FOREWORD: This is the third part of my story Lightning and if you've read parts 1 and 2 you know it's a crossover between the Uncanny X-Men and Harry Potter. As far as my plans go this part is the last one of the trilogy. I don't think it will be as long as Part 2 was but who knows? It's far from finished at this point. This story will also be posted on AO3 so you can read it in both places.

As I wrote during the forewords of parts 1 and 2 this story came about because I had the idea of "what if Harry was a founding member of the X-Men?" and decided to write it. It's not a time travel story. As this is fan-fiction and therefore AU I simply moved the Marvel Universe forward in time from 1963 to 1993. Therefore what is basically the Marvel Silver Age is happening in the 1990s. The Fantastic Four were founded in 1991, with the X-Men and the Avengers both appearing in 1993. The other non-group affiliated heroes such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange, also first appear at their appropriate times in relation to the others. As this is a Marvel Universe story other characters besides the X-Men appear from time to time. This happened in parts 1 and 2 and it will happen again in part 3.

I will repeat that in this story Harry is a member of the original X-Men. His teammates are Scott Summers / Cyclops, Bobby Drake / Iceman, Warren Worthington III / Angel, Hank McCoy / Beast (before he's blue and furry), and Jean Grey / Marvel Girl (long before she becomes Phoenix). In addition Sirius joined the team in Part 2 and uses the code name of Mage making him the one non-mutant on the roster. That is the team. None of the later X-Men will be added to the team in this story – although the future Storm became Harry's girlfriend in Part 2 and in this part we will be meeting new students of the professor who will be around the school but are too young to join the X-Men at this time.

As with part 1 this story uses the first comic series and only the first comic series (even with newer students showing up). Please don't send me corrections based on what the movies or later comics say as they will be ignored. Also, while constructive feedback is nice and will be very much appreciated please don't flame or troll me.

I'm enclosing a recap of the first 2 parts below to remind everyone of where we left off. If you haven't read parts 1 and 2 yet you should go do that first. You'll get much more out of this story if you read the other parts instead of just this recap. One word of warning regarding the posting schedule: Although Part 1 came out of me very quickly and was all posted on schedule and Part 2, while a good deal harder, was also mostly posted on schedule and only had schedule slippage for the last few chapters, Part 3 is proving to be by far the hardest of them all to write. It's been my custom with this trilogy not to start posting each part until I had a goodly number of chapters written so I could post regularly (at least for a while). That's also true with Part 3 in that the first bunch of chapters are ready so I'll be able to post regularly for a time. However this time I'm sure it's not a question of IF schedule slippage occurs but WHEN it will happen. I'll do my best to avoid this but I'm letting you know now that eventually it will almost certainly happen. As readers of some of my other longer stories can attest, I'm not the fastest writer in the world.

Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Now let's get started:

ENTR'ACTE #2: THE STORY SO FAR:

In Lightning, Part 1, at the end of his second year at Hogwarts unknown powers wake up in Harry Potter during his battle against the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets which help him to defeat the creature. A few days later Headmaster Dumbledore introduces Harry to an old friend of his, Professor Charles Xavier, head of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in North Salem, New York in the U.S. Professor Xavier explains to Harry that his new powers are caused by his being a mutant with his powers being both that of telekinesis and control over electricity.

Harry accepts Xavier's invitation to come to his school for the summer to learn how to control his powers. There he meets fellow students Scott Summers who can shoot powerful energy beams from his eyes and Robert "Bobby" Drake who has total control over cold and ice. Three weeks later they are joined by Warren Worthington III who has giant wings growing from his back which enable him to fly.

Two days after Harry's birthday Dr. Strange discovers a piece of Voldemort's soul embedded in Harry's scar and removes it with Dumbledore's help. Afterwards Xavier reveals his plan to Dumbledore to form a team of mutants to defend people against evil mutants. He will call them "X-Men" and he offers to have Harry become one of the team so that he can learn to really fight – and win when Voldemort inevitably returns. Dumbledore agrees with this and reveals a prophecy that predicts that only Harry can defeat Voldemort. Harry accepts the offer to join the X-Men and Dumbledore arranges for him to continue his magical education by transferring to Ilvermorny in Massachusetts as a part time student during the afternoons.

Harry joins the X-Men and is given the code name of Lightning. He soon joins Scott / Cyclops, Bobby / Iceman, and Warren / Angel for regular training in the Danger Room where, among other things, he learns that his telekinesis allows him to fly.

In September Lightning goes on his first mission with the other X-Men where they rescue Henry "Hank" McCoy who had been kidnapped by El Conquistador. Afterwards Hank joins the X-Men as Beast. Finally on Halloween their last member Jean Grey aka Marvel Girl joins them. On that same day they face off against their soon to be arch-enemy Magneto, master of magnetism, when he takes over the military base Cape Citadel. The X-Men beat Magneto and free the base. Their fame begins to spread from this incident and they are soon being talked about alongside teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

Meanwhile in Britain the wizarding world is dealing with the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban prison. Black is thought to have been Voldemort's right hand man and the person who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. Under the presumption that Black will be headed to Hogwarts to try to kill Harry the ministry stations a contingent of dementors around the school to catch him.

Not long after Halloween the Weasley twins spot Peter Pettigrew, who was supposedly killed by Black, on the Marauders' Map of Hogwarts. They take this information to Dumbledore who then catches Pettigrew. In the presence of Minister Fudge and Madame Bones, the Director of the DMLE. Pettigrew confesses that he was the one who betrayed the Potters and framed Black. This leads to Sirius' exoneration and his desire to find Harry who is his Godson. He and his friend Remus Lupin, the current DADA professor at Hogwarts travel to Xavier's school at the beginning of winter break where they meet the X-Men and reunite with Harry. After break ends Remus returns to Hogwarts but Sirius stays on at Xavier's school. Eventually he even starts doing his own training to get stronger so he can help and support Harry and the X-Men in some way. By early April he's worked his way up to training in the Danger Room.

Throughout the 1993-94 school year Harry learns a lot of new things and has many interesting experiences. He discovers rock / pop music (which the Dursleys never allowed in their house and which the British wizarding world knows nothing about), attends his first ever concerts, is able to start flying in public after the X-Men get famous as long as he's in uniform, and at different times meets Tony Stark, Thor, Captain America, and Spider-Man. He also learns for the first time the full extent of his family's wealth, discovering that in addition to being the Potter heir he is also the Peverell, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin heirs which makes him the owner of Hogwarts once he comes of age, and also provisionally the Black heir until / unless Sirius marries and has a child. In addition he begins working on wandless magic which turns out to be less difficult than he had always thought and the use of which helps get him out of at least one tight spot. Finally, late in the year, he finds out that his previous guardians, the Dursleys, had been receiving 1,000 pounds a month for his care from his family estate but which was never used on him. At Sirius' suggestion he decides to hire a lawyer to deal with the matter.

At the end of April Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants invade Hogwarts in an attempt to capture the school. Professor Dumbledore contacts Xavier and sends him a portkey to bring the X-Men to Hogwarts where, aided by Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, auror Mad-Eye Moody, and Sirius, they defend Hogwarts from Magneto and his group eventually driving them away. At the climax of the battle Dumbledore duels Magneto practically to a standstill which reaffirms his reputation in the magical world as the only wizard Voldemort was ever afraid of.

After the battle ends the X-Men stay at Hogwarts for the rest of the afternoon so as to enjoy a Hogwarts feast. During that afternoon Lighting reunites with Ron and Hermione and reveals himself to them. Later that evening he also reveals himself to Hagrid. He also duels Draco Malfoy three times pitting his mutant powers against Malfoy's magic and beats him every time. A grand feast is held in the Hogwarts Great Hall and a number of British VIPs attend, including Minister Fudge, Director Bones, and many of the school governors. At the end of the evening the X-Jet arrives and the X-Men board it and fly home.

At the end of Part 1 Harry is quite happy with his life as it is now. But he doesn't yet know that Peter Pettigrew has escaped from Azkaban...


The story continues in Lightning, Part 2: An Eventful Fourth Year which covers Harry's fourth year of magical schooling and further adventures with the X-Men and is a more complicated story with several subplots in addition to the main plot.

The main plot follows the events surrounding Lord Voldemort's attempt to come back by using the Triwizard Tournament which is being held at Hogwarts for the first time in over 200 years. On Halloween night, Harry's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire even though he doesn't attend one of the three competing schools. Because he didn't put his name in the goblet in the first place the rules don't require him to compete but Professor X convinces him to do so anyway in order to try to draw out Lord Voldemort by causing the Dark Lord to think his plan is working even though Voldemort's agent is caught that same night and Voldemort has to use an alternate method to return to power.

During the tournament Harry faces three tasks. In the first one he has to get a golden egg away from a nesting mother dragon, which he does by talking to it in parseltongue and enabling the dragon to speak to the watching crowd in a language they can understand. In the second task Harry has swim down to the bottom of the Black Lake and rescue a hostage (Ron Weasley) from the mer village down there. In the last task he has to navigate a hedge maze filled with many obstacles that must be bypassed in order to reach the end.

Concurrent with the main story and happening both before and during the tournament Dr. Strange, with help from his mentor the Ancient One, has been hunting Voldemort's horcruxes. Through the use of the Spell of Soul Connection they are able to find all of the horcruxes and Dr. Strange cleans them by using the Eye of Agamotto to destroy the parts of Voldemort's soul in each horcrux. The first horcrux is found in the deserted Black Manor and is the Locket of Salazar Slytherin. There Dr. Strange learns from the house elf Kreacher that his former master Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother, had stolen the locket from Voldemort with Kreacher's help but had died in the process.

The second horcrux is the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw which is found in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. The third one, the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, is found in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts which Dr. Strange manages to access through the use of a portal directly into the vault thereby bypassing Gringotts security.

The fourth time Dr. Strange hunts a horcrux he instead finds Voldemort himself inhabiting the body of the ugliest baby he has ever seen. Strange remains undetected by Voldemort and also learns that Voldemort's newest horcrux is his large snake Nagini which he leaves alone at that time to avoid rousing Voldemort's suspicions.

The last horcrux turns out to be the Gaunt family ring, which contains the second of the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone. To keep it from potentially causing trouble the Ancient One takes it back to his temple in the Himalayas and locks it up with other dangerous artifacts to keep it safe.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in North Salem, New York many things are happening for Harry and his fellow X-Men. On Harry's birthday near the beginning of the story they're all present at the Quidditch World Cup where they later help the aurors stop an attack by Death Eaters after the match is over. Because of his actions during the fight helping the X-Men Sirius is invited to join the team. He accepts and takes the code name of Mage.

Earlier that same day Harry meets a girl his own age named Ororo Munroe who turns out to be the Crown Princess of Magical Kenya and is attending the match with her mother Queen N'Dare. Harry meets Ororo again in early September when she begins attending Ilvermorny for an exchange year from her regular school of Uagadou in Africa. The two get to know each other by hanging out after classes or having lunch once or twice a week. When the Yule Ball happens at Hogwarts on Christmas Day Harry brings Ororo as his date. Later that evening he asks her to be his girlfriend. She says yes and they kiss for the first time.

Meanwhile the X-Men continue having adventures. On Halloween they team up with the Avengers to help Professor X thwart his old foe Lucifer and stop him from unleashing a bomb that could destroy the world (see X-Men #9). A few days after the new year the teammates travel to Antarctica and discover a tropical prehistoric jungle with dinosaurs and ancient mammals (X-Men #10). In March the X-Men face Magneto and his Brotherhood again (X-Men #11) and seemingly defeat them for good with the help of the alien known as the Stranger who takes Magneto with him when he leaves Earth. During that fight Mastermind is turned into stone (or something like it), Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch quit the Brotherhood and go home to Central Europe, and the Toad is revealed to be the long missing wizard Mortimer Toynbee Umbridge whose magic was bound when he was a baby by his older sister Dolores. When Mortimer breaks the bindings and releases his magic Dumbledore comes to the X-Mansion and takes him back to Hogwarts to help him get his magic under control.

Magneto seems to be gone for good, however one of the main laws of comics is that whenever a hero's arch enemy is taken out of the picture permanently another one must show up to take his place. That new enemy is Cain Marko, aka Juggernaut, Professor Xavier's own stepbrother who invades the X-Mansion later on the same day as Magneto's defeat (X-Men #12-13). A bruising battle follows with Juggernaut determined to kill Professor X although ultimately he is stopped by Lightning (if you want to know how you'll have to go back and reread that chapter of Part 2). That battle is a turning point for Harry as the next morning he says that after having faced Juggernaut he finds Voldemort to be a lot less scary than he used to be.

Other major matters deal with Professor Xavier's ability to cure people who have been tortured into insanity by exposure to the Cruciatus Curse when he cures Professor Snape who gets tortured in this way by Voldemort and the Death Eaters after the Dark Lord returns and summons back his inner circle. Professor X also cures Neville Longbottom's parents who had been rendered insane from the same curse for over a decade.

As for Neville he's found to be a mutant when he begins manifesting an ability to alter the physical shapes of objects by will alone. He spends Spring Break at the X-Mansion to begin learning to control his new power. Another person who manifests as a mutant during this period is Ororo who discovers that she has control over the weather and is given the code name "Storm" by Professor X although she doesn't join the X-Men at that point.

The old auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody is a frequent guest at the X-Mansion during the summer of '94 where he studies the training methods the X-Men use with an eye towards adapting them for use at the British Auror Academy. With Xavier's help he creates a magical version of the X-Men's Danger Room at the academy and begins using it to train DMLE aurors more effectively. The training pays off during the climactic battle against Voldemort and his forces (see below).

In the British muggle world Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are served with notices by Harry's solicitor and bank telling them that they must repay the money that they received from the Potter estate which was supposed to be used for Harry's care when he was growing up with them but which they kept for themselves. They ignore the first notices but it all comes back to haunt them when Vernon loses his job at Grunnings (a company Harry owns 64% of) and they can't make any of the repayments. Their bank accounts are seized and the house is taken from them to be put up for auction forcing them to leave Privet Drive.

Everything leads up to the big fight in June. Voldemort's plan is to attack Hogwarts two weeks before the third task of the tournament. Once he has the school he can wait for Harry to either come to the school for the task where he can be killed or not come for the task and lose his magic. This makes it a win-win situation for the Dark Lord. To maximize his chances of successfully taking the school he plans to attack it early on the morning of Saturday, June 10th when almost everyone, even the staff, will be sleeping late and won't be able to oppose him until it's too late for him and his Death Eaters to be stopped.

Unfortunately for Voldemort his plan is leaked to Professor X by Draco Malfoy who has decided that he doesn't want to be a Death Eater after learning just what being one would entail. After receiving Malfoy's letter Xavier warns Dumbledore who warns DMLE Director Amelia Bones allowing them to make plans to thwart the attack.

The day of the attack sees the X-Men at Hogwarts along Dr. Strange and the Ancient One and even the Avengers come along to help out. Voldemort attacks with his Death Eaters, some giants, a crowd of Dementors, and a pack of werewolves. Dr. Strange and the Ancient One deal with the werewolves, the Avengers beat the giants, and the X-Men fight off the dementors. In addition Neville Longbottom kills Bellatrix Lestrange through an uncontrolled blast of his mutant power while she was trying to torture him. Meanwhile the aurors fight the Death Eaters and Moody's training of the aurors pays off.

When Voldemort finally shows up to the battle Angel and Lightning hijack him from the air and fly him over to the rest of the X-Men who face off against him with Lightning ultimately taking him out by electrocuting him although he doesn't kill him. At Dr. Strange's request Thor kills Nagini, ending the horcrux in her while Lightning uses Thor's hammer to destroy the last horcrux of all – the piece that was in his scar which Dr. Strange removed two years earlier and placed in a silver box to use to trace the other horcruxes. A defeated and now mortal Voldemort is taken into custody by the DMLE along with the surviving Death Eaters.

A week later the Wizengamot awards each of the X-Men an Order of Merlin First Class. Mortimer Umbridge seizes his inheritance back from his sister Dolores, and the trial of Voldemort begins along with those of his Death Eaters.

At the end of Part 2 Harry wins the tournament. Ororo leaves to go back to Kenya but she and Harry remain a couple with Harry giving Ororo a communication mirror so they can talk to each other. They also plan for Harry to visit Kenya some time during the summer.

All seems to be well again but unknown to Harry and his friends scientist and squib Bolivar Trask is nearing the completion of his project to protect humanity from mutants and magicals. He calls his project the "Sentinels." However while Harry and his friends may have no inkling of what's coming someone else does. Out in the Pacific Ocean one of the ancient secret guardians of Earth has been awakened by a sense of impending wrongness from which he will need to protect the world. That guardian, a giant mutant that Professor Xavier had been detecting on off during that year, is the kaiju Godzilla and he's now on the job.

Now that everyone's up to date again please hit the "Next" button and start reading Part 3.