The Fortress

The Burrow's Back Yard

"I've got one!" Ron shouted from one of the bushes. He pulled himself out of the bush clutching a squat garden gnome that was kicking furiously at its captor. He, Harry and Hermione were all in the back trying to catch the gnomes; they were making a contest of it to see who could catch the most before dinner.

Harry yelped as one bit into his finger, tiny jagged teeth digging into tender flesh, "I hate these things!"

"I don't know, this one's kind of sweet," said Hermione, as one of the gnomes hugged close to her.

"Hermione," said Ron, trying not to laugh at her, "look at its hands,"

Hermione looked down to see what Ron was talking about, and then angrily slapped the gnome's hands away and dropped him to the ground. Harry and Ron could no longer hold in the laughter. Hermione just glared daggers at the two boys as they fell to the ground; she tried to remain as dignified as possible.

"Wait… until… Fred and George hear… Hermione got felt up by a gnome!" Ron exclaimed through his fits of laughter.

"Honestly, when are you going to grow up, Ronald? And Harry, you're supposed to be the mature one of the two of you!"

"It's not like we can't use a good laugh nowadays," said Harry, finally calming down. When the other two finally caught their breath, they all went back to the task at hand.

Hermione paid close attention to Harry. She noticed that he seemed normal when around others, but when he was left to himself, he seemed distracted. "How have you been holding up, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry didn't like her tone of voice; it was like an interrogation disguised as small talk, "As well as can be expected I'd guess, with a war going on and everything,"

"I mean since Sirius…" she paused to let the name sink in. They had tried not talking about Sirius much this summer because it might cause Harry to retreat back into his shell that was he did just before summer, after the Department of Mysteries. But she knew that he would have to talk about it eventually and she at least wanted her friend to know that she and Ron were there if he needed.

Harry's heart clenched at the mention of his godfather, "I'm fine, Hermione. But I really can't talk about Sirius right now."

Hermione was about to protest with him, but she felt a light touch on her elbow. She turned to see Ron behind her shaking his head as if to say let it go. He'll come to us if he needs to talk. He really could be very insightful when it came to one of his friends.

"Well, that's the last of them," said Harry, heaving the last gnome across the field; none of the three seemed to realize that he hadn't broken a sweat through the entire ordeal, "I think I'll go for a short walk before dinner." Hermione paled noticeably when he said this, though Harry mistook the reason for it, "Don't worry, I'll stay within the wards"

Hermione was feeling guilty to have upset him enough to want to go off on his own, but she knew that she couldn't say or do anything to make him change his mind, so she just nodded her head.

Harry remembered Ron showing him a path on their land that ran around the nearby field and a little bit into the woods, but still inside the protective wards, and then circles back around to the house. Once Harry found the path, he tried to get as far from the house as he could. He hated being reminded of Sirius's death. He was trying to go back to living life and spending time with friends, like he told Dumbledore he would, but he still avoided the subject like the plague. Every time it came up, he was reminded of the guilt because it was his own stupidity that, however indirectly, caused his death. Then the guilt would turn into anger at Bellatrix Lestrange because it was her wand that had caused him to fall through that veil. Then of course thinking of Bellatrix would lead to thoughts of Voldemort and then a crippling fear and one word echoing through his head: How? How is a kid like me going to defeat the most powerful Dark Wizard in over a century? How am I supposed to survive?

All the different thoughts and emotions running through his head finally became too much and he began screaming at the top of his lungs, "AHHHHHH!" He let out several more frustrated yells, not caring who heard, before letting himself collapse onto the path, gasping for air. "Why do I have to be the one to stop him? I'm not ready for this… I just want a normal life with normal teenage problems and without a maniac trying to kill me… How am I ever going to beat him?"

Suddenly he became dizzy as a vision hit him. He was in the crystal castle again. In the center of the structure was a podium or consul that began glowing brightly. He then heard the voice again: My Son. As quickly as it started the vision ended. Then he heard a high pitched ringing that caused him to clutch his ears and scream out in pain. The last thing he saw was several pairs of feet running towards him before he blacked out.

Daily Planet

Kal-El… Clark heard it as he was sitting at his desk working on his story. It was almost too soft for him to hear, but he caught it none the less. Kal-El, you and Kara must come to the Fortress.

"Hey, Lois, I've got to head out for a bit. I've got an errand to run; I just remembered."

"Whatever, Smallville," said Lois, not looking up from her computer, cradling her cup of coffee.

As he stepped out of the elevator, Clark pulled out his cell phone, dialed a number and held it to his ear, "Kara, We need to head to the Fortress…Alright, meet you there."

When he knew no one could see, he took off at super-speed. He arrived seconds later at the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, wearing his black trench coat, jeans and shirt with the House of El crest..

"I'm here, Kal," said Kara as she landed behind him, startling him.

I don't think I'll ever get used to that! Kara was wearing the usual Kent primaries: short, blue-jean shorts, white sleeveless shirt and red vest. "Do you always have to land like that?" asked Clark.

Kara glared at him, "Sorry, Clark. Next time I'll build a cell tower here in the Arctic and text you when I'm landing."

Clark rolled his eyes as they both entered the Fortress. The Arctic Palace seemed to come alive with refracted sunlight as they entered. Clark walked straight up to the consul in the center of the main chamber.

As he approached, the consul began to glow, "We're here, Jor-El. Why did you need us to come here?"

"I have much to tell you, Kal-El," came the unearthly voice of Jor-El, "Another member of the House of El is in need of your help,"

Clark and Kara looked at each other, confused, "What do you mean? I thought that we were the last."

"I have withheld this information from you until the time was right. But time is now wasting,"

"As you know, all Kryptonians, upon reaching adulthood, would be sent to Earth as a rite of passage."

"Yes, I know. That is how you met Lana Lang's Great Aunt in the sixties," said Clark.

Jor-El continued as if there had been no interruption, "The journey to and from Earth would be accomplished through the use of portals designed to transport someone instantaneously across the universe."

"We know all of that," said Kara.

"In the last decade of the planet Krypton's existence, the planet began to quake with tremors. At first, the tremors were mild and only happened periodically. Eventually, however, they became much worse, and much less time passed between the quakes."

"One day, one of the portals was damaged during one particularly devastating quake. It took me days to repair. When I felt that it was in proper working order, I tested it. There was a malfunction, however, that sent me seventeen years into the future of Earth."

"How were you able to get back to Krypton at the right time?" asked Clark.

"Eventually my fellow scientists were able to determine the problem and my whereabouts. They retrieved me from Earth in the year 1992, and we made the proper repairs."

"While on Earth, however, I traveled to London, England; I met a young woman by the name of Lily Evans," as he spoke, a giant glowing crystal rose up behind the consul. When the glow ebbed away, it left the image of a pretty woman with dark red hair and vivid emerald eyes, "During my stay, we became very close…"

"Spare us the details," Kara mumbled. She was glaring at the image, as she had been very close to her aunt Lara.

"Unfortunately, our romance was to be short-lived, because she loved another. I left for Krypton on their wedding day."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but what does all this have to do with what you need us to do?"

"After my return to Krypton, I married your mother and became well known for my scientific discoveries,"

"Yes, we know that much already," Clark was becoming impatient, and he was slightly angry that there had been another woman before his mother.

"You also know the rest of the story of how I foresaw the demise of our planet and how I sent you to the Kents equipped with all Kryptonian knowledge within the crystal that built this fortress."

"As you know, the entire structure along with its sensors is in tune with our bloodline. Kal-El, the day that you used the Crystal of Knowledge to raise the Fortress, you were under the belief that you were the last of the House of El. However, I sensed another,"

"You mean me?" asked Kara.

"Yes, Kara I did sense you, but there was another as well,"

This got both their attentions, "What are you trying to tell us?" asked Clark,

"I detected the presence of a young half Kryptonian of our bloodline. The only logical way to explain it is that Lily must have had a son born of our affair."

"So… so what are you saying? That I h-have a brother?" asked Clark, not daring to believe it yet.

"Yes, Kal-El," Clark and Kara looked at each other as if wanting confirmation that they were hearing the same thing, "His powers seemed to be developing at a much slower rate because of his part-human physiology. My sensors, however, inform me that he is in great danger almost every second. For this reason, I have been forced to allow his powers to emerge immediately."

"You mean that he's been without his powers all this time and now they're just going to start coming out without him knowing how or why it's happening?" Clark asked, horrified at the thought.

"He needs guidance, Kal-El. You and Kara must find him and teach him of his developing powers and be there for him through any trials he may face."

"You say he's in constant danger. What danger?" asked Kara.

"For some reason, my sensors were unable to detect the reason or source of the danger."

"How can we find him?" asked Clark.

"I can give you the names of three people that you may use to locate him. The first is, of course, Lily Evans, though you may also look for Lily Potter. The second is her husband James Potter. The third would be her sister, Petunia Evans."

Clark filed the names into his near perfect memory, "We'll find him," he was determined to find this new blood relative. He and Kara then sped off to talk to the only person that he knew could track down any one of these people.

I changed the part where Jor-El tells how he ended up in 1992. I hadn't watched the episode where he was in the 60's in a long time when I originally wrote this, so I needed to fix it.