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.

There were a few things about Emma that could not be considered normal by any standard, for mutants or even magical folk. Logan had kept a close eye on the witch through the months and had noticed a few things that were different about her.

Emma loved to stand outside in the rain. Logan had found her on a few occasion dancing in the rain as if the cold didn't affect her. He had teased her that humans and mutants didn't do that unless they were off in the head, but the witch didn't care. After that, the witch had moved even further from the house when enjoying the little bursts of magic that came from her being while she danced carefree in the pouring rain. Logan never approached her again about the subject, as it seemed to irk her, but he continued to watch her dance from a distance.

There was something beautifully wild about the witch when Emma thought she was alone, twirling in circles with her eyes closed and her head turned upwards to the rainy sky. Bursts of magic came from her, nothing dangerous, just enough to surge electricity into the air making the hair on Logan's arms stand on end. Emma never spoke about her joy when it rained, not even to Logan and he never told her how fascinated he was watching her as the magic poured so freely from her being. It was something fiercely private, something that the mutant knew instinctively that she wouldn't like to share with anyone, not even with him.

It was beautiful to watch her so carefree and happy without the worries of fitting in or what were the normal standards of society. Emma Winter was unlike any creature that Logan had ever met in his life, but he adored everything about her. Even the things he couldn't possibly understand as he didn't have magical powers.

Another thing Logan had noticed that was a little off, was Emma's love for sugar. Logan had always noticed that Emma had an unusually sweet tooth, more so than anyone else he had known. Give the witch a chocolate bar and she would devour it quickly with passion.

However, after getting pregnant her need for sweets had gone into overdrive. Sure Logan had seen Rogue and the kids at the mansion devour some sweets but never with such passion as Emma did. Such were the times when the witch would get herself a warm toast with butter and a large spoon of sugar on top and then top it off with a glass of warm milk that she had added a few spoons of sugar into for good measure.

It seemed to Logan that whenever she felt tired or spent, Emma needed sugar or chocolate to get her energy up. It was as if her magic fed on sweets, giving her energy if the body had problems. It seemed to work, because every time she ate sweets, her magic got stronger or so Logan presumed by the immense cinnamon scent that came from the witch after she had devoured her sweets.

Whenever someone tried to tease her about her sugar need, Emma just laughed and brushed it off. Logan knew however how hard his wife took it at times as she disliked being seen so different from the rest. The witch had tried her utmost to not stand out from the mutants and tried to behave as a normal human being would. When the others pointed out that she was somehow different, the witch realised that she could never quite fit into as normal, whatever that meant anyway.

The tell-tale sign of how different Emma was however came out the most in how unafraid the witch was of her husband. Even when Logan had clashed with Scott in the Danger Room and was close to losing control, Emma never flinched with fright or showed any sign of her being afraid of him, not even when he knew that she should be wary. It was as if she trusted both him and the beast inside to never take their frustrations out on her, and it was simply her instinct and love that guided her on the right path. Emma was right, Logan would never do anything to bring harm to his mate or their child she carried.

It was early May and the students had started to prepare for the exams that would begin a few weeks later. The students and faculty looked immensely forward to the summer vacation. The students that were able would go home to their families for a much-needed vacation. Others, that were not welcome at home, were welcome to stay at Xavier's. The mansion was their home, the students would be welcome there as long as they wanted and needed.

Emma was looked immensely forward to leaving in June with Logan. They had many plans for the future, and none of them included staying on at Xavier's. The witch and the mutant were both hermits at heart and they wanted to raise their child away from those that wouldn't understand them. Riots had begun across the country; dissatisfaction around the globe had stirred the already lit flames of anger all over the United States. After much thought, Xavier had asked the more obviously looking mutants to not stray far from the school, in case of danger. Humans were unpredictable when they were afraid and Charles didn't want to take any chances with the safety of his students or faculty.

The more normal-looking members of the faculty took turns going to the supermarket to buy groceries. That week was Emma's turn, and she was more than thrilled to go, to leave the mansion for something simple as shopping was refreshing after staying so long at the mansion daydreaming about her future The only problem was that she had never learned how to drive. It was a muggle thing, a skill that Emma hadn't even realized she needed until she started living at the mansion. Apparating and disapparating were out of the question, something that so easily would have solved her problem in the magical world.

The witch decided to ask Rogue to come with her on her shopping trip. It would give them a little time alone to smooth over any problems they had had in the past. Emma knew it would please Logan immensely if they would make peace, especially since Logan and Emma were about to become parents.

As Emma wandered the mansion in hunt of Rogue, she quickly found Ororo who was writing the longest shopping list that the witch had ever seen. Emma groaned inside, it would be a long day at the supermarket, of that she was sure.

"Ororo, have you seen Rouge by any chance?"

The woman raised her head in surprise, her eyes filled with astonishment at Emma's inquiry. The witch rarely looked for anyone but Logan in the mansion and she had certainly never looked for Rogue as the two had tried to avoid each other as much as possible.

"I saw her a few moments ago, she just came in from hanging by the pool all morning with Kitty and the others," Ororo said, studying Emma unashamedly as if she was trying to understand her motive for looking for the student.

"Is there any special reason why you are looking for her? Did she do something wrong?" Ororo insisted but was caught off guard when Emma openly laughed in her face as if her question had been ridiculous.

"You worry too much my friend," Emma said smiling widely at the suspicion that Ororo had shown her mere moments earlier. Her new friend was like a mother hen to the entire house, students and staff alike. Ororo had an uncanny ability to know about most of the things happening at the mansion, however, she didn't know about Emma's pregnancy yet. Hank had kept it a secret and had said it was simply for Emma and Logan to decide when they would announce the pregnancy to the residents of the mansion.

Ororo smiled shyly in return, "I'm sorry Emma, I think my words came out much harsher than I intended. I was only curious as to why you would need to talk to Rogue, from what I understood you two don't seem to get along very well."

"Let's hope those days are behind us. I was hoping to get her to drive me into town so I could shop for the week; looking at your list I know it's going to be a long and painful procedure."

Ororo grinned at her friend; sarcasm was one of Emma's strong points. It was a personality trait that was just so British, and it seemed to come as second nature to her young friend. The sharp words rolled off her tongue without her noticing, but the humour was always close by to soften the blows of her words.

"You have to get used to mundane things like shopping, here there is no staff to take care of everything Miss Private School."

Emma grinned teasingly at Ororo's words. The witch had given the staff a very sweet cartoonish version of her life; she had normalized the stories as much as she could to blend better into the world around her. Hogwarts was morphed into a private school, house-elves miraculously transformed into house staff and houses were picked by interests of the students. It was a correct description perhaps but certainly in its vaguest form.

"I'm getting used to this; it's quite all right Ororo. I simply wanted Rogue to come with me for a little bonding time," Emma said genuinely, her voice sounding warm as she thought how happy Logan would be to know that peace would finally be stored between the two he cared for the most.

"I think that's a very good idea Emma," Ororo said nodding in agreement to her suggestion before her eyes darted from Emma to the kitchen door.

"Speak of the devil, here she is," Ororo said grinning teasingly at Emma and handing her the shopping list before leaving the kitchen quickly after greeting Rogue.

Emma turned around quickly while folding the shopping list together in her hands, she was a little nervous that Rogue would reject her offer, but she was trying her best not to show her concern to the girl that was staring at her with suspicion.

"Rogue, I was looking for you."

The girl stared at her distrustfully before promptly saying, "I didn't do it, it was Bobby's idea and I never wanted…"

Emma couldn't help laughing teasingly before raising her hand to silence the girl. The last thing she wanted was to know some inside information about the pranks of the students; she had not been an angel herself when she was young. Most of the trouble with the Trio had prepared her for the struggles of adult life and she did not want to ruin, what was most likely, a carefully laid out plan to do some mischief.

"Please Rogue, don't talk yourself into trouble. It should be the other way around. Better to not utter another word, at least not in a presence of a teacher. I think we can agree on that," Emma said smiling widely, her dark eyes twinkling with mirth as she looked at the younger girl with humour.

Rogue's caramel eyes widened in surprise at Emma's words and the girl smiled shyly in return, nodding enthusiastically in agreement with her teacher's words. Emma was right, after all, it was better to be quiet and keep her nose out of trouble.

"Now, the reason why I wanted to talk to you was this," Emma said lifting her hand to show the thick shopping list that Ororo had just finished writing.

"As you can see, it's the dreaded shopping list of the mansion and today is my day to go into town to buy whatever is on this list. The problem is, as you probably know, I don't have a driver's licence. Therefore I was thinking you might join me? We might have a cup of coffee on the way and, if we are lucky, smooth things over a little bit between us. That would make me very happy as well as Logan, even though he doesn't know about this idea of mine."

Rogue nodded in agreement, feeling enthusiastic about finally getting out of the mansion after weeks of being cooped in the mansion "sure, I'd like that very much Emma Winter."

"Please, you make me feel as old as a Crumple-Horned Snorkack when you call me by my full name," Emma replied snorting with humour as she quoted Luna Lovegood. That girl had always made her laugh with her stories of strange creatures that were more fitting in storybooks than reality. Her laughter died quickly when she noticed that Rogue was staring at her with a question in her eyes.

The witch cleared her throat loudly in discomfort when she realized her mistake and her head reeled with some ways to fix her blunder before finally blurting out, "It's a type of deer … very rare. You wouldn't have heard about it here."

Rogue nodded in agreement, having no idea what her teacher was going on about and wondering why she was getting so flustered about deer. Bobby had mentioned that sometimes Emma Winter behaved strangely; talking about a deer was certainly one of those times. Rogue made a mental note to tell Bobby about Emma Winter's newest weirdness the next time she would talk to him.

"Please, call me Emma. I would want you to be informal with me," Emma said persuasively, giving Rogue a pleading look.

"I would like that too," Rogue said warmly before walking to the cabinet where the house keys were kept. There she picked the keys of the large pickup that was always used when the staff went shopping.

She turned to Emma and nodded her head towards the garage, "let's go."

Emma nodded back enthusiastically and together the two of them went into the large garage of the mansion where Xavier had accumulated so many cars over the decades. The witch was so enthusiastic about making peace with Rogue that she completely forgot to think of her wand that was locked in a chest in the room she shared with Logan on the upper floor of the mansion.

Shopping had been uneventful. After filling two carts of groceries, Emma and Rogue finally walked inside the mall to get themselves something to drink before heading home. Emma was feeling more tired than she had realized, the crowd and the loud music inside the supermarket made her want to go home and crawl on her bed while reading a good book. The pregnancy was taking its toll, and the baby was making the witch feel more exhausted with every day that passed.

Emma brought a hot chocolate and a soda over to the table where Rogue was sitting after the girl had put all the groceries to the car.

"There you are, one soda for you," Emma said merrily, handing Rogue a glass filled to the brim with ice and soda.

"Thank you, Emma," Rogue said feeling a little awkward to say her teacher's name so casually. It had been instilled in the students to always call the teachers by their family names. Xavier thought it was necessary to maintain a little distance and respect between students and teachers.

"You are welcome," Emma replied while sitting down dramatically to demonstrate just how tired she was. She reached for the sugar and poured three large bags into her hot cocoa. Rogue's questioning glance towards her cup made Emma grin teasingly.

"You are right, it's too much sugar. I realize that but I need my sugar to survive," Emma said in a conspiracy tone as she stirred the sugar into the cocoa.

The two sat in comfortable silence while they finished their drinks before Emma looked at Rogue intensely, her dark eyes studying the younger one seriously.

"There was one thing I wanted to talk to you about," Emma said before taking the final sip of her cocoa. The witch had procrastinated long enough, it was time to come clean with Rogue and discuss what had been on her mind for months.

"I know you will feel uncomfortable, but it's a discussion that we have to have to clear the air and move onward. Don't you agree?"

Rouge had dreaded that Emma might bring up something uncomfortable, there would be a time where they would have to discuss Logan, it had been inevitable. Still, the girl sighed; it would be so difficult to rationalize what she knew sounded a little bit crazy. Rogue had looked up to Logan from the first moment she had seen him at the bar in Laughlin city. He was her hero, a shelter in a crazy world.

"I don't want you to feel as if I'm stealing him from you as that certainly is not my intention."

"I know that. You wouldn't think so from my behaviour over the last year, but I want him happy. I would have wanted him to be happy with me but that will never happen, and I realize that. He is happy with you. I see it," Rogue said, being truthful about the situation. It didn't even hurt to say it, she had moved on in her mind. Her teenage crush had died a painful death the moment Logan had told her that he had gotten married and that he was happier than ever before.

"That doesn't mean that I'm trying to steal him from you. You two have your things that I am not a part of. Your hockey weekends are something beyond me. It's a hobby I simply will never understand," Emma said laughing a burst of deep, throaty laughter thinking back on the time that Logan and Rogue threw her out from the TV room after she had complained too much about the match.

"Hey don't diss the hockey, it's the bomb," Rogue said teasingly at her teacher who rolled her eyes dramatically at the girl's admiration for the sport. It was nothing personal, Emma Winter was simply not a fan of sports in general.

"It's a bomb all right," Emma retorted, sarcasm rolling off her tongue and her British accent stronger than ever. The two laughed and stood up, ready to leave.

"So peace?" Rogue finally asked, hoping that Emma would let things go so they could move on.

"Peace," Emma said shaking Rogue's outstretched hand warmly and feeling quite certain that the two would become friends with time. The girl had grown up since Emma had moved into the mansion. Rogue had changed from a confused, teenage girl into a confident, young woman that had her whole future ahead of herself.

The witch smiled happily as they headed towards the exit. Making peace with Rogue had made her extremely happy, it was something she had wanted to do for the longest time especially since she knew how important it was to Logan. It had made her uncomfortable how angry the younger one had been when the friendship between Logan and Emma had started to grow. Finally, things had settled between the two, Logan would be happy knowing that there would finally be peace.

Unfortunately, the peace would not last long as the two of them noticed a small group of men staring at them as they walked past them in the parking lot. Ororo's warnings rang in Emma's head; times were dangerous all over the world especially for those that were considered different from the norm. Mutants were feared and hated as the public didn't understand them. Magneto and his lot had fuelled the hatred to new heights when they had started fighting back.

"That's one of the kids that were with the blue, hairy mutant ape the other day," a burly guy said to a few of his mates and pointed directly at Rogue, who looked panicked at her teacher. Emma could see the girl visibly pale under the scrutiny of the rough men that stared at her full of hate. The white lock of hair had alerted them to who Rogue was, it was so easy to recognise her from the platinum white lock in her dark hair.

The witch moved her body without a thought in front of Rogue in an attempt to hide the girl from the men's scrutinizing stare. They were simply two young women that knew they had to get to their car as soon as possible before either of them would get hurt.

"We have to get to the car now, no don't run. It will antagonize them and only make them chase us faster," Emma hissed as low as she could before putting her arm protectively around Rogue's shoulders. The witch felt her sleeve in search of her beloved wand and cursed herself for the stupidity of having forgotten her wand in her hurry to leave the mansion. The witch was a total idiot, forgetting her wand proved as much to her. A witch never left the house without her wand, no matter if she intended to use it or not. It was simply common sense to keep a wand around in case of danger.

Even though the two women weren't far apart in age they were different in height and manner. Rogue instinctively put her trust in Emma to get her out of a scary situation and not giving a second thought to the reasoning that Emma was as far as the students knew, totally normal and not in any advance to fight off an angry mob.

Rogue heard Emma mumbling to herself, "accio wand," but thought nothing of it, not knowing that her teacher's sixth sense was screaming that they were in danger and that she had just summoned her wand that was locked down in a chest by her bed at Xavier's.

If Rogue would use her powers in self-defence, the angry men would surely tear them to pieces. There was no question that the men were after Emma and Rogue because they thought the women were easy targets with no obvious powers. The two women hurried through the mall, towards their exit. Emma hoped that she would be able to get Rouge and her baby out of the situation unharmed. How she wished that Logan was with her to protect them from danger.

The students were scattered around the basketball court watching an epic battle between Bobby and Angel. The professor was out with Ororo, they were trying to find investors to privately fund to keep the school and the X-men alive in such troubling times.

Logan and Scott were sparring in the danger room, completely unaware of anything but their need for blood and revenge on each other for past grievances. No one noticed loud banging sounds coming from the bedroom of the newlyweds in the teacher's quarters.

The sight of Emma's chest floating in mid-air inside the room she shared with Logan would have startled most people. The loud thuds from inside the chest sounded as if a very angry hippogriff was trying to burst out.

With every attempt of Emma's wand to respond to the desperate calls of its master, the chest floated in the air closer towards the window. Finally, it reached the window and started an endless forceful banging on the window sill as the chest was far too wide to break the window.

The banging sounds continued to echo through the halls of the mansion.

Emma and Rogue went further out to the parking lot and the younger one pointed towards the old pickup truck quite a far distance away, where they had parked it earlier that morning.

Realizing that her wand would not arrive in time, Emma grabbed Rogue's gloved hand and hissed at her "we have to run, there is no other way".

The young girl at her side nodded in agreement. The men were still on their tails and the best way would be to run, lock the car and drive as fast as they could to the mansion.

"Here are the keys, if something happens you get yourself to the mansion and to safety. If I won't make it, call them immediately as soon as you are at a safe distance. I'm pregnant, the X-men will have to come to get me out. You must do what I say, do you understand? Xavier would skin me alive if something happened to you," Emma said urgently as they ran as fast as they could over the parking lot. The three men were right behind them and were much quicker than Emma had anticipated.

"Where are you going mutie?" one of the guys said grabbing Rogue roughly, who in return screamed terrified while struggling to get out of the man's grip.

"Let her go you bloody wanker," Emma growled before trying to hit the man who held Rogue. The man swatted her away and grabbed Rouge even harder. Hearing Rogue groan in pain angered the witch, the men had surrounded them and that drove her forward. Emma knew she had to get Rouge out of there before she would get killed by the angry men who hated mutants with such passion.

"Let her go!" the witch snarled and stared deeply into the attacker's eyes, trying to unleash whatever uncontrolled magic that was within her. It felt like forever, but little the man's hand started to shake, and the vice hold on Rogue loosened enough for her to escape his grasp.

Audible gasps were heard, and angry grumbles were heard from the men as they closed in on Emma and in that moment she knew that the tables had turned, Rogue was safe but it was the witch herself that was in great trouble.

"Mutie, she's a mutie," someone said heatedly before the men encircled Emma closely, Rogue forgotten in the commotion. Emma saw from the corner of her eye that Rogue ran like the wind towards the pickup and the witch was relieved to see that this time, for the first time, the teenage girl did what Emma had told her to do. If she was lucky, Logan and the others would be there in only a few minutes to save her like they had saved so many others in the past.

Rogue started the car and sped away with her foot securely on the gas. There was no way that she could alone stand and help when they were so overpowered. Rogue grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket and immediately called for help. Xavier would know what to do, he always knew how to handle dangerous situations.

Emma watched Rogue speed away from the corner of her eye as she tried to get out of the ring of aggressive men. They were enraged by her little demonstration of power and as soon as she too, tried to take off, the fuming madmen attacked her as if they had been waiting for an excuse to let their frustrations out on someone that had been proven not to be a normal human being.

The witch moaned with pain as the first blow hit her straight in the face, in only moments, she was on the ground being attacked from all angles with fists and feet. Emma tried to block her stomach to protect her baby the best she could while the witch screamed desperately for help that she doubted would come in time.

The witch might have been through many battles but never without her trusty wand, without it, she was no match for a group of angry and terrified men. Her only hope was that the X-men would come to her aid in time. With every burst of pain in her body, she prayed she would last long enough for help to reach her. Just stay awake a few minutes more, the X-men would come soon enough if she just held on.

Logan, how she wished that Logan was with her.

It didn't take long until the vicious attack had brutalized her body, consciousness left her, and a welcome, dark abyss swallowed up her mind. Emma never felt the bust of red-hot magic flowing out of her body, and never saw how it viciously engulfed the startled men that had attacked her.

Nor did she hear the terrified screams, as wild magic consumed the men.

Then there was nothing but silence.

Back at the mansion, in Emma's room, the chest fell to the ground with a loud bang, breaking its lid in the process. The witch's old wand rolled out of the broken chest until it stopped dead in the middle of the floor.

The wand didn't struggle anymore to get to its mistress.

Its mistress was no longer beckoning her wand.

There was only silence.