This chapter has been updated and edited. There weren't too many things I ended up changing other than some basic grammar and spelling mistakes. Hopefully, you guys like it! I know originally I said I didn't like this chapter, but I reread it too and found it was actually a lot better than I thought. As always, hearing what everyone thinks of this better version would be really great!

7/20/18


July 27th

Sometimes Dick wondered at the sanity of wizards. Because what sane person created a jewellery box that would bite your fingers off if you touched it? Or a bed with sheets that would strangle you in your sleep? That's what he was dealing with, cleaning rooms out. Some things were thrown away, others, like the robe that had attacked Ron a few days ago, were burned, but almost everything had something in common. They had all been important to Sirius' parents, or so he said.

Dick couldn't help but think this implied that maybe, just maybe, Sirius' parents hadn't been entirely… good. Sure their house was evil looking, an assessment he'd made when he first arrived, but he'd just assumed it was a decorating theme. And Sirius was so against all evil wizards that him coming from a family that supported them seemed implausible. However, thanks to all the evidence to the contrary, he was now sure that Sirius had dark wizards for parents.

It was pretty sad, he thought as he watched Sirius tell the twins a joke about his horrible mother. Dick had always cherished his family, and while he understood that some weren't great, the idea that anyone could despise theirs so openly was against everything Dick believed in. Surely Sirius loved his parents, at least a little?

Family was something you usually only got one of, and to spend your life hating them was such a waste. Even if you don't agree on certain things, love should always prevail more than anything else. Dick believed that. He probably even cared for the aunt who'd abandoned him a little. Not because she seemed like a good person (though who knew? Dumbledore could be wrong about the jealousy thing. Maybe she was just trying to protect him), but because she was family. He'd already lost one of those, he wouldn't take another for granted.

His brother, Harry, he cared for too. Not loved, not yet, because he didn't even know him, but maybe it would get there. Sadly, Dick's circle of people he loved, people alive, was small. His Uncle Rick, in a coma at a hospital in Gotham. Bruce and Alfred. Wally. Some of the Leaguers he was closer to. That was it. Everyone else fell under 'care for', 'don't know', or 'evil villain'.

He was so excited to meet Harry. To have a living family. To have an older brother. If only said older brother would hurry up and get to Grimmauld Place. Dick understood why he was staying with their aunt, he really did. Family and all that, but he wanted to meet him. Would it really kill Dumbledore to have Harry arrive? The whole reason Dick was coming here in his free time was because Harry could arrive at any moment.

(Also, because Voldemort was after him in the hopes of turning him to the dark side so he could pull a "Harry, I am your brother" type moment, but who cared about that? Dick was the target of homicidal maniacs, like, every weekend.)

It struck him as a little counter-intuitive that Harry was in what was probably a normal suburb of London, not in the secret resistance base when Voldemort was after him. The literal dark wizard who killed their parents, or bio-parents, in Dick's case. I seemed like for people who wanted to protect Harry, they were doing a lousy job of it.

He looked away from the small knick-knacks he was sorting and up at Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Hermione, and the Weasley children. They were all laughing or cleaning with a big smile on their faces. He was sitting alone in a corner with a simple job. He was sure they didn't mean to not include him. He was a new addition to the dynamic and wasn't quite in place yet, but still, it was like he wasn't there.

In a strange way, it reminded him of the Gotham upper class. They tried to be nice, get to know him because he was Bruce's ward, but if they passed on the street, they wouldn't look twice. It was… lonely. He was glad he was doing this, learning about his brother's world, but he really wished his brother would just be allowed to come so he could finally meet him.

"-right, Dick?"

His head snapped towards Ginny and his eyes locked on her. "Sorry, what?"

Ginny smiled. "I asked you if you have any cousins other than the one you mentioned to me. We were just talking about ours."

Dick thought back to memories of games with John, tag and flips in the circus tent when it was empty. "No. Only the one cousin."

"Really?" Ron asked. "How come you never mention him?"

He smiled uncomfortably. "He died a few years ago."

There was a beat of silence, where no one seemed quite sure what to say, before Mrs. Weasley said: "Well, I'm so sorry about that, Richard. It's a terrible thing to happen, to lose a young person."

Mrs. Weasley's smile was big, genuine. Not like the people of Gotham who said sorry and went back to reading a newspaper or planning a party. He supposed that Gothamites were a breed unto their own. So much tragedy happened in the city so often that people just didn't even grieve anymore.

The mood in the room seemed to have gone from cheerful to black in a matter of moments. He felt guilty, that it had happened because of him.

"I used to play this one game with him, when I was a kid," he said with a fond smile, his eyes stayed on his hands though. "It was kinda like tag, but we had to avoid everyone else playing. One time there was this big group of us playing, and I was chosen to run, so I got a minute long headstart and was trying to avoid nearly fifteen kids! I was pretty good at it too."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I've never heard of tag being played like that. It sounds interesting."

"Was it also similar to hide and seek?" Hermione asked. "Were you allowed to hide from people?"

Dick grinned, glad he was able to repair the mood. "Yeah. I once climbed to the top of this huge tree and stayed there for almost an hour. John actually had to climb up and get me 'cause I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep in a tree?" George asked disbelievingly. (George's hair was a little shorter than his brother's hair, which made them easier to tell apart. Finally, he found a way!)

"And didn't fall off!" Fred exclaimed.

"Wicked," they said together, matching grins that seemed to promise mischief.

"I got yelled at for that," Dick said. "Something about endangering myself. I kinda tuned the lecture out after a few minutes. Then did it again later."

Ron looked at him as if assessing something. "Mate," he finally said. "You have a death wish."

Dick grinned. "Happy you think so."


July 28th

"Hey, Mrs. Weasley?" Dick yelled towards the kitchen. Said woman's head popped out.

"Yes, Richard, dear?"

He made a large gesture towards the front door. "Someone's knocking. Do you want me to answer?"

"Oh, yes, please. That would be lovely. I'm a tad busy with lunch," she said.

Dick nodded his head, but she was already gone. He sighed deeply and walked down the hallway, leaving the book he was reading open on the couch. He could get back to it in a bit.

The pounding at the door wasn't hard, but it was insistent. Probably a member of the Order stopping by for one reason or another. And of course, the door was locked. Just like always. It had to be opened from the inside unless you had a key. Unluckily, most members of the Order didn't have a key, which meant that he and the other children tended to open the door a lot. Not that he minded much. It made it easy to get to know other members of the Order who hadn't been there when he'd arrived.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he muttered to the door, opening it wide and stepping behind it when it swung open.

A skinny man in shabby clothing strode in, then looked around. Dick closed the door behind him fast and stepped into view. The man's eyes landed on him and widened comically, something he was becoming used to the first time people saw him.

The man's mouth dropped open, then snapped closed. He opened his mouth again, and this time managed a strangled "What?!"

Dick sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Hi, I'm Richard Grayson," he finally said, holding a hand out in greeting.

The man took his hand and shook it in a trance-like state. "Remus Lupin."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lupin," Dick said, smiling slightly. He recognized the name from a story Sirius had told him about his school years; Remus was one of his friends.

Remus shook his head as if to clear his mind. "Yes, lovely to meet you as well. If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

It was clear that he already had an idea what was going on and who Dick was, but he was seeking out the facts. It was something Dick could respect. Plus it nice to know that not all wizards jumped to conclusions as easily as others did.

Dick shrugged. "It's a long story. I'm sure you'll hear about it when the meeting starts after dinner."

Remus nodded, a strange gleam in his eyes. "I'm sure I will. Still, it would be interesting to hear about it from you. Are your parents' members?"

And there the question was. Dick had no doubts that Remus knew who his parents were. As he'd been told many, many times over the course of his stay, he looked remarkably like Lily and James. The skin tone and freckles were from Lily, and the hair and eyes were from James. Unmistakable as their child to anyone who'd known them.

"No," he said nonchalantly. "They used to be, around the time of the first war though."

Remus nodded. "I believe I met them once." He was testing him, seeing how much he knew about them, but also not wanting to give away anything that hadn't been told to him.

"They went to school with you," Dick agreed. "Same year."

"And how old are you? Around fourteen?" he asked. Now the man was trying to assess when he'd been born. How old he was when Lily and James died.

"Close," he admitted. "Thirteen. I'll be fourteen in October."

Remus looked solemn, then seemed to drop all pretences. "I didn't know they had another son," he whispered, sounding heartbroken.

Dick made a motion with his hands as if to say: 'What can you do?' "No one did. It was a surprise to me too."

"How did they hide you?" Remus asked. "Not with Petunia."

Dick shook his head, although that last statement obviously hadn't been a question. "Apparently Lily gave me to her sister to watch after for a few days the day before they died. Petunia dropped me on the steps of an orphanage. I was adopted."

Remus' face turned a startling white, and he looked somewhat ill. "Petunia… I never thought she would, but I should have known." He laughed bitterly. "She always was a stuck up brat. So, you were raised in the States?"

Dick shook his head. "Not exactly. My parents and I lived all over. I do live in the U.S. now though."

Remus nodded his head. An awkward silence fell over them. Dick shifted from one foot to the other.

"I've got some reading to do," he announced abruptly and spun around on his heel to head back to the sitting room. He wanted some time to process his interaction with Remus. The man seemed nice enough, and Dick was sure he was, but still. Even after the time he'd had, it was hard to adjust to the fact that he had a whole world he should have belonged to.


July 28th

"Oi, Dick, Ron," Fred whisper-yelled from the doorway. "The meeting just started."

Dick dropped his book and hopped to his feet lightly, leaping over Ron, who was sprawled out on the floor with his own book about brooms. He heard Ron clamber to his feet behind him. Once he reached Fred, the elder teenager held out the waxy string thingy (they were apparently called extendable ears. The wizarding worlds equivalent to bugs).

Dick took his ear and joined George, Hermione, and Ginny at the railing. A moment later Ron and Fred joined them as well.

"You all know the drill," George said. Everyone nodded, though it was obvious they all knew it wasn't a question. Dick had to applaud them. They really weren't just standing back, they were taking the initiative to learn what was going on. Speaking from experience, Dick knew how frustrating it was when an adult didn't tell you things because they thought you were too 'young'. It wasn't fun. And that meant he wouldn't discourage them. Plus he wanted to know what went on in the meetings too.

He copied the others and put one end of the string in his ear, then dropped the other end of the string down to the ground floor. A few moments later he could hear what was clearly the meeting.

"-hard to keep from becoming suspicious," a voice concluded. Remus. Dick should know; he'd just met the man earlier and had dinner with him as well

"Then Fenrir is recruiting? Or is it simply the common suspicion of a new pack member, and you are unable to discern the difference?" a voice drawled. Snape. The man who acted like the worst of Gotham's upper class.

"I am able to tell the difference, Severus," Remus replied coldly.

"And what a miracle that is."

"Why you little-" that was Sirius. The noises of a scuffle, then silence followed his angry exclamation.

"We mustn't let ourselves fall prey to the exact thing the Dark Lord wishes us to fall prey to," the calm voice of Kingsley said.

"I quite agree," Dumbledore said. "Now onto other matters. We must decide when to bring Harry here to meet his brother."

Dick started, and shared a wide-eyed glance at the others, then looked back down and focused on the conversation. This was what he'd been waiting for. He would finally find out when Harry was coming.

"Sooner rather than later, right?" Sirius said, sounding disgruntled, probably from whatever fight he'd had with Snape. "It seems cruel to make Dick wait any longer."

"I agree," Professor McGonagall said in her severe voice. "Potter will be unhappy at being kept in the dark, even for the short amount of time he has been. Mr. Grayson may still wish to be called Grayson, but he's a Potter boy. He won't be happy waiting much longer either."

Dick really wasn't sure whether to be offended or pleased that she'd just implied he was a troublemaker. He was leaning towards offended at the moment though.

"I agree. Harry should come soon. I'd like to meet him myself." And that bubbly tone was Tonks, the woman who'd called him 'Sirius' when they first met.

"It is quite true, Harry should come, but we all know the longer he stays with his relatives the safer he is," Dumbledore said. Huh. Dick would have to remember that information.

"So…"

"Harry will stay with his aunt and uncle for now. If nothing happens to change that, then we'll collect him on the 10th of August," Dumbledore said.

Dick felt his heart sink. It wasn't that long to wait, and he could be patient, but he didn't want to be. He wanted to meet Harry now. He wanted to meet his brother. It wasn't fair that he had to wait. He just, he didn't know.

He pulled the extendable ear out of his ear and threw it at the wall before stalking back to his room. He ignored the shocked looks everyone was giving him. He didn't care. They didn't understand. They couldn't understand.

He slammed the door. They would be worried, but they wouldn't come and check on him. They were approaching the area closer to friends than acquaintances, but they didn't know him well enough to comfort him. And he wouldn't want them to try.

Plus there was no way they would give up a chance to spy on the Order just to make sure he was okay.

Ron shot Dick a worried look when he entered the room thirty minutes later, but Dick simply huffed and turned towards the window. He was holding his phone, as he had been since he entered the room, debating about texting Wally. Finally, he steeled himself.

Hey, dude. What are you doing?

A response came back a second later.

Just about to leave for patrol with Uncle Barry.

Why?

Is anything wrong?

Dick nearly laughed. Wally always seemed to think something was wrong if he asked what the other teen was doing.

No. Just wondering.

Okay, but seriously, what's wrong?

The disadvantages of having such a good friend. Even with texting, Wally could always tell when something was bothering him.

You know how I told you there was something going on? A long story? Well, turns out my parents adopted me.

A reply came back immediately.

What?! Are you okay?! When did you find out?! How?!

Kinda. A week ago. Long story.

So tell me!

I'll tell you more when I see you next. Just wanted to tell you.

Okay… why now though?

I have an older brother.

Now the response took a long time. The little bar that showed someone was typing was there. It took probably three minutes for a response to be sent. A truly impressive time, considering Wally was a speedster.

I'm not sure what to say. Have you met him? How much older? Was he raised by your bio-parents? Were you both put up for adoption?

Dick pondered what he should say. He wanted to tell Wally everything, but something told him the rest needed to be said in person. Explained in person. And he was already feeling calmer. Still angry at Dumbledore and all the adults, but calmer.

That's fine, dude. I'll tell you everything the next time I see you. Promise.

Good. Just remember, I'm here for you, Dick.

This time Dick did laugh, although it was a little bitter.

I know. I'll remember. Gotta go. See ya later, Walls.

Bye.

Ron was staring at him from his bottom bunk. He looked worried. Dick didn't fault him for it. Dick was mad. He was frustrated. He was pretty much all the synonyms he could think of. He definitely wasn't feeling the aster. But he could deal with it. He could separate his emotions and ignore the betrayal of knowing that Harry was being kept away even longer.

He stared Ron in the eyes, waiting. Ron looked away and muttered 'Night'.

"G'night," Dick returned. He laid down and pulled his sheets over his body. He wasn't tired, but he would try to sleep.


July 31st

Since the meeting he'd listened in on, he had done an amazing job of avoiding exchanging words with the adults. It was easy to be reading a book, texting Bruce, Wally, or Barbara whenever one was in the same room as him. Probably not the best way to react, but they knew he was here, and they were going to wait even longer.

Honestly, he couldn't wait to head back home. Seeing Bruce and having someone that knew him, someone he didn't need to hide around, that would be nice. Relaxing.

"Mr. Grayson, pay attention please," Professor McGonagall said sharply.

His eyes snapped up from the floor, and he gave the professor a look. "I already have a tutor in America," he said. "I'd rather not spend my time here learning magic. It is summer."

Professor McGonagall sighed deeply and brought her hand up to rub her forehead. She was completely frustrated. Dick didn't enjoy doing that, making her annoyed, but he did have plans to be taught back home. It would be a waste to learn more here.

"I understand, Mr. Grayson, but even if you are going to be learning on your own time, you should know at least a little while you are here, to protect yourself in case of an emergency," she explained. "We do have enemies. If they managed to infiltrate our headquarters and you didn't know how to defend yourself, it would disastrous."

Dick sighed. She had a point. And as much as he didn't want to, his Bat-training was kicking in, telling him he should learn a little. Anything was possible, and he should be prepared for everything he could be.

"Okay. What do you want me to learn?"

Professor McGonagall gave him a look that might have been smug if the idea of her being smug wasn't so ridiculous. She didn't seem like the type of person who could be smug.

"A few simple spells. First year ones. They are simple to learn, and can prove helpful in a situation where you are being attacked."

"Okay. How do I do them? What do I say?" He held out his wand loosely.

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "You can start off by not holding the wand like that. You're more likely to turn someone into a slug than perform a spell properly."

Dick shrugged sheepishly and corrected his hold, copying how she was holding hers. "Sorry."

"It is quite alright, Mr. Grayson. Pay attention, and it shouldn't happen again."

"Yes, ma'am."

He could already tell he'd be here a while, and he was right. By the time she was finished teaching him a shield spell, two hours had passed. He went upstairs to find his phone and text Wally. He wasn't telling his friend what was going on yet, he would do that in person, but he did talk to him a bit.

When he arrived in his room, Hermione and Ron were spread out on the floor and the bottom bunk respectively, writing furiously. He looked at them curiously. While it wasn't strange to see Hermione writing letters, Ron usually didn't that often. Unlike Hermione, his family was with him, so he didn't need to write them.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Hermione didn't look up to reply. "Writing Harry. It's his birthday today."

Suddenly Dick felt a surge of… something. Irritation. If Dumbledore and the others would just bring Harry already, he'd be able to celebrate a birthday with his new brother. Sure, he was with their aunt and uncle, but if everything he'd heard was true, they weren't exactly the best people.

"Oh. I would say tell him 'Hi' from me, but he doesn't exactly know I exist, does he?" he joked, hoping that the bitterness in his tone wasn't obvious.

Hermione looked up and gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Dick."

Ron mumbled an apology as well, but he continued writing.

Dick waved it off. "It's fine. It's not under your control anyway."

"Still, sorry."

"Yeah, mate. We get it. It's hard keeping everything from Harry in our letters," Ron said.

Dick nearly laughed, but he didn't. Ron wasn't trying to be rude. He just didn't think before talking. It kinda reminded him of Wally, actually. Besides, Ron was trying to be comforting. He would just take that.

"Yeah. Thanks," Dick said. "I'm going to read. Call me when dinners ready." And with that, he grabbed his book and took off for the sitting room.