Everyone believed Harry Potter survived the Killing Curse because his mother sacrificed her life for him. Everyone was wrong, but who is going to believe the Boy-Who-Lived is actually a mutant?
Le Commencement du Diable Blanc
is a crossover fic with X-Men: Evolution. It follows Harry's tribulations as he becomes Gambit and starts to master his gifts, magical and mutant.
Dead Fic since 2011.
Contains the following tropes:
- Arranged Marriage: Marcus Boudreaux and Jean-Luc LeBeau decide to unite their Guilds through their youngest children's wedding. Jean-Luc can't help to have his reservations on the matter.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Remy loves so much New Orleans because he found allies and family there, leading him to embrace the Cajun culture.
- Becoming the Mask: Jean-Luc only wanted to secure "Le Diable Blanc" as an asset for his Guild until he saw how crappily the kid was treated, and decided to give him a real parent.
- Berserk Button: Remy is acutely self-conscious about his eyes, since people often accuse him of being a devil when they look at them.
- Blessed with Suck: Soo, your power is Stuff Blowing Up and you're unable to control it? Congratulations, Remy!
- Child Prodigy: On two levels with Remy.
- He's the most brilliant student the Thieves' Guild ever saw, and easily defeats five opponents once the double digits are barely reached.
- His mutation manifested at birth with his Technicolor Eyes, saved his life when he was fifteen months old and grew strong to the point of Power Incontinence well before puberty.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Eleven-year-old Remy really wonders why girls blush and stammer when he smiles at them. Are they naturally weird?
- Cool Big Bro: Henri and Emil don't care a whit about Remy being adopted or a mutant, he's theirs to dote on and tease.
- Composite Character: Harry Potter casts his name to become Remy LeBeau.
- Jean-Luc is also the one who met Storm, so he inherited a bit of canon!Gambit.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Vernon Dursley's uncle - the one who willed him his house - apparently kept forty goldfish in different jars, and was considered the Black Sheep to the family.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Essex approaches Remy, ostensibly to offer his "help", Remus basically reacts as if a paedo just put the moves on the kid.
- Fantastic Racism: Not even wizardkind is exempt from antimutant prejudice. This is so bad that James and Lily used a glamour on their newborn son to hide his "demonic" eyes.
- Foil: Quite the amount.
- Jean-Luc LeBeau and Dumbledore grew interested in the same child after hearing a prophecy (the Boy-Who-lived destroying the Dark Lord, le Diable Blanc uniting the Guilds) and took steps to control said kid. The old wizard chose to consciously ruin Harry's childhood, the guildmaster opted to raise Remy as his son.
- Remy bears striking similarities with Jean Grey in his struggles with a power growing too soon and too strong. But where Xavier manipulated Jean to dampen her potential without her consent or knowledge, the professor is more open towards Remy.
- Emil Lapin is very much the Good Counterpart to Dudley Dursley, as he genuinely loves his cousin instead of acting The Bully.
- Freakiness Shame: Because of his early neglected childhood, Remy cannot help but feel sore about his eyes and powers, seeing them as a curse.
- Going Native: Harry grew to love New Orleans so much he ultimately rejects his former identity as a British citizen to fully embrace his Cajun adoptive family.
- Good Parents: Jean-Luc tackled parenthood with the energy of a dying man leaping on a lit fuse. And he did it marvellously.
- Gratuitous French: This is The Big Easy, so yes.
- Happily Adopted: Remy, so much. Can be seen as a deconstruction since he shows a bit of hostility when his former life is touched upon.
- Ignored Epiphany:
- When Harry flat-out states he hates her, Petunia realizes how badly she screwed up. She still continues to emotionally abuse him.
- Dumbledore knows ruining a kid's life is unforgivable, but claims The Needs of the Many are at work.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Remus resolves to keep quiet about Harry Potter's whereabouts after witnessing how loving and protective the LeBeaus are towards Remy.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: The Dursleys manage to rid themselves from their five-year-old nephew by letting some stranger - who could have been ill-intentioned - adopt him. Six years later, Vernon ended up in prison for child abuse and Petunia is despised by the whole neighbourhood.
- Kick the Dog: Remy's gymnastics team decide the judge wouldn't take kindly at them for having a mutant member, so they shoo the kid away. He doesn't take it well.
- Mad Scientist: Essex gained infamy in the wizarding world for his utterly inhumane experiments. Remus still wonders why he wasn't thrown in Azkaban over it.
- Meaningful Rename: Jean-Luc LeBeau officially claims "Le Diable Blanc" as his son when he bestows the name "Remy" upon him.
- The Mentor: Three of them for little Remy, isn't he lucky? Jean-Luc induces him into the Thieves' Guild, Remus Lupin educates him about the wizarding world and Charles Xavier helps with his mutant powers.
- Mythology Gag:
- Mr Sinister shows an interest in Remy when he witnesses his Power Incontinence first-hand.
- Pr Xavier showing his telepathy off by mentally sending a message to a potential student: "you're not the only one with gifts".
- When Emil grouses dinner can still be micro-waved, Remy howls he doesn't cook TV dinners.
- After a desperate parent asked for his help about their too-powerful mutant child, Xavier creates psychic blocks on the kid's mind to prevent the apparition of an Omega-level threat. Here, he treated Remy, but Jean Grey was the recipient in the X-Men Film Series.
- Obviously Evil: Dr Essex doesn't even pretend to be polite to Remy. It's implied he uses some mind-whammy to get away, though.
- Parents as People: James Potter's knee-jerk reaction when he witnesses his newborn son's eyes is horror and disgust. He immediately feels awful and does his best to protect Harry from prejudice, but he never forgives himself.
- Power Incontinence: Here, Remy's mutant power is activated in his late childhood, and quickly worsens to the point that when he becomes eleven, he has to endure psychic surgery to not make everything explode around him.
- Psychic Static: Xavier demonstrates his telepathy to Remy, leading the kid to panic and eject him from his mind. The older mutant marvels at the boy's potential.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Charles Xavier is very open and accomodating when Jean-Luc consults him for Remy's Power Incontinence, doing his best to keep the boy comfortable while he's treating him and explaining the options when it becomes apparent surgery is a must-to.
- That Man Is Dead: Remy is adamant he's no longer and will not come back at being Harry Potter.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Emil won't hesitate to brave Tante Mattie's spoon for breaking into her kitchen and pilfer the cookies.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dumbledore actually set Harry up for a neglected, loveless childhood in order to make him Tom Riddle's true equal. He's fully aware how jerkish this is from him.
