Richard Al Ghul-Wayne came from a long line of pure blood wizards, his mother was Talia Al Ghul and had custody of him for six months of the year, teaching him to be an assassin, she went to Hogwarts and was a Slytherin, his father, on the other hand, spoilt him for the other six months of the year as he was rich in the muggle world as well as the wizarding world, he spent those months in his father's mansion, as opposed to his grandfather's mansion. He was eight at the moment and was currently in his father's custody, who was a Gryffindor when he was in Hogwarts.
He was in his room and was practising his acrobatics, as his room was two stories, and by that he meant that his room was on the third and forth floor of the house, and could be accessed both ways, the walls were a dark blue and the carpets were red.
Currently, he was showing one of his friends a particularly difficult move in his acrobatics, he heard his father calling him and quickly said goodbye to his friend, Wally, who would be starting Hogwarts this year and was the cousin of Ron Weasley who was the same age as him, he was a half blood and his father was a muggle, while his mother was a witch. He made his way down the four floors and into his father's office.
"When will I get my letter to Hogwarts, Mother?" was heard throughout the giant mansion on Ra's Al Ghul's private island. It was the 21st of March and the morning of Richard Al Ghul's, at the moment, birthday, when talked to by his grandfather's assassins he was referred to as 'Al Ghul' when off the island he was a Wayne. This year in September, however, he was going to Hogwarts and hoped he would make his parents proud with whatever house he would get into, although his father said that he didn't mind, his mother wanted him to be a Slytherin, said mother was now lecturing him on the importance of patience when she was interrupted by the mail, Talia's very own dark brown owl making its way to him, dropping the letter from Hogwarts in front of him.
His father lived a few miles from the suburban area of London, and he coincidentally would be there from the start of July, he would have to make this summer count.
Well, this was one way to make this summer count. He was in Diagon Alley with his dad buying all the necessary equipment, including his school uniform, which, according to Madam Malkin, was the smallest size she ever sold, although, this year he was slightly creeped out by the photos of Sirius Black hanging everywhere, this wasn't like every other year, were he went with either his dad or Wally to buy the newest broom, he was, according to all his magic friends on his grandfather's island, even Artemis, heck even Jade, the second best quidditch player they had ever seen, first place belonging to Harry Potter, who he had yet to meet, although Wally said that they were good friends, and that his cousin Ron was Harry's best friend, but that they were in Gryffindor. And he was hoping for Slytherin.
Ever since Wally went to Hogwarts he was starting to become distant, probably because when they were hanging out two years ago he let slip that he wanted to go to Slytherin. His mum's friend, Lucius Malfoy, had visited in his Grandfather's house with his son, Draco, and had sent him off to 'play' with Richard, at first they hated each other, Draco wanting to be in charge of everything, while Richard was used to always getting what he wanted though was snarky to all the others that weren't him.
Though they had a rocky start, after Draco heard that Wally West used to be his best friend and left after hearing of Richard's want to be a Slytherin, they soon became fast friends.
Richard's Hogwarts shopping was coming to an end and he could get his pet, not like he already didn't have five cats named Crunchy, Coco, Apple, Flapjack and Jaffa Cake, he was allowed to get either an owl or a cat, his mum specified that he wasn't allowed a toad. He got a black cat with bright green eyes that reminded Richard of his Dad's long time girlfriend Selina who got him his other five cats, so he named her Selina and she took an immediate liking to him.
Lastly he had to get a wand, his dad said that after this they could go get ice cream in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, making his way to Ollivander's he could see the old shop coming into view. The bell jingled as he opened the door and the wooden floorboards creaked under his footsteps in the dusty shop.
"Ah, Mr Wayne, or should I say Mr Al Ghul, it's a pleasure to meet you. Mr Wayne, I remember when you first came into this shop with Alfred, dragon heartstring, pine, twelve inches, swishy," the older man in front of him said, he seemed older than Alfred, and Alfred was old. The man, Ollivander, ushered him into the shop and told him to stick out his wand hand, doing as he was told, Richard stuck out his left hand and the measuring tape started measuring nearly every part of his body on its own.
"Here's one, unicorn hair, holly, ten inches, quite supple," once Richard took the wand it was immediately snatched back by the same hands. After fifteen minutes of trying wands a new one came into his hands, the wand felt right in his left hand and he nearly didn't catch Ollivander saying 'Phoenix feather, willow, nice and flexible' because of the warm sensation that ran through his arm, blue and red sparks flew from the tip of the wand and he heard Ollivander cheering. Once out of the shop and after the ice cream, he felt himself attracted to the Firebolt on display, he pulled his father into the shop and asked for the price of the Firebolt, the woman immediately recognised Bruce Wayne and he got the newest and fastest broom just because of his dad. He was staying at the Leaky Cauldron with Selina, as in his dad's girlfriend and his new cat.
He was making his way downstairs in the Leaky Cauldron with Selina, his uncle Clark, and his cousin Conner. Sitting there was the whole Weasley family, Wally West, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Instead of going to join them, he stayed with Conner, Conner was a Hufflepuff, as well as his girlfriend Megan Morse, he was third year and he was best friends with Kaldur Ahm, who was a Ravenclaw.
His kitten, Selina, meowed and everyone looked at him, how the meowing of a kitten got everyone's attention he would never know, but his gaze landed on Wally, who was always fighting his basically sister Artemis who was in Slytherin, Roy Lance-Queen was sitting at the table, though his arm was around the Slytherin Prefect, and his sister, Jade Nguyen. Suddenly Wally spoke up,
"Palling around with Malfoy now, are we," the table turned to glare at him and Richard suddenly wished that he could sink into the floor and never have to come up. His grip on both Selinas, cat and human, tightened and his social anxiety, which he had from a young age, was starting to get the best of him, he quietly sat down at a free table, Selina and Clark sitting on either side of him.
He looked upon the bright red locomotive in wonder, scarlet paint shining and the black lettering of Hogwarts Express was stunning, his Kitten was tucked safely in the pocket of his green Slytherin jacket, and the black basket he was carrying kept all his other cats, Crunchy, Coco, Apple, Flapjack and Jaffa Cake. His trunk was placed in the back and he ventured into the train, looking for a free compartment, near the end of the train, he sat with Conner, who was sitting with his girlfriend. Artemis soon sat with them, the girl was told by her dad's boss, Talia, to look after her, Talia's, son. Kaldur sat with his friend Conner and introduced himself to Richard.
A meowing broke the awkward silence and everyone's heads turned to look at Richard, "Can I let them out?" asked the shortest and the other occupants of the carriage nodded their heads. He lifted up the flap of the basket and out jumped five cats. One was a white cat with blue eyes named Crunchy, the second, Coco, was a chocolatey colour and had chestnut eyes, Apple, the third cat, was so ginger she looked red and had green eyes that stared straight into your soul, the fourth, named Flapjack was one that reassembled Alfred, and although one would think to name it Alfred, they let Pennyworth name him after Richard's favourite baked good of Alfred's, Flapjacks. The last was striped ginger and dark chocolate, its eyes were green and her favourite food was Jaffa Cakes, hence the name. All cats snuggled up to Richard and Conner was reminded of his dog that he found in an alleyway one day in Liverpool named Wolf.
Nearly all their parents worked at the school, Megan's uncle John worked as a transfiguration teacher, Kaldur's adoptive dad, Arthur Curry, worked as a herbology teacher, Dinah Lance, Roy's mum, who was American, worked here to help Madam Pomfrey, while Conner's dad, and Richard's uncle, worked as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and was usually substituted by Bruce Wayne, who was Richard's dad.
They all rejected getting sweets from the trolley as the lady came by, except for Richard, as his mother told him that dementors were coming onto the train, that wouldn't work well, when he was young, about six, he was sent to his Aunt and Uncle, Mary and John Grayson, they were all very close, John and Mary treated him like their own son, when they were performing one day, in the circus they worked in, they fell. An act of murder from a mobster named Tony Zucco, while they were in Italy. He was traumatised and since then had social anxiety and panic disorder, as well as autophobia, his cats helped sometimes, as well as his plush toy Peanut, which was charmed so that whenever he ever needed it or wanted it, it would appear next to him.
He was homeschooled and only had a select group of friends, of course, the only way he became on a talking basis with these people, was because he saw them often, his dad's adopted brother, Clark, was often in the Manor, although he lived in Liverpool, and always brought over Conner, as he couldn't leave him with his mother, Lois Lane, who was a muggle, and couldn't handle the accidental magic from Con by herself.
Suddenly the train stopped and the lights started flickering, ice crept up the window and a terrifying chill swept over the whole train, a creature flew into the compartment, Richard immediately identified it to be a dementor. A cold, clammy hand could be seen poking out from under the robes, but as soon as Richard saw it, it was gone. The group shivered and suddenly a sucking noise that reminded him of someone taking a large breath filled the compartment, suddenly he saw them.
'The trapeze ropes snapped and they were falling down, down, down. Mary whispered a silent 'Richard' before, she too, fell, her husband about to hit the ground. They couldn't fall! Every summer, they were the Flying Graysons! Every summer he was a Grayson, and not even his surname could change that. They couldn't fall! The crack was like a slap in the face for Richard and his scream filled the silent air, tears streamed down his face and the acceptance on his aunt's face replayed in his face, his British accent prominent but lisped as he whispered, 'They fell, why did they fall? It's all my fault' albeit he would be later reassured by his mother that no, it was not his fault, he didn't know that.'
He snapped out of it and breathed deeply, feeling dried tear tracks on his face, the sticky texture made him want to vomit. The verisimilitude of the hallucination shook him effectively. He took some chocolate from his charmed never ending pockets and snapped it, quietly eating it, he could still hear his scream echoing quietly yet effectively in his ears. His hands shook as he gave some chocolate to his friends, mouthing the words 'eat it'.
"Sir? Our friend has fainted," the muffled words were the only distinguishable thing to Richard, the warmth of the chocolate not helping much.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" the words sounded like they would after waking up from unconsciousness due to chloroform, the words weren't helping his growing headache, as he tried to nod he felt overwhelming vertigo and vomited beside him. His face was slick with sweat and sticky from dried tears, he sniffled slightly and felt the form of Jaffa Cake rubbing against him.
"Keep your eyes open, okay?" the same panicked voice ordered, and Richard couldn't bring himself to nod. He tried to focus on his breathing, which he knew for a fact was going berserk. He felt the train lurch forward and tried to keep from spilling his guts out again. He could feel gentle hands lift him from the ground and a swaying move, he silently wished for Peanut again and the plush toy appeared in his hands, gripping it tightly it ground him back to reality, the blurred edges taking a sharper tone. The contrast was good and soon he was set down. opening his eyes, he could see the face of the newest defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Lupin, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. He clutched his patchwork elephant tighter and calmed his breathing enough to hear the teacher try to calm him, he listened, following his example in breathing.
"Very good, now, I want you to tell me what year you are," Lupin asked quietly, as to not scare the young boy,
"F-first year, sir," came the whispered reply. Richard could practically hear the curious glances, and from Harry. glares he was getting, swallowing down a ball of tears he focused again on Lupin.
Remus could hear the fear in the first year's voice, and the anxiety in his eyes, Harry's reaction to the dementor was nowhere near as bad as this, the boy was the shortest first year he had ever seen and his blue eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. When Remus looked at his pale, shaking hands he could see a small toy elephant that he was gripping tightly. He had to strain his ears to hear the next words the child said, "I want Mummy and Daddy," he didn't even know the eleven year old's name, much less his parents.
"What's your name?" he asked softly, so as not to startle the child.
"R-Richard Al Ghul-Wayne, sir," Oh. So he did know his parents, his mother Talia, was a Slytherin a year beneath him and Bruce was in the same year and house as him. Richard was a first year and therefore would have to take the boats, but the boats took too long, and obviously the child needed to go to the hospital wing.
"I have to go send an owl, will you be okay here?" he asked gently, and all he received in response was a small nod. However, he wasn't so sure about that.
Richard was scared. He wanted Mum and Dad. He didn't like the glares he was getting and just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. He wanted Artemis. He wanted Jaffa Cake and Crunchy and Coco and Flapjack and Apple. He wanted Selina. He wanted Uncle Clark. He wanted Alfred. He wanted Mummy and Daddy. He wanted Wally.
His sniffles were the only sounds in the compartment other than the furious whispers he was getting from the other occupants. Reaching into his pocket his pulled out his kitten, Selina, and cuddled her, he could feel her rough tongue against his sticky cheeks, wiping them clean. The kitten then curled around his neck until it looked over at Hermione's wicker basket the was similar to his own black one. He heard a hissing noise beside his right ear when she looked at Ron.
Hermione whipped towards him and eyed him until she caught sight of Selina wrapped around his neck, mixing nearly perfectly with his onyx hair. Richard noticed that she looked closely at Selina's eyes before pulling away and looking at him.
By the time Lupin returned Richard wanted to go back to his compartment, badly. He was permitted to return to his friends and get changed into his school uniform. When he did return he first flung himself at Artemis and then at Conner. Getting changed was the easy part, the hard part was waiting to see Hogwarts.
His lean body was against the window when Hogwarts finally came into view, the sight was extraordinary, the giant castle practically radiated light, the lake reflecting the beautiful view, the stone walls had ivy creeping up them at some points. The towers glistened and the lake sparkled, the whole school was wonderful.
"Woah," breathed Richard and suddenly, he forgot about all the troubles of the day and focused on the present.
-hi, i love reading hogwarts au's and decided to write my own, but technically it's a batman, young justice and harry potter crossover. see ye next time!
oh and, this is my reasoning, i understand that jk rowling made a small cast of characters so that the reader would remember all of them easily, though i think there would be more teachers than the ones in the books. especially since there's four houses and we expect that the same teacher teaches all of them? no wonder snape is so annoying and mcgonagall so fed up with harry.