Death's Knight: Revisited

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction and constitutes no claim on the personalities or ideas incorporated in the Harry Potter series or those of the DC Universe contained within.

A/N: The following AU story is best understood if you are familiar with the mainstream comics of the DC Universe as well as the story of Harry Potter. If you aren't a fan of DC, or dislike comics, this probably isn't the story for you. Ideas being used come from Green Lantern, Sandman, World's Finest (The New 52 Universe, and the mind of Heather Sinclair. This universe differs greatly from the one you may be used to, be it the comics, movies or animated features. This story begins a year after the inception of the New 52, and merges with the post Voldemort world of Harry Potter.

This tale is inspired by Heather Sinclair's wonderful Death's Knight Story, and is being retold with her permission

Chapter 4 –

~ interlude ~

Thursday 13 January, 2000

"I really don't see what your problem with him is," Arthur Curry said, leaning back in his chair. "You were fighting Black Lanterns, the kid shows up, ends the fight, going out of his way to save your life Batman, and you all attack him."

"He killed those people," Batman growled.

"Actually," Hal Jordan interrupted, "he didn't. My ring confirms that the Blackies had all been dead for months if not years, kept running by their rings. That's why they all just fell apart when their rings were removed. It looks like this Harry kid was right."

"The fact remains," Superman intoned, "this 'Harry' has far too much power to be allowed to operate without supervision."

"And how much supervision do you have, Clark?" Arthur asked with a smirk. "How much supervision do any of us have?"

"Damn it Arthur," Batman spat. "The boy is clearly delusional. He claims to work for Death."

"And Hal claims to work for some Immortal Guardians on the planet at the center of the Universe as if that were physically possible," Arthur laughed. "We take him at his word. Diana tells us that she's from an island of immortal women warriors and about has told us about personally speaking with the Greek Gods we learned of in Mythology classes, and we take her at her word. I am the hereditary king of the sunken kingdom of Atlantis, as if that makes any sense at all. Barry can move faster than light, which everyone knows is impossible, Victor is fused to an alien computer which both saved his life and built his armor, you're a billionaire who dresses up in a batsuit, and Clark is one of the few survivors of an alien race who was raised in Kansas. Seriously, Bruce, we are a group of the most unlikely individuals anyone could imagine, is Harry Potter really all that more unlikely than any of us?"

Barry Allen reached for his iced tea and took a long pull. "Why are you defending him, Arthur?"

If anything, Curry's grin got wider. "Back in October, one of my people's defense patrols happened upon an unknown device about 200 kilometers northeast of Atlantis, sitting on the ocean floor at a depth of 3200 meters."

"What kind of device?" Barry asked, suddenly quite interested. "Something that could operate at that depth would be…"

"An 'unknown' device," Arthur responded. "That's all they could report, so, as Atlantis' resident expert on the technology of the Surface World, I responded along with Nuidis Vulko, my Science Advisor. When we arrived, we found a metallic cube two meters on a side, taking seawater in and expressing it out without making any apparent changes to the water. This is when Harry introduced himself."

"He just introduced himself two miles down?" Hal asked.

"And told me about his Power Ring, saying that they were 'awesome', and explaining that I could tell he wasn't a Black Lantern as he was still alive and not interested in Universal Conquest," Arthur continued. "I really like the kid, he's got a sense of duty about him that he hides behind a sense of humor. Anyway, he made the machine, and its purpose is to harvest dissolved metals out of seawater."

"What metal was he after?" Batman asked.

"Gold," Aquaman responded.

"Gold?" The Flash choked. "I hope you let him down gently. There is only about a milligram of gold dissolved in a metric ton of seawater."

"He was well aware of that," Arthur nodded. "In fact, he explained it to me. His harvester pulled something like 400 kilograms out of the water every day, and he was running six of them."

"2.4 tons of gold a day, every day?" Hal whistled. "Damn, Bruce, the kid's richer than you."

"No," Arthur said shaking his head. "He only runs his machines for a day every year or so, to finance his operations, because, as he put it, the job didn't come with a paycheck. When he realized that he'd put one of his machines close enough to Atlantis for us to find it, he offered to move it. I did my Ocean King thing and told him I claimed domain over all the oceans of the world."

"And his response?" Diana asked.

"He actually refrained from laughing, but it was a close thing. I agree with him, it's an absurd claim, but the people of Atlantis expect it. Rather than fight about it, or moving to his second choice, he offered a lease."

"Atlantis needs gold?" Barry asked.

"Well, yes," Arthur admitted. "It's useful in a lot of ways, but more importantly than that, he offered us other metals. From looking at my soldier's armor he determined that, as a society, we were metal poor. He set up his harvesters to producing iron, aluminum, magnesium and several other metals. Then he assisted Vulko in establishing a foundry to produce steel."

"That would be quite the undertaking underwater," Flash noted, his inner scientist peeking out.

"In short, Harry Potter, who you're all so bound and determined to make an enemy out of has done more for Atlantis in three weeks than the rest of the world has since we revealed ourselves to you," Curry concluded. "It's been three years and the UN has yet to recognize us or confirm a trade pact. Potter is a friend of Atlantis and has our protection where ever he travels in our domain."

Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern exchanged glances. The three of them disagreed and had already set into motion plans to find the wielder of the Black Ring, be he a Black Lantern or not.

oooOOOooo

Friday 4 February, 2000

I arrived at Hannah's flat at 8 p.m. The plan was we were to go out to dinner at a restaurant we both liked and then return to her flat for a night together.

My time was running out. Before much longer I was going to have to leave Earth to hunt down the Black Lanterns and Necron. What I had found with Hannah was good, so I wanted to enjoy it to the best of my abilities until it had to end.

Hannah opened the door, clearly not dressed to go out.

"Right on time, Harry, come on in," she smiled her welcome. "Plans have changed, I've fixed dinner for us, and there is someone I'd like you to meet."

This was new. So far in our relationship, it had been just us. I wondered who I was going to meet. She said 'someone', which probably meant it wasn't her parents. "We can save the restaurant for next time," I said as I followed her through the door.

"Harry," Hannah said, "this is Susan Bones, my oldest friend."

"Hello, Harry," Susan said standing up to shake my hand. For a second I had a flashback to my days at Hogwarts when I had assisted a younger version of this girl with casting her Patronus. A rhino as I recalled.

"Hello, Susan," I responded, joining her on the sofa. "Oldest friends? How long have you known each other?"

"Since before we went to school," Susan laughed. "We were both sorted into Hufflepuff House together. Hannah tells me that you're also a wizard, why didn't we see you at Hogwarts?"

"He grew up with a Muggle family," Hannah said bringing a pair of plates into the room and handing them to us before returning to her kitchenette. My plate was laden with an ample helping of shepherd's pie, as was Susan's.

"My parents died while I was still a toddler," I explained sticking with the story I had established with Dumbledore. "I ended up living with my Aunt and Uncle. He was in the Foreign Service and we ended up living all over the world. When my magic showed up, I got tuition wherever we were."

"I can't imagine what losing your parents might be like," Susan said sympathetically.

I couldn't help but be glad this version of my friend hadn't lost her parents.

"So, what do you think?" Hannah asked as she returned to the living room with her own dinner.

"I like him," Susan nodded.

"Thank you," I said, wondering what this was about.

"Good," Hannah nodded. "Harry, Susan is my oldest friend."

"You said that earlier," I pointed out.

"My point is, we've always shared," she continued. "We shared our toys, shared our clothes, and even shared our homework…"

"Sometimes, we even share our boyfriends," Susan interjected helpfully.

"Share?" I asked. Yeah, I'm not really all that quick on the uptake.

"We want to take you to bed, Harry," Hannah explained. "Together, at the same time."

"It will be fun," Susan assured me.

I set my nearly empty plate on the coffee table, and wondered what to say to that.

"Did we shock you, Harry?" Hannah asked.

"Well, yeah," I admitted.

"So, what do you say?" Susan asked.

"Somehow, 'Yippee' doesn't seem strong enough," I grinned.

oooOOOooo

I want to be clear here. At the time, my sexual experience was embarrassingly minimal for someone who was supposedly a hero since he was 18 months old. Two stolen moments in a pair of broom cupboards at Hogwarts with two different girls that involved little more than touching. A 'thank you for saving us' shagging by Tracey Davis when I stopped a couple of Tom's boys from hurting her and her younger sister… afterwards, Tracey made it very clear she was unimpressed with my performance, and that it had been a one-time event which would not be repeated.

And then, of course, my Ring augmented time with Hannah, clearly the best of them all.

So, was I going to argue when Hannah wanted to bring a girlfriend to bed with us? Fuck no, I wasn't.

And when Susan shrugged out of her robes and confirmed all the rumors that had floated about the dorms and Quidditch locker rooms about her breasts and their… monumental size. The two women pulled me onto the bed, pulled my clothing off and began to have their way with me.

So, of course, the Universe noticed that I was having a good time and just had to put a stop to that.

"What do you think you're doing to them?" A familiar voice asked.

I sat up to find myself looking into the shocked face of Diana of Themyscira. To her left was Superman, to her right was the Green Lantern, his Power Ring still glowing from an FTL transition.

The two women sat up on either side of me. The Superman's eyes went wide when he got a full view of Susan's assets, and the Lantern took an involuntary step backwards.

"Oh, my god," he said. "I'm so sorry, I didn't expect to…"

Before I could react myself, both Hannah and Susan's wands were in their hands. I blinked. Where the hell had they been keeping their wands?

"Incarcerous Maximus!" Susan cast, wrapping the three assembled heroes in thick chains.

"Infragilis!" Hannah added, adding the unbreakable charm to the magical chains.

Of the three heroes, only Wonder Woman even tried to move, but the magic was both unexpected and came from people she had no reason to suspect.

"What has he done to you two?" she demanded. "Why would you attack a fellow woman?"

"Diana, shut up," the Green Lantern hissed. "Harry, dude, seriously, I had no idea that you were… busy. Honestly, I'd tear off my own arm before I'd interrupt a threesome. Bro-code forever!"

Bro-code? What the hell was he talking about? Superman was still staring at Susan's breasts and had yet to speak a word. I wasn't sure he had even noticed that he was restrained.

"Stupefy!" I cast, putting the Kryptonian out of my misery. "If word of this gets out, then his enemies will be taking him out of fights by hiring strippers," I noted dryly as Hannah and Susan covered themselves. "What did you three want?"

"To bring you to task for your actions in Metropolis!" Wonder Woman responded.

"So, to avenge my committing no crimes at all, you break and enter into someone's private home?" I asked. "You know, never mind, I don't care what you think, it's probably stupid. Stupefy!"

The Amazon slumped in her chains and I turned my attention to my fellow Power Ring user. "Well?"

"How do these chains work anyway?" he asked, "my Ring doesn't affect them at all."

"Magic," I said with a grin. "Do you know where you are?"

"England," he responded. "One of the towns that end in 'shire' but isn't pronounce 'shire'."

"Close enough," I admitted. "So, you're here because of what I did in Metropolis."

"Yeah," the Lantern nodded.

"And since you wouldn't want to be charged with kidnapping, you of course got those two muscle-heads to submit an extradition request to Her Majesty's Government?" I pressed.

An odd look washed over his masked face. "The Justice League is extra-territorial. The United Nations gives us…"

"None of that allows you to enter someone's home in the dark of the night," I interrupted. "Susan, the redhead is a Police Officer. Susan, are there any warrants out for my arrest?"

"Not as of when I got off shift and my Aunt told me to have a good time," she said helpfully.

"Susan's Aunt Amelia is the head of one of the national police forces," I explained confidentially to the now paling Super Hero. "If there was a warrant out for me, she would know."

"We might have missed a bit of the paperwork," he admitted.

"I thought as much. When you all wake up, could you tell them both something for me?"

"What?" he asked.

"You know of course, this means war."

The Lantern's eyes went wide and he paled before nodding as he got my meaning, before I put him out with a "Stupefy!"

oooOOOooo

"Not that one," Susan protested as she climbed out of the bed and padded to stand next to me. "They'll be awake in an hour with that spell. We want a little time, I think. Sopor Stupefy!" she cast on all three of the bound heroes.

She stepped back to regard her work. "That should last about 10 hours. Plenty of time."

I looked up from where I was charging the chains as a portkey after having linked them. "Plenty of time for what?" I asked when the Superheroes disappeared from Hannah's bedroom to reappear at the site in Metropolis where I first met them.

"I think we had a little party going," Hannah said, wrapping her arms around me from behind."

"Still?" I asked. "Even after all this?"

"Oh, Harry," Susan giggled, joining into the clinch from the front, nuzzling at my neck. "We knew you were a super hero."

That stopped all of my thought processes. "You know I'm a what?"

"Harry," Hannah said, releasing me and pulling me back onto the bed. "You were on the telly when you were in Metropolis. They've been playing it multiple times a day, every day since. Everyone is trying to figure out who the new hero that the Justice League tried to fight was."

"But we knew," Susan said, pulling my face to her breasts. "Or at least Hannah did, and she told me."

"Mum said that a hero with glasses was more dignified than the loonies who wear masks," Hannah explained.

"So, all this," I said extracting my face from Susan's breasts, "is because I put on a stupid outfit and smack people in the face."

"No," Susan said, pulling my face back to where she wanted it, "this is because Hannah said that you were great in bed, and we've always shared our discoveries."

"You putting on a stupid outfit and smacking people in the face means we get to brag about you," Hannah continues as she slid down lower in the bed. "After all, you're the first wand using Wizard Super Hero."

"And you're ours." Susan agreed.

"But you two reacted so quickly to them just appearing in the bedroom, and where were you keeping your wands?" I asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hannah laughed.

"Harry," Susan said nuzzling at my left ear. "After the Malfoy incident, every girl in Magical Britain learned to react first and ask questions later if someone just suddenly appeared in their bedroom."

'The Malfoy Incident'? What the hell was that? I wondered.

"Old habits die hard," Hannah agreed as she climbed on top of me.

That was when I quit caring.

oooOOOooo

Saturday 5 February, 2000

I returned to reality over the planet Oa. My first long distance Faster Than Light Transition.

Realistically, considering that Oa was supposedly at the center of the universe, I wasn't likely to ever need to travel further than this trip, so, not bad for a first try.

Unfortunately I immediately almost lost my lunch. The sensation of freefall was overpowering. The Ring recognized my distress and made modifications to my inner ear to counter the effects.

Blessed relief flooded through me until I opened my eyes and discovered that I had a touch of vertigo. After a bit of experimentation, I found that if I generated a platform to stand on, the vertigo was diminished.

Now all I needed was for one of the inhabitants of Oa to notice I was there.

So, I waited. I had appeared over Oa well above the atmosphere for a reason. That reason is that I thought that just appearing before the Guardians of Oa unannounced and uninvited might be taken as rude, and rude wasn't what I was after here.

And, I waited.

After three minutes I was starting to get a bit annoyed. My ring had warned me while the Black Lanterns were still five light seconds away from Earth, and here I am hovering over Oa and no one is paying any attention at all?

"Ring," I said, "could you get their attention, please?"

COMPLIANCE:

Death's Ring issued a single pulse of energy, and that certainly changed things. A dozen beams of green energy blinked into existence focused on me, and more than fifty Green Lantern's rose from the planet's surface to confront me.

oooOOOooo

The green mass of beings massed behind their leader, a huge pink skinned being, with an unmistakable physical presence.

"Ring, identify this being," I directed.

COMPLIANCE:

GREEN LANTERN KILOWOG.

SPECIES: BOLOVAXIAN

UTILIZES A GREEN POWER RING OF OA. WILL BASED CONSTRUCTS.

VULERABILITES: WILL CONSTRUCTS VULERALBLE TO FEAR CONSTRUCTS AND THE COLOR YELLOW, MAGIC.

CURRENT POSITION IN THE GREEN CORPS: HEAD TRAINER FOR NEW RECRUITS

THREAT LEVEL: EXTREMELY MODERATE.

"Hello Lantern Kilowog," I called out when he approached.

My speaking caused him to stop and raise his left arm, bracing it with his right hand at the wrist. "We don't want you Black Lanterns here," he responded. "Leave, now."

"Not a Lantern," I responded, "Black or otherwise. I do have a Power Ring, but no lantern, no central battery. I'm here to request an audience with the Guardians."

"The Guardians don't see no one," Kilowog barked back.

"Yeah," I nodded, "well, see, you don't get to make that decision. I'm here on official business, one corps to another. One of yours is interfering with the performance of my duties, and no matter how nicely I ask, he won't stop. I don't want to have to kill him in order to do my job."

"Like you could kill a Green Lantern," Kilowog sneered.

I cast an image of the Green Lantern of Earth bound in chains and insensate, in Hannah Abbott's bedroom. "Yeah, I could. Look, could you ask the Guardians if I might have a word?"

oooOOOooo

After a minimal amount of preparation, I was escorted into the huge theater the Guardians of Oa apparently used to interview people. It took a few moments before I realized what it reminded me of.

This was nothing more than a high tech version of Courtroom #10 from the Ministry of Magic. The same high perch for the 'judges' the same pit for the pitiful petitioners to grovel.

All it needed was gas lights, stone walls, and a chair with chains to make me feel all homesick.

"We know who you are, and what you represent," the blue gnome in the center of the dais said in a surprisingly deep voice.

"Excellent," I said agreeably. "Then we can keep this meeting short, I'm sure you're busy beings. Your agent on Earth has taken upon himself, along with some allies to interfere with my efforts. I'm here to ask you to have him to back off out of professional courtesy."

"Earth?" the Guardian in the center asked his fellow to his left.

"Sector 2814," he responded. "What makes you think we would honor a request from you, considering what you represent? We are beyond your master's reach."

I tried not to smile. "Death of the Endless told me that it was likely that I might need to approach you Corps to Corps someday. She also told me of your immortality and laughed."

"Meaning?" the second Guardian asked.

"Meaning that you've mistaken very long lives for immortality." I paused while a protests rippled through the assembled gnomes. "Only the Endless are truly immortal, make peace with that fact, you'll sleep better."

"You speak nonsense," The senior Guardian spat.

"Perhaps," I said with a shrug. "I have been tasked by Death of the Endless with eliminating the Black Lanterns from the universe. Your Lantern 2418 is interfering with that. I am asking you to rein in your agent, should you fail to do so, and he continues to obstruct me, you will need to recruit a new agent."

"Threats?" the second Guardian scoffed.

"A statement of fact," I corrected him. "I have no desire to do this, he is a good man who does good work, and killing him would be a waste of potential. But I will do what I have to do."

The assembled gnomes glowered at me as they discussed their options.

oooOOOooo

Power Rings are, as I've mentioned a time or two before, awesome.

The sheer amount of information that the Ring allows me access to utterly boggles my mind. This access to information is what had me stop on my way back to Earth on a very odd planet. In some ways the civilization it housed was lightyears ahead of anything Earth had even imagined.

In other ways not so much. The marketplace I was searching resembled nothing so much as one of the jumble sales my Aunt Petunia so loved, though this alien society didn't fight over 'bargains' quite as much as the suburban housewives of Little Whinging.

There. A dull grey vegetable spice, unpronounceable by anyone with a human mouth and throat, ground to a fine dust. According to the Ring's AI, a pinch of the spice into a bucket of mop water would produce a drink that would have any human crawling over broken glass for more.

The negotiations for a small amount of the spice took most of an hour, with the ring guiding me each step of the way through the ritualized offers and insults until the stall holder and I reached an agreement wherein I got four grams of the spice and he got 10 grams of gold.

I then made my way to a dark alley off the bazaar, where I had the ring fold time and space to put me into my flat's kitchen. I had some work to do.

oooOOOooo

Sunday 6 February, 2000

I hovered four feet over the surf looking up and down the beach. I couldn't see anyone, but again, it would be rude to just barge in. So I set off a flare.

The island had been a bear to find. I'd over flown the area an even dozen times before I surrendered to the inevitable and simply closed my eyes and allowed the Ring to bring me in. It was interesting that the air temperature here near the island was in the mid-20s while a few hundred meters away the air was noticeably colder in the mid-teens.

Part of the enchantment that hid the island? Who knew?

At any rate it was a pleasant wait for the island's defenders to arrive.

A pair of sentries showed up on horseback in less than three minutes. An impressive response time, especially when compared with the Greenies. The pair spotted me long before I would have seen them if the Ring hadn't been amplifying my senses. One of the pair, possibly the senior, dismounted and maintained a watch on me from a distance while the other wheeled about on her mount and headed off in the direction from which they had come.

It took perhaps 20 minutes for the response team to arrive. A Phalanx 10 soldiers wide and 8 deep came into view at a full run. The fact that they maintained their formation while running was impressive enough, but when you add that each of them was clad in a modified Hoplite armor, along with the classical round shield, long spear and sword, it really has to be seen to be believed.

Their leader called for a halt when they were one meters from me before detaching herself from the formation to approach me.

"Men are not welcome here," she said in what the Ring identified as Classical Greek. "Leave and do not come back."

"I understand and respect your traditions," I responded. "As you can see, I have not come ashore, Captain. I have come to request an audience with your Queen Hippolyta to discuss the transgressions of her daughter toward me."

Anger flared in the woman's eyes, and her hand gripped the hilt of her sword tighter. "You accuse Princess Diana?"

"With all respect, Captain, not to you," I said, wishing I knew more about the culture of the Amazons. "If the Queen will not see me, I will return to the larger world and deal with the situation as I must. I simply hoped to avoid conflict if at all possible."

"Diana is warrior enough to deal with any man," the Captain sneered.

"Perhaps," I commanded the Ring to project a life sized image of Wonder Woman bound in chains in Hannah's bedroom. "And perhaps not, this is the result of the last time she attacked me unprovoked. I would prefer that there not be another time. Would it be possible for you to send a messenger to the Queen with my request?"

oooOOOooo

The formation had become my 'honor guard' and was escorting me into the island's main city, also called Themyscira. It was fairly obvious that my guard were being used to keep me isolated from the people we encountered on our journey, and that most of them were actively looking for an excuse to kill me.

Evidently, men were something of a rarity, so a fair number of spectators lined the route. I even got a fair number of whistles and catcalls that would have made a dockworker blush.

I just kept my head down and ignored them. No sense giving the guards an excuse to do something that I would have to do something about.

The trek to the palace ended with a multistory climb of stone stairs. The Captain of the Guard kept glancing at me as we ascended. I wondered what it was about until she looked down and an expression of anger washed over her face.

That's when it dawned on me, she had been expecting me to tire on the long climb, due to being a weak male, never realizing that I had yet to set foot on the island, instead I was hovering ten centimeters over the pavement, keeping formation with the guards.

I kept my expression neutral, as laughing at her would probably be a poor choice on my part.

We reached the top of the stairs and entered the palace. I was lead through the halls to a large open patio.

There, seated on a wicker throne, was a woman who appeared to be, at most five years older than Diana of Themyscira. Surely this couldn't be…

"I am Hippolyta," she said. "I am told you wish to speak to me about my daughter."

"Forgive me Majesty," I said, bowing at the waist. "Having met your daughter, I was expecting an older woman."

A smile played at her lips. "You are Harry Potter, are you not?"

"I am, Majesty," I answered, wondering when Diana had updated her on our adventures, also if apparition would be inhibited by the spell hiding the island.

"You dressed my daughter in the clothing of a man," she noted.

"Perhaps it was juvenile, Majesty," I said, "but they started it."

"Perhaps you should explain," Hippolyta commanded.

"I have been tasked by Death to rid the universe of the Black Lanterns."

"We know of the Black Lanterns and their foul ambitions. They laid siege to our island for weeks, at great cost. Many times we found ourselves fighting against our own fallen sisters, possessed by those demon rings." The Queen took on a contemplative expression.

"What Death God do you serve?" the blond woman to Hippolyta's left asked. "Hades?"

"No Death God," I said with a shake of my head. "Death herself."

Hippolyta arched an eyebrow at that before turning to the redheaded woman on her right and whispering a command. As the woman left the patio, the Queen returned her attention to me. "Continue."

"I was alerted to the presence of six Black Lanterns in Metropolis, and responded to deal with them," I said, continuing my explanation. "I found Princess Diana and her allies in battle with them. Perhaps it was rude of me to do so, but I interceded in those fights, disabling the Black Lanterns before they detected my presence."

"How did you 'disable' the Ring bearers?" the Blond asked. "We lost many warriors to them."

"I removed their rings," I explained. "It wouldn't have worked if they had been aware of me, but finding them preoccupied by Princess Diana and her… colleagues, I took advantage of their distraction. Removing a Black Lantern's ring removes the force that traps their soul and animates their body."

"Why are you hovering over the floor?" Hippolyta asked.

When in doubt, I decided, tell the truth. "I wasn't sure if there was some prohibition against men 'setting foot' on Themyscira. In my experience, old curses tend to be somewhat literal, so…" I gestured to my boots not touching anything.

"Stop doing it, it's annoying," the Queen directed. "I have no idea where you would have gotten the idea that you wouldn't be allowed to walk on Themyscira. And sit down, have something to eat and drink. I won't have you returning to the world of Men telling stories of our rudeness to guests."

I lowered myself to the floor, and a chair was put in place behind me. As I sat a goblet was shoved into my hand and a platter of something unrecognizable was offered. I hesitated before sitting.

"I thank you for your forbearance, Majesty," I said. "I must admit to know nothing of your culture, however it is a custom of my culture for a visitor to bring gifts." With a broad gesture, I had the Ring withdraw my gift from its subspace storage. Whatever 'subspace' was it was wonderful for storing food. The tray came out with its contents as hot as they had been when they came out of the oven. "It is but a simple baked good, something called Chocolate Chip Biscuits in my home land."

My offering was regarded with suspicion. One of the seemingly younger immortal women stepped forward and took the tray from my hand. She set the tray on a small table between the Queen and me, before hesitantly picking one of the biscuits up and sniffing the aroma.

"Aglea is my food taster," Hippolyta explained.

"If she suffers any illness from your offering," the blond advisor interjected, "you will not leave this room alive."

"I'm not the best cook in the world," I laughed, "but I'm fairly sure that my biscuits won't make her sick."

The food taster seemed satisfied with the scent. I wondered if the Amazons had ever been exposed to chocolate before. She broke off a small piece of the biscuit off with her fingers and touched it to her tongue.

Aglea's eyes went wide and she shoved the biscuit into her mouth, chewing gleefully while reaching for more with both hands.

Hippolyta regarded the actions of her food taster with amazement before reaching for a biscuit herself.

"They're especially good with cold milk," I said helpfully, while wondering if this was true about goats' milk.

oooOOOooo

My peace offering to the Amazons finished, I climbed to orbital altitude.

I'd always heard that one should be wary of Greeks bearing gifts. These particular Greeks should probably been wary of me.

If I was going to be spending time in space I was going to need to learn to deal with weightlessness without losing my lunch, after all.

So… With the Guardians and Queen of the Amazons behind me, that left only Superman to visit a bit of vengeance on. But where the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman both had a leadership to appeal to, Superman was a survivor of a lost planet… the only survivor is he and his older dimensional counterpart had identical backgrounds.

A thought occurred to me there high over the Atlantic Ocean. On Oa, one of the Kilowog let it slip that Earth's Green Lantern's name was Hal Jordan.

Sure, Superman's real name was Kal-L or something like that, but surely he had a life somewhere where he didn't wear his pants on the outside of his trousers. He had to have a place to live where he could just be one of the lads, maybe a local where he got a beer or two.

"Ring," I said, "can you identify the Justice League Member; Superman?"

QUERY: IS FACIAL RECOGNITION SEARCH ACCEPTABLE? The Ring responded.

Honestly not having the slightest clue what 'facial recognition' might be, I simply shrugged and said, "do it."

I left the Ring to its work, and tried to get hold of my vertigo. It was a slow process, but I was lasting longer between bouts of nausea.

After six minutes, the Ring notified me of what it had found, projecting the images into my eyes.

"Glasses?" I asked myself out loud. "He uses glasses as a disguise?"

oooOOOooo

Monday 7 February, 2000

Death's Cloak obligingly provided me with an outfit of a work shirt, denims and work boots as I approached the house at the end of the unpaved track. This was the home of Martha Kent, 58, Widow of Jonathan Kent who had died three years before, mother of Clark Kent, a new-ish newspaper reporter making a name for himself in Metropolis. Oddly, Kent showed up in Metropolis three months before Superman's first appearance and looked quite a bit like the hero when he took his glasses off and wasn't slouching.

The fact that such a simple disguise worked was boggling my mind.

The door opened before I could knock, revealing a white haired woman with piercing blue eyes.

"You're late, I was wondering when you were going to show up," she said simply. "Follow me."

That was… unexpected. Was this woman Kryptonian as well?

oooOOOooo

"I need you to repair the fence," Martha Kent said, pointing to a stretch of wooden uprights and wire mesh that encircled what appeared to be a pasture. "After you've finished that, paint the barn. The paint and supplies are in the shed. If you need me, I'll be in the house, just knock at the back door."

With that, she turned and strode away in the manner of a woman with too much to do, and too little time to do it. I recognized that walk. Hermione had done it all the time.

I looked back and forth between my assigned chores. Clearly, she had been expecting someone else, but as long as I was here…

The Elder wand appeared in my hand. "Saepes reparo," I chanted. While I watched the old fence put itself back together. The rusted wire deoxidized to a shining silver, the wood regrew the portions that had splintered off over the years.

I then turned my attention to the barn. The structure needed much, much, more than a simple repainting. Painting it would be little more than putting a bow on a Blast Ended Skrewt. What the hell was wrong with Superman to allow his family's farm to get to this state?

"Faenile reparo," took care of the structure, and I added "tectum reparo," for good measure. It's always hilarious to see the magic dealing with materials that did not exist when the spell was created, such as the asphalt shingles that the tectum was repairing, but the most important part of any spell is the intent.

Say what you will, but I've always had buckets of intent to call upon when needed. Precisely what I was trying to do often evaded me, but wanting to do it never did. Fortunately, magic makes allowances for the clueless.

One of the many things that had always infuriated Hermione about magic.

A spell pulled the paint from the shed, and another fully coated the barn and shed in seconds. Then a third caused the two structures to dry in seconds.

Satisfied with the completion of my chores, I turned toward the house to find Martha Kent standing behind me with some sort of paperwork in her hand, her mouth hanging open in shock, and she was staring at me as if I was from another world.

Which, in all fairness, I suppose I was.

oooOOOooo

I got the woman back into her house, sitting at the kitchen table while I searched the pantry for some tea. Only teabags, and old ones at that, but better than nothing.

I found a copper kettle, filled it with water from the sink and tapped it with the Elder Wand to bring it to boiling.

Mrs. Kent had a teapot, so I filled it with the boiling water to allow the bags to seep, speeding the act with a bit of magic, then I set a mug full of tea in front of her.

By this time, the woman had found her voice, "I'm guessing you aren't the extra hand that Chip Tollison sent over to give me a hand."

"No, ma'am, I'm not," I admitted.

"Then you're one of… Clark's friends?"

"Friends might be something of an exaggeration," I smiled.

Her eyes hardened. "Don't think you can just come here and threaten me," she spat. "I may not have powers, but I assure you that…"

"Ma'am," I interrupted, "I'm not a villain, I'm not here to threaten you."

"Oh," she said, an embarrassed blush spreading over her cheeks. "I'd been practicing that speech since the first time Clark put on his uniform."

"I'm not affiliated with Superman or the Justice League," I explained. "That being said, I respect them and know they are doing good work. But I have come into a bit of conflict with them, and their actions are interfering with my work."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're the man in black and silver who intruded on the Justice League's capture of those horrible Black Lanterns."

Her reaction to the Black Lanterns caught my attention. Death had said that for most people, memories of the Black Lantern attacks would fade. Be remembered that they had happened, but the specifics would be lost.

But some people would retain pieces of what happened. Was Martha Kent one of those people? The Ring fed me a high speed version of what this poor woman had gone through, attacked and tortured by a dimensional alternate of her son's girlfriend.

"Do you remember the Black Lantern attack on Earth?" I asked.

"No," she whispered, "not really. They were here, then they were gone. Clark and his friends had a big part in making them go. But I dream about it all the time. Horrible dreams, so much death. So much pain. I know I'm dreaming all through them, but I can't wake up."

"Mrs. Kent, my name is Harry Potter," I said having realized that I hadn't told her my name yet, "and like your son, I'm not from this world."

"That should make me suspicious all on its own," she said, a tiny grin forming at the corners of her mouth. "But then, I saw what you did to the Barn."

"The Black Lanterns attacked my home, and they killed everyone I cared about," I continued. "I am now on a mission to find and end the threat of the Black Lanterns so that what happened to my world doesn't happen anywhere else. I have this," I paused to allow Death's Ring to become visible. Upon seeing the Ring, Martha Kent gasped.

"Parts of my Ring used to be a Black Lantern Ring. It was made so that I could destroy them. That's what happened when I faced off against the League. The Black Lanterns themselves are dead, their bodies are animated by the Rings, and their souls are bound to that form as a type of torture. I remove and destroy the rings, which allows the bodies to fall and the souls to be released to their next great adventure."

"The Justice league saw the Lantern's fall lifeless and believed that I had killed them."

"But you didn't?" Martha asked.

"I did not," I assured her. "I am no angel, Mrs. Kent, before all of this, before the Black Lanterns, I fought in a war. I have killed, but I haven't killed any Black Lanterns. I simply removed their Rings and release them."

"So, the source of our conflict is the Justice League's belief that I murdered people," I continued. "By now they've determined that the Black Lanterns have been dead for a while, but they are still after me. Friday night, your son and two of his fellow Justice League members intruded on me while on a date with my new girlfriend."

No sense mentioning two women, I decided.

"A date?" She asked with a sly smile. "What they did made you angry enough to tattle to Clark's mother. They caught you in bed, didn't they?"

"uh…" I paused flabbergasted that she had seen through me.

"You youngsters all seem to think you invented sex," she laughed. "You didn't and nothing you could have been doing was new, not even if you had someone else in bed with the pair of you." Then she saw the look on my face. "You did!"

"With Princess Diana, I appealed to her Queen, Hippolyta, with the Green Lantern, I appealed to the leaders of his Corps. For Superman, I had no choice but to come to you, as he doesn't work for anyone."

"After the way you fixed up the Barn, I'll talk to him for you Harry," Martha nodded.

"I fixed the fence too," I noted.

"For that, I'm fixing you dinner," she said. "Unless you'd prefer money."

"Dinner is good," I nodded. "Mrs. Kent, I might be able to make those dreams stop…"

oooOOOooo

~ interlude ~

Wednesday 9 February, 2000

The Batman glowered across the table. "Where are they?"

"Not a clue," The Flash responded. "I stopped by Ferris Air on my way to the teleporter to remind Hal as usual, but he wasn't there."

"Hmm," Wayne grunted.

"There is no sign of Hal's transponder anywhere on Earth," Victor Stone interjected. "That is hardly unusual for him, and usually means he was called off planet for his Corps duties. Diana is also not showing up anywhere on the planet, which is also not unusual. It means she's gone home, which is shielded from all of my scans. Clark is on Earth, specifically, in Kansas. Not sure why."

The room flooded with green light and Hal Jordan appeared before the conference table and slumped into his chair. "What is the meeting about?"

"Bruce wants to talk about Harry Potter again," Aquaman said helpfully.

"Nope," Jordan interrupted, "Potter is officially off limits for the Green Lantern Corps."

"If he is committing crimes…" Batman said.

"Off. Limits." Jordan emphasized. "The Guardians were very specific. He could be killing everyone in an entire sector of space and we would avoid him. He isn't killing anyone, so just ignore him."

Wayne's eyes narrowed behind his cowl, "How did he get to you?"

"He didn't get to me," Jordan protested. "He went to Oa, and he spoke with the Guardians of the Universe, my bosses. My bosses told me to stay away from him. He frightened the Guardians of the Universe. That should tell you everything you need to know."

Whatever response the Batman had for that was derailed by Wonder Woman storming into the conference room. Glowering at the men in the room, she set her sword on the table before taking her seat.

"Do not start with me. I have had a most difficult meeting with my mother," she snarled.

"Hal came in in a mood over his Leader's reaction to the two of you and Superman confronting Harry Potter," Barry noted. "Did he…"

"He informed my mother of my actions," she admitted. "I do not know how he found Themyscira, but he did. He appeared on our coast, signaled for the sentries, requested an audience with my mother, and plied her with baked confections and tales of my defeat at the hands of his…" an expression of distaste replaced her anger, "concubines."

"Did these women have Power Rings as well?" Batman asked.

"No," Jordan answered. "My Ring identified what they did as manipulation of quanta via force of will."

"What does that mean?" Barry asked.

"Magic," Arthur supplied helpfully. "Harry has the ability to do magic as well. Vulko commented on it when Harry assisted him in the foundry. It only makes sense that he would have friends with similar abilities."

"What does Potter's meeting with your mother mean for you, Diana?" Victor asked, trying to get the discussion off the topic of magic, a concept he was intensely uncomfortable with.

"By my mother's decree, I am to aid him in any way that I can. If it will get the recipe for his 'chocolate chip biscuits' I am to offer him my body," a look of distaste washed over her features. "I am not to interfere in his hunting and destruction of the Black Lanterns, nor am I to allow any of you to do so. Further, if the opportunity presents itself, I am to invite Harry Potter to visit Hades in the Underworld, as Hades is a big fan of Potter's supposed patron."

"A chocolate chip biscuit recipe?" The Flash asked incredulously. "That sounds horrible."

"Potter is English," Batman growled. "What the English call biscuits, we call cookies."

Barry Allen reached for his iced tea, "Oh, well, that makes sense. Must be good cookies."

Everyone's attention focused on the door when Superman entered.

"You're late," the Batman barked.

"Bite me," the Kryptonian responded uncharacteristically. "I had to finish my chores before I could come out."

Several seconds of silence filled the conference room before Victor Stone spoke. "Okay, we know what Potter did to Hal and Diana, what did he do to you?"

"He told my mother on me!" Superman thundered. "I'm grounded."

"Clark," Batman said, in what was for him, a gentle tone, "You are a grown man. You can't be grounded."

"Tell that to my mother," Kent seethed. "I can go to work, I can do my nightly patrols, I can respond to emergencies or come to meetings as long as my chores are done. I'm grounded for a month. And God help me if I bother Harry Potter again."

Aquaman found all of this to be hilarious, "I am so glad I accepted his offer of making a deal," he gasped out between bouts of laughing. "I can't imagine what might have happened if he got angry at me."

"What bothers me is the ease in which he defanged all three of you," the Batman noted. "Our three heaviest hitters out of the picture, he's got to be thinking that we can't touch him."

"This has to be a new kind of evil," Victor suggested. "On the face of it, it's the actions of a kid out to get even, but…"

"Don't any of you understand?" Jordan asked. "Harry Potter cannot possibly be evil."

"Why not?" Barry asked.

"He was in a three-some," Hal explained. "Only the most pure of heart and character could ever obtain that holy status."

"Those women where enthralled," Diana protested.

"No!" Hall disagreed. "You didn't see them, they weren't possessed. You didn't see their eyes, they were pissed when we showed up in their bedroom. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the whole thing was their idea, and Potter was just along for the ride, so to speak."

"Hal," Barry sighed, "did you actually graduate from college, or did you spend all your time at your Frat Parties?"

"Enough," the Batman said, pinching the bridge of his nose through his mask. "So far, the only time Potter has reacted has been in relation to Black Lantern attacks. Everyone keep on your toes, and report if you hear from him."

Superman stood up and headed for the door.

"Stop, Kal-el." Diana called.

The hero stopped before he reached the door, "Yes, Diana?"

"You exhibited a weakness when facing off against Potter, one that disabled you long enough that he could put you out of the fight without much effort."

Superman blushed. "I was caught by surprise," he said.

"Potter was right about one thing," Wonder Woman noted. "If your enemies learn of this weakness, they will exploit it."

"He said that?" Clark asked.

"He did, which is why you and I are going to spar," Diana confirmed.

"How will that help?"

"We will be sparring in the way of the Amazons," Diana confided. "Nude."

"We are not!" Superman shouted, attracting the attention of the rest of the League.

"We will, until you overcome this weakness," Diana concluded, dragging him out of the room, toward the combat area.

It took almost a minute before Hal Jordan spoke. "I don't suppose anyone wants to…"

"I wouldn't," the Batman said. "Knowing Diana, anyone who comes down to spectate will likely find themselves naked and participating."

"Oh," Jordan said, deflating a bit.

Barry pushed Hal in the direction of the teleporters with a chuckling Victor Stone following them.

"Say, Bruce," Arthur asked once the two of them were alone. "this place is rigged with security cameras, isn't it?"

"Of course," the Batman affirmed.

"Will you be reviewing the video feed?"

"I believe I will," Wayne admitted.

"I knew it," Arthur laughed, "you're as bad as Hal."

"Arthur," Wayne sighed as the entire wall lit up, showing itself to be a massive display, "I am a multibillionaire, I've seen naked women before, even women almost as impressive as Diana. To maintain my cover, I've even had a few of Hal's mythical threesomes. What I haven't seen, is Clark getting his invulnerable ass handed to him."

On the screen Diana slammed Clark into a heavily reinforced wall face first, hard enough to overload the inertial dampeners and cause the entire watchtower to shake.

"That," Bruce said happily, "is going to be my Christmas card this year."

"Does this place have any popcorn?" Arthur asked.

oooOOOooo