"Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!" shrieked Voldemort.
Harry's hand had closed on Cedric's wrist; one tombstone stood between him and Voldemort, but Cedric was too heavy to carry, and the cup was out of reach —
Voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. Harry saw his mouth curl into a smile, saw him raise his wand.
"Accio!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup.
It flew into the air and soared toward him. Harry caught it by the handle —
He heard Voldemort's scream of fury at the same moment that he felt the jerk behind his navel that meant the Portkey had worked — it was speeding him away in a whirl of wind and color, and Cedric along with him… They were going back. [Excerpt from The Goblet of Fire by JKR]
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It's a beautiful day as Mindee Cuckoo is sat on a bench overlooking the reservoir near the Salem Center. Not that she cares as tears stream down her cheeks as the she grieves the death of her boyfriend, Germaine, in yesterday's riots. Coupled with the deaths of Sophie and Esme only a matter of months earlier, it is unsurprising that it is only the presence of her sister clones, Phoebe and Celeste, and their deep gestalt that is giving her the strength to cope as well as she is.
Out of thin air a boy maybe a year or two younger than their year mates appears along with a corpse and a shining cup. As the boy staggers towards them, Mindee lashes out with the gestalt expecting to find an enemy. Instead she finds a mind almost shredded by pain, battered by terror and fear, and torn apart by the sharp grief of loss. As her sisters did for her, so she does for this mind, and pulls it close to share her own grief and show it that it's not alone.
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Harry manages to stagger a few steps away from the Triwizard cup before he's hit by a blinding pain in his head that immediately turns to comfort and soothing. As it reaches out with its own grief, he reaches back with what's left of his reserves and collapses as two pairs of arms catch him.
As they support him, the third mind offers unconditional acceptance and belonging as long as he reciprocates. At the same time it's yearning for something that has been ripped from all three of them. Magically, physically, and mentally exhausted, the tattered barriers that protect Harry's Id, Ego, and Superego that would stand strong in the face of any torture instead collapse in the face of something he has desired for so many years.
As he tries to reach back, the last dregs of his magic is guided by the gestalt to fulfil his desires and fill the hole that was left when five became four, and four became three. While the initial changes have to be mental in order to fit with the others, the gestalt only works because they only differ by their experiences.
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As a fourth mind joins their gestalt, as if it had always been there and they were only waiting to meet them, Celeste scowls at Mindee, "Mindee, what did you do that for?"
"You felt him, her, and it's not like we didn't invite Emma either."
Phoebe rolls her eyes as the boy collapses and his eyes roll back in his head, "It's not like anyone else would give themselves up like that either. Probably won't last either."
Mindee looks towards the X-Corp building that's their temporary home. "We should take him to the infirmary."
Celeste nods, "Emma's contacting the police to check on the body."
As the four of them are rounding a corner, there's a series of three pops surrounding the cup and body.
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Harry briefly wakes up as one of four spikes with grief, she reaches out into the gestalt to offer what comfort she can as Germaine's eulogy is read at the memorial service.
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Emma looks down at the boy that is rapidly starting to look like a clone of hers, "Hank, what's going on?"
Beast grabs the boy's notes from the back of the bed, "Your guess is as good as mine. According to our initial tests, he's not a mutant, yet as you can see. Elixir healed all of the damage he could. We've got scans and blood work that show childhood malnutrition and long term elevated stress levels. Elixir said that there was significant nerve damage, but that wouldn't show up on any of the scans we can do here."
"Could he be a ?"
Beast shrugs, "Anything's possible, but I don't think so. The Cuckoo's have said he's regained consciousness a few times over the last two weeks. Not that the equipment we've got here has shown anything. There're some anomalous compounds in his blood, but nothing that we've been able to identify. Even so, his testes have withdrawn and an ultrasound shows the development of a uterus."
"Celeste said that he joined their gestalt."
"Is that even possible?"
Emma looks away briefly with a frown, "In theory, no. You would need to have no sense of self-worth or identity, which should be impossible. Even if you did join, your ego and id would reassert itself in short order. In theory, even just having a debilitating injury like a missing arm or leg could cause them to leave the gestalt. There's just so few examples of a gestalt as long lasting as theirs."
"But each of them have their own personalities."
Emma nods, "I was talking about being able to permanently join the gestalt. Psychics are able to create temporary gestalts, but nobody can subsume themselves enough to make it permanent."
Harry smiles as she reaches out to the gestalt. The smile turns into a frown as a feeling like there's something important she should be remembering intrudes before she falls back into unconsciousness.
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Mindee looks up at Celeste as Harry's Ego reforms. "He was tortured."
"Cupboard?"
Phoebe shakes her head, "Graveyard."
Mindee raises her eyebrows, "I was thinking solitary confinement."
Celeste nods, "All of those. But we are four in one, she isn't alone anymore."
"They will find her."
Phoebe shakes her head, "They will find us."
"We will speak to Emma. What of secrecy?"
"He's back, it doesn't matter."
"Hermione?"
Celeste nods, "Dentists."
Phoebe smiles, "Harry agrees, I've told Emma. She needs clothes."
Mindee nods, "She can use mine until we go shopping."
All three of them say, "We agree, four cannot become three and one."
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As Harry's eyes snap open Mindee walks through the door to her room. Despite knowing that all four of them already know, Harry smiles at Mindee and says, "Thank you. Sorry it took me so long to come back."
Mindee smiles back, "And thank you for helping to fill their void. You're one of us now."
Harry starts dressing as she asks, "Did they find Hermione?"
"They're coming to visit next week."
"I'm never going back."
"I know. We won't let you."
"I'm glad you know what happened."
"Same."
" will never hurt us again. I'll turn him into a teapot before that happens."
Mindee steps to one side as Beast, no Hank McCoy, walks into the room. "Finally awake?"
Harry nods, "I am."
"How are you feeling?"
Mindee says, "She is still dealing with Cedric's death. We are helping."
Harry adds, "Basilisk Venom and Phoenix tears. Not that sort of phoenix."
Mindee nods thoughtfully, "Celeste thinks Fawkes might be a fragment."
Hank rubs the bridge of his nose, "Please remember that I'm not psychic or part of your gestalt."
Harry rubs her scar, "Sorry."
Harry opens her mouth, and closes it so that Hank can ask his question, "Where did you get the scar?"
"A… terrorist killed my parents and tried to kill me as a baby. He failed, and we think he left a connection to me in the scar."
"We?"
Mindee nods, "Yes, it hurts whenever the terrorist is around. Harry doesn't like talking about it."
Hank opens, and then closes his mouth, "Right. Who should I talk to about his malnutrition."
"The Dursley's in England."
"Of course, why didn't I think of that."
Harry giggles, "We're dealing with it. It's harder because it's different to our other upbringing."
Mindee adds, "It's also easier because he's no longer Harry. She's Harry."
Hank nods, "Well, I need to take your feeding tube out. Then we need to find out how complete your change is."
Harry smiles as she turns into diamond for a few seconds, then turns back, "Absolutely. It's a shame the change can't go the other way too."
Mindee nods, "Phoebe would love to go flying with you."
Hank sighs as he leans over and starts to pull the plastic tube out of Harry's nose, "I still need to run the scans. We've never seen a mutant like you."
Harry and Mindee both giggle, "I'm/she's not a mutant."
"Just… turn up for your appointment. Your stuff is in the cupboard."
Harry shakes her head, "Burn it, we didn't pick up my most important possession as we didn't know it was important then."
Mindee nods, "Celeste's got Summers to agree to take us shopping."
Harry adds, "If we do it enough, he'll teach us to drive."
Hank sighs and grabs a tablet, "Fine, before you go I need some details. What's your name?"
"Harry Cuckoo."
"It is? No, I mean what was your old name."
"Harry Potter."
"How old are you?"
Harry smiles mischievously, "I'm the same age as my sisters."
"Fine, how old were you before you met the other Cuckoo's?"
"14."
"What… What was your address?"
"4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, East Sussex, UK."
"Where did you go to school?"
"I'm not allowed to tell you."
Hank's mouth hangs open for a second while he thinks about that. Then he asks, "Why not?"
Mindee says, "The school is in a community that's a bit like the Amish, except secret."
"Fine. What doctor did you go to?"
"He didn't, he didn't have any inoculations either."
"Of course not, why would it be easy."
"Assume that Harry's guardians did the bare minimum they could get away with. That's a good starting point."
Hank growls, "Fine, elementary education."
"Rainbow primary school in Little Whinging."
Mindee adds, "Emma already knows all this. We told her when Harry came back yesterday."
Hank growls and tosses the tablet back on the desk, "Fine, go and do your shopping. Be back here for your first inoculations just before dinner."
Harry nods "Thank you."
As Harry and Mindee walk out with the same gait and body language, Hank rubs his temples.
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Over the next week, Harry gets to experience education and training with the Xavier Institute in person rather than just through her sisters' memories. Here she's just the Cuckoo with a scar, not the boy who lived, or the boy who cheated, or the heir of Slytherin.
However, as with all good things in her life, the day arrives when it might just get torn away. The gestalt agrees that won't be happening, no matter what. And so it is that the four of them are walking out the front door as Hermione and her family arrive in a rented car.
.
Behind them, Emma Frost and Scott Summers both walk out and stop on the veranda. When the car finally stops, Hermione gets out of the rear seat and pensively starts to look around while her parents walk up to the steps.
Together with her sisters, Harry curtsies and says, "Welcome to the Xavier Institute, thank you for coming to see Harry."
As Hermione pensively asks, "Where's Harry?" four invisible people appear on the other side of the car.
As the Cuckoos look straight at them, Emma telepathically lets Scott know they're there as he coughs, "I'm afraid that introductions will have to wait until we have dealt with our uninvited guests."
Hermione's head turns on a swivel as her parents look around with a mildly confused expression. Harry just raises her hand and points at the mind that's second from the left while her sisters point at the other invisible minds. All of them are ready to disable their target at the slightest hint they're about to cast a spell. As her target quietly moves backwards and to the side, Harry keeps her finger pointing at them.
Emma coughs politely, "As you can see gentlemen, we know exactly where you are. If you would be so kind as to drop your invisibility, I'm sure we can all talk like civilised people."
Harry almost smiles as she spots Hermione chewing at her bottom lip in that way she does when she's working on a problem in her head. Celeste gently reminds her through the gestalt that their first priority is the safety of the school and the younger children inside.
As she refocuses her gaze at the point her finger is pointing at, the man on the right removes an invisibility cloak. "Good afternoon, I am officer Hughey. We are here to take Mr Potter into custody on suspicion of the murder of Cedric Diggory and fleeing the United Kingdom."
Emma puts on her business smile, "I see. And do you have a warrant for this? As we rescued Mr Potter after he appeared near some of our students while they were enjoying the good weather. According to our on staff doctor, he was lucky to still be standing as he was showing signs of torture and exhaustion. We have also been in contact with the British Embassy about getting the proper documentation."
Hughey frowns minutely as he glances at one of the invisible people, "Are you sure?"
Emma nods, "Very, I can have our doctor print out a copy of the medical report, if you return with a warrant."
As Celeste detects one of the invisible people about to cast a spell, she pulls the invisibility cloak off them at Emma's prompting, "If you think about casting that, I will disable you."
Hughey gives the cloak on the floor a long look before he says, "I see. I will return at a later date. Please let Mr Potter know that he should stay in the country until we've questioned him about what happened at the end of the tournament."
Phoebe says, "We could show you if you would like. We have examined his memories."
"Not, ah, right now. We would need to extract the memory officially. To avoid tampering, you understand."
Emma nods, "I understand."
"We're just going to use our wands to leave."
Scott shakes his head as Emma points at the gate, "Outside the gates if you will."
Hughey nods and puts his invisibility cloak back on as the other man picks up his cloak, "Of course."
As the four men get close to the gate, Phoebe presses the button to make them open.
As the gates close behind them, Mindee smiles at Hermione, "Don't worry Hermione, you didn't do anything wrong. John Dawlish got his orders from the Minister, who was apparently told by Ludo Bagman, who was told by Arthur Weasley."
Harry steps down from the veranda and pulls the scarf off her head, "Hey Hermione. Miss me?"
Hermione's eyes dart up to Harry's forehead, and she says, "What?"
Harry gives his old grin, "Hey, I fight a troll and I get a best friend. I figure that getting a family is a good trade for fighting Voldemort."
Hermione reaches out her hand hesitantly, "Harry?"
Harry nods, "Yep, no cat hairs involved."
Hermione's dad coughs, "Hermione dear, I was under the impression that your friend was a boy."
Celeste nods, "She was."
Scott sighs and turns back towards the building while Emma says, "There is rather a lot we need to talk about. But first I need to thank you for changing your holiday plans. I can tell that it's put Harry's mind at ease now that you're here. I'm Emma Frost, co-principal of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. The man behind me is Scott Summers, the other principal. From right to left we have Phoebe, Mindee, Harry who you already know, and Celeste Cuckoo."
Hermione looks at Harry with wide eyes as her father nods and points at his wife, "This is my wife Jean, and I am Gene. You already know my daughter, Hermione, by reputation."
Emma smiles politely, "I bet that gets confusing at dinner parties."
Jean shrugs, "Only when they're getting boring, it helps that we're both doctors specialising in dentistry."
As Harry takes Hermione's right arm, Phoebe walks down and takes her left arm. "Come on Hermione, while they're doing the polite thing we'll show you to your room. We can also talk about how Harry's changed."
Mindee and Celeste follow up.