A/N - Welcome to the newest chapter. Halloween has arrived and it's time for the first canon X-Men adventure of part 2. This one includes a Marvel all-star crossover.

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.

"Normal Speech"

"Telepathy"

Quotes taken from X-Men #9

14) SAVING THE WORLD ON HALLOWEEN

September passed fairly quietly for Harry – or as quietly as it could pass for a teenage wizard who was also an X-Man. He continued training with the team in the mornings and attended Ilvermorny in the afternoons, often spending some time talking with Ororo after lessons were over for the day before heading back to the X-Mansion. Once a week or so he'd come to the school early so they could have lunch together. As they got to know each other better Harry learned some surprising things not just about Ororo herself but about Uagadou students in general. The biggest one was that the African School concentrated heavily on wandless magic. It was a core part of their curriculum.

"Really?" Harry asked, rather surprised by that.

"Oh yes" said Ororo, "Uagadou has always taught wandless magic. Using wands is fairly uncommon in Africa. It's mostly the western influenced societies that are so wand reliant. Wandless magic isn't very hard."

"I actually know that" said Harry, "I've been working on wandless magic quite a lot this past year and you're right. It isn't as hard as we were always told. But so many people believe that it is. That must give Uagadou an advantage."

"It can" said Ororo with a smile, "one of the best perks about it is that it's a lot easier to get around the Statute of Secrecy."

"I'll bet it is" said Harry, "what do you do? Tell the aurors 'Really officer all I did was wave at that man. Honest. It's not my fault if he decided to turn into a mouse.'"

"That's about right" said Ororo with a laugh, "I know several stories just like that."

"Do African magicals use staves?" asked Harry.

"The really powerful ones do" said Ororo, "the ones who have completely mastered their magic. It amplifies their spells even more."

"I've read about staves" said Harry, "but what I read said that they fell out of use for the most part. I didn't see anything about them still being used in Africa."

"You probably wouldn't" said Ororo sounding rather dry, "but how often do western people listen to Africans?"

"Touche" said Harry with a sad smile.

At Xavier's school life continued on in much the same way at first. Sirius was finally given a code name by Professor Xavier who began calling him "Mage." It wasn't the most original name as the professor freely admitted but it did say exactly what Sirius was without being too specific in a manner that would have given away his identity like Padfoot would have. Sirius didn't argue the point. He also didn't wear a uniform, instead using his regular clothes plus either a mask or a glamour to hide his true self.

In late September Professor Xavier said that he had to go away for a while as he had some unfinished business to take care of. Before leaving he officially appointed Scott to be in charge while he was away and confirmed him as the group leader. No one disagreed with the decision as everyone knew that Scott was the best person for the job. Even Sirius and Remus who were both over a decade older than Scott agreed with it. Scott was 19 now but often came across as being older. That would only help him as he settled into his role.

Only a day or two after Xavier left the school the X-Men faced the Brotherhood again (see X-Men #7) but much to Lightning's chagrin he still didn't get a chance to speak with Toad. Then as they approached the middle of the October they dealt with a new foe, a mutant who called himself "Unus the Untouchable" (see X-Men #8) whose primary power was that people couldn't touch him if he didn't allow it – but he could touch them. In the end Beast defeated him by creating a machine that augmented Unus' power so much that not only could no one touch him but he wasn't able to touch other things either, including food. Beast only reversed the process once Unus swore to give up being a bad guy. And he did for a while. But that's another story.

Around the same time Iceman finally completed work on hardening his icy form. Now instead of having a snowy surface he had a fully icy surface instead. He was quite pleased by this achievement.

And so life continued at the X-Mansion as October slipped by and Halloween drew near.

As October was drawing to a close Vernon and Petunia Dursley were deciding what to do about the request for records and receipts from HSBC Holdings plc. Although Vernon had said they would be fine without the stipend from the Potter estate he and Petunia had briefly considered contesting the custody change for Harry so that they could get it back. They decided against trying this pretty quickly for a couple of reasons. First of all they didn't want the little freak back. They'd been much happier without him around and saw no reason to change that. Second they both realized that if they did take such legal action they would come under greater scrutiny than just being asked for financial records. Although neither Vernon or Petunia felt they'd done anything wrong with how they'd treated Harry they were both smart enough to know that society at large would not agree with them if the details of their abuse of Harry ever came out.

In the end they decided to simply ignore the request for now. They knew that a second request would come and it would probably be worded more strongly although still not too threatening. The third request would be the one they'd really worry about. When it came they would plead ignorance and claim that they had never received the other letters in the first place. In the meantime they hoped to come up with a strategy to get them out of their situation.

In the short run, and with normal banks, this might have been a viable approach. Unfortunately for the Dursleys HSBC Holdings plc was acting as a front for Gringotts in this matter. The goblins always had tracking magic on important letters and they knew quite well that the Dursleys had received the first letter. When October 31st came and went without the Dursleys providing the requested records they immediately got in touch with Potter Solicitor John Hurt to inform him of what was going on. Solicitor Hurt then contacted Harry and Sirius and set up a meeting with them to outline the next steps to be taken against the Dursleys.

It was Halloween again and Harry wondered what exactly would happen this year. He'd never had much luck with the holiday. His parents had been murdered on Halloween when he was one. Every Halloween after that before he went to Hogwarts had been spent locked in his cupboard while Dudley had been taken out trick or treating. When he got back he'd always flaunted his candy in front of Harry knowing his cousin couldn't have any of it.

In his first year at Hogwarts a troll had gotten into the castle and he and Ron had fought it to save Hermione from being killed.

In his second year the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and through bad luck he had become one of the top suspects behind it.

Last year he and his fellow X-Men had fought Magneto for the first time when the evil mutant had tried to take over the Cape Citadel military base. On that same day at Hogwarts Sirius, who was still a fugitive at the time, had attacked the portrait of the Fat Lady when she wouldn't let him in to Gryffindor Tower. That incident had turned the whole school upside down as all of the students were made to spend the night in the Great Hall while the castle was searched in a vain effort to find Black.

Was it any wonder that when Harry woke up that morning he was nervous about what might happen this year? Whatever it would be it wouldn't happen at Ilvermorny. Harry would not be going there today because the school didn't hold classes on Halloween. The holiday was always part of the short Fall break the school took halfway through the term and many students went home for it. Ororo, however, did not go home due to how far Kenya was from Massachusetts and how short the break was.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at things, it was Monday which meant training after breakfast. That kept his mind off of stuff for a while but training was rudely interrupted around 11 AM when they got an urgent call from Professor Xavier. He needed them to come to him as fast as they could. And where was he? In the heart of the Balkans in Europe of all places.

"I have finally located the hidden cave of Lucifer" he sent to everyone, "It was Lucifer who lost me the use of my legs years ago...If I should be defeated then you, my X-Men, must carry on. Lucifer must never menace mankind again. I have transmitted my [current] location to you. I can do no more." And then he was gone.

"His current location?" said Mage, "if he's still on the move he'll be gone from wherever he is right now when we get there. Hopefully we'll appear close enough to where he is so that we won't have trouble following his trail."

"Just as long as he isn't in Latveria" said Beast, "I'm sure none of us want to run into Dr. Doom."

"You said it" said Iceman.

"Can you make a portkey for us?" Cyclops asked Mage.

"Yes" said Mage.

"Good" said Cyclops, "then everyone get ready. We move out as soon as possible."

It was less than 15 minutes before everyone was gathered in the entrance hall of the mansion. At the moment they had all changed into their normal clothes as they didn't want to announce themselves as the X-Men until it would be absolutely necessary to do so. To the surprise of everyone Harry showed up carrying his Nimbus 2000 broom.

"Why do you have that?" asked Bobby, "it's not like you need it to fly anymore."

"I know" said Harry, "but I had a very strong feeling that I should bring it."

"You mean like last year when you brought your invisibility cloak with you?" asked Jean.

"Yes" said Harry, "though this time my feeling is that Sirius is the one who will need my broom rather than me."

"Me? Why?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know" said Harry with a shrug, "but you know how those magical feelings are."

"That's true" said Sirius with a nod, "all right, I'll take your broom. I'll be interested to see what I need it for." Harry handed it to Sirius who shrunk it down and put it in his pocket.

Remus saw them off.

"I'll mind the school while you're away" he said to the team as Sirius held out a length of rope for everyone to grab.

"Thanks Remus" said Scott, "we'll be back as soon as we can."

" I made the portkey a two way one" said Sirius, "it will bring us back here when we're done. Stay out of trouble while we're gone Moony."

"Look who's talking" said Remus with a raised eyebrow. Sirius grinned and tapped the portkey with his wand and the seven teammates disappeared.

"Good luck" said Remus when they were gone and he settled down to wait for their return.

The portkey deposited the seven of them in a lightly forested area which fortunately was deserted. It was only some parkland though and it was late afternoon here with the sun definitely in the west but also still fairly high in the sky. A short walk brought the group of seven into a charming local village. To look at it you wouldn't think that anything abnormal could happen there.

"How close are we to the professor's location?" asked Hank.

"Until he contacts us again there's no way to know for sure" said Scott. That was true. Even Jean couldn't find him if he mentally closed himself off from everyone.

"It can't be that far" said Sirius, "the place we landed was where the professor told us to come. It's too bad there were no traces to show us where to go next."

"Gee, it looks so peaceful" said Bobby looking out over the village, "it's hard to believe that somewhere beneath us the professor is battling that Lucifer character."

"Careful Bobby" said Jean, "don't mention any names aloud."

"Who is this person anyway?" asked Harry.

"An old enemy of the professor's" said Scott, "he told me about him some time ago but I didn't know that the professor was hunting him down or that he was the reason why the professor had to leave us for a while."

"Obviously he needs our help now" said Jean.

"Let us ambulate our physical selves away from this position" said Hank, "and perhaps we shall discover the trail of our illustrious mentor before he reaches out to us again."

Everyone agreed with Hank and the team began moving down the road near the village. As Bobby had said it was quite peaceful and the scenery was beautiful. As Harry walked a little behind the others he breathed in the fresh air and smiled. 'If only we weren't on a mission' he thought to himself, 'it would be very relaxing to spend the day here.'

He felt a strong wind behind him as if something was moving very fast. He looked behind him just in time to see something blur across the road – or was it someone? For a second Harry thought it looked familiar but –

"Nah" he said to himself, "it couldn't be. Could it?"

"Harry?" called Scott from up ahead, "are you all right?" Harry looked up and saw the others were a little further away from him and had stopped to see what was wrong. Harry quickly caught up with them.

"You'll think I'm being silly" said Harry as he shook his head as if trying to recover from something, "for a second there I thought I saw Thor rushing past."

"What would Thor be doing here?" asked Bobby.

"I don't know" said Harry, "what are we doing here?"

"Point taken" said Bobby as they started walking again. Before they had gone much further a car came speeding up the road and stopped abruptly near them. The driver was quite clearly agitated and his words came out in a rush. To the surprise of everyone his words were English and he spoke with an American accent. Apparently a tourist who now seemed to regret ever leaving home.

"Quick! Call the police...the army...anybody!" the driver babbled, "there's monsters back there! Creatures with wings, hammers, shields – even giants!...Next I'll be seeing pink elephants and gremlins! Gangway! I'm taking the next plane back to Ohio!" Without giving any of the X-Men a chance to say anything the driver floored his accelerator pedal and sped away down the road.

"That was interesting" said Harry as they all watched the car recede into the distance.

"I wonder what that was all about?" said Sirius, "do you think he was frightened away by Lucifer?"

"Does Lucifer have wings, hammers, and shields, and is he a giant?" asked Warren.

"That sounds more like the Avengers to me" said Harry, "maybe they're here too and that guy ran into them?"

"You did think you saw Thor" said Bobby, "so maybe they're here. If they are we could use their help."

Before anyone could respond to that they all heard Professor Xavier's voice in their heads and he sounded very worried.

"Danger, my X-Men!" he called in as urgent a tone as they'd ever heard him use, "scatter! Disperse!" Knowing the professor as they did none of them hesitated. They scattered in all directions at once and it was only just in time as a powerful ray struck the ground right where they'd been standing only seconds before and exploded with great force.

"What was that?!" yelled Sirius picking himself up from the ground.

"Whatever it was" said Scott, "Lucifer must have sent it to attack us and the professor managed to save us from it. I think it's time we all suited up." The others all voiced their agreement. Sirius and Harry both pulled out their wands and soon everyone was in their X-Men uniforms. Sirius conjured a mask and wrapped it around his face assuming his other identity of Mage.

"What now?" asked Mage.

"I must warn you" called the professor to the team, "if you encounter Lucifer – defend yourselves with all our power, but – he must not be slain – nor even physically harmed...if anything affects Lucifer's heartbeat all of Earth may be in peril! And now – behind you! I sense more danger!"

"Gosh" said Iceman "now what?"

When they turned around they all saw exactly what.

"The Avengers!" said Lightning, "they ARE here." It was true. Coming through the trees into the clearing were all five of the Avengers. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Giant Man, and Wasp.

"Stand your ground" said Thor as he came forward leading the Avengers, "I speak for the Avengers. We have detected an awesome menace - one which we must destroy for the safety of mankind."

"Oh no" said Mage quietly, "this can't be good."

As their leader Cyclops was about to step forward to reply when Professor Xavier's voice sounded in all of the X-Men's heads yet again.

"Scott" he said, "let Harry speak to them first. The Avengers know him. They might be more willing to listen to him than anyone else."

"Okay sir" said Cyclops, "go ahead Harry. Good luck."

"I'll do my best" said Lightning who stepped forward from where he had been partially hidden behind the others so the Avengers hadn't seen him until now.

"Wait a minute, please" said Lightning as he held his hands forward with his palms open in a sign of peace. The Avengers all looked surprised to see him.

"Lightning?" said Captain America, "is that you?"

"Well, yes" said Lightning, "I am one of the X-Men you know. If they're here I'm here." He took another step forward so that he was now clearly alone in the space between the two teams.

"I'm always glad to see you all" he said, "but there are things you need to know about this menace that you're tracking before you go any further. Really important things that may affect what you do when you know them."

"Speak friend Lightning" said Thor. Lightning turned and gestured to Cyclops who stepped forward and joined him.

"The man you're tracking is called Lucifer" said Cyclops, "he's an old enemy of our mentor who is with him now and has told us that if anything should happen to Lucifer the whole world will be at risk."

"How is that possible" asked Iron Man.

"I don't know" admitted Cyclops, "we don't know everything yet. We're on our way to join our mentor where hopefully we'll know what to do."

"We're on the same side" said Captain America, "perhaps we should join you."

"Perhaps you should" said Professor X now being heard in all of their heads'.

"Who is that?" asked Iron Man looking around.

"Forgive me for startling you" said Xavier, "I am the X-Men's mentor. You may call me Professor X. Allow me to explain the entire situation to you." The professor then told everyone that Lucifer had created a giant thermal bomb and attuned the control circuits to his own heartbeat.

"If his heart stops" said Xavier, "if he dies the bomb will go off. Nothing will be able to stop it. The bomb is aimed at the heart of Antarctica. Should it be detonated the entire frozen continent will be decimated in a matter of split-seconds. The oceans of the world will become monstrous, deadly cascading mountains of water destroying all in their path. No area of Earth will be safe from the thundering [tsunamis] which will engulf the coasts of every continent. It would be the worst disaster ever to strike the human race."

"That settles it" said Iron Man, "I'm coming with you. I might be able to help defuse this thing."

"I will come too" said Giant Man as he shrunk down to normal size.

"You're not going without me" declared the Wasp.

"We will all go" said Thor and Captain America nodded his agreement.

"Good" said Xavier, "my mental impulses shall guide you to the lair of Lucifer. Come at once."

"The more the merrier" quipped Mage as the Avengers joined with the X-Men to follow Xavier's directions. It didn't take long before they reached a cave and were told by the professor to enter it and take the left fork. When they did they came to the edge of a very large and very deep abyss. Rising up toward them was a lift that would take them down to the bottom.

"It will safely accommodate only four" said the professor, "you'll have to come down in multiple trips."

"Not necessarily" said Iron Man, "some of us can fly down there. I can."

"As can I" said Thor.

"Me too" said Angel.

"And me" said Lightning.

"I'll shrink down to wasp size" said the Wasp, "then my weight won't matter."

"I'll become Ant Man again and do the same" said Giant Man, "that just leaves the Captain and the remaining X-Men." Mage snapped his fingers, brought out the Nimbus 2000 and enlarged it.

"That's why I brought this broom" said Mage, "I can give one of you a ride and the other four can take the lift down. Who wants a ride?"

Captain America eyebrows went up.

"A broom?" he said in disbelief, "is this a joke?"

"Not a bit of one" said Mage who got on the broom and kicked off from the ground rising just a few feet before landing again."

"Isn't that uncomfortable?" asked Wasp.

"There are cushioning charms" said Mage, "it's no problem at all."

"Are you serious?" said Captain America not noticing how Lightning and the other X-Men winced a bit as they tried not to laugh. Mage never cracked a smile.

"Yes I am" he said, "now who's coming?"

"Not me" said Iceman backing away a little, "unless you want to be frozen by the time we get down to the bottom."

"Me neither" said Beast, "will I even fit on that thing?"

Cyclops and Marvel Girl also refused to go so Captain America was elected by default although he didn't look happy about it. Mage didn't care.

"If you would please get on behind me we can go" Mage said, "you can hold on to my body." Seeing no other option Captain America got on the broom behind Mage and discovered that there were cushioning spells that allowed him to sit comfortably on it. That didn't fully ease things for him.

"I feel ridiculous" he said as Mage guided the broom toward the edge of the abyss.

"Feel however you like" said Mage, "just hang on and let's do this."

All those who could fly took off and headed down the shaft. The four remaining X-Men got on the lift. Ant Man and Wasp also got on it and both shrunk down to their small sizes, keeping as far away as they could from the X-Men to avoid possibly getting stepped on. Marvel Girl offered to let them ride on one of the her shoulders but they declined. Cyclops activated the lift and they descended down into the abyss.

It was a long way down. Lightning thought the abyss went on forever and he couldn't tell just how far down into the Earth they went but eventually they did reach the bottom of it. Those on the lift stepped onto the ground, those who were flying landed, and those who had shrunk down to insect size returned to normal size.

"Thanks for the ride Mage" said Captain America as he got off of the broom, "but I hope you won't take it wrong that I'd rather not do something like that again." Mage just shrugged.

"Where are we?" asked Wasp looking around.

"This way" pointed Cyclops down the tunnel which was the only way to go. It was only a short walk before they emerged into a large control room. Along one wall was a large and complicated computer. Down at the other end of the room was an enormous object that was clearly the bomb. It couldn't have been mistaken for anything else being mostly cylindrical but curving inward up on top although not as pointed as a missile would be.

Professor Xavier sat on the floor in the middle of the room watching everyone come in. Near him lay another man dressed in red and blue with a mostly masked face. This was Lucifer and he wasn't moving.

'The professor's beaten him' thought Lightning, 'what is it that we need to do now?'

"As you can see" said the professor addressing everyone, "I have rendered Lucifer unconscious. He is alive but I don't know his condition beyond that."

"Allow me to monitor him" said Ant Man / Giant Man. He crouched down beside the unconscious villain and checked his vitals.

"His pulse is strong and regular and his breathing is normal" said the size changing Avenger, "as long as this doesn't change he should be fine."

"Good" said Xavier, "now we need to defuse that bomb."

"Let me try something" said Iron Man who approached the computer controls, "if I disable the mechanism that connects Lucifer's heart with the bomb we can then defuse it at our leisure."

Everyone watched and waited while Iron Man worked at the computer.

"Oh that's clever" he said after a few minutes before explaining to everyone, "he has two connections monitoring his heart beat. You know that blood circulates through the heart twice during each circulatory cycle going through each ventricle once. In Lucifer's system each ventricle is monitored separately. There are two ways to set off the bomb. As we already know one is for his heart to stop completely. The second depends on the connections. If one connection stops working the system sends a signal to the other connection which will immediately detonate the bomb. The only way to prevent this is to break both connections at the exact same time so neither has a chance to signal the other to activate the bomb."

"Can you do it?" asked Professor Xavier.

"I think so" said Iron Man sounding quite confident, "Lucifer may have a complex computer system but there are very few, if any, systems that can keep out Stark Technology. Tony Stark makes very sure of that." Iron Man opened up a tiny panel in the armor around one of his wrists and a tiny connecting plug protruded out of it which he plugged into an available place on the control board. After that he was able to communicate with Lucifer's computer through the computerized systems in his armor. It made things go much faster.

"I have it now" he said after a few minutes, "and – there." The system operating the connections with Lucifer's heart shut down both of the connections at the same time before the entire control panel was turned off.

"Okay" said Iron Man ending his connection with the board, "Lucifer is no longer connected to the bomb but it's still active. It can't be defused from the board. It will have to be done manually."

"This is an enormous bomb" said Cyclops, "where would the fuse be?"

"It would have to be relatively easy to access" said Iron Man coming over to the bomb and inspecting its surface before finally discovering a small panel around the side of the bomb not visible to the entrance of the room.

"I think it will be here" he said pointing to it.

"Let me scan it and see" said Professor Xavier. Cyclops picked up the professor and carried him over to the panel. The professor concentrated hard, probing the area behind the panel to see if it would give them access to the fuse. It would. Naturally the panel was locked.

"If we use brute force to open this panel" said Xavier, "it's likely to set off the bomb. We will have to unlock the panel to gain access."

"Oh is that all?" said Mage who walked up to the group and aimed his wand.

"Alohomora" he said. There was an audible click and the panel popped open.

"How did you do that?" asked the Wasp.

"Magic" said Mage with a slight grin but when Wasp rolled her eyes he continued, "it was a mundane lock. It didn't have any magical protections that might stop the unlocking charm. I suppose that despite his name Lucifer doesn't have any knowledge of magic."

"Not your kind of magic at least" said Xavier "and that worked in our favor. Now Cyclops will you come over here please? That's good, thank you. Now the fuse is directly ahead in the center of the bomb. Can you see it?" Cyclops crouched down to look inside the bomb.

"I think so" he said after a minute.

"Good" said the professor, "since we can't reach the fuse very easily even now you're going to destroy it with your optic blasts before it can arm the bomb and go off. You must use full power narrowed to hairline intensity now. Straight [ahead]." Cyclops opened his visor and fired the narrowest beam he could into the bomb straight at the fuse which was quickly destroyed.

"You did it!" said the professor, "the fuse is shattered. It can't explode,"

The professor moved away from the bomb followed by Cyclops and everyone else who was near the bomb.

"We're safe now" he said to everyone, "the bomb is fully disarmed." Everyone breathed sighs of relief. Lightning looked at the bomb thoughtfully.

"If the bomb is fully disarmed" asked Lightning, "would anything happen if, say, it were to be bashed to pieces?"

"No" said Iron Man, "it can be safely destroyed."

"Then I call first dibs" said Lightning who turned to Thor, "I'll do things properly this time. Thor, may I borrow your hammer for a few seconds?" Thor's eyebrows went up a bit but he nodded, and handed Mjolnir to Lightning.

"I recommend using an overhanded throw" said Thor.

"Thank you" said Lightning politely as he took the hammer, pulled it back like he was winding up to throw a baseball pitch, and hurled the hammer straight at the bomb. As soon as Mjolnir hit the bomb there was a loud CLANG! and Lucifer's bomb completely fell apart.

"That was fun" said Lightning as Thor held out a hand and called his hammer back.

"Aye" said Thor with a smile as he caught his hammer, "now you know why I prefer using Mjolnir over any other weapon."

"Oh yeah" said Lightning, "where can I get one of my own?" That made Thor laugh.

"Boys and their toys" huffed Marvel Girl with her arms folded.

"Oh I know" commiserated the Wasp, "I can smell the testosterone from a mile away."

Now that everything was safe Professor Xavier used his power to wake Lucifer up again. He was not pleased to discover his plan for world domination had been thwarted. He had made the bomb so that no one would be foolish enough to risk killing him. Theoretically this should have given him a free hand. He even thought it would stop Xavier from attacking him with his telepathy but he didn't realize that the professor was capable of creating such a narrow and subtle mental connection that he was able to slip into Lucifer's mind and take him out without causing him physical injury.

Even with both the X-Men and the Avengers present it was still Professor Xavier that Lucifer blamed the most for his defeat.

"It took me ten years to construct that device" an angry Lucifer said to Xavier, "and you've destroyed it within minutes. This evens our score now Xavier. But next time we meet – the final decision shall be mine."

"Oh God" said Marvel Girl, "why do they always says things like that?"

"Tell me about it" said Wasp, "they always want revenge on you after you stopped them – even when they're the ones who attacked you first and you were just defending yourself. But they always seem to be incredibly offended that you wouldn't just let them kill you."

"No, Lucifer – the account is not yet even" Xavier was now saying to his enemy, "you have merely seen a diabolical scheme go up in smoke. But I have been deprived of the use of my legs all these years due to you."

"I didn't realize your fight was so personal" said Captain America, "but for now take heart in the fact that we won. What should we do with Lucifer?"

"Let's take him back to our HQ" said Ant Man / Giant Man, "we'll be able to hold him there until we can turn him over to law enforcement."

"Very good" said Xavier although privately he doubted that Lucifer would be held for very long. Nevertheless it was a better option than just letting him go since killing him was not something they would do.

"Thank you for your help today" said Xavier to the Avengers, "we all really appreciate it."

"No problem" said Iron Man.

"Aye" said Thor, "and all of you are welcome at Avengers Mansion any time you wish to visit."

Once the Avengers had left taking Lucifer with them the professor gathered all of the X-Men around him.

"Thank you my X-Men" said Xavier, "you've all done well. I did not anticipate the involvement of the Avengers but it turned out to be a good thing."

"We didn't exactly do very much" said Marvel Girl, "you were the one who fought the main battle."

"You were there when I needed you" was the reply, "sometimes that's enough."

"Sir what was that beam that exploded near us?" asked Cyclops.

"That was a destructive ionic ray that Lucifer sent at you" said Xavier, "he spotted you coming and tried to take you out with it. Fortunately I was able to warn you in time."

"Well I say we go home" said Mage, "is a portkey all right professor?"

"That will be fine Sirius" said Xavier, "if someone is willing to carry me. Lucifer destroyed the machine I used to get here."

"I will do so our most accomplished mentor" said Beast, "I'll try not to fall on you when we land."

"That would be good" said Xavier.

Beast picked up the professor while Mage held out his piece of rope again to take them all home.

"This was a fine Halloween" said Mage with some sarcasm. He dispelled his mask and went back to being Sirius again but none of the other X-Men changed out of their uniforms.

"It's not over yet" cautioned Lightning.

"You think something else will happen?" asked Iceman.

"Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised" said Lightning, "who was the guy who said 'it ain't over 'til it's over?'"

"Yogi Berra in 1973" Beast promptly said.

"Of course you would know that" said Iceman as he grabbed the portkey.

"Well Halloween ain't over" said Lightning as he also grabbed the portkey, "and I won't be happy until it is." As soon as everyone was touching it, even the professor although Beast was carrying him, Sirius tapped the portkey with his wand and they all popped away.

It turned out that Lightning was right. Halloween wasn't finished with them yet. When Professor Xavier and the X-Men popped back into the mansion entrance hall they received an unpleasant surprise. Dumbledore was standing there with Remus nearby, a concerned look on the werewolf's face. At the headmaster's feet lay a bound and unconscious Moody.

"Charles" said Dumbledore before anyone could say anything, "I apologize for this but we have a couple of big problems." Lightning face palmed.

"I hate it when I'm right" he muttered wondering what had happened now.

(To Be Continued)

A/N - That's it for this week. Of course any Harry Potter fans know exactly why Dumbledore turned up at the X-Mansion. The Goblet of Fire business will be covered next week.

When I cover canon X-Men adventures in this story I do ones where Harry's presence could make a real difference in how things went. It certainly did here. In the original X-Men #9 the X-Men and the Avengers got into a big fight instead of working together before Professor X stepped in and stopped it. In my opinion the fight could have been avoided if both sides had just talked to each other more than they did and been just a little less belligerent. If you want to see what happened in canon go read the issue.

One other thing. In the MCU Tony Stark is known to be Iron Man. In the comics in the 1960s he kept his identity as Iron Man a secret hence why he talks here as if he's not Tony Stark.

All right everyone, as usual 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.