Over the next days Harry got to know both Sirius and Remus. He liked both of them. He knew enough about their individual backgrounds from their letters that the three of them weren't exactly starting from scratch but letters only tell you so much about a person. Both Sirius and Remus seemed to be nice people and they were very glad to see Harry, that much was clear. Sirius was still very thin and pale from his time in Azkaban but he was getting better. Harry introduced him to the gym and asked Scott to create a mild workout for Sirius to use to begin regaining his strength. Sirius began working out at once and was soon getting up early in the mornings to join Harry for his morning workout.
It didn't take long for Harry to realize that Sirius was a prankster at heart. Both he and Remus were although Remus had a more sober personality. They told him stories about his parents from when they were all in school and afterwards when they were married, including some stories from when he was a baby. They also told him about the Marauders, their Marauder names, and some of the hi-jinks they got up to at school, especially their enmity with Snape which explained (although didn't justify) a lot to Harry about Snape's attitude towards him.
Harry told them a bit about his life, especially as it was now. They were impressed that he was both a wizard and a mutant. They were proud that he was part of a group like the X-Men and glad that he was getting the training he needed but they both admitted that they did worry about him going into danger. Neither of them was willing to try to make him stop as it was clear to both Sirius and Remus that Harry was quite happy being part of his team.
They were less happy to hear that Harry had grown up with the Dursleys as both Sirius and Remus remembered that Petunia had always hated magic and from the sound of it Vernon did too. Harry glossed over a lot of his time with the Dursleys but both marauders could see that he was holding a lot back.
"Have you thought about seeing a mind healer?" asked Sirius.
"What's a mind healer?" asked Harry.
"It's the magical version of a psychiatrist" said Remus. Harry shook his head.
"I really don't want to talk about the Dursleys" he said, "I'm not going back to them again so I'd rather just forget about them." Neither marauder was happy to hear this but they didn't push Harry about it.
"Christmas is coming soon" said Sirius, changing the subject, "and I want to know what you want. I was going to buy you a Firebolt but you don't need a broom to fly anymore."
"He will if he decides he wants to play Quidditch again" said Remus.
"I have a good broom for that" said Harry, "thanks all the same."
"Well we've got to come up with something" said Sirius, "we owe you over a decade's worth of gifts." Harry looked at both of them and smiled.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out" he said, "but honestly, just having you both here is enough for me."
Sirius and Remus got along well with the other students at the school. Remus had struck up a friendship with Hank as they were both intellectual types. Sirius especially liked Bobby because he was the most laid back of the team and played the occasional prank although he warned Sirius not to prank Scott unless he wanted to be blasted through a wall. He also warned him against making any passes at Jean, telling him what had happened to Hank on the day she joined the X-Men. Sirius laughed when he heard the story.
"Don't worry about that" he told Bobby, "she's too young for me. Besides, I wouldn't want to cause trouble for Harry with any of his teammates."
On Christmas morning Harry woke up to the sound of someone pounding on his door.
"Wake up Harry" he heard Warren calling through the door, "it's Christmas!"
"Wow, someone's enthusiastic this morning" said Harry with a yawn as he got out of bed and threw on his bathrobe before trekking to the door and opening it. A large black shaggy dog was waiting outside with Warren and as soon as Harry opened the door it leaped at Harry and began licking his face. Warren laughed at this.
"Hey, get down you mutt" said Harry although he was laughing too. Even though he had known from Sirius' letter that he was an animagus he was still surprised the first time he saw his godfather transform in front of him. The dog quickly transformed back into Sirius.
"Merry Christmas pup" said Sirius, "come downstairs and let's see what Santa brought everyone!" Harry smiled and followed his godfather down the stairs to the main livingroom where the Christmas tree was. Unlike at Hogwarts where students would wake up on Christmas morning to find their presents by their beds here all of the presents were piled together under the tree.
The mansion had fewer people in it right now. Bobby, Hank, and Jean had all gone home a couple of days ago to spend Christmas and New Year's with their families. Warren was still at the school because his parents were currently in Hawaii but they would be returning in a couple of days and he would be leaving on the 29th to join them through the New Year. Harry had gotten presents for all of his teammates. He'd already given Bobby, Hank, and Jean their gifts before they left and they'd left their gifts for him under the tree to be opened on Christmas Day. He'd given Hank a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (since he'd been so interested in hearing about the basilisk) but cautioned him not to let any non-magicals see it. He'd given Bobby a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans along with a detailed warning of exactly what they were and to be careful with them. He'd given Jean a package of chocolate frogs complete with cards as well as a big holiday card.
Now, sitting in the main livingroom of the mansion, Harry and the others began handing around the presents that were underneath the tree. Since he had only just met Sirius and Remus he settled for giving them holiday cards, deciding to give them bigger presents next year when he knew them better. He gave Warren a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages and Scott a copy of A History of Magic giving them both the same caution about not letting any muggles see them. Professor Xavier was the most difficult of his new friends to choose a gift for. He didn't know what to get the man. In the end he got him a holiday card – but inside the card he put a letter that he had written to the professor. In it Harry thanked him for everything he had done for him in the past 6 months, expressing appreciation of all of his help and letting him know how glad he was to be here in America as part of his school and one of his X-Men. Xavier was very appreciative of the letter and told him so telepathically after reading it.
Harry received presents from all of his friends in return. Warren gave him a portable CD player along with a copy of the Ramones' first two albums (combined on one CD). The other X-Men all gave him CDs to add to his small but growing collection. Bobby gave him Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Jean gave him Pearl Jam's Vs, Scott gave him Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, and Hank gave him two records: a recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and They Might Be Giants' Apollo 18. Professor Xavier handed him a copy of the Beatles' Abbey Road, saying that if he was going to build up a good rock collection then he needed to have something from the classics.
Dumbledore had sent along to Harry some gifts from his friends back at Hogwarts and he had sent his gifts for them back to Dumbledore the same way. Among these gifts was the annual sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Even though Mrs. Weasley had not seen him in over a year (except for a couple of minutes at the Hogwarts Express back in June) the sweater she made for him still fit him quite well. Since Harry was bigger now he wondered how she had managed it. Oh well. It was good to know that his friends in Britain were still thinking of him just as he was thinking of them.
Sirius and Remus gave Harry their gifts last. The first one was a large photo album.
"Hagrid told us" said Remus, "that he gave you a photo album of your parents in first year. Maybe some of the pictures in here will be the same but this album is a full record of your parents and their friends from the beginning of Hogwarts all the way through their schooling and afterwards during their marriage and their time with you. The pictures are in order and each one is labeled."
"And here on the back pages" said Sirius, "are some letters that your parents wrote to each other after they got engaged and throughout their marriage."
Harry could only stare as he paged through the album. Yes, some of the pictures were ones that he already had from Hagrid but most of them weren't. The ones at the front showed his parents when they were just starting Hogwarts. As he turned the pages they got older as the years went by until their marriage, then pictures of his mother pregnant, and finally pictures of them with him. After the pictures were the letters that his parents had written to each other. Harry touched one of them reverently. Here were actual words from his parents, something he'd never had before in any manner. He turned and looked at Sirius and Remus.
"Thank you" he said in a soft voice before hugging both of the men. There was a silence as the three of them reined in their emotions.
"Moony and I also have this" Sirius finally said once they had all recovered. He held a small present out to Harry who opened it to find a small mirror. "It's a two way mirror" said Sirius, "I have one and so does Remus. They're all linked together. Any time you want to speak to one of us just say our names and our own mirrors will warm up letting us know you're calling."
"Cool" said Harry looking at the mirror, "does it answer to Sirius and Remus, or Padfoot and Moony?"
"Both actually" said Remus, "we tweaked the magic on it so you could say either one."
"Those might be very useful things to have" said Xavier, "if either Jean or I can't communicate with any of the team telepathically it could be a good back up. Is possible to get more of those?"
"Yes" said Sirius, "how many do you want? One for everyone?"
"To start with, yes" said Xavier, "and we can figure out the best way to use them later."
The rest of the day was fun and relaxing. There was enough snow on the ground for Sirius and Remus to challenge Harry, Scott, and Warren to a snowball fight which turned out to be a mistake on their part. Warren threw normal snowballs but Harry and Scott didn't. Scott simply shot down any snowballs thrown his way with his optic blasts while Harry threw up telekinetic shields to stop all incoming snowballs and then used his telekinesis to lift huge amounts of snow and dump it all on Sirius and Remus. Sirius was torn between grumbling a bit about cheating and laughing at Harry's approach before taking out his wand and levitating a simply enormous pile of snow and aiming it at Harry – only to have Scott blast it apart before it could get anywhere near Harry.
Christmas dinner was a fairly quiet affair as there were only six of them at the school. Sirius and Remus livened things up a bit with some stories about Harry's parents and their time at Hogwarts. Harry soaked up every word. Around the end of dinner Dumbledore dropped in, mostly just to say "hi" and "merry Christmas." He didn't stay for very long and he refused to have anything to eat or drink beyond a simple cup of tea as he was already full from the Hogwarts Christmas feast.
When Harry went to bed that night he was both happy and content. With Sirius and Remus with him in New York Harry almost felt like he was having Christmas with his family. It had been the best Christmas he'd ever had.
It was now two days after Christmas and Lightning and Angel were flying over downtown Manhattan for no particular reason at all except that Lightning wanted to do some flying that day and Angel offered to go with him. Lightning accepted as he thought it would be more pleasant to have a companion than to go alone. Professor Xavier had finally decided that the X-Men were now well known enough that it was possible for the two of them to go flying in public without causing trouble. Both Lightning and Angel were very happy to take advantage of that.
Hedwig saw them off from the mansion, accompanying them for about a mile before peeling away from the two of them and flying back to go hunting. During the next part of the flight the two X-Men engaged in some aerial tag flying circles around each other before eventually straightening out for a smooth flight into New York City. Lightning had been interested in seeing the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve but had been persuaded otherwise by his teammates as "only tourists do that." Also the idea of spending over 24 hours waiting in Times Square beforehand just to have a good view of the ball coming down was not an appealing one, especially as the temperature was projected to have a high of just below freezing on December 31st.
Lightning was very thankful that his X-Man uniform was insulated from the cold. He didn't know how that was the case but it was. Professor X had spoken vaguely about the "properties of unstable molecules" being good protection against both cold and heat – or something like that. Lightning hadn't really understood it and he probably got it wrong anyway. All he knew was that it worked and he didn't feel the cold. Even so Sirius had insisted that he take a jacket so over his uniform he had on his heavy jacket which, since he didn't close it, flapped around him somewhat resembling wings of his own. Angel didn't wear anything above his uniform though.
They flew around Manhattan staying high enough to not be that noticeable although Lightning was sure a few people had seen them. Just for the heck of it they circled around the upper floors of both of the Twin Towers, then the Empire State Building, and finally Stark Tower. They were seen by people in all four buildings. Lightning just waved as they flew by. Interestingly the people who saw them didn't freak out that much. A few of them even waved back! Lightning supposed that was par for the course when you lived in New York City and superheroes were a regular part of life. It still surprised him how quickly the X-Men had become well known. It had only been two months since they'd fought Magneto at Cape Citadel but as that had been a high profile encounter word about them had spread very quickly. Their subsequent adventures just cemented their growing fame.
It was late in the afternoon by now and the days were short. At Angel's signal they started flying back. As they headed north they passed over Central Park so they flew a bit lower since there were no buildings in the way. As they were passing over the upper part of the Great Lawn Angel spotted a group of people who appeared to be in a confrontation of some kind. He pointed them out to Lightning and they went even lower for a closer look. It was a family of three, two parents and a daughter, that was being attacked by four men.
"Is that a group mugging?" asked Lightning.
"Looks like it" answered Angel, "shall we interfere?"
"Why not?" said Lightning. They circled around to get into a good attacking position and then swooped down on the group taking them by surprise. Angel slammed his fists into two of the muggers and knocked them down. Lightning punched a third one but the fourth one was out of his range so he pushed him down telekinetically. The two X-Men quickly landed facing the muggers.
"Why don't you pick on someone else you pieces of trash!" said Angel addressing the muggers.
"Crap!" said one of the downed muggers as he pushed himself back up, "it's two of the X-Men!"
"Let's get the hell out of here!" yelled another one. Split seconds later all four muggers were gone. Lightning and Angel bumped fists and turned around to talk to the family they'd just rescued.
"Are you all okay?" asked Angel who turned around first. Lightning was a little slower and when he saw the family he froze up. He didn't immediately recognize the parents but he'd know that girl anywhere.
It was Hermione.
Lightning opened his mouth and then quickly shut it again. He remembered now that in her last letter Hermione had mentioned that her family would be coming to New York City for the Christmas holidays but he'd never expected to actually run into her. On the other hand that was par for the course for how things happened to Harry Potter so maybe he should have. He wondered what would happen next? Maybe he'd help the X-Men save the Dursleys in the future and they'd gush about how wonderful he was – ?
Nah. Some things were just too weird to ever happen.
"We're fine" said the mother, "thank you for helping us."
"Not a problem" said Angel, "right Lightning?" Lightning nodded and then motioned for Angel to bend down a little.
"You do all the talking" Lightning said to Angel in a low voice so only he would hear, "I'll explain after we leave." Angel gave him a strange look but didn't comment.
"Who are you?" Hermione was now asking in her usual rapid fire questioning style, "how do you have wings? How can you both fly? Are you magical?" Angel raised his hands to stop her.
"Whoa" he said, "one question at a time please so I can actually answer you."
"Sorry" said Hermione blushing a bit.
"In answer to your first question" said Angel, "I'm called Angel and my companion is Lightning. We're two of the X-Men."
"Oh! I've heard of you" said Hermione, "you're super powered mutants, right?"
"That's right" said Angel.
"Wow!" said Hermione, suddenly not sure what to say. Lightning raised an eyebrow at the sight of a speechless Hermione.
"Well we're glad you're all right" said Angel, "you're tourists I assume?"
"What gave it away?" asked Hermione's dad, "I suppose it was the accent?"
"Naturally" said Angel with a grin.
"We're from Britain and we're here over the holidays" said Hermione's mum.
"Good for you" said Angel, "but I suggest you leave the park. It's especially not safe after the sun goes down."
"We will" said Hermione's mum, "thank you again."
"It's our pleasure" said Angel before looking at Lightning and saying "let's go." Lightning nodded goodbye to the Grangers and then he and Angel took off and were soon heading north again. Hermione watched them fly away with wide eyes.
"Wow" she said, resolving to learn as much about the X-Men as she could beyond what she already knew.
"So what was that all about?" Angel asked Lightning as they headed home.
"I know that girl" said Lightning, "we were at Hogwarts together. That was Hermione Granger, one of my two best friends there."
"Really?" said Angel surprised, "huh, what are the odds of that?"
"Even money when you're Harry Potter" said Lightning sarcastically.
"Lord knows that's true" said Angel with a smirk, "you, my friend, are a weirdness magnet."
"You got that right" shot back Lightning, "after all I hang out with you." Angel laughed.
"Touché" he said, "were you afraid she might recognize your voice if you said anything?"
"Yes" said Lightning.
"You think that's likely?"
"I wouldn't put it past her," said Lightning, "she's not the smartest witch in our year for nothing."
"But you wanted to say 'hello', didn't you?" said Angel shrewdly.
"I did" said Lightning, "very much. I was strongly to tempted to pull off my mask."
"I'm glad you didn't do that."
"So am I" said Lightning, "I'd have never heard the end of her questions if I had!"
"Perhaps she and Hank should get together" Angel said.
"God forbid!" Lightning said in mock horror, "they'd probably go out and conquer the world."
"Or get married" said Angel. This time it was Lightning's turn to laugh.
"That would be a real power match" he said.
"Maybe you should go for her" said Angel, "she's going to be pretty hot when she's done growing up."
"I'm sorry?" said Lightning sounding confused.
"You're not quite there yet" said Angel nodding his head in a knowing manner, "but I think you'll understand pretty soon." Lightning didn't say anything to that and they flew the rest of the way back to Xavier's school in silence. As they approached the school Hedwig flew out to meet them.
"Hello girl" said Lightning, "did you miss me?" Hedwig barked something at him and then took up a position in front of him and Angel. She led them the rest of the way back to the school looking for all the world like their guide. Lightning was glad Hedwig hadn't been with them when they ran into Hermione. That would have been a complete giveaway. On the other hand maybe that was why Hedwig didn't go with them. Somehow, probably through the same foresight that let her know whenever he needed to send a letter, she may have known the encounter with Hermione was likely to happen and had stayed away on purpose. Lightning chuckled to himself and turned to Angel with a grin on his face.
"I always said she was a smart owl" Lightning said.
"And you were always right" said Angel as Hedwig tossed her head with pride.
It was long past midnight on New Year's Eve. Xavier's school was even emptier than before. Hank, Jean, and Bobby were still with their families. They would be coming back in a few days. Warren had left two days ago to spend the New Year with his parents now that they were back from their trip to Hawaii. Only Harry and Scott, along with Sirius, Remus, and the Professor were at the school. They'd gathered together to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV which, Harry agreed, was much better than being there in person and having to deal with the cold and the crowd, and then toasted the new year with champagne and a little fire whiskey that Sirius had provided – but only a small amount in Harry's case which was quite enough for him.
The full moon had been two nights ago and Remus had locked himself in his room for it. He had been taking the wolfsbane potion all during the preceding week so he wasn't dangerous but he sequestered himself anyway just to be on the safe side. He looked a bit gaunt the next morning but was much better by now.
Harry stood looking out of the window of his room just before going to bed and thinking over how much his life had changed since the end of his second year at Hogwarts. Hands down it was so much better now than before he'd come to America. He hadn't had to deal with Dursleys in over a year. No one here called him a freak, starved him, made him do all of the chores, or heaped abuse on him. He also didn't have to deal with wizarding world fame very much these days. No one at Ilvermorny much cared that he was 'Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived.' Headmaster Pope had told him not long after he became a student at the school that in America the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' stuff didn't really matter. Yes, Americans knew about it but to them it was something that had happened over a decade ago in a place that was thousands of miles away. The U. S. hadn't been part of the war so it didn't impact them very much. At Ilvermorny he was just Harry and he was grateful for that.
He was also just Harry at Xavier's School but in different way. There he was just Harry in the same way that Warren was just Warren, Scott was just Scott and so on through the whole team. Being mutants each of them was unusual and unique in their own way. At Xavier's School that was normal.
Harry had become very good friends with all of his teammates. He was starting to place them on the same level of friendship as Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. They were a close team and that was especially important in the field where they needed to rely on each other. Out of all of them Warren had become his best friend but his friendships with the others weren't all that far behind. Bobby was probably his best friend after Warren. In recent weeks he'd begun introducing Harry to the joys of video games as he had recently gotten a Sega system which he'd connected to the big TV in the main livingroom. Bobby especially liked the Sonic the Hedgehog series and after learning to play the games himself Harry had agreed. It didn't take long before the two of them were teaming up to take on the games together, usually with Bobby as Sonic and Harry as Tails (I'm sure I don't have to explain why Harry liked playing as Tails). Hank and Warren often joined them for the games. Scott and Jean, however, didn't as neither of them were into video games much.
Harry had also noticed changes in himself since he had come to America. He'd hit a growth spurt and was a few inches taller than he was half a year ago. From exercising regularly he had become a good deal stronger and had gained more stamina. He had visibly bulked up although he was a long way from looking like a body builder. Lastly he was stronger mentally. Under Professor Xavier's guidance he and his fellow X-Men were working on building mental shields to stop possible intrusions from other telepaths. Not that Harry had telepathic powers of his own of course but even non-telepaths could block attacks on their own minds with proper training. He wasn't done yet but he was getting there.
The most interesting change was the one in his own attitude, particularly when he was Lightning. He didn't know if it was because of the adrenaline rush of combat or training in the Danger Room, the sheer pleasure of flight under his own power, or something else altogether. What he did know was that as Lightning he was bolder, more confident in his behavior – not cocky but not overly modest either. When he put on his mask it was like he was putting on another persona the way a performer would when going on stage. That confidence was leaking into his everyday behavior too. He definitely wasn't the scrawny Harry Potter that he had been during his two years at Hogwarts.
There was no question that the last six months had been among the best of his life. He wondered what the new year would bring and hoped that it would continue to go well for him.