Wands and Claws
Disclaimer/Plot/Author's Note: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Recommended Reads: Apex, Damaged Raven, Widow's Vengeance, Bonded, Magical Spider, Silver King and Hydrus Black by JustBored21, Ruby Tinted Glasses by StormyFireDragon, Shattering the Mirror by arturus, Child of the Storm, Ghosts of the Past and The Phoenix and the Serpent by Nimbus Llewelyn, Lightning, Part 1 and Lightning, Part 2: An Eventful Fourth Year by The New York Bear, Harry Potter The Protector of Magic and The Protector and the Four Guardians by TigerSwarm9122, Harry Potts and the Infinity Stones by samhaine and Ascension, The Son of Storms and The War of Titans by PerseusPeverell092
Key Pairing: Eventual Harry/Jean/Emma; Eventual Laura/Wayne;
Other Pairings: Logan/Ororo; Erik/Raven; Others TBD
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Telepathy'
/Parseltongue/
Review Answers:
JustBored21: I appreciate the compliment: also, hope you don't mind, but I've made a slight alteration to Harry and Laura's ages; don't worry, I went back and amended the changes in previous chapters too;
Thunderofdeath97: Let's just say he's a canon HP character who is going to be one of the main friends and allies of our heroes, until he becomes more for Laura;
WhiteElfElder: Keep reading to find out;
"How should I know?" demanded Harry, earning a shocked look from Ororo and Logan, before Harry sighed softly as he added, "Sorry, Laura; I just…there's still so much neither of us know, not even about our powers. I mean, we're only young, but, thanks to Stryker's madness, we're smarter than normal kids our age, stronger too and…and now…what? We're…what are we? Students? Prisoners?"
"Family?" asked Logan, and Ororo couldn't help but hear a glimmer of hope in his voice.
Harry just scoffed, "We had a family…look what happened!"
Chapter 5: Fifty Shades of Grey (No, Not THAT One!)
Xavier Institute: A Month Later
"You know, you really should think about cutting your hair." Laura said as she ran a hand through Harry's hair.
"Why?" asked Harry, doing his best to hide his frown as he continued reading his book.
In what seemed to be the norm for the two mutants lately, even moreso since the argument and ensuing trivia on their first shopping trip, as well as what had been a dismal, if not alarming birthday party a few days before now, the now-seven-year-old Harry was sat against Laura's bed and reading while Laura was sat on the bed and reading, though, after a while, she traded sitting for lounging on her stomach, if only so she could lean over the edge and tease her twin's growing hairdo.
"It's getting a bit long, that's all," said Laura, earning a playful shove from her twin, even though he knew it was true.
Without Stryker there to massacre it, Harry's hair was now about shoulder length and looked messier than ever before; Laura had even once joked that, if he grew it any longer, he could style it to match their grandfather's, though Harry gave the same reaction that he did when Laura said about him cutting it.
"So what? Maybe I like it long and shaggy."
"Well, if you want, Ororo can cut it for you," said Laura, earning a groan from Harry.
While Ororo – also known as Storm, as that was her mutant alias, as the twins had learned – usually insisted that she be called Miss Munroe, she did seem to make an exception for both Laura and Harry, though she made it very clear that they were not to call her by her first name in front of other people, which was a rule that only one twin seemed to follow.
No prizes for guessing which one.
"I think you would look nice with shorter hair, big brother," added Laura, earning a sigh from Harry, who didn't need to turn around to know his little sister-twin was looking at him with puppy-dog eyes and pouty lips, which seemed to be one of her only weapons against her rock-headed big brother's adamantium-hard armour of stubbornness.
"Fine…I'll think about it; now put them away, before I convince everyone in the school to consider your mutant name Aye-Aye or Owl-Girl," said Harry, a brief note of brotherly teasing lacing his words, before he looked up and, lifting a hand, he gently teased his sister's equally-growing hairdo as he asked, "What about you?"
"I don't need one: after all, boys have short hair and girls have long hair, Harry, duh!" said Laura, speaking in a way that almost made it sound like she thought he was being especially dense. "Besides, Ororo and Grandpa said I look pretty with long hair."
"That's nice." Harry said, though he waited until he was once again engrossed in his book before he gave a small smile.
Back when they had first come to the institute, Harry's biggest concern was what would happen to his sister?
When they decided to stay, Harry's biggest worry turned into what if they hurt Laura?
But now, Harry could admit that he was still not totally comfortable with everyone around the institute, least of all Charles Xavier – whom Harry had noticed always seemed to want to know more and more about their development, like he was stalking them, or believed he had the right to know more than everyone else – but, at the same time, he had pretty much deemed Ororo – or, as he still called her, Miss Munroe, if not Storm, or Stormy, in a hit of childish cheekiness, much to Logan's amusement – to be safe as far as his sister was concerned.
The two got along like a house on fire, he could tell that his sister got along with Storm a lot.
Harry, however, personally thought that he took more after his grandfather, but Harry also liked Ororo, if only because of how she was with Laura.
He found her to be fun, when she was not acting all serious all the time.
She was nice to him and Laura, so was Logan and the others.
Heck, Harry had also seen her and Logan getting close, which led to the twins silently betting on whether or not the two might get together.
The point was…even a deaf and blind person could see that living here at the Institute was better than living with the Dursleys.
If Harry had to be honest he would really like to see the Dursley's again…he really would.
Oh, but don't worry Logan, Xavier and Stormy: after all, he only wants to say 'hi' to them…
Funnily enough so do his claws…
He wondered whatever had happened to the Three Mongrels, anyway…
WsCs
Little Whinging, Surrey
In what little passed for their still-working brain cells, the Dursleys were a proud and normal family, thank you very much.
Vernon Dursley, despite his large and round body, squirrel tail like moustache and balding hair, seemed to have the fewest still-working brain cells between them, seeing as how he actually believed himself to be the epitome of what healthy, good looking men were supposed to look like.
Petunia Dursley, his wife, came second behind him as she also believed herself to be the perfect, beautiful housewife, even though she actually looked like a very thin horse as she had a body so skinny that it looked like she hadn't eaten in days, a very long neck and a long face. She also believed, as the old saying went, that her shit didn't stink and it was her natural right to be the Hyacinth Bouquet of Little Whinging, by spying on everyone else, while loudly crowing about her precious, perfectly-normal family whenever she got the chance.
Finally, there was Vernon and Petunia's son, Dudley, who looked very much like a younger version of Vernon Dursley and, as far as Petunia and Vernon were concerned, he was the perfect example of a nice and normal, healthy, brilliant and talented child, and they believed the sun would set when he sat down.
That being said, given his size, it was probably true when it came to the sun setting over Number Four, anyway.
Sure, he might throw plenty of tantrums and break things and cry a lot and eat more than any normal human being should do, but, as far as his low-brain-celled parents were concerned, he was just an overactive, growing boy and anyone who said otherwise was just jealous of his greatness.
Yes, Dudley was perfect…unlike those pair of freaks!
Freaks that they had only been forced into taking care of because Petunia's ignorant freak of a sister went and got herself and her equally-worthless husband blown up. As if that wasn't enough of a reason to loathe and detest the idea of these abnormals being made to share the same breathing space as the Dursleys, then there was the fact that these particular two things – since, obviously, since they weren't called Dudley, as big as the moons of Jupiter and as ignorant as sloths on a very slow day, they clearly weren't children – were extra freaky, since they were mutants.
Mutants and magical freaks were much, much worse than regular freaks, as far as the Dursleys were concerned.
With those disgusting growths that they claimed were claws, they were clearly abominations, nothing but wild animals.
Frankly, the family was glad that the nice Stryker man recognised that a family such as their own didn't deserve to suffer through living with two freaks like those and he thankfully took them away, leaving the Dursley's as one perfect family.
And a lot wealthier for it too, thanks to the hush money paid to them to completely forget that the freaks ever lived there.
Something the Dursleys, and their increased bank accounts, were able to do gladly, never having to hear the name Potter again.
Or so they thought…
WsCs
It was during one nice and normal moment that the lovely family time was soon interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Vernon, are you expecting anyone?" Petunia said as she walked into the living room with a tray of food, looking at her perfect family as though she believed they were the centre of the universe. Indeed, her eyes actually seemed to glaze over when she saw Dudley was watching TV while Vernon was reading his newspaper.
Yes, nice and normal: oh, it was a good day, as the old horror story said.
"No," Vernon grumbled as he put his newspaper down and got up. "I hope to god that it's not another one of those bloody Jehovah Witnesses or girl scouts…but I won't say no to the biscuits and sweets."
Naturally, the mention of food had Dudley's ears pricking up, before he forgot about it two seconds later when his Mummy dumped the food in his lap and actually began spoon-feeding him like he was an invalid.
Vernon, meanwhile, walked towards the door and, when he opened it, he blinked in abject surprise when he found himself face to face with several important-looking men in black suits, all of whom seemed to be led by an ordinary-looking gentleman with short-trimmed hair and bright, cheery eyes that suddenly hardened as he looked at the fat man. "Are you Vernon Dursley?"
"Yes." Vernon blinked. "What do you want?"
"Special Agent Phil Coulson," explained the man, flashing a badge that Vernon had never seen before, though he didn't know anything outside of money, his drills and his son's needs, so that wasn't too big of a stretch.
And yet, for whatever reason, the fat man noticed the stranger with the weird ID and odd-looking companions was still talking, "My companions and I are special agents from SHIELD and, to answer your pretty frank question, what we want is you, sir. You and your family are going to have to come with us: we need to have a talk about a sudden influx of money to your accounts, as well as matters concerning how one would go about properly looking after children."
"My son is perfectly healthy!" insisted Vernon, but as soon as another voice replied to him, he knew he was screwed.
"We're not talking about that mini-Moby Dick, Shamu's Ugly Twin! We're talking about the two you sold into slavery, then lied over and over again about their existence, just so you could go about breaking the world record for World's Fattest Family!"
As soon as Vernon looked up, and saw a man in red-and-gold armour, one hand raised in apparent aggressive desire, the palm of his hand glowing with intent, he knew he was screwed.
Even moreso when a clap of thunder sounded overhead, revealing a very angry-looking man in dark armour, with a red cloak and winged helmet, holding onto a hammer that crackled with lightning while the man glared daggers at Vernon and his now-appeared wife.
"Please, noble villains!" sneered the man with the hammer, his eyes shining with blue lightning as he snarled at the Dursleys, unintentionally slipping into an outdated form of language owing to how angry he was with the people before him.
"Please, give me a reason to smite thee where thee stands! Tis a minor act of justice compared to what thou hast done to thine kin!"
Yep.
The Dursleys were definitely screwed.
But, much like a certain someone, the only ones they blamed for it were those named Potter, even as the SHIELD men, as well as a still-tense Iron Man and a furious, still-electrified Thor the Thunderer led them away.
Much to the snooty, nosy-parker delights of their neighbours…
WsCs
One Year Later: Somewhere in America
Eight-year-old – as of two days earlier when, for only the second time in their time at the school, Harry and Laura had been given the joys of a party, though only Laura seemed to enjoy it – Harry James Potter was both curious and a little intrigued as he found himself invited to join Logan and Professor Xavier on a visit to try and meet a new mutant and a potential new member of the school's student population.
Laura, meanwhile, had been given a girls' day at a local shopping mall, though Harry wondered why the twins were even being divided and, for obvious reasons, he was on edge, even as he was accompanied by the man he'd slowly come to accept as his grandfather, and the old guy who he still didn't completely trust, if only because of a weird feeling he got whenever he looked into those blue eyes of his.
In the front seat next to Harry, Logan was dressed in brown shoes, blue jeans, a grey shirt and a dark brown jacket with three stripes on both arms, which was pretty much the best you were going to get from Logan when telling him to dress nice, Professor Xavier, meanwhile, was loaded into the back seat, his wheelchair folded up and in the boot of the car, while he was dressed in his usual blue suit, and seemed to be meditating most of the way to wherever it was they were going.
Harry, on the other hand, chose to dress in a similar manner to his grandfather, namely black trainers, blue jeans, a dark green shirt and a black, denim jacket with the face of a snarling wolf on one arm and the full wolf on the back, with Harry's name – human name, since both he and Laura were yet to decide their mutant names – stitched into the top – a birthday present from Victor Creed.
Harry would be first to admit that he had several trust issues, he couldn't say that they were entirely gone but after spending a year in the Mansion, he was able to allow himself to realise that nobody in the mansion was out to get him or Laura, though, obviously, he was still on an almost-constant state of alert around his 'benefactor' because of the weird feelings he got whenever Xavier was in the room.
Meanwhile, he had a job to do: the reason he was here today was because Professor Xavier believed that Harry was okay enough to help out and he wanted to use him as an example of the children that lived at the X-Mansion.
'Use me; what an interesting choice of words,' thought Harry, though, curiously, he noticed Charles seemed deaf to his thoughts. 'For once.'
That being said, the fact they now pulled up outside an actual white-picket-fenced household, with several people looking at the expensive car that had rolled up with a familiar glint of greed and curious-nosiness soon set him back on edge, mostly because of how they all reminded Harry of her!
Although there was an old man watering his garden across the road whom, for some reason, made Harry smile before he gave him a friendly wave, earning a similar smile and wave from the white-haired, bespectacled gentleman, before he mouthed two words to Harry.
"Good luck."
As Harry wondered what the stranger meant by that weird remark, he heard Logan open his door before his grandfather's voice asked, "So, is this the house, Chuck?"
"Yes, it is," said Professor Xavier, as Harry got out and opened the door for him while Logan pulled Professor Xavier's fold up wheelchair out of the boot, the Professor preferred his usual one but that was hard to transport so regular one it was. "Thank you, Harry, Logan."
"There are three people inside," said Harry suddenly, looking past Charles as he tilted his head towards the house. "And they know we're here."
"Do they?" Professor Xavier asked as Logan began pushing him towards the house, though, to Harry's discomfort, Charles had a familiar look of interest, if not speculation, on his face, before he lost it as he directed his attention towards the house ahead of them.
"Yeah," Logan nodded as Harry began following, trying to shake off whatever suspicions surrounded the old man and his strange stalker-like habit of eyeing Harry up like a science experiment that was meant to be solved. "They're telling the girl to behave: weird, they smell scared."
"More like they don't like their own kid," growled Harry, feeling a familiar tingling in his knuckles, accompanied by a rush in his blood.
As he felt it, however, his eyes widened slightly when he felt something soothing brush against him, taking the rage he'd felt and sending it back to sleep, allowing Harry to calmly approach the door, where he reached over and pressed the doorbell.
A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a brown-haired man and a woman with red hair, the sight of whom made Harry do a double-take for a second as a flash of redheaded memory crossed his mind, before it faded away just as quickly.
"Hello," The man greeted in a stiff voice, the forced pleasantries making Harry feel angry and annoyed all over again, as he was once again reminded of the Three Mongrels, and how they'd treated their kin.
If this…this hypocrite was the same…
"Please come in."
Eventually the three mutants were taken to the living room, where Logan placed Professor Xavier in a corner of the room so the Professor could talk to everyone. Logan stood on the Professor's left and crossed his arms, Harry stood on the Professor's right and crossed his arms, clearly not trying to copy Logan, though, to the clawed man's amusement, his stubborn-headed grandson was failing miserably.
"Thank you for coming," The woman said as she and her husband sat down on a sofa.
"That's quite alright, Mrs Grey." Professor Xavier replied, looking around in abject curiosity as he asked, "Might I ask, where is the young lady we are here to talk about?"
"We'll call her down," Mr Grey said, his eyes darkening as he looked to Harry before he added. "I must say I am really surprised you'd bring a kid here, especially since we're hoping that you can help fix this…this mutant problem."
"What mutant problem?" Harry asked darkly, his voice edged by a growl as he narrowed his eyes.
"Harry…" Professor Xavier warned him, earning a scoff from Harry.
"Sorry," drawled Harry, though, to Charles' apparent relief, he didn't say anything else.
"Jean, come down here." Mrs Grey called.
A few seconds later, Harry's eyes widened when a young girl whom looked to be about Harry's age walked down the stairs: she was wearing white shoes and blue jeans and a red t-shirt. Her hair was shoulder length and bright red, to Harry it looked like the colour of fire and, even as he saw it, he felt his blood growing warm with a familiar sensation that, normally, preceded the appearance of his claws.
This time, however, there was no aggression or wrath in the feeling.
Just…calm.
Calm and…and wholeness.
As Harry wondered about the weird feeling, he also noticed that the girl, Jean's, eyes were a bright shade of green that was almost as bright as Harry and Laura's, but with a sense of raw, pure power to them that made Harry take notice as Jean stepped inside the room and sat in-between her parents.
"Hello Miss Grey," Professor Xavier greeted her, snapping Harry out of whatever trance he'd been put in, as the Professor explained in his usual friendly voice, "I am Professor Charles Xavier, this is my colleague Logan, and this is Logan's grandson, Harry."
"You don't look old enough to be a grandfather." Jean said to Logan, saying what her parents were thinking.
"I/He gets that a lot," Logan snorted, while Harry actually managed to chorus it in synch with his grandfather.
Almost as though he knew what Logan was thinking, like Jean had seemed to know what her parents were thinking…but how?
That was the question…and, even as he tried to focus on the meeting with Jean Grey, Harry knew one thing.
Professor Xavier was right, for once, to bring him instead of Laura.
He didn't know why, but, as he watched Charles go through the motions with Jean and her family, Harry James Potter knew one thing.
Jean Grey was going to change everything…
Least of all for Harry and Laura Potter.
Chapter 5 and it looks like the mystery of Harry's true capabilities deepens: how is it he seems uneasy around Charles, but so warm and welcoming with new girl, Jean Grey?
Also, I'd say the Dursleys are well-and-truly screwed, so does this mean our heroes can settle down now and try to be the kids they are?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Harry and Jean have a more-private moment, during which Harry tries to figure out his new strange feelings: unfortunately for him, he forgets one thing; he's got a sarcastic grandpa and a bratty little sister who won't let this go;
Please Read and Review
AN: Portrayals
Mr Grey: James Marsden
Mrs Grey: Famke Janssen
Jean Grey: Sophie Turner