Chapter 40 Worst Nightmare

ver the course of the next two months Harry had two projects to complete. The first was the typing of what would later become Textbooks for his new branch of physics, Metaphysics. Technically, the current definition of Metaphysics was considered a branch of philosophy without ties to actual reality. Harry intended to change that. Sure, he could have gone with Extraphysics or Outerphysics, but this term would be used to quantify the abilities of metahumans so he'd rather use this and have others change the definition of Metaphysics than use a term that made superhumans look alien.

Harry's second project required a weekend spent at one of his companies assembling the world's first Sonic Screwdriver. There was a lot of overlap in the two projects and the coding required to make the Screwdriver was only possible after Harry had assigned the needed constants, variables, and formulas associated with the various energies that the machine would be dealing with.

Now it wasn't actually a screwdriver, nor could it fit in the palm of a hand or a pocket. In fact it was the size of a semi truck and could only use non-linear sonic oscillation harmonics to change the material physics of gemstones and only gemstones. But the properties that could be gained by gemstones that had undergone sonic treatment were non-reproducible through any other means on the planet. The first batch of treated gemstones were Emeralds Harry would take back to the Institute. Harry had shown the Goblins the step by step requirements for assembling the machines and Harry's Scholar Path shined through in that he could perfectly teach them how to properly assemble and use it in a single weekend.

The Emeralds were the key to Harry's second project, his Hard-Light hologram disguises for some of the students. The reason that only the Danger Room had a Hard-Light platform was that the unique materials required to create the Hard-Light system obtained from the Shi'ar designed spaceship were all used up in its creations. These modified Emeralds however could act as replacements for the core components of a Hard-Light generation platform which couldn't be acquired anywhere else on earth.

In addition to creating Hard-Light disguises for the kids, Harry also intended to install a Hard-Light platform in Forge's class rooms. A number of his demonstrations and labs required assistants and he never had enough helpers for that so Harry wanted to have his lab generate them for him. Harry already obtained permission from Danger herself to install a Quantum Entanglement Connection from the Danger Room to Forge's classroom so Danger could act as an assistance. Forge could also reproduce material intensive experiments through a Hard-Light demonstration rather than burn through funds to redo the same experiment over and over.

After a month and a half, Wanda Maximoff was successfully released from the Mental Institution and enrolled into Xavier's School. Wanda's release was expedited through several donations made to the Institution as 'praise for successfully healing such a profound case.' Not that Xavier was aware of that. Harry wasn't going to leave it to chance and he ensured Wanda's progress report leaked and that the Doctors got lauded mountains of praise which in turn made them want to show off her success even more which in turn lead to more donations. Her release had a nice, fat donation to tie the whole thing together and also sped up a process that should have taken six months to a quarter of that.

Because of Rogue's power, she always had her own room but when Wanda arrived, she immediately kidnapped her for a roommate which Xavier was happy with. He had noticed both Wanda and Rogue's personalities had changed drastically, but there were changes for the better and both involved Harry Potter, though Xavier was unaware of the details.

Harry used some precise magics to recreate some of the artwork Wanda had been most proud of from the hundred years. Not all of her favorites though, Wanda was explicit that some of those works were meant for their own enjoyment and not for the eyes of others.

One of the larger changes to Harry's personal schedule since then was that he would now spend eight hours a day in bed instead of four, but he only slept every other day. He would spend either eight hours or four hours each night using Battle Meditation which he had been slacking on lately due to lack of time. The reason was that both Wanda and Rogue had expressed interest in using the Multiplayer function so Harry agreed to use it when he reached level 220. However at his current rate of about a level every two days, they would likely have to wait until December. He was almost to level 200 at the moment.

[Harry Potter

Level 199 Age 15

STR 275 AGI 310

INT 450 WIS 410

LUK 20

Warrior Path Rank 27

Scholar Path Rank 45

Magic Path Rank 40

Tech Path Rank 32

Business Path Rank 22

Crafting Path Rank 23

Dragon Path Rank 6

Psionic Path Rank 20]

Harry often had to resist looking at his stats and Paths because it was too easy to distract himself from his current projects. Sure, he wanted to get his Warrior Path, Dragon Path and Psionic Path to Rank 30, but they would not grant any great assistant in a fight. Although his Dragon Path gave him enough strength to break the old Danger Room, if he wasn't holding back, he could do even more with Strength energy. And of course anything he could do with brute force, he could do even better with spells. The so-called Unstoppable Juggernaut against Harry's magic was completely defeated after all.

Both Wanda and Rogue agreed to keep their relationship with Harry a secret until Jean was on board. They wanted Harry to spend the nights cuddling with them, but in a house with a prankster teleporter, two telepaths, and a man who could smell what you had for breakfast yesterday on your breath, keeping such a thing a secret was impossible even with magic. Harry made it up to them though by setting a few adamantium plates inscribed with Timelord Math into their closet to enlarge the space inside by ten times. Since it used block transfer computation instead of an undetectable extension charm, there was no exotic energy within so it was safe for tech.

Wanda quickly started back up on her art in her free time and Rogue occasionally went to the mansion's game room and destroyed anyone who went up against her. How she suddenly became a god of games was something no one could understand.

The Halloween of the year was on a Wednesday and though many were too old to trick or treat, no one had the heart to stop them. Especially Kurt, Josh, and a few of the other kids who would not earn a second glance this night except for someone shouting they had an awesome costume. Wanda and Rogue dragged Harry out to have fun as Jean had just turned sixteen and had volunteered to babysit her niece and nephew for their first trick-or-treat with her parents. Scott had stayed at the mansion to supervise a Halloween party but Harry's girlfriends did not want Harry's first Halloween in the states to be dull so they took him out to see the sights and decorations.

Wanda's costume was a cute witch's outfit complete with a wide brim hat and toy broom. Rogue wore a vampire outfit with a cape and fake fangs. Harry's outfit was chosen by the girls, he wore a fur vest and had a blonde wig with a large prop bastard sword tied to his back making him Conan the Barbarian, the hero of some of the world's oldest stories which may have been true.

The trio were on their way to view more Halloween decorations when a fire ball flew past them and a certain teen with a near Australian accent shouted, "I must be getting rusty to miss at this range."

Although Harry wasn't a speedster, his observation and information processing speed was far superior to a normal human. When Pietro Maximoff ran down the block and right up to him, Harry's eyes followed him easily enough. It was too dark for the silver haired teen to notice that as he ran past Harry and nabbed the belt Harry wore containing all his gemstones.

Pietro stopped next to the ones Harry recognized as Lance and John. Off to the side were two he did not recognize but had heard off. A scrawny lad crouched on a wall with larger than normal eyes was the one called Toad. Next to him, a teen nearly as wide as he was tall, was Blob. Of course, Pietro, Lance, and John were called Quicksilver, Avalanche, and Pyro respectively.

"Ohh, look what I got? Emeralds, and Diamonds and Rubies, oh my, Ah hahaha!" Pietro noticed Harry and Rogue in costume, but he hadn't taken a second look at the witch currently glaring at him.

Pietro shouted, "Not so tough without your shinnies, eh pay to play?"

Harry shook his head with a smirk and said, "I doubt you're going to believe me but I'll go ahead and say it. This is the part where you should be running away."

The group paused for a moment before they each reeled back and started laughing. Pyro flicked his lighter and created a fire ball while calmly asking, "And why would we do a thing like that? I've got you right where I want you and it's payback time."

Rogue coughed loudly to get their attention as she was already getting peeved that she was not being taken as a threat.

Lance turned to her and said, "Check out our costumes little miss runaway." The light from Pyro's fireball stretched over the group and revealed each of them were in their brotherhood costumes and none had any exposed skin other than the face. They even appeared to be wearing gloves.

Pyro laughed haughtily and remarked, "You're not gonna be able to touch a single hair off our heads."

The group continued to laugh and walked closer, slowly encircling the group. Their laughter died with a single sentence.

"Hello Pietro." Wanda's voice was smooth and clear, the kind of voice Harry knew he could listen to every day for the rest of his life. It was also very distinct, and though the male Maximoff twin had not heard it in years, he instantly recognized it.

Pietro's eyes widened in shock at horror once he got a look at the face hidden under that wide brimmed witches' hat and he stuttered out, "W-Wanda?!"

Wanda smiled at his terror and waved her fingers before him. Pietro's costume suddenly expanded and then twisted around him, wrapping him from head to toe and causing him to fall over. This froze the rest of the group. She then looked at Pyro's fireball and threw a bolt of red energy at it causing the ball to explode in Pyro's hand, setting his gloves on fire and giving him actual burns and causing him to cry out in pain.

He dropped his lighter and used his ability to snuff out the flame but with a wave of Wanda's hand, Pyro's own clothes transformed the same as Quicksilver's and in a moment he was bound as well.

Avalanche rose his hands up as if he were lifting a great mass with a poor posture and the ground started trembling. Wanda threw a half dozen marbles from her pockets and with a wave of her hand, they transformed into chickens which landed in front of Lance. The terrakinetic sneered at the chickens and once more began to make the ground quake. The moment it did though, the chickens simultaneously turned their heads to face Lance and shouted together, 'BUH-GOK!'

The chickens started flapping and flew over the trembling ground directly at Lance's face. When he realized they were aiming to peck out his eyes, he released his hold on the earth and started running, but the chickens were very fast.

Blob started charging as well, but another four marbles thrown led to the immovable teen being surrounded by four wolves, each snarling at him with glistening teeth.

Seeing the direction of the wind, Toad decided to exist, stage left. He was unable to avoid Wanda's attention however and with a scarlet bolt of light, he was turned into a large toad that fell to the ground and gave a large croak before continuing to hop away.

Harry watched the show with a smile. The marbles were a gift to Wanda from himself. They had a core of Life Force infused iron within a crystal sphere and were very easy to transfigure into live animals. They even had a timed portkey to return them to her room if they ran too far off. Of course there were limits.

When it came to conjuring or transfiguring animals, the closer the probabilities of that animal actually appearing at that location were to zero, the harder the spell was to cast. So it was easier to conjure a wolf than it was a rhino unless you were in Africa. The creature with the lowest probability of appearing Harry was able to transfigure something into was a Mammoth. He couldn't conjure or transfigure something into a dinosaur. Neither could he conjure or transfigure something into a creature that has never existed on earth like many of the creatures he faced in Battle Meditation.

The screams of agony of Avalanche in the distance and the cries coming from Blob from the pain of being bitten and the fear he will really be devoured by wolves had Pietro and John panicking.

Wanda walked up to the bound pair and said with a smile that was not a smile, "Hello brother, it's been a while. I'd ask you how you feel, but being bound and unable to move while surrounded by people you're afraid of and lacking any control over your life is something I know far better than you, so I won't bother to ask."

Pietro started rambling, "Wanda, wait, please. It wasn't my fault, I didn't want to leave you there, but father didn't have a choice."

Wanda's not a smile strained as she continued, "I will have some choice words for Father next I see him. All it took for me to learn to control my powers was someone who wasn't afraid of me. Father, your self proclaimed leader, was too much of a coward for that. I don't know how any of you can justify following that hypocrite."

Wanda's hand rose menacingly over Pietro and she said, "Now, shall I start with you, or perhaps your friend?"

Pietro cried out, "No no no, wait, please, I'm sorry!"

Wanda theatrically stopped herself and like a perfect actress appeared to be giving it some thought. She said, "Well, I'm not sure if I believe you. How about this. Let Rogue here touch you for a moment. If she feels you really are sorry, then I promise to let bygones be bygones. I'll forgive you and you won't have anything to fear from me."

The sound of Blob screaming made Pietro quickly answer, "Yeah, sure, no problem."

Rogue walked up to Pietro with a smile and bent down to touch his face. However she stopped for a moment and said as if thinking aloud to herself, "Actually, I have some homework I gotta get back and finish so I need to get back to the mansion fast." She then looked back at Pietro and sweetly asked with a smile, "Pietro Maximoff, can I use your power?"

Pietro nodded and said, "Yeah, yeah, anytime!"

Rogue touched his face for a moment with her ungloved hand and walked over to John and said, "Didn't you say I wouldn't be able to touch a hair of your head?"

Wanda said, "So what should I do with you? Turn you into a pumpkin? Maybe set you on fire and disable your power? Oh, I know, I think I'll make you permanently bald."

John had been getting more and more pale with each threat and at the last he shouted like a little school girl, "Nooo! Please Noo! Anything but the hair!"

Rogue said, "You know, we'll need to put out the pumpkins when we get home, can you offer him the same deal?"

John noticed that Pietro didn't look winded when Rogue touched him and had he been thinking clearly, he would have thought more of that than simply it wasn't a bad choice.

John ended up agreeing to give Rogue his own powers as well in the end.

After touching his face and plucking a strand of hair out of pettiness, Rogue finished up and Wanda said to Pietro, "Next time you see father, tell the coward to walk the long way around me if he ever sees me and I'll consider leaving his punishment until a later date."

Harry casually walked over to where Pietro had initially been bound and picked up the belt of gemstones he'd dropped at the time and put it back on. Harry bent down to him and said, "I remember you saying last time we met I was as crazy as your sister. Wish I'd asked you more about her then because I think I'm in love."

Quicksilver, the fastest mutant around, froze at Harry's admission and a moment later, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Rogue and Wanda smiled and Harry walked back up to the group and they headed out.

Harry almost had to wipe a tear of pride from his eyes after witnessing the pair in action. Not from how they dealt with the Brotherhood, but because of their prank on Pietro and John. Harry had of course taught them his love of pranks over the course of a hundred years and they had many pranks wars between them and were far more experienced than most when it came to the art of pranks. He was so proud of them.

Of the Brotherhood's powers, Pietro and John's were the strongest which was why Rogue had telepathically gone over this plan with Wanda before they started. Blob's was alright but it was practically a weaker version of Juggernaut and Avalanche's powers were far too destructive. Of course they could have knocked them out and taken the power after asking the unconscious mutants, but Rogue stated that although the power was not affected, the effort was. She realized it took far more effort to use Mystique's and Juggernaut's power than it did any of the X-Men who consciously agreed to give her the use of their power.

As for the Brotherhood themselves, they would be fine. The transfigured wolves and chickens had illusions spells on them which made the damage inflicted on them feel and look real. Blob would look covered in blood and be in a lot of pain, but when the spell ended, neither he nor Lance would have any wounds and eventually Toad would turn back to normal along with John's and Pietro's costumes.

On the way back home, Harry had a bad feeling. Rogue and Wanda noticed it of course and they returned to the Mansion wearily, but nothing unusual occurred. A number of the kids had returned as well and were comparing their loads of candy with one another. Kurt's pillow case was the largest. He looked like a demonic Santa Claus carrying that thing on his back.

Harry spent four hours sleeping and another four using Battle meditation. However in the middle of his session, the Battle meditation broke and Harry saw an image of Jean being manhandled by men in suits and crying, calling out for help.

Harry quickly left his room and went over to Xavier's door. Before he reached it the door had opened and Xavier was on his way out with a worried frown. He noticed Harry and said, "You felt it as well then? I'm heading to Cerebro now to check on Jean."

Without another word the pair quickly descended the mansion levels and entered Cerebro. Xavier put on his helmet and searched for Jean's mind. The map of the world displayed by Cerebro would zoom in on an area then zoom out as if bounced off. It would zoom in again on a different area and then zoom out again. Xavier's frown deepened and he commented, "I cannot get a lock on her. She was going to stay at her parents house, let's see what happened."

The map zoomed in on New York and quickly to her parents house where both parents were standing at their door speaking with two others who from some of the images appeared to be police officers.

Xavier zoomed in on the minds of the twins and more images surfaced, their memories of what had happened.

Images of trick or treating and Jean's smile while in a princess costume. Then four strangers showing up and fighting against Jean. She fought back but was overwhelmed. The group ignored the twins and grabbed her and left.

Harry's own glare at the men in the images turned to ice. Jean had been kidnapped.

Xavier felt Harry's rage and said, "We'll find her Harry."

Harry said with steel in his voice, "You won't have to." He took out a diamond and made it glow in front of Xavier before making a portal and entering it. The portal led to the area Jean had been kidnapped. There were still a few police at the scene and damages caused from the fight, though most of it from the assailants. No one noticed Harry snooping around and no one noticed the red mandalas he conjured to scan the area.

It didn't take long for Harry to determine the group of kidnappers had a teleporter. The problem however was that it was a psionic teleporter. Such people could create a map of shortcuts in their head and instantly travel from one to another in what would be mapped out as a zig-zag route, though they would arrive instantaneously. However Harry had no way to track such a teleporter.

Harry Paused to consider his options. First of all, why didn't he get a Quest? A Quest would include a map pointer which would let him track her down in minutes. Even on that Orphans Quest there was a map pointer to the Orphanage which was why Harry snooped for and found the hidden transfer magic circle. Why not now?

After a few considerations, Harry realized why. He had a way to track down Jean, but that method would have permanent consequences. Without a map pointer, he would absolutely use that method. Perhaps those consequences were not a bad thing so he wasn't given a shortcut around them. If that was the case, there was no need to hesitate.

Harry made another portal into Wanda and Rogue's closet. He wasn't going to go directly into their room no matter the emergency though he did knock loudly on the closet door.

Moments later Wanda opened the door and said with a bit of an edge, "This had better be good Harry."

Harry said, "Jean has been kidnapped, I need yours and Rogue's help to find her."

From her own bed Rogue said, "Give me a minute."

The pair got ready and Harry made another portal to the Mansion's back area that was lined with trees. Harry already got out a backpack from his inventory while in the closet and filled it with materials so the cameras in the area would not see him using his inventory.

Harry pulled out five large crystal spheres from his backpack and placed them in a circle. He then got out a large jar of pure, white sand and began to pour it while walking around the circle. Though the pour looked sloppy, Harry was using telekinesis to make perfect lines between the crystal spheres. After drawing out the pentagram for a base, Harry then poured out a dozen thinner, more intricate lines and symbols.

The formation Harry was making used the same Arithmancy as the designs of Cerebro. It was a Psionic enhancer powered by magic set specifically to locate a specific mutant psionic. If Harry had any of Jean's blood, he would not need this, but he had been reluctant to ask that of anyone up to this point. He fully intended to get samples of everyone's later once this was over.

Once the sand formation was aligned, Wanda began chanting and charging the crystals with her chaos magic. Although she had not seen such a magic circle before, she had spent decades studying rituals so understood its use very quickly. Her own talent in art made her own rituals very precise and formidable and the pair had many discussions on rituals and ritual magic.

Harry sent Rogue a telepathic message of what to do and she agreed without issue.

Once the charge was complete, Harry entered Rogue's mind and together they found the echo of Jean that would often let Rogue use her powers.

Harry said to it, "Jean, your body has been kidnapped and is being hidden just like those kids at the orphanage. We're going to amplify your connection to find you through that connection."

The echo of Jean looked surprised and then worried before giving a firm, conviction filled nod. She knew what this meant but it was a better alternative than being kidnapped.

Within his own mind, Harry concentrated on the Phoenix flame and its resonance. The echo of Jean did not react, but Wanda caught the feeling though the ritual as her que and activated the ritual. She directed her charged powers into Harry and into Rogue which then entered and supercharged Jean's echo. The pentagram on the grounds lit up like the sun but Wanda held her concentration, using her power to amplify the connection to Jean.

The echo of Jean suddenly lifted into the air and a red glow surrounded it. The piercing cry of a Phoenix echoed.

Harry followed the resonance and opened his eyes, "I've got a lock!" Harry swatted the air and opened a portal. On the other side was Jean, bound to a metal table and screaming. A metal helmet was strapped to her head.

Harry jumped in and paused. He did his best to calm himself with the promise of what he was going to do. The room had two floors with an observation deck and a stairway up to it. No windows, but the number of vents on the upper wall suggested the location was under ground. The people around him were dressed in lab coats and none of them seemed particularly interested in Jean's screaming. Especially the one standing next to her with the large needle that Jean was screaming at.

Harry memorized the position of every person in the room and after unpausing, shot each with a stunner in under five seconds.

Harry looked back through the portal and saw that both Wanda and Rogue were exhausted. He couldn't see through portals while pausing so he had to enter before scouting.

After every person in the room fell down, Harry ran over to Jean and transfigured the iron bands holding her down into clay and ripped them off without hurting her. Jean met Harry's gaze the moment she realized what happened and she wrapped her arms around him and started crying.

Harry would have found the fact that he princess carried her after rescuing her while she was dressed as a princess a lot more ironic were the situation not so humorless. As he walked her over to the portal, he cast a gentle sleeping spell on her and handed her to Rogue who could easily carry her using one of her powers. Harry said, "Take her to McCoy and clean up here please. I'll clean up on this side."

Harry had absolutely no emotion as he said the last line and as the portal closed while he remained on the other side. Neither Wanda nor Rogue questioned what he was going to do.