Hi People!^_^
Well, here is chapter 7! I'm sorry for the slight delay, but there was a power shortage today…^_^'…Thankfully, it didn't last too long.^_^
Enjoy reading it and please leave a nice little review at the end!^_^
Harry Potter x Batman
Chapter 7: Shopping and Train
Jacob looked around, stunned at the sight that met his and his father's and Harley's eyes. An entire shopping district appeared before them and people. There were hundreds of people there. Some were dressed in what Jacob would call the traditional wizard or witch look, with pointy hats and robes. Others wore what the black and green-haired boy called normal clothes – clothes that people in Gotham and around the world wore everyday. Owls flew overhead, carrying letters or returning from their messenger errands.
Thinking back to the way that Dumbles and Minnie had dressed when they had dropped by unexpectedly, the 11-year-old wizard had expected the shopping district to be as equally stuck in time as the clothes were. But what he saw were absolutely normal, modern shops. All in all it was a stunning sight.
The blue and green-eyed boy quickly scanned the list of supplies that had arrived with the first letter and that he had taken with them on this shopping trip. He was skeptical about some of the items on the list, but shrugged – with magic anything was possible.
UNIFORM:
First year students are required to have:
Three sets of plain works robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by unknown author
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS!
"Alright then. Let's first check out their bank!" the Joker merrily proposed after reading through the list of supplies along with Harley. Jacob chuckled – of course the bank was their first stop.
Now, if anyone thought that Gringotts was a wizarding bank that could only be found in Britain, then they were wrong. Gringotts had many branches, all spread throughout the world. Therefore it should be no surprise that there also was a Gringotts bank in the Gotham City wizarding district. Unlike the one in Britain, though, it wasn't made out of stone and slowly crumpling, but metal like any other bank in Gotham. However, the warning on the bank's doors still remained the same.
Both Jack and Jacob were very amused by it when they passed through the door.
"Do you think that's a challenge?" the black and green-haired boy innocently inquired, a grin on his face as he indicated the poem.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Weeelll, I don't know. What do you think, son?" the blond-haired man replied, an equally big grin on his face.
"Definitely a challenge" Jacob answered, nodding his head slightly as they entered the bank. And promptly stopped in their tracks.
"What are those creatures?" Harley asked no one in particular whilst pointing at said creatures.
"Who cares? We need to go o a teller or something like that" the Joker told her, heading towards one of these creatures.
"We'd like to open an account here. Or rather he does" the Clown Prince of Crime told the still-unidentified creature, pointing towards his son.
"Certainly. If the young sir would place a drop of his blood on this paper, we will proceed to create a vault and key for him" the being instructed Jacob as the black and green-haired boy nonchalantly brought out a switchblade – his favorite one at that – and calmly cut his palm, watching as not just the required one drop of blood, but at the very least ten made their way down his hand and onto the slip of paper, making it glow for a few moments. The strange being frowned when words appeared on it.
"It seems that you already have a vault, young sir" the confused goblin (thought the trio of pranksters didn't know it was a goblin) informed them.
Tapping the piece of paper with one of his sharp nails, the paper glowed for a few moments once again before going back to its normal state. Upon closer inspection, though, two new words had appeared – Potter vault. The goblin's coal-black eyes widened as they read the words over and over again.
"I will inform Lord Ragnarok of this. If you would please wait here…" the still stunned goblin teller murmured before running into one of the many hallways.
Not even 15 minutes later the family of jokers was sitting in the office of the head goblin. Jacob had been thinking about the name of the goblin lord and grinned. Ragnarok was part of the Norse mythology and was a series of events, including a great battle that sunk the world into chaos, some of the important gods dying in the process. Perhaps the goblin lord could be a great ally…
"Gogglehook has informed me of the situation. Might I inquire, young sir, how you came to be ignorant of the existence of your vault?" the slightly old goblin asked the black and green-haired boy. Blue and green eyes looked at him.
"Well, Lord Ragnarok, I was never informed that I had a vault, despite being aware of my magic since I was a small boy" Jacob smoothly replied. He had told the truth and yet had at the same time lied. Oh, you just gotta love white lies.
"I see. Then your magical guardian, who turns out to be none other than the famous Albus Dumbledore, is at fault here and will be replaced as soon as he is arrested for the crime of withholding such important information from the heir of one of the oldest and most prominent houses in the Wizarding World" Lord Ragnarok sternly said, watching as the two goblins he had on standby took the scroll with the order for the arrest of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore on it and scuttled out of his office.
"Wonderful news, Lord Ragnarok, but who will be my new magical guardian? That is, assuming I need one, of course" the black and green-haired 11-year-old hesitantly inquired, slightly afraid of getting someone on the same level of horribleness as Dumbles or the Dursleys.
"Well, were your parents able to see the abandoned mall-illusion before entering the district?" the head goblin questioned and after receiving nods from both Harley and the Joker he continued "Then both are eligible to become your new magical guardians" Lord Ragnarok finished.
"I'll be his new magical guardian" Jack immediately said. After a few minutes the blond-haired man smiled in satisfaction – he was now legally Jacob's magical guardian.
"Lord Ragnarok, I was wondering something – if Dumbles has stolen anything from my vault, then the money would be returned with a bit "extra", so to say, right?" Jacob inquired and the head goblin smiled at the nickname the boy had given the oh-so-almighty Leader of the Light. He liked the way the boy thought.
One hour later, the trio of pranksters left the bank with Wizarding Cards – close to the normal concept of Credit Cards – and with ridiculously large grins on their faces. They and Lord Ragnarok had made sure that Dumbledore would wake up to a nasty surprise the next day. Oh, if only they could see his face!
3 hours later…
The clothes had been easy to get. Madam Lafayette was really nice to Jacob and didn't even question his small change to the list of supplies – make the robes self-adjust as his body grew. He wasn't going to buy new ones every single year – it would too expensive. Well, adding that little extra "ability" to his new wizarding clothes did cost more than if he had just gotten the robes, but it was worth it. The books and other items were not that difficult to get either. Naturally the trio had also raided the joke shop and Jacob could only imagine the predicament Batsy would find himself in, in the foreseeable future. The buying of the wand, though, was the most interesting part.
The wand shop they had entered was, in contrast to the other shops, dark. It had that mysterious atmosphere in it and when the shopkeeper suddenly appeared – an elderly man named Alexander Blackwood – they were startled.
"Ah! New customers! May I presume it's for the young sir's first wand?" Mr. Blackwood politely inquired before receiving a nod from Jacob.
"First I have to ask this – do you wish to buy a preexisting wand or a custom-made one?" the man inquired.
"Custom, of course" Jacob happily replied.
What followed was a half-hour stay in the storage room where Jacob had to let his magic choose the 5 components for his wand – a type of wood, a solid core, a liquid core, a focus and a set of runes. The black and green-haired boy choose an 11 inch piece of the famous Tree of Ténéré, the fang of a shadow wolf, the venom of an Egyptian Asp (Jacob smiled when he found out what he had chosen for the solid and liquid cores), a dark emerald stone as a focus and the runes for chaos, destruction, joy and protection, as contradictory as they might have seemed. A small added bonus was the fact that the wand was keyed to Jacob's blood, so only he could use it.
The result was a beautiful 11 inch-long, black wand with intricate, Celtic designs carved into the handle. Mr. Blackwood told them that this had been by far the most powerful wand he had ever created. One of the more interesting things that the wandmaker told them was that since it was custom-made, the usual ministry tracking charms didn't apply to it. This meant that Jacob could use it without any repercussions.
They had almost an entire month to make preparations for Hogwarts and they planned to make the best use of that time…
September 1st, King's Cross, London, England, Great Britain:
The flight to England had been very boring and if his father hadn't brought some playing cards with him, then the black and green-haired boy was sure he would have died of boredom. Literally. After that they had gone to the wizarding district in London and they had been shocked by the huge difference between Diagon Alley and Malistaire Avenue. The wizards and witches here really were stuck in the Middle Ages.
Finding platforms 9 and 10 on September 1st wasn't as difficult as Jacob had thought it would be and soon he, Jack and Harley were standing on Platform 9 ¾ in front of a red steam-engine (?) called "The Hogwarts Express". Most students had owls or cats and Jacob wondered if he would get into trouble for brining his familiars.
Getting onto the train, the black and green-haired boy easily found a compartment and promptly locked it with his magic. He had decided to only use his wand in classes and the rest of the time just his magic – it seemed much easier to just use his magic instead of focusing it through the wand. Not to mention more powerful. He could already do 1/5 of the spells in his course books without a wand. Sticking his head out of the window he looked at his father and Harley and grinned.
"I promise to contact you as soon as possible" he promised his slightly worried father. Oh, he wasn't showing on the outside that he was worried – that just wasn't his style. But his steel blue eyes clearly showed what he was really feeling.
"Don't forget to send us a souvenir!" Harley joyously exclaimed whilst clinging onto one of the Joker's arms.
"And you have to tell me about all of your encounters with Batsy!" the black and green-haired boy retorted. He really didn't want to miss anything. That's when the signal for the departure of the train rang through hidden platform.
"See ya later!" Jacob happily shouted before ducking back into the compartment and closing the window. So, what was he going to do during the train ride?
"Hey, you guys, do you have any idea what I could do?" he asked his familiars. He had used his magic to enable both of them to understand him and to understand each other 3 years ago. That made communicating with them a lot easier.
"You could look at the plans you and your parents created for when you are at Hogwarts" the black-scaled snake hissed in reply.
"Nah, I already know them by heart, Wadjet" the young boy replied, turning his two-coloured eyes towards Ophois and raising an eyebrow.
"Brother, why don't you just sleep?" the young wolf suggested. Ophois had taken to calling Jacob "brother" ever since the black and green-haired boy's first transformation into a wolf. A wolf that looked like the older brother of Ophois.
"Ya know, that ain't such a bad idea. But I am too awake now to fall back asleep. I will sleep later on, though" Jacob told his familiars, getting a pensive look on his face once more.
Suddenly he heard someone trying to open the compartment door in frustration and, after giving up on opening it that way, started knocking on one of the window panes. Raising his eyebrow, the black and green-haired boy snapped his fingers and the compartment door opened. A red-headed boy walked into the compartment and closed the door after himself, sitting down directly across from Jacob. The blue and green-eyed boy didn't like this – who did this guy think he was?
"Ya know, I never said ya could sit down or come in, for that matter" Jacob growled out. Yes, growled. This startled the red-head, who had been looking out of the window, and he now looked angrily at him.
"I don't need to ask because I am the friend of Harry Potter" the red-head stated importantly, making Jacob raise an eyebrow. Turning to Ophois, the irritated black and green-haired boy growled at the wolf.
"Make this idiot get out of MY compartment" he ordered his wolf familiar. He usually didn't do that, but he was very angry right now.
His mood lightened somewhat as he watched Ophois snarl, growl and bite at the red-head, who looked outraged at his treatment.
"How dare your mangy mutt do this! Order him back!" the red-head said to Jacob.
"Oh? Why should I? And for your information, he isn't a "mangy mutt" – he is a shadow wolf and they are easily insulted. You just made yourself a target for his teeth" the blue and green-eyed 11-year-old informed the red-head before casually looking out the window at the quickly passing landscape. Two minutes later and Jacob was alone in the compartment once again.
To his major annoyance he had to deal with another prat like the red-head after that, only that one had blonde hair. At least he introduced himself…sort of. His name was Draco Malfoy and he had two students, also first years, with him who pretty much acted as his body guards. Gregory Crabbe and Vincent Goyle, as they were called, looked more like gorillas than humans and they probably had the mental capacity of a gorilla as well. Wadjet quickly took care of them – the moment they saw the Egyptian Asp raise herself up from Jacob's shoulders they made a run for it. Cowards. Every person he had met until then was cowardly and an arrogant prick who didn't know what was good for them.
One hour into the ride and Jacob was slightly startled out of his thoughts when someone knocked on the compartment door. Well, at least this one didn't rattle the door until they finally figured out it was locked. This one actually knocked first out of politeness. Jacob got up from his seat and went over to open the door.
"Hi, I am Blaise Zabini and this is Daphne Greengrass. Can we sit with you?" the black-haired boy asked Jacob.
"Sure. I'm Jacob Napier. I'm going to be a first year." he introduced himself before letting them in, closing the door and going over to his seat. He noticed that the two newcomers were looked curiously at Ophois and Wadjet. Already seeing the question in their eyes, the black and green-haired boy decided to answer it as quickly as possible. He just didn't like being asked questions. Only his uncle Riddler, Jack and Harley could ask him questions.
"These two are my familiars – Ophois and Wadjet. Ophois is a shadow wolf and Wadjet is an Egyptian Asp" the 11-year-old quickly explained "So, you two first years?" he asked them.
"Yup. Where do you come from? You don't have an accent that I can recognize" the girl, Daphne, inquired.
"Well, I was born and lived here until I was 7. Then my relatives were killed – Thank God – and I moved to America" Jacob answered.
"Relatives? What about your parents?" the dark-skinned boy, Blaise, asked.
"Died when I was one" the black and green-haired boy nonchalantly replied.
"Oh…Well, what house do you think you'll be sorted into?" Daphne asked, trying to veer away from the uncomfortable topic – uncomfortable for them, that is. Jacob was totally cool about it.
"House? What do you mean by "house"?" Jacob returned the question, truly confused.
"You mean you don't know?" Blaise replied with a question of his own, incredulity clear in his voice.
"Yup. First time I hear of it. So, what do you mean by house and I suppose it is safe to presume there is more than one?"
"Well, all students in Hogwarts are sorted in their first year into one of four houses – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house values one specific character trait above all others. Gryffindor is for the courageous, Hufflepuff for the loyal, Ravenclaw for the intelligent and Slytherin for the cunning" Daphne quickly, but accurately explained and proceeded to watch Jacob shrug his shoulders.
"I don't really care. What about you?" he retorted. He really didn't care – he just wanted to learn anything and everything about transfiguration – that was just a skill too useful to just overlook.
"We don't care either and, thankfully, neither do our parents" Daphne said.
"I see. Hey, you guys know how to play poker?" the black and green-haired boy asked out of nowhere whilst taking out a normal deck of cards. Seeing them shake their heads, the blue and green-eyed 11-year-old took it upon himself to teach them how to play this particular card game and how to play it well.
This was how the three soon-to-be first years spent the rest of the ride – playing poker and other card games that Jacob found great joy in teaching to them. They had many good laughs. Especially once the trolley lady came by and Jacob ordered one of everything on the car. Opening the chocolate frogs was fun and collecting the cards too. However, combining Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and card games with stakes in them was pure genius. Jacob was surprised just how many flavors the beans had. There was apple, glue, grass, acid, cauliflower, mud, varnish, earwax, pina colada, strawberry mousse, zucchini, wood and (Jacob's least favorite so far) Worcestershire sauce. There were many other flavors, of course, but these were the most peculiar ones Jacob had ever tasted. Turned out that wood wasn't as bad as he had originally thought.
When one of the prefects came by to tell them they were nearing Hogwarts, Blaise and Daphne got up and changed into their robes whilst Jacob just looked at them in amusement.
"Why aren't you changing, Jacob?" the black-haired girl curiously inquired.
"Simple. The letter said we had to own all of those clothes – it never actually said that we had to wear them" the black and green-haired boy replied as he watched the blurry form of a castle appear in the distance.
Looking at each other in shock, the two first years quickly changed back into their normal clothes and packed away the robes. They weren't comfortable to wear anyway. A few minutes later the train stopped.
"It's show time" Jacob happily announced, a grin on his face.
Harry Potter x Batman
Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter!^_^
I intended to be more descriptive with the shopping, more detailed, but I just couldn't think of anything specific when I got to that part…^_^'…
Please leave a review!^_^