Book One:
Harry's Eleven and the Mirror's Secrets
The Best Present Ever
"SURPRISE!"
Harry woke up, fumbling around for his glasses, and looked up into the smiling faces of his family. Uncle Uncle Rusty had a huge cake for him, shaped like Ascot. His friend Richie and his father were both there too.
He really shouldn't have been surprised. He'd found the receipt for the cake yesterday. But… but he'd just realized…
This was the first birthday he'd spend with 'Daddy' Ocean.
"Happy birthday son." Ocean pulled Harry into a hug.
For the past four years, he'd been in jail. The two of them had been so close, Danny teaching Harry all of the tools of his trade. But Danny had made the mistake of bringing Harry along on one heist; the Ceasar Casino heist. Harry wasn't ready, and after a bit too much a bit too soon, Harry made on small mistake that ended up ending Danny.
Tess was furious for a long, long while, even moving next door to her grandfather in England just to be away from Danny. But after the four years were up, Harry helped them get back together again, even setting up the heist that still had Scotland Yard baffled; the theft of 70,000,000 Pounds from Ascot.
Harry returned the hug wholeheartedly. "No arguments there." He said.
Harry was left along to get dressed, picking out his favorite Superman T-shirt, and went downstairs. Half of the school was there, along with most of his daddy's crew. Harry was a pretty popular kid. There was a huge banner spread across the yard, reading 'Happy Birthday Harry!' and a cake that was five times the size of the one he was presented with in his bedroom.
Harry got several mystery novels and model building supplies. Richie got him some clothes (privately revealing they were bullet-proof clothes from his dad's personal scientist) and Dick Grayson got him a satellite phone that could get a signal absolutely anywhere on the planet guaranteed.
And, of course, Mr. Rich had airlifted a life-sized pirate ship into his backyard.
"First mate Richard!" Harry bellowed, wearing a bandana, a cutlass, and a fake hook hand.
"Aaargh, present and accounted fer me Captain!" Richie Stood next to him, wearing an eye patch. "The crew is ready to loot Frenchies and chew bubble-gum!"
"And why, praytell, can we not do both First Mate Richard? Second Mate Richard!" He called up to the bird's nest. "Hand out the Bubble Gum! Not one of my crew goes into battle without it!"
"Aye-aye Captain!" Dick Grayson swung through the ropes and canvases with a practiced ease that would have put Peter Pan to shame. He grabbed a sack and tossed it to the crew, spilling Willy Wonka's golden bubble gum coins among the mock pirates.
"Captain Ocean sir!" One of the girls looking through a spyglass called. "Looks like one-eyed Bart is approaching from the Port bow!"
"One-eyed Bart is already here young missy!" Harry's grizzled old neighbor called up to them. "You'd best be quicker on that spyglass in the future, or anybody could sneak up on you!"
Harry quickly ran over to the port side. Then to his other port side. "Mad-eye!" He called happily. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard the sounds of children screaming, and I came to see if I could help!"
"Help with the screaming, or help with stopping the screaming?"
Alastair 'Mad-eye' Moody was, possibly, the most pirate-like person Harry knew. He was Tess' grandfather, a retired Scotland Yard officer who looked like he'd been in more fights than twenty soldiers were in their entire lives; his whole body was covered in scars and stitches, a good chunk of his nose was missing, he had a silver peg leg that ended in ferocious lion claws, and he had an eyepatch. But that wasn't why Harry thought he was the most pirate-like person he knew.
His dad had taught him how to recognize the bulge when somebody was wearing a gun under their clothes. He'd saw the same bulges underneath Moody's Hawaiian shirt, and when questioned, Moody pulled out four guns. The first, he said, was for a psychological edge. It was big, and it could stop a wild bear, but it was inaccurate and he would only use it to scare punks. The second was the one he would use in most situations; it held twelve rounds of ammunition, and it would never jam, not even underwater or in the mud. The third gun was long-distance, built for accuracy, in case he needed to shoot somebody really far away. And the fourth gun, he said, was filled with 'special ammunition' for 'special occasions'.
He said he couldn't tell Harry what they were, because his enemies might torture him to find out if they knew he knew!
His walking staff had secret compartments filled with every useful gadget Harry could think of. And Moody claimed he hadn't even shown Harry all of them. Moody told Harry he had three knives in his boots at all times, and Harry had only ever been able to find the Bowie, even when Mad-eye was in another room and he had the boot to examine all for himself. That was why he was the most pirate-like person Harry had ever known.
He was grade A crazy.
"Would ye care to join me crew One-eye!" Harry asked.
"Not right now lad." Mad-eye said with a twisted grin. "Although I do have a present for you when you're ready. Swing by my house with your parents whenever you're done playing with your friends."
"Who was that?" Dick said, hanging down by a couple of ropes.
"He's our neighbor." Harry explained.
"He feels like some people I've met in Gotham." Dick said. "He's dangerous."
"Well yeah." Harry said, because it was obvious. "He says he's retired from Scotland yard, but they ask him for help in big cases because he's too good to let go. That's what he's said, but he keeps telling me not to believe what everybody tells him. I mean, he's crazy. So, yeah, dangerous." Harry returned to the helm of his ship. "Does the crew have their bubble gum! Good! We sail for the Bahamas!" His birthday guests let out an uproarious cheer.
It was the best birthday Harry had ever had. Made even more special because his daddy was there to celebrate it with him and all of his friends.
Towards the end of the day, all of his friends from school had headed home, and the Waynes had taken their helicopter back to Gotham. Mr. Rich and Rusty were shooting pool, and Harry was playing Richie's latest virtual reality game with daddy Ocean (and beating him into the ground) when he was interrupted.
"What did Grandpa want when he came over this morning?" Tess asked.
Harry wasn't in the habit of forgetting a future appointment. "He said he had a present for me when I had time to come over." He took off his virtual reality helmet for a brief glance out the window. "I was thinking of going over around sunset."
"Well that's nice of him." Tess smiled. "He's never gotten you a birthday present before."
"He says birthdays are only celebrations of one more year you haven't died yet. And I don't think he likes them, what with last Christmas."
"What happened last Christmas?" Danny asked, taking his own helmet off.
"I gave him a present." Harry shrugged. "I stuck around to see it opened, and he put it through two bomb detectors, and explained every way he could think of hiding a trap inside it to me. When he did open it, he put on protective gear first."
"What did you get him?" Danny asked, amused and curious.
"I got him some of my favorite Arsene Lupin novels." Harry said.
"And what did he think?"
"I saw him making new additions to his house to ensure nobody like Lupin could get in."
"Tess, are you sure he's safe?" Ocean asked.
"Oh yes." Tess said. "Grandpa was always suspicious presents, even when I was a kid."
"How safe?" Danny had never met Moody before.
"On a scale of one to ten, one being a police-man, and ten being your uncle Rodriguez, I'd list him at three. Come on Harry, it's getting dark. We should go see what Moody's got for you."
The three of them set off to the house next door. It was an old house, but it was well kept. The door opened before they reached the front porch. "Come in, come in." Moody gestured.
As the entered, Moody's cane shot out, blocking Danny Ocean. "So, you're the man who thinks he's good enough for my little girl." He growled.
"Grandpa…" Tess said, but Moody held up a hand to stop her.
"I suppose I don't have a say in the matter." He growled. "But if you hurt her again, I'm always looking for ways to slip my enemies poison, and I know a few who would pay handsomely for barbecued heart of human." He pulled his staff back and retreated back into the house.
"Tess, are you sure Harry's safe with him?" Ocean asked.
"Well, safe from anybody trying to hurt him." Tess said confidently, even as she flushed from embarrassment.
As they followed Moody into the dining room, they were met with a peculiar sight; a huge, enormous man, roughly the size of an elephant, was sitting down on one of the chairs which was creaking under his weight. His face was covered in an expanse of curly black hair, with only two beady eyes peeking out from under it. He wore old fashioned clothes, boots that could fit Harry's head inside of them, and a jacket with more pocket than he cared to count.
Moody picked up his present from the table where the giant sat. "Here you go." He said, handing it to Harry. "Don't worry they aren't fragile. Harry, I'd like to you to meet a friend of mine."
"Rubeus Hagrid." The giant leaned forward, and Harry let his hand get lost in the giant's surprisingly gentle shake. "Groundkeeper at Hogwarts school. I got you something." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a squashed present. "'Fraid I might've sat on it at some point, but no harm done I reckon."
Harry unwrapped Moody's present first, producing a pair of mirrors. "What are these?" He asked.
"Two-way mirrors." Moody said. "Just look in one, and you'll see out of the other, and vice versa. Instant communication."
Harry felt his mom's hand stiffen on his shoulder. "Thanks Grandpa." He said, and then he unwrapped the giant's present.
It was a photograph book. It was filled with pictures of people, two people in particular. And they were moving.
"What's this?" He asked Hagrid as he flipped through the book with awe.
"Well, Mad-eye here said you didn't have any pictures of yer parents." Hagrid said. Harry froze, and looked up at him. "So I asked around. You look so much like yer father you know. Except for yer eyes… you have yer mother's eyes."
"How do you know Harry's parents?" Ocean asked.
"How did you know my parents?" Harry asked simultaneously.
"Oh Grandpa, must you always make my life so bizarre?" Tess moaned.
"Well you were constantly vigilant like your grandpa had taught you, you'd have seen this coming." Moody said.
"I think you two had better sit down if this is what I think it is." Tess said, gesturing to the chairs.
"Did you know my parents?" Harry asked in shock.
"No, no." Tess said. "It's nothing like that, it's just… I'm going to let Grandpa explain it."
The three sat down. Mad-Eye Moody got up, and began pacing around the room, his heavy boot and his peg leg making peculiar sounds. "Now, the first thing you need to know, is that magic exists, and a select few people can use it."
"Ridiculous." Ocean scoffed.
"Exactly." Moody grinned, pointing at Ocean. "Exactly. Nobody believes we exist. Because we've told them we don't exist! We've convinced them that anybody who believes we exist is crazy. We have our own system of government, which reports only to the queen herself; no other member of the royal family is aware of our existence, and the Prime Minister is only aware of us as a courtesy. We have schools, we have hidden countries, we have whole wars that go unnoticed. And if anybody tells anybody else, then they're assumed to be mad."
"I think there's a prime example of that right in front of me." Ocean said.
Mad-eye pulled out his wand and muttered an enchantment. Harry stared in awe as a chair turned into a large dog.
"Impressive mirror work." Ocean said. "Or did you use trapdoors?"
Moody pointed his wand and raised him off the ground. "Where are the wires?"
Moody growled. "Hold up some fingers behind your back." Ocean did as he was told. "Three, and a thumb."
"Did you do that with mirrors, or is there a third person giving you signals?" Ocean asked, confused.
Moody tore off his eye patch and Harry saw why he called himself 'Mad-eye'. "I did it with my magical eye that can see through anything." He said, completely serious.
"Sure." Ocean said, still with skepticism.
Moody growled out another incantation. Ocean jumped upside down and stood on his head.
"How did you learn hypnotism?" Ocean asked.
Moody was beginning to show frustration. "Okay hotshot, how about this?" And he set Danny on fire.
"Daddy!" Harry yelled involuntarily.
"Grandpa what have you done!" Tess screamed.
Danny screamed out of sheer reflex, but stopped suddenly. "That's… odd. I don't feel like I'm burning."
"That's because you aren't." Moody grunted. "It's Uqhart's unburning fire. Now how do you explain that?"
"Hypnotism?" Ocean said. Harry thought his daddy sounded like he was grasping at straws now.
Moody turned off the fire and threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "Muggles."
"Muggles?" A completely unscorched Ocean asked.
"Yes. Muggles. People who can't use magic. People who insist on denying the obvious truth right in front of them out of some sense of superiority."
"Tess, what's going on?"
"It's just like he says Danny." Tess said, her head resting in her shaking hands. "Exactly as he says."
"But even if a race of wizards did exist, why wouldn't we have haerd about them before now?" Danny scoffed.
"Well, about the quarter of the wizard population don't want to let muggles know about them because they think muggles are soulless dirt-scratching animals. The other three-quarters don't want to tell the muggles because they're afraid if they do, the other quarter will realize that muggles are actually human beings, and the realization will drive them into a war."
"Muggles?" Ocean's hands made frantic gestures at Tess. "Are you hearing this! Muggles! What sort of mind would come up with this sort of stuff?"
"Exactly." Mad-eye said. "That's how you should know I'm not lying."
"This is… this is…"
"This is why I didn't tell you before now."
Tess' tears seemed to shake Danny up more than Moody's attempts at showing him magic. "Dad." Harry said, hoping to salvage this (he really didn't want to rob from Ascot again). "Remember when you told me never to raise my voice? Because it meant that something was happening that you couldn't control, and instead of confronting it you were running from it?"
"Al…right." Ocean said still watching his wife. "All right. Either magic really exists, and there's a secret society of wizards living under our noses the whole time calling us 'Muggles'… or the love of my life is part of an incredibly complex con… involving my adopted son…"
"Two roads lie before you." Mad-eye grinned. "One is mad, the other is just insane."
"Yeah…" Danny rubbed the back of his neck and sat back down next to Tess. He squeezed her hand gently, and their eyes met. They smiled. "Alright." He said. "Alright. Tell us more about wizards. Is Tess a…" He turned to her. "Are you a wizard? Not that there's anything wrong with that..."
"No." Mad-eye said. "Her mother was a Squib. That's what we call someone born to a wizard, but incapable of using magic. Tess is a muggle, like you."
"Are those the politically correct words?" Harry asked. Something about referring to people as 'Squibs' or 'Muggles' was offensive, instead of calling them 'people'.
"Of course." Mad-eye said. "Now, I'm no retired Scotland Yardy. I'm a retired Auror. Magic police. Of course, I'm not so much retired as I've gotten so good that they only need me for the very hardest of jobs. Like protecting young Harry here from Voldemort."
"Shhhhh!" Hagrid said fearfully.
Mad-eye rolled his eye. "You'll get used to that Harry. A lot of wizards are still scared witless 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'."
"Who's Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"You shouldn't be telling him this!" Hagrid said in shock.
"Voldemort's the dark wizard who killed your parents!" Mad-eye said, triumphantly over Hagrid. "And some damn fools will try to keep this story from you, to keep your delicate eleven year old sensibilities from being traumatized by what you'll probably learn anyways, if any of your classmates have read a book about you."
"Woah, wait." Ocean held up his hand. "Somebody's trying to kill Harry?" Harry could hear the edge in his voice; the 'mess with my son, and I will destroy you' edge.
"Well yeah." Mad-eye said. "And even if there weren't, it's always good to assume. So when Harry left the protection of the Dursleys…"
"They were abusing him." Tess and Danny said simultaneously.
"What!" Hagrid roared, looking shocked at the very idea.
"He was more protected than you know." Mad-eye growled. "Okay, could everybody stop interrupting so I can start from the beginning?"
"So, Voldemort." Hagrid gasped. "Oh, stop it Hagrid. Voldemort lead a band of high-profile wizards called the Death Eaters and they laid siege to magical Britain. Dumbledore and I gathered together and Order composed specifically to stop them and included your parents young Mr. Potter. We made some headway; we managed to keep the Ministry from being overrun, and forced the Death eaters into using guerilla tactics instead of challenging us outright. But he was still winning. More people were dying every day. Anybody could have been a Death Eater, and that fear was swallowing magical Britain whole, like a snake."
"But then, and please hold in your skepticism Mr. Ocean…"
"You really shouldn't be telling him this." Hagrid said. "He's just a child."
Moody grimaced. "You don't give him enough credit Hagrid. He used to live with much more horrible people than my grand-daughter. He's no stranger to hardship, and trying to protect him from more pain will only hurt him more." His eye turned to Harry. "I suppose I should ask though. Do you want to know what happened to your parents? Everybody else knows, you'll probably find out anyway."
"I… want to know." Harry was still a little skeptical, but the people in the moving picture book did look like him.
"Your parents made themselves a target." Moody said. "There was a prophecy about a kid who would defeat Voldemort, and the enemy heard about it before Dumbledore could nip the spy in the bud. The prophecy claimed to know the person who would defeat Voldemort. The details allowed us to narrow it down to two options." He looked down on Harry grimly. "And you were one of them. Your parents, and the parents of the other boy, went into hiding. But unlike them, your parents didn't stay hidden. They continued working for the order while in hiding. So Voldemort attacked them first."
"Nobody knows what happened that night. You were the only witness. All we know is what we managed to gather from Voldemort and your parent's wands; Voldemort came into Godric's Hollow. He fought an impressive duel with your father, and then killed your mother outright. And then he cast a killing curse at you and… you somehow survived."
Moody frowned. "Nobody's ever survived a killing curse before. Whatever happened, Hagrid pulled you out of the ruins of your house that night, with nothing to show from your near death experience but that scar."
Harry's hand shot up to his forehead. He'd always wondered about his scar. "So how did I end up with… the Dursleys?"
"Well, your first godfather is in prison, your other godfather is a werewolf, and while the rest of the wizarding world jump at the chance to adopt somebody so famous, Dumbledore was worried that they would spoil you rotten, so he sent you to your only living relatives, the Dursleys."
"Well, I'm sure they would have done a great job of preventing me from being spoiled." Harry glowered.
"You remember Ms. Figg?"
"The cat lady who always invited me over to tea?" Harry asked.
"She was a spy from Dumbledore to make sure you were alright. She was to ensure that the Dursleys never treated you too horribly, to invite you over often and relieve you of the pressure, and get you the hell out of there if they started getting too abusive. Dumbledore's already had to resort to blackmail to get them to keep you in the first place, because of some powerful ritual magic that your mother put on you to protect you. However, things have worked out nicely. I've put the same ritual on my own children, meaning you not only have the same protection as long as you're with my Tess, but you've got me looking after you instead of Ms. Figg, and… well, I guess you're a little spoiled. But two out of three isn't bad, as long as you're not in a life and death situation."
Harry was stunned. All these years he'd thought it was just senseless suffering, but there was actually a plan behind it? "But if Voldemort is looking for me…" Harry began to ask.
"He isn't." Mad-eye said. "When his killing curse backfired, he died instead of you. My job is to keep you safe from Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters. I think, personally, a wizard like him? He'll be back. But I think Hagrid might have a nervous breakdown if I tell him some of my theories about how Voldemort might be alive. Anyways, that just about sums up why you are where you are. Now, the reason I'm telling you all this." He turned to the giant. "Hagrid?"
Hagrid's eyes had teared up around the part where Harry's parents had died. He reached into his pocket, and produced a handkerchief, and then a letter that looked like it had been nibbled on by a mouse or two. In bright emerald ink on the envelope was inscribed the receiver of the Letter; Harry Potter, 12 King's Drive, The Bedroom with a view.
Harry's hand shook as he opened it. It was an invitation to a magical school called Hogwarts. The invitation listed various schoolbooks whose authors sometimes sounded like puns, and asked that he bring a cauldron. The invitation warned him not to bring a broomstick to school for the first year, but accepted owls, cats, and toads for pets. And the invitation wanted him to send a reply by owl.
"I… uh… yes." Harry said. His heart was pounding excitedly, and he was barely restraining a cry for joy. Then he realized what he just said, and the pounding in his chest became more pronounced."Yes. Yes!" He jumped out of his seat. "Yes! Are you telling me that I'm wanted for a magical school! To learn magic?" He felt like his smile would tear his face right off. "Yes! Yes! A hundred times yes!"
"Harry, are you sure you know what you're doing?" His dad asked, looking at him curiously."
"Of course I do. I'm going on an adventure. I'm exploring new frontiers. I'm going to meet new people, and learn new things, and do new things. I'm going to explore Hogwarts from top to bottom, I'm going to find out what my first parents were like, and I'm going to be the best that I can be! I'm going to do every exciting thing I've ever dreamed of doing, and I'm going to do it with a flair, and I'm going to be the greatest magician in the world! And if this is all some sort of elaborate con, than Mom and Grandpa have earned their right to con me because this has been without a doubt the best birthday present ever!"
Ocean looked at his son, with a strange mixture of pride, worry, and confusion. "Well, as long as you know what you're doing."
A/N: Mad-eye Moody. He doesn't get the chance to do much during the books, but I think the fact that it took Voldemort to finally bring him down says something. As for Batman and Robin; This Batman has the same origin story as the Dark Knight (trained by Ras Al Ghul, etc), but like most DC based characters in this fic will mostly be like his version from the DCAU. Robin, on the other hand, is like how he is in Young Justice when he's Dick Grayson, but when he's Robin expect him to be like he is in Teen Titans. Also, I've divided this story into seven books. The overall story will be calls Harry's Eleven and the Dark Knights, but each book will have an alternate title. Read and Review!