Harry Potter - Superhero

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter works belong to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 03: The first test of a hero

Harry still had about three weeks left before school started and another 8 Dursley free days to enjoy. The day after they came back Jess and Mike took Harry to his school grounds. Harry put a forget-me on all three of them so that no one can see them. He also worked on how to make each of them notice the other two. He did that by creating a link between the three of them. Then, he teleported them directly to the school ground to bypass all the locked doors.

"Okay Harry, I know this is exciting," said Jess sternly, "But you also need to be careful. If you feel that there is even a small possibility of you falling down, I want you back on the ground immediately."

"I will. I promise," Harry answered immediately. This was something he had been waiting for a long time.

"And don't go too high and stay within the ground perimeter."

Harry accepted quickly. The two adults took a few steps back toward the stand. Mike wanted to bring a camera to take some snaps, but when they tried it as a test at home, they saw that the forget-me was blocking any pictures and the place where Harry was supposed to be was over exposed. They weren't able to figure out how to make it work… yet.

Harry closed his eyes bubbling with excitement. He bent his legs and kicked off with all his strength. "WOO HOO!" he screamed in joy as he raced into the air. He was made to fly. It felt so natural to him. He couldn't help the bubbling laugh that escaped him.

The many hours of practice he put into flying at Jess' home paid off finally. Now everything was so instinctual. He slowed down to a stop at about 100 feet in the air. Then he twisted his body and raced toward the Mike and Jess at break neck speed. A few feet before he hit them, he veered of and circled them, raising up a dust storm, before coming to stop in front of them still floating in the air.

"This is the best!" He exclaimed. That was when he saw Jess holding on to Mike's arm painfully. She was pale with fright. Mike was just shocked to see the speed at which Harry did that aerial acrobatic. But seeing Harry enjoy it so much brought a smile on to his face.

"Harry… just slow down a little, okay?" asked Jess in a shaky voice.

Harry laughed. "Come on Jess. This is so good. I never felt like this before."

"How's your energy level, Harry?" asked Mike.

Harry closed his eyes for half a second before he answered. "Pretty good. I can keep going for a while. The distance or height doesn't matter, but it felt like the faster I go, the more energy it takes."

So Harry worked on his flying skills for the rest of his summer vacation. For the first few days Jess and Mike accompanied him. After that, they let him go on his own, but not before he promised to not to go beyond the school ground and not to fly for more than an hour. He also ended up creating a shield around his eyeglasses to prevent exposure to air at high speeds. The first time he did that his eyes became dry very fast. That's when he realized oxygen wasn't going in through the shield and redesigned it to let it in. That shield became an automatic part of his flying skill.

And by the time school started he practically owned the sky. Mike timed him one time and he could go from the ground level to 300 feet in 7 seconds. It was exhilaration like none other. But the faster he went the more energy he consumed. But he also noticed that when he first started flying in the school, he could probably fly at top speed for 10 minutes before he tired out. But by the time school started about 3 weeks later, he was able to do it for 15 minutes. It clearly showed him that the longer he worked on his energy, the more it would grow. It's like a muscle.

Sometimes he would simply stay up in the air and look at the city below him. It was such a cool sight. He also worked on teleporting while he was flying or floating in the air. It was one of his combination skills. He made sure that if he teleported while he was in the air, he would come out with the ability to still stay in the air. He tried it a few times at Mike's home even before he started flying in school. It was Jess' idea and it was a brilliant one. He also learned an important fact of physics the first few times he tried. If he teleported while he was flying, he would appear with the same flying velocity he was in when he disappeared. No matter how much he tried, he wasn't able to teleport in to a stop. It was the same the other way round. He wouldn't come out flying if he teleported while he was just floating.

One amusing and potentially dangerous situation happened a couple of days before school started. Harry was simply floating in the air, when he felt something hit him in the back of his head with a thwack.

He heard a bird screech indignantly and turned around to see an owl flapping its wings in his face. He floated away from the crazy bird, when the bird ruffled its feathers, gave him a piercing gaze and flew away. The one thing that stuck him as odd was that, the bird had some kind of letter rolled up and tied to its legs. Harry asked Mike and Jess if people used Owls to deliver letters and he was laughed at until he told them what happened. They just shrugged and told him they never saw that happen before. Pigeons, yes. Owls, no.

That incident also brought the end of his highflying adventures. That is until he could figure out a way to avoid birds and other flying projectiles.

The Dursley's weren't too pleased to see all the new stuff Harry got. It wasn't possible for Harry to hide everything from them. There were simply too many for him to remember at all times. But when they realized that he didn't buy it with the 150 pounds Jess promised them, they let him keep them with a warning that he's going to work for that nice Ms. Smith for the rest of the school year. Harry couldn't be happier. He also put a permanent forget-me on the door to room. It would do no good for his relatives to see the true extent of the stuff he had in his room.

The fourth year of the school started well for Harry. Dudley and Piers were still at odds with each other. The bullying in the school had dropped down significantly and no one knew the reason why. Harry even had people talking to him now that he was more smartly dressed in designer wear that fit him.

But these were the same people who rejected him because he wore ill-fitting clothes and Dudley bullied him and any others that talked to him. So he wasn't able to form any lasting friendships. He was friendly with them and played with them during recess. But that was the limit he would take it with these children.

The start of the academic year also signaled the start of his martial arts classes. This particular center taught many styles, but the style that Harry was interested in, was Jeet Kune Do. Sifu Tong, a genuine martial artist who won many international competitions, taught it. This center only had small classes of 5 people at the most. Harry joined the beginner's class where he was the second youngest student, the youngest being a 6-year-old girl.

There were 8 levels and it would take years of practice and dedication to reach the final level. In the first class two students in the 6th level had an exhibition match for the benefit of all the lower levels, especially the new students. Harry was very impressed by the speed with which they reacted. He had to agree that this could only help with his Superhero career.

Sifu Tong taught many students over the twenty years since he opened his studio. Unlike many masters, he always taught the first level class as it was the foundation on, which greatness can be achieved. To him martial arts was not just fighting, but a way of life. To dedicate oneself to understand the inner self, to feel the energy flowing within you and around you, to use it become a better person, that was martial arts. The side benefit was the fighting skill one develops to protect and defend. But few people could understand this truth. So Sifu Tong liked working with young kids and teach them to meditate as a first step in the long process to enlightenment.

So when he asked his young students if they ever meditated, he was reasonably surprised to see 8-year-old Harry Potter raise his hand. He asked Harry to step into the middle and show them.

Harry sat in middle of the small circle of students and got into his power vision. He didn't pull up any tendrils to his limbs, but just gazed at his energy ball, basking in its power.

Sifu Tong was visibly impressed with the young boy. To test him, he got into stance before the boy and released a punch directed at his nose, but stopping a couple of inches before he hit it. Harry had no visible reaction. The master gave a nod and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder shaking him from his trance.

"Well done Mr. Potter. You have done this before?"

"For the last one-year, Sifu."

"Good, you can go back to your seat."

"What you saw is the level of meditation I hope everyone can achieve. You will all practice that for the first 15 minutes. Then and only then we will work on your stance. Now to start your meditation, think of just one and one thing alone that you are very familiar with. It could be a pen, a shoe or even the face of a person. Now once you have that picture in mind, get to know it. Every nick on a pencil, every blemish on a face, know them all."

As every student got into position, Sifu Tong stepped toward Harry. "You have surpassed that level Mr. Potter. I want you to work on the next step. Even while meditating it is necessary for you to be conscious of the world around you. Do not think of the world, but feel it. Extend your subconscious around you and you will know things without knowing."

Harry nodded hesitantly. He understood most of what Sifu said until he talked about subconscious and knowing without knowing. He got into his power vision. Sifu said to extend his subconscious. But what is that? He didn't know, but he tried to extend himself trying to feel what was around him.

It wasn't until he talked to Jess later at her home that she explained what subconscious was. The next day she even gave him a book that explained the many workings of the human mind. There were many words and concepts that Harry didn't understand and needed either Jess or Mike to help further explain them.

But it was only at the end of October that he made the breakthrough. It was Mike who suggested that Harry develop a skill similar to that of radar in order to solve object problem when he was flying. He explained to Harry what it is and how it works. He even bought an action movie, which had many scenes with radar. Combine that with a shield he had been working on will provide him with enough protection while he was flying.

It was then Harry made the connection with what Sifu Tong asked him to do and the radar. Both were similar. But instead of extending his subconscious, Harry extended his power.

As a first step, he asked his energy ball to extend the power outside. He gave it a visual of him standing in the center as his power expanded all around him in a circle. A few tries and a shorted alarm clock after, he was successful in doing that. It was taxing to not only expend that much energy but to keep it going constrained within the radius he wanted. Needless to say the first few times he tried it, he was extremely tired.

After a couple of weeks of doing that and teaching his energy ball to only expend the least amount needed for the task and to keep it at the constant radium of 5 feet from him, he was ready for the next step, to give the power that was around him purpose.

He wanted to know what was happening around him. So he asked his energy ball to tell him about the world. He gave it visuals for the different senses. Vision, audition, touch, smell, he wanted to know everything that was happening around him.

The first time he did that, he fainted. He woke up an hour later with a massive headache. It was then he realized his mistake. His mind wasn't used to that kind of information overload from his various senses. So he reduced the radius to surround his immediate body and asked for one sense at a time.

What he felt was indescribable. He could perceive his physical self like he never did before. He could literally feel the hair moving on his arms from the silent air in the room. He could hear his heart beating at a regular speed. He could smell the sweat on his forehead. And he could see himself; truly see himself with his core at the center burning with an ethereal fire. Then he started working on tuning the senses at his will. He learned it the hard way that having a heightened sense of touch when punching a bag was not a good idea.

Sifu Tong was needless to say very impressed when Harry blocked his punch, with his eyes closed in a meditative state. Harry opened his eyes wide on contact. He didn't expect the punch from Sifu. It was his instincts, which made him block it. He was in the power vision as usual and was observing his own body through his heightened senses when sensed something shift in front of him and his hand automatically went up to block what ever it was.

Sifu smiled at him. "Well done Harry."

Mike was very pleased when he got a call from Sifu telling him of Harry's excellent progress and that he was moving to a more advanced class.

Harry also spent every weekend working on his flying. He also experimented on creating a shield similar to the force shield he saw in Star Wars. It would be something similar to what he had around his eyes, but it will cover his entire body, removing the need for the eye shield. The shield was transparent, would allow oxygen in and will protect him against anything physical. It wasn't until a crow crashed into his shield and nearly died (Harry healed it in the nick of time), that he realized that he would need to add another effect to his flying skill.

So after months of working he created the perfect design for his flying. Every time he flew, he would have the basic flying effect, which allowed him to fly, a forget-me, which made him invisible to everyone except those he allowed to see, a body hugging shield, which protected him against all physical objects, a divergence field, which makes living creatures move around the field, a temperature field, which kept the temperature at a comfortable level, and then finally a 10-foot visual radar, which allowed him to identify objects around him. Because it was tiring to maintain all these spells at the same time, it took him a while to combine them under a single skill, though it did cut his safe flying time by 80 percent.

The end of November brought wonderful news that Jess was pregnant. When Harry heard the news he froze for a second, before he smiled and hugged Jess. "Congrats guys."

He looked uncertain for a moment. "So… so will I be a brother?" he asked in low hopeful voice. Jess laughed and kissed his head. "Of course Harry. And you will make a great big brother."

Harry's heart soared in Joy. He always wanted a sibling of his own.

They also told him that they would be getting married on December 28th of that year and he would be their ring bearer.

Harry argued extensively but finally agreed to their demands that he will train only in the school grounds, until he is back to his original safe fly time of 3 hours.

Christmas of 1989 was a very busy time for Harry, as not only are his informal guardians getting married, they are also moving into a new house in London proper, which Mike bought with the leftover money, he had from the accident. Harry enjoyed the look the couple had, when they came home on the last night in that apartment, to see all their furniture, shrunk and packed into a tiny box. The last couple of days before the wedding would be spent in a hotel, after which, they would be taking of on a honeymoon cruise.

Jess being an orphan and only child, she didn't have any direct relations and Mike's dad, Rob Newell gave her away at the wedding. Harry enjoyed being the ring barer. Many people enquired on whom he was and the couple answered back saying he was their adoptive son. Harry knew that was going to be their answer, as they discussed it before the wedding. But he still couldn't help feel the joy every time they said it. After nearly 8 years without any love, Harry thought he was extremely lucky to find someone like Jess and Mike. He made a vow that day, that once he was an adult he will always help those kids who were in similar situation like him.

Mike's parents didn't know the whole truth about Harry. They only knew that he was somehow involved in the miracle that saved their son's life and they were thankful for that.

The newly weds came from their honeymoon to see all their stuff from the old place unpacked and already setup as they envisioned it. Hearing the door open, Harry ran down the stairs. "You're back. Happy new year." He quickly gave them a hug and pulled them inside.

"Harry! Why did you do all this without us? We could have helped you! And Happy new year to you as well."

"I wanted to surprise you guys. It wasn't much anyway. I didn't even feel a thing." It was true. Compared to last year his energy ball is not only brighter but much larger as well.

"Come on, I want to show you something." He pulled both of them up the stairs to the second storey, which house 4 bedrooms. A master bedroom, a bathroom, 2 bedrooms fit for children and 1 guest bedroom. The first floor housed a formal dining room, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and 2 more guest bedrooms. It was a large house and it even came with a big backyard and a 2-car garage.

Harry pulled them into the master bedroom, which had a connected bathroom and also a den, which was now decorated into a baby's room, with a crib and many toys.

"I asked Rob for a list baby toys and created all these and the crib," he said proudly with a smile. The Newell's were stunned. They stared at the baby room in wonder. Even after all this time, they were still surprised by what Harry could do with his power. All they could do was, hug him. "Thanks Harry. This is great. The baby will love this."

Harry teleported to a tree near #4 just like he did everyday and after making sure no one's watching removed the forget-me on him. He was in a happy mood. He won his first tournament and was moving to the third level and not even the sour faces of his aunt and uncle can turn down his mood.

He had to come home early, as his Aunt wanted his help cooking dinner. Uncle Vernon was having someone over for dinner and she wanted to cook something special. Harry really didn't mind it. He hardly spent time with them anyways much to his and the Dursley's liking.

Harry went into his room after cooking and having a meager meal. He snickered to himself thinking the Dursley's thought they were still denying him food. He is in very good shape for a 9 year old. He picked one of Jess' meals he stored in his self styled refrigerator and enjoyed it in leisure. He glanced at the room, which had been nearly empty for the past few months. Most of his important stuff, he stored in his own room at his second home. The only things still left here were the basic enmities and the food box. He loved spending time at his second home. Jess was 6 months pregnant and doing well. He Mike and Jess would have dinner together and discuss the day. Mike would often tell him of any news ideas he might develop with his power. It was what Harry imagined his family would have been like if his mom and dad were alive.

Harry stepped out of his room to get some water from the bathroom, when he heard the TV blaring with sirens. He stepped down light footed and tentative. He could only see a tiny part of TV from the middle of the stairs and he could see that his relatives and their guests were gathered around the TV. He put on a forget-me and quickly walked down to the living room.

It was a blazing fire that covered a twenty-storey building. There were many fire engines with their ladders stretched out, as the firemen tried to rescue the inhabitants.

"As you can see," shouted a reporter from the scene, "the firemen are trying to contain the fire and rescue the residents stuck inside. We do not know how many are still left."

This was it, thought Harry. He knew he would not be keeping his promise to Mike and Jess, but this is bigger than that promise. He teleported to his bedroom with a soft pop startling the other occupants in the living room.

He put on a cap over his head and floated up in the air. He teleported above Mike and Jess' new home in London, as he knew the fire was some where in the city. He flew up in the air until he was a few hundred meters high. He saw the blazing fire to the north and teleported in that direction. He flew the last remaining distance to the building and floated outside. Even through his temperature-controlled field, he could feel the heat radiating from the burning building. It was a 21-storey building and the fire was spreading top down starting with the 18th floor. It already converged on the 10th floor and was spreading fast. It was a terrible sight to behold.

Harry couldn't teleport into the building, as he had never been in there. He flew around the building until he found a blackened window on the 8th floor with no one nearby. Steeling himself, he flew through the window shattering the glass but was protected from it by his shield.

His radar, which after several months of practice was up to 17 feet, told him as he flew around that there were no living beings on this floor but 11 on the upper floor. So he flew up the stairs to see 11 firemen spraying water on the ceiling, trying to put out the fire, which was spreading down. Seeing as they had this in control for now, Harry went to the next floor. The fire surrounded his shield. He could hardly see anything. He flew through it to the nearest living being his radar pointed. He saw a burned fireman lying on the floor with a beam lying on top of him. Harry floated the heavy beam and threw it off the man. He quickly released a bout of power into the man asking his energy ball to cure him. He picked up the downed man and teleported outside, where there were many ambulances and left the fireman among the patients waiting to be treated.

He teleported back to the spot where he found the fireman and went in search for other people. He found three other people alive, if just barely and took them to safety, but not before releasing a bout of curing power into them. He went floor to floor looking for any other living people. He found only 2 more alive and took them to the ambulance. By then, a crowd was gathering wondering where the new patients were coming from. Harry wasn't bothered with it as he had his forget-me protecting him from anyone's notice.

He saw the fire quickly spreading to the top most floors and flew up there. He saw through the only clear glass windows in the building that there were more than 2-dozen people, mostly dressed in party wear and some in nightwear and they were panicking. He ported inside and caught hold of a woman who was hugging her child, huddling in a corner away from the panicking crowd. He ported them to the ground near the ambulance, when someone in the crowd saw the mother and child appearing from nowhere and screamed. Leaving the stunned mother and child who were looking around wondering what happened, Harry ported back to the top floor.

He proceeded to port the people out of the floor two at a time. He knew he was over doing it and he was tiring out. But he couldn't stop now. Not when these people could die. When he ported the last person out he stumbled away from the scene, which has TV cameras pointed at the area where the people suddenly started appearing.

He sat down on the ground tired. He brought down his powers so that he can lessen the stress on his energy, only keeping the forget-me active. That was when he heard the scream. He had long since fine tuned his super sensory system and got used to filtering and using the information it provided. The scream came from inside the building. That he was sure. He ported back to the 21st floor not wanting to fly anymore. He heard the scream again. It was woman-shouting for Help. He honed in on the scream. It was coming from the 20th floor. He cursed himself for skipping this floor as he thought everyone in the floors above the 18th would have already gone on to the top most floor.

He ran down the stairs and listened for the scream. She was in one of the houses at the other end of the building and the fire was spreading quite fast. He shielded himself from the fire and ran to the house. He channeled his power to his leg and kicked the door from its frame. He brought up his hands and another shield sprung in front of him saving him from the fire that tried to envelope him. As he stepped inside through the fire he saw a man fighting the growing flames with a wet blanket. He stared around widely at who crashed the door.

"Who is it? Who is there?" he asked in a panicked voice.

"I am here to save you. Where's the woman?" shouted Harry.

"In the bathroom. Please hurry," answered the man as he beat down on a flame that tried to engulf his leg.

Harry ran inside the house to where his senses told him the woman was. Harry pulled the door open to see a dripping woman pouring water on her 3-year-old crying son, as she consoled him. As Harry took hold of her, she panicked and tried to get away waving her hands wildly. She knocked his glasses away from his face. Harry stumbled away from her. "Ma'am… I am trying to save you," gasped Harry as he got his bearings back. He knew there was no use looking for his glasses as he heard them break.

He reached for the blurry shapes of the woman and the child and before the woman can panic again he ported them outside to safety. He stumbled as he started to get dizzy from the smoke he inhaled. The woman looked around panicked and pleaded with a fireman standing nearby. "Please, my husband is still there. You must save him, please I beg of you."

Harry shook his to head to clear it. He knew he wouldn't be able to see the man without his glasses. He closed his eyes and asked his energy ball, which was smaller, to help with his eyes. He gave it quick visuals of wanting to see things clearly. His energy ball understood and pushed the power into Harry's eyes. Harry yelped as a sudden pain shot from his eyes. But after a few seconds, it quickly died down. Harry opened his eyes and took a step back in surprise. What he got wasn't a normal vision like he saw through his glasses, and it wasn't like the radar vision he got in his mind.

If he had to compare it with anything, it was similar to the way he perceived himself visually when he first asked his power to extend around his body. The air glowed with a faint white color. The ground had multiple colors flowing in it and the people all shown with different colors, though not as brightly as he did even in his exhausted state.

He didn't understand what was happening and he didn't have the time to at that moment as he heard the wife plead with the fireman again. He ported back into the house and saw the husband collapsed as fire burned through him. He saw a very faint light coming from him. He ran forward and shielded himself and the man from the raging fire. He caught the man's burned hand and ported them back to the ground. He saw that the light was almost gone from the man. He kneeled in front of him and pushed his hands on the man's chest and released as much power as he could.

The power flowed into the man and as the crowd looked stunned the man pulsed with a faint green light. Harry waited for his power to work, but it was of no use as the last of the light left the man. "No… no… no…" mumbled Harry to himself.

He sent another jolt of power into the man with no luck. And then another with tears rolling from his eyes. But the light never came back into the man and Harry knew he died. He felt someone place a hand on his shaking shoulder and looked up to see a police officer standing behind him. "Son, he's gone. Let go of him now."

Harry looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him in wonder. Harry wondered what happened to his forget-me. As he looked into himself, he realized his energy ball took saving the man's life as a priority and used any and all energy it could find without making him unconscious. Harry only had a very faint forget-me, which was not enough to deter human vision.

The officer kneeled in front of the 9-year-old boy. "What's your name son? And did you save all these people?"

Harry scrambled away from the police officer and blasted a quick forget-me on himself. The officer looked around confused, shook his head and looked back at Harry.

"There's nothing to fear, son," assured the officer. "I just want to ask you some questions."

Harry couldn't understand why the forget-me wasn't working. He quickly teleported out of there.

"Hey, where did he go?" shouted an excited reporter from the Times. "Did you see that? He just disappeared." He turned to his camera operator. "Tell me you got that." The camera operator just gave him a thumbs up with a smile.

Harry ported directly into his room at #4 and collapsed on to the bed. He hugged the pillow and sobbed. He felt terrible. This was his first hero mission and he failed. The man died in his arms.

AN: Thanks everyone for your kind feedback. English is not my first language. So please expect to see a few mistakes here and there. I proof read them 2 to 3 times before I upload, but I still miss a few.