Super Friends

Summary: One day while hiding and crying over how his relatives treat him, Harry Potter is found by a vacationing American family: the Kents. Young and rebellious, Kara Kent is immediately drawn to him and gives him her support, leading to a powerful friendship that produces unexpected changes in both of them — changes that will impact not just wizarding Britain, but the entire world.

Crossover: Harry Potter/Supergirl

Pairing: Harry Potter/Kara Kent (Kara Zor-El)

A/N: This is another male Harry story, and one which I have a lot of attachment to. It's an idea I started thinking about years before I ever tried writing fanfiction. I think this story has potential, but changes from canon would accrue very slowly. I don't want to just rewrite canon because that would get boring, both for me and for readers. One option is to do vignettes (short key scenes from each year) until enough changes have accumulated (at least 4th year, but probably 5th or 6th) to make it worth shifting to a full story. I'm not sure, though, how entertaining that would be.

In this story, Harry starts out at the age of seven, and I'm thinking that Kara would be nine or ten. In some ways she's more mature than he is, but in other ways, not so much. This is very AU for Kara, since I'm not closely following any of the various DC incarnations of her. If DC can keep changing things around for her, why can't I?

Thanks to Mainsail for plot feedback, and to Bonnie for not only reading this and improving on the original, but also for her help in developing the plot so far.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I don't own Supergirl or Superman, DC does.

Chapter 01 - You've Got a Friend in Me

July 31, 1987. Little Whinging, Surrey.

"Jonathan, I think it's time to simply admit that we're lost."

"No, no, give me a minute here, Martha — I'm sure I can figure this out."

The older woman with steel-grey hair sighed patiently, then turned to look up at her adopted son. "Clark, I don't suppose you could..."

"Sorry, Ma, it's too likely that I'd be seen."

She looked around at the empty streets and sidewalks. "I suppose so, and there isn't even so much as a phone booth for you to use."

Clark snorted. "The last time I attempted that, I almost got stuck trying to get my pants off. It was a horrible idea."

"Maybe if we'd gone one station further on that train," Jonathan muttered as he studied the map, and Martha shook her head as she watched him.

"Tell me you didn't inherit that," she whispered to her son.

"Although it's hardly ever been a problem, I have in fact stopped to ask for directions," he answered just as quietly, and she smiled.

"Well, that's something, at least," Martha said. "I don't know about Kara, though..." She trailed off and began looking around. "Kara?"

Clark stopped as well and pulled his glasses down his nose, squinting a little as he turned in a complete circle, constantly looking in the distance. "I don't see her, Ma."

"She was right behind us! I told her to stay close!" Martha exclaimed as she stopped her husband. "That girl is always running off, getting into trouble! I swear she'll be the death of me."

"I don't understand why she's like this — I certainly never did anything like that when I was her age," Clark said innocently.

"Oh, you weren't exactly a perfect little angel," Jonathan chided him, putting away the map. "But it's true that your cousin is a lot brasher than you ever were. Hardly a month goes by that we don't get at least one complaint of some sort from the school, and I always have a devil of a time finding her when I need her for something. I never know if she's at the pond chasing frogs, out exploring in one of the fields, or maybe playing in the barn."

"We'll complain later," Martha said firmly, holding up a hand to stop the other two. "Right now, let's retrace our steps and see where she might have wandered off to." She looked forlornly at unending rows of dull, identical houses. "Heaven knows what she could have found around here that would be so interesting, though."

Ten Minutes Earlier...

Kara Kent was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored. Winning a vacation for four to England was supposed to be exciting. It was supposed to be an adventure. At any rate, it was supposed to be better than a boring old farm near a dull little town in drab, monotonous Kansas. Sometimes their vacation had been interesting, she had to admit, but today had easily been the most boring day of her life. Ever.

Finding the humdrum little park had been the most exciting thing to happen since they'd left the hotel that morning. That's was why she'd made a beeline for it as soon as she'd seen it, ignoring the fact that her boring parents and even more boring older cousin kept walking down the boring street without her.

Since then she'd played on all the equipment, twice, and was already bored out of her skull again. Now she was spinning lazily on the creaky merry-go-round for the third time, morosely contemplating her tragically insipid life, when she thought she heard a noise from somewhere close by. Quickly stopping, she concentrated hard so she could listen, and she could hear it as clear as if it were right next to her: a sniffling, crying child.

Kara may have found it too easy to get into trouble when she was bored — which was most of the time — but one thing she had learned well from her parents and cousin was a sense of duty when it came to helping others. How many stories had they read to her where the hero went out on an adventure to save someone who was hurting or in danger? Granted, the hero was always a boy, and they usually rescued a girl, but so what? That was stupid. She was stronger and faster than any dumb boy... well, except for her cousin, of course.

She didn't hesitate and was quickly able to identify that the crying was coming from a row of large bushes at the far edge of the playground. Running as fast as she could, she covered the twenty yards in a flash and was soon on her hands and knees, peering through the dense foliage. Once she spotted the tiny child, it didn't take her long to find a narrow path, barely big enough for her to crawl through.

He's so small! was the first thing she thought when she finally reached him, curled up against a wooden fence in a tiny patch of bare earth hidden behind the bushes.

Moving slowly now so as not to startle him, she crawled forward and said in a soft, gentle voice, "Are you alright?"

Despite her efforts, he still jumped at the unexpected noise. Sniffing heavily and wiping his nose on his sleeve, he said. "Wh-who are you?"

"Mine name is Kara. What's yours?"

"I-I'm Harry," the boy said shyly. "How did you find me? I didn't think anyone could find me back here."

"I heard you," Kara said, her tone of voice suggesting that it should have been obvious.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said, looking down. "I didn't mean to bother you."

Kara frowned, wondering why he'd think he'd bothered her. "It's alright, I wasn't bothered. I just wanted to see what was wrong. Do you need help?"

Harry shook his head. "You can't help," he whispered. "No one can help. You should probably just go, like everyone else."

Kara frowned even more deeply now, then made a fateful decision that would change not only their lives, but the lives of billions. She crawled forward, sat next to him, and put her arm around him. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong," she said softly as she pulled him close. "I promise I'll listen."

Harry stiffened for a moment at the unexpected contact, then slowly relaxed into her side. After a few moments of silence, he began to tell her about his life — about how his aunt and uncle favored his cousin Dudley, about how he had to do most of the chores, about how he got punished for almost anything that went wrong, and about how no one ever believed him when he complained. He had, in fact, complained to a teacher earlier that week, but somehow his uncle had convinced them that he had been lying, and the previous night he'd been spanked hard before being thrown into his cupboard without any food.

The entire time, Kara grew more and more horrified at Harry's tale. She herself was dissatisfied with her life — her parents couldn't keep up with her, her cousin was so much older and moving on with his own life, and she lived in the most boring place on the planet — but she had to admit she was loved and cared for. She'd never experienced anything remotely like what Harry had been going through, and she felt a little guilty for all of her own complaining over the years. She also felt a burning anger for those who had hurt such a sweet, innocent boy.

Most of all, though, she felt compassion and a burning desire to help Harry. She didn't know him, but she knew that she needed to help him in any way she could. These feelings were matched by an even greater desperation on Harry's part to find someone who could provide the love and affection that were absent in his life.

Unbeknownst to either child, the different powers inside each of them responded to their strong emotions. The magic in Harry, which had been conditioned over the years to heal him and keep him healthy, reached out towards the unexpected source of warmth and tenderness that had come so tantalizingly close — the first time this had happened since Harry's parents had died. Had Kara been a muggle, nothing would have come of this, for there would have been nothing for Harry's magic to latch onto, and Harry's life would have proceeded down the tragic path that it had been on.

But Kara was no mere muggle. She wasn't even human. As a Kryptonian, she had her own, growing power deep inside her, a power that could also respond to her emotions. Already primed to help her help someone in need, it was not prepared for the tentative, hopeful touch from the slim tendril of magic reaching out from the boy — no more than Harry's magic was prepared for the sort of power it encountered in the girl.

In the midst of the unexpected meeting, help was requested and granted. Harry's magic was received by Kara's sun-fueled core while her own energy travelled back along the tendril, funneling the power of the sun deeply into him. The two types of power could not mix, but they could survive and even thrive together, so while Harry's magic both accepted and implanted the concentrated power of the sun in his frail body, Kara's core accepted a bit of Harry's magic inside her, creating a tenuous connection that neither of them would have understood.

"How come your voice sounds funny?" he asked at one point.

"I'm from America — this is how we talk there."

"Oh," Harry said, frowning. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that. I guess that's pretty dumb of me."

"No, it's not," Kara insisted. "I didn't know about the different accents either before I came here."

"You didn't?"

"No, so it's not dumb. And you're not dumb, either." He looked at her hopefully. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you're the one who talks funny, not me." Kara thought his ensuing grin was the best thing she'd ever seen, and they immediately leaned into each other as they were overcome by a fit of giggling.

They sat together for a long while, talking a little but mostly just enjoying each other's presence. Kara tried to reach out mentally to provide the boy with comfort because she didn't know what else to do; Harry tried to reach out and absorb as much of the pleasant contact as he could, because he didn't know when or if something like that would ever happen again. In the process, a little more magic was exchanged for a little more power from the sun, and their connection was strengthened just a tiny bit.

"I see her, Ma."

"Oh, thank God! Where is she, Clark?" Martha and Jonathan had stopped on the sidewalk by a small park and were looking expectantly at their son, who was staring into the distance.

"She's hiding behind that row of bushes," Clark answered.

"Hiding?" Jonathan exclaimed. "What did she do now?"

"Wait, no, she's with someone — a little boy," Clark amended as a frown grew across his face. "I think something's wrong."

"Well, let's not stand here yapping," Martha said as she started marching towards the bushes. "If they need help, we have to get over there."

Jonathan and Clark followed along quickly, not daring to respond. Whether Kara was in need of help or was in trouble, they knew better than to get in the way.

"Kara Kent!" Martha called out once she reached the bushes. "We've been looking for you for almost half an hour, young lady! Get your butt out here right now!"

"Oh, shit!" Kara exclaimed softly, knowing that her cousin would still be able to hear, but sure that he wouldn't tattle. She looked at Harry and said, "My mother and father are here. I... I need to go."

"It's OK," Harry said, sounding sad but resigned. "Thanks for staying as long as you did."

Kara thought for a moment, then grabbed Harry's hand. "Come with me," she insisted. "They'll help."

"Kara, I'm waiting!"

Harry shook his head. "No one can help, I told you."

"Please?" Kara asked, giving him the puppy-dog eyes that usually worked pretty well with Clark. "Try, at least? For me?"

"I'm going to count to ten, young lady, and if you aren't out here by the time I'm done..."

Harry clearly wanted to say no. However warm and comforting his brief time with Kara had been, he had known all along that it would end and preferred that it end quickly rather than drag out painfully. But for some reason, he found himself unable to resist the pleading in her eyes and voice.

"Eight. Seven."

"Alright," he said with a sigh, and the smile she gave him in response made him feel like there were butterflies in his stomach.

"Four. Three."

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Kara called out. "It's a really... ugh... tight fit through here."

"It does look tight, Ma," Clark said softly.

"Then she should have started sooner," Martha said with a huff.

It took a few more seconds, but the precocious little blonde was soon standing again and brushing off her pants, then helping Harry to his feet.

"Do you have any idea how worried—" Martha started, but Kara immediately interrupted her, surprising herself because she never, ever did that.

"Ma, this is Harry," she said, pulling Harry to her side. "I just met him, and he needs help."

Martha, too, was surprised, because as often as she had to scold Kara, the girl always accepted it quietly. Rather than scold her even more, though, she stopped and took a good look at the boy. The thin face. The tatty clothing. The submissive attitude. As the disturbing signs began to accumulate, her entire demeanor changed. She stepped forward slowly and knelt in front of the two children. "Harry, is it?" she asked gently, and he nodded. "How old are you?"

"Seven," Harry said softly as he stared at his heavily-worn shoes.

"He looks more like he's five..." Jonathan said in disbelief.

"Do your parents not treat you well?" Martha asked. Given the economic uncertainties of rural farm life, she'd seen neglected children more than once and knew it wasn't easy to get information out of them.

"My parents are dead," Harry said. "Died in a car crash while driving drunk."

"He lives with his aunt and uncle," Kara said, realizing that Harry wasn't going to volunteer more. "And no, they don't treat him well." She once again put her arm around the smaller boy's shoulders while Martha looked up helplessly at her husband.

Clark remained silent, but Kara could hear his teeth grinding in anger, pressing together with enough force to crush diamonds.

Jonathan shook his head as he wiped his hand across his face. "This isn't even our country, Martha. We don't know what the laws are, and we're leaving in a few days."

"We can't just do nothing!" she retorted, and then as if to reinforce her message she reached out and pulled the boy into a hug. Even more warning bells went off for her when she felt him stiffen, but then suddenly he relaxed as Kara joined the hug from behind him.

"I suppose we could escort him home and talk to his relatives," Jonathan started, but he stopped as soon as he saw the terrified expression on Harry's face. "Or... maybe we could find the police? Talk to them, I guess?"

"Now I need that phone booth more than ever," Clark said as he looked around again, using his powers to locate any sort of public means of communication.

August, 1990. Little Whinging, Surrey.

The sun was high and the temperature was even higher, but that didn't bother Harry as he slaved over his Aunt Petunia's prized flowers. For the past couple of years, he'd come to actually enjoy working outside, especially when it was sunny. He didn't understand why, but no matter how long and hard he worked under the hot sun, he tended to feel refreshed and invigorated at the end of his chores — and this was true even when his relatives refused to feed him because of his "freakishness."

So while the rest of the neighborhood — and especially his relatives — were sweating it out in front of their electric fans, Harry was humming a happy tune under the blistering afternoon sun. At least, he was until he heard a harsh whisper from somewhere nearby.

"Harry!"

He stopped and looked around, trying to find the source, but when he didn't see anything, he wiped his face with the t-shirt he'd taken off so he could better enjoy the warmth and simply went back to work.

"Harry!"

This time he laid his tools down and looked around more carefully, certain that he hadn't been imagining the voice after all. It only took him a few moments to spot a bit of blonde hair through the bushes that separated the Dursley's property from the neighbors behind them. "Who's there?" he asked.

That was when a head emerged, and Harry saw a face that he'd given up on ever seeing again, almost to the point of thinking it might have only ever been a dream.

"Ka-Kara?" he asked in disbelief as he slowly stood. It only took a moment for her to charge out of the bushes and fling herself against him, wrapping him in a tight hug which he instinctively reciprocated. Neither of them were aware of how the thin connection between them, strained nearly to the breaking point because of the distance and long period of separation, immediately began to strengthen. His magic and her power intertwined even more tightly and deeply, seeking to prevent their link from ever coming so close to snapping again.

"Harry, you jerk!" Kara hissed, her harsh words standing in stark contrast to her actions. "Why didn't you ever respond to any of our letters? Or even just my letters? I thought you said we'd be friends! Friends forever!"

"Letters?" Harry asked, his voice muffled against her shoulder. "What letters?"

Kara jerked her head back and looked at him in confusion. "Whaddya mean, what letters? I've been sending you one or two a month at least, ever since I got back home. Ma and Pa have sent you several, too, not to mention Christmas cards. Heck, even Clark sent one, though it was pretty short."

Harry shook his head and said, "No, I never received anything. I thought... well, I thought you simply went away and decided to ignore me, just like everyone else does when their attempts to help me fail."

"No, Harry! I'd never igno—" Kara stopped in mid-word, then said slowly, "What do you mean, 'fail'?"

Harry turned his head to avoid her eyes and mumbled, "Nothing, never mind. It doesn't matter."

Kara put a hand on his cheek and forced him to look at her. "Don't give me that. I didn't buy that sort of thing when we first met, and I'm not going to buy it now." Harry flushed slightly at the knowledge that he couldn't hide anything from her. "Now tell me the truth — what happened?"

Harry looked around furtively, then pulled her to a spot against the house that was partially concealed by his aunt's rose bushes. "No one will be able to see us here, and if my aunt comes out, I can pretend I'm working while you duck down behind the roses." Kara nodded as she sat down against the house, and Harry slid in next to her. She immediately and instinctively put her arm around his shoulders. Neither consciously thought about how much better they felt at the contact as they leaned into each other.

"Once you left, the police constable took some more information, but I never saw him again," Harry explained. "A few days later, Vernon was positively gloating when he told me that the investigation had been dropped, and even more so when he added that I'd be punished for making the family seem less normal than they really were."

"Oh, no!" Kara whispered.

Harry shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. Not the worst I've had to endure, honestly. Mostly it was a lot of work outside while getting less food, no more than one meal a day. I've found that I enjoy working in the yard, though, so I didn't mind. Just as well, since he made that the new standard for me once he realized that it wasn't affecting me too badly."

"I'm still sorry."

"It's not your fault, I don't blame you," Harry insisted. "If anything, the memory of that last hug you gave me before you left made it easier for me. Especially the part where you said we'd be friends for life."

"Really?" Kara asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yeah, whenever I thought about it, and about you, I felt like I had extra energy."

"Wow," Kara said, leaning into him more. "When we didn't hear back from you, I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with me again."

"But you still wrote?" Harry asked.

Kara nodded. "I figured that even if you didn't want to be my friend, I still wanted to be yours. And I didn't want you to forget me."

"How could I forget you? You're the only friend I've ever had."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kara asked.

Harry shook his head. "I haven't bothered trying to ask for help since you left. But just being here with me now is nice."

"Then that's what I'll do: sit with you," she said, hugging him tighter.

"How long can you stay?" Harry asked. "Will your parents be coming to pick you up? I don't want my relatives to see them. It could cause trouble."

"Uh, that won't be an issue," Kara said nervously. "I'm here on my own."

"How?" Harry asked, pulling away so he could look at her. "Isn't Colorado a long way from here? And expensive to travel from?"

"Kansas, actually, and yeah, it is far," Kara admitted, not looking Harry in the eye. "But I've got a way to get back and forth."

"Is it illegal? Dangerous?"

"No, not at all!" Kara said, looking at him again. "I'll be fine."

"Well, if you're sure," Harry said slowly. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"It won't," she said as they leaned back into each other. After a moment's silence, she looked pointedly at the top of his head. "You've grown taller, haven't you?"

Harry snorted. "It has been three years. Of course I've grown."

"No, I mean you're catching up to me. The difference between us isn't as big as it was before."

"I dunno, maybe," Harry said with a shrug. "The only clothes I get are Dudley's castoffs, and they're always too big for me, so it's hard to say."

Kara sighed. Just like last time, she struggled with the reality that Harry's problems were well beyond her ability to solve. So she simply held him close, and like last time, it seemed to make them both feel better. What they didn't know was that their close contact once again fostered the exchange of energy: more of Harry's magic was accepted into Kara while her own sun-fueled power was accepted into him. The foreign energy in both of them expanded next to their native energy — not displacing, but rather supplementing and even enhancing.

It wasn't a situation that could last, and when Aunt Petunia shouted out through a window that he'd better not take too much longer because he still had to make dinner yet, Harry had to scramble to his feet to promise that he'd be done soon — a promise that was only fulfilled because Kara managed to help in places that she couldn't be seen from within the house.

All too soon, Harry had to go inside. "Do you know when you'll be back again?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know," Kara confessed. "It could be tomorrow, or it could be a week. But I'll come as soon as I can, I promise."

"Alright, I understand. I know you have other things you need to—"

"No," Kara interrupted. "I've been going crazy not knowing why you never responded, and this morning I... well, I just snapped, I guess. This was about the first time that I could easily make it here, so I came. If I'm not back tomorrow or the next day, it's because I can't, not because I have better things to do."

Harry frowned at the mention of her having still been at home that morning, but let it go. "Surely you have friends and things to do at home?" he said.

Kara shrugged. "I have friends, but none I care about more than you. And there's nothing to do there. I mean, the town is called Smallville. That's worse than Little Whinging."

"I don't think any name is worse than Little Whinging," Harry said fervently, and they both giggled. "Am I really your best friend?" he asked, hopeful yet clearly still feeling insecure.

She pulled him into another tight hug. "Of course you are, you jerk," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "I have no idea why, but you are. No matter what was going on around me, I never forgot you and never stopped wanting to talk to you again."

"Thanks," he replied, holding her tight as well. As they stood there, hugging each other goodbye in the waning afternoon light, their connection strengthened a little more, allowing more energy to transfer between them before they pulled apart.

"I'll try to spend as much time as I can either in the park or working here," Harry said as they separated. "So look for me in those two places."

Kara nodded, not trusting her voice. Once he was gone, she ran into the bushes behind the house and made her way to a bus stop. Hythe End was a short ride to the west, and from there she jogged until she couldn't see or hear anyone close by. With that, she shot up into the sky, only turning to the west once she was high enough to avoid air traffic.

She wasn't as fast as her cousin — not yet at any rate — but she made it home in just two hours.

And it still wasn't fast enough not to get caught.

"Young lady, I have never in all my life been more disappointed in you," Martha Kent scolded, her tone conveying her disappointment even more than her words had managed. Both she and Jonathan were sitting across the kitchen table from Kara, who was staring down at her clenched fists. "You were grounded for a month for all the trouble you've been getting into and back-talking you've been doing, then what's the first thing you do? Run off!"

It was all Kara could do not to pound her fists into the table in anger, but she knew it had belonged to her great-grandmother, and she didn't want to break it.

"This behavior is getting out of hand," Jonathan said. "Your mother and I talked about it once we discovered that you'd run off, and we're both at our wits' end. You need discipline in your life, but you seem determined to break every rule there is, just because!"

Why do they have to treat me like this? I'm not a child!

"What on earth was so important that you ran off like that?" Martha demanded. "Well?"

"I went to visit Harry, alright?" she shouted. "It was Harry! Are you happy now?!"

"Ha-Harry?" Martha asked, her anger evaporating at that unexpected answer.

"Why would you go off to see that boy when he doesn't want to have anything to do with you?" Jonathan asked.

"But that's just it, he does! He told me that he never got any of our letters! None of them!"

"Oh, my," Martha whispered, her hand over her mouth in shock.

"And what we tried to do for him didn't help!" Kara continued. "It made things worse, in fact. They work him all day but hardly feed him!"

"Oh, dear Lord," Jonathan exclaimed, putting his head in his hand. "I was afraid of that."

"Why now, dear?" Martha asked, gently putting a hand over one of Kara's clenched fists. "Why not sooner? Why not tell us first?"

Kara deflated slightly. "I've felt like I've been going slowly crazy these past couple of years, never hearing from him. And this morning, my first day of being grounded, well, I sorta snapped. I realized that since I was grounded, no one expected me to be anywhere to do anything, not for a while at least. And I knew that I could make it that far, unlike last summer. I've been working and exercising every day in the hope that I'd be able to manage sooner rather than later."

"And you got a chance to see him?" Jonathan asked.

Kara's fists relaxed slightly as she smiled for the first time. "Yes, he was outside working. It was hot, but he didn't mind. And he's grown, too! He's still shorter than me, but not by as much. He's really filling out!"

Martha looked at her husband and gave him a wan smile. "It was going to happen some day."

"They're a bit young!" he protested.

"They always are, the first time," Martha retorted. "Why, I remember my first..."

"What are you two talking about?" Kara asked, frowning.

"Nothing, dear," Martha said, patting her daughter's hand. "You'll understand someday. Now, I suppose it won't do us any good to forbid you to visit him again."

"But he needs me!" Kara whined.

"I'm sure he does," Martha said.

"Why don't you believe me? I'm his only friend, and he's certainly my best friend!"

Jonathan's eyes widened slightly at her declaration, and Martha held up one hand to stop any further protest. "It doesn't matter whether I believe it or not. What matters is that you do." Kara let out the breath she'd gathered to argue some more, then waited quietly while her parents seemed to have one of their silent, wordless conversations.

"This is what we're going to do," Jonathan finally said. "You still need to be grounded for your recent behavior, but if your behavior was caused by your worrying about that boy, then we'll consider reducing it — but only if you demonstrate exemplary behavior from here on out."

"Afternoons will be spent on homework and chores," Martha continued. "But mornings we'll allow you to fly to visit him," Kara's attempt to jump up and cheer was quickly stopped by her mother's raised hand. "After Clark confirms that you can do it safely."

"But I just did—" Kara tried to argue, but she was interrupted by her father.

"Doing it once does not mean you can consistently do it safely," he said. "We'll call Clark tomorrow to ask him when he can come and accompany you for a couple of flights back and forth. He probably won't be able to do it right away, since he's started a new job, so you'll have to wait until he has the free time for it. Do you understand?"

Kara took a deep breath and nodded. It wasn't entirely ideal, but it was better than she'd feared she'd get when she flew through her window and found her mother waiting for her. All she needed was Clark's stamp of approval for her long-distance solo flights, and she was sure she'd get it.

"Thanks, Ma! Thanks, Pa!" she exclaimed as she ran around the table and hugged them both tight. "I'll get started on dinner!"

The elder Kents looked at each other with bemused smiles as their daughter skipped out of the kitchen.

"Her attitude is already a lot better," Martha observed softly. "The surly, grumpy girl we've been living with for the past few months seems to be completely gone."

"I hate to admit it, but I think you're right," Jonathan said with a sigh.

"You're just annoyed that he's too far away to threaten."

Jonathan scowled. "He's what, nine? Ten? He's much too young. They both are, in fact."

"They're not too young for their first love," Martha said as she stood. "Kara certainly isn't. I was younger than her when I had my first crush! I wonder whatever happened to Tommy Miller, anyway." She paused for a moment, a faraway look in her eye, then shook her head. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm tempted to say that this probably won't last, but we don't know enough about her people to say for sure. Maybe this is normal for them?"

Jonathan's face softened slightly. "Perhaps. I guess we shouldn't be too quick to make assumptions from how Clark behaved at that age. He's always been a lot more restrained than her. I think he's always been a bit more afraid of what he might accidentally do with his powers. Kara, though..."

"Kara doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word 'restraint'," Martha finished. "Whenever she makes a decision, it's full speed ahead and damn the consequences. Visiting Harry is a good example of that." She shook her head. "That poor boy has no idea what he's in for, now that she can get to him whenever she wants."

"There's no sense in worrying about it, I suppose," Jonathan finally declared. "As you said, they're both young, so they're too young to do much of anything that we need to be concerned about."

Clark did indeed give his approval to Kara's ability to fly long distances, and the rest of the summer was spent pretty much like that first morning: several days a week she'd fly to Surrey, spend time sitting, walking, and talking with Harry, then fly back home to do chores or homework for the afternoon. Once school started she could only do it on weekends, but she still managed to make the trip four or five days a month.

Every time they were together, the connection between them strengthened. Every time, more of Harry's magic took root inside Kara while more of her power took root inside him. He never gave a second thought to how much more refreshed he was after spending a day working under the hot sun, and she never noticed odd little incidents that started happening around her, like her favorite clothes always fitting, even after she grew enough that her other clothes had to be replaced.

All that changed almost exactly one year after Kara and Harry rediscovered each other. It was a day of joy for Harry because he received his first Hogwarts letter, but it was a day of great sadness for Kara because it was the day that her father died of a heart attack. So grief-stricken was she that she was unable to make the trip to Surrey for another month, and by then, Harry was already gone.