Marvel/HP: A Third Path to the Future

A second later Rogue charged forward, slamming into Fred at the same time Lance began to use his power, shaking the ground around the construction area and momentarily spilling Rogue, Scott and Evan, who had just engaged Toad to the ground. "Fred, Todd regroup on me, stay together don't let them pick us off!" Then he turned to Pietro and growled, "I don't know what the hell we're doing here, but if any of us get hurt I'm blaming you!" before moving to join his fellows., ignoring the trapped speedsters yells.

He used his power again to dump Cyclops on his rear as the X-man tried to line up for a shot on Toad, making him miss high. His eye's laser beam shot up and out into the nighttime sky.

That done Lance chanced a glance back at Kitty, who was rushing toward where Kurt was groggily getting to his feet. What a girl, he thought admiringly, takes one shot and puts one of us out of the fight. Thank god that whatever kept Grey out of school has kept her from joining us here. Still, Pryde's not the real threat here. The books and articles about tactics and strategy that Potter had given him had taught him how to analyze his opponent's threat level, and without Grey here it was between Summers and Rogue, and with his powers he could keep both of them hopping.

Fred and Toad moved to stand with him as the X-men formed up around Kurt. He shook his head groggily, slurring his words slightly after the punch from Blob. "Ho, how di-did you all know where I was?"

"Rogue saw you leave the mansion and called the rest of us to follow you, good thing we did too."

Rogue rushed in out of the dark, slamming a hard blow in passing into Todd's head before clashing with the blob, but Lance was ready for it. "Blob turn to your left, grab and throw now!" He used his power to slow Rogue's charge, nearly dumping her on the floor but before she could ready herself Fred had grabbed her around the shoulders, lifted her off the ground and threw her away. It didn't hurt but it took her away from the Brotherhood trio and that was what Lance wanted.

Scott and Evan however were still in contact and Cyclops' eye beams shot in again, singeing Fred again, and then Lance was forced to duck and cover from hundreds of tiny bone shrapnel coming from another direction. He cursed as he was separated momentarily from the other two, then cursed even more as he rolled away from an axe kick from Evan, and when you said that about someone with his powers you relay meant it.

Lances rattled the ground again, putting both the X-men on the ground, and then tried to punch Evan out, but Spyke's bone armor protected him, all Lance did was hurt his hand. Another blast of his power kept Spyke and Cyclops on the ground though and let him move back and rejoin Fred and Todd. But Kurt and Kitty had moved to join them, and Rogue was even now running back into the fight from where Fred had thrown her.

Mystique stood alone now apart from the two groups. "Stop it, Stop it damn it, you've all ruined it, you've ruined everything!" Her shout was made of anger and grief, as she knew that there was no way after her history with the X-men she could convince Kurt she hadn't had a part of this.

A loud cry from the open sky above her made everyone looked up only to freeze in place as a spell grabbed them like a giant's fist. "Immobulus Maxim!" More words followed, shouting "Wingardium Arrestium!" and suddenly all the teens found themselves about a foot of the ground, hovering there immobile.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry sighed happily as he looked over at Ororo, who was lounging back on the flying carpet, smiling at him while he played with her long hair. Watching the sunset from among the clouds like this had been fantastic. The two of them had flown around for over an hour with Ororo always in the lead showing Harry the places she liked to fly to, the places with the best views.

Flying had been everything Harry had hoped it would be. He had always loved being in the air on his broom, zooming around unencumbered by gravity, the rest of the world laid out around him. This was better not only because he was moving around under his own power with no broom between him and the sensation, but also because of the company.

They just continued to fly side by side, talking quietly for a time until Ororo mentioned being hungry. Then, as the moon rose above them Harry broke out the flying carpet that he had made a few weeks ago and the two sat down to the meal he had made, a light antipasto salad and a lasagna, kept warm in the basket by a small charm along with a bottle of red wine which was chilled by yet another charm to drink.

The two sat next to one another, eating slowly and talking about the kids, their own childhoods, and whether or not she would have made a good Marauder. Harry was of the opinion that a background in their very would have made her an excellent prankster, thought she felt she didn't have enough imagination to be a truly good prankster.

She also had given him some advice about world politics, and argued the devil's advocate position about why he should base his company in America or another first world country, as it would make them much more liable to actually purchase whatever he was going to be selling. He had shared some of his ideas along those lines, but as she had yet to indicate one way or another that she would follow him or stay with Charles and the X-men he hadn't shared any specifics.

Ororo leaned back to lie down on the carpet, her white hair spreading around her head. "A magnificent date Harry, but I must say you are setting the bar incredibly high. Whatever will you do for an encore?"

He leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss, smiling as she arched under him for a moment before pulling away slowly. "We'll just see what comes up hmm?"

She giggled a little, then reached up and pulled him down on top of her, her tongue out and questing even before their lips met again. Harry shuddered a little as her tongue wrestled with his, letting her dominate the kiss for a moment before taking control again, running his hands down her sides.

Underneath them the carpet floated on without any direction as the two of them got more and more into their make out session.

About ten minutes later however a beam of red light zoomed into the night sky to their right with a zap-like sound, so loud in the silence of the night around them it startled them out of their enjoyment to stare over at it. Almost as one they scowled and said "Scott/Summers!" then looked back to each other and laughed a little.

Harry reluctantly got up off of Ororo, being very careful to rub his crotch against hers before doing so, pulling one of those delightful low moans out of her as her eyes closed into slits looking up at him. "I suppose we should go and see what that's about." His words said one thing, his tone told how he was very much unenthused by that idea. In point of fact all he wanted to do was lean down and drag that sound out of her again as often as he could.

Alas Ororo had a very developed sense of duty, and she sighed and pushed to her knees and then to her feet. "I suppose that we should. Though I have to wonder what the kids are up to.

Harry shrugged, and after a second of concentration stepped off the carpet. Ororo followed and he took a moment to wrap up the remains of the meal and then stuffed the carpet and the rest back into the basket. That done the two of them zoomed down towards where the blast had come from.

OOOOOOOOOO

Both sides of the conflict looked up in shock as Harry and Strom floated down through the opening in the roof. All of them could tell the two were not in a good mood for some reason, but only Kitty was brave enough to actually voice why, well that and the fact she had been in phase and Harry's area effect spell hadn't caught her. She floted over to the duo, poking her fingers together. "Er, hey guys, um, how was the date?"

Ororo smiled at her and reached over to touch her hair fondly. "It was magnificent Kitten, if ended too abruptly. I think you should tell us about what is going on here."

Harry landed easily next to her, glaring all around him. He raised one hand and intoned "Lumos!" A bright light like that of a powerful signal light filled the area, letting them all see one another more easily. That done he strode over to first Summers who he released and then Lance, who he only released enough to move around, not enough to stand on the ground, making him unable to use his earthquake powers. "Well, you two are the field leaders of your respective teams, mind telling me what exactly was going on here? I thought we agreed to not fight in areas where you all would be a danger to others. Admittedly this place qualifies as safe on that, but on a school night?"

Lance shrugged a little irritably, having thought this wasn't a good idea himself, and not at all wanting to tangle with the weather goddess or the wizard. "Orders from on high we were told, stop Mystique and Nightcrawler from talking. Don't know why, but as it was in this place with no civilians in the area I went with it." I also wasn't told who the hell the boss is, he thought grimly, but what else is new? Lance was beginning to realize how little control he really had over the actions of his faction and it worried him.

Harry nodded then turned to Scott and raised an eyebrow in query, whereupon the visor wearing X-men gave their story. "Rogue saw Kurt leaving the mansion at around ten. She told the rest of us, and after checking his room we found a note telling him to meet someone who could 'answer his questions' here. We thought it might be a trap and followed him here. We arrived about a minute after the Brotherhood attacked."

Harry nodded then moved over to Mystique who he only partially released from his spell, enough so she could move her jaw now. "Well Mystique, do you have anything to say?"

Mystique scowled, shaking her head, not letting the panic she felt at being caught like this, something of a long term terror for her, show on her face. "What's the point, none of you will believe me, and why should you?"

One eyebrow rose and he looked over at Kurt, releasing him from his spells. "Blue-boy?"

"She said she was my mother, and I, I believed her until the brotherhood showed up. Now, now I don't know what to think." Kurt sighed heavily then sat down, holding his side. That first shot from Fred had caught him before he could ready himself, and was definitely going to leave a bruise. He might be a little stronger and tougher than a normal human, but not that much.

Harry scratched his chin for a moment, then grinned a little. "Ororo, would you mind watching the store here for a bit luv? I've got something back home that might be able to help us here." He wasn't about to let Kurt and Mystique part without solving this issue.

Ororo nodded. "Of course, though if you could do something about young Maximoff's mouth? That would be very helpful, both for the rest of us and to ensure his continued health." She narrowed her eyes on the last words, her hands beginning to crackle with lightning.

Pietro had in fact been cursing under his breath, getting louder and louder as time went on with none of the others helping him. Since the others and been immobilized he had been shouting in the background. Harry shook his head and with a wave of one hand and a "Silencio!" the speedster was silenced, much to the relief of everyone else. Another wave and everyone could move their bodies but were still stuck about a foot above the air.

Nodding to all and sundry Harry rose off the ground and flew off into the night.

After a few minutes Kitty smirked, coming out of phase to nudge Ororo in the side. "So, that date, how was it?"

Ororo looked at the younger girl then laughed aloud and put an arm around her shoulders. "Oh Kitten, don't ever change!" Kitty grinned and led Ororo to stand by where Rogue was still hanging in the air, and the Goth girl smirked and leaned forward eagerly.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry landed in front of the mansion and walked in, still covered by the notice-me not he had built into the runic array that let him fly. Still it didn't surprise him that Charles and Logan were waiting for him when he entered.

Logan spoke in his usual abrupt manner. "Other than Grey all the kids are missing from their rooms, you know anything Potter?"

Harry nodded. "Kurt snuck out to meet someone who had information about his family, then he got jumped by the Brotherhood, who were in turn jumped by the X-teens. I've got them all immobilized and playing nice, so we're going to get a few answers. No more violence tonight though."

Logan frowned but nodded and Charles cocked his head. "I presume you are talking about Mystique? I would warn you to take anything but the barest minimum form her with a grain of salt. She is duplicitous, and is very good at answering a question without in fact giving any information." Logan growled and nodded, having been told about Kurt and Mystique and having had several run-ins with the shapeshifter over the years.

"Hmm, well if this works, we'll actually get a bit of truth out of her tonight."

Logan reared back in shock. "Be careful with that Potter, Mystique knows a lot of secrets, most of them dangerous, things best buried. Be careful you don't find more than ya bargain for."

"I'll take that under advisement, but trust me, she'll only be answering the questions I give her." With that he went upstairs and entered his workroom, where his trunk was. He opened it and reached in, pulling out a vial with a clear crystal potion in it and another smaller vial with a greenish liquid inside, then turned and left.

He arrived back at the construction site quickly. His brows drew together at seeing the looks on Kitty and Rogue's faces then shrugged it off as unimportant. Little did he know that the girls had been giggling and sighing in turns after being told about his date with Ororo. Scott and the other boys had heard a bit of it too, and had been torn between jealousy and taking notes.

Harry strode up to where Mystique was hanging in the air, arms crossed irritably and looking anywhere but at Rogue or Kurt. Once she looked at him he held up the two potions. "Now, this is a bit of an experiment, one I'm actually very interested in seeing the result of. What we have here in the clear vial is something called veritaserum, and it is pretty much a truth serum. What it means is that you won't be able to lie or prevaricate as long as the questions are as clear and focused as possible. The other vial is the antidote. I will ask you four questions, which I will write down and let you see now, before asking them. I will also mute everyone else so they can't speak and disturb the flow understand?"

Despite her blue skin it was obvious that Mystique had paled during that explanation and Harry kept speaking calmly, his eyes locked on her own, letting her see his sincerity there. "I'm not going to do this without your permission, nor will I ask any questions but the four I show you. But it's the only way that Kurt and the others will believe you, you've burned too many bridges with them."

Mystique frowned sadly, looking away. It was the truth and she knew it, and she knew this might be the last time she was given a chance to connect with her offspring both blood and adopted. After a moment she nodded, startling all the X-men and indeed the brotherhood, who had all thought that she would refuse. "All right Potter, show me the questions and I'll agree to this."

Harry nodded and with an almost absent minded wave let Rogue and Kurt close in with Ororo following swiftly. Kitty, realizing this was both an invasion of privacy and something private for Rogue and Kurt (and even Mystique, though Kitty didn't particularly care about her) moved off to join the others, who Ororo had moved into a corner. Only Toad was still immobilized entirely, Harry fearing he could move around easily enough through use of his tongue, but the others could all move in place, they just couldn't touch the ground. Most of them were, not taking it in stride but okay with this, but Fred was looking decidedly sick to the stomach.

Harry quickly conjured up a piece of paper and a pencil (much simpler to conjure than a pen) and wrote down the four questions. The first one was simple, asking her full name and when she was born. The second was to prove to the kids that she was under the influence of the truth serum, and asked her to tell them the most embarrassing thing that ever happened when she was in the form of an animal. The last two were simple, asking her if she loved Kurt and Rogue in turn. Both kids looked at that portion and gulped wondering where the hell the answers to that question would take them.

Mystique however was caught by the second question. "What the hell, why do you want to know that?"

"Well it's not something you'd ever share with anyone willingly is it?" Harry answered easily, keeping all his amusement off his face. The two teens looked at one another and grinned, realizing this could be a bit of payback for Mystique trying to turn Rogue against the X-men.

Mystique scowled but nodded. "Alright Potter, do it. But know if you ask any other questions I'll be coming for you."

Harry nodded, taking the threat seriously, not that he was going to do anything of the sort of course. He first silence the two kids, trusting Ororo to keep quiet.

After that he raised the vial to her lips and let three drops fall from it into her mouth. After five minutes her eyes went blank and he nodded. "What is your name and when were you born?"

"Ravene Alegamoria Callisa Darkeholme. I was born in 1883," Mystique answered in droning sort of voice.

Harry's eyebrows flew up in shock at that. I guess her shape-shifting powers work to offset her aging. Good grief. Still it seems as if Viritaserum works on non-magicals.

Knowing that he went on to the question that would prove to the kids that the truth serum was working. "So, that power of yours, shape shifting is pretty awesome, you can assume any shape you want. What are the two most embarrassing things that happened to you when you assumed an animal form?"

"The most embarrassing thing that happened to me was during WW2. I assumed the shape of a guard dog to infiltrate a small German military installation along the border with Russia, as I could not change forms to one of the workers because they all knew one another too well for that to work. I was able to get in alright but one of the officers was a dog breeder in his spare time, and noticed I was female. He took me and put me in a kennel, where I was almost assaulted by a male dog. I had to change into a human form and escape through a window aborting the mission." Her voice was still a drone, but it carried an undercurrent of frustration and remembered anger.

To the side of the semi-interrogation/semi-scientific experiment, the two kids were gaping in amusement and horror, and even Ororo looked torn between amusement and commiseration.

"The second most embarrassing thing happened more recently when I attempted to spy on Xavier's mansion. I had taken the form of a giant eagle, and even as I was turning away for some reason your owl attacked me. I thought I would win the battle easily, but I was wrong. Your owl nearly killed me, and forced me out of the sky and onto the ground. I was forced to flee in human mode from there."

Well done Hedwig. Harry laughed to himself while the other three listeners merely grinned. "Mystique, do you love your son Kurt?"

Mystique answered honestly, this time wanting to answer the question and not fighting it. "I loved him when he was a baby. I do not know the boy he is now, but I do still care for him greatly, he is my son after all."

Kurt gulped, staring at Mystique and wondering where they would go from here after that answer. He wasn't certain what their relationship would be like, but he did want to get to know his mother better, maybe that would do for a start.

"Mystique, do you love your adopted daughter Rogue?"

"I love Ann Marie, even if she insists on using that silly codename all the time. I know I haven't shown it often, and I won't apologize for what I did, but I do love her."

Rogue on the other hand scowled, remembering how Mystique had abused her trust and tried to turn her against the X-men when her powers first manifested. Just because Mystique loved her didn't mean the southern belle would forget what the shape shifter had done to her.

Harry brought out the antidote and then opened Mystique's mouth and dripped a single drop into it. After a moment the faraway look went away and she looked around at them, her face somewhere between triumphant, embarrassed and concerned as she looked at the kids. Harry smiled and moved off, motioning Ororo to follow. "I think we'll leave you three alone to talk it over for a bit. Just remember it's past 12 now, and it's a school night, yeah?"

The two adults moved off and Harry walked up to where Lance and Scott were floating, apparently doing their best to ignore one another.

With a wave of his hand he released Toad from his stasis and he waved the short misshapen boy off to join Fred, who Kitty had pushed away from his original place, where Harry could see a pile of sick. Another wave of his hand let Fred touchdown, and he kneeled down to kiss the round enthusiastically. "Alright you two, take off. Big due, I'll give one of the X-kids a bit of a special lunch for you last night to make up for the whole throwing up thing."

At the mention of Food Fred perked up a little, but Toad looked mutinous for a moment before moving off with his gigantic friend.

Harry then turned to look at Pietro still stuck in the ground then pointed at him, using a old dueling spell that made Pietro unable to get any purchase on the ground. "You can let that one out Kitty, he won't be doing anything."

Kitty frowned but went over and released Pietro from the ground. The boy immediately tried to take a swing at her but his fist passed right through her and when he tried to take a step Harry's spell went to work, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He tried to get up only to fall again.

Kitty laughed and moved away, still unable to hear any of the curses the silver haired boy was shouting. She moved over to Storm to ask her some questions about the next language she was going to introduce to the teens.

Harry smirked at that and Scott and Lance both chuckled a little. Lance was already planning some payback for the silver haired asshole for getting them all into this mess that should have just been a family issue for no reason he could see. Harry looked over at them and waved his hands, causing the two teens to float towards him. "Now, while the trio over there is getting acquainted and the ladies are talking about languages, let's have a little AAR discussion shall we? Dissect your own then your team's performance, and I'll see if I can spot places to improve on."

The two teenagers looked at him, then at one another and began.

About forty minutes later the trio around Mystique separated, the two X-men moving off to join Kitty and Ororo, and Mystique moving to talk to Harry. She waited a bit until Harry finished describing the proper methods of identifying an ambush and how to best respond to the two types of ambush before speaking up. "Thanks Potter. This, this means a lot to me."

"Glad you lot made up." Harry responded, turning to her. The two teens by this point had gotten into the lesson, and were a little miffed that it was over, but realizing that it was a school night, and that none of them would be excused from it, they knew it had to end.

"I wouldn't go that far Potter, but it was better than any other outcome. I'm meeting with them both every Saturday for lunch, so put that on your calendars."

Mystique was correct, the trio had not really made up entirely, but they had agreed to try and know one another at least. The two teens weren't willing to join Mystique and the brotherhood, and she saw Xavier's dream as the fantasy it was. Still, for now at least they could forget their 'political' differences. Too much time had passed for her and Kurt to be a real family but they did want to get to know one another and Rogue was a little more leery of her, but was willing to give her another chance, both for her own sake and Kurt, in return for Raven's help in trying to find out what happened to her own biological parents.

"So I'll see you on Saturday when I drop by to pick them up." She moved over and reached down to grab one of Pietro's arms from where he was still flailing on the ground. She twisted it up behind his back and her other arm went around him in a choke hold. "You can let this one go now Potter, he's not going to cause any trouble."

Harry shrugged and released the frictionless spell on Pietro dissipated as well as the silencing charm, not that he could take advantage of it with Mystique having him in a chokehold. "You and I are going to have a long talk Maximoff about who is in charge here, and then you're going to answer some questions." The normally arrogant teen gulped, and said nothing. With a final nod towards Harry and the X-men Mystique moved off dragging Pietro with her.

Lance stayed for a moment, walking up to Kitty. "Um, Kitty, uh, are, um, are you free this weekend, er say Saturday?"

Kitty looked at him in shock. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"Um, if you want to, y'know, be formal about it?" he asked, wincing a little.

Kitty grinned. "Sure, I'm free, I'll meet you down at the Starbucks down on Littleton Street around six okay?"

"Deal." Lance grinned, nearly sagging with relief, and walked off.

Kitty shrugged a little at Rogue's and Ororo's amused gazes, while Scott simply gaped, not understanding what had just happened at all while Kurt just gave her a thumbs up and Harry merely laughed. "And now children, I think it's time we get you lot back to the mansion. It is well past your bedtimes you know."

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