A/N - Time for a new chapter. The title says it all.
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. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
7) RETURN TO THE U. S.
The last part of Harry's trip to Wakanda passed by quickly. The most notable thing about it which raised quite a few eyebrows was that King T'Challa was more friendly to Harry than he had been before. He hadn't been unfriendly but he was more reserved towards Harry earlier in the visit. Now, however, he started treating Harry more like an actual friend than just a guest. It began that same morning after the fight with Klaw when King T'Challa invited Harry to join him for breakfast and had him sit next to him at the table so they could talk more easily. This didn't go unnoticed since not many people (aside from family and close friends) were ever invited to have breakfast with the king – dinner certainly, and lunch quite often too but not breakfast. That was a more private meal that the king liked to take to relax before the main business of the day would begin. To be invited to breakfast with King T'Challa was a high compliment.
None of the people from the conference were invited to have breakfast with King T'Challa. Even the Kenyan royal family wasn't there which made them all very curious as to what had happened for Harry to get such an invitation. Naturally Harry told Ororo all about it not long after breakfast was over. She was suitably impressed when she heard about Lightning's morning flight which led to him fighting Klaw alongside both the Black Panther and Kamanda.
"Wow" she said when Harry finished his story, "you just can't keep out of trouble, can you?"
"Hey" retorted Harry, "I don't go looking for trouble. It finds me all by itself."
"I know" said Ororo with a laugh "I'm just winding you up."
"Hmph" said Harry.
"So" continued Ororo, "are you and King T'Challa comrades in arms now?"
"I guess" said Harry, "he knew who I was and afterwards he was very interested to hear more about me and my life – not about the Boy-Who-Lived and all of that stuff but about my actual life. Like Kamanda he also thought that me beating Voldemort but him not knowing my real identity was funny."
"It is" said Ororo, "do you think you'll ever tell Voldemort the truth?"
"Not if I can help it" said Harry, "why should he get the satisfaction of learning how hard I worked to be able to fight him?"
"Good point" conceded Ororo.
The visit to Wakanda ended two days later. On Monday August 7th Harry, Ororo, her parents, and their staff all returned to Kenya. Before leaving Wakanda Harry went back to the dragon habitat to say goodbye to Kamanda and they parted on friendly terms.
King T'Challa came to see off Harry and the others as they were leaving. The king pulled Harry aside for a moment and told him that he would be welcome in Wakanda if he wanted to return at some later date as long as Harry let him know in advance that he wanted to come back. Harry asked if he could send an owl if that should happen and King T'Challa told him yes and not to worry about the shield as it recognized postal owls and routinely let them through.
On Harry's last full day in Kenya before he was to return home he told Queen N'Dare and her husband the full truth about him being Lightning. David nodded when he heard and told Harry that he had figured out the truth for himself some time ago.
"I thought your combination of powers sounded familiar" he said to Harry, "it wasn't hard to work out after that. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to make you feel awkward. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
"And with me" said the queen, "we are both grateful to Professor Xavier for his help with our daughter's powers. If we can ever help him in some way we will do so."
That last night Harry and Ororo sat up late talking to each other and promising they would continue to stay in touch and stay a couple as best they could.
"I'm sure it won't be that long before we see each other again" said Harry, "and we have the mirrors so we can talk as much as we want."
"Yes we can" said Ororo. The two of them kissed before separating to go to bed.
Although Harry had gone first to the U.K. and then Africa by portkey he decided to go back to America on an airplane just because he wanted the experience of such a mundane way to travel. Although he'd flown on the X-Jet several times he'd never been on a regular passenger flight. This would also give him some time to himself to process everything that had happened during his trip.
On Wednesday, August 9th, after saying goodbye to Ororo and her parents Harry boarded a 9:00 AM British Airways flight out of the main Nairobi airport. Since he could afford it he flew first class and was very glad that he did as the seats were very comfortable. The first flight lasted nine hours and went from Nairobi to London getting in at 4:00 PM London time. After a layover of an hour at Heathrow Airport he had another eight hour flight which took him to Kennedy Airport in New York. That flight arrived around 8:00 PM New York Time where it was still light out. When Harry worked it all out later he realized that with time zone changes and Nairobi being seven hours ahead of New York it meant that for him August 9th lasted 31 hours from midnight in Nairobi to midnight in New York. Harry was very glad that he'd napped a bit on both flights.
Upon arrival he had to go through customs before being released to go get his luggage at baggage claim. All things considered Harry decided that while flying on a passenger airplane had its good points he much preferred the X-Jet if he was going to travel by plane. Despite how nice first class was on a regular plane the X-Jet was nicer and more comfortable in just about every way. It was also faster since it traveled at the speed of sound which was faster than your normal jet plane. On the other hand, Harry reminded himself, the X-Jet wasn't a normal plane and very few people got to fly on it. It wasn't a fair comparison really, but then again, that's just how it was.
Once Harry got his luggage he went outside of the terminal and found Warren waiting for him to drive him back to Xavier's school.
"Looking good Harry" said Warren once they'd bro-hugged in greeting.
"Thanks Warren" said Harry, "you're looking pretty good yourself."
"How was you trip?" asked Warren as he led Harry to his car and helped his friend put his luggage in the boot.
"Fun, enlightening, and exciting" was the reply as Harry got in on the passenger side in the front of the car.
"Oh really? Do tell."
All during the drive back to the school Harry told Warren all about his trip from exploring Potter castle and meeting his parents, to mornings on the Serengeti and the afternoon on Mt. Kilimanjaro, to seeing Ororo and her family in Nairobi, and finally visiting Wakanda where he finished up with his fight alongside the Black Panther and Kamanda against Klaw.
"That's quite a trip" said Warren once Harry was done and they were getting close to their destination.
"Yes, it was" said Harry, "I wonder what the professor will think about the king of Wakanda knowing who Lightning really is."
"I don't think he'll mind very much" said Warren, "I don't know if he's ever met the Black Panther but he knows who he is. That'll probably help."
"I hope so" said Harry, "what's been happening while I was away?"
"I'm glad you asked" said Warren, "you're going to meet new some students when we get back to the school."
"Really?" asked Harry, "the professor finally brought them in?"
"Yeah," said Warren, "six of them. They all arrived on August first. I think they were brought in together to form a new class."
"Are any of them old enough to become X-Men?" asked Harry.
"No" said Warren, "they're all more around your age."
"Really?" said Harry, "in that case will I be joining their class?"
"No" said Warren, "you're part of our class. You're an X-Man Harry. After two years that's not going to change. The professor's made that quite clear. But that doesn't mean you and Neville can't be friends with them."
"I'd like that" said Harry "what are they like?"
"They're good kids" said Warren, "I'll let you wait to find out what powers they have though."
"Let me guess" said Harry with a touch of sarcasm, "you don't want to spoil the surprise."
"Got that right" said Warren with a laugh while Harry gave a mock pout.
Not long afterwards Warren and Harry arrived at the mansion. to find Professor Xavier himself waiting for them at the top of the front steps outside the front door.
"Hello professor" said Harry, "good to see you again."
"Welcome back Harry" said the professor, "I trust you had a good trip?"
"Oh yeah" said Harry, "it was unforgettable."
"Well once you've settled back into your room I want to hear all about it" said the professor, "I sense that you have quite a few things to tell me."
"Yes I do" said Harry, "are Sirius and Remus back?"
"Yes" said the professor, "they both came back just before the end of July."
"Good" said Harry, "did they tell you anything about what happened while we were in Wales?"
"Not much" said the professor, "They mentioned being at your ancestral family castle but said that the rest was for you to tell if you wanted." Harry nodded.
"Well I know Padfoot and Moony will both want to hear about what happened in Kenya and Wakanda – "
"You went to Wakanda?" asked the professor in surprise.
"That's part of the story" said Harry with a grin.
"It's worth hearing" said Warren.
"It sounds like it" said the professor, "Harry, you go put your things away and meet me in my office. I'll summon the team along with Remus and Neville and you can tell us all about it."
Harry went up to his room and put his stuff away before heading to the professor's office. Along the way he took a moment to greet Hedwig who was waiting for him on her perch in his room.
"Hello girl" he said, stroking her feathers, "did you miss me?" Hedwig barked once while bobbing her head. "I missed you too" Harry added, "sorry I couldn't bring you with me this time although I know you would have come if you thought I needed you. I'm happy about that but you wouldn't have liked the trip back as I went on an airplane. The only way you would have been allowed on the plane would have been in a cage the whole way. You wouldn't have liked that, especially since regular planes aren't as nice or as fast as the X-Jet."
Hedwig barked an emphatic agreement to that. She remembered her one trip on the X-Jet and it had been okay for what it was but she wasn't anxious to do something like that again.
Harry now held up his right arm to her in invitation.
"Why don't you come with me to the professor's office and you can hear all about the trip?" he asked her, "tomorrow I'll have a letter for you to take to a friend." Hedwig stepped onto his arm and quickly moved to his shoulder. Harry left his room and went to the professor's office. When he got there he saw that in addition to the professor and Warren, Scott, Bobby, Hank, Jean, Sirius, Remus, and Neville were all there too. Even Dobby was there.
"Welcome back cub" said Remus.
"Thanks Moony" said Harry who was also welcomed by everyone else who hadn't seen him earlier.
"Good to have you back" said Scott.
"It's good to be back" said Harry. He and the others made casual talk for a bit.
"So young Harry" said Hank, "why don't you relate to us the details of your excursion to Europe and Africa?"
"Okay" said Harry and he began telling them all about the trip. Everyone listened closely as he talked. Sirius and Remus occasionally interjected during the first part with stuff Harry didn't mention. By now all of the X-Men who hadn't grown up with magic were used to Harry's world but they were still surprised to hear about Harry's meeting with his parents' portraits as they all realized that for all intents and purposes it was the first time he'd ever spoken with his parents. Something in Harry's manner, however, kept them from making a big deal out of it and he soon moved on to telling them more about the castle and its parts.
"I would really like to see that library of yours" said Hank, "it sounds like you have a lot of esoteric books."
"I do" said Harry, "including some very rare ones and even a few I would rather not have."
"Like what?" asked Jean.
"Well, like the Necronomicon" said Harry, "I was shocked to discover that in my library."
"You mean it's real?" asked Bobby in amazement, "I thought that book was a myth."
"It's real" said Sirius in a grim tone, "and it's not a book to be taken lightly."
"Don't ask me what's in it" said Harry, "I didn't read it, I don't intend to, and I won't let anyone else read it either."
"That's sensible" said the professor, "I would be upset if you brought such a book to the school."
"Don't worry about that" said Harry, "it's locked away for a reason. When Hermione visited the castle and saw the library I was very careful not to mention that book. She would've forced me to let her read it and who knows what that might have caused?"
"That's a scary thought" muttered Neville.
"Very true" said Hank, "sometimes knowledge is not meant to be shared."
"Don't let Hermione hear you say that" said Harry as Neville nodded in agreement, "although if she tries to dispute that just ask her if that means that everyone should know how to make an atomic bomb. Oh Neville, you won't mention the book to her either right?"
"Definitely not" said Neville, "it's rumored that the Unspeakables have a copy of it but no one knows for sure. My great uncle is one of them and I asked him about it once. He refused to say anything and told me never to ask him about it again."
"Which means they probably do have one" muttered Harry, "I guess if I ever need help with it I know who to ask. Anyway, moving on I also learned some interesting stuff about my grandparents on my mum's side." Here he told them about the trunk they'd found in the attic of Number 4 Privet Drive and what they found inside, including the pictures. Harry brought out the one of his mother's parents in New Zealand and passed it around.
"That's your grandpa?" asked Jean, "he looks so young. Even your grandma looks young."
"And those claws" said Bobby, "how did he get them?"
"He told us he had them all his life" said Sirius.
"He could have been a mutant" said Scott, "what was his name? You didn't tell us that."
"I didn't?" asked Harry, "oh, it's James Logan Howlett Evans though everyone called him Logan so as to not confuse him with my dad."
"James Logan Howlett Evans" repeated the professor as he looked at the picture, "I've heard that name before somewhere."
"Did you know him?" asked Remus.
"I don't think so" said the professor, "I'm sure I would remember meeting someone like him, and yet this person looks familiar – oh!"
"What?" asked almost everyone in the room. Professor Xavier ignored them. He turned and looked at the bookcase along the wall opposite the windows. He wheeled himself out from behind his desk and went over to the bookcase. He reached down to a lower shelf and pulled out a big book which he then took back to his desk. He held it up for a moment and Harry was able to see the title Great Heroes of World War II. The professor put the book down on his desk, opened it up to the index, scanned it, flipped through the book to a certain spot and quickly looked over what was written there.
"I was right" he said to everyone, "Harry, your grandfather was one of the Howling Commandos."
"Wow" said Hank.
"Awesome" said Bobby.
"The who?" asked Harry.
"They were an elite group of Army Rangers in World War II" said the professor, "mostly Americans but a few were from other places. Your grandfather was one of them although the book doesn't give details on how he joined up with them. All it says is that the Canadian military sent him to them but doesn't say why."
"Captain America sometimes worked with them" said Hank, "I read about it in some of the history books. He probably knew your grandfather."
"Too bad I can't ask him about it" said Harry knowing that doing so would risk his secret identity.
"I remember also reading that a lot of the commandos had nicknames" said Hank, "there was someone called 'Dum Dum' and another who went by 'Rebel,' also 'Junior' and 'Pinky' to name a few. Did Harry's grandfather have one?"
"Yes" said the professor reading further into the article, "his nickname was 'The Wolverine.'"
"Wow" said Neville, "I think if I ever met someone with a name like that I would stay far away from him."
"It's a fitting name" said Remus, "from what I remember of him. He always had this feral and wild quality to him that could even intimidate the wolf in me. He never said anything about being in the war though. Padfoot, did you know about this?"
"No Moony, I didn't" said Sirius, "he never said anything about it to me either and if Lily knew she also kept it to herself."
"Now I remember why I know the name" said the professor, "you know that I served in Vietnam in 1970 alongside my stepbrother Cain when he became Juggernaut." The team all nodded. Remus, who hadn't been at the X-Mansion that day had heard the story later from Sirius and he nodded too. Neville was the only one who hadn't heard the story but Harry promised to tell him about it later.
"I didn't tell you this part" continued to the professor, "I entered the army in early September of 1969 and while I was in training some of the surviving Howling Commandos came to speak to us and run a few exercises with us. I remember that the Wolverine was one of them. He ran a training exercise that was brutal and made it clear to all of us that war was worse and if we wanted to survive it we had to be as good and as strong as we could be. He further drove home his point when he sparred with a few of the trainees. He let five of them attack him all together and he wiped the floor with all of them while barely breaking a sweat. I'd never seen anything like it."
"That sounds like something he would do" said Sirius.
"Yes" said Remus, "I could easily picture him doing that sort of thing. That was in '69? About two years before we all entered Hogwarts."
"He never showed his claws that day" said the professor, "so I didn't make the connection at first when you showed us the picture but yes, Harry, I did meet your grandfather once."
"I don't suppose my mum was there that day too?" asked Harry.
"No" said the professor, "kids wouldn't have been allowed at something like that. It wasn't exactly a family event."
"I know" said Harry, "but what the hey? Could I borrow that book professor?"
"Yes Harry" said the professor, "now why don't you tell us about the rest of your trip?"
"Okay" said Harry and he resumed his story by telling them about Africa, first the Serengeti and Mt. Kilimanjaro, then Kenya and Ororo's family, before moving on to his time in Wakanda, meeting Kamanda, and finally fighting Klaw with Kamanda and the Black Panther.
"So both Kamanda and King T'Challa knew I was Lightning" finished up Harry, "but I'm not sorry about it. I think they'll keep the secret."
"I would agree" said the professor, "from everything I know about him King T'Challa is a noble and honorable man"
"I thought he was too" said Harry, "and the Kenyan Royal Family will also keep the secret. Queen N'Dare asked me to tell you that they're very grateful for the help you gave Ororo and if they can ever help you in some way they will."
"Thank you" said the professor, "maybe I'll take them up on that someday."
There was a silence as Harry had finished his story before he looked at the professor.
"Warren told me some new students arrived while I was away" he said.
"Yes" said the professor, "I expect you'll likely meet them tomorrow."
"I look forward to it" said Harry and soon after that the professor dismissed everyone for the evening.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - That's it for now. I altered Wolverine's life story a bit. As far as I know in Marvel canon he wasn't a Howling Commando although he did serve in World War II and did work with Captain America.
Next week Harry meets the new students. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.