A/N - Here's chapter two. As with Lightning, Part 1 I'm posting the first two chapters together. This will be the only time I post more than one chapter of the story at a time.
I'll just drop a reminder here (although it won't come into play for a few chapters) that whenever Harry is in uniform as an X-Man and fully masked he will be referred to in the narrative as Lightning. The same goes for the other X-Men. They may use each other's given names from time to time in the field or training but the narrative will use their code names.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling.
2) SKIPPING STONES
Harry Potter looked around with satisfaction as he walked from the back of the Burrow down to the nearby pond with his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger walking alongside him. It was good to be back again. He was spending that day and night at the Weasley house before they all left to attend the finals of the Quidditch World Cup in the morning. By coincidence the match was happening on his 14th birthday which Harry decided was excellent timing. He would then spend another two or three days at the Burrow before returning to New York. He'd extended invitations to both Ron and Hermione to come visit him at Xavier's school during the middle of August and it looked like their respective parents would allow them to come.
When Harry arrived at the Burrow his appearance had caused a bit of a stir amongst the Weasleys. They hadn't seen him in over a year and he knew that he looked very different from when any of them (except for Ron) had last seen him. Mrs. Weasley in particular had gushed over him and how well he looked. It was her considered opinion that wherever he had been for the last year had definitely been good for him. The twins had teased him that he would soon have to beat the girls off with a beater's bat. When Ginny saw him she blushed and ducked shyly away from him just as she had always done when he was around. He frowned to himself a little at that.
"You know" he said to Ron as they walked, "I think I liked the way Ginny was when I was last at Hogwarts better than the way she usually is when I'm around. She practically talked my ear off that time during the few minutes we saw each other but it was good to see her so lively."
"Yeah" said Ron, "normally she never shuts up. I heard about that later. You finally saw the real Ginny."
"But the last time you were at Hogwarts you were there as Lightning" said Hermione, "she didn't know it was you she was talking to."
"I know" said Harry, "that's kind of weird actually. Lightning's even more of a hero than Harry Potter has ever been and she got to see him in action so why wasn't she even more shy when she met Lightning or the other X-Men?"
"There's a difference" said Hermione, "between meeting someone who you've been hearing about almost your whole life who is practically a legend and meeting someone whom you've actually seen in action that you didn't really know much about before that. You probably seemed more approachable as Lightning because you didn't have the same kind of huge myth-like reputation that you do as the 'Boy-Who-Lived.'"
"Thank God for that" said Harry. They had reached the edge of the pond by now. Harry picked up a small stone and tried to send it skipping across the pond. It didn't work and the stone just plopped into the water.
"You need one that's a bit flatter" said Ron bending down and picking up another stone, "and you have to throw it more sidearm, like this." Ron flicked the stone at the pond and the three of them watched as the stone skipped across the water seven times before finally sinking.
"Well done" said Hermione, "I've never managed to do that very well. I think the best I ever did was three skips once."
"It takes some practice" said Ron, "and we do have the pond here to use."
"I'll be glad to do it once" said Harry. He bent down and picked up another stone, this one flatter than the previous one. He watched as Ron skipped another stone. This one skipped five times.
"Try it again" said Ron, "you can do it." Harry smiled a little.
"I seem to remember saying something just like that to you a few months ago" he said. He flicked the stone, trying to do it more like how Ron had done it. This time he managed to get the stone to skip once before sinking – but it did skip.
"Good" said Ron, "it's a start. You'll get better with practice."
"I would hope so" said Harry, "speaking of practice how is your wandless magic coming along?"
"Slowly" said Ron.
"It was the same for me at first" said Harry, "just keep at it."
"I practice only when no one else is around" said Ron, "I don't want my family to know about it yet. Merlin only knows what the twins would say and mum would tell me to stop because we're not supposed to do magic over the summer even though the ministry won't know about it if we're not using our wands."
"Oh?" said Harry, "I hadn't heard that."
"Oh yeah" said Ron, "wandless magic doesn't show up the same way wanded magic does, mostly because it's not as focused, you know like how accidental magic is? Wanded magic is easier to detect because it's more focused or more concentrated (whatever that means, that's how my dad explained it). If you don't use your wand they can't track that you did magic, unless you do something big and in front of muggles who don't know about magic."
"I'm glad of it" said Hermione, "I've been able to show my parents a few of the things we've learned."
"What about when Dobby did magic at the Dursleys that time?" asked Harry, "he didn't use a wand but I still got a warning."
"He must have imitated your magic's individual signature" said Ron, "so the ministry thought it was you. House elves can do that. Also it was near muggles who didn't know about magic. That always trips an alarm at the ministry."
"I see" said Harry and he flicked another stone. This one skipped twice.
"See?" said Ron, "you're getting it." Harry nodded. He and Hermione both watched as Ron flicked another stone. This one skipped ten times. Hermione whistled at that, impressed.
"If Ginny knew the truth about me being Lightning" said Harry suddenly, "how do you think she'd react?"
"I don't know" said Ron, "my guess is she'd be even more shy around you."
"But she spoke to me when I was Lightning" said Harry, "without any problems."
"She didn't know you were Lightning" Hermione reminded him.
"Why?" asked Ron, "are you thinking of telling her?"
"Her" said Harry, "the twins, the rest of your family maybe. If I did would they be able to keep it secret? Maybe not Bill or Charlie since I only just met them but the twins, Ginny, Percy, your parents?"
Ron stopped skipping stones and thought over the question for several moments while Harry and Hermione waited.
"Fred and George, yes" said Ron finally, "they have enough secrets of their own with all of their pranks that they respect other people's secrets. They'd also think that you being Lightning was a great prank on Hogwarts. Ginny would too if only because she's got that crush on you. She'd feel very honored to know such a secret of yours. Beyond that she's a very honest person and wouldn't break a confidence."
"And Percy?" asked Hermione. Ron frowned.
"I hate to say this because he's my brother" he said, "but I wouldn't tell Percy, at least not without getting a magical oath from him first to never tell your secret without your permission. If I know Percy he probably won't go for that. Percy's very ambitious. He wants to rise high in the ministry and eventually become minister. If he thought that telling people you were Lightning would help his career at the ministry he'd probably do it."
"I see" said Harry, "I can't say I'm very surprised by that. What about your parents?"
"You don't have to worry about them" said Ron looking more cheerful, "dad will definitely keep the secret. He'll probably ask you all kinds of questions about how that X-Jet of yours works."
"I'm sure he will" said Harry, "I remember talking him through how to use a telephone once."
"Mum?" said Ron, "she'll keep the secret. She won't be too happy that you're fighting bad guys. She'll probably think you're too young but since it's already a fact of life she'll accept it although she might complain about it. She'll want to tell Dumbledore though but since he already knows, and has known the whole time, that's not a problem. It will probably help her accept that you're an X-Man more easily."
"Maybe we should ask the headmaster to come over" said Hermione, "if you decide to tell Ron's parents that you're Lightning." Harry nodded.
"Thanks" he said to his friends, "I'll think it over." He bent down, picked up another stone and flicked it at the pond. It skipped along the water four times before sinking.
"Well done" said Ron. The three of them skipped stones for a little longer before stopping and walking away toward the orchard the Weasleys owned.
"Harry" said Hermione, "when we saw you at Hogwarts back at the end of April you said that Ilvermorny made you catch up on muggle subjects, right?"
"Yes" said Harry, "the school teaches both and everyone has to learn it all."
"Why does Ilvermorny do that?"
"The American magical world has closer ties to the muggle world" said Harry, "they want their citizens to fit in as well as possible and have as many opportunities as they can. So all magicals have to receive a non-magical education too. This also allows any magical who wishes to attend a non-magical university to do so. All magical schools in the U. S. are accredited by their states. Ilvermorny maintains a cover as a private muggle school for students who want to do that. They don't use the name of Ilvermorny for that. They're called the Adams Greylock School. All records in the muggle world use that name."
"But why?" asked Ron, "surely there's no need for that once the new kids are in the magical world?"
"Many people" said Harry, "especially muggleborns, don't want to stay only in the magical world. Plenty of them had ideas about what they wanted to do with their lives before they knew they were magical. When I was a lot younger I wanted to be an airplane pilot or an astronaut." Harry briefly considered that his trip to Asteroid M earlier that year had sort of made that second wish come true but didn't say it out loud.
"I did too" said Hermione, "whenever the U. S. would send up a space shuttle. I also wanted to be a scientist."
"A what?" asked Ron, clearly unfamiliar with what the other two were talking about.
"They're non-magical occupations" said Harry, "that require a lot of higher education – muggle higher education – to do and that you won't get with only a magical education. Thankfully the American schools understand that. I wonder why Hogwarts doesn't?"
"My parents asked Professor McGonagall about it when I was first accepted to Hogwarts" said Hermione, "they didn't like that I wouldn't be continuing my muggle education if I went to Hogwarts. They weren't going to let me come at all because of that but Professor Dumbledore arranged for me to receive tutoring in my muggle subjects by a muggleborn witch who works in the muggle Department of Education and was certified to be a teacher. I also get tested at the beginning of summer in those subjects and the results are recorded in the muggle world as if I'm being home schooled."
"No wonder you always have so many books" said Ron.
"Naturally" said Hermione as if it were just a matter of course, "I'm not the first person at Hogwarts for whom this has been done. It happens from time to time. When I found that out I asked McGonagall why Hogwarts doesn't also have muggle classes. She said that Professor Dumbledore wants to add those to the curricula but the governors have been blocking him on that for many years."
"Did she say why the governors are like that?" asked Harry.
"They use the same reason Ron did" said Hermione, "that there's no need for kids to get muggle classes once they're in the magical world. This isn't helped by the fact that everyone on the board of governors are from old pureblood families that have very few – if any – ties to the muggle world so they can't understand why anyone might want to leave and don't really believe that anyone would." Harry turned to Ron.
"Forgive me for saying this Ron" said Harry, "but that's a very narrow view to take. There's a lot more to the world than just the magical parts."
"It's not just Hogwarts" said Hermione, "some of the other European schools are the same way. Durmstrang in particular is like that although Beauxbaton is not."
"I hope that changes at some point" said Harry, "if anything good comes out of the X-Men coming to Hogwarts maybe it'll start to open some eyes in Europe that the muggle world isn't a backward place stuck in the past. If that doesn't happen then, well next time things could be worse." Harry looked at Ron.
"More people should be like your dad" he said.
"Thank you" said Ron in surprise, "I'll tell him you said that, but why?"
"Because" said Harry, "he, at least, is curious about the muggle world. He may not understand it very well but at least he wants to know about it. It's too bad more people don't feel the same way."
"I agree" said Hermione, "let's not talk about this stuff anymore right now. I'd rather just enjoy the day." The other two agreed with her and their talk turned to lighter matters.
Harry debated with himself about telling the rest of the Weasleys his secret but had come to no decision by the end of the day. Professor Xavier had given him permission to do so if he was sure they would all keep the secret, well, secret. From what Ron had said Percy was the biggest risk and Harry seriously considered asking for an oath of secrecy from him but he wondered how he could do that without also asking for an oath from the rest of the family. Maybe he couldn't. Well he'd think about it. He communicated the problem to Professor Xavier that evening before going to bed and the professor told him that he would think about it too and not to worry about it right now.
It had been a busy summer for Harry so far. Unlike Hogwarts but like many American schools Ilvermorny didn't assign summer homework. Also unlike Hogwarts Ilvermorny stayed open during the summer months holding a summer school term giving remedial instruction for students who needed the extra help. The school also sponsored a summer day camp for younger magical children.
Harry no longer needed any remedial instruction. He was all caught up with his muggle education and his grades for all of his classes, both magical and muggle, were quite good thank you very much so his summer was free from school classes – normal school classes that is. Training in the Danger Room with the X-Men continued as it had before to keep the six young mutants in top form.
The first thing that happened was when Harry learned that Peter Pettigrew, the man who had betrayed his parents to Voldemort, had escaped from Azkaban. It had happened right around the same time the X-Men had battled Magneto at Hogwarts so the news of Pettigrew's escape was overshadowed at the time but Harry, Sirius, and Remus all learned about it from Professor Dumbledore soon enough. Pettigrew had disappeared after his escape and there had been no signs of him anywhere. Dumbledore felt that it was likely Pettigrew would be trying to find Voldemort. Harry also thought this was likely but there had been no word about that yet.
The first major event that summer was when Harry, Warren, and Professor Xavier were invited to Tony Stark's July 4th barbecue which was held on the roof of Stark Tower. It was a high profile party, the sort of event you read about in the newspapers or the tabloids and that you wish you could attend but just aren't rich enough, famous enough, or powerful enough to score an invitation. Pretty much everyone who was anyone in New York high society was there along with some other VIPs. This was a place where people networked, made connections, shmoozed, and so forth. As it was an outdoor barbecue in the summer it wasn't a formal party and nobody dressed up all that much.
It was the first time Harry had ever been to a party like this and it was a bit overwhelming at the beginning but luckily for him both Warren and the professor knew a lot of the guests and introduced him to several interesting people. First the professor introduced Harry to Reed Richards and Susan Storm. Harry knew who they were. They were better known as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four but they were also well known scientists. Reed Richards was the one who had discovered unstable molecules and had informed Xavier about them and taught him how to use them. The professor had used them to make the X-Men uniforms. Another brilliant scientist Harry met was Dr. Henry Pym and his girlfriend rich socialite Janet Van Dyne. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Steve Jobs were all there which didn't surprise Harry although he did wonder how Stark had lured them all away from Silicon Valley just for this party.
The press was there of course but they didn't bother Harry much because he wasn't anyone important as far as they knew and Harry was fine with that. As a guest he was photographed along with everyone else but only in crowd pictures. The busiest photographer at the party was actually another teenager by the name of Peter Parker who was taking pictures for the Daily Bugle. His eagerness to get pictures reminded him a little of Colin Creevey but when Harry talked to him for a bit he thought that Peter was a bit more sensible about his business. There was something familiar about him but Harry didn't know what it could be as he was sure they'd never met before.
Lastly he was introduced to Warren's parents who were very interested to meet him. Warren's mother was named Kathryn and his father was Warren Jr. which both explained why Warren himself was Warren III and also meant that there had been Warren Sr. at one point which Warren explained to Harry had been his grandfather.
"Warren's told us a lot about you" said Mrs. Worthington, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"The pleasure's mine Mrs. Worthington" said Harry.
"I'm glad to meet you too" said Mr. Worthington, "I know of your family as it was your grandfather who helped my father many years ago."
"So I'm told" said Harry, "I presume that was when my family became shareholders in your company."
"That's right" was the reply, "your grandfather bought seven percent of Worthington Industries. I understand you still retain the shares."
"I do" said Harry with a nod.
"Good. My son also tells me you're interested in learning about business, investing, and other related subjects. I might be able to help you there if you wish. When you're a little older I can offer you a summer internship in my office. You'll learn a lot there."
"Thank you" said Harry, "I just might take you up on that."
"Good call Older Warren" said a new voice. Turning towards it Harry saw Tony Stark standing next to him having walked up to them as they were talking. "I was going to make a similar offer to Harry myself" continued Tony, "looks like you beat me to it."
"We could always collaborate" said Mr. Worthington.
"Sounds good to me" said Tony, "What do you think Harry?"
"I'm down to learn whatever" said Harry. They all decided to talk later and see what arrangements (if any) they might make. Harry looked forward to it although nothing had happened with this so far and probably nothing would happen until next summer at the earliest.
When the sun went down and the sky grew dark all of Tony's guests had an excellent view of the New York City July 4th fireworks display over the East River. Harry had never seen fireworks in person before and he thought the display was beautiful.
Another major event that summer happened two weeks later when both Professor Xavier and Magneto attempted to recruit Prince Namor, the Submariner to join them (see X-Men #6) as they both believed he was a mutant since he was half human and half Atlantean. Neither succeeded and there was another face off between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Despite seeing the Toad that day Lightning did not get a chance to tell him about Dolores Umbridge although seeing the Toad again convinced Harry more firmly than ever that Toad and Umbridge were related.
The third important thing that had happened during the past month was that Sirius had contacted the law firm of Hurt and Payne. They were the law firm that the Potter family had been using for many years so it was no trouble for Harry to get an appointment with the firm's most senior partner John Hurt. Mr. Hurt reminded Harry a bit of Mr. Ollivander the wand maker and he wondered if they might be related but he set the thought aside to get down to business with their attorney. Harry and Sirius explained everything about Harry's history with the Dursleys and once Mr. Hurt was fully informed of the situation the three of them began to plan out how best to punish the Dursleys for everything they had done to Harry. It would be some time before the first moves would be made but the groundwork was being laid down.
The last notable thing that had happened was neither major nor important but it was odd and afterwards Harry wondered why he hadn't seen something like it coming. He was out taking a walk around the center of North Salem when he happened to wander past the local playground where a bunch of younger kids were enjoying the summer afternoon, Out of the blue he heard his and his teammates' code names being called.
"I call Cyclops!" yelled a young voice and Harry spun around to where it was coming from in time to see a bunch of kids in a loose circle. The one who had yelled was holding up a hand.
"I call Beast!" a second one yelled holding up a hand.
"I call Lightning!" said a third making Harry chuckle to himself as the boy who had called him looked nothing like him. One by one all of the X-Men were "called" by different kids after which other kids called the names of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with the biggest kid taking on the role of Magneto. Harry went up to the playground fence and stopped to watch as the kids began playing. It looked like the game consisted of them making up their own adventures in an "X-Men vs. Brotherhood" scenario. Harry wasn't quite sure how to take this. He motioned to one of the adults who was watching over the children.
"What exactly are they doing?" he asked the adult when she came over.
"They're playing 'Superheroes'" she said with a bit of a smile.
"Really?" asked Harry sounding a bit disbelieving.
"Really" was the reply, "today they're being the X-Men and the Brotherhood. A few days ago they were pretending to be the Avengers. Other days it's a just a mix of everyone."
"Does this happen often?"
"All the time" said the adult, "a lot of them are big fans of the Avengers, the X-Men, and the others. They look up to them. Some of the kids want to be them."
"Huh" said Harry. He watched the kids for a little while before leaving and heading back to the mansion. As he walked he thought over what he'd seen. After he'd had some time to absorb things he wasn't all that surprised by them. The X-Men were famous superheroes and it wasn't surprising that kids might look up to them. It was a lot like how he himself had been treated when he first returned to the wizarding world to discover the legend of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' although he'd never heard of any kids playing 'Harry Potter Adventure' games or something like that. He'd also never asked about that and didn't intend to either.
When he got back to the X-Mansion he told his teammates about the kids. They all had different reactions. Scott was concerned that the kids not take things too far and possibly hurt themselves, Jean thought it all sounded adorable, Bobby found it to be hilarious, Warren shrugged off the whole thing, and Hank went into a dissertation about how this was good for the youth of America as kids using their imaginations would help them develop their mental skills in positive directions. Professor Xavier said nothing and gave no sign of what he thought of the whole business.
Now Harry was back at the Burrow. Tomorrow Sirius and Remus would arrive and all of them would go to the World Cup together. Once there they would all be staying at the campgrounds in Sirius' tent which apparently had enough bedrooms to give everyone their own rooms and still have several left over. Sirius had also bought all of the tickets although Mr. Weasley had paid Sirius back for his family's tickets. Sirius had tried to refuse this but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had both insisted and Sirius had to give in and accept the money.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - That's all for this week. The next chapter will post next Sunday. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Thanks for reading and stay safe and well. Cheers!