"Happy New Year pup" Sirius said to Harry when he came down to breakfast the next morning.
"Thank you Sirius," said Harry as he saw both Sirius and Remus at the kitchen table along with Professor Xavier with whom they seemed to have been having a serious conversation, "and to you as well Remus."
"Thank you" said Remus, "I wish you a very good year to come Harry."
"Thanks" said Harry, "the same to both of you. It's been great having both of you here. How much longer can you both stay?"
"I'll have to go back to Britain in a few days" said Remus, "but Sirius is thinking of staying longer."
"Really?" Harry turned to Sirius.
"Yes pup," said Sirius, "if that's okay with you."
"It's fine with me" said Harry, "as long the professor says it's okay."
"Honestly I've been expecting something like this" said Xavier, "I've watched how the two of you and Harry interact with each other. It doesn't take a Einstein-sized intellect – "
"A what?" interrupted Sirius.
"Never mind" said Xavier, "as I was saying it's quite clear to all of us at the school that you both love Harry very much and you don't want to leave him. Remus has to of course because of his job, but not you Sirius."
"That's – yes" Sirius said to the professor, "thirteen years ago I bungled my chance to be there for Harry and raise him like his parents wanted and we all paid a steep price for that. I can't change that but I still want to be part of his life and be there for him as he grows up. I can see that he's happy here and I won't interfere with that. I just want to have a good relationship with him and help him as much as I can."
"I don't have a problem with your remaining here" said the professor, "as long Harry and the others are fine with it too you may stay."
"I certainly don't mind" said Harry, "and I doubt the others will either. They all like both of you."
"Thank you" said Sirius, "I don't want to freeload off of the school's hospitality though. I'm willing to help out around here in any way I can. I'm also willing to get a job and not be underfoot all the time. And I'm not hurting for money either if you need me to pay rent or something like that."
"I'm sure those things will take care of themselves" said Xavier with a smile.
"Are you sure you can't stay too Moony?" asked Harry.
"Not this time" said Remus with a smile, "I want to but I can't leave Dumbledore in the lurch like that. I'd like to come back again during the summer though."
"You'll be more than welcome" said Xavier.
"When you go" said Harry, "could you tell Ron and Hermione 'hello' from me?"
"I could" said Remus slowly, "but are you sure that's a good idea? They might not appreciate that I was able to see you and they weren't. And it won't help that I can't tell them where you are or what you're doing."
"You're right" said Harry with a frown, "I wasn't thinking."
"That's okay" said Xavier, "it happens to all of us."
"Thanks professor. Are we having training today?"
"No" said Xavier, "not on New Year's Day."
"Good" said Sirius, "then we have more time to spend together. Pup, can I borrow your broom?"
"Yes" said Harry, "why?"
"A few days ago you and Warren went flying" said Sirius.
"And ran into Hermione of all people" muttered Harry.
"Someday you'll be able to tell her the truth" said Xavier, "her and Ron both."
"Anyway" said Sirius, "I want to go flying with you today."
"I'd love to" said Harry, "there's just one problem. As long as I'm in my X-Man guise I can fly in public now. But what will you do? Wear my dad's cloak? I won't be able to see you if you do that."
"Not to worry" said Remus, "I'll disillusion him before you leave. I know an extra charm that will allow you to see him even though no one else will be able to." Harry's eyes lit up.
"I like it" he said turning to Xavier, "is that okay?"
"It's fine" said the professor, "just stay out of trouble."
"I'm sure Harry will" said Remus with grin, "I'm not so sure about Sirius."
"Hey!" said Sirius.
"When do you want to go?" Harry asked Sirius.
"Now is as good a time as any" said Sirius.
"Okay" said Harry, "I'll go change."
About 20 minutes later Lightning took off from behind the mansion. Sirius kicked off from the ground right behind him on Harry's Nimbus 2000 and was quickly flying at his side. As she had done five days earlier Hedwig saw them off, accompanying them for a mile or so before peeling off and heading back.
"I don't understand" said Sirius, "I'm disillusioned to everyone except you but Hedwig acts as if she can see me."
"Of course she can see you" said Lightning with a grin, "she's Hedwig."
"Ah of course" said Sirius nodding his head as if he understood, "so where shall we go?"
"The city is that way" said Lightning pointing south before pointing east, "or we can go that way into Connecticut and eventually the Long Island Sound. We can also go north or west but I don't really know what's in either of those directions very well."
"Let's head to the city" said Sirius, "maybe we'll run into one of your fellow flying heroes."
"That would be wicked" said Lightning, "I haven't met any of them yet and I'd like to. I'm a little envious that you saw the Human Torch."
"I'm sure it'll happen eventually" said Sirius as they both headed south towards New York City. They spent an enjoyable morning flying around the city. As they went Lightning pointed out various landmarks to Sirius that his godfather had not yet seen, or at least not seen from above.
"You really are a natural flyer" Sirius said to him as they rounded the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, "I wish your dad could see you now. He was an excellent flyer too."
"So I've heard" said Lightning, "Professor McGonagall said he was a chaser for Gryffindor."
"He was and he was very good" said Sirius, "he would have loved to see you play, your mum would have too."
They turned and headed out over New York Harbor and circled around the Statue of Liberty which neither of them had seen up close before. Lightning would not let Sirius fly a British flag from the statue's torch.
"It would be a great prank" argued Sirius.
"One which would probably see you thrown out of the country" shot back Lightning, "the last thing you need is to cause an international incident – especially so soon after you got out of Azkaban. Besides, they'd probably blame it on me since, unlike you, they can see me. The X-Men don't need that kind of press."
"Oh you're no fun" groused Sirius but he smiled as he said it, "but you're right about that last bit and I apologize for not realizing it sooner. I don't want to get you in trouble." The two of them turned north and began to head back. All morning as they flew Lightning was sometimes spotted by people on the street but no one made a big deal out of it except for some pointing. Occasionally someone would wave up at him. Whenever he saw someone waving at him he was sure to wave back. They didn't see any of the city's other superheroes though which Lightning found a little disappointing.
"Even heroes have holidays pup" said Sirius.
"Did you just come up with that now?" snarked Lighting as he rolled his eyes.
"Of course. I have a million of them."
"No doubt" said Lightning, "remind me never to tell you to be serious." Sirius hit his chest liked he'd been hit with a stunning spell.
"Ooh, that hurt pup" he said.
"I'm sure" said Lightning, "how many times did my dad say something like that to you?"
"I lost count one month into first year" said Sirius with a grin.
As they approached the school Hedwig came flying out to meet them. She circled around them and then settled down in front of them to lead them back to the school.
"Didn't she greet you and Warren like this the other day?" asked Sirius.
"Yes" said Lightning, "I think she considers it her job to see me off when I leave and welcome me back when I return. It's nice to have someone there to meet me when I come home."
A few days later Remus said goodbye to Harry and the others and returned to Britain. Sirius stayed behind. He had no plans to leave his godson's side any time soon.
"Welcome back Remus" Dumbledore greeted his DADA professor as he flooed into the headmaster's office the day before the students were set to return from the Christmas Holidays, "I trust you and Sirius had a good trip?"
"Very good headmaster" said Remus, "thank you for your help in making it possible for us to reconnect with Harry after so long."
"My dear boy it was my pleasure" said Dumbledore, "I heard from Charles that Sirius is staying in America?"
"Yes" said Remus.
"I'm not surprised" said Dumbledore, "I think he's doing the right thing staying there, at least for now. Other than that, what were your impressions of the X-Men?"
"I was very impressed by the X-Men" said Remus, "and not just by them. Sirius and I also saw the Human Torch flying overhead when we first arrived in New York City. We also learned about several other individual superheroes and superhero teams that are all in the New York area. We've really missed a lot here in Britain by isolating ourselves so much."
"I agree" said Dumbledore, "at the very least we should keep a closer eye on what goes on in the muggle world. The Americans have the right of it there. Not just them, most of the world outside of Europe is the same way. There's even a country in Africa where magic isn't a secret at all."
"What country is that?" asked Remus, "I've never heard of such a thing."
"The country is called Wakanda" said Dumbledore, "and not many people who don't live there know about it. It's a very secretive place from what I've heard. I only know about it because of my position with the ICW."
"You're not breaking any agreements telling me, are you?" asked Remus.
"No" said Dumbledore, "there's no rule against people knowing about it. You just won't be able to go there without help as it's very well protected. Even I've never been there."
"Well" said Remus, "that would appear to be another reason for us to have closer ties to the muggle world if a whole country can conceal itself like that. If we're not careful we may find the outside world crashing in on us and be unable to do anything about it." Dumbledore nodded. He knew it was true.
"I'm glad to have you back for the spring term" said Dumbledore, "I briefly thought you might also stay in America."
"I did consider it – for a moment" said Remus, "but I wouldn't leave you stuck without a DADA teacher like that. I intend to go back during the summer."
"As well you should" said Dumbledore, "Harry will need all of the support he can get, especially if Voldemort comes back."
"You still think he might?"
"I do" said Dumbledore, "we know he's not dead and he's tried once already. One good thing that's come out of Harry going to America is that the X-Men will be with him when he has to face Voldemort again."
"I believe it" said Remus, "having seen them in training and having also seen footage of them in the field I think Voldemort isn't going to know what hit him."
"May those words go from your mouth to Magic's ear" said Dumbledore.
On the first day of the spring term Hermione got on the Hogwarts express to go back to school. It didn't take her long to find the compartment which contained Neville and Ron (Ginny had gone to sit with her own friends). Seamus and Dean were there too having met the other two on the platform and being invited to sit with them. Once all of the greetings had been exchanged they all began talking about their vacations. Dean's family had vacationed in the British Virgin Islands and if Dean weren't already black he would have been sporting a very visible suntan. Seamus, Neville, and Ron had all gone home for the break to be with their families. At the Burrow both Bill and Charlie had joined the family for a few days around Christmas. Then it was Hermione's turn and she told them all about her trip to New York, including the incident in Central Park.
"You met two of the X-Men?" asked Dean in amazement.
"You know about them?" said Hermione.
"The rest of my family are muggles" was the reply, "so yes, I learned about them during break."
"Same with me" said Seamus, "my dad's a muggle and he showed me some stuff about them in a newspaper, also the Avengers."
"Excuse me" said Neville, "who are the X-Men?"
"They're a group of super powered mutant heroes" said Hemione and she went on to tell Ron and Neville what she had learned about them.
"And they're not the only superheroes" said Dean who told them about the Avengers and the Fantastic Four as well as a couple of non-affiliated heroes like Daredevil and Spiderman (Ron had to be reassured that he didn't actually look like a giant spider), "there seem to be a lot of those types of superheroes coming out of America these days, especially New York City for some reason."
"Dr. Strange lives in New York City too" added Hermione.
"The Sorcerer Supreme lives in New York?" asked Ron in surprise.
"You know about him?" said Dean.
"Everyone in the magical world knows about him" said Neville, "although I didn't know he lived in New York."
"It must be so weird to live in that city these days" said Dean, "you're walking down a street and you look up just in time to see Iron Man fly over head, or maybe Thor, or the Human Torch."
"I'm grateful for it" said Hermione, "otherwise my family would have been robbed, or worse."
"What were the X-Men like?" asked Seamus.
"I only met Angel and Lightning for a few minutes" said Hermione, "but they seemed nice enough. Angel did all of the talking. Lightning seemed shy, at least he didn't say anything to me or my parents although he nodded goodbye when he and Angel flew away."
"Excuse me" said Ron leaning forward, "did you say they flew away?"
"Yes" said Hermione, "they can both fly."
"How?" asked Neville, "I thought you said they weren't magical."
"They're not" said Hermione, "Angel has a big pair of wings growing out of his back – that's probably where his name comes from – so it's easy for him. Lightning has telekinesis so I'm guessing that's how he does it. I researched the X-Men after meeting them and I have pictures of them that I got from a bunch of different newspapers. Do you want to see them?"
"Yes" said Ron at once and the others agreed. Hermione opened up her small carry on bag and pulled out a folder.
"These are muggle photos" she said to Ron and Neville, "they don't move." She opened up the folder and began passing around newspaper clippings. She had pictures of all six of the X-Men taken at different times during the past couple of months. Cyclops was shown blasting an opponent off his feet. Beast was photographed upside down in mid-leap. In another picture Iceman was photographed creating one of the ice slides that he traveled along. Marvel Girl was seen stopping some falling debris with her telekinesis. She was floating a couple of feet off of the ground while she did this. Angel and Lightning were both photographed in flight. Angel was seen simply flying overhead, his wings spread out as he went. Lightning, in addition to being photographed flying, was shooting a bolt of electricity out of his right hand at an unseen target. The two pureblood wizards were very impressed.
"Wow" said Neville as he looked at the pictures, "they're really not magical?"
"That's right" said Hermione, "they're mutants."
"What's a mutant?" asked Ron. That, of course, brought on a long explanation from Hermione about genetics and mutations which kept them busy for quite a while and left Ron wishing he hadn't asked.
"You seem fascinated by those pictures" Dean said later to Ron as he saw the redhead continuing to stare at some of them.
"Yeah these two" said Ron pointing at the pictures of Angel and Lightning, "they can fly! I so wish I could do that. Imagine being able to fly under your own power without needing a broom. That would be absolutely wicked."
"Maybe you can find a magical way to do it" said Hermione.
"Is there a way to do that?" asked Seamus.
"Not that I've heard of" said Neville.
"Maybe you could use the Wingardium Leviosa on yourself?" suggested Dean but Ron shook his head.
"A lot of people have tried it" he said, "even me. It doesn't work."
"Pity" said Dean, "I guess you'll just have to find some other way."
For a while they all tossed out ideas on that but didn't come up with anything. Thus occupied the five students whiled away the trip back to Hogwarts. The only fly in the ointment happened late in the day when Malfoy stopped by with Crabbe and Goyle for their usual insult session. Malfoy had regained his sense of self-importance after the howler incident and was as bad as he had been before. When he saw the pictures and articles about the X-Men Malfoy declared quite strongly that it didn't matter what silly powers muggles might have as they would never be a match for a pureblood wizard like him.
"What does he know?" said Dean after Malfoy and his henchmen had left.
"Right" said Hermione, "any one of the X-Men would probably outmatch him so badly that he'd never even have a chance to fire off a spell before losing his wand."
"I'd love to see that" said Ron.
"So would I" said Seamus as Neville nodded his head in agreement. They arrived back at Hogwarts not long after that.
As the spring term got under way Hermione discovered that she, Dean and Seamus weren't the only students who had learned about the X-Men and the Avengers during the holidays. Pretty much all of the muggle-borns and many of the half-bloods who had gone home over break had heard about them as the fame of both groups, as well as the Fantastic Four, had spread far beyond America by now. They were the talk of the school for a while. Many of the sharper students had noticed the same thing Dean had mentioned about all of these superheroes and hero teams being from the New York area. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four were known to be headquartered in Manhattan. Nobody knew exactly where the X-Men were located but they'd been seen in New York too so most people assumed that either they were in the city itself or somewhere in the surrounding suburbs. The fact that Spiderman, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange were also all known to be in New York City left a lot of the students at Hogwarts wondering exactly what it was about the place that attracted so many super powered people. Needless to say, nobody could answer that.
Some of the pureblood children had a hard time accepting the existence of superheroes, whether mutants or otherwise. It was a major challenge to their view of muggles and the muggle world that it could produce people like that. A few of the ones from pureblood supremacist families refused to believe it at all. Draco Malfoy, in particular, was heard to declare quite loudly that it didn't matter who these so-called superheroes were or what their powers were as there was just no way any of them could ever be a threat to a pureblood wizard. Hermione just rolled her eyes when she heard that but didn't rise to the bait.
When word got out that Hermione had met two of the X-Men over the holidays quite a few people came up to her and asked her about it. Having only met them for a couple of minutes she couldn't tell them much but people seemed to be interested anyway. Professor Dumbledore had heard about the meeting when Professor Xavier had told him about it a few days earlier. He found it ruefully amusing that Hermione had been in Harry's presence but hadn't known it and Harry couldn't tell her who he was. Dumbledore hoped that it wouldn't be too much longer before Harry could finally reveal himself to his friends.
Unlike most people in the British wizarding world Dumbledore kept up with what happened in the muggle world. He'd taken out subscriptions to a few muggle newspapers many years ago and still had them delivered regularly. The papers were delivered to a mailbox that he rented in Edinburgh which was enchanted to send them to his office after breakfast. He had known about New York's growing superhero community well before anyone else at Hogwarts. He also knew that they weren't the first superheroes in Earth's history by any means. There had been others before them, especially 50 years earlier during the muggle World War II which ran parallel to the magical war against the dark wizard Grindelwald. All of those earlier heroes were gone now though – or so Dumbledore thought.
On a day late in January the four heads of the Hogwarts houses entered Dumbledore's office for a meeting with the headmaster to find him reading a muggle newspaper with combined expressions of shock and surprise on his face.
"Albus" said McGonagall, "what is it?"
"What?" said Dumbledore looking up to see them there, "I'm sorry. I was so engrossed in this paper I didn't hear you all come in."
"And what are you reading in that paper that's so compelling?" drawled Snape. In answer Dumbledore turned the paper around so they could see the front page. It proved to be a copy of The Times of London and the headline said "Captain America Found Alive and Revived By the Avengers" along with a large photograph of the superhero team and the revived Captain. There was a long silence as the four professors read the headline and part of the article below it.
"Oh my" Professor McGonagall finally said, "I don't believe it. I remember hearing about him during the wars against Grindelwald and Hitler. But that was 50 years ago and I was just a girl then. He looks exactly the same in the picture. He hasn't aged a day! Can it be true?"
"I remember him too" said Dumbledore, "he was a very well known warrior even in the wizarding world."
"Did you know him?" Sprout asked the headmaster.
"No" said Dumbledore, "I met him once but that was it. I doubt he would remember me."
"How is it possible that he could be alive?" asked Snape, "and unaged?"
"The article says that he was frozen in ice" said Dumbledore, "it must have preserved him for all of this time."
"It must be hard" said Flitwick, "he'll have to adjust to a world very different from the one he knew. Imagine if one of the founders showed up today and had to live in this time? They would be completely lost."
"True" said McGonagall, "although Captain America's case isn't quite so extreme it's almost worse in way. 50 years is not all that long. People he knew back during the war might still be alive but would be so much older now. How will they be able to reconnect with each other?"
Dumbledore said nothing to that. He was wondering if Harry, the other X-Men and Charles had heard about this? If Captain America became active again, perhaps with the Avengers, Harry might run into him in the future.