Chapter 7: X-Men Reunited
"Ms. Granger was … three weeks pregnant … the child … she was your child as well."
The words echoed through Harry's mind hitting him like a hammer. "She … I was … we were going to have a daughter?"
"Harry …" Ron said as he and Mary Jane took a place on either side of him.
"Can I see her?" Harry asked, stepping away from his friends.
"I had assumed you would wish to," Madam Pomfrey nodded, "She should be coming to anytime now. If it's alright with her family, you may come in first." Beast gave a nod, "Very well then. Come along, Mr. Potter."
Harry nodded, and the nurse led him through the double door. She paused in front of Hermione's room.
"She looks worse than she is, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey warned before opening the door for him. "The wounds will heal, and the scars will fade quickly. The important thing is you got her here in time, so she could heal."
Harry gulped and nodded before walking into the sterilized room. The sight made bile rise in his throat. Hermione was heavily bandaged; the deep cuts along her face were stitched back together, but slightly swollen. Harry numbly walked to the side of the bed and reached out to run his fingers over her bandaged hand, before gently taking it in his own. "H-Harry?" Hermione's weak voice spoke as her swollen eyes opened to look at him.
"Hiya, Stranger …" Harry smiled, thrilled she was even alive.
"Hiya back …" Hermione responded, trying to smile, but her swollen, scarred lips wouldn't allow it. "I must look a fright …"
"You're beautiful …" Harry gave a soft smile. "I'm sorry …"
"You're sorry?" Hermione coughed slightly. "I should be the one apologizing… I was the git selfish enough to try to make you be something you're not."
"You just didn't want me to get hurt," Harry smiled, stroking her bandaged cheek. "I should have known better … after that mess with Sinister and all …"
"It's who we are …" Hermione closed her eyes. "We're fighters, Harry. I tried to run away from that, and tried to drag you with me… all it did was hurt our relationship."
"I think we both buggered that up, love," Harry chuckled slightly. "I had forgotten the girl I was shagging and snogging was also my best friend." He said, taking her hand in his. "I'd like to try it again, if you'd let me … this time as both your boyfriend … and your best friend."
"I … I'd like that, Harry …" She replied, wincing when she tried to smile. "Ouch …"
"Who did this to you?" Harry asked, growing serious.
"Cho …" Hermione gulped, glancing worriedly at him. "Don't go after her alone, though … she's … she's like Logan, now … she has claws like him…"
"Don't worry, Hermione," Harry said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "Concentrate on healing … ok?" She gave a weak nod. "Good … and Hermione … I … I love you."
"What?" She squeaked, her eyes widening slightly.
"I was so scared … that if I told you that … I'd lose you," Harry closed his eyes. "I almost lost you anyway. So, I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid to tell you and everybody else in the bleeding world that I am madly and completely in love with Hermione Granger."
"Good, because I'm not letting you go again, either," She said, trying to grin again, only to jump from the pain of her wounds. "I fucking hate this!" She slammed her head down into the pillow.
"Such language from the Head Girl … remember, you must be an example to the younger students." Harry grinned.
"Bite me." Hermione pouted.
"I would if you weren't doing such an admirable imitation of a mummy." He snickered, "Dear, Ms. Granger, I haven't the faintest where you've been, though," Harry winked.
"You better …" she glared, sulking down in her bed. "Now, go tell everyone I'm as ok as expected. Scoot!"
Harry walked out smiling, but as soon as he was out of Hermione's range of vision, the smile dropped.
"How is she?" Ron asked, jumping to his feet as the others came around him.
"She'll be ok once her wounds heal. I'm … not sure Madam Pomfrey told her about the baby yet. She didn't act like she knew … probably for the best right now." Harry said, glancing back to the closed door. "Ron, could you come with to the library? Hermione asked me to … look up some stuff for her."
"The Library?" Ron whined, but clamped his mouth shut at the glare Harry was giving. "Ok, why not? Nothing better to do, I reckon …"
The adults nodded. "I'll keep her company 'til you boys get back … from the research." Mary Jane smiled knowingly before going with Beast to visit the injured Head Girl.
Harry grabbed Ron's arm and quickly led him down the hall. "So, what are we really going to do, Harry."
"Cho's still close; she couldn't have gotten far." Harry said, walking toward the stairwell.
"Cho? Cho did that to her?" Ron's eyes widened. "She did that to Hermione, smartest witch in the school, personally trained to fight by WOLVERINE, and you want to go after her by yourself?"
"No, you're coming with me." Harry said, not even glancing his way.
"I dunno about this Harry …" Ron gulped, and Harry stopped so suddenly that Ron ran right into his back.
"If you can look me in the eye," Harry said, staring at Ron, green eyes to blue, "And tell me that you don't love her, love like you know I feel, and that you're willing to let that monster get away with hurting her, then you can go back and wait. I know you can't do that, Ron; I know she means as much to you as she does to me … as much as Jubilee means to you."
"Damn it, Harry …" Ron rolled his eyes. "Can't you just be wrong once, just once?"
(X)
"Find anything?" Harry asked as they continued patrolling around the lake.
"Hey, you and Hermione are the experts of this place, not me!" Ron shot back as the two continued looking for any signs. "Only reason I came down here was…"
"I don't want to know, Ron," Harry cut him off.
"What?" Ron shrugged with a smirk. "Me and Neville caught many a fish on these banks."
"Yeah, right … wait, I think I got something." Harry said, coming to a stop.
"Looks like someone pulled themselves out of the water here," Ron said, looking at the large tracks in the sand change into small, feminine footprints. "And you are the weakest link, goodbye!"
Harry stopped and glanced at Ron for a hard moment. "What?" Ron blinked.
"Number one: That catchphrase has nothing to do with this situation," Harry said, holding up one finger and then another. "Two, when and if we ever go back to America, I refuse to let you watch anymore television."
"What? That cranky lady was cool," Ron shrugged. Harry rolled his eyes and started following the trail.
"Where'd ya think she went, Harry?" Ron asked as they continued trailing.
"Be quiet; do you hear that?" Harry said, glancing around and remembering Wolverine's field training exercises.
"Hear what?"
"There's nothing. Not a sound at all …" Harry said slowly, pulling his want from his belt.
"What are you doing out this way, Harry?" Cho said with an innocent smile as she stepped out from behind a tree.
"Hold it right there," Harry said as he and Ron drew a bead on her with their wands. "You're coming with us; we know what you did to Hermione."
"Found her body did you?" Cho's innocent smile turned darker … more sinister. "Now, you know how I felt. When you brought my Cedric's body back from wherever the hell you took him."
"Voldemort killed Cedric, not me, Cho," Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "And Hermione's going to be ok, no thanks to you."
"Oh, too bad," Cho grinned mischievously. "Guess that means after I eviscerate you two, I get to pay her another visit … it was fun making her scream."
"SHUT UP!" Ron bellowed as he bought into Cho's taunts and ran toward her, drawing his wand back. "Stu-" Ron started to cast, but ended up gasping as the Asian girl backhanded him hard enough to knock him clear off his feet.
"Don't let her get to you," Harry said, helping Ron back to his feet as Cho extended her claws.
"Hit her high?" Ron whispered, crouching down slightly with his wand raised.
"Hit her low …" Harry responded, "GO!" He held as he used his telekinesis to push himself into the air, while Ron shot a couple of Impact curses at Cho's legs while Harry fired a Stunner from the air.
The three moved around each other with Cho's claws shining in the evening air. "What's the matter, boys, afraid I might scratch you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes on Harry, before jumping toward him. At the last moment, Harry caught her in midair with his telekinesis.
"It's time for you to cool off," Harry shot before sending her face first into the lake.
She crawled out of the lake, the fire of hatred burning behind her eyes, claws shining in the sunlight. "You're always crying about not knowing your parents, Potter." Cho growled, jumping at Harry again, this time knocking him down. "Well, I'll be glad to send you to your mummy and daddy, and then I'll send your friends and your bitch along to keep you company!"
"You know nothing," Harry spat, gripping Cho's wrists. "If my dad taught me anything, it's never give up in a fight, especially with a spoiled bitch like you." Harry narrowed his green eyes, "If I could just teach him to trust his friends a bit more, we'd all be one big happy family."
"What are you rambling about?" Cho asked, still struggling to slash him.
"Oh, just a nice little comment that leads to Ron tackling you off me." Harry said, and before the girl could respond, Ron did just that and wrestled her across the grass and sand.
Harry sat for a moment, catching his breath as Cho and Ron wrestled for dominance. Finally, Cho rolled on top, bringing her claw quickly down across his forehead, leaving a deep, lightning bolt scratch. "Always wanted to be like him, Ronnie," Cho said as the redhead yelled in pain and grasped his forehead. "There you go."
"Don't touch him again!" Harry growled, using his TK to boil the air around him, creating makeshift flames and hitting her dead in the chest, sending her flying backwards along the ground.
"You going to stop me, Potter?" Cho asked, climbing back to her feet and jumping back toward Ron for a killing blow. Suddenly, she went limp, having been hit from behind by a ruby-red blast of energy.
"Back off, Ms. Chang." Cyclops said, with his hand on his visor as he approached. "Or the gloves won't be the only things coming off."
"Your new daddy come to save you, little Potter," Cho laughed darkly, glancing back to the dark haired teen.
"Scott," another voice spoke walking up behind him. He turned to see Jean following behind, watching Harry and Cho carefully. "This isn't your fight. Let the boys have their battle."
"But…"
"Harry's an X-Man, and Ron is no stranger to this, either. Trust them," She said, turning to Harry, "Show her what it means to fight an X-Man, son." Jean said with a firm nod to Harry, who nodded back with a small smile.
"You used to be a witch, Cho," Harry said as he lifted his wand. "You depend too heavily on those claws of yours."
"That's silly, what's magic when you have these?" Cho laughed, lifting her clawed hands. "What are you going to do, Harry, stupefy me?"
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry called out unexpectedly, sending his Patronus galloping toward his opponent.
Cho backpedaled away as Ron got to his hands and knees directly behind her. She never saw what she tripped over as she fell to the earth, scurrying to get back to her feet, but wasn't fast enough as Harry moved to her, decking her right in the face and sending her tumbling back to the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ron asked as he kicked out, striking her in the chest with as much of his weight as he could put in.
She gasped for breath as Harry and Ron stood side by side before her poking their wands into either cheek. "Stupefy!" They called out in unison, this time blasting her back to slide several feet along the ground.
"Well, that was fun …" Ron said, still holding his wounded forehead. "Bitch had it coming though, I reckon."
"You said it, mate," Harry said as he put his arm around Ron, and they walked toward his adopted parents. "Let's get that head looked at."
"Think I'll get a scar like yours out of this?" Ron asked, rubbing his bleeding forehead tenderly.
"Dunno, maybe." Harry shrugged.
"Hope so, chicks love the scar." Ron tried to smile, but grimaced at the movement of his face muscles.
"Behind you!" Cyclops bellowed, going for his visor.
Harry and Ron turned quickly to see Cho once again on her feet, but just standing there, mouth and eyes opened wide, as well as three long, triangular spikes piercing her stomach.
"Now, listen here, Darlin'," a familiar, scruffy voice spoke from behind the dark haired girl. "You see what this feels like? This is what it feels like to be stabbed in the back. Was that what you were gonna do to my little buddies here?"
"Wolverine!" Ron cheered as Logan jerked his claws from Cho's body.
"You wanna fight with claws, ya little bitch? You don't know a damned thing 'bout fightin' with claws. Look at me when I'm talkin' to you!" Wolverine growled, spinning Cho around to face him. "Now we got two choices: judgin' by ya claws, ya got healin' factor like me, so you can calm your little ass down and take whatever punishment ya get for doing whatever ya did to piss off Mage and his little, freckle-faced ass-kisser. Or, I can teach you what happens when you play with knifes."
"You don't have what it takes to stop me," Cho panted, before turning and leaping toward Harry again.
"That's the difference between me and that boy, Darlin'," Wolverine said as he slashed with his claw separating Cho's head from her body. "He's the hero; I'm the killer."
Harry and Ron stared at the disembodied head rolling across the ground, Harry merely shocked while Ron looked visibly ill. "You ok, runts?" Wolverine asked, sheathing his claws.
"I think … I lost too much blood from … my head wound …" Ron whimpered as he fainted in Harry's arms.
"Did you have to kill her?" Harry asked softly.
"Would you have liked to have your chest ripped out?" Wolverine asked, pulling out a cigar and biting off the tip. "Not a hard choice if you ask me, Bub."
(X)
The walk back to the castle was a quiet one, Harry and Wolverine dropped off Ron and Cho's body to the hospital wing before going to meet with Professors Xavier and Dumbledore about what had taken place.
"It was very foolish thing to do, going after her alone, Harry," Professor Dumbledore stated, pacing slightly, "Honorable, noble, but very foolish."
"Ah, leave the runt alone, Al, he was just defending his woman's honor," Logan said, patting him on the back. "Great to see you still kicking by the way, kid," he nodded, though his words and mannerisms were light, his eyes told a different story. His eyes danced in a way only Dumbledore had seen before. "Phoenix Force, huh? Bringing the dead back to life … Phoenix, that's real original, Jeanie. How ever did ya come up with that name?"
"It named itself actually," Jean said, looking at Wolverine knowingly. "It was created from a spell of a very courageous woman. Phoenix is a portion of her soul ... Harry's mother's soul."
Wolverine's reaction was instant. The color faded from his features as he dropped into a nearby chair. "Harry's mum, you say?" Wolverine said, his Canadian accent dropping into one of British for an instant. "That's real convenient with ya adoptin' the runt and all…"
"We can fill you in on that later if you like, Logan," Xavier said, changing the subject to one more comfortable for the feral mutant. "Where have you been?"
"After Harry went down, I found out a little bit 'bout how old Snake Boy's been stayin' alive all these years." Wolverine said, glancing toward Dumbledore with a cocked eyebrow. "He had these things called Horcruxes. Little things he broke his soul up into, so he'd always have an anchor here." Wolverine paused to take a drag off his cigar. "He had seven of 'um all together. That's how he survived that God-awful night when Harry was a year old … among other things."
"Had?" Harry asked, "If they were that important, should you have got everyone to go out looking for them?"
"Don't worry bout 'um," Wolverine waved it off. "I made sure to take care of 'um. All we gotta do now is take the freak down once and for all and we can roll the credits."
"I have heard of people dying destroying those, Mr. Logan …" Dumbledore said in mild awe. "How did you …"
"I don't die easy, Al," Wolverine smirked. "You should know that better than anybody."
"Of course …" Dumbledore started, before Mary Jane shot into the office.
"Harry, come quick!" she said in a panicky voice. "Hermione just … she just found out about what happened …"
Harry was out of the room before she could finish.
(X)
Harry ran into the hospital room and found Hermione clinging to Beast, sobbing uncontrollably. "Mione …" Harry whispered.
"I do believe my niece would find greater comfort in your arms than my furry limbs …" Beast said, reaching out to the young man.
Hermione seemed to instinctually reach out for Harry, and he fully enveloped her in his arms as she continued to cry. "Take care of her, son," Beast said, walking out and closing the door behind him.
"It's going to be ok, Hermione …" Harry whispered into her hair.
"Harry, I was carrying our baby … your baby … and now … I'll never …" She whimpered in-between sobs.
Harry quickly shushed her, rubbing her shoulders gently, using what limited psychic ability he had to softly send waves of comfort into her mind. "We'll get through this together, love; I'm here … we'll get through this …" he whispered again, before going into a tangent of gentle whispers of how great his love for her was.
In the darkened room, even if the lights were on, it was doubtful that they would have noticed the other presence in the room. The pale skinned girl turned her crimson eyes away from the scene sadly, before easing back into the shadows. Cho was lucky Wolverine got to her first. Sinistra would have not been as forgiving for hurting her sister.
(X)
A short distance away from London, a group was beginning to mass in a hidden cavern. Mutants, Dark Wizards and Witches, Giants, Vampires, Werewolves, and various other creatures gathered and prepared for war. The two leaders stepped on stage to address the army.
"My brothers!" Magneto spoke up, "Death Eaters and The Brotherhood of Mutants: Brothers of the Same Cause. We have, since our formation, been forced to submit to the humans' …the Muggles' dominance. But today, I say their day has past! The time of Mutant and Wizard dominance is at hand. Evolution has made its claim; we are next. We are higher. We are the Children of the Atom. We are the Children of Magic. Our first stop will be London, and with it, Great Britain will crumble and be our stepping stone to Europe and the Americas! We will spread our control to the far corners of the Earth! It is a sad truth, though, that some of you may not live to see this grand, new world come to be. Let us not fight for ourselves, but for a world where our children will not have to hide what they can do … or who they are. Let us rise and face our oppressors as a solid force, triumphant and invincible!"
The crowd erupted in cheers as Magneto stepped back to stand beside Lord Voldemort. "Tomorrow, my friend," Magneto smiled to his ally. "Tomorrow, we will march on the Muggle World, the World of Homo Sapiens…"
"And then," Voldemort hissed, his own fangy smile, "We will bring it crashing down."
To Be Continued …
Next chapter: The Beginning of the End