A/N - Here's chapter two. As with Lightning, Part 1 and Lightning, Part 2 I'm posting the first two chapters together. This will be the only time I post more than one chapter of the story at a time.

I'll just drop a reminder here that whenever Harry is in uniform as an X-Man and fully masked he will be referred to in the narrative as Lightning. The same goes for the other X-Men. They may use each other's given names from time to time in the field or training but the narrative will use their code names.

There will be a bonus Omake at the end of this chapter. This will NOT be a regular occurrence.

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.

2) POTTER CASTLE

When Harry first saw Potter Castle that day in July, '95 he was both impressed and surprised. He was impressed by the strength the castle seemed to project. It had clearly been built to be a fortress as much as a home, maybe even more so. It was a concentric castle with a square layout. It had two sets of walls, one set nested inside the other. The outer walls formed a large square with towers on the corners and two or three more along each side wall except for the front which had a gatehouse instead which included a drawbridge for the moat. Inside that square the inner walls formed a smaller square with towers on the corners, one tower at the midpoint of each wall and an even larger gatehouse guarding its entrance. The inner walls were significantly higher than the outer ones so defenders there could fire projectiles over the outer walls, giving defenders on the outer walls support if needed against a besieging enemy force.

Finally inside the inner square (or ward as the space was called) was a large square keep rising up several floors right in the middle of it. This was the strongest part of the castle with the thickest walls. It was here that the lord and lady of the castle lived.

There were other buildings inside the inner ward including a Great Hall, a Kitchen, a barracks, a chapel, and several other buildings necessary for the upkeep and running of a medieval castle.

The whole complex was surrounded by a moat which was crossed by a drawbridge leading to the front gatehouse. In addition there were a few extra structures on the property outside the moat. Most notably there was a modern garage which contained a diverse collection of cars (including a stretch limousine), the oldest of which dated back to the beginning of the 1900s and the newest of which were from around 1980.

If the castle's strength impressed Harry what surprised him was that the castle was in mint condition with no sign of being run down or ruined at all. Except for the newer additions it looked very much like it would have when it was first built. Sirius and Remus both explained to Harry that it was because there were strong preservation and stasis spells on the complex which kept it from decaying. There were also several house elves there who saw to keeping it in tip top shape. They greeted Harry when he came to the front gates of the castle and were very happy to see him, welcoming "Master Lord Potter Sir" back to his ancestral home.

"Thank you" said Harry to the house elves, "please just call me Harry."

"Yes Master Harry sir" said one of the elves causing Sirius to snigger.

"You're fighting a losing battle pup" said Sirius. Harry rolled his eyes and asked which elf was the head elf. That turned out to be the oldest elf who was female. Her name turned out to be Slappy. Her speech was different from that of the other elves. She spoke more like a human would and didn't use her name whenever she referred to herself, saying "I" instead.

"Among other things" said Slappy "I'm in charge of helping to defend this castle when it's in danger. Beyond that I'm semi-retired but I still help out where I can."

"I see you also speak a bit differently than the others" said Harry.

"What can I say?" said Slappy, "I'm old and I've learned a lot. I helped Master Charlus back during the war when he fought against Grindelwald alongside Dumbledore."

Sirius and Remus both looked like they wanted to say something but neither of them had a chance to as the elves were now urging all three of them to enter the castle, something Harry was quite happy to do.

The inside of the castle was as impressive as the outside. It was soon obvious to Harry that even with all of the other homes that he owned, this castle was the main seat of the Potter family. This was the ancestral home where generations of Potters had lived for centuries and it showed. Some of the buildings were bigger on the inside than they were on the outside. The barracks and stables were large enough inside to hold 2 to 3 times as many men and horses as they would have been in the non-magical world. The armory was filled with suits of armor and weapons from all centuries since the castle had been built. Many of the weapons in the armory were magical in nature or had been enchanted from their mundane beginnings. The Great Hall, while not as big as the one at Hogwarts, was still quite large and could expand to be bigger if needed. Harry wondered just how many people had lived here when the castle was in its full glory. Just how powerful had his family been?

The most impressive part of the castle was the keep. On the inside it was as large as a sizable manor house and just as comfortable. It had obviously been updated as time went by because it was a much more modern living space than the outside would have suggested. In fact the whole castle had been wired for electricity. The electrical systems were all modified to be resistant to magic, something that Harry had learned from Professor Xavier was quite possible if you knew what to do. It seemed that his ancestors were among those who did know what to do because the castle had working electric lights, several working TV sets and radios, and much more besides. It didn't surprise him one bit when he found out that the house elves, in the absence of other inhabitants, had been keeping the castle up to date with modern technology.

There were more wonders to be found in the keep as Harry continued to explore. The bedrooms were spacious and most had en-suite bathrooms.

There was a huge library that stretched over three floors and had a very diverse collection of books and scrolls. Holding pride of place was the Potter Family Grimoire. It was a thick book and it was held in its own secure cabinet. Only a blood family member could open and read it without getting severely injured or even killed. The only exception to this rule was for people who married into the Potter family, and only after the head of the Potter family allowed it.

Some of the other contents of the library surprised Harry when he learned about them and about his family's history. The Potters had never been a strictly "light" family. As the builders and owners of a military castle in the High Middle Ages they'd had to be open to magic of all kinds. There were certain lines they wouldn't cross – the very worst of the worst magics like horcruxes for instance were utterly forbidden – but beyond that the library had an assortment of light, grey, and dark books all meticulously catalogued in a filing cabinet near the entrance of the library.

Harry recognized many of the books in his library as they were also in the Hogwarts library, quite a number of them in the restricted section. Harry learned he owned three copies of Moste Potente Potions for instance, each one a different edition than the other. He also owned a copy of the Liber Fulvarum Paginarum which listed many different magical deities, some of whom he heard mentioned by Dr. Strange, and others whom he knew nothing about.

The most startling item that Harry found in his library was a complete copy of the Kitab al-Azif, better known to the world as the Necronomicon by "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred. He was shocked to discover this book in his collection and was only comforted by the fact that it was kept in a locked and concealed cabinet that only the head of the family could open. Harry had a large share of curiosity about the book but he had no desire to learn if it was true that the Necronomicon was written in blood on parchment made of human skin or if that was only a myth. He knew at once that he had to keep it a secret that he owned this book. Merlin only knew what would happen if Hermione ever found out he owned a copy of the Necronomicon. She would insist on reading it and who knew what that would do? No, some things were better off left unknown. Sirius and Remus both agreed with Harry's decision when he mentioned it to them.

"Good call pup" said Sirius, "my family is a dark one and the Black library has a lot of dark books that would be dangerous to read but we don't have a copy of the Necronomicon."

"Hogwarts doesn't have a copy either" said Remus, "not even in the most restricted part of the restricted section. In fact, I don't know of any magic school that has a copy. Even Durmstrang doesn't have one and they learn the dark arts there. They'd probably use it as a selling point to future students if they had one."

"There's one school that does" corrected Sirius, "Miskatonic University is known to have a copy but that's the only school with magical connections which I know of that does."

"Thank God for that" said Harry with feeling.

"I know what you mean" said Remus, "there's only one book that's worse and that's the Darkhold."

"What's that?" asked Harry.

"If you really want to know ask Dr. Strange" said Remus, "but I'm not sure he'll tell you and that's probably a good thing."

The other truly amazing room in the keep was the portrait gallery. When Harry entered it he found portraits of Potters going back for well over a thousand years. Among them was Gavyn Brian Harold Potter himself, the man who had built Potter Castle in the late 13th century during the reign of King Edward I of England. In 1279 Gavyn had first been granted a large plot of land on which he would build his castle in support of Edward's invasion and subjugation of Wales. The castle had been the main seat of the Potter family ever since.

Originally there had been a town nearby that was built around the same time as the castle and had supported it for a few hundred years. Eventually, however, the inhabitants of the town had moved a couple of miles away and the land surrounding the castle was mostly turned into parkland as part of the Potter estate. The town, both the original one and the newer one was called Killigaer with the head of the Potter family gaining the title of Earl of Killigaer from King Edward when he had granted Gavyn the land. In fact Potter Castle's original name had been Killigaer Castle and while the old town had existed the castle had been known by that name. Officially it was still listed as Killigaer Castle in the guidebooks but ever since the town had moved to its new location that name for the castle itself had fallen out of common use. With the creation of the parkland estate growing up around the castle the name of the residence had changed to that of the family that owned it and it was now usually called Potter Castle instead.

The Killigaer Earldom was still extant and Harry was now the earl. He hadn't known of this title when the goblins told him of his holdings in '93 for two reasons: 1) He was still underage at the time (technically he still was but the Triwizard Tournament had emancipated him so he came into the title as a result) and 2) it was a mundane title granted by the English monarch and not one that held sway in the magical world. Nevertheless it was an old and prestigious title having existed for over 700 years by now and it had its own perks, including its place in the British nobility order of precedence and a hereditary seat in the House of Lords that Harry could take if he ever felt so inclined.

Although he was the builder of the castle and the first Potter to be an earl Gavyn was not the founder of the family. The portraits of Harry's ancestors went back even further. Eventually the family name on the portraits changed from Potter to Peverell and Harry remembered that the Peverells were the ancestors of the Potters – specifically Ignotus Peverell who had been the original owner of Harry's invisibility cloak.

While looking at older portraits in the gallery Harry ran across one of a large muscular man with a mane of red hair and beard that made him look a bit like a lion. When Harry read the name under the portrait his jaw dropped. It was Godric Gryffindor and he was giving Harry a stern look.

"Young man" said the portrait, "close your mouth and stand up straight! It is rude to stare at your elders." Harry reared back in shock but did as the portrait said.

"I'm sorry" Harry said, "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just surprised to see you here."

"Why wouldn't I be here?" replied the portrait, "I'm your ancestor, am I not?"

"Well, yes – " began Harry.

"Then what more do you need?" asked Gryffindor, "you wonder how I can be here when I'm not a Potter. Am I right? No need for you to answer. I can already see it in your face. My oldest daughter married the Potter heir and when this castle was first built her descendent had my portrait brought here. She was my heir so it made sense."

"But surely your son – " began Harry again.

"I had no sons" said Gryffindor, "only daughters with my eldest being your ancestress. All Potters since her have been Gryffindors."

"I see" said Harry, "well I'm glad to meet you Lord Gryffindor. My name is Harry Potter."

"Well met Harry" said Gryffindor, "I remember you from when you were a baby and your parents brought you here for a while. That would have been the spring and summer of 1981. Now look at you. You've gotten so big."

"I doubt I'm anywhere near as big as you" said Harry.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" said Gryffindor, "and speaking of your parents they're waiting to talk to you."

"They're here?" asked Harry in surprise.

"Yes" said Gryffindor, "further down the hall where the walls have room for more portraits. You should go speak with them."

"I will" said Harry, "and thank you."

Harry moved further down the hall until he found his parents' portraits. They were at the end of all of the portraits so far but there was plenty of space on the walls beyond where they were for more portraits in the future.

"Hello mum, dad" said Harry to the two portraits who were both smiling at him and looking excited that he was there, "it's been a long time."

Harry had a long talk with his parents. It was a bittersweet reunion being able to spend time talking to his parents – or what they'd left behind of themselves – but not being able to touch them at all and truly be with them.

"Gryffindor's portrait said we lived here for a while after coming back from New Zealand" said Harry not long after they began talking, "why didn't we stay here instead of going to the house in Godric's Hollow? Isn't this castle better protected?"

"Yes" said James, "but it's also much better known. It was attacked by the Death Eaters on two occasions during the war. They didn't get in of course but they knew we were here. Voldemort was after us and we needed to go into hiding."

"This castle is much too big to be hidden by the Fidelius charm" said Lily, "it's also too well known both in the magical world and the muggle world. Magical people might forget about it if we did cast that charm but they'd remember that something was here. Also Potter Castle – Killigaer Castle – is known in the muggle world too. There are non-magical pictures of it in non-magical history books and castle guides even if our castle isn't open to the public. Those wouldn't be affected by a Fidelius charm because they're not magical. In the end we went into hiding in the Godric's Hollow house because that could be hidden and wasn't well known. Unfortunately we all know how that turned out."

"We do" echoed James, "but this conversation is getting depressing. Harry, we'd rather hear about you than go over past mistakes."

"Okay" said Harry as he began telling them all about his life, starting with his upbringing with the Dursleys. That made both of his parents angry but not at Harry. They understood Dumbledore's rationale for putting Harry with his aunt and uncle but that didn't mean they had to like it. They were both pleased to hear that the Dursleys had finally been punished for their behavior toward Harry in a way that destroyed their reputations and standing in the community and forced them to pay back every pound they'd received from the Potter estate.

"Ah, my poor sister" said Lily with a sigh, "I wish she hadn't taken her hatred and envy of me out on you."

"Envy?" Harry asked with some surprise.

"We were very close when I was little and was not yet known to be a witch" explained Lily, "after the truth came out and I got invited to go Hogwarts she wanted to come too. She even wrote to Dumbledore about it but of course he had to say no. I suppose that was the final icing on the cake although we'd been growing apart for a while before that."

"Why was that?" asked Harry. Lily looked away.

"Just – stuff that happened over the years" she said, "I'd rather not discuss it. If your grandfather was here he could probably tell you. Unfortunately he and my mother both died some months after you were born."

"I'm sorry" said Harry.

"Don't be" said Lily, "it's not your fault. It's Voldemort's."

"He killed them?" asked Harry.

"No" said James, "he sent some Death Eaters to do the job. Your grandparents were muggles so in Voldemort's view why should he waste time on them himself?"

"Voldemort" said Harry sounding a little angry, "it always comes back to him. At least he's not a threat anymore."

"I'm glad to hear that" said Lily, "what happened to him?"

"Well..." said Harry. He spent quite a while after that telling his parents the story of the rest of his life starting with his years at Hogwarts. They were both shocked to hear about the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets but when he told them about his mutants powers waking up they were completely blown away.

"Could you show us?" asked Lily. Harry grinned and levitated himself a few feet into the air before coming back down. Then he made little lightning bolts dance on one of his palms like he often did.

"Incredible" said James "I've never heard of anything like this."

"I have" said Lily quietly, "we know about superheroes in the muggle world."

"You do?" asked James.

"I've told you this before" said Lily, "my father served in World War II. He used to tell me and Petunia about the heroes who helped out against Germany. Maybe some of them are in the history books now."

"Like who?" asked Harry.

"Well" said Lily, "have you ever heard of Captain America? He fought for the Allies."

"Not only have I heard of him" said Harry with a smirk, "I know him. He's a friend of mine."

"What?" said Lily, "that's impossible. He died near the end of the war."

"No he didn't" said Harry, "he was frozen in ice for nearly fifty years but he was found and revived about a year and a half ago."

"Oh" said Lily, "but how do you know him?"

"That came about as a direct result of my being a mutant" said Harry, "mum, you mentioned superheroes? There are quite a few of those now over in America. In fact, I'm one of them."

"Eh?" asked James in surprise which led to Harry explaining all about coming to Xavier's school and becoming one of the X-Men.

"My code name is 'Lightning'" said Harry.

"Wow" said James with a large grin although Lily looked both proud and worried, "and Padfoot is also a member?"

"As of a year ago, yes" said Harry, "he's the only non-mutant member. His code name is 'Mage.' We also call Dumbledore an honorary member because he's been such a big supporter of ours. You should have seen him fight Magneto. It was wicked."

Harry looked at his mother and noticed the worried look on her face.

"Is something wrong mum?" he asked.

"Yes, no, not really" said Lily, "I'm proud of you, but I'm worried about you getting hurt."

"You're not the only one" said Harry, "we all worry about that. We're as careful as we can be, both in training and in the field. I wish that hadn't been necessary but I had to be trained to fight Voldemort and beat him. This was the best way that I or Dumbledore knew of – and it worked."

"Can't argue with that" said James.

"Maybe not" said Lily, "but I'll still worry. It's my job."

"Would it be possible to meet Lightning?" asked James.

"Sure" said Harry. He raised a hand, made the gesture (without his wand) and said the switching spell. His clothes were immediately replaced by his X-Man uniform.

"This is what I look like when I'm Lightning" he said to his parents who looked at him critically.

"Interesting look" said James.

"Yeah we all wear this" said Lightning, "well Iceman doesn't, and Sirius doesn't either. He just uses a mask and/or a glamor."

"It's definitely a superhero look" said Lily.

"I like it" said Lightning, "it's easy to move in and it's great for flying."

"Did you do wandless magic just now?" asked Lily.

"Yes" said Lightning, "one of the things I've learned in the last two years is that it's nowhere near as hard as conventional wisdom says it is." He went on to explain everything he'd learned about wandless magic and how far he'd come in being able to use it. Both of his parents were even more amazed by what he told them.

It was around this time that Sirius and Remus both showed up looking for Harry. There was a noisy reunion as the two surviving Marauders greeted their old friends. Neither Sirius or Remus seemed surprised to see that Harry had become Lightning.

"I see you've found your parents" said Sirius, "and you're showing them the other you."

"That's right Padfoot" said James, "or should I say Mage?"

"You told them about that?" Sirius asked Lightning.

"I'm telling them everything I can" said Lightning, "I was just about to tell them what happened to Voldemort."

"Yes, we want to know that" said Lily, "you said Voldemort's not a threat anymore. How?"

Lightning told them the rest of the story and brought his parents up to date. Sirius and Remus both helped with things he might have forgotten. He talked about the Quidditch World Cup, the Triwizard Tournament, the fight with Juggernaut which changed his perspective on Voldemort, and lastly the battle at Hogwarts where Voldemort was finally defeated followed by the whole team receiving the Order of Merlin First Class six days later.

"You've certainly been through a lot son" said James.

"We couldn't be prouder of you" said Lily.

"Thank you" said Lightning.

"Please be safer in the future now" added Lily.

"I'll try" said Lightning.

"I wish I could see you fly" said James.

"That might be possible" said Remus, "if we can take your portraits off of the wall we can take them out onto the roof. Padfoot and I can hold you up so you can watch Harry do some flying."

"That sounds like a plan to me" said Sirius, "what do you think pup?"

"I don't need an excuse to go flying" said Lightning, "can we do that?"

It turned out that yes, they could take the portraits off of the wall. Sirius took James' portrait while Remus carried Lily's. The five of them went to the spiral staircase that climbed through all the floors of the keep and walked up to the top. The stairs ended on a small landing with a door that led out onto the roof of the keep. Once they were all out on the rooftop terrace Lightning took off and climbed to about 30 feet above his companions where he began circling above them. Sirius and Remus held the portraits of James and Lily up so they could see Lightning as he flew.

Lightning put on a show for his parents. He soared up high and then dove back down before pulling out of the dive and circling around again to show them other aerial maneuvers that he had mastered over the last two years.

"That's my boy!" whooped James as he watched Lightning while Lily voiced similar sentiments.

"He was flying before he could walk" she said, "I'll never forget when you gave him that toy broom and he flew it all over the house!" James laughed.

"I remember" he said, "your poor cat looked like it lost at least one its lives through fright."

"And now he can fly on his own without a broom" said Lily, "somehow I'm not surprised."

"Neither am I" said James, "he really is a natural."

Lightning flew for a few more minutes before landing back on the roof to the painted applause of his parents.

"That was wonderful Harry" said Lily.

"Yes it was" said James, "can you imagine what it would be like to play Quidditch without a broom?"

"He doesn't have to imagine it" said Sirius, "he did it a year ago."

"Really?" asked both James and Lily although James was obviously more eager to hear the story.

"Yeah" said Lightning rubbing the back of his head, "it was a friendly game over at the Burrow. Fred and George wanted to play a game with the X-Men. They got more than they expected."

The story was soon told and both James and Lily enjoyed it. After that they all went back down into the keep to return the portraits to their places in the portrait gallery.

"I wish I could have flown without a broom" said James on the way, "it looks wonderful."

"It is" said Lightning, "the best part is that as long as I'm in my X-Man uniform I can fly in public. I'm happy to take advantage of that."

"Is that so?" asked Lily.

"Yes" said Lightning, "these days New York City has several superheroes who can fly. I'm just one of them."

"Lucky you" said James, "enjoy it as much as you can."

"I do" said Lightning.

"Yes he does" said Sirius, "I've gone flying with him at times using his broom and I've never seen anyone so happy in the air."

"What can I say?" said Lightning, "it's a gift."

(To Be Continued)

A/N: That's all for this week. The story is finally off and running. The next chapter will post next Sunday. Now enjoy the Omake.

BONUS OMAKE

What follows is what I originally wrote for when Harry meets the castle house elves but I cut it because it's just too silly. Makes for a fun Omake though.

"What are your names?" Harry asked the house elves when they greeted him in front of the castle.

"I is Yakko" said the first elf who was male, "I is the head elf for Potter Castle."

"I is Wakko" said the second elf who was also male and had a much thicker accent than the first one.

"I is Dot" said the third elf who was female.

"Pleased to meet you" said Harry who was a bit puzzled by the house elves' names as he turned to the last elf, a female who was clearly older than the others, "and who are you?"

"I'm Slappy" said the fourth elf, "and I'm in charge of defending this place when it's in danger. Beyond that I'm semi-retired but I still help out where I can."

"I see you also speak a bit differently than the others" said Harry who realized what it was that puzzled him and decided he needed to know if: 1) Did this castle have a working TV set? 2) Did the house elves use it? 3) Could house elves change their names if they wanted to? and 4) if yes were these elves going to be anything like their namesakes?

"What can I say?" said Slappy with a shrug breaking Harry out of his thoughts, "I'm old and I've learned a lot. I helped Master Charlus back during the war when he fought against Grindelwald with Dumbledore."

"Wow" said Harry who then had an odd thought, "Um Slappy you wouldn't happen to have a nephew named Skippy, would you?"

"Yes" said Slappy, "he looks after your New Zealand house. Why do you ask?" Harry made a face.

"Oh brother" he said, "my properties are being run by Animaniacs!"

As if that was some sort of cue Yakko, Wakko, and Dot burst into song while Slappy hid her face in her hands in embarrassment.

The three elves sang:

"We're Animaniacs
And we're zany to the max
So sit back and relax
You'll laugh 'til you collapse
We're Animaniacs!"

"Cub" said Remus listening to the opening lyrics to the Animaniacs theme song, "your house elves are weird."

"Don't I know it!" said Harry with feeling.

I know, pretty silly. What can I say? I was watching a lot of Animaniacs cartoons when I wrote it. The only part of it that survives in the main story is that the oldest elf is still called Slappy.

Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Thanks for reading and stay safe and well. Cheers!