(no subject)

[anzila]

BACKGROUND: Harry was born the son of stage magician Malcolm Dresden and Margaret LeFay, who unknown to both Harry and Malcolm was actually a powerful mutant. Sadly, Margaret died in childbirth under mysterious circumstances, and Malcolm was left to raise Harry alone as they drove all over America performing Malcolm’s act at increasingly smaller venues. Money was tight, and life on the road was always unstable, but Malcolm was a dedicated and loving father, and for the first six years of Harry’s life the young boy was happy and content.

Unfortunately the good times were not to last, as when Harry was six Malcolm died of a brain aneurysm, leaving the boy to become a ward of the state. Harry bounced from orphanage to orphanage for several years, never really finding a place where he belonged. He was often bullied by the older kids, and the orphanage staff was distant at best and neglectful at worst. During this time Harry began to develop his sarcastic nature as a defense mechanism, as well as a deep loathing of bullies.

Shortly after his 10th birthday Harry was finally adopted by a man named Justin DeMourn, along with another orphan named Elaine. Justin promptly informed both children of their true nature; both of them were mutants, as was he, and because of that heritage would be faced with a world that feared and didn’t understand them. He began training the both of them in the use of their powers, putting them through grueling and brutal daily practice and special exercises that pushed the two children to their limits. Still, Harry didn’t mind the harsh conditions too much, because for the first time since his father’s death, he had a family. Eventually he even began to fall in love with Elaine, and upon discovering she felt the same way the two soon became intimate.

It seemed as if life would continue this way forever, until one day when Harry was 16 his whole world once again came crashing down around him. He discovered the truth about Justin, and the real reason he had adopted the two young mutants. Justin was a vicious and devious anti-human terrorist who had claimed countless lives, many under the guise of working as a member of various law enforcement agencies. What was more, he had taken in the two young mutants with the express hope of twisting them into being his enforcers. Indeed, he was just weeks away from enslaving Harry as his mental thrall when Harry stumbled upon what was really happening.

The young mutant fled the place he had called home for six years, and raced off into the countryside, followed by a strange assassin summoned by Justin and called He Who Walks Behind. Despite his young age, Harry defeated the strange creature with the aid of an even stranger woman who called herself the Leanansidhe, and claimed to be, of all things, Harry’s fairy godmother. What she actually is remains unknown, but what is known is that Harry owes her, and she means to collect.

At this point Harry could have simply run away and never looked back, but there was one thing binding him to Justin; Elaine. He refused to leave her in their foster father’s clutches, and so he returned to settle matters with the man who had raised him once and for all. When he returned home, however, it was to heartbreak as Elaine promptly betrayed Harry and trapped him for Justin. Harry barely broke free, and engaged Justin in a brutal battle that only ended when Harry killed Justin and fled his burning home, unable to find Elaine in the flames. Assuming everything he loved had been burned to ashes in that fire, Harry wandered off lost and alone, with only Justin’s former research assistant Bob, a small sentient AI built into a fake skull, for company.

Harry was quickly picked up by the government, who promptly put him on trial for the murder of two people. While there was more than enough evidence to suggest that Harry had acted solely in self defense, his status as a mutant and the desire of certain government agencies to cover the fact that Justin had worked for them led to Harry coming within a hairsbreadth of being imprisoned for life with no chance of parole, and probably a secret execution. He was saved at the last moment, however, but Ebenezer McCoy, a influential member of the international intelligence community, and unknown to most a incredibly powerful mutant. Ebenezer convinced them to release Harry on probation into his custody.

Ebenezer then proceeded to spend the next two years training Harry as best he could, before deciding that the boy had learned all he could from him, and needed more of a general education. Thus he contacted his old friend Charles Xavier about arraigning a transfer.