12 Oh shit

Harry spent the next few hours helping both Scott and Kitty, but mainly Scott, with their homework assignments while finishing his own. The library had steadily been bleeding people as others finished their homework and left to do something else.

There were only a few people left within the library aside from their little group of four. Those who still stayed were reading books in total silence and the only sounds in the library came from their table as both Harry and Scott grew increasingly frustrated.

Scott at the amount of homework still in front of him and Harry at the sheer effort needed to get something to stick within Scott's head.

By the end of their little session, he was mentally exhausted. Jean didn't look much better off, either. Kitty and Scott had no right to be as energetic as they were. They were basically rushing to put away all their papers and return the books they had used as reference.

"Do we have to do this every day?" Harry asked Jean as Scott and Kitty were returning their books.

"Basically." She sighed. "I really appreciate the help."

"It's not like I have anything else taking up my time, so it's fine." He breathed out. "I guess I'll go to the lounge to kill some time."

Harry rose up from his seat and took his assignment papers with him as he left the library before either Scott or Kitty were back. He started to make his way towards the lounge.

/-/

Jean sat and watched the receding back of Harry as he slowly walked out of the library. Soon after he had disappeared beyond the library entrance, Scott and Kitty came back.

"Where did Harry go?" Scott asked as he sat down.

"He said he was going to the lounge." Jean said. "What are you going to do now?"

"Hm," Scott thought out loud. "I wonder."

"You could always do more of your homework." She suggested. The look she received in return forced her to take back that suggestion. "Never mind."

"What do you guys think of Harry?" Kitty asked while strumming her fingers in patterns along the table.

"He seems nice." Jean said while putting away her own homework.

"Oh?" Both Kitty and Scott smirked in response.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow in response.

"Nothing." Scott said while still maintaining that same smirk. Kitty giggled.

"What about you guys?" She asked. "I seem to recall that he spent a lot of today with you, Scott."

Scott closed his eyes before copying Kitty and starting to tap his fingers on the table. He seemed to be in thought, but this was Scott, so the thoughts definitely weren't deep.

"He's a good guy." He said.

"We've known him for like a day or two." Kitty said. "It isn't like we know much about him."

"I may be stupid with school, but I am hardly ever wrong with people." Scott rebuked.

"I couldn't really get a read on his surface thoughts, so I couldn't find out what he thought about us either." Jean said. "It's like his mind wasn't completely there or something."

Both Scott and Kitty turned to look at her with curious eyes. Those slowly transformed back into the same smirks from before. It irritated her for some reason.

"You didn't go on a deep dive into his mind?" Kitty asked. "Or were you not that desperate yet?"

Desperate? Jean couldn't figure out what she meant by that. Kitty's powers made her mind quite intangible and as a result, her surface thoughts were hard to read.

"You know how my powers work; I can pick up on surface thoughts but for some reason I couldn't touch his." She sighed. "And you know I don't like using my powers to dive into someone's mind."

"Like the professor?" Scott asked.

"It felt similar, but the professor can make his mind disappear from my perception completely if he wants to. Harry's was still there, but faint enough that I couldn't see."

"Maybe he has more powers than he knows about?" Kitty wondered out loud.

It did sound plausible, then again, based on what she had found out today it made sense that his mind was a little different from others. Most people didn't have something foreign residing within their mind after all. She shouldn't even be able to imagine what that felt like, but for some strange reason she thought she could.

It was weird, but she didn't dwell on it any longer.

"Maybe." She said after a while. "Anyways, what do you guys want to do?"

"I don't know about you guys, but my computer is calling me." Scott said as he stood up and picked up his bag. "See you tomorrow."

It didn't even take five seconds before Scott had raced out of the library. Jean turned to look at Kitty and saw that she was staring where Scott had been moments before.

She coughed to gain her attention. Kitty turned to look at her with a smile on her face.

"What do you want to do?" Jean asked.

"TV!" She yelled out and took off sprinting towards the lounge.

Jean sighed and picked up her own bag and the bag that Kitty had forgotten behind before following after her. At least today's study session had been easier thanks to Harry.

/-/

Harry had decided against going to the lounge at the last minute and went back into his room to throw the papers there before going outside once again.

It was already getting late, and people were slowly starting to filter back towards the mansion to do their night rituals before bed. A perfect time for practicing his powers.

The professor and Hank had said that his strength would grow with stimulation, and the only stimulation he could currently put himself in was physical. If his cells truly were in a constant state of evolution, that meant that he could gain new powers in time with the right stimulation.

Or at least, that's what his current theory was. He hadn't tested it, yet. How the dragon had managed to direct his cellular evolution in the direction in which he had developed draconic traits, he didn't completely understand yet.

Nor the reason as to why they were not visible or even usable when he was in control. He wouldn't even know they existed if the bastard hadn't gained control a few days ago.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the dragon was a product of his mutation. Maybe it held the keys to directing his cell's evolution. It didn't matter right now, that thing wouldn't co-operate with him on anything.

Then again, if his theory was correct, as long as his body received stimulation, it would continue to evolve even without the keys. Harry would just have to make his current form strong enough to withstand the dragon, both body and mind.

Harry looked around and noticed that there were next to no people around. The gravel trail should also be deserted around now. He estimated that by the time he would be back, the amount of people here would be zero, or at least as close to it as it would get.

That would be ideal, blood tended to freak people out and he was almost certain that he would bleed a lot soon.

He took off his hoodie and t-shirt and tossed them on the grass next to the beginning of the gravel trail. It was warm enough that the night air felt refreshing instead of freezing against his bare skin.

He spent a few moments stretching and warming himself up before bursting into a sudden sprint, sending gravel flying out behind him. Thanks to the previous practice, he managed to keep his balance and could actually run again.

Yet, he felt that he could add even more force into his steps, and so he did. The sudden increase in momentum threw him off his balance and after a few quick steps trying to correct it, he fell on the gravel.

It wasn't face-first this time, but instead he managed to turn the fall into a roll. It helped him avoid mangling his face again but did nothing to stop his back and hands from being pierced by what felt like thousands of little needles.

He had learned from last time and had started the run on the edge of the gravel trail instead of the middle so that he could roll himself into the grass instead of trying to stop himself in the gravel.

At least, that was the plan. In reality, it was quite hard to try and control the direction of his roll because the momentum behind it was so big. He left quite a long line of displaced gravel in his wake as the roll stopped.

Slowly gathering himself up from the ball, the air was filled with groans. It was painful, but not as much as before.

'Guess my skin adapted and evolved to better resist this.' He thought as he started roughly swiping his hands along his torso, getting most of the pieces of gravel out. Those that were still stuck to him after a few swipes were removed gingerly by precise hands.

It hurt like hell, swiping them out so roughly. It hurt more than when he had rolled across them, but it was the fastest way to get them out. He needed to be as efficient as possible. The dragon wasn't going to go easy on him just because he hadn't had time to train himself.

He gritted his teeth as he burst into a new sprint. The grass had already ended and was switched into roots, bushes, and trees. The trail ran along the forest next to the mansion, it circled the lake in the middle of said forest.

While he was preparing himself for another speed increase attempt, he noticed the fact that the trail seemed to lack the copious amount of blood he had left on it earlier.

'Someone must have been quite shocked on their run today.' He smiled even through the gritted teeth. He pitied the poor soul who had discovered it but couldn't help but be amused by it.

Blood was starting to pool on his torso and his pants were already torn into shreds, but he didn't care about that.

He once again tried to increase his speed and managed to keep hold of his balance for longer than before, but it wasn't enough. He fell and tumbled into another roll; except this time, it wasn't on the gravel trail.

Instead, his tumble directed him straight towards a tree. He could see it growing closer through the gap in his arms as he kept going towards it, he closed his eyes instinctually.

There was a loud bang as his forehead impacted the tree with his full momentum. Harry could swear that he heard something crack. He opened his eyes in alarm as he felt a thumping pain on his forehead.

He was shocked to notice that the spot his forehead had impacted the tree on was cracked and there were even more cracks splintering from it across the tree.

Soon, the whole tree came crashing down with a resounding crack.

'Damn!' The crack he had heard wasn't from his skull as he had feared. It had been the tree.

The tree had fallen backwards into the forest further in, disturbing the wildlife. Harry saw a few crows flying out of the trees in surprise.

'I did that?' He wondered. Hank had said that he had a form of superstrength, but this was fucking ridiculous.

He touched his forehead before bringing his hands in front of him and looking at them. He didn't exactly feel like he was much stronger than he had been before.

After a moment of contemplation, he walked in front of another tree a little further in the forest. He stared at it for a while before he raised his right hand and threw a straight punch at it with as much strength as he could muster.

A resounding crack was heard as the bark on the tree was splintered and similar cracks as before started to appear and spread further. A moment later, the tree fell backwards in the same fashion as the previous one.

He stared in awe at his hand. This was incredible.

Those thoughts were soon forgotten as an incredible amount of pain suddenly shot through both his hand and head.

"Argh!" He gritted out in pain and spat out blood.

'Harry, Harry, Harry. What do you think you're doing?' A familiar voice resounded in his head.

Suddenly, it was extremely easy to ignore the pain lancing through him in favor of a sudden panic. Why was it here again, it was supposed to be contained. This was bad.

He quickly turned around and ignored everything as he burst into a sprint towards the mansion.

'Oh? Going back to that old man?' The voice was growing increasingly louder, like a static that was slowly clouding his thoughts, it was getting hard to think.

Harry spat out blood as he increased his speed even more, far past what he had been able to run with before. For some reason, he was able to do it now. His balance wasn't a problem, in fact, it was extremely easy to maintain it.

The pain within his hand was also starting to slowly disappear while the one in his head continued to grow. In his panic, he had failed to notice the slowly forming translucent scales on his skin.

He could see the mansion in the distance, he would be able to reach it.

'That old man won't be able to save you again.' The voice was as loud as ever, filling his head like static, but it was calm, until suddenly, it wasn't anymore. 'This body is mine, not yours!'

Harry felt the wings forming on his back and spreading out. Even with all the static in his head, he was still in control. It was different from last time.

The wings started beating instinctually. He knew how to use them, even if he had never before done so. His speed picked up even more as he rose from the ground and started to fly forward.

"You won't make it! It's mine!" This time, Harry heard the voice with his ears instead of within his head. It was also apparent that others had heard it as lights were starting to appear within the mansion. The doors also flew open as Logan rushed out with the professor right behind him.

There was a strange glow illuminating the entire mansion, it seemed to come from behind him.

Turning his head around to glance at what it was, he could see an illusory thread extending from his back. It connected him to a massive illusory dragon that loomed over him.

The world suddenly grew black as Harry felt himself dropping down towards the grass underneath him.