Chapter 7

"Are you sure about this Hermione?" Harry asked, a little later that night. "Victor is not the nicest person out there, and he's a hard teacher."

Hermione took a deep breath. "I need to do something," she explained softly. "I just froze in that bathroom, like a normal person, when I could have easily gotten away. I need help."

"What about your parents? They'll want to spend some time with you," Harry pointed out.

"I need to do this Harry," Hermione pleaded. "I can't count on you to rescue me all the time."

Harry sighed. "I'll write a letter. I won't make any guarantees, but I'll ask."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Harry," she said, before leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek. She disappeared to her bed while a stunned Harry sat silent, wondering what had just happened.

And why it felt so good to receive that peck.

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A large, long haired man, with long, sharp, black nails, watched the nearby bar with interest.

The past few years, Victor creed had made several changes to his appearance, mostly to distance himself from the clean, military style look he had sported for the past..., well ever since the American Civil War. His estrangement from Jimmy had changed him. While his brother had continued to fight his instincts, as they both had for over a century, even after his memory had been lost, Victor had given in to them, becoming more feral and wild looking.

His once short, neat hair, had grown to his mid-back, and was quite wild and bushy, as was his facial hair. He rarely retracted his nails any more, and so they had actually turned black.

He did still keep tabs on Jimmy, or Logan as he was going by now. The only reason he hadn't bothered getting into any fights with him, it wouldn't be any fun without Logan hating him as much as he had when they last fought. Unlike a lot of fighters, whose anger clouded their judgment, a feral's anger actually made them better fighters, as it allowed them to submit to their instincts. And in a fight, feral instincts were better than a feral's brain. The less they thought in a fight, the better.

And he needed to fight Jimmy at his best, to prove he was better then the self-righteous idiot.

Which was why he was outside this bar. It was good to know that his brother, righteous as he was, still enjoyed fighting...

Even if it was an uneven fight.

He was pulled from his musings as an owl hooted behind him. Turning, he noticed a snowy white owl, holding a letter with his name on in. Taking the letter, he quickly gave it a sniff.

Harry.

Smirking slightly, he opened the letter. He liked the boy, Harry was always attentive whenever he decided to part with some of his knowledge. Not to mention the boy liked motorcycles, which gave him someone to share his love of the vehicle with.

Especially as he had few friends, none really, aside from Mystique and Toad. Magneto was more of an occasional employer than a friend, though he did respect the man, and even feared him a little. But a little fear was never a bad thing, just so long as you didn't let it control you, or allow your opponents to know it was there.

Looking down, he began to read the script, which was written with either a quill or fountain pen.

Dear Victor,

I don't know if you've heard, but Grandfather has sent me to a magic school in Scotland. I've made a friend with powers virtually identical to your own. But she has never been properly trained in how to utilize them, and last night I needed to save her when, with her powers and proper training, she could have gotten away. I told her about you, and she hoped you would be willing to come to grandfather's English estate during our Christmas break to give her some training, and maybe more in the summer months. If you can't, we both understand, but it would be appreciated.

Harry

Victor was intrigued. A girl, around Harry's age, most likely, with the same powers as him. Due to his healing factor, his mind had not deteriorated in the years of his life, and so neither had his memory.

It was certainly possible.

Turning the letter over, he pulled a pencil from his pocket. Writeing down one sentence, he folded the letter back up and gave it back to owl. Without any prompt, the white owl took the letter and flew up into the air.

Sabertooth looked back at the bar his brother was fighting in and smirked. "See you later Jimmy," he said under his breath.

He then walked into the wilderness. He had a plane to catch.

He might even shave if his suspicions were correct.

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Harry opened the letter from Victor.

What's her mother's name?

Harry's eyes narrowed. Why would Victor want to know that? Unless...

The young wizard's eyes widened in surprise. It would fit. Powers generally ran in families, though not always. Look at him and his Grandfather, and Victor and James. Now that he thought about it, Hermione's hair was just as wild and bushy as Victors, and there were other similar features between them.

Could Victor be Hermione's biological father?

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The two had sent off a reply to Victor, telling him Halle Granger's maiden name, Halle Jackman. As soon as they could. Two days later they got another letter.

I'll be there.

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Halle Granger sat down in the kitchen chair as she read the letter from her daughter.

'What were the odds?' she thought as she re-read the letter.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I was wondering if it would be possible for me to spend some of my Christmas Break at my friend Harry's home? I've told you before that he lives with his grandfather, but what I haven't told you is that, like me, Harry is different. Not in the same way, but he, and his grandfather apparently, can control metal. They also know others with powers tat are not magical in origin, called mutants.

Specifically, Harry and his grandfather know a man with abilities identical to my own, who is willing to train me. His name is Victor Creed, and he'll be in England for my break.

Please let me spend some time at Harry's, I really need to learn to use my abilities.

Love,

Hermione

Halle wondered if Victor knew who he was meeting? She also wondered if she should finally tell her daughter the name of the man she had slept with all those years ago?

If she should tell her daughter that Victor Creed was her father?

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Smoke drifted along the ground, but this was no regular smoke. It was a very clearly seen black mass, that seemed to slither like a snake as it approached a magical home. When it reached the walls, it began to climb, until reaching a closed window, at which time the smoke began to dissipate.

Seeping through the less than airtight seals of the window, the smoke entered the bedroom. The smoke quickly reformed, into a vague shape, before melting into the form a young girl.

The girl smiled. It was getting easier to become the smoke.

Looking back at the window, she frowned as the sun began to rise. Sighing, she climbed into her bed, hoping to catch a couple hours of sleep before her mother woke her up for her morning lessons.

The downside of being the youngest was that right now, during the school year, she had no one to distract her parents from her. Luckily, she just had to wait until next year before going to school.

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The week after the troll passed relatively peacefully, especially as the first year Slytherin's minus Tracy and Daphne, were now terrified of Harry. Unfortunately, all things must pass.

The result ended in four Slytherin seventh years, three with serious lacerations and one that required the careful removal of a chandelier from around his unconscious body, Two sixth years, one who had been wrapped in a suit of armor and another that needed shards of gold removed from his rear, and three fifth years, two with serious broken bones (one actually needed his bones vanished and regrown they were so shattered) and one that had to have three quills removed from his shoulder.

And while Poppy was concerned about the unusual number of Slytherins that had come to her lately, all she could do was tell the Headmaster. And as none of the incidents had involved non-slytherins, he had allowed Snape to handle it.

Since the attempted attack had happened in the Slytherin common room, Snape didn't really care. Despite the fact that he had to take five of the eight attackers to get new wands, as theirs had been snapped in the attack.

However, since the incident happened in the common room, many of the Slytherins finally got the message, Harry and Hermione were in charge.

Any comments made about either where whispered when the two firsties were absent.

And so, for the quartet of Slytherin's, the month and a half leading up to Christmas break passed quickly and mostly peacefully. Aside from some comments from the Gryffindor first years, mainly by Ron Weasley, about evil snakes, hardly anything of note happened.

Gryffindor was flattened by Slytherin in their first quidditch game, and classes passed easily.

Soon, it was time for the students to return home.

Daphne had invited all three of her friends to her home for their boxing day party. And they had all accepted. And Hermione had received permission to spend the two weeks after Boxing day, until the return to school, to spend time at Harry's. So it looked to be a pleasant vacation.

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I know it's mostly filer, but between Halloween and Christmas, not a lot really happens.

The only real review responses I have are these.

The reason Hermione acted like she did, is that although she has the powers, she doesn't have the right mindset to react with them. Remember, she's spent much of her life hiding her abilities and being ashamed of them. That kind of thinking doesn't just go away after a couple months.

The event's of the first X-Men movie will not happen until fourth year, or between fourth and fifth.

And yes, it is finally revealed that Sabertooth is Hermione's father. Which I wish to explain, when I was conceiving this story, I watched the first X-Men movie, and when I saw Sabertooth's long hair, messy, bushy hair, I thought of Hermione's.

And while you continue to try and guess who Nightshade is, remember that this is obviously an AU, I could have changed a lot of things just to be misleading, or I may not have. Also remember that just because I don't like a character in cannon, doesn't mean I can't re-work them so that I like them in this.

Please Review and Check Out my Challenges in my Forums (Link on Profile.)