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.
The next few days after the whole Wolverine incident Emma felt out of place at the mansion. The witch did her job as well as she could but her mind was constantly up in the clouds wondering if her secret would be safe. Emma wished she could call one of her friends, preferably Hermione, to discuss what to do. As that was no possible Emma had decided to talk to Charles. Thankfully it didn't seem that Xavier had gotten any knowledge to why she was there and that relieved her greatly. Xavier seemed to have more inclined to look into her past to verify her powers rather than watching any specific scenes.
The professor had shown nothing but kindness towards Emma, assuring her that she was more than welcome as a part of his faculty. Charles promised he would not disclose what Emma was until she was ready but tried to make her see that after all, she would not be that much different from the mutants that lived at the mansion. Remembering why she was there in the first place, Emma decided to stay hidden and out of the spotlight. The more time she spent with Xavier the more she liked him, he was a similar type to Dumbledore in many ways and Emma was certain that the two men would enjoy each other company immensely if they ever got the chance to meet.
Logan and Emma had been in the same room a few times and no matter what Logan did to get Emma's attention she ignored him as if he didn't exist. Emma knew that she was acting very childishly but didn't know how to turn the situation around, every time she thought of how Logan had treated her that fateful evening she felt her temper flare. It was difficult to forgive one's pride had been wounded so, especially as Emma was from the house of Salazar Slytherin.
Logan had spoken to Xavier the day after the incident and had concluded that they had both been at fault; even though the mutant felt he was being very generous by thinking that. However, Logan was sorry for scaring the woman like he had but he had lost control of his inner demons. Emma's reaction had stunned him as he was not used to getting as good as he gave, especially not from a slip of a girl with fiery dark eyes that seemed to see to the most inner corners of his soul.
The witch so blatantly ignoring the mutant had amused Logan immensely in the beginning. To see Emma go out of her way to disregard him as if he were a pest had made Logan chuckle on more than one occasion while the rest of the staff wondered what had happened between the two. Usually, the dinner table was a lively place during dinners, but it seemed to be shifting unconsciously into team Emma and team Logan. It was quite unfair since Logan had only Hank on his team as the others automatically seemed to support the woman in whatever had happened.
The situation started to annoy him when Emma and Scott started to talk at the dinner table every single night. Logan had never been able to stand Scooters presence, not even before he knew that the man was attached to Jean. There was just something about him that irked Logan and got under his skin. Watching the new teacher ignore him with such stubbornness and then smile so warmly at Scott didn't help the situation.
Emma and Scott seemed to enjoy their dreadfully boring discussions about mutants and if it was moral to use powers for one's gain. Logan snorted with humour as the witch was perceived by all as a normal person, Emma was not by any standard normal as Logan had found out. The mutant suspected that she was the most dangerous person living at the mansion even if her innocent face and friendly smile hid her powers well.
From Logan's viewpoint, Emma was the most abnormal of them all as she had powers that were almost certainly beyond anything that he or others at the mansion could imagine. Logan had taken an oath to keep silent about the witch and it was not often that Logan promised something but when he gave his word he meant it. Nonetheless, Logan didn't have to like it one bit, especially when said witch did everything she could to ignore him as if he didn't exist.
If the other member of the staff had only known how different Emma was, they wouldn't have treated her as if she was a spokesperson of normal. The witch sure as hell hadn't seemed normal when she had thrown him into the wall without an effort, adamantium and all. Emma hadn't seemed normal either when she looked ready to claw his face off in Xavier's office when Logan was taunting her. A normal person would have followed their instinct and stayed far away from him when the Wolverine reared his head and roaring for blood. The temperamental witch seemed to draw him in like a moth to a flame.
Logan felt his frustration grow as he sat by the dinner table one evening at the beginning of September. The young witch was good at ignoring him but sometimes he caught her studying him from the corner of her eye but quickly looking away every time Logan stared annoyed back at her.
Damn that witch, she knew exactly how to get under his skin. Emma had picked the person he detested the most in the mansion as her shelter against him and that annoyed Logan more than he could ever admit to himself. Scott of course didn't see what Emma was doing but Logan sure could and her intuition for doing things that bothered him.
First Scooter had had the first woman Logan had wanted in forever and now the witch was floating over Cyclops like he was the most interesting person in the mansion. Why did that asshole always have to have an input when it came to Logan and the women of the mansion? It was not that Logan had any problem getting women wherever he went but it annoyed him to have an unfinished business right under his nose every time he tried to eat his dinner in peace. As much as Logan enjoyed eating, watching Scott and Emma talk almost gave him indigestion every night.
It irritated Logan as he had up to that point genuinely liked Emma and even after the flying incident, he had still liked her. The mutant simply wanted to sit down with her, make peace and even apologize for his part. From there he would very much like to regain his friendship with her or at the very least have his presence acknowledged by her. Logan was the king of no regrets, but he still regretted having lost her quiet company at night time when he couldn't sleep. Emma had calmed the beast by simply staying around and not trying to analyse him too much.
After Emma started to ignore Logan, he realized that he missed her; he missed her scent in his nose and the gentle smile on her face as her dark eyes burned with interest. Even worse he felt guilty thinking back on the terror he had inflicted by barging in on her like that when she was sleeping. Thinking about it from her side of the fence Logan realized that it might have been terrifying to be awoken in the middle of a nightmare. What had happened the last time someone had tried to wake him up? Hadn't he almost killed Rogue in the process? Yes, he had, and it made Logan feel even guiltier. He had had no excuse for having lost his temper. Simple as that.
The look of disgust Emma had given him as she exited the professor's office had cut him deeper than he had cared for. It had taken hours of crazy killing and rampage in the Danger room to stop him from going back upstairs to Emma's room to strangle her, for what he hardly knew. A bond of friendship had been born between them on the quiet nights they had sat together after the other residents had peacefully gone to sleep. Logan for one wasn't willing to break that bond as it was not often that he found someone that he liked even a little bit. He was especially not used to find anyone at the mansion that he genuinely liked, and he was not willing to give up on Emma, no matter how much she tried to ignore him.
After dinner, he followed Emma as she walked out of the kitchen. The young woman pretended to ignore him, but it was very noticeable in her behaviour that she knew someone was tailing her. The witch had tensed up and walked very stiffly as if her instincts were telling her to run. Logan had seen that behaviour before on other people, but it annoyed him to see that primal instinct appear in her. He was realizing more and more that he had terrified her that night they clashed, and she had not gotten over that fright.
The very primal fight or flight instinct had kicked in as soon as Emma had stood up from the dinner table. Logan was ambushing her, that much she knew after endless attacks from the Slytherins at Hogwarts. The way Logan quietly followed her from the kitchen into the hallway made her want to run in earnest and only the presence of her friends in the kitchen made her calm a little. The huge mutant wouldn't hurt her in front of Scott and Ororo. Would he?
Logan grabbed her arm when she was about to set foot on the flight of stairs. Emma squealed with fright and half-expecting that his next move would be to hurl her into the next wall. The witch knew the mutant was angry at her but his rough hold of her arm reminded her not too subtly on the evening they had their falling out.
"I need a word with you," Logan mumbled not wanting others to hear him begging Emma to talk to him. The witch turned too stiffly towards him trying to stare him down but failing miserably. Finally, she pushed him as if wanting to hear what he had to say.
"Yes?"
"Not here there are too many people listening," Logan grumbled, hearing footsteps closing in on them. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk about their falling out in front of others. It was not anybody's business.
"Right," Emma replied stiffly after noticing Scott and Ororo pretending not to watch the duo as they stood in the kitchen door watching curiously. Logan was right, whatever score they had to settle was better done in private than with the audience of the staff. If they had learnt something it was that they performed very badly with an audience as it seemed to pull out the worst in their personalities.
Scott and Ororo watched stunned as their usually bubbly history teacher walked stiffly behind the Wolverine to the front door. Logan walked straight out of the door and waited for Emma to grab her coat before slamming the door loudly behind her.
"What was that about?" Ororo said stunned at the display they had watched. She had known something had been brewing between the two, a kind of animosity that she was not used to seeing at Xavier's. However, Emma had mentioned a while ago she had met him and she didn't seem to have any complaints so that made Ororo think that something had happened after that. Whatever it was two weren't telling anyone, it was strictly between them.
"Get on," Logan said when Emma looked at him with wide eyes full of wonder. When Logan had said that he didn't want to talk inside the house, she had thought he had meant somewhere on the vast property of the mansion. It seemed that Logan had other ideas, one of them was clearly to ride a motorcycle
"I've never been on a motorbike," Emma clarified embarrassed feeling very uncomfortable about sitting on something as unsafe as a motorbike. She knew that muggle automobiles were dangerous, but Logan's bike looked more than a little hazardous. Logan raised his eyebrows in question before pushing Scott's helmet into her arms.
"Here's a helmet, put it on and then hop on," the mutant said gruffly while pushing Emma towards the bike. If their friendship were to have a chance the witch would have to learn to trust him, even when she didn't trust herself. Logan then sat down in front of Emma, started the bike and waited for her to get ready. The mutant could tell she was nervous by her quick heartbeat that thundered in his ears.
"You better hang on kid, otherwise you fall off," Logan said while killing his cigar on the pavement under his boot. Of course, Ororo would have a fit seeing the bud but he didn't care.
Logan didn't have to tell Emma twice to hang on; the witch wrapped her hands around his waist as tightly as she could. Her reaction made Logan grin teasingly when he felt Emma squeezing herself to him in fright. Damsels in distress always made him smile and bring out a softer side of him. It made him laugh a little that such a courageous woman like Emma was terrified of motorbikes.
As they drove off, Logan noticed that she had pressed her helmeted cheek as close to his back as possible to look for protection and her hands were white with the strain of pressing her body up against the mutant. He could almost bet that her eyes were closed as well so she couldn't see her surroundings as the motorbike sped by.
One thing was certain; Emma was not going to fall off the bike without a fight.
A little while later the two were sitting at Logan's favourite bar; it was a biker bar with an odd truck driver on leave mixed into the crowd. Emma of course stuck out like a sore thumb in there and by the looks from the patrons it was clear that they didn't know what to think about the presence of the young woman in their midst.
To Logan's surprise, Emma didn't seem to notice the glances from the patrons or perhaps she simply didn't care. He didn't know her well enough to guess which one it was. Logan had gotten himself a beer and to his astonishment, Emma had ordered sparkling water. Then again Emma wasn't yet of the legal drinking age being only twenty years old.
After the waitress had left Logan decided to end his torment, he wasn't much for small talk and he had the feeling that neither was the witch. Emma had been staring at him in silence for a while as if studying his next move; it unnerved him how she could sit so still trying to figure him out. Her dark eyes never left his face but to take in her surroundings every so often as if she was automatically wary of her environment. Logan could relate to that; he was on autopilot when it came to scanning his surroundings. That reaction came from years of having to watch his back but he wondered why someone as young as Emma was showing signs of the same behaviour.
"Look I want to get some things straight. I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't mean to," Logan said remorsefully, his hazel eyes begging the witch to understand. He didn't want to lose Emma's friendship even though he didn't feel comfortable enough to say that. What Logan wanted to say was that he didn't want to lose her friendship as it was important to him.
"I know it went out of control," Emma said finally deciding to play along. Logan intrigued her immensely, even his darker side that he had shown her so blatantly and without regrets. After their clash, Logan still fascinated Emma as he was completely different from anyone she had ever met before. The mutant could be sweet as a pussycat or gnarly as an angered dragon. That was very refreshing after the stifling air of the magic community where most of the times you knew exactly what would happen because of the archaic protocol in society.
"First of all, I want to say I'm sorry for my words. Honestly, I'm sorry for the whole wand thing. I didn't know it was you," Emma said waving her hands around as an emphasis on her words. Her dark eyes were focused on him, pleading him to understand.
"As a final thought, Emma added, "I'm not used to having strange men in my room."
Emma understood that duality of that statement and blushed crimson at the mirth in Logan's eyes as he digested her last words before laughing heartily. Emma grinned, her eyes twinkling with mirth at Logan's reaction. It was not often that she had made fun of herself but Logan pulled out that side of her.
"So we are good? No more ignoring me and pretending I'm not there when I'm right there in front of your face?"
Emma laughed wholeheartedly at his words; it was true she had done that. Incredibly childish but true. It humoured her even more that Logan had noticed it and was making fun of her for it. As Emma continued to laugh he joined in, a burst of gruff laughter that suited him very much.
"No more ignoring or blasting ... unless you deserve it of course," Emma said smiling brightly at him. Logan's direct approach to make peace had startled her but had delighted her. The witch was so used to people hiding their true meaning behind rivers of words that it was refreshing to meet someone that finally just said what he thought. It didn't matter if it was good or bad, she just wanted to hear it straight out.
"Good to hear kid," Logan said raising his beer for a toast and Emma clinked her glass to his in agreement.
"Cheers."
An hour later the comfortable companionship was re-established just as Logan had wanted. Emma had the soft look back in her eyes when she looked at him and it felt great to be back in her good books. It had mattered to Logan to mend things with the young witch and he couldn't think of a time when it had mattered to him what others thought of him.
"Let's go kid, it's getting late, and you need your beauty sleep."
Emma chuckled before nodding in agreement. She looked thoughtful before asking honestly, "I don't know it is here, but can you drive after drinking?"
Logan laughed openly at that. As far back as he could remember no one had ever wondered if he was too drunk to drive, or too drunk to do anything. As he had thought she had great courage, it didn't surprise him in the slightest that Emma would be the first person to point out something as obvious as drunk driving to him.
"Regenerative power. I would have to drink a barrel it to get drunk just for a moment," Logan replied pointing towards the empty beers on the table.
"So you are sober?" Emma asked for verification before wanting to get back on the bike. Even though she was a wild child at heart she knew where to draw the line. There was nothing fun or adventurous about sitting at the back of a motorbike if the driver was intoxicated. Emma was scared to death of that thing and had only gotten on because she trusted Logan to get her home in one piece.
That didn't mean she would have to enjoy the current transportation too much. Emma doubted she would ever like motorbikes; they were far too fast for her taste. Oddly they reminded her of flying on a broom, a sport she had never gotten into for her terrible fear of heights.
"Yep, I am. If we are to be friends, you have to learn to trust me kid. I won't do anything to harm you," Logan said feeling a little awkward begging a young witch to trust him and his actions.
Emma studied him fixedly as if weighing his words before giving him a big smile of appreciation and patting him affectionately on the arm. It somehow felt that his words weighed heavier than most. Logan was not a man of many words but those he said Emma knew that he meant.
"Friends?" Emma said with a question in her voice as if she was saying that word for the first time in her life.
"Yeah, I think I might like that... having a friend."
Emma never thought she would make friends outside of the magical world, let alone someone like Logan. She never knew what to expect from him and perhaps that was part of the allure. He was honest in a very aggressive way. Logan's untamed nature scared her, and his infrequent spurts of laughter made her smile because they were so spontaneous.
Logan was as different as possible from the wizards Emma had grown up knowing. He was not bound by the rules of society like she had been her whole life and it enthralled her. Emma had a feeling that being a friend with Logan would be similar to the rollercoaster's she had heard so much of. Their friendship was doomed to be filled with up's and down's but still destined to be a hell of a ride, one they would never forget.