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.
"You will all be transferred by ship to New York and shipped forward from there to wherever you are needed. Be strong, be brave and if you die your sacrifice was certainly in honour of the king of Great Britain!" The general yelled at the terrified soldiers, most of whom were far too young to have ever been in battle.
Hundreds of men yelled back in agreement while lifting their muskets with attached bayonets up towards heaven in a youthful joy. Most were far too inexperienced to know much about death or how battles could destroy a man.
Amongst the young men were Logan and another young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties even though his mutton chops, so similar to Logan's, confused the viewer into thinking he was older than he was.
"You sure we ought to be doing this? Fighting for the Brits?" Logan asked the man next to him and showing how torn he was on going to war.
"What does it matter who we fight or how? What matters is that no one will know us down there."
"We'll be like we never existed," Logan said mournfully seemingly uncertain of the idea.
The general shouted out an order and the army started walking towards a large ship that was docked and waiting to transport the young men closer to the battles. The two young men put on their tricorn hats and started walking slowly towards the ship. Their gear seemed quite heavy as they walked with the muskets, swords, daggers and provisions towards the ship.
"Jimmy. There is nothing for us here, nobody wants us, or have you forgotten that it took us twelve years to even get to this place."
"I know Victor but war? Haven't we killed enough people already?" Logan asked doubtfully, his hazel eyes filled with worries.
"The best place for us is war. If we kill someone there it's a good thing. We are animals and killing is what we do best," Victor said with his matter-of-fact logic that didn't give much room for arguments.
"I'm not an animal!" Logan growled and saw the glee in Victor's eyes when he heard that the younger man was close to losing his temper. The same argument had worked ever since they were children and Victor grinned teasingly at Logan.
"Sure you are you just haven't accepted it yet," Victor said slapping Logan's shoulder companionably as rough laughter burst out of him as they two walked closer to the ship.
Logan was not impressed with the memory of the younger him and Victor Creed He was agitated and didn't even realize the menacing growl that came deep within his chest. He might not have noticed but Emma sure did. The witch decided to get up from her chair and make coffee to distract herself while Logan was calming down.
A while later the cottage filled with the unmistakable scent of very strong espresso being made. Emma put the usual mountain of sugar in her coffee and none in Logan's as he detested sweet flavours. Then she walked back to Logan and nudged him to accept one of the two cups. The mutant grabbed the cup and silently gulped a large sip of the black liquid.
"What the hell is this?" Logan spat as the very strong coffee burnt its way into his stomach. He slammed the cup down on the table and eyed the witch in anger.
Emma looked back calmly and trying in vain to hide the teasing grin that was on her lips. Why on earth she found a feral mutant adorable when riled up was beyond her, but the fury in Logan's eyes softened her heart.
Her hand stroked calmly over his hair as if to soothe his rage and then the witch said, "it was a double espresso, my favourite."
"What?" Logan murmured contentedly, his head resting on her stomach as the witch continued to stroke his hair.
"It was double espresso; I thought you needed a distraction."
"Distraction yes, liquid mud no thanks," he said a pressed his head even closer to her enjoying the caress before looking up and noticing that Emma had a hard time hiding her amused grin.
"What's so funny kid?"
"Do you realize that you're over 200 years old? Probably more like 250 years old I would guess," She said fascinated by Logan and the mutant powers that had kept him so young and healthy for so long. It was such a shame that he didn't remember his past, all the things he must have witnessed through the centuries.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were going to fight in The American Revolutionary War. The Brits needed assistance against the rebelling troops of the colony. Of course, it was not based on kindness but politics as every man who fought for the British government were promised a healthy slice of land on their return from the war."
Emma realized she had fallen into her teacher mode when Logan's eyes seemed to glaze over with sheer boredom in reaction to her story. In that aspect Logan didn't differ that much from his students, as soon as history was shoved down his throat, he looked half-asleep.
"Never mind. What matters is that you and that Victor were in The American Revolutionary War."
"His name is Victor Creed," Logan said dryly before standing up and walking to the window to stare into the forest. Emma walked to his side and asked curiously, "So you know him? He's alive then? That should make this easier for us to investigate your past further."
"No," Logan said quickly, ending that suggestion right away.
"What do you mean no? This man is the only link to your past and you were bloody lucky to see him there." Emma said excitedly not noticing the thundercloud that was gathering over Logan's head.
Logan glared at Emma, hoping the witch would shut up before he would lose his temper. It was too late as a little burst of annoyance escaped and he slammed his fist on the wall in frustration and Emma jumped in shock before staring at him wide-eyed. An uncomfortable silence ensured while Logan tried to reel in his temper and Emma tried to relax her speeding heart. The witch was not used to feral mutants and had so much to learn about Logan's fiery instincts, but she was willing to learn.
"I take that as a no then," Emma finally said after a while when the two had stood in silence while Logan reeled in his temper.
"I won't talk to him and nothing you say will change that," Logan said stubbornly, his face set in a frown. The witch had had a good idea, but she had no idea just how much the two mutants hated each other. A friendly conversation between the two was simply not possible.
"Right, I think I understand. There is bad blood between you two. We will find another way," Emma said soothingly, and Logan nodded in silence. It was the best idea the witch had had through the entire conversation.
"Tell me your memory, I need a distraction," Logan suggested not wanting to think more about his past and how it tangled with Victor creed.
"I was thinking of showing you this time. Hang on…" Emma replied and reached for her backpack that was close by. The witch dug around for a while before finding what she had been looking for.
Emma put a little bowl on the table and pointed her wand towards it, "Finite Incantatem."
As soon as she did that the bowl changed into its original size that was very large and would never have fit into her backpack as it were.
"What the hell is that?" Logan asked curiously, his fingers reaching out to touch the smooth edges of the bowl.
"It's called a pensive. I retract a memory from my mind and place it in the pensive. We stick our heads in the bowl and watch the memory as if in a muggle cinema. While there you can talk to me and you can leave the memory at any moment if you feel uncomfortable."
Emma touched her wand towards her temple and then pulled it away slowly towards the pensive. To Logan's surprise, something silvery came out of her head and followed the tip of the wand to the pensive. The grey material swirled around in the bowl as if it was alive by the magic Emma had used.
"That's your memory?"
"Yes, I think I did that correctly. If not, we try again."
"You've done this before?"
"I have seen a memory in a pensive once before," Emma replied hoping he got the hint that she wasn't an expert on all things magical. Most wizards or witches never had to use a pensive in their lives, so Emma wasn't too embarrassed about not being an expert on the matter.
"All right, let's do it," Logan said and Emma nodded in agreement. She took a gentle hold of his hand and walked to the table where there pensive was.
"You have to stick your head in the pensive. Like this," she explained and dove her head into the bowl. For a second Logan stared at the scene in front of him in surprise before shrugging his shoulders in defeat and following the witch's instruction.
As they entered Emma's memory, Logan saw instantly a much younger version of Emma as she walked unsteadily down a dark corridor. The witch was alone and her arms were filled with large, heavy books. So much so that Logan could not see the lower part of her face as she walked slowly down the corridor. A scruffy looking cat slowed her down as he was constantly wrapping itself around her legs and purring. Emma stopped and looked around for a place to put her books down so she could give the cat the attention it craved.
"You were a cute kid," Logan whispered teasingly to older Emma as they walked slowly as to match the pace of a younger Emma who staggered under the heavy weight of the books that she was carrying. The older Emma ignored Logan's jibe and looked highly uncomfortable as she looked nervously down the hallway as if she was expecting something to happen.
They saw the young girl froze dead in her tracks as she noticed three boys come walking down the hallway approaching her. The cat hissed and turned running away in the other direction as if it knew this encounter could only end badly.
Logan felt a growl form in his chest when he saw her cat raise its hackles and hiss at the newcomers. His animal instincts agreed with the cat, something bad was about to happen to younger Emma and there was nothing he could do to help her, it had already passed years ago.
"These boys were a part of my house. The blonde one is Draco and the other two are Crabbe and Goyle," older Emma explained to Logan shortly before her eyes went back to the scenario that was playing out in front of them.
"Mudblood," was the greeting that Draco snorted out as they walked closer to the girl who was struggling with her books. It was obvious to Logan that they were up to no good, it was verified when the older Emma took a step behind him as to not see what would happen next.
"You are spending too much time with the Gryffindor. Why on earth anyone would want to become a friend of Hermione Granger? Stop it or you will get into a world of trouble," the blonde boy ordered her as if she were his servant and not a student of Hogwarts.
"Goyle," Draco said and one of his goons as a command that Emma didn't understand as she stared at them wide-eyed as if in a state of shock.
Goyle didn't waste any time on pleasantries before he walked up to younger Emma and punched straight in the face while a sadistic smile came over his face. A loud cracking sound echoed in the hallway making Logan sick to his stomach. He had heard that sound often enough to recognize it anywhere. That boy had shattered Emma's nose in one punch of his pudgy fist.
In an instant, Emma dropped all the books and they scattered across the floor. Draco's laughter echoed through the hallway as the young girl stared at them with a startled expression on her face as blood started to pour from her broken nose. Emma's lower lip shook and a few seconds later she started crying. The sounds of her sobs made the boy's even more gleeful and the grinned widely at the terrified girl.
Logan turned to the older Emma and growled at her, "Why did they do it?"
Emma replied coldly, "They thought I was unworthy of being in their house. They were teaching me a lesson, hoping I would quit school."
Logan snarled with resentment; hitting females was not something he had ever condoned as far as he could remember. The mutant walked up to little Emma and tried to touch her on the shoulder. He had suspected that he wouldn't be able to touch her, but it still startled him when his finger cut straight through her as if she were a ghost.
"It won't work, but I appreciate your concern," Emma said approvingly behind him and beckoned him to step from the memory of her past.
"Get her," Draco said and the two goons ran to her and threw the young witch to the ground. They kicked her until the child was hardly conscious and then Draco called them off when he heard sounds from the other end of the hallway, "let's go before Filch comes with that blasted cat of his."
The three boys ran down the hallway and away from sight. The two friends stood silently watching Emma's memory as it became a little hazy because of her state. The only sound they heard was little Emma's laboured breath as she struggled in and out of consciousness.
"Why the hell are we still doing here?" Logan asked agitated. This was the last place he wanted to be to watch younger Emma struggling so without being able to help her.
"Because what you witnessed was not the end of the story," Emma answered stoically looking towards down hallway as if she was waiting for something to happen. A few moments later a happy chatter echoed down the hall and Emma looked at Logan with a gloomy grin tugging at her lips.
"Enter the golden trio," Emma murmured to Logan and stepped closer to the wall away from the corridor as if to give the trio in her memory room.
Logan looked at Emma with questioning eyes and then down the hallway wondering who the trio was. In a few seconds, three kids came clattering down the hallway and they sounded as if they were arguing.
"Harry, we might be expelled for this!" a young girl with wild brown hair said scolding the boy next to her. The boy, Harry, who was wearing large glasses for his slim face didn't seem to mind her worries in the slightest as his jaw was set in a determined way.
"No one will know 'Moine, we will just sneak into Snape's storage room and get the Boomslang skin and then..."
A red-haired boy who had been walking next to Harry stopped, "bloody hell, what in Merlin's name happened here. Look over there."
The trio stopped dead in their tracks staring at Emma who was struggling to stay conscious on the cold floor. The scene didn't look good with the books scattered all over, blood on the floor and the obvious beating the young girl had gotten only moments earlier.
"Merlin! That's Emma!" the girl gasped before running to Emma to help her wipe the blood off her face and see if she could get her to sit up. The boys walked carefully behind uncertain how to react.
"She's a bloody Slytherin 'Moine," the red-haired boy said looking at the girl like she was trash. Logan felt his chest fill with a loud growl at the boy's words. Their behaviour was no different from the other goons only a few moments earlier, hate for others that were different.
Hermione turned around her eyes blazing, "Ronald Weasley! If you will leave Emma here, I will not help you with the Polyjuice potion!"
The two boys looked at each other as if they were having a silent dialogue. The dark-haired boy looked longingly down the corridor for a moment before looking at Hermione and asking, "What do you want us to do?"
"Harry, we have to get her to the infirmary; Ron collect her books!" Hermione called and the boys sprang into action.
The vision faded. Emma and Logan stared at each other for a moment before walking to the veranda where Logan lit a cigar while he thought about what he had seen. It seemed that in many ways the magical community wasn't that different from the human world. Those that were different often suffered and it didn't matter if it was at Hogwarts or Xavier's.
"Who were the golden trio as you called them?" Logan asked curiously. The mutant thought that asking first about the kids would ease his way into more serious questions he had about her memory.
"They were from another house called Gryffindor. Hermione had been sitting next to me for a while in some of the classes. We fit together intellectually even though she was a far better student than I was. Her ambition was and is amazing. All four of us started to spend time together after I was attacked by Draco and his friends. It validated me in a way in the boy's eyes that I was hated by the Slytherins; it made it even more appealing to befriend me since I was so detested by my fellow housemates. Dumbledore did his best to keep his distance from me in public as to not get me into further trouble with my housemates. I was eighteen when Dumbledore finally admitted openly to the magical community that I was his ward. From eleven to eighteen I had no one but the trio to keep me company except during the summers when I roamed Hogwarts while the other students left for home. They were steadfast friends and still are today," Emma said with affection thinking of her quirky friends from school. They had grown up together as if they were siblings and Emma was happy, she had gotten the opportunity to get to know them all. It was one of the things she looked forward to when she would return to Hogwarts, to meet the trio and Ginny.
"What happened to the bullies? Where are these guys today?" Logan asked curiously hoping that they had paid for their actions, if not the mutant was more than willing to kick their asses if they hadn't paid a heavy price for their actions. Even though Logan knew intellectually that Emma could take care of herself as a grown woman, seeing her as a child and being bullied had pulled on his heartstrings. He didn't know where the need to protect the child in the memory came from nor did he want to analyse it further. It was enough for Logan that the feeling was there, Emma was someone he cared about greatly and therefore she was under his protection.
"One of the bullies, Crabbe, died in a fire during the final battle. If not for the trio Draco and Goyle would have gone the same way. The trio was kind enough to save them and that was an act of mercy. I thought that was highly commendable of them after everything that the Malfoy family had put the three of them through in the past years."
"How were boys punished for attacking you in the hallway?" Logan asked not liking the stern expression that quickly came over Emma's face. Something hadn't gone the way she had wanted with the punishment of the three boys.
"They weren't. The potions master was the head of our house and he chose what punishments were decided within his house. Professor Snape declared that there was not enough evidence for them to be punished so they walked away without a scratch or any burden to their name. I'm sure you will see Snape in one of my memories later, I think you will understand everything clearer after seeing what kind of a person he is." Emma answered knowing full well that Logan would probably detest the bat of the dungeons, everybody did at first glance. Severus Snape did not have an appealing aura about him and the wizard did everything he could to drive people off. A hidden talent that was very efficient.
Logan frowned at her words; the little shits would have killed her given the chance. No wonder the kid had trust issues after going through all that in her childhood, he was more surprised that Emma Winter wasn't more fucked up than she was. She had her issues due to the horrors she had seen, but Logan knew the witch only needed to vent and then time would take care of the rest. The mutant would help her heal simply because he wanted to, not because they had struck a deal months earlier.
"How could your guardian allow this?"
"I never understood it personally even though I eventually did forgive him. I did not understand how he could look at me and decide to merely withdraw twenty points of each of them. I presume he thought I would get into even more of trouble if he interfered, but I think he was blinded by Snape as well. Whatever the potion master told him was always the right thing and it didn't matter who became collateral damage in their plotting when it came to the greater good."
"You were just a kid and not a toy," Logan growled annoyed as he bit down hard on his cigar. What kind of people were these wizards to treat Emma like that? Even though Logan was sure that this Dumbledore had meant well it had come out harsh and uncaring. It was something that Emma, the soft-hearted witch, had not needed as she was growing up.
"True, I was only twelve at the time. I was lucky that the trio found me and it sealed our friendship. They had learned not to trust any Slytherins and often rightly so. Still, they knew I was one of them and still being tortured because the Slytherins thought I was a Mudblood."
At the confused look on Logan's face, Emma quickly added, "A person of non-magic parents. Something that is not allowed in the Slytherin house, well not set in stone, however deeply frowned upon."
"Did you ever take your revenge on them?"
Emma smiled softly at the mutant that she knew would have ripped their heads off as revenge, "After the beating, I got in the corridor it became endless revenge from both sides. The first revenge came from me naturally. I was not as violent as them in the vengeance; I spiked the pumpkin juice that they drank turning their hair pink for a week. Those were fun times. Hermione of course offered to make the potion for me as we often sat together in classes. Draco and his goons suspected me but had a hard time pinning it on me. One New Year they took revenge on me that almost had me killed."
Logan stared at her in quiet disapproval at her words.
"What?" she asked calmly as he eyed her angrily not understanding what kind of life it had been for Emma in the magical community. The mutant kids had it rough, but Xavier would never have allowed the violent behaviour under his nose that Emma seemed to have had to suffer under at Hogwarts.
"That time they tried to kill you? You say it like it's no big deal, like something like that happens every day to children," Logan growled not used to anyone speak about death in such a casual way. It seemed that Emma had gotten too desensitized to death as the witch spoke about it as if she were talking about her dinner.
"That is what Slytherins do best my friend. Boundaries have never stopped us, and it always ends up with someone getting hurt. It usually is just a matter of time before each of us has to fight for our existence within the group. I will admit however that I was the one that suffered the most during those years."
"You come from a barbaric society," Logan muttered as he drank his scotch and conveniently ignored how barbaric he could be when the feral side took over.
Emma smiled at him gently almost flattered that he was so protective of her. She hadn't had many people in her life who had felt the need to protect her from harm and Logan was a welcome add-on to that small group.
"I almost got killed when Draco and his friends sent me into a werewolf lair. Now usually the werewolf was a sweet and wonderful man, it was just during a full moon that he turned into a monster if he didn't get a potion that would stop his transformation. That time he hadn't gotten it as Professor Snape was away, but he always made the potion for Remus. I got a false note that I thought was from the trio and I hurried to the Shrieking shack one evening to meet them. Little did I know that my friends would not be there and instead a nasty looking werewolf would try its best to eat me for dinner.
I managed to get away with my life by squeezing into a small crack in the cellar of the Shrieking Shack. My teacher went when the wolf came out. When Remus woke up the morning after as a human, he saw blood all over himself and on the floor of the cellar. After a while, he found me unconscious inside the crack of the foundation. Thankfully, he had not managed to bite me, but I had deep scratches after his claws when he had tried to peel me out of the crack without success. Remus brought me straight to the infirmary where Madame Pomfrey patched me up. I almost had a subscription to one of the beds in her infirmary throughout my years at Hogwarts.
Fortunately, Remus got me there on time because I was about to bleed out. Thank Merlin for magic medicine because without them I would be one-eyed now and half of my face would be completely unrecognizable. Unfortunately, that attack was the reason why said teacher had to resign. The word got out and parents were terrified of having their children in a school where such a monster was allowed to roam free. I felt very sad when Remus stepped down because he was one of the finest teachers I had ever had."
Logan didn't say anything and just stared quizzically at her with an expression she didn't understand.
"What?"
"Werewolf?"
"Yes," the witch nodded not understanding Logan's question nor his surprise at the mentioning of werewolves. To her, they were as normal as gryphons or giants.
"Are you saying that werewolves exist in real and not just in stories and films?" Logan asked sceptically even though he knew he should know better than to doubt her words. Emma had never once lied to him; the Wolverine would know as peoples scent changed when they lied. There was a part of him that just wanted to laugh at Emma's story and brush it off as bullshit, but he knew her story was true. There was a whole other world out there that he had no idea how worked.
Emma answered enthusiastically, "Most of the magical creatures you have read about are real. They just are usually hidden from the non-magical people."
Logan had to ask, "Unicorns?"
A warm smile came over Emma's face at his question, "yes they are very real and extremely beautiful. Very rare mind you."
Logan huffed, how on earth could he reply to the discovery of unicorns? Laugh at her sarcastically? Probably not, the witch had a temper and her wand was too close. He knew that making fun of where she came from would probably end up in him being blasted and he was not in the mood for it.
Emma giggled to herself and shot her glance sideways to him before giggling again and flushing quite unexpectedly. Clearly, something she was pondering had embarrassed her. Logan had to ask what had caused this unexpected mirth on her behalf.
"What is it kid?"
"Then again you would never get near one," Emma said crackling up with laughter and putting her hand over her mouth to try to kill the wicked laughter that erupted from her chest as she looked at the confused face of Logan who had no idea why she was in such a state of laughter.
"And why not?" he growled annoyed at the exclusive witch humour that was taking over his little friend. It annoyed him when she was like this because he had no idea why she was laughing or if she was laughing at him.
"Because they only approach virgins," Emma replied, her dark eyes twinkling and she laughed at the surprised look on Logan's face before deep laughter rumbled from his chest. The little witch had a wicked sense of humour but was one of the few that dared to tease him. For that alone, he would stand by her side as long as Emma wanted him to.