It was shortly after meeting the dwarves (and getting their agreement to at least talk to the other clans in hopes of overthrowing the goblin's hold on the gold supply) that Erik realized their year might not be as...simple...as he had hoped.

This was because he had belatedly realized what he believed to be a simple psychic ability was anything but psychic.

Harry had gone from being able to read minds to being able to crudely manipulate metal in the same way he did. It wasn't the same refined shifting that Erik could do, but the fact he was able to slowly force the metal scraps the dwarves had lying around into different shapes woke Erik up to one important fact.

Either Harry was able to use his magic to inexpertly imitate the mutations he saw...or he had a mutation himself to copy any he came across.

It would explain how he was able to get his hair to remotely stay down that morning. He copied Mystique. Well that and he had the same bloodline she did meant he was possibly a metamorph like Tonks.

Only one way to find out for sure...and the technology was at a decent enough point that he could reasonably see if Harry did in fact have what Charles once dubbed the 'X' gene which triggered mutation.

Or he could ask Logan if he had seen any other mutants.

Logan had seen other mutants, but because they were picked up by the magicals and mistaken for them, generally the gene got degraded and turned off by too much inbreeding.

So the fact Harry might have it wasn't that surprising. Especially considering the ones who had even a portion of Mystique's gift of transformation married into the Black clan back when they were still druids...and got buried under so much inter-breeding.

Erik took a sample of Harry's blood, and with the help of Raven managed to get into a lab where he could examine it. It was crude by his standards, but it worked for what he needed it for.

"Well?"

"He has it. I'm guessing he picked up the mind reading from Snape when he helped us build our mental barriers. The metal manipulation he got from me, and the shape-shifting from you and Nymph. The question is what exactly is his mutation, or is his magic compensating for what he sees?" said Erik.

"Easy way to find out," said Raven, stepping away from the table she had been leaning on.

"How?"

"Introduce him to Rogue or Nightcrawler. Or we could let him meet Wolverine and see if he picks up the accelerated healing...or his claws."

"Healing is more likely, but we might as well visit him anyway. And I know you'd enjoy spending more time with Rogue and Nightcrawler."

Raven perked up. Now that they were roughly the same 'age', she had more to talk with Rogue about. Besides, it would be hilarious if she could get Harry interested in her adopted daughter from another life, and Rogue could use someone like Harry in hers.

So a few weeks before the school year restarted (Dumbledore still hadn't gotten his post back, and if they had any say about it he never would) Erik took Harry with him so he could meet the infamous Wolverine. It was safer than letting him meet Sabertooth, partly because of the fact he was in the wilderness, but mostly because he didn't need Harry accidentally mimicking a werewolf.

Harry barely refrained from having a fan boy moment, because Wolverine was one of his favorite characters after getting hooked on the X-Men series. He blamed the fact that he had originally believed Erik was a Magneto fan for that.

He liked Wolverine because the world just kept piling the shit onto him and he still came out on top and ready to kick some ass. Besides, what little boy wouldn't love a character that smoke, drank, swore and had metal claws that couldn't be killed?

Logan took Harry's fan boy side in stride, and even signed one of his comics for him. It was nice to be appreciated.

Erik just found it cute.

But what Raven, Erik, and even Logan all found adorable was the way Harry reacted to Rogue. It was pretty clear the boy had a thing for the 'older' girls, but never looked at Raven or Nymph that way because they were family.

And among the mutants, Harry's own power became pretty clear within a span of a single week.

He had the ability to mimic or copy mutation almost perfectly. If someone had two mutations, like Logan did (because there was no other way to classify his accelerated healing as anything but mutation) then his powers would copy the most feasible one for him to use.

In this case, Logan's healing ability, Kurt's teleportation (which had tickled him blue when he saw Harry copying it), and of course a greater degree of control over metal from Erik.

It was Rogue's mutation that made his more obvious.

He couldn't drain mutant powers (or memories) like she could...but the rate he was able to mimic and control them shot up after he met her.

The fact he had a crush on her was still pretty adorable for the 'adults' to watch though.

It took Erik all of two days to come up with the perfect mutant codename for him. Mystic. Partially because he was also a wizard, but mostly because he was related to Raven who's codename had always been Mystique.

On the plus side, at least Erik knew what they would be doing this year...training Harry in how to properly use his mutation and hopefully be able to pick which powers he learned to mimic or copy.

Snape was beyond thrilled at how this year was starting. Not only was he in charge for once, but with any luck he wouldn't be stuck teaching the snot nosed brats for the entire year!

Sure, giving Hagrid the post of the COMC teacher was a small issue, but as long as he kept the half-giant paired with an 'assistant' he wouldn't have to worry about it.

He was sure Bill Weasley could at least keep Hagrid from going overboard, at least until he knew the man could bring creatures that wouldn't horrifically maim the students. Besides, as the history teacher it wasn't likely that the oldest Weasley child would have as much homework to grade and kept him out of Snape's way.

Announcing the new teachers, he felt a profound sense of satisfaction. Mostly because he wouldn't have to deal directly with the students and he knew Erik would be able to keep the worst of the Slytherins in line for him, since he couldn't be Head of House while he was acting Headmaster.

He knew Lucius was currently planning to start rumors about how Snape had 'improved' the conditions at the school and that maybe it was time for Dumbledore to 'retire' so he could focus on one job instead of three at once. Considering he was well over a hundred years old, that was something Dumbledore couldn't really contest because he had been run ragged thanks to Fudge and his ridiculous requests.

Snape barely hid a smirk as he sat down to eat.

A Gryffindor would deal with Dumbledore by trying to take control directly, thus setting himself up for a personal fall. A Slytherin created multiple puppets that could do all the paperwork for them and allowed them to rule from the shadows.

Snape knew he fell under the category of 'Puppet' and frankly didn't care. Working for Lehnscherr was infinitely preferable to the life he had been living under Dumbledore's thumb or the Dark Lord's wand.

The question was who Lehnscherr would put into place as Minister, since he clearly didn't like Cornelius Fudge. The man was too much of a coward and Erik didn't have the patience to hold the man's hand through every 'crisis'. Besides, according to Lucius he was far too easily bribed and he whined when the supply was cut off.

Malfoy already had to warn the Minister that he might be overdue to being 'replaced' because the man had gone sniffing about the other Dark families in hopes of getting scraps since Black's trial was leaving him in the poor house. Considering how much Lucius had gotten done by keeping the man paid and happy, the other families might take him up even if it meant they were paying off the debt the Minister owed Black.

So Snape observed the now third year Slytherin to see what he would do about the issue.

And he wasn't disappointed.

About a month into the school year (with Weasley narrowly avoiding an inquiry from the Ministry because Draco had done something positively Gryffindor-level stupid around a Hippogryff he had deliberately insulted) Erik approached Susan Bones in an effort to gain connections to her aunt.

Amelia Bones was tough, but fair...and she had no tolerance for Death Eaters or Dumbledore's shit.

She was a strictly 'neutral' ally and the current head of the DMLE.

He kept his ear to the ground to see how things would progress... and by the time the first Hogsmeade visit rolled around, Fudge had been thrown out of office and replaced in a landslide vote for Amelia Bones in less than a week.

She was acceptable for the pure bloods, she was well liked by the "Light" side, and the "Dark" side generally followed Lucius who had agreed to support her.

Considering he was still angry over learning he had been following a bastard half blood (literally in this case) of a squib and a muggle, he wasn't exactly inclined to follow Voldemort twice.

And while he didn't exactly like the muggleborns, he could accept Erik's desire to keep any magical blood they could, if only for breeding purposes.

Marrying your cousin was fine and all, but overdoing it lead to health problems and eventually squibs that didn't have half a brain between them.

It was hard to dispute the evidence when the number of births among the pure bloods had dropped like a stone in recent years, while the number of half-bloods had shot up.

"So what exactly is the big appeal to this place?" asked Harry. He never really got why the students always seemed so excited about going to Hogsmeade. The excitement over visiting the magical village had dropped pretty quick during the whole plumbing fiasco last year...even if he knew why it had to be done.

"Students get antsy if they can't get out of the castle and away from the teacher's watch. So letting them enjoy the village is an easy way to keep them under control. Though for those born in big cities there's very little appeal except trying to get past the bartender in getting actual liquor. Well that and the shop where people get sweets, pranks and books anyway. I think it's mostly because they can leave the castle for a few hours and not feel pressured to be good little students."

Harry paused, considered that, before an evil smirk appeared on his face.

"I know that look. You've thought of something devious and positively evil...for the teachers anyway."

"Well the house cup is all about behaving and doing what the teachers tell you too, right? Basically being good little witches and wizards, even though we never see the damn thing even in our Head of House's office."

"Yes..." said Erik, not sure what he was getting at.

"So what if, and this is only speculation at this point, Dumbledore comes back and someone just happened to point out that the teachers were tricking the students into behaving all so their house colors could be seen at the end of the year and a trophy that no one has actually seen or gets any use out of it?" said Harry, his evil smirk firmly in place.

Erik opened his mouth to reply, then closed it after thinking the better of it. He had to admit, when Harry put it like that it sounded like an excellent way to start up some good old-fashioned anarchy and maybe give people a reason to throw Dumbledore right back out.

Charles had a much more efficient system in place to keep the students in line.

He threatened them with an extended training session with Logan if they didn't behave or back talked too much, and considering Logan wasn't exactly the kind of person who went easy on smartass kids, it was an effective way of shutting them up.

By the time he got to them, they were generally teenagers and forcing them to work with Sabertooth for a month or giving them something to direct their anger at generally helped.

He only ever stepped in for the younger children during the really bad cases or when Charles couldn't because of political reasons.

Ironically during the latter it was usually Charles who told him where they were and what sort of power they had... and once the heat died down Erik had a habit of simply making a discreet hand off to the Institute, as he had limited experience with children, baring the few that got attached and refused to go.

Since he tried not to get too close during the cool down faze, that rarely happened. But it did occasionally when he took an open interest in them, hence why he knew how to deal with Harry and Neville.

It was why despite being on opposite sides they still got along. To quote one of the books Harry had read after meeting Charlie... Erik did not make war on children.*

Erik looked at Harry with a smirk.

"If Dumbledore somehow manages to get back into the school, then not only should you comment loudly on that, but I'll have the others mention it as well to the other houses," said Erik. Harry smiled innocently at him, which didn't fool Erik for a minute. Children were the most devious creatures in existence.

*A/N: I'm paraphrasing a line in a book written by Mercedes Lackey called "Joust" where Ari passionately claims after hearing about a pretty nasty attack on a small village "I do not make war on children!" to his dragon boy called Vetch. I would absolutely recommend the series.