Notes:

Some of this chapter was taken verbatim from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling.

Previously on After the New Dawn:

"Tell me more," Amelia said, leaning forward with an interested gleam in her eye.

"Born in the distant future, he was obsessed with me and my legacy. He managed to replicate the accident that gave me my speed and became just as fast. Originally he admired me but grew to hate me as he learned he was destined to be my worst enemy, the reverse of everything I stand for. We don't know who he's impersonating now, as he can take on someone's appearance non-magically, but he is very dangerous, and we'll do the best we can to help you catch him, as we want him captured ourselves…"

Chapter 6 - Super Friend

King's Cross Station, After the New Dawn

September 1st, 2008

The two superheroes in disguise pushed their trolleys through the crowds, heading towards platform nine and three-quarters.

"It'll be different, won't it?" Caitlin said.

"Yeah," Barry said, "but it's a good kind of different… I think. This year might actually be fun, as long as I don't get put in that stupid tournament."

Caitlin snorted. "You? Have a normal year?"

Barry scowled playfully. "I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of having a normal year."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Really," she drawled.

"Really!" Barry insisted, carefully passing through the barrier.

She shook her head as she emerged behind him. "I don't believe you. Nothing's ever normal with you, whether you're Barry or Harry."

Barry laughed. "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Yes," Caitlin said smugly, "I'm very proud of myself."

They approached the iconic Hogwarts Express, smiling fondly.

"Ready to go home?" she asked.

Barry frowned. "Don't say that, Hogwarts isn't really my home."

She gave him a curious glance. "Really?"

He shook his head. "It might've been home to Harry - he had to live with the Dursleys - but it's not home for me. My home is with you, in our cottage in Godric's Hollow."

She looked stunned.

He laughed at her expression. "Why are you so surprised? I love you. Of course the cottage that we live in together is my home."

She shrugged. "I had a few doubts, I mean… it was only a few weeks after Iris died that we got together."

Barry's smile faded. "I had plenty of time to get over her. We've been together for over three years now, Cait. I love you, and only you."

With that, they smiled at each other and got on the train, looking for a compartment. It wasn't close to eleven, so the Weasleys weren't there yet, but Barry was surprised that they weren't able to find anyone they were friends with. Neville wasn't there, neither was Colin or Dean.

Barry looked at Caitlin. "How early are we?"

She cast a quick Tempus. "It's 10:17. We're about forty-five minutes early."

"Wow, that's pretty early," he said.

"Couldn't you have figured that out yourself?" she asked accusingly.

Barry shrugged. "How about this compartment?" he asked.

Caitlin looked inside. There was only a small blond girl with large eyes reading a magazine upside down. "Sure," she conceded.

They pulled open the door and put up their trunks. "Hello," Barry said kindly.

The girl looked up and froze, her eyes growing even larger than they were normally.

"You're the remnants!" she whispered reverently.

Barry froze. "What?"

"I never thought I'd meet you, Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow! It's a pleasure to meet the remnants of the Speed Force."

"How did you-"

"I see things others don't," the girl explained, cutting Caitlin off.

"Remnants of the Speed Force?" Barry asked incredulously.

Her eyes widened further. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"The Speed Force only exists here because of you, Barry Allen, and you, Caitlin Snow."

"What does that mean?" Caitlin pressed.

"There will be no more speedsters outside of your descendants, in this universe or any other. Did you know that you were the only two Speed Force users to escape the rewrite? None of the others had developed strong enough connections to notice it before it was too late."

"But what about Thawne?" Barry asked, reeling from this new information.

The girl's eyes flashed ominously. "Eobard Thawne is not a Speed Force user."

Barry nodded sadly. That meant she knew he was a-

"-Negative Speed Force user, yes," the girl said, reflecting his thoughts perfectly. "And no, he will not pass it on to his descendants. All Negative Speed Force users are sterile."

Barry sat back heavily, still reeling. Caitlin, however, wasn't done. "Who are you?"

She smiled serenely. "My name is Luna Lovegood."

"Are you a Seer?" she pressed, "How do you know these things?"

"No," Luna said. "I am not a Seer. In fact, there isn't anyone else like me. I see the past, the present, and also other universes. People think that my father and I are crazy, but in actuality, my father is the only one who went a bit around the bend."

Caitlin plopped down next to Barry, feeling a little overwhelmed.

The door to their compartment opened, and Neville stepped through with his trunk. "Hey, guys! How was your summer?"

Luna smiled. "Enlightening."

Neville suddenly noticed how utterly overwhelmed Barry and Caitlin looked. "Harry, Hermione? Are you okay?"

Luna laughed happily while Barry gripped his head with his hands.

Upper Atmosphere, Earth

September 1st, 2008

The two Kryptonian vessels entered the upper atmosphere of Earth and prepared for a rough landing. The pods were built as escape devices and were not able to control their descent.

They soared towards Scotland, getting closer and closer to the ground every minute.

Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

September 1st, 2008

The doors to the hall swung open with a bang as McGonagall led in the first years to be sorted. They marched up to the side of the head table.

Barry and Caitlin watched, enraptured, as the Sorting Hat opened up its brim in a passable imitation of a mouth and began to sing.

Just a minute later, the hall exploded into applause. Soon, they quieted down again to wait for McGonagall to begin the sorting.

"Ackerly, Stuart!" McGonagall called out. The small boy climbed up onto the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. The brim went down over the boy's ears.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Baddock, Malcolm!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Branstone, Eleanor!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cauldwell, Owen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Creevey, Dennis!" A very small boy, wrapped in Hagrid's coat, started shuffling towards the hat. He was dripping water on the floor as he moved. His small face protruded from over the collar, looking almost painfully excited. He caught Colin Creevey's eye, gave a double thumbs-up, and mouthed, I fell in the lake! He looked positively delighted about it. A few snickers could be heard from the crowd.

The hat was placed on his head, and it covered the top half of his face. His wide grin was still visible, though. After a full minute, the hat looked positively miffed.

"Gryffindor," the hat sighed. Dennis tried to race to his brother, forgetting he was still wearing the hat.

"Hey!" The hat exclaimed. "Where are you going with me?" The tiniest Creevey turned beet red and ran back up and placed the hat back on the stool.

"Sorry, Mr. Hat, I forgot," Dennis said contritely. The hat harrumphed. Dennis sprinted over to his brother and sat down, Hagrid's wet cloak making a squelching noise as it was sat on. McGonagall looked completely baffled at the turn of events. She sighed and shook her head.

Barry had to try very hard to muffle his snickers.

"Dobbs, Emma!"

The sorting continued on until "Wolpert, Nigel!" was sorted into "GRYFFINDOR!"

At the end of the sorting, Dumbledore stood and clapped, allowing a large assortment of food to pop up all over the hall. Quite a few gasps came from the new first years.

After most had finished eating, Dumbledore clinked his spoon against his glass. He stood, and the hall quieted quickly. Once he had the hall's attention, he began the start of term announcements.

Dumbledore smiled. "So! Now that you are all fed and watered..."

Barry's eyebrows rose. Caitlin snorted. "Are we mules?" she muttered.

"...I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."

"Mr. Filch has asked me to inform you that the list of forbidden items inside the castle has been expanded this year to include Fanged Frisbees, Screaming Yo-yos, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. I believe that the entire list is composed of four hundred and thirty-seven items, and can be viewed inside Mr. Filch's office, should you wish to examine it."

"As always, the forest is off bounds to the students, as is Hogsmeade to students second year and younger." Dumbledore smiled wistfully as if remembering more pleasant times.

"It is my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not be taking place this year…"

Chatter spread through the hall like wildfire. Fred and George had to collect their own jaws off of the ground, as they soundlessly gaped at the headmaster. Dumbledore motioned for the students to quiet down.

"This is due to an event that Hogwarts will be hosting this year in October, continuing throughout the rest of the year, taking up much of the time and energy of our staff. I am sure all of you will be immensely entertained, and it is with great honor and pride that I announce that this year Hogwarts will be participating in the-" Dumbledore was cut off as a rumble of thunder echoed through the hall.

Barry whirled to face the entrance and saw that the intruder was a rather gnarled-looking man. A clunk echoed through the hall every other time he took a step, his wooden leg coming into contact with the ground. His magical eye whirled around in its socket until it rested on Barry and Caitlin. He stopped in his tracks and spun to face them. He looked at them intently, as if memorizing their faces. Barry raised an eyebrow and the man 'humphed', turned back around, and ambled the rest of the way up to the head table. He took a seat, but his magical eye continued to rest firmly on Barry and Caitlin.

In the silence, Dumbledore began to speak again. "May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody." Normally, the students would clap for a new professor, but the only ones clapping were Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying, this year, Hogwarts has the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the year, an event that has not been held in over a century. I am very pleased to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year."

Silence.

Suddenly, "You're JOKING!" Fred and George exclaimed loudly in unison. Everyone laughed, dissolving the tension. Dumbledore chuckled.

"No, Messrs Weasley, I am not joking, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…" Dumbledore was cut off as McGonagall loudly cleared her throat.

"Er - maybe this isn't the right time for that… no… er… Where was I? Ah. Yes, the Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore went on to explain the general concept of the tournament, including the history, where he mentioned the death toll. At this, the students in the hall began to whisper excitedly to one another. Barry was sure that a few were making bets as to who would get put in.

"The entourages of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at the end of October, and the three champions will be selected on Halloween by an impartial judge. The winner receives fame, glory, and the money prize of a thousand galleons!"

"I'm going for it!" Fred stage-whispered. Dumbledore chuckled.

"I realize that many of you are enthusiastic, but unfortunately-" McGonagall scowled at him, "-you must be of age to enter, according to restrictions set by the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore had to raise his volume over the angry exclamations made by the students. "We feel that this is necessary due to the inherent danger of some of the tasks. I will be personally ensuring that no student can hoodwink our impartial judge. I encourage you not to waste your time attempting to submit yourself if you are underage."

"Now, I expect you to show support for your Hogwarts champion, and at least refrain from sabotaging the other contenders. Finally, it is late, and it is important for you to be well-rested, so off you go to bed. Chop chop!" With that, Dumbledore concluded his speech and sat back down. He then immediately immersed himself in conversation with Moody.

Moody seemed to be very invested in his conversation with the headmaster, but Barry noted that the magical eye still rested on him and Caitlin.

There was just something about the man that made Barry uneasy. He looked at Caitlin. "Is it just me, or does he make you feel uneasy?"

Caitlin frowned. "I feel it too. I don't trust that guy as far as I can throw him."

Ron, who was sitting across from them, nodded. "Yeah. That guy, he's sure to give out a feeling like that. Dad says that he's one of the best Aurors the DMLE had ever seen. He's also known for being extra paranoid. He'd probably be proud that you don't trust him, now that I think about it."

Barry shook his head. "No, I mean, he's been looking at us almost since he entered. No one that interested in me that's never met me before has ever turned out to be a good guy." He turned to Caitlin and lowered his voice. "Think about Wells."

Caitlin frowned. "These situations aren't exactly comparable. Wells had been planning that accident for fourteen or fifteen years, according to his will and confession. Here, you're famous. Everyone knows who you are," she whispered back

Ron looked back and forth between Caitlin and Barry. "What are you talking about?"

"Not here!" Barry insisted. "We can talk in our dorm."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Caitlin muttered, casting a silencing charm. "No one can hear us now."

Barry shrugged. "Reverse-Flash was born in the far future. He replicated the accident that made me what I am because he idolized me. But he learned to hate me when he discovered that he was meant to be my greatest enemy. At one point, he and I had been fighting in some crisis in 2024, and we both disappeared. What happened was that he went back in time and tried to kill me. My future self saved my life, but he killed my mother. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck here in the past. So, he orchestrated a particle accelerator explosion, which created a lightning bolt, which struck me in my CSI lab. The lightning, combined with the chemicals, created my connection to the Speed Force. What he wanted to do was to train me to go faster so that he'd eventually be able to use me to get home. His plan failed though, because his ancestor, Eddie Thawne, killed himself, which supposedly erased Eobard from the timeline. The only reason he's alive now is that he made a time remnant. He literally impersonated a guy named Harrison Wells for nearly fourteen years."

"Oh," Ron said.

Caitlin huffed before canceling the charm.

"Common room?" Barry asked Ron.

"Common room," Ron confirmed.

Five Minutes Ago

Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

September 1st, 2008

Eobard Thawne looked contemplatively at Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody.

Why had he looked at Potter and Granger like that?

Could they have… No, Barry Allen wouldn't do that… right?

Fourth Year Boys Dorm, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

September 1st, 2008

Barry was looking out the window, ignoring the snores of his peers. Something had been troubling him.

Who was Thawne impersonating?

He just felt so guilty. They couldn't help combat him from here, and with them away, Thawne would be unstoppable.

Suddenly, Barry shot to his feet. What looked like two Kryptonian pods were hurtling towards the ground outside.

In a blink of an eye and a flash of light, Barry was next to Caitlin's bed in his suit, shaking her awake.

"Hmm? Barry?"

He shushed her.

"Ugh, what…"

"Get up!" he whispered furiously, "I think two Kryptonian pods are landing outside!"

She shot out of bed with a flash of blue lightning and sped into her suit.

Without another word, Barry phased through the tower's walls and ran down the side of the castle, Caitlin following closely behind.

Their feet made small cracks in the stone as they ran, and Barry's yellow lightning mingled with Caitlin's blue lightning, making it appear green.

They hit the grass, quiet thumps indicating their feet colliding with the ground.

Barry ran ahead, speeding far in front of Caitlin, arriving at the damaged-looking pods a few seconds before her. Lightning still crackling across his now mostly-still form.

A faint hissing noise came from the nearest pod and it opened. Inside was a woman, whose eyes snapped open and gasped.

Barry offered her his hand, intending to help her out, but when she grasped it, she gripped too hard, and Bary cried out as his bones broke.

He still helped her out, but then stepped back and allowed Speed Force energy to flood his system, healing his hand with lightning arcing off his body.

He looked at the pod again and gasped. "Caitlin!" he said, "This is Kara's pod!"

Her eyes lit up. "Get the bracelet!"

He sped off, and Kara looked confusedly at Caitlin unable to understand a single word that had been said apart from 'Kara', which was her name.

Just a second later, Barry was back and slid the bracelet on her wrist.

Instantly, she passed out, falling limply to the ground. It was very anticlimactic.

The second pod hissed and slid open, revealing a baby.

Caitlin squealed a very un-Caitlin-like sound.

Seeing Barry's disgruntled expression, she scowled. "Hey, don't give me that, Barry! That's Superman! Remember?"

Barry's mouth dropped open. "Baby Superman? Oh my God!"

Suddenly, the incapacitated Kryptonian groaned before rolling onto her back. "Ugh… what… Barry? Oh no… Nothing good ever happens when you show up… No offense."

"None taken, Kara," Barry said, helping her up.

"Ugh," she said again, "why do I feel so weak… wait… weren't we just working on my bracelet…? Oh no… Oh no, no no no. No, please don't tell me that… Crap. I'm wearing it."

Barry winced. "Hey, at least you're in your own body, Danvers. You're not even younger."

Her eyes widened. "Lemme see your new body if it's so different! I wanna see! You look short, so you're gonna be really cute! I just know it!"

Barry laughed, pulling off his mask. "Yeah… his name is Harry Potter. Also, he's a wizard. So now, I'm a wizard-speedster."

Kara gaped. "Wizards? That's so cool! Also, you are cute."

"Yeah," Barry agreed while decidedly ignoring that last statement. "Magic is so cool. The only sad thing is that the government is really shitty."

"What?"

"Corruption, bigotry, all sorts of bad stuff."

"Wow…" she agreed.

"We have a problem, though," Caitlin said, drawing Kara's attention to her.

"Caitlin! You're here too! I wanna see what you look like!"

Caitlin sighed, pulling her mask off as well. "Her name is Hermione Granger."

"Cute," she said, "Who am I?"

Barry smirked. "Kara Zor-El."

She frowned. "No, no. My new name."

"That is your name. For whatever reason, two pods just crashed here." He gestured behind her.

Her mouth formed an 'o'. "That's what you meant by 'in my own body'."

Then she looked at the other pod.

"OH MY GOD! Baby Clark!"

Barry couldn't stop himself from laughing as Kara picked up the exceptionally cute baby.

"He's gonna be so strong when he grows up, right? Isn't that right, little cousin?" she babbled at the baby.

"Um, sorry Kara, but we have a bit of a problem," Caitlin spoke up, interrupting Kara's babbling.

"What?" Kara asked.

"We have to go to this boarding school, which you don't attend," Barry pointed out, seeing where Caitlin was going with this.

"Plus, you have a 'cute baby cousin' there," Caitlin added reasonably.

Kara frowned. "Where will I go? It's not like there's likely to be a DEO here… No Alex… No Winn… I literally know no one."

Caitlin looked sympathetic. "Will you be okay?"

Kara schooled her features. "Don't worry, I'll cry later. I'm fine right now."

Barry frowned. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes," Kara said firmly. "Tell me where I'm going."

"We have a cottage in Godric's Hollow," Barry said. "I can take you there and put the pods in the basement. We'll be able to visit you every now and then."

Kara nodded. "Great."

Caitlin frowned. "I know you've got your hands full with baby Kal there, but we've got a favor to ask."

Kara looked her in the eye. "Anything. I literally owe my entire existence to you two."

"Eobard Thawne escaped the rewrite," Barry said bluntly.

Kara frowned. "That evil yellow speedster dude that killed your mom?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah."

"How'd he do that?"

He shrugged. "Probably the Negative Speed Force."

Kara 'hmmed' thoughtfully. "What do you want me to do?"

"Could you keep an eye out for him, and capture him if possible?" Caitlin asked.

Kara looked at Barry. "We're about the same speed, right?"

Barry nodded. "Me and you, we're the same speed, yeah, but not Thawne. The Negative Speed Force changed him. He's significantly faster than me. You should have the advantage, however, because of your strength, heat vision, flight, and other powers I can't remember right now because you honestly have so many powers."

"Also," Caitlin said, "Barry and I took a day last month to run around the world. There's no Kryptonite here."

Kara looked absolutely ecstatic. "Great! Once he's been exposed to the yellow sun for long enough, it'll be almost impossible for him to be hurt!"

Barry smiled. "That's great! Don't forget, though, that that applies to you too… just don't get overconfident."

Kara scoffed. "Never. Anyway, I'm sure you'd like to go back to sleep. Would you take me home?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah, sure. Caitlin, can you grab one of the pods? I'll take the one she doesn't grab and you can fly after me."

Caitlin and Kara nodded, though Kara was confused as to how Caitlin would carry a pod.

"Great. Let's go."

With a grunt, Barry lifted Kara's pod and rocketed away, his path indicated by a trail of yellow lightning. Caitlin's blue following closely behind. Kara gaped. Caitlin was a speedster?

She shook her head and took off, flying above the two, who she quickly caught up to as they were slower carrying their load.

She tried to ignore the squealing laughter of little Kal-El in her arms.

Riddle House, Little Hangleton

September 2nd, 2008

A quiet pop sounded as a gnarled-looking man with a wooden leg materialized outside of what the townspeople called the Riddle House.

The man staggered over to the nearest wall and leaned against it while groaning in pain as his skin bubbled and twisted and contorted.

The wooden leg fell off as a real leg grew in its place and one of the man's eyes fell out, only to be replaced with another.

After the changes stopped, the man let out a heavy sigh and knelt down, shrinking the wooden leg. He picked up the discarded eye and shrunken leg and placed them in his pocket as he ambled inside.

A short, rat-like man scampered past him as he walked up the stairs.

The previously-gnarled man pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and quickly bowed in front of the armchair.

"My Lord, I bring news."

"Out with it, Barty," said a horrible baby-sized creature.

Barty Crouch Junior smiled a terrifying smile and began to speak. "It's Potter. There's some strange magic surrounding him and that mudblood, Granger. It reminds me of… pure energy, almost. I can't say I've ever seen anything like it before. It doesn't seem that they can use it though… It just looks like it's surrounding them… maybe a shield or a new ward?"

The creature let out an annoyed sound. "This changes nothing. Proceed as planned, and do not bring such useless information to me again, Barty."

Crouch Jr. nodded. "Yes, my Lord."

"Crucio!"

His screams echoed through the night sky.

Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow

September 13th, 2008

Kara Danvers was happily sitting in a comfortable armchair holding a very gleeful-looking Kal-El.

The first thing she'd quickly come to realize was that Kryptonian babies were rather hard to manage. Kal had repeatedly melted anything that drew Kara's attention away from him. An example of this was when Kara tried to read a book.

He took one look at it and burnt a hole through the thing.

The second thing she'd quickly come to realize was that this world was having odd effects on her.

Every time she'd found herself feeling particularly emotional, weird things tended to happen.

When she'd finally realized the severity of her situation and had broken down into tears, the house had shaken, the walls rattling.

She had been standing at the start, but by the time she managed to calm down, she had fallen down twice.

The second time was she realized Barry had somehow stuffed a copy of her Supergirl suit plus a new mask into her bracelet.

She had felt overwhelming gratitude. It was lucky she was outside at the time, considering that all of the plant life around her had doubled in size.

She noticed that it was happening to Kal too. Whenever he'd get particularly angry, something nearby would break. Sometimes she wondered if he had uncontrollable telekinesis.

And now, she was, in fact, sitting happily on an armchair, but the problem was that the armchair was, in fact, floating a foot in the air.

It wasn't really much of an issue that the chair was floating and that they were on it. The chair wasn't high enough to break when it fell, and the two of them certainly wouldn't be hurt when the chair fell. The real problem was then Kara didn't know why the chair was floating. She didn't know why any of these strange things were happening.

The only possible conclusion that she could make was that it was magic. But that wasn't possible… was it? They weren't magical… were they?

She needed to talk to Barry.

An owl pecked on the window, drawing Kal's attention, and therefore causing the chair to fall noisily to the ground, and Kara letting out an oomph.

She stood with Kal in her arms and walked over and opened the window, allowing the owl in. She glanced warily at the grinning baby and hoped with all her heart that he wouldn't cook the poor bird.

She noticed that the owl was clutching a newspaper in its talons, and she moved over to the bag she kept the wizarding money in and rifled through it with one hand, looking for the right amount of money.

How many did Barry say it was…? One of these… Ah, no. It was five of those brown ones… Yeah, that was it.

Grinning to herself, she marched purposefully over to the owl and put the coins in the little coin purse tied to its left talon.

The owl hooted its approval and released the newspaper before flying out the window.

Kara glanced down at the child in her arms and her heart almost stopped.

Little Kal-El was on the brink of frying that poor bird.

She watched the glow recede, and after little Kal blinked, it was gone.

Who knew babies were such a handful?

Maybe it was best that she waited until he was asleep before looking at the day's newspaper.

Unfortunately, she couldn't get him to fall asleep for another hour, at which point she collapsed onto the armchair that had been floating earlier, feeling utterly defeated.

"I need donuts," she mumbled.

For whatever reason, she hadn't needed to eat as much lately. She knew it wasn't because of her smaller body, because she ate just as much when she first landed on Earth-38.

Where she imagined that Caitlin and Barry were likely ecstatic at this development, she was quite disappointed, because it meant she couldn't eat her precious pot-stickers or her precious donuts as often, because no matter how much she loved her food, it was 'don't wanna be fat' above all.

She couldn't stress eat anymore!

It was a true tragedy.

Kara picked herself up and ambled over to the table where she had left her newspaper and opened it up, excited to read.

WHO IS THE REVERSE-FLASH?

Early this morning, twenty more wizards were found dead, killed by the
Reverse-Flash (Coined by the Flash himself).

But who is the man behind the mask? Who could be so terrible to murder
so indiscriminately?

An in-depth interview was graciously provided by the Flash himself on the
horrible backstory behind the infamous villain. For this interview, conducted
by Angelina Richter, turn to page five.

Intrigued, Kara flipped through the paper until she reached the fifth page.

THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK - WHO IS THE REVERSE-FLASH?

By: Angelina Richter

I was greeted inside the Leaky Cauldron by none other than the Flash himself,
who graciously offered this interview. He led me to a table, supplying me with
a nice glass of water and, of course, some deeply frightening information.

"His name is Eobard Thawne," says the Flash in his deep, vibrating voice, "and
he has utterly ruined my life."

Of course, I couldn't help but ask what he meant.

"When I was eleven," the red-clad man began, "he murdered my mother, but
my father was sent to prison for the crime. I spent the next fourteen years
searching for him, searching for a way to free my father, when after a freak
accident involving lightning and various chemicals, I became just like him - fast."

After this deeply moving information, I ask why such an evil man would murder
his mother, and his answer astounded me.

"He wasn't from our time," Flash explains while shaking his head sadly, "Born
in the long distant future, Eobard Thawne lived his life idolizing the Flash until
he one day replicated the accident that made me what I am. Eventually, he grew
bitter when he learned he was truly destined to be my greatest enemy. He traveled
back in time to various points in my life, trying to destroy me. At one point, he
had engaged my future self in combat during a crisis of epic proportions during the
year 2024. Under red skies, he and my future self disappeared from that time,
Thawne running back to kill me, my future self running back to stop him.

It was a night when I was eleven. I had gotten into a fight earlier that day, and
after treating my cuts and bruises, my mother and father put me to bed, but I
was awoken in the middle of the night by sounds of fighting. I ran downstairs and
saw my mother surrounded by red and yellow lightning. I continued to watch,
helpless until suddenly, the yellow lighting ran towards me and deposited me far
away from home.

By the time I got home, my mother was dead and my father was arrested. I was
taken in by one of the cops and he raised me like I was one of his own."

This heart-wrenching tale almost had him in tears, but I had to know more, the
people deserved to know more. I asked how the Reverse-Flash got his name.

"He is my reverse," the Flash says, "he is the reverse of everything I stand for."

He looks up, and without prompting, provides even more information. "He can
impersonate people non-magically, and he is an extremely good actor. He could
be anyone, anywhere. There's no way of knowing who's identity he's stolen…"

That wasn't the end, but Kara couldn't read anymore. She hadn't known all of that!

She decided right there, sitting on her favorite armchair, she'd help him in any way she could, and if that meant caring for her crazy Kryptonian baby cousin, she'd do it.

I'm your super friend, your super friend!

When it comes to buddies, pal, you're the best!

I love you more than the lightning bolt I wear on my chest…