A/N - Welcome to another chapter of the Lightning story. Not really sure about how this chapter turned out but I hope you'll like it.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
"Normal speech"
"Telepathy"
38) SUMMIT WITH SNAPE
Lightning continued to sit outside the room where Xavier was healing the Longbottoms. He didn't know how long this healing session would take. He knew it would probably be longer than it was with Snape but he didn't know how much longer. There was no one else in the hospital wing except for Madame Pomfrey and she was in her office so there was no one to talk to. For a little while he made small lightning bolts dance on his hands but even that got dull after a while.
Lightning didn't know how much time had passed when he saw the doors to the hospital wing open. To his surprise Professor Snape entered the wing. He was leaning heavily on a cane and hobbling along at a slow pace. He didn't look very good but he looked better than when Lightning had seen him after he woke up from his catatonia. He wondered why he was here but was a little hesitant to speak up in case Snape recognized his voice. He put the feeling aside though. Snape hadn't recognized him when he was here last time and he'd make sure to use his 'superhero voice' to keep it that way. He cleared his throat attracting Snape's attention who looked over at him.
"Lightning?" asked Snape.
"That's me" said Lightning, "what brings you here today Professor Snape?"
"I heard you and Marvel Girl were here again" said Snape, "and there was another man in a wheelchair with you. Is Professor X here?"
"Yeah, he's in there" said Lightning gesturing to the door behind him, "but you can't go in right now. He's doing some very delicate stuff and it might be dangerous to interrupt him."
"You're guarding the door again?"
"Uh huh, like I did when he healed you."
"I'm going to guess" said Snape, "that he's doing something similar for someone else?"
"You got that right" said Lightning, "a married couple by the name of Longbottom I think. They're like you were only I'm told they've been that way for a lot longer than you."
"I know who they are and what happened to them" said Snape with a nod, "if he can heal them he'll have pulled off a miracle."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" asked Lightning amazed that he had just asked Snape that question.
"No but thanks" said Snape, "I just wanted to thank the professor again for healing me. I might have been locked in my head forever if wasn't for him. Do you know how long he's going to be?"
"No" said Lightning, "I'm afraid not."
"Do you mind if I wait?" Snape asked sounding a little shy when he said it, almost as if he expected Lightning to tell him to leave.
"Suit yourself" said Lightning who reached out with his telekinesis and pulled over a chair which Professor Snape immediately sat in.
"How exactly do you do that?" asked Snape sounding curious, "I mean we have spells that can summon things to us, or banish them, or levitate them. Are you really doing that sort of thing with just your mind?"
"Yes" said Lightning who then levitated himself straight up a couple of feet and floated above his chair, "it's one of my two primary powers. As you can see I have no wand and use no words. I just think about it happening and it does. Same goes for my electricity." He held his hand out and caused electricity to dance around it while Snape watched in fascination. After a moment he let the electricity fade away and he lowered himself back into his chair.
"Interesting" said Snape who both looked and sounded impressed, something Lightning had never seen from him.
"It is to me" said Lightning with a grin before looking more serious, "I'm sorry about grabbing the salt away from you last year at that feast. I meant what I said at the time. With telekinesis I can get things without having to ask someone to pass them to me. Sometimes I have to be reminded that it's not very polite to do that, especially at the dinner table."
"Does that happen a lot?"
"At our headquarters it doesn't matter much" said Lightning, "Marvel Girl's a telekinetic too and we all have different ways of using our powers in everyday life – but that's only okay at home."
"So I would imagine" said Snape.
Although he wasn't showing it Lightning didn't know how to feel about the fact that he and Snape were actually having a civil conversation. Snape was actually being polite to him without any sneering or sarcastic putdowns and Lightning wasn't minding the talk. 'I guess he really doesn't know who I am' he thought to himself 'and I should probably keep it that way for both of our sakes.'
The two of them fell silent for a bit, neither saying anything, just sitting there with their thoughts. Finally Lightning began talking again.
"How have you been since the professor woke you up?" he asked Snape, "are you getting better?"
"Yes, although it's slow going" said Snape, "I was healed physically as much as possible before the professor woke me up but even with that being true there's always going to be residual stuff left behind by a curse like the torture curse and all of the other physical damage that was done to me when I was a prisoner. I now have a regimen of potions and an exercise routine and I'm being told to take it easy so time can do its work."
"I take it you're not teaching right now?"
"Thankfully no, and hopefully not again for a long time if ever."
"Why not?" asked Lightning.
"I hate teaching" said Snape firmly, "it's one of the biggest banes of my life, right up there with the Dark Lord although I probably don't have to worry about him anymore. If I ever see him again either I'll kill him or, more likely, he'll kill me."
"Then why teach in the first place?" asked Lightning sounding curious. This was the most talkative he'd ever seen Snape and he wondered just how much he was willing to say if Lightning pushed him very gently.
"I had my reasons" said Snape, "though I doubt they're still valid. I'll be glad if I don't have to teach anymore. Most of the students will be glad too."
"Oh?" asked Lightning, "why's that? Do you all hate each other or something?"
"Yes" said Snape simply.
"That's not good" said Lightning, "you want to talk about it at all?"
"Are you a mind healer now?"
"No" said Lightning, "but in my experience it can be easier to talk to a stranger sometimes than someone close to you. You know the old cliche that you see on TV about everyone taking their problems to the bartender? I don't have any drinks to give you but you could pretend I'm your bartender if you like." Lightning didn't know why he was saying these things to Snape but somehow it felt important, as if this was an opportunity to get straight talk from the man, and it was all made possible by the simple fact that Snape didn't know who he really was.
"A bartender?" said Snape raising an eyebrow.
"Why not?" asked Lightning, "ever watch Cheers?"
"Yes" said Snape, "do you think you're Sam Malone?"
"I'm certainly not Woody" was the cheeky reply. Snape snorted.
"Well why not?" he finally said, "I have nothing better to do right now."
"That's the spirit" said Lightning though he winced just a little at the unintended pun, "so do you and the students really hate each other?"
"Yes, well..." Snape paused and thought over how to properly word what he wanted to say, "before I was captured I would have said yes and left it at that. These last few weeks I've had a lot of time to think things over and I think the truth is a bit more complicated. It's not that I hate the students – I'm indifferent to most of them actually – it's that I hate teaching them. I'm a certified Potions Master, one of the youngest ever when I gained my mastery. I enjoy making potions and I could spend my time quite happily making and researching potions and working closely with other accomplished potion masters.
"What I don't like, or maybe it's more accurate to say that what I have a lot of trouble doing, is properly teaching beginners how to brew potions in ways so that they actually learn. A lot of that is because I'm not a patient man when it comes to teaching."
"I think I understand what you mean" said Lightning slowly, "you're an expert in your field. It comes easy to you. It comes so easy to you that you have trouble understanding why it doesn't come easy to other people. You find yourself unable to explain it to them in simple words that they can understand and you don't have the time or the patience to guide them with the baby steps they need for the subject."
"You do understand" Snape said as he nodded his head, "it doesn't help that potion making can be dangerous if not done right. Add the wrong ingredient at the wrong time and your whole mixture can turn into poison, or maybe your cauldron will melt. I've seen it happen more times than I care to remember."
"That would do it" said Lightning as he remembered an incident from his very first potions class in first year when Neville had melted a cauldron because he added porcupine quills without taking the cauldron off the fire first.
"Also some of the students I've seen over the years have attitudes that are just begging for trouble" said Snape rolling his eyes, "in every class it never fails. There's always at least one person who comes in acting all arrogant and superior as if they already know more than I do. They don't pay attention, they don't follow directions, they don't do the work, and then they complain because they got a low grade."
"Ouch" said Lightning who had a sinking feeling that he knew where this talk was leading. This was borne out by Snape's next statement.
"Of all the students I've ever had" he said leaning forward a little, "there are some that stand above all the rest as complete disasters."
"Oh?" asked Lightning, "anyone in particular – not that their names would mean anything to me."
"There are four students in fourth year this year" said Snape, "one is a complete dunderhead at potions and messes up everything. One is just too lazy to learn and relies too much on his friend who is an insufferable know-it-all. She's smart, don't get me wrong, brilliant even and she always does the work well but she insists on shoving her knowledge in everyone's faces as if she needs to prove that she's the smartest at everything."
"Oh boy" said Lightning not sure of what else to say. He knew full well that Snape was talking about Neville, Ron, and Hermione but he couldn't give any sign that he knew that. This talk with Snape was making him act the performance of his life to not give himself away. That became even harder by what Snape said next.
"There was a fourth member of their group who was the worst of the lot" said Snape who, now that he was talking couldn't seem to stop, "he doesn't go here anymore. He transferred to another school after his second year and I'm glad that I don't have to deal with him anymore."
"And who was that?" asked Lightning trying to stay as casual as he could.
"I might as well tell you" said Snape, "if you stay in the magical world for any length of time you'll hear his name anyway as he's famous. The boy's name is Harry Potter."
"I think the headmaster mentioned him at some point" said Lightning, "can't say I know anything about him though."
"Lucky you" snapped Snape, "for the two years he was at this school he was even more of bane to me than even the Dark Lord and I am glad he doesn't go here anymore."
"Uh, okay" said Lightning, "um, I know it's not my business but what exactly did this Harry Potter kid do to you?"
"He was born" said Snape bluntly. Lightning sat up straight and gave Snape a hard look. He had to be very careful here in how he responded to Snape's statement. Fortunately he did have a response for something like this that had nothing to do with Harry Potter and his history with Snape.
"You'd better explain that right now" said Lightning in as stern a manner as he had ever used to anyone. It was even laced with some anger. "Hating someone simply because they were born is bigotry pure and simple. I would think that as a member of a community that has to stay hidden because it fears that mundanes will hate them just because they exist would know better than to think that about anyone else. I know what I'm talking about professor. I'm a mutant. There are a lot of people out there who hate mutants just because we exist. I had no control over how I was born. Why should I have any of the public hating me just because of that? You would hate a kid just because he was born? As I said to Juggernaut last month 'What the Hell is wrong with you?'"
Snape felt as if he had been slapped by what Lightning said and the obvious ire behind it. He quickly realized that he had worded the whole thing completely wrong.
"I'm sorry" he said raising his hands in a placating gesture, "you don't understand and I expressed it wrong. This will take some explaining. I don't hate Harry Potter simply because he exists but rather because of what he represents to me. You see I knew his parents. They went to Hogwarts and were both in my year..."
Snape told Lightning his story, about how Lily Evans was his neighbor and was his best friend for years at Hogwarts even though she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin. He talked about the Marauders, four Gryffindors that included James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, how they loved pranks and how they chose him as their special target and made his life hellish all of the years he was at school, although he further said that he was able to give as good as he got in their prank war.
He also told about how James hated him because Lily was his friend and she didn't like James, at least not until the end of fifth year when he had completed destroyed his friendship with Lily because of one insult given in anger that wasn't because of her but a nasty humiliation that he was being subjected to by the Marauders. She never forgave him for that. Even worse, in their seventh year James won over Lily and they began dating which eventually led to their marriage after graduating from Hogwarts. Harry had been born two years later.
And Snape told Lightning about how Sirius had tempted him to enter the passage under the Whomping Willow that led to the Shrieking Shack where Remus Lupin was transforming into his wolf self on the night of the full moon. James had come after Snape and pulled him back, thereby saving his life.
Lightning actually knew a lot of what Snape told him as he'd heard it from both Sirius and Remus. Not long after coming to live at the X-Mansion Sirius had told him about his time at Hogwarts, admitting to all of his pranks and tricking Snape into going down the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. When he told his Godson the story he told it as objectively as he could. He did not try to make himself look good or cool over what he did. Twelve years in Azkaban had changed him enough that he now knew and understood that what he had done was wrong and he regretted it. When Harry asked him why he had tempted Snape to go down the passage he said that he never believed Snape would actually do it. If he had a chance to do it again he would not do it.
"Harry Potter is a reminder to me of everything I've lost and my mistakes" said Professor Snape as he was finishing his story, "he looks almost exactly like his father and every time I look at him it's like looking at my old tormentor again, as if he'd never died but was still around to attack me. But he has mother's eyes and when I see those eyes I also see how it could have been if I hadn't messed things up so badly with her."
Lightning looked at Snape for a long moment and set his thoughts in order before speaking. So that's what it was all about. He knew about Snape hating his dad but had never heard anything about Snape and his mum. This was definitely new. It made him understand Snape better although it didn't make him forgive him. Despite saying that he'd thought over a lot of things in the last few weeks Snape had expressed no remorse whatsoever about his treatment of Harry. Lightning didn't give a fig for Snape's opinions anymore but what would be the point of forgiving someone who wasn't sorry for what they did? He knew that some people thought that forgiving someone who wasn't sorry allowed the victim to move on and put it all behind them but he wasn't sure of that. He decided it didn't really matter. Snape was, for the most part, out of his life so what was the point of obsessing about him? Still, he couldn't stop himself from saying what he said next.
"I see" he finally said choosing his words carefully, "I'm sorry all of that happened to you. It was wrong that those Marauders bullied you so much. I know what that's like as I've suffered a lot of bullying in my life too. I'm sorry you lost your friend but let me ask you this: why should Harry pay for all of that? It's my understanding that he didn't exist back then. What's Harry done? Never mind who his father is, or isn't, or what happened to you in the past. What has he, himself actually done to you that would make you hate him so much?"
Snape had to admit that Lightning had a point. What had Harry Potter actually done to him? He'd never physically attacked him. He'd never tried to trick him in a way that would cause him great injury or death. He'd never pranked him, which was surprising considering who his father was. He'd never really insulted him, at least not to his face. Yes, he'd given him cheek in class but all students did that sooner or later. It was just part of the student / teacher dynamic. Looking back on his interactions with Harry Potter, including his most recent ones this year when he had returned to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament he realized that Harry Potter had never initiated anything against him. He reacted to things, yes, like when Snape had tried to use legilimency on him and he had pushed Snape out of his head, but he didn't start them
Lightning knew when he saw Snape starting to turn red and looking away that what he'd said had hit home but rather than revel in that fact he just sat and waited.
"I don't know what to say" said Snape finally turning back to Lightning, "you're right. He never has done anything to me. I guess I saw what I wanted to see when he first came to Hogwarts and I've never taken the time to look beyond that. My, how his mother would hate me after how I've treated him."
"I'm sorry" said Lightning, "it's not to easy to admit stuff like that. But you know it's not too late. Next time you see him why don't you try just talking to him?"
"I don't know if I can do that" said Snape, "what you say is true but these are wounds that are old and run deep."
"You'll never know if you don't try" said Lightning.
"No" conceded Snape, "I suppose I never will. You've certainly given me a lot to think about and I have plenty of time to do it right now. Thank you for the talk."
"No problem" said Lightning, still not quite sure how he'd made it through this whole conversation. He wondered what would happen the next time he came to Hogwarts as Harry rather than as Lightning.
"Ever think of seeing a psychiatrist?" he asked Snape.
"What, a mind healer?"
"Is that what they call them in the wizarding world?"
"Yes" said Snape, "after talking to you I'm not sure I need to. Thank you Sam – or maybe you're more of a Frasier right now."
"Either one will do" said Lightning, "I like both shows."
At that moment the door Lightning was guarding opened and Dumbledore looked out at them. He seemed a little surprised to see Snape there with Lightning but just smiled at the two of them.
"Hello everyone" he said. Lightning and Snape looked at each other and then both turned to Dumbledore.
"NORM!" they both yelled, and then started laughing. Dumbledore looked puzzled.
"Did I miss something?" he said.
"No headmaster" said Marvel Girl who had followed him to the door, "these two have been watching too many sitcoms."
"Oh" said Dumbledore, "well once you're both done laughing come in. The Longbottoms are awake."
"Is Professor X still here?" asked Snape.
"He is" said Dumbledore. Both Lightning and Snape stood up. Lightning sent their chairs back to where he'd gotten them from and they both stepped into the room after Dumbledore.
When Lightning saw Neville hugging both of his parents he felt very wistful but he was also happy. He'd already dealt with his feelings on this subject and didn't want to deal with them again so he let them go and let himself be pleased that Neville's parents were better.
"You did it again professor" Lightning sent to Professor Xavier.
"It was harder this time" said the professor, "and it's tired me out. Albus invited me to stay overnight and Jean already said that if I stay she'll stay. What do you want to do?"
"If the two you are staying" said Lightning, "then I'll stay too. I don't have anything else planned right now. I don't really want to attend the feast tonight though. Can we just have a quiet dinner ourselves? Maybe a few of my friends can join us? Let Neville have the spotlight tonight since I'm sure the headmaster will want to announce the recovery of his parents."
"You're probably right" said Xavier, "and I'm sure we can skip the feast. I don't particularly want to attend it either. What do you say Jean?"
"I'd rather have a quiet dinner too" said Marvel Girl.
"All right" said the professor but before he could say more he noticed Professor Snape approaching him.
"Hello Professor" said Snape greeting Xavier, "it's good to see you again."
"Hello Professor Snape" said Xavier.
"You can call me Severus" said Snape, "after what you did for me it's the least I can do for you."
"How have you been getting on since you woke up?" asked Xavier.
"I'm slowly getting better" said Snape who told Xavier the same things he'd told Lightning about his recovery.
"Just keep working at it and you'll be fine" said Xavier.
"Thank you" said Snape, "if there's anything I can ever do for you or your X-Men please let me know."
"That's kind of you" said Xavier, "I might take you up on that someday."
Dumbledore agreed to Xavier's request for him and his two students to be allowed to have a quiet dinner and some privacy in a guest suite that had rooms for all three of them. A house elf brought them some dinner and later on Ron and Hermione came to visit having been informed by Dumbledore that they were there. Hermione told the three mutants that Dumbledore had announced the recovery of the Longbottoms during the welcome back feast and it had caused a sensation.
"I can't say I'm all that surprised" said the professor, "did the headmaster say how it was done?"
"Not specifically no" said Ron, "he just said that a mind expert had come to the castle and worked his magic but asked to remain anonymous."
"Good" said Xavier, "I asked him to do that. I have no objection to people knowing I was the one who did it but I'd rather not face a crowd."
"Welcome to the club" murmured Lightning. Marvel Girl and Hermione both gave him looks at that but he only shrugged a bit.
Dobby arrived later that evening with everyone's night things and the three visitors slept well. The next morning they had breakfast in private again before heading up to the headmaster's office for what Dumbledore would refer to as a "war council." In addition to Professor Xavier, Lightning, and Marvel Girl, Amelia Bones was there along with Mad Eye Moody. The subject, of course, was the impending attack by Voldemort on Hogwarts two weeks before the final task of the tournament.
Before the meeting started there was a "Pop!" and the rest of the X-Men appeared in the office. Even Mage was there this time. None of them looked very happy but they were there and they were awake.
"Thank you all for coming" said the professor.
"Last night you sent to us that you wanted us here this morning" said Cyclops taking charge, "and a portkey would be sent to us. We're here. We all went to bed really early last night so we could be here now but for some of us it's really thrown our sleep schedules out of whack."
"No kidding" said a yawning Iceman. Mage didn't look much better although he didn't say anything. Beast and Angel looked relatively okay.
"I appreciate it" said Xavier who addressed Bones and Moody, "it's a bit after four o'clock in the morning in the U.S. right now."
"Oh" said Bones, "we're sorry."
"Don't be" said Cyclops, "in our line of work these things happen. So why are we here professor? Headmaster?"
"We're here to discuss Lord Voldemort" said Dumbledore, "what he's planning and what we're going to do about it. We're just waiting on Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout to join us as I've asked them to cancel their classes for the morning so they can be here."
The three named professor arrived together a minute later and the meeting began. Dumbledore explained to everyone who didn't already know, or hadn't read Malfoy's letter, about Voldemort's plan to invade Hogwarts. Lightning noticed that Snape wasn't part of the meeting despite being a head of house like the other three professors. He wondered about that but quickly dismissed it. Probably Snape just wasn't ready for something like this after his ordeal and needed more healing.
The meeting lasted the rest of the morning as there was much to discuss. One question that was raised was would Voldemort only have his Death Eaters with him or would he bring allies? Many werewolves had sided with him last time, especially those in Fenrir Greyback's pack. Also some of the giants were on his side. It was feared that the dementors might defect to him although it hadn't happened yet as far as they knew. Oddly enough the vampire clans had steered clear of Voldemort in the last war and were likely to do so again as they kept to themselves for the most part.
The morning passed while they talked and planned. Moody said he would step up the use of his new Danger Room and train as many people as possible as quickly as he could. He'd be able to get away with it without rousing suspicions because everyone knew how paranoid he was. Director Bones planned to go through the DMLE and try to weed out any Death Eater sympathizers, whether they were marked or not. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout would work with Dumbledore to ensure the safety of the students while Professor X and his team would be ready to help repel the invaders when the time came. Their involvement was explained by the fact of Draco Malfoy's letter to Professor X which had started all of this planning to begin with.
Above all they would keep their plans secret for now and only inform people who absolutely needed to know what was in the works.
Somehow through all of this Mage's true identity remained concealed even though Bones, McGonagall, and Flitwick all gave him the occasional hard look.
At that time Voldemort was moving forward with some of his own plans. Unknown to the general public and even the DMLE the dementors had already started to help the Death Eaters. Little by little they had begun releasing prisoners from Azkaban and sending them to Voldemort. All of this was done with the cooperation and consent of the warden who was a Death Eater from the first war who had never been caught. When Voldemort contacted him he was happy to help his lord. By now many of the worst Death Eaters had been smuggled out of the prison, most prominently the Lestranges, but also many of the ones who had been arrested at the Quidditch World Cup like the Parkinsons, Notts, Crabbes, Goyles, etc. Golems were left in there places that were made to look like they were asleep. These were left there to fool anyone from outside the prison who might come to inspect the place. Voldemort's forces were secretly building up again.
"Soon" Voldemort muttered to himself. He was sure his plans were secure as he had not found out about Malfoy's letter. He was also unaware that other people in other places were making plans of their own.
In his Sanctum Sanctorum Dr. Strange was reading a letter that had been sent to him by Dumbledore via Fawkes informing him of Voldemort's plans.
"Soon" the Sorcerer Supreme nodded to himself before leaving to inform the Ancient One.
In the Avengers Mansion Thor was again contacted by Loki who simply told him to stand ready because he would be needed "soon."
In his workshop and lab Bolivar Trask was nearing the completion of his Sentinels project.
"Soon" he muttered to himself.
And far out in the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles east of Japan there was a roiling in the water. After a moment a large green, scaly head broke the surface. This was the mutant that Professor X had sensed out in this part of the world and, like he had told Lightning, it was big, gigantic, the size of a skyscraper in fact. It looked around and sniffed the air. It didn't like what it smelled. It could sense that something was coming, something big, but it didn't know what. After a moment it ducked back underwater again to ponder the potential future and what – if anything – it might need to do about it.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - And so things are on the move. I've recently come to realize that we're actually not that far from the end of Part 2 although I don't know how many more chapters there will be yet.
Yes, Godzilla is in this story although his major scenes won't be until Part 3. This is possible because canonically he exists in the Marvel Universe, or did in the 1970s at least. As I mentioned back at the end of chapter 9 he had his own series in the 70s and a lot of Marvel heroes showed up in it at various times (he fought the Avengers in the finale). As he is also a mutant Xavier would - and did - sense him. This little development goes out to DRAGONDAVE45.
That's all for this week. As usual please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. As always stay safe and well everyone.