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Superman flew through the open balcony window, wary of why Lex Luthor called him here in London of all places. Quietly walking into the room, he froze at what he saw. It was Lex’s master bedroom of his summer home but it was a disaster zone, as if there was a fight recently. There was a crib on the other side of the bed that was turned on its side and a green and gold plush dragon laying on its side just outside of the crib. The hero then turned to the villain, who sat on the edge of his bed with tear tracks running down his face and a purple baby blanket clutched to his chest.
“Lex,” Kal-El called, realizing this wasn’t the time to be hero-villain. This seemed more personal. “What happened?” The raven alien sat on the edge of the bed next to the genius.
“I wanted a kid, an heir to take over my legacy. I wanted them to be as strong as can be so they wouldn’t get hurt so I got some of your DNA and mixed it with mine,” Lex explained, causing Kal to stiffen in surprise.
“You used my DNA? Lex, that’s not okay!” Kal scolded.
“I know, I know. At the very least I should’ve told you about him,” Lex said, clutching the blanket closer. “I just didn’t trust anyone else’s abilities to keep him safe. I guess it still didn’t keep him safe.”
“We’ll get back to you using my DNA without permission,” Kal said with a sigh. “How old is the kid? And what happened?”
“A week old,” Lex answered. “Some cloaked figure came in and tried to take him while we slept. I managed to wake up and we got into a fight. They pointed a stick at me after getting Ambrosius into his arms and the next thing I know, I’m waking up on the floor, and my son and the stranger are gone. The police can’t seem to find them and I was hoping you had a way to find them.”
“Ambrosius?”
“Ambrosius Kalyan Luthor. That’s what I named him,” Lex explained. Kal nodded
“I will check my fortress but I don’t think there is a way to find him with my technology,” Kal said, pulling the grieving villain into a hug as he broke down again.
Seven Years Later
Seven-year-old Harry Potter snuck away from his ‘family’ as they shopped for new school supplies for his piggy cousin. It was very easy to do considering they barely pay attention to him, he didn’t even bother to use his magic to hide. Oh, yes. He knew about magic, how he had it, and that he can’t be the only one. His ‘family’ didn’t tell him, he figured it out by himself. He is very smart, after all. It did take a bit of trial and error to get decent grades at school but not good enough grades to get the teachers to ask his Aunt and Uncle to bump him up in grades while at the same time, making fake report cards that make it look like he does worse than Dudley. In reality, he’s probably in late middle school or early high school level. Unfortunately, he couldn’t actually test his level, and it's very annoying.
“Sir, we are coming up on an area with a similar signature to your magical wave,” a voice informed from Harry’s hair. Hidden in the child’s hair was a robotic pygmy marmoset that the raven child created last year and named General Instruction Technician or ‘GIT’ for short. His teacher wasn’t amused but, thankfully, didn’t call his relatives. It had taken almost a year to make GIT because Harry didn’t realize right away that his magic was interfering with the technology.
Harry looked around and frowned when he didn’t see anything out of the usual. He then noticed that the people walking along seemed to avoid one particular shop. ‘The Leaky Cauldron’ the sigh overhead read.
“Do you see the Leaky Cauldron, GIT?” Harry asked as the bot crawled out of his hair to cling to his right ear.
“Yes, sir. It seems that whatever illusions are around the pub don’t affect most camera-based technology,” GIT replied. Harry smirked, realizing that the bot hacked the surveillance again. “According to the global cameras, there should be a shopping district behind the pub.” Harry nodded and carefully made his way across the street and into the pub, sneaking into the alley in the back to see if he could figure out how to get to the shopping district. Harry then reached his magic out to the brick wall to see how to open it, thankful that he figured out how to control it several years ago. A moment later, the wall opened to reveal the shopping district.
He took half an hour to roam the alley before he stopped in the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts, and stared at a series of books with narrowed eyes. How do they know his name? It took him a while to find history books with him in them and how he ‘defeated’ a terrible Dark Lord.
“Idiots,” Harry muttered. “Obviously one of the adults did something to cause my survival.” GIT nodded in agreement. “I wonder if I could sue them for using my name to get money, especially since I’m a minor.” The raven left the bookstore and headed to the bank, hoping they’ll have the information or know where he can find the information. He had a proposition for a new business anyways and needed to see what requirements were needed to start.
It took several minutes for Harry to realize that the snowy-white building that towered over the other little shops was the bank he’d hoped to find. The short creature standing guard beside the burnished bronze doors was what finally clued him in. The creature, a goblin if Harry wasn’t mistaken, bowed as he was about to enter. Harry returned the bow, getting a surprised expression in return before respect overtook that. When he reached the next pair of doors, silver this time, he noticed words engrave upon them.
‘ Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there. ’
The guards of the silver doors bowed to Harry, who returned the bow, before he entered the main building. The raven patiently waited for the goblin at the counter to finish his work. It took almost twenty minutes before the goblin finally acknowledged Harry with a gleam of respect.
“How can Gringotts help you, youngling?” The teller questioned.
“Hello, Master Goblin. My name is Harry Potter and I’d like to ask some questions if you or someone else has the time. I also have a potentially lucrative business idea that I believe will be very successful should it be properly sponsored but I’d also like to know when I’ll be allowed to start it,” Harry explained without too much flowery language. He never really did understand some people’s need for flowery language when speaking straight forward just makes more sense without cause for too many misunderstandings.
“Indeed.” The teller made a gesture to another goblin. “Griphook will take you to the Potter accounting office to answer your questions and get an inheritance done.”
“Thank you, Master Goblin,” Harry said with a bow before turning to Griphook, bowing to him too before following him through the halls.