AN: a lot of people have been asking if Harry is ever going back to Hogwarts. To answer you questions yes he is, but not under normal circumstances. You're going to have to read the story to find out! (grins) and that's all I'll say about it (goes back to writing chapter 27)

Oh and I'm sorry about the last chapter, I know nothing really happened in it but I needed it to show how Harry and Kurt met and fromed a bond.

lixt66: lol!!! BC huh? Totally cool! I plan on going there when I start to travel!

CMD: (sighs and mails the imaginary Remy gloves) I cant take that face. I'm no good with pouts!

japanese-jew: (hands head) shameless self insertion! I just wanted to lift the spirits a bit

Chapter 16

Who you are

Harry couldn't help but laugh. He walked back into his room and began putting his clothes away, the smile never really leaving his face. He'd had a good day.

The following months at the Institute were some of the best times Harry could remember having. Not to mention the most grueling. Logan had seemed to make it a personal goal to have Harry in fit shape in record time. Harry trained with Ana, focusing his powers and willing the magic to do simple spells. Learning how to control the magic was the hardest part, But Ana insisted that if he understood the theory behind the magic he would have a better understanding of what he needed to do to the magic. She had never had the luxury of having an instructor to teach her and had relied on books that she had borrowed from her witch friend and ones that she had delivered with owl post. And although she was capable of many spells, she was horribly deficient in hands on work such as Herbology, Astrology, and Magical creatures. But Harry took her advise and now, after reading countless books on Transfiguration, charms and defense, the more spells he tried the faster he was learning them. Soon he was training with the rest of the new mutants, as they called themselves, in the danger room. The new mutants were the students that were not part of the team called the X-men, who when needed, went off to fight other teams of mutants that sought to harm humans.

Harry, after having a long conversation with the Professor, began taking lessons in Muggle classes, also with the new mutants in the institute. It was hard at first, catching up on the years that he had lost while at Hogwarts, but he had lots of help from Kurt and Ana, who were fast becoming his best friends.

Between classes, training in the Danger room and learning new spells, Harry often found himself collapsing into bed, to tired to change out of his training uniform. All the work though was really starting to show physically on him. His limbs no longer looked like his skin was stretched over his bones, his face grew healthy, and colour returned to his skin. He also felt healthy too. He was soon able to dodge lasers and fight using techniques Logan taught them. Not long after joining the New mutant ranks, they began asking him for a code name, insisting that all mutants had one. It had taken him forever to come up with one, and it had been Moyra who had rushed into his room one day with the perfect one. She had been doing her history of Magic which Ana insisted that she keep up with, when she came across the Salem witch trials in America. And so, the next day in training, Harry announced his codename 'Salem'.

Fitting in had also been a challenge for Harry. Having spent the last year in complete solitude, moving into a large mansion filled with loud energetic teenage mutants was a huge change in environment, and Harry found himself spending most of his free time seeking solitude by what had been dubbed 'Harry's Well'. He didn't completely ignore everyone else of course, and always joined in if there was a movie night going on. But more often than not he found himself sitting on the sidelines with Jamie 'Multiple' Madrox while watching the others play around. He actually found himself drawn to the young mutant, often just sitting and listening to the boy talk about everything. He was amazed at how much Jamie had already gone though with the x-men, and even more so when he didn't seem to be all that influenced by it. He still retained his childlike innocence and that, Harry mused, was probably why he enjoyed talking with the child so much. Jamie himself was thrilled to have the attention of one of the older mutants, as he was often left out due to his age and power. Jamie had the ability to create a great number of copies of himself, but it was not well controlled and the slightest bump could cause one or two clones to pop out of the boy

Once, Jamie had been in Harry's room where they were trading stories about their adventures, when the younger boy had said that he wished he could have had a cooler power and that his were useless. Harry had been totally blown away.

"How can you even think that? Out of all the powers I've seen, I would rather have yours!"

"What? Why?"

"James, the others might have powers that can shoot stuff down or make them fly or something, but with your powers, you'll never need back up, you're your own personal army!" A sad look passed his face, "You'll never be alone."

"Yeah well neither will you! So that doesn't count!"

Harry pretended to ponder for a moment, then grinned. "Your powers give you the ability the wreck total and complete chaos! I'm sure my godfa-… um, someone I used to know would have given his wand arm to have your powers!" Jamie grinned at that, feeling very happy that a wizard would rather have his powers then magic.

Most of the mutants knew about his past by then. He had told some of the stories of his adventures very reluctantly at first, not wanting to gain the image of some kind of hero like he had once been at Hogwarts. However, he had been wonderfully surprised to hear about some of the tales about the X-men, especially how they all battled the great Mutant called apocalypse, who had been about to kill most of the human race. It would seem that the X-men got up to more trouble then he ever had and Harry wouldn't have it any other way!

At night time though, in the beginning Harry had been plagued by horrible nightmares, memories from his past, which brought Ana and others who could hear his screaming to his bed side regularly. He would awake sobbing, and cursing himself for being so weak, but he would soon find himself with comforting hands on his shoulders or back, with worried eyes peering into his. He would be helped back to sleep by the calming words his friends would say to him, promising safety and comfort. Harry would often awake to Logan reclining in his desk chair, after keeping a steady watch all night. During the day he would sometimes confide in Logan, Kurt or Ana about his dreams, letting out his emotional torment. Ana was very proficient at knowing exactly when Harry needed to talk, and what he meant when he couldn't get the words out. Most of his conversations with Ana normally ended up with him crying in her arms while she soothed him, assuring him that he had done nothing to deserve what had happened to him. One of those days stood out in particular to Harry. He had been standing at his window, watching the stars when Ana came in dressed in her favorite purple silk housecoat. Silently she padded over, joining him at the window and waited for him to start. They had done this a few times, where Harry had been brooding all day, and she would just wait for him to tell her what was bothering him.

"I don't know who I am anymore." He whispered finally. "I mean, I don't think I ever really knew, but now with everything.. I'm a mutant, so I'm different from the rest of the human race, I'm the boy who lived, so I'll always be famous for something that I don't even remember. And I'm Harry Potter, the Azkaban criminal, so I can never return to the wizarding world. I don't think I've ever been Harry. Just Harry. I don't, I don't know who I want to be, who I was. Anything."

Ana pondered his words for a few minutes. She knew what he was talking about of course, she had read the newspaper articles and heard the stories from Harry.

"Harry, you are who you've always been." She said finally. "Those titles, names that you just said, they don't describe you, they describe the images and ideals that others people have placed on you! They see you as Harry Potter, as a title, but that is not who you truly are. You are the person who always thinks of others before yourself. Horribly self-sacrificing, and honest. You're kind and caring, and you're protective of those you care for. I can't imagine what would happen if someone threatened Jamie in front of you! You have a great sense of humor, and you're a great cook! You're brave, and a wonderful friend. That's who you are Harry. Don't look though the eyes that would see you as a figure. Look thought the eyes of those that know you, and then you will see who you are. And I bet you'll even like who you see too."

Harry screwed up his eyes. "I thought they knew me too." He whispered letting a few tears slide down his face.

"Oh Jack," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "I don't know how they could have thought those things of you." Harry wrapped his arms around his friend, not even bothering to try and stop his tears.

"But I'm glad."

He had stopped when he heard that. She was glad that he had been thrown into Azkaban? He was about to push her away when she spoke again. "I know it sounds terrible Jack, but I am. I'm glad they left you, because they obviously didn't know you, and I'd rather have you here with us then in a world full of people like that." She looked up at his disbelieving eyes. "You're the best friend I've ever had Jack, and they didn't deserve you. I just wish you hadn't needed to suffer so." Harry only hugged her tighter.

After several months though, his nightmares diminished, as Harry began to get over his ordeal in Azkaban. He had friends that knew better that Ron or Hermione ever had. And he finally had something that he had always longed for. He had a home, and a family. And wizarding world be damned, he was not going to loose it.