Chương 4: Introductions

As Charles led him through the mansion, they passed by quite a few students who stepped out of the professor's way and stood at the side as they watched them pass by.

They walked through the hallways back towards the study and then turned and moved in the direction of the front doors. Opening them let in the warm breeze of summer. The sun was shining high up in the sky, bathing the outside with its warm resplendent colors.

Walking outside revealed a group of people standing in the yard, though standing might have been too generous of an assessment. Most of them were bent over and some were sitting down on the grass.

The professor continued to make his way towards the group and Harry followed. As they got closer, he could see that most of them had a sheen of sweat shining on their faces and were panting in exhaustion with the exception of a few individuals who only seemed slightly out of breath.

The one who looked the most unaffected by whatever they had been previously doing was the man standing in front of them all, smoking a cigarette.

As the group of people noticed the professor, those that were standing tried to stand a little straighter while those who were sitting tried to climb onto their feet, a feat in which only a couple succeeded while the rest were left either sitting or lying on the grass.

The professor turned towards the man in front of them all and spoke to him. "Logan, you could have let them off easier, no?"

Logan took a deep puff of his cigar and breathed out before answering. "It's not my job to baby them, my job is to whip them into shape."

"You're not trying to get us into shape, you're trying to kill us in the most sadistic way possible!" A muffled voice came from a girl that looked to be around his age that was lying down face first in the grass.

Others from the group voiced their agreements in the form of supportive groans as they directed their resentful gazes towards Logan. Another especially loud groan of agreement came from another person lying in the grass, this one being male and fucking huge.

Logan took it all in a stride and took another puff of his cigar. "It's not my fault you didn't exercise during your summer break, Kitty. And Peter, you only transformed one leg, you have much more of this in front of you."

The girl named Kitty turned her face to look towards Logan and sent him a particularly mean look, while the boy named Peter only gave another groan in response.

Charles released a small laugh "Alright, alright. I have an announcement." The professor motioned for Harry to step forward. "We have a new student joining your group today."

Harry stepped forward and spoke to the people in front of him that were now all paying attention to him. "Hello, I'm Harry Ballard." He stopped but it seemed that the people in front of him were waiting for something. "And I like cats?"

The girl named Kitty had flipped herself over for his introduction and burst into giggles while a few others joined in with small smiles on their faces.

"What are your powers?" A boy with a red sunglasses on his face asked him with a small smile on his face.

"Uh…" He wondered about what to say, since he wasn't sure what they exactly were himself before remembering what the doc had said to him. "Regeneration and superstrength, I guess."

"You guess?" A girl with long red hair asked him while eyeing him curiously.

"Harry only recently awakened his mutation, so he hasn't had the time to experiment with them." The professor spoke before he could.

Harry gave a nod towards the girl to affirm what the professor had said even if that was unnecessary. The professor probably sent a telepathic message to Logan as Harry noticed his confusion that was replaced with understanding a moment later.

The group in front of him chattered amongst themselves for a moment before the boy with the sunglasses spoke again. "I'm Scott Summers and I can fire optic blasts from my eyes." Scott gave a small smile. "I prefer dogs."

They seemed to have crafted an order in which to introduce themselves as the next one to speak up was a boy that was entirely blue with a tail swishing behind him.

"I'm Kurt Wagner and I can teleport." He demonstrated his power and with a sudden poof he appeared behind Scott and ruffled his hair before teleporting back to his original spot with another poof. Kurt grinned as Scott shot him what appeared to be an annoyed glance before smoothing his hair. "I like both cats and dogs."

Next in line was a girl with brown hair that was intermingled with streaks of pure white. "I'm Rogue and I can absorb other's powers with skin contact." She also gave a small smirk. "I like dogs."

It seemed that his little line had sparked something in them. Next up was the boy standing next to Rogue.

"I'm Bobby and I can create and manipulate ice." He mirrored Rogue's smirk as he took hold of her clothed hand. "I also like dogs."

It seemed as though the two were a couple, he made a mental note of it as next up was the huge man still lying down on the grass.

"I'm Peter Rasputin, and I can transform myself into organic steel." The boy spoke with an undeniably Russian accent. "I like cats, the fluffier the better."

After him was Kitty who was also lying down on the grass. "I'm Kitty Pride and I can walk through walls." She giggled. "I also like cats."

Last up was the girl with the red hair. "I'm Jean Grey and I have the power of telekinesis and telepathy." She continued the trend. "I like cats slightly more than dogs."

With that the introductions were done, and the professor seemed to have finished whatever conversation he had been having with Logan in the meanwhile.

Charles clapped his hands and gained their attention. "School is over for today; you can go and do what you want for now." There were cheers and mentions of showers as the professor continued. "Harry, could you come with me for a while longer? We still have some things we need to sort."

Harry nodded as he heard a few disappointing groans coming from the group, mainly from the blue one, Kurt.

"You'll get your chances to get to know him better tomorrow, now go get a shower and change into fresh clothes." Logan barked to the group as he shooed them away.

There was more grumbling directed at Logan as they went inside. The professor led him back into the study before gesturing for Harry to sit down once again.

Harry sat down onto the leather chair as the professor brought out a bunch of important looking papers onto his cluttered desk.

"What are those?" Harry asked as Charles picked up a pen and started writing on the papers.

"Some official documentation that I need to fill, nothing major." Charles smiled at him and switched the topic. "What do you think of your classmates?"

"They look interesting." Harry gave a reserved answer, he hadn't had much time to form an opinion on them just yet.

"That they certainly are." After that, there was a couple moments of nothing but the sound of pen on paper filling the room.

Harry just sat there, looking around the study and trying to find something interesting, before wondering why the professor needed him in here.

"I hope you can give them a fair chance. You might even become great friends with them." The professor laid down the pen and looked straight at him.

"Huh?" Harry asked in confusion.

Charles continued to look at him. "I saw a fair share of your memories while trying to find the dragon. It wasn't easy, your mind was like a maze." He sighed before continuing. "You should have an easier time now that the whispers are gone."

Harry just nodded without speaking, not looking Charles in the eyes. They continued on in that silence for a while before it was broken by a knock on the door and a head full of red hair peeking in.

"Professor, do you have a moment?" She asked.

"Just a moment, Jean. Could you wait outside while we finish up here?" Charles replied.

Jean nodded and closed the door as she backed out. Harry turned to look at Charles and saw that the paperwork was now in front of him. He gave it a quick cursory read. They were application forms for the school. Charles pushed a pen across the table towards him.

"Where do I need to sign?" He asked.

The professor pointed to the lines at the corner of the last pages and Harry signed his name there. After he signed them, the professor took them back and gave a nod. "You're now officially a student here."

"What about my previous school? Do I have to go resign from there?" He asked carefully, hoping that it was not the case. Having to resign himself would take so much time and paperwork, it was annoying as hell.

"No, your parents handled that." Charles responded as he put the papers into an envelope.

"Alright." Harry nodded. "What now?"

"You will have classes with the others in the morning so remember to set up an alarm." The professor put the envelope in to the desk. "We will also begin your training tomorrow, so be prepared."

Harry stood up. "Why not today?" He asked.

"You're still quite obviously exhausted, both your body and your mind." The professor looked him up and down. "You should be rested for our first sessions."

"Then what am I supposed to do with the rest of the day?" Harry asked instead of insisting. The professor was right, he felt exhausted and sluggish.

"That's up to you, you're free to do as you like after classes." The professor smiled as he ushered Harry out. "Go take a nap or play with the others, do what you like."

Harry nodded as he walked out of the study, he nodded towards Jean who looked at him as she entered the study after him. He stood still in front of the study for a moment, wondering what he should do with all this sudden free time he had.

His muscles still ached, and a headache was slowly forming so he decided that the best thing right now was to probably follow the professor's advice and go take a nap.

He went uninterrupted as he made his way towards his room. Opening the door to his room revealed the same empty room he had slept in; the sun was still shining in through the window straight into his bed.

He kicked off his shoes and took of his socks as he made his way towards the window and pulled the blinds close before taking off his shirt and flopping down onto the bed.

He pulled the covers over him and stared into the now somewhat familiar ceiling. He had met so many mutants today, it was the most he had ever seen in one place.

As Harry wondered what kind of classes he would have the next day, he fell peacefully asleep.