33 Chapter 33 Making Friends

Harry had to return to his room to get more Quartz from his backpack, or at least that's what he told Jean when he left and returned a few minutes later. She was both surprised and a little skeptical that Harry's powers worked by just absorbing specific things for specific effects. Harry didn't mind doubts. If he did, he certainly wouldn't have 'granted a wish' in the kitchen since using a single Smoky Quartz for something like that was pretty big. He already figured out how to rationalize it to those who asked deeper questions but the truth was, his cover was specifically for enemies so if his friends had suspicions, that would be fine as long as they didn't openly share them with outsiders.

Harry never had any real intention of holding back while training, he just wanted others to think his powers had a high cost to use and since it really didn't require that much effort to create such a ruse, it was worth it. To Harry, it was just a very long term prank. He wondered which of the X-Men would figure it out first. His money was on Logan, but the man looked like he knew a thing or two about keeping secrets close to the vest so even if he figured it out, he likely wouldn't bring it up so Harry wouldn't know if he figured it out first or not.

Jean spent her time enjoying the quiet of Harry's mind and reading on Occlumency. The 'book' wasn't simply words, it was Harry's own understanding of the practice perfectly organized for assimilation by others telepaths making a few pages more informative than hours of lectures and personal studies. Ten minutes into her reading she realized Harry's thoughts hadn't echoed in the Library since she started which made her ask, "Harry, can you control which thoughts can be heard by telepaths in your mind?"

Harry left Jean's mind and answered back, "That's right. There is actually a book in the library that constantly updates itself with my thoughts which is also the practice I use to lock away my thoughts from others by having them written out instead of voiced aloud inside my head. However when I choose to, my thoughts can echo through the library as well.

After considering this for a moment, she smacked Harry's shoulder which he responded to by giving a fake hurt look. She said, "That's for saying I was peeping earlier. It isn't peeping if the person allows you to peep."

Harry asked innocently, "So if you allowed me to see you undress, it wouldn't be peeping if I didn't ask permission first?"

Jean smacked his shoulder again and turned slightly to hide her blush before stating, "You are not allowed to peep on myself or anyone undressing."

Harry added, "Without permission."

Jean tried to change the subject and turn her own embarrassment back on him, "So, can my library card be used to find the book with your thoughts or your memories? Maybe find a girlfriend or childhood sweetheart?"

Harry shamelessly said, "That's right and feel free to do so. I only ask that you not share with others anything you find."

"Umm, I was just joking."

Harry said, "My Library card actually can't be taken by someone who means me harm so the fact that you could take it means you can be trusted with any info you find inside my head. There are some restricted pieces that contain secrets that wouldn't do any good to get out which are kept locked away, but memories and thoughts are not among them."

Harry wasn't lying either. His thoughts and plans to gain Jean's trust so he could remove the blocks on her mind were all in one of the books. If she decided to pick it up and read it, she'd know his plans. Harry was curious as to her reactions if she decided to do so but wasn't worried as he had no ill intentions against her and Jean learning directly from him about the blocks in a way she knew he couldn't be lying to her would save him a lot of time.

He doubted she would though. Harry came off as a pervert so free access to his deepest thoughts would not be a priority for the young telepath when she would rather be spending her time looking over the books on mental arts she now had free access to.

Jean said with just a slight tease to her voice, "Maybe later."

Harry shrugged and said, "When you're done with those books, I recommend this one." One of the books on the shelves flew out and over to the table in the reading area Jean had found a comfortable seat in. Harry continued, "It was written by the master of the temple I was at for the last two years and one of the best guides for Astral Creation. She is so skilled, she can push a person's Astral Form directly out of their body and even drag it through different dimensions."

Jean asked, "Your master was a telepath? Wait, you master was a woman?"

"No and yes. All minds have the potential for Psionics, mutants such as yourself and the Professor just have a head start in the art. As for my master, if possible I'll let you meet her one day."

Separating your astral form from your body was difficult even for those who had mastered magic as it was a Psionic ability rather than a magic one, but for another to be able to separate your sense of self directly from your body required a far higher level of mastery.

Jean went back to reading and Harry grabbed another large piece of Quartz and put it in his inventory before taking another dive into Jean's mind. When asked how that worked he basically answered that each piece could allow for a single use of access to specific energies but as long as it was a continuous use, one crystal was all that was required. He was pretty sure at some point Jean would call BS and look for the book Harry kept the knowledge of his abilities in but for now he'd keep up the charade. His money was still on Logan figuring it out first though.

From what he could see while looking through her head, memories of ForgetMeNot were like objects with a frictionless surface. If on the floor, they would remain there, but a single jolt in any direction would cause them to quickly slide away. The harder you tried to hold onto them, the faster they left, like gripping a glass egg with wet, soapy hands. A part of Jean's skilled mind tried to gently hold only her recollection of ForgetMeNot but it still slipped through the cracks. After an hour Jean's mind had nearly forgotten why she had let Harry in so he had to remind her. What was concerning was that each time she was reminded, the memories she previously had of him didn't return. She only remembered him when reminded because there were memories of him that were inactive and once activated, she figured out the rest. However when she forgot, she also forgot the activated memories. This meant that the more she remembered him, the more of him she forgot.

Harry asked and got permission to copy any uncovered memory she had of him so they could be returned to her later. Thankfully, having a piece of ForgetMeNot in Harry's inventory acted like a tether so his own memories of ForgetMeNot were not slipping away. He was tempted to see what would happen if he removed the hair, but the worst case scenario was that he would instantly lose every memory of ForgetMeNot and from what Harry could discern, any memory he lost of his roommate would be unrecoverable. That wasn't acceptable so he would rely on Jean to do the necessary testing. She was alright with that as long as Harry returned to her a copy of any memory she lost during the tests.

While observing her, Harry did his best to, and from what he could sense, succeed in hiding his own awkwardness from Jean. Other than Hermione, this was the closet he'd ever really gotten to a girl around his own age and this was the first time he'd done so since his hormones started acting up. Though hundreds of years spent in the Tutorial and Paused helped his mentality mature, it had little effect on his biology and if caught off guard he'd still blush the same as Jean would do every so often.

While shifting around through her mind he would have to fight his own impulses to look at her thoughts about him as she could sense what he was doing in the same way he could sense her. Their proximity to each other, the fact that she smelled good, and how beautiful she looked while blushing weren't helping the situation at all.

On the matter of the mental blocks, Harry had discovered a few hints as to their nature but nothing obvious. It reminded Harry of what he did with his own mind in that the space was rearranged so that certain pieces of information couldn't be accessed without unfolding the space into a maze first. Without prior experience in doing so, Harry wouldn't have noticed the tell-tale signs of folded space within Jean's mind. However that means he couldn't have a good look at the blocks without first figuring out how to safely unfold the space.

From an outside observer's perspective, both Harry and Jean were in the mansion's library reading a book though neither would turn the pages. However neither were unaware of their surroundings and when three students entered the library, they both looked up to find the identities of the new arrivals. Two Harry recognized, the sunglasses wearing teen he met the previous night and the no longer pink haired demon teleporter. The third was an older pink haired girl with bone like plates framing her face as well as spikes coming from her back.

Jean looked up from her book and said, "Hey Scott, looking for me?"

The teen with the red sunglasses took a quick look at Harry which made him seem like he was struggling not to frown. He answered back, "Yeah, someone ordered a whole buffet or something and there are still left overs in the kitchen."

The older pink haired teen said, "No one ordered it Scott, I heard some new kid made it appear, like magic."

Scott said, "Look, there's no way-"

Harry interrupted, "Ah, that was me. I was playing around and overdid it a little."

The pink haired girl took another look at Harry and said, "You're the new kid? Well, I'm Sarah, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Harry."

"Well Harry, what are you doing spending your first day here in the Library?" she asked.

"Ah, there is a project I really need help with and Jean was nice enough to assist me. "

Sarah raised an eyebrow and asked skeptically, "Homework during summer on your first day here?"

"Not homework, a special project. I'm calling it Operation Don't Forget. It has to deal with how some things are forgotten easily while others are not. There's a lot of psychology involved and when I begged on my hands and knees for assistance Jean agreed to help out."

Jean gave a half smile at the explanation. Harry wasn't lying about the project, but he was leaving a number of things out.

Sarah nodded and said, "Well make sure to treat out little Marvel Girl right or there will be consequences."

Harry looked over at Jean and smirked, "Marvel Girl?"

Jean let her head fall down to the table in embarrassment which caused Harry's smirk to turn into a grin and caused Sarah to giggle a bit. Sarah said, "That's right, we're all very protective of Marvel Girl, especially Scott here."

Before Scott could say anything, Kurt said, "It's true, you should see him every time she gets hurt in the simulation." Kurt dramatically rose his hand into the air looking off into the distance and theatrically cried out, "Jeeeaan!"

Harry met Scott's gaze with an amused look causing the laser eyed teen to look down slightly. He took a breath and looked back up before saying, "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I can't deny that I overreacted when you were just testing us. It's just.." He looked over at Jean who was now waiting with a half smirk as well for him to continue his explanation. Scott let out another sigh before continuing, "Jean and I have both been in the Institute for years. Most come into their powers around their teens, but we both have had them for far longer and we were the youngest here when we arrived. She's isn't just a team member to me alright, she's family."

Jean gave him a soft look before hardening it and saying to Harry, "And though I've grown up quite a bit since I arrived here, Scott still tends to treat me like I'm still a helpless little girl even though I am fully capable of looking after myself and kicking his ass."

Scott looked part offended and part appalled at the language though Sarah and Kurt both laughed with the latter saying, "Ja, it's true."

Harry added his two cents, "Ah, so the knight in shining sunglasses still seeks to save the fair princess."

This got a few giggles from the girls and caused Kurt to start laughing. Before Scott could say otherwise, Harry said, "Jean, perhaps you should dress in a leather biker chick's outfit so he no longer considers you a princess to be rescued."

Sarah and Kurt erupted into full blown laughter and Jean tried to glare at Harry but stifling her own laughter while doing so didn't make it a very effective glare.

Scott seemed to realize there wasn't a way to defend himself so he gave up on that and asked Harry, "Look, are we ok?"

Harry could tell this was the type of guy who just wanted to be helpful to others. Harry did too, but in truth, that was more of just a hobby he enjoyed, like playing video games. Scott however was different, he emotionally invested himself into others. This would make him a good leader in the future, but it also meant that if he was betrayed by someone he had absolute trust in, he wouldn't take it well. Harry decided to file that obvious foreshadow away for later.

Harry held out his hand for Scott to take and when he took it Harry said, "No problem. If you have time later we can spar if you want. Your power is nice for long distance attacks but you'll definitely want some CQC skills to fall back on."

Jean asked, "CQC?"

Scott answered, "Close Quarters Combat. Though I didn't know anyone besides Logan used that term. He told me the same thing by the way. I can't believe you held your own against him."

Harry shook his head, "Oh, I didn't. That guy was holding back a lot. I mean he didn't even use his claws until I had him chained down. Last guy I fought with that much skill nearly vaporized me."

Kurt frowned and said, "Guys like you remind me that the phrase, 'May you live in interesting times,' is actually a curse. And how did you make that food and turn me pink?"

Scott asked, "Wait, you're the one who turned Kurt pink?"

"It was a reflex. I was minding my own business then this scary blue dude pops out of nowhere and terrifies me."

Kurt half shouted, "You liar! You weren't scared, you flicked my forehead the moment I appeared. Then you took something from your pocket and turned my precious hair pink!"

Harry threateningly said, "Did what I took out from my pocket look like this?" while reaching into his pocket. The blue demon popped away in another puff of brimstone smoke and from what Harry could tell, reappeared behind a nearby wall where he could still listen in. Harry said, "Oh, never mind, I don't have any Smoky Quartz left on me. Oh well."

Scott's frown could be seen beneath his sunglasses and he asked, "How does your power work?"

Jean quickly repeated back what Harry told her earlier, "Harry can absorb things which grant temporary effects like increased strength or access to energies he can use to perform magic like feats."

Harry wasn't sure she bought it but it was nice that she was helping him keep his cover since the others were more likely to believe it coming from her than him.

Scott asked, "What kind of things?

Harry answered this time, "Quartz gives me access to Psionic energy which lets me do things similar to Jean until I release the connection. Smoky Quartz lets me do somewhat random and unstable things and I can't guarantee the outcome or consequences. I used Smoky Quartz to teleport last night, turn Kurt pink, and conjured an assortment of food. I'm not entirely sure where the food came from though and I may have accidentally stolen it from somewhere."

Scott asked in just a slightly higher pitch of voice, "So we've all become accessories to theft?"

Harry said, "Doubt it. If I hear news of a theft I'll make sure they're compensated but I don't even know when then food came from, much less where. It could have all been made in different parts of the world at different times for all I know."

Scott shook his head and said, "Just, just don't do that again, alright?"

"No problem. I'll make it myself next time."

Harry felt another area of space cave-in close to him and paused again. Harry approximated where the blue demon was likely to reappear and unpaused while moving his hand to the space to his side.

Kurt once more reappeared in a puff of blue brimstone smelling smoke just as Harry's hand stopped in front of him and flicked his forehead again.

"Ow, vat vas that for?" he asked, slipping a bit into his German accent."

"Sorry, still a reflex."

Kurt rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you good in the kitchen?"

Harry said, "I'm good in a lot of places, but yes, I can cook."

From the looks on their faces, Scott and Kurt hadn't caught onto the double meaning but from the way Sarah smirked and Jean turned away, Harry figured they both understood.

Kurt said, "Excellent, then you can take my next shift and make lunch tomorrow."

Harry said, "Sure, and if anything horrible happens to those who eat lunch, I'm sure people won't come after you in retaliation."

Kurt considered it and said, "On second thought, I'll go ahead and make lunch tomorrow."

Sarah asked, "So Harry, are you a nerd, a jock, or a pervert?"

Harry gave a mock thoughtful expression and asked, "Do I have to choose just one?"

Kurt said, "Nein, he is a prankster. I vould recognize one of my own anywhere."

Harry said, "Guilty."

Kurt leaned over to Harry and gave a conspiratorial stage whisper, "There are things ve must discuss later." And then leaned out and gave a wink as if none of the others heard what he just told Harry.

Harry gave a sagely nod which sent a shiver up the spine of Scott and Sarah. Jean, for some reason, was looking forward to it.

Kurt, Sarah, and Scott took a seat and started talking about the Institute and themselves while asking Harry questions.

Kurt asked, "How could you live in a temple for two years? I vould be bored out of my mind in two hours!"

Harry knew what he meant and said, "Yeah, no one there would have appreciated a good prank so I have to lay low. The Head of the Temple did in fact have a sense of humor but she was the figurehead and had to lead by example so she couldn't express it outwardly."

Jean asked, "Did you ever prank her?"

Harry's face scrunched up. "Once."

Kurt excitedly asked, "Oh, this I must hear."

Harry sighed and said, "I have access to certain materials with beyond standard properties. For simplicity's sake, we'll call them magic potions and if you want I'll tell you more about them later. Now, the Temple Master is bald, so there was one time I served her some tea that had a little something extra inside so that the next morning she would wake up with a full head of hair. I saw her the next morning and she was still bald so I figured it didn't work. I mean magic potions aren't exactly what you would call reliable. Later that week I had tea with her again and she served it. The next day I woke up looking like a Wookie."

The moment that image came to everyone's mind each of them started madly laughing. Scott had to hold his sunglasses to his face to make sure they didn't fall off and it didn't take long for Sarah and Jean to have tears leaking from their eyes while Kurt was literally on the floor, rolling around and laughing until he couldn't breath.

After they calmed down a bit Harry said, "I'm just a little regretful I ever told her where to buy stuff like that."

Harry was grilled a bit more on the subject but passed it off as a small street in London filled with old, Occult Shops that either sold fake or real stuff, though that wasn't exactly what he said. He didn't lie, but he did give most of them the impression that it was just a slightly weird area, and not a hidden world. Harry wondered how long it would take for Jean to start looking through his memories for that.

The group headed back to the kitchen to grab some of the remaining plates and saw Forge standing in a corner next to an open metal panel. When he saw Harry enter, he said, "New guy, did you do this?"

Harry realized what he was talking about and said, "Yeah, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Sarah said, "Wait, why was this a bad thing?"

Forge answered, "The cameras and sensors fried the moment he did whatever he did." Forge had seen the video log which showed Harry taking out a large piece of Smoky Quartz, having the Quartz glow, and then the feed died.

Harry nodded, "Yeah. That form of energy isn't good around electronics, especially for feats that big."

Forge frowned and said, "Magic? Hope you know what you're getting into playing with stuff like that."

Harry asked, "Bad experience with magic?"

Forge took off a glove revealing a metal, mechanical hand and used it to knock on his opposite leg, revealing a metal sound. He said, "That was that last time I used magic. New house rule, no summoning anything, got it?"

Harry's look of recognition let Forge know he figured out what happened and Harry said, "Got it, no summoning anything. I promise."

Forge nodded and said, "Good." He held his metal hand out for Harry to shake and he did so. "I'm Jonathan Silvercloud, everyone calls me Forge though. When the semester starts I teach physical sciences. I hear you know your way around tech."

Harry recognized the Native American name and nodded, "Yes, I'm Harry, and I can write an operating system blindfolded and can probably take apart anything in Dr. McCoy's lab and put it back together."

"Is that right? We'll see about that later." He closed the hatch and left. It seemed he had just finished.

Kurt said, "Oh, you're so gonna get it."

Harry asked, "Why is that?"

Sarah answered, "Forge probably has one of the biggest egos on the planet but not without good reason. You basically challenged him by saying you could take apart his tech."

Scott continued, "That, and he is the one who programs the Danger Room. Him and Logan are number two and three of the top three people you don't mess with here."

Harry asked, "And number one?"

All four answered at the same time, """"Storm.""""

Harry could easily imagine what a Weather Sorceress of her power would be capable of so he didn't question it further.

They each grabbed a plate and finished it while continuing their prior discussion.

At one point Harry realized something and thought out loud to ask the question if the others knew that Jean couldn't control her powers and was hearing their thoughts as well. Jean gave a quick look at him and shook her head showing a bit of anxiety. Harry thought that he had no intention of telling others and as long as she didn't share the information she learned or use it against others, there was no real harm in them not knowing.

Jean sent a telepathic message to Harry, 'It has only been the last couple months that my powers have gotten stronger and this started. They don't know and I thank you for not telling them.'

Harry thought out loud that it wasn't a problem, but privately he wondered if the Phoenix granting him a part of its flame had affected Jean, boosting her own power due to the proximity. If that was the case, it would probably get stronger which meant Harry had to help her control it faster and remove the blocks before they caused permanent damage to her growing psyche.

He did ask if she would be able to reach his mind at night for more time to use his library to study mind arts.

Turns out that her own bedroom wasn't too far from Harry's so it was easy. Harry did his best to avoid the temptation of mentioning how they only knew each other for a day and were already planning ways to sneak into each other's rooms. Mentally at least.

After dinner, Harry and Jean returned to the library and Scott, Kurt, and Sarah headed off to do their own thing. The study group assembled not long after though was smaller than usual as most of its members went home for the summer. The current members included Bobby, Kitty, Sooraya, and Josh, along with Jean. Kitty was a few years older with Bobby being about the same age as Harry while Sooraya and Josh were both a few years younger. Bobby's parents didn't know he was a mutant so he felt awkward around them which was why he stayed. Kitty apparently picked up an cat sized alien dragon when she went to space and brought it back, but her parents wouldn't let it come over so she stayed at the mansion because she didn't want to leave it. Sooraya was Muslim and wore a traditional hajib. She didn't have family and didn't speak of it further. Josh was a young mutant who could heal others, but a few months back he got badly injured and tried to heal himself. It worked, but his skin permanently turned gold in color which made it difficult to walk around outside the mansion without a few hours of heavy makeup application.

Jean was usually the head of the study group but once they got started, Harry's Scholar Path got to work and his inner teacher smoothly took over. Jean didn't mind because he was doing well and it gave her more time to spend looking through the books on mental arts in Harry's head.

According to Harry's senses, Bobby's cells had a constant connection to a dimension that was similar to Ickthalon's but not the same one. There were countless dimensions after all and Ickthalon's was not the only Dimension of endless cold energy. That however meant that Bobby could use the equivalent of ice magic with the power of invocation without giving anything up in exchange. There was no reasonable limit either. If that dimension had no master then Bobby could potentially channel all the energy of that Dimension with enough effort. If there was no one to stop him he could freeze the planet solid if he wanted to. Harry was quite glad he was a good guy. Harry decided to teach him everything there was to know about thermodynamics.

Josh felt strange to Harry's senses. He was actually a bit similar to the energy Harry felt off the Philosopher's stone but also different. That matched what Josh told Harry about his abilities. Harry debated giving him some physical books on Occlumency since there was a possibility he could use his healing ability to reshape his own mind to practice the art. If he could, then it was possible to use Occlumency to learn vast amounts of chemistry, biology, and human anatomy and physiology. A living philosopher's stone with such knowledge would be very interesting. Not even the Flamels knew everything their stone could do after all.

Kitty had an interesting power of physical intangibility. Unlike the few dimension shifting forms of Intangibility Harry knew of, her's allowed her to still see and hear things in this dimension while intangible and she could even affect or be affected by some energies while intangible. She wanted to study engineering and though Harry was a few years younger than her, she had no problem accepting his input. She used to be Dr. McCoy's assistance and knew her stuff, but it seemed there were some issues with her power and she was kind of a klutz so after one too many dropped beakers or wrecking expensive equipment by accidental phasing into it, she was let go from that position.

Harry didn't know Sooraya's power and he didn't ask. Sooraya wanted to study law and though Harry mostly knew business law, he still knew enough criminal law to assist her.

When it came to studies, Jean usually studied the mind but that was more because of the influence of Professor Xavier and her own power than it was for a career. Everyone assumed she would go into the field of Psychology but just because she could go into the minds of others, didn't mean she liked to. Harry found this out while in her mind but that was mostly because she let him see it. From within her mind Harry directly said, "Jean, when you're done mastering mind arts, I'd recommend learning about physics, astrophysics and astronomy."

Within her mind echoed the question, "Oh, and why is that?"

"Learning about the mind will help you control your powers. Learning physics and astrophysics will teach you new ways to use them."

"And Astronomy?"

Harry said, "A hunch. You'll need it."

Harry didn't continue looking through Jean's mind to see what her answer would be. He gained all he needed for now on ForgetMeNot's issue and couldn't do anything about the mental blocks until Jean gained the ability to unfold her own mind which could take several months depending on how much effort she put into it.

That day's study group went on far longer than normal due to the progress each made in their own subject but eventually came to an end and they each returned to their rooms.

On arrival Harry noticed ForgetMeNot go stiff and stare at him for a few moments. Harry said, "I still remember you, so relax."

ForgetMeNot let out a sigh and said, "Sorry. I've had others say they would remember me too."

Harry wanted to tell him of his progress but there wasn't much to speak of at the moment so he said, "Can I have one more lock of your hair? I want to try a few things on it."

ForgetMeNot rolled his eyes and took the scissors from earlier and snipped a lock from the back of his head which Harry took and set aside.

Harry asked, "Are you a part of the second X-Men Team that went into space?"

ForgetMeNot looked surprised and said, "Yeah, but I don't really want to talk about it."

Harry figured the older mutant probably had as little experience talking to people about things as Harry did.

Harry took the papers he wrote earlier out of his inventory along with a portkey box. He created a magic circle in the air above an empty dresser which expanded and contracted, giving Harry the numbers to write down for the space's magical coordinates. He wrote that down and set it in the portkey box before activating it, sending the box to the goblins.

"Um, Harry?"

"Yes ForgetMeNot?"

"What was that?"

"Paperwork."

"No, I mean the taking stuff out of midair thing, and the glowy circle thing, and the vanishing box thing."

"Oh. That's magic. Why?"

"Um, you know what? Forget I asked."