Harry, Ron, and Hermione got off of the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9-3/4 at Kings Cross Station and said their goodbyes promising to keep in touch during the summer. As he pulled his trunk toward the barrier that led into the regular station Harry hoped nothing would interfere with his mail this time. He wondered who would be there to meet him since it wouldn't be his aunt and uncle. He had written to the Dursleys to tell them that he would be staying somewhere else that summer. They'd actually written back to him saying how pleased they were to hear it and that they hoped he would find somewhere else to stay next summer too, and all of his remaining school summers as well. Harry had shaken his head at that. Honestly, why did he even bother anymore?
As soon as he was through the barrier Harry saw Professor Xavier waiting for him. He was not alone. With him were two older boys. One, who looked to be almost an adult, stood very straight and had a very serious bearing. He also wore a pair of red glasses that completely obscured his eyes. The other boy was clearly younger than the first one although still older than Harry. He seemed to be the more laid back of the two.
"Ah, Harry" said Professor Xavier when Harry approached, "there you are. I'm glad to see you again."
"Likewise" said Harry shaking the professor's hand.
"Allow me to introduce my first two students" said the professor as he motioned at the older boy, "Harry, this is Scott Summers, Scott, Harry Potter." The two students shook hands.
"How do you do?" said Harry.
"Fine, and you?" Scott said.
"Not bad" said Harry, "I like your glasses. They're much cooler than mine."
"And this" said the professor motioning to the other boy before Scott could reply, "is Robert Drake."
"Call me Bobby" the younger student said, "everyone does." He and Harry shook hands.
"Nice to meet you" said Harry.
"Now then" Xavier said, "if you'll all come with me we'll be on our way."
"Um, Professor Xavier" said Harry as they began to walk, Scott pushing the professor's chair, "I don't have a passport."
"Don't worry about it" said Xavier, "between Professor Dumbledore and myself it's been taken care of."
"Dumbledore?" said Bobby, "that's an interesting name."
"He's my headmaster" said Harry, "and he's a very interesting person. If you ever meet him you'll know it."
"He's an old friend of mine" said Xavier to Bobby and Scott, "which is how I was able to arrange for Harry to join us."
"Excuse me Harry" said Scott gesturing at Hedwig in her cage, "is that really an owl that you have there?"
"Yes that's Hedwig" said Harry, "but I don't exactly own her. You could say she's more of a friend."
"It's all right Harry" said Xavier, "Scott and Bobby know about magic."
"They do?" said Harry, "are they wizards too?"
"No" said Xavier, "but they don't have to be. America is not nearly as secretive as Britain or most of Europe. Most people in our country know magic exists."
"Have you ever heard of Dr. Strange?" asked Scott. "he's the Sorcerer Supreme. He lives in Manhattan. Everyone knows who he is."
"And then there's Thor" said Bobby, "he's an actual Norse god."
"The American Ministry doesn't encourage witches and wizards to use their powers in public" said Xavier, "but they don't make a huge fuss about it if someone does. If that happens they're more concerned with what the witch or wizard did than if they did it at all. So you can discuss the wizarding world freely with all of us."
"Okay" said Harry, "well in addition to being my friend – and one of the smartest ones anyone could ask for – Hedwig is a postal owl. Our kind uses owls to send letters and she can find just about anyone anywhere and get a letter to them." Hedwig preened a bit at the praise.
While the four of them were talking they had exited the station and come to where a private van was waiting for them. Soon Xavier, wheelchair and all, was loaded into the van after which Harry's trunk was loaded into the back and he, Scott, and Bobby got in the van and the driver pulled out of the space and entered traffic.
"How are we getting to America?" asked Harry.
"We'll be flying" said Xavier.
"Then we're going to Heathrow?" said Harry.
"No" said Scott, "the professor has a private jet. We'll be taking off from a private airfield."
"A private jet?" asked Harry in amazement, "are you really rich or something?"
"Yes" was the professor's one word reply.
"Oh" said Harry, not sure what else to say to that.
Eventually the van arrived at the airfield and the four passengers got out. Xavier directed them to his personal plane which had been serviced and was waiting for them. Once they were all on board (it had taken a special lift to get the professor onto the plane) the Professor instructed them all to take seats in the main cabin which was furnished like a luxurious lounge along with a bar, a dining table, a few couches, and a lot of seats. The main things that told you that this was a plane was that all of the furniture was firmly attached to floor and all of the seats had seatbelts.
"Let's depart" said the professor pulling out a small control device and activating it. The plane started to taxi toward the runway. After a few minutes it came to the runway and quickly took off.
"Who's flying the plane?" asked Harry.
"The professor is" said Scott, "he uses a remote control and guides it with his thoughts."
"Really?" asked a very surprised Harry as he had never heard of such a thing, "that's incredible. I didn't know that was possible."
"When you join Xavier's School you learn that anything's possible" said Bobby.
"I learned a similar lesson two years ago when I found out I was a wizard" said Harry, "but I didn't realize it would apply to technology too."
"What's that like?" asked Scott. Harry told them about Hogwarts, learning spells, learning to fly on a broom ("seriously?" said Bobby. "Yes" said Harry), playing Quidditch, the moving portraits, the ghosts and Peeves the poltergeist, and also about Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank and the various stores in the alley. He did not, however, share any of the bad parts of his time at Hogwarts nor did he mention Lord Voldemort or his life with the Dursleys. He wasn't quite ready to do that yet.
"Well" said Scott when Harry stopped talking, "we don't have anything quite as unique as all that but I think you'll like Xavier's School. It's a very nice place."
"What's your mutant power?" asked Bobby, "obviously you didn't get on the Prof's radar because of your magic."
"I have power over electricity" said Harry, "and I'm telekinetic – but I can't really control it all yet."
"That's why you're with us" said Scott, "you'll learn."
"What are you powers?" Harry asked them. Bobby held up his right hand. Snow-like ice formed on it until the whole hand was covered.
"I have control over cold and ice" said Bobby before turning his hand back to normal.
"Wow" said Harry, "that sounds useful."
"It can be" said Bobby.
"What's your power?" Harry asked Scott.
"You're going to have to wait to see that" said Scott, "as it wouldn't be safe to show you here. I shoot energy beams out of my eyes. They're very powerful. The problem is they're also almost unstoppable. I can only control them either by closing my eyes or wearing these special glasses I have" he indicated his red glasses, "that you said were cool. They're made of ruby quartz and without them I couldn't keep my eyes open at all. One of my blasts could easily put a hole in the side of the plane."
"Right" said Harry feeling a little intimidated, "let's not do that. I can wait until it's safe before you show me your power."
The conversation moved on to other topics from there. Harry had never been in an airplane before and he spent a fair amount of time looking out of the windows although he mostly saw clouds or the ocean far below. The one exception was when they flew over Greenland and Harry was mesmerized by the snow and ice covered landscape. He'd never seen anything like it before.
Occasionally Professor Xavier would join the conversation but for the most part he concentrated on guiding the plane. It was about four and a half hours later when the plane began its descent, a time that seemed quite fast to Harry but was explained when the Professor told him that his plane flew at the speed of sound which made it faster than normal passenger planes.
Not long after that they landed at a private airport. Customs was dealt with quickly. Professor Xavier had not been kidding when he said that Harry had been taken care of and they were soon heading out to where the professor's Rolls Royce was waiting for them. Then they were driving away from the airport into what was clearly a suburban area.
"Where exactly are we?" asked Harry as he looked out a car window.
"This is Westchester County in New York State" said the professor, "we're just north of New York City itself. We'll be heading to my school in North Salem."
"Salem?" said Harry, "isn't that where the witch trials happened?"
"No" was the reply, "you're thinking of Salem in Massachusetts."
"Oh" said Harry.
Eventually they arrived at their destination: 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center. After driving through a set of gates Harry got his first look at Xavier's School. It didn't exactly look like a school. It looked more like a private mansion with a central section and two large wings. It had a classical look to it which gave it an air of distinction even if it was nowhere near as imposing as Hogwarts Castle.
The Rolls Royce pulled up by the front entrance.
"Welcome Harry" said the professor, "to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. I hope you enjoy your time here. Scott, would you please show Harry to his room?" the professor asked Scott who nodded as he got out of the car.
"Harry" said Xavier to him before he could also exit the car, "this is your first task. Try using your telekinesis to take your trunk up to your room. It's on the second floor."
"Okay" said Harry, "first let me release Hedwig." He opened Hedwig's cage and she flew out of it and up into the air over the school where she circled around before landing to perch on top of the roof.
"Is it okay to let her go like that?" asked Bobby.
"She'll be fine" said Harry, "she comes and goes as she pleases but she's always there when I need her."
Harry now got out of the car and went around to the boot of the car where his trunk was. Once the boot was opened he looked at his trunk. He reached out with his mind and tried to feel for his telekinetic power. Concentrating he mentally told his trunk to rise up out of the back of the car.
And the trunk did. Just like that it rose up out of the back of the car and hovered in front of him. It wasn't very hard but he did have to concentrate to keep it aloft. He could feel some of its weight but it seemed far lighter when he lifted it with his mind then when he tried moving it in the normal way.
"Good" the professor mentally sent to Harry, "now take it inside and up to your room."
Harry stepped back from the car and thought about the trunk following him as he walked. It did that too.
"This way" said Scott to Harry motioning toward the doors to the mansion and began walking that way. Harry told his trunk to float in front of him and it did. He followed Scott up the steps of the mansion and through the front doors into the entrance hall. It was a very nice entrance hall, not nearly as big as the Hogwarts entrance hall but very welcoming and comfortable looking. There was a grand staircase that headed up to the second floor and it was up these stairs that Scott led Harry. It took a little more effort for Harry to move the trunk up the stairs but he did it. He gestured with a hand in the direction he wanted to the trunk to go and that seemed to make it easier but he also realized that the hand gesture wasn't actually necessary to use his telekinesis.
Once at the top of the stairs they turned right down a hallway which had several doors on both sides. It didn't take a genius to figure out that these must be bedrooms. Scott opened the door to one that was about midway down the hall on the left hand side and motioned for Harry to go in.
"This will be your room" said Scott, "it has its own bathroom too, all the bedrooms do."
"That's very nice" said Harry as he entered the room and looked around. It was a fairly standard bedroom. It had a single bed, a desk, some bookshelves, a couple of chairs, a walk-in closet with a full length mirror inside the door, a dresser, and another door which led to a bathroom. Harry concentrated and lowered his trunk down by the foot of the bed.
"Well done Harry" came Professor X's voice in Harry's head startling the young wizard / mutant.
"Have you been there the whole time?" asked Harry as he straightened up from putting down his trunk. The professor chuckled.
"I wouldn't be much of a teacher" he said, "if I didn't watch over my students when I set them tasks now would I? I'll let you get settled. See you later." And just like that the professor was gone from his head.
"Was that the professor?" asked Scott having seen Harry's behavior.
"Yes" said Harry, "is he everywhere?"
"He can be" said Scott who walked over to the window and opened it. "Come over here" he added motioning for Harry to join him. Harry did so and looked out at the field behind the mansion. It was a very idyllic setting. There were no other houses anywhere nearby that Harry could see. The field eventually hit trees on all sides and Harry realized the estate was pretty big. Not far from the house Harry saw the stump of a tree that looked like it had been burned down. Scott pointed to it.
"See that?" he asked. Harry nodded. Scott lifted his glasses off of his eyes which were now closed. For a brief second he opened his eyes.
ZAP! Red beams shot out of Scott's eyes and hit the stump which was suddenly a lot smaller than it had been before. Harry's jaw dropped and he turned to look at Scott as the latter lowered his glasses back over his eyes.
"Holy – " said Harry. Scott nodded.
"Now do you see" said Scott, "why I have to wear these glasses all the time, even when I'm asleep?" Harry nodded.
"Get settled" said Scott heading for the door of the room, "I'll see you later. If you need anything let the professor know." He left the room. Harry stood where he was for several seconds before shaking his head as if coming out of a trance. What had he gotten himself into this time?