Harry was reading the letter that Hermione had sent back with Hedwig. Most of it went as he had expected it to: she was upset that he wasn't coming back to Hogwarts and also that he couldn't tell her exactly why. She added that if it wasn't for the fact that Hedwig had delivered the letter and seemed very relaxed, even waiting around for her to write a reply, she would have thought Harry had been kidnapped. She was a bit mollified by his statement that Dumbledore knew where he was and what he was doing but only a bit because Harry had also said that Dumbledore wouldn't tell her where he was either.
However at the end of the letter there was an unexpected development.
Although I'm still upset that you won't be at Hogwarts Hermione had written something happened that actually makes me think it's a good idea that you're not coming back. Recently there was a breakout from Azkaban Prison. Sirius Black, a man that's said to be You Know Who's right hand man, escaped from there. No one knows how he did it as Azkaban is supposed to be the most secure prison in the magical world. The general consensus is that he's after you because of what happened to his master. Apparently he was overheard talking in his sleep before he escaped and he was saying "He's at Hogwarts" over and over again. If that's true and he's after you then I'm glad you're somewhere else and that only Dumbledore knows where. Please stay safe.
Sirius Black. Harry remembered that name. The man was supposed to be his godfather, but what kind of godfather wanted to kill his godson? It was just another of many odd items in the strange life of Harry James Potter. Ron's letter had been much the same as Hermione's except that he was also upset that with Harry not coming back to Hogwarts Gryffindor wouldn't be able to win the Quidditch Cup this year. Ginny had added a note of her own stating how disappointed she was that Harry wasn't coming back, especially after he saved her life in the Chamber of Secrets. Mrs. Weasley added a P.S. to Ron's letter sending her love and telling him to stay safe wherever he was. Hagrid had written that he was sorry Harry wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts however since Dumbledore had been involved in the decision for Harry to learn elsewhere he was happy that Harry was doing as Dumbledore had urged him to do. He said that Harry wouldn't go wrong following the headmaster's advice and finished with his usual "great man Dumbledore" comment.
Harry put Hermione's letter down and looked at the clock. It was almost time for training so he took out his X-Man uniform, changed into it and assumed his other identity of Lightning. As he headed downstairs towards the Danger Room he thought over how the last couple of weeks had gone since he had begun joining the others for team training.
FLASHBACK:
The very next morning after his first session in the Danger Room Lightning had joined Cyclops, Iceman, and Angel for the first time for regular X-Men training with Professor X. Cyclops and Angel wore uniforms just like his, the only differences being Cyclops' mask had a visor over his eyes to control his optic blasts and Angel's uniform was adjusted for his wings. Iceman, however, didn't wear such a uniform. Instead he had stripped down to only shorts and boots before icing up.
It was only on that day that Lightning really began to understand why everyone called this room the "Danger Room." The machinery and equipment used in the room were a lot more complex and advanced than anything he had seen so far, even than when he had been in there on the previous day. More to the point quite a lot of it really could be dangerous if not used very carefully. Professor Xavier had created a place where his students could truly hone their powers, fighting skills and reflexes to their peak performance. It also meant that mistakes could be very costly and if a student was careless he could easily get hurt.
On that first day with the others Lightning watched Cyclops being bombarded with heavy objects from all sides which he repelled with his optic blasts. He saw Angel having to fly a moving obstacle course where one wrong move would knock him out of the air. And Iceman was challenged to deal with various sources of heat.
Lightning hadn't faced any such tests just yet since he was still new to the team but he had a feeling it wouldn't be very long before he would be having his own challenges. That turned out to be even sooner than he thought.
"All right everyone" Professor Xavier's voice sounded in all of their heads, "Cyclops, Iceman, that will be enough for you two for the moment. Angel if you wouldn't mind I might need your help with the next lesson. Lightning, it's time for you to start working on your flying."
"Yes!" said an enthusiastic Lightning, "that's wonderful Professor. What should I do?"
"We'll start with where we left off yesterday" said Xavier, "so please lift yourself into the air again. Angel if you could spot him for now and later you may want to help him with aerial maneuvers."
"All right" said Angel. Cyclops and Iceman both stood off to the side to watch Lightning receive his training session. Lightning floated himself up into the air again the way he had on the previous day. It was even easier this time.
When Harry had first flown on a broom at Hogwarts he'd discovered that he knew what to do without anyone telling him how. It had all come to him effortlessly that very first time and he wound up becoming the youngest house player in over a century for a Hogwarts Quidditch team. "A natural" is what Professor McGonagall had called him when she saw him fly that day. It seemed that his ability to fly was something inherent in himself because he took to flying under his own mutant power as easily as he had taken to flying with a broom. Before that Danger Room session was over Lightning was effortlessly soaring around the room and, under Angel's guidance, had taken to diving, spinning, rolling, and swooping. Finally Angel challenged him to a game of aerial tag and the two of them were soon chasing each other around the room which, fortunately, was more than large enough to accommodate this.
'Wow' Lightning thought to himself as he flew, 'if only they could see me now at Hogwarts. What would they all think? How I'd love to play Quidditch without using my broom. Would they even let me? Eh, who cares!'
Suddenly a red beam flashed past him. Lightning spun around and looked down just in time to see Cyclops unleashing another optic blast a little in front of him. He managed to avoid this one by a quick change in his direction.
"What the – ?" Lightning began when he heard Professor X in his head.
"Don't lose your concentration" said the Professor in a stern voice, "in the field you must be prepared for anything. That's why I had Cyclops fire near you. Now stop him if you can. Iceman too." And sure enough when Lightning looked he saw Iceman preparing balls of snow that he was hurling both at him and Angel. Another optic blast came hurtling towards Lightning but this one he avoided more easily since he was on guard now. He struck out towards Cyclops hurling a lightning bolt towards the ground just in front of him which forced Cyclops to take a step back. Then he made a sharp turn and telekinetically grabbed one of the snow balls, deflecting it away from himself before turning and diving straight down towards Iceman. He had to break off his attack when another of Cyclops' optic blasts flew in between him and Iceman but that stopped when Angel grabbed Cyclops from behind.
"Now I've got you" said Lightning as he flew at Iceman again. This time he grabbed the other mutant and they both went down together rolling over each other a few times before they finally stopped.
"Enough" said Professor X before either Lightning or Iceman could make a move, "this session is over. Well done all of you. Especially you Lightning considering this was your first time working with the others."
"You didn't hesitate to throw me in the deep end" said Lightning as he stood up.
"In the real world you have to be ready for anything" said the professor, "you've already faced some nasty perils in Voldemort and the basilisk so I judged that you were more ready than you thought you were. You did very well. I was impressed that you were able to use your powers to strike back at Cyclops and Iceman without having to land first."
"I don't know how I did that" said Lightning, "it just happened in the heat of the moment."
"It's often that way" said the professor, "your ability to fly seems to be innate considering how easily you were able to do it. That undoubtedly helped you to start using your powers to counterattack without having to land first. Considering that I only mentioned your being able to do that yesterday that's astounding progress."
"You're a natural at it" said Angel.
"That's what Professor McGonagall said when she first saw me fly on a broom" said Lightning.
"Who needs a broom?" said Iceman, "clearly not you."
"Thanks" said Lightning, "are you all right? I didn't hurt you did I?"
"Nah" said Iceman, "we've all had worse."
"That's true" said Cyclops, "and considering what we're preparing for we have to be able to take hits and bounce back from them."
"Very true" said the professor, "that will be all for now. You may go." The four students left the Danger Room and headed down the hallway.
"Is it always like that?" Lightning asked the others.
"Oh no" said Iceman, "often it's harder."
"Don't worry though" said Cyclops, "the professor wouldn't let you join us if he didn't think you could handle it. And you did. You're an X-Man now and you're going to be a valuable member of the team."
"Thank you" said Lightning as he realized that yes, he really was part of the team.
"And boy do you know how to fly" said Angel, "I told you it would be amazing when you could fly under your own power. Was I right?"
"Yes" said Lightning with a grin.
"We need to go flying together again" said Angel, "this time without your broom."
"How about now?" asked Lightning, "behind the mansion?"
"Sounds good to me" said Angel with a smile.
"Just don't go too high" said Cyclops, "you know the rules."
"Yes sir!" said Angel giving Cyclops a salute and causing Iceman to try to hold back his laughter. Cyclops just snorted.
Soon Angel and Lightning were out behind the mansion and Lightning didn't waste any time. He took off and flew up to just below the tree tops and began circling the area. A minute later Angel was up beside him.
"I want to try some of my seeker moves" said Lightning, "and see how well I can do them without a broom. You wouldn't happen to have a ball or something small you could throw?"
"There are a few oak trees around here" said Angel, "hold on a minute." He landed at the edge of the tree line and bent down to pick up some acorns. A minute later he was back up in the air with Lightning.
"Will these work?" Angel asked showing Lightning the acorns he'd gathered.
"Those will be just fine" said Lightning, "now when I first joined the Quidditch team at Hogwarts two years ago my team captain started me out by throwing golf balls everywhere (one at a time of course because there's only one snitch in the game) and having me catch them. Why don't you do the same thing? I won't be using telekinesis for this."
"Why not? Is that cheating?" asked Angel.
"No idea" said Lightning, "as far as I know something like it has never come up in a Quidditch game although I know that you're not allowed to use a wand in a game to summon the snitch. That would be cheating."
"All right" said Angel, "here goes." He threw the first acorn. Lightning saw it and chased after it, diving to get it and catching it when it was still well above the ground.
"Good start" said Angel, "but that one was easy. Try this one." He threw the acorn back over his shoulder and this time Lightning had to fly faster to catch it before it hit the ground but he did it. And so it went. Angel tossed out the acorns and Lightning would chase them down. When he had done this exercise with Oliver Wood during his first quidditch training session back in first year he had caught every ball that Wood threw. He did the same thing now with the acorns Angel threw and Angel didn't make it easy for him. With some of the acorns Angel flew around for a bit before throwing it so as to keep Lightning guessing when he would. A couple of times Angel tried to fake him out. It might have worked two years ago but Lightning was an experienced seeker now and he didn't miss any of Angel's throws.
Lightning had a blast the whole time he was flying behind the mansion. At that moment he was probably as happy as he had ever been in as long as he could remember – maybe ever. Eventually Lightning and Angel finished their game and landed to find that Cyclops and Iceman had followed them outside and had been watching. The real surprise was that the professor was there too.
"Very nice" said Professor Xavier, "Lightning, you've taken to flying like a dolphin does to swimming."
"Thank you sir" said Lightning, "it was awesome."
"What were you doing up there?" asked Iceman, "it looked like you were playing some kind of aerial fetch."
"Just practicing seeker moves" said Lightning, "it's easier not using a broom although a lot of brooms can probably go faster than I can without one. If only Oliver Wood could have seen me today. I'd love to see his face.
END FLASHBACK
It had been a couple of weeks since that first day and Lightning had slotted into the X-Men quite easily, in fact he was rather amazed at how quickly he had fit in with the team. It helped that he wasn't constantly dealing with the unwanted fame of being "The Boy Who Lived." Here he was just another student, a teammate, and an equal with the others. He was very happy about that.
He smiled a little to himself as he walked down the hallway toward the Danger Room. He opened the door and stepped inside to find that the others were already there.
"Ah, Harry" said the professor, "good, you're here."
"Am I late?" asked Lightning as he joined his classmates.
"Not at all" said the professor, "now let's get started."
"Okay" said Lightning, "professor, before we do I'd like to ask you something and maybe try something new."
"What's that?" asked the professor. Lightning held up the item he'd brought with him. It was a large cloth that seemed to be made of some transparent material.
"This" he said as he held the cloth out for everyone to see, "is an invisibility cloak. It belonged to my father and has been passed down in my family for many generations. I don't know if it's something we can use but I thought that maybe –?"
"Perhaps" said Xavier, "show us how it works." Lightning took the cloak and threw it over himself, completely vanishing from view to the surprise of the others. Even Professor Xavier was a little surprised despite his knowledge of magic.
"Professor?" Lightning mentally called, "can you hear me?"
"I hear you Lightning" said the professor.
"Good" said Lightning as he pulled the cloak down so that his head became visible.
"Whoa" said Iceman, "that's bizarre."
"You have no idea how weird it is" said Angel, "to see your head floating there without your body attached to it."
"Actually I do" said Lightning, "I saw that in a mirror the first time I used this cloak."
"Cover yourself again" said Xavier to Lightning who did so, "now let's see how well you can avoid the others this way. Cyclops, Iceman, Angel I want you to catch Lightning. And Lightning, try to hit back as well as you can."
With that the game was on. The invisibility cloak did help Lightning avoid the others, there was no doubt about that, but it wasn't foolproof. It couldn't stop one of Cyclops' blasts for one thing or stop Iceman from hitting him with ice although it did make it a lot harder for them to find him.
Through some experimenting Lightning found that wearing the cloak didn't affect his telekinesis at all. He couldn't, however, throw lightning bolts without sticking a hand outside of the cloak whereupon it gave away his location and became a target for the others. This is what ultimately proved to be his undoing. Angel spotted his hand when he fired a lightning bolt at Cyclops. The winged mutant swooped down on Lightning and pulled the cloak off of him, flying away with it before Lightning could react. Cyclops and Iceman both tackled Lightning and brought him down thereby ending the game.
After the game was over the X-Men stood before Professor Xavier to hear what he thought about the cloak. Angel handed it back to Lightning who inspected it to make sure it was undamaged.
"Interesting" said Professor Xavier, "that cloak may prove to be useful to us in the future but I'm sure you saw that it has limitations? I suggest that you keep it back for now as a reserve item. You'll be able to use it a lot more effectively if people don't know that you have it. That also goes for your magic as a whole."
"Yes sir" said Lightning.
"Very good" said the professor who then turned their collective attention towards beginning the regular training of the day.