3. A New Purpose
Thirty-two hours after his departure from Grimmauld Place, Harry was parking his motorcycle in the middle of a warehouse that he had just purchased. At ten thousand square feet with a much smaller basement, the warehouse was perfect for what he had planned.
An idea had formed in his head ever since he heard Clark talk about how it felt when he used his powers to help others. Every day since that first conversation, the idea had developed further. If he had no place in the wizarding world anymore, then there was another place where his abilities could do good: the muggle world.
It had startled him at first. The simple idea of openly using his abilities as a wizard to help muggles would have been absurd to most wizards. It would have been easy to bring the wizarding world out of the shadows by doing something so drastic.
But there were no wizarding laws against what he intended to do. It was not as if he was going to reveal the existence of the wizarding world. Even if someone realized that he was a wizard because of his actions, all they would discover was that there was a single magic user out there.
As it was, he had no intention of being obvious about his abilities though. By applying what he knew about the Levitation Charm, the Summoning Charm, and the Banishing Charm, he had been able to essentially use telekinesis wandlessly. It was his main ability with wandless magic, as a matter of fact. And from what he had heard, it was not an ability that was unheard of. Clark had spoken of a few incidents where telekinesis was used by other people.
Getting off of his bike, he began to remove everything from his sidecar so that he could find room for it.
The small black chest that he removed first was something that he had wanted most of all. It was only about a foot and a half long with its width and depth closer to twelve inches. Most people would never have guessed what it really was either. It was actually a vanishing cabinet, though calling it a cabinet was not quite correct. The other one was still at Grimmauld Place. As a result, he could easily send letters to Andromeda quickly.
Next, he removed his old school trunk. Beneath the cash that was at the top of its contents, the trunk contained every textbook that he had used in his Hogwarts years, along with a number of additional books that he had gotten Andromeda to purchase for him or that he had taken from the Black library.
After that, he removed his new trunk from the sidecar. It contained all the books he had brought with him that would not fit in his other trunk, a large stock of potion ingredients that would have enabled him to make nearly any potion out there, and three sets of special clothes.
Those special clothes were specifically designed for the plans he had come up with. The only exceptions among the apparel in that trunk were the two wrist holsters for his wands. They could be used for his plans, or they could be used to keep his wands easily accessible in case he needed to use them in a fight. Seeing as his plan did not call for the usage of wands, the holsters were not really intended for his plan.
He carried both trunks and the vanishing chest down to the basement and made his way back to his motorcycle. He needed to get some more furniture for the place, along with some more clothes to help him fit in. Seeing as how the sun was going to still be up for another six hours at the very least, he decided to head back out.
He still needed to find a place to live. As nice as the warehouse was, he could not turn it into a home. He needed a place with plumbing, amongst other things. He also needed to go and pick up some more clothes so that he could fit in better. As such, he did not even bother to disconnect the sidecar before he started the bike up and drove it out of the warehouse.
By nightfall, everything was prepared.
Harry had managed to find a fairly nice apartment downtown. He was not sure if it would be his permanent residence or if he would find a place to live in Smallville, but it would do for the present. He already had a portkey created that would take him back and forth from his apartment to the warehouse, so the distance did not mean anything.
The warehouse did not look much like it had originally. Bookshelves lined the north wall, along with the northern half of the east and west walls. They were not as filled as he would have liked them to be, but he still had well over a hundred books. A table had been placed in the center of the library area of the warehouse. Chairs surrounded the table and his pensieve had been placed in the center of the table. It looked like a decoration there, but it was just the most convenient place at the moment. The only other thing in the base floor of the warehouse was his motorcycle, still parked only a dozen yards away from the table.
In the basement below, he had created a lab for potions. All his potion ingredients had been stored away in cabinets with a cauldron waiting in the center of the room. He still needed to begin brewing a potion, and he had one in mind already.
But that would have to wait for now.
His eyes fell upon the clothes that had been laid across his table. No one would be able to tell the origin of the clothes. No one outside of the magical world, at least. The black leather-like boots, gloves, and hooded duster were made from the hide of a Hungarian Horntail. The pants, shirt, and mask were made of black Acromantula silk. Upon the front of the shirt, he saw an emblem that brought a sardonic smile to his face. It was the symbol of the Deathly Hollows. With the circle representing the Resurrection Stone, the line going through the circle and extending farther upward representing the Elder Wand, and the triangle that enclosed the line and circle representing the Invisibility Cloak.
Even if he did not plan on revealing his identity as a wizard, that symbol alone would eventually make it back to the wizarding world. Even so, he thought it would be worth it.
With the Elder Wand strapped to his left forearm and his original wand strapped to his right forearm, Harry began to change into the set of clothes.
Once he had the boots, pants, gloves, shirt, and coat on, he put his mask on. The only thing that it did was cover the part of his face around his eyes. A sticking charm kept it in place. It was not the best way to disguise his face, but it would do enough.
Removing the Elder Wand, he touched his lightning bolt scar with it. Within moments, the scar faded. It was not really gone. It was a simple Glamour Charm that could hide his scar. Any witch or wizard would have noticed the presence of the charm, but that did not mean that it could be seen through by just any magic user.
Once the wand had been replaced in its holster, he lifted the hood of his coat over his head.
Deciding that he was completely ready, he got on his motorcycle and left the warehouse. This time, the sidecar was gone.
Because of his decision to use the motorcycle in his plans, he knew that he would need to stop driving the motorcycle around when he was not wearing his costume, but that was for the best.
The moment that he was outside of the warehouse and it was locked up, he took to the skies on his bike. The Muggle Repelling and Notice-Me-Not charms on the warehouse would stop anyone from paying it too much attention. But for now, he had something that he needed to do.
From the many stories that Clark had told him, he had come to understand that Clark did not deal much with the more mundane criminals, instead only getting involved to help his friends or deal with a super-powered individual that wished to use their abilities to harm or kill people.
While Harry had no qualms about getting involved in similar situations, it was not going to be the only thing he did. Seeing as how he had no knowledge of such people in the area and he was too anxious to wait any longer, dealing with lesser criminals sounded like a very option.
His pushed the exhaustion he felt to the back of his mind as he headed towards the part of Metropolis that was had more issues with crime than any other: Suicide Slums.
He almost fondly remembered the years where he did not seek out trouble. It was always easier to get to the source of a problem when trouble sought him out. It was one reason why fighting in the Second Wizarding War had been far more difficult than saving the Philosopher's Stone, finding the Chamber of Secrets, saving Sirius from execution, winning the Triwizard Tournament, and other such tasks. The true difficult was not in the task itself but in obtaining the information as to how to complete the task.
Information was a vital part to countless things. Without information, he could not proceed with his plans. As a result, his plans for the night came in two parts. The first part was to help anyone that he saw needed it, and the second was to obtain information.
Not long after reaching Suicide Slums, he heard calls for help.
Quickly scanning his surroundings, he saw a woman in the process of being mugged.
It was not exactly what he had been looking for, but it was workable.
His motorcycle flew towards the alleyway where the woman was being mugged. The landing was a little rough, but it did not matter in the slightest.
"Leave her alone," he commanded as he got off of his motorcycle, the attention of the mugger and the woman both firmly upon him. The loud motorcycle had attracted their attention, but the fact that it had been flying was what kept their attention firmly.
"Who in the hell do you think-" the mugger began as he pointed a gun at Harry.
Before the mugger could finish, Harry extended his right hand and summoned the handgun without a single word. Moments after reaching his hand, he casually tossed the handgun aside.
The sheer impact of that action stunned the mugger into silence.
Lifting his right hand up slowly, the mugger was lifted into the air by an invisible force.
"I will take care of him," Harry stated, looking at the woman.
"Thank you," the woman whispered quietly before she ran off.
Once she was gone, Harry turned his attention firmly upon the mugger.
"More than likely, she is calling the cops right now," he remarked idly, suppressing a smile at the panic in the man's eyes. "The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner I let you go. If you hurry, you may actually get away before they show up. But if you lie to me, you will discover how creative I can be."
The instant he finished speaking, he rotated his wrist quickly, causing the mugger to spin a single rotation.
"What do you want to know?" the mugger asked with a hint of fear in his eyes.
"I want to know everything there is to know about the criminals of the area," Harry answered simply. "Tell me everything you know about the criminal side of Metropolis, and you will be free."
As expected, the man broke down within moments and revealed absolutely everything he knew about the subject to Harry. It was not as much as he had hoped, but at the same time, it was more than he had expected. It was a good first piece of information nonetheless.
The moment that he had all of the information he had wanted, Harry used his powers to slam the mugger into the wall with just enough force to knock him unconscious. If the woman had called the police, they would easily find him. If not, then the man would simply have to deal with a splitting headache, provided that no one robbed him while he was unconscious.
Turning so that he could return to his bike, he saw that there was a man on the other side of it. He appeared to be an African-American man in his late forties that wore a black leather jacket, a red shirt, and dark pants. There was something different about him though, despite being unable to tell exactly what.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked as he casually walked over to his bike and swung a leg over it.
"I hope so," the man replied calmly. "My name is J'onn J'onzz. I have been wishing to meet you ever since you left the Phantom Zone alongside Kal-El, but it was difficult to find you alone until today. It is not yet time for him to meet me, thus I had to wait."
Harry quickly began to utilize occlumency so that his reactions could not be easily read. The moment that he did, his mind began to feel lighter, almost as if something had been intruding upon his mind too softly for him to easily tell. "In that case, be prepared to lead. I will follow you on my bike."
Much to his shock, the man actually began to fly through the air without anything to aid him in such a task.
Without missing a beat, Harry flew on after him on his motorcycle. It quickly become clear that the stranger could fly faster than Harry's bike could go. Fortunately, he left a trail of red light when he flew, enabling Harry to easily follow him.
They ended up flying completely away from the city. It was a fact that alarmed him more than he would have cared to admit. It was rather obvious that whoever this J'onn J'onzz was, he could fly even faster than a Firebolt and had apparently slipped into his mind without even noticing until he was gone. The only possible advantage that Harry had was the terrain, but it was clear that he was losing that advantage.
They did not fly for long though. Before too long, they landed in a field between Metropolis and Smallville.
The moment that they landed, Harry touched the Elder Wand so that he could quickly draw it if need be.
"There is no reason to get anxious," the other man remarked as he turned to face Harry. Suddenly, his appearance changed. His clothes remained the same, as did his overall body shape. At most, he might have grown a few inches taller. There were two noticeable changes though. The first was that he had no visible hair and his skin had turned green. And the second was that his eyes were glowing red.
"You referred to Kal-El," Harry said carefully, not letting go of the Elder Wand. "Are you an alien too?"
"Neither one of us is human. That is true," the green-skinned man stated. "However, we are very different at the same time. Kal-El is from Krypton, as he told you. I, on the other hand, am from Mars."
Harry looked surprised at the news, unable to mask it.
J'onn's appearance returned back to normal before he spoke again. "I apologize for reading your mind earlier, but I had to determine the truth and could not risk being told lies. In my experience, it is better to be overcautious than careless."
"How much did you see?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes. He had never had someone go through his mind without any idea of what they had seen. Legilimency had never worked in such a way on him, after all.
"I know everything that has happened since you were transported to the Phantom Zone. How you arrived there is not something I can understand, and I sent several prisoners there while working alongside Jor-El, Kal-El's father."
"If you ever do that again, you'll regret it," Harry stated, his voice as cold as ice. Even as he spoke the words, he had no idea how he would defeat the Martian if it came down to it. With his speed, any such endeavor would not have ended up going too positively for Harry.
"It will not happen again," the Martian stated calmly. "Jor-El asked me to look after Kal-El for him, so I needed answers when you were released from the Phantom Zone. Too much relies on him for anything to happen to him."
"You said that you sent prisoners there," Harry said after a few moments of silence.
"I have been called the Martian Manhunter in the past. It was my job to capture dangerous criminals and send them to the Phantom Zone," J'onn explained. "But I am not here to talk about the past. If that is what you wish to discuss, we can do so later. But for now, I must ask for your assistance."
Harry could not deny that he was surprised to have someone read his mind and then ask for his help.
"I must first ask that you keep this encounter to yourself," J'onn said in a serious tone. "It is not yet time for Kal-El and I to meet, and he has other matters to worry about. Nine beings left the Phantom Zone when the gateway was opened. It is nearly unheard of for someone to go to the Phantom Zone without committing a grave crime. Even if we had no idea what else escaped, it would be too dangerous to assume that you were accompanied by innocent people."
"I saw the light broke off into nine beams," Harry said, remembering when he materialized back on Earth.
"Kal-El has already encountered one of the escaped prisoners, but I do not believe that he suspects that she came from the Phantom Zone. Even if he did, he would have no way of knowing how many others escaped. I ask that you visit him soon and tell him what you saw that day."
"That's a strange request," Harry said, raising an eyebrow. "You've been watching over him for Merlin knows how long, yet you've never involved yourself in his life. So why do you suddenly want something to change?"
"I am forbidden to interfere with his trials. However, you are not. I would not suggest attempting to deal with the escaped prisoners yourself, but that does not mean you have to sit idly," J'onn replied. "I would have let him figure it out on his own if I had not encountered you, but I believe that it would benefit him more if you told him what you saw."
Harry still looked at J'onn suspiciously, but he eventually nodded his head. "I'll tell him, but you owe me."
"And what exactly do you want in return?" J'onn asked, unsurprised by Harry's words.
"Never speak of what you saw in my head to anyone without my permission," Harry said, finally removing his hand from the Elder Wand. "If you do, I will find a way to kill you. You saw what I had to do to survive in the Phantom Zone, so don't let yourself believe that I can't kill when I have to."
"Understood," J'onn said, not showing even a hint of worry on his face. "If you need to speak with me in the future, burn your mark in this field and I will find you."
Before Harry could say anything else, J'onn flew off with his incredible speed.
"That complicates things," Harry muttered as he walked over to his bike. He had accomplished the information gathering task that he had set forth for himself, but it seemed minor now in comparison with what J'onn had told him.
Taking a deep breath, he walked over to his bike.
"If this is considered one of his trials, I'll let Clark deal with this on his own. I'll just have to make sure I'm around in case it gets to be too much," he muttered under his breath, feeling the exhaustion set in.
And with that, he removed the Elder Wand from its holster, turned his bike into a portkey, and placed a hand on it, returning to his warehouse without having to worry about being seen.
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, along with the favorites and alerts.
Now, I want to make one thing clear. How a character was introduced in Smallville (provided it happened after Season 5) doesn't necessarily affect this story. Zatanna showed up towards the end of Season 8, but she will show up much earlier in this. Maybe around Chapter 5. Likewise, I will not be using Slade Wilson as he appeared in Smallville. I liked how he was portrayed in Arrow, along with how he was portrayed in Injustice: Gods Among Us, more than in Smallville. You'll see what I mean as the story moves on.
