Marvel/HP: A Third Path to the Future

Harry woke up early the next morning, as was his wont. It was both a holdover from his days with the Dursleys and the fact he'd kipped out so early. By the clock next to the bed, it had been barely five in the afternoon when he collapsed. Once he could open his eyes, he immediately looked down at his hand. When he didn't see the ring wand there, he smiled.

So, it wasn't all a dream. Good, I would've been a bit worried if it was. It might have made me question my sanity. This was a joke, of course. Harry knew full well he wasn't quite sane anymore, not after five years traveling the Negative Zone. Still, it hadn't seemed to do anything negative to him just yet.

He glanced up at the headboard and not seeing Hedwig there, shrugged, and got up. He transfigured a fresh set of clothing from the bed sheet and dressed. Following the directions Reed had given him, he took the elevator down and found his way to the kitchen but was surprised to see he wasn't the first one up.

Wyatt looked up as he entered and nodded cordially to the man he had been introduced to last night. "Morning. You're up early, aren't you Harry?"

Harry waved at the Native American, making his way over to the fridge, "I could say the same to you, or is that part of the deal? You cook them breakfast and they don't charge you rent?" He said it jokingly, unsure of Wyatt's relationship to the Fantastic Four, other than Johnny saying he was a friend from college.

Wyatt laughed. "No, I get up to go running in the morning. Around here it's always best to run before the crowds are out."

"I might join you for that. I'd like to get in shape without having to rely on, you know, not eating and letting my magic sustain me. This is sort of a second chance at life, after all. It behooves me to make the most of it. I've far too many to live for to do anything else."

Wyatt sat sipping his tea. He had learned to like tea over coffee from his martial arts masters, and it gave him time to think. Harry wasn't quite what he had expected from the descriptions he had gotten from Johnny and the others. "So, if this is a second life, does that mean you believe in reincarnation?"

"I don't believe in much, not anymore. Religion wasn't really talked about in the Wizarding World, and the Dursleys were Christian, but sure as hell never acted the way that religion said they should."

"Wizarding World? Everyone in your world could do magic?" Wyatt asked curiously. Johnny had said something about him being an exile from a civil war…

"No, the Wizarding World was sort of apart from the mundane world, and so backward and old fashioned, it wasn't even funny. The purebloods, those who were in power, and thought they were better because they could trace their magic back yada yada, liked it that way because it kept them in power. Of course, some of the sods thought that wasn't enough and wanted magicals to rule over mundanes. That was the group I fought, though, I suppose I should have been fighting the powers that be, too." Harry shook his head.

"Hmmm," So, he wasn't part of the status quo, but more a counter terrorist to an extremist group; still, a good cause at least. "My own people have some magic, based on calling spirits and using their powers for various effects. And Agatha has her own powers; thought projection, shielding, and so forth. They're quiet about it, but there isn't a separate society for magic users here. What was this Wizarding World like in the States, do you know?"

"I know they weren't exactly important; just the opposite, in fact. Funny really, considering that America in this world, and in mine, was the world superpower in the mundane world." He raised an eyebrow, and Wyatt nodded, indicating he was correct that it was indeed that way here, as well. Only Russia and China were in the same league, and neither could project power as easily as America could.

"Well, magically America wasn't a united nation, but three warring states. The Cheyenne United Tribes was one of them, and then south and north something or other, not America, some strange acronym. They were barely talked about, outside of derisive jokes in the UK. But I wonder why magic is so open here. You and the Fantastic Four shouldn't even know about it at all, not that I care of course, but it means there aren't any rules or overarching control. That could be good or bad. And one thing I know for certain is that there weren't any heroes, at least of the 'superpowered' nature in my world!"

"Huh, well, there aren't that many heroes, though, there are rumors of some more appearing lately. Johnny and his family are the only group of heroes currently, though I remember hearing stories growing up about the super soldier, Captain America."

"Captain America," Harry said, shaking his head, "how…unoriginal."

Wyatt shrugged, not wanting to admit the Captain had been one of his childhood heroes growing up on the reservation. "Well, what are you going to do with this new life you've been given? With your powers you could certainly be a hero. I imagine you could join the team, make it the Fantastic Five."

Harry shook his head, chuckling. "Being a hero isn't for me, and besides, I don't want my powers to define me. A person's powers shouldn't define him. You are defined by your choices. I want to make a difference, but not just with my powers, with my mind as well."

Wyatt nodded, smiling at the sentiment, one he strongly believed in as well. The two continued to chat as Harry cooked breakfast, discussing what Wyatt knew of history, with Harry nodding at the parts he remembered from his world. Harry did the cooking completely by hand, except at the end, where he waved his hand over the meal and then towards the door of the kitchen. Wyatt looked at him quizzically, but Harry just smirked.

The smell of pancakes and bacon began to waft into everyone's bedrooms, and soon Susan, carrying Franklin, and followed by the others, came in sniffing the air appreciatively. "What is that marvelous smell? Oh, Harry, you didn't need to cook for us, you know."

"Just a small show of my appreciation, Mrs. Richards," Harry replied, bowing grandly. "I'm used to cooking anyway and, despite the reasons for that, I do enjoy it."

Johnny and Ben sat down and immediately began to fight over the pancakes until Harry waved a hand and the plate with them on moved out of reach. "Manners, gentlemen!"

"An interesting, and rather childish display of power, boy." An old creaky voice sounded from the doorway. Harry turned to see an old woman, straight and proud still, face lined with age, with gray hair turning full white in places. She wore clothing that wouldn't have been out of place in the Wizarding World. Her deep, sharp, and intelligent eyes were locked on Harry.

Harry shrugged. "It seemed more efficient than yelling at them. You must be Ms. Harkness, Mr. Richards and the others mentioned you." He pulled up a seat himself, after conjuring a baby chair for Franklin, getting a thank you from Susan, who put the baby in his seat, and began to eat herself. The baby promptly began to make a mess of his food

"I am, and I have to wonder where you have come from to possess magic like that." Agatha's eyes narrowed further; conjuration without a magic circle or even a spoken spell was very advanced magic. She knew only a few magic users who could do that.

"Well, I have questions for you, too. Could we sit down and swap stories after breakfast?" Agatha nodded agreeably, and Harry turned to Ben, who was reaching for an untended plate or bacon. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you."

Ben looked at him, his craggy features confused, but, just then, Hedwig flew down to land next to the plate, and immediately reached down to snag a rasher of the precious substance.

"That's why." Harry said. "So, am I forgiven Hedwig?" Hedwig turned her head all the way around to look at him, then precked softly and went back to her meal. "That's good."

Susan shook her head. "You're quite owl-pecked, aren't you Harry?" Harry shrugged but didn't deny it. "By the way, did you have enough clothing in that magic trunk of yours?"

"I actually didn't have any clothing in my trunk. It's full of… Well, a lot of other stuff really, books, seeds from magical plants for potions ingredients, plans for runic arrays, ward stones, and gold, lots of gold. I figure that can help me get started here. I'll probably need an ID of some kind though."

"I don't suppose your luggage has legs, does it?" Wyatt asked whimsically.

Harry's eyebrows rose at the odd question. "No, I just shrink it and put it in a pocket if I want to carry it with me."

"Don't mind Wyatt; he's a major Terry Pratchett fan," Johnny said laughing. "Though the idea of living luggage that can eat your enemies is one even I find kind of funny."

"Okay, you've grabbed my interest. I take it this Terry Pratchett writes fantasy novels?"

"You're British and you've never heard of Terry Pratchett?" Wyatt gasped.

"I'm British and have never even seen the ocean," Harry replied glibly, though everyone else looked at him in a little shock. "So, explain it to me."

"Well then, why don't we go shopping in a few hours, after your discussion with Agatha? We can get you some clothing, show you a bit of the city, get you used to the world, and show you some of the books Wyatt likes so much. You didn't bring any of them with you, did you, Wyatt?" Wyatt shook his head.

The Invisible Woman nodded. "That sounds like a plan, okay?" Harry nodded agreeably, but all the other men replied that they had other things to do today, thanking their lucky stars that was the case. Harry, however, had no idea what he was in for.

OOOOOOO

Harry spent an informative two hours discussing the differences in magical history from his old world to the current one with Agatha. During this discussion they came to some tentative conclusions. For one thing, magic here could be broken into three categories: invocation, manipulation, and the use of magical items. Some items could be used by normal people, and normal people could learn invocation.

There were some items, however, that Agatha knew of that you had to have a magical core to use. Manipulation of the world around you without invocations or calling on mystical entities for aid was something only those with a magical core could do. The size of that core impacted what a magic user could or could not do without invocation.

Harry's core was, in Agatha's mind, monstrously huge. She had only seen the like in one or two other magic users in her lifetime, and one of them was the Sorcerer Supreme. Nor did Harry use invocation at all and was incredibly leery about the entire idea of calling on mystical entities for aid. He had no wish to use random magical items, though he could, of course, create them. His crisis suit was one such, and he had plans to make more in the future. After all, Annihilus might be only the first of many to target Franklin to get back at the Fantastic Four for their past deeds.

Agatha was surprised at what she learned and was oscillating wildly between being impressed and extremely unimpressed by the Wizarding World. Some of the things they could do with their power, like the wards and specific spells, were fascinating, but the society, the greed, the elitism, and the lack of advancement appalled her, as did Harry's own history. Even given in brief, it was enough to make her want to talk to this Dumbledore person who dared call himself an educator.

After that, Susan took Harry out to shop for some new clothing. Agatha still wasn't up for watching Franklin, but Reed had decided he would be watching his son for the day, something that put another little smile on Susan's face. That promised good things for Reed, which put an almost goofy smile on his own face.

Harry learned firsthand the horrors of shopping, something he had been able to avoid up till now, but still had fun, despite the trip going on for far longer than it should have. The utter and complete newness of everything he was seeing, from the weather, fair and hot, something he wasn't used to, to the technology he was seeing. The CD players were fantastic, as well as the computers, though Susan said they had far better back in the Baxter building. At that point, Harry vowed to spend as long as possible catching up on the technology as fast as he could. He was going to need it eventually. Already Harry was thinking of the future, and what he wanted to do with his life.

Harry didn't notice the glances he was getting from girls and women of all ages, as Susan led him from shop to shop. His green eyes were incredibly striking, his face was thin and sculpted, and his body thin with wiry strength, all of which made him excellent eye candy for the girls around him.

They finally decided on a wardrobe based around jeans and t-shirts, along with a leather jacket that Harry loved at first sight. He refused to allow Mrs. Richards to choose his underwear though, which earned him a chuckle, but he did allow her to choose a few dress shirts and pants for him, as well as a good jacket.

When they arrived back at the Baxter Building, Ben was just leaving. "Hey fellas, you get the kid enough clothing, Sue? Glad ya' didn't try to buy out the store this time."

"Hush you," Sue laughed, "Are you off to see Alicia?"

"Heh, yep, I wanna' ask her out fer a date this weekend," Ben nodded.

Harry grinned, "You go, big man. I was thinking of making a protective amulet for Franklin. If you've got a significant other, I'll do the same for her, if you want. Just tell me what kind of jewelry she wears."

"What will this protective amulet do?" Susan asked, while Ben was coping with the idea that someone might target Alicia because of his relationship with her. He had been so worried about being worthy of her as he was, with his rocky skin and immense strength that he didn't always control, that the idea someone else might hurt her to get to him came at him out of the blue.

"Well, that depends on how much you want them to do. I could make one that creates a shield around the wearer to protect him or her from harm, much like your own shields, Mrs. Richards, but I was also thinking of a Portkey, what you would call teleportation jewelry, which will activate and teleport the wearer to a predetermined safe point, if attacked by someone."

"I think that would be excellent for Franklin, we can set the safe point as the Baxter building for now." Susan smiled happily. Annihilus' attack on her son had really rattled her, and this sounded like a fantastic solution. Ben nodded too, looking thoughtful, then waved goodbye, and left the building.

The rest of that first day, Harry spent looking up what he needed to know and what he wanted to do to create the amulet of protection for Franklin.

It turned out Reed was doing the same thing, in his own way, creating a stuffed bear companion for his son that had a tracking device and a few other offensive toys built into it. It had limited intelligence but was programmed to engage on the sight of anyone pointing anything resembling a weapon at Franklin. Reed just hoped it would be enough, though he was also worried about the powers he saw manifesting in his son.

Harry was able to present the worried parents with the finished amulet the very next day, in the form of a small baby watch. Though, if you opened it up, you would see it was plain metal inside with several runic arrays embedded in the metal. In the end, the defensive array was much like the one embedded in his crisis suit, consisting of two shields, one under the other, which would hopefully be able to turn most weapons.

This turned out to be the case when Reed fired a laser at a dummy wearing the watch. Everyone was pleased to see that it worked. Harry went back to work and created another small bracelet made from a dozen of his galleons. When Ben found out, he wanted to pay Harry back, but Harry waved that off. It wasn't like he didn't have millions of the things after all. Agatha was the only one who was leery of Harry being so open with his talents, but seeing the use he was putting it to, she didn't raise a fuss about it.

OOOOOOO

Harry was as good as his word in other ways. The day after Franklin received his watch, Reed tried to stay several hours in his labs, ironically, going over the information Harry had given him about the Negative Zone, but, as soon as two hours had passed, Harry pranked him. Reed reached down to hit another key, and suddenly his keyboard began to make farting noises with every letter he hit. Reed tried to mute his computer, to no avail, and was forced to concede defeat.

That was the first and last day he tried to spend too much time in the lab as, even replacing the keyboard the next day didn't stop the fart noises, nor did the noises stop at that. After the air siren sound came out from the keyboard, he gave up. This pleased his wife no end, and, eventually, Reed as well, giving him more time with his son and wife.

Nor was he the only one to feel the sting of Harry's pranks. Ben accidentally smashed the breakfast table during an argument, and, suddenly, his meals started to taste like ashes. It went away when he went out and bought another one. Ben didn't complain overmuch as when they went out together, Harry used his power to make the Yancey Street gang, that always tried to get a rise out of him, trip over their own feet whenever they were on the same street.

Johnny, on the other hand, found himself with brown hair rather than blond most days. He and Harry began a mini-prank war that only ended three days later when Susan put her foot down. Susan, as the female authority figure, was not pranked by Harry, nor was Agatha. Wyatt was pranked a few times, but not nearly as often as Johnny or Ben.

For the next week, Harry got used to the technology of this world, and did so at a phenomenal pace, surprising Reed and the others. He also got up every day to run with Wyatt, becoming friends with him, Johnny, and Ben over the week. He also had a few martial arts lessons from the Native American. His over-the-top comments and inability to censor his mouth was funny to all three, though it did, at times, get him into trouble with other people when he went out with Wyatt, Johnny, or Susan.

He even became a decent wingman for Johnny when he went out to party, always able to get him back home, though Harry did extract payment in the form of pranks if Johnny was drunk. Harry didn't meet anyone he was interested in. He didn't really know what he was looking for in a girlfriend, but he didn't find it in the party girls Johnny favored.

The blond was also apparently coming off a forced breakup with his last girlfriend, someone named Crystal, which wasn't doing his own 'mad skills with the birds' any good. In return, Johnny gave him driving lessons, and was astonished by how fast Harry learned. Harry, in fact, became an avid driver and began to look on the internet for the perfect car. He also began to look at the gold market, deciding how to use the massive number of galleons he had, and where to do it.

However, after a week, Harry had a meeting that would change his life, and the future of the world forever.

OOOOOOO

One evening Harry was lazing about, reading a graphic novel in the bath, still loving the ability to bathe and get clean, when the doorbell to the FF suite rang. Harry ignored it for a moment, thinking the others were around to answer it, and thinking it none of his business. However, that notion was proven false when Ben's loud voice rang out, carrying easily through his room into the bathroom. "Hey, green-eyes, there's someone who wants ta' meet ya' out here."

"If they're looking for the Chosen One, Destined One, or anything like that, tell them to go away!" Harry replied blandly, turning the page on his graphic novel. He was really enjoying this series, though why the hell Johnny was a fan of it was rather strange. Maybe flame boy has hidden depths… nah.

Ben laughed. "Sorry kid, but they ain't callin' ya' anything like that, they just wanna meet ya'."

"Fine, I'll be out in a minute." Harry sighed, and rose, then changed into a loose shirt and a pair of jeans before exiting his room and following Ben to the living room. He stopped at the doorway, staring at the odd trio that was sitting with the FF. One of them was a bald man in a wheelchair. Another was a short man drinking a beer next to Ben, with a very strange hair style and eyes which warned Harry to be wary of him.

The one that drew his attention the most, however, was a black woman with seemingly natural white hair, perfect skin, and a body any woman would cheerfully maim for. Her eyes were a strange pearly color, set into a face that bespoke calm control, but a hint of interest in him, though in what way Harry couldn't say.

Harry felt the first stir of interest and opened his mouth to say something when the bald man beat him to it. "Good evening Mr. Potter, my name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I have something to talk with you about."

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