agreed with that, shuddering a little at the thought of it.

Of course the classroom wasn't exactly good either, but it would do for now as a place to store some of the furniture they had bought for her. After all she wasn't moving in right away, she still had to graduate high school, and then formally move out of the Institute. And she and Harry hadn't worked out precisely what her job in his company would be, or how much she would be paid or what other plans she would be a part of.

She set up her bed against one of the inner walls, and had bought a wraparound desk for one of the corners, thinking that that would make for a good workspace once Harry and she began to work on more physical plans for the power generator. She had also grabbed a radio for herself, liking to listen to music, and the bookshelf and a DVD case, but didn't turn on any of the electronics gear just yet, waiting on Harry's okay. It would turn out that Harry's worries were unfounded. For some reason magic here was able to easily work alongside electronics, something that startled Harry quite a bit when he realized it.

Melody was in a classroom or across the hall for now, with its windows wide open and some kind of spell on the windowpanes to keep out rain or snow but to let in the wind. It was crisp outside, but still quite nice and Melody was almost like Ororo in the fact that she really liked open spaces like this and feeling the wind on her face. She wasn't claustrophobic like the older woman, but still far preferred wide areas after being locked up with only her music for so long.

Her furniture this time consisted of another bed made out to look like a tree limb, and several wind chimes which chimed gently in the wind, and a low, long dresser full of her new clothing, along with a bookcase that already had several books Ororo had bought her. The African woman was determined to get Melody caught up scholastically with her age group, and had begun that process after their first meeting.

Lighting was of course supplied by torches here and there, but these would eventually be replaced by a light in Melody's room made of silver in the shape of a tree that had little bells attached to the branches. Jean's was far more utilitarian, being a simple upright lamp done in bronze and glass.

Ororo and Harry hadn't decided where to put their room just yet, since Harry wanted to put it up in the headmaster's quarters but also wanted to go through everything there carefully first.

After thanking the house elves for their help in setting up their rooms Jean took Melody out into the woods because Melody wanted to explore and while Jean had a good eye for fashion she was not exactly an expert in interior design. They were followed closely by one of the older of the house elves who strongly reminded Harry of a mix between Kreacher and Moody, a truly terrifying thought.

Ororo worked with a few of the house elves who had taken down notes about things like number of rooms, the hallway measurements and stuff like that to figure out what she wanted to do in terms of carpeting, decorating and furniture.

Eventually this place might be a school again, but for now it was going to be one of Harry's strong points for the company he was going to start up in the not too distant future. That meant she needed to repurpose many of the rooms to different things, much like he had done with High Note. The asteroid base would be where he put everything he didn't want the public to see. Eventually Hogwarts was going to be their public face, once Harry had his company up and started as well as other things he was going to start working on.

While she was doing this Harry first experimented with the electronics gear, finding the battery operated ones working perfectly. He thought of ways to include a generator somehow, but put that aside for now.

He then went through the wards of the castle, getting to know some of the ones that he hadn't recognized offhand. Some of the wards are actually quite brilliant, he thought to himself as he leaned back in the headmaster's chair, feet propped up on the desk. The notice-me-not ward on the place almost acted like a Fidelius in its scope, but once someone was inside, magical or not they were in on the secret. It used a person's bio signature rather than your magical core, something Harry made a note of. It was the limiting factor that fascinated Harry, since it didn't need any interaction from the headmaster to implement.

The anti-creature wards were also great, as were the anti-Dark object wards. Those wards covered the whole grounds, and no-one was exempt. If someone brought a Dark item onto the grounds the wards would attack him, keeping him in place, draining his magic and if he tried to break out, somehow inverting his magic core so that the person imploded in a rather spectacular manner. That ward Harry had taken several notes of for use up in High Note. After all, if he could switch out the anti-dark item portion with an intent based one, and make it use a person's bio-energy instead of magical core…

But Harry had spent about an hour adding anti-demon and dark creature wards to the scheme, going slow so as not to damage the Hearthstone. It amazed Harry, but the Hearthstone here was acting almost like a living thing, and was slowly healing itself of the damage it had suffered having been on a wartime footing for so long. By the time he was finished the castle was a death trap for any demon. Even without the wards on a wartime footing they were immensely powerful, especially, Harry was slowly beginning to realize, with his own power behind them. He still hadn't quite gotten a handle on his new power level, but that would come in time.

After that he had come up here to sift through the various items and books of the former headmaster.

He stared down at the charred remains of the painting that had held Douglas Dumbledore. His second meeting with the man had quickly reinforced the fact that while Douglas hadn't been bad in terms of the society he was born into, he had been a part of the problem. His thoughtless nature, his emphasis on the primacy of wizard-kind over non-magicals (he had been appalled to learn there were non-magicals in the castle) and his continued reference to Harry as 'my boy' had made it easy for Harry to comply with Salazar's final wish to burn the painting to ash.

He was tempted to keep the charred remains around as an example of what hubris could cost, but as he had decided this was going to be his and Ororo's bedroom that wasn't going to happen. He looked over at the small supply of books. Most of them were what his old dimension would have labeled Dark which was probably why they were in here rather than in the library. They had some interesting offensive and defensive spells, but none of the more refined spells to combat Dark creatures, but then again he didn't need help in that department.

Going through the stuff had not in fact taken him anywhere near as long as he had expected, and he was debating what to do while the ladies were busy on their various tasks. After moment however Harry smiled and stood up, a plan in place.

He walked down the stairs, and went into the Hearthstone room. He looked over at the side, and began to work on the runes there. After a moment he was ready, and moved into the room next door to this one. He stayed there for four hours inscribing runes on the walls and ceiling, then the room shuddered and rumbled and a miniature replica of the castle the lake and everything covered by the wards appeared, every detail covered, rose out of the floor. Little pointers made of green light appeared in the air above it, pointing down.

This was a three dimensional version of the Marauder's Map, which he had wanted to create after seeing the Book of Students. Right now for example he could see that Ororo was down on the third floor with several elves (who also showed up on the map) doing something or other in the hallway. Jean and Melody were out by the lake, which was also shown in its entirety on the map.

Not only would the map be able to show everything around the Castle and where anyone was at any given time, Harry also built in a feature that would enable him to see if they were in trouble or in danger by the color of the messages in the air. That had been somewhat complicated to build in, and had taken most of his time here. The notes he had made of the wards and the original map back home had made the rest of the job pretty easy.

He wasn't anywhere near done with this, but felt well enough along on what would obviously be an ongoing project to leave it for now. Satisfied with his work so far, Harry walked back up to the headmaster's quarters and with a small smile on his face began to cast spells at the walls.

At around seven o'clock local time, which would be around twelve at night back in New York, they all met up for dinner after which Jean left to head back to the institute.

Ororo and Harry spent time with Melody after that setting up a TV room, and with a few temporary Potter runes providing power, watching a few Disney movies. They smiled as the girl sang along in perfect pitch with many of the songs from Aladdin and others. The fact that she was staring at Ororo and Harry when she sang 'A Whole New World' was not lost on them, and they put her to bed with many hugs afterwards.

After they put her to bed Ororo suddenly found herself being hugged from behind, Harry's arms around her and his lips beginning to nibble at her neck. "I think you deserve a bit of pampering love," he said huskily, "for putting up with me and helping me through all this."

Ororo leaned back against him, a premonition going through her mind and wondering if she should let this go where she wanted it to. After a moment she decided that yes, she should and nodded, smiling faintly yet eagerly. "Then take me away love."

OOO Warning Lemon start OOO

Ororo whooped as Harry scooped her up into his arms easily, and then teleported from there into the headmaster's quarters, or what had been the headmaster's quarters and was now simply their bedroom. At the moment it was lit by candles in each of the corners replacing the torches and Ororo gasped as she looked around. Everything had been changed. Gone were the few pictures, gone were the bookshelves full of knickknacks and books. And where before there had been just one large window on the far wall from the door, Harry had spelled the stone walls to be transparent. The room was hot and yet all around them they could stare out into the nighttime sky of Scotland.

Harry gently set Ororo on her feet. "Why don't you get undressed love, and lay down." He reached over and picked up a small bottle of massage oil, indicating what he wanted to do.

Ororo smiled and nodded and Harry turned around, lighting some incense sticks from the nearest candle and putting them in little holders that he had conjured by the bed.

The bed in question was a four poster king size with a wood and copper head board and foot Harry had again conjured up, but the sheets were the same as on her bed back at the institute.

Ororo teased her lover for a bit, slowly stripping down as she danced lithely around the room, then covered herself up with two towels. She did this more out of a desire to add to the event rather than any sense of propriety. After that Ororo laid down on her chest, her hands at her side. "Have you done this before Harry?"

"Er, most of it," Harry replied, and Ororo twitched a little when he drizzled the oil on her back and legs. "I've given a few massages, Sirius demanded I learn the skill, said it was the most important tool I could have when it comes to the fairer sex."

She sighed contentedly when he started on her feet, working the oil into her skin. He then moved up to her back, ignoring the sections that had been covered by the two towels for now, and just gently kneading her muscles and working the oil into them as he got all of the kinks out of her back and legs.

She moaned happily under his hands as he worked the oils into her body, and Harry shook his head almost bemused by the fact that this goddess on Earth was letting him touch her. Her skin felt like satin under his hands, and glowed with the oil as he worked it into her skin.

He moved his hand slowly down her back, gently touching the curve of her rear and then moved his hands over the towel there and down her legs again. Ororo moaned again as he began to work the oil into her thighs, lifting first one leg and then the other to rub the oil in all around. Her moans began again as he moved his hands down to her feet for a second time. Her feet had always been rather sensitive.

He worked the oil in between her toes, and began to caress her feet gently even popping one of her toes into his mouth and licking it and then moving his tongue down to the arch of her foot. She shuddered a little as she had what amounted to a mini orgasm at that. Ororo didn't notice that Harry had moved her lower towel aside bunching it up along her back to get at her rear until she felt the oil being dripped down onto her rear and his hands descending on it.

Harry molded her rear in his hands, leaning down to murmur in her ear. "My love, you really are a goddess, every part of your body is so perfect. No model can match this beauty, and the greatest sculptors would give up their first born to sculpt your ass."

"Flattery will get you nowhere you aren't already going Harry. Ahhh…." Ororo gasped again as he let one finger slowly move down between her cheeks to touch her cleft. He stopped there for a moment and Ororo hazily realized that he was waiting for her to give her okay and with a nod of her against the pillow she did so. His hands now stopped kneading her rear end began to grasp and squeeze instead.

"Ahh, oh goddess…" she gasped as his thumbs move down into the cleft of her cheeks and further down to her pussy lips opening it slightly. He leaned down and gently caressed her with his tongue, just once but once was enough to send her over the edge and she shuddered and bucked as she came. "Goddess, oh Harry, ahhhhh!"

She hazily felt Harry turn her over onto her back, and he began again, taking one arm and pouring oil over them kneading and massaging her muscles. She came back to herself completely when he began to work on her second hand and she smiled hazily up at him. He smiled down at her, his eyes alight with desire, and he gently leaned down and kissed her. When she began to push up and try to deepen it however he backed away shaking his head. "Not yet love, I'm not done yet."

She sighed and fell back, while Harry went back to massaging her. Soon he finished with her second arm, and moved back down to her feet. Again she began to moan as he needed and massaged her feet working the oil in deeply and then moved up her glistening milk chocolate colored legs again. This time he didn't stop to caress her pussy just yet, instead he moved slowly up her flank and worked on her stomach muscles for about 5 minutes, working the oil in and making her gasp as she felt the effects of his hands on her. After that he moved up to her chest area, and she gasped again as he poured more oil directly onto her breasts. "Ahh, oh… ahh…."

Harry worked each breast in turn with both of his hands, caressing, kneading and squeezing in turn, ignoring entirely her nipples which were hard enough to cut diamond at this point. After fifteen minutes of this treatment, which had Ororo's voice coming out in a continuous mode, he changed tactics. He took a dollop of oil from between her breasts and worked it into her nipples with his thumbs one at a time, ignoring with difficulty the musical moans that Ororo had began to produce continuously. "Oh goddess beloved… Don't tease me, goddess, oh…."

Harry grinned and kissed her lightly again as he moved down and she felt herself tense in anticipation, or she would have if every bone in her body hadn't become so many noodles at this point.

With one hand still caressing her breasts going from one to another and working another dollop of oil into the cleft between them Harry wet two fingers with the juices from her pussy which was now positively gushing, and slowly inserted them. Ororo came again bucking off the table as she howled "AHH, HARRRRYYYYYYYY! YEEESSSS!"

Harry gently pulled his fingers back out again, slowly moving them up and down her pussy lips as she came down from her high. His other hand left her breasts and pulled his shirt off, and then as she watched through hazy eyes he touched his belt buckle and looked up into her face.

They stared at one another and Ororo nodded firmly. She was ready for this, she had been ready for a few days now in fact, but the time never really seemed right back at the Institute. Now, now this was going to be special and she knew it and that was how she wanted their first experience to be. Given the fact that he had set all this up it was obvious Harry had felt the same, and she felt safe in his capable hands.

Harry undid hit belt buckle and dropped his pants along with his boxers, standing there with his cock at attention. She licked her lips slightly at the sight, he had definitely lived up to what she had felt that one time in her room through his boxers. Harry's cock was about 10 inches long, and as thick as her wrist. It was slightly longer than her first lover if she was any judge, and much thicker.

Somewhere she found the energy to ask, "So is that a sorcerer/wizard thing? Or is it just you?" She gently raised one boneless hand and tapped the tip and he shuddered as she worked her fingers down his length slowly pumping it. She didn't really have the energy at this point to do anything more, but judging by the look on his face this had finished the job of warming him up.

"I don't know," said Harry puffing slightly as he felt her hand on him. "The three girlfriends I went far enough with to see it, weren't about to compare me to anyone. But… Merlin love your hand is heavenly… But there was an old saw about… about magical power equating to virility or something. I, I thought it was a bunch of bollocks honestly."

He gently stepped back out of reach then moved around to the foot of the bed between her legs and gently got up onto the bed with her, pulling her slightly towards him, and then hesitated.

Ororo noticed this, and smiled slightly. Harry was technically still a virgin, having never gone all the way before, so to speak. She smiled slightly, though wondered why he touched his cock for a moment with glowing fingers, wondering what sort of spell he had just cast on himself.

She reached down with one languid hand and helped him line himself up and then stopped looking at him, eyes afire with lust and love. He looked down at her, eyes alight with his own equal emotions and he slowly leaned down and kissed her on the lips. This time he didn't pull back, the kiss deepened and his tongue entered her mouth, her arms going up around him. At the same time he gently rocked his hips forward, sliding the tip of his cock into her. She gasped into his mouth, his her arms going up and around him. Her breasts pushed into his chest, and she broke their kiss off to hiss, "Yesssss, Harry…" then clamped her mouth on his again.

Harry paused a moment letting Ororo get used to his girth then pushed forward another few inches and stopped again. Ororo and her nails began to dig into his back and she pulled back from the kiss again. "More love, I can take it more!"

Harry ignored that and slowly inching his way inside of her his face scrunched up as he tried to stop himself from ending the experience prematurely. It was incredibly difficult though. Ororo's insides felt like a vice made of wet velvet it was slick, it was amazing, it was the best sensation Harry had ever felt, and it took all of his self-control to keep moving forward and not bust his nut immediately. Shit that spell Sirius taught me to help my self-control isn't working as well as he said it would! This is fucking torture, I am so close to blowing right now inside her…

That thought pulled him up short and gave him enough self-control to lean back slightly and put a hand on her stomach. This one didn't come from Sirius but rather Parvati and Padma. The Indian twins had forced him to learn the spell when he was dating Padma, despite the fact that neither were willing to go that far that quickly. Still the contraceptive charm was a useful thing to have, and he cast it on Ororo. He wasn't certain if it would work on non-magicals however, and resolved to pull out when the time came.

By this point Harry his cock most of the way into his goddess, leaving only about an inch left and Ororo's hands traced down his back to grasp his rear and urge him on. "Do it beloved, fill me!" Already Harry was touching places in her she had never felt touched before, his girth added to his length filling her even more than her first lover. Yet she was anxious to get him all inside her.

In response Harry slowly pulled back instead, and then rammed forward the final inch.

Ororo gasped again as she came for the third time since Harry had begun this, feeling more full than she ever had imagined. Harry's cock had actually hit back of her pussy there, nearly pushing into her cervix. He waited there for a moment, and Ororo looked up at him seeing the strain on his face the self-control he was using and smiled faintly pulling him down into a kiss. "You can start to move now," she ordered and began to lick and bite at his neck and ear.

Harry did so, and began to piston slowly in and out of her. This was not a time for speed, this was a time for slow gentle loving, and that was what they did moving against one another in her rhythm as old this time.

Harry was in ecstasy, his lady was moving with him, her insides gripped his cock like nothing he had ever imagined. He thought he had been prepared for this, but none of his readings (forced by Sirius and surprisingly Hermione) or his previous experiences had prepared him for the real thing.

Ororo was much the same way. While she had two lovers before, Harry was touching her in ways neither of them had, or even tried to. Every time he pumped forward he scrapped against a little bundle of nerves inside her right before the entrance to her womb, which sent jolts up and down her body. His technique too, slow but powerful was entirely different. There was no frenetic drive to completion, no mere ramming her again and again, this gave her a whole new meaning to the term 'making love' that went well beyond mere sex..

Eventually however it became too much. Harry pulled out then slammed back in him nearly opening up her cervix again for a moment which startled up another orgasm in her, then pulled out at the last moment, spurting his cum all over her lower body and up to her breasts. He gasped and fell to the side for a moment, one arm going around her in a hug.

Harry looked at Ororo from an inch away smiling slightly at the disheveled, sweaty, shining and utterly glorious look she had at the moment.

The two lay there exchanging gentle kisses and caresses for several minutes, then Ororo pulled back looking at him smiling faintly. "I seem to remember you saying that your first sight of me made you think, and I believe this is a quote, of 'oil scented candles and silk ties and sex wilder than you had ever attempted before'?

Harry grinned and took one of her hands and gently pulled it until it was touching his cock which had not flagged post orgasm, smiling at her widening eyes. "The night is still young love," he said as his other hand conjured up a silk tie.

Ororo began to chuckle, but then as Harry made to stand up pulled him into a kiss. Her hands went around him and as he lost himself in their kiss she twisted her body so that she was on top. Then one hand grabbed the silk tie out of his hand and looked down at him with a wicked grin.

OOO End lemon OOO

Ralph Zegerisk was one of many bodyguard/driver the Frost family, specifically assigned to Winston's protection detail today. Unlike his daughter Emma, Winston had no powers to protect himself with nor did he believe that anonymity alone could do the job. Thus he used a team of three of them chosen randomly to be his guards and drivers. The randomness of the detail was supposedly to keep any of his business enemies from knowing his schedule or and successfully suborning his guards. The reality of it however was the Winston had as much or more to fear from his children than from any enemies. The extent this was true however was not known by the guards, but it would not have saved him even if he had.

Emma sat alone once more eating breakfast before heading out again to the Hellfire Club, but while her body was going through the motions, her mind was busy delving into Ralph's mind like an invisible hand, sifting through his mind, implanting orders deep that would only be triggered under certain stimuli.

She had told her father about her power when she was young and naïve enough to think that he might in fact care for her despite his cold exterior, but she had learned that lesson well, and never told him how it had grown as she had, grown to the point that she could read the mind of anyone within two miles of her own location if she so chose. And she never told him that she could plant suggestions along with simply reading their thoughts, and could in fact override another person's brain entirely. Of course that lacked subtlety, and she couldn't keep it up for long. Implanting suggestions, while taking far longer and more of her attention was longer lasting, and it would take another telepath to find them and deactivate them before they took control. After the fact, there would be no evidence of their existence.

The solution to her father's downfall was almost boringly simple and based off something she had found while practicing her powers over a year ago. It turned out that while her father did not partake in the pleasures offered by the Hellfire Club, that was because he preferred to keep his indiscretions closer to home where he could control them. Despite having no more warmth than a particularly cold corpse the man did in fact have affairs on the side. Whether that had helped aid her mother's deterioration Emma didn't know. What she did know was that one of his most frequently used women was a maid, who had, six months ago married one of his bodyguards. The affair hadn't ended after that marriage, but the bodyguard had no clue about it.

Or didn't until Emma put her little mental suggestion into his mind. Now the man was a time bomb, waiting to go off at just the right moment.

Emma felt no remorse about this, it wasn't as if the man was himself a saint given some of the things she had found in his mind. There was a reason he had been dishonorably discharged by the military before he went to work with the Frosts after all. She simply considered it a case of postponed justice in a way. The man's reaction would also easily be in character, thought out, bloody, and very direct. If she felt sorry for anyone it was his children, who thankfully really were his. At least as far as Emma knew. She was certain they weren't her fathers, but hadn't read the mind of the maid to see if her father was the maid's only indiscretion. When Emma took control of the family she would have to see to it they were looked after. After all, there was no way she could keep their mother on in her employ if the whole sordid affair came out.

You will soon learn father. No matter how much you try to deny it, you too are human, and therefore vulnerable. I only regret I won't be there to see your face when you realize it.

Done with planting a suggestion in the last of the family's bodyguards, she got up and met up with her own driver/bodyguard and headed for the Hellfire Club Almost immediately upon entering she heard a loud voice hail her from one of the booths by the stripper' platform. "Isn't it a school day Mrs. Frost? We wouldn't want your education to suffer, would we?"

Emma theatrically rolled her eyes and moved over to Donald Pierce, who today seemed to be partaking in the clubs offerings rather than engaging in wheeling and dealing. "You know very well I don't have to show up for the blasted review sessions Donald, why waste my time there when I can be doing something useful."

Emma ordered a glass of orange juice, it being far too early in the morning for alcohol, and then merely glanced up at the dancer who had captivated Pierce's attention. "I was going to ask what brought you down here among the rank and file but I believe I can guess. Asset acquisition is it?"

Donald chuckled. Since her debut at the club, he had been amused by Emma's trenchant wit, and found her much more approachable than her father. Oh she could do the whole Ice Queen thing even better than Winston could at times but whereas he was cold all the way through, it was obvious that Emma had hidden depths underneath. Her wit too, was fascinating and her ability to research, analyze data and her business acumen were a credit to her family. "More like a free preview of the new stock my dear. After all why buy when you can rent?"

The dancer didn't respond to their jokes having been well trained, or possibly because she didn't speak English. Given her Asiatic features that was a possibility. Pierce sat back, looking between the dancer and Emma, and even without her powers Emma could tell he was comparing the two of them, but rather than take umbrage she merely leaned back and let him continue, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

After a moment Donald noticed and chuckled before asking "So are you merely going to continue your meet and greet sessions with the, as you put, rank and file, or have you something specific in mind for the day?"

Emma shrugged. "We will see what comes up won't we?" She glanced up at the dancer and then rolled her eyes as Donald began to laugh, leaving him then to head over to the bar to collect her drink, leaving his mind with the mental suggestion that yes, Emma was a better Frost to represent the family then Winston, and he was happy to see the other man go.

It wasn't the first such suggestion she had planted in the minds of the members here, and it wouldn't be the last either. Eventually none of them would care enough about her father to investigate his death or mourn his passing. They would also be wary of her anger and business acumen so wouldn't attempt to take advantage of the turmoil following his 'tragic' death. The only two she hadn't tried to do this to were Leland and Shaw, however in their case she had made herself seem like an ally and a burgeoning friend, much more than the mere business associate her father had been.

Shaw was a problem in the long term, simply because the man had mental defenses that were too good for her to circumvent without him knowing she had. On top of that worry which she could have borne, she had the impression he had several plans going forward, and she could feel him measuring her several times in the past few days since she had been presented to the Inner Circle. She could also tell it sometimes bothered him that he hadn't tried to physically prove his dominance over her, but he hadn't tried to push past Harry's 'first defense' charm yet.

It was still early days of course but she was well pleased so far.

She spent the next few hours in quiet reading then looked up as Paris and Edward came through the front door. Paris saw her and moved over to talk to Emma, her face wearing a small but warm smile for the younger woman and possible protégé. Yes, Emma reflected,as she stood up with a small answering smile on her face, I've planted dozens of seeds here already, now I just have to wait and see if they bear fruit the way I wish.

OOOOOOO

Ororo and Harry slept in the next day, laid out one on the other, one of Harry's wrists still tied by a silk tie to the bed stead above their heads.

Harry woke up and the first thing he saw was white on a milk chocolate background. He realized it was Ororo and her hair when he lifted his head and realized he had been using her chest as a pillow. That probably explains why that was possibly the best night's sleep I've ever had.

He was actually tempted to wake her up for some more fun, her dark chocolate nipples beckoning his mouth to suck and nibble again, but then he shifted in place and winced, his hips complaining of the abuse he had put them through the night before. His abs were incredibly sore as well. Yeah, not going to be up for more fun just yet. He smirked widely, running one hand down her sides, causing her to mumble and shift in her sleep. Give me a few hours of rest then we'll see!

His smile turned gentle as he looked down at his lady, idly using his magic to untie the knot in the silk rope that bound one of his wrists to the head piece of the bed along with the one that tied one of Ororo's legs down at the foot. She shifted slightly as he did so, and her eyes began to flicker open.

Ororo woke up, her body deliciously sore and knew for a fact that she would be walking with a limp despite how gentle Harry had been throughout the amazing night together. She opened her eyes and looked up at Harry, her lips curved into a serene smile.

Harry returned her smile, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers. "I love you, my goddess, and I hope that this is the first of many times I wake up with you next to me."

Ororo chuckled throatily, leaning up and pecking him on the lips. "Oh, I think you can take that as a given, my heart." The two cuddled for a bit, then reluctantly got out of bed to start their day.

With the elves gleefully watching (and playing and singing horribly off-key) with Melody, the two of them felt safe enough to leave her alone for a bit. Ororo had to return to the institute, as she had promised Evan, Rogue and Kurt that she would help them study for their history finals as well as look at their final essays for Language Arts. She would also be informing Charles that she would be leaving after the school year ended. Harry would return eventually to move his few personal items out, but that could wait.

"I'm going to get in touch with Reed and the FF. I want to finalize our deal for a few of their special uniforms, introduce them to High Note and start work with Reed there, and get his help on a little something else." Harry said, as the two finished eating a quick late lunch, half-sized sandwiches with pears and orange juice made up by one of the house-elves.

Ororo nodded, still smiling the faint, but incredibly happy smile she had worn since waking up. "Would you mind assigning one of the house-elves to come with me then? I don't want to rely on you for my transportation needs."

The head elf popped in at that point, bowing to his lord and lady. "Does Miss Orry…" He faltered under her sudden glare, gulped, and went on, "Err… I means, I mean does Miss Ororo have a preference?"

Ororo nodded this time with approval, causing the elf to beam happily. "I would like one of the ladies to come with me, preferably one of the ones that worked with me on the carpet project."

A moment later a young female elf popped in, and unlike the head elf, when she spoke it was clear she had already taken Ororo's language lessons to heart. "I'm Lissy miss, I worked on the first floor and the dungeons."

Ororo reached down and gently shook the little creature's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Lissy. We'll be buying some carpet examples, and I will be trusting you to transport them without being seen, much like we did with the furniture we bought yesterday, and for transporting me back here when we're done." She frowned a little while the elf nodded in the affirmative, looking over at Harry. "The time difference between here and New York is going to catch up to us you know."

Harry shrugged. He could use his magic to keep himself awake, and he had seven remaining pepper-up potions for Ororo and Jean. "Don't worry about it love, in the great scheme of things it really doesn't matter."

After the meal was over, the two of them and Lissy teleported back to the institute. Thanks to the time difference, it was barely ten in the morning, and the kids had all left for school, even Jean much to her irritation.

Charles and Logan were there however and the older man was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs as they came down. "Ororo, Mr. Potter, good to see you back and safe. Jean's message didn't really tell us much about what you were doing."

Harry shook his head. "Grieving mostly Charles, but it's not so interesting a story I want to share it more than once. Suffice it to say it was very bad, but I am now in a position to move out on my own. I'll keep in touch of course, but I'll be moving my things out later this week."

Charles nodded, he knew all too well about sad stories and grieving. As for Harry moving out, that didn't bother him at all indeed it relieved him a bit. The two had clashed on several things large and small after all, and while they both shared the dream of coexistence, Harry had very different views of how to achieve it. Charles didn't really mind being questioned he did mind being challenged in his own home and Harry just by being here was a challenge to his position of authority.

The next bit however distressed him greatly. "And I will be joining him after the school year ends professor." Ororo said.

Charles was about to protest this, but realized that it would be pointless, and really it wasn't like he hadn't seen this coming. The two of them had fallen for one another faster than most he had seen, but their emotions were true. And while it had been a long time since he had been with a woman, the smile and glow Ororo was exhibiting at the moment was obvious. It would leave a hole in their forces, but not an insurmountable one. "Can I ask you to remain as a teacher until I find a replacement Ororo?"

The two lovers looked at one another and after a moment Ororo nodded. "That will be fine professor, and it's not like we're cutting off all contact. Harry just won't be living here, and I will no longer be part of the X-men. Scott and Logan between them should be able to fill in as combat instructors, and I will be happy to help you find a replacement language art teacher."

Charles nodded, there wasn't much else to be said really, and he went to his room to start searching for another language teacher. He did however have one parting shot. "Do remember to tell Ms Pryde and the others, will you?"

Harry and Ororo both looked at one another then shrugged. Harry was going to keep in contact with his runic apprentice anyway, so hopefully she wouldn't take it too badly.

Harry worked on his computer for a time, thinking up how to put in a generator to power electronics. Runes would eventually burn out the systems they were inscribed on, much like what had happened the night before with the DVD player. The more complex, the faster they burned out. While ambient magic didn't seem to do anything to tech, direct and prolonged exposure was something else entirely.

After packing some clothing for when she was at the castle Ororo left with Lissy to buy some different carpet types to look at back at the castle. While she really didn't care so much about interior design, she did know what she liked, and what would go with the castle. The plans going forward for the castle weren't finalized, but at least the uppermost floor would be living quarters whatever happened, so that was where she concentrated her efforts for now.

After that Harry used his computer to get in touch with Reed. The older man was looking distracted as he answered. "Yes, oh, Harry, um, is there something wrong?"

"That's the question I should be asking you," Harry answered, looking at him shrewdly. "What's wrong now?"

Before Reed could answer Johnny's voice was heard in the background. "Is that Harry, get his magic using ass here right the fuck now! We haven't had any luck, let's see if he does!"

Harry's eyebrows rose. "Well, I was calling to ask your help in a little project now, and to introduce you to the orbital installation I talked about the last time. But since this sounds important, I'll help with whatever Johnny's shouting about. But in return could you set up a cell phone for me with two phone numbers, and a screen that could tell me which one is being called?"

Reed nodded. "That is more than a fair trade, and I will be very interested in seeing your orbital installation later, but we are having a bit of a crisis here."

"We'll be there in five minutes Mr. Fantastic." Jean's voice said, and Harry looked up to see her standing in the doorway, with Scott right behind her. They had come home early from school, not needing to attend their history or mathematics classes anymore. Jean had an A in both classes up to this point, and neither of the teachers in those classes was as anal retentive as her physics teacher, who was still actually teaching stuff that would be on the final with only a week and a half to go. Scott too, was an ace student in fact his history score was better than hers.

The redhead almost glared at Harry, daring him to tell her no, and Scott nodded firmly, not willing to let this chance go by to see how well he would do in the big leagues.

Harry rubbed his face for a moment thinking then nodded decisively. "You heard the lady. Reed we'll be there in a bit." After that he cut the connection and looked the kids over. "Alright Red, go get your uniform on." The redhead grinned and left quickly. He then turned to Scott. "This might be nothing, it might be something simple. It also might pit us against an opponent in the same league as Magneto. If you're ready for that, you can come with us."

To his credit Scott did actually think for a minute before nodding. "Good, then go get your suit on. And remember they don't need to know your real name, so call-signs only once we get there. I trust the FF, but if we leave the Baxter Building to wherever, who knows who may be listening."

Scott nodded and raced off. Minutes later the trio was gone.

Once again a note was left for the others on the coffee table. This one said 'The FF seems to need some magical aid for some reason, brought Phoenix and Cyclops with me. Be back in a bit hopefully. If Ororo is reading this, love, Harry. If anyone else is reading this, cheers, Harry'.

OOOOOOO

Harry, Jean and Cyclops appeared in one of Reed's labs, and were greeted by Reed immediately. "Hello Harry, I'm glad you could come at such short notice. Give me half an hour and I'll be able to set up a cell phone like the one you described. I recognize Phoenix, but who is this?"

Harry nodded. "That would be fine Reed, and this is Cyclops, he's the X-men's field leader."

Scott stood forward hand outstretched. "Good to meet you sir."

"Good to meet you, though hopefully we won't need the extra firepower." Reed shook the young man's hand firmly, mildly amused by his formality, but hoping he would prove as useful as Storm had been. The weather wielder had impressed him with her powers, though it had also worried him. Mutants had such diverse and odd powers at times, he was concerned about the effect they would have on the world.

He led the newcomers down two floors to the sitting room, where Harry saw a very strange scene. The rest of the FF as well as Agatha were there, with Susan holding Franklin as well as two new people and the largest dog Harry had ever seen. The thing looked like it weighed as much as two draft horses and was built like a bulldog save for a strange antenna like thing high up on his forehead. He was just standing there, tall as a normal adult at his shoulders, looking at the baby who was making baby noises at it and trying to escape his mother's arms to check out the giant creature.

In comparison the other two unknowns seemed relatively normal, except for the minute details. One was a short bald man with incredibly intricate tattoo-work covering his face, wearing bracers on his arms and what looked like some kind of warrior monk outfit. At the moment he was perched on one end of a sofa with a small cup of tea in his hands, the picture of calm.

The other man was definitely not the picture of calm. He was taller and bulkier with a full beard was wearing something that looked like it would be at home on a woodsman and some kind of metal forehead protector. What was oddest about him however were his feet, which were actually hooves, much like a horses. He was snarling slightly, one foot tapping on the ground.

His irritation seemed to be shared by Johnny, who was pacing the room. For once however Ben wasn't trying to wind him up or anything, simply sitting in one of the specially reinforced sofas and surveying the scene. He was the first to spot the newcomers, and his rocky face broke into a smile. "That was quick Potter."

"Apparitions do tend to cut down on travel time." Harry said with a chuckle as he walked over to say hi to Franklin.

But he stopped momentarily and looked over at the bearded newcomer. "You're not some kind of satyr are you? I've always felt those were particularly obnoxious sounding monsters from antiquity. Hey little mate, how're you doing?" Franklin turned from looking at the interesting looking large thing to burble happily at his old friend then giggled even more as Harry lifted him out of his mother's arms.

The man who was so addressed rolled his eyes, yet the question seemed to have calmed him down a little. "You are not the first one to confuse me with those creatures, but no I am not a satyr, my name is Gorgon, and this is Karnak and Lockjaw. We are here searching for our cousin Crystal." How desperate that search was and how important, was something neither he nor Karnak was going to share.

Johnny looked anxiously at Harry. "She left here around a month or so before we met you Harry, and she should have, um…she should've gone straight home." He avoided mentioning where that home was, knowing the Inhumans were anxious to keep Atilan a secret. "But for some reason these three showed up this morning saying she hadn't made it."

Harry raised one eyebrow but didn't comment at the flame-heads obvious prevarication. He had more than enough on his plate right now he wasn't going to go looking for more. "Crystal, that was your ex-girlfriend right, Torch?" Johnny nodded, and Harry went on. "And given how anxious you all are, I assume your own attempts to find her haven't yielded any results?"

Gorgon nodded. Harry got the impression he was definitely the speaker for the group, though that didn't seem normal, almost like someone else was missing who normally took up that position. "Indeed, something is blocking Lockjaw from finding her, and so we came to ask our allies the Fantastic Four for help."

Harry nodded and looked over at Reed who shook his head. "If I had thought about it at the time I might have made a note of her bio-signature, but without some kind of trail or something there's nothing science can do. Not unless she uses her powers on a large scale in a country that has good satellite coverage. We were hoping that you could help."

Harry switched his gaze to Agatha while Jean began to play with the baby and Scott proved himself to be a dog person moving over to rub Lockjaw 's head expertly. Agatha shook her head. "Wherever Crystal is, my magic cannot reach her Mister Potter. Whether I am being blocked or it is a power issue I cannot say."

The British wizard sat down absently playing with Franklin and smiling at Susan who was watching him with an amused look on her face. She always found it funny how Franklin sort of had Harry wrapped around his little finger.

Susan leaned over to Phoenix and said in a low voice "You can just tell that he's the kind of father who would spoil his kids rotten, can't you?" Jean chuckled agreement, after all this was the second time she had seen evidence of that, but didn't look away from the strangely touching sight of Harry playing with the toddler.

While his hands were busy playing with Franklin, his mind was busy on the problem. Agatha's a powerful sorceress in her own magic and in the wizard kind too. Even if she didn't start out with a core I'd say hers is as large as McGonagall's was, and she was the most powerful witch in Britain. If she can't find this Crystal girl that means she is either in an alternate dimension, hidden behind powerful shields, or covered by something else, some kind of notice-me-not field powerful enough to confuse Agatha's scrying. Alternate dimension is unlikely, unless it is a major one I doubt Agatha would be unable to find this girl. Powerful shields is a possibility, but not likely. A more subtle ward is more probable. So…

He looked up at Agatha. "I think we need to mix a bit of logic with some magic here. Would you say she is being hidden, or is your sight being blocked?"

"That is a most subtle difference Mr. Potter. And difficult to determine." Agatha stated with a raised eyebrow.

"You're a most subtle person Madame, try." Harry responded blandly.

Johnny looked on as Agatha briefly closed her eyes in thought. "I think that she is being hidden. I sense nothing blocking me, but perhaps influencing my mind to look away."

"Deliberate and subtle then," Harry muttered but nodded. "Alright, I think I have an idea. Do you think you can share a memory of her with me?" Agatha's stony expression shot that idea down, and he looked over at Johnny. "On to the next idea then."

That idea had Jean take several dozen memories of Crystal from Johnny's mind. Non-magicals couldn't use the spell to remove memories to view them in a pensieve, forcing Jean to go into Johnny's head to retrieve them. Harry could have used Legilimens on him, but his mental offense wasn't nearly precise enough to do that without taking more memories of his friend than he wanted.

Even the telepath had problems with that. Jean took enough to give her an impression of the girl, and to earn Johnny a slap across the face. This in turn earned some dirty looks from Crystal's cousins, who could easily guess what kind of memories could have made another girl slap the blond. However she easily shared it with Harry, who let her into his mind for the second time. The redhead found herself tempted to flirt a bit with him in there, but knew now was not the time for it.

Harry's avatar took the 'book' of memories from her and after a moment it disappeared from there to land face up on a pedestal behind him. He nodded and began to cast a complicated version of the Point-me spell.

It ran into some interference, but as it was only supposed to point him in a direction, it still worked in a general way. "Okay, that gives us one line, now I need to go somewhere else, perform the spell again, and then we'll be able to triangulate her position." Reed pulled out a device and looked in the direction Harry was pointing, and nodded.

Hedwig suddenly appeared over his head, something that caused Lockjaw to look up quickly from where he had been looking at the toddler. The bird and the giant dog seemed to stare at one another, then turned away dismissively at the same time. After a moment of staring into his familiar's eyes, Harry had a location in a city down in Texas. He and Reed disappeared a second later, but were swiftly back.

Reed was fiddling with his device and after a few minutes nodded. "Alright, I have a general idea of the area. Do you think that Lockjaw can take us here?" Reed asked, showing the coordinates of an island well out not the ocean. It might have at one point been part of the Hawaiian chain, but it was far removed from any other island now.

"Excuse me?" Asked Harry, "What do you mean Lockjaw take us there?"

"Lockjaw is a teleporter, able to take large groups of people from one place to another. Unfortunately I doubt he will be able to help us now," replied Gorgon. "If he could not take us to Crystal before, there is no way he could take us there now."

"Huh, well, Hedwig could get us through the wards, if she can teleport or whatever it is she does to someplace nearby. Once she does I should be able to teleport in." Hedwig precked in a way that clearly conveyed smugness, and Lockjaw huffed in a way that sounded almost irritated.

Hedwig left Harry's shoulder, and the group waited for half an hour before she came back. After a few minutes communing with her, Harry nodded. "Alright troops, gather round, I know where we're going now." The group minus Lockjaw, Agatha and Franklin did so, putting their hands on him. A moment later they disappeared with a pop.

OOOOOOO

The group appeared on the shore of a tropical island, no one else in sight, but that didn't stop the group from spreading out and checking their surroundings carefully. The place looked completely without civilization, which made the giant dome of metal and stone about a mile in from where they were stand out even more than it would normally given its size. "Yeah I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yer girls somewhere in that dome Flame-brain," Ben said, shaking his head.

"Odd," Reed concurred before Johnny could fire back. "The spell or whatever that was used to hide this place was very sneaky and subtle, yet that is anything but. We might be dealing with two different people, or something else. Remember walking into the unknown is often the most dangerous thing you can do."

The others nodded agreement and without further discussion the group headed toward the dome. Once they reached it Reed frowned, going to one knee and looking at the ground around the dome. "This looks as if someone changed the composition of the earth as they raised the dome. We know one enemy who could do that…"

Ben scowled. "Diablo, that mad alchemist. How did that ancient asshole get out of his prison this time?"

Susan looked over at the quizzical expressions of the others and explained what they knew of the alchemist and his abilities, as well as how they had beaten him before. Harry stiffened a little, but it was his eyes which had become dark and cold, that startled Susan. "And you say this guy got his abilities by selling his soul to a demon lord?"

Susan nodded hesitantly at seeing Harry's expression. "Yes, he wanted the power of alchemy and immortality. He was strangely proud of the fact he had sold 'such a useless thing' for so much power. But keeping this dome up for so long should be well beyond him."

"That's what I thought you said." Harry cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders a little, and muttered the activation code for his crysis suit. His clothes, which had been a pair of jeans and a plaid long-sleeved shirt, shifted something to the matte black suit he had been wearing when the FF first met him. "Then there's a chance we might be dealing with more than this Diablo fellow. After all, if the idiot was willing to make a deal with demons once he might have done it again, only offering something else."

Jean frowned at that, wondering how many people, demons or whatever could be under that massive dome. "Let me try something before we just break in." The others looked at her and Harry paled but before he could say anything she began to use her telepathic power, sending her mind out through the massive dome. She began to feel what felt like thousands of animal minds but after feeling a little of one's mind, she stayed well away from the others. There were about forty more that felt smarter, stronger somehow, but still little more than beasts.

Near the center of the dome she found what felt like two human minds and one that most decidedly wasn't human. One of them was blank, as if the person was comatose or something. The second human mind was twisted but still human. The other thing, even being near it gave her the feeling of having her soul dipped in shit, it was a sewer of vile evil, a being who loved to kill, rape, and torture, not just because it would take pleasure in the act, but because it felt its power allowed it to, because that was the way of the universe.

As she observed them the demon and the human were talking and it was obvious that the demon didn't think very highly of the human. "I do not care about your desires for the female if she is not to be sacrificed. Keep her as a mindless drone if you wish. Your infatuation with her and attempts to completely dominate her mind has taken away from time best spent on your part of the bargain with my Master. Making this dome and creating the properties inside it to hide our demonic presence was brilliant but that was two local weeks ago! You were to open a portal large enough for our legions to storm through into this realm. Instead you have only opened one large enough for this paltry force, and it closed swiftly thereafter."

"Hmph, don't worry my fine, green scaled friend, we are nearly ready, despite the fact your master seems to have attempted to cheat me! Your master may have enhanced my powers enough to make this dome permanent but that is only one aspect of my alchemical power! I should be able to mentally dominate other people permanently, yet no matter how many pellets I use on the girl, they barely last longer than before!"

"Do not presume to speak so of my Master, human!"

Jean had heard enough and began to return her consciousness to her body, but before she could somehow the monstrous demonic mind became aware of her. Ah, what do we have here, a curious little bird? Come closer little bird, let me ravish you, taste, you devour you!

Jean's body spasmed and she would have fallen to the ground if Harry hadn't caught her. He shouted her name, but she didn't hear it, concentrating inward as the alien thing reached out with his own mind to try and draw her in, her belsham-tree defense sickening and dying, the idea of them washed away in the miasma of darkness. But she snarled, and fought back, the power of the phoenix flame blazing up, and she wielded it, cutting away at the darkness, sending the thing's mental presence back screaming in agony at having touched the flame of life and rebirth.

Jean shook her head her eyes now alight with flame, her hair crackling and shivering with her power. She looked up into Harry's concerned emerald eyes, barely an inch from her own and shook her head quickly, but her power and her anger didn't waver. "I'm fine there really are demons in there, I only half believed in them when you mentioned them in your stories Harry. About a thousand or so… imps I guess? Weak little things, but then there's two hundred more that are far stronger, and one that's stronger and smarter by far than even that. I was listening in on their conversation, they plan to open some kind of portal to the demon realm for an invasion, but the one you called Diablo is unhappy his powers should all have been enhanced but it appears only some have been. He was complaining about not being able to dominate Crystal's mind when the strongest demon mind somehow noticed me. It tried to follow my mental probe back to my mind to attack me. I drove it off but they know we're coming now, sorry."

She stood up gratefully squeezing one of Harry's hands for a moment then turned to stare at the dome. "When we do get in there, that one is mine!"

Harry nodded and looked at Reed who in turn for some reason looked at Karnak. The tattooed man nodded stiffly, then stepped forward and seemed to examine the dome for a moment. As he was doing so Reed turned to the others. "Susan turn invisible, as soon as we find where Crystal is, get her out of danger. Karnak, Torch, myself and Harry will go for Diablo, remember his powers, avoid his pellets and anything else he tries to throw at you. Ben, Cyclops and Gorgon hit the demons." He looked nervously over at the young woman now floating slightly off the ground, her body encased with flame forming into a giant bird of prey. "And, um, Phoenix will handle the greater demon or whatever it is."

Harry turned away from Jean grimly, his own eyes beginning to crackle with green lightning, the air around his hands beginning to crackle with magical potential, and the others all readied themselves in their own ways. Harry was wondering what the two strangers could add to their group, but figured that Reed wouldn't have let them come along if they couldn't handle themselves.

As if to answer this query Karnak's hand shot out, almost too quick for even Harry to follow, slamming with incredible force on one patch of stone in the dome. The stone shattered under the blow, and impossibly a massive section of the dome in front of them simply collapsed to the ground.

"GO!" Reed barked, and the entire group charged in, with Torch and Phoenix taking to the sky above them, a wordless almost avian shriek of rage coming from the young woman as she flew ahead.

Inside were over a hundred short stooped purple skinned creatures with overlarge heads and rows of serrated teeth to go with their claws and wings. There were forty taller, dark gray creatures with three eyes, horns and barbed tails standing amongst them. This crowd was arranged in a circle around a raised dais upon which stood a man dressed in purple and green light armor of some kind. Next to him was a young woman with long blond hair cascading down her shoulders and to her lower back wearing a skintight yellow and black suit of some kind that was so formfitting that it left very little to the imagination. Her eyes were blank. However her face looked like it had been crying, and she kneeled at the man's side like a particularly well trained dog.

Next to the two humans crouched a tall, thin green demon with incredibly large arms, a pointed slanted face with a snout full of small but incredibly sharp looking teeth and thick hair on his shoulders and head adding about a foot to seven foot frame. At the moment, it was holding its head and screaming, and it looked up at the form of the phoenix charging toward it, with rage, pain and fear on its face. "Kill it, kill the Life Fire!"

The entire horde turned and charged at the invaders, but when Harry strode forward many of them faltered, seeing and feeling his presence, knowing what he was. Before they could do anything he raised his hand and shouted "Latinium Malleus!" A massive hammer made of gold and green lightning slammed down into the center of the horde, snuffing out a hundred imps and slaying twelve of the lesser demons.

"EEEEEEE, the Sword of Light!" wailed some of the demons, turning to flee, but the crowd of their fellows pressed them forward. Harry raised his hands again, and suddenly an army of stone golems rose from the ground and charged into the demon horde, their swords rising and falling.

This seemed to be the signal for the others, who had been shocked into immobility by his first spell, to charge forward. Gorgon stomped hard on the ground with one hoofed foot, sending a shockwave through the ground, creating a fissure that swallowed several dozen imps, while the thing shouted "It's clobberin' time!" aiming toward a crowd of the lesser demons. Cyclops stayed back, but his searing beam of power sliced into the horde at full power, creating an opening for Mr. Fantastic and his group to charge the dais.

N'astirh the greater demon shuddered, preparing to open his own portal home. The avatar of the Flame of Rebirth was bad enough, to fight the Sword of Light was worse. The human had slaughtered a hundred of his kind back in his own dimension, and the demon could tell that he had only become more powerful since. And that didn't even take into consideration the others, all of whom seemed to have their own superpowers. Whatever his master Belasco's plans, this plan was a dead end, and N'astirh wanted to be alive to report that in person. It would cost him in personal power to open the portal and then in status to return and have to report failure, but his existence was more important than those considerations.

Before he could concentrate his admittedly somewhat weak power enough to open a portal, Phoenix slammed into him. With a fearful shriek he fell to the ground behind the dais with the young human female above him, smashing him with her telekinetic flame powers, causing his skin, which had withstood the flames his Master's realm without difficulty, to begin to blacken and melt. For all his strength he could not break her telekinetic grip on him, and he scrabble and clawed at the ground in agony as he tried to concentrate through the pain enough to get off a spell.

Diablo reacted faster, launching several dozen small pellets at the group charging toward him. Mr. Fantastic stretched and bent to dodge them, while Harry raised a Protego shield along with Sue, who was right behind them now invisible. Karnak dodged with all the skill of a master martial artist, but his finger was still struck by one, and his body slowly began to change into wood where he stood. The Human Torch simply flared his aura of flame higher.

Diablo cursed but kept on shooting and throwing out his alchemical creations, this time aiming both at the closing group and the three who had turned their attention to the demon horde, which was much smaller now, and getting smaller. "Protect me my pet, kill them!"

Crystal rose from her crouch like a puppet on strings and suddenly began to throw a spear of fire and earth at them followed swiftly by a massive torrent of air, which nearly knocked Johnny out of the sky. She moved slowly, but her attacks slammed out with more power than the others were used to seeing from the self-controlled young woman.

Harry however merely raised a hand, pointing one finger at her and said "Petrificus Totalis!" The spell froze the girl mid step and she fell to her side, her body in the exact position it had been.

Diablo gaped at this further display of magical power then turned to concentrate on Harry as he raced forward. This proved to be a mistake because it allowed the Human Torch to race back down, crashing into him with his flame power on full. However the man's alchemical ability was such that his suit was impervious to flame. He tried to reach through the flame to touch Johnny in an effort to transform him, but Johnny took to the air again, allowing Mr. Fantastic's fist to slam into Diablo's face.

Seeing that the others had the idiot in green and purple well in hand Harry turned his attention to the demon horde, an almost hungry grin on his face as he did. He reached down and slammed his hands into the ground, intoning "Terra Hasta!" and dozens of spears of Earth shot up from a dozen different directions, impaling lesser demons and imps alike. After that he used one hand to throw out Bombarda spells, further winnowing the horde, while the other hand conjured thousands of tiny pieces of earth, sending them forward with piercing force. That hand then began to use more esoteric, deadly signal spells to kill a demon here and there in inventive and bloody ways, adding to their terror and confusion. He disdained supplemental spells knowing illusions and other things of that sort were of limited utility against demons, brute force worked better against lower level demons like these.

The Thing was in the middle of the largest group of lesser demons, his fist lashing out pulping their faces and chests, their return blows hurting him, but they didn't work together well, getting in one another's way, enabling him to combat their large numbers with ease. The Human Torch was also taking pot shots into the horde. Cyclops's blasts were slicing their way through the horde, like a scythe and the Gorgon's stomps were adding to the carnage.

Imps and demons were tough, but not enough to withstand this sudden assault, nor were they mentally tough enough to regroup from the initial shock of the assault. Soon they broke, racing toward the one entrance in the dome, the hole Karnak had created. Johnny took the opportunity to turn back to fighting Diablo, who was slowly getting the upper hand against Mr. Fantastic alone, Susan having moved to retrieve Crystal's petrified from. Ben too saw this and turned away from the horde to confront the alchemist.

Diablo had somehow copied Harry's golem idea, using his pellets on the ground around him to create his own golems. They weren't nearly as formed as Harry's being more like giant mud piles with arms, but they did the job to stymie Reed, and their muddy form gave them some protection against Ben, but they hardened and collapsed quickly under Johnny's flames. Still Diablo was able to hold his own against him for now.

Gorgon and Cyclops had stayed by the entrance, their powers more useful at range. The two now looked at one another for an instant, seeing the horde breaking and going around their friends fleeing right toward them. Cyclops knelt and began to shoot his optic blasts into the horde, and Gorgon began to stamp his feet, almost dancing sending out dozens of shockwaves that dumped the frantically charging imps onto the ground. Still dozen of imps were able to close and reached out with fangs and claws.

Gorgon proved far stronger than they expected, nowhere near the Things strength, but able to take on the imps easily enough through the use of martial arts and pure strength, and of course his kicks were incredibly powerful.

Cyclops on the other hand was having much more trouble. He was decent in hand to hand in comparison to the other X-men (bar Rogue) but he didn't have enough strength to really survive at this range with the demons. He did his best though, blasting out with his beams as often as he could, lashing out with punches and kicks that sent the imps skittering back before they came on again.

N'astirh had finally formed a spell, sending an ice shard straight at the Phoenix Avatar that had been mauling him. The girl batted it away contemptuously but it gave him enough time to concentrate and form the return portal spell. The portal appeared as a dark hole in the air in front of him.

She still caught him one more time, with a spear of flame that caught him in the shoulder, penetrating his already badly weakened scales, and slicing his entire arm off at the shoulder. "AGHHG!" With a wail of agony and despair he fell through, the portal disappearing with a pop.

Jean snarled, angry that the bastard who had dared try to invade her mind had gotten away. She turned, and saw several dozen imps and two lesser demons running to a few holes rent out of the side of the dome by the blasts of her fellows. With a cry of "RaAAHH!" like the shriek of a hunting falcon she fell upon them from above. None escaped that way.

Cyclops gasped as he felt his side get slashed, slamming a fist into that imp, then reaching swiftly for his boot, pulling out a small knife that Ororo had insisted he carry. The blade was a simple steel blade, but it was sharp, and it punched right into one imps brain via his eyeball. Another got onto his back but Gogorn smashed it off with a roundhouse blow.

Another imp got in close and made him pay for his moment of inattention however, biting into Gorgon's leg. A kick sent him flying but he still winced as he once more brought his foot down to send out a shockwave through the ground. Despite this the imps and behind them the few remaining lesser demons closed in.

Cyclops had no time to spare for his allies plight, the imps too close and coming from all around he couldn't hit them all with his eye beams. Another one bit into his arm, but he again made use of his knife, stabbing it through its brain box. Another one slashed his face, slicing his visor away. A lesser demon's mauled fist caught him on the side of his head, bringing him to his knees, but with a roar Cyclops blasted out a full power optic beam, disintegrating the demons upper body. The beam continued to cut into the horde behind the lesser demon, and suddenly there were no more demons crowding in.

Harry strode over the body of the last demon, one hand now wielding the sword of Gryffindor, the other still alight with power, but diminishing as Scott looked at him. The sword and magical aura disappeared at the same time, and Harry caught Scott by the shoulders as the battered young man fell forward. The last thing he heard before he passed out was, "I think you held this bridge Horatius!"

Harry gently set Scott against the side of the dome by the entrance, using a few castings of Episkey to heal the numerous cuts and bruises the young man had sustained. He then did the same for Gorgon, who was leaning against the dome's wall. He was much less battered than Scott, and nodded his thanks at the wizard.

The Human Torch touched down next to them. "You're a handy guy to have around Harry."

"You're not the first person to mention that. Though you'll forgive me if I say it sounds much better coming from the fairer sex." Harry said with a smile, looking around. Jean dropped out of the sky, her eyes still alight with battle-lust, but calming down quickly.

Elsewhere Susan had rejoined her husband and Ben, and now stood using her power to create a shield around Diablo like a giant egg. He had initially tried to change his form to get away, changing to a liquid to seep through the ground, but Susan had been able to scoop up most of the liquid into her shield egg, forcing him to reform or lose some body parts.

Reed took a moment to survey the group. Like himself, the other three members of the FF were looking a little tired, Ben least of all by a considerable margin. Gorgon was looking weary, leaning against the wall. Cyclops, who had been instrumental in cutting down the number of demons and holding the main exit against them, was down, his injuries seen to but still exhausted.

Jean and Harry on the other hand looked fresh, as if they could have kept this up for hours without feeling the strain.

Even after about a half hour, Karnak was still stuck as an immobile tree, which told Reed Diablo's powers had indeed increased, if his alchemic solutions were able to keep someone transformed this long. Reed nodded his head over to the man-tree, cocking one eye at Harry. "Do you think you can do something about that?"

Harry looked over and cast a cancellation spell, then frowned as nothing happened. "Well it appears as if I'll have to deal with the source." He strode over to the shield egg, looking at the man inside it. "Can you create a hole large enough for my hand in your shield Ms. Richards?"

"Yes and please call me my code name while we're in uniform." Susan began to concentrate, the shield shifting slowly in response.

"I'll use them when you make them less ridiculous. 'Invisible Woman', 'Mr. Fantastic', honestly." Harry replied with a cheeky grin.

He reached in a hand and Diablo pounced, trying to turn into water and get out of the hole in the shield. Yet even as water he could still be touched, and he jerked back as his form shifted back to human. "Wh-what the!? What are you doing!?"

"Draining you of your bartered magic," Harry said grimly. The ancient alchemist tried to get away, but there was no room inside the shield for him to move. Harry latched onto his leg, and his mutant power activated again, draining the man of the power he had bartered away his very soul for. The man tried to fight the process somehow, but had no ability to do so, not having full control over the power that had been given him, only able to use it in very specific ways.

Almost immediately the man began to age, and Reed reached forward, intending to stop Harry, but the younger man shot him a look, then nodded over to the throne. Reed, angry at what might be called murder, turned to see what harry was concerned about, and saw the bodies of several normal people of all ages taking shape from what had been the alchemists throne. Karnak too was changing back, but in his case he was still very much alive, and strangely unshaken from the experience.

He swiftly moved to look at the transformed people, and quickly backed away, his face pale. The people had their hearts ripped out. He stood, closing his eyes, weighing the pros and cons of this act, the right and wrong, and finally turned away, not willing to watch, but not willing to interfere either.

"Mercy, please, mercy let me live!"

"Did your victims scream the same thing?" Harry growled, "When they did, what was your response?" Diablo could only stare at him unable to comprehend he had run into someone who could end his existence like this. He began to scream, only to be silence by a Muffilatio as Harry grabbed his leg again and began his grim work again.

Susan looked away, but didn't drop her shield. Ben, Jean, Gorgon and Karnak looked on however, grimly satisfied. Minutes later the deed was complete. Where Diablo, a somewhat effete man of middle years had been, was now a husk or skin and bones. Without the magic given to him by the demon he had traded his soul to, the years of his immortal life caught up to him all at once. Living a hundred years was one thing, having over a thousand hit you all at once was quite another. The man had died in great pain, but his screams for mercy were unheard by any.

Reed shook his head sadly. "I take it you've appointed yourself a magical judge, jury and executioner, Harry?"

"I sort of was back in my own dimension so it's a job I'm used to," Harry replied, shaking his head wearily. He would have taken more offense if Reed's tone hadn't been sad and resigned rather than accusatory. "It's not a task I enjoy, but for some people, who have proven they can't be trusted with their power, it is really the only solution that works most times. I knew the moment Phoenix mentioned they were trying to open a permanent portal to the demon realm that I would have to end him. I knew what that entailed. You see something like that can only be accomplished by killing one of his own followers and sacrificing him. It was the same thing Voldemort did, that let him open the portal he did in my first clash with demons."

Reed sighed sadly, not liking the necessity but seeing his point. The man had proven that no jail could hold him after all, and this latest act was so beyond anything he had done before Reed found it impossible to gainsay his wizard friend.

Ben put an arm around Harry's shoulder understanding why he had done what he had, and both the Inhumans nodded gravely at him. Jean merely nodded and the whole group returned to the entrance, picking up Cyclops on the way.

Outside they found Crystal just coming too, looking around her with wide, wondering eyes. Johnny went to one knee in front of her, smiling widely at her. "Hey babe, we got to stop meeting like this you know."

Crystal took one look at him, then around at the others, seeing her friends had family had come to rescue her, and she broke down into tears of gratitude, flinging her hands around the Torch's shoulders as she sobbed.

OOOOOOO

Emma smiled slightly at Paris as the two sat at a table having dinner at the Hellfire Club, talking about a few new business developments in the Asiatic markets. The two women, as the only women in the Inner circle had naturally gravitated to one another after Emma joined. They weren't friends by any means, neither of them were looking for that, and Paris was a little too old to consider Emma her friend. protégé perhaps, and it was a thought that had come to her often in the last few days. Emma was easily one of the most intelligent people Paris had ever met, analytical, controlled and with a wit and drive that Paris, who had much the same qualities, could easily see in her.

For her part Emma had been slightly surprised to find that Paris actually did love Buckman, and rather than being a somewhat amusing dream or something of that nature, Paris had a deep seated desire to be a mother and a regular (albeit rich) housewife. It was somewhat astonishing to think of given how much she had accomplished after she left the modeling circuit, but it was there. The younger blonde had come to the conclusion that she really didn't want to ruin that for the older woman.

It was a quandary, since she had mentally probed Buckman several times over the last few days, and his hatred and fear of mutants was part of the man. He had in fact funneled a large chunk of his own fortune in material and cash into the Sentinel Program. Once more Emma cursed the fact that he was so paranoid to not actually have much information outside the name. For some reason however he was almost certain that it would succeed in 'wiping out the mutant menace'. This was even more disconcerting coming from the likes of Buckman, who was known for his business acumen and ability to judge changing circumstances in the world markets.

If he felt the program was going to be so effective it behooved her to take it seriously. While she had no real loyalty to mutantkind as a whole, there were several people, herself being top of the list, who she didn't want threatened. Luckily for her she had also been able to find out the name of the person of one of the leaders of the project. She hadn't honestly been surprised that Senator Kelly and Buckman were in bed together. Kelly was a senator from Texas, and was a well-spoken but diehard bigot/xenophobe as well as a passionate speaker. He was probably either providing the rest of the money for the project, or was being used by Edward to funnel his money into the project. He was popular in the extreme in Texas and the iron-belt states, and there were rumors he might run for president in a few years.

There was another name Buckman associated with the project, one she had gotten out of his mind right before sitting down to this meal. The name was Bolivar Trask, a name which worried Emma quite a bit more than Kelly. Kelly was the public face, the one who interacted with the rest of the world, but he didn't have the background to be in charge of any weapon or army research or anything of that nature. He was an economist and a politician. Bolivar Trask was a former army major, with a background in electronics and robotics that had come out of the military and immediately been snapped up by Buckman. His involvement and what Edward's company was based on gave her an idea of what the Sentinel Project was.

Perhaps I should figure out some way of pointing Xavier and his group Kelly's way, she mused thoughtfully even as she nodded judiciously at Paris, who was mentioned a few new players in the media business that were making a splash and somewhat cutting into her profits for now. Paris however was unconcerned, feeling they would be flash in the pants companies, the people behind them not having enough money to sustain them for overlong.

Emma's attention was inward on her own thoughts however. Kelly is a visible lead, and I have no doubt that Xavier would follow it up, discretely or otherwise if he sensed anything amiss. Kelly is also a hothead, and may reveal more than he should if given enough provocation, but that's something to think about in the future anyway. I haven't gotten any sense of anticipation or anything to conclude that the project is near completion, and I have far too many troubles near at hand to go looking for more.

She looked up as Paris asked a question about the cosmetics market, and she became fully engaged in their discussion once more. Yes, let the distant future see to itself for now, the present and the near future are what I need to concern myself with now.

OOOOOOO

They had stayed on the island for another forty minutes, burying the bodies of the people Diablo had captured to use as sacrifices, after which Lockjaw had arrived. The giant dog's presence seemed to cheer up Crystal, and she let go of Johnny to grab onto the dog in turn. The teleporter had then transported them all save Harry back to the Baxter building. Harry would have gone except for a sudden peck on the side of the head from Hedwig, who didn't like Lockjaw for some reason. He spent a few minutes after they left getting rid of the bodies of the demons and any and all traces of the dome. He had been tempted to sink the entire island, but Reed had talked him out of that, and after Harry made certain the wall between this dimension and the demonic realm wasn't weakened here. Luckily the wall wasn't, Diablo had chosen this island because it was out of the way and largely unknown by any, not for any special magical nature it had.

Now he sat in a plush chair in a smoking room with a hard cider in one hand as he leaned back. He, Jean and Cyclops had decided to rest a bit before heading back to the institute, and Cyclops was sitting nearby, slowly drinking his first beer sitting next to The Thing. Sometimes despite his cursed eyes life was really damn cool for Scott Summers.

Harry sighed, shaking his head as he looked through the doorway. Jean was with Susan, Agatha and Franklin putting the tyke to bed, but Johnny and Reed were with the four Inhumans as the good doctor checked Crystal for any long term problems caused by her time as Diablo's captive. Harry shook his head, hearing the loud argument coming from the medical lab. "That girl shouldn't be going anywhere just yet. Setting aside any purely physical injury," He skirted using the word 'rape' but even Scott heard it, coming out of his own introspection after his first full scale battle to nod in agreement.

"The girl will have the mental trauma of not having been in control of her own body for far too long, with only brief moments of clarity where she knew she was being controlled. That's, that's really bad, and she needs to around friends at all times, possibly under suicide watch after something like that."

Ben grunted agreement, but the rocky man shrugged too. "I know that Potter, but the Inhumans want to get her home quickest. Besides, they're tougher than ya think, all of 'em, and it ain't like she couldn't get the same treatment with her own people. Besides, they're family; they'll look after her whatever flame-head seems ta think."

Harry frowned, not happy at the speed with which Gorgon and Karnak were insisting they leave. It wasn't just getting their cousin away from Johnny, though he could tell that was one consideration. Gorgon made no bones of the fact he didn't like their relationhip, though why that was Harry couldn't say. Then again if he had a cousin he sure as hell wouldn't want her to date someone like Johnny Storm. Still there seemed to be an urgency to their actions, some other issue that they weren't sharing. "I just feel there's something else going on." He shrugged. "Well whatever, as long as it doesn't come back to bite me on the ass I don't care."

"Yer all heart Potter," Ben said drolly, causing the other two men to chuckle for a minute. Ben changed the subject then, looking over at the young man he was sharing a sofa with. "Ya did good kid. I gotta tell ya, I was a little leery about bringin' you and that Phoenix gal with us on this, but you sure has hell did your bit against those demons." Harry nodded agreement looking over at the other young man. "Ya held the entrance, and if those bastards had gotten out, with their wings and agility, they would've been hard as hell ta track 'em all down

Harry nodded again looking over to the young man. "Yep, you did damn good in your first full scale baptism by fire. Different than all those Danger Room exercises or fighting someone one on one wasn't it?"

Scott nodded thoughtfully, sipping at the beer Harry had insisted he take despite Susan's protests. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink was what Harry had said, and Scott had taken it as a sign somehow that he had passed another test. Now he took a sip of it, (and unknown to him passing another test for not just chugging it down and going back for more) as he tried to from the words. "It was much more visceral, much more draining than I had ever imagined, the Danger Room scenarios were more cerebral, out there I didn't have much time to think, I just had to react"

"That's what trainin' is for kid," Ben chuckled. "Ta teach yer body the muscle memory, so ya don't have ta think before ya act. In a real fight, a second can sometimes be fatal." Even the FF trained after all, most of the time in teamwork admittedly, but still even they knew that little bit of wisdom. "It won't always be like that of course those demons were dumb as shit, and their mobility was limited 'cause of the dome. But sometimes in combat ya have ta just react, trustin' yer gut ta get it right, and ya did that today."

Harry nodded, and then realized he needed to broach a topic as much for Scott's benefit as anything. "You know, I'm moving out of the institute. Oh, I'll still be popping in from time to time, but after tonight I'm going to be living elsewhere."

Scott's eyebrows shot up in surprise behind his visor, not having anticipated that.

"I wanted to test you a few more times before I went to see if I wanted to recommend you start helping Logan in the team exercises." Scott cocked his head and Harry smiled a soft, almost wondering smile. "Storm has decided to leave with me. She'll still be there teaching until the end of the school year, and will remain the Language teacher until Charles finds a replacement, but she won't be an X-man anymore. That leaves a leadership vacuum, which I wanted to know you could handle when you tried to fill it."

Scott blushed under Harry's gaze, knowing that he probably would have done just that, and a few months ago would probably have fucked it up, or worse made the training so staid and predictable that his team wouldn't be able to handle their first real, chaotic battlefield.

Harry went on. "Now you've seen what a full scale battle is like, and you've shown recently you've taken my teachings about leadership to heart. I hope you'll stay in touch, but I think that the X-men will be in good hands when they're out in the field." Cyclops looked down embarrassed and Harry smiled. The young man wasn't ever going to have the strength of personality or vision to take over for Charles as leader of their group, but he would make a decent field commander, and had just proven how well he could fight when the shit really hit the fan.

At that point Jean came through the door, looking over her shoulder with a bemused expression. "That argument doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. Luckily Agatha just went in to officiate so I don't think anyone is going to be foolish enough to make it physical. That old woman can be very scary when she puts her mind to it." She turned back and grabbed the bottle of hard cider out of Harry's hand and chugging half of it down. Harry chuckled at her antics the redhead grinned. "I think we should get out of here before it gets any louder really."

Harry frowned but nodded. He had thought to offer an elf to Agatha, but instead had simply told her they would talk later, since right now didn't seem the time to broach the subject. He had also thought of offering one the same way to Steven, but had decided his manservant wouldn't like being put out of a job, though he still wanted to talk to the Sorcerer Supreme about Hogwarts and what he had found.

And sicne Reed had finished his work on a cell phone for him within thirty minutes of their return to the building, and his other business with the FF could wait, they could leave whenever they were ready.

He looked over at Scott who nodded and got to his feet. "I'm ready to go sir."

Harry nodded again and called Lissy, the elf who had been working with Ororo and was in New York, making her the only one who could get to them here in California. At the moment he didn't want to try transporting multiple people while he adjusted to the magic he just absorbed. "Master called Lissy? Lissy and the mistress just finished shopping for carpets."

Harry nodded, while Ben made a point to talk to Reed about coming up with some kind of anti-teleportation technology for their home. Too many damn people were just able to pop in and out apparently.

"Yes Lissy, could you pop the three of us back to the mansion please?" He indicated Phoenix and Cyclops as well as himself and Lissy nodded, and Harry turned to Ben. "I'll be in touch Ben. Don't let whatever trouble the Inhumans are having get you down when you charge into it okay, I know Johnny will make you do that." Ben chuckled agreement and then watched as the trio disappeared.

They reappeared the mansion's foyer, and found Ororo standing by several carpet cuttings as well as several boxes of food for the castle. She turned and made her way toward them. Jean took one look at her still slightly limping gate and gasped, looking between her and Harry, immediately surmising the reason behind the limp. The woman's smile widened noticeably and she nodded. Jean leaned in close whispering, "Oh you are so giving me details later girl!"

Ororo giggled quietly, answering back just as lowly, "So you know what to expect when it's your turn my friend?"

Jean gaped at her, and Ororo waved a hand airily. "We will talk about that later. For now, your message you might be off on another adventure with the FF. I do hope that doesn't become a habit."

"I basically told them they're on their own for the next one," Harry chuckled. "Besides they've got a full year and then some experience as heroes, I don't have to be there to hold their hands. It was only because Agatha was so distraught that I helped the last time, and this time they needed my magical expertise. I can trust them to handle anything nonmagical with their own skills.

Ororo chuckled, and the trio followed her into the sitting room, where they found Charles and a few of the others, waiting to hear the new tail.

After that, Ororo and Harry shared the knowledge that they were moving out, and reactions were mixed at best. Evan was sad to see Harry go, but concerned and worried that his aunt was going with him, which was coming from out of the blue to him. Rogue was sad to see them go, but not that much, not being as close to either of them as she was to the other kids. She was sad she hadn't been able to pay Harry back for the ward he designed for her, but that was all. Kurt was sad to see them go, but had learned a lot about pranks from Harry and other stuff as well, and it wasn't like Harry had made a big secret that he wanted to move on eventually. Logan was philosophical about it, knowing that Harry had never really seen the Institute as a long term home, and having seen enough friends move away in his life to know it wasn't that big a deal.

Kitty of course was the most distraught, but she was consoled by the fact they weren't breaking off all ties of course, and that Harry would continue to train her in runes as long as she wanted. He was in fact already building a large fully body mirror that the two could use to see one another, and he could of course apparate in whenever he wanted. This cheered him up and as the others broke up to head to bed (or the infirmary in Cyclops case, since Charles wanted to check him over after his battle with the demons) she and Harry had a in depth discussion about where she wanted to take her studies, and eventually they left to head up to the runic workroom so she could show him what she had come up with.

The others had been surprised by the lack of reaction Jean displayed at the news that Harry and Ororo would be leaving. Charles had a bad feeling about it, but had no way at this point in time to bring it up with the young woman, and turned to wheel his way after Scott. Now as the others had broken away, Ororo looked over at Jean, a smile, secretive smile on her face. "I believe you wanted to hear the details of Harry and my time together? Why don't we go have a bath together, you can certainly use it after your day."

Jean floundered a little, the riposte Ororo had used earlier had thrown her off-balance, making her uncertain and wary. "Um, no, that's okay, I shouldn't have asked, after all, that's private isn't it, you don't…"

"I insist," Ororo said and helped the younger woman to her feet. Minutes later the two were in the teacher's women's bathroom. The two began to undress and Jean found herself almost mesmerized by Ororo's body as she uncovered it, noting the number of bite marks and the few hickies here and there. She almost reached out to touch one of them on the bottom curve of the African woman's breast but she. sopped herself, simply looking on as Ororo gracefully raised one leg over the side of the tub

She blushed as the other woman watched her finish undressing and join her in the water, then sighed as the relief of the hot water began to sooth her and wipe away the sweat and grime from the fight earlier that day. She hadn't gotten injured of course, but she had exerted herself more than she had in a while, and she had the sweat to prove it.

The silence was broken by Ororo's voice. "I was serious you know, when Emma teased me about sharing Harry, I was prepared to do it, though not right away. I wanted to be sure of your feelings first."

Jean looked up, her tranquility gone as she looked at the other woman guiltily. "Ororo, I…"

Ororo gently shook her head, sending her hair swishing through the water. "I wasn't raised in America, my culture is not the same as the 'norm', and I see no problem with one man having multiple wives, so long as they all love each other. I knew he had feelings for you," she admitted without any embarrassment, "And not just him. Not as much as Harry perhaps, but I still have come to love you, and I know he has as well. It's in his eyes when he looks at you, in his smile when he's talking to you. It has made him guilty for so long," she chuckled, "As if it was something to be embarrassed and guilty for! As if I could not see it growing, or would choose to keep our happiness simply between the two of us, excluding you."

"Oro-Ororo, are you really saying you want me, to, to join the two of you, make your relationship into a threesome?" Jean stammered. She just knew she was blushing!

"Yes," said Ororo simply. "With Emma as a possibility of joining later."

Jean ignored that part for now, just concentrating on what her friend had said about wanting her to join Harry and her in their relationship, not just at Hogwarts. "Wh-why would you, I mean I can understand when you say that you weren't raised in a one man/woman culture for the most part, but still, why are you willing to share?"

"Because I don't see it merely as sharing but multiplying. Why would I go on my way with Harry, when I can see how you feel about one another, how I feel about you?" She shot Jean a look, and Jean blushed further but didn't look away, something hot and fiery waking up within her at the frank look of appreciation and desire on the other woman's face. It reminded her of how Emma had looked at her a few times, and it awoke the same emotions as those looks had, as dancing with Harry had, as being around him sometimes did. "I think we can be happier with all three of us together than just Harry and I."

"I, I don't know if I can, I mean, I don't have any problem being with, with a girl, but sharing having two lovers at once? I won't say that the idea, that it doesn't appeal to me." Said Jean slowly. "But it goes against all the morals I was brought up to believe were right and true, the only way to live." In point of fact the idea of being with a girl at all was against those morals, but she didn't care. I, I'll have to think about it, that's all I can say."

Ororo nodded serenely, as if the outcome was a foregone conclusion. "Of course my dear, I don't want to push you into anything you're not ready for."

Jean nodded, then grinned suddenly, reaching out to poke at one of the bite marks on the other woman's stomach, which caused the other woman to twitch away with a yelp. "Now, I believe you have some details to brag about!"

OOOOOOO

The next few days were peaceful but busy for Ororo and Harry. At around seven Harry and his lady would get up have breakfast with Melody and spend time working on the castle. Ororo had decided to put down strips of carpet on the top three floors, different types each, and was busy trying to figure out which she liked most, as well as continuing her work on giving the house-elves lessons in pronunciation, as well as working on enlarging their vocabularies. The first task was unpleasant in the extreme for her, since she really had no idea about interior decorating.

Harry on the other hand busied himself in figuring out what he wanted to add to the castle, and working with the castle to bring those changes about. Hogwarts was unlike any normal castle could ever be, it was almost alive in a way, and it worked with its headmaster. For one thing, Harry had decided to make a communal bath on the seventh floor like that the prefects had access to back in his own dimension. There was a regular bathroom on that floor, and he had to redesign it from one wall to another. Yet when he was finished with the giant bath, a rocky bowl in the center of the room with seats along its edge, the castle somehow immediately hooked it up to the water supply, creating pipes to lead into it. A central island of rock with holes on its side began to pour out water immediately after he finished transfiguring it.

Another time when he was trying to figure out how to change a classroom on the seventh floor into a bedroom, the windows changed shape and shortened, and the whole room grew slightly smaller, with the blackboard disappearing from one wall. A moment later two of the house-elves began to pop in with Jean's furniture. The same thing happened again when he went into Melody's room. And again when he was connecting the two classrooms in the basement to one another to make a larger room he could convert to a lab, though of course he didn't have any equipment to put in it just yet. What he did have was far too precious (expensive) to use his family's runes on to just run them once or twice before they burned out. He was still leery of the long term effect of a magical dwelling on technological devices, but so far it seemed okay.

There were limits of course. The castle couldn't do anything that would change its outer appearance, nor could it do anything outside its walls, it was the castle itself, not the totality of Hogwarts that reacted like this. Nor could it do anything truly major, like the Room of Requirement. It turned out that it didn't exist in this world and recreating it would take him days of intricate work. He was tempted to see if he could instead use similar technology to that used in the Danger Room, but wasn't certain he wanted to ask Charles for that large a favor.

Other than at meal times, Melody spent time with Ororo and Harry for a few hours then after the two of them left her to go work on their projects went to explore the forest. Another child might have felt sad or angry that her parental figures weren't spending time with her, but not Melody, not after everything Harry had done for her and with the excitement of being the first to explore a huge castle and the surrounding lands. This she did rather gleefully, with one of the house elves with her for protection. The little creatures had been astonished when Melody knew they were following her, which was something no wizard could do. Not even Harry knew how to detect a house elf if it was following him and trying to hide, but Melody somehow knew. So one of them simply walked beside her watching openly as she ran through the forest.

The group came together for dinner, cooked by the house elves from the ingredients Harry and Storm had bought after shopping at Harrods. Then while one of the house elves stayed with Melody playing games with her inside the castle Harry and Ororo would head to the institute. Ororo stayed the night there. Not having Harry's ability to use magic to sustain her she would spend some time teaching the students their finals lessons in the languages they were currently on then head to bed early, her body already acclimatizing to the time change from New York to Scotland. Harry would remain up and cook dinner for everyone else before spending the rest of the evening with Kitty working on runes, both looking over her current task and helping her learn more then head back to sleep in Hogwarts.

Kitty had decided after a bit that she simply couldn't put everything she wanted into a warding array for their uniforms, and had decided to ask the others what they wanted. The only thing other than the power absorption part that every one of their suits would have was a low powered notice-me-not field. It wouldn't stop people from seeing them, but it would stop anyone from noticing anything about their features or voice that they could use to identify the X-men later.

Rogue didn't want anything but the notice-me not field since in her case the suit would go on under the armor taken from Juggernaut. That armor gave her a lot of protection, and her own toughness and strength gave her even more. With the ability to fly she would be even more effective. Cyclops wanted some more protection as well as the flight array, but mostly wanted a way to open up the distance between himself and his opponent just in case. Evan wanted armor, speed enhancements, and the most ridiculous thing of , a small, energy expanded pocket so he could open it up and bring out milk cartons to regain calcium and therefore his ability to make bone weapons. Jean had waved off the entire idea, happy with the notice-me not field, but not wanting the younger girl to work on her suit, since she and Harry would be making some of their own later.

Nightcrawler was another matter entirely. He didn't want his strength enhanced he wanted the notice-me-not ward strengthened. If it was he felt he would be able to bamf in without anyone noticing him before he could disappear. Something to maybe negate the smell of brimstone when he used his teleportation ability was a good idea, but it seemed a natural part of his powers he couldn't reduce. A speed rune for his arms was something else he was interested in. He had started learning sword work from Logan, who had proven adept at the katana of all things, and Kurt had started to use a cutlass of all things.

Now the bio-energy draining array could power one primary and one secondary thing, and the notice-me not ward was the secondary item for all of them. She wanted to see if she could work out a sort of reverse cutoff, something that could be activated even by non-magic users, but that was something that would take her a while to figure out how to do.

For now she had created three sets of flight arrays and had strengthened the notice-me not ward for Nightcrawler into a primary, then added a secondary speed enchantment array. Evan's was tougher, and for that she decided on three equal secondary arrays since he didn't want to fly. Scott was a little unhappy about that, wanting the whole team to have that maneuverability, but acceded to Evan's wishes after the other boy confessed to being a little afraid of heights. Instead his array was able to strengthen his armor and his speed on top of having the notice-me not portion.

The third flight capable array was for Kitty. She still hadn't made a final decision on if she wanted to be a field trooper or just a researcher, and wanted to have a suit on hand she could use. She also still exercised with the team, and was getting a lot better at using her powers offensively. Yet now their enemies in the Danger Room were as lifelike as possible, including blood and gore much to Charles' sadness. Though he actually didn't object, as unlike a certain ancient wizard he knew they would eventually have to kill to protect themselves and others. Every time Kitty saw one of her opponents go down, blood gushing and a limb missing, she had flashbacks to when it was real with Sabertooth and she froze up, proving she was correct in wanting to move to a support role.

Harry had looked over her plans in the practice sand table, and had judged her skills at drawing the runes to be good enough, and the array workable, enough to start her on practicing writing into metal. The metal plates, about the size of her hand, would be added into the X-men's uniforms, but the final product would take weeks, maybe months before it was at the stage the arrays could actually be woven into their uniforms.

Friday evening found Harry and Ororo having dinner with Melody, joined this time by Jean. Jean had been avoiding both of her friends over the past few days, not wanting to be around them as she grappled with the issue of actively attempting to join their relationship like Ororo had offered. She hadn't come to an answer just yet, but today she just needed to get away. The redhead had called for an elf to come and get her, and had arrived in a bit of a mood.

The rumors at school had finally begun to die down, and the idiots had finally gotten the idea she wasn't interested in any of them. Yet Taryn, Duncan and their friends were still harassing her in little ways whenever they could, not able to let things go. Added to this was Logan of all people hitting on her twice in the past few days! Once was after breakfast this morning and the second time was after a training session. He had waited until she was alone and heading up to Ororo's bathroom on the third floor before appearing behind her and starting to flirt with her. The idea of being with someone so much older than her was bad enough, but the guy was so fucking hairy the idea of being near him even with just his shirt off was enough to give her the willies.

When she relayed this to her two friends, she was astonished (and pleased) to see the flickers of jealousy and fury in Harry's eyes at the idea of the older man flirting with her before it was hidden again. Ororo was simply angry. Yet neither offered to deal with it, trusting her to handle it herself unless she asked, simply welcoming her at their table and talking to her about her studies and when she would be ready to move in with them, treating her like an adult and a member of their family. One more week, then waiting for her grades to arrive, after that she was out of there, and she could finally move in with these two, a time she found herself looking forward to.

Their meal was interrupted by Harry's cell phone going off. As it was powered by batteries initially it hadn't been necessary to power it via one of his families lightning wards, and it worked okay in Hogwarts. Not great, but enough to get an intermittent signal in. Harry idly wondered how long the other person had been calling to get through at all as he looked down at it then over at a house elf who was standing by the table, having won the rock-paper-scissors competition (started by Ororo after she had found the elves didn't have enough work to really go around and had taken to fighting about serving their masters at mealtimes) and waiting to serve them. "Could you take us to the edge of the woods please? And ask one of the others to bundle this up as a picnic for us."

Melody clapped her hands gleefully as the house elf snapped his fingers and transported them to about two miles into the woods that surrounded the castle and the lake it overlooked. The night was chilly at this point, this being Scotland the time where it was actually warm out was short indeed. But before the others could get cold Harry hit them all with a warming charm then summoned up a few bluebell flames, which hung in the air around them. Jean telekinetically grabbed a fallen log about twenty feet away, then plopped it down for a makeshift seat for the trio. For some reason she just had a feeling Harry was about to provide them with some dinnertime theater.

Harry looked over at her anticipatory expression and shrugged, then looked down at the phone. He sighed as he saw which of the two numbers Reed set up for him it was then cast a spell on himself. This was another Marauder special, designed to help with pranks, but the ability to sound like a girl had far more applications than just that. With that done he finally answered the phone, somewhat amused it had kept ringing in the background this whole time. "Like, hello, this is Anastasia!"

On the log Jean brought up a hand to clamp over her mouth to keep her from laughing loud enough to be heard at the other end of the line, while Ororo grinned, now sensing the same thing Jean had earlier, while Melody just looked on, sipping her grape juice. Around them several elves popped into being and began to lay out the dinner on a table they had brought along before making them all sit up and putting down small pillows for them to sit on.

A male voice came in from the other side, sounding more than a little disturbed for some reason. "Uh, hi, is this Anastasia Ambrosius? I'm Obadiah Stane, vice president of Stark industries…"

Harry interrupted the man, putting a little breathy tone into his voice, as he did so. "Like, Stark Industries, then, like does that mean you've actually met TOONNNYY?" Harry drew out the last name, then went on in that same breathy tone. "Like, ohmygod, he is so dreamy! Oh, I've got so many pictures of him, and ohmygod, this isn't about, like, those shares I bought is it? I bought 'em cause, like I thought I could use 'em ta meet him!"

The disturbed tone in the other man's voice was far more noticeable now. "You, you bought seven percent shares in our company because you wanted to meet Tony?"

"Well, *giggle*, not just meet, if ya know what I mean. I'd, like rather a lot more than just meeting him. But yeah, like that's why I bought 'em after my grandpa left me some money. Like, why else would I have? And besides, its not, like, y'know, I know much about money and handlin' it anyway."

Now the man on the other line was barely hiding his contempt, as well as more than a bit of rage underneath it that Harry could barely detect. "Well then, I think I could arrange something like that, if you can get to a gala event in Los Angeles in eight days. I'm certain I can arrange for you to meet, at least for a little while."

He said that last with an even darker tone to his words, and Harry's eyes narrowed, wondering what the hell the other man's game was, that he was clearly planning to have 'Anastasia' killed, maybe with Stark at the same time. Still the ditzy character he had come up with for this persona wouldn't have notice the other man's tone. "Like, really that'd be great! But I don;'t know if I'll be able ta get ta Los Angeles like that. Um… but tell me the address and stuff, and like, I'll try my best. Anything to meet Tony!" The man did so and then hung up as fast as he could.

Harry looked at his audience who were now rolling around on the ground, laughing but with no sound coming out. Harry looked over at one of the elves who replied "Mistresses and missy were making noise but didn't want to be heard by the strange man in the small speaky thing, so asked us to silence them."

Harry nodded at that and the elf removed the spells on the trio, letting their laughter be heard. "Alright that's enough you three."

Harry had neglected to remove the spell changing his voice, and the sound of a stern ditzy voice sent the trio into gales of laughter again. Harry sighed and canceled the spell, then sat down on the log and bit into a sandwich, waiting for them to get control of themselves. Eventually the two adults got control of themselves, but Melody kept on laughing and going on about Harry sounding like the character from the song 'I Don't Like Your Girlfriend'.

"What," Jean gasped as she sat down once more, "Was that about?"

"Just a way to separate me from anyone looking for who owns stock in Stark Industries. Apparently it might be a good thing too." He related the tone and words Stand used, and both women nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, that's that, now, pass the lemonade."

The rest of the meal passed quickly with the three adults trading ideas on what Stane might be up to, and when they would have to start dealing with it. Afterward Jean volunteered to read with Melody before putting her to bed (both out of a desire to and to put off going back to the mansion as long as possible). This allowed Harry and Ororo to walk back.

Or they would have, if Ororo hadn't started to shuck off her clothing after the others disappeared. Harry gulped, watching her do so, and thus was completely surprised when she suddenly turned away and bounded off into the woods. He gaped after her retreating rear for a moment, then laughed, took off his own clothing and set off after her. The hunt lasted some time, but in the end both predator and prey were satisfied by the outcome.

OOOOOOO

Harry looked up from where he was inscribing another ward on his workrooms walls when someone knocked on his door. He had been reworking some of the warding array to take power from a few of the magical batteries he had designed rather than any ambient magic, so that they would continue to work rather than fade after he moved out. He would still need to come by every month or so, but it would allow the work room to retain the majority of its magical protections. Kitty would still be using this room after all, and he wanted to make certain she was protected by any accidents.

He smiled when he saw Ororo standing in his doorway all thoughts of his work leaving him. "Hey luv, what's up? Need my help moving something?"

Ororo shook her head, smiling faintly at her lover. "Not right now Harry. Kitty's parents showed up about fifteen minutes ago, and Charles wants us to introduce ourselves to them. Even if we're moving out we're much more teacher-like than Logan, and he hopes to use us to reassure them. She's told them practically everything, because she wanted their advice to help her decide whether she wanted to keep being an X-men or not, but at this point I have no idea what that advice will be."

Harry nodded moving over to join her but was stopped when she leaned in to steal a kiss as he reached her. He returned it chuckling a little and the two broke off only after enjoying themselves for moment. Since they had begun to be together more regularly Ororo had taken to springing these little surprise make out sessions. He found it remarkably endearing and spontaneous, as well as a lot of fun. Luckily Ororo didn't wear lipstick save on special occasions so there was no visible sign of their brief moment when they went downstairs.

They found Kitty and her parents in the living room sharing the sofa. The father was a middle-aged gentleman with a short goatee mustache, graying hair and kind eyes behind a pair of round spectacles wearing a decent shirt and jeans. The mother had hair the same color as her daughter cut to a little below her shoulders with the ends done in a strange poofy manner. Or perhaps it's the rest of her hair that's been forced flat? Given Kitty's own hair that's a distinct possibility, thought Harry.

Kitty was sitting between the two adults, and their arms were around her in a sort of continuous hug, which Kitty seemed to bask in, leaning against her mother's shoulder with a happy grin on her face matched by her mother's. In contrast her father's face was much more serious, and his arm around the young teen seemed as protective as it was loving.

Kitty looked up, her eyes shining happily. "Hey Teach, Storm! These are my parents, Terry and Kathleen Pryde."

Harry bowed grandly, taking a seat on the smaller sofa, with Ororo moving gracefully to join him. Logan as was his wont was leaning against a wall while Charles sat at one end of the coffee table between the sofas. "Pleased to meet you sir, ma'am. I probably don't have to tell you this, but you have a very bright daughter there."

Ororo nodded firm agreement and the two parents chuckled, hugging their daughter even tighter as she blushed at the praise. Terry however wasn't in the mood to be flattered and came to the point quickly. "We both are proud of Kitty and her scholastic and personal achievements of course, but we're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about this X-men business. I was under the impression that they would be training for several years before deciding if they wanted to become part of your group full time. What is this I hear about my daughter being forced to fight for her life against some madman with claws?" His shrewd gaze went from Harry to Logan to Charles and back again looking for any clues.

Logan frowned a little. "That'd be my fault. The kid and Kurt were caught up in a personal feud between me and another old soldier." There was no way he was going to try and explain the whole Weapon X Program bit to a civilian, and he went on, making certain his language was as polite as he could make it. "I will say yer daughter did darn well, driving him away when I was out of action."

Terry frowned but Kitty spoke up at that point. "Since then I…, I've chosen to step back from field work. I still train with the team, but I still haven't decided what I want to do in the future. That's why I wanted to talk to you two in person."

Kathleen frowned a little. She had never been very happy with the idea of her daughter joining some vigilante team, no matter how good the cause they fought for. But she wasn't about to make daughter's decisions for her. She wanted her safe, what parent wouldn't but she knew she couldn't make those choices for her. "I understand you've taken up some kind of new research or other? I hope it hasn't taken away from the time you spend on your academic studies?"

Harry answered before Kitty could, waving one hand in the air. A serving of tea on a tray appeared in the air landing gently on the coffee table. "Actually, she's been learning how to use runes, the easiest and some would say the most ancient form of magic. Tea anyone?" Showing off now was alright, he fully intended to confound both parents about his abilities before he left.

He began to make up a few cups of tea, handing one to Charles with a bit of milk in a little saucer on the side and one to Ororo, extra sugar no milk and very hot, just the way she liked it, ignoring the looks of surprise and scorn on the two guest's faces. It wasn't like they hadn't seen a telekinetic at work before after all.

Kitty spoke into the silence. "Um, see, Harry is a wizard, he uses magic and can do, well, a heck of a lot with it, and he's been giving me some instruction on using runes, which are like written out forms of spells. Easy ones only have single rune and difficult ones have more. I've been figuring out ways to help us, to power shields on our suits and keep our identities a secret and a lot of other things."

She reached into a pocket and brought out her ever-present bag of pebbles and pulled one out to show her parents, who began to believe this might well be magic when the tiny pebble grew into a palm sized flat stone as she pulled it out of the bag. "See, this is the hold rune, it paralyses the next person to touch. And this one," she held out another, "is a lightness rune, it makes things it's carved on lighter. Well, as long as the power lasts anyway. Because I don't have a magical core I can't power them, but I've been working on using runic arrays, that's what you call a long string of runes, that feed off bio-energy to do a lot of things."

Terry leaned forward interestedly, looking at the scrawled inscription on the stones, which had enlarged to the size of Kitty's palm the moment she pulled them out of the little bag on her belt, proving that this was something other than a mutant ability. He'd thought that was an odd fashion accessory when he saw it, learning that it was in fact utilitarian made him smile a little, and he decided to give his daughter and this emerald-eyed young man the benefit of the doubt. "I see, and there aren't any downsides to any of this?"

"None at all," Harry informed them. "Oh, they aren't something she should play around with out and about on her own, but I've got a room upstairs set up with as many defensive and protective arrays as I can put on it, and most of the time I'm in there too, working on my own projects." It stood up to Red and her little issue alright, he thoughtamusingly, it should stand up to any accident Kitty can do.

Kathleen however kept her mind on the important part for her. "That's well and good, but it isn't really something she can take real collegiate classes in is it? We've always wanted our daughter to follow us to college. Even if it will be expensive," she mumbled under her breath, so softly that even Kitty sitting right next to her couldn't hear it.

Harry did hear it, but Kitty spoke up first. "College is something I want to think about down the road, I'm only a sophomore after all. Right now I wanted your advice on what I should do about the X-men." She took a deep breath, moving out of her parent's arms for the first time since they had shown up at the mansion's front door. She turned to look at them one after the other, her face unusually serious. "Should I quit the team entirely? I, th-the idea of going on mission where I might be called to, to hurt or even kill people makes me queasy. Should I remain on the team and move entirely to a support role? Or should I, should I give it up entirely?" She paused, reaching forward and hugging both her parents tightly before moving back. "I've missed being around you both soooo much! I don't want to go back to just being a regular girl again, even if I could, but, but it would be safer, and I could move back in with you…"

Charles kept his frown off his face with difficulty. He hadn't even known that Kitty had been thinking of quitting the team entirely. That wasn't good for either the team of Kitty herself. After all, just because she wasn't an X-men anymore didn't mean that other groups wouldn't target her. Kitty's powers were among the most useful non-combat related power he had seen in a while, and Magneto and perhaps others would be quick to scoop her up, regardless of her own preferences if she was no longer protected here.

Terry frowned a little then leaned over to gently lift his daughter's chin so he could look into her eyes. "Kitty, I won't lie to you, I'm, unhappy is putting it mildly with the idea of you fighting and more importantly killing on these missions for the X-men. I knew when you showed us your powers that you wouldn't be able to have what most would call a normal life, but knowing you're already fighting like this when you're still a teenager, that is even harder to stomach." His eyes flicked up to stab at Charles who had the grace to look away, and then to Harry, who simply met his gaze steadily.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to force you to come home with us right now or anything like that." Terry continued, returning his eyes to his daughter's face. "You were given this power for a reason, and I feel that you need to continue to use it, to continue to be with the X-men. If you're not comfortable with going out on missions don't, move to a support role. But I do want you to keep training just in case, as that can stand you in good stead if the unexpected happens."

Kitty grinned, glad her father had just given her advice that dovetailed with what her own thoughts about the matter had been.

While Terry had been talking his wife had been glaring across at Charles and Ororo. Harry hadn't been here when her daughter agreed to join the X-men so was spared her ire. Now Kathleen leaned forward and tugged her daughter's hair lightly. "I am not at all happy about my daughter fighting for her life, regardless of the cause, but as long as it is your decision Kitty I won't try to persuade you otherwise. I agree with your father, moving to a support role is best for you. Indeed given your character I would have thought that right away if it had been an option." As Kitty smiled at her Kathleen said brightly "And this will give you more time for your studies! Maybe if you can get your studies high enough then you can get a scholarship."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Harry said blandly, not even hinting at the fact he had heard the woman's complaint about how much college would cost. It was obvious that money was an issue in this household, not tight maybe, but close to it. "I was telling the truth when I said you had a bright daughter there, that kind of mind would be a horrible thing to waste. So long as she keeps her grades up I have no problem with paying her way through college, especially considering back in… I mean in wizard terms she is my apprentice, paying her way would normally be part of the bargain. I may even have a job for her eventually, once certain issues in my own life clear up."

The bit about a master paying the apprentice's way was an outright lie of course but it sounded good. Back in his old dimension an apprentice had very few rights, a holdover from when apprenticeships were the only way to learn spells outside the family structure. Regardless the look of gratitude in Kitty's face made the lie well worth it.

Charles smiled too, wondering if Harry could be talked into becoming the X-men's financial backer. His own financial position was more than secure of course, book sales, his work as a psychologist for the government and other things allowed him to pay for everything. But keeping the team running was a major drain on his accounts, so having someone else help to pay for the X-men would be excellent. "Well, if that is all, I think we can let Kitty show you around for a bit, and if you are free for lunch, please feel free to stay."

With that Harry and Ororo left the parents and their daughter behind, following behind Charles out of the room. As they left Ororo chuckled, hearing Kathleen ask "So, what's this I hear about you dating that Alvers boy?"

OOOOOOO

Emma was almost tempted to laugh maniacally as she sat down at one of the tables in the Hellfire Club. She had, within a mere week, made enough connections and deals with the individuals in the club that she had expanded the family's business by at least twenty percent, a considerable amount since she hadn't made any business deals with the rest of the Inner Circle. Those deals were with her, then Frost Corp, her father was a distant memory even to Shaw and the Inner Circle.

In Buckman's case it was probably because of her tentative friendship with Paris. While not as enamored of him as vice versa, his feelings for her were genuine, and he approved of the two women spending time together (if he had designs on a threesome a time or two when he was out of ranger of Harry's charms, that was alright by Emma. He obviously was intelligent enough to know not to actually bring it up).

Shaw too was welcoming her for his own reasons, but in his case she still had the feeling he was accepting her over her father for his own reasons, and only about a third or less had to do with the fact she was better eye candy then Winston. She felt it had something to do with her being a mutant, but that was only part of it. Her feeling that the man had some plans involving mutants like him hadn't gone away.

In fact she was now just as concerned about Shaw as she was about Buckman's secretive Sentinal Program. Still she knew once school let out she would start working on his spy issue. She had already cleared his holdings within a day trips distance, which wasn't much admittedly, but they would be heading out into the rust belt after she graduated from High school at last. Which would provide her with a truly excellent alibi…

Her plans for her older sister had also progressed to the point where she was simply waiting to trigger them. Adrienne had become too complacent, too certain in her own power and wealth, too certain that Emma was too busy protecting herself and her new duties to strike back. Adrienne's meetings with the Hammer Tech head spy had been easy enough to track thanks to her power, and she knew where the next one was going to happen, and she had already planted a few little traps there.

She had done so between her jobs with Leland, and the lawyer was well pleased with her aid. Leland was a very good lawyer, but outside the courtroom and his specialty he was by far the easiest of the Inner Circle to read. Unlike Peirce who merely played the part, Leland was truly a voluptuary, addicted to sex, good food, sex, wine, sex, a few designer drugs the Hellfire main room kept on hand. Steering his thoughts was relatively easy.

She looked over toward the stage, where Pierce sat right next to the stage. While the man's appearance might make one seem he was totally concentrating on the stacked black haired woman on stage currently jiggling her obviously fake breasts into the face of one of the other members, she knew there was more going on under the surface. There was a darkness there that reminded her all too well of Adrienne's sadism and cruelty. Unfortunately unlike Buckman's mechanical mental defense, his was constantly being upgraded, and the last time she had invaded his mind it had shown a marked improvement, so she had backed off and determined not to tempt to invade his mind further.

She had determined that even with the mystery of Buckman and Shaw's plans, Pierce was the more dangerous member of the Inner circle because he had an unpredictable streak, and she leaned back, tapping one finger against the table gently as she wondered how to find out more about the man without using her powers from now on.

OOOOOOO

Later that day Harry returned to the mansion for a few hours to spend some time with Cerebro. He felt that if he could figure out how the machine found mutants, he could improve it, and figure out how to do the same job magically using the Book of Students. Of course he hadn't figured out how the book worked just yet, but he figured it would be much easier to reverse rune-gineer it than it had been for the group that had created it.

That was for later however, now he had just finished making dinner and putting it away for the kids when his phone rang. He looked down at it and saw that thankfully it was the second identity he had created to buy SI stock. He still cast a spell on himself, but this time it was simply to make his voice sound a little older before speaking. "Hello, Hello, This is George Frederick Weatherby may I ask whose calling me? Rather new phone don't you know?"

"Mr. Weatherby, this is Obadiah Stane of Stark Industries." The other man's voice sounded somewhat relieved for some reason. "You're a hard man to contact."

"Part of a holdover from my former trade shall we say, old boy. Was there something you were wanting, say to inform me about some shareholders meeting? I must say I was surprised that so many of the former shareholders jumped ship like scalded rats. Frightfully unsportsmanlike of them. Seemed odd to me, but not something I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, when you buy a weapon you buy from the company, not from one young brat, no matter how bright." Since his other persona had been such a fan of Stark, Harry had decided to see if he could trick Obadiah into sounding him out a little more about his plans if he sounded like he didn't care for Tony.

As he finished speaking Jean came in from her daily run to grab a bottle of water. Harry's wordless nod of greeting stopped halfway as he took in the sight of her.

Jean wore a very short pair of exercise shorts, simply because they were comfortable to run in rather than any reason to show off, yet that was one of the results. Her long, white legs were on display for all to see, hence why she had come back in the back way in an attempt to avoid Logan, who was making her feel rather uncomfortable. She also wore a tight exercise shirt that only barely covered her chest, under-which she wore a sports bra. This ensemble showed off her body to great effect, resulting in Harry's rather dumbstruck expression.

Jean paused, staring wide-eyed at the man who had come to dominate about fifty percent of her dreams, her hands, one of which held a towel, moving in an attempt to cover herself up more, without much success. She hadn't expected anyone to be in here and was surprised to see Harry here at all. On the other hand Jean felt a rush of pleasure when she saw Harry look away, trying to hide his physical reaction to her, visible because of his loose pants. Once again her mind went back to whether or not she wanted to join Harry and Ororo in their relationship, but for the moment at least her Christian upbringing still trumped her desires.

Harry rather weakly motioned to the cellphone by his ear, mouthing the word 'Stane' which Jean nodded at and moved over to grab a bottle out of the freezer, leaning in to listen in as much as possible.

Stane's voice sounded even more relieved now. "You have no idea who good it feels to talk to someone who understands that. Can I take that to mean you'd vote to continue to make and sell weapons at the next shareholder meeting?"

"Oh you can definitely take that as a given old boy. Whatever he may think Stark isn't the company, whatever his shares may say. Weapons manufacture is much more profitable and much more of a dependable revenue stream than anything the lad might be able to start building/selling I can think of offhand. Of course I realize it isn't the only thing Stark Industries does, but it is the company's major money maker. Just because the boy didn't like being out on the sharp end is no reason to stop making weapons."

In point of fact Stark owned only 45% shares, more than any other single shareholder, but not a controlling interest. Stane had previously owned 7%, allowing the two of them two work in concert and browbeat the rest of the board. Stane had been able to gobble up 15 percent before Harry pounced, and had been infuriated that his attempt to grab controlling interest of the company hadn't worked, along with his other plan, since, unfortunately for him, Stark was still alive. Of course the means of his escape were still unknown, but the energy resource for it alone was going to revolutionize weapons manufacture.

Still this Weatherby fellow sounded like someone Stane could work with, so long as he didn't really care about the day to day business of the company. Of course if he proved bothersome later, then he could always fall back to tried and true methods of conflict resolution.

"Excellent. Listen, there's a bit of a soiree being held for investors, the public, stars and all that jazz for Firefighters Family Fund next week in downtown Los Angeles." He gave the specific address and then asked "So will I see you there?"

"Sounds like a fine idea Mr. Stane, I will see you there." Harry hung up after that, looking over at Jean and cancelling the spell on his throat. "So what do you think of that?"

Jean frowned, playing with the cap of the water bottle thoughtfully. "He definitely sounds like he's got major problems with Stark and his current direction. How far he might be willing to take that, I can't say." She smacked her shoulder against Harry's with a grin on her face. "Speaking of business and companies, how far along are you with your plans for yours?"

Harry looked a little sheepish. "Well I actually have no idea on how to go about creating a startup company like that, I mean we've got a lot of ideas for stuff to make and sell, but the legal ends and how to go about hiring people; that I have no idea about. I was thinking of contacting Emma about that. Seeing as she probably got the same kind of call, I was thinking of inviting her to the castle tomorrow. Now that I have my own public place of power I thought it would be safe enough."

Harry hadn't introduced either of the younger girls to High Note just yet, but the time was coming when he would in Jean's case. Emma he was still going to wait a bit longer. He knew she was still in a precarious position, and as much as he liked her knew she would look out for her own well-being first and foremost. But he had already shared some of his plans with her, and she was a magnificent resource that he was willing to call upon. And after all, just because she knew he had a castle didn't mean that she could give up its exact location or let other people in.

Jean nodded agreement eagerly. She was anxious to see her new friend in person again. The e-mails they had shared were just this side of cryptic in terms of actual information about each other's lives, and she had become increasingly concerned about Emma and the brevity of her e-mails. "Say about three o'clock local time?"

Harry nodded and Hedwig suddenly flew through the doorway, carrying a letter and envelope. Harry wrote a brief message on the letter, then his name and concentrated for a moment, then intoned "Portus." The envelope glowed blue for a moment then he folded it up and put it inside the envelope, handing it to Hedwig. "Remember to be discrete girl, you'll fit right in with Emma coloration wise but I don't want anyone to twig to the fact you're bringing her any messages."

Hedwig precked at him, pulling at his hair for a moment for questioning her abilities, then flew off without another word. He shook his head, reminding himself to have the house elves prepare a few extra slices of bacon for her then looked up at Red. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Potter," Jean laughed, bumping her shoulder against his again before she pushed herself up from where she had been leaning against the counter next to him. "I'll see you then." She walked out, and for the first time in a while enjoyed having the feel of someone's eyes on her as she did so.

OOOOOOO

Emma looked up from her bed askance as a familiar snowy white owl suddenly appeared in the air above her bed. Hedwig landed on her shoulder, briefly rubbing her head against the blond human female who always smelled of spearmint and flowers , dropping her burden into Emma's waiting hands.

Emma opened the envelope and looked at the missive inside, which said, 'Emma, plans have proceeded apace. I have a new domicile, and am ready to move forward with creating my company and was hoping to consult with you on that topic. Of course if there is anything you wish in return, you need only ask. Please touch the circle mark on the bottom of this letter at around ten o'clock eastern time, and you will be transported to the meeting point. Harry.'

Emma smiled faintly. Even here in her own room that was the only emotion she would allow herself. But inside she was positively giddy at the idea of seeing Harry again. She had never realized it before but after having been around other people who she didn't have to guard herself against, being surrounded by enemies on all sides was tiring as hell, and she could use some time around some people whom she could let her mask slip.

And since it was Sunday tomorrow it worked well for her. Her father was down in Florida this entire week at a board of directors meeting, and Adrienne was gone this weekend at a 'friend's'; read crony's, place.

The Club was always closed on Sunday, not for any religious reason but to restock its beer, wine and drug supply. It also allowed the Clubs 'independent' (only answerable to the Kings and Queens of the Inner circle) security team to sweep the club for listening devices without anyone else around. Of course they swept the club hourly every day, but the Sunday sweep was much more thorough.

She looked at Hedwig and gently laid a kiss on the top of the owl's head. "Please tell your boy that I will see him tomorrow."

Hedwig precked cheerfully at the human female's knowledge of who was in charge between her and Harry, then hopped off her shoulder before flying into the air disappearing seconds later. Emma chuckled quietly then turned back to her reading.

OOOOOOO

At the appropriate time on Sunday morning Emma left her family's mansion on her exercise bike, something she did every Sunday she could, so it wouldn't arouse any suspicion despite the morning hour. About fifty minutes later she was in the bike trails through the woods and pulled off into a small clearing. After looking around to make certain there was no one to observe her, she pulled out the letter from her backpack and touched the circle at the bottom of the letter.

She felt a tugging sensation, then suddenly the familiar surroundings of the woods around her family's mansion disappeared and she found herself standing on a grassy clearing facing a huge stone and wood castle that looked like something out of the Victorian era.

She looked around in shock, taking in the castle and the lake it overlooked, before turning to the forest. If you took the castle away, you would think this place had never felt the touch of man. She could see no paths through the forest, nor any road or any sign of phone lines or power lines. It was also colder here, and she noticed that the majority of the trees were coniferous. The mountains visible in the distance were also unknown to her. "I don't think I'm in New York anymore. I wonder where the hell that thing took me?"

She shrugged and began to walk toward the castle when she suddenly noticed a little creature with large eyes and big ears had just popped into being in front of her. Before she could get over her surprise or reach forward to get a feel for the thing's mind, it spoke. "Be you the mistress Emmie?"

Emma's mask slammed into place and she glared down at the thing with all the hauteur at her disposal. "I am Emma, not Emmie, am I clear?" The thing paled and nodded quickly. "Then yes, lead the way."

The thing nodded and moved toward the castle, then into a main hall. It was obviously meant to simply be a foyer but a table had been set up in the center of the area, and Harry, Ororo and to Emma's surprised pleasure, Jean were there, with a young girl who was dressed in jeans and a heavy jacket that looked about two sizes too big for her, with elfin features and a strange, unseeing gaze. A veritable feast was laid out in front of them, consisting of the same kind of pasta and salad Harry had made for the two of them in Switzerland.

The three of them had been talking, laughing at something the young girl had just said, but they all looked up at her, and Emma felt her mask disappearing at their genuine and open pleasure at seeing her. Harry got up and bowed in her direction, while Jean simply stood up and moved toward her friend.

Emma held out her hand but Jean surprised (and pleased) her by ignoring it and hugging Emma around the waist. Emma returned the gesture swiftly, her own arms around the redhead. Not that I'm complaining," Emma murmured, "But what brought this sudden affection on?"

"Do I need a reason?" Jean asked archly. "Besides that whole ice queen persona might fool other people, but I can tell you're a little frayed around the edges." She stepped back, looking at her friend, worriedly. "And I noticed your family's name in the newspaper a few days back."

Emma stiffened a little, but Harry and Ororo had come around the table by this time and the emerald-eyed man put an arm around her for a moment. "I noticed it was about your brother Christian, and I remembered you mentioning that he was the only one of your family that you liked. I'm sorry."

Emma looked around at their concerned faces and forced back tears, wondering why these three, who she barely knew really, had become so close to her, why they cared about her more than her own family had ever done.

The moment ended a moment later and she followed the trio back to the table. As they sat down Harry commented casually, "I notice that your brother's personal preferences also came out at the same time, and the way he died seemed to indicate that he was driving drunk, something I found rather odd considering you said once that he rarely if ever left the mansion, and never drove."

"Yes, very odd." Emma said flatly, rage and remembered sorrow visible on her face. "Someone wanted to send me a massage, to hurt me for being a little too independent. My response to it will be in like coin shortly."

Ororo looked troubled, but Jean simply frowned in worry while Harry nodded unperturbed. "Indeed, I hope you have taken precautions."

"Oh you may be sure of that," Emma's lips twitched into something no one would ever be so foolish as to call a smile. "I have been nothing if not thorough."

Ororo made to speak, but took a good long look at Emma, her glittering hard eyes, glittering with remembered pain but coldly calculating and purposeful, then sighed and looked away. She wasn't happy that the younger woman was obviously contemplating murder, but given what she knew about the woman's family, she could guess what the two were implying had happened to her brother, and who might have been behind it. In the end she simply said, "Please don't do anything for the sake of vengeance alone. Such things weigh upon your soul."

Emma looked at her then shook her head. "It isn't just because of a desire to avenge Christian, but also to protect myself. Trust me, I've thought about this for years now." She refused to share anymore of their family's dirty laundry her friends didn't need to hear that.

To change the subject she took up a fork and bit into the food in front of her. "So tell me what the hell is this place? And what are these little creatures?" She asked, indicating two house elves that were standing by the table like miniature waiters, complete with overlarge towels on their arm.

With a soft sigh Harry shook his head and filled Emma in on what had happened to core wizards in this universe, and was gratified to see that it appalled her as much as it had Ororo and Jean.

There was a lull in the conversation for a moment as the quartet looked down at their food, each of them lost in their own thoughts and sadness of those who had died here so horribly in a last ditch attempt to stand for something. Emma was not in the habit of feeling sorry for anyone else however, and she looked up from biting into her pasta, and across at Harry. "So, not that I don't enjoy seeing you all, but exactly what do you wish to accomplish during this little meeting of ours. I won't lie and say that there are several things I would like your help with, but specifically what do you expect to get out of this?"

"Well first," answered Harry leaning back and looking at her, "Were you contacted by Stane?"

"Yes, I was." Emma's eyes narrowed dangerously at the memory of the call that had so precipitously interrupted her debut with the Inner Circle. "He seemed to think he could get away with threatening me. Not quite sure why, my last name should've given him a clue that I'm not exactly new to playing the game at this level, but he did."

Jean chuckled. "He called Harry too about the stocks he bought using those two personas he made up." She filled Emma in on what happened, and Emma chuckled behind her hand at hearing of Harry using a valley girl persona to make Stane think one of his made up characters was a fan-girl.

She looked over at the little girl and asked "Before we go any further, what's up with this one" she said reaching out and poking the young girl in the head. While she wasn't a fan of children, that didn't mean she intensely disliked them like Adrienne. But neither was she wholly comfortable with them.

"This is Melody," said Harry reaching over and gently rubbing the girls head to which she replied by closing her eyes in pleasure, soaking up the positive attention like she always did, smiling happily. "I rescued her from a sanitarium in New York." He went into a bit of detail on the little girls powers. It turned out that her mutant powers were based off a chemical change in her brain, something that changed what she perceived with her eyes on a daily basis, into song.

The fact some of it changed all the time meant that she really couldn't really interact normally with the world around her. She had no concept of numbers for example, she just couldn't perceive them, and her ability to interact with people was dismal at best outside people like Harry and the others, who were able to deal with her oddities. Moreover her power seemed to directly impact her mental growth. Her body was that of a twelve or thirteen year old, but portions of her mentality wouldn't be out of place with a college age or older woman, but other parts were stuck in her pre-teens.

Emma shook her head sadly. Having something like that and having no control over it was her idea of a nightmare. But she was curious about one thing. "So, what do you see when you look at me?"

"I'm A Material Girl" said Melody promptly bopping her head to the music that only she could hear. "As well as something that goes 'man I feel like a woman'." She pouted a little. "I don't like that one, too western sounding."

Emma chuckled as Jean smirked. "She's got you there Emma."

"I wouldn't dream of saying otherwise. I am indeed a woman who likes the finer things in life. Now, back to more important matters yes, Obadiah called me, and he invited me to some kind of soirée next week." She looked over at Jean inquisitively. "You want to be my date?"

Jean looked a little bemused at that idea then paused, thinking. Her parents would pitch seven kinds of hell at the very idea of her going out with another girl, but at the moment it appealed to her, especially since Emma wasn't the sort to take it the wrong way if they simply went as friends. "So long as you don't try dressing me up like a doll I'm fine with that."

Emma nodded. "I'll help you choose out clothing of course, I doubt that you've ever been to an upper-class party like this, and I'll pay for them but I won't try to force anything on you if that is what you mean." Those words had at least two means, and Jean nodded acceptance of both messages, and Emma smiled in return.

Ororo smiled at both the younger woman, as did Harry, his emerald eyes crackling with humor and other emotions that Jean could all too easily put names to. The redhead found herself flushing, wondering if she should mention to Emma that Ororo was serious about being willing to share. She had noticed the interest Harry watched Emma with, and had seen him look at her that way more than once. Jean had at first thought it was her own imagination, but after Ororo had mentioned it, she realized that Harry had to… care for her as much as Jean had him. The idea of all four of them in a relationship however was so beyond anything she had ever dreamed her life would be like, and yet she found the idea very appealing for many reasons…

She shook off those thoughts to concentrate on the conversation in time to catch Emma saying 'Yes, I can walk you through the phases and steps to start up a company, but what exactly are you going to sell, you never went into specifics save that one will be pharmaceutical in nature."

Harry looked around at the three women sharing the brunch table with him, and suddenly grinned. "I think we should all lay our long-term plans on the table here. I'll start. My long-term plans, the two dreams I am working toward, are to get humanity into space, and to promote mutant rights to the greatest degree I can. In the short term, or possibly middle term would be more accurate, my plans include starting my own company to distribute goods. Those goods will start with potions, magical in nature but the magic is in the potion and ingredients, they can all be used by people without magic, but impossible for anyone else to reproduce."

Jean looked up sharply at the idea of getting into space. When she was younger she had always wanted to be a astronaut and go into space, and that feeling had only grown when she merged with the phoenix shard in her. the idea that Harry shared the same dream brought a smile to her face.

Emma however concentrated on the short term. "What sort of potions?" She asked, leaning back and holding a glass of wine. She looked at it quizzically than nodded gratitude at the little house elf that stood by the bed. The house elf grinned and bowed in reply and Emma turned back to Harry. The other women too were listening intently, though Melody was now trying to read a book Ororo had bought her.

"Healing draughts mostly, things for spinal injuries, re-growing missing or broken bones, other things like that, some that can help with nerve damage for example. They aren't miracle medicines of course, they can't grow limbs that have been cut off for example, but if you still have the limb there is a potion that can force the bone muscles and tissue to reassemble. Eventually I may supply trusted allies with others, some that might be useful in law enforcement, but for now it will be healing potions. I have enough samples to prove their efficacy and start the process, and should have my first crop in two and a half months. How much that will be, I have no idea at the moment, this is the first time I've been involved in the farming process for these potions."

Emma tried to grasp how much something like that would be worth if it actually worked, and her mind boggled at the number she came up with. "That, that would do for a start," she mumbled then shook her head. But I think you'll find that demand will be far greater than supply if you're relying on a place like this," she waved her hand at Hogwarts "as your primary farmland."

"Let's just say I have other resources," said Harry smirking a little. Jean looked over at Ororo who chuckled but motioned to her that she would learn later. Harry had decided to wait and tell the redhead about High Note once she graduated high school as a graduation present, and Ororo wasn't about to spoil the surprise.

"Ooh, I like a man of mystery," Emma answered, smirking back in turn. "I can help you figure out the distribution once you have that first crop, in fact once I take command of my families companies I can sell one of our shipping companies to you, or we can make a deal for me to handle the distribution and you handle the creation. We'll have to work up a lawful contract for that, but I think that could be profitable from both sides."

The conversation for a moment delved into how Harry could go about setting up his own company, as well as where he wanted it to be set up. Emma still thought that setting up in Switzerland or Vietnam or some other tax haven would be a better idea, but that was until Harry said. "The company is only part of what I want to do remember. I also want to use it and the money it earns me to promote mutant rights. And for that I need political capital. If I set up a company here in the UK that can give me a public face here, and the taxes I'll be paying on the company to the government will make them very happy with me. Besides, Hogwarts is in Scotland and it's going to become our public face eventually. We're not quite ready for that just yet, but we'll get there."

Emma nodded, noting that Harry had again referred to having hidden resources. Rather than being angry or saddened that he didn't trust her with them, she simply thought it good sense to keep some of it back from her. Despite all she had done with the Hellfire Club in the past week and a bit, her position was still precarious until certain individuals were taken out of the equation. The time was fast approaching when that would happen, but until then Emma's situation remained unsecure. And she knew herself too well she knew she would use anything she had to, any scrape of information or power, to protect herself.

She decided to take advantage of Harry's comment to change the conversation slightly "So what is this place going to be? A school, like you said it was once or just the head of your company?"

"Eventually both," said Harry, looking around thoughtfully. "I still need to figure out a way to find mutants, magical, technological or otherwise, but a school like that open to the public plus my own position and certain points I want to raise about the anti-mutant groups should have a reaction." He smirked, looking forward to the day when he could tell mutant racists what he really thought about them in as wide and public performance possible. "I also think setting up a country in the same way as Israel has been set up to defend mutant rights and give them a place to go, will be in the cards in the long run, but that will take a lot of money."

Harry also had a plan to create his own team like the X-men, but unlike that group, he would practice what he preached, bringing in regular humans both as trainers and team players. That was a plan he wasn't going to share with Emma just yet, not out of distrust, but because of her position at the moment. He wanted that group to be tied into but separate from the intelligence communities of the world. He wanted them able to head anywhere and deal with threats the local forces were unable to do, but not be answerable to them. How that was to be accomplished he wasn't certain, and he knew it wouldn't' be without its ups and downs, but he had confidence it was doable.

"Potions though will only be the start, we've" he looked over at Jean, "got other ideas of things we'll eventually be selling, possibly far more lucratively too." Jean grinned at the reference to their ongoing plans for a smaller version of Stark Industries' Arc reactor and game him a thumbs up.

Emma looked over at her wondering what that was about but shrugged, figuring she would learn in due time. "If you want your opinion to be heard like that, you're going to have to become one of the richest people in the world. I'm not talking about the top 100 I'm talking about the top 10. For instance my family is in the top 100, probably somewhere in the top 50, though not that high if you're just talking liquid capital. The only person in the top 10 that is part of the Hellfire Club is Edward Buckman, and he's not at the top of that list. Stark is in the top five, and the stocks for his company we've got should give us a nice chunk of ongoing capital, but not enough."

"My long term goal," she said looking back at Harry, "besides neutering or taking over the entire Hellfire Club, is to be the first woman on that top 10 list. Your deal with the potions will help you get up into maybe the top 100 and my own machinations at the moment will move my family up a few tiers. But other than that, I also want to do something for mutant rights much like you do."

She shook her head. "This is not something I would share with anyone else, I have an image to maintain after all, but I've watched the news. I've seen what's going on both in public and in secret, and the amount of hate being leveled at mutantkind makes the ongoing race and sexual orientation issues, even the anti-Semitic movement, seem insignificant." She shook her head, wondering if she should mention the Sentinel program, and deciding not to as she didn't really have any concrete evidence about what it really was, and Harry seemed busy with his own issues right now. She also had a bit of a plan going forward to deal with it anyway.

Emma frowned thoughtfully than decided to share something she hadn't ever shared with anyone else. "There is one other thing that I would like, and this is what I would ask your help with Harry. I am more than fine with working with you to get your company up and running. And I have no need of help with my own problems or with my plans for the Hellfire Club." She stated this firmly, proudly, unwilling to take anyone's help with her own issues. "But there is something else. My family, indeed most companies have begun to use computers to search out information on our enemies, not just to store information or make transactions. But we were among the first to do this, and we have remained well ahead of the curve. Indeed our programs are possibly better than anyone else's, even Tony Stark's, or other geniuses, and I have never been able to find out where they have come from. Yet something Adrienne said once make me think they have, have otherworldly origins."

Harry cocked his head to one side. "You mean alien don't you?"

"Yes," said Emma firmly. "What I don't know is if he found something, was given something or what, but it worries me what the price might have been."

Harry drummed his fingers for a moment, thinking hard. "That, that isn't the kind of thing I can just wave my hands and find a solution for milady."

Emma found herself flushing slightly at the affectionate form of address, and looking over to Ororo, but found the black woman looking back at her, head cocked to one side.

Ororo could see the affection and attraction the blonde woman and Harry felt for one another, but she wasn't certain yet that what Emma felt was love, unlike the redhead sitting across from her. Jean and Harry were obviously in love, but Emma wasn't quite there yet. That was probably because they had spent so little time around one another in comparison to Ororo or Jean and Harry, and because of Emma's automatic emotional control. The seed was there though, and Ororo was amused to find she was looking forward to this acerbic, tart and sarcastic young woman joining them. It would certainly be an interesting experience.

Harry continued. "But I can figure out if how often there have been alien contacts with humans. The FF keep files on all their adventures; that will make for a good start, and legends and other things of course. For now the charms you've got already should protect you from anything a nonmagical can throw at you, or at least get you the hell out of dodge." He frowned suddenly. "Remind me to change the landing point for the portkey on your necklace. This place is actually more protected than the safe house I originally set it up for."

Emma immediately lifted the necklace off her neck for the first time since Harry had given it to her and handed it across. "That will be a help certainly. And I think any more formal alliance between us should wait until my own position is more secure." She smiled a wintry little smile. "Give me a little over a month for that." Harry nodded agreement.

Jean and Ororo joined the conversation at this point, and the quartet hammered out some long term plans for the group, which they decided would meet again in a month's time to compare notes again. During the next two hours Emma swiftly learned the other two women were there for much more than the fact Harry trusted them.

The fact Jean had been able to come up with at least a preliminary design for a smaller, cheaper arc reactor was astonishing, and showed she was just as bright as Emma had thought. She hadn't yet begun to build a prototype, needing to move out of the Institute and join Harry here full time before doing so, but that prototype would power the electronics of the castle here. She would also be working on other electronic devices. When Harry expanded to include building and seeing the generators, Jean would take over that task. Until then she also filled in as Harry's aide-de-camp and political advisor. Her telepathy gave her the ability to figure out what other people were thinking even more than Harry's own ability to read people and she had a very good grasp of the world politics.

Ororo could speak dozens of different languages, and would be able to conduct business deals in Russian, Chinese, Italian, Egyptian and a dozen other languages. It was startling and implied that Harry's company would be spreading far faster than she supposed. Indeed he hoped to open several different branches in dozens of countries. She would also become the interim headmistress of the school once they began to assemble a staff and students. Once the school was set up she would take over from Jean and become one of the public faces of the company along with Harry, letting Jean concentrate solely on leading the engineering division and recruiting aid for it.

There were other parts of the long term plan that Harry hadn't shared with Emma just yet, but he would eventually. Jean had been informed of his idea for forming his own team, and approved of it along with Ororo, but he was waiting for an opportune moment to inform her about High Note. He wanted to see her face when he did, he just knew it would make his day.

Despite this lack Emma came to the conclusion that no matter how odd the circumstances behind the quartet's meeting, this group was among the most capable that she had ever met. All of them would fit in with the Inner Circle in strength of character and ability, and it was that thought that caused Emma to laugh suddenly. "So, what are we exactly, three queens and one king?" she asked archly.

"One king, two queens and a goddess if you please," said Ororo, and they all chuckled.

"Still, Emma's right," Jean said, putting a hand around her friends shoulders. "We need a name for this little think tank." Harry opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Jean said, "And you don't get to try to come up with one Potter, we want a name that actually sounds good, not one that sounds like a five year old came up with it. Your choice and stalwart defense of 'Harry-tanium' prevents you from naming anything. Ever."

Harry pouted outrageously, and the others chuckled. Ororo touched her lips briefly in thought. "How about Magical Minds Incorporated?"

Jean, Harry and Emma all looked at one another, then nodded.

About 20 min. later the group broke up, one of the elves returning and led to the park where she had disappeared from, Jean disappearing with another elf with a shopping list of mechanical parts, Ororo to look after Melody and Harry, to go search for some political allies.

End chapter

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Authors Notes: And there you have it, Harry's pretty much moved out but retains ties to the school, which will decrease over time. Ororo and Jean will be joining him in Hogwarts while Emma is hard at work in her own way, and the four of them have forged ties to one another. I hope everyone liked seeing Emma in action as well as the beginning of the introduction to Stark and the wider Marvel universe. Johnny and Crystal are together and yes they will remain together butno it will not be peaceful all the time, but she won't sleep with a random milkman (or whatever it was) and Johnny won't get with Alicia or her Skrull equivalent (I hate retconning!)

Some questions to my readers, if anyone knows about Indian and Japanese customs especially dealing with business please PM me, as I would like some of the parts in the next chapter to be realistic.

Should Stane be working with a group like AIM or alone?

Should I leave the castles as Hogwarts, or rename it something else?

Also if anyone knows any European/Asian mutants/heroes/villains you might like to see PM me.