The Truth is Out There

By schizophrenic genius

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to Joan Kathleen Rowling. I don't own Smallville. It belongs to Millar and Gough. And all of them partly belong to Warner Brothers. But none belong to me. Also, the Urban Legend story comes from the Smallville Legder website.

Author's Note: After a lot of deliberation, I put the gang back in Hogwarts. Ideas for making them hunt Horcruxes all year without a break are quickly sapping out, while creative juices for your standard story in Hogwarts are flowing in. I know that I spent a lot of time debating on whether they stay at school or not, so I'm making a mixture between the two. They'll still be "soul-searching," though, so I guess that they won't be stuck in Hogwarts for the rest of the year. But anyway, as per routine, I would like to thank my reviewers, and I hope that you review even more. So SORRY about the long wait, I have a MAJOR writer's block, plus a graduating student's workload.

Chapter 11

Defense and Offense

Hermione's heels clip-clopped across the marble corridors of Hogwarts. She bit her lip, thinking of what to make of the green rock in her hands. Its eerie glow disappeared as soon as she left close proximity to the hospital wing, where Clark and Harry were, but why? Whatever the properties of the meteorite, it was affecting the two boys badly. She had to do something about it. They were not cooperating in helping her solve the mystery so that she could help, and were obviously keeping a secret. This made her even more determined to find out what was it with the cousins and the meteor rocks. Her feet brought her, not to the Common Room, as she had promised, but to the familiar library. She navigated her way like an expert, finally reaching the archives, looking for anything relevant. It was a good thing that Hogwarts decided to put in some Muggle resources a few years ago. She found a rather old issue of Time Magazine, depicting a pretty dark-haired young girl in a fairy princess costume, crying as fire raged around her. She read the article.

Fire from the Heavens to Smallville

Little had the citizens of Smallville, Kansas known that their lives would have turned very different an hour before that fateful meteor shower. Death was everywhere. Many people have disappeared and a lot were injured. Mr. and Mrs. Lang were killed when a huge meteorite hit their car, with them right beside it. In their death, they have left young Lana Lang, a young girl merely pretending to be a fairy princess as she played, to the care of her Aunt Nell. That was not the only tragedy. Young Alexander Luthor, a little older than Lana Lang, was hit by a meteorite in the cornfield while his father, Lionel Luthor, transacted with one of the farmers. For some mysterious reason, he was found completely bald afterwards. Jonathan and Martha Kent, owners of one of the farms, were lucky; their truck was turned over, and yet they survived unscathed, unlike hundreds of others. The water supply and electric lines of the town has also been hit. Granville and Metropolis have pledged money to help make repairs and give supplies to refugees.

Hermione sighed. The meteor shower was worse than she thought. She had heard stories from Clark, but seeing the expression on Lana's face made her heart clench. She heard Clark mention her a few times, as well as Lex, Chloe, Pete and Lois. She picked up another newspaper, this one named the Smallville Ledger.

Urban Legend: Faster Than a Speeding Bullet?

By Max Taylor
The Daily Planet

In this and future issues, we will reprint four of the famous "Urban Legend" articles that appeared in Metropolis' Daily Planet this summer.

Kyle Anderson likes to spend his summer afternoons perfecting his rail slides on the steps in front of the downtown branch of the Bank of Metropolis. His days are usually full of varying degrees of excitement as he and his buddies dodge rent-a-cops and MPD mounted policemen. But last Saturday afternoon, Kyle got a glimpse of something a little more eye-opening than a police filly's hoof inches from his backside. He says he saw a "dude in a ski mask" rob an ATM (Automated Teller Machine). If you are playing along this summer, then you know Kyle got a glimpse of the Urban Legend.

"I never saw anything like it," says Kyle, who looks like he's observed quite a few things that are undoubtedly "rad," "dope" and/or "sweet" in his short lifetime. "He just walked up to the ATM and punched his fist right through it. He must have grabbed five grand. One second he's there, the next he's gone." When prompted, Kyle elaborated, "He just vanished. Dude took off faster than a speeding bullet, yo."

As our red-hot summer presses on, few things around town have been more captivating than the almost daily exploits of the Urban Legend. The sightings continue to pour in, and skeptics are slowly being converted to believers.

I, for one, am reserving judgment. Is the world ready for--dare I say it--a super man? If all this is real, we as a human race must be ready to embrace the possibility of a paradigm shift in our conventional thinking. In the times of the gods, was the common man so stunned when he saw Hercules or Zeus? It's a question to ponder as we brace ourselves for what this new millennium has to offer.

As she continued reading more articles, Hermione was becoming increasingly stunned. It was not everyday that you find out such shocking things in the Muggle world, especially in a reclusive town like Smallville. Did these strange things have something to do with Clark? He came from Smallville, anyway. There were too many weird things that happened in Smallville and Metropolis that involved him in one way or another. Dozens of eyewitness accounts saw him at the scene of many crimes, news articles portrayed him showing up along with something strange, and reporters often sing about his heroics, along with his friends. Obviously, this was something the Muggles would call paranormal, and wizards would call magic. And with all the strange reports, Clark was obviously using his magic to maybe help, harm or probably show off. Hermione sincerely hoped it was the first. Still, some things did not make sense. It did not explain how he and Harry would always get sick at the sight of meteor rocks. It did not explain how Clark came out of nowhere and he and Harry were suddenly closer than brothers. Nor did it explain the thief Urban Legend that was in Metropolis, nor the strange burnt symbol on the Kent barn. Wizards had more discreet ways to get what they want. And now, Harry and Clark are constantly lying. Hermione knew that if there was one thing her best friends were incapable of, it was lying, and that included Ron as well. But what are they lying about? Why would Clark keep secrets such as saving people, when he did good things with his magic? So many questions…

The time came when Hermione spent the entire afternoon in the library. Ron poked his head in. "I knew I'd find you here. Have you been here for the past five hours? You should eat. Everyone's looking for you at dinner." His expression quickly turned from anxiety to relief.

Hermione smiled. She was touched by Ron's worry. "I didn't know I was in there for that long. Just let me put these articles back." She finally got out of the library, but her mind was working furiously. They reached the Great Hall without much event.

"Where have you been, Hermione? Dinner started an hour ago!" Ginny asked.

"Just the library, Ginny. You know me. It's nothing to worry about."

"Are you okay, Hermione? You look like something's bothering you," Harry asked. He was still not on the best terms with Ginny, so he took a seat beside Ron, avoiding eye contact with his girlfriend.

"Oh, there's just this question in Arithmancy that I can't figure out…" Hermione effectively replied. Her face obviously was subconsciously portraying her puzzlement. They immediately dropped it. Hermione glanced at Clark, who was previously talking to Neville about Herbology. She caught his eye, and he returned her gaze evenly. She wondered what Clark's secret was. Whatever it is, he was hiding it well. Clark then dropped his gaze, pretending that nothing was wrong with the look Hermione gave him. It was unnerving. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought Hermione was using Legimency, if not for her well-known perceptiveness.

Out of nowhere, Professor McGonagall went to their table. She peered at them through her spectacles then she smiled. "I am glad to see you all here, Mr. Kent, Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley. But I would like to inform you that you would all have a lot of catching up to do. These," she said, laying down a big bunch of paper, "are assignments given to you by your teachers. We discussed it last night and decided that it would be fair for the rest of the students if you do extra work in compensation for the past month's absences." It was composed of a load of essays and term papers. Harry and Ron groaned, but Hermione looked at them sternly. Just like old times. It was too bad that there were some issues between the members of the group that still needed to be resolved.

The following day was the same as the previous night. Harry avoided Ginny, and Ginny ignored Harry as if they did not realize each other's presences. Ginny still felt hurt about Harry's lack of openness, while Harry avoided Ginny because he knew it was his fault that he wasn't telling her his secret and that Ginny would still be mad at him, even if he didn't know how to rectify that fault. Clark still noticed Hermione looking at him and Harry rather oddly. She was biting her lip in deep thought with a look in her eyes as if they were a puzzle she had to solve and she was in the midst of trying to solve it. Ron was confused at the behavior of his friends. When he asked what was up with them, they all said nothing.

To keep himself occupied, rather than dwelling on his argument with Ginny, Harry decided to immerse himself in work. It was easier to go around not having to think of the things he said or not said to Ginny. So he read his books, practiced his spells and memorized his potions. It was easy for him to memorize, he found, since once he read a page for about ten seconds, it would stick to his mind forever. He never had to take notes ever again. He found himself wishing he came to his powers earlier. He could have used this photographic memory to get all Outstandings in his O.W.L.s. Still, it was useful in the Charms written quiz that Professor Flitwick gave them in the afternoon. When it came to Tonks and Remus, however, his photographic memory was not much help. Everything was nearly practical. But his inhuman strength and speed took over in that department, he quickly realized, as he entered their classes.

In Tonks' class, everyone filed in as per routine. Harry noticed that the desks, instead of being aligned in the center of the classroom, were lined alongside the walls, giving space to the magically enlarged center. The center seemed to have been sunken into some sort of arena, but with padding along the walls and emergency exits. Harry felt his excitement increase. Just then, Tonks marched into the unusual classroom amongst the students, who all had their wands out. A good sign.

"Good morning, class," Tonks hollered.

"Good morning, Professor Tonks," the class recited perfectly, especially after all that practice with Umbridge and Snape.

"As most of you know, we have some old students who will join us today, namely Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Clark, whom I have yet to meet," Tonks announced. "But, given our Trio's… track record, I'm sure you four will all catch up just fine." Tonks winked at Harry discreetly.

"Now, who can tell me what our lesson was yesterday?"

Hands were reluctantly raised. To Harry's pleasant surprise, Neville's hand was among them.

"Yes, Neville?" Tonks asked, smiling jovially.

"Er, we were starting on Chapter Three: Creative Offense. Last time, we were in part 3.1, Manipulating the Opponent," Neville said a little timidly.

"Good. Five points to Gryffindor. Manipulating the opponent can sometimes be simple such that everyone can do it. There are many ways. You can talk and humor him to buy more time to escape. You can insult the person so much say for example, about his pockmarked face being mistaken as a beehive." The class laughed. "It makes his judgment clouded. Another way it so get the villain to monologue about how he will reign in your death, about how powerful he is, how inevitable your defeat is, or how there is no way you can escape your fate. You usually get those from the moronic, amateur Death Eaters. It puts them off guard. However, most Death Eaters don't fall for that anymore. And most unfortunately, neither will You-Know-Who." At this, Tonks sighed. She continued, "This is where the complexities come along." She looked around the class. Everyone was listening with rapt attention, especially Hermione, who was staring unblinkingly at her.

"This is where battle strategy comes in. Think of it as a chess game. You have to protect the king. You have pawns, that while may be disposable, can become a queen if they cross the board. You have the knights. They alone can move in an L, giving them an advantage. You have the queen, the most powerful of them all, usually the one to defeat the opponent's king." Tonks glanced at Harry. "You need to set up distractions to the opponent, making sure to let the opponent know the danger only when he or she is unable to escape. Turn your pawns into queens, your weaknesses into your strengths. Do not let the opponent see any loopholes. Make sure that you can see the outcomes of you every move and your opponent's every move. And most of all, make sure you own the white pieces, the offensive side, the fighting side. To be honest, this class should be called Offense Against the Dark Arts. After all, the best defense is a good offense, isn't it? Not the other way around," Once again, Tonks paused. Harry observed and appreciated her teaching style. She obviously knew what she was talking about. "Now, I want you to give out suggestions on how to defend this school and possibly fight if worse comes to worst. You will make yourselves your own battle strategies for Hogwarts. You all know what happened last year. You should make yourselves ready, especially with the recent death of our former Headmaster. This will be our project for the year. We shall combine your ideas, then assign committees to set them up. Think of it as a way to set up your own curriculum."

Clark was reminded heavily of Lex. If there was anything his former friendship with Lex taught him, it was that life was a big game of chess. He recalled the set his father, Lionel gave him, depicting that of the battle of Troy. It was supposed to make him see the battle from all angles, and discover what would be the wooden horse that the Trojans unknowingly let in.

Neville raised his hand. "Maybe we could get training, learn both defensive and offensive spells in a dueling and group situation."

Tonks smiled and wrote it on the board with a flick of her wand. "I was hoping you'd say that, because that is the main part of what I intend to teach you."

Ernie Macmillan raised his hand and stood pompously. "I would like to propose a dueling tournament, so that we can all have a good initiative to train. Also, the winner is exempted from the finals." People cheered at his proposal, and he bowed portentously. Tonks bit her lip to keep from laughing as she wrote it down.

"Let us separate ourselves according to specialty. Say for example, in a battle, those who can fly attack airborne, those efficient in healing help out Madame Pomfrey, those competent at casting offensive spells be on the ground, fighting the Death Eaters, while others protect the younger years and a few go off to fight You – I mean, V-Voldemort," Ron blurt out. The class was silent, a few shivered, but Hermione looked at him proudly as he blushed.

"I understand. Hogwarts is the safest place to be, and we must all do our utmost to defend it, even if it means danger, for if we don't, things could only get worse," Tonks said, "but you must also remember, you have the teachers here alongside you, possibly the Ministry, and you are not alone in defending yourselves. Please, before rushing into anything, tell us, and we will do our best to help. Now, is there anything else you might like to add? How about you, Harry?"

"I think that we should also add more wards to the school. I know from experience that once a wizard dies, his enchantments go with him. We could set up magical barricades, anti-portkey wards, anti-floo wards, booby traps, and… the destruction of all kinds of vanishing cabinets," Harry answered. "We could ask Fred and George to set up the booby traps for us," he added as an afterthought.

"Excellent idea, Harry. I can only imagine Fred and George at work. How about you, Clark? I would like to hear your opinion."

"Um, Voldemort," Clark began, everyone flinching, "thinks that Muggles are below him, right? What if we use this to our advantage, and employ Muggle means of fighting. Maybe not nuclear bombs, but a less violent means like hand-to-hand combat, tranquilizer darts, poison gas, and other things."

Tonks grinned at this. "Wonderful suggestion, Clark. Turning the underestimated pawn into a queen. I would also like to point out that as much as I would like to see those idiots called Death Eaters in hell, our objective is to hand them over to the authorities, except maybe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, whom we all know will escape and wreak havoc once again. Now, I would like to start with Neville's suggestion, the main course of the subject. Now, in a group fight, you possess many advantages such as teamwork, a greater amount of muscle, as well as more brains. I'll leave you to group yourselves in any way you want, as long as you will end up in groups of four."

Automatically, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Clark grouped together. They needed all the practice they could get to work as a team.

"Alright," said Ron, "when we fight against the other group – no doubt the Slytherins – we pair off into duels. It's a pity, really, since Malfoy's gone. It would have been fantastic to see Harry beat him to a pulp…"

"I'm sure it is, Ron, but we'd better get to the task at hand," Hermione cut off, as he saw Ron and Harry starting to daydream.

"Er… right. So, any ideas?" Ron asked the group.

"How about surrounding them – Napoleon style," one of them replied. More ideas came to mind, and eventually, everyone in the class was ready.

As predicted, Tonks automatically paired the Gryffindors with the Slytherins, figuring that they would fight their best when faced with their rivals.

Hermione faced off with Millicent Bulstrode, who thought that the girl would be easy with her petite frame. Harry though, thought that Bulstrode would need all the luck she could get in surviving against the most intelligent girl in their year, knowing thrice the amount of spells the Slytherin knew. Pansy Parkinson was eyeing Ron with an expression mingled with dislike and taunting. Ron returned it with a withering glare in her direction, his hand already in his robe, itching to hex her. Blaise Zabini walked over to Harry, his expression unreadable. Clark was left to duel with Theodore Nott. It was a real pity Malfoy wasn't there. Then again, this lot should be relatively easy to handle.

Tonks quickly explained the rules of the game. "Alright, for one team to win, all of the members of the other team must have become unconscious, helpless, disarmed or have surrendered. There will be no illegal spells or mortal injuries. Neither will there be the harming of the students who are not in the duel. Deliberately doing so will cause you, detention, suspension or maybe even expulsion. Also, you are allowed to use any means necessary, and that includes physical contact. In a real-life situation, there are no rules, simply survival, so all the talents you have will be useful, maybe even potions and other items. Now, position yourselves and bow. Begin on the count of three – one… two… three!"

Spells ricocheted in all directions. Millicent Bulstrode sent a stunner in Hermione's direction, which she blocked effectively. She retaliated with a non-verbal Binding Charm. The larger girl ducked to avoid it and yelled, "Incendio!" It narrowly missed Hermione and brushed Ron's leg.

"Hey! I'm dueling Parkinson here!" he yelled at Bulstrode.

Hermione, still focused on her opponent, muttered to Ron behind her, "Sorry, Ron. I'll make sure she's toast for you," as she smiled and fought alongside Ron back-to-back. Hermione didn't see Ron's blushing face, which quickly took a determined expression as he sent a tripping jinx over to Pansy. The result was that she disgracefully skidded across the floor as the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sniggered.

Harry glanced over Ron and Hermione's direction and smiled. It was so obvious that they had feelings for each other. He only wished everything was going as well with him and Ginny. However, there was no time for those thoughts as Blaise yelled two spells in quick succession. One was a stunner and the other was a stinging hex. Harry had no time to block it as he was sending his own Reductor curse. Instead, he sidestepped them, hoping to regulate his speed to normal. In doing so, he received the brush of the stinging hex, and while it had some effect, it was only a pinprick. Blaise looked impressed, instead of shocked, Harry noted thankfully as he recovered. He silently said in his head Serpensortia. A huge green snake, its fangs bared, slithering on the floor, materialized. "Scare him," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. The snake proceeded to crawl up Zabini's left leg. His eyes were wide with horror as he tried to pry off the snake, leaving him open to Harry's simple Petrificus Totalus.

The other side of the room found Theodore Nott, who, while rather small for his age, was pretty good at dueling than he let on. He let out an indigo-colored spell that Clark couldn't identify. He ducked quickly, though not at his quickest, as the spell hit the wall. The wall immediately melted as if corroded by acid, though it also singed his hair. With a slight expression of surprise on his face, Clark whispered, "Reducio!" It was a harmless spell, but shrinking to Smurf size was not exactly desirable. Nott flailed as he found himself falling without his feet leaving the ground, everything else becoming taller and humungous. Clark picked him up gently and put it on one of the desks. He looked at everyone else. Harry was helping Hermione and Ron fight Pansy and Millicent, putting a Tickling charm behind the enormous girl, making her stay in the same place and become an easy target.

Hermione nodded gratefully unleashed a multitude of spells mercilessly. "Tarantallegra! Densaugeo! Furnunculus!" Then she rounded on the girl and with a complex wand movement and pop! On the floor where Millicent used to be was now a guinea pig. She winked at Ron and muttered another spell, and soon enough, the small, furry guinea pig was flying in circles, sometimes bouncing off the walls.

Harry laughed at the recreated scene where the fake Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him up and down the hallways. It was a mistake, for the moment he was off-guard, Blaise was now on his feet, ready to punch Harry from behind. When he did, he yelled and caught the attention of everyone around them. His hand started to swell, and Harry, in a panic, sent him a stunner. He fell backwards over poor Pansy who was nursing her bleeding knee and overly long green hair. In seconds, Ron was towering over the two of them, his wand poised, while his teammates joined him.

"Congratulations, Ron, Hermione, Clark, Harry! Wonderful job!" Tonks said, smiling all the while. "Just a question, how did you manage to stay unhurt when Mr. Zabini punched you?"

Harry cursed inwardly. Clark fidgeted. Apparently, Zabini's pain when he punched Harry was obvious to the spectators. To his surprise, Hermione spoke up.

"Oh, it was just this Strengthening Solution, professor. We brewed too much of it for Potions homework and thought it could be useful," she said flawlessly as she glanced at the two brothers. All the boys turned to her in barely concealed shock, Ron being the most obvious. She elbowed Ron discreetly, saying to the professor, "I hope it's alright. I mean, you did say it was okay to use potions." From her pocket, she produced a small vial full of deep blue liquid labeled STRENGTHENING SOLUTION.

"Of course it's alright. It's a very good sign of your presence of mind too. Ten points to Gryffindor, then!" Tonks replied good-naturedly.

"How come you never gave me any Strengthening Solution, Hermione?" Ron demanded.

"It only occurred to us to drink it when we were already dueling, Ron! Didn't you see us?" Hermione defended. Harry heard her heartbeat increase to an irregular rhythm. She was lying, on their behalf. His own heartbeat sped up, knowing that Hermione had some idea that they weren't, well, normal. How did she know?

"But you could have at least – oh, alright. Maybe you couldn't have given it in the middle of the fight," Ron admitted. Hermione smiled at Ron's rare show of consideration and understanding. Ron smiled tentatively back. Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class, and the beginning of lunch break. Ron immediately set off into the Great Hall. Hermione was about to follow him, but Harry held her back.

"Hermione, we need to talk," Clark said.

"I know," she replied, her face displaying no surprise.