ENCHANTRESS ( peter maximoff )

𝑡𝑤𝑜.

02. | chapter two

❝helping hand.❞

↠↠↠

"Professor of Genetics, Charles Francis Xavier." Charles finished off his thesis with a smile as the theatre applauded when he waved his hand in thanks before walking down the stairs and over towards Lydia and Raven, who both applauded their brother.

"Thank you, thank you," Charles jokingly bowed to the two of them.

Lydia hugged Charles. "I'm proud of you, Charlie."

Charles patted her head then kissed the top of it. "I know you're only proud of me because I pulled you out of school to see my presentation."

Lydia looked up at Charles and gave him a guilty smile. "That's not all true."

Raven pulled out an umbrella and the three of them walked out of the hall and into the rain. "So, how does it feel to be a professor?" Raven asked Charles.

"Oh, don't call me that. You don't get to be called a Professor until you actually have a teaching position," Charles said.

Lydia smiled. "But it has a nice ring to it."

"Don't say that. Do say, "Let's go have a drink"," Charles smiled.

"But Raven and I are underage," Lydia said.

"You two won't be having a drink," Charles pointed to himself, "I, on the other hand, will be having a drink."

Raven playfully rolled her eyes. "Always leaving me out."

↠↠↠

A couple of hours later with Lydia onto her third glass of coke and Raven onto her second glass of lemonade, Charles was in the middle of a chugging contest at their local pub. Lydia almost got kicked out for clearly being under aged, so Charles used his psychic abilities to make everyone think she was an old woman. He would've made her appear like she was a middle-aged woman, except men kept trying to approach her, so he quickly changed everyone's perception of his ten year-old sister.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" The whole bar chanted as Charles chugged down a whole big bottle of beer, then cheered as he stepped off of the chair and raised his arms up in victory. He then walked over towards Lydia and Raven and hugged them both.

Lydia screwed her nose up as he squished her. "You smell like alcohol."

Charles pulled away and then pointed at her in warning. "Do not, and you know that."

"And I am oh so proud of you," Raven jokingly said with a chuckle.

"Thank you," Charles laughed in reply. "I need another drink, and you two need another cola."

"I'll join you," Lydia smiled and walked off with Charles towards the bar, wanting to be away from the crowded room for a bit.

"Congratulations, Professor," an auburn-haired lady approached the two before they could reach the bar.

"Thank you very much," Charles nodded. "It's much harder than it looks, actually." He said as he waved his empty beer bottle around.

"No, on your presentation," she smiled.

"You were at my presentation?" Charles asked in shock. "How nice of you. Thank you very much."

"Moira MacTaggert," she introduced herself.

"Charles Xavier," the two of them shook hands.

"I'm Lydia Xavier," Lydia smiled lightly.

Moira glanced down at Lydia. "Mother?" She guessed.

Lydia snorted as Charles placed his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, she's my mum," he said. "She likes to go to the bar with me because it makes her think she looks cool."

Lydia lightly glared at him as she crossed her arms across her chest. She was about to make a snarky response, before thinking of something better to say. "Charles, if you say something like that about me again, I will embarrass you in front of everyone in this room with baby photos of yourself." She turned to Moira. "Would you like to see a photo of Charles running naked under a sprinkler when he was two? Oh, he was so adorable!"

Charles awkwardly chuckled and placed both of his hands on Lydia's shoulders. "Oh, come on, now, Mother. You know you don't need to do that."

"Lydia, don't you dare," he told Lydia in her mind.

Lydia rose an eyebrow up at him. "You know I would."

"I think I'll be alright," Moira laughed lightly. "Actually, do you have a minute, Professor?"

"For a pretty little bean with a mutated MCR1 gene? I have five," Charles smiled. "Now, Mother, do you mind?"

Lydia opened her mouth to respond when Moira interjected. "Oh, no, she can join. I wouldn't mind talking to the both of you."

Lydia smirked once again at Charles in victory before the three of them made their way over towards an empty table. He sat besides Moira and turned his back to Lydia so that his full attention was onto the other woman. "Now, I say 'MCR1', you would say 'Auburn hair'."

"Normal people would say auburn hair," Lydia pointed out.

Charles ignored her. "It's a mutation. It's a very groovy mutation," he began his usual routine when flirting with a woman. "Mutation, right, took us from single-celled organisms to the dominant form...."

"You know what? This routine may go over great with the co-eds—" Lydia snorted in reply. "—but I'm here on business."

"What?" Charles asked.

"I really need your help."

Charles sighed in defeat. "Alright."

"The kind of mutations that you were talking about in your thesis. I need to know if they may have already happened in people alive today," Moira said.

Lydia frowned. "Wait, why do you need me if I wasn't the one who wrote the thesis?"

"You were around when Mr Xavier wrote and studied the thesis. So, I thought that maybe you would know a thing or two about this," she said. "Or how he came upon this study of organisms."

Lydia shared a brief look with Charles before the both of them turned towards Moira. Lydia rested her elbows onto the table and placed her head in her hands and began to go through Moira's head. Moira was thinking about a girl who turned into crystal right before her eyes; a man who looked like the devil who could teleport; a man who could create a tornado with his hands; and then another man sitting on a couch. Lydia's eyes widened in both shock and amazement at what they could do.

"Professor?" Lydia looked towards Charles as he thought over what to say back to Moira. "I think we should just talk when you're sober. Do you have any time tomorrow?"

Charles smiled at Moira. "I think you already know the answer to your question." Moira looked down as she nervously bit her lip.

"This mutation thesis that Charles wrote and studied has happened, but we need you to keep this on the down-low for a short while with only trustworthy people knowing," Lydia told Moira. "God knows what would happen if the whole world knew. They would probably be afraid of the mutated species, causing wars between both kinds."

"I doubt that would happen, only if the good people show them a better path," Charles said as he looked at Lydia, sending her a warning glance before turning back towards Moira. "Now, this is very important to me, as well as my mother, and if we can help you, we will do our utmost."

Moira nodded with a small smile. "Thank you."