Fic: The Getting of Magic (X-Men First Class/Harry Potter fusion) Epilogue
Back to Chapter 7
The infirmary had been crowded at first, but Charles had seen no sign of Erik. Most of their bumps and bruises were healed quickly, but Healer Yaxley wasn't willing to use healing magic on Raven's broken nose and wrist in case it impeded her ability to metamorph in the future. So Charles sat Raven's bedside while she was covered in a gooey black salve and made to sip a potion that she claimed tasted like rotten bananas and slug juice. Alex, too, was stuck in the infirmary, with exhaustion so intense that he couldn't get out of bed for more than a few minutes.
"Over-taxed himself," was Yaxley's diagnosis, and Alex got an even nastier-smelling potion but was otherwise left to sleep it off, Armando and Hank taking turns to stay with him.
"I can't believe Cain saved me," Raven told Charles, her golden eyes wide above the dark smears of salve.
"Must be that Hufflepuffs really do stick together." Charles was equally surprised, but he guessed that, as unpleasant as it had been to be Kurt Marko's stepchildren, it hadn't been much fun being his son, either. Maybe Cain had simply needed better people around him, people who neither beat him nor were beaten by him. Cain had looked embarrassed when Charles thanked him, and even more so when he was awarded twenty points to Hufflepuff for bravery.
It was a good thing that someone had won some points, as the rest of them had lost five house points each for being out of bounds during curfew. Moira had tried to argue with Headmaster Dippet that they had been helping their friend and they had found Gabrielle, but only the quiet intervention of Professor Black had prevented them from losing even more points. Sadly, he hadn't given Charles any information about Erik, or any house points.
Professor Dumbledore and Professor Merrythought had been kept in a separate area of the infirmary to recover, but it was not hard to overhear their arguments, which had started at a whisper and rapidly increased in volume.
"…and you brought Erik into this and encouraged him! Let alone all his friends!" Merrythought sounded furious.
"He may be a child but he is entitled to protect himself."
"He wouldn't have to if you hadn't tried to use him as bait!"
It didn't take long before Healer Yaxley kicked them out, though not before Merrythought had resigned as DADA teacher.
"I can't teach children to defend themselves when one of their own teachers is trying to use them as some kind of personal army!"
"That's not what I'm doing at all, Penelope," Dumbledore argued, but Charles had to agree with Professor Merrythought: if Dumbledore hadn't got Erik involved, Shaw might never have known he was here at all. It was the teachers' job to protect other students, not Erik's, Charles thought angrily.
"Shh." Raven put her good hand on Charles's arm. "I know you're mad, but if you blow up at the Professor, you might get kicked out too. And then I won't know where you or Erik are."
That stopped Charles short, but a full day passed with visits from Moira and the others, but no sign of Erik.
On the second day, with Raven looking much better and Alex able to walk around on his own, the Headmaster came to visit them.
"Children, I am sorry to say that your friend Erik Lehnsherr has been expelled. The Aurors have agreed that he was acting in what he thought was your best interests and, taking his age and Professor Dumbledore's testimony into account, have agreed not to send him to Azkaban."
"What will happen to him?" Charles asked, horrified.
"The plan was to break his wand, but unfortunately-" Dippet drew the word out, "- Professor Shomron decided of his own accord to send him to his foster parents before this could be done." Dippet seemed most disappointed at this uncharacteristic betrayal.
"Good!" Raven declared, and Headmaster Dippet gave her a hard look, but in a hospital bed, covered in goo, she managed to look too pathetic for further reprimand.
"And the other students Mr Shaw brought with him?" Charles asked.
"Miss Frost has family in Boston, but she has requested to remain here to finish her education. We shall see if her father gives his permission. The two boys were uninvolved in Mr Shaw's tragic demise and will also be remaining."
"I think it would be wonderful for Emma to stay," Raven said, batting her suddenly longer eyelashes. Raven had told Charles about Emma's terror at the thought of being returned to Boston, but still, Charles hadn't expected Raven to stick up for the girl.
"Well, perhaps she will." Dippet seemed quite positively inclined towards the idea, which was both a relief and a worry - Charles wasn't sure what he was supposed to say about Emma in his classes when she'd tried to help Shaw.
"We'll find Erik again, I'm sure," Raven said. "We can visit him in the holidays - it's not like we'll want to go all the way home."
"If Dumbledore had protected him - " Charles choked on angry tears. "If Dumbledore had protected him, he never would have had to kill Shaw. You didn't see it, Raven - he used me to distract Shaw and then, then he just… And he was happy!"
Raven's face was solemn underneath the salve, and Charles remembered how serious she had been in the first weeks after he found her in the kitchen, starving and afraid. "Charles, he wasn't happy about murder. He was happy to survive. It's not the same and I hope he knows that."
Charles hugged her, careful not to jostle her broken wrist or get the nasty salve on himself. "Raven, you're the best sister. We'll find him. Or he'll find us."
***
Professor Shomron had given Erik a handful of Floo Powder, but he didn't waste it going back to his foster fathers in Ireland. There was no way he would expose them to danger: they were kind old men, frail and trusting and known homosexuals, and Erik didn't like their chances if the Wizarding World turned against them for the crime of harbouring a murderer under their roof. Instead, he'd travelled to the only other Floo point he knew, the fireplace at Kings Cross Station.
He walked along the busy streets, pleasantly anonymous in the random movements of the crowds. His wand was tucked into the sleeve of his wool coat, the wind tugged at his hair, and he breathed in the smoky air with pleasure, knowing he was free of Shaw and Dumbledore both, and that Charles and Raven and the others were in no danger. Erik was truly astonished to be able to leave someone because they were safe rather than dead, and it was strange but wonderful to think that he could see them all again some day. He used one of the precious few coins he'd pulled from the sewer grates - an old trick and still easy - to buy a postcard with a picture of Nelson's Column on it.
"All well. E." he wrote on the back, then realised he had no idea where to post it. Well, he'd run into a postal owl soon enough, he expected. He shoved the postcard in his pocket for later.
Erik might be alone but he was alive and free with the whole world rolled out before him. Shomron had mentioned Palestine, but Erik was happy to have no plan right now. He turned himself due south, away from Hogwarts, and walked on into the crowd.
This entry was originally posted at http://lilacsigil.dreamwidth.org/91953.html - comments are welcome at either location.
The infirmary had been crowded at first, but Charles had seen no sign of Erik. Most of their bumps and bruises were healed quickly, but Healer Yaxley wasn't willing to use healing magic on Raven's broken nose and wrist in case it impeded her ability to metamorph in the future. So Charles sat Raven's bedside while she was covered in a gooey black salve and made to sip a potion that she claimed tasted like rotten bananas and slug juice. Alex, too, was stuck in the infirmary, with exhaustion so intense that he couldn't get out of bed for more than a few minutes.
"Over-taxed himself," was Yaxley's diagnosis, and Alex got an even nastier-smelling potion but was otherwise left to sleep it off, Armando and Hank taking turns to stay with him.
"I can't believe Cain saved me," Raven told Charles, her golden eyes wide above the dark smears of salve.
"Must be that Hufflepuffs really do stick together." Charles was equally surprised, but he guessed that, as unpleasant as it had been to be Kurt Marko's stepchildren, it hadn't been much fun being his son, either. Maybe Cain had simply needed better people around him, people who neither beat him nor were beaten by him. Cain had looked embarrassed when Charles thanked him, and even more so when he was awarded twenty points to Hufflepuff for bravery.
It was a good thing that someone had won some points, as the rest of them had lost five house points each for being out of bounds during curfew. Moira had tried to argue with Headmaster Dippet that they had been helping their friend and they had found Gabrielle, but only the quiet intervention of Professor Black had prevented them from losing even more points. Sadly, he hadn't given Charles any information about Erik, or any house points.
Professor Dumbledore and Professor Merrythought had been kept in a separate area of the infirmary to recover, but it was not hard to overhear their arguments, which had started at a whisper and rapidly increased in volume.
"…and you brought Erik into this and encouraged him! Let alone all his friends!" Merrythought sounded furious.
"He may be a child but he is entitled to protect himself."
"He wouldn't have to if you hadn't tried to use him as bait!"
It didn't take long before Healer Yaxley kicked them out, though not before Merrythought had resigned as DADA teacher.
"I can't teach children to defend themselves when one of their own teachers is trying to use them as some kind of personal army!"
"That's not what I'm doing at all, Penelope," Dumbledore argued, but Charles had to agree with Professor Merrythought: if Dumbledore hadn't got Erik involved, Shaw might never have known he was here at all. It was the teachers' job to protect other students, not Erik's, Charles thought angrily.
"Shh." Raven put her good hand on Charles's arm. "I know you're mad, but if you blow up at the Professor, you might get kicked out too. And then I won't know where you or Erik are."
That stopped Charles short, but a full day passed with visits from Moira and the others, but no sign of Erik.
On the second day, with Raven looking much better and Alex able to walk around on his own, the Headmaster came to visit them.
"Children, I am sorry to say that your friend Erik Lehnsherr has been expelled. The Aurors have agreed that he was acting in what he thought was your best interests and, taking his age and Professor Dumbledore's testimony into account, have agreed not to send him to Azkaban."
"What will happen to him?" Charles asked, horrified.
"The plan was to break his wand, but unfortunately-" Dippet drew the word out, "- Professor Shomron decided of his own accord to send him to his foster parents before this could be done." Dippet seemed most disappointed at this uncharacteristic betrayal.
"Good!" Raven declared, and Headmaster Dippet gave her a hard look, but in a hospital bed, covered in goo, she managed to look too pathetic for further reprimand.
"And the other students Mr Shaw brought with him?" Charles asked.
"Miss Frost has family in Boston, but she has requested to remain here to finish her education. We shall see if her father gives his permission. The two boys were uninvolved in Mr Shaw's tragic demise and will also be remaining."
"I think it would be wonderful for Emma to stay," Raven said, batting her suddenly longer eyelashes. Raven had told Charles about Emma's terror at the thought of being returned to Boston, but still, Charles hadn't expected Raven to stick up for the girl.
"Well, perhaps she will." Dippet seemed quite positively inclined towards the idea, which was both a relief and a worry - Charles wasn't sure what he was supposed to say about Emma in his classes when she'd tried to help Shaw.
"We'll find Erik again, I'm sure," Raven said. "We can visit him in the holidays - it's not like we'll want to go all the way home."
"If Dumbledore had protected him - " Charles choked on angry tears. "If Dumbledore had protected him, he never would have had to kill Shaw. You didn't see it, Raven - he used me to distract Shaw and then, then he just… And he was happy!"
Raven's face was solemn underneath the salve, and Charles remembered how serious she had been in the first weeks after he found her in the kitchen, starving and afraid. "Charles, he wasn't happy about murder. He was happy to survive. It's not the same and I hope he knows that."
Charles hugged her, careful not to jostle her broken wrist or get the nasty salve on himself. "Raven, you're the best sister. We'll find him. Or he'll find us."
***
Professor Shomron had given Erik a handful of Floo Powder, but he didn't waste it going back to his foster fathers in Ireland. There was no way he would expose them to danger: they were kind old men, frail and trusting and known homosexuals, and Erik didn't like their chances if the Wizarding World turned against them for the crime of harbouring a murderer under their roof. Instead, he'd travelled to the only other Floo point he knew, the fireplace at Kings Cross Station.
He walked along the busy streets, pleasantly anonymous in the random movements of the crowds. His wand was tucked into the sleeve of his wool coat, the wind tugged at his hair, and he breathed in the smoky air with pleasure, knowing he was free of Shaw and Dumbledore both, and that Charles and Raven and the others were in no danger. Erik was truly astonished to be able to leave someone because they were safe rather than dead, and it was strange but wonderful to think that he could see them all again some day. He used one of the precious few coins he'd pulled from the sewer grates - an old trick and still easy - to buy a postcard with a picture of Nelson's Column on it.
"All well. E." he wrote on the back, then realised he had no idea where to post it. Well, he'd run into a postal owl soon enough, he expected. He shoved the postcard in his pocket for later.
Erik might be alone but he was alive and free with the whole world rolled out before him. Shomron had mentioned Palestine, but Erik was happy to have no plan right now. He turned himself due south, away from Hogwarts, and walked on into the crowd.
This entry was originally posted at http://lilacsigil.dreamwidth.org/91953.html - comments are welcome at either location.