Harry Potter: Last Son of Krypton (HP/Superman crossover)

By hgseeker

A/N: This is very AU in a lot of ways, but there are still sufficient similarities between the two characters, so I thought I would try to do a fic where Harry wasn't James and Lily's natural child; instead, he was adopted by them after being shot from exploding Krypton by his biological father, the great Kryptonian scientist (and yes, wizard too, in this case), Jor-El. In this case, his biological mother Lara was also a witch … and the name of the Galaxy he comes from is pure speculation.

Young, married Aurors James and Lily Potter go for a walk in the woods near their Godric's Hollow home one autumn day in 1979 and find the child in the woods in a patch of deep grass a short distance from the broken-open miniature starship (which also turns out to be a birthing matrix) in which he was transported to Earth. They even find a note from Harry's biological parents, imploring them to take in their child and raise him as if he were their own, and thereby hangs the tale. Of course, he is raised as their natural child; it is purely by accident that they discover his wizard powers since they are not mentioned in the hastily written note. But this is only the first of many strange discoveries James and Lily will discover about their new child in the course of their lives together.

PROLOGUE: OCTOBER 1979

It was a beautiful, warm day in the fall of 1979 in the small wizarding village of Godric's Hollow in the country of England on planet Earth, when a young married couple who desperately wanted a child but were seemingly unable to have one decided to take a walk in the woods near their home. Their names were James and Lily Potter—a wizard and witch respectively. Both were in their early twenties, age-wise, but their suffering the last six months after having already lost a child to miscarriage after three months' gestation had matured them greatly.

They had been trying mightily to conceive again but had had no success so far, even beginning to think that they weren't meant to have children. What was tragic was that both of them loved children and doted upon those whom they met; under happier circumstances, they would have made wonderful parents. But both wanted to exhaust all other options before going for their absolute last resort: adoption. Their minds, however, as well as their lives, were about to change drastically … and for the betterment of all concerned.

It was Lily with her frustrated mother's instinct who heard the soft cry not too far away from them, a short distance into the forest. But how could a child possibly be there? Had it been abandoned, or had something happened to the parents? She intended to find out. If it was the latter, well … As the old Muggle saying went, "Finders keepers, losers weepers." Being Muggle-born, it was natural for her to have heard it, and in this instance, decide to live by it, if it meant that she and James would have the child they longed for, naturally or not.

By this time, James had heard the saying as well, certain he was hearing things until he heard the persistent cry, like that of a newborn kneazle kit, a short distance away. He followed his wife toward the sound. Within ten minutes they discovered a half-melted crystalline object about three feet in diameter, the child a short distance away from it to their left, still wrapped in several colourful blankets … blue, yellow and red. James also spotted an intact green crystal about eighteen inches long next to his right foot and grabbed it, pocketing it even as Lily turned toward the squirming, crying bundle. (As it turned out, it was a good thing he did, but it would be years in the future before he would know this.)

"Oh, James, come look!" Lily exclaimed. He turned his head to find her with the child in her arms. "It's a baby boy!" He joined her a minute later, marveling at the perfection of the tiny face and the shock of black hair, along with the huge blue eyes. But he was most surprised when the baby reached for his nearest hand and latched onto his right index finger with a death grip, wailing loudly if he tried to extricate it. "He doesn't seem to want to let go," Lily observed with a knowing smile.

"So it would seem," James returned with a smile of his own, unable to help feeling a mixture of love and compassion for the lost child. "Unfortunately, I need my finger back." With that, he reluctantly (and with considerable difficulty) extricated his finger, prompting another loud wail from the child. "Sorry, mate, but I need my finger." Privately, he couldn't help thinking that the child was extraordinarily strong for his age, but decided to keep it to himself for the time being.

Lily buried the child's face in her shoulder, rubbing his back and crooning soothing words to him. In a short time, the baby quieted and eventually fell asleep in her arms. When she shifted him, they heard a rustle of paper from within the blankets. James carefully felt for it, finally extricating a single sheet, upon which was written the following in a hasty scrawl, but impeccable English:

To Whomever Finds This Child…

My wife and I will soon die, and wish our child to live. If you are able, please take him and raise him as your own. Otherwise, please take him to the proper authorities in your area and see that he is placed in the best home possible. Thank you in advance.

Jor-El
Elder, Krypton Council and Scientist
Planet Krypton
Kennesaurus Galaxy

James and Lily looked at each other incredulously. "Planet Krypton? Does that mean that this child is not of Earth?" she finally remarked, giving her husband a long, level look.

It was an incredible thought to them both, but even though both believed in life on other worlds, neither imagined they would ever be required to care for such life … and at least in this case, this life looked to be quite humanoid. Properly raised and disguised, the child could easily pass for their own.

"It must be, Lil. It would seem that our beliefs of extraterrestrial life have been confirmed. No ordinary child could survive the crash of any kind of transport, you know, and this plucky little bloke doesn't have a scratch on him. Probably the only thing wrong with him is that he's hungry and needs his nappy changed." A glint of sunlight bounced off the crystalline object nearby and James caught it out of the corner of his eye. "It might be a good idea to take this, too." He got out his wand and pointed it at the object. "Locomotor crystal object." It rose in the air; he carried it back to their home a short distance in front of him while the child slept contentedly in Lily's arms. Upon arrival, they carefully hid the crystalline object in their attic under an Invisibility Charm for the time being.

It was fortunate that they had not gone beyond the wards in the forest, which extended for a mile in each direction around their home for maximum safety. The child and what he had been transported in had lain a short distance within the boundary, which had enabled James and Lily to retrieve him, but knowing his wife as he did, James was certain that nothing would have stopped her from retrieving a child in need, even if it meant risking her life. Both of them were risking enough just being Aurors and being under the Fidelius Charm in order to keep Voldemort from finding them.

Now they had to make plans for this unexpected, but at the same time, most welcome addition to their lives. At the time, no one except Sirius and Remus, both Secret-Keepers, had seen them for months—almost a year, in fact—just a short time after they'd gotten married … so if they planned it carefully, they could make it seem as though the child were born to them naturally. He looked to be no more than six months old, but measurements of extraterrestrial ages could be considerably different from Earth measurements, so they really had no idea of his true age.

But no matter. What was most important was that they now had a child, even if he weren't theirs—at least not technically. However, if they played their cards right, everyone would think he was by the time they were finished. Lily had even decided that she would change the child's eye colour to match hers and his features slightly so that he resembled James as a child, which would make their story all the more credible. However, that was the most she could do with permanent Disguising Charms. But with luck, that would be all the alteration they needed. For now, they had to settle down in their new lives.