Harry Potter: Alchemy by Shamrock Holmes
Summary: After twelve years with his foster family, the time for Harry Potter to return to Britain and begin his journey towards his destiny!
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Alternate Universe, Cursed Child and beyond
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: Harry Potter and the Last Daughter of Krypton
Published: 2021.04.14
Updated: 2021.05.28
Harry Potter: Alchemy by Shamrock Holmes
Chapter 1: A Long Road
Author's Notes: 82 South Main Street,
Smallville,
KS 67524.
June 23, 01:00 CDT.
Team Year Eleven.
The ringing of the phone roused Lana from her sleep before her husband managed to snag the handset and answer it.
“Kyle Cushing here,” he said in a groggy whisper. “What?! I’ll be right there!”
“What’s wrong?” asked Lana, sleepily, clinking on her bedside lamp.
“That was the fire-house,” replied Kyle, as he leapt out of bed and started to scramble into his clothes. “There’s a fire over at the LoveCorp Fertilizer Plant, the chief is mobilising everything we’ve got to fight it.”
Lana sat up, startled. “If that plant goes up…”
“Yeah,” agreed Kyle.
“Has the chief contacted the Justice League for help?”
Kyle’s frown was just about visible. “I think we can handle a simple fire without any outside help.”
“But…”
“I don’t have time to discuss it!” Kyle hissed, as he turned towards the door, now fully dressed. “Get some sleep.”
Like that’ll happen, thought Lana to herself as she heard her husband rush as quietly as possible down the stairs and out of the front door. After fighting with herself for a few moments, she reached over for the phone and dialled a Connecticut area code.
“Lane-Kent Residence, Lois Lane speaking.”
“Lois, it’s Lana.”
“It’s two in the morning,” said Lois, with a bite to her voice. “This better not be a social call, Lana.”
“It isn’t,” Lana assured her. “Is Clark with you?”
“No, he’s off planet,” Lois replied. “Is something wrong?”
“LCFD has just issued an ‘all-hands’ to a fire at one of LoveCorp's local fertilizer plants,” Lana answered. “Kyle thinks they can handle it but…”
“You’re worried and you want him to have some back-up,” finished Lois.
“Yeah, is that wrong?”
“I don’t think so,” Lois confirmed. “I’ll try and get hold of Jeff and see if he can send someone out.”
“Thanks Lois,” said Lana. “I’ll let you get started.”
After she hung up, Lana turned out the light and tried to get some sleep, but it didn’t come. She was still trying when the sun peaked through her curtains a few hours later.
****
0705 CDT.
Lana was setting out the breakfast next morning, only for two as Kyle hadn’t returned from his callout, when Hank ran into the kitchen waving his Q-Pad in the air. “Mom! Mom!”
“What is it, honey?” Lana asked.
“The Outsiders were in town last night! They saved some firefighters out at the fertilizer plant!”
Lana’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly crossed over to her son. “Does it say who?! Was Kyle…?”
Harry paused, “I don’t think so…” he said. “The article says that the driver-engineer… that’s Kyle’s job, right?”
“Normally,” Lana agreed. “This was off-shift callout though, so…”
“Well, the driver-engineer was on his rig when part of the plant went up,” said Hank. “Kid Flash managed to get four firefighters — a fire captain called Jack Miller and three of his firefighters, it doesn’t say who — out before drums of ammonium nitrate exploded and Thirteen was able to contain the explosion before anyone outside was hurt.”
Lana relaxed, then doubt began to creep in. If Kyle was alright, why hadn’t he let her know he was okay? She crossed to the kitchen phone and dialled his cell-phone. But a moment later she nearly cursed under her breath when she heard his ringtone from upstairs. He must have left it behind. She hung up and rang the station’s number, but that rang out without anyone answering.
She glanced back at Hank, who was watching her. “Eat your breakfast,” she told him. “Pa’s busy today, so I’m going to send you over to the Hub and you can hang out there?”
“That’d be cool!” Hank exclaimed. “Karen’s been talking about challenging Cassie to a rematch for a while. Maybe she’ll do it today and I can watch it!”
At that, Lana almost changed her mind, but decided that it wasn’t a battle that she needed to get into.
****
First Kansas Bank,
509 Main Street,
Smallville.
KS 67524.
13:20 CDT.
“Would you like to take a seat, Herr Mueller?” Lana asked the swarthy farmer when he entered her office. “What can we do for you today?”
The middle-aged man looked a little embarrassed. “I had a little health issue last spring so I vas not able to plant as I needed to.”
Lana nodded to herself. This was a familiar story in the isolated farming community that she lived in, so without asking any more questions, she pulled up the man’s record on her computer. “Let’s see… Well, your credit history could be better, but it’s pretty good… you’ve had a couple of deferments and temporary overdrafts but that’s not unusual… What do you need?”
After a pause, he told her, and she was about to run the numbers when her phone rang. Throwing the farmer an apologetic look, she picked up the handset. “Lana Lang.”
“Lana, call for you on line two,” said the receptionist. “Some sort of family emergency?”
“Did they say what, Holly?” Lana asked.
“No, but it’s a California area code if that helps?”
“It does,” Lana confirmed. “Can you tell Fred I might need to duck out and check on my son?”
“Sure, Lana,” confirmed the receptionist. Then with a click, she transferred the incoming call.
“Lana, it’s Sue,” said a familiar voice over the phone. “Can you come to the Hub?”
“Is it Hank? Is he okay?!” demanded Lana, panicking a little.
“He’s fine, but there’s been an… incident,” replied Sue. “So, I think he and Kara could do with a friendly face right now.”
Lana paused for a moment, considering the question. “I’ll be a few minutes, but I’m on my way.”
“I can send Forager with the Bio-Ship if that would help?”
Lana thought about it, “No, that’s okay, thanks… I’ll make my own way. Maybe fifteen minutes?”
“I’ll see you then,” replied Sue and hung up.
When Lana looked up again, she saw Jonas Mueller watching her with a compassionate look on his swarthy, wrinkled face. “Herr Mueller…”
“Don’t worry, Frau Lang,” he replied. “My need is not urgent, look after dein Sohn.”
“Danke,” said Lana and rose from her seat and then grabbed her purse and jacket as she moved from behind her desk.
Outside her office, she met up with the bank president, the elderly Fred Cramer — the father of a late schoolmate of hers — who had a worried expression on his perpetually harassed face. “Holly says you have a family emergency?”
“Yeah, Hank and my niece have been caught up in an incident,” Lana explained. “I left Jonas Mueller in my office…”
“I’ll take care of it,” promised the elderly man.
****
The Hub,
Hollywood.
CA 90069.
11:50 PDT.
“Recognised, Lana Lang A14,” announced the Computer as she reappeared inside the penthouse that served as the headquarters of the Justice League’s West Coast team.
A short brunette woman — Sue Dibny, the Outsiders’ current ‘den mother’ and for Lana’s money probably one of the top ten criminal investigators of any stripe in the world — was waiting for her.
“Where are they?” asked Lana.
“In the kitchen area.”
Lana nodded. Regardless of where they were… at home; Pa’s house — especially when Ma was still alive; Sullivan Place; Jeff’s house in Freeland; the lighthouse in Amnesty Bay; or anywhere else for that matter… her son always tended to gravitate towards the kitchen when there was a problem.
“Dinah wants a word with the three of you in my office when you’re ready,” added Sue.
“Give me a couple of minutes?”
“Of course,” Sue assured her. “There’s no hurry.”
Despite that assurance, Lana hurried towards the kitchen area, past several people — mostly Outsiders but also a few of the school-age associates too — and soon spotted ‘her kids’. They were sitting on one of the red leather sofas just outside the kitchen area. As far as she could tell, Hank was fine and had his arms wrapped around the taller Karen, who it appeared was not, as she was sitting curled up with her elbows on her knees and her hands over her eyes and appeared to be crying.
“Kara, what’s wrong?” she asked, sitting down on the other side of the teenager from her son and mirroring his hug around the girl.
Karen took her hands away from her eyes, tears streaming from them and what looked like mild burns around the sockets. “I… I…” the fifteen-year-old tried to say, then threw a glance at Hank that she couldn’t catch.
But Hank, who was face to face with her, had no problem both seeing and understanding the glance. “I’ll tell Mom what I saw…” he told her comfortingly. “But I’m guessing that you’ll have to talk to Aunt Dinah about it soon.”
Karen nodded silently.
“Sue says we can take our time,” Lana assured the pair. “But Dinah does need to talk to you… us.”
“Well, she challenged Cassie to a rematch like I thought she would…” Hank began.
****
13:25 PDT.
“… and when Cassie snagged me around the wrists with her lasso, I got a flashback to Lashina pulling off the same move in the training grounds on Apokolips and panicked…” said Karen as she came to the end of the story. “… then before I knew it my heat vision activated and blasted Cassie full power…”
Dinah, who was sitting at Sue’s desk while the trio shared a sofa, sighed and nodded. “That’s what I thought happened.”
“What’s going to happen to me?” asked Karen.
“Well, fortunately Cassie will be fine… she’s pretty tough,” Dinah paused. “Although I’d avoid any thunderstorms for a while…”
Karen smiled a little at the joke. “I’ll try to.”
“Your flashbacks and loss of control do concern me though…” Dinah mused. “… but with the Justice League still short on heavy hitters and Cassie side-lined for the next few weeks I can’t afford to bench you.”
Karen relaxed a little more at that answer. “But…?”
“Neither Megan nor I have the time for any formal sessions at the moment…” admitted Dinah. “… and Lilith is busy setting up the new group in Metropolis for Loren Jupiter. And in any case, I don’t want to make any firm decisions until your cousin is back from Rann.”
Karen nodded. “But for now?”
“I’d like you to spend some time with Neut at the Metahuman Youth Center,” replied Dinah. “He knows what it’s like to lose control and he was imprisoned and tortured by the Reach as well.”
“I can do that.”
“And once Simon LaGrieve, our new psychiatrist, joins us from Langley, I like you to see him regularly.” Dinah told her. “Perhaps he can help you.”
“That would be good,” said Karen with feeling, setting back into the arms of the two Langs.
****
Meta-human Youth Center,
Taos.
NM 87557.
July 7th, 08:23 MDT.
“I think part of the problem is that so much of that time is a blur,” Karen admitted to Neut. “I mean I remember pretty much everything about Krypton. Its destruction… the Argo dome… but other that, everything’s a blur, even my parents putting me on the pod and sending me to Earth…”
“Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem,” admitted Neut, then took a hearty bite out his breakfast burrito and paused to chew it. After a moment or two of thought and chewing, he swallowed the mouthful and added. “One of the versions you remember is your father sending you to kill your cousin, right?”
“Yeah,” admitted Karen after taking a few bites of her own breakfast. “I’m pretty sure that that was part of the brainwashing scenario that Desaad put me through.”
“Black kryptonite, wasn’t it?”
Karen paused, clearly a little uncomfortable, but replied. “Not just that… that… ‘man’ may be evil, but he enjoys his work and believes in being thorough.”
Neut hissed in anger at that. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay,” Karen assured him. “I survived. Many didn’t.”
“That’s true,” Neut admitted. “But it doesn’t make what you suffered any less important.”
Karen gave him a look that clearly said that she understood what he was saying but didn’t necessarily agree.
Neut was about to say more, but the intercom blared into life. “Supergirl, report to the Zeta Room. Priority Red!”
“I guess we’ll have to pick this up later?” said Karen, rising to her feet.
“Of course,” agreed Neut.
It only took her a moment to reach the Zeta Room. The room was empty other than the director, Eduardo Dorado Sr.
“You need me, Doctor?” she asked.
“The Chicago PD have a meta on their hands that they need help with,” replied the scientist. “The responding officer called him Death Mask… Oracle’s managed to get a surveillance drone over there and captured this just as an officer went down…”
He turned to the computer bank and manipulated one of the keyboards. A picture appeared on the monitor showing a man in a tan jacket, a wide-brimmed hat and a glowing-green skull for a face pointing a finger at a stocky man who promptly collapsed on the ground. The image reversed a few frames, then a coloured box highlighted the villain’s hand and then the image zoomed in and then she could make out tiny darts flying from the finger.
“Poison?” she suggested.
He shrugged. “We won’t know until the Cook County Medical Examiner can examine the body, but that’s the theory.”
“So, you want to me to go in because you think my invulnerability will protect me?”
“We can’t force you. The Commissioner is confident that his people can handle him, but the potential loss of life…”
“Say no more,” Karen told firmly. “Have we got any Zeta tubes nearby?”
“STAR Labs doesn’t,” he confirmed. “The closest Tube we have is Detroit and that’s down as part of the refurbishments.”
“Can you bring up a map?”
“Of course.”
Karen glanced over it for a moment. “If I Zeta to The Barn that’ll cut my flight time by two-thirds.”
“That seems reasonable,” agreed the scientist and moved to another console and his fingers ran across the controls for a moment. “Done.”
“Tell them I’m on my way!” said Karen as the tube spun into life.
“Recognised, Supergirl B40,” declared the Computer as she ran into it.
As soon she cleared the Tube, she made a trio of signs. “Lor Do Nu!” she declared and shot off into the air, heading towards Chicago at top speed.
****
Chicago.
IL 60614.
09:45 CDT.
“Squad, this is 5221 Mike!” hissed the detective into her radio, as she took shelter behind another parked car, desperately trying to spot the meta that had been taking pot-shots at her for the last half-hour. “10-1, 10-1… 2100 block North Fremont!”
“21 Mike, back-up inbound, standby.”
“Times up!” declared a voice from behind her, and she tried to turn around, but her crouch put her off-balance and she fell to the ground, her gun arm trapped underneath her, and she watched helplessly as the skull-faced meta pointed a finger at her.
But before he could kill her, a figure — a slim, tall teenage girl in white and blue exercise gear with a choppy blond bob — blurred into view, blocking his aim.
The villain cursed, but his attack on her saviour was unsuccessful and by the time another unit arrived, he was cuffed and ready for transport.
“Thanks for the save, Supergirl,” said the detective.
The teenager made a face. “It’s all part of the service. But you can call me Kara, Detective…”
“Colvin,” replied the woman. “But you can call me Teresa if you like, Kara.”
“I’d love to,” Karen replied with a grin, but it quickly faltered. “I’m not particularly fond of ‘Supergirl’… that’s what he called me.”
“Then why not change it,” asked Teresa. “After all, your younger cousin changed his recently.”
Karen nodded. “He’s still as boyish looking as ever, that’s his Kryptonian genes. But he didn’t think a married man should be going by ‘Superboy’.”
Teresa agreed that made sense. “What about Superwoman?”
Karen shook her head. “That one’s tied up with time-travellers and alternate realities, some of them… not good. Hard pass.”
Teresa nodded. “That makes sense,” she agreed. “I’ve got nothing else, but I can drop you a line if I have any suggestions?”
“Sure,” Karen agreed. “I’m on the Team Super feeds on 1K Wordsworth and Flitter-International. I’m also at the Hub or the Meta Human Youth Center fairly often so you can contact me there.”
****
London,
W1F 8HW.
July 20th, 08:00 BST.
Given her relatively light schedule as Flying Instructor and Game Referee, it was unusual for her to get any letters from Hogwarts, particularly over the summer break.
So Rolanda Hooch was very surprised when the headmaster's phoenix appeared in her living room with a letter, but that didn’t stop her from grabbing it and having it open before the bird had even disappeared in another flare of magic.
Dear Rolanda,
An urgent matter has come up that I believe that you may be able to help me with. Can you come to Hogwarts and discuss the situation as soon as possible? The Floo is open.
I am most sincerely yours,
Albus Dumbledore
Now wavering between apprehensive and curious, she took a moment to gather some necessities, then threw a handful of Floo Powder into the grate and declared, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
****
Headmaster's Office,
Hogwarts,
Scottish Highlands.
0805 BST.
The headmaster was standing at his bird's perch when she slid out of the fireplace. "Welcome back, Rolanda," he said, and after giving his pet a final caress, he crossed to his desk and slipped into his chair.
"Well, you did say it was urgent, Albus," she reminded him.
"I did," he agreed, and motioned for her to take a seat. "Sherbet lemon?"
"No, thank you."
"As you wish," said Albus, leaning over to help himself. "Are you ready for the next term?"
She nodded, relaxing back into her chair. "I'll be refereeing a few matches overseas for the next few weeks, but I'll be back in time for the Opening Feast."
Albus nodded, "It is one of your overseas trips that I wanted to ask you about. I believe you are in North America this weekend?"
"Yes, I'm refereeing a match between the Poseyville Pukwudgies and the Sweetwater All-Stars at the Death Valley Stadium next Saturday."
"Are you expecting a long match?"
"Not particularly," she replied. "The Pukwudgies are heavily outclassed. We should be done by midnight."
"Would you be willing to make a short detour to Kansas afterwards?"
She blinked. She'd considered a number of scenarios for what the headmaster wanted, but this wasn't one of them. "If it would help, Albus. But can I ask why?"
"Naturally," replied the headmaster brightly.
She raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.
"Minerva has been compiling the letters to be sent to the new students over the next week or so…"
Rolanda nodded, while the deputy covered most of the chore herself as the headmaster had before her, she and a few select staff members had helped out on occasion if the crop of Muggleborns was particularly large… that seemed unlikely in this case though…
"Most of them were ordinary enough… mostly British, one or two Irish ones…"
Rolanda nodded, so far so normal, "But…"
"Halfway through, Minerva noticed an exception."
"For Kansas?" asked Rolanda. "They would be down for Ilvermorny or maybe Guahadahuri if they wanted to stay closer to home, surely?"
"Ordinarily, yes," Albus agreed. "But I believe we have a prior claim on this particular student." He picked up a parchment envelope and tossed it to her.
Decades of Quidditch allowed her to catch it easily. She scanned the envelope:
Hank Lang
82 South Main Street,
Smallville,
Lowell County,
Kansas.
"I don't recognise the name?"
"Neither did I initially," admitted Albus. "And Lang is still unfamiliar. However, after obtaining a list of students that had been sent or were due to be sent letters, I recalled that Hank is often used in as a nickname…"
"For Henry, yes," agreed Rolanda, then realised what he was getting at. "Or Harry."
"Precisely."
It took a moment for it to sink in, but eventually she spoke again. "We've found Harry Potter."
It was a little difficult to tell, but the glint in his eyes suggested that Albus was smiling as he replied. "Yes, I believe we have."
****
The Barn.
Smallville.
KS 67524.
July 25th, 08:00 CDT.
"Recognised, Supergirl B40,” declared the Computer as Karen staggered out of the Zeta Tube.
After collecting herself briefly against the frame of the barn door, she continued her weary way towards the house. But when she arrived at the back door, the kitchen was empty as was the rest of the house. By the time she made it to her room, she was nearly unconscious with pain and exhaustion and she only just managed to change out of her ruined costume and get into bed.
****
11:05 CDT.
The creak of the door as Pa Kent returned from church woke her from her doze.
She sat up in bed and considered her condition, her cuts and bruises weren’t hurting as much as they had been when she got back, but she was still weak as a kitten after her clash with the latest Parasite.
But it was her birthday party today and she had an announcement to make. So, she braced herself and slipped out of bed, then put on her robe and slippers and left her room in search of food and sunshine.
****
1410 CDT.
A good brunch and some sunbathing gave her enough energy for her party, and it was with a far stronger heart than before, she returned to her room and took out her new costume, ready to change into it for the big reveal. Which had ironically — despite weeks of back-and-forth messages between Teresa and herself about that and other subjects — been inspired by one of Liz Lochlin’s articles in the Lake Shore View instead.
But before she could change, she was distracted by the rumble of a powerful car engine approaching. She crossed to the window and was able to concentrate long enough to make out a battered hatchback coming down towards the house from the road.
*M'gann?* she asked. There was no response. *M’gann… M’GANN!!*
*What is it, Kara?* replied the Martian. *I can barely hear you.*
*There’s a white hatchback with Kansas government plates coming down the drive,* Karen replied. *Can you intercept it and find out what they’re after?*
*Will do.*
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
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