A New Dawn

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Young Justice.

Summary: Harry never asked to be trapped in a new world filled with heroes. And he certainly never asked to be reborn as a clone of a hero. Slash.

Unbeta'd

1

Harry is floating in what feels like nothingness.

There is neither a cool sensation of water nor the warmth of the summer breeze he felt as he left the house this morning. His surroundings are empty, a void that nullifies his senses. He tries to lift his arm as to grab a hold of something, anything before him but he is bound tight by some unknown force. He cannot struggle. So he allows – allows? He does not have a choice – himself to keep floating and hope someone will notice his disappearance.

Harry's mind wanders to how he got here in the first place but there are gaps in his memory. All he knows is that he had a meeting with Kingsley about capturing the remaining Death Eaters that have escaped persecution. After that, his mind draws a blank. It is as if there is a mental block that denies him access to his own memories. Each time Harry feels as if he is grasping closer to how he got here, there is something that shuts him away and forces him to sleep. He soon wakes up not knowing how long he has slept and continues to stare into the darkness of his eyelids.

Harry decides to wait while wishing the emptiness away.

2

He has been hearing voices now.

He doesn't know how long they have been here, but he can hear specs of people talking. Their voices merging in and out of the darkness. Sometimes, if he is lucky, he can hear what they are saying. Today – or was it yesterday? – he can make out one voice in particular.

"…shows no responses…try level five…still no…"

This deep voice belongs to a man who tries to hold no emotion in his tone. At first glance, the voice sounds cool and distant, but the more Harry hears the voice, the more he can hear frustration taking over each syllable. Harry strains his ears to listen further.

"…try again…failure…"

What is a failure? The thought filters through Harry's mind along with many questions but with no voice of his own to ask them.

"Shut it down."

Harry is able to understand those demanding words clearly. A sense of urgency flashes through him. Something at the back of his mind warning him that those words did not carry a good meaning. He doesn't understand the feeling, but it is the only thing he can trust at this moment. Then his world shakes, sending him into utter shock. Harry tries his best to thrash against this new sudden movement, yet nothing is working. He is still bound. He tries to thrash again. He fails once more.

His world is moving and that should have brought him some sense of happiness. Instead, it fills him with fear. Whatever is happening to him is way out of his control and there is nothing he can do about it other than accept his predicament.

So he did.

3

Sounds become sharper as his world continues to move.

He can hear the sounds of squeaky wheels rolling across the floor. This helps Harry to deduce that he is being pushed forward by someone or something. Whatever it was, it certainly did not sound human. He can hear the faint noises of growling, the monotonous beat of large footsteps and its regulated breathing. It is alone - the sounds of the man from earlier is gone. Harry is a little relieved at that. This will give him a chance to escape whatever thing he is confined in. To prepare, Harry begins to reach out to the comforting warmth of his magical core. Thankfully it is still intact but it is a lot smaller then he remembers. It reminds him of the core he had when he was seventeen and fresh into adulthood. Harry is currently twenty-four and his magical core has grown significantly as he aged and gained experience. This worries him. What had happened to deplete his core in such a way? Was he captured by a Death Eater? But that can't be right. There was nothing to his knowledge that could deplete an adult's magical core. Maybe the Death Eaters learnt or created a new spell which rendered him weaker than before? He'll have to hurry up and get out to report to Kingsley.

The thing pushing Harry forward reaches an elevator or what sounds like one. He can hear the sliding doors opening and the noise of the squeaky wheels passing through the opening. With the ping of a button, Harry can feel the elevator lowering as the sensation of his stomach flying upwards fills him with nausea. It takes a while for the elevator to stop. In the meantime, Harry is able to learn more about his surroundings, especially with the help of the elevator's recorded message.

"Welcome to Lex Corporation," a woman says in a lifeless tone. "More commonly known as LexCorp. Here at LexCorp, we strive to create everlasting technology to advance into a better and more peaceful era. Humans have long been left behind in an age of heroes, but with the help of our founding father, Lex Luthor, we can bridge the gap between humans and those more advance. This is our vision. This is LexCorp."

In his lifetime, Harry has never heard of such a company called LexCorp. Maybe it's a new one? He thinks. But that wasn't the strangest thing in the message. 'Age of heroes', the woman had said along with 'humans more advance'. His mind races. Have witches and wizards been revealed? What happened to the Statute of Secrecy? Most importantly, how long has Harry been away from everyone? A twang of worry builds within Harry. He hopes everyone is okay.

The elevator finally stops and the doors open. The thing begins to push Harry again but this time not against a smooth floor. It feels as if Harry is being pushed along a rocky terrain and the echoing of squeaky wheels seem to confirm that he is in a cave of sorts. Just how deep in the ground is he? And since when did a building – or what he hoped is a building – have a cave beneath the ground? Before Harry could question anything further, all movements stop.

Suddenly, a hissing sound bounces through the cave as if someone is opening a valve. That's when the cold punches Harry in the chest and then pricks the rest of his body. Soon he feels as if he's no longer floating but is slowly lowering. He can hear himself breathing or what he believes is him gasping for breath, but before he reaches the floor something opens, sending Harry falling faster than before. A hand grabs him and Harry tries to push away but his body is so weak that he is left helpless against whatever is holding him up.

"Relax, brother."

This voice is completely different from the other voices he has heard so far. It's only when he realises why a sense of terror grips Harry. This low voice did not reach him through his ears but through his head. This sends Harry into a daze where he tries to tell the thing to get out of his head, but the thing does not listen.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the voice says as if trying to calm a scared child.

How can I believe that? Harry replies. His own voice filled with apprehension. I don't even know where I am.

"Your body is still too fragile to defend itself but trust me to keep you safe. I'm taking you somewhere he cannot find you."

The answer just left Harry in a state of confusion. Who can't find me? What are you talking about?

"I'm talking about your father."

4

It takes a while for Harry to open his eyes. When he does, he can see the blurred outlines of the cave he is in. He blinks a few times and his vision begins to focus which surprises Harry as he realises he's not wearing his glasses. This is significant as Harry has chosen not to repair his eyesight with the help of magic. So whatever has happened to him repaired his sight, but who would do such a thing? What advantage did they get from repairing his eyesight? Death Eaters tortured and maimed, not healed. Maybe this is some sick twisted joke a Death Eater is pulling to only rid him of his sight again. This put Harry on high alert.

With his new eyesight, Harry scans his surroundings. The cave is not dim for one thing. There are lights which hang on the tall grey walls. His eyes sharpen and Harry can unexpectedly see the internal mechanisms of one of the lightbulbs despite it being far away. This causes him to quickly close his eyes as a sudden headache begins to build. Taking a deep breath, Harry opens his eyes once more and avoids looking directly into the lightbulbs. Instead, Harry takes a note on the size of the cave. It is larger than he expected with a high pointed ceiling and large tunnels which seemingly go in every direction.

Most importantly, he is by himself. There is no signs of the thing that brought him here. It most likely left him after he passed out from exhaustion. In his current state, Harry finds himself laying down on a soft piece of cloth protecting him from the jagged edges of the rocky floor. At least the thing that brought him here is kind enough to do that. But he does not know how long that kindness will last. The things said it is trying to protect him, from his father no less. Harry's father is dead. Died protecting him. But that did not stop a strange feeling from gnawing at Harry. He cannot pinpoint what the strange feeling is and that made him uncomfortable.

Footsteps. He can hear them. Harry cranes his neck in the direction the sound is coming from but no one appears for a while. Although he can hear the sound as clear as day, it takes a few minutes before the monotonous footsteps to appear out of the tunnel. Confusion settles in. His eyes can see clearly and his hearing is playing tricks on him, but before he can think any more of it, he finally catches sight of the creature that brought him here.

From first glance, Harry instantly thinks of a goblin but the skin is too grey, too decaying-flesh-like to be one. Most of all, goblins don't have horns protruding from either side of its cheek and head. Its red eyes matched the red markings found along its body. It is also tall, about six feet, and is walking towards him. Harry tries to back away and, with a little strength he gathers, he shifts a bit away. The thing does not stop moving towards him and when it reaches him it drops to its knees. Placing a hand on Harry shoulder, the thing begins to speak.

"Brother, do not be afraid," it says in Harry's head, while his horns begin to emit a soft red glow. "As I told you, I am not here to hurt you."

Then what are you here to do? Harry questions.

"To keep you safe from him," it replies. "You were almost terminated."

Terminated?

"Yes, brother. By your father no less."

What do you mean?

"You did not pass the next stage of the development so it's no surprise you don't know," the thing says in an almost thoughtful tone of voice.

The vague answer annoys Harry and he almost snaps at the creature but holds himself back. His situation can become very dangerous if he does not tread carefully.

Once again, what do you mean? He says with more force.

"I'll show you," the creature answers.

And before Harry can decipher what it means, the grip on his shoulder tightens and visions bombard his mind. There he learns. About Project Cadmus. About Lex Luthor. About Superman.

5

This can't be true. It has to be some sort of a joke. There is no way people like Superman exist. That heroes exists. Maybe the genomorph – yes, he also learnt what it is – is lying to him but for what reason? Harry ignores the strange feeling that settles in the lower pit of his stomach and is filled with denial. In all his years of living, he has never heard such an outrageous lie before. Even more crazy was that Harry is a supposedly failed experiment which combines the genes of Lex Luthor and Superman. That he too is a genomorph. Just a different type.

That's fucking insane.

And Harry would be equally insane if he believes it. All he knows is that he has to get out of here. Away from this madness and back to Kingsley. To Ron and Hermione. Anyone.

Taking a shuddering breath, Harry begins to plan his escape. With the creature gone – it had to go back to work, whatever that is – Harry looks at the tunnels for possible escape routes. But first, he has to see if he can even stand on his own two feet. Feeling less tired than before, Harry starts to stretch his fingers in order to see if it was okay to move now. His fingers slowly twitched for a few minutes before he could finally clench his hand into a fist.

Perfect, he thinks.

Harry moves onto his arms and tries his best to lift them. He doesn't know how long it takes but after a while he is able to. He does the same with his toes, his legs and eventually his entire body can move in sync with each other. Harry slowly and carefully turns onto his stomach. Then with as much strength in his arms as he can muster, he pushes his upper body up and off the ground in a sort of half-arsed push-up. It takes another long while before he could do the same things with his legs. Soon after that, he finds himself standing up on wobbly feet and his arms out before him to help him balance.

He takes a tentative step forward and then another and then another. Harry feels as if he's a child learning to walk, but with each step he can feel his muscles solidifying and growing strong enough to hold his body weight. He smiles in triumph as he makes his way towards one of the tunnels. He has chosen the tunnel to his right in particular because of how he can feel a small breeze of fresh air and smell the dampness of water. Fresh air means an opening, and an opening means freedom.

Soon Harry passes through the tunnel and begins his descent into it, but the further he goes in, the dimmer the lights become. After a while, Harry finds himself with such a small amount of light that the surroundings can be mistaken for darkness, but he forces himself to keep walking. Even though there is a small amount of light, Harry can still see his path as clear as day and the strange feeling in his stomach returns.

No human would be able to see, Harry thinks, but he denies the thought any more attention.

Plop.

Harry's feet make instant contact with a puddle of water. The sudden wetness causes him to cringe and step back, almost falling down in the process. He looks down and for the first time since his escape, he can see his reflection. What he sees startles him; no longer does he have his mother's green eyes or his father's face; the untenable mop of black hair is also different; the unsettling paleness of his skin gone. Instead, his eyes are a piercing icy blue. His skin a shade of olive, making him look more tanned than usual. Most of all, a face which belongs to a stranger is staring back.

And Harry finds himself believing in the madness of those lies.

Author's Note:

I should first explain that Harry will not replace Conner. Conner still exists and will be in the next chapter. Secondly, this story will pair Harry with someone in the future, but I don't know who. So feel free to give your recommendations.

I would also love any constructive criticisms, so feel free to comment and give your thoughts.

Thanks for reading this!