Chapter One
June: First Year
Dick heard loud screams coming from the living room, and he groggily raised his head. He shifted under his sheets, blinking in the darkness.
"Don't touch them!" Dick heard his father roar.
Bright flashes of green light, and his father's voice was silenced. There was a thud, like something heavy hitting the ground.
"Oh, god. Oh, god," He heard his mother sob.
Dick is frozen, glued to his bed by fear.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Another bright flash of green light, and there was another heavy thud.
He heard high – pitched, cold laughter, and the door to his bedroom opened slowly. Dick trembled underneath the covers.
A pale, green-haired man leered at him from the doorway.
The man licked his blood-red lips, and smiled, "Come here, sonny - I've got a nice... surprise ... for you."
He came closer, a wand in his hand. The man cackled again.
"Avada Keda-"
Dick bolted up, sweat poring down his forehead.
Looking around his bedroom, he sighed.
Wally sat up in the bed across from him, rubbing his eyes groggily, "Wuzzgoinon?"
Even in the darkness of Wally and Dick's shared bedroom, Wally's red hair still shined vibrantly.
He heard an owl hoot suddenly on the window sill, and he turned. It had white feathers, and it was flecked with brown. It held two letters tightly in it's claw, and he warily grabbed it.
Dear Mr. Dick Grayson,
You have been accepted at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Term begins on September 9, and you will report to King's Cross train station on September 8 at 11:20 a.m., sharp. Enclosed is your train ticket and a list of things you will need this term.
Sincerely,
Dinah Lance
Deputy Headmistress
Dick handed Wally his own letter, and they high-fived each other.
"Awesome, dude," Wally said, eyes moving rapidly over the words, "Hogwarts here we come."
Artemis peeked an eye open, awakened by a sharp knocking on the door.
She threw the frayed covers off her body, shivering as the cold bit at her exposed neck and legs. She walked slowly out of her room, opening the apartment door.
Outside stood a slim, frail looking man with smartly cut gray hair, and a trim gray suit.
He smiled, "Good evening, Miss Crock, may I come in?"
Startled, she backed up, "M-Mom?"
Artemis's mother stumbled out drowsily, but smiled groggily when he saw the man, "Headmaster Nelson! What are you doing here?"
He smiled calmly, "I came to speak to you about Artemis' education."
Artemis watched in confusion as her mother broke out in a wide grin.
"But Lawrence told me… She really got accepted?" Her mother asked, gripping a chair for support.
Headmaster Nelson nodded, and primly handed Artemis a thick white envelope, "I decided that it would be better to come in person," he turned to Artemis, and smiled, "I expect to see you when terms starts in September."
He handed her a thick envelope, and then vanished with a pop.
September : First Year
"Where did you see them?" Wally whispered, his eyes scanning the crowd for any face that seemed to stick out.
Barbara nodded her head toward the white pillar that lead back to the Muggle train platform, "Over there, but I couldn't get a good look at them…"
"Who's them again?" Dick inquired, poking his head above his towering pile of luggage.
"The Crock girl. The Crocks are a family of renowned Dark wizards and Purebloods," Wally said in a hushed voice.
"You're a Pureblood," Dick pointed out offhandedly.
"Yeah," Wally said shrugging, "But we don't lord it over everyone."
The whistle blew, and Wally, suddenly alert, turned toward his mother, "Can I get on the train now?"
His mother looked exasperatedly at him, but nodded, "Be careful, and stay safe, and don't hang out too much with Roy."
Wally nodded absentmindedly, ignoring his mother's warnings.
"Thanks again for letting me stay at your home, Mrs. West," Dick said awkwardly, feeling guilty.
"No problem, Richard, you're always welcome at our home," Wally's mom said, patting Dick on the head.
Barbara turned to her own father, the famous Auror Jim Gordon, "Daddy! When can I go?"
Dick smirked at Barbara, "Sorry, Babs, not 'til next year!"
Barbara glared at him, sticking out her tongue and making a rude gesture with her finger.
Wally didn't care, he was going to Hogwarts.
Dick was content. He had been nervous about going to Hogwarts, since he had been shielded from the Magic World until the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself, Kent Nelson, took him from the orphanage and placed him with the Wests. They had clicked instantly, their senses of humor were similar, and Wally acted as the older brother (of only about seven months) that Dick had always wanted.
They were busy laughing, eating Chocolate Frogs and licorice wands. Dick snickered as Wally's face turned green when Wally ate a snot-flavored Bott's Every Flavored Beans.
"Have you seen Wolf?" a voice asked from the door of the compartment asked.
Wally's eyes widened, "There's a wolf on the loose in the train?"
The voice stepped forward, revealing its speaker. The speaker had long, blond hair tied into a pony-tail, sharp, grey eyes and a smirk gracing her pink lips, "No, my friend lost a toad whose name is Wolf."
Dick let out a sigh of relief, "Then, in that case, no, we haven't seen Wolf."
Wally had a deep crease between his brow, studying the girl with narrowed eyes.
The girl frowned, "I'm Artemis."
Wally hesitated before saying his name, "… Wally West."
Dick grinned, not feeling the tension in room and sticking out his hand, "Dick Grayson."
Artemis took it, shaking it slowly.
"… Did you find him?" a low voice asked from behind Artemis.
Artemis turned to face a muscular, stocky boy with black hair and icy blue eyes, "Sorry, Connor, I haven't."
She turned back, addressing Dick and Wally, "This is Connor Kent."
They nodded their greetings, and Connor grunted.
"You're a Crock, aren't you?" Wally blurted out. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Artemis sniffed, and she frowned.
"Well, we're gonna be there soon, so, I'm gonna get changed…" Artemis said, and with that, she slid the compartment door shut and left.
"No wonder she doesn't have any friends!"
The words seemed to ring in her ears, and she replayed them over, and over, and over again.
She had thought that he been her friend. Her first friend.
She wasn't crying, Artemis never cried, but her stomach ached and she felt dizzy from the confusion and pain.
She heard a thumping sound in the hall way, and the sound of rushing feet.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Than, a loud, deep roar split through silence, and Artemis felt fear prickle into her heart.
She got up, creeping silently toward the door to keep from alerting the… thing outside. She pressed her ear against the door, hoping for the thumps to fade away, but they got closer, and closer, and closer.
She shuffled away from the door, running into a bathroom stall and crouching on top of one of the toilet seats.
There was a loud BOOM, and she heard grunting, sniffling, and roars. She was trembling in fear, already in a mess from being insulted earlier, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to perform any defensive spells in her state and her level of magic performance.
A high-pitched voice cackled, "What's this?"
It was a teenager that couldn't have been more than seven or eight years older than her.
"W-who are you?"
"Don't ask, don't tell," he said, laughing with glee.
His eyes looked almost cat like as they gleamed red, and Artemis trembled.
He waved his wand, and there was more thumping, except now it sounded distinctly like the thumping of many feet on the castle's marble floor.
"Behold, my army of the undead!" the boy said, waving a hand toward the approaching zombies. They moved in sync, and their eyes glowed green with a sort of ancient, dark magic.
She buried her head in her knees, letting all the fear, pain, and confusion out with racking sobs. She was going to die. It was all going to end in a few moments.
For the first time in a long time, she was crying, hot tears were running down her cheeks, matting her hair to her forehead and making her eye sight blurry.
The next few moments were a blur, it seemed to happen so fast.
She remembered Dick shouting her name, and the boy commanding the zombies suddenly being flung across the room. As soon as he was knocked out, the zombies dropped onto the ground, dissolving into dust.
"You okay?" Dick asked, extending a hand.
"Yeah, sorry Artemis," Wally said, rubbing the back of his head.
Artemis looked deep into his eyes, trying to see if he was sincere. She saw the guilt, the worry, and she accepted the unspoken apology.
She nodded, and accepted his hand.
Dick smiled at Artemis, happy to see that they were safe.
The three of them understood the unspoken words. They had almost died together. No friendship can be stronger than that.
Artemis nervously fastened her gloves onto her hands, and pulled on her boots. Both were loaners, and Wally had laughed rather unkindly when Artemis had showed them off to Dick. She had initially been proud of being the youngest seeker, despite the fact that she had to borrow a lot of equipment from the school (save her broomstick, which had been a painstakingly bought gift from her mother). However, two of the chasers, Roy Harper and the nasty Cassie Sandsmark had burst out laughing when they saw her shabby robes and clothes and the Cleansweep she had brought to practice.
"Get on out to the pitch, team," the team captain, Beater Raquel Lincoln said, "Hang on Artemis, I want to talk to you privately."
Artemis nervously hung back from the rest of the team. Harper shot her a disdainful look on his way out, "Have fun with that, scrub."
Raquel shot Roy a glare, "Ignore him, kid. Listen - you're the youngest seeker to be on the team in a century. The other team's gonna be underestimating you, so use that to your advantage. Stay high and out of sight, just keep looking for that Snitch."
Artemis nodded, gulping nervously. Her father had been the seeker on his Quidditch team, except he had been on the Slytherin team.
They finally went out of the locker room and onto the pitch. The green grass is cut immaculately and grazes Artemis's boot.
The referee, Professor Sanders, blew her whistle, "Mount your brooms!"
Finally, with a roar from the gold, red, silver, and green supporters, the two Quidditch teams flew into the air.
Gryfindor vs. Slytherin, one of the most anticipated matches this season.
"The new addition of the Gryffindor team, Artemis Crock, looks a little peaky, but has the perfect build for a Seeker. Oh! Nice steal by Slytherin Chaser Icicle Jr., passes to Terror, … oh! Stolen back by Harper! A nicely aimed Bludger by Gryfindor's very own Raquel "Rocket" Lincoln. Chaser Harper is approaching the goal posts, 50 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! It seems that the Gryffindor seeker has spotted something, there she goes! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN SHE'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! Gryffindor wins!"
Artemis pumped her fist in the air. The Slytherin seeker, Jenny Flynn had possessed a brand new Nimbus 2000, yet hadn't even compared to Artemis.
Even Harper nodded begrudgingly, "Nice catch, kid."
June; First Year
They sat contently in the train carriage, exhausted from the past events.
"… So… Anyone up for a game of exploding snap?" Wally asked , cutting through the silence.
Dick motioned for him to be quiet, pointing to the sleeping form of Artemis.
Wally nodded, lowering her voice to a whisper, "She must be exhausted, she had to keep running back and forth between Professor Wayne's office and the third floor corridor, and then she stayed up all night at the hospital wing waiting for you with me."
Dick nodded, "I would be to."
They settled into another comfortable silence, each staring out the wide window, watching the outdoor landscape blur by.
Notes:
This is not any new material. This was one of my first stories that I posted on FF, but I took it down because it was crappy.
All of the chapters are already written, and I just need to edit each of them.
In the comics (and most television and movie adaptations, Dick Grayson's parents were murdered by Tony Zucco, a crime boss. In this storyline, the Joker murders Dick's parents.
Some of the References:
"Jim Gordon" - known as Commissioner Gordon and a frequent character in the Batman comics and storylines
"Barbara Gordon" - she had a brief stint in Young Justice, and also was Batgirl in season 2, but she is Commissioner Gordon's daughter in the comic books and all, if not most, adaptations
"Cassie Sandsmark" - Wondergirl
"Professor Sanders" - Hawkgirl; member of the Justice League
"Jenny Flynn" - the villain then turned hero Jinx; member of Hive Five and Teen Titans