Marvel/HP: A Third Path to the Future

The next day the invalids were back to 100%, and Jean and Harry 'welcomed' them back by having a battle royal at breakfast.

Jean looked around from her place at the table, smiling a little at something Rogue and Kitty were saying, but most of her attention was on finding the rune that was holding her in place. I've gained seven pounds since Harry moved in, no more! I swear to god I will win today! After about thirty minutes of searching every nook and cranny she could she gave up on looking and decided on threats. Everyone else save Kurt (who really was a bit of a bottomless stomach) had finished but they were all still there, waiting to see how Harry had trapped her this time, and they would not be disappointed. "Alright Potter, how the hell did you do it this time?! I've gained, well never mind how much I've gained, but I'm not giving up this time and nothing you can do is going to make me eat more than I already have!"

Harry looked up from a little homework assignment he'd given Kitty on runes, one eyebrow cocked in inquiry. "I'm sorry could you say that again?" Ororo groaned inwardly, yet part of her was wondering how this was going to turn out.

The others didn't have as good a grasp on Harry's mind yet, but Logan felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end and he very carefully backed away from the table. Seeing this Charles made to speak up but Jean beat him to it. "I said nothing you can do is going to make me eat more!"

"That's what I thought you said." With a bare wave of a finger and an aimed silent leviosa a small donut hole from a plate on the table shot up and into Jean's astonished mouth. As she reflexively closed her mouth and began to chew, Harry smirked. "Challenge accepted. Now what else to feed you…."

Jean narrowed her eyes and when the next shot came she blocked it with her power. She retaliated by tossing a croissant at him. He blocked that and retaliated with a small piece of egg that she again blocked. Before anyone else could speak up suddenly they were flinging food at one another at an insane rate and everyone else ducked and ran from the sudden food fight.

Soon Jean upped the ante by blasting at Harry with her power and tossing plates at him. Harry responded by catching the plates and sending them through the door into the kitchen to land in the sink and tossing even more food her way. Some splattered Kurt, who was the only one who hadn't backed away from the table, and he retaliated by joining in. Soon all the kids, even Rogue and Scott had joined in and it took several mental shouts from Charles to get everyone to stop. ENOUGH, stop it, this sort of display is childish in the extreme, cease and desist!

The fight petered out, and everyone looked around a little sheepishly. Yet Harry merely waved his hand and used a massive scourgify to clean everything then he shrugged nonchalantly as the ruined food, strangely little from the amount that had been on the table (Kurt had eaten quite a lot before the battle really got going) formed in the air and shot off toward the trash, which Jean helpfully opened as the pile of food passed the kitchen doorway. "A bit of childishness is good for you from time to time Baldy. I think we all needed a bit of a release from the seriousness of the past few days anyway." Besides, we're going to ramp up the seriousness in our training tonight, so it evens out.

Jean frowned a little at that but nodded too. That was strangely exhilarating; who knew something so random could be so fun? And it was also tough keeping all those little things in the air at once. Still… "Alright, now that the food is ruined, how were you keeping me here this time?"

Harry looked at her, and for a moment there was something in his eyes she hadn't seen before, worry maybe but then it was gone and he grinned lopsidedly. "I didn't." Jean frowned and he laughed. "I didn't have time this morning, I had to spend some time getting a few things ready for later today, and I wanted to see how you'd react."

"You mean I could have left at any time!?" Jean exclaimed as the others began to chuckle a little, led by Ororo who had used a bit of wind power to keep all the thrown food away from her and Charles. And if she had used a bit to redirect some of the flying food toward Kurt or Evan no one would ever get the truth out of her… Just because she had to control her emotions all the time didn't mean that she couldn't have a little fun from time to time.

Harry nodded, then leaned forward seriously over the table towards Jean. "Yes you may have gained weight, but you haven't put on any pounds, you've simply gained muscles. Can you honestly say you are feeling any fatter or heavier than before? Because from where I'm sitting you're just as gorgeous now as you were when I first arrived." Ororo, who well knew that Jean's diet had been doing more damage than good, nodded firmly while the others simply nodded agreeing with him, though Scott frowned at the compliment paid to the redhead.

Jean looked away a very slight blush on her face. "I suppose not," she muttered. Stupid emerald eyes and handsome face, god those eyes should be illegal and anyway I've got a boyfriend. Huh, haven't really thought of him much lately have I? Still obviously my work as an X-woman comes first. "Alright, you win, I won't diet anymore."

Harry leaned back nodding. "Glad you finally see reason Red." He then turned to Kitty. "You ready to go apprentice?"

Kitty nodded eagerly and got up from where she had been using her phasing power to avoid the food being thrown around. "Sure teach, let's go!"

One of Charles' eyebrows quirked in inquiry, "What's this?"

"Curly-cat here came up with a new and interesting way to use a runic array to help her augment her power, as well as an idea to help all of you so I decided I might as well take her on formally as an apprentice in runes."

Charles turned to regard Kitty as the others looked at her in question save Evan and Kurt, who had heard of some of her ideas already. "Um, well, you know how we want to, like, um keep our identities secret? Well I thought about adding what is called a notice-me-not ward to just our faces and voices, so no one could recognize it." Charles blinked in surprise, but nodded firmly, that sounded like an excellent addition to their normal operation. "Like, I'll be working on studying runes from teach's books and figuring out the array for that and um, another idea for just me. We figured out a bit ago that I can do a lot of damage to something if I carry something else into it and push it along right?" Scott and the others winced having seen what she had left of the tree that one time. "But that takes a lot out of me for some reason, imparting momentum I mean. So I thought maybe if I started wearing a rune that could do the same thing." She wasn't certain yet how big it would be or wear to put it on her suit, but that would be later.

Harry grinned at the younger girl, amused by how enthused she was about learning the one aspect of magic she could use and manipulate. Well she could probably also be taught the local invocation stuff, but Harry would be damned before he relied on otherworldly beings for damn-all anything. Honestly the more time I'm around her the more she reminds me of Hermione. A far more naïve and less worldly Hermione, like the younger sister she never had. That had been one aspect of the death of the Grangers that bothered Harry almost as much as Hermione's death. Her mother had been two months pregnant when Snape used and then killed her and her unborn child.

If that child had lived, he could easily imagine the girl turning out like Kitty. Her mind was very sharp beneath that valley girl exterior and helping her inquisitive nature along was immensely rewarding. "While she's doing that I'll be working on a few of my own projects and trying to see if I can figure out a way to augment the power of the suits further, draw more bio-energy out without draining the wearer."

"All those sound worthwhile exercises," Charles said smiling. "I wish you luck on your exploration."

Harry said standing up and waving Kitty out of her chair and before him as he walked out of the dining area. As he walked out toward the main hall he called over his shoulder. "Remember Charles, one and a half weeks now." Charles stiffened but the two of them were gone before he could respond. The others looked on worriedly, wondering what that was about.

Harry led Kitty not up to his room as she had expected but to a room closer to the stairs but on the same floor. Inside what should have been a generic bedroom had been changed so much as to be almost unrecognizable. All the furniture was gone, replaced by a large table in one corner, a large hanger in another holding the Juggernaut's helmet, and in the center dominating the room was a runic tablet, a kind of sand box where someone could practice writing out the runes and then erase them easily. Only if someone could get the rune perfect on the sand would they be allowed to put a rune on something more permanent. In front of it was a large comfy looking bean bag, the same color and make of another one placed in front of the desk. On the walls was a massive drawn out runic array making its way all the way around the room in a spiral. Kitty recognized a few of the runes, mostly Grecian runes for defense, but the purpose of the rest eluded her, though she suspected it was meant to protect the people inside and out from magical accidents.

Harry gestured Kitty into the bean bag in front of the practice tablet and stood on the other side looking at her. "Runes are dangerous, deadly and among the most basic of magical skills, some even say that they are the basis of all magic, that a long time ago they were the first magic discovered. Regardless, venturing into creating your own runic arrays is dangerous, demanding and alas often tedious work. Before this we were only dabbling, from now on the true learning begins. Are you ready?"

Kitty nodded, and realizing that this was a serious moment she sat up straight, her face firming. "Yes sir."

Harry looked deep into her eyes for a moment then nodded firmly. "Alright, we're going to start you off on drawing several simple runes. This process was supposed to take a year to learn, but I know how smart you are, so I expect you to get a few of these down everyday and be able to use them, well once I empower them anyway. Understand?" Kitty nodded firmly. "Good. Now, this rune is the Grecian rune for 'Light'….

At around six that night the teens were called as a group into the Danger Room. They all looked at one another, having worked with their instructors most of the day, and were now wondering what they were going to do now. Scott thought it would be a team exercise, and was wondering if they would be asked to take on a Danger Room created version of Juggernaut. He had seen that programmed into the computer so thought it a good bet. The others were simply leery of anything their slave drivers could come up with.

This concern ratcheted higher when they saw the Danger Room configured into a simple plain flat clearing, with Harry standing in the middle. He met each of their eyes as they came closer, and Jean once more saw a flicker of something like worry or concern in Harry's face as he looked at her before it was gone again. Once the group of them stood around him in a loose half circle he began. "Okay you lot, this exercise is simple, use your powers, use teamwork and planning and fight me. Nothing else. You have five minutes to plan and then I'm coming for you."

Scott bit back a groan but nodded, seeing the point. If they could fight Harry, who had so many different skills and abilities, that would build their experience against other mutants and power users better than anything else, which made it a good exercise to mix up with the ones pitting them against trained normal troops, so they could cover both bases. The others had various reactions.

Rogue looked a little interested in seeing how her new strength and durability would stand up against Harry.

Kitty too looked interested anxious to see how something she personally created, a few small stones etched with a few simple runes such as hold, slow and other things, would work. Harry had been correct, she had indeed been able to reproduce some of the simplest runes, and engrave them into stones the size of her palm, which was actually incredible work for only five hours, as she had joined the others in some of their exercises throughout the day. Harry had praised her for her progress but also warned her that it would only become harder as they went on, especially when they got to full runic arrays rather than one rune effects.

Jean seemed resigned, though inside she felt a bit of excitement at the idea.

Kurt and Evan though both groaned. "We're going to get our butts kicked man!"

That might be, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!" Scott said forcefully. "Now, let's put together a game plan!"

Rogue led off charging forward in an attempt to pin Harry in place, with Kurt and Evan spreading out quickly to either side in an attempt to keep him boxed in. Cyclops fired over Rogues shoulder at full blast hoping to cover their charge as Jean did the same. Kitty was nowhere to be seen, though given her power that really didn't mean much.

Harry charged forward, ducking under Scott's beams and surprisingly closing the range between his starting point and Rogue. The southern belle jerked to a halt but her gauntlet covered fist lashed out in a roundhouse. Instead of pasting the wizard however it passed right through him. "An Illusion, crap!"

Evan and Kurt turned, but Harry was already by Kurt, a spell lashing out. "Rifela!" The spell caught Kurt right in the chest throwing him back with a cry of pain as to the others it seemed as if a bullet had drilled right through him.

The Danger Room blandly announced. "Nightcrawler, mission kill."

The others all stopped and stared as Kurt fell to the ground, then was held there by the tractor beams that were everywhere in the Danger Room. "Wh-what the?" Scott said in shock then he shouted "There's something wrong with the program! Abort session!"

Harry didn't stop, and suddenly the ground came alive beneath them all, forming spires fists and feet that attacked all the others. "There's nothing wrong with the program, we upped the realism as much as we could. Treat this as real people or you're all going down, and this time I won't use any of my healing potions on you!"

Evan and the others gulped looking at Kurt's body on the ground, then their faces firmed and they began to fight back in earnest.

Evan started to throw spears at Harry with one hand while Rogue backed him up while across from them Scott fired while Jean performed defense, both her and Rogue ripping apart the fists and tendrils coming out of the ground.

Harry conjured up other beasts and lions, as well as one massive metal wall, which took the brunt of the combined attacks. Harry threw another spell into the air and suddenly it exploded like the sun, blinding all the X-men. They kept firing blindly, But Harry was already moving. His next shot changed the ground back to normal then made it so slippery that none of them were able to keep their feet. A overpowered "Reducto" shot out, smashing Rogue into the air and a Leviosa kept her there to be neatly struck in the neck by a cutting curse. She shouted in pain as the spell struck but swiftly the pain knocked her out as the Danger Room covered her with the image of what the cutting curse could have done, removing her head in a geyser of gore, as despite her new endurance she had not gained any magical resistance. "Rogue, mission kill."

Again the others stopped and stared, but this time Kitty showed up, using one of her stones with the runes for a holding field to try and take Harry out. She was barely an inch away from placing it on him when he teleported away, appearing right behind her. "Nice try Curly-cat! Fulgur!" The blast of lightening smashed out and impacted her and once again Kitty went down due to a lightning attack.

She hadn't felt much pain due to Harry barely powering the spell, but her friends all saw her smoking corpse. The hologram technology of the danger room was truly advanced. "Shadowcat, mission kill."

Evan snarled and pulled out two blades from his hands then charged forward, trying to catch Harry before he could teleport away, but a simple tripping spell at his feet followed by a bombarda took him out of the fight as he had forgotten to cover himself in his bone armor, a egregious mistake that cost him dearly. "Spyke, mission kill."

Scott, who had felt the impact of the blinding attack more than the others, finally got his eyesight back in time to see Jean charge forward in a corona of telekinetic power. Harry shot out a protego maximo which took and refracted Scott's eyebeams back to him, but he simply absorbed the power and kept firing his beam more powerfully than before. Harry ducked and then set several dozen conjured beasts at him to keep him busy before turning his full attention on Jean.

He dodged her initial blasts and retaliated with several cutting curses, which she blocked or deflected away. She moved her head just enough to dodge one and finally landed a blast on Harry that caught him in the chest, smashing the air out of him and throwing him away as a thin cut appeared on her cheek.

Scott killed the last of the beasts and tried to immediately follow up firing after him but Harry recovered quickly, shooting out a spell based off of Fred and George's Peruvian Darkness Powder, making a massive amount of black smoke that blinded Scott and Jean. Before Jean could figure out how to push the darkness away Harry closed the distance, and a conjured knife slammed into Scott's chest. "Cyclops, mission kill."

The darkness dissipated and Jean hammered Harry away across the room with another tk blast. Harry shook his head and got up none the worse for wear thanks to his reinforced Magia Erebea. Jean smirked a little, excitement rising in her for some reason as she wiped away the bit of blood on her cheek with her finger, completely forgetting for a moment the sight of her downed comrades. "You know, out of that little food fight this morning I don't think the two of us have ever really fought one another, not since you first showed up."

Harry smirked a little, forgetting the purpose of this exercise, his eyes beginning to crackle with magical power. "You know what Red, I think you're right."

"Nor is that going to happen now." Charles said firmly. Jean frowned at that but Charles went on, a little leery about letting the powerful telekinetic and magic user fight, afraid Harry might blurt something out in the heat of the moment. "This exercise was not an excuse for you to simply beat on one another like children, but for you and the others to actually learn something Jean."

The grass and the rest of the simulation faded and the 'dead' began to rise, freed from the hold of the system's numerous tractor beams. Rogue found herself lowered to the ground easily and she shook her head, touching her neck right above her armor where the cutting curse had impacted. She muttered to Kurt, who had regained his feet as Harry brought her down out of the side of her mouth, "That was really disturbing sugah."

"Truly," he muttered back. "Seeing a large hole straight through your own body was…. Brrr."

"That was the point of the exercise," Harry informed them. "You all need to know that there is no do over, there is no retry in a real battle. Those corpses could well have been real." A shudder went through all the X-men, both at that idea and at Harry's far away eyes. "I don't want any of you to feel the pain of losing a comrade, this is a serious business, and if you're too far gone, even if I'm right there my potions and spells won't help. I wanted you all to see how bad it could get."

They all nodded seriously and he went on. "So I want you all to start thinking up new ways of using your powers, getting stronger and working as a team on your own time and this time every night we will have you all fight me or the simulations until you can win as a team. And every time I'm going to use different tactics and spells, to get you used to fighting different types of powers. And this program will be there every night to show you the price of failing. Understand?" They all looked at one another, but nodded. From then on the session became much more serious, but the X-men could feel themselves getting stronger.

That was how the next few days went before spring break ended. The X-men would work out with Logan (Scott, Evan and Kurt) Harry (Kitty) and Ororo (Rogue and Jean) during the day then would spend two hours with Harry. The first hour would be full on combat either against him or a large group of robots that would each use a random set of three of the spells he had so far shown. When they went down the same thing occurred to them that happened to the X-men when they did; the dead robot or team member was covered with a hologram showing their corpse. The second hour they would talk about ways to work better as a team, and Harry would help them correct the mistakes they made in the exercises.

Harry's project to figure out the properties of Juggernauts armor had hit a dead end, he just didn't have the sensors or magical items to analyze it. He had designed a few but for now he had to leave it. His other little projects though proceeded apace.

The strain between Harry and Charles became more and more pronounced every day that went by without Charles speaking to Jean. Nothing was said, but the tension would cause everyone else to leave swiftly whenever the two men were in the same room for long. The kids for the most part were still steering clear but Scott was beginning to push at Harry's authority during their sessions, feeling that whatever the issue was, the professor was in the right.

Jean took him to task about his attitude the Sunday evening before school was going to start as the two of them were walking up to their rooms. "Scott you need to stop pushing Harry, he's the one in charge of our training for a reason, and if he pushes back you won't like what happens."

Scott frowned at her. "You can't tell me you don't feel the tension between them? Potter's obviously done something, and the professor is just too decent to toss him out."

"If that was the case why in the world would he let him continue training us? And why do you think that it has to be something Harry's done? It could just be a difference of opinion about something, like how they argued about how to handle Juggernaut."

Scott frowned, that hadn't actually occurred to him but after a moment he dismissed it. "But still, the professor was right about that, and I think we should show solidarity and back him up. Harry's made no bones about how he will eventually move on after all."

"So what, does that change the fact he's helping us now? No it doesn't and whatever is going on between the professor and Harry is their own affair, not ours." She turned and kept walking toward the girl's wing, but a voice stopped her and she turned, seeing Ororo come out of the solarium, a book in one hand.

"That is a very mature and intelligent attitude to take Jean, and your argument was sound."

Jean shrugged. "It just makes sense to me that's all. I don't know why Scott is trying to make it into a big deal. I don't even know if he believes what he says of if he's just trying to strike back at Harry because he's sort of stolen Scott's thunder. Before Harry arrived Scott led us through a lot of our training exercises. He's also always very critical about Scott's leadership in the team drills."

Not without reason, she had to admit. Scott wasn't very flexible, and he couldn't really handle the chaos of a battlefield that was the natural occurrence when fighting someone like Harry, or dozens of enemies at once. More he clearly plays favorites, always keeping me at the back regardless of the situation. As if I can't tell why he's doing it, I suppose it could be called sweet but I just find it really annoying and rather presumptuous. It's kind of insulting really, as I know I've become one of the teams three big hitters at this point.

"Well I am glad of it nonetheless." Ororo looked at the younger girl, seeing her stare off into the distance with an introspective look on her face. "Is there something else wrong?" Jean sighed, only confirming Ororo's guess. "Would you like to come up to my room and talk about it?" Jean looked at the older woman for a moment then nodded her head.

The two went up to her room and entered Jean looking around with interest. None of the younger set had ever been in Ms. Munroe's room (in fact no one else had been in her room ever, not even Charles or her nephew) and she was very interested to see what it looked like. The room was dominated by a large circular futon instead of the normal bed, draped with several furs. Along one wall was a bookshelf filled with books, mostly language books and classics, made of dark wood next to a dresser of the same wood while on the other was a large painting of what Jean supposed was the Serengeti, and on either side was a picture of her family. Next to a picture of her and Evan were three diplomas, all bachelors of languages. The back of the room was a wall to wall window, wide open to let in as much of the air as possible, and a small tree sat in a pot right next to the door. On the floor was a very fine afghan rug. All in all the room gave the impression of both refined intelligence and a certain wild barbarity. Jean found this room told her more about Ms. Munroe than she had learned in the last year living with her, and she was a little humbled at being welcomed into it.

She sat on the floor and was surprised that the older woman sat on the floor as well instead of on the bed. This made them much more like equals though, something that flattered Jean quite a bit. After all, Ms. Munroe routinely beat both her and Rogue in their spars and she was a teacher and older to boot. "Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong. Unless you would like some tea, in which case I'd have to go over to my arboretum to retrieve my tea service." Ororo smirked a little. "I thought that it wouldn't be nearly as good as Harry's."

Jean shook her head in response, running one hand through her red hair as she thought of how to begin. "Have you ever, have you ever felt as if you were being pulled this way and that, stretched and yet at the same time as if you're being forced into a mold, something you are rapidly growing out of?"

Ororo smiled a little. "I wouldn't put it like that but I know what you mean. You have your duties as an X-man, your schoolwork, and your boyfriend all making demands on your time. And you are also growing as a person, but aren't certain where that growth is taking you, correct?" Jean gaped at her astonished and the black woman laughed for a moment, though a sudden peal of thunder made her stop and recompose herself. Jean frowned, feeling sorry for the other woman, hoping the Harry was making progress in his ward for her.

Storm went on. "Suffice to say I have felt like that a time or two. I felt pulled between a desire to leave and find myself, to see the world beyond the tribes that worshiped me, and to stay and continue to be seen as their weather goddess because it was the life i knew. And when my powers first awakened, let us say that I broke the mold I was in then. Being a thief and low on the totem pole of a gang and able to manipulate the weather just did not go together. And that doesn't consider the mold I was forced into when gaining full control of my powers or when I was at college. The question is why are you feeling this way now? I realize you've gotten far stronger in the use of your powers, but that can't be the only reason can it?"

Jean shook her head. "No, though my new control of my telepathy is part of it. I always had to be the best for my parents, but lately I've been wondering if that was ever for me as well, or simply what others expected of me. My being an X-man is important to me, but at the same time I, I don't want to be important just as Marvel Girl, but as Jean Grey, and I, I don't know if the others can see it. I just seem to be growing, not just in powers but in other ways, and I'm no longer certain what I want out of life, and I don't like the fact that there's this assumption that we'll always be here, that being an X-man will be the main thing in my life. It's important but…."

She realized she was rambling but that was sort of the point in and of itself really. She had been making headway in organizing her mind via occlumency, but while that had helped her keep other peoples thoughts out, it hadn't helped in controlling her own and she had found herself thinking about the future more and more, and wondering where the hell she was going to be when high school ended, and hating the fact that Scott, Charles and everyone else just assumed that they would all still be here, unchanging.

This was in fact a normal occurrence when organizing your mind via occlumency: you suddenly were able to think clearer, to notice things you have never noticed before, and in a way you come to understand yourself to a far better degree. Hermione found out she had been slowly moving away from her parents in their second year, and moved swiftly to stop this, and that a few of her friends in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had simply been using her for her smarts rather than true friends. Harry too had discovered something about himself, that being he hadn't yet moved past his abandonment issues and other problems caused by his childhood with the Dursleys. Of course in this case it wasn't just Jean herself that was being effected, but she didn't know that, nor did anyone else.

Ororo looked at her for a moment, smiling internally. Ah, one of the little ones wants to spread her wings in more ways than one, lovely. She was always in favor of growth. "And going back to school tomorrow, with all of your obligations there, it brought it all to a head."

Jean sighed, leaning against the remarkably soft side of the bed behind her. "Yes. I'm part of the cheerleader squad, and I find the idea starting up practice again with them unappealing now." For more than one reason she thought grimly, remembering some of the thoughts, emotions and angst of the other girls. Even her best friend had some thoughts that disturbed her. "And after that I'll have my place as captain of the soccer team starting in a few weeks after the football season ends, and then there's my boyfriend."

Who I haven't thought of even calling despite being back in town this entire week, she thought rather morosely. It wasn't that Duncan was a bad person, he was just a typical male teen, with all that entailed, and she had begun to see his bad points far more, unable to hide from her own memories of his bullying attitude, his lack of empathy (something he shared with Scott she knew, and briefly thought of pointing that out to them both to see their reaction to sharing something) and his bigoted ways against anyone different from the norm.

If I'm nothing else, I am not normal, nor would I want to be. I want to be extraordinary! And I have no idea how he would react to that. "That's part of why I want so desperately to learn to fly under my own power, because it gives me a semblance of freedom and I can imagine travelling the world seeing new and interesting things." She suddenly shot a grin at the older woman, "Use some of those language lessons you've hammered into us."

"You could always quit both teams" Ororo suggested. "And perhaps we could figure out a trip over the summer, just to get away, see a bit of the world. That would be most fun and a learning experience for all of you I think. Jean smiled at the thought, snuggling happily against the side of Ororo's bed. I have got to get something like this for my room! "That would be lovely, though just talking about it has helped a little. Thanks for listening Ms. Munroe."

Ororo smiled. "I think you should start to call me Ororo outside of lessons. And that is what I am here for my dear, if you ever want to talk you know where to find me, just remember to knock hmm?" Jean laughed and the conversation turned to other things, and the two talked together for several more hours.

The next day was Monday, and the kids went back to school, some with irritation, some with anticipation and others with eagerness. Evan was looking forward to using his new mad skills to hammer any of the brotherhood that tried to start anything, even Scott was feeling a little grimly anticipatory at the idea. Kitty was happy to be seeing her non-X-ish friends. Rogue and Jean were both irritated for different reasons. Jean was leery about being around her boyfriend and other friends, wondering how she would react to them given her new thoughts and feelings about them. Rogue was worried about controlling her strength. It hadn't gone down at all, and judging from the tests Charles ran, it seemed to be permanent, something that made her happy, but also made her worried about controlling it.

The breakfast meal was dominated by Kurt, Evan, Kitty and Scott as usual, while Jean made small talk with Ororo and Charles and Logan talked about some kind of weapons package Logan wanted to add to the X-jet.

No one noticed that Harry hadn't sat down to eat with them until he suddenly popped up right behind Ororo's seat. "Hey Ororo, I have a present for you."

Ororo turned slightly then stilled as she felt his hands on her shoulders, a gentle touch that made her turn her head back forward. Harry began to gather and move her hair to the side to bare her neck a gesture that, while not sexual was certainly sensual and sent a shiver of pleasure through her. She closed her eyes into mere slits, trying to control herself and not effect the weather around her. It had been so long since she had allowed herself the touch of another person…

She was brought back to the here and now when Jean gasped from across from her and she felt a slight weight settle just below her neck. Ororo opened and looked down to see a golden necklace composed of small quarter inch gold links (made by melting galleons together) and centered on a large diamond (taken from some of his family's jewelry he had brought with him). It seemed to sparkle with an inner light and she turned to stare at Harry, her eyes filled with hope. "Ha-Harry, is this what I think it is?"

Harry's answering grin threatened to split his face, reminding a few of the kids of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Yep, I finished it last night. The trouble was to make the runes small enough to all fit on one item of jewelry, and to only block your subconscious connection not your powers entirely. That was a bit of an issue, and why I had you testing so many arrays the past few days. Still the final product is mmh…"

He was interrupted by the exuberant African woman jumping to her feet and kissing him fiercely on the lips. As the others looked on with various emotions ranging from happiness, shock and amusement to a gathering rage the kiss deepened for several moments, Harry's arms going around her waist as her own went around him.

It was about to involve tongues when Evan finally lost his temper and jumped to his feet, shooting a few bone knives out at Harry. "God-damnit stop necking with my aunt you perverted bastard!"

Harry broke the lip lock and simply waved his hand a 'Protego' knocking the knives away easily. Ororo however simply giggled and ran outside to see a clear day, no winds, no reaction at all from her emotional storm and she began to laugh aloud and shot into the air, a fierce joy filling her at finally being able to use her powers without worrying about even a momentary loss of control could do. She swooped into her room and changed into her X-man uniform. She grabbed a pair of headphones and some music then shot back out of the room, intending to enjoy her day to the fullest.

Harry smirked a little as laughter began around the table. "Huh I guess she likes it." He nodded to Rogue and she looked at him with hope in her eyes. "Your ward is next, though I won't say how long it will take, it'll be a little more difficult alas." Rogue nodded and the breakfast broke up as the students went their separate ways to prepare for school.

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