Chapter 15

That evening Harry and Lorna went out for a romantic evening. When Amara had approached Dani about bonding with Harry, Dani had pointed out that they should ask Lorna as she seemed quite taken with the Brit. Lorna had admitted that she was falling for him, she had been worried that it was because of what he had done for her, but Dani simply pointed out that it didn't matter as long as they could be happy together.

So Lorna was the one who already had feelings for Harry and was looking to take the relationship further, Dani was much closer behind whilst Amara was adjusting to the loss of Antonio.

Laura and the triplets were teenage girls riding the high of hormones and were always chaperoned by one of the others as they were also underage… technically.

Harry was very different from the other males in the mansion. To start with his body type was nothing like theirs, he wasn't built with a six pack and pecks that could dance, he wasn't six foot plus. Harry was barely five foot eleven, he was very slim with a very relaxed form, even Bobby stood like he expected trouble, Harry just sat back and waited patiently.

Dani had confided that she was pleased that Harry wasn't a male Adonis body builder like the other men as he would be a great example for the younger males, showing them that they didn't need to spend too much time in the gym.

"You really remember all your wives, girlfriends and children?" Lorna asked as she took a sip from her red wine. It was an up scale restaurant and they were dressed for the occasion with Harry in a suit and tie and Lorna in a very slinky strapless black dress, her vibrant green hair hanging loosely around her shoulders.

"Hell, I remember their other boyfriends and their children's spouses!" Harry laughed.

"It's really hard to comprehend what that actually means, I can't remember my friends from kindergarten but you can remember everyone you ever met!" She said in awe.

"Without a perfect memory then immortality wouldn't really make a difference, every few hundred or thousand years you would be someone new as you forgot who you used to be and those that knew you passed away."

"Tell me about your very first girlfriend." She asked with a mischievous grin.

Harry stared at her for a second before leaning forward across the table slightly, he gestured at the table and a 3-dimensional image of a young woman with brown curly hair and brown eyes appeared.

"This is Hermione. My first girlfriend, we were best friends since we were eleven and we both entered the magical world. Neither of us grew up around magic, and only truly found out about it when we were offered a place in the magical school at eleven years old. We started dating when we were about thirteen. She and Neville were with me for nearly all my adventures." Harry said with a wistful smile.

"But she wasn't your first soul mate?" She asked, she knew some of the facts but not the details.

Harry changed the image to that of a young blonde girl, no older than twelve. "Luna, my adopted sister. I never knew she was my soul mate. Her birth parents were soul mates, when her mother died her father held on tightly to life for as long as he could so he could look after Luna, but eventually he fell into madness and Neville sent him on soon after Luna was murdered."

"Murdered!?" Lorna gasped.

"Yes, Luna was a seer. She knew that some of the students who supported the Dark Lord were going to kidnap some of the girls from the school. She went with them to provide a target that would save someone else from dying. She was a true hero."

Lorna felt her eyes well up with tears. It was so sad, but a touching story. Then she realised something. "But what happened to you? You had your soul mate torn away, didn't it drive you insane?"

Harry grimaced in memory. "I was in a lot of pain, I just thought it was natural, I didn't have a normal life so I didn't know any different. It wasn't until immediately after I dealt with the Dark Lord a few months later that Hermione introduced me to the girl who Luna had told her before she died was capable of taking her place as my soul mate."

Lorna watched as the image morphed to show another blonde, but this time a young woman elegantly dressed in old-fashioned yet high-class clothes.

Several million years ago in Harry's birth reality…

Despite the protests of the African village chief, Harry had to take the students back to the school as they had only been authorised for a few hours. But Harry had promised to bring the students back over the weekend so they could celebrate with the villagers.

Harry had dragged Hermione and Daphne to a classroom where they could discuss the evening's revelations.

"I can't believe you actually accept this, Hermione." Harry frowned with scepticism.

"For a long while I didn't. Luna spent a fairly long time explaining it to me, she made me swear an oath not to tell you until she died." Hermione said sadly. "She explained how soul mates worked and that you would be able to see souls and how they work."

"Wait, if you knew this then-"

"I was bound by Luna's oath." Hermione interrupted, knowing what he was going to ask. "Besides, seeing something and hearing about something are two different things."

Harry could only nod at that. He hadn't told anyone as he was sworn to secrecy, but Sal had taken him to Camelot. Seeing it and hearing about it were truly different things and one could not compare to the other.

"What does this mean for us?" Harry asked the important question.

"Not much. You and I are still going to be together, but now Daphne will be a part of it… but I highly doubt Daphne and I will be as close as Fleur and Nym." She blushed.

Daphne just snorted. "Having known Harry for the past few years I wouldn't say anything is out of the question. One day he might have a boyfriend."

Harry looked a little queasy at that.

"That's how I feel about it Harry." Hermione said pointedly at the greenish tones he sported.

"What? I never expected you to want to. Of course I never expected to be in a relationship with any one but you." He shrugged.

"Well suck it up Harry, learn to go with the flow!" Daphne grinned as she quoted his father.

"'Go with the flow'? Daphne, what do you think I've been doing since I was born?" He scoffed.

They sat there for a few moments in silence before Harry spoke up.

"Do we need to do any thing to create the bond?" He asked cautiously.

"We need to have two whole days were we spend the whole time shagging whilst Hermione draws runes on our naked and sweaty bodies." Daphne informed him.

Harry just stared at her. Hermione was sputtering away.

"You realise that I can tell from a persons soul when they are lying?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but it's so much fun to see Hermione get so flustered." She smirked. Hermione just growled in frustration. "But the answer is no. We don't have to do anything besides spend time with each other and let nature take it's course."

"Eventually the pain you have been feeling since Luna died should fade as Daphne fills the void." Hermione added.

"Well the next few weeks will be hectic as we have the various trials to deal with." Harry sighed tiredly.

"We still have evenings, and I can spend my free periods helping you mark the lower year papers so we can spend some time together." Daphne assured him. "But first, there is something I want to do that every girl in the castle has dreamed of doing." She said as she stood up and pulled him up to embrace him. She closed the distance, pressing their lips together as they shared their first kiss.

Present time and reality…

"There was no light show? No sparks? No choir of voices?" Lorna asked with a pout.

Harry just laughed. "No, it was just a kiss, but it was what I consider the start of one of the best times in my life. I grew to love Daphne so deeply, when she died I thought I was going to die, but I couldn't. Neville was able to soothe my soul partially so I could function until I found another soul mate. It was thousands of years later before I learnt to create the bonds myself."

There was the sound of several people sniffling, Harry and Lorna turned to see that they had drawn the attention of the entire restaurant.

Harry was a little lost. "Erm-"

"We're sorry dears, but you started doing your magic, and your story… we couldn't help but be drawn in. It was… beautiful." An elderly man smiled sadly where he sat with his wife.

"It is nice to share my memories, I spent so long alone that at times it felt like it all might have been a dream." Have breathed.

"We don't exactly get a lot of downtime." Lorna pointed out. "Always seems to be one crisis after another."

Harry's head suddenly shot up as Lorna turned pale.

"Speak of the devil." Harry muttered in annoyance as he stood up and threw a few hundred-dollar bills on the table. "Please excuse us, there seems to be a bit of trouble I need to deal with." He helped Lorna out of the chair and they vanished, leaving the rest of the patrons and staff to stare at the empty space and wonder about what was happening.

There was a complete dome of fire surrounding the Mansion, the magic coming off the dome was immense and had likely attracted the attention of every magic user on the planet.

"What the hell happened?" Harry demanded as he stormed up to Scott and Emma.

"No idea, the Mansion just exploded into a ball of fire." Scott spat as he stared at the dome. "We have tried everything we can think of to breach the wall but nothing has worked. We didn't bother calling you as there was no way you could have missed it."

"Got that straight." Lorna muttered as she shuddered at the feeling that had spoilt her romantic dinner with Harry.

"This is specific magic." Harry grimaced. "I can wield it, but not very well. I would have to cleanse it first."

"It can't kill you can it?" She asked worriedly.

Harry smiled at her. "Not a chance."

"Do we have a plan?" Scott asked.

"I think I can breach the wall but I have no idea what is on the other side."

"We want in." Noriko declared as she and Julian marched up with many of the other students behind them.

"Bad idea." Harry said, he held up a hand to forestall the arguments. "If all of you come in there with us then there will be no one here to help defend the rest of the non-fighters. That said, I believe you are capable of handling the situation and students whilst the rest of us head in."

There was some grumbling, but they did understand what was happening. They knew that whilst they protected the other students the other X-Men would be handling other situations.

"Fine, but Hope's astral projection form made it back for a few seconds, said someone named 'Belasco' had taken them and that he had killed David… you will fix that." Noriko practically ordered. Harry just nodded and hoped that David hadn't crossed over yet.

"Noriko, your mission is to evacuate everyone to Wakanda, Ororo and T'Challa have agreed to act as a safe haven for times like this." Harry commanded. "The underground base is no longer secure."

"It's not?" Emma asked.

"If I haven't missed my guess then it is going to work as a gateway from this side of the barrier to the other side. It is still out of phase with realities."

"Quite the interesting hypothesis." Hank murmured.

"The denizens of Limbo are tough, we are going to need our best fighters." Scott informed him. "Limbo is filled with literal demons of evil."

"Erm… yeah." Harry said as he stared at a blank area of space.

"Harry?" Lorna asked worriedly.

Harry didn't respond, he simply reached out into the empty space, suddenly Laura was standing there, or at least what appeared to be her soul. There was a tendril that lead into Harry.

"It seems that Belasco has killed and destroyed Laura's body." Harry said blandly. "Well… I believe it's only fair I return the gesture… after I put Laura back of course."

Laura was clearly frantically explaining something but the other X-Men and students couldn't hear it.

"Hmm, Scott, assemble a team based on mutant powers, apparently Belasco seems to possess great control over magic." Harry advised. "I'll see you when you get there." He said before marching off in the direction of one of the external entrances to the underground complex.

Lorna shrugged before transfiguring her dress into her uniform and following.

Harry was absolutely livid. This Belasco character was playing with souls, Laura had been ripped away back into Limbo as they made their way through the underground complex and into the Mansion and Limbo itself. They had been joined by Amara and Dani who refused to leave the rest of the students, especially their sister soul mates to whatever fate Belasco had planned.

Limbo was a dimension of brimstone and fire, filled with demons of all shapes and sizes. Amara was in her element and was surfing happily on a wave of lava as the others flew as fast as they could behind the immense dragon that was Harry Potter. Harry was always faster in this form when flying, but he was even faster on a broom. Harry had explained as they walked through the Mansion to Limbo that it didn't matter if his soul mates lost their bodies died, they held very strong soul bonds with him that he would have to sever when their time came. It was why his soul had been so damaged.

Harry could see what seemed to be a small city made of stone ahead, there were thousands of demons gathered there around a palace of sorts. What made his blood boil was that he could see his students in chains or fighting for their lives, Harry roared and focused on the nearest student and sped up, teleportation was not easy in this dimension and he didn't want to risk it.

He saw Dust and Mercury trying to attack a large demon that held Laura by the neck, he was surprised to see David leaning over an unconscious Elixir.

It was time to intervene. He roared loudly and angrily as he landed heavily behind the demon he assumed was Belasco.

"Be gone beast, you have no business here." Belasco ordered dismissively. He was startled as the dragon suddenly vanished to become a young human man.

"You have my students. You have my mates. I have plenty of business here." Harry stated with an angry scowl as he stomped forward.

Belasco carelessly tossed Laura aside. "If you claim these creatures are yours then maybe you can tell me where to find her."

Harry wasn't in a talkative mood. This fool had attacked his friends and family. There was a price to be paid for such an act. Without breaking stride he swung his arms up as his lightsabre appeared in his hands, it barely sliced through Belasco's shoulder as the demon moved with impressive speed.

"You dare to attack me?!" Belasco roared.

"You attacked first." Harry growled before he began swinging again only to be blocked by another sword, only this one was wielded by a young girl with horns and goat legs.

"He is mine!" The girl spat.

Harry just shrugged and turned away leaving the girl to her fight.

"Aren't you going to help her?" Mercury asked frantically.

"She doesn't interest me, she has no soul and she is not a nice person, but she will make a good distraction." Harry said as he helped Laura to her feet, fixing her tattered clothes and healing her wounds. "Seriously Laura, you need stronger clothes… or you'll wind up wearing less than Emma." He scolded jokingly.

Laura just flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly whilst she tried not to cry. "I don't like dying." She whispered hoarsely.

Harry hugged her back.

"Are we leaving?" David asked, fear in his voice as he helped free the Stepford Cuckoos from the stone helmets they were trapped in.

"You lot are, I need to make sure this git doesn't try and come back to try again."

"You need the triplets." Laura stated. "He fears telepaths."

"He probably also fears phoenixes too." Harry smirked.

"HARRY! HELP! HARRY!"

He spun around to see a frantic and distraught Megan barrelling towards him as she half flew, half ran into him and hugged him tightly.

"Harry… she took my soul!" She sobbed into his chest.

Harry's hands snapped to her shoulders and she found herself at arms length as Harry stared at her, examining her intently. His eyes then snapped to hers. "Who did this?" He demanded.

"That bitch, calls herself 'Magik'." Santo growled angrily as he pointed to where the silver armoured goat girl and Belasco who were still fighting it out.

"Good god, what happened to you?" Harry asked as he took in Santo's new appearance. His rock body was now lined with lava.

Santo just shrugged. "I dunno. Cool though." He grinned as he examined his hands.

"Anole? You too?"

"I have never been so glad that you lied to us about taking our mutations away." He said sincerely as he flexed the now muscled and armoured arm that had replaced the one that the demons had cut off.

"All right. Let me go and deal with those-"

Harry was interrupted as the goat girl landed at their feet in a heap.

"Megan! Use your dagger! Strike him down!" The girl gasped in pain.

Megan just hid behind Santo as Harry stepped forward and hoisted Magik to her feet and examined her.

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed as he found what he was looking and ripped a medallion off her neck.

"NOOOOO!" She screamed in despair.

"Hey!" Harry snapped. "Not yours."

He turned and marched over to Santo. "Here, guard this with your life, understand?"

"Sure." Santo shrugged in his usual apathetic manner.

As Harry marched back past Magik his lightsabre swung out and removed her legs casually, the girl screamed in pain until Anole sent a stunner after her.

Harry didn't say a word as he increased his speed to a run and then to a charge as his lightsabre led the way and he barrelled into Belasco, but Belasco had been watching and spun away whilst impaling Harry through the chest with his own sword.

Harry fell to his knees with a shocked look on his face.

"Pitiful human." Belasco spat. "You really believe you can defeat me? The Devil?" He slowly withdrew his sword, revelling in the screams the black haired human made.

The kids were scared and terrified, Laura popped her claws and prepared to charge in until Celeste laid a hand on her arm. "Trust him. Trust Harry." She said with a sad smile.

If there was one person in the entire world who she trusted, it was Harry Potter.

"I rule Limbo! I command the demons! This is my realm! You will tell me where Illyana Rasputin is or I will force you to watch as your women are raped and ripped to shreds before you." He growled as he grasped Harry round the neck and lifted him to his eye level.

Harry, who at this point was pale and pasty with blood dripping down the corner of his mouth suddenly changed in demeanour. His eyes snapped to Belasco's and his mouth stretched into a grin that spoke of unpleasantness.

"Nah, I have a better idea." Harry snarked. His hands came up to Belasco's head and he began extending his soul beyond his body. "You get to die. I conquer your realm and then I'll find this girl and see if she doesn't want to spend a life of fun and happiness with and my friends."

Belasco was in exceptional pain as he began howling in agony.

"Girls! Call in the troops!" Harry ordered over his shoulder.

The Cuckoo's hands snapped from their sides to grasp the hand of their closest sister, their eyes began to glow.

Laura was just as shocked as the others when the triplets erupted in a burst of flame to be replaced by a single white and gold phoenix. The Phoenix began to sing loudly and shrilly causing the surrounding demons to fall to their knees and scream in terror and agony.

There were more bursts of fire as two more phoenixes flamed in with various X-Men holding on. The largest one which was recognisable as Fawkes immediately swooped over to Harry and Belasco and began flying circles around them as he left a trail of fire in his wake. The remaining Phoenix, Rachel Summers, made sweeping runs at the cringing ranks of demons.

"Laura, report." Scott ordered the young clone, knowing she would give the most coherent and relevant information.

"The one called Belasco is being dealt with by Harry. This one," she indicated the legless, armour-less and unconscious goat girl, "Has stolen part of Megan's soul. Harry said he will deal with it."

Honestly, Scott was expecting a bit more than that. "What about the de-" He then noticed that all the demons were screaming in agony.

"Is that Illyana?" Dani gasped as they arrived on the scene having been left behind after Harry took to his dragon form.

"Snowflake?" Came the near desperate cry of Colossus. "What happened to her?" Colossus demanded as he cradled her head in his lap and saw the missing legs.

"Harry cut off her legs, she stole part of Megan's soul." Anole offered.

"Why would he do that… why would she do that?" Colossus asked no one in particular.

"Because that is a soulless being." Harry said as he marched over.

"This is my sister!" Colossus snapped angrily.

"I doubt it. I always thought it was strange that Kurt had two souls, I thought it was a quirk of him being not entirely human." Harry mused.

"Kurt has two souls?" Dani asked in amazement.

"Nah, not really. He does have a foreign soul in him though. I guess it is your sister, I thought the two of you were some sort of soul mates, the soul is definitely related to you."

"Kurt has my sisters soul?" Colossus was becoming more and more confused.

"Technically… he probably doesn't even know he does otherwise he would avoid me like the plague, everyone knows I see souls." Harry shrugged.

"Then… who is this?" Cyclops asked.

"Just a soulless construct. Although I will nick some DNA, need it to make a new body for the soul to reside in." He explained.

"Harry, what about Belasco and… all these demons?" Cyclops asked as he gestured to the still screaming and wailing monstrosities.

"Belasco is dead. Phoenixes have a lovely cleansing ability when it comes to evil. As for the others, I recommend we get a little blood thirsty. We kill as many as we can and leave a message, if they ever leave Limbo we'll come back and finish the job." He declared with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Now that's a plan I can get behind." Wolverine grinned as he unsheathed his claws. "Mind if I get started?"

"Why don't you get some of your buddies to help out and lessen the load?" Harry suggested.

Wolverine grimaced, the first names that came to mind were not 'buddies' but where highly effective… if not at the top of Wolverines 'Avoid-At-All-Costs' list. Not that they were completely evil… just annoying.

"Can you pay them?" Wolverine asked cautiously.

"Sure, why not, gold or jewels do?"

"One of them might want some of your healing." Wolverine sighed. He was going to hate this, he knew it.

"Logan… why?"

Logan could understand the pure pleading and confusion in Harry's voice as they stood watching the ensuing battle.

"He might be certifiable, but he gets the job done." Logan grimaced as he watched Deadpool dive into another pile of demons.

Nobody was certain how he was doing it but every time he emerged from a skirmish he had a new outfit on. Everything from the original Van Hellsing to the latest Alucard character. Even Harry couldn't figure out where he got the costumes from. There had been an awkward moment where he had emerged from pile of dismembered limbs wearing a cheerleaders outfit with a wooden stake but nobody could figure out who he was supposed to be, although Harry had a sinking suspicion. The sight was disturbing enough that Harry was cursing the fact that Obliviate didn't work on him.

Elsewhere on the battlefield there were several phoenixes and a huge Fiendfyre dragon courtesy of Harry. Everyone else was standing back and taking pot shots at anything that happened to move. Occasionally when Deadpool would emerge a phoenix would even stop and stare depending on whether he had accidentally caught their attention. Each Phoenix had at some point turned to Fawkes and had a conversation quickly. Only Harry knew they were asking if Deadpool was a demon they should destroy… Fawkes would just laugh and move on.

"Logan! You don't call, you don't write, you don't try and eviscerate me… but then you call me in for this… and you pay me for it… all is forgiven!" Deadpool said happily as he bounced forward to hug Logan.

Logan's claws were up and out but that didn't deter the merc as he continued forward, impaling his chest on Logan's claws.

"You do care!"

"Wilson!" Logan growled.

"Glad to see your sense of humour is improving, ol' buddy."

"For god's sake Harry, would you pay him and send him off!" Logan pleaded.

Harry looked around the assembled students and heroes who had been with them in Limbo, they were all assembled on the mansion lawn. They were all watching the interaction between Wolverine and Deadpool in horror and disbelief.

"Wade, right?" Harry called out as he strolled over.

"Boss man!" Wade returned cheerfully. "Listen, do I need to ask for permission to use the word 'dead' in my name? 'Cos I've been using it for a while and just going by 'Pool'… not gonna cut it!" He asked as he slung an arm across Harry's shoulders.

Harry was amazed. He never thought he'd meet someone nuttier than him who was actually still clinically sane. And yet here he was.

"Erm… call yourself what you want." Harry said uncertainly. "Here's your jewels and gems… you sure you don't want gold or cash?"

"Nah, plenty of gold back home, but I need the gems to really look like a pirates treasure cave!"

"You have plenty of wenches?" Harry asked. A few of the students were a little worried they might find themselves being offered up.

"Well… I have m' wenches, but can ya truly ev'ar have enough?" Deadpool asked as he affected a pirate voice.

"I find you usually have enough when you realise that you're about to be keel-hauled by your current wenches." Harry mused.

"Right… so I reached 'enough' after one." Deadpool nodded vigorously.

"Well, you should be off the adults are getting nervous and the kids are just plain confused." Harry grinned as he patted Deadpool's shoulder. "Take a look in the mirror when you get home."

Deadpool's masked head tilted in askance before shrugging and walking off whilst whistling a pirate tune.

The denizens of the Mansion sighed in relief as the front gate closed behind him.

"He was fun!" Harry said cheerfully.

Everyone just stared at him, gobsmacked.

"Jean did warn us that Harry was no longer entirely 'sane'." Emma reminded them wearily.

Harry immediately ordered everyone to begin clean up and repairs, it was a great exercise for them to use their magic. As soon as that was done he ordered Scott and Emma to begin drawing up a rota for all the kids to go on a school provided vacation in small groups. Harry had many outside volunteers to help chaperone in the form of the heroes who he had been protecting.

There had been a highly disturbing moment when Deadpool had teleported in with his technology and ripped off his mask revealing flawless skin and a head of blonde hair and proceeded to snog Harry silly. He vanished without a word but Harry was looking very disturbed. No one dared bring it up.

His first task was dictated by a desperate Russian who grabbed himself and Kurt and hauled them to the infirmary.

"Where is Illyana?" Piotr demanded.

Harry pointed accusingly at Kurt. "There!"

"Harry, I believe Piotr is serious." Kurt said with a small smile.

Harry just shrugged. "Somehow you wound up carrying Illyana's soul." He walked over to one of the beds and began conjuring something.

It became clear after a few seconds he was creating a new body.

"Illyana." Piotr whispered emotionally.

"It's just a body, Piotr. It won't be your sister until I put her soul in." Harry warned.

"Vhy am I needed?" Kurt asked.

"As I said, somehow you managed to get Illyana's soul in you." He finished creating the body of what appeared to be a seventeen-year-old blond girl and conjured a second table for Kurt. "Come on, you should all know the drill by now."

"Do I even have a soul of my own?" Kurt asked, he had been called a demon and monster most of his life, the last thing he wanted was that to be confirmed.

"Sure, at the moment you just happen to have two." He didn't give Kurt a chance to question further as he knocked the blue mutant out and began attempting to extract Illyana's soul.

Piotr just watched anxiously as Harry worked. He had been about to ask why her body was so young but the image of her soul explained that.

"This is problematic." Harry mused.

"What! What!?" Piotr demanded.

"Would you relax!" Harry admonished. "Kurt's soul has been acting as a guardian to Illyana's soul. They are now heavily entwined."

Piotr grimaced. "Kurt is a good man. But my sister is too young for a relationship."

Harry just laughed. "She's seventeen! But I don't think he is interested in that type of relationship, but I believe your sister has gained another brother."

Piotr sighed in relief.

"Wakey wakey, Kurt!" Harry said as he began slapping the mutant's cheek.

"Mein friend, you have an unhealthy obsession vith slapping people." Kurt sighed. "How did it go?"

"You are Illyana's soul mate." Harry told him blandly.

"A little young for my tastes." Kurt drawled.

"She'll be eighteen in a few months."

"I suppose I can vait." Kurt sighed.

Meanwhile Piotr was turning bright red in anger and rage. "No! I forbid it!"

"But she'll be so hot, you saw her!" Kurt half begged.

"Gentlemen, I do believe Mr. Rasputin is about to have an aneurism."

The three men turned to the sound of the chuckling voice to see a tall bald man.

"Professor!" Kurt exclaimed with a happy smile.

"It is good to see you both, Kurt, Piotr." He said as he stepped forward and shook their hands. "I assume you are Doctor Potter? I am Charles Xavier." He offered his hand with a smile.

"Jean has nothing but good things to say about you… well, other than occasional misstep." He grinned and shook the hand. "But we all have those."

"To be clear, I am not really her soul mate?" Kurt asked as they turned back to Illyana as Piotr was desperate to have his sister back.

"No, you are. You spent so long guarding her soul it just happened."

"It is a very happy day to have one of our lost ones back." Charles said with a teary smile. "I wish I had arrived a few moments earlier to see you at work." He said to Harry.

"I'll be heading out in a bit, you are welcome to join me." Harry offered.

"Vhat var-torn country vill you be helping today?" Kurt asked with a sad smile.

"Sierra Lioane. T'Challa says he's been there and I will be travelling with him."

"I would come with you, but I must attend to my sister." Piotr apologised.

"No big. I can always handle these things on my own, people just seem to prefer-"

"ARRRHHGGG!"

They turned to see the Professor holding a hand to his face as blood poured from a gash above his left eyebrow. Charles had attempted to see Harry's mind but a ferocious dragon had attacked him, this had translated into his wound in the real world.

"Huh… that was pretty stealthy." Harry mused. "I didn't even feel you trying to get in. I trust you know better now?"

Charles looked suitably ashamed as Piotr and Kurt glared at him. "I apologise, I wasn't actually trying to breach your defences, merely observe them."

"Next time, ask."