Ashen Hero: Smoke

HP/MHA X-Over

"I declare that Mr. Potter is expelled from Hogwarts Academy of Heroics." Fudge called as he slammed his gavel down. There was silence, Harry got up and left as soon as he was able to with Dumbledore in hot pursuit.

"My boy, I am so so…"

"Save it, Headmaster." Harry cut him off, the tone was like ice with a very heavy undertone of despair and fury "I had a plan but oh no, the Great Albus Dumbledore, He Who Knows Best for Harry Potter overruled his plan. So Headmaster, get me back to my Godfather and if you have any sense stay the fucking hell away from me." As Harry retorted his tone growing colder and colder, Dumbledore couldn't fail to notice the wisps of Smoke pooling out of his hands.

Dumbledore sighed, in his advanced years, he had failed to see Harry Potter as person but rather a tool for his own designs. He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a miniaturised golden-red figurine,handed it to Harry who squeezed it and he vanished in an orb of flame.

Dumbledore smiled thinly behind his beard "I do owe Garaki, a very nice wine for his teleportation quirk device. Too think you could do this."

Harry reappeared in 12 Grimmauld Place with decorations to celebrate his getting off on his self-defence trial. "Hey pup! How'd it go?" Asked Sirius curiously.

"Nope. Fudge was adamant that I be expelled, even some bullshit about using the Headmaster as my defence attorney…"

Sirius was seething "I set you up with my Cousins and he does this…So pup what now?"

Mrs Weasley pulled Harry into a hug "Don't worry Harry dear, I'm sure Albus will…"

Snape entered with a scowl on his face "Well?"

Harry dissolved his physical form into smoke before reassembling himself away from Mrs. Weasley, her hugs felt claustrophobic "Well Snape, it turns out you now no longer have to deal with this particular dunderhead."

Snape's face was all Harry needed. The moment the sallow skin stretched back revealing a toothy grin, Harry struck. Considering Hogwarts started its training of heroes from an early age they had gathered a reputation, that revolved around getting the job done and getting it done effectively and cleanly. Harry, also known as Smoke, was known in training exercises to use a variety of techniques with his quirk to boost his momentum combined with lethal and precise strikes. That wasn't to say he couldn't fight without his quirk but he preferred not to.

Severus Snape, known as Anticipation, had a sub-emotional, biochemical tracking quirk that allowed him to effectively read the minds of students. He had already moved out of immediate strike range but failed to fully anticipate his nemesis's offspring. He used an arm block to deflect a seemingly textbook scrappy jab from Potter, only to receive a strike to the gut. The pressure vanished, Snape staggered forwards, Harry reappeared dropping a powerful stomp to the Teacher's exposed back.

Harry smirked as he dropped his teacher to the floor, his left hand coalescing the ash-laiden smoke into a greyish red blade he held it to his former teachers throat "I think I should end your life…It wouldn't be that hard, considering all the shit you've put me through." Harry whispered, Snape wouldn't show it but even in Potter's inherent stubbornness, ill-disciplined form even he could detect the sheer intent behind his quietly spoken words.

"Harry, get off the Professor immediately!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.

"You're not my mother, nor are you my guardian, I respect you dearly Mrs. Weasley but for four years and this summer I've had to deal with nothing but insults and constant comparison to my father and frankly I've had enough. I'm not going back to Hogwarts, thus…"

It was Sirius who cut in "Harry, don't. I know you want to but as your Godfather, admittedly I wasn't there for you when you needed me but I've been in this situation. You talked me out of killing Pettigrew and I'll tell you this now…you've been expelled, yes, but you're still free to live your life. You kill him, then you'll have committed a greater foolish stunt than I ever did."

Harry looked at his godfather, then down at the professor before stepping away from him "I don't want to see your face, Snape for the rest of the year or in fact my life." With that Harry detonated into an orb of ash and smoke before vanishing elsewhere in Grimmauld Place.

"Black, I want you to…" Snape began.

"I will do nothing, Snivellus. Get it through your greasy skull and quirk, Harry is not his father. You want to blame someone for all your petty primitive problems that you're taking out on Harry, blame me. Oh wait you do, James was the one who saved your life because of MY actions. I'll never admit that I'm sorry about what I did because you gave it back even more so."

It was at this moment that Dumbledore walked in "Sirius, Severus, did I miss anything important?"

"Apart from Harry almost taking poor Snape apart then no. Albus, you must do something for that poor boy, he needs to be back at Hogwarts under your guidance with his friends!" Mrs Weasley pleaded.

"Alas Molly, even with most of my legitimate means and influence hindered and restricted…I will not be able to do such a thing. However, I do have favours outside of the UK and Europe who would love to assist me if nothing more than to gain some bragging rights over claiming lost potential heroes."

Hermione stilled "Where would you be sending Harry? I mean Harry's already pissed off with us and then after he returned here, he told Professor Snape that he wouldn't be in the Potions Classroom. Professor Snape insulted him and then…"

"Harry kicked Snape around the kitchen and after telling him 'after putting up with your shit for four years and this summer, I think I should kill you'. I managed to talk him out of it, he's now just extremely angry, Albus." Sirius finished succinctly.

Dumbledore paled, he wasn't blind or senile, he had recieved no small amount of complaints about Snape's attitudes to various students in each of the other houses aside from Slytherin. Anticipation was an essential part of his Vigilante Group the Order of the Phoenix. Vigilantism was frowned upon internationally by Heroes but Hero-Vigilante relations differed from nation to nation.

In Britain, Vigilantes were seen as unwanted but necessary assistance and depending on the reputation of the Vigilante in question; Heroes would more often than not claim that the Vigilante was doing the Vigilantism as part of a trial run to see if they were compatible with the agency. It was a similar trend in America; but Vigilantes were seen as a mix of stand-up comedians, protest and measuring capabilities. In both of these countries there was an unspoken rule 'play nice and no-one gets hurt everything goes'. Of course there are exceptions to most scenarios but out of the two nations, Britain was harsher on Vigilante accidents.

Harry Potter, Smoke, would probably jump at being a Vigilante. He had the money, he had the support but thankfully he wasn't able to fully access his money. Dumbledore sighed, he wasn't going to chastise Harry for unleashing his anger "Sirius, I know most of theses circumstances are my fault but, I put out a message to an associate of mind to Hero Principle: Nezu and he's willing to enroll Harry."

Sirius's eyes widened "Nezu! As in Principle of UA…one of, if not THE Best Heroics School in the Northern and Eastern Hemisphere. They get tens of thousands of applicants and only some few hundred get in…"

Dumbledore nodded "Nezu said he'll enroll him and give him a British and Japanese education but Harry will…"

"Succeed or Fail on my own merits, Headmaster…you weren't exactly quiet. Do not get me wrong, I'm fucking pissed off with you but at the same time greatful." Harry murmured. He was looking rather grey, fingers and palms cracked with exertion and smoke and ash whispers billowing off his body.

"Mr. Potter, may I have a word?"

"You just did Headmaster, but I guess. I want Sirius with me…" The rest went unsaid.

"Harry, Albus, let us head to the Library." Sirius instructed, with two flights of stairs the trio found themselves in the Library. Hermione would normally be in the room, as they noticed a pile of books on one of the tables.

"Harry, I cannot apologise enough for what happened at the Ministry. As for Severus Snape, I was aware but his skillset as Hero allowed him to work deep cover infiltration work. I promised to protect him and I did so by giving him a position at Hogwarts; I received numerous complaints and have explained that his attitude cannot continue. I daresay that this confrontation was well deserved and I thank you for not taking his life."

Harry smiled thinly "I wasn't going to. I…wanted…him to feel powerless and at the mercy of another. I dislike him, I might even hate him, but hate is a strong word."

Dumbledore nodded "I understand. The main reason I wanted to talk to you was, are you interested in going to UA for the rest of your time to train as a Hero? I do not wish to push you for an answer immediately but I would rather not drop this on my colleague at the last moment."

"Harry, this is a one in a million chance of a lifetime. You'll get to go to interesting places, meet new and exciting people and enjoy your life. I am not going to force you, but I am going to strongly recommend it."

Harry eyed his Godfather "You do know that quote ends in 'and then kill them'..." He looked at Dumbledore "Do not send anyone after me. I'll return if and when I wish to, I am going to need funds if I'm going to live over in Japan."

"Who said anything about you going alone? I'm going with you…" Sirius chimed in "...You'll have your own place, I'll have mine, but they'll be nearby."

Harry grinned "How long do we have?"

"Give it a week."

It was the longest week of Harry's life. He did spend a lot of time in Diagon Alley, a restricted access only for those in Heroics and Hogwarts. Thankfully the implementation of expulsion had to be done on August the 31st. So Harry, under the careful watch of several Vigilantes roamed the Alley.

He caught up with the few people he was friendly with but the most surprising was Katie Bell. Harry had sat down with molten lava treacle tart sundae when said girl coughed. "Katie."

"Hey Harry." There was a quick hug and the girl quickly occupied the seat opposite him. Katie had a quirk that allowed her to emit powerful cardio-rthymic bursts of energy, allowing her to fly and enhance her hearing amongst other things. She was also the closest to Harry on the Quidditch Team.

"Spill, Smoke, you can hide how you're feeling from everyone but me. Ron and Hermione might know you well, but, I think I know you inside and out. Your heartbeat is at a rate where you're able to go from cigarette exhalation to ash cloud in ten seconds or less, around three seconds. So Smoke, exhale."

Katie watched as flames emitted from Harry's hands but receded as quickly as it erupted "Got expelled. Two people from the Villain Group 'Dementors' attacked my cousin and I, I fought back…drove them off. Fudge and the Ministry railroaded everything; I had a solicitor and then the fucking headmaster fucked everything. If Dumbledore hadn't fucked everything up I'd have probably got three month suspension, house arrest and a warning for excessive quirk usage but I got expulsion instead. However, I'm getting…a transfer to UA."

Katie's eyes widened "Fucking hell…Angelina and Alicia are gonna flip their shit."

Harry sighed "That's how my life is."

"You're going to come back right?"

Harry paused "I…don't know, Heartbeat. I honestly don't know, the future is unwritten."

"You did not just quote Joe Strummer, Smoke." Katie retorted a grin on her face.

"Maybe."

Katie smiled weakly "I do have a third cousin in Japan. Her name is Kyoka Jiro, I'll message her letting her know you're arriving. She'll look out for you." Harry nodded, after they devoured the sundae, Katie took him by the arm and took him round the stores where he made an amazing pack mule.

"Harry, we need to go…If any of the Aurors find you here after this week, you're going to be facing charges of trespass and if not more." It was Tonks, Metamorph, a quirk that allowed her to shift her physical frame and face to whomever or whatever she wanted.

Katie gulped, pulled out a pen and scribbled something down on a napkin "Keep in touch."

Harry nodded "Heartbeat, I'll keep in touch. As for coming back…" He paused "Our paths are gonna cross."

The end of the week dawned and Harry was up the moment his clock hit midnight. His clothing was in suitcases, his hero costume concealed in a false bottom and across his body disguised as reinforced splints; all with convincing alibis should anyone ask.

Sirius was also ready, their flight was at 4am. The duo scribbled a note and were gone before anyone was up. They hailed a cab and after handing over a small pile of cash, they were heading to the Airport. Then a few hours later, the duo were heading out of Britain and to a new chapter in their lives.