CHAPTER 3:

CLEARING THE AIR

"So you looked into our minds?" Sirius asked the green-skinned teenager, once Harry and Kori had introduced themselves.

"As a precaution. Normally, I try to avoid doing that to allies or civilians, but you were unknowns, and we wanted to be sure of Harry's character and intentions," she replied.

"Also, you're a wanted fugitive in the UK, Black," Raven pointed out, her voice a soft, low rasp. "While the case wasn't wholly proven, we had to be sure. At the very least, M'gann believes you have no ill intentions towards us, and my empathic abilities have confirmed that, at least to some degree."

"Well, aren't you going to introduce yourselves?" Fred asked.

"Hermione and Harry might know of you, but we don't," George said.

Robin looked at his comrades, before he nodded. "I'll introduce us. I'm not going to divulge my real name, though the others may. I'm Robin."

"I'm M'gann Morss, but most call me Miss Martian," the green-skinned girl said.

"I'm Rachel, but I prefer Raven," Raven said.

"And I am Koriand'r, though in your tongue, it means 'Starfire'," Kori said.

"Very well. I am Sirius Black, that is Nymphadora Tonks…OW! Dora!"

"Don't. Call me. Nymphadora," Tonks snarled, having kicked Sirius' shin.

"It means 'gift of the nymphs'," Raven remarked. "What's your problem with it?"

"My problem is that I got teased for it."

"Lucky you," Raven said dryly.

"Anyway," Sirius said, wincing at his bruised shin, "that's Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger, and these two are..."

"We're Fred Weasley…"

"And George Weasley…"

"Pranksters extraordinaire at your service, ladies and gentleman," Fred and George chorused, bowing.

After a moment, Robin said, "Well, if you're nothing like the Joker, we're cool."

Now, Fred and George knew only a little about the superheroes and their adversaries, but even they had heard of the infamous 'Clown Prince of Crime' who fought the Batman. "Certainly not," Fred said, offended.

"We're actually funny," George added.

"Not to mention we don't kill people with our pranks," Fred concluded.

"He's a fourth-rate murderous hack," they chorused.

Raven looked like she was struggling not to facepalm. Robin looked like he was trying not to laugh at the Joker being called a fourth-rate hack. M'gann and Kori were giggling slightly.

"Well, shall we take this somewhere more comfortable?" Sirius suggested.

"I see," Raven said, contemplating what they had just been told. "So I was right in suspecting the British Ministry to be in denial, and Voldemort is indeed once more amongst the living. And Fudge is running a smear campaign against you and Dumbledore. What is it about magic and powers that cause the follies of humans to become magnified?"

"That was a little poetic, Rachel," Kori said, from where she was sitting next to Harry. He actually found himself enjoying her presence, so warm and friendly after the initial awkwardness. Not that the awkwardness had gone away completely, but it was less than before.

"It was accidental, I assure you." She looked up at Sirius. "What is Dumbledore doing about this?"

"Overtly, there is little he can do. While he holds three positions, he's already lost one, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and his hold on the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW is looking shaky. Dumbledore's influence is on the wane thanks to the Death Eaters lining Fudge's pockets."

"It sounds a lot like what happened in Gotham before Batman came along," Robin said, folding his arms as he leaned against a wall in the living room.

"It's both not as bad as Gotham, and yet worse, from what I know," Sirius said. "Crime isn't quite as rife in Magical Britain, but corruption and bribery are widespread. So too is nepotism. Not all of the Purebloods throwing money around are Death Eaters or their sympathisers, though. Unfortunately, Voldemort and his followers know how to play the game. Dumbledore, unofficially, has brought back the Order of the Phoenix, a vigilante group of sorts meant to fight the Death Eaters. However, at the moment, Dumbledore's restricted their activities to reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering, though he's also having people keep an eye on the Department of Mysteries."

Raven looked sharply at Sirius, before she asked, "A prophecy?"

After a moment, Sirius nodded. "I don't know the details, only that Lily and James believed it enough to go into hiding. I'm not sure it's the prophecy Voldemort wants, Dumbledore won't say, and there's a lot of things rumoured to be in there that could be used as weapons. But…"

"Wait a moment, prophecies are real?" Robin asked.

"Yes, though true Seers are rare," Sirius said. "And sometimes, prophecies only come true if you act on them."

"The story of Oedipus being a case in point," Raven remarked. "Not to mention Perseus. And there was what happened to King Croesus of Lydia, who was told a great kingdom would fall if he tried to conquer Persia. He thought that Persia was the great kingdom, but it was actually his own."

"So, we have a wizard who is capable of holding his own against a Tamaranean hybrid at least," M'gann mused. "It's bad luck that this contract has come into play at the time when this warlock's come back from the grave."

"Look, I brought it up for a few reasons. The first is that Harry is being slandered by the Ministry, and they will use any opportunity they can to get him kicked out of Hogwarts," Sirius said. "The second is, frankly, Harry deserves some good news in his life, and while this whole contract thing is a shock, I think it might go some way to helping him. The third is, frankly, Harry hasn't been trained as much as he could have been. Dumbledore insists on giving Harry a 'normal life', but…well, he's placed with abusive relatives, and with Voldemort on the rise, he needs as much training as he can."

Robin got the point quickly. "You want him to train with us."

"If that's possible, or at least Koriand'r. I also know there's magic users on the Justice League, and then there's you, Raven, so…"

"I can't train him in much," Raven said. "My magic is, for the most part, very different and incompatible with yours, for various reasons."

"Oh, what are those?" Hermione asked.

Raven fixed her with an unamused look. "Personal reasons," she said coldly. Hermione knew to back off then.

"How fit are you physically?" Robin asked, walking over to Harry and peering at him.

"Fairly. I'm not physically strong, but I can run fairly fast," Harry said, scowling inwardly when he thought of why. Namely Dudley and his gang playing games of 'Harry-hunting'. "Then again, that might have changed when I've got my heritage unlocked. I don't feel any different, and I haven't broken anything, but…"

Sirius, after some thought, went over to a fireplace, and handed a poker to Harry. Getting what he meant, Harry bent the poker. Easily. As if it was a cardboard tube. His eyes wide, he bent it back. "Whoa," he muttered. He then looked around, only for Sirius to hand him a rather stern-looking bust of some wizard, made of obsidian.

"Crush it," Sirius said. "With one hand. Don't worry, that's an old bust of Uncle Cygnus. I didn't want it."

Harry nodded, before he gripped the bust's head in his hand, and squeezed. Almost instantly, most of the head became powder. "Wow," Hermione breathed. "Obsidian is about 5-6 on the Moh's Hardness Scale. Nowhere near as hard as diamond, but…"

"Pretty damn hard," Sirius said, Vanishing the remnants of the bust. "And Harry did that with ease. And I'm sure that, even if you're not actually as fast as Superman or Kori, you'll be pretty damn fast in the air."

"I'm sure he will be," Kori said with a smile. Harry couldn't help but notice the brief glare Robin sent in his direction at that.

"Doing training will be good," Harry said. "What good's the power if I don't know how to use it properly?"

"Right, but I'm a hard taskmaster," Robin said. "I got that from my mentor…"

It was shortly afterwards. Hermione and Tonks was talking to Raven and M'gann, along with Kori, it being apparently 'girl-talk' time, while Sirius had gone to find Remus. Robin had gestured for Harry to come with him. Harry had to admit to being wary: he didn't like the looks Robin had shot him.

Once they were out of the living room that they had been convening in, Robin looked pensive for a time, before he finally said, "I'm not happy with this, you know."

"Neither was I," Harry admitted. "I mean, she's a lovely and beautiful girl, but it's a bit of a shock for both of us to find out we've been betrothed." He then looked at Robin, and a thought wormed its way into his mind. "Wait a moment…were you two…going out?"

"What? No, I…" Robin shook his head. After a moment, he said, "I think something was there. Something I didn't realise was there until I heard about this. I kept on denying that she was my girlfriend, and she kept on denying that I was her boyfriend, but…now that I see this happening…look, I'm jealous, okay? I can't help it."

"…I'm sorry," Harry said quietly.

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't be. I should be glad for Kori, and anyway, M'gann's already vouched for you." Robin sighed quietly, before saying, "Do you know how we met?"

"No."

"Long story short, while we were on patrol, we saw her evading some captors. Some of the others like to joke that I only saved her because she was good-looking, but her captors weren't. The main reason, aside from that, was that I noticed that, as they fought, Kori actually worked to minimise damage to the surrounding area, while her captors didn't care about collateral damage, nearly killing people and certainly damaging or demolishing buildings. Long story short, we stopped them. And then, Kori kisses me. She's very affectionate, though the kiss thing was partly to learn English, as Tamaraneans learn different languages by skin contact with other species."

"Oh. And you were, well, smitten, right?"

"Not exactly, but, well, she was my first kiss. And even if I didn't think of her as my girlfriend consciously…"

"You feel protective of her, right?"

Robin nodded, looking relieved at Harry's understanding. "I'm sorry about that. We haven't had the best relationships with wizards before. MACUSA barely tolerates us. And given what little we knew about you, I couldn't help but be suspicious. My mentor taught me well."

"Ha! He'd get along well with an Auror called 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Always harping on about 'Constant Vigilance!' Though he must be slipping: he spent most of the past school year locked away in his own trunk, at the mercy of an escaped Death Eater."

"Batman once said, 'It's not paranoia when they are out to get you', though he holds nothing on the Question when it comes to paranoia," Robin said. "Anyway, look, if this whole betrothal contract thing works out, I'm glad. Kori…she's had a rather bad life. Her sister deposed her and her parents, betraying her people to the Citadel. She barely escaped before being made into a sex slave. We've clashed with her sister before. If you make her upset, I will come for you. We all will. But…if you can make her happy…I'll be happy for her."

"You'll be fine?"

"Hey, I know plenty of girls my age. You've met two of them already," Robin smiled.

Harry couldn't help but laugh softly at that. Then, he asked, "Are you okay with Kori being with me, despite Voldemort wanting to kill me?"

"Harry, we deal with people like that way too often," Robin said. "We have to be aware we could be killed at any time, that we have people fixated on killing us or robbing us of all we hold dear. Even in Gotham, I had to fight the Joker, Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Ra's al Ghul…name a rogue working in Gotham, and I've probably fought them."

"At least you chose to fight them," Harry said quietly. "I wasn't given that choice. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would have, given the choice, but I wasn't."

"But you do anyway?" Robin asked.

"Someone has to."

Robin shook his head. "Batman would love you. Okay, once we figure out how long you guys are going to stay in Jump City, we'll try to work out a training regime for you. We'll also have to figure out how you and Kori are going to deal with this relationship. Hogwarts is in Scotland, and while you may be magical, as far as I know, Kori isn't, and the magicals get territorial about No-Majs being on their turf."

"No-Maj?"

"Oh, right. Rachel said you call us Muggles in Britain."

"Hey, you're a superhero," Harry said. "I'd rather call you that."

Robin chuckled. "I don't have powers, Harry. Neither does Speedy. We're just very good at what we do."

The two teenaged boys laughed, a little awkwardly, but it helped to clear the air. Maybe they wouldn't be friends any time soon, but at least they wouldn't be on bad terms. Which was better than getting into a fight over misunderstandings, something rather too common in the superhero world.

Of course, that was only one obstacle of many…

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

So, the wizards and the Titans have met on fairly good terms, and Harry and Robin have cleared the air. Now, next, some Harry and Kori…

No numbered annotations this time.