Xavier's long time friend Dumbledore led the group plus the teachers to his office. As far as offices went rogue was very impressed. It was large and spacious with plenty of seating but most of the group, choose to stand. What Rogue really loved was the portraits of past headmasters that lined nearly every inch of the wall. They were all commenting on something or other.
Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and rogue could practically see the Professor in him. He took a deep breath before beginning. "As you all know the recent escape of Sirius Black has put the entire Wizarding World in a state of panic. I have asked a friend of mine, Charles Xavier, to lend me a few of his more experienced security associates.
"I introduced them and their powers to the students so that they wouldn't be bothered at all hours to perform their powers." He said but before he could continue he was cut off.
"I don't see why you have brought mutants into this Albus." Said a tall man with slicked back black hair. "Yes I understand they are mutants with freak gifts that are intimidating, but that won't stop Black, he has nothing left to lose."
"Yes, Severus, but that is why I requested these five, they are an elite team. Better than an army of Auror's." Dumbledore told him.
"But why would you bring them here wouldn't a telepath be better?" an older woman with a tight bun asked.
He smiled and looked at Rogue who took her cue and stepped forward. "Rogue, is far better than any telepath, not even Charles can read her mind." He explained, then continued at his colleague's confused looks. "Earlier I said Miss Rogue here had the power of absorption," he paused and then turned his head to her. "Why don't you explain, I'm afraid I would just end up confusing the whole thing."
Rogue nodded and turned her attention to the teachers. "My power, my original power, is ta absorb a person through skin ta skin contact. When Ah absorb them I take their powers, abilities an' memories. The powers an' abilities only last for a short time, but their memories remain with me forever. If ah hold on too long ta a person then ah can kill them an' keep their powers an' abilities forever, usually ah only need ta hold on a few seconds and whoever ah touch is out for only a few hours." She explained.
One of the new teachers, the small one, spoke up from his seat on the couch. "How long is too long?" he questioned.
"Three minutes." She answered automatically, shutting down her emotions on the subject.
"And why can't a telepath read your mind?" asked the pale man.
"When ah absorb someone a little piece of their mind stays in mine. Ah'm like a self-induced schizophrenic." She said hoping to clear up the matter.
"They talk to you?" asked a short little man, the shortest she had ever seen in fact.
"Usually Ah just ignore them." She answered getting bored with the conversation. "Now if ya don't mind can we get ta the reason we are here?" she asked annoyed at the turn of the conversation.
"Ah, yes!" Albus exclaimed before turning serious once more. "Sirius Black is a wizard that was being held prisoner in Azkaban until he escaped a month ago. We have reason to believe that he will come after a third year student here by the name of Harry Potter."
"The boy who stopped Lord Voldemort?" Piotr asked in his thick Russian accent.
Rogue noticed as the entire room but the mutants and Dumbledore, flinched as the name was said. The mutant world and the Wizarding world had managed to keep out of each other's wars for the last hundred years so Voldemort didn't have quite the same effect on them as it did on the witches and wizards.
"One in the same, Black was an undercover death eater and sold out Harry's parents to Voldemort." He explained. "We fear that he may be coming back here to finish the job, so to speak." He said grimly.
"What do you mean back?" Logan asked with his arms crossed over his chest.
"He used to be a student here and knows the grounds very well." Dumbledore explained to them.
"Do you have schematics of the castle and grounds?" he asked.
"No I'm afraid not." He said.
Logan turned to the rest of to Kitty and Rogue. "You two know the drill; I want you to cover every inch of this castle. I and Colossus will check out the forest while Gumbo does whatever the hell he does." Logan said. The group nodded.
"We will have your bags in your quarters when you return." Dumbledore said with a smile.
Piotr and Logan left the office leaving kitty and rogue to discuss if they would go together or split up. "Well if we split we cover more ground." Kitty said.
"Yeah but if we go together we know we covered everythin'." Rogue debated.
"Well I guess we should just go together." Kitty said.
Rogue nodded and was about to take her glove off to absorb a little of Kitty's mutation when she felt a hand grasp hers. She turned around to see Remy smiling at her. "Be careful chere." He said low enough for only her to hear.
"And what exactly is it you do?" questioned the man with the slicked back hair.
Remy and rogue turned to look at the man who had a sour expression on his face. "Ah find de weak points in security an' fix dem." He answered.
"No one has every broken into Hogwarts before." He said snidely.
"Jus' like no one's ever broken out o' Azkaban?" he asked coolly.
The man's frown deepened and his scowl became more pronounced. Rogue decided she was done with this conversation and turned back to kitty that had a knowing smile on her face.
"Not a word." She said as she slipped her glove off.
"Do you mind if I observe?" the new teacher asked. "My name is Remus Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts." He said sticking his hand out.
Kitty immediately took it. "I'm like totally fine with it if you are." She said and rogue nodded. Xavier was the only one who ever really wanted to watch rogue absorb someone else.
Rogue lifted her bare hand up to meet Kitty's face and instantly she felt the pull of her powers. Rogue held on for only one second before letting go. Kitty stumbled back and held her head till the dizzy spell passed.
"Now how long will you have her powers for?" he asked, a few of the other teachers had joined him in his observation.
"The general rule is a second for an hour, but it varies on how powerful the person is." She explained.
"That's amazing!" he exclaimed and rogue could see a little bit of hank in the man.
The tiny man who looked like a dwarf was quizzing kitty on her powers as well.
"Look guys we really gotta go before it wears off." Rogue explained and grabbed Kitty's hand before running though the door.
They made it to the main floor and burst into giggles. "Oh wow, I felt like a lab rat up there." Kitty said.
"Ah know, it was kinda unnervin'." Rogue said. They spent a few more moments laughing about it before getting down to business.
The girls had decided to start off with the dungeons and make their way up; they soon discovered the moving staircases and the paintings that would point them in the wrong direction. But despite all the twists and turns they met the boys at the entrance hall by four in the morning like they had planned. Piotr and Logan were very dirty with twigs and leaves in their hair and stuck to their cloths. Remy looked fine, he was a theif and did most of his work by night. Rogue had always been able to only sleep for about three hours and function normally. Kitty, however looked exhausted, rogue had to practically carry her back.
It was then decided that Logan, Remy and rogue would take the first watch on and around the boy while Kitty and Piotr slept. Rogue was perfectly fine with this, she and kitty had already explored the Gryffindor common room and she knew her way to it. Dumbledore had requested they not tell the boy of the murder out to get him, there was no need to alarm him and rogue had to agree. She didn't want this kid to try and evade them so he could try to be a hero.
Rogue sighed as she made her way to the Gryffindor common room, she hated acting sneaky, and it just wasn't her thing. She reached the top of the stairs just as the boy and his two friends came around the corner. She kept walking so as not to arouse suspicion on exactly who she was keeping an eye on. The three looked up to her as she passed and the red headed boy, Ron Wesley, dropped his mouth open to stare at her. She quirked an eyebrow at him and watched as his face turned three shades of red and he adverted his eyes.
Rogue didn't know why but she always got stares she figured it had to do with her two toned hair. She looked down at her clothes to make sure they weren't provocative. Rogue wore a green scoop neck, long sleeved t-shirt with jeans and sneakers. Well whatever had him staring was soon dismissed. She knew she wouldn't blend in, they all knew it. They would stick out like soar thumbs and they were okay with it. Black would have to up his game if he saw them patrolling or if he really was as crazy as they saw maybe he would try to attack one of them.
Rogue rounded the corner and turned around to follow Potter back down to the Great Hall. She had only been givin a few hours to shower and change. She was glad that Dumbledore had provided each of them with their own bedroom.
She looked for Potter the moment she entered the Great Hall, he sat there at the Gryffindor table eating his breakfast. Rogue did a quick scan of the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary so she made her way to the teachers table where she saw an empty seat waiting for her. She choose to sit next to Remus and began to fill her plate up.
"Wow you sure do eat a lot." He commented.
Rogue smiled, she was definitely not one of those girls who drank only water with a crust of bread. "Ah burn a lotta calories." She said with a smile.
They had fallen into a comfortable conversation after that which mostly revolved around Rogues mutation. "So your invulnerability? What exactly does that entail?" he asked before taking a bite of his eggs.
Rogue smiled again, this guy was really starting to grow on her. "Well ah can't get frost bite or burn though my hair can. Ah also can't be poisoned though some of the stronger ones can make me sick." She explained to him.
"What about magic? How resistant are you to curses and spells?" he asked her.
"I'm only resistant if its harmful or destructive, though if there is enough force behind an attack it can push me back, after all I'm only a hundred and ten pounds." She said with a smirk.
"Your mutation is truly fascinating. Can you absorb, as you call it, a wizard or witches magic?" he asked and rogue noticed he was practically on the edge of his seat with anticipation.
"Yep," she said popping the 'p'. She then leaned in close and looked around as though she was making sure no one was watching. "No one's safe from me." She said in a conspiratorial whisper.
She then chuckled at her own joke.
"So you could possibly be the most powerful being on earth?" he asked her in wonder after he let out a few laughs.
Rogue froze at that question, in her experience when a person asked that question they always ended up trying to use her to further their own plans. "You don't have plans for world domination do you?" she asked with a light tone in case she was wrong.
He looked stunned for a moment but then let out a few chuckles. "No, no. I was just thinking if he-who-must-not-be-named were to return that you would be a valuable ally."
Rogue gave him a considering look. "Ah don' know now, ah mean mutants didn't get involved last time." She said she had absorbed enough people to know what it was like the last time he was in power. She knew it was only second to the muggels holocaust, the baselines had kept prisoners where as the wizards had killed all.
"But if you were to be dragged into it next time, would you fight along us or the death eaters?" he asked seriously.
Rogue wondered if he was worried about her loyalty or if he in fact used to be a death eater and was recruiting. "Ah'd have ta say Ah'd stand by Dumbledore. Ah've absorbed too many people who knew what it was like the last time he was in power." She said.
Lupin smiled at that. "That's good to know." He said almost relived like. Rogue knew people dreaded going up against her, after all she had been trained my Mystique and Logan, two of the most ruthless mutants out there.
"Miss Rogue would you like to join me in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class this morning?" he asked. "Harry will be there." He added as an afterthought.
Rogue took a quick glance at the boy who was chatting with a few of his house mates. "Well, Ah'll have ta run it by Logan first. Kitty is supposed to be taking the next Potter watch around lunch." She explained.
"We are studying boggarts today." He said and then continued at her confused expression. "Come to the class and you'll see." He said with a mischievous smirk.
Rogue thought it suited him, in her opinion he looked far too underfed and tired. Rogue just smiled and continued with her mountain of breakfast when she felt someone sit next to her. She looked over to see it was none other than Remy Lebeau. "Oh Gawd." She drawled.
"Aww chere, don' act like dat, ya know ya love me." He said slinging an arm around her shoulders.
"Like herpes Cajun." She replied swiftly before shoving her last sausage in her mouth. She then turned back to Remus. "Ah'm gonna go find Logan an' then Ah'll meet ya in ya classroom." She said before standing and leaving the table.
Rogue choose to take her exit between the Slitherin table and the Gryffindor table. She was able to catch a few tid bits of information about classes and such. But what she really wanted was Intel on Black; something just didn't sit right with her about it. She had read the articles and all the information she could find about him, she had even seen his picture. It was just something at the back of her mind that kept saying there was more to it then what was said. She had every intention of finding out.
She definitely knew Dumbledore was hiding something from them. And she knew Snape and Lupin knew more then they let on as well. She would give it a while and if she couldn't figure it out for herself she would go directly to them all. After all for her to provide the most security then she would need to know the whole story. She also had a feeling that Logan felt the same as her; they had always shared some sort of link like that, almost as if they had the same thoughts. Rogue blamed it on absorbing him so much but it didn't explain how he knew what she thought as well.
A/N
please review so i can know if i should even contnue with this