Harry Potter/X-men: Harry/Hermione & X-men: "Tilt Our World"
Title: Tilt Our World
Fandoms: Harry Potter and X-Men
Pairings: implied Harry/Hermione, Molly/Arthur, implied Cyclops/Rogue & Shadowcat/Nightcrawler
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: Part of the Life as Lily Evans series. Post AU!HP6/7. Mixture of X-Men Evo/Comics/Films.
Summary: Harry and Hermione try and deal with learning about the existence of mutants and what it could mean for their future.
Series Summary: When Lily died as a child, Mystique took her identity. What she didn't know was the fact that Lily was meant for something more.
Notes: Written for galorechallenge prompt Hermione/Harry - magic, investigate, love, friends, newspaper, kiss, protect and for crossovers100 prompt choices. Also my first fic in the xoverland Big Bang challenge. This storyline was suggested by dreamwind83 at xm_hp, however I tweaked some of the details & its grown into a non-stopping series. This is OVER four thousand words. HOLY CRAP BATMAN. Just Holy Crap.
[ ...Table... ]
“Did you really expect a reaction Harry?” Hermione questioned him when he had told her about his day. So far not even a whisper was spoken about the exposure of mutants.
“Yes!” Harry yelled in frustration. “I mean we can’t be the only ones that heard of it! There should at least be something in the Prophet - but nothing!”
“Harry you know the Prophet isn’t completely reliable - even with the changes Shacklebolt did, and maybe we are the only ones in our offices that watched the Muggle news last night. We’ll speak with Arthur and Molly; we’ll see what their reaction is. It’s quite possible that wizards know about mutants. ”
“Hermione - did you know about them?” Harry asked in disbelief, causing her to shake her head.
Hermione sighed softly, Harry had been obsessed about mutants the second they finished watching the segment on the news last night, and she could tell he wouldn’t let go of the subject - not that she really blamed him. The battle scene scared her - she didn’t want another war to happen. That was the last thing both of them wanted to happen. Still, he was almost acting as if this affected him directly. Which, she thought silently to herself, could be possible - the Wizarding World didn’t quite want to let go of their hero - expecting him to be their protector until he really did die. They were more likely to make Harry their front man if they did feel threatened again.
“But that doesn’t mean that other wizards have no knowledge of mutants - it’s a little hard to hide, but maybe it’s just so common that people don’t talk about it-” Harry looked at her in disbelief “-or something like that.”
“I don’t see how - if they knew about them in the first place, wouldn’t they teach students about them? I mean we’ve studied all the other creatures and magical beings at school. Why not mutants?”
“Maybe they were in the books, but just weren’t in the lesson plans,” Hermione argued despite the fact she knew for a fact that they weren’t.
“Hermione, you’ve read those books cover-to-cover more than once - do you really believe you missed that information?”
Hermione sighed in defeat. “Alright - I admit that I did not see any mentions of mutants or anything like them, but it can be quite possible that I missed it. We’ll just have to give a call to Professor McGonagall as well - just in case.”
“Thank you,” Harry said softly, grasping her hands, causing a smile on Hermione’s face for the first time since before the evening news last night.
“Hey, I want to know just as much as you, Harry.”
“I know, but something about this… I don’t know exactly what, but I feel like I need to know more…” Harry explained softly, he wasn’t sure what was driving his obsession with this. Yes he wanted to make sure the Wizarding World stayed out of another war, but that was only half of his reasoning. The other half, he couldn’t explain - just an undeniable need to know.
-
“Mutants? You’re speaking about muggles with special abilities?” Arthur Weasley questioned after Hermione and Harry explained to them about the news happening in the United States. “Well, I had to admit it’s not too hard to believe. I mean it happens quite often through the Wizarding World. I suspect the muggles would also have a few that gain special abilities.”
“What?!” Harry asked, “When does it happen in the Wizarding World?”
“I’ve reread my school books - there were no mentions of them, Mr. Weasley, nor were we ever taught about them in school. How is that you know about mutants?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I knew about mutants - the muggles ones, anyway - but Wizards, yes. You’ve met a few. You-Know-Who was one as well as Tonks just to name two.” Arthur stated, and Molly nodded beside him.
“Anyone that has a special ability that is not performed by magic - such as Parselmouths or Metamorphmagi would be considered to be what muggles call mutants.” Molly explained, “We just don’t generally revolt them, more people respect them for their magical essences being strong enough to have those abilities. Of course, people feared Parselmouths mainly because it’s considered to be a trait passed down the generations through dark wizards. Also the special abilities are not known to be as severe as what you just explained although it was believed that the ancient Greeks gods had been just wizards with special abilities attributing to their strengths and it was why people loved and feared them.”
Hermione stared at Molly in shock before she thought about it. It made sense, in a way, Metamorphmagi nor Parselmouths were common, but have appeared several times through history and she had read several books about the Greek gods having the ability to control certain aspects of nature even greater than any magical spell or potion could.
“So what you’re saying is that it was to be expected that muggles would also have special abilities?” Harry asked, he too thought silently about what Molly and Arthur told them. He had to agree, most of the abilities they had found out about - mainly Parselmouths and Metamorphmagi were rare and it seemed as if the mutants shown in the news were rare as well.
“For the most part, yes, I mean muggles and wizards only have several genetic differences, as Hermione had tested and proved, but yet similar enough to be considered of the same species. It would be kind of expected to believe that there would be muggles with special abilities as well but yet not magical. Although truthfully, they generally hide themselves, especially since the Salem witch trials. I’ve studied the history and I found it quite interesting that it wasn’t until that time that people with special abilities started to keep to themselves or the loss of information about others coming to the attention of wizards.”
“It makes sense,” Hermione whispered softly and Harry glanced over to her. “They feared for their lives, if the muggles had found out about their abilities they would have been hunted and been ‘tried’ for their ‘sins’ and the powers of ‘the devil’. They hid themselves and their abilities from others - even from other wizards - so there wouldn’t be a chance it would backfire on them and get them killed.”
Harry nodded in understanding. It made sense that mutants or wizards with special abilities would hide themselves for those reasons - but then why would they risk it if they had a choice? Now everyone in the Muggle community knew about mutants…
“But shouldn’t the Wizarding World know about this event? It’ll eventually affect us, wouldn’t it?” Harry questioned finally after several minutes in silence. Arthur and Molly let out a sigh of resentment.
“Because, despite the last few years, wizards still think themselves superior to muggles and believe that their wars won’t affect us, Harry.” Arthur started, earning a nod in agreement from Molly. “They probably figure that they’ll sort this out for themselves.”
“This should raise questions from Muggle law enforcements, and people will be more suspicious, of course this will affect us! We’d have to be extra careful in the Muggle world - it’ll make people question their histories… they might have once thought that Merlin and Arthur were stories made up, but they’ll start to think that maybe they were real - that they had abilities. And if mutants are real to them, it’s only a matter of time before they learn of our existence.” Hermione said, her gut instinct was screaming that everything she knew was going to be thrown into a loop again. “Muggle-born parents feel like this - everything they thought was real and what was not are changed when they learn their child is a witch or wizard. They might not learn everything about the world that their child does, but they know that mythical creatures they thought were only fairy tales are actually real now. Everything they knew and believed in changed in an instant.”
“And now muggles know about people with special abilities - it’ll no longer be fantasy for them but fact,” Harry stated softly, Molly and Arthur nodded in agreement with mirroring frowns on their faces.
“You might be right, this will probably affect us, but that doesn’t mean that the Wizarding World is ready to hear it. I don’t think they’re ready to hear it, dear. Even with the ending of the war taking place years ago, it’s still fresh in all our minds, and they’ll want to ignore this as much as they can.” Molly stated in defeat.
Harry shook his head, “I won’t let that happen. They need to know what’s going on or we’ll be locked into another war, this time against people with guns and nuclear power - Magic can only do so much.”
Hermione studied him and nodded in agreement, “I’m sure Luna will let us announce it for the Quibbler.”
“I think you two should speak with the Ministry first, see what he thinks and says. Maybe he’ll back you and the Prophet will run your stories. Not to discourage you, dears, but people still think the Quibbler is just a rubbish tabloid and they’ll more than likely not take you serious.” Molly stated firmly and Arthur nodded in agreement with his wife. Harry and Hermione stared silently at each other before letting a sigh of defeat and nodded towards the couple.
-
They had managed to convince Kingsley Shacklebolt into making the announcement, which they were surprised didn’t actually take a lot of convincing. He had been following the news as well and he feared it would create yet another war - something he wished to avoid at all costs… and he believed that informing their world to be more cautious with dealing with muggles would help that.
The Wizarding World was kept updated about everything dealing with mutants and learned more about wizards and witches with special abilities. The general reaction of the Wizarding public was fear or indifference, since they believed it was that mutants were just another magical species. Some feared for that the muggles would turn this exposure to war that will drag the magical world into it, others believed that they had nothing to fear - that the magic that kept them hidden from the Muggle world would last and keep them from experience any war that would come about.
The calmness that had taken over the Wizarding World after the Second War ended seemed to have disappeared either way. Chaos appeared more prominent now, despite the fact that most people ignored the news.
McGonagall, Hermione learned, feared for the Muggle-born students for the upcoming school year.
“Their parents were confronted with the news that people with abilities existed, probably even questioning their children since they showed certain differences from other children. I’ve seen the news, Hermione, and I fear that some of them won’t be as accepting as they would once be.” Minerva McGonagall explained softly to her former student over their annual monthly tea. She cared deeply for each of her students, even the ones she had yet to meet and fear gripped her hearts as the images of the riots and murders flashed through her mind that she had seen on the television. “We always took a chance in taking in Muggle-borns, Hermione. You never quite know how a person would react to finding out that their child isn’t quite normal or what they believed they were. Now I fear, the anger and confusion will add to the fear… causing them to hate their own children, denounce them or worse.”
Hermione winced at the thoughts that came to her mind. The same idea had occurred to her that it might happen - that this brought danger even to future Muggle-born students. “We just need to protect them, make sure that they aren’t in danger after they receive their letter and get a visit from you or the other professors. You’ve spoken to the Ministry about this, of course?”
“Yes, and he said he’ll have Aurors around them to protect them, just in case… But there is still only so many Aurors that can be spared for this Hermione. And even with the Order’s members, I don’t think it’ll be enough. This year has the highest incoming class in over four hundred years!”
Hermione nodded knowing full well that it had been nearly four hundred years since Hogwarts (or any of the other magical schools) had over five hundred students coming into the school at one time. There usually was no more than three hundred students coming into the schools, but it seemed as if the Wizarding World had its own set of Baby Boomers after the Second War ended.
“You know Harry won’t let anything happen to them… I won’t either, Professor. We’ll find the resources we need to keep them protected.”
Minerva nodded, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, “I know, I know… Just, after everything that’s happened - I don’t want anything to happen to them. I consider them my children, even if I don’t have any of my own; I consider all of you my children… And if I lose any of them, it’ll be like losing a child - I don’t want to feel like that again.”
-
“I’m coming with you,” Hermione stated angrily causing Harry to shake his head and pull her to him.
“No you’re not, Hermione. This time, I need to go by myself; I don’t want you to get hurt. Even if they say that all they want is peace, I’m not going to take the risk.” Harry stated firmly, kissing her on her forehead causing Hermione’s eyes to flutter close at the spark of comfort and pleasure that gesture caused her before she stubbornly pulled away from him. He was not going to distract her…
“I don’t give a bloody care! Who’s going to watch your back? I’ve been in danger more times than I can count, so don’t give me crap that this is different Harry! I won’t let you go by yourself. Where you go, I go!” Hermione shouted, glaring at him. She wanted to hurt Shacklebolt for sending Harry on this mission and letting him go by himself - never before had she felt the need to really shake and throttle him right now. But she couldn’t leave Harry’s side right now, or he’d rush off to America by himself to meet with the mutant team known as the X-men - which happened to be located in New York in a mansion that was mainly a safe haven for mutants of any age as well as a school to help them learn how to control their abilities. Or so a Charles Xavier had explained to Shacklebolt when he learned of its existence. Hermione didn’t know if she believed him or not, just that she would not let Harry go by himself.
“Ron understands that I’m going by myself, why can’t you let me go?” Harry questioned, exhausted with the argument that they had been having since he had informed her of what Shacklebolt learned.
“Because I can’t lose you, Harry…” Hermione admitted angrily, tears were threatening to fall and she stubbornly tried to keep hold of her control. “I won’t. And even if you leave here without me, I’ll be there when you get to the school, Harry. You can’t stop me.”
Harry pulled her back to him, tightly holding onto her causing Hermione do the same as well, burying her head into his chest. “You know, you’re the most stubbornness witch I know…”
“You bet your bloody self I’m stubborn. How else would I get you to do anything?” Hermione softly said to him causing a small smile to appear on his face. He would already do anything she asked, he loved her - but he wished she wasn’t being stubborn about this. He really didn’t want to lose her, which was why he wanted to keep her here - to keep her safe. “It’s my choice, Harry and I’m coming with you.”
“Alright… just please get out of there as soon as you can if something goes wrong?” Harry asked despite the fact that he knew that even if she promised himself that she would, she wouldn’t keep her word - just as he wouldn’t if she had asked him.
-
They took a portkey to New York Wizarding Community and took a cab to Bayville, and took the American version of the ‘Knight Bus’ to the X-Man mansion. The mansion’s main gates opened automatically to them, and they stepped silently through - stopping only when they could see the mansion.
And now they stood in front of what used to be Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Both Hermione and Harry instantly remembered the fire and ruins that Hogwarts had been after the war… and it chilled them to see the scene so familiar even though the fires were clearly gone now and rebuilding was already started.
After a moment of studying the mansion, Hermione glanced up at Harry. “Ready?”
“Yeah, we’d better go - they’re expecting us.” Harry said, although he still hesitated in leaving the spot.
“Harry?”
“Right,” He took her hand and squeezed it quickly before letting go and started the walk to the front door of the mansion.
-
“You must be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger,” Charles Xavier said in greeting with a large smile. Harry and Hermione politely smiled back. So far, they didn’t see any danger - or traps. Xavier shook his head sadly, “You have nothing to fear from us, we don’t want to hurt anyone. What we do here, at the school, is to help the students learn how to control their special abilities-”
“To fight in a war!” Harry said loudly - he already seen several of the students that had been in the news.
“We teach them to defend themselves, should anyone attack them, but more than anything we teach them to defend themselves without hurting the enemies with long lasting effects.” Xavier calmly stated, before glancing up to Hermione who silently studied him as well. “But yes, I have also taught the X-men part of my student body about defending themselves in a war, which will come thanks to other mutants that destroy, steal and kill causing more humans to fear us and more reason to create Sentinels.”
Hermione quickly cut off any retort Harry was going to make with a hand on his arm. “Harry, let’s just try and get to know their story? It’s nothing like we haven’t already done.” Harry let out a sigh of defeat before silently nodding; remembering he too had created a secret army to fight against Voldemort - something that ended up saving several of his friends because of what they learned in the class.
“Would you enjoy a tour of the building? There are still a few sections that are off limits thanks to the reconstruction, but most of the rooms are done.” Xavier questioned, hopefully.
“That’ll be fine, but I was really hopeful to actually speak to several of the students, if you didn’t mind of course?” Hermione asked pulling Harry along as Xavier began rolling down the hall in his wheelchair. It was no Hogwarts, but unlike the Malfoy manor, this mansion or school was beautiful and warm, very inviting. Hermione wouldn’t mind staying here for a while, that was for sure.
“I don’t mind as long as the students don’t mind, I’ve told them about you and several were quite interested in meeting with you.” Xavier explained as they entered the library. Hermione let out a gasp out how large it was… It wasn’t as large as she might have wished, but the library was beautiful. Several couches and a few tables filled the room out with plenty of desk space for research and with plenty of places to comfortably sit with a good book. At the sight of Hermione’s enjoyment of the room, Xavier smiled at her. “Feel free to take and read any book you find here - I’m sure you’ll both find something interesting.”
A smile appeared on Harry’s face as he took in Hermione’s lightened mood and clear excitement at the prospect to read. “I’m sure Hermione will take you up on that offer - enough that you’ll get tired of it.”
Hermione turned around and glared at him, causing Xavier to chuckle in amusement. “I’m sure it’ll be a real pleasure to have Hermione visit the library.”
Before Hermione could say her thanks, several people entered the room. Several of them they remembered seeing on the news a few weeks ago, there were a couple that they didn’t remember seeing.
“Ah, and this is my team and my prized students, the X-Men.” Charles stated with a large grin on his face. His students, the X-Men, smiled and nodded their heads at the witch and wizard but looked tensed.
The man with red-tinted glasses looked like the most tensed person in the room beside the gothic-looking girl with white stripes in her hair who stood with her arms crossed right next to him. A shorter girl grinned in happiness while the black-haired boy who stood next to her waved with a small smile. The older darker woman with long white hair stood in the back, behind her students and teammates, with a small tentative smile on her face. A red head smiled at them but stood tentatively beside the older woman.
“This is Scott Summers,” Charles introduced pointing out the man with the red shades. Harry remembered the news showing what exactly came out of his eyes and wondered if the teen needed to have the red shades to control his ability or if he just liked red. “Rogue,” Charles said with an encouraging smile to his frowning student. Harry and Hermione’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity of the odd name for the girl, and wondered why she was so covered in clothing during the heat of the summer. “Kitty Pryde and Kurt Wagner,” The brunette girl bobbled excitedly and Hermione remembered that she was the one that was able to move through solid objects. The boy next to her, neither Hermione nor Harry recognized him but he seemed friendly enough. “Ororo Monroe,” The older woman nodded in greeting and they recognized her instantly from the scene of her flying over the battle. “And this is Jean Grey.” The red head smiled brightly, moving closer to them showing that she clearly trusted them. Neither Hermione nor Harry remembered seeing her in the news, but the news hadn’t shown everything or they might have seen Rogue, Kurt, or Jean at the battle.
“Hermione Granger,” Hermione introduced herself softly, smiling to the group that stood beside her before glancing over to Harry.
“Harry Potter,” Harry stated and felt oddly that no one seemed to react to his name. It had been so long since that happened that he felt relieved but unsure at the same time. He was used to people making a great deal about his name or him in particularly if he was in a room. He hated it, despite what the others might think, but he had grudgingly gotten used to it.
“Excellent, now I believe you wanted to ask questions, and I must say we have a few of our own about you. I’ve met a few wizards and witches over the years, but definitely none of your class.” Charles stated, and had he clapped his hands in excitement or had a twinkle in his eyes, Harry could have almost mistaken him for Dumbledore, which oddly calmed him - knowing that Charles was like Dumbledore but it amused him more than anything.
Hermione pulled out her notebook and pen with a large grin, before sitting down and gestured for everyone else in room to follow her lead. “Let’s get started!”
Surprisingly, everyone, including the tensed Scott and Rogue sat down at the couch in front of Hermione, or grabbed a chair to sit down. Harry quietly sat down beside his friend and silently wondered how exactly his life was going to change because of this moment.
THE END.
A/N: I'm thinking about changing the series title as something else (don't know yet, any suggestions welcome), but I'm not completely sure since this series has been taken over by being mainly about Harry right now.... although I will eventually do more past Raven/James years and more dealing with Raven in general... ANYWAY, please tell me what you think I should do - rename it or keep as is and if I should change it, change it to what??
Thanks so much!
Read the sequel
Fandoms: Harry Potter and X-Men
Pairings: implied Harry/Hermione, Molly/Arthur, implied Cyclops/Rogue & Shadowcat/Nightcrawler
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: Part of the Life as Lily Evans series. Post AU!HP6/7. Mixture of X-Men Evo/Comics/Films.
Summary: Harry and Hermione try and deal with learning about the existence of mutants and what it could mean for their future.
Series Summary: When Lily died as a child, Mystique took her identity. What she didn't know was the fact that Lily was meant for something more.
Notes: Written for galorechallenge prompt Hermione/Harry - magic, investigate, love, friends, newspaper, kiss, protect and for crossovers100 prompt choices. Also my first fic in the xoverland Big Bang challenge. This storyline was suggested by dreamwind83 at xm_hp, however I tweaked some of the details & its grown into a non-stopping series. This is OVER four thousand words. HOLY CRAP BATMAN. Just Holy Crap.
[ ...Table... ]
“Did you really expect a reaction Harry?” Hermione questioned him when he had told her about his day. So far not even a whisper was spoken about the exposure of mutants.
“Yes!” Harry yelled in frustration. “I mean we can’t be the only ones that heard of it! There should at least be something in the Prophet - but nothing!”
“Harry you know the Prophet isn’t completely reliable - even with the changes Shacklebolt did, and maybe we are the only ones in our offices that watched the Muggle news last night. We’ll speak with Arthur and Molly; we’ll see what their reaction is. It’s quite possible that wizards know about mutants. ”
“Hermione - did you know about them?” Harry asked in disbelief, causing her to shake her head.
Hermione sighed softly, Harry had been obsessed about mutants the second they finished watching the segment on the news last night, and she could tell he wouldn’t let go of the subject - not that she really blamed him. The battle scene scared her - she didn’t want another war to happen. That was the last thing both of them wanted to happen. Still, he was almost acting as if this affected him directly. Which, she thought silently to herself, could be possible - the Wizarding World didn’t quite want to let go of their hero - expecting him to be their protector until he really did die. They were more likely to make Harry their front man if they did feel threatened again.
“But that doesn’t mean that other wizards have no knowledge of mutants - it’s a little hard to hide, but maybe it’s just so common that people don’t talk about it-” Harry looked at her in disbelief “-or something like that.”
“I don’t see how - if they knew about them in the first place, wouldn’t they teach students about them? I mean we’ve studied all the other creatures and magical beings at school. Why not mutants?”
“Maybe they were in the books, but just weren’t in the lesson plans,” Hermione argued despite the fact she knew for a fact that they weren’t.
“Hermione, you’ve read those books cover-to-cover more than once - do you really believe you missed that information?”
Hermione sighed in defeat. “Alright - I admit that I did not see any mentions of mutants or anything like them, but it can be quite possible that I missed it. We’ll just have to give a call to Professor McGonagall as well - just in case.”
“Thank you,” Harry said softly, grasping her hands, causing a smile on Hermione’s face for the first time since before the evening news last night.
“Hey, I want to know just as much as you, Harry.”
“I know, but something about this… I don’t know exactly what, but I feel like I need to know more…” Harry explained softly, he wasn’t sure what was driving his obsession with this. Yes he wanted to make sure the Wizarding World stayed out of another war, but that was only half of his reasoning. The other half, he couldn’t explain - just an undeniable need to know.
-
“Mutants? You’re speaking about muggles with special abilities?” Arthur Weasley questioned after Hermione and Harry explained to them about the news happening in the United States. “Well, I had to admit it’s not too hard to believe. I mean it happens quite often through the Wizarding World. I suspect the muggles would also have a few that gain special abilities.”
“What?!” Harry asked, “When does it happen in the Wizarding World?”
“I’ve reread my school books - there were no mentions of them, Mr. Weasley, nor were we ever taught about them in school. How is that you know about mutants?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I knew about mutants - the muggles ones, anyway - but Wizards, yes. You’ve met a few. You-Know-Who was one as well as Tonks just to name two.” Arthur stated, and Molly nodded beside him.
“Anyone that has a special ability that is not performed by magic - such as Parselmouths or Metamorphmagi would be considered to be what muggles call mutants.” Molly explained, “We just don’t generally revolt them, more people respect them for their magical essences being strong enough to have those abilities. Of course, people feared Parselmouths mainly because it’s considered to be a trait passed down the generations through dark wizards. Also the special abilities are not known to be as severe as what you just explained although it was believed that the ancient Greeks gods had been just wizards with special abilities attributing to their strengths and it was why people loved and feared them.”
Hermione stared at Molly in shock before she thought about it. It made sense, in a way, Metamorphmagi nor Parselmouths were common, but have appeared several times through history and she had read several books about the Greek gods having the ability to control certain aspects of nature even greater than any magical spell or potion could.
“So what you’re saying is that it was to be expected that muggles would also have special abilities?” Harry asked, he too thought silently about what Molly and Arthur told them. He had to agree, most of the abilities they had found out about - mainly Parselmouths and Metamorphmagi were rare and it seemed as if the mutants shown in the news were rare as well.
“For the most part, yes, I mean muggles and wizards only have several genetic differences, as Hermione had tested and proved, but yet similar enough to be considered of the same species. It would be kind of expected to believe that there would be muggles with special abilities as well but yet not magical. Although truthfully, they generally hide themselves, especially since the Salem witch trials. I’ve studied the history and I found it quite interesting that it wasn’t until that time that people with special abilities started to keep to themselves or the loss of information about others coming to the attention of wizards.”
“It makes sense,” Hermione whispered softly and Harry glanced over to her. “They feared for their lives, if the muggles had found out about their abilities they would have been hunted and been ‘tried’ for their ‘sins’ and the powers of ‘the devil’. They hid themselves and their abilities from others - even from other wizards - so there wouldn’t be a chance it would backfire on them and get them killed.”
Harry nodded in understanding. It made sense that mutants or wizards with special abilities would hide themselves for those reasons - but then why would they risk it if they had a choice? Now everyone in the Muggle community knew about mutants…
“But shouldn’t the Wizarding World know about this event? It’ll eventually affect us, wouldn’t it?” Harry questioned finally after several minutes in silence. Arthur and Molly let out a sigh of resentment.
“Because, despite the last few years, wizards still think themselves superior to muggles and believe that their wars won’t affect us, Harry.” Arthur started, earning a nod in agreement from Molly. “They probably figure that they’ll sort this out for themselves.”
“This should raise questions from Muggle law enforcements, and people will be more suspicious, of course this will affect us! We’d have to be extra careful in the Muggle world - it’ll make people question their histories… they might have once thought that Merlin and Arthur were stories made up, but they’ll start to think that maybe they were real - that they had abilities. And if mutants are real to them, it’s only a matter of time before they learn of our existence.” Hermione said, her gut instinct was screaming that everything she knew was going to be thrown into a loop again. “Muggle-born parents feel like this - everything they thought was real and what was not are changed when they learn their child is a witch or wizard. They might not learn everything about the world that their child does, but they know that mythical creatures they thought were only fairy tales are actually real now. Everything they knew and believed in changed in an instant.”
“And now muggles know about people with special abilities - it’ll no longer be fantasy for them but fact,” Harry stated softly, Molly and Arthur nodded in agreement with mirroring frowns on their faces.
“You might be right, this will probably affect us, but that doesn’t mean that the Wizarding World is ready to hear it. I don’t think they’re ready to hear it, dear. Even with the ending of the war taking place years ago, it’s still fresh in all our minds, and they’ll want to ignore this as much as they can.” Molly stated in defeat.
Harry shook his head, “I won’t let that happen. They need to know what’s going on or we’ll be locked into another war, this time against people with guns and nuclear power - Magic can only do so much.”
Hermione studied him and nodded in agreement, “I’m sure Luna will let us announce it for the Quibbler.”
“I think you two should speak with the Ministry first, see what he thinks and says. Maybe he’ll back you and the Prophet will run your stories. Not to discourage you, dears, but people still think the Quibbler is just a rubbish tabloid and they’ll more than likely not take you serious.” Molly stated firmly and Arthur nodded in agreement with his wife. Harry and Hermione stared silently at each other before letting a sigh of defeat and nodded towards the couple.
-
They had managed to convince Kingsley Shacklebolt into making the announcement, which they were surprised didn’t actually take a lot of convincing. He had been following the news as well and he feared it would create yet another war - something he wished to avoid at all costs… and he believed that informing their world to be more cautious with dealing with muggles would help that.
The Wizarding World was kept updated about everything dealing with mutants and learned more about wizards and witches with special abilities. The general reaction of the Wizarding public was fear or indifference, since they believed it was that mutants were just another magical species. Some feared for that the muggles would turn this exposure to war that will drag the magical world into it, others believed that they had nothing to fear - that the magic that kept them hidden from the Muggle world would last and keep them from experience any war that would come about.
The calmness that had taken over the Wizarding World after the Second War ended seemed to have disappeared either way. Chaos appeared more prominent now, despite the fact that most people ignored the news.
McGonagall, Hermione learned, feared for the Muggle-born students for the upcoming school year.
“Their parents were confronted with the news that people with abilities existed, probably even questioning their children since they showed certain differences from other children. I’ve seen the news, Hermione, and I fear that some of them won’t be as accepting as they would once be.” Minerva McGonagall explained softly to her former student over their annual monthly tea. She cared deeply for each of her students, even the ones she had yet to meet and fear gripped her hearts as the images of the riots and murders flashed through her mind that she had seen on the television. “We always took a chance in taking in Muggle-borns, Hermione. You never quite know how a person would react to finding out that their child isn’t quite normal or what they believed they were. Now I fear, the anger and confusion will add to the fear… causing them to hate their own children, denounce them or worse.”
Hermione winced at the thoughts that came to her mind. The same idea had occurred to her that it might happen - that this brought danger even to future Muggle-born students. “We just need to protect them, make sure that they aren’t in danger after they receive their letter and get a visit from you or the other professors. You’ve spoken to the Ministry about this, of course?”
“Yes, and he said he’ll have Aurors around them to protect them, just in case… But there is still only so many Aurors that can be spared for this Hermione. And even with the Order’s members, I don’t think it’ll be enough. This year has the highest incoming class in over four hundred years!”
Hermione nodded knowing full well that it had been nearly four hundred years since Hogwarts (or any of the other magical schools) had over five hundred students coming into the school at one time. There usually was no more than three hundred students coming into the schools, but it seemed as if the Wizarding World had its own set of Baby Boomers after the Second War ended.
“You know Harry won’t let anything happen to them… I won’t either, Professor. We’ll find the resources we need to keep them protected.”
Minerva nodded, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, “I know, I know… Just, after everything that’s happened - I don’t want anything to happen to them. I consider them my children, even if I don’t have any of my own; I consider all of you my children… And if I lose any of them, it’ll be like losing a child - I don’t want to feel like that again.”
-
“I’m coming with you,” Hermione stated angrily causing Harry to shake his head and pull her to him.
“No you’re not, Hermione. This time, I need to go by myself; I don’t want you to get hurt. Even if they say that all they want is peace, I’m not going to take the risk.” Harry stated firmly, kissing her on her forehead causing Hermione’s eyes to flutter close at the spark of comfort and pleasure that gesture caused her before she stubbornly pulled away from him. He was not going to distract her…
“I don’t give a bloody care! Who’s going to watch your back? I’ve been in danger more times than I can count, so don’t give me crap that this is different Harry! I won’t let you go by yourself. Where you go, I go!” Hermione shouted, glaring at him. She wanted to hurt Shacklebolt for sending Harry on this mission and letting him go by himself - never before had she felt the need to really shake and throttle him right now. But she couldn’t leave Harry’s side right now, or he’d rush off to America by himself to meet with the mutant team known as the X-men - which happened to be located in New York in a mansion that was mainly a safe haven for mutants of any age as well as a school to help them learn how to control their abilities. Or so a Charles Xavier had explained to Shacklebolt when he learned of its existence. Hermione didn’t know if she believed him or not, just that she would not let Harry go by himself.
“Ron understands that I’m going by myself, why can’t you let me go?” Harry questioned, exhausted with the argument that they had been having since he had informed her of what Shacklebolt learned.
“Because I can’t lose you, Harry…” Hermione admitted angrily, tears were threatening to fall and she stubbornly tried to keep hold of her control. “I won’t. And even if you leave here without me, I’ll be there when you get to the school, Harry. You can’t stop me.”
Harry pulled her back to him, tightly holding onto her causing Hermione do the same as well, burying her head into his chest. “You know, you’re the most stubbornness witch I know…”
“You bet your bloody self I’m stubborn. How else would I get you to do anything?” Hermione softly said to him causing a small smile to appear on his face. He would already do anything she asked, he loved her - but he wished she wasn’t being stubborn about this. He really didn’t want to lose her, which was why he wanted to keep her here - to keep her safe. “It’s my choice, Harry and I’m coming with you.”
“Alright… just please get out of there as soon as you can if something goes wrong?” Harry asked despite the fact that he knew that even if she promised himself that she would, she wouldn’t keep her word - just as he wouldn’t if she had asked him.
-
They took a portkey to New York Wizarding Community and took a cab to Bayville, and took the American version of the ‘Knight Bus’ to the X-Man mansion. The mansion’s main gates opened automatically to them, and they stepped silently through - stopping only when they could see the mansion.
And now they stood in front of what used to be Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Both Hermione and Harry instantly remembered the fire and ruins that Hogwarts had been after the war… and it chilled them to see the scene so familiar even though the fires were clearly gone now and rebuilding was already started.
After a moment of studying the mansion, Hermione glanced up at Harry. “Ready?”
“Yeah, we’d better go - they’re expecting us.” Harry said, although he still hesitated in leaving the spot.
“Harry?”
“Right,” He took her hand and squeezed it quickly before letting go and started the walk to the front door of the mansion.
-
“You must be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger,” Charles Xavier said in greeting with a large smile. Harry and Hermione politely smiled back. So far, they didn’t see any danger - or traps. Xavier shook his head sadly, “You have nothing to fear from us, we don’t want to hurt anyone. What we do here, at the school, is to help the students learn how to control their special abilities-”
“To fight in a war!” Harry said loudly - he already seen several of the students that had been in the news.
“We teach them to defend themselves, should anyone attack them, but more than anything we teach them to defend themselves without hurting the enemies with long lasting effects.” Xavier calmly stated, before glancing up to Hermione who silently studied him as well. “But yes, I have also taught the X-men part of my student body about defending themselves in a war, which will come thanks to other mutants that destroy, steal and kill causing more humans to fear us and more reason to create Sentinels.”
Hermione quickly cut off any retort Harry was going to make with a hand on his arm. “Harry, let’s just try and get to know their story? It’s nothing like we haven’t already done.” Harry let out a sigh of defeat before silently nodding; remembering he too had created a secret army to fight against Voldemort - something that ended up saving several of his friends because of what they learned in the class.
“Would you enjoy a tour of the building? There are still a few sections that are off limits thanks to the reconstruction, but most of the rooms are done.” Xavier questioned, hopefully.
“That’ll be fine, but I was really hopeful to actually speak to several of the students, if you didn’t mind of course?” Hermione asked pulling Harry along as Xavier began rolling down the hall in his wheelchair. It was no Hogwarts, but unlike the Malfoy manor, this mansion or school was beautiful and warm, very inviting. Hermione wouldn’t mind staying here for a while, that was for sure.
“I don’t mind as long as the students don’t mind, I’ve told them about you and several were quite interested in meeting with you.” Xavier explained as they entered the library. Hermione let out a gasp out how large it was… It wasn’t as large as she might have wished, but the library was beautiful. Several couches and a few tables filled the room out with plenty of desk space for research and with plenty of places to comfortably sit with a good book. At the sight of Hermione’s enjoyment of the room, Xavier smiled at her. “Feel free to take and read any book you find here - I’m sure you’ll both find something interesting.”
A smile appeared on Harry’s face as he took in Hermione’s lightened mood and clear excitement at the prospect to read. “I’m sure Hermione will take you up on that offer - enough that you’ll get tired of it.”
Hermione turned around and glared at him, causing Xavier to chuckle in amusement. “I’m sure it’ll be a real pleasure to have Hermione visit the library.”
Before Hermione could say her thanks, several people entered the room. Several of them they remembered seeing on the news a few weeks ago, there were a couple that they didn’t remember seeing.
“Ah, and this is my team and my prized students, the X-Men.” Charles stated with a large grin on his face. His students, the X-Men, smiled and nodded their heads at the witch and wizard but looked tensed.
The man with red-tinted glasses looked like the most tensed person in the room beside the gothic-looking girl with white stripes in her hair who stood with her arms crossed right next to him. A shorter girl grinned in happiness while the black-haired boy who stood next to her waved with a small smile. The older darker woman with long white hair stood in the back, behind her students and teammates, with a small tentative smile on her face. A red head smiled at them but stood tentatively beside the older woman.
“This is Scott Summers,” Charles introduced pointing out the man with the red shades. Harry remembered the news showing what exactly came out of his eyes and wondered if the teen needed to have the red shades to control his ability or if he just liked red. “Rogue,” Charles said with an encouraging smile to his frowning student. Harry and Hermione’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity of the odd name for the girl, and wondered why she was so covered in clothing during the heat of the summer. “Kitty Pryde and Kurt Wagner,” The brunette girl bobbled excitedly and Hermione remembered that she was the one that was able to move through solid objects. The boy next to her, neither Hermione nor Harry recognized him but he seemed friendly enough. “Ororo Monroe,” The older woman nodded in greeting and they recognized her instantly from the scene of her flying over the battle. “And this is Jean Grey.” The red head smiled brightly, moving closer to them showing that she clearly trusted them. Neither Hermione nor Harry remembered seeing her in the news, but the news hadn’t shown everything or they might have seen Rogue, Kurt, or Jean at the battle.
“Hermione Granger,” Hermione introduced herself softly, smiling to the group that stood beside her before glancing over to Harry.
“Harry Potter,” Harry stated and felt oddly that no one seemed to react to his name. It had been so long since that happened that he felt relieved but unsure at the same time. He was used to people making a great deal about his name or him in particularly if he was in a room. He hated it, despite what the others might think, but he had grudgingly gotten used to it.
“Excellent, now I believe you wanted to ask questions, and I must say we have a few of our own about you. I’ve met a few wizards and witches over the years, but definitely none of your class.” Charles stated, and had he clapped his hands in excitement or had a twinkle in his eyes, Harry could have almost mistaken him for Dumbledore, which oddly calmed him - knowing that Charles was like Dumbledore but it amused him more than anything.
Hermione pulled out her notebook and pen with a large grin, before sitting down and gestured for everyone else in room to follow her lead. “Let’s get started!”
Surprisingly, everyone, including the tensed Scott and Rogue sat down at the couch in front of Hermione, or grabbed a chair to sit down. Harry quietly sat down beside his friend and silently wondered how exactly his life was going to change because of this moment.
THE END.
A/N: I'm thinking about changing the series title as something else (don't know yet, any suggestions welcome), but I'm not completely sure since this series has been taken over by being mainly about Harry right now.... although I will eventually do more past Raven/James years and more dealing with Raven in general... ANYWAY, please tell me what you think I should do - rename it or keep as is and if I should change it, change it to what??
Thanks so much!
Read the sequel