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:
WhiteElfElder: I certainly enjoyed writing out this meeting and all that follows;
JustBored21: Appreciate your feedback: also, sent you a PM with a small detail regarding this story, which I hope doesn't stop you from enjoying the adventure as a whole;
SelenetheNerd: As funny as that sounds, it's not quite what's happening;
ALSO:
In case you haven't noticed yet, this story is now strictly a Harry/Jean pairing.
I changed it because the overall idea I wanted to work with when I adopted this story works better with just the two of them and, since my friend gave me pseudo-carte blanche to adjust it accordingly, I pray they're not too upset with this.
At the same time, expect a lot more original stuff coming up from here on in, primarily because of this change, but also because we're now getting into the main adventure too.
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 7: Grey and Green
"This is my room."
"Hmm, that's a lot of pink," Harry noted, as he followed Jean into the indicated room, before he felt a discomforted scowl cross his face, seeing as the majority of the room was pink.
WsCs
For some reason, pink made him think of frogs and toads, and that made him feel sick to his stomach…for all of five seconds, before he heard the voice of his new friend distract him from his discomfort.
WsCs
"Yeah…sorry about that, Harry; but Mummy says that girls my age like pink," said Jean, wrinkling her nose at how much pink was in her room, though not before Harry smiled softly, once again finding the crinkling of her nose to be cute, as Jean went on, "I've tried saying I don't, but…she just doesn't listen."
"Well, what colour do you like?" asked Harry, trying to keep the discomfort out of his voice as he took a seat on the end of a small bed, which he guessed belonged to Jean.
"I've always like red!" Jean smiled brightly, earning a faint smile from Harry as she added, "And my second favourite is blue!"
"Don't tell me," laughed Harry suddenly, before he smiled slyly as he asked, "Your third-favourite: white?"
"Hey, I may be American, but I'm not mad," laughed Jean, earning a chuckle from her friend, "And what about you, Harry? Do you have a favourite colour…apart from black…" she quickly added, indicating Harry's clothes and his raven-black hair.
"Oh…well, you see, I don't really have a favourite," said Harry, before he tugged at his collar with a small frown. "But…if I had to pick, then I…well, I suppose I'd say I like blue…and red…and maybe green too."
He tried not to look up at Jean as he said the last part, mostly because of how her green eyes, as well as his sister's, was the reason for his liking of green as a colour. As for the red, it was kind of accidental, because he was thinking more about Jean's red hair when he said that, and the thought of how cute she looked when she crinkled her nose.
But he wasn't crushing on her.
After all, girls were icky – his sister being the exception, since he didn't think of her in that way.
"Hmm," said Jean, turning away from Harry, though her tone suggested she didn't believe him.
Given she was telepathic, he guessed she'd managed to penetrate his mind again and find a way to get inside his head.
'And, to think, I was just starting to like her,' thought Harry, rubbing the back of his neck before he looked up at Jean with a curious air, "You know, not that I'll own up to it if anyone at the school asks me, but…where the Prof's wanting to take you, it's not a bad place. Certainly better than being here with those…uh…I mean, with your parents."
"They…they don't mean to be so cold about my power," argued Jean, turning back to Harry as she explained, "It's just…when it comes out…it's like this great and terrible beast has been awoken and…and with my ability to read minds, I…I know they're scared of it…of me. But…well, if I can be really honest with you, Harry; you're the first person I've been around who makes me feel…safe…"
Harry's head snapped up like a dog pricking up its ears, his eyes wider than wide as he asked, "What…what do you mean safe?"
"I…I don't know…" admitted Jean, moving to sit next to Harry, before she gently took his hand in hers – surprising no-one more than Harry himself as he let her do it, without shying away or feeling uncomfortable about it – while her green eyes met his as she explained, "But…but ever since you came into my house, I…I've felt really good…really warm around you. I…I guess that's why I did what I did when…when you were yelling at my Mum and Dad like that. You…you make me feel safe and warm, so…so I'd like the chance to…to help you do and feel the same…if you'll let me."
"Shouldn't that be if your parents let you?" asked Harry coolly, indicating the door to Jean's room as he explained, "After all, they don't want you to grow stronger, Jean; they'd just as soon as lock up your powers, leave them as a bad memory…hell, your Dad's even considering getting in touch with this anti-mutant faction called the MRD!"
"How do you know that?" asked Jean, a mixture of horror and surprise in her voice.
"I saw it…" said Harry, before his eyes widened as he looked to the door, before he returned his attention to Jean as he added, "In…in…wait; hang on a minute. Since when can I see something like that? That's not my power; my power's in my claws…but…"
"What?"
"I…I can see into your Dad's mind," said Harry, looking once again to the door as he explained, "I…I see these…these soldiers; similar to…to some others I know. He…he's thinking of calling them, getting you…you out of here and…and making sure that…hey: that's really…ow!"
Suddenly, Harry's hand flew to his forehead, earning an alarmed from Jean as she asked, "Harry? Are you alright? What happened?"
"I…I can only guess it was the…the Professor…thanks a lot, Chuck!" said Harry, growling under his breath whilst he rubbed his forehead softly, his eyes screwed up in discomfort as he explained, "I…I think he knew I could…I was able to read your Dad's mind, even though, like I said, I shouldn't be able to do that! He…he used his own psychic powers to throw up a wall, knocking me out of your Dad's head before I could see anything more…even though there's something there that doesn't really make sense to me…"
"Are you okay?" repeated Jean.
"I don't know," admitted Harry, taking a few deep breaths before he looked back to his friend as he explained, "This is just…it's really weird; I know my powers grow as I do, but…but telepathy? I never even knew I had that power…"
As Jean frowned in response, Harry gently patted her hand as he added, "In any case, I think my psychic attack's got Chuck's attention; so, don't worry, Jeanie; you're not going anywhere except the school and, if that xenophobic prat you call Daddy tries anything, I swear, I'll make shish kebab out of him!"
For a brief moment, Jean blushed as Harry unintentionally called her Jeanie, though she was more grateful, if not a little attracted to his protective side, rather than embarrassed; in a bid to distract herself, she rose from the bed before moving over to a bookshelf as she asked, "How about the school, then? What do you like doing: me, I like reading story books."
"I've read a little," admitted Harry, before he scoffed amusingly as he added, "Kind of hard not to with a teacher for our guardian and a big blue furball Brainiac constantly checking up on me."
As Jean laughed in response, she picked up one particular book before she asked, "Well, have you read this one before?"
"No," Harry said as he shook his head.
"Oh, do you want me to read this for you?"
"If you want." Harry shrugged, though he was still somewhat-distracted by this newest revelation about his powers.
Meanwhile, Jean's smile wider and she quickly jumped on her bed and sat against the headboard. "Come on slowpoke."
"I'm not slow," Harry replied as he shuffled along the bed, until he was sat next to her. "You're just hyper."
"Oh yeah? Well, I only look hyper because you're so slow," Jean said as she maturely stuck her tongue out at him before she turned back to her book. "Okay, so once upon a time…"
Like any self-respecting eight-year-old, there was only one thing Harry could think, even if only to himself, as he let himself be taken away by Jean's reading, and the adventures contained within her book's pages.
'Girls are weird…even for a mutant.'
WsCs
About half an hour or so later, Logan walked up the stairs, where he used his enhanced hearing and his nose to sniff out where the two were; once he found Jean's room, Logan gently opened the door and peeked inside, only to see a rather odd, but humorous and – in the granddaddy mutant's mind – even adorable-looking sight.
Jean was standing next to her bed, her hands aimed upwards, while her eyes were narrowed in concentration…and with good reason too.
There, hovering above the bed, was Harry who was upside down and looking very relaxed, his eyes filled with a glimmer of enjoyment and delight that Logan could honestly never remember seeing on his grandson's face, be it at the school or at any point since then.
"Hmm, this is fun…oh, hi Gramps," said Harry, though not before he added the last part when he noticed Logan standing in the doorway.
Startled by the unannounced guest in her room, Jean quickly turned around and lost concentration in the process, causing Harry to drop down onto the bed, before he practically bounced all the way onto his feet, earning a slightly-embarrassed look from his redheaded friend, "Oh, sorry."
"Meh, no harm, no foul," drawled Harry, flashing a content smile in Jean's direction, earning another relieved look from Logan, who'd long-since guessed that this new mutant was going to be a very positive influence of his hard-headed grandson.
Jean, meanwhile, turned back to Logan, before she blushed softly as she admitted, "Um…me and Harry were just testing my powers."
"It's perfectly all right, Red," said Logan in an amused voice, just as Harry hopped off the bed. "In fact, I've never been more-sorry to have to break up a party, but, regrettably, I've come to get my misbehaving grandson."
"Misbehaving? Storm says I'm much better behaved than you, old man!" Harry pointed out.
"Only because she likes you better," Logan easily replied, earning a scoff from Harry.
"One year…grownups are so thick," muttered the young mutant, but he didn't explain his strange choice of words.
"Oh, can't Harry stay for a bit more?" Jean asked in a hopeful voice. "Please, we were having fun."
"Don't worry, you'll be seeing each other again, Miss Grey," Logan said with a small smirk on his face, before he jerked his head back in the direction he'd come from as he added, "Well? Come on Kid."
"What does he mean by that?" Jean frowned as she looked at Harry, who shrugged ruefully.
"I don't know…" Harry shrugged, before he smiled with a hint of hope as he explained, "Maybe he means that your parents will let you come to the school, after all; who knows? Anyway, sorry to be a party-pooper, Jean, but I have to go now, so I'll see you later…" Harry trailed off, not really knowing what else to say.
Fortunately, he was in a friend's presence, though when Jean hugged him, this time with positive intentions, Harry actually started as she whispered in his ear, "See you later, Enigma."
"Enigma?" asked Harry.
"It means mystery," said Jean, indicating Harry as she laughed, "And since you've found yourself able to read minds when you never knew you could, I think it counts."
"Um…right," Harry said as he awkwardly patted her back, before he smiled in as comforting and friendly a manner as he could muster, before he added, "Well, anyway, see you later, Red."
Once Harry got to the bottom of the stairs he saw Professor Xavier wheeling his chair out of the front door while Logan was waiting just outside of the front door, the still-tense, not-all-that-supportive Grey parents standing close to the door, albeit on the inside, as though they couldn't wait to close the door on the mutants.
"By the way," Harry said as he stopped in front of Mr and Mrs Grey, both of whom looked like they wanted nothing better than for him to leave their house, not that Harry wasn't familiar with such bigoted thoughts. "Thought you ought to know: there's a weird smell coming from your bedroom. I don't know what it is but I think you should get it checked out."
Had he looked back, he would have seen the faces of Logan and Jean's parents blanch as realisation hit them, though not before the former looked much more amused than the latter.
Once they were back in the car, Harry looked up to Jean's bedroom window, where he saw his friend waving him off; giving her a thumbs-up and a wave in response, Harry sighed softly before, looking again to the Grey parents with suspicion and ominous dread, he said the first thing that he could think of.
In fact, at that moment, it was all he could think of asking.
"Is Jean going to come and live at the school?"
"Yes," Professor Xavier nodded with a smile on his face, earning a brief, relieved sigh from Harry as the Prof continued, "It took some doing, but, at long last, I have discussed the matter extensively with her parents: after a few days to gather her things, she'll be moving into the mansion. We should have a room prepared by that time."
"Permanently?" asked Harry.
"It was the only way," said Charles.
WsCs
As he said that, Harry actually thought he heard the words for the Greater Good lacing the Professor's response.
And, when he heard it, he got very suspicious, as well as wary.
Still, if there was one saving grace, it was that his friend was going to be okay.
But still…
WsCs
"Hmm, I suppose that's okay: I still don't like her parents, though," Harry commented, looking down at his knuckles, where he rubbed the spots where his claws would emerge from as he muttered, "Whatever you might have promised them, Chuck, I don't think they can get over the fact that Jean is a mutant…I can only imagine what they'd have done to her, had you not convinced them."
"Hmm," Professor Xavier paused, not entirely sure how to respond to that.
Because it was very clear that Mr and Mrs Grey did – just like Harry had pointed out – not like the fact that their one and only daughter was a mutant, but still, he didn't want Harry to think that all people were like that.
And then, there was Harry's strange remark at the end there, "I must confess Harry; you are right. Some people may handle it better, but others may need time to get used to the fact that a relative of theirs is a mutant: it's not always an easy thing to discover."
"Um, hello? You don't have to tell me that, Wheels!" drawled Harry, scoffing in disbelief as he added, "Or have you forgotten where Laura and I were supposedly cared for, before Stryker came and took us to his little mutant slaughterhouse?"
"Yes…well…hopefully, the two will get over it sooner or later," suggested Charles, earning a scoff from Harry.
"And hopefully, African elephants will come flying out of my butt, spewing fireworks from their trunks," drawled Harry, earning a laugh from Logan as he tousled the boy's hair, before Harry added, "And here I was, hoping you'd gotten the hint from my rant, Xavier!"
"Oh, don't worry, Harry…I got your hint," said Charles, before he drew in a slow, shaky breath as he explained, "And I must admit; given how much my friends and I have done for you and your sister, I am rather disappointed that you clearly believe that my goals are not logical."
"Humans and mutants will never coexist, because one can't stand the other, or the other wants to poison and infect the one, or both want to begin World War Three, which, from my studies, I know that Shaw bloke wanted to do…"
"You shouldn't speak of things you can't understand."
"Why? You going to convince the Government to send me into exile too?" asked Harry, earning a violent jerk on the wheel from Logan, while, in the rearview mirror, he saw Charles' eyes widen in rage as Harry pushed on, "What? Isn't that what you did to your friend, the Master of Magnetism, who helped you stop that Third World War? Where is he now? In a land removed from US soil and away from their jurisdiction; a so-called mutant sanctuary of Genosha, where, even now, humans are still trying to cause trouble because those they use as tools and slaves seek new, freer, safer lives in Magneto's care!"
"You…you couldn't possibly understand…"
"Why? Cause I'm just a kid?"
"Yes!"
"Is that why I understand that there's more to my powers than just these?" asked Harry, almost launching his metal claws out of his knuckles as he unsheathed them, holding them up for emphasis as he explained, "I felt you, Xavier: blocking me when I saw what that mutant-hating psychopath was thinking of doing. You do know what the damn Mardies do to our lot, don't you? Who do you think helped fund Stryker's psychoses? Who do you think he got the experiments off of? WHO DO YOU THINK THE DURSLEYS SOLD US TO BEFORE STRYKER GOT HIS CLAWS INTO US?"
Suddenly, Logan found himself unable to stop his hands from giving another jerk as the car started veering off of the road, earning a cry of alarm from Logan, "Whoa! Easy kid; calm down!"
"They abandoned us! As easily as that John assclown would have abandoned Jean!" snapped Harry, earning another cry from Logan as the car veered off again, sending them heading towards a gated field, "And what do you think about it, Chuckles? Oh, no worries; we have to forgive and forget! Tell me, what did you say…or do to…"
"That's enough!" snapped Charles.
As Harry tried to make a counter-argument, he felt a full-frontal psionic assault strike him hard in his mind, sending his vision into a discombobulated haze as he felt his mind and body shutting down.
"You…you son of a…bi…"
Then, Harry was out for the count, earning a shocked look from Logan as he turned to Charles, though not before he managed to pull the car to a safer stop as he asked, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Chuck? You swore you'd never use your gifts on my cubs like that!"
"Not unless I had to," argued Xavier, indicating Harry as he explained, "And, regrettably, Logan, I had to this time; something has changed in young Harry. Something that I strongly suspect has passed to him from Miss Grey, although, right now, it is just a theory…so, for now, we will let our unruly youth sleep off his rages. And then, when he wakes up, we will have a chat about all these unusual developments, preferably before Miss Grey comes to the school."
"Why?" asked Logan, looking again to Charles as he asked, "What did you say to convince her parents to let her come, Charles?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with, my friend," replied Charles, earning a scoff from Logan, before Charles added, "I had hoped that, after a year in care and with friendly aids, Harry would understand what we are trying to achieve, but, clearly, the animal I have often worried about rising up in you is still there in him. So, as I did when I took him into my care…"
"My care, Chuck: he's my family."
"Then, in the name of that family, Logan; trust that I am only trying to help…as I have spent years trying to help you…"
As Logan scowled, he looked to his sleeping cub before he scoffed amusingly;
"You just want me to not tell Sabretooth what you did to his cub, don't you?"
"It would help, yes."
Logan scoffed again, "All right, fine, Charles: but if you ever use your power on my cubs like that again, we are going to have trouble."
Charles was silent, while Logan ignited the engine, allowing them to return to the road.
Chapter 7 and it looks like Charles is turning into the Muggle/Mutant equivalent of a certain someone else who thinks the Greater Good justifies everything, but will Harry toe the line or will the animal be unleashed?
Also, what is the secret of Harry's continuously-growing power and, if he's this strong, how might Charles and co handle him once the hatchling-phoenix comes into his life, full-time?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Jean comes to the school and, not surprisingly, Harry is delighted to see her, but his delight is short-lived as he finds out exactly what Charles planned to do with his gifted new friend: oh dear, Xavier, much like another old fool, will you never learn?
Please Read and Review
AN: Harry's Rage
So, weirdly, when writing out the bit with Harry losing his temper, I thought of Magneto in Days of Future Past and how he threatens to lose his temper on the aeroplane; I also used it to show another strange side to Harry's power.
Is it Accidental Magic?
Another Mutation?
Sheer coincidence?
Who knows?
AN2: World
Also, in case you haven't realised, I'm sort of nitpicking bits and themes from different X-Men Universes and bringing them together.
Example: Harry mentioned Shaw and an almost WWIII – that's First Class
The MRD/Mardies and Magneto's island sanctuary – Wolverine and the X-Men
Charles making a 'deal' with the Greys – X-Men: Dark Phoenix
So, if things seem a bit mixed-up, that's probably why, but, at the same time, I'm trying to make it work in the long run.