Previously, On Harry Potter, X-man, Tesla

Short Version!: Harry left the Dursleys, Charles and Ororo (Professor X and Storm) are on their way in the X-Jet, and Dumbledore's tracking devices and ward detectors all broke!

Harry sat on the swings, in a park not far from Privet Drive. He was contemplating what he should do next. He knew he wasn't going back to his "family", but where should he go then? He sat there for awhile, not even thinking about what would happen if the Dursleys got back and he was missing. He wondered if he could live on his own. He knew there were people who begged for food and money, Petunia had been frightened by them when they went to visit London once, but the idea of begging held little appeal for him. Not that he was above taking charity, he was just not used to asking people for help. Neither did he like the idea of stealing. He was sure that with his powers, he could take what he wanted, but he didn't like the idea of taking from people he didn't even know.

But if he wasn't going to beg, and he wasn't going to steal, what could he do? He could go to an orphanage, but then he would have to tell the adults where he came from, and they would force him back to the Dursleys (Obviously they wouldn't because of child services, but he didn't realize that). He couldn't live at the school,because Dudley would see him there, and it still left the problem of food and other stuff. As Harry was thinking, he didn't notice three very important things. One, was that his hands were still sparking, and had been since he cast the bolt at his cupboard door. Two, was that in the small wood nearby (They had a small grouping of trees around a few football fields near the park), a great wind seemed to pick up and die down, flattening a lot of the grasses and blowing the leaves on the trees. Third, was that out of the woods came an African woman with white hair pushing a bald man sitting in a wheelchair toward the park.

"Mr. Potter?"

A few minutes earlier...

"Stop over there on the soccer fields Ororo," Xavier said suddenly, as Storm was making a second pass over Little Whinging. She nodded, and started making the necessary landing procedures. Charles smiled. He had felt the boys mind, and after a brief location check and surroundings check, had determined he was in the park and alone. He took a moment while Storm was landing to try and see what the boy was thinking about. His smile widened slightly. He didn't like the fact that the boy had to run away, but having no place else to go would make it much easier to convince him that he could help. He dug a little deeper, and the smile vanished from his face, which started to pale considerably. He broke the connection and tried to focus on what Storm was saying rather than what he had seen in the boys, Harry's mind.

Storm, finished landing, had turned around in her chair, and seen the Professor smile then pale. She asked if he was alright when he opened his eyes, but had to ask again, since it didn't seem he had heard her the first time. He turned to look her in the eye, and said, "Everything is fine, its just that the child, whose name is Harry Potter by the way, has had a much harder home life than I first thought." She frowned at that, but said nothing, instead getting the professors chair unlatched from the plane, and pushing him out the exit. He could use the motor, but in the grassy fields it wasn't as reliable, and Storm preferred standing behind him when meeting the incoming children.

As they made their way to the park, both got their first glance at the child known as Harry Potter. He looked small and thin, Ororo thought he was just a skinny young child, probably 4 years old, but Charles knew it was a result of severe malnutrition. He had messy black hair, that seemed to stick up randomly all over the place. His skin was pale, and his clothes much too big and practically falling off his tiny frame, but his eyes shone emerald green, and seemed to speak in their depths about horrors children shouldn't have to face. As they drew nearer, it was clear he hadn't noticed them, so Xavier called out, "Mr. Potter?" in a questioning tone, as if asking if it was him.

Back to the present...

Harry looked up, and saw the man and woman in front of him. After living with the Dursleys who only ever looked at him with hate, and then going to school where nobody actually hated him, he had become decent at reading peoples emotions based on their expressions and posture. The man in the wheelchair looked slightly anxious, but restrained and polite, while the woman looked at him with open curiosity. "Yes?" Harry answered the man, deciding to focus on him. The woman stood off to the side and slightly behind the man, giving him the appearance of authority, so it would be best to address him first.

The man smiled, and started talking. "Mr. Potter it has come to our attention that you decided to run away from your place of residence today." Harry visibly stiffened, but the man kept his smile on, and hurried to correct Harry's assumption. "Trust me Mr. Potter, I have no intention of forcing you to go back there." Harry eyed him warily, but relaxed in the swing slightly.

"In that case sir, could you please call me Harry? Mr. Potter," he made a face, "sounds weird."

The man chuckled. "Very well Harry. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and this is my college, Ororo Munroe. We'd like to ask you a few questions about the nature of your escape from, the Dursleys, was it?"

Harry nodded, "Yes sir. They had left me home alone and I just left." His eyes shifted a little, obviously lying in the innocent way only small children can pull off without making adults mad.

Indeed, Charles smiled. "Now Harry, I think we both know that there is considerably more to the story than that." Harry looked up, wary again, but did not tense up. "You see Harry, I believe I know what you are. While I do not know the details, I know that you discovered some rare abilities, and used them to help facilitate your escape."

Harry looked Charles in the eye. "How is it you knew sir?" He asked quietly. He was startled when he heard a voice that sounded like Charles in his head, but did not actually hear any sound. "Because Harry, you are not the only one with special abilities." Harry's eyes widened and the Professor smiled. "You see," he began, trying to explain gently, "There are some people, many people actually, all over the world that have certain abilities, certain powers, that make them different from everyone else. I, for example, am a very strong telepath, a person who has the ability to read and manipulate others minds. Miss Munroe here can control the weather. There are many more back at my institute. I was hoping that you would be interested in joining us there."

Harry looked between them, hope in his eyes. "Do you mean it sir? Could I? I promise I will earn my keep, I can help cook and clean and garden, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go and I have no money," Harry was babbling, and he knew it, but he was too anxious to stop. Storm, however, frowned, and the skies became a darker overcast, which Xavier noticed and placed a calming hand on her arm.

"Patience Storm, we will be taking Harry home, away from those people." Storm searched his eyes, and giving an almost imperceptible nod, let go of her frustration and the sky became clear again. Harry watched all this with an expression of awe on his face. He at first was worried about Storm's expression, because she looked angry, but when her eyes went white, and the sky darkened, he was amazed. As he was looking up at the gray clouds, he didn't notice his hands spark more. Charles and Storm did when they looked at him again though.

"Harry?" Charles said softly, trying to get his attention. Harry pulled his gaze from the now clear sky and looked questioningly at the professor. "Could you explain what is going on with your hand?" Harry looked confused, but when he looked down, his eyes widened in surprise, and he reached his left hand to hold his right. When they made contact, the electricity grew in size and intensity, so he rapidly pulled his hands apart.

"I don't know sir," Harry answered confused. Xavier knew that wasn't exactly the truth, but he just waited for Harry to finish explaining. Seeing the professors curious look, Harry tried to explain. "You see, I discovered what I could do back at the house, before I ran away that is, and I could make electricity. But before, it only showed up when I wanted it too. Now," he looked to be deep in concentration for a moment, before gasping softly and panting lightly. "Now, I can't seem to stop it, at least in my hands."

Xavier nodded, seemingly in thought. This reminded him of Scott. He had discovered his powers by accident, after a plane crash in which he lost both his parents and brother. He had control for a short while, but soon the trauma of the accident created a mental block of sorts that prevented him from having complete control of his powers. He could fluctuate the intensity of his optic blasts, to an extent, but he could never turn it off. He wondered if the abuse Harry had suffered from his relatives had caused the same sort of reaction.

Seeing that both Harry and Storm were looking at him, he shook his head and focused his thoughts. More time to contemplate that later. Now, he had to get Harry back to the institute. Hank McCoy was working in medical school, but was on break at the moment. Perhaps he would be willing to help Harry recover from his experience. "Harry, I am willing to let you live at the institute, and there are a few things you will probably have to do, but nothing like you had to do for your relatives. I only need to tell you a few things." Harry nodded rapidly, obviously wanting to get going.

"Firstly, the institute is in America, so when we get there I will need to provide documentation about you. We do not need the actual documents, we can provide accurate ones, but I would like your consent to do so, so you know what you are getting into." Harry nodded, he didn't see any problem with this. Charles continued. "Also, this institute is also a school, rather like a boarding school for other people with abilities like yourself. We do not have very many people yet, but you will be expected to attend classes, and if we get many more people joining, you may eventually have to share a room. Aside from that, you may have a chore or two to do regularly, such as cleaning one of the rooms there or something similar. You won't have to do nearly all the work you did before, but as I said, at the moment we do not have many people so you will need to do various other tasks, usually only by helping one of the staff members with something. Is all this okay with you?" Charles looked at Harry, almost positive he was going to say yes, judging by the hope and joy on the child's face.

He wasn't disappointed.

A/N: Okay! Another chapter done! And my longest one yet at just over 2000 words! Awesome! So if you think there are any major problems with this so far, let me know. Either the next chapter or the one after we are going to meet Hank McCoy, Logan, and Scott at least, possibly Jean also. Anything you want, review or send a message and I will let you know! Thanks!