Harry enjoyed the fish and chips he got. The meal was made even better since it wasn't anywhere near the Dursleys. Dick had paid the check without complaint, and reassured Harry that it was alright multiple times. He even told Harry they would stop at the ice cream place next door for some desert. Harry knew he wasn't a child that could be won over by a nice lunch and some ice cream, but it was extremely nice to have someone willing to do this for him.

Harry got a simple chocolate cone while Dick got a large something with a long name and a lot of toppings. Dick grinned at Harry's strange look. "It's really good," Dick said through a mouth full. "Here try some." He thrust the spoon towards Harry. It was good, Harry thought. Weird, but good.

They were sitting outside at a picnic table, enjoying the sun and nice weather. There were a lot of picnic tables, but they were at an isolated one, away from the excited families and laughing teenagers. The silence of their isolated table was broken by a phone ringing. Knowing it wasn't his since he didn't have one, Harry continued to eat his ice cream while the catchy pop song that was the ring tone played. Dick, however, stuck his spoon back in the bowl and fished in the pocket of his shorts. He checked the caller ID and smiled.

"I gotta take this, but it won't take long," Dick explained to Harry as he accepted the call. Harry expected him to get up, the Dursleys seemed to like to take their calls in private, but Dick stayed sitting, so Harry pretended to be paying more attention to his ice cream than to the conversation.

"Hey B," Dick said to the phone. Harry must not have done a good job paying attention to his ice cream because Dick mouthed 'it's Bruce' at him, like he had a right to know. "I'm doing pretty good, just getting some ice cream." Dick paused. "Of course it's a small," he said after a second. Harry eyed Dick's large ice cream and the man winked. "I would never get an 'excessive amount of toppings', Bruce. I am a very health conscious individual. Alfred would be proud." Harry could hear the quotes around the words and privately thought that gummy bears, hot fudge, chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, and cheerios of all things were pretty excessive. Harry seriously doubted whoever this Alfred person was would be proud.

Dick continued pouting playfully. "What do you mean you don't believe me? And besides, I'm nineteen, B, I think I can make my own decision when it comes to ice cream." Dick paused. And moved the phone away from his mouth and mock whispered conspiringly to Harry, "Now he's lecturing me about good life choices. Knows how to take the fun out of anything." Harry forced a smile. He had never really had anyone lecture him like that. Teachers lectured sometimes, but that wasn't really the same.

Dick laughed when he heard the voice on the other end say something. "No, I wasn't talking to myself, I was talking to Harry." Dick paused. "Yeah, we just went for lunch and are now eating some ice cream." Harry was surprised that Bruce seemed to know who he was. Dick must have talked to him this morning or last night about it. It must be nice to have an adult to tell things too. Harry debated owling Ron and Hermione, or even Sirius, about the strange new relative he had, but he hadn't really had a spare moment yet. Maybe he could do it tonight.

"So you're heading back to Gotham tomorrow?" Dick asked the phone while eating another spoonful of ice cream, making his words muffled.

Harry had learned earlier that the reason Dick came a couple days ago was that Bruce had some business around here, and, while he knew Dick talked about staying for a month, Harry suddenly had the irrational fear that Dick would leave tomorrow with his guardian. Dick swallowed his ice cream. "Nah, I'm going to stay for a little while longer," Dick said to Bruce, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Dick continued after what seemed like a prompt from Bruce. "No, I don't think they like me any better, but I like Harry," Dick told Bruce. Harry blushed at this declaration and Dick smiled at him. "You'd like him too," Dick said, and Harry got the sense that Dick was talking to both of them.

"You should stop by tomorrow on your way out, so you can see me and meet him," Dick suggested, and Harry was a little overwhelmed at the thought of meeting Bruce Wayne. The same Bruce Wayne that was apparently in all of Aunt Petunia's magazines.

Dick grinned at Harry when Bruce replied. "Yeah, we'll make sure that we meet far away from the Dursley household." Harry smiled too. If they acted that fake around Dick, he couldn't even imagine how they would act around Bruce. "Alright, see you tomorrow." Dick paused. "Yeah, I'm gonna call Tim and Alfred a little later to let them know the plan," Dick answered. Then rolled his eyes as if Bruce had said something exasperating. "Yeah, yeah, love you too. Bye."

Dick hung up the phone before digging into his ice cream again, it was starting to become a melted mess, rather than just the mess it was before.

"So, Mr. Wayne is coming tomorrow," Harry said curiously, licking his own neglected ice cream.

Dick swallowed his bite. "Yeah, Bruce, and you should call him Bruce, is gonna stop by. Maybe we can meet him here and get more ice cream," Dick answered.

Harry frowned at the happiness in Dick's tone. "But he didn't like the ice cream you got."

Dick scoffed. "Nah, it's cool. B knows I usually eat pretty well when I'm home and I work out, so I can indulge every now and again. Maybe I can convince him to get something exciting." Dick looked at Harry's cone. "And you, too. You gotta live a little."

Harry suddenly wished he could tell Dick about how much he had lived. He wished he could tell him about a magical castle and about flying on a broom and about fighting dragons. Harry had never understood Hermione's excitement at sharing magic with her muggle family. His extended muggle family had always despised magic and any mention was a sure way to get himself punished. Everyone else Harry knew was already part of the Wizarding World. Harry debated the consequences of telling Dick about it. On one hand, muggles weren't supposed to know about the wizarding world, but on the other, Dick was sort of Harry's relative, and relatives were allowed to know. Plus how could the Ministry keep track if a muggle was told about magic if Harry didn't actually do any magic.

Harry paused. He met Dick yesterday. Sure, the guy was nice, but it had only been yesterday. He couldn't tell Dick a lifelong secret based on a one day friendship. That's something Hermione would consider extremely stupid.

"What's with the long face?" Dick asked, as he ate the last spoonful of his ice cream. He continued talking with his mouth full. "You're thinking too hard."

"Sorry," Harry responded. He had forgotten his ice cream again, but it was almost done, so he quickly finished it off. Dick was looking at him expectantly, so Harry continued. "I just miss school. Mostly my friends."

Dick put his spoon down gently in the bowl and took a second to carefully wipe his face with a napkin. He crumpled it up delicately before putting it in the empty bowl too. Dick took a deep breath before he spoke again. "Yeah, I've heard Hogwarts can be nice."

Harry was glad he had finished his ice cream because his jaw dropped.

"Ah, um… what?" Harry got out after realizing his mouth was getting dry just hanging open like that.

"You go to Hogwarts, right? Witchcraft and wizardry? Magic wands? Spell books?" Dick asked curiously. He didn't seem opposed to the idea of magic. He was just asking.

"Um, how? Did the Dursleys…?" Harry trailed off, not believing that the Dursleys would ever willingly talk about magic. Even Dudley, who wasn't the brightest, knew better than to talk about it. Maybe they warned Dick about him? Maybe they had to tell him since he was staying in the house? But they never told Marge when she stayed.

His thoughts were caught off by a laugh from Dick, he seemed to share Harry's thought that the Dursleys telling him was absurd. "No, they didn't tell me."

"So, how?" Harry got out when Dick's laughing died down. Then, a horrible thought occurred to him. "Are you...? Do you have...?"

And suddenly it made sense. People never seemed to trust him alone, but he didn't need to be watched by anyone. He had faced Voldemort multiple times and he was still okay. He didn't need Dumbledore or anyone else babysitting him. He could handle himself. And maybe Dick's company was better than being alone, but being alone was always better than being watched. Then being coddled and babied like he was an unruly child who couldn't make his own decisions.

"No," Dick interrupted Harry's thoughts. "I don't have any magic."

The words calmed Harry down. Harry remembered that Dick's mother was actually related to the Dursleys and it was unlikely Dumbledore or anyone else knew about Dick before he did, so it was impossible Dick was watching him for them.

Dick continued before Harry could formulate another question. "I have a friend who practices magic, an ex actually but that's a long story, so I asked her about it when I accidently saw your wand and books last night. She doesn't practice the same kind of magic as you, apparently, but she recognized your name, and explained some things to me." Dick stopped here looking at Harry questioningly. "Do the Dursley's know?"

Harry was wondering exactly what things Dick's friends explained to him, but he answered Dick's question. "Yeah they know. They kinda hate magic, though. And me, in case you couldn't tell."

Dick snorted, and Harry got out a weak laugh too because anyone could tell that the Dursley's disliked him. Their short burst of humor dulled into an awkward silence.

"Can I ask a painful question?" Dick asked slowly.

Harry nodded because he had already outed the entire Wizarding World, so how much worse could it get?

"Why do you live there? If they dislike you and magic?" Dick asked. Harry looked down at the table. He had asked himself this question so many times. The answer never really made sense.

"I don't know," Harry answered after a moment of deliberation. "I told my headmaster I didn't want to come back, but he said I had to. One of my friends, Ron, offered to let me stay with him, and sometimes I stay there for part of the Summer, but never the whole time. I have a godfather I could have stayed with, but he's sort of on the run for murdering a bunch of people. He's innocent, by the way," Harry rushed to defend Sirius at Dick's horrified expression. "But that's a long story. So, I have some people I could stay with, I guess, but for some reason I can't, and no one tells me why because I'm a kid."

Harry felt his voice grow bitter at the end. There must be a reason he had to keep coming here. Maybe the Wizarding World just didn't want to deal with him for a couple of months. Maybe it was better he was out of the way. Whatever the reason was, Harry didn't like it.

"That sucks," Dick empathised. And, yeah, Harry thought, that pretty much summed up the whole situation.

They fell into a silence that was interrupted when a family with two small children sat at the table next to them. One of the kids was more interested in watching the clouds than in ice cream, but the other was happily getting it everywhere except their mouth. The parents, while looking a bit frazzled, seemed content to eat their own ice cream while reigning in their excited children.

Dick waited a second, seeming to watch the happy family, before standing up from the table. "Come on, let's go back to the park," Dick suggested. Harry stood up and followed Dick to the trash can before they began walking back the way they had come.

Their afternoon had been spent entertaining the neighborhood children again. All the kids seemed to be ecstatic that they could play in the park again, and they were taking advantage of that. When Dick and Harry walked by, they were hailed by the children who roped them into some elaborate homemade game which seemed to be a mixture of tag, hide and seek, and capture the flag. Harry had no idea what he was doing, and could not name most of the rules of the game, but he was part of a team of children who were determined to win this game, and Harry was not going to let them down. If along the way he had some fun, well, that came as a surprise to him more than anyone.

The game was broken up when a mother of one of the children came looking for her child since it was past dinner time. Harry watched the little girl walk away, hand in her mother's, excitedly explaining about their game. Her name was Bethany and little Bethany had lived here her entire life, all seven years of it, and this was the first time Harry had ever seen her. However, they had bonded when he, Bethany, and stubborn little Gordon had tackled Dick to the ground in a desperate attempt to protect their team's base. Bethany turned around before she reached her house and waved to him, and Harry waved back eagerly. His spirit wasn't even damped when the mother saw who she was waving at and pulled her more quickly inside,

The sight of a parent had the other kids worrying about the time and led to the game breaking up, but it was okay in Harry's eyes because his team was winning. Plus little Abigail had managed to accidently elbow him in the leg and it was making it harder to run.

As the children began to disperse, many more said goodbye to Harry and he even got a hug from Gordon who had declared him "not as annoying as he looked" when the short hug ended.

Dick made his way over and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "That's practically a declaration of love coming from that kid. I asked him his favorite food, and he told me it was the blood of his enemies." Harry laughed and Dick joined in. Harry looked over at Dick and noticed he was covered in dirt and grass stains, and Harry assumed he must be in the same state. Needless to say it would not meet Aunt Petunia's approval.

"We should probably head back," Harry said, which sombered up their fun pretty quickly.

"Yeah, we should," Dick agreed, and they started slowly making their way back to number four. If they both dragged their feet a little, well, nobody pointed it out.

"Is that you, freak?" Vernon called harshly as Harry and Dick entered the house. They had just been talking about Hedwig and how, yes she could actually deliver mail, and Harry was grinning because he never got to brag about Hedwig to anyone. However, the smile fell off his face as he heard the word. Harry didn't react beyond a change in expressin. He had been called that enough to know that getting physically upset wouldn't be a good idea.

Dick, however, didn't share this same sentiment. He gently pushed passed Harry, and made his way furiously into the house. Harry tried to tell Dick that it was okay, that he was used to this. But, Dick ignored his platitudes and threw the kitchen door open. Harry had always considered Dick warm and friendly, but even just looking at the man's back, he saw how angry, and even dangerous, Dick was at that moment. Harry was so focused on Dick he didn't even notice when he walked passed the horrible cupboard under the stairs to get to the kitchen. Harry was morbidly curious on what Dick would do. No one ever stood up to the Dursleys.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Dick asked the room with a deadly calm that seemed to be filled with promises of pain. Harry shivered even though the tone was on his behalf. The Dursleys in the room froze at the tone and harsh language. Petunia was the first to gather her wits about her and her face was flushed with anger, clashing awfully with the pink blouse she was wearing.

"Excuse me?" Petunia screeched. Dudley, who had stopped eating with his fork halfway to his mouth, unfroze to look up at his mother's angry tone.

"I said, 'What the fuck did you just say?'" Dick said calmly to Vernon, again. Vernon spluttered, red faced and fishing for excuses.

Harry didn't really understand why Dick was so angry. It was just a word. Definitely not even the worst thing his Uncle had ever said to him, but here Dick was, demanding answers in the kitchen on Harry's behalf. It was kind of nice.

"I… I wasn't talking to you!" Vernon defended. Harry, who was behind Dick, couldn't see the change in Dick's facial expression, but from the abrupt whitening of Vernon's ruddy face, it must not have been promising.

"Harry," Dick addressed him without turning around.

"Yeah," Harry answered, wondering if Dick was going to pry into his life with the Dursleys even more. Wondering, and maybe hoping, that he would be able to tell someone all the injustices they had committed against him.

"Go and pack your stuff," Dick ordered. He fished the phone out of his pocket and shoved it into Harry's hands. "The password is 2227. Call Bruce. Tell him to pick us up at that park as soon as he can." Harry, apparently, hesitated too long. "Go."

At Dick's last word, Harry numbly but quickly made his way up the stairs. He heard the door to the kitchen close behind him, and assumed, since DIck wasn't following him, that he was talking to the Dursleys and didn't want Harry to hear what was said. Which was a bummer because Harry really wanted to hear what Dick would say to them.

When Harry reached his room, he looked down at the little device in his hand. It was sleek and didn't have a lot of buttons, so he pressed the ones that were on the sides and the one on the front, hoping they would do what he wanted. Typing in the password carefully when prompted, he struggled to find out how to work the phone. A cell phone wasn't something he had ever really needed to work with. Thinking the little icon with a phone on it looked promising, Harry pressed it. He found recent calls and saw the most recent one was with Bruce, hopefully Dick only knew one Bruce. There were a lot of little pictures next to the name, and, not knowing what else to do, he poked it, hoping the phone would just do what he wanted. It seemed to want to cooperate as it dialed and said it was calling. Harry quickly put the phone up to his ear like he saw Dick do earlier.

Suddenly, with Dick's phone pressed against his ear, listening to the dialing, it occurred to Harry how awkward this was. He was calling a man he had never met, hoping he would pick him up because his relatives were kind of mean to him. What if Mr. Wayne didn't want to come? What if he didn't pick up? Even worse, what if he did pick up?

Harry's worries were interrupted, but intensified, when the phone stopped dialing and someone picked up.

"Yes, Dick," the person on the other end, hopefully Bruce Wayne, said expectantly. Harry thought he sounded warmer than the Dursleys, which made sense if the man thought he was talking to his son. Harry didn't answer fast enough again. "What is it?"

Harry took a deep breath before speaking. "Uh, Mr. Wayne?"

The voice on the other end grew more serious, worried even. "Yes. Who is this? Where is Dick?" Mr. Wayne questioned.

"Um," Harry started, and he took a deep breath. Dick liked Mr. Wayne, Dick was nice, so maybe logically, Mr. Wayne would be nice? Harry thought his logic might be faulty, but plowed on ahead anyway. "I'm Harry, uh Harry Potter?" Harry cursed his unsure tone. He knew his own name. "Dick's downstairs?"

"Is Dick alright?" Mr. Wayne asked worriedly and left only a beat of silence before he continued in the same tone. "Are you alright?"

Harry's breath caught. The man didn't even know him, and he was asking if Harry was okay, even before he got information on his own son. Harry too another deep breath, hoping his voice would be steady when he answered.

"He is, I am… we are both okay," Harry assured the man unsteadily, but went on quickly before he lost his nerve. "But, Dick wanted me to ask you if you could pick us up at the park near here." Harry spoke fast and he was a little worried that he would have to repeat himself.

"I can be there in twenty minutes," Mr. Wayne informed him. Harry heard movement on the other end of the line.

"Okay." Harry hoped the gratitude he felt was reflected in his voice. He took a couple moments to breath and Bruce was silent on the other end of the line. It was good because it allowed Harry to get his thoughts together. He was really going to pack up all his stuff and leave with almost-strangers. He was really going to walk out on the Dursleys and into the unknown. And it was great.

"Hold on a second," Mr. Wayne said, and he must have covered his end of the phone because his conversation with a valet about getting his car was muffled. Bruce quickly got the time estimate for getting his car from thirty minutes down to five, and Harry had a feeling money was exchanged.

"Are you packing?" Mr. Wayne asked after his conversation with the valet. The question finally spurred Harry into motion.

"Yeah." Harry kept Dick's phone to his ear and didn't say anything, and neither did Mr. Wayne. It was strange but comforting to know someone was on the other end of the phone line. He heard a brief conversation from the other end and the sounds of a car starting and assumed that Mr. Wayne was on his way.

Harry hadn't really unpacked, so it wasn't too hard to shove the few things he took out of his trunk back in. He had just grabbed Hedwig's cage and was contemplating how he could move his trunk when Dick opened up the door to his room. Dick's suitcase was rolling behind him, and he looked strained.

"Good you're packed. Bruce on his way?" Dick asked. Harry nodded and handed the phone over to Dick who shoved it between his shoulder and his ear. Dick then grabbed his own suitcase in one hand and Harry's trunk in the other. Harry quickly grabbed onto the other end of the trunk and grabbed Hedwig's cage firmly in his other hand.

"How long till you get there?" Dick asked the phone as he lifted the trunk. They both made their way down the stairs Dick nodded at Bruce's words. "Yeah, I'm good."

Harry listened to Dick's reassurances to his guardian as they got to the landing. He noticed that the kitchen was quiet and the door was shut. No Dursley in sight. As they made their way out the door, Harry wondered if leaving was the right thing. This, while it was not his home, was where he stayed. It should mean something. But, it didn't. And Harry had no idea why he had to stay there every year. Harry had no idea why he couldn't go stay with Ron or Sirius or anyone who didn't hate him.

But, he did know that Dick was nice to Hedwig and helped him with his nightmares and listened to him talk about magic and actually seemed to care. That's good enough, thought Harry as he walked out of number four and into the street. That's good enough.