Wands and Claws
Disclaimer/Plot/Author's Note: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Recommended Reads: Apex, Damaged Raven, Widow's Vengeance, Bonded, Magical Spider, Silver King and Hydrus Black by JustBored21, Ruby Tinted Glasses by StormyFireDragon, Shattering the Mirror by arturus, Child of the Storm, Ghosts of the Past and The Phoenix and the Serpent by Nimbus Llewelyn, Lightning, Part 1 and Lightning, Part 2: An Eventful Fourth Year by The New York Bear, Harry Potter The Protector of Magic and The Protector and the Four Guardians by TigerSwarm9122, Harry Potts and the Infinity Stones by samhaine and Ascension, The Son of Storms and The War of Titans by PerseusPeverell092
Key Pairing: Eventual Harry/Jean;
Other Pairings: Logan/Ororo; Erik/Raven; Others TBD
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Telepathy'
/Parseltongue/
Review Answers:
Raidentensho: Yeah, it was inspired by the scene in The Last Stand, as is the meeting that follows;
WsCs
ALSO:
To any fans of the original who feel things are moving too slowly, I can only apologise as, in editing the original and putting my own flair on it, I'm unintentionally filling in gaps that I myself had in my head when reading JB's original masterpiece.
Fortunately, my dear friend has given me permission to make this my own, so, while I can only apologise if you feel things aren't progressing as quick as you remember, I also hope you'll stick with this adopted rewrite and enjoy it just as much;
And now, on with the show…
Professor Xavier was right, for once, to bring him instead of Laura.
He didn't know why, but, as he watched Charles go through the motions with Jean and her family, Harry James Potter knew one thing.
Jean Grey was going to change everything…
Least of all for Harry and Laura Potter.
Chapter 6: An X-Ceptional New Friend
"Now Jean, I own a school, built to help people like you, me, Logan and even Harry." Said Professor Xavier, a note of well-rehearsed attitude lacing his words as he explained, "It is a school for the gifted."
"Then that must mean you can do weird stuff too, right?" Jean asked.
"You could probably say that," chuckled Harry as he raised his right fist; a couple of seconds later, he saw Jean Grey's eyes widen in awe and surprise when three metal claws, which looked like shinier variations of Logan's claws, suddenly popped out of his hand.
Seeing the power on display, the Grey parents practically jumped in their seats while Jean stared with wide eyes and a slightly dropped jaw, as well as a hint of amazement, which seemed to echo in her voice as she asked, "That is…so…cool! But…but do they hurt?"
"What do you mean?" Harry frowned as he looked at his claws, while he also felt a whisper of déjà vu from when he'd talked about his claws with Logan and Ororo over a year ago.
"When they come out, do they hurt?" Jean asked.
"Oh…you mean the claws? Well, I suppose they can hurt a little bit." Harry nodded as his claws went back into their fleshy sheaths. "But I got used to it, so did Grandpa."
"You have claws too?" asked Jean, blinking in surprise as she looked at Logan.
"Yeah," Logan grunted as he raised his fist and three metal claws popped out, though darker-looking than the ones that Jean had seen moments earlier, and yet, she still gasped in amazement as she looked at them while, smiling at her awe, Logan quickly added, "So does Harry's sister."
"Although she has two in each hand and one in each foot." Harry added, while Logan sheathed his claws again. "Weirdly, her claws aren't metal though, they are just bone claws."
"That's disgusting." Mrs Grey muttered, earning a sharp glare from Harry.
Fortunately, the apparently-tense moment was broken just as Jean shouted out. "That's awesome!"
"Yes…well, when we looked, we noticed mine are bone as well, but, unlike Laura, that's my sister's name," he quickly added, earning an ah from Jean, while Harry rubbed his knuckles where his claws had popped out, as though he was trying to focus on something other than a non-mutant who thought his baby sister was disgusting.
Fortunately, he had a duty to attend to, and a new friend to help understand the world that she had become a part of, so he focused on that.
"Yeah, unlike her, for reasons that the Prof and my Granddad here haven't figured out…I can cover my bones in metal," said Harry, albeit a little tensely – in such a way that both Charles and Logan found it easy to hear the word yet after Harry had talked about them, even though he hadn't said it aloud – as he raised his left fist and allowed a trio of bone claws to pop out before once again letting a trio of metal claws pop out of his other hand again.
"Wow." Jean breathed as she looked back and forth between Harry's metal and bone claws. "That is so cool!"
Harry didn't know why, but something about Jean's liking of his mutant ability, and how she found it, and probably him, so cool made him feel good inside; a level of good his sister usually only made him feel.
This feeling also helped banish the tense, on edge emotion of warning he'd shot Mrs Grey when she'd insulted Laura, while Jean kept her own attention focused on Harry as she asked him, "Can you do anything else? I mean, do you have any other powers?"
"Miss Grey…"
For some reason, a scowl crossed Harry's face when Professor Xavier spoke next. "Harry, his sister and his grandfather also happen to possess enhanced senses, enhanced physical abilities and a very impressive healing factor. Though Harry also possesses the ability to block other people from reading his mind."
WsCs
'Among other…weird things,' thought Harry, remembering the weird feeling he'd had in the car, as well as when he'd met Jean, giving him the unusual idea of what Logan had been about to say even before he'd said it.
Was that a mutant thing?
He didn't know, but he made sure to make a note to talk about it, even if only with Laura or his Grandfather, when they got back to the school.
WsCs
"Really?"
Jean's voice brought Harry back to his current moment in time, while, again, Xavier continued, "Yes, you see because of Harry's unique power, allowing him to cover his skeleton in metal, I become unable to read his mind."
"If you ask me, it's because his head is too thick," Logan chuckled, but, truthfully, he knew it was more than that.
WsCs
He hadn't said anything, least of all to his still-headstrong young grand-cub, but Logan knew that Harry's skill had something to do with whatever metal Harry could make appear on his claws and, apparently, his skeleton, not that they knew what that was, mind you.
Even now, Hank was still running tests on it, whereas Ororo was constantly chatting with the Professor's friends in SHIELD – specifically the geeky members of the Avengers – but, up to now, the only thing they had figured out was that, with his metal, Harry was like Logan, in that he had some resistance to mental intrusions – but even Logan admitted that he could not just flat out stop it like Harry could.
WsCs
"Hey." Harry glared at Logan who just smirked back. "Your head is like twice the size of mine, old man."
"Whatever you say, runt." Logan replied in an uncaring voice, earning a scowl from Harry.
"Only Victor gets to call me that, Weapon X!"
Logan's eyes hardened as Harry used the only thing he could against his grandfather: like it was a sore topic for the kids, Stryker's actions and his psychotic attempts to mould Logan into an older variant of what Harry and Laura became was a very sore spot in the Wolverine's otherwise adamantine armour.
The fact that Harry had just said it also told Logan that his grandson was troubled; maybe he hadn't even noticed he'd said it.
Or so Logan hoped.
"Um…sorry, but…if it's okay, can…can I try to read your mind…uh…Harry?" asked Jean, earning a brief, thankful smile from Logan, who sensed she'd stepped in and tried to calm Harry down, preferably before he and his grandfather could continue trying to irritate each other.
Or worse…
"Jean," Mr Grey admonished his daughter. "What did we say about using your mutation?"
"Hey, I don't mind, and neither should you," interrupted Harry, a note of ire lacing his words as he used the same icy glare on the male Grey that he had done on the man's wife.
And it had the same effect too, as Mr Grey backed down, albeit warily, before Harry looked to Jean in wonder, "So…is that your thing: you can read minds, can you, Jean?"
"Yeah," Jean nodded, tapping the side of her head as she explained in a proud voice. "I can hear people's thoughts and, sometimes, if I think hard enough and concentrate, then I can also move things with my mind."
"Telepathy and Telekinesis?" asked Xavier.
Jean, meanwhile, stretched her right arm out and aimed it at a table, a few seconds later the table was hovering in the air in front of them before slowly being lowered back down, earning an awestruck look from Harry before, to Logan's delight, his grandson actually smiled with a mixture of wonder and amazement in his bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed expression.
"Awesome!" exclaimed Harry, while Professor Xavier and Logan looked interested.
Jean's parents, meanwhile, had a constipated look on their faces, but, fortunately for them, Harry seemed to be more-interested in his new school chum's amazing capabilities, especially since, after living in the institute for so long that sort of thing did not really surprise him. "Okay, Jean: go ahead. Just you try and read my mind."
Logan couldn't help but laugh at the air of childish challenging, if not daring, which laced Harry's words as he gestured for Jean to continue.
At the same time, Harry allowed his skeleton to be covered in metal just before Jean scrunched up her face, as she, apparently, started trying to read his mind.
Deciding to give her a little incentive, Harry focused on one thought.
'She's kind of cute when she scrunches up her face like that.'
Judging by how she seemed to actually be trying to harden her focus, however, Harry guessed she couldn't do it: sure enough, after a minute, Jean let out an exasperated sigh as she gave up. "Wow…they were right about you, Harry. I…I tried and I tried, but I just can't do it."
"That's okay," said Harry, letting his emotions vanish behind his headstrong front as he tried not to blush at the thought of what Jean might have seen or heard had she penetrated his thoughts. "I discovered that skill a few weeks into living at the institute; comes in handy when I want privacy."
Not to Charles' surprise, Harry flicked his eyes in his direction as he said the last part, before Harry shifted his skeleton back to normal.
"Miss Grey," Professor Xavier spoke up, directing the conversation back to him. "As you grow alongside your peers, you will indeed find that some mutants may develop a single new, perhaps even evolved form of their power, while others like yourself and Harry may develop multiple powers."
Suddenly, even Logan heard Harry hum thoughtfully, as he rubbed a spot on his chest.
Before they could say anything more, however, even Harry's head snapped around again when Mr Grey decided he was done playing the role of benevolent host as he insisted, "This is all very fascinating, but, to be frank, Professor Xavier, I was hoping you would be able to help my wife and I deal with my young daughter's…illness."
"Illness?" growled Harry, partially-aware of Mrs Grey chastising her husband for his choice of words, though it didn't seem to have much of an effect on him, while Harry actually moved towards the man in question as he hissed darkly, "What? Do you think your daughter is sick, do you, Mister Grey? Is that why you let the Professor come here to meet her? Did you expect him to cure her?"
"Harry, that's enough!" insisted Charles, earning a scoff from Harry as he turned to the bald man.
"No, Chuck, it isn't!" snapped Harry, partially aware of a familiar, ominous, and also strange warmth, as well as a tingling feeling, welling up inside of him as he growled, "You sit there in your chair like you're POTUS or something, and just because you grew up in the time of peace, love and freedom, you think the rest of the world is the same! And now, right when you're faced with what may, one day, be one of the most-powerful mutants in the school…maybe even the world, you're still preaching your pacifistic bull…"
Suddenly, even Harry was left speechless when, all of a sudden, Jean left her own seat and, crossing the room, she wrapped her arms around her potentially-new classmate's waist, hugging him close. As Logan and Charles watched, they saw several objects in the room trembling, while the television behind the Greys started fritzing and sparking dangerously, even as Jean held onto Harry.
And, all the while, Mister Grey sat there with a smug look on his face, as though he had found the moral high ground.
Jean, meanwhile, gently guided Harry back to where she had been sitting, holding his hand in hers while she also let him rest his head on her shoulder as she explained, "I…I'm sorry I did that, Harry; I…I don't know why…"
"Aww, isn't that cute, cub?" laughed Logan, indicating Jean as he joked, "You've went and got yourself a girlfriend!"
Harry just scoffed, while Charles, sensing a calmer air now lacing Harry's words and actions, looked back to Mr and Mrs Grey as he explained, "I am not condoning my charge's actions just now, Mr and Mrs Grey, and I offer my sincerest apologies for any fear you might be experiencing…"
"So you agree with us?" asked Mr Grey, giving Harry a wary look, as well as Jean, as he asked, "You agree that Jean has…a problem?"
"I assure you, Mr Grey," argued Charles, once again looking to Harry as he drew in a slow, calming breath of his own, before he looked back to the smug man as he explained, "Your daughter has many things, but she does not have a problem. She is special, yes, she is gifted, obviously, and, despite your ideas for my visit, the real reason that I am here is to help her with those gifts."
He actually looked over at Jean and Harry, giving the latter a reassuring nod of understanding and a look that said they'd talk more about this when they got back to the school, before he directed his next words to Jean herself.
"Miss Grey, when I was a young boy, I would often hear voices in my head, and that lead me to believe that I was mad. I could hear voices talking about getting cat food and not getting paid enough, to name a few things that they said, but eventually I realized that I was not hearing voices, I was hearing people's thoughts. From there it took me a while, but I was eventually able to learn to control my powers, instead of letting them control me."
"Here it comes," muttered Harry, lifting his head from Jean's shoulder, before he smiled thankfully at her as he added, "The rage and serenity pitch."
Rather than scold his unruly youth, however, Charles chuckled as he kept his attention on Jean, "Now, at my school, named as a school for gifted youngsters, I help other mutants, like Harry and Laura and, yes, even Logan here with their powers. I help teach them how to use them in a safe manner: I help them learn self-control. I help them so that they do not have to live in fear of accidentally harming someone with their powers. And it is this that I would like to teach you."
Jean just stared, while Harry listened as the Professor directed his next words back to Jean's parents, one of whom Harry was already putting on a list that, up to the moment Victor had offed him, had held the name of the late Colonel Stryker.
The only reason he felt calm was because of Jean, even if he couldn't quite understand how – although he was silently adamant that it was not because he thought of her as his girlfriend…since thinking of girls like that was gross!
Charles, meanwhile, continued, "If you accept, then Jean may live at the school, where a room will be provided for her. There will be no cost for yourselves, be it food, clothing or even provisions for her education. You may, of course, send money for or to Jean if you so wish, but rest assured, it will be unnecessary."
"Wait," Mrs Grey frowned suddenly, looking fearfully in Harry's direction as she added, "We were hoping to remove her mutation, not encourage it."
A moment's silence followed her words, before Harry scoffed as he drawled, "Now, I'm not really the biggest brain when it comes to science stuff like Wheels or the Blue Furball, but even I know that is stupid."
'Well, at least he's okay now,' Logan thought, knowing how, like him, Harry only used humorous – though annoying to anyone else – nicknames and pseudonyms if and when he was being overly-sarcastic, but in a good-natured way.
Heck, Logan blamed himself for teaching his cub that he had thought Charles called himself Wheels back when he'd first started at the school.
"Ahem." Professor Xavier coughed as he gave Harry a look, causing Harry to roll his eyes but didn't say anymore. "Mrs Grey, with all due respect."
'Meaning none!' thought Harry before, to his surprise, he thought he felt Jean nudge him in his side, either to chastise him for his thought or to try and encourage him to stay calm.
Either way, he was surprised she had sensed his thought.
Charles, meanwhile, continued speaking to Jean's clearly anti-mutant-minded matriarch and patronising patriarch as he explained in as calm a voice as he could muster, "There are no ways to stop your daughter from being a mutant. Rather, at the very least, there are no successful ways that would result in leaving her unharmed. Therefore, if you are serious about…about handing responsibility over to me and my fellow teachers, the way I see it, you currently have two choices on how to proceed in regards to young Jean's mutation. The first is that you can ignore it and hope for the best, which I really would not advise as that could end up affecting Jean's mental health, and considering that her powers are in fact mind-based that would definitely make things worse."
'For you,' thought Harry and, again, he felt Jean nudge him, which only made him even more curious about how she could sense his thoughts, unless it was because of how he was sat so close to her now.
Charles, meanwhile, remained ignorant to Harry's private thoughts as he told the Greys, "Your second option is to help Jean work with her powers instead of fighting them, which is, in part, what I want to teach your daughter: self-control, how to live a day-to-day life and how to live in this world safely and happily."
Judging by the way their eyes continued flicking between the mutants in the room, Harry put the chances of that happening as long as Jean stayed with these people at being absolute zero.
"Jean dear," said Mrs Grey suddenly, her voice laced with a maternal air that, even without his enhanced hearing, Harry knew was fake, as she spoke to her daughter. "Daddy and I need to talk with the Professor and Mr…Logan in private: would you please go to your room?"
"Perhaps Harry should go with her." Said Logan, earning a firm nod from Harry.
Professor Xavier seemed to agree with this too, "A good idea, Logan: I'm sure he can talk to her and tell her more about the institute while we continue with our discussion."
"Fine." Mr Grey said after a few moments of silence. "Jean, can you take our…guest…and keep him entertained please?"
"Okay Daddy." Jean nodded before she got up.
Before Harry could protest, not that he really wanted to, since it meant he could get away from the poison-minded parents downstairs, she grabbed his hand and pulled dragged him with her up the stairs.
Weirdly, the tingles Harry felt before followed them, as did a very strong sense of calm that made Harry do something he'd never done before.
Pray.
He prayed silently to whoever would listen that Chuck would be able to do the right thing and convince Mr and Mrs Forced-Smile to do the right thing and let Jean come to the school.
Because if she stayed…and they did anything to her…
Harry…he…
He didn't know what he might do to them…but he knew one thing that would happen.
The real Grandson of the Wolverine would come with him to rescue his new friend, Jean Grey…
Chapter 6 and it looks like the rabid Wolverine Jnr has found a form of music to soothe the savage beast, but what is the reason for Harry's overprotective and even dangerous mindset surrounding his new friend?
Also, will Charles be able to convince the ungrateful freaks to send their gifted daughter where she belongs, or will blood and claws need to be shed before they get their heads out of their asses?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Harry and Jean have a more-private moment, during which Harry tries to figure out his new strange feelings, but Jean surprises him with a suggestion, which might just help fill in a gap or two;
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