2. Change of Plans

After leaving the hotel following their conversation with Remus and Tonks, Harry and Dinah stopped by the hotel that she had stayed at to get her belongings, which were shrunk for easy carrying, and headed to get something to eat so that they could sit down and talk.

Along the way, Harry quickly noticed something peculiar though. Any time anyone so much as looked at her, Dinah appeared to get a little nervous.

He decided not to ask why she was reacting that way, but that did not mean that he simply stopped paying attention to it.

When they were only a few blocks away from the restaurant that Dinah had suggested, they heard a scream. To make matters worse, the air around them had grown cold.

Without even thinking, Harry rushed towards the source of the sound, and Dinah was not far behind him. It was strange actually finding someone that could nearly run as fast as he was. That was more than most could say, as Hermione and Ron could attest to.

At the sensation, Harry had actually believed that there was a dementor nearby, yet far enough away that he could not feel its true effects yet.

But apparently he was wrong.

The source of the scream appeared to be within a nearby bank, and he could actually see a man standing inside the bank wearing a strange suit of armor. The man's head was the only part of him that was exposed, and he was able to see that the man was bald with blue tinted skin.

But more interesting, Harry could see frost escaping his suit and he had some kind of gun that was hooked to his suit. From the looks of things, he had frozen a couple people solid using it.

"I don't have time to change into my suit," he heard Dinah mutter under her breath.

Though Harry would have rushed into the bank and knocked the guy out in the past, he knew the risks of doing something so publically without even wearing a disguise, and those risks made him pause.

It seemed that she was aware of those very risks too, and her statement gave Harry the impression that her suit was really a disguise.

"I'll buy you some time then," Harry told her, looking around. He was not too skilled with wandless magic, but he was capable of reversing the spell that shrunk her suitcase using it. He tossed her shrunken suitcase into an alleyway before doing it though. He knew that Las Vegas had too many cameras around to do something too blatant where he could be seen, after all. "Go and suit up, or whatever it is you want to do."

"You don't seriously expect me to put you in danger just to buy me some time, do you?" she asked, concern clear in her eyes.

"I'm not in as much danger as you think," Harry told her matter-of-factly. "I'd rather avoid exposing myself, but I am quite capable of looking after myself."

Though she looked conflicted, she nodded her head and headed down the alley, grabbing the suitcase as she did.

Harry walked right into the bank without looking back.

"It's colder than that bloody lake in here," Harry muttered as he walked in, remembering his experience in the Black Lake all too well.

The man in the armored suit turned and looked at him in surprise.

"You should not have come," the man said as he pointed his frost gun at Harry. "Nosy interlopers like you get people killed."

Harry eyed him carefully, assessing the dangers that the man posed against him. He knew without a doubt that the man was dangerous, but he was not as dangerous as the people that Harry was used to opposing. Compared to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the man barely ranked as a threat. As long as he did not get careless, the odds of him walking away relatively unharmed were above sixty percent. While those were not great odds to most people, they were incredible odds to Harry.

The most risky part of what he was going to do was that it could potentially put the bank's customers and employees in danger. Only the two security guards had been frozen. Excluding a teller that stood behind the counter nearly in tears, everyone else was lying on the ground.

"So, they're still alive?" he asked, looking towards a frozen security guard.

"For now," the man said as his finger reached the trigger.

"That's good to hear. In that case, I don't have to kick your ass as hard," Harry casually remarked.

With surprising speed, he left out of the way as a blast of frost shot towards him.

Using the same speed, he rushed forwards and punched the man in the face, supplementing the physical attack with a weak Banishing Charm. It was actually stronger than he expected and knocked the villain down.

He had only really started learning wandless magic over the past few weeks, so any success was a good thing in his opinion.

He was forced to jump to the side again as another blast of frost was shot at him.

Though he had been knocked down, his enemy appeared to be quite capable of using the gun even sitting down.

"That was a close one, Popsicle. I barely dodged it that time," Harry said in the most dramatic voice he could manage.

He knew that he needed to rile the man up and keep him distracted until Dinah showed up. The last thing he needed was for the guy to remember that there were other people in the room that he could use his gun on.

"I tire of your insolence. You threaten my Nora by wasting my time. I will show you why Gotham City fears Mr. Freeze."

"Nice monologue, but I'm not threatening anyone. I'm just being a good samaritan."

Those words seemed to anger the man even more, but he was unable to say anything further as everyone in the room heard a high pitched screech.

Harry was not even sure how she had managed it, but Dinah had managed to enter the bank and get behind Mr. Freeze. She then proceeded to use a more powerful version of her Canary Cry to send throw him towards Harry. Even before Harry side-stepped the flying man, he was already unconscious. Hairline fractures could be seen in the man's suit.

If not for the fact that Harry's glasses were spelled to be nearly unbreakable, he had a feeling that they would have been shattered. Yet, the frozen security guards did not seem to be affected at all. It seemed that she could narrow her Canary Cry so that it hit a specific target.

Looking at Dinah, Harry could not help but feel surprised.

If not for the fact that he had recognized her ability, he would never have realized that he was looking at Dinah. Her long brunette hair was gone, replaced by short blonde hair. Black make-up had been applied around her eyes to resemble a mask. In addition to that, she wore a long-sleeve black jacket with some yellow on it, black shorts, and black leather boots with some yellow on them.

"Thanks for saving the day," he said, letting out a soft whistle.

As if on cue, people began to stand up and thank her for saving them from Mr. Freeze.

During the affair, Harry had slipped out of the bank and applied a Disillusionment Charm on him.

Once he was effectively invisible, he re-entered the bank and began to free the frozen security guards. Turning ice to water was a simple enough transfiguration spell, but it was the only one that he knew of that could free them. He barely managed the task with his wand, but he still succeeded.

While he went about his task, he could not help but smile at seeing Dinah in her hero persona. It looked as though she was made for the position.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his wife's voice.

"I'm sorry, but it is time for me to go," Dinah said. As she spoke, the sound of police sirens began to fill the area.

Though they seemed to wish that she would stay longer, everyone present looked at her gratefully.

It reminded him of the way people looked at him but severely toned down. They saw her as a hero.

It was strange to consider that she could be looked at as a hero in that moment and then change how she looked so radically that people only saw her as an attractive but normal woman.

In a way, she had the best of both world.

But more importantly, he saw an important facet of her character in that moment. She could have reveled in their praise and even saved the day as herself, but she did not seem to be in it for the glory or praise. She did look a little proud when she heard the praise, but even he felt a little pride when someone praised him.

Harry followed Dinah away from the bank and found her just as she reached her suitcase in a place where it was unlikely that anyone would see them.

"So, what do they call you?" Harry asked as he became visible.

She looked startled by his sudden approach, not having sensed him before that moment.

Once she recovered from her shock, she answered, "Black Canary."

"Fitting," Harry told her, and he was not joking in the slightest. "Well, what do you say you get changed and we get something to eat?"

"I'd like that, but you turn around while I get dressed."

He decided not to say anything about the fact that they had already slept together, were married, or that she had teased him quite a bit earlier, instead turning his back to her. It was only polite, after all.

A few minutes later, she was dressed in her regular clothes with her wig back on. Her suitcase had been shrunk once again and was in Harry's pocket.

"It might be best if we don't stay in town too much longer," she told him as they began to walk down the street. "There is someone out there that is aware of my identity. The whole reason that I came here in the first place was to lay low."

"And because you just made a public appearance and there were cameras, they will know that you came here?" Harry asked, making her look surprised. She simply nodded her head in confirmation.

"How would you like to take a trip to England?" Harry asked as they walked.

"They would know I was there," she pointed out. "I avoided flying after my identity was discovered because I could have been tracked."

"Don't worry about it so much," Harry told her. "I can get you there without anyone knowing that you even left the country. It is slightly illegal, but as long as we weren't caught, it wouldn't matter."

Dinah had a good feeling that whatever he was suggesting was only illegal in the magical world. Even if it was not, she likely would have accepted his offer. Getting away from Vegas was more important at the moment.

"After we get something to eat, we'll get out of here then. The trip won't last long, but I'd like to talk to you before we make it."

"Alright," she told him, nodding her head in acceptance. "Lead the way."

They did not end up going to the restaurant that Dinah had originally suggested, instead choosing to go to somewhere on the other end of town.

The restaurant was not exactly private, but a couple murmured spells allowed him to prevent anyone from overhearing what they said or even paying attention to them. It was not something he preferred to do at restaurants since it stopped waitresses from checking on him, but not having anything to drink was not as important as having a discussion with Dinah.

Fortunately, he had waited until their food had been placed on the table before he cast the spells though.

"I have more to tell you at the moment than you can tell me, so before I start talking, I'd like to hear more about why you're in hiding."

She let out a soft sigh when she heard his words. "I do owe you an explanation, but there are details that I can't tell you because it would mean betraying my friends' trust."

"Then tell me what you can," Harry said, placing a reassuring hand on top of hers. "I'm not asking you to break their confidence, but I need to know exactly what you've got yourself involved in."

She began to tell him her story at that point.

Apparently, she had been hired by a man named Lex Luthor to stop a group of individuals from stealing information from him in the early months of the year. During the course of the job, she had learned that he was just using her to recover information that could cause serious harm to innocent people, so she ended up joining that group of individuals.

She did not tell him the names of those individuals, only saying that they went by the code names of Green Arrow, Impulse, Cyborg, and Aquaman.

In June, her secret identity, along with that of Aquaman, was compromised. As a result, Tess Mercer, the current CEO of Luthorcorp, knew who they really were. Because of that, they were forced to go into hiding. Despite their secret identities remaining secret, Green Arrow, Impulse, and Cyborg were also laying low just to be safe.

Harry was well aware that she only told him the basics, but he understood her desire to keep secrets. He had no intention of revealing all of her secrets to her either. But she did need to know some details.

"I have some business I need to take care of back home, so leaving the country and keeping a low profile for a little while won't be a problem. But if we are going back there, there's something about me that you really need to know."

"Like what?" she asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Remember what Remus told you about the First and Second Wizarding Wars?" Harry asked, growing serious.

"Yeah, they were instigated by someone who called himself Lord Voldemort. Both wars ended as a result of one of his spells rebounding and vanquishing him, though only the second time was permanent," Dinah said, summing up what she had been told.

"You were told very little about what really happened in the wars… not that you weren't told the truth. You just didn't hear the whole truth," Harry told her with a slight frown. "Eighteen years old, a child was born to two loving parents. Unfortunately, the circumstances of his birth marked him as the Chosen One, the child that was prophesized to vanquish Lord Voldemort. The leaders of both sides of the war knew that too, and so Voldemort chose to kill the child before he could grow up and vanquish him. Though both of the child's parents died, Voldemort failed to kill him. His mother sacrificed her life to place a special protective spell on him, causing Voldemort's spell to rebound and vanquish him for a time."

Dinah looked enthralled by the tale. She actually appeared as though she wanted to ask questions, but she held her tongue in favor of listening.

"Eleven years later, that child started attending a school for wizards and witches. In the six years that followed that, he had encounters with Voldemort and his servants. In his fourth year, Voldemort regained his body. In his fifth year, the Second Wizarding War officially began. And in his sixth year, the Leader of the Light, the one man that had been considered Voldemort's equal, was murdered. He did not attend the school for his seventh year, instead beginning on a quest that would end Voldemort. In May of this year, he succeeded. Voldemort was defeated in the Battle of Hogwarts, and the Second Wizarding War came to an end."

She knew that he had skipped so much in that brief summarization, but Dinah remained patient. She had a suspicion of why he had told her all of that, despite how much she hoped that she was wrong.

"That boy's name was Harry Potter."

It seemed that she had been correct.

From what he was saying, he had been the reason that both wars had come to an end. She could not even begin to fathom how strong if he had actually managed it too.

"I am not a hero," Harry told her, easily figuring out what she was thinking. "He was defeated the first time because my mother was cunning, and he was defeated the second time because the Leader of the Light, Albus Dumbledore, was a genius. A bit of a bastard, but a genius. He manipulated things so well that it appeared as though I was the one to defeat Voldemort in spite of my incompetence."

The aggravation in his eyes completely caught Dinah off guard.

"If I had fought Voldemort head-on, he would have easily killed me. Even with Dumbledore's manipulations, I only survived because of luck."

If not for the fact that he had become the true owner of the Elder Wand, he had no doubt that Voldemort would have killed him. Voldemort would have still died that day, but it would have been a joint effort of everyone that he had fought alongside of at the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Even if he manipulated you, you couldn't have succeeded without at least some skill," Dinah pointed out, shaking her head.

"It didn't take nearly as much skill as you might think," Harry told her. "Don't get the wrong impression though. I really do respect the man, even if he did manipulate me like he did. Without him, I'm sure the casualties would have been worse. That doesn't mean I particularly like him though."

Six months ago, he would never have said that. He had nearly worshipped the man, but he had come to see things a little differently since Voldemort's defeat and he had time to think. Apparently, Aberforth Dumbledore really did know his brother better than any other.

"That doesn't really matter," Harry said, shaking his head. "What matters is that the Wizarding World doesn't see me like just another person. They look at me and see a hero… a savior. While it's bloody annoying as hell, it is pretty harmless. For me, at least. Things may be a bit different for you, however."

"Am I in danger?" she asked calmly. She was not worried in the least, apparently.

"Maybe. Some girls will be jealous of you, and that may try to act on that jealousy. Being my wife would be a symbol of status to most witches, and I am very wealthy. Without either of those, this problem wouldn't exist," Harry told her honestly. "I don't plan on spending too much time in the public eye, so as long as we stay together while we are in public, it shouldn't be a problem at all. I know it's not fun to have to stay around someone anytime you're in public, but-"

"I don't mind having to stay around you… provided you don't try to be overprotective. I'm not familiar with your world, so it's only natural I'd choose to stick around my tour guide. I'll trust you when it comes to this, but don't expect me to be subservient. I will listen to you, but I'm a big girl and can handle myself."

"Agreed," Harry said, nodding his head in understanding. He had told her that he could look after himself and expected her to believe him, so it was only logical that he was expected to do the same thing.

"So is there anything else I should know before we leave?" Dinah asked, pushing her mostly empty plate forward.

"Probably, but it can wait. We don't have to leave my place for a few days. I'm not even expected back for another week," Harry told her as he pushed his plate away as well.

"How how exactly are we going to get to England?" Dinah asked, apparently satisfied by the previous answer.

"Portkey," Harry answered with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Though she had no idea what that meant, she had a good feeling that she was going to find out and then wish that she never had the experience.

Just a few minutes later, the pair left the restaurant and ducked into a dark alley.

Once they were sure that they were out of sight, Harry pointed his wand at an empty soda can and muttered, "Portus."

On the count of three, the pair touched the can and were whisked away to Harry's residence in London.

Author's Note: The first chapter didn't get as great of a reception as I had hoped, but that could just be because of how often this challenge is attempted without it getting past the first chapter or two. So I thought I'd go against my normal rules and update this story now. I'd normally wait until it had at least ten reviews, which is why I haven't updated despite having finished the second chapter within 24 hours of posting the story, but it does me no good just sitting on my computer.

I'll also admit that I was starting to forget that I hadn't updated yet. It was only the email I received from the site about the character additions that I requested be added to the Smallville filter (which has added Batman, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, and a few other characters) that reminded me that I hadn't posted this yet.

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing.