AUTHOR'S NOTE I know that Hermione would probably, in canon reality, not give up their secret so easily, but she has to for this scene to work. Plus, these are extenuating circumstances.

Thanks as ever to Lauren my beta.

DISCLAIMER Don't own anyone.

Someone was shining a bright light in her eyes. She tried to blink, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Moaning, she flung a hand over her eyes.

"Cho?"

"Liza?"

Worried voices penetrated Cho's spell-fogged brain and she struggled to open her eyes.

"Liza, please wake up!"

There was something in that voice that made Cho wake up almost instantly. She blinked painfully in the bright sunlight. "Lana?"

Immediately, Lana threw her arms around Cho and sobbed into her shoulder. Cho looked around, saw Lex holding a bloody bump on his temple and Harry helping Gabrielle to her feet. Hermione knelt next to Ron's still unconscious form and Bill stood at the edge of the clearing keeping watch. She patted Lana's back. "What happened?"

"They took him!" she cried. "They took him with them!"

Cold dread crept into her stomach. She met Harry's eyes, saw his sad nod. "Merlin," she whispered. "They took Clark."

Tearfully, Lana nodded. "What is she going to do to him?"

"I don't know," Cho admitted.

"Whatever it is," came Ron's groggy voice, "it can't be good."

Hermione, so happy to see him awake, threw her arms around him and knocked him back to the ground. Bill chuckled and knelt to help Ron up. "Come on, little brother."

"Thanks," said Ron, brushing a cornhusk from his shaggy red hair.

They stood in a somber circle, Lex still wobbly and Lana leaning heavily on Cho's shoulder. Finally, Harry spoke. "Do you all remember what happened?" he asked.

Lex shivered violently. "I've never felt like that before in my life. It felt like I would never ever be happy again."

"Dementors," Cho said quietly. "You couldn't see them, but they were there. They feed on happiness. Love. Any good feeling you have until you're left with nothing but your worst memories."

"They're nasty pieces of work," Bill added.

"That's not what I meant," Harry broke in. "I meant, do you remember what Clark said?"

Again, they all fell quiet. "That thing," Lana said slowly. "That…curse she hit him with in the cave, the one that killed Whitney, that was supposed to kill Clark too, wasn't it?"

Grimly, everyone nodded. "Although this kind of thing has happened before," Bill pointed out. "Harry survived it."

"That was different," Harry said. "Clark – no one sacrificed themselves for him. If anything, he sacrificed himself for the rest of us. There was no charm on him."

"What's Kal-El?" Ron asked.

The wizards turned to Lex and Lana. "Don't look at me!" Lex said.

"There's always been something a little strange about Clark," Lana admitted.

"Strange how?" Cho asked.

Lana shrugged. "He's always secretive. Shows up in weird places. Kind of…saves the day."

"He does have a little bit of a superhero complex," Lex said.

"And it's never occurred to you that there may be more to him than meets the eye?" Ron asked.

Lana shrugged and blushed. "He's Clark. That's just who he is."

Harry sighed. "That's all fine and good, but what does Kal-El mean?"

Lex and Cho shared a look. "Bellatrix kept talking about an alien. A creature that fell from the sky," Cho said slowly.

"No," Lana said immediately. "You don't mean…you can't mean…"

No one answered her, instead shifting uncomfortably and staring at the ground. "I guess we'll never know," Bill said sadly.

Lana looked up at all of their faces and her anger flared. "What is wrong with all of you? We cannot abandon Clark to die!" She laughed furiously. "Some Rebel Alliance you are."

Bill took Lana's hand. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" she shrieked. "You are standing here telling me you're sorry while Clark is God knows where probably being tortured!"

Cho put her hand on Lana's arm, but Lana violently shook it off. "Don't you dare start acting like my big sister after all these years," she snarled.

Hermione leapt to Cho's defense. "Lana, there's nothing – "

"I'll kill you if you tell me there is nothing you can do."

Harry opened his mouth, prepared to jump into the fray, but Lex cut him off. "Everyone shut up!" The others fell silent at his sudden outburst. "Standing in the middle of a cornfield screaming at each other is not going any good!"

Hermione and Harry looked guiltily at each other. Cho wiped away tears. Lana refused to look at any of the others. "Now I don't know anything about aliens or the ravings of madwomen, but I do know Clark Kent," Lex continued. "And there is no one that he is closer to than his mother and father."

Understanding dawned on the others' faces. "We have to see them," Bill said.

Lex nodded. "It anyone knows why this woman wants Clark, it's Jonathan and Martha Kent."

…

Jonathan and Martha sat huddled together silently in their storm cellar. There had been no word from Clark for nearly three hours. Frustrated, Jonathan started pacing. "He should be back by now," he said, casting an eye at the cellar doors.

"Jonathan, no," Martha said firmly. "Clark told us to stay here until he came back for us." She stood and held her husband's arm. "He will come back."

Doubtfully, he nodded. "Have you ever seen Clark that upset before?" he asked quietly.

Martha shook her head. "He was scared," she said. "I've never seen him actually terrified of something."

"Me neither."

More time passed. Dust motes floated lazily through the cracks of sunlight that poured in around the storm doors. Then, very faintly, they heard a familiar voice calling, "Mr. Kent? Mrs. Kent!"

"That's Lex!" Martha whispered as she pressed her ear to the doors.

Another voice joined Lex. "Mrs. Kent, Mr. Kent, please!"

"And Lana," Martha added.

"We need your help!" Lana called. There was a tearful tone in her voice. "They have Clark!"

Clark's words of warning flew from their heads and Jonathan and Martha threw open the cellar doors and rushed out into the sunlight. They were shocked to see not only Lana and Lex, but also Lana's sister Liza and five people wearing outlandish robes.

Lana saw them first and went running. She flung herself into Martha's arms, sobbing. Martha and Jonathan shared a look. The others gathered around them. "Lex, what's going on?" Jonathan asked. "Who are all these people?"

Lex just looked at him with blank eyes. "They took Clark," was all he replied.

Jonathan grabbed him by the shoulders. "Who? Who took Clark?"

Liza Lang stepped in. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent, we need to go inside. There are things we have to talk about."

Angrily, Jonathan turned on her. "You people come onto my land yelling that someone has taken my son and then tell me that we have to talk about some things?"

"Mr. Kent, please," Liza said. "Please listen to what we have to say. Clark's life depends on it!"
Lana looked pleadingly at Martha. "Please! Mrs. Kent if you don't listen to us, Clark will die."

Martha looked at her husband and nodded encouragingly. "Fine," Jonathan said to the strange-looking group. "We'll talk in the house."

Mere moments later, they had assembled in the kitchen. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent," Liza began. "I met you last night as Cho Chang. I was here looking for my parents. I…" She paused, considering how best to phrase things. "I was told that they had given me up for adoption.

"But then I met Lana and my Aunt Nell and I remembered everything. I remembered being kidnapped and taken to England."

Jonathan regarded her suspiciously. "And you just magically remembered all of this?"

One of the others, with unruly black hair and a strange scar on his forehead, coughed suddenly and met Liza's eyes. "What is going on here?" Jonathan demanded.

The black-haired one sighed. "I suppose I should introduce us. My name is Harry Potter. This is Ron Weasley, Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Gabrielle Delacour. We're friends of Cho's from school." He took a deep breath. "We know about your son."

Martha gasped and Jonathan stood up angrily. "I don't know who you people are or what you want, but you better tell me what you know about Clark or so help me God…"
His wife took his arm. "Jonathan, please, calm down."

"Calm down?"

The woman with curly brown hair, Hermione, sighed in frustration and grabbed a framed photograph of Clark from a nearby bookshelf. With all her might, she dashed it to the ground, shattering the glass and cracking the frame itself. Silence fell over the room as everyone stared. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?" Jonathan shouted, livid.

"Making you listen to us!" she snapped back. In an instant, she had the broken frame in one hand and a long wooden stick in the other. She pointed the tip of the wand at the glass and said, "Reparo!"

The kitchen lapsed into stunned silence. Hermione waved the fixed frame in the air. "I'm a witch!" she said firmly. Lana and Lex looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. "Cho and Gabrielle," Hermione continued, "they're witches too! Harry, Ron and Bill, they're wizards! And now a very powerful dark witch has kidnapped your son because she knows he's some creature called Kal-El and she thinks that he can grant her immortality!"

Hermione fell quiet, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry to throw all of this in your face, but we cannot afford to waste any more time. Every second that goes by gives Bellatrix more opportunity to discover the secret of immortality and that would not be a good thing!"

"Like hurting my son would be?" Jonathan bit back, regaining his voice.

"Jonathan!" Martha admonished quietly.

"Hermione and the rest of us want to find your son as much as you do," Harry said smoothly.

Martha wiped tears away. "What is this woman after specifically?" she asked. "What does she want from Clark?"

Harry sighed and shrugged. "I don't know."

"I do," Bill said suddenly. "I wasn't quite out when they left after the dementor attack," he explained.

Martha looked rather alarmed at his words. Lana clung to Cho. "What does she want then?" she asked Bill.

Looking sadly at Clark's parents, Bill replied, "His blood."

…

Clark's consciousness came back to him in waves as he was carried away from the pile of knocked-out bodies in the cornfield. Whatever those dementors had done to him, it had the same effect as meteor rocks on his abilities.

Suddenly he was thrown heavily to the ground. Something tapped on his forehead. "Rise and shine, Kal-El!"

He blearily opened his eyes and stared into the grinning face of Bellatrix Lestrange. "What do you want?" he muttered.

Her grin grew wider and Clark was suddenly afraid of her answer. "I want to see what you're made of before I kill you." She grinned. "Exactly what you're made of."