Darker before the Dawn

My Notes: This is a Crossover between X-men and Harry Potter. Also if you haven't read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix then don't read this story! I don't own the characters of X-men and Harry Potter. They are owned by JK Rowling and Marvel comics. This is a Phoenix Tears Type 6 challenge. Enjoy!

As the train slowed down in approach to King's Cross, Harry thought he had never wanted to leave it less. He even wondered fleetingly what would happen if he simply refused to get off, but remained stubbornly sitting there until the first of September, when it would take him back to Hogwarts. When it finally puffed to a standstill, however, he lifted down Hedwig's cage and prepared to drag his trunk from the train as usual.
When the ticket inspector signaled to him, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, however, he found a surprise awaiting him on the other side: a group of people standing there to greet him whom he had not expected at all.
There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend THE WEIRD SISTERS. Next to Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair graying, a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.
"Ron, Ginny!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying foreword and hugging her children tightly. "Oh, and Harry dear -- how are you?"
"Fine," lied Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. Over her shoulder he saw Ron goggling at the twins' new clothes.
"What are they supposed to be?" he asked pointing at the jackets.
"Finest dragon skin, little bro," said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. "Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves."
"Hello, Harry," said Lupin, as Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry and turned to greet Hermione.
"Hi," said Harry. "I didn't expect ... that are you all doing here?"
"Well," said Lupin with a slight smile, "we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home."
"I dunno if that's a good idea," said Harry at once.
"Oh, I think it is," growled Moody, who had limped a little closer. "That'll be them, will it, Potter?"
He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder; his magical eye was evidently peering through the back of his head and his bowler hat. Harry leaned an inch or so to the left to see where Mad-Eye was pointing and there, sure enough, were the three Dursleys, who looked positively appalled to see Harry's reception committee.
"Ah, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley, turning from Hermione's parents, whom he had been greeting enthusiastically, and who were taking it in turns to hug Hermione. "Well -- shall we do it, then?"
"Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur," said Moody.
He and Mr. Weasley took the lead across the station toward the place where the Dursleys stood, apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group.
"Good afternoon," said Mr. Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon, coming to a halt right in front of him. "You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley."
As Mr. Weasley had single handedly demolished most of the Dursleys' living room two years previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr. Weasley, but chose not to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursleys were outnumbered two to one. Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed. She kept glancing around, as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which he was failing extravagantly.
"We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Harry," said Mr. Weasley, still smiling.
"Yeah," growled Moody. "About how he's treated when he's at your place."
Uncle Vernon's mustache seemed to bristle with indignation. Possibly because the bowler hat gave him the entirely mistaken impression that he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he addressed himself to Moody.
"I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house-"
"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley," growled Moody.
"Anyway, that's not the point," interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than look at her. "The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry --"
"--and make no mistake, we'll hear about it," added lupin pleasantly.
"Yes," said Mr. Weasley, "even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone--"
"Telephone," whispered Hermione.
"Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have use to answer to," said Moody.
Uncle Vernon swelled ominously. His sense of outrage seemed to outweigh even his fear of this bunch of oddballs.
"Are you threatening me, sir?" he said, so loudly that passersby actually turned to stare.
"Yes, I am," said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact so quickly.
"And do I look like that kind of man who can be intimidated?" barked Uncle Vernon.
"Well..." said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backward in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley."
He turned away from Uncle Vernon to survey Harry. "So, Potter...give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along..."
Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbors would say if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path.
"'Bye, then Potter," said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.
"Take care, Harry," said Lupin quietly. "Keep in touch."
"Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can," Mrs. Weasley whispered, hugging him again.
"We'll see you soon, mate," said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.
"Really soon, Harry," said Hermione earnestly. "We promise."
Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around, and led the way our of the station toward the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley hurrying along in his wake. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry sat in the backyard listening to the birds as he thought about that day. He was constantly ignored by his relatives. But he has had alot on his mind; his friends, the order, Voldemort, the OWLs, his changing looks, and his godfather. He hasn't had the time to think about other things. He has been keeping in touch with the order members, mainly Lupin. But he feels lost. At night he is having nightmares of Voldemort, and of a different family. He is practicing the occlumency. But he is still being inside of Voldemort's head. The other family looks familiar to him but he doesn't know who they are. He did ask Remus who he thought they were but he just wouldn't say.
Harry recently received a letter from his headmaster that told him that they would send a Professor to get Harry from his home a few days before the term started. He also included the fact that his lifetime suspension of playing quidditch had been revoked. Harry was thrilled at the mention of quidditch, but angered at the fact that he wouldn't get to see Ron and Hermione this summer. It was a pain that he had to be stuck home. He got up and went back inside the house and up to his small bedroom.
When he got there he sat on his bed and took out his photo album and he began to look through it and he saw a recent photo of Sirius smiling at Harry. Tears began to well in his green eyes till it blurred his vision and then proceeded to fall onto the picture. The Sirius in the photo used his wand and dried the fallen tear and looked up at Harry comfortingly. Harry closed the book and lied on his bed crying himself to sleep.

`^~^`

"Gideon, it is time for little Tobi's nap and then we can go to the Potters," a feminine voice said.
A tall man with dark brown hair picked up the baby that was in the playpen and he brought him to a short woman with dark burgundy hair and really light green eyes. She took the baby and she said, "Hello my little man. Did you have a good time playing?" The baby cooed and the lady placed the baby at her breast to feed him. While the baby was feeding he heard the lady begin to hum a peaceful tune. The baby lets go and the lady burps the baby and then lies him in the baby crib and then he falls to sleep to his mother's humming.

`^~^`

Harry wakes up the eerie humming of the red haired lady. He gets up and goes into the bathroom across the hall and he splashes water on his face. He looks in the mirror and sees that his hair has been getting lighter and alot less messy. He also notices that his emerald eyes were getting lighter. He hadn't the heart to tell Remus of his changes. He goes into his room and looks at his calendar and he saw that there was almost two months till he went back to school. He sat back down on his bed and he just tried to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In another part of the world, New York; in the USA, a lady was reliving her early part of her marriage to her husband. She was also thinking of the son that she lost.

'~*~'

In a little forest grove there was a simple house that had two floors. On the first floor there was the living room, kitchen, office, library, and the baby's playroom. On the second floor there was five rooms; master bedroom, nursery, guest room, and two bathrooms. The occupants of the house was a new family. A wife, husband and newborn baby boy. The wife, Zara Xavier, was about 5'5" and had dark burgundy hair and light yellow green eyes. Her husband, Gideon Xavier, stood at 6'2" and had dark brown hair and dark blue green eyes. Now the son, Tobias Avery Xavier, had hair that looked black, and his eyes were a dark green almost black. This family wasn't a normal family either. It was a wizarding family. But also Gideon was a mutant. Which is an evolved human that has special abilities. Gideon had the power of empathy and the use of the elements. His father Charles Xavier was also a mutant who had powers of telepathy. This family has been the only one in this grove for a while now, but they notice that another young family is moving in. It is another tall man with wild black hair and has glasses on, and a shorter woman with fiery red hair. The woman was very pregnant. They both looked happy. Zara looked at her husband and then she went into the kitchen and she conjured a chocolate cake. She said, "Gideon, we should go and welcome them to the grove." He picked up the son and they both walked to the new house. Gideon knocked on the door and they heard a muffled, "Coming." from inside. The door opened and it was the wild haired man. He asked, "Can I help you?" Zara said, "My name is Zara and this is my husband Gideon and my son Tobias. We are the Xaviers and we would like to welcome you and your wife here to the grove." She handed the chocolate cake to him and the man looked at the Xaviers and welcomed them in. They heard and feminine voice call, "James, who was at the door?" The man, James, said, "They are our neighbors. They have come to welcome us." They heard, "Are they still here James?" Then they saw the fiery red head and she smiled and said, "Well hello. I am Lily Potter and that prat there is my husband James. You are?" Zara was going to introduce her family, but James said, "This is Zara, Gideon, and Tobias Xavier." Lily saw the little boy and she began to smile at it with a motherly look. She led the group to the living room and she sat down and said, "Well it is sure nice to know that we have some lovely neighbors. What are your jobs?" Gideon said, "Well I work for the Department of Magical Education at the Ministry of magic, and Zara is on maternity leave. She works for the department of Mysteries." James and Lily looked at each other and they knew that these two people could be trusted. James said, "Well I work for the Department of Aurors and Lily is also on maternity leave, but she works as an assistant to Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts." They began to talk and a beautiful friendship began.

'~*~'

It was two days before Halloween and the Xaviers had gone to America to visit their father. So Lily and James had two boys to take care of. James was outside with his son, Harry James, playing with a ball. Little Harry would laugh as the ball kept hitting his daddy in the head. James would laugh at Harry's laughter. Meanwhile Lily was just putting little Tobias down for a nap. He was Lily and James' godson. She watched as his eyelids began to droop and he began to snore. Lily kissed him and then heard the phone ring. She knew that James would get it she went and began to make some lunch for her men. James got the cordless phone that was lying on the patio table and he answered. He turned around to look after Harry when he saw a black cloaked figure point his wand at harry and say, "Avada Kedavra." James dropped the phone and took out his wand and stunned the figure and tried to divert the killing curse to save his own son. But that doesn't work, and the killing curse hit the target. Killing little Harry Potter. James knelt next to his dead son and wept. When Lily was done with the lunch preparations she went to the back door and she saw her husband lying over something. She walked to him and saw her son. Fear began to grip her heart and she felt for a pulse and she didn't find one. She fell next to her husband and she asked, "James...how...?" James looked at his wife and said, "A death eater...I got the phone and I turned around and there he was. I stunned the death eater but I didn't get to harry in time. Oh Lily I am so sorry. I let you down." He looked back down at his son and just felt so guilty. Lily saw the anguish in her husband's eyes and she said, "James, you did all that you could. Let's just give Harry a nice burial place. I will take him and put him in something nice." Lily picked up the cooling body of her son and she went to the nursery. She found Harry's christening robes and she put him in it, while she was crying. Then she looked over to the crib and saw her godson and she just wept with jealousy. Then she picked up her son and met with her husband in the backyard. "Where should we put him?" asked James. Lily looked around and saw a new tree and she said, "See that baby tree over there? That is where we should put Harry." James nodded and they both walked over there. Lily lied her baby on the ground and she cast a body preservation charm, a few protective charms, waterproofing charms, and a bug repellant charm. While she was doing that James was digging a hole just the size of their son's body. Then they lied the baby in the hole and the covered it up. They both stood over the newly dug grave. "For he orders angels to protect you wherever you go." James said, "Psalm 91:11." Lily turned to her husband and clutched him in a hug while sobbing her eyes out. James held his wife and he just wept. He had lost his only son and it hurt him greatly.

'~*~'

Lily and James had gone under the Fidelius Charm. They also had taken little Tobias as their own. They had wanted to go with Sirius, but they went with Peter.
It was Halloween and James was dressing Tobias in his bat costume. Lily was as happy as she could be. She looked at her godson and felt a pain in her heart at the loss of her own son. James on the other hand was being bitter. He didn't look at Tobias and was always looking out the window to the little tree.
The little family had their Halloween celebration and then Lily took little Tobias and she cleaned him up and put him in the crib. Then she joined her husband on the couch. He was so miserable. James felt like he was dying inside. He had already composed a letter for the little Tobias when he was older. It told him what really happened his first year of life. James felt his wife's presence near to him and he put his arm around her.
They both heard the whining of the front fence gate. James got up and he went to the window and cautiously looked out. What he saw was Voldemort. He began to panic. He whispered to Lily, "Go and take Harry out of here!"
Lily wanted to protest, but she couldn't. She hurried up to the nursery as the front door exploded. Then she heard the sounds of a wizard's duel and then the killing curse. She shut the door and she looked at the little boy that was now wide awake. The door burst open and she saw the dark lord.
"Hand me the child," said the ominous voice of the dark lord.
"No, not harry...take me instead!" pleaded Lily.
"Avada Kedavera!" yelled the dark lord.
Then the dark lord approached the crib to see the wide eyed babe. He said, "Avada Kedavera!"
He watched as the green light went towards the boy and then a white shield protected the babe and reflected the killing curse. Only leaving the babe with a lightening bolt scar.
No one but the little babe knew what happened that night, and even if he could tell us he wouldn't know that the dead Harry saved his life.

'~*~'

The lady felt her husband's prescence and his arms around her small frame. She looked into her husband's eyes and said, "I want my son Gideon. My heart yearns for him in my arms."
The husband, Gideon, said, "I miss him too love but we have to believe that he is in a better place."
The lady just began to cry in agony of loss.