Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or any of the X-men. The same can be said of the wonderful world of J.K. Rowling. I am not making any profit, but simply having fun. I did however create Emma Winter.

Memories and dreams are in italics.

Edited in March 2021 during lockdown.

Emma's arms were throbbing with pain, especially the one that Logan still held in a death grip as if he was convinced that she would try to run off. The witch had never been scared of Logan before, but she felt the panic bubbling inside of her every time a deep growl came out of his wide chest. Emma was reminded of what Ororo and Scott had told her about Logan. What stood out in her memory were the stories of the countless times that Logan had lost his temper during missions and gotten completely berserk. In those stories, he had destroyed everything and everyone in his path and, unfortunately for Emma, she was the focus of Logan's anger after the incident in her bedroom.

A more formidable opponent Emma could not have imagined. Logan was very impressive when he was angry; the mere air of his fury was enough to make any person want to cover in fright. Logan's ample muscles rippled just under his skin as if he was struggling to control his temper around her. Emma was certain if the mutant would lose control of his temper she would be dead in a heartbeat.

Grudgingly Emma admitted to herself that she had to give Logan props for being the first one to figure out that she wasn't as normal as the mutants had first thought. Emma's intuition had warned her about Logan's keen senses, but the witch never would have imagined that she would cast a spell against her new friend. His alertness seemed too eager to investigate whatever was out of the norm and now she was on the other end of Logan's wrath.

Emma was paying the price for angering the Wolverine and the way his hand held on to her upper arm in a deadlock was a sure sign of his frustration with her. Logan seemed to have forgotten just how strong he was, and angry red marks were already forming on her upper arms. Logan on the other hand looked perfectly fine after his close encounter with the wall earlier. It seemed the only thing her attack had done was to ruffle his feathers by injuring his pride

It wasn't until they were outside Xavier's office that Emma realized that her wand had fallen to the floor in her room when Logan had pulled her out of bed. Emma's overactive imagination started to whirl blasting pictures in her mind of what she would do with him as soon as the meeting with Charles Xavier was finished. One or another that mental picture usually ended with Logan going up in flames. Of course, it was merely wishful thinking, but her vindictive nature was never too far away. It was part of her Slytherin heritage that had kept her alive while so many perished during the war.

They reached Xavier's office and Logan didn't bother to knock as he was quite certain that Chuck was in there. The professor had a knack of always being awake when hell broke out in the house, which was quite regular being in a house filled with so many diverse people with miscellaneous powers.

Logan barged in with Emma in tow that was spitting with fury at the humiliation of being treated as if she was a mere child and not a full-grown woman.

"Logan, Emma," Xavier said seriously as he watched the odd couple storm in. Emma looked frightened; Charles didn't have to be a mind reader to see. Her face was pale as a ghost and her hair had come undone from her braid and her wild curls ran down her back. To Charles's surprise, Emma was only dressed in a white sheet reminding him of an ancient toga from times long gone.

The professor understood the seriousness of the matter when he looked into her dark eyes and saw that they were glossy with unshed tears that the woman tried her best to hide from the two men that studied her meticulously. Looking in surprise at Logan for answers Charles instantly noticed that the man in front of him looked close to losing control. That look on the Wolverine's face usually bode ill for those around so Xavier prepared for the worst as he wondered what had happed between the two that had gotten so out of control.

Xavier gave Logan a stern look followed by mental command, "Logan let her go, can't you see you're hurting her?"

Logan let her arm go as if touching her burned his hand before stomping over the floor of the office to take a stance behind Xavier as if to show Emma his allegiance to the professor as if there was any doubt in her mind.

"You couldn't give Emma time to dress before bringing her here?" Xavier asked Logan sternly even though he knew it had to be a good explanation for Logan's behaviour. As far as Charles knew there had never been such a serious clash between two of his teachers. Logan had never lost such control because of a fellow staff member and the mutant looked as if he was struggling to remain in control of his anger. Logan flashed Emma his teeth in a threatening snarl before momentarily reigning in his wildness to talk to Xavier.

"This so-called teacher attacked me! She blasted me through the door of her room!" Logan snarled pointing accusingly at Emma who was trying to find some logical sounding reason as to why that could have happened. Nothing came to mind. The witch was too shocked to think, her cover was blown by the snarling Wolverine.

"Logan, sit down," Charles Xavier said to the fuming man behind him and Logan backed off to sit in a chair on the right of Xavier's desk. Charles pointed Emma to a chair and the young woman sat down on a chair close to his desk as if unintentionally seeking shelter from Logan who was on the other side.

"Now what happened here Emma? Please don't lie to me I will know if you are," Charles Xavier said, his voice filled with warmth and authority.

The witch studied him silently for a moment and then sighed dramatically. How on earth would she even begin to explain what had happened?

"Where to begin?" Emma asked tiredly rubbing her eyes as to give herself time to think of answers. She knew all would sound ludicrous and the only way to proceed would be to tell the truth, no matter how far fetched it might sound.

"It usually works to start at the beginning," Logan said disdainfully interrupting the dialogue.

Emma didn't like the way Logan was coldly studying her every move as if he suspected she was about to bolt out the door. The witch didn't like it at all because he was spot on. There was nothing more she wanted to do than to run like hell out of the office and disappear but the steely glance in Logan's eyes stopped her. Emma was quite certain she wouldn't get far before Logan would get her and he was the type of man who would relish in the hunt and her immediate capture.

"Right," Emma drawled sarcastically at Logan staring at him with distrust. Then the story came gushing out of her, a very biased version of the story. Typical Slytherin as Ronald Weasley would have said if he had heard it.

"I was having a nightmare and was woken up by HIM hovering over my bed with his hands all over me!" Emma hissed at Logan and getting the reward she wanted when Logan blinked in shock at her version of events. At the look of utter surprise on Logan's face, Emma couldn't help the glee of malice that came over her. If she could only twist the story so Xavier would turn his attention towards Logan, she might get out of the situation without further compromising herself and the secret she so desperately wanted to keep.

Not waiting for Xavier to ask anything further, Logan growled heatedly back at Emma, "Don't flatter yourself kid, I just heard you screaming and went to check if you were okay. You were the one that attacked me, throwing me out of the room and almost through the hallway wall."

"As I bloody well should! How dare YOU come into my room in the middle of the night!" Emma hissed furiously. The situation was spiralling more out of control with every moment passing and the witch could feel dread forming at the pit of her stomach as Xavier looked at her with a confused expression. Emma knew that it wouldn't be long until she would be asked questions that were far more stressing, questions that she would have a problem answering without compromising herself and those she loved.

"That's no easy feat Emma. Much bigger and stronger men than you have tried to attack the Wolverine and failed miserably," Charles said studying her intently trying to understand what had happened before Logan had decided to pull the young woman into the professor's office. Emma Winter wasn't a mutant; Xavier's telepathic abilities made it easy for him to recognize mutants right away. Emma had never shown a hint of mutant abilities throughout her time at the mansion.

"I know you are not a mutant so how did you do it? How did you throw a man that weighs close to four hundred pounds over a room as if he were a mere feather?"

Emma chewed her lip uncertain how to respond to Xavier's questions. There was no plausible explanation as to how she could have thrown the heavy mutant out of her room.

"I assure you that we will not betray your trust if you are worried about that," Charles said in such a soothing voice that Emma felt her resolve falter. There was no way out of the situation but to confess up to some point what she was. Emma looked at the professor strangely and wondered if he knew already what she was or if he had already dug into her mind to weed out the information he needed.

"You promised that you wouldn't read my mind without my permission," Emma said accusingly, feeling the situation slipping more and more out of control. What would follow after Charles Xavier would get the knowledge that she was a witch? The best reasonable solution for her would be if he cast her out, but in her heart, Emma knew she wanted to stay. She had found peace at the mansion, away from the constant onslaught of the memories that had haunted her at Hogwarts.

"I did no such thing, but if there is something that might threaten my students that promise is void. I am sorry for that but those are my rules here at the institution," the professor said harshly, and Emma knew he wasn't bluffing. Xavier's concern was and always would be his students and their welfare.

Logan nodded eagerly in agreement with the professor. The hostility that was coming from him was almost suffocating Emma and it infuriated her. There were not many people that had attacked her so openly and humiliated her as Logan had done. Somehow it hurt, the fragile new friendship she had shared with the mutant had been precious to her. Logan turning against her had hurt her deeply even if she understood his reaction.

"What I am ... I won't hurt anyone. I wouldn't have done anything if he hadn't startled me," Emma said tiredly, finally giving up. The fight was momentarily gone from her. After all, she wanted to stay and for that to happen she had to open up to Charles Xavier so he would understand.

"And what are you Emma?" Charles Xavier asked inquisitively. The moments seemed to linger endlessly as the young woman in front of him seemed to contemplate what her answer should be. Emma looked terrified and finally, she looked at the professor with a steely glance signalling she had made her decision to open up.

"I have your word that what I will tell you will not leave this office? From both of you?"

Xavier answered calmly, "You have my word that neither of us will utter a word. Isn't that right Logan?"

"Yep, now spill," Logan said, a man never much for small talk. Especially not when waiting for something important. His senses told him that the dark-eyed woman in front of them was far more dangerous than he had first thought when standing in her bedroom a few moments earlier.

Emma knew instinctively that she could trust Charles with her secret as he had no reason to tell anyone about her. Logan, even though she wasn't too fond of him at that moment, was according to the staff a good man, a man of his word and wouldn't break his word.

"I'm a witch," Emma said assertively and knowing that the men would probably not believe her. She doubted anyone would believe her when saying that outside the wizarding world. The magical community was an exclusive club that didn't take in any non-magic people. Therefore their existence was known to very few outside of their ranks.

Logan felt laughter bubble out of his chest at Emma's confession. A witch? Logan's mind filled with images of witches from cartoons, the old crones with warts on their noses. That slip of a girl didn't look anything like the witches he had in mind.

Emma coldly ignored him; Logan infuriated her the way he made fun of her. It had not surprised her at all that Logan didn't believe her. She had expected as much from him, it was far more important that Charles Xavier would accept her statement as the truth

"You realize how difficult it is for me to understand what you are talking about?" Charles said seriously while contemplating her words. A witch? Unlike Logan, he had heard about them but fleetingly, more as a rumour or myth. He had never seen any evidence that suggested that her kind existed. The professor had always thought they were urban legends, tall tales told by drunken mutants that hoped that there were others out there just as different as mutants that were not willing to come out into the daylight with their powers.

Emma sighed wondering how she should explain a life filled with magic, an existence of so many to those that didn't believe or know that magic even existed.

"It's very similar to mutants. Magic is a power that one is born with and that power can be used for good or … evil depending on who the person is."

"How dangerous can it be for those around?" Xavier asked concerned for his students. He was not thrilled about having an almost stranger waltz around the mansion with powers that he did not comprehend.

"I do not consider myself a dangerous person. The only thing I can assure you is that I will not use magic, similar to the one I used, anywhere close to the school. That is as long as HE won't come into my bedroom when I'm sleeping."

Charles was silent for a moment, silently studying Emma who sat before him with a defiant look on her face. He knew he had to ask her a difficult question and felt guilty for it since Emma had implored him not to break that trust with her when they had first met.

"You do realize that I will have to ask permission to read your mind to verify your story? It's not my pleasure to do so but if you wish to stay here it must be done. I implore you to trust me, nothing of what I will see will go further. You must understand my predicament, after all my students need to be protected from the dangers of the outside world."

Emma was tempted to stand up and leave. It was not that she didn't like the school or its faculty because she did, but it was vile to allow him, or anyone else for that matter, into her mind. Her eyes shot over at Logan who stood by the window looking at her with a triumphant grin on his face as if he was more than happy to get rid of her from the property. It was like he knew that she was tempted to leave and was joyful to get rid of her.

Emma's temper had gotten her into more troubles than she could count, and she was trying her best to keep as calm as she could in an impossible situation. The witch tapped the arm of the chair with her fingers deep in thought feeling irritable. Logan's victorious grin sealed the deal; she would allow Xavier this once into her mind.

"Anything you see will not be uttered aloud by you? I'm not threatening you but there will be consequences if it gets out in the open because the magical world wants to be left in peace," Emma said unemotionally in defeat. Perhaps it was good to have someone know that she was a witch. Emma liked Xavier and knew that Dumbledore had gotten nothing but positive feedback from his inquiries into Xavier's character.

"You're in no position to threaten anyone kid," Logan growled at her in a warning. He had no qualms about getting rid of her personally if the professor wanted him to. He doubted that Xavier would want that but still, he would be more than happy to comply if the witch was found to be a danger to those that lived at the mansion.

"You are being an absolute prat!" Emma hissed unladylike at Logan while wishing she had her wand so she could hex him to kingdom come. Her eyes were sparkling with anger and to the two men she looked more like a cornered feral cat than an insulted history teacher. Emma's reaction made Xavier wonder if the young woman was telling the truth, there was no sign of lies from her as far as he could tell.

"Very well, I agree to your terms. Let's commence, it won't take a moment and you won't feel anything," Xavier said not unfriendly trying to get the situation under control before the two people in his study would end up attacking each other. He knew that Logan wasn't far from it but what surprised him was the fierce temper of his new teacher. Charles hadn't expected to be getting another mini version of the Wolverine into the manor when he had hired Emma Winter.

Xavier closed his eyes to gain better concentration and with his mind reached out to Emma. A startled gasp came from Emma as she got the feeling that someone was attacking her mind. Emma moaned in pain as her feeble mental barriers were broken down in one sweep by Xavier's strong powers. Emma had learned to put up mental barriers, albeit not strong, but she had still had learned to put them up and that made her even more sensitive to their destruction. Only one barrier remained, and that was the one that Severus Snape had set to guard her secret regarding Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.

It felt as if all her life was being scrambled about in her brain and served on a plate for Xavier's pleasure. Moments later the pressure was suddenly off her mind and Emma grabbed her head in immense pain, it was like having the worst migraine ever as the thundering throbbing attacked her mind making her nauseous.

"I apologize. I had no idea that you would feel that to this extent," Xavier said apologetically looking at Emma doubled over in pain from his mindreading. That had never happened before; usually people didn't even feel his presence in their minds but since Emma was a witch, and there was no denying it now that she was one, she was more sensitive to things that others wouldn't even notice.

"You got your verification?" Emma asked tiredly rubbing her temple trying to soothe the thundering that was going on behind her eyelids.

"Indeed," Xavier said studying her intently as if wanting to ask something but decided to hold it back. There would be enough time later to ask questions when she was feeling better. The professor also knew that Logan had truly frightened her when he barged into her room and for that he was sorry. The young witch had seen too much in a short life and it had made her fearful of many things, including darkness.

"Are we done now?" Emma asked wearily, she simply wanted to go back to her room and forget the events of the night ever took place. Perhaps the humiliation would sting less tomorrow even though she doubted it. A strong character flaw of the Slytherins of Hogwarts was their undying pride and stubbornness. Emma was quite sure she would detest Logan until the day she would die unless a miracle would happen that would save the little fragments that were left of their fragile friendship.

"Yes Emma, you may go. I assure you everything is safe with me, safe with us," The professor said and Emma studied his face as if she wasn't quite certain. She trusted him, not much but enough to let it lie for now. Another time she would discuss things better and try to make him understand why the magical community needed to be in hiding.

"Are you sure he will hold his tongue?" Emma asked spitefully glaring at Logan while saying so. It was as if her intuition knew exactly what to call him to rock the boat again. Doubting his honour was the perfect weapon to anger Logan, after all, he was a man of his word. Emma's words worked like magic; the Wolverine was back growling at her in honest. The witch smirked evilly not sorry at all for hurting him. It served him right for being a prat.

"Logan won't discuss this with anyone I assure you. Now please go rest. Again my apologies for inflicting pain on you, I did not intend on that happening," Charles Xavier said sincerely. He knew that out of the members of his staff he could trust Logan the most to keep quiet about such a powerful secret.

However, Xavier was quite certain that he could not trust Logan to escort Emma back to her room. It was likely that the Wolverine would take over again and Xavier knew that would not end well for either of them. Even worse, Emma would find some way to push Logan's buttons for she seemed to have a keen eye for the man's weak spots. That was exactly the reason why Charles decided that Logan would sit behind while Emma would return alone to her room.

One thing was for certain in the professor's mind. The two firecrackers were sure to bump heads again; Xavier hoped he wouldn't be there to watch it happen as it was a strenuous thing to watch.

Then Emma got up to leave the office while trying to ignore the two men. Especially she tried to ignore Xavier that was looking at her with such pity in his eyes. The witch hated pity more than anything and had gotten quite enough of that at Hogwarts.

"Oh and Emma no hexing Logan later on, let's not continue this rift," Charles said amused as the witch stopped dead in her track for a moment not happy for him to have found out. Then she looked over her shoulder to glare fuming at Logan who stared at her in pure disbelief when he heard Chuck's words.

"I will not use magic of any kind on your premises Charles, you have my word," Emma murmured before walking tiredly out of the room. She would do her best to forget what had happened while ignoring Logan. It would be the best way to deal with such a violative situation.