Chapter 19
Harry and the girls needed a few days to get back into the swing of things having been absent for several years from their point of view. Despite Harry having rebuilt the Mansion, Scott had decided it was time for a change and he had sent a team to San Francisco of all places. Harry decided to tag along with Warren Worthington, AKA Angel.
"So the sixties never died in your world?" Harry asked as he and Warren walked through the streets of San Francisco. All around them people were dressed like hippies. They acted like them too.
"I thought they had." Warren frowned. "I hate to think what Hepzibah and James make of it." He commented as he imagined the female alien feline and Warpath the Native American Warrior trying to fit in amongst the hippies.
"She is probably having the time of her life and he is probably happy to see her smile." Harry smirked.
"Cool beads man!"
Harry looked at Warren trying to work out why he suddenly sounded so 'spaced out'. All he saw was the angel-winged man wandering off as he shucked his top and accepted a gold chain from a nearby hippie.
"Warren? You feeling ok?"
"Dude, you need some beads." Warren said sagely as he held up the gold chain, it was clear Warren saw something else.
"Is he a Narc?" The young man who had handed Warren the chain asked suspiciously.
"Nah, that's Harry. He's cool." Warren smiled as he removed his t-shirt and now stood bare-chested.
"I take it we're not blending in?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Relax man, take a moment." Warren said dreamily as he wandered off.
Harry rubbed his temple with the palm of his hand. Warren was a little spacey and the dragon in his head was roaring in agitation.
Harry hated mind powers.
Instead of using his own pitiful excuse for telepathy Harry decided to call in the experts. Actually he teleported straight to them.
"Emma, have to say, I love your outfit. Jean, always a pleasure. Scott… hi."
Having survived the destruction of the mansion Emma had declared they were going on holiday. Jean had invited herself along and they had headed off to stay in the Savage Land with Kazar. Lush jungles, cool lakes and rivers to bathe in, not a soul around for miles that needed saving and plenty of wild territorial animals for Scott to express his other frustrations on.
It was the perfect excuse for Emma to wear her favourite outfit.
Her birthday suit.
Jean had surprised Scott by following suit, but she had explained that she spent the better part of the thousand years with Harry completely naked. There wasn't much to do for fun. But sex was always a great way to pass the time. At the moment she was a walking encyclopaedia of sex. She was the professor and Emma and Scott were her students.
Fortunately for Scott's sensibilities Harry arrived when they weren't in the middle of doing… it. But they were all very naked and Scott was not used to showing everything to a guy. He desperately wanted something to cover up with. Considering he was surrounded by two gorgeous women, his hands weren't going to cover much. He did his best.
"Harry, have you come to join us?" Emma asked with a teasing smirk as she brazenly let her legs fall apart slightly giving Harry a much better view.
"Not today, I actually came on business."
This brought a frown to Emma's face and she crossed her legs clearly frustrated. "We're on holiday, there are plenty of other people available."
"Yeah, but I need a telepath who has been to San Francisco before. Warren and the others have got caught up in some sort of sixties revival and my dragon wanted to go ballistic."
"So it is a telepathic effect." Jean surmised.
"That's my guess."
"Can't you use the Cuckoos?" Emma whined.
"I don't think they would be pleased if they got sucked into the era of Free Love."
"What about Charles?"
"Can't find him. Which is worrisome in itself." Harry admitted.
Emma and Jean frowned and began concentrating.
"He's very well hidden." Emma noted.
"I can't even flash flame to him." Jean said.
"I'm guessing that they are using a lot of unknown technology." Harry offered. "I put Lorna on the case for now."
"I suppose we should get back to America then." Scott said as he slipped into leader mode.
"Darling, I'm sure only one of us is needed for such an endeavour." Emma said as she rose from her position next to him and conjured some clothes suitable for the public… which still wasn't much.
"You sure Emma?" Jean asked.
"Take the offered gift and reconnect with our Scott, Jean Dear." Emma smirked as she grabbed Harry's arm and they vanished.
Scott looked at Jean but only had a second to take in her devious grin before his formerly dead wife jumped on him with a squeal of joy.
"This brings back fond memories." Emma smiled as she and Harry wondered through the throngs of hippies that adorned the streets of San Francisco.
Harry just frowned at woman who couldn't be more than thirty. "Hard to believe you actually lived through the 60's and seventies."
"Yes well-"
Police cars screeching to a halt around them as they were boxed in interrupted them. Guns were drawn and warnings shouted.
"It wasn't me." Harry declared instantly.
Emma just rolled her eyes. "You always say that. It is rarely true."
"One day it might be!" Harry protested. He waved a hand causing the standard metal firearms of the SFPD to become plastic water pistols. He then caused both himself and Emma to become invisible.
"I have tried some similar… spells myself." Emma commented. "I have never been able to produce such large scale results. At best I would have been able to transfigure five of the weapons, but you did all twenty with ease."
"That's because you have a magical core that I gave you. It is limited in size and capacity and that relates to how much magic you can channel.
"I don't have a core, I simply use whatever magic is available." Harry explained.
"You don't store your own magic?"
"I always have magic in me but it is constantly flowing in and out of me, I am more of a conduit than a battery."
"What would happen if you found yourself in an environment without magic?"
Harry actually stopped walking. "That is an interesting question. One to which I have no clue. I have known and used magic since I was eleven, I imagine it would not be a nice experience."
"Is it possible for there to be an absence of magic? I have heard of magical nulls from the likes of Dr. Strange before."
"I honestly don't know, never experienced null magic. I would imagine my soul would have to detach from my body so I could leave the null area and connect with magic again."
"You've never encountered null magic before?" Emma asked surprised.
"Nope, but then this is only the second universe I have been to in my existence- ow!" Harry looked down to see a knife embedded in his chest. Looking up he saw Warpath bearing down on him with Hepzibah, Warren and Bobby close behind.
"It seems they can see us." Emma commented as she shifted to her diamond form.
"I doubt it, I think they are tracking us telepathically, or someone is guiding them. Why don't you go and deal with the source whilst I handle our friends." Harry offered.
Emma nodded and headed off as Harry made himself visible. He needed civilians to be able to see him so they wouldn't get caught in whatever fight was about to occur.
The first attack by Warpath was dealt with by simply sidestepping the charging man leaving him to go tumbling to the ground. This left Bobby to try and encase him in ice, which Harry countered with an incendio.
"OW!"
Harry discovered that vibranium could disrupt magic as he felt the second of Warpath's knives embed in his back.
That one was annoying as he couldn't reach it to get it out. But at least Warpath was out of knives.
But now he just had to avoid them all and prevent them from grabbing the blades in his chest and back. It was far from comfortable! The knives where preventing him from phasing, teleporting or even shifting to dragon form.
It was the most interesting fight he had had in a long time.
But he still had access to his magic and he started by conjuring his lightsabre. Now he just needed to keep them away from him. He began spinning around, swinging the energy sword at his opponents but never actually trying to hit them.
This seemed to anger his friends as they couldn't get near him without risk of losing a limb.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?" Warpath roared angrily.
"Really? You're asking me that question?" Harry stopped his defensive manoeuvres and faced them. "The reason I can't die is because I am already dead. I am both alive and dead according to magic."
"THEN I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
Harry blasted the ground in front of Warpath but was disappointed when it was little more than a pickaxe hitting the concrete, the vibranium blades embedded in his body were clearly disrupting his use of magic now. In any other situation he would leave his body and build a new one, but that would take time and he needed to keep them away from Emma.
He had another option and that was to let himself get overrun. They couldn't really damage him, but it would hurt and there was a chance Warpath would remove his blades at some point and give him access to his magic properly. Harry was just glad he wasn't facing Surge and Mercury. Surge's electricity was an effective counter to magic and Mercury's unique metal was immune to magic.
Harry was saved by wide blast of red energy as Cyclops and Jean arrived on the scene.
"Emma said you could use a hand, I could hardly believe it!" Cyclops exclaimed.
"Just get these damned knives out of me." Harry growled. "I never have this problem with Logan and his claws."
"Are they hurting you?" Cyclops asked as Jean put a knee on Harry's back and yanked.
"Yeow! Everything hurts, you just get used to the pain. Logan and Laura understand it. OH GOD THE PAIN!" Harry screeched as Jean removed the knife from his chest.
"Baby." Jean muttered.
"No sympathy?" Harry pouted.
"Hold on, I think this is about to be over." Cyclops stated as he rose into the air.
Harry threw up a shield around himself and Jean to keep the others from attacking them.
Cyclops turned west and fired a concentrated narrow blast at a building several blocks over.
There was a ripple effect as Cyclops watched the illusion of the sixties flow back to present day. There were still the occasional individuals dressed in tie-dye shirts but those were the ones who had recently made them.
"You found the source?" Harry asked as Cyclops returned to ground level.
"Emma did, she just pointed me in the right direction. She lost the culprit in the blast though."
"I'm really sorry about stabbing you, but can I have my knives back?"
Harry, Cyclops and Jean turned to see Warpath standing there. He looked like an over grown kicked puppy, his head hung with a sad look on his face.
"What have we learnt?" Harry asked chidingly.
"Harry Potter is invulnerable?"
"You should have realised that months ago." Jean rolled her eyes.
"How about that your knives inhibit magic?" Harry said as he took the blades from Jean and handed them back to Warpath. "Those will be very useful weapons in the future."
"You are not going to take them from James as they can hurt you?" Hepzibah asked as she leaned against her new paramour.
"Nah, I could have gotten out of the situation but it would have put the civilians at risk. Emma was on the case so I just needed to keep you lot busy."
"Hey guys! Look who I found?" They all looked up to see Angel flying down with a dark haired woman in a business suit and skirt in his arms.
Harry leaned over to Scott. "Is he always that fast with women? We've only been in the city a few hours."
"He can be, but he doesn't normally bring them home."
"Meet Sadie Sinclair, the Mayor of San Francisco." Angel announced.
"Ok, that definitely explains it, Warren always manages to find the well-connected women." Scott muttered back to Harry.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Madam Mayor." Scott jumped as Emma stepped up from behind him. He hadn't heard her approach. It was an annoying downside to magic.
"Please, call me Sadie. Especially after this hunk just saved my life!" She was clearly high on adrenaline but her natural enthusiasm shone through. "Warren says the X-Men are looking to make Frisco your new home, is that true?" She asked eagerly.
"It's why the team was here." Scott acknowledged.
"Well, in that case, please contact my office as soon as possible! We would love to have you here and would like to offer any help we can." She declared with a bright smile.
"See! Isn't she amazing?" Warren beamed.
"I'll say." Harry agreed with a warm smile. "It is a definite pleasure to meet you Sadie." He stepped forward and offered her his hand.
"Oh my god! Y-y-your really him!"
Cyclops and Warren winced, here it comes, the fear of Death.
"You're Doctor Potter! Can you really heal hundreds of people?" She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down slightly to look in his eyes.
Harry couldn't help but smile at the woman. She was a truly pure soul. "I can, if they choose to be healed."
"Would you be willing to help heal the citizens of San Francisco and any one who comes here?"
"As long as it isn't something that would take all day and prevent me from my other work."
"How long would it take you to heal a gathering of say… a thousand people? Could you do it en masse or would you have to do them one by one?"
Jean nudged Emma and indicated a pouting Warren who was no longer the centre of attention.
Warren saw the two women smirking at him and sneered back good-naturedly.
"Wow, so what if I arranged a meeting place like a building or a park and people gathered there at say ten am and you healed them, once a day you came to the meeting place and healed all those that were there?"
"That could work, but you realise that there will be a lot of people coming to San Francisco, your city-"
"Will see the biggest boom in tourism in decades! Aside from security issues I can't see a problem. San Francisco has always been a place of acceptance."
"Sadie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Harry smiled warmly as he placed a glowing hand on her chest turning the wonderful human being in front of him into a truly magical being.
"I'm pregnant?"
"I believe I just said that."
"But we used birth control… granted it was mainly abstinence after I realised Tony had a camera in the bedroom… but still we used condoms!"
"All the time?"
"I'm on the pill!"
"Neither of those are one hundred percent effective and… accidents happen."
"Wow."
"I take it this isn't a bad thing?"
"Worrisome… not really bad though."
Peter Parker was officially underground again. His identity hidden beneath the Fidelius. Harry had insisted that he keep the Avengers in the know… and Tony as it would piss him off that he physically wouldn't be able to tell anyone.
The X-Men and the institute had moved to San Francisco where they were welcomed by the Mayor, Sadie Sinclair. Warren had purchased an obscene amount of land with his obscene amount of money.
He always got grumpy when Harry started conjuring diamond shields for some reason.
In the wake of the telepathic event that signalled the first mutant birth since M-Day, Mary Jane had also been affected. Harry had seen the reason instantly. Mary Jane was three months along with a magical mutant baby with telepathic powers, which was the reason she was also affected. The baby was suffering at the time.
They were now in the infirmary where Harry had just given her the news.
"Do you think I should tell Peter?"
"Is there a reason you shouldn't?"
"He has so much on his plate! The whole SRA, keeping New York safe, dealing with the Daily Bugle-"
"So why not give him some good news?"
"But he'll worry about us constantly."
"At which point you can kick his arse. But it's a cruel thing to keep this from him."
"I love how you say 'arse'… so English." Mary Jane giggled.
"Focus MJ." Harry smiled. "Call your husband, tell him New York is covered for the day and you will see him at home for a special night."
"Do your girls mind you volunteering them like this?"
"Them? Nah, I'm sending Surge and her team. They keep demanding missions so they can have this one. In fact, tell Pete he can have the week off."
It had taken several months but he had finally managed to arrange an interview with Trish Tilby where he would make her a magical on live TV. Harry arrived at the studio and went through the usual makeup and sound check with his microphone and then he was announced and he walked out into the studio.
"You are not Trish Tilby."
The sandy haired man who smiled genially as he rose, offered his hand. "Rick Stanford, a colleague of Trish's, she wasn't feeling well so I offered to take her place for this afternoon's demonstration."
Harry just stood there looking at the man and ignoring the hand. "Liar."
The smile never faltered. "I swear it's the honest truth. The country has seen me every morning on the breakfast show."
"I didn't say what you lied about, just that you lied." Harry turned to the camera. "Scott, please deal with Trish."
"Perhaps we could continue with the interview and demonstration. I understand you are going to give me magical powers today."
Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You understood wrong."
"But you clearly said you were willing to make everyone magicals and that everyone had the right to magic. So there shouldn't be any problem."
"Yeah… I did say that." Harry nodded. He then sat down and smiled cheekily. "What do you know? I was wrong!"
Rick frowned. "So you lied, Harry? I-"
"Call me Lord Death." Harry said firmly. "I don't know you. You aren't my friend and you haven't earned anywhere near enough respect to use my name."
Harry idly began playing with lightning between his fingertips. "I was wrong about everyone deserving magic and the right to use it. It's my own fault really. By the time I was ready to make everyone magical in my home reality, I had already been appointed the ruler of the planet. I had eliminated hunger, war and most crimes. Anyone who did commit a crime was found quickly and prosecuted."
"You mean killed?"
"I said what I said and I meant what I said. Don't attempt to force your meanings onto my words." Harry said warningly.
"Then what did you mean?" There was a hint of annoyance coming through.
"The punishment fit the crime. Any crime that caused harm to another on purpose was handed the sentence of death. Accidental crime saw imprisonment. Crimes that were not meant to harm others saw community service."
"And what about the falsely accused?"
"There were none." Harry said simply.
"You can guarantee that you never killed an innocent man?" Rick scoffed.
"I can. Would you like to help me prove it?" Harry asked as he held out his hand a small vial of clear liquid appeared.
"This is the most potent truth serum from my world. I ask you a question and you will answer. The entire truth will spill from your lips." Harry waved his other hand and Rick went stiff, his mouth hanging open. "Three drops are all that are needed." Harry told the viewers as he administered them.
Harry waved his hand and Rick relaxed.
"Tell me Rick, my boy, who do you work for?"
"NBCB News Network and the National Security Agency." Rick said emotionlessly.
There were gasps around the studio.
"Where is Trish Tilby?"
"In an NSA black ops base."
"Why?"
"I was to convince you to give me the magical powers which I would use to aid the NSA and help them figure out how to contain you."
"What does the NSA truly want to do with me?"
"Control you and use you to wipe out foreign and domestic opposition."
"Does the President know and approve of this?"
"Yes."
Harry tilted his head slightly as if listening.
"My friends have rescued Miss Tilby and have the agents holding her in custody." Harry assured the viewers.
There was a flash of flame and Trish appeared with Fawkes on her shoulder.
"You ok Trish?" Harry asked sincerely as he stepped forward and hugged her.
"A little shaken, but I'm ok." Ever the professional, Trish turned to the cameras. "On behalf of NBCB news we would like to apologise for the underhanded actions of Rick Stanford. We also apologise to Doctor Potter for attempted deception."
"I understand that it was not your fault, Trish. If someone could remove that disgusting piece of garbage I believe we should give your viewers what they were expecting?" Harry said with a warm smile.
"Trish, problem?" Harry asked as he looked up from the medical files he was reviewing in the infirmary.
"I just had to flee my apartment. Men in suits tried to haul me away." She said frantically as she showed him a nasty bruise on her upper arm just visible below her white t-shirt.
A simple wave from Harry and the bruise was gone.
"I can sort something out. It will involve a bodyguard or two whilst you are out."
"What about my apartment?"
Harry just smiled.
"You want me to live in the X-Masion?" Trish exclaimed as she stared at the expansive structure.
"Technically you would be a tenant. The only time we would intrude would be if there was an emergency and we needed a fall back position."
"But this place is huge! How am I supposed to maintain this place?"
Hary rolled his eyes before putting on his best impression of Troy McClure. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter. You might remember me from such events as the time I removed twenty odd hearts from your body and yesterday when I made YOU A WITCH!" He finished loudly."
"That was so creepy." She shuddered. When Harry did an impression he mimicked the voice exactly, it was all part of being a metamorphamagus.
"I know!" Harry grinned.
"Ok, so I can probably live here with magic. But what about when the suits show up here?"
"They won't. This place is hidden by the Fidelius Charm. I am the secret keeper. If you need someone to know where you live then I have to tell them."
"What about my mail? Never mind, I use a PO box. But my work needs my address for files and records."
"I bought your building this morning. You can keep your old address for records and stuff. You just get to live here in the lap of luxury."
"And all I have to put up with is the occasional X-Man dropping by?"
"Here's hoping."
"That doesn't really inspire confidence!"
"You'll be safer here than in the city, especially if something like when the Hulk visited happens. They won't be able to touch this place. Technically it isn't in phase with our reality so it can't be touched."
"I suppose the important thing is that I can't be kidnapped from here by men in suits whilst I'm sleeping." Trish sighed.
"Find a room and get some sleep. When you have a day off really explore and then stake your claim on the best rooms!" Harry advised. "Tomorrow some of the students will be here to serve as your bodyguards."