This chapter is nothing but information dump, hence it took longer to write, since it's pretty hard to write something like that while making it look kinda natural and interesting to read. From now on the chapters will come more regulary.
It was late in the evening and Ellie was nervously walking up and down her living room. She looked over at the clock hanging at the wall; nearly ten pm already. Where's Batman?, she asked herself. But it wasn't the waiting for the Caped Crusader that made her so nervous. It were the people she was waiting with that had her in this state of mind. One of them was Adam Ruscoe, the head of the Office of Magical Law Enforcement. He was a tall, old wizard, whose nearly white hair and many lines on his face clearly showed his old age, just as his scars showed his decade long commitment to fighting crime and hunting magical evil-doers. He had been Ellie's mentor when she joined the service and he still was a field operative. Both, he and Ellie, had their first run-in with Batman together, about nine years ago, when a kidnapping case had lead them to Gotham City.
While Ellie knew her boss very well and got along with him just fine, it wasn't normal to have him with her in her own flat. But the third person in the room made her even more nervous – Secretary Otway herself. After she had returned from London, she angrily ordered McCoy and Ellie into her office and wanted them to come up with a plan in order to somehow get Voldemort. And the plan they had come up with in a relatively short but also risky: Use Batman. They had a hard time selling this idea to Otway, and Ellie didn't really believe they were successful at all, but at least they had gotten her to listen and to come with them. Otway's main concern was the fact, that Batman was a Muggle, and she didn't hesitate to point that out. But Ruscoe managed to convince her to come with him over to Ellie's place in order to meet Batman.
Surprisingly Otway had agreed, even though rather reluctantly, and then ordered Ellie and Ruscoe to help her set up protective charms around the apartment, in order to inform and warn them whenever Batman was going to come. Ellie knew that some increased protection was in order due to the fact that Otway was the Secretary, but some of these charms went out of their way to make the apartment an impenetrable fortress. She probably just wants to show how useless Batman would be, Ellie mused, just as a magical alarm bell rang, that was supposed to inform them when somebody was on the roof.
"That must be him," Otway mused and got out her wand, pointing it at the window, then another alarm rang, somebody was outside the apartment in the hall.
Ellie looked through her door-spy and saw a shadow entering the staircase. "Probably only one of my neighbours," she said with a shrug.
The roof alarm rang again, and at the same time, the alarm for the spell on the fire escape and for the window at Ellie's bathroom rang as well. All three wizards got out their wands. Ellie ran to the bathroom but found nothing, even the window was closed, while Ruscoe and Otway checked the fire escape outside of the living room window. Also nothing. This cat and mouse game went on for nearly half an hour, with several spells being broken at once, causing magical alarms to be heard. Then Otway threw her arms up and shouted "Enough!" The alarms stopped and it was silent again in the apartment.
"I wondered when you were going to have enough of this," said a cold, deep voice in a sarcastic manner, that was coming from the shadows in Ellie's kitchen.
All three wizards turned around in shock as a tall, dark figure emerged out of them. It was Batman. "How did you do that," Ellie asked in surprise and shock, but also awe.
Batman smiled and said, "Professional secret." He then turned to the other two people in the room. "Mr. Ruscoe," he said to the old wizard, and both nodded to each other as a greeting. "And you are?" Otway was still a bit in shock and her mouth was hanging open, but she was able to shake off her confusion enough in order to give an answer. And that answer came as a surprise to Batman. "I assume the thief was more than just some random wizard," he asked Ellie, who shook her head in response.
"Not only isn't he just some random wizard, Batman, but the most powerful dark wizard in centuries if not nearly a millennia," Ruscoe answered.
Batman had expected to hear that the man was powerful, but that powerful? That came as quite a surprise, but then again, he always liked a good challenge. "I guess, that's why you're here," he said to Otway, who nodded, still a bit taken aback by the fact that he managed to get past their defence spells. "Why," he then asked.
"Why what," Ellie asked back.
Batman continued to stare at Otway, indicating that he meant her. "Why are you here? Clearly not to simply witness them telling me how dangerous this man is," he said.
"Why do you think," Otway replied, putting as much confidence in her voice as possible, but it was still shaking a bit.
"Either because you personally want to impress me and tell me to stay away from it, or for some political reason you're interested in my help in this matter," Batman deduced, fixating his opposite with his glare.
Otway gulped. "It's more the later kind of thing," she said.
"Maybe we should sit down," Ellie offered and everybody sat down, including Batman.
He sat in one of the two armchairs in the room, opposite him, in the other armchair sat Ruscoe, while Ellie and Otway sat down on the sofa next to them. "Well then, what kind of assistance could the Department of Magic need from a No-Maj like me," he said coldly, clearly meaning it as both a humorous quip and an insult.
The two witches and the wizard exchanged some debating looks, before Ellie began to talk. "The man you fought goes by the name of Lord Voldemort, but in our world we only say You-Know-Who or He Who Must Not Be Named," she explained.
"Some also call him The Dark Lord, but those people normally have an affiliation with the dark arts and often are his own followers," Ruscoe added.
Batman simply nodded, while thinking about a reason why anybody would call himself 'Flight of Death' in French. But he kept this thought to himself. "And what's this real name," was what he said instead.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Ellie answered.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Batman finally realised why this man had given himself the title Lord Voldemort. "An anagram," he deduced. "Interesting."
The other three looked at him confused. Ruscoe was the first to object, "There's no a or i in his new name and only one..." He stopped himself before finishing his argument. His face showed that he just realised what Batman meant and Batman himself was smiling a little bit. "I am Lord Voldemort," Ruscoe said. "Why did I never see that before?"
"You never thought about it," Batman said coldly. "Now, why would you need my help with him?"
Otway took a deep breath, before beginning to explain everything, "In order to explain that, you've to understand Riddle's backstory," she said. "He was born on New Year's Eve 1926 at Wool's Orphanage, with his mother dying in child birth and his father being unknown. He grew up in the orphanage and from 1938 on attended Hogwarts, the British boarding school for witches and wizards, for the next seven years. He got several awards and titles while there, after graduation he applied for a teaching position there."
"What subject," Batman asked while making mental notes that would help him create a character profile for this guy.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts. He of course didn't get it since he was still too young. He got a job at Borgin and Burkes, a shop for dark magical artefacts, instead. He worked there for about ten years before dropping off the face of the earth," Otway continued but Batman interrupted her again.
"Where can I find that shop," he asked, while already concluding that Voldemort probably didn't receive a lot of attention as a little kid, growing up to be a sociopath with a certain desire for control since he probably had to take control over his life at a very young age, hence his desire to become a teacher. He also clearly thought of Hogwarts as a home, since he was so willing to stay there, and while there he certainly had taken a liking in the dark arts, which wouldn't have been surprising considering his background, hence sending him down the path that would turn him into a feared criminal.
While Batman did deduce all of this in his head, the three magic users exchanged some worried looks with one another. "In Knockturn Alley in London, but it's nearly impossible to access for No-Majs," Ellie finally said.
"The only way for a No-Maj to go there would be through the Leaky Cauldron, a pub located between 48 Charing Cross Road and 12 Great Newport Street. And the pub is only visible for people who know it's there," Otway explained.
"Like Mrs. Kasey's bookshop in Philadelphia," Batman replied, knowing that his knowledge of that place existing would shock the other three, and it certainly did. But neither one of them said anything about it, predicting that Batman wouldn't tell them how he knew about it anyway.
Instead Ruscoe simply nodded. "Well, yeah. But you need a wizard to get into Diagon Alley," he said.
"And Diagon Alley leads to Knockturn Alley," Batman asked, which got answered by Ruscoe through another simple nod. The Dark Knight then turned back to Secretary Otway. "What did happen then?"
Otway took a deep breath before continuing her information dump, "He returned in 1966 just when Hogwarts had gotten a new headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who's regarded as the most powerful wizard of our time and even You-Know-Who was so afraid of him, that he dreaded to challenge him. He applied again for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and got turned down again. He seemingly got his revenge by cursing the position, because since then every teacher who took that position had to leave it again after just one year.
"Anyway, at that moment in time, he was already only using the name Lord Voldemort, and began to gather followers, who called themselves Death Eaters. By 1970 he gained the allegiance of two groups of magical creatures that were, and still are, marginalised by our society, giants and werewolves." At this moment Otway paused, but Batman showed no reaction of any kind to the revelation that werewolves and giants existed. "He used those groups to attack the magical and non-magical communities in Great Britain, which started the Wizarding War. Throughout the entire 1970s You-Know-Who gathered more and more power while the Ministry of Magic was losing ground everywhere. Dumbledore started a resistance group called the Order of the Phoenix, which was more successful in stopping the Death Eaters' rise to power than the Ministry's efforts. But even they could only slow it down, not stop it. Then on Halloween 1981 You-Know-Who appeared in Godric's Hollow, a small village northern of Bristol at the border to Wales, and killed two members of the the Order, Lily and James Potter. He then tried to kill their just one year old son Harry – and failed."
Otway stopped again and silence filled the room. After a few moments Batman asked, "Why did he fail?"
The Secretary shrugged. "Nobody knows. All we know is that he tried to kill Harry with the Killing Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses, the use of one of them can get you a life sentence."
"What are the other two," Batman asked, while he began to realise that he was dealing with a full-grown out psychopath.
"The Imperius Curse, which takes away a person's free will and makes him or her to a puppet of whoever casts the curse, only the very strong-willed can escape it's grasp. And the Cruciatus Curse, which makes you feel as if your body's inside is on fire, it's probably the most cruel form of torture there is, and if someone suffers long enough of it, he or she will go insane," explained Ellie.
Batman signalled that he understood by nodding and then returned to the previous topic at hand, "What happened then?"
"The Killing Curse rebounded, leaving only a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on Harry's forehead, but it destroyed the house and seemingly also You-Know-Who's body," Otway continued.
Now Batman was confused and it showed on his face. "How could he have been in Gotham City last night, if his body got destroyed nearly fourteen years ago?"
The other three shrugged once again. "Nobody really knows, all we can be certain off is that he disappeared after that Halloween night. Many of his followers were arrested or returned to the other side, claiming that they had suffered from the Imperius Cruse," Ellie said.
"Three years ago rumours of his possible return emerged after an incident at Hogwarts, that once again involved young Harry Potter," Ruscoe added. "But there was seemingly nothing to it. Young Harry and his friends had only gotten in the way of a teacher who tried to steal the last Philosopher's Stone known to exist."
"Which isn't the case for the rumours going around now," Otway then said.
"And what do those rumours say," Batman asked, while making a mental note that he had to check up on the rumours about Voldemort's attempted return three years ago – he didn't believe that this dark lord had nothing to do with it.
"According to Harry Potter he witnessed You-Know-Who's resurrection last June, but nobody besides Dumbledore seems to believe him or at least the British Ministry tries to make it look that way," Otway said.
"They've it easy I might say, since the only other possible witness, another Hogwarts student, Cedric Digory, died that night," Ruscoe added.
"What do you mean, the Ministry is trying to make it look like nobody believes this Potter boy," Batman wanted to know.
"Well, Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister only got the position, because Dumbledore decided to stay headmaster at Hogwarts about five years ago. At first Fudge used him as an advisor, but the longer he stayed in office, the more paranoid he became. Now he believes that this entire story is only one gigantic plot by Dumbledore to overthrow him, which of course doesn't make any sense, since Dumbledore more than once turned down a possible political career in order to stay at Hogwarts," Otway explained. "But still, Fudge is convinced that Dumbledore tries to overthrow him. The headmaster used to be the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards."
"He was more or less the magical equivalent to the General Secretary of the UN," Ellie threw in as an explanation before Batman could ask what it meant.
Otway nodded. "Oh, yeah. Fudge got him removed from that position, just as his position as Chief Warlock at the Wizengamot, which is something like the Supreme Court of the magical community in Britain. He also started a smear campaign, and the biggest newspaper in the magical community, the Daily Prophet, which nearly every witch and wizard over there reads, played along. To be quite honest, something like a true independent press doesn't really exists in magical Britain."
"And this smear campaign makes it look like Dumbledore is out for political power and all people who support him and believe Potter's claim are enemies of the state," Batman concluded. The other three nodded in agreement. Then Batman smiled. "Now I understand why you need my help."
"Oh, yes," Otway asked.
The Dark Knight nodded. "Oh yeah. The British Ministry is not going to do anything, because they'll dismiss any evidence proving Voldemort's return as false, and you can't do anything without causing an international outcry, hence you need a private party doing your dirty work, and I as a No-Maj am the best suited for this, since nobody would suspect me working together with you," he explained his deduction.
The Secretary nodded again. "Absolutely right. And will you do it?" Batman's glare served as answer enough. "Okay, then, any more questions?"
"Where do I find Harry Potter?"
"He lives with his maternal aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, both No-Majs, or how the Brits call them, Muggles. They live in a small town in Surrey called Little Whining, the address is 4 Privet Drive," answered Ruscoe.
Batman nodded and stood up. "One more thing – When did Voldemort begin to look like a snake?"
"This transformation had to began in the ten years he was nowhere to be found, since before then he was a rather handsome young man but when he returned he was looking more snake-like, even though not as much as now. And please don't ask how he did it, that's another mystery nobody can answer," Otway said.
"Nobody, besides Dumbledore maybe," Ruscoe added.
"And where do I might find him," Batman then asked.
All three shrugged. "The hell if we know where he is. Maybe at Hogwarts? The only problem is that it's unplottable, which means it's impossible to find, all everybody knows is that it's somewhere in the north of Scotland," the older man answered.
Batman nodded again and went over to the window. As he opened it, Otway said one last thing, "If you need any help..." she started, but Batman cut her off.
"I already have a back-up call," he said, showing them some kind of watch.
"And what does this thing do," Ellie said.
"Calling a big blue boyscout," Batman answered jokingly, before stepping out onto the fire escape stairs, got out his grabbling hook gun, shot over to the roof of the building opposite and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
"Who," Otway called out, not getting the joke.
Ellie on the other hand had to chuckle. "It's a nickname for Superman," she said.
"I should've known," Otway mumbled. "Well then, I think this business is done," she said and turned to Ellie. "Have a good night, Ms. McCoy," she said and left. Ruscoe followed suit and left Ellie alone for the night.