Chapter 2

Fully suited up for a night out on rooftops, except for the mask, Dick sauntered over to Batman who was busy at his computer. The large main screen showed the Gotham rouges at-large list and also listed relevant links to possible current targets for each. Clayface was out of Arkham and there had been no sightings, which wasn't a surprise since he was capable of assuming any form he wanted for a time. They usually had to wait for the egotistical shape-shifter to overreach his abilities and do some stupidly elaborate scheme before they found him.

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn were also listed, but the Joker was still safely housed in the insane asylum. There was a good chance that if they found one of the two women, they'd find the other as the two were friends and Harley tended to cling to Ivy when her insane lover wasn't close by to boss her around. There were a few notes on Ivy too – a Kleenex company was holding a conference in the convention center this week and there was a good chance that the tree-hugging villainess would attack them for daring to destroy her precious plant-life in order to make tissues. No doubt the convention center and some of the surrounding hotels would make it on to that night's patrol route. Also there'd been some hints of a new drug finding its way into some make-up that might be tied to either her or possibly Jonathan Crane a.k.a. the Scarecrow. The police hadn't found any evidence of that particular rumor being true and Batman didn't have much more, so it was unfortunately still a waiting game on that one.

The smaller screens arranged around the larger one each showed a different variety of program open; the one on the far left displayed the progress a machine further in the cave was making on analyzing the composition of a soil sample. Another screen showed a photo of an artic owl, otherwise known as a snowy owl, along with a list of relevant statistics. Dick took in the information at a glance, but didn't bother to study it too closely. Bruce would already have done that, probably having memorized every fact about that species he could find, and Dick figured he'd let the rest of them know if there was anything actually worth knowing.

Resting an arm on the back of Batman's high-backed leather chair, Dick propped his chin up on his hand and watched over the top of Bruce's head as he clicked through a group of search engines and custom filters. Apparently Batman was trying to determine where the 'Leaky Cauldron' was.

"Found anything?" Dick asked.

He could hear the scowl in Batman's voice as he replied, "There are no locations in Gotham that match the term 'Leaky Cauldron', either past or present. Nor have I found any such phrase mentioned in the police interrogation logs or from their phone taps."

In other words, it probably wasn't a slang term for a place recognized by the local gangs or someone would have mentioned it sometime. Dick hummed thoughtfully. "So this place probably isn't in Gotham."

"No." Batman graveled shortly. He was never particularly pleased with the idea of leaving Gotham, even for a global threat, but he wouldn't just drop a plea for help, even if it did originate from somewhere else. He'd just be bad-tempered about the whole thing while he did it. "Expanding the search has revealed that there are several bars across the country with that name, along with a five-store retail chain in California. Ther e is also a bookstore/café in Indianapolis. The owl's range of flight over four days does not narrow down our search as it could cover the distance from each of these locations."

Dick hummed again, finding that the mysterious origins of their owl-delivered note pricked his curiosity. It wasn't often that they got such a vague cry for help. Either the person sending it was like the Riddler and enjoyed sending people puzzles or he/she had thought that the names would be obvious to the recipient. Since the note was not addressed to a specific individual, that made him wonder who exactly the sender was expecting to respond. A playboy billionaire or the Dark Knight? Or someone else altogether? It was possible that it was sent to Nightwing or Robin instead.

"Are any of those retails chains in California near the Titian's tower?" Dick asked, referring to the base of operations for teenage group of superheroes that Robin often joined up with.

"Not such that the name would be a definitive location. Three of the closest stores are several hundred miles away and nearly equal distance from the tower." Batman abruptly changed his search from 'Leaky Cauldron' to a more general one for the term 'muggle'. No dictionary definition appeared, so Batman broadened the search to include any internet sites with the word. Seconds later a short list of hits came back and he scrolled through the options.

There was a chat site that called itself a 'muggle and squib support group'. A brief look at the recent text revealed several people complaining about housework to each other, the problems another group was having with their car engines and a third group seemed to be chatting about a recent Star Trek movie. In other words, nothing that obviously gave the definition of the word away.

The second site was a book review for a fantasy novel.

Another search engine, slower than the first, came back with a single hit from the Justice League logs and Batman immediately opened and started reading through it. Dick, still reading over his shoulder, scanned through the text and didn't immediately recognize the battle being described, but could tell from the precise syntax and British spelling and the report was probably written by Jason Blood. He focused in on the paragraph that had the relevant term, 'The bluish-grey colour of the Banshee suggests an origin of Wales, therefore a search for further information on the attack will begin there within the hour. The muggle attacked was removed from the scene by medical personnel. Treatment for a dog bite will be sufficient to…'

Dick stopped reading and glanced down at the cowled figure in the chair. "Looks like you'll have to talk to Blood."

Batman grunted in acknowledgement and switched back to the first search on 'Leaky Cauldron' and entered the United Kingdom as the target location. A single pub in London immediately popped up.

"Is London within the owl's flight range?" Dick asked.

"Just barely, if it flew almost non-stop."

Dick nodded thoughtfully, but still wondered why the bird had come all the way to them. Although Batman's existence was considered factual within Gotham, outside the city the rumors that he was just an urban myth persisted. Why would someone in London (if, indeed the note really did come from there) send an owl all the way to Gotham to ask for help? There were closer superheroes, ones more well known. He kept coming back the fact that the note seemed to be written to an unknown party. It was like the writer had written a letter, dropped it into a bottle in the ocean and crossed his fingers that someone, anyone, would pick it up.

Which actually made Dick frown because in that analogy the writer would be stranded and in need of rescuing. Could that be what happened? A person under duress got a message out the only way he could, coded so he could be found with a little research? Dick shook his head. There just wasn't enough information yet to know.

As he was still thinking about it, Robin finally emerged from the costume vault, ready to leave for the evening patrol so Dick straightened up, applied his mask and gave his kid brother a grin, "Fell asleep in the bathroom again?"

Tim scowled at him, "It was just that one time! And it was after patrol at like five in the morning! After fighting the Joker all night in a swamp. A swamp! And we still don't know how he managed to get that swamp into the middle of the diamond district or why it disappeared." His voiced dropped to a grumble. "Stupid swamp with stupid mosquitoes and stupid slim monsters."

Batman locked up the computer, stood and with his cape swirling about his ankles, headed for the sleek black car crouched at the back of the cave. Tim trotted after him, still grumbling about the swamp incident.

Dick shook his head in amusement and grabbed his helmet to follow behind the car on his motorcycle.

01010101010

Groaning in relief, Tim let the nearly too hot water wash away the grime and loosen stiff muscles. The night had been quiet at first. Batman had assigned Cass and him to patrol around the convention center looking for evidence that Poison Ivy was around, but they hadn't seen so much as a suspicious fern. For the next few hours the largest threat had come from a drunken teenager with a switchblade and Batgirl had taken care of that before Robin had even been able to drop down off the rooftops.

They'd split up afterwards and Tim had been pleased to prevent a pair of rapes and one car-jacking before he and Nightwing had teamed up to patrol around the university. Oracle sent them to a double homicide at one of the Frat houses, but the police had already gotten there and after watching from the shadows as the forensics team collected blood and bullets, they both decided that it was being handled competently, so left them to it.

At about two in the morning the quiet night turned into an ugly mess as a small explosion at Arkham resulted in two fatalities (one guard, one medical intern) and an escaped Joker. The rest of the night had been spent with the entire bat clan trying to chase the psycho clown down, but after a trail of destruction and fourteen more bystanders dead, they'd lost him. They'd combed the area until nearly dawn, but the only thing they'd found was evidence that the Joker and Harley, who had apparently been the one to get him out of his cell, had either stolen a car or had one waiting for them and they had driven off somewhere. Oracle would continue to try to pick up the trail using surveillance cameras around the city and a satellite, but it was past dawn and so Batman had reluctantly withdrawn for the time being.

Tim yawned as he slowly left the steaming showers to find that Batman was already done cleaning up and now sat at the computer terminal. He either washed up in record time or Tim had briefly fallen asleep on his feet because the man was in the middle of a conversation with someone on speaker. It took Tim a minute to connect the voice with Jason Blood, a reserve member of the Justice League. Blood wasn't one of Bruce's favorite people to work with since he used magic and housed a fearsome demon within his own body, but the man was more straightforward than most magicians and willing to talk with Batman whenever he called.

"…that's very possible." Blood was saying, "The magical community in the States never refers to non-magic users as 'muggles' since it has some derogatory connotations, so I'd expect your pen pal is from the UK, even if he or she isn't there now."

Tim paused at hearing this, interested to learn that the note the owl sent was probably from someone who used magic. At least that would explain how the owl might have gotten into the manor.

"Fine." Batman growled, "Is there anything else you can tell me about the magicians over there?"

"Plenty, but I'm not sure what would really be useful. They tend to be an isolated group, as most people with 'different' abilities are, and I haven't had any real contact with anyone over there for several decades, so I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you much about the current atmosphere. In fact, it might be best if I just send you a book on British wizarding history and culture and let you go from there."

"I'll have someone pick it up tomorrow-"

Blood interrupted, "No need." A large square tome covered in what appeared to be snake skin popped into existence at Batman's elbow.

Batman gave it a malevolent glare.

Tim's lips quirked at this latest evidence of Bruce's ongoing disgust with all things magical.

With a grunt of thanks, Batman disconnected the channel and scowled down at the book resting innocently before him.

Since the conversation was over and a soft bed was calling his name, Tim turned and headed towards the stairs leading up to the manor.

"Robin." Batman called and Tim turned back, questioningly. "The Joker is still out so I'm not free to leave Gotham, but this matter needs someone to look into it. I'm sending you and Dick to London."

Tim nodded amiably having already come to the conclusion someone other than Bruce would be looking into this matter. With the Joker loose, nothing short of an imminent global crisis would pry Batman away from protecting his beloved city.

He hesitated a moment, torn between continuing on to bed and turning back to snag Blood's book and reading a few pages first. But sleep won out and after clarifying whether Bruce would be contacting Dick or if he'd need to call him in the morning (or rather in the afternoon, since technically it was already morning), he left the cave and all thoughts of crime-fighting behind.

101010

Ron shuddered as he wiped the cobwebs from his hair. He absolutely detested spiders. And a whole troop of them had apparently decided that Grimauld Place was a perfect spot to take up residence.

"This is disgusting." He informed Harry as he brushed another web away. He'd be tempted to use an Incendio spell if he hadn't been worried about burning the whole place down. "Why is this place looking so bad? Hasn't the Order been using it for the last year?"

Beside him, methodically wiping down the seat and back of a rickety chair with a damp rag, Harry replied, "I don't know. I thought Sirius left it to the Order, but maybe they didn't actually use it."

The last week at the Dursley's had passed without incident. It was the final summer Harry would need to stay and so probably the last time he would ever set foot in the house, but his departure went unmarked by the Dursley household. They didn't appear at breakfast the morning they left and, as far as Ron could tell, Harry hadn't even noticed their lack of farewell. It bothered him in a way he couldn't describe to see just how little Harry's family cared for the boy they'd raised for sixteen years. He couldn't even begin to imagine his own parents acting so callously.

After discussing what they'd do once Harry could leave the Dursley's, each of them felt that Grimauld Place was the safest place outside of Hogwarts and the Burrow. It was protected by everything short of the Feildus Charm, which had fallen with Dumbledore's death, but they planned on restoring that as soon as Hermione flooed over from her parent's house. She'd already informed them that her parents, on her encouragement, would be taking an extended vacation to the Continent over the next few months, and because of that, she'd be later than usual arriving that morning in order to see her parents off.

However, when they'd been talking about moving in, none of them had taken into account the fact that the decrepit manor had been left unattended for several months. Even the ancient house elf Kreature, who'd disappeared after Sirius' death, had abandoned the house, and it had fallen into even gloomier disrepair than before. This meant that Ron and Harry had been greeted by dust bunnies that had mutated into dust elephants (and a few Dust Dragons who'd scuttled under the furniture when they'd stepped into the drawing room), along with several breeds of creepy crawlies, caked grim, and one very irritated portrait.

Mrs. Black's painting had screamed and ranted for a good half an hour after they'd stumbled over the threshold and, surprisingly, it hadn't been anything about 'mudbloods' or 'half-breed filth', but all about the blatant disregard the new Head of the Black Estate had toward his holding and that they needed to engage a new house elf to clean her painting immediately.

Although they could ignore her ranting, they couldn't ignore the filth and so got busy with cleaning spells and good old-fashioned elbow grease. They hoped to make two bedrooms and the kitchen livable before Hermione showed up, but since it was nearly noon and they'd barely made a dent in the kitchen, it wasn't looking likely.

"Do you think it's being magically produced?" Harry mused.

"What?" Ron grunted, casting a banishing charm at a Dust Dragon and missing. The little monster scurried under a sideboard. A spurt of water chased it back out and on the second try he managed to get the nasty creature which disappeared with a muffled pop. The water on the floor, already turning an ugly shade of brown, was likewise banished.

"The filth here. It can't have gotten this dirty this fast on its own."

"I suppose." Ron turned his attention to the sideboard itself and the decorative dishes atop it. Fine china was too delicate to use magic directly on, so he conjured a rag and swiped it over a pitcher. It turned out that under the layer of grayish dust the china had light blue patterns with darker blue etchings displaying a pastoral scene. He wondered if this was something the Blacks had bought or if someone had given it to them. It didn't seem quite their style. "Sometimes houses get a bit of their own personality. There haven't been exactly good people living here before, so it's possible the house is a bit…" He searched for the right word, "…moody. I've heard that sometimes houses sulk when their owners leave and burst the pipes or something. Or maybe Kreature did something before he left." He shrugged, "If all we have to deal with is a bit of dirt, though, I'll be happy."

"Yeah, I guess it's a good thing we've already cleaned out most of the nasty stuff." Harry agreed, referring to the month they'd spent going through odd corners of the house with Sirius and the rest of the Weasleys tossing out anything dangerous.

They continued working in silence, Harry moving from the kitchen chairs to the sink. Green slim oozing out of the drain gave off the kind of smell you might expect to find in a sewer and Ron had to wonder if he'd be able to choke down a meal prepared in this room.

Leaving the sideboard with a sparkling pitcher sitting on a polished wooden surface, Ron dared to open the pantry. What he found made is skin crawl. Spider webs coated nearly every surface, including the corpse of a pumpkin that had probably been sitting there since last October. The smell here almost rivaled that coming from the sink. Several unlabeled ceramic jars, rows of dusty glass bottles and a handful of potatoes that had taken root on the floor rounded out rest of the contents.

"Hi guys!" A chirpy voice pulled Ron from contemplating whether he dared try to figure out what was in any of the containers. Grateful for any interruption, he turned and greeted Hermione.

She was dressed in muggle clothes, a T-shirt over a pair of dark blue jeans, and hair tied back out of her face. She was grinning, so he didn't need to ask if everything at home had gone well.

"They're off and promised to send me local history books from everywhere they go."

Harry, sleeves rolled up past his elbows and sopping rag in one hand, shared a grin with Ron. "Glad to hear it. I'm sure they'll have a fantastic time."

"Yep." She bounded farther in and swung her ever-present bag onto the seat of one of the chairs Harry had recently cleaned. "And guess what I found!"

Ron's eyebrows rose in inquiry.

She pulled a book large enough to need both hands to hold from her bag. "It's the births and marriage records for the area around Hogsmeade during the time Hogwarts was being built." She beamed in pride. "We can start looking for descendants of the founders this way."

Ron gave the enormous volume a horrified look. "We'll have to read through that entire thing?"

"Oh, of course not." Hermione dismissed his concern. "Ravenclaw is the oldest of the four and her birth is recorded…" She opened it up to a page bookmarked within the first quarter of the book, "right here. She pointed at an entry and both Ron and Harry moved to her side to take a look.

Each page, in spidery script was covered in precise records, only one or two lines for each name. The line Hermione pointed at read:

Borne In the Year of our Lord 845, Rowena Ravenclaw, to Lady Pricilla and Sir Edwardian Ravenclaw.

"Year 845?" Ron asked in disbelief. "That's over a thousand years ago!"

"Yes, well, Hogwarts was built at around the year1000."

He looked back at the book in dismay. " we have to look through that to find all the rest of the Founders and their descendants?"

"No. Only Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor are in here." She flipped several pages to a second bookmark. "Here Gryffindor is." Ron didn't bother to read it. "Hufflepuff was born in Wales. We might be able to find her children in here, since obviously she moved here at some point, but we can't be sure she didn't have some children before she came here."

Ron glanced over to Harry to see him looking equally dismayed.

Catching the boy's expressions, Hermione exclaimed, "Now do you see why I think we'll need help?"

Glumly Harry nodded.

Looking quiet satisfied at Harry and Ron's new appreciation of the sheer scope of the task ahead, she admonished, "Don't worry, this is only one avenue of investigation. And I'm sure whoever Hedwig is bringing back will be able to help us."

April:

One question I had for you is whether the Batman section is too confusing as I throw out a lot of terms from their universe. It's mostly to show that they're busy and hardly anything mentioned will make a return appearance, but I don't want to make a reader ovewhelmed enough to stop reading. Although I suppose most people who get to chapter two will be interested in both universes to begin with. Anyway, another thing is that I have a night 'on the rooftops' basically summarized and I wasn't sure if that was way too boring. I didn't really want to go into a whole big action scene with Gotham villains since that's not the focus of the story, but on the other hand, I wanted to emphasize the fact that the typical night in Gotham is Busy and Batman isn't willing to leave right now.

It definitely wasn't boring, although I did wonder if it was a bit long. I'll admit I found myself skimming near the end and had to go back and make sure I read it properly. I can say it wasn't confusing at all. Well, beyond not knowing who some of the characters are. Since I suspect they won't be making major appearances, it's a moot point. Back to the length of the description – while I found myself eager to get back to the Potter bits, I came to the same thought you did: this is a cross-over. Conceivably the readers are interested in both worlds, so it's fair to give both backgrounds an equal weight.

And that brings me to my last question, at this point in the story, Dick and Tim leave Gotham to go join up with the Harry Potter characters, but Bruce stays behind and is only a minor character in the story. I'm not planning on changing that (because the way I view his character, he'd clash horribly with Harry Potter and co. and try to take over everything and to it HIS WAY) and it just wouldn't work. So, do you think that the reader would be irritated at this? It was a bit implied through chapter 1 that Batman would be a major character and while it's true that it's the Batman-universe I'm using... well do you think I should make this clear from the beginning (like in a note) that Bruce won't be a huge figure in this story?

I agree with you that making him a minor character is more organic to the story. I was surprised when we learned he wouldn't be going to London, but not irritated about it. I think in terms of pacing it works quite well, and you don't leave the reader believing his involvement will be major for very long.

As for a note, I'm torn. I'm not a big fan of author notes explaining things like this, as I feel the story should develop on its own. We don't see published author's making these kinds of disclaimers, even when they're writing fandom books (like the star wars franchise, for example). I think if you craft the summary in a particular way, this can be made without interfering with the story.

But that's just my humble opinion. If you do decide to err on the side of caution and add a note it's not a huge deal.

Thanks!

Overall I thought this was a fantastic chapter. Well balanced between the two worlds. Not perfectly balanced, but the weight on the Batman world makes sense given that they have to do a whole lot of investigation and research.

I had no issues with characterization or plot, but have littered a few reaction-type comments throughout.

Cheers! I'm really looking forward to more!