Disclaimer: I do not own X-men or Harry Potter, for they belong to JK Rowling and Marvel. I am still a poor college fanboy with naught to anything but my name, and any original characters that may pop up.

The kudos for this chapter goes to Tirla, CordealMaxwellValentine21, Nightangel99, Lady_Evans_Potter, Trinity Fenton-Phantom, Heidifox, Irogical Argument, and CleverBeast

Lady Evans Potter- Thank you for the clarification on semi colon usage in dialogue.

Mabidiso- Interesting question, but since Hermione and George may in fact be the only people who know what the exact problem of swallowing Polygum would be, then they'd need to be in contact. The Gum is experimental, and the ones he and Sirius have are prototypes that George "liberated" for them. Furthermore the gum is designed to react to saliva, so it is unsure what the reaction to stomach acid would be. (It would be like throwing in the wrong ingredient into a potion..things may go boom)

Since I have yet to hear back from my Betas I guess I'll have to say they have moved to the great story in the sky. Well you'll be getting your chapters without that tidbit, and hey things might get exciting soon for you guys! Sorry for the delay, just creative juices seem to come and go. I blame school.

Chapter 6: Deux Ex Machina

1408 Graymalkin Lane, Bayville, New York 2007

Harry disapparated at the gates of his large mansion and started to tear his way towards the front of the house. Precious minutes were lost as he ran across their large lawn, and not for the first time he cursed Draco for buying them such a large house, with an equally large plot of land around it. True it would prove useful later on, but right now it was proving to be a major hindrance and since he hadn't set it up for floo yet, he couldn't just floo into the house.

Heart hammering he burst into the foyer to hear screams coming from near the porch. Panicked he ran into the room where he could see Sirius on his back screaming in pain as his body shifted in and out of phase while trapped morphing between his true form, that of Chris, and Ghost Snuffles. Teddy was definitely not better off; the boy was clutching the mirror frantically talking to George. "Teddy, give me the mirror," he said softly to the boy, though loud enough to be heard over Sirius' screams. He didn't know what to do, should he cast a diagnostic charm? What if that made the situation worse?

Taking the mirror from his distraught godson he turned to look at the anxious face of George. "George can you tell me what is going on? What would the reaction be between the Polygum and stomach acid?" he asked. That had to be the culprit of whatever it was that Sirius was going through, and it hurt his heart to see his godfather brought down like this.

"I was just telling Teddy that it's not the stomach acid that's doing this Harry…it's whatever happened to him in the Veil. From our research the worse that could happen to a person who swallows Polygum is just a blending of the two people…he should've gained twenty years and lost a couple of inches and that's all…none of this switching back and forth thing that Teddy showed me. I don't understand what's going on; maybe his magic is out of whack or something. I'd ask Hermione, but she'd just try and use this to get you back here. I've already had to debug my house twice mate…I'm sorry there's nothing I can do," and George looked truly sorry. After all Sirius was one of his idols, and to be sitting there completely incapable of helping the man that he looked up to was tearing him up inside.

What could Harry do? He was no healer; he didn't know how to fix this sort of thing. God everything was going crazy, maybe he shouldn't have done any of this. He stopped his mental tirade, right now was not a good time for a break down. Sirius needed help, and George had said the problem may be because of magical instability or something; well Harry was the most powerful wizard in the world so perhaps he could tame it? Determination gave him strength as he turned to his writhing godfather. "Teddy, help me hold him down, I'm going to try something," he said to the boy as he moved to keep Sirius' shoulder's still while Teddy took charge of his writhing feet. He focused his magic, and started to pour his magic into his godfather. He could feel it; there was something in there that was wildly rebelling against the change, something that wanted the rest of the body to die. Death Magic!

He tried to grasp it, to pull it out of his godfather but the thing was too slippery, too small and easily evaded his clutches. He felt his godfather tense up in further pain as he pushed his magic deeper into the man, hunting down the bit of Death Magic that was responsible for this mess when all of the sudden everything stilled. Time slowed and then ultimately stopped, Harry was still aware however and he felt a presence that was both ancient and supremely powerful behind the door. It opened and a cloaked figure stepped through, beneath his feet everything decayed and rotted. Each step the rot transferred away from him as it walked towards Sirius, the scythe it held gleamed in the light.

"NO!" Harry screamed as he surged upright standing between the Grim Reaper and his prone godfather. He had lost him once already, and he wasn't going to lose him again!

"Yes," a raspy voice responded as a hand went into the robe and pulled out a piece of paper. "Sirius Black, 1408 Graymalkin Lane, Bayville, New York. I have come for him," the voice said as it adjusted its grip on its scythe. The voice was male, and surprisingly young.

"You will not take him, I won't allow it," Harry said as he prepared to fight the creature before him for the very soul of his godfather. It was then that he heard a laugh, a bright and youthful one form the creature standing before him.

"I am not here to reap him boss," the voice said with a chuckle. Harry could feel its amusement as it glanced back at the paper. "By order of the Higher Powers, Sirius Black of 1408 Graymalkin Lane, Bayville, New York is granted a Deux Ex Machina."

"A what?" Harry asked, shocked and confused as to what the hell was going on. The Grim Reaper had come here to deliver a Deux Ex Machina? What on earth was a Deux Ex Machina?

"A choice boss, whether to live or die. If he chooses to live, then something will happen to ensure that he lives. He was granted a Deux Ex Machina for saving the Master of Death Harry Potter in the year 1995 at the Department of Mysteries. It was discovered that a sliver of Death Magic was retained in his body when he was retrieved from the Veil in 2000. Therefore it was decided that the Grim Reaper would hereby grant Sirius Black a Deux Ex Machina should he ever succumb to the Death Magic in his body," the Reaper explained as he looked over at the other. "Now then, will you get out of the way so I can perform my duty?"

"So wait..this Deux Ex Machina thing is just some ridiculously random thing that'll save my godfather?" Harry reiterated trying to understand what the hell was going on. This was weird, weirder than anything that he'd ever come across before in his life.

The Grim Reaper just nodded and brushed past Harry, making him suddenly weak-kneed and pale. Just brushing against the Reaper made Harry feel ill and weak, what would happen if he were to actually fight against the creature? The Reaper just knelt down before the frozen form of Sirius Black and grabbed his hand and pulled, pulling the spirit of his godfather right out of its body before Harry could even object.

"Whoa…where the hell am I? Why's everything frozen?" Sirius said as he looked about, taking a look at his godson. "I'm not dead again am I?" he asked as he looked at the two, and oh shit that was the Grim Reaper. He died didn't he? He couldn't help but smile a little. "Well at least I went laughing this time," he said as he looked at his godson.

"Sirius don't even joke about that, the Grim Reaper came to make a deal with you," he said to the other male.

"Oh really? Well I thought we'd play a game or something for my soul, isn't that what usually happens in these sorts of situations?" Sirius asked confused as he looked over at his godson.

"Usually yes," The Grim Reaper responded, his amusement felt by the other two. "I love games, love it almost as much as I love milkshakes, but I'm not here for fun just business. Now I'm here to give you a choice. You can come with me to the afterlife or you could stay here and accept any weird changes that the gum will do to you."

"What kind of weird changes? Because if I turn into a girl I'm definitely going to the afterlife," Sirius said only earning himself a glare from his godson.

"Nothing that bad, you'll go back a couple of years...probably back to fourteen or so. Probably be stuck going to high school again and relearning how to use your magic and mutant powers, because with this you'll no longer be a wizard with supernatural powers but a wizarding mutant. Hope you don't mind that," The Reaper said as he leaned against his staff.

"I'd take the deal Sirius, I don't want you to die again, and Teddy will blame himself for it for a very long time," he said to the other, though he left out what both of them already knew, that Harry himself would blame himself for what had happened, maybe not because he could've stopped it but because he wasn't there when he was needed and that he couldn't do anything despite all of his power.

Sirius looked between the two before he started to think about the deal that was about to be given to him. Sure he could go on to the afterlife and live it up with James, Lilly, Remus and all of them. That would be a blast, but then he'd be leaving his godson all alone. True Harry really didn't need him to be around watching over him all of the time, but Harry did need somebody who understood him. Then again he wouldn't be his age anymore, trapped in a younger body, then again he'd be trapped in a younger body and be able to do all the awesome things that he used to when he was young. He'd also get those twelve years back that he had lost to those damn Dementors. Twelve years that he could have had with Harry but didn't, and now he could have them again, hell he could have even more years because it sounded like he was going to get back almost 25 years of his life. But then he'd have to go to school again, and that would be a major drag, but Harry would be the headmaster, which meant that he may or may not be able to get away with even more awesome pranks. He'd also get to hang around with Teddy, grow up with him and treat him like a little brother or something, that'd be weird but he supposed it would be doable. Ah but with Harry's plans he'd have to go to a muggle school. He hadn't gone to any sort of muggle schooling since, well, forever! How was he supposed to be his usual awesome self if he didn't know anything about the muggle world at all? Well he could ask Harry for help in that tidbit, maybe.

"I'll take the deal," Sirius finally said as he looked over at the scary and oddly short figure of death. Then again if Death was a little kid that would explain why so many people could play those weird silly games with him and win back their loved ones if they won.

"Great now you go back where you were," Grim said grabbing Sirius' spirit and shoving it back into his prone body, "and I'll get to work removing the Death Magic taint. Once that's gone he'll just revert to a 14 year old," he explained to Harry as he focused on Sirius' prone figure once more. His hand reached in once more, this time not grabbing Sirius, but pulling out this dark pulsating and wiggly piece of magic which he popped into his mouth and ate, much to Harry's disgust. "Mmm…taste like chicken," he said with a grin as he looked at the other male. "Well I'm outta here boss, so I'll be seeing you sometime…not too soon I hope. Now just get back to where you were, these out of body and time experiences are a pain," he said before he closed the door.

Harry had just mere moments to get back to the position he was in when time came crushing back as Sirius writhed again but stopped, his body starting to shrink as he began to de-age.

"Is Sirius going to be okay?" Teddy asked worriedly as he looked at his Great-godfather and watched him. He was getting smaller, what was happening?

"Everything will be fine Teddy…it's just like Uncle George said, he's going to mix in with the Chris gum that he swallowed, his magic was just out of whack but I managed to fix it," he lied.

"Oh…that's good," Teddy said relief in his eyes as he kept a firm grip on the de-aging male. Sirius had fallen unconscious from the earlier pain.

"So….what exactly happened to make Sirius swallow his polygum?" Harry asked.

Tadah! I finished it, not as long as I wanted and yeah it seemed a bit crack-ficish right there for me. I just couldn't figure out how to do it, then I thought well High Power beings exist in the Marvel-verse (Explains why Apocalypse hasn't been killed because he owes them a favor) so wouldn't they owe Sirius a favor for saving a future High Power being?