Logan lay on his bed, still dressed, twirling his wand around and around in his hand. There was a knock at his door, and when he opened it he found Storm standing outside it. "Can I help you?" he asked. She bit her lip, "Logan, I was wondering what you were planning to do for your first lesson." He shrugged and she continued, "Well I was worried that I wouldn't be able to teach anything; I don't know how to use my wand very well." Logan looked down at his own and shrugged again, "I wouldn't sweat it Storm, the first lessons are supposed to be kind of dull. By the time you have interesting lessons, you'll have gotten used to the wand." She raised an eyebrow, "I would have that you of all people would have just tossed the wand and relied on your instincts; although, you are teaching children how to survive where as I'm teaching them about mandrakes and venomous tentacula." He stared at her, "What?" She shook her head, "Never mind." Logan leaned against the doorway and began to spin the wand in his hand again, "I don't know I've become rather attached to the thing." He clenched his right hand, extracting his adomantium claws, "Perhaps I'll sub it for one of these." Storm laughed, "Okay Logan, I just wanted to know your opinion of what I should do. Thanks." She turned to go, "Good night Logan." "Night."
The next morning, it took Logan a minute to figure out where he was. Then he remembered: Hogwarts castle, somewhere in Scotland. He groaned and rolled over, trying to block out the sunlight streaming in through the window. The digital clock he usually had was flashing the words "overload" which he didn't know the clock could do. He pulled out his cell phone and found that it wasn't working either, but whether that was for the same reason his clock wasn't or because he'd stuck his claws through the screen at least four times, he didn't know. He groaned again and flopped back onto his pillow, hoping it wasn't time to get up yet.
Kurt and Hank both found a similar problem: their image inducers weren't working, which meant that they were both blue and a lot more hairy than their "normal" selves. Fortunately for Hank, he was in a separate room though Kurt wasn't so lucky: he was in a dormitory with three other boys. Kurt stared at his blue arm for a good five minutes, trying to figure out if his eyes were working or not. When he had deduced that they were, he teleported to the first person he could think of. He landed with a slight thump on their bed, which unfortunately had the person in it who wasn't very happy at being crushed by Kurt. "ELF!" Logan yelled and sat up so fast he knocked Kurt off the bed. "Oops, sorry Logan; but my image inducer isn't working! Look!" Logan didn't have to look to know that Kurt was blue with a tail. He again flopped onto his pillow, this time covering his head with it. "Then go tell the person who can FIX it, not me," was his slightly muffled reply. Kurt teleported out of Logan's room and into the hallway, but unfortunately it was not the hallway he needed to be in. He was about to teleport directly into the Professor's room but was found by Dumbledore. He smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Mr. Wagner? I see you've found one of the enchantments of Hogwarts: electronics don't work. Although I was able to allow them to work for a short time last night, an old wizard such as myself can only do so much. Not to worry I have a solution for you and Mr. McCoy." He began to walk down the hallway and Kurt followed until they reached his office and at the password, still lemon drops, and walked up the spiraling staircase. Mr. McCoy was there as well, just as blue as Kurt. Dumbledore closed the door behind him and motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk. They sat down, and Dumbledore handed them each a cup filled with disgusting looking potion. "This, is polyjuice potion. Once drunk you will assume the appearance of whoever's hair happens to be added to it." Kurt made a face, "Hair?" Dumbldore nodded, smiling, "Yes, hair. Now you'll have to drink it every hour in order to keep the effects from wearing off, however, if you wish to stay as you are, I'm sure no one would see you any differently." Kurt stared at the bubbling concoction, torn between drinking it and not. Every hour? That was really often and he wouldn't be able to drink it in his sleep. He was worried if he didn't take it, people would laugh. Kurt felt Dumbldore's gaze on him and looked up into those clear blue eyes. He gulped and set the cup down on his desk. "If it's all the same to you Professor Dumbledore sir, I think I'll stay myself. After all, everybody digs the fuzzy dude!" Dumbledore chuckled, "I thought so. What about you Hank?" Hank too, had put down his glass, "If the X-Men kids can accept me for who I am, the others will. 'This above all; to thine own self be true.'" Dumbledore nodded, "Spoken true. Shakespeare I believe? If not for the witch burnings in that time, we would have more witches and wizards who know of him." He leaned back in his chair continuing to stare at them over his half-moon spectacles. "Perhaps you will be able to teach them." Hank nodded and Dumbledore stood up, "I believe it is time for breakfast. Shall we?" He motioned to the door and the three left for the Great Hall.
Logan tugged on his robe, trying for five minutes to get it on before realizing he was trying to fit his left arm in the right arm-hole. He quickly fixed it and left his room, pulling his shoe on as he went. It took him several minutes to reach the Great Hall but when he did he found he was one of the first (or last) people there. After a quick breakfast consisting of toast, eggs, and a muffin, he left the Great Hall, following the instructions McGonagall had told him to get to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, kicking himself for not trying to find it the night before. He was about half-way there when he came to the unfortunate conclusion that he had left his wand in his room and, despite what he told Storm last night, he was keen to know how to use it, which he couldn't do if he didn't even have it. Grumbling under his breath, he doubled back, only to find that the corridor he'd come through earlier was gone, and in its place a wall. He did however, overcome this obstacle when, in his rage, he kicked the wall and his foot slid through it. The corridor had become bored and decided to be a wall instead. Logan found this was not the only wall, or door, that liked pretending to be something it wasn't, which was rather confusing. He found his room, and grabbing his wand quickly off the desk, began the trek back up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. This is going to be a long day.
Storm made her way to the greenhouses, and went inside Greenhouse One: the one used for first years. She looked through one of the books she'd bought about Herbology, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, the required book for first years. She decided that until she was really able to use her wand, she'd simply teach them about plants, avoiding magical spells. She flipped through the pages and stopped at the shrivelfig. This looks easy enough to teach, and no magic to be used either, she thought, smiling to herself.
Kurt was worried that he'd made the wrong decision, especially when one of his dorm mates came and sat down next to him, giving a soft whistle. Here it comes; he braced himself for the insults and laughter. The boy just looked at him, slight awe on his face, "Is that what you really look like?" Kurt nodded slowly. "Wow!" the boy continued, "That's cool! Like a blue devil or a monkey!" The boy pointed to his tail, "Is that real?" Kurt nodded again, and the boy became even more excited. Kurt found himself smiling as another boy came over to tell him how cool he looked: he definitely didn't regret his decision.
Kitty plopped down next to Kurt, fully blue, tail and all. "Kurt," she whispered, "What are you doing?" Kurt turned to her and smiled, "Dumbledore told me to be myself and people would like me. It worked! No one is teasing us like at home!" Kitty smiled and bit her muffin; she spotted Mr. McCoy, also blue and hairy, at the staff table smiling and talking to Professor Flitwick. She didn't regret coming to this school at all.
Logan had gotten lost three times, and was pretty sure he was on the opposite side of the school from where he needed to be. He finally cracked when a door, pretending to be a painting, refused to open. He grew exasperated and after scaring a couple of first years with his yells of how he couldn't find his way around this damn school without a map, sat down in front of the door-painting. "Excuse me good sir!" Logan turned, the first years were gone and there was no one else in the halls. "Sir!" he turned to find the painting of the knight and his fat grey pony next to him was talking to him. "Um, me?" the knight nodded, his helmet lid bobbing up and down, "Sir Cadogan at your service! Are you lost?" Logan stood up, "Yeah, mind telling me where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is?" Sir Cadogan brandished his sword and the proceeded to fall backwards with its weight. "Of course good sir! Follow me!"
After a full day of getting lost and making lesson plans, Logan made his way downstairs after dinner, on the pretense of checking on Storm, who hadn't been seen since that morning. He knocked on her door and entered, "Storm? Are you in here?" He looked around at the empty room and turned to go, "Logan! Is that you?" He turned, looking for the source of his name but saw no one. "Up here!" he looked up and saw Storm, floating up near the ceiling, her arms crossed. He stifled a laugh but still managed to let out a snort, "What are you doing?" "I'm just, um," "Hanging around?" Logan asked. "Yeah, just-wait, no I was just-I'm fixing the light bulbs in this chandelier." Logan raised an eyebrow: the chandelier had candles he could visibly see. He shrugged, "Ok then," and turned to leave. "Wait! Wait, Logan, I'm stuck." He turned back around and leaned against the bedpost, "Really?" he asked sarcastically. Storm rolled her eyes, "Ok yes I'm stuck, I admit it. I was trying to learn to use my wand but I got stuck up here and can't get down. Now will you help me?" Logan flipped through the pages of the book she'd gotten the spell from. He cleared his throat and pointed his wand at her, "Descendio!" Storm rose upward rather quickly, smacking her head on the ceiling, "Try again maybe you're not saying it right!" He looked at the spell again, "Descendo!" This time it worked and Storm descended, though it was rather fast and Logan barely caught her before she hit the stone floor. She stood up, her hair in front of her face. "Some help you were." Logan turned to leave the room, "I could have left you there."
That night after dinner, the X-Men met in Professor X's room. They had agreed to meet to tell about their first day in a school of magic. Kitty was rambling on about the things she'd learned(though they hadn't even had real lessons yet as it was Sunday), and was showing them the spell she'd learned from her Charms book. "And you have to get the wand motion just right: swish and flick. Wingardium Leviosa!" The book she was pointing at rose several inches in the air. She squealed with joy, "I was only able to lift a feather this morning!" Logan looked to Storm, mouthing the word "fail" which unfortunately, Kitty noticed. "Hey, Storm that reminds me, we didn't see you today. Well Kurt and I don't have you until tomorrow anyways but-" "But Scott and I didn't see you when we went to the greenhouses," Rogue finished. Storm widened her eyes slightly, and her gaze darted to Logan, pleading for help. He pushed off the wall, "Something came up." Storm narrowed her eyes at his clever way of not telling them what happened, "Yeah, up." Before anyone could ask her to elaborate, Kurt began to tell them about the History of Magic class: "Professor Binns is a ghost! He came right through the blackboard when we found the classroom. It was amazing!" Professor X chuckled, smiling, "Well it sounds like you've all had an interesting day. Now I don't know if you've heard but this Wednesday will be your first flying lesson." Kitty jumped up from the chair she'd been sitting in and did a little dance, squealing happily. Professor X smiled again and continued, "Although first years aren't allowed to try-out for Quidditch this year, you can always practice." Kitty stopped dancing, "Quidditch?" Hank, who had been silent the whole time spoke up, "I heard from several of the students that 'Quidditch' is a sport in which you fly on brooms. There is a match sometime in November I believe." Kurt teleported and landed on the couch next to Storm, "But we can't play?" Hank shook his head, "From what I've heard, it's just as exciting watching the match as it is playing." Professor X smiled at the others, "I know you must be tired from today, but I have one last thing to say: Professor Dumbledore asked us all to be at breakfast on time tomorrow, he has an announcement. But for now everyone would do well to get some sleep." Everyone left the Professor's room, talking about the announcement as they headed towards their house common rooms. Hank went with them: as temporary head of Hufflepuff he had the privilege of staying in a room closest to the Hufflepuffs. Professor X bid Storm and Logan goodnight, who retired to their respective rooms. Logan lay awake for a while, contemplating the announcement Dumbledore was going to make. Had the X-Men overstayed their welcome already?