A/N - Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Lightning, Part 2. This is a more lighthearted chapter in which Lightning gets to have some fun and even make a little harmless mischief. I hope you enjoy 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.
"Normal Speech"
"Telepathy"
33) ANOTHER MAGICAL MUTANT
As soon as the door to Snape's room was open and the three people outside the room saw that Snape was awake Malfoy was up and out of his chair.
"Get out of the way" he said to Lightning who just looked at him and then picked him up with his telekinesis.
"What?" said Malfoy, "what are you doing? Put me down!" Lightning didn't reply. He floated Malfoy over him and through the door into the room where he put him down on the floor.
"There" said Lightning, "don't say that I never did anything for you Malfoy. You're welcome." Malfoy just sneered at him before turning to go see Professor Snape. Lightning and Flitwick both stood up and, after Lightning sent their chairs back to where he had gotten them from, entered the room after Malfoy.
"Congratulations Professor" sent Lightning, "it looks like you were successful."
"Thank you, I was" replied the professor, "did you have any trouble?"
"No."
"Good" said the professor, "what do you know about that boy whom you just levitated into the room?"
"That's Draco Malfoy" said Lightning, "my enemy as Harry Potter, and he doesn't think too much of Lightning either but that's his own fault. Didn't we tell you about him?"
"Yes" said the professor, "he seems to be afraid of something."
"You sensed that too?" asked Lightning, "it seemed to be in his body language though I don't know what he's afraid of."
"It's on his surface thoughts" said the professor, "it's very easy to pick up."
"Do you know what he's afraid of?"
"No, but if it's important I'll see what I can find out without being too invasive."
By now Lightning was in the room and was standing next to Marvel Girl and the professor.
"How was it?" Lightning asked Marvel Girl.
"It was interesting" said Marvel Girl, "although I didn't do much."
"Charles" said Dumbledore, "would you please come over here? Severus wants to thank you."
Xavier wheeled himself closer to Professor Snape. Lightning and Marvel Girl stood behind him. Professor Snape looked at the three of them before addressing the professor.
"Professor X?" he asked. Xavier nodded.
"You're wearing a glamour, aren't you?" asked Snape.
"I am" said the Xavier, "for the same reason my X-Men wear masks, to keep our identities secret from our enemies."
"Of course" said Snape who held out his hand, "thank you."
"You're welcome" said Xavier as he shook Snape's hand.
"Yes, thank you" said Malfoy to Lightning's surprise, "you gave me back my Godfather. I won't forget it." He turned to Lightning.
"You were right" Malfoy said to him, "I apologize."
"That's okay" said Lightning waving it off, "these things happen. Here's your wand back." He handed Malfoy his wand. Malfoy thanked him and put his wand away.
Snape now turned his attention to the two X-Men who were with Xavier.
"And what did the two of you do?" Snape asked Lightning and Marvel Girl.
"I was helping the professor" said Marvel Girl, "I'm a telepath too and our minds were linked so I could guide him back out of your mind if necessary."
"And it was very helpful" said Xavier, "the link I had with you provided a straight path back the way I'd come."
"And what about you?" Snape asked Lightning who shrugged a bit. It was still weird to have Snape speak to him in such a civil manner.
"I didn't do much" he said to Snape, "I'm not a telepath so I couldn't help Professor X. I just guarded the door so no one would disturb him while he was working."
"Don't discount that" said Xavier sharply, "it was important that we weren't disturbed."
"Thank you, all three of you" said Snape to the three of them, "I'm grateful for your help."
"It's what we do" said Marvel Girl. Lightning looked at her.
"So it's your turn to use Cyclops' line today?" he said.
"Since he's not here" she said with a slight smirk, "someone had to."
"Albus" said Snape, "what am I going to do now? I can't go back to Voldemort. I'm not sure I can even leave Hogwarts without danger."
"We'll discuss that later my boy" said Dumbledore, "for now you need to rest and recover your strength. We'll leave you in the capable hands of Filius and young Mr. Malfoy here as they both wanted to see you. Charles, Lightning, Marvel Girl? If you'll all come with me?"
Dumbledore led the two X-Men and their mentor out of Snape's room and back into the main part of the hospital wing.
"Thank you Charles" he said to his friend, "I was afraid Severus was gone for good."
"Of course Albus" said Xavier, "there's something more on your mind though, isn't there?"
"There is" said Dumbledore, "would you come back to my office? We can discuss things there. Marvel Girl you should come too as this may concern you, but Lightning you don't have to come if you don't want to. I imagine you'd rather see your friends."
"Yeah that would be good" said Lightning turning to Xavier, "do you mind professor? You can always tell me what the meeting was about later if you want."
"No" said Xavier, "I'll contact you when we're ready to leave. Have a good time, and why don't you look in on Toad while you're at it? Find out how he's doing."
"Okay" said Lightning, "Professor Dumbledore, would you know where Toad is right now?"
"Toad?" asked Dumbledore, "oh, you mean Mr. Umbridge. He doesn't have a lesson at this time. I believe he'll be at the library, or on his way there."
"Okay" said Lightning. The four of them left the hospital wing. Dumbledore, Xavier, and Marvel Girl went one way to Dumbledore's office while Lightning went a different way to the library.
Even though this wasn't the first time he'd been to Hogwarts as Lightning it was still weird to walk the halls of what had once been his school (and which he actually owned he reminded himself) and not have people know who he really was. He wasn't sorry about it though. It was refreshing to wander through Hogwarts without having to deal with the whole Boy-Who-Lived stuff. It was true that he was famous as Lightning but it wasn't the same. He liked being Lightning a lot more than he'd ever liked being the Boy-Who-Lived.
The halls weren't crowded. It seemed that while Professor Flitwick might not have any more classes today the others professors did and they were in session. However not everyone was in class. Lightning didn't encounter many students as he walked but he did see some and almost all of them stopped and stared at him as if they couldn't believe he was there.
"Oh great" he muttered to himself as he turned down the corridor that led to the library , "some things never change no matter what identity I use." He turned to see which students were closest to him and staring at him the most. To his surprise it was two of his own former year and house mates: Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. He stopped right in front of them. For this pair of students he felt that he really needed to use his superhero voice. Seamus and Dean weren't casual acquaintances. He'd roomed with them for two years and while they might not know him well they knew him better than most other people from simply being around him so much in the past.
"What's the matter?" he asked them with hints of both amusement and exasperation in his tone, "haven't you ever seen an X-Man before?"
"Um yes, I mean, that is – " Seamus began when Lightning cut him off.
"Relax" he said, "I'm not going to bite you. I promise."
"Oh good" said Seamus.
"I might shock you a bit if I get mad" Lightning said with a grin, "but I won't bite."
"We're just surprised to see you" said Dean who seemed less nervous than Seamus, "we didn't know the X-Men were here again."
"Only a couple of us are here" said Lightning, "our founder and mentor, whom you may call 'Professor X' (and no, he wasn't with us last April) had some business with Professor Dumbledore. He brought Marvel Girl to help him and asked me to tag along to guard the door while they were busy."
"Is he done then?" asked Dean, "he must be if you're wandering around the castle."
"Yeah, he's done" said Lightning, "he and Marvel Girl went to confer with Dumbledore. He asked me to look in on Toad and Dumbledore said he was probably in the the library or – oh there he is." Lightning happened to see Toad exiting the library at that moment. The former evil mutant looked up and saw him. His eyebrows went up in surprise and he quickly approached the three boys.
"Lightning?" Toad said, "what are you doing here?"
"As I was just telling these two" said Lightning, "Professor X had business with the headmaster. He asked me to look in on you."
"That's kind of him" said Toad, "I appreciate it."
"So how are you Toad? Or would you rather I now address you as Mr. U – "
"Just call me Mortimer" said Toad raising a hand to stop Lightning from saying his last name, "that will be fine. If you want to talk I'm heading down to speak to the DADA professor."
"The DADA –?" Lightning asked pretending not to know what that meant, "Hogwarts teaches a class in early 20th century art?"
"He means 'Defense Against the Dark Arts'" said Seamus who had gotten over his nervousness.
"Oh" said Lightning, "well okay Mortimer, I'll walk with you. Nice talking with you two – actually I never got your names?"
"Dean Thomas."
"Seamus Finnigan."
"Nice to meet you both" said Lightning shaking their hands. Then he and Mortimer walked away from them down the hallway."
"Sorry for stopping you just now" said Mortimer, "but the headmaster thought it might be a good idea to keep my family name a secret for a while. We don't want my older sister to find out that I'm here and that I can do magic."
"Considering what she did to you, I don't blame you" said Lightning, "do you have a plan of what you're going to do about her?"
"I'm working on it" said Mortimer, "Dumbledore took me to Gringotts the day after I got here and the goblins gave me an inheritance test to prove that I was who I said I was. When I did they had me claim the Selwyn lordship ring but we're keeping that secret too. Technically I'm already Lord Selwyn but my sister won't know anything about it until I go before the Wizengamot to claim the family seat."
"Oh to be a fly on the wall at that meeting" said Lightning, "remember what Mage said: be sure to take pictures."
"I'll try" said Mortimer with a grin.
"Seriously though, how are you settling in? I know you grew up thinking you were a squib but now – "
"It's been interesting" said Mortimer, "there's a lot that I have to catch up on. For the most part I'm being tutored one on one. That's why I'm heading to the DADA office. It's my next lesson. I'm also thinking of staying here next year."
"I assume Dumbledore had you get a wand?" asked Lightning.
"Yes" said Mortimer, "Red Oak, twelve inches, with a dragon heartstring."
"What house did you get sorted into?"
"Slytherin" was the reply.
"Fitting" said Lightning, "what do your fellow Slytherins think of you?"
"I don't think they know quite what to make of me" said Mortimer, "I have my own room in the Slytherin dorms and people know better than to try to bully me – well most people do."
"Oh?"
"The first night I was here this one kid came up to me and tried to intimidate me, claiming that he was in charge of the house and I had to do whatever he said and other stuff like that. It didn't go well for him."
"I'm sure it didn't" said Lightning, "just a guess: would that student's name happen to be Draco Malfoy?"
"How did you know?" asked Mortimer in surprise.
"Because he tried something similar with me last April" said Lightning.
"Oh yes" said Mortimer, "I heard about that after I 'discouraged' Malfoy from attacking me. Good job showing him mutants aren't pushovers."
"I bloody well hope not" said Lightning with a frown, "is your being a mutant an issue at all?"
"Thankfully no" said Mortimer, "it's not like I'm the first mutant they've ever seen. I'm not even the first magical mutant out there. I know you're one."
"Do you?" said Lightning, "interesting. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver didn't know. Did Magneto tell you?"
"I was there when Magneto reviewed the recording of your escape from your cell on Asteroid M" said Mortimer, "Magneto didn't have to tell me. As a Squib I was around enough magic when I was a kid to recognize a spell being cast when I saw it. Magneto confirmed I was right. Now I'm the second magical mutant to appear – "
"Actually you're the third" said Lightning, "there's another one over in the States but I won't say who."
"Really?" asked Mortimer, "my, my. Do you think there will be more?"
"Yes" said Lightning, "it's only a matter of time." They'd almost reached Remus' office by now and Lightning thought he'd look in on his honorary uncle before leaving Mortimer to his lesson.
"By the way," asked Mortimer, "do you know what happened to Magneto? I haven't heard from him at all since he left with the Stranger."
"Magneto's gone" said Lightning who told him about the Stranger leaving Earth and taking Magneto with him. Mortimer's eyes went wide when he heard that.
"Wow" he said, "that was almost me. If you hadn't stopped me from following them I'd have been taken too. Thank you for that."
"You're welcome" said Lightning.
"Do you think Magneto will ever come back?" asked Mortimer. Lightning shrugged.
"The Stranger said he wouldn't" he said, "but who knows? You're lucky you know. With Magneto gone you've gotten a chance to start over again, this time where you should have been all along."
"I know" said Mortimer, "and I'm not going to waste it."
Mortimer knocked on Professor Lupin's office door. Instead of calling out for someone to come in like most professors did Remus opened the door himself.
"Ah, good to see you Mortimer" he said before seeing Lightning. His eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Hello Lightning" he said, "I didn't know the X-Men were here."
"Just a couple of us" said Lightning, "Professor X had business with Dumbledore and brought me and Marvel Girl along."
"I see" said Remus who motioned for Mortimer to enter the office, "go sit down and get ready. I'll be with you in a minute." Mortimer nodded and entered the office. Remus shut the door behind him and turned back to Lightning.
"Hi Harry" he said in a low voice, "what's going on?"
"Professor Xavier managed to cure Snape" said Lightning in an equally low voice.
"Did he? Sirius mentioned he was going to try" said Remus, "though I didn't know it would be today. That's big. As far as I know Severus is the first person to be rendered insane by the Cruciatus Curse to later be cured. When this gets out it's going to be news."
"Maybe that's what Dumbledore wanted to talk to him about just now" said Lightning who told him that Xavier and Marvel Girl were up in the headmaster's office.
"Very likely" said Remus, "maybe the professor will be able to help other torture curse victims. That would be wonderful. Well I'd better not keep my student waiting. Thanks for stopping by. It's always good to see you."
"Will you be visiting the mansion over Easter Break?" asked Lightning.
"If I can" was the reply, "it depends on how much work I'll have at that time."
With a last wave Remus went into his office and Lightning began wandering again. He decided to go outside and, not really wanting to run into any more students on the way, went into an empty classroom, opened the window, and flew out through it.
Happy to be outside and flying again Lightning circled the castle a couple of times just reveling in the freedom he always felt when he was flying. He looked around the Hogwarts grounds and saw some students out and about here and there. He looked over at the Quidditch Stadium and saw some students having a pick up game. He considered flying over there but at first decided against it as he thought he might be accused of showing off since he didn't need a broom to fly. Almost as soon as he had that thought he dismissed it. Why should he feel guilty about having an ability that they didn't have? How was that any different from wizards and muggles or mutants and normals?
With that thought in his mind he changed course and flew over to the Quidditch Stadium. The players saw him coming because when he got there they had all stopped playing and were hovering on their brooms looking at him.
"Hello" he said as he flew up to them and hovered in place to talk to them, "you looked like you were having a good time. Don't stop on my account."
"We're just surprised to see you" said his fellow champion Cedric Diggory who appeared to be one of the captains of the teams. Looking around Lightning saw that most of the players were Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws with the odd Gryffindor and Slytherin mixed in.
"I know" said Lightning, "almost no one knew we were coming but by now I imagine a lot of people know that Marvel Girl, our mentor, and I are here. The other two are in a meeting with the headmaster that I didn't need to attend so I'm just flying around for a bit."
"And doing it very well" said Cho Chang who was looking at him with some envy as were some of the other players.
"I've had a lot of practice" said Lightning, "just like you all must have had with your brooms in order to be able to play Quidditch." That seemed to make the envious players feel better as their faces all cleared a bit. Lightning saw a flicker of movement to his right. He turned and saw a bludger heading right at him. Without showing any concern he grabbed it out of the air with his telekinesis and hurled it back the way it came.
"How did you do that?" asked one of the younger players looking at him in surprise.
"Telekinesis is my friend" said Lightning, "I'll let you get back to your game. Sorry to interrupt it."
"No, no" said Cedric, "we don't mind. Thanks for stopping by."
Lightning gave them a wave and flew off again. The players watched him go for a few seconds before returning to their game.
Lightning headed out over the lawn and was soon over the lake. He thought that he might fly over to Hogsmeade but before he could he was interrupted by the professor.
"Lightning" called Xavier.
"Yes professor?" replied Lightning.
"I need your help" said the professor, "I just sensed a new mutant here at Hogwarts, No, it's not Toad (obviously), but it is someone you know and I would like you to make contact with them and bring them to Albus' office. The password is 'Blood Pops.'"
"Okay" said Lightning, "who is it?"
"It's a boy named Neville Longbottom." That almost knocked Lightning out of the air in surprise but luckily he kept his concentration since a fall from here would see him plunging into the lake.
"I – see" said Lightning, "where is he?"
"On the far side of the lake. He's alone."
"Okay, I'll find him. Should I tell him who I really am?"
"Not yet. We don't want to overload him with information too soon" said Xavier, "I'll let you know when you can reveal yourself to him. I have another reason that I wish to speak with him that I will reveal to him after we meet."
"Would that have anything to do with the meeting you and Dumbledore had which Marvel Girl was at but I wasn't?" asked Lightning in shrewd manner.
"Indeed it does" said the professor, "and I will tell you all about it when you get here with Mr. Longbottom."
"Okay. Lightning out." Lightning broke contact with the professor and headed to the far side of the lake to see if he could find Neville. He found him almost at once. He flew down closer to Neville whose back was to him. Lightning silently floated up close to Neville and looked over his shoulder from several feet above him. Neville was holding a small rock in his hands and appeared to be concentrating hard. As Lightning watched the rock began to change shape. It went from being roughly round to becoming long and thin like a wand. When Neville was done he held the rock wand up and looked at it in wonder. Silently Lightning landed behind Neville.
"Okay, that was cool" the youngest X-Man said abruptly causing Neville to jump a foot in the air and give a squeak of surprise as he spun around and saw Lightning standing there with a grin on his face.
"Sorry" Lightning said, "I didn't mean to scare you.
"It – it's okay" said Neville stumbling a little over his words, "I didn't know the X-Men were here today."
"Yeah, people have been saying that" said Lightning as he held out his hand, "I'm Lightning."
"Neville Longbottom" said Neville shaking Lightning's hand, "We met briefly last April but we didn't talk at all. It's nice to see you again."
"Likewise" said Lightning, "so what exactly were you doing to that rock? How were you doing it?"
"I don't know" said Neville sounding bashful, "it's just something that been's happening lately. I picked up a rock the other day and was thinking about – well actually I don't remember what I was thinking about but it had to do with some small object I needed. When I looked down the rock had changed its shape to look like that object. That happened more than once so today I thought I might experiment a bit."
"That's a very neat kind of magic" said Lightning.
"I'm not sure it's magic" said Neville, "it's not like any magic I know. I didn't use my wand or say a spell. I just thought about it happening and it happened."
"I see" said Lightning slowly, "do you think you might be a mutant?"
"You mean like you?" asked Neville in surprise.
"Sure, why not?" said Lightning, "what you're describing has all the signs of a mutant's power waking up for the first time. When it happened to me I didn't know what was going on. I'd think about getting an object and it would come flying over to me. Or I'd touch a metal surface and cause a shock. It wasn't until Professor X found me and told me that I was a mutant that I knew."
"Professor X?" asked Neville, "who's he?"
"He's our mentor" said Lightning, "he found and trained all of us X-Men. He's a mutant too. He's a telepath."
"Oh" said Neville as a thought hit him, "would it be possible to get in touch with Professor X? Do you think he could help me?"
"I'm sure he could help you" said Lightning, "you can meet him today. He's here at Hogwarts. He and Professor Dumbledore are old friends and he had stuff to do here today. He brought me and Marvel Girl with him. That's why I'm here."
"That's lucky" said Neville.
"Not at all" said Lightning, "actually he wants to meet you. He sent me to ask you to come see him up in the headmaster's office. I didn't want to overwhelm you though."
"Then let's go" said Neville with more enthusiasm than Lightning had heard from him before, "it's a long walk around the lake."
"Walking?" said Lightning with a smirk, "who said anything about walking?" He took off and hovered about six feet in the air.
"I can get us there faster" he said to Neville, "if you don't mind letting me carry you?"
"Carry me? How?"
"Like this." Lightning took a hold of Neville with his telekinesis and lifted him into the air. Neville gave a squawk of surprise.
"Relax" said Lightning, "if you don't want me to fly you there we can walk."
"No, no" said Neville, "it's okay. I was just startled. Don't fly too high please."
"I won't" said Lightning, "and I won't drop you either."
Lightning flew up to about 15 feet and flew back across the lake carrying Neville right below him. It seemed to Lightning that Neville really didn't want to travel this way but didn't want to say so. He knew Neville didn't like flying much so he didn't fly too quickly or too high.
Once they were across the lake Neville seemed to relax a bit making Lightning think he had been more afraid of being dropped into the lake than of the actual flying. They flew across the Hogwarts lawn to the front of the castle. Here and there they passed students who watched them fly by in amazement.
The Hogwarts front doors were standing wide open so Lightning didn't stop when he reached them. Instead he flew himself and Neville through the doors into the castle, up the grand staircase, and up the middle of the main staircase taking care not to hit any of the stairs if they moved. Upon reaching the floor he wanted Lightning flew away from the stairs and down the halls still carrying Neville with him. There were a lot more students in the halls now. It seemed that a class session had just ended. Lightning didn't stop.
"GANGWAY!" he yelled, "COMING THROUGH!" the students in the hall all scrambled to get out of his way as he flew past them. None of them were in danger of being hit by either Lightning or Neville as the ceilings of the halls were high enough that Lightning was able to carry Neville over the crowd by a comfortable margin. It was still fun to yell and cause the commotion though.
"I always wanted to do something like that" Lightning said to Neville with a grin as he finally landed both of them in front of the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office. Neville was breathing hard.
"Next time you do" Neville said, "leave me out of it."
"You didn't like the ride?"
"Not that last part. I thought we were going knock over some of the students."
"Oh ye of little faith" said Lightning with a smirk, "if there's one thing I know how to do it's to fly safely – even when it looks dangerous. There was never any chance we would have hit anyone." He turned to the gargoyle and gave the password. The gargoyle leaped aside and Lightning and Neville went up the spiral staircase. When they got to the top Lightning knocked on the door and was told to enter.
As expected Dumbledore, Professor Xavier, and Marvel Girl were all there but no one else was.
"Here he is professor" said Lightning to Xavier, "this is Neville Longbottom."
"Thank you Lightning" said Xavier, "I know you were having fun just now but next time please don't terrorize the students."
"Oops" said Lightning with a slight shrug and feigning looking contrite as he walked over to stand next to Marvel Girl opposite the professor and the headmaster. Professor Xavier just shook his head but smiled as he did so before turning his attention to Neville.
"Hello Mr. Longbottom" Xavier said holding out his hand which Neville shook, "I'm Professor Charles Xavier. My students call me 'Professor X.'"
"How do you do?" said Neville sounding a bit timid, "Lightning told me about you."
"Good things I hope" said the professor.
"Yes sir" said Neville.
"As if I would say anything bad about the professor" Lightning murmured in an undertone to Marvel Girl who nodded in agreement.
"What has my student told you?" asked Xavier.
"He said that you'd be able to tell if I was a mutant or not" said Neville.
"That's right" said the professor, "and there's no 'if' about it. You are a mutant Mr. Longbottom. Now let me tell you more about what that means..."
The professor spent the next several minutes giving Neville the same talk about mutants that he'd given Harry nearly two years ago. It was a variation on what he always told a new mutant when he contacted them for the first time. All of the X-Men had received it as well as Ororo. Now it was Neville's turn. The professor also told him about his school and about the X-Men.
"Does this mean I'm going to be an X-Man sir?" asked Neville.
"No" said Xavier, "you're too young for that. And you don't have to join the X-Men to study with me. I imagine most of my future students won't be on the team. You might be later on if you want and I allow it. You'd have to be 18 first."
"Lightning's not 18" pointed out Neville.
"No, he's not" said the professor, "but Lightning is a very special case, also he joined the team before I imposed the minimum age requirement so it doesn't apply to him."
"Oh, okay" said Neville who now had a new thought.
"Professor" he asked, "does my being a wizard matter to my also being a mutant?"
"No" said Xavier, "the powers are separate. You are a wizard and a mutant. Also you're not the first magical mutant I've come across. I know of three others. You even know one of them."
"I do?" asked Neville. Professor Xavier looked at Lightning
"Lightning take off your mask" said the professor, "show our young friend here who you really are."
"It'll be a pleasure" said Lightning who reached up and pulled off his mask.
"Hi Neville" said Harry, grinning. Neville's jaw dropped in surprise when he saw him.
"H-Harry?!" Neville exclaimed, "is that you?"
"Yes" said Harry who pulled his mask back on after Neville had gotten a good look at his face., "now you know why I had to leave Hogwarts. My powers first woke up at the end of second year and I couldn't control them at all. Remember what I told you about that? I met the professor right here in this office and he offered me a place at his school. It was just supposed to be for the summer but, let's just say that circumstances came about which caused me to stay and join the team. The rest is history."
Neville turned to face Dumbledore.
"You knew about this headmaster?"
"Yes" said Dumbledore, "I've known the whole time. I introduced Harry to Charles and I helped Harry transfer to Ilvermorny when it became clear he needed to stay and be trained as an X-Man."
"I'll make the same offer to you that I made to Harry," said Xavier, "you're welcome to spend the summer at my school. I can help you gain control of your powers and learn how to use them effectively if you want."
"I would like that" said Neville, "but professor that's still 3 months away. What do I do about my new powers until then?"
"Well Mr. Longbottom" said Dumbledore, "Easter Break is coming up soon. You could spend it at Charles' school. I'm sure he could help you gain enough control during that time to last you until the summer."
"That would be nice" said Neville, "but what do I tell my gran?"
"Just tell her you're staying here for Easter vacation" said Dumbledore, "many students do. I know you have in years past."
"Okay" said Neville, "but I mean what do I tell her about my being a mutant?"
"Do you think she won't like it?" asked Xavier sharply.
"No, that's not a problem" said Neville, "she was happy that the X-Men came to Hogwarts and the Quidditch World Cup. She doesn't hate mutants. I just don't know what she'll think about me being one."
"I can be there when you talk to her if you want" said Dumbledore, "we can talk to her before the summer. It doesn't have to be now, does it?"
"No, it doesn't" said Neville sounding relieved, "thank you sir. I'd like that."
"Good" said Dumbledore, "now it's up to you to let people know that you're a mutant or not. I would advise you to keep it to yourself, at least for now."
"I agree" said Xavier, "if people find out you're a mutant they're very likely to wonder if you have any connection to the X-Men. For our own safety we keep our identities secret."
"I can't tell anyone?" asked Neville.
"You can tell Ron and Hermione" said Lightning, "they know about me and the X-Men. They even visited the school this past summer. All of the Weasleys know. Luna Lovegood also knows, as does Hagrid, Professor Lupin knows, the headmaster has known the whole time and, as I found out earlier today, Professor Flitwick knows I'm an X-Man too."
"That's right" said Dumbledore, "he worked it out on his own but he won't tell anyone. As you can see Mr. Longbottom, there are people you can talk to, just keep it a secret beyond that."
"I can do that" said Neville.
"Good" said Xavier, "I'll be happy to have you as a student and I look forward to seeing you at my school in a couple of weeks."
"Thank you" said Neville sounding relieved.
"Now that that's out of the way" said Dumbledore, "there's something else we wish to discuss with you."
(To Be Continued)
A/N - It's fun to write Harry while he's Lightning. He's more confident, more outgoing, and he even has a bit of a mischievous streak which he let out to play a bit in this chapter. This is the first part of another chapter that had to be split into two chapters because it was getting to be too long.
Some of you guessed correctly in naming Neville as the new mutant. I began planning for him to be revealed as mutant back when I was still working on part 1. The hard part was coming up with his power. It would have been way too easy to have him be in control of plants like, say, Batman's foe Poison Ivy. I wanted him to have something that is different but isn't that far away from his connection to the Earth.
That's all for this week. Next week the story continues. 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