Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, or worlds within this work, outside of a few OC's. Any recognizable characters are not mine; I'm just playing with them. Harry Potter and its associated works belongs to J.K. Rowling. X-men and Marvel belongs to... er... Disney, I suppose? I am not making any money off of this fan work, nor do I wish to.

Author's Note: If you read the previous chapter within the first three hours or so of its being posted, you should be aware that I added one more section to the chapter, so if you're among those first dozen or so people who read Chapter 6 shortly after I posted it, then I recommend you reread that first before you read this one... though I will also mention that knowledge of that extra scene shouldn't be required in order to understand this chapter, so it's okay if you don't reread it.

Chapter 7

Mutants?

Neville glared down at the grass in frustration. What's the use of being able to grow and sort-of control plants if they don't even listen to you? he thought.

At least Hermione was trying to help. Ron was just laughing. And Harry...

Harry seems distracted. He's been that way ever since that stuff shot out of Draco's arm.

And what a surprise that had been-the intensity of Neville's shock was the reason he was currently in this mess, after all. He'd startled, fallen backwards, and the grass had sprung up around him like an Incarcerous spell.

Most of the time Neville thought his ability was cool. Other times, it was just annoying.

Draco has a strange ability, too, he realized. I wonder if they're somehow related?

That was definitely something he would need to find out. After he got out of this stupid grass, of course. At least Hermione would probably be able to make some headway with cutting it soon- it wasn't growing as fast anymore. He could feel it slowing down, the feeling he'd come to associate with being out-of-control gradually beginning to settle back into his normal state. He relaxed a bit in relief.

Meanwhile, Hermione was getting fed up with being the only one doing anything about this situation. "RON! Stop laughing and get over here, or I won't help you with your homework for a week! Harry!"

Harry jolted out of his reverie and seemed to notice Neville's predicament for the first time. He came over, snagging Ron by the wrist as he passed.

"Are you alright, Neville?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit, er. Stuck."

"Well don't worry, we'll have you out soon."

Neville nodded. Now that the growth rate of the grass had slowed down, he knew they would.

A couple minutes later, Hermione and co. clipped the last bit of grass that was keeping him tied to the ground.

Neville breathed a sigh of relief. He was free! Finally. He turned to thank his saviors, but paused as he noticed the look on Hermione's face.

She had a weird, scrunched-up expression. Neville supposed this meant she was thinking really hard about something. After a moment or two, she spoke, lowering her voice and turning away from Harry and Ron a bit so only the two of them could hear.

"Neville?"

"Yeah?"

"The grass didn't do that on its own, did it."

He froze. "Uh- well, I- that is..." he grimaced. "No, it didn't."

"Did you make it grow that way?"

"Eh... Not on purpose."

Hermione considered him, her sharp eyes seeming to pierce right through his soul. Then she nodded to herself, muttered a phrase that sounded suspiciously like, "I need to go to the library," and took off.

Ron gave a start. "Oi, Hermione! Wait! What's that you said about homework?" He ran after her.

Neville and Harry watched them go. They looked to each other.

"Should we follow them?" asked Neville.

"I guess. I don't know if we should leave Buckbeak alone, though."

"I think he'll be okay. I mean, it's not like the teachers'll let him stay like that."

Harry frowned. "It still seems a bit cruel to just leave him here."

"Maybe, but... We still have afternoon classes, and just because Care of Magical Creatures got out early doesn't mean we can skip out on Transfiguration."

Harry's eyes widened. "You're right! What time is it?"

Neville cast Tempus. "Almost two-thirty. Transfiguration starts at three."

Harry grimaced. "We really can't stay, then."

Neville shook his head.

Harry sighed. "Fine. But we're coming back later to see that he got out okay."

"It's a deal."

Various teachers worked throughout most of the afternoon to break poor Buckbeak out of the solidified liquid-diamond block. It took some doing, as this particular substance was apparently resistant to vanishing spells and cleaning charms had the result of simply cleaning all the dirt off of the stuff, rather than clearing the block itself. They were trying to avoid cutting spells because of the risk of hitting Buckbeak.

Everyone involved was incredibly relieved when, finally, someone had the thought to use some sort of physical force on the stuff. it still took the better part of an hour, even with a large hammer, but they finally managed to get the creature free and back with his fellow Hippogriffs, much to Hagrid's (and Harry's) relief.

It was now nearing six o'clock. Classes were over for the day, Buckbeak was free, and Draco was miraculously uninjured from the accident.

Considering the oddity of the situation, the faculty had agreed it would be best to meet in order to talk about Draco's Hippogriff incident, since not everyone had heard the whole story, and they needed to discuss the possible ramifications of what had happened. Professor Snape in particular was quite insistent about this meeting's importance.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout showed up a bit early, and stood chatting in the corner, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

McGonagall asked, "Have you ever heard of something like this before?"

"Well, I had a distant cousin once who was able to transfigure small objects without a wand..."

"...how is that related to making a great lump of some unidentifiable substance pop right out of the ground?"

"Well, they're both odd things that a person could do..."

"Wandless magic might be extremely difficult but it's not as though it's unheard of-"

"True, but see that's where it got a bit strange."

"How's that?"

"This cousin was a Squib."

"..."

"..."

"Right. Yes, I can see how it could be considered odd that your cousin could perform wandless Transfiguration, but couldn't do anything else, magically speaking."

At that point, the rest of the faculty began making their way into the room. Last to step through the doorway were Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

Once they were all seated, Dumbledore called everyone to order, eyes twinkling brightly. "It's time we started this meeting. Dinner begins in an hour, and the students shall be expecting us in the Great Hall. Hagrid, you were the teacher on-site. Let us hear your account of what happened."

And so Hagrid explained how he had begun his first lesson, getting off track a bit when they got to Harry's interaction with Buckbeak. "Ya shoulda seen 'im, really! A real natural 'e was! Bowin' an' waitin' jest as polite as y'please! I weren't surprised at all when Buckbeak took a likin'."

Snape huffed. "Yes, yes, we are all aware of how proud you are of Potter, now will you get on with it?"

Hagrid looked a bit abashed at that. "Righ'. Yer righ'. I'll continue." *ahem* "As I was sayin'-" he retold the tale of how the students had begun to try interacting with the Hippogriffs, and everything had been going well until Draco Malfoy had decided to insult Buckbeak.

"An ol' Buckbeak jest took a swipe at 'im! 'Course anybody woulda done the same if they'd been insulted right t' their face like that. I was sure Mister Malfoy was done for. But then, well... Mister Malfoy put his arm up- like tha'- an' that shimmery silver stuff shot right outta his arm, an' splat! There Buckbeak was, stopped in his tracks! 'Course I took Mister Malfoy to th' hospital wing anyway- didn' want to miss it if he'd been hurt or anythin'. Turned out, Mister Malfoy was just fine, an' there was nothin' to be worried about. But that stuff 'ad poor Buckbeak stuck all day."

There was a general murmur of bewilderment from those teachers who'd been uninvolved up to this point. A strange, unknown substance appearing out of thin air?

"Indeed," stated Dumbledore. "Thankfully, we managed to free the Hippogriff, though I'm afraid he still has a few souvenirs of his imprisonment stuck to his feathers. Now, Madame Pomfrey checked Mr. Malfoy over, and was unable to find anything unusual with her scans."

"How was the Hippogriff freed?" asked Madame Hooch. "I heard that everyone was having a lot of trouble getting it loose."

Professor Flitwick piped up. "Ah, now that was a real challenge. Quite interesting, really. Whatever our Mr. Malfoy conjured up, it refused to react to the usual charms. It seems that once this substance solidifies, it registers with most spells as if it were a part of the surrounding environment, rather than a foreign object. Trying to vanish it was like trying to vanish a patch of ground, or some such. We eventually had to resort to whacking it very carefully with a hammer it and vanishing it piece by piece as it broke apart."

"A hammer?!" cried Professor Sprout. "Good heavens!"

"Yes, a hammer," replied Flitwick. "It was a very strange afternoon."

"Well," said McGonagall, "Now that we have all been apprised of the facts of the situation, I for one would like to know what exactly the boy did. Something spouting from a person's arm like that- it's not normal. Or natural."

"You are correct, Minerva," answered Snape. "It is not normal. However, I happen to believe that it is natural."

Everyone turned to stare at Snape, including the Headmaster. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Natural, you say?"

"Yes. Natural for Draco Malfoy, at least. I spoke with him after he was released from the hospital wing. With his permission, I had him run an experiment or two, and I do believe I may know what we are dealing with."

Hagrid blinked. McGonagall straightened expectantly. Flitwick cocked his head quizzically. "You've encountered this before?"

"Well, I haven't ever met anyone with this specific ability, but I have heard of a phenomenon for which this occurrence appears to meet the criteria. It is a condition that's been known within the Muggle world for decades- although cases of it aren't exactly common, only one in twenty-thousand or so- in which a person carries a particular gene that alters their body and gives them abilities which are not found within the human norm. There have been cases in which someone had a natural ability to read minds, or to shift and warp metal with a thought. I have even read accounts of people who have grown extra appendages such as wings or a tail. In the muggle world, people who share in this anomaly are known as mutants."

Charity Burbage frowned. "Mutants? I have heard mentions of mutants once or twice, though I never really paid much attention to what they were about. Perhaps I was in error... But I thought the magical world didn't have any mutants. It is believed to be purely a Muggle phenomenon."

Snape shook his head. "I once knew a witch who was able to- without using magic- condense the air within her lungs, so that if she wished, she could take much larger breaths than usual, and hold her breath for up to twenty minutes at a time. Hardly a normal ability for a witch to have. She herself recognized that her ability was different, and found out about mutants while looking for answers."

Flitwick nodded slowly. "Alright. Mutants. Odd powers. That all makes sense. However, if our young Draco Malfoy is one of these mutants... Why hasn't this ability shown itself before now? The boy obviously hasn't merely been hiding it- he's as surprised as we are about the whole thing."

Snape shifted in his seat. "It's most likely connected to puberty. I'm not an expert on mutants myself, despite knowing about their existence... but everything I've ever heard connects the initial appearance of a mutant's abilities to either puberty or stress."

"Ah. And since Mr. Malfoy just recently reached thirteen-"

"Indeed."

Suddenly, Pomona Sprout piped up from her place beside McGonagall. "You don't suppose-"

Everyone turned to her. She cleared her throat and started over. "You don't suppose there's more of them? In Hogwarts, I mean."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in her direction. "What an excellent question, Pomona. Did you have anyone in particular in mind?"

She blinked. "Eh, well... No one in particular. It could be any of my students, really..."

"What could be any of your students?"

"Well, it's to do with my plants, you see. Some of them are growing rather too fast, as if they've been sped up by magic. But every good Herbologist knows that you can't speed up plants without some sort of consequences. Either the plants rot a lot faster, or they are no good for anything, or they just don't grow right... Something always goes funny. And yet, there are plants in my greenhouse that have grown much too far ahead of the others to be natural, and they're the biggest, healthiest plants in the entire place! And that's not all." She leaned forward in her seat, as if to convey the seriousness of what she was about to say.

"Lately, there's been a bit of an upset in the Hufflepuff dorms. It started last year, and I just had someone come complaining to me today. The fourth year students last year- they'd be fifth year students now- kept saying that a lot of their things were getting shifted around, like someone's played a prank on them. Yet, there's no sign of any particular culprit. None of the students getting pranked have anybody they can think of who's holding a grudge against them, and it's always been localized to just that year."

Dumbledore grinned brightly. "I see! So you believe that your plants and your House's running streak of pranks may be caused by another mutant or two! Interesting, very interesting indeed." He turned to Snape. "How often did you say these mutants show up? One in every... twenty-thousand, was it?"

"That's the statistic I recall from when I last looked into the subject. However, given that the wizarding world doesn't know much about mutants, the numbers could be different here."

"I see, I see... Well, in that case, I believe I have an idea of where we should go from here."

The teachers gave him their full attention. Dumbledore continued.

"If some of our students besides Mr. Malfoy have also gained some of these mutant abilities, then it's likely they are already aware of them, considering what you've said. Most of them are probably like Mr. Malfoy- confused about what's happening to them. I believe it would be best to inform the students of the existence of mutants. After all, if I suddenly started developing strange new powers without any warning, I would wish for somebody to explain what was happening to me. Yes, indeed... I believe the Heads of Houses should each call a House meeting in the morning to discuss it with everyone."

Snape hesitated a moment. This suggestion was rather out of character for him, but it may be a necessary one if they were going to be giving this information to the student body at large. "Headmaster. If I may- there is a heavy prejudice against mutants in many places in the muggle world. Mutants are not hated by everyone, but there is a general tendency to be wary of them. It is possible that this sense of wariness may extend to many within this school who have muggle families or family members."

Snape saw that he had their attention. Good. He continued on.

"At present, we don't know which way the wind will blow in the wizarding world. I would advise utilizing caution before making any requirements we make of students who happen to present themselves as mutants at this point in time. It may be unwise for us to require mutants to inform their peers of their status. Yet, we must also make provision to assist those students who are in need of guidance regarding their mutations. Some mutant abilities can be extremely destructive."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you're quite right, Severus... What would everyone suggest, then? I should think the teachers at least ought to be informed."

Everyone mulled this over. After a moment, Flitwick spoke up.

"Perhaps we could offer the students the opportunity to come forward to their respective Head of House, with the understanding that all four of the Heads and the Headmaster will also be informed of the situation."

"I could agree to that. It's not my business to know who's a mutant and who isn't- I'm just a flight instructor- but the Heads of House should be aware in case a problem arises." said Madame Hooch.

This idea was met with a unanimous nodding of heads. A consensus having been reached, the meeting was concluded, with the agreed-upon plan that the four Heads of House would each call a House Meeting in the morning before breakfast.

Hermione and Harry were both pretty quiet at the dinner table that night.

Of course, Ron could talk enough for the both of them.

"Maybe he learned some spell over the summer. His family's rich. He's probably got private tutors or something."

"Maybe," Harry grunted.

"Or maybe he's got some sort of creature inheritance? Some of those make you turn silver, right?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. I've been reading about different types of inheritance magics all afternoon and none of them match what Malfoy did."

"Oh. Wait, that's what you were in the library all day for? Geez, Hermione, it's not even past the first day yet and you're already looking into stuff outside of schoolwork!"

"Well at least I'm actually doing research instead of just saying whatever possibility comes into my head!"

Harry cringed. He really didn't want his friends fighting about this of all things.

Thankfully, Ron had nothing to say to Hermione's rejoinder, and they settled back into a discomfiting silence.

A couple minutes later, Ron glanced back at her. "So do you have any ideas about what happened with Malfoy?"

"A few."

"You plan on sharin' any of them?"

Hermione paused, considering. "I'm not sure I should... If I do, you can't talk about it with anyone else, okay? It's... a bit of a touchy subject, with some Muggles. Lots of... politics."

Ron looked confused. "Muggles? What could Muggles possibly have to do with Malfoy?"

"Well it's not so much to do with the Muggles themselves, it's simply that Muggles know more about it..."

"Again, I ask, what would Muggles know about Malfoy?"

Harry realized this was his chance. He could broach the topic with his friends without drawing attention directly to himself. "You're talking about- er..." he cleared his throat, glanced around, then said quietly, "Muggle genetics?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him in surprise, then her face lit up in realization. "Of course, that's right! You would've gone to primary school like I did. Yes, um. Muggle genetics. That's a good way to put it."

Ron stared at them, confused "Muggle je-what?"

"Genetics" Harry and Hermione said simultaneously.

Harry added, "It's how things run in family lines, where you get some things from your mom, and some things from you dad. Like how all the Weasleys have red hair, or how Professor Flitwick is so short because he's got goblin's blood."

"Ah," said Ron. "Makes sense, I guess. So what's Muggle Jenny-ticks got to do with Malfoy?"

Hermione bit her lip, took a deep breath, and motioned for Ron and Harry to lean in close. "So, Ron. Harry knows about this sort of thing already, but I haven't ever heard it mentioned in the wizarding world. But I just want to make sure... Tell me, have you ever heard of mutants?"

Ron blinked. "Er. No, can't say I have. Why? Is it something bad?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "Well, that depends on your point of view. I personally don't think mutants are bad, but some people in the Muggle world... Anyway, mutants are a slightly different type of human, who have something called the X-gene. Now, what the X-gene does, is it changes a person's genetic code-"

Harry cut in before she could go on a long-winded explanation that Ron would never be able to follow. "It gives them superpowers once they're teenagers."

Hermione looked irritated. She turned and whispered in Harry's ear, "It doesn't always give them much in the way of powers, Harry. In fact most mutant abilities are relatively low on the-"

"He just needs to have the general idea, right? He's wizardborn, the Muggle concept would take way too long to explain. Saying 'it gives them superpowers' is a nice, short description that covers most of it."

She huffed. "Fine. I still think he should know the basics of how it works...But I guess you're right. He'd need to have an initial understanding of DNA before I could even begin to explain it properly."

She turned back to Ron. "The X-gene gives mutants various superpowers. Each mutant has different things they can do; they don't all have the same powers. And a lot of muggles are afraid of mutants, because of their strange abilities."

Ron nodded. "Right. It's like how we have the Statute of Secrecy, because muggles would be afraid of wizards if they knew about us."

"Yes. It's a lot like that."

Ron furrowed his brow. "Okay, I think I get it. So, we were talking about Malfoy. Are you saying you think he might be one of these mutant people?"

Hermione nodded.

Ron glanced over at Malfoy, who sat looking pensive at the Slytherin table and avoiding all overtures at conversation.

"You really think it's possible to be both a wizard and a... er, a mutant?" asked Ron. "I mean, if you've already got magic, what would you need this X-genie for?"

"X-gene, Ron," said Harry, "And... yes. It's possible to be both. I-"

Suddenly, Hermione nudged him, and pointed to the High Table. "Shh. Dumbledore has something to say."

Indeed, Dumbledore was standing at his place at the High Table, waiting for the room to settle down so he could speak. "Good evening, students. I hope you are enjoying this lovely dinner which has been prepared for us. I will let you all return to your meal in a moment, but before I do, I wish to let you know that each Head of House will be calling a House Meeting tomorrow morning before breakfast. It is their wish as well as mine, that all of you ensure that you are well-rested and ready to listen to what they have to say. Curfew will be an hour earlier tonight, and you are all expected to be waiting in your Common Rooms for your Head of House to arrive by six-thirty at the latest. Have a pleasant evening." And with that, he reclaimed his seat.

"Good grief!" muttered Ron. "Six-thirty!"

Hermione humphed. "Perhaps if you get to bed at an appropriate time tonight, you won't have as much trouble getting up tomorrow."

"Aw, Hermione, that's not how it works- I'm not used to going to bed that early, I'll never get to sleep on time!"

Harry snickered at his friends' bickering. Then he sobered at the thought of what Dumbledore's announcement must mean.

What are they calling four House Meetings for? Is it to do with Malfoy? They must have found out he's a mutant.

Hermione's alright with mutants, and it seems Ron doesn't really know enough to care...

I wonder how everyone else will react.

Harry swallowed nervously. He was not looking forward to this meeting.

Author's Note:

Madame Hooch is cool. I wish she showed up more often in fanfic.

I'm not sure whether or not Snape is the sort of person who would actually bother to warn the Headmaster about potential prejudice, but as I wanted the teachers to be aware of the possibility, and as Snape is the only staff member who at least has some semblance of an idea of what's going on... well, I was kind of out of options one way or the other, there. :P

By the way, I usually write these chapters, post them after reading through them once, and then I'll go back and read through them again later. I almost always wind up changing little things, like choosing a different word within a sentence, or fixing a grammar error I didn't notice earlier on. So if you're ever reading this and some of the sentences seem a touch different, that's why.

Most of these differences are so minuscule that the chapter is basically the same, though. So don't worry about going back and rereading the entire fic unless I actually make a change big enough to warrant it! LOL