A/N - Hello. Time for a new chapter. As promised today, among other things, we will see a match up that had to happen sooner or later. Not too sure how well it came out though but I hope you like it.

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. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.

9) RON'S CHESS CHALLENGE

The days the Weasleys and Hermione spent at Xavier's school were not spent exclusively watching the X-Men train. Like Professor Xavier had told them training ended by lunch after which the day was free for everyone. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took advantage of their time in the U.S. to explore New York. Almost every day they took the kids into the city. Harry often went with them to show them the parts of the city that he knew and Hermione added a few places to the list that Harry missed. They did some of the usual touristy things starting first with Colony Alley which the twins thought was cool but which Mrs. Weasley wasn't too fond of thinking it didn't have the "character" of Diagon Alley because of how modern looking it was.

They soon branched out into muggle New York and hit some of the usual places like the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building, Central Park (although Hermione was a little leery of returning there even in a large group), Broadway, Greenwich Village, one or two museums, and so on, before returning to the mansion in the evening.

Fred and George spent a lot of time with Bobby on the latter's video game system playing Sonic the Hedgehog and a few other games. When they weren't doing that Harry was showing Mr. Weasley how to use a television set. The Weasley patriarch was fascinated by the things he saw on the TV screen and was happy to discover that in America they had managed to make TV sets that worked with magic. Before the vacation ended he picked up a small portable TV to take home to the Burrow. Hermione could be found both in the mansion library and the computer room where she used the relatively new and growing internet quite a bit.

The most surprising friendship that was made during this time was the one Ron struck up with Hank. Normally the fact that Hank was a genius and an obvious intellectual who used big words a lot would have tended to drive Ron away from him. However the first night Ron was at the mansion Hank approached him and invited him to play chess, telling Ron that he was a chess player himself and Harry had told him about Ron's skill with the game. They played their first game and for the first time in a long time Ron faced a player who was as good as he was. They began playing games every day after that, usually in the evenings after dinner. They used a muggle chess set because Ron had not brought his wizard set from home but he found that this actually made him play better than he would have otherwise done as now he didn't have the pieces themselves to advise him at all. Instead he had to make all of the moves on his own which caused him to concentrate on the whole board more and be more observant of everything happening. By Friday they had each won two games and drawn two more.

"Well done Ronald" said Hank after Ron won the Friday game, "it is truly stimulating to play a worthy opponent."

"Thanks" said Ron, "I enjoy it too."

"Good" said Hank, "now I have something to show you." Hank picked up a newspaper that was lying on a nearby table.

"The good professor showed me this earlier today" he said opening it to a specific page and handing it to Ron, "I believe you would enjoy it." Ron took the paper and read an article talking about how Alex Yermolinsky, one of the two current U.S. chess champions, would be holding an exhibition challenge the following day at the Javits Convention Center. At the challenge he would play 40 opponents at once.

"How does that work?" asked Ron.

"It's simplicity itself" said Hank, "the challengers all line up in a row in front of chess boards and take either white or black in their own games against the champion who walks down the row and plays each game. He makes one move against his first opponent before moving to the second opponent and making a move there and so one down the line. Then he goes back to the first opponent and makes his next move and so on until all of the games are done."

"That would be great" said Hermione who was listening nearby, "you should do it Ron. I'm sure you'd do well."

"Sounds wicked" said Ron with enthusiasm before turning to his parents and asking, "can I do this?"

"I don't see why not" said Mrs. Weasley, "how does he sign up?"

"Just be there early enough to get in line" said Hank, "it's first come first served. The challenge starts at 11 AM. People can start signing up at 9 AM."

So the next day the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry all went in to Manhattan and arrived at the Javits Center soon after 9 AM. Ron was the 19th person to sign up. They all then went and had a leisurely brunch before returning to the convention center where Ron took his place with the other challengers.

The twins took bets with the others on how well Ron would do but since everyone knew how good he was at chess for once the twins' bets were in Ron's favor. Hermione thought he would finish in the top 5, Harry thought he would finish in the top 3 or maybe even be the last player left.

They all knew it would be a long event so not everyone stayed around for the whole thing. Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione left for a while to go shopping while the twins decided to explore the neighborhood. They were intrigued that such a place could exist called "Hell's Kitchen" although they were a bit disappointed that it was not nearly as bad a neighborhood as such a name would imply. By 1994 it had begun to gentrify and was not the slum it had once been.

Harry and Mr. Weasley both stayed to watch the whole challenge and Harry was fascinated to see Alex Yermolinsky calmly walk down the row of chess boards, stop by each one to look at the current position of the game, make a move, and pass on to the next game. Ron played black for his game and he concentrated on his board with an intensity that Harry rarely saw him display.

Time went by and eventually, one by one, players began to drop out as Yermolinsky beat them. Ron, however, kept playing and appeared to be doing well as far as Harry knew. Fred and George drifted back in around 1 PM to see that about half of the players were gone but Ron's game continued. By 2:30 Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione were back and Ron was still playing, now one of only ten challengers left. By 3 PM seven challengers were still playing, of whom Ron was one. At 3:30 PM three challengers were left, the rest having lost their games. Ron was one of the last three although it didn't look like his game would last much longer. At 3:43 PM Alex Yermolinsky made a last move against Ron and said "Check Mate." Ron's game was over. Only two other challengers lasted longer than him and their games ended not long after that.

"Well done" said Yermolinsky to Ron afterwards, "you played very well. If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?"

"14" said Ron. Yermolinksy nodded.

"Bobby Fischer was your age when he first won the U.S. Championship" he said, "I see the makings of a potential champion in you too. Keep playing and you'll go far."

"Thank you" said Ron as he smiled one of the best smiles Harry had ever seen him give.

"You did really well" said Hermione to Ron as they left the Javits Center, "Yermolinksy was right. You could be a champion some day." Ron smiled his thanks to Hermione. It was not often that anyone said things like that to him. Even Fred and George seemed to be impressed as for once they didn't say anything to Ron that could be interpreted as a put down.

They headed east from the Javits Center toward the lower part of Midtown. It had been decided they would get an early supper before heading back to the mansion. Ron was very happy from his experience and was talking quite seriously with Harry and Hermione about the possibility of becoming a chess champion some day.

"I felt it as I was playing him" said Ron, "like this was what I was meant to do."

"I believe it" said Harry, "and no one can say any of your older brothers did it first. This is yours."

"It's too bad the magical world doesn't have chess tournaments" said Ron, "I went looking for some and found nothing."

"Then start one" said Hermione, "enough wizards play chess that it's possible. Maybe the ministry would sponsor the first British tournament. You could be the first champion."

They all walked, talked, laughed and had a good time – until they made it to Herald Square which is where things went south. As they got into the main part of the Square they saw a bright flash up on the top of one of the buildings.

"What was that?" asked Hermione. As they all turned to look toward it they saw something swing by, or rather someone swing by up near the tops of the buildings heading toward where the flash had come from. It was a man wearing a red and blue costume and swinging from what looked like some kind of rope but Harry knew better.

"That's Spider-Man" said Harry, "I wonder what he's doing here."

"That's Spider-Man?" asked Ron with some disbelief, "he doesn't look anything like a spider."

"We know" said Harry and Hermione together.

"I think you've been told that more than once" added Hermione, "look where he's heading" she pointed to the top of one of the buildings where they all saw a man dressed in green and yellow and wearing a mask made up of several lightning bolts.

"That's Electro" said Harry, "I thought he was still in jail."

"Who's Electro?" asked Ginny.

"Supervillain who has power over electricity" said Harry.

"Like you?" asked Ron.

"Yes" said Harry, "except he uses his power to commit crimes and Spider-Man is his major enemy." It was true. As they all watched Spider-Man had reached the rooftop where Electro was and the two of them were facing off. Harry looked around, saw that no one was looking at him, and quickly ducked out of sight.

"We should leave" said a worried Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh mum" said Fred.

"It's just getting good" said George.

"We should stay – "

"For a while longer."

"One doesn't get – "

"This kind of entertainment – "

"At home."

"That's enough" said Mrs. Weasley firmly, "let's go – where's Harry?" She had noticed that Harry was suddenly not with them. Everyone else in the group looked around.

"He was just next to me" said Ron, "where did he go?"

"There he is" said Hermione pointing upward while rolling her eyes a bit at the same time. They all looked up to see Lightning go flying past them and rising up toward the tops of the buildings.

"His 'saving people thing' is still active" observed Ron.

"What's he doing?" demanded Ginny.

"He's doing what superheroes do" said Hermione as if that explained everything. Apparently it did because not even Mrs. Weasley made a sound of protest as they all turned to watch.

Lightning approached where Spider-Man and Electro were fighting but he didn't interfere just yet. He didn't want to distract Spider-Man and the wall crawler didn't look like he needed help at the moment. He might not appreciate Lightning butting in when he had things under control. For the moment he hovered where he was and watched the two fight. Hopefully he wouldn't need to do anything as he watched Electro firing bolt after bolt at Spider-Man who kept avoiding each one in what looked almost like an elegant dance of movement as he also tried to snare Electro with one of his webs.

Unfortunately in one of those strokes of luck that sooner or later happen to everyone Electro landed a shot. The electricity caught Spider-Man off guard and was enough to cause him to lose his balance and fall off the edge of the building.

"If he hits the ground from this height it will kill him" said Lightning to himself as he dove after Spider-Man. At first Lightning thought Spider-Man would shoot a web at the building side and swing his way out of trouble as he had done so many times before. That wasn't happening though so Lightning acted. He reached out with his telekinesis and slowed Spider-Man's fall before bringing him to a complete stop about 10 feet from the ground

'That shock must have really stunned him' thought Lightning. He lowered Spider-Man down to the sidewalk across the street from the building that he'd fallen off of – right in front of the Weasleys and Hermione who were all watching with very wide eyes. Mrs. Weasley looked like she wanted to step forward but Lightning held up a hand and shook his head which was just as well as Spider-Man was coming to his senses.

"Are you all right?" Lightning asked him as Spider-Man took in where he was.

"Lightning?" he said, "where did you come from?"

"I was flying by" said Lightning "when I saw you battling Electro. I wasn't going to do anything because you seemed to have everything under control but then Electro got in a lucky shot and I had to stop you from hitting the ground."

"I remember now" said Spider-Man, "I think I blacked out for a second. Thanks for the save. I suppose Electro's gone?"

"Oddly enough, he's not" said Lightning who pointed to the top of the building where Electro could be seen standing at the roof's edge staring down at them with his hands on his hips. He was obviously yelling something but they couldn't hear him from so far away.

"I think he's disappointed he didn't kill me" said Spider-Man, "I guess I'll have to give him another chance."

"Is there any way I can help?" asked Lightning. Spider-Man looked at something nearby on the sidewalk for a moment before looking at Lightning again.

"Actually" he said, "there is." In a low voice he told Lightning his plan.

"I can do that" said Lightning.

"Give me a couple of minutes" said Spider-Man as he began to make something with his webbing, "I'll signal you when it's time."

"I'll do my best to keep him busy" said Lightning who shot back up into the air and headed toward the building where Electro was.

"Well, well" sneered Electro when he saw Lightning approach, "what foolish person do we have here? Do you think you have a better chance than Spider-Man of beating me?"

"Who knows?" said Lightning as he landed on the building rooftop about fifteen feet away from where Electro was standing, "but I've been wanting to meet you for a while and this seemed like a good time."

"Oh really?" said Electro, "and who might you be that is so anxious to meet me?"

"I'm Lightning of the X-Men" Lightning said. That got Electro's attention.

"Really?" he said sounding a bit intrigued, "I've heard of you. I've been wanting to meet you too. Your abilities may be like mine but can you match me for sheer power?"

"I don't know" said Lightning.

"Let's find out then" said Electro and he sent a blast of electricity at Lightning who promptly avoided it before sending a bolt of his own at Electro. Soon the two of them were trading bolts, sometimes hitting each other, sometimes not. It quickly became clear that both were immune to the other's electricity. Both combatants increased the amount of power they were putting into their attacks but neither seemed able to gain an advantage that way. With their electrical powers in apparent stalemate it looked like the battle might be a draw.

"So" said Electro, "we appear to be evenly matched. But can you outlast me?"

"Maybe" said Lightning maintaining his power toward his foe, "I'm young and I'm still growing. What about you?"

"I'm not old either" said Electro, "if neither of us can win through power alone we can do one of two things. We can engage each other physically – but I'm taller than you even if you appear to have a muscular body."

"And your other option?" asked Lightning pretending to think over what Electro was saying. After a year of training he wasn't afraid to get into a physical fight with Electro. Despite Electro's height advantage Lightning was no slouch when it came to physical fighting but he didn't want to get into such a fight if he could help it. Besides he knew he wouldn't have to.

"We can walk away from each other" said Electro, "since neither of us can win." Lightning didn't respond. Instead he glanced down to the street where he saw Spider-Man giving him the signal. It was time to end this.

"Don't be so sure about that" said Lightning, "I have one thing you don't have."

"And what would that be?" demanded Electro.

"I have more than just one power" said Lightning. Without breaking off his electrical attack he struck at Electro with his telekinesis and lifted him into the air.

"What are you doing?" yelled Electro when he found himself floating above the building.

"Just taking you for a little ride" said Lightning, "Although it might be possible my ability to fly isn't electrical in nature." He took off and flew out over the street pushing Electro in front of him.

"Hey!" Electro kept yelling, "put me down!" He hurled more electricity at Lightning but the young X-Man repelled it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" said Lightning, "if by some chance you knock me out we'll both fall. I'm sure you don't want that. Now, you want me to put you down? Okay." He began descending toward the street carrying Electro with him.

"Now Spider-Man!" Lightning yelled just before they landed.

"What?" Electro said beginning to turn when he was suddenly caught by a blast of water that immediately shorted him into unconsciousness. He fell down onto the sidewalk and lay still as Lightning landed next to him and looked over at Spider-Man who was a holding a hose that he'd spun out of his webbing and attached to a nearby fire hydrant.

"Nice shot" said Lightning, "thank you for not spraying me."

"You're very welcome" said Spider-Man, "I appreciate your help." He began tying up Electro with his webbing.

"My pleasure" said Lightning, "what are you going to do with him?"

"Hand him back over to the police" said Spider-Man, "they'll be here soon."

"I thought he had been sent to prison. When was he released?"

"He wasn't. He escaped a few days ago."

"I see" said Lightning, "well all right, if you don't need anything else I'll be heading out."

"Good to see you again Lightning" said Spider-Man as the two of them shook hands.

"Same here" said Lightning. He took off and headed up toward the rooftops before turning and circling back to where his friends were. He made a motion with his hand that Hermione took to mean "go around to the other side of the block" before flying off out of sight.

"Come on" said Hermione, "this way." She began to walk away from where Spider-Man was finishing up with Electro.

"Hermione dear" said Mrs. Weasley, "where are you going?"

"To meet Harry" said Hermione without stopping. The others needed to walk quickly to catch up with her. She turned the corner and started down the new street.

"How do you know where you're going?" asked Ginny.

"He told me" said Hermione, "here he comes now." Coming around the next corner they all saw Harry step into view back in his regular clothes. He walked back to them as quickly as he could.

"There you are" he said, "glad you understood."

"Of course I understood" said Hermione, "no one saw you change back, did they?"

"No" said Harry, "and I was paying attention too so no worries there."

"Harry my friend – " said Fred coming up to him on one side and putting an arm over his shoulder.

"– that was awesome" said George doing the same thing on Harry's other side.

"Thank you" said Harry, "I'm sorry it happened though. It disrupted our day." He released himself from the Weasley twins and went over to Ron.

"Sorry about that" he said to his friend.

"For what?" asked Ron, puzzled.

"Taking away everyone's attention" said Harry, "it's supposed to be your day and here comes Electro to spoil things."

"He didn't spoil anything" said Ron giving Harry a reassuring smile, "I know it's what you do when something like this happens. I've heard Cyclops say it before. Now if it had happened during the chess challenge we might have had a problem but Electro was kind enough to wait until some time after it was done. I'll have to thank him for that." That made Harry chuckle.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it" he said, "the next time he gets out of jail."

To Harry's surprise Mrs. Weasley didn't say much to him. She looked at him and he shrugged. When she shrugged back he didn't know what to make of it until she told him that they'd already had their talk back when he was at the Burrow and she had accepted his choice to be an X-Man, along with all that came with it.

With the excitement now over the group decided to return to the mansion. Once they were back Harry sought out Professor Xavier and told him what had happened. Xavier nodded, simply said "well done" and that was the end of it.

(To Be Continued)

A/N - And that's that until next week. Honestly I don't know if the chess challenge would be done in four to five hours. It seems like it should take longer but I could be wrong and I didn't want them all to stay at the Javits Center until late at night. Also I wanted the Weasleys and Hermione to actually be able to see Lightning going up against Electro which would have been harder in the dark (even in as well lit a part of Manhattan as Midtown and Herald Square). Please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. As always stay safe and well everyone.